Father-and-son Jackie

A. Jackie

1,000m row
50 thrusters with a 45lb bar
30 pull-ups

When I got to CFR today, Kim Fly told me that everyone else had already started Jackie, so I'd be in a heat of one. 

The Boy was tagging along with me so I figured I'd make him do the workout alongside me, just modified with PVC thrusters and jumping ring pull-ups.  He wouldn't have to worry about counting reps, he could just switch when I switched. 

It was fun. I figured that I wouldn't PR this today, given that I'd be paying a bit of attention to him and not going up against anyone, but as it turned out I got a 20-second PR. 

7:56 (PR) 

B. 1 km run

Yeah... after doing Jackie, I wasn't going to be setting any records on this.  It was a nice little cool-down, I guess. 

5:04



The Boy didn't join me on the run, but did do a little sprint in the alley.  When I told him it was time to go home, he protested, "But I'm not sweaty yet!"

So he did a bunch of other stuff:
-headstands on an abmat, and handstand push-ups (his head comes up about 2 inches, but still);
-"atlas stone" lifts and carries with a 20lb medicine ball; and
-more jumping pull-ups.

I guess he got sweaty at some point, because he took off his shirt.  As Kim Fly noted, "You can do that here."

Finally, he and I also did a race to 10 burpees. He managed to eke out a win on that one and it was almost completely legit.

I was very proud of him... not just for the burpee win.

Earlier at home, I told him I was heading to CrossFit.  He had had a busy day already playing with some neighbourhood friends and looked like he was ready for a nap.  He told me he wanted to come to CrossFit with me.  I told him I wasn't sure he was up to it, but he insisted.  He said if he needed to nap, he could nap there.  (He's done it before.)

I'm proud that he seems to be grasping the idea that physical fitness is important. 

In the era he's living in, there are so many things that can derail a kid's happiness.  It would be great if one thing he and his little sister didn't have worry about were self-esteem problems stemming from weight, body image and athletic ability. 

It's a lesson I wish I had taken to heart a lot earlier in my life.   As I've noted here before, for most of my life pre-CrossFit,  I was overweight.  Maybe not obese, but ranging from chubby to fat.  It wasn't my parents' fault. They enrolled me in sports and prepared reasonably healthy meals.  But when left to my own devices, I'd spend hours playing video games or watching TV and consuming way too much junk food.  Genetically, I'm not predisposed to being able to eat whatever I want and still be lean. 

The results were predictable.  And I wrongly felt they were inevitable, that this was just the hand that I've been dealt.  I bought into the belief that I didn't have the capacity to change myself, because it was easier than getting off my ass and doing something about it. 

It definitely impacted how I saw myself, and not in a good way.  I'm not saying I spent every waking hour mired in a deep depression because I was carrying 20 or 30 extra pounds, but I wasn't always as happy or as confident in myself as I could have been.  Starting CrossFit five years ago definitely helped change that, though a lifetime of thinking of yourself as the fat kid is hard to completely undo. 

My goal for my kids is to encourage and enable them pursue healthy and active lifestyles.  If they achieve that through CrossFit, great.  I'd be just as happy if they did it through soccer, dancing, swimming, basketball, gymnastics or martial arts... or all of the above. 

Whatever activity they choose, they don't have to be the best.  I just want them to try hard and have fun being active. 

They shouldn't have to go through life thinking of themselves as the fat kid who can't. 

Lost my nerve on Back Squats, found my mojo on "Jackie Lite"

A. Back Squats 3-3-3


I came into the gym thinking I'd try to break my three-rep record of 290, but for whatever reason, as I progressed through the lifts, I decided to stop at 275.   It seemed pretty heavy to me. 


B. “Jackie Lite”

For time:
1000m Row
50 Push Press 65
30 Pullups

Looking at the times earlier in the day, I was a little unsure about what kind of time I should expect to get.  Many of the times ranged between 9:00 and 10:00, with a few in the , but I thought I could break 9:00 if I finished the row in under 4:00, the push press in 3:00 and the pull-ups in 2:00. 

My goal with the rower was to maintain a good pace but not go so hard that it would wreck me for the rest of the WOD.   I managed to strike a good balance there. I was off the rower and started the push press by 3:50 or so. 

As it turned out, the push-press went a lot quicker than I expected.  I did them in sets of 25, 14 and 11, and it took a little over a minute to finish it.  I like doing relatively light push-presses.  I've got a pretty good rapid-fire technique down pat, plus my short arms give me an advantage because the bar has to travel less distances. 

Just don't ask me to get anything off a tall shelf for you.  #Midgetpower

I think I took right around two minutes to do the pull-ups. 

Final time was 7:07, which was briefly good for top EFS* score in the gym until Uncles and Chase beat it in the last session of the day.   Fuckers.  Where do they get off, being all strong and fast and in shape?

*EFS: "Except for Shae."  Shae's time on this was something ridiculous like 5:55.   

Sandbag Burpee Jackie

For time: 1000m Row
50 Sandbag Thrusters – 45lb
30 Burpees

8:30

.

"Jackie"

1000m row
50 45lb thrusters
30 pull-ups

I didn't do the first part of the day's WOD, a clean and jerk "wave," because my wrist is still bothering me when catching a clean.


8:16. That's 19 seconds faster than my only other recorded time of doing Jackie, one year ago almost to the day. That's a fairly good time. I was trying to stay ahead of D3, but it's not like it was a fair race because he HAD done the clean and jerks before doing this, whereas I was fresh.

For the row, I turned the rower up to 8 and a half, compared to my usual 7ish. I think that helped. I took a couple of quick breaks, but managed to complete the row in around 3:35.

Thrusters - I did the first 15 unbroken, then it was a bunch of smaller sets. Sixes, fours.

Pull-ups - 10 unbroken from the start, then smaller sets. My final set was two.

I felt a bit nauseous afterward. My forearms were tingling. I was unsure how I would be able to drive home.

I guess that means it was a good workout.

HPS and Jackie

A. Hang Power Snatch 3333111

115-135-140-145f-145-150f


B. "Jackie"
Row 1000m
50 thrusters using 45lb bar
30 pull-ups

8:35

Much to learn, young Tyler has. Much work left to do, there is

Sorry for the Yoda-esque title. I've been playing a lot of swordfighting on our new Wii Sports Resort game, and I'm feeling sort of Jedi.

I went to CFR tonight to take part in strength club. The competition team training, of which most of the strength club members are a part, has introduced some new stuff to the curriculum. Tonight was a lot of snatch work, followed by a mini metcon. ("Heavy Jackie": 1000m row, 30 push press with 125lb, 15 pull-ups; my time was 8:17, three seconds behind Harlan.)

I won't go into all the details, but tonight was a good reminder that I need to consistently practice Olympic lifting technique.

But my biggest CrossFit priority this year is getting stronger. How much stronger? I don't think it's out of the question for me to have a CrossFit total that's over 800. I'm at 705 now, and I think with some hard work, I should be able to put at least 50lbs on my deadlift, 30 on my back squat and 20 on my shoulder press.

I thought about going nuts with the milk, but I have a hard enough time staying lean as it is. I would like to go the Chris T. or BrianB route and have a low amount of body fat, but still be able to move a sufficient amount of heavy weight, have a pretty good metcon capacity and look decent with my shirt off (I realize that's vain; I'm so vain that I do think that Pat BenetarCarly Simon song is about me).

If I want to get better, I gotta get stronger. While it was fun to do the same workout as the competition team, I think I will stick with the regular strength club programming from this point forward.