Cardi-Oh-No

After five rousing sets of jerks this morning, I was feeling pretty good for someone who hasn't slept more than half a wink per night in a week. (I hate hotel beds. Also: I thought developing an app was tough, but that was a piece of cake compared to actually managing a product launch. Remind me to never, ever do this again. Ever.)

But then came the metcon:

3 rounds:

• In 4 minutes, row 400 meters and then max double-unders. 
• Rest 1 minute. 

Total score = the number of double-unders completed after three rounds.

That's right: ROWING. And DOUBLE-UNDERS. For a split second, I contemplated jumping into my car and speeding off.

On the plus side: During the first round, I managed a stretch of 51 consecutive double-unders. I'd like to think I could've kept going, but when I got over 50, I was so excited that I got myself tangled up in my rope. I'm nothing if not smooth.

When this one was over, I spent a good few minutes flat on my back. I think I hate cardio more than I hate hotel beds.

Result: 242 double-unders as RXed. Not super-shabby, though Mark beat me by a few reps. And by "a few," I mean over a hundred.

Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 Has a Workout Video

And it is awesome.



[Source: Punknews.org]

Friday's Workout

Back to the 5 a.m. class!

Strength Skill:

• Turkish Get-Ups (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

My left shoulder wasn't feeling it today; for the first time in a while, I had trouble keeping my arm locked out even while using a fairly light weight (16 kg). I think I need to drag my kettlebells to our hotel room (yes, we're still living in a hotel while our floors at home are getting ripped out) and practice, practice, practice. All of the rest of my garage gym equipment is buried underneath mountains of furniture and boxes at the moment, but my kettlebells are still accessible.

What my home gym looked like:

What my home gym now looks like:

Plus, a number of great fitness minds agree: Turkish Get-Ups (and other kettlebell movements) are among the best exercises you can do.

Metcon:

3 rounds for time:

• Run 400 meters
• 20 kettlebell snatches (10 with each arm, 24kg / 16kg)
• 20 Abmat sit-ups

The sit-ups weren't a problem for me, but I felt like I was running in super-slow-motion today. And the kettlebell snatches were rough -- especially when I was using my left arm.

I know I say this a lot, but I need to get stronger.

Result: 11:29 as RXed.

"It's Just a Soft Drink."

Correlation ain't the same as causation, but I can't really blame folks for thinking that drinking two gallons of Coke each day had a little something to do with 30-year-old Natasha Marie Harris's heart attack death.

Harris' partner, Chris Hodgkinson, testified at the inquest that Harris drank between 8 and 10 liters -- 2.1 and 2.6 gallons -- of regular Coke every day, according to the Associated Press. 

"The first thing she would do in the morning was have a drink of Coke and the last thing she would do in the day was have a drink of Coke by her bed," Hodgkinson said. "She was addicted to Coke." 

Harris reportedly had some other unhealthy habits. Hodgkinson said she ate little and smoked about 30 cigarettes a day. In the months before her death, she experienced blood pressure problems and lacked energy, he said.

A pathologist testified that Harris's death was caused in part by severe hypokalemia -- a lack of potassium in the blood.

Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told HealthPop that drinking too much soda can cause hypokalemia because of several factors, one of which is called "fructose induced osmotic diarrhea." Too much fructose and sugar may lead to diarrhea and during diarrhea the body loses potassium. 

What's more, Glatter said, sugar stimulates insulin release which also drives potassium into the body's cells, causing potassium levels in the bloodstream to fall. Then there's the caffeine, which is known as a "beta-agonist," that also drives potassium into cells and away from the blood. 

"So you're getting a double whammy from caffeine as well as the sugar," Glatter told HealthPop. "You're drinking three to nine liters a day of this stuff, you're going to have significant issues." 

"I never thought about it," Hodgskinson told the Herald of soda making Harris ill. "It's just a soft-drink, just like drinking water.

Not quite. Pro tip: You know what's just like drinking water? DRINKING WATER.

[Source]

Wednesday's Workout: Relief

I missed class again this morning.

As readers of Nom Nom Paleo know, we hit a bunch of rough patches this week, and the upshot was that I wasn't able to indulge in my usual early-morning workouts with my fellow 5 a.m. nutjobs. Monday's workout was Cindy plus double-unders (a 20 minute AMRAP of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats, and 20 double-unders), and I've been kicking myself for missing it. I really didn't want to miss another sweatfest at the gym.

So today, after finishing up a series of meetings at work, I sped down the freeway from San Francisco to Palo Alto in time for the 5 p.m. class. While I was on the road, I got a call from Michelle and the kids, who gleefully filled me in on some big news:

The Nom Nom Paleo iPad app got approved this afternoon by Apple! (Look for it in the App Store this Friday.)



I'm not used to working out in the early evening, but I was still on a high when I arrived at CrossFit Palo Alto, and knew I was going to enjoyed thrashing around in the gym.

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Pull-Ups (5-3-3-1-1, with sets of 10 varying types of push-ups between sets)

On my last rep, with a kettlebell chained to my waist, I struggled to clear my chin over the bar -- but I was determined not to crane my neck. Trish, who teaches the 5 p.m. class (and does a fantastic job of putting us through the paces), had told us to keep our heads level and eyes ahead. "It doesn't count if you're facing the ceiling." Under this rule, I'm pretty sure most of the weighted pull-ups I've done in the past don't count.

Metcon:

"Christine" -- 3 rounds of:

• 500-meter row
• 12 bodyweight deadlifts
• 21 plyo box jumps (20")

This was a fun one -- the deadlifts felt fast and smooth, and the rowing didn't get awful until the final round. It's amazing how a few days away from the gym made me antsy enough to get a kick out of a metabolic beat-down. And although I missed exercising alongside my 5 a.m. buddies, once the clock started, it didn't matter who was in the room. My only goal was to kill this workout.

But although I didn't suck, I didn't exactly murder Christine, either.

Result: 11:58 as RXed -- a few seconds slower than the last time I did Christine. No PR today, but I still have a smile on my face and a spring in my step. I don't know whether it's because I finally got my butt back into the gym or because the app we've long slaved over is finally ready for release, but I suspect it's a little of both.

Friday's Workout

A lot can happen in two days.

Between Wednesday's workout and today's:

• We finished the Nom Nom Paleo iPad app after months of intensive work, and submitted it to Apple for review;
• I sat in a plane on the tarmac for an hour and a terminal for two hours before being told that my flight to Southern California (for work) was grounded.
• I was booked on another flight, only to be told at midnight that it, too, was canceled.
• I drove home and collapsed -- only to be jolted awake a few hours later by my wife, who had awakened to a the sounds of water gushing out from below our kitchen sink. Three-quarters of our house was covered by a half-inch of water.
• We bailed water like crazy.
• An emergency crew came over and started tearing out our hardwood floors and baseboards.
• We packed up our stuff and moved into a hotel. The insurance company has us booked here for a month.
• Oh, and Big-O had a Little League game.

I'm a little tired.

But I was looking forward to getting back in the gym so I could work off some of the stress I'd accumulated.

Strength Skill:

• Turkish Get-Ups (1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3)

This morning, I didn't feel super-stable in my shoulders, and found my arm wobbling a bit. Perhaps my shoulders are still fried from Monday's and Wednesday's workouts, but then again, maybe I just need to get stronger.

Metcon:

AMRAP in 8 minutes:

• 21 chest-high kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 15 push-ups
• 9 toes-to-bar

The swings and push-ups weren't too awful, but my toes-to-bar were slow as mud. I need to figure out a better way to generate momentum at the finish of each rep; right now, I end up in a dead hang position, which forces me to initiate a big wind-up before continuing onto the next rep.

Result: 5 rounds + 1 rep as RXed.

I tried but ultimately failed to catch the Terminator, who ended up with 8 more reps than me. Such is the way of things, I guess. It's a comforting reminder that even when life throws you for a loop, some things never change.

On tap for tomorrow: The Whole9 Foundations of Nutrition Seminar at CrossFit Palo Alto! And another Little League game.

Wednesday's Workout

The badger crawls from Monday did a number on my shoulders. I was surprised at how a quick little workout completely wrecked me, and hoped that today's workout wouldn't require much use of my arms. A Tabata squat workout, perhaps? Or box jumps and sit-ups?

No such luck.

3 rounds of:

• 400 meter run
• 21 jerks (95# / 65#)
• 500 meter row
• 12 handstand push-ups

As you know, rowing and running aren't my favorite activities in the world, but at least I got through 'em without stopping. The jerks and HSPUs? Not so much -- especially with fried shoulders.

Result: 23:32 as RXed.

I wonder if the Turkish get-ups on Friday are going to exacerbate or alleviate my shoulder misery.

Crunch Time

No, this isn't about crunchy milk chocolate candy bars.

Years ago, when I was still working at a law firm, one of my clients was a company that developed video games. They introduced me to the concept of "crunch time" -- a concentrated period of endless work and sleepless nights immediately prior to the launch of a new product. Workers essentially sleep at the office for days on end, subsisting on stale junk food and cleaning themselves with baby wipes. Yum.

I'm sort of in that mode right now. My days are crammed with meetings and the responsibilities of my "real" job -- i.e., the one that pays -- while my nights are spent pounding away at the final phase of the Nom Nom Paleo app. Whoever said that the last 10 percent of a project takes 90 percent of the effort wasn't kidding. Every time we think we're done and we can finally get a decent night's sleep, we discover another pending issue or task. Even after the app itself is ready to go (and we're so, so close now -- just hours away from giving it the final sign-off), we have a crapload of work to do to get ready for the launch. I've spent every spare minute of the past three days working on a demo video of the app, for example. (You'll see it soon, I'm sure.) And we still need to finalize the web page for the app, and get our marketing materials in order.

I am pooped.

I missed the 5 a.m. class at CrossFit Palo Alto last Friday because we were up late dialoguing with our development team. But today, I was determined to get into the gym. And I'm glad I did, because it was a good one.

Strength Skill:

• Cleans (3-3-3-1-1)

I still need practice, but my cleans are feeling stronger. I'm cleaning more than my bodyweight now, and think I have more in me. And I like the sensation of sticking an explosive, solid clean. If I can free up some time at home (ha!), maybe I can sneak in more sets in the garage during the week.

Metcon:

AMRAP in 10 minutes:

• 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 2 badger crawl laps

Chest-to-bar pull-ups are self-explanatory. As for the badger crawl laps, we basically got down on our hands and feet and scurried across the length of the gym and back for each lap. I like badger crawls -- in small doses. But after a few laps, they're murder on the shoulders and wrists.

I blazed through the first round, cranking out a set of unbroken pull-ups and racing around the gym on all fours. But by the third round, I had hit a wall with my chest-to-bar pull-ups, and couldn't string more than three or four together at a time. By the fifth round, I had to wind up with a huge kip in order to touch my chest to the bar.

Result: 6 rounds + 3 reps as RXed. It was ugly, but it was awesome.

And now: Back to work.

Wednesday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Pull-ups (5-3-3-1-1, with 10 push-ups between sets)

I think I've pinpointed the reason why a dull ache still plagues my upper arms. It ain't 'cause of the gazillion push-presses from last week. It's from those damned diamond push-ups I did in-between sets of pull-ups last Wednesday.

This morning, my bad case of DOMS was finally subsiding, so despite my chronic lack of sleep, I happily drove to the gym for our morning beatdown. I enjoy doing weighted pull-ups, and was looking forward to doing more.

But just like last week, we did 10 push-ups between each set of pull-ups. Tim allowed us to pick the types of pull-up variations we wanted to do, so I did some decline push-ups, some medicine ball push-ups, some spiderman push-ups, some parallette push-ups, and some more of those nasty diamond push-ups. They didn't feel bad in the moment -- but a few hours later, I could feel the creeping ache in my triceps. And reaching way, waaaay back in the recesses of my brain, I pulled out a vague memory of how I used to do diamond push-ups as part of my P90X regimen, and how my arms always felt wrecked afterwards.

I've come full circle.

Metcon:

• 21 box jumps (24")
• 21 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (32kg / 24kg)
• 21 kettlebell swing - catch - squats (32kg / 24kg)
• 15 box jumps (24")
• 15 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (32kg / 24kg)
• 15 kettlebell swing - catch - squats (32kg / 24kg)
• 9 box jumps (24")
• 9 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (32kg / 24kg)
• 9 kettlebell swing - catch - squats (32kg / 24kg)

What's a swing-catch-squat, you ask? Good question. It involves swinging a kettlebell up, releasing the handle and catching the kettlebell upside-down, performing a goblet squat, and then pushing the iron ball away from you and catching it by the handle to start another swing. It's both easier and harder than it looks.

On the one hand, this movement isn't altogether unfamiliar. It feels a bit like a barbell clean.

On the other hand: Holy crap. I'm not very physically coordinated to begin with, but ask me to perform anything technically demanding at 5 a.m. and you're in for some entertainment.

For today's workout, I used a 24-inch box for my jumps, but I scaled down the kettlebell weights. I used a 24kg KB for the sumo deadlift high pulls, and a 20kg KB for the swing-catch-squats. (You know who else used a 20kg kettlebell? XFitMama. She's a beast.)

It wasn't exactly a cakewalk -- I had a helluva time trying to catch the damned kettlebell -- but I got through the workout okay. Frankly, I'm just happy I didn't cave in my face with a big-ass metal ball.

Result: 8:34 as RXed.

Monday's Workout

D’oh! I forgot to post yesterday. Memory loss: It’s a side effect of adrenal fatigue and lack of sleep. To the best of my recollection, here’s what we did yesterday at the gym.

Strength Skill:

• Cleans (5-3-3-1-1)

My shoulders and arms are still reeling from Friday’s 101 push-presses. The silver lining? This helped keep me from relying on my arms while doing cleans. I will say, though, that in my present state of soreness, getting my elbows up in the rack position didn’t feel especially awesome.

Metcon:

• 21 dumbbell burpee snatches – right arm (45# / 30#)
• 21 ring dips
• 21 dumbbell burpee snatches – left arm (45# / 30#)
• 21 ring dips

I went with 35 pounds instead of the RXed 45, fearing that the dumbbell burpee snatches would annihilate me. They didn’t look fun when Tim demonstrated the movement: We were to drop down while holding a dumbbell in one hand, perform a push-up while holding onto the dumbbell, jump up into a squat position, and then snatch the dumbbell from the floor to an overhead position with a locked out arm. (They look sort of like this, but with a push-up at the bottom.)

Yuck.

But when the workout began, I found that the burpee snatches weren’t so bad after all. I was able to find a decent (though not particularly quick) rhythm, and got through the first 21 without stopping.

The problem was the ring dips. I hit a wall very early on in the workout: After my first 8 or 10 ring dips, my arms were fried. I spent the rest of the workout struggling to string together more than a couple of ring dips at a time.

Again: Yuck.

Result: I can’t remember. It’s only been 36 hours since I did this workout, and can’t recall my time. Sad. I desperately need more sleep.

Friday's Workout

It's immensely stupid of me to hit the gym on just four hours of sleep, but I did it anyway.

Strength Skill:

• Turkish Get-Ups (1. 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 - each side)

I did fine. I stuck with light weights (12 and 16 kilograms), and focused on ensuring good positioning of my free hand. And even the 12 kilogram kettlebell was enough to get my shoulders nice and engaged -- just in time for:

• 101 push-presses for time (95# / 65#), with a 5-burpee penalty every time the barbell is set down on the floor.

I'll admit it: For the first half of the WOD, I certainly tried to "game" system by resting the bar across the back of my neck and shoulders when I was too tired to continue. And for a while, it worked -- I got through the first 50 push-presses without having to do any burpees.

But as the workout wore on, the heavier the barbell got (even though I was only using 80 pounds and not the RXed 95). After Rep Number 50, I reluctantly lowered the barbell to the ground and did my requisite burpees....slowly. I broke the remaining push-presses into sets of 10, and resigned myself to the fact that I would have to do another four or five rounds of burpee before hitting the magic number of 101 push-press reps.

Result: 12:13.

Yeesh. I literally fell asleep while writing this post. Must. Go. To. Sleep.

Guess Who's Coming to Town?

Yup -- these two.



You might know Melissa and Dallas Hartwig as Whole9 -- the dynamic duo behind the Whole30 month-long dietary re-set that's helped thousands of people kickstart their journey back to health.

As longtime readers may recall, M (a.k.a. Nom Nom Paleo) and I -- along with a number of others from CrossFit Palo Alto, including XFitMama and Trish -- attended a Whole9 Foundations of Nutrition seminar at Mad Dawg Fitness a little over a year ago, where we absorbed an incredible amount of information about how to eat for optimal health. (If you need a refresher, check out M's post from Nom Nom Paleo here.)

Before attending the seminar, we'd already been eating Paleo for a while, and I figured I wouldn't learn anything new. WRONG. The day-long seminar is a fantastic introduction to good nutrition for absolute beginners, but even those of us who've implemented a clean, anti-inflammatory diet can stand to learn a lot. I sure did.

Since we first met Melissa and Dallas, we've become friends, sharing laughs and meals in different cities (and ingesting all sorts of non-Paleo foods, from breaded brains to ice cream -- blasphemy!). In the process, we've had the pleasure of chatting with them about topics ranging from nutrition and fitness to how to make Blue Steel faces and deadlift 800 pounds. The Hartwigs aren't just Good Food Superheroes -- they know how to have a good time, too.

It goes without saying, then, that we're excited that they're coming to CrossFit Palo Alto on Saturday, April 21, for their first San Francisco Bay Area seminar in quite a while. You can learn more about the Foundations of Nutrition seminar over on the CrossFit Palo Alto website.  M and I will be there, along with the oft-mentioned Tim Dymmel, the man behind CFPA. If you're lucky, you might even spot the elusive Lazy Caveman. It'll be a mini-Paleo-palooza. 

As Darth Vader said in The Empire Strikes Back, we would be honored if you would join us. You'll have a great time, and learn a ton, too. (Okay -- Darth Vader didn't say that last part.)

Tickets to the Whole9 Foundations of Nutrition Seminar at CrossFit Palo Alto are available here, and if you register by Sunday, you get fifteen bucks knocked off the price. Plus, you'll get to hang out in the box where M and I have decorated the floors with copious amounts of sweat.

Well? What are you waiting for?

Wednesday's Workout

I woke up at 3:30 a.m. this morning, and couldn't get back to sleep. After another half-hour of tossing and turning, I got up, made myself some coffee, turned on the laptop, and started emailing our app development team in Bangalore. And in just a few minutes, I was hopped up on caffeine. By the time I got to CrossFit Palo Alto, I was wide awake.

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Strict Pull-Ups (5-5-3-3-3, with 10 pushups after each set)

Even with just a 20 pound dumbbell jammed into my crotch, I struggled to get my chin over the bar this morning -- kind of pathetic given that my PR is almost three times that weight. I'm going to blame it on the lack of sleep, but the real culprit is my lack of practice. I used to do pull-ups whenever I walked into our garage, but I haven't even glanced at the pull-up bar lately.

I need more hours in the day.

Metcon:

J.Ho: This picture's for you.

AMRAP in 6 minutes of:

• 16 medicine ball snatches (20# / 14#)
• 16 medicine ball V-ups

Rest 1 minute, then:

AMRAP in 6 minutes of:

• 16 wall balls
• 16 medicine ball twists

It didn't look so bad on the whiteboard. I'd never done med ball snatches before, but they looked doable. So did the twists -- despite the fact that they reminded me of this unholy business:

The first 6-minute AMRAP was tiring, but I felt good. The V-ups slowed me down, but I quickly got the hang of the snatches.

The second 6-minute AMRAP? Horrible -- mostly because wall balls continue to magically suck the energy out of my body. Still, I was able to make up some time on the twists, which came fast and smooth (for the most part).

Result: 7 rounds plus 17 reps as RXed.

Wow. I just spent 30 minutes writing this post. My brain is shutting down. Time to sleep!

Monday's Workout

A good one today.

Strength Skill:

• Cleans (5-5-3-3-3)

I started with full squat cleans, but it turns out I wasn't extending my hips all the way, so Tim had me practice power cleans.

When I switched over, I could immediately feel the difference. I'd been starting the third pull before completing the second, and not generating as much power as I could and should have.

By the end of my fifth set, though, I felt pretty good. This was a good start to the cycle.

Metcon:

For time:

• 50 double-unders
• 24 flag push-ups
• 50 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 24 flag push-ups
• 50 double-unders

The first 50 double-unders were fine -- not exactly lightning-quick, but not horribly slow, either -- but the flag push-ups took a lot out of me. By the time I got to the kettlebell swings, I was winded. After the first 25 swings, I had to stop for a breath, and ended up taking a couple more breaks, too. My arms were jelly by the end of the second set of flag push-ups.

I didn't think I'd be able to string together any double-unders at the end of the workout. My shoulders were on fire, and after a few clumsy reps, I tripped on my rope. A few reps later, I stumbled again. This looked like it was going to take forever.

But then I strung together 22 in a row -- and then another 19. I have no idea how I had enough juice to fuel those double-unders. Maybe it was just dumb luck that I didn't get tangled in the rope. But just like that, I was done.

Result: 6:57 as RXed.

Johanna Quaas is All Kinds of Awesome

Look up "awesome" in the dictionary, and you'll probably find a picture of 86-year-old gymnast Johanna Quaas. Last month, she performed a nifty routine on the parallel bars before an audience at the 2012 Cottbus World Cup in Germany.

So what's your excuse for not being able to do an elbow lever? (Here's mine: I'm weak, lazy, and unskilled.)