Rest Day(s)

So after a full week push of working out and eating healthy, I hit a road bump.  A weekend.  I justified Saturday and Sunday as rest days to let my body heal from the damage I might have inflicted on it but promised my self that Monday I would be back on the workout train to fitness.

Well today is Tuesday and there is a Monday post missing.  Tonight will be different.  Somewhere between changing my breaks and talking to Jakes dad about welding the pull up bar for the basement I will make sure I work out.

Friday Night Strength

Elm City Crossfit today had a strength day, while I think on the press I did really push myself, I am lacking in weight to do a deadlift justice.  Over all it was a nice quick WOD to lead into a P90X stretch routine.  Having done plenty damage to my body over the past week of balls to the wall, it was nice to treat my muscles a bit.

Completed WOD:

• 8 Deadlifts @135
• 6 Deadlifts @185
• 4 Deadlifts @215
• 8 Overhead Press @75
• 6 Overhead Press @95
• 4 Overhead Press @115 (the last one needed to be a jerk)

Eaten Food:

Today was a cheat day.  As great as it tasted, I could feel it sink like a stone in my stomach.

Workout Friends

It is always great when friend join you for workouts.  The monotone get it done workout has become the norm all to much.  Slapping a high five as you pass each other on the run may not seem like a lot, but it lifts the spirits enough to conquering the WOD instead of getting it done.  Thanks Danielle for dropping by.

Need less to say, between the morning P90x and the evening Elm City WOD, I am barely going to be able to walk to the stairs in the morning.  I queued P90x Stretch workout to hopefully finish downloading by tomorrow.  See how that goes, but with out a good stretch I will be miserable tomorrow.

Completed WOD:

Reps: 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 2 min Rest - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2

• P.Snatch @ ½ BW
• Pull-up

200m Run after each set

Eaten Food:

Again today wasn’t perfect, with my helping of redbull after lunch, over all I eat pretty clean today.  Opted to pass on dinner.

 

P90x & P90x+

For a while now I have been entertained by the idea of p90x but have been shying away because of the lack of set up to do this type of workout.  Well with the new basement gym, I finally got around to starting the download for the videos.

The idea is that while it is cold and dark outside I am not going to manage to really get out of my house to work out in the mornings, this is the view of realism.  But I might have enough gumption mustered to get out of bed and walk downstairs.  While I could probably do the Crossfit WODs in the morning, following some one on a computer monitor requires no real active thought and gets the blood flowing.

So I grabbed the p90x, p90x+, and Insanity and this morning none of the p90x workouts finished downloading but one of the p90x + workouts was done,  Kenpo Cardio.  Described on their website as:

This advanced-level Kenpo, with new moves, will shred the most stubborn layer of fat with an all-out self-defense workout that builds stamina, balance, and agility.

I felt pretty silly kicking and jumping around in my basement, but I did break decent sweat and can feel the work out in my let.  I think as I learn these moves and become more comfortable with them the effectiveness of the work out will also improve.  I am however feeling it in the legs, which could be from the squat jumps last night, but none the less.  Over all it was kind of fun.  I can see how this done on a regular bases can improve your fitness level and doing all the high kicks will probably be pretty good for flexibility.  I think I will pick and choose some of these workouts and put them into my own schedule to work with the Crossfit WODs in the evenings.

Completed Morning WOD:

Kenpo Cardio

A Solid Workout

Today my hat come off to Elm City Crossfit, their WOD today was great.  Quick and to the point and only taking 12 or so minutes all together, but extremely intense even with the n00b modification.   Thank you guys for coming up with that.

Beside the Redbull, my diet had been relatively clean, and right now I am feeling a strong craving for carbs.  Just need to get past this week. And cut the redbull out.

Completed WOD:

5 Round of On the minute

• 2 Hang Power Clean & Jerk @105lb
• Handstand until the next set

2 Minute recovery

5 Round for time

• 3 Overhead Squats @PVC pipe
• 10 Squat jumps
  

Eaten Food:

Getting it done

One day at a time.

Due to missing equipment in my basement I had to break out and make my own work out.  I decided to focus on the deadlift to restore strength to my core.

Completed WOD:

3 Round for time

• 10 Deadlifts @185
• 10 Pushups
• 10 Situps

20 Kettlebell Swings

30 Minutes of Yoga

Eaten Food:

Broken streak

Well it has been almost 3 weeks since I last worked out.  Thanksgiving came and went, and so did any ambition to work out.  I blamed the cold, then the strange feeling in my foot, working on the house, working on work stuff.  At the end of the day they are all just excuses.  Today the excuses stop,  If it is too cold well maybe I should move to my basement.

This month gym investment was the floor mats, which were rather nice to work out on and provided some great insulation from the floor.  It was nice to work out barefoot again.

Even eat properly for the most part.  Redbull, I will kick you to the curb like bad girlfriend one of these days, hell, quilting smoking cigarettes was easer.

Completed WOD:

On the min for 5 min:

• 5x Squat clean @ 65% of max (@65)

2min REST

On the min for 1 min each

• FS w/the squat clean weight (12 @65)
• Tuck Jumps (39)
• Sit-ups  (22)

Eaten Food:

Weekend Confession

Well, so much for a solid push.  Tuesday was the last day I had worked out and it has been even longer since I kept up with my diet.  a hell of a summary for week 3 right?  Last time I had done this, by week 3 I had lost some 10 + pounds and was honing in on my routine.

Tomorrow the push begins again.  Goals for the week.  Workout at least 5 times and keep at 80/20 paleo ratio.

Results

Weight: 207

Backlog Workout Post

Completed Wod:

2 Rounds

• 10 Power Snatches @65lb
• 20 Kettlebell Swings @20lb
• 30 Box Jumps

Quickie before Play

So for the past 2 days my room mate and I have been playing a massive game of A&A and therefore the diet and working out have taken a bit of a toll. It is hard to eat well when you spend the entire day sitting around looking over a board.  And even harder to muster motivation to work out.  We will be continuing the game shortly, but today I did squeeze in quick workout.  That isn’t to say this workout didn’t kick my ass.

My diet has been pretty poor, but it should be looking up as the week progresses.

Completed WOD:

Death By Clean & Jerk @95lb (Got though 7 1/2 rounds)

4 Round

• 100m Run
• 10 Squats

Birthday Workout

Elm City Crossfit, the gym I follow for most of the workout had a very special workout today.  It was the birthday of the daughter of one of the coaches and since her name matches one of the crossfit ladies.  Well today was Annabel.

On side note my diet needed a bit of tiding up.  With thanks giving this week, keeping paleo was pretty hard.  Although as of today for lunch I think I am back into the diet.

Completed WOD:

600m Run  (scaled from 800)

10!

• Deadlift @155 (scaled from 200/ bodyweight)
• Box jumps
• Pull ups

600m Run

Thanksgiving Day Flop

Well after Monday and Tuesday I needed a rest day, and took one with a full intention to work out on Thursday before going to the family dinner.  Well my dedication to workout is apparently not as strong as I had hoped.  Thursday was a flop.

I did muster the gumption for this morning and a hell of a work out it was.  My back is defiantly feeling the “pain” today.

Completed WOD:

21, 15, 9

• Deadlift @ 145
• Hand Stand Push Up (modified to pike)

Sore

Yesterday, Willies and I did the Zombie fit warm up with puts a hurting on you if you aren’t used to it. 

3 Times

• 10 pull ups
• 10 push ups
• 10 Squats

This didn’t make todays work out pleasant.  The 30 of pull ups from Yesterday made Fran hell today.

Completed WOD:

21, 15 , 9

• Squat Thrusters @45
• Pullups

Working And Friends

The biggest problem with the home gym is the very regular workout on your own.  Dom, who is now my room mate comes out and works out every now and then, but my solid push for working out as much as possible leaves me with a gap and a lot of lonely workouts.

Willies, is the most motivating person I know. It is his direct influence which slowed down my fall from fitness over the summer and created a solid base for the home gym. Following ZombieFit over the summer turned out to be lot of fun and since willies and I were fairly close in our levels of fitness it became very competitive.

Well Willies dropped by and work out today.  Sadly I have been un able to get willies to work with weight, but working out together made the work out go by quickly, event the full length ZombieFit warm-up.  Hopefully we will be by more often.

Completed WOD

Warm-up

• 1/4 Mile Run
• 3 Round of
• 10 Pull-ups
• 10 Push-ups
• 10 Squats

WOD

• 50 Knees to Elbows
• 1, 1, 1  Front Squat @125
• 1, 1, 1 Dead Lift @215

The Weekly Recap

A solid week.  Well half solid.  One of goals for this week included waking up and doing Endurance WODs, and that was a complete flop.  I woke up early enough to go on Monday, but simple didn’t have the gumption or resolve.  And then came the 2 days of sick which broke the back of this goal. 

The second goal was to eat 80/20 paleo. A success noticeable by the drop in weight, and the rise of energy levels.  I had some none paleo snacks (chocolate) on Monday and had some beer Friday.  Finally today I had some chocolate and some potato chips with lunch.  Besides that the rest of the food I ate this week was paleo.  Well as paleo as I am willing to go right now.  I am still eating cheese.

As far as working out, today is a rest day.  The next couple of day is going

Results

Weight: 202.2

Goals for Next Week

• Kepp going with 80/20 Paleo
• Add at least 2 endurance morning WODs.  (Maybe this week?  Tuesday?)

Motivation = Empty Tank

Elm City Crossfit was closed today, and therefore there was no posted WOD.  In turn I found it very difficult to work out today,  Oh I know there are plenty of other workouts to pick from.

• Crossfit.com
• ZombieFit.org
• Any of the Crossfit affiliates

But that required some motivation which I was clearly lacking this afternoon.  I eventually settled on doing a custom WOD, which actually changed mid way though the set when I realized I didn’t have the endurance I thought I had.  The original work out was 4 x 100 m Overhead Walking Lunge, this turned to 50s.  But to cover my slack, I added some sprints to the end.  A little ZombieFit influence.

Even though I have not posted much this week, I have been pretty on point with my diet and have only had 2 cheat meals.  Well, Monday I had some left chocolate with my paleo lunch, that was my first cheat, and last night after a paleo dinner, I found myself drinking a couple of beers at a barn dance.  So two minor cheats, and the weight shows as I have almost gotten back under 200.

Completed WOD:

4 Rounds

• 50m Overhead Walking Lunge @25lb
• 10 Plate Burpies @25lb

4x 100m Sprints, walk back for rest.

Friday Quickie

Didn’t work out the last two days because of being sick, but today even though the remnants of the cold are still with me it was time to step it up and work out.

The good news is that even though I have missed the last two days of because of being sick, I didn’t sacrifice my diet this week yet.  While I might be eating a lot, all the food has been pretty paleo.

Completed WOD:

7 Round For Time (time not recorded)

• 7 Push Press @ 95lb
• 10 Burpees

Tuesday Backlog

Backlog entry for a missing post

Completed WOD:

15 min As Many Reps As Possible

• 20 Thrusters @45lb
• 200m Run

Shaky start to week two

I got home and feeling sore and sorry for myself I tried to talk myself out of todays WOD.  The 150 or so burpees total didn’t appeal  to me at all, I was kind of scared.  And then the overhead squats.  Something I am not ready for.

It wasn’t even that cold out today, and there is a spring in my step for keeping up with the plan.

On the bright side, I eat pretty paleo all days.  Some bacon eggs and grapefruit for breakfast.  Moms meat cakes (almost paleo) with avocado greens and tomatoes. Dinner I had some salmon, avocado  and cucumber.

Completed WOD:

• 50 Burpees
• 5 Over Head Squats @45
• 50 Burpees
• 5 Front Squat @95
• 50 Burpees
• 5 Front Squats @95

One Week Down

Got lazy and failed to post yesterday, however I did WOD.

• 3x5 Press @ 95
• 3x5 Front Squat @ 95
• 50 Kettlebell Swings

Today: Crossfit.com WOD

12 min AMRAP

• 400m run
• 5 Deadlifts @ 155

I didn’t think I could pull it off but I worked out 6 time this past week.  Which was the goal.  I am sore as hell, but the spirit is strong.

Results

Weight: 211.8

Goals for Next Week

• Start Move to 80/20 Paleo
• Add at least 2 endurance morning WODs.  (Monday, Wednesday, Friday would be great)

Endurance Day

So barefoot running right?  This is what this blog is supposed to be all about, and all I am talking about is how much weight I am putting up or how many pushups are kicking my ass.  Well I am still barefooting it, the pussy way of barefooting it in the Vibrum Five Finger, but “barefooting” it anyways.

Today I took a break from the Crossfit workouts and went for a Crossfit Endurance workout.   In other words speed.  The workout was a Tabata Mile, which is: run for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds until you cover the full distance of a mile (this is sprint every time).   Running barefoot requires that you reteach yourself to run, and what better time then now.  The short sprints give a perfect place to practice proper form while the sets tire you out the short rest lets you take control of your faculties and force proper form though those last sets.  

Over all today was a pretty great workout, and I am pretty happy with a 9:18 on the workout.  Leaving me with an average pace of 6:18 on the workout, faster then my fastest mile time during my running days 2 years ago.  I would have liked it to be under 6 as this should be your mile goal pace.

For the future, it would be nice to get an endurance WOD in before work and then bust out a crossfit WOD at night.  This might be a worthy goal for at least one day next week.  Anyways off to a dinner party (I haven’t quite worked out the diet yet; another thing to work on next week)

Tomorrow I will be WODing it up with a friend up in Stores CT, hopefully I can hold my own against her.

Time to push thru

“Laura Demarco closes her eyes and waits for the 3, 2, 1, GO.
What goes through your mind moments before a WOD?”  - Facebook Crossfit

I came across that post earlier in the day and wondered what, if anything, goes through my mind before I WOD.   Something I realized I never really took notice of.  And even today with the thought going though my mind most of the day, at the moment the clock started, my mind was blank.

Before most workouts I usually think:

• "I know this will hurt”
• “This will be rough”
• “It is cold outside”
• or in the case of yesterday (which turned out to be  rest/sick day) “how much more will my headache echo waves of pain with each pushup or squat I had to do”. 

  Clearly, I am not thinking anything good before I WOD.

After a WOD I have nothing but good thoughts:

• The self gratitude for doing something good for myself. 
• Thoughts about the future, and how great it will be once I get to a decent fitness level.

The pre thoughts don’t look good for the lifestyle change that I am planning, but there is hope as the closest to a thought that I can muster to go though my mind is “Time to push thru”

Completed WOD:

3x (3min AMRAP on: 1 min off)

• 7 Push press
• 5 HP Clean
• 3 SLDL

Started with 95lb, but after the first 3 minutes I dropped the weight to 65lb

Habit Forming

As is well known, the key to a healthy life is not some magic pill or the latest “hand-job improving” shake weight, it is a healthy lifestyle filled with regular exercise and nutrient heavy food.  Which is the reason so many people have a problem with their health.  It is hard to wake up every day and go running or swimming or come home from work and hit the gym on the way.  Pushing through every day where you are just a bit too sore to be excited about the next set of squats you have to do.

For me, staying healthy comes down to one basic principal.  Are the behaviors required for my well being habitual?   Do I get home and rush out to my back yard to do the days WOD?  Do i look for a snack around the house and look for chips or do i look for some fruit?  Do I wake up and do a morning stretch routine?  Currently, the answer to all those questions is no.  But pushing though this first month will hopefully turn that around.

The I am pushing 200 is a strong reminder to get my ass in gear and work out.  It is also a strong call to get my diet under control.  At 27 it is about time i add some good habits to my life.

Yesterdays Workout:  6 Rounds of

• 3 Snatchs @95 (Rx was 115)
• 10 Tuck Jumps

There will be no timing on the workouts for now.  I know it will only make me sad.

Better the expected

Today went a bit better then expected.  As the weather is getting colder, the will to train goes away.  I have to go outside in that weather? Uhh.

I remember when I was a kid, I wanted to go play out in the snow and the rain and any other weather inbetween as long as I was playing in it.  The parents would always through out some reason why it is bad and why they don’t want to go outside.  Always telling me that I will understand when I am older why they care about the weather so much.

But alas I have come to a realization it isn’t age that keeps us from having fun in any weather, I is laziness.  I am too lazy to go work out, so I will cling to the first excuse, it is cold out side, it is wet outside, it is dark outside.  Well good day I say on to you excuse.

Today completed an Elm City Crossfit WOD:

• 10 pullups, 1 Deadlift @ 155 ( the Rx was 185 )
• 9 pullups, 2 Deadlift
• 8 pullups, 3 Deadlift
• 7 pullups, 4 Deadlift
• 6 pullups, 5 Deadlift
• 5 pullups, 6 Deadlift
• 4 pullups, 7 Deadlift
• 3 pullups, 8 Deadlift
• 2 pullups, 9 Deadlift
• 1 pullups, 10 Deadlift

no sell out for me thank you.

I didn’t time myself, but it did take forever, none the less I had picked the weight I was picked and I stuck it out.  Splitting it up into sets of 2 deadlift at a time for the last several sets.  Over all I am pretty happy with the workout and the post workout feeling. 

Dinner Time

.

Starting Pains

Well, any one who has ever flip-flopped between working out and being lazy knows the pain we go through on the way to being in shape.  Yesterday I resumed my struggle with weight control  by starting my first workout in a couple of weeks.  Today i am paying for my lack of fitness. 

The workout called for 3 rounds of

• 400m run
• 25 pullups
• 50 pushups
• 75 squats
• 200m run
• 2 min rest

I completed round of:

• 400m run
• 6 pullups
• 50 pushups
• 75 squats
• 200m run

To say the least, i am embraced in my inability to exercise.   Hopefully today looks  a bit better. Yay dead lifts.

The Cycle

I don’t know what causes me to go thought these cycles, but alas, last week I was at 200lb.  The alarms go off at this weight.  Again, the goal is almost 30lb away. 

I blame part of this on the bachelor life style.  MY room mate moved out and my work out partner became busy with his work.  Between the two, I lost all incentive to work out and eat healthy.  I find it much easier to stay with a work out plan when there is a support group behind you. 

Well.  Tomorrow my new room mate moves in.  Over the past couple of month he has been on track to getting into better shape by eating healthy and working out.  Hopefully this will be the turn around I need.

So the plan:

• Paleo: Grains and sugars have to go. 2 month of 80/20 rule help slim the waist line by 20 pounds last winter.  It’s a pity that red-bull and chips are so tempting while at work.  But no more, come Monday, 80/20 or even better 90/10.  My new room mate is looking to eat healthier as well so it will be pretty great.
• Crossfit: Never in my life have any workouts done so much for me in such little time.  Even though I am at 200lb again, I am actually thinner then I was starting last year, I attribute this to muscle.  I will be switching between different crossfit gyms for different workouts.  5 time a week should be the norm and hopefully push out 6 or 7 once I get into the swing of things.
• Swimming/Running/Yoga: On top of the evening time crossfit workouts I plan on doing some morning exercise.  Going for ECE high intensity training runs, and alternating it with swimming.  As well as evening yoga 3 or 4 times a week to get the flexibility back and prevent injury.

This weekend, is the move the the LAN party so the diet and exercise is waiting till Monday.  I know this is a ambitious outline, but it needs to be done.  The 200lb alarm bell sounds pretty loud in my head.

A nightly update with the log of all the work will be posted here.

Early Morning WOW

I am not a fitness expert, and i don’t plan my own workouts.  So i my fitness plan revolves around finding workouts on the internet.  It is just my luck that plenty of people who know more about exercise freely give out their advice on the internet.  I do usually plan out my own swim practices and my own distance runs, but that doesn’t require much planning really.  Even HIIT workouts i pull from ElmCity Crossfit’s site.

Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple is one of the many people who gactious enough to share his expirance with the world though Work Outs of the Week (WOWs). This morning I finally dragged my lazy, sleepy and tired ass out bed to get a quick morning pick me up work out.   50 meter sprints, some grok crawls or as ZombieFit calls them quadropidals, and walking lunges and squat throw at the end. 8 times over: Only 8 time over, can’t be to bad.  Well i was wrong, by the 3 round i was pretty winded, and by the last set i was feeling pretty beat up.  The WOWs get updated every Monday, and in my a great way to start the day.

Weight update: 188 lb (5 pounds is a lot to drop, but getting back into the swing of Paleo usually leads to a lot of inflammation water weight loss)

Diet

Initially I started this blog for simple reason, the telltale of my switching over from running shoes running barefoot. The journey taught me plenty about myself about the way my body functions, at least in the evolutionary sense. So when my cross the gym told me about the Paleolithic diet a.k.a. Paleo diet, it intrigues me that try.

Initial experience of Vidalia died was a two-month cross fit challenge; and involved four days of exercising and about 80% Paleolithic food, while the other 20 were allowed cheat meals.  Here are my results from that challenge:

After the challenge i let myself slack, as clearly visible in the picture I posted my previous post.  But it's time to as they say “Grab the bull by the horns”  as of tomorrow, I'm back on.

First workout

I don't have exact statistics on today's workout as I did on a whim. Sunday is usually an ultimate Frisbee day, but since no one showed up I decided it was time to hit the trails in Seymour.

My GPS watch was not charged and for that reason I was not able to track my running distance today. However as my best guess I read about 2 miles. This is relatively short, but better than nothing and next time I'll try to longer. My GPS watch is charging, and for Tuesday when I go for my next run a legal track my distance.

What is fitness?

For years I have been working out; at least on and off. I have rowed, ran, swam, biked, lifted, and what ever else has struck my fancy. Through out the workouts i have never been skinny and cut, but I have also never let myself blimp. 220 was my heaviest and i will never let myself get over or even close to that again.

So what is the goal of working out? For a long time i thought it was performance in races. As a triathlete and a runner, that was the way to gauge my progress. Run a race 5 minutes faster is improvement, running a race slower and that means i need to train harder. But that isn’t fitness. Yeah i could run and bike and swim, but what about push ups? If you are fit, you should be able to do plenty, but 10 would be a stretch at that point. Pull-ups? even with rock climbing as one of my activities pull ups were out of my range. maybe 3 in a row tops.

While last year I finally got the experience I was looking for. I joined Crossfit gym. Then I discover what fitness really is all about; it is the ability to perform any movement required of your body. Doing pull-ups, doing squats, situps, push-ups, Olympic weightlifting moves, running, swimming, biking and in my case rockclimbing. But alas Crossfit very expensive endeavor, and after buying a house in order for it. Cross fit had done amazing things my body, I lost 20 pounds, and I was able to move more weight than I have ever in my life. My clean went from 90 pounds to be able to clean 160. And the payload that which is offered to me maybe feel better than I have in my life.

Two this is where I'm at now. I have stopped going cost about four months ago and started gaining my weight. I know what strength will also gone down since then even though I've tried to keep up with basic body weight exercises home, but like usual I'm not 100% strict with myself and let myself slip away for weeks at a time. This has to stop.

From now on this blog is not only about barefoot running it's about my quest to become a better stronger athlete. To become fit.

So where am I at now: 192 lb (15 lb up from lowest after crossfit)