haven’t been posting my workouts as much since I’m going to crossfit bklyn as opposed to doing them on my own. I find that for solitary activities, blogging is a way to keep a log of what I’ve done and provide some kind of accountability. so, all my workouts since last blog are on crossfit brooklyn. generally I run 4 miles (2 miles there, and back again) every time I go to crossfit. climbing a rope this weekend was insanely fun, I’m taking a much needed rest day today after establishing my 1 rep max on back squat @ 225. I hope to improve this in the coming months!

music stuff:
- did the hanon #1 exercises as a warmup in F major, melodic minor
- tune: east of the sun, different keys, playing the melody
- blue bossa in all 12 keys

for most of this year I’ve been semi-obsessed with fitness, for better or for worse. I really started to enjoy being in shape after I started boxing, as the training was really a whole different level from anything I had done previously. in the typical boxing workout there is a lot of variety, and you are also thinking strategically as well as working towards a clearly defined goal (to hit, and not to get hit). I guess this is why people enjoy team sports, which I have always sucked at and never really enjoyed.

after I tore a tendon in my knuckle I was a little depressed that I would have to pause my boxing training, but considering how much I use my hands for music and work it was really the only sane choice. I had heard about crossfit and decided to give it a try on my own, first as a complement to my boxing training. I took a 4 week class at the crossfit affiliate in manhattan, but quickly figured out it wouldn’t work for me to attend classes there regularly, as it’s not really near work/home and I hate midtown in general. a few weeks ago I started going to crossfit brooklyn. all the instructors and people there are really good folks, and a lot of what I enjoyed about boxing training I get out of going to crossfit. plus, the best way for me to get there is to run 2 miles, so it’s an easy way to clock 16 miles/week which is not a bad side effect.

I’ve really been enjoying learning new stuff all the time, and not getting into any kind of fitness rut which is so easy to do. plus, I’ve been posting some pretty good times on some workouts lately, which is very satisfying to me since I was so unathletic when I was younger. I feel pretty lucky to be able to say that at 31, I am in by far the best shape of my life. for now, going to crossfit instead of boxing is really working out well for me in terms of staying off the knuckle and still getting a killer workout. it still takes about 2 hours from when I leave til when I get home, which is a lot of time but I really enjoy it.

I feel like I’ll eventually start boxing again and probably really get back into it, as I still really enjoy the sport and definitely miss it. but for the time being, doing crossfit stuff is really exciting and definitely is giving me what I need in terms of conditioning.

I’ve also started thinking a lot more about nutrition in general, but that’s probably a topic for a separate post altogether.

today’s workout was 7 rounds of 21 presses/21 back extensions. my time was 19:50, but I only did 1 set of 75lb presses before dropping down to 65lb. even then, in the ending sets I subbed dip+drive for a standard press several times. shoulders are definitely a weak spot for me.

ran 4 miles (2 miles to crossfit brooklyn, 2 miles home)

warm up:
3 sets of:
20 mountain climbers
20 squats
20 lunges
sidestep patterns (forward, back, alternating) across the floor

workout of the day was:
50 situps
50 double unders (jump rope)
50 situps
50 lunges
50 situps
50 burpees
50 situps

for time. my time was 13:41, not bad!

cooled down doing jungle gym stuff, they got a new pullup/jungle gym thing at crossfit which is really cool. wasn’t nearly as tired on the run home today as I was after the deadlift 5×3 workout, it’s much harder to recover from lifting heavy than it is from metabolic conditioning type stuff. I always want to die during metcons and then am ok 5 minutes afterwards, but lifting heavy really takes it out of you.

so I eat half a cup of steel cut oats every morning, cooked in a slow cooker my sister gave me. that’s half a cup dry mind you, it’s at least 2.5 cups cooked. I used to be a solid cream/maple syrup guy, but in the past year I ditched the dairy (at least in my oats) and have tried lots of different stuff as flavoring:

- maple syrup
- honey
- jelly/preserves
- peanut butter
- toasted walnuts
- bananas
- dried fruit: cranberries, raisins, apricots, etc
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- mace
- square of dark chocolate (I use lindt, 70 or 85%)
- vanilla extract

some good combinations:
cinnamon raisin
pb&j
bananas and toasted walnuts
chocolate peanut butter

choc peanut butter sounds like a terribly unhealthy breakfast, but it’s actually pretty healthy considering you only need a tablespoon of peanut butter and 1 square of chocolate to flavor a whole bowl. plus, natural peanut butter is great for you (in small quantities) and so is dark chocolate. this morning I had peanut butter and jelly and it was pretty solid, although peanut butter tends to be a real dominant flavor so it helps to dial it back some.

today was the crossfit workout “Michael”

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

17:03. also did 20 pullups.

yesterday was random skill work plus bench:
155×5, 175×5, 180×5, 185×3, 185×3

15 handstand pushups, head going halfway down
20 hanging leg raises
30 situps
20 pushups
holding a plank 1:30

run: 2 miles to crossfit brooklyn gym, and 2 miles home. the run home is like a death march .

WOD: deadlift 5×3:
135, 185, 235, 255, 255

Accessory Work:
Dumbbell Overhead Walking Lunges – 2x30lb
Wheelbarrows with a partner
Dumbbell Thrusters – 2x30lb
Dumbbell Bear Crawls 2x25lb

today’s workout warmup:
10 pullups
20 dips
20 pushups
20 back extensions
20 squats

main workout was the crossfit workout “annie”, it’s jump rope double unders (which are a lot harder than singles), and situps. 1 set is both exercises, 5 sets with reps:
50 – 40 – 30 – 20 – 10

for time, my time was 18:43. I definitely suck at double unders, they’d be easier with a lighter rope but whatever. the main thing I noticed is that it’s really more about wrist drive than jumping high when doing a double under, although I def have to jump higher than for a single. they really are tremendously harder than singles, I can easily do 500 singles and not even be out of breath and was panting after 50 double unders.

just finished transcribing the first 8 bars, missed some of the inner voices/lines but mostly have the melody/harmony down. the piece is in G, but bach manages to get us fully into D major in just 6 bars, so that the C natural in bar 7 sounds like a blue note on the tonic instead of the V chord. he does this by putting a C# on a very strong beat (beat 2 of bar 5), which is pretty jarring at first but gets the ear immediately into the new key. another C# in the bass on beat 2 of the 6th bar (an inversion of A7) really solidifies the modulation.

after writing this I’m pretty interested to read a “real” harmonic analysis and see if they hear the C natural the same way I do.

workout:
was feeling pretty beat down in the gym today, some random skill work (L-sits, push jerk, olympic lift warmup), plus standard crossfit warmup: 30 pushups, 30 pullups, 30 squats, 30 back raises, 30 planche holds (not sure of the name of this, it’s where you hold yourself in a pushup position with your forearms, it’s hard as hell). I suck at lifting my legs to the L position, need to work a lot on this.

since my workout logs are going so well, might as well keep a record of music stuff. I realize that this will be beyond boring to everyone who is not me, apologies. I recently re-ordered “the listening book”, one of my favorite books on music. in it, he talks about improvising practice where you improvise a piece that’s 1 minute, rinse and repeat. I did some of this today, mostly on a blues, as well as working on some clarence white/tony rice bluegrass stuff (“nine pound hammer”).

also, started a transcription of the 4th variation in bach’s “goldberg variations”. it’s in a very lively 6/8, the melody is very cool, and I am incapable of sitting down with a piece of music and doing a harmonic analysis, so I figured I’d transcribe it to try and see what’s happening. only 4 bars in, so we’ll see if I actually finish.