My best friend in the whole wide world eating a chocolate chip pancake. I fear it will go directly to his ass.
I coached the first ever Saturday @ 8am session at CFZ, and I’m looking forward to continuing to do so — until I open my own or change boxes, that is. It was a full house this morning. After attending the 9:15 session, led by my best friend in the whole wide (and in his case wide-ass) world, Michael Kelley, I realize that I made two mistakes.
1. I spent the first 10 minutes on stretching instead of dynamic movements. As folks are supposed to warm up on their own, stretching shouldn’t be necessary. I have only myself to blame.
2. I didn’t provide enough and/or clear direction for hand placement for speed press. I communicated what Michael Kelley had communicated to me, but it was different than the direction he provided to the 9:15 and 10:30 sessions. I have only Michael Kelley to blame.
Michael Kelley did a nice job coaching today, particularly with the warm up. He asked for my assistance when demonstrating a medicine ball warm up, using a 20# medicine ball. He asked me to lay down on the floor, and I corrected him. He then asked me to lie down on the floor, which I did. He straddled me at the hips, handed me the ball, and asked me to throw the ball straight up in the air. I did just that, and he caught it with both hands. Then, without any warning and/or informing me what he was going to do next, he dropped the ball on my face. I immediately thought I’d get another nosebleed, and I could tell by the look on his face that Michael Kelley was concerned as well. Poor Michael Kelley. I said, “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine. Hand me the ball.” He did just that. I then threw the ball directly at his crotch. Take that, Michael Kelley! He doubled over and said, “I feel like I have to pass gas.” Poor Michael Kelley.
Dynamic Effort (DE) Upper
Press
9 x 3 (varying grips) @ 60% 1RM, 30 sec rest
With Michael Kelley’s direction, I used a red band and completed banded presses lifting 65#, a little more than 50% of 1RM. Presses were challenging, but I can most certainly see the benefit of doing!
Bradford Press
1-2 Warm-Up Sets
3 x 6-8
I did the first set pressing 55, and then increased to 65#. Again, challenging yet worthwhile.
Conditioning
For Time
I did my own workout consisting of pull-ups and hand release pushups. Details are for me to know and for you to find out.
Burnout
Dumbbell Floor Press 3 x 15
Band Pull Aparts 3 x 20
I used 30# dumbbells for floor presses, and a green band for pull aparts.
I then spent the next 45 or so minutes pulling that damn sled 400m forward and backward, pulling 45 & 35#, respectively. I also did 3 sets of 10 reps of GHD assisted glute ham raises, using a green band. It was awful. I practiced headstands and front levers, and then called it a day.
I was less than pleased with accessory work today. As I thrive on structure, the only way this is going to work for me is if I have planned the work in advance.
As a HUGE favor to Michael Kelley, I led the Community WOD today. Michael Kelley is supposed to lead this session, as he is the head coach at and co-owner of CFZ. Today’s WOD was every minute on the minute for 12 minutes, run 50m, 3 burpees, 4 wall ball shots, and 5 kettle bell swings. Uhm, I hear from attendees, including Jeff, that this was quite challenging. Good.
Wow, this is a boring blog.
I’ll close with an exchange I had with Michael Kelley after a large group of us shared lunch at the Draft House.
MK: The gym is a mess. I’ll clean tomorrow.
PP: What time will you clean?
MK: About 9:15.
PP: I’ll be there at that time, and you can jerk.
And Michael Kelley blushed! I’ve never seen him blush before. My new goal in life is to make him blush as often as I can.
Poor Michael Kelley.
