Sucess as a coach, again.

So we had a little in-house hopper challenge here at CFOT this past Saturday, and it was pretty cool. It is apparent that I really do need to get stronger, which I'm ok with because I'm def going in that direction. The first WOD had heavy thrusters at 135#, and in the warm up I couldn't get two in a row, so I scaled the weight back. I think it was a good call, because I still struggled with them anyway and got an ok time. But my performance isn't really what I want to talk about (although I felt like I should mention it). What I'd like to talk about is how I've helped a fellow CFer, Joe.

Joe was the one person that showed up this last Thursday where we worked on the clean. Joe was pulling the weight up with his arms, so I worked on getting him to feel the bar become weightless before pulling with his arms. Near the end we had a bit of a breakthrough, and both of us walked away happy.

Now fast forward to the hopper on Saturday. The last wod was a strength wod: 1 rep clean max. I only got up to 200#, 5#'s less then the PR I set earlier in the week. Meanwhile, Joe gets a 40 POUND PR OF 215!!! It really is starting to click for him, he's starting to jump the weight up instead of pulling the weight up, and it's really paying off. Now if only he knew that the student shouldn't surpass the teacher....

He had the biggest grin on his face, was totally stoked. It reminded me of the happiest day of my life, and I found myself smiling as well. It was definitely a coaches high, seeing someone I've worked with succeed beyond what they thought possible. I mean, ten bucks says Joe will now look forward to WOD's with cleans, whereas he used to dread them. It was very fulfilling to see that I could help some one as much as I have, and it is nice to be validated that I am in fact as good of a coach as I think I am. Seeing Joe that happy though was awesome, it looked like he felt like he could conquer the world, and that's what I want people to realize: if they're willing to work on their weaknesses, they can do anything they want

Getting stronger, class evolving.

So yesterday we found our one rep clean max, and I got up to 205#, a 10# PR. This was awesome, I'm starting to find that part of me that says, "this is going to be hard, but you're going to do it." And I did.

I have no squat in my clean, it is all power. This is something I need to work on to get even heavier weight. Of course, I need to work on my front squat for that as well.

The other day we worked on deadlift, and Mike Snyder of Crossfit Slayer helped me out bigtime. Honestly I am still just figuring out how to tighten up my core. With his help I made a lot of headway, I only got up to 295 and backed down to 275, but near the end I was looking "rock solid."

I am just beginning to figure out my core. I know I keep saying this, but that's because every time I reach a new level I realize how much I don't know/have to go. Now that I'm getting a solid deadlift though, I feel like I've made a major breakthrough.

Makes me want to grease the groove everyday now.

Concerning the class, there has been a decline in attendance. For the people that attend, a lot of progress has been made. Last week I got Maggie to do her first double under ever, even after she told me that it was impossible for her to do one. However, I'm now down to two, maybe one person showing up. Like I said, I think I'm putting out a quality product. People who've attended my class have had a lot of success, but because attendance is voluntary I'm completely at the mercy of whether people want to work on their squat/pull-up/clean or not.

Jerry and I are going to rethink this and see if this needs any retooling. Because of the holidays there hasn't been many new people, and people are enjoying the holidays over learning about the deadlift.

...The other day I saw someone doing dumb bell cleans and were pulling early with their arms. I just reacted and said, "Jump before you bend your arms." Short, simple, and sweet. And, more importantly, it worked.

Updated blog a bit

So I looked at my blog and realized a lot has changed since I last worked on the layout. Roughly three of my cf friends stopped blogging, so I dropped them from my link list. I've also added the paleo/primal blogs to my diet section, as well as KStar's mobility wod blog.

I think it kind of represents the changes I've gone through over the past year, with regards to learning about diet and mobility. This time last year I was just starting to realize how tight my hips were, and had changed so much people didn't recognize me, and was weighing about 23#s heavier then I am now (195#).

What a difference a year makes.

Paleo for reals now

So with Thanksgiving I was gone for basically a week, during which I only xfitted twice (got to do Randy: 7:23) and had very, very poor diet. I am a little sad to say that this put me in a bit of a funk in a time when I should be happy, but it's hard to stay paleo when you're living in a house that is very pro grains and dairy.

So it's the holiday season, and while everyone expects to get a little fatter my plan is to start losing some and really eat paleo. I eat very close to paleo, but I still have some sprinkles of cheese in my salad, stuff like that. Guess it's more primal really. Anyways, I found out that there's this company, Catalyst Meals, that makes paleo meals, lunch and dinner, for you. I ordered a weeks worth of lunches and dinners, and picked them up over at Trident Crossfit (currently their only drop off location) on Monday. I've already started the process in trying to get them to make Old Town a drop off location as well.

So far I've had two days worth of meals, and I'm quite happy with them. I'd say the biggest difference I've noticed is the portion size. They say they start with four blocks of protein and go from there. Although they aren't truly zone, they try to approximate it. They seem a bit smaller than what I'm used to, but it makes me wonder if I've been over eating. I measure out my food, I really do, but their meals just seem smaller. Although they are smaller, I still find them filling, but it really requires me to get my snacks in.

Will continue to update as this goes along.

Last Hopper WOD

So it's now Sunday, and it's time for the fourth and final (for me) WOD of the day. I worked out three times yesterday, more than I worked out in the past two weeks, and my body is sore. However, the soreness is really in my traps and some in my quads, muscles I know I can push through. ...On a side note I wore the shirt I got from competing in last year's hopper, and for some reason everyone else did too. Weird how we all got the memo.

They draw from the hopper, and this is what they come up with:
AMRAP 7 minutes
5 push jerk @135#
12 KB swings @53#
7 burbees

Nothing impossible, I can definitely do this. And then there was a bonus incentive.

At that time I was ranked 67th, and before the workout my girlfriend Kristin turned to me and said, "if you move up to 62nd, I'll do crossfit for a month".

Now, Kristin doing crossfit has been a dream of mine since I started. I feel that if she experienced the wonders that is crossfit it would help her out in the same way it helped me and everyone else out. ...I don't think there could have been a stronger incentive for me to push myself to the limits.

So in 3, 2, 1 the WOD starts. I clean the weight and begin push jerking it. I'm not realy having any issues, and I move on to the Kb swings. They're not hard in the least since I'm used to heavier weight, but they take a long time since my arms are much longer than most. Need to figure out a way to increase the speed of them. Anyway the burbees weren't really a problem , although they weren't fun either.

As I get to the third round, my legs start to quiver when I hold the weight for the jerk. I drop the bar at least once, but I get it back up right away. I want Kristin to crossfit, more than pretty much anything else in the world, and I'm not about to let a silly little 135# get in the way of that. I'm never stopping, but I'm slowing down a lot. My muscles are just not quickly responding, no matter how much I tell them to hurry up. With the burpees, I find a place of pain that I've rarely reached, and I go further. I know with the burpees it's not a strength thing, it's a determination thing; and I am going to grit this one out. I close my eyes with the burpees, and just wince through it. Sadly though, I don't get to finish my fourth round. I end up with about three and a half rounds, and I know it's not enough to reach 62nd.

So I'm lying on the ground, telling myself, "I've failed" over and over. Who knows when the next time Kristin will offer up a chance to crossfit, I had an opportunity and I couldn't take advantage of it. While I was lying there, some random guy came over and helped me up, telling me not to finish like that, to finish strong and don't let the wod get the best of you. ...It kind of annoyed me, who was he to tell me anything about how to work out. But he was right in that I was lying there focusing on the negative, and that's not the way to go.

So my three and a half rounds were good enough for 70th place. Obviously, 70th doesn't help me get to 62nd, it sets me back for a final finish of 69th. But I felt so much better throughout this competition. I actually had fun doing this! I didn't crush the WODs, but I didn't let them crush me like last time either, so I'm very happy with the improvement. I had my doubts going in to this competition, I was afraid that it would expose me to be the weaking that I am, but instead I had a fun time finding new places in my mind, and had a great time with the other people of CFOT. In the end, I'm really, really glad that I did this, I think it brings a lot more to my experience as a crossfitter, and really helps me out as a coach.

This was so enjoyable that I have already signed up for another crossfit competition, Superfit in Charlottesville, VA. Hopefully this time I won't have bronchitis right before the competition, and I'll really get a chance to train.

Hopper Wod #3

Again, I'm worried that the upcoming WOD will be something I can't do, that it will destroy me. Turns out it'll be a couplet of rowing 500m and then 44 double unders once through.

Awesome.

I can do both of these things, and since my PR is 42 DU's it's actually possible for me to really nail this. So I warm up with DU's, and it's still kind of hit or miss. I can get 20 in a row, or I can't get one. But as I keep doing them, I get more and more consistent. I don't really warm up on the rower, I figure I'm familiar with it enough so that I can just hop on and take off. I also tell myself that the last thing I need to do in the WOD is panick, that if I stay calm my DU's will come and it'll be a lot faster.

Since I'm near the bottom of the pack, I don't have much time to warm up and before I know it it's time to shine. I meet my judge and she tells me to only strap one foot into the rower, and to trust her since she rowed competitively. I do as she suggested, and in 3, 2, 1 the WOD starts.

I start rowing, and immediately my quads are telling me to stop. Obviously I tell them to shut up, but unfortunately I don't tell my judge the same when she keeps trying to give me pointers. I know that my rowing technique is off, but competition is not the time or place to tweak my stroke. Her "tips" are a little hard to tune out, so I think it slows me down to a 1:48 time. I get off and grab the rope.

Surprisingly, it's a very surreal experience. I kind of feel like floating, and the DU's feel very smooth. However I do hit a snag every once in a while. I calmly step over the rope each time, and start over. I think I had to restart maybe three times. All in all my time is 2:53, 51st over all and by far my best performance of the day. Finally there was something, double unders, that I could do that some other competitors could not. There were seven competitors who couldn't finish this wod in the 5 minute time limit, and although I know how frustrating that can be I also know for a fact that DU's are simply a product of how much time you've spent working on them. It's not a strength thing, it's all technique and practice.

I feel pretty decent about my performace. I know that if this WOD had showed up last year I wouldn't have been able to finish it, so I take heart in the gains that I've made over the course of the past year.

Hopper Wod 2

So I'm excited now, and they announce that the second wod is going to be a heavy lift, AMRAP for 3 minuted. They pull the ball out of the hopper and it's... Back squat of 225.

I'm a little scared now, as 225# is my 3 rep max with chains and I'm not sure how that translates to 225 without chains. I'm up and it's go time. I figure it would be better to do sets of 2 reps than try to do more and wear myself out early. I think I did a pretty good job of finding my max set because on my tenth rep (with :40 to go) I went down, got back up, and then went back down. I'm stuck, grit my teeth, and get about halfway up. Then I start to fall forward a bit as I rock forward to use my quads. I lose my balance and let go of the bar to catch myself. So now I'm pancaked with 225 resting on my back. It's a bit uncomfortable to say the least.

The judge freaks out a bit and helps by rolling the bar off my back. Again it didn't tickle but I didn't feel anything tear or break. I'm good to go, but I'm done for the WOD. I only get 9 reps, which is pretty weak compared to the rest of the pack. This is def motivation for me to continue on getting stronger.