Daniel & Rhinestone Cowboy Up!!!!! March 18, 2010

WOD: Crossfit: In honor of SFC Daniel Crabtree, "Daniel" 50-pull-ups, 400 run, 21-thrusters, 800 run, 21-thrusters, 400 run, 50-pull-ups.

I’m so sore from the WODs this week that the thought of doing Daniel has me cringe, but the reality is I need to do it in order to workout the soreness.

Erin is doing the fully prescribed level 3, so full pull-ups and the prescribed weight which only a small handful of women are even attempting to do today. She finished in 40 minutes and was really disappointed with her time but I tried telling her that she did 100 pull-ups, the prescribed thruster weight and the runs. She needs to stop sounding like me and be happy. The times will come as you’re getting stronger. It took her 8 months in Crossfit before she completed her first non-banded pull-up and now at her 10th month of Crossfit she’s doing 100 in a WOD. Giddey Up!

This was an ok day for me too. I got a really nice warm up in which worked out a lot my soreness. As I got ready for the WOD I notice that Jake used some hand protection during the pull ups. Since I injured my shoulder my hands aren’t tough anymore and they rip really easy. I hate tearing my hands because it makes things miserable, since Jake already completed the WOD he let me use them.

Well we are about to start and I’m putting on the protection when Janice notices. She’s laughing walks over and asks why I’m putting maxi pads on my hands, then asks if I need to be packed in bubble wrap to make sure I don’t get an owie going up and down the stairs. Nothing feels better than a 95 pound woman that can back squat more than you calling you out for being you soft. I would have said a clever comeback but she can do Daniel running backwards and still beat me, plus it was funny. I can’t get mad at funny tough chick.

It should be noted that after the workout my hands didn’t have any tears and they were still baby soft. I like the maxi pads.

______

I must be having one of those weeks. First I get called soft by woman that’s less than half my size. Now I’m about to head to the gym to work on my shoulder and do some of the strength exercises I missed during this week at Crossfit. I grabbed my gear and accidentally picked up my wives baby blue rhinestone headphones. I need music but I can’t wear baby blue rhinestone headphones.

My thought is it’s Friday so I am hoping there isn’t anyone in our office gym. I will walk in with the full intention of leaving if anyone is in there.

Sweet!! Nobody is there so I get dressed, get my music and plug in the rhinestone headphones. Part way through the workout a woman walks in to use the treadmill, I don’t think she notices me so I Rhinestone Cowboy up and keep working out. I just grunt a little louder to let her know how tough I am.

Rhinestone Giddey Up!!!!!

No-Neck Meathead Jock, the pursuit of a lifelong dream but is it wise to mess with something so gorge-nificent

I’ve always wanted to be a meathead. Now my father and brother might disagree because they think I was a meathead jock when I was younger but I always wanted to be the supersized bulked up meathead that has to walk bow legged because his thighs are so big they rub together. The guy who’s back and arms are so large that he can’t reach around to scratch his own butt :-)

I’ve been doing national and international Olympic Style Sport Tae Kwon Do competitions from 1986 until I retired from competitions in 2001. But with tkd tournaments I always had to watch my weight very close. The main weight divisions I fought in was feather weight which was 147 back in my day, in fact in 2001, my last year of competition I fought bantam weight which was 135. (I need to find the picture of the first time I made weight at 135) I was so skinny and dehydrated I literally had to go to bed the night before the weigh-in with ice bags all over my body because my body wasn’t able to regulate it’s temperature properly.

I went to long camps, tried out for teams, made some teams, did 3 workouts a day, peaked myself through the year with moderate lifting because my focus was fighting and speed. So I went years watching my weight and diet extremely close. My lifting was very limited back then. Still no regrets I got to do some cool stuff, had an opportunity to be an athlete for as long as I did and traveled around the world fighting. I still wish I could have spent some time as no neck meathead jock. I would look at the football lineman that would show up to a restaurant and order a plate of chicken legs, put one in their mouth and clean all the meat from it to the bone in one bite. That’s awesome!!! Be the guy in the weight room that you hear screaming at the top of their lungs when they are knocking out reps, people come over to see what is going on and walk away slowly when they see you’re bench pressing a Volvo. Ahhh to be the guy that stares at the weights, takes 15 minutes to wrap the wrists and knees, then walks back around yelling at the weight then drops down, knocks out 2 reps, screams at the top of my lungs gets up and high fives the 3 people spotting him. Oh yeahhhh to be that guy :-)

I was a gym rat when I retired from competition for a little while but never bulked up. I just couldn’t see the value in lifting so much for so long, what was the purpose? So I continued to work out with my goal to be fit, tone and very pretty.

Now I’m in Crossfit, YAY!!!!! You can be athletic, functional and a big meatheaded no neck jock. Sure sure someone will say that it is better to be a normal size and strong so you can be more functional and versatile, buttttttt If I bulk up to eventually deadlift 800+ pounds, I’ll be the barbell freak at the box……I’m ok with that. As long as I can still run, row, do pull-ups, muscle ups and all the other exercises decent enough, then focus my specialty in Crossfit to be uber strong with deadlift, cleans, snatches, presses, etc….. I think this is my opportunity to fulfill a lifelong goal and be the Crossfit version of “The Thing”

I need to spend some more time thinking about this, discuss the pros and cons with my family and friends. I need to go to a mirror, take a good look at myself and decide if I really want to mess with something so gorge-nificent.

I can definitely use any feedback and opinions.

Stay pretty people

The Hangover to Mess with a Navy Seal Day

I walked in the gym and everyone starts laughing and all eyes are on me.

Dan looks at me laughs and in a darth vadar voice goes "hahahahaha oh yeah little doggie it's ON!!!!!"

I thought I challenged Dan to Grace later in the week but nope he was ready to do it last night. That was so wrong because I showed up to the gym with a bottle of jack in one hand, a cigarette in the other and just finished eating a dozen donuts...the last thing I was ready to do was compete :-) Dan had a look in his eye like I took his last beer, so I got myself mentally ready.

WOD: 10 rounds: 15 deadlifts (135 pounds) and 15 pushups

The truth is, I actually needed something like this to help get me over the mental wall I've had lately working out. I've been taking too many breaks and not pushing as hard as I can since I injured my shoulder, so hopefully this will be the push I needed. When I hit round 5 I started breaking up my deadlifts but I saw Dan right in front of me, very serious and focused so I decided after that not to break up my deadlifts anymore. That felt really good and made a huge difference; I was completely exhausted at the end.

I wound up winning the WOD faceoff and Dan graciously posted on the site that I won buttttt I guess that wasn't the whole story.

OMFG I had the most painful car ride home after the WOD. Let's build up to why which gives the whole story to Dan and my face off.

Now when the WOD started, I heard everyone yelling, giving directions and giggling since there was a challenge and bragging rights on the line, so I didn't know what was real and what was talk just to mess with us so I ignored it assuming I had perfect technique because I definitely felt a huge burn :-)

I finished in the WOD 9:28 but for some reason erin won't even make eye contact with me and keeps shaking her head, so now we're at why the car ride home was the LONGEST IN MY LIFE!!!!!!!

These are pretty much exact quotes from my wife as soon as we got in the car:
-You know that win doesn't count
-It doesn't count because you didn't lock out at the top of your deadlifts
-Your pushups didn't go all the way down
-Your pushups never went all the way up
-If you're going to talk shi* you have to have good technique otherwise nobody will ever believe any of your times
-seriously that doesn't count, if you had good technique your time would have been much slower.

UGGGGH my head hurt so bad in the car, isn't your wife supposed to be on your side no matter what? Erin and I have been with each other almost 10 years and i've never been nagged by her, until this car ride home. My kids even got in on the action, next thing you know I hear my oldest daughter saying "daddy you weren't going all the way down on the pushups"......luckily I can ground her.

I heard that the last few rounds is when my technique wasn't perfect, especially in the pushups, and I also heard that it was clean enough from other trainers but ultimately a rematch is in order to make sure it's a clean win.

I will say that I didn't really expect Dan to want to compete tonight. I know he hasn't deadlifted in months and his back's been sore lately so what I can't believe is that even after that, he hung with me almost rep for rep the whole way until the end, and Im in there 3-4 times a week. And according to the peanut gallery, had I focused on my technique more, we could have very well tied :P. I still think it's more reasonable to do a "Super Grace" 50 reps at 135 pounds for time. We'll get less trash talking from the bystanders because they can't criticize us too much with getting the bar from the ground to above your head.

My body feels like it has a crossfit hangover. That push and extra intensity I had from going against Dan has made my body so sore that it hurts when I smile. I've been pretty vocal about how sore I am from my face off vs. Dan then Dan goes on vacation the day after and schedules "Daniel" as the WOD of the day for my next day in the gym. He should have just posted as the WOD of the day to "Punch Ron in the stomach 100 times".

Ok point taken Dan. But I'm still looking forward to our Super Grace face off.

So coming soon:

Mess with a Navy Seal Day: Part 2

Mess with a Navy Seal Day!!!!! There is a good chance I will regret this :-)

Let's just say, sometimes it's fun to poke a stick at the big dawg :-)

The box I train at the owner is a 14 year Navy Seal vet so if you have a good day, why not mess with him a little :-)

This is the conversation posted on the crossfit bellevue website:

March 15, 2010

CrossFit: Every min on the min conduct a Power Clean and Jerk, add 1-rep per minute, once you fail, subtract a rep per minute, so 1-2-3 etc per minute, then 10-9-8 etc per minute.

This Power Clean WOD was exactly what I needed. That felt gooooooood, got a nice burn in my body and my lungs. I finished 8 rounds but I think I could have made it to 9 rounds but I was worried I would hit failure and not be able to complete the 2nd round of 9 then still have to pyramid down 8, 7, 6, etc.....I should have went for it, if you're never failing you're never really trying. Oh well, still a good night and happy with how I finished.

Oh did you know Dan got 7 rounds and I got 8 :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BodXwAYeTfM

Jon, Matt and Christina are machines, they wrecked it. I didn't get to the gym until 740-ish and they were still talking about how Jon destroyed this WOD. Jon did 11 rounds which is just insane, they were still talking about how when he did rounds 9, 10, 11, 11, 10, 9 he took no break and was doing constant reps. You really need to video tape that next time.

Oh yeah!!! Dan got 7 rounds and I got 8 :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BodXwAYeTfM

Another funny thing when we got to the gym. Jake was there, he had already completed the WOD but he looked like a sad puppy dog. He was disappointed he didn't push himself as hard as he felt he could have finished. Jake normally beasts the workouts, so he didn't feel good about how many rounds he completed. We've all been there and want a do-over on a WOD. It's ok there will be other WOD's, but to make Jake feel better if you see him Tuesday go up and give him a hug or pet him to make him feel better, he'll appreciate it :-)

Hey, Dan got 7 rounds and I got 8 :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BodXwAYeTfM

I think power cleans and power snatches are my favorite exercises. There is something fun about throwing weights around. I might just have to do Grace in the next week on my own to see where my time is at.

Oh did you know, Dan got 7 rounds and I got 8, he might need a hug today too :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BodXwAYeTfM

After reading my post Dan Posted: Now, now little doggy, dont poke a stick at the big dog just because he sits quietly in the corner, remember he is still a big dog.

My response: I understand Dan......but did you know that you got 7 rounds and I got 8 :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BodXwAYeTfM

Dan Posted: I accept...tonight (I picture Dan saying "I accept" in a Darth Vadar voice while clinching his fist in the air)

So I posted: Crap, what did you accept? I don't remember challenging you to anything? Grace face off, Saturday High noon?

As I finished posting the above comment I realized what I wrote and couldn't take it back so I followed it with another post: Crap I can't delete my last post :P I posted before my brain told my hands to stop typing

Dan posted(again in a Darth Vadar voice): I accept

So I posted back: Crap :-) Well if it's a challenge then we may as well make it worth while....either win big or lose big. Person that doesn't win has to wear a tshirt the following saturday with: "Rons the man"

I know what's sexy!!!! Completed Zachs "Chicken Legs" WOD

March 13, 2010

"Chicken Legs" 10 rds of 10-Lunges / Thrusters / Squats and a stair climb. With a plate. M45, W25.

I liked yesterdays workout a lot more than I was originally expecting, so thanks zach :-) It will be sad to see you go but it's always nice to see people go after goals and dreams, so good luck and enjoy the journey.

I went into this WOD with the strategy of just completing the reps with no breaks on exercises and only break, when I need to, in between exercises. Especially for me to not blow out, i didn't want to go out fast then die out like so many times before. So this time try pacing myself since this one looked brutal and long. First round I was in my strategy, good strong pace but too slow, i was last out the door. I didn't worry, I assumed they'd all slow down, I wasn't going for a top time with this WOD but still assumed I wouldn't be last. So stick with the plan, no breaks during exercises.

I didn't break on the lunges. I didn't take many breaks with the thrusters but I did break up the squats from time to time. I still expected to be in the middle of the pack with this WOD. But I wasn't, I was near the bottom for times which I was ok with. With a WOD like this just doing that many exercises, stairs and reps, you're getting a good workout. I'm getting my mental intensity back since my injury so my fist pumping will be back soon once all the tools and body is back together.

My wife Erin, did the level 3 workout and lapped me a couple of times. I think this was the first time since we've started crossfit that she did a level 3 workout and beat me..........I thought that was pretty damn hot, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :-)

Thank you crossfit. I'll make good use of this later....wacka wackaaaaa(fozzie bear voice)

The going away WOD for Zach is posted, OUCH

CrossFit: For Zach - "Chicken Legs" 10 rds of 10-Lunges / Thrusters / Squats and a stair climb. With a plate. M45, W25.

OMFG!!! Do they do these type of workouts everytime one of their pre-buds guys leave for the Navy? If that's the case the other prebuds guys aren't allowed to go anywhere.

Two things instantly hurt after reading that WOD, 1) my legs gave me a WTF and 2) My Vag........nevermind, This is one of those workouts you need to be drunk before you do and not start drinking after, that way I'm already numb and dumb for the wod.

BRING IT!!!!

How my mind works at crossfit

I was going to take today off but I see the strength & endurance exercises are back squat and sprints.

Fortunately or unfortunately this is how my mind works. I like to compete and test myself, so I see the sprints and I’m thinking, yay!!!!! I get to do short sprints vs. people. I used to be pretty fast so I assume I still am :-)

Then if you break it down using "New Math" it looks like this

Ron used to be really fast + he's never seen anyone in the gym run = Ron is the fastest preson in the gym. YAY ME!!!!

Sure Daniel is a teenager, in extremely good shape and a complete stud but I haven’t seen him run so I must be faster than him.

Jon used to play college football, he’s in extremely good shape but in a short sprint I must sprint faster than him too.

Rumor has it Matt is extremely fast too but he wears tube socks and headbands so there is no way he can run faster than me.

Gabe……hahahahaha ok Gabe I’m definitely smoking him unless I trip over a unicorn.

You see how my my mind works. If this trend continues I might need to have a serious conversation with my brain and try to talk some sense into it…….or kill it with beer :-)