Thursday 2011 Rx Metcon # 5!

I am very much in the Crossfit moment.  This past week I’ve been feeling great, strong, energetic, and getting out of bed in the morning has been easy.  I’m not sure if it’s the crossfit workout, or I’ve just crawled out of my funk.

For the time being I’m going to ride this wave as long as I can, I don’t think I’ve dropped a big number in terms of weight,  I may have not lost any weight at all but I am sure that my new jeans fit better.

That’s right folks…this fat guy has broken his own rule…my one rule on fashion for men any guy with a waste size of 40 or larger shouldn’t wear jeans, because they end up looking like a giant blueberry. 

Today I am ok with looking like a blueberry because jeans are comfortable…I know, I know, I know, this from the guy who has often has commented that lycra, spandex, and dri-fit material should require a fat license, you know some anorexicly thin woman at the DMV who looks at you, and your fat rolls and says “denied, no lycra for you!”.

So I have a pair of jeans, and they fit better today than they did the day I bought them. 

I picked up my parents late last night from their trip to Korea.

My parents are two of the hardest working people I know, they came to a country with no money, no knowledge of the language, and in a single generation have created enough financial means that makes them comfortably, but perhaps not quite wealthy.   After having spent their entire lives working, I’m happy to see them enjoy life a bit, this most recent trip to Korea the first in many years, has proven to be an eye opener for them, after feeling “helpless” or “hindered” for 30 years they were in a country where language was no longer a barrier for three weeks, and it was refreshing for them to be able to do what they want, when they want including going to the doctor with a chaperone namely me.

A quick political note here…South Korea is a rapidly growing nation, and things there are expensive, I mean shit is expensive, I have to imagine Seoul today is where Tokyo was 20 years ago, a city which has global status, but not quite given the respect it deserves. 

My parents had planned to buy dinner for my father’s many brothers and sisters, yet when they told their friends who live here the game plan, they all said “NO, NO, NO!!!”, it would be cheaper to buy a gift here and take it over there, because dinner could end being a mortgage payment.

As expensive as all that is, my mother was ill for a couple of days and taken to a hospital.  First I have to say she is over 65 so she has Medi-care, but is also covered by Care First through the Car Washes, and has the cash to pay for shit if it’s serious enough, so health care is not inaccessible. 

With that back story her experience in the Korean ER makes the medical experiences here in the US sound like we are living behind the Iron Curtain and our health care system might as well still be using leeches, and drills to cure headaches.  For years she told doctors that she would occasionally see blood in her urine, and they would fill her with antibiotics for an infection and send her on her way. 

Her visit to the ER was for something unrelated that I’m not clear on, but as a result they performed a battery of tests, including an ultrasound, which found that she has lots of kidney stones, further her blood work showed her cholesterol was high, something she has never been told by any doctor in the US, so after 3 hours of tests, and communication with a doctor, the total for the visit…$2000?…$5000

No!

$250.00.

South Korea has universal health care by the way…Just another example of how politicians here aren’t out there for you and me, but their own self interest…Yeah I guess socialized medicine works out pretty well…oh and by the way Doctors in Korea live nice lifestyles.  Democrat and Republican bullshit aside, if you look at other countries who are global players and they are doing something that is working out well, why put your head in the sand and say fuck it. 

It would be like me watching everyone lose weight by choosing some type of diet or exercise regime, and me say no it’s wrong, wrong, wrong, while I got fatter.  If you don’t believe in it, at least try to understand it, and see what parts are applicable to your situation.

Paraphrase quote from a movie…”When doctors become business men who is looking out for the patient?”

Back to my personal soap box…

So today’s WoD involved doing dead lifts for the power lifting portion, and a Metcon that kick my ass.

I did 7 sets of 1 at 305 lbs.

I am having a hard time with keeping my back rigid, it feels rigid but Ericka kept telling me there’s a slight bend.  I think I need to get back in and see Doctor Moses. 

The Metcon today was an AMRAP (as many reps as possible), of 7 burpees, 7 kettle bell swings, and 7 push presses.  When I read the WoD I thought to myself that the push presses would be easiest, and that the burpees would be the hardest part. 

After doing it the push presses turned out to be the hardest.  I was surprised at how well I was moving on the burpees.

I hate burpees second to running.  Just the thought of my big ass dropping to the ground right now, and having to jump back up makes me think an eight ball of coke, or a kick a balls might be more productive to my daily life.  The kettle bell swings are something I like, and feel good doing, yet today was the very first time I’ve done swings with a 70 lbs kettle bell. 

70 kettle bell, you can kiss my big yellow ass.

It’s like pushing a 55 gallon barrel of soap, if you don’t know what that’s like imagine getting behind me and pushing me up the stairs when I’m drunk.  You skinny guy, pushing me fat guy up stairs, it’s not pleasant.

During the swings on my first round I was grunting, not to show off or even consciously done, it just came out.  That bitch was so heavy that my first swing I didn’t even count because it wasn’t above my head, it was like a running start to the actual work. 

At  the end of two rounds I looked at the time and went “HOLY SHIT!”, it was fast, and the thought of doing 8 or 9 rounds at that pace killed me, it was a mental error because I slowed down a bit. 

Starting at round 4 I had to take breaks between exercises, I just couldn’t keep it together. 

During round 6 I met my dark friend, that place which I have been seeking for many weeks now, the moment where you feel like giving up, or pushing through, with the clock ticking down, I was gutting it out to get the 6^th round finished.  When I did finish the 6^th round, I had a moment of dry heaving, and pushed out two more burpees, for a total score of 6 rounds + 2 reps.

To my surprise I found myself on the leader board, this is the first time, after three classes I was in second place for rounds during the Metcon. 

I couldn’t fucking believe it…

I don’t care if I fall off of it by the evening, I’m just happy that with my 5^th Rx workout I found myself in the upper tier of work. 

That’s a long ways from 400 lbs…As my guru Ice Cube would say…”Damn right it was a good day!”(exit ghetto bird here).