CFFB 123011/123111

DWOD 1: "Kalsu"

On the minute:
Complete 5 burpees and perform max rep 135 lbs thrusters on the minute.

The goal is to complete 100 total thrusters.
*At the beginning of every minute perform 5 burpees, for the rest of the minute perform as many thrusters as you can during that minute. At the beginning of the next minute perform 5 burpees and then max rep thrusters and so on until you reach 100 total thrusters.

Scaled it to 75#. Got to 25 thrusters in 5 min and threw in the towel. Weakness identified: strength endurance. Want to be a good bit stronger before I really start targeting this aspect.

DWOD 2:

Complete 5 rounds:
3 Power Snatches
3 Snatch Pulls
3 Power Snatches

*Rest 2-3 minutes between sets.
*Do not drop the weight during the round. Stay connected through the round.
*If weight is dropped, count number of drops and perform an equal amount of burpees as a penalty.
*Work up the heaviest set possible with staying connected.

First time doing any type of snatch movement. I could see my form improving through the sets which was nice. Could have gone heavier, but I was conservative with it being a new movement. Did an extra set too: 45-65-75-95-105-115. Are the barbells used for snatching knurled all the way to the ends of the bar? Seemed like I should have taken a wider grip but it was smooth steel and not easy to hang onto.

ASWOD

Skipped it (5x3 power cleans @ 165). Back was toast.

Belated Christmas WOD

Not the shortest video (~10 min) but some really good cues/tips from an olympic gymnast. The ease with which he does some of these movements is unbelievable.


From DCF last week:

1 squat clean 95#
2 wall walks
3 power snatch 95#
4 sit ups
5 burpees
6 pull ups
7 squats
8 lateral bar jumps
9 push ups
10 toes to bar
11 box jumps 24
12 dead lifts 95#

Rep scheme follows the 12 days of christmas song.

Time: 19:20

Notes: Goal going in was to take break as needed between movements but do each individual movement unbroken. I pussed out and broke up the last set of box jumps but did everything else unbroken, so pretty happy with that. Pretty brutal ass workout, wall walks really kick your ass just when things are getting easy and you're finishing up each round. Looking forward to trying again in 6 months and a year, looking to shave off 1-2 mins each time.

CFFB 122911: easing back into it

ASWOD

3x5 squat @ 245 (failed first 2 sets and switched over to 5x3 to maintain volume)
3x5 bench press @ 150 (PR...literally months in the making)

Gonna be doing mad pushups for assistance from now on. Seems like just a few days with a few hundred PUs a day got me a new PR.

DWOD

Complete 4-6 efforts (I did 4):
60 Yard Pro Long Shuttle
*Long Shuttle: From a starting line, a player runs 5 yards straigh ahead and back pedals to the starting line, then 10 yards and back, then 15 yards and back. He must bend down and touch the line at each 5, 10, 15 yard intervals. You end up with a total of 6 touches and 60 yards.

The sting in my quads during these sprints after all those heavy squats was unbelievable...I'm gonna be sorrra denna mawfugga.

Assistance Work

Pussed out...blamin' it on first day back after the better part of a week. Weakness. I'll crank out mad pushups between now and next bench day.

Dub Sandwich

Fo tyme:
80 double unders
Then 4 rounds of:
20 wall ball 20#
20 lateral bar jumps (back and forth = 1)
20 sit ups
2o push press 75#
Then 80 double unders

15:58

Notes: goal going in was to do everything unbroken and take a few seconds of rest between movements. First set of dubs were ok, average pace, I think I was second to the wall balls. Did the first set of wall walls really deliberately/slowly to make sure I did them unbroken, felt like I was going too slow but I think in the future this is key for wall balls. Did the first round of everything unbroken then had to break up the wall balls in the second. Bar jumps and sit ups were all unbroken I think. Last two sets of push presses were split into 10's. Girl I was working out next to was starting her last set of double unders when I was starting my last set of push presses. Pounded out the dubs in ~50, 20, and 10 and finished ~10 seconds ahead of her. A little bit of time invested in practicing dubs will drop your WOD times like they're hot. It'll also get you the fastest time of the day mfers.

Back on the train

First WOD at DCF last night after a week off:

1RM C&J
Cleaned 215# again, failed the jerk, again.

For time, 24kg:
3 kb swings, 21 kb SDHP
6, 18
9, 15
12, 12
15, 9
18, 6
21, 3

7:11

Need to work on my counting skills, did 16 reps on the rounds w/ 15 for some reason.

Belated CFFB

Gave reechee's WOD a shot:

Max Handstand Push Ups in 5 minutes
Max Pull Ups in 4 minutes
Max Push Ups in 3 minutes
Max Supine Ring Pull Ups in 2 minutes
Max Dips in 1 minute

*Set the clock for 15 minutes, complete max reps of each movement for the designated time.

27 HSPU
29 Dead hang pullups
52 Push ups
19 Supine ring pull ups
10 Ring dips

137 Total

Several totals over 200 reps in the CFFB comments - ridiculous

Notes: I'm a big fan of WODs that alternate pulling/pushing movements. Pretty disappointed with the ring dips but overall a decent first attempt. My arms feel like they're jacked up on HGH or something right now. Good WOD to do at home since all you need is a pullup bar, rings, floor, and a wall. Gonna give this another go in about a month.

CFFB 122311

Gave the CFFB warmup a try today:
2x20yd sprint
2x20yd run backwards
20yd side shuffle each side

Didn't really like starting off with sprints from cold, I was too tight and sore, gonna stick to DUs or rowing + dynamic ROM movements.

SWOD

5x3 PC @ 155# (PR by default)

DWOD

Complete the following on the minute for 12 minutes:
1 Power Clean @ 3 RM (subbed 155# for 3RM)
5 CTB Pull Ups (subbed standard kipping PUs)

Assistance Work
2x15 GHD situps
2x10 GHD back extensions

Focused on making them as explosive as possible from the hip

CFFB 122211 sorta

DWOD

Didn't think I could hit 245 back squat, so I went for a front squat pr:
3x5 FS @ 195 (PR)
3x5 bench press @ 145

ASWOD

Subbed in death by pullups:
Completed 12 min (78 pullups), used kipping pullups, could have squeezed out another minute I think, I rack disciprine on this final day of work.

CFFB 122011

DWOD

Max Handstand Push Ups in 5 minutes (13)
Max Pull Ups in 4 minutes (26 strict)
Max Push Ups in 3 minutes (39)
Max Supine Ring Pull Ups in 2 minutes (12 strict chinups)
Max Dips in 1 minute (12)

TOTAL: 102
Not really ecstatic about this. First time doing HSPUs though. Fun. Did them with 2 plates under my head. Next time I'll just do 1 plate.

ASWOD

1x5 DL @ 295# (PR...piece of cake minus my grip was dying. could have done another set if i had chalk/straps, its a shame I dont think chalk is allowed in our gym)

Assistance Work

4x30yd sprints
1x20 HRPU

2fer

21-15-9

Knees to elbow

Squat snatch 75#

6:31

Chin up grip for knees to elbows makes them a little easier but feels awkward with wrists turned around like that. Went home and did a quick wod with the sister afterwards

5 rounds

20 goblet squats 40# db

20 push ups

Pushups - goin on the new years resolution list.

CFFB 121911

DWOD

Find Rack Jerk - 1 RM

Pretty much skipped this once I realized how sketchy it was going to be maxing something overhead without the luxury of being able to bail and drop it. Shoulder was feeling sketch too, gonna run an ice/heat train on it tonight.

SWOD

3x5 squat @ 240 (PR)
3x5 press @ 115 (5-3-2...push pressed the remainders)

0600

Hit up the mad early class today. Got some stuff going on tonight. Slept like crap, felt like crap going in, feel a little better now. Good thing ground to overhead is my jam. And I have sick kicks.

10 rounds - 95#
4 power cleans
6 push jerks
8 back squats

9:36

Key to this guy is definitely doing each round unbroken and taking minimal rest between sets. Wish I could say I did all the rounds unbroken but I pussed out and rested between the 3rd and 4th power clean on the 9th round, definitely didn't need that rest at all.

Overall a good WOD, looking forward to trying it again.

Catch up

Brought my sister to the Level I class on Sat. The skill they taught was the front squat. I learned so much. Seriously. I think I need to go to more Level I classes or atleast audit them just to get a refresher on the cues they have for the movements.

Some things I learned:

• Get your knees as wide as possible on the way up and down on the FS to promote as much external rotation of the legs as possible


• Start the "up" part of the FS by lifting your elbows to ensure you don't shoot your hips out and lean your torso forward


• Picture the pushup as an upper body squat. You're forearms are your shins, they should stay as vertical as possible during the movement. Arms should be underneath the shoulders like your legs are under your hips in the squat. Weight should rest in your palms/wrists like your weight is in your heels on the squat. The pits of your elbows should be rotated forward (bony part pointing backwards) - you guessed it, external rotation.

WOD was 10 min AMRAP
5 pullups
10 push ups
15 front squats 15#

Trainer let me do 10 min Cindy (air squats instead of front squats)
13 rounds + 6 push ups

As always, pushups were the limiting factor. And as always I tell myself I'll work on pushups more. And as always I probably won't. Maybe next week when I'm out of town.

Marathon Thurs

Forgot to post this yesterday

20 min AMRAP

8 ring dips

10 lunges 45# plate

12 knees to elbow

11 rounds + 6 knees to elbow

Trainer gave us a pep talk pre wod about taking strategic rest. Given the 20 min cap it definitely wasn't a sprint and the variety of movements lends one to be stronger on some than others. Lunges were the easiest for me, did those all unbroken and letting myself take some rest before the knees to elbows made doing the lunges easier Knees to elbow were the hardest. Did the first set unbroken then the most I did unbroken after was 6. Ring dips were average - did the first few sets unbroken then started breaking them up into 4's and 5's. Overall a good WOD - not one you want to shoot yourself in the middle of but plenty challenging nonetheless - having a goal of rounds to get to helps too I think. One of the trainers threw up 12 rounds and change earlier in the day so I was shooting for 12. If I suck less on knees to elbows in the future I think I'll be able to break 12 rounds.

Side note, Dan Baily (2011 Games Open winner) had a good comment about recording workouts. He also comments on how he felt during the workout and what parts gave him trouble (similar to the commentary on here). When repeating WODs I think this is valuable information in knowing what to expect and hopefully working on the spots that were not as strong in previous attempts.

Youtube Friday

Went to open gym hours today, didn't get much done besides miss a lot of lifts.

Some videos for your viewing pleasure:

705lb squat - what's your max?


The few lifts I didn't miss today


Rob O on his not so paleo diet

CFFB 121611

ASWOD

5x3 PC @ 135-135-155-165-170

Now that I think about it, this was probably intended to be 5 sets at a single working load...next time. Form-wise, I need to work on catching the bar with my rack. And probably lots of other stuff too.

DWOD

One Minute On...One Minute Off...for 10 minutes.
30 KB Swings - 2 pood
*You have 1 minute to get 30 KB swings. If you do not get 30 KB Swings in 1 minute, count a penalty.
*Perform this workout one minute on and one minute off. Total time is 10 minutes.
*CFFB KBS Standard = Russian Swing
*For every penalty counted, perform a 1000 meter row.

Scaled this to 45lb from 70lb. Failed rounds 3 and 4 with 27 and 20 reps respectively.

2000m penalty row: 9:58

Needless to say my erectors are trashed. Watching videos on russian swing vs. american swing taught me some theory on getting the explosive hip drive out of this exercise, although I think that can be accomplished with the american swing as well, despite what the kettlebell nut on youtube says.

CFFB 121511: The Volkswagen

today was a clusterfuck of failures...i'll keep it short

ASWOD

3x5 back squat @ 240
went something like this: 1x3@240, 3x3@225

chalking this up to poor recovery, 3x5@235 earlier this week was fine. nutrition was spot on, sleep was satisfactory, i'ma look into getting on a vitamin regimen.

DWOD: The Volkswagen

21, 15, 9 reps of:
Bench Press @ Body Weight
Pull Ups

reached failure on last rep of each bench set, with scaling: 135-115-95. pullups was cake compared to the bench.

11:51

200+ lb assholes on the site posting times of < 5min as RX'd. Gotta improve bench strength...

Assistance work

3x5 weighted dips @ 25lb
3x max reps HRPU: 13-10-11

Over yo head

Pre wod:
Find 3RM front squat
Hit 215# might have been able to squeeze out 220# but wanted to leave something in the tank for the WOD.

15-12-9-6-3
OHS 115# (scaled to 95#)
Push press 115# (95#)

6:48

Probably could have scaled to 85# and dropped the bar fewer times.

Suck

3 rounds
5 min AMRAP
7 Toes to bar
9 Thrusters 75#
11 KB swings 1.5pood
Rest 3 min between rounds

10 rounds + 3 toes to bar

CFFB 121311

ASWOD

1x5 deadlift @ 285 (PR+10)

DWOD

On the minute for ten minutes:
3 weighted pullups: 50 lbs
Max rep PCs: 65-70% of 1RM

I failed this pretty bad. 2 rounds doing 20 lb pullups, 3 rounds no weight.  25 reps on the PCs total. Elbow acting up again.

Assistance Work

3x20 HRPU

CFFB 121011 and 121211

ASWOD

3x5 squat @ 235 (PR+10)
3x5 press @ 110 (PR+5)

3x15 dips (15-13-10)

DWOD (121211)

Complete 8 rounds:
3 Box Jumps - 75% of 1 RM Box Jump done on 12-5-11
Sprint 50 yards
*Rest 2 minutes between rounds

Not sure how high the box was, used all the little box risers they had, roughly waist height. Stopped at 4 rounds because the manager wanted me to prove to him on the internets that fivefingers are actually exercise shoes, which took like 30 min.

DWOD (121011)

Complete 3 rounds:
One Arm Farmer Walk (RT) 40 yards - 1/3 body weight
One Arm Farmer Walk (LT) 40 yards - 1/3 body weight
Max Rep Strict Chin Ups - 2 sec hold at the top of each rep

Used 55 lb DB and did strict pullups by accident (7-4-2.5ish). Did not foresee this being an issue, then I realized it was an exercise in grip endurance. Took 10 min of rest before I could take the DB back to the weight room...some douche was passive-aggressively pissed I ran off with it for so long...I think he was waiting to do some curls, haha.

Lumberjack 20

DCF Level III

20 deadlifts 275#
Run 400m
20 kb swings 2 pood
Run 400m
20 OHS 115#
Run 400m
20 burpees
Run 400m
20 chest to bar pullups
Run 400m
20 box jumps 24"
Run 400m
20 db squat clean 45#
Run 400m

27:46

I'm so bad at running. The 20 year old beast at DCF smoked me by like 5 or 6 minutes. Couple women from other boxes around DC/MD/VA also destroyed me. I didn't die so I'm happy.

Hammer

5 rounds for time:

5 Power clean 135#

10 Front squats 135#

5 Jerks 135#

20 pull ups

Rest 90 seconds

18:52

Front squats were rough

Hot

If anyone ever tells you they can't be strong without getting bulky, kick them in the face. And then show them this.


Warmup: 100 double unders, not feeling the DU's today.
Followed this with a kb swing/breathing exercise.
1-2-3-...13-14-15-14-13-...3-2-1
kb swings 35#
Take rest as needed between sets but only take as many breaths as reps performed in the previous set.

WOD:
All squats at 95#
50 squats
5 pushups
40 squats
10 pushups
30 squats
15 pushups
20 squats
20 pushups
10 squats
25 pushups

11:55

A coworker who does a lot of power lifting is thinking about getting into CF and found/did this WOD today. Not a big fan of it, no intention of ever repeating. I only did it because I was going to do a row/pushup AMRAP but didn't feel like waiting for the rower.

Baked this bread tonight. It's mfing amazing.

CFFB 120811: Total

Power clean: 190
Back squat: 275
Bench press: 170
Deadlift: 355

Total: 990

Boom. Definitely taking the whole weekend off at least, elbow is tweaked. Pretty stoked with today though, minus bench of course.

New Kicks

Adidas powertrain kicks came in yesterday so obviously needed to break them in with some C&J. PRed 215# clean, missed the jerk which sucked but I'll get it next time.

CFFB 120711

DWOD:
6x bball court length sprints (didn't time these)

SWOD:
2RM weighted pullups: 35lbs (5 sets total)

3x5 LBBS @ 225 (i think the low bar form really does let you lift more...failed this miserably earlier this week)

3x5 press @ 110 (so close to a PR but i push pressed the last two reps...ill get it next time)

3x5 bench @ 140 (got this without too much fuss, still so stalled out, need to add more assistance exercises)

new goal: bodyweight press (read an awesome bill starr article on how the press used to be the gold standard measure of upper body strength, supposedly makes rotator cuff injuries almost impossible)

Sunday's WOD:



Today's WOD:
5 rounds
AMRepsAP across all 5 rounds
1 min power snatches 95#
1 min bastards (lateral burpee over barbell)
2 min rest

164 reps - edged out the guy I was going head to head with by ~6 reps, thought he was going to beat me. I think I got the highest score all day. Also this felt like the hardest WOD I've done at DCF. Partly b/c I was going head to head with someone and partly b/c all 5 rounds were sprints b/c if you don't sprint after a 2 min rest you're a puss.

Cook this

AMRaptor

If I ever discover a dinosaur you know what I'm naming it.

I think today was the first time since joining District Crossfit that I didn't want to go to the gym or work out. Dragged my ass in anyways cause I didn't have a legitimate excuse to skip two days in a row. I was still tight in some spots from Sundays beast of a WOD so taking yesterday off was good I think.

Warmup:

10 OTM

5 push press 45#

5 front squat 45#

5 v-ups

Then find your 3RM max weighted pull up in 12 mins.

Holding the dumbbell between my legs I did: 45-50-55. I think I can squeeze out 60 next time.

WOD:

10 min AMRAP

1 bear complex 135# (power clean + front squat + push press + back squat + push press)

5 HRPU

10 air squats

14 rounds + failed the last push press on my 15th bear complex

Notes: power clean must end in full hip extension before beginning front squat, i.e. no squat cleans. Connecting squats and push presses into thrusters is ok and probably key to getting mad rounds. I think I got second most rounds on the day, head trainer threw up 14 + 6 squats.

westside style explosive day

warmed up with 1000m row, sprinted last 250m, didn't time it. hung around in the rowing room to stretch and gawk ass.

2x15 ghd situps
2x15 ghd back extensions
tried to be explosive as possible with these

~15x3 bench press @ 115
again, fast as possible, not sure i got the intended effect without bands and stuff, gonna rewatch the westside barbell video

worked up to a PR 5RM deadlift @ 285

also PR'd in the largest piece of skin that has been torn off my hand in one piece...much needed rest day tomorrow.

CFFB 120511

I bitched out on Eva... :(

1000m row: a little over 4 min

Death by pullups:
1 pull up the first minute, two pull ups the second minute, three pull ups the third minute and so on...11 min + 10 pullups = 70 pullups. Min 1 thru 6 were strict pullups, kipping thereafter.

3x5 squat @ 225: super failure (3-2-1)
3x5 press @ 110: PR i think, could have done another 5 lbs, will revisit at the end of the week

1000m row: a little over 5 min

I am going to reexamine my warmup sets scheme, I think the volume may be too high so I should tweak it. For squats i did (reps/load) 5/45, 4/135, 3/185, 2/205, 1/215, 3/225, 2/225, 1/225. I dunno, looking at it on the screen in front of me it doesn't look so bad. Anyway, gonna dig through the Old Testament, King Rip Edition tomorrow and crunch some numbers, because that was a pathetic attempt at my previous PR.

Adidas Powerlift Trainer Shoe

Just bought these kicks. Errone in my gym is raving about them for lifting. $85 from Footlocker here, $90 from Rogue but they didn't have my size and $95 from the Adidas site. Review to come.

DCF Level III WOD

Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard gets swoll (the idea of her doing CF is more interesting than the actual video):



From Sept 20th blog post:

District CrossFit has been very lucky over the past few months. While we’ve always had some monster athletes as of late the level of competition has gone to a whole new level (cough 400 FGB scores cough). With that in mind and the competition season beginning anew (off-season is over!!) we are introducing our Sunday Level 3 WODs.

From here on out on Sunday at 11:30am will be our Level 3 WODs for anyone with interest in competing in CrossFit. A couple of things to note:
-These workouts will be significantly more difficult than standard DCF WODs
-There will be no scaling or coaching (most likely coaches will be WODing)
-Spectators are welcome
-Outside gym members are welcome (by invitation only).

If you want to be the best you gotta train with the best. From Kenyan distance runners to Westside Powerlifters, everyone will tell you that intensity and atmosphere are the pillars of dominating. Well DCF is ready to start dominating. Come watch. Come workout. Let’s have fun and let’s work hard.

Today's WOD:

21-15-9
Chest to bar pullups
Power clean 155#

Rest exactly 5 minutes

15-10-5
Push press 135#
Walking lunge 135#
Burpees

Rest exactly 5 minutes

9-6-3
Bar up and over
Clean and jerk 155#

Time: 37:57

Hard as f but a lot of fun. One dude finished under 30, he's a beast. Trainer threw down in ~31.

Strength and a Sprint

Front Squat

1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Aka find your 1RM

Hit 245, failed 255. Hit 245 earlier this year so would have liked to hit something higher but considering I haven't done any sort of consistent strength training all year I guess it's ok.

WOD

5 rounds

5 deadlifts 275

10 burpees

3:56

Oops

Got some serious mwoding to do tonight before attempting the Level III WOD at DCF tomorrow

rock gym + strength stuff

climbed at earth treks timonium for 3 hours...best i could muster with no breaks was a 5.9.

worked out for 1.5 hrs afterward. DUs and lifting.

me: < gestures "are you done with that" at scrawny dude deadlifting 135 >
bro: < continues listening to what i can only assume to be village people or maroon 5 or nickleback or creed >
me: < awkward stare >
bro: oh, yea, i'm done, do you want me to leave those plates on there
me: psh, yes, and go fetch me 2 me more, you slut
bro: yes sir.
me: < works up to 1x5 deadlift @ 275 (PR) >
< intermission >
me: < works up to 3x5 squat @ 245 (PR by 20#...but it was a lame ass smith machine) >
bro: < quivers in admiration >

long story short, i should lift at climbing gyms more, because i feel hoss and it takes my ego/mental state to new PRs.

Crossfit Pensacola Round 2

2 rounds

10 deadlifts 255#

20 abmat situps

20 med ball squat cleans 20#

20 abmat situps

20 ring dips

20 abmat situps

Bear crawl around the gym, probably around 200'

Time 14:00

Bear crawls are hard as shit. Give them a shot sometime.

It's a mia Mario.

This is why District Crossfit is awesome

http://districtcrossfit.com/2011/11/december-1st-thursday/

Crossfit Pensacola

12 min AMRAP

Buy in: 25 double unders

10 wall ball 20#, 10'

8 box jump 24"

5 power snatch 95#

7 rounds

Buy in means the clock starts for the WOD and you do 25 double unders before you can start the WOD. Cool idea, puts some pressure on you but nothing that should really screw you if you're not amazing at whatever the buyin is. Getting marginally better at wall balls and box jumps but still need a lot of work. I think the key to wall balls, like thrusters and everything else in life, is driving the shit out of your hips.

Small gym in a retail space but only a few blocks from my hotel so I'm not complaining. $20 or a T shirt from your box to drop in or $10 per class for multiple classes. Hopefully I'll have time to swing by tomorrow night.

CFFB 112911

DWOD
8 rds:
3 broad jumps (>6')
40 yd sprint (subbed 94' sprint)

4:49

SWOD

back/ass still sore from tabata deadlift, did some half ass strength work:

3x5 bench @ 145#
3x5 front squat @ 175#

AMRAP w/ a twist

If you're having trouble motivating yourself to get into the gym, eat quality food, get reasonable amounts of sleep, etc. realize that this is the easiest time of the year to slack off. Without even trying, you'll be in the same boat as millions of other people during this soft spot between Thanksgiving and Christmas as you make excuses: it's too cold, I'm too busy, I have too much work to do, I'll start up again after New Years. So how badly do you want it? If you want to be successful as badly as you want to breath oxygen, you'll find a way to get to the gym.


AMRAP until the trainer says stop

3 power snatch 115#
6 toes to bar
9 wall ball 20# 10' target

8 rounds

Interesting format b/c you basically need to go balls to the wall the entire time otherwise you'll feel like an asshole if you pace yourself for a 20 min AMRAP and it ends up being a 5 min AMRAP. My guess is we went for 10-12 minutes. Wish I had gone a little harder, still need to work on wall balls a lot. One cue that really helped on the toes to bar was to aggressively swing your feet down after touching the bar, which seems counter intuitive b/c when you're doing kipping pullups you basically let gravity pull you down. I think focusing on pulling your feet down after touching the bar with your toes helps get you in a good position at the bottom with your shoulders forward of the bar without letting you swing out of control at the bottom, thus preventing you from stringing a billion toes to bar together.


Matt Hasselbeck (NFL Quarterback, sitting out this season due to injuries I think) on CF:

good read

http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_Spealler_Green.pdf

dudes incredible.

CFFB 112611

Tabata Deadlift Challenge

46 reps @ 185#

185 is a little on the heavy side of ~50% 1RM for me, but it was a convenient use of plates. Objective is >50 reps, but I'll chalk this one up as a win. Sets started at 10 reps and dwindled down to a 3 or so before a final valiant set of 5. I'll pick back up with SWODs tomorrow, after this long thanksgiving break from stuff.

Murph

For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

In memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005.

This workout was one of Mike's favorites and he'd named it "Body Armor". From here on it will be referred to as "Murph" in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is.

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

Time: 41:20 (no vest/armor)

Medal of Honor Citation

Dirty South

Travel day, no WOD time except for 18 HSPU before I showered tonight. Crossfit gym 3 blocks from my hotel. Should be able to drop in for a few WODs this week.

Watch this and get ready to go to town on Rachel Carson.

friday

ran 2 miles then did 50 burpees

turkey day

2 mile run (there are actually hills here in PA!)
then,

5 rounds of:
10 pushups
10 situps
10 air squats

Happy Thanksgiving

I don't own a sledgehammer or a giant tire and the gym is closed today, so I figured I might as well get something productive done before I head home...

2k row: 8:12
bodyweight = 166.4#
VO2_max = ~43.99

Consider that a baseline I guess, because I have nothing to compare it to.

3xMax pullups: 11-6-4 (gonna blame this one on my arms being beat up from the row...yea, that's it)

The Best Tuesdays

Are those that are really Fridays. This might be the best week of the year with two days of work and Thanksgiving all at once.

If you're having trouble motivating yourself to get in the gym...she has a sub 4 min Fran

I know what youre thinking: how does she do thrusters with those huge bangs. Just kidding. She probably doesn't have a f ing clue what crossfit is. Point is, get off your mfing ass, someone once told me anything easy isn't worth doing. That includes getting enough sleep so you can wake up for your workout in the morning or whatever else you need to do to get your ass in the gym. Also you should google Rosie Jones. At home.

Walked into the crossfit gym today and realized I forgot my shoes (chuck taylors). I was wearing heavy leather boots cause it was raining. Proceeded to workout barefoot (with socks). I would have definitely gotten kicked out of any other non cf gym if I tried to do this.

Did some warmup I'm too lazy to type out. Then some lax ball rolling under the feet, calves, and ass. (didn't even have to take my shoes off for the lax ball under the foot. Cause I didn't have any)

Then 12x2 deadlift on the minute at 80% 1RM. I scaled down to 275, apparently my deadlift starting position is great for the Oly lifts but sucks for doing deadlifts. I never really saw the difference between the Oly lift deadlift and the deadlift deadlift. Still not sure I have it 100% right but I need to work on keeping my hips higher during the deadlift and using my hamstrings almost exclusively rather than my quads. Apparently you can pull a shitload more this way.

WOD:

6-5-4-3-2-1

Wall climb

185# squat clean (scaled to 155#)

Time: 7:48

Notes: Squat cleans barefoot weren't nearly as awkward as I thought they would be. They were actually pretty sweet. Wall climbs were fine too, just couldn't crash down quite as hard on the way down. No one finished the wod Rx all day, one guy tried in an AM class but g'd up his wrist on a clean (probably tried to catch the weight too far forward) and DNF'd. I'm hoping I can finish this wod in under 10 mins within 6 months. 155# squat cleans weren't bad, I would do 170# if I could do it over.

CFFB 112211

DWOD

Complete 10 rounds for time:
10 KB Swings 2 pood
5 Burpee Broad Jumps (6 feet minimum)

sub'd 1 pd for 2 pd, sub'd standard burpees, did this in 2 sets of 5 rounds.

My lower back was still sore as shit from yesterday (power cleans and heavy squat + KB swings and deadlift today). Maybe i'm a pussy but the sting from lower back exhaustion was too much to tackle these 10 rounds all at once. I dont think I should have to scale down any further than 50%...i dunno what i'm getting at. everything i've learned from good ole rip would tell me that after setting a new 3x5 squat PR yesterday, I should have given my back a rest for the most part. poor performance on the dwod today though. ima stick with it as closely to rx'd frequency as possible (despite the holidays) for at least through next week and see if i can keep pace.

SWOD

Deadlift 5 RM (add 10 lbs to last workout)
Pull Ups 3 x max reps

deadlifted 265, grip was what failed me. form probably wasn't 100% with my spinal erectors telling me to go fuck myself.

in line with the rest of my gym experience today, my pullups were disappointing: 11-7-5. my records indicate max dead-hang pullups of 17, which clearly is not the case anymore...looks like i got a new goat to work on.

CFFB 112111

Daily WOD
3 rounds for time:
1 Full Gasser*
3 Power Cleans 185 lbs
3 Push Jerks 185 lbs
3 Power Cleans 185 lbs
3 Push Jerks 185 lbs

*Gasser = 4x 53yd (football field width) sprints, I sub'd 6x 94ft (basketball court length) sprints

~15:00 (used the wall clock)

I started this at 155# and realized that was too much. Dropped it down to 135# after rd 1. I immediately understood why they're called gassers. My clean form went down the drain once I was fully winded. The cleans wiped out my spinal erectors, making the SWOD tough.

Strength WOD
3x5 back squat @ 220

I should have done this at 230 (adding 5 from my last 3x5), but that would not have been possible. In retrospect 220 was perfect, I couldn't have eked out 1 more rep.

T-minus 3 Days

Thanksgiving is in three days. Get your ass in the gym so you can PR your turkey AMRAP on Thurs.

Also, Fight Gone Bad 7 is on Sat Sept 22nd, 2012. Put that in your calendar. Now.

Warmup WOD:
50 burpees for time
1:56

WOD:
All lifts at 95#
21 front squat
21 push press
21 deadlift
Run 400m
15 front squat
15 push press
15 deadlift
Run 400m
9 front squat
9 push press
9 deadlift

12:36

Notes: Pretty happy w/ the 50 burpees, did 47 unbroken without slowing down much. Last time I tried 100 burpees in Sept I got a hair under 7 min - hoping I can shave atleast a minute off that next time. Did all the squats and deadlifts unbroken, still horrible at running. Definitely more of a sprint pace given the light weight but the running was definitely the bottleneck here. Might go with 115# if I do this again.

Cindarella

WTF were you doing when you were 15?


WOD:
3 rounds, 1 min rest between rounds
6 min AMRAP
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 squats

23 rounds + 7 squats

Notes: interesting that most people I talked to beat their previous Cindy PR, which is 20 min AMRAP 5 pull ups, 10 pushups, 15 squats. Beat my Cindy PR by ~2 rounds.

achievement unlocked

3x5 back squat @ 225# (milestone PR)
3x5 bench @ 145#
+ some other not notable shit...

i'm convinced now more than ever that mindset plays a HUGE role in strength training. i've been struggling for weeks on bench press, hovering around 140-145. every time i'd go for 145 i'd falter on the last set and my bar speed would be slow throughout. it was no problem doing it right after setting that squat PR i've been after, though, easy even. bar speed was solid until the very last rep.

...75 more lbs on my 3x5 squat and you'll all be envious of my gnarly quad viking ink. mark my words.

Active Rest Day

Dont really care for parkour but this guys probably ok at body weight WODs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQgFxDSqft4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Starting the 5-3-1 strength program

3x5 bench 115, 135, 155

3x5 back squat 155, 180, 205

Then 21-15-9

Chest to bar pull up

HRPU

Kb swing 55# dumbbell

No time, more of a brisk jogging pace than a balls to the wall sprint.

Then day 1 of 60 days of HSPU.

Thrusting Diane

Warmed up with 200 double unders, wasn't feeling these today - got ~20 a few times. Got 60 in a row yesterday.

Thruster 7x1
95-135-135-155-175-190
Skipped the last rep cause I was pretty sure I maxed out at 190, in hindsight I guess I should have tried like 191 or something. My idea with this rep scheme was to keep the weight relatively light for the first 3 rounds and then increase the weight rapidly over the last few sets in an effort to be as fresh as possible going into the PR sets. Not sure if it helped or not but I did PR by 10#.

Diane
21-15-9 (scaled to 15-12-9)
HSPU
225# deadlift
6:14

Notes: the 15-12-9 rep scheme was good for this WOD b/c my HSPU sets were broken into something like 15-6-3-3-3-3-etc. I probably could have done even fewer reps and kept the intensity higher. Some guys at District CF are going to do a 60 day HSPU challenge where the number of HSPU you do on a given day (broken up however you want) is equal to the number of days you've been doing the challenge. I think after that I'll probably be able to do most WODs that require 45 total HSPU.

Monday Funday

Warmup:
10 tuck jumps
10 air squats
10 scapular push ups

8 OTM:
3 ring dips
3 ring rows
3 hollow body rocks

WOD:
50 ground to overhead 45# plate
40 pullups
30 burpees
6:16

Closed out with lateral hand stand walks against the wall touching a cone and then walking sideways along the wall and touching a cone about 6 feet away

wrong way to go for max height box jump

http://www.todaysbigfail.com/view/20111030/Table-Back-Breaker

edit: this is a more useful video...

something better than nothing

Grace @ 95#: 3:02

much MWODing to come as I laze around the rest of the day.

this was an interesting read, i rarely ever get an outside opinion on CF anymore through my online reading.

its a great tool in the bag, is how i look at it.

JT lite

District CF at the 2011 Mid Atlantic Hopper Challenge


Warmup:
Run 580m
200 double unders
Run 580m

JT
21-15-9 (scaled to 15-12-9)
HSPU
Ring dips
Hand release pushup

Time: 12:56
DCF head trainer: ~5:00

Notes: just happy I finished, did the first 15 HSPU unbroken - probably could have hit 20, did the last 19 HSPU as singles w/ kips.

Annie on Roids

Warmup:
8 min OTM
3 C2B pullup
4 HR pushup
5 Hollow body rock

Mobility:
Lax ball under foot

WOD:
50 squats, double unders, situps
40 box jumps, double unders, situps
30 HR pushups, double unders, situps
20 pullups, double unders, situps
10 reverse burpees, double unders, situps

15:16

Notes: Reverse burpee starts with you on your back, rolling onto your feet without the assistance of your hands, jumping and finishing with a clap overhead. Pretty happy w/ my time since I clearly still need more double under practice - but also b/c I did Annie on Sun, which was this WOD but only the double unders and situps in ~13 or something. First round of double unders sucked, was stringing like 3-4 together for a while. Progressively got better/easier as I did more rounds, I think I strung together 20 in the round of 20. Theoretically 150 double unders should take under 2 mins to finish. Next time I'll shoot for 12 mins total.

thirsty (for milk) thursday

3x5 back squat @ 220# (PR)

used more of a low bar back squat form, that might have contributed to the squat being easier, i dunno. also played around with power clean and behind the neck press, established a working load of like 80-85lbs for 3x5.

metcons will be resumed in ~1 week. when i can solidly bust out 3x5 BS @ 225#. 4 plates on the bar will make me smile.

Amazing Grace

How sweet the sound
Of waking up at 5AM

Went to the 6AM class today to get some exposure to different coaches.

Warmed up with some drills running down the length of the gym doing high knees, butt kickers, backwards run, etc

Then 8 min OTM
3 behind the neck clean grip jerk 45#
4 good mornings w/ slightly bent knees
5 in and outs - lie down in the hollow body position and bring your knees to your chest and hands to your feet

Then 2 mins per side of pect/shoulder mobility taking a lax ball and sandwiching it between the wall and the area where your pects meet your shoulder then doing snow angels with the arm closest to the ball.

Then some skill work - 5x10 clean pull

WOD:

Grace
30 clean and jerk 135#

3:14

Came across this video yesterday - interesting alternative to pose running to prevent landing on your heel.

why does the gym have to get so busy...

stupid free army gym...its bullshit.

anyway...got that strict press PR i missed last time (3x5 @ 105#). my bench press seems to be fluctuating between 140-150, which is muy frustrato.

did those "get a better rack" stretches JC linked to a few days ago, first thing after warm up (getting better at DUs), but only on one arm. made a marked difference. i did the other one and my rack felt great (TWSS).

reechee, out.

Stronger than me

Off today - back on Weds, Thurs, Fri

Belated Halloween

31 Oct Mainsite WOD

Three rounds for time of:
95 pound Overhead squat, 15 reps
15 L Pull-ups
95 pound Split-jerk, 15 reps
15 Knees to elbows
95 pound Hang clean, 15 reps
15 Back extensions, with 25 pounds (subbed good mornings holding 25# on chest)

Time: 23:36
Dave Lipson 16:10

Planning on checking out the 6:00AM District CF class on Weds - diff coaches/diff crowd, doubtful I'll go consistently in the AMs but I'm curious to see how different it is.

monday

skill --
turkish get-ups 5x2 (35lbs)

metcon --
for time:
30 Man-Makers (25lbs -- Rx = 35lbs)
60 Toe-to-Bar

Partition as needed.

Time: 15:16

Notes: I did 6 rounds of 5 MM + 10 TTB. Pretty good workout.

Annie

Friends don't let friends text without external rotation



WOD:
50-40-30-20-10
Double unders
Sit ups

13:48

Notes: beat my previous PR by like 10s which was surprising b/c my double unders still need work, I think my longest unbroken streak was 7 or 8. Also my tailbone is sore somehow from sitting on my couch in a weird position so the situps were kind of painful. Stupid couch.

Off Day Mobility

Solid routine for PRing the crap out of all your lifts next time

day off work

i've got a serious junk funk right now (just coined that, use it at your discretion).

PR: 3x5 back squat @ 215

also did bench press, strict press, power cleans, and 5x10 pullups. strict press would have been a PR (105#) but i had to push press like 3-4 reps total so thats no good. my progress is slow, but its there. need to make it to the gym more than twice a week, im working deep in the heart of our restricted area so sneaking off to play with big iron in the middle of the day hasn't been flying lately.

Finally Friday

This is a sweet story.

And Germany is awesome for having this paleo restaurant.
Need a better rack position? Try this.

10 min OTM

4 goblet squats

4 kb press

10s hollow body hold

Then rack position mobility. Standing on the band, hold the other end in your hand so your elbow is pointing at the sky like an exaggerated rack position. 90s per side.

Then a few mins of skin the cat work on the rings. Google if you don't know what that is.

WOD:

4 rounds

10 squat cleans 135#

20 hand release push ups

30 lateral bar jumps

8:48

Notes: watched a guy in the previous class pound the WOD in 8:08, he and a guy I went head to head with in my class are probably the top 2 in the gym w/ the exception of the two head trainers. Figured trying to break 10:00 would be a reasonable goal. Ended up going head to head for most of the WOD with the other guy in my class who got 8:24. Probably wouldn't have broken 9:00 if I was doing this alone.

Make Excuses

to devote yourself to perfection

Hump/Thrust Day

Warmup:
5 rounds
15 double unders
5 chest to bar pullups

Mobility:
90s per leg of shin to wall

5 rounds for time
7 kb thrusters 55#
11 burpees

7:04

Notes: subbed dumbbells for kb. Thrusters were significantly harder than I thought they would be. Did the first round unbroken then did the remaining sets of thrusters broken up into 4 and 3. Did some more double under work after the WOD. Strung together 15 and 16 in a row. Noticing a marked improvement in my double unders - as I string more together I feel like I'm moving my hands and wrists less and less and actually expending less effort than when I used to struggle to string 2 together. When I got into a rhythm, stringing 10+ together I felt like the jump rope handles were only moving in the circumference of say a quarter (like the coin) and I also felt like I was barely holding onto the handles as far as grip pressure goes. Gonna concentrate on that next time I work on them, see if that helps at all.

Jack

Jack:
20 min AMRAP:
10 Push Press (75lbs - Rx = 115lbs)
10 KB Swings (40 lbs - Rx = 55lbs)
10 Box Jobs (24 inches)

Rounds: 10 rounds + 20 reps

notes: should go higher weight next time.

AMRape

Warmed up with 10 mins on the minute (OTM)

3 snatch pulls 45#

3 snatch balance 45#

3 push ups

Then 12 mins OTM

2 squat snatch 70% of 1RM (105#)

WOD

8 min AMRAP

3 squat snatch 135#

8 bastards

7 rounds

Notes: scaled to 115#, a bastard is a burpee where the jumping portion is over the barbell while you face the same direction the end of the barbell is pointing. Was pretty pissed I didn't go with 95# after the third round and seriously considered dropping the weight down cause I thought I was going too slow. Ended up getting the most rounds in the class and using the heaviest weight. Some beasts threw down 8-9+ rounds earlier in the day rx. Not a wod I'm trying to repeat anytime soon but if I had to I might try 95# to see if I could get more touch and go snatches.

Also met a girl who's pretty legit (read has muscle ups) who trains at crossfit Chicago but is in DC for a little while.

The other total

Sunday 30 October Mainsite WOD

Clean, 1 rep
Bench press, 1 rep
Overhead squat, 1 rep

210 clean, 200 bench, 170 OHS

Rich Froning: 335 clean, 325lb bench, 360lb OHS

Notes: didn't quite hit 1,000 total like I was shooting for.

PRs

work and school got temporarily intense last week, only made it to the gym once. threw barbells around for 2 hours today to make myself feel better. PR highlights:

3x5 back squat @ 210
3x5 press @ 100

cable jump rope gets here tomorrow. gonna learn double unders like a pro.

monday

skill --
kipping pullups

notes: i suck

metcon --
5 rounds for time of:
7 kettlebell thrusters (35 lbs. Rx = 55lbs)
11 burpees

time: 9:45

notes: probably shouldn't have eaten pizza and wings last night

Nasty Girls

Warmed up with a few mins of double unders, then:

10 mins on the min (OTM):

3 strict ring dips with turn out

3 hanging power cleans 45#

3 Samson lunges

WOD today was nasty girls, one of the original crossfit workouts.

3 rounds for time:

50 squats

7 muscle ups

10 hanging power cleans 135#

Time: 9:17

District crossfit trainer: 6:something rx

Notes: did 4 or 5 muscle ups the first round then hit a wall so I scaled back to a lower set of rings to do jumping muscle ups. Scaled cleans to 115#, did first and last set unbroken. Muscle ups and hanging power cleans will wreck your shoulders. First time attempting muscle ups as part of a wod. Thought I'd be able to get a few more than I did but overall pretty satisfied. Everyone else in the class scaled the muscle ups with pull ups and ring dips. Starting to get sick, probably taking tomorrow off.

saturday

3mi run in 25:24. rock climbing in a couple hours

Oly+

Warmed up with double unders. I think the 45 mins of work yesterday helped. I was able to string 5 together much more consistently than before.

Been doing Oly work the last few Fridays cause the gym is empty and I don't have to share the platform.

5x3 3 position snatch 105#

2x3 snatch pull 145#

2x3 snatch deadlift 160#

3x2 snatch grip push press (behind neck) 95, 115, 115#

Then I did Bonakdasauraus' WOD from earlier in the week.

9-7-5 for time of:
Wall climbs
Kettlebell snatches, right arm
Kettlebell snatches, left arm

Time: 9:43 45# dumbbell

Notes: dumbbell snatches are a little easier than kb. Really liked the wall climbs. First time doing them in a wod, they'll definitely help develope hand stands and hand stand walks cause you're forced to shift your weight from one arm to the other as you go up and down. Also a good hotel wod since all you need is a wall and dumbbells.

freaky friday

skill --
double unders

notes: couldn't get it going today. kept whipping myself in the elbow.

metcon --
5 rounds for time of:
10 dumbbell ground-to-overheads (30 lbs)
5 handstand push-ups (scaled with box)
15 jumping towel pull ups (Rx was 3 rope climbs)

time: 11:00

notes: never did towel pull ups before. by the end, my forearms felt like they were going to explode.

intermediate rock climbing starts tomorrow. pretty excited.

hump day

strength ---
Bench Press
3-3-3-3
95lbs-135-165-175

note: 175 was a PR for me (!)

metcon ---
1000m row
21 dumbbell hang squat cleans (30 lbs)
750m row
15 dumbbell hang squat cleans (30 lbs)
500m row
9 dumbbell hang squat cleans (30 lbs)

time: 17:42

Angie

You can't say we never tried.

100 pull ups

100 push ups

100 sit ups

100 squats

19:25 - 3 min PR

10:11- Chris Spealler

Been eating pretty well the last 3 weeks (with the exception of the last few days due to travel restrictions or general unpreparedness, you say tomato I say tomato). Workouts have been feeling pretty solid even though I haven't been getting enough sleep. Hoping to get my sleep schedule back on track in the next few days. Worked out in a halfway decent hotel gym today. And by halfway decent I mean they had ample room to do kipping pull ups and had a lot of dumbbells. Going to try to do a soft sand beach run later in the week.

shoulders gone

skil --
L-sit:
6 x 10 seconds

note: very bad at these

9-7-5 for time of:
Wall climbs
Kettlebell snatches, right arm
Kettlebell snatches, left arm

Time: 13:04 with 45lb kettlebell

note: last to finish in the class by about a minute. the wall climbs were rough on me.

Checkout: Accumulate 1 minute in a bridge

note: i'm pretty good at the bridge

level 2

up till now, i've been going to the level 1 class on the weekdays (except for when i go on thurs/fri, when level 1 and 2 are combined). today was my first day going to the level 2 class. this means that class now starts at 6am instead of 630am and that more difficult workouts won't be scaled down.

warmed up with a 4 round tibata of double unders and KB swings (30 lbs). I'm getting better at DUs. I like it

skill ---
Turkish Getups (30lbs)
4x3

Note: my left side is clearly weaker

metcon --
10 min AMRAP:
10 KB swings (53lbs - i think 1.5 poods) (Rx was 70 or 75)
10 Front Squats (95 lbs) (Rx was 115)

rounds: 5 rounds + 10KB Swings + 5 front squats

notes: we did some KB swing skill work before the wod, and it made a HUGE difference. I was bending my knees way too much (as was 90% of the class), and turning alot of the downward swing into a squat. now i lean forward much more and use my hips rather than my hips + glutes. big difference.

checkout
3x20 situps

Body Weight Cleans

5 rounds:

7 squat cleans 155#

14 kb swings 54# (subbed 50#)

13:42

Closed out with 5x3 snatch grip behind the neck press. Really liked these, working distinctly different muscles than regular press.

Oly + Row

Worked out alone yesterday, C&J day

5x3 three position cleans 135#

2x3 clean pull 195#

2x3 clean dead lift 210#

Then worked up to 205# jerk

Rested about 15 mins then rowed 2k.

Me: 8:30

Rich Froning: 6:24 how the f?

My VO2 max (the amount of oxygen your body is capable of utilizing in one minute - ml of O2 per kg of body weight per min) is 33.42. The higher the better. This means my cardio capacity is below average for my weight and age. Sweet. Threw Rich's stats into the calculator and his VO2 max is 68.96, aka off the MFing charts. Calculator: http://www.concept2.com/us/interactive/calculators/vo2max.asp

Notes: learning to hit the pocket at the mid thigh position and generate significantly more power when the bar passes across my hips (see video below). Haven't maxed out in a while but lifting lighter weights at around 65% of my previous 1RM's is getting significantly easier.

heart rate saturday

warmed up with some rowing skill work and mobility.

metcon---

100m row + 4 burpees
200m row + 8 burpees
300m row + 12 burpees
400m row + 16 burpees
400m run + 16 burpees
300m run + 12 burpees
200m run + 8 burpees
100m run + 4 burpees

Time: 22:33

The burpees were my bottleneck. Great cardio workout.

friday funday

warmed up with some double under work. i did a string of 1 DU + 1 SU 4 times. was pretty happy about that.

strength:
push jerk
3-3-3-3
95-125-135-135

note: it's definitely easier to do push jerk from the back rack position. however, bringing the bar down after i've pressed it is a big problem for me. i feel like i'm going to get injured doing it. bringing both in front or behind my head is difficult (behind is harder).

metcon:
6 min AMRAP
9 back squats (125lbs)
7 burpees
5 shoulder-to-overhead (125lbs)

rounds: 2 + 5 burpees

note: for me, this weight was too heavy for this metcon. i had to rest a good amount. Rx was 155 for men, 115 for women.

21-15-9er

Did single arm hangs from the pullup bar for time. Got 11s for both arms. I think someone got a minute. wtf.

Then:

21-15-9
ground to overhead 115#
band pushups

8:30

Notes: Some beast threw up a 6:40 in a previous class - I think I came in 3rd or 4th on the day. Band pushups are done by taking a colored band and running it from one hand across your back to your other hand. In other words, they make pushups suck even more than they do. Added ~20s to my time because I failed my last pushup 3 times. I think the WOD would have been better with hand release pushups. I wasn't winded enough when I finished b/c I took so damn long on the pushups.

who knew beer could be gluten free?

also if airsquats are too hard for you, you should probably grab one of these?

Humpday

Started out with some plyo work - about 8 or 9 plyo boxes (box jump boxes) lined up in a row in ascending height with a foot or two between each box. Idea was to work on explosive power at the bottom of the jump by going touch and go when landing on the ground and taking any rest on the top of the box.

Warmup we did (8 mins, on the min (OTM)) 2-3 HSPU, 3 log rolls, 3 push ups. Log rolls are where you lie on your back on the floor in the hollow body position and roll over onto your stomache and continuing back onto your back without touching your feet or hands to the ground. These OTM warmups are a good way to get loosened up while also working on skill/technique work.

Did some external rotation mobility work with the bands on the pullup bar to prep for the front squats we did next.

WOD:

12 mins OTM 2 front squats (~70% 1RM) cleaned from the ground (160#)

Then 8 min AMRAP:
8 toes to bar
8 single arm kb swing 53# (any combination of arms, swinging to above eye level)

8 rounds 3 T2B

Notes: worked out with one of the guys who owns half the leaderboard in the gym. Gonna try to work out with him more often - I think he got 9 rounds + 6 T2B.

Concept 2 has a calculator for computing your V02 max with an accuracy of +/- 1-2%. Pretty good tool if you don’t have access to those training labs where they plug all those tubes and stuff into you. The catch is you have to row a 2k.
http://www.concept2.com/us/interactive/calculators/vo2max.asp

District CrossFit Trainer demonstrating Tuesday's mainsite WOD:




And I can't even comprehend how strong you have to be to do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Urvy2dv--Gc

rainy wednesday

cold and rainy bike ride to the gym today. went rock climbing on tuesday. my beginner rock climbing class is over and i signed up for the intermediate which starts the weekend after next. the hardest top-rope route I've been able to finish without stopping was a 5.8, and I've done a 5.9 with rest. I've done a few V0 bouldering routes as well.

strength --
4x3 push press
max was 135lbs

metcon---
2 min AMRAP of every exercise:
Rowing (for calories)
Push Press (65#)
KB Swing (35#)
Box Jump (20")
Single Unders

Counting each calorie as a rep, I did 149 reps + 181 single unders.

Notes: pretty easy workout. probably good for me since I'm just getting back after 3 weeks.

squat stands

so I made squat stands over the weekend...something I saw on CF football a few months ago and made an adjustable variant:



They're pretty sweet. A little wobbly though, and our patio isn't all that level. I'll use them for squats and presses from time to time I think. The 1-1/4" dowels I had been planning on using for pegs ended up failing my QA (slamming 95lbs on the pegs repeatedly). Gonna upgrade to steel pipe. But overall a succcess I say: $30 + 3 hours.

Ingredients:
-160lb concrete
-12' pressure treated 4x4
-two 5-gallon buckets
-1-1/4" dowel rod pegs
-6 pouches Grizzly Wintergreen

monday

back to CF after ~3 weeks away. i've been rock climbing about 2 to 3 times a week, but that's about it. it's getting cold here, which makes it difficult to get out of bed at 5AM and bike to the gym. gotta get some better cold weather gear.

Row 500 m then
30-20-10 of:
Hand release push-ups
Air squats
Sit-ups
then Row 500m

Time: 12:38

Partner WOD

My partner was a beast. Former college wrestler who did a muscleup WOD yesterday after CFing for 2 weeks.

15 min AMRAP:

A: 95lb sled drag (~100 feet)
B: 45lb dumbbell farmer carry (same distance)
C: sprint (same distance)

First partner does A and B, second partner does C and A, first does B and C, etc.

~25 rounds, lost count - shit was confusing

Cindy

20 min AMRAP
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 squats

20 + 7 squats

Jacked the following from District CF:

The Story of Cliff Young

Every year, Australia hosts 543.7-mile (875-kilometer) endurance racing from Sydney to Melbourne. It is considered among the world’s most grueling ultra-marathons. The race takes five days to complete and is normally only attempted by world-class athletes who train specially for the event. These athletes are typically less than 30 years old and backed by large companies such as Nike.

In 1983, a man named Cliff Young up showed at the start of this race. Cliff was 61 years old and wore overalls and work boots. To everyone’s shock, Cliff was not a spectator. He picked up his race number and joined the other runners.

The press and other athletes became curious and questioned Cliff. They told him, ‘You’re crazy, there’s no way you can finish this race. ” To which he replied, “Yes I can. See, I grew up on a farm where we could not afford horses or tractors, and the whole time I was growing up, whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d always catch them. I believe I can run this race .

When the race started, the pros left Cliff behind quickly. The crowds and television audience were entertained because Cliff did not even run properly, he appeared to shuffle. Many even feared for the old farmer’s safety.

All of the professional athletes knew that it took about five days to finish the race. In order to compete, one had to run about 18 hours a day and sleep the remaining six hours. The thing is, Cliff Young did not know that!

When the morning of the second day came, everyone was in for another surprise. Not only was Cliff still in the race, he had continued all night jogging.

Eventually what Cliff asked about his tactics for the rest of the race. To everyone’s disbelief, he claimed he would run straight through to the finish without sleeping.

Cliff kept running. Each night he came a little closer to the leading pack. By the final night, he had surpassed all of the young, world-class athletes. He was the first competitor to cross the finish line and he set a new course record.

When Cliff was awarded the winning prize of $ 10,000, he said he did not know there was a prize and insisted that he did not enter for the money. He ended up giving all of his winnings to several other runners, an act that endeared him to all of Australia.

This is a true story. Wiki page.

Need to work on getting a lot deeper in those snatches

Oly Day

3 Position Snatches: 5x3 (snatch from ground, mid thigh, and high hang at 95#)
Snatch Pull: 2x3 (basically deadlift into a shrug at 130#)
Clean Deadlift: 2x3 (165#)
Push Jerk: 5x5 (95#)

Closed out with tabata push ups and sit ups. Tabatas are awesome, blew my load on my first set of push ups with 20, finished my last set with 6...

In conclusion, pound those snatches so you can press 242lb like this dude



someone please try to fuck with this guy

PRs

3x5 squat @ 210
3x5 bench @ 150

Did some dead lifts and worked on form...my lower back felt strong for not having lifted since the end of last week. I need to work on consistency.

Infinity Front Squats for Time

jk

100 front squats 95#
25 sit ups every time the bar is dropped

9:34

Did front squats in sets of 40, 30, 15, and 15

Oly Day

Glutes were a little tight from yesterday still - worked on clean & jerk instead of doing a metcon.

3 Position Cleans: 65% 1RM 5x3 (clean from ground, mid thigh, and high hang at 135#)
Clean Pull: 90% 1RM 2x3 (basically deadlift into a shrug at 185#)
Clean Deadlift: 100% 1RM 2x3 (210#)
Rack Jerk: worked up to 195#, felt good, I'll probably go for 210# next time
Row Sprints: 30 sec. on 30 sec rest for 6 sets (pussed out the first set for some reason and only hit 106m - maxed out at 133m in subsequent sets)

more SS

In keeping w/ my tradition of posting once per month, here goes:

I've been fairly regular w/ my starting strength workouts, and am still experiencing linear gains (w00t). However, I find myself gaining a fair bit of weight: I started at 175 back in April, but have just hit 190! Not sure how I feel about this; guess I'll try to cut it down once my linear gains are exhausted.

My lifts are now:

295 squat 3x5

210 bench 3x5

295 deadlift 1x5 (I reset it to work on form, can probably do 10-20lbs more)

125 press 3x5.

Edit: also, f'ing pants won't fit.

Hamstring Special

Went to another District CF class last night - this class was for people new to CF/learning the fundamental movements. Went to a 7pm class, latest I've worked out since being in school probably, I was pretty beat by the time we finished the warmup. Learned the deadlift w/ PVC pipe then did:

10 min AMRAP

8 Deadlift 225# (scaled to 205)
12 Lunges
16 Lateral jumps over the barbell\

8 rounds + 12 lunges

Pretty simple WOD - good for individuals learning the basics but still challenging enough to make it suck for people who are familiar w/ the movements. Did some foam/lax ball rolling when I got home last night, ass/hams don't feel like there's a knife cutting through them this morning - so I got that going for me.

liftin

i'm gonna abbreviate my posts drastically and/or only post when i hit new PRs. not trying to hijack our crossfit blog into my strength blog...

squat @ 205 no sweat, poor form (tied PR from when i had been doing SS for weeks)
went for a 150 bench, ended up with 150-145-140 :( next time
did a whole slew of other functional barbell stuff, weighted dips & pullups, etc.

mike out.

4 Oct 2011 Mainsite WOD

Worked out on mah roof tonight - weather was pretty perfect

Muscle snatch 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Power snatch 3-3-3-3-3 reps
Snatch 5-5-5-5-5 reps

95lb for all reps, failed the last rep of one of the power snatches. Probably could have done 100 or 105lb for the power snatches but I only have 25 and 35lb plates for now.

barbell extravaganza

so i had another dentist appt today, and that basically means i had a barbell in my hands from 11 to 1. i'll see what i can remember:

monstrous MWOD warmup (focused on hips and shoulders)
3x5 bench press @ 145 (went smooth with no spotter this time around...progress baby!)
3x5 C&J (not split jerk) @ 135 (first time doing C&J, mikey likey)
3x5 strict press @ 105 (push pressed the last 2 reps)
4x5 weighted dips @ 10-20-30-40 (+ 1x1 @ 50 for S's & G's)
3x3 weighted pullups @ 10-20-30
3x5 inclined bench @ 115 (easy, and more weight than i've done before)
3x5 front squat @ 135
3x5 shrugs @ 185
3x15 ghd situps
1x1 get a filling at the dentist

i tried going through the OHS movement with my heels on these really thin plates (~3/4") and it made it a million times easier. Legit lifting shoes are in my near future.

Monday WOD

5 sets, for time:

HSPU x6

Chest to bar x12

dumbbell lunges x 24 (#35)

I did 3.5 sets of everything, except #30 on lunges, in about 15 min (gym is crowded, and geared more toward LA Fitness and less toward manly feats of pwnage).

Why less than 5? Because I work best in short, controlled bursts, just how the ladies like. Also, I gotta stick to doing more than one workout every other week. In other news, MB is weak and woman-like.

15 August Mainsite WOD

With a continuously running clock, do one pull-up and one handstand push-up the first minute, two pull-ups and two handstand push-ups the second minute, three pull-ups and three handstand push-ups the third minute... continuing as long as you are able. When you cannot complete the required number of reps for either exercise, continue only with the other as long as you are able.

Use as many sets in any order each minute as needed.

Post number of minutes successfully completed for each exercise to comments. Their sum is your score.

19 (13 pull ups + 6 HSPU)

Tour de CrossFit - Final Stage

Went to District CrossFit's free intro class today. Decided to call this the last stage in the Tour cause I'll likely join this one after dropping into one of their regular classes this coming week.


The box is nothing fancy - it's in some old garage/industrial building and not as shiny as the other boxes I've been to in DC but I guess if that's what you're looking for you should go to an LA Fitness. Best location for me relative to the other boxes: 15-20 mins including walking and metro with no transfers. And there's a Chipotle next to the metro station.


The gym has everything you need for WODS (read ropes). Pretty large space for a decent location downtown. This was definitely the best run intro class I've been to. It was a large class but the WOD was perfect for a group of 15-20 people. We did wall balls, burpees, and box jumps in the WOD and before we began everyone went to each station in a group of 6 where one of the 3 head coaches taught the movements/standards.

WOD:

3 rounds with 1 min rest between rounds:

1 min wall balls 14/8# (AMrepsAP)
1 min burpees (AMrepsAP)
1 min box jumps 20/12# (AMrepsAP)

Score is your total reps after 3 rounds.

Majority of class scored 120-160 reps. One woman who was probably in her mid 30's and 100lbs got 207 reps - beating me by 4. Pretty sure she's never done CF before after watching her do some wall balls during our instruction period - she might have been counting by 3's.

I get the feeling that the capacity of the top athletes at this box may not be quite as high as some other boxes. I asked about the CF Games Open and one of the trainers said they didn't have enough people (who were capable or willing?) to compete this year but will definitely compete next year. Looking at their leaderboard with benchmark lifts/WODS I'm within 10lb on some of the lifts and pretty close timewise on some of the WODS.

Anyways, I'll go back this week to check out a regular class to meet some other athletes and then probably sign up for a membership.

Side note: Christy Phillips, who came in 6th in the 2010 games used to be a trainer here but she's not on the website anymore, not sure what happened to her. One of the full time trainers (woman) came in 4th at regionals this year (top 3 went to the games) so that's legit.

Peace out.

Chipper Jones

Went back to CrossFit Impulse in Huntsville today cause I had a few hours to kill before my flight and cause they have open gym hours Fri afternoons.

Did this chipper:

30 OHS 75#
30 Chest to bar pull ups
30 Power snatches 75#
30 Toes to bar
30 SDHP 75#
30 Squats
30 KB swings 52#

16:16

Did this a minute faster earlier in the year with Klein. Klein scaled a bunch of crap so I was chasing him the whole time - made a huge difference in how much rest I took.

Did some lax ball rolling after and was feeling pretty good so I figured I'd do a cool down WOD without keeping time:

2011 CF Games Event 3

For time:
15 foot Rope climb, 5 ascents
145 pound Clean and jerk, 5 reps
15 foot Rope climb, 4 ascents
165 pound Clean and jerk, 4 reps
15 foot Rope climb, 3 ascents
185 pound Clean and jerk, 3 reps
15 foot Rope climb, 2 ascents
205 pound Clean and jerk, 2 reps
15 foot Rope climb, 1 ascent
225 pound Clean and jerk, 1 rep

What I actually did:

15' rope climb, 5 ascents
5 135lb clean and jerk
15' rope climb, 2 ascents
2 135lb clean and jerk

Then I quit. Unreal how hard that shit was. Took Rich Froning 4:56 to finish that WOD. Probably took me 10 mins to finish my 2 rounds. Froning ain't got shit on me.

Crossfit Impulse Round 2

Started w/ a dynamic warmup doing a bunch of variations on a jog across the length of the gym: high knees, butt kickers, cross overs, etc.

Did today's Mainsite WOD:

Snatch 7x1

Basically turned into find your 1RM - I probably did 20 reps. Hit 155 and missed 160 twice but I was pretty close. Gonna revise my year end goal from 155 to 160 b/c I'm pretty sure if I put in any work whatsoever on my form I could hit 160+.

Sage Burgener (Mike Burgener's daughter) posted a solid looking program that goes something like this:

Day 1
3 Position Snatches 65% of 1RM 5x3 (1 snatch from the ground, 1 from mid-thigh, 1 from high hang)
Snatch Pulls: 90% of 1RM 2x3
Snatch Deadlifts: 100% of 1RM 2x3
Snatch Push Press: 3x5 with medium-heavy weight
Prowler push: 6 sets with 60 seconds rest in between each set

Day 2
Box Squats: 5x2, back off sets: 2x3 (not sure what this means, I guess just more squats?)
Front Squats: 2x5 @ 4 second descent and 2 sec hold in the bottom
Good Mornings: 3x5
Wall climbs*+Handstand Walks: 5 sets
Muscle ups: 12 total (done in pairs)

"Start in a push up position with your feet on the wall. Walk your feet up the wall and your hands towards the wall until your belly is touching. When up there, walk on your hands laterally for a couple of steps and then walk your hands back out into a push up position. Repeat in the opposite direction. I LOOOOVE these for strengthening the jerk. The more hand stand work I do, the stronger I feel when supporting the weight overhead."

Day 3
3 Position Cleans: 65% 1RM 5x3
Clean Pull: 90% 1RM 2x3
Clean Deadlift: 100% 1RM 2x3
Rack Jerk: Work up to a heavy single
Row Sprints: 30 sec. on 30 sec rest for 6 sets

I'll probably forget about this until like December 24th when I realize I have a week to hit my goal for the year.

strength and honor

took a break since sunday because i tore my hands to pieces at the climbing gym on sunday. its a shame because i really enjoyed the climbing, but it threw my routine off. let me know when you wanna go, JC, i'm down like a clown charlie b-b-b-brown. forgot how much fun gym climbing is.

3x5 back squat @ 195
3x5 press @ 95
1x5 deadlift @ 235
3x5 bench press @ 145 (5-5-4, PR)

back squat was surprisingly easy for not having squatted heavy in weeks. used a belt on the last set of presses. oh how i missed you these past few days, barbell...

hotel workout

did the following this morning in Pittsburgh:

2 mile run (7.5mph)

5 rounds of:
10 pushups
10 situps
10 squats

Tabater

Wtf is a tabata? Read this and this

Passed on all three Huntsville CF gyms cause none of the WODs interested me

Did my WOD up in here:

You know you're not in the civilian world when there's a 20-person pullup rig on the side of the road

Tabata movements/reps:
Squats: 19, 22, 17, 13, 19, 17, 13, 13
Pull ups: 10, 10, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7
Sit ups: 11, 9, 9, 9, 8, 8, 8, 8
Push ups: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 8, 8, 8

Score: 13+7+8+8=36

Realized during the squats there's no reason to do more reps than any previous round of reps cause that shit won't count on your score anyways. Tabatas are best done w/ some sort of audio cue to tell you when 20 and 10 seconds are up. There are a bunch of mp3's and shit you can google for Tabatas. I didn't always hear the beeps signaling the 20 and 10 second intervals so some atleast 3 of my rests ended up being 40 seconds long.

Huntsville Round 2

Back in Huntsville, AL this week. Went to a different CF box this time cause the WOD at CrossFit Huntsville today was:

Run 5k

I have a hard time paying $15 to run 5k. Went to CrossFit Impulse instead (nice website no?). First drop in is free, subsequent drop ins are $15. I think they're unlimited rate is $125 or $135 monthly. I would live like a f-ing king in Alabama. Nice facility at CF Impulse, can't think of anything they didnt have that you would need for a WOD.

Oly platforms, ropes, and a sweet pullup rig


Facing the front entrance. The wood contraption behind the GHDs is a Rogue "wall" like they had at the 2010 games for climbing over, pretty awesome.

Warmed up with a 400m run. Then did some agility work with forwards/backwards sprints around those half cones they use for soccer drills. Also did side steps over a row of 8 parallettes.

WOD, which I think was a mainsite WOD from a few weeks ago:

15 min AMRAP
10 Wall ball shots 20#
10 Toes to bar
10 Box jumps

8 rounds + 6 toes to bar

Great workout, partly b/c it was so easy to scale to any skill level. There was an asian woman in the class with the same name as my mom. Weird. I was shooting for 10 rounds. I got through 4 unbroken I think. I was trying to keep up with a guy who was a few inches shorter than me but clearly shredded, unfortunately he was basically a round ahead of me as soon as we started. Found out at the end that he was one of the trainers - he only got 1 more round than I did so I don't feel that bad. He said one thing that helped him pull ahead of everyone else in the class was faster squat reps on the wall balls. Something to think about next time - trying to do the wall ball squat as fast as air squats.

hang cleans

Strength ---
Hang Cleans
3-3-3-3-3-3-3
95-95-95-...-115-115

I was trying to work on form here. For some reason, I struggle with these. My form isn't as fluid as I'd like it to be.

Metcon ---
4 rounds of:
10 pull ups (scaled with bands)
10 box jumps
10 hang cleans (95 lbs)

Time: 13:05

friday

Strength --
Overhead Squat
3-3-3-2-2
85-85-95-95-95

Need to work on these.

Metcon ---
For time:

400m Run

Then 3 Rounds Of:
10 DB Thrusters (25 lbs, Rx was 30lbs)
90 single-unders (Rx was 30 DUs)
10 Burpees

Then: 400m Run

Time: 11:40

Solid metcon. Got the heart pumpin.

sorta SS?

bounced around the weight room with a few things in mind to do:

deadlift: ~7x1 working up to 275# (PR), then 1x5 @ 235#
bench press: warmups then 3x5 @ 140# (PR)
OHS: cannot even drop down into a squat with the bar overhead, must work on this
C&J: worked on form/grip a lot, up to ~3x3 @ 115#
inclined bench: warmups + 3x5 @ 95# (last set did 10 reps)
barbell shrugs: 3x6 @ 275# (sets were slightly broken due to sweaty grip and hunks of raw meat hanging off my hands where my calluses used to be)
ghd situps: 3x15
ghd back extensions: 3x10

i love lifting sooo much more than running...

a beast of a thursday

Eva
5 round of:
800m run
30 KB Swings (45 lbs - Rx is 75lb)
30 Pullups (scaled with bands)

Time: 54:07

Bodyweight exercises are my current bottleneck. Pushups, pullups, dips. Time to start working on them.

my new favorite quote

Saw this on a banner in a weight room in the background of a youtube video...

"if you can't do it, you're either not tough enough or not strong enough"

Truth.

Boner's Revenge

5 rounds for time
5 shoulder to overhead 145#
10 burpees

8:48

Probably should have taken today off after the burpees yesterday, especially considering I could only press 135 for one rep today. I'll try this crap again in a few weeks.

meh wednesday

did some back squat technique to warm up, then:

5 rounds for time of:
5 back squats (115lbs)
10 hand-release pushups

time: 5:45

wasn't thrilled with this workout. didn't really get my heart rate up. should have done more weight or something. i wish there had been a 500m row or a 400m run in there.

scaled shortened chelsea

chelsea
every minute, for 30 min:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

I was going for 20 min of
5 pullups
10 knees to elbows
15 squats

i got 10 min of:
5 pullups
5 knees to elbows
15 squats

split 2 finger creases open and have a blister on every knuckle pad...so i threw in the towel. resting tomorrow then more strength stuff on thurs/fri

Quickie but a goodie

100 burpees for time

6:56

Girlfriend: 6:05 (65 burpees)

Keegan fail

Tried keegan and reached failure on the pushups and toes to bar in round 2, so I called it after 3 rounds:

Run 200m
20 pushups
20  toes to bar

9:59

Gonna have to retreat, regroup, and reengage this one.  My pushup stamina is horse shit.

freddy's revenge

strength --
all at 145lbs
4 press
4 push press
4 jerk
4 split & jerk

metcon ---
freddy's revenge
5 rounds of:
5 shoulders to overhead (145 lbs)
10 burpees

time: 8:24

pretty tired at the end. after catching my breath, tried to do straight up press with 145 lbs. I did 2 reps.

checkout:
10x10second L-sits on rings (could only do them with one leg out, or no legs out)