What BMI really stands for

I took the day off today, I was due for a rest day after 4 straight days.  I'm going to take the day to type about the BMI or "Body Mass Index" and what a load of shit it is.   Yeah, that's right it is complete BS.  I'm sure that insurance companies love to go by it, but for anyone who actually is an athlete, has any muscle mass, or leads an overall healthy life style...it is crap.   My BMI is at 25.1.  I am OVERWEIGHT!   yeah....ok.  I have to wear a belt with size 32 jeans...and I'm overweight?   get the f*$& out of here.

My BMI...apparently I'm overweight.

You can calculate your own BMI by the below equation or by searching online for the many calculators.

Wikipedia goes into depth about the limitations, and although they are well understood within the medical community, there are a lot of people who use this to judge how healthy they are.  This line of thinking is flawed.  The correct way would be to get your body fat percentage.

Many consumer scales have a body fat % function, but there are a lot of problems with this method too.  How much water weight you have, how much salt you eat..among others.  I encourage you to read about the limitations here but if I had to choose between this and BMI..i would always choose this.

The best way would be to get in a water tank and let an expert figure it out, but a more inexpensive way would be to use calipers.  Now, I do not know my body fat percentage, but I am considering getting the calipers so that I, and others at my box, can figure this out and use it as a way to track progress.

WOD

REST DAY.  I get to take down a tree in my back yard tonight so that will be my "active" part of the day.

DIET

I did well and badly yesterday.  I had Chinese food, but Chicken and broccoli can't be THAT bad for you right?  I then went to the movies and had a soda (first one in months) and a few hand fulls of popcorn.

Eye of the Tiger...

I wish I could do a Rocky montage of me from the beginning of crossfit.  It would be epic.  I can picture some great music..me puking here and there.  Then a scene that starts with me only lifting a bar..then fades into a bar plus small weight...then a bar with more weight and so on til now.  We could even put an old skull cap on Mike or Molly and have them yelling at me "FASTER!  SPEED SPEED!" like Mickey.



That's it..I'm being Rocky for Halloween!  Karen..you can be Mickey.


On another note...I did 100 95lb thrusters!   That is a huge accomplishment for me as I usually shy away from those types of weights in long WODS.  I am getting better...and I'm getting better Faster than I thought I would!

WOD

Yesterday's workout was especially brutal.  It was another HERO WOD but not a "normal" hero WOD.  It was a Football Crossfit WOD named after Robert James Kalsu.  He was a professional football player who played for the Colts for a few years before joining the military and being deployed to Vietnam.  Sadly, he was killed in action by mortar fire.  he was an offensive lineman which is makes sense when you read the workout.  Note: this was in the top 5 hardest workouts I've ever done.  Absolutely brutal.

WOD (08/29/2011)

"Kalsu" (note..it was modified from the "actual" Kalsu)

100 Thursters
4 burpees on the minute, every minute until you complete your thrusters.

Time:  28:39  at 95 lbs

WOD (08/30/2011)

20 min amrap
10 HRPU
10 T2B
169 m run with 45 lb plate

7 full rounds and 17 reps into 8th

Diet

Pretty good yesterday.  Got to the grocery store and got some Nuts and fruits for the day.  Forgot lettuce so I'm without my normal salad .  

Hungover

Do hangovers have to refer to alcohol?  Yesterday I didn't have a single drop of alcohol.  What I did have though was a ton of sugar and a ton of sleep.  Too much sleep it seems.

Yeah..this was me on Sunday

This morning I just could not get out of bed.  Last week I had no problem getting up every day at 5am after going to bed at 11 or sometimes 12.  Last night I was asleep before 8.  Sooo 9 hours of sleep is too much for me.  Got it.

I think the moral of the story is to find the right amount for you.  I think 8 hours might be too much for me..and 9 hours is surely too much.   If it wasn't too much it is because I changed my pattern...bodies don't do change well.   Find the balance that makes you feel the best.  It might not be exactly what is prescribed by someone online.

WOD (08/28/2011)

Partner WOD:  While one partner works the other must hold a 2 pood kettlebell

25 double unders
50 135 lb dead lifts
50 push-ups
50 24 inch box-jumps
50 135lb floor wipers
50 1 arm db snatch
25 double unders

Justin and I split each for a time of 10:20.

DIET

Ummm.  Good and bad.  The good. Had a good breakfast, some fruit, and sushi for dinner.  The bad:  Well sushi is kinda bad too but add to that ice cream after dinner and some salt water taffy during the day.  So any good was totally wiped out by the bad.   A new week means new emphasis on nutrition...at least until the holiday weekend.

Pukie!

When I was in college, and for most of my twenties, the term "puke and rally" meant you drink til you puke...then you start drinking again.  Well, now it means that in the middle of a workout I puke..then I go back and finish the workout.  I have puked from 3 workouts now.  And rally'd in 2 of them.  The third I didn't puke until after the workout was over.

Pukie #1:  Very first day of crossfit.  Elements 1 made me vomit.  After I threw up I had to jump on the rower and do 1000m.

Pukie #2:  Running Filthy Fifty:  this was just disgusting.  Got done and puked my brains out.

Pukie #3:  Hammer.   Dry heaved during round 4.  Got back in it and finished the 4th and 5th rounds.

In some crossfit circles a pukie is a badge of honor and shows you brought yourself to your maximum.  I think it is one badge that I'd like to not have.  Regardless, it is good to know that I gave it everything I had and I know I could not give it any more.  Although, I think that today the reason I was puking was cause of Dehydration.

I should note here that although a lot of cross fitters will be impressed by your pukie, we all know it's not good to do it regularly.  If it happens a lot, there is an underlying cause and you need to find out what it is.  Whether sickness, dehydration, or something I don't know about.

WOD

Today was a HERO WOD

U.S. Army First Sergeant Michael "Hammer" Bordelon, 37, of Morgan City, Louisiana, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), based out of Fort Lewis, Washington, died on May 10, 2005, from injuries sustained when a car bomb exploded near him in Mosul, Iraq on April 23, 2005.

He is survived by his wife Mila; children Mike Jr., Jacob, and Johanna; mother Dolores; and sister Doreen Scioneaux.


Hammer - 


5 Power Cleans (115)
10 Front Squats (115)
5 Jerks(115)
20 Pull-ups


5 rounds with 90 seconds rest between rounds


My time:  28:02


Diet

IT was good for the most part.  Had a bbq to go too and had a few beers and some great food.  Otherwise, I was good with eggs, fruit, and nuts.

Trying a big boy workout

Although I've been doing crossfit for 4 months now, I still feel like the small guy.  In fact, the best way to describe my feelings are that I feel like the little brother of the gym.  I'm older than most of the competitor guys but I want to be like them...I want to compete with them...hell..I want to beat them.  Does this not sound like a little brother who wants to play with his big brother?

If you've seen the movie "Little Giants" I think of myself as Risk Moranis's character (Danny O'Shea).  His brother Kevin (played by Ed O'Neal) is a football star who excels at everything.  Danny just wants to be able to play with his brother but his brother just keeps beating him.  This sets up a coaching battle between Kevin's Cowboys and Danny's reject bunch of Giants.  In the end, the giants go on to win the game but not without an epic halftime speech.




 Of course, no one at crossfit610 has stopped me from doing a WOD with them but in my head I know that right now I can't do the same weights or complete the WOD in the same time as them. I look at Mike, Frank, Tony, Fox, Jake, Evan, Molly, Heather.... the list goes on... as role models...I want to emulate their actions at the gym.  They have all been doing this for longer than I have, and some of them have highly competitive backgrounds (Mike was a college wrestler, Jake a college Shot putter, Evan college football player, Molly a college soccer player ...).  The end goal of course is to beat them, not in an I want to beat my rival type of way..but more in a friendly competition type of way. I just want to be close to their level.  Think of Rudy..I may not be a starter on the team..but I hope to push the team further.  I hope they work harder to beat me someday.

Which is where the "little brother" feeling come from...I feel like I have to work my way to their level...they had a head start now I have to work even harder than them to reach it.  Have I worked harder than anyone on that list before....no...not even close.  I should put some of the WOD's they do in this thing...i'd seem like a giant pussy.  But I am working...and hopefully one time I can compete with them at a workout.

WOD

Today Rest Day

Yesterday - 2nd round (playing with the big boys...modified of course)

9/11 throwdown without the row

11 - 36" box jump
11 - 125 lb thruster
11 - burpee c2b
11 - 125 lb power clean*
11 - HSPU*
11 - 1.5 pood kb swing*
11 - toe to bar
11 - 175 lb dead lift
11 - 115 lb push press

* means scaled.  Rx is 175lb pc, full hspu, 2 pood kb swing

time:  17:02