CHANGE IS GOOD

I just noticed my last post was on May 5th For those of you who know me, you know what a challenging spring and summer I have had both in my personnel life and my set backs I have had with my back and the surgery I had. Well this week, everything feels like it is coming back together and I am expecting a full return to my training and active lifestyle beginning in September.

So 1 goal I want to start working towards is riding the Seattle to Portland ride next year. I am hoping to find a few others that will be interested and start training for it by doing some weekly rides that range in different distances and difficulty. If anyone is interested in doing the ride next year, let me know.

Other then that, I just can't wait to get back into the gym and get my fitness level back up to where it used to be. However, I am not looking forward to starting off and becoming all sore like I did when I first started. haha

I have a slack line being delivered to my place today. I don't remember if you have seen people using these before, but they look like a lot of fun and good for the core and balance. I figure that I can start using this now as it is low impact but will still be a challenge.

Anyways, it feels good to know there is an end to all the bad luck I have been having and I want to thank all my friends who have been so supportive and continue to give me words of encouragement. I look forward to seeing all of you back in the gym!

It has been awhile since posting. I have been extremely busy for the past month so hopefully I can get back into blogging a little. My work outs have been going really good. I have been going through a cutting phase in my diet and have lost about 15 pounds in the past 3 weeks. Now before you start freaking out and thinking that is too much in that short amount of time, let me say that I don't believe this is for everyone and when I did this I followed a strict diet and was still eating 6 times a day and was strategically adding carbs, fat and protein where needed. The great thing about this is that I was able to still have great work outs and don't feel like I lost any strength in the process. Usually that kind of cutting will result in loss of muscle and energy. But because of the foods and supplements I was taking it worked out great.

So anyways, I am looking forward to finishing up my dieting and start eating like a normal human again. I have been dieting now for about a year and a half and have lost 150 pounds. I can't wait to get back to eating normal. I love the foods I am eating now and won't change that, but I will not have to be so strict anymore.

I posted a while ago about doing a small photo shoot with a friend of mine up in Seattle.  Well I finally got the chance to do it on Saturday.  The weather was crappy and we were able to get in a few shots between rain storms.  The location isn't what we had planned but with the weather being iffy we took what we could get.  Here are a few of them.

So I decided to to go do a couple things today to see where I am at medically speaking.  I scheduled a physical with my Dr. and also scheduled a hydrostatic body fat test.  

I stopped into REI yesterday to pick up a small gift for a friend for his birthday yesterday.  While I was in there I started looking at back packs and hiking equipment because I keep toying around with the idea that I want to jump into it this year.  Well after having dinner with him and his friends last night and hearing some of their stories and advice,I really want to start hiking.  I have always loved the outdoors and walking trails, but for whatever reason I have never followed through with actually going out and doing it!  I live in the Great NW for goodness sakes!  It isn't like I can't find anywhere interesting to go.  Between all the great places within an hour of Portland and all the trips I make up to Seattle there are probably hundreds of easily accessible challenging trails.  I want to find ones that are challenging and scenic so I can also do my photography while I am hiking.  I am curious to find out how my fitness level will work out on some of these difficult hikes/climbs.  I am sure I am in for a rude awakening!   So now the obsessing and research begins and equipment, trails, safety, rules, what to bring, etc...  Good thing I have some good friends that are very experienced with hiking and climbing to give me some advice. 

Of course yesterdays post was an April fools... Those pancakes looked good in that picture though. I might need to make some this weekend.

Work out:

travel-
burpees
pushups
modified wall push ups
sit ups
tgu
went to the small gym in the hotel....
lat pulls
press
tricep extensions

food
smoothie
trailmix
turkey sandwich, fruit
protein bar
sushi

I give up! All this eating good is too hard for me. I think I am ready to go back to eating bad and just sitting around. So I decided to start it off right with a nice big breakfast as you can see in the photo of what I ate this morning. That was some good stuff, I think for lunch I am going to head over to McDonalds for a couple Big Macs and fries! I haven't had anything like that in over a year and a half. Then for dinner...hmmm Maybe a whole pizza or someting will be good. Ohhhh then desert! I am definately going to have to go out and find some Pecan Pie!

I didn't realize it until today but today was my 6th day in a row of working out. The last time I did that I was hurting bad for a few weeks afterwards. This time I feel great and that is even after a long day of snowboarding yesterday. (which was flippin amazing!!) So now, I am going to to be heading back out of town the rest of the week and do some other things such as hot yoga, swimming, and just doing body weight exercises in the hotel.
So, I am glad to keep seeing progress like this even though it is small....I couldn't do that 2 months ago without feeling totally wrecked! We will see how I feel after doing work outs while I travel.

Work out:

Warm up:
2 rounds:
5 halo
5 around the body
5 good morning
5 spinal wave
5 goblet squat
5 clean&press
10 push ups

Strength:
thrusters
2 warm up rounds of 5, then 5 work sets of 5 reps, followed by 5 pull-ups:
warmed up with 45lb. bar. 95/95/95/115/95
Pull-ups: 5/5/5/5/5

WOD:
As many rounds in 15 minutes of:

7 Med ball cleans (25lb.)
7 burpees
run around the block
finished 6 rounds

Food:

6am oatmeal/flax/glutamine/protein
9am trail mix
2pm half of a chicken sandwich from subway
4pm trail mix
8pm tuna steak, asparagus

So I saw this "Gibbon Slackline in a magazine and it looks like a lot of fun.   I am hoping to pick one up before summer for something to play around with outside at a park or something.  It would be fun to bring into the gym too and wrap it around the big posts and try some balancing core stuff with it.  Anyways....here is a video.

I haven't been doing much photography lately, mostly because the weather has been so bad and I like to do most of my shooting in natural light. I am going to be shooting a friend of mine and a couple friends next week doing yoga up in Seattle. It will be a nice jump back into it and will be something a little different then I am used to. Should be fun! Hopefully we can come up with a good area to do the shoot at and the weather cooperates.

It felt great to get back into the gym today. I wasn't expecting such a hard work out though. Anytime I see burpees or running I know that I won't be setting any land speed records. So I accepted that before even starting the work out and really tried to have good form on everything. It was one of the tougher work outs I have done in quite awhile. It felt good to finish it.

Work out:
Warm up-
3 rounds:

10 around the body
10 halo
10 goblet squat
100 jump rope
Row for 20 calories

WOD:

10 burpees
15 db snatches each side (35#)
20 med ball slams (20#)
25 2-hand swings (24k)
1 Bear crawl length
1 lap around the building

5 rounds 32.29

At home - Rowed 2000 meters

Food-
6:30 oatmeal/flax/glutamine/protein
9am trail mix
12:30 Turkey sandwich
7:00 5 oz chicken, 1/2 cup brown rice, 1 cup of broccoli and cheese

I am back from Chicago now and looking forward to getting back into the gym tomorrow.  I did mange to get in a work out Tuesday morning, just did a lot of body weight exercises and leg circuits.  I didn't eat really good while I was gone, since I was at the mercy of where ever the people that were driving too me for food. 

Ok folks after completing my goal of lifting double my body weight I am in need of my next goal.  I have some small goals I have been working on that are more long term, but I want something I can achieve in the next month or two to keep pushing along.  So here is my dilemma....I am thinking I don't necessarily want it to be a "strength" style goal because I tend to go a little nuts and could end up injuring myself.  I am thinking or something that might be more endurance/strength.  Here is where I struggle the most....

Ok, so I couldn't resist the temptation.  I was thinking about it all morning and decided I was going to attempt lifting double my body weight (430).    I decided to see how I felt and Nathan talked me into trying 415 which is 10 pounds more then my PR from last week.  I figured if I felt good I could do an extra set to get my goal of 430.  So on my 4th set, I did 395 and as soon as I lifted it I figured I could not go any heavier.  It was frickin heavy!!!  So then I put on 415 and it took me forever to get my mind right...I just couldn't get psyched enough to lift it.  Then it happened!!!!!  The little push I needed and as soon as it happened I knew I was going to lift it.  It was all thanks to Tina...she went over to her music and put on "Eye of the Tiger"!!  Ok,  you may laugh but to any guy my age.....you know that song gets you psyched!  hahaha  (I can't believe I am admitting that.) Anyways, I pulled the 415 and it went up easier then the 395 and felt better then my 405 last week.  So as soon as I put it down, I said....I am going for the 430.  Tina was even kind enough to loop "eye of the tiger" But this time I wasn't so psyched, I couldn't stop thinking about how much weight 430 was and almost decided not to lift it, but I heard a little voice in my head telling me that I could do it and I had to try and give it everything I had.  So when I lifted it......it was slow....it was ugly....it was even kinda funny....but I got it up and down and I am going to count it!  :)

Felt great to be in the gym today and do a lot of kettle-bell work.  For strength today we did a double kettle-bell push press.  We did 5 sets of 3 paired with jackknives and spidermans.  I made it to the 80 pound kettle-bells and was able to push press them ok....bringing them back down to the rack position was a little more difficult.  Nathan gave me some good advice to try and absorb the kettle-bells on the way down instead of staying so rigid.  I will give that a try next time we do those. 

“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you." ~Brian Tracey

I was forced to give the people at one of my branches some bad news today and it was pretty hard to go through the day with a good attitude. I thought about what I wrote last week about how people are effected by the way I carry myself and my attitude. So all day I tried to stay upbeat and keep smiling and it really helped I think. I was able to think clearer and because of that I came up with an idea to help create more of a positive spin on the news rather then it just being all bad. The news was still bad to them but it could have been a lot worse. They will never know that....but I do and I feel good about helping them out, even if they don't know it.

Work out

Swam last night then did 4 rounds of:

Mini leg circuit
10 burpees
20 sit ups.

Food:

8am smoothie
10am trail mix
noon bbq chicken (no skin) corn bread and slaw
3pm food supliment shake
9 pm CPK Salad

Ok, so if you remember last week I talked about not getting on the scale for a week and just eat good and stay active. Well I ate just about as good as could be expected last week in my opinion and when I got on the scale on Sunday I lost 1 pound. Now at first I was thinking...1 pound? WTF!! I felt like I lost 5 pounds after having such a great week. I have to admit, I was a little discouraged but after thinking about it for awhile I remembered what an amazing week I had in the gym and how strong I felt. (Until Saturday...that is a whole other topic.) So really the way I ate and felt last week probably had a lot to do with how good I ate. It is hard for me, but I have to stop worrying about the scale, my fitness is what is more important to me right now then what number is on the scale. If I keep eating like this and keep having weeks in the gym like I did last week, that should be enough to keep me going.
I am traveling a lot the next 3 weeks so my work out schedule and eating will be put to the test. But I am staying POSITIVE!!! I will do good! : )

So at the beginning of the Dead-Lift cycle we are doing at the gym. I had a goal of lifting 400 lbs. by the end of the cycle. After the week I have been having and how good I felt I decided to give it a try today and see if I could do it. On my final set I was able to lift 405 for 1 rep. It was not easy and was not pretty but I am so glad I got it and now I can go into the final week of it not having to worry about reaching my goal.

Other then that, last night I went up boarding with David and had some great runs, I am feeling more and more comfortable at higher speeds on the board. It did get very cold and windy up there though but other then that it was a lot of fun.

Work out:

All I did was pretty much Dead-lift

3-3-3-1-1-1

I think it went 225/275/315/375/395/405

Food:

7 am otameal
9:30 am trail mix
noon turkey sandwich
3pm meal replacement drink
8 pm burrito from laughing planet

Great endurance work out tonight. I really like these type of work outs because they are just as much mental as they are physical. Not a lot to say about it except it was hard and you just had to get in there and do it. Overall I was pretty happy with my performance, it looks like I need to work on my med ball cleans a little, I struggled there and was hunching over way to far.

I still feel really good this week and have no pains to speak of and my energy is higher then it has been for a long time. I am not sure what has come over me this week, but I hope it is here to stay. : )

Work out:

5 Rounds for time

25 two hand swings ( 24k )
20 Ball Slams (25 lb.)
15 Med Ball cleans (25 lb.)
10 box jumps
5 knees to elbows on the bar
Run 1 lap around the building

Time: 24.51

Food:

7 am oatmeal
10 am trail mix
1 pm 1/2 turkey sandwich with extra turkey
3pm meal replacement drink
8:30 2 corn tortillas, 4 oz chicken, 1 oz cheese, onions

I know it is only Tuesday, but I feel so good this week. I didn't sleep the best last night but still made it through the day just fine and hopefully I will get a full night sleep. I like the food choices I have made the past couple days and plan to keep eating clean as much as I can the entire week. I am actually hoping for a good weight loss this week....even though it hasn't been my goal lately, it would be nice to see a good drop. Now I have to say, I have been pretty bad about weighing myself constantly to see where I am and if one day made a difference. Well, a friend of mine talked to me last week and she told me how unhealthy it is to get on the scale every day and convinced me to go this whole week without looking at the scale. So, I am 3 days into not looking at the scale and won't look at it until Sunday.

Great work out in the gym tonight. I struggled a little and tried to make it harder then I should have. But I have a hard time turning down a challenge. :)

Work out

Skill:
5 ring dips
1 arm kettlebell clean and press. 20k fir 3 rounds Tried 24k on my last set and could only get a couple on my left arm, but got all of them on my right.
double KB rack walk. 3 rounds of 24k 1 of 36k

WOD Tabata 20/10 6 rounds

Jingle Jangles ( sprints)
jumping pull ups
rope snaps
mountain climbers (held rest in a plank)
burpees ( held rest a couple rounds in a plank)

Food

7am oatmeal
10 am trail mix
12:30 laughing planet burrito
4:00 protein mix, water
8:00 veggie salad with nuts

Thank God I used the power of positive thinking today.  It seemed like the first 3 or 4 hours of work today I was faced with bad news and more bad news.  I faced every challenge with a smile and a positive attitude and it was amazing how I was able to handle the issues.  So even with all that......I had a great day!   I even had a coworker ask me what I was so happy about, because he said he has not seen me smile so much before.  hahaha  What an eye opener that is....I noticed because I was in such a good mood..coworkers came into my office more and just talked, and then they were smiling too.  It was contagious.  Sometimes we don't realize how our mood and facial expressions can effect others.  I guess I better check myself more often before I walk into work, I want more days like today!!! : )

"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens to us, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a Catalyst…. a spark that creates extraordinary results."
~- Anonymous

It was great to work out with no back pain today.  Those days off really made a difference.   I still had a difficult time breathing today because of all the crud in my chest, but at least I know that will go away.

After being sick all week and not working out for 4 days it felt great to get back in the gym. That sickness might have been just what I needed to convince me to rest my body for a few days. The last couple days all I wanted to do was sleep to try and get over the bug I had. When I got into the gym tonight and started moving around I realized that this was the first time in probably a month that my knees and back weren't bothering me. I still felt a little lethargic because of my sickness but my body felt good.
We did Dead-lifts tonight and I got to 365 on my 5th set. It felt good but had a problem keeping my upper back from rounding. I know how to fix that and need to focus a little better next time.

Anyways, I am looking forward to the next couple days and getting back to my normal eating, sleeping, and work out schedule.

Work out:

Dead-lift 5 sets of lifts paired with 5 knees to elbows. Final weight was 365 for 3 reps.

Rope climb
Dot Drills
Double unders
power wheel

Food:

9 am Smoothie
2 pm oatmeal
7 pm burrito

Well it finally caught me. After seeing all of these people all around me from day to day get the flu bug, I came down sick Monday night and it feels like I have had a fever ever since. I am out of town right now which is probably good for my family so that they don't catch this junk. So, I have just been going to work and going back to the hotel and trying to sleep this off.

No workouts for me since Monday morning and I probably won't be working out until Friday. I think this will be the longest break for me in 4 months. I am already missing it, but I know I need to rest up and get better first.

Food choices have been prety good while up here. Some eating is out of convience but is still not too bad for me.

Like I have said before I always enjoy work outs with Kettle-bells.  For our strength/skill today we did 1 arm push presses with the KB.  I like the focused muscles this hits and I feel like I get a lot stronger with my press when we do these, like it gets easier every time to increase weight each week.  I was able to go up from 32k to 36k today on my fifth set.  Even though I was able to lock out every time I felt like I didn't have as much control on the way down, so I will probably stay at that weight next week and try a new technique when racking it that Nathan suggested. 

Great night at the gym! I pushed pretty hard, pretty much to the point I could have lost my lunch in the 4th round. GOOD STUFF! hahaha
We did 4 rounds of a 30/30 work out, this is the kind of work out that is up to you to decide on how hard you want to push. I just happened to jump into a group with someone that I do not know very well but found out that that she is very competitive. As much as I tried to keep up with her on sprints there is just no way she was going to let me pass her. It made the work out fun and it probably pushed me harder then I normally would have gone. : )

Work out:

Skill:
3 TGU's each side
10 power wheel roll outs
8 ring dips

WOD: 30/30 4 rounds

JPU
burpies
row
bear crawl
sprint

Food:

Oatmeal, flax, glutamine, protein
Protein, water
chicken spinich, blackbean burrito from laughing planet
protein, water
1/2protein bar

I am not sure if I have discussed Glutamine before, but it is something I have been taking for about 4 months now. You can read about the help it provides for intense training below. But some of the other things that aren't listed is the fact that it strengthens your nails and hair. My nails used to crack pretty easy but since taking this stuff, they are much stronger and healthier. Read below, the experts can explain everything a lot better then I can.

•Most abundant amino acid in skeletal muscle often
depleted due to training,stress and poor diet.

•Can be utilized to repair trained muscles and support
the natural production of human growth hormone.

•Supports the immune system.

•Allows for more intense training sessions.

•Involved in more metabolic processes than any other
amino acid.

•Speeds recovery and prevents muscle wasting.

Produced in the body naturally, Glutamine is the
most abundant amino acid in skeletal muscle and is often depleted due to
training, stress, and poor diet. Research indicates that bodybuilders, fitness
and strength athletes, and other active people often do not produce enough
Glutamine within their liver to restore critical Glutamine levels within a
reasonable time frame following training.
Glutamine is involved in more metabolic processes than any other amino
acid. Glutamine is converted to glucose when more glucose is required by
the body as an energy source. It serves as a source of fuel for cells lining
the intestines. Without it, these cells waste away. It is also used by white
blood cells and is important for immune function. In hospitals, Glutamine
is used for patients that have severe burns to speed recovery and prevent
muscle wasting.
Supplemental Glutamine can be utilized to repair trained muscles and
support the natural production of human growth hormone, which is
important to muscle recovery and gains. Glutamine can also support the
immune system, and allow for more intense training.

We did a partner work out today. It was a lot of fun and a great work out. I know I will be feeling that in my abs tomorrow.

Work out:

Partner work out
1000 meter row
50 ring rows
100 double KB cleans / 35 lbs.
100 sit up med ball pass / 20 lbs.
50 knees to elbows
two handed walking KB swing / 45 lbs.

Food: After a bad weekend, I am back on my plan....here is a more detailed description of what I am eating and what supplements I am taking.

6:30 am 3/4 cup oatmeal, flax, glutamine, 30 grams of protein (maxpro)
8:30 am 1 scoop Max Gourmet, glutamine, 8 oz water (meal replacement drink)
9:30 am 1 scoop ISO Extreme with 8oz water (quick release protein used before and after work out)
11:30 am 2 scoops of ISO Extreme + 2 scoops of Max ACM with 16 oz water (quick release protein and triple carb complex/loader)
12:30 pm Turkey sandwich - 6 oz turkey, hummus, lettuce, onion, tomato on whole wheat bread.
3:00 pm 1 scoop Max Gourmet, glutamine, 8 oz water (meal replacement drink)
6:00 pm CPK - Waldorf chicken salad...contains field greens, grapes, apples, candied walnuts, blue cheese and a Dijon dressing that I keep on the side and use sparingly.
8:00 pm 1 scoop of maxpro ( weigh protein ) with 8 oz of water.

Spent the day trying to relax the body. Did a pretty good job of it, we went out and did a little shopping and saw a movie. Then I came home and thought of different ways to abuse my body...hahaha See video below! I WANT ONE! : )



Work out: NONE!

Food:

Oatmeal, glutamine, flax oil, protein
protein, water, glutamine
greek salad from Panera
strawberry smoothie
a bunch of Almond M&M's during the movie
oatmeal, glutamine, protein

Dadlift Friday!!! I love the deadlift....got up to 305 x5 on our fith set today. Still had more in me, but playing it safe for now and just keeping good form and making sure I don't get hurt. I saw some people going heavier tonight then they ever have....I think there are going to be a lot of new PR's at the end of the cycle. Some people are already doing more in their 2nd week then their 1 rep max at the end of the last cycle.

Work out:

Deadlift ( I can't remeber the pregression) 5 sets of 5....last set was 305 for 5.

WOD

dot drills
hip slaps
power wheel
double unders

Food:

oatmeal with stuff in it. hahaha
protein, water
chef salad
half protein bar
laughing planet burrito and a few chips (feeling bloated now)

What a strange day. I think I ended up with a little food poisining or something because I flet like crap all morning and then ended up haaving a small gaul bladder attack that lasted about 30 minutes. Thank God for taking that pain away, those usually last a good 4 hours or more when they come on. You are all going to think I am crazy about this, but my Dr. said I should have my gaul bladder removed, but she said I can't do anything physical for 6 weeks afterwards. She has no idea how depressed and miserable I would be if I couldn't work out for 6 weeks! hahaha So I do a good job of controling it, but like I said...whatever I ate the night before probably did it to me because the meat I ate looked like a mystery. ughhhh So after lunch today I started to feel good again and all my sore muscles that I woke up with were gone.

I was still dreading going into hot yoga tonight because of how hard it was for me last night, but for the first time I made it through the whole class without stopping to rest. So all that whining I did this morning about how sore I was can be thrown out. I am so happy with these quick recoveries...I hope they last!

I am heading back home tomorrow and back into RF, my home gym. YEAH!!!!!!


Work out

90 minutes of hot yoga

Food

4 eggs, 1/4 cup oatmeal
protein, water
CPK Waldorf salad
protein bar
chicken pho with about 12 oz of chicken.

I think having all this energy can work against me sometimes. I have a hard time listening to my body sometimes when it is screaming at me to stop because my mind is saying go for it you can do more. Last night was a good example of this as I got out of my car to walk up to my hotel room my legs were hurting!! It wasn't like they were just a little sore....my calves hurt, my hamstrings hurt, my butt was cramping and my quads were still on fire from the hot yoga class I just finished. At that point my body was talking to me louder then my mind. When I hit the bed last night I was out like a light. When I got up this morning I felt a lot better and my legs feel pretty fresh again. My knees definately do not, but I think that is mainly from falling on the ice while snowboarding on Sunday. I am just going to have to becareful the rest of the week and see if I can get them to heal up.

Anyways, love all the stuff I am doing and amazed that I can do it all still. To think that a little over a year ago I would be out of breath just bending over to tie my shoes and if my legs were sore it was because I walked up a flight of stairs. hahaha CRAZY!!

Work out:

Skill -
8 weighted lunges
10 plank power wheel
1 other thing I cant remember

WOD:
30-20-10

*run 2 times around the building then*
2 hand swing 24k
goblet squat 24k
push ups
mountain climbers

Did 90 minutes of hot yoga in the evening.

Food:
Oatmeal, flax, glutamine, protein
Protein, water
chicken salad from applebees
protein, water
smoothie
protein bar
Chicken pho and a spring roll

I had a great weekend.  Here is the quick run down:

We are back to dead lifting again at the gym. HOORAY! We started off light today and worked on form. It felt really good to get back over the bar. I am setting my goal at 400 lbs by the end of the cycle. My old PR was 375 and it was shaky. The last time we did the cycle I was not worried about form and bounced the bar a lot to help get more reps. I plan on taking good controlled motion this time and really focusing on having good form, because with the kind of weight we will be lifting, it is easy to injure yourself if you get sloppy.

Workout:

Strength - Deadlift 5 sets of 8
170/190/210/230/250
12 jackknives after each round

After that I worked on rope climb and did the powerwheel. I have a nasty rope burn under my shin from climbing. I hope it doesn't rub in my boot while snowboarding on Sunday.

Food:

Oatmeal, flax, glutamine, protein
protein, water, glutamine
chicken salad, nuts, cranberries
protein,water, glutamine
6 oz talapia, 1 cup of brown rice
1 skinny cow icecream

After last weeks attempt at Push Presses I wasn't thinking I was going to break my PR going into our last part of the cycle. I only got to 165 last week. I felt great once I got into my reps and everything just started coming together. I made it to 200 lbs. for a 1 rep max. It felt really good to break into the 200's.

On the gym's blog they posted some Before and After photos of me and said some very nice things. It is great to be a part of Recreate Fitness and have so much support from Nathan, Tina and everyone else there. I could not be getting the kind of results I am seeing anywhere else. So many people came up to me and congratulated me on my success. It was great to hear and it just makes me want to keep up all the hard work I am doing. My life has changed dramatically in the past year.....even more so in the past 3 months since being a part of RF. I can't see what the next couple months has in store.

Work Out:

Strength-
Push Press 135/135/155/175/185/195/200
10 x-chop to Halo

WOD 2 rounds

3 TGU
kb plank row 20k
10 weighted push ups

Food:
oatmeal/protein/flax/glutamine
protein/water/glutamine
chicken gyro
protein/water/glutamine
chicken/veggies/brown rice
protein/water

I am headed up so Ski Bowl tomorrow for some night boarding with David....I can't wait to get up there and into some of that new snow. Hopefully the roads will be clear, my car sucks in the snow and I really don't want to have to chain up.

I subscribed to a new magazine that I am excited about. It is called "Clean Eating" This magazine is packed full of recipes that I actually want to make and totally fit my current eating habits.

I had a busy day today so I got up early to work out. This was my first 6:30 am class...not sure I will be doing another anytime soon. I just could not get into it that early. hahaha Class kicked my butt today.

Work out:

Skill - 3 rounds/ 5 dead hang pull ups / 8 ring dips / 5 swing, hi pull, snatch

WOD: Tabata

double kb clean
push ups
JPU
rope snaps
row

Food

5 am oatmeal, flax oil, glutamine, protein
9 am protein, glutamine, water
noon laughing planet burrito
2:30 protein, glutamine, water
4:00 a few triscuts and a string cheese
6 pm chicken curry and veggies, brown rice
6 pm fruit smothie with protein

Below I copied some advice for building muscle from some websites that I agree with and the things listed below are the basics of what I have been doing everyday to help my performance. I always make sure I have a good amount of protein in me at least 30 minutes before a work out and I always take equal amounts of protein and carbs and 16 oz of water within 30 minutes of completing a work out. Everyone is different and need different things but this is what has been working for me the past couple months and I am sticking to it for now.......

***You can only build muscle if your body is in the correct anabolic balance to allow growth to take place. Intensive exercise is clearly an important part of the muscle building process but achieving the maximum muscle mass depends on putting the building blocks in place. This is achieved through sound nutritional practices so you need to be aware of the following anabolic enhancing principles

Protein is the basic raw material needed to build muscle. Protein supplies the amino acids that the body uses to repair and build muscle following intensive exercise. Aim to consume 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight each day from food like beef, fish, poultry, eggs, milk and whey. Spread the load over at least six meals to derive the optimum benefit and avoid overloading the liver.

Carbohydrates are needed to energize the muscle building process. Carbohydrates stimulate the release of insulin which pushes the amino acids into muscle cells to begin the process of repair. The body uses carbohydrates as a source of energy - consume too little and the body will steal protein that would otherwise be used for repairing and building muscle. Aim to consume 1.5 to 2 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight each day from foods like brown rice, vegetables and whole wheat bread.

Get plenty of rest both in terms of adequate rest days between training sessions and sufficient sleep. Your muscles won't grow if you don't build adequate recovery time into your training program. Similarly, you can only optimize your body's levels of testosterone and growth hormone if you spend enough time sleeping.

Consume quality supplements to support a sound nutritious diet. For most people it should be enough to add protein and l-glutamine to your daily diet.

Drink plenty of water. Failure to drink sufficient quantities of water will lead to dehydration and adversely affect your muscle mass. Don't forget that muscle is 70% water so a generous intake will maintain muscle volume and help growth.***

We had a great work out today. I think sometimes these short WOD's kick my butt more then some of the longer ones because I am able to go all out. This was a fun one!

Workout:

Strength - Deadlifts....we were working up to our 1 rep max today. I am nursing a tight groin muscle so I was pretty nervous to go heavy. I got to 205.

WOD
30/24/20/16/12/8/4/2

ball slam - 20 lbs
Kettle bell snatch 16k

Time 8:47

Food:

6 am - Oatmeal, flax oil, glutamine, protein
9 am - protein, glutamine, water
1pm - chicken gyro
3pm - protein, glutamin, water
6pm - 8 oz tuna steak, 2 cups of steamed veggies
9m - Protein, water

Finally the hype is over and things can get back to normal. We did the Fight Gone Bad benchmark today and it was a lot of fun. I was there for all 3 classes so I got to see just about everyone make their way through the workout and it was amazing to see how hard everyone pushed. It was really cool, I could not wait to get in there and do it. ( I ended up doing the last class of the day.) So anyways I was paired up with Sean and he did awesome. He came out just flying and his ROM was flawless. He killed his old score! I always like working out with Sean, he is a great motivator and really knows how to get more out of me when I feel like stopping. So....I was up after him and I tried to stay steady...I wanted to get at least 20 reps per station except for the rower, I wanted 10 - 15 there. I can't remember my scores per round but I stayed pretty consistent. On my third round after wall ball and sumo deadlifts I got to the box jumps and I seriously did not think I was going to finish without losing my breakfast. Luckily I made it through the last 3 stations and felt pretty good. Anyways, it was a lot of fun and lot of people did amazing today. Eva impressed the hell out of me. She kicked ass!! :)

This might get a little lengthy....So the past week was a fun and challenging week for me. I stayed so busy all week it felt like the week just flew by. I wanted to try and stay active as much as I could this week to kind of see where I am in my fitness.

So it started out last Saturday with a very good partner work out. Then Sunday I spent the day snowboarding for basically the first time ( some previous posts explain that) and that got me sore!!!!! Then Monday I did the 7:30 work out and drove to Seattle for work and then that night I tired out Hot Yoga for the first time and continued to do that the next 3 nights after work while I was in Seattle. Then I drove back on Thursday and hit a RF work out at 5:30. Then the next morning I did the 7:30 am work out at RF. Then Saturday morning did the RF work out FGB.
Through all of this I was super strict on my diet and felt great even though it was a somewhat challenging week my recovery time was great and my energy was up!

Also....I lost about 5 pounds this week through all of this, usually that is too much to lose in a week but if I am working this hard and not cheating in my eating habits I am not worried about it. It would be different if I was constantly hungry and lost the weight by not eating enough, but that is not the case. If I was not eating enough, I could not keep up this kind of energy and do these work outs. So in the past 5 weeks, I have lost about 18 pounds and am continuing to get stronger.

Workout:

3 rounds, 1 minute at each station with a 1 minute rest between rounds

Wall ball
Sumo Deadlift High Pulls 75 lbs
Box Jumps
Push Presses 75 lbs
Row for calories

Score: 316

Food:

5:30 oatmeal with protein/flax oil/glutamine
9:00 protein bar
10:30 protein drink
12:30 5 triscuts, 2 string cheese, a yogurt
3:00 HUB..hummus with veggies, Bavarian pretzels, pear and nut salad with chicken
7:00 protien and milk

I worked out early Monday morning at RF and then headed straight for Seattle for 4 days.  I got back tonight and hit the 5:30 class at RF.....I basically only missed 2 days but it seemed like forever.  So it was great to get back in there tonight.  It was a good tough work out tonight that had me gasping for air by the end of the 3rd round.  That is a good sign that you gave just about everything you have.  Thanks to Matt G., I spent myself early trying to catch him.  He did awesome tonight and kept all 3 of this times under 2 minutes.  

I am looking forward to this WOD on Saturday. Here is a good video about it.

Hot Yoga was good, I laid there in the practice room for 30 minutes before the class started and I fell asleep before it started.....for some reason I kept dreaming that I was swinging a kettlebell and I kept throwing my hands in the air while I was sleeping and jerking myself awake. The heat in there does feel good. As soon as I started the class though I was sweating a lot more then I did last night. I dropped 5 pounds during the class. I am sure I already replenished that 5 pounds with water and dinner. But it is just amazing how much you can sweat out in 90 minutes. Okay, I am sure you all don't want to hear about me sweating.....I am going to bed. hahaha

Work out:

Still in Seattle....Did 90 minutes of Hot Yoga

Food:

2 eggs, 1/2 cup oatmeal with protein
protein, water
salmon salad
protein, water
chicken salad

What a day! I woke up this morning very tight and sore from snowboarding on Sunday. I go in and took the 7:30 class at Recreate Fitness and felt great after the warm up and had a really good work out. I got a new PR on my front squat...225 for 1. I struggled for that rep and kinda lost my form. It was messy....I definately let the weight psyche me out. But I will count it. :)

From there I drove up to Seattle to work up there for the next couple days. A friend of mine has been raving so much about "hot yoga" and the studio she goes to up in Federal Way. So I decided to give it a try tonight. It was tough to stay in that kind of heat but I stayed in the room the whole 90 minutes. My friend thought that it was about 108 or 110 in the room tonight which is hotter then normal. ( my luck ) About 30 minutes into it I started to feel a little queezy and dizzy which they say is normal and just had to lay there for about 5 minutes until I felt a little better. All in all it was good and I enjoyed the deep stretches. My training at RF really helped me for 2 reasons.
1. Strength obviously.....there were a lot of squat like positions and I was able to hold them solid.

2. Mental toughness...I never really thought about this too much before but the past 3 months at RF, I have learned to keep pushing myself and telling myself that I can do it even when I feel like I can't take it anymore. That really helped my tonight because a few times I thought, it was too hot, I couldn't get a deeper stretch, I can't breathe right.....but I pushed through all those things....got my mind focused and made it through. So, I liked it...but I can't see doing it all the time. I am going to do it again the next couple nights while in Seattle for my work outs.

Work out:

Strength. Front Squat 3/3/3/1/1/1 with cross chop to halos.
135/145/155/ 175/205/225

WOD:
15 minutes of

10 2 hand swings
10 2 hand kb flip, catch, squat 35 lb.
10 box jumps

I did 10 rounds.

Food:

Oatmeal, protein, flax, glutamine
protein, water
chicken salad
protein, water
chicken salad with fruit and cheese

YEAH!!!!  No broken bones!  I had such a great time with David, Devon and Tiff up at Ski Bowl yesterday.  We get there and I decided to take a lesson when I rented my equipment.  The price for the lesson, rental and lift was only $54.00 which I thought was a pretty good deal.  So as I did the lesson the other 3 went off and did a few runs and I got some good tips on some basics....mainly how to get around with one foot in the board.  So when I was done with the lesson we met up and up we went on the lift to do my first run.  I got off the lift with not a huge problem, well for me, I did almost take out David.  hahaha  So we get strapped in and off I go and all I could do was stay on my toe side.  Devon and Tiff came down and gave me some good pointers and all of the sudden it just all made sense and I was able to make it down without too many falls.  The more we went down the faster I got and the easier it got to get in control.  I think I got in 7 runs and they got in 11 total.  The only thing that hurt when we left yesterday was my left butt cheek...but around 9 last night I think just about every part of my body was stiff.  :)  Then waking up this morning there was a lot of cracking and popping going on.  This mornings work out should be interesting.  

For those of you who haven't seen Recreate Fitness, the gym I work out at....here is kind of a birds eye view of half the gym.

I had a great time at the gym today and even had some fun shooting some photos with Matt and Tina during some of the classes. I think Tina is catching the camera bug, she seemed to have fun trying new lenses and playing with different angles. She got some really cool shots.

I got a new PR in class today. I did 20 kipping pull ups, my previous record was 15 on Jan. 3rd. I think my hands gave out before anything else, I need to toughen up these small little dough-boy hands. :)

Sean was my partner for the work out today and we were cruising right along. ( We even found a way to keep good form and still shave a few seconds off our wall ball time. ) But then we hit the atomic push ups and for what ever reason we thought we had to do 100 instead of 50. I think we just about hit 100 and I think it was Devon who pointed it out to us. We were struggling through those last 2o or so towards the end. Oh well, it was a great chest work out and I am sure my chest will be sore tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I am attempting snowboarding for the 1st time in 12 years and back then I only went twice. The first time I thought I was getting the hang of it until I bit it really bad and someone came up to help me and said, " Are you okay? That is the worst accident I have ever seen!" The second time was much more enjoyable because I took a lesson and made it through the day without wiping out. ( I can't say that much for my brother in law who spent half the day getting x-rays from his fall) Now that I am thinking of all this, it probably isn't too smart of me to go tomorrow since these bad accidents seem to follow me around on the slopes. LOL I am going to take it easy and just enjoy the snow and friends. I will let you know if I made it back in one piece tomorrow.

I can't remember the whole work out because I had to run out after class and didn't write it down. But it was good and long and hard! :) Just the way we like them.

Food:
6:30 am oatmeal with protein, glutamine, flax
10:15 am protein, water
11:30 am protein bar
4:00 pm celery, almond butter, protein and water
7:00 pm crab salad, cheese, fruit
8:00 pm eggnog bread pudding

Spidey is the man, he can do the alligator on his fingertips! hahaha

We did push presses today and they felt really good. I have been staying kind of light because of the lower back pain I was having while doing this lift. I knew the pain was from the bad form I had when bringing the weight back down after the press. So, I finally figure it out and was able to start moving back up in weight. I finished off my fifth set at 175, but I felt like I could have moved up to 195. I think we have a couple more weeks of this, I am hoping to get over 200 by the end of this lift.

Workout:

Strength: 5 sets of 3
Push press 115/125/135/145/155/175
5 dead hang pull ups 5x

WOD:

Run 2 laps
30-20-10
DB deadlift - 30 lbs
DB pushpress - 30 lbs
Run 2 laps

Time: 8:40

at home...rowed 5000 meters in 21:10

Food:
6:30 - Oatmeal with my stuff. :)
8:30 - protein, water
11:30 - protein, water
12:30 - Chicken Gyro / light sauce
2:30 - 3 celery sticks, 1/4 cup almond butter, protein water
6pm - telapia, asparagus, steamed veggies
9pm - protein, water

It's time to play....name that work out! I am not sure if Nathan has a name for this yet, but it needs one.

I really liked this work out, it is one of those WOD's that make you feel good to finish. I felt really good today after taking a day off for rest. Between the cert, and travel I was feeling pretty out of it so I didn't work out on Tuesday. I woke up Tuesday morning down in Medford and you know that saying, "Listen to your body" well when I got up, I heard more popping and cracking then I think I have ever heard from my body. So I took the day off and woke up this morning feeling great! Thank God!!!

Work out

Row 1000m
50 pushups
50 2 hand swings / 24k
50 jumping pull ups
50 sit ups
50 med ball cleans / 20 lbs
50 kb high pulls each arm / 35 lbs
50 ball slams / 20 lbs
50 ring rows
250 jump rope

Time was 28:55

Food:
6 am - My normal oatmeal
9 am - protein, water
noon - Beat Salad, cheese, walnuts
3 pm - 1/4 cup almond butter, 3 celery sticks
6 pm - 8 oz chicken, 2 cups of cooked veggies
9pm - protein, water

We did "Jackie" today for a benchmark work out. It was a great work out and was pretty happy with my time. ( I think it was 10:04) I don't have anything to compare it to yet, but it felt like a good start.

Work Out:

Front Squats 135/135/145/155 all were 5x
spidermans

"Jackie"
row 1000 meters
50 thrusters 45 lbs.
30 pullups

Food:

oatmeal, glutamine, flax oil, protein
protein, water
chicken salad
protein, water
ahi tuna salad

I completed the Basic Barbell Cert this weekend over at Crossfit hel with Mark Rippetoe teaching. We went over so much information in about 19 hours of class time, there is a lot to soak in but with Mark's books he gave us, I can look a little deeper into some of the topics. So Saturday we did the back squat, press, and bench press. Then on Sunday we did the Dead lift and the power clean. Mark went into so much detail of the skeletal system and positioning of the bar, and how to lift and what to lift with, etc... It just all clicked and made sense. Way too much information to talk about right now. It was great experience to learn these lifts and then also to coach them. I really like that style of teaching. Here is the order in which I liked the exercises from best to least.

Low Back Squat 45/45/95/135/165/185/185 all x5
Dead lift 135/135/225/275/275 all x5
Press 45/45/95/115/115/135 all x5
Bench Press 45/45/90/185/225/ allx5
Power clean 45/45/95/105/105/105 all x3

I am wiped out after this weekend! Hopefully I will get a good night sleep.

Food over the weekend was not so good. I ate when I could eat and it wasn't always the best. Back on it tomorrow!

So today was a "play day" at the gym...basically work on techniques and such. I ended up doing a 10 minute kettle bell-snatch drill that I have been wanting to try. So it was competition rules...do as many kettle bell snatches in 10 minutes without putting the kettle bell down and only switching arms one time. Nathan set me up with a 16k competition kettle bell and off I went. About 3 minutes into this thing I started thinking, "what the hell was I thinking" My shoulder was on fire by that time but I knew that if I switched now I would not be able to do do 7 minutes with my other arm. So I pressed on and I think there was about 5.30 left on the clock I switched to my right arm. Again, 2 to 3 minutes in on my right and it got rough.....by the last minute I wanted to put it down so bad...I could no longer open my hand in the rest position because it was cramping so bad and so did my forearm. Tina started counting down that list minute for me which really helped and I was able to complete the whole 10 minutes. When I was done.....I was done! I got 119 I think. It felt good to accomplish that though. I highly recommend trying it sometime. :)

Food:
oatmeal with the usual.
chicen sandwich
protein, water
steamed veggies and 4 oz of chicken, 1 piece of home made bread.
protein, water

I love doing the Kettlebell lifts. Tonight we did one arm swings and snatch. I used a 20k comp bell and felt good, in fact the snatch seemed to go up fairly easy when I kept proper form for the whole 15 minutes. I am hoping that we will try a 10 minute snatch challenge soon. I would like to see if I can go 10 minutes with only 1 arm switch.

So next time I get the bright idea of doing 6 days in a row, please slap me!!! What the *%#$ was I thinking? Today's work out was the first one since last Saturday that I felt like I was getting my strength back. I had worked out on Monday and Tuesday and took Wednesday off. I may have been fighting off a cold or something too, all I have wanted to do the past 4 days was sleep. I was still and tired coming into tonights work out but by the time we got done with out push presses I was fired up and ready to attack the WOD. Now I feel hyper and probably won't be able to sleep good tonight. :)

Workout:

Warmup
3 rounds
5 Windmills- 35
5 overhead squat with kettlebell- 20
Farmers walk- 32k

Skill
Push Press 6x5- 135/135/155/155/155/135
Cross chop to halo- 10 / 35 lb

WOD
How many rounds in 15 mins?
5- L 1 arm swing
5- R 1 arm wing
5- L arm snatch
5- R arm snatch
10- pushups
12 rounds with 20k kb

Food:

6:30 Oatmeal, glutamine, flax oil, protein
9:00 protein, water, glutamine
12:30 a little calamari, chicken salad
7:30 oatmeal, protein
( not a good day for my diet )

I was taking a look around at some rope climbing vidoes today and I came across this guy doing a one arm rope climb. Check it out.




Work out kicked my ass today. Still a little confused why....I usually like the Tabata drills.

Skill

Dead hang pull ups. 5/5/4/4
dips 5/5/5/5
KB snatch 5 each arm - 22k/28k/28k/32k

WOD
"tabata" (20 sec. sprint 10 sec. rest.) 6 times at each station

Bear Crawl
Combative rope
S.D.H.P KB 24k/24k/24k/24k/45lb/45lb
jumping pull ups

At home : Rowed 2000 meters for Fat Elvis

Food:
6:30 Oatmeal with protein, glutamine, flax oil
9:30 protein with water and glutamine
12:00 Chicken salad
2:30 Fat Elvis (wow that was good)
6:00 8 oz Ahi tuna, 4 asparagus spears, salad
9:30 protein, water, glutamine