Year: 2012

Garage Epicness

I went over to Kevin’s tonight to do some bench pressing. With CrossFitters it always turns into more than planned. I wanted to do a 5×5 on the bench and ended up doing:

  • 10 @ 135#
  • 5 @ 155#
  • 5 @ 175#
  • 5 @ 185#
  • 5 @ 195#
  • 3 @ 205#

A week and a half ago I set my 1RM PR of 215# after not having benched in 5 years. Today I put up 205# three times!

We started screwing around with some of the other stuff Kevin had in his garage. I’ve wanted to go for a max height box jump for quite some time now and never did it. He has a 30″ box and just built some platforms for box squats and deficit deadlifts, so we stacked them up and it came out to 44″. I couldn’t get myself to even attempt it so we started with the 34″. I’ve done 32″ an Survival Fitness so that wasn’t a big deal, but helped to build confidence. Swapped boxes to get up to 40″ and got up there without much trouble. Finally got to the 44″ which wasn’t bad either. We couldn’t stand all the way up though because the garage isn’t high enough.

So of course we had to throw a WOD together! We only used the 40″ height though, which is plenty high enough for reps.

5:00 AMRAP

  • 4 Box Jumps (40″)
  • 5 Burpees
  • 6 GHD Sit-ups

I got through exactly 5 rounds. The box jumps get a little scary towards the end as you get tired.

After resting a bit, I jumped on his rings and knocked out a strict muscle-up like it was nothing. No idea where that came from but it was the first time I’ve ever done a strict one! I tried a couple more times and couldn’t get it again. Not even sure how the first one happened after doing ring dips this morning.

Epic night for a garage WOD!

Dumbbell Thrusters Suck!

Woke up feeling good and refreshed. Still a little tight in my ass from Friday’s lunges, but not enough to affect any movement.

Warm-up

  • Tabata Bottom Squat Hold
  • Tabata Plank

Strength

5×1 Front Squat

Warmed up with 6 reps using the 45# bar and 3 reps at 135#. For my working sets I used 185#, 205#, 215# (previous PR), 225#, and 235#. Lifts felt great. I remembered to keep a deep breath and keep a tight midline on the way down. Then on the way up I really concentrated on keeping my elbows up so the weight wouldn’t drop forward. It’s been a long time since I did even a back squat PR, which is still at 240# from back in March. Next time I test thought I should see a big jump as well. Really happy with the 235# today.

WOD

12:00 AMRAP of 3-6-9-12-15-18-21…

  • DB Thrusters (35# DBs)
  • Jumping C2B Pull-ups

Since the beginner competition on Sunday is with jumping chest to bar pull-ups I figured today would be a good time to try them out. They really send your heart rate sky-high because it’s pretty much a constant jumping. I had to start breaking them down into sets of 6 or 8. The bar I was using was probably a little higher than it should have been for me, but it was a good test. I got through the round of 18 and then did 14 of the 21 thrusters. Doing thrusters with DBs is so much harder than it is with the bar.

Finisher

Death by Ring Dips (by 2s)

I did 10 + 9.

Track Sunday

After 4 days in a row at Survival Fitness and an epic 55 minute WOD yesterday, I was not going in today. Today is Matt’s birthday and Cora had a surprise party for him last night, which was a lot of fun. Casey A. was talking about running at the track today, so I joined him.

We met over at Saginaw Heritage High School’s track and warmed up with an easy 800m job. Then we did one 800m, two 400m, two 200m, and two 100m runs. In between each run, we took about twice as much rest as the last run took. Walked a lap around the track to cool down. It was good to do something outside the box even if it was supposed to be a rest day.

Get Work Done

My upper ass is a bit sore from the lunges and deficit deadlifts. But I’m positive I’d be a lot more sore if not for using the rumble roller. Without a doubt it’s the best $70 I’ve spent in a long time. I’ve been rolling 2-3 times a day, usually when watching a little TV. I went in for the 10am class.

Warm-up / WOD

5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-45-50

  • Russian Twists (30# KB)
  • Leg Raises
  • Bicycles
  • 30s Side Plank

Take an optional 3 minutes of rest and head directly into the second half of the workout. I exchanged kettlebells and got right into it because it’s not like this was a cardio taxing workout. It’s mainly a day about doing work.

5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-45-50

  • Russian KBS (53#)
  • HR Push-ups

Do work. Do Work. DO WORK!

Today was all about keepin’ on. Get those reps done. This ladder adds up to 275 reps of each movement plus those 5 minutes of side planks. I finished in 55:04. Easily the longest WOD I’ve done.

Cora’s 28th

I was going to go in this morning, but my internal alarm clock was late today. I think I rolled over around 8:15am. So I went at 5:15pm instead.

Strength

5×3 Deficit Deadlifts (3″)

Warmed up with a set of 10 at 135# and then did my working sets at 205#, 245#, 295#, 315#, and 335#. Felt really good on the pulls. Last week I only did 305# for 5 reps, but knew there was more left in the tank. I’m excited to see what my 1RM is for regular deadlifts next time it comes around because it was 365# a couple of months ago. I might be close to the 400# barrier.

WOD

Today is Cora’s birthday (her and Matt own the gym) so we did a WOD in her honor. Reps are based on her birth year, age, and birth month.

84-28-9

  • Burpees
  • Wall Ball Sit-ups (20# MB)
  • 100m Weighted Lunges (20# MB)

I finished in 21:35. My height (leg length) was a pretty good advantage in the lunges, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be feeling those for the next few days. I could really feel the wall ball sit-ups in my upper abs even before getting through 40 reps.

Finisher

28 Dead Hang Pull-ups

Didn’t time them, but tried to take as little rest as possible between knocking out reps.

Strap a Kettlebell to my Back

I’m pretty programmed now to wake up right around 7:30 each morning without an alarm. This is perfect timing to get a bite to eat and hit the 9am class. I even had some time to use the rumble roller this morning, which I’ve been trying to use whenever I watch TV.

Warm-up / Strength

20:00 EOMOTM

  • Odds: 8 Side Bends on each side (71# KB)
  • Evens: 30s Plank

WOD

  • 100 HR Push-ups
  • 21-15-9
    • Box Jumps (24″)
    • KBS (53#)
  • Run 10 laps of 150m holding KB (53#)

I smashed my PR for the 100 hand release push-ups by doing it in 5:46. My previous best was 6:21 just over a month ago. One thing I focused on today was not getting too big of sets early on. I started out with a set of 15, then 10, and then 5s the rest of the way. That really helped to have some gas left in the tank for the 2nd 50. Box jumps and KBS were no big deal.

All the “fun” was at the end with the weighted run. The best way to hold the KB is to use both hands and hold it by the handle behind your neck. It’s probably not real great for your neck and spine, but it’s really the only way to be able to run. We ran nearly a mile! After the 5th lap I couldn’t feel my hands and arms anymore. I wanted to put the kettlebell down so bad but knew it would be so much harder to get going, so I powered through the best I could. Total time for the WOD was 20:30. Even with the cool weather, I had sweat flying everywhere because I had to work so hard to keep that KB in place. Hopefully this transfers well to the 800m run with 25 pounds I’ll have to do next weekend in the competition.

Finisher

  • 100 DUs

Started out with a string of 29 in a row. It was hard to keep that rope spinning fast enough with fried shoulders and arms from the KB run. I finished in 1:45.

Strength in the Garage Gym

A couple of days ago I did the dynamic effort method of training on the bench press, so today I wanted to try it with box squats.

  • 2 sets of 2 @ 45#
  • 2 @ 95#
  • 2 @ 115#
  • 2 @ 135#
  • 2 @ 155#
  • 8 sets of 2 @ 165#

It was definitely a new feeling and variation on the back squat. Get down to hit the box/bench and then try to explode back up.

Jingle My Jangle

I went out and walked 18 holes of golf this afternoon and am feeling good after not doing a WOD yesterday. Went in for the 7pm class.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30s Bottom Squat Hold

I mixed in some PVC Around-the-Worlds for some of the pass-thrus to help get my shoulders warmed up.

Strength

5×3 Shoulder Press

I was really disappointed in my performance with the 5×5 last week, so I was in it to win it tonight. I did a set of 10 at 45# and a set of 5 at 95# to get warmed up. For my working sets I used 105#, 115#, 125#, 135#, and 145# with no missed reps. BOOM! My previous PR was 140# and I got 3 reps at 145# today, so I have no idea why last week sucked.

WOD

5 rounds

  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 3 Burpees
    • 6 MB Cleans (20#)
    • 9 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 1m Rest

Start each round where you ended the last round, which will most likely be in the middle of the cycle. This makes counting easier, as long as you can remember where you leave off. I did exactly 17 rounds with 1 second to spare. One minute is not a lot of rest time between these rounds and all that squatting really adds up.

Finisher

Death by Jingle Jangles (by 3s)

What’s a Jingle Jangle you ask? They are basically short sprints from side to side in the gym, which is about 16 feet wide. So for this “Death by” style, in the first minute you have to get side to side 3 times, then 6 times the next minute, and increase by 3 each minute. For the first 5 minutes it’s all walking to save energy, but then I had to start picking up the pace. I got through the round of 30, which is the 10th minute, and then got 21 of the 33 in the 11th minute, which in a new gym record.

Dynamic Bench Press

Today is my rest day, but I finished setting up my garage gym earlier and I’ve been doing some reading about things I wanted to try.

I’ve read a few things about dynamic effort days as opposed to max effort days and it seems really interesting. PowerWOD has some good info about it:

This method is defined as lifting a non-maximal load with the greatest speed possible. This method should be coupled with compensatory acceleration. This means you must apply as much force as possible to the barbell, i.e. pushing as hard and as fast as you can in the concentric phase of the lift. If you squat 700 pounds and are training with 400 pounds, then you should be applying 700 pounds of force to the barbell.

The weight used should be non-maximal in the 50% to 75% range.

I wanted to try it out with bench pressing because I benched for the first time in 5 years on Friday. Since I set a 215# PR on the bench press, I picked 125# for about 60%, where I’d focus my sets. You have to warm up so here is what I ended up doing (about 1 minute of rest between each set):

  • 2 sets of 3 @ 45#
  • 3 @ 65#
  • 3 @ 85#
  • 3 @ 105#
  • 8 sets of 3 @ 125#

I tried to press up really fast, but probably didn’t do it right. Even though 3 reps at 125# isn’t very heavy, I could start to feel a little fatigue as the sets went on.

I was going a little nuts without doing a workout today, so at least I got in a little work and got to use the rack I put together earlier. Oh, I did walk 18 holes of golf this morning as a little active recovery.

Competition WOD Test

I’d already worked out 4 days in a row, but screw it, let’s make it 5. I didn’t want to miss strength squat day at the gym since I don’t have a rack to do squats at home yet.

Before lunch I went out to the garage to test one of the competition workouts.

WOD #1

5 rounds

  • 5 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 10 Hand Release Burpees

The pull to get the first rep on each round of deadlifts was tougher than I expected and I could gain some time by repping them out faster. I did a time of 4:28 without any warm-up at all. Warmed up and pushing it, I think I can break under 4 minutes in the competition. It was good to try this out and see how it feels.

I went in to the 5:30pm class so I had a little more time to rest from yesterday’s WOD and I’m glad I did, because it was a lot of the same movements.

Warm-up

4 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Air Squats
  • 15s Mountain Climbers
  • 15s Jump Squats

Strength

5×3 Front Squats

Coming out of last week only getting 2 out of 5 reps at 215#, my goal was to get all 3 reps at that weight this today. Counting the warm-up sets, here is what I did:

  • 8 @ 45#
  • 6 @ 115#
  • 3 @ 135#
  • 3 @ 155#
  • 3 @ 175#
  • 3 @ 195#
  • 3 @ 215#

After doing 95 front squats with 95# in the Deck of Cards WOD yesterday, I’ll take today’s effort. I don’t think I could have gotten 220# up for all 3 reps, but maybe. 215# is still my PR for the front squat, so 3 reps is more than I’ve done. I should be able to set a solid PR on my 1RM next week.

WOD

30 rounds

  • Power Clean
  • Front Squat
  • Push Press
  • Back Squat
  • Push Press

There’s something consisting of these movements called the Bear Complex, which is 7 rounds through without stopping. We did 30 rounds of the cycle instead and we were allowed to combine elements. For instance, we could do a squat clean thruster to take care of the first 3 movements and then a back squat thruster for the last two. This made it a lot easier.

Since I did most of these movements on their own yesterday, I wanted to go light today and try to fly through it. I loaded the bar with 85#. It turned out to be too easy and I finished in 6:43. So then I went up to 95# and knocked out another 10 reps. With the weight I used, I really liked these, but I probably wouldn’t say the same thing if I had gone a lot heavier.

Finisher

  • 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 T2B
  • 30s Side Plank (one side each round, switch sides for the next round)

I did all of the T2B unbroken, but ripped my right pinky on the middle portion of my finger. First time I’ve ever ripped anything there.

The weather is supposed to be great tomorrow so I plan to go golfing and will definitely be taking a rest day from CrossFit.

Deck of Barbells

I was planning to take today off and stick to the 3 on 1 off schedule, but my body is feeling good. Went in for the 11am class.

Warm-up

  • 150m Run
  • 100m Zombie Kicks
  • 150m Run
  • 100m Power Skips
  • 150m Run
  • 100m Lateral Shuffles
  • 150m Run

WOD

Deck of Cards

Suits:

  • ♣ – Hang Cleans (95#)
  • ♠ – Front Squats (95#)
  • ♥ – Push Presses (95#)
  • ♦ – 150m Weighted Run (35# plate)

Ranks:

  • 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace – 10 reps
  • 2 through 9 – Face value in reps
  • Joker – 1m Plank

The Rx for men was 115# but there is no way I’d be able to handle that. Loading the bar with 95 pounds was plenty heavy and this deck took me forever. I stayed into the start of the next class to finish in 52:54. It comes out to 94 reps of each on hang cleans, front squats, and push presses, 1950 meters of weighted runs, and 2 minutes of plank. That’s a lot of good work to help prepare for the competition.

I was planning to do some cleans in the garage later, but now I don’t have to. I guess I have more time to do real cleaning around the house and organize my garage gym.