Debilitating and humiliating

Yesterday at CFW's Football Total, lead by Pam DelNego in her final coaching class there, I was on my way to a solid victory. I was warming up for the deadlift, the bar was loaded with 495# and on the way up I allowed my low back to curve. Now, usually, on an epically heavy deadlift the back is going to break its stabilizing position. That happens. But the lower back must remain neutral. I got the bar to just below my knees and bailed. Since then I've been moving slowly and sure not to hurt myself getting up out of chairs and picking things up (if my cats push one more thing off of the kitchen counter it will be their last).

So that bring us to today. I went to the gym feeling a lot better. I could still feel a twinge in my back but it felt manageable. I thought that maybe a good solid warm up would loosen me right up. Wrong. I went through the Burgener Warmup and did some extra Hang Snatches. I even did the California Strength Progression to make sure that everything was in working order. Then, I loaded the bar. Nothing heavy, afterall, it's still a warmup. 135#. Couldn't lift it more than a couple of inches before pain would dig it's dirty nails into my low back. I was done.

I spent the next 45 minutes stretching. Using a PVC Pipe as a foam roller, the double lacrosse ball in between each of my ribs and using bands to enhance the "couch stretch." I even did a couple minutes of handstand holds. While I do feel much better I decided to wait until tomorrow to try to lift again, that is, of course if we don't get more snow. We'll see how this goes. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. I have 4 weeks until the Atlantic States Open and could use some rest. I just hope that this pain goes away permanently and soon.

Parent Oblivious to Their Obese Children

Percentage of Americans with Type II Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes rising exponentially

M is for Mobility

One of my big projects for 2011 (and beyond) is to become more mobile, more supple, more awesome. More specifically, since I partake in the occasional Olympic Weightlifting Meet is to improve all of the positions that a lifter must force himself into. This should, in theory, create a more powerful athlete while at the same time significantly reducing the risk of injury. It's easy to get strong but maintaining mobility, especially as I get older and it become much more important, is where the cash-money is at (yes, I ended a sentence with a preposition, so so me).
Thanks in large part to Kelly Starrett's Mobility Project and to Greg Everett's efforts to really focus on warm-up's the utilize positions this should be a cinch, and really just up to me to get it done and make it just as important to my training as squats.
Barbell Warm Up Series from Catalyst Athletics
These are my names for the stretches on Mobility WOD. If you want to know more about them, just ask in the comments:
Super Frog
Feet on Walls
Psoas with Fulcram on Pole
Thoracic Stuff with Foam Roller and Balls
Calves
Couch Stretch
Sotts Presses
Balls on Hips and Glutes
and of course....
The Squat Test
and of course

Rich Man, Poor Man... Thoughts

Rich Man, Poor Man
An astute observation in the above piece. People in generally poorer areas have a better time working together. Very interesting. I wonder if the author's conclusion that rich people can use their credit cards to solve their problems is the whole answer. My guess is that it's not. I wonder if it has to do with video games vs. team sports. Little League and Rec-League Hockey teach kids to work well with each other. As do games of pick-up basketball which, after the cost of shoes and a ball, are free. Whereas Halo and Call of Duty, while entertaining and expensive, are solitary activities. Just random thoughts. Maybe I'm biased because I played in youth sports but feel that the experience of working towards a common goal (the biggest trophy) really has a major factor on the ability to work well with others during school and in the work force.

1st articles of 2011

Un-F$#K Your CF Gym
Top 50 Elite FTS Articles of 2010
For Red Sox Fans
How to Use the Prowler - Defranco

Hotel Workout #3

Back in Virginia...
30 Man Makers with 50# Dumbbell's.
I worked these as fast as I could but don't have a watch or even a clock to work off of. It's kind of nice doing conditioning without a clock. It forces you to rachet up the intensity (in ten cities) without external motivation.
Anyway... back to the grind

Interesting

I was digging through the Crossfit archives before football starts and I found this graph on interval ratios to train for the different metabolic pathways. Pretty interesting. If you're looking to try something and don't want to deal with the dogma of what Crossfit has turned into take a look back to what they were up to in 2003. It's pretty great stuff. They were much more humble and much more into the science behind training then. It seems like CF was more willing to recognize other training systems as legitimate and to try and experiment with what worked for other people and incorporate it into their own style. I wonder what happened?

Back in the Gym....

For now.
I'm home from work in Virginia for the weekend and was glad to get to the gym to lift some heavier weights.
Front Squat - 60% x 4
70% x 4
80% x4x3
Snatch - 60%x2
70%x2
80%x2x3
C+J - 60%x2+2
70%x2+2
80%x2+2x3
RDL - 85% of cleanx4x4
Press - 165#x3x4
Chins- 3x5 +15#

Also, I got to learn how to cross country ski at winding trails in Farmington, CT. I had a great time and really enjoyed it. It's the things I used to like about endurance type training without the parts I hate (boring staring at a black line in the pool and the knee pain running). I'm definitely going back again sometime soon.
In the meantime, I'm supposed to head back to Virginia for a couple more days. Looks like I'll be googling some more DB Complexes.

Hotel Workout #2

Thank goodness for DB Complexes. They force at least a little bit of intensity and a pretty good feeling in zee muscles, da.
3 sets of 6 reps each with 50# in each hand
High Pulls
Snatch (RA)
Snatch (LA)
Thruster
B.O. Row
Snatch (RA)
Snatch (LA)

I feel like I got something in that at the very worst got my blood flowing a little bit and forced me to breathe hard.
Hopefully I'll be headed back home tonight (weather permitting). It'll be good to see the the wife, the cats and a gym with barbells.

Hotel Workout

I didn't really feel like doing much this morning. Especially in terms of intensity and really getting my sweat on.
3x20 DB Bench (50#)
5x10 DB Bent Over Row (50#)
100 Air Squats - unbroken

Business Trip

Right now, I'm at the airport. I'm headed down to Norfolk, VA (but first, Charlotte for an hour). Pepsi wants me to visit my facility, learn from the warehouse folks and to see how the drivers like their trucks loaded (which side do they want 2 liters on versus 20 oz and what do we do with all of those gatorades?).
While, this is good for me and makes business sense, I can't help but think what this is going to do for my workouts and training. I didn't bother to bring my shoes or to call ahead to any crossfit or olympic lifting gyms. I'm going to make-do with what the Courtyard Marriott gods have bestowed upon me. The website says that they have free weights. We'll see. Worst case scenario I can do some stuff in my hotel room.
But what about my actual training. The whole "getting stronger" thing. Sure, I can do conditioning without equipment, but gaining, or even maintaining strength will be tough. Well, here's my idea. I'm going to double up on this week. It was a 4-day training week anyhow. Here's how it would look uninterrupted: Mon, Tues, Thur, Fri and below is how I'm going to do my workouts:
Mon, Tues, Thurs (on Saturday when I'm home)
Tues (on Thurs), Thurs (on Fri) and Friday (on Saturday).
This could end up being a good solution. I could use a week or two of taking it easier. In the meantime I'll figure out what I can/cannot do at the hotel gym and get my mobility on.

Carlee's Birthday

January the first is a great time for setting goals. Most people don't stick to them. I've seen a stat on this before but I'm tired and lazy this morning and I don't especially want to go look for it. The problem, that I find, is that when people set goals, e.g. I want to lose weight and be healthier, they are non-specific and there is no blue print or plan. You can't randomly decide that today's the day that I'm going to join a gym and start eating healthy (which is a big issue, because a lot of people don't know what is, in fact, healthy food) and then magically the pounds (or kilos to the rest of the world) will start falling off. It's very, very difficult, not impossible, just difficult.
The idea is to have a plan of attack. Create a system in which if you hit mini goals or a new milestone often enough to keep you interested and then the larger goal will come. To all those people with New Years Resolutions, keep at it. Keep working and whatever your goal is will come to you. But you have to do the hard work.

Mine:
285kg total in the Snatch and Clean and Jerk

Mini-Goals that will help get me there:
Squat 500#'s
DL - 600#'s
Sleep at least 7 hours a night
Eat more veggies