The period between work and rest.

The trick to kicking ass is to look like this at the end

The beginning of a training program is always the hardest part of any life changing journey. Remember those first workouts where you do so little, yet it provides enough of a stimulus to make you sore for the next 5 days?

This hits home even harder for those who off been sidelined for a while due to injury, personal events, lazy,etc. We all know what it feels like to be fit as an ox, no matter how little we exercise, because there has been a time in our lives where we have been active for quite a while.And in that constant schedule of activity and healthy habits, we become focused,driven, fit. Then when you come back a week,a month,a year later to the beginning of that very same regimen you once started, it’s as if you have never even done something like that before. It sucks but you know that if you can get through the training for 2 weeks, you’ll be back to your former self.

That’s what i’m feeling like right now. It feels good to be back into the swing of things, but there is one area where i need to brush up on: The Work/Rest cycle. In crossfit, their are task-oriented WODS and Timed WODS. Your performance depends on your intensity and technique. And the directly relates to your work/rest cycles. If you work for 1 minute, and rest 1 minute, that’s an example of 1 cycle. The longer the rest, the more time you kill and the slower your pr’s get. Now that i am working out by myself, and especially since i train upon waking, i find that my work/rest cycles are lopsided. I would work for a few repititions, and it would take me double the time to rest. While i do manage to get rocked in the wod, i know that i could better and rest less because i still have more left in the tank.

My main goal is to workout hard enough so that my work/rest cycles imrpove. Which means more work, less rest. If i can accomplish that, then it means i’m that much closer to breathing the all-important fire.

When it comes down it,however, it’s mainly a mental game. Just like weight loss. Many times, we get tempted to take a break, or eat a bite of cheesecake, or even to compromise who we are just to feel more comfortable with ourselves. But in the life, improvement takes courage. Fitness means enduring the discomfort and fighting the urge to give up. Weight loss means having to sacrifice smartly for the greater good.

BEING WHO YOU WANT TO BE REQUIRES HAVING BALLS!(Or girl balls if that tickles your fancy)

Doing what you have to do is something i’m learning this year. I’m not taking my body or my studies lightly anymore. Because if i do, i’ll just end up being the same guy who f’ed up life last year. And now i know that i am much better than that.

So work to get better at decreasing your periods of rest/comfort.Your body/mind will thank you for it.

GET STRONG LIKE BULL!

What training philosophy is perfect for weight loss?

You know, for the past 7 years since i started my fitness journey, i have tried many different kinds of training programs.Runnin,weights,yoga,taebo,pilates,etc. When doing these activities, my overall goal which still holds true to this day, is to get to 200 lbs and finally have a flat stomach. I’m not gonna lie to you.No matter how fit i become, i want the end result to be a complete transformation of my current self. Sure the ways i trained, helped to a point, but the problem was that i ended up back to where i was because when the shit hit the fan, i succumbed and got into old habits. And every time that happened, i felt like i dug an even deeper hole for myself because i thought that if this is how i am going to act each time my personal life makes a turn for the worse, then i might just be fat for the rest of my life. That means, i’m in a constant yo-yo state of mind. I could work hard for 2 hours this week,then next week it’s back to staying at home in my bed, binging every time i felt the need tugging at me. It’s definetly hard being fit and healthy for life when you grow up as the big kid. No matter how many success stories you see in Mens health or the biggest loser, you know that achieving that kind of success in such a small amount of time is damn near impossible. The daunting task of just getting up to weight train got me annoyed because it just felt so repetitive.Same with the running.

But the one thing that i always applied to my training is intensity. It’s the main lesson i learned from the body-for-life training program,which was the first training program i loved. While it was nothing insanely creative, it’s focus on going hard made me realize that working out is a battle. And if you win the battle that day, that means you become stronger in your eating habits and mental toughness.

But nonetheless, it was just too repetitive.

After going through different certifications and learning so many things, i realized that,for obese people, there is one modality of training that will help train you to be fit and healthy for life.

And that is Crossfit.

We all know how great a program it is, but it is more the philosophy behind it which really applies to long term weight loss.

Many over weight people have emotional issues with food. That is a given. That is why many of us tend to salivate when we tend to see something we like staring at us. Sure you may say everyone has that problem, but in obese people, this connection to food is on a much deeper level. It is this addiction to food that helped to comfort us through our times in school when we were bullied. When we may have had invisible friends instead of real ones.Food was always there to make us feel better in an instant. But when we got out of the house, we get the looks that make us depressed and pissed off. I know that was how it was for me. Having my mother always talk about my weight problems. I still experience these problems nowadays even though i struggle with my own addiction to food.

This struggle i feel is just like struggling through the daily WOD. We train to constantly improve our times and our performance. And in order to be better athletes, we have to provide better nutrition to ourselves.

But deep down, Crossfit taught me that i don’t have to accept my defeat because of my past history with food. I’m learning on how to prepare for the unknowable, through constant preparation. I am reminded of my goals on a daily basis because if i go back to old habits, it bites me in the ass when i see my times suck the next week.

The way each of us in the crossfit community feeds on this knowledge of bettering ourselves spills over into my knowledge of wanting to overcome this problem i have in life.

As a fatman fighting for his dreams, i can tell you that crossfit is the best tool in helping to revamp that fatman mentality because you are no longer a fat person trying to lose weight, you are considered an athlete. And in that new mindset, you fight to be the best you can  be and the problems between you and food lessen each day you see you times on the wod’s decrease and the strength in your lifts increase.

And that’s why it’s called Forging elite fitness. Because part of that equation is being able to toughen up, fight the bad habits, and forge new toughness, firebreathing habits out to it. And if you fall, then you get off your ass and try again because you are changing your life……….

FOR TIME

Train to not suck at life

So My WoD today was an interesting take on the DL/burpee combo and Freddy’s Revenge. I took two moves i suck at and threw them in.It was quite the beastly Wod

5 rounds of:

5 dead hang pull-ups(medium band)

10 squat cleans(135 lbs)

It was interesting to see what would happen because both moves require a hard pull and involve alot of posterior strength. Plus when utilizing that hook grip, it could tire out the forearms fast.

WoD time was 19 minutes.

I do suck at both moves and with the cleans, i tend to be cautious about going fast due to potential back injury. But was crushed nonetheless.

The lunchtime run went pretty good. I am enjoying the vibram fivefingers so much more than my other running shoes. I feel like i’m running much better thanks to those babies. Everyday i go out for my run, i try to cover more distance within the same time limit i started out with the first day. running intensity in the vibrams is really picking up. The best part is that my plantar fascitis has not been flaring up as of late so that’s a good sign that these foot muscles of mine are getting stronger.

Which leads me to my next thought……….

Nobody likes sucking at life.

This is a well-known fact. But everyday, we tend to do things that we want to be comfortable with. There are few things that we all want to get better at, because we do it out of necessity. Like school and work. Most of us tend to suck at studying and getting good grades at first, because we don’t know what to expect. But because everyone needs to graduate in order to go to college or earn their degree for a future career, we rise to the call, suck it up, do the things we aren’t good at, and eventually power through so we accomplish what we want out of life. I know i’m not a genius, but i train and study so I can be better at absorbing info and rock the tests that much better.

While we train for our careers and school, very rarely do you find someone training hard to suck less at exercising. Sure you have those daily gym rats at the local globo gym, but they are there out of a vague idea they had at lunch. Their goal is to sweat and tone. They don’t treat their body like their mind. And this, my friends, is the worst form of neglect that’s seen so often nowadays.

For me, fitness is a way for me to lose weight,sure, but now that i think about it, it has alot to do with my mind as well. I need to train hard so things from class can click faster in my brain. I need to train hard so i can handle the rigors of being on a rescue squad. So that way, i don’t suck at moving patients around.So i can stay in the game longer and also to have more adventures.

So i train hard, and smart. I go through my movements. I pay attention to the details of my workout. I don’t just work out while thinking about the latest american idol reject,know what i mean? The focus is on that WOD, and the finer points of performance in order to get a good time. And it is this mentality that goes into my study time and work ethic. I train to be better in all aspects of life. Because without setting the bar high for yourself, you are never going to get that sense of improvement, accomplishment, and most importantly, that confident swagger in your walk.

On a final note, The great thing about training with laser like focus will help you feel less shitty after your WODS. So if everything goes as planned, i would be able to knock out the filthy 50 without breaking a sweat……

Yeah right.

I train hard so i can feel less like this

A world of adventure

As i was sitting in class today, i was thinking of what i’m going to do on my lunch break. I was thinking about taking a nap in my car then eating my lunch. Very productive i know. All of a sudden, the proverbial lightbulb went off in my head. I forgot that i had extra gym clothes in my car. So when we took our lunch break , i decided to put them on, lace up and go for a run. Obviously i had no intention of going slow because i had limited time. So i did some good old fartlek training. I would make it a rule to sprint up hills and flat terrain that were 300-400 meters long, then walk to catch my breath on the downhills. I didn’t realize how far i had gone in that half hour until i measured it after class.about 2.5 miles. I felt accomplished

Then when i got home, my Vibram five finger barefoot running shoes came in the mail, so instead of slouching it at home, i took them for a test walk for about an hour. It was totally new experience in that i was able to feel every nook and cranny of the earth beneath my feet. It was very soothing yet i never felt my feet getting such a workout from just walking.

The Tie that binds these two stories is the sense of adventure i experienced. I got to explore a new part of NJ. And i got to experience walking in a new way. It never amazes me how wonderful it is to explore and do things that are new to you.

I have realized that when i do crossfit, i have chance to have those adventures. You get to live your wildest fantasies through those WODS, if you let it. Wanna know what it’s like to be Apollo Creed? Then do the Double-under/sit-up workout. Feeling the need to move mountains? Then try testing your crossfit total. Hell, even workouts that have task-objectives like fran or diane can be turned into something bigger, such as if you complete that Wod in less than this amount time, then you save the princess from being devoured by the dragon.

I know it sounds crazy, but after reading an article in Runners World about visualization, i believe that one can add a whole new element of adventure to their daily WOD. You can’t do that in any other kind of training except for those in the milatary or martial arts world. When we can turn our training into something bigger than ourselves, it can be an experience like we can never imagine. I personally felt like i was a rockstar on my run and a curious littl kid on my “barefoot” walk.  So what’s stopping you from feeling like a superhero in your Workout?

On an unrelated note, i am feeling very focused this week. It still is tough mustering up the intensity at 630 in the morning but i’m sure that’ll come back in time. I’m just trying to put the focus away on my body-image and more on my performance. And thus far, it’s been steadily improving. If there is one thing to remember completing every day, it’s set of overhead squats. My ultimate goal is to bang out 15 @ Bodyweight(LOOONNNGGGG way to go),but for now i’ll be happy with 15 reps @135. Baby steps madam,baby steps.

The tools of the trade.

Here’s something i found out in EMT class today which i think will interest you: You can tell if a patient has suffered a spinal injury on scene very with out touching them.Wanna know how? Well, if you are a man, then you will have an erect penis. And if you are a woman, then your nipples would be pretty hard……..

Fascinating? I thought so….

Anyway, Today, i worked on my 2 biggest weak points: Ring dips and pull-ups. Until it becomes a strong point for me, i will continously work on these two movements daily in order get better at them. Of course it’s treated as a supplement to my other training, but i tend to focus on more controlled actions and less intensity than the WOD. Mainly due to the fact that this is actually skill work for me. For many people, they have a weak point in a certain lift or weight bearing exercise. Being a big guy, i have a weakness in bodyweight exercises.And it’s not that i don’t have the stabilization or strength for it. I t’s ust that with added weight around D’Gut, I have alot more to pull up than others. I always hated those two movements, so now i just have to work them so much that they become movements i love.

And if you wondering what my garage gym looks like, well then let me welcome you to my world. Here’s a tour of my “palace”. f.y.i, it’s still a work in progress.

The gym in all it's glory. The matting used helps get me amped up to tumble and shit

Odd objects used for lifting and other shenanigans. The plate can be used for KB swings, Bag and cooler used for odd object lifting.Ab Mat is for sleeping on...When i kick my ass

Can't have a crossfit gym w/out a squat rack,bumpers and white board....o yeah and a shopping cart i stole during my high school years.

This is my coach who times my WODS. Janet Jackson is seen here touching herself while the gymboss timer is by her side.Good lord she's shredded like designer jeans man

The catalysts for my fire-breathing in the future.Pull-up bar, medium band and weighted jump rope.

a steep driveway. O things think i can think of that would suck on this steep driveway

The other half of my garage. Hmmm,what to do,what to do.

the CF DJ. I can really rock out to the tunes of Sarah Mclaughin in the privacy of my own wod......Oops did i let the cat out of the bag?I mean......Billy Ocean.....

For Craig, the 10 lb bumper plate. It's quite the sturdy one

I am loving the garage gym at this moment in time. While it’s harder to get the intensity going, i do get the added comfort of working out in only my underarmour boxer briefs. It’s quite the comfortable plus. I believe that if i can match the intensity that i usually display @ Crossfit Hobken and go beyond that at home, then when i get back to the CFH, Then i can only be even more kick ass.

And to top it off I have something to share with you:

“every moment in life provides an opportunity for revival.Hitting rockbottom means that you can make greatest comeback ever told”

Love peace and sweat angels bitches.

BTW:I am enjoying the blogging. Takes me back to a simpler time.haha

The purpose of this blog/Introduction to my chaos

Hello and wlecome to the Fatmans Mind! Ha! I like that name. So simple, yet very powerful. My name is Charlie and i decided that it’s time to chronicle my journey towards a better life. The purpose of this is to provide insight to those who dont really know what goes through an obese persons head. Mind you, i do consider myself one fit son of a bitch but my weight has always been a problem for me. It’s tough when you grew up using food as a means to comfort yourself, especially through personal events that affect you in a big way. It has been an addiction for me no matter how well i do in my life. This connection to food comes back only when i am faced with events that involve being rejected by someone or something(i.e: school,job,girl,etc.)

How does crossfit relate to this you ask?well i shall tell you kind sir. I found that out of the different modalites of training offered today, i found that crossfit is the one thing that helps me to get my sanity back and gets me back on track the fastest. The WODS, the people, and the support all play a pivotal role for me because they all have helped forge that elite fitness AND EVEN MORE IMPORTANT, FORGING ELITE MENTAL TOUGHNESS! I got back into the shit again after a 2 month stint fighting depression and addiction.And so far, I’m feeling Awesome.

The purpose of this blog is to document the WODS i put myself through on a day to day basis. I will also be posting thoughts on anything regarding fitness through the eyes of someone who was not an athlete growing up. It’s going to be shown from the side of one of the millions of people who have been fighting obesity all their life. This will display my progress pictures, stats, personal records and all that jazz. Most important, it is going to contain useful nuggets of information that i will dole out regarding fitness, and other things(the personal trainer side of me.I have a national cert from NASM and a crossfit level 1 cert.thas how i roll.)

So let’s start with my training for the next 4 weeks. The plan is to do 2 WODS a Day. One in the morning before class, and again at night. The morning addresses my weaknesses and cardio, and the night is fun time.

Here was the morning WOD(Majority of WODS from Crossfit Hoboken.It’s a fantastic place!)

10 Clean and Jerks@135#

5 rounds CINDY(pull-ups done with medium band. And were strict dead hang)

10 clean and Jerks

4 rounds CINDY, 1 round 135# snatch grip Stiff legged DL,10 push ups, 15 squats

10 Clean and Jerks

3 rounds Cindy

Completed in 39:40(holy crap it’s rough)

Tonights WOD is going to be easier but will focus on the pull-up,ring dip and DDR(dance dance revolution.Yeah i said it!)

Songs are on Heavy. Will do 5 pull-ups or dips after every song.

I will explain why DDR is so awesome in a future post, and why it is a great addition to Crossfit.

But for now, i got some homework to do. And lives to save at Rescue Squad.Toodles BITCHES!!