Busy Busy day...

After a long, busy and tiring day I feel lazy to even post up anything. I was up early this morning because my housemates were making too much noise getting ready for class. My classes start at 12pm but I was up at 8.15am sigh sigh. Anyway I got on with some tutorial work while I ate breaky because I was working on it last night. Went for class, rush home for a quick lunch then went for class and was counting down to when I can finally hit the gym (after class). I was over in the gym in less then 5 minutes. I was all pumped and zoomed right through warm up.

Rainbow on the way to gym. Today is gonna be a good good day.

Three.....Two....One...GO!!!!

"WOD 102209"

3 Rounds of:

15 Hand Power Cleans @ 40kg
Run 400m

Total Time 11 minutes 11 seconds

*Sub 400m runs with shuttle runs of 400m

-AIMS-

Sub 10 minutes. (Failed). I think I could have done it in 10 minutes if I didn't do shuttle runs.

***************************

"WOD 102109"

For time of:

45 KB Swings @ 32kg
90 Squats
30 KB Swings @ 32kg
60 Squats
15 KB Swings @ 32kg
30 Squats

Total Time 19 minutes 29 seconds

*DB Swings @ 32.5kg

-AIMS-

Sub 20 minutes (Pass).

I found it particularly difficult to do KB swings because it was my first time doing Dumb Bell swings and because I have quite a large fist it was hard to hang on to the Dumb Bell. None the less, Mission Accomplish =)

Now I gotta head back to work because my deadlines are starting next week for the next 5 weeks so good luck to me *GULP*

Jackie

"Jackie"

For time of:

1000m rows
50 Thrusters @ 45lbs
30 Pull Ups

Total Time 11mins 56 secs

I am definitely sure I can do much better than this. I aimed to sub 10 mins and I beleive I can. I will attempt "Jackie" in a month's time again with the aim to sub 8-9 mins

Discipline

One thing that I have to learn and to improve is my discipline. The first two weeks of Paleo Dieting was awesome. I kept tabs on what I ate and what time I ate them. But the pass few days I have been really lazy and have not been journaling my diet. So tonight is update night. Anyway with an aching back I still challenged myself to do todays WOD plus a little more =)

WOD 101909

For time of:

150 Dumb Bell (DB) snatch @ 35lbs

Total time 11 minutes 5 seconds

*****************
Maximum weight/effort:

3-3-3-3-3

Power cleans

Jonson. T (lbs) 110, 121,132, 143, 154

I think Monday have to officially be a rest day for me seeing as that volleyball training is at 8.30pm and I always tend to hit my WODs just before training which in turn I don't perform well. I have to discipline myself to take my rest days. Same as in the summer my lack of discipline to take rest days could have caused me to be injured. Luckily it didn't but I feel that I may injure myself soon. So remember that DISCIPLINE is key in living a healthy lifestyle.

Achy breaky back...

Being envious of those who are back home in Malaysia because they have a long weekend break (Deepavali weekend) reminds me that I just miss Malaysia that much more because we get to celebrate all kinds of holidays. Then I realised after checking up on twitter, my fellow Pushmore-mons are suffering because the gym is closed!!! Feeling their pain I went in for a WOD because it wasn't time for my break yet.

Going into the gym really pumped and with high spirits, it suddenly occured to me that the gym shuts at 7pm today and I just walked it (5.45pm). I was planning to do two WODs and thought I could manage it. My plan was to nail Jackie then do WOD 101409. Realising that I am lack of time I had to decide quickly on which workout to take. In the end I told a random guy my dilema and got him to choose for me. He said lets go with WOD 101409. In my heart and mind I was feeling that Jackie should be the workout for me today but since I did some legs the day before and more legs yesterday with pull ups as well I said what the heck lets do some stregth workout so WOD101409 it is....

WOD 101409

For time of:

100 bodyweight Deadlifts

Jonson. T 22 minutes 42 seconds

Not the time I was aiming for at all. I was trying to sub 10 mins seeing as most guys at Pushmore took it out in an easy 8 mins plus. So I thought yeah sub 10mins sounds right.

The beginning;

1st rep (10 unbroken reps on the first go): OMG!!! I can feel it already??? My back is bloody ripping apart!!! Something is wrong.

11th rep (5 reps unbroken all the way till the end of WOD) : OMG my back is already killing me. Something is definitely wrong.

100th rep (end of WOD) : That was damn mental. WHAT!!! my time is 22 mins 42 secs?!?!?!

After chatting with fellow Pushmore-mon Lynn Kong (aka Orange shoes, Superspicybabe, Paleobabe) and telling her about how disastorous the was for me. I sat down thinking about where I might have gone wrong.

I am positive that throughout the work out from rep one to the end I had good form. After just watching the video on the Pushmore blog about deadlift I was sure I was doing it right. Every rep I did I made sure I had good form. From the up-phase to the down-phase, the only thing in my head was;

Up-phase:
1) Feet at standard squat with apart
2) Barbell at middle of feet from my visual
3) Bend and grip bar with out bending legs (with a rounded back)
4) Bend legs till shin touches barbell
5) Straigthen back and chest out
6) Deep breath and hold in core
7) Lift with legs then only straighten back

Down-phase:
1) Use back to lower first
2) The use legs
3) Ensure back and core is straight and tightened
4) Lift for next rep

These steps were running through my head with every rep I did. I was so terribly cautious about my form. May be too cautious becasue I think it really slowed my time by alot, but it doesn't matter to me for now. The time of the workout is not important to me because I am still learning about deadlifts and I want to get my form absolutely perfect before I worry about time.

The thing that I didn't understand was that on the first rep, my back was already ready to explode. I had the feeling that my back was going to rip apart. That is still my main concern and I believe that the next time I get on with deadlifts I have to get someone to record my movements so I can check out my form. Maybe even send it to JW for a review =) Sitting here in my nice comfy room, my back is still bloody aching and I cant even bend forward to touch my toes. I have to remember to stretch before I hit the sack. OOOoooooohhhh my achy breaky back...

P.S. Fellow Pushmore-mons > Do you all have the same feeling? Your back feels like its gonna rip on rep ONE???

No Excuses...

I really feel soooo lazy. I just can't be arssed to get myself into the gym.

• The weather is so gloomy.
• The walk is too far.
• I have volleyball training later at 6.30pm hence I shouldn't workout.
• I just had lunch an hour ago.

These are all the excuses I gave myself to avoid going to the gym. In the end I ignored all of them and went in anyway. Doing the warm up I was thinking "oh I can't do WOD 101609, there are too many people. THe equipments will be taken up. I should do something else. I just did legs and chest yesterday." All excuses again, I told myself just do it and go.

3.....2......1... START......

WOD 101609

15 Handstand Push ups
30 Pull Ups
45 Box jumps @ 24"

15 Handstand Push Ups
30 Pull Ups
45 Medicine ball clean @ 10KG

15 Handstand Push Ups
30 Pull Ups
45 Burpees

HSPU were slow because I have a goal that by the end of the year I will be doing full range head to floor HSPU. So every HSPU will be slower because I am going as low as possible.

Pull ups, WOAH!!! 1st round I did 11 pull ups without stopping. I think I got my kipping pull ups already!!!

Legs... OMG my legs are aching from FMP-Good Samaritan..... PUSH!!!!!

Last round at Burpees... OMG my chest!!! my legs... NOOOOO I can't.... too tired....EXCUSES, SHUT UP AND FINISH!!!

TIME!!!!

Jonson. T 27 minutes 17 sesconds

Aced!!! There is no reason for being lazy there is no reason at all. If you are truly wanting to lose weight, get fitter, faster or stronger. There are no excuses!!! Nothing can ever put you off. Only you have the power to put yourself off. You have the power to resist and to push through. NO EXCUSES!!!

Check this out : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obdd31Q9PqA

Annie, the good samaritan

Still aching from a double dose of Diane and Chelsea but it was time to get back into the gym and stretch it all out with a double dose of;

"Annie, the Good Samaritan"

"Annie"

50-40-30-20-10

Double Unders
Sit ups

*Complete "Annie" within 7 minutes or less. If you fail to do so began "FMP-Good Samaritan" immediately*

Time for Annie 7 mins 26 secs

[FAIL - Began FMP-Good Samaritan]

"FMP-Good Samaritan"

Insert :
100 Step Ups (each leg @ 20-24")

Extraction :
10 KB Thruster (Right Arm)
10 Burpees
10 KB Thruster (Left Arm)
10 Burpees
10 KB Snatch (Right Arm)
10 Clapping Push Ups
10 KB Snatch (Left Arm)
10 Clapping Push Ups


4 Rounds of :

10 KB Swings
10 Push Ups

Exfill : 100 Step ups (each leg @ 20-24")

*Complete both the Insert and the Extraction within 30 minutes. Failure to do so will result in you doing the Exfill.*

Time for "FMP-Good Samaritan" 20 mins 28 secs (@ 24kg)


If I am not mistaken my last "Annie" was timed under 10 minutes (9 mintues something seconds) so this is a new PR for me. My next aim is to sub 7 minutes.

"FMP-Good Samaritan" was a huge achievement for me because it is my first time component FMP workout which I actually accomplish so I am proud to say MISSION ACCOMPLISH!!!

Check out the dirty knees from resting from clapping pushups

Going too hardcore...

TODAY is a very difficult day for me. Mainly because I can't decide whether to push myself or to take a rest day. I decided that it is a REST DAY!!! During the summer, I did alot of over training but I do get my rest during the day. Being here in the UK I overtrain but I don't get my rest during the day or night as I have to work on my project and I have been sleeping late as well. So I have to take into account for rest days now.

Yesterday was such a great day because I nailed two lovely ladies Chelsea and Diane. While warming up I was doing some box jumps on a 80cm box (31 inches). On my second round of jumps I tripped and clipped my knee on the edge. It looks smal and minute but underneath the cut my knee is bruised and I had a bit of difficulty doing squats and bending the knee. Have a look.

Ouchies!

Here are the results;

"Chelsea"

Every minute on the minute do:

5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 squats

Result 22 mins +5 +10 +14


"Diane"

21-15-9

Deadlift @ 225lbs
Handstand Push ups

Total time 27 mins 21 secs

I knew that after doing Chelsea, Diane would be a bit difficult. I decided that instead I should turn Diane into a strength workout and focus on my form. I did the deadlifts in sets of 3 reps. I also aimed for my HSPU to be head to floor and I managed that until the 30th rep or so. My HSPU reps were 2 at a time.

After such a massive workout yesterday I only had a 2 hour rest before going into 5 hours of sports (Handball, Basketball and volleyball).

Waking up today I am aching on my wings, shoulders, lower back, thighs, chest, calves and knees. So I believe it is very appropriate to call today a rest day eventhough I had one yesterday.

Always remember friends, listen to your body. Don't push yourself to the point that you will injure yourself. It is much better to have one rest day then to be out and injured for months.

Weekend at Capital Crossfit

Pushmore-mons let me introduce you to Capital Crossfit. This is one of London's crossfit gyms. Here is the workout we did;

WOD "Capital Crossfit"

Do as many reps as possible at each station. Spend 3 minutes at each station and 1 minute rest between stations. Each rep counts as one point.

KB swing @ 8kg
DB swing @ 8kg
Weighted walking lunges @ 8kg per hand
20m Sprints (every 20m is 5 points)
Turkish Get-Ups (TGU)
Pull ups and/or Ring dips (Mix it up anyway you like)
Push ups
Bench press @ 30kg/40kg
Row 600m (Do not count reps for this. Just complete the 600m)
Sit ups

Total points 602


How is it compared to Pushmore?

• The gym is very small (1/4 of pushmore size probably)
• Has more machines than Pushmore =)
• Very small group of people (8 usually)
• The trainer is buff
• The peoples forms are absolutely TERRIBLE (The trainer doesn't teach them correct form)

What Jason and myself noticed the most while doing the WOD was that the peoples forms were absolutely terrible. What was suppose to be KB swings looked like KB chops to me. The TGU were awful. They got up and down the wrong way and by the time they got up the KB was at chest level. Their pull ups were not full ranged, the push ups were done with a weak core and back so their body was not in good form. The bench press was not at chest level. The lunges were not done properly.

I felt like I should have told them or showed them how it should be done. It was killing me just watching them. The only reason I didn't say anything is because it is not my place to say so seeing as it was my first time there.

Anyway here are some photos of the place. Hope you al like it and let me know what you think =)

Upon arrival a Proton saga was there to greet us

Welcome to Personal training studios

AKA Capital Crossfit

Paul (the trainer)

Spar-tans after dominating the WOD

New personal record...

Being the gung ho one in the gym where I am always up for another WOD and always ready to take on any. I actually thought today's WOD was insanely hard until I understood it haha. Thanks Pushmore-mons for explaining. Here we go...

WOD 100809

5 sets of 20 unbroken Double Unders.

*Spend no more than 30 mins on the Double unders. It is just a skill practice.

For time:

30 Man Makers @ 30lbs

Total time 11 mins 35 secs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Deadlift for PR"

*Increase weight at each rep until max weight

1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Jonson.T (253,264,286,308,319,319,319) Lbs

This is definitely a new personal record (PR) for me. My last personal record was 250lbs. So its a huge step up!!!

Thanks to this awesome paleo and to pushmore for making me grow faster, fitter and stronger =)

Goals and Aims

It has been a while since I put up anything on this site but I think this is long overdue for me. It's been in my head for about a week to post this up.

Why I decided to Paleo Diet?

• To prove to myself that I can live a healthy and balance life eventhough I am living in UK.
• That I will not fall into the UK blues (I did so last year and got fat).
• To grow mentally stronger.
• To cleanse my body/detox.
• To bond, support, encourage and grow with my brothers and sisters of Pushmore.
  
• To lose weight (to get below 80kg) [I achieved this yesterday, I am now 77.2kg].
• To get my abs showing.

So why dont you all tell me why you decided to join this paleo diet? What do you hope to achieve at the end of it?

Double impact

Today I had a free day so I had no classes at all. With so much time on hand I decided to do 2 WODs to get back to my usual routines back in KL. Here it is.

"D.T."

Five Rounds for time:

12 Deadlift @ 155lbs
9 Hang Power Cleans @ 155lbs
6 Push Jerks @ 155lbs

* sub HPC and PJ @ 103lbs

Total time 19 mins 28 secs

WOD 100709

50-35-20

Medicine ball cleans @ 10kg
Ring dips

Total time 20 mins 36 secs

Today's D.T. has given me a new personal record (PR) for cleans and push jerks. I remember the first day I started working out with barbells in Pushmore. I was doing a workout with John-son and it consisted of power snatches. At that time John-son was snatching at 95lbs and I was thinking "this brother of mine is a freaking monster!!!". Today I showed myself that I too have been able to clean, push jerk and snatch (for the fun of it) at 103lbs. I am slowly and steadily growing stronger day by day. I won't let the UK blues get to me!!! I will beat this!!! Tomorrow is going to be a new day with new feats to achieve =)

Am I injured?

Having nearly the whole day free I went to the gym after my only hour of lecture this morning. Being that my gym is an elite gym and professional athletes train in my gym, the gym have to close for certain hours for them. Hence I went in too early this morning and I was rejected entry. I was all pumped up to take on today's WOD. So I had to go in later and I was feeling really sluggish. Anyway here is my results;

WOD 100609

4 Rounds

Single Kettlebell Press, max reps

Single Kettlebell Push Press, max reps

Single Kettlebell Push Jerk, max reps

Men @ 24kg

Women @ 16kg

There is no time component to this workout. Complete all the exercises for one arm before switching over. You can only put the kettlebell down after completion of reps for both arms. Kettlebell can be held in either a rack or hang position.

Round 1 : 3,7,4 (L) 5,9,3 (R)
Round 2 : 4,8,2 (L) 4,10,3 (R)
Round 3 : 4,8,2 (L) 4,10,2 (R)
Round 4 : 2,8,3 (L) 4,12,3 (R)

I was really surprised with my results today as my left arm and right arm are really balanced. I have a feeling my right shoulder is injured at the joint as I feel a tightness as I stretch my shoulder. Hopefully it is not so. I believed I could have done better today so we will see after the paleo.

I wanted to start with "D.T." today but the gym was extremely crowded that there was no barbells left. Anyway tmw, I plan to do WOD 100709 and D.T. Good Luck to me =)

P.S. Happy week-a-versary Paleo Pals!!!

Beating UK

It first begins with the cloudy morning and drawn curtains after a day of total exhaustion. No matter how many things you have ahead in the day your body and mind tells you "NOOOOOO!!! Stay in bed, it is so warm and toasty. There is no need to get up, it's so cold, don't pull the blanket off!!". This is how it all begins. How I failed last year to keep up with workouts and gave myself a billion and one excuses to put off going to the gym. It is how I began to grow chubbier and grew a tummy in the end.

Yesterday I experienced this again and it got to me. It beat me mentally and I failed to go to the gym. Although this feeling came back again today I remembered what a dear friend, brother and fellow paleo pal told me. He said "Don't let it sip in". Even though brother Hans had never experienced this and had no idea how I felt he still encouraged me on to push through it.

So here is what I did :

"Helen"

3 Rounds for time:

Run 400m
21 KB swings @ 24kg
12 Pull ups

Total Time 16 mins flat

I made a mistake when I was doing the workout. Here is what I did instead.

"Reversed Helen"

3 Rounds for time:

10 Shuttle runs @ 20m stretches
12 KB swings @ 24kg
21 Pull ups

To my absolute mistake I did the reps of swings and pull ups the other way around. I realised today that my gym is quite packed and I had to run around a lot. The treadmills were full and so I had to do shuttle runs if not make runs outside the gym in the freezing cold. So shuttle runs it was. On the second round, someone took over my pull up bar and hence I had no more chances of doing kipping pull ups so strict pull ups it was. Today my kipping pull ups were on form and during the warm up I did 10 non-stop. It just tells me that I can do it, I can manage kipping pull ups. Something I have to work on more.

Ideally today I wanted to do WOD092609 after "Helen" but I felt really ill after "Helen". Something gave in my stomach and I had to call it quits. Good thing as well since I had volleyball training and coaching tonight.

Tomorrow I have a fairly free day so I am going to conquer either "D.T." or an FMP workout.
My achievement today was doing 10 pull ups non-stop. I am very pleased with that as that has been my goal for the whole summer. I will post up a list of my aims and goals that I want to achieve by the end of the year soon.

WOD 100209

For time of:

10 KettlebellThruster @ 24kg/16kg, L&R

20 Pull Ups

8 Kettlebell Thruster @ 24kg/16kg, L&R

16 Pull Ups

6 Kettlebell Thruster @ 24kg/16kg, L&R

12 Pull Ups

4 Kettlebell Thruster @ 24kg/16kg, L&R

8 pull Ups

2 Kettlebell Thruster @ 24kg/16kg, L&R

4 Pull Ups

*Thrusters done with a single KB.

Total Time 17 mins 41 secs

Search & Rescue

"Everyday is a new day"

That was what I told me sister last night when we were talking online. We were having a brotherly/sisterly bonding session. She was telling me about how things were not going to well in her personal life ( I won't go into detail). I was telling her how I had such a crap day yesterday.

Being in my final year in uni we have to hunt for our final year project. Basically what we do is, there is a list of projects for us to choose from. We choose that appeal to us the most and we go and see the lecturer in charge of the project. Our aim is to convince them why they should give us that project. You can only imagine how bad it must have been the pass 2 days. I had meetings after meeting with lectuerers. By 9.30pm last night I received ym final e-mail for the night telling me yet again I have been rejected for the project I was going for. The total count was 11 rejects by 9.30pm.

It was quite a blow to me and I was already broken mentally and just about ready to give up. Then as I talked to my sister my mood lightened and our DMC (deep meaningful conversation) reminded me that there will always be ups and downs in our life. The ups are always fun and easy but the downs are too heartbreaking or mentally challenging; but with perserverence we can and will get through them. Everyday is a new day. The only reason that the next day would be as bad as the day before is because you let it be.

I began the day but clearing my head and putting all the rejects behind. I told myself that these kind of things happen and that I should persist on bring new spirits with me. With that in mind, By my second meeting of the morning, the lecturer had seem interested in me undertaking his project. about 6 hours later it was confirmed that I am to be working with him for a year undertaking the project "Design and develope the Life Fitness G5 home gym".

Life Fitness G5 home gym

So I will keep you all updated on how the project goes.

Now to the most important bit. Today's WOD.

FMP-Search & Rescue

Deadlift a total of 10,000lbs
Clean a total of 7500lbs
Clean & Jerk/push press/strict press a total of 5000lbs

*
76 Deadlifts @ 132lbs
85 Cleans @ 88lbs
77 Clean and Jerks @ 65lbs

Total time 39 mins 53 secs

I spent the fist 8 mins and 10 seconds on deadlifts. The cleans was the most difficult as it took me about 20 mins to complete. The last 9 mins I went through the clean & jerk with a steady pace. I never new that power cleans could be so tiring.

*Aims

• sub 35 mins
• good form for all 3 sections

I did not manage to sub 35 mins but I can boldly say that my form has improve tremendously, especially my cleans. I have to give thanks to JW for helping improve my form before I left KL. I should be having a rest day tomorrow since I have training in the evening but we will see how things goes.

~Paleo Diet (Day 1)~

Breakfast (9.30am) 3 kiwi's, 1 banana

Snack (11am) 6 almonds 4 pinches of raisins

Lunch ( 1.15pm) Bowl of Salad, half a turkey thigh

Snack (3.45pm) 1 apple

Pre-workout snack (5.15pm) 3 pinches of raisins, 1 banana

Dinner (7.30pm) quarter roasted chicken(thyme,lemon,onion), a bowl of salad

Keep it up Paleo Pals =)