Strength/Power
Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 325x2, 355x5
OH press: 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 165x5
Felt a bit more comfortable with 355x5 on the squat, so I'll try 360x5 next time. 165x5 on the press went pretty damn well too, so I'll go for 170 or 175 next time.
Metcon
Sprints:
40m, 1 minute rest
40m, 1 minute rest
100m, 2 minutes rest
100m, 2 minutes rest
400m, 3 minutes rest
400m, 3 minutes rest
800m
Ran on an olympic track. I accidentally started at the wrong line for the 100m runs the first two times, so I probably ran 85m instead. Did an extra one at the correct distance after to make up for it. Everything here is self timed so the timings may be inaccurate, especially for short distances.
40m: 5.1
40m: 5.3
85m: 11.9
85m: 11.6
100m: 14.4
400m: 1:20
400m: 1:25
800m: 3:40
I really need to find a way to do my running not immediately after a hard leg workout like squatting. I felt ok on the 100m runs and below, but my legs were burning horribly on the 400's. Every muscle in my legs - hamstrings and adductors especially - felt fatigued and I just could not keep a good pace going. By the time I got to the 800m run, my legs were totally fried and it was a crawl. I really wish I had enough time for a CF endurance type schedule with the metcon separated by 3+ hours from the strength portion.
Strength/Power
Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1, 440x5x1, 315x1, 355x1, 365x1, 375x1
The 440 singles felt good, so I'll go up to 445 next week. Also did a few singles at the end to test my double overhand grip. 375 went up without issues, so I'll try 385 next time. Would be great if I could deadlift 405 double overhand.
Metcon
For time:
50 Wall-ball shots
50 Pull-ups
35 Wall-ball shots
35 Pull-ups
20 Wall-ball shots
20 Pull-ups
Use 20 pound medicine ball launched to a target ten feet above the ground.
Time: 9:17
Nice intense metcon. Due to the grip work I did at the end of deadlifts, my hands were killing me on the pull-ups and I had to break them up into more sets than I would have liked. After a few minutes rest, I also did:
For time: Row 500m
Time: 1:39
My quads got gassed halfway through and my form got ugly really quick with lots of early arm/back pulling. Need to stay more focused on proper technique next time.
Strength/Power
Power snatch: 95x3, 115x2, 135x2, 155x1, 165x1, 175xF, 175xF, 175xF, 135x3
Ugh, my snatch form is still broken. The 1st and 2nd pulls feel ok, but something is messed up with my 3rd pull and I just wasn't getting under the bar. May need to do some snatch balances or something.
Metcon #1
"Fran"
Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups
Time: 3:20 (PR)
This is the first time I've done Fran in ~7 months and I absolutely crushed it. I beat my old PR by over 1 minute and still had plenty in the tank. My goal for 2009 had been to get under 4 minutes, but there is a chance that if I push a bit harder, I might be able to duck under 3. I was really pumped when I finished.
Skill/Gymnastics
HSPU: 5, stopped
Glute ham raise: 1, stopped
GHD sit-ups: 4x15
I was so full of energy after Fran, that I decided to do some bodyweight stuff, but wasn't too successful. I tried to do some HSPU's for the first time since my shoulder injury, but found them a bit painful and stopped after 5. I then wanted to alternate GHD sit-ups with glute ham raises, but on the very first glute ham raise, both my calves cramped up HARD, something they've done randomly through out my life. So, in the end, I just did a few lonely sets of GHD sit-ups.
Metcon #2
Row 2k
Time: 7:42 (PR)
Still felt energetic, so decided to go for a row. Damper setting 6 worked pretty well as I beat my previous 2k time by 6 seconds.
Strength/Power
Power clean: 135x3, 185x3, 205x3, 225x3, 235x3, 245x3, 225x5
Metcon
Run as far as possible in 20 min
Ran outside on a dirt track.
Laps completed: ~10.5
Distance completed: ~2.61 miles
Made it half a lap further than last time. When I got back from my run, I found out my keys had been stolen. I usually put them under a bench near the track so I don't have to lug them around while running. I guess someone found them. The good news is that they didn't use them to steal my car, so maybe they'll turn them into the police lost & found? At any rate, it cost me $80 to have myself and my car towed back to Stanford campus where, for another $100, I got a spare apartment key from the housing office. Bah.
Metcon
Complete 5 rounds for time:
7 Deadlifts 315 lbs
21 Double Unders
Time: 7:40
I'm at the parents' house for the holidays, so I tried to throw a workout together at the local JCC with whatever equipment I could. It was far from optimal: cheap, slippery barbells, no chalk and a crappy jump rope that got all twisted up as I did double unders so I had to spend lots of time straightening it out. If this workout comes up I again, I should get under 7 min.
Skill/Gymnastics
Turkish Get Ups (each arm): 35x3, 45x3, 50x1, 55x1, 60x1
Haven't done these in ages and my technique was pretty awful. However, the bigger issue was that my right shoulder (the one that was injured) seems to be less stable now than the left. I have a strong suspicion that this is contributing to my recent difficulties with receiving the snatch. I should probably do more TGU's and some OH squats to build the shoulder back up.
2010 Crossfit Games
I just registered for the NorCal Sectional Qualifier, March 27-28 in San Jose. That gives me about 4 months to really get my ass in gear.
Good luck at the qualifier! Can't wait to see how your progress goes. Has anyone talked to you about possibly being part of an Affiliate team?
Strength/Power
Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 325x2, 360x5 (PR)
OH Press: 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 170x4xF
Muscle-ups (pull-up bar): 8, 6
Felt very strong on squats today and set a new 5RM. Not too happy with the bar speed, but technique was very good. OH press didn't go quite as well - rep 4 of 170 was really slow and I wasn't even close on rep 5. Might try maxing out next time to see where I'm at. Finally, tossed in some muscle-ups while I was waiting for a rower to free up and was able to bang out 8 in a row.
Metcon
Tabata rowing: 4 rounds of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off
Distance rowed: 888m
Used my phone to time the intervals this time so I didn't have to keep the flywheel turning during rest periods. Therefore, distance is more accurate now, though the wheel definitely keeps spinning for a few seconds even after I stopped rowing. The rowers at the gym today were old/ghetto, but I suspect the C2 rowers back at CF Sunnyvale might have built in tabata intervals.
WoD
"Eva"
Five rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
2 pood Kettlebell swing, 30 reps
30 Pull-ups
Did 70lb DB swings instead of kb swings and ran on a treadmill.
Time: 49:32 (PR)
I'm not sure there is a CF workout that crushes me more physically or mentally than Eva. The combination of 800m runs and lots of heavy swings just killed my morale and I really wanted to quit after round 3. I kept going, even stopping once for a minute during the final 800m run, and eventually the misery ended. I beat my old PR by over 3 minutes and for some reason, I have a suspicion I only did 4 rounds back then. Going to try to recover now by spending the rest of the day lying around at my parents' house in my PJ's and watching football.
Crossfit Total
Morning bodyweight: 194.0 lbs
Squat
Warm-up: 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x1, 355x1
Official: 385x1 (PR), 395x1 (PR), 405x1 (PR)
OH Press
Warm-up: 115x5, 135x3, 155x1, 175x1
Official: 185x1, 195x1, 200xF
Deadlift
Warm-up: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1
Official: 445x1, 455x1, 465xF
Total: 1055 lbs (PR)
Bit of a bittersweet day: my CFT is 40lbs higher than it was last time I did it back in October, but it could have been even better. I'm stoked about the squat, which accounted for most of my CFT increase, as I set a 30lb PR today. I can't complain about my OH press either, as I tied my PR after coming back form a ~2 month shoulder injury. Hopefully I'll finally break 200 soon. Deadlift was disappointing. I'm at my parents' house, so I worked out at a nearby YMCA where no chalk was available. I felt damn strong on the deadlift but could barely hold onto the bar. I'm positive with some chalk I could've gotten 465, but it slipped out about 2 inches off the floor. Oh well, I'll get it next time.
Metcon
Complete as many rounds in 15 minutes as you can of:
7 Front Squats 185 lbs
7 Burpee Pull Ups
Rounds completed: 8 full rounds + 3 front squats
This is a tough workout. You are gasping for air the entire time but during the front squats, having 185lbs racked across your shoulders makes it real tough to fill your lungs up. Physically, I definitely had 9+ rounds in me, but the lack of air was mentally draining and I just didn't push as hard as I could. I need to man up and hit these workouts harder.
Skill/Gymnastics
Inverted rows: BWx15, BW + 10 x 10, BW + 25 x 10
Pistols: 3 sets of 5 with each leg holding a 10lb weight out in front
Toes to bar: 3x10
No bumper plates here, so I couldn't do o-lifts today and instead did some gymnastics style exercises at the end. Inverted rows were very uncomfortable as the plate kept slipping around on my chest and hitting me in the chin. A backpack to hold the weights would be much better. Pistols were VERY rusty as I haven't done them in a while. After the first set, my right leg felt great, easily banging out all 5 reps. However, the left lug struggled even more than usual: getting deep was very difficult (lack of ankle flexibility?) and I didn't feel like my hamstrings/glutes were working nearly as much as the right leg when driving out of the hole.
Thanks! And good luck with the metcons. Just make sure to start easy and scale down for the first few weeks as the CF WoDs are brutal when you first start out.Nice numbers on the CrossFit Total! Your progress has inspired me to mix in some metcon style workouts into my plan. There's a guy at my gym who may do some of them with me.
A look back at 2009
What a year it has been. I moved to CA, joined CF Sunnyvale, resolved to try to qualify for the CF Games, and got myself into the best shape of my life. I had fun going through my journal and seeing some of the improvements I've made:
Squat: 315 --> 405
OH Press: 165 --> 195
Deadlift: 405 --> 455
OH Squat: 165 --> 205
Power clean: 215 --> 265
Snatch: 135 --> 195
Consecutive kipping pull-ups: 30 --> 40
Consecutive air squats: 50 --> 100
Consecutive sit-ups: 60 --> 100
Fran: 5:58 --> 3:20
Murph: 40:01 --> 32:29
Cindy: 22+ rounds --> 28 rounds
Angie: 22:04 --> 16:28
2009 Goals
Looking at my 2009 goals, they can be broken down into 4 categories:
Success
Squat 365, deadlift 455, press 195, 1000lb CFT, OH squat 205, snatch 185, clean 275, 40 consecutive pull-ups, 100 consecutive sit-ups, 100 consecutive air squats, 3:00 Fran, 28 round Cindy
Did not attempt
315 bench press, 100 consecutive push-ups, split jerk 250, 150lb weighted pull-up, King Kong
Failure
Run 400m in 1:00, run 800m in 2:30, run 1600m in 5:45, run 5000m in 20:00, Murph in 30:00
Looking at the above, the pattern is pretty clear: my CF hybrid routine did a great job of developing strength, power, muscular endurance and conditioning in interval/circuit style CF workouts. There were a few items that I never attempted due to a shoulder injury (bench press, push-ups, split jerk) or a lack of equipment (don't have a dip belt for weighted pull-ups and I was supposed to try King Kong this week, but don't have access to bumper plates). Finally, I failed on all the tasks that involved primarily monostructural cardio - in particular, running.
Treadmills are evil
I think a lot of my troubles with running can be attributed to over-reliance on treadmills, which caused a number of issues:
1. POSE technique on a treadmill is different than outside so I have a lot of form errors to fix. This is probably the biggest issue.
2. I never learned what different running speeds "feel" like since the treadmill controlled the speed for me and now I often run too fast or too slow outside.
3. I never developed the mental toughness to maintain a difficult pace and often slow down without the treadmill's constant speed to keep pushing me.
4. I thought my times were better than they really were as running on a treadmill is a lot easier.
Looking to 2010
The good news is that my weaknesses are now clear and I know what I need to do in the coming year to eliminate them. I should be able to run outside a whole lot more in CA, so I'm going to try to fit in more monostructural cardio (running and rowing) a few times per week until my technique, pacing and mental toughness improve. Given how much I hate running - which, of course, is probably the biggest reason of all why I suck at it - my workout plan for the next few months can be summarized as:
"Beatings will continue until morale improves."
Will I improve enough to stand a chance at the CF Games sectional qualifier? Meh, probably not, but it'll be fun as hell to try.
Strength/Power
One handed DB power snatch (alternating hands): 35x3, 50x3, 65x3, 80x3, 90x1, 100x1
DB step-ups (dumbbell in each hand): 35x3, 50x3, 65x3
Decided to do some unilateral training today. The DB power snatch was pretty fun and the only olympic style lifting I can do now w/o access to bumper plates. Unfortunately, even the 100lb db wasn't too hard, so this kind of explosive training hits a wall pretty quick. I rarely do step-ups and found them a bit uncomfortable. I like how they hit the PC but it's too easy to cheat by pushing off with the back foot, which negates much of the exercise.
Metcon
Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Handstand push-ups
Ran on a treadmill. Did 55lb DB swings.
Time: 19:50
Holy crap have my handstand push-ups gotten weak after the shoulder injury. My OH press is within 5lbs of what I was doing pre-injury, but the HSPU's aren't even close. I spent the vast majority of this workout on them, breaking up the 12 reps into many sets of 2-4. My shoulders were absolutely toast when I was done. In the end, my time was 10 minutes slower than my time on Helen, which is an identical workout except it has pull-ups instead of HSPU's. Looks like I have a new weakness I really need to work on.
Strength/Power
None. My lower back was feeling a bit odd today on the right side. I'm guessing I just slept oddly on it, but decided to not risk it and skip the heavy lifting for today.
Metcon #1
Perform as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes:
15 Dumbbells Thrusters 45 lbs
500 Meter Row
Rounds completed: 3 + 15 thrusters + 165m rowing
It turns out that DB thrusters are much harder than BB thrusters. I was able to get through all the reps of Fran unbroken, which included 21-15-9 of 95lb BB thrusters. Today, with the 90lb (total) DB thrusters, I barely got through the 15 reps in the first round unbroken and had to break the thrusters up 8/7 for the remaining rounds. Not sure if it is a technique issue or if balancing two DB's is really that much harder, but the thrusters really wrecked me.
Metcon #2
Tabata double-unders: 8 rounds of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off
Double-unders completed: 126
I'm trying to occasionally double up my metcons to gradually get a little more used to the load of the CF Games. The YMCA I was at today only had crappy/short jump ropes, so I had to jump much higher than normal and kept catching my feet during the double-unders. It was bad enough that I ended up with ~60 less double-unders than the last time I did this workout. Can't wait to get back to CF Sunnyvale.
Strength/Power
None. Spent an hour shoveling snow and had a flight to catch, so I didn't have time for it today.
Metcon
"Death By Tabata"
* Perform: Alternating Tabata Deadlift and Burpee
* Start the clock and perform as many reps as possible for 20 seconds of deadlifts. Rest 10 seconds. Then perform as many burpees as possible in 20 seconds. Rest 10 seconds. Repeat this 14 more times for a total of 16 sets. Your score is counted by the total number of reps in 16 sets; 8 alternating sets of deadlifts and burpees .
* The entire workout should take 8 minutes.
* Deadlift weight: Professional - 275 lbs, Collegiate/Amateur - 185 lbs
Used 185lbs for the deadlift.
Deadlifts completed: 57
Burpees completed: 57
Total: 114
Tabata intervals are a great way to destroy a person in a matter of minutes.
Thanks. This workout journal has been incredibly useful the last 1.5 years: writing down all my numbers & stats has helped me track my progress, identify weakness, fine tune my routine and stay motivated. And I'm certainly glad it is helping others too. Good luck with your training.Wow, looking at how your stats changed over the year is pretty inspirational to me. I'm currently right around the same strength levels as you were at the end of 2008, so it's nice to see what I can shoot for if I keep my training and nutrition consistent. Keep up the good work this year.
Sunday, January 3
57 deadlifts in 8 minutes? You are a king among men good sir.
57 deadlifts in 8 minutes? You are a king among men good sir.