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.

21-15-9

21-15-9 for a time of:

Box jumps

knees to elbows

double unders

sit ups

I finished in 7 mins and 1 sec. The major issue here were the knees to elbows. My friend and I were doing this workout in my front yard. We were using a little kids swing set to do the knees to elbows. The bar was a fatty making it that much harder to hold on to. As well the bar was only a few feet off the ground so you had to keep your legs bent behind you the whole time making it impossible to get any momentum. So i suppose you could say that these were strict knees to elbows.

For the box jumps we used a retaining wall that was about 3o inches high. The box jumps were never an issue. The double unders and sit ups all went smooth and unbroken as well. The first set of 21 on the knees to elbow I completed unbroken. The second set for 15 I broke at nine. The grip was going and my abs were tired as hell. The set of 9 all went unbroken.

By doing this outside in my yard using a few things like the swing set, instead of a pull up bar in the gym made this that much harder. Same thing with the box jumps. Could have gone to the gym and set up a bench or a box to 20 inches , instead all we had was the retaining wall and it was just high to be really hard and slow you down. Plus exercising outside is the best way to start the day.

Cindy round 2

"Cindy"

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of

5 pull ups

10 push ups

15 squats

A crossfit benchmark workout. The first time I did this wod was about one year ago and I finished with 24 rounds. A very challenging workout mentally and physically.

This time around I was shooting for 28 rounds. I finished with 26 and 2 push ups. An enormous effort. Not a huge jump up but I will take it. I know for sure I was very sore going into this workout from the two previous workouts. I tried to spend about 20 minutes going through a thorough warm up. This didn't really help much. Starting out I was moving really slow in the squats. I think allot has to do with my diet and my sleeping habits. I need to make a few adjustments for sure. From the 10 to the 15 th round I was moving pretty slow and taking time between each round. After 15 I started moving pretty fast. The last couple rounds were an enormous mental challenge. Overall I am happy with the slightest improvement.

I am looking forward to the next couple days. Going climbing.

Turkish Get Ups

Today I wanted to stay with the heavy lifting. I wanted to do some heavy Turkish Get Ups. I have not done these for awhile. Turkish get ups are a phenomenal full body exercise for developing strength, power, flexibility and coordination through the whole body. I set the clock at 15 minutes to work up to a heavy set of 1 on my weakest side. I decided to use the barbell for this exercise. I finished with 105 lbs. I maybe could have done 115 but I wasn't really going for a full max effort, just a heavy set.

I was a little sore from the weighted pull ups yesterday but that was about it. My legs handled the rest OK. After a pretty good warm up. The TGU's felt fine.

After:

2 rounds for a time

run 400 meters

12 kettle bell swings 70 lbs.

I finished in 5 min 21 secs. Using a dumbbell for the Kettle bell swings. I don't have access to that heavy of a kettle bell. I wasn't sure where I would finish with this wod. I just wanted to finish under 7 minutes. The swings were not really an issue but the running was. Expect to see loads more running in the future.

Short, Fast, and Heavy

3 rounds for a time of:

3 squat clean thrusters 185 pounds

4 weighted pull-ups 55 pounds b/w the legs

100 meters buddy carry ( Fireman style)

I finished in 6 min 51 secs. I really wanted to do something that was short, fast , intense and Heavy. All of this was pretty heavy for me. The squat cleans being the heaviest. Thinking about this workout now I think I have exposed a weakness in my training. That would have to be core strength. During the squat clean thrusters I would pull forward in the squat clean making it that much harder to come out of the squat and get the weight over head. With a stronger core I would be able to keep good allowing me to be able to do these no problem.

During the Fireman carry I recruited a kid from the gym who weighed about as much as I do about 190 pounds. With in the first 25 meters I would slump forward in the core making it harder to breath and carry this kid the full 100 meters. I will definitely make this a focus of mine to improve my core strength so that I can go again stronger and faster. On the positive side I did finish every round unbroken. That has sort of become a new theme of mine UNBROKEN! That is the chant I have in my head when faced with these difficult tasks. Keep going! Keep Pushing! UNBROKEN!

A sneaky one, climb a rope wod #4

20 ft rope climb, 5 ascents

Push a Ford Focus 150 meters

20 ft rope climb, 4 ascents

Push a Ford Focus 125 meters

20 ft rope climb, 3 ascents

Push a Ford Focus 100 meters

20 ft rope climb, 2 ascents

Push a Ford Focus 75 meters

20 ft rope climb, 1 ascent

Push a Ford Focus 50 meters

This was one of those really sneaky workouts. The kind that sounded fun and easy in the beginning. At the end left you wasted and tired thinking what the hell happened. Two things, I really love to train outside and I really enjoy climbing the rope. Especially now that someone has taught me how to get it down easier.

My friend Mike and I cruised around looking for a place to hang the rope and push my car. I have pushed my car several times in the past as sort of a prowler simulator. I am somewhat used to this. My friend Mike however has never experienced this kind of effort before. At the same time I have never pushed my car this distance before either. As well as the most I have ever climbed my rope in a single work out session before was 7 times during the climb a rope wod #3. Now we were looking to up the stakes a little or a whole bunch actually doubling the most we have ever done before to 15 rope climbs.

I finished in 16 minutes and 51 seconds. Mike finished in 27 minutes and 39 seconds. Climbing 300 ft of rope and pushing a car 500 meters. A great effort by the both of us. For me the first five rope climbs went really fast. Pushing the car went by way too fast as well. I remember feeling pretty leveled after that first round. I moved through the next four rope climbs trying to stay consistent. The third round of rope climbs is where I bonked. That little bit of doubt creep ed into my head. I remember thinking "will I be able to do this ", " This is way harder than I expected, what was I thinking". I just wanted it to be over with and fast. I kind of went out of my head a little and just kept going trying to not focus on the pain.

In the end I felt very satisfied that I kept with it and finished the workout. That is a difficult thing to do when you have this doubt in your head telling you it is to hard. So I am satisfied there. My friend Mike was up second and let me tell you this was inspiring to watch this man struggle as I did and keep on pushing. A couple of times mike would fail on the rope climb nearly making it to the top but reaching failure so close. This is extremely difficult because you loose a ton of mental energy. He stayed focused through the pain and disappointment and finished with style. Very inspiring indeed. A great workout and a very sneaky one. I actually thought this was going to be easy. Funny!

" Weakness doesn’t respect proper equipment or hours of operation"

I recently came across this article, Free of the gym, by Blair Morrison of Anywherefit. Check it out man.