Easter 2012

(4/6) As always I made my way toward Cincinnati to see the folks and as always, I stopped in the Columbus are to get a WOD in.  First I ended up at CF 161 (227) in Pataskala, OH.  There tucked behind a combined MMA/Power lifting facility was the area for CF 161.  We talked a lot training and a growing box and then we got to work. 3x5 SDHP working up to a heavy set was the skill.  I worked up to a 185# set, twice.  Then got to the WOD of 15-12-9 of 95# SDHP and Tuck Jumps.  Not a super hard WOD, (:94sec) since they were still a bit beat from the day before.  This box was small, but has great potential.  Great coach and eager students, looking forward to their growth with more experience. Check them out if your in the area.  Thanks for having me.

(4/7) Finally made it home, then headed right back out with Jenna Miller. This time off to Chase-N-Grace CF (228) in Eaton, OH.  This was very much a family friendly environment.  Combined with a power lifting facility, C-n-G had a great little niche in their community.  C-n-G are the names the Eversole children.  It was a small class setting but we still got work done.  We teamed up with someone from the box and got to work.  My partner for this was Momma Eversole and did she ever enjoy the push.  The WOD consisted of:

200 single unders or 70 DU then 100 Squats

200 single unders or 70 DU then 80 Push Press @ 65/45

200 single unders or 70 DU then 60 Pull Ups

200 single unders or 70 DU then 40 Burpees

Singles and doubles were done together then while one worked, the other held plank.  We finished strong @ 26:06.  Everyone else was close behind in this brutal workout.  The saying "A family that trains together, stays together" was totally talking about C-n-G CF.  Thanks for having us, we had a blast.  If your in their area, shoot them a line and get work done with them!

Yes, I'm doing a double on Saturday.  Yes, it's another Team WOD.  No, Jenna didn't not have two in her.  Yes, this was worse than the last one.  We sped 40min south to Vigor CF (229) in Moraine, OH to do all of the above.  Here I met Jason and his crew for their form of Saturday fun.  No frills here, we got warmed up, hit a quick 800m run and then paired off.  I was with Jason for this killer of:

250 Double Unders

50 Wall Walks

100 Toes to Bar

800m Run

10,000K Squat Clean

One person worked, one person rested.  This sucked no matter how you sliced it, but we got it done in 27:57.  If your wondering it's 74 Squats cleans @ 135! I enjoyed this dose of dirty and would come back in no time!  When in the Dayton Area, this is the man you want to kick your ass!

I headed over to Rogue to pick up some toys, ate some BBQ and then headed home for a great dinner with my family.  I only hope the car ride home can be this much fun!

Saturday Run to Northeast Ohio

(3/31)  I decided it would be a good idea to head west and visit some more Ohio boxes.  This time I took back up in the form of Liz, Mari, and Sandi.  After a 2 hour drive we landed at CF Distinction (225) in Beechwood, OH.  We met Travis and Regina and the CFD Crew and then got a warm up in on our own.  After that we took a look at what we were in for; 4 rounds of a 200m run, 10 Chest 2 Bar Pull Ups, and 20 Wall Balls.  This was something that we all needed, solid leg work in an typical CrossFit style workout.  Finished in 9:XX with the girls finished shortly after.  This was a really awesome atmosphere to be in and I"m super glad we found our way there.  Thank you CF Distinction for an awesome time.  Your box is totally worth the drive and totally worth coming back to. 

We decided, well 3 of the 4 of us, that it would be awesome to do a second WOD since we were already in the area.  The ginger, aka Liz, thought we had made a wrong turn until we pulled into a lot with a giant tire against the building.  Needless to the Liz wasn't thrilled at first, but was outnumbered and had to get some more work done.  This time we are at Staci Russell's box, Great Lakes CF (226) in Bedford Heights, OH.  Here we met Coach Patrick and two other students that were there for class.  We had a team WOD of 12 rounds of 12 push ups, 12 squats and 12 pulls on the rower each.  This was a killer due to both partners having to do the whole set in a row before they could tag out and get a rest.  We partnered up with someone we didn't know and went to work!  I had Jackie for a partner who was on her third day of CrossFit, the other girls were worried because they didn't think she was gonna get any rest.  This was a 20 plus minute burner that turned out to be super fun for all involved!  Thanks for having us Staci, too bad you weren't there, would have love to seen you.  You have a nice box and was totally worth the pain to the girls. 

Well time to get to more work done and back to more boxes.  Almost all of Ohio is done, only about 20 boxes left.  Till next WOD!!!!

Kinda working....

(3/12)  I got sent back to Central PA for work.  Only this time I had a bit more time to visit and go places more than once.  I headed over to 13 Stripes CF (223) in Harrisburg, PA to meet up with Jeremy and Mike.  I met Jeremy a day or so earlier at Integrated Fitness for his Olympic Lifting Cert and I was redoing Games WOD 12.3.  I bring it up because of the WOD programmed took another toll on the legs and hips.  21-15-9 of 24" Box Jumps, Front Squats and Overhead Squats @ 45#.  This was murder on the hips but a fun burner in 5:25.   I also was there on "Eva" day but sat it out with 12.4 on the horizon. 

The place is new but Jeremy is a an awesome coach.  With power lifting champion Mike helping run things, they will be a force in no time.  This was totally worth the visit if your in the area or even if your in the surrounding area.  Thanks for having me and I look forward to coming back! 

(3/15) I decided to give CF Chupacabra (224) in Lancaster, PA a second chance.  The first attempt 6 months earlier didn't go so well, but hey, I'm a forgiving kinda guy....usually.  This time I met owner Matt and talked about my previous experience.  After we cleared everything up and did some waivers, we got to work on our skill set of strict presses...Heavy!  Ended out with a top end set of 175x5.  Then we got down to our unconventional yet awesome 7 round WOD of 10 Burpees and 7 Deadlifts @ 275 with a 2min rest between each round.  This made for a super intense 30ish second interval set.  Total overall time was 3:42 (33/31/32/31/33/31/31)  I had a much better time this go around.  Matt is a good coach and is doing good things in Lancaster.  Check him out if you get the chance.  Thanks for having me Matt. 

This trip I also got to hit up one of my favorite boxes, CF York in York PA.  I judged and did Games WOD 12.4 getting thru 6 muscle ups.  Awesome place, thanks Darren for running things with Rusty outta town.

As of writing this, I actually made it back to 13 Stripes to work with Jeremy some more.  The box is growing by leaps and bounds.  Almost 100 members between all there programs.  Great Work guys!

Saturday Drive to Erie, PA

3/10 
So I needed to get out of the 'burgh for a day, so I called up Mari P and we headed up to visit our friends at CF FBO (222) in Erie, PA.  After we went across the tracks and down some streets that ended, we finally got there.  Our friend Amanda Watkins lives 5 minutes away and was 40 minutes late, so she missed the team workout Lumpy had in store for us.  So we drew chips from my hat for partners, Mari was with Erin and I was with Zack.  After the demo, we got started on this monster WOD of:

2000m Row

20 C2B Pull Ups

30 Box Jumps

40 SDHP w/1.5p KB

50 V Ups

60 Supermans

70 Laterall Jumps

80 Air Squats

90 Double Unders

100 Partner Med Ball Tosses

and a 2000m Row

This WOD had a few stipulations though: 400m row, switch, 400m, then finish how you want,  1 person works at a time, and if you dropped the med ball it was 5 burpees right then. 

Zack finished the last 600m of the row....I took out the pull ups....split the jumps, SDHP, and V ups....crushed the supermans and the lateral jumps.....air squats were even....Zack no like Doubles so I took most of those except for a few tuck jump subs.....no drops.....Zack pull his ass off on the row.  we finished in 31:57, Mari and Erin was just around 40m.  It was a crusher and I'm glad we made the trip. 

We actually had so much fun, we stayed around and cheered on their go at Games Wod 12.3.  Thanks for having us Lumpy, we surely will be back.  If your in the Erie area, go see the Animals!

The Arnold Classic 2012

This is one crazy event, I was actually a bit overwhelmed by all the giant traps, tri's, heels, and paint.  I've never been here before and I guess I didn't expect all this.  The expo floor was nuts with people pan handling products and little competitions. After a relatively quick pass thru the floor, I found my way out and over to the Olympic lifters.  Pure skill and power was awesome to watch, just wished I wouldn't had missed my good friend Gwen Sisto lift on Sunday night.  So Friday was quick and I headed out to see friends, but I'd be back for some Saturday afternoon fun. 

I said afternoon because of a lil fun was to be had at Always Forward CF (221) in Granville, OH.  It was a little tucked away, but I found it!  So after a quick waiver and introduction to Coach's Traci and Dianne , we got right to work with "The Other Total".  A 1RM of an Overhead Squat, a Power Clean, and a Bench Press.  So we round and round with each lift and ended with a 240 OHS (PR), a 265 Clean (Tied PR), and a 250 Bench (PR).  Each lift was awesome and totally surprising.  Everyone I worked with did amazing and I'm thankful to have gotten to work with you guys! 

I did get a chance to meet the owner, Craig, since he was teaching the next class.  I had a great time a AFCF and I'm sorry I moved the mat.  Thanks for having me, it was a great time!

Now back to the Arnold!!!!!

I watched some great athletes tackle Games Wod 12.2. Bailey, Froning, Fory, Uranker, Ackenwalde, Akinwale, Clever, Foucher, and the list goes on and on.  Atheltes that you may not know as well 

like Jim Crowell, Jay Younger, Brain Yoak, Toni West and more also performed their hearts out for the crowds.  Great job to everyone!!!  I also to hang with some good friends like Jess Hofherr, CF FBO, Rich James, "Moose", and made a few new ones in Kristen, Pam and Portsmouth Barbell.  I even got to do a one handed attempt at 12.2 (30reps) with Kristen Clever and a 10 rep BW thruster contest with Rob Orlando and some of CrossFit's top athletes, I had the most weight at 215, thanks ROB! I had a blast a felt super at home around everyone.  If you were there, it was great seeing you, if not you missed out!  Here's some pics, go next year!

Elizabeth Akinwale and Me

Jay Younger about to kill it!

Toni West

One handed Snatches!

Going places

So I decided against my better judgement and headed south to somewhere I've actually never been in life...ARKANSAS!!!!  I could give you a million reasons why I never made it to Arkansas, but I don't really have a good one.

It was getting dark as I got there, but sparks were about to fly, LITERALLY!!!!!!!!  I made to CF Natural State (218) in Jonesboro, AR just as the previous class was finishing up.  I met Coach Bryan when I got there and we chatted while we warmed up.  Pretty cool dude, really inviting place.  The WOD wasn't long by any means but it was fun.  3 rds of 50m sled pulls with 90# & 5 or 6 (depending on tire) flip and jumps.  Each round was separate, so that the other heat could go at the same time, which was cool cuz you could put everything into each round.  I said sparks were flying and they were from the metal sled on the pavement!  It's hard to explain but there was a turn, a turn around and a turn in the runs which made for crazy side step sprints and wide turning sleds!  Super fun wod with (2) 6 flips and (1) 5 flip, I'll take it.  We also found out 12.1 and did a few practice reps.  I know it wasn't a crazy wod, but this box was super inviting and totally worth the drive.  Thanks for having me!

I headed off into the darkness toward Memphis, called up my buddy CJ and found some Memphis BBQ.  Few shots of tequila back at the house and then shower and bed.  Up early for what was about to be a long ass day!!

I got up super early and headed 15 min south to Desoto CF (219) in Southaven, MS. This was a pretty good sized class for 6am, but hey, I'm used to it.  We did some strict pressing (I know, I just did it the other day) but got 175x3 today.  Then we were divided up, then sent on our way for "Tailpipe" 3 rds of 250m, while your partner stands behind you in the rack position with 2, 1.5p Kettlebells.  Each person has to row 3x!  I don't remember my partners name, but I know it was a race to the finish with us and the team to our left.  I think we beat them by 4 sec and finished overall in 6:08.  I did get to hang and talk for a bit, which was cool.  Overall good time and definitely worth the jump to Mississippi for a lil fun.  Thanks!!!

I said this was gonna be a long ass day!  I headed east toward 'Bama (ROLL TIDE!)  in search of a box to cross AL off the states list.  After a brief stop at Waffle House for some steak, eggs and bacon and a pass thru the town where they make bumper plates, I made it to Florence, AL and home of CF Shoals (220).  This place had it's own facility to include a 200m track, awesome!! After some basics, Brad showed us the wod and we got set up.  21 Deadlifts at BW (did 225), 200m farmer carry with 15# plates (pinching, no grab or fingers in holes), 15 DL / 400m, 9 DL / 600m.  It was so nice there that it was a pleasure going outside.  Finished up in 12:45 which was pretty good.  Class was small but it was 12:45.  Totally an out of the way, nothing is TOO loud for the neighbors, kinda place which totally made it worth it.  Thanks B for the hook up and I hope to get my back back soon :)

Yes, I was that guy who left there WOD bag at a gym in Alabama.  If I'm ever back in UA (Upper Alabama) I'm totally coming back! 

So here's why else this was a really long day... I went to Huntsville to meet up with Tyler, who I'd hadn't seen since he got out of the Navy. Talked and caught up for a hour or so. 





Drove to Chattanooga to do WOD 3, but forgot the time difference and was late by an hour, kept driving thru to Knoxville, missed some friends there because of Gall Stones, and then kept driving all the way to BFE VA by 2230/2300.  Up early to see the Gorge in WV, lunch with Meghan and her friend in Fairmont, then home for a nap and 12.1.  All in all, I had a great few days.  Till the next time.