Meatball!!!!!

(Am I really a meatball for doing 8 weeks of SS?)

Program B
Back Squat-----Bench Press-----Power Cleans
WU
45x5x2----------45x5x2--------45x5x2
135x5------------80x5-----------95x5
195x3-----------115x3---------135x3
255x2-----------145x2---------170x2
Work set
275x5-----------170x5---------195x3
275x5-----------170x4---------195x3
275x5-----------170x4---------195x3
------------------------------195x3
------------------------------195x3
It is weird that the lift I had the least interest in improving is the one that is improving the easiest. My power clean is going to hit my goal of 205 very soon. I wish my bench press and strict press increased as easily! I will be back up to 280 on Monday with my squat, my depth and strength has made great gains after scaling back 10 percent. I am very happy with this.

So I did not GOMAD for the past two days because of one of life's curveballs and I weighted in at 187lbs today. That is down a lot from my previous GOMAD weight of 192lbs. I predict that when I am done this SS program and I get back to CrossFit, with a more strict zone, I will cut back to my previous weight of 175 ish in no time. I could be wrong but lets spare the debate and wait three weeks when it all goes down.

Paleo Burgers

(Dani makes great Paleo Burgers)

Program A
Back Squat-------Press------Dead
WU
45x5x2---------45x5x2-----45x5x2
12ox5-----------50x5-------150x5
180x3-----------75x3-------215x3
235x2----------100x2-------290x2
Work set
270x5-----------117x4------330x5
270x5-----------117x4
270x5-----------117x4
Damn Press....so frustrating....it's just weak. But I am making gains still. I'll have to repeat 117 on Monday and hit atleast 13 before I go up. I am still very happy with my squat and dead. I'm going to have to look for some plates becasue I am going to blow by 340 soon.

A while back I did a post on eating clean. Paleo burgers are great because you can enjoy a delicious burger without having to worry about those nasty complex carbohydrates. Remember grains are bad if you want to increase your performance or be healthier. Add a salad or some other vege's and you have an excellent meal. If it is post workout, try making some fries out of squash, take advantage of the insuline sensitivity post workout so you do not get the carb crash from eating complex carbs at other parts of the day. I'll talk more on this at another time, but if you going to cheat, cheat after your workout!

I haven't tried to order a Paleo burger at a fast food joint yet, mainly becasue I do not frequent them. If I am in a bind and end up having to hit a greasy, delicious burger place I will ask them to wrap it in lettuce and see what they say. Should be interesting...

If you don't want to get blown up....Stay out of a minefield!

I am bothered recently at the news regarding the death of three Afghan children. The children were killed by an Unexploded Ordinance in a field that has been known to be used for range practice. They are blaming us for the death, which is BS. For all of you that are interested here is the real story:

The children were killed because their fathers make them go collect scrap metal. What they do is gather around where we are conducting our range practice, which is usually in the middle of the desert, and they wait until we are done. The minute we leave it is like throwing a handful of change at a group of homeless people. The children go crazy trying to collect as much as they can. The fighting that goes on is hilarious, in most cases they just beat each other with their shoes.

In this case I imagine they were searching the area where the rounds were landing, which isn't wise, and the children were messing around with a unexploded shell. They should have known better because that country has been at war forever. Staying clear of landmines and UXO's should be as common knowledge as, for us, to look both ways before crossing the street.

The villagers know we conduct range practice in that area, and to stay out. They also know that we will dispose of UXO's for them. The Canadian Forces is very cautious when conducting these operations and actually cares about keeping the area safe. They were blown up because of poor parenting and for messing with something they should have known not to mess with. It is unfortunate but blaming us isn't going to help their country.

Focus, Focus, Focus

Program B
Back Squat-----Bench Press-----Power Cleans
WU
45x5x2----------45x5x2--------45x5x2
120x5-----------75x5-----------85x5
175x3-----------110x3---------125x3
235x2-----------140x2---------165x2
Work set
265x5-----------167x5---------190x3
265x5-----------167x5---------190x3
265x5-----------167x4---------190x3
------------------------------190x3
------------------------------190x3

The more I focus on my lifts the better I get. It really helps to have Ben, Jeremy and Brad watch me and pick up on my errors. Thanks guys. It is a good feeling to not only see the progression in the weight, but the technique, at every session. Although I am looking forward to getting back into the CrossFit WOD's, I'm having a good time with these lifts.

I've Found my Depth

(Dani Pressing today)

Program A
Back Squat-------Press------Dead
WU
45x5x2---------45x5x2-----45x5x2
12ox5-----------50x5-------145x5
170x3-----------75x3-------210x3
230x2----------100x2-------285x2
Work set
260x5-----------115x5------325x5
260x5-----------115x4
260x5-----------115x4

I'm very happy with my progress in technique and depth of my squat. Decreasing the weight was a great decision. Now I just have to maintain a good depth and technique while making gains each session. If it gets really hard I will just increase by 2 or 3lbs. The deads were solid and pretty easy but I am not going to push it back up too fast. My press was junk today....I was caught leaning back to0 far on the last reps and just lost it. I need to focus more...that's all.

Obama Visits Canada

Today President Obama had his first foreign visit and landed in Ottawa on his impressive air plane. (Our plane isn't as impressive, I have actually flown in it a few times, we use it for troop transport to the middle east). I followed the visit today on the CBC while I hammered out an essay on the Armenian Genocide. It is amazing to see how many people went to parliament hill to catch a glimpse of the President who seems to have a Rock Star popularity here. With a 82% approval rating in Canada, some 3000 people, from all over the country, stood in the cold on parliament hill to see the President arrive. I think Prime Minister Harper only has a 42% approval rating, but I wouldn't be surprised if that has gone up because of how he was endorsed by Obama today. Now I guess it is up to Harper, to see if they will maintain a good relationship. It didn't seem like it today but I think the US has big expectations for us. Between tightening up envinonmental restrictions on our oil sands and extending our mission even longer in Afghanistan we may butt heads with our neighbours in the near future. The one thing I personally took away from todays press confereance was the language used regarding trade. They both talked about loosening up our borders, which worries me. I have done a fair bit of research into NAFTA and trade (with lots more to come), and I feel we are moving in a direction which is establishing a foundation for a North American Union. There is lots more to talk about on this but I will leave it for now.

President Obama is a very inspirational, intelligent and seemingly good man. But at the end of the day he is a politician with the most powerful country in the world. The US is a great neighbor and ally but as Canadians, we have to look out for our own interests. That means we cannot get caught up in hype, excitement, or economic problems. We need to really examine policies and the direction our government wants to take us; then we need to make informative decisions on what is best for us.

On a lighter note, it was good to see President Obama stopped to grab a Beaver Tail on his way out of town. It is definitely on the list of one of the things you must do while visiting our capital city.

Attainable Goals

(From the Archives - picture taken December 12th 2005. I thought Brad would like this - he brought up, the other day, how we hung out 3 years a go before we really met and became friends a few years later. This is the night he is talking about - I must of been having too much fun because I didn't remember what he was talking about until I found the picture - it must of been before he came out of his shell.)
Program B
Back Squat-----Bench Press-----Power Cleans
WU
45x5x2----------45x5x2--------45x5x2
120x5-----------75x5-----------80x5
160x3-----------110x3---------120x3
230x2-----------140x2---------160x2
Work set
255x5-----------165x5---------185x3
255x5-----------165x5---------185x3
255x5-----------165x5---------185x3
------------------------------185x3
------------------------------185x3
I am now about 2 pages into Rip's section on Programming in 2nd ed. Starting Strength. It is interesting when he discusses the hierarchy of lifts; heaviest to lightest being: Deadlift, Squat, Bench and Power Clean followed by Press. My power clean is much, much better than my bench, my bench is really weak as you can see below. I think the reason for this is that I never used to bench press, I have a good technical understanding of the clean and am pretty efficient when I want to be. I thought my bench press would improve a heck of a lot faster than it is. But Rip touches on that decribing the Press's to improve the slowest because of the few muscles they use compared to the other lifts. He ranks the deadlift as imporving the fastest because of the ambundance of muscles being used and limited range of motion around the knees and hips. I saw a huge improvement in my deadlift in a short period of time and was hoping for the same in my other lifts but I understand it is going to take time. I am going to honor my 6 week strict commitment to SS before I dabble into any WOD's but I may end up going 8 weeks. Depending on how fast I reach my goals which are:
Squat: 305lbs x 5
Bench: 185 x 5
Press : 135 x 5
Clean : 205 x 3
Dead : 375 x 5
Doing the Math these goals are attainable with small linear gains if I do not get stuck.