Month: March 2012

Deadlift Soreness

My legs and back are really sore from RDLs on Sunday and deadlifts yesterday. I used the foam roller for the first time today. Wow it really brings everything out in those sore areas.

Warm-up

  • 600m Run
  • 3 rounds
    • 10 PVC Shoulder Pass-thrus w/ shrug
    • 15s Dead Hang
    • 30s Plank (on hands)

First time doing a dead hang during class. Focus for them is on keeping the shoulder engaged. I think it was also the first time I had done planks on my hands.

Strength

4 Sets

  • 2-3 Weighted Pull-ups, 2-1-X-0 tempo
  • 20s Rest
  • MAX Strict Pull-ups, 2-0-X-0 tempo
  • 20s Rest
  • 30-45s L-Sit (cumulative)
  • 2m Rest

I really struggled with the strength work today. I used an 18# KB for the weighted pull-ups and was able to get 2 or 3 each round. But that completely knocked me out for doing strict pull-ups. It was an adventure trying to get 2 or 3 of those with such a short rest. I did the L-Sits on PVC parallettes with my knees slightly bent and tried to get 10-15 seconds at a time.

WOD

In teams of 2, complete the reps however you want, but you must run together.
4 Rounds

  • 12 DB Renegade Rows
  • 400m Run

I paired up with Dominic, who I hadn’t met before. We split up the renegade rows by each doing 6 in each round. I used 25# DBs but should have used 30s. We finished first in 11:43. My endurance is improving a lot lately. I really pushed my pace in the 3rd and 4th rounds.

I took out the jump rope after a rest and knocked out a couple of good DU streaks. Didn’t try more than a minute. I’ll do a longer practice session on them tonight. Last night while looking for tips on DUs, I found a great video for progressing through DUs, from Again Faster. Check it out.

http://vimeo.com/2969537

The Bar Takes a Piece of Me

I wasn’t really sore this morning from yesterday’s Olympic lifting session. I do feel a bruise near my neck from doing cleans though.

Warm-up

  • 3m DUs
  • 6 each of Push-up complex (Under the fence, knee to elbow at bottom of push-up, foot to outstretched hand at top of push-up)
  • 50 Sit-ups
  • 6 each of Push-up complex

I think we did something else in the warm-up, but I can’t remember what it was.

Strength

5 Sets

  • 5 Deadlifts
  • 20s Rest
  • MAX HSPU
  • 3m Rest

Since I had just done RDLs last night I wasn’t sure what I’ve have left in the tank for deadlifts. I started with a warm-up set at 135# and then my rounds went like this:

  • 165# DL / 7 HSPU
  • 195# DL / 7 HSPU
  • 215# DL / 5 HSPU
  • 245# DL / 6 HSPU
  • 275# DL / 4 HSPU

Everything felt pretty good. Today was the first time I tried HSPU with only 1 AbMat. It’s definitely harder than 2, but I’ve come along way since doing stink bugs 2 months ago. 275# is a new PR for deadlifts by 5#.

WOD

5 Rounds

  • 8 Deadlifts, 85% of 5RM
  • 20 Wall Balls

I used 235# for deadlifts and a 15# MB so that I could keep up the intensity throughout. In the first round I did all 8 deadlifts unbroken, but then broke them up into sets of 5 and 3 for the rest of the rounds. Each round I tried to do the wall balls unbroken, but had to take a break of 2-3 seconds during a few of the rounds. I finished in 10:41. On one of the the deadlift descents, the knurling of the bar scraped my knee and took a souvenir.

Go Go Go

It’s been a busy day! I hadn’t been to the Olympic lifting class in a couple of weeks, so making sure I made it was my top priority. I hadn’t been hiking in a couple of weeks either, so that was also a high priority. I really wanted to get out golfing too so I could work on some swing changes and get more practice with my new clubs.

In order to get everything in, I woke up at 7am and headed out to Piestewa Peak. I hiked 2.72 miles in 1:03:03. I rushed home, ate, showered and sped off to the golf course where I walked 18 holes. The pace of play was good for a Sunday, so I got home with plenty of time to eat and relax a bit.

When I got to the gym, I worked on DUs for about 5-10 minutes to warm-up. Still struggling. I ended up being the only person to show up for the Olympic lifting class, which was kind of cool, because it meant I got a 1-on-1 session with John for the entire hour! It’s such a great opportunity to get tips and coaching from someone that has competed in the Olympic lifts. I’ve come a long way with my technique since the first time I tried the lifts.

We started with clean and jerks. I warmed up with the bar a bit and then did a few sets of doubles at 95#. Moved on to doubles at 115#, 125#, and 135#. Then switched to singles at 145#, 155#, and 165# which were all PRs! On Wednesday I set a 40# PR in the snatch and today I hit a 30# PR in the clean and jerk!

For the second half of the class I did Romanian deadlifts (RDLs). I did 2 or 3 sets of 5 at 95#, then sets of 5 at 115# and 135#, and a final set of 3 at 155#. The RDL is a little hard to get used to, but when you do it right you can really feel it through your hamstrings and ass. I’m going to be sore tomorrow. I just looked at what tomorrow’s CrossFit workout is going to be and there is a bunch of deadlifts in both the strength work and the WOD. Great!

Treadmill Run Attempt

I didn’t get much sleep last night. Was wide awake at 6:30 so got out of bed after already laying there for a good 45 minutes. My left calf is sore. I guess it could be from intervals or the jump rope yesterday. I played 18 holes of golf, but rode in a cart since they didn’t allow walking on that course on weekends.

I wanted to go for a hike, but Duke and North Carolina were playing, so I watched the game instead. During halftime, I went outside and practiced DUs for 10 minutes. Couldn’t get a rhythm going and barely got more than a few streaked together. Just when I was making progress, I run into a brick wall again.

After the game, I went over to the gym in the apartment complex and jumped on the treadmill. I was planning to do a slow 30 minutes, but the cushioning in my left shoe came loose and kept sliding back towards my ankle. I’ve had this pair of Inov-8 F-Lite 230’s for about 4 months now, but haven’t been wearing them much since I bought the Inov-8 Bare-XF 210 CrossFit shoe. Because of the setback with the shoe, I only managed 7 minutes on the treadmill so then I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike.

No Pain, No Gain

I’m still a bit sore from the snatch workout that was Open workout 12.2. I’ve been tempted after both of the first workouts to try them again, but talk myself out of it. I have no shot at advancing to regionals and very little chance of helping our box’s team by being one of the top 3 men in a workout. I’m doing this to push myself and one shot at each workout is enough. I know I could do better and learn from mistakes I make in the first attempt, but I’ll take that knowledge into the class workouts instead.

I just got done with about 15 minutes of DU practice and a run. I started to get a headache from so much jumping! I set a new PR with 33 DUs in a row and I’m stringing together streaks more consistently. Jumping a bit higher is really paying off. I’m still taking a beating from the rope though. As you can see in the picture, today it was my hands.

I did Tabata intervals and ran 1.74 miles in 15:21. I covered about 0.63 miles during the actual interval portion which is nearly identical to the last time I ran them. I didn’t feel quite as good today.

After I got done running, I jumped for about another minute to see how I would do fatigued and I knocked out 17 in a row. That was a good note to end on.

DU Practice Makes Progress

My body feels like it was hit by a bus. All of those failed attempts at 135# snatches took a toll on my shoulders and back.

I’m going to try and get at least 5-10 minutes of DU practice every day until I can knock them out consistently. If I’m in for a CrossFit class, I’ll work on them before class, otherwise I’ll get out to the parking lot here at my apartment.

Today’s practice started out pretty rough. I tried going back to single-single-double-single-single-double, but couldn’t find a rhythm. After a few minutes I started working on a higher jump for singles to get the feel for it. I had to slow the rope done quite a bit for these, but they felt like I was on to something. It didn’t take more than a minute or so for these to feel comfortable, so after starting with 2-3 high jump singles I shifted to doubles. I knocked out 16 in a row. Shortly after I did 12 in a row. Not too much later, a new PR with 26 in a row! I think I found my key. I did a few more and called it a day.

Great progress for the first day of DU practice. I bet the CrossFit Games Open workouts are going to have DUs next week or the week after so I have time.