Friday, August 31, 2012

August Goals, A Review

The last full week of August has come and gone. Are the months going by faster and faster?

My August Goals, broken down:

  1. Week 1: CrossFit 3x/week [achieved]
  2. Week 2: CrossFit 3x/week [achieved]
  3. Week 3: CrossFit 4x/week [achieved]
  4. Week 4: CrossFit 4x/week [failed - missed by 1]
  5. Average Rock Climbing  2.5x/week [failed - avg 2x/week]
  6. Track Club 3 out of 4 weeks [achieved - 4/4 weeks]
Feeling pretty good overall. This was definitely an improvement over July, and my failures were close calls. I'm feeling more fit than I was at the beginning of August and I'm excited to conquer September. I'll write a post over the weekend for September goals (unless one of you beats me to it). 

How did you do?

2012-08-31 CF (MB)

A. Strength
Bench
135-155-175-185
1-1-1-1

B. Metcon
10-8-6-4-2
Power Cleans 135# (scaled to 115#)
HSPUs (scaled some with a box)
Burpee Pullups

Time: 10:49

Climbing and camping at Devil's Lake for the long weekend.

5/3/1 cycle 1 week 3: squat

Squat:
275x5
305x3
340xmax -> got 9!

Theo 1rm of 435.  Really happy with this.  Finally had a good day this week.

More squat:
185 5x10
Adductors: 140lbs 5x10
Abductors: 200lbs 2x10

Next week is deload week.  Which I hate.  It's literally like 60% of max for 3 sets of 5 or some shit.  HOWEVER I know the value of following the programming of someone who knows way more than me, so I'm gonna follow through with this.  Then I will run 1 more cycle and it'll be competition time!!

By the way I gave up trying to hit a bw of 181.  Eating that little really disrupts my training, and most people suggest that one not worry about making weight for their first meet since there are so many other things to consider.  I'll probably weigh in somewhere around 190.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

York Barbell photo dump





















Cooling glove

So this has been in the news from time to time over the last few years (did somebody here write a post about this?), but now the product is finally complete:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/august/cooling-glove-research-082912.html

Essentially, it's a glove that introduces a slight vacuum to cause dilation of capillaries in the hands, and circulates cool water in order to rapidly cool down body temp.  They discovered that using this after a set basically eliminated muscle fatigue.  AKA if you do a set of max rep pullups, then use this glove to cool yourself down, you'll be able to get just as many pullups as last time.

You can buy one for a cool $3k:
http://www.avacore.com/buy-corecontrol

OR you can build your own:
http://m.instructables.com/id/CoreControl-DIY/step13/How-to-use-The-required-design-specs/

Honestly I'm really really tempted to build one and try it out.

CFFB 083012

ASWOD
3x5 bench @ 172.5 (fail: 5-5-4)
3x5 squat @ 265 (fail: 5-5-4)

DWOD
6 rounds:
max reps plyo pushups (10-8-7-6-4-4)
100m sprint row (all around 18 s)

I felt horrible today.  I don't know what's up.  Nothing frustrates me more in training, I ate clean and lived by the book this week.  Other times I go home and stuff my face with junk and ice cream and sleep horribly then go into the gym and hit PRs the next day.  I don't get it...sigh.

5/3/1 cycle 1 week 3: Bench

Bench:
175x5
195x3
220xmax -> got 8

Really need a spotter on these.  Probably could have gotten 1-2 more but chickened out.  Theo 1rm is 275. Again a drop.

More bench:
115 5x10
Barbell row:
115 5x10
Curls:
90 5x10

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

SS Day A

Squat 230x3x5
Press 120x3x5
Deadlift 305x5

Squats are getting heavy, press feels good, deadlifts were ok. MFS 2/3/2

Because MB won't let me do conditioning while I'm doing my linear progression I've resorted to sprinting 2.5 miles to and from the gym on my bike. Clocked in at 10:57 on the way to the gym and 11:24 on the way back, thought I'd be faster on the way home cause its more downhill than up, maybe I was tired after lifting.

CFFB wod Ricci posted other day

Had to wait til 10 last night to start my wod b/c Robin had peeps over and I didn't want to embarrass them with my grunting. 

Lift:
Backsquats at 225 lb.--->3 sets of 5

Conditioning:
Complete 8 rounds
3 squats at 80% of 1 rep max (~255 lb. x .80 ==> ~205)
Sprint 25 yards
Rest 2 minutes between rounds

I was pretty happy with this.  CFFB is a completely different animal than CF Bethesda programming.

2012-08-29 CF (MB)


A. Strength - Overhead Squats
75-95-115-135-145 (failed on third rep)
3-3-3-3-2

Notes: pretty sure this is a PR even for 1 rep.

B. Metcon
5 rounds for time of:
400m run
15 OHS 95# (scaled to 75#)
12 Box Jumps (24")
9 Toes-to-bar

Time: 27:16

Notes: need to work on staying balanced on these OHS. I felt myself using my right leg way more than my left, especially during the later rounds. I always fixed it, but sometimes overcompensated with my left leg as a result.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

2012-08-28 Track Club (MB)

Workout:

400m run
 1 minute rest
600m run
 1 minute rest
800m run
 1 minute rest

400m run
 1 minute rest
600m run
 1 minute rest
800m run
 1 minute rest

400m run
 1 minute rest
600m run
 1 minute rest
800m run

Total time: 29min 38sec

I didn't have a watch to time my splits, but if I assume constant pace across all intervals, then I get this:

400m = 1min 10 sec
600m = 1min 45 sec
800m = 2min 20 sec


CFFB 082812

ASWOD

5rm deadlift @ 405 (fail: 3 reps; back off set of 5 at 365; need grip work)
3x15 supine bar rows (shoulda been sets of 20 but I scaled)

DWOD

Platform had a mile long line and I was out of time.  Subbed a semi-leisurely 2k row: ~8 min.  Came out of the gates too fast then didn't bust my ass too hard the last 1000m.  Next time I'll set up the pace boat or pay attention to my split time or something.

"Just Squat" - Rich Froning

Can't let Bonak win...

Despite continued shoulder pain from this separated shoulder I have, I'm continuing on a goal of doing 4 wods per week - all w/ a focus on squatting and/or other leg programming. 

Saturday
Lift: Backsquat at 185 lb. 4x8
Conditioning:
Run 800 meters
75 squats w/ 55 lb.
Run 800 meters

Time: 15:34

Sunday
3x25 situps w/ med ball (popped a hemmy...didn't feel good)
Then...
3 rounds
Run 400 meters
50 good mornings w/ 65 lb on bar
50 situps

Time: 18:39

2012-08-28 CF (MB)

A. Warmup
500m row, 3 Sets
First two sets, row at 80%. Third set, row 100%. Rest 2min between sets.

Times: 1:47, 1:47, 1:34

B. Partner WOD
60 Thursters 95# (scaled to 85#)
50 Air Squats
40 Alternative Box Jumps 30"
30 Bar Facing Burpees
20 Med Ball Sit Ups 35#
30 Bar Facing Burpees
40 Alternative Box Jumps 30"
50 Air Squats
60 Thursters 95# (scaled to 85#)

Time: 24:25

Notes: I think I'm just about ready to jump up to the typical 95# Rx thruster weight. Felt pretty nauseous/pukey today. The box jumps didn't help.

Starting Strength B

Front squat 3x5 165
Bench 3x5 165
Power clean 5x3 155

Speed feels good, enjoying these relatively light days in preparation for getting much closer to my actual 5RM in a few weeks.

MFS 243

5/3/1 Cycle 1 week 3: Deadlift

Deadlift:
280x5
315x3
350xmax -> got 7

Theo 1rm of 420.  This also went down, just like press. I think I had a couple more in me, but oh well.  These comparisons aren't the most accurate since 1rm calculators are generally pretty bad.  It'll be really cool to see progress the next time I attempt 350.  That will be cycle 3, in about 2 months.  Hopefully I'll see some good improvement!

Deadlift more:
185 5x10
Leg raise: 5x15
Pullups: 9/5/5 (just because my friend was doing them)

5/3/1 cycle 1 week 3: Press

Press:
110x5
125x3
140xmax -> got 7.

Theo 1RM of 170.  Went down...sad face.  Just goes to show that as weights get closer to true 1rm, the formula works better.

Press some more:
75 5x10

Pullups: 5xmax: 11/8/7/6/5

Monday, August 27, 2012

CFFB 082712: I'm in love with a Crossfittin' MILF

Neon yoga pants, neon sports bra, neon headband, big round ass and 2 pood tits... <3 <3  Gonna start going to that gym at lunch more often...

ASWOD
3x5 press @ 125 (PR)

DWOD
8 rounds:
3 back squat @ 80% 1RM (255)
25 yd sprint
Rest 2 min

Satisfied with how hard I hit it today...

...that's what she said

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Weekend

Fri

Squat 220x3x5
Press 115x3x5
Deadlift 295x5

// 3 min rest between sets

---

Sat

"Sage"

2 rounds
20 thrusters 135# (10-5-5; 2-3-3-3-3-2-2-2)
20 pullups (15-5; 10-5-5)
20 burpees (10-10; 10-10)

8:38

// Traps a little sore on Sun after this

---

Sun

"Helen"

3 rounds
400m run 
21 Kb swings 24kg (21; 21; 21)
12 pull ups (12; 12; 12)

9:02

// Not hard to go unbroken, as always the run was slow. Couple Outlaw scores sub 8:00 with atleast one sub 7:00, which means I'm getting lapped on the sprint. Kept up pretty well with my friend who's training for the Marine Corps though and runs a sub 19:00 3 mile so pretty happy with that.

Adding to the goals - 1x per week sprint work

Saturday, August 25, 2012

So somehow my abs are completely wrecked from Tuesday still.  I completely bitched out on doing today's wod (chins and powercleans and double unders) because of it.  Got home tonight and felt horribly guilty...

1 round:
500m sprint row (no contacts, no shoes, 3am, drunk, metallica)

1:39.3

Suck me, August Goals.

Friday, August 24, 2012

2012-08-24 CF (MB)


A. Strength
Press, 95-105-115-125-135(fail)

B. WOD
20 min AMRAP:
5 Thursters 95# (scaled to 85#)
7 Hang Power Cleans
9 Sumo Dead Lift High Pulls

Score: 7 rounds + 16 reps

Notes: I was planning on going 75#, but a friend convinced me go 85. Happy I did. Thrusters and cleans were unbroken, SDLHL slowed me down.

5/3/1 Cycle 1 week 2: Squat

Squat:
260x3
295x3
325xmax -> got 10!

Theo 1rm is 435.  Then:

Squat 185 5x10
Adductor machine 140lbs 5x10.

My theo is going up, so I guess it's working?

Thursday, August 23, 2012

CFFB 082312

ASWOD

3x5 squat @ 260
3x5 bench @ 170

Accessory: 3x5 incline DB press @ 65's

DWOD

My abs are still wrecked from Monday.  I need to do more core work, explosive GHD situps are the shit, apparently.  As such, I revised today's workout some, as in I removed the hollow rocks.  Subbed rowing for running because fuck humidity.

10 rounds:
100m sprint @ 1:30/500m pace
1:00 rest

Now all I gotta do is string 5 of those skanks in a row and I'll have a beastly 500m time.  Unrelated, I've been reading up on glute ham raises a bunch.  Seems like a good accessory exercise to add.  Any opinions?

Yay for bikes and such

On my daily bike ride with my dog yesterday, I ended up taking a spill over the handle bars of my bike.  I blame Penny for darting after a squirrel, running through my front tire and sending me shoulder-first into the ground.  My shoe came off and I was bleeding from my thumb, and I immediately felt like my shoulder was effed up.  I was pretty sure I tore something bc my shoulder got really swollen and I could barely walk/open a door/sit up/stand up without it hurting.  To be honest, all I could think about is how this will set me back in my training and I was upset that I wouldn't be able to do "Nancy" 5 rounds of run 400 m, 15 ohs at 95 lbs.  I stayed home yesterday and continued icing it throughout the day.  After laying around all day, I thought I'd give a substituted Nancy a shot - 5 rounds of run 400 m, 15 jumping squats, 15 air squats.  As I was warming up, even getting into a squat position and doing a light jog hurt.  Throughout the wod, I just pushed through the pain; during the wod, since I wasn't focusing on any shoulder movements, any pain I felt was more of a nagging/chronic pain, as opposed to being really sharp and painful.  The time I got was 19:45.  I was okay with this given my situation.  Most of all, I was pleased I didn't quit on the running. 

I went to a shoulder doctor this morning.  He took an x-ray, no MRI.  He thinks it's just a sprain of the AC joint in my shoulder which connects the collarbone to the shoulder blade.  It can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to heal and no longer be painful.  I was pretty relieved that it's not a tear.  Generally, I need to let the pain guide what I'm able to do, but he did specifically say that any pushing movement (bench, pushups, shoulder press) is going to be extremely painful/limited for awhile. 

Anyway, I've already decided that I'm going to buy a 45 lb. dumbbell so I can do one-armed ohs, snatches, thrusters, etc.  I'm looking for an airdyne on craigslist so I can keep biking too.  I'd appreciate any thoughts you guys have on movements/wods that don't require a working shoulder.  Obviously pistols, squats, lunges, situps come to mind.  One-armed pullups with a band, one-armed pushups, maybe deadlifts, kb snatch, turkish getups.  You guys have any other ideas, I'd really appreciate it. 

5/3/1 cycle 1 week 2: bench

Bench:
160x3
185x3
205xmax -> got 12!

Theo 1RM of 295 (haha yeah right).  The last rep was super super dangerous.  I seriously almost got stapled; I think it was pure fear that got the bar up...

Then:
Bench 115 5x10
Barbell row 105 5x10
Curlz 90 5x10

I also ran some hills last night (7 hills at about 20% grade and ~120 yards?)  They hurt real good.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Trying not to get fat

Completed my first Day A (Mon) and Day B (Weds) of the Original Chen Starting Strength Program. Nothing impressive about the weights but it feels good to be lifting again.

Mon:
Squat 3x5 210#
Press 3x5 110#
Deadlift 1x5 285#

Weds:
Front squat 3x5 155#
Bench press 3x5 160#
Power clean 5x3 150#

I haven't done a metcon since Sunday - this may be the longest I've gone in like a year.

2012-08-22 CF (MB)

A. Strength
1RM Snatch
90-95-105-110(PR)-115(PR)

I want to try to go up higher. Didn't have time today.

B. Metcon
5 rounds for time:
200m run
15 KB Snatch 55# (scaled to 35#)
10 Toes-to-bar

Time: 12:04

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

2012-08-21 Track Club (MB)

Four rounds of:
100m run + rest for the time of the 100m run
200 m run + rest for the time of the 200m run
400m run + rest for the time of the 400m run

Times (all times are how long I ran and then consequently rested)

Round 1:
100m - 18.08
200m - 37.87
400m - 1.18

Round 2:
100m - 20.62
200m - 42.54
400m - 1.24

Round 3:
100m - 20.14
200m - 42.06
400m - 1.25

Round 4:
100m - 21.75
200m - 43.30
400m - 1.27

Helen and Presses

Feelin' good tonight; I figured out how to get the adrenaline going before my wod...text Bonak and get him to trash talk.

Lift: Press
2-2-2-2-2-2
115-125-135-145-145(fail)-135

Conditioning: Helen
3 rounds
Run 400 meters
21 kettlebell swings
12 pullups

Time:13:37

Breakdown: first round kb swings - all 21 kb swings at one time; first round of pullups (9-3); second round of kb swings (16-5); second set of pullups (8-4); final set of kb swings (16-5); final set of pullups (6-6).

CFFB 082112

ASWOD
1x5 deadlift @ 400 (fail: 4.5; ALMOST squeeked it out but didn't quite get full extension).  Gonna get back on some accessory grip work, that definitely played a roll in this.  Might not be able to get that deadlift goal for August :(  I kinda think it would be fool hardy to go for it next week on deadlift day.  I'll see how I feel.

DWOD
5 rounds (2m45s each):
4 power clean @ 185 (scaled to 135)
ME ball slams @ 40lb (subbed GHD situps)
45s rest
GHD situps: 20-20-15-15-15 = 85 total.  Closing my hips is impossible right now.  I walk pretty funny too, between all the explosive hip movements today.

2012-08-21 CF (MB)

A. Skills: Rope Climbs and DUs

B. Partner WOD
2 round for time:
Row 30 Calories / 30 Wall Balls (20#)
30 KB Swings (55#) / 30 Box Jumps (24")
30 Jumping Air Squats/ 30 Situps
30 Pull Ups / 30 Burpees

Let's say 1 partner starts rowing and the other is doing wall balls. When both are finished these movements, they switch (rowing to wall balls, wall balls to rowing). When each person has done both movements on a row, you move on to the next row.

Notes: This was really tough. I was on the floor by the end. Couldn't do the pull ups all Rx -- feeling some pain in my elbow from climbing last night.

Time: 36:42

5/3/1 cycle 1 week 2: Deadlift

Deadlift:
260 x 5
295 x 5
335 x max -> got 9.

Theo 1rm = 430.

Assistance:
Deadlift 190 5x10
Leg raise 5x15

Finally got to do some max deadlifts (had the pants fiasco last week) and am pretty happy with today.  I think I had maybe 1 or 2 left, but I was ridiculously out of breath.

Monday, August 20, 2012

How to improve your workouts

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2012/08/17/ncbi-rofl-watching-porn-before-working-out-improves-mens-weightlifting-performance/

Fran and out of town wods w/ a lil competition too

Been super busy at work lately and have realized that the one thing that gets me through the stress is crossfit.  Last Thursday "Fran" came out of the hopper on the crossfit bethesda programming.  I'd been waiting/looking forward to this for awhile.  I was pretty nervous.  It was going to be my first attempt at doing it prescribed.  I kept my diet super strict in the 24 hours before the wod and I crushed an extra 2 eggs around 4pm to have added energy.

At 6:30pm, I performed Fran 21-15-9...thrusters at 95 lb. and pullups....with a time of 6 minutes and 2 seconds.  Breakdown: 21 thrusters (15-6), 21 pullups (11-5-5), 15 thrusters (9-6), 15 pullups (6-5-4), 9 thrusters (6-3), 9 pullups (5-4).  I was pretty frickin' excited about this. 

This weekend I went to the beach and hit a couple morning "out of town wods" which crossfit bethesda programs everyday.  Saturday was mostly running with a 21-15-9 of the triplet, jumping squats, bench dips, and situps. 

Sunday's wod was as follows:
Run 400 meters
20 walking lunges
Run 400 meters
30 walking lunges
Run 400 meters
40 walking lunges
Run 400 meters
50 walking lunges

I did this wod competing against Kopit, whose been doing P90x (aka man aerobics) for the past 2 years or so.  In the last couple weeks I've convinced him that he needs to be doing crossfit.  Anyway, Kopit is still probably a better runner than me.  He passed me on this wod around the third 400 meter run.  I caught up to him, though, on the last 50 walking lunges and beat him by 14 seconds.  It was a pretty awesome feeling competing...and winning against someone who was in a lot better shape than me 4 months ago. 

My goals for August: 5x week cf bethesda programming (check), max pullups 35 (haven't tested yet), tabata squats 144 (haven't tested yet), do an unassisted ring dip (can do 10, check).

Chen, that's a crazy bike story.  I need to be more careful when I ride my bike.  Glad you're okay. 

CFFB 082012

ASWOD
3x5 squat @ 255 (no belt, felt heavy)
3x5 press @ 120 (belted, felt heavy)

DWOD
7 RFT:
7 KB snatch (right arm) @ 2 pd (scaled to 45lbs)
7 KB snatch (left arm) @ 2 pd (scaled to 45 lbs)
7 strict pullups

16:23.  Pullups went to kipping after round 4.  I'm horrible at keeping my pace up.  One of these days...gonna change gears and hammer on metcons.  I want 500/400/300 more though.

Capoeira last Friday

Was pretty sick and a whole lot of fun and really humbling gymnastically.  It's kinda useless in terms of self-defense/practical fighting.  It's more dancing with a partner and less delivering blows.  I was bad at the things requiring balance and good timing.  I was good at the stuff that required strength vs. bodyweight (handstand holds, various other ground poses).  I was also poor mobility wise.  I learned some cool stretches and bodyweight exercises for forearms to aid in balancing a hand stand.

Couple Things

1. Starting today I'm taking 4-6 weeks (with the option of a few more weeks) to squeeze out any linear progression gains I may have left. This means my priority will be lifting 3x a week with conditioning limited to running, cycling, or a Crossfit metcon about once a week. I'm not calling it Starting Strength because, 1) I plan on doing a minimal amount of conditioning outside of the lifting, and 2) I've slightly altered the the template to be as follows:

Day A
Squat 3x5
Press 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Day B
Front squat 3x5
Bench press 3x5
Power clean 5x3

My starting weights will allow for 4 weeks of progression until I hit my current 5RM, the 5RM's I'm going off of are as follows:

Back squat 260
Front squat 205
Press 135
Bench press 185
Deadlift 335
Power clean 185

---

2. I got hit by a car while riding my bike on Saturday. I was going straight through an intersection and a car coming the opposite direction was making a left turn and t-boned me. I rolled onto the hood, made a small dent on the front quarter panel (I think that's what it's called?) and took off the cover of the rear view mirror. Miraculously my only injury that I'm aware of is a cut on my finger. In fact I felt so good I walked the remaining two blocks to the gym afterwards and found a 5RM front squat. While I certainly consider myself lucky, I also credit the strength and conditioning I've been doing for the last 3-4 years for the minimal injuries I sustained. Over the last few days I've heard stories from two people about friends they have who have walked away from car on bike accidents relatively unscathed. In one instance a dude's leg got run over by a pickup truck and his only injury was some minor road rash. In both cases the individuals were very fit, having been training for their respective sports for quite some time, which the doctors said were the primary reason they were able to avoid serious injury. I can't articulate exactly why this is but I imagine the muscles are able to provide some layer of protection around the bones, tendons, and organs when the body goes into straight survival mode. I know I had some serious adrenaline coursing through my body immediately after the fact because my heart was racing and I'm pretty sure I could have PRed my deadlift on the spot.

In conclusion - wear a mfing helmet, don't be a retard. And be strong.

"Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and are generally more useful"
-Rippetoe

---

3. I registered for a one day individual competition on October 27th. There are about 20 or so individuals from DCF participating so it's gonna be a pretty sweet time. After my current strength cycle I'll have somewhere between 3-4 weeks to get primed for the competition. My goal going into the competition is to not have any glaring weaknesses - namely muscle ups at the moment. I'm also interested to see how I stack up with other DCF athletes and people from other gyms. It'll be a good barameter of where I stand and where I need to get to between October and next year's Open (Feb or March). And I'm sure it'll help me identify any areas I need to seriously improve.

---

Sunday WOD - Outlaw 120818

BB Gymnastics

1) 15 minutes to establish a 1RM Snatch.
// 155, failed 165 3x, need to be more aggressive in the catch, plenty of height on the bar and depth on the squat, with a little more practice I expect to be able to hit 170 in the near future

2) 15 minutes to establish a 1RM Clean and Jerk.
// 220 PR - though I've been using 225 as my max when lifting at percentages of 1RM I've never attempted more than 215 - still not getting full hip extension on the second pull, need to work some clean pull + clean complexes


Strength

15 minutes to establish 1RM front squat
// Skipped this bad boy


Conditioning

“Deacon”

12 minute AMRAP of:

11 Pause Pullups
8 Behind the Neck Push Jerks 185 (racks may be used)
18 Pistols (alternating)
Notes: Pause Pullups are pull ups performed with a 3 second pause while holding the chin over the bar. If the chin does not remain over the bar for a full 3 seconds, the rep does not count. If there is debate on how long 3 seconds is, set up a clock within clear view of the pull-up bar and literally watch the 3 seconds count off. These may be any grip and kipping is allowed.

// 3 rounds + 4 pull ups, scaled weight to 145, should have gone with 155 atleast. Pullups were rough after the first round, pretty taxing on the upper arms and core. Broke the pullups into 6-5 on the first round then 4-5 sets on the remaining rounds. Here ends the closest I've ever gotten to finishing a full week cycle of the Outlaw Way programming. I probably did about 90-95% of the work programmed for the last week, and it was sick. Can't wait to pick it up again in a few months.

MFS 222

2012-08-20 CF (MB)

A. Strength ---
Back Squat
145x5,160x4,165x3,170x2,180x1

Notes: went light here. been a while since I've done these. 


B. Metcon
15min AMRAP
3,6,9... Burpees
3,6,9... KB Swing 55#
3,6,9... Pull ups

Keep increasing the reps by 3 each round.

Score: Round of 15 reps completed + 36 more reps

Notes: Did this all Rx. I'm glad I'm finally getting off those pullup bands. 

5/3/1 Week 2: Press 8/19/12

Press:
100lbs x 5
115lbs x 5
130lbs x max -> got 10!
75lbs 5x10
Chins 5 x max

Pretty happy with the presses today.  The 10 reps at 130 gives me a theo of 175lbs 1RM.  Last week I managed 10 reps at 125, so this is definitely an improvement.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

August Goals - Progress Report

Two full weeks of August have come and gone. How has everyone been doing? I've copied our goals below.

MB

  • CF 3x/week for first 2 weeks (current average: 3)
  • Track club 3 out of 4 weeks (current attendance: 2 out of 2)
  • Rock Climbing 2.5x/week (current average: 2)
I failed with climbing this past week, but I've hit everything else. My goals have me upping CF to 4x/week these next two weeks. 


reechee:
  • 3x5 squat @ 300
  • 1:40 500m sprint row
  • 3x5 bench @ 180
  • 1x5 DL @ 405
JC
  • Outlaw 1x/week on average
  • Yoga 1x/week on average
  • Crossfit/lifting/outlaw 5x/week
  • Active rest/recovery 2x/week
AGKlein:
  • CrossFit Bethesda 5x/week
  • Max pullups: 35
  • Tabata Squats: 144
  • Unassisted Ring Dips
Yang:
  • Squat 370 3x5
  • Bench 240 3x5
  • DL 380 1x5

Friday, August 17, 2012

2012-08-17 Track Club (MB)

I was unable to make the actual track club meetup on Tuesday, so I did a makeup session today after work.

Workout:
5 sets of 1000m sprints at 6 minute intervals (i.e. you get 6 minutes to run 1000m and rest before starting the next round).

Split times:
3:52
4:06
4:12
4:27
4:13

This was pretty tough, but I must admit that I felt worse during the 400m sprints. This was way more of a mental game, however. It's been a tough 3 days with CF every morning and eleiko + running sprinkled into the mix. I'm going to Devil's Lake in Wisconsin for climbing tomorrow in the early AM. Pretty pumped about that.

Outlaw 120817

Strength

1a) 7X3 Banded Deadlifts @ 50% Bar Weight + 20% Band Tension – rest 60 sec.
// Didn't have the set up required for banded deadlifts, did deadlifts at 205# (probably a hair over 50% 1RM) as explosively as possible

1b) 7X3 Bench Press @ 70%, rest 60 sec.
// 155#, guessing my 1RM is around 225


Conditioning

7 rounds for total working time:

100m Shuttle Run (10m sections)
20 HR Pushups
10 Hang Squat Clean to Thrusters @ 115/75#

*Rest 1:1

// Total working time: 18:10, sets ranged from 2:20 to 2:40, happy I was able to do each set of push ups unbroken. Hang squat clean thrusters were done in 5-3-2 in every round, except the first round was 5-2-3. Hang squat cleans into thrusters were tricky at first cause I couldn't decide if I should have caught the bar in a full front rack at the bottom of the squat (finger tips barely supporting the bar) or having more of a thruster grip on the bar. Eventually realized the front rack grip was more efficient and since the weight was relatively light I could still do the press part of the thruster by sliding my fingers under the bar as soon as I got some separation between the bar and my shoulders. 

MFS 322, 3 on the mood mostly cause I pounded a ton of cookies last night. 

a year of 531

Don't know if you guys have seen this already, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Basically this guy decided to follow 5/3/1 for a year and track his results.  They were pretty impressive. He started with numbers pretty similar to mine except deadlift (damn you deadlift):

405x1 squat
405x7 dl
260x1 bench

At the end of the year:

515 squat
565 deadlift
300 bench

I'm pretty excited to see if I'm as successful as he.  He uses a slightly different set of assistance exercises (I believe it's called the triumvrate), but I don't think it'll matter that much.

Here tis: http://531year.blogspot.com

5/3/1 Week 1: Squat day 8/17/12

Squat 235/270/305 -> got 9.
Squat 180 5x10
Adductor machine 5x10

My legs, especially adductors, still hurt from last week's sprints, so squat day probably could have gone better.  Hopefully I'll get better and better at recovering from sprints...

9 reps at 305 gives me a theoretical 1rm of 390 which is kinda shitty.  I squatted 425 for reals 2 months ago.  Really looking forward to improving on this.

Active Rest Day (Thurs)

Swam for 30 minutes. So hard. I'd like to add swimming to the mix during rest days in an effort to eventually feel like I'm not drowning after swimming half a lap. Used to be so easy when I was a kid, WTF. 

MFS 133 - feeling the three straight days of Outlaw, also don't think I've ever oly lifted three days in a row.

2012-08-17 CF (MB)

A. Warmup --
2 rounds of:
250m row
10 GHD situps
10 air squats

B. Strength ---
Thrusters
I worked up to around 115. My traps/shoulders are very sore from all the snatches I did on Wednesday (hehe).

C. Metcon
"Jackie"
Row 1,000 meters
50 Thrusters 45#
30 Pull ups

Time: 11:31

Lots of stopping here, but it was a good workout. Looking forward to tackling it again when I'm stronger, faster, better.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Don't pound milk before hitting the gym

So I got distracted and forgot my mid morning brotein whole milk shake until right before gym time. Pounded it and hit the weights and knew I wasnt going to make it to the sprint heavy workout for today. Forgive me Bonak for I have sinned...I confessed to you earlier. 3x5 squat @ 245 (no belt still, gonna work up the weight beltless till I can't anymore) 3x5 bench @ 165 (backed my bench weight down a little bit because of the deload)

5/3/1 Week 1: Bench day 8/15/12

Bench:
150lbs 1x5
175lbs 1x5
195lbs AMRAP -> got 12!
115lbs 5x10

Barbell row:
95lbs 5x10

Curlz:
90lbs 5x10

I was pretty happy with how bench went.  I think I might have been able to grind out one more rep, but I'm always wary of pushing on bench when I don't have a spotter...

195x12 gives me a theoretical 1rm of 280 by Wendler's formula, but it's generally pretty inaccurate for more than 5 reps.

P.S. Everything STILL hurts from sprints last week.  WTF.

2012-08-16 CF (MB)

A. Hip Mobility
B. Metcon:
1 mile run (7min 17 sec)
100 air squats
1 mile run (7min 37 sec)

Time: 17:52

Cooled down with some DU work and my first attempt at a muscle up (almost seriously messed up my shoulder).

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

2012-08-15 Eleiko (MB)

I went to the Eleiko Sports Center which has been open for 3 months so far in Chicago. The space serves as a show room for their merchandise, but since they have the equiment and the space, it doubles as a gym. They have some classes during the week -- mostly powerlifting/strength and olympic weightlifting. I went to the oly class today.

We warmed up with some basic movements using 32kg. We rotated through three different positions, doing a full snatch from each position. The positions were (1) knees bent, bar on upper thigh, (2) knees bent + hips flexed, bar below knees and (3) knees bent + hips flexed + knees bent some more, bar/plates against ground. We did this many times. Sometimes we slowly went from (3)-->(2)-->(1), sometimes quickly.

Then we started going heavier. We did 20-30minutes worth of Snatch + Hang Snatch without putting the bar down for those two movements. Between sets, we rested as much as we wanted. The coach said something like, "this isn't a Crossfit workout -- we're not trying to do 40 sets in 20 minutes. Take your time and rest as much as you want." I had some trouble here since I did 40 power snatches this morning. I also have some problem with my form -- mostly with my entire movement being too soft/nice and not hard/mean enough. I'm flimsy at the top. I worked up to around 45kg, then I started having issues.

The next segment was focused on doing the hang snatch movement perfectly. We did 5 sets of 3 hang snatches at very low weight.

We ended with 3 sets of 5 sotts presses with only the 20kg bar.

Sotts press: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOrdzRTiBJY

Outlaw 120815

BB Gymnastics

1) 7X1 [1 Hang Power Snatch + 1 Power Snatch] – heaviest possible, rest 60 sec (exactly).

Notes: Hang position should be just above the knee. These should be touch & go reps.

// 7x125, tried one warm up set at 135, missed the power snatch, need to get more comfortable with touch and go snatches at 135

2) 7X1 [2 Power Cleans + 1 Push Jerk] – heaviest possible, rest 60 sec (exactly).

Notes: Power Cleans should be touch & go.

// 7x155, form and speed felt solid throughout, probably should have tried 165 on the last few


Strength

1a) 3XME Muscle-Ups – rest 45 sec.
// 3-3-0
1b) 3XME  Double Arm KB Snatches @ 24/16kg – rest 45 sec.
// Scaled to 16kg, 13-15-13
1c) 3X10 Reverse Hypers – very heavy, rest 45 sec.
// 15-25-25
1d) 3X5 Snatch Grip Behind the Neck Press – heavier than last week, rest 45 sec.
// 85-90-90

// Protocol with programming with 1a, 1b, etc is to complete one set if 1a, then one set of 1b, etc, like you're doing supersets. Did one set of 3 false grip MUs after finish everything. First two sets were no false grip. Pretty disappointed with the MU numbers. Gotta get my practice on.

Ran somewhere between 3 and 4 miles afterwards (38 mins) to get some conditioning in. Yeah I'm pretty mfing slow.

MFS 122

2012-08-15 CF (MB)

Strength ---
Hang Power Clean (3x3x3x3x3)
95x95x125x145x155

Notes: I'm having trouble resetting my hook grip when I'm in the rack or near-rack position. As a result, I try to reset when the weight is hanging, and I dropped it a few times. Pretty annoying; need to practice.

Metcon---
800m run
40 Ground-to-Overhead 105# (scaled to 95#)
800m run

Time: 13:01

Notes: I did all the G2OH as snatches. Pretty happy about that.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Crossfit Impulse Adaptation of Outlaw 120814

BB Gymnastics
1) 5X1 Snatch off High Boxes (just above knee) – heavy but perfect—not maximal, rest 60 sec. (145-145x-145-145-145)
2) 5X1 Clean off High Boxes (just above knee) – heavy but perfect—not maximal, rest 60 sec. (185-135-135-135-135)
// Backed off to 135 on the cleans, I was jumping early, need to put some more time in drilling real light weights and getting comfortable with the positions again. Not enough boxes to go around, snatches were from the hang, just above the knee. 

Conditioning
3 rounds for time of:
10 2 Box Lateral Box Jumps 20″
15 HSPU (regionals standard)
Row 250m

Notes: 2 Box Lateral Box Jumps should be performed with two boxes side by side, approximately 24″ apart. One complete rep would include two jumps across the boxes. Basically, start to the outside of the set of boxes, jump laterally across the first, then the second, and finish on the opposite side of the boxes. Touching the top of the boxes is not only recommended, it is required.

9:33 - lateral box jumps were deceptively hard, not sure I've ever had to jump that high laterally before. HSPU were ok, did the first two rounds in two sets then the last round did the last 5 as singles I think. 

MFS - 1/1/1

Wondering WTF MFS means? From the Outlaw FAQ:

This is a scale that we use to judge our athletes excercisers level of overtraining…
M = Mood – F = Fatigue – S = Soreness
The idea is these are the 3 things that are closely related to how you are handling the volume on a daily basis. The rating system goes from 1 being the best you’ve ever felt to 10 being on your death bed. If your post looked like this:
1-1-1: Would be ideal.
10-10-10: Would be REALLY bad.
6-6-6: Would be fucking awesome. OZZY!
// In conclusion I'm going to start tracking how I feel each day

CFFB 081412

ASWOD

1x5 deadlift @ 395 (PR; wayyyy heavy)

DWOD

5 rounds for time:
3 deadlifts @ 315 (scaled to 225)
10 burpees laterally over the barbell
20 yd bear crawl (10 yds out, 10 yds back)

10:07.  I never truly hated burpees till today.

Unrelated: I love dogs.

4 on days


MONDAY 120813

CONDITIONING

Run 8 minutes then...
8 Rounds
5 Barbell bent over rows (95)
5 Barbell front squats (95)
5 Push Presses (95)


Then...
Run 8 minutes

SUNDAY 120812

AMRAP 12 minutes
7 Burpees
7 Goblet Squats (52)
7 Sit ups

8 rounds and 3 situps

SATURDAY 120811 (self prescribed, partner wod w/ with Kopit)

Morning:
3 rounds
Run around tennis track
5 fat bar pullups

2 hours later
3 rounds
Run around tennis track
5 Ring dips
10 fat bar pullups
15 box jumps

10 minute rest

5 rounds
Amrap 135 deadlift while other person does 10 kb swings

FRIDAY 120810

SKILL
Power Snatch
15 minutes

CONDITIONING
Run 200
20 Overhead Lunges (45)
10 Overhead Squat (65)
Run 400
20 Overhead Lunges (45)
10 Overhead Squat (65)
Run 800
20 Overhead Lunges (45)
10 Overhead Squat (65)

I was an idiot 8/14/12

...and forgot to bring gym clothes, so I deadlifted in jeans like a tool.

Deadlift 315lbs amrap -> 5 reps.  Probably should have had like 2 times that, but my jeans felt like they were about to rip so I called it.

Deadlift 190lbs 5x10
Leg raise 5x15

Monday, August 13, 2012

Crossfit Impulse Adaptation of Outlaw 120813

Dropped into Crossfit Impulse tonight, turns out their "Oly lifting" and "Rx+" classes are based on the day's Outlaw Way programming. Sick. 


BB Gymnastics

1) Snatch: 2 reps EMOM for 7 minutes @ 80%, then rest 2 minutes and perform 1 rep @ 90% (3 attempts only)
// Worked off 165 1RM, missed 2/14 attempts at 135#, both on the second rep of the min, both due to bar being too far in front on the catch and losing it forward. Went up to 150 on the 90% lift, arguably the best lift of the day. 

2) Clean & Jerk: 2 reps EMOM for 7 minutes @ 78%, then rest 2 minutes and perform 1 rep @ 87% (3 attempts only)
// worked off 225 1RM, missed 0/14 attempts at 175#. Nailed 195# on the 87% lift. Holy balls the C&J were so much harder than the snatches. Snatches were by no means easy but they took max 5 seconds of work each minute. C&J took probably 20-25 seconds of work each minute, so the rest was significantly shorter and the weight heavier. 


Conditioning

12 minute AMRAP of:

50 Double-Unders
7 Burpees
*Add 7 Burpees every round (Rd. 2-14 Burpees, Rd. 3-21 Burpees, etc).

5 rounds + 50 DU and 14 burpees

// Good WOD, pacing was key, as with any metcon. Maybe two guys just beat me to the burpees on the first round but I ended up getting atleast a round to half a round more than them in the end. Interestingly, of the 50 or so people who posted scores on the Outlaw blog only one person beat me on the conditioning WOD, and only by one rep. Obviously my Oly lifting numbers are nowhere close to the top performers. Few people broke 5 rounds, most impressive score I saw came from a guy with 5 + rounds in addition to snatching I think 210 today.  Need to determine the best way for me to maximize relevant strength gains over the next month while maintaining my conditioning level, or atleast not losing too much ground in the conditioning realm. 

CFFB 081312: Reset some stuff after deload

ASWOD

3x5 squat @ 235 (reset from 290)
3x5 press @ 120 (just a 5 lb reset)

DWOD

3x10 broad jumps (3 min rest in between sets)
Then...
8 min AMRAP:
10 supine ring pullups
10 parallette pushups

6 rounds even.  Satisfied with that.  The ring pulls were the limiting factor.  I almost skipped this part of the workout entirely because of the quantity of huge spider carcasses on the floor of the basement.  But then I thought about what MB would say to me and I felt like I just brought home a C on my report card in middle school.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Sprint Work

3 rounds
Sprint 400m (1:20; 1:29; 1:33)
Walk back 200m (3:00 rest)
Sprint 200m (0:37; 0:40; 0:41)
Walk back 100m (2:30 rest)
Sprint 100m (0:17; 0:17; 0:17)
(2:00 rest)

first day of 5/3/1 (8/12/12)

Press day:
95lbs 5
110lbs 5
125lbs max -> got 10 reps.

Then:
75lbs 5x10 and
pullups 5x max -> 7/8/7/6/6

Then:
100m sprints at the track x 7.

This is my first day on 5/3/1, and it definitely felt very different.  First of all, I got done with everything in about an hour (as compared to SS when it was taking me almost 2 hours).  Second, the 5x10 part of the workout was very humbling since it's recommended that you only rest about a minute between sets.  By the 5th set, I was really struggling to get the 9th and 10th reps, at a weight that's <50% of my max...

Later on in the day, I went to the nearby track to run sprints.  This was also very humbling.  I'm so out of shape that I couldn't actually maintain my top speed for the entire 100m, and by the 7th sprint I was nearly about to pass out.  Right now my head hurts and I can't feel my quads.  Hopefully I'll improve in these in the days to come.  I think from now on, I'll bring a stopwatch and give myself 3 minutes between efforts so that it's easier to track progress.  I also eventually want to run ~10 sprints per workout.

climbing this past week

I went to the climbing gym 3 times this week. I've started ARC-ing again (continuous endurance climbing). I have decided to keep this type climbing as part of my training routine no matter what -- I will adjust the frequency and duration depending on whether I'm in a strength period or endurance period.

I'm going to Devil's Lake, WI for 2 out of the 4 weekends coming up. Then, I hope to make it to Red River Gorge, KY at the end of September for some lead climbing. I need to make a good amount of progress by then.