With Thanksgiving coming and all this emphasis on being grateful, I think it's time for me to get some good old-fashioned complaining in right now while I still can before I'm expected to be all grateful and cheerful... Here are three things that I don't get about Crossfit.
1) A Muscle-up is worth *how* many pull-ups?? The muscle-up = 3 pull-ups + 3 dips conversion that most everyone seems to use. That didn't make sense to me when I first started, and now that I can piece together a few muscle-ups strict, it still does not. Yes, 4 strict MUs in one set is a good day for me now, while in one set I can do somewhere over 20 deadhang pull-ups. (I have no kip though, so I hate workouts with a lot of pull-ups. I suck at a lot of reps.) So why am I against the conversion: The first is that it changes the focus of the workout. If the workout calls for 3 rounds where 7 muscle-ups are done in a round, then well, 3 rounds of 7 that is challenging, probably makes it something of a strength movement. Replacing that with 3 rounds of 21 (pullups OR dips, nevermind together) and that's endurance. The second is that the conversion actually isn't helpful for anything. Many workouts call for something like 21 muscle-ups. Does it really do anything to have someone who isn't good at muscle-ups do 63 pull-ups and 63 dips? If someone can't do a muscle-up, then they might not be strong in their pull-ups and dips, so all those reps is just too much, and form suffers. You don't deserve to be killed with reps for not being able to get a muscle-up. You instead need to be given tough love--maybe something like 20--30 reps of chess-to-bar pullups or weighted pull-ups until you are strong enough to get your muscle-up. And something like 20 high-quality dips where you go nice and deep, not 60 half-assed dips where the elbows don't even go higher than the shoulders.
2. Why we scale down much more often that we scale up. A sub-3 minute Fran with 95-lb thrusters is way beyond my ken. I'd love to see what someone could do with 135-lb thrusters though. If you're really strong, why not?
3. The funny socks tradition! Women, you have amazing calves. Why hide them behind a pair of striped socks?
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Ms Lululemon tights....
I am in the coffee shop typing. Then "she" comes in.
About 5'5". Athletic build. Wearing Lululemon tights that shows off her shapely legs. A sweatshirt that says she rowed crew in college.
I feel my stomach tightening, because I know what is going to happen next. I am going to start a conversation with her. I always do in these types of situations. See I might be inherently shy and I'm definitely no Mr. Smooth by any means. But I do have stones. I go for what I want in life. It's what gave me a muscle-up and a lot of other very good things in my life. I just wonder what's going to come out of my mouth when I open it.
"How was your workout?" I say, with a smile. And we're off to the races.
I see her ring about a minute in. "You know, if I didn't see that ring on your finger, I would be shamelessly hitting on you..."
She smiles and says bye on her way out. I didn't get the number. But I still feel good. I love how I take chances like that.
About 5'5". Athletic build. Wearing Lululemon tights that shows off her shapely legs. A sweatshirt that says she rowed crew in college.
I feel my stomach tightening, because I know what is going to happen next. I am going to start a conversation with her. I always do in these types of situations. See I might be inherently shy and I'm definitely no Mr. Smooth by any means. But I do have stones. I go for what I want in life. It's what gave me a muscle-up and a lot of other very good things in my life. I just wonder what's going to come out of my mouth when I open it.
"How was your workout?" I say, with a smile. And we're off to the races.
I see her ring about a minute in. "You know, if I didn't see that ring on your finger, I would be shamelessly hitting on you..."
She smiles and says bye on her way out. I didn't get the number. But I still feel good. I love how I take chances like that.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Advent, growth, Crossfit, self-improvement, and REO Speedwagon
I love Advent. This is the time of the year to take stock, to end the year strong, to prepare for the Birth of Our Savior.
Tonight was an interesting--and good night in the box. I come in a half-hour early and get in some overhead squats (a few sets at 140, a set of 3 at 160, and a set of 5 at 155) on my own, and then during the class we do heavy deadlifts and 4 sets of AMRAP HSPUs. I did 5x275, then 5X300, then 3X315 (almost twice my bodyweight).
Then I looked at my training logs from last year. I can overhead squat a lot more now. Now 155 feels to me as 135 did to me a year ago. I can OHS 155 for reps (not a whole lot but several), which is pretty good, as I barely weigh 160. I now have a strict muscle-up to my name, while a year ago I had no muscle-up. I can do 3 or 4 in a row strict deadhang, at least on a good day. But it's not all upward progress. When I started Crossfit I had a strict 135lb press to my name. In fact, it was my 5-rep max. Now I can't even strict-press 135 once. My shoulders have a subtle ache to them now. Today I did 11 HSPUs in a row. But 6 months ago I registered 14 in a set. Today's deadlifts felt stronger than they have in a while, but then again, I had workouts last spring where I was doing 5 sets of 5x300 deadlifts, with running in between. I did a 5X315 last fall and I remember it feeling like, well, like I had a little more left.
Maybe I'm overtraining. I'm prone to doing that. I'm just an intense person, and when something isn't working, I have a tough time stepping away. I just push harder. It's been a huge asset to me in some sense. But it has caused me some problems.
I keep thinking how this relates to becoming a better person. I feel I've matured in a lot of ways. I feel I have become a lot more secure and genuine. I never would able to write this blog 10 years ago. But how do my average moments now compare to my best moments in my past? I would say that while my average moments now beat my average moments in the past, I do have to admit that my best moments in the past definitely beat my average moments now. What do I even mean by "average" versus "best" anyway? That's the thing with self-improvement in my opinion, it's so vague in some sense, and what's more, our minds just tend to look for problems. We can end up spiraling downward as we find more things wrong with us. I do this myself and I've seen others do that.
I have seen moments of social awkwardness in people whom I really respect, people who have done some terrific things in their lives, who "should" feel nothing but pride in who they are. I've dated and known several women whom, even though they "should" feel all the pride in the world for how beautiful they are (inside and out), have had (still have?) major "body issues". (I'm not saying that anyone is perfect or anything. We all have a dark side. We're all a little vain glorious. We are all concerned with our status and we are all prone to feeling jealous. I want others to achieve but I don't want anyone to catch up to me. But there is a way to live where you are about connecting with the better part of your nature, as opposed to indulging your worse, and the people I mentioned connect with the better part of their nature most of the time.)
I've actually taken some comfort in that. The self-doubt I'm feeling, others have felt it too. So in a way, it vanishes. When I hear that someone else struggles as I do, I can relate to that. It makes me respect that person more.
That said, maybe that is the appeal of Crossfit. It IS about self-improvement in one sense, BUT there are numbers and times involved. It's MEASURABLE. And as we are with others--people who are pretty cool and striving to better themselves as we are, it feels less about self-improvement in just the physical sense, and more about self-improvement in a more holistic sense.
Anyway, typing this, that REO Speedwagon song "Keep Pushing On" is running through my head...
Tonight was an interesting--and good night in the box. I come in a half-hour early and get in some overhead squats (a few sets at 140, a set of 3 at 160, and a set of 5 at 155) on my own, and then during the class we do heavy deadlifts and 4 sets of AMRAP HSPUs. I did 5x275, then 5X300, then 3X315 (almost twice my bodyweight).
Then I looked at my training logs from last year. I can overhead squat a lot more now. Now 155 feels to me as 135 did to me a year ago. I can OHS 155 for reps (not a whole lot but several), which is pretty good, as I barely weigh 160. I now have a strict muscle-up to my name, while a year ago I had no muscle-up. I can do 3 or 4 in a row strict deadhang, at least on a good day. But it's not all upward progress. When I started Crossfit I had a strict 135lb press to my name. In fact, it was my 5-rep max. Now I can't even strict-press 135 once. My shoulders have a subtle ache to them now. Today I did 11 HSPUs in a row. But 6 months ago I registered 14 in a set. Today's deadlifts felt stronger than they have in a while, but then again, I had workouts last spring where I was doing 5 sets of 5x300 deadlifts, with running in between. I did a 5X315 last fall and I remember it feeling like, well, like I had a little more left.
Maybe I'm overtraining. I'm prone to doing that. I'm just an intense person, and when something isn't working, I have a tough time stepping away. I just push harder. It's been a huge asset to me in some sense. But it has caused me some problems.
I keep thinking how this relates to becoming a better person. I feel I've matured in a lot of ways. I feel I have become a lot more secure and genuine. I never would able to write this blog 10 years ago. But how do my average moments now compare to my best moments in my past? I would say that while my average moments now beat my average moments in the past, I do have to admit that my best moments in the past definitely beat my average moments now. What do I even mean by "average" versus "best" anyway? That's the thing with self-improvement in my opinion, it's so vague in some sense, and what's more, our minds just tend to look for problems. We can end up spiraling downward as we find more things wrong with us. I do this myself and I've seen others do that.
I have seen moments of social awkwardness in people whom I really respect, people who have done some terrific things in their lives, who "should" feel nothing but pride in who they are. I've dated and known several women whom, even though they "should" feel all the pride in the world for how beautiful they are (inside and out), have had (still have?) major "body issues". (I'm not saying that anyone is perfect or anything. We all have a dark side. We're all a little vain glorious. We are all concerned with our status and we are all prone to feeling jealous. I want others to achieve but I don't want anyone to catch up to me. But there is a way to live where you are about connecting with the better part of your nature, as opposed to indulging your worse, and the people I mentioned connect with the better part of their nature most of the time.)
I've actually taken some comfort in that. The self-doubt I'm feeling, others have felt it too. So in a way, it vanishes. When I hear that someone else struggles as I do, I can relate to that. It makes me respect that person more.
That said, maybe that is the appeal of Crossfit. It IS about self-improvement in one sense, BUT there are numbers and times involved. It's MEASURABLE. And as we are with others--people who are pretty cool and striving to better themselves as we are, it feels less about self-improvement in just the physical sense, and more about self-improvement in a more holistic sense.
Anyway, typing this, that REO Speedwagon song "Keep Pushing On" is running through my head...
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Euro-Pop versus Axl Rose
First of all, I have to admit. I didn't come to today's metcon at my box this morning. Instead I came to my box an hour early to lift (overhead squats and deadlifts). After I warm up for the overhead squats with the bar, and then 95 pounds, I do 20 "heavy" reps of overhead squats (Today, it was two sets at 135 pounds and then the rest at 155 pounds). Usually when I do something like this my first "heaviest" set, e.g., today the set at 155, is my strongest.
Anyway, I go to my first set at 155 and even though I usually don't pay too much mind to the music playing (I actually prefer working out to silence which is fairly unusual), I couldn't help notice how some Euro-Pop is playing "...every time I see you falling, I get down on my knees to pray..." and this set was a total fail. I go down deep into the hole for the first rep and get up, but I felt a little shaky. The second rep was too much like the first. I lower the weight back on my rear shoulders and rack it. I'm thinking that this session isn't going to be that good.
Anyway, a few minutes later, I go to start another set and this time, some Guns N' Roses is playing "I'm a cruel heartbreaker, fit to burn, and I'll rip your heart in two..." and this set was awesome! I got 5 solid reps, all ATG, all smooth and steady and solid, no shakiness.
There is a moral to this story.
Anyway, I go to my first set at 155 and even though I usually don't pay too much mind to the music playing (I actually prefer working out to silence which is fairly unusual), I couldn't help notice how some Euro-Pop is playing "...every time I see you falling, I get down on my knees to pray..." and this set was a total fail. I go down deep into the hole for the first rep and get up, but I felt a little shaky. The second rep was too much like the first. I lower the weight back on my rear shoulders and rack it. I'm thinking that this session isn't going to be that good.
Anyway, a few minutes later, I go to start another set and this time, some Guns N' Roses is playing "I'm a cruel heartbreaker, fit to burn, and I'll rip your heart in two..." and this set was awesome! I got 5 solid reps, all ATG, all smooth and steady and solid, no shakiness.
There is a moral to this story.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Keep pushing forward....
Yesterday was a fun day at the box. Did front squats and did 1 set of 155X5 and 2 sets of 185X3. In between did a bunch of muscle-ups.
Then we did a smoker of 3 sets AMRAP 1.5pood kettlebells and 15 wall balls, with 1 minute rest between sets.
I am an intense person. When one area of my life isn't going well, I have a tendency to obsess about it until it gets fixed. I even see this in my working out. When I was struggling with muscle-ups earlier this year, that was all I did. It got to the point where I had all sorts of aches in my forearms and I even felt them spasm from time to time. And if I ever want to do a competition for Crossfit, there are definitely other things that I need to work on! I still couldn't stay off those damn rings though. I'm a lot like the character Ahab in Moby Dick, not so much that I am a vengeful person. (I do get mad, yell, and scream, and sometimes throw things, but don't worry--that's only if I am in rubber room. But I also move on and forgive.) And I definitely have nothing against any animal, but that I am prone to tunnel vision.
I DID improve my muscle-ups, but it was only after going on vacation to visit a friend in the end of September. I took the entire week off from working out. (And I actually started the writing for this blog.) And as you would have guessed, the spasms and aches went away. I made a quantum leap when I made it back to the box.
Anyway, I have let myself get tunnel vision. I've done this in my career. My relationships. And it has caused me to make some really bad decisions. I wasted energy on projects that weren't worth it. I've wasted energy on the wrong people, when I would have ended up far happier far sooner had I moved on.
As I've gotten older, I've gotten a lot better at triaging my efforts. Put them where they will do the most good. I am aware of my tendencies and at least now I am able to reign that in--usually. The next month is going to be crazy at work. I need to be putting my focus there. BUT I will do all I can to get to the box a couple times a week. I'm not thinking so much about improving but about maintaining. And in the meanwhile, thinking about what is truly important to me. I've had the pleasure of getting to meet a couple of people who ARE passionate about something, who DO have a cause that serves others too, and to be honest, I both admire them for that, and I envy the hell out of them for that too. I want to find something like that for myself. I have it in me to feel that way about something, and as I do not yet, I feel a void. I have a few things that sort of come close--Crossfit, science, and writing, but nothing that encompasses all.
This blog is definitely a start for me.
Then we did a smoker of 3 sets AMRAP 1.5pood kettlebells and 15 wall balls, with 1 minute rest between sets.
I am an intense person. When one area of my life isn't going well, I have a tendency to obsess about it until it gets fixed. I even see this in my working out. When I was struggling with muscle-ups earlier this year, that was all I did. It got to the point where I had all sorts of aches in my forearms and I even felt them spasm from time to time. And if I ever want to do a competition for Crossfit, there are definitely other things that I need to work on! I still couldn't stay off those damn rings though. I'm a lot like the character Ahab in Moby Dick, not so much that I am a vengeful person. (I do get mad, yell, and scream, and sometimes throw things, but don't worry--that's only if I am in rubber room. But I also move on and forgive.) And I definitely have nothing against any animal, but that I am prone to tunnel vision.
I DID improve my muscle-ups, but it was only after going on vacation to visit a friend in the end of September. I took the entire week off from working out. (And I actually started the writing for this blog.) And as you would have guessed, the spasms and aches went away. I made a quantum leap when I made it back to the box.
Anyway, I have let myself get tunnel vision. I've done this in my career. My relationships. And it has caused me to make some really bad decisions. I wasted energy on projects that weren't worth it. I've wasted energy on the wrong people, when I would have ended up far happier far sooner had I moved on.
As I've gotten older, I've gotten a lot better at triaging my efforts. Put them where they will do the most good. I am aware of my tendencies and at least now I am able to reign that in--usually. The next month is going to be crazy at work. I need to be putting my focus there. BUT I will do all I can to get to the box a couple times a week. I'm not thinking so much about improving but about maintaining. And in the meanwhile, thinking about what is truly important to me. I've had the pleasure of getting to meet a couple of people who ARE passionate about something, who DO have a cause that serves others too, and to be honest, I both admire them for that, and I envy the hell out of them for that too. I want to find something like that for myself. I have it in me to feel that way about something, and as I do not yet, I feel a void. I have a few things that sort of come close--Crossfit, science, and writing, but nothing that encompasses all.
This blog is definitely a start for me.
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