The next block of time was devoted to another fitness/heath talk and then we moved on to the next three CrossFit movements; Press, Push Press and Push Jerk. I did well with the Press and the Push Press.  Had a bit of trouble with the Push Jerk because it involves a jump.  I think I got it down by the end of the time we were allotted for going over the move but I still want to work on it a ton more to really get it down.

After that we had a break for lunch.  Rick and I went down to Red Robin where he ordered a salad and I ordered a bacon cheeseburger that halfway though, I noticed had a long woman’s hair in it.  After removing that and the cost from my bill, the kind folk at Red Robin were nice enough to comp me a Cesar salad.  Free lunch…

After lunch we went into another classroom session where we learned more about the mechanics and nuts & bolts of CrossFit.  From there we had a 20 minute lecture and demo of the last three of the CrossFit movements; Deadlift, Sumo Deadlift High Pull and Medicine Ball Clean.  I did pretty well with these movements.  They came around and made minor adjustments to my foot spacing and how I raised my butt.

After we completed the last three movements we went right into our WOD… the wonderful, the amazing, the horrible… “FRAN.”  They had about 30 barbells laid out and we went in 4 groups.  Each group had up to 10 minutes to complete FRAN.  FRAN consists of the following two exercises: Thrusters and Pullups.  FRAN is three sets of the two exercises, first set has 21 reps, second set has 15 reps and third as 9.  So in total you are doing 45 reps of each exercise.  21 Thrusters, 21 Pullups, 15 Thrusters, 15 Pullups, 9 Thrusters, 9 Pullups.  You do this all for time.  The top time from anyone in our group was 3:38 seconds… THAT IS CRAZYYYY.  I completed FRAN in 5:40 seconds.  I had to stop a few times to catch my breath and at times I felt like I couldn’t move but I got it done.  I think I came out of the gate way too quick which kinda gassed me out for the long run.  I got it done but I had never been that physically exhausted ever.  After FRAN I felt like I had been shot in the chest.  Crazy feelings, a bit scary but I didn’t die so I guess it will make me stronger, right?  I was in the first group.  I wanted to get it done and get it out of the way.  Glad I did because then I could just sit back and watch while my lungs recovered.

Overall it was a great day.  I was freezing cold 80% of the time but besides that the class was great, the instructors were great and I learned a ton.  I am excited for tomorrow and even more excited to bring it back to Bainbridge and help all the people I know lean CrossFit.  I am off to watch the rest of the UFC TUF 1o Finally fights and hopefully pass out.  Wish me luck.  If you have any questions let me know and I will tell ya everything I know.

Thank you for all these opportunities God.

First Batch of Ear Juice

So… About 2 weeks ago I noticed my ear was a bit swollen and the first thing that came to mind was, “I am not going to get cauliflower ear.” After a few days the swollen part of my ear (top of ear)  did not seem to be getting any better so I played around with it a bit and noticed that there seemed to be fluid in it.  I went on a trip to Texas the next day and that week got my girlfriend, Adriana, to try and poke it with a safety pin.  I don’t think we stuck the pin in that much because all we got was a tiny bit of blood.  When I got back to Bainbridge I picked up a medial needle and syringe and poked it and sure enough, lots of pretty clear fluid came out and a touch of blood.  I thought, great, glad that worked.  About 24 hours later the ear seemed to be filling back up with fluid so this time I drew the liquid out with the syringe rather then just poking a hole and squeezing my ear.  As you can see by the picture I took, there was quite a bit of fluid and that was only half the amount from what I was able to get out of my ear just 24 hours previous.  Over the next couple of days I went on a trip to NY and sure enough, the ear filled back up with fluid.  I was able to acquire a insulin syringe and needle from my long time friend June who had just gone though a bout with cancer and had some unused ones in her medicine cabinet.  I got back to my fathers house and was able to draw about 2 CC of fluid out of my ear.  This is when I decided to do some research on Cauliflower Ear.

Here are two articles I found.  I have post the links to the original sites as well as excerpts from each of the articles. Looks like a trip to the Dr. or a bandage on my ear is in the near future.

Medicinenet.com Article on Cauliflower Ear

http://www.medicinenet.com/cauliflower_ear/article.htm

KidsHealth.org Article on Cauliflower Ear
http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/cauliflower_ear.html

First I hit the free weight room and did 50 reps of thrusters and squats. Those thrusters really made me aware that I had not lifted weights in a week and how I felt this morning when I finally got up at 11am EST only cemented that fact in my head.  I also did some pullups, dips and cleans but didn’t really keep track of them.

After the weight room I walked up to watch pops play some handball with the other senior league members… HAHA, Just kidding Dad.  Kinda…

They needed some youth, speed, strength and agility so naturally they looked out to me and asked me to come play a few games.  I thought about showing them up and then decided I did not wish to steal my fathers thunder since this was his home group game.  I decided to play as if I had never played before, because I have never played before.  I made sure to keep their mental toughness and egos strong by completely missing shots, falling on the ground, hitting the ball to the opposite court and knocking into other players for no reason.  I am happy to report that I fully succeeded in making them feel wonderful about their ripe ages.  In all seriousness, I had a great time.  I think I played pretty well for someone who has never played a game in his life and it made me want to play more.  My hands were so red and hurt that at times in the game I didn’t think I could hit another shot.  Tons of fun and I will play with them every time I come back to visit.

Great overall workout and even though I am sore this morning I feel healthy and great.

WOD: Filthy Fifty
50 Box jump
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings (35lb/26lbs)
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows

I was a bit slow during the workout but it was nice to get something under my belt.

Stay tuned because when I hit Bainbridge December 2nd it is gonna be on like DONKEY KONG again.  That very same weekend I go for my CrossFit Level 1 certification with Sifu Rick and shortly after that we are going full bore with CrossFit Bainbridge.  Exciting times.  Right now is like the calm before the storm.

I know I went to MMA and we drilled ground and pound as well as did some light sparring where I was teamed up with Sifu Rick.  It is the best working with him because I know that he will not really hold back and give me my monies worth every single time we roll or spar.  I noticed when I was sparring with him how quick and accurate he was with his punches and shots.  On the other hand I was very telegraphed and slow because it is not second nature to me.  I felt like he could probably land shots on me at will.  It was actually a good feelings to be able to assess some of these things because it really helps me to be aware of where I am at and what I need to work on to get to that next level.  Great night.  I loved the sparring and I feel like I am getting better even though I have a long way to go.

Thanks MMA…

Anyhow, the training was great.  I really love it and I had a great workout.  I did about 15 minutes of jump rope and a couple of Tabata sets before practice but not a full workout.    See you all tomorrow…

My next workout was at Next Step Conditioning with Coach James.  Myself and about 10 other Bainbridge Island Fire Department members worked for an hour doing lots of kettlebell work, snatches, cleans, swings, wood chops, and combination of all of those together.  We also did some wind sprints with resistance bands and an ab workout using the kettlebells.  Lots of sweat.  I will go heavier next time.  I used 20KG kettlebells for 90% of the workout.

I ended my training day with a great MMA workout at my adult class at Bainbridge MMA.  We worked pummeling, pummeling for position and then shooting for the double underhooks and takedown into mount and side control.  We also drilled 4 out of the 5 moves we drilled last week from the guard.  Guillotine Choke, Triangle Choke, Kimura and Hip Bump Reversal.  We first just went through the motions.  Then added some resistance and finally tried to attack them live.  I played in my training partners guard most of the night because I am trying to get better in the guard.  I did really well.

Warm-up:
Suicide Drill w/ 3 burpees
7 rounds

WOD
For time:
800m Row
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of:
Wallball
KB Swing
800m Row

After the CrossFit workout I went to Bainbridge Family MMA and sparred with Tony a bit.  We also did some jumping and diving drills with the kids.  The sparring was great.  We are trying to amp it up while at the same time get some good hits in so we can work out fitness conditioning as well as condition ourselves to live movements and reaction time.  Hope to spar some more on Monday after the Tabata Class.