EvilYoda's CF thread

[EvilYoda]

So, week 5...still loving it, everything's great, first CFT today. I was just hoping to get 700, got 698...a little bummed about that. Probably could've added it on to my press, maybe my squat.

Today's question: my squat and deadlift both don't feel like I'm engaging my legs enough - specifically, my quads. Like, they're tight...but I just don't feel like I'm PRESSING them. And thus, I think I'm going too quickly from hitting a weight and then failing. My squat was mostly maxed out due to bad form - I stopped too long at the bottom and tried going too low since my 2nd to last squat was borderline not having the hips clear the knees. I gave up on that though, as I don't want to jump in and do something stupid. (Maxed out at 251) My press was okay, 136. Deadlift was 311, 5lb better than 2 weeks ago, so I'm happy about that, but same thing - not pressing through my legs and I feel like I'm relying too much on pulling from the back and not pushing from the legs.

Any suggestions? I'm starting out slowly and cautiously but I hope to make some good gains soon. 26, 5'11", 170lb, CFT of 698. stupid 2 pounds.

In better news, I'm pretty close to linking the kipping pull-ups...I was able to cycle 5 pretty easily, but I need to iron out my basic form first. I'm not pushing with the shoulders enough on the swings and on the way down, I'm not "recycling" enough of the energy.

 

[KoolDrew]

From the sounds of it you're not concentrating on keeping your chest up and are turning it into a good morning. Concentrate on keeping your chest up and the rest should follow.

 

[EvilYoda]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
From the sounds of it you're not concentrating on keeping your chest up and are turning it into a good morning. Concentrate on keeping your chest up and the rest should follow.

But...my chest does stay up. I don't know if I'm really at my max or it's form-related. I move about half a foot up and then everything stops. It's not enough for me to bring my hips forward as I'm still basically in that crouch position.

I dunno, I'll break it down with lighter weight next time after my WOD...definitely need to figure out what's up, as I "feel" like I can do more, but what do I know. I've never really maxed out before.

 

[brikis98]

Hard to tell for sure without seeing it. I would mention that when doing back squats and deadlifts, your quads aren't going to feel like they do during a quad-centric exercise like the leg extension. They are certainly working hard, but bending/unbending the knee is only part of the equation in a proper deadlift and even the squat (especially the low bar squat). A lot of the work (probably the majority, especially in the deadlift) in moving the weight is done by your posterior chain, so if you should be feeling it in your hamstrings, glutes, and hips.

 

[EvilYoda]

It's weird, I feel more solid about my squat than my deadlift now. Knowing that you have the ability to just dump the weight if you fail is a big deal for me - I had never squatted more than 225 at the gym before and today I added 25 to that pretty easily.

I'll figure it out. One thing after another...first, is "perfecting" the kipping pull-up or getting somewhere close.

I wonder how I'll feel tomorrow...

 

[EvilYoda]

We practiced power snatches and some overhead squats today and our workout (wasn't quite up to a true WOD's level) was 30 one-armed snatches. That said, my quads felt really really tired by the last 10...they felt fine walking around, taking stairs, etc, but I think they're still a little sore from Monday's CFT.

I tried more kipping pull-ups - the blisters are coming along quite nicely. I still can't transition from the top to the next swing, but I think I might know what it is - when I'm kicking my legs up, I stop the circular swing, so the momentum is going straight up and not through my body. Therefore, I'm coming almost straight down and can't "recycle" the energy generated. I'm remembering to push off from the bar and it's still not feeling right.

I decided just to jump up to an unlimited plan...we'll see how my body likes it. I'm going to try to go again tomorrow, rest Friday (flying to San Diego) and then Saturday morning I'm going to drop by the SD CF affiliate for a 9AM WOD. I hope I don't embarrass myself too badly.

 

[EvilYoda]

Question, if anybody reads this:

I've been developing blisters/callouses due to the sudden increase in heavy bar work and pull-ups. That said, my right hand had one that looked pretty funky, but it was a callous and I took a pair of nail clippers so I could clean it up a bit. Turns out it was a callous on top of another callous...but somehow, the skin that's exposed now doesn't feel too raw.

I was wondering - should I just never touch my callouses or is it okay to cut them down every now and then?

 

[TallBill]

Yes, it is encouraged to shave them off with a pumice stone of file to remove the dead skin.

 

[EvilYoda]

Originally posted by: TallBill
Yes, it is encouraged to shave them off with a pumice stone of file to remove the dead skin.

Damn, that must take some work...the nail clippers and peeling seemed much more efficient, but I can see how that could end poorly

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda

Originally posted by: TallBill
Yes, it is encouraged to shave them off with a pumice stone of file to remove the dead skin.

Damn, that must take some work...the nail clippers and peeling seemed much more efficient, but I can see how that could end poorly

Let your hands get nice and warm first, either by shower or by submerging them in warm water.

 

[EvilYoda]

Yeah, I found a few pages that suggest a water and vinegar mix.

In other CF-related news, apparently my first time with ring dips a few weeks ago was purely just mental. I was able to work up to 45lb weighted dips, which is pretty decent considering I had to use the bands last time. My hands are absolutely killing me though...and the kip still isn't working. One off day tomorrow and then a visit bright and early to CF San Diego on Saturday!

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Regarding the callouses, I have to tell you the best thing you can do to avoid breaking them is to make sure you hang from your fingers, not your palms, when you do pullups. It will be more difficult at first, but oh so worth it when you're not tearing your hands apart every week. My hands used to be a disaster but I haven't had a single callous tear since I changed my pullup technique a few months ago.

All I do now is occasionally use a pumice stone in the shower to smooth them down.

 

[brikis98]

Beast Skills Callus Removal Tutorial. Keep those calluses shaved down before they have a chance to tear and you should be able to keep your hands in pretty good shape.

 

[EvilYoda]

So, greetings from San Diego! I'm at Stone Brewery right now, but I woke up for the 9am wod at CF SD.

It was great! Big class, probably 20 people and we did a custom fight - box jumps, air squats, ab mat sit ups, db push presses and kb swings. 10 min, 2 min rest, 5 min, 1 minute rest, 5 min. Total reps for score.

My first time with something like this and it was great! My number wasn't great...something like 378. But still, it was awesome. Bought a shirt too.

 

[EvilYoda]

Today was 18-12-8 rounds of burpees, thrusters, KB swings and wall balls. This was by far the best/worst WOD I've done yet - I was seriously on the brink of meeting pukie and it took me forever to finish it. I did it with 90lb thrusters, 25kg KB, and 20lb wall ball.

The drive home sucked and even now sitting in front of my computer, I'm still feeling it. My hair's all nasty because I sweated out like a gallon.

What a good/horrible feeling. We have a gymnastics class on Saturday that I'm going to attend, so I'm not sure if I should do tomorrow's WOD. I might just go down there and practice some stuff...I dunno.

 

[EvilYoda]

We worked the core pretty hard on Tuesday...yesterday everything was sore, I could barely stand up straight. Today it's mostly in the obliques, especially around the ribs. I started cramping up during today's workout and my right-side obliques are absolutely blasted right now.

 

[EvilYoda]

We brought in a gymnastics guy today for a special class - it was really fun, did a lot of floor work and then a little ring work. My first time trying a muscle up - after a few attempts and figuring stuff out, I'm a lot closer than I thought I would be. I can get the pull to my armpits pretty well, but (just like everybody else) the rotation to the dip is still difficult. I think that if I worked on it, a month would be a realistic time frame. That said, I have too many other weaknesses to work on before a MU.

Fun as hell though - I have a little tumbling/martial arts pad in the apartment that I might set up on the grass and work on tumbling more often. I've never tried a front handspring before and I got one today! Wasn't too pretty, but just landing on my feet is amazing.

 

[EvilYoda]

We did "Helen" today - my cardio is absolute shit and my inability to perform kipping pullups basically killed this for me. Rather frustrating having your inadequacies pointed out like that

edit: took 14 fucking minutes.

 

[EvilYoda]

If anybody's reading this - I felt a pain in my left shoulder today, it started right before lunch time. It wasn't horrible, I've experienced it before - rotational derived. That said, I still went to my workout, tried warming up but felt too much pain so I tried squatting instead. It didn't aggravate the shoulder (or at least I didn't I did), until I had to unrack the weight. (I also did poorly on the squats...a good 10lb less than my previous 1RM...but it was also the first time I tried squatting in just my socks and no shoes)

Anyway, I've had this happen before and it goes away after a few days. I have a few ideas as to what caused it, but what I want to know is who else has experienced this (I'm sure it's many), is it my rotator cuff, and is there anything I should be doing, other than minimizing movement/rotation of the shoulder?

Sucks.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
If anybody's reading this - I felt a pain in my left shoulder today, it started right before lunch time. It wasn't horrible, I've experienced it before - rotational derived. That said, I still went to my workout, tried warming up but felt too much pain so I tried squatting instead. It didn't aggravate the shoulder (or at least I didn't I did), until I had to unrack the weight. (I also did poorly on the squats...a good 10lb less than my previous 1RM...but it was also the first time I tried squatting in just my socks and no shoes)

Anyway, I've had this happen before and it goes away after a few days. I have a few ideas as to what caused it, but what I want to know is who else has experienced this (I'm sure it's many), is it my rotator cuff, and is there anything I should be doing, other than minimizing movement/rotation of the shoulder?

Sucks.

I've had plenty of rotator cuff issues over the years. It all started a few years ago when I was doing a stupid BB style routine that included WAY too much bench press and not enough other exercises to compensate. My rotator cuff has gotten a lot better since then, but occasionally a random exercise will cause it to flare up. I've found pull-ups, especially of the kipping variety, to be very rough on the shoulder joint. Not long after I started doing CF, I experienced a lot of pain as a result of kipping pull-ups as I discussed in this thread. Some ART (active release techniques) done by my chiropractor got the pain to go away and some flexibility work has prevented it from being an issue since.

In the meantime, some rest + ice + ibuprofen should help reduce the swelling and pain. Once it feels better, it may be worth doing some rotator cuff exercises, such as the the two discussed in this thread.

 

[EvilYoda]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
If anybody's reading this - I felt a pain in my left shoulder today, it started right before lunch time. It wasn't horrible, I've experienced it before - rotational derived. That said, I still went to my workout, tried warming up but felt too much pain so I tried squatting instead. It didn't aggravate the shoulder (or at least I didn't I did), until I had to unrack the weight. (I also did poorly on the squats...a good 10lb less than my previous 1RM...but it was also the first time I tried squatting in just my socks and no shoes)

Anyway, I've had this happen before and it goes away after a few days. I have a few ideas as to what caused it, but what I want to know is who else has experienced this (I'm sure it's many), is it my rotator cuff, and is there anything I should be doing, other than minimizing movement/rotation of the shoulder?

Sucks.

I've had plenty of rotator cuff issues over the years. It all started a few years ago when I was doing a stupid BB style routine that included WAY too much bench press and not enough other exercises to compensate. My rotator cuff has gotten a lot better since then, but occasionally a random exercise will cause it to flare up. I've found pull-ups, especially of the kipping variety, to be very rough on the shoulder joint. Not long after I started doing CF, I experienced a lot of pain as a result of kipping pull-ups as I discussed in this thread. Some ART (active release techniques) done by my chiropractor got the pain to go away and some flexibility work has prevented it from being an issue since.

In the meantime, some rest + ice + ibuprofen should help reduce the swelling and pain. Once it feels better, it may be worth doing some rotator cuff exercises, such as the the two discussed in this thread.

Now how did I know that you'd pop? (I was hoping you'd have some suggestions)

As for the cause, the last thing I did was Helen, which we warmed up with some overhead squats. I think it was more of the 24kg KB swings combined with my shitty pullups that did me in. The KB swings weren't actually too difficult, but I could barely hold my grip on it by the end of the third round.

Thanks for the advice, I'll check out those threads. I don't have a chiropractor, nor have I ever seen one, so hopefully just resting the arm will have me back in the gym in a few days.

We practiced cleans yesterday too, which sucks, since I really need help on that still.

 

[EvilYoda]

So, the good news is that my shoulder was feeling much better by Friday but I didn't want to chance it with a workout. I went to the 9:30AM WOD today and then some Bikram Yoga at 12PM, so I feel pretty good. Dead tired, but the shoulder's feeling good. We did a team-based WOD - tire flips, partner carry, and max pull-ups.

Good stuff.

 

[EvilYoda]

I'm not really sure which WOD I hate more: Monday we did some push presses and then Griff (800m run forward, 400m backward, 800m forward, 400m backward). Yesterday, we did some speed/agility drills and then 7 rounds of 10 SDHP and 10 ring dips.

My arms were so full of blood, I could barely move them, LOL. Rounds 3, 4 and 5 were the worst - somehow 6 and 7 got easier on the rings, although the sumo deadlift high pulls still sucked.

I didn't even know if I would be able to finish it, but it was a great feeling when I did. I wasn't even that gassed, it was more of an issue with my muscles tiring out.

No WOD today, going back tomorrow and then I'm out of town Friday-Sunday...my body's been pretty beat up so hopefully the camping trip will help me heal everything up.

 

[EvilYoda]

So, I got pretty sick last week (strep, apparently), and I never usually get sick, so I was out of commission for a while. Then my mom visited for the weekend and my box was closed due to a regional CF Games qualifier up in Flagstaff. So, all said and done, my last workout was 1.5 weeks ago, before I went to SF.

Today was my first WOD in 11 days and it was the CFT - fuck. I knew I would be weak (I've lost like 4 pounds in the last week...), so my squat and my press were low, but somehow, my dead lift set a PR by 9 pounds! I seriously don't get it. I thought about trying even more, but I thought better of it and decided to call it a day. 314 isn't that great, all said and done, but I want to really throw myself back into CF these next few weeks and really dial my body in. I don't have any trips planned and I have a few plans for my diet.

 

[EvilYoda]

Day 1 back at the gym was the CFT, Day 2 was metcon hell:

30 hand-stand push-ups
40 pullups
50 24kg kettlebell swings
60 situps
70 burpees.

SEVENTY BURPEES. Today was by far the most wasted I've felt after a workout. What a way to jump back into things.