The Gingerbread man gone paleo

Hi all, I know I’ve been uber silent lately. I’m back to working out and will prolly resume regular blogging in the new year.  In the meantime, check out this guy, awesome stuff!

By Mel Mack @ CF Newport Via Barbells and Bacon

Welcome to Loserville – Population:me

okay, fallen completely off the wagon, hence no posts….will resume posting once I’ve figured out a way to get back in the groove with everything. Hope you are well.
Jeff

Countdown Day 47 – Air Wudchuk

Tuesday September 1, 2009 6:30 AM

Sadly, I have to take some time off of Crossfit, it isn’t going to stop me or become an excuse for not making my goal. I went in to the other gym after helping Julie get out of the house with the rugrats this morning. The guys were playing some ball, so I joined in. We got at least 4 games in, not much to say, I had one good steal, 2 good three’s-including a game-winner and about 75 fouls. Our team was pretty over matched the last two games and we pulled it out. Lots of great running today! Hopefully, I will be able to get back to the Fort by next Monday – I gotta make sure I get back by Oct. 1 at the latest…Nate has a bet to pay off, and I want to be there to see it!!!

Weight:196.8 – Yeah!!! Pretty good diet this weekend and yesterday, and it paid off. If I keep it up, it will be very difficult for me NOT to hit the 175 goal by my bday!

Countdown Day 49 – Rowing & Volleyball

Thursday August 27, 2009 6:00 PM

Got to the Fort today, and realized that it was the womens class….DOH! Turned out okay b/c there was a couple guys there doing the rowing workout.

WOD:
4000M Row For Time (DUH!)
15:52.2

Thoughts: I was happy with this one, through the first 3000, I was neck and neck with Bill and Zach, and just a touch behind Matt L. I didn’t lose my pace so much as they picked up theirs. My 2nd to last 500 was my worst at 2:05 and I finished with a 1:59. I approached this much like the 1000M swim, nice even quick pace the whole time, and it really worked out. I can’t remember all the splits, but outside of the first 1000, which was very quick, all of the 500s were anywhere from 1:57 to 2:06. I came in last, which was expected, but it wasn’t nearly the gap I thought it would be. I was within a minute of all three of the guys I was chasing! To give you their bio’s – Wild Bill – The founder of the feast (name that movie???) Zach – The mayor, a super strong rower and Matt L. one of our elites.

Had Volleyball this morning and had a good time playing for nearly 2 hours, I was a sweaty mess though!

Weight:
I know I should be weighing myself at the same time, after or before the same activity (the stinking Wii reminds me of this every time I weigh myself), but I’m not gonna. I’m not getting too up or down about the results. Just like to have the general gauge on where I’m at!
And….where I’m at is
298.6 – in the morning after VB, in all my glory, post #1
Nice, am happy about that! 1.6 more lbs until I can officially go to Papa Joes, but I’ll prolly save that until after my birthday.

Countdown Day 51 – A Scaling we will go

Wednesday August 26, 2009 5:30 AM

Enjoying a juicy grassfed ribeye with my honey

Went to bed early, but 5:00 still came too soon. It didn’t help that the baby decided he was hungry at 1am and my lovely bride was dead to the world. No worries, still had time to get all my stuff together, do a pre workout weigh-in and get to the box ontime. Also, here is a pic from my meal last night:

Warm up: 500m row and lots and lots of stretching

WOD: “Nate” – AMRAP in 20:00
2 Muscle Up Progressions
4 Hand Stand Push Ups
8 Kettlebell swings (24K)

10 Rounds

Want Mohr:
40 Sprints

Thoughts:
Muscle Up Progressions - these were difficult, but since they were only two, it was easy to pound through them every round. I need to raise the rings next time.
HSPU – Since we had the rings out for the MUP – we had to do these on the wall, so instead of a push up, it was a controlled lower. The hardest thing was having to kick back up every time!
KB Swings - I used 24K for the first time today, and OMG is that heavy, after my second set, I wanted to scale lower, but pushed through it and am happy I did.

++Really challenged myself on the KB swings. Getting faster on my sprints – can feel my hip movement as I run, not sure how I should handle that, should I work to move them more or less, I’m guessing more, but if you have an idea, weigh in!
—Keep practicing those handstands!

CrossForter of the day:
Barbie – she was a madwoman today, it was like a blur trying to watch her, she really pushed herself on this. She realized that she was using a lighter kettlebell than she should have, but she definitely made up the difference in picking up her pace! Great work babs!

Weight: 200.8 (Pre-Workout) – not bad, NEED TO KEEP EATING GOOD!! Next weigh in will be Thurs night after CFF. Hope to be around 197

—

Countdown Day 52 – Ribeye Tonight!

Tuesday 8/25/2009 5:30AM

Woke up ontime, got my stuff packed easily and off to the Fort, it helped a lot that my wife was already up doing her coupons and I could make as much noise as I wanted. It also helped me all morning that she told me we were grilling our super good GrassFed Ribeye’s tonight -mmmmmmm, can’t wait! I’ve gone a little MIA in my CF workouts for the past few weeks, I’m averaging about 3 a week for the past 3 weeks, which just doesn’t feel like enough. Of course I have good excuses – but in order to keep losing weight and gaining strength, I have to keep up the routine. Hopefully soon I will be able to rejoin Team Saturday, I miss it a lot!
Enough babble. Feeling weak this morning, prolly a lot in my head from lack of Fort time. My last visit was Friday morning.
Tough Warmup
2:00 Double under practice
2 Sets of:
10 Air Squats
Driveway Sprint – There and Back
10 Pullups
Driveway Sprint – There and Back
10 Ring Dips
Driveway Sprint – There and Back

WOD: AMRAP in 20:00
5 Thrusters @ 25K
7 Hanging Power Cleans @ 25K
10 Sumo Deadlift High Pull @ 25K

10 Rounds

Want Mohr: Sprints – 60

Thoughts: RX was 40K- RX for the ladies was 30K, I generally do the ladies RX, but Wild Bill set the Rounds goal at 15 and I knew I wouldn’t get there at 30K. I’ve also been having some right elbow issues, so the SDHP scared me a bit. This was a really tough workout, I wanted to lay down at round 7, I had Pete in my sights and was gunning for him, but he was just too fast for me, as soon as I got on the same round, he busted out and cranked out a half round while I was sucking air! The other guys didn’t have near the amount of rest that I did, but I’m happy to report that I looked just as gassed as they did. I didn’t leave anything behind today, and was happy about that! Then (for some reason I thought it was a good idea) I did the sprints and am now absolutely gassed, am trying to rehydrate like crazy!

++Good effort today, great scaling to be able to keep moving
—Point that car toward the Fort and get there every chance – 52 days left!

CrossForter of the day: I’ve been saving this one for a bit, b/c he has been so stinking remarkable, but Brice is strong as a stinkin OX, he’s only been coming for like 2 or 3 weeks. And its not like he was a gym rat before starting, hes just that strong – He’s already doing more weight than me in the WODs and strength work with good form. Today he did the 30K and nearly beat me. Great job Brice, I’m excited to see where you will end up!

I’m Back

Hi All, had some issues connecting from work. All fixed now. So we will resume our regularly scheduled blogging.

Goal update – still hovering around 200. Have set 10/18 as my goal for reaching 175. No.Matter.What.
10/18 is my bday btw. I accept gifts.

CFF Day 108 – Fun?

Wednesday August 5, 2009 6:00 PM

Last night I strained my quad muscle again and was hoping not to see a running/sprinting WOD on the board. I got what I wanted b/c it was all arms today! Well…..almost all arms….

Warmup
Sprint Driveway
10 x OH Squats
10 x Pushups
10 sec Handstand
Sprint Driveway
10 x Pull ups
10 x Handstand Push ups
10 x Walking Lunges

Strength: Front Squats 5-5-5 @ 50k-60k-70K -PR

For Fun: 3 x 10 Front Squats @ 30K

WOD: AMRAP in 15:00
5 Hand Stand Push Ups (Green, Blue Bands)
5 Pull Ups (Green Band)
10.5 Rounds

Thoughts:
Strength- These felt really heavy at first, so much so that I thought I wouldn’t be able to go up in weight. Eventually I loosened up and was able to go after it. I still need major work on my squat b/c my elbows kept dipping from the poor form. The weight was a lot, but nothing I shouldn’t be able to do. That is frustrating! I have so many things to work on…why can’t I be perfect at everything?!
WOD – HSPU – these were really hard. The last round I couldn’t even kick into the Hand Stand, so I stopped and did another set of pull ups, by then my shoulders had recovered enough to give me my last set of HSPU, they were ultra hard and I know my arms are going to be drained for a little while. Pullups – Much easier than the HSPU, b/c I was using the green band – I have to start using the Blue for everything, but the target rounds was 12 and I knew I wouldn’t get there with the blue. From now on if it is 7 or Less pullups, I’m using blue and 8 or more I’m using Green. I have to get off of them eventually….the faster the better!

++ My handstand on the wall is getting better, I came off for three times for 2-3 seconds apiece – progress!
—Squats – need to work on them more during downtime

CFF Day 106 – Wild Bill’s Frakenstein

Monday August 3, 2009 6:00 PM

It's Alive...It's alive, but I'm not after that one!!!

Warmup:
Sprint 150Mx2
10 Walking Lunges
10 Pull ups
Sprint 150Mx2
10 Hand stand push ups
10 Pullups

WOD: 3 Rounds for time
150 Single Unders
15 Burpee Deadlifts (45K)
15 Box Jumps (24″)
15 Pullups (Green Band)
15 Knees to Elbows

 

28:29

Thoughts:
I really liked this workout. When Bill put it together, he intended it to be 5 rounds, I like the credit he gives us, but that may have killed me. Going through the workout…Single unders – I’m not sure when, but I’ve become really good at these, I did the first 150 unbroken, only stopped twice the second set, and did 50×3 the third set, it was very nice to be in control of a movement. Burpee Deadlifts- these were fun, to explain these – you roll the bar to your ankles, then you kick your legs out, do a pushup with your hands still on the bar, bring your legs back, set up and do a deadlift. Box Jumps – did 24″, for some reason I’ve been hesitent to get on the 24″ box lately, but these went just fine. Pull ups – these are fine with the green band, had I used the blue band, I would have gotten a DNF. Knees to elbows – I.HATE.KNEES.TO.ELBOWS. For some reason, I can’t do them. Of my 28:29 time, I’m guessing that I spent about 10 minutes on K2E. I single repped all 45 of them. I’m having trobules holding my body weight up while doing the movement. If I try to do two, I feel like my hands will slip off the bar. I’m not sure if it is a weak core, arms or what, but I don’t think that these should be as difficult as they are for me. All in all, I did really well on this workout, I would have done very well if my K2E were on par with the rest of the exercises.

++Good Jump Ropes
—K2E, ask Zach or WB to watch next time to see where I am lacking, b/c when I do them on the floor, I can do 8,000,000 in a row and be just fine.

Crossfitter of the Day - Beth – I came in and she was rocking this one out from the previous class. She really has dedicated herself to being more fit, and you can definitely tell!! She also brought in some cool books for Tiegan to read. Thanks Beth!

CFF Day 103 – Revenge of Nasty Girl ‘Helen’

Friday July 31, 2009 5:30 AM

Filthy 50 + Fran = A man not prepared to battle Helen!

Came into the gym today lethargic and tired. Muscles were still very sore from the past 2 days of CFF. Once again, I didn’t sleep well last night. This is a bit concerning, since I’m always able to sleep well, and 2 nights in a row does not make sense. My weightloss has slowed to a stop, so I’m trying intermittent fasting today. It is basically where you fast for 14 hours, and then eat all of your calories in the next 6 hours, and then give your body another 14 hours to digest, and heal itself. Basically giving the body a longer break from digestion so it can work on other stuff. I’ll let you know how it goes, not sure how I like it. I’m going to try to do it all next week and see how it goes.

Warmup:
Sprint 150M x 2
Backwards Sprint 150M x 2
10 Handstand Push ups
10 Pullups (Blue Band)
5 Overhead Squats
Kettlebell Swings

WOD: Helen
3 Rounds:
- 400M Run
- 21 Kettle bell Swings (16K)
- 12 Pull-ups (Green Band)

I don’t remember the exact time, but I think it was 12:18, perhaps super dave could help me out here…

So, I didn’t have Helen marked in my book so I didn’t have a benchmark while doing it, but I did do it before, because I blogged about it here. So, going through it: Run, I went out very fast on round one, which I think hurt me in the long run, I got back in 1:38, which I think is pretty good, I don’t have a pr for a 400 but that can’t be too far off. I was breathing pretty hard. I had some Kettlebell trobule in that the one I thought I set out was too light, so I had to take 10 seconds and find the right one. GRRRR. KB swings were okay, I did all of them unbroken. I had debated giong to the 24K, but held off b/c I wasn’t feeling strong this morning. I reverted back to the green band for the pull-ups for the same reason. I did 4×3 all three rounds. If I had used the blue band again, I would still be there right now. My Pull-ups haven’t felt as strong this week, prolly from the week off, but its still frustrating.

If you looked at the prior post, you would see that I’m slower by a minute+ from the last time I did this one. Had I paced myself better on this, I think I could have gotten into the 11’s, but today, the PR was not going to be reachable for me.

After CFF, I was able to go play volleyball for a bit with some old friends that I used to play VB every Friday with. It was a great time and I will look forward to doing that every Friday from now on! My timing is still way off….patience grasshopper!! Oh, and I did commit to doing the Grayslake 5k and ‘muddy buddy’ with Joe and Mike next year – that should be interesting! And I put it out there that I want to be at 20:XX by then in the 5k. So I better get a lot faster!