10 x 1min on; 1 min off

evening

10 x 1min on; 1 min off - C2 rower
Total distance: 2747 m, 1:49.2/500m, 29 s/m

1. 259 - 1:55.8
2. 263 - 1:54.0
3. 274 - 1:49.4
4. 273 - 1:49.8
5. 281 - 1:46.7
6. 277 - 1:48.3
7. 278 - 1:47.9
8. 285 - 1:45.2
9. 261 - 1:54.9 Got a late start on this one
10. 295 - 1:41.6

Felt great as I got into the workout, rowing definitely takes some warm-up for me

DROP DEAD

Afternoon

Warm Up: Run 1 mile. 100 push-ups for time.

Strength: 3 RM Dead Lift

Work Capacity / Stamina: For time: 10 rounds: 5 x Dead Lift (185#), 5 x pull-ups then run 800M, then, 10 Rounds: 5 x Push-Press (95#), 5 x pull-ups.

1. 7:17, 3:34 (need to get better at high rep push-ups

2. DL 3rm - 295

3. Part 1 - 6:20. Didn't do part 2 for time because of tear on my palm, did 5 rounds of 5 push press (95#) with 5 strict pull-ups, and then 2x5 strict press with 95...Really liked this workout, going to try again once the hand gets better

Evening

~3 mile run with the dog (1 mile on beach) - 23:12

FRONT SIGHT FOCUS

For time:

Run 800 Meters

4 rounds: 10 pull-ups, 15 thrusters (95#), 20 KB swing (55#).

Run 800 M.

24:08

Not the best time, but I felt like I gave it a solid effort. The thrusters were definitely what killed me

HALO

1. Warm Up: 40-30-20-10 push-ups, sit-ups, squats

2. Work Capacity: 5 round for time: 400M run, 30 KB swings, 30 pull-ups

1. as rx'd

2. 28:38 (4 rounds) this was hard as hell. Really need to work on my pull-ups, they felt like a lot more work than they should be. The swings were hard but as expected.

Filthy Fifty

Filthy Fifty

50 Box Jumps - 24"

50 Jumping Pull-ups

50 KB Swings - 1 pood

50 Steps, Walking Lunge

50 Knees to Elbows

50 Push Press, 45 pounds

50 Back extensions

50 Wall Ball shots, 20# ball

50 Burpees

50 Double Unders

Time: 23:55

Not a great time. Felt good through most of the workout, but the wall ball shots and the burpees felt like they took probably 10 minutes between the 2 of them, so they took the majority of the time. My shoulders were dead by this point so they were pretty brutal.

Will and Suffering

WILL AND SUFFERING

BY MARK TWIGHT

"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem."
Emil Zatopek

The difference between a good alpinist and a great one is will. The great climber exercises the discipline required to know himself. He trains to be stronger than he thinks necessary. On a route he eats to sustain energy levels even if it makes him gag, and he drinks regularly to stay hydrated. He stops in the middle of a pitch to pull his hood up if the spindrift gets bad instead of waiting to reach the belay, and he stays dry because of it. He maintains the discipline needed to melt enough ice each night to fill the bottles, and sweeps snow out of the tent instead of letting it melt. He doesn't care if his partner's pack weighs less. He wakes up and starts the stove when the alarm goes off. The great climber recognizes when he's having a bad day and admits it to his partner, then he relinquishes leads where he might slow the team and follows as fast as he can. He does all the cooking that night. A strong-willed climber will fast for a day or two without complaint to wait out bad weather.

Where does this strong will and hardness come from? It derives from recognizing desires and goals and then enduring whatever it takes to fulfill them. A strong will grows from suffering successfully and being rewarded for it. Does a strong will come from years of multi-hour training runs or do those runs result from a dominating will? There is no right answer because will and action feed one another.

Suffering provides the opportunity to exercise will and to develop grit. Replace recreational climbing with specific training to develop confidence. Climb on local crags in weather conditions far worse than any you would intentionally confront in the high mountains. Austrian climber Herman Buhl carried snowballs in his hands to develop his tolerance (psychological) and increase capillarization (physical). He climbed on his local crags all winter long, even in storm conditions, and rode his bike for hundreds of kilometers on the way to the mountains for training. It paid off, of course, when he climbed alone to the summit of Nanga Parbat.

The mind and body adapt to both comfort and deprivation. The difficult experiences of mountaineering may appear irrational and risky from the comfort of the armchair, but learning to deal with them is essential. Relish the challenge of overcoming difficulties that would crush ordinary men.

Michael Gilbert and Scott Backes got soaked to the bone climbing The Waterfall Pitch on the north face of the Eiger. When they stopped for the night at the Brittle Ledges, they discovered their sleeping bags had been drenched as well, Michael asked, "What are we going to do now?" Scott replied, "We're going to suffer." And they did. But it was a little thing compared to the suffering experienced intentionally and otherwise during the evolution of alpinism.

Learn to suffer.

Clean/Muscle-up Practice

Morning

3x20 push-ups with 25# plate

3x10 strict pull-ups

Olympic lifting practice - Cleans

Got a lot better at getting under the weight, making it more of an actual squat clean as opposed to a power clean.  As I get better at this I'll be able to move a lot more weight without as much effort

Also worked on the rings and got my muscle-ups down better, hopefully chaining these together next week

Step-ups, Pistols/Burpees/KB Swings

Single-leg practice

Warm-up: Tabata Row - 20 on: 10 off x 8

1. Step-ups - 3 x 6 (each leg)

2. Pistol practice

3. 5 rounds for time of:

3 pistols (each leg)

7 burpees

9 KB swings (55#)

Warm-up: 912 m, PR

1. 3 x 6 @135

2. Pistols on gradually reducing box until done strictly

3. 6:09 - pistols done onto medicine ball

Press, Push Press, Row/Clean/Pull-ups

1. Work up to 1RM Press, Push Press
2. 5 rounds of 3 PP @ 90% 1RM:
3. 800m Row
    3 rounds of 20 Squat Clean (95#), 20 pull-ups

    800m Row

1. 120 Press, 150 Push Press
2. 5x3 @ 135
3. 25:07

This time is awful for the workout, I should have done a lot better.  Will do better next time

evening

~3 miles with the dog - 23:10

DL, SDHP, KB Swings

5 rounds: 3 xDL @ 90% 2RM, 15 x KB SDHP (55# or 1.5 pood), 20 KB Swing (same weight)

17:29 - rx'd (275 DL)

Got this workout off Sealfit...this is only the first part of what's supposed to be a longer workout though. No way I'm in shape for the entire thing, but I'm going to work on it. Doing a run later tonight

Cindy, 3x5 Press

Afternoon:

Cindy: AMRAP 20 minutes

5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 air squats

19.5 rounds...really poor showing. I started off way too fast, and was completely burned out by like 15 minutes. Need to get some more work in on met-con's, I lost a lot during SS. Going to do some presses later.

Evening:

Press:

45 - 2x10, 65 - 1x5, 105 - 3x5

Iron and the Soul

Just read this...really strong words

Iron and the Soul – By Henry Rollins

I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself.

Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me “garbage can” and telling me I’d be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn’t run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn’t going to get pounded in the hallway between classes. Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you’ll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn’t think much of them either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my advisor. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard. Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn’t even drag them to my mom’s car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.’s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn’t looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing. In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn’t want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in.

Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn’t know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn’t say shit to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn’t want to come off the mat, it’s the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn’t teach you anything. That’s the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn’t until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can’t be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn’t ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you’re not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn’t have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone’s shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body.

Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn’t see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you’re made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it’s some kind of miracle if you’re not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole.

I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind.

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

Max DL / Short Met-con

Deadlift: 45 - 1x10, 135- 1x5, 185, 225, 275, 315, 335, 350, 365

Met-con:

Sprint 250m

7 knees to elbows

14 sit-ups

Time: 4:19

Pretty good, need to work on form for KTE. I can't really kip on them so I have to stop my swing at the bottom.

Day 47

Started an "internship" at Crossfit Coastal. Basically just helping out with coaching/timing/whatever. Got a couple solid workouts in today.

Fran: 7:25

5 min AMRAP: 3x Power Clean, 50m sprint - 14 rounds

8 rounds for time: 250m sprint, 8 lunges (4 each leg), 8 box jumps (~28") - 13:17

Definitely can tell a negative difference in my metcon ability compared with before doing the SS cycle. But even with being in not as good a shape that way, I got a better Fran time just because of increased strength, which makes me feel a lot better. My limiting factor on this workout is by far still the thrusters though. I'm going to start supplementing my workouts with some 3x5 shoulder press once or twice a week

The AMRAP was pretty brutal, especially for being only 5 minutes, but definitely fun. This could be a great workout if expanded to 15-20 minutes...possibly with ~200m runs or something along those lines?

Last workout was a killer. The first two were pretty close together and the last one wasn't until this evening, but it was HARD. The runs in between lunges and box jumps (something i've never really done before) were killer. Legs were dead afterwards

Also got my first muscle-up today just messing around. Surprisingly it wasn't too hard, I think I was just limited by the fact that I hadn't had anything quite high enough to hang my rings from

Day 45

Just got back from the gym where I did my closing CFT for my Starting Strength cycle. Overall I'm pretty pleased with how it went. My shoulder's still bothering me, but just doing single reps wasn't too bad so I just went with it.

Bodyweight: 168.5

Squat: 45 - 2x5, 135 - 1x5, 185, 225, 245, 265, 275, 285, 300 (fail), 300 (fail)
Press: 45 - 2x5, 65 - 1x5, 95, 105, 115, 125, 135 (fail)
Deadlift: 45 - 1x5, 135 - 1x5, 225, 245, 275, 315, 335, 350

I'm fairly pleased with this. Not quite as much improvement as I was expecting...I was hoping for my weights to go up as much as the 5 RM's had, but no luck. I got a little anxious on the squats, and tried for 300 instead of just going up by 5 or 10 like I probably should, and could have, but in the long run I don't think it makes a huge difference. Looking back at my previous PR I'm a lot more happy than I was with this at the gym. 40 pounds on my squat in ~1.5 months is great.

The press is still by far my weakest point. Doing a max was weird though, whereas with the 5 RM I have trouble getting it off my shoulders sometimes, on the 125 I had trouble getting it to lockout. No matter what workout I do after this I'm going to start implementing some 3x5 press before or afterwards a couple times a week.

Deadlift was awesome. I went in hoping for 350, and got it. I probably could have gone a little higher, but with my shoulder feeling like it does I didn't want to chance it. I used straps on the last 3 lifts, didn't really feel like I was losing my grip yet, but I just didn't want the grip to be what kept me from hitting the lift.

Day 45

I've been thinking about the progress I've made so far, and feel like I've gotten what I need to out of this workout. I'm testing my CFT again tonight to see what kind of progress I've made, and then going to take it easy-ish for the next couple days before starting either a regular Crossfit cycle or possibly looking into Sealfit.

Day 44

Easy 1.8 miles around the neighborhood with my dog...just trying to loosen my legs up

~14:20 min

Day 43

After a nap I felt a lot more energetic so I figured I'd hit the gym for a run, hoping to not make the day a total waste.

Treadmill - 3 miles, 9.0 mph: 20 minutes

Day 43

SS workout

Squat: 45 - 2x5, 135 - 2x5, 240 - 1x3, 135 - 2x10
Bench:45 - 2x5, 135 - 1x5

Terrible workout overall. My right shoulder was killing me, couldn't hold the bar up on squats, or do much on bench. I didn't even try with power cleans. Going to take it easy the rest of the day and tomorrow and see how I feel on Wednesday

Day 41

Squat: 45 - 2x5, 135 - 2x5, 235 - 3x5

Press: 45 - 2x5, 75 - 1x5, 110 - 3x5

Deadlift: 45 - 1x5, 135 - 2x5, 225 - 1x5, 280 - 1x5

Pull-ups: Bodyweight +25 - 5x5

Overall not too bad. The squats were pretty heavy but they went up easy enough. Press is still hard, but it's getting easier, it's just going to take a a few workouts at each weight. The deadlift was probably the hardest, but only because my grip was completely gone by the 5th rep.

Day 40

CFE Workout

1 Minute Ladder (mis-read the CFE post so I didn't to enough reps)

1 min on, 50 sec off (2.0 incline, 10.0 mph)
1 min on, 40 sec off (2.0 incline, 10.0 mph)
1 min on, 30 sec off (2.0 incline, 10.0 mph)
1 min on, 20 sec off (2.0 incline, 10.0 mph)
1 min on, 10 sec off (2.0 incline, 9.0 mph)
1 min on, 20 sec off (2.0 incline, 9.0 mph)
1 min on, 30 sec off (2.0 incline, 10.0 mph)
1 min on, 40 sec off (2.0 incline, 10.0 mph)
1 min on, 50 sec off (2.0 incline, 10.0 mph)

Should have started with 1 min on, 1 min off and finished with the same. Oh well...pretty good workout, need to get run more.

Pull-ups: Bodyweight - 5x7, 2x10 kipping

Day 39

Squat: 45 - 2x5, 135 - 2x5, 230 - 3x5
Bench: 45 - 2x5, 135 - 2x5, 175 - 3x5
Power Clean: 45 - 1x8, 95 - 1x5, 135 - 1x5, 165 - 5x3
Dips: Bodyweight +25 - 2x8

Another great workout. I've shifted the bar a little lower on my back for squats and can definitely tell a difference. It's a lot easier to keep my back upright, I don't feel myself collapsing forward as much as I start to fatigue. The bench was hard, I started at 180 thinking I could get it but after 1 rep I could tell it was too much. I'll get it next workout though. Power clean was better than last time, same weight but I felt like my form was a lot better and my grip wasn't giving out as bad.

Day 38

CFE Workout

30 seconds on, 30 seconds off

Rowing:
1 - 123
2 - 130
3 - 131
4 - 126
5 - 126
6 - 132
7 - 133
8 - 132

Pull-ups: Regular/Underhand/Wide grip - sets of 7 - 2 rotations

Really need to work on my rowing form. I feel like I'm busting my ass but I'm not getting anywhere. Going to concentrate on practicing this during my warm-ups

Day 37

Squat: 45 - 2x5, 135 - 2x5, 225 - 3x5
Press: 45 - 2x5, 75 - 1x5, 110 - 3x5
Deadlift: 45 - 1x5, 135 - 2x5, 225 - 1x5, 275 - 1x5
Pull-ups: Bodyweight - 2x10, Bodyweight +25 - 3,2,1,2,3

GREAT workout. Felt good to be home and well rested. Nutrition has been on point the past couple days and I could really tell a difference. Could finally tell some progress on the press. The first 2 sets were pretty easy, and I got the first 3 of the third set, but then had to give a little bit of a push to get the last 2, hopefully I'll be able to get all 3 sets clean next workout. The deadlift was heavy, but I didn't have a lot of trouble other than acually holding onto it, I could tell my grip was giving on the last 2 reps