GPOY, cleans from a couple weeks ago.  I was at 235 here.
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GPOY, cleans from a couple weeks ago.  I was at 235 here.

Somehow, I ended up in the CoreFit CrossFit Games Sweepstakes - Final Round where the winner gets an all expenses paid trip to the 2013 CrossFit Games in California. I just need the most votes on my photo.  It would be extremely awesome for all you Tumblr folks out there to hit this page up with a vote for yours truly.  Promise to bring you back something cool if I win. EDIT: Fixed the link
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Somehow, I ended up in the CoreFit CrossFit Games Sweepstakes - Final Round where the winner gets an all expenses paid trip to the 2013 CrossFit Games in California.

I just need the most votes on my photo.  It would be extremely awesome for all you Tumblr folks out there to hit this page up with a vote for yours truly.  Promise to bring you back something cool if I win.

EDIT: Fixed the link

Power clean + jerk work at about 75% of my 1RM from the other day.  I want to start using some videos to see where I need to improve.  I think I am doing well with regards to the bar path.  As the weight goes up I seem to have trouble dropping into the split.  Not sure if it is my left knee that I am worried about or what.  I failed a 245lb jerk a few times and I really believe that if I was more aggressive with the split I could nail it.
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Power clean + jerk work at about 75% of my 1RM from the other day.  I want to start using some videos to see where I need to improve.  I think I am doing well with regards to the bar path.  As the weight goes up I seem to have trouble dropping into the split.  Not sure if it is my left knee that I am worried about or what.  I failed a 245lb jerk a few times and I really believe that if I was more aggressive with the split I could nail it.

Just wasn’t my morning… Week 3 of the oly strength cycle and every Tuesday since starting I have felt absolutely worn out.  Granted, Saturday & Sunday are high volume training days, and the general volume overall has increased, but for some reason Tuesday is rough.  Even after a full day of rest on Mondays.  Part of me struggles with reducing volume and another part struggles with sucking it up and moving through it. This morning, the front squats felt heavy.  Really heavy.  I never went above 85% of my 1RM and it felt like I was trying to lift the entire gym.  It got into my head to the point where the last set at 85% I almost didn’t want to sink all the way. The last lift was a 2-position clean (floor & hang) and I was working at decent weight.  Nothing too heavy but for this movement, challenging to me.  The biggest trouble for me is hanging onto the bar in transition from the clean to the hang clean.  On my first rep at 175# I failed the clean.  It was like a slap in the face because that is a weight that I can always hit.  No clue why I failed.  Shook it off and tried to keep pushing. The final set was 2 sets of the 2-position clean at 185lbs.  I hit the first one, though it didn’t feel good catching that on my thigh.  On the second one, my grip gave way and I let the bar go.  I tried to move my knees and legs out of the way.  I only got out of the way just enough for the bar to hit my thighs, knees, and then slide down my shins and bounce back up.  So glad I had lifting socks on or this would have looked a lot worse. Like I said.  Just wasn’t my morning.
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Just wasn’t my morning…

Week 3 of the oly strength cycle and every Tuesday since starting I have felt absolutely worn out.  Granted, Saturday & Sunday are high volume training days, and the general volume overall has increased, but for some reason Tuesday is rough.  Even after a full day of rest on Mondays.  Part of me struggles with reducing volume and another part struggles with sucking it up and moving through it.

This morning, the front squats felt heavy.  Really heavy.  I never went above 85% of my 1RM and it felt like I was trying to lift the entire gym.  It got into my head to the point where the last set at 85% I almost didn’t want to sink all the way.

The last lift was a 2-position clean (floor & hang) and I was working at decent weight.  Nothing too heavy but for this movement, challenging to me.  The biggest trouble for me is hanging onto the bar in transition from the clean to the hang clean.  On my first rep at 175# I failed the clean.  It was like a slap in the face because that is a weight that I can always hit.  No clue why I failed.  Shook it off and tried to keep pushing. The final set was 2 sets of the 2-position clean at 185lbs.  I hit the first one, though it didn’t feel good catching that on my thigh. 

On the second one, my grip gave way and I let the bar go.  I tried to move my knees and legs out of the way.  I only got out of the way just enough for the bar to hit my thighs, knees, and then slide down my shins and bounce back up.  So glad I had lifting socks on or this would have looked a lot worse.

Like I said.  Just wasn’t my morning.

GPOY, snatch edition.
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GPOY, snatch edition.

This is a sequence capture from Coach’s Eye of my power snatch this past Saturday.  We worked some really light weight reps and it was very interesting to me to see this in slow motion.  The trainer that recorded this drew the line for the bar path and helped break the entire lift down in slow motion. I have two goals with this lift.  I want to be able to power snatch 200lbs (I am 15lbs away from that) and I want to start really working the full snatch, focusing on moving under the bar so that I can go heavier on this.
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This is a sequence capture from Coach’s Eye of my power snatch this past Saturday.  We worked some really light weight reps and it was very interesting to me to see this in slow motion.  The trainer that recorded this drew the line for the bar path and helped break the entire lift down in slow motion.

I have two goals with this lift.  I want to be able to power snatch 200lbs (I am 15lbs away from that) and I want to start really working the full snatch, focusing on moving under the bar so that I can go heavier on this.

2013 CrossFit Games - Open Competition Recap

This is my second year participating in the CrossFit Games Open.  With about 2 years of CrossFit under my belt, I had different goals this year, though somewhat undefined.  I did not go in with the desire to attain a certain placing within my region.  I merely wanted to do better than I did last year.  If that was the sole measurement of success this time around, then I feel confident that is exactly what happened.

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Weekly Training Log - 04/01/13

MONDAY - 04/01/13
Vacation.  What?

TUESDAY - 04/02/13
WOD - For time: 800m run, 10 strict presses, 15 OHS, 20 push presses, 25 front squats, 30 push jerks, 35 back squats, 800m run.  All at 115lbs. Basically a modified version of the main site workout the other day, with a run bookending the WOD.  Subbed a 1000m row (3:36 & 4:04) for the runs to save my knee a bit.  This sucked and I tried to stay moving.  The few hours of yard work prior to going most likely didn’t help me.  Didn’t drop the bar on the back squats because I did not want to re-rack it.  Time was 25:01.
Cash-Out: 10x1 power snatch @ 115

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WEDNESDAY - 04/03/13
Pool: 10x100m w/45 sec ri.  Best 100 was 1:39 and worst was 1:49.  Happy with staying close to the same average over the course of the swim.  Total time was about 26 minutes I think.  I want to test a 2000m swim and check my 100m splits and see if I can keep a sub-2 average on them.

THURSDAY - 04/04/13
Pool: 8x50m w/varying rest.  Not really pushing the pace at all.  Just keeping loose and went no more than 80%.

CrossFit: Open WOD 13.5.  Wrote up more details about this here, but scored 5 reps more than my goal, finishing with a total of 55.  I have been really working on pull-ups and while they weren’t easy by any stretch, they were vastly improved over last year.  The coolest part was getting to see my wife knock out her first C2Bs!

FRIDAY - 04/05/13
Active rest, stretching, mobilization.

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SATURDAY - 04/06/13
CrossFit: Total bro session happened.  Spent about 3 hours at the gym and loved every minute of it.
Rack Pulls: Worked on rack pull deads. 5x315, 5x375, 5x405, 5x425
Skill: Worked on the snatch a good bit, starting at 95lbs and did countless singles working up to 175.  Ultimately I would love be able to power snatch 200.
WOD: Me and a buddy did a 5 minute snatch WOD again.  One does 5 snatches (95lbs) while the other rests.  Continue as fast as possible for 5 minutes.  I did this for 5 minutes and felt really good.  Weight was super light.  Felt so good I kept going while another guy hopped in to replace the first, making it a total of 10 minutes for me.  I believe I got about 16 rounds in.
Cash-Out: 10x3 hang clean & jerk @ 165lbs

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SUNDAY - 04/07/13
Strength: 1 snatch grip deadlift into 1 hang power snatch from below the knees into 4 overhead squats; rest about 90 seconds.  6 rounds total.  2 rounds @ 115, 2 @ 125, 2 @ 135, 2 @ 145.
WOD: 8 minute AMRAP of 15 hang power snatches (above the knee; 75lbs), 10 situps, 5 push-ups.  4 rounds even.


This week felt the closest thing to normal that I have felt in a while.  Yes, my knee is still bothering me and I think it is a chronic thing I am just going to have to deal with.  Mentally, I felt better.  Felt like I used to feel, especially on Saturday when I was able to do some heavier lifting.  Since I am staying off my knee with regards to running, etc. I have to stay focused on swimming and other activities to keep conditioning up as much as possible.  I have some nutritional changes in the queue for when the Whole Life Challenge wraps up that I will be making, along with some training changes.  Looking forward to what lies ahead.

{ Previous training logs }

The right coaching makes all the difference in the world.  Sunday afternoons at our place are now a whole lot different than they used to be.
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The right coaching makes all the difference in the world.  Sunday afternoons at our place are now a whole lot different than they used to be.

Despite this head funk, I am trying to think of the positive and keep moving in the right direction.  A good friend reminded me to never let what you have not accomplished get in the way of what you have.  Perspective is a very important thing to hang on to.  Those of you who, like me, have struggled with weight know the emotional and physical baggage that is associated with it.  Celebrations are most likely not often enough. But today, I am trying to take some time to appreciate where I am at this moment.  I might not be the strongest, fastest, or best athlete in our gym, but I am happy about just making it to where I am.  I happy that I can stand in front of a mirror, with some stupid facial expression, and see my belt.  I am happy that I have maintained this healthy lifestyle for over 2 years now.
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Despite this head funk, I am trying to think of the positive and keep moving in the right direction.  A good friend reminded me to never let what you have not accomplished get in the way of what you have.  Perspective is a very important thing to hang on to.  Those of you who, like me, have struggled with weight know the emotional and physical baggage that is associated with it.  Celebrations are most likely not often enough.

But today, I am trying to take some time to appreciate where I am at this moment.  I might not be the strongest, fastest, or best athlete in our gym, but I am happy about just making it to where I am.  I happy that I can stand in front of a mirror, with some stupid facial expression, and see my belt.  I am happy that I have maintained this healthy lifestyle for over 2 years now.

My wife was cleaning out a desk the other day and came across a small photo album from our daughter’s school.  It was from 2010 and the photo at the top was in it.  There are times when I get so frustrated about not being exactly where I want to be physically.  But then I see old photos like that and feel better about how far I have come.  Sometimes we need those reminders as they serve as great motivators for pushing forward.
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My wife was cleaning out a desk the other day and came across a small photo album from our daughter’s school.  It was from 2010 and the photo at the top was in it.  There are times when I get so frustrated about not being exactly where I want to be physically.  But then I see old photos like that and feel better about how far I have come.  Sometimes we need those reminders as they serve as great motivators for pushing forward.

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When you suck at double unders, you often times wear the proof on your arms.  The sub for DUs today was a 200m run.  I am not going to get better at DUs by always subbing.  Starting to get the rhythm on these and nowhere near discouraged.  In fact, I’m hopeful.  Not there yet, but better than yesterday.
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When you suck at double unders, you often times wear the proof on your arms.  The sub for DUs today was a 200m run.  I am not going to get better at DUs by always subbing.  Starting to get the rhythm on these and nowhere near discouraged.  In fact, I’m hopeful.  Not there yet, but better than yesterday.

Love every bit of this. It is NOT about weight loss. It is about health. It is about confidence. It is about strength. It is about life. Major props to Mandy. mandyisdandy: Early 2011 – Weighed 105lbs, ate roughly 500 calories a day (mostly veggies covered in mustard), instantly gained weight if I splurged, spent HOURS on the elliptical every night, was sick/had zero energy/slept all the time & was generally obsessed with all things food/body weight related. Today – Weigh 127lbs, eat roughly 2,000+ calories a day (90% paleo), have a cheat day where I basically eat anything I want & look/feel no different, crossfit/weight lift a couple times a week, have all the energy in the world & am 100% content with most everything in my life. Up 22lbs from a year & a half ago, do I look stick thin like I used to, most definitely not. Am I happy, completely. Do I consider myself recovered from that crazy 10 year whirl with an eating disorder, just about. Best part is most of my old clothes still fit, maybe even better than before (except my ass won’t fit in any of my old jeans, but I will gladly thank all the squats for that happy dilemma.) MUSCLES > bones. Now if only I could cut out fruit & get that 6 pack ;]
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Love every bit of this. It is NOT about weight loss. It is about health. It is about confidence. It is about strength. It is about life. Major props to Mandy.

mandyisdandy:

Early 2011 – Weighed 105lbs, ate roughly 500 calories a day (mostly veggies covered in mustard), instantly gained weight if I splurged, spent HOURS on the elliptical every night, was sick/had zero energy/slept all the time & was generally obsessed with all things food/body weight related.

Today – Weigh 127lbs, eat roughly 2,000+ calories a day (90% paleo), have a cheat day where I basically eat anything I want & look/feel no different, crossfit/weight lift a couple times a week, have all the energy in the world & am 100% content with most everything in my life.

Up 22lbs from a year & a half ago, do I look stick thin like I used to, most definitely not. Am I happy, completely. Do I consider myself recovered from that crazy 10 year whirl with an eating disorder, just about. Best part is most of my old clothes still fit, maybe even better than before (except my ass won’t fit in any of my old jeans, but I will gladly thank all the squats for that happy dilemma.) MUSCLES > bones. Now if only I could cut out fruit & get that 6 pack ;]

When in doubt, go heavy.  From the CF Total WOD 2 weeks ago.  475 on deads.  What used to be my 1RM I hit it twice that day and 100lbs more than I could lift a year ago.  5 bills is right around the corner.  Thanks to JP for the photo.
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When in doubt, go heavy.  From the CF Total WOD 2 weeks ago.  475 on deads.  What used to be my 1RM I hit it twice that day and 100lbs more than I could lift a year ago.  5 bills is right around the corner.  Thanks to JP for the photo.