brikis98's crossfit journal

[brikis98]

Nice! Why do you think you jump forward? Starting your pull when the bar's still on your thigh or not pulling it "back" enough?

I think it was a combination of a few things:

* Jumping too high - not quite a donkey kick, but still bad.
* Not leaning back enough on the 2nd pull.
* Not keeping the bar close enough to the body.

He had me draw a chalk line on the ground, set my feet up against it and make sure that at the end of each rep, I had not jumped over the line. It worked pretty quickly to resolve that issue.

As for the jerkiness, it's understandable since you're so strong overall that you're probably thinking "alright, here we go!" - but I don't know what to suggest other than what you're probably already doing - 3-position snatches combined with "slow, slow, QUICK!".

Yea, this one is probably a mental issue and I wasn't aware of it at all. I should probably record myself while doing the snatch and do a bunch of reps until I can "feel" what a smooth rep feels like vs. a hitched rep.

 

[brikis98]

Extra rest day.

Had a dinner party to go to, so I had no time for the gym after work. I've missed more gym days this month than I probably did all of last year.

 

[brikis98]

Run: ~6.75 mile loop, took about 70 minutes

Absolutely beautiful weather today, so I decided to go for a run. I did a loop from my apartment to the Stanford dish trail, ran the dish trail itself and then back to my apartment, a total distance of about 6.75 miles. I believe this is the longest run I've done in VFF's both in terms of distance (a bit longer than the 10k's I've done) and time (the dish trail is very hilly, so it took a while to get through it). The run was going great - I was staying relaxed, maintaining a good pace, feeling strong on the hill climbs - but about halfway through, got a pretty bad side stitch. My running is frequently plagued by these goddamn stitches and it can really ruin a good workout. It forced me to slow down significantly and turned the workout from a test of my conditioning to a test of my pain tolerance. I'm guessing it was from the bouncing & impact of the downhill portions but I don't know how to avoid this sort of thing in the future.

 

[brikis98]

Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1, 425x1, 445x1

I was able to do 20lbs more than last week before I felt my injured hamstring straining. I guess I should be happy with making progress, but I wish it would go a little faster.

"Tabata Something Else"
Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

Pull-ups: 82 reps (RP, +9)
Push-ups: 94 reps (-21)
Sit-ups (ab-mat, butterfly): 84 reps (-12)
Squats: 134 reps (PR, +11)
Total: 394 (-4)

I killed it today on the pull-ups and squats but failed miserably on push-ups and sit-ups. The sit-ups were easy to understand as I used an ab-mat and had my legs in the butterfly, which means a significantly slower turn-over. However, the push-ups were an anomaly. I guess I haven't done them much lately, as my triceps and chest felt totally burned out after ~60 reps. Yet another thing I need to work on, I guess.

Good mornings: 45x10, 65x10

Hamstring rehab.

 

[brikis98]

Rest day to get my weekly ART treatment. Today was particularly painful, a full hour of ultra sound, laser, and elbows/forearms digging deep into my hamstring. Hurt like hell, but if I can do 20lbs more on the deadlift w/o pain next week, I'll be happy. She also worked on the glutes (near the hip joint) and said they were too damn tight and that I should spend some quality time on the foam roller to fix it.

 

[brikis98]

Row: 8 rounds of 30 seconds on, 20 seconds off

Round 1: 152m
Round 2: 153m
Round 3: 152m
Round 4: 143m
Round 5: 137m
Round 6: 145m
Round 7: 147m
Round 8: 149m

Quick little Tabata-like workout with slightly longer intervals.

Pistols (reps per leg): 3, 5, 8
Pistols on a box (reps per leg): 3, 3, 3

My legs felt tight today, so pistols were difficult Without my squat shoes, my heel really wants to come off the ground when I get deep - especially on the left leg - so it's probably a lack of flexibility in my ankles or thighs. I did some pistols up on a 20" box to remove the need to keep one leg elevated and it felt like the left leg was primary limited by flexibility in the hips (or perhaps glutes?). I also felt tightness in my injured adductor, which probably just makes things harder.

 

[brikis98]

Snatch: 88x3, 128x3, 148x3, 168x2, 178x1, 188x1, 198xF, 198x1, 203xF (~9 attempts)

Gah. I've been unable to break my 200lb snatch PR for 2+ months and am getting pretty frustrated. I tried 203 over and over again and although I was very close on a number of attempts, I just could not quite lock it out. My plan to break through this plateau is to do multiple sub-maximal singles. I'll start with 183lbs and go up 5lbs each time I get through 5 solid reps. Hopefully, this will get me better at handling heavy weight without forcing me to constantly be attempting PR's.

"Karen"
For time:
150 Wallball shots, 20 pound ball

Time: 7:12 (PR)

I don't say this often, but this workout was a piece of cake. Of course, this just means I didn't go nearly fast enough, but I still managed to beat my old Karen time by over a minute. I had only done Karen once before and had a memory of it being pretty brutal, so I ended up pacing myself way too much today. My shoulders were burning a bit, but my lungs and legs were not fazed at all. I think if I pace myself correctly next time, I should be able to shave off another minute, at least.

Ab wheel rollouts from the knees: 5, 10, 10

Found an ab wheel in the corner of the gym and played around with it before stretching. I haven't used one of these in ages, but it's a good exercise, although doing it from the knees was a bit too easy. However, I doubt I can do a full roll out from my feet, so I might need to find some intermediate step to work up to it.

 

[brikis98]

Run: ~6k loop

A bit short on time today, so I just did a quick run near work. Something was really off about my running technique: I could not find a comfortable stride, my pace was all over the place, I kept catching myself with my shoulders hunched up & tense, I got a stitch on my right side, and a blister on my left foot. I gotta figure out how to relax more while running.

 

[brikis98]

Rest day. Tentatively considering doing some training for a half marathon with a friend of mine.

 

[brikis98]

Cleans: 128x3, 178x3, 218x3, 248x2, 268x1, 278x1, 288x1 (PR)

Two weeks in a row setting PR's on the clean. It was an ugly rep, as my feet landed too close together and the bar landed too far forward on my deltoids, which made the front squat rather difficult, but I toughed it out.

For time:
Walking lunge 100 ft.
21 Pull-ups
21 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
18 Pull-ups
18 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
15 Pull-ups
15 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
12 Pull-ups
12 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
9 Pull-ups
9 Sit-ups
Walking Lunge 100 ft.
6 Pull-ups
6 Sit-ups

Sit-ups done on an abmat with feet in the butterfly position

Time: 9:00 (PR)

I think I've somewhat outgrown this workout. I shaved 15 seconds off my previous two attempts, but I'm not sure it's possible to go a whole lot faster. I did everything in unbroken sets with absolutely no time in between for rest. Other than learning the butterfly kip, I just don't think I can shave any more time off this workout, and as it is now, it's not much of a challenge to my conditioning or muscular endurance.

 

[brikis98]

Georgia Sectional, WoD 2, "The Jackhammer"
For Time:
60 KB Swings (1.5 pood)
50 Box Jumps (24")
40 Wall Balls (20lbs)
30 Pull-ups
20 GHD Sit-ups
10 Snatches (115lbs, squat or power)
100ft Overhead Lunge (45lbs DB, one handed)

Subs: used a 50lb KB and did 118lbs on the snatches.

Time: 14:56

This was a tough chipper workout. The one handed overhead lunges at the end were an especially brutal way to finish up. My time would've been good enough for 18th place out of ~80, although I used a slightly lighter KB and did slightly heavier snatches. Learning from my experience at the NorCal qualifier, I worked very hard to end each KB swing with the KB pointing straight up and my ear showing in front of my hands, but I honestly don't have the proprioception with that exercise to know if any of my reps would've been called back. I've been steadily working on my shoulder mobility, but progress is agonizingly slow.

 

[brikis98]

Squat: 135x5, 225x3, 275x3, 315x3, 335x1, 355x3xstopped, 315x5

The original plan was to do 355x5, but I just didn't have it today. My gf and I are both fighting some sort of cold which wreaked havoc on my sleep last night, so squatting was a total grind. I barely got the 3rd rep up and decided to rack it after that.

Death by Tabata
Alternate Tabata Deadlifts (185lbs) and Tabata Burpees
*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.

Deadlifts completed: 71 (PR, +14)
Burpees completed: 65 (PR, +8)
Total reps completed: 136 (PR, +22)

Despite feeling crappy today, I crushed my previous performance on this workout. If at some future point I break 80 reps on the deadlifts, I might switch to the "professional" weight of 275lbs.

 

[brikis98]

Rest day.

My ass is sore. That is all.

 

[brikis98]

Run: 5x400m, aim for 1:30 per round with 4 minutes rest between rounds.

Round 1: 1:20
Round 2: 1:26
Round 3: 1:28
Round 4: 1:32
Round 5: 1:33

The plan had been to do 1:30 repeats, which should have been an easy workout given the big rest intervals. Had it worked out well, I would've bumped up to 1:27 repeats for next time, 1:24 after that, and so on down by 2-3 seconds per workout. However, my pacing sucks and I ended up going too fast at first and then fatigued and went too slow towards the end. My running just isn't improving much, which is quite disappointing. Although my technique needs work too, I definitely have some sort of mental barrier and just can't seem to push myself hard when running.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Run: 5x400m, aim for 1:30 per round with 4 minutes rest between rounds.

Round 1: 1:20
Round 2: 1:26
Round 3: 1:28
Round 4: 1:32
Round 5: 1:33

The plan had been to do 1:30 repeats, which should have been an easy workout given the big rest intervals. Had it worked out well, I would've bumped up to 1:27 repeats for next time, 1:24 after that, and so on down by 2-3 seconds per workout. However, my pacing sucks and I ended up going too fast at first and then fatigued and went too slow towards the end. My running just isn't improving much, which is quite disappointing. Although my technique needs work too, I definitely have some sort of mental barrier and just can't seem to push myself hard when running.

Ah, man, I'm sorry to hear that. Running can be demotivating when you're not familiar with it and when you don't run enough to learn your pace. I used to wear a wrist watch and look at it every 100m to make sure I was on the right pace. It helped quite a bit. To run a 1:30, you should pace for ~22.5s each 100m. If you're at 22s, you're doing great. If you're lower, ease on the intensity a bit and try to reach that 1:30 you're looking for.

Also, you're up in NorCal, right? Where are you at again? I know you said you went to Sky High, which is relatively local. If the form issues and pacing are really bugging you, I'd be more than happy to meet up and help you out.

 

[brikis98]

Also, you're up in NorCal, right? Where are you at again? I know you said you went to Sky High, which is relatively local. If the form issues and pacing are really bugging you, I'd be more than happy to meet up and help you out.

I live on Stanford campus and work in Mountain View. Where are you located?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I live on Stanford campus and work in Mountain View. Where are you located?

Ah, you're close, but a little too far unless you were bored and wanted to come explore the college town of Davis, CA. It's about a 2h drive between us.

 

[brikis98]

Ah, you're close, but a little too far unless you were bored and wanted to come explore the college town of Davis, CA. It's about a 2h drive between us.

Yea, that's a bit far. Thanks for the offer though. My gf and I have been doing a lot of exploring since moving to CA, so chances are we'll make it up to the Davis area at some point. Maybe we'll meet up then and I'll find a way to sneak away for an hour to do some running

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Yea, that's a bit far. Thanks for the offer though. My gf and I have been doing a lot of exploring since moving to CA, so chances are we'll make it up to the Davis area at some point. Maybe we'll meet up then and I'll find a way to sneak away for an hour to do some running

Hell, me and MY gf have been doing a lot of exploring as well. If you have any nice trails for hiking around you, let me know. We're always looking for a good incline to walk up and sometimes a small road trip is nice. Summer's coming up as well and I won't have enough hours for work anyhow. Might as well do something interesting with the time.

 

[brikis98]

Hell, me and MY gf have been doing a lot of exploring as well. If you have any nice trails for hiking around you, let me know. We're always looking for a good incline to walk up and sometimes a small road trip is nice. Summer's coming up as well and I won't have enough hours for work anyhow. Might as well do something interesting with the time.

You can check out the places we've gone around here by poking through the last 20 or so albums in my Picasa Gallery. Some of my favorites have been the 17 mile drive down in Monterey (probably a 3.5 hour drive for you, however), Golden Gate Park in SF, the Stanford Dish trail (it's really close to my apartment and a great place for a walk/run), and Sonoma County (biking around Dry Creek and Alexander Creek).

 

[brikis98]

Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x2, 405x1, 425x1, 445x1, 455x1, 455x1

Woot. For the first time since my hamstring injury, I was able to deadlift pain-free today. I would've liked to see the 455 singles go up a bit smoother/faster, but I really can't complain and am just relieved to see some progress with healing.

Row: 500m, for time

Time: 1:32 (PR)

I was short on time at the gym, so I just decided to do a pair of trusty & short metcons: rowing and burpees. I got a pleasant surprise with a 3 second PR on the row. I used damper setting 7 and was actually maintaining a 1:28 split for the first ~70 seconds, but my quads got really burned out and I slowed to ~1:36 for the last 20 seconds, which dropped the time quite a bit. Still, a good performance after heavy deadlifts and a clear sign that 1:30 should be within reach shortly.

Burpees: 50, for time

Time: 2:45

I only took about 3 minutes of rest after the rowing, so my lungs and quads were still pretty fried. I was literally peeling myself off the floor for the last 15 reps. Fun times.

 

[brikis98]

Rest day.

Went to the chiro for what was hopefully my last appointment for the hamstring injury.

 

[brikis98]

Stair run: 8 floors, 6 trips up and down
Run: 10 minutes
Bodyweight exercises: vertical jump, push-ups, pull-ups

I was short on time today for a workout and didn't have time to drive to the gym, so I just came up with an adhoc workout to do near my apartment. I started by running up and down the stairwell in my 8 story apartment building which, with no rest at any point, turned out to be a pretty good workout. My quads definitely had a good pump/burn going. After that, I jogged near my building, ending up on a basketball court where I just did some quick bodyweight exercises. I worked on my vertical jump and was still able to just graze the rim of a basketball court. Not bad after all the stair running, but I should practice my jump more so I can get high enough to actually grab the rim. I then finished up with a few sets of pull-ups and push-ups on a jungle gym and headed home. The whole thing took less than 30 minutes start to finish, which I was happy with.

 

[brikis98]

Snatch: 88x3, 108x3, 128x3, 148x2, 148x2, 168x1, 168x1, 178x1, 183x5x1 (9 attempts total, 4 misses)

My first day of switching my snatch workouts to five sets of sub-maximal singles and it was pretty brutal. I was worried 183 might be too light of a weight to start with, but it turned out to almost be too heavy. It took me 9 tries to get all 5 singles, with 4 misses: 1 at rep 2, 2 at rep 4, and 1 at rep 5. I realized that it takes a lot of concentration for me to perform the snatch correctly and I found that on many of the misses, I was not focused and would be off with my timing. The o-lifts really are a great mental challenge in addition to being physically demanding: I'm not used to this volume of explosive, high speed work, so my legs were pretty fatigued by the end.

"Mary"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 One legged squats, alternating
15 Pull-ups

Rounds completed: 9*

* After 1.5 rounds, had to use a 10lb DB as a counterweight for the pistols. After 5 rounds, had to switch from 5 HSPU's per round to 20 regular push-ups.

Ugh, my body did not want to do this workout today. My calves were sore & very tight from yesterday's stair running, which only added to my lack of flexibility and made the pistols a total nightmare. After struggling for a round and a half and missing a bunch of reps because I'd fall over, I grabbed a DB as a counterweight. As round 3 rolled around, my shoulders started to hurt from the HSPU's. I'm not sure why, but they kept getting tighter for the next two rounds until I decided it wasn't worth risking the injury and switched to normal push-ups instead. And so, yet again, Crossfit smacks me upside the head with the reminder that I need to be much more consistent with my shoulder & ankle flexibility/mobility work.

 

[brikis98]

Row: 2x8min, rest 2 min between intervals

Round 1: 2120m
Round 2: 2038m

Judging by the force/time graph on the C2, my rowing technique gets really crappy as I fatigue. I start out with a reasonably nice & symmetric upside down parabola, but after 1000m or so, the parabola gets a very noticeable dip in the middle. I'm guessing this is a sign that I'm not smoothly transitioning into the portion of the pull where I lean back, but once I get tired, I just can't seem to fix this. Not coincidentally, I find it much harder to maintain the same pace at the same stroke rate (~20-22 spm for today's workout) and end up having to row faster (~26-28 spm), which fatigues me more. I'm considering recording a video, but do we have any rowing experts on here?

Good mornings: 45x10, 65x10, 85x10

More hamstring rehab.