Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Time To Get Gangsta Wit It

Forgive me, father, for I have eaten my weight in Christmas cookies. Wow. After spending a wonderfully relaxing Christmas eve, day, and day after with the family, I looked forward to cleaning back up my diet and resuming my training. The 2011 CrossFit Games Sectionals process has not yet been announced or explained- but it's gonna be here sooner than later- and with that in mind, I'm ready to ramp it up! Today was an exceptionally productive training day with my good buddy and CrossFit SOMO owner, Rodney Hamby making a guest appearance at CFS! This morning at 11pm, after having the always enlightening opportunity of visit Jenny's lady-parts doctor and listening to our tadpole's heart beat (HR was 162- don't know if that means boy or girl...I forget the wives tale but I guarantee it will surely be one or the other) I did Hang Squat Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1. In all reality, for me it was hang squat snatch one meeleeon x 1 because I wouldn't stop attempting 205lb until I made the lift...And, alas, on the meeleeonth attempt, I made the lift. Exhibit A (please note David Helfrecht's exhuberent scream after I successfully completed said meeleeonth attempt):




At 1pm myself, Rodney, and Grant took on 5 Rounds for total reps of max consecutive reps 115lb Overhead Squat and max reps pull ups. You could not rest longer than 3 minutes between any effort (aka "dealbreaker clause"). Oh. My. Goodness. I would literally prefer allowing you 5 opportunities to punch me square in the face as hard as you can than to do that WOD again anytime in the immediate future (the immediate future being now until the Detroit Lions have a winning season). Max efforts are great because of their ability to force you into a serious gut-check scenario. Add the fact that both Grant and Rodney are stellar athletes and also the friendly competition factor and your weather forecast will be that of serious PAIN with a good chance of vomit. Regardless, we all got better today, and most importantly, fun was definitely had by all. After 5 rounds of action, here's what our scorecards looked like:

As you can see, I kind of bet the house on the first round of OHS and Pull Ups- not sure if that was the best strategy or not. I do know that by round 3 I was having some serious "suck it up, buttercup" talks with myself. By round 5, I was questioning my ability to do another set of anything. If you give it a truely honest and legitimate effort, max consecutive reps of anything is gonna SUCK. Like Rodney once so elequently put it: "If you wanna find out how much ball's you've got, try backsquating your bodyweight 'til failure."

Author's Note: This same guy once did just that...for 5 rounds...on one of his rounds, Rodney literally puked mid-set and then continued on until failure. Now THAT'S gangsta.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

CrossFit Elf WOD

Got myself embedded with a doosie of a gripping game today. At 8am I took on 21 Deadlifts @ 225lb, 42 Pull Ups, 15 Deadlifts @ 225, 30 Pull Ups, 9 Deadlifts @ 225lb, 18 Pull Ups. Finished in 7:26. Trained some clients, watched a class, coached a lil snatch here and there, marveled at Ryan Davis performing 100kb swings unbroken...and then at 1300hrs had a momentary stroke of genius and wrote the following WOD in 2 minutes:

For time:
6-4-2 with 135lb...
Squat Snatch
Thruster
Snatch Balance
then,
60 Double Unders
40 DB Push Press, 45lb
20 Hang Power Cleans, 135lb

Lung. Burner. It may have been the sushi I had just partaken of or it may be that I just so happened to have written a masterpiece- either way, I felt the standard CrossFit body-numbing-wheezy-sickly-tummy feeling throughout this whole WOD. Time was 8:42.

Christmas is almost here, so this evening, I'd like to close my set by performing one of my all-time favorite Christmas anthems for you...



Ahhh...May the sweet aroma of Christmas elf fart linger in your living room for many, many years to come.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

"Whitten"

Did "Whitten" hero WOD this morning at 8am with Grant...

Five rounds for time of:
22 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood
22 Box jump, 24 inch box
Run 400 meters
22 Burpees
22 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

We haven't marked our run distances yet since our recent move to the new facility so we rowed 400m in place of the 400m run. I hate having to modify WODs, ecspecially hero WODs but time was limited so we had to make due. The 2000m of running would have no doubt added to my time. My time today with 2000m of rowing was 39:39. This workout was everything you expect out of a hero WOD- it was both physically and mentally challenging. By round 3, I think I had already experienced most of the stages of grieving...Denial, anger, bargaining, etc...Never really reached the acceptance phase. Looking forward to doing this one again- except next time as RX with the running.

Army Captain Dan Whitten, 28, of Grimes, Iowa, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, died February 2, 2010, when enemy forces in Zabul, Afghanistan, attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. Whitten is survived by his wife, Starr Whitten, his mother, Jill Whitten, his father, Dan Whitten, and his sister, U.S. Army Captain Sarah Whitten.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Metcon/Strength/Metcon


Hit-up a 10am team WOD today of:
15 Cal Row
25 Box Jumps
25 Burpees
25 OHS, 95/65
25 Pull Ups
25 Push Press, 95/65
50 Double Unders

Conveyer belt format- Everyone completes all reps for each movement but each team member can't advance until the person in front of them has finished. I led off for our team and got through the list in 8:15. Our team time was somewhere around 15 minutes.

At noon, I did the CFS WOD. Reached 245 on 2RM Hang Power Clean in 12min and 245 on 2RM Push Jerk in 12 min - then we did:

2 Power Clean & Jerks, 155/105lb
1 Round of "Cindy"
4 Power Clean & Jerks, 155/105lb
1 Round of "Cindy"
6 Power Clean & Jerks, 155/105lb
1 Round of "Cindy"
8 Power Clean & Jerks, 155/105lb
1 Round of "Cindy"
10 Power Clean & Jerks, 155/105lb
1 Round of "Cindy"

My time was 8:17. It's amazing, but in just two days of cleaning up my food intake and ramping up my training volume, I already feel my overall strength and conditioning kicking back into gear. Who'da thunk it? I may just decide to stick with this crossfit stuff after all.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Mental Strength Training For A Dummy

After finally completing the bigtime tasks of moving the gym and moving my home all in the same week, today was the first day in a while that I arrived at CrossFit Springfield and felt both mentally and physically ready to train and train hard. I've been nursing what is either just a metatarsal head bone bruise or a stress fracture in my foot over the past few weeks. Nagging injuries tend to take your mind out of the game from the outset. Today I was determined to not let anything detract from me getting some quality work done. This morning I did 5-5-5-3-3-3-1-1-1 Backsquat and Bench Press. I reached 325lb on backsquat and 295lb on Bench- both numbers under my PRs for the lifts but I'll take'em considering my sub-par diet and spuratic training regiment as of late. I immediately followed up the strength WOD with CFS's daily WOD of 5 rounds: 30 Wallballs @ 30lb and 30 Ring Rows. I felt good about my ability to push through the workout and finished in 18:36. After running a few errands, this afternoon I did "Randy" (75 snatches @ 75lb for time). I hadn't done this WOD since last year - my time then was 4:02 and today I PR'd with a time of 3:26. It was interesting to see the progress. Even though I think I was physically stronger a year ago than where I'm currently at, I can tell that my ability to tolerate pain and continue to push through WODs has improved. I'm hoping for a good night's rest and looking forward to embracing more pain tomorrow.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Along Came A Pathway

Dear God,

With my life, I have chosen to follow the path you lay before me; wherever it may lead. In times when my path was jagged and I could barely decipher my next step, You gave me the clarity to trust in You and continue on. In times when my path seemed to come to a sudden stop, You had the patience and grace to wait for me to continue on. In my times of darkness, You led me to lighted stairways. When my path has been well lit, You have encouraged me to keep pressing forward.

No matter the lay of the land You've been there, time and time again, to guide my steps and make my way known. You've given me an abundance of resources, tools, and mentors to assist me at every turn. As I begin a new leg of my journey, I want to pause now to thank you with all my heart and soul for your many blessings: My family, my wife, my son, Vincent, my unborn child (Emille, born 7/2/11), thank you for the joy they bring to my life. Thank you for the path I've walked thus far: Through schooling, tough decisions and life lessons, mistakes and misfortune, through sacrifice and instability, and through victory and defeat...Thank You. Thank You for guiding me to CrossFit Springfield and to all those whom I am now blessed to work with, learn from, and lead.

In the days, weeks, months, and years that may come, I pray for Your continued mercy, grace, and favor to rest fully upon my life and upon the lives of all whom I hold so dear, that we may do the good works you have placed along our paths for us to do.

With Great Pride I Call You My God And Savior; It Is with Great Humility That I Call Myself Your child,

Jeremy Mhire

Monday, December 6, 2010

Remember The Past, Face The Present, Look To The Future

Today I did the CFS daily WOD: "Murph" in 32:15. I know I've done this WOD at least a handful of times in the past 2 years but for whatever reason, I guess I've never recorded my time- or if I did- I've since lost it. So, here's to a PR!? I guess. It was good. I pushed hard through the cold on the first mile run and finished it in exactly 6 minutes. I broke my 300/200/100 Squats/push ups/pull ups into 10 sets of 30/20/10 which worked great until rounds 4-6. They were those rounds where you start trying to block out that annoying little voice in your headspace that chatters, "Cochise, your getting tired. It's only round 5. I bet you can't even imagine how much more rounds 6 through 10 are gonna suck!" But, listen I didn't and slug away I did, until at 25:06 I found myself through all of the reps and running out the door. It took me until mid-way through the 2nd mile to pick back up a decent pace. I needed a good conditioning WOD today and as always, "Murph" delivered.

Although I have never served in the armed forces, it's easy for me to approach the Hero WODs with great reverence as my grandfather, Vicente Repuyan, fought for the Filipino Army in conjuction with the US Army against the Japanese during World War II. I remember grandpa as a tall, athletic, yet quiet man who loved his family dearly. Although he was reserved, his still waters ran deep. As a child, when I would ask him about his WWII experiences he would tell me, with great detail, about the time he spent as a prisoner of the Japanese, and of his survival of the infamous Battaan Death March where as many as 11,000 US and Filipino soldiers lost thier lives in captivity due to starvation, execution, and disease. By God's grace grandpa managed to survive the ordeal because he could cook, so the Japanese soldiers thought him valuable enough to keep alive and put him in charge of preparing food. I, on the otherhand, would've been royally screwed (unless easy mac'n'cheese was readily available, in which case I could've hooked it up daily, yo). His menu was limited as rats, snakes, and monkeys were the only fare available in the jungles of Luzon. In retrospect, I think Grandpa spoke openly to me of the things he experienced because he felt that, as a child, I would be a safe soul to confide in. He probably also knew that it wouldn't be until years after his death that I would even begin to fully comprehend the magnitude of what he lived through. The morning he was captured, he was sitting in camp preparing to put his boots on. As he bent down to place his boot on his foot, a sniper shot him through his left shoulder. As he fell to the ground and his comrades scattered for cover around him, the sniper fired again, this time striking him in his thigh. Bleeding profusely and unable to escape, Japanese troops quickly emerged on his position and took him captive. Miraculously, he recovered from those bullet wounds, survived the death march, and was ultimately rewarded when General Douglas MacAuthor liberated the Philipine Islands. The United States awarded my grandfather with the Purple Heart and offered him and his family US citizenship if he would, in turn, join the US Army and continue the fight against the Japanese in the South Pacific. He accepted. And because of his bravery, his willingness to protect his homeland, and his desire to pave the way for our family to have a better life, I now have the awesome privilege of calling the United States my homeland. As I pursue God's will for my life, I am eternally grateful to the many heros who have fought, are currently fighting, and who may someday fight to preserve the American dream.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Chew On This...

So, this week I got to see the heartbeat of our newest miniature Mhire creation (we're now 9 weeks pregnant with baby #2- it's still a bit surreal), we finalized the sale of our house (must upgrade living quarter accomodations prior to arrival of said tadpole), and topped off what was an already stellar week with a new Snatch PR (225lb). No time now for a long dissertation cuz I need to get to bed but I will post a couple of videos: The first is of today's snatch PR and the second is a sweet video of the final event at H.O.A by Dan Thacker of CrossFit Valley Park. Pardon my potty mouth at 1:43 - like most red blooded crossfitters I tend to get pretty hyped up on game day...however, it did taste good...aaaaaaand it made Jessi smile despite the nastiness of the WOD so it was worth the PG-13 rating :) Enjoi!


Friday, November 26, 2010

"Cobra Kai" tackles Event 3 at H.O.A 2.0

Here's a video of team "Cobra Kai" during event 3 at H.O.A II (with BONUS false start footage). Huge thanks goes out to Paul Elmer for capturing the action in all it's night-vision splendor! The WOD was:

-Each team picks 2 runners to complete a shuttle run. Half of the distance will be completed wearing a #20 weighted vest.
-Once both runners are finished, the team will work to complete 60 deadlifts, 50 power cleans, and 40 power snatches. Scaled teams will do deadlifts, burpees, and thrusters.
-Only ONE athlete can be on a barbell at any time.
-Teams must strip weights when changing movements.
-Rx'd loads are #275/#185 deadlift, #185/#95 power clean, #135/#65 power snatch.
-Once ALL barbell work is complete, the 2 athletes who did not run to start the workout, will complete the run.



I believe our time was something like 10:02, placing us 2nd overall in this event. Great job, team!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

An Ocean Of Grace

I sit here, uninterrupted, staring at this screen waiting for elqouent words to crash land in my brain and I swear I've lost them. Somehow, someway, after bearing witness to and competing within the 2nd Annual Heart of America CrossFit Affiliate Challenge I'm left speechless. But there must be a reason. There has to be. And then it comes to me: All the emotions, the fighting spirit, the urgency, the pleading, the close-calls, the pain, the glory, the heartbreak, the elation, the love and the hate, the planning, the gut-wrenching expressions, the tears of joy after victory and those from having just survived a WOD, and the unity that occured over the course of 2 days and 4 events in St. Louis at HOA 2010...all these factors which make up a truly epic competitive event cannot be given full justice with words alone. No. These portraits of the human spirit you must experience first hand to fully grasp and comprehend their impact, their magnitude, and their worth. God graces us with the opportunity to take part in rare moments such as these. He graces and blesses us with the ability to overcome that which seems insurmountable. If God's grace was an ocean, HOA 2010 just sank into it. I'm honored to have gone down with that ship and her crew.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

In The Beginning...

Ahhhhh...it's been nice taking a bit of a blogging break. With all of the November challenges and CFS's big upcoming move (woohoo!) taking up lot's of time, I've made a conscious effort to spend as little time as possible staring at the computer (aka "the devil's eyeball"...kidding...but, seriously) and as much free time as possible hanging with Jenny and Vin. Me and Vin made a rediculously awesome music video the other night. You can check it out on my facestalk page and MTV...Well...VH1, probably not MTV. Everyone knows MTV doesn't actually play music videos- their genius programming only allows for reality shows starring fake-tanned, sparkly-hat and/or shirt-wearing drunk people with VD.

Speaking of "Girls Gone Wild", that's exactly the WOD I re-tackled today after first doing the CFS WOD at 7am where I bench pressed 300lb for the first time (which surprised the heck out of me since I rarely bench press and, more accurately, have a history of really sucking at it). This time, I did the GGW workout with a little bit of a twist: 10 minutes to complete the GGW WOD (10 C & J @ 135lb, 50 DUs, 50 Sit Ups, 21 Thrusters @ 95lb, 21 Pull Ups, 10 C & J @ 135lb) THEN with any remaining time, perform AMRAP of "Cindy" (5 Pull Ups, 10 Push Ups, 15 Squats). It was a beautiful disaster. 4:54 on the GGW WOD and 4 complete rds plus 5 pull ups and 10 push ups with the remaining time. It was a productive day. I love the feeling I get when I teeter on the edge of "I'm pushing it hard enough" and "I'm pushing it too hard". When the line between the two becomes blurred, I know I'm in my ideal training zone. It's not necessarily the "unload your clip" pace or the "everyday I MUST go all-out...or else..." mentality I attempted to maintain from January through May during last year's CrossFit Games season, but for me it's a realistic and optimal place to be day-in and day-out when my objective is to maintain conditioning and prevent burn-out by protecting my sanity.

Yesterday, we took on WOD 3 from Melissa's South Central Regional Qualifier for the 2010 Games: 100 DUs, 3rds of 10 Deadlifts @ 275/185lb (no dropping) & 200m Sandbag run @ 75/50lb (we used 90/60lb sandbags...uphill...both ways...in the snow) and then 1000m Row (we did 1000m run because the row class was rowing). My time was 13:35. Good times. T minus 4 days 'til HOA...until then...

The End.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

I Got It, Daddy!!!

Got a couple of great workouts in today. At 11am I did 3 rounds of: 15 Front Squats, 135; 150ft Prowler sled push (255lb), 15 Pull Ups staight into 3 round of: 15 Push Press, 135lb; 150ft Prowler sled push (255lb), and 15 TTB. Good WOD- didn't keep time but I think it took around 20 minutes. The "5k Gone Bad" judges/volunteer practice run was tonight at 4pm. Around 40 of the 50-60 judges and volunteers participated with local media (KSPR) covering the evening. It was a great time and a tough run! I took it on after having eaten a late lunch just 45 minutes prior to launch and paid for it the during 1st 2000m. Once my body reached steady state and cruising altitude all was well with the world. This event, which will be held on November 27th, is shaping up to be an extremely positive experience. Can't wait to see how things shake out! Afterwards, a group of us watched my 2 year old son, Vin, as he put on a deadlifting clinic. He's pretty much got his routine down: If its a drum, he beats it; if it's a guitar, he plays it; and if it's a bar, it's gonna get lifted. Good boy.

My training has continued to go well, I've worked with more moderate loads and intermediate time-domains recently just to give my SI joint a bit of a break. I've had some hip/pelvic issues lately so I've been trying to not force the issue. Overall, Im feel great going into next weekend's 2nd annual Heart of America Challenge in St. Louis. With 32 teams competing, the competition should be stacked with some great CrossFitters from throughout the Midwest. I'm thrilled to have 9 teams from CrossFit Springfield represented at this year's event!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

How Much Snatch Could A Good Snatch Snatch If A Good Snatch Could Snatch Snatch?

SO, guess what I did today? That's right, Clean & Jerk practice. No. The CrossFit Main page Snatch WOD: Perform 1 snatch at the top of each minute for 15 minutes. Post highest and lowest efforts. My goal going into the WOD was to pound technique an stay fairly conservative with my weight progression. My hope was to have no missed reps within my 15 minute time-frame. At the start of my 15 minute time period, I came in at 175lb and nailed it. I continued to successfully snatch 175 four more times and at minute 6 progressed to 185lb. I hit 5 consecutive 185lb lifts so for minute 11, I up'd the load to 190lb. For minute 12, I snatched 195lb. On minute 13, I jumped to 200lb and at minute 14, I hit 205lb, Going into minute 15, I jumped 10lb to finish with 215lb (previous PR). My first 215lb attempt failed, but I regrouped and managed to successfully snatch 215lb prior to time expiring. My range for the WOD was 175-215lb. After time ran out I attempted 220 twice but missed on both attempts and decided to call it quits.

At 11:30am Chance and myself took on WOD 3 for CrossFit Springfield's Fighfighter Challenge this weekend...

WOD 3:

One team member (A) must hold a 95/65lb barbell front racked while the other team member (B) runs around the building (285m).

Then Switch.

Team member (B) holds a 95/65lb barbell front racked while their partner (A) runs around the building (285m).

Partner (A) then picks up and front racks a 95/65lb barbell as well. Both athletes must then perform 30 Push presses each - HOWEVER – for either of your reps to count, while you perform your push press reps, your partner must simultaneously have their bar on their shoulders in the front racked position. Only one person may work at a time. While one teammate is accumulating reps, if the other partner lowers their bar from the racked position, the working persons reps will not count.

Once both athletes have completed 30 reps of push press each, both athletes will, one at a time, complete a 300ft prowler sled push (255/185lb).

Once both athletes have completed the sled pushes, the athletes will take turns performing a 150ft buddy carry or drag.

Once both athletes have completed the buddy carries, they will simultaneously complete a 300ft farmers carry (55/35lb in each hand)

Finally, Both partners must perform 15 Burpees each (both may work simultaneously)

Score = team time to complete the WOD. This WOD has a 17 minute time-limit.

We did the WOD dressed in full firefighter turnout gear with liners minus boots (except that I actually tried it in the boots and it was rediculous- so we're nixxing them and alowwing tennis shoes for the event). Our time was: 10:30. It's a tough WOD- full of just enough variety and suck factor that it will surely make for an interesting competition when winning and losing is on the line.

Saturday...12pm...CrossFit Springfield's 2nd Annual Firefighters Challenge!!! Come on out and cheer the 12 teams on!!! It's gonna be a battle, fo sho!!!

Friday, October 29, 2010

One Silly Monkey Jumpin' On The Bed...

A whole crazy week of fun and excitment has ripped right on by and I've blogged about none of it. Commense Operation: "Catch Up"...Vin continues to punish the drumset I bought him a couple of weeks ago. He actually beat the thing so badly that we had to take him to the guitar center to buy a new cymbal to replace the one he broke in half. We've been doing the potty training thing for the past week and Vin has surprisingly taken to the whole "Big boys must empty their bladder and bowel contents in the elmo potty" coaching quite well. We've only had one or two accidents, but fortunately for me, I'm a pro at doing burpees with poop in my pants. Family-time has been wonderful as of late. With Vin getting a little bit older, it's been nice to have some sweet father/son bonding opportunities with him...Such as: Watching Vin jumping up and down and screaming on his bed, watching Vin when he falls off of said bed, getting fake red dragon tattoos, getting real red dragon tattoos (kidding- or am I?), rockin' out to Green Day's Know Your Enemy (Vin on the Drums, me on the guitar & vocals- oh, trust me- it's HOT), and of course there was getting Vin to go for a 55lb deadlift PR...20lb over his bodyweight...OH, YESSSSS!!! He got it. I don't think he really knew what happened but I thought it was pretty frickin' exciting.

My training has gone well over the past couple of weeks. I feel good enough. I feel strong enough. I feel conditioned enough. For right now. With alot of the met-cons I'm doing right now, I'm playing around with my pacing and work/rest management. My weaknesses have tended to present themselves in WODs with 15-25 minute time domains, so lately, I've been trying to practice WODs within that time-frame more often. I've kept mostly to my "S.E.M" rotation, gotten at least one new PR (OHS x 3 @ 245lb), and most importantly, had a crap-ton of fun. I'm really trying to focus on the fun right now, mainly because I know the rigorous grind of training for next year's CFit Games competition season will be here before we know it. Come next January, there will be nothing fun about the programming I dish out to myself...Spinach, Broccoli, Chicken, and Pain. Mmmm...mmmm...GOOD.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Highway To The Dangerzone

With the hustle and bustle of life smothering my face off as of late, blogging has been at the bottom of my "to-do" list. Monday's 1pm CFS WOD was a brutal 5 round couplet of 100 ft Overhead walking lunges (95lb) and 15 Ring Dips. My time was 14:53 and I haven't walked straight since- the ole' B-double-Oh-Tee-Why is SORE. Tuesday I must have done something forgettable cuz I've now forgotten what I did...but I know without a doubt I did do something. I think. It was a strength WOD of some sort I believe. Yesterday (Wed) was 3 rounds of max reps HSPU, max reps chest to bar pull ups, and max reps backsquat @ 165lb- 40 minute time limit. Anytime you have a max effort WOD, you go into it knowing it's gonna pretty much be like having your brain and your body knifefight each other to the death. So needless to say, the workout was awful- and the scary part: It would have been even more awful if I'd have allowed myself to fly into the doomed "6th gear dangerzone". If you're a crossfitter you know exactly what I'm talkin' bout'. It's the deepest realm of unfathomable SUCK. Unfortunately (and fortunately), for me I went there on Monday so yesterday my transmission was still BROKEN-OFF sumthin' fierce. As my mind screamed, "Mayday, Mayday!" and ordered my body to "Commense Operation: Crush This WOD!", my body replied in a calm, yet resolute tone, "Negative, Ghostrider, the pattern is full." C'est la Vie...I live to fight another day. I got 208 reps on the workout. Then Maverick put a quarter in the jukebox, played "You've lost that lovin' feeling", kissed Charlie and they both drove off into the sunset on his motercycle.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Power Cleans & Burpees Makes Jack A Dull Boy

I did the crossfit.com daily WOD on Friday evening...3 rounds of 15 hang power cleans & 15 burpees. It was a killer. My time was 3:40. The burpees on the 2nd and 3rd rounds were just awful but I moved through them pretty well I suppose. I hate burpees. Demolition and infill begins tomorrow at our new facility! I'm still in awe that it's only been 11 months and CrossFit Springfield will yet again be moving into another space. This will be our 5th home since July of 2008. The size difference (from 5000 sq ft to 12500sq ft) is overwhelming and the A/C'd locker rooms, childcare area, and office will be a huge God-send come next summer. Our initial hope was to be operational by November 27th for the CFS "5k gone bad" event, but with all of the permitting and inspections that go along with construction it's looking like we won't be fully moved in until early December. This evening, prior to a CFS coaches meeting we did 10 minutes of: 1, then 2, then 3 reps and so on of: Snatch grip deadlift, Squat Snatch, and OHS. After each round perform 5 Ring dips. Reach the highest possible round in the 10 minute time-frame. I made it to 2 OHS reps shy of round 8. Looking forward to a great week!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

The Baby Whisperer

So today I went with Grant and Melissa to visit Jessi, Ashley, and to greet their newborn son, Gaines, at Cox South. I've been so excited for the Groves and the arrival of this little guy and I couldn't wait to meet him. Knowing full well that the rest of the CrossFit Springfield family has been on pins and needles waiting to see pictures, I asked Jessi if I could take a couple of pics of their bundle of joy with my iphone. She said it was cool so I busted out the camera and right as I hit the button to take the picture here's what Gaines gives me:

It's just the perfect moment captured, right? He looks so sweet and peaceful...Here's the craziest thing: As I stood in the Grove's hospital room, staring at the image on my phone of this beautiful little miracle I couldn't help but be reminded of one of the first pictures we ever got of our own beautiful little miracle, Vincent, 2 and half years ago (don't forget the half, dang it - Vin gets pissed when you forget the half):

Now if I could only learn how to get kids to obey me as well I can get'em to smile...THAT would be really impressive :)

As for my ongoing workout adventures, today I did the CFS WOD of 2-2-2-2-2-2-2 Overhead Squat and 21-15-9 OHS @ 95lb and Ring Rows. My best 2RM OHS was 265lb and my time on the OHS/Ring Row couplet was 3:11.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Whatever My Lot...

I feel like I've been in cruise control for the past couple of weeks. It's not inherently good or bad it just is...going all out in a WOD or two during the day has helped to relieve me of alot of mental and physical stress. We recently finished getting our house ready and put it up on the market which has taken alot of time and energy but it's been well worth the effort to rid ourselves of a lot of clutter.

Another life-issue as of late has been praying for a close family member of mine who's been dealing with some medical issues. Quite frankly, the suddeness of the situation has shaken me a bit, but I remain confident that God's will will be done and prayerful for His peace and protection over my loved one.

A few nights ago, as a healthy dose of confusion and fear raced through my mind and spirit, I prayed for God to speak to my heart and to give me comfort. Awesomely enough, the next day I had planned to meet a buddy of mine for what I like to refer to as our weekly "Iron-sharpening" session- which basically boils down to us consuming gallons of coffee, eating breakfast and solving the problems of the world, all the while managing to interject as many biblical principals as possible into our conversation about disciplining our boys for acting like nutless monkeys...it's actually quite spiritually uplifting (however, it could just be the gallons of coffee). At any rate, I was supposed to have read the second half of Ephesians 3 and hadn't done it, so I figured I'd bust out the Good Book and see if God would drop some calming knowledge on my heavy heart. Here's what I got:

(Ephesians 3:14-21) For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell ...in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

I've had times where I have felt as though God had just grabbed me by the shirt collar and said, "LISTEN UP, MOWHAWK BOY! I'm talking to YOU!" This was indeed one of those times. Though, the coolest thing is that not only did God speak volumes to me through this passage when I read it- it more importantly spoke volumes to the individual who is confronting said medical issues when I shared it with them. Wonderful, powerful, non-accidental stuff.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Punk-in Patch Kids




...doesn't get much better than this.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Chasing Perfection, Catching Excellence

Coached some great group WODs today at CrossFit Springfield. The WOD was Row 500, 400, 300, 200, 100m, each for time resting 2-3 minutes between efforts. Everyone showed up ready to rock and throughout the course of the day there were some excellent times posted in each class. I never cease to be encouraged by the level of effort given by the athletes who participate at CFS. I loved watching as partners cheered, pushed, and pleaded with each other to keep fighting through each row to the very finish. Energy like what we experieced in the box today relates quite well to a quote by Vince Lombardi who once said, "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." Today I witnessed, many times over, our members not just striving to perform to a standard, but rather, striving to set higher standards of performance. We are truly blessed to function within a community of people who genuinely wish to see each other be at their best.

2010 CrossFit Games Champ, Kristan Clever sums up what many CrossFitters often realize early on in their CrossFit experience (scroll down the main page to view the video): "I Can Totally Do That" with Kristan Clever - video

I tackled the 500m portion of today's CFS WOD with the sole purpose of besting my previous 500m row PR of 1:29. With the coaching and ultra-motivating screams of the noon crew I was able to, rowing 500m in 1:27 for a new (and quite painful) PR. Wanting to still do the 1pm WOD of Push Press (no push jerk) 2-2-2-2-2-2-2, I stopped while I still had some gas in the tank and went through the push press progression as follows: 155/175/195/215/225/235f/235. Wish I would've tried 245 but ran out of time. Afterwards, I did a met-con of 20-10 Push Jerk @ 135 & Burpee Pull Ups. I'd done this one back in January fresh and did it in 3:56. Today, with a higher burpee pull-up bar and after two short WODs my time was 3:59. I didn't worry much about my time as I was going, mainly just getting through it- that task alone was pretty greuling.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Stinkerpotamous

It feels like I've slept many, many moons since my last post and unfortunately also since my last workout! On Thursday of last week I did the CFS partner WOD with Coach Chance- the WOD (one person may work at a time- partition the reps as you wish) was:

Run 100m
30 Deadlift, 185/115lb
Run 100m
50 KB Swings, 55/35lb
Run 100m
20 Hurdle Burpees over 12″ Parallette
Run 100m
20 Tire Flips
Run 100m
50 Single Leg RDL’s, 55/35lb
Run 100m
30 STRICT Pull Ups (From A Dead Hang)
Both Partners Run 400m Together

I love team workouts. Whenever you're training alone, it's so easy to feel sorry for yourself and let off the gas; do the same with a partner or in a team setting and you let other people down as well. That ain't cool. Chance definitely didn't disappoint when it came to his performance and giving it his all- our time was 11:01.

After taking Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off to get some chores done around the house and eat like a pig, I looked forward to training like a psycho today. At noon, with a great push from Seabiscuit and Grant, I did the 10/4/10 CFS WOD: Row 200m, then 5-4-3-2-1 Squat Clean & Jerk @ 155lb & Muscle Ups, and finish with 400m Row. Going into this one, my strategy was to hang onto the bar and the rings and get as much of the squat cleans and muscle ups done unbroken or consecutively as possible. I'm not really sure if it was the best strategy as after getting the first 5 of each, my body started to reject the work I was trying to impose on it. I had one missed muscle up that Grant said may have cost me 20 seconds. Regardless, after what felt like the LONGEST 400m row ever, the end eventually came. My time was 6:40 and my lung function now feels like it's hovering somewhere in the vacinity of 30-40%. It's probably the combination of the WOD being a gasser and the cooler weather.

To make sure I sufficiently punished myself for crashing the CrossFit Springfield "Girls Night Out" outing this past Saturday (Jenny figured that I'd be more than metro enough to hang...and boy was she right), I followed up today's noon session with none other than "Murph" at 1pm. Not the smartest thing I've ever done for myself when it comes to my training, but I figured, "Don't be a weiner, dude. You deserve this." The conditioning was great but there was nothing glorious about my time. It took me 40:31- which is somewhere around 6 or 7 minutes slower than my PR- which is prrretty slow to begin with :). Should sleep excellently tonight.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Stretch Yo-Self B4 U Wreck Yo-Self

Yesterday (Tuesday 9/28) I did 3 Rounds for time of:

6 HSPU on Parallettes
12 Clean & Jerk, 135lb
18 Deadlift, 225lb
24 Pull Ups
30 Double Unders

Nasty WOD and I loved it. My time was 17:41. Today I woke up and could really feel the effects of the past two days of training. Every muscle and joint felt tight and achy. I did yoga today at 10am and felt so much better afterwards. My stretching game as of late has been almost non-exsistent whereas in the past it's been on point. I did yoga a few times prior to Sectionals and Regionals earlier this year and I know that doing it in conjunction with once a week sports massage/PRT and daily stretching really benefitted my overall athletic performance. I'm not gonna lie- after recently seeing a CrossFit Journal video of 2010 Games champ, Graham Holmberg incorporating yoga into his training routine- it reminded me of how much better I felt when I was including it in mine. Trust me, I've got no shame when it comes to ripping off anyone's game- ecspecially not Graham Holmberg's.

After training a few clients and grabbing some lunch, this afternoon I did a strength workout of 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 Snatch Balance and got to 245lb. I followed that up with a 5k Row for conditioning.
As for the most exciting part of my day...well, you'll just have to read for yourself (Read Comment # 24 first then scroll down to Comment # 30): http://crossfit-springfield.com/?p=6119#comments . I've heard that Coach Glassman once said, "When I step into your facility, I'll be able to tell the most about how successful your business is by first inspecting the bathrooms." Coach...Don't worry, at CrossFit Springfield we show no discrimination when it comes to making sure turds of all colors, creeds, shapes, and sizes are dealt with and properly destroyed. We also flush our poop.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Lock'in Out Loud!!!

I got to spend some quality time with Vin this past weekend as Jenny traveled to Kansas City for a getaway with some girlfriends. It was the first time for me to bachelor pad it up with the little guy for a whole weekend so I was a little iffy on how he'd do...more importantly, I was iffy on how I'd do. Friday night we went to a sweet fundraiser at Randy Bacon Studios downtown for an organization called Speed The Light. My brother, Josh, played with his band and they absolutely tore it up- I was so proud! Vin, being the huge music lover that he is, thought it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen. Afterwards, Josh took him up on stage and let him bang around on the drums- which gave me the idea to hook my little man up with a drumset for miniature-sized humans. I promised to get it for him BUT not without first making one of the most genius parenting moves I've ever made: He had to promise to be a good boy all weekend. It should be noted that there are varying degrees of good-boy-ness. Regardless, Vin made life relatively easy for daddy (and consequently, for himself) the rest of the weekend. On Saturday afternoon we cruised up to Toy R Us and Vin picked out a black and blue drumset to beat up on. We've already started up an 80s hair band "Metabolic Acidosis", shot a music video for our hit single "Lock'in Out Loud", and bought ourselves fifty pairs of leapard-print spandex pants. Groupies beware: Vin has thrice been to rehab for overdosing on chocolate milk. He also has a tendency to poop in his spandex (trust me, you don't wanna be on the tour bus when special guest, "Number Two" performs). Buy our album or doom on you.
As for the un-important stuff...today I did the Filthy 50. Previous PR was 21:47. I did 21:06 today which isn't the sub-20minute time I'd always dreamed of growing up as a kid (I hope you smell the sarcasm and enjoy the way it tastes) but I'll take the 40 second PR. It never fails, it's those dang burpees at the end that get me. Oh well. This afternoon, I hit up "Elizabeth" (21-15-9 of Squat clean @ 135lb and Ring Dips). My best "Elizabeth" time is 6:43 - today I got 6:47. I'm happy to have come within 4 seconds of my previous best, ecspecially after having done the Filthy 50 this AM.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Creating A Monsterpiece

Not that I ever expected any other outcome, but doing "Fran" twice on Monday absolutely destroyed me. I'm still all kinds of sore all over. Yesterday, I followed Monday's cram session up with a great push/pull WOD for time of:

Row 500m, 50 Ring Push Ups, Row 1000m, 35 Ring Push Ups, Row 1500m, 20 Ring Push Ups

It's the same format as a CrossFit.com main page rowing/wallball WOD I've done a couple times before. My time on this little gem was 17:01. Today, just like every other day, I tried to devise an evil workout for the CFS peeps to do tomorrow. After almost three years of writing and programming WODs daily for CrossFit Springfield, I sometimes get writers block. There have been many occasions where I've spent an entire evening writing and re-writing WODs only to eventually post a workout like "Grace". Likewise, there are times where I've sat down and had a crazy masterpiece production of a WOD written up in less time than it takes to do "Grace". There's a great quote by CrossFit founder, Greg Glassman, where he describes CrossFit by saying, "The magic is in the movement, the art is in the programming, the science is in the explanation, and the fun is in the community." This quote encourages me and reminds me to allow myself the freedom to have fun and be creative when it comes to writing WODs. Not that every workout needs to be some clever creation- usually, the simpler the WOD looks on paper, the more dangerous it is in practice. With that in mind, I decided to put myself through the torture that will be visiting CrossFit Springfield's member's tomorrow (9/23/10)...check out the workout by clicking HERE. I scored 63 burpees on the first part and after resting exactly 3 minutes, did the 15-10-5 SDHP @ 115lb and Burpees in 2:37. Here is video of me doing the second portion of the CFS WOD for 9/23...

Monday, September 20, 2010

I Heart "Fran" (Squared)

After a nice relaxing weekend, today I felt ready to start my week out strong. Jenny and I had the opportunity to go out on Saturday with a big group of CFS peeps- which was a blast! It's always nice to hang with everyone outside of the gym. Yesterday we had a meeting up at the box to discuss some of the specs for our upcoming 5k Gone Bad event. It's shaping up to be a very fun and unique race.

At noon today I did 5-5-5-3-3-3-1-1-1 Backsquat with Grant (225-245-275-275-305-305-315-335-335). After taking a 15min break to recover and to "get my mind right", I did "Fran". The last time I did "Fran" my time was 3 minutes even. Today, with an awesome push from a few people from the noon crew, I PR'd with a time of 2:32. My goal was to get sub-3 and, make it through every set unbroken. Although I managed the sub-3, I screwed up on my 21 pull ups and came off the bar at 20, thinking I had hit my 21 reps. The mistake cost me at least four or five seconds. I'm was otherwise fairly happy with my performance and the outcome.

But WAIT!!! Upon further review, my squat depth was garbage on more than a few reps (the camera angle didn't help either). So, what does any normal crossfitter do (and by normal I of course mean psycho)? Why they do the dang thing over again, that's what...and 3 hours later, at 3:50pm, that's precisely what I did. This time, using a medball for depth, I did 2:42 hitting everything unbroken except the last 9 pull ups. Am I happy now, you ask? Nope. Of course not. My hands are completely torn to shreds and I did it 10 seconds slower. But I'm gonna sleep like a baby tonight knowing that I did it legit, got a PR, AND knowing that I can still go faster. I just gotta do it right the first time while I've got my mohawk mojo. Next time, if I can manage to not have any miscues, I think it's realistic for me to shoot for a sub-2:30 time.

I'm thinking tomorrow will be a good day to do an endurance WOD of rowing to log some meters for the C2 fall rowing challenge...Gonna kill 2 birds with one stone, baby! Here's a video of the 2:32 "Fran" with the bush-leauge thrusters (at 12:50pm today)...


And here's the legit 2:42 "Fran" (at 3:50pm today)...

Friday, September 17, 2010

Thruster/Muscle Up WOD

Did the CrossFit main page WOD today: 9-6-3 rds of Thruster @ 165lb and Muscle Ups (CFit Games movement standard for the MUs; full turn-out with thumbs forward at the bottom). It was a sweet met-con/sprint workout. I did the first 9 muscle ups and the 9-6-3 thruster sets unbroken, but had to do the 6 and 3 rounds of muscle ups individually. On the round of 6, I did 7 muscle ups by accident. My time without the unecessary rep at the end was 4:20 - 4:28 with it. Yet another perfect example of why you should have someone count your reps.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

1 RM Rack Jerk

Today I did the Again Faster Competition WOD for week 2 with Seabiscuit: 1RM Rack Jerk. A couple of weeks ago I did 275lb which was a PR. This afternoon I got 285lb and came extremely close to 295lb twice. I'll get it, dang it. I know a 285lb rack jerk is garbage to alot of top-notch CrossFit athletes, but hey, so are most of my numbers! I can live with that. I just can't live with knowing that I can do more but not doing it.

Today I also rowed 2500m to log some meters for the C2 fall rowing challenge that CFS is participating in. Yes, I know there are some of you who are rowing somewhere in the vacinity of 150,000m a day and you're all like, "What! Only 2500m?! That's weak sauce, Cochise!" For the record- yes, on both counts: Only 2500m and I'm full of weak sauce. Don't judge, home-slice. Speaking of the C2 rowing challenge, I'm excited to see what kind of final number our box can put up! Below is the video of the 285 jerk- Head's up: I hope you have a glass of wine handy; I'll admit the post-lift victory yell is muy cheesy. I gotta be THAT guy. Jeesh, I annoy myself...

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Be Strong And Take Heart

Today started out weird. I had just dropped by starbucks to get an overpriced cup-o-mud, and as I was driving in a downpour on my way to the gym, I passed by the scene of an accident at Sunshine and Fort where a man had been struck by a vehicle as he was attempting to cross the street on foot. EMS crews had already been dispatched but judging by the large indentation the guy left on the front windshield of the car that hit him, it didn't look like a good situation. After having personally experienced a traumatic side-of-the-road near catastrophe two years ago with my lovely wife and my numero uno "ride or die chick" as I loveingly refer to Jenny as, I've never been the same whenever I find myself driving by a traffic accident. The magnitude of the incident we experienced on April 7th, 2008 still resonates within my spirit each day for me. Although I've told the story of what happened on that day countless times, I've never actually taken the time to articulate the event, all my thoughts, and all my feelings in writing. I don't necessarily believe now is the time to do it, but I will say this: Because of that day, I now find it nearly impossible to ever allow a day to go by without looking my wife in the eyes and telling her how much she truly means to me, without telling her how much I'm thankful for her, and without telling her how much I love her. Yes, this is indeed a sappy, lovey dovey, soliloquy- but- not one without merit. Miracles, by their very nature capture us, grip our hearts, and put us in awe. In my life up to this point, it is the miracle of Jenny's survival on that day which has left me forever greatful for God's grace, His peace, His mercy, and His awesome healing power. So often we mistreat those whom we love the most. I, of course, still have my moments. But when our family experienced the heart-stopping (pun intended) events of April 7th, 2008, I had a moment where I instinctivly reached for my bible and my eyes were led to this scripture in the 27th chapter of Psalm, verses 13 & 14:

13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.


14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.


In that moment and this, my spirit was and is empowered knowing that with patience, strength, courage, and faith in God, there is a destiny of purpose and goodness that I can walk through life with. You can too.

Monday, September 13, 2010

You vs Gravity

...60% of the time, you lose everytime. I've done a hodge-podge of WODs over the past few days: The CFS 9/11 Memorial WOD (7:35), 1RM Snatch (210lb), "The Seven" Hero WOD (33:27), and today I did 7 x 3 Backsquat to 315lb and the CFS advanced WOD which was 30 Hang Power Cleans @ 135lb, *300m Farmer's Walk 2 x 70lb, and 30 Chest to bar pull ups for time (9:25) *Everytime you set down the weight, perform 3 burpees. I've had some good workouts (9/11) and alot where I felt pretty sissyfied (basically, all of the others). Tis' the glorious nature of the crossfit beast, I guess.

I can definitely feel the effects of being out sick for a week from a strength standpoint. In general, everything heavy feels heavier than usual right now. I've always sucked at backsquat, but backsquatting 315lb today I felt as if my lower intestines were going to come flying out of my belly button. I dropped down to 275lb on my last two sets and even those reps felt heavy. There's an interesting mind-game that goes on (which I love) when you train with larger loads. You can literally screw yourself out of a lift if you aren't confident and assertive straight from the get-go of an attempt. Ten times out of ten, you'll gain confidence as you train with heavier loads. You've just got to let your mind and body be allowed to accomodate to the work. Only when you're sensitive to and aware of the neuromuscular adaptations that must occur in strength training, will you be able to fully obtain your athletic potential. The catch is, you've gotta be patient and diligent enough to practice, which is typically where myself and most of us fall short. As I've said alot over the past few days, it's been nice to finally feel as though I'm getting back into the swing of things. I'm eager to participate in the upcoming Heart of America CrossFit Affiliate Challenge this November. The event was such a great success last year and I expect nothing less from this year's competition!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Movin' On Up!!!

Todays WOD: 3 rounds for time of 25 Wallballs, 50 Ring Rows, 75 DUs, 100m Walking Lunges. Time- 26:29. It was a great conditioning WOD. The ring rows and walking lunges were a bit of a grind. I managed to get all 3 Double Under sets unbroken. Looking forward to hitting a metcon tomorrow...I'm thinking one of the Girls named WODs or possibly even the 9/11 CFS daily WOD of 10 rds: 9 Muscle snatches @ 65lb and 11 OHS @ 65lb.

It's official! Today we took a leap of faith and signed the lease for CrossFit Springfield's next home. It's a 12,500 sq ft facility with air conditioned shower/bath rooms and a childcare area (also AC'd) that will be larger. I'm so thankful for the blessing of growth and excitement within our community right now! I believe this next step is going to allow us to significantly expand our class times, our class sizes, and our ability to positively impact peoples lives through fitness and commradery. Although our CrossFit Springfield community has grown tremendously in numbers over the past two years, I look forward to maintaining the family-like atmosphere which has been the foundation of our gym's success. Please pray for God's hand to be upon us in the coming months as we work to transition our CFS family to the new box! We've all been in situations where we have had to face transition, changes, tough decisions, or new challenges. Time and time again in my life, I've seen and experienced, first hand, the power of prayer and how God can deliver guidance, clarity, and peace even in the craziest of situations. Thank you in advance to everyone who will be praying and believing with us for this move to be an uplifting burst of life into the heart of CrossFit Springfield! 3..2..1..GO!!!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Stop Hitting Yourself!

Oh, if only I had the stones...I'd totally get this as my next tattoo. Like I don't already field a million questions about the ones I've got. What? What do you mean you don't remember the famous bible story of when the angel made the dude strike himself repeatedly in the face? It's only like the coolest miracle ever! Amateur. I need a stinkin' crossfit angel to make me do my burpees.

Today I did the CFS daily WOD: 15 Minutes to reach 1 RM Deadlift, 15 Minutes to reach 1RM shoulder to overhead anyway. Then 1 minute 155lb deadlift AMRAP and 1 minute 45lb seated press AMRAP. I stopped at 475lb on deadlift and max'd out at 275lb for the shoulder to overhead. For the 1 minute AMRAP 155lb deadlift, I did 50 reps. Instead of the 1 minute AMRAP 45lb seated press I did 1 minute AMRAP of 95lb push press for 40 reps. I decided to call it quits early on deadlift just to not overdo it after being out sick all of last week. On the shoulder to overhead, I attempted 285lb once after hitting 275lb. After missing the lift I could tell it wouldn't be worthwhile to try again so I called it good for the day. It's felt great to slowly be getting back into the mix. I feel I've regained a ton of strength and confidence over the past three days that I've been able to resume training.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Trying to be number one and trying to do a task well are two different things.

"I whuan to whiiiiin!"
The longer I am blessed to work in the industry of strength and conditioning, the more I revel at raw, God-given, uncoached, athletic ability. I mean, the athlete that is just naturally big, fast, strong, agile- and seemingly good at everything. What is most interesting though, is when you take the raw talented athlete, and put them into an unfamiliar athletic scenerio where skill, technique and finess' is also required. Oftentimes we see the athlete get by (if at all) purely based on their drive to succeed and raw ability- but these situations expose those areas which might need to be worked on if the athlete were to want to become more proficient at performing the task.

After being out of training for a week, the dumbest thing I could do would be to "gut" through a bunch of workouts and focus only on my WOD time, without rebuilding- or at least shoring up- my squat technique, my overall conditioning, and all of the basic movements that we hit on a weekly basis as crossfitters: running, rowing, pushing, swinging, pulling, pressing, lunging, snatching, cleaning, and jumping. My goal this week has been to reintroduce all of these modalities to myself in small doses and without the pressure of performing them for time- more like performing them for perfection. I always say to new crossfitters, "If your bodyweight squat sucks right now, why would I think that strapping a weighted bar to your back and having you do as many reps as possible in 3 minutes would be a good idea?" Obviously, it wouldn't be because you're not ready for that next step. It's all about progression- whether it be progression back to fitness from illness or injury or progression back to athleticicm from sedentarism- you can't throw too much at your client/member/athlete/yourself too fast and expect any success to be accompanied by competence. Which brings me full circle back to my original idea (Which is actually Greg Glassman's original idea- but I agree:): "Start with the basics and master them...then add the more dynamic and complex modalities and master them...then go back...begin anew, start again with the basics, only this time pay much closer attention."

So that's what I did today. I payed closer attention. I kept it simple. I was more purposeful and mindful of my movement. Was I slower? Absolutely. But did I get better? You bet your ipalopicusindabadangdang I did. As I practiced squat clean this afternoon I allowed myself time to repeat submaximal attempts of up to 250lb until my technique was solid and consistent. Main page WOD is Fran for tomorrow- Uh, Oh...there may have to be some gutting through the pain if I decide to give that one a go! We'll see. I might have to make it a gameday decision.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn't Work Hard.

Oh, the sweet sounds of CrossFit Springfield. A little gangster-death metal-brit rock-hip hop-fusion blaring from the speakers in every corner of the box, barbells crashing to the ground, C2 Rower wheels spinning with each rip of the chain, coaches trying to yell orders to 25 athletes over all of the madness...it's perfect...and Oh, how I've missed it SO dearly over the past few days. I got out of the hospital on Friday and went straight to visit the gym. When I walked in, Jessi lovingly told me that with my drugged up eyes and IV needle holed-up arms, I looked like her pet cats when they get picked up from the vet. For the most part, I felt fine- just a little weak from the 48 hr liquid only diet and from being bedridden for three days. While I had time to lay in a dark hospital room and assess my plight, I came to the realization that I've gotta do a better job of managing my work- consisting primarily of training clients, coaching classes, answering and returning emails and phone calls, cleaning the box, and maintaining the CFS website, my training volume which, even though I've recently tried to be more methodical, is sometimes a bit too much when combined with work and my final main duty: My family. At some point (that point, for me, being hospitalization) something's gotta give. I've resolved to continue to eat healthy, train 4-6 days/week, and adhere to my S.E.M method. What I'd like to change is the precidence I've been giving my training over everything else. The problem lies in trying to fit so much into 24hrs that some things- oftentimes, many things- end up being adversly affected. I know it's a time management issue- but there's also something else- one of the most appealing parts of CrossFit to me: Having the drive to excel, the competitive fire to perform on an athletic stage, and the mental toughness to push through any type of adversity. These 3 ideals make it hard for me to let off of the accelerator when I'm going 30mph over the speed limit and it's slick out. Though after this last week, I now know I must let up a bit- at least for right now. For my personal health, for the health and quality of the work I do for CrossFit Springfield, and most importantly- for the health and sanity of my family.
So, with all these things in mind, my first WOD back was great! Today I did Melissa's rowing class WOD which was performed as a pyramid (perform the first task-then add the next, but start over with the first each time you add another task)- My goal was to perform each set unbroken for the entire WOD...

*For time:

10 OHS, 95lb
Row 400m
30 KB Swings, 55lb
40 Push Ups
Row 400m
60 Sit Ups

*Each time you break a set, you must perform a 15 burpee penalty. I had no broken sets and finished the WOD relatively fast considering the amount of recovery time I gave myself in between each modality. It was a fun little workout- Jessi did it with me- she's still crushing workouts with 3 weeks to go until her due date! Awesome. Jessi, Grant, Melissa, and myself are extremely exited right now about the state of CFS for alot of reasons:

1. We're currently working to move to a 12,500sq ft facility located directly behind our current 5,000sq ft box. I just threw up in my mouth- I'm both excited and anxious for this!!!

2. We're locking down a date for next spring (April) to host a CrossFit Olympic Lifting Cert with USAW Coach Mike Burgener! This will be amazing. No doubt.

3. Fall Team Bootcamp in October, Heart of America and 5k Gone Bad in November, Fall CFS Fire Fighters Challenge all coming soon!!! Lot's to plan for- it'll all be here soon!

Gotta keep on, keepin' on!!! Good Stuff.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Meningitis Blues

Why CrossFit? Because no amount of aseptic viral meningitis can ever keep you from overhead squating an IV stand - with meds attatched, mind you!


Viral Meningitis. Seriously? Kinda sounds like a venereal disease. Saying it to your friends almost makes you blush: Hello, my name is Jeremy and I have viral meningitis. What? Like you've been promiscuous? Ummm, No. Meningitis basically means that the protective "shell" of your brain and spinal cord, the meninges, is inflammed. The best part is, unlike venereal disease, you don't even have to sleep with 7 out of 10 students at Missouri State (10 out of 10 at Mizzou) to get it!!! Whoo hoo! Zing. It also means that you'll feel like your head got smashed under the weight of a thousand pound barbell, you'll be unable to look down, light will suck, standing upright will suck more, and the cumulative effect of these symptoms will result in nausea and, ultimately, vomiting. I know what your thinking: Isn't that how crossfitters feel everyday? On one hand, your absolutely right. Yes. Touch'e. On the other hand, this was the most painful "headache" feeling I've ever experience in my life. I went to bed Monday night feeling great about my "Jackie" PR and the clever jabs I took at myself on my last blog-post...slept like a babe. I woke up Tuesday with Thor's hammer handle sticking out of my earhole. I mean my head literally felt like someone shoved a chainsaw up my nose and turned it on. And it just got worse. As the day wore on, even after leaving work, going home, laying down, and resting, I started running a fever. Which, I would argue, is better than running at a feverish pace, but that's niether here nor there. Anyways, short story long: I knew something wasn't right so I went to the ER and was greeted in the triage waiting area by some random dude who handed me a flier and business card trying to solicit me to join his tykwando studio. I kid you not if I'd have been able to see straight I would've judo-chopped that clown straight in the neck. Instead I just muttered, "Dude, your timing seriously sucks" and let Jenny shoot her deadly eye-glare darts at him (which, trust me, are much more lethal than judo-chops). After a CT scan of my dome, a lumbar spinal tap ("this one goes to eleven"), a brain MRI, and enough pain meds, anti-virals, and anti-biotics to both cure and severely sedate the entire nation of Khasakhstan and just one of the Jonas brothers (you may choose which one lives- the rest will die!), the doctors here are now assured with 53% certainty that it is definitely possible that I may or may not have aseptic viral meningitis. They should maybe know for sure tomorrow when they get the final lab reports. Either way, I'm feeling much better than I did 2 days ago. The headaches are subsiding along with all of the other symptoms. I do feel a little weak because I was restricted to a liquid only diet for the first 48 hours, but obviously not so weak that I can't still overhead squat my IV stand. Finally getting to eat solids today was like Christmas morning. My doctor says this whole deal is probably a by-product of a minor shingles outbreak I had a couple of weeks ago. He thinks it's likely that I'll never have anything like this happen again and that the reason it happened this time is "lightning struck". He is hopeful I'll be able to get out of here tomorrow. I've had a few brave visitors mask and gown up to see me - to whom I'm extremely grateful. I'm also very appreciative for the numerous texts, phone calls, and CFS blog comments I've recieved from everyone. The prayers and words of support and encouragement were effective and have truly helped to lift my spirit. I'm very much missing my Jenny and my Vin and being able to kick it with them. I'm also missing the gym and hanging with my CrossFit Springfield fam'. Can't wait to get back to coaching classes, training clients, and the daily grind. In this situation as with all things in my life, whether good or bad, I will continue to trust in God's hand, His ultimate plan, and His purpose. It's all good.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Hit Me Baby, One More Time

Today, I whooped up on the CFS advanced WOD and then PR'd by a full minute on "Jackie". Then I started a street fight with these two black belt Karate dudes from the dojo next door. I won, of course. Topped off my day with a ride on my custom built west coast chopper- laid the bike out twice, but I'm good. Soooooo gangster, right? No. Why not so gangster, you ask? Because it's really hard to be gangster about anything when you used to be in a boy band. Yep, Jeremy... that's what's called "leverage against your mohawk'd-tatted up-crossfit-loving-Filipino-butt for at least the rest of your life" - probably longer.

Although no amount of seeing the world, headlining tours, or albums recorded and sold will ever make my former life very cool...fortunately for me, it was just that: Very cool. From my vantage point, I was for 4 years afforded the opportunity to get paid to wake up in a different city each day, put stuff like "Slinky's" on a tour rider just to see if the venue would put one in my dressing room (which actually worked), and make music. Well, pretty gay music at times, but still music none-the-less. Ok, gay music all of the time but...I got paid to make it? This isn't going well. Hmmm. How about this: Gay music, all of the time, but I got to do sweet synchronized, choreograghed dance moves.

Soooooo....

Did I mention that I PR'd on "Jackie" today? Yeah, I know. I'm gangster like that.