Friday, August 21, 2009

Updates...

Well, it has been a busy month.
Work is crazy (although I am on vacation...) It is going to be nuts when I get back.

My CrossFit training is going great! New Diet going Great!
I am currently training for a monster Relay that will take place starting next Friday. 12 of us will relay our way from the top of Mt. Hood all the way to the Oregon Coast. 197 miles in total. We are shooting to complete this run in less than 30 hours.

After that - I am building up momentum for the Portland Marathon on October 4th.

I will post as often as possible. Be patient - more pics/stories to come!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

DEADLIFT



I have been BUSY - new diet, new workouts, new focus...
Teaching CrossFit nearly 6 times a week now.

Here is my latest attempt for a 1 Rep Max on the Deadlift

Other achievements:
Yesterday I completed 'Kelly'
5 Rounds for time
400m Run
30 Box Jumps (I used a 20" Box)
30 Wall Ball Shots (20lb Ball)

Time: 26:33 PR

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Last Day at MMA...


Today was a bitter sweet day...
Since February, each Sunday from 9am-11am, you could find me at AliveMMA in SE Portland training some very athletic people who are looking for a tough workout.

This time, David Lloyd brought a couple of his buddies with him. He jokingly asked if we were planing on doing Fight Gone Bad - I paused and thought about it... 'Why not?!'

A little background on FGB... It is a CrossFit workout designed to mimic a grueling Mixed Martial Arts match with 3 rounds, each going for 5 minutes.

A True FGB set up would be:
5 Stations - one with a 75# barbell for Push Press, one with a 75# barbell for Sumo Deadlift Highpulls, a station for Wall Ball shots (20# ball), a 20" box for box jumps, and a Rower (ergometer) to track calories.
The workout is made up of three 5 minute rounds, each minute spent at one station. You get a 1 minute rest in between rounds, but then you have to jump right back in. The goal is to rack up as many points (reps) as possible in each station before your minute there is expired.

We did not have a rower, so I had them do Burpees instead.
We did not have Olympic style Barbells, so we improvised with a 55# Kettle Bell for the SDHP and a 75# standard curl bar for the push press.

These guys racked up a tremendous amount of points. I let David take the score sheet with him so he could tally it up later.

The picture above is a 'tiny' example of what was left in them when the workout was done.

So - back to the original story here... Today was bitter sweet because not only was it a GREAT workout and FUN to watch these guys push their limits, but it was my last day teaching at AliveMMA... I just need at least 1 day a week to myself (and my lovely wife). Unfortunately, with all of my other priorities, I had to drop this one off my plate.

I assured Bill (the amazing owner of AliveMMA) that I would keep in touch and make some appearances in the near future... but for now, I need a day to recharge.


Friday, June 26, 2009

Some of my Recent Workouts...


Busy Busy... here are some of the latest workout:
Front Squats - 3Rep Max
I got to a new PR with 195#

on 6/22/09 I completed:
3 Rounds for time
21 55lb KB swings
12 Hand Stand Push Ups
Time: 8:15 (PR)

on 6/25/09 I completed:
As many rounds as possible of
5 Thrusters with 95#
7 Power Hang Cleans with 95#
10 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls with 95#
7 Rounds completed (PR... last time I had to scale this to 85#)

Today was 'Nicole'
As many rounds as possible of:
400M Run
Max Rep Pull Ups
your total Pull Ups is your final score
I completed 7 rounds for a total of 137 pull ups (PR - by 15 pull ups and 1 round)

That was a tough one. I wasted a ton of time because I was exhausted and thought about calling it quits about 3 different times... once at 10 minutes, once at 15 and again at 3 minutes. I kept talking myself into just getting through the next one. When the 6 minute mark came around, I completed the round and told myself "If the clock is under 3 minutes, I am done"... sure enough, the clock was at 3:12 - I HAD to work in one more round. 

When I completed the last set and the timer went off, I was positive that this was the worst performance ever... when I went back to look at my training log I was SHOCKED to find out that this was in fact MY BEST PERFORMANCE EVER! Here is how the workout broke out:
Rnd 1 - 33 pull ups (PR!!!)
Rnd 2 - 22 pull ups
Rnd 3 - 15 pull ups
Rnd 4 - 13 pull ups
Rnd 5 - 25 pull ups
Rnd 6 - 15 pull ups
Rnd 7 - 14 pull ups
Total 137

I beat my last attempt by 15 pull ups and 1 full round!

Boy am I tired.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Press...






From the Main Site...
As Many Rounds As Possible in 20 min...

Handstand push-ups 5 reps
Bench press 135 pounds, 10 reps
Push press 95 pounds, 15 reps
Dips 20 reps


Monday, June 15, 2009

Run - Run - Run...

These last few days have been busy! Wow.
With teaching classes, lot's of stuff at work, and training - who would have thought I would have time to run a Half Marathon. Well - I did it!

On Saturday I completed the Helvetia Half Marathon. It was a beautiful run.
Leading up to that day, I had not done much 'Run' specific training. I completed about 18 miles worth of straight running over the last 8 weeks. The rest of my training was CrossFit, which often incorporates running, but usually no more than 1-2 miles per workout. Go ahead and look through my last Blog entries, you will see - not much running.

With that being said, I am proud to share my achievement - I completed the Half Marathon in 1:45:20... that is about an 8 minute average per mile for 13.1 miles straight!

I placed within the top 23% of my age group and top 10% overall.

I can guarantee that I did not put in as many miles as most of the participants out there. CrossFit is such an 'Overall' conditioning program, you don't need to train for any one specific sport (unless you want to specialize ONLY in that one sport).

With my diet (Vegetarian Zone - 21 Blocks) and proper rest, my recovery was pretty quick. After a nice little nap on Saturday (Race Day), I was back to working out by Sunday!

I LOVE CROSSFIT!!!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

RUN

5 Mile Run - 
37:46

Not to shabby... and it included some great hills.
Maybe my goal of the 1/2 marathon in 1:45 could be pretty realistic... We'll see!