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.

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.

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...

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)...

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.

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...

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.

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!

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!!!

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.

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.

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.

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.