WoD
Extra rest day. At the parents' house for the 4th of July.
GTG
Burpee challenge: 93 (1x24, 3x23).
Strength/Power
Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x1, 395x5
Felt pretty damn strong today and the first four reps of 395 were very solid. I had a long reset before rep number 5, and it was fairly slow and ugly, but I'm still counting it. Will try to go for reps with 405 next time.
Metcon
For time, 21, 15, 9 reps of:
Deadlift 225 lbs
Kettle Bell Swing 2 Pood
Subbed 70lb DB swings for KB swings.
Time: 9:01
It was dumb to schedule this workout after heavy deadlifts and my time reflects it. My lower back, glutes and hamstrings are already sore.
GTG
Burpee challenge: 94 (2x24, 2x23).
WoD
Rest day.
GTG
Burpee challenge: 95+ (4x24).
WoD
Today is my 1 year anniversary since starting Crossfit and to celebrate, I repeated my first ever Crossfit workout:
"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.
Ran on a treadmill.
Time: 32:29 (PR)
Not too shabby. I shaved nearly 4 minutes off my previous Murph PR from March 25th. I ran the first mile at 9mph, and for the first time in my life, I can honestly say that a ~6:40 mile was genuinely easy. However, as usual, the second mile was a nightmare: my lungs and legs were so obliterated by that point that I was just running on pure heart. When I reached the end, I felt an incredible wave of relief... followed immediately by a huge wave of exhaustion. I guess it's true what they say about Crossfit: it never really gets easier, you just get faster. I'm not sure how I'm going to get down to a sub 30 minute Murph (one of my many goals for 2009), but CF has gotten me this far, so if I keep busting my ass, I'll get there eventually.
One Year of Crossfit: Some Thoughts
There's so much I could say about Crossfit, but I think it can all be condensed to this: it works. It really f-in works. I've tried countless different ways of exercising and nothing comes close to the effectiveness of CF. Every single aspect of my fitness has seen huge improvements and I can unequivocally say that I'm now in the best shape of my life. How's that for a testimonial?
There are numerous flavors of Crossfit, including the mainsite Crossfit, Crossfit Endurance, Crossfit Football, Crossfit Strength Bias and numerous variations at individual affiliates (such as Catalyst Athletic's focus on olympic weightlifting). However, all of them share a common foundation: (1) constantly varied workouts based on (2) functional movements done at (3) high intensity. IMO, these 3 components are the keys to a successful fitness program. I think the reason that CF works is not because it's somehow magical, but because it emphasizes these 3 components more than any other program. I plan on doing CF for a long time and when I move to CA this summer and join an actual CF affiliate, I'll hopefully be able to take it up another level. Given my ambitious goals for this year, I think that's exactly what I'll need.
Crossfit is all about numbers and tracking progress, so I'll finish up by posting some of the varied feats I've accomplished in my first year. To be perfectly open about it, I know full well that I'm no elite athlete and I'm definitely not one of the CF "firebreathers". I try my best not to have an ego about this and instead focus on one thing: competing with myself. These numbers below, by themselves, are relatively meaningless. However, compared to what I started with, they all show awesome improvements across a broad range of physical abilities:
* "Murph" in 32:29 (just today)
* "Fran" in 4:30
* "300 workout" in 17:01
* "Helen" in 9:33
* 24 rounds of Cindy
* Ran a 10k and a 15k
* Ran a 6 minute mile
* Deadlift: 395x5 (estimated 1RM: 450)
* Squat: 335x3 (estimated 1RM: 360)
* Squat: 265x20
* Clean: 260lbs
* 1xBW (185lbs) OH Squat
* 30 consecutive pull-ups
I've also learned to do a ton of new exercises:
* Kipping pull-ups, clapping pull-ups, and L pull-ups
* Muscle-ups on a pull-up bar and on rings
* Handstand push-ups
* L-sits on the floor and on rings
* Tuck planche
* Single-legged squats
* Back lever and front lever
* Double-unders
* Clean and Jerk
* Snatch
* Kip-up
* POSE running
Originally posted by: EvilYoda
Nice, congrats! Can I ask what your background and training regimen was going into this year of CF?
Strength/Power
Snatch: 95x3, 135x3, 155x1, 155xF, 155x1, 165xF, 165x1 (PR)
Well, my snatch has finally caught up to my power snatch with today's PR. Most of this has to do with finally losing the fear of squatting under the bar. However, I still wasn't too happy today with my receiving position - I always seemed to be a bit off balance in the OH squat - so I practiced it a bunch of times with 155. Although I still have tons of room for improvement, it definitely felt better towards the end and I think I should be good for 170 or 175 next time.
Metcon
30 Muscle-ups for time
Did muscle-ups on a pull-up bar.
Time: 4:09 (PR)
Sometimes, CF really does seem magical. I haven't done muscle-ups since this workout came up back in March (that's over 3 months!), but despite that, I broke my previous PR by nearly 2 minutes. I love it.
GTG
Burpee challenge: 97 (1x17, 5x16). Quads were very sore from Murph yesterday, so these were really tough today.
WoD
Rest day. My quads were even more sore today and since I had a fairly squat heavy workout coming up, I decided to do it tomorrow instead and moved my rest day to today.
GTG
Burpee challenge: 98 (1x18, 5x16).
Originally posted by: conorvansmack
Is that a 20-rep squat workout?
Strength/Power
Cleans: 135x3, 185x3, 225x1, 245x1, 255x1, 265xF, 265xF, 265xF
Frustrating day on cleans. 255 went up easily enough that I though I'd have a new PR with 265, but I just kept missing. On the third try I was very close: I got under the weight and was starting the front squat, but my elbows must've been a bit low and I lost it.
Metcon
8 rounds of 40 yard sprints.
Rest 30 seconds between sprints, run at 90-100% effort on all sprints.
No one was around to time me, so I tried to time myself using my iPod, but this is very tough to do on such short/fast runs, so the following times are likely quite inaccurate (+/- 0.5 seconds is my guess):
5.70
5.76
5.77
5.81
5.79
5.85
5.92
5.99
GTG
Burpee challenge: 99 (1x19, 5x16).
Strength/Power
Squat: 135x5, 205x5, 255x5, 295x5, 315x5
OH Press: 125x5, 145x5, 165x5
Decided to switch back to sets of 5 on the squat. 315 felt heavy and the reps were slow, but I somehow got through them. I might repeat it again next time as I really want to have good bar speed before going up in weight. As for OH press, my technique felt excellent today. The 5th rep was very tough, but I managed to squeeze it out.
Metcon
Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Squat snatch
Chest to bar Pull-ups
Time: 14:15
Snatching the weight up was easy, but forcing myself to do so many OH squats was pretty brutal. I think part of the problem was that the weight was light enough that this became a power snatch + OH squat. In the final two rounds, I intentionally reduced the power of my second pull so I could catch the weight at the bottom of the squat and save a lot of energy. I'd also never done CTB pull-ups before and didn't really get a good rhythm on them until the final round. At any rate, this was a good learning experience and if this workout comes up again, I expect my time to be much lower.
GTG
Burpee challenge: 100 (4x25). DONE. Finally.
Strength/Power
Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x1, 405x2xstopped (hand)
Yesterday, I tore open a blister on my hand doing CTB pull-ups and despite doing my best to tape it up today, I just could not hold onto 405lbs w/o considerable pain. I squeezed out two solid reps, but decided to call it a day after that.
Metcon
"Michael"
Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups
Ran on a treadmill. Did back extensions on a 45 degree back extension machine. Did sit-ups on the floor with feet anchored.
Time: 22:30 (PR)
I'm sure part of it is improved fitness, but I think my running technique is definitely more efficient now with POSE/VFFs. I ran all three 800m's at 10mph but felt a much lower level of exertion running at this speed than I used to. Unfortunately, a guy was on the back extension machine when I finished the 800m run in round 3, so I had to do sit-ups first. Even after I did those, the guy was still on the machine, so I lost ~15 seconds more waiting for him to get off.
Heh, what's sad is that I do have straps, but haven't used them for so long that I totally forgot about them. I'll definitely make use of them next time this happens though.Originally posted by: crt1530
You should get a pair of straps for deadlifting on days when you have a torn callus.
ThanksOriginally posted by: crt1530
Congratulations on sticking with the routine for a year and getting through that burpee challenge.
Originally posted by: brikis98
Monday, July 13
Rest day. So nice not having to do burpees.
:thumbsup:Originally posted by: conorvansmack
Originally posted by: brikis98
Monday, July 13
Rest day. So nice not having to do burpees.
Agreed! Now my rest days are actually rest days.
Strength/Power
Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 270x20
OH Press: 115x5, 145x5, 170x3xF
If nothing else, 20 rep squats have definitely improved my ability to keep going through enormous amounts of discomfort. My back was incredibly fatigued from this set and I'm guessing that'll be the limiting factor in the long run. The biggest difficulty on the final 5-6 reps, where the urge to stop is incredibly strong, was not whether my legs could get the weight up, but whether I could keep my back locked out while I did it. It took me a very long time to catch my breath at the end of the set and I definitely wasn't 100% for OH press. As a result, I missed rep 4 on 170lbs, but just barely: I got it to the top of my forehead but just couldn't get it that final inch where my upper back could take over and help me lock it out.
Metcon
Run 5K
Ran outside on an olympic track using VFFs/POSE.
Time: 22:22 (PR)
Beat my May 23rd PR by 16 seconds. It's always nice to see improvement, but at this rate, I don't think I stand much of a chance of reaching my 2009 goal of a 20:00 5k.
Strength/Power
Power snatch: 95x3, 135x3, 155x1, 155x1, 165xF, 165x1, 170xF
I wanted to do normal snatches today, but my legs were feeling pretty dead from 20 rep squats yesterday, so I opted for the power variety. I tied my PR of 165 and almost had 170: I had it overhead and almost locked out, but it was a tiny bit too far forward and I ended up losing it.
Metcon
"Danny"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
24 inch Box Jump, 30 reps
115 pound Push Press, 20 reps
30 Pull-ups
3 rounds + 30 box jumps + 15 push press
This is a surprisingly "heavy" workout. It's a lot of reps and each one seemed to wind me a whole lot. I thought I'd make it to 4 rounds easily, but really ran out of gas at the end. I also tore open a callus on my other hand. I found a guy on the CF messageboards who has a garage gym not far from my house and have been working out there lately. He has a nice pull-up bar setup, but one of the bars has these leather wraps on it that feel very comfy and give you a great grip. Unfortunately, I suspect that the added friction from this grip is what has caused the callus tears on both of my hands. My hands are kinda gross looking now and I'm not sure how I'm gonna get much lifting done tomorrow.
Originally posted by: brikis98
Thursday, July 16
Rest day. I figured that with torn blisters on both hands, I'd be better off switching my rest day from tomorrow to today.
Originally posted by: EvilYoda
Wall balls suck.
ever seen that CF workout video with Zac doing double unders / wallballs but the wall balls were "2-fer-1s"? (toss the ball up, air squat as ball is in the air, stand, catch, repeat). I get just watching it :laugh:Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: EvilYoda
Wall balls suck.
I've never actually had access to the proper kind of ball or wall, so I've never tried them. Of course, I hate thrusters and wall balls just look worse.