Farewell

This has been an awesome time posting and blogging. One of the reasons that I started this blog was to hold myself accountable for all my training. It was a great way to look back at the end of the day and show myself I did what I set out to do.

Along the way I have met some really cool people and heard of some really awesome gains, that brought a great deal of joy to me. Lots o fat loss, and some cool strength gains. I’ve also picked up two athletes who I am currently coaching, one local and one in Atlanta, that I feel both have a very good chance of meeting the goals they have set out, which are basically to get to regionals.

I wanted to continue this blog as long as possible, but because of my busy schedule I have to utilize all the time possible for the three of us. It really is getting difficult to program and coach, read work out, commute, work and sleep. I now have a coach and programmer holding me to my training, therefore, realized it was no longer necessary to hold myself accountable via this format, and no longer necessary to preach my opinion of what I thought was important. The reality is I’m just spewing out theory and until I accomplish what I have set out to accomplish, all of this is a bunch of hot air.

I’m going into the final three months into the dark, but I will be training harder than ever, because I do feel that my words will only mean something if my goal is reached. I believe in my plan, I believe in my coach, and I believe in ONEWORLD and all of my friends support (especially Lynnie and Marco, John, Jen, Freddy, Chyna, Margaux, and Chris (I and S) ). Visualization is a wonderful thing, some need partners, I just need the love of my friends to push through the pain.

Anyway thank you all for following and reading and e-mailing. I’ll see you guys at  regionals….

“You must read, you must persevere, you must sit up nights, you must inquire, and exert the utmost power of your mind. If one way does not lead to the desired meaning, take another; if obstacles arise, then still another; until, if your strength holds out, you will find that clear which at first looked dark.” Giovanni Boccaccio

Alex (xfitalex@gmail.com)                                                                                                                                      GBO

Dont sprint in the rain

Never sprint in the run…. that is all…….

11/11/11 workout was supposed to be 10 rep front squats and with remaining time left in a minute go Chin Over Bar for static hold. At the end of the minute run 800 as fast as possible and then rest 5 minutes repeat x 3

I was sketchy on the FS, so I started at 155 but that was way too easy, so was stoked to try 185 then 225,………….but I missed the 400m turn around on my run in the dark and rainy night and when I abruptly turned I slid landing and flew, landing on my left palm….. So add another injury, a left radial sprain; couldnt finish the front squats and didnt want to continue the runs in the rain so I changed work out to 20 minutes of one minute all out row one minute rest. Rowed roughly 2900m , back felt it.

11/12/11 work out was warm up, rolled out, stretched, and then ran 30 minutes at a 90%/50% pace, alternating every 30 seconds, this was a horrible work out and I wanted to quit the last 26 minutes of it. I covered 3.7 miles, and was doing well till about 14th minute I crumbled and my 50% went to about 30%…….for a couple of minutes, and just attempted to sprint the last 90 seconds……

hit GHD back extensions 25×4, ab work, and renegade rows for sets…….

GBO

Cramming?

My job in the intensive care unit, brings a lot of slow nights with plenty of down time. It may sound strange since most of the patient’s in there are critically ill, but I tend to think of this environment as controlled chaos. 

The healthcare worker’s best role is to understand the etiology, and pathology at hand, and to ensure that they are two steps ahead of anything that can come out of the patient’s stay. Waiting to see a drop in blood pressure is a late sign, it means that the body has attempted to compensate but was unsuccessful and if you rely on this as a time to intervene then you are going to jump through some hoops to get things under control.

Understanding, theory and physiology, clearly gives you an edge in the situation. Studying cardiac output and knowing that peripheral constriction is the bodies attempt to preserve blood supply to the major organs,…………tells you that during shock the body reroutes blood to the brain lungs and heart, leaving the extremities last in order of importance of perfusion. This than gives you some key signs to look for when assessing decreased cardiac output. For example, is the patient cold clammy, is the urine output decreasing, is capillary refill or the pinkness you see in the nailbed sluggish or slower after you press on it. These signs along with others, if you see them tell you to act, in order to avoid impending doom.

Impending doom is a harsh way of looking at what we do in competing in crossfit, but IF…… your goal is to make it to regionals or to the games, and you are not assessing your game frequently, then at the time of competition impending doom is what your world will feel like. Anxiety like that of a cramming college student, who skipped studying for sex drugs and rock n roll, leaving them the night before the huge test, with a pot of coffee, an open book, and frustration projected at the wrong person, is what you will feel.

Assess your game, honestly, and if you can’t do that, then get someone to do it for you. Work at what you suck at and stop living in the glory that fuels your fame. If your goal is to get to the games, or regionals, and you can only do one muscle up at a time, or you can’t do hspu, or your squat is less than 2x body weight, stop wasting your time shining in other things. We all have weaknesses, every one of us whether it’s gymnastics, strength, flexibility or cardio-stamina, we all suck at something, your goal should be to fix those holes.

Local competitions aren’t preparing you, cherry picking work outs isn’t helping you, and  avoiding nutritional awareness is destroying you. You can’t cram against competitors, who on a daily basis train to get better, not on what they are already amazing at, but at what they suck at.

Throw yourself also into theory, as well. Know why you are doing what you are doing. The oly lift for example is so complex, that studying it in theory will only make you better at it. Knowing the bar path of the lift, makes you aware of your bar path and gives you an advantage in the long run vs someone who is simply doing what they are told. Visualize the lifts by watching them over and over, and you will start understanding why lifts are missed and why lifts are made. This carries over greatly when you are on the blocks and you are visualizing your new PR.

Study, aerobic capacity and anaerobic pathways, and read books on strength and blogs by t-nation and other beefy lifters. Always ask why they are saying what they are saying, and then try to find out for yourself if they are right or wrong. Study nutrition and why it is such a huge deal in glycolitic training, and what you can do to stimulate a better hormonal response in the strength world. 3 months out is a great time to play with different pre and post work out meals that you can use on game day. It’s just enough time to fix what is broken, and stay in the controlled chaos side of things, instead of cramming the last minute attempting to fix those tools that never were sharpened.

GBO

3 months out, it is coming by fast………..

Workout November 10, 2011 was moved forward because I got to the gym and Freddy gave me a guilt trip, check it out Semper FI. Anyway it was actually good because I had limited time to get in and stretch roll out and then hit the movements, so I did 236 burpees for the USMC 236th Birthday SEMPER….

November 11, 2011 

warm up, roll out and then get to 10 rep front squat. Work out is 10 front squats to be done in one minute with remaining time spent on chin over bar as static hold, at the end of the minute run 800m and attempt to clear 3 minute pace each time. rest 5 minutes with active recovery, and repeat 3 times while increasing the load each time.

then attempt heaviest plank hold possible for one minute and one minute rest x 3

then 6 burpees as fast as possible and 50 meter sprint on the minute for 10 minutes.

Are you doing enough

It is impossible to imagine a stage this year of individuals at any regional competition that found their way to the prestigious challenge by laying back patiently, forgoing work for luck and rest. There will not be a golden ticket handed out, and there isn’t a lottery that will allow a lucky viewer to participate…….

It is a common formula for those that succeed, to display an uncanny desire to devour anything that gets in the way of what they perceive to be important.  Every crossfitter competing is different, but the common trait that we all share, is that when these try outs begin, all of our weaknesses will be out on display, for the public to see. It is those individuals that worked the most on improving the skills they lack skill in….. that will end their quest on top of a  podium, smiling, while their glory repulses all those unwilling to accept the result.

If you are an amazing gymnast and can string 30 muscle ups in under 3 minutes, but deadlift 375 for a one rep max, then a box jump/ deadlift workout at 315# will be your demise. If you can clean n jerk 315# but can’t find the engine to rep out as many squat cleans in 5 minutes at half that weight, your soul will be crushed. Every one has a weakness, and that particular premise is what lacks in many of our training regimes. We fail to attack what we suck at because it leaves an impression in our ego that tastes vile.

In the end of the day, we just want to pat ourselves on the back, but admitting you have a problem seems to be the first step to solving it. Keep your head up when you get your ass handed to you because a goat came up and you couldn’t tackle it, while your gym buddy destroyed it. Understand, however, what the problem is…. understand why you can’t nail that muscle up, why you can’t maintain a steady pace in the low weight higher-rep work outs, or why your overhead squats, make you look like a cripple just after a touchdown has been scored by his favorite team.

Nutrition, flexibility, mobility, and psychology all need to be worked on after hours. When all your friends are talking about who or what they are going to do that weekend, you need to figure out how to make yourself better. Going to the gym isn’t enough, there is rolling out, eating right, drinking less, sleeping more, and putting your soul at ease. Success doesn’t care about time, or problems it only rewards those willing to work, willing to bleed, willing to sacrifice for a cause that most don’t understand and most ridicule, but it’s not their journey.

This revolves around you deciding at some point that you wanted this and here you stand, another day in a different fork in the road, asking yourself if continuing this is worth it, because being sore, being lonely, being tired, and feeling pain that worries you, not only drains you it tests you. I’d love to see you quit because I am your competition, but don’t! Instead work on your weaknesses and improve your strengths and take it day by day….. because I am.

GBO

I haven’t been posting my work outs our of respect to my coach, never really discussed it with him but i have been doing extra credit things.

Sunday was a rest day but I was able to get Chris stroudt,in to the gym to spot me on my bench and I hit 340. I then worked on some new techniques and new squats to help me and my back, to get under load again. I’m going to a split clean and split snatch as suggested by Angela at OW, in order to keep my back upright, protecting the herniation, so I am pretty stoked about that. It felt pretty good so I’ll keep my ego under check and go up lightly. Monday I performed all my work assigned and did some extra credit doing the OW, metcon 6DB thrusters 10 pull-ups and 20 double unders, for 5 rounds finishing in sub 5. Im getting my engine back and that makes me really happy…………….

Training Partner

I was gassed today, running my 3rd max distance run after some gnarly movements, covering 400m+, when I tried searching deep for things to keep my mind occupied and away from the pain.

For some reason my mind turned to a recent video posted by crossfit HQ, in which coach Glassman, founder of crossfit and god to others, basically stated there is no way you can give 100% effort if you are training alone. The theory is basic, train with someone else who is trying to dog your glory and you will then increase your training potential.

Is he right? Am I wrong for asking if he is right, and if he is wrong, then what kind of athlete is able to come out of the dark cloud and put a stamp on this notion that daily competition is best amongst friends.

First of all, I have a problem when people analyze theory in public with beer in hand, and expect me to take it as scripture. It sounds more like metaphysical rhetoric than actual condensed knowledge. Plato once said, ” wise man speak because they have something to say, while fools speak because they have to say something.”

When training with recon a lot of years ago, me and Johnny B, came across the biggest stud I have ever met. He was a SSgt. that had been in Marine Corp Recon a great amount of time and was someone who was not only physically determined but also endowed in knowledge. Multilingual, tactically sound,  and bad ass in hand to hand I need to kill you combat.

Every morning as we were trucked to our shooting ranges, we would see this guy with a 50 lb ruck sack running, what we later found out to be 15 miles. It was as sure as the morning dew and fog would  stick to the ground that this savage creature who was as unhuman as they came, would be out there running early in the morning. There wasn’t a platoon of recon troops trailing him, no one to push him, and in fact out of all the staff NCO’s that I remember, he was the only one that to this day, I would shit my pants if I pissed him off.

He was 5’11 and about 210 lbs and when he took his shirt off, every striation that an anatomist could think of was sketched on his body. He always carried a serious glare and enjoyed pain, as if for some reason, pain was his best friend. I can’t remember a day when I ever saw him smiling, but I can remember the day when we asked him what he was training for, and he simply stared at me with that 1000 mile stare that showed I was as irrelevant in his life as the beer he just pounded, and just ordered another beer.

There are things in our military defense that we will never know exist, delta shadow teams may or may not exist and he may or may not be a part of it. To ever think that every man or woman needs another man or woman to push him or her, to reach the goal they are striving for is silly to me. Because someone coached cyclists and saw that cyclists only saw full potential amongst other cyclists, does not explain the heart or the potential of our warriors out there. This individual I spoke of, only required the motivation to succeed at becoming what we will never know exists.

There are people who exist amongst us that enjoy pain, that thrive for it, and either hate or can’t be around the company of others. Being elite as we think we can be, is a lonely path and to assume that those of you who train on your own, have no chance of competing amongst the very best is a silly notion. It’s your dream, and the only one that is stopping you from accomplishing your goal, is your own desire to suffer in loneliness and pain.

Last thing, for those of you who are training on your own, because I have received plenty of emails from you guys………. Ask yourself what is really being said by our very diligent leader?

We are ridding ourselves of all sectional events to implement a competition that will be held each week, in order to give those that can not perform in the old sectional environment the opportunity to showcase their skills,(ie those people who train on their own), but as stated in my recent comments I don’t really think you have a chance……..

is it time for an intervention, maybe but who really cares………..

train hard, train smart, have a purpose… understand commitment is important, understand daily pain is necessary and if you need help contact me… I want to meet you in competition at your best! GET SOME

GBO

The end of my ketosis

With the injury to my lower back came an end to heavy squatting and deadlifting for a while. It is unfortunate because, I was convinced that my experience in ketosis would not warrant any loss in strength, but unfortunately wasn’t able to truly test this out this year. All I can do is speculate…….

In retracing my steps, my periodization this year consisted of me initially getting beefy, by increasing the weight lifting, oly lifting and decreasing the amount of cardio I was performing. I was eating anything I wanted and I gained weight nearly topping 200 pounds at one point. I was squatting twice and sometimes three times a week, and doing Oly lifts every day, in some fashion whether it was clean hi pulls, muscle snatches or having a high volume Snatch, Clean n Jerk day.

While I didn’t reach all of my strength goals, I was just shy of them by 10-15 pounds which is not a complete lost.

When September came around, I pretty much knew that it was time to start focusing again on leaning out, as well as increasing my metabolic capacity. I personally chose a ketogenic diet, because I pretty much figured that the best way to maintain the strength would be by maintaining the lean mass that was formed through the previous 3 months of heavy training, while getting rid of the unwanted body fat. Decreasing my caloric intake and increasing my caloric demand would not do this, it would have a high catabolic effect, which would certainly lead to loss in strength.

So I blogged about ketosis, and met many interested people who would be willing to try it out. It was never my intention, to convince, athletes, who train in a glycolitic pathway to engage in a ketogenic diet, but I figured if there were people out there who were interested in losing body fat, ketosis is the best bet. Along the way, some comments were posted on here in regards to strength and ketosis. I really never bought the notion that you lose strength, by following ketosis, and I think I might have further solidified my stance when in ketosis, I benched 335 pounds a PR of over 35 pounds in one month. I wish I would of have had the ability to quantify other lifts but unfortunately by this time, I wasn’t able to get under load, with the initial injury to my back. I did power clean, 275# and jerked 290 just missing 300# before re-tweaking the back and while in ketosis, but I can’t tell you where my squat and deadlift went.

Those were the positives, but it was no surprise to me or my coach, that when I decided to go back into an aerobic, glycolitic training, period….. I quickly felt a smack in the face. One day when doing Lyn and in deep ketosis, I felt an intense lactate burn, from my mouth all the way to my muscles and it did not dissipate for a couple of hours. This is when I knew that if I wanted to compete seriously, glycogen replacement would be instrumental, and ketosis would not have a role anymore in my endeavor.

This is a difficult blog to write because I see just how important this lifestyle is, not only to many of our crossfitters but to our obese society. I have seen a number of cohorts, change their lives by going ketogenic, and feel that our healthcare would benefit drastically by promoting this diet. As I have stated before, if you trick the body (by avoiding carbohydrates) into thinking that there is an energy depletion, the body then counters by using stored (gluconeogenesis) energy that is found in our fats cells. It is in every biochemistry book and it is definitely not a fad, since this literature has been out ever since Banting discovered the role of insulin.

In a sport however, where every second counts, I have to move on to a diet higher in carbohydrates, that include, sweet potatoes and bananas and even peanut butter. I am going to use the next month or so to find a quick pre-meal most likely peanut butter and a banana, that will help me stay in the gym in good spirits. I used to be a huge fan of eating breakfast prior to my workouts, but am realizing that when I get to regionals, waking up and making breakfast is going to be the furthest thing from my mind. I am even considering drinking a Gatorade just prior to my heavy volume days, as a quick energy booster and using the banana/peanut butter as something that will continue to provide energy while in the gym.

In any case, I hope those of you who are serious about leaning out know that, ketosis, leaned me out considerably. I am near 8% body fat, but until I get under a dexa machine don’t quote me, so contact me if there is anyway I can help you achieve your goal xfitalex@gmail.com, just understand that nutrition plans depend on your specific goal. Those that need to gain weight need to eat, while those that want to lose body fat need to avoid carbs……..

GBO

Crossfit San Leandro

I haven’t been up to date with these posts, mainly because I took on a couple of other responsibilities in helping some friends with the training they have going on. It’s been a blast implementing theories into their weaknesses and trying to instill a sound plan for them. I am really excited to see how they do in March, because they are going to be freaking awesome.

As far as I am concerned,…… well I am glad to say that I have the right person Irvine, programming for me, as was confirmed by my visit to my physical therapists in Crossfit San Leandro. I am fortunate to call Ruth Pardue, PT, DPT and LeeAnne Craft, PT, MsPT friends in my corner, not only because they are so damn friendly, and caring, but because they have taken some time to provide me with some rehab advice which is helping me recover faster than if I would of just rested 6 weeks as was suggested by my doc.
The theory behind my very diligent physical therapists has not been one of retreat but instead of knowledge and awareness of the problem at hand. They have given me the green light to train at the injury as long as pain is avoided. Trunk stabilization has been the focus of my coaches plan, with glute bridges, plank holds, quadruped, skin the cats, no load reverse hypers, to name just a few of the things that I am doing and my visit to San Leandro warranted approval. Leanne and Ruth focused on some stretching and warming up drills, teaching me some tools to get me back under load while maintaining awareness of an injury that will show its face for a long time.
It was a misconception I thought, my trunk and core, was strengthening as my deadlift and squat became heavier. Unfortunately, as I think of a day when I warmed up with another trainer Rita B, who is notorious of her heavy core warm ups….. I remember that I should of seen that day as a warning. I was shaky on planks and hollow rocks, and ab work was rough and yet I avoided the warning.
I think one of the reasons that I made such big gains in my lifting is because I hated missing…. If I missed an OHS squat I would try again, Id stay in the hole in the clean unitl I came up, stubborn to lose the weight. I tried and tried and tried sometimes foolishly as the day I snatched weight on my head and got up and did it again. I should of been a lot more patient, and a lot more understanding of my core weakness. T-nation preaches and I ignored it…..
But here I am, not wavering, I took responsibility for it and have made some pretty nice bounds on this recovery. I got under load again this week, using a box and front squatted 285 for 3, and kept my ego in check not attempting 315, my previous 3 rep. This time I was aware of my core and felt exactly when I was tight, sensed when my body was loose, and immediately knew any mistakes I was making. I am working hard on enjoying where I am vs, what I think I should be……

Crossfit San Leandro, Ruth and Leanne have been amazing, I definitely recommend hitting them up if you ever need some rehab, and all my friends that have supported this injury I thank you. Im running sub minute 400; doing burpees again, and killing the aerobic world, Im still benching 3 wheels, and am doing a lot of gymnastics…. Im clearing the lactate faster, and am running easier. Im focused and excited and lucky to have my friends and my coach, I’m seeing great things in March………

“In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”
– Albert Camus

GBO