The Little Box That Could.

Naysayers. If you're in the CrossFit game long enough, you eventually hear them, planting business seeds of doubt here, a little dab of "You'll never make it without me" there. There will always be naysayers. Always. Even when you do the right thing- even when you're honest, even when you try your very best, even when you provide people with positive, effective solutions to their problems- there will always be naysayers. So, what then, do you do? I see it as being a pretty simple solution: You continue to do the right thing, remain honest, always give your best effort, and help people solve their problems. Until one day, you find you have traveled so far that when you look back, you can barely even make out the faces or the voices of your detractors.

As I contemplate the steady growth of CrossFit Sringfield, the thought of moving into yet another larger facility to accomodate our oft overflowing group WODs and rowing classes seems staggering. It seems we were just moving into our current 5,000 sq ft facility less than a year ago with the thought that we'd never be able to outgrow the space very soon. Well...very soon is now upon us and the out-growth of the box we're in is becoming more and more evident each day. Even though it gives me a little anxiety, expanding our operation into a larger space with a larger overhead and a larger pricetag kind of gets me fired up. Not fired up at the thought of expanding some CrossFit Springfield empire hellbent on global domination (though, hey we'd take it :). No, I'm fired up at the opportunity to continue to build the CFS community, I'm fired up at the opportunity that CrossFit Springfield will have in the coming years to impact the Ozarks community through the pooling and giving of our many resources. My prayer is that we would continue to expand our influence in town and encourage and help those in need in the best ways we know how. No matter whether that need is fitness related or otherwise, my vision is that CrossFit Springfield will be a useable, tangible source of strength within our community. Wherever the road leads, I'm confident of this: The CrossFit Springfield team of partners, coaches, members and clients continue to forge a legitimate bond that few groups of people ever truly find in life. If we would point our collected hearts in the right direction and continue to move forward together, there won't be a naysayer in the world with words big enough to overtake the great works we can, and will, do.

~Cochise

I Feel Funny.

It's been a good week. As planned, I showed up ready to hit it hard on Monday did a 30-3-20-2-10-1 Bench Press strength workout (185-255-205-265-225-275), the Texas Throwdown 9-6-3 "D.T." WOD (in 3:42), and a 3,000m Row. Tuesday I did the 3 rds of 30 Hang Squat Snatches & 30 WallBalls WOD from the '09 Cfit Games in 14:23. I'm not sure if it's that my body feels wrecked from the past couple days of training or from eating paleo again or a combination of both but, regardless, I woke up this morning feeling pretty funny. And not funny like "Funny Ha Ha" funny like "Oh, that's funny: I feel like I just got hit squarely in my privates and twice on both ears with a ball-peen hammer."

Anyways, today I decided to take an active recovery day and did a 2.5 mile run and a 21-15-9 WOD of CTB pull ups, Knees to Elbows, and KB Swings in 7:15. Ok, so the 21-15-9 ended up being alot more work than I'd bargained on, but I was happy with my time to say the least. The weather was absolutely gorgeous during my run. I ran along the part of the Ozark Greenways trail that takes you around the pond at Nathaniel Greene Park. The cool breeze whipping off the water felt nice and refreshing. It was great to just trot along, not keep time, and enjoy the landscape and the day.

Monday Gameface: ON

Sometimes you go through the weekend and by Monday feel like you never really had a chance to relax, catch your breath, and get your gameface on for the new week. Other times you get invited to the Wistrom's lake casa for the weekend and do nothing for two days except straight up marinate in the sun and stuff your face with fajita's, margaritas, and ice cream. It was definitely a nice precursor to the 6 week CFS paleo challenge which starts tonight. I've decided I'm going to do my best to adhere to it as much as possible for the entire duration. I pretty much did the whole paleo thing for 2 months prior to Sectionals and really felt it benefitted my training and overall athletic performance.

My training as of late has been going well. Last Thursday I did FGB. I was feeling a bit fatigued going into the day, but managed a score of 379 (PR is 385). Based off of having performed the WOD quite a few times now, I could tell I punked out, felt sorry for myself, and held back when I was at my breaking point in rds 2 and 3. On Friday I did a Clean and Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 max effort and reached my PR of 260lb. On my 265lb attempt, I was extremely close to locking it out and just didn't quite drop under the bar enough to make the lift. I did, however, manage to make a complete fool of myself by throwing a temper-tantrum of epic proportions after the failed attempt. After picking up everything I kicked over and apologizing to all those who were witness to my childlike outburst :), I did what any good frustration-ridden CrossFitter would do and took out my angst on a 10min AMRAP WOD of: 4 Burpees, 6 TTB, and 8 DB Snatches @ 45lb. I completed exactly 9 and 2/3 rounds.

Today, in an attempt to punish myself for my gluttonous performance this weekend, I did the CFS WOD from Saturday- "Run, Barbara, Run". I finished it in 28:54 and almost vomited at minutes 15 through 28. It felt good to sweat it out, though.

As I mentioned before, I had a great weekend- it was a blast getting to relax and spend some time friends and family. I also think I found a new past-time to conquer: wakeboarding. I'd never tried it before Saturday. I actually told myself going into the weekend, "Self: Do not attempt to engage in any new watersports because you're the one who always manages to find a way to get injured." Now, anyone who knows me well, knows that if ever there is a new and adventurous deed to be done, I'm the guy who tends to be all in- but I also happen to be the same guy who ends up in the ER. Fortunately, this time at least, I was smart enough to dole off only enough "wakeboarding crack" to get myself hooked and not so much as to overdose and kill myself...but you wouldn't believe it based on Vin's reaction to me wiping out...

Overhead Squat PR

Today: OHS 1-1-1-1-1-1-1. After a good warm-up, my progression was 1 x 5 @ 155lb, 1 x 3 @ 185lb, 1 x 3 @ 205lb, 1 x 3 @ 225lb, 235lb, 245lb, 269lb-fail (we were using kg plates as well as lb plates), 255lb, 265lb, 270lb PR, 275lb-fail (got it overhead- but I couldn't keep it locked out during the squat descent).

There was a great energy in the box all day today. Brian, Grant, and Melissa hit PRs on this WOD as well- which was very cool (see video below). Afterwards, we did the CFS advanced WOD which was 21-15-9 of: 115/75lb OHS & Chest to Bar Pull Ups. My time was 5:34. 115lb OHS felt like absolutely nothing after the heavy lift.

Whereas I used to lift heavy once or at most twice a week, my S.E.M rotation (strength, endurance, metcon) has forced me into doing strength WODs 3-5 times per week- contingent on how many 2-a-days I program for myself. I've had a few people recently ask me why all of the sudden I've PR'd on alot of the major lifts. The answer is quite simple: Right now, I'm practicing them with greater frequency and purposefully increasing my heavy lift exposure time. I heard a great quote while attending the CrossFit Football Certification that went something like, "Don't expect your 1RM to increase on any given lift when you're doing WODs like 'Murph' 5 days a week." Now, hey, if your conditioning sucks and if you're not hurting in the 1RM department- by all means- practice your metcons and chippers like crazy. I, for one, just happen to not have ever been the greatest 5-3-1 lift guy. It's all about learning to be a balanced athlete-hence, CrossFit...But being a balanced athlete requires you to use discretion; it requires you to evaluate your training volume; it requires you to face your weaknesses.

With regard to my training, one of the biggest things that has erk'd me- about me- over my last year of CrossFitting has been my tendency to just hap-hazardly do random WODs with total disregard for what I'd trained prior to, or would be training in the near future. A few times, this lack of direction has led me to frustration and injury.

I Know You.

I know you. I know you're bigger, faster, and stronger than me. I know your Fran time is lower, your 5k is quicker, and your deadlift is heavier. I know you have 1,000 views on YouTube. I know you're a "WOD" Warrior. I know you.... but you don't know me. You don't know what's in my head, what's in my heart, and what's in my soul. You don't know that pain is my ally. You don't know that sweat and blood are my training partners. You don't know that I'm unbreakable. I know you train in your temperature controlled gym with the tough sounding name while I'm training in a garage exposed to the elements. In the heat and in the cold, in the humidity, rain and snow, I'm forging mental toughness. I'm tempering my resolve. I'm fueling my passion. I'm getting ready for the day we meet. I know your 1,000 YouTube views won't mean jack in front of 1,000 spectators. I know when the pressure is on, I'm goin' BIG. I know you don't know me....But you will.

~ Dave X from OPT

Ok, ok, so it's a little on the dramatic side...but it's still pretty cool. Today I did 10 x 5 Bench Press at 225lb and then 10 Rounds for time of: 10 Ring Push Ups and 20 Double Unders. Time was 9:32. Muh-bubbies-is-gonna-b-sore.

Saved by Grace

This morning I did Backsquat 30-3-20-2-10-1. I did 185lb-295lb-205lb-315lb-225lb-325lb. My legs will surely be sore tomorrow. This afternoon I did "Grace" followed by a 5 minute rest, then "Fran" followed by a 7 minute rest and then "Helen". I hit a new PR on "Grace" with a time of 1:46 (previous PR of 1:56). I knew that by going full boar at "Grace" my other two WODs would suffer, but I really didn't care about my other two times today. No, today I wanted to PR on "Grace". Period. The last time I did "Grace" was on St. Patrick's Day in a kilt. The kilt was awesome- what wasn't awesome was that I initially thought I had PR'd but after reviewing the video I found that I only did 29 reps. uhhhhhhgh. I wanted to make sure history didn't repeat itself, so today, with flip video running, I talked Erik, Meggin, and Mary into counting my reps so I could keep track of where I was. It also didn't hurt to have them violently screaming sweet nothing's into my earhole like "You need to stop being a weiner, pick up the bar, hurry up and finish!" Boy am I glad to be finished and even happier to have gotten a new PR out of the whole mess.



By the way, just to throw myself under the bus- my subsequent "Fran" time was 5:02 followed by a blazing "Helen" time of 15 minutes. Ohhhh yeahhh, I was bookin' it after that "Grace". No.

Weighted Pull Up WOD

125lb Weighted Pull Up @ a BW of 200lb

Today I hit up the 1RM weighted pull up crossfit.com WOD from yesterday with a buddy of mine, Larry, who I enjoy making fun of for an assortment of reasons (all in good fun, of course)- the main reason being that he's what I'd call a bit of a "fairweather crossfitter". This is the type of person who picks and chooses crossfit WODs to do based on (a) ones that they're good at, or (b) based on whether or not the WODs fit into their weekly YMCA workout rotation of arms, chest, back, and shoulders (no legs, of course). Don't get me wrong, Larry's a beast. Today, at a bodyweight of 165lb Larry successfully performed a 135lb weighted pull up, beating my best effort of 125lb (BW of 200lb). In all honesty, during my first year of crossfitting, I was without a doubt a fairweather crossfitter. As I realized the benefits of moving large loads, long distances, quickly, I slowly but surely I phased out the shoulder shrugs, lateral raises, and bicep curls and traded them for cleans, push presses, and pull ups. Now, at age 30, I would beat the living crap out of the 25 year-old version of me.

Larry, during a 135lb weighted pull up

After the weighted pull up workout, we did a quick-hitter of 15-12-9 Front Squat @ 155lb, Weighted Ring Pull Up @ 25lb, and Row 150/120/90m. It was the perfect "get-in, get-out" Sunday WOD. My time was 10:29.

Shoulders Officially Smoked.

260lb Ground to Overhead at the 2010 CrossFit Games North Central Regionals

Yesterday, I had a main course of 75 KB Swings @ 55lb, 50 H.P.C @ 115lb, 25 Push Press @ 115lb *For time- everytime you break a set, you must run 100m. I did the swings unbroken, ran 100m, did 20 H.P.C, ran 100m, 20 H.P.C, ran 100m, 10 H.P.C straight into 10 Push Press, ran 100m, and finished with 15 Push Press. Time = 9:42. Freakin' sweet WOD. It was challenging having to decide whether I had it in me to fight through more reps or just drop the bar and hit the road.

In the afternoon, I did push jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 and reached 260lb (ties PR). It's been awhile since I've felt that "super-good-next-day-sore" feeling in my shoulders and traps- I'm definitely feelin' it today! I've hit it 6 consecutive days so I think I'm gonna take a rest day today and enjoy some chill time with the family. Here's to the weekend! Cheers!