Linda

This is a pic from crossfit ventura's grand opening just 2 days before my challenge. Needless to say I was very pleased when I tore my callouses... made my challenge much more fun.

Linda

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

DL (265)
PC (135)
Bench (175)

Time: 2:36:52 (PR)

Yes, 2.5 hours or so. Yes, it was ridiculous. Yes it was 55 singles all the way through. Had to drop the DL to 225 and the bench to 155 at round 5 because I was consistently failing. Truly at my bodies limit.

-- My favorite quotes of the morning --

"It's his birthday so he's being an idiot"
- Nick

"You are the most disadvantaged weightlifter ever... why don't you get shorter, or bigger or something"
- Also Nick

Helen

Exhausted, but still finding full extension...


About an hour after Linda it was time to give Helen a whirl. Once I hit that first 400m I knew it was not going to be even remotely fun. Whatever muscle it is that pulls my leg off the ground to take another stride was very, very tired. Amazingly I completely demolished my old PR by 3 minutes! I believe this is almost exclusively due to Miguel and Brian who's support certainly pushed me thru the fatigue and pain.

Helen

3 rounds

400m run
21 KB swings (1.5 pood)
12 pullups

Time: 10:35 (PR)



Helen giving it to me prison sex style. I'm somebody's bitch.

Fran

Fighting through my last set of pullups on Fran. My hands hurt more than anything... although everything pretty much sucked

Next on the birthday challenge menu was Fran. I was hoping that the extra motivation of Brian, CJ, and Huff, and an amazing box would push me thru to another PR. It didn't. I was completely fatigued at this point. The 95 lb thrusters could have easily been 135 lb thrusters... speaking of which, are you sure you put the right plates on Huff?

Fran

21-15-9
thrusters (95 lbs)
pullups

Time: 9:30 or so.

About 1.5 minutes slower than my PR. I was simply dead at this point... incapable of explosive movements. My thrusters were more like front squats with a shoulder press at the end. No help from hips at this point. Shit, I was tired after the warmup... then of course we trained core after Fran with Brian and CJ on L-sits and me on L-hangs... I was doing cursive L's by the end!

400 reps to freedom

I didn't rest much between Fran and Angie. I just wanted to get things over with at this point. It was a grind but Brian and CJ helped me through. Oh, and fuck 100 pullups at the end of a birthday challenge. Did not feel good on my little handsies.

Angie

100 pullups
100 pushups
100 situps
100 squats

Time: 35:00

Close to what I was hoping for... and also the first time a completed it... so technically a PR. I'll take it.

Game Plan

I've been debating with myself about whether to try Linda first or last. I know that my chances of getting PRs on Fran and Helen are much greater if I do Linda last... but my training the last two weeks has been largely aimed at getting stronger for Linda. So I've decided an all out, fresh attempt at Linda is more important than PRs. Both would be nice. Here's how it will pan out.

Tuesday 8-26-08

9:00 AM - Linda (UCSB rec cen)
Time to beat: infinity

1:00 PM - Helen (UCSB track)
Time to beat: 13:45

5:00 PM - Fran (crossfit ventura)
Time to beat: 7:20

8:00 PM - Angie (somewhere)
Time to beat: 30:00 (speculation)

Come do a WOD with me! Especially Linda. Towards the end (or beginning as it may turn out) when I start failing feel free to give me birthday presents by pulling some DLs for me... the judges will allow it.

The Gospel of Spiering

Power Clean

3 @ 65
3 @ 95
2 @ 135
1 @ 155
1 @ 165
1 @ 175 (PR!)
1 @ 185 (PR!!)
1 @ 165
1 @ 155

Proved that I can indeed get 185 up... although it probably looked a bit like Brian as I chased it down. No more power cleans after my challenge. It's time to learn the real deal... full cleans and full snatches only. Still, I'm really thrilled to get 185 up!!!

Then, I accomplished a sub 4 minute Fran... at the girls weight. Still, it's good to know I'm at least a reasonably fit girl!

Time: about 3:45

DId everything unbroken... too bad 95 lbs is gonna hammer me into the ground (especially after Linda)

Not Quite Yet

Singles Bench

5 X 1 (185)

then attempt power clean singles... and fail. I think my body was shot from yesterdays DL.

then stairs and pushups!

6 rounds

Sprint up stairs at harder stadium
10 pushups

No time on this one. Just gave it my all every trip up.

dream not of today

DL triples

4 X 3 (250)
1 X 2 (250) ... because my form was going to shit at this point

Then,

1,2,3,4 reps right arm DB power snatch
4,3,2,1 reps left arm DB power snatch

Rest for several hours. Then,

3 rounds for time

10 KB swings (1.5 pood)
10 burpees

Time: 3:45

Short duration means all out straight thru to the end. Need to get used to these sorts of volleys for a good Fran and Helen time.

Good Solid Fun

6 X 3 power clean (135)
7 X 3 bench press (165)

then

3 rounds for time

250m row
7 thrusters (95)

time: About 8 minutes... gym clock.

Then I play pace car for Brian.

run 400m - last 400 of his 800
run 800m - last 800 of his 1600

Congratulations on your birthday challenge Brian! It was a remarkable effort.

We have a rock wall

fancy that - Climb "continuously" for 15 minutes

then

8 X 3 DL (135)

Dynamic effort. Light and fast.

then

30 20 10 5

pushups
pullups
back extensions
KTE

Time: 16:05

Circuit felt endurance-y. I need to get some good pukie metcon training for my challenge. Maybe rowing... thrusters... wall ball?

Truckin' Along

Warmup

3 rounds

5 DL (135)
10 pushups
5 PC (95)
10 pushups

WOD

Max rounds in 20 minutes

5 GHD situps
run 400m
10 pullups
run 400m
15 squats

Score 4 + 10 GHD situps

The good news is that all reps were unbroken. Did a few extra GHD situps at he end because I had a little extra time but not enough for the run.

Mental

Warmup

15 deadlifts (95)
10 hang power cleans (95)
20 pushups

I know, this is a shit warmup.

Singles power clean (videos coming)

95
115
135
155
165
165
185 f



165 - PR



185 - fail

I think I can get 175... hell, after seeing the video I think I can get 185. Alas, 175 is not possible with my weights.

Bench Press

10 (45)
7 (95)
5 (135)
2 (165)
185
195
205f
205f

205 2nd time around was a bad idea, I knew I wouldn't get it. Should have gone for 200.

Rest and Plan

Going to spend the day recovering from a long, yet less than ideal, three days of training. I'm going to hit 2 WODs a day starting tomorrow. One will be handcrafted by Brian to make me stronger and more prepared for Linda. The other will be strictly metcon and is completely up to me to invent. I think lots of pullups, pushups, thrusters, and kettle bell swings are in order... of course running might not be a bad idea provided that I can do it without hurting myself.

Stay tuned... I have less than 2 weeks to make this happen.

Keeping it on the DL

Deadlift

5 X 135
3 X 185
1 X 225
1 X 245
1 X 275
1 X 295
1 X 265 (this was going to be a triple until I picked it up)

3 X 225
3 X 225
3 X 225
3 X 225

Notes: triples at 78% body weight. 295 is my previous PR for a single. At least I tied it. I feel like I have been hungry the last few times I have made it in the gym. I need to work on my diet and my scheduling.

Came home, ate something, rocked some tabata intervals:

pushups - 10 10 10 10 10 8 8 7
squats - 15 15 15 15 15 14 15 15
shoulder press (45) - 16 15 11 9 8 7 7 7
situps - 12 10 10 11 11 12 11 11

Good fun

Why Linda is a bad idea

10 sets of
bench single - 175
DL single - 265

Time - 15 minutes

Ignoring the cleans, this projects to a 2.5 hour Linda... assuming my back doesn't break first. As CJ pointed out, at least it will be fun(ny) to watch.

KB swings don't always play nice

run 400m (1:08, 1:20 1:25) - can somebody check these times for me?
kettlebell swing, 1.5 pood, max reps (25, 30, 24) - and also these numbers
rest 5:00
3 rounds

Another Day

1) Weighted box jumps - doubles @ 10 20 25 30 35

2) Shoulder press - singles @ 95 115 125 130 135f

200m run
40 push-ups
200m run
30 push-ups
200m run
20 push-ups
200m run
10 push-ups
time : 8:02

Working on it

Warmup with DL triples @

135
185
205

and then a BIG jump and a double

255

Work:

5 X 5 DL @ 235




triple @ 205



double @ 255

Notes: Last 5 X 5 was at 225 with dead-stops every rep. This time I moved fluidly from rep to rep. It was much easier.

Birthday Challenge

I now have a birthday challenge.

The Date: Monday, August 25

The Challenge: 4 girls in one 1 day

The girls:

(1) Linda
(2) Fran
(3) Helen
(4) Barbara

Goals:

(1) Live
(2) Don't hurt myself
(3) Get PR's on all girls

Scores to beat:
(1) ???
(2) 7:20
(3) 13:45
(4) ???

I'm worried about Linda. 55 reps of anything at heavy weights worries me... but just how heavy are we talking?

My current max efforts are at about these weights:

DL: 290
Bench: 190
Clean: 145

If I maintain weight at 175 then Linda as Rx'd is:

DL: 262.5
Bench: 175
Clean: 131.25

I can move these weights... but 55 times!? This isn't going to be pretty.

Damn it Ken

As many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:

10 reps 65 pound Thruster
10 Pullups

Score: 10 rounds. Maybe 11... I had the distinct feeling during my workout that I neglected to record one of my rounds. Probably just wishful thinking. I don't know if Ken knows but I always try to beat his scores on the WODs. Ken is a fit guy... and he always seems to beat me! He got 10 rounds + 10 thrusters. Not only did he beat me, but he says it wasn't his best. Well, it wasn't mine either... I hope. Ken, I will defeat you.

3 Bars of Death

I had my first date with Linda tonight. I vastly overestimated how of her I could handle and ended up cutting it way short. Sorry Linda, I'll do better next time.

Linda:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of the triplet:
Deadlift: 1 1/2 bodyweight
Bench Press: bodyweight
Clean: 3/4 boyweight

My version of this incredible woman

10-7-4-1
Deadlift: 225 205 185 185
Bench Press: 155 155 155 155
Clean: 3/4 boyweight: 135 115 115 115

Time: 20 minutes.

I cut it short and scaled it fora number of reasons. Mainly just not feeling it... my knee was just a little tweaked and I know better at this point than to push it when it's yelling at me. Also, in the middle of a bench set some tools took over my other bars. By the time I noticed they already had half the weight off of them. What made it worse was that these tools were doing weighted "pullups" before they jacked my bars. Their pullups of course consisted of hopping slightly off the ground and then pulling as hard as they can to get their foreheads to the bar. Awesome range of motion guys. What a couple of cock smokers.

It's all genetics

Saturday workouts are always a blast. Plus there are so many new faces popping up... I love it! Today's workout didn't disappoint.

8 rounds

Burpees 30 sec
DB DL's (45 lbs) 30 sec
rest 30 sec

Score:

20 20 18 17 17 16 16 20

total = 144

There were some pretty high scores being thrown out every round... maybe I need to justify my low numbers? You see, I have long legs and short arms which makes me inherently bad at DL. It means I have to move the weight more distance to complete a rep... so technically, I'm doing more work per rep than a person with shorter legs and longer arms. So, the logical suggestion is... who the hell cares? Evidently there is an interesting article in the new crossfit journal relating to this issue. After I read it I'll comment on it... but for now, I feel like I don't give a shit what body type I am or you are. Lets just throw down and have some damn fun! I had a great time with everybody today...

thanks to all

Helen

Not quite what I had in mind but my right elbow was feeling tweaked on the muscle-up warmups... fortunately, Helen was free for the evening.

Warmup:

run 400m

15 10 5

power clean (95 lbs)
pushups

Helen:

3 rounds

400m run
21 KB swing (1.5 pood)
12 pullups

time: 13:45

I feel like I can do much better. I was very tired before the workout and I waited too long to eat today which always throws off my energy levels. I've done this workout once before but didn't record my time. It was pretty close to what I got today. No matter, I will be ready next time and I will destroy this time.

Rest Please

Needed the rest today. Hopefully I'll be ready for 30 muscle-ups tomorrow. Realistically I'll get 15 at 1 per minute and finish the rest off with pull-ups and dips. Either way I'm excited for it!!! Anybody interested in joining me?

I"M BAAAAACCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!

Warm up

400 m jog / sprint mashup

5 DL @ 95
5 DL @ 135

then 3 rounds of

10 DL @ 185
10 pushups

The main course:

Complete as many rounds in 10 minutes as you can of:
65 pound Sumo Deadlift High-pull, 30 reps
30 Squats

rest 5 minutes, then:

Complete as many rounds in 5 minutes as you can of:
65 pound Sumo Deadlift High-pull, 15 reps
15 Squats

Scores:

3 rounds + 30 SDHP + 10 squats
3 rounds + 30 SDHP

Comments:

OUCHCHHCHCH. 20 of the suckiest minutes of my life. My legs and core are jello... I'll need a walker (the kind with tennis balls on the legs) to get around campus tomorrow.

Thank you to all of the crossfit community for missing me. I missed you guys too!!! Your comments while I was missing were great motivation to return as quickly as possible. I can't wait until we get to hit up a WOD together again:)

The Return

After a fun warmup of unloading rubber mats, CJ and Huff took me thru a delightful WOD.

Complete as many rounds in 20 minute as you can of:
100m Sprint
5 Burpee Box Jumps
15 Sit-ups

Score 12 rounds

I knew Brian scored 13 rounds and CJ scored 14... a result that has got Brian's panties in a bit of a bunch - which I of course find highly amusing. Anyway, I tied Huff. Granted this is after Huff's 3 week break, but I am pretty happy with any score that is on par with Huff, properly conditioned or not! Thanks for the motivation and encouragement crossfit ventura. I'm honored to have the first WOD!

Again with the Crap

Things have just not been good. Diet, sleep, workouts, and discipline have all taken a hit. Here's what I've been up to:


Tuesday -

O-clinic

then

30 C & J (95 lbs)

Time: 3:18

Wednesday -

Something that I don't remember right now that took about 12 minutes. I'll look it up later.

Thursday -

70 pullups
70 GHD situps
70 pushups
70 squats

Time: 18:00

Friday - Rest. Core destroyed from GHD.

Saturday - Big fat nothing. Core still hurt from the GHD... probably due to shit nutrition and little sleep.

Sunday -

1-9 up-ladder

Ring dips
DB C & J (35 lbs)
KB swings (1.5 pood)

Time: 14:00

Meant to go up to 10 but I was dead. Should have started there and gone down. Probably could have done more work in less time.

Rest

Excited for the O clinic at my house tomorrow.

KISS This

Well Brain, how's this for Keep It Simple?

5 rounds

5 SP @ 115
50 Double-unders

Time: 14:45

115 is a good heavy weight for shoulder press. The reps inevitably broke.

Round 1: 5
Round 2: 4+1
Round 3: 3+2
Round 4: 2+2+1
Round 5: 2+2+1

Overall it was quick, simple and fun.

** hah. It just occurred to me that I was using my "max" SP weight from CFT a few days ago! I suppose I can probably go a little heavier on the SP!

C&J's are hard

Max rounds in 20 minutes:

15 power clean & jerks
500m row

Score: 1 round + 11 C&J

Row Time: 1:40

C&Js at 135 lbs are hard. 15 of them in a row is really hard.

Welcome to the Shit Show

Sometimes trying to get a PhD can be a real pain in the ass.

Friday - squeezed in a shit session for a workout.
Thursday - Rest because the day slipped away from me
Wed - Rest... at least this was supposed to be a rest day

Friday's WOD

Row

500 - warmup
400 - 1:19
200 - 0:35
200 - 0:35
200 - 0:34

About 2 minutes between efforts. Cut workout real short. Ran out of time.

"Tabata What"

L-Pullups - 2
Thrusters - 6
Box Jumps - 7
SDHP - 7
DU - 20

Total - 42

This was my first time doing "tabata what" so I set my goals modestly. Next time I'm going for:

L-Pullups - 3
Thrusters - 8
Box Jumps - 9
SDHP - 9
DU - 23

Total - 52

I think I'll get it.

CFT

Crossfit Total

BS - 225 (PR by 20 lbs!)
DL - 295 (PR by 30 lbs!)
SP - 115 :(

Total - 635

Way of the Blood Monger

I dedicate this post to Brian. He has a birthday challenge coming up and his numbers aren't looking too good. After toying with the idea of dropping the difficulty of his challenge, then basically being called a bitch, he has settled on giving it his all regardless of the consequences. Although I wasn't witness to any blood this weekend, I did see Brian go at some olympic lifts without any obvious regard for technique, or personal safety. It wasn't pretty but he is strong as hell. Imagine what this guy could do if he had a coach to help him stop sucking so much.



Brian gets a PR on the "clean" with 205 lbs on the bar. I'm just glad he got it before crashing through my fence and into my neighbors pool.




Brian tries to tear his arms off... without success.



Inspired by Brian's disregard for safety I commit myself to the BBQ... the video ends but you see where my momentum is carrying me. Explosive lifts on a tiny patio with a BBQ behind you. Smart. Anyway, I missed my next attempt too but nailed the 3rd with a power snatch.

Bravery

3 Rounds For Time:

15 Thrusters (65)
30 Dumbbell Swings (45)
45 Sideways Bar Hops

Time: 13:56

I beat CJ... hahahah. Sucker. What's that? What do you mean I seriously reduced the rx'd weight? Nevertheless, thrusters suck... thrusters at this weight don't suck that bad... Next I'm competing against a monster I'll only take 20 lbs of the prescription. I know, I'm a bitch.

Rest

Took a swing at training a buddy of mine today. 2 days ago was intro to back squat. Today was intro to deadlift. I am not well enough trained to teach proper DL or squat form... my hope is that I know enough to help him avoid injury and get psyched about the lifts. So far so good.

Sweat

(1)

Swim

1 X 100 easy
10 X 50 sprints

Time: 30 minutes... this is almost certainly an overestimate. The point is that I had plenty of rest between sprints. Say, 1:2 or 1:3.

(2)

Eat and rest for an hour or so.

(3)

21 DB clean-thrusters (30 lb DB)
21 double-unders
15 ring dips

15 DB clean-thrusters (30 lb DB)
21 double-unders
9 ring dips

9 DB clean-thrusters (30 lb DB)
21 double-unders
5 ring dips

Time: 14:51

Notes:

(1) I've been swimming all my life but I'm not a great swimmer. I am at least good enough to get a killer workout. I have been seriously slacking on recording accurate workout times. I need to get a stopwatch and staple that shit to my arm.

(2) The workouts I invent are usually disastrous and end in injury, but this one felt perfect. It was hard as hell, and taxed my body anaerobically... just what I wanted after the last few heavy days.

Seven

7 Rounds For Time:

7 Deadlifts (185)
7 Burpee Box Jumps (24")
7 Weighted Pull-Ups (25)

I worked for 30 minutes and got thru 6 rounds. I have gone heavy on the last few workouts. This has meant that the limiting factor has been my strength... not so much my sprinting ability. 185 doesn't seem like a heavy DL but for me (especially after yesterday) it was. I have some serious improvements to make with my form and my strength. I think it might be time to go a bit lighter for a couple and get pukie back in the picture.

Blunt

5 X 5 BS

(185 185 185 185 195)

Time: About 10 minutes. Rest periods distributed evenly between sets.

On June 2 I did triples at 185 after max effort DL. I had never done triples at 185. However, I figured without the DL I should be able to squat 185 for a 5 X 5. I was right. I even got 195 at the end. In retrospect, I think I could have gone heavier... not that it wasn't heavy and hard as hell. It was.

Rest

Nice ride down to the beach and back. Some broomstick oly lifts when I got back.

Humbled

warmup with:

400m jog
25 squats
50 double unders
10 burpees
20 1-arm KB swings @ 12 Kg (10 each arm)
5 man-makers
5 skin-the-cats
5 false-grip ring pullups

then with a broomstick,

10 BS
10 OHS
10 Pressing Snatch Balance
10 Scotts Press
10 Snatch Balance

Total warmup time: 33:00

then the WOD:

50 sumo deadlift high pull @ 95 lbs

then 3 rounds of

25 pullups
7 push jerks @ 115

Time: 16:00

This workout was humbling in a couple of ways. First after trying a few push jerks at the rx'd weight (135 lbs) I decided that it was too heavy for a volume workout. Second, the workout rx'd 5 rounds... not 3. I quit after 3. I was tired as hell... close to muscle failure. Damn, my workout was hard but I can't help feeling like a bit of a pansy.

As Rx'd

9:00 AM

1.5 hours Bikram yoga

7:00 PM

Warmup with 2 rounds of:

5 false-grip pullups
25 double unders
5 skin the cats
25 squats
5 OHS @ 95 lbs
25 KB swings @ 12 Kg

Time: 13:56

Then

21 Deadlifts (135 lbs)
18 Knees to Elbows
400m Run
18 Deadlifts
15 Knees to Elbows
400m Run
15 Deadlifts
12 Knees to Elbows
4oom Run
12 Deadlifts
9 Knees to Elbows
400m Run

Time: 24:02

I like doing things as Rx'd. Makes me feel all grown up.

Practice and Warmup

4 rounds

5 DL (45 65 95 115)
3 OHS (45 65 95 115 X 2)
3 Snatch Balance (45 65 95 115 X 2)
1 Snatch to OHS (45 65 95 115)

Then

10 Thrusters @ 45 lbs
5 Thrusters @ 65
5 Thrusters @ 95
3 Thrusers @ 115
1 Thruster @ 135

Big Rubbers and a Skinny Rope

I'm close to my 30th post. I have never updated a workout journal as consistently or as thoughtfully as I have updated this blog. I feel like the record-keeping has had a tremendous impact on my fitness productivty. In fact, I suspect I owe a substantial part of today's workout to this blog. You see, in one of my first posts I asked readers more knowledgable than myself (so most readers) what their view on scaling crossfit workouts was. Specifically, should I scale down workloads to accomodate unbroken sets and more fluid circuits or should I suffer through the rx'd loads and severely break everything? CJ responded that I should do both and change it up quite a bit from circuit to circuit - big surprise from a crossfit trainer. So shit, this means that once in a while I need to stop being such a pansy and push, pull, swing, and throw the rx'd loads. Well, seeing as how I just got new 45 lb bumpers, I figured it was time for some heavy thrusters.

Thrusters at 135 lbs (as rx'd)
* denotes unbroken (didn't put the bar on the ground or screw up on the jump-rope set)

10 Thrusters
50 Double-Unders
8 Thrusters
40 Double-Unders*
6 Thrusters*
30 Double-Unders*
4 Thrusters*
20 Double-Unders
2 Thrusters*
10 Double-Unders*

Time: 15:10

I'm thrilled with the workout and feel like I got some much needed redemption after the last few days. I'm also thrilled that I don't appear to have hurt myself! My time wasn't incredible but this is to be expected since 135 lbs is a &^%$ing heavy thruster for me. The metcon component of this workout wasn't really a factor - It was almost all strength. In fact, I must confess that I kinda jerked the push-press portion of it a lot of the time. That or shoulder-pressed the end. Whatever, I got 'em up and fully extended under control. I'm counting them!

Unexpected Rest

Damn. I need to get my shit together.

Muscle-What?

"Nate"

Max rounds in 20 minutes of:

2 "Muscle-ups" (3 false-grip pullups + 3 ring dips)
4 Handstand Push-ups
8 Kettlebell Swings (2 pood or 72#)

Score: 7 rounds even

Feels like my muscle-ups are getting weaker. I thought I would get 2's no problem... not the case. Why? When I first made the muscle-up break-through I was hitting the rings every day. That has certainly not been the case lately. Also, handstand pushups were really quite hard. This is a skill I simply haven't really been practicing at all so no surprise there... so there it is. If I want to improve I think I need to recommit and practice handstands and muscle-ups every day. Any ideas as to how I can do this effectively?

f-ing leperachauns

Warmup with a mash-up of ring pushups, KB snathces, KB juggling, hand-stands against a wall, and the like... as well as watching the Lakers slip one past the Celtics.

WOD

Max false-grip hang at full extension

Time: 15 seconds

5 rounds

15 power snatch (65 lbs)
50 air squats

Note: Knees and shoulder still not 100% so sub air squats for running and use wimpy girls weight for snatches.

Time: 17:47

Rest Day

Monday

Things Fall Apart

I really wanted to do the power snatch / 800m run workout posted for today... unfortunately, my body disagreed. My knee and shoulders weren't feeling 100% and I would really like to avoid another injury. As such, I just played around and warmed up with a bunch of fun movements: snatch balances, light power snatches, KB snatch to inverted KB shoulder press, light overhead squat, and pistols.

After some fussing around I settled on this as my WOD:

5 rounds of

3 weighted dips @ 26 lbs
3 weighted pullups @ 26 lbs
10 second L-sit

rest 3 minutes

L-sits are hard. I think I'll do them more often.

Yummy Pancakes

I usually have some delicious (nearly zone) pancakes before I go to the saturday workout. They almost came back for a friendly little visit after this one. Colin, however, seemed to be having a great time.



3 Rounds for time

1 min of each of the following:

Jumping Pullups
Pushups
Box Jumps (24")
Situps
Burpees

Scores:

135+108+116 = 359

No Rest Allowed?

Run 1 mile
Two minutes of each:
Row
Dumbbell Thrusters (32.5 lbs)
Dumbbell Power Cleans (32.5 lbs)
Tuck Jumps
Pull-Ups

Score:

Mile - 7:10
Row - 40 cal
Thrusters - 25
Cleans - 15
Jumps - 35
Pull-ups - 25

Total - 140

I think I cheated on this workout a llittle by timing the 2 minute intervals poorly... I think the net effect was a little more rest than would have otherwise been possible. Total workout time was 21 minutes. This leaves a little less than 3 minutes of walking from treadmill to rower to gym to pull-up bar. The overall quality of the workout would have been much better in a legit crossfit facility.

My mile is slow as hell... but considering that just a few weeks ago I was telling myself I would never run again, I think it's okay. By the way - I really hope I won't be telling myself that again anytime soon. I suck at dumbbell work. I need to do it way more.

Rest

3 on 1 off

Stealth Mode

21 (Push Press @ 115)
18 KBS (1.5 pood)
15 PP
30 KBS
9 PP
42 KBS

Time: 17:00

During warmup I casually dumped 115 lbs from fully over head. My neighbor wasn't too happy about that (seeing as how it was 9:30 at night) and promptly let me know. So my workout tonight was hardcore stealth mode. This means no dumping weights, no screaming in agony, silenced heaving breaths, and essentially no remotely loud sounds at all. Turns out this really makes a workout more difficult. Maybe it's good seal training. You never know when you might find yourself behind enemy lines and in need of a crossfit workout.

Fran

21-15-9

Pullups
Thrusters @ 95 lbs

Time: 7:20

Thanks to Brian, I gamed this one just right. I tried to split the thrusters into groups of 3 and the pullups into groups of 2. Stuck to the game plan with the thrusters and mostly stuck to the game plan with the PU. I haven't done a Fran in a long time (about a year). My old time was around 20-30 minutes. Slight improvement...

2 outstanding days in a row. Keep 'em coming!

Progress

DL: 185, 205, 225, 245 (PR), 265 (PR)
BS: 5 X 3 @ 185
FS: 5 X 5 @ 135



I completely killed the DL and shattered my old PR (225). This was also the first time I ever squatted triples at 185. I feel strong. The 5 X 5 also went well although I was pretty hungry at this point... I probably could have gotten a few more pounds on the bar. Overall a huge success.

Rest

Sunday

Buy 1 Get 1 Free

Brian and I hit up 2 free weekend workouts today. SB Crossfit and Crossfit805 do this every weekend. Check it out.

(1) 10:00 AM

Max Reps in 2 min / Rest 2 min

Situps
Pushups
Squats
Supermans

Then

3 X 400m runs

I was foolish and didn't record my scores. My estimates are:

75
50
85
30

The supermans were easy... just really slow. These didn't fit the circuit very well. Also, I will be praying that the 400m runs weren't a phenomenally bad idea. My knee will tell me tomorrow morning...

(2) 12:00 PM

5 rounds

100 ft walking lunge
Max pullups
20 pushups

Score = total pullups / time

Pullup scores: 20 15 13 13 15
Time: about 18-19 minutes
Score: 3.97

My pullup score were pretty strong. Pushups destroyed me! I'm sure the 50 I did for workout (1) made a difference... still, I need to get stronger!

Rest-ish

Bikram yoga 1.5 hours

My shoulders, hips, and knees are tight. Hopefully this helped.

Rebound

Thursday

(1)Late morning / early afternoon

5 x 5

DL @ 165
Ring dips

Time: 8:33

I thought the DL would be the tough part and the dips would be easy. It was exactly the opposite... the DL actually felt pretty easy. Maybe I'm not as weak as I thought. Nevertheless, I am still weak and need to DL way more.

(2)Night

With a continuous running clock do one pull-up the first minute, two pull-ups the second minute, three pullups the third minute... continuing as long as you are able.

Score: 13 min + 10

The pullups were done more or less unbroken until about the 11th minute. At that point they were anything but unbroken... in fact, I think one of the later rounds was done almost entirely as singles!

Mediocre

Warmed up at the track with a little ring work. A few ring pushups, some ring dips, and some muscle-ups. Overall I felt very weak and nothing went especially well. At least Brian helped me get a feel for back levers.

Next we headed to the gym for some bench:

-Work up to 1 RM

10 @ 45
5 @ 95
3 @ 135
2 @ 155
1 @ 185
1 @ 195 (fail)
1 @ 195 (fail)

-5 X 3 @ 165 (90% max)

Triples felt alright but my 1 RM was well below my PR (210). I think this one amounts to having a pretty bad day in general. I was tired and hungry. I'll be better prepared next time. Besides, Brian says only mediocre athletes always perform their best. I guess this means I'm not mediocre. Thanks Brian.

Belay Slave

Aside from being being Brian's belay slave I took the day off. Your welcome Brian.

The Bear

(1)

5, 10, 15 (unbroken)

Burpees
KTE
Thrusters (45 lbs)

Time: 8:03

(2)

The Bear

7 sets of the sequence:
Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Push Press

5 Rounds, Rest Between Rounds as Needed

Loads:

65
65
95
115
115

Time: 33:00

Ouch. This was hard. I probably could have gone a bit (a very tiny bit) heavier but I didn't have more weight.

Attacking Weakness

Started up with some ring drills. Moved on to olympic lift drills. Finished with my 3 favorite movements of all time: thrusters, burpees, and knees to elbows. This all played out as follows:

(1) On the Rings

Skin the Cat
Straight body inverted hang
Inverted pull-ups
Back lever (attempts)
Support
Push-ups

(2) Olympic lift drills

5 X 3 snatch balance (95 lbs)

(3) Working UNBROKEN sets

15, 10, 8 thrusters (95 lbs)
15, 15, 15 burpees
15, 12, 10 KTE

Comments:

I took several minutes between all attempts in workouts (1) and (2). The point was to develop skills more than it was to get a crazy workout. Does this seem like a reasonable way of doing things?

Weekend Madness

The boys at SB Crossfit cooked up a killer for us this morning:

4 Rounds For Time:

400m Run
50 Box Jumps

Unfortunately my knee is crap and so I sat this one out. Everybody else worked incredibly hard and in the process motivated me to put my best efforts into my own saturday madness...

(1)

1:00 PM

7-5-3: muscle-ups
21-15-9: KB swings (1.5 pood)

Time: 11:48

(2)

7:00 PM

Get estimate of today's 1 RM front squat:

Rest about 1 minute between attempts.

95 lbs X 3
115 lbs X 3
135 lbs X 3
155 lbs X 1
175 lbs X 1
185 lbs (Fail)

1 RM weight = 175 lbs

Time: 11:50

(3)

7 X 3 front squat (135 lbs - 75% 1 RM)

Time: 10:15

(4)

4 rounds for time:

500 meter row
50 box jumps (24")

Time: 25:02

Comments:

The muscle-up/KB circuit was hard but certainly didn't destroy me. Muscle-ups were limited by strength (but felt much closer to full extension). KB swings felt good. I had to keep the MU at low reps in order to keep the flow of the circuit at a resonable pace. Maybe next time I'll try smaller sets of both repeated more times so that I can get similar power output from both movements. Any suggestions?

I am fairly confident that my true 1 RM front squat is significantly heavier. I expected it to be low given that I was only taking 1 minute breaks and I was a bit tired from a long day and workout (1). No matter, the real purpose was to figure out what weight to do the triples at.

The triples at 75% felt good and hard. I had to fight but I wasn't ever dangerously close to failure.

The final circuit was beautiful. I felt like I really joined the rest of the SB crossfit crew in their WOD. Props to Phil and Russ... 24" boxes suck.

Rest Day

Today was a much needed rest day... looking forward to a great group crossfit workout tomorrow. Speaking of which, I really can't express my gratitude enough to SB Crossfit. CJ, Bill, and the whole community rock. Thanks for all the feedback and drill ideas to help me push through to new levels of fitness.

In other news, I've been doing some reading. What is fitness? I can't believe I've known about crossfit for close to 2 years and only now really took this article seriously. I have some questions and ideas I'll be posting soon on this topic.

Absolutely Filthy

"Filthy 50"

For Time:
50 Box Jumps (24")
50 Jumping Pullups
50 Kettlebell Swings (35#)
50 Lunges
50 Knees to Elbows
50 Push Press (45#)
50 Back Extensions
50 Thrusters (45#)
50 Burpees
50 Double-Unders

Time: 40:15

Most of these movements felt relatively easy... in that the 50 reps were completed without breaks or with only a few (short) breaks. KTE, thrusters, and burpees however thoroughly handed my ass to me. I had to chew it back a couple of times during the burpees. These 3 killers took the majority of the time and were broken as follows:

KTE: 10 10 5 5 5 5 5 5
Thrusters: 10 10 10 10 10
Burpees: 10 10 10 10 10

I guess I know what to work on...

Under the Bar

I didn't get a real focused olympic lifting session in yesterday, nor did I do any other kind of WOD so I am counting it as a rest day. I more than made up for it today:

(1)

Snatch to overhead squat: 45, 65, 95, 115
Clean to front squat: 115, 145
Clean and jerk: 145, 145
Clean: 95, 95, 95, 95

(2)

Using a 1.5 pood KB

75 KB swings
25 burpees
50 KB swings
50 burpees

Time: 21:35

(3)

5 x 5 false grip ring pull-ups

(4)

Watch the Lakers come back from 20 to win game 1. It was a good night.

I really need to work on getting under the bar on my olympic lifts. I feel fairly comfortable power cleaning and power snatching but when it comes down to heavy loads I'm gonna need to start pulling myself under the bar instead of pulling the bar over me. I think a lot of my problem is fear and lack of confidence... I don't trust my front squat or my overhead squat to catch heavy loads. I suppose this simply means that I should front squat and overhead squat more often. Any other drills out there that I should try out to improve this weakness?

The KB-burpee circuit was meant to mimic the rowing-burpee workout on the crossfit website a couple of days ago. While I think I stumbled upon a fun combo, nothing hurts quite like rowing does. Also, I originally intended to do a third round of 25 swings and 75 burpees but I called it because I am a pansy. My body and mind are exhausted but I do wish I did that third round...

Intervals

WOD:

1 min Deadlifts (135 lbs)
500m Row Sprint
2 min rest
1 min Weighted Situps (32.5 lbs)
500m Row Sprint
2 min Rest
1 min DB Thrusters (35 lbs each db)
500m Row Sprint
2 min rest
1 min Weighted Dips (25 lbs)
500m Row Sprint
2 min rest
1 min Jumping Bar Squats (45 lbs)
500m Row Sprint

Keep track of total reps for each round. For every 15 seconds it takes to complete the row, subtract 1 rep from your score. Your total score is all of your reps added together (including subtractions from the rowing)

My scores:

13
1:45
18
1:45
18
1:51
8
1:47
28
1:44

Total reps = 85
Total row time = 532 seconds
Number of 15 second row intervals = 35.5

TOTAL SCORE = 49.5

Comments: This circuit was really awkward to do in the gym. It would be much better in a legitimate crossfit facility with enough people involved to count reps and keep time for you. Nevertheless, it was excessively fun... you know, in that lucidly recalling what you had for lunch kind of way.

Fix Me

I decided to take Sunday off from high intensity training. However, I have a hard time doing nothing so I spent a half hour or so in the afternoon working on muscle-ups. I was thrilled to add 7 more notches to my crossfit bedpost. Even more thrilling at the time was getting the last 4 as a pair of linked doubles! A couple of hours later I returned home (still giddy as a schoolgirl) and decided to try to get some of my new toys on tape. After warming up with a few singles and doubles I got my brother to record a serious effort... in which I got a PR of 3 linked reps! Of course only the last failed rep was recorded. This turned out to be a blessing because after a short rest I tried it again. Check it out:



Please offer feedback on how I can make these better. Two things jump out at me right away:

(1) I am far from getting full extension. Part of this is because the bar isn't high enough and I have mutant legs. Still, I know there is a strength issue there that I need to train.

(2) I have a massive kip. Seriously, when the camera comes around to the side you can see that I am almost completely horizontal. Is this okay?

(3) Looks like I'm not really pulling the rings into my chest and armpits. In fact, it doesn't look like I am pulling the rings very much at all. It's as if I just sorta lock off and use my kip to get my body around.

Anybody know any drills that would clean me up?

Gas Prices

For the last several weekends a couple of local crossfit trainers (CJ and Huff) have been hosting free workouts and getting everybody incredibly psyched for the gym they plan to open in the near future. I am incredibly grateful to them for taking the initiative and getting together an awesome crossfit base here in Santa Barbara. I am also thankful to them for thinking up fun and unusual ways to kick my ass. Todays WOD was a perfect example of their diabolical, sadist genius. At least they saved us some money on gas...

Max Rounds in 20 Minutes:

50 m car push (It's not a technical exercise. We literally just pushed cars.)
Rest while steering team does 7 burpees.
50 m car push
Switch with the steering team

Count: 7.5 rounds

Comments:

This workout was a lot of fun. The first 50 m was down a slight decline. Hence, the way back sucked. Really sucked. We had to dig deep every trip. We got stuck at the crux on the way back in our 6th round and despite ample screaming and yelling couldn't budge the car. We got it with a third pair of hands... teamwork rocks.

Permutations

Training Skills:

Before I headed to the gym for the WOD I played around outside on my rings. I got my first ever muscle-up last Saturday. Today I got 5 more (5 singles I should say... linking reps is the next step). I don't really feel like I pull that hard, I am just kipping like a mf. I have a long way to go... still, doing muscle-ups makes me feel decidedly less like a pansy.

For Time:

Note: 55 lbs is slightly more than 1.5 pood

21 Bench Press (135 lbs)
15 Pullups
9 Dumbbell Swings (55 lbs)

15 Bench Press (135 lbs)
9 Pullups
21 Dumbbell Swings (55 lbs)

9 Bench Press (115 lbs)
21 Pullups
15 Dumbbell Swings (55 lbs)

Time: 13:19

Comments:

I weighed in at 178 lbs today (measured after the workout... probably lost a couple pounds in sweat). The official SB Crossfit WOD Rx'd body weight bench press... this would have amounted to a ton of triples and doubles for me so I scaled it back. As it turns out, I didn't scale it back enough. Every set was broken (several times, even after I dropped the weight to 115 in the 3rd round). Same deal on the pullups but I think that can be explained by the ring training before the workout. Dumbbell swings were hard but appropriately weighted. I feel fairly confident with swings... I just wish I had my kettlebell.

Question:

What are the training goals of a circuit like this? Should I strive to find weights that I can press in unbroken sets or are the slightly heavier weights ideal? Maybe I should just man up and do body weight? My feeling is that the point is really to meet pukey the clown... this would mean I need to find weights that I push all the way thru without beaking. True?