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I went for a speed Crossfit Workout of the Day on Monday.  For this workout, the goal was to complete as many rounds as possible in a twenty minute time period.   Here are the exercises for this conditioning WOD:

200m Run

5x Burpees

7x Dumbbell Swings (50#)

10x Overhead Dumbbell Squats (2x 45#)

I was able to complete 4 full rounds and one extra 200m Run.  It was a nice fast workout, but it left me huffing and puffing by that 5th 200m Run.

Lite Lemonade Mixed with Whey Protein

After I finished up, I had a nice refreshing shaker cup of whey protein waiting for me.  This week I’m mixing my protein with Minute Maid Lite Lemonade.  I’m getting some post workout carbs in the form of a granola bar.  I like the lemonade/protein shake because of how light it seems compared to my usual orange juice I mix with the protein.

One of the things that I really enjoy about doing Crossfit WOD’s is that fact that I can mix things up and still get a great workout.  Last year, I really just focused on lifting and although I worked hard and made a lot of strength gains, it got a little boring.  Plus, I pretty much turned my back on cardio and watched my conditioning suffer and my love handles grow.  That’s all changing, although I do think my overall strength may be decreasing due to a lack of heavy lifting (heavy by my standards at least).

But I wanted to get back into more robust state of conditioning.  And Crossfit Workout of the Days are doing that for me. Right now I’m on a M-T-W schedule for sure and then whatever I can work in the rest of the week.   Here is tonight’s workout:

I couldn't find a good picture example of a bear walk with weights, so I figured a Grizzly Bear is a good substitute

3 Rounds

200m Run

8x Dips

10x Sit Ups

10x Sumo Deadlifts with dumbbells (2x 50#)

20m Bear Walk (2×25#)

10x Dumbbell Flyes on an exercise ball (2×40#)

The hotel fitness room doesn’t have a dip station, so I make do with what I’ve got.  The two treadmills are close enough that I can do dips with a pretty wide grip stance.   I didn’t time tonight’s workout, but I know I came in under 30 minutes.  I should have brought my timer.

There’s no Valentine’s Day theme for my Crossfit workout out of the day, sorry to disappoint you guys. Once again I made my own WOD based on my available equipment (treadmills and dumbbells mostly).

600m Run
21x Turkish Get Ups (25#)
8x Overhead Dumbbell Squats (2×40#)
21x Burpees
400m Run
15x Turkish Get Ups (25#)
8x Overhead Dumbbell Squats (2×40#)
15x Burpees
400m Run
9x Turkish Get Ups (25#)
9x Overhead Dumbbell Squats (2×35#)
9x Burpees

I initially was going to do a 21-15-9 rep structure. But the Overhead Squats quickly showed me that for the weight that I had chosen. I had to modify my plan. I stuck to the rep structure for the Burpees and Turkish Get Ups, but I dropped the reps to eight for the overhead squats and eventually dropped the weight a bit and added one more rep.

Post Workout Whey Protein - Vanilla flavor and Orange Juice

Afterwards, I had a nice big shaker full of whey protein powder and orange juice. I recommend Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Standard Whey Protein. Vanilla is my personal choice. Mixed with orange juice it tastes a bit like an old school Orange Julius.

Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey Protein

As a side note, there were a couple of generic forty something generic business men in the fitness room toward the end of my workout. They were half-assed working out on the stationary bike and one of the treadmills and watching basketball on the tv. One was telling about how he played basketball in college, intramural basketball that is. And the most fascinating part was that sometimes he played pick up games with actual college basketball players. All I could think was “Cool story Bro!” I understand people holding on to special memories of playoff games or other such momentous events in their youth, but who gives a crap that you happened to play a pick up game with a guy that happened to play with a ball player from the University of Arkansas?

The worst thing about hotel workout rooms to me is the lack of free weights. It makes working out harder, but it still can be done. I just need to squeeze time in on the weekend when I’m home to actually lift heavier weights.

Luckily, I’ve at least got dumbbells to work with at this hotel. I’ve been taking kettlebell workout of the day’s and modifying them for the dumbbells and the limited equipment that I have in the hotel workout room. I wish there was a way to do pull ups. Maybe in the spring when it warms up, I’ll take it outside and find a park nearby. So far, I’ve found the Crossfit principals easy to modify for my available facilities.

Tonight’s WOD:

5 Rounds:
400m Run
5x Dumbbell Jerk (2×40#)
20m Overhead Dumbbell Walk (2×40#)
15x Dumbbell Swing (40#)
20m Farmer’s Walk (2×40#)
1 minute rest between rounds

I found that tonight’s biggest challenge was the Overhead Walk. My form must have been pretty shaky by the fifth round. In fact the Overhead Walk made the Farmer’s Walk look like a piece of cake. I could have upped my weight on the Farmer’s Walk in in hindsight, although I could only go up to 50 pound dumbbells, which is all the hotel has.

I was running short on time tonight after staying late at work so I did about 30 minutes of working out, which was shorter than I would have liked.

Tonight’s Workout of the Day:
9 rounds
Rep structure:1-2-3-2-3-4-3-4-5
200m run
Dumbbell Jerk (2×45#)
Dumbbell Bent Over Row (2×45#)

And to cap it all off 50ft bear walk with 25 pound dumbbells!

As I mentioned, I was going to go 18 rounds, but ran out of time. I’m pretty sure that if I had gone 18 rounds I would have been dragging. The girl at the hotel front desk was looking at me a little funny when I stopped by to book my room for the next week.

I’m really enjoying the Crossfit WOD’s. For the past year, I had been focusing on just lifting. I had a good gym that was right by work and I ended up gaining strength and muscle, but getting a bit flabby around the edges. I then got busy at work and eventually changed projects and really took about a two month break. But now, I’m mixing things up, focusing on much more conditioning and starting to see improvements on that front.

Sometimes you get an idea in your head and you think that you are in a lot better shape than you really are.  This afternoon, while I was contemplating my workout of the day, I thought to myself  “Hey, you are in good shape, you can do a 100 reps of body weight exercises interspersed with 400m runs.

I thought this, despite only having gotten about 3 1/2 hours worth of sleep the night before.  So I headed to the workout room at that hotel and started running.  Then I started on the burpees and that’s when reality kicked in.  By the time I had hit 20 burpees, I had realized that there was no way that I was going to be able to push through 100 of anything.  So I readjusted my goal and here is what I came up with:

400m run

50 burpees

400m run

50 body weight squats

400m run

50 push ups

400m run

50 sit ups

Even at 50 reps per exercise, it was a challenge.  I was really feeling spent on the last 400m run.  It was a pretty good WOD.  I’d like to work up my conditioning to be able to do 100 reps.   Maybe I’m pushing too hard after being sick last week.  But if you don’t feel like you’re going to puke, you haven’t worked out hard enough!

I’m back at the hotel and after last week’s sickness, it was good to get the blood flowing and get my Crossfit workout back on track.

For tonight’s Workout of the Day (WOD) I did the following:

5 Rounds

400m run

50 ft walking overhead dumbbell lunges (20lbs x 2)

10 burpees

The workout room only has dumbbells.  I would have preferred to use an olympic bar for the overhead walking lunges, but you do what you have to do.  I was a little winded during the fifth round and felt a little nauseous, so I slowed it down just a tad.  But overall, I was happy with the result.

Olympic Bar

I just wish I had the energy or the strength to do more strength training this weekend.  But I didn’t have it in me.  I wasn’t a sloth this weekend, but I didn’t do any structured workout.  I played some backyard soccer with my kids this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday, but that’s about all I was good for.

With all the traveling I do, I don’t always have a great place to workout.  The hotel I’m staying at now has  a pretty weak exercise room, although at least they have dumbbells up to 50 lbs.  I am tailoring my workouts of the day to work with what I’ve got.  Luckily, with some forethought and creativity, I can get my Crossfit on!

Today’s WOD was:

4 rounds

400m run

10x dumbbell swings (50#)

10x man-makers (10#)

MMMM Grape CellMass

I initially was going to do this  WOD with increasing reps for each round, but I realized after the first round that it just wasn’t going to happen.  So I wisely modified my plan and kept the  same number of reps for each round.  The man-makers really challenged me tonight.  Beyond the first round, I couldn’t do all ten reps without a couple of pauses.   It took me about 30 minutes total and I headed back to my room for some BSN grape flavored CellMass for my post workout supplement.

I had a long travel day today so I didn’t have a lot of time.  I chose a Met Con (Metabolic Conditioning) Workout of the Day (WOD) for my Crossfit workout.

For time
30x Push-ups
Run 300m
30x Squats
Run 200m
30x Burpees
Run 100m
30x Sit-ups
Run 50m
30x Jumping jacks

It took me a few seconds to figure to double check the conversion from tenths of a mile to meters (160 meters = approximately 1/10 of a mile).   This was the first time I did this WOD, but it fit well with my hotel facilities at hand and my time restraint ( I had to be done quickly to be ready to video chat with the family).

My time for today's WOD was 16:36

I did well on everything but the 30 Burpees.  There’s no doubt that I spent the most time  on Burpees during the workout.  Overall, though I was pretty happy, I had a total time of 16:36, including the few seconds of math that I had to do.

For today’s Crossfit Workout of the Day (WOD) I decided to modify a kettle bell workout that I had seen on a WOD site and replace the weight with my homemade Bulgarian Bag.  I made the bag out of a truck inner tube that I bought at Tractor Supply and 46 pounds of gravel that I picked up from Home Depot.  Total cost was about $28 with tax.

My Homemade Bulgarian Sandbag that I made for Crossfit workouts. 46 Pounds.

I cut the valve stem off.  Rolled up one end, zip tied it about eight inches up the rolled handle and then wrapped it with duct tape.  I filled the remaining tube, until I had about eight inches left on the other end.  Then I rolled up the open end and zip tied it, which I then duct taped wrapped.

I took a kettlebell WOD  and instead of the kettlebells,  I used the Bulgarian Bag.  It was a cool, but clear morning and it felt great to be outside in the sun.

18 rounds (1-2-3-2-3-4-3-4-5-5-5-6-5-6-7-6-7-8)
Power Clean
Overhead Squats

I followed it up with one solitary rope climb up my 15 foot rope in the backyard.

I’ll know in the morning whether or not I need to make a smaller Bulgarian Bag.  46 pounds was pretty heavy and I was really feeling the burn by the end of the workout.