I’m a little tired today, but it was nice to sleep in my own bed last night. Still coming off the high from the Level I Course.
Warm-up
5 rounds
15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Jump Squats
WOD
“Erin”
5 rounds
15 DB Split Cleans (35#)
21 Pull-ups
The last time I did this I used 40#, which is Rx. Decided to step it down a bit today and try to keep intensity higher. I finished in 16:10, compared to 21:13 with the 40s. I could have got by with the 40s and probably broke 20 minutes today with them.
Finisher
50-40-30-20-10
AbMat Sit-ups
Lying Leg Raises
Plank (seconds)
This was killer. I finished in between 19 and 20 minutes.
Strength
Matt was going for his 1RM, so I worked in with him on some sets.
Deadlift
5 @ 225#
5 @ 265#
3 @ 315#
3 @ 315#
10 @ 225#
In that second set at 315 I felt it a bit in my back so shut it down and did the fallback set.
This weekend I was down in Columbus, OH at Rogue headquarters for the CrossFit Level I Trainer Course and Certification. What an amazing experience. Kevin and Brent from Survival Fitness also went down for the weekend. We got to learn from some of the best trainers in the world. Words cannot express what the weekend meant to mean and how much I got out of it. Do one for yourself.
We did two WODs over the weekend. On Saturday, we ended the day with:
“Fran”
21-15-9
Thrusters (75#)
Pull-ups
We all know this bitch. I’m getting smarter about scaling my weight down and made the right choice here. My time was 5:36.
Then today, we did a triplet:
8:00 AMRAP
8 Chest to Deck Push-ups
10 MB Cleans (20#)
12 Sit-ups
I completed 5 rounds plus 8 more push-ups, 10 cleans, and 1 sit-up as time expired. The MB cleans don’t seem like much but they really add up.
Feeling good. I think I like this 3 days on 1 day off schedule I’m trying to stick to. Walked 18 holes of golf this morning and went to the 7pm class.
Warm-up
4 rounds
15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Jump Squats
Strength
Weighted Chin-ups with 90 seconds of rest between sets
8 @ 8#
8 @ 10#
6 @ 12#
5 @ 15#
4 @ 15#
I’m not entirely sure about the rep counts for the 10# and 12#, but I think they are right. Man, when you hit that wall, there is no way you’re doing another rep.
WOD
15-14-13…3-2-1
Burpees
Russian KBS (53#)
This is all about pacing yourself so you can keep going without resting. I finished in 11:42. Should have went heavier but I’m still taking things easy for my low back. I didn’t miss out on any intensity that’s for sure. That was 120 reps of each movement.
Finisher
Death by AbMat Sit-ups (by 2s)
Just like every other “death by” it doesn’t seem bad starting out, because it isn’t, but it sure does get tough. I managed to complete the round of 26 with about 2 seconds left in the minute and then got 25 out of 28 in the next minute. That’s a total of 207 sit-ups.
I was up bright and early (before 6am) to head to Gladwin for a golf scramble. Got back to Saginaw around 6pm, relaxed a bit and then did a garage WOD.
20:00
10 Burpees (odd minutes)
5 DB Front Squats (50# DBs, even minutes)
I loved the 10 burpees every minute for 10 minutes so much I thought I’d reuse that. My sweet spot for 10 burpees seems to be around 24 seconds and 21-22 seconds if I push extra hard. I was experimenting with some stuff to increase my turnover. Seems promising, but I’ll have to keep at it to see. I should have done 7 or 8 reps for front squats, because 5 went by pretty fast. Over the 10 minutes that was 100 burpees and 50 front squats.
I took a 5 minute rest before moving on.
10:00
10 AbMat Sit-ups (odd minutes)
10 HR Push-ups (even minutes)
I planned on doing 20 minutes of that, but the reps were going by too fast and it was too easy. For the next 10 minutes I bumped up the rep counts. No extra rest in between; the 20 minute timer kept running.
10:00
15 AbMat Sit-ups (odd minutes)
15 HR Push-ups (even minutes)
In the last 2 sets push-ups after the 10th rep it was a struggle to get the rest, so it workout out perfectly. Over 20 minutes that was 125 reps of each. I took a minute or 2 of rest and then ran a 7:20 mile around the neighborhood.
Still a bit sore in my legs from death by wall balls, but I think working out yesterday really helped to speed up the recovery process. I got up and went in for the 9am class today since I have an adjustment and massage at the chiropractor later today.
Warm-up
We partnered up and switch back and forth between some KB work and ab stuff.
When doing ab work we rotated between the following movements and kept going until our partner was finished with their KB reps.
AbMat Sit-ups
Mountain Climbers
Plank
While working with the KB, we did 20 reps of a movement before switching with our partner.
Russian KBS
Power KBS
KBS
Right arm Russian KBS
Left arm Russian KBS
Right arm KB Snatch
Left arm KB Snatch
Then on our own we did 10 Quarter Get-ups on each side and a couple of Turkish Get-ups an each side to warm-up. I used a 35# KB for all of this.
WOD
50 Turkish Get-ups (30# KB)
The Rx for men was 35# and Matt made it sound pretty tough, so I went down to the 30#. Doing 5 per side at a time I was able to keep a good flow and knock out the WOD in 8:22. I should have went with a 33# or 35# KB.
Finisher
We formed two lines and started doing prowler work, going from line to the other. Each prowler was loaded with a couple of 45# plates, but since I was the only guy in class today, I got to load on extra. I’m not sure how many rounds I got it, but it was probably 5 or more.
Prowler Suicide (140# load) – 10 yard high push and low push back, 20 yard high push and low push back
Prowler Walk and Sprint (135# load) – Walk with high hand position for 25 yards, low position sprint back
I don’t know why, bit I like the prowler work. A lot of people get physically sick (or close to it) from the prowler. Really good work for the legs.
On Saturday night I did the Warrior Dash for the first time. It was a lot of fun doing the obstacles. As I had expected, the run wasn’t bad at all. Now I need to step it up and try a Tough Mudder. Then on Sunday and Monday I went on a little golfing trip up to northern Michigan. It was nice to have a couple of rest days away from the WODs.
Warm-up
5 rounds
1m AbMat Sit-ups
1m Russian Twists (30# KB)
1m Plank
1m V-ups
1m Table Top (30s each side)
1m Rest
I could still feel the GHD work that I did on Friday night. This was the first time doing table tops and wow are they tough.
WOD
1m Wall Balls
3 rounds
100m Run
5 KB Snatches (L)
5 OH KB Lunges (L)
5 KB Snatches (R)
5 OH KB Lunges (R)
100m Run
1m Wall Balls
Kind of a weird WOD with the minute of wall balls at the beginning and at the end of the WOD, especially when everyone had to keep track of their own minute at the end. I got 29 wall balls that first minute and 25 at the end in the last minute. Total time for the WOD was 8:40, using a 53# KB for all of the snatches and lunges.
Finisher
100 HR Push-ups
My push-up endurance sucks. I think I started off with a set of 15 and then a set of 10, but after that it was 5s for a while and then whatever I could do. It took me 7:48 to finish off the 100.
I’m already feeling much better tonight, so I decided to do a quick garage WOD. This was the first time really using the rings after putting them up in my garage.
5 rounds
5 Ring Dips
10 Ring Rows
20 AbMat Sit-ups
Dips and rows are both weaknesses on the rings and a good push-pull combo to work on. I threw in the sit-ups because you can never work too much on the abs, right? I finished in 10:07 doing each round in pretty consistent times.
In other news, I got my latest order from Progenex today and I’m excited to get on the Omega+, which is a krill oil product to use in place of fish oil because it’s better. I ran out of fish oil last week and I’m confident I wouldn’t have been so sore from the competition if I had still been taking some. Live and learn.
Yesterday, Survival Fitness held the first Summer Open. It was a team event with one male and one female per team. It was a great event with 28 teams competing.
It was the first time I’ve competed in any event like this. The workouts were tough, but fun and rewarding. It was a great experience and very inspiring to watch the top teams. I could barely roll out of bed this morning and it’s a struggle to walk around the house. Even my fingers are sore.
All smiles before WOD #1
WOD #1
10:00 AMRAP (Clean/Deadlift – HR Push-up ladder)
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-?
Men
Clean 135#
HR Push-up
Women
Deadlift 135#
HR Push-up
Man will do 1 clean with 135# and then 1 HR push-up, then…
Woman will do 1 deadlift with 135# and then 1 HR push-up, then…
Man will do 2 cleans with 135# and then 2 HR push-ups, then…
Woman will do 2 deadlifts with 135# and then 2 HR push-ups
etc.
This was going to be our weakest workout because of the weight. If we got to the round of 10 I figured it would be good for us. We completed the 10th round and I got in 3 more cleans before time ran out. We placed 24th in the workout. My back has been wrecked for about a week and it’s even worse after this one. I have some pretty good soreness in the lower part of my back. I need to get myself on video to see if there is something I’m doing wrong with my cleans to cause the lower back issues.
The woman had it relatively easy in this one and you could really tell by the fact that the men immediately collapsed to the ground when the 10 minutes was up.
WOD #2
Partner A: 100 burpees, then tag off and…
Partner B: “Karen”
If you don’t know what “Karen” is, she’s one of the benchmark WODs:
150 Wall Ball Shots for time
Women: 16# ball, 8′ target
Men: 20# ball, 10′ target
The teams decided who is partner A and who is partner B. This workout had a 14 minute time cap and if your team didn’t finish, each rep not completed adds 1 second to your time for scoring.
Both parts of this are gassers. My partner did burpees and I did the wall balls. My PR for “Karen” is 8:51, but I knew I could do much better. As a best case scenario I was hoping my partner would complete her part under 7 minutes, giving me about 7 minutes to take a shot. She finished up just under 7 minutes and I managed to get 141 wall balls in the 7 remaining minutes. Only 9 more reps and we would have finished! The WOD was our best placing (18th) of the day. My quads and glutes are on fire today from all of the wall balls.
WOD #3
“Isometric Chipper”
15:00 AMRAP
Part 1:
60 1 arm d-bell snatch (alternate arms each rep) (45#/30#)
Other partner holds a hand stand against the wall
Part 2:
50 Goblet squats (45#/30#)
Other partner does a bottom squat hold
Part 3:
40 AbMat sit-ups
Other partner must hold a plank
Part 4:
30 K2E
Other partner does a bent knee L-hang
Part 5:
20 ring rows
Other partner holds their chin above the bar
One partner will perform the isometric hold, while the other chips away at the reps. As many switches can be made as needed. No reps are be counted if the partner breaks the isometric hold.
This was one of the most brutal workouts I’ve ever done. The isometric holds crush your soul. I was shooting to get through one round if we could. We got through the circuit once and got done with 40 more snatches, notching us a 22nd place finish in the workout. Nearly every team struggled with the ring row and chin-up hold combination at the end of the circuit because there was nothing left in the tank.
Today I’m feeling a lot of this one in my abs and especially in my upper back and shoulder area from the handstand holds. My partner had a hard time getting up on the wall, so I had to do the majority of the hand stand holds. The goblet squats most definitely contributed to the sore quads and ass I have today.
Overall we finished 25th out of 28 teams and I couldn’t be happier. My partner in the competition only started doing CrossFit about 2 months ago. I didn’t compete with any visions of placing high. I know I can’t stay with the top guys, but I enjoy the challenge and pushing myself.
In addition to these 3 workouts, the top 4 teams then did:
WOD #4
In 7:00:
Flip a 325# tire 50 yards down and 50 yards back in the parking lot.
With the remaining time, each partner then does over the box jumps (at the same time) using their own 24″ box
Score is total number of over the box jumps when you add both teammates reps together.
WOD #5
“Double DB Fran”
42-30-18
Thrusters (45#/30# DBs)
Pull-ups
With only one partner working at a time they have to do 42 thrusters, then 42 pull-ups, then 30 of each, and finally 18 of each. The team can split up the block of reps for a movement however they want but they most be completed before switching movements.
For anyone that doesn’t know, “Fran” is the most well-known CrossFit benchmark. When you ask someone their “Fran” time it’s the equivalent of asking a weightlifter how much he bench presses. In a normal “Fran” you do 21-15-9 using a 95# barbell for guys and a 65# barbell for the gals. Top athletes can finish this in under 3 minutes, but it’s an all-out sprint. My PR for DB “Fran” is 9:05, which is not very good.
Moment of the Day
My favorite moment of the day was during the 5th WOD. The male on the second place team (going into the WOD) hurt his ankle in the 4th WOD so he was only able to do a few of the thrusters. That left his partner doing nearly all of the thrusters and him doing nearly all of the pull-ups. If you’ve ever done thrusters you can already begin to imagine the suck.
Many of us have done “Fran” but we’re talking 42-30-18 here! Not 21-15-9. You could see the woman on the edge of tears each time she had to drop the DBs. The guy’s hands were tore up and bleeding all over. They were several minutes past the times of the other 3 teams in the finals and could have called it quits taking 4th in the WOD no matter what. But they dug deep, we all cheered them on, and they finished. You’ll never see anything like that in another sport. We are CrossFitters.
Judging
Four of us guys that competed ended up judging the final two events to give all of the other volunteers a break. It was kind of stressful to be in such an important role. Luckily it’s pretty easy to judge the most elite of the group because their form in usually dialed in.
After Hours
After the awards ceremony and most people went home, about 10 or 15 of us stuck around cleaning up a bit, finishing off a keg and a bunch of beer in the fridge. A couple of people that didn’t compete actually did some drinking WODs! I think I got home around 10:30. It was a long day, but worth every minute.
Photos
Here are a bunch of photos I’ve downloaded from Facebook. As folks upload more photos I’ll update the gallery here.
This morning when I woke up everything was sore. Everything. Maybe it was the way I slept or maybe I’m recovering faster and faster, because a few hours later I was feeling just fine. I skipped doing a workout out at the lake, which let me pack up and drive home so I could hit open gym at Survival Fitness. I was really looking forward to some heavy barbell work after being away on vacation with only dumbbells to work with.
Warm-up
400m Run
2 rounds
10 PVC Pass-thrus
10 PVC OHS
Strength
Deadlifts
10x 135#
5x 225#
5x 255#
5x 285#
5x 305#
3x 325#
Deadlifting felt good. My grip gave out on the last set so I was only able to get 3 reps. I think that’s more than I’ve ever done for 3 reps, so no complaints.
Power Cleans
* Every minute on the minute for 5 minutes I did the associated number of reps with a weight. After 5 minutes I took about 2 minutes while I changed weights and recovered a bit before starting on the heavier weight for the next 5 minutes.
7x 115#
4x 135#
2x 155#
2x 165#
I’ve never done anything quite like this so it was an experiment. After completing my reps, I had about 30 seconds left in most of the minutes, with slightly more when I got to the last two weight with only 2 reps each. A few months ago 165# was my clean PR and here I am doing it for reps!
WOD
4 rounds
25 HR Push-ups
25 Wall Balls (10′ with 20# MB)
25 Sit-ups
25 Box Jumps (24″)
My plan for this morning was to do “Angie” and I was still thinking about doing it at open gym, maybe with a modification like you see here to turn it into 4 rounds of 25 reps each instead of 100 straight of each movement. After doing the deadlifts and the cleans, my hands were is rough shape and I was close to having some blisters and rips, so it was an easy decision to skip pull-ups.
I decided to substitute wall balls for air squats since I hadn’t done any while away on vacation. Instead of pull-ups I threw in box jumps thinking it would be my rest station. After killing my legs with deadlifts and cleans it was rough to jump. I couldn’t rebound at all.
I completed the WOD in 23:01. Nearly 2 solid hours of work and a great way to come back to town.
Thought about making today a rest day, but I’ll make that tomorrow instead. My shoulder area is pretty sore today and I have a decent bruise on my left bicep from the ring strap when I failed on a muscle-up yesterday.
Warm-up
5:00 easy run
Tabata Sprints
7:30 easy run
I really like doing the Tabata sprints and they are great work. I should get back to doing them once a week.
WOD #1
10 rounds
10 HR Push-ups
40 yard Sprint
Walk back
Due to the walking, I didn’t think it made sense to time this. All of the push-ups were done unbroken and I ran all out on the sprints. The area where I did my sprints was a slight incline in the yard, so uneven terrain, which was a nice change from running on pavement.
WOD #2
“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10
DUs
Sit-ups
My time was 9:37, far from my 8:26 best. My DUs were not the greatest and I was really feeling the sit-ups. Didn’t take any breaks, so the time was really disappointing.
Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs 