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