Welcome Back to my Back and All Good Things . . .

Well you knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

For the past couple of blogs I've been complaining about my shoulder being injured, and I know some of you . . . well me at least . . . were wondering, "Okay, how long before my back acts up again?"

Got the answer yesterday. I knew it too as soon as I looked at the board.

Run 400 meters, swing 25 kettlebells, for four rounds.

Simple. No rest. No complicated olympic weightlifting movements.

But oh so very harsh for my lower back.

Shauna witnessed my back in action yesterday, she said she noticed by the second round that I was running "off center."

Didn't really think about what I must look like but yeah, I do whatever I have to do with my legs to offset what I'm feeling on the lower left side of my back.

I don't know, maybe I just have to row, or ride the bike.

Or better yet, maybe I have to lose the gut. It's coming back. I think it's my son's popsicles. Me and him eat like three each after dinner.

And then there's the Hana Relay coming up, so running is going to be kinda important during that event. RFM is putting together another team and I've seen the squad, all good runners. I'd like to join but I really don't want to hold them back this year.

Some of my other friends were talking about running and putting our own team together. That might work out better.

Oh, and then there's one more thing.

Got a job offer out of state. Out of country in fact. Something I can't really refuse.

It's been good to be back home on Maui and I'm really going to miss the crew at RFM. Shoot, Kehau still hangs with us every now and then and she still misses us to the point of tears. It was very touching to see her at the party this past weekend.

I think I'm still in shock. I don't have to go but I'd be stupid to pass this up. And I guess I can keep working out by reading the RFM blog from wherever I am as long as I have a well stocked gym with kettlebells and bumper plates.

Ah well boys and girls, we'll talk about this later. I'm not leaving tomorrow or next week or next month. Definitely here AT LEAST until my son leaves for California in mid-August so we've got some WOD's to do first.

Wow I feel sad.

Okay, enough, we'll talk later gang.

Rod

Shoulder Problems Part IV or How I Went to the Doctor and Actually Got Some Helpful Advice

So, the shoulder issues are continuing. Not too bad, I can comb my hair but still don't have my full strength back yet.

BUT . . . I did something adult today. Amazingly enough, I made an appointment and went to the doctor.

The guy was in his 30's and his profile said he was a Penn State grad who had an "interest" in sports medicine. I was somewhat pleased to read that but didn't get too excited.

Sure enough he shows up and he's as skinny as a twig and doesn't look like he knows much about sports. But he's got a Penn State lanyard around his neck which tells me he follows college sports at least because you don't go to Penn State and wear a lanyard because you're not proud of your college sports team. I'm guessing the whole Pa Joe Paterno thing has caused him many a sleepless night.

Anyway, the doc moved my shoulder in all manner of directions trying to find the exact location of my pain. Then he made me feel like a complete idiot. Not on purpose but just because everything he suggested was pretty common sense:

Doc: "Well you don't have a tear but you definitely strained something in your shoulder. How did it feel after you iced it?"

Me: "Uhhhhh, iced it?"

Doc: "Well you said you were in pain, didn't you ice it afterwards?"

Me: "Uh, no. I was kinda hoping it would go away on it's own."

Doc: "Hmmm, what about some sort of anti-inflammatory? You try Motrin?"

Me:  Silence. Then finally. "No. Was I supposed to?"

Doc: Silence. Then, "you should try Motrin. And icing your shoulder. Maybe for a couple of weeks and see  how it feels."

Me: "Yeah, that sounds good. I'll do both."

Doc: "Do you know what you might have done that strained your shoulder?"

Me: "Well, we had a pretty busy week for shoulder workouts when I first felt pain several weeks ago. We   had shoulder presses and over head squats and handstand push-ups." And then I quickly added, "But I think it really started hurting when after I slept at a weird angle."

See, that was a lie. I wasn't even sure why I lied, then I realized later I didn't want him to tell me that I had to quit Crossfit. It was kinda pathetic.

Of course the doc ain't stupid, but at this point he thinks I am.

Doc: "So you had all that activity involving your shoulder but you think the pain came from sleeping wrong?"

Me: "Uh, yeaaaaaaaaahhhh. Yeah. Sleeping. That's it. Felt messed up after I woke up that . . . morning."

Doc: "Well how about you take the Motrin, ice your shoulder and also stop with any sort of shoulder involved movements at the gym until you feel better."

Damn it doc, why do you have to make so much sense? "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan."

Sigh.

So I go to the gym after work and tell Kristi about what the doc said and she asks me, "Wait, no shoulder movements? What are you doing here today?"

Ah crap. We had overhead squats.

Again I panic. Now Kristi was going to make me sit out of the WOD.

Me: "Really? Overhead squats . . . I don't think it'll be that bad."

Thankfully Kristi had a plan. Instead of the overhead squats/double-unders workout that everyone else did I did Annie again, which was 50-40-30-20-10 of double-unders/sit-ups.

I had a crappy time of 10:36 last week when I did it. Today I figured if I couldn't do the regular workout at least I can try to beat my time for this workout.

And I did. Came in at 10:08. Shaved off 28 seconds. I was stoked. Was hoping to come under 10 minutes though.

But I think this might be a good thing. See, I'll just start doing the workouts I did the week before and try to go for a better time. Plenty of motivation for that and it'll prevent me from thinking about how my shoulder is going to get weak as hell.

Oh yeah, then Bump comes into the gym and ties a tourniquet around my shoulder. I seriously thought my arm was going to fall off. Not looking forward to doing that again tomorrow.

Between him, Kristi and the new doc though I gotta admit I've got a good physical therapy team here. Here's hoping that the shoulder will be 100 percent again soon.

In the meantime, it's given me some material to write about again. Uhhh, thanks?

Anyway, take care gang,

Rod

Pressing Past the Pain . . . sorta

Today might have been one of the most frustrating days in my brief but happy Crossfit career at RFM.

As you know if you've been reading this blog, which according to my Google analytics page no one really is but whatever, then you know I've got something seriously messed up with my shoulder.

Like I can't even comb my hair because it requires me to raise my hand above my head.

It's frustrating and painful and sucks. And today I really, really, really needed my shoulder.

For today we were looking for our one rep max for 1) back squats, 2) presses and 3) deadlifts.

In case you missed it, presses, as in shoulder presses. As heavy as you possibly can lift.

I was so angry at my shoulder, you have no idea. Especially when I look on the board and see that Ikaika did 175.

Now I know I can do 175. I've done 185 before and that was about six months ago.

If not for this shoulder injury I could probably do more now, but whatever.

I knew I should have just done the squats and deadlifts and shined the presses but I just couldn't. Even the voice of reason, Bob, gave me a little smack down and said I should be "mature" and just wait for my shoulder to heal instead of trying to prove something.

He's right damn it. So was Bump when he said not to worsen my injury.

But then Bruce showed up and was talking about squatting barefoot because he has a broken toe and that 175 that Ikaika did was staring me in the face . . .

Well, what can I say? I've been accused of a lot of things in my life but being mature isn't one of them.

So I pressed. I figured I had a chance if I lifted fast and got the weight up quick.

I was right, I did 135, 155 and 165 easy.

Then I tried to jump to 185. No dice.

Then I went down to 175 and still I was stuck. Because of my injury I had no muscles to push through that "sticking" zone right above your head during the press.

So I had to be satisfied with 165, which felt entirely lame. But Bump pointed out that when my shoulder healed I could redo my one rep max total.

On another note I was happy with my squat (275) and my deadlift (375). Good to lift with Al and Bob because we were all around the same strength level and pushed each other just enough to lift the heaviest weights we could handle.

But I am kinda nervous to see if my pressing with my shoulder today has any consequences. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Cross your fingers for me. Later gang.

Rod

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