listen

"It’s not about what you’re saying, it’s about how you listen. Customer service is the new business. We are living in a 'thank you' economy."
- Gary Vanyerchuck, coming soon to a gym near you! Check it out the details at www.realbizuncensored.com.

A training video. CrossFit Central. Cast in fire:



Today I did strength work.

STRENGTH
back squat
Wendler cycle 2, week 1

Set 1 65% x 5 @ 140lbs
Set 2 75% x 5 @ 160lbs
Set 3 85% x 5+ @ 180lbs (completed 12 reps)

Happy Monday! Make it a great week y'all!

hack away

"It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials."
- Bruce Lee


CrossFit Central WOD
3 rounds for time:
50 squats
12 toes to bar
25 box jump

6:47 rx'd

Happy Friday y'all! Peace.

be happy

"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling."
~ Margaret Lee Runbeck

One from the nostalgia file: Adrian Bozman and I at my level one cert in July 2009.


GarageGymRX @ REDBLACK GYM
WARMUP
2 rounds:
250 meter run
10 goblet squats @ 1.5 pood
10 Romanian deadlift @ 1.5 pood
10 strict pull-ups
10 ring dips
4 sandbag Turkish get-ups @ 60 lbs
10 lunging Buellers

WOD
3 rounds, each for time, 2 minute rest interval
4 muscle-ups
10 KB cleans (full squat) @ 1.5 pood
15 tire jumps
25 Russian swings @ 110 lbs
50 double-unders

BONUS
tire flips!

potential

"Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential."
- Bruce Lee


Today's a REST DAY!

Yesterday's GarageGymRX classes at REDBLACK GYM did box squats.
WARM-UP
foam/pvc roller
2 rounds:
10 KB clean & press
10 KB Romanian deadlifts
10 air squats
10 push-ups
100 double-unders

EXPLOSIVE STRENGTH
box squat
12x3 @ 50% of 1RM back squat
every rep: 4-count down, speed up

STRENGTH
5 forward sled drags (approx 20m), go heavy!

stubbornly persist

"Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits."
~ Robert Brault

This morning, after warming up with rowing and handstand walk practice, I did strength work.

STRENGTH
back squat
Wendler cycle 1, week 3
Set 1 75% x 5 @ 155lbs
Set 2 85% x 3 @ 175lbs
Set 3 95% x 1+ @ 195lbs (completed 7 reps)

Not bad, but not great. Thought I'd get 9 reps...


I also had an appointment with Dr. Sam Sneed today. If you are like me, and have a minor nagging "shoulder tweak," you shouldn't always try to work through it - sometimes you gotta go see a pro like Sam! He'll get you fixed up! He also found, and worked on some hip issues I have (and didn't even realize existed). Now I'm feeling great! What I call hip issues is really super tight psoas and front hip flexors, which over time have helped prevent my glut medius muscles from firing when I squat. Which means that I'm currently only scraping the surface of my lifting potential! Next level indeed! Stay tuned for more PRs!

Peace.

priorities

“When you finally decide how successful you really want to be, you’ve got to set priorities. Then, each and every day, you’ve got to take care of the top ones. The lower ones may fall behind, but you can’t let the top ones slip. You don’t forget about the lower ones though because they can add up to hurt you. Just take care of the top ones first. In 25 years as a head coach and assistant, I think I might have missed one practice. Why? Because practice is my top priority. A day doesn’t go by when I don’t accomplish something in my family life or my profession because those two things are my top priorities”
- Dan Gable, olympian


REST DAY!

night surfing

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
~ Bertrand Russell

Big wave surfer Mark Visser rides Maui's "JAWS" at night! SIC!!

universal truth

"Let's state the universal truth of training, as applied to the weight room: you do not get big and strong by lifting weights; you get big and strong by recovering from lifting weights."
- Mark Rippetoe, from his article Who wants to be a novice? You do.

Check out Randal Setzler and David de Leon being awesome:

(photo by me)

STRENGTH
push press
5x5, sets across

145-145F(x4)-145F(x4)-145F(x3)-145F(x3)

Weak sauce. According my performance in the sets listed above, I've gotta spend more time following the universal truth! Mañana is a REST DAY!

Peace.

new way

"To get to the next level we've got to see ourselves in a new way"
- Tony Robbins

I woke up with painfully sore legs this morning. I discovered that they still worked once I crawled out of bed, so I went to the gym fully intending to cupcake. Visions of trigger point and mobility work danced in my head. I even cleared doing so with coach Mike Winchester... especially once I saw the whiteboard!

REDBLACK GYM 20Jan2011
A. 20 minutes to warm-up (athlete's choice)
B. 20 minutes to establish a 1RM clean
C. 20 minutes to establish a 1RM snatch

But, I decided that after warming up I'd use the time as skill practice for the two lifts, staying with light weight. Funny thing is, once I warmed up, my legs felt good! So I started working on cleans...

B. cleans
165-175-185PR TIE-195F-195F

Tied my PR. Happy with that. Not thrilled that I could hit 195 solid in the bottom of the front squat, but couldn't stand it up...

So then my legs were really toasted! I decided it was time to play it smart and went light on the snatch for technique work. Never went above 115, but got in some much needed practice.

Then I chowed on recovery tacos and coffee with Mark, Firas, and Dr. Sam Sneed. Great way to start the day!

Friday is next! Stay warm y'all. Peace.

I AM the decisive element

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I saw this quote posted by CrossFit L.A. yesterday. Very timely... for me anyway... recently I've been struggling to stay focused in the moment. This quote was the right reminder at the right time! Stay focused y'all. Stay conscious that you are the decisive element...

WOD
for time:
21 L-sit pull-ups
20 pistol (one leg) squats
18 L-sit pull-ups
16 pistol squats
15 L-sit pull-ups
12 pistol squats
12 L-sit pull-ups
8 pistols

22:54 rx'd

Holy one-legged squats Batman! I'd like to blame my slowwwwwww time on my legs still being sore from Monday's back squats, but that's just wimpy. The L pull-ups weren't too bad, but the pistols just plain smoked me. At least my reps were legit, similar to this shot of Adrian Bozman's pistol squat. Though in my version I'm rocking a sweet pain face...

(CrossFit.com photo)

It's hump day y'all! We're at the summit - the apex - so it's all downhill from here! Peace.

details

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."
- John Wooden

SICFIT AUSTIN is now being called the RED BLACK GYM.

GarageGymRX @ RED BLACK GYM
WARMUP:
mile jog
inchworm with scorpion
kettlebell mirror game

3 rounds, not for time:
handstand walk 20 feet
15 chest to bar pull-ups

250 yard carries:
slosh pipe in Zercher rack position
dual plate hold @ 25#
dual kettlebell rack @ 24kg
barbell overhead
sandbag @ 90#

Glad for a "light day" this morning, my legs are tore up from yesterday's back squats.

brothers

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.



STRENGTH
back squat
Wendler cycle 1, week 2

Set 1 70% x 3 @ 145lbs
Set 2 80% x 3 @ 165lbs
Set 3 90% x 3+ @ 185lbs (completed 11 reps)

First two sets felt easy, like a warm-up. Set three was a fight! Happy with hitting 11 reps though.

dumbbell press
5x5

40lbs DBs-40-45-45-45F(x4)

It's a new week! Make it a great one! Peace.

fly

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."
~ Leonardo Da Vinci

I've done freefall before, but this $h!t is on a whole other level... thanks Elliot for posting the video.

Wingsuit Basejumping - The Need 4 Speed: The Art of Flight from Phoenix Fly on Vimeo.

gratitude

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.
~ John E. Southard

Thanks Ben for showing me this video, cracks me up!



I didn't have enough time for the split jerks at the gym yesterday, so I knocked 'em out today.

OLY/STRENGTH
split jerk
5x2

155-165-175-175-175

WOD
10 minute AMRAP
15 in & outs
9 burpees

6 rounds + 12 in & outs

Did the first round of in & outs "no-touch" (without my feet touching the ground), went standard after that. Good stuff. My shoulders, arms, and core were on fire!

Have a great weekend y'all! Peace.

awaken

"Your vision becomes clear when you look inside your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."
- Carl Jung

Ginny from CrossFit 321 playing in the latest Maine snowfall:

I love Texas winters!!!

SICFIT AUSTIN 13JAN2011
WARM-UP
2 rounds:
20 one-arm DB floor press
20 DB renegade rows
10 strict pull-ups
10 sandbag power cleans
20 sandbag lunge
20 squats

OLY SKILL/STRENGTH
5×2 snatch-grip deadlift
5×2 deep clean deadlift (on 3″ platform)
5×2 snatch balance
5×2 split jerk

BONUS
2x10 rotator cuff/external rotations
2x10 bat-wings

Friday is on deck! Peace.

goals, 5-3-1

We've started the I Am CrossFit challenge, and so I thought I'd throw out my fitness goals for the next 8 weeks.

1) I will complete two cycles of Wendler's 5/3/1 back squat program as rx'd, and add a minimum of 10lbs to my back squat 1 rep max.
2) I will complete 10 strict handstand push-ups unbroken.
2) I will complete the I Am CrossFit benchmark (@ 155 lbs power cleans) one minute faster than on Saturday.

I started 5/3/1 today.

STRENGTH
back squat
Wendler cycle 1, week 1

Set 1 65% x 5 @ 135lbs
Set 2 75% x 5 @ 155lbs
Set 3 85% x 5+ @ 175lbs (completed 10 reps)

Have a good one y'all! Peace.

Tuscon

"We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions."
- Ronald Reagan

The Tuscon shooting has been all over the news lately, and I can't help but notice one thing is missing from the coverage: that the shooter is the one who chose to pick up a gun and attack innocent people last Saturday.

More importantly though, you should know about a guy named Dorwan Stoddard. His final act on this earth was to use his body to shield his wife from the attacker's bullets.

Another man, retired Army colonel Bill Badger, was wounded but helped three other bystanders disarm and subdue the shooter.

“Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you.”
- Benjamin Franklin

The actions of these sheepdogs should be a larger part of the media coverage in my opinion.

Last, and certainly least, the Pima County sheriff needs to start acting like a professional or recuse himself from the case. There has been no evidence that points to political rhetoric having an impact on this wacko's choosing to shoot up a Congresswoman's meet-and-greet. That the sheriff - an elected official - is using this heinous crime as an opportunity to espouse his own political opinions is as pathetic as it is unprofessional. His statements are in fact the very rhetorical practices he supposedly decries - the kind of rhetoric that indulges our demons, rather than appealing to our better selves.

That's my two cents. And for a closing, I'll repeat what Bob Holler used to say:

"Take care of yourselves and each other. Peace."

take it

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it."
- Yogi Berra


STRENGTH
front squat
5x5

145-155-155-155-160F(x3)

weighted parallel bar dips
5x10

Completed all sets with 40 lbs weight vest. The first four sets were unbroken. Broke up the last set 7-3.

Happy Monday boys and girls. Have a great week! Peace.

growth

"Life is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead."
- Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido

I had a great time at the I Am CrossFit challenge kickoff! About 120 CrossFit Central athletes took on the benchmark workout and by doing so, took off down the path of personal growth! Fitness goals will be achieved, mindsets will change, and as a result, entire lives will change! It's a privilege to be a part of this.

Afterward, I got to line up with some of the other coaches and do the workout...

WOD
"I Am CrossFit"
3 rounds:
400 meter run
15 pull-ups
7 hang power cleans

9:12 @ 155lbs hang power clean

bold and valiant

"In times of stress, be bold and valiant."
~ Horace

WOD
weighted pullups
1-1-1-1-1-1-1

2pood(72lbs)-82lbs-92-97-107F-102F-102F

All strict, no kip. Thought I'd be able to get over 100lbs, but I kept hitting a sticky point a few inches short of chin-over.

ring dips
10x10
I completed 7 sets rx'd at 30 seconds rest interval, and rest at a 45 second interval.

The I Am CrossFit challenge kicks off tomorrow morning! Stop by CrossFit Central between 0800 and 1100 to check it out. Here's a taste of last year's action...

Visit sicfit.com for more Videos

Happy Friday boys and girls!

attainable

“With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.”
- Thomas Buxton

I don't have much to say today, but go read Blair Morrison's latest in his kick-ass series fitness is... this is perhaps his best yet!

Also, 70's Big discusses power movements and conditioning.

Or check out Becoming The Bull on rep maxes.

Great stuff in all of 'em. Friday is on deck! Peace.

2011!!

Get fired up!

Visit sicfit.com for more Videos

first rant of 2011

An admitted murderer was swarmed by supporters outside of a court today.

Where in the world was this you may ask? Pakistan. The Governor of Punjab was shot over 20 times in the back for - wait for it - his outspoken support of a Christian convert facing execution under Pakistan's blasphemy laws.

This excerpt is from Arab News:

ISLAMABAD: The killer of Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer was showered with rose petals by lawyers when he was presented Wednesday before District and Sessions Judge Malik Naeem Shaukat by police. The court gave Islamabad police remand of Malik Mumtaz Qadri for a day.

Qadri was brought to court in an armored car. A rowdy crowd slapped him on the back and kissed him as he was escorted inside the court. The lawyers who tossed the rose petals were not involved in the case.

As he left the court, a crowd of about 200 sympathizers raised slogans in his favor.

Earlier, more than 500 preachers and scholars from the Jamat Ahle Sunnat group said no one should pray or express regret for the killing of the governor. The group representing Pakistan's majority Barelvi sect also issued a veiled threat to other opponents of the blasphemy laws.

“The supporter is as guilty as one who committed blasphemy,” the group warned in a statement, adding politicians, the media and others should learn “a lesson from the exemplary death.” Jamat leader Maulana Shah Turabul Haq Qadri paid “glorious tribute to the murderer ... for his courage, bravery and religious honor and integrity.”

Local religious heads, including the imam of the Badshahi Mosque, refused to lead funeral prayer for the slain governor.

The following is from TIME:

In a statement issued by Jamaat Ahle Sunnat, a prominent religious organization that represents the Barelvi movement of Sunni Muslims, more than 500 religious scholars urged Pakistanis not to express regret over Taseer's murder. Ibatsam Ellahi, a member of Jamaat Ahle Hadith Pakistan, another conservative religious group, asked the faithful to refrain from attending the funeral of one of the most charismatic and visible representatives of the ruling Pakistan People's Party. "He sided with a woman who had committed blasphemy, so he himself can also be considered to be blasphemous and hence a non-Muslim," Ellahi said. "And I don't think I need to attend the funeral of such a man." A few Islamic scholars even went as far as to praise Malik Mumtaz Qadri, Taseer's bodyguard and alleged killer, who reportedly belonged to a nonviolent faction of the Barelvi sect. On Tuesday, Qadri was supposedly so enraged at the governor's stance that he shot him in the back more than 25 times as Taseer toured a market in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

I don't bring this up so as to get into an argument over what historical atrocities have been done the name of Christianity or Islam, that spitball contest never resolves anything, and only drags up a bunch of bad sh!t that distracts from the current subject.

That subject is the public support by so-called religious leaders of a murder.

Only a fanatic would attempt to rationalize murder in the name of religion. Capital punishment for violent crimes is a separate argument in my opinion, but capital punishment for converting to a different religion??? Come on peoples. That's pathetic. Barbaric. Inhumane. Unjust. That's what so-called religious leaders really are if they publicly support murder - barbarians.

AND they should earn the label "terrorist" for issuing threats to the media and other politicians who don't toe their line.

Now I am not typing this to bash Islam in general, only fanatics.

One thing I will say regarding Islam: I see a large amount of it's followers refusing to speak out against the great misuse of the word of the Koran. They refuse to speak out when those words are twisted to rationalize murders and the use of terror tactics against other human beings, including other Muslims.

The murder of Salmaan Taseer is case in point: a prominent Muslim speaks out publicly against fanaticism, and he gets shot 20+ times in the back.

If religious leaders say "you are one of us or you have no value and you are an infidel" then you no longer deserve the labels "religious" or "leader."

Those labels should be left for men and women who spread messages of peace and love.

Climbing off my soapbox now. This episode is just one more reason I'm thankful I live in America. Because apparently I'd get shot for voicing this opinion in Pakistan right now...

Peace y'all.

can't go a day without

"Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about."
- Tony Robbins

This quote has been on my mind since I read it yesterday evening...


What is it that you can't go a day without thinking of?

seek

"If you seek truth you will not seek victory by dishonorable means, and if you find truth you will become invincible."
- Epictetus

A quote from one the stoics seemed like the way to start the week...

STRENGTH
back squat
1-1-1-1-1

185-205-215PR TIE-225PR-230F

The goal was a 225# back squat by new years.... check! That's a 20# jump since August. Accomplishing a goal feels great!

So now it's time to work towards the next goal: ten unbroken back squats @ 225# by July 4th, 2011.

Seek on! Peace.

start from now

"Though no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending."
~ Carl Bard

HELLO 2011!