Celebrate It

2/10 
Thruster 5x3

145-165-175-185-200PR
Front Squat 185-185-200-210-230

I'll take it.....finally some front squats with good form.  More flexibility and better movements.

2/13
Back Squat
5x3
225-245-255-265-275
Front Squat
135-135-145-185-185

The WOD on the main site was front squats 5x3...just did them heavy on Friday so I decided on a combination of the 2.

2/14
Erin
5 Rounds
40lb DB Split Clean, 15 reps
21 Pull Ups

17:40.... This was the first day that I felt like I could do a MetCon WOD since I've almost knocked this cold right out of me.


The Mill:  Oh Valentine's Day how I loathe you.  My wife and I are trying something different this year and shaking it up a bit.  I won't get into my personal feelings about this one day of love holiday, but I will say that our past v-day's have been awesome but marked by waiting in line to eat, a nice dinner at home(that was prepared by someone else), mailing gifts (we were 3,000 miles apart), and a few others that will go unnoticed.  If you can see the pattern here neither of us have ever cooked on v-day before.  Cooking isn't something we love to do.  We're replacing the food with a Couple's WOD.  I'm crazy pumped for this, and can't wait to put it together.  Leave it to Crossfit to come up with a couple's WOD at Crossfit Intensify.  We'r not going to do this one, but do one together soon.  Trust me I will post it.  Maybe it will be an outside one.  Oh that would be crazy.  Sorry I'll stop rambling.

When was the last time you were excited?  Like can't sleep, big game excited?


Make it happen today!


A special shout out to the Silverbacks, 201, and the Animal Pack on this Valentine's Day.

The brew that grew with the Great Northwest!

Reach, People

2/4
"Rahoi"
AMRAP 12 minutes
Box Jumps, 12 reps
95lb. Thruster, 6 reps
6 bar facing burpees

6 complete rounds +18 reps....  My wife and I did this one together, and she kicked my ass.  Although she's into training for a half marathon a little anaerobic exercise won't hurt.  It was a lot fun weaving in and out of everyone at the gym.

2/6
AMRAP 15 minutes
135lb Push Press, 7 reps
135lb Overhead Squat, 10 reps
15 GHD Sit ups

5 rounds +2 push presses....  Two AMRAP's in a row?  Felt pretty goo after this one.  Another lunch time workout so it was good to have a cap of 15 minutes.  After the warm up and walk to the gym at lunch I'm already down 20 minutes so this was right up my alley.

2/7
5 Rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
185lb deadlift, 21 reps

27:54....Not very fond of the high rep deadlifts.  Took my time with these and made sure not rush the lift and sacrifice form.

The Mill: The last few workouts have been brutal, and by brutal I mean awesome.  Outside of all the deadlifts, the OHS's and push presses it was a lot of fun.  I convinced myself to finish at least 5 rounds in those grueling 15 minutes.  I thought for sure I was going to the bar on the squat, but wobbly arms and all I managed to finish the set.

I've been thinking and reading the last few days (huh oh that's a deadly combination), about various workout programs and why this one is better than that one.  Why you shouldn't do this one and do the other one instead?  It's turning into a big political debate where the only places you see positive articles about the candidate is on his/her own web page.  There's numerous workout styles out there and some are fads that will quickly fade and some are here to stay for a little while.  No worries.  I'm a conventional gym goer and try to fit it into my schedule everyday.  I'm a huge fan of Crossfit, in case you couldn't tell.  I do, however, some "diffuse" days where I'll lift the back and bi's or chest and tri's after a light MetCon workout.  Sometimes I'll run instead or do some push ups in my office (door shut, laying on the ground; what would you think) to shake up the day.  I'll always stretch because that's something I have always sucked at.  Thanks Dad!  I did own a Stretch Armstrong for a little less than 24 hours before his arms, neck, and legs snapped.  I wanted to see what was inside the most flexible man in the world.

Leave the disrespect to the politicians.  Everyone is working out how they see fit, whether it's CrossFit, running, P90X, walking, or anything that involves moving, they are all working towards somewhat of the same goal.  They may take different paths but the ultimate goal is the same.  Make yourself better.  However you want to do that is up to you.  Even a little Billy Blanks never hurt anyone.  Whatever your reason or routine are who really gives a shit?  As long as your working to be healthier and better each day.

Just Easing the Tension Baby

1/27 

For Time
50 Squats, 75lbs
15 Pull Ups
40 Squats
12 Pull Ups
30 Squats
9 Pull Ups
20 Squats
6 Pull Ups
10 Squats
3 Pull Ups

10:43.... Subbed the pull ups for rope climb.  Did butterfly pull ups to imitate the rope climb movements since every effort my brother and I tried with towels, sweatshirts etc. failed miserably.

1/28

Sarah
21-15-9
225lb Deadlift
Ring Dips

6:03.... I did a little combination of Diane and Elizabeth and decided to call it Sarah.  I don't think there's one named officially for this workout on the main site.  I've done this one before, see here, and this was a PR.  Love me some deadlifts and rings.

1/29

Clean and Jerk
7x1
185-190-195-200-205-215 PR-220 (failed the jerk)

Not my best lift but definitely my favorite.

1/30

Tyler
5 Rounds For Time:
7 Ring Pulls
7 Ring Dips
21 Sumo Deadlift High Pull

16:59.... Love them rings.  Always a good way to start the day.

The Mill:  Yesterday doing the clean and jerk I had to "mark my territory" since the weight room was packed.  Others were doing the same by grabbing weights and bars and bringing them to their home away from the middle of the room.  Well, I couldn't escape the decline bench crew.  I set up shop right next to it to clean and jerk.  So there was a bar, some weight, and a little room left behind me so I didn't kick anybody or anything.  Just to put it in to perspective, I usually like to workout with minimal people around.  I was about to go bat shit crazy with the amount of people.  I'm not complaining about the number of people, I think it's awesome, just have to plan a little better.  However, one of the decliners did crawl off the bench onto the floor and laid right in the middle of the room, almost lifeless.  He was just resting so no worries.  The intensity of  the clean and jerk 1 rep max was through the roof.  A workout that kicked my ass.

He's got a baseball on his butt. 

Most of the movements that I've done in the last week or so have mainly involved strong and fast hip movements.  I told one of our guys at camp this week that hitting, squatting, cleaning, golfing are all the same.  It's all in the hips - Chubbs Peterson.

I had an unusual song in my head this morning that helped me forget about the banging of the bar for a few minutes.  It's a song that found it's way onto every Bradford Area High School boys basketball warm up "tape" since at least 1993.  The teams that I played on from 2000-2004 had it on for at least for the first minute for so. Mother by Danzig was a staple on any and all warm up "tapes".  It found it's way on somehow, someway.  But what's with the chicken in the video?  Not the doggy in the window.

Shout out to my man JH and his lifting shirts...

Finders Keepers

1/26

8 Rounds for time:
Run 400 Meters
Rest 90 Seconds

21:10 (breaks included)....fastest was 1.25 and slowest was 1.38....I'll take it.  Run run run as fast as you can.... No treadmill this time.  Ran it on the track.

My man found his thumb.  Not too shabby.

Zero Fun Sir

1/22

7 Rounds
7 Deadlifts, 225lbs.
7 L-Sit Pull Ups

12:56....I'm almost certain I did 8 rounds, but since I was bouncing around after each set of deadlifts to find an open pull up bar I lost count somewhere in the middle.

1/23

10x2 Resting 60 seconds in between sets
Shoulder Press - 135lbs.

Strength + endurance WOD....I love these ones now that I know what they are used for.  Back in September  when I was doing the deadlift version of this I loaded the bar after each set.  I read a few different ideas on this one, but I like the one where you difficult weight but doable.  This is 80% of my max for the shoulder press which means no help from the legs or hips.  Straight shoulders.

1/24

7 Rounds
7 Front Squats, 135lbs.
7 Chest-2-Bar Pull Ups

12:56......(not a typo) Chose to use 135lbs instead of the rx'd 165lbs.  My front squats have always been a little unpolished if you know what I'm saying.  I used to do them like the Big "E" did them in high school.  This was the same person who we would take bets on to see when he would go out of practice with some kind of injury.  It was bound to happen.  You know the front squat that I'm talking about with the bar loaded across your shoulders and your arms folded on top of it.  I thought that was the only way I could do it.  I used the excuse "my wrists don't bend like that" too much.  So, just like the handstand push ups, muscle ups the front squats needed a lot of work.  Squat cleans became a warm up routine to allow my wrists to become more flexible and to get more comfortable with the movement.  This was the first time I used the proper form in a met-con WOD and I could feel it for sure.   Now I love me some front squats.

The Mill:  The other day I was talking to a woman about children growing up, and the fact that they don't realize what it means to be a "grown up".  Mind you I'm 26 years old and we just had out first child about a month ago.  We cheer every time he farts, and he farts a lot.  Hell, I cheer every time I fart.  Growing up?  Her point was that her kids didn't understand the difference between growing up and having fun.  She said that they're on different levels and shouldn't be mixed too often.  I was perplexed.  But it got me going that's for sure.  I'm fun right?  Or am I a grown up in the sense that she thinks we should be?  Why can't you have fun and "grow up" at the same time?  I'm taller, hairier, and can spell.  Does that make me a grown up?  I can't wait until the little man is a little older so we can go dive in some mud puddle's  and catch crayfish in the stream (goin' crickin' around these parts).  Maybe, hopefully, we can play some baseball and crossfit together.  That will be crazy fun.  Age is just number my friend.  That reminds me of the time I went to the Dr.'s office so he could give the scars a look and tell me nothing's wrong.  I had pulled a muscle performing a deadlift early on in my Crossfit days.  He asked what I did, and I proudly said, "I pulled it, but I got a PR".  Which he replied, "You're not 18 anymore".  To which I replied, "I know, I'm 24".  I know what he meant by it, but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him.  It was just bad form not the amount of weight.  Age is still just a number not an excuse.  

My dad coached me all the way from little league through high school and he always said before each game, "Have some fun and get it done".

Prince Fielder

Thud Butt

Sometimes The Title Is The Hardest Part

1/18


Jerk Press
7x1
155-165-175-185-195-205-220 PR

Split Snatch
7x1
95-105-115-135-145-155 PR

Used the jerk almost as a warm up for the split snatch.  First time with the split snatch, and to be honest I was scared shitless.  It's a snatch but instead of catching it overhead in a squat you can it in a lunge position.  Come to find out I feel much more comfortable with the split.  Very little room plus not much time equals an extremely rushed max WOD.  I had to claim my area as soon as I walked in the weight room.  Kind of like how a dog marks his spot except for the fact that I didn't piss on the squat rack.  That was my squat rack for the next half hour.  Nobody seemed to mind or at least nobody said anything.

1/19

Elizabeth (nasty girl)
21-15-9
135 lb Clean
Ring Dips

7:49.....Enjoyed the bloody shins halfway through the first round.  I don't have a workout partner very often, but it's always a good time to workout with my brother.  Finally got to do "Elizabeth" with rings and not regular dips which made a huge difference.


1/20

For Time:
Run 1000 Meters
50 Thrusters, 45lbs
30 Pull Ups
Row 1000 Meters

50 Thrusters, 45lbs
30 Pull Ups
Run 600 Meters/Row 400 Meters

50 Thrusters, 45lbs
30 Pull Ups

36:23.... Had a hard time with the rowing machine.  Subbed the run and come to find out running sucks just as much.  I also found out today that mu nose is bigger than I originally thought since I knocked the bar off of it on the thrusters.  Had to keep going though.  Knocked some of those early morning frozen boogers loose.

The Mill:  Late January begins the baseball train for me.  I get all amped up for the season start.  Not that I play anymore.  My body; physical and mental, were programmed during the college days that we start competing for a championship, and it begins in the rubber gym right now.  I guess I haven't been able to shake that feeling/competitiveness.  I still want something that doesn't mind that you fail.  All-Star baseball hitters succeed 3 out of 10 times.  That means that they fail 70% of the time.  I wanted something like baseball that keeps you coming back failure after failure.  It's the failure and mistakes that keep you coming back, and those 3 times that you're successful make all the failures worth it.  The missed rep reminds me of a swing and miss.  That pitcher has to throw 2 more by you, and a missed rep means that you'll land the next one.  Failure is an opportunity to succeed.  So, Crossfit has become my new baseball over the last few years.  It has consumed a mediocre hitter and turned him into a mediocre Crossfitter.  Mediocre just means that there's a lot more room for improvement not that there's a lack of effort.  I've replaced tee work with handstand push ups and muscle ups, long toss with warm up overhead squats, and catcher's gear with homemade shirts and Chuck Taylor's.

Crossfit has helped fuel that competitive fire.  Instead of beating up on some rich kids with warm ups I get to compete against myself, the barbell, the uneven ground, bloody shins, ripped hands, and the thought of just stopping.  Who stops, who quits?  Challenge yourself.   Take it to the max physically and mentally.    It can be difficult to wake up every day and decide that you're going to challenge yourself.  Whether it be in the weight room, classroom, office, kitchen, intellectually or anything else out there.  Embrace the challenge and see it as an opportunity to improve.  Continue to move forward.  

Crossfit has given me an outlet to compete, think freely, and to do something challenging everyday.  Instead of trying to hit a curveball.  

Early start to the baseball season.

Make Something Happen

1/17
Run 5K

23:14.... A little slower than the high school days.  That was 30lbs ago and before alcoholic refreshments.  "I'm hungover and my knees are killing me"  -Jake Taylor.  I used to run Cross Country with a couple of other guys in high school.  We were simply asked to help fill out the roster so they would be able to compete.  We just had to show up to the meets on time.  Never went to practice.  Not once.  That's only because we were in our off-season for basketball and had team workouts everyday.  We were allowed to continue the basketball workouts as long as we showed up to the meets on time and finished our 5k.  The XC team was comprised of us 3 and about 4 serious runners.  The dynamics of 3 were runner, runner (Shane Hvizdzak), and rabbit.  The rabbit, JH, had (has) a good time with anything you throw his way.  He would bust out of the gates in a 100 yard sprint to draw out their best runners.  XC apparently dislikes vulgarity on their starting line.  As we lined up, myself right next to JH, he yelled, "let's kick some f@#$%&* ass".  Just like that our rabbit was disqualified.  Yep DQ'd in an XC meet.  I think I laughed the entire race.

1/16

5 Rounds for time of:
12 Thrusters, 20lb DB's
12 Toes-2-Bar

9:35... The t2b sucked worse than I remember.  The thrusters were a sub for wall ball shots, and went off without a hitch.  The gym I was at frowns upon balls being thrown at the wall.

1/14

"Tabata This!"

Tabata Row, 7
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Squat, 11
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Pull-up, 7
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Push-up, 10
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Sit-up, 11

The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals.
Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the eight intervals. Unit for the row is "calories".

46...total

The Mill:  Well in celebration of MLK day I found one documentary about the Civil Rights hero.  The rest of the day was filled with a Pawn Stars marathon on the History Channel.  That really grinds my gears.  The History Channel of all channels I thought would have had more on than what they did.  Anyways, take a listen to MLK's "I have a dream speech".

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

On Monday, there was a gentleman working out pretty hard, all over the weight room, grunting, screaming, and above all wearing some nut huggers.  To steal a line from Bad News Bears, it looked like he was smuggling grapes.  Very distracting for my wife (just playing).  It was a sight for the eyes.  He would "hike" them up, as if they weren't tight/short enough all ready, pelvic thrust in the mirror, and then grunt pretty much after each lift.  His shorts were as tight as my underwear if that helps out the visual at all.