Big weekend of fun down in Springfield.  Dominated by the events of working the Battle for the Hill Competition at the Illinois State Fair.  The event was a success with around 100 teams competing.  There were some amazing performances by both the men and women and I was proud of be a part of such a great day.  It of course interrupted my training schedule so it made Monday a little intense.  Friday - Back Squat strength 3 reps at percentages, then 3 reps EMOM for 12, no WOD instead loaded equipment that had to go to the fairgrounds. 
 Saturday - Stand all day in sun, burn like the Irish boy that I am.
Sunday - recover from said burns, no lifting, discover Gluten Free Cookies enjoy them.
Monday - 3 Strength workouts, 2 CrossFit Workouts.  Discover at end of day that you just want to eat lots of food and sleep.
Monday Morning: Strength A) Back Squats 4x5 rest 20 seconds B) 4xME pull ups rest 60 seconds WOD: 3 RDS 500M Row/30 Wall Balls/15 V-ups (Rest 2 Min between rounds) 4:09/4:17/4:30
Monday Evening: OMOB Strength 1) Front Squats (Makeup from Sunday) 3 reps to heavy set at 210, 3 reps EMOM @160. 2) Week 3 Shoulder Press, percentage work, then 2 reps EMOM for 15. WOD: 25 Min AMRAP 5 RDS 10 Deadlift/10 Hang Cleans/10 Push Press/10 Front Squats @135 remaining time 24in box jumps. Score 185 reps. 

So my day was more than ambitious, especially considering that I had very little food till I got home.  There is however more developments on the working/life front.  I will be moving back to Springfield till the end of the year.  That means I'm back at Capital City CrossFit for four months or maybe even longer.  We will see how it goes.   Overall I'm happy with how the way went work wise.  I'm happy to be lifting and tomorrow morning is Barbell Class again.  Looking forward to getting more work in when I get up in the morning.  

The big competition weekend has arrived.  Not that it has much stress for me since I'm only judging and not competing.  I will however be cheering on friends and looking forward to seeing some intense performances today.  Today's strength was for the Back Squat and instead of a normal WOD I had the "find a way to fit all this equipment into the back of the van to go to the competition" WOD.  Functional fitness at its finest.  Then afterwards the guys went to set up for tomorrow, here's the rig going up.

I'm looking forward to a full day, judges meeting first thing, heats start at 9 and will be finishing up around 5.  First WOD is team DT with hill sprints, should make for some interesting stuff.  I'll be summing the whole thing up in Sunday's post, because I'm sure that I'll be way too beat to post tomorrow night.  I'll also showcase my new vagabond lifestyle in the empty house.  So far it has one thing a futon mattress, no frame or anything.  Oh and there's Kill Cliff in the fridge, and a Quest bar.

To steal Jon North's tagline: Slam Bars Kill PR's it was my theme for today.  No OMOB programming but instead a good double today of Barbell class in the morning and the afternoon WOD.  After yesterday's shennanigans where my body decided that it didn't like to do work anymore it was great to be in the gym and doing what I feel like I was meant to do.  Become the best version of myself that I can be.  That means working on the parts of my technique that I'm not good at, lifting heavy things daily, and pushing myself past limits that I never thought possible.  Today's PR was was hitting a new best for Split Jerk since the shoulder injury.  I've got a few shots from the morning, I love the work that is captured in these shots.

After some time to recover and watch a little tv it was time for the afternoon workout.  Following the programming for CrossFit Mokena today was a good one.  Strength was 5x1 Deadlift.  I only got 3 reps before I was reminded that I did heavy deadlifts yesterday and that I should rest.  So only one pull over 400.  Not bad and I'll take it, first time I've picked up anything over 400 since before the injury.  

WOD was 
3x400 Meter Run rest 1 minute between.
Then:
5 Rds
10 Wallballs
10 Pushups
10 Toes to Bar (I subbed GHD situps because of shoulder)

Total time 17:11
Runs: 1:31/1:24/1:25
 
Felt great, and I was the first one done, nothing like winning the WOD to brighten up your day.  I'm kidding of course, you can't win the WOD.  Just goes to prove the point that everyday is a new start, and that you can't let what happened yesterday detract from what you may be able to do today.  Get out of your head and get things done.  It's amazing how quickly that the people of CrossFit Mokena have welcomed me in as one of their own.  Now that I'm looking at being away for a little bit for work I'm sad to go.  You have made this place feel like home very quickly, I'm going to be happy to be back when I'm done working down in Springfield.  At the same time I am very happy to be headed back to Capital City and seeing everyone day in and day out again.  

I've been missing for a few days, here's a quick update of what I was up to.

-Sunday open gym double work for One Man One Barbell, Front Squats and the beginning of week 2 Shoulder Press.
-Monday and Tuesday big time family vacation at Cedar Point for rollercoasters and camping
Wednesday I get back into the gym for week 2 of Deadlifts.  Today's heavy set was 370x3 and EMOM work at 285.  Then followed that up with the programmed WOD for CrossFit Mokena......Grindy....and just like that I died.  Pretty sure I died more than once, and that I only came back so that I could be even more miserable.  This is the first workout in a long time that I really felt like I could do nothing right.  Tonight had a 30 minute cap and I got my first Did Not Finish in a long time.  The bright spot for the day was my Deadlifts for the day.  One thing about CrossFit is that you're not going to do well everyday but when you have those bad days you can always look forward to getting another chance to do better next time.

A few shots from today:

It's Friday and when I counted my workouts for the week I realized that I've done 10 workouts already.  All week I've been doing the programming for CrossFit Mokena as well as the OMOB strength cycle.  So far I've done three out of four lifts for the week, today I did my Back Squats.  No pictures today because I forgot my camera when I went out of the house.  I realized that I have done a crazy amount of squats this week, and still have one more day to go.  I can already tell that this is going to give me some noticeable gains at the end and that my legs are going to really start showing some development.  I just hope that I can still fit in pants.  This post seems weak without pictures or video I'll just have to make sure not to forget my camera again.  Today's WOD's were:
CFMOKENA:
SWOD 5x3 Power Cleans - 165
WOD 30 Kettlebell Swings/50 Double Unders/20 Box Jumps/20 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls/30 GHD situps. Do the workout down and then back up.  Did the WOD in 18:27 not horrible overall.

OMOB:
High Bar Back Squat
4 reps
170/190/205/240
EMOM 4 reps at 170 

The EMOM work didn't feel too bad till I hit the seventh minute.  The WOD moved pretty fast until I hit the GHD and then I hit a wall.  Looking forward to getting more work in to finish the week.

This morning I woke up to a message saying that there was going to be some people lifting in 45 minutes and if I wanted to I was welcome to come in.  Well that's a gimmie that I'll be showing up to that.  No data for One Man One Barbell today, just some good ole fashioned weightlifting and accessory work.   The lift of the day was cleans, after a little position practice then it was time to lift.  Coffee fueled the lifting session and we all had a great time.  I love learning more and more about the people at CrossFit Mokena, and I'm really happy that I landed here.  Looking forward to moving forward with my training with such a great group of people.  Now if only my lifts were a little better.  

Here we go again, day 2 of programming, and day 2 of the split workout schedule.  Morning WOD was a simple 3 rd couplet.  Run 1k, 50 Situps, took me 21 minutes, overall not too bad.  Then it was time for the afternoon.  Headed back into CrossFit Mokena it was time to take on the programming that was set up.  Today was The Chief, you have to love a good Hero WOD.  CrossFit Hero Workouts can really bring the pain, and keeping pace with this one.   Following that it was time to get to work Deadlift day!  Always good to pick up heavy things.  The thing that I'm finding out quickly about One Man One Barbell is that it is nice having the same percentage work no matter what the lift is.  It makes it simple.  Having already done yesterday's work I knew the percentages to work from.  A quick set of calculations and I was ready to go.  Week 1 Phase 1 is 4 reps at the percentages and then EMOM work.  It really didn't feel heavy till I hit the heavy set, it's the first time I've pulled over 350 in a while so getting that last set of four especially after all the other work today felt good.  After the heavy set it was time to drop down and do the 4 reps/minute at 245 which felt much lighter and faster.  I took video but Youtube decided that it didn't like the videos so I guess it's pictures only today.  Tomorrow is a no morning workout day.  I am scaling back my schedule a bit.  It is weird to think that it's only Wednesday night and I've already done 5 workouts.  Included this week was a Benchmark (Karen), long run (5 miles), short runs (3x 1k/50 situps), OMOB shoulder, OMOB Deadlift, a Hero WOD (The Chief), and a normal Strength/METCON combo (Front Squats/partial Filthy Fifty).   I earned my can of Kill Cliff after that workout.

I'm going to be discussing some of the things that I use and where I go a bit more in upcoming posts, if you read this and have something you think I should give a go, or you work for a company looking to have someone test something out email me please.

Seemed appropriate to start with the part of my body that has kept me from getting the ball rolling for so long.  Shoulder press based off my 1RM from testing.  Down 50 pounds from pre-injury blows but that's where I am.  Week 1 Shoulder Press 75-85-95-105lbs. Them EMOM work at 75.  You may also notice that this doesn't look like my old home at CrossFitDNA.  That's because it's not, I did today's work at CrossFit Mokena which appears to soon be my new home.  I'll be here this week working out and making sure that I'm a good fit before I become an official member.  I have some video from this session.  Lifts were fast and pretty good. Nice day one overall.  After only the first day I'm excited to see what the next three weeks are going to bring.  It's a chance to experience some good strength programming.  Looking forward to tomorrow and seeing where this goes.  Today's total work:
Morning - 5 Mile Run
Evening - OMOB Shoulder Press, CFMokena programming - EMOM 5 Min FS @185 then 50 Double Unders - 50 KBS @53 - 50 Box Jumps @24" - 50 Wall Balls @14lbs

With the holiday last week and everything else I managed to forget to update this thing, so it's time to mash the past fourteen days into one post.  Did WODs like normal, hit some good stuff, struggled in other places.  Managed a 245 pound Hang Power Clean, did High Bar Back Squats up to 315, worked on ankle mobility a ton.  Ran a 4 mile route one day, did lots of sit ups.  Went down to Springfield and visited the old box.  Did a WOD there, then a human tractor pull that night, then came in on Sunday for Strongman, beasted the thing.  Then flipped tires for a good 20 minutes, finished off with the big old 720.  Did my first strict pull up since the shoulder injury.  Took some videos, have some pictures.  Had lots of fun, drank some coffee, saw some old friends, came back to Chicago.  That's how you sum up two weeks in a few sentences.  Basically it was a great couple weeks, I'm getting stronger and I'm ready to move onto OMOB.  First to set up a membership at a local place so I can do the programming.  No home gym here, mostly because I have no garage.  This week I'll be setting up the membership and getting things going.  Look for more updates soon.

This is the first week of summer school and while I didn't get called into work today I took the opportunity to have a little brother time.  First me and the baby brother went out to kick the Rugby balls around a bit.  I played for a few years, and he plays for his school team.  I have to say that I was really rusty, but towards the end it started to feel a little better.  I need to find some time to play some more, maybe I can find a team up here and get out on the pitch regularly.  After coming home and dropping him off it was time to man up and go into CrossFit DNA for the WOD.  Fran, why oh why did it have to be Fran.  Warmup was the 10 minute squat test, which really showed how bad my mobility is right now.  Then Strength was Hang Power Cleans, 3-3-3-1-1-1 I warmed up and went for sets at 145-155-175-195-215-225. Not bad, and my shoulder actually felt good with them.  Afterwards it was time to do Fran.  Still no pull ups but I did do the Thrusters.  Scaled the weight down to 75lbs, and did the ring row sub.  Finished sub 5 minutes with a 4:42 time.  Pretty happy overall.  Soon I'll be back and ready to take on things normally again.  After finishing the WOD I stuck around and did another round of the squat test.  Not much better but getting better everyday.