CrossFit Uncensored - My Journey Days 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

Day 3:
400m run w/ 45lb weight
20 power clean w/ thrust
400m run backwards
7 wall-ups
400m run
25 crickets
25 parrallel thrust
25 ghd sit-ups
20 squat arm lifts
130m lunge

Day 4:
Fran (name of this workout)
5 sets for time (10:52)
Thrusters (75lb)
Pull-ups (assisted with a band)

Day 5:
5 sets for time (9:41)
12 Wall Ball (15lb)
12 Toe To Bar (I had to do most of these at the beginner level)

Day 6:
Cindy (name of this workout)
AMRAP 20 minutes to complete as many sets as you can (12)
5 Pull-ups (assisted w/band)
10 Push-ups
15 Air Squats

Day 7:
Open Gym or makeup class. Since I didn't miss any classes I'm going to work on skills. I'm thinking pull-ups and rows for cardio since tomorrow we have a 5K run.

So I've listed my classes and scores for the past few classes. My starting date for CrossFit couldn't have really been any better (of course now I wish I would have started this much sooner) as I had no Softball games to get in the way of my training and no baseball games for the kids.

Day 3 was a killer, the lunges at the end were extremely hard to finish. The teamed up Saturdays are really fun.

Day 4 I felt great about my time and the thrusters (which are a front squat to the bar over your head) but I am bad on pull-ups.

Day 5 again I felt great about the wall ball tosses but the toe to bars require good form and more flexibility than I currently have. I hurt my shoulder in the first or second set and had to finish them off with more of knees to my chest. My shoulder gets thrown out often in softball and that's what it felt like I did, hanging from a bar with a shoulder feeling that way and trying to pull yourself upside down to touch toes to bar was painful to say the least.

Day 6 was really tiring. 20 minutes of working straight does not sound like much from the outside looking in but my 2 classes prior I completed in approx 10 minutes and I was hurting from those. I felt like I maintained a good pace, having assistance on the pull-ups helped me a lot with my shoulder but since I'm also new I just can't physically do 60 pull-ups yet. This is how you get there though. The push-ups proved to be the hardest for me, on my last set it took me about 1:30 to do 10 push-ups. I felt good with the air squats throughout the workout. At the end I couldn't do any more, I felt I gave a Max effort on this one and was happy with a 12 round score.

Friday is a 5k run which I'll have to do from home. I'll use a trusty Android app called Endomondo Pro to track my run, it maps it out, gives me my time, distance and anything else you would need. I don't think I've ever ran this far which is something like 3.1 miles.

A few things to add I picked up an app called Xercise which logs all my workouts and backs them up to my dropbox account. It's a CrossFit app with lots of cool things the iPhone version is iXercise and is due any day according to their website www.strike-labs.com. Another cool app I found is FitRadio, think Pandora but for the gym. It's free, many choices, no breaks. They claim to keep the bpm (beats per minute) high to push you through your workouts. Yes I'm a tech nerd so I dig this kind of stuff.

Lastly yesterday I posted about a new acronym I came across PMA (positive mental attitude) and it's something I'm going to strive for with the things I do in life. So far the CrossFit journey at www.crossfituncensored.com has been very fun and painful. Can't wait for my next class to begin.

CrossFit Uncensored - My Journey Day 2

So today I headed over to CrossFit Uncensored for my first official class of CrossFit (this is my 2nd full class but now I am foundation approved). I knew talking to the guys and girls on Thursday that today's class was going to be a tiring one. The class was pretty much a cardio intensive class and what way to start off your CrossFit journey than to see how out of shape you really are, LOL. So the class was setup of a warm up jog (my least favorite thing to do is just pure running) then we followed my a nice stretch routine. After the stretching we had some fun, played a game of musical medicine balls (think musical chairs). We walked, bear crawled, crab walked, skipped etc... all the way down to the winner. It was fun to do something unique like this but we all got a pretty decent little workout from it.

Now for today's class, it was called Tabata This: Row, Squat, Pull-up, Push-up and Sit-ups. The way it works is you have 8 rounds per station of the five things I just listed. You go as hard and as fast as you can for 20 seconds per round, you rest for 10 seconds in between rounds and then 1 minute while changing stations. So when it's all said and done your workout (actual time working not the rest periods) is 13 minutes and 33 to 34 seconds. Now this does not sound like it's hard but this is really 25 minutes of pure busting your ass as hard as your body will allow you too. When we were done my arms completely felt like jelly, I could barely lift them, I was dead tired. To score this workout you take your lowest score from each round and add the score from each workout together. I am sad to say I scored the lowest in my class but hey I'm new and cardio is not my strength and that's what I want to build more than anything else in my journey.

The funniest thing about this is, when we were done I couldn't help but think how much I wanted it to be Saturday morning already. I still can't feel my arms and I did my workout at 1:00PM today, so 10+ hours later they still are numb. I completely understand why friends of mine who have been doing this for the past weeks to years are in love with this program. I'm hooked and I just wish I would have heard about the CrossFit Box (gym) I'm going to earlier as they opened several months ago. I can't thank my friend Christy enough for telling me about it, her excitement about it sold me on giving this a go.

CrossFit Uncensored - Foundations

So this week Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I started and completed my foundations classes for CrossFit. I think it's a very smart thing they do. The classes go through all the basic weight lifting techniques for CrossFit. They really stress on making sure you are doing the lifts correctly and even I was surprised at how I was doing some of the lifts wrong. There's very small tweaks you can do in your posture for example that completely put the strain from the front of your legs to the back of your legs where it should be. Probably the lift that concerns me the most is the overhead squats, it just looks like bad things can happen, but the idea is to do the lift correctly. The weight lifting is going to be interesting for me because I use to lift a lot of weight when I was young but have not done so in a long time. Will the strength come back quickly, will it take forever? I guess it does not really matter in the grand scheme of things as I'm not going to just try to bulk up, in fact I don't really want to bulk up all that much, really looking more forward to leaning out. So now that I'm done with my foundations classes I can officially participate in any class, I can't wait. I typically won't be able to go on Fridays as CrossFit Uncensored does not offer a late night class at this time but I happen to have tomorrow off so I am excited to get to my Day 2 of CrossFit.

Waiting for the next CrossFit Class

Since my next CrossFit class is not until Tuesday I decided I better not sit on my ass but instead get some cardio training in. So I went on a little over 2 mile run this evening. I probably  more or less jogged but my shins feel like they got ran over by a truck right now. I worked up a good sweat and tried to concentrate on my breathing. It felt good to get the heart rate up.

My next class is called the foundation classes and they teach you the various lifting techniques. I was told there are 3 classes for this and you have to finish the classes before doing any of the weights. I'm guessing those classes are fairly low impact since there really is no weights involved while learning so I'm planning on doing some running after the classses unitl I get to start back up which is looking like it will be on Saturday. 

In the meantime I'm also going to be watching a little better what I eat. Going to stay away from crappy fast food as best I can. Try to eat a lot of Veggies and Fruit and less Carbs. Will stay away from the sodas as best as I can too, I stopped drinking the leaded sodas a long time ago and switched to diet, but those are still terrible for you too.

CrossFit Uncensored

CrossFit Uncensored - My Journey Day 1

So today begins hopefully an era of change in my life. I went from being young and working out a ton holding a body weight of about 155. To getting married, having kids and ballooning up to 205, which is a lot of weight for someone with my body type.
A couple years back a friend gave me a family photo for Christmas and I was not very happy about what I saw, by what I looked like. I decided to drop some weight, which was also beneficial to the severe lower back pain I was experiencing. I got to 175 and have went up and down about 5 lbs ever since. I did this by eating a bit better and continuing to play sports. I never got back into the gym though, nor did I want too. The gym never felt right to me, over crowded, a lot of waiting, a lot of working out alone, nobody to push you, etc.

Enter CrossFit, I stopped by on Thursday to check it out, thanks to my friend Christy Linton. I could tell right away, the positive attitudes, people pushing each other, working together even though it's an individual thing. The number of people at the CrossFit gym is a manageable size and you have coaches helping you. The things that stood out right away was these people really seem to have a special bond with one another and the coaches are wonderful. They were very nice, answered all my questions and made me feel comfortable in deciding wanting to give this a go.

Today's workout started off with a 2 mile warm up run (are you f'n kidding me I was thinking) I have not ran 2 miles in a very, VERY long time. I'm committed though so no complaining. Then we did a nice stretch and warm up routine before our WOD (Workout of the Day). There were 12 of us, happened to be 6 guys and 6 girls so we split the teams boy / girl. Our workout consisted of 10 rope pull ups, 25 push ups, 30 sit ups, 20 kettle bell lifts, 30 team Burpees (belly ups), team tire flip, 10 inverted push ups, 200 meter run with a 20lb ball, team tire flip, 30 team Burpees.

I was exhausted, my partner (Kayla) was amazing and very positive, I felt great when it was all said and done. I couldn't believe I even was able to finish, I can easily say I had not worked out that hard since I was 17 and I'm 34 now. This is going to be a fun journey. I can instantly tell why many of my friends love CrossFit. It's not going to be easy (I'm sore as hell right now), but seeing the type of shape the fellow CrossFitters are in is unbelievable. I hope to make some good friends and have a great time at CrossFit Uncensored.

CrossFit Uncensored

So at the beginning of the year I had a resolution to lose that last 10LBS by the end of March, getting me almost to the weight I was when I was 18 years old. Well I have not lost the weight but today I decided to join Crossfit, start on Saturday. I ultimately don't really care about the weight loss, I just want my lower back pain to go away.

www.crossfituncensored.com

Love this Monster Arnold Palmer Drink

RichardB360: @MonsterEnergy - Just tried Monster Rehab for the 1st time and it's an awesome drink. Tea + Lemonade + Energy + 10 Calories = #GOTIME

Original Tweet: Twitter/Richardb360

Sent via TweakDeck

Nice Guys

Nice guys always finish last, I learned it from my past. And if you never take control you'll have to let it go. When it was out of my hands I couldn't shape it, but now I'm glad I fell the time has taught me well.
All this time, That I've been waiting. All this time, The things I've been saying, and all this time, I feel it changing, the moments finally come around, after all this time.

Quote from an old friend, love the message.

It's not about having the skill to do something. It's about having the will, desire and commitment to be the best you are able to be.
~Robert Hernandez

Iration - Free Song #AllAboutLuv

Disasterpiece

Disasterpiece, yep that pretty much sums it up. Seems that all aspects of my life have played a game of chicken in which no aspect flinched.

I'm working hard to get things on track but sometimes frustration gets the best of me and I need to vent. I don't really talk to many of my friends about things, so many of them have no idea I'm struggling. I try to be pretty drama free and the last thing I want is gossip / drama on top of everything else. I can't stand people who get off on other peoples misery.

I need to remind myself of something the great Albert Einstein once said "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

Hopefully going back to school & making some new friends is the jump start I need to help find my opportunity.

True Friends

"a true friend never gets in your way, unless you are going down."-Arnold Glasow.
Thank you my cherished ones for getting in my way.

Dreamers

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible" ~Thomas Edward Lawrence

Goals

"Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines." ~Brian Tracy

Believe in me

I believe in me, I am confident my future will have the outcome I desire, if I put in the effort.~Richard Bowling

Thinking of you.... haha

Watch "Foxy Shazam - I Like It" on YouTube

Walk this way

Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood performed on the night before the Super Bowl and sang Walk this Way. I couldn't believe how high pitched Steven is still able to get his voice. It was a great memory of the old Run DMC duet I heard so many times growing up.

Rock and Roll

So tonight I put on some music for my kids. I put on the Black Eyed Peas, which is a group I know they love. My daughter (3) turns to me and says dad that's not rock n't roll, I want to hear rock n' roll. I must say I love my daughter, she definitely gets the rock n' roll side from me.

Time

"Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday." ~Brian Tracy

Reel Steel the Movie

I must say my son was glued to this movie. It's about the future of boxing as robots have replaced humans as the fighters. It's a great movie if you've got a little boy.

Psalm 147:3

He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.

True Love

The person who really loves you sees what a mess you can be, how moody you can get, how hard you are to handle. but still wants you in his/her life.

Be Strong

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Success

"Success doesn't come to you, you go to it." ~Marva Collins

Opportunity

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." ~Albert Einstein

Rainy Days

Being in Southern California we don' get a lot of rainy days. Todays rain is a welcome change in the weather for me. It will be nice to hang out with my kids by the fire and maybe watch an old movie while sipping some hot chocolate.

Strength

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will." ~Mahatma Gandhi

Will Power

"The difference between a successful person and others is not the lack of strenght, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in lack of will." ~Vincent T. Lombardi

Imagine

"Dreams are extremely important. You can't do it unless you imagine it." ~George Lucas

Quote for today

"Sorrow is knowledge, those that know the most must mourn the deepest, the tree of knowledge is not the tree of life." © Lord Byron

Costa Concordia Disaster

First off my heart goes out to all the families who lost a loved one.
I'm a fan of a cruise vacation. It's a fun way to see parts of the world with family and friends. When I first heard the Costa Concordia hit a sandbar I thought man that sucks, the ship must be stuck and I can only imagine the work that would needed to be done to get the Costa Cruises ship back into action. I had no idea it was a rock they hit which ripped a 165ft gash on the boat, ultimately leading to a sinking cruise ship and people getting injured and lives being lost. I'm sitting there thinking how could this happen, they probably take this same route every week. The how, what, why are really irrelevant though. The worst part is people lost their lives due to this huge mistake by the ships captain. You just don't think in this day and age a cruise ship being on a course that close to this type of danger. Seeing pictures of the sinking ship have me completely mystified.

A website I follow has done a nice job covering the news if anyone is interested in learning more about the accident.
Cruise Critic

I'm hoping another website John Healds Blog might be able to provide some information on the Costa Concordia. John is the cruise director for Carnival Cruise lines which is the parent company to Costa Cruises. John writes a very good blog in my opinion.

This one frustrated me a little but there is good info. I just hate that it always comes back to Money.

Football Playoffs

Man yesterdays Niners vs. Saints game was one of the best football games I've seen in a long time. Maybe right there with the Pittsburgh vs. Arizona Superbowl a few years ago. I grew up a Niners fan and I still follow them but have become a Chargers fan since living more in Charger Country. It's so refreshing to see one of the great NFL franchises in San Francisco be relevant again after so many years of underwhelming play and a carousal of coaches. I don't know how they will play against Green Bay or New York but I'm really excited for next weeks game.

The Denver Vs. New England game was much more surprising. Denver had played great defense last week. They had just played New England and it looked like the same game all over again. I don't think anyone thought Denver was the better team or anything but they do have a pretty damn good defense and Tom Brady made them look like a high school team. I'm certainly anything but a fan of the Patriots but sometimes you just have to tip your hat, Tom Brady is an amazing QB. I was more surprised how great New England's defense played than anything. They had been not that great all year but Denver just couldn't muster up Tebow time yesterday. I have many doubts that the Texans could stand a chance against the Patriots but a game vs. the Ravens could be a really good AFC road to the Superbowl.

Harbaugh Bowl Anyone?

Long Time Friends

I want to talk about something I have always felt lucky about, Long Time Friends.

I am still very good friends with the groomsman in my wedding which was over twelve years ago. Now I had four people and one of them is my brother in-law so he does not count but I do have a great relationship with him too. The other three people I'm still very close with. One of them lives in Texas so I don't get to see or talk to him as much as I'd like, I'd do anything for him and I know he would do the same for me. The other two people I grew up with. We all have very different lives but one of them I get to play baseball with every week so it's always nice to get to hang out. The other I don't see much but I think that's going to change here real quick. Anyway the point I'm trying to make is I feel really lucky that these people are in my life still. It seems most people I know if you ask them if they are still friends with people that were in there wedding, most of them would say not really. There is one other really good friend I have that's been there for a lot lately and I owe him a ton.

Thanks Brothers.....

The 13th day falling on a Friday

Friday the 13th

The fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia (huh, say that 3 times fast)

• According to folklorists, there is no written evidence for a "Friday the 13th" superstition before the 19th century.
• In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve hours of the clock, twelve gods of Olympus, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, the 12 Descendants of Muhammad Imams, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness. There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper or a Norse myth, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.
• Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales,^[3] and many other professions have regarded Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys or begin new projects. Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s.^[6][7] It has also been suggested that Friday has been considered an unlucky day because, according to Christian scripture and tradition, Jesus was crucified on a Friday.
• The 12 films have grossed over $465 million at the box-office worldwide. Five of the twelve films in the Friday the 13th series, including the most recent (reboot of the series), were released on a Friday the 13th.
• There are 3 Friday the 13th days in 2012, January, April & July.
• Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album was released in the UK on Friday, February 13, 1970.
• The 13th book in A Series of Unfortunate Events was released on Friday, October 13, 2006 by Lemony Snicket, also known as novelist Daniel Handler.
• The renowned rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur was pronounced dead on Friday, September 13, 1996.
• The asteroid 99942 Apophis will make a close encounter with Earth, closer than the orbits of communication satellites, on Friday, April 13, 2029.
• On Friday, August 13, 2004, Hurricane Charley slammed in to Southwest Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, the strongest hurricane to hit the United States since 1992.
• On Friday, 13 of January 2012, France had its credit rating downgraded by Standard & Poor's (this was today)

Work it out

So as life unfolds we all have our ups and downs.

Work it out

My Hollywood Treasure

 Heard this song today and wow did it hit me. Everyone hears songs differently of course but this one really made me think of one of the most important people in my life Kailynn. I know sappy post today.....

    Cinema

I could watch you for a lifetime                
You're my favorite movie
A thousand endings
You mean everything to me
I never know what's comin'
Forever fascinated
Hope you don't stop runnin'
To me 'cause I'll always be waitin'

You are my cinema
I could watch you forever
Action thriller
I could watch you forever
You are my cinema
A Hollywood treasure
Love you just the way you are
My cinema my cinema
A cinema a cinema a cinema a cinema

Stars spell out your name
Like in a science fiction drama
Romance growing
Like a flower in the summer
You always keep me guessin'
Forever my wonder
Hope you start undressin'
All my dreams and take me under

You are my cinema
I could watch you forever
Action thriller
I could watch you forever
You are my cinema
A Hollywood treasure
Love you just the way you are
My cinema my cinema
A cinema a cinema a cinema a cinemaa

Never know what movie you're playin'
Never know what movie you're playin'
Never know what movie you're playin'
Never know never know never know

You are my cinema
I could watch you forever
Action thriller
I could watch you forever
You are a cinema
A Hollywood treasure
Love you just the way you are
My cinema my cinema
A cinema a cinema a cinema a cinema

(Written By: Benny Benassi
BENNY BENASSI lyrics are property and copyright of their owners.
"Cinema" lyrics provided for educational purposes and personal use only.)

CES is Tech Geek Overload

It's one of the best times of the year for technology geeks like myself. CES 2012 has kicked off. I must admit the chicBuds booth (pics to the left and right) looks amazing from the pictures I saw. They are going to rock the show this year no doubt.

I've been checking my favorite websites for news through the application ChannelCaster (@OneLouderApps) which has made it nice and easy to follow CES through 2 of my custom channels Android 360 & Tech 360. I also use Pulse (@pulsepad) for direct feeds for some of my favorite websites like Android Central (@androidcentral) & The Verge (@verge) that don't incorporate twitter.

All the product announcements have me on information overload and it's fun to see what actually ever makes it to market. Last year was the Android abundance of tablets to go after the iPad that stood out to me. Looking forward to seeing everything and deciding what really sticks out.

I do know that the @chicBuds girls are on that path. Well thought out products designed for females by females, that's a concept that's sorely missing in women's electronics.

Bad People

So over the weekend my wallet was stolen out of my car. Now I learned the hard way because A) I left it in the car and B) I forgot to lock the car, which is something I never do. Although that may not have stopped the thieving bastards. Apparently there has been a run of this lately in my neighborhood as our local weekly paper the "Friday Flyer" had a story posted about it. Unfortunately it happened on Friday night before I saw the article.

This person (or these people) went and charged up a bunch of stuff from 2 different stores before I realized what happened and cancelled my debit card. The bank told me I have to let the charges go through before they can reverse them (are you kidding me). I had a couple gift cards from the holidays in my wallet, no cash, my license, AAA, Costco, Gym and POA cards. Could have been worse I know. The wallet (Brown Leather Coach) was a really nice gift from my wife so I'm probably most bummed about the loss of that than anything.

It's so frustrating when stuff like this happens at your home. Feeling violated is never anything I would wish for anyone to feel like. I hope this person knows that Bad Karma happens to Bad People.

So today I spent the day (had to take a day off work) recouping the things stolen from me. I was able to also take care of something from one of my other blog posts and talk to one of the college counselors and re-apply for school to get started on finishing the requirements for my Bachelors degree. I'm excited to get started even know I know it's going to be a long road. Next step is to re-take the entry tests because it's been so long and then pick some classes and head back. I just hope they have plenty of options because my current employer won't work with me on this.

Friendship today

Is this what friendship has become in today's world?

Minds

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."-Eleanor Roosevelt

Go Far

"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far" - T. Roosevelt

There's no excuse not to dream

I no longer wish to feel like it's unfortunate I have to go to work. I feel fortunate to have an employer but I am completely unfulfilled in my professional career. If you have ever seen the movie Wanted there is a scene where the main character has a panic attack when his boss confronts him with the NIN song Everyday is Exactly the Same playing in the background.

Long story short that's a snap shot of my work life for the last couple years. I got comfortable, settled and kept telling myself I am just happy to have a job in this economy.
I made an appointment today to speak with a college counselor next week. Have to start somewhere and this is my long term plan, next up is to focus on short term.
It's time for me to really work on my dreams. I've always had some bullshit reason in the past not too.

Back to the grind

The holidays are over, unfortunately it's time to go back to work.
My holiday season was actually much better than I anticipated they were going to be. I guess the stars aligned for a brief moment in time for me to see what I have with my family and friends. I have a lot of great people in my life. It's time for me to show them how much they mean to me.
For now it's time to get back to the daily grind.

Resolutions

My New Year Resolutions are simply:
Learn something practical
Read a book
Make appointment for a checkup
Go back to school
165 by 3/31/12 - dropped and kept off the 25 extra lbs I was carrying around, time for that last 10.
Open a savings account
Conquer a fear
Help someone else
Visit a new destination