A New PR

I finally hit a new PR for power cleans.  This is one exercise that I have not been able to progress very well.  I had a huge mental block.  I remember in college when we would test our 1RM for the power clean.  I would always feel great until I hit 90kg.  For some reason I just could never get it.  The WOD was power cleans 1-1-1-1-1-1-1.  I did 155-165-175-185-195-200-205.  I finally broke through.  I think I could have gotten 210 if I had rubber weights and didn't feel bad if I dropped it.  

The next workout was the Tully.  Four rounds of 200m swim and Squat Cleans with 40lb DB for 23 reps.  This was a tricky one logistically speaking.  I did this workout at the gym and couldn't bring DB's into the pool area.  So I figured I would just do the squat cleans first then the swim.  The gym was closing down so I knew I wouldn't be able to finish this.  So I did 69 reps of the Squat Clean as fast as I could then changed and went to the pool and just swam as far as I could until the pool closed.  I got through 300m only.  I'm still just a terrible swimmer. 

The next WOD was 30 rounds of 30 second rowing with 30 seconds rest.  I did this at the studio and didn't have a rower so I just did KB swings.  I made it through 15 rounds before my client came in.  This wasn't that bad and I could have definitely finished if I had more time. 

And finally todays WOD was 10-8-6-4-2 Muscle Ups and Box Jumps on a 40" box.  My son is sick so I had to do this one at home.  I can't do muscle ups since my rings aren't high enough.  Instead I did Pull Ups, Ring Dips, and Hurdle Jumps since I don't have a box.  The hurdle was about 35".  This workout took me 9mins.  Mainly because everything was spread out and I had to walk from one station to the next.  Otherwise wasn't too difficult. 

I'm still kicking...

So I have been swamped lately and haven't been able to put up a post in a while but I have been keeping up with the workouts.  Here is a quick update of what I have been up to. 

After the Jared WOD I did

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

I didn't write down the weights for the workout but it was nothing impressive.  I'm still working on the overhead squat.  Feel like I'm improving but still have some work to do.  By the time I got to the back squat I'm was pretty tired and couldn't lift anything near my normal 1 RM.

Next was:

10 rounds with a 2 minute rest in between, of any (or any combination) of:
Swim 100 meters
OR
Run 400 meters
OR
Row 500 meters
OR
Bike 1000 meters

I started with 4 rounds of the 500m row, then 3 rounds of 1000m Bike, and finished with 3 rounds of the 100m swim.   Really wasn't a bad workout at all.  I'm a terrible swimmer so those intervals were by far the toughest. 

The next workout was more cardio intervals:

Three rounds for time of:
Row 500 meters
Run 400 meters

This really wasn't bad at all.  I had to do this at the gym so it was kind of annoying running upstairs to get on the treadmill to run the 400m intervals then back down to the rowing machine.  I've been bad about writing down my times for these workouts but I'm pretty sure it took me 11 minutes.

I enjoyed the break with the cardio workouts but then it was back to hitting it hard again:

50-35-20 reps of:
Wall balls
Pull-ups
Double-unders

This was a pretty tough one.  I'm getting better at kipping pull ups but it was still brutal to do that many.  The double unders aren't bad at all.

I had to head to LA during the next workout which was suppose to be:

Complete as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
10 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood
10 Box jumps, 24 inch box
10 Ring dips

At the hotel I just did DB Swings with a 50lb DB, Box Jumps, and MB Push Ups instead of ring dips.  No clue how many rounds I made it through.  I was just trying to get the workout in between meetings.  Luckily it was only 15 minutes.

The next WOD was Snatch balance 1-1-1-1-1-1-1.  I had never actually done this exercise before so I wasn't concerned with the weight I was doing.  Just wanted to get a feel for the technique.  I ended up doing 45-65-75-85-95-100-105-110.  I'm getting better at the OH Squat position but it still just squares me to go heavy.

Five rounds for time of:
135 pound barbell Overhead walking lunges, 25 feet
15 Knees to elbows

This was the next WOD for me.  I did this at the gym so I couldn't do walking lunges.  I figured out it would take me 8 steps to lunge this far so I just did 8 OH lunges.  Didn't feel like I could do 135lbs so I did 95lbs.  This was a nice and quick one but felt great.  This took me about 10 minutes to finish.  My abs were pretty sore the next day too.

Next WOD:

Five rounds for time of:
275 pound Deadlift, 5 reps
10 Burpees

I knew I would keep for with 275lbs so I did 225lbs.  This took 8:21.  Tough but not too bad.  Just had to be really careful when going back to deadlifts after burpees.  I could see this workout destroying someone if they weren't careful.

Then finally yesterday I did:

For time:
135 pound Thruster, 15 reps
Run 200 meters
95 pound Thruster, 20 reps
Run 400 meters
65 pound Thruster, 30 reps
Run 800 meters

Did all the weights as written.  It took 19:18 to finish.  Again annoying to have to run upstairs to get to the treadmill and to change weight each round.  It would have been time to have preset bars, but oh well.

Things are going pretty well so far.  I jumped on the scale yesterday and saw I was 5lbs down from when I started.  Not really a surprise even though I'm not trying to lose weight at all.  I have been feeling good after the workouts, but definitely run down.  I don't know how people keep up this intensity all the time.  Just a few more weeks left in the experiment so we will see how the final results measure up.

Power Cleans today.  Hopefully I don't kill myself.  

Drenched in Sweat

I had to put a quick post up on my latest workout.  I did one of the newest hero workouts Jared.  This was pretty brutal.  Plus I did it outside in the middle of August in San Marcos, CA around noon.  It didn't take much to start sweating, but I probably would have been drenched if I did this workout in December.  This workout consisted of 4 rounds of time of:

Run 800m
40 Pull Ups
70 Push Ups

You can do the math, but that is a lot of pull ups and push ups.  I'm still working on my kipping pull ups.  I did this at home and my pull up bar is not very hard.  It is pretty tough doing a kip when your knees just about touch the ground during your hang. 

My total time was 51:11.  I was really trying to break 50 minutes but just couldn't do it.  The first 800m I did while pushing my son Davis.  It wasn't too bad but the beginning of the run is a pretty steep hill that would wear me out for the rest of the run.  I have to admit there were a few times I wanted to give up and just do 3 rounds.  I could easily think of an excuse why I should stop.  Thankfully I made it all the way through.  Good thing I did this on a Sunday and could relax for the rest of the day. 

When I'm at home doing my workouts I add a few extra movements in there to help me get better.  At home I do a few sets of KB Windmills and Hanstand Push Ups.  I'm not great at either so I know I can use the extra work.  Plus by the time I get through them I feel ready to go for the WOD. 

Its good...But not perfect

I haven't posted an update in a while but I have been keeping up with the workouts.  Before I post what I have been doing I just wanted to share one of my first few critiques of the Crossfit program.  After the first few weeks I am starting to realize that it is not a great balanced program. 

I really have enjoyed all of the exercise selections so far.  They are basic, compound movements that most people should learn how to do.  One thing I realized is there has been no horizontal pulling exercises.  I guess you could argue that a kipping pulling can be a horizontal pull, but not really. 

Most people in general need a ton of this motion in there exercise program to help with their poor posture, but this hasn't involved any.  It is not ok just to do vertical pulling like pull ups.  When we look at what most people do in the gym, we see mainly horizontal pushing (bench press), vertical pushing (shoulder press), and vertical pulling (pull up).  This puts tremendous strain on the shoulder joint and the rotator cuff muscles.  It is crucial that we pick exercises that strengthen the external rotators, mid/lower traps, and rhomboids.

To add more balance to my program I have included some form of horizontal row to the beginning of my workouts like inverted rows or bent over rows. 

Another complaint had to do with the exercise selection again.  I made it through the Filthy Fifty Workout recently.  I actually really liked this workout, but one complaint was the fact that we did 50 Push Press and then 50 Wall Ball.  I know they are not the same exercise but pretty similar movements.  And I actually remembered the workout wrong and did Thrusters instead of push press which was my mistake.  Then the next workout called for more Thrusters.  It just seemed like a lot of the same stuff over and over. 

For the Filthy Fifty I made it in around 30 minutes.  I forgot to write down my exact time.  The next workout which was:

75lb Thruster 30 reps
3 rope climbs
75lb Thruster 20 reps
2 rope climbers
75lb Thruster 10 reps
1 rope climb

I had to modify with DB Thrusters and towel slides but made it through this workout in 10 minutes (again do not remember the exact time). 

Then the next workout was:

Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps 115,125,135,145,145
Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps 135,140,145,150,155
Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps 115,120,125,130,135

Again after the Filthy Fifty, The Thruster workout, and then list, it was a tremendous amount of vertical pushing. 

My next workout was pretty rough.  Tabata Something Else.  I have done a few tabata workouts before but not this many exercises and with no rest between exercise.  He we did 8 intervals of 20 seconds work 10 seconds rest of 4 exercises back to back.  The nice thing is each exercise takes 4 minutes so the whole workout is only 16 minutes.  The exercises were Pull Ups (had to do modified pull ups), Push Ups, Sit Ups, and Squats.  The pull ups and push ups were rough but the sit ups and squats really weren't bad. 

And finally my last workout was 15 rounds of power snatch followed by 5 overhead squats.  I have to admit I was straight up scared of this workout.  I just thought I was going to hurt myself, since I am just such a poor overhead squatter.  I've been getting better, but still have a long way to go.  I ended up only making it 10 rounds.  I was running short on time but really I couldn't increase the weight any more.  I had a few close calls with falling or dropping the weight and when you are not using bumper weights that is an issue.  My last set was 100lbs.  I know that is not very impressive but as I get better at the overhead squat this number will shoot up. 

MURPH!

I feel like I have been falling behind a bit so I am trying to catch up.  I had to travel this weekend so I could not get a workout in on Friday.  I used the hotel gym on Saturday for my WOD.  I knew I couldn't do the posted one since the hotel didn't have most of the equipment I needed so for some reason I did one of the hardest Crossfit workouts I could remember.  I did the Murph.  This consists of running a mile then 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 squats, and then running another mile. 

I have done this workout a few times before.  I knew it was tough but I thought the last time I did it I finished in around 30 minutes which would be perfect for how much time I had.  Well I don't know what happened this time but it took me 38 minutes to finish and I was exhausted.  Maybe I miscounted but I just could barely get through this workout.  At least I made it through and still got a workout in while traveling.

I ended up not working out on Sunday do to lack of time on my trip.  I made up for it on Sunday though with the filthy 50:

50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

On paper I didn't think this looked that bad.  None of the exercises are crazy and all the weights are light.  But 50 reps is pretty rough.  When I got to the Knees to Elbows my grip was done.  I just couldn't hold on anymore.  I said a few workouts ago that I really didn't mind Burpees.  I may be changing my mind.  This workout took me 37:20.  I was pretty surprised how long it took especially after seeing some times posted online.  Oh well.  I can only get better.

The Love Hate Relationship

So I have to say I thought I was off to a great start and not too sore from the workouts, but now I feel pretty much constantly sore.  The Tuesday workout was pretty ridiculous.  When I saw it posted I started getting sore.  The WOD was:

3 Pull Ups w/45lbs
5 Strict Pull Ups
7 Kipping Pull Ups

Basically it is 15 pull ups.  You start with 3 reps holding a weight between your feet, then drop the weight and do 5 pull ups, and then finish with 7 kipping pull ups.  Oh and I forgot to mention it was 10 rounds.  I made it through 2 rounds using this format.  Then each round was less reps with the weight until I just couldn't do any with the weight.  I finished by trying to get 4 pull ups and 6 kipping.  This was a timed workout but I forgot to write it down. 

Then I saw the next workout posted and got excited.  It was actually a workout that I knew I could do completely with no modifications.  Thought I could do it pretty quickly too.  Thought I could at least.  The WOD was:

3 rounds for time
15 Hang Cleans 135lbs
15 Burpees

I could not believe how winded I was with this workout.  I actually don't mind burpees too much but after the hang cleans they were rough.  Even though it took me 10:20 to finish I was drenched in sweat.  It did feel good though and I know I can definitely improve this one. 

I'm traveling to Houston this weekend so I'm not sure how the workouts will go.  I'm a little behind and need to catch up.  I know I won't have access to barbells or KB's so I might have to pick other WOD's that I can do at the hotel.