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)

Tour de CrossFit - Stage 2

Went climbing on Sat at an indoor climbing place called Earth Treks outside of DC. $20 got you three climbs with coaching/instruction from one of their instructors/staff. If you're anything like me, you probably thought three climbs would take all of 8 seconds even if you did all the climbing with only your arms. Turns out indoor climbing is hard as shit. Indoors climbs probably last somewhere between one minute and five minutes with each climb being a good full body challenge. The climbs were as mentally taxing as physically, if not more so. The urge to quit when you're stuck 30 feet up on a wall with no where to stick your legs or hands is tantamount to any time I've wanted to quit during a WOD. So in conclusion, rock climbing is an awesome supplement to other training, a great sport to learn, and hard as shit.

Went to Potomac CrossFit today for a free beginners class. Initial impressions were: the gym was nice, basically all the equipment you could ask for sans ropes for climbing; gym was in a good location close to a metro station though probably 30-40 mins from my apartment; and there were a shitload of people there on a Sun morning for the free class.

There were 18 people there for the free beginners class. Apparently they've had larger beginners classes. The gym has over 430 members - supposedly one of the biggest in the country. Pretty ridiculous. I spoke to the trainer after the class and all the trainers have full time jobs outside of training, which, for some reason or another I didn't expect. Similarly, our rock climbing instructor had a full time job working in biohazard threat analysis for the FDA. This all makes getting a level 1 cert a bit more intriguing. The programming is probably similar to other CF gyms that have a strength bias. Monday is a squat day + WOD, Wednesday is a press day + WOD, and Friday is a pull from the floor day + WOD. Tues and Thurs are generally metcon days and weekends are probably a clusterf of whatever they want.


Back to the WOD, it's probably a huge pain in the ass trying to put 18 complete nubs through a CrossFit workout for the first time. The WOD was a team workout the trainer pulled together on the fly. I could have programmed a better WOD if I took a dump on the floor. You don't ask people who have never touched a barbell or dynamax ball or plyo box to do 360 reps for their first mfing workout.

WOD:

3 rounds

30 KB swings
30 box jumps
30 burpees
30 wall ball shots

kbs, boxes, and wall balls were all different heights/weights depending on how big you wanted other people to think your d was. The team aspect meant each member of your team started on a different movement and each member could only progress to the next movement when everyone finished 30 reps of their respective movement. My team initially consisted of the girlfriend and myself, which was going to be sweet b/c I fully intended on kicking everyone elses ass. Right before the WOD started Kahn arrived, about 20 minutes late, and got added to our team cause everyone else had three people already. Which brings me to the gentleman on the far right in the following video:



The guy in the video would have looked like a fucking crossfit allstar compared to Kahn. Anyways, we start the WOD, after two rounds with half the class about to throw up, our trainer decides to cut all the reps to 20. Come 17:30, our trainer tells everyone to stop, turning the WOD into an AMRAP since no team made it through three rounds.

Our friend Kahn did 2-3 reps of each movement before calling out that he was done. After the first "round" he decided to sit the rest of the class out. Our trainer told us our trio was now a duo citing communication issues with Kahn. After the WOD we were pow wowing with the rest of the class talking about the types of movements you can expect in CrossFit WODs. The trainer asked if anyone had completed all three rounds. Kahn was the only one to raise his hand.



All in all I liked this gym more than Balance CrossFit, though Potomac Crossfit is twice as far from my apartment. I'm looking forward to trying out District Crossfit and Primal CrossFit before making a decision. Capped off the Sunday with brunch up in here:

more random strength stuff

Walked into the gym this afternoon with every intention of doing Keegan (no homo), but after I stretched and warmed up I still had pain right above my ankles on the inside of my legs from jumping rope earlier this week. I must have looked like a total tard trying to do double unders because I was violently stomping the ground from focusing on the rope and not my jumping... anyway:

worked up to a 3RM squat, maybe 8x3: 215# (PR)
3x5 Bench @ 135
3x5 Inclined bench @ 125
3x5 Press @ 95 (spotted myself with push press for ~5 reps toward the end)

3x15 ghd situps
3x10 ghd back extensions
20-15-10 hand release pushups

I'll get back to Keegan...gonna do some wods with rowing instead of rowing till my legs feel niceeeee. Off to pound massive qty's of red meat (TWITAB).

rough friday

Strength:
4 Sets Of 5 Unbroken Curtis P's (75 lbs)

Metcon --
5 rounds of:
Row 300 m
5 Muscle-ups (substitued 3 chest-to-bar pullups + 3 ring dips for each MU. used bands)
10 DB Squat Clean Thrusters (25 lb DB)
Rest 90 s

Time; 35:50

Pretty long workout.

Mary (The Slut, not the Virgin)

Mary: 20 min AMRAP

5 HSPU

10 1-legged squat (sub'd in 25 regular squat due to lack of balance)

15 Pullup

Managed to do 3.333333333.... rounds before the clock ran out. Shit gets hard after the first round. Think I've gotten half a kip down (good upstroke, shitty downstroke).

Undergrads are moved in, but class hasn't started yet, so the fucking gym is packed with freshmen wiping their sweaty sacks all over the goddamn benches.

Also, bitches love HSPU.

Ho fo Sho

Helen

3 rounds
Run 400m
21 kb swings 55lb
12 pullups

me: 12:39
Graham Holmberg: 7:05

Worked out during lunch time today. Met a guy who's about my height (5'6", maybe shorter) and a billion times stronger. Turns out he and a bunch of other guys who work out during lunch time are responsible for the bumper plates, kettlebells and other random cf shit in the gym. On any given day 2-10 guys show up and throw down at the unofficial "CrossFit Naval District Washington." Their WOD today was hoover ball - essentially volleyball with a medicine ball. I said I couldn't play today cause I had a meeting. And by meeting I meant I wanted to do Helen instead.

The jacked dude, Dave, also told me about a strength program they incorporate into their workouts. It's called the 5/3/1 program created by some Wendler dude that I've never heard of. The premise is similar to starting strength/5x5, you do a few sets of a specific movement at x% of your one rep max and after 2 days you're fucking jacked. Or something like that.

A completely inadequate overview of the 5/3/1 program follows:

On separate days you'll do (back) squat, bench, deadlift, and overhead press. The first day you do 3x5 squat, then the next day 3x5 bench, then dead then press. After doing a separate 3x5 day for each movement repeat the cycle with 3x3, and then a day with one set of 5, one set of 3, and one set of 1. After getting through the moves with sets of 5, 3 and 1, you do a "deloaidng wave" with lighter weights at 3x5 and then I guess you start everything over again but with a higher 1RM (probably like 50x what you started with).

The weight breakdowns as % of your 1RM are as follows:

75% x 5, 80% x 5, 85% x 5

80% x 3, 85% x 3, 90% x 3

75% x 5, 85% x 3, 95% x 1

60% x 5, 65% x 5, 70% x 5

A much better explanation can be found here

Random strength day

Did all warmups as sets of five reps, last 3 sets at working load, last set till failure. 8 sets total.

Press/Push press @ 95
Bench press @ 135 (PR)
Inclined bench press @ 95

3x15 ghd situps
3x10 ghd back extensions

This class blows....gonna crush a steak burrito when I get outta here.

2011 CF Games on ESPN 2

The 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games are coming to ESPN2 starting Wednesday, September 14th at 8:00pm EDT (5:00pm PDT)! For 3 weeks straight, four 30 minute episodes will run each Wednesday night covering every event of the Mens and Womens competitions.

Clean and Burp

2 Sept Mainsite WOD

15-12-9-6-3 reps for time of:
135 pound Power clean
Bar-facing burpee

Me: 10:14
Girfriend: 9:40 (30# hanging power clean)
Matt Chan: 4:57

front squats

warm up:
2 rounds of
30 jumping jacks
20 air squats
10 burpees

did some front squat mobility and skills training.

strength:
3 rep front squat
95-125-145
failed at 155 with 1 rep, making that my 1 rep PR

metcon:
4 rounds of:
400m run
90 single unders
7 front squat (85lbs)

time: 12:34

4 hrs sick leave - 1 hr dentist visit = crushing shit for 2 hrs

20 min mwod shit...my lower body is pretty flexible these days, I'm happy with the gains I've seen, despite trailing off with mwod project after the tenth day or so

20 min jump rope and working on double unders...got 4 in a row once or twice, theyre coming along

2 rds:
Row 500m (<2 min
20 HRPU
Say something witty to cute girl next to rower, waft stench toward her

3x10 dips
3x15 ghd situps
3x10 ghd back extensions

20 min light mwod shit

...still got too this dentist appointment thirty minutes early, jerry springer is on in the waiting room...tis a good day

Shits and Ladders

10-9-8...3-2-1

Burpees
Box jumps 24"
Push ups
Squats
Sit ups

11:45

The girlfriend:
Skipped box jumps (15") after first round of 10. Also almost vom-ed.
12:24

Helen

...is a whore

3 rds:
Run 400m
21 KB Swings (RX: 1.5pd, used 45#/1.25pd)
12 Pullups

14:30

hang cleans

Skill:
worked on hang cleans. max weight was 155. my form needs work here.

Metcon:
21-15-9
Hang Clean (95 lbs)
Ring Dips (used band for some, jumping for others)
Box Jumps (24")

Time: 12:10

Sprint Sandwich

Run 260m
21-15-9
Box jumps 24"
Push ups
Toes to bar
Then Run 260m

10:40
Girlfriend: 12:10 (12" box jump, elevated pushups, knee raises)

Was planning on checking out Potomac CrossFit today, which involves my driving past the Pentagon, apparently not the best planning on my part since the whole highway was closed today.

rock climbing

I had my 2nd rock climbing class today. This is truly an awesome sport. The tendons and muscles in my fingers and arms are nowhere near where they need to be to excel. I'm looking forward to more classes, and am enjoying using the benefits of CrossFit in different physical arenas.

Tour de Crossfit - Stage 1

Began my quest to find a CrossFit gym in DC today. I still plan on doing 75% of my workouts at my gym at work, I'm primarily looking for a gym to train at on the weekends, preferably one with open gym hours where I can work on whatever I want. There are 4-5 gyms in DC/VA that I'm considering, all of which offer free beginners intro classes on the weekends.

Crossfit Balance is in a good location in downtown DC. They have a legit roster of trainers and the members I talked to who were finishing up their WOD loved it. The trainer who led the class was pretty proficient but could have done a much better job of selling the gym to the other people in the intro class. She didn't know how much the different membership levels cost or when the next foundations class began. Prior to visiting I thought this place would be a joke because it's affiliated with a larger LA Fitness-type gym next door with machines, yoga classes, spinng classes, etc. About 5 or 6 girls came into the crossfit gym before the class started thinking it was the main gym where they were having a pole dancing class...and trust me, this intro crossfit class would have done them much better than whatever shit they did in the pole dancing class. The one saving grace of the big box gym is the boxing ring they have inside that looks bad ass and the roof they have where they have some crossfit classes.

The class started with a brief overview of crossfit and why we do the shit we do. Then the trainer went over some basic movements we would be using in the wod. We did a partner burpee ladder warmup (1 person does 1 burpee, then the partner does 1, then the other person does 2, etc). My team dominated, obviously.

WOD:
8 min AMRAP
row 200m
5 push ups
10 squats
15 abmat situps

4 rounds + 130m row
Girlfriend: 3 + 200m row

I highly recommend trying out a beginners class at any gyms you live by even if you have no intention of joining. There are always good cues/pointers the trainers will give you and you may change your mind about joining the gym.

friday wod

Warmup, Partner WOD ---
One partner does 20 wall balls while the other does clean + press with KB.
Each person does 4 rounds of wall balls

Strength --
Max 1 rep push press
Failed at 155 lbs.
Should of gotten it. Pretty disappointed.

Metcon --
10min AMRAP:
30 DU (substituted 120 single unders)
15 KB Swings (45 lbs)

I got 4 rounds + 90 single unders

Rowing Sandwich

For time:

Row 500m

then 21-15-9
Thruster 95#
KB swing 45 (55# Rx)

Row 500m

12:54

Girlfriend: 13:04 (20# thruster, 12.5# kb)

meh...decent for not having a solid plan walking into the gym

made this one up, sons:

"Burpull Nurple"

18 burpees
3 pullups
15 burpees
6 pullups
...
3 burpees
18 pullups

dont know my time, realized when i finished that only the second hand on my chrono was moving...that pissed me off like no other...rough estimate of ~15 min

25 double unders...PR'd 4 consecutive! <----weak sawse

straight bar curls, 8-6-4-2 @ 50-60-70-80#
20-15-10-5 ghd situps supersetted with:
10-10-10-5 ghd back extensions

Fight Gone Horrible

5 rounds, 1 min rest between rounds:

3 min AMRAP
3 power cleans 135#
6 pushups
9 squats

20 rounds + 5 cleans

girlfriend: 12 rounds + 15 cleans 30# (1st AMRAP at 46#) + 12 knee pushups + 2 squats

3rm thrusters

Thrusterssss:
1x5 @ 45#
7x3 @ 95, 115, 125, 130, 130, 125, 125

3x20 HR pushups
2x20 ghd situps
2x15 ghd back extensions

...really thought I was gonna puke today...

I should have become familiar with front squats before doing this wod, had some moderate elbow joint pain after. Chen, did you have the bar racked when you did the squat part of the movement, then swapped grip to press it? Why don't my arms/wrists bend like polish olympians? ? They can have the bar in a rack with a full closed grip on it, which I would think is ideal for this movement.

rowing helen

3 rounds of:
500m row
21 KB Swings (30#)
12 Pullups (Red + Blue band)

Time: 12:32

tuesday night workout

1.5 mile run at 7.5mph

then
5 rounds of:
10 pushups (some from knees)
10 situps
10 airsqauts

time: 4:50

warmup for getting back on track after vacay

yesterday played a shitload of 2v2 bball

started jackie today when i got home, but the basement got pitch black when the power went out...rowing in the dark is strange.

1000m row (3:51)

washington/oregon are awesome. too many videos collected of me falling down drunk.

6 Sept Mainsite WOD

7x3 Thruster

135-145-155-165-170-165-165

West Side NYC WOD

Bonak, Lauren, and I did:

Run 3 miles

Sometime during the 3 miles:

3 rounds
10 pushups
10 squats

20 box jumps

2 rounds
10 manmakers
10 sit-ups
10 squats

Jackie

Row 1000m
50 Thrusters 45#
30 Pullups

8:46

clean, front squats

Hey all,

Been getting some great use out of the home gym. Been doing my usual lifts, and been working pretty hard on my clean form over the last 1-2 weeks (Following training from the world class champion video). And slowly working up the weight for front squats. I have to say they are quite uncomfortable on the shoulders..

did 4 sets of clean at 10x45 lbs.
4 sets front squats at (8-10)x95 to 115

20ish mins. (going to start doing a better job of keeping time).

Overall weight is definitely low but I'll keep working on it. Even at a low weight though cleans are definitely tough on the cardio.