Cleans!

I love the Clean. The Clean and the Deadlift are neck and neck for my two favorite lifts, I think.

This past Saturday we did max cleans 1x1x1x1x1x1x1.

My previous max was 120lbs, however, I'm pretty sure I hit this max when we still had the barbell class, which was before I lost the weight. Not certain on that.

Anyway - I got an ugly 120lbs, and decided to go for 125lbs. I missed it twice. I tried 121lbs, missed it once. Then, on my second try - got it!!

You can see one of my 125lb misses here, my 121lb miss, and then the 121 I got! I'm at the very end of the video. Please note that I only weigh 29lbs more than the weight I was moving...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMLlRjMoNZI

Chins!

Today was our last day doing chins in the Blue Room. *tear* The memories... how I will miss the swinging bars!

Before I left for 3wks in Europe back in September, my PR on chins was 18. After I got back, I got sick a couple of times and simply was not making it into the Blue Room as much - and I could see a noticeable decline in my strength. It was dissapointing, as chins had been a weak point for me and it had taken me a qhile to work up to that PR.

Our workout today was Onion Skin - max strict press (I did 50lbs), and max chins. On my first round I managed 18 chins! YAY!!! I'm finally back where I was!

I'm sure re-learning the kip on the stationary bar will be frustrating, but damnit, 20 chins, here I come!

Ah... the Deadlift... my old friend

Today we hit my favorite lift - the Deadlift (it just edges out the clean as my fav). 3x3x3x3x3

Last time we hit this work out, I got 175x3.

Now - about a year ago, I hit a max single of 200lb. I also weighed around 180lbs when I did that. Now I weigh 150lb. With the loss of weight, and less work on the deadlift, I lost my ability to get 200lbs off the ground.

Today, I got 185x3 - which was quite exciting for me - a PR! Then I decided to try 190lbs, and I ended up getting in 2 reps. Just couldn't get set up right for the 3rd one. I called it a day, and went to get my shoes on.

As I was putting them I on I thought - if I can get 190x2, there's a chance I can get 200x1!

Off my shoes went, and I ran back to the bar. With a couple of people watching, I actually managed to get the bar moving and stand up with it. It was ugly - it felt ugly, and the area around my shoulder blades is just starting to feel normal again - but damnit, I got it!

My ultimate goal with the deadlift is to be able to do a circuit with 1.5xs my bodyweight, or 225lbs. I hope we hit this workout every couple of weeks so I can build up my strength with this lift!

Met THE Coach!

Tonight was a great one for me, and many others, as I had the privilege of having dinner with Coach. That's right - Coach. Coach Glassman that is - the founder of Crossfit. I brought my friend Danny along who is relatively new to Crossfit, and at first hesitant about coming, but I convinced him and by the end of the night was happily thanking me for including him :-)

Danny and Coach:


Coach was in town to give a speech at the National War College, where Lt. Colonel Dan is a student. Wait, let me correct myself... I mean where COLONEL Dan is a student - congrats on the promotion Dan!!

Col Dan, Me, Adam:

Right before dinner, I hit the blue room for front squats 3x3x3x3x3 and hit a PR of 115lbs, which I had missed 2 weeks prior - yay!

Back to the dinner. I found Coach to be extremely warm and giving - he was so nice to everyone. Dinner felt like a family gathering. I got to tell Coach that Crossfit is the first type of physical activity that I've ever been able to stick with - he seemed quite pleased with that. I also told him that I get to hang out with the jocks now, he found that to be quite funny :-) Keturah told a quite touching story of what Crossfit has given to her, but I don't feel right sharing it here. Let's just say that it tops most stories out there :-)

Coach and Keturah:



John Welbourn of Crossfit Balboa (in Orange County, CA) was in to see Coach Glassman speak. It was really cool to meet an ex-NFL player who played for "my" team - the Eagles!

John and I:

A lot of people gave toasts, great CF stories were told - and it just felt like a night with great family and friends. Great fun and fantastic people!

Myself, Jerry Hill, and a different Danny:

Chriss, Craig, Mike:


John and Katie:

Time to Dial it In!

Well, it's been the holidays, and I've been slacking a bit. Missing class due to poor decisions in when I got to sleep, or because there was no class to go to!

For example, I intended to go to bed by 10 last night, so I could get up and hit the 6am class this morning. However, I decided to read a bit... and didn't put down my book until after midnight. Yeah - waking up 5 hours later was not so appealing to me with a full day of work ahead! I did a mini-work out in my bedroom this morning. Modified Karen - found the heaviest book I owned and basically did 150 thrusters, but with a bit of a jump at the end since I couldn't actually throw the book up in the air! I bookended that with some push-ups. Better than nothing, right?

Since today is the first day of the Zone challenge, I've decided it's really time to dial it in with that and with getting my lazy ass into the Blue Room more often! It doesn't hurt that I get to have dinner with Coach Glassman tomorrow night (and a bunch of fellow-CFitters) - I'm SO excited. Talk about inspiration!

Sorry if this is a bit rambling... still not fully awake yet!