….that date is just as important as 12.31.11, or 12.30.11, or 1.2.12… pick a date, it doesn’t matter. Don’t get caught up in the hoopla of writing down New Years Resolutions and putting all that pressure on yourself to follow through on them, don’t do it. You know what you should do???? Make every day count… do at least one thing a day that makes you a better person. I’m not saying not to not have goals, by all means have them.. write them down, have them available to you everyday that you see them and you go out and attain them. What I am telling you not to do is put all your eggs in one basket so to speak. SCREW THE DATE 1.1.12, if you haven’t noticed that day has already passed, crazy shit huh?! And before you know it, the date 6.15.12 will be staring you right in the face and half the year will have passed and those New Years Resolutions will have whipped your ASS in the first month and you probably chose not to write down any new goals to go for after that.
One bit of advice I want to pass on is to be GRATEFUL for what you have now, because whatever you choose to chase in 2012 will not fulfill you…. so take a minute and reflect on 2011, take the good with the bad, and now you are ready to crush 2012… I did this last night and it put the biggest smile on my face, and for the last 24 hours I have had this feeling of peace within me that money can’t buy! So to all my friends out there, #Crush2012 with a smile on your face!
….time to commit! I half-ass committed to ACO which in doing so I missed out on registering for the event! Crossfit comps are not what they use to be…. the Sport of Crossfit is growing at a rapid pace, and if you snooze you lose. With that being said, The Fittest Games use to be my fortay…. I won the first 2 years, and came in second the third year, but I haven’t competed since. I know it’s not going to be a walk in the park, and the likelyhood of me finishing in the top 10 is a LONG SHOT!. But if you know me, you know that I am always up for a challenge so let’s see what happens!
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes
I have found that the greatest help in meeting any problem with decency and self-respect and whatever courage is demanded, is to know where you yourself stand. That is, to have in words what you believe and are acting from. William Faulkner Quotes
“Ask yourself: ‘Can I give more?’. The answer is usually: ‘Yes’.” -Paul Tergat, Kenyan professional marathoner
My 6Sole brothas TB, 2S, WIHH
….the Austin Marathon was a success in more ways then one. First off I finished it, pushed through some mental barriers, and most importantly I did not injure myself. Because 5 days later I competed in the Triple Threat Throwdown at Milestone Crossfit (Grand Opening), and not only did I compete, I place 2nd overall… not too shabby, right?! Obviously the competition wasn’t the strongest the area had to offer, but the fact we had to run, do box jumps, wall balls, dead lift, in and outs, and do so forth.. I was pleased with my overall effort and pain free while doing it! Next up the Crossfit Open… The Open started roughly 30 days after the Austin Marathon, not really a whole lot of time to get into “crossfit shape”! I started following the .com (2-3x a week) more then normal since the Open workouts were going to come from HQ it only made sense… 2x a week I would program my own 45-60 minute long metcon for my Leadville training… After the first week I was in 280th or so place out of the 1000 men in my region. But as the Open progressed, I slowly climbed back in to contention for top 60. The highest I climbed was to 78th place, and by the end of the ‘6Week” Open I ended up in the top 100… the goal was top 60 just for shits and giggles, because ultimately I was going to do team regardless of where I finished…. Because of the Open format my training volume increased exponentially! Instead of the 3-4 workouts a week, I was training 5 days a week, sometimes 6 days a week… heavy on the .Com and my own UndegroundShack/ 6Soles workouts (45+min metcons)…
the next big test was the “Triple Murph” by the 6Soles courtesy of Crossfit Austin on Saturday, June 4th…. this was suppose to go down without really anybody knowing other then Crossfit Austin, and a few close individuals… well the power of the internet/ especially twitter and a 1000+ people know about it! The only problem about people knowing about it was that you have to hear a lot of shit that really doesn’t benefit your cause.. “you are crazy” “rhabdo!” “you are going to get hurt!” “impossible” ” i can’t even do murph once” ” are you sure you should do it?” ” you have Regional in 2 weeks, is that smart?!” I could go on, but you get my point… First off I am not you, so keep your non-positive comments to yourself…. doesn’t the saying your mother use to say go something like this “If you don’t have anything nice to say, you should keep it to yourself” Well sometimes it’s necessary to voice your opinion, but not when someone is trying to achieve an athletic accomplishment that honestly I don’t believe has ever been achieved in the Crossfit community….
So, the Friday before the Triple Murph I went to a buddies house and again had my fair share of drinks, you know… just to make the event that more challenging! haha honestly I think I do stuff like that because it allows me to not think about it, silly I know and definitely not recommended. Anyhow, Saturday morning rolled around and let’s just say that I was not the most chipper.. All I could think about was get the first Murph started and I will be fine “Sweat this shit out of ME!!” Funny thing is, I believe the alcohol in my system really powered me through the first Murph, and roughly 38minutes later I was done (20#vest)… quick break, and off I went on to the second Murph (10#vest). Halfway through the 2nd Murph and I hit a wall, I started cramping and all the alcohol in me had either been sweated out or burned through! Elliot threw me a Gatorade, I drank half real quick and went right back into the Murph. The Gatorade was a life saver, it allowed me to finish the the second Murph in 41 minutes. After a quick break, I started off on the 3rd cycle. After battling through the cramps on the second cycle, my legs finally broke through the cramps and I felt as fresh as when I started the first.. crazy I know, but it’s one of those barriers that you won’t know how you feel if you don’t break through it… well I did, and I finished the 3rd Murph (no vest)in the same time as the fist cycle.. 38min! 300pullups, 600 pushups, 900 air squats, 6miles, Triple Murph: 2hrs 20minutes! I real quick shoutout to my 6Sole brotha’s Elliot and Zach, proud of those 2 for pushing through that “impossible task” well only impossible to those who think it is so…. I know 3 people now that have accomplished something considered crazy/ impossible because they stuck it out and relied on each other no matter how long it was going to take! Another mental success, and oh yeah NO INJURIES!! Stronger body and a much STRONGER MIND for achieving a goal that was considered impossible..
…..To be continued
celebratory beer TB, 2S, WIHH
this is one of my favorite running videos, enjoy (listen closely to the announcer)!!
this is how we should live…. yet I don’t know that many people that actually do. I understand that their is a time and place to be “serious”, but hell, you should have very few of those moments… and what is being “serious” even look like?! I have my moments where I get caught up in all the garbage that doesn’t make me who I am…. SO I take a step back and laugh(sometimes yell) and get back to having fun… But Do you know who is the one that reminds me the most to chill because that is suppose to be my reputation.. the chill one…
#PatientFast
In the love of sports I truly wish the ones who deserved the media actually got the attention they deserved… who knows your Sport might be bigger because of it!
I love you babe.. nothing means more to me then you regardless of my actions…
the Underground Shack always has and always will be about Synergy… The Underground Shack does not have an address, it does have a FOUNDATION though… Like the old movie quote from Friday “It’s the Principalities”… Big Worm. So come one, Come all… those of you that fall into the Synergistic realm of the Underground Shack will be accepted, those of you that don’t will be rejected…until your ready. Because when it all boils down to the nitty gritty, we all were born to serve a purpose, it just takes some longer then others to figure it out. Peace
this song by B. o. B is very reflective of my past, which thank God is in the past….
Fast forward to may 2011
Time to catch you guys up on what the UndergroundShack has been up to for the last few months….. The Crossfit Open has wrapped up, I finished 104 out 900+ South Central Athletes. Not great and definitely not what I was shooting for.. top 60 was my goal even though I was going as team the whole time, but as an athlete/ ego I would have loved to qualified as an individual. The great thing is that I improved every week of the Open as did my teammates on the RedBlack Gym. So going into the Open we have a great chance of moving on to Cali which has always been the ultimate goal. As for my training overall… hitting prs left and right… hit a front squat pr of 280#, snatch balance of 190#, 405#deadlift x 2(tap and go..no bounce!)165# snatch..almost have 175 (real f’ng close!) ran a marathon in Feb with ZERO training in 4hr 25min…. I will leave you with those, with plenty more to come. I did just get back from Cali, where Brian and Jill Baker of CrossfitFly put us up for 10 days….. amazing trip to say the least. Some of the before mentioned pr’s were accomplished at their gym… you gotta love SoCal weather! There you go, life is good the family is doing great, my killed the Open finishing 11th in the world, and 1st in our region, SGK starts K in the fall, Stone is Stone…. Peace and Love
Their is nothing wrong with fear! It has helped people achieve the “impossible” countless times!
Their is something wrong with fear making you a coward… just ask this guy
All he wanted to be was courageous, when the whole time all he had to do was believe in himself! So ask yourself, what is holding me back? Why am I afraid of this or that? Would you rather be the little dog taking on the giant Great Dane or the Cowardly Lion who let fear run most of his life?! Since I used dogs to get my point across, I will leave you with this….
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” — Mark Twain
Hope everyone had a good weekend! This week is the week of 10 minute max reps of a single modality. I want you to be as creative as you can, and please leave details in the comments section.
The Gauntlet has been thrown… The JT/OPT Big Dawgs v. UnderGroundShack Crew. Since most of the crew on the Big Dawgs side is competing in this years Crossfit Games I thinks it’s only fair that JT sets the date of the Team Throwdown (end of July-1st week of August is what I’m thinking), loser pays for a BBQ…. I like mine with extra sauce!
OPERA
3 x 3 Muscle Snatch (50% of 1 Rm, 30 second break between sets)
3 x 3 Snatch Balance (65% of 1Rm, 30 second break between sets)
3 x 8 Back Squat (75% of 1Rm, narrow feet placement)
my heart.. SGK a few years back
…my SOUL
UnderGroundShack 