Diets Suck

Workout date: 9/19/16

I was excited for my third weigh-in when I woke up on Monday morning.  The first weigh-in was bound to be bad and the second weigh-in followed a very non-diety weekend which left me thinking that my weight would be close to what it was at the start.  But in week #2, I was very strict with my diet.  Tried to trim down my portion sizes.  No late night meals/snacks.  Ate more spinach than any sane human being should.  And I completely cut out all of the following:

• Chick-Fil-A
• Chipotle
• Five Guys
• Soda
• Beer
• Bread
• Ice cream

I had also put in five workouts since the last time I stood on the scale.  I might have seen my weight rise during week 1 of my diet, but I was expecting to see much better results this time around.

Original weigh-in: 213.2 pounds

Last week's weigh-in: 213.8 pounds

This week's weigh-in: 213.0 pounds

MOTHER@$^%#*!!!

Glad I went through all of that trouble for nothing.  Very frustrating indeed.  Not giving up after just two weeks, but this week's result leaves me scratching my head as far as what else I can do to drop weight.

Maybe the solution is to up the intensity of my workouts.  My first two weeks back have been all about getting my body used to doing Crossfit workouts again.  The first week was the shock to the system.  My body's reaction was something along the lines of "wait, we're doing this again?"  By last week, it knew what to expect, but I was still feeling out what I could do and what I couldn't do.  For both weeks, there were lower expectations.  There was no passion involved.  No drive to push myself past that point where the workout feels uncomfortable.  That would change in week 3.

I didn't show up to the Monday night workout thinking that I was going to find that competitive urge again.  It just kinda manifested itself as the workout progressed.  What I did know was that the WOD would be a quick one.  When you see the final time I got, you won't think it was a sprint, but it sure felt like one.  And from the looks on everyone's faces at the end, I bet my classmates would agree.  Monday's WOD was called Freddy's Revenge and here's what was involved:

"Freddy's Revenge"

5 rounds

5 push jerks (185/125)

10 burpees

Interesting workout.  I am definitely not a fan of burpees, but I do like WODs where I get to cycle a barbell.  If I could handle the push jerks quickly, then maybe I could buy myself some time on the burpees.  I assumed that we would be taking the barbell from the floor, but I was wrong.  After the 14 of us in class went for a 400 meter run, Coach Aimee explained that the newer athletes would be taking the barbell from the floor, but the more experienced folks would be working from the rack.  I would have guessed it would be the other way around.  Cline had the same reaction, because he made the same face as me when Aimee said it.  Cline was standing behind Aimee though, while I was directly in Aimee's line of vision.  Aimee wanted to know why I was making faces and I defaulted to 7-year-old mode by replying "he's making faces too" while pointing at Cline.  I'm so mature.

We got ourselves set up either on racks or in a space in the middle of the gym where there was enough room to do jerks and burpees.  I landed at the rack closest to the front of the gym, with Alona and Borden the two people nearest to me.  Aimee had us practice the push jerk with an empty barbell.  We began by doing single reps before practicing what it would be like to string 5 reps together.  Then it was time to decide on what weight we'd use for the workout.  185 seemed a little aggressive to me. In July, I was able to do 5 push jerks in a row using 200 pounds, so it wasn't like I couldn't make it through a set using 185.  But 5 sets with a bunch of burpees thrown in along the way to tire me out?  Probably a bit too much for me.

Aimee was walking around to help people decide what weight to use, so I used her as a resource to help me choose my weight.  I did 5 push jerks with 135 pounds on the barbell in front of her.  It wasn't light, but it wasn't a struggle either.  Aimee suggested that I go with 155-165 for the workout.  I gave the 50 burpees some respect and chose the lighter end of this range, figuring that I'd be sucking wind in the later rounds.

I didn't have much of a plan in advance of the workout.  I was hoping to string all 5 push jerks each round if possible.  I didn't want to crawl through my burpees, but I would resort to that if I got tired.  I guess I'm not quite back to that point where I hyper-analyze my workouts before I do them.  Aimee asked us if we were ready and then started us on our sprint.  I took my barbell off the rack, did 5 quick push jerks, then not so gently shoved the barbell from my collarbone to the general vicinity of the rack before starting on my burpees.  Still relatively fresh, I was able to do 10 solid burpees without any crawling.  My back was to the clock, but I imagine I finished round one in less than a minute.

I came back to the barbell and needed a second before picking it up.  I was already glad that I chose 155 rather than 165.  I could see how the burpees knocked the wind out of you and there aren't many things more disconcerting than trying to lift a heavy barbell over your head when you're struggling to breathe.  You can almost envision the barbell falling on your head before you even attempt it.  So I made sure that I got my breathing under control before starting round two.  Once again, I was able to do 5 push jerks in a row before crashing the barbell into the rack again.  I peeked to my right and saw Borden starting his second round of burpees while Alona was getting ready to finish her last 2 push jerks.  The competitive side of me was returning.

Time for more burpees.  This time, crawling would be necessary.  I did 2 or 3 burpees before slowing down into a crawl.  Part of it was fatigue.  Part of it was discovering what others in class figured out before I did: that the burpees were the "rest" in this workout.  There was no point going crazy on these and getting stuck on the push jerks because having to pick up and put down the barbell multiple times would be much more energy-consuming than simply slowing down on the burpees.  I tried to keep moving through the burpees as there were only 10 per round.  If I had to stop along the way, then I was in bigger trouble than I realized.

Borden wasn't much quicker than me on the burpees, while Alona was a lot quicker than me, so all three of us ended up back at the barbell around the same time.  Everyone needed a few seconds to recover from the burpees before feeling comfortable with the push jerks.  Borden started first and I tried not to take too long before I began round three.  I didn't see Borden do his push jerks, but I'm guessing he was stringing all of his reps by how quickly he'd return to his burpees.  I got through 5 in a row again, but the last few jerks began to feel very heavy.  Alona was doing 3 and 2 again, so I got to the burpees before her.  On the burpees, I crawled from start to finish, giving Alona the opportunity to catch back up with me.

Round four started the same way round three did, with Borden, Alona, and I feeling out when we were ready to do the push jerks.  Borden was ahead and started before us.  I picked up my barbell just before Alona did, but when I went to do my 3rd jerk, I struggled to keep my left arm locked out.  I wasn't going to fight it and attempt getting the last two reps when there was a very real chance that I'd have to drop the barbell to the floor.  I put my barbell on the rack and took a break.  Alona broke after three reps as well.  Borden said aloha and moved on to his burpees, putting some distance between himself and his two neighbors.  I knew Alona was going to move faster on the burpees, so I needed to get the last two push jerks done before her.  I picked up my barbell right before she did again and managed to get both of my remaining reps.  Returned the barbell to the rack and got going on my burpees.  It was still necessary to crawl and it wouldn't be long before Alona passed me.  I was going to need to play catch up in the final round.

I took some extra time before that last round of push jerks.  Mainly because I was tired.  But also because I thought the only way I could catch Alona would be to string all 5 push jerks.  I didn't pay much attention when she started her jerks because I knew she would be splitting her reps into a set of 3 and a set of 2.  When I took my barbell off the rack, I was determined to get all five reps.  Sometimes it doesn't matter how determined you are if your body can't comply with what you demand of it.  The third rep played out the same way as it had in the last round, as I struggled to keep my tired left arm locked out as I stood up the push jerk.  I needed to break this round up.  Alona was going to get to the burpees before me, which meant I wasn't catching her.

As Alona finished off her last push jerk, I grabbed my barbell off the rack.  I was able to string the last two reps.  As I placed the barbell back, I decided it was time to go for broke.  There was no reason to treat the burpees as "rest" anymore since this was the final part of the workout.  True rest was awaiting me on the other side of these 10 burpees, so I might as well empty the tank.  No crawling this round.  Probably no breathing this round.  Just drop to the floor, pop up, clap, and drop to the floor again until these last 10 reps were complete.

I didn't know how many burpees Alona had completed when I started that last round, but I didn't imagine I could catch her.  However, my pace was so frantic, that I suddenly noticed I was doing burpees faster than she was.  A few seconds later, I realized that Alona had picked up her pace.  We were officially racing one another to the finish line.  Every time I hit the floor, she jumped up and clapped.  Every time I jumped up and clapped, she hit the floor.  I kept waiting for her to stop after one of her claps, but as I got closer to my 10th rep, she was still going.  Finally, I dropped to the floor for my last burpee.  As I did, she jumped up, clapped, and was done.  Damn.  I actually made that close at the end.  I hopped up, clapped, and then took some time to recover before going over to congratulate her on a job well done.  When I got to her, she acknowledged that my pace on the final set caused her to kick it into another gear.  It was fun competing in class once again, even if I came up a few seconds short of winning.  Final time: 8:31.

I stuck around afterwards to practice some double unders.  While I want to get to the point that I can string a huge set together, my main focus right now is on wrist speed and keeping my jump as small as possible.  If I can improve those two things, I'll perform better in workouts that call for 100-200 double unders, even if I can't string 50 double unders in a set.  Practice went okay, but it's something I'll need to work on regularly before I start seeing real results.

Tuesday preview:  I can't say no.  It's a problem for me.  And for the first time in 3 weeks, I grunt during a workout.  If that doesn't make you want to read the next blog post, I don't know what to tell you.