Saturday, January 30, 2010

CrossFit Controversy

Yesterday, an anonymous human left a pretty awesome comment on my last CrossFit Update post.

Personally, I like CrossFit because the concept of functional fitness just really appeals to me. It makes sense. However, as I learn more and more about it, I'm also learning about the controversy.  Here is great article I found the other day that I think gives a very evenhanded treatment of CrossFit - both good and bad.

While I realize CrossFit isn't the most effective way to build muscle, my goals are more aligned with overall fitness and weight loss, not bodybuilding or power lifting. I really just want to drop weight and get my body back and not cringe when I see myself naked in the mirror. And it seems to be working. The actual weight loss, as measured on the scale, is still pretty minimal, but when I look in the mirror, I see my gut starting to pull in and I'm seeing and feeling muscles in my shoulders and legs that have simply never been there before. My jeans are getting looser as well and I'm starting to swim in some of my shirts.

One other quick note: last weekend I got my squat up to 175 lbs, and it was fairly easy. My workout that day was actually pretty awesome. I warmed up by rowing 1000m and then I did 100 lunges, 100 squats, 100 pushups, and 100 situps. The squats and lunges were both bodyweight only. Then I moved over to the weights and did squats 5 X 5 at 155 lbs, 1 X 3 at 165 lbs, and 1 X 3 at 175 lbs. I know this isn't huge weight by true weightlifting standards, but I'm pretty pleased with the improvement - about 40 lbs in 8 weeks. My near term goal on the squat is 200 lbs, which I think I'll have handled in the next month or so. For the year, is 300 lbs doable? I think it could be.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Crossfit Update

Just finished week 7 of my crossfit program. I'm going 4 days a week now, plus I'm working out on my own at least one day of the weekend. I need to start running soon.

My whole body feels stronger now and I have way more energy at work and when going out at night.

Last week I found my deadlift max of 225 pounds. I'm not really sure how good or bad that is, but think it's probably in the "okay" range. I'm hoping to have that up to 245 in five or six weeks when it's time to try it again. Is 300 attainable by the end of the year? I don't know enough yet to know the answer to that question.

I haven't found my max squat yet, but I squatted 160 pounds doing multiple reps (5 sets of 3), and it was challenging but reasonably doable. I suspect my one rep max is probably 170 or above. When I started back in early December, I think I was doing sets of 145 pounds, which I think was challenging mostly because I wasn't used to the movement.

On the scale, I'm down 5-7 pounds. This is okay progress, but I'm sure I could do better than that if I committed to an actual diet. Meh. We'll see.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Approaching Direct

Interesting night last night. We went to a venue in Seattle's Belltown district that's pretty popular and I swear there were at least 20 local community guys there that I either knew personally or through others. Every time you turned around another one of those guys was there.
Of course, I could have just left and gone to a different bar. :)

But, what I really want to write about is a direct approach I made last night. To go ahead and give away the ending, no I didn't take her home for glory times, nor did I get her number. In fact, I can't even remember exactly what I said. I think I basically approached, touched her immediately, TOLD her she had to tell me her name and that there was something about her that was really attracting me. Then I went into qualification and got her to talk about herself. She was a Kindergarten teacher, which is super attractive right there.

What was encouraging about this approach was that I could tell right away that I was generating attraction. I went for the number fairly quickly and (surprise) was rejected! She did take my number, explaining that she just doesn't give out her number to guys. Also, she lives on the other side of the state, in Spokane, so I'm sure that had something to do with it. I really, really doubt she'll call. I give it about a 5% chance.

Regardless of the outcome, what was encouraging about this was the attraction I got back during the interaction. I did try this once before, last spring, and it worked really well that time as well, but I guess I just kind of forgot. I have to start doing this more. This is going to be key for me, especially in this type of venue where it's super loud, with tons of distractions, and where normal conversation is pretty close to impossible. Yes, there will be a certain numbers game aspect to this, but that's fine.