Tag: crossfit

5 for Friends 12/1/19

~ Malcolm Flex ~ 1 Comment

Quote: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Winston Churchill, a feeling as the days get shorter; it is often a simple reminder to know what view am I looking at the world. 

Currently reading: Extracted by R.R Haywood What can I say other than I love time travel! Because it often rides so close to being just another story, except for the science fantasy McGuffin, which can save or destroy everything that matters to the characters. A team-up story of three capable and brave in fictional British history who are extracted out of the timeline to prevent their deaths and hopefully prevent an even worst disaster. 

Article worth a read:  What I learned from my first powerlifting meet Lifehacker’s Health editor, over the last year, has become one of my favorite creators to read weekly. With this article and has been refreshing to see and be reminded of the beginner mindset and why this mindset is especially valid, as I come closer to another event and training with absolute beginners. 

Small Purchase: There is not much that comes to mind as a small purchase that has been worth sharing. With it being Thanksgiving, I am just going to note that after all the family gatherings, the most valuable investment in my week was heading up to Coolstuff Games with a friend and jumping into a 3 vs 3 Throne of Eldraine Draft. $12 that paid for 3.5hours of fun and catching up with one of my best mates.  

What am I working on:  The countdown continues as I’m delving into another Mud Run, and getting ready for the slog. So the work out of the day to ensure I am getting the explosive work in. 

12min AMRAP
12 Cal Bike
12 Deadlifts (155/105)
9 Hang Power Cleans (155/105)
9 Strict HSPU

5 for Friends 11/19/19

~ Malcolm Flex ~ Leave a comment

Quote:  “Be a practical dreamer, backed by action.”- Bruce Lee
This is the foundation of my life philosophy that captures sometimes big hairy audacious goals sound nice, but they still need to be grounded enough so I know how to take the first step.

Book currently reading: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
Late to the game this was a refreshing read of the stoic approach to my own life, that has a modern sensibility, well very plainly states how we care too much about matters outside of our own control.

Article worth a read: Stop using public USB ports
That’s right, according to LA county district attorney advised against using the default data cable to charge your phone at these public ports, due to the risk your data could be compromised.
The silver lining to the doomsaying, the comments section did mention you can always use a charge only cable to ensure no data connectivity is an option.

Small Purchase: By no means is this an endorsement of this specific branch, but I took advantage of finally seeing a chiropractor. There was a chain called The Joint that accepted a walk in who commented on there isn’t so much as an apparent skeletal issue, which is a relief, but confirmed I do sit like a goblin while I hack away on my keyboard.
And for $29 for an assessment and adjustment is just the kind of arb
https://www.thejoint.com/

What am I working on:  One more competition down; Critical Fit put on another great annual tournament at Gett-it where the team I drafted got to experience their physical limits and go beyond, in an obstacle course relay race that was my wildest elementary school dreams. The stipulations of the draft with 5 friends who wanted to captain was to form a team with 1 male and 1 female with less than a year of weightlifting/training experience. Mostly to keep from doing exactly what the top 3 performing teams did which is like gamers optimize teams for the challenges.
Moving on with this team work kick in the next couple weeks the gang will be heading down to South Florida for a December Tough Mudder! So to train I broke down the demands and keeping my training geared towards building explosive pulls and stabilizing.

Warm-up 2min bike
5 Romanian Deadlift
5 Hang Power Cleans
5 Front Squats
5 Push Press

Mobility
10 Good mornings
10 PVC Windmills
10 Toy Soldiers
10 WGS
10 Cossacks
10 Scorpions
10 Crash Victims
:30 Pigeon
Weightlifting
Thruster (5-5-5-5-5)
building E2MOM
Metcon (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)15min AMRAP
4 Bar Muscle Up
8 Deadlifts (135/95)
12 Alt. Pistols

5 for friends 10/22/19

~ Malcolm Flex ~ Leave a comment

Quote:  “Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.”Author unknown but the statement is the truest thing I’ve discovered in my own life.
Book currently reading: Royal Assassin, book 2 of the Farseer trilogy. My hope remains that ever so slowly I’ll be able to keep up with the somewhat strange pace of a story that I don’t know what it wants to be. Admittedly I’ve never been a fan of political intrigue stories. Particularly as a very blunt person I never understood the power of a “withering glare”, but ever so slowly. I am too invested in Fitz and a main cast that no one
Article worth a read:  Prioritizing the process One of my favorite sports psychologist took time to consider two details that lead to amazing results. For those not familiar with Magic: The Gathering one easy replacement is replace the word magic, deck, or sideboard with: your hobby of choice i.e “poker”, “rock climbing”; strategy; or back up plan to hedge
Small Purchase: New pair of Browline glasses from Zenni. After a nonstop year my last pair of glasses have a bent arm that didn’t help my already disheveled aesthetic. With shipping, blue light blocking, and impact resistance frames came under $60. The upside very low price, the downside you have to know your PD (pupillary distance)
What am I working on:  Other than going back to the globe-o gym and leaving the Hive my training has been going well. Completing 20.2 last week was certainly a burner that really challenged me, but has affirmed that my core, grip and coordination is progressing

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
4 dumbbell thrusters (50lbs)
6 toes-to-bars
24 double-unders
Put down 18 like a golf course. And, my calves have a long way to go.
overall with my core and absolute strength has gotten to a point that I’m content with; I’m ready to level up my dexterity and work the challenge that is distance running and climbing.

Outside of the world of fitness I have taken on a challenge of using databases to organize how to write and deliver training programs for people who train with me so I can open and make updates a little bit easier. For a while I’ve used Scrivener because that is by far the program that works best for organizing lots of research notes, but exporting the information doesn’t exactly work well for clients. I have looked at Excel templates and that might just be the wave I need to ride.

If anyone has comments or suggestions on how to wrangle lots of training notes, without going to a paid service like TrainHeroic/Wodify what works for you managing client progressions


5 FOR FRIENDS 10/15/19

~ Malcolm Flex ~ Leave a comment

Quote:  “When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And
when you have fun, you can do amazing things.”Joe Namath
There are truly amazing things you can do when you believe you can.

Book currently reading: Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. Book one of the Farseer Trilogy was on my reading list for a very long time. It has been months since reading a book that reminds me of The Name of the Wind, The KingKiller Chronicles. It is an unfair comparison because the similarities begin and end with it being the narrator telling the story and taking pauses for some omissions from memory.
But I am a sucker for a coming of age story of a bastard trying to find his place in the world.

Article worth a read:  New typeface hides a secret in plain sight
I have a not so secret love for good design. And this goes double for new insights that help special populations. Reading about how designers are going against conventions and working with the Braille Institute of America to create fonts that are easier to read for the visually impaired warms my heart. On the nose naming convention aside, “Hyper-legible” typeface borrows from a smattering of fonts for the visually impaired better distinguish letters, such as “E” & “F” instead of keeping to aesthetic choices for uniformity.

Small Purchase: Instead of a small purchase, a small gesture that had very little cost for me except for sleep was leaving work and cooking dinner for a friend that keeps even worst hours than I do. But, for the costs of ingredients and prep time some tortellini and asparagus made for a great dinner.

What am I working on:  Last week was the beginning of the CrossFit open 20.1 and it was an aggressive time cap of 10 rounds of Ground to Overheads and Burpees reminded that even after 4 months of high volume you work, will not undo 3 years of strongman lifts.
My current aim is to continuing get faster and improve my endurance to be a great allrounder. In the meantime babying my elbow and making sure I don’t reinjure it.

Five for Friends 10/09/19

~ Malcolm Flex ~ Leave a comment

 Quote:  “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin Coolidge

Every year I better appreciate the words of Silent Cal; despite talent and educations, it has been planning, and perseverance has more often success.

Book currently reading: Traction by Gino Wickman 

This book has been a great read and teaches how using systems to track and improve processes in business can dramatically change your results. Six Sigma and Agile often use esoteric terms that require time to understand the terms before it becomes helpful the uninitiated to use to improve their business. Similar to what a professor once insisted to me, without a solid thesis (specific, tangible, and relatable), then you do not have a good argument.

An article worth a read:  Do your best also means self compassion

In a refreshing and short read, Molly hits home to a notion that I and other perfectionists alike could really use, when some days you are off your game. The article makes a subtle acknowledgement that “things be like that sometimes”. Since “your best” isn’t going to be what an idealized version of yourself can accomplish. It will be what limited to what resources you have available.  

Small Purchase: On a lark, while picking up some supplies for a hike, I saw a Walmart carries a Zinc Magnesium (ZMA) supplement, that is apart of my bedtime routine and not suggesting choosing on mega-conglomerate for another. One less item that I need to include ordering through Amazon or Bodybuilding.com

What am I working on: The open is coming, and at the same time, I’m bitten with the competitive bug to resume playing Magic at a high level. So in between reps, I aim to think about unifying the ideas of the rigorous physical demands of CrossFit and the mental marathon of magic share. 

Training Looks a little bit like this: Lucky Me!

 Weightlifting

Back Squat (1-1-1-1-1)

building E2MOM

Metcon (Time)

10 Rounds (@115)

7 Power Cleans

7 Front Squats

7 Push Jerks 

5 for friends 9/30

~ Malcolm Flex ~ Leave a comment

Quote: “Once a year, go someplace, you’ve never been before.” – Author unknown. I’m not sure when I first heard this piece of advice; likely it was during High School around my Senior year. But, with that mantra it has spurred meditating underwater falls, exploring underwater-cave systems, and even finding out that gator really does taste like chicken.

Book currently reading: Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance by Alex Hutchinson
More or less always has been on my reading list, as it does cover what the physical limits of humans are and how thinking is the most significant moderator or what limits or expands our capacity. 

Article worth a read: How to Craft a Perfect Email My guilty pleasure as an adult is scouring LifeHacker for essential tips on how to be a human in the real world. Today’s article hit me in a big way after handwriting letters, and interpretative dance email is my favorite mode of communication. Mostly because of the asynchronous nature I can pour a stream of consciousness out and can whittle away the excess and eventually understand what I mean around the same time as I hit send. Despite the ads more often than not this was a reminder of what I should be looking for and can speak to the contender for Quote of the week: Writing is 80% organizing your thoughts 20% actual writing. From Malcolm Gladwell, whose new book will be arriving at my door soon. 

Small Purchase: In the grand scheme of things, I question how small is my purchase; because it relates to the most excellent game of all time Magic: The Gathering and my decades-spanning collection. To the point over the weekend, I went to my local game store to play in the pre-release event for Throne of Eldraine (the 82nd expansion). For the small cost of a trip to the movies with popcorn, I spent my Friday evening with great friends of mine that I have not had time to see in months. The gameplay and format have been the best I’ve seen since my all-time favorite set from 2014 (Khans of Tarkir). $25 paid for just over 4 hours of pizza, exciting games of magic, and stories of harrowing victories and defeats we could still laugh about all night. 

What am I working on:  This month continuing in alignment with my goal of training to complete a Spartan Beast (last piece of the Trifecta) without too many injuries. So, my 3rd month at the Hive has my body starting to adapt to the high volume of reps under heavy load. With my increasing aerobic capacity and marginal strength gains, things are coming up Milhouse! Month 4 is my time for putting together my ever-improving endurance and will power to finally tackling the often neglected skill gymnastics.

Slowly but surely each WOD or trip to the globe-o gym will include 1 or more bodyweight movement. The aim is to work on pacing and strengthening my core and stabilizer muscles.  

Warm-up
2min bike
10 Hang Power Cleans
10 OHS
10 Kip Swings
10 Alt. Step Ups
Metcon
21-15-9
Lateral Burpees
Overhead Squat OHS (95/65)
Chest to Bar Pullups C2B

You want me to do what? A 16.4 story

~ Malcolm Flex ~ Leave a comment

The other night Cross Fit HQ posted 16.4 and rarely have I ever seen a work out that made so many athletes question their own mental and physical prowess at the thought of tackling the workout. For the record so far I haven’t attempted 16.4 but I did interview someone to give me some insight for any warriors that aren’t interested in following crossfit but still enjoy testing their limits:
13minute As many reps as possible –
55 Deadlift 225/155 lbs.
55 WallBall Shots 20/14 lbs
55 Calorie Row
55 Handstand Push-ups

The shear volume of 16.4 was plainly hard to conceive. After asking an elite athlete and a few bro-scientists the message was clear: you weren’t going to score beyond 220 reps w/o scaling and still having a plan; short of being some type of pure blooded freak beast.

From advice I did receive from a more experienced lifter made this suggestion to break up the workout
DLs: 10 – 10 – 10 – 5 – 3 – 3 – 5 – 5 – 4
The wall balls: 15 – 8 – 8 – 8 – 8 – 8
The row wasn’t bad only the time remaining after 55 cal of left the time around 12:50, leaving time for 2 HSPU.
This gave me a lot of insight on how to improve my training , and additionally is ever doing 55 deadlifts @225lbs. something important to my training.