Never Going Back - REVISED

I can't believe that we are just over 5 weeks away from the regional competition. With every day that goes by, it is becoming more and more real. I've known all along what we've been training for but I don't know if I really understood what I was getting myself into until recently. Training for the games isn't just about putting in your hours at the gym, it has to be a part of everything you do. What you eat and when you eat it, how much and what kind of sleep you get, stress from home and work, and especially your mindset when you walk in the gym all play a part in your training.

It's tough for me to put 100% of myself into the competition. My favorite foods have always been the ones that are the worst for you including white bread, heaps of pasta, beer and candy. My normal weekends usually consist of late nights at the bars and greasy foods to ease the hangovers. To top it off, work has been extremely stressful and no matter how much I accomplish it always seems I have just that much more to do.

Over the past few months I have dramatically changed my diet and my weekend life. But I still falter and indulge in things I wish I didn't, like the chocolate cup cake today or the jager bombs on Saturday. And I was thinking to myself why was I sacrificing all these things I love for the sake of a competition that I have no chance in placing in the top 5 for. In fact, there are 5 guys at CFO alone that I know can beat me. What's the point?

How about the fact that I am in the best shape of my life since I was in high school? How about the fact that I actually like eating things broccoli (with cheese of course)? Or what about how I genuinely feel healthier on a daily basis? I used to dread going to the gym now its one of the last things I think about before going to bed and it's on my mind all day at work. I even get a mild case of depression every time a rest day comes along and I fight my desire to go workout knowing I need to give my body at least some rest.

This competition started as a goal to get in the best shape I could possibly be in come May 17th, but it has transformed in to a new lifestyle. I am still going to kick my ass for the next 5 weeks to get in to the best shape I can for the competition, but there's no way I will ever go back to how I was before. And to put things in perspective, I found this picture I took about 4 months before I started CrossFit. I sure as hell don't want to go back to that. Wow....

A little before and after shot... still got some work to do but it's a world of a difference

RF #16: My favorite colors to workout in are black and red. Black because it is my favorite color and red, who knows why.

Another Step!

On the last post I wrote about tackling your fear of the dark and scary basement, or in fitness terms, the fear of discomfort. Well I am proud to say today that I think I took another step towards the bottom. The last exercise of today's WOD for me was the wall balls and I chose 8 reps for each of the 8 rounds. By the fourth round I would have quit any other day but I pushed through. By the last round everything was getting a little foggy but I still pushed through and got my 8 reps. This was by far the furthest I have pushed myself in a metcon.

WOD: 4/1/2009
Tabata "Fight Gone Bad" -- no April Fools here
Wall Balls x 8 rounds
SDHP (2 pd KB) x 8
Box Jumps x 8
Push Press (75# bar) x 8
Row x 8

My rotation started with SDHP and ended on wall balls and my lowest for each exercise was 11,13,6,6,8 for a total of 44. I am disappointed about the push press because I only got 6 when I started out with 11. My technique was nearly non-existent as my back felt arched and I barely used any legs. Add that to the long list of things I need to work on...

According to most of the others, this was a tough WOD but not as bad as Fight Gone Bad itself. I am going to have to disagree. This was much tougher than I remember FGB being. But I guess I have to take in to fact that I only did FGB once and I probably didn't push as hard as I did today. I guess I'll never know until I do it again sometime... hopefully not soon though :)

On a side note, I decided that I am going to end all my posts with a random fact about myself.

RF #1: I am left-handed but right-footed. I can do some things with my right hand like bat and spike a volleyball, but watch me try to kick a ball left-footed and I might end up on the ground.