The "Stick"

I don't have a foam roller at home but I'm thinking about getting one.  What I do have is the "stick."  It is essentially a 3' long stick with rollers in the middle.  I can use it to really push down on the muscles.  I'm finding that while I don't have to use it all the time when I do need to use it I find that it is a godsend.  For instance, we did 100 front squats at 95# on Monday with 5 pushups at the top of every minute.  My right knee was in some pretty major pain starting late on Tuesday and even into this morning.  I've been using my stick to roll out my muscles above and below the joint and it has been helping a lot.

No WOD today for me.  Alexandra has her final orchestra concert and Jacqueline has dance so I'll be all over the place to make both of those happen.  More rolling with the "stick" on today's agenda.

Pull Ups

Not sure what day it is of the challenge.  Too pumped to care all that much.

WOD
Minute Man PUllup
1 pullup first mintue
2 pullups second minute
etc.

I made it to 6 pullups completely Rx.  Did round 7 with blue band and round 8 with green band.  I am spent but pretty happy.

2 days of rest

Definitely needed.

Day 22 WOD / Day 23 Rest / Day 24 HELEN

Solid WOD at the box on Monday night.

WOD1
Back Squats
4x3 @ 80% 1 RM

Put 295 on the bar and knocked them out.  I looked up my last few CFT squats and this was right at 80%.  Finishing my last set I felt that I should have gone with 315.  Next time.  Depth is really solid.

WOD2
Weighted Good Mornings
4x8

After squats this was  good movement to go to.  Weight scheme of 45 / 95/ 135 / 155.  Felt solid the whole way through.

Finished resting and hopped up on bar to knock out a few pullups.  Did 2 sets of 1.  Need to really work on stringing them together because I drop straight down after each one.  The way I look at it is that I can do some of them now so I am happy.

HELEN on the game plan for tomorrow.  Toying with idea of doing it Rx.  Will have to see how I feel tomorrow.  Resting all day today.  Need to catch up on work and sleep and nutrition.

Day 22

Not good that the weekend was Cinco de Mayo.  It did not help my point situation but I made sure to track my cheats and my alcohol.  I did not hurt me as much as I thought it would.

Ready to get back at it tonight.  Diet dialed back in starting this morning.

Day 17 WOD / Reflection from Day 18

Diet is going strong.  I say this as I just finished a monster breakfast.  I'm taking a rest day today so have my meals planned out well.  4 block breakfast.

• 4 eggs
• tons of mushrooms, tomatoes, onions
• 1 avocado

A ton of food so I had to force it down but all in all the diet is working so I will keep at it.

Day 17 WOD

Weighted Pullups
3 x 5

Pullups have always been something I have never been good at.  My goal for last year was to get a pullup and I did meet that goal before the end of the year.  I have been using bands and have progressively gone down in the thickness of band (ie. color...).  I felt that this was a good chance to go all out.  Given that I could not do many pullups I was focusing on really small bands on this WOD.  Did a few sets with the red band then did 2 sets with the super tiny band.  This band is so small it is really as if I am not using a band.  We had a lot of first timers in the class so Rick (shadowing) was spending time down on my end of the bar.  Rick is a good dude and he even pointed out that I should go ahead and drop that band.  Just for fun I moved over a bar to the really high bar where my feet were nowhere near touching the floor and knocked out 5 kipping pullups.  Holy cow, I was excited.  Dropped off of the bar and Rick just smiled and said told you.  Ryan was just finishing up some instruction and I asked him if he saw and he said "no, get back up there."  So, I hopped back up and knocked out 3.  He was almost as excited as I was.  He gave me some good pointers on how to string them together because I am for the most part dropping straight down and having to re-kip.  Essentially, not effiicient.  Definitely some things to work on.

Snatch Grip Deadlift
3x3x5x3

Deadlifts are a strong area for me.  This one was the wide snatch grip which means my hands are all the way to the collars.  Using the hook grip here was tough.  Ended up at 315 because anything higher killed my thumbs.

I put all of my weights away and stretched to cool down then hopped back on the bar for 1.  Got my 10 done.  I need to practice this more often and will take a note to knock out a few per day while working from home in the garage bar.

Day 15 & 16 WOD

The WODs on days 15 & 16 were not fun.  They definitely did not play to my strengths.  In hindsight I believe that I normally would "skip" those WODs but it's good that we get points for WOD attendance because it forces you to go in.  I am also trying to take to heart something I've heard from John D. a lot which is make sure you go to the WODs that are areas you are not strong in (or something to that effect).  It's the only way to get better.

WOD15
5 rounds for time
12 lunges (135#)
225m run
5 Wall balls (20#)

No other words to describe this other than it was not fun.  A few learning points.  When class sizes are large I end up outside because I need less monitoring.  I'm totally ok with this because it puts it all on me.  The only thing I don't like is doing lunges in a concrete parking lot with a lot of pebbles.  Need to get knee pads.  I did the first 3 rounds with 135 and then hit the wall so dropped to 115.  I have one leg that is grossly weaker than the other so that makes this not fun.  Running is the bane of my existence.  Never a fan.  Wallballs were nothing.  Provided a break from the other torture.  Final time 21:16.  Getting better.

WOD16
4 rounds for time
20 wall ball tosses (20#)
10 ring dips
5 reverse burpees
400 m run

Again, not fun.  Wall ball tosses were not a big deal.  Good way to stretch out the body.  Ring dips were challenging but I was able to get through them easily (used green band).  Reverse burpees are not fun.  I am getting better at handstands against the wall but I'm still not making contact.  Jered says I am arching too much and need to get my but to move more towards the wall.  Will try this in class.  Then the run (totally not my week).  Time cap was 31:00.  I started the last run just as the timer went off so went ahead and did my run / walk to finish it up.

Looking forward to WOD17 which is lifting.

Day 16

It is going strong on the Rock My Body Challenge.  I'm a week late in blogging about progress.  Quick update:

• Down at least 6 pounds
• Waist is down at least 3 inches

Some major key learnings:

• Cheats are emotionally not cool but helps physically
• Diet Coke is evil.  I had a few diet cokes and they made me so hungry I ended up with 2 cheat meals

Workouts have been pretty solid and I'm continuing to make improvements.  I now have my new Rogue bar and lots of weight (320 total pounds of plates) so I'll add in some movements at home.  I need to get my platform built this weekend so that I have the room in my garage to work.  I'm going to steal an idea from John D. and do a nice mural on the wall.  I am not good at painting or design so I'll troll the internet for ideas.

Things are looking up.