Back In Action

So, I finally found the inspiration to plug in an update and it came from the least likely of things.. An ass kicking! That's right, I got a tiny bit of an ass kicking laid on me from a great (and strong) CFer.

NO, YOU don't get it.. I GOT MY ASS KICKED.. I got hit more times than a loose prom date..

Why, might you ask? All in the name of training.. Yes Training.. Cop School to be more specific.. One of these days in the near future the Great State of Texas is going to trust me enough to carry a gun and uphold the peace.. At times there will be violence. I can tell you right now that those who prevail are most likely those that trained for it.

So, CrossFit is training.. Training for what? I found out during that exercise.. When your life is on the line you HAVE to be able to move...preform...function...think...act.. Man, that's what happens in CF.. CF trains you for all of those things..Who would have ever thought some burpees would help you take a licking!

Ok, now that I embellished my story a little to make a point. It wasn't a bad ass kicking but I took 4 or 5 pretty good shots in the nose, face and jaw.. Not all that bad really. Glad he wasn't going full on though.

Will you ever be in a situation where you might have wished you'd trained? If you are alive I'll bet the odds are 100%.. Check out CrossFit.. It might make the difference!

You might also check out CF Football.. There has been some really great and interesting programming coming from there and its been crushing me this week!

Passion....

Whats that thing that makes you feel as though you are motivated by nothing else..That your focus is blinded by raw force and desire for that one thing of the moment. It makes your breathe deep and shallow at the same time..Tense in the core..Tingling on the finger tips.. You can feel the blood surging and swelling up your lips..You hands..Power restraining yet waiting. Craving to get the rush, to be satisfied to the depths..



Passion.............



What is yours????











At the moment..Mine's...

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this shoe..

Inov-8 F-lite



Isn't it bad ass! Can't wait for Christmas!

HERE Is What Makes Its So Special...........

Besides the crap works....

I finally am back in my routine after a bit of disorganization with being on fire assignment, being sick, trying to get the farm ready for hunting season, etc, etc, etc.. I know CrossFit is constantly varied but I have to be honest that I am a creature of habit and I enjoy having a routine as to when I work out. It helps me stay committed..My time happens to be around 11-Noon or so every day.. Anyway, since I work out at the HS across the street I'm kinda at their mercy and for a while in the summer I'd get out of cop school at noon and by the time I'd make it over to work out they would be wrapping up wanting to go home.. I found work arounds and occasionally they would let me stay by myself which was terrific (NO loud blairing rap music the kids would play..yeah!). So, now school is getting close and the football team is back doing two-a-days and I have a little less pressure to get there as quick as possible..

Oy with the poodles already... So yesterday I'm getting my @ss handed to me doing one rep max snatches and there are two younger kids in there.. I'm guessing freshman but maybe they were sophomores.. I wasn't paying them much attention till I heard one of them start to coach the other...He starts with Hang Cleans, then Power Cleans, then Squat Cleans.. It was pretty cool to see and hear.. The guy getting taught was soaking it up.. The guy training would do a few, then the other guy would do a few..The "kid coach" would tell the other some tip about his form, he would do it again and then they would move on..

It hit me like a ton of freakin bricks sitting there.. I NEVER had anyone take me through a workout and show me what to do until CrossFit did.. I learned how to be fit from CrossFit.. It taught me, not just the how, but the why which is just as important..It IS my coach..

I know it gets talked about in CF circles how trainers don't teach fitness- they would lose their jobs if they did - because then their clientele would not need them... So they keep the client in the dark (aka-stupid). Instead of "teaching" fitness they become high priced rep counters who take you from machine to machine and count reps for you..1...2...3...4...5...6...blah bliddy blah blah...

That is what makes CF SOOOOO Special.. The CF Community strives to teach, to learn more, to be better, to incorporate parts of the best of everything.. Then they push it out.. If you have ANY interest in CF whatsoever pay the $25 bucks a year and get a subscription to the Journal. I don't know of any conglomeration of resources for the how and why of almost anything fitness/nutrition related like the journal. Its an amazing resource that the community created.

Its apropos to have a moment of clarity watching one young kid pass it on to another.. What I saw...while sitting there....was CROSSFIT...One kid bringing another up to a higher level of performance...Fabulous!

Life is GREAT!

So, I'm chilling out in fire camp, happy as hell to be out of the place I work and doing something that I really love.. I've got a ten day wildfire assignment, there is not much wildfire going on but I don't really care..

The wildfire community is much like the police and regular fire fighter community but I'd venture to say much closer knit than them even. Maybe because its a smaller community or maybe it just the breed of people but its hard for me to go anywhere else and find the sense of singleness and purpose that I fine at fire camp. There's not a ton of politics, almost everyone knows their job and each spoke fits and works.. I love it.. I think my whole demeanor changes the minute I get that resource order and know that I'm going to be headed out.. Then it changes again when I get my demob paperwork..

Why is it that we don't chase our dreams and that we allow extraneous circumstances to dictate our lives.. I suspect its fear.. Fear of the unknown.. Fear of failure.. Fear in all forms is said to be

a corrupting thread in the fabric of our existence.. Its a shame too because its so limiting... Maybe I really need to evaluate this and seek to push through that.. Its obvious that my current career is wrought with unhappiness..

So, what the shit does that have to do with CrossFit.. How many of you have found yourself in fear of the weight or let a workout scare you away because you knew it would kick your ass. Man, I have... One World's blog from a few days ago defined this mental block or Mind F*#K much better that I can.. But that's what it is..

So, what about getting through it? I'm going to start that process right now with my job (or I have good intentions too) and I think what it takes is support.. Family, friends, a support network... A BOX...A COACH..

Into Action You Lazy Bums!

My Thoughts On CrossFit: Life Changing Shit..Thanks Coach Glassman

BEFORE ........................................................................................................AFTER

Who would have ever thought at 33 I'd become an athlete yet here I sit, sore as shit from the beatings I took this week, aching to get back into the game when lunch roles around. The mark of an athlete - that desire to strive and achieve better, to be better than the next guy, to beat the clock, to boarder on obsessive or travel clean past that boarder in seeking increased performance..

What the hell is this thing which I have found myself controled by for a few minutes a day EVERY day?

CrossFit (http://www.crossfit.com/)

Someone asked me to tell them about this thing a while back. This was my response:

I have never been "into" fitness my entire life.. I did play lacrosse at SWT in the club but I never was really "athletic"... Anyway, I got in pretty good shape when I was fighting wildfire but right before I moved back to Texas a year and a half ago I was pushing 265..On top of that I had really high total cholesterol and ldl.

I started CF when a couple of special forces guys I know came out to WF to teach a night vision class.. One of them was in particularly good shape and I asked him what he did.. He turned me on to CF. That was almost a year ago.Within probably 6 weeks I could SEE the difference CF was making in my physique and my health. I was focused on just being "fit" not to look great or anything else. Just to have some level of good fitness..What I got was much more...

What CF gave me:

1) I'm sitting at 222# pounds and have been there for almost a year...My body fat continues to decrease but because of the lean muscle I stay about the same weight.
2) From a 42" waist to a 36"
3) CF + Zone Diet my cholesterol is NORMAL
4) I can dead lift 430#
5) I can squat 345#
6) I can vertical jump from a standing position over 3 feet high and land standing on the tail gate of my truck.
7) I can horizontal jump 7'4" from a static position.
8) I can run 1.5 miles with .5 of that being backwards in under 20 minutes.
9) I can do 10 dead hang pull ups with out stopping, I can kipping pull up about 17
10) I can row a 10k in 40 minutes.

What does 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10=??? HARDER TO KILL!

It also equals :) because I can pretty much do whatever I want.. If I want to run somewhere I can.. If I want to move some heavy crap I can.. If I want to go stalk after elk in the Rockies, I can..I can do a lot of things and I don't have to train for months to do it.. All I have to do is throw on a pair of shoes and go..Is it hard?? Heck yes.. Is it for everyone?? Heck no.. Is it for you?? Go see.. You won't regret it..

The other part -beyond fitness -is the amazing people you will get to meet.. I have been fortunate to meet some INCREDIBLE athletes that inspire you to drive on..to push yourself harder than you ever thought you would..AND there is always the humbling experience of a girl kicking you ass in a workout..That is not to be missed!

So, THANK YOU Coach Glassman

Short & Sweet

What a slacker I have been with keeping up on the blog.. Life's busy and that's just the way it roles sometimes.. As I contemplated the excuse I was going to use as to why I had not updated in a bit, I thought of a conversation I had a few months back with a good buddy about his CrossFitting.

This guy has been crossfitting a little longer than me and has always been in pretty good shape (unlike me when I started a year ago). He's a dang successful guy in his career, has a few kids, and lives in a bustling suburb of Chicago. Anyway, he was talking about how little time he has to actually get in a WOD..I can totally relate. In fact, it wasn't a month before this conversation I had been trying to figure out how to get in my WODs and yet not take forever to do..

I had started a little collection of quick and/or no equipment wods that on days I could bust out and move on down the road. When he told me about his dilemma I shared with him some of the short workouts I was doing and how it was working out great.

A few weeks role by and I talk to him again and he mentions that our talk about what I was doing with short WODs was working for him great and he was back to CFing like always.. That was pretty cool.

So, in that same spirit I thought I'd post up some of them bad boys so the excuses can end!! :) JOKE.. Excuses are good.. I use them all the time.. "Honey, the longer the grass gets the more healthily it becomes as it is able to take in more sunlight..I'll mow it in another few days." GOOD STUFF! Oh ya, and "Yes, I took care of that!" (doesn't matter what the questions is) That's a good one too!

Anyway, here are a few..

For Time:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Burpees
Sit-ups

5 Rounds For Time:
100 Single Skips (jump rope)
50 Air Squats

"Helen"
150 Wall Ball Shots

2K Row

3 Rounds For Time:
21-15-9
Box Jump, 24"
Kettle Bell Swing, 1.5 pood
Sumo Deadlift High Pull, 95#

Tabata ___________ (sprints, push ups, air squats, pull-ups, whatever)
8 Rounds:
20 Seconds of Work
10 Seconds of Rest

5 Rounds For Time:
30 Wallball Shots
10 Burpees

For Time:
25-20-15-10-5
Pushups
Air Squats

Run 400 Meters +
Three Rounds:
#45 Plate Cleans x 15 reps
15 Pushups +
Run 400 Meters
(this is a cool one!)

On Nutrition...

Look, I'm just going to throw it out there.. I ate 4 (FOUR) Mrs. Baird's Fried Cherry Pies last weekend, a hamburger, breakfast burritos, some chocolate doughnuts, 5-6 cokes.. I think I can go on and on.. I went freaking crazy... AND it was AWESOME!

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Until I had to workout on Monday.. Oh man.. 7 rounds of 75# Shoulder Presses x 21 reps and 21 back extensions.. Embrace the suck you say.. How about embrace the chuck as I was super close to tossing my cookies so to speak.. Ya, its all fun and games until someone throws up..

Everything comes at a price I guess.. It had been months and months since I had a coke and even longer since I had a fried pie. I try to eat as clean as I can throughout the week and when I go off on a binge it jacks me up for days. More importantly it hurts my performance.

Its Thursday and I'm just now feeling like my body is getting back in shape from that "criminal episode" I pulled off over the weekend. I've heard a few CFers say they crossfit as hard as they do so that they can eat.. I guess I'm not there.. I CrossFit because I have such a long way to go to be as fit as I'd like.. Eating junk in that quantity sets me back..

Now, this would be a good time to talk about moderation.. But, I know nothing of the topic so your on your own.. Its obvious I have no self control.. :)

I took this photo of Eva T chowing on a doughnut at the CF Science of Exercise cert.. I didn't take it with the thought of catching her eating junk but it does go to show you even Olympic level athletes can enjoy cop food.

I will say that Zoning/Paleo rock..Hard to live there for weeks at a time but nutrition does make a huge difference in everything so I stick with it as much as I can.

Everyone eats bad sometimes and you might as well do it and move on down the road..Get it out of your system..

A Damn Rest Day.. Finally!

For whatever reason I've been super motivated to train over the past three weeks. I mean I've been doing two WODs more or less a day 4 days a week. Really I have been trying to increase my endurance as well as shed a few pounds off so I've added a row almost every night that I work out which is typically 4-5 days a week, taking the weekend off.

Well, yesterday I finally hit a little bottom and decided to call if good for a few days..It mentally sucks when your motivated by the results you get from CrossFit and you have to shut it down..But, you do sometimes and I knew it was time yesterday because when I went to squat a 5x5 I got to 285# and my hamstrings told me to screw-off.. In fact what they specifically said was "F*** You, I Quit!" and I had to dump the weight..

I've never had that happen to my hamstrings but they knotted up pretty good so I chilled out and didn't row my regular 2k last night.

All that leads me to say, TAKE A REST DAY, Jamie...

Speaking of rest days, I have been fortunate to get to workout every day in Guyer High School which is just across the street from my office..The coaches and staff have been amazing letting me lift there and man do they have a nice set up for lifting (see the photo). Now that school is out I'm not sure whats going to happen with me working out there but hopefully they will keep it open some for the athletes and I can still get in.. Guess we'll see..

Constantly Varied Rowing = CRUSHED!

Have I ever mentioned I HATE running? Well, I do.. Not with a passion but certainly with disdain.. Which is a bit ironic considering I used to love it. In fact when I was in college I played a bit of club lacrosse as a middie and ran my ass off. I had no problems with it then.. But something about running must have pissed me off cause I just don't like to do it now.

Being an expert at the easier, softer way I picked up on the fact you could sub rowing for a run.. ROCK ON! So, I hit the rower at CrossFit Wichita Falls the next time a 5k run came up on the CrossFit main site.. And guess what.. It sucked! I mean it gassed the hell out of me in really short order..

Its a funny thing about getting your ass kicked (for lack of any better description) in a way that makes you want more.. I mean its almost like a sick abusive relationship and your trapped in a cycle of violence.. I don't mean to make light of domestic issues..Soon I will throw your ass in jail for that crap.. But there is something addictive about taking a pounding.

Anyway, my point is the rower will rock your world if you want it to. I try at least 3-4 nights a week to hit a 2k row of some sort (that's in addition to my wods I do at lunch time). Last night for example I did four rounds of 500meter sprints with one minute rest in between. It took me about 9 minutes and when I was done my wife kept asking me if I was ok because my breathing looked like a fish on land...

So if you hate running, give rowing a go..

PS.. rowing is not the easier, softer way.. but if your going to get your ass crushed you might as well go all the way..rowing can get you there!

Yeah Burpees!

One of my favorite programmers is Freddy C. over at CrossFit One World.. I try to pick programming on one site and stick with it as much as possible and I usually default to the main site. But, lately I've been finding myself doing the programming from One World and its been fun..Sometimes it sucks but its fun- especially if it's something I've never done.

So a few days back Freddy posted up 100 Burpees for time and then a few days later busted on his people for not showing up to do it. Who the hell wants to do that many burpees!!! I should have prefaced the story with hearing on a CrossFit Radio episode how Coach Burgener makes folks do burpees every time he says burpees and someone doesn't yell "Yeah Burpees!"

So, because I indirectly got my ass chewed by Freddy for "cherry picking" and the motivating thought of the consequence of not yelling "Yeah Burpees" I put out a not so record performance of 100 Burpees in 11:24.

*As a side note the trail of sweat leads to what looks like a dead body to the point I'm not posting the actual photo of me after the WOD! :) lol

Wait..How many did you say?

A few weeks back I picking up my first sets of bumpers down in Dallas and happen to see that the company was importing Ader Kettlebells..

I'm not a huge kettlebell user but they are pretty cool and I always love when a WOD with one pops up on the Crossfit Main page. In fact, I had picked one up from Rogue Fitness a while back and had gotten good use out of it.

So, while I'm at the place I figure what the heck I'll pick up a 2 pood bell. I had no idea what workouts I could do with it but picked it up none the less.

Anyway, it's been sitting in my office taunting me for a few weeks so I decide to find some WODs with a 2 pood bell..I start googling and sure enough there are a few cool ones out there..There is one on the Crossfit Football website that was as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of 1) 2 pood Kettle Bell Swings x 10 reps and 2) 40 yard sprint..Pretty sweet.. I marked it down for future effort..

Then I ran across one that struck me.. 2 Pood Kettle Bells Swing x 100 reps..Yup, that's right.. 100 reps.. Damn.. Nothing more, nothing less.. As fast as you can just knock out 100 reps.. No big deal, RIGHT?

Well, it was not the worst suck but I can tell you my hands are missing even more skin that they already were. The grip was the killer for me on this WOD..Hard to hold on to 70# flying up 100 times! lol

My time was 14:29.. Other times were below 10 minutes.. So I still suck a little.. But less than before :)

Who ever thought an ass kicking could feel so good!

So, last weekend I attempted to pull off the benchmark CrossFit Hero WOD- MURPH.. Where to start with that one.. Lets just say 1) I'm a puss 2) I'm a puss..

The deal is its a 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 bw squats, and another 1 mile run. Any normal person would be like, "Damn, that sounds like it would suck..I think I'll pass".. But no one ever accused me of being normal I guess..

I showed up amped to put out..And stayed that way through the first mile..Taking a nice reserved pace I knocked out the first mile in just over 7 minutes.. I wasn't shootin' for a speed record and I knew what energy I had would soon be zapped as I hit the meat of the WOD; the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats..

I had myself really psyched out about the pull-ups but I walked up to the bar and CRUSHED THEM! (all 5) :) I had decided to break the workout into 20 rounds of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats. My mind was easied when I figured out the pull-ups were no problem but after a few rounds I realized I was going to get crushed by the push ups..

All I can say is that I keep grinding through the workout feeling generally like ass until I looked at my counter and asked the questions I WILL NEVER ASK AGAIN.. "Where am I at? How many do I have left?"

Let me just say that when I asked that question I was already physically cached on the push-ups.. I mean I could crank out the pull ups and the squats were no problem but those evil bastard push ups..Well, my counter looked at me and said "Man, your doing great.. Your HALF WAY through."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! I think that was my exact quote.. Mentally that was a terrible to hear..So, what can I do but keep grinding them out as fast as I could and that was really slow..

At some point they had told me that they were going to cut folks off at 40 minutes (wherever they were at in the push up/pull up/squat scheme) and make them run the last mile cause there were other heats that needed to get started.

With 3 rounds left I hit the timer and they made me move on to my run. My first thought was oh my gosh, finally its over..It was a great relief, but only for a moment as I then realized I couldn't really run..My body had been beat to crap and couldn't take any more.

But, CrossFitters suck it up so I would finish the last mile in 11 minutes.

It was finally over.. Man, that is a good feeling (once feeling came back to the body)..

I ended up realizing that I was super close to completing the whole WOD as RX'd.. I was 15 pull ups, 30 push ups and 45 squats from being complete.. I started to regret that they didn't let me finish when I was so close (and could have). But I was mentally beat and when they said move on I didn't argue..

The 51:28 second ordeal ended with me running 2 miles and doing 85 pull ups, 170 push ups, and 255 squats.

I've thought about that workout for the last few days..Its the hardest one I've ever done and some would say its cliche but it WAS the most rewarding.. That I can push myself through and just keep grinding it out..It really is an accomplishment for me on a personal level and one I could never have imagined before I started crossfiting 11 months ago.

On a seperate note.. My fam has never seen me crossfit at that level so I invited the wife and boy. It was awesome to have them there cheering me on..Way cool..