12/29

12/29

1Squat clean, 3 Hangsquat clean, 5 Front squats x6 rest 3min
Worked up to 205

Goodmornings 12x5 rest 2min
These were tough at the tempo especially the hold at the bottom(I'm hoping I did that right)
I only worked up to 95lb.

Barbell forward lunges from platform (45lb plate)
20x5 rest 2min @95
These were way harder than normal lunges. Sucked.

GH Raises 6x4 rest 3min
Pretty easy even after all the other stuff.

Food:
12/28
9:30am
1 Egg and deer sausage 2oz.

2pm
Spinach pie(spinach and cheese with breading 4 oz.
Small greek salad
seafood bisque 2 cups

8:30pm
Fajita steak with sausage 8oz.
1cup onions/peppers

12/29
9:30am
3 pieces of really thick bacon (about 4 oz. total)

1pm
(Moes)
1cup beans
4oz steak
onions peppers tomatoes 1cup

8:30pm
Flank steak 6oz.
2oz provolone cheese
1 Artichoke with some mayonnaise sauce
Salad 4 cups with 1/2 cup ranch dressing
Some kind of awesome chocolate covered bacon thing about 2oz.

Pain:
I'm sore in the lower back and the front of the shoulders. Not too bad.

Sleep:
Going well, though my little chest spasm messed with me a little last night

12/27

I've had this weird muscle spasm in the lower left portion of my chest near my Xiphoid process for a couple days. No pain, just feels like a fish flopping around in there. At first I thought it may have been something with my heart, but my blood pressure and resting heart rate are just about text book perfect. It comes and goes. It may happen for a minute or an hour. Anyways long story short, it's been bothering me so I've been taking it easy. I trained yesterday.

12/27

Weighted wide grip strict pull-ups (eccentric only with a 4 second drop) 5 sets of 8

This was harder than it sounded. I used a 40lb vest for all sets.

1.Press 6-8 reps rest 1min

2.Bench 12-15 reps rest 1min

x5

This got tough even though I started out light as far as I was concerned with. 

I did 135 on press for 8 reps on the first 3 sets and 145 for 15 on bench for the first 3 sets

After that I went to 125 on press and 135 on bench. I also dropped to 8 and 12 reps.

Bent over rows supinated grip 6 sets of 8-10 reps rest 2min

I started with 10 reps @165 but moved to 8 reps. This was more because of time concerns. I was really cutting it close for an intro

Strict toes to bar AMRAP UB x6 rest 2min

I had to do this later during a class. I did 15, then 10 every sets. This wasn't my max but I was worried about my lower chest and my shoulder. It definitely was tough the last couple sets though.

Food:

2 eggs in coconut oil at about 10am

Salad with chicken, grapes, and walnuts with ranch dressing(approx 4oz chicken)2pm

white chicken chili(3cups) chicken ceasar salad (4oz chicken) 7:30pm

Sleep: I stopped taking the melatonin but I also didn't have ANY coffee yesterday so I slept pretty good. I'm going to hold back on the caffeine for a while and I'm probably stopping the alcohol all together. I got pretty lazy with it over the last couple weeks.

Pain: Nothing really. Low back is a bit tight but not bad at all. That flopping in my chest doesn't hurt it is just annoying and worried me for a little bit.

12/18&20

Holidays are tough with travel but I managed to get two days in.

12/18

Build to a tough single - 205lb.

Ok, I know you're like "really?" I put a screw driving through my finger the day before and the hook grip doesn't work well with hole in the side of your digits so this WAS tough. I stopped here.

Build to a tough single - 345lb. 

Not sure how close to a max I should have gotten to but this was tough so I guess it works. I was also thinking about my next one.

10 sets of 10 with exactly 1min rest between sets - 205lb.

This was very hard. My back was really tight. I had matt dig his elbow into it for a while afterwards

12/20

Weighted pullups 3.3.3x5 20sec/3min rest - 40lb.

This was probably the right weight. It got tough at the end but never failed a rep.

15 bench 145lb.

rest 90sec

15 Supine bent over rows 155lb.

rest 90 sec

x5

I should have went heavier n the bench and lighter on the BOR oddly enough.

1min AMRAP strict ring dips

rest 2min

1min AMRAP Strict supine pullups

rest 2min

x5

dips- 21,17,17,13,17

pullups- 15,14,13,13,13

I felt like my arms and chest were going to explode from the blood. Almost felt like I was back in the globe gym. I secretly liked it a little bit.

My legs have not been this sore in recent memory.

Need to post food log.

Max, should I just email that to you?

12/14

 I spend a good amount of my time talking to my clients about goals and failures. It amazes me how many people don't even have a goal and out of those that do, most couldn't tell you why they are important to them. Most have set their goals according to what society feeds them. I've found that one of the most effective tools to achieving your goal is to make sure that you find ones that are intrinsic. These are goals that are important to you because you are passionate about them on your own. The ones you make simply because the outside world views them as important almost never satiate you and even when achieved they bring minimal joy that is fleeting at best.

 I know I sound like a hippie. Let me explain. I'm not saying that your goal can't be to become CEO of a huge company, I'm just saying that if you only work on that goal because of the achievement/joy you think you will feel when it is completed then you will most likely be let down even if it happens. So how do you find these goals? You need to find enjoyment in the act of working towards that goal. You need to think about the things that are  most important to you in the world and build your goals around them. 

 That brings me to the point. I spend all this time helping people figure out what their real goals are and I've given no real thought into it myself. The start of this blog was to reach a goal. That goal was truly intrinsic in that I enjoyed every second of it, I didn't have anything to prove to anyone and I was doing it anyways. When I achieved this, I felt a great sense of accomplishment but then I needed a new goal. Well because of my field and the perfect situation I was in, I thought "Hey, I need to make a run for regionals" I used the word "need". Conditions were perfect. I had the strength to compete at that level and I knew I had the other tools needed. I just needed to polish my weak links. I got a great coach, and headed down that path without even really thinking about it. It was more just moving on to the next thing. The right thing, the thing that I was best suited to do. I just never asked myself if it was what I wanted to do. 

 The last couple months, my numbers have improved to the point of it looking like I may actually have a shot. Maybe. I've been taking on a tremendous amount of volume and adapting to it. However the issues aren't my improvement, it is what the improvement is doing to me. I have suffered the loss ground in my job performance and relationship. Time with family and my other hobbies/loves have taken a backseat to time under the bar and on the airdyne. My testosterone has dropped from the punishment I've been putting on my body and my joints/ligaments have forgotten what feeling good was like. These are things I knew going in. What I didn't think about was the reason I started and fell in love with CrossFit in the first place. It was to achieve the highest level of fitness possible and now I ask myself is this what it is? 

 I see the sport of fitness and CrossFit's original mission statement as two completely different things in the same way the NFL is different from playing two hand touch with your friends or fighting in the UFC is different from hitting and kicking the bag a couple times a week. The latter is healthy and gives you many great things. The former is far more difficult to achieve and therefore a spectacle to us as humans. The punishment and sacrifice it takes to make it to the NFL or fight at a professional level is great and while the benefits can be great as well, the people that make those goals have to ask themselves if it is worth it to them and why it is. After a lot of thought I have redefined my goals and realized that family, friends, and the success of my business ventures are more important to me and without any outside encouragement. 

 This doesn't mean that I'm going to stop training or doing CrossFit. It doesn't even mean that I'm not gong to do the open. It just means that the focus of my training is going to be more towards being as healthy as possible in all parameters. This will possibly be even harder than my last goal and here's why. I'm competitive. I want to win everything. It doesn't matter if it's the WOD, a game of cards, or being the first to finish his food at the table. So here is my new goal. The highest quality of life possible through fitness and nutrition. This doesn't mean the best snatch, the fastest fran time, or the lowest body fat percentage. It means waking up every day and being awesome at everything I do and loving every minute of it. I can do it and I'm going to do it for me and no one else.

Training today:

Power clean doubles worked up to 275 1min rest between sets

10,8,6,4,2 Backsquat rest 2min between rest

5 sets of 10 pull-ups 2min rest between sets

Food

wafflehouse

2 egg omlete

half order of hash browns

Half chicken salad sandwich from boston market

Turkey 4ounces

mac n cheese 2 cups

2 cups mash potatoes and gravy

3 cups Green bean casserole

1 cup sweet potato casserole 

Still have to eat dinner tonight.

11/30-12/1

I've been playing it really safe lately. Really safe. Wasn't really feeling it saturday for some reason.

11/30
A. Power snatch clusters 1.1.1.1.1x5; rest 20 seconds/rest 3 min
I went to 205 for this one. Was probably the right weight.

B. Squat clean TnG; 5, 5, 5, 5, 5; rest 2 min
I went like with this. Only worked up to 205. Should have been 225 across all sets.

C. 10 TnG deadlift 315# x5; rest 2:30
I only "worked up" to 315(last two sets) 

D. Barbell walking lunges; 20 continuous alt'ing steps x4; rest 2 min
This was done at 95#


12/1
A. Split jerk; build to a tough single
i worked up to 350. This is 15 below my PR but its more than I've done since being back to crossfit and I probably had a little more in me
B1. Push press; 4-5x5; rest 1 min
B2. Muscle ups; 5 for time x5; rest 2 min
I sandbagged the pushpress with 135 but I haven't done the fatigue work in a minute and was worried about the shoulder. It actually felt good up to here
C. Weighted dip; 4-5x3; rest 2 min
I did this with 40lb but after them my shoulder started really bothering me so I called it for the day
+
25-20-15-10-5
CTB chin ups
ring dips
I guess the weighted dips did me in so I stayed away from this one.




Pain report- Shoulder isnt sore but I have quite a bit of joint pain in certain positions Lower and upper back is a little sore prob from a couple missed jerks.

Sleep report- I have been dabbling in alcohol with all the get togethers lately. That's been effecting my sleep. It stops now though, at least during the week.

Mentally I'm around a 7.

Nov.26/27

Nov.26
AM
A. Squat snatch; build to a tough single
i went to 245 and felt pretty good This was about 100lb more than I've snatched in at least a month and it went up fairly easy on the first attempt.

B. Front squat; 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; rest 3 min
185/225/275/315/320
320 came up fairly easy. I've been worried and having anxiety about falling off but it doesn't seem like thats happened a whole lot.

C. Muscle ups; 3 on the min for 15 min
My Left shoulder was/is really bothering me but I have gotten sick of having all these excuses to make me not train so I scaled this down to 3 strict CTB pull-ups and 6 pushups

PM
A. Power clean; 2, 2, 1, 1; rest 3 min
I worked up to 315 for a single. This was really cool as it is technically more than I've ever done in a power and only 20lb off my squat clean PR. I stopped because class was starting but really felt like I had maybe 10 more lb.

B. Push jerk; 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; rest 2 min
+
15 min amrap:
15 power snatch 95#
15 burpees
The last two things, I didn't do partially because my shoulder has been bothering me going over head or fast movements/dips/etc.and partially because class was starting


Nov.27
Row 500m@85%
rest 2min 
x10
Went from 1:40-1:47 highest to lowest

30min Airdyne @65%





Pain report - My shoulder is giving me some trouble so I have been really letting it dictate what I do. Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. Foot pain is almost gone and what I have is from jamming it last week. Soreness is minimal right now.

Sleep report - Sleep is starting to get back to normal. We went to my parents for thanksgiving so we got home late and didn't get to bed at a decent hour but other than that it hasn't been too bad.

Mentally I felt pretty good after yesterdays snatch, front squat, and power clean workouts. I'm still a little down about my shoulder, but like I said I'm over the pity party and am going to start 

11/23 & 11/24

11/23
Clean pulls 54321 rest 3min
I went 185,225, 275,315,335 which is my all time Clean PR. Thought it was a good weight to finish on.
+
TnG Deadlifts 10 UB on the min for 7min. @225
This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be after this long time off.
+
Airdyne 1min @85%
30sec at recovery pace
x25
This wasn't bad but I was looking up at about 30sec in wondering if I was almost done for most of the interval.

11/24
Weighted pullup clusters 3.3.3x5 20sec/3min
I went 40lb for all of these. The got a little difficult towards the end but all were super strict and not really any chin reaching.
+
Weighted ring dips 5 sets of 6-8reps rest 90 sec
all done at 40lb. These were a little tougher and bothered my shoulder which was already bothering me from dips the other day.
+
Bent over rows 5 sets of 6-8 reps rest 90 sec
I did 195 for all sets and 8 reps every time. The last 2 reps of the 4th and 5th sets were pretty tough.
+
10min AMRAP
3strict pullups
3strict hspu
22rounds
I paced this one well I think. I was never out of breathe and only broke the pull-ups on the last 90sec.



Pain report
My left shoulder is bothering me and my hamstrings and back are wrecked. This is probably more noticeable since I haven't been training and forgot what being in constant pain is like but the shoulder is a little more serious than me being an out of shape pussy.

Sleep report
I ran out of my sleep aids supplements about two weeks ago and it definitely affected my sleepy night night  beauty rest.  I finally got some more ZMA and melatonin yesterday so I think I should be better on that front moving forward.

****NEW SECTION****
Coach Questions (AKA: Ask Max)
I skipped the PM session today and while you know this is not normally me(especially when cleans or snatches are in it) I just am wrecked in my back and mores in my shoulder and didn't feel like I should/could take the extra punishment. Suggestions moving forward? Should I not take tomorrow off and do todays PM session? Should I skip it all together and take it slow? Should I go buy some tampons, put on my big girl panties and fight through the joint/muscle pain? Thanks :)