Mahalo, Kahala CrossFit

Toward the end of a two-week holiday in Hawaii, I managed to hit one CrossFit, in the hopes of countering all the fast food, beer, chips and mai tais. (No dice; I'm still a fat bastard).

Despite my many personal shortcomings, Kahala CrossFit let me join in on an early morning WOD on Christmas Eve. 

We did a verson of the 12 Days of Christmas WOD.  This one was considerably harder than the version I've done previously. 

Here's what we did:

1 power clean (135lbs)
2 handstand pushups
3 front squats (135lbs)
4 barbell roll-outs
5 C2B pull-ups
6 box jumps (24")
7 burpees
8 push-ups
9 wall ball
10 bell swings (55lb)
11 deadlifts (135lb)
12 thrusters

Remember, this workout is patterned like the song:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one power clean (in a pear tree, which sounds awkward as hell).
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, two handstand pushups, and a power clean. etc.

So, just like the song, the workout got increasingly more difficult to perform.  After not having worked out in nearly a month, this hit me like a ton of bricks.  At one point, I laid on my back on the ground during the actual workout.

My spirits were bolstered, however, by the gym's sound system blasting modern versions of classic tunes, like this little ditty:

Thankfully, once we performed the 12 thrusters, we were done (ie. we didn't have to go back down through the movements again.)

I'm not sure of my actual finish time.  It may have been in the 37-minute range.     

I liked CrossFit Kahala and would recommend it to anyone going to Honolulu. After the WOD, the class was nice enough to pose for a pic with me (which I will post as soon as I can get Blogger to stop sucking so hard).  The owner, Shane, is a good guy who knows his stuff and prioritizes proper form over the RAWR WE'RE GONNA WORK YOU OUT TIL YOU MEET PUKEY CUZ WE HARDCORE mentality. 

I would love to go back to that gym and not only because it would mean I was in Hawaii instead of freezing my giblets in this goddamn Saskatchewan winter.  Seriously, why doesn't everyone just live in Hawaii? 

2km Row

 7:37.0

Um, that's it.

I did this in my basement as my father-in-law helped a friend of his with  tax returns about eight feet away from me.  The only reason I mention this is that it might have impacted my performance, since I refrained from my usual ridiculous agonized grunting.  I also left my shirt on. 

Maybe I'll move the rower out to the garage when the weather gets nicer and we clean out all the mouse poop. 

I followed this epic workout up by eating two and a half pieces of a DQ Skor Treatza Pizza.  It was my Wife's birthday and I don't need much of a reason to revert to my fatass ways. 

Worked out for 16 min, Ate 3 donuts & chips, drank beer

Four rounds for time of:
10 One-arm dumbbell snatches – 55/35lb (We don’t have 70/55lb)
200m Sprint

6:23


B. AMRAP in 10 min:

5 burpees
10 55lb Kettlebell swings
12 rounds plus one burpee.

Both of these felt more nasty than they looked on paper. Yet, my results were better than I expected for both of them. That is likely a result of going head-to-head with D3.

It was a UFC PPV night, so obviously I stuffed myself with chips and beer later. Oh, and Shae brought a big box of donuts and they were sitting RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME so of course I ate three of them.

.

"Wall Ball Annie"

50-40-30-20-10 of:
Double Unders
Wall Ball

This was yesterday's WOD, which I missed because I slept late. I thought I would go to CFR this morning and make it up.

Today's WOD was front squats and five rope climbs, which is really what I should be doing because those are the things I'm weak at, but I felt I needed to get my heart pumping after eating ice cream floats yesterday. (I only had one cup, but I "topped it up" numerous times.)

In the first round, for the first time ever, I did 50 DUs in a row. My previous best was 40, and I had only done that the one time and never more than 35 any other time that I can remember. I think the difference was that I was using a speed rope rather than the thicker, black ones.

Of course, after 50 DUs, wall balls just killed me. I think it took me at least six sets to get to 50.

In the second round, I wanted to have another big set of DUs. Instead, I got 3. It took two more sets to get to 40. Then wall balls were just brutal. My first set was 10, then it was in the 6-7 range for the rest.

It was pretty much the same story for the rest of the workout. DUs were over pretty quickly, but then the wall balls would brutalize me.

Before I started the WOD, I had set a goal of 15 minutes. I finished in 13:31.

Willpower? What the fuck is that?

I've been eating pretty clean lately. I won't rate it on the Paleo scale, but it's been mostly meat, fruit, veggies (spinach and red peppers), Tracey's homemade chock-full o'goodness berry-banana-protein powder smoothies, almond butter, and even the odd bit of fish oil.

I haven't been perfect, though because the people who employ me prefer it when I do work at my desk rather than fall asleep, I've been getting through the afternoons with the help of either a Diet Pepsi or an energy drink (FYI: AMP does not work, so don't buy it even though it's on sale at Shoppers). Plus, I have a fair amount of beer in my fridge, and it's not gonna drink itself, so I'll have one or two in the evening while playing Mario Kart Wii with the Boy. You get the fun of driving with an open container without the guilt, shame or legal consequences.

However, on the balance, I've been pretty good about what I put into my body. Part of it is because Tracey is eating really healthy and she prepares most of our meals. As a result, I'm consistently weighing in at 175, or even a few tenths of a pound lower. This would have been a pipe dream before I started CrossFit when I was north of 210 (I think; weighing myself back then was depressing).

Because I apparently enjoy sabotaging any of my personal gains, I was actually thinking of rewarding myself with some 7-11 nachos today, but when I got to work, there were Girl Guide cookies on the break room table, and we were having cheesecake (two different kinds!) for a co-workers birthday.

Tally so far today:
- two pieces of cheesecake
- five cookies.
Last time I checked the breakroom, there was one cookie and half a cheesecake left.

**UPDATE
I got the nachos. Details at Tyler Has Nothing to Say.

I love both pizza and CrossFit, but...

...watching this almost made me hurl.

Self-Sabotage; New "Harley" PR; F**king Wall Balls

I have a knack for self-sabotage. This morning, I hopped on the electronic scale and saw 174.9.

Getting under 175 once seemed like a pipe dream, considering my weight was at one point north of 210.

Today wasn't the first time I've been that low. These days, I normally range from between 175 to 179. But every time I dip below 175, it's a reminder that a big goal of mine has been achieved.

And then I go and pig the fuck out.

It's not a conscious decision. It just seems to work out that way. Today, at a staff BBQ, I consumed three hot dogs (one bunless; the others were, uh, bunful), plenty of potato chips, a couple of two-bite brownies and a couple of generous chunks of rice krispie cake. And a Diet Pepsi.

To make matters worse, I followed that up with a medium Chocolate Xtreme Blizzard from DQ. It was a charity thing and had been ordered on Tuesday, but I still ate every last bit of it.

So, even though I'm going to CrossFit tomorrow, I headed out to the garage for a little penance tonight.

First, I thought I would go for max pull-ups. I got 20! That's only one less than my PR at CrossFit Regna, and three more than my previous "Harley" max.

Then I did tomorrow's walballs, 92.

I Make Bad Decisions Sometimes

I just ate a huge order of 7-11 nachos. Not a good call. I will atone for it via salt bag thrusters tonight.

Why do I bother...

...doing Crossfit if I follow it up later the same day with four beer, potato salad, a hot dog, ice cream AND cheesecake?
Oh yeah, my tendency to binge eat like that is why I need to go to Crossfit