Order -- and triumph!

I feel powerful today. I feel very settled in my skin, and I feel solid and ready for any challenge.

I feel like things have been sort of out of order lately, so I'm putting things back into it. Starting with my room and car... ~shudder~ No small tasks, those.

I'm planning on owning deadlifts this afternoon. I'll post again with an update of my success!

EDIT:
Yesterday I did 5 minutes of TGUs yesterday with a 12 kg KB, and then 6 minutes of TGU/Swings with the 12kg/16kg, 1 minute of each. Also did some military press, BUP, deck squats, snatches and H2H.

So just about an hour ago, did them deadlifts, and I was very surprised... well no, actually, I wasn't.

I did a quick warm up with 135 lbs., one set of 10 reps. I wanted to be fresh when I attempted my max, which I really wanted to do since last time was weak and was attempted at the end of the workout. After the warm up set I laced on 235 lbs., and geared myself up for it, getting myself stoked and pumped. Get in solid form, pull -- and it flies up. It felt light. Okay... well, maybe I'll do 245 lbs. No -- I'll try 255 lbs., instead. But wait... why not go for a new PR, and try 260 lbs. instead?

I lace on 260 lbs - two 45 plates, one ten, one five, and one two-and-a-half on either side -- walk around for a bit, and get in position. I pull, and it was tough, but I'm very certain I got it locked out without any bend in the back at all. I held it for a few seconds at the top before I lowered it.

I was grinning hugely after this, and I think everyone thought I was a little loony, except for the guy who watched me pull the weight. I did a couple of sets of 5 reps of 185 lbs., and called it good. Short, but oh so sweet.

285 lbs. doesn't sound so daunting! I'm so stoked. And I'm looking forward to KB class tomorrow.

The bug bit me

I was feeling a little bit off yesterday, and started feeling progressively more headachey and congested as the night went on, so I drank about a gallon of water and got to bed by 9:15... sure enough, I woke up in the middle of the night with a fever, hot/cold flashes, pounding headache, a bad cough and muscle/joint aches. I've taken it easy today and have just downed a bunch of water. I did force down some oatmeal earlier, and then I had some delicious, hot udon that Whitney brought to me -- thank you, Whitney, so awesome! :)

Anyway, I'm feeling better than I was early this morning, and I'm hoping to kick this by the end of the weekend. If I don't, it's going to be a looooong week...

On the bright side, this has forced me to slow down and evaluate things, which has been productive. Putting things in perspective is usually a good thing.

And here is me sharing the perfect ugliness that bulldogs are capable of, particularly Winston:


To redeem him:

A Thursday update

Today I ate clean -- except that bowl of corn flakes I had for a snack. Damn. Was mighty tasty at the time, though...

BUT! I had an excellent workout today in Rusty's class. He was screaming at us at the end of class, pushing us to a level of higher intensity in the last brutal circuit. While the class is a challenge and exhausting, I'm definitely much more conditioned than I was, and am often finishing many of the exercises on top. I'd post more details about it, but my head's pounding since the class finished and I can't really remember anything, haha.

Another PR for me today: did a TGU with a 24kg with solid form, and it was on my weak (left) side. That's pleasing to me. :) I love growing stronger -- deliciousness.

By the way, I think it should be normal behavior to go out and do primitive acts on the night of a full moon -- y'know, like frolicking through the woods or howling at the moon or hunting things with your bare hands. Whatever it is, you'd definitely have to be naked doing it, too. Totally not strange.

Hrmph.

Definitely fell off the wagon there for a couple of days. >=[ My two sisters came to town for a surprise visit, and that was that. I haven't eaten horribly, but it hasn't been as clean as I've wanted. I've had a few very good workouts, but there just doesn't seem to be time in some of these days to fit it in -- which is definitely not true. I need to make time.

Ate very clean today, though I didn't get the workout in due to the hectic school schedule and a massage to give. Tomorrow will be another clean day though, and Rusty's class in the evening.

At Monday night's kettlebell class, I swung an 80 lbs. kb x 40 after the workout. I was pleased :) I'll need to try it fresh next time. I'm sort of curious how many times I could swing the beast... too bad there isn't one readily available.

The new snatch standards for the RKC Cert. Snatch Test look good. My initial reaction when I saw the modified rules was that it would be way easier, until I saw the increase in reps. Definitely doable, you just need the stamina and a lot of determination.

Not much to say

Well, nothing much to report today. My back in the lumbar and thoracic regions is very sore from yesterday's workout, as are the traps. I ate pretty decent today, though I must admit that I allowed myself to have a little bit of a cheat day -- my sister's in from out of town, which really doesn't mean anything diet-wise, but I was pretty good overall.

I woke up feeling kind of crappy physically this morning, was really nauseous all day, which wasn't fun during 3 hours of giving massages... it was fine, though. I ended up taking the day easy, and I'm still not feeling very good, but I'm going to get a workout in tomorrow - the Gymboss came, which means grad workout is on the horizon! That also means I need to start gearing up towards V02 stuff...

Today felt like autumn -- I LOVED it. The sun was warm, but the air was cool and crisp, and there was a chill breeze much of the day. Perfect day for a hike, hopefully there'll be more like it in the near future!

I hope everyone's well. Cheers.

On track

All right, so far so good. Yesterday's intake was 100% clean -- Standard breakfast of 4 egg whites with a little feta cheese mixed in, 1/4 cup oatmeal and an apple. For lunch, had some lightly cooked ahi poke and lettuce with tomatoes, no dressing. Then had Rusty's strength and conditioning class -- last night was BRUTAL, my abs literally gave out on my doing hot potatoes with a 16kg at the end of class they were so shot -- after that, ate at Natural Cafe and had some vegetables with chicken and a little bit of brown rice.

Doing well with food today, too. Surprisingly I'm not sore at all today minus a twinge in my abs from the workout last night, so I'm planning on going to the gym in the next 3o minutes to do a deadlift routine, and I'll probably work on shoulders, too. It's been awhile since I've done deadlifts, my max when I last tested it was 255 lbs. -- we'll see where I'm at now. =) I'll post the workout later.

EDIT: Here's how the workout went:

Deadlifts:
185 lbs., 5 sets: 5, 5, 4, 5, 5
205 lbs., 3 sets: 3, 3, 3
235 lbs., 1 set: 0
I got the weight all the way up and locked out on this one, but my back curved a little bit halfway up, so I'm not counting it.

So my strength has gone down a bit in the deadlift, but nothing I can't regain quickly.

A little bit of shoulder stuff too:

Pull ups, BW: 1, 1, 1
Bench press, barbell, 95 lbs, 3 sets: 2, 2, 1
Wide grip isometric pull ups: 5
Military Barbell press, 60 lbs., 5 sets: 6, 6, 5, 5, 5
Turkish Get-up w/ 30 lbs. DB: 1 on each side (shoulders were tired at this point)

Bench press has always been something I've avoided. It's been at least 4 months since I last did it... which is why it's so surprising that I'm benching that number, considering my max has only ever been 100 lbs. Haha! That's going to change so fast.

Good stuff! Have a good one, peoples.

Commitment to myself.

All right.

I've had these resolutions before, and it's been awhile since I've resolved to make them public to the extent of keeping a public journal on it, but here it goes.

I want to reach my physical goals. I've made huge strides, but I'm not where I want to be. So until November 9th -- for the next month to start with, anyway -- I'm going to make daily updates about what I've eaten, and what workout I've done. I'm going to eat STRICTLY to my metabolic typing -- mixed, at this point -- and eat CLEAN. There aren't any birthday or anything like that coming up, so there's no excuse to not be on top of this! My schedule is pretty damn busy and full, but this is my health and my happiness, and it needs to happen whether it's easy or not -- and it's never easy.

No one else is going to make things happen but me, and that's how it should be.

Some short and long term fitness-related goals that I have for myself:

-Get RKC Certified in August, 2009.
-Train for the RKC Cert. I plan on doing a damn good job of roasting that beast and eating it whole.
-Snatch the 24kg 20 times with each arm. I'm at 9 right now.
-Barbell Deadlift 285 lbs. After that, 300 lbs.
-Cut. I've made a lot of progress, but I keep hitting this plateau. My diet keeps slipping back into maintenance. Outline of the abs ain't enough -- I want the whole package!
-Increase shoulder and chest strength. Everything else tends to get stronger without any problem and I maintain that strength, but these two areas need particular attention -- so they'll be getting it.
-15:15 Max V02 Protocol.
-Master the pistol.
-Incorporate more pull-ups into my routine.


So there it is! This is happening.

Strength and conditioning with Dr. Rusty Smith

Last night's strength and conditioning class was a tough one. I was feeling pretty out of it physically and mentally since all I've had this week was school, homework, studying, sleep, repeat cycle. However, class rocked, and I felt a lot better after.

With no rest, minus to get water to drink:

-Started with some stretches and circulations to open up the neck, shoulder, core, hip flexors, groin, ankles.
-Easier version of tiger crawls for 20 yards.
-Inch-worm with leg raise, 20 yards.
-A & B skips, 20 yards each.
-Side shuffles, 20 yards each.
-Side skips, 40 yards.
-Crossovers, 40 yards.
-Reach-over lunges, 20 yards each leg.
-Tiger crawls, hard version, 20 yards.
-Frog crawls? I have a feeling he made this up on the spot... nice for opening up the groin, though. 20 yards.
-Walking lunges with 12 kg kettlebell in the rack, 20 yards each arm.
--Now it starts: Stability ball & kettlebell mix-up (no rest):
-20 swings with a 24 kg, two-handed.
-Russian twists on the stability ball, using a 12 kg kettlebell.
-8 chest presses with a 12 kg kettlebell with back on the stability ball
-20 swings one-handed, 10x10 RL with 24 kg
-10 standing military press with 12 kg kettlebell
-20 swings alternating one handed, 10x10 RL with 24 kg
-10 body-weight squats.
-8 chest presses with a 12 kg kettlebell with back on the stability ball
-20 pikes on the stability ball: Push-up position with toes on the ball, pull the ball in towards your arms by raising up hips.
-30 swings with 24 kg, two-handed.
-10 slingshots in either direction
-30 seconds of push up position belly-slaps.
-10 swings with 24kg kettlebell, two-handed.
-10 ass-to-the-grass body weight squats
-30 seconds of jumping jacks.
-20 swings, 24 kg kettlebell.
-10 Supermans/womans on stability ball.
-20 swings two-handed, 16 kg kettlebell.
-8 standing military press with 12 kg kettlebell.
-20 swings two-handed, 16 kg kettlebell.

DONE! This took an hour. I'm pretty sure I forgot a few things in there.

Kick my ass and call me a sweaty puddle of triumph.

Something to remember

"Nothing can hurt you -- only you can allow something to hurt you."

--Matt Lynch, fucking fantastic human being with more knowledge about the body than anyone I've ever met -- also the Sports Massage teacher.

It's a great point.