So I started doing Tabata at my home gym. I love it! Muscle & Fitness—for whom I no longer work—is running something on Tabata in their April issue. It’s the Bruce Lee cover.

Anyways, I thought I’d also let you guys know that I helped to start a new site (PrayFit) for those looking to boost their fitness IQ while getting a daily dose of faith-building reading. Check it out:

http://www.jimmypena.net/prayfit

It borrows from the very successful template you have all developed through CF and its affiliates—a simple blog and message board—but has plans for a full website launch in the fall/winter.

Head over there and let us know what you think! If you have friends you think would be interested in this, please pass it along to them.

Monday—April 15, 2008
REST DAY

Tuesday—April 16, 2008
>> Outdoor run
>> 3.61 miles | 27:21

Okay, so I’m not 4-5 minutes faster with food in my stomach. Retracing last week’s long run, I posted a time of 27:21, but it was still better than my last time so I’m happy. Boxing tomorrow morning.

Sunday - April 12, 2008
>> Baseball

It’s baseball season again. Spent all morning Sunday running around in the hot sun. For the record, we blasted the other team.

Friday - April 11, 2008
>> 21-15-9
>> 6:10
Push-ups
Ab roller
Thrusters (only 15# DBs)
Sit-ups

>> Hike - Fryman Canyon
>> 3 miles

Decided to make up a short, CF-type workout when I got home before the wife and I hit Fryman Canyon for a sundown hike. If you’ve never done the Fryman Canyon hike, it’s a nice way to spend an hour or so—some great views!

Thursday - April 10, 2008
>> Bike ride
>> 4.04 miles x 2

Today I took my bike in to the office today. Took 30 minutes going into work so I didn’t show up as a raging sweat box. On the way home, I did sprint intervals and got to my front door in just over 20.

Wednesday - April 9, 2008
>> Outdoor Run
>> 2.47 miles
>> 20:59

Another empty stomach run this morning at a leisurely pace. And by “leisurely,” I mean slow. This time of 20:59 won’t win me any races or anything but it got the job done—the back half of the run was definitely run at a better pace. I am, however, reminded that in college 10 years ago I ran a 2-mile in 12:42. So to do 2 1/2 at this pace is, umm…embarrassing. I plan on getting in 2-3 mile runs 2-3 times per week to get my “running” legs back.

Tuesday - April 8, 2008
>> Boxing workout
Jump rope - 3 x 3 min. rounds
Abs circuit - 10 min.
Plyometric/strength circuit - 20 min.
Heavy bag - 3 x 3 min. rounds
Focus mitts - 1 x 3 min. round
Plyometric push-ups (various) - 9 sets

I had a morning workout with Justin Fortune at his Hollywood gym (http://www.fortunegym.com). I love this stuff—EXCEPT when he has me do conditioning prior to doing the focus mitts. I worked out with another three of his clients, going through his awful, CrossFit-like drills that involve little (if any) rest and include various jumps (lunge thrusts, squat jumps, knee touches) and slow-burn drills (duck walks, ab drags). I also did abs with this group. Then, after two rounds of “warming up” on the heavy bag, it was time for the mitts and my fatigue showed. I couldn’t concentrate and looked just awful on my round. We finished with a few different kind of plyo push-ups. I was wiped.

Long time, no journal. No, it doesn’t mean I haven’t worked out in four months. The wife and I have been busy with our new baby: http://babyvelazquez.blogspot.com

So I’ve had to steal my workouts where I can for a while—gym workout, runs, CF at the park, bodyweight workouts—and I haven’t been able to get consistent with my journal. But I digress…

I am going to TRY to get back to working out on the regular again. Turns out, I may have to put my body in the line of fire for another story soon so I can’t slouch anymore. I started off today with a run. Next few weeks/months will probably include a mix of CrossFit, long runs, boxing, baseball and sprints.

Monday, April 7
Outdoor Run - 3.61 miles | 29:15

I know it was 3.61 miles from http://www.mapmyrun.com. Great site! I ran this on an empty stomach before work but I felt okay overall. As you can tell from my time, this was a leisurely pace. With food in my belly, I’m probably 4-5 minutes faster.

Wednesday - January 30, 2008

“The Thruster Mile”

>> 4 rounds
400m run
25 thrusters (30# DBs)
25 sit-ups

Wow. I made this workout up a few months back when I was doing CrossFit full-time. Admittedly, I’ve only been doing CrossFit workouts once or twice a week at the most since leaving Petranek Fitness. But after going to the photo shoot last week and seeing Andy and the team plowing through the Filthy 50, I was eager to get back after it (at least for today!). I’m also in the midst of writing my CrossFit story. Believe it or not, I’m stuck—I have almost too much to say. That’s a good problem to have. It’s just that I can be a bit of an organizational nightmare. I’ll figure it all out and finish it tomorrow.

Anyways, the first time I did this workout, it took me 17:12. So as you can see, I crushed that time! I took the runs a bit more serious, which helped a lot. I only took a few pauses…during thrusters, naturally. But this was rough. I still can’t catch my breath.

Seriously—I’d love to see how bad I get crushed by some of the “Firebreathers.”

October 24, 2007—Wednesday
>> 21-15-9 | Deadlifts, dumbbell jerks
>> 13:28

>> Warm-up x3
Jumping lunges x 20
Good mornings (45#) x 15
Pull-ups x 10

>> This was, again, one of those workouts you see on the board and think “This is going to be miserable.” Then, Andy says to use 3/4 of your max for the deads and 1/2 of that weight for the DB jerks. Uhh…I think I need to go feed the meter.

Last time we maxed on deads was just after I started six weeks ago and I pulled 325 on my last set. Not having done it in a while, I was wary of trying to get exactly 3/4 of that so I settled on 235 (my bodyweight is 173). Never having done jerks before, I ended up choosing 35-pound dumbbells.

I think I chose the right weight for my deads, although another 10 pounds wouldn’t have killed me. It would have slowed me down a bit, yes, but I could have finished with my heartbeat intact. The jerks probably could have gone up to 45-pound DBs but I’m fine with doing the 35s on my first time with it. Watching Dawn was what kept me going—it was my first time in a class with her and she’s a machine!!! And seeing Bruce pull what looked like 900 pounds for his deadlifts was motivational as well.

This morning, on my early stages of sore, I look ahead to tomorrow with dread.

>> Baseline workout
>> 4:08 (PR)

>> Being that this was quite possibly my last time in class, Andy wanted to test me on the baseline workout again. Last time, I was hindered by a mediocre row and the curse of only knowing how to do dead hang pull-ups. This time, while my row was still shaky, I kipped my way through 10 straight pull-ups which helped my time immensely. So I cut 29 seconds from my original baseline workout and feel like I probably could break 4:00 if given another shot in a few weeks. I might do it for giggles on my own and see if I can hit that mark.

I chose to hang around for weights after this. Why? I’m not well-adjusted, that’s why. But I’m glad I did.

Seeing that this was all I did in one day, I felt pretty proud. Definitely a good work volume for me! However, by the time I got home, my lungs were hurting. Seems there was no way to fully escape the smoky air, even inside the gym. It was also bad in the valley, but Santa Monica was pretty awful too.

October 23, 2007—Tuesday
>> Home workout: 11:41 (PR)
>> 4 rounds
  400m run
  50 squats

>> This was the second time I’ve done this one and I beat my previous best by over a minute. The first time I did it was outside at PF. This time, my 400m runs were on a treadmill, so I’m not sure how much that would help me out. Advantage or not, I was glad to have seen an improvement here.

October 22, 2007—Monday
>> Home workout: 17:12
>> “The Thruster Mile”
  4 Rounds
  400m run
  25 thrusters (30#)
  25 sit-ups

>> This is a home workout I improvised with the following thinking: “I suck at thrusters. I hate running. Full sit-ups are the devil. I ate like crap on Sunday—let me combine all of these things into one fun workout.” I thought that this would be tough and I was right—hence my time of 17:12. I’m sure I’ll wake up in cold sweats thinking about the kind of time some of my fitter classmates might put up on this. But it served its purpose—it took me about 10 minutes to catch my breath, my heart is still racing and I ended up smelling like a native European in the summertime.

If anyone checks this out and is interested in trying it, I’d love to see your times so I could fully put my suckness into perspective.

October 19, 2007—Friday
>> Park workout: 12:30
>> 5 rounds
  10-20-30

>> pull-ups x 10
  dips x 20
  squats x 30

>> Another improvised workout I put together for the park. I really wanted to work on my kip so I used today’s routine to do that. Spurts of 10 were good for me and I finally get the motion! They weren’t all perfect but they were certainly easier than they were in my “Daniel” workout. The dips, which are a strong move for me, were actually pretty tough after the pull-ups. By my fifth round, I had to go 10-5-5 on the dips. After this, I went for a two-mile walk with the wife. We did three more rounds of 30 squats along the way. Hello weekend!

October 18, 2007—Thursday
>> Home workout: 1:35
>> 21-15-9, Squats and push-ups

>> This was just a quickie workout I mixed in before dinner that I pulled from the bodyweight workouts section. I had done an earlier workout before heading to the office but that was more of a (sigh) Muscle & Fitness workout. I did a four-exercise routine for my shoulders.

October 17, 2007—Wednesday
>> Rest

October 16, 2007—Tuesday
>> Split workout (park/home)

>> Park: 5:24
  10x
  4 pull-ups
  4 dips

>> Goal here was to work on my muscle-up—equivalent to four pull-ups and four dips, Andy said. Plus, it gave me a shot to work on my kipping pull-ups, which I did as a warm-up. I was midway through my ninth superset when a small cluster of students getting ready for some boot camp came in and monopolized the dip bars and pull-up bars. I stopped my watch and managed to get another set in but realized that I couldn’t fight the mob. So I moved on.

>> The wife—now five months preggers—met me at the park and she and I took a two-mile walk.

>> Home: 4:28
  100 squats
  100 push-ups

>> Getting home and realizing that I still had energy to burn—and since I only managed 1/3 of the workout Andy prescribed for me—I powered through 100 squats and 100 push-ups before plowing through some El Pollo Loco!

October 15, 2007—Monday
>> Home workout: 8:39
>> 100 rope skips
  50 sit-ups
  25 dumbbell swings (30#)
  400m run
  25 dumbbell swings (30#)
  50 sit-ups
  100 rope skips

>> This is another home workout that I repeated but I only bested my previous time by four seconds. Grr. It makes me wonder if I skipped something the last time I did this because I felt much better going through it this time.

>> Found out today that we’re having a girl, by the way! Gotta stay strong and quick to fend off suitors in years to come!

October 14, 2007—Sunday
>> Home workout: 9:53
>> 5 rounds
  100 rope skips
  50 squats

>> I pulled this workout off of Crossfit.com. I’m a pretty decent skipper so I felt pretty good with this workout. The squats, naturally, are the killer half of this equation. I did this at my mom’s house in Hesperia, which is at around 3,800 feet, but the altitude didn’t seem to have too much effect. Usually, workouts there are pretty tough on my lungs.

October 12, 2007—Friday
>> Home workout: 12:16
150 skips on jump rope
50 squats
30 sit-ups
30 thrusters (25# dumbbells)
400m run
30 thrusters (25# dumbbells)
30 sit-ups
50 squats
400m run

>> This is the first time that I’ve repeated a workout in my month-plus of doing CrossFit. I wanted to see if I’d improved at all. And wouldn’t ya know it? My time of 12:16 crushed my previous time of this workout by almost two minutes. My previous time was 14:07 back on September 14, nearly a month ago. I used the same weight on the thrusters this time as I did last time (25#) but I might tackle this workout again in the future with 30s. I don’t know if it’s just me but the thrusters feel nearly as tough with these dumbbells as they do with the 95# barbell. I know you need a bit more stabilization and all but these were truly thrashing me this morning. Anyway…good start to the weekend. Heading to my mom’s this weekend with the wife, where I’ll likely have Mexican food stuffed down my throat the whole weekend.

>> On a separate and completely unrelated note, we’re supposed to find out the sex of our baby on Monday! Wendy’s 21 weeks along, so baby better be cooperating on Monday!

October 10, 2007 - Wednesday

>> Broomstick Mile: 18:31
>> Using a PVC pipe, complete the following for time:
400m run
25 back squats
25 front squats
25 overhead squats
400m run
25 shoulder press
25 push press
25 push jerks
400m run
50 squat cleans
400m run
50 squat snatches

>> This was good education for me. Even though I still can’t straighten my arms from Monday’s workout (seriously), I managed to get warm enough to get through the circuit with decent form. I loved it though, because Andy was there to correct my form frequently and I had Becca right across from me to watch and learn from. I’m a bit of a stranger to most of the Olympic lifts, so I really dug the opportunity to work on my form with them here. The shoulder work in the middle was a nice “break” since my legs had already gone jello on me by that point. My last run and the squat snatches seemed to take forever, especially since I’d never done ANY version of a snatch. I finished my 50, mercifully, but I know I have some form issues to iron out. I look forward to trying it with weight. Here’s to hoping my shoulders don’t dislocate—at least not on my first try.