Measured Man

My name is Drew. I live in Brooklyn, NY. I run. I write. I code. I dream of being a better version of me. This is my life.

[measuredman]

On life, crossfit, and the American way

Inconsistent is the best way to describe my blogging style this last 6-9 months. There are a number of reasons for this, but chief among them is the fact that I feel like I just repeat myself over and over again on here. So I get myself all pumped up to start being consistent, post a bunch and then peter out as I discover that I'm just posting WOD photos and/or talking about food. I'm starting to feel that this blog and the whole purpose behind it is getting a little long in the tooth. I've valued my time here, have met some amazing people, and accomplished some big goals. However, I can't help but feel like it is time to try something else. How long can one person really talk about the races they run, the miles they don't put in, and the WODs they do? The fact of the matter is, this is a small part of my life. I spend far more time coding, geeking out about technology, and watching TV shows in bulk than I do working out; and I'm okay with that. I'm not sure what I'm saying here. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this blog, all I do know is that what I am doing now isn't working for me. Thoughts?

[cubbiemcprude-deactivated201611]

[m3rmaidsh4d3]

That’s pretty fucking cool!

[thembocoles]

Saving this.

[wtfisthinprivilege-deactivated2]

YO!

[lovehappinessvodka]

Um, where’s the Wonder Woman workout?

[shortmom]

I had it, and then it slipped through my fingers. My eating was really good and I was satisfied every day and I was feeling really healthy. I did it! Goal! Achievement unlocked! I got the medal!

But then … then. Along came the holidays, and all the shit food that comes with them. Beautiful habits...

[measuredman]

I have the exact same problems. I managed to only allow the holidays to exist for about 3-4 weeks this year before getting myself back on track.

I can say for sure that there at least 1 week in there where I was no holds barred, eating all the things.

Glad I did it. Glad I stopped. :)

[measuredman]

Crossfit Strength Training I took the last week and a half off due to a small injury. Seems I pulled my trap a little hard while doing overhead presses last Monday. Still have some range issues, but managed to get all of my reps. Being that I was laid out for a few days last week, you have no idea how glad I am that I didn't do any real damage. Now on with life. :)

[measuredman]

Walt in his new crate, inside his pen. Man this little guy takes up a lot of space in the apartment!

[measuredman]

Meet Walter Wheat.

Over the weekend Lauren and I adopted a 12-week old Wheaton Terrier puppy. He is a rambunctious little guy to say the least.

We're both very new to this puppy game and have definitely had some ups and downs in the last couple days trying to figure out how to be proper parents to this little guy. So far it has been an adventure. He has a ton of personality and a very strong will.

So far things have progressed like this:

Day 1: Yay! Puppy! We drove 3 hours and have a puppy! Puppy!

Day 2: Why is he pooping and peeing everywhere!?!?

Day 3: Awww, he's so cute. Was that a puppy mill we got him from?

Day 4: Wow, he's going to the bathroom where he should! Holy crap, did someone just inject him with amphetamines? Snow! Stop eating everything!!!

I've never really been a dog person, but I'm excited to see where this adventure takes us. Assuming we survive the ordeal!

[measuredman]

Been holding out on this one for almost a month now...

[measuredman]

Crossfit / Yoga 01-11-2014

Today I had planned to run a 10k in Central Park, but decided to sleep in instead. Big surprise.

Instead I decided to hit up Crossfit. Did an hour of their Yoga for Athletes class and then followed that up with today’s group class. There was no real warmup or DROM in class today, so I’m glad I started with yoga.

For the Clean/Split Jerk/Front Squat, I had thought I’d be doing 75 today, as I seem to always do that weight, but instead just kept adding 5 on the bar until time was up. Managed to get up to 98 with no real problems, aside from my landing, which needs some work.

Front Squats were equally good. Had planned to lift 120, but ended up doing my 3 rounds at 125. Then for shits and giggles, I did one round at 145. Had trouble on the last one, but I did it. Guess I really do need to start upping the weights.

[measuredman]

Post-workout breakfast. Scrambled eggs, w/peppers, onions, brisket, and hot sauce. Over corn tortillas, w/ bacon.

[measuredman]

Crossfit Strength Cycle - 01/08/2014

Today was another fairly easy day. All my starting numbers were fairly low, even to the point where the coach noted to himself that I need to go up a bit more next week on the clean.

My sets:

Squat: 45x5 85x5 105x5 110x5x3 Bench Press: 45x5 85x5 125x5x3 Clean: 45x3 55x3 65x3x3

[measuredman]

At the book signing event for Chris Kresser's new book, Your Personal Paleo Code. Wine and pig and Chris Kresser, oh my.

[measuredman]

shortmom replied to your post “Novice Strength Class Starts Today”

Is it strength training (squats, deads, bench) or weightlifting (snatch, clean) or both?

It is a combination. The way it was explained to me, is that each class we will be doing 3 things: a squat, a push, and a pull. So, the pull could definitely be a snatch, or clean. Given that it is the novice class though, I would imagine the more advanced classes definitely spend more time on the more complex movements.

[measuredman]

Crossfit WOD - 01/06/2014

Last night I went back to my crossfit box for the bench press + WOD. Possibly not the smartest of ideas, considering I had done strength training earlier in the day, but given that the lift was different and light (on purpose), I decided to get another workout in.

The Lift: Bench Press

45 x 5

95 x 5

125 x 5

135 x 5

145 x 5 x 3

Overall, it was good to start pushing this number up, I've been hanging around 135 / 140 for a few weeks. Next week I'm going to got for 150 and see where I land.

The WOD itself was killer. It was a partner WOD, where 2 people do each of the parts, but 1 after the other. For this, my friend Kamen had come into Crossfit for the first time in a long while and he got paired up with me. We decided on a 14# wall ball for this.

It basically went like this:

Kamen: 30 wall-balls

Drew: 30 wall-balls

K: 15 wall-balls

D: 15 wall-balls

K: 30 burpees

D: 30 burpees

K: 15 wall-balls

D: 15 wall-balls

K: 30 wall-balls

D: 30 wall-balls

In a word, it was brutal. Kamen fared much better than I did, and he looked pretty defeated during his final wall-balls. Myself, I had to break the last 30 into 10s in order to get them done. The burpees were also especially rough, since I have a hard time doing 10 of them, yet had to pull 30 out from somewhere... I'd be lying if I said there weren't a couple of breaks where I had to catch my breath.

Overall it was pretty good, we finished in exactly 16-minutes. I'd say 9-10 of those were all me, as Kamen powered through and did all of his without any breaks.

From what I hear, the record for the day was just under 10-minutes ... I cannot even imagine.

[measuredman]

Breakfast of champions. 3 egg omelet 6 strips of bacon 2 corn tortillas

[measuredman]

Crossfit Strength (01-06-2013)

First class went well. The coach kept things lightish, to focus on our form. Overall, I did pretty well, considering the problems I've had in the past. Back squat 45x5 85x5 95x5 105x5x3 Overhead press 45x5 65x5 75x5x3 Dead lift 95x5 135x5 165x5

[measuredman]

Novice Strength Class Starts Today

My CrossFit box offers a special 8-week strength class that meets 2x a week for an 1:30. I've been eying these sessions since sometime in July or August, but they've always filled up before I could sign up; this time I managed to get my name in. I'm pretty excited about this class, because I've thought for months that I have a few big limiting factors in my lifts, beyond just mobility, and getting some more focused attention would be beneficial overall. I'm excited to see what kind of changes this helps me make over the next 2-months. If I'm being honest, I'm a little intimidated by this stuff still, so I'm really hoping this helps me get past that once and for all. Maybe it is finally time to start looking into Olympic lifting shoes...

[measuredman]

Post workout recovery breakfast/lunch (dare I say, brunch!?!). Eggs, ground beef, peppers, onions, sweet potatoes, bacon, corn tortillas. Aka, perfection.