Pain without gains

 This year marks six years since I found Crossfit. The fitness revolution that changed my life for the better. Right away when I started training huge gains came fast. I quickly became the strongest in the gym at the deadlift. Since then , as with most things in my life, have fallen off track and came back. With all of this on and off training the hardest thing I find is dial back my intensity upon returning to training. Often I jump back in, were I started and injure myself in the process. starting the cycle over. Currently I am recovering from a triceps strain. I am working on slowly returning to my training. Time is the main ingredient in recovering from a muscle strain. My plan, so far has consisted of 3 weeks off, and now I have started at 10% of what I was doing before. Basically, preventing any more muscle wasting that has already occurred. at this point, I plan to progress, by 10% a week. Hopefully in 10 weeks I will be at 100%, and get back after my goals. Unfortunately I have decided not to compete in the BC strongest man competition in June, because of my injury. Currently my plan is to drop some body fat that has incurred during my long winter hibernation.


MOBILITY -->

 This weeks song is an oldie, but one of the best songs for pumping you up for a big lift!

P.O.D - Boom!

 This weeks fitness idol is Dr. Fred Hatfield or Dr.Squat. One of the most influential people in fitness history.I cannot write a better bio on Dr.Squat, than the one already on his website, so click his name and check him out.

Another attempt

I have been thinking of things important to me since I fell off my last attempt at daily blogging. So I am planning to try and get in a weekly blog that will include; a mobility video, a weekly workout song, a weekly fitness Idol and hopefully some other content, yet to be determined.

The Mobility is going to start with MWOD, and I hope to evolve it as I go along. The weekly workout song is for you, my readers that are on the lookout for workout tunes, maybe you haven't heard them before, or maybe you forgot how awesome they where. The fitness Idol, will be just that, someone who has made amazing contributions to fitness.

This weeks mobility video, starts out where Kelly Starret started the famous MWOD. On Video number one!

Weekly Workout song this week, is my 4 year old son's favorite. Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign - Shell Shocked ft. Kill The Noise & Madsonik

Pavel Tsatsouline is this weeks fitness Idol. Pavel is credited by some as the person who brought Kettlebells' to North America. Pavel has a few books that can be found at Amazon.
 

Last blog I posted was for the Whole Life Challenge and that was a great kickstart. Of course, after straining my right triceps things really fell apart. First training fell of the rails, then nutrition went out the window too. I really love cheese, and 8 weeks without cheese proved to be too many. So, now I have gained back some of what I lost, but things are back on track. I will be hitting some kettlebell training after I finish this post, and working on my conditioning and mobility for the long run.

Water Weight

When I decide to drop some weight I know that I will have a great first week.  The first week after dropping grains, dairy and sugar I lose a lot of water weight.

This week was no different. I lost 11lbs this week.  At least 7 lbs of that was probably water.  The key I always have to remember is it won't be like that next week.  The most weight in fat that can be lost per week is supposedly 3 lbs. After that muscle wasting will also occur.

So next week I'm hoping for 3 lbs if weight loss.  And hopefully a little more energy. 

STRETCHING

Stretching is an important part of the whole life challenge I am currently pursuing. 

I have been meaning for a long time to spend more time working on flexibility.  I am very inflexible and I really hate it but have been to lazy to do anything about it.  So working on  stretching every day in this challenge is really helping me form a great habit. My favourite thing is to hold a squat for extended period of time.  I have really seen huge improvements from this and I can tell when I haven't  done it. 

Great day

Squatting is a fundamental movement in CrossFit and in life.  I have always had problems with it,  partially because I have the wrong proportions for it, but also because I'm a big guy that has never taken care of my knees. 

The other day I wrote a post about my new knee sleeves.  Well today I had a heavy squat day.  I looked in my log book and haven't found a squat over 225lbs in the last two years...  I never thought about it,  but every squat day my knees just never felt good enough to keep going. It's pretty sad really,  to think a big guy like me hasn't done a squat over my body weight in two years. 

I had such a good squat day today, I almost can't believe it.  My diet is great lately but, I believe in knee sleeves! My knee sleeves make my knees feel amazing. So in conclusion if you don't have knee sleeves,  it's time to get some.

And again I'll mention,  I got mine from Anderson Power Lifting

Day 5 WLC

We are onto day five of the Whole life Challenge. The food part is getting easier, I'm getting to the point of having to remember to eat, because I'm not getting hungry.

Today I tried a yam recipe that I found a long while ago from Performance Menu. It was delicious, I used regular yams, and coconut aminos instead of soy sauce.

Short and sweet today.

WOD
7 min of Burpees

SBD knee sleeves

The other day I received my new SBD knee sleeves from Anderson Power Lifting.  I've been waiting to use them a few times so I could write a review. 

I would definitely recommend these sleeves.  I have limited comparisons but but I know  that neoprene sleeves are way better than other fabric.  And when deciding which one I was going to buy. I compared all the top brands; Slingshot, Rehban, and SBD.  I found that Slingshot and Rehban were very compatible.  With same thicknesses and similar lengths. SBD seamed to be in a league of their own. Thicker,  longer,  and endless praise on the internet.

I find they keep my knees nice and warm.  My knees are soo nice and warm by the time I finish my warm up that I feel good squatting again. They also offer great support holding my knees together. 

I think that it is worth mentioning that these came from USA to me in Canada in about a week.  That is incredible, I think it shows how fast Anderson Power Lifting was on top of things on their end.

Mental Game

Sometimes workouts don't go the way you want. Today I watched someone hit a wall on the first round of Medball Cleans. I don't even believe these are a very difficult movement. But for whatever was going on in their head decided to shut down. "Which lead to how do I do mountain climbers again...?" And culminated in "I'm only doing one round".

So I need to reinforce, that this isn't supposed to be fun, it's not supposed to be easy. When you walk into the gym, you need to make a choice. Either your going to crush the workout, or turn around and leave. Doing half the work produces half the results. If I am not having a good day, I evaluate, will I get injured doing this? Or is this just a mental block that I need to put my head down and work through.

I know sometimes it is hard to get past the mental game when you don't have a large cheering section, But it's got to happen. I try to think ahead, were am I going. This workout is going to help me at BC Strongest Man competition. If I don't get the work done there, I will look like a fool, so getting the work in now will help with that goal.


500m Row
Then 3 rounds
10 Burpees
20 Med Ball Cleans
30 Mountain Climbers
40 KB Swings

Recovering from poor choices

With regret my last year and a bit has been spent eating a ton of junk food and drinking my face off. However entertaining for the people around me, it has come time to get after my health. With our Whole Life Challenge I am eating strict paleo again, no booze. After a year of eating crap and drinking way to much, a funny thing happens. Inflammation, as a 29 year old I should not be rolling out of bed with pain in my joints. 

I do though, today I had a revelation, I rolled out of bed and no pain. I mean, muscle soreness, yes, that is just a part of life when you do two metabolic conditioning workouts after not doing any for a while. It is amazing really, three days of good quality food, and already I feel better. I know this is just the tip of the iceberg. I've been here before, however, this time life is more stable. Hopefully after a solid 30 days or so my inflammation will get back to a normal level. 

I have been doing a bit of lifting, but when your knees feel like they are going to give out with only a plate a side doing squats, you don't work up very high. Dead lifts have always been my gravy lift but I have even kept those light by my standards. Today was my first decent squat day in a while. I  only worked up to 3 x 5 at 185 lbs, but it is a start. Those who know me, know, I have never been good at squatting. Today squatting felt strong, and I kept to a tempo 33X0. Pause squats have always been hard for me, so getting after them at the beginning of this cycle will help me later on.

Life can sometimes give you difficult choices, should I stick to my nutrition plan or get wasted with my friends. For me social life has always been important, but I let it get in the way of my health. But again, I will make that difficult decision to stick to my nutrition, for the sake of my family and everyone around me. A fit Cannon is a more useful Cannon. 

Squat - Work up to a heavy set of three, then do  3 x 5

New Year New Challenge Whole Life Challenge

It’s a new year, and again, I have been slacking on my blogging. Today I embark on a new challenge, The Whole life Challenge. My wife and I are getting settled in a new home, a permanent home in Burns Lake, BC. My home gym is coming together, I have a space set aside for it, and the squat rack is set up, I just need to get a gym floor in there. My wife found out about a cool, paleo, lifestyle challenge through our friends at Bodyshop Crossfit in West Kelowna, BC.

The Challenge is run through the wholelifechallenge.com website and for the next 56 days, we organize our life around the WLC 7 Daily Habits:

1.       Eat by the WLC rules you choose at the level that is right for you. Make conscious choices that support your vision for a healthy lifestyle. Earn up to 5 points daily for nutrition.

2.       Exercise for at least 10 minutes each day. We recommend 3-5 “workouts” each week. The other days you’ll earn your points by being active. Ride your bike, surf, hike, even take an invigorating walk at sunset. This is your time to move daily. You earn 2 points for exercise.

3.       Stretch for at least 10 minutes each day. You earn 2 points for stretching.

4.       Water One third of your body weight in oz. of water each day (20 ml per kg). You earn 1 point for water.

5.       Supplement with a dietary supplement that would make a difference for your body if you took it every day. You earn one point for your supplement.

6.       Live the WLC weekly lifestyle practice – things like sleep, meditate, & supporting others. You earn 1 point each day you complete the weekly lifestyle task.

7.       Reflect at the end of each day and check in with how it went and how you’re doing. No amount of numbers can paint the whole picture. Your daily reflection helps you see how the challenge is really going. You earn 1 point daily for your reflection.

Our LIFESTYLE PRACTICE for Week 1 of the Whole Life Challenge is to practice Mindfulness for 10 minutes each day.

     What does that mean? Every day of week 1, starting on Saturday, January 17 and ending Friday, January 23 I will earn my lifestyle points for participating in a practice of mindfulness each day, 

·         Mindfulness can come in the form of meditation, prayer, or journaling

·         Any form of meditation or prayer counts

·         Any form of journaling counts, even if you develop “writers block” and have a hard time actually putting pen to paper for the full 10 minutes

·         Any combination of the above two is also acceptable. If you choose to meditate or reflect for a short period and then journal about it for the remainder of the 10 minutes, you can do that as well.

So this is where I’m at, completing my mindfulness task of the day blogging to you. I encourage you all to check out this website and try it out. Be a part of my Cannon Strength and Conditioning team. I hope to continue on this journey and complete the next Challenge starting May 2^nd as well. I hope you will be a part of that challenge with me.

Now on to the fun part, in order to start the challenge we must take before pictures, take measurements, step on the scale, and complete an introductory workout. I plan to use the WLC Fall 2014 Official Workout.

In 11 minutes:

Row/Run 500 m, 1000m, or 1500m(choose a distance you can finish in 6 minutes or less)

In the time remaining, complete as much of the following list as you can:

30 Air Squats

30 Sit Ups

30 Plank Ups

40 Lunges

40 Bicycles

40 Push Ups

50 Squat Jumps

50 Flutter Kicks

50 Mountain Climbers

100 Burpees

Your score is the total number of reps you complete.

Notes:

- Don’t worry – this workout was not designed to actually be finished in less than 11 minutes – just get as far as you can in the list and count all your reps as points.

- Your choice in run/row distance must remain the same for both your prelim and the final inventory.

So enjoy! And start following again, because, I’m back baby! 

Here is a little taste of the new digs...