cesimpson

My weekend started last Thursday morning. I took the day off work, planning to head to Seattle that afternoon (more on that in a moment).

A Crossfit has opened up recently just about a half-mile from my house. The owner, Meg, has recently received her “how-to-teach-Olympic-lifting” certification. (I don’t think that’s the actual name of the cert…) I scheduled a one hour private snatch lesson with her. (No snickering!)

I got up Thursday morning, jogged down the road and in the door about 7:15. There was Meg and two couples finishing their Workout of the Day. Meg was timing the event and there was one man left with the barbell, trying to finish his final set of deadlifts.

One deadlift…pant, pant, pant…one deadlift…pant, pant, curse, pant…one deadlift…etc.

Meg cheered him all the way through 20x at which point he dropped the bar and crumpled in exhaustion. Meg announced his time, congratulated him, then effortlessly picked up the bar and walked it across the room and placed it on the rack, conversing with another woman the whole way. Awesome.

We started at 7:30 and snatched with a broomstick, the empty barbell and then 65# for an hour straight. She walked me through the different steps of the lift, critiqued my form, showed me some warm ups and exercises to practice to build the muscle memory. It was a fantastic experience and well worth the time.

When the hour was over, we were chatting just a bit. I noticed they have a pile of kettlebells on the floor. I picked up the 24kg KB and snatched it maybe 10x each hand. There is a HUGE difference between snatching the 16kg and the 24kg. Putting that down, I thought I’d try swinging the 88# bulldog. Hips strong, weight on heels, little hike between the legs and huge hip snap up and forward. The bell got up around face height…and then threw me half-way across the room. =) Maybe next time.

I jogged back home, showered and finished packing my bags for the trip.

Seattle

9 months or so ago, the wife of my very good friend sent me an email, wanted to schedule a surprise to Seattle to celebrate his birthday. I agreed.

So, American Airlines took me STL -> ORD -> SEA in moderate comfort and I arrived in Seattle. JB and his wife pulled into the passenger pick up lane and he hopped out, very surprised indeed.

Thursday night dinner was sushi. As not much in the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers can be turned into good sushi, my experience is limited. I let JB order; we had the ubiquitous tuna, and also salmon, octopus and eel. It was all very good.

Friday was for seeing the sites. JB took me down to the Pike Place Market. We watched them throw a huge 20# salmon across the aisle and up over the counter to be packaged. We saw the original Starbucks and had an after-breakfast-snack of piroshki (mine with salmon).

Leaving the market, we headed to the Ballard Locks. We saw the fish ladder (unfortunately it’s not the right season for seeing fish in the fish ladder) and a big gravel barge going through the lock. Very cool.

Friday afternoon it was off to the boathouse for the weekly workout.

Friday’s Workout

5 Rounds each station @ 60 seconds work:30 seconds rest

Prowler Push @ 250#

Heavy Rope Pulls

KB Snatches @ 20kg

Erg

Plank Hold on rings, feet elevated

1:32

Thankfully, I chose to do the Prowler first, but the Rope Pulls before the KB Snatches really stressed the grip.

Workout was followed by a burrito, a fantastic piece of carrot cake from “the hippy-dippy supermarket” and a fairly quiet evening back at JB’s place.

Saturday

Saturday was action packed. The day started with rain, some eggs and coffee. After that it was off to my first (and probably only) Brazilian Jujitsu class. Micah was very kind to let me come in and roll with JB and friends.

I learned (I use that term very liberally) an arm bar from both guard and mount. Knowing exactly one move and with some far distant folk-style wrestling experience, I rolled with a purple belt and got soundly pummeled. Purple-belt Paul is a great guy. He basically just grabbed my gi, laid on his back and said, “pass my guard”.

That’s way easier said than done, though I had a great time doing trying. My wrestling instinct told me to stay off my back. That’s not necessarily a good BJJ instinct and there were several moments when I thought, “If he were actually trying, I’d be unconscious now.”

It was a lot of fun anyway, simply hanging out with JB in his environment and I say a huge ‘thank you’ to Paul for playing along.

Saturday afternoon we went to watch the local Rugby club play Santa Monica, who happens to be coached by a guy with whom JB and I used to play Rugby in college. It was good to see him and watch a Rugby game.

Saturday night was dinner at Brasa Restaurant. It was delicious. JB’s in-laws are really neat people. His father-in-law especially is just a terrific conversationalist. He told stories very well, seemed intellectually curious and genuinly interested in the people with whom he was dining. It was a fantastic dining experience all around.

Sunday

Breakfast of smoked trout, fried eggs and coffee, then off to the airport. American Airlines took me back to STL safely and by 8:30 Sunday night I was sitting in my living room trying to remember every detail of the past several days.

The weekend was over too soon. JB and I have been friends for a long time, and we’re still very close today, but the 2000 miles between us makes actual visiting difficult and expensive (in terms of time and money).

Though the entire trip was intended as a birthday surprise for JB, I feel like I was also a recipient of a fantastic gift. Thank you.

Monday Workout

After all that, it’s back to normal this morning.

Warm Up

5x Power Snatch + 5x Snatch-Grip Press + 5x Overhead Squat

@ 45#, 65#, 85#, 95#

More Warm Up

5x OHS @ 115#

5x OHS @ 135#

Back Squat + Bent-Over Barbell Row

3×8 Squat @ 205#

3×8 Row @ 155#

5x Squat @ 220#

5x Row @ 155#

2×2 Squat @ 235#

2×2 Row @ 155#

1x Squat @ 250#

1x Row @ 155#

My back started hurting again today - a lot. The fifth rep squat at 220# was unpleasant and the heavier reps from then on were almost unbearable. I’m not sure what to do about that. Part of my wants to push through it. Part of me wants to have someone look at it.

This post has gotten plenty long enough. My sore back will have to wait for another day.