It’s Weird Seeing Fellow CrossFitters With Clothes On…

O rly?

Well…at time at the box, people do work out practically naked…but no, that’s not what I mean. It’s just funny seeing people at your CrossFit box outside the gym with normal clothes on. You see, we just recently had our box’s summer party, which was a really great time. It seriously felt like college all over again, as I usually don’t party that hard when I go out now.

Looking around during the party was just so interesting. People seemed sooooooo different simply because girls were wearing their typical lululemon attire and guys weren’t wearing Reebok all over.

Everyone was wearing REGULAR clothes. Jeans, t-shirts, button-downs. WTF!

We Were Actually Talking About Normal Stuff

You know what else was surprising and what also kind of a relief? No one really talked much about working out. Okay, there were a few discussions I remember about PR’s, but it wasn’t like every person you turned to was in that mode of discussion.

At the gym, CrossFit is really all we talk about. Yeah, sometimes the small talk gets thrown in the mix. Within minutes, everyone brushes that off to talk about getting that muscle up down, shooting for PR’s, getting rid of that strain on your lower back, and so on.

It was just a great change of pace with the normal conversations. These are people you’re around almost every day, and it’s just a different feeling. You still have that sense of belonging without your body being drenched in sweat and your hands covered in chalk.

Our Community’s Constantly Growing

At these box-wide gatherings, there are still a shitload of people I’ve never seen before. I consistently hit up the noon class five times a week, so there’s still about 70%-80% of people I don’t know. While we do have a tight-knit community, the whole gym’s growing. I can definitely see us needing a new place eventually. Shit, even at noon, classes get packed as fuck.

Props To The Serious Competitors

Some guys at the party are pretty damn legit, as they were not drinking at all or maybe just had a few beers.

I respect that.

These guys want to make that trip to Cali next year definite (I can definitely see these guys pulling it off, and I’m not just saying that cause they’re from my box), so I totally dig their drive to kick things into gear even right after regionals.

I’ve been in that place before, not drinking sometimes, so I would never be one of those guys who’d be like, “Oh you’re not drinking? That’s weak shit.” There were times in college when I was sick and on meds, so I’d show up to parties with a water bottle to keep myself hydrated (haha yup…what was I gonna do? Stay in my room?). I even went to my first alumni weekend without one drink…

…thank you Paleo challenge 😛 That’s just how bad I wanted to win.

And don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against drinking. I look forward to some beverages on the golf course next week haha. I just respect it when people can show up to a party and still have an awesome time without having to drink that much or anything at all.

It Was Cool Noticing These Random Things

We all got to shoot the shit without talking about the same stuff we usually chatter about. Of course, nothing beats the feeling of being in the box.

I’ve made solid changes to my nutrition, especially after feeling like shit the morning after our gym’s party. In addition to the beers, I finished off the night with a Happy Meal and some other goodies from the Golden Arches (not going back for a LONGGGGG time). It makes me sick just thinking about that “food.”

So yeah, I’m about 80% Paleo right now, trying to find that happy medium that I can maintain for the longrun. Damn, I even cut out coffee! Honestly, there’s nothing wrong with a cup or two a day, which was how much I used to drink. However, now my body just seems to WORK. Yeahhh…it could be a placebo effect, but who gives a fuck?

If it makes me more productive throughout the day and helps me push my WOD’s to the next level, I’m all for it.

At the same time, my mind’s much clearer. Despite all the added responsibilities in my life as of late, I realized I MUST grow this CrossFit blog. I have to Kip It Real. I can’t see it any other way, my friends.

Muscle Ups A Few Years Down The Road? Please.

I Actually Thought It’d Take That Long

What the FUCK was wrong with me?

Yes, it’s one of the more challenging CrossFit movements, unless you have a gymnastics background. I just thought it would take a while before even considering the movement. There was even this pseudo-checklist I had in my head of things to accomplish before trying muscle ups. Honestly, I had it in me already. I just had to try.

It was almost a year ago that I nailed my first muscle up. Oh was it SWEEETTTT to finally get my body into that dip position from the kip. From there, it’s simply a dip to victory.

However, for the past few months, I just couldn’t get them for some reason. Something was off. You know what it was?

Me.

Even if there would be muscle ups during a WOD, I obviously would have to sub in some sort of pull up/dip combo. I just wasn’t TAKING ACTION and working on this skill before or after class. Trying this movement after class is pretty rough, especially if your body’s SHOT from the WOD. Still…I had no excuse not to learn the movement during warm ups.

Once again…the only person to blame for this is me. For a while, I had some TERRIBLE time management habits. Yes, I would be trying to get some last-minute work done before heading off to the box, but was that really necessary? This simply stressed me out as I was always rushing to class. The majority of the time I was late or would just get there in time.

Yep, that would leave no time at all to practice any skills. How the hell was I supposed to progress as a CrossFit athlete then?

But I’ve Changed My Ways

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on my productivity and overall time management (many thanks to my buddy who runs Xponics.com, a site for hydroponic gardening). As a result, I have a more relaxed and Zen-like approach to life. I just get things done on time now and have been gradually cutting down on my procrastination.

That’s why now I make sure that I stop all work by 11am to ensure that I’m at the box 15-20 minutes before class. Because of this, I’ve been able to stretch and roll out properly.

And the best result so far? Today I managed to get in 3 muscle ups before class. FUCK YEAHHHHH!

Man…to think that months of being late to class has slowed down my progress? Sure, it might be for only a few classes here and there, but they add up. That time could’ve been spent working on one of my goats or skills I struggle with.

Hey, better late than never right? I’m just happy I managed to pick up on these poor habits before I was a lost cause.

Now My Problem Is Linking These Muscle Ups…

That was the first thought to come to mind as I was at the apex of my dip. Being higher off the ground than usual on the rings, it can get pretty scary. Not gonna lie…I’m afraid of heights…that’s why rope climbs are still a goat of mine.

So yeah…I tried dropping into the beginning of a kip after one of my muscle ups, and I simply went straight down. The next rep was dead. No dice.

I tried looking like this:

Only for this to happen:

Need Help With Your Muscle Ups?

If you can do around 10 chest to bar pull ups and are fine with ring dips (I suck at them by the way…), then you can definitely try out a muscle up. Here’s a good primer vid on muscle up progressions:

You also can’t go wrong with Jon Gilson’s muscle up video either:

Simple Tweaks Led To Success

All this time I was struggling with muscle ups, it had NOTHING to do with physical issues. It was simply about getting more practice time by hitting up the gym earlier.

That’s why when you just can’t seem to figure out a CrossFit problem of yours or any issues in your everyday life, sometimes you just need to take a step back and go over your progress. In many instances, all you need to do is a simple tweak to get the job done.

Kip it real, my friends.

Fat Kid Stories: A Loaf of Bread and Me with Some Dragonball Z

I Have No Clue Why I Remember This

Okay, so yesterday, I was just thinking about my overall CrossFit goals, my progress all these years, and also my fluctuations. I’ve come to the conclusion that my main focus with CrossFit should be just to drop the fat and get back into healthy mode.

Yes, I have made HUGE progress since getting back into the swing of things around the same time I started this blog. My breathing is definitely in a lot better condition than even before my trip to the Philippines. My running has improved. My lifts are BETTER than ever. And I managed to lean out a bit.

Despite all those improvements and accomplishments, I know I need to drop the excess fat before I can really progress in bodyweight movements and metcons. And honestly…right now, I just want to look good in my clothes…naked too 😛 Not gonna lie.

So that’s what I’ll strive for in the coming months. Sure, my performance and lifts will take a hit along the way, but that doesn’t mean I’ll abandon being around 170# forever. Once I get my weight down to around 150# or so in lean fashion and I feel like pushing things to the next level, then I’ll go for a clean bulk. That’ll help me get in better performance mode.

For now, I just want to be healthy and slimmer.

As I was thinking about all this stuff yesterday, I randomly thought of my fat kid days. Back then, I had NOOOO idea what was really considered “healthy” nutrition. All my pediatrician told me to do at the time was drink skim milk and eat less.

Thanks man…

On top of that, I always thought the traditional food pyramid was THE way to go to live a healthy lifestyle. Of course, I thought this was a good reason to eat loads of grains…rice, bread, and pasta galore.

This one instance of fat kid misinformation that stood out was this time in maybe 5th or 6th grade. Shit. It’s such a pathetic story, but I’ll go on…

…I was watching the Japanese anime cartoon Dragonball Z. It was a longgggg marathon of 3 movies or something. Of course, as a fatass, I couldn’t go through those movies without munching on some food.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any snacks at the time…so I had to be a bit “creative.” My poison of choice? A motherfuckin LOAF of bread. Hell yeah!

At first, I thought I would only have a few slices. I was hungry and I just wanted something to nibble on as I watched these dudes duke it out and shoot energy beams at each other. Oh the joys of youth. So carefree. And fat 🙂

I Blame It On The Cartoon And The Damn Food Pyramid

For those of you not familiar with the cartoon, these guys “power up” every once in a while to launch some crazy attack or energy beam/ball on their opponent. Here’s an example:

Whenever I see these, I get all PUMPED.

You know that adrenaline rush you get during a WOD? That second wind? That final push through one more set of reps?

Sadly, I was so pumped that I kept eating slice after slice of that loaf of bread. Before I knew it, I finished the whole thing.

YOLO.

Fuck you, food pyramid.

Okay…The Truth Is…

…I can only blame myself.

It’s just funny what I thought was considered “healthy” at the time. I mean c’mon…if it were healthy, why wasn’t I seeing results? Oh right…my portions were ridiculous and I didn’t exercise. That should do it.

Regardless, it’s fun looking back at this kind of stuff. Now that I have a clearer focus with CrossFit, I’m ready to attack it and succeed.

Don’t worry…I believe that was the first and only time I consumed a whole loaf of bread on my own 😛

Kip it real, my friends.

Shit Just Got Real

You might’ve see my Facebook post and Tweet the other day. For those you didn’t.

On Friday, 2012 CrossFit Games tickets SOLD OUT.

Yes, you can read the official, in-depth announcement on the Games site.

Not 100% sure…but I also did come across someone’s post on the Games Facebook page. She said that she called up the box office and that more tickets will be released later this month. That doesn’t surprise me, as this kind of shit has happened to me before with events like this year’s Dave Matthews concerts.

It does suck ass for people who bought plane tickets and reserved hotels already without getting tickets. Yeah, you can say that’s pretty dumb, but shit happens.

Now My Point…

Whether there really are more tickets being sold later or not…tickets actually SOLD OUT. I’ve never gone personally, but you can see from previous years in videos and in the ESPN tapings how people would just be wandering around to different seats. It’s like going to a local minor league baseball game. The place never got full.

Just think about Event 4 in 2010, the “Sandbag Move.” (props to Brad for bringing this up in the Facebook group) A HUGE chunk of the seating area was used as part of the WOD. They clearly knew back then the stadium wouldn’t be filled to full capacity.

That’s why it just blows my mind that tickets sold out this quick. It’s just a sign that our sport is REALLY growing.

Shit just got real.

What Do I Think?

I wrote about CrossFit getting bigger in this post, and I still feel pretty much the same about things.

Bring it.

As I mentioned in the Facebook group, yes, this growth can become either a good or bad thing. I’m just going to hope for the best and keep CrossFitting. Even if it does BLOW UP and the whole culture changes in a bad direction, we’ll still be doing something fun that’ll keep us in shape.

Isn’t that the main reason we got into CrossFit? To work out?

I got tired of doing the normal chest and bi stuff and your typical cardio days. Do you ever see yourself going back to that boring nonsense? Never.

No Matter What, CrossFit’s Here To Stay

That’s why I don’t think CrossFit’s a fad. Yeah, there’ll be a bunch of new novelty workout programs similar to P90X and Insanity (although I’ll admit you can see results with these) popping up. These’ll come and go under different exercise variations and names. It’s just part of business. You need to stay fresh to keep selling, which is totally understandable.

For me, however, nothing beats progressing in something that’s always challenging and provides so much room for growth. While I don’t really see myself competing with the big dawgs (at least for now), I really enjoy competing against myself, my times, my previous records.

I’ve tried all sorts of exercise programs, and nothing is as addicting or effective.

So yeah…let’s see where this growth takes our community. This CrossFit blog might as well slipstream with the movement, right?

So what do YOU think about 2012 Games tickets selling out? What do you think about CrossFit growing? Post in the comments 🙂

DON’T Believe The Hype: Tearing Your Hands Isn’t “Cool”

Okay, maybe the first time you might think you’re BADASS. After that, it’s just fuckin annoying.

But Before We Get To That…

On Wednesday, as I posted on Facebook and Twitter (LIKE and Follow me if you haven’t already), I managed to PR my back squat by 10# (back in December) with 315#. Initially, I was worried due to the heat and not having attempted a max back squat in months.

Luckily my spotter is the type of guy to hype me up every time we lift together. He just told me to go for it, even though I was sadly thinking of only 310# at the time.

I looked up at the clock. My rest time was over, so I did my typical cheesy “oh get a load of me” type of walk to the rack. Loaded the bar. Backed up a bit.

Once my feet were in place, I let my booty drop. Went slightly below parallel. Slowly I ascended.

Now it was the moment of truth. Would I be able to get that last quarter of the squat? Or would my buddy have to catch me?

I’ll be honest…the idea of failing a squat scares me to death even with a good spotter. It’s one of the reasons I never truly push my limits on this lift even though the squat was one of my first. That’s why I don’t just let anyone spot me.

Okay, so what happened?

I had a slight lean forward that last quarter of the way up. At this point, I was expecting some sort of struggle…but nope. Without any grunting or yelling, I PR’d 🙂

WTF Does This Have To Do With Tearing Your Hands?

So after the back squat, we had a 2 rep max thruster, which I PR’d too at 185#, and 20 sets of 5 pull ups for time…sounds, fucked up, huh?

After that HIGH of PR’ing two lifts in a row, it was such a BONER KILL tearing my hand up after 16 sets of 5. I only needed 4 more sets to finish. Around set 12 or 13, I was feeling the skin tearing a bit, but I was like “screw it.”

I went with the damn YOLO mentality…and of course, shit hits the fan whenever I think that way.

It’s been over a day since the tear, so it’s healed up a bit:

If you saw the tear when it was fresh though…mannnn. It looked like the Miami bath salt-consuming face eater took a chunk out of my finger. Not cool.

Lesson Of This Story?

Take care of your hands. Please.

Unfortunately, I thought of filing down my callouses as I got out of my driveway on Wednesday but didn’t feel like going back into the house and whatnot. Bad mistake.

When I’m not an idiot, I usually file down my callouses with a simple foot file (lolz…I know…but it works).

CrossFit Park City (Spealler‘s box) has some pretty solid hand care tips on their site as well.

If you do happen to make a bungle like me or just tear out of the blue, make sure you clean your shit. Wash your hands with warm soap and get any debris out of there. At home, use some small nail scissors or even a normal nail clipper to remove the hanging skin. Trying to bite (haha…) or rip it off yourself might make you bleed more.

Done that before. Not fun either.

Use some antibiotic and cover with a bandage after. Because I did this once I got home, within hours, the cut healed enough that it no longer stings when wet. Now I just have to bandage and tape that area for tomorrow’s 1 rep max deadlift. YEAHHHHH BUDDYYYYYY.

Alright…I need to get some work done on my other projects before I rest up for another testing day tomorrow.

Kip it real, my friends.