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.

Bloody Push Jerk

Yeah that's right. Bloody. Nothing quite like smashing yourself in the nose with a hollow PVC pipe while trying to practice the Push Jerk. Actually...it was surprisingly not that embarrassing. But Fuck. Still feel like a moron. Ten minutes later everything was cool.

So we learned burpees yesterday. And the Overhead Squat. Burpees go like this: standing position...put your hands on the floor, jump back to pushup position, do a pushup, jump forward, stand up and jump straight in the air.

The Overhead Squat: get in squat position, the hold the bar with straight arms over your head, pinch your shoulder blades together and shrug really hard then do a squat. Keeping your balance is tough on this one.

So the workout was:

12-9-6-3 (so 12 OHSs, 12 Burpees, 9 OHS, 9 Burpees, etc)

OHS (35lbs)

Burpees

My time: 6:10

This one wasn't too bad. Was really tired at the end. But I think it was just right. I didn't have to take a nap afterwards which was sweet.

So this is the halfway point. Feel pretty good about how everything is going. We're moving really fast learning new things. Glad I'm not missing any classes. It's tough keeping up with this diet. Especially if I'm out or don't plan ahead.

Physically, I'm already seeing changes. On a whole I feel stronger. Still skinny and weak. But that'll come with time. Been eating basically as much as I can. I really need to get creative...breakfast is the hardest meal. So sick of scrambled eggs.

Gotta go eat.

Not as bad

So today's trip to the gym wasn't that bad. I could stand afterward. So that's cool.

Did some new movements. Dumb Bell Press (shoulders to above your head...20lbs each hand for me). Push press (I think?) where you give yourself a little jump. Then Jerk press, where you sort of jump downward and extend your arms above your head real fast (again 20lbs).

So the workout went like this (if I can remember):

20 Shoulder Presses

20 Squats

10 Pullups

20 Push presses

20 Squats

10 Pullups

20 Jerks

20 Squats

10 Pullups

Uggggg. I had to modify the last 15 of my pullups to basically jumps about an 8 foot bar (i'm 6'3"...this was not hard). And I also switched to 15lb weights from 20 about half way through.

Sort of sucks to have to downgrade but I never would have finished otherwise. Took me 10:17 total.

Feel decent. Had to bike home since my piece of shit car's battery was dead this morning (again). It's on the charger now.

This week is definitely upper body. I think it's making me mad. My shoulders/neck/back are all tight. Now I just wanna punch someone in the head..rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...maybe I'll do a headbutt like Kano from Mortal Kombat. It's either the tension in my neck etc or it's the insane amount of meat I've been eating. I ate a pound of ground beef yesterday. I'm shooting for another pound today. Today's meal is much better. Beef, portobellas, zuchini, salt, olive oil, spinach. mmmmm. Actually..I have to get back to force feeding myself. Until next time.

Holy Shit!

Fucking A! Today was ridiculous! As usual we wasted no time at all. 400m run, some stretching. Then learned the 'Sumo Deadlift High Pull'. Goes like this: take a wide stance, stick your butt out, bend your knees, keep your back really straight, look forward, pull up 65lbs (that's what I used anyway), extend your legs / knees / butt all at once and use your arms to pull that baby right up under your chin...sticking your elbows out at the walls..back down.

Then we learned the 'press'. Same bar, but starting at your shoulders push up so the bar is directly above your head. You have to lean your head back out of the way then slide your head back between your arms once the bar is in the air. Opposite on the way down.

Last new movement...I can't remember the name. But you stand a bit in front of the rings, grab the rings and let your self hang. So your body is diagonal to the floor. Then pull yourself up 'til the rings touch your shoulders, down. Let's call these 'Ring Pulls' (I think that might be it anyway).

So the workout...'Dirty 30'. Dirty it was. Holy fuck. Barely made this one.

30 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (65lbs for me)

30 Presses (65lb for me)

30 Kettlebell tosses (stepped it up to 35lbs today)

30 Situps

30 Squats

30 Ring Pulls

OK so...Started off OK. I knew this one was going to destroy me. Not too much thought happening during these. Mostly just thinking about breathing, pacing myself, keeping decent form.

Started out OK. The presses killllled me. Right after those High Pulls my arms were getting really tired. Took some breaks. Same with the KB tosses...arms! shoulders! Those you can use your hips/core so it was a bit easier. Situps...piece of cake as usual. Squats...these weren't bad. Legs are just about recovered from last week. Though the High Pulls tired them out a bit. Ringpulls...not too bad...was realllly tired but I managed to get through them all without stopping. I was sort of generous with myself as far as where I positioned my feet (it makes it more challenging the further in front of the rings you stand).

My time: 10:57

I was the last one to finish. Right after that we went right into 10 sets of 3 pushups. Just for fun I guess. WTF?!?!

Goddamn these were hard. My arms gave out towards the end. I was really struggling. After the workout I was deaddd. Took me a good ten minutes before I stand. Good thing I have power steering...wouldn't have made it home otherwise. Took a long shower and a long ass nap. Still tired.

So if last week was legs, this week seems to be upper body.

I asked the instructor why I was so tired. She checked out my food log and said I'm eating how much she usually eats...on a light day! I'm seriously going to need to take a out a loan or some shit to pay for this diet. It's awesome. I love eating meat, steak, grassfed beed, roasting chickens, wild caught salmon!! it's really awesome actually. I feel like a KILLER!!! Kill me some animals to roast over a firepit! Fuck Yeah! But damn...it is NOT cheap. I guess if there's one thing to spend $ on it's being in good shape. I don't have a beer fund anymore..or really an eating out fund. Maybe I'll start billing people more to finance this little 'fitness' experiment. I *would* be nice if I didn't have to spend 2hrs a day shopping / cooking / cleaning. I think I'm just going to have live w/ that.

But anyway..the solution is...I have to eat more...specifically more fat. 150grams of protein a day and 100 grams of fat. Uh...Do you realize how much that is?! 150g of protein...that's like....4 cans of Salmon. Or (broken into meals) breakfast: 3eggs, chunk of steak, lunch: salad, nuts, can of salmon, dinner: half a small chicken. I *THINK* that gets me to 150. And for fat...well that part is sort of sweet. I get to use lots of olive oil, eat expensive mixed nuts, eat avocados all day long (except we're out of avocado season and the ones at new seasons suck real bad this time of year).

So no more of this "Oh I'm saving that for later" stuff. Time to go the store....

Day 3

Can't really believe it's only my 3rd day. I feel really comfortable there..though I still get the butterflies on the way over. My legs were insanely sore going into today. Those backsquats killed me. They were more tight than sore really. Tightest they've ever been.

Today was good. 400m run and some "inchworms" to warm up. Inworm is basically get down in pushup position, keep your legs straight but walk your feet up then walk your hands out till you're back in pushup position. Do that about 15 times. Really good for stretching your hamstrings I guess. Then a we did some reinforcement stuff of what we learned last time (backsquats w/ pvc pipes for technique/form, and kettlebell tosses). Still getting the hang of those.

Then we learned how to deadlift. I don't know what was up with me...I was sweating like crazy just during the warms up and my legs were barely keeping me up when we were learning the deadlift position. Then we went on to do with with weight. I think they set me and my partner up with 75lbs. Did some of those to practice with weight.

After that we learned box jumps...pretty basic. Jump up..land on two feet. Stand up tall. Jump down.

The workout was 8 minutes. Do as many rounds of 7 deadlifts and 7 box jumps (alternating w/ a partner...so one person does a round, the other does a round, back to the first person). That was good. Really tiring. The box jumps really get the heart going. The deadlifts aren't bad. Really trying to focus on form though. Don't want any bad habits. The bar scraped off the first layer of skin of my left shin. We managed to get 6 rounds each in 8 minutes.

Right after that we went right over to the pullup bars and worked on pullups for the last ten minutes. Action packed class today. Definitely getting my $s worth. Feel pretty good right now. Not too tired. Psyched to have two days off.

Day 2

So today we learned a couple new things: Backsquats and Kettle bell tosses. Nothing crazy here, rest the bar on the right place on your back then do squats. Kettle bell tosses are a little weird...the way the instructor described it was like doing the wave at a ball game. It was a bit awkward, I'll get it though.

So the Workout of the Day (WOD)

10 factorial (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1) of:

Backsquats

Kettle bell tosses

Situps

That's do 10 backsquats, 10 tosses, 10 situps, 9...8...7...etc

Before we started we all figured out what was a good weight for us. I had a 45lb bar and two 10lb weights..so 65lbs. I think I used a 25lb kettle bell but I'm not sure. Could have gone w/ the 36lb but my lower back is a little messed.

This one wasn't that bad. We took it slow and the way it worked was I teamed up with another person...we couldn't start the next activity until they had finished whatever they were working on. This was good for me cause my partner had an extra 10lbs on the squats and the kb. I was faster so I got to take some short 10-15 second rests.

Ends up we didn't finish the workout...the class was running a bit behind. Managed to get to '3' before we called it off (so as not to make all the subsequent classes late). I was sort of bummed about this..we weren't fast but I at least wanted to finish. Felt pretty good leaving...not insanely tired.

Then I got home. Holy shit. I made a solid lunch...bunch of chicken and veggies. Then I passed out for two hours. Awesome sleep. Haven't had a nap that good in a while. My legs are are feeling it bigtime. Inner thighs especially. Going up the stairs into the house was like.."effff".

Pretty tired still. But feeling psyched about Friday. Seeing changes in my body already. I'm sure this diet is helping. As for being a weakling or anything like that...what a stupid thought. They do a great job of scaling all the workouts for everyone so it's not like any one person comes in minutes behind. And if they do you're too busy laying on the mat trying to catch your breath to realize it.

All in all...really happy I'm doing this.

Day 1

Alright so it wasn't that bad. Well..the name game was.

So I got there all suited up...running shorts, new balance shoes, sweet patagonia shirt I scored at Goodwill. Sort of an awkward entry...there was a class going on. No one really knew who was who. So there was a lot of standing around until the instructor said something like 'Hey OnRamp! Over Here!'...and then the name game commenced. Ugg.

There was very little fanfare. We learned some names, and jumped right into some different motions. She showed us what seems will be our daily loosen up routine. Some really simple motions that are embarrassingly difficult to do. Kick your leg like this...push it down w/ your hand...don't kick anyone or any solid metal object...try not to fall over. No real background on this stuff...Basically a game of Simon Says.

After that it was on to how to do squats, situps, pushups, and pullups. Squats sometimes tweak this nerve in my left leg...gotta figure that one out. It's a weird motion..stick your ass way out bend your knees. But use your legs as little as possible...it hasn't really clicked yet. These seem unfair to me..My legs I think are seriously twice as long as my instructors (4'11 tops). So she has to move like a foot and a half. Oh well.

The others are pretty self explanatory...head up looking forward (not at the mat) on pushups. Didn't know that before. All the way down on the situps and all the way up...but roll your back down vertebrae by vertebrae.

Then we learned how to do kipping pullups...goes like this: hang on the bar, squeeze the shit out of your butt (uhh), then push down with your arms and really use your upper abs...this results in a little swing motion that sends you back behind the bar and (since your holding on with your hands) up a couple inches. The 3rd part I don't really have yet. It's something like: throw your hips and up...this gets you a little extra in the up direction. These are actually really sweet and I'm psyched to learn how to do them. Controlling the swing is a bit tricky. Seems like you really need to get a rhythm going and not break it. Once I get it, it'll make pullups way easier on my upper body.

The workout.

So we did the Baseline workout again. Except instead of a row it was a run. So:

400m run

40 squarts

30 situps

20 pushups

10 pullups

I did way way way better this time. Seems like those runs out in forest park really paid off. The instructors ran with us so we got some tips along the way..long strides, knees high, dig into the hill a bit. Happy to have this coaching since I don't know shit about how to run.

The squats were tough after the run, it's really difficult to maintain decent form on these when your legs are fatigued...and form is super important cause if you do them wrong they are pretty taxing.

Situps weren't too bad 30 is pretty easy and your core hasn't really gotten any other use so far.

Pushups I did a lot better on..I think because there was no row this time around. I did 15 quickly then finished off the last five.

Finally the pullups..which totally destroyed me last time. They were still pretty tough. But between cheating a little bit (getting off the bar and hopping up), and using the kipping technique, I managed to finish them pretty quick.

Final time: 6:23! Holy shit. My last time was over 11 minutes. Slightly different workout..so I can't be too happy. But still.

Pretty beat at this point but not nearly as destroyed as last time when I was dizzy, vision blurry, etc. We talked about the Paleo diet very briefly. It goes like this: fist sized portion of protein w/ every meal. 1-1.5lbs of veggies every meal. Some fat (~half avocado) with every meal. Snacks: fruit with 2oz of meat. 1 Gallon of water per day.

Got a google doc last night w/ a ton of recipes. Very happy about that. Now I don't have to spend $20 on a book at powells. Oh we we're supposed to tell them how our poop is. Think I might write an iPhone app for that. "Need to keep track your shit?...there's an app for that"

A little sore..not too bad. Was coughing a lot after...hoping my lungs are getting rid off lots of goo. I go back tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

Almost time

So today's the day. It's been a couple weeks since my 'intro'. I've been trying to get myself into the mindset of "this is going to be fucking hard". I've curbed the drinking quite a bit, stopped bumming cigs, been eating more salads and veggies. I'm hoping I get to do the baseline again to see how I do. I've started running to build up my endurance a bit. Last run I did was pretty good...3 miles in about a half hour. Good for me. I made it 1.5 miles without stopping...pretty happy about that.

But now I'm just nervous. It seems like the whole deal with crossfit is you just push yourself outside your comfort zone...doesn't matter if your out of shape like me or if you're already in great shape. As soon as it starts to feel easier..you make it harder. What the shit. It'll be good. But I'm hesitant at the moment.

Next post should be more interesting. Wish I had finished hooking up my new washer so I didn't have to go to my first day in smelly shorts. Oh well.

My First Baseline

So I went in to Crossfit Portland for my "Free Intro". It was good..informative. I've already read a bunch, talked to them on the phone, and basically decided I want to do this. So there wasn't too much new.

The classes go like this. Get there..do a warm up. Do the Workout of the Day (WOD..and pronounced "wad"). Do some stretching, go home. Ok Cool. Got to see the gym, get a little info about the history of Crossfit. Basically it's about doing a huge variety of things for overall fitness; specializing as little as possible. Which is really what our bodies are designed for. Sounds good to me. Plus I'm pretty into the whole minimalist style..lifting shit, dragging shit, throwing, pulling, pushing. Makes me feel very primal and someday, I'm hoping, very badass.

Everyone was really friendly. I immediately felt welcome and comfortable there. So that's cool considering I'm going to be exhibiting my lack of physical conditioning in front of a bunch of other people on a regular basis. It's a very supportive and encouraging environment. But with enough pressure to really make you want to push yourself and do better.

So I did the Baseline Workout. That is:

500M row

40 Squats

30 Situps

20 Pushups

10 Pullups

My times:

Row - 2:00

Squats - 3:40

Situps - 4:34

Pushups - 5:47

Pullups - 11:12

The row was cake. I'm 6'3..that's supposed to help. Started getting pretty tired on the Squats 40 is a lot. The situps were easy. I got about half way through the pushups and then my arms started to feel like jello. Took a couple breaks and finished them. The pullups, which are my strong suit since I've bouldered decent amount, were fucking impossible. I did two. 2! Before I needed to rest. I did the final 8 over the next 5 minutes. I could probably stand to lose 10lbs. And my endurance sucks. My instructor thinks I might be able to get this time down under 5 minutes after the month long, 12 session, On Ramp program. I'll keep you posted.