Improv

Resourcefulness is the name of the game. Without a proper gym, I'm required to create workouts that I have the means to do and fulfill the crossfit ideology. I am looking forward to being creative and finding fun ways for self torture (so to speak).

Friday 8/28
Didn't have a lot of time to workout because I was lazy so I just did Tabata Push-ups

Tabata Push-ups
12-12-11-11-10-10-9-9
84 total

It's not my best showing. Luckily my future workouts are likely to hold tons of push-ups.

Sunday 8/30
A friend of mine, interested in Crossfit, took me to his gym for the day and I came up with a workout. I'm not particularly proud of it but it spiked his intrigue.

3 Rounds for time
10 DB swings 75lbs
20 Push-ups
30 Sit-ups

5:55

Only had to break the push-ups on that one.

After that we took a little break and did Squats

Back Squat 5x5

155-175-190-205-225(pr)

I would have done one more set, but my friend was ready to leave and my body was telling me that 225 was good enough for now. I think I could have done more though.

Monday 8/31
Today I ventured into the world of running in Boston. Luckily I found a nice river run that is designed specifically for just that. To make it a little interesting a stuffed a few text books in my backpack and turned it into a ruck run. Not sure of the weight but if I had to guess it would be around 20 lbs.

5 mile run with a 20 lb pack

39:12

I really kind of enjoyed this run. I never felt out of gas and was the only guy out there with a pack on. Haha. It would have been faster too but I had to stop 4 times, twice to tie my shoe and twice for a traffic light.

Here are some possible future workouts.
12 story stair run (repeats or with an exercise on each level donkey kong style)
Sprint repeats on the green
Park Bench Jumps
Oly lifts when I find a place to do them

The Waiting

Today I realize I am in the a waiting phase in my life. I'm waiting to hear back on jobs, waiting to hear back from med schools, and waiting until I have enough money to join Crossfit Boston. Hopefully this will build patience or something like that.

The above picture was taken from my apartment window overlooking downtown Boston. It's pretty cool but I prefer mountains and trees. Haha.

Today I tried the building's fitness center. I thought I had it rough in Minnesota, but this is much worse. The heaviest weight in the room is a 50lb db and there is no pull-up bar what so ever. However, I will not be deterred. I plan on going to parks to do bar work. Maybe I'll become a Bar-tenda or something like that. I'd also like to start some parkuor stuff, real primal.

WOD

50 Man makers with 50 lb dbs

11:53

I'm not sure if they were official man-makers, but I did a push up, then clean and jerks the weight. Most of them were clean thrusters. I'm not terribly pleased with that time, but it just felt weird working out with so many mirrors and in something that felt more like an office than a gym. When life gives you lemons...

Boston Crossfit Fitness Evaluation

This morning I had what people here in Boston call a 'fitness evaluation,' which for me was an explanation of my crossfit experience, a dynamic warm-up, and the Petranek Baseline. My trainer was Alex Straus. We talked shop for a bit at first while waiting for another guy to show up for the eval. I hadn't told them I was in crossfit before but that was the first thing he asked so no real surprises...until the workout. The other guy was a marine who had been doing crossfit while on tour and was picking it up for the first time in an affiliate. Our warm-up was strangely familiar (but not surprisingly so). It included knees to chest, spiderman, walking lunges with a twist, skips, high kicks, and such very similar to Omaha. We then moved on to the workout and went over rom requirements. I was able to learn a few new things about rowing, but everything else was standard except sit-ups were done with the soles of the feet together and knees spread out. Not too bad though. Finally we got on with it.

My row time was 1:37.5 and I did all sets unbroken.

WOD
Petranek Baseline
500m row
40 Squats
30 Sit-ups
20 Push-ups
10 Pull-ups

3:51

I was pretty surprised when I heard the time and I think they were too. That puts me in the elite category for the baseline and a 24 second pr from last May! Unfortunately I don't have the money to feed the addiction so I'm going to refer people like mad and as soon as I get a job I'm going to sign up and show them what CFO training can do!

Boston

After a summer of planning and hard work, I have finally arrived in Boston ready for another year. It took two days of solid driving totaling 25 hours and 1470 miles. Naturally I drove it for time. Also I cut across Canada, stopping in North Bay for the night, and spent most of my time converting kilometers to miles. It was a scenic route and better than taking the interstate through Chicago. But now I am officially in Boston and am beginning to adapt here. Yesterday a friend of mine took me out on a boat and we cruised the Charles and drove out to Hingham Harbor where we met another friend. It was a great way to be introduced to Boston and the surrounding area. Last night I moved into my new place and finished unpacking this morning. Later today I will go explore the surrounding area (for those interested here is where I live). I have already registered for a fitness assessment at Crossfit Boston and hope to get that underway soon.

Before I left Hibbing I did one last workout with my friend Trevor. Since he wouldn't have the chance for a team wod for a while, we did "Cheif-ette," the same workout from the superclass when the commercial was shot. Last time my partner was Zachr and we each got 15 total rounds. This time Trevor got 14 rounds and I got 16 so we still totalled 30 rounds we just gt there differently. I can;t wait to get back in the swing of things. My diet has been poor (well I actually haven't been eating a lot and am going to get food right now in fact). Cheers!

Post Camping

Well, I'm out of the woods and back into the world of Internet and cell phone service. I must admit, it's been nice escaping the 'real' world for a while to relax and recalibrate the machinery. Now that I'm back things will start moving very quickly once again. This Friday I will begin the two day trek out to Boston. I'm contemplating taking the King's Highway route through Canada just because I have time and that might be a cool drive. Once I get to Boston I'm not sure what I'll do really. I've got two job interviews set up but they are a month apart, also I'm waiting to hear back from a phone interview I had last Thursday to see if they want to meet face to face. I did find a place to live in downtown Boston where I won't have to pay rent until I get a job, so I really lucked out. Hopefully jobs will pick up soon and I can get to work making moolah because then I can join Crossfit Boston and get back at it. This summer, although a great time to spend the word about Crossfit, has not been the best training-wise. My diet has been mediocre at best and my workouts have been limited and sporadic. But that's life and if nothing else I'll move to the woods and start lifting trees and rocks while living off the land. Haha. Anywho, here's what I've been up to.

Camping WOD
~2 mile run through the campground.
Time: Unknown but I was the fastest of 4 relatively fit individuals by a large margin

Today's WOD
4 Rounds
10 225lb DL
15 Burpees
(run down stairs and dodge the elderly)
200m run

12:39

Today's workout was great, a nice hard workout that keeps you moving. I was able not to stop once or break any sets. Overall I felt pretty good about it but the run could have been faster. Also, I did this at the tail end of an 18 hour fast. Fun stuff.

Precamping

Just a quick one today since I'm hitting the road for a weekend of camping in Wisconsin.

WOD
5 rounds for time
15 Push Press 65lbs
15 K2E
15 Squats

8:08

Since today was my brother's last day up north I let him pick the workout. It wasn't too bad, I just need to work on k2e. Later!

Just another day

WOD
10 rounds for time
8 DL 185 lbs
10 bar push-ups
12 ankles to bar

21:17

I let my brother pick the workout today and this is what he chose. DL and push-ups were easy, but the ankles to bar were tough. I'm still getting used to knees to elbows and motions like that. Those are what slowed the workout. Yesterday I read all the articles posted on the Games sites about Mikko and have made a goal of becoming tougher mentally. It sounds like he was almost unfazed by the reps that didn't count and just kept pushing. I've found that trait in some of my Scandinavian friends and wonder if it's just part of their culture. I would also like to up my training, but that may be easier said than done.

A funny story from the Williams Brothers

My brother, Jay, and I have been doing crossfit as best we can all summer. I must say he has come a long way. For example, he did today's WOD rx'd only a few minutes slower than me, but be started the summer not being able to do most wods rx'd. Anyway, this story takes place on our way home from the gym one day. As you can assume we were quite alert and our minds and bodies were functioning to their fullest. It was a tough wod that day and we all know what that feels like. As we causally drove home we began threatening each other in a way only brothers can do..."I'm going to crash this car into an embankment!" "I'm going to shove a peach pit in your nose!" "Well I'm going to punch you right in the ear!" Creative yet ominous these one uppers continued. As I said we were sharp as a tack during the drive and since my brother never mumbles he was able to dispense understandable insults as quick as than a frozen trout, quicker in fact. But from a fluke or perhaps some swamp gas reflecting the light from Venus, he stuttered out something illegible. What he said was, "well you'd better look up the definition of an ass beating!" But what I heard was, "mumble, mumble, mumble...ass beavers!" Shocked that I had never heard of these interesting mammals before I asked, "what's an ass beaver?" We began to expound on the nature of the beast and from where it originates. Finally we concluded that these 'ass beavers' if you will, live in your large intestine and regulate you digestion. At times they build dams resulting in, well I'm sure you can guess. Nevertheless we were able to not only discover a new species that day, but also drop a knowledge bomb on the medical world! Since then we have discovered various other beavers that harm you in various ways. Anyways, thought you might enjoy some of the random truth we have up north. Take care and watch out for those ass beavers!

Everywhere

I mush say it is hard keeping up with workouts while traveling. At Lake Powell, I kept active, swimming, tubing, water skiing, hiking, climbing, and so on just about every day, but after taking a break like that from Crossfit coming back hurts.

Here is my first one back
WOD
5 Rounds for time
10 Back Squats 175 lbs
10 DB swings 75lbs

Just under 9:30

My friend and I were sharing a bar so I got a decent chunk of rest after each round as he did his squats. I was able to not have to break up any of the sets of squats, but there came a point where I couldn't swing the db high enough to count it. This was a tough one. That day and the following I spent hobbling around loading and unloading a uhaul for me folks. After two days of painful rest (didn't have time to workout) I returned to the gym to do a modified Jackie.

WOD
Mod Jackie
100 SDHP 45lbs
50 Thrusters 45lbs
30 Pull-ups

6:45

This was felt pretty easy and I probably should have pushed it harder. Hopefully next time I'll have a rower. I'll try and get another 2 or 3 wods in before I leave for camping this weekend. Maybe I'll even do something there (but probably not).