Week 14 saw only two workouts and Week 15 saw a couple of CrossFit workouts along with a run.

Let’s talk about the CrossFit workouts.

WOD # 1, JT

21-15-9 reps
Handstand push-ups
Ring dips
Push-ups

I can’t do handstand pushups so I substituted Push Press. This workout seemed so reasonable on the surface, at least with my modifications. The truth is that it destroys triceps. By the second round I had to move to pushups from my knees for about half the reps. The 3rd set was 100% from my knees and I still had to rest to complete the 9 reps. Just to make the workout more painful, I also should note I subbed normal bar dips for ring dips.

WOD #2 Fight Gone Bad

OK. I knew going into this one was going to hurt but it was worse than I thought. Since I found it hard to cycle through the stations after 1 minute, I just did 15 reps of each exercise. This totally defeats the purpose of this being a scored WOD but I still got a great workout.

Workout as Prescribed is 3 rounds, 1 minute per station, 1 minute rest between rounds.

Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20″ box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

I substituted thrusters with a 45lb bar for the wallballs. The results? I made it through 2 rounds before I quit. I’m slightly embarrassed as I truly quit. I just didn’t want to do another round. I was breathing so hard that my vision was blurry. I was way more nauseous than I have been in months and it seemed to last for ever, even after the workout. I will have to come back to this workout in the future and see if I can take on the beast. As for now, I’m happy it’s over.

Ended last week with a nice 3.5 mile jog through our neighborhood. No crazy pace, just me and a little time on the local roads.

Monday

Rested. Wasn’t feeling well

Tuesday

Deadlifts
3×3
5×10

21,15,9
Handstand pushups
Dips
Pushups

Deadlifts felt great especially after 2 weeks off. 225, 285, 305(PR). I had never tried anything over 300lbs and today lifted 305 for 3 reps. I’m not saying that it was light but I was happy with the lift. The 5 sets of 10 were all at 155lbs.

I had to modify the WOD. I’m not able to do handstand pushups (actually haven’t tried). So I subbed elevated pushups. I put my feet on a weight bench. When I got to the normal pushups on the first round, I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to do them. Too much hitting my triceps all at once. So, I just dumped the normal pushups completely. Even then the dips were very hard, I started with 35lbs of assistance weight and moved clear up to 54lbs on the 2nd and 3rd sets. I still had to pause half way through the sets to be able to finish. This was my first attempt at elevated pushups. Totally different but fun… in a sick sort of way.

Wednesday

Tabata Run

8 rounds at 12 degree incline
20 secs run, 10 sec rest

Ran at 6 on the treadmill. First time I got through the workout without having to rest more than the 10 seconds. A very hard workout for me, but I felt good to complete it.

Thursday

Rest

Friday

Unplanned rest day

Saturday

Squats
3 x 3
5 x10

WOD

3 rounds
500 m row
15 kettlebell swings 1.5 pood
10 pullups

Squat weights, 185, 205, 205. Weight felt much heavier than I expected and I had to work very hard to stabilize my back. Even more arms and and chest were shaking when lifting the weights. That’s what I get for sitting in a chair for most of the day. Second round of squats were 115, 95, 95, 95, 95. Dropped back to 95 to make sure that I was getting full extension at the bottom of the squats, essentially butt to heels.

The WOD was hard as expected. The rows will get you breathing hard and then immediately throw you into the kettlebell swings that make you want to beg for more oxygen. The pullups almost seem like a break by the time you get to that station. Still using about 54lbs of assistance weight on pullups. Need to start working on pullups directly. Probably attack them through negatives, jumping pullups etc.

Sunday

Another unplanned rest day

The bad; I drank more alcohol than normal. Something about sitting on a deck in the sun screams “give me a cold beer”. I also could have made better choices for meals. While we did eat out a few times, we ate most of our meals in our unit which certainly cut down on bad choices at meal time.

The good news, is that I was pretty active both weeks even though I wasn’t in a gym. I managed to run at least 2 miles 3 times a week both weeks. I also played tennis the the family on multiple days. Not truly taxing considering playing with a 7 and 5 year old but better than sitting on the couch. I also went hang gliding on 2 days. The hang gliding doesn’t provide much of a workout but climbing the 70 foot tall dunes definitely will put the hurt on after a couple of hours.

This coming week should be better now that we are back at home and in our normal routine. Hope everyone is having a great early spring.

6 x 400m run

Started at 7.5 speed on treadmill. I know, not exactly fast, but it’s my pace. I moved the speed up .1 for each interval ending on 8 or a 7:30 minute mile. That was OK for me.

My chest is starting to ache quite a bit from the bench press workout yesterday. I left out pushups from my warmup but otherwise completed as normal.

Tuesday

Rest

Wednesday

3×5 push press

5×10 push press

3 rounds
20 kettlebell swings 1.5 pood
60 jump rope (singles)
6 burpees

Push press was much harder than last week and I realized that I was using the same weight progression from my sets of 3 and now was doing 5 reps. Sets were 135, 145, 145(only 4). Second round of push press went better. I dropped back to 85 lbs and made it through all of the sets.

Now my little 3 rounds of hell. 20 kettlebell swings will wear me out and make me breath through my ears. Jump rope is fun but exhausting and last burpees are my own little piece of hell. Whoever created this exercise is a mean mean person. I made it through the 3 rounds but had to rest in between rounds. I’m sure I didn’t rest as long as it felt but I was exhausted. Fun stuff.

Thursday

Simple run. 3 miles at a slow pace. Didn’t feel great and I notice that my abs are really cramping. I’m sure that is due to the warmup that I have been doing. I might think about leaving the warmup out of running days or at the least forgo the situps.

Friday

3×5 squats

5×10 squats

3 rounds
10 knees to elbows
100 jumprope
6 burpees

First round of squats, 135, 185, and 205lbs. Sets were hard but controlled. I ended up having to use one of those stupid pads because I had so much muscle soreness in my shoulders from Wednesday. Second sets were at 95lbs and felt good. Tiring but good.

The WOD was brutal as far as my endurance is concerned. Knees to elbows aren’t really possible for me. Although I did get a couple true knees to elbows at the beginning of each set, most of my reps were just a little past half way up. Jumping rope can really put a burn on your shoulders. Burpees are still evil but I’m going to rotate them in more often until they get a little easier. Maybe try the 100 day burpee challenge.

Saturday

Rest

Sunday

Unplanned rest day. Sore legs from Squats. Maybe tomorrow.

Body weight this week is still at 223-224 depending on the day.

Body fat hovers in mid 12-14 range. I did get as low as 12.2 which is my lowest body fat so far. This number is far more interesting to me than my weight.

Still having frustrations with my running going south but I am still confident that it will turn around as I get more comfortable with these new compound exercises. Have a great week.

Monday

Rest

Tuesday

5×5 Push Press

5×5 Bench Press

3 rounds
15 Kettlebell swings
1 minute jumping rope

First time that I tried out my new jump rope. Pretty nice rope, but double unders seem impossible at this second. Ran across a cool instructional video on progressions for learning double unders. Will try to put some of it into practice the next trip to the gym. Kettlebell swings are getting much easier. I am going to have to up the rep range since I only have access to a single 50lb kettlebell. Push Press sets, 135, 145, 145, 145, 155. Felt good. This is the highest weight I have attempted on a Push Press. Bench Press as always seems to be my weak link. Sets on a Hammer Strength machine. 154, 174, 174, 174, 174. Extremely hard for me.

Wednesday

Ran on the Olentangy trail. Simple 5K. Completed in 27 minutes but felt much harder than I would have hoped. I would still like to get down to a 24 minute 5K, but that seems a long way off at this second.

Thursday

Slightly different setup for the workout today. I am going to try to work in one compound lift in a more traditional weight training method and then fall back into CrossFit style AMRAPs or something similar.

3×5 deadlift 225lbs

5×10 deadlift 135lbs

3 rounds
Row 500m
10 Negative pullups

The deadlifts were a little too easy, especially the second round. I need to get more comfortable with the bigger weights. Too many years of worrying about a weak back. The negative pullups were interesting. Grip on the rubber grips of the pullup bar at our gym was quite slippery with my sweaty hands.

Friday

Rest

Saturday

Was once again supposed to be a run day. Planned long run. Turned into intervals at a hideously slow pace. Legs felt like they were made of lead. Butt still kills from deadlifts. I know that I’m getting stronger, at least I think I am, but several recovery days are really starting to wear me down. I would like to get back to running without it being so painful each time. Only managed 4 x 800m.

Sunday

3×5 bench press

5×10 bench press

3 rounds
500m Row
1 minute jump rope

Fun workout. Gym was packed and it was even difficult to get through my warm up. Settled into a bench and get under way. I have no idea of what my 1 rep max is for bench. I was guessing that it was around 225lb, but I’m a little doubtful now. Probably a little higher. First round: 155, 185, 195. Felt like I should have had a little more weight. Second round: 115, 135, 135, 135, 135. This on the other hand really started taxing my shoulders on the 4th and 5th sets.

500m rows went ok, a little slower than normal, but I kept the damper at 5. Jump rope was fun and hard. Double unders continue to evade me. I feel like I have a really good rhythm on singles but doubles just end up with the rope in my shins. I’m pretty sure that I am going to have to jump higher. It’s just going to take practice.

5×5 deadlifts

3 rounds
500m row
10 pullups

Deadlift weights 135, 185, 225, 285 (3) 225. By the time I got to 225, the lifts felt great even though my lower back seems perpetually sore anymore. I lifted the 285 fairly easily for 3 but felt slightly off center on the bar so I stopped after 3. Dropped back to 225 for the final set. Most happy with my grip strength which has vastly improved. Only a month or two ago, I would have struggled holding 225. Absolutely no problem now.

The rows felt good. Like last time I played around with the damper setting. Set at 10, 5 and then back to 10. I managed sub 2 minute times on all three sets. At 5 I needed to stay around a 41 stroke per minute rate. Very happy. Pullups as usual were hard. 54 lbs assistance. Completed all reps from all sets.

Tuesday

Stupid CrossFit web site. I’m always finding new tidbits that blast me. I have been quite happy with my CrossFit style warmup of 15 reps of situps, air squats, pushups, pullups and dips. Now today I see that the FAQ states that the “standard” warmup is close to what I am doing but I should be doing three sets. Uggg.

Standard warmup is Sampson stretch for 20 seconds, 10-15 reps of the following, situps, overhead squat with pvc or broom handle, pushups, pullups and dips.

The Sampson stretch I hadn’t tried before and I ended up liking it. It is close to a lunge in the bottom position with your fingers interlaced, arms stretched straight overhead. I still haven’t worked on an overhead squat and don’t have access to the PVC while at the gym, so I stuck with traditional air squats. I completed all thee sets but thought it was a fairly brutal “warmup”

Tabata Run was on the schedule today. 12 degree incline, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. I ran the first four at 6.3, but had to drop back to 6 for the remaining 4. Really disappointed but absolutely couldn’t catch my breath. I jogged a 400m before the Tabata.

Wednesday

Front Squats 5×5

3 rounds
500m row
Bench Press x 15

Front Squats were very deep but at the same time, I feel like they should be more controlled. With higher weights, I doubt that I will be able to get out of the bottom. Weights for squats were 95, 115, 135, 135,135. Very low numbers but I am still getting used to the movement.

Row and bench press were also ok. My rows are consistently under 2 minutes for 500m now and my bench press was about 115 for the 15 reps.

Thursday

Rest

Friday

Long run, or at least that was the plan. Normal 3 round warmup, minus situps. I recently bought an abmat and it is punishing my abs, still a little sore from yesterday. So, I wanted to run a 5K distance at a higher pace than normal (9 minute / mile). I ran a mile at an 8.5 minute mile pace and then the wheels fell off. My left knee started aching on impact on the inside edge. Slowed treadmill considerably to a 9.5 minute mile for another half mile and called it quits. No sense hurting myself. Very disappointed in my run. Just one of those days I guess.

Saturday

21, 15, 9

95lb Sumo Style Deadlift / high row
95lb Back Squats

This is the closest I have come to a workout as prescribed. Still haven’t had a chance to work on overhead squats, so I substituted back squats. Certainly not the same thing but as close as I could come. First set on both exercises had to be split after 15 reps. 2nd and 3rd sets were completed in one block. This workout is a timed workout but I had to rest over a minute in between exercises and sets. I did complete it and I feel good about that. Normal 3 set pre-WOD warmup. Happy that I moved both pullups and dips to lower weights. dips are down to 30 pounds and pullups at 54 lbs.

Came home and did 3 sets of 15 abmat situps (brutal) and only managed 2 sets of 10 of reverse crunches on the abmat. How much a stupid little piece of foam change an exercise. I have to admit that I feel as though I stepped into an infomercial now that I own one. I can just hear it ringing in my ears. “Guaranteed to give you the best abs of your life” LOL

Sunday

Planned on running 800m intervals x 4. Got to the gym did my normal CrossFit warmup and got into the runs. Ran the first and second interval at an 8 minute mile pace and was literally spent. My legs were in complete shutdown. I knew that I had a lot of soreness from yesterday’s workout but thought that I could work through it during the runs. First time I have seen a direct negative impact on my running. I’m sure that on rested legs, I could have got through the intervals but it is still disappointing getting into the gym and not completing my intended workout.

I did drop a pound of weight this week, not that I am trying to lose weight. I wouldn’t mind dropping more fat for pure vanity reasons but I am already really lean. Have been following more of  a Zone style diet. So far so good.

Valentines day. I took the night off to make a special dinner for the family.

Tuesday

Elizabeth (modified)

21, 15, 9 reps

Clean
Dips

This ended up being a frustrating workout. The prescribed workout calls for 135lb cleans which I was pretty sure I could handle. But, as is usually the case, I thought I should start with 95lbs and work up to 135lbs on the 2nd and 3rd sets. The 95lbs was brutal. Even with much less weight, I had to pause to catch my breath by about the 16th set. The latter sets were the same, I had to pause about half way through. The dips were also just as bad. I had done my normal warmup of situps, pushups, squats, pullups and dips before the workout. I used 54lbs of assistance weight on the 15 rep dips knowing that I had dips in my workout today. But it was hard enough that I kept the assistance weight for the workout. Really thought I could handle this workout as prescribed but I didn’t come close.

Wednesday

Run

Went to a local middle school track and ran repeats. Warmed up and cooled down with a very gentle 400m.

2 sets
100m, 200m, 400m

Much harder and slower than I thought I would be. Even 400s are hard for me at any type of speed.

Thursday

5 x 5 bench press

3 rounds
20 situps
max rep pullups

Bench press is still ridiculously weak. Set weights 104, 154, 154, 154, 154. Situps were done flat with feet anchored by a 14lb medicine ball. Form was really failing by around 15 reps. The pullups went better than I expected. I dropped my assistance weight to half of what I normally use, which was 54lbs. I managed 10, 9 and 9 reps. Best results so far.

Friday

Rest

Saturday

Ran with Jameson as my pace car. My son Jameson was riding his bike and I let him set the pace. Luckily, a 7 year old can only ride so fast. On the way out he would ride ahead and wait on me and then on the way back he was more fatigued and I would run ahead while he would catch his breath. Then he would overtake me. Very nice day on the trail. Fantastic to get outside.

Sunday

Rest

Very sore legs apparently from my short run with Jameson on Saturday. Not really sure why all of the pain today. Seems out of the blue.

Monday

Rest

Tuesday

Run

Tabata 12 degreee incline
30 seconds on 20 seconds off x 10

I will admit that I have been dreading a tabata run. I have had the opportunity to do one for 5 weeks and yet have decided to skip them repeatedly. I just didn’t think I had that much juice in the tank. This week, I decided like it or not, I would try it. This is slightly different than most tabata runs. The most common is 8 rounds of 30 seconds on and 20 seconds off. Although this was slightly longer, I was only looking at the longer rest interval. It made it seem more reasonable.

So, I got to the gym and did my normal warmup, 15 situps, air squats, pushups, pullups and dips. I then jogged a half mile to finish my warm up. I pushed the incline button on the treadmill and ran it up to the prescribed 12 degrees. I was actually giggling as the stupid machine was rising. It was about half way up when I thought that there was no possible way that it could get higher, but it did. It finally got the 12 degree incline and I ran the speed up to around 6 while standing on the edges of the treadmill. Once it was at speed I waited for a round number on the clock and I was off.

The first couple of rounds were difficult but I was thinking that it wasn’t that bad. By the time I got to the seventh round, I was unable to catch my breath in between rounds and desperately wanted to stop. 8, 9 and 10 were progressively harder. I had to consciously think about lifting my feet fearing that I was going to be thrown from my menace of the day. I did finish with no stopping or reduction in speeds. Happy.

Wednesday

3 rounds

500m row
15 kettlebell swings (50lb)
15 pullups

I mixed up my rowing a little today. I moved the damper to 5 for the 2nd and 3rd 500 meters. It makes rowing easier but you don’t move as far. I was trying to stay right at 2.00 minute / 500m. I managed about 2:05 for each leg. I was excited about the kettlebell swing since I don’t normally have access to one in our gym. But, luckily a trainer left one in the general area and I took the opportunity to try a kettlebell instead of the dumbbell swings that I had originally planned. This felt a lot easier than last time with significantly more weight. Pullups continue to be a weak link. Even using 90lbs of assistance, 15 reps is incredibly hard. I have to pause usually around 12 reps. Ideas?

Thursday

Run

4 x 800m, 2 min rest between sets

Run went OK, but like I have mentioned in the past, I am really looking forward to running outside. Ran all intervals at an 8 minute mile pace. Felt that I could have run faster which is frustrating after completing the sets. Next time.

Friday

Rest

Saturday

6 mile run

Ran outside for the first time in several months. Absolutely thrilled with the Olentangy Trail. I found the start of the trail on a few miles from our house and was more surprised to find it plowed. Rolling paved trail through the woods and along the river. Awesome. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really on my game. The whole day left me feeling out of it. My run was only a little over 4 miles at about a 9 minute pace. Maybe better next time. Still thinking of an 8 minute pace for a 5K in my future. We’ll see.

Sunday

Unplanned rest day. Went to visit my parents with the wife and kids. Although I didn’t technically work out, I did help to shovel some ice from the driveway and played with the kids sled riding.

This week was a train wreck. Between being sick and being slightly injured from my workout last week, I accomplished next to nothing. Absolutely demoralizing.

Monday – Thursday

Rested and recuperated.  Last Sunday I had done a workout with deadlifts and good mornings. The deadlifts didn’t feel bad at the time, but I did mention that they felt awkward. The good mornings on the other hand felt great. They were hard and I truly felt like I was working my hamstrings. Well, I did work my hamstrings. Right to the point of almost not being able to walk. Monday – Wednesday were painful. My hamstrings were very tight and my extreme lower back was aching. On top of this pain, I manage to get a cold. Nothing special just a run of the mill cold that made me miserable for most of the week. My nose just would not stop running and the antihistamines were making me light headed.

Friday

Redemption day. Still didn’t feel 100% so I figured that I would simply run on the treadmill. Just a nice slow jog to see if my hamstrings would cooperate. They did cooperate but my run felt pretty sad. About 2 miles into the run, I felt tired and weak. At 3 miles I called it a day.

Saturday

More running. I still wasn’t excited about lifting. You realize how many different exercises from the CrossFit world hit your back. I had picked a tempo run and was excited to get outside and run. There is a nice track at a local school and planned to use that for my workout. When I got there it was covered in about 6 inches of snow. Apparently the kids aren’t running outside this time of the year.

The run was 8 x 200m. It was a simple little run. Short sprints. Rest equal to 5 times the time it takes you to run the 200m.

So, I abandoned the track and went to the gym with my tail between my legs. Forget it. I’ll just run the stupid thing on the treadmill. Well, my head wasn’t in the game. I decided that I could handle 8.5 on the treadmill or around 7 minute miles. This is quick for me. I am not fast. Unfortunately, my head decided that I should run .25 miles. 200meters and .25 miles is the same thing right? : ) So, after the first quarter I was pretty tired. But then I started thinking about my rest. I thinking, “it took me 1:45 to run the quarter, that means, I should rest about 9 minutes. WHAT!?!” Well, I didn’t realize the runs were supposed to be 200 meter runs until I got home later that evening. What I ended up doing, is resting about 3 minutes between runs, because that was the longest time I could stand just standing around. I ran 1 mile or 4 intervals, gave up, ran another mile at a normal 5K pace and went home.

Sunday

Back to the weights.

5×5 thrusters 95lbs

3 rounds for time
15 situps, 15 pushups

The thrusters were harder than I expected. My legs just aren’t fast getting out of the hole. From the bottom of the squat I feel like I am moving in slow motion until about half way up. The situps and pushups went smoothly into the 2nd round. I got about 12 situps before I had to stop to breath, same with pushups. By the third round, I had to break the situps and pushups into 4 groups to get through the round.

Looking forward to a better week next week.

What! We routinely used it in spaghetti, chili and many other recipes that called for ground beef. Taking my dad to task, I finally looked at the label. Turns out, as usual, he is right.

The common ground beef sold in our grocery stores is 80/20, 90/20 and even lower ratios of fat. The last roll of frozen ground turkey that I bought was Butterball brand ground turkey. The fat content of the roll is 25%. Even more crazy is that they put “50% less fat than beef”. That may have been true in the past with higher fat percentages, but, it simply isn’t true with the commonly sold ground beef in our local grocery stores.

Luckily, you can further reduce the amount of fat in ground beef simply by draining the excess fat after browning and rinsing under hot water. A study by the Journal of The American Dietetic Association recently confirmed that you can reduce the amount of fat by 50% by simply following this procedure.

Make sure to keep reading those labels.