Jumping muscle ups and young kids

This week my son is visiting for Christmas break and my brother is here visiting as well so I wanted to make sure I had enough time today to do stuff and hit the 6 a.m. class at RFM for the first time.

I half expected it to be totally empty but man, there were like six people there not including Kristi the trainer. Guess everyone felt as gross as I did after eating a bunch of crap during the holidays.

Strength today was bench, which has been scary since the pec tear last year. Everytime I want to go heavy and push it I end up freaking out and racking the weight if I feel even the slighest bit of strain on my right side. Push-ups for me thanks, but I do want to reach that goal of 20 reps of 225 so I've got to keep trying.

Then it was time for the workout, as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of: 2 muscles ups, 4 upsidedown pushups, 8 kettleball swings and a 200 meter run. For those who don't know, the muscle ups are dips on those gymnastic rings. They are hard as hell, mainly because you have to stablize yourself while dipping. Your arms shake and it's a bitch. Plus just pulling yourself up to get in position is more than half the battle. That's why I did "jumping" muscle ups today. I tried pulling myself up from a standing position but there was no freaking way. As they say, leave your ego at the door and just do what you can do. So jumping muscle ups here I come.

To add another twist to things there were two new guys at the gym this morning, a couple of young fellas who of course went out drinking last night. Still, they were in good shape, especially one of them that looked like a local surfer. They said this was their first Crossfit workout but they were in good shape to begin with and of course I was thinking that I need to at least keep up with them.

This was not the case however, the younger surfer guy was ripping through the workout and his friend was right behind him. I did well with the first three and didn't even break a sweat until the 200 meter run. Even that wasn't bad. In fact I think I need to really increase my freaking speed on that thing. I could have easily rested while doing muscle ups and USDPU and kswings. Ahhhhhh damn it.

It's going to be one of those weeks where I hit Crossfit everyday. Hopefully for the Saturday workout too. And someone please please please give me incentive to do Paleo again. I really need it.

Light weights are good, very good

So after the brutality of the burpees yesterday, Bumper decides what we need are more squats. Wonderful.

Of course, these are overhead squats which means we get to hold the bar above our head as we go up and down. Even more wonderful. Throw in some pull-ups and it's a happy day.

Wait, did I say what our reps were? 21, 15 and 9. Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaawwwww.

I didn't mess around or act macho today, not with this workout. I threw 10's on each side of the bar and that was it. To hell with that.

Everybody else went heavier. Lori, Kehau, Oran and Luke. Once again, I did not care. I was just looking to survive the workout. Ever do 21 pullups? Unassisted pullups by the way, no rubber bands to help.

Tomorrow is our last day for Crossfit this week until after Christmas. For my gift I would like to choose my own workout. Please I'd like to do four rounds of:

10 handstand pushups, 5 L pull-ups, 10 pushups and a 400 meter run.

See? No squats whatsoever. Thank you Santa.

Whether you jump forward, back or to the side, I. Hate. Burpees.

Today I had some complications before getting to the gym. Two different reporters wanted to meet with the mayor this afternoon, one at 4 and the other at 4:20 p.m. The area was Old Wailuku town which was perfect because Raw Maui Fitness was just a couple of blocks away. I parked the car at the gym and ran to the location.

Things wrapped up nicely at 5 and I ran back, a good warm-up before the workout. I shouldn't have bothered. Bumper had it all planned out. Damn him.

We started out doing stretches and all that then he had us partner up. One of us sat on the ground and stretched out our arms. The other had to jump over the outstreched arms 10 times, then reverse and go the other way. It wasn't brutal, but it was punishing.

But see, that was just the set up. We cranked out some deadlifts then it was time for the real deal, four rounds of five power cleans and jerks followed by 10 burpees which involved us jumping sideways over our weightlifting bar instead of straight up.

You folks reading this might be confused about the workout, but that part doesn't matter. What does matter is that none of us had any leg strength for burpees anymore after that stupid jump-over-your-partner's-arms routine in the warm-up. I did one burpee and felt my legs tremble during the first round and said to myself "Ah crap."

It was brutal and punishing and turned my legs limp. I looked around and saw my fellow gym members collapsing on the ground for the burpees and then barely making it over a bar only two or three inches off the ground.

The whole clean and jerk thing was nothing. I used 115 and could have probably done 20 pounds more. Sure Bumper said I reversed curled the first set of five but after that you have to do good form. There's no other way to get that much weight up underneath your chin. But whatever, that's not the painful part. I'd rather do 50 clean and jerks in a row than 10 burpees again, especially after the jumping we did beforehand.

You know, I'd better be able to block my brother's shots if we play basketball again with all this jumping that we do. I think when he visits for Christmas I might just invite him out for a game at the park. Maybe if I swat a few shots of his I'll feel motivation to jump again.

Otherwise I'm going to continue to hate burpees.

Did I say I hate Cardio? I hate front squats

Why you ask? Because you have to bend your wrists in an unnatural position.

Well, unnatural for me anyway. My wrists just don't go that far back. By the second set I was ready to toss the bar and weights through the wall. If I could have channeled my rage into strength today I would have been more powerful than the Hulk. Or Vernon Patao.

Worst. Workout. Ever.

Bumper had a theory too. Because I sit and type all day my wrists are trained to bend in the other way (although technically that's not true, it's more like a neutral position). Anyway when I bend the other way it feels like the bones will pop out of my wrists.

So so so so so so angry.

The workout was kind of easy too, if  there's such a thing as an easy workout at Raw Fitness Maui. But six minutes of 8 front squats and 8 chest to the bar pullups shouldn't have been that bad. But it was.

Sigh. Please tell me we aren't doing anything on Friday that involves backwards wrist bending. Please.

I want to rock and roll all night, and Crossfit every day

Sorry, couldn't think of a better title, but I am TIRED. Like eyes ready to shut as I type this kind of tired.

See, a friend of mine came in from Oahu this past weekend and we basically drank for three days. Most of it was a blur but I do remember karaoke and poker and live music and two girls from Switzerland and Brazil. At one point we tried to watch the movie "Inception" but by then our minds were too feeble to comprehend anything. Ugh.

Then today, five days since my last Crossfit workout, I finaly made it back to the gym. I was ready for some pain and suffering, but then a funny thing happened instead.

I did really well. Like, had the best workout ever. And the best time of anyone else working out tonight: 11:07. Our workout consisted of three rounds of running 400 meters, 10 handstand pushups and 20 box jumps. I still can't believe it actually and have been trying to come up with theories about how it happened. Here's a few:

1) Resting this weekend actually helped. Normally I'm at Crossfit at least 4 days a week, sometimes 5 if I feel crazy enough. Last week I did three then did nothing physical at all for 4 days straight. Unless you count a five minute swim in the ocean on Sunday, otherwise I rested. So maybe my muscles were ready to workout today.

2) I'm actually improving. So I know I can do handstand pushups like nobody's business but what surprised me was that I was pounding out the box jumps too. My legs weren't burning with muscle failure like they usually do and I kept going strong for all three rounds. My running still sucks but nobody's perfect.

3) Drinking alcohol for three days triggered some sort of survival instinct in my body which forced me to workout extra hard today so that I would sweat out all of the poison.

I think I'm leaning more towards the last theory. Maybe I'll repeat the process again one day to see if I was right. But not this weekend. This weekend I just want to watch Tron Legacy when it comes out and then stay home all week. Thank God.

Peace people.

Oh how I miss you Crossfit

I'm entertaining a friend from Oahu this weekend and so didn't make it to the Friday or Saturday workouts.

But I surprised myself when I actually said out loud "Damn it!" because I was checking the workouts online and my friend was like, "Dude, what's up?" It was hard to explain how I was pissed that I missed out on some handstand holds.

I love handstand holds! I love handstand pushups! Maybe I'll do 'em at home or something.

What kind of sick person am I that I actually miss workouts like some people miss their wife?

Don't get me wrong, I'm having a great time this weekend. Played poker and drank POG and vodka yesterday morning then went and heard some great live music at Charley's last night.

But Crossfit makes my day complete now. Without it I just don't feel right. Heck I even miss blogging about working out which is why I'm here writing right now.

I'll be back Monday for sure, just wanted to say how much I miss everybody.

In the meantime, Mimosas anyone?

Crossfit amnesia

Tonight my mental exhaustion during our workouts has reached a new level. I actually blacked out for a whole round.

We were supposed to do the following: run 200 meters then come back to the gym and do four rounds of 7 pendlay rows, power snatches and back squats, then run 200 meters again.

I distinctly remember running, then pounding out the first set because I was already tired. The second set was difficult and the third was backbreaking. I was grabbing a drink of water after what I thought was my third set when everybody was like, "RUN ROD RUN!!!"

I was confused at first then just took off running. In my mind I kept saying to myself, this isn't right, I didn't finish my fourth set. Hell, I don't even remember starting on it.

I got back and tried to replay the workout in my mind. It was totally bothering me. So much so that I started doing 7 rows and then 7 power snatches again and Derek and Brad were like, "WTF is wrong with you, do you want to do this all over again?" I told them I think I skipped a round and they both said no you didn't, you did four.

Bob, who was doing the round with me said he kept looking over at me and said we were at the same pace till the end but that he and I were neck and neck until the third round. I still can't remember.

I know this though. My body knows when it reaches exhaustion. Crossfit has taught my body to gauge pain and that did not seem like a four round workout. Seriously.

I guess the moral of this story is, if you can, have a partner to keep track of your rounds. I used to need a gym partner to keep me motivated, or to spot me while lifting. Now I need one to remember for me. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I can't decide.

Oh well, see you all on Friday.

So you guys know I used to be a reporter right?

I'm just pointing this out because I am a trained to notice things and know the difference between facts and observation and speculation.

That said, here are the facts from Tuesday's workout:

#1. Lori, Derek and I get to the gym for the 5 p.m. workout and see Kalaheo's truck parked across the street.

#2. During the entire time Kalaheo does not appear during the 5 p.m. workout.

Now, some observations:

#1. I was crossing the street heading to my truck when I see Kalaheo jump out of a parked car about five stalls away from me. He has no shirt on, just surf shorts and he looks somewhat guilty. He says howzit and hurries to his truck.

#2. In the car from which he came from were two girls, one of them has a towel wrapped around her and maybe a bathing suit. It looks like they came from the beach.

Finally, I shall speculate:

#1. HAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA . . . oh man, too funny.

Okay seriously, I don't know what happened but you can read for yourself what I saw. That and Uncle Rod has some advice for our studly high school aged Crossfit member.

You must learn to adopt the "these aren't the droids you are looking for" attitude in situations like those. See, even if you and the girls were just "talking" in the car it looks bad because of that face you gave me. It said, "Please don't look at me even though I am walking out of a car with no shirt and there were two girls in there with me in towels." No no no no no. Wrong.

You gotta walk out with a little strut and act like nothing happened. Maybe throw in a yawn like you're bored. A yawn is always good. Either that or get on your cell phone and start saying, "wassup" even though no one is on the other line. I can't tell you how much trouble I could have avoided if cell phones had been around when I was in high school. My mom would have been like, "Rod did you . . ." and I would have gotten that imaginary vibration and said, "Hold on, mom, let me take this . . . "

So lest I besmudge Kalaheo's sterling reputation I shall reiterate and clarify: I saw him come out of a car with two girls after skipping the 5 p.m. workout. There, that's it.

I'm sure all shall be revealed and I can't wait to hear it. Moving on . . . .

This is a fitness blog after all and I did kick some ass in today's workout so let's get started. First we warmed up by doing as many double-unders as we could in 5 minutes. Brad did more than 200, Lori did more than 100, Derek still has that shoulder problem so he doesn't count. Me, I did 31. As you can tell that's not the part I kicked ass in.

It was the second part, which was ingenious in its evil design. We had to do five rounds of 3 L pull-ups, 5 push jerks and 9 box jumps. Then you rest two minutes and REPEAT the damn five rounds over again.

Like I said, evil. And I was sure I'd suck wind after reading this workout last night. Why? Beceause if any of you rip your pectoral like I did, one of the first things you will lose is the ability to do L pull-ups. It's the way you have to pull yourself up, it relies a lot upon that chest/shoulder muscle area which is the EXACT area that you end up tearing. It sucks.

But lo and behold, it's B. Kikuchi that saves the day. He tells us we can turn our grip around and make it more of a bicep pullup. I haven't tried those in a while and when I did my biceps said, "Oh yeah." See, you don't do a lot of curls in Crossfit. It's not a necessary thing, more for bodybuilding. So my biceps have been resting for a long time, and yesterday they were ready for some action.

Anyway the clock starts and my L pullups are banging. Three is easy. Then I did the 35 lbs dumbells for the push jerks and that was easy too. So by the time I get to the box jumps I'm cruising. Which is a good thing because I hate box jumps.

Fast forward to the end of the first round and I finish first. Against Brad. I was stoked because Brad is a little machine. Then the second round Brad and I finish at the same time. I was blown out but it was cool. First is nice.

So yes, it was a good day today. And if Kalaheo is reading this I'm sorry for busting you man, but that was too funny to pass up.

Aloha gang,

Rod

Thank you Oran, now please buy me a new lower back

I just found out this week's Crossfit's workouts were all designed by Oran, our friendly neighborhood Maui police officer who enjoys torturing us. First we threw up some shoulder presses, 95, 105 and 115 all for 5 reps each. Cake. Then came a mix of 3 squat cleans and 5 pushups. Not bad right?

Well except I left out the part that we do as many rounds as we can in 10 minutes. I cranked out 10 rounds and 1 power clean. Actually I take that back, my partner Jun said I did 10 rounds. I swear I only did seven. Then it was a good thing he was counting because after the fourth round I couldn't concentrate anymore because my BACK was killing me.

Now, lest any of you reading this think that Raw Fitness Maui doesn't care about technique please stop and read the rest of my blogs. Technique means everything, they don't even let you use weights if you can't do the movement right.

So I know I'm doing the movement right, it's just my friggin back. Ever since I was a kid I've noticed something wrong with my back. I couldn't touch my toes like the other kids even when I started stretching in karate class. It got to the point where I could do a full on split sideways but still couldn't touch my toes. It sucked and still does.

Anyway, as I was driving away from class tonight it felt like there was a knife stabbing me in the back during the whole drive back to Paia. As I sit here and type it's fading away but there's something wrong about this. As much as I'd like to blame Oran I think this is something I need to take up with my doctor.

I so cannot wait for these government benefits to kick in. I'm setting up a Kaiser appointment as soon as human resources sends me my medical card. Damn straight.

Until then Oran, bring it on. BRING IT ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!

(Just please do not include any thrusters, burpees or cleans of any kind, thanks)

Crossfit confession, alcohol aversion and Kipping konversion

So I have to start today's blog off by apologizing to one of my fellow Crossfitters, Momi.

Last week Momi asked me why I looked so familiar and if I had ever been a newscaster. I played dumb.

Today she said she saw the news about me and how I was on tv and was like, why were you messing with me. I felt bad, but I really wasn't trying to screw with her.

See, everytime someone asks me if I was ever on TV I think if I say yes the next thing that crosses their mind is "Really? What the heck happened to you?"

I know, it's a problem. But over the years I've gotten a lot of weird comments like:

"Hey, didn't you used to be Rod Antone?" Um, I still am.

Or, "Do you have a younger brother named Rod Antone?" Why? Because I don't look like I'm 20 anymore?

Or they'll ask my younger brother Richard "Aren't you Rod Antone?" and I'm standing right next to him. Then my bro will say "Haha, no but he is" and everybody feels awkward. Thanks.

Or the best is I'll hand over my ID to the bouncer and he'll actually look at my friggen name and ask "Are you related to Rod Antone?" Bruddah, what, Roderic Antone and Rod Antone? Kinda the same name eh?

Anyway, you get the point. And so do I. I don't look like I did when I was on TV. Hell, that was like from 1996 to 2001, almost 10 years ago. Nobody looks like they did 10 years ago.

The trouble is people have an image of me frozen in time, from when I was 24 to 29. I know they don't mean to make me feel uncomfortable but that's what happens.

But the thing is I forget that I can make people uncomfortable too when I play dumb. So I'm really sorry Momi, I seriously did not mean for that to happen.

It's just that when I was younger I thought I would get older and look like Richard Gere did in Pretty Woman. You know, that greying hair but still looking sharp and distinguished. But I put on more than 20 pounds and my hair started thinning out. And everytime someone asks me about my TV days I wince, because it's a reminder that I aged more like K-Fed.

Thank God for Crossfit. And on that note . . .

Cindy was my woman today. For the uninformed Cindy is the name of a workout that has you do 5 pullups, 10 pushups and 15 squats for as many rounds as you can in 20 minutes. I did 12 rounds. Kristi said the Crossfit elite do 24 rounds. So since I did half of the elite workout it makes me a . . . what? Crossfit novice? Crossfit padawan? Whatever. Oh and again I didn't use the rubber bands for the pullups. In fact, I think I've finally gotten that Kipping technique down and it totally works. Fifty pullups here I come. Gonna hit that benchmark by March I guarentee.

And last night at midnight Josh and some friends celebrated the end of his Paleo by drinking. I'm so over alcohol. Unless the Swedish bikini team invites me into a hot tub and wants me to do shots I don't see the point. Or Jessica Alba. Or Megan Fox. Or Eva Mendes. Or Rosario Dawson. Or . . . anyway, you get the idea. It's a short list.

Aurite gang, thank God for the day off tomorrow. See you Friday.