Hang squat cleans and some thoughts on the end of the year...

Ah... yes... some hang squat cleans. My favorite! Well sort of.... :) I'm a big fan of push presses too. :) Anyhoo... even though the neck is still giving me lots of grief, I made it to the Blue Room this am. We hit some hang squat cleans to warm up with before we hit the WOD. I love hang cleans. They are one of my favorites. They weren't always so. When we started working the cleans a lot in March, mine sucked. So for those of you who feel like you can't master this move, yes you can. There are before and after videos of me... hang on while I find them. Ah yes... here we go. This is mid-March to the beginning of May. When I first started I was jumping back instead of just going vertical and going in a jump to land stance. Now, I have a pretty efficient movement. I've continued to work on my form since that video, but I think it's pretty awesome what happens when something clicks. It just takes off. Today we were working more on form and reps of lower weight than on working up heavy. So today my hang squat clean maxed at 85. They didn't feel great though, which kinda bummed me out. But before I get off on a tangent... here's what the fun today looked like.

Warm-up
9 reps of weight
35
45
55
65
75
85

WOD
10 rounds or 20 minutes
18 Push-ups (I did 9 thanks to my twinges)
15 Jumping pull-ups
30 Squats

I got through 8 rounds of this in the 20 minutes and it didn't feel too bad. The push-ups were hard because my shoulder and neck were tweaky. It's weird. This whole week has just sort of felt off. Jerry keeps telling me that CrossFit works like a ratchet (did I spell that right?) Sometimes we need to go backwards a bit and seem to plateau before we can move forward and continue to get stronger, faster, etc. I feel like I'm a bit stuck right now. I haven't PR'd in a few weeks, and I just don't feel on or smooth. I hope that right now this is just a result of the ratcheting back and the end of the year. The end of the school year, while it means that teachers finally get to kick back a bit, also means that we begin to crash down from all the testing stress and all the stress of the kids behaviors at the end of the year. When you are at the end of your leash for so long, when the leash is finally loosened, you realized just how zapped you've been. It's a weird thing. You would think it would be the other way around. So, anyway, I'm hoping that all this is just a result of school stress and it will be done next week and I can focus.

As an aside though, if you are reading and you happen to be a parent, as you wind down your school year, please remember to thank your child's/childrens' teacher/s. I don't necessarily mean go out and buy them something, although we certainly do appreciate gift cards and small gifts. It's just that they're not really necessary. We really don't need more little trinkets and gifts, although like I said we do like them, but when kids or parents write a note or make a card, it means a lot to us. It lets us know that people do appreciate what we do and that we've done a good job. Trust me when I tell you that very often we question that. We get flack from students, parents, administration, colleagues. It's hard to always keep perspective. Sometimes those notes during teacher appreciate week or the end of the year are the validation we need. Teachers do a ton of behind the scenes work that you never see, and while you may from time to time get angry with us because we don't do what you would like us to do, please remember that we are typically busting our butts for 20+ kids and we try to keep everyone's best interests at heart. We do tons of things like grade papers until late, make lesson plans, make tests, copy papers, write evaluations, write referrals, and yes, spend tons of our own money on things for our own classrooms. I know sometimes you may feel like we don't care about your children, but we do. And we wouldn't spend our money and time if we didn't. So please, please, please... be sure to thank a teacher as the next few weeks come to a close. It really means a lot... probably more than you know.

*Katie steps down from her soapbox*

So, I'm hoping that as these next few days draw to a close my ratchet will swing back forward, and I'm hoping that I will continue to see some improvements. BTW, if you haven't checked out my poll this week... do so... and if you don't know what the "Ass Whooping Chronicles" are, check them out on the main site, then vote.... ;)

Alamo CrossFit

If you haven't been to visit Rick down at Alamo CrossFit, you really should. He's one of the funniest guys I know. He's the only person I know who can combine dogs pooping, the latin diet, and barbell chicks all into his site and relate them all to CrossFit. He also comes up with funnier WOD names then me. Catch the name of today's workout in his post... ;) We miss him in the blue room. But Rick had a nice post, of course humorous, about me today, so I thought I'd post it up. Go visit him. :) Tell him I sent you, and then harass him big time. :) Tehehe....

Rick's Post

Thursday, 12 June 08

I got this friend...yeah, I actually do have a few of those and some I din't even pay. But I have this pal, Katie. Katie is part of a great group of CrossFitter's that makeup the crew at CrossFit Challenge in Old Town Alexandria, VA. She's inspiring in a few very special ways. One is that she loves Latin food ( ), but secondly and more importantly is that she's a regular person, a regular gal, who embraced CrossFit in all it's sweat inducing and muscle paining glory, and has become something I think many peeps think they may never be. Does that make sense?

Probably not, so I thought I would have Katie share her story with y'all. Oh, and in case you missed it, Katie was the CrossFit chick featured on CF HQ website on June 10th, 2008. After that, click HERE for "Row, MoFo, Row"

"CrossFit brought back a part of me that I thought I lost several years ago. My strength. Now, I don't want you to get confused. I don't mean my physical strength, I mean my tenacity, my drive, my strength to be able to keep going and persevere when things in life get rough." Read more HERE...

Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 07:44AM by Rick Martinez |

Strict press has become my arch enemy...

3rd time is a charm right? Well, this is the 3rd time I've hit the blue room when we've done strict presses to a heavy max, and this is the third time I've wound up with a stinger down the right side and am unable to move my head much at all. I don't know why the strict press gets me. I mean, I do but I don't. Strict press is a lot of upper body strength, which I've got, but I don't understand why it's always on the right side, and it's every STINKING time. Literally, it just is a wave of pain running down my neck and down my back along my shoulder blade. This time, I've got the added fun of it going out onto my shoulder and starting down my arm. WHAT THE CRAP!?! For cereal... what the crap? I have iced it already this morning, and imagine me trying to conduct an "Awesome Authors Cafe" while holding an ice pack on my neck and trying not to move my head. More challenging than it sounds. It's days like today where I WISH I was a cube monkey. I'm not happy with my performance today at all. That freakin' stinger kept me off the chin up bar today. I couldn't look up, I could only do two reps at a time... it sucked. SUCKED SUCKED SUCKED!!! I hate workouts like this where I just feel crappy. But here's what the fun looked like:

Warm-up
Work up heavy to 1 rep strict press max

WOD
Approx 400 m run (due to paving on our usual route)
30 push presses
30 chins
400 m run
24 chins
24 push presses
400 m run
18 chins
18 push presses

I brought this one in in 27:43, a full 8 minutes behind Stacey. Ouch. The running today actually felt pretty good despite the humidity, but that was really the only thing that felt good. Remember me saying last week after my overzealous running that I was going to start listening to my body when it said ow? Well, I lied. My neck and shoulder hurt so bad, but I refused to give up on the the workout. I don't know why but once I start, I can't call "uncle". It's the stubborn German in me I guess. I don't really know. All I know is that it better fix itself by tomorrow... or I will be supremely angry. SUPREMELY.... grrrrrr....

Some more interval training and many thanks...

Before I jump into our interval training fun from today, I just want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by to read my blog today, and especially those who commented. I love writing my experiences down, and it means a lot to me when other CrossFitters take the time to share their thoughts with me. Hands down this has been one of the best days I've had in a long time. I loved hearing from so many people and seeing my post on the affiliate page... wow. That may have just made my year. The only thing that could have made this day better would be an email from Coach Glassman himself telling me that he liked my post. (I'm not holding my breath on that... he is a very busy man... :P ) Everyone's thoughts and support today really made that post worth writing. This community is amazing and I'm glad that I am a part of it!

Now, I feel like I've been waaaay mushy and sentimental lately, so let's get to the pain shall we? Interval training. Should I say it? Dare I say it? Oh what the hell.... GASSER! Ha! I said it! Tami, I'm laughing already. If you didn't see Tami's quote about gassers, go read her comments from my blog last week. Anyhoo... interval training is rough, especially when the clock never stops. I like most of the movements today, and actually felt smooth through some of them, but with others, I had a rough time finding a groove. Here's what we looked like today.

1:00 minute of work on each station
6 stations
4 rounds
Clock never stops

Exercises
KB swings
Box jumps
AB mat
Row
Squats
AB mat

Basically, box jumps, the AB mat, squats, and the row all felt pretty good. But again the KB swings really slowed me down. I said the other day that I need to keep picking up the 45, so I did. I swung the 45 for all of the rounds, but my numbers weren't very high. I'm having a really hard time keeping my grip, and keeping my hip snap strong. I don't know why though. KB swings used to be a good exercise for me, but they seemed to have slipped. I'm not sure how to improve my number of reps, or my speed on these. I feel like I do pull the bell down quickly, but it feels like my hips are not strong enough or are too slow. They're really a bear for me. Push ups are getting better, so I hope I can start workin on these swings. We scored this one point per rep on any given exercise, row of course being calories. I hit this in with 411, but I wish I could have done more. Stacey's total was over 600. How does she do that? She is seriously a machine. She doesn't stop. She is the true definition of a firebreather. Awesome work Stacey. Can't wait for another fun day in the blue room tomorrow! :)

Um guys....?

I kinda made the affiliate page.... :)

CrossFit makes me ponder life's big questions and consider a leap of faith...

I'm going to be honest. This post will be long, and it may be one of those things that you have to read in it's entirety before it makes much sense. So, if you feel a little sleepy, maybe grab a coffee, and settle in for a minute.

We all have our own perspectives, our own views on life. Until recently, with regards to the whole destiny/fate vs. making our own destiny debate I've always kind of been one for thinking that we make our own destiny. I've always thought that working hard would bring the results that you wanted. In most cases of course. Obviously there will be times when you work hard and will not get the desired results, but I was always a believer that hard work would see you through, and you could create whatever destiny you wanted to create. I never really believed that there was a series of wheels already set in motion that would create your life for you. I always thought that was a load of bull that people created when they didn't want to take responsibility for things.

I have to say that lately, CrossFit is making me question my own thoughts. I know it sounds a little wonky, but hear me out. I can't help but feel lately like there is a series of events in my life in motion that I cannot control, all sort of revolving around CrossFit. Had it not been for my interaction with Bobbby, I never would have found Jerry. Had I not found Jerry, I never would have made friends with some of the most awesome people in the world. Had I not met Jerry and these people, I never would have started this blog. Had I not started this blog, I never would have had reason to write any of these stories down. Had I not written this blog, I never would have gotten on a plane and flown to Chicago. Had I not written this blog, I never would have run a 5k. Had I not written this blog, I would not have had the opportunity to interact with all the people who have found me.

I feel right now that CrossFit is taking my life in a new direction. I feel as if I'm in a boat on a river, and CrossFit is the current, taking me somewhere downstream. I'm not really sure where it's taking me, but it's becoming a very exciting ride. Everyday I wake up jazzed for the workouts, and even though I usually feel really terrible during (and after) the workouts, I can't imagine CrossFit not being in my life at the moment. It feels as if through hard work I did create some of my own destiny, but at the same time, it feels as if things are just happening for a reason.

This reasoning, these happenings, have caused me to start to examine other things. This is where the whole leap of faith idea comes in. How do you describe a leap of faith? Well, I describe it as jumping into something and having faith that everything will work out well in the end. People take leaps of faith all the time. We trust in a relationship that if we take the leap of faith and tell someone we love them, they'll say it back. We take the leap of faith that the decisions we make in our jobs are the right ones and will be the best for our company, client, etc. We make the leap of faith with our workout programs. We jump and have faith that our work will produce results. We take leaps of faith when we gamble, hoping that the outcome will be better for us than the house. We have leaps of faith when we leave one job, and trust that the next will be better.

Last summer, I took a leap of faith. I left one school for another and had to trust that my decision was the right one for me. My leap was a good one. My new school has a lot to offer their students, and truly has been a great place for me, even if the year has been less than perfect. However, I'm wondering, if it is time to take another leap of faith. A wise man once said that when you cease to enjoy your work, it is time to stop doing it. I'm not 100% sure I enjoy teaching anymore. The feelings that I used to have about making a difference and getting kids to love reading and learning are gone. I feel more like an underpaid babysitter than someone who actually makes a difference in anyone's life. Amnongst tests, and grading, and IEP's, and lesson plans, and spending all my own money in the classroom, and spending 10 hours a day at school, those feelings have disappeared. The feeling of dread in the mornings that has replaced it is sometimes is like a lead weight vest. But, BUT, when I get up in the mornings to go to CrossFit, it's different. There is an excitement there, an energy. I feel like Jerry has given me some wicked cold that I just can't shake. Not that I want to, but I'm trying to make you understand that it's not something that goes away. I may not always LOOK like I have energy first thing at 0600 (cause let's face it, sometimes it's a miracle my eyes are actually open) but I do.

It just makes me wonder, why isn't teaching this way anymore? Shouldn't it be? I should love it, but since I don't, is it time to make a leap and figure out what I should do? The question was raised several times in Chicago about me doing a cert. The thought has crossed my mind, I've indicated interest several times. But I've had some ponderings about making CrossFit more than just a hobby. Sometimes (certainly not always) with this blog and with my words, I feel like I can and do make a difference to people. Not a huge one, but sometimes words can be your enemy, and sometimes they can be your friend. I feel like sometimes my words are people's friends. They help them to understand, or just to get over the hump of a bad day.

I wonder if I would be a good trainer should I make that leap. I would have MUCH to learn if I ever wanted to be 1/10 as good as Jerry, or even Andrea and Chris, and Adrienne, and the other CF'ers who have gone to certs. But part of me thinks I might be good at it. I've tried to answer the question as to why people find my blog interesting, and the conclusion that I've come to, is that I think I'm relatable. I'm not a firebreather. I'm not a wringer. I'm normal. I'm average, and people can relate to that. They can relate to my weight struggles... they can relate to my struggles with our workouts. It makes sense. I question whether or not that would then make them trust me as a trainer. It would be a long road... it would have to be a long term goal.... it's not something that I could change over night... but should I, dare I leap?

My grandfather used to be a teacher. When he discovered that both my middle sister and I were going to be teachers, he was tickled pink. Some of his most fond memories are of the FFA kids he used to teach back in the day. He taught agriculture because he loved to farm, and he loved plants. And he has told me hundreds of times that I'm preparing my students for a 75 year journey. But, even though those are some of his fondest memories, he didn't teach to retirement. He left and went to insurance, and eventually real estate. He realized that there were other things he loved doing. And plants, oh heavens. My grandfather is currently in not so hot of health, but until his recent issues, he could tell you anything you wanted to know. He's a stubborn man, but a smart one. He realized that it's not a failure to switch jobs and do something else. I think part of the reason I fear leaving teaching is because I've always been someone who felt that whatever you went to college for, that's what you needed to do for the rest of your life. But I don't want to run a rat race for the next 50 years. I want to be happy. But happiness sometimes involves risk right? So how do you know when you should take the risk? When do you know that a leap of faith is necessary? How do you know that the faith part won't fail you? Do you ever really know?

These are all of course just some more of my mindless ramblings... but any thoughts are always appreciated...

Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.~David McCullough

A CrossFit Old Town benchmark... and a BBQ! Woot!

Jerry. Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. What can I say about the man? Sometimes I think he is very sadistic. :) Like when he writes up workouts like the one we hit today. Andrea informed us after the fact today that 75 snatches alone is a CrossFit benchmark workout called Randy. Interesting. Because here's what our fun looked like today:

Warm up
2 quick rounds 5 reps-Snatch
35
55

WOD
For time
75 Barbell Snatch
75 Barbell Thruster
Pro women-55
Pro men-75
Scale as needed

Now, Jerry did let us partition these, so it really looked like this
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
Of course it was back and forth. 12 snatches, 12 thrusters etc. But seriously, this was just brutal. I brought this one in in 18:41. I can't remember (sans yesterday which doesn't count because that was strictly heat related) the last time I actually sweat that much. I was covered. I knew from the get go that this one was going to suck, and rightfully so it did but there were some seriously steller performances. Especially round 3. Wait for the photos later folks, but Gar and Supersport went head to head as the only 2 left to hit the WOD. It was a flurry, to use Jerry's words. The two of them were awesome. Supersport is consistantly one of our top performers and to see Gar step up and finish before him today was amazing. It truly is a testament to all of Gar's hard work. He has an amazing story, and Jerry has some before and after photos of him up on our site, and his progress is steller. You should really go see Gar's story. This is from March, but I'm sure you can imagine how he has continued to progress. Gar is one of my most loyal readers and I love working out with him at 0600 everyday! :) Way to go Gar! You really rocked out today! Speaking of rocking out, so did Stacy and Andrea who were the fastest two women on the day. Kara with a K was really rockin out today and had some solid form too. Robin did a great job with her form today too and came through strong as well. James and Stewart gave some gutsy performances at the end today. They refused to give up and got 'er done. I'm sure I missed someone, so I'm sorry, but these were the highlights of the day just from the top of my head. Oh! Laura! She was my awesome partner today! I love working out with her! :) What a good workout today!

Now, also to post up is the news that the BBQ has been decided! It's going to be this Friday (the 13th... woooooooo! :P ) at my place. If you don't know where it is, email me and I'll be glad to help you out. (use the email link folks) We'll start when you're done with work (5ish) and go until you feel like leaving. :) We will have toys and some whiffleball will ensue. :) People today asked what they can bring. Like before, I'll be providing some staples. Kabobs (I know you've all been waiting for them) veggies, lunch meats, some fruit, and lots of water. If you want to bring something to add to the party, please feel free. I'm not sure what everyone likes to drink, so please feel free to bring your beverage of choice. We do have MANY more Zoners now than before, so Zone friendly is probably preferred but certainly not required.

***Side note... one thing I am lacking on is space to sit. We have the whole yard to play in out back, but I only have two chairs with my patio table. If you have a pop up chair, you may want to bring it. :)

Now, I know there are some Fairfax and DC CrossFitters who read on a pretty regular basis. If you want to come down and see how we do things at CFOT ( ;) ), feel free to get in touch and give me a holler. I've heard from some of you before, so feel free to connect with our affiliate in a fun way.

BTW, this is like my 5th post in 2 days... so feel free to go back and get caught up! :P LOL... gotta love my mindless ramblings!!! :)