Yeah Baby, 2 Weeks

Oh man, it's been a long time coming. The Furious Fundraiser is only 2 weeks away. I was ready to rock and roll a month ago! Don't worry dear readers. It's all good. Why is that? Because I am crushing everything in my path right now. Everything. In my path.

Way back in the day (spring) I lost about 20 lbs. of body weight. As I lost the weight, I lost a lot of strength as well. My back squat went down from 325 to 315. It was very upsetting. The biggest loss was my deadlift. That poor bastard went down from 400 lbs. to 365. Gross. This is right around the time that we started following CrossFit New England's competition team programming. Since that time, I have gained 5 lbs. with my body fat being roughly the same. My metabolic conditioning has shot completely through the roof. And yes, you guessed it folks, my much beloved strength has returned. Not only has it returned, it has grown as much as my conditioning. I am pleased to say that my backsquat has not only come back, it has surpassed my previous pr and gone up 20 lbs. to a much appreciated 345 lbs.! I've been fired up for over a month now and I'm only getting stronger and faster. I'm looking forward to this test to see what I'm capable of.

The best part about this years Furious Fundraiser is the team format. I have a perfect teammate for battle. His name is Ryland and together we will conquer anything and everything. I'm really excited for this competition. More as a test to see how far I've come. Don't worry my friends, I will keep it real and keep you updated.

Fury Is Fast Approaching

The CrossFit Fury competition is right around the corner. And I feel like our teams are as prepared as we can be. We have been following CrossFit New England's competition team programming and boy can I tell a difference. There are only 50 teams allowed to register for the comp. CrossFit Flagstaff is sending 12! 12 teams! We are going to be there in force. And I'm really excited to see how we do and what we are capable of.

I'm just getting over being sick. I can't stand it when that happens. I feel like I'm being completely un productive. Especially when I'm training for something. Thats when it catches up to you though. It happens all the time. Right before you're about to peak. Boom. It hits you. Right at the point when you're training as hard as you can. Thats when it hits you. Your body might be strong, but your immune system is taking a beating. The harder you train, the more nutrients you lose, and then the body can't keep up. I did pretty well though. I only lost one day. I was able to train through it.

More posts will be coming the closer we get to competition time. I'll try to start posting everyday once we are a month out. Until then, I'm going to bed. Good night, and keep it real!

The Furious Five: Unite

It's the beginning of August, and the date has been set for the CrossFit Fury competition. This year they switched it up on us. This year it will be a team event. Teams of 2 will conquer 3 workouts in one day. The first is a SWAT style workout in honor of the Phoenix Police Force. The second will be a Fire Fighter type workout for the Phoenix Fire Fighters. Last but not least will be a CrossFit style workout. I'm not entirely sure what any of that means. And it makes me a little nervous. Although I'm pretty sure I need to practice rope climbs.

The new Jiu Jitsu school is nothing short of phenomenal. I've only been there a month and I've already noticed a significant improvement in my game. I am completely obsessed with Jiu Jitsu again and it's a great feeling to have that particular drive boiling inside of me again. I'm on the quest to get my purple belt and I'm pretty sure it's not a long way off. The hard part will be patience. I know I won't get it right away, but I'm pretty sure it will be less then a year before it will be mine.

It is the end of month 3 on my new diet. I feel amazing. I'm working towards being in the best shape of my life and the diet is making a huge difference. I've lost a total of 20 lbs. and gained a little bit of muscle mass in the process. Thank you for the support and I will keep you updated on everything!

The Highland Games

Let me tell you a secret. The Highland Games are very interesting. The best thing about my first Highland Games experience was that I didn't prepare for it. I had no idea what I was doing or how it worked. All I did was follow my friend Scott around because he had the most experience. When I say the most experience, I mean he competed in his first event just a few short months ago. So based on the fact that I didn't train for it, and that I had no idea what I was doing, I had a lot of fun! There was no pressure on me what so ever! I'm not going to lie, it felt pretty good.

All of the throws were new to me. We practiced for a few hours a few days before the event. One of CrossFit's selling points is that it will prepare you for anything, including the unknown. I'm pretty danged confident that my level of fitness has prepared me for the unknowable. I believe it showed this weekend. I felt like I did very well considering the level of un preparedness I had. I really enjoyed testing myself and seeing what I was capable of for such an event.

This was the hammer throw. It was very awkward. You spin the hammer over your head like the picture above. When you feel that there is enough momentum all you have to do is let go. As long as it's behind you!

When I asked Scott what to do for this event, he said "Remember when you were a kid and you threw rocks all over the place?""Yeah.""Make sure you do it just like that.""Oh, ok, got it."

One of the best things about The Highland Games is that all the events are pretty self explanatory. This one is called weight over bar. I was pretty good at this one, I use my hips a lot in CrossFit with kettle bell swings, snatches, and cleans. The tricky one was the weight for distance. I was astounded by how much effort I would put into it for it to not go very far. 

Last but not at all the least was the Caber toss. This was the one event that I was the most nervous about. Where do you get a 20 foot pole to practice with for crying out loud! My goal was to get it off the ground and on to my shoulder like the picture above. I succeeded in that goal for all 3 attempts although I did fail to throw it on the 3rd one. 

All in all I had a great time and now that I own my own kilt, I will be competing next year as well. Our CrossFit Flagstaff team is fired up for next years event and I assure you dear readers, we will train for it next year!

Never Die...Shoes?

Yeah buddy, I designed these on the Reebok site. They are the new Reebok CrossFit shoes and I can't wait to order them. I have to wait until the fall semester starts, so I should have them by the CrossFit Fury competition. I'm pretty excited about them. Check them out!

The End Of Month Two

It's the end of month 2 here in the beautiful Flagstaff, Arizona. I have, somewhat successfully, completed a months worth of a nutrition challenge. I had no problem whatsoever with sugar, or breads and pastas. My weakness? Chips. You read that right. Chips. If you put the most amazing chocolate cake ever created and a bowl of the best guacamole ever created directly in front of me, I would go for the guacamole. Do you remember a blog post ago when I told you about the amazing chicken enchilada stew I made? Said stew is absolutely incredible with Tostidos brand whole wheat chips. The best pizza that man kind can possibly imagine? I'll take the chips and salsa please. I stayed away from dairy but those chips got me. I have my first cheat day on Sunday. Pizza from NiMarco's and pasta from Oregano's will be my reward.

I lost 10 lbs. in my first month with one cheat meal a week, adding a few cups of great tasting coffee during the week as well. This last month, with no cheat days, I only lost 7 lbs. Needless to say, I feel like cheat days are the way to go for me. I will be going back to the marvelous world of amazing food once a week starting in July.

July is a big month for me. I'm going to start training at a new Jiu Jitsu school starting on the 3rd. It's ran by a black belt. This is a good thing because all of my hard work will be recognized and promotion to purple belt is eminent. I'm going to start seriously training for the Furious Fundraiser Competition at CrossFit Fury in October. The team that won last years CrossFit Games, which also looks like the team to beat at this years annual event, has a blog of their daily workouts programmed by Ben Burgeron. This team goes by the name of CrossFit New England. And they are known for the phenomenal programming and training regimen that Mr. Burgeron puts together. Much to my surprise, the rest days for the team fall exactly in to line with my rest days. So it feels like Ben is programming workouts just for me! If you want to know what my extra workouts will be for the day, you can follow along here www.competitorswod.blogspot.com.

Here are the pics of my progress. I will post some more at the end of next month.

Getting Back To The Grind

The workouts of the day are as follows.
1K row followed immediately by 10 muscle ups.
Wendler bench press phase 1.
5 rounds of heavy back squat (250 lbs.) followed immediately by as many chest to bar pull ups as possible.

I was supposed to go to Jiu Jitsu tonight and I assure you I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, my muffler fell off. Needless to say, I needed to handle that situation. I will be back to Jitsu full time next month. Until then, I'll be doing as much work as I can. Much needed rest day tomorrow.Victory is eminent.

The Time Capsule

I had a pretty fantastic workout this morning. After getting breakfast on the way home I decided to stop by my place of employment to see if they needed my assistance for a tent sale that was going on. Once I figured out that my assistance was less then needed, I spent a majority of my time in my room abusing Netflix on my computer. 

I was watching American Chopper when this thought popped into my head "Hey guy, we haven't looked at our Myspace page in awhile." The next logical step was to Google it. What I found was a flood of memories that have been happily sitting in the back of my head. It was literally a time capsule. One of which was in the blog section of my page and the reality is, it's probably one of the most profound moments of my life. Here we go, a short trip to my past. 

Jul 23, 2009

Realization time suckuhs!!

Current mood:relieved

I was shaving my face, and I had the realization that I am finally completely over this whole divorce thing. Shit man. It took almost 5 years. Five Finger Death Punch was practically the sound track for it. My main weapon against all that shit was my friends and family. Thanks to all for your support, to many to name at the moment. Second was work. Thanks to Fratelli Pizza for that. Third was my mixed martial arts training. Thanks to Mario Gomez, Mike Alonzo, and Peak Team for helping me with that. Through mma, I've got most of my confidence back, I've lost 50 lbs, and I've had the experience of having to straighten out my own nose, just like in the movies! That was one of the worst and best things that has ever happened to me. I'm looking forward to the next 5 years of my life. Never Die Co. + 5 years = EPIC. Believe it. Ready to do work.

This epiphany came about on July 23, 2009. It was a pretty big deal for me to get completely over that business and move on with my life. I went on to meet the woman who, to this point anyway, is the love of my life. Even though we aren't together anymore, we keep in touch and talk on a regular basis. This woman means the world to me and encouraged me to go to school full time in pursuit of a promising career. I have lost some serious weight since then, as evidenced in the picture below. I have fought in a cage and competed in 3 Jiu Jitsu tournaments. I have trained with professional cage fighters and CrossFit has changed my life. I bought my first car on my own. My best friend married a beautiful woman that came with 3 incredible children. I've evolved into a better, stronger, faster and more motivated and positive person. There is nowhere for me to go but up. Thank you to everybody that has supported me through all of this. Stay tuned, I'm going all out. 

As promised, this is a picture of the very unmotivated, un healthy, and generally un happy individual that I used to be and will never be again. 

Paleo?

I want to start this post by saying I can't stand the word "Paleo". It drives me crazy. One of the common occurrences in the CrossFit community is newer athletes trying the Paleo diet. They start asking if this is Paleo or if that's Paleo. For instance, we were gathering at a local restaurant called Busters. One of the newer athletes was there with us blabbing on and on about how Paleo everything is. She orders a steak with veggies and a Diet Coke. Diet Coke is not Paleo.

Ok, now that I got that off my chest, I can commence with the rest of this post. I know your asking yourself "I wonder what this guy is eating?""How did he change his diet for the nutrition challenge?" Well let me tell you. I started off by becoming really good friends with black coffee. That is a huge step for me. Next step is to cut out all sugar. The next thing to go is dairy. The final step is cutting out anything and everything that has to do with wheat or flour. This includes breads, pastas, tortillas and things of that nature. Essentially, it's the Paleo diet. But as I stated in the previous paragraph, I can't stand that word. I just call it eating healthier.

I just realized that I haven't answered the real question. What am I eating? The answer is fruit, veggies, meat, nuts, and seeds. I have been using my crock pot quite a bit. Crock pots are exactly how I need to cook. I put stuff in there. I go about my day. I come home and eat it. It's the best invention ever. Here is one of my favorite recipes from one of my favorite websites. http://paleomg.com/enchilada-chicken-stew/. Here is the recipe for the fine meal I will be having this evening. http://paleomg.com/sweet-chili-lime-shrimp-and-chicken-lettuce-wraps/. I follow this website quite a bit. One of the best things about it is that it has a treats page in order to satisfy your sweet tooth in the healthiest way possible. My favorite treat thus far is the sweet potato brownies. I assure you they are fantastic. One of my new favorite treats is 2-3 spoonfuls of almond butter, poor a little bit of coconut milk in there, stir it up and add blue berries. Its pretty fantastic. If I eat out, I eat a lot of salads. Most restaurants have just chicken or steak and they will allow you to have extra veggies for your sides.

There you have it. I have been cooking a lot as you can see. I used to think I didn't have time. But the great Ryron Gracie said,"If you don't have time to cook, all you have to do is stop doing something else." I'm not going to lie, I feel pretty fantastic right now. I have allowed myself some cheat days so I can enjoy a cup of coffee and some of life's simple pleasures such as pasta or pizza. However, I am going to make a serious effort to keep the ball rolling on this lifestyle change. The hardest part is the holidays. And they are coming up quick. Enjoy the recipes!

This Is Legit

http://breakingmuscle.com/mind-body/just-love-bleep-out-it

One Month Down

I've been eating really well lately. I've been pretty danged disciplined for the last month actually. Giving myself one cheat day a week, I have lost 10 lbs. total. This month is a whole other story. No more cheat days for me. Our gym is doing a nutrition challenge. I don't have the money to do it, so I will do it in the shadows. I will be a ninja nutritionist. Here are some recent pics of my progress. Lets see if I can get back down to 185 lbs!

Back On The Wagon

I hit the breaking point a few weeks ago. I stepped on the scale and it read 215 lbs. It's time to get back on the wagon and start eating right. I started eating badly over the holidays. Granted it was phenomenal food, but I gained 15 lbs. over the course of a month and a half. Long story short, I never cleaned up my diet and I kept the weight on. Now I'm dedicated like you read about. I'm back to eating healthy and allow myself 1 cheat day a week. Below are the before pictures I took at 213 lbs. I'll post some at the end of every month to show my progress.

Final Workout Of The CrossFit Open

The last workout of the Crossfit Open has been completed. It was the same final workout from last year. I did a lot better this year and I'm pretty excited to see how much I had improved. The workout is 3 thrusters at 100 lbs. then 3 chest to bar pull ups. Then 6 of each, then 9, then 12 and so on for the full 7 minutes.

Last year I hit myself in the chin with the bar on the third thruster of the first set. Needless to say, I was very angry and over the workout as soon as it began. The end result was 45 rep effort. This time, I knew I wasn't going to qualify for regionals so I just wanted to have fun with it. At the end of the day I ended up with a 68 rep effort the second time.

The only athlete from our gym that made it to regionals is Katie Brown. The regionals are located in Denver, Colorado. We are packing an RV full of CrossFitters and driving out there. Its going to be an insane amount of fun and you better believe that I'm going to document everything.

CrossFit Open Workout 12.4

This head cold couldn't have come at a worse time. It was one of those head colds where the inside and the outside of your head and face are completely consumed by mucus. That in itself is no fun. And this workout made it significantly less fun. I was able to wait until the tail end of the head cold to complete this workout.

The workout was as follows. 150 wall ball with a 20 pound ball. 90 double unders with a jump rope. And 30 muscle ups. You were only allowed 12 minutes to complete as much of these movements as you could. Let me tell you, I wanted to get to the muscle ups. Bad. Really bad. But alas, I did not. I made it through all 90 double unders with only milli seconds to spare. I am happy with the result. As a result of the head cold, I was fatigued immediately and couldn't breath properly even sooner then that. I missed my old PR of 150 wall ball by only 10 seconds or so. All in all, I'm pleased with my performance. The final workout of the CrossFit Open will be announced this evening. I'm excited to complete the Open and resume my normal training schedule. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Below is a video of Neal Maddox and Jason Kahlipa completely destroying this workout. Enjoy!

CrossFit Open WOD # 12.3

This workout was easily one of the toughest WODS I've done in a really long time. It was as many rounds as possible of 15 box jump at 24 inches, 12 push press at 115 lbs. and 9 toes to bar as you could do in 18 minutes. And as I said before, it was absolutely brutal. I had to make up all my time on the box jumps because I was able to turn them over fairly quickly. I was really slow on my toes to bar because my kip didn't meet the standards and, as a result, 3 out of my first 6 didn't count. And the push press got very heavy very quickly. At one point, around minute 12 my friend and teammate Ryland was yelling at me to get back on the pull up bar for my toes to bar, right when I looked up to jump, everything started to fade to black. So I decided that it would be in my best interest to rest a few more seconds instead of passing out. I ended up with just over 7 rounds. I was really happy with that result and had absolutely no desire to re do that workout.

CrossFit Open WOD 12.2

Sorry I haven't gotten around to posting. I'm about 2 weeks late on this one. This has been a really busy couple of weeks for me. It all starts with WOD 12.2. This particular workout was all about the snatch. And it quickly separated the men from the boys. You start out with 30 snatches at 75 lbs. This was easy enough for just about everybody. Then it became significantly more difficult when the weight jumped to 135 lbs. for 30 reps. This is where the real athletes get separated from the pack. 30 snatches at 165 lbs. Getting through 30 snatches at 165 is an accomplishment if you are capable. Then comes the real deal. As many snatches as you can get at 210 lbs. This is an unreal weight that I can't even fathom snatching over my head. Did I mention that you only had 10 minutes to get as many as you could?

I tried this work out twice. The first time I blew through the 75 lbs. within about 2 minutes. Once I got to 135, I had a lot of problems getting the weight over head. I had 4 missed reps and 2 of them were because I got it up but just couldn't stand up out of the squat. I ended the 10 minutes with a total of 47 reps. I was pretty disappointed, but I didn't think I could do any better. The next day, I had a revelation. The split snatch. It was incredible. I did the workout again, and blew through the 75 lbs. in 2 minutes just like last time. Then I put my new found skill to work. I got all 30 reps at 135 lbs. to get a total of 60 reps. I was completely satisfied with my score. Below is a video of Dan Bailey and the 2011 Games champion Rich Froning crushing this workout. Rich ended up getting 8 reps deep at 210 lbs. and that is phenomenal I assure you. 

Open WOD #1

The CrossFit Open WOD # 12.1 is in the books! It was an amrap in 7 minutes of burpees. I'm not going to lie to you. It was pretty awful. I remember starting and going and going and going, then somebody shouts "Half way!" All I could think to myself was "Oh my god, I could die out here." Right around the 5th minute my heart and my mind were still in it to win it. My body had other ideas. I would be screaming in my head "Drop to the floor!" I don't really know what my body was doing, but it wasn't that. "One minute left!" At that point I gave it everything I had, but it wasn't much. I ended up with an 87 rep effort. I could redo the WOD, but I honestly don't think I could do too much better then that. That would be an incredible amount of work for an extra 4 or 5 reps. So I'm pretty happy with my score. Considering that Katie Hogan is one of the best CrossFit athletes in the world and she got 91 reps, I don't feel to bad. Looking forward to next week!

A Week And A Half Away!

http://pd.crossfit.com/games/video/G2012_IamtheFittest1_SD.mov

Comp Time Again!

Hey everybody! Sorry I haven't had a post in awhile. I've been training really hard and getting back into the swing of things as far as school goes. My biology class is pretty rugged and is going to require a lot of my attention. I am competing in the Winter Open team event this weekend with my friend Katie Slade. I'm pretty excited about it. The CrossFit Open starts February 22nd. I have been looking forward to this all year long. It will be a 6 week competition. The WODS will be announced every Wednesday and the athletes will have until that Sunday to record their scores on their profile at games.crossfit.com. The top 60 from each region go to regionals. The top 3 from each regional goes to the games. I plan on going to the games this year and I will have the video blog up and running the whole time. I have a lot to look forward to in the coming months, and I promise to keep this blog updated a little better. Speaking of biology, I better get on it!

The Sport Of Fitness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YAu-ftOM3C8

What Is CrossFit?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xAIPYsHxPKA

Intensity

http://www.flowrestling.org/coverage/247704-MMA-Fan-Fest/video/565604-Intensity

Superior Strenth

http://vimeo.com/11893609

Strong(er)

Motivate And Encourage

The Heart Of Motocross

http://vimeo.com/29701303

Never Die Life 2011 Highlights