Another Injury

Well, as the title of this Blog suggest, I am hurting again. Not long ago I healed, somewhat quickly, from a moderate hamstring pull and now I have a low back strain. According to my massage therapist it has something to do with where the soaze ties into the back of the pelvis. I don't know this stuff so I might be mis-stateing what she actually said or meant. The good news is that it is already feeling much better.

Here's what happened, and there's a bit of a lesson in it: Thursday morning I felt great. I don't usually work out on Thursdays, but I'm going out of town next week and am going to miss a few days so I was hoping to get a couple of extra days in beforehand. Anyway, the workout was backsquats (again). Those seem to be popping up alot lately. I noticed early on that my back was tweaking alittle after each set, during the build-up to 90% of max. Each time I would rack it after my squats I would feel a painfull twinge in my low left side of my back. I should have shut it down right there. Instead, I pushed through a few 1 rep sets of 255# and suddenly it got real bad.

So I left and went to work and painfully made it through the day. By the time I got to my previously scheduled massage appintment at the end of the day I was having a very hard time gettting in and out of my truck. She fixed me up pretty good though and I think I can be back at workouts on Monday.

As it turns out, 255# is a PR for me. This is good news. If that is truly 90% 0f my max, then my max must be around 290#. I'm not so sure about that, but we'll probably see in a couple of weeks. This is a big step for me as backsquat is really my weakness and I have a goal of reaching 300# in backsquat and 400# in deadlift by July. I am hoping to get my Crossfit Total score over 800# by then. The deadlift seems to be an easier goal for me and I have no idea about the shoulder press, I'm assuming it won't be much over 100# if I'm lucky.

The lesson learned is: Listen to your body! If I had shut it down earlier I wouldn't have missed any other workouts this week. Luckily, this "old guy" still heals pretty quick.

Fast Heal

The last couple of weeks have been great at my workouts, not so great at work though. While I have been pushing harder and harder at the gym my pulled hamstring muscle has proven to be totally healed. I feel 100%.

This last week, the week most students have spring break, I have had a new addition to my workout classes. CJ, pictured here, came up from Santa Barbara and was in on most of the same workouts that I did. This kid is going to be a beast! He has alot of heart and is very strong, especially on any kind of squats. He seems to have a great life plan too. I believe he's going to be the owner of a very successful Crossfit gym in the next few years. I've always been intrigued by people that have things so planned out. I have pretty much just taken life as it comes and have never really been good at long-term planning. I guess there's pro's and con's to both personality types.

Having CJ in those classes definitely had me digging alot deeper than I normally do. I am going to have to find some way to find that extra push down deep. When your a little over the halfway point in a workout and feeling spent it's very hard to pick up the pace. Pushing yourself when you're totally out of breath and full of fatigue is hard enough all by itself. With CJ there I was somehow actually able to find it in myself to pick-up my pace towards the end. This is something I believe is hard to come by unless you have a competitor right behind, or out in front, of you.

The trainers at Crossfit NSC have been great. The tailored my workouts around my hamstring and kept me in top form. I believe this also caused fast healing to my injury. When it comes to nutrition and fitness Crossfit trainers are the ones to trust.

Instead of me posting my workouts for you to view just click here.. http://crossfitnsc.com/wod/index.php scroll down to go back in time. Sometimes you have to click the comments to see the scores.

Until next time...........................

It's Been Awhile

I haven't posted in quite along time. I'm not sure how it happened but things got really busy all of the sudden. Work has been crazy, softball season started and coaching the team has taken alot of the evening times, Britnee had her second child (a boy, my third grand-child), and there has been lots of family stuff going on.

We always refer to core stability at Crossfit. Well in costruction stabily is key as well. Here you see a steel moment frame being added to a home for stability.

As far as fitness goes I have still been charging hard at Crossfit North Santa Cruz. On the 13th I had a low hamstring pull on my left leg and had to avoid running and some leg exercises this week. It feels mostly healed except for sprints I think I can get back to doing just about anything this upcoming week. Luckily I didn't pop it and it has healed surprisingly fast. Everyone prepared me for this to be a long slow process. Being 45 years old I assumed it would be a slow heal. I'm sure diet and the crossfit way of doing things has aided, but I'm quite happy with the healing time.

During last week when I had to modify some of the workouts for my injury I focused more on upper body intensity. All of the sudden I have been able to do a few of movements that I didn't have before. First, I finally got muscle-ups. I can't believe how much mental this movement is. Once I got one I could do a few in a row without problem. Second, I figured handstand push-ups out. I went form thinking there was no way I could do anything more than a negative to being able to get 5 in a row. Again, very mental. Once your brain realizes you can do one they become much easier. Lastly, I went up the rope w/o legs. Athough I have gotten pretty good on the rope this exercise was my nemesis last fall and I had no idea I would be able to do "ams only" assents, ever.

If you really want to have sore arms do some muscle-ups and legless rope climbs and feel the lingering pain. While I have learned these new movements I really haven't progressed much on the double unders. Of course I couldn't work on these while my hammy was bad, but with my rythem I'm not sure it would matter. Hopefully the will just click one of these days.

I'll try to post with some sort of regularity from now on. Until then keep hitting it hard.............

Athletic Training

Over the past couple of days of workouts I'm starting to feel my self getting back to where I was before I got the flu. I feels good to be back where I can make actual progress again. I am definetly very motivated to improve my performance all the time and the only way you can know your improving is if you are bettering your times in the workouts.

This is a picture of my daughters softball team at the opening ceremonies for the Jr. Olympic Games in San Diego last year.

Most anyone who works-out at least a couple of days a week should see that kind of improvement. The thing is, if you want to improve on pace with the real performers in any sport you have to do more. This is true of Crossfit training and just about any sport someone would participate in. Practiceing your sport isn't enough either, you need to be stronger and more fit than the others playing it if you want to excel. Crossfit builds stamina, strength, quickness, and mental toughness all while getting as fit as you could ever imagine. This is all true if you commit the efforts of the top performers. Everyone benefits, but to realize top performance you have to commit this type of effort.

Something else I've noticed, that I'm sure all real athletes know well, is diet, sleep and mental preparedness becomes very important too. Once you get to a certain point in fitness you begin to notice that what you eat effects you performance very much. Overall diet is important, but sometimes just the last things you consumed can play a big factor in how well you perform. When you eat in relation to a workout makes a big difference too. Eat too close to a workout and you might not do so well. Workout starved and you'll probably be weak and lose stamina.

At my age of 45 and the fact that the guy's I'm trying to catch are much younger should leave me satisfied, right? It actually only motivates me to work harder............because I know I'm already giving some of them a run for their money and I think I can catch them.............

Fridays Workout:
Overhead Squat, 5 rep max
5-5-5-5-5.............120#
I felt pretty weak in the shoulders on this one after the other stuff this week. Should be 15# more, I think, if I was alittle more fresh.

Saturday:
21 Sumo-deadlift-high-pulls (75#), 3 rope climbs, run 200m
15 SDHP, 2 rope climbs, run 400m
9 SDHP, 1 rope climb, run 800m......................10:02
I was very happy with this time. This was my 4th workout in a row and I thought I was pretty spent. Thankfully today is a rest day!

After a few weeks that made it seem like summer was here we are back at having some winter weather again. It has been raining off and on all week with chilly temperatures (for around here anyway) and wind. Whenever the weather gets like this I always think about one our tropical trips. This is a waterfall in Micronesia on the island of Pohnpei.

This is just a quick post to update some you on my workouts.......

Monday:

OH DB Squats

53# Kettle bell swings

2-4-6-8-10-8-6-4-2....................9:52

then

10- Pull-ups

10- Ring dips

10- Kettle Bell swings, 53#

5-35# shoulder press

as many rounds in 10 mins.........4 rnds + 10 pull-ups and 8 ring dips

Weds:

Tabata thrusters, 25# db's

Then row 500m.............7/1:38

then

Tabata Jumping Pullups

then 21-15-9 25# thrusters and Row for calories.......12/5:54

Thursday:

Elisabeth

21-15-9

135# Squat Cleans, Ring Dips.............14:53

These were all pretty brutal especially thursday. My schedule is alittle messed up this week and now I'm gonna have a 4-day in a row thing going on.........we'll see how it goes.

Back at it

Well I'm finally feeling back to normal after being sick. This is my first full week of workouts since I had that nasty flu bug that has been hitting so many people.

The first day back was a little unerving as I went through the workout. Exaustion comes much quicker after a layoff and I was kinda worried that I would trigger a relapse. After all it seemed to be a workout that caused the flu to settle on me in the first place. My time sucked but I felt good afterward so I was very happy. The soreness this week has been a big factor though. My legs have been so sore that walking has been a painful exercise everyday at work. At my work you walk around all day, with 40# of tools hanging from your hips, going up and down ladders and usually carrying stuff too.

The soreness is almost gone and I had a real good workout out the last couple of days. The workouts this week were................................

Monday: 100 ft waiter walk with 40# (alternate arms halfway thru)

20 Box jumps (big box)

10 wall balls with 20# ball

As many rounds as you can in 20 mins.........................9 rounds

Tuesday: Backsquat, 5 round max

215, 215, 220, 220, 220

Wednesday: Daniel

50 Pull-ups

400m run

21 thrusters, 95#

800m run

21 thrusters, 95#

400m run

50 pull-ups....................................20:19

Friday: 400m Run

15 snatch balances, 75#

5 Rounds...............................................16:58

Saturday: Big Loop Run (approx 700m)

30 man-makers, 25# dbs

30 knees to elbows

30 hollow-rocks

250m row

20 man-makers

20 k2e

20 hollow-rocks

250m row

10 man-makers

10 k2e

10 hollow-rocks

Big Loop Run...................................20:22

As usual rest days are sunday and thursday

Thank you for my Blessings

Do you ever stop to think how lucky you are? I mean really think about it. We all say it once in awhile: "I'm so lucky", or " the Lord has blessed me". But do we really feel it in a deep and real way. Knowing it is one thing, but feeling it is quite another.

The thing is, most of us fall into a couple of main groups. One consists of all the people that feel life has been mostly unlucky for them. They are barely getting by and living week to week. Most of these people look around at others and think "why can't I get lucky like them". They see the people driving cars with factory warranties and going on vacations and assume those people all got breaks they never had and may never get. They wonder if they'll ever own a home or even be able to save money yet they still claim to be thankful from time to time. They know things could be worse or more hopless. Actually, they know this but at the same time are alittle jealous or bitter.

The other group is filled with people that have lots of hope and, for the most part, are doing quite well. They have fairly new cars and own their home. They get to go on good vacations. These people need the vacations because they work lots of hours and usually experince lots of stress in their jobs or business. They also claim to be greatful for all they have. But deep inside they're thinking "I worked hard for everything I have, nobody gave me this".

Both groups have one thing in common: They should be very thankful. I belive nobody, especially me, can actually be truly greatful until they experince great loss. Most of us will go through life and never have to feel this. I make the claim that this is both a blessing and a curse. No one wants to have a huge loss or tragedy in their life but I'm sure it puts things in perspective. People who have experinced great loss and overcame it through time see life differently that the rest of us.

Who are these people? Can we relate to them? Probably not. How do you know what it feels like to lose the person most close to you in the whole world without it actually happening? How do you know what it would be like to be suddenly paralized and bound to a wheelchair if you're not? How about someone that loses their whole family, or to be stuck in the poverty of a war stricken country? The truth is not many people can even imagine these things let alone know what that would feel like yet alot of these people will display more sincere gratitude than all of us who are blessed with so much more.

So my point is what? It's that I have no right to be unhappy..........ever. I have it so good it's not even funny. And so does everyone I know. We all should be so greatful. We get so focused on our goals, both finacial and social, business and carreer, fun and fitness. We get frustrated if there's a setback due to personal decisions, the economic downturn, politics or whatever reason, and forget to be greatful. Even when we are backsliding from where we want to be we must remember, LIFE IS GOOD! We are lucky!

I have six great kids, two beautiful grandchildren with one on the way, a huge and loving family and most of all, the greatest wife a guy could hope for. Oh yea, there's the awsome house, the vehicles, the yard, the vacations and all that. The thing I think about sometimes is that I would give up all that to have or keep any one part of my family. I could live in a little apartment, barly scraping by week to week, as long as Melanie was still by my side.

I have to make an effort not to let all the hassles and daily tragedies get in the way of my seeing how great life is. Life constantly pulls and pushes you all over...................remember it's just a ride, the passengers are what's important.