Food Log, 7/22/10

Breakfast – 1 serving Mrs. Mays Triple Berry Crunch
156 calories, 13g fat, 8g carbs, 5g protein

Mid-Morning Snack – 1 Quaker low-fat Granola bar
90 calories, 1.5g fat, 19g carbs, 1g protein

Lunch – 2sl wheat bread – 280 cal
lunch meat – 42 calories
cheese – 60 calories
Fruit – 100 calories

Mid-Afternoon Snack – small bowl of cereal with almond milk – 100 calories

Dinner – 1.5 grilled pork chops – 200 calories
1/2 cup mashed sweet potatoes – 125 calories

Total calories for the day: 1153

Bodyweight

Our workout this morning used exercises that were all-bodyweight, all the time.

We did our typical warmup squats and pushups and lunges, along with the typical agility drills and finished with an 800m run.

Our workout was AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of:

15 Supermans
9 Pushups
6 Burpees

The “Supermans” were new to us today. They look like this:
Photo courtesy of http://www.clecrossfit.com

My abs were definitely feeling it after 9 rounds of these. I realized post-workout, counting warmup and the WOD, I did 101 Pushups this morning before 7am. You gotta love CrossFit for that.

We finished our workout with a series of sprints interspersed with squats that almost had everyone vomiting. Despite the temperature in the high-50s this morning, I was sweating so bad that I felt like I should hose down the floor in the gym.

Pure Exhaustion

Today was arguably the toughest workout we have done in CrossFit Level I since we began 6 weeks ago. I finished the workout in 17 minutes, and my heart was racing the entire time. There is something about alternating lifting and running that pushes exertion way beyond doing either separately.

This is what our schedule looked like in class this morning:
________________________________________________
800m Warm up run
20 squats
20 pushups
Lunges/high knees/high heels (typical agility work)

4 Sets of:
15 deadlifts with a 32kg kettlebell in each hand
10 pushups

400m Run

4 Sets of:
15 bodyweight squats
10 ring rows

400m Run

By the 3rd set of deadlifts, my grip was about ready to give out. I started to get concerned about dropping one of the kettlebells on my toe, but thanks to some chalk on my hands that didn’t happen. I fought the urge to drop to my knees and do modified (read: girl) pushups on the last set. When it came time for the run, I had to walk the first 100m because my heart felt like it was jumping out of my chest. I found the second group of workouts (the squats and rows) to be easier than the first, but I was pouring sweat so bad that the floor around me was soaked. I was able to run the first 200m of the last run, and then walked about 100m, and ran again for the final 100m.

After all of this, our trainer Lance had us jump and grab the pullup bar and hang down, with our legs raised straight out. My abs, back, and grip were all really shaky by this point, and this drill exacerbated it to the point of failure. I wasn’t even able to hang that way for 30 seconds. We finished up with our typical stretching cooldown routine, and were headed home 45 minutes after arriving and extremely tired. Then I showered quickly, and was at work an hour early to start my day. Strangely enough, I typically feel more energetic on days where I exercise vigorously. That seems backwards from reason!

The First Lady

On Tuesday, we met our first Lady of CrossFit: Helen

We started the morning with an 800m run for warmup, along with the typical squats/pushups/agility drills. Then we did Helen for time, which consists of:

3x for Time:
400m run
21 Kettlebell Swings
12 Pullups

I felt bad, because I had to modify my pullups with jumping pullups. My arms just aren’t up to the challenge of pulling my big ass up over the bar 36 times. I think my final time was around 15 minutes, and everyone was almost pass-out tired. We finished up with stretching, and went over the Zone diet with our trainer Lance. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Benchmarks Part II

Week 1 of Month 2 was completed today. We finished up our benchmark week with a standing overhead press and back-squat max lifts. I was pretty happy with the weights that I was able to put up, but I stopped short of full max, since it’s been a good long time since I have done super-heavy lifting. I feel like I am plenty strong, and that I just need to work on my conditioning and strength:weight ratio. It’s a lot less impressive to squat 405lbs when you weigh 300lbs.

This upcoming weekend is another busy one. The University of Texas plays their first game of the season on Saturday, so I will be BBQing and watching that over at Aaron’s place. Then Sunday my friend Zac has rented us a couple of party boats for Lake Travis, so I will be out there all day. On Labor Day Monday, a friend is having a pool party; I will be lucky to get any running in this weekend at all.

In other news, my poor Civic is still in the shop. It is looking like I will have to put at least $2000 into it before this is all over. I’ve gotten a tune-up, and the 105k mile maintenance (water pump, belts, hoses, timing belt), and now the transmission is having problems. It really hurts to put this much money into a car that’s only worth a few thousand more than the work being done. Hopefully once it is complete it will last me for a good long time!

Benchmarks

Today marked the first CrossFit workout of the new month. We started off with an 800m run warmup, and I was proud of myself for the pace I was able to maintain. I am definitely running longer distances better than I was 2 months ago; between the CrossFit and the Couch-2-5k, I am now capable of running a full mile without stopping. I’m not saying I would enjoy it, but I could definitely do it. After the 800m run, we did our typical 20 squats, 20 pushups, and 20 torso twists to complete the warmup period. Then we did 1-1-1 reps with deadlift, to find a theoretical “max” weight for each of us. I ran into a bit of a snag here: the affiliate we go to only has bumper plates. The bumper plates are about twice the width of a normal 45lb plate, so I was only able to load 8 of them on the bar at a time, to get 405lbs. I feel like I can do quite a bit more than this (I deadlifted 550lbs in high school), but with their equipment that just isn’t possible. On Thursday, we will get our max on back squat and push press, and I should be able to max out on both of those lifts.

I went to the Flying Saucer last night for the first time in months, and watched the Minnesota Favres beat the Texans on Monday Night Football. It was nice to catch up with Aaron (@ahaley), Britt, and Arwen (of NimCraft). However, I was definitely paying the price for staying out past 10pm and having a few beers when the 5am alarm rolled around. I will be constraining my socializing to weekends only from now on, to avoid having my performance suffer during my workouts. It’s amazing how little things like that can make you feel completely different in the morning!

Final Week of Month 1

The final week of the month started off well with Kellen’s birthday party down in Sweeny, TX. We swam, and ate, and drank, and generally had a good time. I (as expected) did not maintain a good diet while out of town. Between grabbing fast food on the long drive there and back, and all of the grilled food, birthday cake, pudding, pancakes, and beer, I definitely got more carbs and calories than I needed to. Hopefully I can get back on my diet as soon as possible.

Today at CrossFit, I definitely got my money’s worth. We did another circuit involving 400m runs:
3 sets of:

400m Run
21 Kettlebell Swings
12 Burpee Box Jumps
12 Ring Rows

We finished by holding the plank position (like the top of a pushup, with arms straight) for 1 minute, then resting, and doing it again for 45 seconds. My abs were on fire after that! The Kettlebell Swings were definitely something new, and my torso and back and arms are all feeling it. For those of you wondering, this is what the Kettlebell Swings look like (photos are courtesy of Brass Ring Fitness):

CrossFit continues to keep me off-guard on my workouts, and leaving me with zero gas in my tank. I will be lucky to recover in time for Thursday’s workout.

On another note, I took my boxer Cassius to the vet today to be neutered. He was very happy to get an early-morning car ride, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him where we were going, and for what.

First Kettlebell Workout

Today at CrossFit Central, our Workout Of the Day (WOD) involved the kettlebells for the first time, and it was pretty tough. All of our workouts so far have been some type of compound lift interspersed with 400m runs, and today was no different. The lift was the Deadlift High-Pull with kettlebells instead of a barbell, like this:

Our WOD for the Level I class looked like this:

50 reps Deadlift High-Pulls

400m run

40 reps Deadlift High-Pulls

400m run

30 reps Deadlift High-Pulls

400m run

20 reps Deadlift High-Pulls

400m run

10 reps Deadlift High-Pulls

400m run

As you can see, even with the gradually decreasing reps, fatigue set in pretty hard mid-way through the 40-rep set. Your body doesn’t know when to rest, because the run and the lift sets were equally tiring. Every day, at the end of our workout, I am completely exhausted, and dripping with sweat. I felt especially worn-out today because of a lack of sleep. For some reason, I had insomnia last night, and didn’t go to sleep until almost 1am. The alarm at 5am this morning was especially hard to answer!

I want to send a big happy birthday to my good friend Kellen, who turns 25 today! Kellen is a personal trainer, and a great up-and-coming triathlete, and he serves as an inspiration to me. Jess and I will be going to Sweeny, TX tomorrow to his parents’ house for his birthday bash this weekend. I will have to pay special mind to my diet, and try not to overdo it with beer and food too much. I am really looking forward to a couple of days off with good friends, to relax and recharge for next week.

Question of the day: What is the best way to balance caloric intake and exercise on off-days from CrossFit? If I take a rest-day between the high-impact, high-intensity CrossFit workouts, should I lower my food intake for that day, since I will be burning fewer calories? Also, what is the proper amount of rest I should be getting per week? If I switch to a 3-day per week schedule at CrossFit, should I work out the other 2 days on my own, or do I need to let my body recover on those days? Please post your opinions and answers in the comments section!

The Man-Maker

This morning, we met the Man-Maker for the first time. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Man-Maker consists of using dumbbells to do a push up, alternating rows, then a clean and press, all in one series of movements.
Here is a video for illustration purposes:

This was one of the toughest workouts I have done since high school off season stuff for football. The set today was a 400m run, 8 Man-Makers, 400m run, 6 Man-Makers, 400m run, 6 Man-Makers. We then finished out with several wind-sprints, and the usual stretching and cooldown. My entire body is definitely feeling it today; my abs, legs, arms, and back are all sore! I definitely need to get off the treadmill, and start running either on the road, or on the track, because it is a different beast entirely. It seems like running 400m on the street is tougher than running a mile on the treadmill for some reason.

It is definitely rewarding to feel so exhausted after just a 45 minute workout. I’m not sure what my caloric burn is during that time, but I’m guessing that it is significantly higher than during my normal daily cardio workout. I love not knowing what my workout will be when I get to the gym in the morning. It alleviates boredom, and eliminates the threat of a plateau. CrossFit has also been serving as a dietary motivator, because I know that if I don’t eat well, I will be paying for it at my next workout.

I’m not certain whether I should eat before or after my daily workout. I have heard conflicting advice on this: some people say that if you workout in the early morning before breakfast, your glycogen levels are lowest, and you will burn stored fat because your carbohydrate stores are depleted; others insist that you will be able to workout more intensely if you eat beforehand. If anyone has links or advice on the topic, please post it to my comments section.

CrossFit Level I – First Day

Well, the pain has begun.  We started the actual CrossFit workouts today at 6:30am, and it was much, much more intense than the Elements class we took last week.  The instructor was still very technique-conscious with us (since it is a beginner level class) but it was definitely intense.  We started with the typical warmup with jumping jacks, running in place and with high knees, squats, pushups, lunges, and a 400m run.  To be quite honest, I was slightly winded after all that.  Then the actual workout began.

We started with a 400m run, then moved to 20 medicine ball cleans, 20 situps, and 20 ring rows, then ran 400m.  Then, we did the same exercises with 15 reps, and ran another 400m at the end of the workout.  Most people in the class finished the last exercises, but nobody had time to complete the final 400m run.  All-in-all, the total of a mile running, and all the exercises, left us red-faced and winded, but it seemed as though everyone had a good time.

I am definitely sore in some new and interesting exercises, but I really enjoyed being taken out of my workout element.  CrossFit has a good methodology of making you do things that you are not comfortable doing, which is always a better workout, and helps you strengthen your areas of weakness.  All of the work was total-body, with an emphasis on constant motion, and speed.  I am already looking forward to Thursday’s workout!

Tonight at the CrossFit Central location, they are putting on a free nutrition seminar.  If you are interested, it will be at the CrossFit Central on Burnet near Koenig Ln at 7:00pm.  I will be there, and hope you will be too.