brikis98's crossfit journal

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
I think that CF does that since so many other lifting programs stress the pushing motion of bench press. Everything we do is in front of us and the resulting muscle imbalance can promote poor posture, shoulder injuries, etc. Many people could benefit from the CF balance of back vs front lifting. However, it all depends on your goals.

In a very broad sense, I think upper body lifts can be broken down into 3 categories:

1. Lifts where you pull back
2. Lifts where you push overhead
3. Lifts where you push forward

I completely agree that most routines WAY over-emphasize #3 - specifically the bench press - and that leads to the issues you mentioned. Years ago when I (foolishly) did a BB style routine, I personally experienced a bunch of these issues - muscle imbalances, shoulder injuries, poor posture. Fortunately, CF for the most part does a fantastic job of distributing upper body exercises very equally between the 3 categories.

However, the effort used for the 3 upper body categories is not well balanced. The "pull back" category has 1RM weighted pull-ups, the "push overhead" has 1RM and 5RM OH press, push press, and push jerk. However, I never see 1RM or 5RM efforts for the "push forward". Bench press is the usual candidate for such heavy efforts, but in the two months I've done CF, this is the first time we've had bench press, and doing body weight bench press is not a 1RM or even 5RM for most people. Therefore, while I love that the number of upper body exercises are evenly distributed between #1-3, I'd love to see the number of "heavy" efforts distributed equally between them as well.

 

[brikis98]

Monday, September 8

Rest day.

 

[gramboh]

I've been away for a month but just caught up on your CF journal, nice progress man! Sorry to hear about the rotator cuff injury, hope it is not too serious.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: gramboh
I've been away for a month but just caught up on your CF journal, nice progress man! Sorry to hear about the rotator cuff injury, hope it is not too serious.

Thanks! I'm amazed at how effective CF has been and am loving it more every day

As for the injury, it's not too bad, and will hopefully get better. I've been writing the latest updates about it in this thread.

 

[brikis98]

Tuesday, September 9

Workout of the Day

Five rounds for time of:
135 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
135 pound Hang power clean, 12 reps
135 pound Front Squat, 9 reps
135 pound Push Jerk, 6 reps

My numbers

Time: 41:00

* This was a damn tough workout. The deadlifts and front squats went easily enough, but the power cleans & push jerks were killer. I constantly felt winded and was sweating so bad I thought I had sprung a leak. Good stuff.

* For the first two rounds of this workout, all the power racks were taken, so I had to clean the weight from the ground. I probably did an extra 8 power cleans because of this, which didn't help anything. After that, I wasted some more time going to the power rack that had freed up and loading the weight. I also wasted some time trying to teach a buddy of mine how to OH press - I got him into CF last week and am trying to help him along. Definitely lost a lot of time on this and will hopefully improve next time.

* My power clean form sucked today. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong, but I felt like I wasn't generating any real explosiveness from my legs. It was as if almost all the work was done by my upper body straightening and a hard pull with my traps. Really gonna need to work on that.

 

[gramboh]

I have the same problem on hang cleans, it feels like the shrug from traps is doing all the work and my hips aren't exploding the bar much. It's such a hard movement to fix without coaching. I am still at light weight (145 is most I've done) trying to fix form.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: gramboh
I have the same problem on hang cleans, it feels like the shrug from traps is doing all the work and my hips aren't exploding the bar much. It's such a hard movement to fix without coaching. I am still at light weight (145 is most I've done) trying to fix form.

It is a really difficult movement. I found it's helped to think about keeping the bar in contact with your body the whole time and to explode your hips open like you're throwing a something heavy over your head.

 

[gramboh]

I'll keep those cues in mind on Friday. I always forget about keeping the bar close to my body, hopefully that will help with the early arm bending I think I might be doing (swinging it in a reverse curl). My usual progression on warmup is just shrug/jumping a bunch then cleaning. Do you recommend clean pulls to the chest as well? They feel weird for me, maybe I am doing them wrong.

 

[brikis98]

Wednesday, September 10

Workout of the Day

Well, today's workout was supposed to include OH press, push press and push jerk, and I wanted to do it using the new equipment at my company's gym. However, as I mentioned in this thread, the weight plates would not stay on the damn barbell, so I had to do a different workout. I didn't have anything else planned, nor a huge amount of time, so I decided to do some 800m runs as I really want to improve my pitiful times on those.

3 rounds, for time: run 800m
Rest as much as needed between rounds

My numbers

Ran on a treadmill.

Round 1: 3:00
Round 2: was on a pace to break 3:00 but had to stop midway - see comments below.
Round 3: 3:00

* The last time I did pure 800m runs, my times on the first 3 rounds were 3:15, 3:28 and 3:26. Granted, those were done on an outdoor track, which is a good bit harder than a treadmill, but I'm still happy with 3:00. My limiting factor today was my hamstrings, which were damn sore from yesterday's deadlifts & cleans.

* While I was doing round 2 with the treadmill set to 10.2mph, a co-worker came in and started to bench using the slippery barbell. Sure enough, half way through, a plate on one side of the barbell slipped off, then a plate on the other side and eventually he dropped the whole thing on himself. I had to stop my run and go over and check on him, but fortunately he was alright, although embarassed. To be perfectly honest, I don't think I could've made it the entire half mile at that pace, so maybe it was for the best

 

[brikis98]

Thursday, September 11

Workout of the Day

Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps
Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps

My numbers

(See explanation below)

Shoulder press: 155x1, 175x1, 180x1, 185xmised, 185xmissed
Push press: 185x3, 175x3, 185x3, 190x3, 190x2xmissed
Push jerk: 135x3 ... stopped

Blah, this workout sucked. For some reason, my shoulders were hurting from the first rep onward. Perhaps I didn't warm up well, but both shoulder joints had a dull ache during the workout. I ground my way through the shoulder press, but just could not get 185 again.

After that, I stupidly started push press with the same weight and was all over the place with it, so I dropped down for set two, which went much better. Set 3 was very solid too. Set 4 was shaky, so I re-did it for set 5... At which point the shoulder pain returned. I gave push jerk one last try, but the very rapid motion was down right painful, so I stopped.

I guess the good news is that now (an hour later), my shoulders feel perfectly fine, so I don't think I did any permanent harm. I guess the other good news is that as I weighed in at 188.5lbs this morning, I can now push press (more than) my body weight a few times. Sweet.

 

[gramboh]

Congrats on the push press BW+. I dream of being able to press/push-press my BW one day, not even close now (best press is 135x2, I think I could get 145x2 if I did it fresh, BW 205, haven't really trained PP much).

 

[brikis98]

Friday, September 12

Rest day.

 

[brikis98]

Saturday, September 13

Workout of the Day

With a continuously running clock do one pull-up the first minute, two pull-ups the second minute, three pull-ups the third minute... continuing as long as you are able. Use as many sets each minute as needed.

My numbers

13 minutes + 10 pull-ups. 101 pull-ups total.

* This workout was easy until about minute 9 or 10, when the difficulty all of a sudden escalated. With each passing set, you have less time to rest, more to recover from and a more work to do in the next one. I was hoping to make it to 15, but from 10 - 13 minutes, you do almost 50 pull-ups, which is pretty hard core. Good stuff and I definitely hope to improve next time.

* As for the injury, it definitely still hurt today for the first ~10 pull-ups. After that, the pain went away completely and it felt fine. I did not feel any real difference from the ART done by the chiropractor guy last week.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Did you warm it up before the actual workout? If it's still hurting, man, I can only imagine it's either not getting better or potentially getting worse.

 

[dealmaster00]

Originally posted by: brikis98
Friday, August 29

Workout of the Day

Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

My numbers

I had never done the snatch before (just the hang power snatch once at an earlier CF workout), so I took the time today to learn the lift with very light weights.

45x5, 45x5, 55x5, 65x5, 65x5, 75x3, 85x3, 95x2, 95x2

Comments:

* Today was supposed to be a rest day, but I'm going to be out of state this weekend for a wedding, so I'll probably miss a few workouts. I could've used the rest after yesterday's abuse, but this was light weight and low intensity, so I went for it.

* I really like this lift. Once I started to feel the proper form, I realized just how goddamn fast you have to move to get under the bar. The weight wasn't too heavy, so the explosive part to launch it above my head was still easy, but driving myself down and catching the bar in an overhead squat was a challenge. By the end, I was definitely getting a good feel for it and I'm really loving the explosiveness and speed you need. However, I really need to get bumper plates, as this is definitely an easy one to miss on.

Whoops nm...wrong date :/

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
Did you warm it up before the actual workout? If it's still hurting, man, I can only imagine it's either not getting better or potentially getting worse.

Yeah, I warmed up quite a bit. The "first ~10 pull-ups" during which it hurt were all during the warm-up. I have another appointment tomorrow with the chiro/ART guy and I'll check with him again to see if it's likely I'm damaging it more.

Incidentally, today, the back of my right shoulder is sore in the spot where the injury is. It doesn't feel at all like an injury pain, but rather just plain old soreness. I don't know if this means I've done more damage or that it's healing or if it's just unrelated altogether.

 

[brikis98]

Sunday, September 14

Workout of the Day

For time: 155 pound Squat Clean and Jerk, 30 reps

My numbers

20:02

* As I don't have bumper plates at my gym and I'm still learning the C&J, this was not a workout I was going to just try to rush through. I could not afford to miss any reps, as I'd probably kill someone (and get kicked out of the gym) if I dumped 155lbs of iron, so I had to be rested enough between reps to ensure I'd get it done. Even at this slower pace, I was still huffing & puffing very hard, but I think I could have shaved off a couple minutes if I just pushed harder and took the chance of having to dump. Moreover, the lack of bumper plates is a big disadvantage on this type of workout for another reason: I have to lower the weight back down slowly and carefully after each rep rather than just dropping it. The result is that for each rep, I essentially end up doing a shoulder press negative, an awkward reverse clean where the weight drops from my shoulders to the hang position and then the downward portion of a deadlift. Over 30 reps, this adds up to a lot of extra work.

* My squat clean form was a bit of a mixed bag today. I was much better at moving quickly, getting under the weight, and squatting out of it. However, just as with the hang power clean the other day, I still don't feel like I'm getting my legs involved enough on the explosive/jumping movement. Either my body is not going to full extension, or I'm not pushing my hips forward fast enough, and the result is that my upper body/traps are doing a disproportionate amount of work.

* My jerk form was terrible. I need to go back and do some serious reading and video watching for this lift. I'm not getting much bar speed vertically and my footwork must be wrong, as I just can't get under the bar low enough and fast enough. The result is an ugly and inefficient push press. Bleh.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
Did you warm it up before the actual workout? If it's still hurting, man, I can only imagine it's either not getting better or potentially getting worse.

Yeah, I warmed up quite a bit. The "first ~10 pull-ups" during which it hurt were all during the warm-up. I have another appointment tomorrow with the chiro/ART guy and I'll check with him again to see if it's likely I'm damaging it more.

Incidentally, today, the back of my right shoulder is sore in the spot where the injury is. It doesn't feel at all like an injury pain, but rather just plain old soreness. I don't know if this means I've done more damage or that it's healing or if it's just unrelated altogether.

Well, not to offend you or your decision to see this chiro guy, but you should probably see an orthopedic surgeon (orthopedist) instead. Chiropractors have less of a specialty when it comes to shoulder joints and such. I just wanted to throw that out there.

 

[brikis98]

Monday, September 15

Rest day.

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
Well, not to offend you or your decision to see this chiro guy, but you should probably see an orthopedic surgeon (orthopedist) instead. Chiropractors have less of a specialty when it comes to shoulder joints and such. I just wanted to throw that out there.

No offense taken - actually, the advice is appreciated. I had another appointment with the chiro/ART guy today and updated my pull-up injury thread with the details. Long story short: if I don't see any improvement after a few more treatments from him, I'll try other options, such as seeing an orthopedist.

 

[brikis98]

Tuesday, September 16

Workout of the Day

"Angie"
For time:
100 Pull-ups
100 Push-ups
100 Sit-ups
100 Squats

My numbers

Did decline sit-ups.

Time: 30:00

* I love these body weight workouts. I also love how after doing CF for two months, I can read that my workout starts with 100 pull-ups and my first thought is "ok, then what?"

* The first several pull-ups during my warm-up still hurt but after that, the pain was gone completely. Not a huge difference from last time, although the pain seemed to go away a bit faster this time.

* My kipping form was much better today, especially when it came to chaining multiple pull-ups together. I started the workout with 19 consecutive pull-ups, which is a new PR, and even that was with a few really crappy ones at the beginning. I think I'll be able to get 20 in a row next time.

 

[brikis98]

Wednesday, September 17

Workout of the Day

"Crossfit Total"
Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

My numbers

I have not had much practice recently with back squat and had avoided deadlift for the most part since the injury a few weeks ago, so I really did not want to do 1 rep max efforts today. Instead, I did a ramping 5x5 workout. I also subbed bench press for shoulder press because... well, because I felt like it.

Back squat: 135x8, 185x5, 205x5, 225x5, 245x5, 265x5
Bench press: 135x8, 185x5, 205x5, 245x5, 245x5
Deadlift: 135x8, 185x5, 205x5, 225x5, 265x5, 275x5

* We finally got the gym equipment setup in the tiny gym at my office, so I decided to try it out. The equipment isn't spectacular, but gets the job done: a squat rack, barbell, plates and a bench. I also bought some Wright bumper plates (at my own expense) so I can (more) safely do olympic-style lifts. I immediately tried a clean and found it was actually mentally tough to just drop the weight after a rep. After years of lifting iron, I have this natural instinct to hold on to the weight and am going to have to learn to just "let go". Any advice on the "proper" way to drop the weight after a rep of C&J or snatch?

* Also, I noticed something else about the bumper plates: even though they are new, they were very dirty. Every time I touched them, they left black smears on my hands (the bumper plates themselves are black). I've never used new bumper plates, so I'm wondering if this is normal and what's the best way to clean them up? Just wipe them down with a wet paper towel?

* My back squat felt rusty, but overall went ok. However, I noticed something odd: I could hear "creaking" noises in my knee. As I was alone in the empty office gym, this is the first time I've ever lifted in a quiet atmosphere, so I'm not sure if this is something new. There was no pain at all associated with it, and I don't have any knee issues, so I'm not sure if this is normal or not. Opinions?

* Bench press was a lot harder than it should've been. My bench press numbers have definitely dropped due to the lack of heavy chest exercises in CF (although I'm sure losing 35lbs also has something to do with it). I think I could've gotten 265x5, but there was no one around to spot me, so I didn't risk it.

Edit: according to this article and this discussion, creaking joints are quite normal. They are only problematic if there is also pain along with the creaking, but mine don't hurt at all, so I guess I got nothing to worry about. Phew.

* This was my first deadlift since I re-injured my back doing deadlifts a few weeks ago. Mercifully, that injury healed very quickly, but I was still very cautious today and kept the weight light. It felt great. I really felt my hamstrings working, I had no stress whatsoever on my back and each rep was smooth as butter. Of course, I keep remembering how my first set of deadlift used to be 275+... and I'd ramp up to over 400lbs from there... but injuries are a bitch. Once I'm done cutting, I'll worry about getting my strength numbers back up.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Nice job on the past few workouts, bud. I don't have experience with bumper plates, but I do have experience with knee-creaking. If it doesn't hurt, then you should be fine. My knee pops a slight bit every time I get close to 90. It may just be the tendons running over a part of your knee (or something of the sort). No pain usually means it's alright when it comes to joint issues.

 

[KoolDrew]

My knees creak as well when I squat. There's no pain associated with it so I just ignore it.

 

[brikis98]

Thanks for the info guys. I also watched some videos of people using bumper plates and there really doesn't seem to be any trick or technique to it - they just drop them and get out of the way. I guess that's what they are built for, so I'll just need to get past that mental block of trying to catch the weight and let gravity do its thing.

 

[brikis98]

Thursday, September 18

Workout of the Day

For time: 50 burpees

My numbers

3:45 (new PR!)

* Wow. Crossfit is nothing short of amazing. When I did this workout back on July 10, it took me 6:04. In just ~2 months, I've managed to cut 2 minutes and 19 seconds off my time! And during that entire time, I think I only had 2 or 3 additional workouts with burpees in them. I also started this workout with 20 consecutive burpees, which is also a new PR and my goal for September.

* After the short workout, I decided to just play around with some gymnastics moves. I managed to do a single leg squat with each leg, which was also a goal for September. I had been able to do one with my right leg for a while, but my left was lacking flexibility/strength. I struggled with it a lot today, but finally got one and it felt great.

* I also practiced the tuck planche and tucked l-sit, but I hadn't done those in a while, so my performance sucked today. I was only able to hold the tuck planche for ~10 seconds (previous best was close to 20) and the l-sit for barely 5 (previous best was 12 seconds). I gotta get back into the habit of doing them while watching TV and I should be able to work back up in no time. Finally, I played around on the rings, doing some inverted pike pull-ups, ring dips, l-sit on the rings, and the skin the cat. Fun stuff.