Summer Challenge at CrossFit Houston

This past weekend I participated in the Summer Challenge at CrossFit Houston. The day started at 8am with the first workout, which was:
15 sandbag get ups (100#)
30 lateral burpees (24")
15 sandbag get ups (100#)
Then, about 3 hours later we did wod 2 which was a 1.5 mile trail run, pretty hilly and definitely HOT, with a 20 pound vest on. The combination of your time on wod 1 and wod 2 determined whether or not you advanced to wod 3.

Wod 3 was brutal:
Push a Prowler Sled down and back (45# about 20-30 yards)
9 db thrusters (50#)
Push a Prowler Sled down and back (45# about 20-30 yards)
6 db thrusters (50#)
Push a Prowler Sled down and back (45# about 20-30 yards)
3 db thrusters (50#)
Push a Prowler Sled down and back (45# about 20-30 yards)

Only 6 of the athletes even finished this workout under the 15 minute cut off time. From there we had about an hour and a half until the fourth and final wod:
500m row
5 squats (185#)
5 kb swing (55#)
5 box jumps (30")
1000m row
10 squats (185#)
10 kb swing (55#)
10 box jumps (30")
500m row
15 squats (185#)
15 kb swing (55#)
15 box jumps (30")

The whole day was HOT and very demanding of the lower body. I really felt like the first workout was my least favorite and makes me want to order some sandbags for our box so we can work on those. I ended up placing 3rd at the competition, I am still amazed by this. I feel blessed to have been able to compete and to have recovered well enough to push hard on all the workouts.

I want to share something that I thought was really inspiring on Saturday. After the first workout my dad, my wife and I went to a little taqueria across the street to cool off and so they could eat breakfast. We met a couple who was there eating breakfast but also at the competition supporting their son (Zach Stewart). I actually know Zach, he went to A&M and now he lives in Spring working as an athletic director for a community over there. Anyway, he trains at a box in Spring - CrossFit Silverback. His parents were telling me how much of an impact CrossFit has made in Zach's life, how he has lost 25 pounds and really gotten in great shape. (On a side note, Zach took 1st place in the scaled division at Saturday's competition - great athlete). They explained how he has inspired them and how it motivated them to sign up at CrossFit Silverback. They began sharing their "CrossFit Story". Telling me how hard it was at the beginning, how they couldn't even do "this" or "that" and how now they can do "this" and "that". Zach's dad said he has lost 30 pounds and Zach's mom has lost 20 in the 3 months since they started crossfitting. So in total, this family, including Zach, have lost 75 pounds! WOW! He is 52 and she is 49 years old, they said that they had not worked out in several years and how much they now enjoy going to "the box" at 5:30am. I'll bet that CrossFit has strengthened their relationship and I know it has improved their quality of life.

There are many stories out there just like this one, many of you have a "CrossFit Story". I encourage you to share "your story" with someone this week, or share it with several people, you never know when you might motivate someone to get off the couch and lose 25 pounds.



If God simply handed us everything we wanted, He’d be taking from us our greatest prize – the joy of accomplishment.

2 Timothy 2:4 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

-1.62 = 37th place

It has been a week since the south central regional qualifier and I am finally getting around to posting something about it. The first thing I want to say is THANK YOU, thank you to all of the people who hosted the event, the volunteers, the competitiors, our supporters from College Station CrossFit, Daren for programming my workouts this month, my sister Kandis for coming to watch, my wife Alicia for being my #1 fan, and all of the people who said prayers and sent emails wishing me a great weekend. I also want to thank God for being with me throughout all four of those workouts, I know He got me throught them and helped me stay heathly to complete the weekend without an injury.

This competition was a fascinating experience, it felt like it was a proffessional sport and like we were the athletes. CrossFit is growing so much and I would not be surprised if in the next few years we watch CrossFit competitions on TV. The CrossFit Games this year is taking place at The Home Depot Center, it will be a huge event and I promise you that it will only get bigger in the years to come. People who follow the sport of CrossFit recognize names like Rob Orlando, Chris Spealler, Jeremy Thiel, Jason Khalipa and other top performers in the sport. Just wait, this sport will get big. And I feel honored to be out there competing in it.

The workouts this weekend were not longer than 15 minutes, there were no long runs or really long chippers. They challenged all the athletes in the 5-15 minute window of CrossFit. I feel like I learned a lot about myself as a CrossFit athlete in the four workouts. By far, the workout that made me feel the absolute worst was the 10 minute weighted Cindy workout. I did 9 rounds (5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats w/ 20lb. vest) and 1 pull up. When I finished I was done, I could not do anything for about an hour. I was really happy with how I performed on that workout but my score was one of the lowest out of all the competitors. I feel like I need to lose 15-20 pounds to become a more competitive crossfitter. I feel like if I do that I will be able to move my weight a lot better and I will do better on workouts like this one. The top performers in this workout did 13 rounds.....WOW, that is moving fast, none of them weigh over 190 lbs to my knowledge.

My favorite workout was the third one - 100 double unders, then 3 rounds of 275# deadlift x 10 and 100m 75#sandbag run, then 1k row. I was happy to get 99 double unders in a row, then my deadlifts were unbroken until the third set and my row was under 4 minutes...I really wish I would have rowed harder. My time was 8:47, earning me 26th place in that event where the top performer had a time of 7:29. This workout was the first on Sunday and it didn't leave me feeling terrible, I felt like I still had enough in me to hit the last workout that afternoon pretty hard.

As for the other two workouts, the first - snatch/overhead squat - I PR'd with a 185 power snatch and then overhead squated it 3 times. This earned me a spot at 24th place for the event, tied with 10 other competitors who did 185# also. I would have loved to get 195# but I was really happy with 185#. The fourth and final workout on Sunday afternoon - 10 muscle ups, 15 handstand push ups, 20 squat cleans (155#) and a 600m run around the block (up and down hill) - was a big triumph for me because 2 months ago I could not do muscle ups at all and handstand push ups (head to ground) were not something I was comfortable. The handstand push ups almost knocked me out of sectionals. So immediately after sectionals I decided to go next door to BV Gymnastics and train with Jim Foght on muscle ups once per week. For 4 weeks I did not get one muscle up, then I got maybe 2 or 3 each week. It wasn't until about 10 days before regionals that I actually started to get a better grasp of them (and I still need to work on them). I was so happy that I got all 10 of them on WOD 4 and I also did well on the handstand push ups. I didn't fly through them, but I got through them in order to move on and complete the workout. Next was the 155# squat cleans which "ate my lunch" (that's for Will Schaub). These cleans were miserable, it was as if at that point the entire weekend of workouts caught up to me and I was done, my body did not want to go on. Fortunately for me (but unfortunately for my body) I had a group of awesome supporters yelling at me through out all 20 of those reps and I got them all done and headed out for the run. The run was a brutal up hill for about 200 m then came down hill. Kris Kepler came right by me, passing me up and then I was like "oh no! I need to move faster" so I came in right behind him....one second behind him to be exact with a time of 12:20. This earned me the 39the spot on that event and the first place time did an insane 4:54.

The combination of these events gave me a decimal point of -1.62 which equals 37th place out of 59 athletes. I am happy with that, I was happy to compete and happy to learn more about myself.

I have decided to gear my workouts strictly towards CrossFit for the next year, no marathons, half marathons and no triathlons longer than the sprint distance. I want to get stronger, lose 20 pounds and focus on the 2-10 minute window in my met con training. I really enjoy CrossFit as a sport, I enjoy competing and I feel like with God I can make it to the CrossFit Games. I am going to put my faith in Him and train hard this year. When He thinks I'm ready, He will put me there, I trust Him 100%.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

My blog - so now I am not going to post my daily workouts anymore, instead I am going to post things that I feel will encourage, motivate and educate people to be more healthy, happy and fit individuals. I will update it as I find information and feel inspired to write things worthy of posting. I plan to include scripture and messages from my church that will apply to what I am writing about. I hope you enjoy reading it and please feel free to comment on it, your feedback motivates me!

Picture from wod 1 -
Picture from wod 2 -
Picture from wod 3 -
Picture from wod 4 -