brikis98's crossfit journal

[brikis98]

Congratulations. Were you really planning to go for 495 today or just gave it a try since it must have seemed attainable? If not, what would you attribute such a big jump to?

The goal for the day was 495, so it was no accident. It was a big jump because I hadn't maxed out in a long time. My deadlift training is mostly sub-maximal singles. When I hit my old max of 475, I had been doing ~450 for 5 singles. Last week, I did 470 for 4 singles, so I figured it was time for a new 1RM attempt.

 

[brikis98]

Run: 4x800m

Ran on a treadmill.

Round 1: 10.0 mph
Round 2: 9.5 mph
Round 3: 9.5 mph
Round 4: 9.0 mph (stopped after 0.3 miles)

My entire posterior chain has been shot since Sunday's deadlifts: hamstrings, glutes, lats, traps, etc. Actually, the only thing that isn't particularly sore is my lower back, which is probably a good sign that I maintained decent form. At any rate, my hamstrings were burning every single round and they totally gassed in round 4, so I didn't get much from this workout. Deadlifts are brutal, though the massive sleep deprivation the last couple weeks probably hasn't helped. Cannot wait for the winter break coming up: all I have planned is to see the folks, sleep 12 hours a day, workout, and eat good food.

 

[brikis98]

Front squat: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x3, 275x3, 275x3

I'm at my parents' house for the holidays, which means I'm doing my workouts at the local JCC. I was pressed for time today, so I blasted through some quick front squat sets. The squat rack at the gym sucks: the available slots for the pins were way too far apart, so I ended up with a configuration where I had to squat down quite a bit to unrack the bar and, worse yet, if I missed a rep, I'd have a long way to go to get the bar onto the safety rails. Afraid of missing a rep, I stayed conservative with the weight.

For time: 50 burpee pull-ups

Time: 6:00

The pull-up bar situation at the gym was no better: the only one available was on an assembly that jutted out ~1 foot from a wall and was only slightly above my head. I had to bend my legs to hang from the bar and I'd bump into the wall if I tried any sort of kip. This meant there was no jump after the burpees and that the pull-ups were pretty much dead hang. A bit different than I'm used to, but a good workout anyway.

 

[brikis98]

Run: 5 min on, 2 min off, 3 min on, 1 min off. 5 rounds of 75 sec on, 30 seconds off.

Ran on a treadmill in VFFs

Round 1: 5 min @ 8mph
Round 2: 3 min @ 9mph
5 rounds of: 75 sec @ 10mph

Before the workout started, I was doing a warm-up and briefly got up to 10mph. Without warning, the power on the entire row of treadmills went out. Let's just say I'm very thankful that they have those handrails on the sides of the treadmill.

HSPU: 12, 10, 10
L-sit practice: untimed, roughly 3 sets of 10-15 seconds

 

[brikis98]

Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5, 335x5, 345x5
Clean & press: 95x5, 135x5, 155x3, 175x1, 185x6x1

My adductor has been feeling better, so I'm going to slowly transition back to sets of 5. 345x5 went smoothly, will probably try 355 next time. After last week's success with the clean & press, I did it again this week and it went well again. Singles with 190 next time.

6 rounds of: basketball court "gasser", 45 seconds of rest. A gasser is 4 court lengths back to back.

Round 1: 22.0
Round 2: 22.5
Round 3: 22.8
Round 4: 22.2
Round 5: 22.5
Round 6: 22.8

This is the fastest I've run in a long time. All the stop and go meant it was still nowhere near a full sprint, but lots of fast acceleration. I really missed the feeling and had a lot of fun working on my speed and agility (or lack thereof). Gotta do more of this kind of stuff.

 

[darkdiablo]

Do you have access to a crossfit gym?

 

[brikis98]

Do you have access to a crossfit gym?

Yup. Most of the year I live in CA and go to Crossfit Sunnyvale. It's just for this winter break that I'm visiting my parents and am forced to workout at a "regular" (read: crappy) gym.

 

[darkdiablo]

Yup. Most of the year I live in CA and go to Crossfit Sunnyvale. It's just for this winter break that I'm visiting my parents and am forced to workout at a "regular" (read: crappy) gym.

darn lol, I'm very envious of you. How much do you pay for it? I'm not sure if I can find one here in Austin, TX

 

[brikis98]

darn lol, I'm very envious of you. How much do you pay for it? I'm not sure if I can find one here in Austin, TX

Crossfit Sunnyvale is part of Planet Granite, so you actually get one membership that covers the climbing facility, Crossfit classes, yoga classes, spin classes, etc. If you get a yearly membership, it comes out to about $70/month.

 

[brikis98]

Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x1, 365x1, 405xF (grip), 405xF (grip), stopped
Good morning: 95x5, 135x5, 155x5, 165x5

Ah, the joys of working out at the JCC by my parents' house: thick barbells with virtually no knurling and no chalk allowed. Even using hook grip, I just could not hold onto 405 - the bar would just slip through my fingers. I didn't bring my straps with me and knew that continuing on with the workout would be hopeless. I switched to good mornings to give my posterior chain some work. They went fairly well and the weight felt light, but I do them so infrequently that I didn't want to go any heavier, as even light GM's leave my hamstrings crazy sore from doing them so sporadically.

"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 were done from a dead hang. Sit-ups were done with feet in the butterfly position.

Pull-ups: 40
Push-ups: 80
Sit-ups: 85
Squats: 122
Total: 327

The only pull-up bar at the JCC is a little above head height and juts out ~1 foot from the wall, so I had to bend my legs just to hang from it and kipping was mostly impossible. I thought I'd be able to get a few more out, but by round 4, I couldn't get more than 3-4 reps. On push-ups, I was very happy to see my shoulder feeling 100%, but my chest endurance is way down - my PR in this workout is 115 push-ups. In general, all my numbers are a bit down, which makes me think some GTG work would be beneficial. No idea if I'll be able to make time for it though.

 

[EvilYoda]

darn lol, I'm very envious of you. How much do you pay for it? I'm not sure if I can find one here in Austin, TX

darkdiablo...Brikis lives in a fantasy land. Most of us normal people pay $150-200 a month for CF. As for you and finding one...you live in one of the biggest CF communities outside of California! Crossfit Central is HUGE and you have many many other affiliates.

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-affiliates/

 

[brikis98]

2010 in review

Although I made progress across the board, I didn't reach most of my goals for 2010. The only ones I succeeded on were: row 500m in 1:30 (I got 1:29), row 2000m in 7:20 (I got 7:17), 50 burpees in 2:00 minutes (I got 2:00 on the dot), and got very close on deadlifting 500lbs (managed 495). My goals were definitely ambitious for this year and I missed a lot of gym time due to a busy work schedule, but the biggest difference from last year was injuries: I blew out a hamstring while sprinting, strained my adductor while squatting and have had my shoulder flare up at least twice (still can't snatch or OH squat from the latest one). Also, after not having been truly sick for ~8 years, I got sick 3-4 times last year, including a bad flu.

For 2011, I'm mostly going to keep pushing for the goals I didn't reach in 2010. If I can stay healthy, I think I'll do pretty well.

brikis98's 2011 Crossfit Goals

Strength
Squat: 455lbs (current: 405lbs)
Deadlift: 500lbs (current: 495lbs)
OH Press: 225lbs (current: 205lbs)
Crossfit Total: 1180lbs (current: 1055lbs)
OH Squat: 255lbs (current: 245lbs)

Power
Snatch: 225lbs (current: 203lbs)
Clean: 315lbs (current: 288lbs)
Jerk: 275lbs (current: 258lbs)

Gymnastics
Consecutive ring muscle-ups: 10 (current: 4)
Consecutive full ROM HSPU: 10 (current: 2)
Consecutive pistols (per leg): 15 (current: 10)
L-sit: 1:00 (current: 0:20)

Speed
Run 40 yards: 4.5 seconds (current: ?)
Run 100m: 12.0 seconds (current: ?)
Run 400m: 1:00 (current: 1:10, track)
Run 800m: 2:30 (current: 2:50, track)
Row 500m: 1:25 (current: 1:29)

Stamina/Endurance
Run 1600m: 5:45 (current: 5:53, treadmill)
Run 5000m: 21:00 (current: 22:38, track)
Run 10000m: 50:00 (current: 51:43, track)
Row 2000m: 7:00 (current: 7:17)

CF WoD
Fran: 2:30 (current: 3:20)
Cindy: 30 rounds (current: 28)
Mary: 14 rounds (current: 10)
Angie: 14:00 (current: 16:08)
Filthy Fifty: 20:00 (current: 23:20)
Helen: 8:00 (current: 9:01)
Murph: 30:00 (current: 32:29)
Eva: 42:00 (current: 49:32)
Grace: 2:00 (current: 2:47)
Isabelle: 6:00 (current: ?)
Fight Gone Bad: 400 (current: 364)
King Kong: complete it (current: ?)

 

[brikis98]

Run: 10k

Ran on a treadmill

* 3 miles barefoot @ 7mph
* 15 second pause to put on VFFs (left the treadmill running)
* 2 miles in VFFs @ 7mph
* 1.25 miles in VFFs @ 8mph

Just got back from my parents' house where everyone was sick: my mom, dad, sister, niece, girlfriend's parents, uncle, and so on. Not surprisingly, I got sick too. Some sort of nasty sinus infection type thing that makes me massively congested. I've skipped the gym the last few days but figured today I would try to clear my lungs a bit with a slow run and get some barefoot practice while I'm at it. My feet tolerated the 3 miles - furthest I've gone barefoot so far - fairly well. It felt good to take an easy run, although I'm not sure it helped my sinuses at all.

 

[brikis98]

Still sick. I had crazy sinus pressure all day that made my forehead/nose feel like they would explode. The last thing I needed was some heavy weightlifting on top of that, so I'm skipping the gym today. Not a great start to the new year.

 

[norsy]

Do you do anything to ensure minimal strength loss when sick? Especially if the sickness takes a toll on your appetite and you are unable to eat as much as you normally would.

 

[brikis98]

Do you do anything to ensure minimal strength loss when sick? Especially if the sickness takes a toll on your appetite and you are unable to eat as much as you normally would.

If the sickness isn't bad, I just keep working out, but just slightly less intense. If I have a fever or crazy sinus headaches (the latter I have now), I just rest as much as possible and accept the fact that I'm going to lose progress.

 

[brikis98]

3 rounds (untimed):
* Run 450m
* Turn around, run 450m back
* 3 rounds of Cindy: 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats

Ran barefoot on the paved trail near my apartment. Did dead hang pull-ups on kids jungle gym.

Decided to try a workout today and see how recovered I am from the sinus infection. I didn't time the workout so I could go at a relatively easy pace, but it still took quite a bit longer than I expected. I felt more or less ok during the workout, but was surprisingly tired and a bit nauseas when I finished. Part of it is probably due to missing lots of gym time from sickness, but part is definitely because I'm not 100% recovered yet. Depending on how I feel tomorrow, I'll head to the gym and see how my body responds to some lifting.

 

[brikis98]

Clean: 128x3, 178x3, 218x3, 228x1, 238x1, 248x1, 258x1, 268x1, 278x1
Split jerk: 128x3, 178x2, 198x2, 218x1, 228x1, 238x1, 248x1
Rope climb: 3 ascents, legless

It has been almost two weeks since I did some lifting and I gotta admit that I really missed it. I felt surprisingly strong on the clean and the jerks and was just nailing the singles with perfect form. I probably could've tied my PRs on each lift (288 and 258, respectively), but after missing so much time, I decided not to risk a potential injury or debilitating DOMS. I tossed in some rope climbs at the end but decided to skip a metcon as I'm still fighting off a sinus infection.

 

[brikis98]

5 rounds (untimed):
* Run 400m
* 6 handstand push-ups
* 20 sit-ups
* 10 burpees

Ran on a treadmill in VFFs

Did one last untimed metcon today to see how my body was handling the sinus infection. I'm happy to report that I felt totally fine and that almost all symptoms are gone: no nausea, no sinus pressure, easy breathing, decent endurance. I didn't time the workout, but I did all sets unbroken, so I went through the whole thing pretty quick. Day off tomorrow and back to a more or less normal schedule on Wednesday.

 

[brikis98]

Yoga - "yoga flow", 60 minutes

Our workplace just got a full fitness program going, including yoga classes every day. Tried one out today called "yoga flow" and I really liked it. I'm horrendously inflexible, so I found even this fairly mild class to be a challenge. My shoulders were, as usual, particularly problematic, burning quite a bit while holding the downward dog pose. Anyways, I'm going to try to do these classes a couple times a week to hopefully loosen myself up.

 

[brikis98]

Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5, 335x5
Clean & press: 95x5, 135x5, 155x3, 175x1, 185x1
Pull-ups: 3x12

Very short on time today, so I flew through a quick & light strength workout. It was still a bit rough as I've only done two strength workouts in the last two weeks, so I'll need to work my way back up gradually the next couple weeks.

 

[brikis98]

Rollerblade: 30 minutes

First time strapping on rollerblades in a LONG time. I'll be playing some roller hockey tomorrow, so today was a tune up skate to get some of the rust out.

Burpees: 100, for time

Time: 6:50

 

[brikis98]

Roller hockey: 2 hours

First time playing in a few years. I was rusty as hell, but it was lots of fun.

 

[brikis98]

Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x2, 405x2, 425x1, 445x1, 455x1, 465x1
Ring muscle-ups: 5x4

Today was my first time deadlifting in 2.5 weeks and the first time going heavy (over 365) in a month. I was very relieved to see that I haven't lost much strength. 455 went up quickly, 465 a lot slower, but still decent. I'd estimate my strength is only down ~10lbs, so next week I'll go for 5-6 singles at 455. Muscle-ups also went fairly well and I'm getting a little better at maintaining false grip between reps.

Complete as many rounds as you can in twenty minutes of:
Row 500 meters
25 Turkish Get-ups with a 60-pound dumbbell

Scaled down to 12 TGU's with a 35lb dumbbell per round.

Rounds completed: 3 + 260m rowing

I've only done TGU's a few time in my life and never for time, so I scaled this workout way down. It was still tough, as you can't exactly do TGU's quickly, and maintaining tension that long for each rep was exhausting (especially w/ imperfect form). However, TGU's are great for shoulder mobility, so I got some nice rehab for my injured shoulder.

 

[brikis98]

Run: 5x800m, 90 seconds rest between rounds

Ran on a treadmill in VFFs

Did all 5 rounds @ 9mph

Pistols (reps per leg, 10lb DB as counterbalance): 3, 5, 5, 7
Push-ups: 4x30