In an effort to sweat out a little too much indulgence over the past couple of days, I came up with this Murph inspired WOD this morning using some of the very limited equipment in the condo’s gym.
1000m row
100 push ups
200 sit ups
300 squats
1000m row
Time 35:20
The 2nd row was the worst… about 30 seconds longer than the first and I was totally gassed! Shoulder is starting to get better and I’m hoping I’ll be able to try some overhead lifts later this week.
Today we did a great WOD that would work well for those with no CF home. It was in a Murph style so you could break up the middle any way you liked. For those who roam, you could sub the row for running to start it out and then all could be compelted at the track.
1 km row
100 sit ups
200 burpees
300 walking lunges
1 mile run
I broke it up as follows 10 rounds of 10 sit ups/10 burpee/15 lunges/10 burpee/15 lunges. Time 46:59.
The lunges were the worst part as my hip flexors have taken a toll this week. Strategy worked well as I didn’t fatigue too much for the burpees. It’s a goodie… but a toughie!
After a great trip back East which included some awesome outdoor WODs and a trip back to CFTO, I headed back into CF Van on Monday morning to start my week off right.
Monday – “Sasquatch”
21-18-15-12-9-6-3
SDHP (55#)
Push Press (55#)
Time 10:29
This would be a great one to do at home provided you had a bar and plates – it doesn’t seem to bad at the start, but does catch up with you.
Tuesday
Warm-Up add on (liked this one)
1/2 Navy Seal
500m row
25 Thrusters (35#)
15 Pull Ups
Go hard for time – my time 4:19
WOD – Back Sqaut Max 10-8-6-3-3-1-1-1
Hit 185 for a new PR, failed at 195. I know I can do more -apparently my 185 looked far too ”easy”, I know I lifted too much in the warm up sets which tired me out. Next time …
This week I’m back in T.O. for the first time since moving out West and am keen to keep up with with my workouts. Sunday was such a great day seeing the gang and enjoying the “blinding” Ontario sunshine for an outdoor WOD. Plus seeing Cyn’s home gym and hearing her home WOD plans inspired me to also commit to myself that I would do a better job training while away from the CF gym. Finding my own motivation has always been a big, big struggle for me. Lucky enough to be staying conference centre complex with a small gym (of course it’s full of your usual Globo machines), I had to get a bit creative and came up with the following:
Monday – taking some inspiration from a former CF Van work out, I did the following:
20 push press (20″/side)
30 push ups
40 sit ups
50 air squats
800 m run
50 air squats
40 sit ups
30 push ups
20 push press (note the PP was a sub for pull-ups from the Van WOD)
Time about 17 minutes
Tuesday
1000 m row
21 burpees
750 m row
15 burpees
500 m row
9 burpees
250 m row
Time… not really sure I think about 15 min. This one was brutal. I had originally planned to go with DB thrusters instead of burpees, but after getting off the rower after the first 1000m I opted for a quick change of plans!!!
There were a few odd looks at the gym… I really think my coworkers now officially think I’m nuts!
With the Vancouver dampness setting in, I’ve been craving chicken soup. Sourced some Kelp Noodles on my Thanksgiving trip to Portland.
For this recipe I sauteed some chopped garlic, onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms in some olive oil. Added about 1 cup chicken stock and 1/2 cup or so water and 1 inch of ginger cut into about 4 pieces, some hot chili flakes and pepper. Bring to boil and simmer for about 10 min. I then added a chicken breast, poaching it in the soup stock for about 10 minutes (remove). Added a handful of kelp noodles,some kale (torn up and stems removed) and a bit of Chinese cabbage. Simmered for about 10 minutes. Diced up the chicken and added it back to the soup and simmered for a few more minutes. Serve.
I recently managed to source some raw food wraps and crackers at Whole Foods in West Vancouver (check the raw food bar to see if your store has them). For breakfast today I used a raw tomato wrap which is basically tomato puree with spices that has been dehydrated. I’ll be trying to recreate these wraps in my dehydrator – stay tuned for results of the experiment.
Started by sauteing some mushrooms then added spinach to wilt. Removed from pan then scrambled an egg and some egg whites, then added the spinach mushroom mix to it. Put it in the wrap, added a few slices of avocado and rolled up. Depending on how strict your are with paleo, you could add some cheese. Also, you could also serve with guacamole and salsa for a Mexican feast!
I’ve also put some spinach, avacado and 4 oz of canned tuna in the wrap for a quick meal in a hurry.
Today’s workout was Tabata squats with a twist. You were required to complete a total of 16 reps in each 20 sec interval with 10 seconds rest in between. If you failed to complete 16 you were out. Scoring was based on the number of rounds completed.
This was a brutal one, but a really good one. My total score was 41 which works out to over 20 min of Tabata squats! All I have to say is ouch…right now, my body is moving very, very slow and I fear it’s only going to get worse today.
Warm up add on was 10 Rounds of Cindy (5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats) in teams of 3 with only one person working at a time.
Technique – Muscle Ups – I’m happy to report I still have a few in me, but they aren’t that pretty. Transition needs work and I will be focusing on working with some new cues to help me through the transition and away from my Rocky Balboa style!
Saturday was a MadLab tourney that brought various affiliates in Vancouver together. This year was the first event and there were about 24 people competing including 11 women.
The day consisted of 3 WOD - a little man, big man and a mixer. You were given 20 minutes to complete each work out.
WOD #1 “A hill too far”
20 pull ups
30 push ups
40 ab-mat sit ups
50 squats
800 m run
50 squats
40 ab mat sit ups
30 push ups
20 sit ups
Time 16:51
The push-ups are very different than what we did at CFTO with our elbows having to be close to your side as opposed to wide. I have to say these are a big challenge for me as they really work the triceps instead of letting you rely on chest strength!
WOD #2 “tower of power”
Full Squat Cleans – 1 minute on, then 2 minutes rest increasing the weight along the way. Points were given for the number of reps completed in each set with more points given for the higher weight.
Round 1 – 65 (1 point)
Round 2 – 95 (3 points)
Round 3 – 115 (5 points)
Round 4 – 135 (7 points)
Total points were 75 for me. I can’t remember how many in each set but do know I managed to crank out 4 at 115, but couldn’t get under the bar to get any at 135 – so frustrating as I have it in me as I can get the weight up, I just have a mental block and can’t drop under it. Will need to work on this movement.
WOD #3 “Frankenstein”
1000m row
10 power snatch @ 75
30 box jumps (20″)
5 rope climbs
Again, very strict on technique with the snatches as your arms had to be pretty much locked out as you came under the bar for it to count. I struggled to get the movement at first and had about 7 that didn’t count. Once I got the power back into my hips and worked with a split I was able to crank them out but did use quite a bit of time up on this one. The dreaded rope climb got me and I had no gas left. Managed to get 3 full climbs (the rope is twice as high if not more than CFTO), was about 2 ft from the top of my 4th and just had no gusto left – the day took it’s toll on me and I ended up running past the 20 min so got a DNF on this one 
All in all it was a great day and nice to meet more folks within the CF community. There are some serioulsy strong folks at CF Van and I’m thinking I may try to switch to some evening classes to get the extra push from this crew and build up my strenght.
I have to say that I’m enjoying running in Van as there is something so refreshing about the clean ocean air. I actually now like running WOD’s even if our course is uphill. I’m noticing good improvements in strength and have actually started running on the weekends on the seawall.
Today was a pure running WOD.
4 X 800m sprints with 4 min rest in between.
It was cold, but clear this morning and I used my 1st round to warm up the legs a bit so wasn’t going full tilt.
Times were 4:03, 3:30, 3:29 and 3:29
Today I think was the most fun I’ve had at CF Van so far as I felt like a kid again. It was a core focused workout with a gymnastics technique component.
Warm up add on:
4 sets of 30 seconds Double Unders, 30 seconds rest – count your set with the highest number…. wait for it… mine was 36 in one of the sets. Lets do the math that is more than one each second! I’ve been able to crank out 20+ in a row now on a good day 
I think I’ve had a break through but don’t want to jinx myself!
Then we did max Verticle Jumps – These were against the wall and jumping straight up. We all know I can’t jump… highest was 16 3/4 inches.
Technique:
Flips … yes that is right, flips. So much fun to do somersault flips onto a big mat. We were all like kids this morning, laughing and having a blast!
WOD – Triple Tabata Ab Shot (20 secs on, 10 sec rest, moving from each exercise)
Russian Twist (12lbs med ball)
Weighted OH sit ups (10 lbs DB)
V-sit ups.
Total score in 12 minutes… 201.
Wow what a core workout – I feel o.k. now, but we’ll see if I can sit up out of bed tomorrow morning. I can’t wait until we do flips again!