brikis98's crossfit journal

[brikis98]

brikis98's 2011 Crossfit Goals

Strength
Squat: 455lbs (current: 405lbs)
Deadlift: 500lbs (current: 495lbs)
OH Press: 225lbs (current: 210lbs)
Crossfit Total: 1180lbs (current: 1055lbs)
OH Squat: 255lbs (current: 245lbs)

Power
Snatch: 225lbs (current: 203lbs)
Clean: 315lbs (current: 288lbs)
Jerk: 275lbs (done! current: 278lbs)

Gymnastics
Consecutive ring muscle-ups: 10 (current: 4)
Consecutive full ROM HSPU: 10 (current: 2)
Consecutive pistols (per leg): 15 (current: 10)
L-sit: 1:00 (current: 0:20)

Speed
Run 40 yards: 4.5 seconds (current: ?)
Run 100m: 12.0 seconds (current: ?)
Run 400m: 1:00 (current: 1:10, track)
Run 800m: 2:30 (current: 2:50, track)
Row 500m: 1:25 (current: 1:29)

Stamina/Endurance
Run 1600m: 5:45 (current: 5:53, treadmill)
Run 5000m: 21:00 (current: 22:38, track)
Run 10000m: 50:00 (current: 51:43, track)
Row 2000m: 7:00 (current: 7:17)

CF WoD
Fran: 2:30 (current: 3:20)
Cindy: 30 rounds (current: 28)
Mary: 14 rounds (current: 10)
Angie: 14:00 (current: 16:08)
Filthy Fifty: 20:00 (current: 23:20)
Helen: 8:00 (current: 9:01)
Murph: 30:00 (current: 32:29)
Eva: 42:00 (current: 49:32)
Grace: 2:00 (current: 2:47)
Isabelle: 6:00 (current: ?)
Fight Gone Bad: 400 (current: 364)
King Kong: complete it (current: ?)

 

[brikis98]

Monday, July 7:

Workout of the Day

"Murph"
For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

This was my first CF workout and there's really no way around it: it was brutal. I think I picked a particularly tough one to start with, but I did the best I could with it. I split the exercises in between the 1 mile runs into 10 sets of: 10 pull-ups, 20 push-ups and 30 squats. I was able to get through 7 of these sets, followed by the single longest 1 mile run I've ever done in my life (although it actually only took 11 minutes). My final numbers:

My numbers

1 mile Run
70 Pull-ups
140 Push-ups
210 Squats
1 mile Run

Time: 42 minutes

I was completely dead afterwords, but somehow recovered after about 10 minutes, and kept to my word by doing 15 minutes of stretching. When all was said and done, I found myself with a small smile on my face. Call me a masochist, but these Crossfit workouts just might be my thing

 

[rasczak]

wow. I can't even do ONE pull up, let alone 74.

As for the pain, are you taking any Ibuprofen? It helps me out quite a bit for injuries.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: rasczak
wow. I can't even do ONE pull up, let alone 74.

As for the pain, are you taking any Ibuprofen? It helps me out quite a bit for injuries.

I just got a bunch of advil and have started to take 1 tablet every ~6 hours, making sure to take 1 or 2 right before bed. Hopefully, that'll bring down any inflammation and allow quicker healing, although nothing with lower back injuries can really be described as "quick".

and yea, 70 pull-ups is a bit rough. however, it is worth noting that the standard pull-up in Crossfit is the "Kipping pull-up", which involves a leg kick and hip drive. This lets most people do far more pull-ups than they could the strict way at the cost of a massive amount of endurance.

 

[spamsk8r]

Awesome. Murph is widely considered one of the hardest CF workouts (along with Linda). I've only ever done a half-Murph, and even then it was harsh. Good luck!

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: spamsk8r
Awesome. Murph is widely considered one of the hardest CF workouts (along with Linda). I've only ever done a half-Murph, and even then it was harsh. Good luck!

Just looked up Linda, and holy god is that harsh. I think the deadlifts alone would kill me, even if I didn't have the lower back issues

 

[gramboh]

That is a hard one to start with. I did a modified version of the murph with my friend a month or so back, we substitutes pull-ups for inverted rows since I am not comfortable with kipping yet. I think it took about 58 minutes for me to complete, I also did 10/20/30 sets inbetween the runs. The run at the end basically consisted of me swinging my legs at the hips around the track, my entire body raining out sweat, followed by lying down on an exercise mat for 5 minutes staring at the roof. But yeah, you do feel awesome afterwards. I might try it again now that I am slightly more comfortable with kipping. I'm actually signing up for a few sessions at the local Crossfit affiliate (intro to CF and oly lifting is my plan).

Unrelated question from your other log, how are you finding your new lifting shoes? Do they make a noticeable difference?

 

[brikis98]

Tuesday, July 8

Rest day.

Only physical activity was ~5 minutes of jump rope and jumping jacks to warm myself up for my daily 15 minutes of stretching. I am starting to see a slight improvement in flexibility, but damn, it'll be a while before I can bend over and touch my toes. Where I do see improvement, however, is in my back. Every time I do these stretches, it feels WAY better afterwords. Hopefully this is a good sign I'm doing the right thing and that boosting my flexibility will be the cure I need.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: gramboh
That is a hard one to start with. I did a modified version of the murph with my friend a month or so back, we substitutes pull-ups for inverted rows since I am not comfortable with kipping yet. I think it took about 58 minutes for me to complete, I also did 10/20/30 sets inbetween the runs. The run at the end basically consisted of me swinging my legs at the hips around the track, my entire body raining out sweat, followed by lying down on an exercise mat for 5 minutes staring at the roof. But yeah, you do feel awesome afterwards. I might try it again now that I am slightly more comfortable with kipping. I'm actually signing up for a few sessions at the local Crossfit affiliate (intro to CF and oly lifting is my plan).

Unrelated question from your other log, how are you finding your new lifting shoes? Do they make a noticeable difference?

The pull-ups were probably the toughest part of the murph and doing them kipping style was absolutely essential. For the 6th and 7th set of 10/20/30, I would do 5 pull-ups in a row, followed by 5 singles with lots of gasping in between. Today, my upper back is absurdly sore.

As for the shoes, to be perfectly honest, I can't say I've noticed a huge difference. They do hold your foot very well and are comfortable to wear and they are certainly no worse than a sneaker. It may also be a mental thing, but I get the impression that the hard, incompressible sole gives me better contact with the floor. However, it's not an "oh WOW, where have you been all my life" feeling. In fact, for $99, I expected a bit more of an impact.

Having said that, it's worth noting I've only used them twice, and due to my injuries, haven't tested them out in their "best light" - that is, I haven't done heavy back squats or olympic lifts with them yet. Moreover, I'm a total newb to olympic lifts, so I need to improve my technique a lot more before the shoes could possibly make a difference. When I heal up and get there, I'll probably have more to say.

 

[brikis98]

Wednesday, July 9

Workout of the Day

Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps
Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps

My numbers

Shoulder press: 145x1, 165x1, 175x1, 185x1, 190xmissed
Push press: 175x3, 185x3, 185x3, 190x3, 195x2xmissed
Push jerk: 135x5, 155x5, 155x5
Split jerk: 135x5, 155x5, 175x5

This workout was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. My back was still incredibly sore form all the pull-ups Monday, and what little strength I had to balance and hold my upper body was destroyed by the first 5 max-weight sets of shoulder press. I was happy with getting 185 up, although 190 didn't make it past my forehead. After that, with the push press, I would get the weight up 90% of the way without issue but then have to battle hard to balance and steady my exhausted upper body as I did the last 10%. It went ok, but with less soreness, I think I could have done better.

As for the push jerk, I've never done them before, so I lowered the weight to practice form. Overall, I suck at them: I just could not get my body down quickly & aggressively enough and really need a lot more practice. I also did some split jerks, which feel more natural to me, but also need lots more practice. On non-shoulder days, I think I might add some to my warmup.

 

[xboxist]

This sounds hardcore as hell. It's fun to hear about your experiences with it. I think the soldier cast from "300" did this type of stuff for hours a day (for months?) to have their characters ready for filming. So let that inspire you.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: xboxist
This sounds hardcore as hell. It's fun to hear about your experiences with it. I think the soldier cast from "300" did this type of stuff for hours a day (for months?) to have their characters ready for filming. So let that inspire you.

I don't think they did Crossfit specifically, but something pretty similar. This page has a video that shows some of their training. I really like this quote too:

You'll notice they aren't doing any curls or tricep extensions, no machines, no pussy bodybuilding "watch yourself in the mirror exercises" crap. It takes real world strength to flip tires and do pullups and squats and sprints. Essentially, the actors were training for performance - and the look came with it.

The average celebrity trainer would have trained the actors to look like Spartan Warriors - Mark Twight put the actors in 300 through workouts that would create the kind of strength and power they would need to be Spartan Warriors.

 

[HN]

Hey, i just noticed you started this. good job sticking with it so far; with murph being first, it's often times one's last . Impressive on the strict press, nearly bodyweight!

-do check out all the free videos and demos that are available on the site. many tutorials and how-tos. although some are just snippets of the journal videos, there's plenty of information that can be gathered (i was able to do pistols after one particular video).

-Linda is pretty ridiculous, let the "Linda (Nicole)...[wmv][mov]" video be your inspiration; but i fear most the Eva workout.

-get yourself a set of rings and start work on those but do take it easy initially on them, your elbows and shoulders will appreciate it.

-i think one month is too short to "try out". with crossfit, i'd say give it a solid 3 months (2 months on, 3-5 days off, then 1 more month to really test your gains).

good luck!

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: HN
Hey, i just noticed you started this. good job sticking with it so far; with murph being first, it's often times one's last . Impressive on the strict press, nearly bodyweight!

-do check out all the free videos and demos that are available on the site. many tutorials and how-tos. although some are just snippets of the journal videos, there's plenty of information that can be gathered (i was able to do pistols after one particular video).

-Linda is pretty ridiculous, let the "Linda (Nicole)...[wmv][mov]" video be your inspiration; but i fear most the Eva workout.

-get yourself a set of rings and start work on those but do take it easy initially on them, your elbows and shoulders will appreciate it.

-i think one month is too short to "try out". with crossfit, i'd say give it a solid 3 months (2 months on, 3-5 days off, then 1 more month to really test your gains).

good luck!

Thanks for the advice and kind words

I spend far too much of my work time browsing the CF website and watching their videos. Some are incredibly inspirational and some just make you marvel at the level of fitness of these CF folks (esp some of the women!).

Lack of equipment has been my biggest issue. I cannot find a gym near me that has rings, nor olympic platforms, bumper plates, rowing machines or kettlebells for that matter. The ceilings in my house are unfortunately too low for rings as well, so I'm pretty limited on options. I'll have to do lots of substitutions until I can find a proper place to do these workouts.

I mentioned that I'm "trying out" CF for a month because after that, I hope to have my lower back/hips in better shape. At that point, I'll have to choose between the following:

1. Go back to a starting strength style routine
2. Continue with CF
3. Do some kind of hybrid - e.g. two days of SS heavy lifting, 3 days of CF metcon-style workouts

So far, I really like these Crossfit workouts. I love the variety, so you never get bored of the same thing over and over and as I look down the schedule of CF workouts I made, each one looks like a personal challenge, which is an awesome motivation. I'm in decent shape and have been lifting for a while, but my first two CF workouts have completely owned me. I'm sore all over, and yet, ready for more.

This should be an interesting month

 

[brikis98]

Thursday, July 10

Workout of the Day

For time: 50 burpees.

My numbers

6 min, 4 sec

Bah, I suck at burpees and am not too happy with this time. My shoulders, triceps and back were absolutely dead from yesterday's shoulder workout and my legs are still exhausted from the past 2 workouts. My quads were burning after the first few reps, so I really had to fight through this one. Despite all that, once I got to the end, I realized I hadn't pushed myself hard enough. I was too conservative in the beginning, being afraid to burn out too early, and could've definitely shaved off ~30 seconds with better pacing. Oh well, I guess that's what practice is for, and I'll be ready the next time this workout comes around.

 

[gramboh]

Burpees are a bitch eh? I'm liking the option of combining SS or SL 5x5 with a few WoD's. There is a post on SL.com about it today actually. I want to continue strength training until I get better benchmarks (e.g. 2x BW dead, 1.1x BW bench, .9 bw press etc) but I also want to do CF.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: gramboh
Burpees are a bitch eh? I'm liking the option of combining SS or SL 5x5 with a few WoD's. There is a post on SL.com about it today actually. I want to continue strength training until I get better benchmarks (e.g. 2x BW dead, 1.1x BW bench, .9 bw press etc) but I also want to do CF.

yea, burpees are a fantastic body weight exercise and one of my goals is to do 25 consecutively. If I can ever find a set of rings and work my way to a muscle-up, i'd love to try some burpee muscle-ups

Building up strength via SS is definitely very helpful before starting CF. Many of the workouts come with prescribed amounts of weight and it really helps if that weight is a small percentage of your 1RM. A workout calling for a 225lbs deadlift will be MUCH easier if your 1RM DL is 405 as opposed to 315. Granted, you can scale any workout, but to do them as "R'xd", lots of extra strength helps.

The article on SL about CF is pretty interesting, although I can't help but think the author missed the point slightly. He mentions "lack of programming" as a negative and says that CF will make you "average in a lot of things, but great at nothing." I believe the entire point of CF is that it is a very GENERAL routine and becoming great at just one thing is specializing, which they try to avoid. Moreover, I'd argue that given the intensity of these workouts, if you can do them in good time as Rx'd, you are definitely better than average at everything and you have the potential to be great at anything.

As I mentioned in an earlier reply, once my back and hips are in order, I'm considering doing a CF/SS hybrid. Maybe something like:

Monday: SS (back squat, bench, power cleans)
Tuesday: CF metcon
Wednesday: rest day
Thursday: SS (front squat, overhead press, deadlift)
Friday: rest day
Saturday: CF metcon
Sunday: rest day

I think this would be a pretty good balance. Perhaps you could do a 3rd day of CF or SS somewhere in there as well, but that might be a bit too taxing on the body.

 

[HN]

Originally posted by: gramboh
Burpees are a bitch eh?

yes, yes they are, especially if you force yourself to jump to a specific height each time (e.g. jump up to tap a pull up bar that's 6-12 inches above your reach for each rep)

here's a demo of the 50 burpee WOD: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5Af7ylxkTdw (don't let the sub-2minute time fool you; the guy's a beast and last year's crossfit games winner)

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: HN

Originally posted by: gramboh
Burpees are a bitch eh?

yes, yes they are, especially if you force yourself to jump to a specific height each time (e.g. jump up to tap a pull up bar that's 6-12 inches above your reach for each rep)

here's a demo of the 50 burpee WOD: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5Af7ylxkTdw (don't let the sub-2minute time fool you; the guy's a beast and last year's crossfit games winner)

goddamn, that's impressive. I swear that guy has an extra set of lungs or something, I was out of breath just watching him

and yea, the burpees I did required you to jump "1 foot above reach" after every rep. Before I started the workout, I stood against a wall with my hand up and found a spot that was about a foot above my fingers and made myself touch it after every rep.

 

[brikis98]

Friday, July 11

Rest day.

Will jump rope (to warm up) and stretch in the evening. My flexibility has definitely improved and my hips feel MUCH better. Or, to put it another way, I haven't had any hip pain/discomfort whatsoever, although to be fair, I haven't done any heavy squatting either. My lower back is more of a mixed bag. It's a bit stiff in the morning and I definitely feel discomfort in any position that stretches it a lot. By the afternoon, it relaxes and after my workout & stretching, it feels absolutely fantastic. I still have a ways to go before it'll be 100% and I'm definitely going to continue avoid deadlifts & heavy back squats for the time being.

Weighed in at 198 today. My weight loss has definitely slowed down despite the fact that I'm burning more calories per day now than a month ago (especially this week with CF). I think there are two reasons for the slowdown:

* We have catered lunch at work almost every day. I've been keeping my portions small and trying to pick the healthier food from the lot, but restaurant food will always be very "rich" - full of butter, dressing, sauces, etc - and have way more calories/carbs than an equivalent dish made at home. I used to bring my lunch, but now that we have this, the huge convenience and money savings is awfully hard to ignore. I'm guessing this is balancing out the extra calories I'm burning through more exercise.
* Now that I weigh less, I imagine the number of calories my body burns at rest has decreased, so with the same diet, my calorie deficit isn't as big as it used to be.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to be even more picky with my diet and just keep at it. I have ~20 days before the end of July to hit my 190lbs goal, which will be quite tough, but I think CF will help.

 

[HN]

what's your schedule looking like for future days/weeks? i see 2 days WOD (wed, thur), but then rest today. you won't be doing 3 on / 1 off?

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: HN
what's your schedule looking like for future days/weeks? i see 2 days WOD (wed, thur), but then rest today. you won't be doing 3 on / 1 off?

I'm still working the schedule out, which is a bit tough, since I usually workout with 2 of my friends and we need to find times that work for everyone. However, starting next week, it will most likely be a 5 CF workouts per week schedule: Mondays and Fridays will be rest days and every other day will be CF. So I guess it'll be a 3 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off rotation.

 

[HN]

sounds good.

For myself, after having delved into crossfit last year, i was intrigued but still stuck on the split-body-part / isolation mentality. i was trying to schedule my own sorta hybrid program of:

wod
strength / isolation
wod
rest

and coming up with WODs in the "spirit of crossfit". it actually did work pretty well but i did notice that it was taking up way too much of my time (i'm not very creative and had to keep getting ideas for WODs throughout the affiliate sites and the main site that i was able to perform).

a few months into it, i said "F it", check my ego, put on some puny weights, and learn these damn squats, deadlifts, cleans so i can follow along the mainsite WODs / schedule.

Finally, since May i've been following the mainsite WODs and it has worked out well. and whenever my friends join me for one of my "crazy" workouts, i already have an idea of what to scale for them from the brandx site.

 

[brikis98]

Yea, i'm in the same boat in terms of having to learn a lot of the exercises. I did an SS style workout for a while, so many of the basic lifts are familiar, but the olympic-style lifts (clean, snatch, jerk, overhead squat), the various gymnastics moves (handstand pushup, muscle-up), and many others are new to me. I've been trying to practice some of these during warm-ups, but once they come around in a WoD, I'm def going to have to do scaled versions and really focus on learning the movements. It's frustrating to not be able to do the workouts as "Rx'd", but I can see the practicality and benefits of learning these functional movements, and will definitely try them out.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: brikis98
Yea, i'm in the same boat in terms of having to learn a lot of the exercises. I did an SS style workout for a while, so many of the basic lifts are familiar, but the olympic-style lifts (clean, snatch, jerk, overhead squat), the various gymnastics moves (handstand pushup, muscle-up), and many others are new to me. I've been trying to practice some of these during warm-ups, but once they come around in a WoD, I'm def going to have to do scaled versions and really focus on learning the movements. It's frustrating to not be able to do the workouts as "Rx'd", but I can see the practicality and benefits of learning these functional movements, and will definitely try them out.

I completely understand what you mean, bud. I went from bulking on Max-OT to cutting on CF. I couldn't do the CF exercises as Rx'ed, often times, but I would ruin myself trying. I hurt my hip due to the high capacitance of the CF workouts. The best thing to do is visit the scaled workouts site, which gives you several ranges that you can start at and work your way up with. I really wish I would've done that, but I'm too stubborn Good luck, man, and I hope to be joining you before summer's over.