May 8, 2017

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After a restful weekend with a few ice baths, some good food and more sleep than I am used to, I started the week with a feeling of being on fire.  The ice has been very helpful in recovery, but I did read a few articles and listen to a podcast or two by Rhonda Patrick (who is completely awesome, by the way.  She has a way of being able to condense incredibly technical and intensely boring medical journals down to something that I can understand and does it while keeping fitness and longevity goals in mind) that made me second guess the ice bath timing.  I have been hitting the ice immediately after the workout which could be undoing alot of the good work I just did.  After watching the video below and compiling much other data, I think that I am going to postpone the ice until later in the day or at least 1 hour after the workout.  Check the video with Rhonda Patrick and Dr Mercola for the reason why: (The whole video is fascinating, but at 21:37 into the video, she talks specifically about what happens immediately after the workout and why your body needs this time to develop inflammation.  This short time is actually quite responsible for gaining strength from training.)

I highly recommend both Mercola and Rhonda Patrick's podcast as well as finding and listening to her on all of the podcasts that she has done with Joe Rogan and Tim Ferris.

This summer, we are going to build a sauna in our shed out back and we can do contrasting hot and cold.  Until then, I can sit in my attic for a few minutes which is probably hotter than any sauna.  Follow this up with a dip in the ice and we have a redneck XPT course right here.

Today's workout was short, but intense.

Warm Up

Deadlift 5-5-3-3-1-1-1

My weights 225-245-265-285-305-325-345 (miss)

then

100 Burpees for time

I was ecstatic to look at the clock after 100 straight and see 4:35.  This is a new and all time PR for me.  It is so exciting because PR's are funny.  There are so many factors that go into a PR.  Temperature, time of day and other such factors can definitely influence a few seconds here or there, but on most things, you could be doing the work slightly different from the last time.  Several things remain consistent though.  100 burpees is 100 burpees.  We do it the same every time; simply flop down on the ground, get back up, jump and clear the ground and clap overhead.  I have tried this simple workout on a clock since 2006 and have logged all attempts.  Last year, I did 100 straight through for the first time ever and attributed it to practicing the Wim Hof method every morning. On that day, I was shocked to look up at the clock and see 4:55 as that was the first time I had ever broken 5 minutes. 

Today, I was nervous about this attempt because I wanted to at least measure up to the last one.  I started slow and relaxed and at about 30 I thought I would need to take a break.  I hit 50 and felt good. 60, 70, 80, 90 and I knew I had it.  I finished 100 today in 4:35 which is an all time PR for me and an all time gym record.  This comes from the whiteboard:

I started keeping my workouts on Beyondthewhiteboard.com in 2009.  This graph shows a steady decline in the time it takes me to complete this workout.  There are a few spikes which are when I have done this either with a 50 lb ruck or a 20 or 30 lb vest. 

With all this training and attempts at recovery, the goal is the same for me.  Continue to get better, stronger, faster despite getting older.  It is definitely working.  I will say, for sure, that as I age, I am spending more and more time on warm up, accessory movements, mobility, recovery, sleep quality, supplements and paying more attention to diet and hydration than ever before.  It is clear to me that if I want to continue to improve, all of this has to be on point and dialed in.  Even 5 years ago, I was able to just go workout and call it good.  Maybe I would stretch my hamstring a little.  Now, by focusing on all of these factors, I am seeing big improvements as I crowd 50 years old. 

Anyone can do this.  Anyone can be in their best shape at 50 years old.  It does take alot of work and time, but it is totally worth it in my opinion.  Today, I feel like I am in the best shape of my entire life and it is an amazing feeling.  I am not restricted by any physical task. 

Thanks for being on this journey with me.  Let me know your story of success as you age.

May 5, 2017

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UPDATE on Kevin:  Jody, Kyle and I had lunch with Kevin yesterday.  I was AMAZED at his progress.  I chose the picture above (eventhough it is a poor quality picture and someone's finger is on the lens) because it shows Kevin's personality.  Yesterday, we saw that Kevin again and it was SO nice to see.  He is doing incredibly well, funny as always and has a bunch of new material from his last few months.  It made me so happy to see him up, moving, laughing, clear and completely focused on living life to the fullest.  At the darkest moments, Kevin had an extremely good attitude focused on gratitude for the things he had.  He was grateful to BE HERE.  He was grateful for his loving wife, Nicole and their children.  He was thankful for his family and his friends.  This attitude never faltered and today he has SO MUCH MORE to be thankful for and continues living with his attitude toward gratitude.  I am thankful and grateful for his recovery and cant wait to watch him progress all the way back to 100%.  We love you Kevin.

Warmup:

Box Breathing 5 minutes

30 overhead squats with PVC

10x each: Pushups, Situps, Dips, Pullups, Burpees

Skill: Jump Rope 3 minutes

Core: Every Minute on the minute (EMOM) do max reps for 30 seconds of Pushups/Situps

Odd Minutes: Situps

Even Minutes: Pushups

Continue for 12 minutes (6 rounds of each)

Workout: A.
“Tailpipe” – Sandbag style
Partner 1 runs 200m, while Partner 2 Holds the sandbag overhead. P1 and P2 switch roles when P1 returns for the run. Do a total of three sets for time. If the partner holding the sandbag drops it, both partners do 10 burpees for each drop.

 

Ice Bath- >5 minutes

 

Everybody loves the ice bath...and I miss Bravo

 

 

May 4, 2017

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Laird Hamilton knows whats up.  He uses ice as a regular part of his workout and recovery.  With the new ice machine, we can now do it any time we want, as many times per day as we might like.

FINALLY!  I have a working, functional ICE MACHINE!  Even better...it produces pellet ice like Sonic uses.  I LOVE it and today was the inaugural ice bath day.  To make the ice bath super effective, of course, we needed to stimulate the system.

1. Wim Hof Breathing x 3 + pushups

2. Warm up Front Squat and Deadlift

3. Bell

3 rounds for time of:

21 Deadlifts, 185/135 lbs

15 Pull-ups

9 Front Squats, 185/135 lbs

4. 5 minute Ice Bath followed by 2 minutes up to knees

5. 10 min quiet time (meditation/focus)

 

I'm so excited that I can now hit an ice bath any time I want and so can anyone else.  Recovery NOW!

     

    May 3, 2017

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    Wednesday is generally some sort of run day.  For the last few months, I have been avoiding running due to a calf injury, but I was back at it today with a classic RRL benchmark.

    Normal Park Stairs is a workout that we do that is incredibly simple, uses the environment around us and it doesn't take very long...perfection.

    Several times, a debate starts in the morning as to whether there are 3 or 5 rounds of stairs on this workout.  After looking back through the results, it is final...this one has 3 rounds.

    To complete this workout, simply run to the set of stairs (about a mile) and run to the top.  Do 10 burpees there and run to the bottom where you complete 10 clap pushups.  Repeat that 3 times, then run home.

    Alan holds the record on the Whiteboard at 25:25 for this workout, but Mike claimed that he once got it under 25 minutes.  I asked if he documented it on one of the boards in the gym or online and he said no to which I replied..."Then it never happened".  HOWEVER...  I did run across this note in my results

    My daughter showed me how to use Snapchat to add some stuff to it.  Congratulations, Mike, you officially hold the gym record. 

    Today, however, we both came in a little slower at 27:56.  I feel like I have ALOT of room for improvement.  My running felt slow and there was plenty of walking on the stairs.  I think I could get it under 25 minutes with lots of work, but I see that it is possible.

    Have a great day!

     

    May 2, 2017

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    After a very strong storm yesterday and then 30-40 mph winds yesterday afternoon, the sky is incredibly clear today.  All the dust and pollen has been blown away or knocked down by the rain and the air is so clear that I can see every tree on the mountains.  It is like getting a new pair of glasses.

     

    Incredible.

     

    Today we did this one and it was tough.  Thanks Mike Burgner and CrossFit Weightlifting

    First, 1 rm clean

    then

    May 1, 2017

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    Last night we had a major storm front move through.  I would estimate straight line winds at 40-50 mph which resulted in downed trees and power outages.  Our power went out at 7 pm and was just recently restored.

    We had a dark and rainy workout this morning.  I had a jump box in my car that allowed me to plug in a small lamp and then I pulled my truck into the driveway and hit the lights kind of like Vince Papalli in Invincable...well, probably not really like that in reality but it felt like it.

    We did this one

    Front Squat 3-3-3-3-3

    then

    "15 strainght"

    15 OHS

    15 Pullups

    15 Thruster

    15 Pullups

    15 Front Squat

    15 Pullups

    15 Push Press

    15 Pullups

    This is all done with 95 lbs, however, there was a kicker.  Kicker= If you drop the barbell, OR drop off the bar at any point that = 15 Air Squats

    Then some mobility to round out the day

    April 30, 2017

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    I always watch what Rich Froning does.  I follow him on Instagram and also his gym, CrossFit Mayhem.  There are always some incredible feats of fitness but occasionally, he blows my mind with volume and the speed at which he and his group can complete tasks.

    I came across one a week ago that I couldnt believe.  It is listed in the picture above.  It is a simple workout really and decreasing ladder of Assault Bike Calories and Clean and Jerks, but the Kicker is that the Clean and Jerk weights increase as the reps decrease. 

    When I first saw this, I thought it was an individual workout.  Rich did it in 38 minutes.  I looked over the volume and weights and thought that maybe he could pull that off.  So, I planned to tackle this workout one day and began to think about how it might be possible to complete. 

    My first thought was obviously to scale the weights.  Doing 90 clean and jerks at 135 lbs is the equivalent of Triple Grace and that is just the first round of this workout.  Then, it continues to increase until 10 reps at 225.  I dont know if I am capable of 10 reps at 225 fresh and I knew that I wasnt going to be able to pull that off after a couple of hundred reps and calories.

    As I proposed this to my friends last night, I suggested starting at 75 and going to 155.  To my surprise, some were interested.  However, I received a text from PSC last night asking if I was sure that this wasnt a TEAM workout.  I looked back through the posts and sure enough, it had been a team workout.  Thank God!

    So, I decided to go from 95 to 175 on this one with a partner.

    I love this format because while working with a partner, you get a great interval workout and you and your partner are pushing each other to decrease the rest time and move faster.

    This morning presented some challenges but we handled them well and it is a good example of how you could program something like this and deal with odd numbers and uneven athlete capabilities. 

    We had 5 people show up of various levels.  2 guys that were pretty even paired off and did it as a standard team workout.  I partnered with one of our top runners who is not one of our top weightlifters.  I set up a bar and planned on going from 95 to 175 while he set up a bar and went from 45 to 135, which was equally challenging to him as my weights were to me.  Our last guy simply cut all the reps in half and stormed through on his own.

    It worked out perfectly.  For me, I was pushed very hard because my partner was able to cycle the lighter weights quickly, so my rest time was minimal. 

    My team finished in 41:47 which is sobering when I realize that Rich and his crew did it in less time with far heavier weights.  He IS the best in the world.....so....

    We finished up with a 5 minute ice bath which was welcome and needed.

    April 27, 2017

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    Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I was down in Florida filming with my son, Turner, Dr. Brian Boxer-Wachler and Olympic Gold Medalist Steven Holcomb. This was an amazing opportunity to get these 3 individuals together.  Steven and Turner had a condition called Keratoconus with is a condition that weakens the cornea and allows the cornea to lose its shape and go from a basketball shape to more of a football shape.  The change in shape degrades the vision badly.

    Steven had 20/1000 vision and was able to completely restore his vision through the work of Dr Brian Boxer-Wachler and then went on to win Olympic Gold.  I found out about this procedure through Steven's book, But Now I Can See, which is highly recommended.  I made contact with Dr Brian's office and made our appointment to get Turner to the office. 

    We defeated Keratoconus.

    I was so happy to see Turner spend a little time with Steven and talk to him about all things associated with the condition and the recovery.  In addition, he was able to head to the gym with Steven.  How many times does anyone get a chance to workout with an Olympic gold medalist?

    I hit a bunch of decks of cards while on my trip.  The guys crushed at the garage.

    Today was my first day back and the weather was an uncharacteristic thunderstorm at 5 am.  Believe it or not, only one person showed up, Mike Drew.  We tore through this one with thunder, lightning and heavy rain outside.

    Power Clean 5-5-3-3-1-1-1

    then

    Elizabeth

    21-15-9

    Power Clean

    Ring Dips

    then

    Annie

    50-40-30-20-10

    Double Under

    Abmat Situp

    then

    Gratitude

    6 minutes

     

    Ready to get after it tomorrow

     

    April 10, 2017

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    After a good weekend of rest and some extra sleep, I was feeling really good this morning.

    We started off a dark morning with stars visible in the sky.  After my Wim Hof Breathing (3 +pushups) the guys showed up and we had a large group.

    Today's workout is a 2 man team, so everyone split into teams and we warmed up then:

    Deadlift

    5-5-3-3-1-1-1

    then

    Run, 400 m

    100 Deadlifts, 225 lbs

    Run, 400 m

    100 Hang Power Cleans, 155 lbs

    Run, 400 m

    100 Shoulder-to-Overheads, 115 lbs

    Run, 400 m

    This is done as a 2 man team.  Split reps any way.  Run together

    Trevor pulled a little more of my weight as he did a few extra deadlifts, and some extra Cleans.  I was able to help on the overhead a bit.

     

    I pulled this workout from the CrossFit Mayhem site (Rich Froning).  They had the Cleans at 185 and the overhead at 135.  Beasts up there in Cookeville.

    April 6, 2017

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    This morning we had some fun with some workouts to music

    1. Roxanne-by the Police

    Everytime they say

    Roxanne=1 burpee

    Light= 1 squat

     

    2. Bring Sally Down= squat with 53 lb kettlebell

    Bring Sally Up= Stand

     

    3. Roxanne= pullup

    Light=T2B

     

    4. Bring Sally Down= down position of pushup with only nose resting on the ground

    Bring Sally up= Top of pushup/plank

     

    5. Bring Sally Down=plank on elbows

    Bring Sally Up= Plank in top of pushup position

     

    6. Mobility=

    Super Couch

    Pigeon