Anticipating a long day of NFL football, I decided to take myself down the block to the steepest hill in my neighborhood.200 meters of 15% grade up and down ten times makes 4000 meters in all.A fair bit of running for a fella on a Sunday morning.Took me 26:01 in total to finish all 10 rounds.My pace was pretty steady until the last round, when of course I sprinted with all I had left to the finish.The downhill intervals were short, but just long enough to recover between climbs.Hoping to work in more and more hill running going forward.
This evening I hit some hang power snatches to work on timing and explosion during the second pull.I started at 135 lbs, worked out a few kinks, then upped it to 155 lbs.After 3 reps there I went to 185 lbs for the remainder.Looking at the video footage, my biggest problems were early arm pull and a little forward lean.I think I did more than 10 reps and definitely improved by the end.There’s a clip below.
Also, less than a week until the Fit As F*ck Challenge.Bummed I won’t be there to see it in person, but I wanted to wish everyone training and planning to compete the best of luck.I know it will be a hell of a show.
I got up today feeling pretty alright, surprising to be honest.But as soon as I did a set of squats I started to feel the soreness creeping back in.I was on the foam roll between sets loosening things up, but after each set the tightness resumed.I decided to keep things relatively light and left my top set at 130 kg.For the pressing I did floor presses and topped out at 115 kg, a fun variation that I haven’t done in a long time.
The main feature today was getting out on the water though.John and I spent almost 3 hours on the Lake paddling around, jumping off cliffs, and swinging on ropes.SO MUCH FUN.It’s been too long since I’d done this and I forgot how plain and simply enjoyable it could be. It was definitely more of a leisure pace--no real sprint paddling, but the sum total of work was there. We covered 5 miles or so in total and emerged good and tired. Took some great pictures and found some amazing spots for future workouts.
Going to soak up a day of rest tomorrow and watch my high school alma mater play football under the lights.Can’t wait.
There’s a stretch of abandoned track that runs from Sutter street in historic Folsom out past highway 50 and off into the unknown expanse of the California foothills.It weaves its way through the suburb that has grown up around it and cuts a path that few ever follow anymore.For a while now I’ve been wanting to explore this bit of crystallized history.Today was that day.
John and I filled up sandbags to about 100 lbs and parked cars at either end of a 4 mile stretch earlier this morning.We began under the highway 50 overpass, in the shadow of an enormous CostCo, and worked our way west back towards Old Town.Never once dropping the bags we ran, jogged, and walked the entire length in just over an hour.It was brutal at times—our shoulders and upper backs were cramping under the weight.But it was enjoyable at others—the scenery did not disappoint.Most surprising was the difficulty we had with the footing.Some sections of the track were deep, some were shallow, some ran through mud, others through fallen leaves.Most areas were overgrown with weeds and looked every bit their age.It was like being transported back in time.
The first leg of the journey paralleled bustling East Bidwell Street, a thoroughfare lavishly adorned with Quizno’s, Ross Dress for Less, and The Home Depot.Choosing to walk on such a defunct and neglected strip of track beside freshly laid asphalt felt almost like willful disobedience—strangely satisfying.The looks we got every time we crossed between traffic, the distinct pause of the Prius in the left hand turn lane…these are memories worth their weight.
Then, about halfway through the trip, the railroad veered left into a sort of nature preserve where there was almost no sign of civilization.Just like that, there was no strip malls, no pedestrians, and no apartment complexes.But the rail stretched on. I thought to myself that this was how the entire line looked when it was laid all those years ago.It’s hard to imagine that this kind of nature still exists under the concrete of the “real world.”
When we finally stumbled up to our car we were pretty ravaged.1 hour and 13 minutes of total time had elapsed and we hadn’t rested at all.My shoulders were scorched, my legs were wobbly, and I was completely parched.I literally could not wait to get home, jump in the pool, and hit the pillow.I was so exhausted that I found it hard to keep my eyes open on the drive home.This is a great example of your body failing at the margins of its experience.Today’s WOD had time and modal domains that are rarely combined and my body felt the impact. Hallelujah for new experiences.
Digressing a bit, it’s now half way through the month and I have received exactly ZERO videos from you guys doing workouts involving public transportation.Weak Sauce.These don’t have to be professionally done.The more people get out and start training without a gym the better—this is merely an opportunity to do so.I promise the fun you’ll have is worth the effort.
The video link from earlier today is below. Big ups to Jacob for suggesting the song. Enjoy.
It’s been quite a while since I last went into nutrition on this blog and there have been more than a few questions on the subject lately.As always, my initial disclaimer: I merely intend to relate my own experience and what I’ve learned from it.Any conflicting ideas, methods, or arguments are welcomed warmly.
First off, we must acknowledge that different aims require different approaches.If one person wants to lose 30 pounds and the other wants to gain 30 pounds, their methods will be necessarily distinct.What most can agree on, however, is that this distinction typically hinges on quantity not quality.Regardless of your goals, whether you’re an athlete or a housewife, high quality fuel is what you’re after.Food that your body can easily digest, absorb, and turn into energy.
Determining what exactly this fuel should be is a process of experimentation and elimination.For me personally, this has distilled itself into a predominantly Paleo menu with a few exceptions.I pound eggs, chicken, and turkey like it’s my job.All day long I’m shoving deli meat in my face.Equally impressive is the amount of nuts I consume.Trail mixes from Costco are the obvious favorite here simply because they come in impressively large quantities.Cashew Clusters?Game over.Kirkland cranberry medley?Own it.
I eat a lot of fruit (mostly apples, berries, and bananas) and go through at least a head of broccoli and a bag of spinach per week.Other vegetables commonly consumed include onions, mushrooms, and olives.I think it is important to mention here that the predominant benefit one gets from fruits and vegetables go unnoticed.Micronutrients are all the rave these days in anti-cancer circles and I am on the bandwagon.Give me all the green I can get.
To this point this has been a pretty model CrossFit diet, and if you think that’s where it’s going to stay I have you fooled. For one,I eat a ton of potatoes.Mostly sweet potatoes and yams because they have a milder effect on blood sugar, but plenty of the regular brand as well.I do this for 2 reasons.First, I can’t get over the inherent Paleo hypocracy regarding this food.It is a root.It was gathered by prehistoric peoples for millennia.Our bodies do not reject it.It’s like all these purists decided to abandon their "evolution of digestion" paradigm because this particular food is high on the glycemic index. An index that, incidentally, I’m pretty sure Joe Caveman didn’t give a shit about.As far as I’m concerned, potatoes are still high quality food.
The second reason I eat them is because if I don’t have some starch I won’t get full.30 minutes after a 2 chicken breast, broccoli, and squash stir fry I am starving.Add a small spud potato and I’m stuffed.This is something that has grown into a staple of my diet in large part out of personal necessity.They don’t make me tired, they don’t make me fat.They make me full.
Another example of my personal divergence is dairy. I feel no adverse effects from it.I eat cheese and drink whole milk regularly and find that I don’t feel any less energetic or strong than when I went 2 months without any of it.If anything, I feel more energized.And, before you say it, I’m not one of those cases where anything will work.Flour knocks me out cold.If I eat pizza, pasta, or garlic bread I’ll be horizontal on the couch before my grandparents finish their desert wine.Dairy just happens to work.For me it’s a great way to get decent calories and extra macronutrients to counter the amount I use up in training.
When it comes to quantity, I’ll admit that I ain’t so scientific. My friend Jim Bathurst once wrote that every time he walks past the refrigerator he ingests 2 eggs accidentally.That’s about where I’m at right now.Most of my time spent thinking about food is not about whether I will eat too much, it’s about how much good food can I put down in a given day.That may be a benefit of my genetic disposition, my high caloric output, or a combination of the two, but it doesn’t mean that such a laissez-faire attitude is the right approach for all.I know plenty of people who thrive on the Zone because it gives them the structure they need to manage their meals.I had more than a few clients who did Weight Watchers and saw incredible results for the same reason.At this point in the experiment for me, though, the only issue with quantity is whether I will eat enough.
Last thing I want to touch on is supplementation.This is another one of those tense moments for the nutrition nerd.“How can I reconcile my logical desire to eat like a caveman with the scientific discoveries of today?”Easy pal, don't strain something. Do your research, get out of your own way, and take advantage of the discoveries worth taking advantage of.I guarantee you that if I went back 5000 years and offered Neolithic Blair a gun to hunt with he’d take it in a heart beat.More than that, he’d snatch up my matches, hoard the toilet paper, and guzzle protein shakes to his heart’s content.Point is, some developments are positive and not using them is plain stupid; those include post workout supplements like protein and creatine.I know this because of how I feel after a workout when I take them compared to when I don’t. (Not to mention the overwhelming majority of scientific research). It’s night and day.The only other supplement I take is fish oil, simply because I don’t eat enough fish and the human diet is wildly out of its Omega 3/Omega 6 balance.For more information check out PurePharma.Otherwise I do my best to stick to real food.
To wrap up, I try to keep things as simple as possible.I’m no creative genius in the kitchen (if you want to know people that are, go to Health-Bent), but I get by.The good news is that as taste buds become less and less accustomed to artificial sugars and corn syrup, regular food begins to taste pretty good all by itself.Funny how that works.
I included a video of me making my 6 am smoothie.This is something I make everyday with more or less the same ingredients.It’s like a pre-breakfast that I ingest to get my day going while reading the paper, internet, etc.It’s great because it’s chalk full of good things and it goes down fast/doesn’t make me so full I can’t train for 3 hours. Plus it still leaves room for real breakfast a little later in the morning. Nom Nom Nom.
Today got off to a roaring start as I hit the links with my grandfather for a round out at Cherry Island.Excellent improvement from my last foray a few weeks ago but still leaving much to be desired.Coordination and timing weren’t bad, but mentally I still felt like there was too much distraction inside my head, and it brought me to an interesting realization around hole 8.I was spending too much time over the ball before initiating the stroke.The reason I mention this is because it happens the same in Olympic lifting and powerlifting.I am easily at my strongest when my body is primed, loose, and not stuck in a stagnant position for too long.3-4 seconds max, I’d say.All the mental stuff, the visualization, the checklist of technical things I want to remember; all that has to be done before I approach the bar.Or the shot, in this case.As soon as I stopped hovering over the ball I suddenly became more fluid, more coordinated—in short, more of an athlete.Sometimes we get in our own way by over-complicating the obvious.If you know what you’re supposed to do and how to do it, if you’ve done it a hundred times correctly before, then your absolute best bet on getting it right again is to stop thinking about it and just do it.Be an athlete.
This evening strength session was special.I was joined by both of my parents and we followed the same program.We took our time, watched every one of each other’s repetitions, and pushed ourselves together.It was really, really fun.I got 6 reps at 180 kg (396 lb) and 4 reps at 70 kg (155 lb) for each of the major movements.I was happy with the deads, but disappointed in the presses.Looking forward to a fair bit of soreness tomorrow.
Last thing, a couple shout-outs.Congratulations to Frank Passanante of Steelfit Strength for undertaking and completing his 2nd triathalon in our nation’s capitol.His efforts the last few years have extended beyond himself as he’s coached and motivated underprivileged kids to participate in the event to great success.His picture is below.
Also, my good friend and training partner Jason Mulligan has put his cognitive capacity and humor to good use (finally) and started a blog.It is a blast to read and I encourage everyone to check it out at Consciousfit
Josh Courage came through town this evening on his way to the east bay and it was great to see him again.Although we’ve been in contact from time to time doing workouts, etc. over the past year or so, I haven’t actually seen him since last August.Reconnecting is always fun and it was cool to hear the plans he and Lindsay have for their new life in California.
For our workout I took them over to the Folsom walking bridge and hung up the rings to do some muscle up practice.Being that it was around 6 pm things couldn’t have been any more beautiful.I could honestly go down there and swing around on the rings every night if the weather were like it was today.We did 5 sets resting as needed between and I got 8, 8, 7, 7, and 7.I definitely feel like the rhythm is getting more comfortable not using a false grip but I think I need a cleaner, more efficient motion if I ever want to get up in the high teens for consecutive MU’s.
Afterwards we headed back to the house and tackled a short couplet to jack up the heart rate.Josh and I both struggled on the pushups—picking your hands up every time makes things so much more difficult it’s incredible.But neither of us took much rest at all and kept pounding away through the double unders.My time was 6:57 and his was 7:01.Lindsay did the same WOD but with 10 pushups instead of 20 and smoked us both…Next time she’ll have to bump it up.
Now that Josh is in the neighborhood I’m looking forward to getting together more and more to train.
If yesterday’s workout was fun and low key, today’s was grueling and demoralizing.It’s coming up on the mainsite in a few days so I won’t go into too many details, but suffice it to say that I was mentally defeated by the third round and it took me 30 minutes to complete.I’d seen this WOD come up before and really expected that I could perform well, but almost immediately I knew this wasn’t going to happen.There hasn’t been a session in recent memory that I felt so shitty about and it’s given me extra motivation to push the envelope more.If I can’t handle a routine like this that combines a lot of skills at high intensity, then that’s what I need to work on.More moving parts, less simplistic couplets and triplets.Should be a feast for some creative programming over the next few months. I'll give a more thorough evaluation of the workout after it's posted on the main site Saturday.
On another note, there are only a few dozen shirts left in the box so if you want them snatch em up quick.
Today I did my version of September’s Public Transportation theme, using the Sacramento Light Rail System as my canvas.I lugged my 24 kg kettlebell to the Folsom station at around 3:30 to try and avoid any major rush hour passenger traffic and set myself up on a relatively empty train.My dad agreed to come and be the film guru, so big thanks for that.
This workout wound up being even more fun than I expected.First, I definitely underestimated how hard it would be to keep my balance as the train moved side to side.I had to use my off hand to stabilize myself on the OH squats and the Russian swings otherwise I would’ve fallen.I also felt my legs working harder to fight against the swaying of the car, making the fatigue set in faster.At each stop a few more people loaded into the car so the bearcrawls got a little funny towards sets 5 and 6.Overall though, I kept my pace high and finished in13 minutes flat.
Deciding to go and do a workout like this was exciting because the elements were so unpredictable.I didn’t know what type of people would be on the train, whether I’d get booted by transit authority, or if I’d even be able to keep my balance.I’m really looking forward to seeing what other people come up with during the rest of this month.I’ve heard some good ideas, but have yet to see any of them done yet.Remember, just upload the video footage to vimeo or youtube and send me the link.Videos should be 5 minutes or less.
It's been a great holiday. I was up in Tahoe playing in the annual SUDS softball tournament with a bunch of friends and had an incredible time. We went 2-2, finishing somewhere in the middle of the pack but had so much fun. Also, I'm pretty beat up from it. There was a lot more sprinting than I remember in slow pitch softball and my legs are feeling the effects. I think I'll take the first half of this week to rest and recover after about 6 weeks of steady training then re-start fresh towards the weekend.
For those of you in Europe who have been waiting for t-shirts to become available, wait no more. Follow the link to the right of page to the Steelfit Store and purchase there.
My back was tight today but not nearly as bad as I had anticipated.Still, figured a swimming WOD might be the best thing for it so I headed over to Lembi Park to test it out.Really I had no problems with it structurally.The swimming was tough as hell though.And trying to do pushups after 100 meters of all out effort had me looking pretty ridiculous.We’re talking 2 and 3 repetitions at a time.It felt like I had already done 50 before even getting out of the water.
I did 3 rounds of the circuit then finished up with 200 meters of cool down.The plan is to get up to Tahoe for Labor Day weekend and a little softball, hopefully get some WODs in at high altitude in the meantime so long as my back feels okay.
T shirts will be available to Europe in the next few days so stay tuned for that, and if you haven’t already done so, take a crack at the CrossGym online challenge. Some great prizes to be won.
Today marks the first of many new efforts this site will make to give readers the chance to get recognized for training creatively. Each month will be marked by a different theme that will serve as the template with which everyone can come up with their most creative fitness routine. The theme for September is Public Transit. The idea here is to use planes, airports, trains, buses, subway stops, or whatever to create a cool, fun, and challenging WOD. No rules beyond your imagination. Videos should be uploaded to youtube or vimeo, then sent to me at morrison.blair@gmail.com. I will post every video under the reader's video link on the blog and select the top 3-4 videos for a vote at the end of the month. Winners will receive Anywherefit t-shirts and get to suggest a future theme. If there are any questions, post them here to comments. I will post a sample video over the next couple days to get things started, but am really looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with. Good luck!!
Episode 3 of my ongoing challenge with Sveinbjorn marked my first session training in my garage.Great routine that mixed a major weakness with a couple strengths.Pistols are definitely not my favorite movement so doing them today was a great bit of practice.I actually wasn’t faring too poorly.I scored 29 the first minute, 20 the second, and 21 the third.Similarly the HSPUs were also going well: 21, 13, and 11 respectively.The cleans felt pretty light as well but I tweaked my back during the third set, forcing me to stop.I had pulled 11 the first round and 9 the second.Based on my total of 135 through 2 2/3 rounds, I figure I probably would have scored somewhere in the 250-260 range.
Really bummed about my back.I don’t think it’s serious but it certainly is annoying.I know the injury and it will only take a few days to shape up as the muscles relax themselves.Still, I was feeling really great about training after the trip to Copenhagen and now having the garage all set up.
Finished helping with the Level I Cert today and I'm heading back to the state first thing tomorrow. Been a hell of a few weeks back in Europe, hoping to be back soon. Check the video below of me and my boy Kasper going through the Navy O Lane last Friday. He's a world class Pentathlete and is competing next weekend in the European Championships. Best of luck man!
Slept like a baby last night after one of the longest days I can remember.The workload today would prove to be much different than yesterday, but no less taxing.Sarah, Ditte, Anders, and I went to Paideia to test out 2 of the 5 WODs set for the Fit as F*ck Challenge coming up in less than a month here in Copenhagen.I’ve been sworn to secrecy as to their details, so I can’t give a full account of how things went, what was most difficult, or how I performed.However, I will say that both of the events are built for excitement.While I did each I could easily imagine a crowd being very involved and very intense.Also, strategy and technique will be huge.I don’t think brute strength will be enough win either of these events.I managed a PR in one of the lifts and performed reasonably well in everything else we did, so I came out of the session feeling pretty positive.That’s all I’m permitted to say so good luck to those of you set to go September 25th!
This evening I joined my friend Kasper, member of the Danish National Pentathalon team, for a trip through the Navy obstacle course.Never having done this before, I didn’t really know what to expect.Maybe some hurdles, some wall climbs, crawling under nets… Certainly not the high wire sliding and aerial balancing acts I was asked to perform.This shit was no joke!Definitely low fear factor and high level skill required to complete this thing.Kasper took me through each of the obstacles and coached me up on how to tackle them.After a couple times through each individual we decided it was time for me to try and string them together.So I did, and really didn’t do too badly.I missed my first attempt at scaling the ledge but recovered nicely.Also missed the first grenade toss through the submarine door.No biggie.I was doing alright until the very last obstacle owned me.A horizontal rope climb 5 meters to a tiny platform where you must then pirouette and leap down before running across the finish line.By this point I was so exhausted and intent on being finished that my technique was awful.I couldn’t get my feet do what I wanted them to do and it wound up taking me a good 20 seconds to finish the climb.My total time was 3:19.Kasper informed me that this wasn’t bad for my first run…then we proceeded to do it in 2:05.HA.What a baller.This was a ton of fun and a great example of fitness in action.Big respect to the men and women who use these skills to survive in combat from day to day.I’ll try to attach clips tomorrow.
One of my favorite sites that I haven't checked in a while gave me a big laugh this morning. If you're not familiar with the site, enjoy the following.
70's Big Face
I arrived in Copenhagen this morning just after 5am on the bus from Amsterdam.Between the German border patrol, the vehicle switch in Hamburg, and the ferry ride across the channel, there wasn’t much sleep to be had during those 15 hours.But I managed a nap here at Sarah’s when I arrived and, overall, wasn’t feeling too bad.Tomorrow may be another story.
For the CrossGym challenge, I headed over to CrossFit Denmark to meet up with Oliver, Mathias, and a couple of the guys I had met and trained with back in November.Really great seeing them again.We warmed up with some power cleans and chatted a bit about what everyone had been up to, then we dove in.I had no real idea how the thrusters were going to feel so I figured I would go for broke and try my best to get them unbroken.Turned out not to be too much of a problem.I think I paused after the 27th repetition for a second, but that was it.I dropped the bar and Sarah yelled 1:06.
At this point I knew I could finish under 2 minutes if I didn’t die on the pullup bar.Wasting little time I grabbed it and started butterflying.My only thought here was to be REALLY aggressive on my pulls and to finish every rotation.I was feeling good until 19 or 20, then things started to get a little heavy.I threw in a few standard kips and had to drop after 24.Short break and I got back up for the final 6, finishing in 1:49.Happy with this time and looking forward to seeing what everyone else can do.
The evening WOD had been posted by Sven earlier in the week but I hadn’t been able to do it until today.I grabbed another nap just before and did my best to get my energy up.Thankfully with this type of WOD, high energy is not always your friend so I wasn’t missing too much advantage.My goal was to run fast.I figured the high repetition stuff would slow me down quite a bit in comparison with Sven since he is more used to it than I, so I knew my best chance was to make up time in the running.This proved to work well.The hardest portions were the overhead step ups and the thrusters by far.The squat thruster pushups were tough but not bad, the leg raises no problem, and the box jumps manageable.The other two really destroyed me and left me thinking that I might not finish this thing fast enough.By the time I reached the bear crawls I was pretty devastated but my time was still good.I pushed until failure on the crawls about 6 times before I got to the finish line and heard my time was 15:10, beating Sven’s 15:37 by just under :30.This felt GREAT.
I’m ready for sleep now, and it will be well deserved.I’ve attached links to both challenge WODs below.Have at them and submit them to both sites.
Got up today feeling pretty fresh and excited for the evening with the guys at CrossFit Amsterdam.I wanted to get out and loosen up so a light run fit the bill well.I find that from time to time its good to put in the time without worrying much about the intensity of the effort.When I trained for the Marine Corps Marathon back in 2008, this was a big part of the training—teaching your body to work for the amount of time it would take to run the marathon without running it as hard as you would in the race.This type of exercise is also great for exploring your local environment.I came across a few places today in Leiden that I absolutely would use for WODs in the future if I were staying longer.
This evening was much more intense.The facility was located in a classic industrial complex outside the city with 9 meter ceilings and huge amounts of floor space.Kevin Naarden met Niels, Okke, and I there early for a little Olympic work.This was great because I didn’t have lifting shoes, tape, or any of the other bullshit amenities you get used to.Just had to go in and lift the weight.And I did.100 kg in running shoes.This is the 6th or 7th time I’ve lifted that weight now and I feel so confident with it.I am going to snatch 110 kg by October, guaranteed.
We hit the chipper right away and the group we had was pretty good size.Kevin competed in the European Regionals this year and is a really fit guy so having him there was great motivation for me.We pushed each other through most of the WOD, I had a slight lead that increased gradually until the end.He got stuck with a bad rope on the double unders and it cost him a little time.The hardest part for me was definitely the pushups.Coming off of dips and pullups I literally couldn’t do more than 5 pushpus in a row.It was brutal.But the situps I did without breaking and the squats were fine as well.I finished the workout in 18:23, not a bad time I think.Kevin came in around 22 minutes and I’m not sure where everyone else was.I really enjoyed this and look forward to coming back to train with the people at CrossFit Amsterdam.Best of luck to everyone!
