Month: June 2012

Goals for the 2nd Half of 2012

Tomorrow we’ll be halfway through 2012. It’s a great time to set some goals and make 2012 your best year ever. I’ve never been a believer in waiting until January 1st to set goals anyway. Since we’re all about numbers, times, reps, and keeping track of everything in CrossFit, it’s easy for us to set specific goals. I set 2 goals at the beginning of the year. They were to run a 6:30 mile and get up to 10 dead hang pull-ups in a row by the end of the year. I’ve already gone lower than 6:30 for the mile and when I last tested pull-ups a month ago I could do 9, so I should be at 10 or maybe even 11 by now. Time for some new goals!

  • Dead Hang Pull-ups: 15 in a row
  • HSPUs: 15 in a row (without kipping)
  • 1 Mile Run: 6:00
  • Deadlift: 400#
  • Clean & Jerk: 200#
  • Back Squat: 275#
  • Snatch: 165#
  • “Cindy”: 22 rounds
  • “Fran”: 6:00
  • Muscle-up on the rings

What are your goals? Write a post on your blog as a record and to share it with your followers, then leave a link in the comments below.

I’m Exhausted

I should have taken a day off somewhere during the week. I just got home from Survival Fitness where I attended the 4:15p class and stayed another hour for open gym. I’m exhausted and could really tell towards the end of the 2 hours. Finally I forced myself to leave. At least I’m out-of-town for the weekend so I can’t get in any WODs. I think all of the squatting we did this week really took a toll on my body too. I’ve never gone 6 days in a row before and now I know why.

Warm-up

100 V-ups
Every minute on the minute, do 5 box jumps (24″), except to start the first minute.

We didn’t do many box jumps this week, so I was glad to see them here, even if it didn’t end up being very many. I think I finished in the 6th(?) minute, but don’t remember for sure.

As we were waiting for everyone to finish, I jumped on the bar and got my first muscle-up! Did it again to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Next up, the rings. I actually just got a set of the wood rings from Rogue Fitness to use while I’m vacationing for 10 days and then I can hang them in my garage when I get back.

WOD

EMOM: 4 Burpees (start with 4 right away)

  • 50 PVC Front Squats
  • 30 SDLHP (88# KB)
  • 50 PVC OHS
  • 30 1-arm Push Presses (each arm) (45# DB)
  • 50 PVC Back Squats
  • 30 Ring Rows

 

I finished in 17:28, so I did 68 burpees. Front squats with a PVC pipe were kind of weird because there was no weight there to keep the wrists in place and help the elbows get up. Oh yeah, 150 more squats for the week! I wanted to get in some heavy front or back squats at open gym, but not with how much squatting we had already done for the week.

Finisher

5 rounds

  • 150m Sprint (rectangle in the parking lot)
  • 2m Rest

My sprints were all 21-22 seconds, which is pretty good considering the corners are pretty scary running in the parking lot. I felt really good doing the sprints.

Open Gym

I did some deadlifting to start. The plan was to do a 5×5 after the light warm-up set.

  • 10x 135#
  • 5x 225#
  • 5x 275#
  • 5x 305#
  • 1x 325#

I’m not sure what I was thinking when I increased the weight so much there. I had to set the bar down after the 3rd rep at 305# before knocking out the last two. Then at 325# I had to shut it down after one. I was starting to feel it in my back and got light-headed after I walked away from the bar. At least I got in some heavy deadlifting, but I should have been smarter about it.

Then Casey A. was doing some snatch balances, so I jumped in with him. We did some with the 45# bar and some with 65#. After that we did some squat snatches with 65# and 85#. I think I was doing 3-5 reps for a couple sets at each weight for both the snatch balance and the squat snatch.

Wiped Out by Floor Wipers

I’m absolutely wrecked from the last week of WODs and today was my 5th day in a row. I don’t like going to 9am when I went to 8pm because that’s a short recovery, but with heat indices approaching 105 today and a heat advisory until midnight, I knew I wouldn’t go in tonight if I wanted. Working out in the morning also gives me extra rest to hit up the 4:15 and then open gym tomorrow before I head out-of-town for the weekend.

Warm-up

  • 100 Jumping Jacks
  • 100 Butt Kicks
  • 5 rounds
    • 1m Plank
    • 1m Bottom Squat Hold

I made it through each of the 5 plank minutes without breaking down by concentrating on a tight core and ass as well as consistent deep breathing. In the bottom squat holds I’m really fighting for better position of the back and keeping my chest up. These holds were really needed after the last few days of squat movements.

WOD

  • 21-15-9 Floor Wipers (45# DBs)
  • 12-9-6 Man Makers (45# DBs)
  • 400m Run

This was the first time doing floor wipers and I really liked them. Great core work due to the combination of holding up the weights and moving the legs as one unit without having them touch the ground. I broke the rounds down to 12+9, 9+6, and 9. Man Makers are absolutely brutal but I felt better here than I did when we did 50 of them for time. Having some wrist sweat bands really helps to keep my hands from getting soaked with sweat. I really tried to push it on the last 400m and finished in 23:31.

Time to chill in the AC for the rest of the day while I work.

Screw the Rest Day

I couldn’t help myself and had to get in for a WOD tonight. Matt had posted some pictures on Facebook showing that deadlifts were part of the WOD today. I love deadlifting, so I got all excited and it didn’t take long for me to decide I’d hit the gym. Well, he switched up the WOD for the night classes and no deadlifts. Night classes got one of the Hero benchmarks instead.

Warm-up

25-20-15-10-5

  • Lunges
  • Tuck Jumps

WOD

“Helton” Hero Benchmark
3 rounds

  • 800m Run
  • 30 DB Squat Cleans (40#)
  • 30 Burpees

WOW! This one was a bruiser of a WOD, as most of the Hero benchmarks usually are. The WOD calls for using 50# DBs as Rx, but we don’t have any and I wouldn’t have been able to do that anyway. I could have tried the 45s, but I wouldn’t have been able to keep up much intensity. I settled on the 40s which worked out pretty well. If I had used 35s I would have been able to push a little harder, but I was still able to finish under the 40 minute time limit we had, so I’m happy. I finished in 36:56.

For the first two rounds I tried to stick to sets of 5 squat cleans, other than at the beginning when I probably did a few more reps in the first couple of sets to start. In the 3rd round I was getting mostly sets of 4. All burpees were done unbroken, but pretty damn slow.

After doing 110 goblet squats and 110 burpees yesterday, this WOD had a lot of similarities, so hopefully the next two days will be something completely different. Then Saturday and Sunday are rest days for sure since I’ll be out-of-town visiting some friends.

Killer Medicine Ball Warm-up

Still pretty sore from Sunday’s WOD and some new soreness from doing “Cindy” yesterday. I can really feel all of those push-ups. I don’t remember the last time I was this sore to be honest.

Warm-up

30 yards down and back

  • Zombie Kicks
  • High Knees
  • Butt Kicks
  • Power Skips

5 rounds with 20# MB

  • 1m OH Lunges
  • 1m Sit-ups
  • 1m Front Squats
  • 1m Diamond Push-ups (on ball)
  • 1m OH Squats
  • 1m Rest

The MB work was a real arm and shoulder killer. It got the legs nice and loose for the WOD too.

WOD

20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2

  • Burpees
  • Goblet Squats (50# KB)

The burpees were much harder than usual due to doing 186 chest-to-ground push-ups yesterday and about 60 MB diamond push-ups in the warm-up. All sets of burpees were done unbroken, but I had to break each round of goblet squats into 2 sets until I got to the round of 10 when I went unbroken the rest of the way. I finished in 15:08.

Strength

5×5 Weighted Pull-ups
Take 2 minutes of rest after each set and try to increase the weight each set.

For my sets I used 8#, 10#, 12#, 15#, and 15#. I might have even come up just short on the 5th rep in the last set, so I’m glad I didn’t try to increase to 20# which would have been the next jump. I actually stayed after class to finish this off because there was a 15 minute gap before the next class started. I know I need the work to increase my strength. This is a huge improvement over the last time I did weighted pull-ups and used 12# for the last 3 sets.

My Revenge on “Cindy”

My lower back has been pretty sore all day from yesterday’s multiple short WODs involving hang power cleans and deadlifts. It’s a good sore though.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Squats
  • 15s Mountain climbers
  • 15s Squat Jumps

I took it easy during the warm-up because I knew what was in store and there were a lot of squats coming in the WOD.

Skills

Tabata: Ring L-sits

Tabata: Over the box jumps (24″)

For the Ring L-sits I wasn’t able to keep my legs out for long and had to resort to holding my knees up as long as possible. My arms actually started to give out sooner once I switched to the knee tuck version. Over the box jumps were new and a welcome challenge. Since my basketball days I’ve always enjoyed jumping. I managed 6 or 7 over the box jumps during each 20s period.

WOD

Today we each got to choose between “Cindy” or “Mary” for the WOD. I have a little history with “Cindy” so this was an easy choice for me. Without that history I would have chosen “Mary” because I could use the work on HSPUs and lots of pull-ups. So, what’s that history with “Cindy” you ask?

I started CrossFit almost 8 months ago. My first on-ramp session was supposed to be a 1/2 “Cindy”, but I only made it into minute 6 or 7 before I nearly passed out and was literally on the ground for the next 30 minutes. I was doing ring rows instead of pull-ups and only managed 3 rounds. It was one of the most humiliating moments of my life, but I was instantly hooked on CrossFit.


Fast forward a month and a half after that, when I did jumping pull-ups during “Cindy” and completed 12 rounds plus 5 more jumping pull-ups and 1 push-up. Oh, and I also had to switch from regular push-ups to knee push-ups in round 7 or 8.

As you might expect, I wanted my revenge on that bitch!

“Cindy”
20:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Pull-ups
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 15 Air Squats

Today I completed my first Rx “Cindy” doing kipping pull-ups and chest-to-ground push-ups the entire way. Those first 3 rounds were done right around the 3:00 mark. All pull-ups were unbroken and other than a few sips of water, I never took more than a 1 or 2 second break during some of the push-ups and air squat sets. I definitely had to take the most breaks during the push-ups, but would only rest for a second or two at the top of a push-up before doing more. I ended up with 18 rounds plus 5 pull-ups and 6 push-ups, so scored 18+11 on the WOD!

Take that “Cindy”! I hope we can be friends now. 🙂

Hang Power Clean Work

My body is pretty sore from Friday even though I took yesterday off from the gym. I did walk 18 holes of golf in the tournament, which was exhausting enough out in the hot sun for close to 6 hours.

Warm-up


2 rounds

  • 10 PVC Shoulder Shrug & Roll
  • 10 PVC Shoulder Pass-thrus
  • 10 PVC OHS
  • 10 Plank Push-ups

Skill Warm-up

Hang Power Cleans

  • 5x 45#
  • 5x 65#
  • 5x 85#
  • 5x 105#
  • 5x 115#

WOD

Score is total reps performed during 3 AMRAPs.

7:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Hang Power Cleans (115#)
  • 10 Burpees

2:00 Rest

5:00 AMRAP

  • 7 Deadlifts (135#)
  • 7 Ring Dips

1:00 Rest

1:00 AMRAP

  • Air Squats

I really liked this WOD because we got in some barbell work and switched things up with smaller time domains where you could go all out. We paired up and one person completed the entire WOD while the other person counted. Then we switched roles.

For the first AMRAP, I did 4 rounds plus 10 hang power cleans and 8 burpees. 135# is Rx for guys, but when I saw the WOD, I figured 115# would be a good weight for me. I was right. I had to break each round of cleans up into 2 or 3 sets after that first set. Burpees were all done unbroken. If it was full power cleans I think I would have tried 135# even though I would have been much slower.

In the second AMRAP, I did 5 rounds plus 4 deadlifts. The ring dips took the most time for me because I had to break them up into small sets pretty early on. I think I did the first round unbroken, but not after that. Deadlifts at 135# is pretty easy, but we stuck to a standard of everyone adding 20# to whatever weight they used for the cleans.

To finish things off I did 45 air squats. My endurance with the air squats is starting to get better, but is still nowhere near the top dogs in the gym. So my reps were 98, 74, and 45 for a 217 total.

I think I’ll probably go for a run later to finally test out the Nike Frees.

Update: It wasn’t too much later. I figured there was no point in showering more than I had to for the day so I rested a bit and then went out for the run. Went 3.6 miles in 28:55 and was able to keep an unbelievably steady pace, which never happens for me. According to RunKeeper, my mile splits were 8:05, 8:06, and 8:06. I picked up the pace at the end and averaged a 7:47 pace for the last 3/5 of a mile. The shoes felt really good for a first run and not being used to them.

Double Me

Last night I went for a 3.65 mile brisk walk to break in the Nike Free shoes and just relax. This morning I had the first round of the Saginaw District Golf Association Invitational Tournament, so walked 18 holes on the course. I shot terrible!

Warm-up


8:00 AMRAP

  • 10 PVC Shoulder Pass-thrus
  • 40 Lateral Hops (20 each leg)
  • 30s Plank

I have no idea how many rounds I did. Didn’t count since it was the warm-up and the pass-thrus are not something to rush through.

WOD

4 rounds

  • 20 Pull-ups
  • 30 KBS (53#)
  • 40 Box Jumps (24″)

I finished in 21:50. I’ve really been struggling with my pull-ups lately, but they came back around today. I concentrated on really snapping my hips and pushing away from the bar at the top, which I’ve been forgetting to do. For the box jumps I rebounded off the floor on well over half of the reps.

Finisher

Death by Burpees

I finished off the round of 12 with over 30 seconds left in that minute and then Cari turned off the clock for the end of class. Not exactly sure why since it was open gym right after. Would have been nice to see how far I could get, but I guess I won’t complain about doing less burpees since I did 115 of them yesterday and that’s another 78 today.

Open Gym

First thing on my agenda was to set a deadlift PR. I did the following:

  • 10x 135#
  • 5x 225#
  • 5x 265#
  • 3x 305#
  • 1x 335# (matching PR)
  • 1x 355# (new PR)
  • FAIL at 365#
  • 1x 365# (new PR)

BAM! That’s more that twice my body weight and a 30# PR. Hell yeah!

After that I worked on snatches for a while, doing some small sets with 85#, some small sets with 105#, and a few singles at 125#. Then I moved back down to 85# and worked on the squat snatch for a while. I have no idea how many sets or reps I did of any of this. I was more concerned with working on some technique.

I was going to start some work on butterfly pull-ups, but my hands were already pretty sore from the 80 pull-ups and deadlifting. With the 2nd round of the tournament tomorrow, I need to be able to swing a golf club. So I got out the prowler instead. Loaded it up with four 45# plates and did a 30 yard (?) high push followed by a low push back. Did that 5 times, with plenty of rest in between each down and back, before my legs just couldn’t do the low push anymore.

I was ready to head home, but Casey was doing some strict shoulder presses, so I jumped in with him.

  • 3x 85#
  • 3x 105#
  • 3x 105#
  • 3x 125#
  • 3x 125#
  • 1x 135#

I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was a 10# PR! Looking back at my posts, I had done 125# for 5 reps, but never more than that. I mistakenly thought I had done 145#, but it was the push press. (I had to update this section of the post 4 times because I kept getting the weights wrong)

I’m spent! I got to the box just after 4 for the 4:15 class and left open gym just before 7pm. Three hours of solid work. Tomorrow is going to be a rest day for sure.

Resting Burpees

Not much rest after hitting the 8pm class last night, but I wanted to attend the 9am this morning and give my body all day to rest up for tomorrow. It’s the first round of the Saginaw District Association Invitational Tournament, which I qualified for a couple of weeks ago. My tee time is at 9:20am and then 10:30 on Saturday.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 1m Plank
  • 1m V-ups
  • 1m Mountain Climbers
  • 1m K2E
  • 1m Russian Twists (35# KB)
  • 1m Rest

I pushed hard in everything except for the K2E because I didn’t want to mess up my hands for the golf tournament.

WOD

  • 100 DB Squat Clean Thrusters (30# DBs)
  • Every minute on the minute (except for at the beginning), do 5 burpees.

In the past, we’ve been allowed to take a minute off, but after Matt talked to some people at the CrossFit Level 1 course, that’s not what they usually do. You can skip the clean thrusters for a minute, but you have to do the burpees if you want to perform the worked Rx. I figured I’d give it a try.

In the first minute I was able to get 12 reps for a decent start. During each minute I tried to stop doing the clean thrusters with 10-15 seconds left as a little rest period before starting my burpees. It didn’t take long to realize that 5 reps per minute was going to be a good number for me. I went straight through to 50 reps, did the burpees and took the rest of the minute off. Then I did sets of 6-5-4 to get me to 65, where I did my burpees and rested the rest of the minute. I did that again to get to 80 reps, and did my last burpees with rest minute. Then I think I did 6-6-4-4 to finish off with a time of 23:42.

The 100 squat clean thrusters is no joke, but the sneaky hard part of this WOD was the burpees. If you don’t take any minutes off they really add up. I did 23 rounds of 5 burpees for a total of 115. Hell, 100 burpees for time is a WOD on its own! This was one of the tougher WODs, but I really liked it because thrusters are one of my weaknesses.

Update: Wow, this was my 200th post on this blog. What an incredible journey this has been. I can’t wait to see where the next few months go.

Karen Plus Helen

Today was another scorcher and I had gone out walking 18 holes of golf this morning, so I went to the 8pm class hoping it would cool off some. I just got home (9:15 pm as I write this) and it’s still 86 degrees out.

Warm-up

  • 50-40-30-20-10 DUs
  • 25-20-15-10-5 Burpees

I finished in 7:59 and had good rhythm with the DUs through each set.

WOD

Split up Karen 6 ways and mix the pieces with Helen. What do you get? Haren? Kelen? How about a suck fest?

  • 25 Wall Balls (20# MB)
  • 400m Run
  • 21 KBS (55#)
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 12 Pull-ups
  • 400m Run
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 21 KBS
  • 12 Pull-ups
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 400m Run
  • 21 KBS
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 12 Pull-ups
  • 25 Wall Balls

I knocked out the best time of the day at 20:59 with one of the owners, Cora, right behind me setting the 2nd best time of the day at 21:06. After we were both done we were talking about how we would not have pushed as hard if the other hadn’t been there, which is so true. Out of the corner of your eye you might see someone close to your level catching up to you or taking a break. That small glimpse makes you push to extend your lead or catch up. In the end, we all make each other better.