Reflections

Reflection

Reflection is a technique that is not used often enough. Reflection is often thought of as simply what's looking back at you in the mirror, which is true, but nothing positive is usually gained by doing so. The best way to explain this is to simply describe it to you.

This past weekend I competed in a team CrossFit  Competition called The Bacon Beatdown in Orlando with two amazing athletes, and two guys that I consider great friends, Drew Rosener and Michael Ferrone. 

The competition put 500 athletes through a gauntlet of grueling workouts. As  long as the weekend was, it did fly by after thinking back on it today. 

The last workout brought us to the main arena with hundreds of people gathering around to cheer the athletes on. 

Thank you Jordann, Bushkie, Alex, Fox, and Allyson for coming to cheer us on.){Also I want to take a moment and thank my wife Michelle for not just supporting me with my CrossFit endeavors but everything in general. Michelle you always support me in everything I do and I thank you. I couldn't do it without you.} Ok back on track so as we are warming up waiting to start our final workout I look out at the hundreds of people and I think how fucking cool it is to have the opportunity to be there even though I was staring down the barrel of a barbell loaded with 135 lbs, which I was going to have to do 30 thrusters with. During that moment of reflection (there's that key word) I thought how far I had come, how much better I was in all aspects of life, how many awesome people I had met, and how I was continually doing things I thought was not possible  (finished the 30 thrusters at 135 in 2:10) I am not a show your emotion type guy usually, but I did have a minute of Wow before we started that workout. 

The takeaway is that everyone should take a minute win, lose, or draw to soak in the moment, think of what you accomplished, and the steps that led you to that moment in time. This technique helps you appreciate your hard work, appreciate the people who were with you along the journey, brings positives out of negatives, analyze points for change, but most importantly gets your mind right so a new found motivation can be generated. 

Our team finished 9th overall in 6 grueling workouts, and I can't thank Drew and Mike enough for kicking ass, and I can't thank out coaches enough for their time and knowledge they have put into us over the past year. I appreciate you guys more than you will ever know.

On to the details of the competition.

The workouts

Workout One

For time 

200 air squats

100 hang snatches at 75lbs

200 air squats

Workout Two

3 parts

Part one

3 min AMRAP of

30 alternating lunges with 135 lbs in front rack

Then as many rope climbs in the remaining three minutes

Part two 

3 minute AMRAP of 

30 SDHP at 135 lbs

Then as many knees to elbow as possible in the remaining amount of time

Part three 

3 minute AMRAP of

30 deadlifts at 315

Then as many pull-ups as possible in the remaining 3 minutes the catch here was I order for the pull-ups to count you had to hold the deadlift bar of 315 lbs off the ground.

Workout Three

15 minute AMRAP of

10 alternating one legged burpees

20 Double Unders

30 meter prowler push at 90,135,180,225,275, and 325lbs

Workout four (start of day two)

6 rounds for time of

12 reps of a 100lb  medball lift over a shoulder height ball

12 back squats at 155lbs

Then 24 ring deficit push-ups

Workout five

Keg ladder

Every minute you had to do seven burpees and then take a keg with liquid inside and go from ground to overhead. Each round the keg got heavier by 20 lbs. the starting weight was 85 lbs and progressed up to 225 lbs.

Workout six

For time

30 squat cleans at 135 lbs

30 thrusters at 135 lbs

30 ground to overhead at 135

After the event I still felt as though I could do another workout if I had to. However this morning when I woke up, that was a different story. My body was wrecked, and I could tell I had been through 2 days of hell. Now I can focus on a couple days of beers and burgers before I embark on my next training cycle. The next training cycle will continue with strength but I'm going to focus on gymnastics and body weight movements. Possibly another 30 day challenge who knows. But one thing is for sure I will be ready for my next competition at Crossfit Rebels. Another team competition where Drew and I along with Jordy and KFLU will be teaming up to show who the best in the Bay is.

For those who are nervous or apprehensive about competing. I get it I was the same way. What I can say about them is that it allows you to fine tune your strengths, fix your weaknesses, but most importantly it allows for (that key word again) Reflection. It is always nice every so often to test your fitness and reflect on where you came from as opposed to where you are now. 

Whether its training, cooking, work, relationships, etc... Take time to reflect it is a highly beneficial technique that will allow you to put everything you have done up to that moment in time into perspective.

The last priece of this post is something that I had many requests to write about and that was what was my nutritional plan during to competition? Most people would same to keep the same plan that you had with any other training day but what I say to them is that it is extremely hard to eat that much between that many workouts so my plan is as follows:

Every morning 1 hour before the first workout I had a protein shake, half a banana and one teaspoon of almond butter.

After each workout I had a handful of blueberries or some Gatorade for a quick pick me up to restore glycogen levels. After my second workout I had  6 oz of chicken, protein shake and half a sweet potato

1 hour before the last workout I would have another half of a banana and almond butter.

At the end of each day I had a protein shake and then an hour after that I tried to eat a balanced dinner (keyword there is try) dinner after day one was a full rack of ribs and grilled veggies and a scoop of casein protein right before bed. I would not suggest a whole rack of ribs but it worked for me I felt good the next morning.

Day two I kept the same meal structure from above. Meals during competition for me is more of an expirament. I am still trying to figure out what works best. Everyone is different and what works for me may not work for you. What I would suggest is the paleo technique of grazing. I would graze with small portions of foods that are balanced in proteins, carbs, and fat. I would also steer away from full meals so over eating isn't an issue.  If you think of grazing then you usually are good. I have two more competitions  this year and hopefully will get this down to a science. 

This weekend was awesome and can't wait to share the next ones with you! 

Until next time....

-Baugh