WOD review and Upcoming Challenge WOD vs. the Giant

CrossFit: Three rounds of 20-box jumps, 20-med ball cleans, 800 meter run.

You’ve heard me say this before and I’m sure you’ll hear me say this again but this WOD seemed faster on paper.

I did this WOD on Friday instead of Thursday when everyone else did it. My goal for this was to be sub 20 minutes.

I attacked the box jumps and cleans pretty strong and was shocked at how heavy my legs felt when I went into my first 800 meter run. Running after linking box jumps and cleans aren’t something my legs enjoyed. My body was shocked and that first 800 meter run was rough. When I got back in for the 2nd round I made sure I didn’t break up my box jumps, I slowed down a little but kept constant motion which is something I struggle with. Same thing with the medicine ball cleans, I didn’t go fast like I normally prefer but I kept constant movement with no breaks. On the 2nd round of 800 meter run my legs were completely numb and I think I was able to push it faster. It might be I just felt fast and I was moving really slow. I wish I knew what my 800 splits were.

Then when I went in for my last round my whole body was numb so I did the box jumps unbroken again and medicine ball cleans unbroken too then went quickly into the run. Again not a super fast 800 meter split but I couldn’t feel my legs and I pushed it until my lungs burned.

I finished at 19:47, so I got my sub 20 minutes and it was a happy day for me.

___________________________
This Saturday is my challenge WOD vs. Jon. I don’t know why people think I’m the underdog in this.

If you look at the stats, I have 2 wins and 0 losses in challenge WODs. I dusted Dan in “Mess with a Navy Seal Day” and I beat Levi in the “Broad Jump” challenge. So I’m undefeated while Jon hasn’t even won a challenge WOD yet.

So you figure out how I'm an underdog.

Ron is undefeated in heads up challenge WODs
Jon hasn’t even won a heads up challenge WOD

Seems obvoius to me.

If you are in Crossfit long enough you’ll have strengths and weaknesses so when you put together a WOD for a heads up challenge you need to figure out which WOD suits your strengths and attacks your opponent’s weaknesses. So I may not win every WOD of the day but I’m strategic in picking WODs for the one on one challenges. Jons first mistake was being over confident and letting me pick any WOD I wanted for this……muahahahahaha.

RECOGNIZE I’m the undefeated champion for a reason, so EAT IT!!!!!

In case you’re curious the challenge WOD is:

10 rounds for time
5 pull ups
5-135 pound Clean and Jerk
200 Meter run

Shot quick bursts suit me better vs. Jon and I’ll get any rest I may need in the natural transition between exercises.

Another reason I’ll win this is………I have the lucky bobble head on my side, which will be watching over the challenge. Does Jon have a bobble head???? Nope. So WIN again for Ron.

I’m ready to be 3 and 0.

Gymnastics, Overhead Squats and Otter Pops

Gymnastic Skills & Overhead Squat strength day: 5 sets of 3 reps.

The first part of the workout was practicing gymnastic movements. This bothered my shoulder so I stopped doing them and went to other exercises. Erin killed it, she’s a tough broad :-)

The next part of the day was overhead squats, 5 sets of 3. Since gymnastics exercises bothered my shoulder I was nervous and started really light, actually too light. My goal was to play it safe and feel it out. So start really light then add weight seeing how much I could handle without being in pain.

The lifts felt really good and I kept going up in weight and added more sets. I wound up doing 9 sets because it felt so good. I finished my 8th set doing 145 pounds for 3 reps and on my 9th set I attempted 155 but only got 2 reps and dropped the bar on the last rep. If I had started heavier and didn’t do so many sets I feel I could have gotten the 155 and possibly more. The 155 pounds didn’t feel too heavy, but who knows if I could have actually done more. It's not “official” until you complete the exercises and reps.

Overall my shoulder felt really good and my only feeling of disappointment was because I felt I should have lifted more weight and started heavier sooner. I wanted to get into that group of people whose lifts are far above everyone else’s. It was a good lift day but not a day that make other people say "daaaaaaamn" that’s a lot of weight. I probably needed to overhead squat 165+ pounds to get into that group.

If the gym doesn’t schedule this strength in the next couple months I’ll do it on my own in the middle of June to see if I can get into that 165+ area for 3 reps with overhead squats.

Afterwards, I had more energy to burn off so when I got home I ran 2 miles. This was perfect because I got the biggest runners High I've had in a long time.

Originally, Erin and I had trouble getting motivated to go to the gym, we were tired and just not feeling it but we forced ourselves to go anyway. She did great, felt great and had a good strength day. I'm so glad I got off my butt and worked out too, it definitely helped our energy and both our moods for the evening.

Now it's time to reward myself……….I’m guessing 20-30 otter pops will do the trick. Don’t worry it’s Paleo. They are made with real otters :)

I need to fix my rowing so my finishes reflect how awesome I am

CrossFit: 400 run, 500 row, 800 run, 1000 row, 800 run, 500 row, 400 run.

I originally thought this was the same workout from February 8, 2010 (http://crossfit50states.blogspot.com/2010/03/february-08-2010.html). I was excited to compare and see if I made any improvement over the past 2 months. I attended a rowing seminar to clean up my technique so my time should improve. Now I know I had a relapse with my shoulder injury since then but I’m back and not using it as an excuse.

Unfortunately the WOD was a little different, everything was the same except an additional 800 meter run. Oh well can’t compare my time exactly but I can compare how I felt and see how my rows are coming along since that’s my weakest point.

I took off on the first 400 and like I expected I finished far in front of everyone. I guesstimate I was 15 seconds ahead of the next person, which was Jake, but he says I was ahead maybe 5-8 seconds max. I’m awesome so I’m sure it was 15 seconds which is an A** whoopin for 400 meter run :-) Unfortunately everyone is still a much better rower than me. Jake made up the 400 butt whoopin he took on the rower and was out the door for the 800 run first…………WTF that’s a lot of time to make up for a short row.

I wasn’t exhausted from the first 500 meter row so I bolted out the door planning to regain my lead. I caught Jake on the 800m run and came in the door ahead of him by a few seconds then went into the 1000 meter row………ick. Here is where everyone seemed to catch up to me. I don’t know if I was fatigued because I hadn’t been working my shoulders or back much since the injury or I just suck that much at rowing. Jake made up a ton of time on the 1000m row and was out the door probably 200+ meters ahead of me, plus Bill made up so much time on the row that he got out the door ahead of me too. I passed Bill on the run but Jake was really far ahead so catching him was tougher. I’m pretty sure I made up some time but he was about 200 meters ahead when I started. When I got in for my last 500 meter row, I was just happy it was a short distance so I could gut it out and get to a run.

During my last row Dan jumped my shi* which was a good thing. I guess I was flopping around like a fish and forgot everything I learned. I was wasting a ton of energy and going very slow. He tried giving me pointers but realized at this stage of the wod it was best to let me finish my last few hundred meters of the row then tighten up my stroke afterwards. Well I finished my row and saw that Jake was 100+ meters ahead again (stupid rower) but I had enough in me to push the run and I still thought I could catch him in the last 400m run :-)…………..well that didn’t work out like I planned, he finished far ahead of me, at least I took 2nd for that group and I was completely exhausted collapsing on the ground. I like that feeling because I know I pushed it as hard as I could go, for that day. So I was happy……..then I looked at the white board and saw I was 10th overall for the day, again my ego can’t handle that. I’m happy I got a good workout and I'm staying healthy but I need to fix some of the mechanics in these exercises so my times and finishes reflect how awesome I am.

In the end I need to get better at rowing or fake being sick on rowing days :-) After the workout dan cleaned up my row some and had me do an additional 500 meter row......yay(sarcasm)

I saw the workout for the following day…………….3 rounds for time: 1,000m row, 10 strict shoulder presses (65% 1 max rep), and 50 double unders. They should have titled that workout “Ron’s day off” And yes I did take that day off.

WOD Induced Temporary Memory Loss.

I will start this with.........No man should be held accountable for remembering anything after a hard crossfit workout. Your brain doesn't have the ability to remember important things at that time.

So with that this is your “how to” lesson for the day:

How to get into the Shi*house in less than 2 minutes with the wife.

The names and details of this story haven’t been changed, exaggerated or embellished in anyway. This is exactly how the story happened…………..unfortunately.

The other night at Crossfit Bellevue, after the workout the guys are putting together the rodeo man-cation along with myself to figure out which date to go on. So we are looking at a calendar and the best weekend to do it where everyone is free is July 10th. They ask if anyone has anything that weekend and everyone says no. Then Erin, my sweet and beautiful wife, steps in and goes "Ron you don't have anything going on that weekend?"

I say "no, no plans at all.....I'm open"

Erin again says "are you sure there is nothing important going on that weekend"

I'm nervous so I think for a second, no vacations planned, it’s not our wedding anniversary so I answer…….."yep no plans, absolutely nothing important going on. It's totally free"

Now Erin gives me another look where all the guys even look at me like I had better think hard because I’m obviously missing something………she goes "Ron SERIOUSLY you have nothing going on"

For some reason her email address popped into my head which is erinj710........7-july, 10-her birthday.......crappppppp, July 10th is her birthday.

Jon laughed so hard he had to walk away and Brian tried to help me fix the goof up with a little sweet talk…….yeah it didn't work :)

My theory is, I worked out so hard that all the blood stopped flowing to my brain so I didn't have the capacity to remember that very important date :-) I can’t be held accountable for things I say and can’t remember after a workout.

I think I fixed it, we'll celebrate her birthday the weekend before plus have Erin visit friends......see I'm a sweetheart :-) and I still get to go on the Rodeo Man-cation.

Time to really Cowboy Up!

My friends call me an extremely lucky person while other friends call me unlucky, I guess it depends on how you choose to look at the different fun/messes I seem to fall into.

I’m still on the fence with my current situation if I’m lucky or unlucky. I’m going to build up from how an innocent comment I made blew up into 8 people flying to Montana for a weekend.

In an earlier blog post I posted a video of the Onyon family games where you see me destroy the competition in a potato sack race. Because I jumped so high and so far I took a nasty fall at the end where I re-injured my shoulder.

So people at Crossfit Bellevue asked how I hurt myself and I innocently said I re-injured it riding a bull.

Now I didn’t think anyone would actually believe me but someone took it hook line and sinker and said that I’m re-injuring myself because I do crazy activities like riding a bull.

I can’t be blamed if they believe my ridiculous statements. Then Gabe was nice enough call me out for really hurting my shoulder in a potato sack race.

So I told them the truth…..and my truth is, I jumped so high and so far that when I landed it's the same height and has the impact as someone riding and being thrown from a bull…..you can’t laugh it’s true, I have ups baby.

This led to a bunch of trash talking and joking around. Then Jake at the gym says "Ron do you actually want to know what it feels like to ride a bull, I may be able to set it up"

Everyone gets instantly excited and wants to make it happen, so of course I say “Set it up”.

Next Jakes dad, Brian, steps in laughing his a** off and says he can and will set up all the bull riding and steer wrestling we can handle, if we’re serious. I definitely have more brawn than brain and have never let a little bit of pain step in the way of some glory. So I cowboyed up and said “HELL YEAH MAKE IT HAPPEN”.

So 8 of us are planning to go to the ranch in Montana and spend the weekend riding bull and wrestling steer. What makes it even better is there will be belt buckles (see actual picture above) given out to the winners of the cowboy events and if anyone can stay on a bucking bull for 8 seconds. You know that’s awesome!!!!

Sure Brian and Jake are setting this up to see the others and myself fall and bust our a** but it should be a lot of fun, get some cool stories, good pictures, great video and have fun with friends. Plus they said the ranch is in a town of roughly 300 people and the town already knows of our plans to go there to play cowboy. The town plans on being there to watch all the city boys try to cowboy up. This is going to hurt but will be a lot of fun with the chance to win a belt buckle.

See, am I lucky or unlucky? I somehow dumbed my way into riding bull and wrestling steer for a weekend in Montana in front of a town full of real cowboys.

p.s. Believe it or not out of everything scheduled for the cowboy weekend in Montana the statement Jake made while we were discussing details has me the most worried. Jake said “This trip will be fun. We will hang out play cowboy and there will be all the brandy and scotch you can drink”. It seems harmless enough but I have to drink brandy and scotch in front of a bunch of cowboys. I don’t do well drinking hard liquors. I’m afraid they’ll make fun of me if I ask to warm up with a corona with lime or a Unicorn Berry Blast™ (Zima + fresh strawberries + skittles = Unicorn Berry Blast™). Maybe I’ll just man up and drink scotch when it’s time.

I’ve been away from the gym for a week and that’s just way too long. Wife was sick, kids had baseball and other adult responsibilities getting in the way of me hitting the gym to get ripped for summer :-) I’m obviously kidding for those that don’t know me.

The week I was out I only did light workouts and light running on my own and let my body rest a little but now it’s back into high action to get in shape for my upcoming challenges. Next one is May 1st vs. Jon L.

I was back in the gym last night and was very pleased to see the WOD wasn’t timed. It was a pyramid WOD with lots of reps but the focus was on technique and not time. This was the perfect time for me to come back, I know the reps will kill me in a couple of days and I won’t accidentally slack on my range of motion trying to make up time when I’m a little out of high performance shape.

The day was even better because it was one of the trainers, Gabe(who I have an upcoming challenge against), birthday and the best way to celebrate a birthday is by Bill and Micki buying KFC Double Downs for everyone. If you don’t know what they are, it’s two fried boneless chicken breasts that are used as the bread and in between them is a special sauce, two types of cheese and bacon. It’s the perfect complement after a working out. You work out really hard so you can reward yourself eating and drinking the things that aren’t very good for you from time to time. The KFC double down is that food item that when you eat it your heart hurts a little bit. You feel guilty and go run a couple more miles and eat nothing but fruits and vegetables for the next month. So win win and IT TASTES THAT GOOD!!!!

You have to love the things trainers and customers get excited over in a Crossfit gym. Last night we were very excited over eating the KFC double downs and the new toys the gym bought. The gym purchased 3 tractor tires for the gym. Where else do adults get excited over three 800 pound tractor tires coming to the gym? I’m excited and nervous to see what tortures and games they come up with.

So I’m back in action and I need to get more posts up. My next update will be how I demonstrate that with a couple of words and me being an idiot, I dumbed my way into a trip where I’ll be riding a bull in front of some friends and a town full of cowboys.………yee hawwww!!!!!

Dates are set for upcoming challenges and new challenges are made

I didn’t want to be the only buffoon at the gym that runs his mouth and finally someone else is stepping up to the plate. Thank you, Levi. I posted a simple question on Facebook yesterday looking for distances with the Broad Jump. I saw a WOD on crossfitfootball.com which was 10 attempts to find your max distance Broad Jump so I wanted more information. I wanted to know what would be considered average, intermediate, advanced and elite distances?

Right away Levi comes on and says “That sounds like a worthy challenge, you’re on! Broad Jumps on Saturday, prepare to be out-distanced”. Thank you Levi for being the new buffoon that throws out challenges.

Once again I’m in a challenge that I didn’t start but can I back down from it…..noooooo! So I asked Levi why he was so quick to throw out a challenge, I didn’t know if he was a professional broad jumper or if he held a broad jumping world record. He said no, but he’s learning from me about perfecting the “Mindless Challenge”. I was so proud :-) I told Levi that in order to be a true Master of the mindless challenge you must be able to back it up like me……..what what!! So this Saturday April 3rd in between the affiliate cup workouts will be the contest and results of the Broad Jump Challenge.

Here are updates for my other upcoming challenges:

An official date has been set to compete against Jon L in our challenge WOD. So come out May 1st to see me make a giant cry. Jon put no restrictions on the WOD I issued against him so I’m still leaning toward:

Challenge WOD
4 rounds of (5 pull-ups & 5 ground to overhead at 135 pounds)
Run 400 meters
4 rounds of (5 pull-ups & 5 ground to overhead at 135 pounds)
Run 800 meters
4 rounds of (5 pull-ups & 5 ground to overhead at 135 pounds)
Run 400 meters
Plank

I was thinking of making it 20 pull-ups and 20 ground to overhead instead of 4 rounds of 5 but I stopped because I think Jon will be faster at long constant reps while I’m faster with short intense bursts. Plus I can use the transition from exercise to exercise to get any rest I may need to keep my speed and tempo going without taking any breaks. I’m not sure about having the plank at the end. I want it as a “just in case” I don’t win, but I’d hate to have it in there and lose because Jon can plank for 20 minutes. I’ll probably flip flop back and forth on the plank and decide May 1st.

I have a do-over WOD against Dan with the continuation of "Mess with a Navy Seal Day”. This really should be established as a national Crossfit holiday. Once a year at all the Crossfit gyms across the land have members challenge all the current and former military special ops people to a WOD. The winner gets bragging rights for the next year.

After that challenge, I’m in negotiations with going head to head against Gabe, he’s one of the trainers with Crossfit Bellevue. This challenge started because I innocently pointed out that Gabe hasn’t hit the top score in a WOD EVERRRRRRRRRRRR, at least I haven’t seen his name on top since I’ve been with this gym. Sure he gets in the top 3 for every single WOD, so he’s very advanced and well rounded with every discipline of Crossfit with no “weak” areas. However, I’ve won 2 WOD’s since I started training at CSBV and he’s won zero, which means Ron is Awesome and Gabe is not as Awesome. Now I just need to negotiate a WOD that suits my strong points in the few WOD’s I’ve finished ahead of him. Also, I’m establishing an important rule for our challenge, Gabe must keep his shirt on the entire WOD. He’s the only guy I know that in the middle of winter with 3 feet of snow he’ll rip his shirt off then run outside……..his man boobies are very distracting and there is no way I can concentrate during the challenge if those things are bouncing all over the place. He at least has to wear a mans sports bra.

Again I want to finish with I'm happy Levi stepped up to the plate and initiated a challenge. More people need to do that otherwise I’ll be forced to challenge people against one another in the gym :-)