Dear Shoulder, I Miss You. Love, Rod

Ahhhh . . . I knew it was going to happen one day.

I was making some good gains and getting super strong in my shoulders over the last year, I kinda knew something was going to happen.

Not that anything tore or popped, but I have a theory.

See, my right shoulder has been having to do things that my left doesn't, because of the pec tear on my right side.

I can feel it working harder, especially these last two years at RFM, and I think it finally said, "Bro, serious? I need a freakin rest."

Even Kristi saw it yesterday, my pull-ups were so lopsided that she set up the elevated ring rows station for me instead for the WOD. Good call Kristi.

The workout was a 400 meter run, 21 kettlebell swings and 12 pull-ups, or, as the WOD is also known, Helen.

But along with my shoulder my back was fried from doing heavy deadlifts so I replaced the run with the stationary bike.

I hadn't done such a scaled down workout in a while but you gotta listen to your body folks. Ego at the door means shoulder and back happy.

Still got a good workout although that stationary bike kicks my ass. Two minutes on that thing is tough, I think I would rather have ran but it's better for my lower back.

Anyway, the shoulder rehab is ongoing, to be continued . . .

In other news, Freddy Camacho Man Savage at CrossfitOneWorld had an interesting post recently about the people who walk into the Crossfit gym and walk out. Maybe after one workout, maybe after a week or a month but eventually they leave.

Me, I can't understand why. Sure it's tough but I can't imagine my life without it. So much so that I actually started to feel guilty because technically I was breaking one of the 10 Commandments. Yes, those ones that Moses brought down from the mountaintop. The 2nd Commandment in particular which is, "Thou shalt not have any gods before me."

See, I don't attend church regularly anymore but I get freaked out if I miss an RFM workout. In Catholic school (yes I attended private school for a little while) we learned that the 2nd Commandment wasn't just talking about actual "gods" per se but other things that you worship. Like how some people worship their car, or their house, or their job or . . . their gym.

Also this gives more credibility to the whole Beezlebump idea . . . then again he doesn't have classes on Sunday morning so there's no direct competition . . . hmmmm . . .

Whatever, I'm getting waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off tangent here. Back to Freddy's post.

So we've had a lot of people come and go at RFM but the people that stick in my mind didn't leave because they didn't like it. They liked it but just couldn't stay. Let's go through the list:

Tehau, Maui's former strongest Samoan/Tongan female, left because she inherited a gym upcountry. I think it's all a cover-up though. Secretly she's training in the cane fields to retake her title and she doesn't want anyone to steal her techniques. That's okay, you go get 'em Tehau, CHEEEEEEEEEEEHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Braddah Derek Meyers, left for a better job in Oregon. I miss getting mad at his jackrabbit bouncing, long distance sprinting, loudmouthed ass. Although now that I have a gimp shoulder I regret teasing him about his.

The big O, Coach Oran. He coached for as long as he could despite having some serious scheduling changes with his job at MPD. Finally had to leave because Josh Lindsey joined the gym and Oran was going to arrest him but . . .

Josh escaped and left for parts unknown. Too bad because he really liked RFM and the Crossfit WOD's. I hear he's checking out the Crossfit gyms in Mexico now.

There's a whole bunch of other people who have come and gone that I don't have pictures for. Like Brad, who set up his own gym in his house, and Patty and Heidi, who work out in the cane fields with Tehau upcountry.

Anyway we miss all of you guys, at least drop in and see us sometime for a WOD or two.

Until next time gang,

Rod

Having Some Technical Difficulties

After having some pretty good strength gains in my shoulders for months, something finally gave way recently.

Not sure what happened but it's been hard for me to raise my hand above my head, much less lift a weight. I had a hard time just combing my hair this morning damn it.

Yesterday Professor Beezlebump gave me some stretches to do and they actually worked. Didn't totally cure it but I could raise my hand higher afterwards.

The problem is I didn't take notice as to when the pain started.

So here's some helpful advice for all you RFM peeps, Crossfitters in general or just people that workout on a regular basis.

If you can, write it in your notebook the time and place you notice any body pain and what workout or event it was that came before. Might make things easier for your physical therapist when it comes to diagnosing your ills.

As it is I might have to do those ring rows for a bit until my shoulder comes back. That's not a problem, I like ring rows. It's a good stretch and a good workout, they feel pretty good.

Today we do snatches for our strength, heavy snatches. Not sure if I can do them, might have to switch to something else.

Getting old sucks gang, but at least with RFM the aging comes with increases of strength and cardio. Hate to be getting older AND weaker. That would suck.

Coolio,

Rod

Return of the "Other Guy"

Sorry for the lack of posts people. A lot of work, some play and much joy now that my son is here for the summer.

In the meantime a lot has happened in the I Hate Cardio fitness world. But first I have to talk about the most recent public appearance of this guy:

Yup, that's me like about 12 years ago. Some of my former co-workers at Hawaii News Now thought it would be amusing to flash an old news photo of me instead of what I currently look like for a phone interview I did.

You know, there was a time when I would have dreaded seeing that photo. I would have thought stuff like, "Man I wish I was still that skinny" or "look at that, a full head of hair and no chin fat."

But now I look at him and think, "This guy looks like Ralph Macchio's weak sister or a member of Menudo."

I don't miss the younger me. Ok maybe I miss the hair a little bit.

But I'm in better shape than ever before (if you minus the back pain and torn pectoral of course) and I feel pretty good about that.

I mean, back in 1998, 1999 I was going out a LOT and drinking a LOT and . . . doing all kinds of stuff I probably shouldn't have been doing. I had a 24/Hour Fitness membership as did the rest of Honolulu but I think I might have been going twice or three times a week.

I remember I forced myself to swim and run during my days off of lifting and that helped me stave off the love handles for a little while, but eventually that stuff all catches up to you when you get older.

And I really wish I had discovered Crossfit back then, I can't even tell you how much it would have changed my life for the better.

But as it is it's working out. My legs are a work in progress but my shoulders are at an all time high when it comes to strength. I cranked out push presses of 115 like it was nothing on Monday during the WOD. It was 12 push presses, 25 situps and 10 burpees. The sit-ups and burpees were tough but I managed to catch up a lot during the PP's. Got a good time that day too. Ahem, not going to mention who I beat but his name starts with I and ends with Kaika.

Hey, just sayin.

My brother even said I have reached "Murph" status.

I think the word Murf or Murph is a Maui thing because I told my friends on Oahu about it and they were clueless. Anyway it means big dude, like the kind that has no neck.

My brother said I was a Murph now. This was after I punched him in the chest for changing my Facebook status while I was still logged in.

He went down hard and was pretty pissed off. I said sorry but was kinda snickering inside.

See, that's what you get when one brother Olympic weightlifts and the other is on a Vegan diet.

Seriously. He is. He's losing weight though, something I would like the do. Hence the Paleo diet. Sorta. Had some pasta today damn it.

Okay, just gotta get serious. The workouts are coming along nicely and I'd like to have my eating habits in check as well. The 30 Day Paleo Challenge begins NOW.

Or, tomorrow, after I meet with Kehau and Shauna for drinks.

Hey, it's an important RFM event related meeting.

Cool kids, see you at the box.

Later,

Rod

My grip and hips are toasted and the most fricken awesome race ever

So me and Bump talk about zombies sometimes and how all this training at RFM will come in handy one day should the undead walk the streets.

Today I was looking for material to write about on the blog and Googled "zombie cardio" just for fun. There's some guys practicing parkour around Chicago. Pretty cool, check out the video: http://zombiefit.org/category/media/

If you think about it parkour would come in pretty handy if you came across some zombies. You could scale a wall in seconds and flip over any obstacle. Of course some of that stuff looks pretty crazy, I think I'm going to stick to RFM for now.

BUT . . . I did find a website about a ZOMBIE OBSTACLE RACE. Righteous. If you go to the webpage there's a video you can watch if you click the link under the title: http://runforyourlives.com/locations/south-temecula-ca/courseobstacles-san-diego-ca/

Sweet. But I digress. On to the workout.

Today was the perfect example of how a simple looking workout can really mess you up.

Deadlifts for strength then three rounds of 10 pistol squats and 15 toes to the bar.

First off, deadlifts. I did five reps of 305 today. Felt pretty strong but it wasn't easy.

Then the WOD. Oh man I knew I was in trouble, mostly because I can't do pistol squats.

Once upon a time I could do 10 on each leg, BACK IN HIGH SCHOOL. Now I can't even bend past my knee before I end up flat on my ass. So I gotta grab something to help me go down and get back up.

But the toes to bar ended up being worse. Yeah.

Anyway, the first round of pistol squats suck, but I manage to do the toes to bar unbroken. Then the second round of  PS really sucks and then for some reason when I try to do the T to B's my hip flexor muscles are WASTED. I can barely get my legs up.

By the third round I'm doing one toe to bar then having to rest. My grip is shot and I have NO muscles left in my legs to get them up.

I finish last. Dead last. My forearms hurt and my legs were wobbly. If the zombies attacked right there and then I would only be able to hobble to the Korean bar down the street just so I could have one last beer before I am eaten alive by the undead.

Anyway, typing makes me tired right now. Time to get some rest.

Later peeps,

Rod

Protect Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself and Start Training for the Zombie Outbreak

  So yeah, I wrap my legs.

  See, this is what happens when you do a bunch of weight lifting type WOD's again and again, week after week. You end up scraping the crap out of your shins.

  Deadlifts then power cleans then deadlifts again and each time I hit my shins it would open up my scab and I was bleeding again. My blood ended up on the bar and the floor, it was gross.

  I wasn't the only one either, everybody was getting scraped up. So one by one they all invested in high socks and other shin protecting equipment.

  I of course, went ghetto and grabbed Bruce's knee wraps and used them to wrap my legs.

  Hey, they work. Bump said I look like an escapee from Candyland but whatever. At least I'm not bleeding anymore.

  And I needed them today because we were doing heavy power snatches plus three overhead squats. And oh joy, my partner was Marcus.

  Bruddah has one speed, max out as fast as you can. We jumped up in weight super fast and before I knew it I was snatching up 175. The snatch I could handle but I had to bail on the three OHS. It was heavy, I was off balance and I felt my wrists breaking.

  But I got the snatch at least. Yay.

  Then our WOD was run 800, do 50 sit-ups, 50 kettle bell swings then run another 800 meters.

  I had to grab the 35 pound kettle bell because all the other guys took the heavy weights. (Serious, had nothing to do with me sandbagging). But my time was still 19 plus minutes. Sheesh.

  I'm getting more concerned about my cardio, particularly my running, because of what's been going on in the news lately.

  Come on, you know what I'm talking about. Guys eating the faces off of people, ripping out their own intestines, cutting off body parts and sending them in the mail. It's got all the markings of the zombie apocalypse.

  Plus the Ancient Mayan calendar predicts that December 2012 will usher in a new age . . . a zombie age probably from the looks of it.

  And if we have to survive the zombie outbreak we're going to need some good cardio, along with a 12 gauge shotgun and flamethrower. I can buy the last two, the first one I've got to earn on my own.

  SO . . . let's do it people. Get moving, because after the bullets and the gas run out all you've got are your feet.

  Peace,

  Rod

WOD Talking, Strippers in our midst and Good results but Bad times

Just in case you missed it, our good friend Freddy Camacho-man Savage posted that there's a magazine out there dedicated to Crossfit. It's called, WOD Talk. http://www.wodtalk.com/

Kinda cool looking website, I haven't checked out the stories yet but I will. I promise. Website review coming up.

Now. On to other more interesting topics. Such as the fact that Bumper and Kristi are tying the knot this summer.

A wedding. Fantastic. His and her bachelor parties. Even better.

Except this is Maui and you can't really do anything interesting. Not really.

Then I started thinking . . . you know there was a time when two of our female members made certain comments about one of our male members.

SO maybe they could give a bruddah some extra cash, have him put on a small mankini and boogie to YMCA.

That's for Kristi and the girls of course. I'd have to find something for Bumper to do.

(Hey look at that, flights to Bangkok are only $300 online!!!!)

I'm just teasing. Congrats you two. Besides, I'm not the one you should be worried about. I heard about Shauna's party bus. Bumper should be the one worried if she's planning Kristi's party. I'm an angel in comparison.

So, let's talk WOD.

Back squats for strength today and it felt pretty good. I did five reps of 225 and squatted down DEEP.

Then we did five rounds of 10 front squats, 7 handstand push-ups and a 100 meter run with 30 seconds of rest in between.

Back got a little stiff and for the first time in a long time my wrists were giving me trouble. I couldn't bend them back like you're supposed to for front squat and it sucked.

My time wasn't bad but I'm just not getting the times that I want and I keep on finishing about two minutes after the big boys.

Just gotta keep pushing it I guess. I've been getting some nice compliments from people about looking less like an out of shape slob so I'm pretty stoked about that.

But I gotta keep working on the times. NEED. FASTER. TIMES!!!

Got an 800 meter dash tomorrow. Twice.

Push push push push.

Shoots.

Rod