Men's Health submission

     Hey folks! Good to be back... well, good to be back off my last training trip. Now I have one last trip to go, and that's the one bringing me back home, woo! Now, that doesn't mean it's my last ramble (of course), so why don't we keep them coming...

     I got an email at work today, asking for anyone with any interesting fitness stories to submit them to Pubic Affairs. I don't know the "choosing process", but one or more stories my be published in Men's Fitness magazine. Well, in the likely event mine will not be choosen, this is what I submitted:

CrossFit in the desert: making progress in the sand

HM2(EXW) Michael C Frosh

For the last year and a half I have drank the CrossFit Koolaid, and for the last 6 months been a certified trainer and insane blogger (http://ramblingfrosh.blogspot.com/). To shed light on this program, CrossFit is Constantly Varied Functional Movement performed at High Intensity. It is doing movements performed in everyday life like squatting, pulling, pushing, pressing, throwing, etc. The program has been around just over 10 years, with almost 3,000 boxes (AKA gyms) worldwide, and very popular with military, firefighters and law enforcement personnel.

State-side, people I work with slowly become sick about hearing me speak about the importance of heavy full-depth squats, not eating bread and working out to the point of nausea. However, it came my turn to deploy to an “Undisclosed Location in South West Asia”, fully prepared to keep CrossFitting.

            I came in to deployment with a game plan for my fitness. I needed to get stronger. I researched the works of fellows that can squat over 1,000 pounds and Deadlift the world. Folks like the monsters at Westside Barbell, Dave Tate’s Elite FTS, and fellow Strong CrossFitters. Armed to the teeth with knowledge and a will to work I knew I could not be stopped. My numbers prior to deployment looked like this:

Back Squat – 200lbs                                        Pullups - 27

Deadlift – 405lbs                                            Core – Weak Sauce

Push Pres – 135lbs                                          Bodyweight – 165lbs

            I knew that I wouldn’t be the strongest one in the gym, but I had a work ethic like nobodies business. Little by little I saw progress, and numbers began to move. I was becoming faster and stronger, but this deployment would come to throw curveballs.

            Part of my job is a military trainer, and that takes me to other undisclosed locations around the CENTCOM AOR. These trips would be filled with 30+ hour days, a lot of sitting in terminals, sometimes little food and scarce access to gyms. But again, I stayed true to my Fitness mission (as well as my military mission). I worked hard on the road and even harder at the gym.

            Soon, I found that the amount of sweat that I poured into my training, everything became easier. All the worries of travelling, being separated from my family, and my deployment as a whole became managable. I knew that my workouts would be the hardest thing I would do… everything after that would be a walk in the sandy-filled park.

                 I continued to work as had as I could. Making progress on my strength, and giving everything I had for my daily WOD (Workout Of the Day). I am now 7 days from redeploying from a 6 month deployments, and I am very proud of my strength numbers:

Back Squat – 295lbs                                                                         Pullups – 47

Deadlift – 465lbs                                                                              Core – Strong Sauce

Push Press – 180lbs                                                                         Bodyweight – 170lbs

                I will continue to work hard to keep getting stronger, faster and fitter. I know if I can make progress like this in 120 degree heat… I can do this anywhere

3,2,1 GO!

     Let me know what you guys thik of this write up. You never know... I could be in a magazine. Ok, maybe not, but that was my interesting occurance for today. Submit comments, questions or requests to the comments section. I'll see you all soon (real soon). So work hard, don't stop... and do burpees!



"BOLT" from Chris Donnelly on Vimeo.

3,2,1 GO!
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Yesterday's Training:

4 Rounds:
100 double unders
50 30lb ball slams
Time - 16:37
Holy ouch Batman! That was fun!!! Great to be hitting some solid WODs. Just been putting together some good triplets and couplets to get back into the true spirit of CrossFit. I'm still doing my strength work, back on the 5/3/1 program and trying to maintain the numbers I hit out here

Day 162 Burpee Challenge / 13081 Burpees Completed

*3511*