Injuries really do suck

I've been out since my last post with tennis elbow. I've been on a steady diet of physical therapy, mobility exercises, and stretching.

It's been a brutal experience.

Rest Week

63kg Snatch attempt
Originally uploaded by Choizilla

I took a much needed rest week after training for 10 weeks straight before the Keystone Games on July 26 in York, PA. The only work I've been doing is external rotator cuff work, reverse wrist curls, and PVC dislocates and overhead squats.

A few months earlier I showed up at Capital Barbell Club to improve my Olympic lifting for CrossFitting and found that I really enjoyed it not only as a training modality, but as a sport. I've got a lot of work to do increasing strength, and certainly technique, but it has all the things I love to do:

* technical movements
* speed elements
* displacing weight
* intense concentration

Thanks to the folks at Primal Fitness, CrossFitDC, and Capital Barbell Club for your support and encouragement. It was amazing fun and I'm definitely continuing on in the sport.

Comp results vs goals
Snatch: 66kg (63-66x-66) -- Goal: 72kg
Clean & Jerk: 87kg (77-83-87 PR) -- Goal: 92kg
5 for 6 successful lifts

Injury report
Both of my wrists and forearms are really sore. Some of that is some mild tendonitis that I'm addressing. I emailed Performance Menu and received this advice for injury management:

* Continued icing and high-dose ibuprofen for a week or so
* Upper arm and forearm massage
* Cold laser and/or ultrasound through physical therapy
* Narrow snatch grip temporarily for less wrist strain until healthy again

WOD 5/3/08

In between WODs I got body work done in Ayurvedic Marma point massage, craniosacral and myofacial therapies. If you've never done it, run (do not walk) and make an appointment. It's not like deep tissue massage which disappointed me at first.The practitioner sort of prodded at certain points on my body and tension would release in other seemingly unrelated areas. It was a little trippy.

In other news, at the end of July, I'm competing in an Olympic lifting comp in York, PA. That should be interesting. I haven't maxed out yet so I have no idea what I'm supposed to compete. I might be able to hit my summer goals of 135 snatch and 150 C&J by then.

AM WOD: 4 rounds for time

1 block 1 round -- 500m row 3 rounds
15 Wallballs (20#)
15 Push-ups
15 Pull-ups

Time: 20:30

PM WOD: lots of technique work
Burgener warm-up
4 x 3 Drop snatch (95, 115*, 115, 115)
2 x 3 Snatch (115, 115)
2 x 3 Split jerk (115, 115)

* failed twice

21-15-9 Pull-ups (all unbroken sets)

Exertional Headaches

About two weeks ago, I scored a personal best 4:47 on Fran (25# dumbbells). Afterwards I sat there speechless for about 20 minutes. I had a throbbing headache and it hurt to do anything but sit motionlessly. At the time, I thought it was just a depletion of salt and electrolytes. I drank some water and ate Shot Bloks. But, I had a dull headache for two days afterwards.

The headaches went away until I started doing full weight thrusters a few days later. I thought I had popped some blood vessels in my head or something, and it had me a little scared.

I can't be sure, but it seems to be an exertional headache--one created from simultaneously trying to breath hard while unintentionally holding my breath. This phenomenon also happens when you sneeze or cough really hard. The effects are usually a sharp pain in the head followed by a dull pain in the occipital area that can last from a few minutes up to 48-hours.

There's nothing I can do about it for the moment. I'll just take it easy and not lift heavy things. I'm just getting over a cold anyway. Once I start back up, I'll try exaggerating my breathing to get out of the habit of holding my breath.

These headaches are brutal.

1 Year Anniversary from Smoking Cessation

Today marks the one year milestone from when I gave up cigarettes. Last January 20, my wife and I went to the famous Mad Russian* in Brookline, MA. Twenty anxious smokers sat in a room facing each other while Yefim Shubentsov talked about how "serious" he was: "I don't joke about life," he said in a thick Russian accent. After about two hours of anecdotes and explanations about bio-energy manipulation, he took us individually, waved his hand over us while making a short buzzing sound, then said, "that's it, my friend." I walked through the door skeptically towards the cashier. Bam! 65 clams a person, like an assembly line.

I'd tell you it was all bullshit, but I can't. I don't know how, but it worked. Though he didn't name-drop during the session, you can find copied articles in the lobby from prominent magazines about celebrities who have flown in to see him. There have been like 12 bazillion people who have come through those doors.

There is a guarantee of sorts as well. He allows you to come back as many times as you need without paying anything additional.

I still think about smoking -- and it hits me at weird inopportune times -- but it's definitely manageable. And I certainly have no regrets. When you get a nic-fit, the Mad Russian instructs us to repeat the words "I am smoking." After having done this countless times, I realized that this serves two purposes. One addresses the nic-fit causing us to be mindful that its happening and to monitor our behavior accordingly. The next is to be compassionate towards our cravings, giving it a chance to pass. It always does.

My next date milestone is fifteen months -- the longest I've been off cigarettes since I was eighteen. There's a risk I could go back to smoking at anytime, but the longer I stay off the butts, the less likely I'd go back to them. By the way, "I am smoking, I am smoking, I am smoking..."

* Though he is most famous for working with smokers, he offers his services for any sort of addictions, cravings, and phobias from nail biting, sex, drugs, alcohol, and food to name a few.

Increase Your Crossfit Impulse

Jonathan Gilson writes an insightful article about impulse generation. In essence, impulse equals force applied multiplied by the duration of the force applied. An imbalance of either results in inefficient, or worse, ineffective impulse generation.

I constantly observe Crossfit athletes trying to [go] too fast. They attempt to speed up their sprinting by increasing stride frequency, speed up their rowing by increasing stroke rate, and clean more weight by pulling on the bar “faster”.

It doesn’t work.

>> more

In my own training, I try to keep the best form possible because it goes through the full range of intended motion and re-enforces Gilson's Sir Isaac Newton's concept of maximum duration of force applied. One should not chase personal record numbers at the expense of quality workouts. Crossfit's goal is to train athletes to become stronger and more fit in their respective sports. The scores serve as an arbitrary measure of progress. However, real progress is measured in drives into the end zone, or climbing projects red pointed, or distance of the javelin thrown, or length of dead body trail in a ninja fight.

Active Rest:
120 Push-ups, Squats, Sit-ups (increased reps by 2)
100 Sit-ups

I Googled "love handle exercises" and what I gleaned from the results was either 80's-style calisthenics or what essentially amounted to "shut-up and train harder." Fair enough.

My favorite piece of advice is to work on increasing the size of your upper body. I laughed out loud at first, but it made sense. Lean muscle mass and body fat are inversely related.

Giving the Zone Diet a Try

I am not a dieter. The closest thing I've tried so far was to limit my caloric intake to approximately 2100 per day, but that was more an exercise in moderation and self-control--something I have always lacked. I made nothing more than a general effort to "eat better." That includes an increase in fruits and vegetables consumption, more frequent meals in reasonable portions, and moderation when it comes to my nemesis, desserts. All this was achieved with varying degrees of success. Whatever, I'm on to the next phase.

I'm going to give the Zone Diet an honest effort. The basic premise prescribed by Crossfit requires a three-pronged approach:

1. Proper proportions of the three macronutrients (Carbohydrates, Protein, Fat)
2. Proper meal times (frequent meals, meal time spacing)
3. Portion control (hand to eye method or plate method)

I'm also going to pick up a copy of the Crossfit endorsed Mastering the Zone for short money at Amazon. Take a look in the used section.

Other Resources:
http://www.zonebasics.com/gettingstarted_1.htm
http://www.zonedietinformation.com/

Starbucks Transitioning Away from Trans Fats

NPR reports that Starbucks is following the trend to remove trans fats from its bakery line.

I didn't realize that Crisco is essentially trans fatty acids in brick form. That explains why homemade cookies taste so good. Also, Starbucks cookies are just about the best tasting cookies available. There's no better pick-me-up than a coffee paired with one of these "single serving" cookies.

The Atkins Diet?

My climbing partner revealed that she's on the Atkins diet. Quoi? You mean the fad diet that shortened its founder's life? I tried hard to stifle a laugh. Now, I'm no Taoist but it seems that any diet, or exercise regime for that matter, that encourages unbalanced input to gain a magic bullet output immediately cocks my head sideways.

She's smart, works out often, and very in-tune with her body, so I really don't understand where she's going with this. She talks about maintaining weight a lot, and probing further, she admitted that one of the benefits of Atkins is that you lose weight quickly in the first week. I don't like the sound of that.

I've mentioned Crossfit to her, and she occasionally asks for advice on lifting, but nothing more. I don't push her about it either. There's nothing worse than an evangelizer.

Update:
She quit less than a week later. "That diet sucked," was all she offered.

There are clear limitations to metrics like BMI (Body Mass Index). In my case, I'm 5'4" but weigh 172 lbs. That gives me a hefty 29.5 score, deep into the "overweight," and, just shy of "obese." Now, I'm far from optimal shape, but when I was in the best shape of my life I was around 160-165 lbs with about 5.6% body fat. To hit the top side of "normal" I'd have to weigh in at a scant 145 lbs. The last time I weighed that, I was a starving intern. Before that, I was 14.

I come from a family of two body types. Tall and skinny, or short and muscular. Or, if you're my father, tall and muscular. Freak...

I once arranged for sea kayaks by phone in Maine. The guide was skeptical about my body description, and he was sure I'd never get into the thing, and worse--he thought my Grimace-esque physique would tip the kayak in a sudden swell, and I'd die because he'd never get me to shore safely. He had a let-down speech all prepared.

I guess this is my long-winded way of saying that BMI is not a good metric for me, and two, does anyone know what is?

* * *

Allow me to explain the discrepancy between my weight goal (155 lbs) and my description of best shape weight above. First, I was a high school gymnast at the time. I'll never be that strong, fit, or cut again, especially in that ratio. And secondly, I'm a rock climber now, and the extra weight is hindering my progress and I can't work beyond a difficulty ceiling I've hit. Worse, the extra weight is stressing tendons and ligaments in my arms from overuse. And three, it really wouldn't kill me to eat better and increase my cardio ability.