Snatch, Dead, GM, 4-29-10

Leonidas showed up today. I don't know where he's been the last week, but glad he's back.

Snatch - 95/3, 115/2, 135/2, 145/1, 155/1, 165/f x 4 then got 1, 170/f x 3 then got 1 (+5lb PR), 175/1 (+10lb PR)
Deadlift - 225/3, 255/3, Max 285/21 (+ 9 rep PR compared to 3-10-10)
Good Morning - 3 x 10 - 115, 125, 135
Parallets h -Sit 3 x max - 44 sec, 30 sec, 33 sec

Snatch - FINALLY. My 165 PR has stood since Oct 16th, the first day I lifted at California Strength Academy. While my form improved at CSA, I was never able to PR in the 3 months I lifted there. That caused a great deal of frustration, so I haven't been working on them. Haven't Snatched in almost 2 months. Glad I stuck it out and just kept trying for a PR today. Improved strength overhead and heavier BW is what made this PR happen.
Deadlift - Felt strong today. I'm thinking doing the explosive movement first is a good primer for the nervous system before the strength movement. Landing a big PR before is rather helpful too. Working off 350lb 1RM for %'s (which is 75lb under my current PR).

Shoulder Press, FP, Chin 4-27-10

Shoulder Press - 95/3, 105/3, Max 120/10
Floor Press - 135/5, 3 x 5 150lb + 40lb of Chain (PR)
Incline DB Bench - 10 x 50lb, 3 x 5 56lb
Chins - 10, 10, 9

Squat, GHR 4-27-10

Squat - 205/3, 235/3, Max 265/8 (Technically a PR but compare to 270 x 9 on 4-7-10 and I'm not going to call this a PR)
GHR - 3 x 10
Jumping Step Ups - 3 x 10

Legs felt dead on the squats. Had no explosiveness and no strength out of the bottom today. Specifically feeling it in my quads. Weird. Don't have my GHR dialed in yet. Moved it forward a notch tonight which made it more difficult and I think is a better position for me. But the leg pad is super crappy and pushes forward out of position during the set causing the plywood base to dig into the bottom of my quads making it not too much fun. Yukon GHD's suck.

Bench, Row, Sn PP, Jerk, Ring Push Up 4-24-10

Bench - 125/3, 145/3, Max 162.5/14 (+4 rep PR compared to 3-3-10)
Bent Over Rows - 135/5, 155/5, 170/5, 3 x 5 185
Snatch Grip Push Press - 135/5, 145/5, 165/5, 180/5 (+ 10lb PR)
Jerk - 185/2, 205.2, 220/1, 230/1, 245/1, 255/1
Ring Push Up - 3 x 15

Dead, GM 4-22-10

Cossack Squat - 7 x BW, 7 x 35lb KB, 7 x 53lb KB
Deadlift - 195/5, 225/5, Max 250/23 (PR)
Good Morning - 95/5, 115/5, 135/5, 145/5, 155/5, 165/5

SP, FP, Chin, Dip 4-21-10

Shoulder Press - 85/5, 100/5, Max 115/11 matches PR on 4-1-10
Floor Press - 115/2, 135/2, 155/2, 175/2 (+10lb PR), 185/1 (PR) + 40lb of chains
Weighted Chin Up - 3 x 4 40lb
Dip - 40lb x 3, 35lb x 4, 10, 7

Felt like crap today.

Squat, Jerk, GHR, Box Jump 4-19-10

Squat - 185/5, 220/5, Max 250/13 f on 14 (PR)
Jerk - 165/3, 185/2, 205/2, 225/1, 245/f
Eccentric Glute Ham Raises - 3 x 8
Seated Box Jumps - Did about 6 sets of 3, working up to a max of 3 x 43.5"

Forgot to mention the other night I made a wager with my buddy Dan from work: The one with the highest Crossfit Total at the end of the year, wins. Loser buys the winner a steak dinner and a westside barbell t-shirt.

He's a bit ahead of me on all the lifts, so I figure I'll lose, but it'll give me some good motivation to go after him (don't worry I'm far too competitive to have thrown in the towel just yet). His current shoulder press is 160 compared to my 152.5. His squat is 330 compared to my 325 (he almost got 340). His deadlift? Not sure, but near mine. Earlier this week broke 455 off the floor, but failed on it. He Front Squatted 285 tonight (15lb over my PR). We are the same height and he weighs 200, I'm at about 210 right now. He is doing a program similar to CFSB, guided by Jason Highbarger, so he has very solid programming. Should be a fun little competition.

Bench, Row, KB PP, Push Up 4-18-10

*** Begin 3rd Cycle of 5-3-1 ***

Bench - 115/5, 135/5, 155/15 (+ 5 rep PR from 2-25-10)
Bent Over Rows - 95/5, 115/5, 135/5, 3 x 5 155lb, 165/5
KB Push Press - 5 x 1.5pood, 3 x 2 pood, 5 x 3 - 2.5 pood
Ring Push Up max 1 min rest - 13, 6, 5

OHS and Tabata KB Swings 4-15-10

**Rest Week**

OHS - 175/2, 185/1, 200/1, 210/1 (PR +15 lb) 185/4 (+ 15lb and 1 rep PR) Bodyweight OHS Oh Yeah!!! Second time I've gotten BW OHS, but the last time was in October and I weighed 185lbs.

8 rounds of Tabata 20 sec on 10 sec off ... Double 35lb Kettlebell Swings (Russian Style) ... averaged 12 reps until the 6th and 7th rounds of 9/8 and the last round of 11.

First metcon in quite a while and it showed. Youch. That sucked. I think it might just be time to get back into something resembling 'in shape'. Stop the mass gain with the 3/4 gallon of milk a day and excess caloric intake. Trim the extra adipose off and get fit again with an emphasis on continued strength/power development. Weighed 210lb this morning on an empty stomach. I'm thinking I'll level out at around 200lb give or take in a month or two.

Rest Week

**Rest Week** End of 2nd 5-3-1 Cycle

My right shoulder is feeling a small twinge on the anterior deltoid with certain movements so decided to not do any upper body work. Since its a rest week I figured I would just fart around with some different stuff and take it easy.

Toes 2 bar - 3 x 10

Cossack Squats - 3 x 10, 20lb of chain x 10, 40lb of chain x 10 ... In order to add weight, I'll try these in the future while holding a kettlebell in a goblet style position. They clicked for me today. Couldn't do them at all the first time I tried them they other day. Still need to fine tune it by staying on my heels and work on keeping my torso more erect, but a marked improvement.

Weighted Box Jumps - 40lb of chain: 30" 3 x 5, 33" x 3, 36" x failed ... caught my toes on the lip and bit the dust .. tweaked my left outer hip a little bit in the process.

Called the 'workout' there. So much for doing a much needed metcon that I had planned.

CFT 4-11-10

As part of my warmup I worked on Cossack Squats. Wow I suck at them.

CROSSFIT TOTAL

High Bar Back Squat - 295 x 1, 315 x 1, 325 x 1 (+22.5lb PR)
Shoulder Press - 140 x 1, 152.5 x 1 (+2.5lb PR), 155 x f
Deadlift - 385 x 1, 405 x 1, 425 x 1 (+60lb PR)

Total - 902.5 Lightweight baby! My twin came over and lifted with me. Good fun today.

The video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y4tTqJJqxk (wfs)

Critique of my lifts ...

Squat - Went deep enough on the 325 squat for it to qualify for the CFT, but not as deep as I'd like to go. Definitely shallower then the 315 squat.

Shoulder Press - Can you say UGLY! Let it get waaay too far out in front of me. Had a lot of lean back. According to the rules of the CFT excessive backward lean of the torso is identified by:

"A) the position of the most anterior aspect of the armpit, B) the most posterior aspect of the buttocks, C) the plane formed by a straight line between these two points, and D) the movement of that plane to a position behind the vertical"

I believe this lift just barely counts. But its so close, I'm not 100%.

Deadlift - Need to work on my set position because its too low. The dynamic start is a carryover from Oly lifting. Probably not the best approach.

SP, Chin, Ring Push Up 4-9-10

Shoulder Press - 95/5, 112.5/3, Max 122.5/10 (PR) - compare to 115/11 on 4-1-10
Chinup - 10, 10, 10
Weighted Ring Push Ups - Max x 3 w/ 40lb of chain - 7, 6, 4

Squat, Jerk, Dip 4-7-10

Back Squat - 210/5, 240/3, Max 270/9 f on 10th (+ 10lb and 2 rep PR)
Jerk 215/1, 225/1, 240/1, 255/f, 255/1 (+5lb PR)
Weighted Dip - 3 x 5 35lb

I have now officially put more weight over my head then my older, stronger cousin Jerrod. Thats the first lift I have ever beat him on, ever. And such an important one too. Thanks for the motivation of chasing you for all these years J-rod. This is finally the beginning of a little competition for you in the weight room. For those who don't know us, Jerrod is the one who 1st inspired me to ever pick up a weight when I was a junior in high school. I never got serious about it until 2 years ago when I started crossfiting. Funny enough, he is also the one who introduced me to crossfit. Monumental day for this kid to catch up in a small way to my mentor in the game of strength and fitness.

Bench, Clean, C&J, SP 4-5-10

PR day ...

Bench - 135/5, 150/3, Max 167.5/10 (+ 5lb PR)
Clean - 195/1, 215/1, 225/1, 235/1, 245/1 (+ 14lb PR) the video ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX4_DmP0P6U
Shoulder Press - 140/1, 145/1, 150/1 (+ 12.5lb PR)

Clean and Jerk 235/1 (+ 4lb PR) ... When doing the above cleans, for some reason I decided to try and jerk 235 because my previous C&J PR was 231 and I figured I could hit it. Hadn't done any jerks at lighter weights. Not the smartest approach, but smoked 235 easy. Tried to jerk 245 too, and it didn't feel too heavy, but missed it out front. I'll get it soon.

Happy with the Clean PR, and thrilled with the Shoulder Press. Its finally coming along nicely. This is the 3rd week on my second month long cycle on Wendler's 5-3-1 and I couldn't be happier with my progress.

Thats 43 PR"s in the last 32 days. Something is working.

Dead, FP, FS, Dip 4-3-10

Deadlift - 205/3, 245/3, Max 275/17 (PR)
Floor Press - 135/5, 155/2, 175/2, 185/2, 195/2 (+5lb PR)
Front Squat - 205/3, 225/2, 245/1, 260/1, 270 (+3lb PR)
Dip - 11, 11, 10

SP, Chin, Row 4-1-10

Shoulder Press - 90/3, 102.5/3, Max 115/11 (2.5lb PR)
Chinup - 10, 10, 9
DB Row - 3 x 10 60lb