Crazy Man in the Workout Room...

So we just got back from a weeks vacation.  I was torn whether to rest my Crossfit weary bones or continue.  The downside of working out on vacation... getting up early.  The downside of not working out... "the MFing soreness" when I got back.  I decided for the lesser of two evils and kept up my workout schedule as much as possible.  My workouts were uneventful except for two.

On the day we were going to Sea World, I did 100 pushups, 200 sit-ups, and 300 squats.  What the hell was I thinking?  For the next 10 hours, I was on my feet in 98 degree weather.  By the end of the day, I was whining like most of the 3 year olds there.  Hell I seriously considered hijacking this old lady's scooter when she went for frozen lemonade.  Too bad her husband kept an eye out.... or I would have torn outta there at 2.5 mph.  "KIDS, MEET ME AT THE CAR!!!" Man I was tired and sore.


On Friday, I decided it was time to put a hurting on myself.  The resort where we stayed had a beautifully equipped, pristine gym.  Which is to say it was utterly useless to a CFer! :D  It did have some rubber dumbells (but with only a 50lb max.... buncha wusses, we warm up with 50s).  Anyway, the real positive thing was a couple of pull-up handles on the crossover weight rack.  I wish I had discovered it sooner.

So 5 rounds: 10 K2E, 15 Thursters, 7 Pull-ups.  Yeah, 75 thrusters.  I'm an idiot.  I get warmed up and finally will myself to begin the pain.  Halfway through my second round, in walks a middle aged man, his wife and 20 something year old son.  Of course, I'm slinging sweat all over the floor (it's 4 o'clock in 97 degree weather) and panting like an elephant giving birth.  During my third set of thrusters, I'm pretty sure I said the mother of all words a couple of times.  The older guy looked like he wanted to say something, but then he saw the 50lb dumbell suspended above my head and decided to bite his tongue.

Then I started kipping pull-ups.  I was kipping so hard I was tilting the whole weight rack a little.  It would slam down each time and then up I would tilt it again.  At this point, they all looked a little terrified.  My favorite moment happened when I finished.  I collapsed per normal on the floor in heaping, heaving mess.  All three stopped what they were doing and just stood there for a moment, presumably waiting for me to die.  HAHA!

At one point during round 4, I did hear the man ask his son what workout he was doing.  The son's reply?  "A whole body workout."  I almost laughed.  They have no idea.

How To Get Kicked Out of Your Old Gym

I've become more and more lax on this blog.  Life has been busy but inspiration has not.  Most of this blog I stole shamelessly from a old write-up from the Crossfit Journal but added my own as well.

Before I start, if you are semi-serious about Crossfit, I highly recommend you plunk down the $25 per year to subscribe to the Journal.  By no means am I trying to be a elite CFer, but I have things I want to improve.  A lot of the articles are about "Regionals", but many are about form, technique.  We get a lot of coaching from Trevor and Holland, but some of our moves take months and months to get right.  The journal articles approach it from yet another angle, one that I personally found helpful.  My squats were instantly better after an article and a video.  Not because I hadn't been coached, but because one of the practice methods resonated with me.

OK, I guess that much of an endorsement will forgive the plagiarism I'm about to do :D

How To Get Kicked Out in Ten Days of Less - CF Journal Sept 1, 2002

Day 1
Bring your own music – use a boom box – and turn it up to inspiration levels and start working out. ACDC’s “Thunderstruck” should do the trick.
Day 2
Set up a circuit like a typical WOD, then put a sign up at each station advising others that this equipment is reserved for accurate timing of your effort.
Day 3
While practicing the Olympic lifts drop a max load from overhead. This may do it right here.
Day 4
Find a twenty-inch platform and perform box jumps. Try three sets of two minutes of max jumps. Bizarrely, this one irks the shit out of most gym management.
Day 5
Take a pair of dumbbells out into the parking lot to do walking lunges. You may be accused of theft.
Day 6
Bring several powerlifting buddies to do some super heavy deadlifts. Don’t forget to grunt, scream, and use chalk!
Day 7
If the gym has support poles climb them. If not find something to climb; sling a rope over a beam or rafters, attach some climbing holds to the wall and use them. You won’t get to the climbing part if you need to attach anything.  You may get stopped at the door coming in with a twenty-five foot coil of two-inch rope.
Day 8
Workout with your shirt off. If you don’t get a reaction have your girlfriend or wife take hers off.
Day 9
Walk on your hands, or do handstand push-ups or some other basic gymnastics stuff.
Day 10
If you’ve gotten this far, this one is the clincher.  Record your efforts by writing them on the wall.  If after day ten you are still allowed in, you belong to a great gym. Let us know where it is; we’ll feature it on our site. If
you’re asked to leave before or during this experiment it’s time to find a box!


My adds:
Day 11:
Yell "F---" after every thruster.
Day 12:
Go around and asking all the women you see: "How's your snatch?!?!"
Day 13:
After your 4 x 800m run is finished, collapse in the middle of the running track and lay out in an "angel" for 10 mins.
Day 14:
Do only one GHD.  The trainers will totally freak!
Day 15:
Take bottles of water without paying.

and finally, if you haven't been kicked out yet, try this.
Day 16:
Walk around telling everyone that in this month alone you've done Angie, Barbara, Eva, Cindy, Fran, Grace, Helen, and Karen.  But that you decide to "experiment" a little and did Murph, Griff, JT, DT, Jason, Josh, and Tommy V too.