Christmas Came Early at CFSC

This has been good training/coaching week for me. First, I went down to Camp Pendleton with Sarge. That place is awesome. As we drove in, Sarge was pointing out the hills (more like mountains!!) he runs. Then we drove by the obstacle course and the big sandpits used for fighting and grappling. Everywhere I looked, there were pullup bars. Best of all, I got to get a sweet workout in with a couple hard charging Marines who love CrossFit. These guys were awesome. They have a nice little workout area I call "The Patch"(me not very original). Pullup bars, a BIG tire, wall ball stations, heavy logs, a perfect tree for rings and enough room to run wild. We did pullups, parallette pushups, rope pulls, wall ball, slam ball, muscle ups.....Good stuff. I will definitely be back!!!! What a great atmosphere.

Every coach has had that one group that really got after it in the weight room. Coachability, attitude, athleticism and intensity combined for superior results. At Indiana University, I had a very special group of pole vaulters I will always remember with great fondness. Whether it was ET doing 50 one legged squats each leg, DE doing 100 explosive reps of 225lb cleans at 155 bodyweight, IC doing 50 reps of chins (and 100 dips and 100 chins in 10 minutes!!!), AP's beautiful full squat cleans (and potty mouth :)) or JW smoking 315 (or 320?) at 190 lbs. This list goes on and on. These kids were incredible and were an absolute joy to coach. They kept me on my toes because I had to constantly find new ways to challenge them. I think we all remember the year-end "special workout". Good memories....

Well, those kids have graduated and gone on to start careers and families. One of them (JW) is a coach. He asked if one of his athletes, who was in town for the holidays, could get a workout in with me. I said sure, though I was a little worried I might disappoint. This 19 year old kid (JC) drove 1.5 hours to get to my place. He walked into my garage, ignored all the kids toys and other clutter, went to the platform and got ready to go. We did this: 5 sets of clean, FS, PP, BS, PP X5 with 40kg. (His cleans were fast, hips and elbows moving, speed on the bar. He has a good coach!!) Then 10x2 or 1 on cleans (power and hang) up to 90kg. Great form, full extension with quick hands and feet. And he used a hook grip without me saying anything (good coach). Then it was off to the park. 5 rounds of 5 HSPU, 5+5 Pistols, 10 pullups. JC smoked through this. Next I showed JC how to do a muscle up. He hit it on his first try and then got a double. Very nice. We finished with 20 slamball, 20 medball abs and 10 stand ups. I hope it was worth 3 hours of drive time because I had a great time. JC is a great, humble kid. He loves to lift and he is very coachable. He asked a ton of questions and talked about competing and athletics. He would have fit in nicely with our group (best compliment I can give). It's nice to see the tradition continues. Thanks JW and JC...my garage is always open for you guys.

I must have been inspired by JC. In the late afternoon, I went out to do a deadlift workout. I have been doing deadlifts regularly to hit a goal: 500 lbs. Yeah, nothing earth-shattering but just something I wanted to do. The plan was to do 10x1 at 433. But 433 was too easy. All I had to do was add 35 lbs to each side....I got the video camera, gave myself a pep talk and went to work. I wouldn't be writing this if I'd missed. 503 lbs. I was very happy and proud to hit my goal. I will put up the program, time frame and thoughts that led to me making this lift in my next post. And I'll try to get the video up. So, as you can see, Christmas was celebrated a little early in my world. Thanks to everyone one giving me these special times!!!!