Three weeks out

As of today we are three weeks out from The 2020 Open.

At this point, the "hay is in the barn" so to speak.  The work has been done.  I'm not really getting any stronger at this point.  My engine is not going to get much better in three weeks (although I will maintain what I have).

The best way for me to make measurable improvements in three weeks, is to buckle down and become super strict on my diet.

And spoiler, I have already started.

Let's do this!

Vacation 2019

I'm getting on a plane to fly to the Pacific Northwest for a week long backpacking trip today.

I believe it is important to get out of the gym every once in a while.  There is more to life than barbells.

I will be heading up to the North Cascades National Park and spending some much needed time away from everything.

When I get back, it will be time to go to work putting the final touches on my Open preparation. 

• The diet WILL be 100% on point.  No Cheats
• I WILL hit the gym 7+ times per week (w/ a couple of two-a-days per week)
• NO snooze button.

Are you registered for the Open?

Are you putting in the work?

No matter how talented you are, you have to put in the work.

No matter how naturally gifted you are, you have to put in the work. 

If you don't have natural talent, you have to put in the work.

If you are over weight, you have to put in the work.

If you are under weight, you have to put in the work.

If you need to get better at gymnastics, you have to put in the work.

If you need to get stronger, you have to put in the work.

Do you see a trend here?

Are you putting in the work?

Wodapalooza online qualifier week 1

As I mentioned earlier, I signed up for the Wodapalooza Online Qualifier.  Well, the week one workouts are here!

Workout 1:

AMRAP 9
3 Hang Snatch 75/55
3 Overhead Squat 75/55
30 Double Unders

**Each round the reps on the Snatch and Squat increase by 3 (ex. 3, 6, 9, 12, etc . . .)**

Workout 2:

AMRAP 16
40 Alternating Dumbbell Snatch 50/35
40 Pull-ups
30 Dumbell Burpees 50/35
30 Chest-to-bar Pull-ups
20 Devil Press 50/35
20 Bar Muscle-Up

Workout 1 went pretty crappy.  Double unders are a well documented and long running weakness of mine.  And while I have gotten better at them, as I started breathing harder and harder, they got worse and worse.

Workout 2 went a little better, but still not good.  By the time I got to the Chest to Bar pullups, my grip was gone and I just didn't have any "pull" left.

Here's to next week's workouts.

Where's the weekly checkin?

You may notice that I have not posted a weekly checkin post in a few weeks now.  There is a reason for that.

If you don't know, I was weighing myself every morning.  I found that I was starting to focus on the number on the scale to much.  Really to an unhealthy degree.

But don't let the lack of posts fool you.  I am still focusing on my food intake.  Still working to improve my body composition.

The Wodapalooza online qualifier

This morning at the gym, we did the first released Wodapalooza qualifier workout.  It is a 9 minute AMRAP with doubles unders and acending reps of hang snatches and overhead squats.

The snatches and squats were super light, but (as usual) the double unders were the challenge for me.

After the WOD was over, my coach mentioned that she felt like I should actually sign up for the online qualifier.  I had no plans to do this qualifier, but a couple of hours later, I was signed up.

My thinking was that if I want to call myself a compeditor, I need to compete more often than once a year during the Open.  Competing, like most things in CrossFit, requires practice to get good at.

So, in a surprise to myself, I'm doing the Wodapalooza qualifier.

Anybody else doing this qualifier?

The 2019 Games

So, the 2019 CrossFit Games happened two weeks ago.

The format was certainly different.  But it was still The Games.  Rogue and Morning Chalk Up both provided solid coverage.

The cuts made the Games much more exciting throughout the whole four day event, not just the last day.  But I, like many, feel like the cut from 20 to 10 was the one thing that could have been done better.  This is the first time that I know of that many athletes have a legitimate claim that the order of the events determined who proceeded throughout the weekend.

The cut from 20 to 10 happened after the first event on Saturday morning.  If you swapped the first event on Saturday (the sprint event) with the first event on Sunday (the swim/paddle event), the top 10 would have looked WAY different.

I will say this.  In my opinion, the Games did a cut after each of the first six events.  Which is fine, but those six events ALL gave an advantage to lighter, smaller athletes.

• Event 1 - included running and legless rope climbs, both definitely body weight dependent
• Event 2 - included a 132 ft handstand walk, harder if you weigh more
• Event 3 - was a 6k run, running is certainly body weight sensitive 
• Event 4 - included bar muscle-ups, easier if you weigh less
• Event 5 - was Mary, a body weight palooza
• Event 6 - was a sprint that included a change of direction at a high speed, running again see event 3 above

As a larger athlete myself, I find this trend troubling.  I guess we will need to wait and see if this trend for lighter athletes continues next season.

New week, new me

Hey all!  Keep your eyes open for the #weeklycheckin later this week.

So after the last post, I feel like I've taken that next step, mentally.  Maybe writing my thoughts out helped me work through them, and come to grips with them.  I don't know.

What I do know, is that I have a fresh outlook and sense of purpose.

The other thing I know, is that The Open is exactly 60 days from today.

On that note . . .

1. Even though I have switched to hitting the gym early in the morning (a.k.a. the 5:15AM class), once The Open comes around, I'm gonna hit those workouts in the evening.  I just generally feel stronger in the evening.

2. Even though I don't regularly workout there anymore, I think I'm gonna do the Open at CrossFit Denton.  I definitely love the "Friday Night Lights" environment at CFD.

3. I am doing an olympic weightlifting cycle for the next 8 weeks to try and increase my explosive strength for the Open.  This cycle will include workouts 2-3 times per week and will be in addition to the regular gym programming.

That's it for today.  Time to put in some work.

#TheGrind #EarnIt

Defeatism

My thought trends the last few weeks have been less than ideal.  I have found myself thinking a lot about my abilities and whether or not I am really able to pursue my goals.  I have found myself thinking that, "if you are not good enough to succeed, then why should you even try?"

Here is a quote from my daily reading.

"Defeatism won't get you anywhere (except defeat)."

**Side note, if you guys don't have a daily reader of some sort, you should get one.  It is one thing that I never thought I would be interested in, but now that I do it, can't imagine not doing it.**

It may be surprising to my friends, who know me as such a positive person, but believe me, I have doubts.

This year has been the most challenging one I've had since I started CrossFit.  It seems like everything I have been doing has amounted to nothing.  Intellectually, I know that is not the case.  But emotionally, I have been extremely discouraged.  It makes it hard to get up every day and show up the to gym when you feel like you are making NO progress.

But I also KNOW that if I don't show up and put in the work, then nothing will change.

There was a great quote from a podcast I heard recently that sums this up:

"Just like in sports, if 2019 is going great or terrible, the final score is determined in the second half.  Quit letting a slow start distract you from finishing strong."  --Jake Thompson

That is what I plan on doing . . . finishing strong.

#TheGrind  #Earnit

Weekly checkin 8/5

Another week.  More underwhelming results. It is disheartening putting in work and not seeing results.  But I need to "stay the course", and keep my head down and keep putting in the work. Not just work in the gym, but work to stay on track with my diet as well.

Also, I got a hair cut.

Here I am at 265.2 lbs.

My forearms!

I had an interesting thing happen to me earlier this week at the gym.

We had a workout programmed that included hang cleans and pullups.  The astute among you may think to yourself "grip killer".  I thought the same thing.

The interesting part is that, I moved fast enough on this workout that my grip, and not my lungs, were the limiting factor on my finishing time.  That was a new experience for me.

Weekly check-in July 29th

It's Monday!

Here I am, in my 270lb glory.  Busy & lazy weekend.  I spent Saturday judging the in-house comp at Solar.  And spent Sunday being totally lazy at home.  I don't see any visible change.  Do you?

Post "Vay-Kay" work

**Sorry there was no weekly checkin this week.  Those will resume next Monday.**

Me and my family went on a long weekend / road trip this past week.

I got some workouts in, which is not the norm for me when on vacation.  I usually make excuses to not workout when on vacation, but I have more focus -- more dedication to the grind than I have previously.

Working out in small hotel fitness centers can be a challenge, but if you want to reach your goals, you gotta make time to get it in.

Anyway, on my first day back from vay-kay (Monday), I did a WOD of 5 rounds of  400m run, 3 rope climbs, and 20 box jumps.

On the VERY FIRST box jump, I hit my shin.

Hard.

I didn't get pics at the time, but it swole up like a baseball on my shin.

On Tuesday, we did a partner WOD that consisted of a 14 minute AMRAP of Cindy except with 135# back squats instead of air squats.  But it had a buy-in of 60 clean & jerks @ 135# before the AMRAP started.

It was tough, but good.  I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.

#Grow.Stronger

Failure

***This post is a day late, sorry about that.***

Failure is what makes us better.

If you let it.

For this week's weekly check in, I confess that the "weekend happened".  I was going strong all week, but then Saturday hit, and I fell off the wagon.  Now normally, I would say, okay, let it go and make a better decision for the next meal.  Get back on that horse.

That is not what I did though.  I continued making bad decisions all day Saturday and Sunday.  I convinced myself that I had "blown it" for the day, and just let it go.

This continued into today (Monday).  Until my wife made a comment about what I was having for lunch.  Sometimes you just need a little kick in the pants.  You just need someone to call you on your bullshit.  That is what spouses are for.

Now I am refocused and ready to go again.  This is going to be even harder than usual, since I am headed out on a quick little road trip for the second half of this week.  Vacation is always hard to eat well.  But if this is important to me, then it is worth a try.

Progress (if you want to call it that) Pics to follow:

Self-Respect

Two quotes

"Character, willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life -- is the source from which self-respect springs."

"To live without self respect is to lie awake at night...counting up...the gifts irrevocably wasted through sloth or cowardice or carelessness"
                                                                                --Joan Didion

I read the above two quotes from Joan Didion in my daily reading this morning.  Both of them really struck a chord with me.  Especially the second quote.

That one hit hard.

The fear of failure could prevent you from ever really trying.  If you don't try, then you will never succeed.

Coming off of a holiday weekend, where I ate several things I shouldn't have, and worked out way less than I should have, the thought of wasting a gift through sloth seemed like it was speaking directly to me.

That said, it is in the past.  

Do. Better. Today.

Weekly check in July 8th.

I'm looking at doing a mid-season checkup comp near the end of August.

With that in mind, I am going to be super strict with my diet over the next 8 weeks.  To help with accountability on that, I am going to start doing a weekly check-in here on the blog.  Including progress photos.

Keep an eye here on the blog every Monday for my weekly check-in.

So here I am.  I am 270.8 lbs. as of this morning.

Let's see what kind of changes I can make in the next 8 weeks.

Goal Updates

So many things have happened in the last two years.

I've had big changes at work.

I've changed gyms.

And all in all, my fitness journey has "stalled".  In some ways, it has gone backwards.

I am less fit than I was this time two years ago.

I know I will not make the games in 2020 as a masters athlete.  I also know that it is entirely my own fault.

I haven't done what is necessary to attain that goal.  Not even close.

This morning, I weighed myself, and I weigh more than I have since 2014.

That changes today, July 1st, 2019.

My mission is to do the work, and get as close to the AGOQ in 2020 as possible.

Do the work.  Focus on the grind everyday.  Let the future take care of itself.