Thursday, December 9, 2010

End Of Paleo Challenge

End Of Paleo Challenge

So here are my results of my 7 week Paleo Challenge. They are not the results I wanted or hoped for , but I only have myself to blame for that. I went into this with all the intent of not cheating and staying strict paleo. Like many other things in life, they don’t always go as planned. I am not going to sit here and make excuses about why I my results were not up to par. I am just going to say that if I had put 100% into like I should have I would have seen much better results.

The results I did get, I am happy about, seeing how they were good enough to win me 3rd place in the Corporal Crossfit Challenge. So with out further delay here are the measurement and the pics. The changes are slight but you can see the differences.

Weight: -8 lbs putting my weight loss since Aug at 33 pounds.
Waist at Bellybutton: -3 in
Waist at smallest point: -4 in
Hips: -1.5 in


Now that I have this 1st 7 weeks out of the way I am ready for another round. I cant promise that I will be 100% but I sure am going to try. I know that I can do better then this last time. With the help and support of you all and the kick ass training I am getting at Corporal Crossfit. Thanks for reading.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

After Thanksgiving Suckfest!

11/29 thru 12/2 2010

So the Turkey day festivities are over and its time to get back to work. Some of us were bad and some were really bad. I for one was just bad. I cheated on My diet a few times over the Holiday, but I made up for it in Home WOD’s as I pointed out in my last Blog. The 29th marked the Return of My Coaches Carlos and Jenny who went to Wisconsin to celebrate their union or marriage with their families.  Jenny and Carlos had a special WOD ready for their return. I was more then thrilled to get back to work. Below you will see the WOD’s and SWOD’s for the last 4 days. As you can see we have not been taking it easy. We hit the ground running and got right back to work.

11/29
WOD-10 Dead-Hang Pull Ups-20 GHD Situps-40 Double-Unders5 Rounds, For time: 16:01

This WOD was great, I did scale down to ABMAT Sit-ups for 3 rounds instead of all 5 rounds of GHD. I had never done them before and I didn’t want to over do it and hurt myself.  I switched it up a bit with singles and double unders. I  am still only able to link 2-3 DU at once, but I am getting better. . I am also still using the Green band for pull-ups. I think next month I will go one lower.

GHD Sit-Up's
                                                                  

11/30
SWOD-Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 @#155
MetCon10-20-30-20-10-Sumo DLHP (53#,35#)-Dips For time. 6:52

I had a rough time getting my form and technique down for the Push Jerk, I kept doing Push Presses. With some help for Carlos and Pablo I was able to get a few good sets in. I kept the weight low so I could work on my form and technique.  This WOD was a fun one Pablo and myself went head to head and he beat me out by a few seconds. That is one of the best things about Crossfit for me. Having another person there to push you, to make you work harder, to really want it and to beat the other person and to cheer them on to finish faster next time.

Sumo Deadlift High Pull with Kettle-bells













12/01
WOD-10 Hang Cleans (155#, 125#)-15 Tuck Jumps-200m Run4 Rounds, For time: 8:04 @ #95

JENNY I HATE RUNNING!  That’s all I got to say about this WOD, other then I am glad I did not go RX or I would still be doing Hang Cleans right now.

12/02
SWOD: Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5 @#305 (PR)
MetCon:40 Squats,30 Abmat Situps,20 Knees to Elbow,10 Goblet Squats,3 Rounds, For  time: 9:45

I  got a PR on today’s SWOD and I was very happy with it. I wanted to shot for 315 but was Talked down and for good reason. I will save 315 for another day. I know I could have got the weight up, but I am happy with today’s PR.  The WOD was Fast paced  and it hurt. After the SWOD all the squatting in this WOD really got my legs burning. I think I could have gone a bit faster on my ABMATS but I went slower and really focused on making sure I felt my abs do the work. My abs are pretty sore right now So I think I did a good job at isolating them today.

Back Squat Progression

All and all it has been a great week. I have been super strict with my Paleo. Only 4 more day to see the results of the 7 week challenge. I will post all my results and to include weight and measurements along with some before and after pics. So make sure you come back to see how I did.  I am out for now time for some sleep.

Monday, November 29, 2010

WOD’s From Home

11-26,27,28-2010

WOD’s From Home

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday Corporal Crossfit was closed. I decided that I didn’t want to go that long with out getting some work in. I used the Travel WOD section along with some of my own ideas to chose my WOD’s. Here are the WOD’s I chose with my times.

11-26-2010

Double WOD Day (After Thanksgiving ass kicking for eating that pie)

WOD #1 25 ABMAT Sit-ups, 15 Air Squats, 10 Push-Ups, 5 Push-Press with 30lbs Dumbells X5 for time: 9:37

This 2nd WOD came from Coach Carlos
WOD #2 100-50-25, Air Squats, Push-Ups for time:15:40

11-27-2010

Home WOD/ 100-Jumping jacks/75-Air Squats/ 50-Push-ups/ 25-ABMAT Sit-ups/ 10 Burpies for time: 8:45

11-28-2010
Home WOD/ 10 push-ups 10 squats 10 sit ups 10 rounds for time: 11:08

I have to say that getting the motivation to pick myself up off my bed to do WODS alone took a lot. I go to crossfit so I have them to help me get that motivation. This week was rough, but with the help of my crossfit buddy Emilio who was also posting his Home WODs, I got thru the workout and and kicked my own ass for once. I Have also been pretty good with my diet the last week. The only day I was bad was Thanksgiving when I ate a pumpkin pie cupcake my sister made. The rest of the meal I was good , I stuck to Turkey, and veggies and had a few yams as well. The rest of the week I stuck to my Fresh veggies, fruit and turkey leftovers.  I am Proud of myself for sticking to my guns and not letting myself just sit around for 4 days. It just goes to show that a little bit of effort can go along way.

I want to leave you with this quote from a speech I seen on Youtube. I think it say a lot about myself this week.

"My heart and my soul will be the fuel to carry my body when my limbs are to weary"

Here is the Speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAPv_DhIFkQ

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Power Cleans Rock!

11/23/2010

Power Cleans Rock!

Today’s WOD implemented the use of the Power Clean. This is by far my weakest power lift. The motion of rotating my hands to bring the bar up to my chest is just hard for me due to not being as flexible as I should be. I still manage to get a few goods ones in, but I defiantly need to practice this movement and work on my flexibility. Below is the WOD for the day and my results.




WOD
AMRAP 20 Minutes
-15 Leg Lifts
-10 Power Cleans 135#
-5 Pull Ups
 I finished 9 rounds  @ 115# Power Cleans and the Green Band for Pull-ups.

I was going to do this RX but was talked down my Coach Carlos. Im glad I took heed to his warning, because after the 2 round of power cleans I was pretty smoked. So I feel that 115# was the perfect weight for me at this point in my training. The leg lifts stated to suck at about round 5, but I fought thru the pain and kept pushing thru. Pull-ups are another weak point for me. I have weak tendons in my arms which strain easy so I am timid to go hard on pull-ups. Today was different. I used my kip and the pull-ups were not bad at all today.

All in all it was a killer WOD and everyone got crushed. All my classmate did a great job in keeping everyone motivated and did not let anyone quit. At the end of the work out we all to a group photo in front of the new wall logo.



Corporal Crossfit will be closed for the holiday, so I will have to do some home WOD’s or even drop into another local box.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone have a great one.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Corporal Crossfit 2.0

Corporal Crossfit 2.0

Recently Carlos and Jenny decided they need and wanted more room to train the growing numbers of Crossfitters coming to train at Corporal Crossfit. Here are a few pics of the New and Improved Corporal Crossfit.

Congrats to Calros and Jenny for putting together a pretty awesome Box for all of us to come to and get our asses kicked. 

I look forward to many days of killer WODS at the New Place.

 
 


Back on Track

11/19-22/2010
Back on track!
 
 
Since my last update I have really stepped it up and made a better effort in both my WOD’s and my diet. I took the time this week to sit down and write out a list of foods I can eat and afford. I was able to buy a good weeks supply of food. That is if I can spread it up and not over eat. I bought a lot of fresh fruit like apples and pears. I like to have fruit in the morning with my eggs. The veggies I got were the normal ones I get Cucumber, tomatoes, celery, carrots, green pepper. I also got asparagus, I had never really had it so I wanted to give it a try. I lucked out in the meat department, they were having a sale on Turkey lunch meat 2 for 6 bucks with a extra buck off, I bought 6. Also grabbed a backed chicken and 2 bags of shrimp (buy 1 get 1 free) All in all I feel good about it and didn’t spend a butt load.

The WODs for the last few days were killer and I went at them as hard as I could. Here are my results for the last 3 WODs. I know that if I keep pushing myself and listen to my coaches and my body I will achieve my goals. I just have to say focused and not let my everyday BS get in my way. I must stay the course. Thanks to my classmates and coaches for everything.

11-19
SWOD
NEW PR #165x3
MetCon
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
-Back Extensions
-Push Press (55#,35#)
-Slam Balls
8:03 (RX)
WOD
15:03 scaled down to 185# after 2nd round of DL's
11-22
Benchmark WOD
"Karen"
-150 Wall Ball Shots
For time 9:15 
 

-15 Deadlifts (225#, 155#)
-20 Box Jumps, 24'
5 Rounds, For time
11-20

-Standing Press 3-3-3-3-3

Friday, November 19, 2010

SLACKER!

11-19-2010

Yes I know its been a long time since I have posted. A lot has been going on with me since my last post. Work, Personal and Crossfit wise.

Work- I have been juggling 2 jobs and still not getting the hours I need to make my bills add up. I have recently Picked up a 3rd better paying job so I will be dropping one of the others. I have also recently applied for and interviewed for a job with a Security Company that works for the federal government here in Miami. I was selected for this job, but it does not start till jan. If I make it thru all the process, this will be a good chance for me to make good money.

Personal- Im still single and still not looking. Dating is just pain in the ass when your trying to fix your life, I just don’t have the time for it right now. I would also like to take this chance to welcome my new niece into the world. My sister Kristine and her husband are now Mommy and Daddy to a beautiful baby girl Amber Lynn Phipps.

Crossfit and Paleo- My WODS are going great when I am able to get there. I push myself hard and crush the WODS. I have set a few Prs lately. #305 Back Squat x3 also #245 Front Squat. Net goals are #350 BS and #275 FS. I will attempt to stay up to date on my WOD Posting as well as my Diet if I could just make it more then 5 days without slipping. That takes me into Paleo. With my job and my hours I find it very hard to stay Paleo 100%. There are times at work where I am held over and I don’t have the proper foods to eat and make it thru with out having to order some kind of shit food. I attempt to over pack at times but more often then not I never bring enough to hold me over.

I still have a few more weeks of my Current Box Paleo challenge so I will try and step it up and make some changes in my diet and WODS to make up for my bad days. Wish me luck!
 
 

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Day 10!

10-27-2007

DAY 10!

Dear Blog, its has been 6 days since my last confession. I must say this has been a very rough 6 days form me. Diet, Crossfit, and life in general wise.

Last weekend I went on a trip back up north to visit friends for a Halloween party. A weekend filled with great friends, drinks and awesome food that I could not eat. I’m not going to lie I slipped a few times and I will not go into it, lets just say my Crossfit family would not be to happy with it.

When I got back from my trip I went to work. Upon arrival I am notified that I would not have a job come Thursday. As you can image this was a surprise to myself. It seems that the contract that I work for. (Miami-Dade County) thinks that it had to much security to protect a water plant. They decided to cut 600hrs from our contract. That’s is roughly the hours for about 10 of my coworkers that are now without work. I was a bit pissed off as you guess. Its hard to take in that you just lost your job for no good reason.

Yesterday I spent the whole day looking for a new job. I found one but I am taking a $5 dollar pay cut. That is not good for me, but it is better then nothing. I have a few other Interviews lined up for better paying jobs, but need income for the time being.

On the Crossfit side, as you might have guess I just haven’t had time to get to the box. I can feel the difference in the way I feel when I miss a few days and I really don’t like it. I feel like my body gets all knotted up and stiff. My diet also suffers when I am stressed like this and I can really feel the change in the way I feel when I eat poorly.

But no worries I will be back today to have my ass kicked the Corporal Crossfit way. So wish me luck on getting back on track I really need it.
 

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Day 4 10-21-2010 "Cindy"

Day 4 of my Paleo challange.

BF- 3 whole eggs/ ½ cup Ground Turkey meat/ 1 TB of Salsa, 1 cup mixed fruit.

Lunch- Green Salad with leftover taco meat added. Salad had lettuce, green peppers and cucumbers, no dressing. Tossed in a few almonds to spice it up.
 
Dinner- My dad made Grilled chicken. No BBQ sause he used some garlic and other spices for flavor. I had 1 ½ chicken Breasts and green beans, with pepper. It was simple and tasty at the same time.

Benchmark WOD
"Cindy"
AMRAP 20 Minutes
-5 Pull Ups
-10 Push Ups
-15 Squats


I arrived at Corporal Crossfit about 30 mins before class to do some stretching , as I always do. My Quads were pretty sore from yesterdays WOD. That mixed in with today’s WOD “Cindy” which has squats in it as well, I figured that I needed to workout some of the lactic acid before the WOD. Today’s Class member were Brickell,Tania w/Sister, Emilio and myself. After some Talk about how we were feeling with the change to our diet with the Paleo Diet, we started our warm-ups. This consisted of 2 rounds of 30 Jumping Jacks, 15Push-ups and Air Squats. From there we did some rotations to get the joints loose and some upper body stretches to get the blood flowing. In no time at all We were hearing the clock count down 3..2..1 GO!


The Kipping Pull-Up

The 1st 5 rounds went pretty good for me. I was working my Kip in as much as could with the pull-ups but its hard to do when using a band. I did my Push-up RX and squats didn’t hurt as much as I thought they would. My send round of 5 was not so easy. My arms started to burn pretty good in the8th round, but I fought thru it for the pull-ups, but had to go to modified push-ups for the rest of my rounds, and squats really started to suck. In the final rounds I could hardly move or breath, but with coach Carlos pushing us to keep going we did. I completed 17 Rounds in 20 mins using a green resistance band for 15 rounds and a blue one for 2. This was my 1st “Cindy” so I am ok with my results. I set a goal for 20 when I started. I missed that goal , but I know that next time around I will not let her kick my ass as she did this time. Congrats to my classmates for a killer job today. I will see you all next week.
 

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Day 3 10-20-2010 Paleo Challange

Day 3 10-20-2010

BF- 3 whole eggs/ 4 slices turkey bacon, 1 TB of Salsa, 1 cup Grapes

Lunch- Paleo Tacos 
-1 lbs ground turkey meat
-2 cups spinach leaves

Brown in a pan and drain, put back in pan and add ½ jar of salsa and mix.
Take meat and wrap it in roman or iceberg lettuce and enjoy.

I don’t eat all the meat in one sitting that would be way to much. I divide it up into 4 meals. This is a real quick and simple meal that does not cost a lot of money. I get my ground turkey meat from Sams Club, it come in packs of 4 for around 10 dollars. I use a Bagged Spinach that you can get from any supermarket for about 3 bucks a bag. The salsa is what ever kind you like I use a Winn Dixie brand that does not have any sugar in it.



                                                    
Dinner- Turkey patty with onions and green beans. I know it is the same as last night, but I am pretty boring when it comes to food. I just do what is fast and easy and I cook in bulk. Tonight I added just a little under a teaspoon of BBQ sauce for flavor to the patty it was kind of bland. Hope that don’t count against me =)
 
 
WOD-
-5 Front Squats
-5 Push Press
-5 Thrusters

5 Rounds, For time = 4:24 RX’ed
(M:75#, F:45#)
Tonight’s WOD was fast but it sure did kick my ass. The 1st two rounds I did unbroken in :55 seconds. After that I started to feel it. I slowed down to around 1 round a min. At the end of the WOD I was crushed, I had a hard time breathing and I was a bit dizzy. I just think this was due to me really crushing this WOD, Well crushed it for me that is. After a few minutes I caught my breath and did some stretching and drank a bottle of water. All in all it was a really good WOD and I am happy with my time. Next time I do this one I will shoot for 3 minutes. Thanks to my Classmates for pushing me to work harder. I am off to the shower and then in bed by 10pm. Till next time.


                                                                

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Day 1and 2 Paleo Challenge 10-18/19-2010

Day 1 10-18-2010

BF- 3 whole eggs/ 4 slices turkey bacon, 1 TB of Salsa, 1 cup Grapes
Lunch- 1 Chicken Breast with pepper and Garlic for flavor, 1 large Peach
Snack- Celery Sticks
Dinner- Tuna Fish over a Garden salad of lettuce , spinach leaves, cucumber tomato, and green peppers. Olive oil vinaigrette as dressing

WOD-
-50 Double-Unders ( 150 singles )
-10 Muscle Ups ( 10 pull-ups/10 ring dips)
-40 Double-Unders ( 120 singles )
-8 Muscle Ups ( 8 pull-ups/8 ring dips)
-30 Double-Unders ( 90 singles )
-6 Muscle Ups ( 6 pull-ups/6 ring dips)
-20 Double-Unders ( 60singles )
-4 Muscle Ups ( 4 pull-ups/4 ring dips)
-10 Double-Unders ( 30 singles )
-2 Muscle Ups ( 2 pull-ups/2 ring dips)

For time: 10:18

I am still working on my Double-Unders and my Muscle-ups so I scaled down. The scale down is inside the ( ). I mixed in a few Double-Unders and I am starting to get the hang of them. With more practice I will be doing all my jump roping using Double-Unders. As for the Muscle-Ups I have a long was to go. I think that once I shed another 20-30 lbs I will be able to get 1 or 2.
 
Day 2 10-19-2010

BF- 3 whole eggs/ 4 slices turkey bacon, 1 TB of Salsa, 1 cup Grapes
Lunch- 4oz of turkey meat, 1 med tomato and 1 large apple
Snack- handful of Almonds/ 2 Carrots
Dinner- Turkey patty with onions and green beans

WOD-
Off day at Corporal Crossfit, but I did a little bit of work at home. Nothing big just a few body weight exercises and some work a stretch band. Here is what I did.

2 sets
15 Close Hand Push-Ups with Push-Up Bars
15 Wide Hand Push-Ups with Push-Up Bars
15 Shoulder press and raises
50 Sit-Ups( I really need to buy the Abmat)

Like I said nothing big, just enough to stay lose and not feel lazy. All in all I feel pretty good. Im not starving like I thought I might be. I Hope that I can maintain this drive I have right now. That is where you, my friends and family come in. I need your help to keep me going. Your comments of encouragements will fuel me to keep going. Well that’s all for today, time to let my body rest.
 

A Re-Start at life

In this 1st post I will tell you about myself and how I have come to where I am at life right now.

1st I have never blogged before really, I am not a great writer but feel that i express myself pretty well in text other then in person. I'm not great at spelling or in grammar, so if you see mistake, be advised I told you so. OK with that out of the way here we go.

Well if your a friend of mine you know my name, but for others that stumble upon my blogger for whatever reason it may be, my name is Richard Stokes ( Hence the Stoked in the blog title), but you can call me Ric. I am 33years old. I am a father of 3 sons. I live and work in Miami, FL. as a Security Supervisor at a water plant. What I do right now is not what I want to be doing but it is a job, so I cant bitch. I spent 12 years in the US Army as a Infantryman and as a Military Police Officer. I have always been into sports and started lifting weights at the age of 14. Like many kids at that age , I had no clue what I was doing as far as lifts or diet. I would eat what I wanted and did workouts that I seen in Flex and other Muscle mags. I never really did see changes in my body from what I was doing other then getting bigger as I grew older. When I joined the Army I stopped going to the gym and just did what the Army calls PT, Mostly running, with push-ups and sit-ups. This was not enough for my body to fight off the shitty diet that I had. I pretty much lived on Pizza and Beer. So I went from 180lbs from when I joined in Aug of 1996 to 230lbs by the time I left the Army In March 2008.  For the last 2 1/2 years of being out of the Army not much has changed other then I was not working out AT ALL, and my diet had not changed.  I was growing tired of being fat and basically just living a shitty life.

In Dec of 2009 I was talking to a friend of mine (Navy Mike/Lala) who had been posting workouts and weigh loss on his FaceBook. I asked him what he was doing and he told me about Crossfit. I was very interested and he looked up a box for me. At the Time I was living in Chardon, Ohio going to Nursing School. I had also just started going to a mom and pop gym in town. I would go there and be bored within the 1st 10 mins and I would just leave having pretty much doing nothing. Mike told me there was a Box In my area. CrossFit 440 had just opened a few months before I got there. Coach Jim Marino and Coach Ryan Speed took me in and put me through my baseline on day one. I finished it but  boy were my eyes open on how bad I really had let myself go.

In March of 2010 I decided that Nursing was not for me so I packed up and took my talents to South Beach( Sorry Ohio Friends had to make a funny about Lebron). I moved to Florida with the idea of getting a job in a federal prison. That is still my goal, its just on hold for now due to some credit issues. I was not able to continue with my Crossfit workouts due to an injury i had suffered before the move. 5 months passed and I was starting to feel crappy again. My body hurt and i was not sleeping. I knew what I needed and it was Crossfit. I looked up boxes in my area and found one that was a perfect fit for me. Corporal Crossfit was only 3 miles from where I lived. I called and talked to Coach Carlos Arias and set up a time to come in and talk about joining his new box. With the Help of Coach Carlos and Coach Jenn Stockero, I am back on track to my goals.


                              This is a Pic of me today 10-19-2010,  I am 5-10ish and 250 lbs. 
                                             
as you can see I am not what you would call "FIT" or "In Shape". That is why I am here. I'm am going to share with you my current challenge in life, To Get Healthy!

How am I going to do that you may ask? I will achieve my goals by being active in Crossfit and making a life style change in the way I eat with the Paleo diet.

What is Crossfit? follow these links and have a look for yourself.
-http://www.crossfit.com/journal/library/what_is_crossfit.pdf
-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjdQZxTIj1U

Well that's is all for now. Come back and check in me from time to time and see how my progress is going. I will be posting my WODs, my meals, and Pics of me along this trip. Thank you for your support and words of encouragement.  So here we go Ready 3...2...1.... GO!