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Stop me if you have heard this one before…

Filed Under: Coaching, Staying postive by Jarrod — Leave a comment
April 17, 2012

One of my favorite parable of all time!

A gentleman listening to the radio hears that a bad storm is coming and that it will likely flood.

The gentleman prays for safety and says: “I am a God fearing man, my God will save me. I will be fine.”

The rain comes and the valley begins to flood. A man in a row boat comes by and says “Hey! Haven’t you heard, the water is too much and the dam is going to break! Get in the boat and I will take you to safety!”

The gentleman prays for safety and says: “I am a God fearing man, my God will save me. I will be fine.”

The dam breaks flooding the valley. The man is now on the top of his house when a helicopter comes to save him. The rescue worker hollers “Hey! The flood waters are still rising! Grab this ladder and we will take you to safety!”

The gentleman prays for safety and says “I am a God fearing man, my God will save me. I will be fine.”

The gentleman drowns.

He approaches the gates of Heaven and asks for an audience with God. St. Peter takes the gentleman to God where the gentleman asks “Lord, I am a God fearing man, I prayed, I believed that you would save me. Why did I die?”

The Lord responded: “I sent you a radio message, a guy in a rowboat, and a helicopter! Now what in the world are you doing here?”

I truly believe that the Lord answers all prayers in due time, but it may  not be accompanied by thunder and lightening. I believe that the Lord likes to be asked, but as any good Father would, he wants you to work for it. You need to be willing to put forth the effort, to look for opportunities, and seize them when the time comes.

So keep your eyes and ears peeled for those radio messages, rowboats, and helicopters. Trust in the Lord, but be willing to grab those opportunities!

Work hard, eat right, enjoy life!

Coach J

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I’m Consistently Inconsistent

Filed Under: Coaching, Staying postive by Jarrod — Leave a comment
March 28, 2012

Ah, kids. Gotta love them.

Ok, so my oldest is 11 and loves to play baseball. I’ve been coaching his little league team for the past 7 years. I’m not a head coach this year (thank goodness!) but I’m still an assistant coach. So I’ve seen them practice. I’ve seen how good they can be.

Well, we just got back from Spring Break, and our first game back was a disaster.

I don’t mean we got beat badly by the other team. I mean we beat ourselves, badly. The kids were not themselves, and that made me think of something….

Sometimes success is not a good thing!

Yup, you read that right.

Success is always something to strive for, don’t take me the wrong way.

But once you have been successful at something, you are expected to ALWAYS be able to do that!

I can hit a 145# snatch—so why can’t I do that every time?

I can string together 146 double unders—so why can’t I do that every time?

Logan can range to almost any ground ball—why can’t he do that every time?

So if we can do all these things some times–perhaps it is what we can do consistently that is the best objective!

Maybe I can’t hit a 145# snatch every time I lift, but if I can consistently hit 135#, then that in and of itself is the true success! Then I’ll move to 140 consistently.

Maybe I can’t get 146 doubles every time, but if I can consistently achieve 50-75, that is success. Then I’ll move to 75-100.

Now the really hard part is accepting consistency as the true goal.

That 146 doubles in a row feels awesome—what an accomplishment! But to be happy in the consistent achievement of something becomes routine, mundane, boring.

So going back to our discussion of goals, set a consistency goal along with your “ultimate” goals. That way, you are addressing both ends of the spectrum. Go after that big lift, that fast pace, that new job, but recognize that consistently is key.

Oh, and if you are a coach/dad, keep in mind they are 11/12 and they are consistently inconsistent. The fact that they are out there and they play hard is a step ahead of a lot of the kids that are busy playing “World of Warcraft” on their couch on a beautiful spring evening.

That’s my new goal—consistently tell myself how awesome my kid is and how I need to remember that more often.

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It is finished!

Filed Under: Coaching, Staying postive by Jarrod — Leave a comment
March 22, 2012

I am home, sitting here with my post-recovery shake thinking back to the last 5 weeks of work.

Could I have done more?

Sure–there is always room for improvement.

Am I content with what I did

Nope–when I’m content, it is time to do something else as I mentioned before.

Am I ok with the work I put in.

yes. I think it will be sufficient to keep me in the top 50% of my region which was my ultimate goal. I didn’t set the goal too high because I know what my February and March look like.

This is not peak performance time for me. There is too much going on with work and life this time of year. Baseball and Dance are in full swing and this is usually a very busy time at work. My intensity is directed elsewhere, so overall I achieved my first and foremost goal. Survive!

I completed every workout, I didn’t die, I helped others achieve goals that they didn’t think they were capable of (like Dana getting a new PR on her push press, thruster, and chest-to-bar pull up), and overall I think we had a good time with the Open.

I’m a bit disappointed with the repeat of last year’s final workout as this year’s final workout, but hey, they didn’t ask my opinion. I would have liked to have seen some deadlifts and HSPU in the Open, but I also understand the reason that they didn’t include them.

So for another year it will be back to training and picking up a few other competitions throughout the year.

If you haven’t done 12.5 yet, be ready for your legs to give out–Karen took a lot out of them, but most of all…

Work hard, eat right, enjoy life!

Coach J

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What a roller coaster of a day!

Filed Under: Coaching, Facing challenges by Jarrod — Leave a comment
March 21, 2012

Oh what a day it was!

It is never a good thing when you are supposed to get up and coach the morning workout at the gym and your wife wakes you up an 15 minutes AFTER the class is scheduled to conclude. Yeah, that emotion I felt was called PANIC! Not much I could do after that but try to make the day better.

Well, got to the office and made a mess–CRAP! That didn’t help.

OK, time to re-group and make today as good as I can. A positive mindset will overcome!

And it did for the majority of the day. I picked up a new client, made a little money, and took a huge step on a project that I’ve been trying to get traction on for almost 9 months. Overall not a bad day.

Then I went to the gym. Time to eat a little crow, apologize to those that ended up doing burpees on the sidewalk, and get a workout in to work off the frustration from the morning.

So here is the point to the story:

So the workout was 21-15-9 of

hang power snatches @ 95#s

froggers (think double legged mountain climbers)

Jump over the bar

Jason Elrod was there & Jason and I are close to the same size (he’s bigger of course–everyone is) but we are pretty comparable in strengths and challenges.  So we both setup our bars and we hear the 3-2-1 Go!

Of course we are keeping an eye on each other. He’s turned 90 degrees so he can glance over at me to see where I am in my set and I can see where he is in his sets. It is clear as we get through the round of 21 that I have a bit of an edge on the snatches, he has me bested on the froggers, and we are about even on the lateral jumps.

Round of 15 we are neck and neck–and you can tell we are both feeling it.We are both breaking the snatches into sets of 3 and a moment of rest and then back at it.

Round of 9s. I rock out 3, he rocks out 3. He’s back on the bar before me and finishes his rep as I am working on rep 4.

And then it happens. I can’t explain it, I don’t know why, and if I can figure out why, I’ll fix it.

The thought goes through my head “I can’t catch him and he is going to smoke me on the froggers”

and I dropped the bar

What the hell just happened? Could I have caught him? Maybe–but we’ll never know. My mind got the best of me. My mind! The same thing that pulled me up from a bad day to a good day! I was betrayed by my own mind.

Jason got me by 15 seconds.

I let my guard down, I let my mind get weak, and it cost me. Thursday I have to hit the CrossFit Open 12.5 workout. I know I’m going to have to get my head on straight before that workout shows up.

Time to focus!

Have you ever had your mind betray you?

Work hard, eat right, enjoy life!

Coach J

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Mid Pack Runner

Filed Under: Coaching, Staying postive by Jarrod — 2 Comments
March 14, 2012

I was thinking the other day about what was one of my crowning achievements in life. Running a half marathon in under 2 hours

Now that may not sound all that great or awesome to some of you, but to me, that was quite the ac hievement. I had worked for about 2 years on losing weight and jogging to be able to run that 13.1 miles in under 2 hours and had sacrificed a lot of time with my family to do so.

I started my weight loss journey when my wife lovingly took this picture of me. At that point I decided that I didn’t want to look like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man anymore so I decided to do something about it! So I stopped eating fast food, started jogging, and eventually found the 24Day LeanOut.

I found that I enjoyed running, getting on the road allowed me to get into my thoughts and push myself further and no one was calling my name and I NEVER took my phone with me. It was just me time. Then I started running races. I enjoyed races. A large group of like minded individuals running the same course, it was a good time. I always went into a race with 3 goals.

1. Survive & Finish

2. Run the whole thing, don’t walk any

3. Pass more than you get passed

These were fairly simple rules and I was very content with being that “Mid-Pack Runner” You know, never finishing first, but never coming in last.

What the hell happened to that guy?

I mean now I am up against some of the arguably fittest people in the world, in one of the larger regions in the world and I’m constantly irritated at myself for not performing better in 12.2 & 12.3. Both of which happen to target a major weakness of mine!

Why can’t I be happy with being that “Mid-Pack CrossFitter”?

And the answer is, I don’t want to be happy with mediocre anymore. CrossFit has taught me not to settle anymore. Not in my fitness, not in my goals, not in life. If you want something, figure out what you need to do to get there and start working on it.

I wanted a 300# squat—I got it, now I want 315#!

I want a son that enjoys sports and working out-he now asks for workout and asks to go play a game of catch!

I want a daughter that is proud of herself and has a high level of self-esteem and she is working on that.

I want a lot of other things and I am working hard on achieving those goals, one day at a time.

So, I know I will never make it to the CrossFit Games, I know I’m a “Mid-Pack CrossFitter”, but I’m not content with it. I am happy with my progress, but I have a drive for more.

So be ready, I’m gunning for it.

Work hard, eat right, enjoy life!

Coach j

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Triplet recap

Filed Under: Coaching, Facing challenges by Jarrod — 2 Comments
March 10, 2012

Wow, this morning is going to be ROUGH!

I’m out of coffee—how could I let this happen?!?! I’m going to give you my recap on 12.3 this morning, but if the writing is a little off, you know why. Green tea is being brewed, but nothing will compare with my 2nd love: coffee!

Ok, my observations/recommendations on 12.3:

1)      I highly recommend chewing some gum or something during that 18 minutes of oxygen sucking fun. I think I still have cotton mouth from that workout

2)      18 minutes is a LONG time

3)      When you have 30+ friends cheering each other on, it creates an amazing environment

4)      A surgically repaired shoulder holds up for about 5 rounds of heavy push presses and kipping toes to bar!

So I laid out a game plan yesterday. The game plan was:

1)      catch my breath at the top of each box and step down from the box—check! That worked out pretty well.

2)      rest in the front rack position and don’t put the bar down—yeah… that last like 1.5 rounds

3)      pull the bar down to my toes and don’t break those up—check! that worked out pretty well too.

So after seeing the workout completed and looking at some scores my goal was 250+ (just over 7 rounds), I ended up getting a 240 and wasn’t very happy about it. Upon further reflection I’m not going to beat myself up too bad & I’m sure as hell not doing that one again!

I will tell you that after the first round I knew that it was going to zap my legs worse than I had expected & that the lung capacity needed would be the deciding factor. Sure enough about round 4 I started sucking air and holding onto my shorts. I should have thought about it more. For 2 of the 3 movements you have either a heavy weight on your chest or your hands over your head. The one movement you have where you might be able to catch your breath you are busy bouncing knocking the air out of your lungs!

The box jumps add up quickly and soon become challenging because you are using your legs up with those heavy push presses. I’m sure if you are a beast and 115# is light weight for you then the PP weren’t too hard, but for this guy they sucked the life out of me. I would recommend jerking the weight early and often. You are going to need those arms for the toes to bar. The T2B didn’t give me too much trouble other than I just couldn’t catch my breath and they were very taxing on my shoulder.

I really feel like I could have gotten 7 full rounds, but my shoulder gave out on me and I just couldn’t get a solid lockout on the PP. It was frustrating (and painful) but it is one of the struggles I face and that means I just need to get stronger. Up until that point I feel like I stuck with the game plan as much as I could…

Just keep moving…

Just keep moving…

Just keep moving…

Good luck and go get it!

Work hard, eat right, enjoy life!

Coach J

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The triplet!

Filed Under: Facing challenges, Uncategorized by Jarrod — Leave a comment
March 9, 2012

12.3

Now this is a classic CrossFit workout. The workout is a triplet of exercises that are compound movements that involve various parts of the body and overall hammer you from head to toe.

Yes! This is what CrossFit is all about!

So what is it?
18 minutes of oxygen depriving fun!

As many rounds in 18 minutes as possible

1 round is:

15 box jumps 24” for men, 20” for the ladies

12 push press at 115# for men, 75# for ladies

9 toes to bar

Here was my initial mental response to the workout: “Well sneezing/coughing is going to suck after this one!”

So here I my game plan and breakdown of this workout:

Box Jumps

The goal here is to keep moving through all 15. If you need to grab a breath, do it at that the top of the box. You have to pause to open your hips fully and so keep that chest up and grab that breath at the top of the movement. The challenge that I will face will be the hop down and then rebounding back up onto the box in one motion. I struggle with resetting at the bottom of the jump and then step down. It may not be a bad plan to step down from the beginning just because 18 minutes will be a LONG time!

Push Press

Well, 115#s is going to get HEAVY. My goal for the first 3-4 rounds is to not put the bar down. Rest in the front rack position or even behind the back. HOWEVER, those will not be reps as you cannot press from behind the neck so that will likely be wasted movement. If I can catch my breath in the front rack that will be the best bet. After a while I know I will have to put the bar down, but that will cause additional time to be lost as you have to clean the bar back to the shoulder to start the movement again!

Toes To bar

With the toes to bar, I want you to think about pulling that bar down to your toes more than raising your feet to the bar. By pulling the bar down you will activate your back muscles/lats and will pull yourself up to the bar. This will engage your entire body rather than just isolating your abs/low back. This is fully legit way of doing T2B (and is so much more successful in the long run.  These are going to get tough quickly. Kip them as much as possible and then start getting them done one at a time if you need to! There is nothing to be afraid of with toes to bar, they are going to be tough, just be ready to embrace the pain! (Unless you are a certain blogger in Pennsylvania who shall remain anonymous-be very scared that you are going to shred your hands)

Name of the game: Just keep moving!

Become Dori from Finding Nemo

Just keep moving!

Just keep moving!

Just keep moving!

Work hard, eat right, enjoy life!

Coach J

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Thank goodness that’s over!

Filed Under: Coaching, Staying postive by Jarrod — Leave a comment
March 8, 2012

Oh my oh my.

12.2 has come and gone—Thank goodness!

CrossFit will always reveal your weakness and well did it ever reveal mine! In my gym for 12.1 (burpees) I was one of the top 3! I was able to contribute to my team’s score for the week. Yay for me! 12.2? Oh I was the bottom score for my team. A measly 40 points.

Pitiful! No amount of Spark or Slam! Could help me!

Where strength meets form in one powerful movement, I failed. All in all it wasn’t a colossal failure, but I feel like it certainly revealed my “goat”. Snatch is a movement that I haven’t done as frequently as needed. I haven’t worked on it like I should. In short, I avoided it as much as possible.

It is awkward for me, it is uncomfortable for me, and so I try to avoid it.
I present excuses. “Oh, my wrist hurts” “My bad shoulder is tight today.” “I’m due for a rest day.”

Bottom line, I have some serious work to do!

So here is the good news! I recently purchased a pair of 25# bumper plates for the house. That is one reason I haven’t worked on the snatch much is I didn’t have anything but steel plates at the house (?see another excuse). So now I am able to start getting under the bar at the house and that will be terribly helpful!
Stage 1 of getting stronger in the snatch:
• Heavier snatch pulls.
The 1st pull seems to be my biggest problem. I can almost hang snatch as much as I can snatch because my first pull is so screwed up
• Snatch Balance
The other issue I have with the snatch is “getting comfortable under the bar” so I plan on getting stronger in the snatch balance and getting comfortable under the bar!
• Overhead squats
I do have a surgically reconstructed shoulder so overhead squats are a challenge for me, so doing this movement more will certainly help!
• Doing MORE snatches!
If I’m having trouble with the movement, perhaps I should do more of them!!

So that’s the plan. Someone ask me in about 6 months how my snatch is doing (feel free to snicker and act like a 13 year old). My goal for 2012 is to get a bodyweight snatch. That will be a 10-15 pound increase.

Here’s hoping my plan pays off!!

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CrossFit open 12.2

Filed Under: Coaching, Facing challenges by Jarrod — Leave a comment
March 1, 2012

Well, workout 12.2 is upon us and for all those big beefy members of the CrossFit community who were displeased with the 12.1 (7 minutes of max effort burpees) all of us little munchkins who applauded 7 minutes of burpee hell now realize how screwed we are by 12.2!

Body types for these two workouts are just at odds with each other, and that’s fine. The goal of the Games is to find the fittest man/woman/master out there, not the best gymnast or Olympic lifter. So with that being said it is time to get your snatch on.

Feel free to be 13 again. There are all kinds of fun things to say about this Olympic barbell movement, but I can assure you that the snatch is much like the opposite sex. It may take you a day to learn what you should do, but it takes a lifetime of work to understand it! The snatch is by far one of the most difficult movements out there and therefore one will typically move less weight on this lift than any other major lift. Also, being difficult, many are less inclined to work on it. (Author clears throat and points to self)

So this morning after coaching the 5:30 class we had 2 of our competitors who needed to get their scores validated since they were going out of town this weekend so they decided to tackle the snatch ladder!
If you aren’t familiar with the workout, here it is:
CrossFit Open Week 2
30 Snatch (M 75 / F 45 lbs) (Masters women: 35lbs)
30 Snatch (M 135 / F 75 lbs) (Masters women: 55lbs)
30 Snatch (M 165 / F 100 lbs) (Masters women: 75lbs)
Max Rep Snatch (M 210 / F 120 lbs) (Masters women: 90lbs)

What I saw was amazing. Both of the ladies that competed Carrie Rigor & Dana Berryhill had never before snatched a barbell with the weight of the 2nd set of 30. So they knew this was going to be a challenge. In essence, if (read when) they successfully lifted a rep in the 2nd set of 30 they would be setting a new Personal Record. This is no easy task–especially since you had already done THIRTY to get things started!!

Carrie scored a 32 & Dana scored a 33!!

That is awesome! Not only did they BOTH set new personal records in a very complex lift, but they did it multiple times!

Under a time constraint!

When they were tired from doing 30 reps before they got to the heavier barbell!

At 6:00 in the  morning!

Let me say this again–this is AWESOME! Lets dance!

So am I posting again bragging on some of the athletes in the gym? Well yes, but I also wanted to smack both of them on the way out the door!
They were both beating themselves up about not completing more reps. Really? Did you just say you were upset about setting a new PR? Then doing it again? Really?
Hello! McFly! Think!

(sorry on a 80′s movie kick today!)

So here are my observations with 12.2.
A) It will humble you.
B) Accept that humbling and identify that you probably need to work that barbell movement more (points at self once again)
C) You have to go into this workout with a positive mindset. If you start the workout by saying “I just don’t know that I can pull xxx#s!?!” then guess what–you won’t. Know that you are going to set a new PR or do your best trying.
D) WHEN you set that new PR, be happy with it! Pat yourself on the back and if you wanted more reps, understand that you now know what you need to work on.
E) As with 12.1, I firmly believe that the tortoise will win this race. The hare will burn out too quickly, but if you can find a fast, strong pace and maintain it, that is the trick to this workout–oh and to have great form on your snatch!
F) Also, when you start hitting that failure point, take 20 seconds to compose yourself. A heavy snatch is not a lift that you will be successful with if you technique goes to pot, take a moment, compose yourself and make sure that each pull is successful.

So with that being said, Spark it up, and get ready to pull heavy weight off the ground! Go forth and conquer your snatch!

Work hard, eat right, enjoy life!
Coach J

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Roll with it!

Filed Under: Coaching, Facing challenges by Jarrod — Leave a comment
February 28, 2012

Well, ever enter a fun run just to be part of something fun?

I’ve done this for the past 5 years or so. The Susan G. Komen 5k in Birmingham is always an event. It is an important event at my house as we have had more than our fair share of cancer in the family, but I always enjoy the atmosphere. It is great to be around those that have conquered cancer and celebrate those that we have lost. It is a great race course and here lately my son has been running with me. That being said, this is NOT the race to mark on your calendar to test your 5k time. It is FULL of folks who don’t do runs on a regular basis and are ignorant of race etiquette. I love that they are out there and they are running/walking, but there are a TON of strollers and walkers at the front of the pack—they just don’t know better. So my point is, you enter the Komen Run for the atmosphere and fun of it, you want to set a new Personal Record (PR)? Well, I’d suggest you pick a different course!

I look at the CrossFit Open in a similar light. Not that you CAN’T set PRs in the Open, but I know that I’m not one of the top 60 men in the SouthEast. There are some men and women in this area (including the reigning champ) that just aren’t human! So when I paid my $20 and put my name in the hat for the Open I figured I would just go in, hammer the workouts with everything I had, see how I stacked up, and enjoy the atmosphere!

Then Workout 12.1 was announced. 7 minutes on the clock. Do as many burpees as you can jumping to a 6 inch target above your head. If you aren’t sure what a burpee is, here you go. What’s that you say? Doesn’t look too bad doing one?? Ok, do 20 in a row without stopping and let me know how that goes!

You see since last year when Huntleigh and I did our 100 day burpee challenge, burpees are kind of my thing. Not saying that I am the “king” of burpees, but I’m short, fairly quick, so they are just easier for me and I can usually find a rhythm and just keep moving. This is not unknown in the gym, to my friends, and so on the day that I am scheduled to tackle 12.1 as a fun little workout, my phone, twitter,  and Facebook explode. This isn’t a bad thing mind you, but I was looking to have some fun with the workouts and to go into each workout relaxed and looking to have some fun. When I started getting text messages and Facebook messages encouraging me to beat most of the people that have already completed the workout, well, that didn’t really lead to a “relaxed & fun” workout environment for me.

Anyway, I hit the workout and at the time that I posted my score (Friday evening) I was actually IN the top 60! I had some fun with it, grabbed a screen capture to remember my 15 seconds of “fame”, posted it on Facebook, tweeted it, laughed about it with my wife knowing that it would be short lived. At the time that I am writing this I am currently sitting tied for 4817th place in the world and tied for 449th place in my region. Am I upset about this? Not in the least! I am thrilled with the performance!

The moral to my story is this: roll with it. I didn’t want the pressure, but I fed on it and ultimately was very happy with my performance. I still have no illusions of being in the top 60 men of my region, but perhaps I can contribute to my team, perhaps I can push some of the members at the gym to go harder, and maybe I’ll surprise myself again!

Who knows, I bet someone has set a fast PR on the Komen course—I could just be wrong about all of this!

Regardless,

Work hard, eat right, enjoy life!

Coach j

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