Crossfit:

080627
3 rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
1.5 pood Kettlebell swing, 21 reps
95 pound Thruster, 21 reps
21 Pull-ups


My time: (as Rx'd)

1st round: 8:59
2nd round: 11:56
3rd round: 14:11

Total Time: 35:08

Phew, that was a killer. Mostly because you're sucking wind from the get-go. Running, thrusters, kb swings and pull-ups, you need a lot of air get through a round like that.

Crossfit: Fight Gone Bad

"Fight Gone Bad!"

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Damn, damn, damn. Why don't I read the instructions! Well, this is good and bad. Last time I did Fight Gone Bad I scored a 282 and my goal for this workout was to break 300. But today I scored a 271. Why? Well, I remembered that the first time I did it I didn't fully lockout my hips on the box jumps. I was just jumping up to the box as fast as I could. This makes a big difference. Also, I remember the first time I did this workout, I noticed that by the time I got to the rowing station and got strapped in, I only had about 45 second of rowing work available. I didn't think that was fair so I re-set my timer to give me a full one minute. That's how I was able to get 15 calories on the rower but only managed 11 for each round today. That's not how it's supposed to work. So a score of 271 is great considering I made an exercise more difficult, the box jump and didn't reset for the row machine, I mean if I got 15 calories for each round today, my score would have been 283, one rep better than last time.

But here's the difference, I FORGOT TO TAKE THE ONE MINUTE REST BETWEEN EACH OF THE THREE ROUNDS!!!!!!! ARRRGH! So not only did I not get the benefit of the one minute rest between rounds, I also got cheated out of about 30 seconds worth of total wall ball time going from the row machine to the wall ball. At least I cheated up and not down. Is two minutes of rest and 30 seconds of work time enough for me to get 29 more reps and break 300? I dunno, stay tuned until next time.

Oh yeah, I should point out the wall ball is 15 pounds, same as last time but not as Rx'd. I don't have a 20 pound wall ball.

Crossfit: Snatches

080624

Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

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Ok, it's official. I stink out loud at snatches. I did about 50 reps including warmups trying to get one good full snatch but the best I could muster was a catch in half-squat with a slight pause then somewhat quick drop to full squat and back up. I think that was with 75 pounds. I'm pretty sure the problem is shoulder flexibility as I just can't catch the weight at the bottom of the full squat. My arms don't get back far enough and the result is the bar falling forward. I did reps with 65 pounds, 75 pounds, 85 pounds and one with 100 pounds which was basically a power snatch caught in a 1/16 squat position followed by an overhead squat.

See, I'm the opposite of Brad who has been cautious on the overhead squat but apparently throws up snatches like he's tossing his mortar board at graduation day. I feel cautious on the snatches but overhead squats seem fine to me once I get the weight in the right place.

I think it might be good to replace wall-balls with snatches with a light bar in my warm-up.

It also doesn't help that my gym doesn't really have a good place for bailing out on a lift. I can probably get away with doing it once in a while. I don't think they have any stated policy against olympic lifts and bailing or anything like that and I don't want to be the reason they institute one so I'm sure part of it is mental as well. This is when I really would some weights at home where I could practice without worrying about making a scense but oh well. Adapt, improvise and improve I suppose.

Ooh, Fight Gone Bad for tomorrow. That should be fun. Last score was 282. I'm going to break 300 tomorrow just to make up for the terrible snatch performance.

Crossfit: 5k

080623

Run 5 K

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Time: 24:42
Distance: Outside, somewhat hilly, approximately 5k.

Crossfit: 50 Muscle-ups

080621
For time:
50 Muscle-ups

Post time to comments.

I did 50 jumping muscle-ups in 12:30. I wore some skin off the upper portion of both arms too, ouch.

Then I did 50 regular pull-ups and 50 bar dips.

Dumbbell Bear

I didn't feel like messing around with my rings the last two days. I can't do muscle-ups so its either 150 pull-ups/150 dips (yuck) or working with jumping muscle-ups. I think I'll do those early tomorrow morning when no one's around. Plus, i think I'm going to switch to a 5 in a row Crossfit schedule Monday through Friday. So it'll be good to be two days behind. I'll take one or both of the weekend days off, depending on how I feel. I'll find something to work on during the weekend if I'm not resting, like handstands, or planches or something like that, skill work, etc.

But today I decided to do the Dumbbell Bear, 5 reps each of dumbbell deadlift, power clean, and thruster every minute for 20 minutes. I used the 35 pound dumbbells. I made it through about 15 minutes before I had to take a little extra rest to finish the last 5 rounds.

Then I did 3 rounds of weighted pull-ups/dips with 25 pounds. I managed 3 reps of pull-ups and 5 reps of dips each round. So, 9 pull-ups and 15 dips.

Crossfit: 080620

080620
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
65 pound Thruster, 10 reps
10 Pull-ups

Post rounds completed to comments.

10 rounds and then a half round (5 thrusters 5 pull-ups).

Tough one.

Crossfit: Total

080619
"CrossFit Total"

Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

Post total to comments.

Eh, a good and bad day. I hit 230 again on the squat which is 5 lbs more than the last total but something I hit that max during the overhead squat, front squat, back squat workout. I also hit 140 on the shoulder press but there may have been a very slight push press. It's hard to explode on a max shoulder press without thinking there may have been a push in there. IF so, it was definitely a small one.

The deadlift is where I fot into trouble. I was feeling frisky and tried to deadlift 375 (25 pounds more than my previous max). I failed, twice and pretty much lost all my energy in the attempt because I then failed at 370, 365, and 360. I didn't even try 350 but I did do 315 twice.

Anyway, I'm just going to count the increase in squat total. So,

Last Crossfit Total:
Back Squat: 225
Shoulder Press: 135 (push press on 140)
Deadlift: 350
Total: 710

Today's Crossfit Total:
Back Squat: 230
Shoulder Press: 135 (small push press on 140, failed 145)
Deadlift: 350 (failed twice on 375 and once on 370)
Total: 715

Crossfit: 080617

080617
Seven rounds for time of:
75 pound Shoulder Press, 21 reps
21 Back extensions

Post time to comments.

I got a 30:29 but the back extension unit and the place where I can shoulder presswith a bar are on complete opposite sides of the gym and there's about a 30 second walk between stations. Looks easier than it felt but I need shoulder workouts because I think they are my weakest link. Currently, I can still use my arms which is a bonus. When I was warming up I had 65 pounds on the bar and was pressing it and for a second I thought, "Well, 10 more pounds isn't going to make a difference, this will be easy." Easy once maybe, twice too, even easy 12 times, 147 times however and it becomes more difficult.

Crossfit: 080616

080616
For time:
50 Sit-ups
50 Double-unders
50 Sit-ups
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Sit-ups
50 Burpees
50 Sit-ups

Post time to comments.

22:28 As Rx'd. Sit-ups were done on an incline sit-up bench and I got a brush burn on my backside that still stings. I also have a couple of nice lash marks on my shins from failed double-under attempts. I figured walking lunge was 50 steps with each leg so that's what I did.

Putting Burpees after the double-unders and lunges was pretty sneaky.

Crossfit: 080615

080615
Overhead squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Front squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Back squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps

Try to increase the load on each of the fifteen sets.

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OK, I'm back to one day behind the posted Crossfit WOD. I like that schedule because I like seeing what's going on the next day so I can plan any extra work I may want to do, like form work, etc. For example, I wouldn't want to do weighted pull-ups and then find out I have WOD the next day with 150 pull-ups. Looks like tomorrow's(for me) WOD will be done outside at the park. I like those. But on to what I did today.

Overhead Squat
1x65
1x85
1x105
1x110 (PR)
1x115 (PR)

Front Squat
1x125
1x135
1x145
1x155
1x165 (PR)

Back Squat
1x175
1x195
1x210
1x230 (PR)
1x230 (F)

I really started to lean forward on the 230 attempt but eventually straightened up and locked out. The second attempt didn't go anywhere. I felt very stable on the Overhead Squats.

Another Day

I'm taking another rest day. Because, that's why.

Crossfit: Michael

"Michael"

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

Post time to comments.

My Michaels are always different and they're always on a day when I'm not at the gym so I always need to sub back extensions. Today I just did a sort of standing back extension with a 12-lb medicine ball. The track I use is 413m long so my 800m is really 826. The first 413m I ran was 1:33 and the first 826m was 3:22. I think maybe this weekend, I may try to run a sub 3:00 800m somewhere that's flat and measured and not a treadmill. I think I can do that. I could probably go to the highschool track one morning.

Round 1: 7:04
Round 2: 7:59
Round 3: 8:17

Total Time: 23:20

Crossfit: 080612

080612
Seven rounds for time of:
10 One legged squats, alternating
12 Ring dips
15 Pull-ups

1 - 2:30
2 - 3:25
3 - 3:59
4 - 4:37
5 - 5:14
6 - 4:41
7 - 4:30

Total time: 28:59

I did the usual warm-up, range of motion type things, samson stretch, but I omitted pull-ups and dips from the warmup and did 3x10 1-pood KB swings.

the only thing that wasn't as Rx'd was the one legged squats because I can't do them free standing I need to hold onto something and I'm sure I help myself up here and there but what are you going to do? The pull-ups slow me down at home because I can't kip as freely in the basement. But again, variety is good.

I finished up with some clean and jerks with the 1.5 pood KB and then some ab work.

Crossfit: Ice Cream

Anyone ever read the thread Breyers Every Night on the Crossfit Message Board?

The thread is basically how some dude noticed that eating ice cream every night actually caused him to lose body fat and increase performance on the WODs.

I just wanted to point out here (since I don't have a message board account) that I've noticed the same thing in the past. When I eat ice cream, I tend to drop weight. I've been eating it every night for the past 4 days (and a few times the previous weeks) and I've really notice changes in fat and well, see below for some PRs in the WODs.

I'm not sure whether its a sustainable benefit. I usually only eat ice cream 3-4 times a year but I'll eat the stuff every night until it's gone. I'm guessing it has something to do with tricking your metabolism to work overtime while your eating healthy overall. Plus, ice cream is pretty low GI and the fat keeps the sugar from entering you bloodstream quickly, so insulin response is diminished.

I'm think that not everyone would see benefits either. I just thought it was an interesting thread in that I had noticed myself but always convinced myself that I was trying to find excuses to eat ice cream. Maybe I should buy more ice cream.

Crossfit: Deadlifts

080611

Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3 reps

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Compare to 080425.

Didn't feel like resting today. I was scheduled for a day long business trip tomorrow so I made an effort to get to the gym today and count tomorrow as my rest day. I was a little concerned about doing deadlifts on a scheduled rest day but I felt pretty good during the warm-up so that concern was lifted.

Warm-up
ROM movements, arm swings, toy soliders, grape stompers, butt kicks, all that jazz.

3 rounds of:
10 reps - 15 pound wall ball
10 reps - back extensions

3 rounds of:
6 reps pullups
6 reps dips

Workout
On 080425, I started with 3x225 and finished with 4 sets of 3x295.

Today:

3x225 (Warm up)

3x305
3x305
3x305
3x305
3x305

I then did some bench presses and noticed how much I had improved on those I was benching over 200 pounds pretty easily and I've always been terrible at the bench press.

Then I did 3x10 side bends with a 24 lb bar held overhead and 100 v-ups (not consecutively, that'd be nuts).

Crossfit: Griff

080609
"Griff"

For time:
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards

Post time to comments.

Warm up:
3 rounds of:
5 pull-ups
5 dips
5 squats
Plus about a 100m jog between the monkey bars and the parallel bars. So i did the pull-ups, jogged to the dip station, did dips and squats then jogged back to the monkey bars to start the next round.

1st 800m: 3:29
1st 400m backwards: 2:39
2nd 800m: 3:53
2nd 400m backwards: 2:37
Total Time: 12:40

Happy with this. It was outside and I think the track I run on is a bit over 400 meters. Hard to tell, I measured it with Google Maps. Yeah, I just measured it again and I get 413 meters once around the track. My best 800m time is 3:20 on the treadmill so getting 3:29 on a non-flat track on 826m is good in my book. I'm wondering if the backwards running is going to cause some soreness. It's an odd movement but I usually do it for bit when I cool down from long distance running, but certainly not a half miles worth, maybe 30 seconds at the most.

Update 1, Oooh, I cracked a top 5 on logsitall (for now):
Update 2, damn, down to 7th place. Eh, still top 10. :)
Update 3, Damn, down to top 10. But I would argue I should be nine because my 800ms were 826 and my 400m were 413. That's easily a 7 second difference. ;)

Crossfit: 080608

080608
Ten rounds for time of:
12 Burpees
12 Pull-ups

Post time to comments.


28:23 as Rx'd.

120 pull-ups isn't so bad, and 120 Burpees aren't stomch-churning, but put them together and it's a sweat inducing workout. I did this outside this morning, just as it started getting nice and hot and humid with the sun shining right in my face. I finished the first 5 rounds in 12:30 so I didn't lose to much steam over the second half.

Crossfit: 080607

080607

Five rounds for time of:
135 pound Squat clean, 7 reps
15 Handstand push-ups

Feet over the Smith Machine bar for the hand stand push-ups.

Time: 15:07

Crossfit: 5x5 Back Squats

080605

Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5 reps

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Warm-up:
ROM movements
3x10 12-pound wall-ball
3x10 back extensions
1x10 15-pound overhead squat
3x5 pull-ups
3x5 dips

Back Squat:
45x5 - warm-up
135x5 - warm-up

185x5
185x5
190x5
190x5
190x5

Althought this isn't a PR, I felt good about it as I've been working on keeping the bar lower on the back and my back "closed". When I was doing Stronglifts 5x5 I worked up to 205x5 but my form on that was suspect. I was leaning forward on almost all reps and I was getting caught up in increasing the weight each workout so I was cheating a bit on the depth of the squat. The 25 reps above were all good. Minor leaning forward on the last reps of the last two sets but I caught it quickly. Keeping the bar lower on the back helped the leaning.

Crossfit: 080604

080604
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
15 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
45 Squats

Post rounds completed to comments.

5 rounds plus 4 pull-ups. That's about the same as what I got on the last Cindy, but 4 pull-ups extra. I'm not sure what that means. Is it good or bad that you get the same number. Would it take me exactly 20 minutes to get 65 pull-ups, 150 push-ups, and 225 squats?

Crossfit: 080603

080603

Hang Power Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

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95
105
105
105
105
105
105
105
105
105

Could have gone a bit heavier but couldn't get rid of the little push press on 105 so I decided just to just stay there and work on it. Rather work on getting it right with 105 then pushing 115 into place.

Crossfit: 080601

080601

For time:
135 lb Squat clean, 10 reps
50 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 8 reps
40 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 6 reps
30 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 4 reps
20 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 2 reps
10 GHD Sit-ups

Post time to comments.

My time: 17:56

I was a little anxious about starting this. I was sore from yesterday's workout but once I started it felt good. I only had one power/clean, front squat mistake. My traps are killing me right now. The sit-ups were done on a bench with my feet underneath the barbell I was using for squat-cleans so that helped my time.

I'm glad I have a rest day tomorrow.

Revelation

I was outside cleaning the grill and I realized that I had been in the deep squat position scraping the grills for about 20 minutes when I realized that I was comfortable in that position. Then I thought back and pointed several other times when this was the case in recent weeks as well. It's almost like that position is as comfortable as sitting. I rarely kneel down anymore to work on something. I also don't bend over at the waist much either. I find myself just squatting down and doing whatever I have to do, changing the air filter on the mower, fidding with the water heater, or cleaning the grill. I even enjoy the stretch it provide. I don't get tired because I'm not up on the balls of my feet anymore. I guess the increased flexibilty from Crossfit has allowed my heels to remain on the ground during the squat and if you can do that, there's really no reason for any muscles to get tired.

I think for the most part, this is an uncomfortable position for most Westerners as they are not used to the position. Which is why you can have a lot of fun watching a drunk Westerner use a squat toilet. Not me though. I'm safe from that embarassment.

Crossfit: 080531

For time:
135 lb Thruster, 10 reps
50 Double-unders
135 lb Thruster, 8 reps
40 Double-unders
135 lb Thruster, 6 reps
30 Double-unders
135 lb Thruster, 4 reps
20 Double-unders
135 lb Thruster, 2 reps
10 Double-unders

Post time to comments.

Felt great today. I've been eating pretty clean. Warmed up with 3 sets of 5 pull-ups, 5 dips, 10 squats.

Workout (As Rx'd): 18:32

Cooled down 3 sets of 5 pull-ups, 5 dips.