Thursday 9-24-09

Brainfog:
What is the "Crossfit Dance"?


The "Crossfit Dance" happens immediately after your final rep of intense metabolic-conditioning. You collapse to the floor, tears in your eyes, heart rate elevated to an abnormally high level while you move your body and limbs in hopes of making the pain stop, to the beat of your saliva filled moans.

The "Crossfit Dance" is more than just an process that would make an inexperienced onlooker perplexed with serious concern. It is more than just catching your breath or resting. It is a beacon of accomplishment. Many Crossfitters, like myself, plan their day/life around improving. The time spent leading up to a brutal workout is full of anxiety. Every action throughout that time is meticulously planned with the intent to put their body and mind in the best condition to tackle their next WOD, to set a PR, the test their will, to not give up, to do everything unbroken, to increase ones pain thresh hold, to find their true potential and ultimately....to finish. Never have I personally felt so terrible physically yet so wonderful mentally. Crossfit has taught me to go well beyond what I use to see as my limits. It has taught me what pain really is. It has made every aspect of my person stronger. If I may paraphrase OPT from the video "Every Second Counts," he is talking about how some people get frustrated with insignificant things or complain about their job; OPT's response to them is "you've never done a Filthy Fifty, you don't know what pain is." He is right, not only has Crossfit improved me physically and mentally when it relates to athletics, but also as it relates to my daily life.

In conclusion, the "Crossfit Dance" signifies the end of a WOD, a reached goal. Whether that goal is a PR, completing a new workout or just completing in itself. It also signifies that you gave everything you had, that "every second counts." You learn more about yourself in every workout. You become stronger mentally and physically. It signifies the start of a new recovery period, a new day, new hopes of success. Next time you are on the floor and the fan cant blow air fast enough, think about how much you deserve that dance. Relish the moment. Strive to get there again! Now, go eat and get ready to do it tomorrow!

WOD
"Helen"

400m run
21 KB swings, 1.5 pood (~54lbs)
12 pull ups

9:50(PR)

I was going for under ten minutes, I succeeded. OPT did it in under 7. Honestly, I though I could get sub 9, but I am not disappointed. It wore me out that's for sure. I did all the swings and all the pull ups unbroken. The run is my weakness, always has been. That is the only way I could have made up time, that and maybe butterfly kips, which I chose not to do.

Wednesday 9-23-09

Brainfog:
So I do the Paleo-Zone diet thing. I am pretty strict about it. I deviate consistently for two meals, every morning I eat 1.4 cup of oat bran and every Saturday is cheat night which may include but is not limited to every disgusting, processed, sugar filled, grain and dairy made dinner or dessert. Sounds delicious. Until recently I was also eating hummus on a daily basis, which as we all know is made from chick peas aka garbanzo beans which are legumes and therefore not Paleo. This was a habit I was not willing to break, for carrots and hummus is a staple in my daily snack plan. There had to be another way. I did some research and found a way to make "Paleo Hummus." Now, hummus is Arabic for chickpeas, so "Paleo Hummus" is a bit of an oxy moron! This recipe replaces chickpeas with zucchini, the closest related name for zucchini that I could find of Arabic decent is mahshi, so without further ado, here is a recipe for Mahshi!

- 2 peeled and cubed raw zucchini
- 3/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2.5 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 tablespoon cumin

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend till smooth.

I made this for the first time the other day and it is delicious! I can't wait until next time so I can add some twists. I plan on including some kalmata olives and sun-dried tomatoes for my next batch. Maybe roasted red peppers and pine nuts after that. The possibilities are endless. This stuff is good!

WOD
Rest Day

Tuesday 9-22-09

Brainfog:
Top Five Male Actors of my generation. This is based on:

- Consistency of good movies made
- Quality of movies
- Variety of characters portrayed
- Quality of portrayal
- Level of excellence in each roll
- Awesomeness

Honorable Mentions:

Mike Myers

Hits: Waynes World, Waynes World 2, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Shrek, Inglorious Basterds

Misses: The Love Guru, Austin Powers: Goldmember

Will Ferrell

Hits: Anchorman, Zoolander, Elf, Semi-Pro, A Night at The Roxbury, Wedding Crashers, Old School, Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Step Brothers, Blades of Glory

Misses: Bewitched, Stranger Than Fiction, The Goods, Land of The Lost

Adam Sandler

Hits: Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Click (eff you, this was a good movie), Big Daddy, The Wedding Singer, Bulletproof, The Waterboy, Mr. Deeds, Little Nicky, 50 First dates, Don't Mess With The Zohan

Misses: Airheads, Spanglish, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry


*****Without further ado, I give you my Top 5!*****

5. Matt Damon

Hits: The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum (Best series ever), Goodwill Hunting, Oceans 11, Rounders, The Departed, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Saving Private Ryan, Dogma

Misses: Stuck On You

4. Edward Norton

Hits: Primal Fear (if you have not seen this movie you are depriving yourself of excellence and should be taken out back and beaten with a fire hose), American History X, Rounders, Fight Club, Red Dragon, The Illusionist, The Incredible Hulk

Misses: The Italian Job

3. Christian Bale

Hits: The Prestige (favorite movie of all time), El Maquinista aka The Machinist (see it, I know you haven't), Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, 3:10 to Yuma, American Psycho, Rescue Dawn

Misses: Terminator Salvation

2. Jim Carrey

Hits: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Liar Liar, Fun With Dick and Jane, Me Myself and Irene, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Batman Forever, The Cable Guy, The Truman Show, Man on The Moon, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Bruce Almighty, The Number 23

Misses: N/A

1. Brad Pitt

Hits: Fight Club, Troy, Interview With a Vampire, Se7en, Twelve Monkeys, Snatch, Oceans 11, Burn After Reading, Inglorious Basterds, Jesse James

Misses: Mr and Mrs Smith

WOD:
Squat Program
Back Squat:
1x5 165
1x3 192.5
1x2 220
1x2 247.5
1x1 261.25
1x1 282.5 (PR)

Front Squat
1x5 135
1x5 157.5
1x5 168.75
1x5 168.75

Shoulder Press
1x5 95
1x1 135
1x1 145
1x1 155
1x1 160
1x1 165 (PR)
1x1 170 (fail)

Today was successful even though I was ailing a bit. Every now and then either or both of my knees tend to get a bit swollen and tender from constant use. My left knee was giving me some pain. My shoulder is still plaqued with tendinitis although it has gotten significantly better. Unfortunately, I cut the healing process short due to my competitions coming up. It is not getting any worse, but, it is certainly not getting any better either. After a good warm up it usually does what I want. It did not impede my shoulder pressing. Overall, 2 PR's are satisfying. Still a long way to go but I am improving.

Monday 9-21-09

Brainfog:
Is it really necessary to say "you know what I'm sayin?" when you finish every sentence? I hear this more and more now. I believe the speaker feels it gives their rant some sort of rhythm, thats my only explanation because its purpose is certainly not to be a question. I was in some unwanted dialogue with a man on the metro. I don't even recall what he was speaking about but he kept saying "you know what I'm sayin?" in between sentences. I had no idea what he was saying and I tried to reply "no, I have no idea, what the fuck are you saying?" but, before I could even finish he would be on the the next sentence. Its almost like he was pacing himself with that line. Like a guitarist taps his foot while he plays or a basketball player dribbles a ball. I guess, logically, one could insert any line into their dialogue to keep pace. From now on I am going to start saying "did you see that?" after every sentence, then maybe I will get whomever I am talking to, to look around, at least it will be fun for me, did you see that?

WOD
Rest Day

Monday is typically a squat and met-con day for me but I chose to rest for two reasons. 1) I am sore as sheet from deadlifts and 2) Fight Gone Bad 4 is Saturday and I want to be fresh. This week I am doing some sort of tapering to rest up for the event.

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Squats and Shoulder press
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Met-Con
Friday: Tennis

This should leave me energetic and with no excuses on Saturday, which I cant say that I am looking forward to.

Sunday 9-21-09

Brainfog:
**Warning** The Mark Rippetoe in me is coming out in the following text.

Today I saw a man strap on a weight belt to do sets of five on a Hack Squat Machine. My first question: What the hell is the point of using anything that has the word "machine" in its name? Secondly, why didn't you just give me that $30 you wasted on that gimmicky piece of equipment that you feel is necessary because you see all the other nimrods in the gym wearing one. Heres a clue, it is essentially an accessory to your wardrobe until you are lifting enough weight that warrants a belt, and even then, its not required. You are not going to get results you desire, you are just wasting the precious time that you had to painfully bribe yourself, with a Klondike bar, to devote, to getting in "shape" (I will leave the type of shape up to you). For all I can see, the majority of gym patrons have really strong vocal chords, they don't own a single shirt with sleeves, sweating is frowned upon and any lift that allows you to lie or sit down is the focus of their routine. Don't ask me how much I can bench, I don't know, I do performance based lifts, I press 160. Before I get out of hand and sound like I hate the world (I don't hate the world, just society), I will finish with this. Bodybuilding is for aesthetics, power lifting if for strength, weightlifting is for explosiveness. Find a clever medium between power and weight lifting. Bodybuilding is for novice's or people who want stare at themselves in the mirror. Strength comes from old school techniques, not new school technology.

WOD
Deadlift
1x5 225
1x4 275
1x3 315
1x2 365
1x1 405
1x1 440 (PR)

On the deadlift I did not fully open my hips at the end of the lift. My body was erect, I would say 96% fully locked out. I was holding the bar with the fingertips of my left hand and fear I was going to drop the weight. It took all of my cunning to get this weight up! But I am glad I did.

Met-Con
Very drained for this so it was a very poor performance, the deads took a lot out of me.

3 rounds

30 GHD sit ups
25 hip extensions

8:12

Saturday 9-19-09

I took a month hiatus but I am back, herbs.

My posts are going to change a bit, no more meal plans. I will publish random meals I feel that have improved me as a person. Otherwise, my posts will include some rambling about the thoughts that go on inside my overused and undersized brain along with my WOD and anything else I feel necessary.

Brainfog:
Is it just me or does 95% of the bathrooms I go into have the toilet paper un-rolling the wrong way??? Now I am not saying that 95% of the time I go into a bathroom, I use toilet paper, I am not a female nor do I have IBS, but, since this inquiry popped into my abnormally large dome I make a habit of noticing the TP orientation. Is there some secret society that discusses how to decorate a bathroom? Is this how they teach to install TP in their curriculum? Am I completely out of line here?

Let me break it down. I personally feel that the TP should un-roll towards you, from the top. It shouldn't be un-rolling towards the wall! This makes it so much harder to get the appropriate amount of squares! You end up ripping it diagonally or not ripping cleanly and unravelling half the roll! Then what? I only need like 4 squares and this flipping roll just unwound about 60, and now the unused tissue is touching the floor, which I peed on, accidentally of course, do I roll it back up unevenly? Do I throw it away and waste it? I just want to blow my nose!!!

I will go on record to say I personally rotate the TP roll in bathrooms if I notice it is backwards. If you purposely load your roll to be as inconvenient as possible, I apologize for making your life easier.

WOD:
Snatch
1x3 40kg
1x2 50kg
1x1 60kg
1x1 65kg (previous PR)
1x1 70kg (failed the first time, succeeded on the second)
1x1 72.5kg (failed the first time, succeeded on the second; new PR)

Met-Con:
"Daniel"
50 pull ups
run 400m
21 thrusters (95lbs)
run 800m
21 thrusters (95lbs)
run 400m
50 pull ups

17:33

Wow, what a brutal workout this was. It left me doing the "Crossfit Dance". The first set of pull ups I broke up as (30, 10, 10), the first set of thrusters (11, 10), second set of thrusters (13, 8) and the second set of pull ups (25, 5, 20). The thrusters were the worst part, possibly could have picked it up a bit on the run, but that may have fatigued me too much and resulted in a higher time. I feel I did this WOD as efficiently as possible. I did it with a fellow gym member Dan who is pretty even with me in terms of met-cons. I beat him by 4 seconds. He did not break the exercises up like I did, which in turn, reduced his efficiently. I believe his split was: first PU's (40, 10), first thrusters (21), second thrusters (21) and second PU's (20, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5). He did not have anything left in the tank on the final set of pull ups and I caught him.