To be honest the last week has been extremely refreshing. I’ve read three books, I’m crushing this nutrition course and I feel extremely motivated. Unfortunately I still have to stay off my feet as much as possible for another 4 to 5 days.
Me not moving around much is definitely helping my body to recover faster from the surgery but I equally think that just completely resting from any activity for a week has been really good. I’ve had some elbow and shoulder issues for a while that are feeling really good and my energy levels are also great even though I’m just sitting around all day. Working out and being able to move in part of who I am but at the same time I’m fine with taking a break.

The road to fully recover is obviously going to take a few weeks once I begin working out again but it is what it is. Right now I’m focussed on the things I can do – educate myself, get quality sleep, and eat right.

Having had surgery in the past and having broken my ankle 4 times before that I’ve spent a lot of time having to sit on the sidelines and reflect. This time I’ve really been able to use the forced rest to my advantage and use it to accomplish things I wouldn’t have blown off other wise. Granted this time I made the choice to go in and have the procedure done vs being drunk or jumping off a roof being an idiot but it’s still been a good experience.

I’m confident that I can remain in this positive mindset for the next week and continue crushing it.

There have been many challenging moments where those words have come back into my head and this week has def been one of them. I’ve been sitting in bed since Monday morning (now thursday) only getting up to use to the bathroom. The pain comes and goes but for the most part it’s not bad.
It’s definitely a challenge to stay present and not let my mind wander and feel sorry for myself but I’m doing a good job of not allowing it to happen.

I’ve been able to get a lot of study, work, and reading done which has been good. Obviously I would much prefer to be walking but you can’t have everything I guess

I also managed to get the latest Montage finished which is below. I love making these videos. My process with doing it is pretty strange. I basically find a song I want to use and I will listen to the song for weeks, sometimes months visualizing how I want it to go without even looking at any footage. I will then go and get the footage I want (takes a long time) and then sit down to put it all together. In my eyes the video is already done before I sit down and actually start editing as I’ve done it all in my head long before I see it on the screen. This one kinda told a story moving from preparation to failure to success to fatigue to perseverance.
The video probably only took me 3 hours to actually edit but getting the footage and spending time visualizing took a lot longer over the course of almost 3 months.
I say that this process is strange but I don’t know anybody else who makes these so I can’t really compare my method to anyone else’s. It’s my art and it is what it is.

I love the whole process. Every clip in the video reminds me of a day in the gym and it immortalizes it for me. As soon as the video gets published I’m thinking about what song to use for the next one and the ball keeps rolling. It’s the creating of it that I get the enjoyment from, not necessarily seeing the finished product even though thats all part of it.
I set a goal this year to make 6 and this is the 3rd but even then I will continue to make more after that.

I’m really excited to start making skydiving videos and eventually BASE jumping ones.

20min AMRAP
Row 250m
15 Wallballs
=11+ – finished the 12th round with 20:11 on the clock.

All the rows were under 2:00 and all the WB’s UB – good workout.

The last couple weeks I haven’t been that motivated to train for several reasons and having my parents here this week def helped with my decisions. I’m also going in for minor foot surgery on both feet on Monday so I haven’t been worrying as much about following the program to a T. What I’m having done is very minor – I basically have to get the second toe on each foot straightened. It’s been an extremely annoying and painful thing to deal with for a few years and I’m excited to get it done.

I’ll be out of commission for a couple weeks but I plan on getting a lot of reading and study done so it’ll be good.

Wednesday – OFF

Thursday –
5min amrap
5 power snatch @165lb
run 200m hard
=2+5 – 15sec to spare. This was tough. First round I went unbroken and ran real fast then hit the wall and ended up having to do singles on the next 2 sets of snatches. The runs got really slow.
6min amrap
12 power snatch @95lb
12 burpees
=3, 8 sec to spare. Tough as well.
rest 6min
5min amrap
5 power snatch @165lb
run 200m hard
=2+5 12s to spare – same as above

Friday

I had a full day of clients here but one of them ended up canceling and I was able to move someone else to a little later and I managed to get out to skydive.
When I arrived to the drop zone a couple of the more experienced guys were sitting down and I asked them if they were jumping or not. One of them said he was and the other guy looked up at the sky and said “I’m not cause there is bad weather moving in and I know whats it like to get caught up there but you should go up and learn some thing.”
Kinda freaked me out but at the same time I tok his advice and manifested.

I put myself in for a hop n pop which means you don’t go to full altitude. You exit the plane at 5,000 feet and open your parachute within 10seconds.
It was so awesome. At this point its like a drug and I am definitely addicted.

Saturday – OFF

Monday was supposed to be an AM PM day and Tuesday an active recovery day but I just split the session and did AM on Monday and PM on Tuesday.

10min AD
+
30sec @85%
30sec @50%
x25
+10min cool down

Tuesday
-skipped the strength work on account of time

12min amrap
12 thrusters @75lbs
12 T2B
12 box jumps
=5+18
- THR unbroken – T2B 6+6 – BJ’s jump up step down – pretty consistent effort
rest 5min
12min amrap
40 double unders
20 overhead squats @75lbs
10 GHD situps
=4
tripped a few times on the DU’s – OHS were all 10+10 and GHD unbroken – pretty slow pace but good workout.

-

I got part 9 of my sleeve started tonight. It’s a wing representing the geek story of Icarus.

Iacrus’s dad made him a pair of wings and attached them to his back using wax and told him to not fly too close to the sun as it would melt the wax. He did and he fell into the ocean and drowned as a result. The moral of the story is to play it safe in life and not take too many risks.

Seth Godin’s book – The Icarus Deception – flips this idea on it’s head and dares you to fly close to the sun. I strongly believe in taking risks in every aspect of life and this will be another reminder.

I didn’t consciously plan it this way but when I look at the tattoos on my arm, all the ones on the bottom half represent where I’ve lived and events that have shaped my life and the top half represents concepts and principles I try and apply to my life constantly. Pretty cool.

So the jump went well – I did a couple of backflips (getting addicted to these) and a few 360′s. When I deployed and watched my kelly green canopy open above my head was awesome. The flight was a little bumpy and nervous were def ver high. I kept repeating to myself over and over again ‘I am in control’ which helped a lot.

Landed without issue, got some help packing my parachute as it’s been almost 5 months since the last time I did it.
2nd jump I went with 3 other people and did some formation stuff – really fun.
Landed again without issue and packed my own chute this time and it literally took me almost 2 hours. It’s so frustrating. I know it takes time, patience, and practice but when the weather his good and everyone else is jumping it’s super annoying.
Eventually I got it done and went up again with the same group. This time we did a tracking dive which is basically where you go as fast as you can forward and slightly down. I stayed with the group for a little but then lost them.

This brings my total jump number up to 39.

Really awesome day. After all that I went to the airport and picked up my parents. There are here for a week. Had dinner at my uncles and I cracked open my first beer of the year. I literally felt drunk after one sip – hahaha.
I was able to control myself and stop after one.

A) Snatch – Build to a max
135×2 – 155 – 185 – 205 – 225 – 245 – 260 – NEW PR – no failed attempts

SO fuckin happy with this. I thought my jumps from 225 on were a little aggressive but it worked.

I’ve been playing with a new set up and I like it a lot and it def paid off today. Visualization was huge. Before I did the lift I thought to myself ‘WHEN I make the lift I’m gonna slam the bar into the ground’ – In my head there was no question that I was not going to make it. Then when I got set up and locked my shoulder in I said to myself ‘The next time your shoulders relax will be after you’ve made the lift’

I’ve been stuck at this weight for a while and have had numerous (I think 4) sessions where I’ve gotten stuck here.
It’s really cool to still be able to progress even when I have not been focussing on Snatching a lot recently

B) Take 77% of A and do 20 reps for time
=200lbs =15:01
This was very challenging – had to really focus on each lift – failed 3 reps.

rest 2 hours

After a consult and a coffee it was time for an AMRAP

20min AMRAP
20 Thrusters @135lbs
20 Pullups
20 Burpees
=4+46

I did this back in October with Glen and got 4+43 so an improvement. I def think that I held back a little today as I wasn’t as wrecked today as I was back then. I looked back at the post from then and I had written that it felt like Fran for 20mins and all sorts of horrible stuff but today it wasn’t that bad. I think that after doing the 4min amrap from the Opens I won’t ever think a workout is as bad from now on.

I went out to the Dropzone to try and jump but it was too windy. I did pick up my rig though. So psyched with this and hopefully I can use it tomorrow.

About to spend some quality time with wifey now to finish off the day.

This was fun. I never thought I would get to the point of saying that about 48mins of cardio but its happened.
It was scheduled for me to do this fasted but I had 3 hours of appointments early and I didn’t want to go that long before eating.

I was really tired by the end of the day and really didn’t want to do the PM session. Earlier in the day I said something to the effect of ‘I choose not to do that part of my workout the other day’ and Glen said ‘you seem to be doing that a lot lately’ and that made me do it.

PM
A) Deadlift 7reps on the min for 10min @225lbs – got through this with ease

B) Shoulder Press 3-2-1-3-2-1-3-2-1 rest 3mins
135-145-155
140-150-160
145-155-165

8x500m row @1:44pace