Friday, January 1, 2010;

A new year, a new decade and a new beginning. It's the first day of 2010. Jerry asked us to post our top 3 goals of the year. These are mine below.

1) Increase WOD speed (Fran - sub 5, Murph - sub 50 min.)
2) 100lb strict press
3) muscle up (better dips)

In addition to these goals. I'd really like to clean up my diet even further. I'll be heading to the bookstore today to pick up a Paleo book. I'll be reading it all next week while I'm on the road. This will give me some time to allow all of the information to sink in.

I addition to setting my goals, I think it's important to also have a plan for how you hope to achieve these goals. One of my favorite sayings from a former coach and great friend was, "A failure to plan is a plan to fail." If you don't map out your route, it's impossible to make it to your destination.

1) The purpose of increasing my speed in the named workouts is actually part of a broader plan to improve my intensity. I have lost a lot of the intensity in my workouts. The past year was all about finishing workouts and doing it in perfect form. Finishing first was really not my main goal. An additional result of this training has been a decrease in my intensity. Over the next year I'd like to push myself more and work on beating my own times.

2) This one has a lot to do with my strength. I'm stronger than I've ever been, but I'd like to be stronger. I'll have to reach this goal with small steps. Slight increases in weight will be the way to go in order to reach this goal. High repetitions of a lighter weight. 100lbs.. here I come!

3) Ahh, the elusive muscle up. It's a love hate relationship with this bastard little move. It's all about technique. I like to call it a trick move. That's the frustrating thing about it. I have a fairly decent understanding of the body and how it moves. That's why the muscle up shouldn't be so difficult for me. I know what has to be done in order to complete the move. It's just a matter of putting all of the elements together. A massive initial pull and kip, then the second kip to get the shoulders through the rings, and finally finishing with the ring dip. I've been putting together a little solution in my head. I'm wondering if I could use the bands to get a feel for the movement. The "jerry" rig will be forthcoming.