World O’ Hurt

I had an interesting conversation with a student in my class this evening, so much so that I decided to take the long way home on my motorcycle and reflect on it (a dangerous thing on a motorcycle!).

A newsletter by my martial arts instructor once described my Friday conditioning class as being for the “edge-seeking” students. Obviously took it as a serious compliment, as I feel that everyone should be seeking the edge of their current abilities, a necessary step if one is to leap past them! The problem for me for many years was finding out exactly how to find where one’s “edge” is.

I have taken a page from the Crossfit manual and for the past six months or so, directed my students to write down their times (on set goal workouts) or number of sets (on time goal workouts). My rationale for doing so was the same as for Crossfit itself; For the movements that we perform in conditioning class, we are moving a certain amount of weight, a certain distance, a certain amount of times, over a certain period of time. Doing this, we can obtain an objective measure of our power output over time (and get actual, albeit not 100% precise horsepower calculations if we take the proper measurements!)

Obviously, such a scheme is useful in the light of finding one’s edge; If one performs at their peak effort, and completes workout X in 10 minutes, and then three months later, performs the same workout in 8 minutes, then their ability to generate and output power over time has increased, objectively (with other factors held the same) and presumably, their health probably has as well.

The student to whom I referred above had failed to write numbers on the board for their time, and it had seemed to be a recurring theme, so I inquired as to why. Obviously my place is not to bully someone into doing it, but it has been such an excellent tool for progressing myself (and the class) that I was genuinely curious as to why someone would not want to utilize it as well!

Aside from the purely personal reasons (it is hard to argue with “what works for some people doesn’t work for others”. Its definitely a discussion ender!) the most interesting objection raised was that the numbers involved are not truly objective, which is most definitely true; My Friday class is certainly not a double-blind placebo-controlled study! Obviously, “time taken to X sets” or “X sets done in Y minutes” are each only a single axes on the workouts to which they are relevant. What about:

• Diet
• Personal Crisis
• Time of day
• Amount of sleep

The single figure that I look for is a crude aggregate for total performance. However, what it does measure, it measures well: power output over time. It is simply not meant to encapsulate other things.

It is certainly true that power output over time can be influenced by some of the other factors that I mentioned above, but over time, such things become statistical anomalies, not statistical rules. I always stress that my students should not take a single number with any weight, as we are running a marathon, not a sprint. We are looking for gradual increases over time, not to navel gaze and obsess over each week’s individual number. Indeed, it is certainly a failing of mine that I have not yet emphasized this. Other students may be scratching their heads wondering “why do we do that?”.

As I said to the student, the number on the board represents performance at a certain time under certain conditions. The number is a reflection of that performance. A fixation on getting lower numbers (time taken) and higher numbers (sets done) is certainly harmful. The number comes after the fact; during the workout, we should be focused on the workout, the movements, on becoming a better athlete, a better martial artist, a better person. The number is a checkpoint along that path.

Even if we do concentrate on the number and lowering it, is that so bad? There are a multitude of ways to improve that number, and consistently improve others, if that is indeed your quest:

• Stop smoking
• Eat healthier food
• Work out smarter
• Experiment with new and exciting exercises
• Recover properly
• Work on efficiency of movement

The number is, in a crude way, a snapshot of how you are in a certain way at a certain point in time. While lowering the number might not be a noble goal in of itself, many of the steps one can take to better the number most certainly are noble! As Pascal (I believe?) said about his famous wager in favor of converting to Christianity, even if you’re wrong about god existing, the things you would do to become a better Christian would make you a better person in general, and is that so bad?

There is, of course a more sinister side to improving one’s number, one of the better points brought up by the student. It is certainly possible to view the time/sets number as a goal to be consistently bettered at any cost. This point of view puts the number as the goal, and completely misses the forest for the trees. Someone like this may very well consciously compromise the correctness of their technique and form, to get things done more quickly. This, in my mind merely results in a corruption of the way martial artists are supposed to be. In the short run, such a person would receive ephemeral ego gratification. In the long run, it leads to merely being a fraud.

The Pollyanna in me wants to say that things such as martial arts would tend to not attract the type of person with the tendency to do that. Indeed, if my class is any example, this is true. There are certainly people with less natural range of motion than others, but everyone I see works out as hard as they can and busts their ass. I’m proud of them all!

However, I am still careful to explain the ideal movement standards for the various workouts before we begin, that way people know what is expected from them: their best! And it might be another failing of mine that I haven’t stressed that more.

The above point has been one reason that I did not introduce katas into my conditioning program earlier: Movement standards for katas are fuzzy at best, and it is indeed easy to compromise correctness in order to get a better time. When combined with a workout with more “objective” movement standards, however, this problem is amortized into nothingness over time.

Ultimately, our discussion boiled down to me saying that time taken/sets done was the standard that I had chosen to measure student progress, and the student basically saying that it was an unsuitable progress rubric. Agree to disagree, but one thing that I want to stress is that it is vital that some methodology for improvement and progress must be utilized; records of some sort must be kept in order for someone to say that they have made progress.

To me it doesn’t matter if a student goes home and writes in a diary about how they felt they did. Indeed from a life quality standpoint that may be even better (it amuses me to compare my journals from a few years ago to my newer ones). However, that is completely subjective and something that I cannot easily keep track of. I can keep track of only the things that I can observe, like the amount of time it takes students to do exercises.

As Daniel Gilbert laid out in Stumbling on Happiness, We humans are very bad at accurately recalling the past. We are liable to talk about the “good old days” where we were miserable, or “the hardest conditioning class ever” which may be cake compared to what one does now. That is why it is impossible to progress meaningfully or consistently without keeping accurate records of one’s performance. Sets done/time taken is just one that is stupendously easy for me to implement class-wide with minimal fuss and equipment.

The student brought up a few more interesting points. The first one being that they stressed just showing up to class and doing the best that they could at that exact point in time. I am absolutely in favor of everyone showing up and doing the best that the can. In fact, as I have stated numerous times, that’s all anyone ever has the right to ask of you. However, I do believe that without some form of record keeping, you have no frame of reference for your current actions. You have no idea if your current best is better or worse than yesterdays or last weeks or last year’s best.

It is possible (I have seen it in others and lived it myself) to live your life as a reverse teleology, convinced that every year is worse than the last, that you are doomed to a meaningless existence. But as soon as you start writing things down, figuring it out, looking at where you’ve been compared to where you are and where you’re going, you see that things have gotten better. It’s also possible to get worse.

We have to have a context for the world in which we act. Every day we go to class or work is an opportunity to do a little bit better than you did last time. If you know you did your best last time, and you know what you did, how you did it, and how you felt, or even how much time you took, maybe your best can be a little bit better today. For conditioning, that’s what the all-powerful number actually is. It’s the context in which you expended effort, and it can be compared to previous contexts. It’s a powerful tool.

The second point was in bringing up something that I wrote last week regarding another student’s objection to the format change in class, saying that the old way of counted sets worked better. This was an interesting argument; One man’s meat is another man’s poison, and all that. I did not actually have much of a response to this argument at the time (damn you! I hate being caught flat-footed!) but it did not sit well with me anyhow. After some reflection I figured out that while I do believe that it is true that not everyone will react positively on a personality level to the same set of standards or stimuli (I wish I could communicate the derision that I get over enforcing movement standards in the first place! It is a sore spot to me) I do believe that the methods are empirically proven to work irrespective of the person.

Simply put, if you do the work and follow the methodology and make a concerted effort to improve, the improvements are ripe for the picking, even if something inside of you screams for you not to do it. Indeed, that is probably a sign that it’s what you need the most. Taken from my own experience, I had a literally petrifying fear of putting myself out there and seizing opportunities to improve myself (indeed, this amounted to self-sabotage in many cases). I read a paragraph while back (incorrectly, as it seems) attributed to a speech by Nelson Mandela:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.’ We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we subconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Although an atheist, I agree with the spirit of what is written. We often put on a cynical face and dismiss things that would give us benefit for whatever reason. We would rather be ‘right’ than happy, it seems. Throughout my life, I learned that I could not trust my feelings of how to do things. They would inevitably steer me the wrong way, much like a pilot who has lost orientation, who believes he is guiding his aircraft correctly, but is instead steering it toward the ground. I had to learn to trust instruments instead, things I intellectually knew were accurate, but that my emotions and instincts screamed at me to ignore. Guess which were right?

To close, I want to put forth my feeling that those things which are measured and observed will improve, and those neglected will get worse. This stands for everything in my life I have tested it on, conditioning, driving, motorcycling, programming. Everything. So I pose the questions:

• If you do not believe the above (that observation facilitates improvement), what does facilitate improvement?
• What are valid ways to measure progress?
  • For an individual measuring him/herself
  • For an instructor observing students
• Should one even attempt to measure progress, or is it just too nebulous a term?
  • What if one defines exactly what one means by progress?
  • What are valid definitions for progress in the context of a conditioning program? The non-conditioning portion of a martial arts program?

All in all I’m always grateful when someone challenges my assumptions and makes me think about why I do things the way that I do them. I am not convinced that I do the best thing, and I haven’t and would never make that claim. I do make the claim that my methodology is effective, but I’m always ready to adopt another one that proves superior. Thanks for challenging me.

Now, the workouts:

Monday

For some reason, my shoulder was feeling better today. I decided to do this workout completely RX without scaling the HSPU. I did a good time, but could have gone better. I love deadlifts!!!!

“Diane”: 21-15-9 of:

• Deadlifts at 225lb
• Handstand Pushups

Done at 6:06 RX. I want to give a shoutout to Mike A who did this in a little over 3 minutes. He scaled the HSPU a bit but holy shit what an animal! I felt absolutely exhausted after this workout, in a good way (did I mention that I love deadlifts?), but like all short workouts, JDP had some followups. It was sprint work, that I seem to have blocked out of my memory it was so traumatic. I believe we went in three heats:

• 5 Burpees, 30m sprint, 30m sprint, 100m sprint, 5 burpees
• 30m sprint, 30m sprint, 5 burpees, 100m sprint, 5 burpees
• 5 burpees, 30m sprint, 30m sprint, 100m sprint, 5 burpees

Jesus, it looks even worse when I type it out. I sadly don’t remember my times, but I know that I was a little below a minute on the first heat, and a little above on the second two. My running gas tank is very very small. Room for improvement!

Wednesday

This was one of the hardest weeks in general I’ve ever enjoyed at Crossfit Central. I don’t know if it is me, or if the workouts were just targeted toward my weaknesses by chance, but I’ve felt absolutely drained every workout, yet filled with a sense of accomplishment as well. This was a workout that used a movement I’ve not done before, as well as a rep scheme I’ve not done before:

20-10 Reps:

• Burpee Box Jump
• Dumbbell Thruster @ 45lb

A Burpee box jump is a burpee, but you jump on a big ass box afterward. What kind of fucked up person thinks up this shit?? I actually made it a point of pride to do the burpee sets unbroken. The thrusters are what got me.

My time: 6:22 RX

Thursday

Holy shit. AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 10 Kettlebell Snatch (each hand) at 16kg
• 10 Sprawl-to-Sumo-Deadlift-High-Pull
• 100m Run

It might have been the run. It might have been the CoG displacement, it might have been the alignment of the stars, but I almost ralphed again. This was seriously one of the most metabolically difficult workouts I’ve ever done I felt pushed to the breaking point immediately and it never stopped, but then again neither did I. I managed 7 rounds and 10+5 snatches. I did the snatch sets all unbroken, never switching arms. I didn’t rip, either, although I have a large blister on my hand.

Friday

Week two of my experiment. For reasons I detailed above, I decided on two workouts, one involving kata work. I am attempting to simulate the stress load found when students test by giving them a hard conditioning set first, then intermittently switching between a CoG displacement functional movement (CoG displacement figures heavily in katas)

For Time: 50-40-30-20-10

• Double-Under
• Sit-Up
• Push-Up

My time: 12 something. I expected faster, this was a VERY hard workout. Without the pushups, this is a Crossfit benchmark, one I could probably complete VERY quickly.

5 Rounds for Time:

• Kata x 2
• 10 Sprawl-to-Sumo-Deadlift-High-Pull

As I explained above, I want the students who are testing to have the opportunity to do their katas in an intense exhausting environment, and it would seem that I succeeded. I got positive reactions to this workout; Katas are an intellectual process which is one factor that has been missing from my class. I like how this is going but I am still not quite satisfied with my implementation. I let the students pick their own kata. I believe that part of the problem is the newness of the idea of integrating kata work with the other aspects of my Friday class. I really can’t wait to see how people start looking in a few months.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful July 4th!

Monday

A workout that catered to my strengths. AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 10 Double-Unders
• 10 Hip Extensions
• 10 24kg Kettlebell Clean+Press
• 10 20″  Box Jumps

9 Rounds, finished the 9th immediately before time expired! We did a slightly different version of the workout than the other classes; There were 10 Kettlebell lunges in the earlier version, right after the clean and press. No wonder no one got more than seven rounds before my class! This was further different than the D/U / Deadlift / C/P / Box Jump workout that was on the site (and I was incredibly excited about). This was still a great workout and a good time!

The interesting thing is how much contrast there is between my strengths and weaknesses. For instance, I tore through everything except the clean/press, which was a huge speed bump. I would not be surprised if I hit 15 or more rounds if the C/P had been replaced with something like push jerks. It is good because my weaknesses were exposed and now I know what I have to work on!

Tuesday

We hung some rings from a tree in the backyard next to the pool. A little tropical paradise. Throw in a mini-WOD, float around some, get back to work refreshed. I love working at home! 21-11-9 reps of:

• Ring Pull-up
• Push-up
• Sit-up
• Squat

I didn’t time myself. I just wanted to blow off a little steam. I did, however break my consecutive ring pull-up best: 12 (up from 11). Float around a bit in the warm water to refresh myself, and I’m good to go!

Wednesday

The nice thing about going to Crossfit Central is that whatever class you go to, you’re bound to be surrounded by dedicated, hardworking people who are bound to inspire you to reach new heights. Two of the many in my class are Paul and Tom who, like me, didn’t like the idea of going a full week without a Crossfit workout (perish the thought!). Luckily, a few of the Crossfit Central coaches stayed behind from the Games, so we got the opportunity to schedule a three-person session with Central’s resident Kettlebell guru, Chris Hartwell.  The workout didn’t look that daunting at first. It was three rounds for time, with a 15-minute limit:

• 9 Dual-Kettlebell Squat-Clean (I used 20kg Kettlebells, a total of 88 or so lb)
• 12 Pull-Ups
• 400m Run

I’m not sure why this workout was so incredibly difficult. Maybe it was the fact that I was on a fast. Maybe it’s the fact that I’d never done Kettlebell squat cleans before, let alone dual kettlebell squat cleans. Maybe it was the Central-Texas-in-July blast furnace outside of at least 105′ with 120′ reflecting up at us from the blacktop. Maybe it was the gulf of difficulty between how the workout looked on the whiteboard, and how it played out.

It was a killer. I barely made it in below the cut off, at 13:40 or so. The KB squat cleans squeezed the energy and sweat form me like I was a sponge, and although I did the first squat clean set and first pullup set unbroken, the next two didn’t go so well. I struggled at the runs, especially. Nevertheless, a great workout! Thanks, Chris!

Thursday

No serious workout, as I treated this as a rest day. I landed awkwardly dismounting from the bar on one of the pull-up sets on Wednesday, so my ankle was and still is a little sore. I did a lot of katas at my Kung-Fu class. Something struck me at class that I still haven’t identified. It was the germ of an idea about my martial arts training that could be a game changer for me. I’ll be sure to write more about it as I develop the idea.

Friday

We received an unexpected boost to the difficulty of Friday class this week. In fact, it was the Friday class that has been most like a real Crossfit class for one reason: The A/C was broken! I discovered this unpleasant fact upon unlocking the school and being greeted by a blast of not cool, but hot air as I opened the door.

Thinking that someone left the A/C off, I turned the two thermostats to the “meat locker” settings, and was greeted by a disappointing silence from one unit, and an anemic trickle of cool-ish air from the other. We were in for a long workout.

As someone who grew up without A/C in my martial arts schools, and who attends the 5:15 Crossfit class, just when the day is getting it’s hottest, I’ve never been overly concerned about working out in the heat. But I can’t assume that others are like that. While I continued with my overall workout plan, i tried to keep a close eye on everyone.

Jump Rope Ladder with 30 seconds of rest between each round, and 2 minutes of rest between the first and second halves:

• 5 Minutes
• 4 Minutes
• 3 Minutes
• 2 Minutes
• 1 Minute
• 30 Seconds (all-out sprint)
• 15 Seconds (all double-unders)
• 30 Seconds (all-out sprint)
• 1 Minute
• 2 Minutes
• 3 Minutes
• 4 Minutes
• 5 Minutes

2nd Workout: 21 – 15 – 9 reps of:

• Ring Pull-ups
• Push-ups
• Sit-ups
• Squats

I finished in 6:40 or so. Everyone looked very very tired by the end of the workout. I can attribute that to the long jump-rope effort, a sequence that we had worked up to over a period of months last year, but which came at us full-force all at once on Friday. That fact alone, that we performed the culmination of a progression, out of the context of that progression, should be a testament to the tenacity of the students and the efficacy of the methodology.

The heat took its toll on many students, which I suspected it would. In fact, upon stepping outside the school, it was immediately apparent that it was quite a bit cooler outside than inside the school! More fans as well as large bay doors would have helped here and daresay, made things tolerable.

After some reflection, I would not repeat the same class under these circumstances. The lack of ventilation as well as the heat produced bad conditions for working out, especially for those used to air conditioning. The prolonged cardiovascular nature of the jump rope workout along with the short breaks gave no opportunity for recovery . I am proud of those who stuck though it, and understanding of those who left.

It’s the second week since the end of the Spartan 300 Challenge, and quite honestly I’ve never felt better in my life! The results speak for themselves and aside from the physical transformations, I definitely feel like emotional, mental, and attitudinal changes have come with them. I feel more confident, more liable to push my boundaries, and less liable to put up with other peoples’ bullshit just to go along or be “likable”, whatever that even means.

I plan on giving it a week or two more recuperation and normalization time, then I will go through the 6-week program again, but this time I will change it up a little. The supplementary workouts I will do on a 3-on1-off schedule, instead of fitting them in on off days. This means that I will largely be concentrating on form, technique, and correctness rather than going balls out to complete them, since I will often have other workouts on the same day! It’s at least as important to work on form as it is on speed and intensity. Hence, I will not time the workouts, but trust me when I say I won’t dawdle either.

Monday

A Crossfit Central first-of-the-month benchmark! It’s hard to believe that even though I’ve been going to Central for six months, I was sidelined through two benchmarks due to my injured shoulder! Therefore today was my first encounter with the infamous Angie. For time:

• 100 Pull-ups
• 100 Push-ups
• 100 Sit-ups
• 100 Squats

All exercises must be done consecutively, no moving back and forth. There was a 25-minute cut off here. I went in with the goal of finishing the workout under the time limit. The only intimidating part is the 100 pull-ups. That’s a lot of pull-ups, and indeed, although I finished far better than my goal (21:59) this workout revealed my weakness in that particular movement; I finished the other three exercises in almost the same amount of time the pullups took! I started off very strong, with 26 consecutive, and then tapered off to sets of 7, 5 and 3 to finish out.

I taped up my hands, but about halfway through the pull-ups, started feeling that the tape was actually hindering more than it helped, and took it off right around 65 reps. Afterward, I felt I had better control of the bar. Live and learn. My right hand ripped quite badly, leading me to believe that I am gripping the bar differently or moving differently on my right side. I will have to analyze!

After ‘Angie’, Tom, a guy from my class, and I went on a 1.4mi run, which we did in about 14 minutes (slower than usual).

My Monday Kung-Fu class is the opportunity I have to help other students with their skills and katas. I have shifted the format around a bit as of late. In particular, I am experimenting with the concept of putting the onus on the students themselves to set and achieve goals for themselves in class. In the past, it has been incumbent upon the instructor to set goals for the students, leading to much confusion and 10-minute conversations, trying to find that perfect Venn diagram intersection of material that everyone needs.

Instead I have tasked everyone the past few weeks with setting a personal goal for the material portion of class. I trust that everyone has that secret weak point that they want to shore up, or that one technique they want to work on. As I consider both that my Monday class is almost a ’supplement’ of sorts (it is not the only material class for anyone) and that people generally know what they need, I let them set their goals, and I take responsibility for guiding them to the completion of that goal.

I have found that students are often afraid to directly ask for material, or directly ask for help with something. After all, asking for material is considering (well, and it IS) presumptuous. However, I want to root out insecurities and make people comfortable with what they should know. What I want to do is indirectly give them permission to state what they think they need, and help them with it, even if everyone’s need varies from katas, to spinning sidekicks, to needing a pretest after class, to just practicing on one kata without worrying about getting any new material at all.

I will evaluate the efficacy of this approach after a few months. My hope is that students will find it empowering and helpful. If not, we can always go back to top-down command-and-control.

Wednesday

It’s Tuesday as I write this, and I ache all over, terribly. Not in a bad “I’m gonna die” way, but in an almost pleasant, gratifying way. It is satisfying knowing that I gave it my all Monday, and all the soreness is just my body’s maintenance mode, busily repairing itself and making me even stronger and better. It’s satisfying knowing that I worked out hard enough to provoke an acute physiological response and associated adaptation.

Today, I think was almost meant as a rest day after Angie on Monday:

Hang Power Clean: 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1

My minimum was 135 and my maximum was 185. I tweaked my shoulder a bit on the 185 attempt, so I stopped. I’m happy enough with a body-weight hang power clean! Ah yes, we also did 25 Burpees during warm-up.

Thursday

We weren’t supposed to have a CrossFit session at Central today, but enough of us bugged JDP so that he agreed to get a group personal training session going today! I think he really wanted to punish us. AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 10 24gk Kettlebell Snatch (right arm)
• 10 24kg Kettlebell Snatch (left arm)
• 10 35lb Dumbbell Renegade Rows
• 30yd Shuttle Sprint (5, 5, 10, 10)

I did this as RX, despite my trepidation. My hands are pretty ripped up from Angie, and KB snatches are pretty big hand rippers. My plan was to go with a 16kg kettlebell, but I finally sacked up and just wrapped a towel around the handle instead! This was a killer, let me tell you. I know I say that every week, and maybe it’s because no matter what the workout is, I am learning to MAKE it hard. I’ve been saying to students who come to my classes for years now “even short kata 1-10 is a workout, just make it a workout”.

I got 5 full rounds and the 10 right hand snatches.

Friday

The first Friday of the month is a benchmark for the class. I generally use the Beinedammerung, Kung-Fu Fight Gone Bad for benchmarks, but it’s time for some new hotness. Meet “Mister Beast”:

• 100 Pull-ups/Ring Rows
• 100 Push-ups
• 100 Sit-ups
• 100 Squats
• 100 Double-Unders

Bon Apetit….

An important week for me! Saturday is the Spartan 300 Challenge finale. I’ve made some huge leaps and hit many of the goals for which I was aiming. The 400lb deadlift felt really good to hit. Not only was it a 30lb PR, but it was a specific goal of mine for the 6-week period! I also wanted 30 consecutive pullups, and I did get 20 last week, so I do believe that with a concerted effort, I could get 30! We’ll see if I reached my <8% body fat goal (which isn’t incredibly important to me, just a “let’s see if I can do it” sort of thing) during the weigh ins and measurements.

This week I really have to keep the diet under control and get adequate sleep and rest/recovery. I am signed up for the Level 1 challenge on Saturday (10:30, if anyone wants to watch…). I did sub-15 minutes on the level 2 during the beginning of the challenge, so I just don’t have too much more to prove there. I am going to enter the level 1 challenge with a little trepidation. I feel that it’s MUCH more difficult than the level 2, and I am going to take JDP’s advice and pretend like I already have it. I can’t afford to second-guess myself!

Monday

Crossfit workout. Brutality defined and refined. Three rounds for time:

• 100ft Lunge with Kettlebell (24kg)
• 15 Burpees
• 25 Kettlebell swings (24kg)

I finished in 13:45 I believe, maybe a minute quicker. Better to assume slower than faster, and try harder next time! This was a brutal workout. Kettlebell swings leech the life and vitality from you like nothing else.

Tuesday

Spartan 300 Challenge Workout:

• 50 Squats 2 Pull-ups
• 40 Squats 4 Pull-ups
• 30 Squats 6 Pull-ups
• 20 Squats 8 Pull-ups
• 10 Squats 10 Pull-ups

More difficult than it looks but also quick. I finished in 6:35, with all pull-ups on rings. My time was too slow for my liking but I have an unfortunate penchant for not pushing myself as hard when I’m solo. I must overcome this. I wanted 5 minutes on this workout. I saw several areas for improvement. Over the 6 weeks after this challenge, I will be going through all the workouts again, to try and get more out of them than I did this time around. This was my first Crossfit challenge, so I’ll do better on my next one. Fight Gone Bad IV, anyone???

Wednesday

“Heavy, Running Grace”. This was a beastly workout. It was a “Heavy” (20lb extra on the bar) “Running” (phases punctuated by a 400m run) “Grace” (30 Squat Clean and Jerk) for time. This challenged both my metabolism and strength to the extreme. On a side note, we had the priviledge of having Crossfit Central Affiliate Team member Kris Kepler work out with us. It’s humbling seeing a master at work. He finished the workout 4.5 minutes faster and 40lbs heavier than I did. Pretty amazing stuff. Three Rounds for Time:

• 10 Squat Clean and Jerk @ 155lb (I did 115lb, a 20lb personal best on the movement. I am moving cautiously forward due to my shoulders)
• 400m Run

I finished in 15:43, completely exhausted.

There was an interesting question posed to the class over whether it is better to do a workout lighter and with perfect form, or heavier with compromised form. I responded on Central’s blog entry like this:

It seems to me that the optimal weight is just enough to finish the workout in time.

I think there was an article about scaling in Crossfit Journal a week or so ago. As it turns out, if you go with a lighter weight and complete the workout faster, your energy expenditure is actually more than if you had done full or RX weight and taken a longer time to finish the workout.

In terms of form vs. Weight, I consider proper form to be very important. If you constantly increase your weight without considering your form and technique, you are not only reinforcing bad habits, but as above, you might not even be getting as good a workout.

I think the correct answer is to increase weight just until the point your form begins to break down, then remove a little. At some point it becomes impossible to increase weight without compromising form and correctness. I don’t think that is a bad thing, but it should be an informed decision: “You have to know the rules well enough to break them”.

To elaborate on my thoughts there, I believe there is a point where adding more weight is a long-term detrement in exchange for short-term gains.  as we see in this Crossfit Journal article, it is often a faustian bargain to always go RX weight, as this can compromise both the safety and efficacy of a workout. There is no question that for those capable of getting the most out of an RX workout, those persons should do an RX workout, but for many, including myself, the greater gains are made from scaling down the weight and concentrating on form and maximal energy output per unit of time.

I believe that since my shoulder injury, I have been just a touch too conservative with the weight, but I am still new at this, and exploring my boundaries.

Thursday

I will let this workout speak for itself:

• 50 Chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 50 Burpees

Gross! This workout was a nightmare. I have been working on my pullups, but chest-to-bar is a whole other ballgame. I stalled out rather early, dissappointingly enough (much to my chagrin, I was the last off of the pull-up bar), but I made up a lot of time on the burpees, finishing a close second or third with 10:10 RX. For a comparison, this was a workout at the “Hell’s Half Acre” qualifiers, and I believe that the best time was a stunning 3.5 or so minutes. Amazing.

This workout examplified some of the great things about CrossFit for me, it scales to fit all fitness levels, and there’s always room for improvement. In my case, 7 minutes worth, and that’s just for this workout.

Friday

I sat out this conditioning class workout, since I wanted a rest day before the Spartan 300 Challenge workout on Saturday. I’m pretty proud of this workout, and I think it’s very representative of what kung-fu conditioning workouts should be. It’s very metabolic but has a good strength component, and was easily scaled for different skill/conditioning levels. The after workout was one of my favorite stand-bys. The strategy was to exhaust the core during the main workout, and then finish the job after a little rest.

AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 10 Knees-to-Elbows
• 15 Push-ups
• 20 Lunges

I gave the option of stationary or walking lunges. I was pleased to note everyone mixed it up, and received the feedback that the walking ones were easier on peoples’ knees. Interesting.

After workout. Three Rounds:

• 1 minute front plank (on elbows)
• 1 minute front plank (high push-up position)
• 1 minute side plank (each side)
• 1 minute max reps sit-ups

This is an instant classic. I will have to tell my Crossfit coach about it . It does take more time than we usually have for Crossfit after workouts, but might be idea for a shorter WOD day.

I fell off the blogging wagon again. I never really have had a lot of confidence in my ability to think up interesting things to write about, so instead, here’s some workouts and quick thoughts to fill up the space. Oh yeah, I guess I should get back on that food log too.

I’ve decided to cut some time wasters out of my life – Facebook, Twitter, IM – at least temporarily. It’s worked well for me when I’ve done it in the past. I accomplish more, and bad things that seem so immediate when I have information at my fingertips drastically reduce in importance. It’s almost magical. I can concentrate on myself and improving at things that I love and need, instead of frittering away time, reading things that concern me or that I obsess over, but are of no value to my life.

I saw the movie Up this weekend. It is a beautiful, multi-layered masterpiece. At it’s heart, I believe it is about letting go of things that weigh our lives down, that are no longer relevant to us. There is a scene in the movie where the main character jettisons from his house various flotsam and jetsam he has accumulated over his life, so that he can once again take to the skies.

I think all of our lives are a lot like that. We misplace our concerns and put so much value on things that are well past their sell-by date. I couldn’t help but feel very strongly connected in that way to Carl (the movie’s character). I become very strongly attached to people, friendships, relationships, and things that are no longer beneficial to me, merely because of how much prior emotional investment I’ve had in them. They are a comfort to me at the same time they are a consternation. Well, as we know, it’s easy to throw good money after bad in that way, and look up and years have passed.

There was a quote I read a while back. Now that I do a web search, I realize it’s apparently from a graphic designer named Milton Glaser:

…And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energized or less energized. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life.

I decided to take that advice to heart, and really think about what energizes me and what drains me, and I’ve spent the last few days pondering this very subject, and agonizing over this thought and that. The sad fact of the matter is that there are quite a few draining influences in my life, and they’re mostly people.

I think that for me, the toxic people who Glaser refers to are energy vampires, the ones who greet my enthusiasm with a tempered scorn, or deflect what positive energy I can muster up with a frown, or some strategically placed skepticism. They would rather be “right” than happy, and revel in their misery, as though it makes them more virtuous. To try and share in their happiness is impossible, for they have little of their own. To try and help them find the happiness they deserve is impossible, it is like filling a sieve. It stays empty and exhausts the person who pours out their positive energy.

Due to some events in my life and childhood, I’ve always had a difficult time being positive. For the first time in my life (due to a combination of factors), I feel like those dark clouds are being blown away from my life by some fairly strong winds of change. It is by the sun shining – at last- through these clouds that I’ve come to see some of the people in my life under the light of the day. Their hard edges are accentuated by the light, not softened by shadows, and worse, they seem to squint and despise the same light that is finally washing over my life. These days, my friendliness is met with nods and head shakes, as if my words and concern merit not even words in return. My positive feelings and loving concern met with indifference, scorn, and a disrespectful brush-off. Apparently I don’t merit an explanation. Your contempt for me is manifest. Did you think I would put up with it? I’m sick of your shit, at long last.

A group of people who I once felt (ah, alright, still feel) close to have taken it upon themselves to start a pity-party circle jerk about me. Whispering about my dedication and my loyalty, but too cowardly to say it to my face. Are these the same people around whom I once felt invigorated? Now merely thinking about the bile coming out of their mouths just drains me. One good measure of a person is how resilient they are when faced with adversity and changing circumstances. I can recall a time when even one of those things would have crushed me and occupied my waking thoughts for days. Now I just feel sorry for them. I know that I deserve better, and I know that I am doing better right now. Maybe that’s why they’re angry. Perhaps they should get angry at themselves instead.

I have a lot to offer as a friend and a resource. I devote so much energy to finding out new and creative ways to do what I do more skillfully and efficiently. I love nothing more than to teach others and toss ideas back and forth. Unfortunately, some people have made it clear they want nothing to do with who I am becoming. Apparently they’d rather talk in high flying theoreticals about skill and practice and the way that things should be, instead of actually doing anything. Well. I’m sick of your shit.

But I can’t worry about what other people do and what other people say about me. I firmly believe that I deserve better, and I’m getting better. So why keep intimacy with those who poison me?

Now, on to the work outs!

Monday 05/25

A good one! 21-15-9 Reps:

• Row 500m
• Handstand Pushups

No, not 21-15-9 reps of Row 500m! It was four 500m rows: one to start, one between each HSPU round, and one to finish. I did well on this one, I think. 10:51 or so. I had my feet up on a squat rack for support, as my HSPU skills have declined since my shoulder injury. This was a great workout that was right up my alley!

Tuesday

Crossfit Spartan 300 Workout. Done with my pal Elliot at my kung-fu school. This was a brutal workout that would make a great WOD anytime. Five Rounds for Time:

• 20 Double-unders
• 10 Dumbbell Thrusters
• 10 Pull-ups

This was a beast. I’m a pro at double-unders, but this combination of movements makes everything hurt. I managed 9:47 or so with 30lb dumbbells.

Wednesday

Pure agony. Four rounds:

• 800m Run
• 15 Ring Dips
• 10 Burpees

Running is my mortal foe so far, although my times are improving. The ring dips I did with a dark blue band because of my shoulder, although just like the power clean workout, I tried to do them straight through with intensity (I did drop off once or twice!) Burpees, well those are burpees. I finished at about 23 minutes and some change, which impressed me. The runs are just brutal, especially under the hot May sun.

Thursday

A GREAT workout! I really dug this one to the max, as after so many running WODs, this one offered a brief respite. Although my power cleans aren’t great, I actually really like doing the movement. It’s almost like an ie chin ching for me, and it’s very technically challenging as well. My deadlifts remain my best and favorite lift. My pullups have been improving steadily over the last month as well.

AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 5 Hang Power Cleans
• 10 Deadlifts
• 15 Pullups

I managed six rounds and two of the pullups on the seventh. This was a tough workout that was again, right up my alley. I had 85lb on the bar (up 10lb from my previous power clean best). The deadlifts were clean and smooth as I could do it, as I take pride in them (I can’t wait to blow away my previous best (370)). Pullups remain not my strong suit, but I’m sure working on them. I felt great after this workout!

Friday

Friday class time! I had a bright idea: Let’s do “Barbara”! Five Rounds for Time:

• 20 Pull-ups
• 30 Push-ups
• 40 Sit-ups
• 50 Squats

Horrible. I gave it a 30 minute cut off and still didn’t finish (I was on the last set of squats). I tried to do mostly pull-ups on the rings, but devolved to jumping pull-ups and ring rows more than a few times! Kudos to the finishers, You guys are warriors.

Monday, 06/01

A new month, a new benchmark. This month it’s Crossfit Total! The last time Total came around, it was just when I had hurt my shoulders, so I didn’t get to register a back squat, only a deadlift (370). My shoulder press was an experimental attempt at 95, so that was my official score. Well, this time I wanted to blow that out of the water. One Rep Max:

• Back Squat
• Shoulder Press

My five rep max on the Back Squat is 255 (I expect that to also go up), so I knew that my ORM would be significantly higher. I nailed attempts at 255, 275, and 285, and ended up at 295. Wow not bad!! I failed on a 305 attempt that I will most definitely conquer next time. I’m more than satisfied with my performance!

The shoulder press is another matter entirely. I’m not sure how this exercise can be so difficult, as conceptually, it’s not so bad! Just lift the weight over your head. Easy! Well, with locked knees and no inertia generation, no it ain’t so easy! I nailed attempts at 65 and 85, and BARELY got 95 over my head. The last attempt I nailed was a 115, and then failed on 125. Yikes. Still though, besting my previous injured best by 20lbs results in a thumbs up! Come on shouders, I’m pullin’ for you!

Tuesday

Spartan 300 Challenge Workout! I have a number of options, and I choose the one with double-unders! For Time:

50-40-30-20-10 reps of:

• Double-Unders
• Sit-Ups

I did this one in about 6:43 or so. I did this on my back porch and jumped in my pool immediately afterwards. By all indications of my health and happiness, this is how humans should live their lives! I didn’t feel incredibly exhausted afterwards. I think I left my abmat at my kung-fu school, so the sit-ups weren’t nearly as challenging as they usually are. So, I decided to do another workout. For Time:

50-40-30-20-10 reps of:

• Double-Unders
• Push-Ups

This gassed me utterly. I’m not sure if it was the push presses on Monday, but my arms had nothing in them. This workout took me about 16 minutes to complete. Although I feel could have done it much faster, the negative thoughts I outlined above kept intruding into my head and paralyzing me. I eventually shook it off and knocked off the workout, taking a nice refreshing cold shower afterward 300 Double-Unders, 150 Sit-Ups, 150 Push-Ups, in the bag!.

Wednesday

A great day. We finished up total today and had a little fun afterwards. One Rep Max:

• Deadlift

I made numerous attempts: 135, 225, 315 for a warm up, then hit the attempts in earnest. My previous best was 370, so I made my first attempt at that, and hit it fairly easily. My second attempt, 385 sent my previous PR out the window as well. Unfortunately, I dropped the bar instead of controlling it on the way down, voiding the attempt. I had one more. Mike A, My parter, and I stuck 395 on the bar, prompting a little good natured ridiculing from my coach. I sheepishly stuck a 2.5lb on each side to make it an even 400. My legs were shaking, but I made it all the way up and controlled it on the way down for a major PR! That brings my Total to 810. Not bad, and I will eventually join the milennium club…

We had a fun little work out afterward in the little remaining time. Taking 70% of our press PR (I put this at 70lb for myself, due to my shoulder), do 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 reps of:

• Back Squat
• Shoulder Press
• Deadlift

I finished this in 1:15. Not too shabby, and I lost count at one point so I think I repeated one of the sets. Overall a great day.

Thursday

A smoker! It took me 16:06 to finish seven rounds of:

• 200m Run
• 3 Push-Jerk
• 6 Pull-Ups
• 9 Push-Ups

Despite the running (hehe) I really loved this workout. It seemed to tax all my body’s systems and modalities and all the muscle groups. Weights, pulling, pushing, metcon, check, check, check and check! Now to just start upping the weight. My shoulder is telling me to do that gradually though.

Ah I forgot to mention: I got my first “real” muscle-up today! Truly a week of shattering barriers.

A few notes:

• The shoulder is starting to bug me again, just a little. I am going to back off a little. I keep forgetting to progress slowly
• I’m going to start trying to zone my meals, or at least get them zone-ish!
• I’m fixing to start to make good things happen!
• I’m trying to integrate my martial arts and Crossfit training together such that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
• My intention is to start doing Triggerpoint and AIS more often, if not every day. The recovery is as important as the activity (if not more so!)

Monday

Crossfit Workout. It was like visiting an old friend! This was my very first Crossfit workout ever, as chronicled here. I noticed that I did not log my initial time in that post, but I happen to remember it: 18:40 or so. It was seared into my brain because of the panic of never having worked out so hard in my life! Things have changed since then:

• I’m four minutes faster
• No medicine balls for height. This means I’m getting lower on all my squats (even from the beginning, the medball being under my ass limited my depth instead of showed me how far down to go)

The workout. Four Rounds For Time:

• 400m Run
• 50 Squats

My time: 14:57. As I noted above, this cuts my time by 20% compared to my first attempt. Now that’s progress. BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE:

• 50 Toe-To-Bar

I completed 25, but I was as strict as I could be given my legs were jelly (I tried to maintain straight legs throughout, etc). The time limit was 5 minutes.

• Tabata pushup/plank. Ouch.

A great workout day!

Tuesday

This is the one of the days when I perform the Spartan 300 Challenge workouts. Never one to suffer alone, I do these at my Kung-Fu school and rope my fellow black belts Elliot and Tommy into doing them with me. I’m sill not sure how many of them to do a week, but I’m currently doing two of the four, with plans to move to three (shoulder allowing).

The workout. Five Rounds For Time:

• 12 Pull-Ups
• 18 Sit-Ups
• 24 Walking Lunges

I made some modifications to the workout:

• I use rings for the pull-ups
• I use an Ab-Mat for the sit-ups
• I did regular, not walking lunges (the space is small)

Hopefully the increased difficulty of the rings and ab-mat made up for watering down the lunges somewhat. I did manage two of the five sets with no jumping pull-ups, and then did as many as I could without resorting to jumping. I did well, but as I noted, my shoulder is feeling it. My time was 9:51. Elliot beat me with a gutsy performace on the rings with a time of 9:23. He DOES weigh 50lb lighter than I do!

Wednesday

Crossfit Workout. I really loved this workout. I think Push-jerks are quickly becoming my favorite lift right behind deadlifts! Five Rounds For Time:

• 7 Hang Power Cleans @ 135lb (I used 75lb)
• 7 Push-Press with the same load
• 400m run

This was a really great workout. As my shoulder is only on it’s road to recovery and not already there (as I have to keep constantly reminding myself), I lowered the weight significantly. I decided to make hay out of this situation by resolving to do each rep with perfect form, high intensity, and without dropping the bar. I accomplished this goal.

I will continue to go up in weight very gradually; I see no reason to be in a rush at all. I want to eventually coach this stuff, and to do that, I have to be healthy, and I have to have the ability to do everything well.

My time was 15:16.

Thursday

Crossfit Workout. This one actually looked fairly simple on paper, but it was far harder than Wednesday’s WOD, in my opinion. Ten Rounds For Time:

• 100m Run
• 10 Knees-To-Elbows
• 5 In-n-Outs

This was a beyotch, for sure. I rattled off 3-4 rounds fairly easily, and was a round and a half ahead of the rest of the field. I quickly gassed after that, but managed to pull through before the cut-off with a time of 19:13. I feel I could have done this more quickly.

Friday

Crossfit Spartan 300 Challenge Workout. Three rounds for time:

• 10 45lb Dumbbell Thruster
• 10 Burpees

A bitch. I did one set with 45lbs and then lowered it to 40lb apiece. Thank god for adjustable dumbbells! In retrospect, I probably could have finished it out with 45. My time was 7:39 but that includes 2-3 seconds to grab the weights after I hit start on the stopwatch, as well as the time it took to lower the weights to 40lb. I will follow JDPs advice and commit to a weight next time.

Kung-Fu Conditioning. We further explore the possibilities of the rings. AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 10 Knees-to-Elbows -OR- Toes-to-Hands
• 30 Sit-ups
• 10 Knees-to-Elbows -OR- Toes-to-Hands
• 60 Bicycles
• 25 Double Unders

I did a few rounds but did not keep track. I am having too much fun motivating my students and correcting their form! We also did a short bag workout, and finished with ie-chin-ching #13. Yum!

My shoulder is feeling significantly better. The swelling in my AC joints is significantly less, and I am feeling pain only when I pull my arms across the centerline of my body. I am a few short weeks away from being able to do full WODs again. No need to rush though, JDP has been giving me plenty to work on without involving my crippled shoulders

Monday

Shoulder is feeling a little wonky today; Better than in the past. It doesn’t hurt per se, it just feels weird. My entire body is tired and crappy from all the bad food I ate. It is amazing how it affects me!  I actually felt worse after 4-5 days off than I did immediately after my last workout! My Psoas has been bothering me a little too. The WOD was another ass kicker:

Four Rounds for Time:

• 400m Run
• 50 Squats
• 30 Box Jumps (24″ Box)

My Time: 24:33. not the best time in the world, and not the worst time in the world. It is a supremely difficult workout, and seemed to work the aerobic and both anaerobic systems. I am not sure whether to attribute my exhaustion to the workout, the fact I was on a fast day after half a week of carb fests, or the fact that I actually felt a little dehydrated. At any rate, I didn’t perform my best, but I did the best I could!

I went to Kung-Fu and taught class as well, and did quite a bit of Warton active-isolated stretching. I am trying to make my teaching more engaged and hands on. When I got home, I did Triggerpoint, which seemed to have somewhat of a magical effect on my psoas. Weird.

Tuesday

A Kung-Fu day. I mainly hung out in the back room. I did a full compliment of Wharton stretching, and a nice long Triggerpoint session, and a little mini workout with pal Andy:

135lb Deadlift x 25, 20 Ring Rows, 185lb Deadlift x 15, 20 Ring Rows, 205lb deadlift x 5, 20 Ring Rows.

Just a little diversion.

Wednesday

When will I learn? My shoulder hurts a wee bit more from all the ring exercises I did on Tuesday (I admit to doing some ring dips). Anyway, another day another dollar. At Crossfit:

For time:

• 2000m row
• 2″ rest
• 1 mile run

My time: 20:04 including the rest period. I had an 8:14 (or so) split on the row, where 7:30 is considered pretty good. I admit to phoning in the run somewhat, but I also admit to my legs being paralized after the row. Whatever that muscle is on the front of the shin, it was numb. Yikes!

The rower is a beastly contraption and I hate it (but in a loving way).

Thursday

Guest torturer coach, Lance Cantu! What a bad dude he is. Everywhere you look at Crossfit Central, there’s someone to look up to.

For Time:

• 50 – 40 – 30 – 20 – 10 Kettlebell Swings @ 1.5pd/Situps

My Time: 11:51. This was the first time in quite a while I’ve done the recommended WOD, and it felt good to do so. I scaled down to 1 Pood because of the kettlebell, but also scaled up to my new AbMat. Not quite making up for the half pood difference, but it’s something

There was also a supplementary workout:

Five Rounds:

• 25 Air Squats
• 100 yard farmer walk with two 1.5pd kettlebells

I initally thought that we’d have to do the squats with the kettlebells, so I picked out 1pd kettlebells. After receiving clarification that they were air squats, I upgraded Mark and I managed three rounds before time ran out. That is an exercise that truly challenges the grip strength!

Friday

Conditioning class time! I continue to inflict primarily lower-body workouts on my class due to my shoulder. I will likely discontinue this in the next few weeks and start inserting upper-body and core workouts into the programming of the class, and just not do those exercises. My shoulder NEEDS to get better and I am not helping out the process.

For Time:

• 250 Squats
• 250 double-unders

My time: 11:40 (I think, didn’t write down times today. I will do it and update Monday)

Tabata:

• Farmer Walk (selection of 55lb dumbbells and 35lb kettlebells, as well as 20lb dumbbells)
• Body Blasters
• Medball Slams
• In-Outs (paralellettes)

The Farmer Walk is a truly excellent finisher. I will keep that in the rotation regularly!

Phew, what an exhausting week this has been! I don’t think I’ve ever worked out this much or this hard in a single week before. This past month I’ve continued to reach dizzying new heights in overcoming what I thought were my limitations. Physically, I have to credit Crossfit Central in stoking the fire inside me to try more and harder to do well at everything. I think I feel stronger, younger, happier, and more energetic now than in any other time of my life.

I have had some rough times the past few years, and it seems that a confluence of events and knowledge has happened to address a lot of my life problems. Part of it has been diet, exercise, a change of scenery, and the company I keep. These tough weeks and tough workouts have served to keep at bay the rough times.

Thursday’s Crossfit workout was the second I’ve had working on a pure lifting/strength area. Last time it was power cleans, this time, three rep max of:

• Deadlift: 3-3-3-3-3

Of course this is a three-rep tap-n’-go max. As I haven’t done deadlifts extensively, I was a little conservative with the weight this time around. I think next time I will be starting a bit heavier:

205-225-255-275-300

The interesting thing is that just like pullups, my grip seems to be the failing component. When I changed from matched to reverse grip to test that hypothesis (the “hook” grip didn’t do much for me), the 300lb came up much easier. My preference would be to continue working on getting a stronger grip, and to not use things like straps or different grips. I want to make all of myself strong together, and not work on one thing in exclusion to others.

After the deadlifts, John wasn’t done with us yet. He had a little surprise for us:

• Four 30-second rounds with a 3-second rest:
  • Star Jumps

I got (if I remember correctly) 22-19-21-24 reps. So WTF is a star jump? It’s a jumping jack on crack. Very exhausting, and will be making an appearance in Friday class soon.

Speaking of Friday class, it continues to be awesome. The format of the class has changed substantively, but the content has not. We continue to do the same excercises we always have, but I am putting a much stronger emphasis on progress for each and every one of the students. I’ve been doing this by tracking their progress in a notebook, and implemeting Crossfit-style “AMRAP” and “Time to X Rounds”. Holding a stopwatch and saying “three, two, one, GO” seems to be the most motivating thing I have ever done.

This Friday’s workout, I tried to adapt the Crossfit “Cindy” workout to Kung-Fu conditioning. I have not yet found an adequate replacement for pull-ups. I believe that all our school needs is some nice pullup bars, and we’d be good to go! I believe that I am going to try to purchase some more medicine balls soon, or at least make some out of basketballs and sand.I also want to explore using dumbbells in a limited capacity (thrusters, etc).

AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 20 Double-Unders
• 5 Pushups
• 10 Situps
• 15 Air Squats.

I got in 15 rounds plus 20 double-unders. All reps strict. I haven’t done Cindy, but I can’t see how I could have gotten 15 rounds of Cindy in! Freakin’ pullups…

We also had a second workout, a nice set of Tabatas. I divided the students up into two groups, A and B, with different workouts. I wanted to give group ‘A’ a emphasis on core/abs, and ‘B’ an emphasis on arms:

A:

• In-outs on the parallelettes
• Russian Twist
• Medicine Ball Twist (25lb ball)
• Bicycles

B:

• Punch-out drill on the kick shield
• Elevated push-ups
• Medicine ball throw (15lb ball)
• Medicine ball slam (12  and 10lb balls)

I haven’t yet implemented Tabata scoring (I’m not sure if people will be able to keep track of their reps), but I am trying to figure out a good method.

Overall, this year has been fantastic for my Friday class. Every year I try and bring something new and exciting into class, so that no year is the same as the last. Every year I try and improve the “secret sauce” a little more. It is a fine line. I know that I may have alienated some students from the class, but I think that the progress is worth it.

No Crossfit today due to an Affiliate meeting. Since there is a make-up day next week, this means I can look forward to Crossfit Monday through Thursday!

A quick n’ dirty workout, stolen from my pal Eric. Three rounds for time:

• 20x Renegade Row (20lb DBs)
• 50 Situps
• 50 Lunges

My time: 12:04, with My pal Tommy E. pulling in right behind me at 14:20.

Kung-Fu katas are quite dynamic, and exercise rapid bodily position changing, especially when done with deep stances and committed movements. When paired with a strength/metcon program such as Crossfit, it results in a perfect combination.

And sometimes others know our strengths and weaknesses far better than we do.

Today’s WOD. A real killer. Five Rounds For Time (Foul-out at 25:00)

• 30 Sit-ups
• 15 Overhead Squat (95lb as RX)
• 30 Supermans
• 15 Jumping Pullups

Completed 2.5 Rounds RX, 2.5 rounds at 65lb in 24:36. I annihilated the last set of jumping pullups in order not to foul out!

The sit-ups, Supermans, and jumping pullups were a sideshow. The main event was the overhead squat, which I am less than completely proficient at. It’s a new movement to me, and the funny thing is that I have the bodily strength to do the reps, but I lack the motor control and expertise in the movement to keep the weight balanced. I look forward to mastering this movement!

I have to tip my hat once again to Coach JDP. I wasn’t even going to attempt the 95lb overhad squat, and was going to scale to 65lb right off the bat. It seems that a good coach and instructor knows our limits much better than we ourselves do.  I did not expect to do even one 95lb overhead squat, much less complete two and a half rounds like that.

Crossfit has done something that I forgot how to do for myself, really push my limits.