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www.miloandthecalf.com  my blog about working out, learning ancient languages, and being a dork.

yesterday's weight: 194.5

Yesterday's crossfit workout was
400 meter Run
50 Squats
30 Back extensions

Couldn't get near the treadmills in my gym, so I substituted rowing. I finished two and half rounds and had to quit. My lower back was killing me. I am just not used to the back extensions yet (having only done them for a couple of weeks). I ended up finishing out the rowing secgment (another 1200 meters) and then worked on my pulls ups a while and did 3 sets of 3 minute jump rope work. I'm getting pretty good with the rope, which feels awesome.

Today is a scheduled rest day for crossfit, but I have boxing class. I hope we focus on technique, cause my legs and back are killing me

me and crossfit

So I went to the local crossfit affiliate here in D.C. this Saturday to take part in their “cindy” challenge.

I could talk all day about how amazing my first experience at an actual crossfit gym was, but I’ll keep it as brief as possible. We did “Cindy” (5xpull-ups, 10xpush ups, 15xsquats; how many rounds can you do in 20 minutes).

I did eleven rounds (in which I did cheating jumping pull-ups for the second half of the rounds). That put me at the bottom of the class. There was only one dude who did worse than I did. The guy with the highest total hit 28 rounds. He was also an ex-army security consultant who was probably the most physically fit person I have ever spoken to. If he had told me he was a ninja, I would not have been shocked.

I have never worked harder in any workout. There is something about the group dynamic, with your name up on a wall, and people walking around with video cameras, recording you, that just makes you push harder than you are ever going to push on your own. I hesitate to say it was a competitive environment. People were very encouraging, actually. But I wanted to push myself hard, and I did. When the twenty minutes were over, I laid on the sweat stained floor shaking for ten minutes.

Cementing my love for this type of exercise environment, after the work-out, we all went out for beers. The conversation was like nothing I have on a regular basis. It was all about video games, ninja warrior, parkour and crossfit. I loved it, and I’ll be going back on the regular, and posting about the whole phenomenon a lot around here (good help you).

So, going forward, I am going to be going to primal fitness at least once a week, and doing the crossfit WODs combined with some rosstraining boxing workouts on the other days of the week.

In that regard, I did the proposed crossfit workout yesterday, it looked like this:
Warm Up:
3x
10x OHSQ, situps, pull ups (x5), back extensions, dips
then:
Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps
Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps

I played with the weight here, going up as high as 115, and as low as 95. My shoulders are still wrecked from this weekend, so this was pretty painful

Then:
3x3 minute rounds of rope with one minute break in between
3x3 minute heavy bag rounds with one minute break in between
the heavy bag rounds were brutal. I didn’t hit the bag nearly as hard, or as often, as I wanted to, but by this time, I was just dead.

Today's workout and food

Food: 1 bowl of cheerios, coffee, 1 roastbeef and chedar sandwich, one bananna. I am about to head out to dinner for E's birthday which will be decadent as hell. I think it will involved snails. cooked in butter.

Anyway, tonight at the gym:

weight: 193!

Cross fit warm up
10x
OHSQs
sit ups (tonight I did these in that fucking roman chair or whatever its called)
back exntensions
dips
pull ups (these were sets of five)

then g'town rounds which are:
100 jump ropes
10 push ups
10 box jumps (onto a 20 inch box)
10 squats
How many sets can you do in twenty minutes?
I've been away from this for a while, and only did 6 sets. I suck.

Then, 'cause some of the gym rats were doing them, I did some weighted pull ups
3 sets
4 with a five pound weight
2x4 with a ten pound weight.
This isn't quite the numbers A can put up (10 with a 45 pounder) but I'll get there.

I'm back... like anyone is reading this

Back at this, for real this time...

I have been working out on the regular, but I really want to take things to the next level. And that involves really holding myself accountable with regards to both my workouts and my food.

so, yesterday:
Ate: cup of yogurt with grapenuts, coffee. chicken fingers, coke zero. cookie, coffee, stir fry with turkey sausage and vegetables, half a bottle of wine.

Weight: 194

3x10
Samson Stretch
Sit ups
back entensions
3x5
pull ups

Then the work:
25 minutes of
4/per side of Turkish Get-ups (I started with 35 pounds, and quickly had to drop down to 25, then 20. These things are sooo hard)
10x 45 pound lunges
10x dips
The TGUs kicked my royal irish ass. I only finished two rounds of this in 25 minutes, largely because it was taking me forever to do the TGUs.

then
3x
20 bicycle crunches
10 per side side crunhces
10 knees to elbows
10 floor wipers
30 seconds between sets.
Um, hello, floor wipers are fucked up.

then, for fun,
3x 3 minutes of jump rope with a minute rest between sets.

11/9/2007 Summary

weight: 192

Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese, coffee
Lunch: slice of pizza, bag of frittos, coke zero
Dinner: meatloaf and mashed potatoes, half a bottle of wine
After dinner: two beers.

See what I'm talking about? What I had for lunch yesterday is exactly why I need to be bloggin about this and making myself accountable to myself.

Work out:
Deadlifts: after some warm ups 3x10 at 135
Bench: warms ups, 2 x 10 at 135, 1 x6 at 155
Squats: 3x10 at 135
also, bunches of pull ups and push ups, maxing out on the pull ups at 5
then:
three sets as fast as possible of:
100 rope jumps
10 push ups
10 box jumps
5 each side of one armed jerks.

I am coming off an injury, and hadn't been in the gym in a week. I felt fat and weak. As finals season approaches, I have to make sure to get my ass in their six days a week.

Yesterday's Food:
Breakfast: 2 packets of oatmeal with coffee
Lunch: chicken tenders and a coke zero
Snack: Coffee and a chocolate cookie
Dinner: jambalaya pasta and half a bottle of wine
after dinner: one beer.

Notes:
I feel fat just writing that, which tells me that this exercise should be good for me being real about what I am eating and drinking. I am not going to start making calorie goals for myself or anything, but from here on out, I am going to at least attempt to eat cleaner, especially during the day. No more cookies, no more soda and way less chicken tenders.

I am going to restart this blog for myself with daily tracking of what I am putting into my body, what my works out are, and other things about becoming the person I want to be. I might also occasionally post a progress picture. We'll see.

This is going to be mainly for myself, but if you're curious or have something to say, drop me a line in the comments.

weekly wrap up

Even though I have a half marathon coming up that I am concerned with doing well in, I am trying to not beat up on myself for missing workouts. I didn’t make one gym day and my swim this week, but whatever, I’m still trying to get the swing of planning my workouts around my school schedule.

I did make a small milestone in my weight training, this week, hitting triple digits on the bench press. Next week, I’ll build a little closer to my ideal winter workout plan.

And one little piece of advice, don't do squats in the gym the day before a fifteen mile long run, you'll pay for it.

Anyway, here's the numbers:

Average Weight: 185

Total Run Time: 3 Hours 50 Minutes
Total Bike Time: 2 hours
Total Swim Time: none
Total Weight Time: 1 hour
Total Core Time: 30 minutes
Total Times: 7 hours 40 minutes
Total Run Miles: 23.5
Total Bike Miles: 21
Total Swim Miles: none
Total Miles: 44.5

Next Week's goals:
Put in ten hours of training
Swim at least one day
Watch my nutrition a little more and lose a pound

With the pressure off since I am only doing a half marathon in October, I am starting to put time into strength training. Its something I have been meaning to do for a while, but am just now getting into and I have to say, I love it.

I know a lot of triathletes think strength training is something you can skip in favor of long runs and bikes, but I gotta say, if Mark Allen and David Scott are both believers in the benefits of strength training than so am I.

Plus, at this early stage of my lifting, I am seeing real results.

My weight workout:

I started out using the program Mark Allen wrote up in an issue of triathlete magazine from a couple months back and have been adding and subtracting to it as I progress. Here it is:

Two days a week I am doing 2x15 of the following:

Lat Pull Downs
Bench Press
Squats
Calf rises
Dumbbell pullovers
Backward lunges
Tricep curls
Pull Ups
Crunches
Ball balanced push-ups
Another weird core exercise.

One day a week I am doing the same set but with a heavier weight and less reps (usually 2x10)

Anyone else out there lifting? Any ideas on exercises I should (or shouldn’t) be doing?