journeyintoselfmatters

Here at Crossfit Omaha we have some truly amazing coaches




Every single one of them knows not only how to teach - but how to coach.

Every single one of them expects me to go all out every day. No excuses.

I'm truly lucky to train under you guys




Thank you.


Workouts (I'm really behind, so I won't post all of them):
Monday 3/30/09:
3 rounds for time of:
Tabata Burpees, 4 roundsTabata Situps, 4 roundsTabata Wall Ball,
4 rounds
Rest 1 minute
Total: 261


Saturday 3/28/09:
Team Hanging Grace
50 reps for time:
75 pound Hang Squat Clean and Jerk
Teammate: Bryce
Time: 7:40


Friday 3/27/09:
21-15-9
Box jumps 20 in
Deadlift 140#
Clapping pushups (hopping the first 21 and then to "on knees" clapping)
Time: 9:10


Thursday 3/26/09:
GOT MY FIRST ROPE CLIMBS!


Wednesday 3/25/09:
30th BIRTHDAY!
and...
Push press --- ended up with 118 x 2 for last "set" of three. I think we ended up doing close to 9 sets that day.

I just had to share this. Found it on the Crossfit Affliates blog:

I would like to let you in on a little secret: A secret to CrossFit excellence. Your thoughts may now be drifting to the foundation of any elite fitness program -- nutrition. Okay, so now the gears in your head are turning and now switching to intense metabolic conditioning. I'm not denying that you are right because you are, in fact, correct. What are you thinking about now? Is it gymnastics perhaps, weightlifting, sports? Ah, so you know the theoretical hierarchy of developing an athlete. Big deal, right? Actually yes, it is quite a big deal and I trust that each of you fully understand it.
So, those are the essential ingredients for forging elite fitness but what happened to that secret that I mentioned? Now don't fret my contrarian brethren, I'm getting to that. As a CrossFit trainer, I strive to teach you every movement correctly so you can perform them safely. As you become consistent with the mechanics of the movement, only then will we ratchet up the intensity. Once the level of intensity seemingly cannot go any further, we must dig deep within ourselves to overcome the mental and physical exhaustion. Is this an easy task when tackling a WOD by ourselves? I would venture to guess that most of you probably answered a resounding "NO" to that question -- I know I did. Sometimes we need just a little more, that extra push that will compel us to fight through the discomfort. But where do we find that? Where does it come from? It comes from the little secret.
So, what is this secret already?! The secret of course is you, me, and every other member of the CrossFit family. And whittle that down even further to the members of your own affiliate box. Do they give up on you? Do they tell you that it's okay to quit when they know that you can continue? The dedication and loyalty that I've seen within my members is truly second to none. Just when you think you cannot go any further, you hear the screaming, the words of encouragement, the "Pick up the f*#*ing bar." And so you do. You pick up the bar and keep going.
The secret: There it is. We know this secret. We understand it and we embrace it for its marvelous meaning. Seeing the determination and willingness to push yourself further than you've ever imagined is something that I truly treasure. We are not wired to quit. We just aren't programmed like that. And because of that, we will not and cannot accept mediocrity. Our CrossFit family will take us to new levels of intensity that we've never experienced before. In turn, we will reach new levels of fitness that we never dreamed possible. I would like to offer a sincere "Thank you" to not only the members of CrossFit Ramstein, but to the members of every CrossFit affiliate around the world. Our support system will now and forever remain unmatched!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! This is definitely one of my favorite holidays. I think it must be because of my love of Guinness! I also have over 1/2 Irish heritage, with my mother being full-blood Irish-American and my dad having a percentage in him too. Its also one of those holidays were you get together with friends and family and just have fun. There are no dinners to make or presents to buy...it is just plain fun!

Crossfit has been great lately. On Friday the WOD posted was backsquats! 5x5s! Now that is my kinda workout. I really had to adjust my form to the crossfit-style back squat, which took some time. At the last set of 5's I think that I finally started to perfect that form thanks to Kylie and Joe's cueing. You see, the way that I squat when I am powerlifting is completely different than that of the crossfit style. I am much more upright, with a more "oly weightlifting" style squat (i.e. chest up, hands in tight to shoulders, elbows driving in front of my body) when I powerlift. I ended up doing 187# for the last set of 5's. It was really light though. I felt that I needed to just work through the change in the form, and concentrate less on trying to max out. Next time around, with my form perfected, I'll go for the max out.

Last night was a different kind of monster. WOD was:
6 rounds for time of
15 DB powercleans (from the floor) (25# DB)
15 Wall Balls (14#)
200M run

Finished around 20:20...there was a time limit of 20 minutes on this one, so not sure of my final time, but Kylie said I came in about 20 seconds after time was called. My lungs were shot. Physically, the wall balls and powercleans were not so bad. I know one of my weaknesses is my lung capacity (stupid smoking for 12 years will do that to you) and this one really pushed me there. I did make sure to work at my highest intensity, which I feel really good about. If this workout would have come up when I first started crossfit it would have killed me. So kudos in that I almost finshed it! Next time around...I'll kill it. ;-)

So after my pity party on Friday night (which the more and more I think about it - I REALLY was frustrated about my rhythm and not my ability) I came into Crossfit Omaha on Saturday morning looking to redeem myself. Perhaps a little overeager, because I ended up doing an extra round! Didn't realize it until afterwards of course, but hey! I am pretty sure it made up for the suck that I had on Friday night. We did the following:
6 Rounds (I did 7)
20 lunges
20 ball slams (16#)
Time: 10:45 -ish
Lunges give me butt cramps. And I continued to have these through Tuesday! Couldn't walk up and down stairs for fear that I would loose control of my legs and fall. I was officially walking like a duck.

Monday and Tuesday consisted of workouts that included a few of my favorite movements:
Monday:
25 minutes working with a partner
12 Handstand pushups
12 KTE
Tuesday:
15-12-9-6-3 reps for time of:
Sumo deadlift high pull (75#)
Push jerk (75#)
Time: 10:21
We then messed around a bit with handstand walks. A note on that - Crossfit has started to satisfy my desire for doing gymnastics again. I always dreamed about the fact that a gymnastics place would offer adult classes, because I was certain I would join. I did gymnastics for 14 years! I still dream about it. At least now I get to do certain things like handstand pushups, handstand walks, etc. without looking like an idiot!

Man -- I haven't been disappointed in myself during a workout for a long time. But this time I most definitely was. The workout was fairly straightforward:
4 rounds
15 pullups
18 wall balls (10 ft 14#)
21 kb swings (1 pood)
I wish I knew where things started to breakdown. Anyways, my forearms were screaming, I had dirt in my face from the wall balls that kept hitting the dirt and then on the 4th round, to top it off I landed really hard from dropping off the pullup bar and the balls of my feet are in major pain (was wearing VFFs). I felt that I couldn't get a rhythm. I felt I wasn't up to my potential. And with the pain coming from my feet, I basically gave up. Yep, I gave up. I don't do that very often. But I...gave...up. To everyone out there...never give up, it really isn't worth it....and you'll end up with a big D for disappointment floating around your head. Now off to ice my feet...