Survival Fitness was hosting a USAW cert this weekend so I volunteered to run some out-of-the-box WODs. Saturday was an a local park with some stuff a grabbed from the gym.
Warm-up
Jog around a football field, so probably about 300-400m.
WOD
We teamed up in 3s.
20:00
30m/30m Bear crawl then lunge back (Pace setter)
Sandbag Get-ups
KB Figure 8s
The combination of bear crawls and lunges was as brutal as I expected.
Finisher
Kept the same teams and did a relay.
Each person did a sandbag run, sprint back, KB run, sprint back, going one-at-a-time
All sprint over to the sandbag and KB
Standing back-to-back-to-back, pass sandbag around the circle 25 times in each direction.
All sprint back to the start
Each person did a sandbag run, sprint back, KB run, sprint back, going one-at-a-time
Was feeling good until doing jump rope in the warm-up and then I could feel my lower back tightening up from those deadlifts yesterday. Went in for the noon class.
Warm-up
3m Jump Rope
2 Rounds:
10 Ring Rows
10 Burpees
10 PVC Pass-thrus
2×6/6 Turkish Get-ups
I used a 35# KB for my first set of 6 on each side. Then Emily told mo to try them with a barbell. I did 4 on the right side with an 18# bar which was too light. Switched to a 35# bar and did 4 more, then 6 on the left side. Using a bar adds another level of control to the movement and was a nice change.
WOD
100 DU
Split this up any way you want:
100 Pull-ups
100 Walking Lunges
100 Push-ups
100 DU
I got through the first 100 DU is about 1:10, then I did 10 rounds of 10s. All pull-ups were done without coming off the bar and no breaks on the lunges. I had to reset my rhythm a few times on the butterfly, but I think that is the best I’ve ever done pull-ups in my life. I did 3 unbroken sets of push-ups (all chest to deck) and then 6-4 until the last set where I forced myself to go unbroken again. The last 100 DU were a little struggle since I pushed so hard through the middle hundreds. Finished in 15:56, which crushed the best time of the day.
I went to bed later than normal, so didn’t wake up quite as early as I have been. Still had time to get in my first WOD of the day before my brother and Mom woke up though. I can feel the effects of the weighted step-ups from last night already, so as the day goes on and in to tomorrow it should be interesting.
Warm-up
5 rounds
1m Plank
1m Bottom Squat Hold
WOD
50 reps of each
DUs
Plank Push-ups
Star Jumps
T2B (on rings)
SDLHP (50# KB)
Walking Lunges
V-ups
Push Presses (35# DBs)
KBS (50# KB)
HR Push-ups
DUs
I set a new PR by doing the first 15 T2B unbroken with kipping. The rings on the tree worked out really well. After the first 15 I did them 5 at a time. Push Presses were done in 5 sets of 10, KBS in sets of 20, 15, and 15, and I tried to stick to sets of 10 for the HR Push-ups, but that broke down a bit after 30 reps. My total time was 30:31, but it would have been under 30 had I not turned a single knot into a double when I picked up the rope and tried to fix it. I wasted over 30 seconds getting those out. Ugh!
I’ve been doing a lot of WODs in the 10 minute range, so it was good to get in a long chipper like this. After I get a late breakfast I’ll probably head out for a trip on the kayak and then I plan to do the Hero WOD “Brenton” later today.
Yesterday morning I walked 18 holes of golf and qualified for the Saginaw District Golf Association Invitational Tournament. It got up into the mid or high 90 and was a long day. Perfect timing for a CrossFit rest day! Feeling good and back at it today. When I woke up I knocked out one set of max rep push-ups and decided the Armstrong Pull-up Program just isn’t worth the time. It’s so boring compared to WODs, so I’m done with it.
Matt, the owner of the gym, attended a CrossFit Level 1 Certification over the weekend and will next be working on getting Survival Fitness affiliated as an official CrossFit box next. Pretty exciting stuff. He learned a lot and you could already see it in the way he ran today’s class. I don’t mean anything bad about previous classes by saying that, I just felt like he had more confidence in his teaching of certain movements and pointing out some of our technique issues. It’ll make us all better.
Warm-up
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Mountain Climbers
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m PVC Pass-thrus
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Lateral hops (30s each leg)
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Bicycles
1m Bottom Squat Hold
1m Jumping Jacks
We’ve been doing a lot of these bottom squat holds and I think it’s helping to open up my hips more. Matt pointed out that I had too much of a round in my back though, so I have to fight for a better position.
WOD
Teams of 2 (45:00 limit)
200 Air Squats
100 T2B
150 Burpees
500m Run holding a 20# MB (both people run at the same time and at the pace of the slowest)
150 Box Jumps (24″)
100 Pull-ups
200 Walking Lunge Steps
200 SDLHP (barbell loaded to 95#)
Only 1 person is working at a time except during the run. The goal is to keep a high intensity and hand off to your partner when you start to slow down. The hand off is hard to do, even when you know you are starting to slow, because you want to keep knocking out reps. I attended the 8pm class, which is the last class of the day and no team had completed the WOD all day. The closest anyone got was 49 reps left by a team of 2 of the fittest women at Survival Fitness. I was paired up with Brent, which was a good pairing because we are both near the top of the men at SF. We flew along pretty good, but the pull-ups slowed us down and then the SDLHP were absolutely brutal. I’m sure I’ll be feeling those tomorrow. We pushed it hard through the entire 45 minutes and fell 33 reps shy of completing the WOD, but set the record for the day. With a little better strategy I think we could have finished. Next time!
Yesterday while watching golf, I downloaded a bunch of Survival Fitness videos from Facebook and compiled them into a movie.
My body is pretty freaking sore all over. I haven’t felt like this in a couple of months, so I can tell the WODs have been great and the extra work I’m putting in is paying off . Yesterday I mentioned my tailbone was really sore. Well, it’s more than that. I have two quarter-sized floor burn marks on the sides of my tailbone. No wonder in hurts to sit down! Sorry, no pictures. 😉
Do you ever get bruises in CrossFit and have no idea where they came from? I have one under my right arm and a matching one under my armpit almost all the way to my back. Weird.
I did the push-ups of Armstrong Pull-up Program when I got out of bed this morning. It’s a nice way to start the day. I went in to the noon class today and it was packed with 20 people. Since class was so big we had to skip around during the movements, but it all worked out.
Warm-up
5 rounds
1m Deep Squat Hold
1m Mountain Climbers
I was stiffer than usual from the squat holds and 1 minute is a long time to do mountain climbers in a row, so I had to take 2-3 short breaks for them each round.
WOD
50 of each
DUs
Burpees
MB Snatches (20#)
Push Presses (30# DBs)
Wall Balls (20#)
K2E
Walking Lunges
KBS (53#)
Jumping Pull-ups
Box Jumps (24″)
It was ordered different on the board, but this is the order I ended up doing. I finished in 32:01. Most people did tuck jumps, but I was able to string together a few DUs before we started, so I went with DUs and completed them in 4 sets. I think I need to start practicing them again.
Later tonight I’ll do the nightly pull-ups and then it’s 2 days off from Armstrong Pull-ups. Tomorrow will also be a day off from CrossFit, which I’m really looking forward to. I will get out and walk 18 holes of golf.
Update: I just couldn’t stand sitting around later in the evening even though I went out and walked 9 holes of golf after lunch. I had to lace up the shoes and go out for a run, so I did a 5 minute warm-up, Tabata sprints, and a 5 minute cool down. In 14:14 I covered a total of 1.73 miles.
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.
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!
Another great night of sleep, so I’m feeling great.
Warm-up
400m Run
2x
10 Groiners (5 each leg)
10 Supermans
10 PVC Sit-ups
10 KBS
I used a 35# KB for the warm-up swings.
Strength
3-2-1-3-2-1 Back Squats with 2-3m rest between sets
Sort of a weird rep/set scheme, but it actually worked out really well. Warmed up with 6 reps of just the bar and then 6 reps at 135#. For working sets I used 185# (3), 195# (2), 205# (1), 195# (3), 215# (2), and 230# (1). The 230# was a PR and we had time left so I went for 240# and got another PR. Squats felt great today. As the weight got heavy I made sure to take a deep breath and hold it until the bottom of the squat. I always forget to focus on that and it really helped to keep everything tight and ready for the way back up.
WOD
10m AMRAP
5 Burpee Pull-ups
10 KBS
15 DB Walking Lunges
No hiding out in this WOD. Everything was pretty intense. The pull-ups weren’t too bad because it was mostly a jump from the burpee. I used a 62# KB for the swings and held 45# DBs for the lunges. I was able to finish 4 rounds plus 5 burpee pull-ups, 10 KBS, and 10 of the DB walking lunges.
Only one week left in Phoenix after today and then it’s back to Michigan. I’m going to miss the 9am crew at CrossFit Full Strength!
My shoulders and wrists are pretty sore from doing OH squats yesterday. Everything else is feeling good though. My hand is healing faster than the last time I ripped, but this one wasn’t as deep either.
Warm-up
2 Rounds
20 Band walks (each direction)
15 Band Presses
15s Rhomboid Stretch
15s Samson Stretch
3 Hand Walks
Strength
4 Sets
4-6 Shoulder Presses, 1-1-X-1 tempo
90s Rest
20 DB Walking Lunges
90s Rest
I wasn’t sure how the shoulder presses would go since I just did a bunch of OHS yesterday. Warmed up with the bar and then did 6 reps each at 95#, 105#, and 115#. I had previously done 123# twice, but got 3 reps in today. The sets really felt good. For the walking lunges I used 40# DBs.
WOD
5 Rounds
MAX Pull-ups
TBD Broad Jumps
Complete 30 total reps each round. So, if you do 20 pull-ups on your first set, you must do 10 broad jumps before returning to the pull-up bar.If you can easily perform more than 30 consecutive pull-ups, drop on 29 and do your 1 broad jump before returning to the bar for your second round of max reps pull-ups.
I used tape grips on my hands and tried to grip the bar more in my fingers instead of my palms. It worked because I don’t have any new rips. I do have a little blister that formed under the knuckle on my left ring finger. My rounds of pull-ups came out to be 11, 9, 7, 8, and 8. Eleven is a new kipping PR! If I don’t kick my legs back so far when I get tired I think I could string together more. After the first round of pull-ups I’m 95% sure I started counting broad jumps from 0 so I did 30 of them. I was wondering why everyone finished so far ahead of me on that set. My total time for the WOD was 6:22.
After class I started to get an understanding of how to do a muscle-up, but I was dead from the pull-ups so there was no chance of it happening. When I got back home I pulled out the jump rope for a few quick attempts at DUs. Easily was stringing together some small streaks. Just wanted to make sure I don’t lose it.
Last night I was patiently waiting for the CrossFit Games site to release the first Open workout. I get so excited about competing, going on golf trips, and shit like this. I was very happy to see the first WOD didn’t involve heavy weights.
Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes of: Burpees
One thing most people aren’t used to for burpees is you have to put a target 6 inches above your reach and touch it with both hands on each rep. This is for judging online videos and so everyone is held to the same standards. I got to the box about a half hour before the 9am class since it was open gym from 8-9 and I could get the workout done and stay for class.
Warm-up
I did a slow 400m row.
I had never done a huge set of burpees so I wasn’t sure what I was capable of. My goal was to get 100, which averages out to 15 per minute. I started out fast, trying to get to the ground as fast as I could. I was right around 20 after 1 minute. Ahead of pace. From there it was burpee hell. I only stopped for a second or two here and there and tried to keep a steady past the rest of the way. I think I picked back up in the final minute and managed to get 92. Shy of 100, but I’m happy with that.
I am now a CrossFit Games athlete! 🙂
Warm-up?
Since I just finished 7 minutes of burpees I skipped most of the warm-up, but jumped in at the end for Tabata sit-ups.
Strength
4 Sets
20 Walking Lunge (steps)
60s Rest
I used 50# DBs in each hand. It was plenty of weight.
WOD
5 Rounds
5 Power Cleans
10 Burpees
Just what I needed, more fucking burpees! I swapped them out and did 15 ring rows each round instead. Set a new PR for cleans by using 145#. Finished in a time of 10:46.
Fitting way to end a tough week of workouts. Now I’m out of the box until Monday because I have a work conference and workshops Friday through Sunday. I may get up early and do Tabata sprints on Saturday or Sunday though.
Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs 