Lifting things

Monday morning madness :)

70kg OHS (overhead squat) done pretty easily.

70kg power cleans 3 rounds of 5 reps with max strict pullups in 3 minutes with 1 minute rest between rounds.

5 power cleans, 3 pullups
5 power cleans, 15 pullups
5 power cleans, 9 pullups

Feeling good, powering on, it's the 'silly season'

Probably the leanest I've been in a long time.

Weighing in at around 74kg.

The Training Week that Was

Four training days (CrossFit) this week.
Monday - what do I remember from that morning, OK kipping handstand pushups - Check!
Tuesday - don't remember, something fun and exhausting no doubt
Thursday - some single lift strength deadlift - 130kg 7 times!
Friday - clean and jerk - 1 lift every minute on the minute 8 times - weight 75kg! (bodyweight)

Overall it's been a great week at training.

On the food side, we had dinner out on Monday night, nice and early (nanna time) Tian Ran, delish.

Got the new 'extreme' Synabol this week, new flavour, Lemon, with added prickly pear and other goodness.

Accomplishment

This morning during warmup we did muscleup technique and progression.  My first real attempt during training on the rings, BAM! I'm up!!!  missed the next two.
On my second attempt, BAM! I'm Up!!, back down and BAM! I'm Up!! missed the third one.
Third attempt, BAM! I'm UP!!, missed the next two.

Very happy to have gotten 4 out of 9 attempts today.  Kipping as much as possible to get there, but got there nonetheless.

Pullups

I think I've found my preferred bar for doing pullups, we had a WOD on Tuesday that required 25 pullups and 15 burpees, by 3 rounds. I surprised myself with going the first 25 unbroken!

Getting closer to getting the doubleunders too....

Practice practice practice

Don't try this without warming up

DEADLIFTS

2 heavy deadlifts every minute for 10 minutes.
110kg x 2 lifts every minute. = 2200kg in 10 minutes.

That was a good time.

http://www.urbanenergyblog.com/crossfit-810/

Slightly Broken

Third day of training in a row this week.
It's Thursday - did a shitonne of running this morning.
WOD:
run 1600m
3 x rope climb
run 1200m
3 x rope climb
run 800m
3 x rope climb

Time: 26.5 minutes

Legs not working that great today after yesterdays Deadlifts and handstand pushups.

CrossFit -  it's a Hell of a good time.

New schedule

Back to CrossFit training at full capacity - no more taking it easy after coming back from holidays.
New time schedule started today (24th of September) first class of the day is now at 5:30am.  More classes, smaller classes, better training.

Todays session was a good one!

Some strength work then a nasty WOD.

Back Squat - 12 reps, 10, 8, 6, 4
60kg, 80kg, 90kg, 100kg, 110kg

The WOD -
Row 1000m
15 power clean @ 60kg
40 boxjumps
Row 750m
12 power clean @ 60kg
30 boxjumps
Row 500m
9 power clean @ 60kg
20 boxjumps

400m farmers carry @24kg

A thoroughly sweat drenching time.

Did it really happen

So I've been back from holidays almost two weeks already.  I was overseas for a total of three weeks and it was fantastic.
Training is almost back at full swing.
Food glorious food, many a plateful was eaten, many things tasted.

Next stop

Quick pit stop in Dubai en route to Istanbul.  Express workout at the hotel gym. 21-15-9 dead lift pullups @40kg.  Good to get a sweat up without going out into the 42 degree heat.

Holidays

The waiting is over, I'm at the airport! The long haul across the globe has begun. The training, the working, completed, well training is never complete.  Maintenance mode for the next few weeks.

Counting down to the holidays

Been a bit slack on the ol blogroll of late.
Anyhow, the usual has been rolling on, work rest play train.
But in only 2 weeks I'll be checking out on Friday from work and won't be checking back in for about 3.5 weeks.
Jetting off to the sights and delights of Istanbul, Mykonos, Bodrum and Dubai.
So that leaves 13 opportunities to go to training and polish up the body before the holiday kicks in.
Good times on the horizon, well there are always good times ready to roll on.

With attendance comes progress

I train minimum three times per week.
Last Friday was did a bit of power clean after our main workout just for fun and to see what we could get to.
Well I got 80kg, pretty happy with that, I weighed myself afterwards and came in at a whopping 74.7kg.
Today (Monday the 9th of July) we did some Overhead Squat 1RM - I worked my way to 75kg.  Very happy with that.

So these are some of the numbers:
Back Squat 110kg (last time I tried, must be about a month ago now)
Power Clean 80kg
Dead Lift 140kg
Overhead Squat 75kg

Also getting the pull ups under control, I can do ten in succession now, last week we did a workout that had 40 pull ups in each set, with some squats before that.  So in that work out I did 80 pull ups.

Just for fun

Super Hero Saturday @ CrossFit Urban Energy

Great social morning down at CrossFit Urban Energy, everyone in attendance dressed up and ready to have some fun.

That's me, Mr Incredible

The Crew

Double WOD Saturday

So it was Saturday the 9th of June 2012, off for a Saturday morning session then head up to Sumner to watch the crew compete at Ironskull for a few hours.
We did a pretty awesome 2 man team WOD, box jumps, push ups, rowing, burpees etc.
So after the WOD had a shower, got changed etc, then jumped in the car, filled up with fuel, grabbed a nut bar and a spinach ricotta pastry.
Off to Sumner, when I got there Coach says, are you gonna join in? it's an easy one, do it c'mon.
So yes I put my name down.  And off all things the WOD was Fight Gone Bad! now this was a shortened version for the competition day.  Only 3 rounds of misery. 1 minute AMRAP of the following: Wall Ball @ 10kg must reach 10 feet marker on wall, SDLHP @ 40kg, box jumps @ 36 inches, push press @ 40kg, burpees! with 30 seconds rest between rounds.
Yuck! that was an experience, I was damn nearly dead by the end and completed 191 reps in total, pretty sure I only got about 5 reps on the wall ball on the last round.

Time flies - even if you aren't having fun

It has been a few weeks already I think.
Weeks full of training, eating, having fun and all the rest of it.
Have been stepping up training the last few weeks, 4 times a week, usually back to back.
Keeping up the supplements, namely Syntec Synabol and Syntec Synthesis protein complex.  Great stuff, does a great job with muscle repair and everything else in the body that uses proteins as building blocks.
Climbed to a new milestone during Monday morning training with Deadlift, did 2 sets of 5 reps @ 120kg and 1 rep @ 130kg and 1 rep @ 140kg.

On the food front, we went to Tian Ran the other week for dinner, had a nice feast.
Taboon in Robina for lunch yesterday, fantastic.
Signature Dish in Varsity Lakes for breakfast on Sunday was wonderful, the Chef made something not on the menu.
Food, I love it.

Smoked forearm

Todays workout was a forearm breaker, yesterday we did a bunch of pullups so that didn't help.

http://wodstack.com/workouts/35925-death-by-kettlebell

90 kettlebell swings all up @24kg yes my forearms were so tight I could hardly hold the kettlebell.
A total shoulder blaster from the dumbell hang clean and press @15kg did 60 of those bad boys.

Apart from the odd tough workout, CrossFit training is great.  Early mornings, cool mornings, leaving for training in the dark now too. (Southern Hemisphere winter is fast approaching)
Drove the CrossFit Lancer into training this morning.  My wife started her training half an hour earlier so we travelled in two cars.  Her trainer asked me if I had been asleep in the car :)

Friday Fun

With coach Joe away for the Crossfit regionals the normal hum and hype down at Crossfit Urban Energy isn't quite there.
Of course we had a great session anyway, also gives us a chance to lend a hand and show some of the newbies how to do movements like deadlift and clean n jerk.
Deadlift had been on the menu a bit of late, so this morning was a good one too.
30 deadlift @ 70kg (straight through!)
A block run, about 1.2k
30 Clean n jerk @ 50kg
Time 13:45

WOD b.
8 minute AMRAP
5 wall ball @10 kg
20 butterfly situps
5 box jumps
Completed 5 rounds

Lunching

Fantastic food, always on the lookout for that taste sensation.
We ventured out on Sunday for done late breakfast early lunch. So we went somewhere we haven't been yet, Mandala Organic Art Cafe.
Best choice ever.
The decor is something you would find on Brunswick St in Melbourne, the food was so great, it is certainly on the top of our list for future visits.
We had the pumpkin pizza, spelt base, amazing, vegan pizza.
Also we tried the Brazilian black beans and rice, wow, taste sensation.
For beverages we had a chai tea and a ginger beer, delicious.
Can't wait to go back and try something else.

The WOD 11th May 2012

Today we had a bonus, we had WOD a. and WOD b.
WOD a. was a 10 minute AMRAP of: 15 OverHeadSquat (20kg Barbell) and 15 Kettlebell swings @ 24kg followed off by a 200m jog/walk/run whatever you could make your body do when you are trying to get your breath back.
I got through 3 complete rounds plus 15 OHS and 5 KB swings

After a little break it was on to WOD b.
30-20-10
Skips(double unders) or 90-60-30 singles (I'm still doing the singles) with that is Burpees 30-20-10.
So first round is 90 skips and 30 Burpees !!!!
4 x Chest to bar pullups then
Second round is 60 skips (I did 90 by mistake) and 20 Burpees
4 x Chest to bar pullups and then
Third round is 30 skips then 10 Burpees
finished with 4 Chest to bar pullups

Recap - what's been going on

So I just read my friends blog about her recent zone/paleo diet.  She has done very well in the last four weeks, so a big shout out to her. http://shielarae.blogspot.com.au/
So long before I knew that CrossFit was in Australia I had been seeing her updates about CrossFit and things like that, it did pique my interest but it took a long time to get me to a CrossFit venue, as it turned out my friend re-located his gym and was now offering CrossFit.  Perfect, time to check it out.  All I can say is WOW,  this has been a life changer.  I was so bored with the gym, doing RPM class on Tuesdays, pushing weights around a few other days a week, the only thing I really did enjoy at the gym was the yoga on Saturday mornings.  It was great to get in there on a Saturday morning and stretch out, have breakfast relax then go kick around with my mates in the afternoon on the local junior soccer field.

At first when I started at CrossFit Urban Energy, I got hold of a 20 visit pass, so I rationed them out, I did two sessions a week for the first 10 weeks.  After that I went unlimited, since February I have been attending no less than 3 sessions a week.  Every WOD is a challenge, a good challenge, sometimes when Coach writes it up on the board in the morning, we are like 'What?' we are going to do 'That' Ok lets get this WOD.
By the end of it I'm like, Holy Moly that was hard, but I'm done now so High Five to me!
Some clothes feel tighter (mainly shirt sleeves wrapping around my biceps) and some are loosening up.

Training CrossFit is now my favourite thing to do after playing soccer.  That reminds me, I haven't been for a surf in a while, gotta get that board out in the water soon!

Grace

The WOD for this benchmark Wednesday was Grace.
30 x clean and jerk for time.
Rx for men is 60kg, when I did this in february I did it at 40kg, today I did it at 55kg. Todays time was 5:26.  A little bit longer but 37.5% more weight.

Yum cha @ Easyhouse

Great all vegetarian place in mermaid waters. Love going for yum cha, as soon as you are seated you have a selection of food to choose from. Steamed buns, rice paper rolls and pork pastries.

Espana Tapas Bar

Finally had a chance to drop by this little gem in broadbeach over the weekend.  Great food, quick service.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.  Had the bread with Evoo, patatas bravas, chickpeas with cauliflower, peppers and gherkins.  Washed down with a brew from Barcelona.

3rd day of CrossFit 6am back to back

It's been a few days or even almost weeks now.

Anyhow training away, working, eating, just the usual.

So I've completed three 6am CrossFit sessions back to back this week.

Monday morning was Muscle Up turnover (progression training) and Rope Climb progression training with some Kickups (hand stand progression) (all in warmup)

Second Part was 4 x 8 reps of Front Squat (from Ground)

The WOD: 3 Rounds of 400 mtr run, 20 Toes To Bar or Knees To Elbows, 10 Squat Clean @ 30kg

My time - 13 minutes

Tuesday morning.

Warmup on Double Unders, Rope Climbs (we got to climb the rope today)

Then it was some warmup Hang Snatch

The WOD: 10 Minute AMRAP of Hang Snatch @30kg, Overhead Squat @30kg, Burpees: 2,4,6,8,10,12 etc.

So the first round you do 2 Hang Snatch, 2 Overhead Squat then 2 Burpees.

Second round you do 4 Hang Snatch, 4 Overhead Squat then 4 Burpees.

Each round you increase the reps by 2 until time.

I had my chalk ready to mark the completion of each round.

I finished doing 12's and started on 14's, got to 4 Hang Snatch before time was called.

Wednesday morning.

Warmup run.

4 Rounds of Max Handstand Push Ups / Ring Dips

I did - 15+8, 5+6,6+5,2+3

Deadlift warmup @90kg

WOD: 21-15-9 of Deadlift @80kg (body weight + 7kg approx) and Pull Ups for time

I still hate Pull Ups.

By the time I had completed the round of 15 everyone else had finished and I still had the round of 9's to go, my grip was failing me, so I was doing the Deadlift 1 rep at a time, everyone was cheering me on, at last I had finished the Deadlift, now only 9 Pull Ups to do.

Finally finished!!!

Just for fun Coach announced 1 minute Max Burpees.

Got 20.

Gym Wars

Down at CrossFit Urban Energy we had our first Gym Wars (inter gym competition amongst members)
The Coaches had planned 4 WOD's for the 2 hour time slot, we had more than anticipated attendees so it was cut back to 3.  It was a really good couple of hours, there were two categories, beginner and intermediate.
The first WOD was 5 x overhead situps (20kg/10kg) (intermediate) and 5 x squat (20kg/10kg) shuttle run across the gym and back again - As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP) in 4 minutes.  I managed 7 rounds.
The second WOD was run 400mtrs then in the remaining time it was Burpee Pullups - AMRAP 4 minutes.  I got 26.
The third and final WOD was lateral jumps over 3 plates x 10 then 5 x wall balls (10kg medicine ball) minimum 8 feet. 4 minute AMRAP.
I got 8 rounds and 10 lateral jumps.

Friday lunch

Spaghetti (gluten free) and bean balls, recipe via nomeatathlete.
Left overs are great for work lunch.
For more protein than normal out of spaghetti, we got bean balls, made from pinto beans.  Delicious and nutritious.

Stickered

Woot woot, got me a Crossfit Urban Energy sticker for the car!  So badge of honour.

Benchmark Wednesday

What do I like about Wednesdays? Or what I love about a Wednesday, well for one it's the 6am start at Crossfit Urban Energy and Wednesday is when we do a Benchmark workout.
Today the Benchmark WOD was named Helen, all Benchmark and Hero WOD's are named after fellow Crossfit athletes that have died in the line of duty.

Run 400mtrs
21 x Kettlebell Swing @ 24kg
12 x Pullups
Repeat 3 times for Time.
That took me 13:22
I spend most of the down time doing Pullups, I haven't mastered the art of dragging 75kg from dead hang to chin over the bar and repeating as necessary.  In the near future I will achieve this goal.

Prior to the WOD we did the mobility, warmed up the muscles and did some Muscle-up practice progressions.
Now, the Muscle-up is considered to be one of the hardest things you can do, you start out as if you are doing a pullup, but you end up at the top of a tricep dip, gymnasts do this all the time when they are performing on the  rings, it's how they get into position at the begining of their routine.
This takes quite a bit of strength, strength that I am still in the process of building via pullups.

Hipstergram

Just for the heck of it I joined instagram, my first reason was to just have somewhere to put pictures of nice cars I have spotted, but I ended up dumping a few other pictures on there also.
User name gopal_golpster

Black Ops Friday

Seeing as it's Friday the 13th and all, I thought I would nickname todays training 'Black Ops Friday'

The WOD
800 mtrs
15 Boxjump
15 kettlebell swing @24kg

15 Boxjump

15 kettlebell swing @24kg

15 Boxjump

15 kettlebell swing @24kg

800 mtrs

that was a good time... LOL finished it in 13 minutes (I really don't enjoy the running 800mtrs)

Benchmark Wednesday

Todays WOD is Fight Gone Bad

http://wodstack.com/workouts/30776-fight-gone-bad

First time doing this one, seems pretty simple in theory, but after trying to do box jumps for 1 straight minute, you kind of start to get tired.  Everyone started on different excercises to spread out the field.
1 minute break between rounds was over before it even started, well so it seemed.
All in all it was a good workout.

Post Easter

So it's been a little while, training hasn't stopped, life continues.
Had my birthday on 3rd April, big 32, went for breakfast, had pancakes, pretty tasty treat, buttermilk pancakes with apple, sultanas and syrup.
After that it was off to play some putt putt.  Next stop fRom eArth and Water, fantastic organic vegan cafe.
Dinner was from Green Papaya in Woolloongabba, so very very delicious.

Lunch

Vegetarian parma and vegies, round two, dinner leftovers

Benchmark Wednesday

Wednesdays are a great day for CrossFit training.
Today we warmed up our hamstrings with bear crawls and inch worms.
After which we stretched out our shoulders and did some handstand movements to work up to doing handstand pushups.
WOD was Diane
21-15-9
Deadlift @ 60kg
Handstand Pushup
This is a quick workout if you are efficient with your handstand pushup
My time, 3:47.

Monday Mornings

I like Monday mornings, up at 5:20am, pack up and head to the gym for a 6am Monday morning session with the crew at CrossFit Urban Energy.
Some warmups, some strength training, this morning we did Hang clean & Jerk.  We spend about 15-20 minutes going through getting our form right and adding some weight on.  We did 5-5-5-5-5-5-5, the heaviest I went was 45kg (12.5kg each side plus the 20kg bar)
Since it was raining or pouring outside, we got lucky and didn't have to go running in the rain again like we did last week.  Instead we did 'death by 10m'
Each minute the laps across the 10m gym floor increase by 1 crossing, we started with 5 crosses, to be completed within a minute, the excess time is for recovery, but when you get up to 12 there is very little time left in the minute for a break.  I, along with most of the crew stayed in until 14.
All in all, a great monday session.

Thursday night battle

With my lower legs still hurting from wednesday mornings running and afternoon soccer game I pushed through and went to the gym.  We did overhead squats, knees to elbows and kettle bell swings. 6,12,18 amrap 10 minutes.  After that was wallball, pullups, run. 21,15,9.  I had to have breaks and relieve the tension in my lower back.
All in all a great sweat of a workout.

Eco planet pizza

We discovered their menu a few weeks ago when we were having breakfast at Sol Bread Cafe.
Animal friendly all vegetarian pizza, on wholemeal base.
Amazing
We tried the Mediterranean Breeze. Fantastic.
I love food

Benchmark Wednesday

For something different coach decided we would do some running training this morning, so we did warm ups and looked at the mechanics of our stride etc.  Then we went out and ran about 4km - well 2 laps of just over 2km.  That is the longest distance I've run in my new Inov8's, I must say, they are pretty awesome.  I finished 4th in our group and we came in under 20 minutes, pretty happy with that.  I did start to get a cramp in my left calf region at around halfway through the second lap, would have been around 3km's in.  Apart from that I was still able to pretty much sprint the last 50-60 metres.  Oh did I mention that it was raining the whole time? the gutters were full of water.  A good time was had by all, one of the crew even forgot which street to turn down and ended up doing an extra k or two, we almost sent out a search party for him.

Monday Morning Sweat

Some strength work today.... Deadlift... 90kg warmup.. easy.... 100kg pretty simple 5 reps x2. 110kg, now we are getting somewhere, I did 3 reps.  Holding onto the bar seems the hardest part.

Post workout breakfast

Food Food Food.
We dropped in at Sol Breads Cafe for some breakfast.
Once again we order the 'sweet delicious'.
Got a Byron Gourmet 'pesto, spinach, fetta' pie.. so tasty.
And a banana strawberry smoothie to wash it down.
Did I mention that I love food?

Saturday Morning Slam

I don't mind trainig on a saturday morning, I feel as though it really gives you a great kickstart to the weekend.
In the gym by 6:30am.

Teamwork - this is a good workout, plus you normally get paired up with someone you may have not met yet.
Happy to finish first :)

A few of the crew were doing CrossFit Open WOD #3 or 12.3

here is a pic of Coach doing the TTB or rather just completed some.

The seven

Benchmark wednesday was a hero workout.
In theory it don't sound too bad but after a few rounds, it's horrible.
Managed 7 x 90 kg deadlift.

Take away dinner

Delicious Indian take away. Tikka Bar mermaid waters.  Paneer makhan masala, samosa punjabi and steamed rice. Wonderfully sumptuous.





Got some Vegetable Masala Dosa for lunch on Sunday too, pretty tasty.... no picture

Lunch

A delicious tempeh loaf, salad of apple carrot and beetroot with walnuts.

CrossFit Open WOD #2 Snatch

Wowser!
30x 35kg
30 x 61kg
30 x something else I can't lift....

got through the 30 x 35kg pretty easy.
I couldn't get the 61kg high enough to squat snatch it (I need a lot more practice on this)

First workout in my new shoes

I have completed my first workout in my new inov-8 bare xf-210.  It's probably psychological but I felt light in my pullups, and felt like I had a better range of motion in my butterfly situps.
The workout was a boxing training workout, bit of running, situps, pushups, skipping, pullups all in all a good sweat out.

The back squat

So part of Monday morning training was strength training, particularly back squat.
3 sets of 6 reps.
After a few warm ups we loaded the bar up to a total weight of 100kg including the bar.
Boom smashed out 6 reps.
Put the weight up to 105kg
Cracked out another 6 reps.
Ok round 3.
110kg, 4 reps going good, I had to dig a little on the last two reps.
Really happy with that.
1.5 x my body weight in back squat for 6 reps.

New shoes!

Just took delivery of my new inov8-bare xf-210's booyah

Weekend of Food

Saturday morning after CrossFit dropped into Southport for some breakfast.
Sol Breads was the location, grabbed the Veggie Delicious (Rattatoullie on toast) and my wife got the Sweet Delicious (banana, quark, pepita, raisins on fruit toast) fantastic food for $7 each serve, (two slices and topping)
Whilst we were there we got a brochure for a new pizza place called Eco Planet Pizza.
We made lunch at home, some Quasadilla.
For dinner we ventured off to Main Beach and ate at Lemongrass Thai, very nice.

CrossFit Open Wod #1

Saturday morning session @ CrossFit Urban Energy Southport.
So who hasn't done WOD #1 yet?
Um that would be me....
WOD #1 is 7 minutes max burpees.
Not just any old burpee will do.
Guidelines: must touch with both hands overhead 6 inches above reach, must touch torso (chest) to ground.
After 7 minutes of blurred movement and gasping for air I managed 72.

Sharing is Caring

So yesterday (Thursday) I went up to CrossFit Urban Energy for the pm session, a few weeks ago I invited my friend Chris to come and try it out, finally the opening in his schedule had arrived.
Before the session we were all just hanging out trying to do handstand walks.
Warm up, 400m run 30 situps, 2 lengths of the gym floor overhead lunges, knee to floor, then another 30 situps.
A bit of movement training, then it was 2 minutes of kettlebell swings @ 16kg I got in the vicinity of 40-50.
The Wod
800m run
30-20-10 pushups and double unders
800m run
if you can't do double unders, then you double the quantity and then triple it for single jumps, so it was 180-160-60

I was feeling pretty energised, I did my 800m my pushups my skips (singles) then the 800m, on my last lap my friend Chris had just completed his first lap so I did an extra one with him.
Finished that off with 2 minutes of situps.

Benchmark Wednesday - Elizabeth

Love Benchmark Wednsdays, today we did Elizabeth.  This is one tough Mutha of a WOD.
21-15-9 : Clean and Squat @ 40kg paired with Ring Dips.
It's great to have a spotter to keep count for you because you get lost in trying to breath and lock out in your squat and keeping the elbows out in the clean.
This WOD left me breathless, when I'd finished I retired to the floor on my back regaining my breath.
http://wodstack.com/users/1998

Leftovers for lunch

This is a delicious quinoa pilaf, with roast vegetables.  Quinoa with onion, capsicum, mint, coriander, raisins, parsley, coconut and bragg.  Vegetables, potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, yellow squash and eggplant.

Devine desserts

Amazing raw organic vegan cacao dessert from a fantastic cafe in burleigh called fRom eArth and Water, also pictured is the lime ' cheesecake'

Dinner at Justin Lane

Delicious pizza and rocket pear and pecorino salad.
www.justinlane.com.au
Olives and goats cheese, divine.

Lunch

Leftovers, nice and healthy, few slices of pizza, gourmet of course, no pizza franchise produce

Pre, during, post workout

I have been using this product as a pre, during and post workout (if there is any left in my bottle) it fuels up the muscles and floods them with amino acids.
Weight Management Supplements - Syn-Tec's Synabol (Amino Acids Electrolytes Q10 Cellular Energy)

Post workout Protein consumption

For my post workout protein hit I'm taking this product.
Protein Powders - Synthesis 90% Protein (Whey Protein Concentrate & Calcium Caseinate)
I have found it to be a great product, currently enjoying the Chocolate flavour.

Monday Morning Sweat

Love a good Monday morning workout.
My wife was training PT with her trainer Revie from UrbanBabes at 6am at our 'Box' so we rolled in together.
As my trainer was putting the WOD up on the whiteboard as we were rolling out on the physio rollers, we were looking at what he was putting up there and wondering if he was going to stop writting.
I was pretty happy that I got 10 consecutive pullups.

http://wodstack.com/workouts/24942-monday-morning-sweat

Refuel - breakfast

After that long surf I was pretty hungry, so off home to sort out some food.
Ended up with Sourdough toast, mushrooms, avocado, rocket, baby spinach, baked beans and a little bit of fetta cheese for good measure.

Weekend activities

Saturday morning, my wife got up to go to her CrossFit beach session with Urban Babes.
I checked the surf online, didn't look all that appealing at the beach that she was heading to.  So I jumped back in bed for another hour or so then decided I'd go check the surf at Burleigh.  To my delight this is what I saw (might not look like much in the picture) but I ended up surfing for 2.75 hours.  Haven't surfed for that long in a while.  Was great to get out in the water and catch waves, and plenty of them.  I told my brother and another friend that I was heading out for a surf.  They appeared out there after a while.  I would have stayed out longer but I was getting pretty hungry and my muscles were asking for a break.
I'm quite certain that my CrossFit training attributed to my being able to stay out and paddle around and catch waves for over 2 hours.

Where the WOD lives

So I've joined Wodstack.com - now my WOD's will be posted there.

http://wodstack.com/users/1998

Creamy Polenta with Vegetable Ragout and Red Pepper Coulis

I found and made this dish especially for Valentines day this year.  It is quite rich, but very tasty.  This is what it looked like the day after on my plate at lunch.

Benchmark Wednesdays

Benchmark Wednesdays are a good time.  Most of the time, it all depends on the WOD (Workout Of the Day)
On Wednesday the 15th of February we did Eva - 800m run, 30 KB swings (16kg/24kg) then 30 pullups.  Repeat until time (40 minutes)
This was quite challenging, the run is not fun (I'm not into running, I play soccer, I sprint, walk and only run short distances) Kettle Bell swings are OK, it's the pullups that tie me in a knot.  I really need to work on pullups.

In the begining

This adventure into CrossFit started in November 2011.  A friend of mine had been in the process of moving his gym to a new location.  He invited me to the open day.  I went along and had a look at the new facilities and joined in for the introductory WOD.  It was certainly different to any other workout I had done previously.
Here is the Facebook page of the 'BOX' where I get my sweat on.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/CrossFit-Urban-Energy-Southport/173907016046829