Friday, March 7th, 2014

Possible Prep Day:
1) 1000m Row - 5s Hard Effort, 55s Easy effort

2) Outlaw Snatch Warm-Up x 3 - PVC, Empty Bar, 75/55lbs

3) 3 Rounds of:
1 C&J @ 165
2 FS
3 DL
4 Burpees
5 KBS
6 Box Jumps
8 WB
20 DU
Rest 2min

4) Mobilize for Open

OR

Open Day:

1) Open 14.2

2) TBD

Thursday, March 6th, 2014

Rest Day
Complete Rest

Wednesday, March 5th, 2014

Double Session:

Morning:
1a) Tall Snatch - 7 x 2  For form
1b) Snatch Balance - 7 x 2 AHAP - Pause in bottom

2a) T2B -- 3 x 20 - UB if possible, if you break before 20 don't finish, instead add a 4th set and do a ME 4th set. 
2b) Strict Ring Dips 3 x 10 Weighted if possible
2c) Hollow Rocks 3 x 35
Rest 90s between each

Afternoon:

1)  Front Squat Heavy 5
2) 5 x 3 Pause FS @ 75% of #1 -- 3s Pause

3) Metcon: Class Metcon from Wednesday, March 5, 2014 w/ Box Jumps

4) Tabata DU

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Single Session Today:

Warm-Up Goal: Shoulder Mobility overhead

1) Work to a light working set for 3 reps of Jerk Grip OHS - 10min Max
Stay light, move better - Stay on heels and try to keep bar extended and locked, not held forward.
*Pro points for clean Grip Sotts Press in the bottom of each rep*

Oly --
2) C&J Establish a Heavy Double
3a) 3 x 3 - 2-Position Pause Pulls -- Pause at knee, pause in pocket, finish pull @ 100% of #2
3b) 3 x 3 Jerk Balance at 80% of #2

Gymnastics (Emom14) --
4a) 7 x 1 - Kipping MU, then Strict Negative for form:
5s at support
3s Lower in Dip
3s in bottom of dip
Hold to chest for 2s
3s Lower to extension
Explode chest to ring pull-up.
4b) 7 x 3 Strict + 5 Kipping for Max Height HSPU

Metcon --
5) 4 x 1500m Row - Rest 1min, Row softly for ~1min, then continue - paces below:
6:30-7:00 2k Time: 1:48 Pace
7:00-7:30 2k Time: 1:53 Pace
7:30-8:00 2k Time: 1:58 Pace

Monday, March 3, 2014

Testing own programming


Morning session:
1) Establish a max Snatch for the day - No more than two misses
2a) 5 x 3-position Snatch at 75-85% of Max
2b) 5 x 5 SnGrip Push Press AHAP

Gymnastics:
A) 5 x Banded Connection Kick-Ups --(   Video  ) Max in 1min
B) 5 x Max Set of complex: 1 Strict Pull-up, 3 Butterfly Pull-Ups

Afternoon Session:

1) Back Squat - Establish 3RM, then Max Set at 330.

2) Class MetCon from Monday, March 3 2014

Prague, trains

The anywhere fit trip is over, honestly I got a bit sick of taking pictures and writing down shit that happened and just did my best to live in the moment. Less cell phone, no worrying about wifi, just enjoying the company and scenery for the last few days. Prague is awesome, our first night was a bit odd as we got in rather late, having not eaten, and went straight to Crossfit Praha for a 2.5 hour WOD around all of old town Prague. It was cool and fun but left everyone tired, cranky and hungry. Our search for our first real meal of the day ended about 1am with some ok pizza....not a great start. The next day however we had beautiful weather, all the gorgeous foreign women a guy could want, and a free rest day to ourselves! We got good sleep, covered a lot of ground, figured out the public transit and found out our last day would be spent at the Czech Beast Challenge. A local CF event and the first "National Czech Championship". It was fun to watch the Europeans get excited for this and the energy was great. In talking with Ross (a media member of HQ who covers Europe), he told me that Europe was 2-3 years behind the states in CrossFit. I wasn't sure what he meant until the competition began...while it was fun as a competitive veteran, it was kind of a mess...bad standards, horrid judging, tons of pointless downtime, a 30 second obstacle course consisting of nothing hard that counted the same as a 50 minute final WOD, which thankfully we had to leave for to get back for dinner. The men would have taken 1,2, and 3. I went team and we would have won every event with ease. We came back and got a decent nap on the train...and the prep for our final night together began. We had dinner, wine, and played some fun games. The night ended with us heading to a 6 tier club, bottom level was an all ice -50 degree room with coats you were supposed to wear (I obviously SOTd), and drinks in cups made of ice. We then hit the hip hop level and danced the night into submission, most of us ending up on stage, shirtless, dancing over the club and showing the decidedly young group of Prague night-lifers how to party. The entire day was almost 27 hours long, and the next day would be filled with sleep and a surprise for my friends back home on 9/20. All in all the trip was great, and now that I am traveling by train alone I realize How much more fun the people made everything! Good conversation, laid back people and like-minded goals make going out here much easier. Now I start my 7 days alone and hope I can stay in budget and see some cool things! Looking forward to my own bed, real eggs, turkey, chicken, food in general, not paying to pee, tap water all day for free, no more bread, training heavy, cell service and my car. And of course my family (real and friendship)

Vienna

Vienna was an interesting place, certainly the most westernized of the places we will go. When we arrived we finally got to hit some weightlifting! We did a Max Effort Total of: Floor Press, Front Squat and deadlift. 15 minutes for each. I did some basic conversions to kgs and figured out about where I should be. I pr'd floor press with 150 kilos, 330lbs! Felt really good, and had a 3 second pause in the bottom. Front squat was next and I got up to my current max - 160 kilos, 353lbs. Deadlift was last and I was able to hit 240 kilos which I believe is 528lbs - either a 3lb PR or a 7lb unPR I forget. Either way lifting went very well and I had a great time at CrossFit Vienna. I got to meet Sebastian who is on the LVL1 cert staff and is currently moving location of his gym, and had a great conversation about the state of CF with him. We headed out to a local fair where I had some of the best dessert I'd ever had - a nutella, powder sugar and ice cream crepe...WOW! Second only to the bacon and bread with shredded horseradish from Munich so far. We headed back for the night and were up early for a workout in the museum district. We did an awesome partner WOD around all of these street architecture things. 100m run with a partner in four positions: fireman, piggyback, zercher, wife carry. In between we did 40 partner step-ups, 30 partner sit-ups, 10 partner back squats...my partner was 225lbs so this was no walk in the park. Great camaraderie builder for us and our most fun workout in an area so far. We were then free to hit Vienna as we saw fit, we walked through downtown and hit lunch and some shopping. Back for the night for this really cool dinner place on sand and had a beach bar and basically mimicked the tropics. Went out to a salsa bar and called it a night. Off to king Leopolds castle in the morning and then off to Prague!

Mountain Climbing & Salzberg

Our last day in Munich was bitter sweet as we had really started to enjoy Dirk and Silvi, our hosts. We headed to a castle and hit a very fun workout, got in trouble for the first time but finished up and got some scarecrows in -- a fun thing many Friendshippers will be privied to soon enough. We also made it to the Olympic village, and sprinted up an enormous hill that used to be a classic Munich feat of strength. Much of the park was created on top of rubble taken from WWII, which I thought was cool. The sprint up was rough, 150-200m, straight up, and bear crawl down!

My afternoons in Munich were spent with a 30min nap, coffee and a cross-cultural conversation with a German crossfitter...those who know me know how much I enjoyed this. We got in our bus to leave for Vienna, but we found out the night before it would be interrupted by a day in Salzberg. Salzberg is known around here for bein one of the most beautiful places in all of Europe. We began our day with a hike up a mountain...now they say this normally takes between 3 and 6 hours. There are trails and paths, many ways to the top. However that is clearly no way for a CF'er. How does 47 minutes for the fastest of us sound? We literally went straight up the face, off path for a large chunk of the time, and basically the steepest incline you can walk up. It was hard, breathtaking (literally and figuratively), and awesome. I finished in 1.27 and noticed a large gap in my training... Or was made re-aware. I enjoyed the experience and the town of Salzberg was amazing. Small, alp town exactly as you imagine it, romantic, classic, cool. We shopped a bit and saw the city stronghold castle where we hit our morning workout (quite an odd place to do it I assure you). The next morning we were off early for Vienna! More to update soon!

Acrobats, concentration camps, virility

Yesterday was absolutely jam packed with awesome. We started the day by heading out to a local river in their "Central Park" - the biggest intercity park in all of Europe. Water was supposed to be very cold, and the river is said to give men virility and be a sign of manliness. My guess is this is mostly due to the extremely strong current that it has. Luckily the water levels, like everywhere are low, so it was managable, we even had the advantage of being just south of the dam...fun stuff. We then hit breakfast in the park (the second breakfast thanks to our amazing hosts, Dirk and Silvia (ex-volleyballing Crossfitters here, who have been nothing short of amazing, I hope to send them a nice gift when I get home). I had to get semi-adventurous with veal sausage links for breakfast, that were a solid fist size a piece. Just like everything in Germany it was pair with a soft-pretzel and beer. We moved back and caught a train to Duchau, the first concentration camp...which was sobering but also gave you a good sense of American pride reading the liberation stuff. It was enormous...like blew my mind how large it was.

Got back around 5 and sat with Dirk for a nice 2 hour conversation on everything from Germany's disappointing Olympics to why "Off The Charts" is a sweet saying. Then the night began...we hit an authentic dinner and all the Germans wore their traditional Oktoberfest type garb....so cool. They have designators on their clothes to show if you're single, dating, in love, or widowed. Pretty sweet (and crazy expensive!). Took dinner straight to the theatre...which I cannot begin to do justice...many had seen circ-de-solei and said it didn't compare...impressive acrobatics to say the least, balance feats, juggler types, and comedy (which of course we didn't get). We then hit a university bar after being denied getting into P1 (the local "Hollywood" celebrity scene)

Partied into the night pretty well, got back, hit some Z's and here I am on the patio with some coffee ready for a day of workouts! Olympic park and more today...

Oh and forgot I introduced everyone to Quarters...and I one hit Doug, one of the guys who let me demonstrate on him...#StillGotIt

Roof weightlifting

Met the group today and did a walk around downtown Munich! Saw a shrine to Michael Jackson, which as Americans we naturally thought was kind of funny/weird...then the two women taking care of the shrine got very serious with us. Interesting to read the notes about him, and how loved he is here still. We moved on to a sweet little diner, had some kraut for the first time, a schnitzel and meatloaf -- German food is just meat and potatoes, not too bad. We hit our first workout in the middle of an awesome square in the center of town /hundreds of people watching. Simple team workout to warm everyone just getting off planes and trains to loosen up. 50m walking lunge, broad jumps, inch worm push-ups, crab crawl (back/forward). Set as a relay race. Then we moved back to the gym, which overlooks downtown munich on a 10 story roof. Hit this:
10min Amrap: (4 rounds + 2 flights)
10 story stair climb/descent
5min rest
10min Amrap: (8 rounds)
10 DL @225
Bear crawl 50 ft
5min rest
10m Amrap: 7 rounds
3 MU
15 KBS @ 53

Pretty good, certainly what I needed, now back to a local German's house for food and sleep!
People are of course awesome, pumped for the next 9 days!

Long travel days

After 29 hours of planes, trains, walking, and more sitting than I care to do in a year...I have my bed. I had planned to stick through the first night and exhaust myself as much as could, small naps here and there, to get on the time zone schedule. Due to a woman's neglect of Her child (that I'm currently being chastised for calling out on Facebook (though not my best tact in hindsight) so I'll leave the details at that) I am more sleep deprived than I had planned originally. So here I am, enjoying a beautiful restaurant with no one here who speaks English, enjoying an amazing pizza and beer, getting asked funny foreigner questions ("how do you say 'Bon apeitite' in english?"....uh we just say that?) --my saving grace for today was the Dublin Aer Lingus frequent flyer club...I had my own personal bathroom, free espresso and coffee, free food and wifi plus chargers! It was a travelers dream! Some pics below

Airports n' stuff

Sitting in the airport uncomfortably early, counting my blessings and amazed at how much can happen in a year. Last May Jay, Tom, Grant and I were sitting around trying to figure out how to keep our dream of training without being hassled alive. 15 months later we are leading an amazing group of CrossFitters down an exciting path. It is because of the success of our path that I have allowed myself to take more chances, spend more on experiences rather than save for later. I have gained a trust and faith in the CF community, so much so that I am not nervous in the least to get the chance to meet an awesome group of like-minded-Koolaid-drinkers halfway around the world for half a years salary.

Sometimes we let ourselves stick into a routine and a shell too long. I have never grasped the concept of working hard without playing equally or more hard. Playing for me differs than with others I guess...in that some read the "play hard" as drinking and partying with frequency. I have had more fun, more positive experiences, remembered them better and with far fewer consequences since I have stopped drinking (or over-drinking) and in half the time. I will likely be one of the few Americans in Europe who won't get blitzed a few times. But a belief in self-discipline and devotion to being a better person than I once was is more important to me and my values than anything. My pit stains are already half way to my waist (starbucks x airport "air" =disaster), and I'm looking forward to 24 hours of flying and layovers. I got recognized in the security line by an all-lululemon wearing couple, my first celebrity sighting...we discussed how awesome these new shorts are (guy was wearing the same ones), which is funny cuz the shorts caused me to get groped real solid by the TSA guy (triple pockets). The perfect situation for a soft moan #OpportunityMissed

Leaving for Europe!

Packing up, downloading useful Europe Apps (Fantasy Football, WiFi messengers, this...) and testing them. Realized that I pack freakishly light which always leads you into a "Forgot something" panic. Testing pics on this with one of the Winstigator

Some current PR updates:
Snatch 220
Clean - 300
Jerk - 300
C&J - 295
King Kong - 3.49
Games RC/C&J WoD: 6.08
Nasty Girls: 6.59
Fran - 2.40
Front Squat - 325 x 3

Lots of HS walk PRs...consistently able to hit 40ft unbroken in metcons and ~70ft (length of the gym) unbroken in skill practice.

Tuesday - May 15, 2012
Day after Regionals ends -- 4-5 week Oly/Gymnastics cycle begins.

Oly-
Snatch - 170 x 3 x 2, 170 x 2
Power Clean - 225 x 3 x 3, 205 x 3 x 4
Jerk -- 225 x 3, 225 x 2 x 2
FS - 270 x 3, 290 x 2, 270 x 3 x 3, 270 x 2
Romanian Pull - 225 x 3 x 4
Snatch Grip Strict Press - 5 x 5 @ 75lbs
Weighted GHR Sit-Ups --70lbs x 6 x 3


Wednesday - May 16, 2012
 Gymanstics
Ring Complex x 6 -- Kipping MU, Ring Dip, Slow Negative, FG Pull-Up (CTB), Skin the Cat


MetCon:
7 Rounds:
50 DU
Max Set HSPU (Strict)
9, 7, 7, 6, 7, 6, 4 -- 46 Total