Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Brob's #13 - Lesson Learned

I have been CrossFitting for a little over four and a half years. I have been teaching, coaching, and programming CrossFit workouts for a little over a year and a half. I am confident in each of the aforementioned skills; however, I made a mistake.

Like all CrossFit workouts, this week's challenge was supposed to solicit a particular response. My idea behind this workout was for it to last at least 20 minutes. Oh, how wrong was I. What was the culprit? The muscle-ups, of course. I was able to complete the first two rounds with unbroken muscle-ups. However, once I got to the third round, I had to start breaking them up. This, of course, made it extremely difficult to complete a full round in one minute or less. I am not disappointed that I screwed up with the programming of this challenge--I will learn from my mistake. Hey Rob...I appreciate you and your crew taking this one on; I won't let you down the next time it is my turn to program the WOD.

Here is a short video of me getting through it...my score: 5 rounds + 2 muscle-ups

Brob's #13

Seriously, this was a short WOD for me. Brian got me on this one. This weeks challenge was to complete every minute on the minute:
15 double unders, 10 Air Squats and 5 muscle ups.

Whoaaa! No Problem!

I had realized that I haven't done any mu's in a long time. But that really didn't worry me. Each WOD can always be modified. No exceptions here either. No one likes to show their weaknesses. However, I believe the more open and real you are towards problems, obstacles or any type of difficulties in life, the less of a problem it is really going to be. It's just something I have to keep up on.

How would my strength program effect me here? I'd say maybe a little bit. After reducing my metcons for the past 4 weeks, I have probably gotten a little heavier. Making the MU a little more difficult. (Hey, it's Christmas season as well.) As already mentioned, I think it's just something I have to keep up on!

I modified the wod after failing to get 5 mu's in the first minute.
It looked like this:
15 du's, 10 air squats, at least 1 mu each round for 5 rounds. After that, I did 6mu's to finish up the day.

My thought's: It was a great challenge. Simple, sweet and to the point. Either I have to warm my shoulders up more and work on my technique and/or lose weight. ;-P
Two other's did this yesterday with success:
Reid rx'd. 4rds
Bou. rx'd. 3rds

Monday, December 20, 2010

Brob's #12

It was early. The sky was slate gray, it was raining, and it was cold. There was seemingly not enough time in the day to get everything done. It was a perfect opportunity to just say "screw it" in regard to the workout. Three things stopped me from doing that: 1) my wife, 2) my half marathon training, and (of course!) 3) Brob's Challenge. Besides, where in "constantly varied" does it have the caveat of..."depending on the weather, your mood, and the current environment...?"

So, Kari and I donned the appropriate "crappy weather running apparel" and set out to put our four miles in. It wasn't as bad as I thought--it never is though, is it? I've been trying to gauge when to "kick it in" for each of my runs. This time, I decided to turn it on about the one mile mark...it felt good. My goal was to complete the four miles in 32 minutes or less (with the hope of a sub-30 minute time). We crossed the finish line with the following times:

Me: 29:42
Kari: 29:57

We were glad that we decided to get off our butts and complete this challenge...it would have gone against principle if we didn't. Besides, who knows when we'll have to be quick on our feet...



Sunday, December 19, 2010

Brob's #12



After our last week's challenge, I asked Brian what should we come up with next. After mentioning that he and his wife Kari are training for a half marathon, he suggested running 4 miles. (6.5km) Looking at what we have done so far, I instantly thought it would be a good idea. Although it's just "running", I was sure that the elements would make this an interesting workout.

It was a good day to get a run in. Some more snow had fallen last night and today. Being that running can also be somewhat like meditation, I decided to run at dusk. It's peaceful at this time of day during the winter. There aren't too many people out and about at this time of day or year. Plus, it makes me more relaxed and I can focus better.

My attitude towards todays challenge was to find some hills, paths that haven't been used in a while and lot's of snow. As a warm up I did the following: got dressed, drank a cup of water, gave the wife a kiss and put my shoes on.

I felt that we have trained for the unkown and unknowable. So let's test it. I thought about the fight or flee thing and thought about how would I be running if there was a Sibirian Tiger chasing me.

So I hit the door and just started running, I concentrated on moving quickly and jumped over snow mounds that have been created from people shoveling snow this week. Once I got to the woods it was just hitting a path with lots of snow. I made sure I got some hills in on this run.

One thing that I realized through today's challenge,

I do not need to run all the time to be fit. I am fit enough to be able to run when ever I need or want to.

My run was actually 7km; Time: 32min.

Hope Brian and Kari had a good time with this one!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Brob's #11

As Brian wrote down below, this was one tough cookie. The weather over here didn't make it any easier. We have had some snow and ice to make this interesting. Especially for our neighbors. "What kind of crazy people are running around here in shorts and t-shirts?" I was asked if I had any common sense. I must say, I didn't have time to answer that one.

Brian really came up with a wod that scared me. My overhead squats have been my nemesis from day one. They are actually one of the reasons I was sold on CrossFit. Simply because they showed my weaknesses. Mixed up with the other exercises they made me have even more respect for them and what they can do for you.

I did this on Sunday. Because of the weather conditions, I wanted to make sure Bou and Christian didn't get hurt while going through this tunnel of pain on Saturday.

Bou did it in 19:54 as well.
Christian time with modified ohs @70kg: 20:12 (He is tough)

My time 20:53.

Thanks Brian!

Hey, what should we do next?


Sunday, December 12, 2010

Brob's #11

The Challenge:

Four rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
9 Burpees
7 Deadlifts, 185lbs (85kg)
5 Cleans (power or squat), 185lbs (85kg)
3 Overhead squats, 185lbs (85kg)

This was one, tough workout. It was my turn to program the challenge this week, and I wanted to put together a workout that tested our ability to move moderate to heavy weight while out of breath. I believe that I met that goal. After the 400 meter run and burpees, the 185lbs started to feel like 350lbs! The conditions were not ideal, but surprisingly enough, that really did not effect me too much. As you'll see in the video below, one of the most challenging parts of the workout was the overhead squats. Normally, 185lbs is pretty manageable for me. However, with the addition of the running, burpees, and the other tasks, the overhead squats quickly became a struggle.

My time: 19:54

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Brob's #10

Let me be honest: I was skeptical about this WOD at first. I thought that the body weight back squats would slow me down considerably, and take away from the "stimulus" that I perceived this WOD was supposed to provide. I was wrong.

Rob put together a nasty little 15 minute AMRAP that proved to be challenging, yet not cumbersome, which at first,  I thought it may have been. Halfway through the WOD, the 10lb kettlebell unharnessed itself from the weight vest I was wearing and toppled to the floor. Instead of trying to re-fasten it to the vest and waste precious time, I decided to add one more pull-up (six instead of five) to the sequence. I enjoyed the "extra weight challenge" that this workout provided and was satisfied with my result.

My score: 6 rounds + 5 ring pull-ups + 10 wall-ball sit-ups + 1 back squat

Hey Rob...beware brother--you gave me a GREAT idea for next week's challenge. I will give you a hint: it involves accomplishing a lot of "moderate to heavy weight" work while out of breath. More to come on that! In the meantime, check out the short video of Kari and I taking on this week's challenge:

Brob's #10



Wow, what could I say to this. We have been doing strength work lately. So when I threw this one out there, I didn't realize how much fun we were going to have...

Our Challenge:

15 min amrap of:

5 ring pull ups w/24kg
10 wallball sit-ups
15 BW back squats

We are using Ricky Frausto Jr.'s Programm "15". You can reach him through
Strength Development Inc. So after having done squats and bench work Friday, as already mentioned this was to say the least, FUN!

My hamstrings and glutes were already sore. So I was kind of happy that we don't have mirrors in the box. Or else I would have to look at the fool who thought this up. ;-P

Seriously, this wod was great. It was challenging, but we got to see through these simple movements what our deficits are. To find the answer, you have to know what the question would be:

Can I pull, throw, lift and carry heavy stuff long distances fast?
Well my personal answer is, I am working on it!

-Ring pull ups with extra weight show if we can pull our body weight up whenever we need to.

-Wallball sit ups show how fast we can move and react. They also show how fast you can get off the ground.

-BW back squats show if you can lift and carry your kids, buddies or anyone else or anything you need from up off the ground.

Anything in life can happen. Any- and everyone should be able to do these tasks. Mothers, fathers, senior citizens, construction workers, nurses, firemen, soldiers and policeman must be able to pull, lift or carry their own weight. Even kid's carrying their books to school.

I hope my thoughts are clear enough for you. Today it's hard sitting and typing in this chair I am using! :-)

My score: 5 rds + 5 ring pull ups and 10 wallball sit-ups.

Brian and Kari, I hope you guys had fun with this!