CrossFit

My Week As Rx (Probably Scaled): Holiday Highlights

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Strength

Power Clean

I set a new power clean PR with at 105 kg lift and surpassed my clean PR of 102 kg. I felt that I could have went a bit heavier, maybe a kilo or two. I was surprised that it was a large jump from my previous power clean pr at 98 kg. I hope I can get to 125 kg before the year is over.

Power Snatch
 
I also set a new power snatch PR with a 78 kg lift. My heaviest snatch was at 75 kg and any increase in my snatch weight is great. My wrist and forearms have been hurting lately and I haven’t been working on my snatches since it becomes painful when the weight gets too heavy. I hope it clears up and I finally hit 91 kg.

WOD

CrossFit Games Open: 15.4
 

I was excited and a bit scared when I saw this workout on the board. I have been working on oly lifts and neglecting conditioning. With the open coming up in a few weeks, this workout would be a good gauge of my fitness. My previous PR was 51 reps but I was able to I finish this workout with 57 reps! It’s a small increase but hopefully I’ll do better next time.

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

Blog News: 2017 Resolutions

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2016 was a great year. I got married, hit some fitness goals and played a lot of games. I have a lot of room to improve and I want to start off the new year right. Below are goals that I want to accomplish.

Blog Goals
 

I want to write more posts and stay consistent. With the holidays finishing up I will be back to writing more stuff about CrossFit and gaming. I just picked up the new Inov-8 235v2 and will be writing about it soon.

CrossFit Goals

I will write about a few PRs from the holidays but I have a few goals in mind for 2017.
  • 400 lb. back squat
  • 200 lb. snatch
  • 275 lb. clean and jerk
  • Under 5 minute Fran

These are ambitious goals but I know I can do them if I stay consistent.

Gaming Goals

I used to paint my models in pieces but I found that not all models need to be painted this way. I want to play more Warmachine lists but my lack of assembled models is hampering me. My resolution for 2017 is to assemble my easy to paint models and play them while I get them painted. Also, to actually paint more models in 2017! I also want to work on streaming more games I’m playing like Hearthstone and other games on the PS4.

Thanks for reading and be sure to look for more posts in the new year!

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

My Week As Rx (Probably Scaled): December 5 – December 11

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I was only able to workout at the gym on Wednesday. I ran two days out of the week.

Strength

Back Squat – 3 Rep Heavy
 
My goal was to at least lift 305 lb. since I was able to do it last week. I didn’t feel ready in attempting something heavier or even matching my current 3RM. The workout that day also had a lot of back squats which influenced my decisions on weight. I worked up to 305 lb. which felt a bit light. I could have went up in weight to 325 lb. but time ran out.

WOD

EMOM for 12 Minutes
 
6 push press (95 lb.)
6 back squats (95 lb.)
20 double unders
Initially, I thought the workout was an alternating EMOM at 115 lb. then I found out that it was actually all the movements. The weight was too much for me so I decided to scale down to 95 lb. My goal for this workout was to at least finish the double unders.

The first two rounds were good. I was able to finish all the double unders within the minute but the next round was tough. I was only able to get five double unders and I decided to scale down to 75 lb. I was not able to finish the double unders and scaled the reps from six to four. My goal from this point on was to at least finish one double under. I should have started at 75 lb. but I wanted to see if I could hang on at 95 lb. Turns out, I should have been more conservative. Lesson learned for next time.

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

Barbells and Boxcars: Episode 14

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Episode 14
On this episode of Barbells and Boxcars we are joined by two guests, Van and Kong. During the CrossFit section we talk about motivation and what you can do to stay motivated. We talk about games we played and others we are waiting to be released.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or email them barbellsandboxcars@gmail.com. Check out the Barbells and Boxcars Facebook Page as well as the Limitless Fails Gaming Group Facebook Page. Also, Follow us on Twitch and watch us play some live table top games!

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BarbellsAndBoxcars

Link: Episode 14

My Week As Rx (Probably Scaled): November 28 – December 4

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Strength

Monday – Back Squat

4 at 60% (225 lb.)
4 at 70% (275 lb.)
4 at 80% (305 lb.)
2 at 85% (325 lb.)
4 at 80% (305 lb.)
2 at 85% (325 lb.)
4 at 80% (305 lb.)

This was one of my favorite strength workouts for the week. I didn’t set any PR’s but I did reach a milestone. I haven’t been confident in my squat since I came back from Europe. It was kind of a bummer but I knew it was going to take a while for my body to get used to the heavy weight again. Thankfully, I can finally see some progress. A few weeks ago, I wasn’t able to complete a set of squats at 80%. I needed a spot and was only able to get 2 reps and then 1 rep after a short rest. Now, I’m able to complete 4 reps without a spotter and I was able to get 2 reps at 85%. I wasn’t able to complete the last set at 85% because I wasn’t feeling it and it was putting a lot of strain on my knees. It’s going to take time, but I will get there.

Friday – Thruster 3 Rep Max

I set a new PR at 195 lb. My previous PR was set more than a year ago at 175 lb. My first attempt was at 185 lb. I was extremely happy and pumped up that I decided to go for 195 lb. My first rep wasn’t too bad but the second and third were a challenge. The hardest part of the lifts was the breathing. I had to brace my core while trying to take in big breaths. The last rep was tough and I almost didn’t make it. I got stuck for a second on the press and I barely completed the rep. Hopefully with this jump in weight, I’ll be able to set a new jerk PR.

WOD

Thursday – CrossFit Games Open 11.1/14.1 Workout

10 Minute AMRAP
30 double unders
15 power snatches (75 lb.)

This Open workout was programmed about a year ago and I was able to complete four rounds. I was hoping this time around I would be able to finish five rounds. I started the workout at a good pace. I was able to complete the first round of double unders unbroken as well as the first round of power snatches. This took about a minute to complete. I started to fatigue and I was not able to keep up that pace but I was determined to hit a PR. My double unders were not consistent. I would go for a string of 10-15 reps before breaking and in the later rounds maybe 5-10 reps. This was the hardest part of the workout, trying to string together enough double unders quickly. The power snatches were broken up into sets of seven and eight. In the later rounds it would be a fast set of five.

After ten minutes, completed four rounds, thirty double unders and two power snatches, setting a new PR! It wasn’t the five rounds that I initially wanted but I’m excited, since it show improvement. With the open coming up soon, I may have to focus more on metcons so I can work on muscle endurance.

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

My Week As Rx (Probably Scaled): New Format Changes

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Format Changes Going Forward

Hello everyone. It has been a busy few weeks and with the holidays coming up, it’s going to get more hectic. After thinking about this segment of the blog I realized that I didn’t like writing about everything I did during the week. Their would be one or two workouts and strength sessions that I would be excited to write about but everything else felt like busy work. Now I will focus on highlights instead of a daily journal. One strength and one WOD but I will include more if I can’t choose between a few. This way, I can stay motivated to share my journey. Thanks for reading.

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

Barbells and Boxcars: Episode 13

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Episode 13

In this episode we talk about ways to get more Nerds to exercise and how CrossFit is like a RPG. We didn’t play a game this week but we talked the Game Awards, the new Hearthstone expansion, and the new Guild Ball season.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or email them barbellsandboxcars@gmail.com. Check out the Barbells and Boxcars Facebook Page as well as the Limitless Fails Gaming Group Facebook Page. Also, Follow us on Twitch and watch us play some live table top games!

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BarbellsAndBoxcars

Link: Episode 13

Barbells and Boxcars: Episode 12

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Episode 12

Happy Thanksgiving! We’re back talking about CrossFit, table top games. We’ve been focusing on Warmachine recently after playing a lot of Guild Ball games at Recon. We discuss our last Warmachine game Reznik1 vs Kaelyssa1 which you can view on our Twitch channel. We will try and start updating our You Tube page.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or email them barbellsandboxcars@gmail.com. Check out the Barbells and Boxcars Facebook Page as well as the Limitless Fails Gaming Group Facebook Page. Also, Follow us on Twitch and watch us play some live table top games!

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BarbellsAndBoxcars

Link: Episode 12

Loot Crate December 2016 Theme: Revolution

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Image taken from the Loot Crate email.

Revolution will be the last box of the month and I hope they close out this year with a bang! Mr. Robot, Firefly and Assassins Creed were the franchises listed. Exclusive items this month will be a Funko Pop!, an item from Mr. Robot and a hardcover from Sideshow Collectibles. I’m a fan of all the franchises listed and I hope all the items are sweet!

If you’re into these franchises and want to sign up use this LINK, also use the promo code SAVE3 for $3 off any subscription. I get credit towards more Loot Crates if you use the link. If you have any questions, leave a comment at the bottom.

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

Barbells and Boxcars: Episode 11

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Episode 11
After being on hiatus for three month’s, Rodel and I were able to record a new episode. In this episode we discuss my trip to Europe, our CrossFit injuries and pr’s and our experience at Otaku Recon 2016.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or email them barbellsandboxcars@gmail.com. Also check out the Barbells and Boxcars Facebook Page as well as the Limitless Fails Gaming Group Facebook Page.

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BarbellsAndBoxcars

Link: Episode 11