Posts Tagged ‘Monthly Recap’

Monthly Recap: May 2018

Posted: June 2, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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May 2018

Fitness- Nothing too crazy this month. May really rocked my world with scheduling conflicts. I’m trying to get better at making my workouts a higher priority than work, but to be honest, a lot of the time I don’t see them that way. As long as I move a few times per week, but I’m productive in a professional capacity, I feel that’s where I should be right now. If I had to share my best gym highlight, it would be hitting 300lbs for a Hang Clean. I haven’t done that for a few years.

I also did the workout Murph this year on Memorial Day, and threw on a weighted vest for it. I was so sore for the entire rest of the week. Should have done more push-ups leading up to the event, but always glad to show my appreciation for those who lost their lives protecting me here at home.

I’m a little bummed that I didn’t have a “first-ever” class that I attended in May, but I’ll try to hit two in June! The plan was to go to my first-ever Orange Theory class, but I couldn’t coordinate schedules with my friend who coaches there. I’ll make it happen this month, though!

House- As springtime quickly seems to turn into summertime, that means lawn care is in full effect! Typically, the lawn will get mowed twice a week, weed-whacking follows, and lots of little things here and there. The more fun project, however, is the constantly evolving garage gym we have. I don’t work out there often, but Em does, and it’s great to continue to create a space that we can escape to whenever life gets too busy!

Other- One of the music festivals we go to often happened this past month, so we spent a few days in Las Vegas attending EDC! It was held a month earlier than last year, and that meant the weather was PERFECT. We had an absolute blast!

Over the last month or so, I’ve started a few new segments on my blog. The first is my Weekly Throwdown, where I share quick workouts and exercises to keep you practicing skills and have some fun! The second is my Tip of the Week. In those videos, I’ll try to share tips and tricks on how to move better, and get more out of your time in the gym. Finally, I’m slowly reviving my “Drive Time with Smashby” videos. Since I’m always running all over town, sometimes the car is the only time where I have uninterrupted blocks of time to answer questions some of you ask. If you’ve checked out any of these videos, I hope you enjoy them!

What’s going on with all of you? I’d love to hear some of your accomplishments in May, or goals for June!

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Monthly Recap: April 2018

Posted: April 30, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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How has it been another month already?!

April 2018

Fitness- April was a whirlwind of a month in the gym for me. In 4 short weeks I had one week that was so busy I barely had time to work out at all, another where I tweaked my back and took nearly 7 days off, then during the final week I had some of the best lifting I’ve done in a very long time. Even though I’m still bummed when I can’t work out, I realize that I’m working out to #BeLessFat and that the gym doesn’t rule my life. When I tweaked my back, I just took time off, stretched and recovered. A few years ago I would have rushed to come back and potentially hurt myself more. Instead, I recovered, and now I feel fine again!

It took a very long time to get to that point of not rushing, but when I did, I stopped being so hard on myself. Yes, the gym is very important to me, but I am not my 1RM Clean and Jerk PR. If you don’t already, you should train yourself to have that mentality. After all… it’s just fitness!

My goal going into the month was to be more consistent with training, and as you just read, life got in the way a little bit. That didn’t stop me from having some really strong moments, though. Hitting a 240lb. snatch for the first time in 3+ years, and then split jerking 310lbs for the first time in over a year felt great. And I’m back to hitting 400+lbs for reps on deadlift, which makes me happy.

My “First Ever” class this month was my favorite! The first time I worked with the i99fit team was over 3 years ago, and I’ve known about their Sunday Open Gym for a long time. Last weekend, I decided it was time to head down there. Why? To learn something I’ve always wanted to do… a backflip! When I showed up, I was the only athlete there. That means I had Coach Anthony (who they call the backflip whisperer) all to myself! After a great progression of drills and skills, and in LESS THAN 45 minutes, I did my first unassisted back flip! I’m so excited!

 

House- No major house updates this month. Other than the garage gym coming along more and more each month, it was a fairly slow month in regards to major projects. I’m kind of glad, too. I’m sure the next project will be a big one, so some down time was nice.

Other- I turned 34 last week. Starting to get pretttty old, huh? As I reflect on 33, it’s amazing how many major changes happened in the last year. Yet, as I sit and look forwards into the rest of 2018, this is potentially going to be the busiest year of my life! Lots and lots and lots of work…. but also lots of play. That’s what it’s all about, right?

My goal for 34 is to get better at balance. If I’m working hard, that’s fine, but there needs to be a goal in sight. Working harder is NOT necessarily working smarter!

What’s going on with all of you? I’d love to hear some of your accomplishments in April, or goals for May!

Monthly Recap: March 2018

Posted: March 31, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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I’m convinced that time is just going to just keep moving faster for the rest of my life. HOW is March already over?! While a large portion of my energy was focused around the CrossFit Open, and helping athletes prepare for it more effectively, it still felt like 31 days went by in a flash. But, we’ve got some recapping to do, so let’s get to it!

March 2018

Fitness- The 2018 CrossFit Games Open is OVER! We did it! After five long weeks of competing, personally redoing every workout once (and doing better each time), I ended up in 278th place in the South West Region out of 9,236 men. That places me in the top 96th percentile in the region, for those of you keeping track at home. Oh, none of you are keeping track? Ok, cool. Another fun stat, is that I finished as the 99th fittest male in Colorado! Top 100, baby! Check out my rankings, by year, since the Open started. I wish they’d show how many people were in each category for scale. This is fun.

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Last month I felt I had a lot of success with snatching. That’s weird because I don’t remember snatching much at all this month. The Open ruled my training mentality, and that’s fine because I knew that would happen going in. Now, it’s time to get back on track and set some goals!

My “First Ever” class this month was YET ANOTHER another Yoga class with Em. January was just a regular yoga class. February was partner yoga. This month, it was my first time doing yoga with approximately one million other people! I’ve always seen pictures of yoga mats laid out, side by side, as far as the eye can see. I didn’t understand how that could be soothing, or comfortable… and now that I’ve taken a class in that setting, I still don’t! There was a cool “Deep House Yoga” practice that took place inside a night club that I had been to many times… which is inside of what used to be an old church. Yes, weird on so many levels, I agree. But, I’m three months into 2018, and have done yoga three times. Go, me!

House- The garage is done! Check out this beauty. I’m actually really proud of this project. Now, to organize! We also bought a new tent for summer camping adventures (correct, there will likely never be any winter camping chosen by this household!) and set it up to “waterproof” it before our first big weekend trip in a few months! It’s awesome.

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Other- My “baby” brother turned 18 years old in the middle of the month, and my dad randomly messaged me in a Saturday asking if I wanted to meet up with them the following weekend in Tuscon. We had a blast! I also got to try an old Stupid Human Trick during the few hours of down time I had with my bro. Here’s my pool jump!

What’s going on with all of you? I’d love to hear some of your accomplishments in March, or goals for April!

Monthly Recap: February 2018

Posted: March 1, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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For a month of January that dragged on for so many people, February was gone in the blink of an eye! Wow, where did the time go? For those of you new to the blog, my Monthly Recap post is more for my own records than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I love sharing what’s going on in my life with all of you. What I like more than that, though, is the ability to look back throughout the year and have documented evidence of things I’ve done! Sometimes we get so caught in the weeds of our day to day lives that we forget how much we’ve accomplished. You should try it!

February 2018

Fitness- Unless work got in the way, I took the noon classes on Mondays! That means there were other humans around when I trained, I actually had a coach to watch me, and I started the week off with a workout! Those are all good things!

In terms of actual numbers, I had the most success with Snatches this month. Hitting 185lb Powers is becoming much more consistent, I’m getting more confident hitting full snatches up to 200lbs, and when pulling from the “blocks” at the knee for the first time in years, I hit 230lbs (5lbs under my goal). A complex of Power Clean, Hang Squat Clean, and Front Squat at 260lbs got me pretty fired up, too. After a 2-second pause Front Squat at 275lbs I thought I’d feel stronger, but heaviest Clean and Jerk for the month was only 280lbs, also 5lbs under my goal. It’s alright, though, I’m working on it.

I was bummed the other day when I realized I didn’t hit A SINGLE goal I set for myself in the gym in February, so when I got the gym today (the 28th) and had a 30 minutes before class, I decided to take a shot at the mile run. After a 15 minute warm-up, and running for the first time in a month, I ran a 5:54! I’m pretty sure that’s my fastest mile in a few years, too. So… yay for hitting ONE goal I set! AND I also started a 1000 Calorie per Week Challenge, aiming to hit 4,000 total on a rower or an air bike over the course of the month. Got that one, too!

My “First Ever” class this month was another Yoga class with Em. Don’t tell me that another Yoga class doesn’t count, because it sure does…. it was Partner Yoga this time. There were a few Acro poses thrown in, AND I didn’t drop her once!

House- With a short month, me working nearly every weekend day, the weather being bad, AND going out of town one weekend, not a ton of house progress was made. We did drywall another third of the garage, but for March, I’d like to finish putting up drywall in the garage, AND installing our Pegboard.

Other- A weekend in Breckenridge was a nice little getaway, and we checked out the Ice Castles in Dillon. The weather got really cold and snowy for a good chunk of the month, so not a ton of activities went down. We did go see one of our favorite Dj’s (Defunk) in Boulder, so that was great. Also, the Pod Save America Podcast came to town, and we went to see them record a live show with some friends

For March, since I’m realizing how unrealistic it has been for me to go to the gym JUST to “test” certain things, my Fitness goals for March will basically remain the same. IF the chance arises to max my Olympic lifts, I’d like to Clean and Jerk 285lbs and Snatch 235lbs.

Setting the goal of reading a book per month has been a giant failure thus far, and it’s just because I’m out of the house and running around for so many hours per day. So I won’t set a goal there, other than TO READ in the month of March. The thing is, I’d LOVE to read the two books I have on my nightstand, it’s just so hard to prioritize that. I promise to keep trying.

What’s going on with all of you? I’d love to hear some of your accomplishments in February, or goals for March!

Monthly Recap: January 2018

Posted: January 31, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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A lot of people have said the first month of 2018 has dragged on forever. Others have already called for the arrival of 2019 so they can start over fresh. C’mon, friends! I know that things aren’t always sunshine and rainbows, but you’ve got to snap out of this negativity. Most of us go through life in waves of emotion…. today things are great, tomorrow they’re horrible, this week they’re amazing, next week the worst… that’s what being a human is all about! It’s our ability to bounce back from the bad with a smile on our faces, and be appreciative for the good moments, while realizing that they may not stick around forever.

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By providing a monthly recap, I’m striving to focus on a few of the things that happened over every four weeks or so throughout the year. In keeping a list of (mostly positive) things that I’ve experienced, on the days when I feel sorry for myself, I can always reflect back and say, “But look at what you’ve done so far this year! Check out where you’ve gone! Life is pretty good!” Helping other people find the good in things is really easy for me to do. That means this year I can work on practicing what I preach in this very specific way! YOU can also use this blog to serve as a place where you can share your own goals and successes, as well. I want this space to be INTERACTIVE, so if you put yourself out there, acknowledge the good, and share with your friends, we can all be accountabilibuddies together.

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Ok, here we go!

January 2018

Fitness- First and foremost, I didn’t get hurt! That’s huge. As we get older, the body doesn’t always bounce back like used to, and mine certainly does not! While I’m still training by myself 90+% of the time, I have made an effort to hop into a few classes here and there. So yay for working out with other humans on occasion!
In terms of actual numbers, I’d say my favorite lifts of the month were my deadlifts. With a lifetime 1RM of 450lbs, I hit sets of three reps on both Conventional and Sumo Deadlift over 400lbs. I hang-snatched 230lbs which was fun, and the heaviest I clean and jerked was 275lbs. Hitting a Front Squat at 300lbs and a 315lb Back Squat was nice. I also took my first ever Yoga class with Em, and it was just as stressful as I thought. By the end, I couldn’t even use my mat because it was too sweaty!

For February, I’d love to Clean and Jerk 285lbs and Snatch 235, bringing me a little closer to my lifetime bests. Hitting 315 for a single Front Squat and repping 315 for Back Squats without completely crashing at the bottom are on that list, too. Next, I’d love to hit 10 consecutive Ring Muscle-Ups. Finally, running a mile under 6:00 and rowing 500m in under 1:35. I’m starting with goals I hope to hit, then building from there as the year goes on. Finally, I’ll aim to take another fitness class I’ve never done before. Not sure where or when, but that’s my goal!

House- This was a big month for me as a “Home Owner” doing home owner things. First, Em bought a ton of new toys; a snow blower, leaf blower, AND a power washer! I installed an outlet in the garage all by myself, everyone! Finally, as of today, insulation has been installed in the garage, and we’re 1/3 of the way through dry-walling it.

For February, I’d like to finish putting up drywall in the garage, AND installing our Pegboard. That’s a lofty goal since it’s a short month and we’re out of town one weekend, but let’s see what we can do!

Other- I successfully made it through posting once per day for the entire month! That’s big for me, and I’m really proud of myself. We adopted another dog! Her name is Dakota, and she is an 11 year old pug mix. Homegirl made herself right at home, and she and Bacon get along great. I got to see one of my brothers and his entire band, the Big Mean Sound Machine, when they toured through Colorado for the first time. Also, we hosted ALL of them at our house. It was awesome! We got out of town once, too, when we spent New Years in Manhattan, Kansas.

For February, I’d like to prevent Em from adopting another dog! It would be really nice to say I’ve read two books in 2018 by the end of the month, too. It’s been a rough start, but I’ll keep working on it. There will also be a new Meal Prep video on the blog. Instead of copping out and featuring a meal I’ve made dozens of times, I’ll make something for the first time and document it for you!

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What our house would look like if Em had her choice, only they’d all have short legs!