2nd and 3rd real classes

Been a couple days since the first class. Just finished off the week.

Feeling good. Still pretty into it. Figuring out what my limits are.

Don't feel like writing. But things are going well.

Today I did backsquats (worked up to 95lbs I think...did 5 at that weight).

Did some presses at 85lb? can't remember...pretty tough.

Then did 7 sets of 5 dumb bell deadlifts, 5 hang power cleans, and 5 thrusters (squat into a press) with 20lb dumb bells. If i did this workout again i'd go 25lb. 20 was hard. 25 would have killed me but that would have been good...especially on a friday.

Wednesday we did 21 OHS (45lbs), 42 pullups (i used the blue band and some jumping), then 15 OHS, 30 pullups, then 9 OHS, 15 pullups. I finished in 11:53. Arms sore for a couple days. Even with the bands and jumping the pullups were really tough. Same w/ the OHS. Really hard to keep that weight stable towards the end. No problem for the legs...all shoulders and upper body here.

That's it for now. Back again next week.

First Real Class

So yesterday was my first real class.

We did 5-4-3-2-1 of the hang power clean. Didn't really know what weight to use. Worked up to 95 which wasn't too bad. Definitely could have gone heavier.

Then we rowed 3000m in teams of 3...trading off 250m at a time. This was realllly tiring. My neck and shoulder are really feeling it today. My 250m times were decent. About 1:40 on average. Sometimes in the 1:30. I was going at it pretty hard.

Pretty worked after this workout. Not too bad though. Looking forward to go back tomorrow.

Day 12. Baseline!

So I finished the On Ramp program yesterday. The last few classes have been pretty easy. Mostly for form with easy workouts. We actually didn't even do a workout on Wednesday.

Going into Friday (Day 12), I was super nervous. I put in a lot over the last month..especially with the diet. I really wanted to do better than my last time. My initial Baseline was 6:23...which I was really happy with considering I had an 11 minute time when I did my Baseline (but with a 500m instead of a 400m run) in the intro.

Just as a reminded...the baseline is this:

400M Run (or 500M row)

40 squats

30 situps

20 pushups

10 pullups

I didn't have a great breakfast yesterday...I was worried that would affect me. I had some eggs and a few nuts before class. But anyway...

So I went to class nervous. A little jittery from coffee and not much food. We reviewed some motions...made modifications for who ever need them. Then without too much ceremony..we went out on the street, lined up, and started the run around the block.

The Run felt terrible...I just didn't feel that I had much energy. Thomas is a better runner than I am, but I managed to keep up with him relatively well...it was a good pace..not too tiring. But I didn't feel that great at this point.

I was thinking though that the run is my biggest weakness...so that when I got back inside, the hard part was over.

I killed the squats. Although I wonder if maybe I cheated cause I was sort of just falling down on the ball. Maybe next time I do the baseline I'll not use a ball under my butt. Either way..rocked those.

Then right to situps..30..piece of cake. I tried to go down to my shoulder blades all the way but it feels so counterintuitive. I didn't do them on a mat. My back is sort today...not sure if that's why or not.

Rolled over and busted out 15 good pushups...took a very short pause and did the last 5. Pretty tired at this point. Only 10 pullups left.

I did 3 or 4. I'm getting better with the kipp swing. Then maybe 2 or 3. Got to 8. Then did 2 more. Hard to keep track of how many you have to do when you're that tired.

I finished in 4:33! Almost 2 full minutes (about 30%) off my time from just a month ago!

Pretty psyched. The trainer wanted me to shoot for 5:30. Best time in the class. That's pretty cool.

Going back on monday. I feel great. Though I ate a huge plate of rice, beans, had a couple beers, then got stoned and had a grilled cheese late night. Some white rice with my thai food and a bagel this morning. Man that shit takes good. My gut feels not so good though.

So I made a couple goals. I want to do a Muscle Up, a Handstand, and be able to touch my toes by January 1st. I think these are realistic goals (except maybe touching my toes). It also works with my idea of moving to thailand for the weekend (January 7th I can go for $450 one way). Looking forward to the next couple months. Gotta not get fat over the holidays this year like I did last year!

My climbing buddies told me I looked "buff". Which is ridiculous because these two dudes are awesome climbers. So that was cool. But anyway. I'll keep the blog going I think.

Yesterday

So yesterday was good. No new movements..which meant that I knew we were going to get our asses kicked. It wasn't too bad actually. Here's what we did

20 Wall Balls (squat with a 14lb ball, throw it up over a 10ft line)

20 20lb push presses

20 KB swings

20 20" box jumps

250M row

20 85lb deadlifts

We did it as a team. So we did wall balls one by one, then we went to a station and couldnt rotate until everyone was done. Then we did deadlifts one by one.

The team structure didn't really slow anyone down. We were all on about the same pace. Though the one-by-one wallball / deadlifts added a lot of time. We finished in about 14minutes.

I was pretty tired after this. But didn't struggle with anything except the boxjumps a little bit. My legs I think were tired still from jump roping. So this one wasnt too bad.

Went out for BBQ afterwards and managed to turn down cornbread...an act of shear willpower.

One week left

So last week was good. Feeling pretty good but my motivation is totally lacking.

It's hard keeping up w/ this diet..and discouraging when you mess something up.

Only one week left.

Where'd my motivation go

Wasn't really feeling a trip to the gym today. Watched 3 episodes of the wire last night and got a less then mediocre 10hours sleep. Woke up to cold and pouring rain. Did a shitty job of eating yesterday so figured that wouldn't help w/ the workout.

Wasn't too bad in actuality. We learned the Hang Power Clean. I'd explain this one to you but I don't really get it yet. Well..I get it..I just can't do it.

We also learned..fuck..smashers or something? Basically you do squats but w/ a 15lb medicine ball..you raise it up over your head and throw it at the ground. These babies bounce about 2 inches off the mats. So you whip it down at the mat, catch it off the bounce, and continue your squats. Easy to cheat on this one cause my arms are long enough that I don't really have to squat..but you're supposed to squat.

The workout was 3 rounds of:

7 HPCs (w/ pvc pipe...this was just for practice)

10 ball things

250m row

My Time: 7:52

Pretty tired and sweaty after this one. The rows get me. I was sloppy today. Need to get my shit together.

Unthinkable

I did something I never thought I'd do today. I turned down a genuine New York Bagel.

My buddies friend flew out and brought a dozen fresh, bulging, and extremely tempting bagels from NYC as a little present for the house....that mother fucker.