2011 Wrap Up

Quite an interesting year.  I actually don't recall what I was doing for New Years, or if I made any resolutions.  I know that I was preparing to travel to Spain for 6 months as my "deployment".  I also weighed 240 pounds, mostly fat, failed an AF PT Assessment and as far as strength went, Squatted nothing, Deadlifted Nada, Benched crap, did no pull ups, but ran a respectable (for a 240# fatass) 12:30 1.5 mile. Here's a good before pic.

End of 2010

I left for Spain with a plan to return fitter than I had begun the year, this would be no easy task considering I was going to SPAIN...  I was armed with nothing, no knowledge of S&C programs, so knowledge of lifting period.  The first video I saw of a push jerk looked like an incredibly dangerous lift because your feet come off the floor!

When I arrived I began the usual workouts...running...thats it.  After a few days I checked out the base gym, pretty small not a lot going on, they had a rower, which was intriguing.  A few weeks later I was looking around and found the CrossFit site.  After some research I jumped on the message boards and began reading, not just posts but linked studies and athlete blogs, etc.  I ordered my copy of Starting Strength and read that thing F2B.  After most of the research I concluded that I would not be able to Cardio my ass down to 200#, and that with my build and genetic makeup I had 2 choices, fat or strong.  So I took my new-found knowledge and hit the iron.  I found out pretty quick how weak I was, but I kept at it.  The nice thing about being a being a Noob at lifting is the gains come real fast.  I still ran regularly and even completed a series of 5Ks in April.  I started running repeats, 5 x 400, 10 x 100, etc.. and became a HUGE fan of rowing. (Still am) By my 30th birthday I had already begun seeing results and the guys I was deployed with noticed as well.  My DL had gone from nothing to 335#, most of my strength numbers were getting up to respectable levels.  I hit up a 550 lap challenge in the pool and for the first time I was able to hit the beach without a T-shirt.  I remember having my first non-farmer tan, it was pretty cool. Sidenote, the beaches in Spain are LEGIT!, I highly recommend Cadiz or Conil de la Frontera.

Sunset in Cadiz, sittin at a Bar

By the time I left Spain I was 210 pounds and much fitter (read: better looking) than when I had arrived, My Dead lift was 405# and I was Squatting 245 for 5x3.  42 days later I had to reaccomplish my AF PT test and scored my first excellent score...ever.  I continued progress after returning home and became a regular visitor to the base gym here.  Ending the year I squatted 315# and pulled 415#, I also bench 210#, but have never really been a regular bencher, which is something I plan to work on in 2012. Here's a quick Before/After to show some progress.

On the way to the airpot in Jan/Driving in LA in Aug

At the end of the year I took most of my saved money, Christmas money, and pooled some resources to put together my own garage gym, which has yet to be named...

The only things I'm lookin for now are some Oly Lifting shoes, and a used keg.

Plans for 2012? I'm glad you asked...

500# Deadlift
415# Squat
250# C&J
200# Snatch
315# Bench
200# Press
 In that order, pretty much.

I also plan on making a career change to a new and better job, I've already made my promtion to E6 (another 2011 accomplishment) which opened up opportunities to crosstrain into a new field.

Fingers crossed...