Pain in the...

Day 2 of WSB training

Not sure if I have ever clarified, but I originally gave up hopes of powerlifting because my body (particularly my right knee) couldn't handle the volume I thought I needed to do to be strong. The Westside Method gives me hope on trying this again but in a more pain free state. I woke up this morning and was a little discouraged with how my right knee felt. It was an all too familiar feeling of overuse. I'm not going to let it get into my head too much as I did max out in both the squat & deads yesterday. We'll see how it goes.

Today I hit the sled with Kurt inside the future dialysis place. 

3x160ft low pull sled with 190#. Hammies were getting smoked!

3x100ft sled drag with 190#

Metcon 100 air squats + 1 mile run: 9:27

Mile clocked in at 7:10 so I'm guessing the course was a little shy, but not much.

Finished off with 3x10 25# Reverse Hypers.

Starting Westside!

First of all, made it on the mainsite for the second time! Pretty excited about that.

Kurt and I started our Westside Training today. ME lower:
Safety squat bar box squats (+25 bumper and Airex pad)
150x3
200x2
240x1 (had to change position to toes slightly turned out)
270x1
290x1
320x1

Ultra-wide sumo stance DLs
225x1
315x1
335x1
355x1
375x1

Reverse Hyper 25# 3x10

Back ext 2x25
Glute-ham raise 2x5 (hand over head)

Bitten

This weekend Kurt and I attended the new CrossFit Powerlifting Cert at Westside Barbell. If you are not familiar with Westside Barbell and Louie Simmons, they produce the strongest powerlifters in the world.
We walked in to watch some really strong guys lift. This is Luke Edwards doing 780# with blue bands:


Pretty sick stuff. I'll write more tomorrow about all the things that we did but, I think I've been bitten by the powerlifting bug. I mean seriously. I had fun with this stuff. Much different then what I thought I was doing a couple years back. Then, it felt I was doing the same things over and over, the gains were slow, and the training left my joints unhappy. The guys at Westside have the longevity thing in mind. Louie's methodology comes from years of being broken and repairing himself. The man broke his back twice and I watched him pull 600+ when we were there. These guys have some fun breaking big numbers. I'm really considering doing a powerlifting meet.

This is me taking an attempt at 365 banded in sumo stance. I pulled 315 but couldn't pull 365, but it was still awesome. The said the band tension was about 100# in the bottom and 200# in the top.

If I decide to do this, This means I have to start benching again. I at my heaviest (180#) and best, benched 330# and 315# x3. Thing is I don't really think it will be hard to get back there. I'd have to up my squat from a 375 to roughly about 500, and my 465 dead to a 550. I would compete at 165#. The records for meets at Westside 755 squat, 551 bench, 640 dead, 1865 total. Now, I would be no where near those numbers but I'm curious to see how I would do as an amateur. Now, I don;t know if I could ever give up CrossFit but if I do decide to give this a whirl am I going to give it what I got... hell yeah!

Sh*t happens

13Mar10

This was the beginning of my Friday morning a week ago. Nothing like a good accident at 5:50am to wake you up. I was so unbelievably pissed but the gal was so nice and apologetic it was hard to be mad. This would have been the first class that I have missed in two years of owning the box. Great thing is, Kerry was there to assistant coach and took control of the class. Awesome job on taking the initiative Kerry. So, I still have to get my car taken care of. It's a pain in the a$$ but sh*t happens. Good thing is no one was hurt.

I'm going to cram a bunch into this post. After cutting my finger and not being able to workout for a while sent me on a downward spiral of bad eating and not working out. It's funny how if I slip in one area, the wheels come off the bus. Finally, got back to training yesterday. I got my first 1000+ CrossFit Total. I wasn't really amped up, nor was I ready to go. It was more of guilt of watching the crew suffer that returned me under the bar...sad but true. I also wanted to see where my numbers were at before Kurt and I go to the CF Powerlifting Cert at Westside Barbell this coming weekend. So, didn't warm up anymore than a couple of reps under the bar. Turned up the anti-socials (iPod) and got to work. Squat (low bar,oly shoes) 135x3, 225, 275, 315, 345, 375PR, 385F I actually think I would have had a shot at the 385 if I knew I was going to be anywhere near that. Just tired myself out, Press 95x2, 135, 155, 175, 185PR, 190F Didn't expect that one either 190 actually got above eye level, but no dice. From there I mentally knew that 1000 was in reach and started to get a little nervous about the DLs. Last time I maxed I barely made 440, very far from my 455PR. 315, 365, 405, 445, 465PR I feel like I had a little left in me but decided to call it a day. 1025! 

Pretty proud of that one, but also really confused on how that happened with a crap diet and in the last 8-10 weeks I have not maxed out. I did max snatch at the Rogue Cert end of Jan, banded DLs at Brand X,  box squatted 3x times, and OHS heavy (225#) once earlier in the week. So is it the Westside style of assistance work? After the cert this weekend I'm going to be a guinea pig and see how it goes for about 4 months.

After the Total I weighed myself and I rang in at 168.2 A lot lighter than I thought I'd be so pretty happy with the Total numbers. This morning felt pretty damn stiff in the posterior chain. I'm really glad I stopped DLs where I did yesterday. To complete my benchmark I had to complete the 2k row. Took the "power 10" route and I think it worked really well for me. Not sure if it really helped my time but it at least gave me something else to think about. P10 (power 10) to start off, P10 at 1500m, P15 at 1000m (it was suppose to be a P20 but didn't have enough strength, actually I just wanted to stop there) P10 at 550m (was suppose to do it at 500m but I REALLY wanted to be done) sprinted out 250m. 7:29.6 PR!

As much as I would like to say my diet doesn't dictate my training, I know it does. My concern is I think while eating clean, I'm at a severe calorie deficit, so is it better to eat clean and not enough or to eat crap and get enough in. I know the answer and I know what I have to do but really don't want to admit it. All I can hear is: "You can't out train a bad diet."

The next level

To get to the next level, and/or operate at an elite level you must have mentors. A mentor is more than someone that you look up or want to be like. A mentor is defined as "a trusted counselor or guide". The difference between a role model and a mentor is a mentor must accept that position to help you grow and lead you. It's not a very easy thing to ask someone to be your mentor. I have to admit I was a bit nervous. I would like to have about 5 mentors aboard this year. I chose my first mentor to ask to be Chuck Carswell.

Chuck is a great guy and a phenomenal athlete but that's not why I chose him. I was recently at the CrossFit HQ Trainer's Summit and Chuck was selected as one of the HQ Head Trainers to take us through some of the foundational movements; the air squat. I've probably given/been through the air squat hundreds of time but this time was different. I didn't feel as though I was a trainer listening to a trainer. I was involved. The presentation of it was so great, he turned me into a participant. I was captivated by his presentation of the material. Wow! This sounds so weird, but I was actually jealous on how well he did that. I WANT THAT! Chuck went on to win the trainer's vote on best Carnegie-style presentation of a reading on nothing. He's that good!

Chuck is a very gracious guy and I gave him a call today. We laid out some ground work on where to start. I'm looking forward to working under Chuck's guidance.

It's not my money maker!

So, I had a little incident. (Zack, Sorry you had to witness me investigating the degree of the injury.) I was trying to get a 45# plate on the farmers handle and it slipped and cut my finger. It hurt a little and I continued to try and squeeze the plate on. I took a peek at my finger and I was like "Wow, That's gashed!" I pulled the side a little and I'm pretty sure I saw bone. So, I gave my finger an eye-lid.

You really have to enlarge this pic to get the full effect!

I'm pretty sure I needed stitches but I put on a band-aid and it stopped bleeding. I told Chris, "I probably need stitches, but it's only a finger. It's not like it's my money maker. If it was my face I'd go get stitches."
I think he responded with "That would be an upgrade." (what-a-f*cker) I thought it was funny as shi*t but I ignored him and continued to do my box squats. Worked with some really light weight just to work on sitting back on to the box and not allowing my shins to pass my knees.

10x2 135# wide stance, box below parallel. Every minute on the minute.

Got home and Mandie made me soak it in peroxide, she told me not to open it but I did. I wanted to make sure it didn't get infected. It's pretty nasty. She did it up with some Neosporin and bandaged me up.   It's pretty nice having a nurse around. Last time it was "Mandie come look at my pee. It's really bubbly and I might have rhabdo'ed myself".

Not sure how my finger's gonna fair in workouts. I might be only doing the slow lifts until I know for sure it's mended. I guess it's a good time to work on the GHD machine.

I'm back!!!

It's awesome. Thanks to JJ I have videos of all three of my WODs for Sectionals. JJ you are the man!

It's been quite a while since I've posted but thing have been nuts between Sectionals and getting the new box up and running. It's funny how so many people say congrats to me on the new box and I feel like I should be saying thank you to everyone for making it happen and having the patience while it was getting built out. Thank you everyone! We now have the home that we deserve!

Today was my first WOD back. It's been a really long time since I worked out with the class. I haven't worked out or ate well since Sectionals and was ready for the pain. It was a good warm up, but I still wasn't feeling warm/ready, snatches didn't feel good at all today. By the time I met my PR for the C&J, I was feeling warmed up.

Snatch 165, 175f
Clean and jerk 240, 245f

Isabel 4:21 (it wasn't pretty)