2012-08-27 - an evening in paradise

I wasn't planning on blogging again until the end of the week, but have to perform a system update on my ps3 before I can play Madden 2013, so I'll kill some time while the birds game is on.

Julie and I have decided todo a sugar detox 21.....this is very similar to the whole30 challenge but it's only 21 days and it's a little more strict. The guy at Cuvilized Caveman has pushed this for a while, so we will start that the first of September and 21 days later is the day before we leave for Cancun for our 5 year anniversary trip.......it's been 5 years. Wow. It's flown by.
I'm signed up for the Crossfit at the Corn Crib competition, so look for that September 8....I'm on a team with a friend of mine from the gym Sean. Our team name is FML. Find My Limits. Sean has never been in a competition and I'm looking to push myself to the next level. Seemed fitting. Not sure what we can do for a shirt just yet...lots of ideas maybe someone reading this can help out?

Well it's done updating, that was faster than I thought.

Oh and Pumpking beer is amazing.

2012-08-26–Birthday Week

So the past week has been pretty busy.  Work is picking up as we are in crunch time for school to start again.  And at the Museum, they will have school programs starting the first of September! Yikes…  

Monday, Tuesday were great.  Had good work outs and felt pretty good about the week.  I passed on Wednesday’s WOD and it was a good thing I did.  It was a 12 min AmRap (As Many Reps as Possible) of 50 Double Unders & 5 Burpees, then 50 DU’s and 10 Burpees, and so on.  This WOD sort of brought something to my attention that I had been thinking for a while, but couldn’t put it together.  How to scale WOD’s and why it is important. 

Now I’m not the type of person to just follow blindly through any aspect of my life and I am also not the type of person who wants to take charge all of the time, I like to think I’m someplace in the middle.  Well, I feel like my strength and conditioning have much improved over the past year and that is very much the result of the programming/training I have received.  Thanks Coaches  

I have done very little outside of what I was told, but I’m starting to feel that I can push myself a little harder to get the next level of results that I want. 

I have a problem with scaling WOD’s “up” for myself, doing Rx Plus without it being suggested.  I don’t want to push in an area I shouldn’t push and end up regretting, or hurting myself because of it.  There has to be a safe way to adjust for this and not me just adding weight. 

I feel that part of the draw to crossfit is the community atmosphere created and what happens after a WOD that everyone just struggled through.  I don’t think anyone will argue that it’s pretty cool to compare times/reps after sweating out a 20 min amrap.   It is also much easier to scale a WOD “down” to someone who is less skilled in certain aspects of fitness than others with little knowledge about programming, etc.  Everyone knows their limits, even if they don’t, they can begin to find them during the WOD and adjust accordingly if the weight gets too heavy or the rep counts too high. 

Back to Wednesday’s WOD.  I would not have thought to add burpees to the WOD to scale it up to the next level, 7, 14, 21, etc.  That makes sense, but not something I would have done on my own, but something I think would have been helpful as I am weaker at burpees than DU’s and the burpee will build more strength while the DU will build skill. 

I guess the point of all of this is I want to be challenged.  Bring it on, world. 

This post has gone on long enough, I’ll save the weekend antics for another post, maybe tomorrow.

But for now, here is my inspirational picture of the day. 

2012-08-17_Where am I going?

Try & Fail, but do not fail to try.

-unknown to me

I'm not sure who said that and the little bit of google-ing that I did, did not seem to return any consistant results, so thus the unknown.
That short quote says so much in 9 words.


I have been struggling the last few weeks with making heads or tails of my goals and I'm going to be using the blog to help push me along with them.  It's been a while since I've posted, so let's do a little back story (sorry this post is going to get wordy).

About two months ago, 100 # of weight loss was an attainable goal.  I saw the numbers inching down on the scale and could actually feel 208 creeping.  While I know numbers on the scale are not that important, and not the end all, it's still an accomplishment I wanted.  I got within 4 lbs and decided I wasn't ready to get there.  I am not sure what my thoughts were behind that decision, but I just did not want to get there, not at that time, it would mean I had to maintain that and I don't think I was mentally ready to do what it would take to maintain.

After fighting with myself for a week over this, I decided to do another whole30.  I needed to prepare for the throwdown and that would give me the push I needed to get to that 100# mark and hopefully give me the motivation to stay there.  The last thing I wanted to do was get to that point and then go back.

Well, without weighing myself during the whole30 I don't know the exact day, but at some point I got below 208.  When whole30 was over I was at 204 and feeling great.

The Throwdown was a blast, big shout out to TrainerMolly who ran an AWESOME competition.  I grew mentally and physically during the week leading up to the Throwdown and during the actual throwdown.
I'm ready to maintain this lifestyle for real, and I can't shout enough praise about how awesome it feels to be done with that first competition.

Well, now onto the point of this entire post.  Goals.

I have set a few public goals as well as internal goals and I'm tired of them being internal, but this is not the post to discuss them.
July Goal - Muscle Ups
Got it.  That was an awesome feeling and great accomplishment, but now I want to do more, I want to get multiple in a row, I want to show everyone the techniques for getting them.  I want people to have the same feeling I had.

My August Goal is pistols with some consistency, not just one or two-

Not done yet, but the month is not over.  I have been working on my pistols and can finally get a few (while still wobbly) and even with a weighted bar over my head I got one or two.  I am not sure what I struggle with more, the flexibility or the strength.  I feel like I have enough strength, but when I was using a 45 lb empty bar I was failing on the way up.  I'm going to keep working every day on both mobility and strength and it will happen.

Got one!  

It's these small things that I have found to give me the most push and motivation to continue what I'm doing.  I remember less than a year ago, I tried my first pistol, onto a 24" box, I sat down and couldn't get up without using my hands.  I can only imagine the added stress and strain that I was putting on my knees, hips, back, everything. Ugh.  

That is enough for now.  I feel like there are several things still to discuss, but they can wait for a day or two.

This weekend, off to St. Louis to do Run For Your Lives which will be awesome.  It's why I crossfit, to stay alive when the zombie Apocalypse comes.

A couple of questions for those who actually made it this far.

Do you have any goals for this month?  What are they?  What do you want?

Do you have any regrets this month?  Just curious.

2012-08-16 -PR

Well, I haven't had a chance to discuss Crossfit. But I like the hook grip. Two weeks ago, I got a PR in the power clean using the hook grip. And today I PRd on the snatch. Anyone who has not used it should give it a shot.

Today we had lots of snatches to do.

I'm loving doing strength before the WODs. It's fun and I think I get more out of it.

Anyway. Great job everyone with the PRs everyone. We need a PR bell or gong. I think a gong would be appropriate for the gym.
I'm working on getting one

2012-08-13 Crossfit throwdown

Well. My legs are officially sore. And not just quit being a baby sore, but it hurts to put weight on them sore.
This past weekend was the Illinois state Fair opening weekend and Crossfit Instinct hosted a team event in the Happy Hollow area of the fair grounds.
We did our best to activate beast mode and at the end of the day in happy with the position we finished in. I found some glaring weaknesses that I need to work on but found some positives to latch onto and help motivate for next time.
When the "lights are on" and the music is playing I found adrenalin takes over and can help me power through much more than a normal wod day.
My goals will be to push myself a little harder at the more difficult parts of the WODs these next couple months to gel eliminate these weaknesses.
Today we had running, I didn't even want to WOD today but knew that missing today meant quitting on myself already not two days after setting a new goal. That was not an option. So I powered through and pushed hard through the runs today.....wasn't a banner day on the clock but 5:15 is not for setting records it's preparing me to set records.

Black Dog

Well, I was hoping to make my first post in a while be something a bit more dynamic or exciting. But I've been busy and well, here it is.

Today I am enjoying the best BBQ I've had in the central United States.

I'm not sure how to insert a picture into the middle of my post but it's the Black Dog smoke house. I'm not sure what it is about this place that makes it so good but it is.

I guess since this blog is supposed to be something that burns my Sass I guess the fact that Black Dog only has burritos at lunch on Thursday's.
And can run out of burnt ends at any time.

Ridiculous. They could sell just those and I'd be happy.