Speed, endurance, and cardio for CrossFit

Today's CrossFit workout was a lot of fun. The strength session was 3 rounds of max squat cleans with 2 minutes of recovery. The WOD was
40 calories assault bike, then 4 rounds of
15 DB push press
12 DB front rack lunges
9 devil press

I lowered the weight from 50lb DB's to 35 and I was still the slowest one in the class. My cardio and muscular endurance is really bad. I've decided I'm going to start scaling the weight even lower than I used to. That way I can increase my speed and intensity. If I practice going faster with less rest then in theory I should build more speed, endurance, and cardio.

first treadmill tabata of 2016

In addition to helping me with weight loss and a nutrition plan to continue to make strength gains for weightlifting, my nutrition coach has been trying to help me make lifestyle changes. I never thought that would work. Ever. But miracle of miracles, it has. Finding success with me has probably been one of the most trying and frusting goals of his life. But, by George, it's working. In addition to following his nutrition plan relatively well, I've started doing cardio 3 times a week. Today I did a treadmill tabata:
I did a warm up of 5 minutes, then I ran for 20 seconds on and then 10 seconds off @ a 12% grade at level 4 (15 minute per mile) for 10 rounds (5 minutes). The last 3 rounds I had to slow the pace and grab on to the bar to finish. Next time I think I'll lower the speed to a 3.6 (16:40). At that speed will probably be easy. But I haven't done cardio in years so it's better to start up slowly and build up then to get injured or throw myself into over training. After all, I am 40 years old. My body doesn't respond as well to new things as it used to.

program for more fitness

I've put a lot of thought into developing a great program that will increase my fitness level, raise my metabolic rate, and help me lose weight without fatiguing my legs for Olympic style weightlifting. I've decided I'll do Olympic style weightlifting and abs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll do the bench press program Shane builds for me, pullups, abs, and hit the heavy bag for cardio.

The abs program I'll be doing is from the book The Complete Book Of ABS by Kurt Brungardt.

Back in my glory years I had included his abs workout program into my triathlon training with great results (see picture below)

I know,  i post this pick a lot, but who doesn't still dream of their glory years? I'd like to improve my physique again so that my glory years are now rather than in the past. I'm hoping this program I'm starting will get me there.

boxing and weightlifting

I've been wanting to lose some weight and do some cardio. Any of the times I've tried doing cycling or running in conjunction with weightlifting I ended up over training and getting sick. I already push my legs to the limit with olympic style weightlifting so I wanted to find a cardio that mostly worked the upper body. So today I started hitting the heavy bag. Afterwards I realized a few things:

-I'm in better cardiovascular shape than I thought a 313 pound person would be.... Yup, 313. Not something I'm proud of, but I'm working on it.

-My boxing form has turned to crap since the last time I practiced.... 9 years ago? Crap, I'm getting old!

-My right cross used to be unbelievable.... It's not anymore. Not even a little bit.

-My left (non dominant) hook is better now than it has ever been. Where the heck did that come from? Perhaps weightlifting has caught the strength of my weak hand up to my dominant? Awesome. I'll take it.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed hitting the heavy bag again. I think heavy bag work and olympic style weightlifting is going to be a great combination.

weightlifting, boxing, and depression

I've been wanting to start doing cardio, but I'm pushing my body to the max with weightlifting. Anytime I've added some sort of cycling or running into my training regiment i end up overtraining and getting sick. Then it occurred to me that most of weightlifting is legs and the types of cardio I'm doing is also legs. So what if i started adding cardio that primarily  worked the upper body?  But what could i do to raise my heart rate using my upper body? BOXING! Hitting a heavy bag! So i found a heavy bag and gloves on Craig's list for only $50. I'll be picking it up tomorrow. It'll be a fun workout that wont fatigue my legs as much, and it'll be great training for my career as a correctional officer at the prison.

For the last 9 years I was forced to work 80-90 hours a week. Working that much and sleeping so little caused me to be severely depressed. For the last month I've been able to slow down on overtime. I assumed once i was able to work less and sleep more my depression would go away. It hasn't. Perhaps i need to wait longer? Expecting the consequences of 9 years of hell to go away after only a month might be asking to much, but it sucks finally being home and having the time to do things but not have any interest in anything at all. I got so used to going through the motions of life even though i felt horrible that now it feels like i forgot how to feel happy. I don't mean to sound like a pussy, but in the last 4 years I've gained 130 pounds. I'm so over weight I've developed sleep apnea and i just don't care. Now that I'm working less I don't have an excuse to feel like this, but i still do. What gives?

treadmill tabata #4

Today I did a light recovery workout for strength training. Then I hopped on the treadmill and did a tabata. I warmed up for 5 minutes the ran at a 12% grade at an 11:45 pace 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. This was the fastest pace I've been able to keep since I started doing cardio a month ago. This workout was absolutely my max effort! I'm going to need to stay at this pace for awhile.

I did snatch's, squat's, and deadlift's yesterday. It was a great day. I PR'd my snatches, building up to 3X2 at 69k. I then completed a 5X5 at 104k on squats. I rounded the day off with six sets of heavy deadlifts setting another PR on my last set with a single at 356 pounds.

treadmill tabata #3

Today I did my 3rd treadmill tabata since starting up cardio again a little under a month ago. Today I did my usual 5 min warm up, then put the treadmill to a 12% grade and ran 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off for 4 minutes. I did the first 2 minutes of the work set at a 12 mile an hour pace, the 2nd 2 minutes at an 11:45 pace. I felt like it was a struggle to keep that pace up, but I like pushing myself. Next Thursday I'll attempt the full 4 minute work set at an 11:45 pace.

Everything I've ever read says you can tell your getting in shape if your heart rate returns to normal after being elevated through exersion. My heart rate is lowering more quickly after cardio now, and also I'm not as out of breath when I'm training at olympic weightlifting. Progress baby. Progress.

5 minute AMRAP

Today was cardio day. After doing 5 sets of 5 reps of bench press I did a short and hard cardio session. Rion, my 4 year old, did the cardio session also. The cardio was a MetCon (metabolic conditioning) workout that was a 5 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of
5 push ups
5 burpees
5 wall balls
I was able to finish 4 rounds exactly, no reps on the fifth round. Rion completed 4 rounds and a some extra reps into the fifth.... Yes, my 4 year old beat me...... Since starting up cardio again a couple weeks ago I've made some pretty great gains, but I'm still REALLY out of shape. After the workout I thought to myself, "I'm glad I'm not in CrossFit right now, because I'd have been an embarrassment". I know that if I continue training the way I am, in no time I'll transform myself from a fat and out of shape olympic weightlifter to an olympic weightlifter who is in great shape. Today was another step in the right direction.

My weight has stabalized at 280.