I smoke Derek but forget to watch Lori

Have you ever been so sure of yourself that you forget a tiny detail?

In this case I was so busy trying to kick Derek's ass that Lori beat my time.

Let me explain.

Today was a tailor-made workout for me. All upper body.

Push presses for strength then 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2 reps of upside down pushups superset with pullups.

I laughed because I can do upside down pushups better than anyone at the gym (yes, even better than Bumper, I think) and I've gotten my Kipping pullups to the point where 10 doesn't hurt at all.

That and Derek has a gimp shoulder so there's no way he's blasting past this workout.

Anyway, I'm ready to rock. I throw down a max of 155 for the shoulder press and start salivating at the thought of blowing past everyone.

So we start the clock and of course I finish the 10 upside down pushups first, hit the 10 pullups and see that some people are still on their first set of upsidedown PU. Easy money right?

Well apparently I forgot that Lori does pullups about as fast as a hummingbird flaps its wings. Mainly because she's got these short powerful arms which just pumps her up and down super quick.

I didn't realize that even though I was beating her on the UDPU's (upside down pushups) she was ripping past me on the pullups. I heard her yell "TIME!" and I was like, DAMN IT. I think I ended up being 20 or 30 seconds behind her.

Ah well. That's what I get for being overconfident.

Anyway, this all upper body workout evens me out for the week since we had an all lower body workout on Wednesday. We did back squats then five rounds of 20 box jumps and as many air squats as you can squeak out in the remaining time.

C'mon, are you kidding me? It was the dumbest workout ever. Well, dumb just because I hate squats.

But Bumper made it up to me with Friday's workout. Thanks coach.

And if you want to challenge me to a upsidedown pushup contest come Monday . . . wellllll

Sure, why not.

But I'm not doing a squat contest.

Peace

Rod

Nothing to prove

Today I realized that my biggest change since starting Crossfit has nothing to do with my muscles.

It's actually my attitude.

Case in point, today my back started cramping up while doing the strength workout. Five sets of three rep hang power snatches.

Snatches are usually something I'm good at but today my body was not having it.

That's when I knew I was in trouble for the workout of the day. Fifty kettlebell swings, a 200 meter run, then 35 kb swings followed by a 400 meter run, and finishing with 20 kb swings and an 800 meter run.

 I knew my back was going to be fried, so I actually told Bumper if I could switch the workout.

See, back when I started I never would have said anything. I just would have tried to power through like an idiot.

Now I know, you're not doing your body any favors by pushing through pain.

Because thanks to Crossfit I know the difference between pain and strain.

When I strain to finish burpees or thrusters or power cleans it's a good thing.

But pushing through pain so you wreck yourself has no use in the gym.

What's the point? You prove you can take a beating? And you end up not being able to workout for the rest of the week while you recuperate.

So yeah, today's workout didn't go as planned. But I'm listening to my body now.

It's definitely a good thing.

Now if only I can stop listening to my body when there's a Red Velvet cake around, I'll be in business.

Later,

Rod

Slippah powah

Contrary to popular belief, not all slippers are created equal.

Slippers, or "thongs" as the non-local calls them, can be of various sizes, thickness, and snugness.

Today I wore my "running slippers." They were thick enough so that they cushioned my feet from the impact and tight enough that they didn't slip of my feet.

Seriously.

Okay so it wasn't on purpose. I forgot to pack my gym bag today and had to stop at K-Mart to buy some workout clothes. But I wasn't about to throw down for a cheap pair of workout shoes.

I was lucky though that I had my Island Magic Surf slippers. They are soft and comfortable and tight.

Perfect for today's workout.

First we busted out some shoulder presses and strict pullups superset style. Cranked out a max of 150 and could have gone heavier. Did reps of 8 - 8 and 4 for those strict pullups. Turned my grip around and used those biceps which was a big help.

Then we did three rounds of 10 handstand pushups and running 400 meters with a minute rest in between each round. I have no problem with handstand pushups but running with my slippers worried me small kine. I shouldn't have worried at all though, because I swear it was actually easier than running in shoes.

My feet felt lighter and it was a comfortable run for sure. Derek was in front (of course) and Rusty was right behind him. She's been kicking ass in high gear that girl. And I came in third.

A good workout, and it feels good to be back at Crossfit. I hope I can stick to my workout schedule like I used to. I want to be at the gym 4 to 5 days a week again.

This time with shoes though.

Superbowl splurging

Freakin Packers.

So I spent all day Sunday cheering for the Steelers, talking about how they come back in the second quarter all the time and lo and behold, they don't.

Whatever, I had fun. I turned like 5 people on to the Paleo margarita, which is water and lime and tequila. Lots of compliments about how clean it tasted. Of course it might have had something to do with the fact that everybody had like 5 of them each.

I tried eating healthy but my friend makes a pesto mayo that he puts on these ham sandwiches, sigh.

I need another month of strict Paleo. My stomach is getting bigger again. My pants that were getting looser are now becoming snug. I've inched back up from 186 lbs to 191.

I need to eat vegetables and steak and coconut juice. For 30 days. And I need to burn down the break room at my office while I'm at it. It's a dangerous place.

So anyway, on to the workout.

We did shoulder presses and dips superset style today, which would have been okay but because we were using both shoulder racks I couldn't put together the dipping bars today. Instead I had to do ring dips, which is significantly harder. I think I did 3, 4, and 5 reps for the three sets respectively.

Then it was time for kettle bell swings, push presses and toes to the bar for three rounds of 15, 12 and 9 sets. First round was the easiest, second round I had to concentrate to keep from messing up my push presses and by the third round my forearms were shaking.

Painful. And it's not making it easy to type this blog right now.

So with that, I'm out. Time to let these puppies rest.

Ow.

Rod

Stealing from Maui police and Paleo kryptonite

So, we have coconut juice available at the gym for $3.

If you've never had it before, it's good stuff. Like natural gatorade without the stupid colors. It is refreshing, replenishes your electrolytes and tastes light and delicious.

I had a tab at the gym but have since paid it all off (thank God for payday). Today I didn't have any cash on hand but I grabbed a can anyway because I knew I'd come in on Monday with some cash.

BUT . . . what I didn't realize was that Mistah Police Osifah had written his name on certain cans. That's right, Oran was HOARDING all the coconut juice with pulp. So I grab one and drain it and of course tattletale Kehau (aka Tehau the strongest sole chick on Maui) say, "Eh, how come your can has Oran's name written on it, CHEEHOO!"

So then Oran looks at me and says "AH HA!!!", like he just found out where Jimmy Hoffa was buried. Ah c'mon, I put money in the jar like everyone else, why does HE get to keep the pulp cans? Unless he buys it for himself and just keeps it in the fridge, which would make sense why he would be mad that his cans were disappearing. But I didn't see his name seriously. I'll go to Mana Foods and grab him more pulp juice. In the meantime though . . .

WRITE BIG LETTERS MISTAH OCIFAH. MOA EASY FOA SEE. (Keahu you suck by the way.)

Sheesh. Anyway, before that Kehau, Kats and I were deep in a discussion about Paleo weaknesses. We were all in agreement  that we were good for the most part but had some foods which were our "Kryptonite". Mine are:

 - anything with cream cheese. (Damn you whoever brought the Red Velvet cake to work and left it in the break room)

 - mac salad. I have given up pasta, bread and rice but mixing mac salad and my lau lau is something you will have to pry from my hands.

 - liquor. I dont drink that much beer anymore, but now I drink a lot of tequila because agave doesn't get stored like sugar does on your body. At least that's what the Paleo experts have told me. I could have been drunk at the time. Also after a couple of weeks of just drinking tequila I feel like moving to Mexico.

Otherwise I can eat protein and vegetables and tabasco and drink coconut juice for every freakin meal. Yessir.

Okay, all that out of the way? Good. Time to talk workouts.

Bumper is sort of like David Copperfield the magician when it comes to formulating his workouts. Just when you think the show is over, he's got another trick up his sleeve.

On Friday we did a bench/pullup combo for strength, then carried dumbells. We carried dumbells over our heads, we carried dumbells like we were carrying a suitcase, we carried dumbells over our heads and as if we were carrying suitcases. We walked out to the street carrying dumbells. It was painful.

But I did use the 50 lbs dumbell for all my workouts and didn't drop them once. Yeah bitches.

Then today we did Helen in pairs. It meant running 400 meters, doing 21 kettlebell swings, then 12 pullups, then your partner take off running while you rest until he's done with his round.

I blasted off on the first run. I've learned that even if I run slow during the first round my back gets tight no matter what so I might as well try to run for time while I'm fresh. I came back, blasted out the kettlebell swings and to my surprise, did 12 Kipping pullups with no problem.

Kats took off and I rested. It was kind of perfect because when he finished his final pullup I was refreshed and ready to go again. The second round wasn't bad at all but I finally started bogging on the pullups for the last round. Overall I was pretty happy with my results.

Been a good Saturday gang. Call me crazy but I might want a screwdriver at noon. My muslces deserve some R and R.

Adios,

Rod

Legs . . . hurt . . . hate . . . lunges

The quads are screaming tonight gang. Pain seems attached to my legs every time I stand up.

The Bumpster decided to give us 50 lunges for our Wednesday workout. First we had to clean the dumbell, then lunge with our left leg, then our right, then just to make the suffering complete we did a nice little push press before having to squat down and start all over again.

If my legs could speak to me out loud the conversation yesterday would have gone something like this:

1st rep: "Whoa, lunges?"

5th rep: "Hey man, stop that shit."

10th rep: "Are you kidding me?"

15th rep: "Do you have any idea what kind of pain we're going to be in tomorrow?"

25th rep: "HALFWAY?"

40th rep: "You jackass, if we have to do these can we at least beat Kats?"

50th rep: "Please crawl into the street so we can be hit by a car and die. I hate you."

Even if they could speak my legs would not be talking to me today.

By the way, Bumper called me out on not blogging like I used to. Yes, this is true. Shame on me.

BUT, I also said I'm writing stuff but it's not being updated right away. Seriously.

He didn't believe me but if you are on my website right now go check out the RFM site. It's out of order, starting with his Sunday, January 30th post first, then the Monday post. Tuesday and Wednesday are not visible and I saw them posted yesterday.

Check it out! Blogger is whack right now and has been for a couple of weeks. This isn't Crossfit amnesia or fatigue.

In any case I hope we work our upper body tomorrow. My legs need the rest.

Peace,

(My legs say go to hell)

Rod