July 30, 2011

Saturday on the Stairs

Went to the stairs on a beautiful Saturday morning with Alex, Sarah and Sammie.  As we contemplated just how we would do the stairs today Sarah decided the race course is too short, the the bowl was too short and that what we should do is add the two sets of stairs that go up out of the bowl.  That adds 162 steps to the count which makes it 2,808 total steps.  That's a lot of steps. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 11:13 p.m.

July 29, 2011

Annie, are you OK?

Annie Sakamoto is a stud.  When she did this chipper she was so buggered up somewhere along the line someone asked..."Annie, are you OK?"  Any workout that messes up Annie will destroy we ordinary human creatures.  It did.  Rich pulled off another coup and beat us all but we were all sweaty messes as a result.  Tough work. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 9:26 p.m.

July 28, 2011

Fronts Squats Too?

First we did a DL and Press workout and Alex got up to 405.  Pipe dream for me.  Tiffany came over to me and asked me a question about the lift and I was advising her to make sure she raised her shoulders with her hips and told her how it was not the load that would hurt her it was an improper lift that would hurt her.  I told her to imagine there was a load on the bar she could not lift and she went and attempted it, keeping good solid form.  As an example I had 245 on the bar and she had gotten up to 215 and topped out in her workout so I had her set up on my bar intending for her to strain against the bar, not lift it, but also not hurt herself.  So she gets all set up, pulls, and the bar moves.  Holy cow, she can lift that.  I gave her some positional cues, got her set up again and she pops 245 up.  You should have seen her smile.  An instant 30 lb PR.  "Can I do that again?"  she asked me.  I said, "NO.  We need to add weight."  So I put a couple 5's on to bring the weight to 245 and it took a couple tries but she got it...in all a 40 lb PR.  After we all deadlifted and then did our presses we did Double Play which is Baseline twice and after that we did 20 reps of front squats.  We're all smoked. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 9:53 p.m.

July 27, 2011

Finger in the Eye

Sammie did the workout in the morning in 35:00 and came back to the gym in the afternoon and wanted to do it again.  She said, "If I do it faster, do I get that time?"  I told her she would and she went after it with a vengence.  The only adjustments were a 750 row for the 1000 and she could touch her feet on a box for her pullups...but she didn't do jumping pullups she did a nice kip with just a tiny toe off as she rocked back on her heels.  Tiffany flipped me off so I think it must have been a really good workout for her. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 2:37 p.m.

July 26, 2011

OMG, This is just stupid

Snatch and Clean and Jerk workout today followed by Chum Bucket.  Alex, Sarah and I decided to skip the WOD and went to the stairs instead.  We ran into Georgia there and she ran with us...coasting along with Alex breathing normally, not exerting herself.  When Alex was done she ran back and finished the last 4 sets or so with Sarah, and still was not out of breath.  She's an alien or a robot, or an alien robot.  When we were still in our first stair climb Sarah commented on her use of the weighted vest, "OMG, this is stupid."  That summed it up for me too.  When we were done with the 1,628 we did 10 sets of max effort stair runs on the 2 minutes.  That was harder than the vest.  We managed between 32 and 35 seconds per effort for the up and down. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 4:22 p.m.

July 25, 2011

Playing with Fran

20 rep squats first and then we played with Fran.  Fran play consists dividing each of the sets into 3 smaller pieces.  So you do 7 thrusters and 7 pullups 3x, 5 thrusters and 5 pullups 3x and then 3 and 3 of each 3x.  This is not a favorite workout of mine and it always leaves me breathless.  In the afternoon Sammie did the workout again because she didn't like that I beat her.  She even argued that point because she did the workout wrong and was done in 2 minutes...which is too fast even for her.  She only did it one time through 7-5-3.  She wanted all the time back that she stood around after having stopped and before she restarted.  I gave her 10 seconds.  She wanted 15.  In the afternoon she called time at 5:15 or some crazy thing but I told her she wasn't squatting all the way down with her thrusters and she said, "But I was tired."  Apparently she thinks that makes it OK.  Discussing Virtuosity might be difficult with a 9 year old.  Tiffany lost 9 lbs.  Last week.  Now that's a helluva start. 

Stairs tomorrow morning.  We will go after we finish the 10:00 class so that will put us at the bowl around noon or so.

Posted by Eugene Allen at 11:32 a.m.

July 24, 2011

Sunday. Day of Rest. NOT.

It was a perfect day for the stairs and when we showed up there we ran into Brian who is organizing the Unleashed race there at Stadium.  The race course will be 1,628 steps which is less than we are used to (he is counting the up and down steps) and though you go every other row you add the two sets that go up and out of the bowl.  http://www.unleashedatstadiumbowl.org/  This is the link to sign up for the race so sign up and let's go get our stairs on. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 3:27 p.m.

July 23, 2011

Rich hangs on

Just Mike on Saturday with his sights on Rich's excellent Death to the Infidel time.  Close but no cigar today.  That would have been a great fight had they done the WOD together.  The fur would have been flying for sure. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 6:44 p.m.

July 23, 2011

Missed one

This was Thursday's workout which came after a heavy back squat workout and a set of 20 front squats afterwards.  Tough leg day to be sure. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 1:41 a.m.

July 23, 2011

Death to the Infidel

Sammie ran with us, was faster in the air squats, held her own with the clean and jerks but she was not so hot with pullups and dips.  She had to jump a bit and counted the slightest upward movement.  We'll have to work on those.  Rich really blazed through today...sometimes he is just unstoppable. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 1:30 a.m.

July 20, 2011

Up the Down Staircase

Pure Metcon today after some heavy lifting days.  Just body weight movements at speed.  Awesome

Posted by Eugene Allen at 6:50 p.m.

July 19, 2011

Hot Gaits

Now, before you get all uppity about the spelling, I do indeed mean gait which is the wonderful artistic license I get here with calling this workout Thermopylae.  The 300 Spartans that stood their ground at the Hot Gates of Thermopylae held off the Persian hoards until they were defeated by an attack from their rear.  With my use of the term gait I am speaking to what this Spartan named workout concentrates its effect.  Monday's Slam the MOAB was primarily upper body and todays Thermopylae was almost entirely lower body.  A nice balance is set.  Ran the stairs with the kids today, Sammie knocked out a 37:23 on her first try and on this second effort Zachary was 33:14.  So Sammie's sub 20 Thermopylae was after her stair effort and she did the workout in a skirt and flip flops.  Crazy. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 9:44 p.m.

July 18, 2011

What a Mutha

Ball Slams and MOAB's today which are the Mother of All Burpees.  It's a burpee interupted with a Renegade Row, then a squat clean thruster.  The Ball Slams were the easy part.  Next time we will double up on the ball slams.  Great workout, in a crushing sort of way. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 5:56 p.m.

July 16, 2011

Dash, Warrior

Meadowbrook Farms was host to the Washington version of the Warrior Dash and fast runners, slow runners, people in weird costumes, walkers, beer drinkers and mud crawlers all crowded their way into the North Bend area this morning, and will again tomorrow to partake of 3.55 miles of running with an occasional mud bog or obstacle of some type thown in.  There were walls to climb over and wires to go under (as in barbed) tall walls with ropes, balance beams and nets and at the end a big A frame cargo net contraption, a pair of fire lines to jump over and an under barbed wire mud bog.  Not cloth tape and pillows, barbed wire height control and front loader and fire hose replenished muddiness.  That pit captured shoes, pants, pride and my Olympus camera.  Damn, I had some good pictures in there.  I hung around hoping someone would come up with it but no dice.  Jennifer B. finished a couple minutes in front of me, Cherie and Matt came and raced and had a great time.  All in all it was a blast and I would do the race again. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 11:31 p.m.

July 15, 2011

I've Fallen and I don't want to get back up

Super Squats to start and then Freefall.  Reps of 10, 9, 8 and so on down to 1 can be misleadingly difficult.  Sammie had another good day and ripped through the workout at super speed.  Her weights were light but she's just 9 for crying out loud and she only weighs 52 lbs.  She's going to be rather studly in a few years if she keeps this up.  Warrior Dash tomorrow. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 10:57 p.m.

July 14, 2011

Strength on Thursday

Snatch it, clean it, jerk it then 4-play and at the end front squats, hmmmm...maybe the 4-play should have been first. Sammie did the snatch and clean and jerk workout and then 4-play and she beat everyone.  Pretty good loads too. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 2:17 p.m.

July 13, 2011

Totally Demented

Dementia (taken from Latin, originally meaning "madness", from de- "without" + ment, the root of mens "mind") is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging. It may be static, the result of a unique global brain injury, or progressive, resulting in long-term decline due to damage or disease in the body. Although dementia is far more common in the geriatric population, it may occur in any stage of adulthood.

There is also a fairly good chance that only someone who is demented would do this workout or that if someone who is not demented would become so afterwards, or during.  We all made it through OK, but it was a tough go.  This is not a good workout to do without having breakfast, you will need the energy.  Just ask Corey. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 7:06 p.m.

July 12, 2011

Back Squats and Baseline

I did my workout in the morning and afterwards went to the stairs with my kidlets.  This time it was Zach that got into the swing of things and he did the whole bowl with me.  This gave me just the excuse I needed to not run because I had no desire at all to run those stairs today.  The squats and Baseline did me it. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 4:40 p.m.

July 11, 2011

7 x 3 x 5

Back Squats first today and then Blackjack.  Blackjack is awful enough as it is but with the Super Squats just before it, Blackjack became, at least for me, a lesson in metabolic failure.  The dog didn't eat my homework, I was just crushed.  Great workout.  Sammie made up Time to Play and knocked it out on her own.  Those box jumps to a 22" box are really something to see and she somehow manages to do the rope jumps with an adult sized rope.  She's 9, when she's a teen ager we won't be able to keep up with her any more. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 8:12 p.m.

July 10, 2011

A weekend of stairs

Two days in a row is tough.  My legs go rubbery early on and turned into weaker stuff as I went along.  Michael surprised us all on his first day and went sub-22...a great time but an amazing first time.  Steve took off 4 minutes from his last effort...great improvement. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 12:13 p.m.

July 8, 2011

Got Air?

Got Air is not exactly rhetorical in this workout, it's more of a snide question asked with a knowing smirk.  The answer is, of course, know.  If you are doing Got Air?  you most definately got no air...and in spite of the poor grammar, the sentiment is spot on. 

Steve and Joey are doing the Muddy Dash or the Filthy Foot Race or some sort of mud run tomorrow, Saturday, which is why we were going to do the stairs on Sunday.  I forgot why I told everyone Sunday and when everyone told me Saturday would be better I changed it to Saturday.  Lance just reminded me that Steve would be doing the stairs on Sunday.  Damn, now I have to do it two days in a row just to be fair to Steve.  So, Stairs both days.  Meet at the gym at 10:00.  Well, only both if you are made of that kind stuff.  Stupid stuff.

Posted by Eugene Allen at 7:18 p.m.

July 7, 2011

Hammered

Yesterday I asked, somewhat rhetorically, what was harder than Woodpecker Lips.  It was more a vehicle to explain the nature of the name of the workout, not so much an actually inquiry.  Well, as it turned out, today's workouts surely qualify as a collective candidate for the Harder Than Woodpecker Lips title.  The morning was lightly attended and while Scott S. did Woodpecker Lips and Sammie and Zach did a workout she made up called Crawling Baby.  She has paid attention to nameing workouts in a way that represents what they do to you.  Anyway, I did the DL/Press workout and then went and ran the stairs with Michelle.  Back at 4:30 for Jackie and Super Front Squats.  We were all miserable but I think I was the most miserable.  Little Sarah at 115lbs got a PR DL today of 200 for 2 reps at the end of her DL workout.  Crazy good. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 8:59 p.m.

July 6, 2011

Woodpecker Lips

So, what's harder than Woodpecker Lips?  Well, my raingutter's for one thing.  Why it is that the idiot woodpecker in my neighborhood can't tell a tree (branches, leaves, bark, vertical, moderatly soft with yummy bugs inside) from my gutters (hard creases, metal screen cover, impossible to grip with little birdie feet, very hard and noisey when woodpeckered, hard and impenetrable with no bugs inside and horizontal) and insists on ONLY doing a machine gun imitation when I am trying to sleep?  I wasn't expecting an answer, but as you can tell I am not a fan of woodpeckers.  Anyway, Woodpecker Lips are hard and in a workout sense Woodpecker Lips is hard.  Today was Shannon's 3rd inside the gym workout, 4th if you count the stairs.  She had a great line the other day, "If I could feel my arms, I'm sure they would hurt." 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 8:39 p.m.

July 5, 2011

This might hurt a bit

Tuesdays and Thursdays this month are going to be a bit uncomfortable...with Thursdays being a bit worse since front squats are added in at the end of the workout.  Today was Snatch and Clean and Jerk with reps of 1 x 4, 3 x 3 and 4 x 2 with continuous weight increases and then Evil at 55%.  It was pretty awful. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 8:51 p.m.

July 4, 2011

Wretched

Wretched is the name of today's WOD but it is also the name of the sensation you get when you do your Super Squats, then your WOD and then go to Stadium HS and run the stairs.  First time for Steve and he was visited early by the gorilla that jumps on your back when you create more lactate with your exertion than you can flush out.  Beautiful day for the stairs and as usual we did 100 yards of walking lunges after the stairs. 

Posted by Eugene Allen at 7:15 p.m.

July 4, 2011

Sunday the 3rd

Posted by Eugene Allen at 2:06 a.m.

July 2, 2011

Stadium and Saturday

Posted by Eugene Allen at 3:38 p.m.

July 1, 2011

Santa Maria

Posted by Eugene Allen at 2:54 p.m.