Tuesday 12/28:

3 Rounds:
500m Row
12 Muscle -ups

15:54 Rx.

This was a mainsite WOD from 2006.  Tough combo.  I'm still not a fan of doing muscle-ups through the ceiling since smashing my head on the ceiling that one time.

Thursday 12/30:

Again Faster WOD 12:

AMRAP in 10:16 (my time remaining):
6 HSPU
8 over the box jumps (24/20")
10 DB hang squat cleans (40#)

5 rds +2 db hang squat cleans

Made it through 3 rounds of HSPU's unbroken!  Stoked!  I got pretty disoriented between the HSPU's and the over the box jumps.  Last round of HSPU I tried to kip my final rep to finish and failed.  Tried to kip one more and failed again by coming off the wall.  Rested a bit, then did a normal one and finished the HSPU's.  Probably could have finished round 6 if I didn't fail that rep twice.

And if that wasn't enough. I hopped in the tabata bottom to bottom squats with the class. Held 18 the whole way.  That was tough.

Monday 12/27/10:

3 Rounds:
10 deadlifts
30 GHD sit-ups

6:25 @ 315#. 

I was pretty slow on the GHD's.  First round was unbroken, second round broke into 3 sets, third round was down to a few at a time.  Did the first two rounds of deads unbroken, was going to go unbroken on the third but at rep 7 got a nasty headache and decided to set the bar down and take some time to let the pounding stop.  Other than the headache, I felt pretty good going heavy on the deads. 

I'm currently working out a new training plan for the new year.  I'm in the process of assessing some weaknesses and trying to figure out a good mix of programming to hit everything. 

Thursday:

CF Total II

Clean, 1 rep
Bench press, 1 rep
OHS, 1 rep

Clean: 245/260f/255f/250f
Bench: 245/255f/250f
OHS: 185/195/210

Got my strength on with Tom and Moe.  Fun total even though my numbers weren't too great.  I did too many warmups on the cleans and then jumped a bit too high too fast.  I just wasn't feeling the bench, perhaps due to all the ring push-ups the day before...  The OHS's felt really heavy pretty early, but after a bit, and failing to lock out a few reps, things came together and hit a 10# PR.

Afterwards, I worked on a bunch of HSPU's.  Did a few max rep sets where I would do as many in a row real HSPU's and then start kipping to get a few more.  I'm hoping I can use this technique to get a few more reps out of the AMRAP for  AF's WOD 12.  

Tuesday:

One minute on, one minute off:


30 KB Swings - 2 pood
*You have 1 minute to get 30 KB swings. If you do not get 30 KB Swings in 1 minute, count a penalty.
*Perform this workout one minute on and one minute off. Total time is 10 minutes.
*For every penalty counted, perform a 1000 meter row.

 30/30/27/23/23. Tested this one out for Tom to see if it would be a good WOD for the box.  This was definitely a tough one!  My grip was completely shot at the third round.  Unbroken the first two rounds, then all hell broke loose once I had to set the KB down.  We changed the penalty a bit, and instead of rowing, we took the amount of reps I was short at the end (17) and then did that many HSPU's on parallettes.


"Ninja Kim"

3 Rds:

Row 30 calories
30 ring push-ups
30 Pistols, alternating
30 Double Unders

13:36.  Since I didn't get a chance to try out Kim's bday WOD, I decided today would be a good day.  After the KB swing fun from last night, I was feeling pretty beat up, so this WOD was perfect for today. 

20 rep Back Squat:

205#

AMRAP in 15 min. of:
5 Deadlifts (225#)
7 CTB Pull-ups
20 Double Unders

13 rds +1 CTB.  This was an awesome AMRAP!  I went unbroken on the CTB's through round 7 or 8.  Then I broke them into pretty much 4 and 3.  Once the CTB's started going, I switched my grip around more often, and went to mostly chin-up grip, or a more Amundson style pull-up.

After my 20 rep back squat, I played around a little bit with some snatch balances.  I haven't done these is a long time, so I didn't go too heavy.  More just getting used to them again.  I think it's just about time to start hitting the oly lifts again and getting back into the snatch more often...beep booooop.

Friday:

20 rep back squat:

200#.

"JT"
21-15-9 of:
HSPU
Ring dips
push-ups

16:57.  This one was rough.  I knew going in my HSPU's would be down to 2's or singles, but I wasn't expecting the push-ups to be so hard!  First set of push-ups I hit 3 or 4 and was like "HOLY CRAP!"  However, I did not scale this WOD by going to kipping HSPU's!

Saturday:

Team Squatch training:

"Nasty Girls"

3 rounds:
50 Squats
7 Muscle-ups
10 Hang power cleans (135#)

7:42.  This is a good WOD.  Went with Derek and Tom after the 10am class due to a ton of people showing up today.  I set up the low rings which affected my performance a lot.  I was able to do full turnout through the first 7 muscle-ups, but then in the second round I decided to abandon the turnout due to the fact that my knees were almost on the ground every time I would turnout. 

Tuesday I was feeling pretty beat up after the AF WOD 11, so I didn't really want to do much of a crushing WOD.  Jeremy and I came up with a nice little AMRAP to work on some skills.

AMRAP in 12 min. of:
3 Ring dips (45#)
6 L-Pull-ups
9 Toes to Bar

6+7 TTB.  I need to start working on the L-pull-ups again.  Kind of forgot how hard they are.

Wednesday I kind of took the day off.  I was still feeling pretty beat up in the legs, so I did a lot of rolling, some mobility WODs and then finished off with a Tabata row to see if that loosened things up a bit.  The row felt pretty good, and did loosen the legs up a bit.

This morning was the rematch of the AF WOD 11.  Went with Pat to see if we could push each other.  Went with a totally different rep scheme, and was able to shave 16 seconds off my previous time.  I would have liked more, but considering I really didn't sleep last night, I'm happy to even be under my time from Monday.  I broke it up this time as follows:

130 Double Unders
16 Deadlifts (225#)
35 Thrusters
40 Double Unders
12 Deadlifts
25 Thrusters
30 Double Unders
12 Deadlifts
15 Thrusters

7:55.  Snagged on 110 or so in the first set of DU's.  Then got the next 20 pretty quick.  I tried to move slower and pace myself more to avoid hitting the wall like last time.  I had a nice steady pace on the deads, and really tried to focus on slowing my thrusters down and breathing more during them.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it went, and it wasn't any better this time around.  It still hurt something awful and I felt like complete crap after it was done.

AF WOD 11

20 Rep Back Squat.

195#.

AF WOD 11:
200 Double unders
9000# deadlift
75 Thrusters (45#)

8:11.  This was way worse than I was expecting.  Those light thrusters really kicked my ass.  This attempt I broke it up as follows:

50 DU's
25 Thrusters
14 Deadlifts (225#)
50 DU's
25 Thrusters
13 Deadlifts
50 DU's
25 Thrusters
13 Deadlifts
50 DU's

This worked pretty well.  I completely ran out of gas when I hit the last round.  I actually had to stop my double unders simply because I could not breathe anymore.  Those thrusters really snuck up on me.  Actually broke up the last set of 25 since I was so gassed.  Will come up with a different strategy and do this one again on Thursday.  Hopefully I can go at least sub 7 min.

Sectionals training:

"Josh"
21 OHS (95#)
42 Pull-ups
15 OHS
30 Pull-ups
9 OHS
18 Pull-ups

6:20.  Felt pretty crappy after the first round of pull-ups.  Started feeling a little sick to my stomach.  Took a few extra seconds to let things calm down before hitting the second set of OHS.  I was able to do all of my OHS's unbroken.  The Pull-ups disappeared a lot quicker than I thought they would.  Talk about total arm pump! 

Later in the afternoon, I hit up another WOD, this time with a team at the affiliate gathering. 

7.5 minutes to establish a 3RM on the bench.

switch

7.5 minutes for:
total meters rowed
total rope climbs

This was an interesting twist on a WOD.  We divided the team in half and one half started on the bench, while the other half started on the rowing and rope climbs.  We could divide the work up any way we wanted to.

I hit 230# on the bench, and probably could have squeezed out a bit more.  When we switched to the row/rope climbs, Jesse did all the rowing and I alternated rope climbs with another teammate.  I was definitely feeling all of the pull-ups from "Josh" in the morning.  It was a totally fun WOD! 

Friday night was day 2 of my 20 rep squat program.

190#.  Added 5# from Monday's 20 reps.  Felt pretty good. 

AMRAP in 12 min. of:

4 HSPU's (rings)
8 KTE
12 Split snatches (95#)

4 +3 split snatches.  This was a hard WOD!  Never done split snatches in a wod before, and they were definitely interesting.  Pretty tough.  I didn't really have any jump left in the hips after the 2k row on Thursday and "Diane." 

Video from the Forward roll/ Handstand walk WOD:
Muscle-up/Forward roll/Pistol/Handstand walk WOD from Mark Buskas on Vimeo.

Thursday's WOD was 2k full of suck.

2k row.

6:49.6!  OWWIE!!!  I literally fell off the rower.  It was good to go at the same time as Pat as it kept me pushing, even though I wanted to quit.  With around 900m left I went hypoxic and seriously considered quitting.  It was not a good feeling.  Stoked to hit sub 7!

Then after awhile of recovering from the row, Tom and I threw down on a WOD.

"Diane"
21-15-9 of:
Deadlifts (225#)
HSPU

8:07.  May not have been a PR over my 165# days, but I was stoked to crank out that many HSPU's!  Did sets of 5 in the 21's.  Finished the 9's with sets of 2 with a couple singles in there.  I think the handstand walks have increased my strength dramatically for the HSPU's.

Get Uncomfortable!

Tuesday was my "get uncomfortable in a WOD" day.  Jeremy and I decided to get crazy and do a recent mainsite WOD.

3 Rounds:
10 Muscle-ups
10 Forward rolls
20 Pistols
20yd Handstand walk

33:56.  We weren't really going for time since we both knew we need to work on handstand walking a lot more.  Jeremy and I traded off on the muscle-ups and handstand walks.  Could probably shave off a good 10 minutes if I tried to push myself faster.  Believe it or not, this WOD was actually super fun!  The forward rolls left me extremely dizzy, and only wanted to do a couple at a time. 

Back At It

Yesterday I got back to squatting.  Since the heavy squat cleans felt good on Saturday, I figured it was time to start throwing the weight back on the back squats.  Rather than just jump right back to my old Wendler weights, and probably do something stupid and hurt myself, I'm going to kind of ease back into things.  Figured this would be a good time to try a slightly different approach to some strength training.

20 rep Back Squat

185#. 

So here's how this is going to work.  You're supposed to take your best 5 rep max and then take 80# off of that.  Since I'm just easing back into things, I decided let's start at BW, sounded like a good idea.  You are going to squat twice a week.  For me I'm thinking Monday's and Thursdays or Fridays, not sure yet.  Each time you squat add 5#.  The goal is to get 20 reps unbroken.  If you have to break them up, take as little rest as you can and get right back on the bar and keep going till you hit 20 reps.  The idea is that if you took 80# off your 5RM, in 8 weeks your 5RM will now be a 20 rep max.  Sounds pretty awesome eh!?

I warmed up on some OHS, and then hit a tough little WOD, with a fun and nasty little twist.

21-15-9 reps of:
OHS (135/95)
GHD sit-up wallballs (20/14)

9:39.  The GHD wallballs are freaking nasty!  I could really feel my abs and quads working extra hard to string these together.  Started off with around 9 or 10 in a row, then was down to 3's or 4's the rest of the way. 

Sectionals

Yesterday was a good day to start off some sectionals training.  Great group of athletes all ready to throwdown! 

12-9-6 reps of:
Squat clean (175/105#)
HSPU

8:58.  This was a good one.  First time lifting heavy in two weeks.  Felt good, other than feeling like I haven't squatted heavy in awhile. 

Tomorrow I'm going to start up Wendler again.  I'm going to take some weight off my previous numbers as to not just jump back to super heavy weights.  Probably somewhere around 15-20# or so.  Also going to take a look at my volume of training and try to tweak some things and add more variety and not just a lot of heavy lifting.  Also, I am going to push myself to do 1 WOD a week that will crush me.  Crush in the sense of, I may not be able to do some of the exercises.  I recommend for anyone to read Blair Morrison's article in the CrossFit Journal.  Time to get uncomfortable!

Thursday was a good day.  After taking Tuesday and Wednesday off, my body felt pretty good going into Thursdays WOD.  While my body was feeling rested, sleep wise was the opposite. 

Complete 2 rounds of each of the following couplets:

"Adriana"
Row 36 calories
36 Wall ball shots (20/14)

"Steven"
21 Burpees
42 One arm KB swings (53/35)

14:28.  Stormed through the row/wall ball and had a good lead on Tom.  For some reason decided to do sets of 10 kb swings and then set the kb down.  Tom came back during the first set of swings and started the second set of burpees just ahead of me.  I sped up the burpees a bit to retake the lead, and then went to sets of 5 swings per arm with switching in the air.  This worked much better and was way faster.  Don't know why I didn't even think of doing this the first set.

After the Bday WOD, Tom and I came up with a nasty little gymnastics WOD. 

9-6-3 reps of:
Muscle-ups
Ring handstand push-ups
Skin the cats

12:32.  Surprisingly, the muscle-ups were the hardest part for me.  I don't know what it was, but I just could not do them very well.  Must have been more wiped out from the Bday WOD than I thought.


Friday was a horrible AMRAP.

AMRAP in 20 min. of:
12 Power snatches (65/45)
10 Push-ups

15 rds +4 power snatches.  I simply could not hold onto the bar anymore.  As I write this, I have realized that I have a couple blood blisters on my hands from all the snatches.  I ended up doing probably around 6-7 rounds unbroken on the snatches, then went to sets of 8/4 for the most part.  I slowed down my cycle time on the snatches from my normal pace to make sure and get my back set on every rep.  The back feels good, other than being tight this morning. 

Pistols and HSPU's

Since I'm still taking it easy on the heavy lifting, and since Mondays are usually my squat day, I really felt like doing some pistols.  I was originally looking at doing a kind of variation of "Mary,"  but Jeremy and I kind of changed things up and decided to just do a couplet of HSPU's and pistols.  Our original thought of a 20 minute AMRAP would have been absolutely brutal.  I think we made the right decision as far as time domains go.  Probably would have been good to change the rep scheme a bit or maybe add one more exercise, but it still kicked my ass so all good.

AMRAP in 15 min. of:

3 HSPU
12 Pistols

14 rounds.

The HSPU's felt pretty good throughout this one.  I even did a couple freestanding HSPU's on accident.  The pistols felt strong, even towards the final rounds.  All in all, a good little WOD, and with a little tweaking, it would be great.

"Lynne"

Felt pretty good yesterday, that is until Tom and I started "Lynne."  I remember when I used to really like this WOD.  Yesterday it was rough!  I felt dead after the first round!  My bench press really sucks, definitely need to work on that.  I think I'm going to ease back into the heavy weights this coming week, and then hopefully start up Wendler again the following week.

"Lynne"

5 rounds for max reps:
Bench press, bodyweight
Pull-ups

*there is no time component

15/34, 11/32, 8/25, 7/20, 5/16

46/127 = 173

So after taking several days off, I felt like I had to do something today.  When I finally got up to SnoRidge, I decided to do some rowing while Tom hit up a WOD.  Things were feeling pretty good during the row so I kept going.  Ended up doing a 5k on the erg.  I know some of you might think I'm crazy for doing a 5k, but rest assured it was an "easy" 5k.  I was around 2:00/500m splits the whole way.  Dipped into the 1:50 range a couple times to test things out, but didn't stay there for too long.

So now several hours after the 5k, everything is feeling good.  Maybe I'll do a couple more rows over the next few days, and then start hitting the weights again next week.

On Hold

So Thursday I was feeling a bit better, and decided to do a WOD that I figured wouldn't really cause any back issues or anything.

AMRAP in 12 min. of:
9 DB thrusters, 35#
1 Rope climb, 15ft.

13 rds.

This was a real gasser.  Felt pretty good afterwards though.  Saturday after my test in Tacoma, I went to hit up a WOD with Tom and Jeremy.  Jeremy came up with the idea of HSPU's on parallettes and then some back squats.

3 Rounds:
5 HSPU on parallettes
15 BW back squats

First round I reached my 1 week goal of 4 consecutive hspu's on parallettes, and actually did all 5 in a row!  First round of back squats went easy.  Second round the hspu's were horrible, I ended up doing them one at a time.  Then I was making up some time on the back squats, and then all of a sudden on rep 7 tweaked my back again.  Stopped right then as to not make anything worse.  It's feeling slightly better today after some heating patches and some rolling out on the lacrosse ball.

So in light of this I will be taking a little time off to not strain it any further.  So, for the time being, all of my current goals are on hold.  Time to rest up and work out the kinks, and work on some gymnastic skills.

So Tuesday, I just wasn't feeling it after work.  I just had zero energy.  I decided to at least get in and get my Wendler squats done. 

Back Squat:
125/160/190
5x205
5x240
5+x270 x8 reps

I called it a day after that, so I could get some rest and maybe do a double today.  When I was doing some mobility wods this morning, my back kind of got tweaked, and so I decided to not hit up "Nancy" like I was originally planning.  Probably a very good idea, as my back is pretty sore sitting here typing this.  Not sure what's up with it, but hopefully a few days off will get it back feeling good.  Since I felt like I needed to do something, I did a Tucker skill set.

100 Ice cream makers
100 shoot-thrus

I used the green band for the ice cream makers, and they started to get real tough real quick.  Same thing with the shoot-thrus.  I was down to sets of 5 pretty fast.  Hopefully tomorrow I will wake up and my back will feel better.  I'll probably just hit my Wendler bench and then maybe do something bodyweight for a WOD. 

Some Experimenting

Time to get back to Wendler, and some more oly work.  I'm mixing things up a bit for this cycle of Wendler and doing a little experiment.  Since my deadlift is not really a weak area for me, I'm taking it out of this cycle.  Instead, I'm going to deadlift heavy at least once a week now.  With my new 1 month goal of completing "King Kong," I'm going to try something a little different.  I'm going to try a Wendler cycle with squat cleans.  We'll see how this works...I'm betting it's going to be tough!  In addition to getting back to the Wendler cycles, I'm going to start focusing again on the Snatch, and also some Jerks. 

Monday:

Press, working load of 145#
60/75/90
5x95
5x110
5+x125  x9 reps

Snatch Push Press: 5x3

95/105/115.  These are a little weird to get used to.  Still going with lighter weights to work on them and get used to the movement.

Barski Snatch:  work up to 75% x3x5  (no straps, no setting the bar down.  All reps from the hang)

125#.  These were tough.  I really tried to focus on being fast under the bar.  These definitely build a little confidence in jumping under the bar.  The last few sets got tough on the third reps.

WOD:

3 Rounds
1 min. max rep pull-ups
1 min. max rep ring dips
1 min. rest

*45# vest

19/13, 18/11, 18/10.  I forgot how tough weighted dips are!  The pull-ups felt pretty good yesterday.  First set was 9 reps with standard overhand grip.  Quickly switched to a mix grip and then most of the reps in the second and third round were "chin-up" grip.

Now off to today's training!

Saturday Fun

Jeremy, Michelle and I came up with a nasty little WOD.  It was short and heavy.

AMRAP in 10 min. of
3 Front Squats (bodyweight)
10 Box jumps (24"/20")

rest 2 min., then:

Max muscle-ups in 4 min.

9 rounds + 15 muscle-ups (205#)

I decided to up the weight a bit and went with 205#.   This was a good choice for me.  Also, rather than use the rack, I decided to squat clean all of the first reps.  My legs were still sore from the 200 squats I did on Thursday, so the front squats felt plenty heavy.  The two minute rest seemed to disappear rather quickly, and the muscle-ups were pretty tough after this AMRAP.  I tried to do as many muscle-ups as I could without a false grip.  I got 3 in a row to start things off, then went for another 3 and failed the third.  Did one more to get a total of 6 regular grip muscle-ups, then switched to the false grip and hit a total of 15.  It's pretty fun doing something like max muscle-ups after wearing yourself out in a WOD.

Whole Lotta Squattin

Met up with Tom and Michelle yesterday for a WOD.  We played around with a bunch of skill work before picking an old mainsite WOD and throwing down.

Skills:

I worked on some presses to handstands against the wall.  I'm trying to get back into working on some more challenging gymnastic movements, which should help when stuff like the Muscle-up into HSPU pops up. 

Next went for a set of max double unders.

127!  PR of 7.  I felt like I could have done more, but the handles were slipping out of my hands on the last several reps.

WOD:

10 min. HSPU
5 min. Squats
2 min. Pull-ups
1 min. Push-ups

44/200/45/29 = 318 reps.

This is a totally deceiving WOD!  The 10 minutes of HSPU seem to last forever.  It's like a strength WOD built into it.  I started off with sets of 3 and was able to keep doing sets of 3 almost the whole time.  Did a set of 2 towards the end and a couple singles.  Then when you hit the squats, the time seems to disappear as you are cranking out the squats.  The heart rate starts to get jacked and you start breathing heavy.  Then you jump to the pull-up bar and when you think you have quite a bit of time to knock out some pull-ups, you all of a sudden only get 3-4 sets.  Then the push-ups hit, and they are nowhere to be found.  The minute is gone before you know it.

Great WOD, even though I felt pretty crappy afterwards.

Tuesday was a tough WOD.  Didn't have a ton of time since I wanted to get in before work. 

AMRAP in 20 min. of:
10 Squat Snatch (95#)
10 Ring Dips
10 KTE

6 +4 snatches.  This was a weird one.  The snatches felt super light, and I had no problem with all the squatting.  The ring dips were never an issue either, and did almost all the rounds unbroken.  I just spent a lot of time resting, trying to get my grip back.  I simply couldn't hold onto the bar anymore on the snatches and KTE.


This morning, Tom stopped by before work and of course we had to throw down on todays WOD.

"Lumberjack 20"
20 Deadlifts (275#)
run 400m
20 KB swings (2pd)
run 400m
20 OHS (115#)
run 400m
20 Burpees
run 400m
20 CTB Pull-ups
run 400m
20 Box Jumps (24")
run 400m
20 DB squat cleans (45#)
run 400m

23:09 Rx.  This is a brutal WOD.  Last time I did this one, I ended up using the women's weights because my back was messed up, and then after this one my back was destroyed for several months.  It's amazing how things have changed over almost a year.  I tried to get a little bit of a lead since I knew Tom was going to be strong on the OHS's, and runs.  Blew through the deadlifts, and took off in front.  Took a couple extra seconds before starting the KB swings and finished just in front of Tom.  Sure enough, he went unbroken on the OHS, and I lost balance and dropped it at 10, then again at 13, then finished the set out.  I gained back a little ground on the burpees, and CTB pull-ups, but my runs were slow.  I think tomorrow will be a skill day, maybe work on some gymnastics.

Easy Day

Yesterday's WOD was the perfect WOD after Saturday's strongman competition.  All day Sunday My back was stiff, everything was sore, and had zero energy.  Woke up Monday feeling quite a bit better than I thought I would.  Warming up and stretching felt pretty crappy, but things loosened up quite a bit once I started the WOD. 

7 Rounds:
10 Wall ball shots, 20#
10 Pull-ups

5:02 Rx.  This was kind of a "going through the motions" day.  I wasn't really trying to set a blistering time or anything.  I took my time walking between the wall balls and the pull-ups.  I was just hoping that all this moving would loosen everything up and get rid of all the junk.  It definitely did that.

Mt. Rainier's Strongest Man and Woman

Yesterday we did Epic shit!

Tom, Sean, Moe, Pat, and I all competed in Mt. Rainier's Strongest Man and Woman.  This was an amazing event, and tons of people came out to show their support and donate money to Fragile X research. 

Event 1:

1RM Deadlift (Appolon's Axle)

503#, 2nd place.  After much debate over where to start on my 3 attempts, and where to go with my attempts, I decided to start with 443#.  This felt pretty good and proceeded to hit 463#.  This felt really good, and with a little encouragement, decided it was time to go for it.  Hit 503# which is a 3# PR over my regular bar deadlift!  Stoked!!!

Event 2:

2 Rounds:
200m Run
5 Stone loads to 50"  (200# stone)
2 Rope climbs

6:11, 4th place.  Honestly, this was the event I was a little nervous about.  After failing a stone load during a practice run a couple weeks ago, I knew how much time it added to the overall time.  Once I started going, I just tried to forget about that practice run and took a little extra time on the stone loads to make sure that every one made it on top of the platform.

Event 3:

3 Rounds:
7 Log press/push press/jerk (140#)
21 Double-unders

2:36, 4th place.  I knew going into this event how this one would go which was nice.  I was able to take a little less rest this time compared to the first time I did this WOD a couple weeks ago.  This is a deceiving little couplet.  The Log is a while different ball game.  While the load seems pretty "light," it feels so much heavier than 140#. 

Event 4:

Farmer's Carry/ Sandbag carry medley

:36.6.  This was a tough little event.  The farmer's carry handles for my weight class were 210# each.  Yes, each hand, so 420# total weight!  Those felt extremely heavy!  When I picked them up, I just leaned forward a bit and the weight started carrying me forward, and I was just hoping that my feet could keep up!  The sandbag weight was 200# for my weight class.  It is totally awkward to pick up a 200# sandbag and run with it. 

Overall, I think I finished in 4th place.  This event was SO much fun!  I'll definitely be back for next years, and I would encourage everyone to give it a try, even if you have to scale some of the loads.  It was a total blast doing these "different" events and lifts.  Some stone molds are definitely in my future, and quite possibly a log! 

Light week

So with Mt. Rainier's Strongest Man & Woman coming up on Saturday, I'm going to take it a little light this week.  I'm putting the Wendler 5/3/1 on hold and will resume and restart this last cycle next Monday.

Front Squat 3x5

225/225/225#

10 Rounds:
1 Clean & Jerk
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

13:18, 205#

I figured some squats wouldn't hurt me too much for the weekend, so I did a few front squats, since it's been a while since I've done any front squats.  Then picked the mainsite WOD from a few days ago.  This one was a tough combo!  I figured 205# would be heavy, but still manageable in the later rounds under fatigue.  I ended up power cleaning each rep, and then just as I thought, the jerks got pretty tough towards the end.  This was a brutal little combo.  The clean and jerks took out your squatting muscles, then the round of Cindy got your heart going, and the squats really made the cleans tough.

Catch Up

Wendler Squat:

130/160/190
3x220
3x255
3+285 x5

Wendler Press:
60/75/90
3x105
3x120
3+x130 x7

7 rounds:
Row 100m
10 ring dips
10 pistols

9:08

Friday I finally got around to getting my wendler squats and presses done.  The squats felt super heavy after a week of destroying the hamstrings and low back.  Jeremy and I came up with the little burner, and surprisingly the ring dips were never an issue, and instead, the pistols were actually tough!  Must have been the all out sprints on the rower taking out the hammies.

Saturday was time for the second annual "Frankenchipper" at SnoRidge.  It was a great turnout, a lot of great costumes!  This is a fun, fast WOD, and it felt good after a week of really heavy WODs. 

400m run
21 KB swing (53/35#)
12 Pull-ups
400m run
15 OHS (45/33#)
30 Wallball (20/14#)
5 Pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 squats
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 squats
50 push press (45/33#)
50 walking lunges

10:09.  Everything was unbroken except for the push press.  I should have pushed a little harder on the push presses, and gone for two sets, rather than three.  Sub 10 min. is definitely possible.

OHS Fun

Started off yesterday warming up to 80%x1x5 on the Snatch.  I tried to work on taking less rest between reps.  135# is starting to feel a lot more "normal."  I think it's getting close to trying "Isabel" with full snatches!

AMRAP in 7 min. of:
10 OHS (135#)
10 Push-ups (hand release)

4 rds + 2 OHS

Went head to head against Tom.  I got crushed in this one!  My shoulders were having trouble keeping the OHS's locked out.  First round was unbroken, then by the second round my right shoulder/elbow gave out and had to dump the weight on the 5th rep.  Started breaking them up from there on, to avoid failing more reps.

Double-under Ladder

5-10-15-20-25-30-35-30-25-20-15-10-5

4:34.  Snagged once on my second set of 20.  Just got a little too tired in the shoulders/forearms and lost my rhythm.  Fun little challenge!

Heavy Thrusters & Muscle-ups

Yesterday was a rough day.  I thought I was feeling better than I apparently was after the strongman training on Monday.  So Tom and I were a little pressed for time so we decided to give the mainsite heavy thruster/ muscle-up WOD a try.  Those heavy thrusters sucked!  Warming up with some thrusters they were not feeling very good.  Then we jumped into the WOD and they were horrible.

9-6-3 of:
165# Thrusters
Muscle-ups

8:44 Rx

I failed way too may muscle-ups on this one.  I tried to pace myself from the beginning with the thrusters, but it still didn't help with the muscle-ups. 

Today is definitely a rest day, and I will probably take another rest day this week.  I'm feeling pretty beat up after the past four days.

On a brighter note, I am absolutely stoked for the Strongman competition on Sat. Nov. 6th!  It's going to be a epic event.

Strongman

Yesterday was freakin' AWESOME!

Tom, Sean, and I headed down to Rainier in the morning hoping to get a little practice with stones for the upcoming strongman competition.  Kurtis taught us how to lift stones and we worked our way through the stones up to our competition weights.  A 200# stone is kind of heavy!  We then proceeded to to 1 round of the event in the competition.

1 round
200m run
5 Stone loads (50") (200# stone)
2 rope climbs

This one was fun!  My fourth stone load, I just missed getting on top of the platform and when I rushed to try and get under the stone to push it up onto the platform, I knocked the wind out of myself hitting my chest into the stone.  I ended up dropping the stone and took quite a bit of time to get situated again for my final 2 loads.  Definitely won't do that in the competition!

Next we learned how to press/jerk the logs.  This was very awkward compared to a regular bar.  After playing around a bit with the log we did the whole event.

3 rds
7 log press/push-press/jerk (140#)
21 double unders

2:43

This one was surprising!  The push presses disappeared in the second round!  It was weird trying to jerk the log too.  I never really got a good feel for the jerks.

We then played around a little bit with the farmer's walk handles and then a heavy (200#) sandbag carry.

Overall, this event is going to be AWESOME!  I can't wait!

We hit up some lunch at Ana's, and then we did some more training up at SRCF in the evening.

Worked in some bench with Sean, and Tom.

5x195/3x225/1x250f  Tried to use Tom's numbers, but 250 was just barely too heavy or a 1 rep max for me.  Probably around 245#.

Then did my Wendler deads on the fatbar.

Week 2 Deadlift, 450# working load
180/225/270
3x315
3x360
3+x405 x6

Then a nice little checkout with Tom.

4 rds
1 HSPU on parallettes
2 muscle-ups
4 ring dips
8 toes to rings

4:04.  This one was fun!  It added a bit of a challenge having everything on the rings.  Forced you to go unbroken and avoid having to do another muscle-up if you broke up the dips.  It really taxed the shoulders.

PR Day!

Starting to chip away at goals!  It's feeling really good!  So today, Jeremy and I decided to work on some overhead squats, since we both rarely work on them.  We started warming up and then started stacking the weight on.  We just kept adding 20 pounds at a time, and just kept going.  We both PR'd, and both passed a major milestone!

Jeremy hit 175# or his bodyweight!

I hit my bodyweight (185#), and then proceeded onward and upward to 200#!  It felt really solid and probably could have gone heavier, but my wrists were getting pretty sore so called it a day with a big time PR.


Rob and Rona came over for a WOD today and we came up with a nasty little one.  Rob, Rona, and Jeremy all picked an exercise and then I helped come up with some rep schemes.

AMRAP in 15 min. of:
2 Power cleans (185#/115#)
4 Pistols
8 Burpees

I got 13 rds. +1 power clean.  The power cleans felt pretty heavy today, but overall everything felt pretty good in this WOD.  My knees did better than I thought they would, so maybe all of this mobility work I've been doing is really paying off!  Definitely felt pretty spent after this one!

Tomorrow is going to be an awesome day!  Tom, Sean, and I are heading down to Rainier CrossFit to play with some stones, and who knows what else, with Kurtis.  I'm sure he'll come up with an ass kicker of a WOD for us!

Schnatching

Yesterday was all about the snatch.

Work up to 85%x1; then 80%x1x3

Worked my way up to 140#, then did my 135#x1x3 with little rest.  I dropped the bar and then got right back on and setup for the next lift.  I was trying to get the feel for multiple, fast reps at 135# to attempt to get used to it for a wod such as "Isabel" or "Amanda."

Clean & Jerk:
Work up to 85%x1; then 80%x1x3

Worked up to 195#, which felt really heavy yesterday.  Then did 185# x1x3.  My shoulders were still fried from "Cindy" and then the handstand push-up work from last week.

21-15-9 of:
KB snatch, left arm (53/35#)
KB snatch, right arm
Pull-ups

5:57 Rx.  I was able to do the 21's and 9's unbroken on the KB snatches.  Just couldn't keep my pull-ups going on this one.  I thought I was going to tear my hands open several times on this one.  I just couldn't hold onto the KB of bar anymore.  Afterwards, I couldn't feel my hands or forearms.  Good WOD!

Deadlifts!

So Thursday I went and hit up my Wendler deadlifts.  Decided to do this cycle with the fatbar.

Week 1, 450# working load
180/225/270
5x293
5x337
5+x383

I got 9 reps at 383.  Definitely different with the fatbar.  Grip starts to become an issue.

Followed this up with a little 2 min. AMRAP challenge.

2 min. AMRAP: double-unders

Got 173.  Forearms and wrists were smoked.  I could barely spin the rope anymore towards the end.

I worked on some HSPU's on parallettes.  I surprised myself with doing 2 in a row, then a minute or so later, did another 2 in a row.  Did a total of about 7 or 8.  Then Tom and I played a little dart game with handstand holds on parallettes. 

2/4/6/8/10/8/6/4/2 second holds.

This was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be! 

"Cindy"

So yesterday I was planning on doing "Murph."  However, Jeremy decided to come up to SRCF and do it with me, but then we ran short on time so we decided to just do "Cindy" with Tom.  We all went to PR land, along with a ton of PR's throughout the box!  Amazingly, my push-ups stayed unbroken until the last 2 rounds.  I still remember thinkng "oh crap" when Jenna mentioned we were all over 10 rounds and it was only 6 minutes into the WOD!

"Cindy"
AMRAP in 20 minutes of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

25 Rds +8 squats

Great PR of over a round!  Would have been nice to hit 26, but next time I will crush it!

Overhead Day

So yesterday was all about going overhead.  Started off the day with my Wendler Press:

Press:  Week 1, 160# 1RM, 145# working load
60/75/90
5x95
5x110
5+x125

Got 9 reps at 125#.  Felt heavy, and barely got number 9.

Next on the agenda was Jerks.  This was a max for the day lift.  Jeremy and I started throwing weights on and I ended with a max of 230#.  I tried 240# a couple times, just missed the first attempt, and then had a bad dip on the second attempt.  Tried to hit 235# at the very end, but there was just nothing left in the tank.

We both wanted to do a little "cardio" so we came up with a little blaster.

4 rounds:
500m Row
15 Wallball (20/14#)
25 Sit-ups

15:48 Rx+  I ended up doing GHD sit-ups, which slowed me down a bit compared to Jeremy.

Train Hard!

Now that Barbells for Boobs is over, time to focus back on my goals.  Time to start hitting the snatch hard. (TWSS). 

Week 1, Back squat 1RM: 350#, Working load: 315#
130/160/190
5x230
5x240
5+x270

Got 10 reps at 270#.  Screwed up on my first working set.  For some reason I had 230# written down when it was really supposed to be 205#.  Oh well, still got 10 reps at 270#, super happy with that!

Snatch (from hang)
65% of 1RM x3x5

Used 110#.  Felt solid.  My speed is good from the hang, now I need to somehow use that speed from the floor.

Snatch Push Press: 5/4/3/3/3
(Working up to a moderate weight, with OH strength in mind)

95/115/135/140/145x2

Lost it off the back on the last set of 3's.  Was a little off lowering the weight and missed my back, so I had to dump it.

Finisher:
3 rounds
15 Hang power cleans (135/95#)
15 Burpees

4:31.  Great little finisher.  I was amazed at how spent my hamstrings felt during the burpees.  Must have been all of the squat/snatch work.

Amazing Grace

So yesterday was Barbell For Boobs down at King CF.  It was a good turnout, I think somewhere around 50 people total! 

Went with Jeremy, Michelle, Jenna, Sean, and Tom.  Tom and I did a Grace off. 

"Grace"
30 Clean & Jerks (135#/95#)

My time was 2:14, one second under my goal!  Just barely behind Tom on this one.  Once my jerks started getting fatigued, I went to a "baby" split jerk.  This strategy worked out awesome for me, and I think I will use it more often when I start to get tired towards the end of WODs. 

Followed Grace up with a great lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, then did a little shopping and then a great dinner at Tom and Michelle's.  It was a nice relaxing day (after Grace was over). 

Next week is time to get back to hitting the weights hard.  Time to start focusing on my next goals of HSPU on parallettes, and to OHS and Snatch my bodyweight. 

Thrusters, Sleds, and Rope Climbs

Thanks to Allen and Ryan down at Imperial for the great WOD yesterday!

Yesterday I hit up Imperial with Rob and Rona for a great WOD. 

5 Rounds of:
10 Thrusters (95/65#)
50 ft. Prowler push (high) (50/20#)
2 Rope climbs
50 ft. Prowler push (low) (50/20#)

*rest 3 min. between rounds
Post time for each round.

1:20/1:36/1:39/1:35/1:23

Great little WOD!  I was feeling great going into the WOD, which I was kind of surprised about after the Tabata squats the day before.  However, once I hit the sled for the first time, I felt the effects of the tabata squats!  Prowler pushes are FUN!

"Test 3" + 1 Mile Run

Yesterday was a fun WOD.

"Test 3"

Tabata Squats
Max reps in 4 min. of Muscle-ups

Rest ~3min. then:

1 Mile Run

21x18 =378, then a 7:02 mile

I really enjoyed this one, even if I said it sucked at the end and took a 10 burpee penalty (thanks Michelle).  I think I'm going to start doing some more max rep, or maybe try some max load lifts after a wod.  I'm kind of seeing what Holmberg was talking about, and I think it is a pretty valid concept. 

New Goals

So after I crushed my 1 month goal in a whopping 2 days, I decided to come up with a new 1 month goal.  So here it is:

1 Month:  I want to do 5 consecutive HSPU's on parallettes.  Ear's break the plane of the hands.

This will be a little more challenging, but Game ON!

Yesterday was a good day.  I hit up my oly work, and then did some "PRP" on my 7 day goal. 

3-position Snatch:  115#x1x5

Snatch Pull: 170#x3x5

"Grace"
30 reps, for time of:
Clean & Jerk (135#/95#)

2:41

My snatch work is improving.  Jeremy noticed that my hang snatch is WAY better than my full snatch.  I don't know what it is, but I guess I just think I have plenty of time when I'm pulling the bar from the floor.  I think I'm going to start doing a lot more hang snatches!

My "PRP" on "Grace" went fairly well.  I PR'd big time, and broke under the 3 min. barrier.  Totally stoked!  However, I need to revise my 7 day goal that I set on Saturday a little bit.  Instead of my goal of going sub 2 min., I am revising it to be "Grace" in 2:15.  I believe this is possible, as long as I can get my head right and hopefully with Tom and others at Barbells for Boobs, the adrenaline will be flowing and I'll crush this goal!

"PRP" Day, but more importantly PR day!

So plans changed again yesterday.  Constantly varied right?  So I really wanted to get a CF Total done, and Tom and I were having a tough time lining up schedules.  Well, I got off work early yesterday, and talked him into doing it.  It probably wasn't the best idea after a bunch of squats last Thursday, and then "Barbara" on Saturday.  Oh well, never going to be the perfect time to do it right? 

Squat:  315/345/355f/350  (took one more attempt to find true 1RM.)
Press: 165f/165f/160
Deadlift: 455/480/495/500

After PR'ing by a huge number on my deadlift and hitting 480, I really wanted to break 1000# on my total so I went for 495.  Hit 495.  Then Tom was getting ready for one last pull, and while he was resting I went for one more attempt at my goal of 500#.  I figured at that point I had already broken 1000# on my total so there was really nothing to lose, and with pulling 495# I was SO close!  Well, got the bar loaded, barely enough room, psyched myself up and pulled 500#!  Holy crap that was heavy!  So glad I took one more attempt and went for 500#.  Check my 1 month goal done! (only a few days early)

So I guess I need to come up with some new 1 month goals.  I will keep pondering those for a few days, and then I will post them up when I figure them out.

Positive Talk

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to attend Greg Amundsons goal setting seminar. Thanks Tom for bringing us along! It was a great seminar with lots of good points about positive self talk and how important goal setting is. I'm already starting a list of goals, and will be posting them soon. The few I have so far from the seminar are:

In 1 month: I want to deadlift 500+ #'s, along with this, I want to break 1000# on my CF Total with a PR in each lift.

In 3 months: I want to be able to snatch and OHS my bodyweight.

In 6 months: I want to handstand walk for 30m

In 7 days: I want to go sub 2 min. on "Grace"

After the seminar Tom, Michelle, Kim, and Jeremy and I took on "Barbara"

5 rounds
20 pull-ups
30 push-ups
40 sit-ups
50 squats
*rest precisely 3 minbetween rounds

17:09 total time with the 12 min of rest taken out.

Felt pretty sick during this one, and had a pounding headache afterwards. Need to start focusing on my breathing.

Whole Lot of Squatting and Some Climbing

Yesterday was actually a really fun (in a very painful kind of way) WOD! Hit up the SnoRidge and warmed up with some Turkish Get-ups (man these things are weird!). Got my deadlift deload out of the way, and then Tom and I proceeded to delay and stall a horrible looking WOD.

95# back squat, 50 reps
5 rope climbs, 15ft
115# back squats, 40 reps
4 rope climbs, 15ft
135# back squats, 30 reps
3 rope climbs, 15ft
155# back squats, 20 reps
2 rope climbs, 15ft
175# back squats, 10 reps
1 rope climb, 15ft

16:18 Rx

I ended up doing the first 50 squats unbroken, broke the 40 into 20/10/10, broke 30 into 15/10/5, 20 into 12/8, and the final 10 unbroken. Tough WOD! Completely smoked by the end. Tough mentally - trying to figure out how far to push the squats. Ended up having to rack a few times due to my shoulders screaming and my elbows starting to drop on the squats.

I think I'm going to start following the mainsite a little more. I've really been liking the programming they have been posting ever since the games. Plus it will be easier to work in my oly lifts and wendler cycles. Hmmmmm.... So many things to think about!

Yesterday I worked on a little bit of mobility stuff.  Really starting to notice some differences in the hips.  Good stuff!

I got my Wendler press deload out of the way, and then hit up some snatches and then proceeded to kick my ass with a tough WOD.

Snatch @80% x1x5

135#

"Speal vs. Khalipa"
1 Clean & Jerk (155#/105#)
1 round of Cindy
2 Clean & Jerks
1 round of Cindy
3 Clean & Jerks
1 round of Cindy...
...10 Clean and Jerks
1 round of Cindy

20:52

I don't even think I beat my old time on this one.  I felt pretty good through 4's, but then just ran out of gas.  Had zero energy on the Clean & Jerks.  The "Cindy" rounds were always easy, other than taking extra time getting on the pull-up bar and getting the squats started.  This WOD is a brutal one.  Will definitely do this again, but not alone!

Getting my mobility on while I write this one. So yesterday was another short WOD day. Mainly because I ran short on time.

Snatch balance - Max for day

Power snatch + 2 OHS @80%

Hit 150# for my snatch balance. Still need top work on my speed under the bar!

Did my power snatch/OHS combo at 120#. Felt good on these ones. I need to start working more OHS and power snatches in!

So yesterday, I was planning on doing a double.  I hit the ridge for the 9:30 class planning on doing the Again Faster WOD 4 with Rob.  I had forgotten that Tom told me Monday was a hero WOD for a soldier that was also a crossfitter at Rainier CrossFit.  When I saw the WOD I really wanted to do the hero WOD in support, but unfortunately time did not cooperate.  So Rob and I tackled the WOD 4.

WOD 4:
8 Rounds
100m Sprint (50m shuttle style)
8 Burpees

6:49

This was a real lung burner.  Only 40 or so seconds off of Pat Barbers leading time.  May have to try this one again!

I planned to take on "Jack" after work, but this cold is still lingering around and I felt pretty beat up by the time I left work.  I decided that heading home and getting some sleep would be a better option.  I will definitely be making this one up this week.

Sunday Oly Day

So after watching the CrossFit/USAW open the whole weekend, I just had to do some snatches and some clean & jerks.

Worked my way up to a max in both today.  Finally hit 160# on the snatch.  Still need to work a lot on getting under the bar faster.  As Burgener would say, I need to be a "junkyard dog."  Was getting a little better on the last couple snatches.

First hit 205# on the clean and jerk pretty easily.  Went up to 215#, hung out too long at the bottom of the dip, ended up pressing it out to finish.  Went up to 220# and really tried to shorten and speed up my dip and drive.  Felt much better and nailed it pretty good.  Slight arm bend on my right arm.

Then I went for a little metcon to finish things off.  Decided to save the triplet from the open for another day.  So I went with a CF Football WOD.

AMRAP in 12 min. of:
3 Handstand push-ups
5 Pull-ups
7 Knees-to-elbows

10 rds Rx.  Was kind of surprised with how well I did with the HSPU's.  Perhaps they are coming back!

Friday 2fer

Yesterday was a fun day! Jeremy and I headed down to the Bat Cave (Allen's new spot). Allen came up with a killer WOD for us:

In teams of 2, with only 1 person working at a time:
50 deadlifts (225#)
4 prowler pushes (hi/low)
2 rope climbs
30 deadlifts
4 prowler pushes
4 rope climbs
20 deadlifts
4 prowler pushes
6 rope climbs

Jeremy and I took on Allen and Ryan. We clocked in at 12:06. Prowlers are awesome!

I decided to get another wod in last night up at the ridge, and this morning I'm questioning just how bad of an idea that really was.

2009 games wod:
3 rounds
30 wallballs (to 10.5ft)
30 snatches (75#) (movement must start below the knee)

18:57

I now know why so many of the competitors were complaining of their lower backs seizing up! Holy crap this was a low back destroyer. About half way through I found it was easier for me to just start from the ground every rep, rather than start in the hang and lower below the knees and go.

Friday!

So after sitting in the truck all day yesterday, I really had no motivation to do the "Speal v. Khalipa" WOD.  That, and I really didn't want to do it alone!  So after I cranked out my Wendler deadlifts, I just came up with a quick easy little WOD.

Deadlift results:  I hit 10 reps at 400#!!!  WOW!  That was heavy!

WOD:  5 Rounds
5 Muscle ups
200m run

Did this in 12:17.  Not terribly fast.  Got a little to greedy on the second round of muscle ups and ended up failing 2 in a row.  Felt good to get running and try and sweat out some of this cold.  This one was perfect to do solo, Solly got to go with me on all of the runs.

Today, Jeremy and I are heading down to Kent to check out Allen's new spot!  No idea what Allen has in store for us, but he did tell me that he's got sleds and all that kind of stuff...

Long day ahead.

Heading out in a few minutes to head East to Kennewick.  I have to turn in a background packet, hopefully all goes well and this means good things!  Excited/nervous a little bit.

I'm hoping to be home in the early afternoon for a good training session.  On the bill for today is:

Wendler Deadlift
170/210/250
5x315
3x360
1+x400

"Speal vs. Khalipa"

Going to be a tough day of training, but it will be awesome!

Rest Day!

So today is my rest day!  I love rest days!  I did a little mobility work after the 7:30am class at SnoRidge this morning which felt really good.

Last night there were a few changes to the WODs.  Ended up doing the Wendler press, getting 3 reps at 145#.  Moved on to some Snatches with Jeremy and ended up doing 145# x1x3.  We put the "Speal v. Khalipa" wod on hold for the time being due to it being Tom's bday.  Jeremy and I came up with a "good" WOD for him.  The WOD was as follows:

"T-Nugget"
37 Hang squat cleans (95/65#)
28 Double Unders
9 OHS (125/85#)
28 Double Unders
9 Muscle Ups
28 Double Unders
9 OHS (125/85#)
28 Double Unders
37 Thrusters (95/65#)

My time on this was 13:44 Rx.  This was a tough one.  My shoulders were toast by the time the OHS's came up and had trouble with them.  Felt smoked afterwards.

Tuesday Funday

Yesterday was a good day.  Squats were HEAVY!  Felt pretty good warming up and hitting my set of 5's, then the set of 3's felt pretty heavy.  My max rep set at 300#  felt scary heavy!  I got a little off balance on my second rep and all of a sudden my thoughts went back to when I hurt my back last year squatting.  Only hit 3 reps, but still a good 3 rep max.  I am definitely going to invest in a weightlifting belt...anyone know where to get a good one?

So on to today's fun!  The tentative schedule is as follows:

Wendler Press
60/75/90
5x115
3x130
1+x145

Snatch
135# x1x3


 "Speal vs. Khalipa"
1 Clean & Jerk (155#)
1 rd of  "Cindy"
2 C&J
1 rd of "Cindy"
3 C&J
1 rd of "Cindy"...
...10 C&J
1 rd of "Cindy"


So already changed things up, haha.  Tonight will be a rematch for me, and a new one for others!  Time to kick some ass!!!

Hey Look at This

Hey, I guess I'll post something!  Ha.  So today's "Road to the Sectionals"  plan is as follows:

Wendler Back Squats:
125/160/190
5x235
3x270
1+x300 x3 reps

3 position Snatch x3 (115#)  (changed it up to a little heavier)

"Karen"
for time:
150 Wallball shots, 20# to 10ft.

6:59 Rx

That is the tentative plan for me this evening after work.  "Karen"  might change into another WOD but, this is what I plan on doing.  I'll update with what actually went down tonight or tomorrow.

There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day anymore. 

So far the Oly training has been coming along quite nicely!  This past week, I experimented with combining more CrossFit WODs with the oly training.  Definitely have to choose the WODs wisely with this!  Tuesday night I did a double under/wallball 2fer WOD and the shoulders still felt destroyed Wednesday morning during my oly training.  Overall, it seems to work pretty well alternating between purely oly & accessory wods, and oly & CrossFit WODs.  So far over the past two weeks I don't feel as if I have lost any of my metcon capacity.  There have definitely been some off days as far as the CrossFit WODs go!  After six days in a row of oly/wods I did a WOD up at SnoRidge and felt like crap the whole time. 

So far, it seems a compromise between oly lifts and CrossFit WODs is a very good option.  I am still pondering ways to combine the two most effectively, and it will probably take a lot of tweaks.  Nothing like more experimenting! 

I will try to keep updating my training progress more often. 

Today was another good day of Olympic lifting.

Snatch: 120# x1x5
Clean & Jerk: 170# x1x5
Back Squat: 230# x5x5

Then,

4 sets, no rest:
1-arm KB swing high-pull x8/arm
1-arm KB push press x8/arm

I ended up putting the timer on just to get an idea of time.  I used the 53# KB and did everything unbroken with the only rest being the time it took to set the KB down and switch hands.  Took 5:28.  This was surprisingly tough.  Probably could have gone a bit heavier but no all the way up to the 70# KB. 

Day 1

This morning was day one of a six week cycle of Olympic lifting.  I am following Catalyst Athletics program, and after this mornings workout session it is going to be a tough six weeks!  Today's workout was:

3-position snatch (floor/knee/mid-thigh): 100# x5 sets
2 Power Jerk + 1 Split Jerk: 135# x5 sets
Snatch Pull: 130# x5x5
Sit-ups: 60 total

Snatches are already feeling better just after a day of working on technique.  I can tell that this cycle is going to be a lot of fun, and very challenging at the same time!  I'm looking forward to the end of week 3 where I will be going for maxes on each lift.  Video from Catalyst Athletics on the 3-position snatch:
3-position snatch

6 Week Olympic Lifting Cycle

 Starting Monday, I will be tackling some of my biggest weaknesses!  I'm going to start a 6 week Oly cycle.  There will still be some CrossFit stuff mixed in, but the majority of the work will be the O-lifts.  Time to get the overhead strength up!  It's ON!

Friday, June 4th

Doing a ride along with Kennewick Fire Department today! Fun times! Took a break after dinner to hit a little WOD at the station. I definitely should have waited much longer before trying this one.

"Hotel" WOD:
100 DB hang squat clean to thruster (35#)
*every minute do 5 burpees

13:51

Once I hit 50 squat clean to thrusters I had a hard time doing more than 5-10 before I had to do more burpees.

Thursday June 3rd

Swung by SnoRidge on my way east for a quick WOD. Or at least I thought it was going to be quick.

From the SW Regionals:

5 rounds:
5 Muscle-ups
10 power cleans (135#)
Run 200m

19:51 (I believe off the top of my head.)

This one was tough! Had to break up the muscle ups starting in the third round. Had trouble with the power cleans, perhaps still feeling the crazy amount of deadlifts on Sat.

Memorial Day Weekend

This past Memorial Day Weekend, I joined Tom in taking on a Hero WOD a day.  If you have ever taken on a Hero WOD, you know that this is no easy task.  If you are unfamiliar with Hero WODs, they are hard, they usually have some advanced movements in them, and they are designed to challenge you mentally. 

First up was:

"Joshie"
5 Rounds for time
21 Dumbbell Snatch, right arm (40#/25#)
21 L-pull ups
21 Dumbbell Snatch, left arm
21 L-pull ups

Sunday was an epic trainers WOD.  We all met in the evening to take on:

"McGhee"
AMRAP in 30 min. of:
5 Deadlifts (275#/185#)
13 Push-ups
9 Box jumps (24"/20")

Monday, after watching two classes take on their choice of either "Jerry," "McGhee," or "Erin,"  Jeremy and I decided to stick with the original plan and take on the new hero WOD "Nutts"

"Nutts"
10 Hand stand push-ups
15 Deadlifts (250#)
25 Box jumps (30")
50 Pull-ups
100 Wallballs (20#)
200 Double Unders
400m Run w/45# plate

It was an epic weekend!  A lot of hard work, and good times with great friends.  It was awesome to see so many come out to honor the fallen on Monday.  Everyone gave their all in each workout!

Yesterday was a fun day! 


Week 1 of 5/3/1

Press
Warmup sets:  55/70/85#

Working sets: 5x90/5x105/7x120#

WOD:

5 Rounds for time of:
15 Hang Squat Snatch (75/45#)
50 Double Unders

14:55 Rx

This was a tough little WOD.  Really taxed the grip.  I forced myself to do a couple more reps before setting the bar down when I was tired.  Was able to hit 7 reps on the first set of snatches in the later rounds.  It became more of an issue of holding onto the bar rather than a strength fatigue issue.  Good times!

Day 1 down!

Week 1 Back squat (305# 1RM, 275# working load)

Warmup sets:
5x110/140/165

Working sets:
5x180/205/235

Clean pulls
5x225/245/265

WOD:
Front lever
60 seconds of total work
3 second holds
Rest 2 min.

The last set of back squats I ended up doing 8 reps. The hips were a little bit tired from the heavy jerks on the weekend. For the front lever skill work, I was running short on time so I cut the rest down to about 1 minute. Scaled to the tuck position with flat back.

Road to the Games '11

So I haven't posted here in awhile...but tomorrow is day 1 of training for the games in 2011!  I am going to chronicle my training from now until the 2011 games.  Follow along if you want, give me tips or suggestions, or even some workouts.  My goal?  Make it to regionals next year, or be on a team that makes it to the games!  It's going to be a long ride, with lots of ups and downs along the way.  Hang on, because it's time to Do Epic Shit!

Coach Jeremy's First Class

Coach Jeremy conducted his first class at the corporate gym last night! It was a big hit with the ladies that came out to give CrossFit a try! Great job everyone! Keep at it, I know you'll love it! I promise!

Brisk Morning Chipper!

For Time:
30 Squats
30 Box Jumps (24"/20")
30 KB Swings (53#/35#)
30 ABMAT Sit-ups
30 Power Cleans (65#/45#)
30 Burpees
30 Wallball shots (20#/10# to 10ft.)
800m Run




Lung burner of a chipper! Brutal! The box jumps following the squats, Brutal. The burpees following the power cleans, Brutal. The wallball shots following the burpees, Brutal. The run following the wallball shots, Brutal. How many times do you think I can say Brutal? The loads in this WOD were light enough to allow almost completely unbroken sets for everything. Brutal. Richard and Micaela had some fun with this one. Brutal. Pretty fun little, brutal, chipper! So what's the tally up to?

This Saturday, we will be partaking in the brutal St. Patty's day 5k up on Snoqualmie Ridge! If anyone is up to the challenge it should be a fun little run. Pre-registration brutal has ended, but you can still sign up the day of the race. It will be fun times, in a brutal kind of way.









BRUTAL!

Lazy

Wow, I've gotten lazy about posting to this. I've mainly been posting notes on Facebook, so I'm sure everyone has been looking at those rather than here. Maybe there is a way to post at one and have it appear on both....hmmmm...

"Gwen"

15-12-9 reps of:

Clean & Jerk

Touch and go at floor only. Even a re-grip off the floor is a foul. No dumping. Use same load for each set. Rest as needed between sets.



Where do I begin with this one?! This is a girl from back in the day, around 2004 in the archives of CrossFit. This girl has a lot going for her! First off, there is no time component. I know it sounds like it's not a typical CrossFit style workout, but let me tell you, it is straight up BRUTAL! Gwen is a big time mental workout as well as a very technical workout. Clean & Jerks are a big time movement! If you look at our 10 general physical skills (Cardio/respiratory endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Balance, Accuracy), just guess how many are used in this movement! Just a couple right? ;) The idea is to pick a load and be able to complete all reps in each round unbroken, no re-grips, just straight unbroken Clean & Jerks, and then you can rest however long you want between rounds. Starting to sound a bit harder yet?

The mental aspect of this girl is HUGE! Once you get a few reps in, you start breathing hard, the legs start feeling the squats, the shoulders start getting fatigued, and there is really no point in the lift that you can rest and catch your breath! You almost want to go as fast as possible just to get through it, but at the same time the cleans become a killer cardio hit that you want to stop and breath somewhere. The grip also screams at you to stop and set the bar down for a minute, but it's all about how long can you endure the pain!

"Gwen" definitely deserves respect, and definitely should not be looked at as "oh,that doesn't look too hard!"

Pretty good article about Cheerleading vs. Coaching from Hyperfit USA
Cheerleading vs. Coaching

Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010

After a hard Total today, take the rest of the week off, or just do some active recovery. Go for a run, go climbing, do some rowing, whatever! Get ready for the next cycle, starting Monday!!!!!

Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010

Fun day in the Compound today!!!

Started off with some power snatches and sprints with the crew! Henrich stopped by later and had some fun with some presses, push-presses! He then took on "Tabata This." This is a classic CrossFit WOD, and it is brutal! The minute rest between exercises is definitely NOT enough!!!

Here is a video of Sage Burgener demonstrating the power snatch:

Wednesday, Feb. 3rd, 2010

I guess it's been a little while since I posted here, whoops! I've been so busy making posts on Facebook, that I kind of completely forgot about the blog.

Today's lesson: STRENGTH

Strength - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.

To see strength in action, check out this video of David Morgan doing "King Kong." Keep in mind this guy is 44 years old and only 186 pounds. Think about that for a second. I know for me personally, this makes me want to get a lot stronger!