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.

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.

“Cindy”

5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 air squats

AMRAP for 20 minutes

After the workout I went up to Bainbridge Family MMA and rocked out my MMA training.  We worked guard passing like we did in the Adult class the night before.  We also drilled the takedowns we have worked on the past few weeks.  Good time.  We finished off the night with some dodgeball.  haha!

Meet Fran:

21-15-9 FOR TIME!!!

Thrusters
Pullups

21-15-9 means do 3 sets of each exercise.  The sets are 21 reps, 15 reps and 9 reps.  You do all of these one after the other until you are done, no rest.  In normal people terms it is laid out like this:

21 Thrusters
21 Pullups
15 Thrusters
15 Pullups
9 Thrusters
9 Pullups

My time was 4 minutes and 1 second.  That is my personal best.  I went on to the Crossfit message boards to see how good or bad it was and they said it was really good.  I was psyched when I saw that.  Someone asked how their Fran time stood up and many people responded.  One of the comments by a fellow Crossfitter was the following:

“3:00 is the gold standard for Fran. 5:00 indicates a good athlete, 4:00 is very good (many people get to around 4:00-4:30 and stay there, its a very good time). ~8:00 is a good starting point for sure.  The world record is 2:17 by the way.”

I will go to bed feeling good about my workout today.

Thank you everyone.  Check out www.crossfit.com

Check out a video of FRAN in Action

Warm Up
2 rounds of:
10 double unders
followed by:
5 air squats
5 pull ups
5 kb swings
Do these movements very, “VERY” slowly. Most of you probably have sore legs from Wednesday’s WOD, and sore arms from yesterday’s WOD, so go slow and stretch out those achy muscles.

WOD
Strength Day
Strict Shoulder Press
3-3-3-3-3

I used 24KG kettlebells for this.

Black Jack
20 push ups – 1 sit up
19 push ups – 2 sit ups
etc…..

I wanted to kill something after the first three sets of pushups but I couldn’t really pick up my arms so it wasn’t an option…  I felt good after.  I want to do some more heavy lifting this weekend.  If anyone has any cool workouts let me know.

Thanks…

That’s all for today.  Talk to you tomorrow.

First WOD from CrossfitFootball.com

12 right arm KB/DB Power Snatch 1.5 pood/55 lbs
12 left arm KB/DB Power Snatch 1.5 pood/55 lbs
12 Push Ups
25 Double Unders

Second WOD from KillSportKettlebells.com

15 minutes of pain and misery!!
Do as many rounds as you can in 15 minutes of the following:
1. kettlebell swings x 10
2. double kettlebell clean/squat/press x 5

Third workout was my regular MMA training.  We worked hard today but it was very technical.  We were tested on the moves we had learned the past 2 weeks which inlcuded:

Takedowns 1,2,3 – These are all start as single leg takedowns but end up as 3 different moves. I will shoot video Thursday of them and post to this blog entry so you can see the three types.

Far Arm Attack 1,2 – These two moves start in side control. Pin opponents near arm and then attack far arm with either an Americana or Straight Arm Bar.

Total Control Arm Bar and Total Control Arm Triangle were the other two moves we were tested on.  Again I will film on Thursday and post that night.

After regular training I rolled with Tony and then with Rick.  I felt that I really did well with Rick.  He got me in an ankle lock but I defended against his guard and a Triangle very well.

Tabata consists of the following (4 minute round, 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest till 4 minutes complete)
The exercises:

Push Ups
Walking Lunges
Bent Knee Crunches
Burpees

I was sore from doing the same exercises the day before as well as falling from some takedowns.  We still rocked the WOD pretty hard and everyone got a great sweat.  This is my last day of doing that particular Tabata workout.

Adult MMA class was also a good workout.  We worked the first six strikes or moves in the 18 point Muay Thai system.  I will get the entire run down and post it Monday when Rick gets back.  It is basically the following steps:

Right low kick to opponents left thigh
Check left inside leg kick from opponent
Left inside leg kick bringing left leg all the way back
Left mid kick to opponents torso area
Right cross
Left hook
Right mid kick to opponents torso area

The workout is pretty intense.  I am really working on my balance, especially with my left kicks.  When you see the entire sub set in motion you realize how good the drill is.  It utilizes different strikes, blocking and covers many hits to different parts of opponents body.  I am planning on setting up a kicking post in my garage (futon around a beam, if anyone has an old futon they want to donate let me know) so I can train the combo at home.  It was a great sweat and I felt a bit more comfortable then when we first trained it a month ago.

Thank you again MMA for a great day, great workout and something truly great to focus on in my life.

First workout was at Station 23 with Darrick, Chris and Tony.  We did the “Annie” CrossFit workout but did not do it for time.  What I mean by that is that we did it as fast as we could but we forgot to track the time.  I will try and do it again the beginning of next week and track the time so I can post it here.  Here was our entire workout:

Warm-up:
10 KB swings
10 wall-balls
10 jumping lunges
3 rounds NFT (not for time)

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10 Rep Rounds of-

* Jump Rope Double-Unders
* Sit Ups

After that I ran over to Bainbridge Family Martial Arts and did the Tabata class.  I would say I did 50% of the workout because I was coaching the other people in the class.  The workout consisted of the following:

10 Push Ups
10 Walking Lunges
10 Bent Knee Cruches
10 Burpees

Although this is a Tabata class we did not do the traditional 20 seconds work 10 seconds rest.  We alternated for today and tomorrow.  We did as many sets as possible in the 25 minutes.  None the less, it was a good workout.

Finally I ended the night with my Adult MMA class.  We worked ground game.  We trained an arm bar from side mount.  The move starts in side control/side mount.  Sit out and start coming down on opponent with left hand punches.  As opponent looks to defend punches with his right arm trap the arm under your left leg.  Now start punching head area again and opponent with have to defend with free left arm.  When they do trap the arm and pin it to the ground.  Figure 4 your arm and apply the Americana shoulder lock.  The other option to this move is if they are able to straighten their arm or you let them straighten their arm.  From there pin their arm with your right arm.  With your free left hand, push their head down and come over the top of it with your left leg and knee.  You can get their head in the cook of your knee or just lay your leg over their head.  From there,  switch the arm you are using to pin their arm, apply a figure 4 lock again and press down on their hand and up with your arm under their elbow to apply the arm/elbow lock.  It is a great move because it really immobilizes the opponent.

After class was over I rolled a ton with 3 different guys, Robert, Harley and Brian.  I think I rolled for a total of 25 minutes.  Just great to get back into the swing of things again.  Some wins, some loses but overall greatness.

I am off to bed ladies and gentlemen.  It was a great first day back at MMA.  Glad to be training everyday again.

Thank you MMA.  Thank you God and thank you everyone who has helped me get to where I am, both good and bad.  It took it all to get me here and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

WARM UP
1,000m Row
Perform the following movements very slow during your warm up
25 Push ups
25 OHS (use PVC Pipe)

WOD
4 rounds of
300m Run
20 Thrusters (95#men / 65#women)
20 Pull ups
20 Box jumps

In short, this thing kicked my ass.  It was the first time I had done any real weight lifting since I left to go to LA.  It was hard core but I was happy to be back in the gym and really happy to be working out with my boys Darrick, Chris and Chris.  I think I am probably going to be pretty sore tomorrow.  Lets see…

The CrossFit workout will be ‘Fight Gone Bad’. In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. This event calls for 3 rounds. The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of ‘rotate,’ the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point. The stations are:

1. Wall-ball, 8 ft target (Reps)
2. Deadlift high-pull (Reps)
3. Box jump (Reps)
4. Push-press (Reps)
5. Row (Calories)

I scored 285 + rows.  What I mean by that is that the rower I used had a broken digital counter so I could not tell exactly how many calories I burned.  It’s a bit of a bummer cause I really want to know what my true FGB score is.  I think it would be approximately320-335.  I need to make it down to my boys gym King CrossFit and have them put me through it.  Reguardless, it was a monster workout and I thought I might drop the bar on my head doing push presses.  After this I took a lil break and then it was off to Adult MMA class.

We learned some pretty cool moves tonight.  They were both in working from the guard.  First one was when you have someone posturing up and trying to choke you with arm across the throat.  Basically relive some of the pressure by pushing hips up and then pull down quickly while passing the arm over and wrapping arms around opponent quickly.  Now you should have them pulled into your guard completley, right arm should be wrapped around the left side of their head with your hand holding your own bicep and left arm should be wrapped under their right arm and left hand should be on the side of your own head.  From here you can squeeze and apply a choke.  Second part of this move is to loosen choke a little but do not let go.  Now take your right foot and shrimp/slide out to your right a bit. Take your foot on that side and get it in their inner thigh.  This will allow you to sweep and land in full mount with same choke applied.

After class I rolled with Brian a couple of times.  Both matches were great.  I was able to apply a kimura and triangle choke.  The best part about both matches for me was not the tapout but the fact that I was totally aggressive both times.  I find at times that I am way too passive and then end up having to work really hard in the end to pull something out.  I also found that I was playing guard too much and I wanted to reestablish my side control work and moves from there.  It was great.  I was able to stay in control most of the time and I went for moves I don’t normally go for.  I was very very happy with all of it and it made me excited for more.  What else can ya ask for?

Thank you God and MMA.  You have truly helped save my life in many ways.