Tuesday, September 30, 2008

A couple of experiences richer!


Not too much has happened this last week, that would qualify as earth shattering news, but at the same time I have had a couple of experiences that will definately make working out and keeping a strict diet a lot easier in the future!


Epiphany 1!


Jenny and I started the full on Zone diet last week. I have always wanted to give it a try after hearing about the fantastic results everyone on it have made, The problem for me however, has always been that I have never felt that I had the time to sit down and get truly aquinted with the diet- and I have had so many things to do, that finding time every night to weigh my food, and prepare for the next day, felt like an impossibility.

So when Jenny decided to commit to the Zone 100%, and said that she would actually make the meals for me, I was stoked- to say the least. I am fully aware of the time and work that goes into preparing ONE persons meals, let alone two.. Jenny is an amazing person, and I am blessed to have her in my life.

We have discussed the particulars of entering the Zone with Brendan before, and closer at hand we have the diet encyclopedia Jonna (she honestly knows everything worth knowing about dieting- just look at her blog in the links colum) so we had a pretty good picture of how to get started, and how to divide our blocks.

Everything went really well, even if my mood was absolutely horrible all week, my body felt great, and I actually managed to get a new PR on 30 muscle ups 9:49. The problem however is that people around me were paying the price of my foul mood. The whole thing got to a peak on sunday, after I had had my cheat day on Saturday.. I was like an angry bee- hoovering around looking to pick a fight!

A short analysis by the diet wizard came to the conclusion that I needed to eat a clean diet(without counting blocks), with the ingredients of the Zone, for a week, to detox from the carbs, and then try to start putting my food on the scale, for a full on Zone.. I feel much better already!

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this week will go as planned and that I can begin Zoning monday next week!


Epiphany 2!


I told you all earlier that I was planning on taking it easy, in order to get back to full strength before going full on in the workouts again.

I have had that plan before, and never actually managed to stick to it. I have always felt that it was time to increase the intensity and the loads way to early. The result being that I have always carried some little part of the injury/cold etc with me- never really being 100% fit.. Well, this time I think I just might have learned my lesson. I have been taking it pretty easy, and allowed common sense to overcome my ego in the workouts. This has resulted in great workouts at something like 60-70% of the capacity I think I have- and I think that both shoulders/knees and a couple of other things that have been bothering me, are actually getting better.

For now I will not speculate as to when I'll be completely up and running again- but it sure feels better. I only wish I had listened to my body before.. 33 years old and still getting wiser:-)


Well, for now that is all, but I promise to be back shortly...


Much love


Mads

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Mr Miyagi returns!

Old school!
Can anyone guess who the guys in the picture are?

Way back in April I wrote a piece about the violent extention of the hip, and drew some rather bold comparisons to the movie "Karate kid".

I have decided to repost this piece, bacause of the simple fact that the essence of the piece I wrote still very much applies, and even more so after the Manchester certification- where the truth behind the words became stunningly clear.. Please enjoy:

Focus Daniel-san!

You have probably all seen the Karate kid movies (or am I getting old?).

Mr Miyagi takes Daniel under his wing and teaches him one technique. Through the movie Daniel discovers the essentials of the technique, and step by step begins to master it. At the end of the movie Daniel, who has now graduated to Daniel san, is put to the ultimate test, and finds that in the moment of truth, all he has to do is focus really hard and use the technique mr Miyagi has taught him, and he will save the day, get the girl, and drive of into the sunset!

Would'nt it be fantastic if Crossfit worked the same way? Would'nt it be fantastic if coach would give us one single move that would work magic in virtually everything we do? Imagine how easy it would be. Every time we would find ourselves in some sort of trouble (in our workout) all we would have to do was close our eyes, and remember the moment when coach shared his wisdom. We could then open our eyes, and from the pureness of knowing that we had the answer to all the riddles that cause us distress- execute the move coach had told us- and save the day!

The truth is that coach has given us a move that will make virtually every exercise easier! It is a move that will save the day, and make the predominant part of exercises you find in the crossfit regimen, easier!

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you- The violent full extention of the hip!

It is as simple as that. When you do squats, kettlebell swings, overhead squats, kipping pull ups, snatches, jumps, sprints, push press, split jerks etc. the list goes on and on forever and ever. The one thing you will find that these exercises all have in common is the violent full extention of the hip..

It is fantastically easy to forget where you need to focus. Instead of putting full focus on the bare essentials, you start to waiver off in search of the next big thing that will give you an edge, improve your time, allow you to use greater loads, post better scores! You start to read books by obscure authors (No names, but there are a few I have my eyes on) who claim that their way is the only way. These books will tell you to focus more on things like grip, a different stance, a different breathing technique etc. In your pursuit of perfection you begin to follow the advice put forth in these books, but for some strange reason, the gains made are minimal, and they have more often than not come at the expense of other exercises!

When from the beginning all you had to do was focus on the basics- ie. the violent full extention of the hip!

Im not saying we should stop our pursuit of getting better, and always striving towards increasing our performance. What I am saying is, that until we master the basics, there is no need to focus on anything else.

Before you begin to worry about getting an edge, build a Crossfit foundation to stand on, and let that be your base camp, when you begin your climb towards the top!

I hope you enjoyed:-)

Today I have taken it easy, and put my focus on technique, trying to take baby steps towards full recovery. So I did the following WOD:

5 rounds of
10 Deadlifts 85kg
10 Push ups

Then I did:
3 rounds of
10 K2E
10 GHD sit ups

It actually felt really good, and nothing hurt more than I had expected, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow.. I did'nt time the workout, since I wanted to focus on technique, and being such a sucker for time, I knew I'd rush through it if I set the timer..

I would also like to share another fantastic accomplishment with you. My better half, Jenny, weighs 58kg, and she got a new PR today. She nailed a 127,5 kg deadlift!
She is absolutely amazing, and I am as proud as she is.. It feels like there are some pretty awesome achievements in the making..

Until next time, much love

Mads

Monday, September 22, 2008

A side order of good luck, please!


I swore on this very blog, not too long ago that I would not make excuses if my workouts did not go the way I planned them. I swore that I would accept everything at face value, and try to grow from there on, and draw experience and knowledge from every single workout!


Well, then what do you do if you can't work out?

We got back from the cert in Manchester, and I had to admit to myselt that the injuries I had been trying to forget all about on the way to the cert, could no longer be ignored, and I needed to adress them. So I decided to take a week of, and then start up slowly today!

It sounded like a briliant plan, until this morning when I woke up with a sore throught, and a cold with an immidiate e.t.a.

Even though I have been known to be stubborn (read borderline stupid) at times, not even I am stubborn enough to ignore this. So what do you do?


This was supposed to be the first in a long line of baby steps towards full recovery.. I guess I'll just have to wait a few more days for that!


My question to you is! How do I get rid of this sore throught? How have you gotten back from what feels like forever without decent training? Share your experiences please!



Much love


Mads

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

A certification and the rest of a challenge!

The last week or so has been fantastic! Let me try to share what has happened with you!

First of all my wonderful son is now 2 years old- He is the light of my life!

I am now a level 2 trainer within CrossFit!

This weekend we attended a seminar in Manchester where Jenny attained her CrossFit level 1 certification, and I got my level 2 certification.
It was a fantastic seminar. We had the pleassure of having coach actually show up and share his wisdom, enthusiasm and insight on CrossFit with us all. Coach only rarely does seminars these days, so it was a treat to have him there. Along with coach Nicole, Andy, Jimmy and Todd (Scott as Jimmy referred to him more than once during the weekend) were the ones who were in charge of the certification- and they really managed to make it all worth the trip over to Manchester. They went through the basic moves utilized in CrossFit and stressed the importance of correct execution of these movements- the magic is in the movement- at the same time as they shared their enthusiasm of CrossFit, and the knowledge they have of everything from olymtic lifts to diets.. It is a rare treat to have them in Europe, actually the first time they were here for an open seminar!
If you have not yet attended a certification then book yourself on the next available seminar, and change the way you look at training for the rest of your life! If you have already been certified, then hurry to the next certification and refuel your enthusiam and your knowledge- it is worth every second..

Beside the things that are scheduled for these seminars, there are other gains to be made! Some truly fantastic people come to these certifications, and it is impossible not to make a bunch of new friends. I had the pleasure of doing the level 2 certification with just that kind of people. Karl, Davie, Colm and many more whose names escape me now were just as much a reason for the success of this certification as the knowledge gained. I promise that I will make a point of keeping these new found friendships close, and hopefully we will all meet again soon!

Like I said- Do a cert asap!

The rest of a challenge!

I have decided to post the remaining days of the challenge I set out to do. The reason for this is that I have to rest for a week or so in order to get my bad knee completely back on track- but that does not mean that you should all have to wait before you can continue, so here comes the rest of the challenge:

Day 23
"JT"
Ring dips
Push ups
Hspu
21-15-9

In honor of petty officer 1st class Jeff Taylor, 30, of Little Creek, VA, who was killed in Afghanistan June 2005.

Day 24
Rest

Day 25
Deadlift
1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Day 26
7 Front squats
1 Rope climb
200m Run
7 rounds for time

Day 27
Shoulder press
3-3-3-3-3

Day 28
Rest

Day 29
"Grace"
135 pounds clean and jerk
30 reps for time

Day 30
For time:
150 box jumps
- every time you stop for more than a second, do 50 ab mat sit ups

Day 31
Weighted pull ups
3-3-3-3-3


This was all for now, but I weill be back soon

Much love

Mads

Saturday, September 6, 2008

3 days of fun!

I will have to get back to you with the results from the last 3 days.. They have been really good days, and it looks like I am back on track.

But today we celebrate my sons birthday, so the entire day is dedicated to him. This means that I can't sit here and share results and reflections:-) I'll do that tomorrow- however I could not leave you hanging without the next 3 days of fun, here comes:

Day 17
Squat
1-1-1-1-1-

Day 18
Sumo dead lift high pull
Ring dips
21-15-9
For time

Day 19
"Michael"
Run 800m
50 Back extentions
50 GHD sit ups
3 rounds for time

Monday, September 1, 2008

Disaster strikes!

I thought this would be a tale of steady progress, and a bunch of new PR's, but the past 3 days was a kick in the head with a steel cap boot- and a reminder that sometimes things just don't go quite the way I plan them!

I have not managed to actually complete a single one of the last 3 days WOD's!

I started this challenge by saying that I would not make any excuses, and tell it like it is! So instead of feeling sorry for myself, and making up excuses I'll just admit that I did'nt do any of the WOD's and as a consequence will do these 3 days when the challenge is over!

However Jenny did the WOD's and made some fantastic results!

Day 9
15 deadlifts ( He 100kg) ( She 80kg)
15 HSPU
15 Pullups ( Chest to bar)
15 Thrusters ( He 42,5 kg) ( She 30 kg)
3 rounds for time

Jenny: 17:18 min

Day 10
6 Shoulder press
9 Push press
12 Push jerk
5 rounds - post load per round- do 6 shoulder presses, then without putting down the bar 9 push press, then without putting down the bar 12 push jerks- this constitutes one round!

Jenny: 30 kg- 35kg- 37,5kg (did 3 push jerks, then had to put down the weight before doing the remaining 9 reps) 35kg- push jerk 4/8- 30kg had to rest after the push press

Day 11
25 Knees to elbows
25 Double unders
5 rounds for time

Jenny: 9:15

The next 3 days are:

Day 13
Bench press
3-3-3-3-3
post loads

Day 14
Snatch
10-10-10-10-10-
this is for technique- post loads

Day 15
"Helen"
Run 400m
21 kg swings
12 Pull ups (CTB)
3 rounds for time

Day 16
Rest