Sometimes the little things matter!

Before I could only do a HSPU down to the Abmat.

     For me when I come into do a WOD at CFOC I strive to always do the WOD RX. This means doing all movements as prescribed. If it calls for a specific weight, prescribed is that weight. After injuring my shoulder several months ago,  I finally feel like I am getting back to my former abilities.
    By the way, if you do injure yourself don't do like I did and try to "baby it" back to health. Go see a professional. I am totally sold on a great chiropractor now. But thats for another blog.
    Because of my shoulder being less than 100%, I have struggled with many overhead movements, My press/push press weight dropped significantly.  HSPU's were almost unheard of after the injury. I continued to work them increasing the range of motion.
   With the excuse that I could not do the HSPU RX (because of my shoulder) I chose to always use an Abmat instead of going all the way down to the ground with my head. I also had trouble using a "kip" to assist in the movement as every time i would try my body would come away from the wall. So every few days I would spend 3-5 minutes to practice.


   Today, after we finished a fun little girls vs. boys WOD, I noticed a couple of girls practicing HSPU's. They started with 45lb plates on either side of the Abmat, essentially making it flush. I tried and was able to do 3 this way. I then tried to repeat using a body "kip". Guess what I did it!
   Then they added 2 more plates on top of the others to make it a negative starting position. I muscled one out!!! I jokingly said" It would probably take me til Tuesday to get to 3." After a few minutes I tried the negative with the "kip". I GOT 3 IN A ROW!!! To which a friend said" It's not Tuesday yet!"

  Remember, little accomplishments can mean as much as having a fast time, or finishing RX.

  SOMETIMES THE LITTLE THINGS REALLY DO MATTER!!

This stuff really works!

Ever since I "drank the kool-aid" of CrossFit and Paleo lifestyle I have seen great results. I have lost pounds and inches off my body. I have more energy and feel much better on a daily basis. People always ask me if I think it was just the CF or the diet? I say neither, its a lifestyle change. The word diet to me means....Temporary plan. I have changed to eating "clean" not for a month or six weeks, but hopefully forever. I view CrossFit the same way. I hope to be CF'ing til I'm old and gray.

I know my results have been more than I would have even imagined 6 months ago, but it's left me wondering... Is it just me....

Well yesterday morning my beautiful wife Tina walked in with a huge smile on her face and said" Another five lbs, and look". She was holding her "old" skinny jeans up  with a 2-3 " gap in the front. Now my wife is pretty petite anyway (around 135#) so 5 pounds is SIGNIFICANT for her. She started out eating some of my Paleo dishes, and now eats most of them. She is CF'ing 3-4 days a week and loves it. That doesn't mean she doesn't come home after a WOD and say" WOW today's really sucked" but she gets through them.

She has a small group of gals that text or FB each other what time they'll be there. If she responds that she'll be there at 6 PM, she is sort of committed. She has good friends there suffering with her and they do it. They share each others successes and failures. That keeps all of them involved and committed.

So it seems it is working for 2 of the 3 people in our house. My 14 year old is excited to do some CF while on summer break from school. Now getting a 14 y/o to eat anything he doesn't want is a challenge, but I bet even eating cleaner part-time and CF'ing he'll see results too.

I want to personally thank Jen and Scott Cereghino of CrossFit Oregon City for improving my life. Come on down and check it out. I might even be coaching that day.

Brad

An update on me!

Well I guess I haven't updated my blog in quite a while. I have still been CrossFitting religiously and making great progress. Since the first on January I have gone from 223 lbs to 196 lbs. this morning. My goal weight is 195, so I am right there. During this time we did a "Whole 30 " challenge in which we did a very strict Paleo diet with NO sugar or alcohol.

Last month I attended the CrossFit level 1 trainer certification course, and am happy to say "I PASSED!!"
I hope to start training athletes or at least assist in training classes at CFOC.

Also and this fact I am very proud of my beautiful wife Tina started going to CF. I finally convinced her to come in and try it out on a Saturday, and she was hooked. She finished her On-Ramp program last month and is attending 3-4 classes per week. I am so proud of her.

Great link to lifting videos

Well I haven't posted in a while, but I was at work looking at several videos to improve my lifting technique. Check them out.

http://againfaster.com/en/blog/categories/micd-instructor/powerlifting/

Doing a workout even if your sore!

Today I got up form bed and took a shower. I had to get ready for work. I got to the Fire Station and thought. I am really sore today, I think I'll just go strectch out my legs. Yesterdays WOD was brutal on the legs. 20 minutes AMRAP ( As many rounds/reps as possible) of 10 deadlifts (155#) 20 box jumps (24") 30 Walking lunges (carrying 30 # dumbbells). Between the DL's (66 total) , the jumping (120), and the lunges (180) my legs/hips were destroyed.

So as I drank my morning coffee I told myself "A good stretching session is gonna make me feel better."

8 AM rolls around and I head into the weight room, I do start stretching my quads, hips etc. Then I grab my phone to see what the WOD for my box is today. Relief it's Bench Press and Pullups......I can do those even with sore legs. After I finished the prescribed WOD I added 50 Sit Ups, and worked on my Turkish Get Ups and Snatchs ( with just a plain bar).

I stretched out well after and thought, I still feel sore, but I am glad I worked out anyway. Sore muscles need to be moved.

Getting whipped by a girl.....Good for HER!

This morning I went into my Crossfit gym for my daily WOD. It looked to be a fairly easy one at first glance 30-20-10 Air Squats, Pushups, Pullups.   We did some heavy Deadlifts before the WOD as well as a warmup series to start.

This morning in the  8 AM class there were only 2 of us and the instructor. One of the things I really like about crossfit is that because the workouts are always different somedays there are things I excel at , and somedays other body types do WAY better.  Also you can always modify a workout to the individuals strength/ mobility level.

Well back to the WOD. This set took me 9:13, the other person in my class 8:45. The last sets of pushups and pull-ups I totally ran out of gas.
Brianna finished strong....Good for HER!

FireWod a cool website for my FF brothers/Sisters

Trevor Brownlee is a FF for CCFD#1, he is has put together a great website of CrossFit. Has a new WOD every few days, all with scalable WOD's.

http://www.firewod.com/