Month: April 2013

Masters Sunday

Feeling a little tired today after a short night of sleep. Went to the 11am.

Warm-up

Teams of 3 with cardio setting the pace. Do a round at each cardio piece.

  • 250m Row / 20 cal Air Dyne / 200m Run
  • KB Rack Hold
  • Air Squats

WOD

20:00 Partner AMRAP

  • Pace: 450m Run
  • AMRAP:
    • 7 C2B Pull-ups
    • 14 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
    • 21 One-arm KB C&J (53# KB)

I paired up with Kevin and we finished 6 rounds plus 7 (actually Kevin miscounted at the end and got us to 9 C2B). The C&J were by far the worst part of this. My running shape is terrible.

Finisher

Big class, so we all lined up and did 25m prowler sprints. Then as class ended, a few people stayed to do extra credit down and back (25m each way) prowler sprints. I stayed even later and kept adding weight to the prowler for more down and backs. Got in about an hour and 15 minutes of work today.

Time to enjoy the Masters!

Running in the Snow

2013-out-for-bloodThis morning I was up early and drove over to Mount Pleasant. It was supposed to be for the Out for Blood Duathlon, but due to rain, slow, and sleet they had to cancel the bike portion of the race. Much of the running and biking courses were flooded and many other parts were covered in snow and slush, making it very dangerous to be racing on bikes.

I’ve competed in this race the last two years (winning my age group for the mountain bike division both years) and the weather has always sucked, but this year was the worst. They had to rush to come up with the alternate course, but thy could have easily had someone shovel off the snowy areas of the 5k course. They also didn’t correctly map out a course because it ended up only being about 2.65 miles instead of 3.1 for a real 5k. Oh well, nobody was setting any time records with the condition of the paths and the slick wooden bridges. I finished in about 21:11 after starting out way too fast. I placed 3rd in the 26-35 year-old group for today’s run. At least I can still be competitive as the old man. 🙂

Went in to the gym at 4pm with Matt, Cora, and Kevin to do some training.

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 4 Power Snatch (115#)
  • Evens: 12 Pull-ups

Got 12 unbroken butterfly pull-ups each round! I’m really finding the groove with the butterfly.

3 Rounds

  • 15 American KBS (53# KB)
  • 15 Burpees
  • 50 DU

I did the first round of DU unbroken, but started hitting the wall after that. Finished in 7:34.

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 30s Handstand Hold
  • Evens: 12 T2B

I made a discovery of how to cycle my T2B a little faster. Being able to do 5×12 unbroken is a huge improvement for me.

10 Rounds

  • 15s AirDyne max effort sprint
  • 1:45 Rest

This is the worst thing I’ve done in a year and a half of CrossFit. I thought I was going to puke from the 3rd round on. We even went 20s on the last round just for fun and I could barely move in those extra 5 seconds. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that I pretty much had to crawl off of the AD after each round. Kevin and I used the same AD and we totaled 269 calories.

After that high effort, I figured it would be a good idea to get some easy rowing in. Did 6 minutes at an easy pace for just over 1,200m I think

The 9,251st Fittest Man on Earth

Last year, the Open was my first competition. I loved it and have done several local competitions over the year.

I’ve improved a lot in the last year, but how much? There’s not really a good way to measure up against the rest of the CrossFit community, other than the Open, so I was really looking forward to the 2013 Games.

I learned a lot in my 2nd Open…

  • CrossFit works. If you’re consistent and dedicated, you’ll see amazing results and do things you didn’t think were possible.
  • The CrossFit community an a whole, in different regions, and in each box is more amazing than we realize.
  • There will always new ways to format a WOD.
  • Expect the unexpected. Be prepared for the “unknown and the unknowable” is what we like to say in CrossFit.
  • We all have weaknesses and we will always have weaknesses. With hard work, we can turn some of them into strengths and improve others.
  • Competition can bring out the best in people.

My goal for this year’s Open was to be above average and finish in the top 50% of men. After the first workout I realized that goal was too easy and I bumped it to the top 25% of men. No small task, considering I finished 16,395th out of 22,183 in 2012, which put me beating 26% of the men.

After 5 workouts, I ended up 9,251st out of 46,227 men (those that submitted scores for all 5 workouts), which is the top 20%! Bottom 26% to top 20% in one year…HELL YEAH! I couldn’t be happier with that progress.

This year’s Open was actually a rough start for me. I placed 18,903rd in 13.1 and was pretty disappointed right after the workout. Here is what I wrote in my recap…

I was disappointed (and still am a bit), but then I realized that last year in 12.1 I got 92 burpees in 7 minutes and in 12.2 I got 36 snatches in 10 minutes. In this combined 17 minute WOD I got 82 burpees and 60 snatches. Hell of an improvement, so I’m going to chalk this up as a win. The snatch is one of my weakest movements, so I ended up pretty well and I’m way ahead of pace to finish above average in the Open.

It was nothing but up from there. In 13.2 I placed 10,012th in the world, jumping me up almost 6,000 spots in the overall ranking, to 12,969th. The workout they decided to reuse from last year was my best 2012 result, so I was thrilled to give it another shot a year later. I had a great improvement for 13.3, doing muscle-ups for the first time in a WOD! I ranked 9,246th on the workout, which would be my highest ranked workout for the 2nd year in a row, moving me up to 10,326th in the overall ranks.

I’m not a fan of redoing workouts in the Open, but due to timing my plan was to tackle the 4th workout twice. I hit 13.4 right after the announcement, because I was starting the road trip from Phoenix back to Saginaw the next morning and wanted to get in a score in case I didn’t make it home in time for a real attempt. Then I gave it another go back at my home box Survival Fitness. The extra time to come up with a strategy allowed me to make a nice improvement on that safety score. I ended up placing 10,568th is the world on the workout, moving me up once again overall, cracking the top 10k at 9,851st in the world.

I was really hoping not to see C2B Pull-ups and Thrusters come back for the final workout, but I should have known better. After throwing down in the workout, I’m glad I had to do them though. In 13.5 I was 11,527th which moved me up to my final spot of 9,251st.

What an amazing journey it’s been in the last 12 months of CrossFit. I’ve improved in so much, but the Open shows us what we need to work on. I’ve created a list of things to focus on for the next few months. Some of them are directly related to the Open workouts and others are things I knew going in.

  • OLY (snatch, clean, and jerk) technique. Keep improving hip extension.
  • Get unbroken MU and figure out wrist turnover during the transition.
  • T2B completely die out over the course of a WOD. Hips stop working, so need better endurance.
  • Get 1RM back squat closer to deadlift.
  • Strengthen upper body.
  • Increase OHS.
  • Learn C2B butterfly pull-ups.
  • Handstand without a wall and handstand walk.

How was your Open and what are you going to work on?

Competition Thursday at Survival Fitness

After 3 intense days of doing our own programming, it was time to get back to a group class. Matt has turned Thursday into competition day at Survival Fitness and will be bringing back old Open or Regional WODs for the most part. Should be a lot of fun and keep the competitive atmosphere going. I went to the 9am.

Warm-up

  • 30 Air Squats
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30 PVC OHS

I also did some jump rope to warm up the calves for box jumps.

WOD

2011 CrossFit Games Open Workout 11.2
15:00 AMRAP

  • 9 Deadlifts (155#)
  • 12 HR Push-ups
  • 15 Box Jumps (24″)

My first time trying this WOD. It was a grinder at that 15 minute length. I think I did the first two rounds of push-ups unbroken, but then 7-5 almost every other round to keep from reaching failure. Pushed through 12 slow unbroken in my last round. Had some no-reps on the box jumps, but rebounded almost everything. Finished with 10 rounds plus 6 deadlifts for a total of 366 reps.

Strength

Warmed up with 5 @ 135# on front squats and then went into what was prescribed for my squat program, although I accidentally went an extra 5# in the first set; 5 reps at each of 165#, 175#, and 185#. Not as easy as I thought it was going to be since those are only 60%, 65%, and 70% of my 1RM. But I’m not used to doing strength after a WOD either.

Then I did a Tabata bench with 115#. Started out too fast with 13 reps in the first round and everything was downhill from there. I had 40 reps through 4 rounds and ended up with 60 total, even failing on a rep in round 7. Have to take into account this is after 120 push-ups too.

Headed over to Kevin’s at night for some garage work with all of his toys. Figured I could handle a little extra work since tomorrow is a rest and massage day and then Saturday morning I’m doing a duathlon.

The Backside

3 Rounds (not for time)

  • 10 Reverse Hypers (120#)
  • 7 Glute Ham Raise
  • 20 GHD Sit-ups

Hopefully this stuff helps increase my squats as well as the extra squatting I’m doing.

Split Jerks

I’ve been wanting to try out the jerk blocks Kevin built and tonight was the night. My technique kinda sucked. Ugh! I did a couple of double at 95#, then doubles at 125#, 155#, 185#, and 205#. My last was going to be a double at 225# but after the 2nd rep Kevin wanted to try out a burst-mode camera app, so I did a 3rd rep. I’m happy with the weight I was able to do (my 1RM is 245#) but wish my technique had been better. Still need a lot of work.

I was going to do some light snatch work, but after having trouble landing a 95# snatch, I canceled that idea. My shoulders just weren’t having it. So I went back at my hamstrings and did 10 RDLs at 115#, 205#, and 205#.

Hump Day

My body was feeling a little beat up this morning. Would probably be worse, but I sort of got back to getting 8+ hours of sleep. Worked out at 10:30 with Matt, Cora, and Kevin again.

Warm-up

Tested out the new Rx jump rope. Me like! It spins even better than the Again Faster Revolution and Rogue SR-1 ropes. The biggest difference though is that the cable doesn’t get any of the memory kinks from being wound up in my bag like the other cables.

Strength

10:00 EMOTM

  • Odds: 5 HSPU
  • Evens: 5 Weighted Ring Dips

I did my first 4 sets of HSPU at a deficit with my hands on 10# bumper plates and then on the ground for the last set. All done strict, no kip. I did have to break the 4th and 5th sets up into 3-2 though. Used a 20# KB on a weight belt for all of the ring dips.

WOD #1

2:00

  • 25cal Row
  • AMRAP Ball Slams (15#)

1:00 Rest

2:00

  • 25cal Row
  • AMRAP Slam Ball Cleans (15#)

1:00 Rest

  • 25cal Row
  • AMRAP Jump Squats (45# bar)

I got 26 ball slams, 15 cleans, and 18 jump squats. All of them were brutal.

WOD #2

  • 10 -> 1 Burpees
  • 1 -> 10 Over the Box Jumps (24″)
  • 20 -> 2 Unbroken DU

I missed my very first DU but everything else was done unbroken and no rest between movements other than a deep breath before starting DU. Finished in 8:41.

WOD #3

  • Tabata Air Dyne calories
  • Tabata Sled Pulls (loaded with 90#, alternate forward and backward)

I got 78 calories on the Air Dyne, which was pretty horrible for Tabata. The sled drags weren’t really that bad because we were going back and forth across the gym so you had to keep stopping to turn around.

Another solid 1.5 hours of training.

Fast Recovery

I’m feeling great after yesterday’s first big session. Very little soreness anywhere. Matt, Kevin, and I worked out at 2:30 today. I warmed up with 25 calories on the Air Dyne at an easy pace and then did some PVC work for my arms and shoulders. I came up with the programming for today’s training.

Olympic Technique

7 Sets

  • Power Clean
  • Hang Power Clean
  • High Hang Power Clean
  • 90s Rest

I used 95, 115, 125, 135, 145, 165, and 175. Still focusing on hip extension, but also tried to start with my hips lower on the power clean from the ground.

Strength

14:00 E2M

  • 3 Power Cleans at 80% of 1RM Power Clean (195#)
  • 2 Broad Jump for distance (immediately after power cleans)

Figured it would be fun to try out a little XWOD action. The timing worked out pretty well so we had about 1:15 to rest before the next round.

WOD #1

3 Rounds

  • 400m Row
  • 20 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 20 T2B

I was planning for this to take about 12 minutes and I was just about right. I finished in 11:16. My T2B held up pretty well.

WOD #2

5 Rounds

  • 1:00 15 HR Push-ups & MAX Sit-ups
  • 1:00 Rest

This worked out better than I expected, considering it was completely made up and not based on anything I’ve done before. I was able to do each round of push-ups unbroken, although they did get progressively harder and that last round was a struggle. I actually got faster on them too until the last round. Managed 20-21-21-22-21 on the sit-ups for a 105 total. Abs were feeling pretty rocked after the T2B and the sit-ups.

Training for the 2013 CrossFit Games Open

Worked out at 10:30 this morning with Cora, Matt, and Kevin. First day of training for the 2014 CrossFit Games Open. 🙂 I’ll have a post up in the next couple of days detailing how I did in the 2013 Open and what I learned about myself.

I warmed up with 20 cal on the Air Dyne and then worked up with some lighter weights on the back squat and shoulder press.

I’m starting a 6 week squat program where I’ll be doing back squats once a week and front squats once a week. It’s a volume program I got off of Burgener’s site. They all did 5×5 Back Squats at 80%, but I had 3 sets of 10, so my timing wasn’t exactly every minute on the minute since I had the 2nd and 4th round of back squats off, but my rounds were longer too because of higher reps.

Strength

10:00 EMOTM

  • Back Squats: 10 @ 60% (185#), 10 @ 65% (205#), 10 @ 70% (220#)
  • 5×5 Shoulder Press @ 80% of 1RM (125#)

Really tough work with those reps at the percentages. I was out of breath after 10 reps of 220# and 125# was perfect for the shoulder presses.

WOD #1

5:00 Partner AMRAP

  • 21 cal Air Dyne
  • Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target) until partner is done

I worked with Matt. We got 95 calories and 114 wall balls.

WOD #2

5:00 AMRAP

  • Box Jumps (24″) with 5 unbroken C2B EMOTM starting at 1:00 (so 4 sets of them)

I didn’t rebound my box jumps until the last 20 seconds or so because I figured I’d be smoked after the previous work and with a long 5 minutes. I think I went 20-13-14-14-19 during each minute for a total of 80. I should have rebounded from the beginning.

Core

10:00 EMOTM

  • 20s MAX OHS (95#)
  • 20s Ring L-sit

I got 8-9-8-9-9 on my OHS. Lost balance with 4 or 5 seconds left in that third round and had to bump the bar, so missed out on another rep or two there. The OHS felt really good today though.

Forearms on Fire

I was up late setting up my new TV and everything along with it. Michelle was coaching and had me help her out with the programming with some movements she had in mind. Went in for the 11am class.

Warm-up

We did a bunch of dynamic movements going back and forth the length of the gym, including jogging, high knees, butt kicks, carioca, skipping, Samson stretch, hip flexor stretch, Sumo stretch, etc. Something new and fresh.

Then we did time through the Partner MB Pass Complex with 10 reps each of pass, overhead, left side, right side, and straight up.

WOD

30:00 Running Clock
Each part has a 10:00 cut-off. Part B starts at exactly 10:00 and Part C starts at exactly 20:00. If you finish a part early, rest until the next begins.

Part A, 3 Rounds

  • 15 Goblet Squats (53# KB)
  • 15 Ring Push-ups

This one was fast, but we were also the freshest here. I did it in 2:58.

Part B, 3 Rounds

  • 15 Burpees
  • 15 Ring Rows

I tried to pace myself on the burpees out of the gate, which allowed me to push on them a little more in the 3rd round. Ring rows are a big weakness for me. Took me 5:38 to finish.

Part C, 3 Rounds

  • 15 K2E
  • 15 Sandbag Clean & Toss Over Shoulder

I owned this one. Did the K2E in 15, 10-5, and 10-5 and never stopped with the sandbag. Took me 4:26 to get done.

My total working time was 13:02. About 10 minutes after we were done I could feel the burn in my arms and especially in my forearms. I didn’t see that coming when I whipped this up. Michelle had picked the first 4 movements, so I just plugged them in to my format and picked two more. The grip work in that last couplet was a real treat.

Rippin’ 455 Pounds

My shoulders are kind of fried from the last couple of days, so no shoulder lifts today. Went in and watched a few people redo 13.5 around 1pm and then worked out.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row

Strength

1RM Deadlift

  • 10 @ 135#
  • 5 @ 225#
  • 3 @ 315#
  • 2 @ 405#
  • 1 @ 435# (PR)
  • 1 @ 455# (PR)
  • F @ 465#

My warm-up lifts weren’t exactly feeling that great, so I was worried I’d bomb on a PR. But then 435# went up pretty easy so I took the jump to 455#. I wouldn’t say it was anything close to easy, but overall it was a pretty smooth lift for a big PR. So like a dumbass I had to add 10 more pounds and give 465# a try. It wasn’t moving off the ground and I quickly bailed. It’s not like me to even try that after already setting a 30# PR.

Kevin, Michelle, and I then did a conditioning WOD. I have a duathlon next weekend so figure I should probably get in a little running and the Air Dyne will help out my biking.

WOD

  • 600m Run
  • 750m Row
  • 21 cal Air Dyne
  • 400m Run
  • 500m Row
  • 15 cal Air Dyne
  • 200m Run
  • 250m Row
  • 9 cal Air Dyne

Judging by some similar WODs out in Phoenix I figured this would take 15-18 minutes, so it just goes to show how wrong some of our running distances were out there. I finished in 13:57. The Air Dyne seems to be getting easier each time I use it.

The Grizzly Bear Complex

Earlier this week I came up with a great idea to combine the Bear Complex with a Curtis P and add an OHS. I decided to call it the Grizzly Bear Complex. It goes like this…

Perform 10 touch-n-go doubles of the following complex.

  • Clean
  • Front Squat
  • Lunge
  • Lunge
  • Shoulder to Overhead
  • Back Squat
  • Shoulder to Overhead
  • Overhead Squat

Notes:

  • Rest 90 seconds to 2 minutes between each set.
  • Start with a light load. Increase the weight each set. The last 3 sets should be hard!
  • Combining movements is allowed. For example you can do a squat clean and a back squat thruster.
  • It works well to switch to a wide snatch grip before the back squat so that you can do a thruster and go right into the OHS.
  • After the OHS on the first rep you may want to drop to the back so you can switch to a clean width grip. Then do a short press just to get the bar over your head and back to the front rack, ready to go into the TnG for rep 2

I was able to round-up Kevin and Jason to give it a go at 8pm. I warmed up with a 500m row and some DU.

My goal was to be able to hit for some heavy OHS, 175# or more. Boy was I underestimating how tough this would get. I started at 75# and went up 10# each set. When I got to 135# in the 7th set, it took everything I had to keep control of the OHS, especially on the 2nd rep. I stuck with 135# for the 8th and 9th and then managed to get 140# on my last set.

I wasn’t sure how the lunges would feel, but they weren’t really too bad. I felt like I got stuck on a couple towards the end, but I think it was more from not concentrating on them than it was from the weight. The OHS was definitely the limiting factor, especially after holding on to that bar for so long. Great complex though and I’ll definitely be willing to try it again some time.

Brent got held up with kids, but showed up as were just finishing our last few sets. Then we did some work with Kevin’s new wheelbarrow drive sled from Again Faster. First we did 5 sets of a 50′ rope pull followed by a 50′ high prowler push. I think we had it loaded with 135# for the first 3 or 4 sets and then added another 45#. After that we converted it into the “wheelbarrow” did 5 down and backs of close to 100m total. At the end of 5 trips I think we had about 400# stacked on it. To finish things off we loaded it with 180# of plates and did a 50′ high prowler push with a low push back. On the 5th set we added another 45#.

Then we ended with a beer. All in all, a fun Friday night.