Redemption Song or F-U Kona Red

So today I have a good idea of why I almost collapsed and passed out on Tuesday.

See, on Tuesday I drank me a bottle of some Kona Red.

What is that you may ask? Well, despite the fact that it's called KONA Red it's actually a drink they make right here on Maui. Somebody figured out that you can take the red fruit from the coffee bean bush and actually do something with it.

Supposedly it has more antioxidants than blueberries and acai berries but it also has a kick like a Red Bull.

I don't drink coffee or even Coke or Pepsi or anything else besides water and coconut juice (alcoholic beverages are different of course) but someone left a pack of Kona Red in the office and offered it to everyone so I took a bottle.

The stupid thing was I drank it late in the day, around 3 p.m. or something. By the time I got to the gym I was feeling sort of weird. I just thought I was excited to make it to a workout finally.

Anyway, like I said during the last post I did the first round of double unders and my frickin heart was pounding and it felt like all my blood was flowing away from my brain. 

At first I thought I might have to do something drastic, like stop drinking beer. (Shiver)

Then today I was in the office and saw the Kona Red box and thought, waitaminute, that might have had something to do with it.

I knew I'd know for sure today because we had to deal with Annie, which was 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 reps of double unders and sit ups. 

If I almost died from doing just 20 DU's then I wouldn't last long today. 

So we start, and I start killing the DU's. 

I mean, not as fast or as quick as D.Meyer or Ikaika or anything, who were both BLAZIN through the first 50 DU's but I wasn't slow either. I got stuck around 30 but pounded out the next 20 pretty easy.

The sit-ups sucked though but that's okay, because I kept ripping the DU's. It was nice to have Kristi reaffirm that I was doing well with her "YEAH ROD!!!" cheers everytime I got up there.

I finally got to the last 10 reps and copied a move that Tehau did earlier, where she flung her jump rope across the room. Freaking redemption today man, I was tired but happy.

All I gotta say is I'm NEVER DRINKING KONA RED AGAIN . . . I mean, as someone who totally supports small business as the solution to bringing back the economy (for example, RFM) and I'm very impressed that these guys found a use for a fruit that was being thrown away by the ton by the coffee industry . . . this stuff and my body do not mix. At all.

By the way, good to see braddah Josh Lindsey in the RFM gym once more. I brought Josh to RFM back in 2010 and he was killing it, but then started working construction in Lahaina and couldn't make the workouts anymore. Today he was yelling at me and pushing me like old times and it was a good thing because those sit-ups were tough. 

Wow, never thought I'd ever say that sit-ups were tougher than double-unders but there you go. They were. 

You know what? For the first time I didn't look at anyone's time except for me. I know I finished at 10:29 but I can't tell you what Derek or Ikaika or anyone else did. 

And you know what, I don't care. It's good to be back. Been a good year so far and it's only getting better. 

As for Annie, she's my biyotch. Who's next?

Later kids,

Rod

Epic fail and Kehau has the same birthday as my grandma

First off, happy birthday to Kehau, aka Tehau, the strongest Samoan/Tongan hybrid woman on Maui.

She turned the big 30 today as my grandma turned 83. Slight age difference between the two.

We had a birthday party this past weekend for Kehau, during which we celebrated only as RFMer's should.

We did WOD's. Well, not me. I was drinking. But her husband Frank and Ikaika were all over it.

By the way, the WOD was ridiculous. It was the "do as many burpees as you can in 7 minutes or until you die" WOD. Here are the guys in action on Saturday:

Yeah, sorta kinda nuts.

In any case I did NOT do this WOD. In fact I haven't been doing any WOD's lately, hardly ever. Combination of stupid after work meetings and more stupid meetings.

Then yesterday I tried to workout, I was excited even. We had this cool WOD upon the board that had like 8 different movements. First was box jumps and push-ups then pull-ups and double unders followed by kettlebell swings and the 100 meter dash. Fun stuff.

Started out well too. Derek did four rounds and I was right behind him and with 3 rounds and 6 reps.

But then I started really SUCKING at the pull-ups like I've never sucked before. And my double unders were there the first round, I went really fast and again I had a witness, Kristi this time.

After that though, I was out of gas. I started feeling dizzy like I just gave blood or something and when the round was over I laid down and couldn't get back up to do the KB swings.

What the hell man? My back was still in one piece and this was a good mix of movements, some upper body and some lower, perfect for me or so I thought.  What the hell happened?

Whatever the case I think I need to get a little more regular about my training. And start eating well again. My body cries out for another round of Paleo and I need it to train for the Warrior Dash.

Seriously, because today sucked.

Here's something that does not suck though, my buddy Josh is back at the gym.

Josh started coming to RFM about two years ago then dropped out after about a month and a half. He just had a lot of things going on but I knew he'd be back one day.

Good to have you back bro, hope you start reading the blog again.

Okay folks, tomorrow is another workout. Let's hope I don't almost pass out again.

Rod

Power cleans are weird and how box jumps can kill you

Had a hell of a workout on Wednesday.

First we started out with power cleans.

Something really really really weird happened while I was doing them.

I think I may have actually gotten the movement right.

But if it is right then it feels so wrong.

Let me explain. So I guess the way you're supposed to do a power clean is pull it up from the floor to your waist and then explode up with a jump.

I always jump too early because it feels weird to not pull. It's like you are forcing your body not to lift weights while you're getting ready to lift weights.

That doesn't make sense, I know. Anyway.

And if you do it right, the bar just flips over and pow, it's on your shoulders. You don't feel like you used your muscles at all sorta.

And that feels wrong too.

Power cleans are weird but I got up to 195 yesterday. It was ugly but I did it. Guess I gotta go for 200 next time.

Really not looking forward to that.

And then . . . came the WOD.

Thrusters then box jumps for rounds of 21, 15 and 9 reps.

Bruce, Kats and I all used 95 pounds as our weight, which we all knew would suck. Bump suggested we all use the 24 inch boxes for our jumps too.

So the clock starts and we start thrusting. The first 10 go surprisingly well and even though I started bogging a little I hit all 21 reps without resting.

But then I tried to jump. Holy crap I almost killed myself. My legs barely made it to the top of the box.

I was like no way, what the hell. I jumped again and again barely made it to the top. I made one more jump and then Bump came with the smaller box for me to use. Either he sensed the danger or got tired of me saying "No effin way brah, this ain't happening."

That was round one. The second round was worse, much worse. I broke up the reps into groups of five so I  could rest 3 times while completing 15 reps. Jumping almost as bad.

The last 9 reps were terrible, I think I could only do two thrusters at a time. The jumps seemed to last forever and I thought it would never end.

Of course after the WOD we had the cashout to do. Grab dumbbells and hold one high and the other low and walk for the fence about 100 yards away. I grabbed 25 pound weights. Yeah I was being a wuss but I DON'T CARE . . . at least not at that point I didn't.

Thrusters man, I hate 'em and I'm tired of being a wuss when it comes to squat workouts. I'm going to have to get serious about improving my leg strength because I can't just continue on like this where I push myself during upper body and just get by during lower body workout days.

Not. Happenen.

Late,

Rod

Fast and furious

This Saturday I missed a good workout. Hand-stand push-ups, dips and push ups.

An all upper body workout, FINALLY. And I don't go.

Great.

But then today I checked and saw another workout that I might be good at. Push presses, sit ups and lunges. Three rounds.

Okay, not bad. The reps were 10 push presses, 20 sit-ups and 30 lunges (15 on each side).

I'm thinking, can do, can do.

Of course I look around during the 5 p.m. class and the big three were there: Ikaika, Derek and Marcus.

And Bruce. I didn't mean to overlook Bruce but he wasn't doing too well.

In fact, he was sick, still getting over some bug or something. Most normal people would stay home but not Bruce of course.

Kehau was sick and she stayed home, and she was one of our coaches. But Bruce . . . you know, I just realized he's got the same name as the guy who turns into the Hulk, Bruce Banner.

Fitting.

Anyway, we're setting up for the workout and Bruce tells me, "Eh Rod we go do the same weight we did last week for push-press."

What? Last week was 60 percent of our one rep max, which is 135. This week it's supposed to be 50 percent, or about 110.

Nah, Bruce said. "We go try 'em. We can die together."

Say what? I thought this guy was supposed to be sick? Kristi even came up to me (nice to have her back by the way) and said, "Ok Rod, pay attention to Bruce during the WOD. He looks kinda pale . . ."

Oh yeah? Try tell him that.

So I notice Marcus and Ikaika also loading up the 45 pound plates and so I'm guessing it's on. We break up into two rounds and Bruce takes the first one.

The timer starts and I know he's bogging because he's actually having a hard time with the weight, and it's only the first round.

And this is Bruce mind you. He throws up 135 above his head like kids eat candy after trick-or-treating.

Anyway he goes for it and I'm watching to make sure he doesn't puke. But the guy powers through and even managed to do some jumping lunges during the last round, which was pretty impressive.

Then it was my turn. The round starts and I THINK I got through my push presses first. I'm pretty sure I did anyway.

I start ripping on the sit-ups but I see guys finishing before me. Then I really lose any momentum I had during  lunges.

Second and third rounds go about the same and I finish at about 6:14 I think. Not bad but my legs were toasted. I had a hard time walking afterwards.

Then we had to do three sets of 10 roll-outs to finish ourselves off. These frickin cash-outs are exactly that. They cash your ass OUT.

OH WAIT, I ALMOST FORGOT!!!

Hahahahahaha . . . guess who wants to run the Warrior Dash with us?

My little brother. Ha!

He lives on Oahu and when I told him we had an extra space for the 10:30 a.m. heat he said he was in.

Now, my brother was quite the athlete in high school: football, basketball and track.

He still runs a lot playing pick-up games, but that's about it.

We'll see how he does at Warrior Dash. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!

See you at the box folks,

Rod

My favorite place

It occurred to me as I was lying down on the floor of the RFM gym after yesterday's workout that I'm never as happy as I am when the workout is done and I'm lying down on the floor, drenched in my own sweat.

It's a wonderful feeling of euphoria as I stare at the ceiling and realized yesterday that, "Wow, I love this floor."

Especially after 8 rounds of back to back leg burners. Goblet squats and mountain climbers.

I don't know what it is. Maybe I just don't have the leg strength. Maybe my cardio sucks even worse than I think it does.

Or maybe I just don't have a tolerance for pain in my quads and hamstrings.

I don't know what it is but I only scored 130 reps on yesterday's workout. I got burned out so fast it wasn't funny.

I know Bump is all, "just go all out" and I do. Then I get tired and my legs don't work.

I tried, for real. Wish I had Bruce's will power. You know that part in Rocky IV when the Ivan Drago remarks how hard it is to knock Stallone out?

"He is not human, he is like a piece of iron."

That's the quote I think of when I see Bruce powering it out during the WOD. Braddah is nuts.

So, here's to becoming a piece of iron.

In other news . . . had fun lifting barbell turkish get-ups yesterday with Marcus. Damn kid wouldn't give up.

Thanks for pushing but till we hit 85 pounds. That sucked.

And thanks to Erin H. for my six pack of Primo! Aurite.

Laters,

Rod

Partners

Friday and Saturday's workouts were interesting, if only because both workouts we were paired up with another person.

This accomplishes two things. First, you have someone to push you and count reps for you. Second is that you actually get to rest for a little while while they're doing their round.

Friday my partner was Kehau. We were doing five handstand pushups, 10 situps and 20 double unders. She got lots of rest because my double unders once again  SUCKED. Thank God Derek and Bump have actually seen my consecutive DU's before because even I'm not believing that I ever did that.

Anyway, Kehau is ripping like she always does. Small kine struggling in the later rounds on HSPU but who the hell wasn't bogging by then? I finally get some decent DU's in the middle rounds then lose them again later.

In the end we had a pretty decent score. Thanks Sole girl.

Then today we did a special workout for Alex, who turned 17 today. Twelve box jumps, 6 thrusters and 6 burpees. My partner was Brent. He's a newbie but no slouch. First time doing thrusters and he was a champ. We were both barely able to jump during the burpees though.

We managed to push each other too but I was also trying to get him to rest so that I could rest too. I was saying stuff to him during his round like:

"No worries Brent, take your time."

"Slow and steady, that's how you do it."

"Catch your breath, no worries."

"STOP MOVING!!!"

Okay, I didn't say that last one but I kinda wanted to. Nah, today wasn't that bad.

In other news: I gots some new shoes.

They were about $55 at Foot Locker. Saucony Hattori's. Check it out except I  got red ones:

Pretty sweet and they're light too. Super light. But they hurt like hell if I miss a double under and whip my toes. 

Alsooooooooooooo . . . I brought the Nikon to the gym because I was tired of getting blurry images because the shutter speed isn't fast enough to catch motion. Anyway, let's see how they turned out: