Countdown to Hawaii!!

Well my wife and I and her sister and husband are heading to Hawaii for some R and R. We are heading to Kona for a week. Planning on hitting some nice beaches, fishing and a helicopter ride so far. Since the nearest Crossfit is in Hilo (160 km/100mi) it's doubtful we will be stopping in.

It's been a while for a post but I've again been really busy, we had a shift change at work and I put an extra day in at the college as to not fall behind in my hours of instruction. Updating my crossfit WOD's

January 15, 2010

Power Cleans
5-5-3-3-2-1
         +
Row 150m = 26.3 sec
rest 30 sec
Row 200m = 36.7 sec
rest 45 sec
row 350m = 67.9 sec

I got to 175# on the Power cleans, I started arm curling the weight so I shut her down. Once the bad form starts, it's good to shut it down as to not gain bad habits in oly lifting. As for the rowing I was pretty happy with the results there.


January 16, 2010

21-15-9
Push Jerk 115#
Knees to elbows
Run approx 400m between each set

I'm bad!! I cannot find my time anywhere. This WOD was tough on the forearms more than anything. I used a kip swing doing the knees to elbows it makes them alot quicker. The Push Jerk got heavy fast, it was a great WOD nonetheless and a great test.


January 18, 2010 

15-12-10-8
60% of 1RM Overhead Squats
Chest to Bar Pull-ups

Time: 11:10 modified weight to 95#

This WOD completely kicked my ass!! First time I've done OHS in a workout and it showed the lack of practice I have had. That's the beauty about crossfit, it exposes weaknesses in everyone once in a while and when it does it really exposes you!! I was one of the worst times on this one. Overhead squats are very dependent on your mid-line stability and keeping the weight over your ankles at all times. The upper body has your shoulders being active like a shrug action and your arms are trying to pull the bar apart.

January 20, 2010

Push Press
3-3-3-3
      +
Learning the Turkish Get-Up

Well i worked my way up to a 3RM of 175# and we learned how to do a Turkish Get-up today. I managed to get 2/3 reps with 180# but just couldn't quite get it up. The Turkish Get-up emphasizes balance, strength and coordination. It looks alot more complex than it is but a very functional movement.



So my wife and I are talking over whether or not I can get my level 1 crossfit certification. There is a certification at Crossfit Calgary on May 1st, 2nd. I could then maybe help out at the gym with some coaching and running classes. It would be fun and a good learning experience to get other point of views on different Crossfit movements. I'll keep you updated on the verdict, it'll be at least a week until my next post so until then Sean'O out!!!

How important is DIET?? Millions of years of history tell us.

The New Evolution??

Funny?? Maybe at first glance, but lets get serious here!! The new leading risk of death in North America is Obesity which has surpassed Smoking. Yes, I heard it on the radio a few days ago.

I'm not going to preach, I'm just going to tell you a bit about my diet and some links to resources to read about healthy eating/living choices. Movies such as "Supersize Me" come immediately to mind, those who may be reading this MUST watch that movie, it'll blow your mind!!


When I first started crossfit I was 175# with about 30% bodyfat (heaviest I ever was = 225# = Obese for my height and % bodyfat). For years previous I ate what I thought was good food, of course I had my fair share of junk food, potatoe chips and pop were my absolute weakness. As part of the training at our local crossfit gym we get offered nutrition courses that we can buy into, when I took it I think it was $75 (The zone diet). It turns out that it will be a lifelong investment, not just because of that particular class but it opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at food. I'm not going to get into explaining the "zone diet" the link above will.
For over a year I weighed and measured food according to the zone diet and it was working fantastic for my performance and leaning me out (165# @ 5-10% bodyfat). However I recently found out I was eating far more food than I needed to ......I'll explain. Some people at our gym were experimenting with a "Paleolithic Diet" which in the simplest terms is the Caveman Diet:

My buddy Mike (Nutrition Guru and Avid Crossfitter) yes i've mentioned him several times before but he is like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to Performance Nutrition and lots of other stuff........ Anyways he started the "Paleolithic Movement" (for lack of a better phrase) at our gym. I asked him one day what and how he ate, He replied: "It's nothing special I just eat good whole food when i'm hungry until i'm full"........Ok that sounds simple but what is "Whole Food"? The pyramid above is proportioned the "Paleo" way although more vegetables than fruit is the true pyramid. Anyways so I got to reading some of the many good sites on the paleolithic methods of eating and started following them. I started eating less, cut out grains, cut out dairy(although right now I do drink milk but I'm trying to gain about 10 pounds), cut out pasta, and started getting more fussy about the carbohydrate and fat sources in my diet. So in a nutshell High Protein/High Fat /Low Carbohydrate diet. Right now I take in about 1gram/pound of bodyweight of protein per day (165g) about 80-100 grams of carbohydrates and probably a couple hundred grams of fat per day. On the Zone = 147g protein, 189g carbs, lots of fat). The modified paleo is working great for me, my crossfit numbers are continually getting better, i'm not eating all the time and I feel great. One thing about eating well is that your body sure lets you know when you feed it a load of "shit"!!!

So like I said I'm not preaching just making people aware that modern day eating habits have turned North America into the "fattest continent" in the world. I won't explain the benefits of Paleolithic eating but let you seek out the information on your own, after all I'd just be plagerizing someone elses work. Check out the links to various blogs on my site and look up people like: Robb Wolf, Dr. Loren Cordain (The Paleo Diet), Mikes linked blog above. Find out how and why this diet benefits us at a nutritional level and what "Whole Foods" are. You'll find out in your research that the food guides set out by our governments really aren't healthy at all. I'm not telling anybody what to do but there are choices out there and even if following diets isn't for you;  just be more picky in your choices.

After all Millions of years of "Hunting and Gathering" and "Surviving" couldn't have been wrong!!!!

New lifting shoes.......YEAH!!

Well today I received my new lifting shoes just in time because tomorrow is "crossfit total" day at our gym. I'm taking the attitude that I should have the proper equipment to do a proper job, therefore after alot of procrastination I decided to finally purchase some, after all this was my birthday gift from my wife so I finally  cashed in. Last time we did front squats I tried on a pair of Coach Fyfe's Nike Romaleo's. They increase the stability of your feet massively and also have an elevated heel to help with form and pushing from the heels during lifts. I chose the "Do-Wins" made by Pendlay Barbell mainly because they are affordable but also because they are sold by "Catalyst Athletics" a well known olympic lifting training center (among other athletic training).

So I took a some time off around new years to visit some family out of town. My first WOD back was:

January 4, 2010

"A case of the Mondays"

5-5-5-5
Front Squat
       +
3 rounds of:
10 Pull-ups
15 Push-ups
20 Sit-ups (un-anchored)
30 Squats

This day I used Coach Fyfe's lifting shoes. On the front squat I worked up to a 5 RM  PB of 170#. I really have to work on my strength training, it is quite weak. I'm trying to lift heavier weight working up to a 5RM. As for the WOD I clocked a time of 4:50. Un anchored sit-ups are difficult to do but they do isolate the abs where as anchored sit-ups you can use a bit of legs.


January 5, 2010

"Hockey Night in Canada"

5min row for distance
4 minute rest
5min row for distance



1st row: 1366m
2nd row: 1287m

This was a difficult WOD, I chose to just pick a constant pace and stick with it. Some people chose to do intervals such as 30 seconds full out and then a slow active row for 30 seconds and repeat for the full 5 minutes. My strategy seemed to work for me, I'm happy with my distances since rowing is not a strength of mine.


January 6, 2010

3-3-3 Deadlift
          +
5 rounds of:
10 Pushpress @ 75#
15 Powerlunges/leg

Deadlifts I never managed to get a 3RM today I did 315#-325#-325#X2. I am pulling more overall weight although the last rep on the 3rd set the bar started to slip so I had to let it go. As for the WOD I clocked a time of 5:12. The power lunges are a very difficult exercise, basically instead of doing a normal walking lunge you stay in the same spot and power out of a lunge getting air and then coming down with the opposite knee down and leg forward all throught the movement keeping your chest high. My legs were thrashed after this one, round 2 they started to really get fatigued, the push presses were pretty managable only being 75#.


January 9, 2010

"Saturday WOD"

AMRAP Bodyweight Backsquats(Approx 20 reps)
Rest 4 minutes

AMRAP Kettlebell swings

Well there was no way I was getting 20 backsquat reps at bodyweight, especially since the night before I had indulged in a few too many "Norcal Margaritas". I scaled it down to 115# and did 31 reps. As for the kettlebell swings I managed to get 18reps. Again if I had been feeling a little better I probably would have done a bit better. By the way that kettlebell is really that big!!







January 11, 2010

4 Rounds for time:

10 Power Rows @ 155#
76 Fist Twists
10 Kettlebell Swings @ 70.5#

I Scaled the weight on the Power rows to 135#. Power rows start with the weight on the ground in the deadlift starting position and once the weight is brought past the knees it is thrusted violently to the bottom of the chest as in the diagram. Fist Twists are when you are sitting on the floor with your legs extended off the floor and you clasp your hands together and move them on either side of your hips striking the back of the hand each time on the floor going back and forth. On this WOD I clocked 7:37. The fist twists were tough as well as the last set of power rows, the kettle bells didn't feel too bad for me today.



This week I am working straight nights until Friday morning so I should be able to update every day this week. I would like to talk a little about how I have changed my diet and how it has affected my performance and such, just in case anyone is interested.
Until next time Sean'O out!!!

A New Year is Upon Us!!

2010 is here and it is time to re-evaluate and re-establish new goals for a new year. After an exceptional year of training, dieting and performance it is going to be extremely hard to top 2009. I believe that the most significant gains are going to come if I concentrate on strength gain this year. My buddy Mike has summed up goals on his latest post to a tee so I won't bother.


I'll get us caught up once again starting with:

December 21, 2009

Gut Check

8 Rounds:
300m Row
AMRAP pushups
2 min rest

This WOD was a killer. I'm not a strong/efficient rower by any means so this one was tough, I felt like quitting after round 5. My row times (setting 5 on concept 2 rower) followed by push-ups were:
55.9s/38
58.9s/29
63s/17
66.5s/17
65s/17
67.8s/17
67.9s/17
64.3s/18

December 22, 2009

It's a Thinker

For Time:
30 225# Deadlifts
30 Handstand Pushups
6:46
The kicker to this one is you can fraction in any number you want but how ever many deadlifts you do in a row you have to do that many Handstand pushups without fail. Example if you start a set with 5 deadlifts you must do 5 handstand pushups. If you do 5 deadlifts and only manage 4 handstand pushups you must start over on that set of deadlifts and not count the previous 5 deadlifts or 4 handstand pushups. I chose to do it in 2's as my handstand pushups are the weak link here. Coach Brandt wanted us to do "Good" reps in this WOD, concentrating on form.


December 29, 2009

"Bugaboo" Wod or SMA awareness WOD

200 Thrusters for time (Required) (75#)
AMRAP thrusters in 10 minutes
AMRAP thrusters in 15 minutes

Our gym decided to take part in this WOD to support the cause of SMA. Coach Gillespie was the first to tackle it and decided to put a few "scaled" versions as to not render the clients immobile. I chose to do the AMRAP 10 minutes and it is a good thing because I really didn't know how to attack this one. I managed 97 reps in 10 minutes. If I were to do the full 200 I would have probably done it in 5's with a small break in between. As it was I started with 20 then a few sets of 10 then down to 5's and at the end 3's. I got to about 70 and was just gassed. I think this WOD needs to be done at a steady controlled pace. This one affected me for days after, my legs were very sore, could also be because of my recent inactivity as well.


So over the next couple days I'm going to come up with some goals and expectations for the new year. I think this poster sums up what "Crossfit" is all about. It challenges you physically and mentally making you stronger every WOD. For the new people don't let Crossfit be like a "new years resolution" and fade after a month or so, give it a chance trust me on this!!

So in my mind you have two options, you can be

Or you can test your

And become stronger physically and mentally!!

Until next time Sean'O out!!!