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

Definitely something going on with my blog

I swear I'm posting new stuff but it's not showing up online. WTH?

Yeah well, let's keep trying anyway. Who knows, it might all come back all at once or something.

Sooo, my legs are hurtin today.

We did a nice mix of overhead squats and a 200 meter run on Wednesday and I was walking funny in the office the next day.

I did about 6 rounds in 10 minutes. Gary did 9 rounds. I was a little beeyotch.

Actually I was just glad my back didn't seize up again. It was during overheads last time that my back spazed out and I had to stop in the middle of the workout.

Didn't happen this time. Oran and Bumper were watching me like hawks and got rid of some weight when they thought I might be overdoing it.

Can I just say how awesome it is to have personal trainers involved in every workout. I used to be all, "Trainers? I don't need no stinking trainers." But man, there ain't nothing wrong with someone checking to make sure you don't hurt yourself.

I never would have even attempted to bench again if it wasn't for RFM. It still feels weird when I bench on my right side, like all my muscles are curled up in a ball on what's left of my chest. But at least I'm benching again. And I might even get back up to 225 lbs.

We've had a couple of great workouts this week by the way. Pullups and dumbbell snatches back to back along with kettlebells and situps back to back on Monday and Tuesday.

But the Paleo diet thing isn't happening. I've got coworkers making blueberry cream cheese pie damn it. Just yesterday someone brought in some pastries from Komoda's Bakery.

The 9th floor of the County building is an evil evil place for those trying to stay away from sugar and starch.

But I suspect things will be easier once I get paid (finally). I'm heading over to Whole Foods and buying a crapload of protein and veggies and making lunch for a month.

Effing Komoda Bakery. Are you kidding me? Damn it.

Missing more than Crossfit this week

So, when I started this fitness blog I told myself I'd try to keep my personal life out of it.

But what happens when my personal life intersects with my workout? Gotta blog about it I guess.

So . . . my grandma died this week.

It was Tuesday when they called me at work. I was in a meeting and took off to Hale Makua as soon as I got the text from my cousin. Her oxygen levels were below 20 percent, whatever that means.

They had already sedated her with morphine so I'm not sure if she knew I was there. 

Later she took her last breath and she was gone.

I wanted to workout that evening. It's not odd, I did the same thing when my grandfather died in 2002. I was living in Honolulu and they called me from Maui and said he died. It was too late to catch a flight that night so I drove up to a friend's house in Kaimuki where they held "Fight Night" in their garage. Basically they take turns putting on gloves and pounding each other.

I put on the gloves that night and got my face smashed in. I didn't tell anyone, I just wanted to suffer physically so I wouldn't have to think.

I wanted Crossfit to punish me Tuesday. I wanted thrusters and burpees and squats of all sorts.

But my brother had flown into town and we did what we usually do in this situation. We drank alcohol.

So I didn't work out Tueday, and Wednesday we didn't go either. Thursday was an off day and my brother left that night.

Then came Friday, and I was waiting. Shoulder press I lifted 145 four times, a new weight for me. Next we did three rounds of 10 thrusters and as many toes to the nose lifts that we could do in what remained of our two minutes.

I lost myself in pain for a while. Oran yelled a rare, "SON OF A BITCH" after the first round so you know it was hard.

Afterwards my forearms felt like Popeye's. I was tired and hurt but it felt good in all the right places.

Crossfit continues to help me in all areas of my life. More specifically, the good people at Raw Fitness Maui and their desire to push ourselves has helped me. Thank God because if I didn't sweat I think I would cry.

Still might.