World O’ Hurt

Apparently this is a “Make Ryon do shit he doesn’t do well” week at Central. Well, bring it on! Not addressing weaknesses is a recipe for incapacity and error.

Monday

Well, not so much a “Make Ryon do shit he doesn’t do well” day here. Maybe more like a “Give Ryon a false sense of confidence the first part of the week then crush him later” week. This turned out to be a quick one. Three rounds for time:

• 7 Thrusters @ 135lb (I did 115)
• 7 Pull-ups
• 7 Burpees

My time: 4:16 and I could have gone faster or heavier, but probably not both! I had one of the quicker times that day. Going heavier is tricky for me because of my shoulder. I’m trying though, and I am looking forward to getting my shoulders in a place where I can RX the workouts again. This workout was a metabolic nightmare, and afterward we did sprints. My times:

• 400m @ 1:28
• 200m @ 37″
• 200m @ 41″
• 35m x 3 @ ?? (not timed)

I ripped a huge hole in the bottom of my toe. We’re talking Rhode Island-sized flap of skin hanging off here. I love my Vibram FiveFingers but I think I might need some toe socks to go with them. it was probably the moisture+friction that caused the blister. Plus my current pair is so messed up and ripped up I’m probably getting cut by rocks poking through them!

Wednesday

Hell on earth. If I was able to rip through Monday’s workout, it’s because I shifted the time I didn’t take to Wednesday. This was a horrible beast of a workout that prodded my weaknesses: Upper body strength, and running. Five rounds for time:

• 20 floor presses @ 55lb
• 400m Run

The floor presses were done with our upper backs on a medicine ball, and active hip (making the dumbbell presses almost a decline press). To compound things for me, I used the 1.5pood kettlebells, which, despite being “only” 53 pounds, are unwieldy and off balance compared to the dumbbells. Pressing them was just “fucked up”, as I was to exclaim after the first set. The runs were done in the relentless TX blast furnace heat, which I’m really starting to not mind all that much.

The upshot of the workout was that my shoulders still aren’t up to snuff. I managed two rounds and some change with the kettlebells, then mercifully switched to 30lb dumbbells about halfway through the workout… and STILL DIDN’T FINISH. I was 5 presses away from being done when time was called.

At least I know what I need to work on.

Thursday

Hell on earth. Again. Is this the first time I’ve had two consecutive days without finishing the workout? I think it might be, which is a good pointer as to what I need to work on!  At least today I have the consolation of knowing that almost no one else finished the workout either!

21-18-15-12-9-6-3:

• Dumbbell Snatch @40lb (I used 25lb). Note the number applies to EACH ARM, and you can’t split the reps. Finish one arm, then the next.
• Ring Dips (I used a dark blue assist band)

Hellish, hellish hellish. You are an elite athlete if you do this RX. The snatch is a soul sucking energy destroying full body movement. I got halfway through the set of 12, and 4 on the second arm when time was called. This really underscores the fact that my upper body isn’t where it needs to be, especially after the injury.

Friday

I’m actually posting this early so that Lucas, who comes to my class, can get an early start on planning to do the workout. This workout will hopefully inspire terror in my students.

The timer will be set to count down from 20 minutes. Starting out with:

• 1 Pull-up (Substitutes: Jumping Pull-up, Ring Row, Bench Dip)
• 1 Goblet Squat with kettlebell or dumbbell (Substitutes: Regular squat)
• 1 1-Arm Situp with kettlebell or dumbbell (Substitutes: Regular Sit-up, Crunch w/ medicine ball behind head)

Every round, add one repetition to each exercise, so on the 5th round, you would be doing five each of the pull-up, squat, and sit-up, for instance. The score is the number of rounds completed (with any partial rounds added as a note). Bon Apetit!

Update: I completed 10 rounds and 2 pull-ups of the 11th, at 55lb for the squats, and 35lb for the sit-ups. If you told me a year ago that I would be doing 58 pull-ups in 20 minutes, let alone the other stuff, I’d have thought it impossible. It just goes to show you how far the class has come, and I have come as well.

If you read this blog and take my class, or even just play along at home, please post your results as a comment!

P.S. Next week is benchmark week.

P.P.S. Please check out Lucas’s website and music. It’s terriffic stuff!

This is going to be a good week, I can feel it. I suffered a slight setback with my shoulder on Monday, but it actually feels a little stronger. It’s only a matter of time!

Monday

I hope my shoulder gets better soon, since my substitute workouts are harder than the actual ones!

Three Rounds for Time:

• 50lb Kettlebell Swing (1pd)
• 25 Goblet Squats (1 1/2pd)
• 500m Row

My Time: 24:48. JDP let me finish past the 20 minute cutoff. This was an incredibly difficult workout. I think it was much more metabolic than the prescribed workout. The Goblet squats hurt my shoulders a little bit, but didn’t set me back to square one. I will be more careful. They felt OK at first…

After Crossfit I taught class at Kung-Fu. Everyone is looking incredibly sharp and skilled. It’s always that way after a tournament/test. Everyone steps up to the plate, especially those people who tested!

Tuesday

Some Wharton-style active-isolated stretching, along with a test run of my new Elite Rings II at the Kung-Fu school! I did some body rows, and a few pushups, which did not do my shoulder any favors. The good news here is that I have provisional permission to put rings up in the school! I need to figure out a plan to have them accessible and easily moved out of the way/dismounted, as well as purchase them. This is a mid-term project that I will probably implement in August.

My shoulder is bugging me again. I need to just let it rest.

Wednesday

Crossfit day! JDP offered me up an incredibly shitty (in terms of absolutely destroying me) midline stablilization workout:

Five Rounds for Time:

• 15 Kettlebell Deadlifts (2pd each hand = 64kg = 141lb wow that is a lot of weight now that I calculate it out)
• 30 Hip Extensions on the GHD
• 30 AbMat Situps

My time: 18:4x. This was a motherfucker of a workout. Maybe even harder in some ways than the real WOD (5x(5 HSPU, 10PJ, 400mrun)). My hamstrings have been aching in a “you really really challenged yourself” way ever since (I’m writing this on Sat). It’s hard to explain how much I look forward to the Crossfit WODs, even though when I’m doing them, it feels like absolute hell. I am greedily awaiting my shoulder to return to normalcy, so I can do the great lifts again.

I had my second body composition done as well. You have to take these things with a grain of salt; things like hydration and fasting can really throw off the measurements, but it gives a good general feeling of progress. Anyway, my stats (calculated via scale weight, calipers, and tape measurement:

• 187lbs (+3)
• 8.0% Body Fat (-.5%)
• 4″ muscular gain circumference-wise across my body:
  • +.5″ each bicep
  • +1″ across shoulders
  • +.5″ waist
  • +.5″ each thigh
  • +.5″ chest

All-in-all a successful month; I can imagine what would have happened if I had been able to work out my upper body at all! Moving my shoulders, there is still a lot of clicking and popping, but the pain is less and less every day. I have to be careful though. I think I set myself back almost a week or so on Monday (Goblet squats are hard on the shoulders!).

Thursday-Sunday

I am going to give myself a rest for the rest of the week. I am also thinking about taking off Monday’s Crossfit as well. It is important for me to slide back a few squares on the fitness gameboard than risk chronic injury. I want to be 100%.