Caffeine -- Today I switch to Decaf.

Today I switch to decaf.

Caffeine is my vice. More than smoking or pizza or anything else. It's caffeine.

Here's some research I've found about caffeine's pros and cons:


Mark's Daily Apple: Grab a coffee or some tea. Caffeine, used intermittently and in moderation, is a good temporary pick me up. Plus, the antioxidants in tea can’t hurt. Just watch the sugar.


Caffeine, as we mentioned in our Caffeine Talk post, can decrease blood flow to the heart during exercise and can increase blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Additionally, if you’re more caffeine sensitive, it can cause heartburn and even increase your risk for non-fatal cardiac events.

Coffee / Tea /Caffeine Talk


Caffeine Buzz(kill)
Much like sugar, caffeine is only a temporary fix for sapped energy. To give yourself a boost - without quitting caffeine cold turkey - try switching your morning mocha for a cup of green tea. With about a quarter the amount of caffeine as your average cup of Joe, green tea also contains catachins, a natural stimulant that boosts central nervous system activity to increase energy levels and fight fatigue. Can’t quit coffee? Try to stick to just two or three cups per day and be sure to stay caffeine free after noon.

Avoid the stimulant cycle.

Caffeine, sugar, alcohol. Caffeine, sugar, alcohol. Many of us get trapped in the stimulant cycle. These substances temporarily give you a lift, but actually deplete and blunt valuable hormones in the long run. If you like caffeine, try to limit your java intake to one or two cups a day at the most. The same for alcohol. I recommend avoiding sugar completely.

How to Give up Coffee

what is wall-sit?

From wikipedia...

A wall sit is an exercise done to strengthen the quadriceps muscles. It is characterized by the two right angles formed by the body, one at the hips and one at the knees. The person wall sitting places their back against a wall with their feet shoulder width apart and a little ways out from the wall. Then, keeping their back against the wall, they lower their hips until their knees form right angles. This is a very intense work out for the quadriceps muscles. It can be very painful to hold this position for extended periods of time. Wall sits are used as a primary strengthening exercise in many sports requiring strong quadriceps like fencing , ice hockey, sailing (mostly small boat racing) , skiing and track and field. This exercise is also used as a disciplinary activity in the armed forces. It takes up little space, and can be administered easily in classroom settings to misbehaving soldiers-in-training.

Week's performance

2 -- crossfit workouts
2 -- strength workouts
1 -- running workout


Workout for Monday:

gym jones : circuit workout:
Workout:
Run a half mile to warm up
Then:
2x20m Lunge (10m forward, 10m backward) (12 forward / 12 bacward)
1x Farmer Carry @ 90lb, 1x One-arm Overhead Carry @ 25lb (30 steps back and forth)
Then:
Practice One-leg DL @ 65lb
bench press:
5 @ 65
5 @ 75
5 @ 85
3 @ 90
3 @ 95
5 @ 75

Then:
30 squat
Man-Maker @ 2x 20# DBs
Step-up on 18" box @ 2x 20# DBs
20 lumberjacks
Plank (on elbows with one foot raised)
45 seconds at each station, 15 seconds to switch positions
Three rounds

Then:
5 minutes run @ 5.5 mph to cool down

Then:
Row 8x (20 sec work/ 10 sec rest), @ 100m pace, i.e. row more than 100m during each 20-second work period

Then:
5 minutes run @ 5.5 mph to cool down

Then:
3 sets of 20 incline situps

Saturday Xfit

Xfit at Pacific Ring

4 rounds o:

25 decline pushups (feet raised up. chest to floor)
25 air squats
50 mountain climbers
800 m (run around the block)


The run felt good. Still need to get the new shoes. Didn't press the speed, but tried to keep on the balls of my feet. Got sloppy with getting my heels up to my butt on each stride. Next time, right? :)

Good advice..

courtesy of Gym Jones.

WOD

Today, because I'm bad ass, I did BOTH the Crossfit WOD *and* the Gym Jones WOD. Yeah, boyeeeee.

Crossfit:

Front squat 5-5-5-5-5 reps
@85 lb

Gym Jones:

Workout:
"Jonescrawl"
10x DL @ 115% of bodyweight + 25x Box Jump on 24" box
Three rounds

I actually did 155 lb for 2 rounds and 165 lb for the last round. It's been a while since I did deadlifts at big weight, so I didn't want to get hurt!

What is a tuck jump?

Cute Shoes!

I bought cute shoes!

Tuesday workout

Tabata treadmill
8 times
2 @ 15 incline 7.0 mph
6 @ 10 inclince 6.7 mph

Tabata kicks my ass!

(I took part of the Gym Jones workout from yesterday and part of the Crossfit WOD)
3 sets of 20 air squats
3 sets of 20 jump squats

7 rounds of 5 benchpress
5@45lb
5@65 lb
5@75 lb
5@85 lb
5@85 lb
5@90 lb
5@65 lb


pullups with assistance
5 sets of 5:
3 sets of 5 with 100lb assist
2 sets of 5 with 90lb assist



Not a very hard workout.
Should do more stretching before and after

Weakspots: can't bench bodyweight
can't do a pullup.

Tabata kicks my ass!

Mission

I have been hesitant to publicly announce my blog until I get an idea of what it is.

The idea of making one came to me as I was running yesterday. I believe that having a visual aid to monitor my progress would be helpful. I have used a notebook to record things and I see that people use twitter and facebook posts to monitor their exercise. Frankly, I thought using twitter and facebook for this was useless and who wants to read about your 100 pushups? I mean, maybe once yeah. But every day? Too much for me!

At first the idea of this blog was for personal purposes, but I do have a lot of knowledge about exercise that I can share.

I have thought that if there's too much weightlifting talk, I could have Cute Shoes Tuesday or something similar. It might sound unrelated, but I know I need a "pretty pictures break" a few times a day. :)

If you have any other comments or suggestions for thing you'd like me to write about, please let me know.

animated gifs of power clean and jerk

Clean and Jerk

Power Clean and Jerk

Wooo CB WORKOUT

Blogs are better with photos. This one is from last year, but pretend it's RIGHT NOW!

Monday 3/23.. Let's try running again

So, I haven't been running in a long time. All of running these days consists of being late or short sprints when I work out with CJ.

My knees have been feeling pretty good and I've been feeling like I need more exercise, so I ran after work briefly today.

This is no huge accomplishment as I'm no runner. I'm just happy to not experience pain.

I ran to the cemetery and back with a short break in-between. This run was about 10 minutes long.

Previously, my right shin would ache right below the knee. This began to be a pattern that only happened at the mile mark. Then later it decreased to just .8 of a mile. Then it decreased to less and I stopped wanting to run.

I thought about seeing a doctor for the issue, but so far I haven't. I probably should get new running shoes. Until then, I concentrate on my form more than on how fast I'm going or how far. I try to hit my butt with my heel on every stride and to only hit the ground with the ball of my foot.

So far, so good.

Sunday 3/22 -- clean and snatch

Yesterday I worked out with Angela Lim at Crossfit Oakland.

Most of the weights are in Kg still, so I'm never really sure how much I'm lifting.

This is actually a pretty interesting experience as I focus more on the movement than on competing with myself (or others) on how much I lift.

Olympic lifting is interesting in that it is very low pace with sudden explosions of power.

I did about 6 sets of Snatches:
3 @15lb
3@15lb
3@17lb
3@20lb
3@22lb
3@25lb




Snatches are pretty complex. You generally lift less than with the Cleans, but then again, you're lifting over your head!

There's always plenty of rest in between sets too. At the Sunday lifting group, there were 4 of us taking turns lifting.

Cleans:
With my cleans, I need to work on that sudden explosion of power. So I practice first with the high-pull/Scarecrow movement. The explosion should be so powerfull that it knocks me onto my toes.

3@45
3@45
3@55
3@55
3@55

Lastly, I did a few front squats. These are good for practicing "high elbows" which is also important in the Clean. The high elbows keep the weight on the center body line.