Today’s CrossFit and Emergent Fitness Workout.
Stretch
Warm-up
Workout of the day:
Run 400m then…
4 rounds of:
- 6 Deadlifts (65-70% of 1 RM) #165
- 12 Push Ups
- 12 Pull Ups
…Run 400m
Final time: 13:33 – I’ve been off for 2 weeks, I’ll take it.
My sissy hands didn’t like the pull-ups much and I have 5 blisters to prove it.
Gotta love it,
Andy B
twitter.com/outsideallday
The last 3 weeks have been hectic. Eating like crap, no training, lot’s of airports hectic.
Kicked off Sunday on trail with Jobe. Hot and dusty run requiring lot’s of Cytomax consumption.
This week’s plan:
Monday – CrossFit at Emergent Fitness
Tuesday – Short trail run
Thursday – CrossFit at Emergent Fitness
Friday – Short Mountain Bike ride at Bobcat
Sunday – Long run, location TBA
Also starting a food log again with a Whole 9 eating mindset. Need to jump start accountability.
Let’s do this thing mang!
Andy B
twitter.com/outsideallday
Race info at: http://www.bighorntrailrun.com/50K/index.html
Quick race report…
- Most beautiful race I’ve ever done.
- Running downhill for 6,729 ft was harder than I ever expected.
- The weather was beautiful.
- Interesting dynamic to have 100 mile, 50 mile, 50k and 30k racers on the course all at the same time. Makes you feel like the low man on the totem pole.
- Feet/shoes were SOAKED for the entire race. 25 streams, mud, 5 snow sections, crazy WET! Could not avoid water.
- Cytomax is an amazing electrolyte.
- Due to life, I really wasn’t ready for this race and paid the price. I blew up miles 21 – 24. Lost 30 minutes from this.
- My wife doesn’t want to me do this race again due to how far away it is from Fort Collins, but I REALLY liked it.
- So fun to have my wife, kids and mom with me on the trip.
Overall, raced as well as I could have, the blow up hurt but I was happy in general.
Final time: 6:30:43
Photo gallery at: http://thebrazeltonfamily.shutterfly.com/3707
Back to CrossFit at Emergent Fitness this week, enough eating like crap and being lazy 
Next up:
Bent Rock Trail Race – 15 miles – July 17
Aspen Backcountry Trail Marathon – 26.2 miles – August 27
Run Rabbit Run – 50 miles – September 17
Andy B
twitter.com/outsideallday
For the last 18 months I’ve been fascinated with CrossFit and CrossFit Endurance. Brian Mackenzie, the founder of CrossFit Endurance challenges conventional training methods and you either love him or hate him. As I read more, train more, I really think Brian may be on to something huge. His ideas and style have impacted me so positively.
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Look inside this issue. |
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| June 2011 | |
The cover article focuses on Brian and what he has to say about training. I HIGHLY recommending picking up a free copy of Competitor Magazine at your local running/bike shop or reading it for free online using the link above.
Happy Sunday!
Andy B
outsideallday.com
My buddy Doug sent this photo of me from around 2001. The beautiful lady with me is my mom Katie.
Weighing in at around 230 in the photo.
Perfect picture of life with CrossFit at Emergent Fitness and life without it. I weigh around 170 as of today thanks to Emergent Fitness and the lifestyle they promote. My wife Julie challenged me early in our marriage to begin taking my health seriously. I’m glad she did.
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Last week was a major bummer with a head cold that took me out. Compound a cold with traveling for work on Friday and Saturday and you have a zero training week. This week WILL be different.
Monday - 4 mile treadmill run
Tuesday - CrossFit at Emergent Fitness
Wednesday – Short run with Jobe at Devil’s Backbone
Thursday - Long run up Round Mountain for 2.5 hours or so after work.
Friday - CrossFit at Emergent Fitness
Saturday - MTB ride in Lory State Park with Matt Smart
Sunday - Long run at Bobcat with Matt Smart
The Wyoming Trail Marathon is on May 29. Normally I wouldn’t be nervous but based on my past week’s of training I really am a little concerned.
Need to have a few good weeks of consistency…
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Last summer, Andy B convinced me to join a gym in Fort Collins called Emerfit, and I think it’s changing my life. When you think of the gym, you probably think of treadmills, mirrors, and awkward old dudes in spandex maxing out on the bench press. Emerfit is probably unlike any gym you’ve been to.
I spent a lot of my life immersed in sport specific weight and agility training, which progressively got more difficult and had a competitive element. However, I found that this type of training was hard for me to find in a local “big gym.”
When I first sat down with Chris Brown at Emerfit, he explained to me the model of fitness they followed. What is fitness? How do you know if you’re fit, or if someone else is physically fit? It’s something that humans have spent at least the last century trying to figure out, debating, researching, and citing medical journals and studies. An easy way for me to understand the Emerfit model is this – you may have a guy who can bench 500 lbs, but would fall over dead running more than 400 meters. You also may have a guy that places top ten in the Boston Marathon, but has to have help out of the
Workout of the Day
grocery store because he can’t lift his milk jugs into the minivan. Emerfit is all about the pursuit of overall fitness. It’s not about how you look. It’s not about how much weight you can lift, or how far or fast you can run. It’s about you pushing the envelope of fitness for you. For me, I had done some short distance running, and a little trail running. I didn’t have any really specific goals in mind when I started, but I have fairly chronic disc issues in my lower back, and feared my body was slipping rapidly into the middle-age abyss. I, like most people, had tried lots of programs, and gyms, but ultimately faded away once the new wore off.
So what do you do at Emerfit?
Each class is scheduled for an hour with a trainer assigned to lead the group and provide individual coaching. You start with some stretching, warm-up, and then move into some strength work. Each day you also do a “Workout of the Day” (WOD) for conditioning. The WOD is a short, intense, competitive, timed workout that is designed to push the edge of your fitness limits. Most of the class participates in the WOD, and results are posted on the board. This adds a level of competitiveness and accountability that makes me push way harder than I would otherwise. There is a ton of thought and effort put into the programming of these workouts, by the certified training staff. They also have some customized strength regiments, a climbing-specific program, nutritional coaching, and much more.
Craig D - Deadlift
In 8 months, I’ve seen significant improvements in my strength, speed, and endurance. I feel better. I’m accomplishing personal and professional goals, and my cholesterol and blood sugar have moved from high-risk to healthy levels. I’m running my first trail half marathon on May 29th (Wyoming Trail Marathon). There are a number of reasons why the Emerfit model has worked for me, more on that in the next post.
For more info, go to www.emerfit.com
Jobe L
Saturday morning, Andy B and I hit the trail at about 8 o’clock. I had not eaten properly, had not gotten enough sleep the night before, and was dehydrated. Not a good start. But Fort Collins is a great place to be, if you love being outside (and you know we do.) It took a few minutes, but I was up to speed after about 15 minutes. We started with a long steady climb for about 45 minutes, with lots of switchbacks and timber. We broke out of the trees, and the view of Horsetooth Reservoir made the climb worth it. It was a great way to start a Saturday morning!
Single Track in Lory State Park
This was a perfect longer trail run, my first of the season, and good initial prep for the Medicine Bow Half.
This week’s training included:
Tuesday @ Emerfit - (500 m row + 15 Ball Slams) X 4 Sets
Wednesday – 6 Mile trail run on Devil’s Backbone
Thursday @ Emerfit – 50 “Man Makers” (Push up, DB squat clean, push press 35 lbs) for time
Saturday – 9.58 Miles in Lory
Sunday – Intervals at CSU track
Jobe
Jobe and I getting crushed during a Work Out of The Day at Emergent Fitness last week.
15 rounds for time:
* 1 Front Squat at 75% of 1RM
* 100 ft Farmers Carry (32 pood kettlebell’s, 141 pounds total)
Brutal!
Andy B
outsideallday.com
If you read the blog frequently, you know that it was basically abandoned the last few months. Work and life have been crazy. Even the last 3 weeks have been nuts. I’m in the midst of 12 days of travel for work out of 15 days. Business travel buries me and my eating. Tired and feel fat.
Current stats for 2011:
173 pounds (need to be at 160 by May 29)
Overall eating is horrid
Longest run is around 7 miles this season
Sticking pretty consistent with CrossFit at Emergent Fitness twice a week
The first race of the year is the Wyoming Trail Marathon on May 29. I’m not nervous about my conditioning yet but I will be in 2 – 3 weeks. A super long run planned for next weekend. From there I go right into Big Horn 50k on June 19. Both races are bought and paid for so there is no backing out.
The bottom line is I need to get my act together with…
Eating right
Consistent attendance at Emergent Fitness
Consistent long and short runs
It’s fun to know that Jobe and Mike are in it with me. Looking forward to a fun trail running season, just need to get moving…
Andy B
outsideallday.com
I’ve been a climber/dirtbag for 20 years now, and in those years, I have yet to train. I know what your thinking.
Man, he must either really like to climb and that’s his training, or he doesn’t care how he climbs just so he’s climbing. Both are accurate, I’ve never been the textbook dirtbag climber.
For instance, I actually have a job; I’ve been a photographer for 24 years and for most that would go against the dirtbag credo. Of course my job allows a great deal of flexibility on my part since I make my own schedule and live in a state where the climbing is as close as a five minute drive from my house. Oh yeah, I have a house too, and a family.
Weird…
All that to say I’ve never really seen the point in training, I climb a lot, and that’s always been what I do, it trains me for, well, climbing?! What else would I do? Enter my friend Andy.
One day, quite innocent enough, Andy mentioned his trainer was an old friend of mine. Now keep in mind, Andy works out at a CrossFit gym called Emergent Fitness, not a place I would frequent. I mean, don’t they pick up truck tires and drag them around behind themselves with chains?
No thanks.
I was sure he was mistaken; until he told me it was my old friend and climbing partner Brad.
Brad and I meet and we reconnect about the days climbing together in WY and CO. Before I know it, he casually mentions I should start training with him. Again, see tire sentence above, and I decline. But here is the thing about Brad, he is a really good climber, I mean like world class. And you don’t get that good at something without being really driven. He has this knack of being able to turn that drive on anything, including his one legged climbing friend. The next thing I know, I’m signing on to train with Brad two days a week, and I’m as shocked as the next guy.
The first two weeks, and I’m fairly sure Brad is trying to break me in half. I can’t bend down to pick up my belay device should it fall, and my whole body feels like I have the bird flu. Both Andy and Brad just laugh.
My climbing goes from being pretty descent to being really bad, since most of the time I’m to tired to care about holding into the holds. Brad has me doing weights and something called Hit Strips, which are holds on a 45-degree wall, which you run weighted laps up and down.
As Brad says, “ you already have endurance, we want power, if you don’t have power, you won’t need to endure anything.” Well said, but all that means is IM getting an ass kicking. By the third week, I’m actually beginning to feel good. I’ve upped my weight in a few things, and the hit strips are getting better. I still haven’t seen a climbing change, but I’m hopeful. Now in week four, I head into the gym after a rest day, another strange and foreign concept for me. I mean what do you DO on a rest day???
After warming up, I send a project I failed on two weeks before, and after four hours of climbing, I’m not really that tired.
Hmmmm, where is that tire and chain?
Craig DeMartino
outsideallday.com
Is this Craig on the Emerfit system board? Why yes it is. Craig is now officially training with Brad at Emerfit during his off season.
I’m glad to have him…
Andy B
outsideallday.com
