... 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.
