There’s nothing more humbling than getting smacked down from a high.  Crossfit will do that to you pretty often.

My dad blessed me with his strength genes.  My recently-back-to-crossfit backsquat is not too shabby at all.  What the Balvanera’s lack however, is endurance, as shown on the time it took me to finish today’s workout.  Time to focus on the weakness.

What’s your athletic weakness?

Ocean Beach Ride, originally uploaded by maubrowncow.

Here’s proof that I rode to Ocean Beach and back. More about this picture in a post to come in my 90 day project section.

Speaking of which, I realize I never mentioned specific goals of this 90 day project. After all, you can’t create a map if you don’t have a destination. There are a few fitness goals that I take issue with, and I am qualified to rant on the subject because I’ve tried the following in the past:

I want to lose x amount of pounds
I want a six pack
I want to gain 2 inches on my biceps

Photo by flickr user darkmatter

Each one of these goals place the cart before the horse. They all focus on a minute portion of the benefits of exercise and negatively distort one’s perception of body. This isn’t to say one shouldn’t track physical progress. Metrics are one of the greatest motivators when it comes to breaking personal records, and hacking the mind to bring effort levels up a notch every session. But activeness dictates metrics, not vice versa. When I focused on gaining those 2 inches on my biceps in college, I created an unstable house of cards and a silly looking, useless, out of balance body. Or as others have humorously put it, “Display model only”.  It wasn’t until I put my personal health and fitness first, that I reached any “vanity” goals. But I tell you what, I’m much prouder of my 1000 meter row time than the 4 lbs I’ve lost getting there.

My goal is very simple. A balanced and active lifestyle. Something meaningful beyond the 90 days of this project. These 90 days are an opportunity to reprogram my mind into a lifetime habit via complete immersion. I’m don’t wanna be a runner, or a biker, or a swimmer, or olympic weight lifter, kettlebeller, mixed martial artist, yoga practitioner, or climber. I want to be them all.

Jack of all trades, master of none.

Today’s workout
3k run (≈1.9 miles)
7 mile bike ride
2400m row (≈1.5 miles)
and
100 situps just for good measure.

Well, let’s bring it down a notch.  What do athletes do when they get sick? Well, according to Dr. Rick Kellerman of the American Academy of Family Physicians:

Skip the workout if you have a fever. It puts too much stress on the heart, which already is beating faster because of the higher body temperature. If you’re suffering from chest congestion, coughing and shortness of breath, he said, you also shouldn’t work out. And exercising with a stomach ache will probably make you feel worse, he added.

But if you have the sniffles and milder symptoms of a cold, moderate exercise is probably OK, Kellerman said.

This concept was put in simpler terms for me not too long ago: “Suck it up you cry baby.”  It was put in kinder words too: “If the source of your sick resonates from your head, workout.  If the source is in your chest, take a break”. More importantly, above all, don’t be a douche bag.  Don’t go to a gym if you’re contagious.

As for the thrown out back, aside from not being able to put on my own socks this morning, I’m mobile and slightly less whiney this evening. The recommended two days rest will be respected, followed by “maintenance mode” exercise.  However, my upper body is just fine and dandy. Which is why we’ll be visiting the pull up workout tomorrow evening.

Ten rounds for time of:
3 Weighted Pull-ups, 45 pounds
5 Strict Pull-ups
7 Kipping Pull-ups (Check out Adrian of SF Crossfit teach the kipping pull up.  The back is relatively active during kipping so I’ll play this by ear.)

BTW, anticipation of a planned workout creates visualization which also creates efficiency and general badassness.

Wall ball is one of my major mental blockers.  It has the ability to coax out the retreat part of my brain right around 100 reps.  I mean what’s another 5 seconds of rest going to hurt in your overall time, right?  Power through it.  The biggest reward out of crossfit workouts isn’t the physical accomplishment.  It’s the mental.  If you can beat Karen’s mind games, she’ll bestow upon you some valuable skills you can use outside the gym.

“Karen”

For time:
150 Wallball shots, 20 pound ball

modified to 15 pound ball, the heaviest the gym provides, therefore increased to 170 wallballs

time: 10:20… not happy with this one bit.

Oh yeah, also, I threw out my back AFTER the crossfit workout while working on clean technique with a light load.  FML.

10k run in Santa Monica

For time:
1200m run
21 Knees to elbows
21 Jumping Squats
21 Burpees
800m run
15 Knees to elbows
15 Jumping Squats
15 Burpees
400m run
9 Knees to elbows
9 Jumping Squats
9 Burpees

Done in:
20:45

4 miles of city biking