10/14/2015

AM
6-8 sets easy:
:60 row
:60 front leaning rest on ground
:60 airdyne
:30/side plank
2x[:10 double unders + :20 single unders]

PM
A. Snatch pull, 3x1 @185; 2:00 rest
B. 1-arm DB row w/straps, 3x5-8/arm, 21x1; :45 between arms
+
5 sets @high effort
5 deadlifts, 205
200m run
35 double unders
2:00 walk rest
+
Not for time:
1500m row cool down

AM
Same Z1 session from yesterday, wanted to get some extra mobility in

PM
A. complete
B. 35-40-45
+
1:37
1:37
1:36
1:37
1:38
+
complete


Good session today!

Snatch pulls were heavy but still got pretty high. 

DB rows felt pretty good. 

I enjoyed the deadlift/run piece. Deadlifts were super easy. Breathing still wasn't great but better than normal lately. All double unders unbroken. 

10/13/2015

AM
4 sets of:
6:00 bike easy
3:00 Balza rehab pieces of choice

PM
A. Back squat, 3-3-2-2-1-1, 20x1; 3:00
+
For 15:00
:90- 12-15 scap push ups
:90- 1 double overhand axle deadlift + :10 static hold @top, 180
+
800m cool down walk

AM
complete

PM
A. 195-205-215-225-253-245
+
complete
170 on the axle DL
+
complete


My knee was still bothering me today, I'm not sure what the deal is. There's no pain when I squat but it still feels really unstable in the knee cap. I kept the back squats light today just to be on the safe side until I can see Balza or Pete. 

Stephen cut the pistols from my EMOM so I just did scap push ups and axle deadlifts, starting every :90 instead of every minute. Scap push ups were easy, axle deadlifts were really tough. I could barely hold on today and I could only do 170. I tried picking up 180 but I could barely pull it off the ground, my hands just could not get a good grip on the bar. During the deadlift hold the bar felt like it was slipping out of my hands, which is weird because I did the same weight last week and it was fine. I couldn't even hold it on the last rep so Stephen told me to use a mix-grip and end on a good note. 

I have an appointment with Balza tomorrow, I'm really hoping he clears me to go overhead. My shoulder feels completely fine and I feel like I need to start testing it out a bit more. I'm also going to ask him about my knee and see what's up with that. I just want to be healthy and go back to my normal training volume! 

10/12/2015

AM
30:00 airdyne @Z1

PM
A. Standing broad jump, build to a max in 3 attempts after warm up
B. Power clean, build to a max for the day
+
10:00 @80%
75 double unders
15 glute-ham sit ups
200m run
+
3 rounds not for time:
20 band pull aparts, same band as last week
10-15 moderate reverse hypers

AM
complete

PM
A. 7'2"
B. 205 (210 Fx1)
+
complete
+
complete
55#/side for RH


Meh, today was decent. 

I did the best I could on the broad jump. I think I really need to watch some technique videos because I was basically just guessing on how to do it correctly. I know my number is pretty pathetic, I need to work on this more. 

Power clean was easy up to 205, although I caught it a bit low. I loaded the bar to 210 but it was basically just a pull, it got nowhere near my chest. 

Double unders were unbroken for the first two rounds, I tripped up at 65 on the third round. GHD sit ups surprisingly weren't that bad, I don't really get dizzy on these anymore, these were definitely not as terrible as they were during regionals practice. My breathing was not great on this.

I started having a weird feeling in my right knee this morning. I thought it would go away by the afternoon but I definitely noticed it during my PM session. There isn't any pain, it just feels like my right knee keeps locking up and isn't very stable. Like, I wouldn't be comfortable split jerking right now and putting pressure on the right leg. I also felt like my hips were unbalanced, I asked Heather and Pat if my right hip looked higher and both of them said they could actually see my right hip was higher than my left. I'm guessing this is contributing to my knee issue. I'm going to make an appointment with Pete for the end of the week. 

Patience & Consistency: Things I learned on the road of improvement

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out"

For those of you who don't know, I coach classes at three different gyms. Being a coach is the best job in the world, I love it so much and I look forward to coaching my classes every day. I am always inspired by my athletes and I really enjoying helping them reach their fitness goals. 

A lot of people are now "regulars" and have been coming to class for quite awhile. There are a few people who I've been coaching for almost two years now. We also have new people joining the gym every month, which is awesome. I love when new people come into the classes because it's always enjoyable coaching someone through the basics of CrossFit and watching them get excited when things start to "click" during a lift or skill work. 

I've definitely seen a trend with some of the new athletes that join the classes over the years and I guess that's why I was inspired to write this post. I noticed some people tend to get discouraged when they're the "new" person in class. As I'm explaining the basics of a snatch to someone or putting someone through an assessment, I hear things like "this is embarrassing, I can barely do push ups" or "I feel like I'm never going to get this." They see more experienced athletes in the class lifting more weight or doing muscle ups and get discouraged because they're not there yet. I've noticed some people are always so quick to feel bad about themselves when they first start CrossFit, even though most of them are doing movements they've never done in their life. 

I always have to remind people that almost everyone started the same way. Almost every single athlete that I'm now coaching walked into the gym at one point and knew almost nothing about CrossFit and the movements that go along with it. There are always a few people who have an athletic background and can already do pull ups or have solid aerobic capacity, but for the most part we all started from ground zero. In fact, I am one of the biggest examples of literally starting from nothing and putting in the time and effort to ensure improvement, and I always share this story with my athletes when they get frustrated. 

First, let's all take a trip down memory lane.......

This was me in the summer of 2010. Bad hair and baggy clothes aside, I was in terrible shape. I was overweight and had exactly zero self-confidence. My dad dragged me to a CrossFit class in the park while I was home from college because he recognized that I needed to get in shape and get healthy. My first CrossFit workout consisted of all the basic movements- step ups, push ups, sit ups, and lunges. I fucking hated it. I could barely do any of it. I did the push ups on my knees, I had to do the step ups on the smallest of steps, and I was extremely winded and ready to quit two minutes into the workout. I remember constantly asking the coach if we were close to being finished. We did lunges with a PVC pipe and I could barely hold it overhead. I was sore for a week, I could barely bend over and tie my shoes. It was the actual worst. It made me realize how out of shape I was, and I decided to make a change and started coming to classes four or five times a week. 

And now, let us fast forward to the summer of 2015.....

This is me 5 years later with my awesome team at the 2015 Central Regional. I am a completely different person than the chick in the first picture. I have so much more confidence and I am a lot stronger, both mentally and physically. If I could back in time and tell my out of shape self that in five years I would be competing at the regional level, I wouldn't have believed it. No way. I've done things over the past few years that I never thought I would be able to do. There's really no secret to getting better, I basically just did three things:

I stuck to one program. I listened to my coach. I trained consistently. 

That's it. There's really no secret formula to improving and reaching your goals. You just have to put in the work and you have to do it every day. 

I always like to sort my thoughts into list format, so here are a few things I've learned over the years as an athlete who was once starting from scratch: 

1. Don't bounce around between programs

If you're constantly jumping between different programs, chances are it will take you a lot longer to reach your goals. Choose a program that works for you and stick with it. Each day is part of a bigger plan to help you get where you need to be. If you're going between three different programs because you're just doing what you "feel like" doing, you're not going to get any better and you definitely won't be hammering your weaknesses as much as you need to. Your programming should be small pieces that fit together to form a bigger picture. Talk with your coach and decide what is best for you. It might be the classes, the competition track, or even individualized programming. Whatever it is, stick with it. You will see more progress if you're patient and follow one program. 

2. Write everything down. Seriously, everything.

I have been keeping a blog of all my workouts since February 2013. Writing down all of your workouts and PRs is a great way to see just how far you've progressed over the years. Here's something I wrote in my blog from September 2013:

"The muscle ups felt awesome today! I am getting a lot more comfortable stringing them together, I didn't have any misses, they are getting a lot smoother and faster. Yay! Hopefully I'll be able to string three together soon"

Now here's a post from June 2014:

"My muscle ups are feeling so much easier lately, I was really happy that I was able to string 5 together for 5 out of 6 rounds. Now I just need to learn how to breathe during longer sets of MUs"

And now a post from January 2015:

"Muscle ups were EASY, my PR is 8 in a row, and for a moment I thought I would be able to hit 9"

Writing everything down helps you see progress over time. It's very easy to get discouraged on a bad training day, and when things aren't going well I tend to look back at old posts just to see how far I've come in the past few years. It's important to look at the bigger picture instead of day to day. Maybe you're getting frustrated because you're having trouble stringing more than six pull ups together, but if you look in your notebook you'll realize you couldn't even do a single pull up one year ago. It's all about the journey and seeing how far you've come. If you're a new athlete starting CrossFit, go buy a notebook and start writing down every workout from now on. 

Writing everything down is also important going week to week. If Stephen gives me 1-arm DB row, 3x8-10/arm, and this week I have 1-arm DB row, 3x6-8/arm, I'm going to have to look back at last week so I know where I ended last week and where to start this week. It's very important to my training so I can stay consistent and increase the weight correctly. 

Just write it all down man. 

3. Train consistently
My training really improved when I started sticking with a schedule and began training five days a week. It's hard to improve and get stronger when you're skipping training days. Your programming is a specific long-term plan, and if you come for a few weeks and then disappear for a few weeks you probably won't see much improvement. Make a schedule and stick with it. This is probably the most important thing. If you want to get better at something, you have to do it every day. This was ingrained in my brain when I was a jazz studies major at college. My college experience was a lot like my CrossFit experience. When I first showed up as a freshman, I basically sucked at jazz trumpet. My professors told me the only way I would get better was to practice. Every day. So that's what I did. I practiced for hours every day, and by the time I graduated I had a lot more confidence in my playing ability, my sound was bigger, and I was a lot better. You just have to come in and put in the work, and you have to do it on a regular basis. 

Here's me playing at a jazz club as a timid freshman

Here's me playing jazz with my pals at my senior recital

4. Be patient
CrossFit can be very frustrating. Sometimes there are days when shit is just not going well and things don't make sense. The important thing is to just stick with it and see it through. Progress isn't going to happen overnight, but six months from now you'll look back at your old numbers and realize just how much you've improved. The same thing will happen a year from now. Put in the time, listen to your coaches, and be patient. You have to look at it as a journey, really. That's the way I see it. I've been doing this for six years and I still have a long way to go, but I'm proud of how far I've come. I'm proud of how far everyone has come. I've seen athletes walk into the gym that couldn't do pull ups and now they're stringing bar muscle ups together. I've seen females that never thought of themselves as strong and now they can do handstand push ups and front squat 180. Progress will come if you stick with it and have patience. It worked for me and I know it can work for you. 

So I guess the point of this entire blog post is: be proud and be patient. Be proud of yourself for taking your fitness into your own hands and for putting in the time and effort to get better. Be patient with your training and improvement will come. Set goals for yourself and always have fun. 

That's all I got. 

10/11/2015

Long, unplugged hike

60 min complete @Ault Park 

10/10/2015

A. Squat clean clusters, 5x1.1 moderate/tough, :10 between singles, 2:30 rest
B. 1&1/4 front squats, 1-1-1-1-1; 2:30 rest
C. Weighted glute-ham raises, 3x4-6, 20x1; :90 rest
+
Not for time:
800m sled drag, moderate

A. 160-170-180-190-200
B. 190-200-210-220-225 (then hit a 235 front squat PR, just for fun)
C. complete w/12#
+
complete w/90# on sled


Another good day of training! 

Squat cleans were SO MUCH BETTER than last Saturday. Last week was definitely a result of bad diet, travel, and lack of sleep. These were much easier today. I worked up to 200 and both reps were pretty easy, here's the video. I can definitely go heavier. 

Front squats felt great today! I worked up to 225 and it's only 5 pounds under my front squat PR so I went for 235 because I knew I could hit a PR. And I did. And it was easy. Here's the video. I went for 245 because 235 was so easy but I failed it. I know I could at least hit 240, I can get it next time. 

Weighted glute-ham raises were fine, these are getting better. Stuck with 12# for all sets.

Sled drag was decent, I just don't care for these very much. Luckily, Heather was a good bro and did the sled drag with me so time went by much faster. 

10/9/2015

AM
4 rounds easy of:
3:00 airdyne
3:00 row
3:00 mobility work of choice, include anything Balza gave you

PM
A. Clean pull, 1-1-1-1 @230; 2:00 rest
B. Snatch-grip deadlift, build to a heavy triple, 31x1
C. Sled drag, 6x30m very heavy grind indoors; :90 rest
+
4 sets:
400m run @same pace as last week
2:00 rest

AM
complete

PM
A. complete
B. 185
C. complete w/220# on sled
+
1:29
1:29
1:30
1:30


Pretty solid day!

Clean pulls were a lot better than two weeks ago, I took more time to build up to working weight and I was able to get the bar a lot higher on the pulls. 

Snatch grip deadlifts were easy, I mostly just called it because my thumbs were on fire. 185 was relatively tough-ish, the tempo got a bit spicy on the third rep. I'm definitely enjoying all the snatch deadlifts/snatch pulls, it's building my confidence for the moment when I can finally pull the bar off the ground and go overhead. 

Sled drag was also better than two weeks ago, not sure why. I was able to move the sled a lot more efficiently today. 

400m repeats were pretty terrible. Dammit. I felt so heavy and my legs felt like they had been dipped in concrete. I was so winded after just the first run. I hate that. I definitely don't feel as lean/light as I did a few weeks ago. I've basically just come to accept the fact that I'm going to be on the heavy side until I can go overhead again and my volume gets back to normal.