"Pleasure spiked with pain" chipper

WOD

For a time:

30 burpees

5 muscle ups

30 push presses

5 muscle ups

30 sand bag wrap around w/ 40 lb sandbag

5 muscle ups

30 Kettle bell swings

5 muscles ups

30 meters over head walking lunges w/ 40 lb sandbag

30 meters sprint with sand bag

5 muscle ups

30 retaining wall box jumps ( about 6 inches above the knees)

5 muscle ups

I finished in 26 min 20 secs.

This was probably the most fun I have had working out in a long time. I got the idea for this wod from a couple of places. The first was watching this video at the bottom of this post. Basically the guy in the video is doing muscle up s between every lift. My second source of inspiration for this wod is from Blair Morrison of Anywherefit. Blair's creativity is off the charts and his vision has helped change the way I train. Blair wrote this great article for Sicfit awhile back titled " Free of the Gym" and I have read it over and over. I love it!

This paragraph from the article resonates inside me now more than ever.

"Don’t be a barbell brat, lift whatever you can get your hands on. Weakness doesn’t respect proper equipment or hours of operation, so don’t stand on ceremony while you get choked out.

There’s nothing that burns me more than when I ask someone about a trip they took and they tell me, “It was great, but I couldn’t get to the gym.” Wrong. Nut up, go outside, and make your own gym. The biggest obstacle is not a lack of resources, it’s a lack of drive and a crippling self-consciousness. Get over it and your world becomes a playground. Trust me, it’s fun and you’ll be better for it the next time you “get to the gym.”

”

You can read the entire article here.

Some of the equipment I used for this wod was just the same ol crap I have been using from the demolition site. I used a cinder block for the KB swings. I have the sand bag. I used a 20 ft long beam that is lying outside my apt for the push presses. This sucker is heavy as hell. I just get under one end of it. I hang my rings in a tree in front of my apt for the muscle ups. I used the neighbors retaining wall for the box jumps and I just did the lunges down the side walk and sprint back up it. So basically I lift what ever I can get my hands on.

I started off with the burpees because I figured that would be the most difficult part of this wod. I was way wrong. The sand bag wrap around was by far the most difficult part. I have this 40 lb. sand bag and trying to pass it around my body was so difficult. My biceps were completely wasted after just five. Arms already fatigued from the previous exercises and they only got worse during the wrap around. I must have dropped the damn thing 10 times. I had to pick it back up and start again. Exhausting work but somewhat pleasurable. The rest of the wod went by a little quicker. The first round of muscle ups were unbroken, however after the push presses I could only manage 2 at a time until the end. Overall this is the most fun I have had training in months. "Pleasure spiked with pain. That mother fucker is always spiked with pain"

Diane with a Stone

Run 800 meters

21-15-9 of

Heavy ass stone dead lifts

Elevated hand stand push ups

Run 800 meters

"Diane" is a crossfit wod that a few people can finish in under 3 minutes. I do not have access to that kind of weight right now. So , I went back to the demolition site today. Picked out the same stone as last when I did the demolition wod. I think it is heavy enough and awkward enough for this modified version of "Diane".

I finished the first 800 meter run in 3 min 44 sec. Then the heavy ass stone lifts. The stone sits low and is very awkward to get off the ground. I have to get really low and stay focused in the core to get it off the ground. 21 seemed to take forever. For the hspu's I grabbed a couple of cinder blocks from a pile to make them elevated. This raised the bar about 7 inches making the hspu's really difficult. I had to break the first set into 11,7,3. The next 15 lifts were not as bad. However the hspu's got worse. I broke this set as well but more like 7,3,3,2. The last round was not bad either way. I finished the second run in 3 min 50 sec. For a total time of 26 min 48 sec. I got some interesting looks from the people walking by watching me pick up this big piece of rock. One guy actually asked if I needed help. He just laughed when I told him I was doing it for a workout. I had a really good time with this workout. I enjoyed lifting the stone. Hopefully I won't be too sore tomorrow because I have a really fun workout planned.

Here is a quick video of a guy doing "Diane" in about 3 min.

Progression Ladder and "Annie"

Every minute on the minute perform 1 pull up.

In the first minute do 1 pull up, in the second minute do 2 pull ups, the third minute 3 pull ups and so on until you are unable to perform the required reps in the one minute.

I finished with 12 rounds + 7.

I woke up this morning not feeling so great. I feel a cold coming on. So I just wanted to take it easy a bit today. I like these sort of progression ladders. You get a nice warm up in the early sets and get blasted in the end. Not my strongest effort in this sort of workout. I was doing the pull ups on a bar that was about 6 inches away from a wall. So this made my pull ups very strict. I could not get any kip out of them.

After the progression ladder I wanted to have a go at "Annie" a crossfit wod that is short fast and effective. 50-40-30-20-10 reps for a time of Double Unders and Sit ups. I have only done this one time before and I think I did it in a 7 min and some change. This time I finished in 6 min and 47 secs. A bit faster. I did not even think to anchor my feet for the sit ups. This would have made it way faster. The double unders were pretty easy. I did every set unbroken. No problem there. I think the best way to improve on this is to have my feet anchored for the sit ups.

I am just going to rest up the next couple of days and hopefully I will feel better by turkey day. I hope to get a good Thanksgiving day workout in. Then I wont feel as bad about all the food and beer I am going to consume.

Demolition Wod

Demolition Wod

As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of

5 heavy ass stone lifts

10 sand bag thrusters

20 lateral jumps over junk pile

A building had been demolished on my street earlier this week. I noticed a few heavy items lying around the demolition site while coming home. A few heavy ass concrete blocks. I really wanted to lift something heavy so I played around with the different size concrete blocks to see which one I could lift safely. I found the right one. I couldn't really say how much it weighed but it was a gigantic effort to get it off the ground. I found a few sand bags that weighed about 30 lbs. The sand bags were perfect for thrusters and I just piled up some other crap to give me something to jump over laterally. The lateral jumps were a good twist to doing box jumps. I finished with 6 rounds with just a few seconds left. Everything in this wod felt good. The best part was lifting the heavy concrete blocks. I left a nice hole in the ground were I kept dropping the stone.

30 Burpee-Pull up-Toes to bar

30 Burpee-Pull up-Toes to bar for a time:

I came across this quick wod sometime ago on Ricky Frausto's Strength Development Inc. website. Ricky is the owner of Crossfit Omaha and has several sites that I visit regularly for information on nutrition @ Nutrisimple or strength training advice and or inspiration and competition on the Crossfit Omaha main site. I thought this one looked really fun and simple and I figured I could bust this out just about anywhere.

I had plans to go climbing in Eldorado State Park so I figured I would get a nice fast work out in this morning. I just jogged a few blocks up the road to a park that has a few swing sets. I figured I would use the top of the swing set for my pull ups. I could just barely jump and hold on to the top of the set. The ground was also wet so when I did the burpee and then jumped up grabbed the bar It felt really insecure and I couldn't really get any momentum. This one factor made this wod just that much harder. Which was for the better. Everything else was pretty easy. I finished in just under 8 mins. I think 30 reps might have been too little however since I was planning on getting worked over climbing in Eldorado SP this was just what I wanted this morning. In the future I might try to do 100 of these for a time. Overall this was my first time performing a burpee pull up combo and I liked throwing in the toes to bar. Fun, Fast and Effective.

Here is a quick video of a bad ass doing 100 burpee pull ups. Imagine throwing in the toes to bar. Sick, Bluh!

The Flat Irons

The Flat Irons are these monolithic rock formations that tower over the city of Boulder Colorado in Chautauqau State Park. They are the back drop of the city and loom over your head no matter where you are at. The park has so many trails that you can hike or jog on skirting the base of these enormous pinnacles.

Today I decided to run the Flatirons trail. From my apt it is about 3/4 mile up hill to the park. Then easily another 3/4 mile up a steep hill to a sub vista over looking the park and the front range. I made it to the top of this vista in 16 minutes and 34 sec. This was a very steep and continuous run. Legs, calf's and lungs were burning after five minutes. After reaching this vista the trail can go up higher to the base of the flatirons and on to another vista where one can see Denver 37 miles away or meander on down through the park back to the start. I was really tired at this point so I decided to take the trail down and through the park and back to my apt. Finishing in 30 min 57 secs. The trails had snow on them in some places and were not to bad to run on so I am optimistic that I should be able to run this trail a few more times this winter. Hopefully getting my time down and improving my over all work capacity. Such a beautiful park to run in.

Boulder Colorado

After spending 9 weeks on the road visiting friends and climbing in 5 different states I have finally landed in Boulder Colorado. I had an amazing fall traveling and climbing. Now I feel it is time to get back to a routine and I am psyched.

Yesterday the sun was out and we had nice temperatures in the low 40's. Though it felt like the 50's. When I went outside I had an idea of what I wanted to do for a workout so I just had a look around the neighborhood for some useful objects. I found a pillar of some sorts that weighed about 65 lbs. I also found a cinder block that I wanted to use for KB swings. I busted out my rings and put this together.

5 rounds of

5 over head squats

10 ring dips

sprint 150 meters

rest 1 min

Tabata KB swings with cinder block

rest 1 min

5 rounds of

5 over head squats

10 ring dips

sprint 150 meters

I finished in 27 min 35 sec. A great workout and a great day to be outside. I was really tired after this one. The Over head squats were kind of a challenge because of the odd shape of this pillar. The pillar was round about 15 inches in diameter on one side and 10 on the other. This made it a little off balance and difficult to hold in your hands above your head. I had to really concentrate as to not drop it on my head.

The ring dips were just ok. I seemed to be tired the whole way through but still managed them unbroken. The sprints were pretty good. About 75 meters from my rings was the end of the street. So I sprinted to the end and back. The best part was it was down hill to the end and up hill coming back up. So I had 75 meter hill sprint that left me gasping for air before starting the over head squats again.

The tabata cinder block swings were fun and a little challenging. Hardest part was holding on to the block. I had gloves on which helped but my forearms were getting a serious workout from me trying to hold on to this block. I managed 9 every round except the last. I only managed 8 in the last round.

I finished the last five rounds in 10 min 37 secs. Tried to push my self hard. Just wanted to get it over with. This was a good one . Should be plenty sore tomorrow.