Strength/Power
Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x5, 385x4xstopped, 315x5
I haven't deadlifted heavy since before my vacation, so for today I decided to back off my working sets by 20lbs from the pre-vacation numbers. Good thing I did, as my technique was awful. The first rep of 385 was pretty solid, but rep 2 swung noticeably away from my shins, making things much more difficult and unsafe. Reps 3 and 4 were slow and ugly as well, so I decided to stop there and drop back down to 315 to work on technique. Hopefully things will go better next time.
Metcon
Complete as many rounds as you can in twenty minutes of:
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 L Pull-ups
15 Steps, Walking Lunge
9 rounds + 5 HSPU + 5 L pull-ups
Well, I got my ass kicked by L pull-ups again. In fact, I think I could still feel some soreness in my abs from the L pull-ups in Joshie (which I did 5 days ago!) which didn't help anything. I felt a bit stronger on them today, but they were still by far the limiting factor in this workout, as I breezed through the HSPU's and lunges in straight sets. Hopefully, by doing more workouts with L pull-ups and practicing my L-sit, I'll get better at these damn things.
New gym
I forgot to mention it in yesterday's post, but after making the move to CA, I joined Crossfit Sunnyvale. I'm freaking psyched to finally be able to use a real CF gym and this one seems especially good: for less than $70/month (most CF gyms are well over $100), you can take CF classes or just use the CF equipment whenever you want, which is pretty rare, as most CF gyms only allow the former. Moreover, the gym is inside of Planet Granite, a huge climbing facility, and the same membership lets you use the climbing walls too. People seem friendly, it's not too far from my house or work and they have ALL the equipment I could ever want. It was wonderful to warm-up on a C2 rower, use a real GHD for some back extensions and sit-ups, use chalk when deadlifting and practice some muscle-ups on rings. They also have all the plyo boxes, wall balls, pull-up bars, bumper plates, squat racks, kettlebells, climbing ropes, and everything else you'd want in a CF gym. Booyaa.
Considering Aromas, CA is only an hour from where I now live, I'm definitely going to the games next year. However, whether I participate in the Norcal qualifier depends how much progress I make this year. I'm going to absolutely bust my ass, but I've got a VERY long way to go to be competitive. I guess step 1 will be getting all of my 2009 goals completed and then I'll see where I go from there.Originally posted by: katank
Now that you have proper equipment, you should totally shoot for the games next year.
Originally posted by: brikis98
Monday, August 31
Rest day. I've been stupid busy the last 3 days setting up the new apartment and driving all over this place looking for a car to buy. Going to the new gym has been my only respite from this craziness and definitely has been keeping me (relatively) sane.
Considering Aromas, CA is only an hour from where I now live, I'm definitely going to the games next year. However, whether I participate in the Norcal qualifier depends how much progress I make this year. I'm going to absolutely bust my ass, but I've got a VERY long way to go to be competitive. I guess step 1 will be getting all of my 2009 goals completed and then I'll see where I go from there.Originally posted by: katank
Now that you have proper equipment, you should totally shoot for the games next year.
Strength/Power
Snatch: 95x3, 115x3, 135x2, 155x1, 165x1, 170x1, 175xF, 175x1 (PR), 180xF
Last week, after a crappy snatch session, I had promised to deload the snatch and only go up in weight when my technique felt perfect. Well, today my technique felt absolutely perfect. I set a new snatch PR with 175 (just 10lbs short of bodyweight) and I just barely missed 180. I had plenty of height and had gotten under the bar, but my left elbow wasn't locked, and I lost it. If my technique is as smooth next week, I should definitely be able to get it.
Metcon
?Death by 10 meters?
Set up two markers that are 10 meters apart. Use 2 cones, kettelbells, medicineballs, or anything that makes a good marker. Every minute, on the minute, run from one marker to the other. Add one return trip each minute until you can no longer continue.
Your goal is 20+ rounds. A penalty of 1 round of bottom to bottom tabata squats is to be paid out for every round short of 20.
Rounds completed: 20
I joined the folks at Crossfit Sunnyvale for their workout today and had to deal with this shuttle run misery. I was the only one in the class who managed to get through all 20 rounds, so I was able to avoid tabata squats afterwords, which is good, as my quads were really toast from all the stop and go running.
Strength/Power
Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 265x5, 265x20
I hadn't done 20 rep squats since August 5, so I scaled back 10lbs for today. My back was screaming for mercy by rep 12 and my legs were very fatigued for the last 3 reps, but I got through it.
Metcon
21, 15, 9 reps for time:
Power Snatch 135 lbs
Bench Press 185 lbs
Box Jump 24" box
Time: 24:42
I finished the first round in under 5 minutes, but just 2 reps into the power snatches of round 2, I tore open the skin on my right thumb. This made it rather painful to use the hook grip for the rest of the power snatches and I considered stopping at that point, but for some dumb reason, I decided to tough it out. I kept doing the snatches in singles, with awful lob-sided technique due to grip difficulties. Somehow, after a freaking long time, I managed to finish the workout.
Strength/Power
Clean & Jerk: 135x3, 185x3, 205x1, 205x1, 205x1, 215x1, 215xFace (ouch)
Sigh. I was working on my C&J form, only going up in weight when I had the technique perfectly (hence all the 205 repeats) when I managed to screw up real bad: I nailed the bottom of my chin with the last split jerk. I guess I just didn't get my head out of the way in time and the result was a pretty good gash. It actually didn't hurt much at all (apparently, there aren't many nerve endings in this part of the chin) and the only blood stayed in the wound. Well, here is the kicker: due to my recent move and changing jobs, this us the first time in my life I don't have health insurance. I deliberated for a while but finally did go to the urgent care unit and got the great news that I need stitches. I'm waiting for the doctor now and am dreading the bill I'll get. Sigh.
Update: got 7 stitches. Took 2 hours to see the doctor, but the procedure itself was fairly quick and painless. I think the real pain will come in when I see the bill. Apparently, they were necessary to prevent infection, especially with all the stubble in the area. The wound was too big for skin glue, so stitches were the only option.
Strength/Power
Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x1, 330x4xF
OH Press: 95x3, 135x3, 155x1, 175x1, 175x1, 175x1, 175x1
Decent session today. Fourth rep of 330 on squat was miserably slow, so I never really had a chance on the fifth rep, but tried it anyway, only to have to dump the weight behind me. Hopefully I'll get it next time. As for the press, I'm going to try to do a bunch of singles now in the hopes of breaking my 185lb PR. I'm starting a bit lighter and will work my way up. No issues with 175 today, although reps 3 and 4 were noticeably slower than 1 and 2. My shoulders fatigue quickly.
Metcon
8x40 yard dash, with 30 seconds rest in between
I got to the gym late today and it was closing, so after doing the strength portion, I had to leave and went to a field to do my metcon. Unfortunately, the football field I had intended on using was locked up, so I had to roughly pace out 40 yards in the outfield of a baseball field and did my sprinting there. Running all out on grass through the night air is lots of fun.
Strength/Power
Deadlift:135x5, 225x5, 315x5, 365x1, 385x5
My technique felt better today, but still not perfect, so I'll cautiously try 390 next time. I think doing the 1 warm-up rep with 365 is a good idea so the jump from 315 isn't quite as big of a shock to my body. The first 4 reps of 385 were pretty solid, but I had a very long reset before rep 5 because my thumb, which I tore open doing lots of snatches the other day, was hurting from the hook grip.
Metcon
"Kelly"
Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
30 Box jump, 24 inch box
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
Time: 30:25
This is the first time I've been able to do Kelly without substitutions, but it was still not as Rx'd. The weather was great, so I wanted to do the runs outside, but it's a distance of about 35m from where I was doing the box jumps and wall ball to the parking lot where we have 400m measured out. This meant I jogged an extra 70m per round or about 350m extra during the entire workout. I was also told the plyo boxes weren't exactly 24" - I suspect they are actually around 26". Despite all this, my time was only 25 seconds slower than when I did Kelly with treadmill running, thrusters instead of wall ball, and a normal box jump height. I think the extra 350m of running more than cover the 25 second difference, so I'm pretty happy with the performance.
Originally posted by: enwar3
Brikis whatever did you do before we had the H/F forum?
Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: enwar3
Brikis whatever did you do before we had the H/F forum?
What do you mean?
Originally posted by: enwar3
Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: enwar3
Brikis whatever did you do before we had the H/F forum?
What do you mean?
I guess I should'ved asked what we did before we had the H/F forum. Hard to imagine not having a fitness resource (both the subforum and you) like this.
I was wondering if you gave fitness advice when all we had was OT. =)
Strength/Power
Snatch: 95x3, 135x3, 155x3, 165xF, 165xF, 165x1, 170xF, 165x1, 170xF, 170xF
Man, my hands have been a mess the last few weeks. My thumb is still not fully healed from the tear from last week, so I tried to tape it up today, but it still got in the way. I just could not maintain a good grip and was having a lot of trouble getting under the bar cleanly. I missed 165 a bunch of times and couldn't get 170 at all, which was quite frustrating. Worse yet, probably because I was favoring my thumb, I tore open another callous on the palm of the same hand near the pinky. Sigh.
Metcon
"Michael"
Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups
Ran on a treadmill. Did back extensions properly on a GHD and did sit-ups on the floor with an abmat, feet unachored.
Time: 27:12
I finally got to do back extensions on a GHD instead of a 45 degree hyperextension machine and I have to say they are much tougher. I'm not positive I had the GHD configured properly for my height, but my lower back was working MUCH harder (and fatiguing much faster) than on the 45 degree machine. I also saw the CF class doing sit-ups using the abmats, with feet unanchored, and since I'll occasionally try to join the classes, I decided I'd practice mine the same way. The abmat does make sit-ups a bit harder, but I think having the feet unanchored is what slowed me down far more compared to my previous Michael attempts. In the end, my time was almost 5 minutes slower than my earlier/easier/subbed versions of Michael, so I need to do a lot of work to get better at these exercises and bring the time back down.