... so i stayed longer for AM's "farewell to california" than expected. when i woke up the next morning, was extremely sore from the last two days of training mixed in with an extreme case of dehydration due to particular beverages from the night before. so thought it best for me to take the next couple of days off.
AM, DV, DD, RK
although i slacked on training, i did manage to sign up another member to 4TWC!
for making me stay out longer than expected, i figured i might as well be productive and raise money by enlisting AM. he actually worked the TM tri-state last year in uniform, ensuring participants went the correct way and providing aid. by the time we saw him (probably mid-point... mile 6 or 7), our whole team gave him a group hug, smothering him in what we were covered in. haha, even though the man is moving to the west coast, he still signed up through his smart phone monday evening. i see it only as a positive: (1) if he happens to make it back to the east coast- we have an extra team member and (2) if he doesn't, he just donated over $100 to the Wounded Warrior Project! either way, as of now, 4TWC's official member count is 13!
in other news, HD, however, still managed to train with TS and do "helen on steroids":
you can also check out more contet at the We Are Fit facebook fan page!
moreover, DK and i officially signed up (early bird) for the Men's Health Urbanathlon: new york city, going down in late october. more programming to think about for the CMC, Urbanathlon, and TM...
lastly, i did have a cheat day (CD 1) today as well:
for time
eat: 1 large cheese pizza, 1 fat sandwich, 6 buffalo wings (courtesy of RU Grill)
drink: 2 liter pepsi
haha... unfortunately- i only got two slices, a fat sandwich, and half the bottle of pepsi deep... unable to complete the exercise.
that's all i got for now, time to go to sleep... and tomorrow morning, for real this time, TD 21 will commence.
HD and i kept it simple today 'cause i had to get up to the city really early. our legs and lower back were still aching from yesterday... we wanted to swim, run, swim, but the pool was packed! so we had to adjust our session on the fly and this is what we came up with: (1) warm up run on treadmill, (2) leg & shoulder superset, (3) abs, (4) tabata on the treadmill:
superset (sorry, no fancy charts for one superset)
squat- 12 reps/135lbs, 5 reps/205lbs, 6 reps/185lbs
thruster w/rotation - 10 reps/25lbs (each hand) x 3
here is HD doing his 3rd set:
what i've noticed after this superset is that we were either tired from yesterday's session, or our legs are weaker than our arms (which is super unsat if that's the case). 205lbs for me was difficult to get depth and i could barely get 5 reps this morning. i can easily get 5 reps for 235lbs bench... so i'm hoping that our legs were just fatigued. if not, we're going to have to re-focus our workouts on leg strength, because those muscles, along with your back are the most important muscles when it comes to activity. the others are just "vanity muscles" that are just there for show haha.
weighted situp machine
25 reps/20lbs x 3
tabata on the treadmill
6.7mph, 12% incline, 20 seconds on: 10 seconds off x 8
unfortunately, i didn't track the approx. amount of calories burned on this one.
HD caught me doing an entire tabata:
we wrapped up by stretching and that was it. hopefully, there aren't that many people using the pool tomorrow morning. would definitely love to get some pool work in. either case, we'll be ready to get it in. currently, i'm heading out to send our friend AM off to the west coast. tonight is his last night in NJ. maybe i'll get some pics of the night up in tomorrow's post. not gonna be a late night for me though, cause there are things to accomplish tomorrow morning.
so finally, HD and i are back at the gym getting in a quality workout. considering an action packed weekend of celebrations, consisting of a wedding and graduations, i needed to work off the heavy consumption of food and beer. this afternoon was not an easy return and made me almost regret enjoying myself too much this weekend...
we split our session up into three parts: (1) light treadmill work, (2) timed workout, and (3) light treadmill work. i must say, the timed workout was pretty challenging and deceptively painful when viewing it on paper for the first time.
main workout for time
2 rounds
row 500m, 25 burpees, 25 boxjumps, 25 deadlifts (40lbs dumbbell in each hand)
here is my first round:
i took a lot of water breaks as you'll see... and am pretty disappointed that i couldn't push through the first round unbroken. by the time i was finished with the row, my burpees were sloppy. i need to get my hips all the way down to the ground and get myself up to CMC standards. also, my back is rounded on my deadlifts and i really need to straighten it out a bit. my box jumps were alright, but am disappointed i didn't have the explosiveness to jump on and jump off. i need to push myself and stop conserving energy.
with the main workout, i was still pretty pleased that the treadmill work felt like a nice, light jog. i was cramping a bit for the first 2 minutes, but my calves decided to stop acting up by the time i increased the speed to 6.5mph.
well that's it... HD and i are planning to swim, run, swim tomorrow morning- so we'll see how that fairs. oh, and here's one of my pet peeves that i just can't stand:
really?
it's not because there are 45lbs plates attached to an ez curl bar... it's the fact that this equipment was left unattended for quite some time (meaning someone just left it there after using it). people, please do me a favor and re-rack your weights and/or clean up after yourselves. also, do you see the paper towels in the background? really? you came to the gym to work off some laziness, but apparently it's too difficult to walk over the used paper towel to the garbage can. let me stop whining... but seriously haha.
been encouraging teammates to try and take vids and send in workouts so i can post to the blog, because i'm sure people are getting tired of watching HD and i every morning haha... surprisingly, 4TWC's audience has reached various parts of the U.S., Germany, India, Australia, France, the U.K., Sweden, the Philippines, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belgium, Malaysia, and Canada. i don't know how these people found us, but i hope they've checked out the Wounded Warrior Project's website as well- our sole purpose for doing what we do, to spread awareness about this great organization.
on saturday, DK conducted the following training session and definitely took great videos to show his skills:
3 mile run
softball grip pullups: 3 max sets
softball grip swings: 3 sets of 5
L press to handstand: 3 sets of 2
great work DK! that man is ripped! a gymnast and p90x graduate, i'm looking forward to tackling our TM warm-up with him: the men's health urbanathlon: new york city, a couple weeks before the big dance...
due to other commitments, HD and i were unable to catch a good workout on friday or saturday, but have promised to allot time for tomorrow. itching to get back in there.
yesterday morning, HD and i kept our session short, splitting up into two parts: (1) timed workout and (2) short treadmill work.
for time
rounds of 12-8-4
65lbs hang clean & jerk, overhead squat, hang power snatch, and walking lunges (6-4-2 steps each leg)
HD caught my last round:
i honestly thought we were going to destroy 65lbs, however, i was wrong. this sequence definitely proved difficult, but if you saw my first round, you would've thought i would've finished maybe sub-6minutes 30 seconds. the second round is where i started to feel the fatigue kick in and as you can see in my third round- my form was sloppy & i felt like i didn't have any explosiveness in me. i couldn't even do the snatches unbroken. anyway, let me stop feeling sorry for myself.
results
HD: 10min 44sec DV: 7min 32sec
afterward we put some light work in on the tread.
treadmill
12 minutes @ 6.5mph and .5% incline
total: 1.3 miles and approx. 148 calories burned
this morning, HD and i opted for a rest day, mainly because of me. i have to head to the city to wrap up paperwork for graduation... and plus my traps and calves are pretty sore haha. it's just the old man in me, i'm pretty sure HD was ready to put some good work in.
the pool has been shutdown for a couple of days at our gym, but hopefully it'll be up tomorrow. i have some good work planned out for tomorrow that i hope you guys will enjoy. if it isn't up, tomorrow should still be fun. i hope the beginning of the summer is treating you all well.
to kick-off the summer, HD and i split this morning's session into three parts: (1) tri-set for strength, (2) workout for time, and (3) light cardio on the bike. having 3 days off the gym, we had differing views. HD felt a little sluggish and thought he'd be weaker and my body felt generally rested, despite only having approximately 3 hours of sleep. i was surprised that the 2nd phase of our session, the timed workout, took a lot out of me. all in all, i felt that gains were still made. side note: you may or may not notice that the kettlebell we used is different.... that's right, we've upgraded from 25lbs to 50lbs... it was time to man up.
here is HD performing his warm-up set:
next, for time
rounds of 9-6-3
85lbs push jerk, pullups, 50lbs kettlebell swing
i'm not sure if i re-aggravated the injury to my left lat, cause it did hurt a little... however, right now it feels fine and is flexible. only time will tell i guess. i do think i have to get better range on my pullups and quit cheating myself.
results
HD: 3min 46sec DV: 2min 18sec
like i said, the second phase really wore us out and we were glad to hit the bike for some light cardio.
bike
15 mins, level 5
distance: 3.11 miles
approx. 89 calories burned
am pretty eager for tomorrow's training day... can't wait. welcome to summer 2011... live it up and enjoy it For Those Who Can't.
4TWC announces another member has joined the team, LC! not the female LC from socal, but the male LC from central, nj... i have yet to personally meet him, but i must commend him for stepping up to complete this challenge. a friend of TS', from the looks of his pictures, he seems to fit right in with the rest of us, thrill seekers. i look forward to training with him and wish him luck on this journey. 4TWC is now 12 strong for TM tri-state 2011!
in other news, i called out on HD this morning because i was feeling under the weather. wrapping up my MBA this week & finally graduate on saturday... it's been a good year and a half attending grad school, but can't wait to close out this chapter. so i have a bunch of work to get done... but no more excuses. HD & i are getting some reps in tomorrow.
also, if you are the observant type, you'll notice that the ElevateSelection link is no longer under "resources" to the right. they have now changed their brand to SOFWODs, so i adjusted accordingly. i'm becoming more intrigued in their brand and fitness philosophy, as their website has launched around the same time we did our blog ~ so you can say we're growing together. the difference is, SOFWODs is comprised of legit special forces operators and fitness professionals, so i am looking forward to what they're going to offer the fitness community in the future. moreover, they state: "to avoid over training and injury, candidates should not exceed 4 strength WODs, 4 swimming WODs or 5 Running WODs a week." i think i'm digging that split and will go back to the drawing board over the weekend and figure something out.
after three days of rest, my body is definitely ready to get back in there and work, despite being a little sick. the question is, am i going to get enough sleep tonight? we shall see and i'll be sure to keep you guys posted.
this morning, HD and i split up our session into 4 parts: (1) warm-up for time, (2) main workout for time, (3) max effort reps, and (4) abs. the workout went as follows:
warm-up for time
rounds of 11-8-5
75lbs hang clean, dips
results
HD: 1min 59sec DV: 1min 16sec
then we rolled into:
main workout for time
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps (55 total)
135lbs bench press, 75lbs underhand row, 40lbs (each hand) dumbbell front squat
here i am performing the first two rounds:
since it was only HD and i, i didn't have a spotter for bench... definitely don't do that if you're new to working out. my bodyweight is something i can handle for a lot of reps, but obviously the heavier i go, i will be sure to have someone spot me. what i see wrong here is my footing for my bench, which my friend JB mentioned to me after watching my PR from june 8th... also, i have to keep my back straight for the rows & i needed more depth on my squats. gotta get better...
results
HD: 21min 6sec DV: 11min 54sec
max effort reps
superset (sorry no fancy table for just one superset):
shoulder press 13 reps/95lbs, 3 reps/155lbs, 5 reps/135lbs
EZ curl - outside grip 13 reps/80lbs, 12 reps/80lbs, 10 reps/80lbs
abs
weighted sit-up 25 reps/20lbs x 2 sets
while HD was doing sit-ups, i was jumping rope (and vice-versa)
short and sweet. busy weekend coming up, probably be back at it on monday or tuesday.
my internet has been pretty shoddy the last couple of days, so i wasn't able to post wednesday's workout the day of. cablevision really isn't a great internet service provider, but it's the cheapest... oh well, you get what you pay for. if you have the funds, definitely do not do cablevision! they also start fights with other cable channels... it's just an enormous headache of unreliable service. {deep breath... and forget about it}
anyways, today, HD and i took a rest day and will be back to training tomorrow morning... haha, actually in a few hours. later in the evening, we're also celebrating TS' 24th... we can only imagine what the night will bring. will try to get some content and do an after action on saturday.
for TD 15, we started off on the treadmill and did a moderate 3-mile run:
.5% incline
0-3min: 7mph
3-6min: 7.5mph
6-9min: 8.0mph
9-12min: 8.5mph
12-15min: 9.0mph
15-18min: 9.5mph
18-21min: 9.0mph
21-21min 28sec: 9.5mph
total: 3 miles, approximately 335 calories burned
this worked out well because it warmed up our muscles and i felt really strong heading towards our next portion of the training day.
subsequently, we did a 12 exercise circuit for two rounds with a 30sec break in between each round:
so far this week, we did 2 total body workouts and we might as well have a 3rd one tomorrow. at least i'll look ripped for my friend JS' 30th birthday pool party on saturday haha... i'm going to have to figure that one out before i go to sleep.
over the weekend, 7 members of 4TWC got to meet and discuss the next training session: july 1- TS is hosting and is pretty excited about christening new TM training grounds near his neighborhood. can't wait to see what TS has in store for the rest of the team. TS has also been posting his own training sessions on his facebook fan page at We Are Fit. he demonstrates great functional circuit movements that embody the spirit of tough mudder, with an emphasis on applicable fitness to daily life. great information on that page... definitely check that out whenever you get the chance.
AM, DK, RL, HD, TS, Doc TD, and me participated in a little "forced march" on saturday, june 11. we won't count that as a training day because the intensity wasn't there and the purpose of the forced march wasn't to condition us, but to test out our gear on movements that are roughly 5k. the next two days, HD and i took off to recover cause we put in a good amount of work last week.
this morning, we started off with a circuit, followed by a tabata on the treadmill, then by a swim:
for time
rounds of 11-8-5 reps
155lbs deadlift, box jump, 75lbs hang clean &jerk +
15 kettlebell swings (25lbs), 25 pushups
here is a clip of me finishing out my last set. although this was our warm up, it kicked my butt and i was surprised i couldn't go through the last set unbroken:
i gotta use my legs more for the clean & jerk and go lower on my pushups. i have to be more cognizant of these things despite being fatigued.
results
HD: 11min 20sec DV: 8min 40sec
next we did a tabata on the treadmill
6.5mph, 12% inclince, 20sec on: 10sec off x 8 rounds
subsequently, we ended off with a 200m swim, for time
at the end of the first 50m- 15 bicycle crunches, 10 push throughs, 10 dive bombers
at the end of the second 50m- 15 flutter kicks (military count), 10 right crossover crunches, 10 left crossover crunches
here is HD starting off his first 50m:
HD does a couple more bicycle crunches than necessary, but it's still good training! after the swim, we felt like we had more in the tank and were pretty happy with the work capacity we've built up thus far.
results
HD: 11min 30 sec DV: 8min 30 sec
it's weird- the times just happened to work out like that, having nearly identical performances on both our parts on the the first series and last series... looking to do a moderate distance on the treadmill and a short circuit tomorrow... trying to lighten the load a bit for this week.
we're at the 150 day mark until TM tri-state '11, approximately 21 weeks and change. like i said, i think we're ready now, but there will always be room for improvement...
the goal for today was to stick to cardio because we barely hit it during the week... if i remember correctly, a few minutes on the bike and a swim a couple of days ago... also, HD did some extra treadmill and pool work, while i put in time on the road... ideally, we would do more and hopefully sooner than later we'll start getting more scientific with our planning. so for this morning, we did a "run, swim, run," starting off with a slow, moderate run on the tread, followed by intervals in the pool, then back to the tread for moderate speed work:
3 miles on the treadmill, .5 incline
0-5 min at 5mph
5-7min 30sec at 5.5mph
7min 30sec-10min at 6mph
10min-12min 30sec at 6.5mph
12min 30sec-17min 30sec at 7mph
17min 30sec-20min at 7.5mph
20min-22min 30sec at 8mph
22min 30sec-25min at 8.5mph
25min-26min 40sec at 9mph
= 3 miles, excess of 300 calories burned
**i say "sprint work" in the video, but after the swim we did moderate speed work... i tend to exaggerate.**
400 meter swim for time
first 100m: every 50m do 25 pushups (50 total)
second 100m: every 50m do 15 bicycle crunches (30 total)
third 100m: every 50m do 25 pushups (50 total)
last 100m: every 50m do 10 hello dolly's (20 total - military count, so outright 40 total)
results
HD: 17min 48sec DV: 13min 50sec
1-minute ladders on the treadmill @ 7.5mph, .5 incline
1 minute on, 1 minute off
1 minute on, 50 sec off
1 minute on, 40 sec off
1 minute on, 30 sec off
1 minute on, 20 sec off
1 minute on, 10 sec off
1 minute on, 20 sec off
1 minute on, 30 sec off
1minute on, 40 sec off
1 minute on, 50 sec off
1minute 10sec on
total: 11min 10sec @ 7.5mph, ~ 1.4miles covered **we could've definitely handled a higher speed after the swim**
that's all i have for now. hope you all enjoy your weekend. next post will probably happen on sunday or monday evening.
i want to take this opportunity to give a 30th birthday shout-out to Natalie Portman... haha, if you're reading this Natalie, i want you to know that you've been my favorite actress ever since i saw you in the professional when i was in 8th grade way back when and i hope you've enjoyed your day thus far. best of luck with your future child this summer.... haha, let me stop.
motivation
now that i got that out of the way, this morning HD and i felt pretty spent at the beginning of the workout. like i posted yesterday, our focus was on back and tri's today. my lat felt a little better, but after the 3rd set of the tri-set, i definitely aggravated it again. here is what we did this morning:
HD and i developed an appreciation for the deadlift, as we set new aspirations to get up to the CrossFit standard of eventually repping 315lbs. the WOD for may 28th was mind boggling because deadlifting 4 reps at 275lbs made us want to pass out. we genuinely admire the elite CrossFit athletes, especially the women because they are truly beasts!
moving along, as you can see in the following video, i was grimacing a bit on the 3rd set of the tri-set. i was able to complete the plyometric pullup portion despite the pain:
here is HD demonstrating the ab superset:
and that's basically it. tomorrow is friday and we're planning to focus solely on cardio, mixing up treadmill work and putting some pool time in. we need to get the blood flowing in order to aide recovery for next week's lifts/cardio intervals. hopefully next week we'll see some leaps and bounds in strength and aerobic capacity.
make it 2 days in a row for JD! i was actually feeling pretty strong this morning because all we did yesterday was play basketball and swim. a day off the weights, i felt, paid off as you'll see from the results below on the first tri-set. so maybe i don't really need to train more, i may just have to rest more.
there was something that i found interesting posted on CrossFit Endurance today: the first edition of "whiteboard wednesdays" that discussed rest and programming. it's a great video w/great information, so i hope you check it out:
here is what we did this morning:
if you notice on the 2nd set of bench press, i hit 3 reps at 255lbs. that's actually a PR (personal record) for me. weighing in at 140lbs, i'd say that's not too shabby. i wouldn't have believed it myself, but thank goodness JD was there to film it:
despite the PR, by the end of the workout, i was having trouble with my left lat. it was painful to do negative chinups in the superset, so i modified it by doing negative cable rope hammer curls at 140lbs (my weight)...subsequently, we ended off by doing abs on the weighted situp machine:
all in all, HD and JD are getting stronger and it's noticeable! they're increasing their weight, covering new strength frontiers!
JD doing negative chinups
i need my lat to stop acting up because HD and i plan on focusing on back and tri's tomorrow... only time will tell. until then....
this morning our friend, JD, decided to join us. every now and then he'll make an appearance. hopefully, he'll work out with us more frequently... by doing so, our rest time will increase haha. anyway, we planned on doing treadmill work, but we got caught up on the basketball court. we ended up playing 2 games of 35-taps, which took approximately 40 minutes to complete.
JD and HD
playing ball was definitely a different type of cardio and we also got to work on footwork, including sharp cuts when driving or playing defense. i was spent! unfortunately, TD 10 couldn't be all fun and games. the pool was waiting for us and we performed the following circuit:
we need to swim more, get faster, and work on our breathing. i basically was ready to fall over after the 5th round... which wasn't good 'cause i had a workday ahead of me haha. later in the day, HD returned to the gym and did some treadmill work (roughly 1.5 miles), then hit the pool for some laps. after i got home, i put in some roadwork and ran 3 miles. i felt pretty weak and surely felt the heat. i'm not sure if i have to increase my roadwork or take it easy. honestly, because of vegas, i'm back to square one in trying to figure out what my body is telling me... anyways, that's all for now.
a week after vegas, i was fortunate enough to spend the weekend in east hampton with a great group of friends for LM's birthday. always an enjoyable time every time i hang out with them...
happy birthday!
poolside - east hampton
this morning, it was time to get back to work. HD and i focused on shoulders and legs to start the week off:
3-5-7-9-7-5-3 reps for time
65lbs push press
box jump
65lbs hang power snatch
65lbs overhead squat
here is HD starting off the morning:
results
HD: 15min 48sec DV: 11min 3sec
next, we followed up with a tri-set of squats, kettlebell swings, and dumbbell thrusters. we added in the thrusters to simulate movements performed in a CFT.
after this workout, i'm really thinking it's time to man up and buy a heavier kettlebell... definitely closer to the prescribed weight for men in CrossFit's Helen. here is a video of me going through the first set of this tri-set:
after reviewing the video, i noticed i wasn't consistent with the depth of my squats. i have to get low all of the time... at the end, we didn't expect to be that taxed after those two rounds of exercises... but since we were, we figured we earned a cardio session on the bike as opposed to the treadmill. we ended up doing 12 minutes at level 5, burning 71 calories, and covering 2.46 miles. good to be back in the gym.
this morning, we conducted Lance Corporal Adams' funeral at Monumental Baptist Church in jersey city, nj. after the ceremony, we proceeded to wrightstown, nj and buried the young Marine at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Cemetery. serving on his rifle detail, i thought about how beautiful the cemetery was, but what a journey it took from jersey city. it was far enough where his family couldn't just visit him on a whim... they'd have to plan and make a special day out of it, sparingly, every few months. around this time last year, i was also serving on a rifle detail for Bryan Lizalda... i guess situations like these don't really bother me until after the fact... during downtime. maybe it's wrong to question the grand scheme of things, but in my opinion, i don't think these mean deserved to go out the way they did. may God rest their souls and hopefully we'll meet again. semper fi.
Monumental Baptist Church: June 3, 2011
afterward, i went to chickie's & pete's with CK in bordentown to grab a few... it seems like all i've been doing is "grabbing a few." a couple hours after that, i met up with 4TWC at our TM training grounds...
in attendance were AM, RL, DK, AK, TS, HD, and myself. we split up the training session into three parts: (1) warmup, (2) individual effort main workout, and (3) group work.
warmup for time
5 burpees to box jumps
5 burpees to bar hops (AK & DK performed box hops)
5 burpees to 65lbs thrusters (AK performed thrusters with 10lbs plates in each hand)
5 burpees to 25lbs kettlebell swings
run 400m
10 burpees
here we have AM starting his warmup as HD is finishing it:
main workout: modified helen for time
400m run
21 kettlebell swings (we have a 25lbs kb and the prescribed is roughly 52lbs)
*AK used a 10lbs plate
12 pullups (AK performed a 15sec dead hang)
repeat two more times, rest as needed, for a total of 3 sets
group work for time
* we had (1) a 40lbs vest, (2) a 10lbs plate, (3) a 25lbs plate, (4) a 25lbs kettlebell
* 4 of us would carry one item for a 200m run/jog and 3 would be without items
* at the end of the run/jog, members swap items
* our time ends when every group member has carried each item for 200m
* the only rule: start together, stick together, finish together
results
we ended up running 1600m in 14mins and 58sec
all in all, it was an excellent training session... it seems that the warmup broke everyone off and left most of us with burning lungs, chests, and throats throughout the duration of the session. also, i felt that the group work was motivating as we stuck together throughout the 15mins. at one point, RL carried both the 40lbs vest and 25lbs plate and pushed the pace.... he showed up straight from work, wearing pants and boots! that's what he wore throughout the whole training session! i think that if we had to run TM tri-state now, we'd be ready for it... honestly. that's still not a reason to let up... 4TWC stays working hard.
we regrouped at stuff yer face, ate some fried food, and grabbed a few. definitely good times. RL and i ended up staying out a little longer until maybe 1am and ended at mike's courtside sports bar & grill. like i said, definitely good times... in the planning stages for the next training session as TS wants to host it...
tomorrow on the 4th, TS is hosting a GTS in carteret, nj. hopefully we'll be able to post a vid and the type of workouts they do. until next time...
this evening was the viewing of Lance Corporal Anthony Adams which took place at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in jersey city, nj from 5-8pm. it was good to hear his family members and friends speak about how they would remember his smile and good-natured personality, yet it hurt hearing their pain when they talked about how bad they would miss him. it's cliche, but he's surely in a better place now. it's a shame that his death is the reason why members of my old platoon from iraq gathered... though i think the blessing out of all this is that we got to be in each other's company- something we rarely get to do out of uniform. so thank you Anthony, for enabling brothers to hang out with each other outside of work... we ended up grabbing a few at 1 republik in hoboken afterward.
old 2nd plt. at Mt. Olive Baptist Church
earlier that morning, HD and i finally continued our TM training... the last time we had a training day was prior to my trip to las vegas. we went pretty moderate and decided not to do cardio, thinking we'd save a little extra kick for tomorrow's team training session... so we'll see. for this TD, we focused on chest, shoulders, and bi's... finishing off with abs:
here's an example of HD going through the ab superset:
tomorrow we bury our brother in the morning, then conduct 4TWC's 1st team training session in the evening. 7 out of 11 members are expected to attend.
from spectator to participant, AK joins her husband, DK, as a member of 4TWC. she regularly trains and participates in races, having finished 2nd in her age group at her last 5k. TS has also officially joined and is the only member that is a certified fitness professional. he regularly holds free Group Training Sessions (GTS), helping others get in shape and realize their full potential. the addition of these two members will surely increase 4TWC's prowess on the tough mudder course. i hope that they're ready for our first team training session on June 3! 4TWC is now 11 official members strong. who else is coming with us?
in other news, there were conversations between a couple team members on doing warm-up races for TM. AM and i decided to sign up for the Civilian Military Combine (CMC): The Race for Tomorrow, taking place on september 10th at camelback mountain resort in pennsylvania. [note: if you are one of my friends who is getting married on that date and is reading this, no worries, i will make it back in time!] i actually found out about the race through one of my colleagues at work, after she found out about 4TWC through the company's weekly bulletin. this race also raises money for military charities and AM & i decided to align ourselves with the Semper Fi Fund. i also found out that my platoon commander during operation cold response '10 (where the idea of creating 4TWC originated) is also affiliated with the CMC! check out his profile here.
moreover, DK and i are talking about signing up for the Men's Health Urbanathlon in NYC on october 29th. registration isn't open yet, but we're definitely going to do it barring any other commitments. you would think that these sorts of courses/races are becoming an addiction... maybe, but out of all the addictions that exist, it's a good one to have. although the Urbanathlon is not affiliated with the military, it does support the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which i feel, is still in the spirit of raising awareness "For Those That Can't." i think the prerequisites for me being involved in a race is that: (1) it is involved with a truly admirable charity/charities and (2) the course must be no less than 7 miles... haha ok, my snobbish tendencies are coming out, so let me cut it off right here.
