Month: May 2012

A Quad Burning Warm-up

I woke up feeling fantastic and couldn’t wait to get in for a WOD.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 1m Walking lunges
  • 1m Bear crawl

OMG! Talk about a quad burner.

WOD

5 rounds

  • 21 Ring dips
  • 21 Burpees

Throughout the entire WOD I had to break the ring dips up into multiple sets because I fatigue out so fast. Most rounds were broken into 3 sets of ring dips. I got through the first 21 ring dips and 4 or 5 into the next round before I had to start using a small purple band for assistance. Burpees weren’t exactly fast, but I stuck with them and completed each round unbroken. My time was 18:52.

Strength

5 Sets

  • 3 Back Squats

It’s been nearly 2 months since I did back squats and set a 1RM at 240#, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I started off light with 135# as a warm-up set, then went 175# and 215#. That third set wasn’t the easiest so I only went to 225# for the 4th. I figured I could get 1 or 2 reps at 235# but I managed to get all 3, which is a big improvement. You can build strength without doing strength specific lifting.

Here’s a big tip for you all that I always forget about, but remembered before my last set. When you’re getting ready to descend in your squat, take a deep breath. Hold that until you’re on the way back up and then exhale as you drive up. This really helps keep your core steady and makes sure you can breathe during the hard part of the lift. There is no doubt in my mind I wouldn’t have gotten all 3 reps if I didn’t do this.

Easy Ride

I’m still feeling a bit of the pistol work in my legs and I can feel those quarter get-ups in my upper back/shoulder area. One of my buddies came to town last night so we walked 18 holes of golf yesterday and another this morning. I was pretty beat after lunch today and took about a 45 minute nap. After that I was still feeling pretty tired but I convinced myself it would be good to get out for a bit. So I jumped on my mountain bike and headed out for  a pretty easy ride. I ended up riding 10.34 miles in 46:37 and I’m glad I did it. I’m not feeling as beat as I was before the ride and I got some more exercise. I’ll hit up a WOD at Survival Fitness tomorrow morning for sure after taking two days off.

I Get Knocked Down, But I Get-up Again

Today makes 4 days of CrossFit in a row, but my buddy is coming to town tomorrow for a couple of days of golfing, so I’ll get my rest tomorrow and Saturday. My quads are sore from the pistols, but otherwise I’m feeling good. I’ve been strict Paleo without any cheating since after the WOD on Monday night without any cravings.

Warm-up

50-40-30-20-10

  • Sit-ups
  • Star Jumps

Those star jumps really gas you. Did the warm-up in 9:52.

WOD

10 Rounds

  • 8 Quarter Get-ups (L)
  • 8 Quarter Get-ups (R)
  • 8 Burpees

The goal here was to do good quality get-ups and push hard through the burpees. I used a 40# DB and it was all I could handle. I managed to do all of them unbroken except for the last set with my left arm, which I had to do in sets of 6 and 2. Doing so many reps should help with shoulder stability in the OHS. I was flying through the burpees and didn’t feel like I slowed down until the last two rounds. My time was 24:23.

Strength

Every other minute, for 5 sets

  • 5 Weighted Pull-ups

I started with an 8# DB between my feet and did all 5 in a row. Move up to a 10# DB and 5 in a row again. For the last three sets I used a 12# DB, but had to break them down into 3-2, 3-1-1, 3-1-1.

You Never Know What You Might Miss

I was planning to take the day off, but felt good and was itching for a workout, so I went in to the 5:30pm class. I’m glad I did, because we worked on a bunch of new stuff and some things I really need work on.

Warm-up

3 Rounds:

  • 1m Sledge Hammer Slams
  • 1m Ring Push-ups
  • 1m Touch Jumps for Height
  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Wall Squat
  • 1m Prison Squats
  • 1m Rest

This was a nice switch-up from the norm and several new things.

WOD

  • 10-20-30-40-50 Pistols
  • 5-10-15-20-25 HSPUs
  • 100m-100m-200m-200m-300m Run

I’ve never tried more than 1 or two pistols in a row, so I grabbed a 12″ box to assist me when I couldn’t do them anymore. The round of 10 was kind of rough and I was falling all over the place, but as the rounds went on pistols actually got easier and easier because I learned how to control my body for them. Balance is huge for these one-legged bastards. I made it all the way through the workout doing them Rx on my first day doing them. Total of 75 per leg, which I’m sure to be feeling tomorrow. I started off doing Rx HSPU and knocked out the first 5 strict for a new PR. Next time around I got 9 in a row with a few kipping, blowing away the PR I just set. I think I had to add in an AbMat during the next round and was using 2 AbMats by the end. I was kind of slow, but kept pushing and finished with a time of 31:52.

Strength

Some people stayed after class and did some OHS. I did a set of 5 at 85#, a set of 3 at 105#, a set of 4 at 115#, and then went for a 1RM at 130#. I failed on the first attempt, but tried again and slowed myself down to keep steady. Got it up for a new PR.

If I had taken a rest day I would have missed out on a lot of great stuff today.

Help St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Have you heard about CrossFit for Hope (link to my main blog)? I’m going to do the workout and try to raise some money. If you’d like to help out a great cause, head over to my profile to make a donation or pledge. Thanks!

I’ve been meaning to start hitting up the 9am class and finally made it in today. As the temperature rises and we get more humidity it’s going to be better than working out at 4:15pm or 5:30pm. The box is really growing and it seems like every class I attend has at least 10 people. It’s great to see people getting serious about their health!

Warm-up

30 reps of each with a 20# MB

  • Snatches
  • Russian Twists
  • Push-ups
  • Shoulder Presses
  • V-ups
  • Plyo Chest Presses
  • Front Squats

I finished in 10:25.

WOD

5 rounds (35:00 time limit)

  • 50 DB Step-ups (25 each leg)
  • 21 Push Presses
  • 400m Run

I used an 18″ box for the step-ups and used 40# DBs for both the step-ups and the push presses. I was really worried the push presses would get too heavy with so many reps, but I actually got better as the rounds went on. It’s all about the leg drive to get those DBs moving up. I completed 4 rounds plus 8 step-ups before time ran out. Feeling good!

One Month Paleo Challenge

We’re doing a one month Paleo Challenge at Survival Fitness. Everyone has to keep a food journal to work on a point system. You get 5 points to start the day. Bad things like a cheat meal or alcohol are negative points, but you can ears extra points by doing a WOD at the gym, getting 8 hours of sleep, or drinking 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water. Everyone has their body fat taken at the beginning and does a benchmark WOD. We’re going to randomly be put on teams. Scoring is 50% body fat change, 25% WOD improvement, and 25% food journal points.

It was only $25 to join and I need something to get me on track to those abs I want, so I figured being part of a team will hold me more accountable. So I get to class, weigh myself, and have my body fat measured with the handheld device. It read 12.3%! Yeah right! If I was that low you’d already be seeing my abs. The Withings scale puts me consistently at 16-17% which is more realistic. With such a low starting number, I won’t be winning the body fat portion of the competition so I’ll have to make up for it in the other parts I guess.

Warm-up

  • 30 Air Squats holding PVC vertical in front
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30 PVC OHS
  • 4 partner rounds (alternate each round)
    • 50 Jumping Jacks
    • 50 Butt Kicks
    • 50 High Knees
    • 50 Lateral Hops
    • 50 Mountain Climbers

WOD

For the Paleo Challenge benchmark, we did 5 different AMRAPs and totaled up our reps. We partnered up so that we could count each other and get a bit of rest.

5:00 AMRAP

  • Burpees

4:00 AMRAP

  • Wall Balls

3:00 AMRAP

  • Air Squats

2:00 AMRAP

  • KBS (Russian)

1:00 AMRAP

  • AbMat Sit-ups

I did 82 burpees, 77 wall balls (20# MB), 101 air squats, 76 KBS (53# KB), and 67 sit-ups for a total of 403 reps. Doing the air squats right after wall balls was the worst and my score showed compared to others in the class. I pushed pretty hard, so it’s going to be interesting to see how my numbers come out a month from now.

Update: After all classes finished for the day, I had the 4th best score.

Stretch and Breathe

Tonight I did about an hour and 20 minutes of Yoga. I did it with a couple of programs I found on Netflix. I forgot how good it feels to do Yoga, which I did during P90X a few years ago for 90 minutes a week.

On the ride home from my parents today I was listening to a CrossFit Radio episode where a guest was a level 1 trainer, but also was certified in Yoga and ran some classes at a box. We don’t pay enough attention to flexibility aspect of fitness in CrossFit, so I think on my rest days I’m going to try to get in an hour of Yoga. It can only help my recovery and improve other aspects of my fitness.

Smooth Double Unders

No surprise my legs are sore today after the last two WODs. This morning I drove up to Rogers City to visit the family for the weekend, so I have very limited workout equipment.

Warm-up

Went for a 2.62 mile run in 22:59. Pace was nice and steady throughout the run.

Strength

3 rounds:

  • MAX Push-ups
  • 1m Plank
  • 2m Rest

I set a new PR for unbroken push-ups in the 1st round with 40, then did 25 and 20. The planks were tougher than normal because it was right after push-ups which already work a lot of the same muscles.

WOD

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10

  • DUs
  • Sit-ups

I haven’t done DUs more than a couple of times since I left Phoenix, but wanted to test myself in something today. “Annie” seemed like a good one because it doesn’t require any special equipment other than the jump rope I keep in my vehicle and it would be a good chance to practice them.

My time was 8:26. I did the best DUs I’ve ever done! The set of 30 was completely unbroken and there were only a couple of streaks where I didn’t string together at least 10 in a row. For the sit-ups I sat on a towel with my feet flat on the ground. I laid back until my shoulder blades hit the ground and sat up until I could touch the top of my shoes without reaching too much.

Everybody Jump, Jump

My lower body was kind of sore today from all of the lunges yesterday and the first time pulling a sled. Was busy doing some stuff at work and almost missed class. Today was pretty much a 3 WOD day as you’ll see below. I still have some lingering stuff in my sinus area, but not enough to bother me. I think I have all my energy back too, since I walked 18 holes of golf earlier in the day.

Warm-up

  • 50-40-30-20-10 Squat Jumps
  • 25-20-15-10-5 Burpees

Finished in 10:22. That’s a lot of squat jumps!

WOD

12:00 AMRAP

  • 15 KBS (Russian)
  • 15 Box Jumps

Box jumps are one of me strengths and Russian swings don’t bother me much, so felt good going into this WOD. I stepped up my game and used 62# KB. Stuck with the normal 24in box for jumps since there were going to be so many. I completed 8 full rounds plus 13 swings.

Finisher

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

  • K2E
  • Tuck Jumps

I’m so much better with my kip on the K2E now. I knocked out the first 10 unbroken. Total time of 4:55.

Walk it Out

Feeling nearly back to 100% today after getting in the workout yesterday and a good night’s sleep last night.

Warm-up

3 rounds:

  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Bicycles
  • 1m Leg Hold
  • 1m Side Plank (30s each side)
  • 1m Mountain Climbers
  • 1m Rest

WOD

7 rounds, decrease pull-ups and push-ups by 3 each round, so 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3

  • 100 ft Walking Lunges with DBs
  • 21 Pull-ups
  • 21 HR Push-ups

Total work:

  • About 210 lunges
  • 84 Pull-ups
  • 84 HR Push-ups

I used 35# DBs for the lunges. Whipped through them in round 1, but that caught up to me real quick and I had to take a rest during the rest of the rounds. I started off touching my knees to the ground on each lunge, which turned out to be a mistake because it ends up being a lot of pounding on the knee. I could really feel it as I got into rounds 5 and 6 so I only tried to get down as far as I could without hitting the ground. My total time was 23:42.

I’m getting better and better at pull-ups and (knock on wood) I haven’t ripped a hand wide open in quite some time with kipping pull-ups. A big part of that is learning when not to push too far and get off the bar to take a short rest. I need to learn how to do butterfly pull-ups now.

Strength

Walking sled pulls with three 45# plates on the sled.

Did a down and back holding a chain between our legs. The length was about 30-35 feet in each direction. I think I did 5 or 6 rounds, but didn’t keep track. This was my first time doing anything with a sled. It didn’t feel too bad for a while, but as the rounds went on I could really feel it. Then I got home and could feel it even more!