Strength/Power
Snatch: 95x3, 115x2, 135x2, 155x2, 165x2, 175xF, 175xF, 175x1, 180xF, 180x1, 185x1, 190xF, 190XF, 190XF
SO happy to be back at CF Sunnyvale and to have access to bumper plates again. Technique was a bit rusty today, but not awful. Biggest issue was something I noticed earlier - my shoulder stability isn't great, so I was missing lots of snatches because I couldn't lock the weight out properly. I definitely need to work on some OH squats, HSPU's, etc and get my shoulders back in shape.
Metcon
"DT"
Five rounds for time of:
155 pound Deadlift, 12 reps
155 pound Hang power clean, 9 reps
155 pound Push jerk, 6 reps
Time: 15:54 (PR)
I'm adopting a new strategy with metcons: I'm going to use my iPhone as a timer and keep it readily visible as much as possible through out the workout. Normally I just use the clock on the wall, but having the time in my face really helps with pacing and prevents me from slacking off too much. Hopefully, this will allow me to up my intensity in metcons. It helped today, as this is a tough workout. I beat my old PR by over 2 minutes. Grip started to fatigue on the hang power cleans pretty bad. My push jerk technique is terrible and I'll need to work on it.
This is actually a Crossfit Football workout and there were a number of guys on there who used the "pro" weight (275lbs) and had almost the same number of deadlifts. I'm still a mere pawn compared to those dudes.
Are they straight standard deadlfifts? That's amazing.
Strength/Power
OH Squat: 95x5, 135x3, 165x2, 185x2, 195x1, 205x1, 215x1 (PR), 225xF, 225x1 (PR)
Did some OH squats today to work on my shoulder mobility/stability and ended up setting a 20lb PR. I was pretty shaky at the beginning, but after a few sets, my shoulder loosened up and felt great. In fact, the OH squat is an awesome full body flexibility exercise. Everything feels lose and mobile when I'm done with it. One thing I noticed with my OH squat technique is that when going for heavy singles, I tend to descend very slowly (to maintain balance) and more or less end up pausing at the bottom. This gets me into a VERY deep squat (useful, as this is how deep I am in heavy snatches), but also entirely removes any bounce/stretch reflex. However, as I'm definitely limited by shoulder/core stability and not squat strength on the exercise, losing the bounce in exchange for better balance is probably a good trade off.
Metcon
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 rep rounds of:
185 pound Front squat
GHD Sit-up
Time: 19:54
Front squat technique felt really good today and I was better at breathing with 185lbs racked across my shoulders for long periods of times. GHD sit-ups sucked and going upside down for them made me feel a bit dizzy. I suspect the front of my body - abs, hip flexors, quads - is going to be extremely sore tomorrow.
I believe that technically, since your body is continually under load and you don't deload yourself at any point in time, you still maintain the elastic response from loading the connective tissue. That's not to say you don't reach a point that's hard to dig yourself out of. However, unless you're doing something like box squats, you're gonna have some sort of stretch response. That is, unless you're referring to something a bit different than I am
Strength/Power
Power cleans: 135x3, 185x2, 205x2, 225x2, 235x2, 245x2, 225x5
After a few weeks off from cleans (due to lack of bumper plates), my form was a bit rusty today. It sucks to be stuck at 245 for so long on this lift, but I was getting sloppy even at that weight, so going any higher would not have been a good idea. I'll try 245 again next week for triples and if that goes well, finally bump up to 250. If it goes poorly, I'll probably deload or switch to squat cleans for a while.
Metcon
"Randy"
75 pound Power snatch, 75 reps for time.
Time: 5:45
This was tougher than it looked. My quads were totally shot from yesterday's 20,000 lbs of squatting (literally!) and they were burning pretty bad during this workout.
Strength/Power
Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x2, 340x1, 365x5 (PR)
Press: 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 175x3xF
I love seeing my squat continuing to increase - I wish my deadlift would go up at the same rate. OH press felt ok too, though I couldn't get more than 3 reps of 175. Will probably go back to singles next week.
Metcon
Complete as many rounds in 15 minutes as you can of:
Sprint 110 yards/100 meters
Max Rep Pull Ups (without coming off the bar)
Completed 5 rounds and 113 pull-ups (40, 17, 18, 20, 18).
I ran in the parking lot outside CF Sunnyvale, which - according to Google Map measurements - meant each round included a ~50m walk from the pull-up bar to the parking lot, the 100m sprint, and a ~150m jog/walk back to the pull-up bar. My goal was to do actual sprints, so I took my time getting between the pull-up bar and the parking lot to ensure I was rested enough to run full-out. All of this meant that I didn't get through many rounds, but I still feel like I got a good training effect from this workout. I'm also pretty happy with 40 pull-ups in my first round, although that really burned out my arms for all the other rounds.
Strength/Power
Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1, 445x5x1, 315x1, 365x1, 385x1
Decent deadlifting day. No issues with the 445 singles, so I'll go up to 450 next week. The 3 sets after the 445 singles were all to test my double overhand grip.
Metcon
10 rounds of: row for 1 minute, rest for 1 minute.
*Row for 1 minute as many meters as you can, rest one minute.
*Continue this cycle for a total of 20 minutes.
*Your score is the total amount of meters rowed
Round 1: 289
Round 2: 290
Round 3: 288
Round 4: 281
Round 5: 274
Round 6: 280
Round 7: 278
Round 8: 277
Round 9: 279
Round 10: 276
Total: 2812 m
Pretty nice CF Sunnyvale workout. I took the time to set-up this interval workout on the C2 rower, so the distances measured are actually accurate and do not include any drift from the flywheel continuing to turn during rest periods. After watching a number of videos on rowing (including both of the Rowing Monitor videos and all 4 Rowing Lesson videos), my main goal for today was to fix the holes in my technique. By watching the Power vs. Time graph and my 500m split times, I think I improved my stroke quite a bit today, but I can see that I still need a lot of work.
Strength/Power
Snatch: 95x3, 95x3, 115x3, 135x3, 155x1, 155x1, 165xF, 165xF, stopped
Sunday's deadlifts affected me much more than I expected and I was definitely NOT recovered today, at all. My spinal erectors, lats and hamstrings were all very sore and I was generally fatigued - possibly a sign of overtraining. I could not get any kind of explosion going on the snatch and even with 95lbs I could tell it was going to be a rough day. By the time I got to 165, I could tell it was a lost cause and just stopped. I may need an extra rest day tomorrow.
Metcon
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
95 pound Thruster, 5 reps
95 pound Hang Powercleans, 7 reps
95 pound Sumo Deadlift High-pull, 10 reps
Rounds completed: 9 (PR)
I considered going home after the miserable performance on the snatch, but a thought entered my mind: this kind of mental & physical fatigue is something I'm likely to feel from doing multiple events at the CF Games qualifier. I remembered the amazingly gutsy performances from the '09 games this past summer - such as Khalipa deadlifting all 20 bars (up to 505lbs!) after collapsing in the 7km hill run just an hour earlier - and figured I needed to man up and just do it. At the very least, it would build some mental toughness. I loaded up the bar, set the timer down in front of me, and got to work. Those were some very unpleasant 20 minutes, to say the least. Fresh, I should have been able to do 10-11 rounds, but I'm happy to have gotten to 9 (which is still a 1 round PR). A few quotes entered my mind during this 20 minute suck-fest:
"Bathed in sweat, bent over and gasping for breath, lungs burning, the athlete might have wondered aloud if this is what death must feel like. In time, this same athlete will surely realize the opposite. Indeed, this is what life feels like."
"We are a nation of physical animals who have forgotten how much we enjoy being that. We are cushioned by this kind of make-believe, unreal world and we have no idea what we can survive because we are never challenged or tested."
"Pain is just weakness leaving the body"
Strength/Power
None. Taking into account yesterday's miserable session and the fact that my back is still a bit sore, I figured I'd skip the heavy lifting for today.
Metcon
For time:
50 Ring Dips
Run 400 meters
50 Push-ups
Run 400 meters
50 Handstand push-ups
Run 400 meters
Scaled the workout down to 25 ring dips, 25 push-ups and 25 HSPU's. Ran in the parking lot next to CF Sunnyvale. I used Google Maps to get a relatively accurate measurement and found that the lot was 400m around and the distance from the gym to the parking lot was 60m, so each round I did 60m + 400m + 60m = ~520m of running.
Time: 15:33
All I wanted to do today was a quick metcon, so I scaled this one down. The running was a breeze and I actually enjoyed running around in the night air. Ring dips and push-ups were fast too, the former done in two sets (15/10) and the latter in one. However, the HSPU's were killer. I had to break them down 5/3/2/2/3/2/2/2/2/2 and it took 7-8 minutes to get through them all. If I can find time and a place at work to do them, I'm going to have to use GTG on these things until I can get my numbers way up.
Strength/Power
Clean: 135x2, 185x2, 225x2, 250x2, 265x1, 275x1, 280x1 (PR), 285xF, stopped
Today started out nicely: I found 250 relatively easy to clean (a good sign for when I attempt "King Kong") and quickly set a new PR with 280. However, when I tried 285, I somewhat collapsed under the weight, didn't dump it in time and ended up rolling forward with my right leg caught awkwardly underneath. I felt some pain just above the knee cap and in my big toe before I was finally able to dump the weight. I felt fine a few seconds later as I walked it off, but when I tried an air squat, I could definitely feel a strain at the top of the knee (possibly the quadriceps femoris tendon). I don't think it's anything serious, but I decided not to do any more heavy cleans for the day and will be monitoring the injury the next few days.
Metcon
"Grace"
135 pound Clean and Jerk, 30 reps
Time: 3:09 (PR)
Since Grace is "ground to overhead anyhow", I did it with power cleans and push presses, which didn't bother my knee. My quads were pretty fatigued from the squat cleans earlier and I didn't pace myself too well, but I still set a 1 minute PR. I should definitely be able to get under 3 minutes next time.
Strength/Power
Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1, 450x5x1
OH Press: 95x5, 135x3, 165x1, 185x1, 195x1, 200x1 (PR), 205xF
The first two singles with 450 were reasonably fast, but the last 3 were brutally hard. On the one hand, it's a good sign that my deadlift 1RM should be quite a bit higher now, but also a bad sign for my chances of completing "King Kong". With OH press, I finally got 200lbs, a 5lb PR. 205 got stuck at the top of my head for a good 3 seconds before I gave up on it; hopefully I'll get it next time. I must mention that I'm somewhat perplexed that my OH Press has gotten stronger, but I'm struggling MUCH more with HSPU's.
Metcon
Row: 5 rounds of 500m, 2:1 rest ratio
Round 1 (damper: 5): 1:38
Round 2 (damper: 6): 1:42
Round 3 (damper: 4): 1:47
Stopped
I wanted to experiment with different damper settings and work on my rowing technique today, but it became quickly apparent that the deadlifts had completely destroyed my legs. My quads were burning so bad on round 3 that I could barely finish the 500m and didn't even bother with round 4. This made me realize that I may need to change up my routine a bit.
Routine Changes?
As I've gotten stronger - and the weights have gotten heavier - the strength/power portion of my workout is interfering more and more with my metcons. This is bad news, as I really need to improve my conditioning (especially for running/rowing) before the CF Games qualifier. I still have to work out exactly how, but I'm going to have to tweak my routine so I can hit my metcons 100%. Some ideas I've had so far:
1. No more 20 rep squats. I'm happy with having gotten to 300x20, but they are just too hard to recover from and they really interfere with metcons on the same day. This frees up one day for pure metcon work.
2. Perhaps do heavy squats and deadlifts on the same day followed by a VERY short metcon. It will slow my gains on those lifts for sure, but it might be worth it if it frees up one more day entirely for metcon work.
3. My o-lifts still need lots of work, so those should stay as-is.
Strength/Power
None. I'm still trying to figure out my new schedule, but it'll most likely include 2 days of pure metcon per week, starting with today.
Metcon
"Fight Gone Bad!"
Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)
In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.
I did this workout with another person, delaying my start by 2 minutes, and to avoid overlap I switched the order of box jumps and SDHP's.
Wall ball: 28, 21, 25
Box jumps: 28, 30, 28
SDHP: 20, 21, 18
Push press: 32, 30, 28
Row: 14, 11, 13
Total: 347 (PR)
Absolutely crushed my previous PR on this workout and if not for a couple technical miscues, my score could have been higher. We used my friends' Gym Boss timer and missed the beep a couple times, so I started both the wall balls and push press in round 2 about 15 seconds late. A bunch of 10 year old kids also randomly showed up during round 2 and started messing around on the rower, so I lost more time finding a different rower and setting it up for calories. At any rate, this is the first time I did FGB and not ended up feeling like crap at the end, which is probably a sign that I didn't go hard enough. Can't wait to try this one again and see if I can get closer to 400.
Strength/Power
Snatch: 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 145x3, 145x3, 145x3, 135x5
As I've been struggling with my snatch technique recently, I did a deload today and did not allow myself to go up in weight unless I felt that my form was perfect for the previous set. Sadly, I couldn't even get past 145. Not that I was missing any reps, but almost every rep had something wrong with it: the bar would get too far from my body, I wouldn't lock my shoulders out well on the catch, I wouldn't get into a full squat, and so on. I tried a couple hang power snatches and found them much more comfortable, so I'm guessing the problem is in my set-up, but I'm not sure exactly what.
Metcon
7 rounds for time of:
3 Handstand Push Ups
5 Power Cleans 185 lbs
7 Pull Ups (Chest To Bar)
Time: 14:01
Awesome CFFB workout. CTB pull-ups are hard. I can't seem to get my arms far back enough to allow the upper part of my chest to touch the bar (big biceps + bad flexibility, I guess), so I had to pull hard enough to get the bottom of my sternum up to the bar, which was close to the type of pull needed for a muscle-up. Perhaps with a wider grip I wouldn't need to pull myself quite as high, but I didn't have a chance to try it.
Endurance
12 minute time trial: cover as much distance on the C2 rower as possible.
Distance: 3045m
This is my first day doing a CFE workout and I enjoyed it. I didn't go too crazy and was mostly focusing on rowing technique, but was definitely feeling it at the end. I found that my butt started to fall asleep after minute 9 or so; not sure if I'm sitting wrong or if it's just something I need to get used to with the C2 rower. Anyways, it was a nice short workout which will hopefully help my running/rowing abilities and not tax my recovery ability much.
Strength/Power
Power clean: 135x3, 185x3, 205x3, 225x3, 235x3, 235x3, 235x3
Like the snatch, I decided to deload my power clean a bit and go up in weight only when my form felt perfect. Although 225 felt excellent, none of the sets with 235 were particularly pretty, so I stopped there. I'm going to try very hard to be patient and move up in weight slowly as my o-lift technique is horribly inconsistent and if I rush it, I'll just keep getting stuck.
Metcon
"Nate"
Complete as many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
2 Muscle-ups
4 Handstand Push-ups
8 2-Pood Kettlebell swings
Subbed 70lb DB swings.
Round completed: 10 + 1 muscle-up (PR)
This was my first time doing Nate with ring muscle-ups (instead of bar muscle-ups) and considering how much worse I am at those and the recent struggles I'm having with HSPU's, I was really surprised to set a PR today. My ring muscle-up technique is definitely improving and I did a much better job of pushing my body through the rings during the change over from pull-up to dip. The biggest issues remaining are getting my kip to be as efficient on the rings as it is on the bar and getting used to the fairly uncomfortable false grip.
Endurance
Run: 5x800m, 90 seconds recovery between rounds
Round 1: 3:05
Round 2: 3:34
Round 3: 3:33
Round 4: 3:40
Round 5: 3:45
Wow, totally screwed up the pacing on this one. 90 seconds is way less rest than I was used to between 800m runs and even though the first 3:05 was an easy run, I found that I couldn't get anywhere near that pace on any of the following rounds. All I could think to myself was how badly I need to keep doing these endurance workouts to improve my running.