So does anyone know who the naked guy with the KB is? Give me your best guess.

Will the real Tom please step forward!??!?




Being Thankful this Holiday season. What or who am I thankful for?
Let me tell you about a quality man.
Tom Brose I've known Tom for a little less than a year. I don't know Tom very well yet. Once a week he leads our CF workouts. When I started CF I needed to meet a person like Tom. Why? Well, I've been in sports for a long time on and off. Someplace along the line I formed a judgment. That people who workout all the time are meat heads. Yes, I know that's unfair. It's really how I felt though. When I was at WVU I spent countless hours at the exercise physiology lab. Putting my body though every test they had. On a volunteer bases! At the time I was an Social work/English student. My sport was Mountain biking(stoned)at the time. I had no money(some things never change). The person I was dating was a Prof at WVU teaching Kinesoligy. She got me in so I could workout for free by doing tests for the students. I was doing 3 Vo2 max test a week. LOL! Anyhow, the people I met there were very one dimensional. So that's the long story of how I got my bad attitude.
Back to Tom. As I said I don't know him well. What I know of him is that he is one smart cookie. Tom has the gift of reading people and learning them. With that he's able to press them on and encourage then. As a big guy his spirit is gentle but tough. There was a time when I thought that trainers were not doing important work. That they were working in the glamour industry. Nope, wrong again. They're working in the prevention industry. Tom knows his stuff and more. I like that! This one is for you Tom. Thanks for doing what you do and being who you are! Happy Holidays! Let's all have a toast to Tom, another reason to have a beer!

Play time
Today I've been playing with the KB's
First 21 thrusters with 12gk KB's
Then I did some things around the house.
Came back to the KB's and did 21 thrusters with 16kg KB L/R. I missed the last one on the left.
watched a little TV
Then did 10 snatches L/R with the 16kg KB.
Did some dishes.
3 each side windmills with the 16kg KB overhead.
It's still a hard weight for me to handle but it's coming. I really want that 1/2 body weight 21 thruster deal.
Also, on the GTG pullups so far I'm at 20 so far today. I've been able to move up to 4 at a time with that. I've been sick the last few days so I'm not feeling as strong as normal.
Ok, I'll get back to you with my workout later.

I just got done with my workout. It was a doggy workout. Louie needed to run even with it raining he needed to get out. Sophie on the other hand was just fine sleeping.
We ran about 1/4 mile to a school yard, across the soccer field and down a big hill. Then back up the hill to the soccer goal post, there I did 4 pullups. Then across the soccer field at doggy pace to the monkey bars. Tied louie up and got 4 more pullups, 10 dips and a few swings on the bars and another 4 pullups. Then we went over to the cement parking barriers (I think they are about 3 or so feet high)I side jumped them 10 times. After that we went around the school and Louie did some parkour were he jumps up and down on the cement barriers. We got back to the park near my house were I did 15 picnic table presses and ran home.

This weeks workout with the DC ladies.

Warm up
Toss the 12# med ball around as a group
100 Air squats
50 KB swings
10 High steps to burpees
Max pushups 3 rounds one person on the balance disks. Rotate so that everyone does one set on the balance disks.

Workout
Farmers carry. A DB or KB in each hand walk up the first ramp and back. The KB and DBs were between 20# and 25lbs. As many trips as you can in 5 minutes.

Next was the Deadlift/lunge
Two people doing 30 DL's
One person doing 20/20 waiter lunges

It was a good hard workout. Thanks for the gift Eva and Susan! I can't wait to see were you're at in your fitness goals next year.

My personal workouts I had to put off. I seem to have some bug, yuck.

The picture above is from CFDC. No class next Sunday.
One last thing. My DC ladies...Make sure you Tabata this Holiday! Tabata this Tabata that...Morning or evening..Just Tabata!

Women's Highlights from the 2006 Nationals

Strong women! Happy holidays!

Proud to Lift Like a Girl: '06 American Open Highlights

If only more people could see this. Womens sports are so under viewed. How amazing are these WOMEN?!!?

Crossfit Field day, organized chaos!

Crossfit took it to the park today.
First Carry KBs,two tires and 4 sandbag (ranging in weight from 50# to 100#) Two sledgehammers and a med ball down a hill to a park.

Drill
KB bear crawl 2 times with a partner. You go one length then your team mate returns.
while your doing that the rest of the group does...
sledgehammer strikes
sandbag carry up a hill(I used the 50# bag)
Tire pull with 100# sandbag in it.
People switch out only when others have finished the KB bear crawl.

Then we had a Parkour demo by Mark. Which was very cool.

Tom put it down on us one more time with

Person 1. Backwards bear crawl up hill, lunge down
Person 2. 10 KB swings 5 burpees continue until person 1 is back from the hill.
No photos of today but we did get video. Tom's going to edit it and put it on Youtube. Right Tom??
Then I went back to the gas station to return the tires I got this Am for Cf and went home to run with the dogs. Now it's beer time!
Great day CF peeps! Reggie and Crazy boy thanks for being my team mates, you both rock!
This week I was thinking of doing a challenge. It would be to see how many Pushups I can get in a week. So I would just keep a running total. Let me see what my body has to say about that in the morning.

Primal Fitness News

Grand Opening on January 6th!
January 6th we will host a full day of free workout information, Parkour training, food and drinks. Come check out our workout facility and see what all the hype is about. Primal Fitness - simply the most effective fitness program there is.

So get your friends and come on down to DC and check it out. It may not be near you but worth the trip to meet local Crossfit people. Primal hopes in the near future to host a Crossfit certification which would be awesome! With Primal now DC has to Crossfit locations. How cool is that!

In the house part 1
10 cleans to push press with the two 20#db's
20 pushups
20 jumping chins
Three rounds
Outside part 2
10 Medball cleans
One 30 second handstand against the house
Repeat 3 times(on the last handstand I fell at the end so I did another one for 15 seconds and tried to shift my weight)
Outside part 3
Odd object-cement planter with rocks in it
5 cleans X 2
Long cement planter 5x2(no rocks)
In between sets I would do the Irish Jig and clap and sing! Flogging Molly rocks!

The Tossers - Good Mornin' Da'

Good Morinin' Da'....this is for my father!

Fasting
Last week Tom talked about fasting, the day before that I read about it in a journal. Then a few days ago I posted about eating habits. At the same time Jerry Hill posted about eating habits. Then a day ago Jerry posted about fasting. Soooooo, I though it was time to work this over a little.
I felt a work day would be the best for me. It's a day that has more structure to it. My worry was only that I would not feel well. I don't like to talk about my work to much. Yet, I should tell you that my job is physically demanding. First I'm on my feet for 13 hours. I get up at 4:30 to get ready, walk and feed dogs then drive 45 minutes to work. At work I have to be on my toes. Placing IV's, being an assistant with all kinds of little surgeries. Not to mention the grunt work of pushing 300# strectcher with 200# people on them. Doing CPR and being able to jump from that to placing an IV with steady hands. Or like yesterday running clear across the Hospital pushing a 100# crash cart then having my hands steady enough to put an IV while a Doctor is yelling at me. SOooo, I did not know how being hungry would work with all that.
My fast was gentle. I ate 1/2 cup of peanuts and raisins at 7am, then nothing till noon. At noon I had a sandwich. Then water cut with a little juice since I don't like water. From noon to 8pm nothing but that water. Came home and had a light dinner of soup. I know it's not true fasting but I felt it. My energy was fine. I felt hunger at around 5pm to 7pm. By 8pm I was hungry but not crazy hungry. Next week I will try a fruit and Veggie fast. I thought about food all day, which made me mad. All day people around me were pushing food into their pie holes. Which made it easy for me not to want to do that, as I watched them. I don't eat donuts and all that shit on any day but yesterday I noticed more. It was kinda gross. Over all it was a good thing for me to do. It made me realize that most of the time when we eat we don't need to. We have no idea what starving is!

My DC ladies rock!
Today we did a little Tabata.
Tabata Squats and Tabata situps.

Meat and potatoes 3 rounds no rest.
5 Burpees
15 Goblet Squats
10 Thrusters

Here are the potatoes
20 Reverse lunges with Db overhead
10/10 DB swings
30 boxer jumping jacks.(Boxer J. Jacks are body nice and tight and activate that ass!) Look at Ross fitness watch him do J jacks.
I'm telling you these ladies are tough. I have really seen improvements in both of them. Susan was not able to do a burpee now she's doing them every workout. Eva is doing great DB and kettlebell swings. The best part is that they both keep coming back for more. I hope they're feeling stronger because they sure do look stronger.

I had a light workout for myself.
21 Thrusters with two 20# DBs
21 sandbag squats with 40# sandbag
15 ring dips

15 Thrusters with two 20# DBs
15 sandbag squats with 40# sandbag
10 ring dips

10 Thrusters with two 20# DBs
10 sandbag squats with 40# sandbag
5 ring dips

I've stayed away from Dips for about a month and man can I tell. I got so weak in that area so fast. It sucks! It's a blanching act with knowing when to do them and when not to. I had a lot of pain in my elbows a while back. So I'm going to dance that fine line.

Crossfit DC was Rocking today!
We had a good group of people and we all hit it hard! It's always exciting to workout with other people and push each other to go a little harder than we would when your on your own. One thing I've learned about Tom is that his excitement is contagious! He believes in the people he trains and that is a very encouraging vibe to get!
I felt good and strong. Back in the swing of things. In the morning I met with the DC crew to hit the parking grage. Then I'm off to Primal to introduce them to a friend of mine that might be of help in there getting the word out. I would really like both Primal and DC Crossfit to work with and for eachother. If we can get the groups leaders together and do some joint promo stuff it would be cool. So that when we talk to people we can send them to the Crossfit nearest to them. Get the city covered. We will cover more ground as a team then as separates. I know Tom is down with it so it's just a matter of getting a jam session going with Primal. I can't wait!

Thoughts on Diets and eating habits.
My personal feeling is that diets suck. Unless you plan on being on a diet your whole life what's the point? Why not just learn how to eat well and right. Cutting all of anything out of your eating is a plan for failure. I'm not training because I'm going to be a pro athlete or because I have a competition. Now I may compete in something at some time in which case I will change what I eat to help achieve my goal. Right now I just want to be as fit as I can without being on an RX each hour of the day.
I do watch what I eat, and keep mental notes on what I have been eating. Eating empty calories is just a waste of time. So for me I don't drink soda and I try not to snack on candy or cookies. At work is the hardest time. I try to eat often. So instead of getting super hungry I will eat a protein snack, like turkey meat or peanut butter and celery. Or have some yogurt or piece of fruit. When my co-workers order out most of the time I say, "no thanks". I don't have the cash to eat out often and if I do it's going to be good. Sometimes I really feel like ordering out so I will get sushi. Which is a better choice than General Tso chicken that I use to get. Anyhow, Chinese food gives me a headache. I've never had luck finding anything not fried or half way healthy at a Chinese place.
One of my rules is to not drink on school nights. I love beer, good rich amber or dark beers, yummmmy! If I were to cut that out altogether I would be very grumpy. If I cut all carbs out or all sugar out, I just could not stick to that for the rest of my life. My goal is life fitness. Not just till my body weight gets to 130#, or until a certaint event. It's a forever deal. So I let myself slip and eat some bad stuff. Well it's really not that bad if I'm not doing that everyday. We eat so poorly as a nation that we've for gotten that having the not so good for you stuff is a treat not a staple.
For me my weakness is chocolate, OMG I could eat it all day. If I had a bucket of it I would stick my head into it and suck it down like a beer at a frat party! So how do I deal with my craving, a small piece here or there. That's it, that's the plan. I think it's call moderation?
Overall I stay away from fast food. We love to go out to eat and in the DC area we have some great places. So why the hell would I spend my money on fast food. It's fast alright in one end out the other. Every once in a while I will go get a burrito from Chipotle. If I'm riding they travel well. You can eat half and the other half can go in your back pocket! I'm aware that the warp is high in fat, but I've had like 3 this year so I'm ok, I think?
Staying away from fried food is a good plan. Once in a while I will crave a beer and some good fried food. Sometimes I go for it others I don't. I've found that when I have really strong cravings if I just make a good choice and eat healthy that the craving goes away.
We have no idea what being hungry is. In the ER the first thing people ask for is food. What the hell, you just told me your were having an emergency! When was the last time you let yourself feel really hungry? The other day at work some kid and his over protective mom had to wait for a long time to be seen. So Mom gets all in my face, " my son is starving, he's been here for and hour. He has not eaten since 8am". Well, bitch now he's going to wait for another hour! Ok, I can say that but that's what I was thinking. So I go him a bag lunch that we give to homeless people, then they drove off in there Mercedes-Benz to Five guys or wherever.
Let me end by saying this. Try to eat greens and nuts, baked not fired. Moderate you carbs, eat whole wheat. Try to eat before you go to the party so you don't go feeling like you could eat the whole cow. Eat chicken, fish and pork over red meats. It you eat red meat get the lean kind. I like Buffalo burgers from trader Joes, they are really lean. Just think before you put it in your mouth. As I have said before don't over fill the tank, if you do work it off! Don't waste fuel!
No workout for me today. I've been struggling with headaches that I get every winter. It has to do with the dry air in the house.

It's so cold today! Yuck. So I met with my DC crew Susan and Eva in the parking garage again. Today we used the stairs.

Warm up
10 burpees
Band pulls
tire pulls
While person one is pulling the tire I'm working with person two on med ball cleans. Two rounds.

10 mins
Person 1 goes up 5 flights of 10. At each platform stop and do air squats.
Person 2 KB swings for however long it takes person one to do the stairs.
10 mins no rest keep it moving. Two stairs at time, with nice full hip extension at the top of each step.

Rest 3 mins

5 mins same drill
person one up stairs doing burpees at each platform
person two band pulls for entire time it takes person one.

Goals
Some of my personal fitness goals have been met this past year.
1. Lost and kept off 20#
2. decreased my heart rate while riding.
3. Rode 100 miles in under 8 hours.
4. My eating habits have become much better.
5. Hit 6 deadhang pullups
6. Deadlifted 205.
7. Handstand against wall for 36 seconds.
8. Increased my pushups by 10
9. Have developed a creative way to workout and shared it with others.
10. L-sit 30 seconds
11. Have gotten 3 solid kips
New goals:
1. Deadlift double body weight, which would be around 270#
2. 21 thrusters at 1/2 body weight. So I guess two 35# DB's
3. I would like to loss 5 more lbs.
4. 20 good deep dips
5. 10 good strong form kips.
6. Get Crossfit certified. It's a cash issue.
7. Sotts press without feeling like my back is going to explode.
8. MUSCLE UP! I had to lay off for a while my elbows were giving me issues.
9. Olympic lifts
10 . Continue to train people in group setting.

My personal workout for today. I was feeling a little less than inspired so It's an old stand by.

20# Dumbbell
5 Deadlift
5 Hang cleans
5 Push press
Five rounds 30 seconds rest between sets

Five sets less than 30 seconds rest between sets.
Bent over rows 5 each arm
10 Snatches each arm

Today I've been doing GTG pullups. As of 4pm I'm at 12. It's been a slow day. I did find a tractor tire that I'm going to get for Primal fitness. I just have to fine a truck big enough to get it to them! Yea Haw!
Also, put my rings on my pullup bar with bike tubes tied to them. Then did the motion of muscle ups. I have to get on my knees and pull down and then press down like a dip. It worked pretty well.

Activate your ass!
Workout with the Ladies!
Warm up
Air squats 30x 2
lunges 20x 2
pushups 10x2
lunges 20 more

3x each person
Tire pull
Ball toss/ballslam

Bent over rows 3x10
Push press 3x10
deadlifts 3x10
Reviewed the DB lifts for form

Today was my first workout at Primal Fitness in DC. It's a great place with a lot of energy!
We did a version of fight gone bad. One minuet at each event three times with one min rest between rounds.
Slamball
Row
box Jump
wall ball
I think I got in the 300's.
They have a great space and cool Crossfit toys! I even got to learn a little wall jumping since they have a parkour based crew.
Yesterday was so nice and warm, not today it's very cold and I hate it! Even Louie was sporting a hat!

Louie stepped on my head today! Damn dog! Sophie hates to run as much as I do so we went for a walk and then Louie and I went to Rock Creek to run in the woods. Only a mile or so. It was more to work on his need to run and learn to run with me than anything. I lacked the mental fortitude to do a hell bent workout today. So here it is.
X2
Jump rope
50 swings
20 snatches each arm
In the house
5 sets of max ring pushups, 10,6,6,5,4
Today I got 3 really nice kips!