10/28/14

Today in the Garage:

RRL Warmup (30 Overhead Squats, pick load 10 Push-ups 10 Ring Dips 10 Pull-ups 5 Muscle Ups Jump Rope (Singles), 3 mins 20 GHD Sit-ups 20 Hip Extensions 20 Toes To Bars)

---

A.

60 Seconds max double unders or max singles

10 Pullups

10 Dips

---

B. In 15 minutes, complete:

Run 800 m

21 Power Cleans @135

15 Front squats @135

9 Push Press @135

Then, in the remaining time, do as many bar facing burpees as possible until time runs out.

---

C.

Max set Dips

Travel again

"True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united."

Wilhelm von Humboldt

---

It was so good to get back into the garage this morning and have 24 guys there to workout with me.  Man, is it better to have a group.  Intensity, comraderie, excitement and overall volume are far better and higher when I am with my group.

Unfortunately, I am on the road again but only for a couple of days this time.  When I go, I prepare by first packing my workout stuff. 

Travel workout gear includes:

1 pair running shoes

1 pair of Nano (worn)

1 pair shorts

2-3 tshirts

1 deck of cards, all plastic with 4 jokers

1 jump rope

1 Green band

Ipad or Iphone ready with this link:

http://www.fitnesstruthtv.com/resources/travel-workouts/

I also found this site recently and it does a good job of generating workouts for you:

http://wod-gen.com/exercise/323

---

I am really looking forward to getting back home and staying for quite some time. 

Back in the RRL

Super excited to get back into the RRL tomorrow and hit this workout

---

Workout A.

Sled Pull

Sled Push

1 Round

---

Workout B.

Teams of 4

Work Capacity: In teams of 4, complete the following for time:

150x wallball shots (20#/14#)
100x power clean (135#/95#)
50x muscle up
Strength: Back squat: 10 rounds – Every 60 seconds, perform: 2x back squat, use same weight across the 10 sets. Choose a weight that is challenging but you can move with speed.

---

Workout C.

Durability: 3 rounds, not timed – 30 second L-sit hold, 10x medball GHD sit ups, 10x reverse hyper (heavy). SEALFIT Yoga Mobility drills. Hydrate and fuel within 30 minutes. 

4 mile run

"The possession of anything begins in the mind."

Bruce Lee

---

LSD (Long Slow Distance) Run

4 miles

Warrior Yoga

12 minutes meditation exercise (Stillwater from SealFit)

---

Another day with the RRLanta in the Florida Keys

“There is no friend like an old friend who has shared our morning days, no greeting like his welcome, no homage like his praise.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.”

---

A text from Chip Lusk came through last night asking if I could work out again this morning.  What a pleasant surprise!

It is so much better and easier to workout with friends rather than to try to go alone.  I would have worked out this morning without Chip, however, getting together with Chip and his Uncle made the start to my day MUCH better.

Since we are still in the heart of a Tropical depression, we decided on a Deck of Cards, one of the best travel workouts.

Chip came up with this one:

Heart=burpees

diamonds=pushups

clubs=v ups

spades=squats

joker=elevated pushups

---

We then went through a Gratitude Meditation exercise afterward for about 12 minutes and finished the morning off with a nice breakfast and coffee.

Old friends and new friends

This is our best attempt at a triple selfie.  My daughter would be embarrassed.  We are all looking at different cameras,. Great workout nonetheless, and good to have someone like Chip to workout with this morning.

While working in the Florida Keys, I got a text from my good friend, Chip Lusk.  Chip was an original member of the RRL in Chattanooga and then moved to Atlanta where he set up his own garage gym, RRLanta.  Check out his group on Facebook and in this post.

Chip has a group visiting the resort where I film my television show, Hawks Cay Resort.

I ate dinner with his group last night and then we met at 6 am this morning for a good bodyweight workout followed by some breathing and gratitude exercise.

His Uncle joined us who is managing the construction project at the resort.  Lots of coincidence with him...He bought the house 2 doors down from the one I owned in Key West, knows Chip, knows Chattanooga and now works on Hawks Cay, my second home.  Crazy.

He also is a retired Navy vet and was Force Recon in Vietnam.  The guy is a stud.  67 years old and was hitting this workout with us this morning in the rain:

Jump Squats x 25 reps 

     Burpees x 10 reps 

Pushups x 25 reps 

     Burpees x 10 reps 

Body Weight Squats x 50 reps 

     Burpees x 10 reps 

Mountain Climbers x 50 reps (each leg counts as one rep) 

     Burpees x 10 reps 

Lunges Left Leg x 25 reps 

     Burpees x 10 reps 

Lunges Right Leg x 25 reps 

     Burpees x 10 reps 

High Knees (Running/Sprints in Place) x 50 reps 

     Burpees x 10 reps 

V sits x 50 reps 

     Burpees x 10 reps 

Jumping Jacks x 50 reps 

     Burpees x 10 reps 

Push to Plank x 50 reps 

     Burpees x 10 reps 

I found this one on the internet last night.  It looked pretty good so we gave it a try.  We were in the middle of a Tropical Depression so the swim workout I had planned might not have been the best idea, and running was probably out.  This one was fine...not too hard, but challenging.

Work, Work, More work

Traveling lately and filming the remaining episodes of Saltwater Experience. 

I had 2 of the best days of my fishing and filming career earlier this week as I filmed 2 shows with my boys and one with my daughter.  Doing shows with the kids is the absolute highlight of my year and career.  I love it so much and enjoy spending time with them with or without the cameras.

This time, the weather cooperated and we had outstanding fishing!

Here are some shots from the trip:

Hayden caught this BEAUTIFUL Permit and my BEAUTIFUL wife got a picture of me, Turner, Hayden and Hanna with it!

Hanna with her first ever bonefish!!

We did a snorkel segment on the show.  Hanna and Dad on a beautiful day!

Turner gets a HUGE Bull Shark

Careful!  These guys bite

Hayden gets a HUGE Goliath Grouper!

Good thing that Hayden has been lifting weights

Then, Redfish and Snook for Turner and Hayden

The ride home with Hayden

Slick Calm and flying in the Yellowfin 24

These will be some of my favorite shows.  We have filmed more than 100 shows now and the ones with my kids are always my favorite.

As for Training:

Since Selection, I have been taking some well deserved rest, however, I cant completely rest.  I have been hitting some of my favorite travel workouts while on the road.

Deck of cards

Spades=Burpees

Clubs=Pushups

Hearts=Situps

Diamonds=Squats

---

Jackie

Row 1000 (There is a rowing machine at Hawks Cay)

50 Thrusters @ 45 lbs

30 Pullups

---

Magic 50

5 Dumbbell Swings per arm

5 Dumbbell Snatches per arm

10 burpees

x 5 rounds for time

Use a 50 lb dumbbell if you want a great workout.  I did this one today in 6:57

---

LSD Run.  5 miles

---

Train hard, work hard, enjoy life.

Back to Training

Selection is over, I have reflected on the lessons learned and actually have begun to apply them to my everyday life...Success!

Now, it is time to get back to training.  Admittedly, I am returning slowly partly because I am out of town filming my fishing show, Saltwater Experience now, but also because the last several months have wrecked my body.  Intense rucking with 45-150 pounds combined with the 18 hours of Selection has left me moving a little slow. 

My cure has been to drink tons upon tons of water, do Mark Divine's Warrior Yoga twice a day, work on breathing exercises from SealFit and Unbeatable Mind and work on mobility in my injured ankle with help from Kelly Starett's MobilityWod.

All in all, I am feeling great.  Certainly well rested and my mobility is increased.

---

Yesterday:

---

Deck of Cards:

Spades=pushups

Clubs=Squats

Hearts=Situps

Diamonds=flutter kicks

---

Row 2000 m

---

30 pullups

---

I told you I was coming back slow!  Give me a little time and I will be back to the SealFit OPWOD soon. 

Today:

Run 3 miles

100 pushups

100 situps

100 squats

Setting goals

One of the major things that I learned by doing Goruck Selection is to be very careful in how and where you set your goals.

When I first began to prepare for Selection, I set a goal that i wanted to be top 10 in the class.  At 46 years old, being top 10 is outstanding and I felt like that goal stretched me, challenged me and pushed me to train harder than just to have a goal of finishing.

I used Unbeatable Mind techniques of breathing and visualization daily to put me in that top 10.  Through research on forums like Professional Soldier, I set my goals for the PT test at numbers that I thought would get me to the top 10 in the class.  Soon, I began to meet those numbers and even exceed them.  On test day, I set PR’s for both the pushups and sit-ups and was among the top few in the class.  The run went well and I smashed the ruck, well under the time hack and in the top 10.

The goal of top ten seemed out of reach at first.  So far out of reach that I just kind of assumed that if I was top ten, I would easily be able to finish the event because top ten seemed to be an even greater goal.

Where we set our goals is where we end up.  SealFit visualization is very powerful, so powerful that you have to really watch what you set your mind on because you will attain it and it might not be what you really wanted.

As I was alone, in the dark, depleted, cramping and struggling to finish carrying my 60 pound pack and 80 pound sandbag the entire length of the unknown distance, a Cadre walked up to me and quietly started talking.  If he had yelled at me, I probably would have picked up the bag and continued, but this guy was smooth and an expert in mind manipulation.  Instead of yelling, he reassured me, complimented me on making it so far and told me it was fine to stop now before I ended up in the hospital.  This was powerful.

He told me that he recognized that I had trained my ass off, but I just didn't train properly for this event.  He was right.  No food for 18 hours of exercise had me dizzy, lightheaded, cramping and physically at the very bottom of the fuel tank.  I had trained without food, but not to this extent.  I succumbed to the realization and withdrew.

On the walk out he was even nicer.  He told me that I should be extremely proud of myself because...I was top ten in Selection.

BOOM.  I wanted to dig a hole and crawl in it.  At that moment I realized that I had been visualizing and training for exactly where I was and that WAS NOT going to get me to my original goal of finishing this event. I had accomplished my goal exactly, but in doing so I had sabotaged my original goal of finishing.  Your mind is a good soldier…it does what it is told.  No more, no less.  Here I was disappointed because I had reached the exact goal I had set for myself.

Dumbfounded, I sat down in the parking lot and wondered how things might have been different if I had set my goal differently.  Yep, I made it to the top ten, but I still did not accomplish my original goal.

Had I set a goal not to be top ten in the class but to be in the top 10% OF THE FINISHERS, things might have been vastly different.

Goal:

I WANT TO BE TOP 10 IN THE CLASS

I WANT TO BE IN THE TOP 10% OF THE FINISHERS

Those goals don't seem all that different from one another to many people, but they are.  In fact, there are galaxies of difference between the two goals.  One says that success is being top 10.  While a good thing to be, you are still not a finisher.  The other says that first you will be a FINISHER (your original goal) and second, that you will exceed that by crushing the event and ending up finishing AND being in the top 10% .

In many events, or in school, being top ten is good...really good and will probably get you into the college you want to go to or win an age group medal.  In other events, being top 10 may not get you anything at all, except failure.  Selection is an example but other examples may include the Olympic Trials, BUDs, SFAS, The CrossFit Regionals, The Regional wrestling tournament.  Each of these things requires you to be top 3 or to graduate, to move on.  You could accomplish your goal of setting a world record, but if you finish 4th place…you don’t get to go to the Olympics.  Maybe all 4 of you set a world record, but you will not go to the big show, your original goal.

Be careful how you set your goals.  First set goals to absolutely reach the original mission plan- Go to the Olympics, Graduate BUDs, Finish Selection, Make it to the CrossFit Games.  Set a second goal to exceed that first goal- Go to the Olympics and earn a gold medal in the trials and set a new world record in my event, Graduate BUDs and become a SEAL, Make it to the CrossFit Games and win my Region, Finish Selection and be top 10% of the finishers.

Visualization is powerful and if you are not already using it in your training and daily life, I encourage you to research it and use visualization techniques to reach your goals in fitness, business or life in general.  If you need a source, try www.SealFit.com.

Just be careful where you set your goals because you will probably achieve them and it may not be what you originally wanted.

So many people experience failure but never realize that they are only doing so because they are setting goals improperly…just like I did.  Be specific, be exact and make sure that those goals match the end result that you want.

Rest and recovery

Huge amounts of calories have been consumed and lots of stretching.  I am feeling pretty good and have returned to normal hydration levels.

After Kokoro I was back in the gym right away.  I think I am going to take about a week off this time and return to some slow movements...slowly.

My right ankle is jacked up a bit so I am working on mobility there, hips, and lower back for now.

Tons of yoga and water while working to build a stronger team with my wife, first and foremost, Children, my business and friends.

Thank you to SO MANY people who have text, emailed, called or otherwise wished me the best.  I appreciate your support.

Today is the day!

Leaving to go to Jacksonville in a couple of hours.  I am really excited about Selection but I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. 

Thank you to everyone who helped me get prepared. 

You can follow the Goruck Facebook page for updates.

I will give it everything I have

Taper continued

The weekend was dedicated to rest.  I did almost nothing physical and took a few naps.

I dont feel as good as if I had worked out hard all weekend but I am hoping that it will pay off.

This morning:

---

2 min pushups- 75 moved slow and deliberate intentionally

---

2 min situps- 71 moved about as fast as I could, but that is a long way from the 82 I hit last week.  Not sure why that happened today, but I still feel confident in the ability to hit 65 any time

---

1 mile hill ruck with 60 lbs- 9:44 felt good.  The hill is steep so I was not able to run the whole thing, but did finish pretty quickly.

---

21-15-9

Burpee

KB Swing @53 lbs

I bowed out of this one and stretched instead.  Trevor finished this in 3:21.  Pretty strong!

---

12 minute visualization on Selection

---

Good day

McCallie Baylor

We have one of the biggest rivalries in High School sports in my hometown.  McCallie, the school I went to, and Baylor the rival have been bitter rivals for 100 years (I don't really know how long but a long time).

McCallie is an all boys school, 6-12, that is an outstanding school.  Baylor, also an outstanding school, is a former all boys school that went Co-Ed about the time I graduated.  I think that the Co-ed change may have actually made the rivalry more intense because instead of splitting the all girls school also in the area, they kind of became a sister school to McCallie.  Now it is really, McCallie/GPS vs Baylor.

To make things more intense this year, both schools have exceptional teams.  In fact, McCallie just defeated 4 time State Champs, Ensworth (Nashville) 62-34 last weekend to become the number 1 ranked team in Tennessee.  Baylor, also on a roll is number 2.  This is the first time in history that McCallie/Baylor is a 1 v 2 matchup.

Things go crazy this week...literally.  Signs are hanging all over, vandalism of said signs and even campuses also exists, pranks, and more, but the underlying theme of all of this is that there is tremendous school spirit and both sides are proud to be a part of this history. 

Almost every boy with a pickup truck makes a giant flag from a bed sheet and puts it on the trailer hitch of the truck.  Baylor does it too, but not like McCallie.  Sometimes, the kids make the flag with a giant M from a black bedsheet with a giant blue M.  This year, a highly concerned resident posted on facebook that she saw a truck with a flag like this and thought is was a splinter cell of ISIS.  Now that is funny. 

The rivalry extends to every workplace, talk radio, golf courses, bowling alleys, bars, restaurants and yes...even to the garage.

In our group we have a number of Baylor alumni and parents but maybe a slightly higher number of McCallie alumni and parents.  Today, I put together a workout to polish for Selection and also have some fun. 

With a front from Canada to Mexico on top of us, we experienced heavy rain this morning which was kind of fun.  The workout was:

Run 400 m

55 Pushups

Run 400 m

65 situps

x 3 rounds for time

I felt great!  No ruck, no boots, no pants.  I flew through the runs and made sure my nose was to the floor on the pushups and that my situps were solid.  We took the top 3 times for each team and decided a winner. 

This time it was McCallie by a landslide!  Lets hope that the game will have the same outcome. 

Oh, by the way, this thing goes in long streaks of winning or losing.  McCallie had a 10 year run before Baylor beat us and then continued their streak for the last 7 years.  This year, the game returns to McCallie for the first time in 25 years or so...needless to say, it is a big, big deal around here. 

Good luck to both teams and I hope that no one is injured.  With such an emotional game, it could go either way.

Taper

I can not believe that this day has come.  We are a week out from Goruck Selection and I am happy to say that I am as ready as I can get physically.  My recent fitness test showed these results:

2 min pushups- 82

2 min situps- 80

5 mile run- 37:22

12 mile ruck with 45 lbs- 2:31:00

The minimum requirements are:

pushups-55

situps-65

run-40:00

ruck:3:30:00

This last fitness test was a confidence builder.  I have improved on everything with situps being the most improvement.

Mentally, I am still preparing.  I personally feel like being nervous about this thing is a very good thing.  If that is the case, then I am in a really good place...I am pretty damn nervous.

Packing is still an issue and I am packing and repacking over and over again; each time getting rid of several items making the rig smaller and more compact.

I will keep writing on the blog until the event and certainly give a report on how it went