brikis98's crossfit journal

[brikis98]

Friday, September 19

Rest day.

 

[brikis98]

Saturday, September 20

Workout of the Day

Run 10K.

My numbers

I ran on an olympic track. There was a soccer game going on inside it and lots of fans on the track, so I had to use the outside lanes for most of the straightaways. This probably meant I ran an extra lap (400m) or so.

Time: 56:00

This was the longest run I've ever done and it went very well. Stamina and breathing were never an issue and the only limiting factors were some random cramps and a blister on one of my feet. I struggle a lot with pacing myself when not using a treadmill, and I definitely went at too slow of a pace on this one. The last mile I went at a *much* faster pace than the first 5 and still had a lot in me by the end. Still, it was a good learning experience and I look forward to my next long run.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: brikis98
Saturday, September 20

Workout of the Day

Run 10K.

My numbers

I ran on an olympic track. There was a soccer game going on inside it and lots of fans on the track, so I had to use the outside lanes for most of the straightaways. This probably meant I ran an extra lap (400m) or so.

Time: 56:00

This was the longest run I've ever done and it went very well. Stamina and breathing were never an issue and the only limiting factors were some random cramps and a blister on one of my feet. I struggle a lot with pacing myself when not using a treadmill, and I definitely went at too slow of a pace on this one. The last mile I went at a *much* faster pace than the first 5 and still had a lot in me by the end. Still, it was a good learning experience and I look forward to my next long run.

That's my big thing...no stamina. I run out of air about 50 steps down the road haha. I'm hoping that with my fat loss program and calisthenics my airflow will go up and I'll have better endurance. Good job on doing a 10K!!

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: Kaido
That's my big thing...no stamina. I run out of air about 50 steps down the road haha. I'm hoping that with my fat loss program and calisthenics my airflow will go up and I'll have better endurance. Good job on doing a 10K!!

Thanks!

Losing fat will definitely help you with stamina/endurance as well as overall health & appearance. However, what kind of calisthenics are you doing? Have you considered trying out crossfit yourself?

CF can definitely seem very daunting and hard core, but you gotta remember that it is scalable to anyone's level. There are old grandma's doing CF and doing it damn well I might add. The BrandX message boards contain scaled versions of every single workout, and if that's not enough, you can follow their example to scale it even more.

The reason I bring it up is that I have seen more improvements in my stamina/endurance/cardio/speed and many other areas after 2.5 months of CF than I did from years of ANYTHING else. There really is no comparison. Even a few years ago, when I was playing hockey 3 times per week, weight lifting, and jogging, I was no where near the shape I'm in now. I could never have run 10K back then, nor done the 50 burpee workout in under 4 minutes, nor any of the other crazy stuff I've pulled off in just the last few months. The constant variety in the workouts, the high intensity, and the focus on performance has been incredibly effective for me and so many others and I can't wait to see what I'll be like in another 2.5 months. Look into it and you may find yourself running more than 50 steps real soon. Just start very slow, learn the exercises, scale, and have fun with it.

 

[brikis98]

Sunday, September 21

Workout of the Day

For time:
15 Handstand push-ups
1 L Pull-up
13 Handstand push-ups
3 L Pull-ups
11 Handstand push-ups
5 L Pull-ups
9 Handstand push-ups
7 L Pull-ups
7 Handstand push-ups
9 L Pull-ups
5 Handstand push-ups
11 L Pull-ups
3 Handstand push-ups
13 L Pull-ups
1 Handstand push-up
15 L Pull-ups

My numbers

Did the HSPU with my feet on a wall.

Time: 33:00

I definitely should have scaled this one, but I was stubborn, and instead just spent a lot of time grinding it out. This was my first time doing L pull-ups and they were a lot harder than I expected. The balance on them is really weird, you can't use the kipping, and your body ends up in an odd position behind the bar. My form got a bit better towards the end, but I definitely need more practice (and most likely more strength to hold my legs up like that). I also haven't done handstands in a while, so my form was extremely rusty. It improved after a few sets, but the first few (with 15, 13 and 11 reps) took forever.

 

[gramboh]

Damn man, that 50 burpees time is awesome, congrats!

Re: bumpers/dropping the bar, if you want you can just totally let go and the bar will fall on its own (back up out of the way, drop it forward so you know where it's going) or you can drop it but guide it down with your hands, which is what I usually do. That way you control where it lands (let it fall, but use your hands to guide) and then you can stop it from bouncing all over the place when it lands. Not sure why the material is rubbing off, just must be the way they are made.

I'm finally incorporating some WODs into my rountine. Last night after teaching the GF to play squash I did this one:

3 rounds for time
400m row
21 KB swings (1.5 pood)
12 burpees

had to sub 55lbs DB's (which sucks, swinging a DB is akward compared to a KB since your hands are ontop of each other) and it took 15:57. I've been doing just lifting and occassional running lately, and forgot how hard CF workouts are, but it was a good wakeup call and reminder of how good they are. I can't imagine how long 50 burpees would take me straight haha.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: gramboh
Damn man, that 50 burpees time is awesome, congrats!

Thanks

Originally posted by: gramboh
Re: bumpers/dropping the bar, if you want you can just totally let go and the bar will fall on its own (back up out of the way, drop it forward so you know where it's going) or you can drop it but guide it down with your hands, which is what I usually do. That way you control where it lands (let it fall, but use your hands to guide) and then you can stop it from bouncing all over the place when it lands. Not sure why the material is rubbing off, just must be the way they are made.

Yea, I was doing a few overhead squats during a break and used the opportunity to practice dropping the bar. I'm finally getting used to it and man, it's SO nice to not have to awkwardly lower the weight (which was especially uncomfortable with the very wide grip).

Originally posted by: gramboh
I'm finally incorporating some WODs into my rountine. Last night after teaching the GF to play squash I did this one:

3 rounds for time
400m row
21 KB swings (1.5 pood)
12 burpees

had to sub 55lbs DB's (which sucks, swinging a DB is akward compared to a KB since your hands are ontop of each other) and it took 15:57. I've been doing just lifting and occassional running lately, and forgot how hard CF workouts are, but it was a good wakeup call and reminder of how good they are. I can't imagine how long 50 burpees would take me straight haha.

Nice, sounds like a fun workout. The dumbbells at my gym are actually pretty good substitutes for kettlebells as the plates at the end of each handle are pretty large and provide enough space for both hands. However, we don't have rowing machines, and the usual substitutes for them - running or sumo deadlift high pull - just never seemed as good to me.

 

[brikis98]

Monday, September 22

Rest day.

My abs are sore as hell from the L pull-ups yesterday - laughing and sneezing have become far less pleasant

 

[brikis98]

Tuesday, September 23

Workout of the Day

Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5 reps

My numbers

To try to prevent injury, I decided to try to get very warmed up before the deadlifts. I did my usual dynamic stretches and jump rope, but when I saw the (new) bumper plates in my office gym, I figured some olympic lifts would be an excellent way to prepare my body.

Snatch: 45x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1 (PR!)
Clean: 135x5, 185x3, 205x1 (PR), 215xmissed, 215x1 (PR!)

Deadlift: 225x5, 255x5, 275x5, 295x5, 315x5

* What an awesome workout. Using bumper plates and being able to dump the weight gave me the confidence to try heavier weights on the olympic lifts. Despite having only done the snatch once before, my form actually felt ok, and 135 went up pretty smoothly. It certainly wasn't easy, but I think I had more in the tank. I'm sure as I practice more and get the motion down a little smoother, I'll be able to put up quite a bit more. So, two of my ambitious goals for October are to get my body weight down to and my snatch up to 180lbs.

* Cleans went very well today. 185 was my old PR, but that was with iron plates, so I had never tried heavier even though I knew I probably could pull it off. 205 went up smoothly, so I gave 215 a shot. The first time around, I didn't get my elbows up high enough, leaned forward and ended up having to dump the weight in front of me (yay bumper plates!). However, I knew that it was an issue of technique and not strength/power, so I tried it again and got it the second time around. I weighed in at 187 this morning, so that's 28lbs more than I weigh! My goal for the end of October: clean 225lbs. Shouldn't be too hard, but I plan to focus more on the snatch.

* From this experience, I've learned that olympic lifts are an awesome choice for a warm-up. They use almost all the muscles in your body, they really get your heart pumping and they really get you flexible. The snatch put me in an incredibly deep squat - much deeper than I usually can get during normal stretching - but as it was part of a dynamic and smooth motion, it was still very comfortable and controlled. After these lifts, I found it really easy to bend over and touch the floor (kind of a big deal for me given how inflexible I used to be) and was really ready for deadlifts. I wouldn't recommend going for new PR's all the time when using O-lifts as a warm-up, but using sets of 5 or 8 should work extremely well.

* Deadlifts went very well today. I felt so good during the cleans that I decided to be a bit less cautious on the deadlift and work up to 3 plates per side. I even seemed to get stronger as I went and I did the last two sets quicker than the middle two. I absolutely love deadlifts and hope that by doing an extensive warm-up in the future, I can stay injury free and slowly continue to bump the weight back up. Incidentally, the 1RM calculators say that 315x5 equates to a 354lbs 1RM... That's ~1.9 times my body weight... Shouldn't be too long before I can do a 2xBW deadlift

 

[conorvansmack]

Dude, those are some pretty manly numbers. I appreciate how much detail you go into when you describe the lifts.

Do you still have lunch catered at work each day? Nice equipment and catered lunch, where do you work?!!

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

Damn handstand push ups is beast.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: conorvansmack
Dude, those are some pretty manly numbers. I appreciate how much detail you go into when you describe the lifts.

Heh, thanks. I love looking back at my journal months later to see how I was doing back then and to see what progress I've made and the detail always makes it more interesting.

Originally posted by: conorvansmack
Do you still have lunch catered at work each day? Nice equipment and catered lunch, where do you work?!!

I work at a small-ish software company in Newton, MA. Lunch is catered almost every day and there are usually plenty of left overs for the days that aren't catered and even to take home for dinner. It's pretty sweet as a free meal 5 days a week ads up to a lot of money (and convenience).

As for the gym, it's a small room that used to be largely useless: just a broken treadmill, bike, bowflex type machine and light dumbbells. However, I pushed them to get proper free weight equipment (rack, barbell, weights) and we finally did a couple of weeks ago. We got a good amount of iron plates, but I had to buy the bumper plates myself as they (correctly) assumed no one but me would use them... but I figure when I have my own home gym in the future, it's just one less item I need to buy.

Anyways, it's a pretty sweet setup, so I really can't complain

 

[brikis98]

Wednesday, September 24

Workout of the Day

Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
15 Push-ups
12 Ring dips
115 pound Push-press, 9 reps

My numbers

5 rounds + 15 push-ups + 3 ring dips

As usual, this was tougher than it looked on paper. All the exercises conflict with each other (presumably by design), with the triceps taking an especially harsh beating. However, the rings dips were by far the hardest part of the workout. After the first round, I would break the push-up and push-press into sets of 5-7 reps, but it wasn't long before I couldn't eek out more than 3-4 ring dips at a time. The need to go slower, keep your balance, keep the rings in tight and prevent yourself from just falling through adds a lot to the exercise and I can definitely see why the usual substitute for ring dips was 3 times as many normal dips. Still, I'm getting better at them and am getting closer to using the "turned out" hand position as mentioned in Roger Harrell's Got Rings article.

 

[brikis98]

Thursday, September 25

Workout of the Day

Complete as many rounds in 30 minutes as you can of:
Walking Lunge, 12 steps
15 Hip Extensions
15 Glute-Ham Sit-ups
5 Muscle-ups

My numbers

My gym doesn't have a GHD, so I did decline sit-ups and hip extensions on the 45 degree back extension machine. Muscle-ups were done on a pull-up bar.

9 rounds + 12 walking lunge steps + 1 hip extension

Awesome workout. The variety in exercises allowed me to go from one to the next with virtually no rest in between. I did all the exercises in straight sets, except for muscle-ups, which I usually broke up into a set of 3 and a set of 2. My shoulder/back injury felt great today, barely hurting at all the first few pull-ups (during warm-up) and then felt great the rest of the time.

As a result, I was doing very well on the muscle-ups. I got a new PR of 4 muscle-ups in a row a couple times. Moreover, I did 45 muscle-ups total during the 30 minutes, which is a new PR for a single day. For comparison, back on September 4, I had a workout where I did 30 muscle-ups for time, and those alone took me 25 minutes. What a huge improvement! In just 5 extra minutes, I did 15 more muscle-ups, not to mention also doing 120 walking lunges, 136 hip extensions, and 135 sit-ups. Freaking awesome.

My strength definitely got better on both the pulling motion and the bar dip. Even with my triceps and chest totally shot after yesterday's workout, I was really able to just throw my weight up during the dip motion, which was great. I guess after ring dips, bar dips just aren't as hard. The one downside was that I tore two blisters on my right hand. It looks pretty gross and I'm not sure how long it will take to heal.

The good news is that tomorrow is a rest day and as I need to go to another wedding on Saturday, that'll be an extra day off as well. I've been doing these CF workouts 5 days a week for a while w/o any extra rest, so I figure it's well earned. I have all sorts of small injuries that could use the time to heal (not the least of which are these torn blisters) and I hear this wedding will have an open bar all night, so I plan to take advantage of it.

 

[brikis98]

Friday, September 26

Rest day.

 

[EvilYoda]

Damn that's awesome. "mad props" to you, those are some impressive feats you're achieving there.

 

[brikis98]

Saturday, September 27

Extra day off.

Spent all day & night at a wedding. There was an open bar alllll night. Enough said.

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
Damn that's awesome. "mad props" to you, those are some impressive feats you're achieving there.

Thanks man... I think I've accomplished more "feats" in 3 months of CF than several years of anything else I've done. It's fantastic

 

[brikis98]

Sunday, September 28

Workout of the Day

"Filthy Fifty"
For time:
50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

My numbers

Not a good day for the gym today and certainly not for such a tough workout. I drank a whole lot yesterday, did not have time to eat much of anything today and spent an hour before the workout moving someone into a 3rd floor apartment. To add to all of that, the torn blisters on my hand haven't healed fully and I had a strange twinge of pain in my knee periodically. As a result, I decided to do this workout with 75% effort and scaled some parts down. I also had to make some substitutions due to available equipment.

50 Box jump, 24 inch box
30 Jumping pull-ups
50 dumbbell swings, 35lbs
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 thrusters, 45 pounds
25 Burpees
25 Double unders

Time: 40:00

Blah. I hope this workout comes around again later on so I can try it again in more favorable conditions. The one good news is that I weighed in at 185 yesterday, which was my goal for September.

 

[brikis98]

Monday, September 29

Rest day.

Started practicing handstands, tuck planche, and tuck l-sit. It was pretty rough after not having done it in so long, but fun.

 

[brikis98]

Tuesday, September 30

Workout of the Day

"Jeremy"
Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Overhead squats
Burpees

My numbers

11:01

This would should have gone faster, but after the 21 reps of of overhead squats, for some reason my quads turned to lead for a little while. I had absolutely no kick in my legs and had to take extra rest before going through the burpees. I'm not sure what went wrong, but maybe it was a combination of not enough warm-up and not enough practice with overhead squats, especially for so many reps. Other than that though, I really liked the workout and look forward to giving it another try soon.

 

[brikis98]

Wednesday, October 1

Workout of the Day

I went to an actual CF affiliate today (Revolution Fitness in Boston) and we did a "team" workout. We formed groups of two and the goal was for each team to finish the workout as fast as possible. However, only one team member at a time can be doing the exercise. So, for example, while I did burpees, my teammate rested, and while I rested, he did burpees.

Row 1000m
50 squat cleans with 135lbs
50 burpees
50 pull-ups
50 thrusters with 95lbs
Row 1000m

My numbers

The two of us finished the workout in 20:52

Today was my first visit to an actual CF affiliate, and it was a very interesting experience. Here's my take:

The good
* They have all the equipment: bumper plates, rings, rope, kettlebells, rowing machines, slam balls, plyo boxes, big pull-up bar hung high, a giant tire, and more. It's basically my dream gym.
* The environment is awesome. Everyone is there to do the same kind of workout, there are no mirrors, no idiots admiring themselves, no egos, no machines, no BS. Just a great group of people working their asses off.
* They do various yoga/pilates movements at the beginning (to warm-up) and the end (to cool down). I've always wanted to learn some to improve my flexibility, so it's a nice bonus to have.
* They do a "skills" section after the warm-up, where each class practices some different exercise and you get pointers on technique. Today we talked about the shoulder press, push press and push jerk progression and I picked up some good hints.

The bad
* I took the metro there from my house and it took almost 45 minutes. No way in hell can I spend 1.5 hours a day, 5 days a week, just getting to/from the gym. I'll try driving there on my way back from work, but I suspect that's still an extra 40 minutes, which is too much.
* The instructor told me he wasn't a professional trainer, but just a lawyer with a CF certification who likes doing this stuff. He was a great guy, and I still learned from him, but I think it would be better to have an actual professional coach there when we do olympic lifts or other complicated maneuvers.

Other
* This was my first time doing a WoD in a class setting and, especially given the "team" nature of the workout, it added a HUGE element of competitiveness. In a way it's good, as it gets you to push yourself even harder, as you want to win and in this particular workout, you don't want to let your teammate down. On the other hand, CF workouts are hard enough as it is. I personally prefer to compete against myself and push damn hard as it is. The added peer pressure was pretty rough, although I admit it was largely in my own head. Still, I'm super competitive and I just don't want to end up going too hard and hurting myself.

Conclusion
This workout was hard as hell, but it was fun doing it with a bunch of people. The CF facility is great, but I think it's just too far from my house to make it reasonable to go. I might drop by there every few weeks to do an occasional workout or practice some skill, but I just don't think I have the time to go there regularly.

 

[brikis98]

Thursday, October 2

Workout of the Day

Today was supposed to be Fran, but after yesterday's workout, which included thrusters, pull-ups and cleans (and was not part of my normal schedule), my traps & shoulders were way too sore. I'll do Fran on Saturday or Sunday instead and today I just decided to do a bit of a strength workout.

Squat: 5x5 ramping
Bench: 5x5 ramping

My numbers

Squat: 185x5, 205x5, 225x5, 245x5, 265x5
Bench: 185x5, 205x5, 225x5, 245x5, 255x4xmissed

It has been a long time since I've done a plain old 5x5 and it was a little rough. I'm going to try to toss more of these in over the next few weeks to start getting my strength back to where it was pre-cut and pre back injury.

Squats actually went pretty well today and I had some more in the tank when I was done. We don't do too many pure strength workouts doing CF in general, and the back squat is almost non-existant, so I was pretty happy to see 265 go up without too many issues.

Bench press, however, sucked. As little back squat as we do in CF, we do virtually no bench press, and it really showed today. I could not get the 5th rep of 255 up, which is a bit sad compared to where I was before CF.

 

[brikis98]

Friday, October 3

Rest day.

Went out to restaurants for lunch and dinner and had way too much whiskey at night. Should be a crappy lifting day tomorrow.

 

[brikis98]

Saturday, October 4

Workout of the Day

"Fran"
Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups

My numbers

Time: 6:45 (PR!)

Well, despite some heavy eating & drinking yesterday, today's workout went pretty well. I've done Fran once before, on July 16, and my time was 10:50, so this is a pretty huge improvement. A lot of it had to do with improving my form on thrusters and kipping pull-ups, but my "work capacity" is definitely increasing too. My goal is to dip under 6 min the next time this one rolls around.

 

[brikis98]

Sunday, October 5

Workout of the Day

Weighted pull-ups 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

My numbers

I did pull-ups with a dumbbell between my legs.

30lbs
40lbs
50lbs
60lbs
70lbs (PR)
85lbs (PR)
100lbs (PR)

I also tossed in some squats & bench press:

Squat: 135x8, 185x5, 225x5, 245x5, 275x5
Bench: 135x8, 185x5, 205x5, 225x5, 255x5

It is scary how strong my pull-ups have gotten. Not only did I shatter my old weighted pull-up PR of 60lbs, but even the last set with 100lbs was still relatively easy! I definitely could've gotten 110 and most likely even 120. Kinda cool to know I could do a pull-up with my gf hanging off me if ever the two of us were to fall off a cliff...

Squats went well today. 275x5 was pretty tough and probably is my true 5RM as of now. On the one hand, this is 50lbs less than my old PR of 325x5, which is a bit depressing. On the other hand, this is still a pretty good recovery after the back injury. Moreover, I now weigh 185lbs, so this is 1.49xBW, where as the old PR was done at 223lbs BW, or 1.46xBW. Still, it'll be nice to get back up into the 3 plate range for my 5RM, so I'll gradually continue to toss in more of these strength workouts and hopefully work my way back up.

As for bench press, it went better than last time, and 255x5 was fairly solid. My bench numbers definitely dropped a lot and here, injury & weight loss should've had very little impact. It's quite clear it's just an area where CF lacks, so hopefully my extra strength workouts will compensate.