I took a moment while at the gym today to breeze through my thoughts of this past year. What a year it has been! I rally took off as a CrossFitter, not only on the competitive front, but also as a coach. I attempted the biggest physical challenge of my life with a bicycle ride across the country. I Hosted my first ever competition. And, geeze, I moved in with my girl, in California. And with what little time I had left in the year, I affiliated, found my own gym and began a new life on a different coast.
I have so much to be thankful for, be proud of, land earn from. Everything that has happened has lead me to this moment right now and I have one option in my mind: move forward, become better, and grow.
Right now I am faced with yet another huge challenge and life decision; and while I am super stressed and anxious about it all, I know that with everything I have figured out up to this point, only good things will come from what I end up doing. I know what I want out of my life: I want to constantly challenge myself, and share my experiences with the world. I want to help, support and inspire health and fitness to anyone and everyone, and I want to live with my overwhelmingly wonderful girlfriend Lindsey. I learned something pretty powerful from my mother and that is to every day do what it takes to support what you love. In my eyes, my life is a constant pursuit of happiness, and I will enjoy the process every day.
Just feeling a bit sappy right now is all. I had this plan to put together a huge, long, insightful post/article for the day, but I have been so out of it mentally over the past four days or so. I'll snap out of it soon, I know that much. And with being able to get out to the hills, and in the gym any time I want, I'll figure all this out so much faster. I also have ths awesome CrossFit Community Month to do stating tomorrow! As of now I have 24 CrossFit Affiliates confirmed to visit and this next month is going to epic! I'm excited to meet so many cool people and challenge myself so much. With my new Flip video camera that Lindsey just got me I am going to be getting some damn sweet footage over the next 30 days. My goal is really try to spread the word of how great being part of a fit community is, so if you read this blog, please spread the word to friends and family. All you have to do is enter people email address in the box at the top of this page! Haha, that's the way to do it!
Well, happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had an awesome 2010, and that it leans to an even better 2011.
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
It seems like forever but we arrived, with plenty of drama, back to California, welcomed by even more rain! I woke up this morning with all sorts of energy geared towards getting back on track with the workouts and the writing and I started with a bang:
AM -
Run up Sweeny Ridge trail for time
Afternoon -
5 x 5 floor press w/ 2x max strict pull ups between each round
21-15-9 of:
KB swings 62#
Push ups
Jumping lunges
The run was great. It's 1.8 miles pretty much straight up and within 5 minutes there is no way to catch your breath. The best part is that it is a narrow, paved, switchback road and you never really know when the end will come. Took me 19 minutes flat (with a quick phone call from Lindsey that I totally needed to take, she rocks my world, what can I say). I soaked in the view from the top, through the rain/hail that was crashing down on me, then headed back down in a blazing 13:21.
Back at The Gym, I had a couple guys in to workout and I hit my own. The floor presses felt great! As much as I talk trash about bench pressing, there totally is an invigorating feeling about heaving a weight off your chest. Floor presses are interesting because of the added challenge of pressing without momentum. I was able to get 240# for a smooth set of 5 and was pretty happy with how strong I felt. The pull ups between sets were brutal but such an interesting challenge. I banged out 12 and 11 on the first round, then 9 and it was 7 and 8 for the remainder of the work block. I'm pretty happy with being able to endure such a tough exercise under a TON of fatigue at that rep range. I would love to be in the 10 range, but this was better than I expected.
The metcon was short and sweet. Finished it in a muscle-fatiguing 3:02 and was very happy with that time. The combo of jumping lunges to KB sings was killer, and this led to the push ups feeling kind of like a recovery. My arms are going to be shot tomorrow! I'll have the video up soon.
Catching up on work now, I have officially set up the Courage Games 2011 - Winter Edition website and registration and am so excited to host another sweet event. I have also had a lot on my mind over the holidays which have inspired lots of topics I want to write about, especially with the New Year approaching. I'll have one up tomorrow!Never Stop, GET FIT.Josh Courage
 Chilling by the TV with family, Rocky playing in the background, stomach wonderfully filled with all sorts of great food, I am thinking of what I have done over the year and what is to come. 2010 was nothing short of epic for me. My offical shift into a competitor in CrossFit, with a 2nd place finish at DC's Most Primal, and an 8th place finish at the CrossFit Games Mid-Atlantic Sectional, I really think I have found my new sport. I am so excited with what 2011 has to offer. No matter what happen along the way towards the CrossFit Games 2011, I know I'll be having a blast all along!My Trans-America Bicycle ride was probably the biggest challenge I have ever been a part of and even though it ended with be getting pretty beat up, and only 1800 miles completed, it was such a life-changing experience. I saw so many places, met a ton of great people, and pushed myself each and every day a good bit farther than I imagined being pushed. It was fun, even though I did end up busting up my hand and neck in the crash in Colorado. My move to California would also be way up there in the biggest challenges I have faced, but my excitement for this new life, with my wonderful girlfriend Lindsey, and the promise of the lifestyle I have always dreamed of made it all seem so logical and simple. When I sit back and look at where I am headed, I can do nothing but smile. I know I am following my heart and my passion, and good things come when life is approached in that manner. I can not wait for what's to come, and I am going to enjoy every second of it, good and bad!So, a few days back I visited Albany CrossFit to get my physical and metal abilities majorly challenged along side CrossFit studs Austin Malleolo and James Hobart. Along with head coach Jay, and fellow athlete Matt, we all prepared for this:2 rounds for time of:200 double unders50 overhead squats 135#50 pull ups1 mile runOh. Hell. Yes! This sort of thing is just fun. I personally would have issues with this sort of workout being programmed in on any sort of a regular basis, but for competitors, for fun, to pay homage to our fallen hero's, yeah, let's all get after it! This style of workout can do nothing but put a smile on my face, it's over the top and ridiculous. It's so crazy that there really is nothing anyone can do but to just go hard and keep going until you finish. And luckily for me, I was able to share the torture with a couple super-athletes.We all got started and I was feeling very smooth, getting all 200 double unders unbroken in about 1:38. The overhead squats felt more like 185#, but I was able to string together 3 sets of 10, then got the rest mixed in with 3 or more reps. Austin and I got to the pull up bar around the same time, and he pulled a little away from me there and into the first run. The run was tougher than I would have expected. I guess I really have adapted to the warmer California weather. It was in the upper 20's and I was never able to really get a comfortable breath going. But with Austin not too far in front of me, I just kept pace. The second round was just a test of everything in my body. The double unders went fine enough, I actually got 100 unbroken right off the run. The overhead squats were about as brutal a test as I have ever been faced with. At around 20 I began to feel total muscle break-down in my hips and shoulders, and I was beginning to feel a bit nauseous. But, we all just chipped away. I ended up crossing back into the gym at 45:10 and was very happy with that time. I put every ounce of energy into that workout, and I know that that was the best time I would get on that day, given my programming and travel schedule leading up to it. It was fun!
This workout is posted up on the CrossFit Main Site today, and you can check out our effort at Albany CrossFit on the video posted up there (yes, it does say I got 45:40, and yes they does link to my old site, but it's all good, I'm happy to be up there!). Tomorrow I head over to Northampton for a family gathering, and will be hoping for another group workout, we'll see!Never Stop, GET FIT.Josh Courage
Here's the video of our fun Christmas Eve!
Hope everyone has a warm holiday season, with plenty of family, friends, food and smiles. Enjoy yourself and remember, there is never an excuse to not be active!Check out my little blurb in Express Night Out (too bad I don't live in DC anymore...)(Video of me and some family doing the "12 Days Of Christmas Workout" being edited!)Never Stop, GET FIT.Josh Courage
Yesterday I got to visit my friends at Albany CrossFit and get a damn tough workout in at the same time. It was great to see the head coach, Jay. He's a welcoming, open and all around awesome dude. On top of that, I was excited to meet and workout with CrossFit extraordinaires Austin Malleolo and James Hobart. A whole group of us did one of the toughest workouts I think I ever done. Out of respect for the process of CrossFit mainsite, I'll wait until next week to post details of the workout as it's going to be programmed there on Sunday. All I'll say is that I had such a great time being able to workout with such high caliber athletes. Similar to my visit to LaLanne Fitness a couple weeks ago, I got that extra push of "get after it" by being next to people who are most liekly going to be better than me at this. So, while I can compare my numbers to others in video and reading and so on, it's a worlsd of difference being able to sweat it out right next to them! I wish I could have this every day, but, I will take what I can get.Later on, Lindsy and I met up with our good friends and went to the Siena basketball game for an evening of fun. Then it was off to sleep. Today, it was up and out to shop till we dropped. Then, with whatever energy I had left, I met Kenny at Siena College for a workout. He beat me on our warm up game of one on one... I wasn't completely sore, just annoyingly sore. What I mean by that is I was sore enough head to toe to notice no matter what, but not enough to stop me from doing anything. But by the end of the day I felt like I had been beat up.5 x 5 increasing weight box squats3 rounds for time of:15 hang power cleans 135#15 push ups15 knees to elbowsI got to 315# on the box squats, easy enough, just slow and weak. The metcon went smooth enough through two rounds. I went unbroken except for the bar slipping out of my hand on rep 10 of the second round. It was the third round that hit me, an it hit hard. I broke everything up and was gasping for air like crazy. I was able to finish in 5:21 and am somewhat happy with that effort. I had nothing left in my arms, so, I gave it everything I had left.Now, I am back at Jen and Martins (check out Jen's Blog!) and ready to hang with lots of great friends, eat TONS of food, smile a lot and enjoy the warmth of the holidays!Never Stop, GET FIT.Josh Courage
 Last night I lost it; more so than I ever have in the gym. It reminded me of the SuperFit Games last January, when I just had zero ability to execute a specific movement, forcing me to DNF the workout. But this time around it was a bit different. I expected to perform, and I did not. It was an epic failure and it allowed me to grow more in the gym then I have in the past few weeks combined. If I am living on the edge at all times, last night I tripped over the edge. Thankfully I was able to grab an overhanging branch and get back up to that edge, and because of that I am a better man. I'll go into a little detail here, but I am in the process of writing a big article on failure.
I personally "enjoy" failure. I feel that without it, we fail to stay humble and keep an objective, critical perspective on what we are doing. Failing pisses me off, angers me, completely humiliates and crushes me; but in the end, when I am able to sit down and look back at what just happened, I can take a better view of it. I instantaneously have a massive amount of data that allows me to analyze whether or not my programming is as effective as it could be. I am able to honestly see my weaknesses and assess the best way to go about making them, well, not my weaknesses anymore. I'm not going to lie, having this point of view is not as easy as it might appear with me writing it. Most of the time this does not occur to me right after the workout is over. I generally have a handful of depressing, negative thoughts like: "I am horrible at this", "I should just quit", "I want a large pizza and ten beers". But the more I experience failure, the more I push myself to my physical limits, and I am able see the positive side of things so much quicker.
So, after a tough day, I woke up today ready to pick things up. I went to the pool for a 1200 meter anyhow workout. Still not very impressive by any means, but I feel a ton better than last time. My hope is that getting in the water as often as I plan in the coming months will result in very quick gains. Later on, Lindsey met me at the gym and I put together a confusing chipper. I say this because it was filled with tons of variations of common CrossFit exercises. I have been noticing lately that CrossFit is getting more and more strict about how things are performed: games style push ups, palms out muscle ups, heel on box box jumps, and on and on. While I am not necessarily opposed to this, I miss the concept of complete unconventionality. Why does a wall ball HAVE to be 10 feet? Why aren't two exercises combined? Why can't a plyo box, or a KB, or a bar or anything, be used for a totally different reason than generally prescribed? I totally understand having standards to all exercises, but why can't the standards be different on a regular, or random basis. CrossFit calls for the unknown and unknowable, so, I enjoy sticking to that here and there. Expect to see some of that in February by the way...(you'll know what I'm talking about very soon!).
For time do:
3 x 6 pull ups to 6 toes to bar (unbroken you just perform 6 of each back and forth for three rounds)
20 wall balls to a 15 foot target 20#
50 air squats
20 KB snatches each arm 53#
100 double unders
20 GHD back extensions
50 walking lunges (total steps)
20 jump overs 24" box (just jump over it, turn around, jump back over it)
12 pull ups to crawl-unders (I secured a PVC pipe in my 16" plyo boxes with sandbags. Perform a pull ups, crawl under the PVC, that's one rep)
I completed this in 13:36 and was done. My back and neck were so tight after yesterday's debacle with HSPUs that once I hit the KB snatches, I started to tense up a bit. The back extensions and finally the crawl-unders were a deadly combo. I probably would have enjoyed this a bit more had I not been so tight; but, it was a total blast. My mind was racing because I was able to recognize everything I was doing, but something was off, just slightly. Pretty cool. I strongly suggest doing this sort of thing at least once or twice a month, just to keep the body guessing.
Video is being edited...
Tomorrow is a rest/travel day that has Lindsey and I flying back east for a bit over week to hang with family. I will try to post as much as I can, but I am sure I'll skip a day or two with how much I'll be moving about. Look for an update on the CrossFit Community Month soon, and a HUGE announcement!!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
Tomorrow is a rest/travel day that has Lindsey and I flying back east for a bit over week to hang with family. I will try to post as much as I can, but I am sure I'll skip a day or two with how much I'll be moving about. Look for an update on the CrossFit Community Month soon, and a HUGE announcement!!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
 Yesterday we had a decent group come in for the "StrongMan Saturday" workout, but it ended up being a little scattered thanks to the absolutely crazy rainstorm that hit us. And what's even crazier is the rain that's coming down right now. Apparently there IS a rainy season around here, but people are freaking out at how much it's been coming down as of late. It is coming down like mad right now.
So back to yesterday's fun. Things got started with breakfast at the place Lindsey and I have found to have the best breakfast around these parts. We took JP over there and ordered our food. Interestingly enough, not too long after our meal, all three of us did not feel right. JP and Lindsey were able to have that feeling subside, me on the other hand, well, I felt pretty much like crap the entire day. It was brutal. Even today I am still feeling a good bit off. Ugh.
So, we started off our workout yesterday by hooking up the harness to the car and running 100 meters with it. Immediately following the run, we zipped into the gym and held a heavy barbell over our heads for as long as possible. We ended up getting two rounds each with this, I was able to get 185# for 59 seconds, then 205# for 41 on my second attempt. Time and rain cut that off at two rounds each, then we wasted a ton more time trying to figure a way to get some unique pulling work in. JP came up with the sweet idea to wrap our climbing rope around the high pull up bar and tie a KB to the end. We then went three times through each of pulling the weight up to the bar (3 times), 50 weighted jump ropes and 30 sit ups. It was pretty cool.
We then finished with a birthday workout for Justin. It was his 17th birthday so we hit 10 burpee pull ups and 7 broad jumps for 3 rounds. This was a sneaky hard one. I finished in the high 3-minute range and my arms were spent, pretty sue the rope pulling had a good amount to do with this.
Well, anyways, after a skipped metcon on Friday, a spread out workout yesterday, and a LONG rest day on Thursday, I am itching for a great workout. So, today I am headed in to test my clean and jerk numbers and then attack two metcons! Despite having an upset stomach, I am really looking forward to just getting after it today.
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
 Ok, gonna try this one again...
It's been about a month since I seriously got down to my progressive training program and I am at a point now where I am reassessing things. My progress has been great, and I could not be happier with my gains. But at the same time, I know that there have been a handful of mistakes that have slowed down my potential along the way, and as only a human can, all I can do is learn from these mistakes and tweak the program accordingly. As I prepare for a bit of travel around Christmas, I have the opportunity to take a step back and check out what I can do to change things up, and make sure I am finding that balance that is needed to not only compete at this stuff, but to feel great as well!
Mistake one: metcons.
Looking through my log-book recently, I noticed this crazy consistency: times in the 11 minute range. Different energy systems are called upon when working under different time domains, and the range between 8ish and 15ish minutes is generally one where you can go all out, but you will have nothing left afterward (if you truly go all out). The longer ones are really just a test of endurance, the shorter ones are all about the sprint. And while the range I have been playing in sees some of the most effective gains, I should not be programming them in so often. I kid you not, in the past two weeks I have done 6 or 7 workouts that took me around 11 minutes. I need to program the shorter, heavier ones in a great deal more, I think I will see some even greater results if I program those in more often. Also, I will lessen my risk of burning out. Which is good.
Mistake two: running.
I react extremely well to running and I have not been doing enough if it in my opinion. This showed very clearly last week when I just crashed at the track. And then again the other day when I hobbled in with a 23 minute 5k. In the past, when I program consistent track work, 1-2 times per week distance runs (2-5 miles), and running based metcons, I saw gains in my overall fitness leap very quickly.
The thing that does not make me all that worried about this is that I think I adapt very quickly to running, and with a couple weeks focus, I'll be back up to where I want to be with it. I DO have some pretty specific goals with running after all, and I would love, love, love to break through those goals in dramatic fashion!
Mistake three: fuel.
I have said it before and I'll say it again: I do not eat enough. This is a very difficult thing for me to grasp as I have programmed into my head these habits that I have such a hard time breaking. While I am continuously experimenting with different restrictions and additions to see how my energy levels, sleep patterns and fitness gains react, I always seem to neglect the one key factor: quantity. I tend to opt for less because a few years back all I wanted to do was lose fat. I got obsessed with counting calories and following set programs and punishing myself every time I had a treat (which turned out to be a lot of the time...). Now, I am very understanding of the best way to fuel myself, and I need to factor in the amount of activity I am doing. It's a freaking TON. So, I need to eat a freaking ton! Great part of this is that it's the holidays; I will be heading into them with my mouth open wide, completely guilt free.
Another point to be made here is that I feel fine right now. Shoot, in fact, I feel GREAT. But from experience I know that with the lacking fuel at the moment, I will inevitably crash and burn. I am happy that I can catch it now, and as I incorporate more fuel into my days, I can ride this awesome feeling farther and farther. If I keep my log-book going, and make sure not to skip meals, I am certain I can break those last remaining bad habits and begin to really enforce the good ones! Eat clean, eat a lot, eat all the time!
Awesomeness one: metcons.
Yeah, this goes both ways. While I see the mistakes I made here, I also see that what I have been doing has greatly improved my ability to suffer. I feel as though sometime about two weeks ago, something just clicked in me and I can now just all out GO when time begins. I think this has something to do with trying so many different things, and working in so many different capacities that my body has become comfortable with going at 100%, no matter what the task may be. Sure I struggle like crazy, and get times I am not very happy with here and there; but, as a whole, I feel like I have come around to exactly where I want to be in terms of approach with these crazy metcons. I just need to be a hair smarter in how I write them and program them in.
Awesomeness two: strength.
Besides my strict press, I have been increasing my strength and power numbers on a wonderfully regular basis. I am right on track to hit the numbers I want to hit by the time I get to my testing dates, and I am pretty certain I will see myself hitting numbers I did not expect to be able to get to. After doing a handful of strength training programs over the past 8 months, I have settled on a hybrid program that I feel works very well with my body and mind, and seeing the results confirms that. The best part is that I am seeing these results with no adverse effects to my metcon capabilities. With the addition of a little more running, and swimming once or twice a week, I think I may be able to get that well-roundedness am shooting for.
As mentioned, the strict press is where I am seeing nothing happen. But with the improvement of my handstand push ups (as in, I can actually do them now!), I am confident that all I need to do is re-look at my approach here and things will change. I wrote about this a couple posts ago, and I am ready to adjust my programming accordingly.
Awesomeness three: what's to come.
I can't go into detail with exactly what my program is about to look like because from here on out it is about as up in the air as a serious program can be. With the CrossFit Community Month about to hit, I will be attacking a month where I have very little control over what I do. This is going to be a huge challenge for me to not over-train, and to stay on top of things to make sure I am constantly seeing progress. The only thing stopping me from doing ten straight days of shoulder work is myself, and I need to always make sure I am protecting myself even though the temptation to just do whatever is written. I will be taking a good deal of time organizing the whole month to make sure I schedule proper breaks, and have the time and energy to keep up the work on my weaknesses to stay balanced. It will be a challenge, but a fun one all the same. Once February hits, I will be taking another look at my training to make sure I am on the right track. That's when you will see a post filled with plenty of details and geeked-out information.
The main thing that I want to stay focused on though, is my perspective towards all this craziness. I had a great conversation with Big Dan this past week where he told me how he went so overboard with training last year that it became a huge challenge to just walk into the gym. I refuse to do that. It's what inspired this post really. I always need to remember to take the necessary step back to look objectively at what I am doing. I do all this because I love doing it. I love fitness, working out, and challenging myself. And the second it becomes a chore, the second my desire to compete takes over the fun I have, I need to remind myself why I am doing it. I love to sweat. I love the feeling of pushing myself to the limits. I love moving heavy things around. I love overcoming challenges that I put myself in front of. And I love sharing all this with anyone who wants to listen.
So, now I'm off to cook up a boat-load of food, eat it all up; get some sleep, then go attack tomorrows workout with a passion!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
Well, I literally just finished writing this HUGE post that went into tons of detail about my programming up till now and the adjustments I am making to it as I move forward. It took me about an hour to get all the info in there that I wanted and then, just like that, it was gone. So, now in my fuming frustration, I will leave you all with a short one because I just don't have the capability to go back and re-do everything I just did.
I'll try to get back at all that sometime this weekend, because I really want to organize it all in my head, and becuase I think it's all pretty insightful as to how I go about reassessing my own programming. So, look for that.
Back to working hard tomorrow after a very relaxing recovery day today! Deadlift time!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
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