Starting Strength Day 14, 10-31-08

This marks the end of my first month of Starting Strength.  

Squat 3 x 5 - 205lbs (PR)

Shoulder Press 3 x 5 - 90lbs

Power Clean 5 x 3 - 125lbs

Just for kicks I tried a one armed deadlift at 255lbs and was barely able to pull it to the top.  Using the hook grip was a must.  I wasn't able to budge the weight with a regular grip.  The whole way up my hold on the bar was slipping until it finally just slipped out of my hand. A little questionable whether I fully locked it out at the top before I dropped it because my grip failed, but I think I just got it.  

I weighed 183lbs today.  Thats a 14lb increase from my start of SS 30 days ago.  Not too shabby.  I highly doubt though that I'll be able to reproduce that and have another 14lb weight gain in the next month.  Seems like I've been stuck at the 180-183lb range fluctuating slightly up and down within that range over the last 2 weeks.  I think the key for me to keep gaining weight is the milk and the food.  I've just got to be more aggressive and disciplined about putting food away as though its going out of style.  

I'm happy with my progression with squats.  Thats good because its the foundation of this program.  I felt pretty good today with them.  They are hard now, but doable.  I haven't been worried yet about whether or not I'll be able to finish any of the reps.  I feel as though I'll be able to continue to about 220lbs before I need to reset, but thats just a guess.  My goal is to hit 240lbs 3 x 5 (after resetting) because that was my single rep max when I started.  I may well end up getting past 240.  I don't want to put limits on myself.  I've seen plenty of examples of other guys on SS who weren't brand new lifters when they started SS and have ended up doing their 3 sets of 5 at a higher weight then their previous one rep max.  Only time will tell.  All I can do now is keep marching forward... eating everything in sight, drinking Milk as if its my last day on earth, sleeping like a coma patient and lifting heavy like a Cave Troll on PCP.

Starting Strength Day 13, 10-29-08

Squat 3 x 5 - 200lbs

Bench Press 3 x 5 - 130lbs

Deadlift 1 x 5 - 285lbs

I did a little math and realized I was progressing too slow on the deadlift compared to my squat.  So I added 10lbs to the deadlift instead of the usual 5lbs.  

Then I couldn't resist, so I did:

Deadlift - 625lbs PR!!

Here is the video:

If you've never tried that before, you should.  Lots of fun!  I'll be doing more of the old lifts in the future, especially when I get off this Starting Strength cycle.  This is much more impressive though...for a 1210 lb deadlift, click HERE.

Starting Strength Day 12, 10-27-08

Squat 3 x 5 - 195lbs

Press 3 x 5 - 85lbs

Power Cleans 5 x 3 - 120lbs

Jim, a friend of mine came over and did his first ever CrossFit workout.  He hasn't worked out regularly in a long time, but he did great.  Taught him how to do air squats and then he did a buttercup version of mini Cindy.  Also worked with my brother on his clean technique.  All this I did while I was warming up.  So I started in on my workout and was really encouraged by how lightweight the squats were feeling.  I charged right through all 3 sets of 5 with no problems.  When I was stripping the weight of the bar I realized I had 35's instead of 45's on the bar.  What a brain fart!  So I had just done 3 sets of 5 at 175lbs instead of 195lbs, which is a decent amount of volume and more then a usual warmup.  But I didn't want to let it stop me from continuing to add weight every workout, so I put on the 195lbs and did the 3 sets of 5 like I was supposed to.  It wasn't easy, but I got through it.  At that point I had taken up so much time that I had to rush through the rest of the workout with only 30 seconds of rest in between sets.  Luckily the weight is still light enough that I was able to get away with it.

Lesson learned:  Instructing while attempting your own intense workout does not mix.

Starting Strength Day 11, 10-24-08

Squat 3 x 5 - 190lbs 

Bench Press 3 x 5 - 125lbs

Deadlift 1 x 5 - 275lbs

Starting Strength Day 10, 10-22-08

Squat 3 x 5 - 185lbs 

Press 3 x 5 - 80lbs

Power Cleans 5 x 3 - 115lbs

HERE is video of 2 out of the 3 sets of squats.

Felt good today.  I read a few articles of "Keys to Progress" by John McCallum throughout the day.  I love his writing style.  Such a hilarious guy and has some really classic lines in there about lifting.  If you haven't read it and are doing the Starting Strength thing, look into it.  Its definitely a book about getting big and strong with much more of an emphasis on bodybuilding then I prefer, but is great nonetheless. The book is worth it just for the way he describes big strong guys and the insulting descriptions of skinny little guys who don't train.  Classic stuff.

Starting Strength Day 9, 10-20-08

Squat 3 x 5 - 180lbs

Bench 3 x 5 - 120lbs

Deadlift 1 x 5 - 270lbs

Starting Strength Day 8, 10-17-08

Squat 3 x 5 - 175lbs

Press 3 x 5 - 75lbs

Power Clean 5 x 3 - 110lbs

I weighed 180 lbs this morning before breakfast.  Thats an 11 pound weight gain in 17 days and I haven't even gotten into the heavy weight yet. Still no crazy gut either.  I weighed the same weight about this time last year and the wifey says I have a noticeably smaller gut.

Starting Strength Day 7, 10-15-08

Squat 3 x 5 - 170lbs

Bench 3 x 5 - 115lbs

Deadlift 3 x 5 - 265lbs

Slowly ratcheting the weight up,  In a month and a half I'll be squatting my current one rep max of 240lbs 3 x 5 if I'm able to continue making linear progress, so the baby steps will start kicking in and making a difference before I know it.

Starting Strength Day 6, 10-13-08

Squat 3 x 5 - 165lbs

Press 2 x 5 - 70lbs

Power Cleans - 105lbs

Today marks the end of the second week of SS.  I have gained 6 pounds.  That is weighing myself when I'm at my lightest, after waking up.  So far, not too much of a gut, but I'm still thinking its mostly fat.  Its been tough to continue to eat 5-7,000 calories a day.  It definitely takes a bunch of discipline.  I've got to keep working hard at it.

As I was squatting today I had the thought that it felt like a warmup.  I charged right through them.  I'm thinking I should start getting more aggressive with squat therapy which I learned about at the Level 1 Cert.  It would be cool if I could get rid of my 'butt wink' and end up with a more upright, superior squat at the end of this SS cycle. 

Starting Strength Day 5, 10-10-08

Squat 3 x 5 160lbs

Bench Press 3 x 5  110lbs

Deadlift 1 x 5 260lbs

Easy day.  I'd like to be able to say the only easy day was yesterday.  But thats not the case yet.  Soon enough though.  Soon enough.

Starting Strength Day 4, 10-8-08

Squat 3 x 5 - 155lbs

Press 3 x 5 - 65lbs

Power Clean 5 x 3 - 100lbs

Another easy day.  

Its more then a little frusterating to not be lifting heavy yet. I want to hurry up and lift heavy, but I know thats being greedy, and it makes sense to do it slow. Its just hard to wait and not be pushing the weight yet. I know in another 2 months though I won't be saying the same thing, and in another month I'll be squatting 215lbs 3 x 5. Which will be pretty good considering my max is 240. A month after that of linear progression (if I'm able to keep it up) and I'll be squatting 275lbs 3 x 5. Now that does't really seem possible. I'm guessing I'll stall out before then...but you never know. Time will tell. Its just hard being patient right now. It'll be well worth it if the big gains in muscle mass and strength come. But its so early in the program, that hasn't happened yet. A little more fat has happened though.

Weighed 174lbs in the morning and 176lbs after a meal.

Starting Strength Day 3, 10-6-08

Squat 3 x 5 150lbs

Bench Press 3 x 5  105lbs

Deadlift 1 x 5 255lbs

10-4-08

6,453 Calories

362.6 Fat

476.5 Carbs

344.1 Protein

10-5-08

4,915 Calories

250.1 grams Fat

413.7 grams Carbs

277 grams Protein

I weighed myself with an empty stomach at 172lbs.  Then after I stuffed myself at dinner I weighed 174 lbs.  That is a 5lb increase in 5 days (and 3 workouts)! Must not be muscle and be pretty much all fat, food and water seeing how these workouts haven't been hard yet because its still the start of the program.  I weighed myself on the 6th with an empty stomach and I weighed 172lbs again.

GOMAD!!

If you don't know what GOMAD stands for...YOU SHOULD!

GOMAD = Gallon Of Milk A Day

Its one of the foundations of this program. Not that its for everyone who is doing SS. Not that its for everyone who are doing other programs. Not that its a healthy diet for the rest of your life type of thing. Its for a short season in time. To make you big.

Milk grows baby mammals and makes them big. Real simple. Bears, bulls, tigers....all go from cute and cuddley little guys to big bulky beasts on milk (and a bit of meat doesn't hurt them either). I don't know about you, but I pretty much fall into the baby mammal category. I'm still a novice lifter, maybe an advance novice, but a novice nonetheless. So I will benefit from a program like SS. SS was specifically designed for novices. Its not for the intermediate or advance lifter. They need more complex training programming.

This baby mammal does not. He needs to pick heavy things up, put it on his back and squat it. He needs to pick heavy things off the floor and lift them. He needs to add weight every single workout. And he needs to drink a truckload of milk while eating enough to feed a platoon of starving marines. Plain and simple, right?

It just depends on what your goals are. If you aren't trying to gain mass and get big, then GOMAD is not for you. But a word to the wise...if you are trying to get as stong as possible then you will need to get bigger too. Big muscles move big weight. Small muscles do not. Milk is a key component to growing those muscles. So go out and do your muscles a favor and drown yourself in some milk.

Starting Strength Day 2, 10-3-08

Squat 3 x 5 - 145lbs
Press 3 x 5 - 60lbs
Power Clean 5 x 3 - 95lbs

Its weird to be using so little weight right now. Definitely wanted to and could have used heavier weight. But thats the whole point of linear progression is to slowly, and very consistently build up and up and add more and more weight. Starting heavy and adding weight every single time you lifted simply would not work. But starting light and working your way up to your previous max as you gain weight, and get a foundational volume of work in, will allow you to get stronger and beat your old PR's. So while its a bit of an ego check, and almost feels unambitious to use such light weight in a workout, I'll continue to be ambitious about the big picture and adding 5lbs to every single exercise every blasted workout.

Definitely need to get better with my power clean form. I'm having trouble with closing my hips fully as I shrug and jump the weight up. May need to get some more private coaching and just focus on the clean.

My low back didn't get tired at all like it did on Wed. Maybe I did too much volume when warming up for the squat and the deadlift.

In short...an easy day today.

Today I ate:

6,303 Calories
309.6 grams of fat
604.2 grams of carbs
304.9 grams of protein

Yesterday I ate:

6,301 calories
308.9 grams of fat
523.3 grams of carbs
384.6 grams of protein

Starting Strength Day 1, 10-1-08

Today marks the beginning of a major change to my workout programming. As crazy as it may seem, I'm beginning a Starting Strength(SS) cycle today. I've been planning on this for some time now. The primary reason is I'd really like to put on some muscle mass. I'm 6'1, 169lbs and I'm hoping I can put on a good 20-30lbs in weight in the next handfull of months and then return to crossfit afterwards to trim down the fat and start in again on increasing my work capacity across broad time, and modal domains. My goal is to end up 15-20lbs heavier with the same (or less) bodyfat (I'm at ~13% now) and continue my crossfit career from there. Not because I think the strength gains I'll make will automatically transfer to killing all the WOD's as RX'd, though the increased strength will help especially in heavier WOD's like Linda, the Bear Complex, Lynne, and of course the CFT, but because I want to be bigger. Always have wanted to be bigger then I am. This kind of focus should also give me much stronger hips and midline stabilization, which are the engine and transmission that drives the body. We'll see if it works. I'll be honest that I'm a little concerned that I may be pissing away the next 4 or so months. This is certainly not what Jeff Martin head coach at Brand X would have me do. However other top notch coaches like Mark Rippetoe (obviously) and Greg Everett recommend doing SS and then returning to WOD's afterwards. Its a challenge that I'm stoked about and hopefully I'll come back to Crossfit and get back to a good state of metcon fitness pretty quickly. I already know I'll really miss doing some of the CrossFit WOD's, because I enjoy them so much, but lifting heavy is a ton of fun too!

I don't know how long I'll be doing SS. That depends on how long I can continue linear progression, ie: adding weight to the bar and making progress. It'll also depend on if I decide to reprogram when I do stall out and switch to an advance novice SS program, or intermediate level strength and mass gain program. I'll make those decisions when I encounter them.

I've started a food log on fitday.com in order to track how many calories I'm eating. The goal is to eat a truckload of calories every day during this cycle. The amount of food you eat is what determines if you gain weight and get bigger and your training is what determines if that weight gain is muscle or fat and to what ratio. Also obviously how 'clean' you eat plays a role. When trying for weight gains, SS calls for drinking a gallon of whole milk a day (GOMAD) and getting down somewhere in the range of 4,500-7,000 calories.

I'll be doing the original SS program which looks like this:

Workout A:

3x5 Squat

3x5 Bench Press

1x5 Deadlift

Workout B:

3x5 Squat

3x5 Shoulder Press

5 x 3 Power Cleans

As of today here is what my lifts look like:

Squat: 1 rep max 240lbs, 5 rep max 200lbs...I'll start at 140lbs...Single rep max goal of 300lbs

Deadlift: 1 rep max 355lbs, 5 rep max 315lbs...I'll start at 250lbs....Single rep max goal of 400lbs

Benchpress:  1 rep max 165lbs, 5 rep max 145lbs...I'll start at 100lbs...Single rep max goal of 200lbs

Press: 1 rep max 125lbs, 5 rep max 105lbs...I'll start at 60lbs...Single rep max goal of 140lbs

Power Clean: 1 rep max 180lbs, 5 rep max 150lbs...I'll start at 95lbs....Single rep max goal of 210lbs

I'll be adding 5lbs to each lift every single workout until I need to reset. I'll reset twice and then look at doing the advanced novice program from Rippetoe's book Practical Programming.

If you want to learn more about this program, you can read till your eyes bleed about it HERE.

So today I did:

Squat 5 x 3 - 140lbs

Bench Press 5 x 3 - 100lbs

Deadlift 5 x 1 - 250lbs

Ate 5,114 Calories....216grams of fat.....479grams of Carbs.....322grams of protein

% of Calories:

	Fat   ( 38 %)		Carbs   ( 37 %)
	Protein   ( 26 %)

9 Hours of sleep

The first day went well. I enjoyed going shopping today and buying 4 gallons of whole milk as well as a bunch of other food. The lifting wasn't too bad at all. Did feel my low back though...Just got a little tired by the time I did the work set of the deadlift.

Level 1 Cert Day 2 !!! & Hill Run, Med Ball Cleans, Pullups

Wearing a sand colored t-shirt in the top right corner just below the tallest guy in the photo who is wearing a black t-shirt....Yours truly.

2nd and final day of the Level 1 Cert.  I just wish there was a day 3, 4 and 5.  I could go all week!  

So today we had lectures on technique, nutrition, midline stabalization, and programming.  There were lectures, demonstrations and skill work for the following movements:  Glute Ham Developer hip extensions, GHD back extensions, GHD situps, kipping pullups, muscleups, rowing, snatching.

The workout today was:

~400M Hill Run

3 Rounds of:  15 Medicine Ball Clean 20lbs, 15 Pullups

~400M Hill Run

10:22

I was the 17th fastest out of the 50-60 Cert attendees.  Top 3rd, which isn't too bad, but plenty of room for improvement.  The fastest time in the class was 7:47.  The same athlete got 409 on FGB yesterday.  Sorry, but I can't help but be over-competitive and care too much about things like that.  It's just the way I operate.

I'll leave you with the highlights that I walked away from this weekend with.  These are words of wisdom.  Words to live by:

Your hips are the engine, and the spine/torso is the transmission for producing power with your body.  

The ability to stabilize the core is the secret to being a firebreather of an athlete.

Food is fuel that runs the machine (your body).

The food you put in your mouth will determine how you feel for the next 4-6 hours.

The 23 - 1   Rule:

Your workout takes about 1 hour of your day.  This puts in perspective how important the other 23 hours are.  What you do with the other 23 hours in your day provides a huge opportunity to do harm or good for your fitness level.  Therefore what fuel you spend your time consuming and how much sleep you get in that 23 hours is hugely important!

Badasses are on a zone paleo diet.

If it won't go bad, rot, or die, then don't eat it.

Never have a meal larger then 5 blocks and never go more then 5 hours without eating.

Fixing a glaring deficiency (weakness), is better for your fitness then just working on your strengths.

Work on your weaknesses!

Force x Distance % time = Power  ......   Power  =  Intensity

If you don't push to new levels of intensity you will NOT grow.

Intensity is where the good shit is!

Functional Movement is moving Large Loads Long Distances Quickly.

Increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains.

CrossFit is ultimately attempting to attain increased capacity/ability in life outside the gym.

Level 1 Cert !!! & Fight Gone Bad

My first Level 1 Certification.  Much needed since I'm a PT Instructor at the Police Academy now,  I probably ought to be legit about it. Heck I say its great as a garage gym CrossFit commoner to get to a Cert or 5 immediately if not sooner.  In that sense I should have gone to this Cert months ago!  

We had a ton of quality info shoveled at us today, all of which I soaked up as I scribbled notes furiously.  Much was review due to my reading of the CrossFit Journal (HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended if you don't subscribe yet!), but it was presented very well by some top notch Instructors highlighted by Adrian Bozman and Jon Gilson; two of my FAVORITE CrossFit blog/article authors.  We covered 9 of the foundational movements of CrossFit in lecture, demonstration, and practice:  the air squat, front squat, overhead squat, press, push press, push jerk, deadlift, sumo deadlift high pull, and clean.  It was outstanding to get such close coaching attention in so many lifts.  I was loving it.  Then it was time for some fun: 

Fight Gone Bad

3 Rounds of 1 min of each exercise and 1 min rest in between rounds

1. Wall-ball, 8 ft target (Reps) 24, 11, 10
2. Sumo Deadlift high-pull 75lbs (Reps) 18, 15, 13 
3. Box jump (Reps) 26, 14, 14
4. Push-press 75lbs (Reps) 27, 17, 11
5. Row (Calories) 14, 9, 13

Total:  236

What a doosey.  As if I needed to mention it to anyone who has done this WOD before, you know its a real beastie.  And today it was especially beastly.  That's what happens when you have 5 CrossFit Headquarters Level 1 Cert Trainers pouncing on any form of weakness, driving you onward through the misery that is intensity.  And I don't mean the stuffed animal kind of beast. This WOD was the teeth ground sharp, eyes glowing red, hiding under your bed, deep dark evilness that roams in the realm of your nightmares kind.  But I digress.  It was hard.  And that is good.  This was the first time I've done FGB as RX'd.  The medicine ball I have only weighs 10lbs, so that is the scaled down version I've been doing the last couple of times.  So me and the wall ball didn't get along so well, since this was twice as hard as I've ever done before.  But I sure did enjoy it because I was working out with ~60 other Cert attendees amidst a cacophony of screamed encouragement.  I'd love to workout in that environment daily.

Then to top off the day, after I got home, I had the opportunity to introduce CrossFit to my identical twin brother.  I taught him the air squat and shoulder press.  It was great to regurgitate a bunch of info I had just gotten on the movements at the cert which helped me remember it that much more. He did well for his first time and then rounded off the night with a max deadhang pullup effort of 9 pullups.  Not bad for someone who hasn't been working out at all, and has been known to define elite fitness as endurance runners (don't blame him, he was brainwashed as a HS and college track and cross country runner).  I was proud of how well he did picking up the movements.  We'll continue working on some more of the foundational movements and nailing down some benchmarks of his fitness so we can have something to work off and have a starting point for creating goals as we move forward.

Pretty snarky stuff!

So now its off to hold down my cot before the second day of the Cert!  

OHS,KB Swings, Dips/Single Leg Squats/Musclesups 9-21-08

15 - 12 - 9

Overhead Squats 75lbs

Kettlebell Swings 44lbs

Bar Dips

9:04

The dips were by far the hardest part. First set no problem. The second and third set were very broken and slow. The triceps were just shot. Gotta continue to work on this weakness. A friend Matt came over to workout. He's never done Crossfit before and after introducing him to OHS, I realized it was asking too much to have him do them as part of his workout. So he did the above workout with 95lb back squats instead in 4:52. He really smoked it and I was impressed with how good of shape he is in. Being a wrestler and swimmer and lifting on his own has certainly helped. Then we did:

Single Leg Squats

95 x 3

105 x 3

115 x 3

125 x 3

135 x 3

145 x 3

My back is still feeling a little suspect, so instead of doing low back squats, I did some single leg squats which stress the back a little less. It was good to do some form of the squat. Its been far too long.

30 Muscleups

18:35

Not really for time, just alternated single reps with Matt. But I did time it out of curiosity, so why not post the time, right? About 15-20 were full locked and turned out at the bottom, the rest were with bent elbows at the bottom.

Thrusters, Burpees, Rope Climbs 9-20-08

5 Rounds of 

7 Thrusters 95lbs

7 Burpees

3 Rope Climbs (8ft)

9:51

This was a good one.  I would have normally done this with 7 pullups instead of the rope climbs but subbed the robe climbs because of my torn blisters.  A buddy Andrew from Oakland PD came over and worked out with me at the garage gym.  He is new to Crossfit and has never done Thrusters before.  So he did them with 65lbs.  He finished the workout in 10:48.  Hopefully his schedule will line up with mine soon and we can start working out more regularly together.

Cash out of max Ring Pushups with feet up on jump box so we could get nice and deep.  I did 24 and Andrew did 20.

Row and Benchpress 9-19-08

4 rounds of 500M row, 4 min of rest between rounds:

1:38

1:48

1:52

1:54

I was hoping to PR on my first 500 and hit 1:32.  3 months ago I got 1:35.  That definitely wasn't happening tonight!  I guess that's what happens when you don't row much.  

10:00 min rest and did:

Benchpress

95 x 3

115 x 3

135 x 3

155 x 3 (PR)

165 x 1 (failed on 2nd rep)

Finally bought a flat bench so I can add benchpressing to my repitore.  Its a definite weakness as any other long armed bloke might tell ya. Yet another exercise to work on.

Sprints and Modified Lynne 9-17-08

Worked out with the Recruits today.  Did Sprint liners on a basketball quart...about 10 rounds of sprints of varying lengths including a sprint/air squat relay race.

Then did a modified Lynne.

4 Rounds of Max reps of:

Pullups                        30 - 17 - 16 - 15

105lb Shoulder Press       6 -  5  -  5   -  5

Rested 3 minutes in between rounds.  The 30 Pullups in the first round was a PR.  Pretty pleased with that.  10 away from my one year of doing CrossFit goal (in Feb) of 40 pullups.  We'll see, maybe I'll be able to hit 50 by then.  But I'll have to figure out the great blister battle I'm having.  I'm losing the battle.  Had two casualties today.  Ripped two big blisters, one on each ring finger.  That caused me to cut it short to 4 rounds instead of my planned 5.  The 30 pullups really took it out of me for the following rounds.  In rounds 2 and 3 I used a switched grip which I think really helped.

Nasty Girls 9-16-08

“Nasty Girls” Pack/Porch Scaling:

3 rounds for time of: 
50 Squats 
10 Seated Muscle-ups 
115 pound Hang power cleans, 10 reps

9:44

This was a tough one.  I loved it!

Dips 9-14-08

Still feeling my back and not much time, so I picked a weakness and did a super quick workout:

Dips 3 x 15

Rested 3 minutes between rounds.  (Actually did 17 in my first set).  14 unbroken in the first set makes for a pathetic PR.  At least all were strict full ROM.

Clean and Jerk & Pullups 9-13-08

Clean and Split Jerk

65 x 5

95 x 3

115 x 3

135 x 3

155 x 3

165 x 3 (PR)

Got a twinge in my low back coming out of the bottom of the squat on the very last rep.  I was hoping to move up to 170lbs so I'd have my bodyweight x 3, but the back twinge ended it for me.  I don't think its too serious at all.  We'll see how I feel tomorrow, might make it a rest day.

Max Dead Hang Pullup

17 (PR)

I had a tiny leg kick mid way up # 16.  Didn't quite get my chin over the bar on 18.  Haven't been doing too many pullups because of my constant issues with blisters.  Really need to get over the Blister blues so I can be improving on pullups like I need to be.

Deadlift 9-12-08

Deadlift

275 x 5

315 x 3

5 sets of 275 x 3

Last time I deadlifted I did 5 sets of 3 at 315. But my form suffered because it was too heavy. Decided to drop the weight back down and try and keep good form this time. Frusterating to go back down in weight but it was the right thing to do.

10 Muscleups full locked and turned out at the bottom. Not for time. Sets of 2 until 6 then did singles.

Fight Gone Bad Variant 9-10-08

Worked out at the Academy with the Recruits today.  

1.5 Mile run in 11:07  

Ran with some of the slower guys to try and push them, so this wasn't a PR attempt.  

Overhead Squats: 85lbs x 13, 95 x 3, 105 x 1, 115 x 1, 135 x 1, 150 (failed)  

I was shooting for a PR of 150lbs but out of the bottom my right arm drifted forward and I dropped it. Oh well.  

Muscleups not for time:  

4 unbroken (not locked and turned out) 

3 ‘real’ Muscleups unbroken ... First time I’ve ever done any with arms fully locked and hands turned out at the bottom. So this is a PR. From now on every Muscleup I do will be locked and turned out.  

2 

1 

3 bar Muscleups. Ripped my muscleup blister in the center of my right hand, so I stopped.  

Then did a Fight Gone Bad variation which was the Department's WOD:  

4 Rounds of  

12lb Slamball 

Pushups

Row 

Heavy Punching Bag 

Sumo Deadlift Highpull with 2 pood Kettelbell

Unfortunately I didn't keep track of my numbers but kept the intensity high.  

I'm having a ton of fun as an Academy PT instructor. I really enjoyed working with a couple of the recruits who stayed late to get more work in. Introduced them to L-Sits, L Pullups, Knees to Elbows, Toes to bar, front and side Planks, muscleups and Overhead Squats. How cool is that! A few got their first muscleups ever and all PR'ed in Overhead Squats since it was their first time ever doing them.

KB Swings, Burpees, Situps 9-9-08

5 Rounds for time of:  

10 53# Kettlebell Swings

9 Burpees 

8 Abmat Situps  

7:49  

Then did some more because it seemed like the stoopid thing to do.  

50 70lb Kettlebell Swings  

5:34  

1st time ever doing anything with a 70lb Kettlebell and only second time I've used a real Kettlebell. Fun stuff. The 70lber was a real evil...nogooder...I think I want one = )

100 Ring Pushups 9-7-08

100 Ring Pushups

11:57

I hung the rings down 2 feet off the floor and I did the first 41 with my feet on a 2 foot box so I was completely parallel.  After that I had to drop my feet to the ground to do slightly incline pushups.  This was quite a bit tougher then I thought.  Figured it'd take more like 5 minutes, not 12!

Snatch and Overhead Squat 9-5-08

Burgener warmup with PVC pipe and then with 45lb bar

Snatch

55 x 10

95 x 3

105 x 1

115 x 1

125 x 1

130 x 1 (failed)

Overhead Squat:

95 x 5

115 x 1

135 x 1

145 x 1 (PR + 10)

150 x 1 (Failed because I did not get full depth on squat)

compare to 5-14-08

Its been a long time since I've done OHS. Too long. Got to work them into my programming more like I used to.

1 Mile SandBag Carry 9-4-08

Carried a 100lb Sandbag for 1 Mile.

14:38

My goal was to do it under 15:00 min and I hit it.  The long term goal is to carry my bodyweight for 1 mile under 15:00 min.  That'll really take some work, because this was tough.  Surprisingly enough this really taxed my grip strength while holding onto the bag as it sat on my shoulders.  It was also very tiring on the traps, shoulder girdle and neck.  

Deadlift and Pushups 9-3-08

Deadlift

3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3  

315lbs

This was heavy for me.  Too heavy.  My form suffered because of the weight.  Especially in the 4th and 5th sets.  A rounded back.  Not a pretty thing.  Thats what I get for video taping my workout.  I should have used less weight.  I was upset with my breakdown in form.  So I punished myself with a cashout of black jack pushups.  Had one minute break in between each round.  Did the final 5 rounds all together with no breaks.

21-20-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Pushups

Thats a total of 231 pushups.  I did them all unbroken.  Ouch.

Push Jerk 8-31-08

Push Jerk

95 x 3 

115 x 3

135 x 3

145 x 3

155, 155, 155 (failed), 155 (PR + 5)

160, 160 (failed), 160, 160 (failed), 160 (PR + 10) 

160 x 3 makes for a 10lb PR!!  I'm loving that I'm still making notable progress at 7 months of doing CrossFit!  My second rep of 160 went up super easy.  Considerably easier then any of the other 160lb attempts and easier then any of the 155lb attempts as well.  This leads me to believe my form still needs lots of work to get consistent.  On that 'easy' rep I just locked out my arms no problem at all.  I think this is because I got good hip explosion and probably more importantly I dropped under the bar super fast.  I also concentrated on setting my core and noticed a difference in feeling tighter and more solid throughout the ROM.  Need to fine tune my form so I can hit those lifts every time. The lifts that I failed were because I didn't quite lock out my arms and wasn't able to grind it up the rest of the way.

Compare to 7-25-08

Pistols and Ring Dips 8-30-08

Thought I'd embrace a couple of weaknesses...

5 RFT: 

10 Pistols

10 Ring Dips

11:21

Did assisted Pistols by using one hand on a pole in the bottom of the squat.  Some of the ugliest ring dips you ever did see.  Had to put my foot down at the bottom of the dip waaay too much.  Almost didn't workout tonight cause I felt super sluggish with so little sleep.  But my Zone Shake perked me up to do this lil beastie.

Hours of sleep:

4.5

Energy Level:

Low

Zone Shake

Zone Shake

1 Cup Milk

1 Cup Frozen Blueberries

1/3 Cup Rasberries

23 Grams Vanilla Whey Protein

1/3 Banana 

I have fallen in love with my newfound Zone Shake.  I will mix in different berries on different days from Blueberries, Rasberries, Blackberries or Strawberries, and sometimes I put in some Banana.  Wow is this good stuff!  So tasty and so good for ya.  Tastes quite a bit better then the usual Milk and Vanilla Protein shake I've been downing for the past 7 months.

Fran 8-29-08

Did Fran (modified)

21 - 15 - 9

Thrusters 75lbs
Pullups

4:38

I wanted to do Fran with a weight that would give me a 'good' Fran time of between 3 - 5 minutes. Probably should have done this one a bit faster. I was getting out of rhythm on my pullups. I've been using a 'butterfly' type kip but recently since teaching the standard kip at the Academy, its thrown me off and I end up doing some pretty ugly half butterfly, half standard kips and it just gets all discombobulated. Really I need to be able to switch back and forth seemlessly, but it looks like that'll take a little bit of practice.

Cashout: 15 bar muscleups not for time.

Ripped up my hands pretty good and didn't even notice it until my buddy pointed out that there was blood on the bar. Oops. Party foul. Got a nice large tear about the size of a nickel in a spot I've never torn up before. I guess that is what doing unbroken bar muscleups will do to uniniated hands.

The academy did...

3 rounds for time of:

300m Row
30 situps
20 burpeess
10 pullups

It tore them up pretty good. There weren't enough rowers for us to join them, and its a good thing. Lots of ugly form that needed correction.

21 Rep Squat 8-27-08

Squat 21 x 180lbs

Then did a cash out of 4 rounds of max hand stand holds with a spotter.

39 sec

38 sec

49 sec

39 sec

I'm new to handstands so this was much needed practice.  This was the first time I've ever done a max hand stand.  I was hoping to hold it for a full minute but I guess I just didn't have that in me.  But it was good to work on active shoulders, getting my weight over the first row of knucles, holding my legs together while pointing the toes up, and keeping a hallow core.

Lynne 8-26-08

Lynne (modified) at the PD...

5 Rounds of with 5 min rest in between rounds:

Max Pushups  53, 35, 26, 18, 21 = 153

Max Pullups   23, 23, 19, 16, 14 = 95

Total 248

My 1st round of Pullups I simply could not get in a good groove with my kipping pullups.  I really don't know why in the 5th round I actually improved from the 4th round with pushups.  I was maxing out on each round, but for some reason had a bit left in the tank on the 5th round.  I wasn't pleased with my overall performance.  Just didn't perform.  

Compare to 6 - 3 - 08 where my pushup total was 40 more then today!!  My pullups were 14 reps more then on June the third.  Wow.  I don't have an explanation for why my pushups were so much worse then almost 3 months ago.  Kinda depressing to be honest.  I'm hoping the difference is from doing strict full body to the ground at the bottom position and elbows fully locked out in the top position pushups, having done a bunch of pushups on Friday, and a work week of not so good sleep.   But I don't know, those may just be me grasping for straws and coming up with poor excuses.  I don't know.  I will just have to reapply myself that much more to continuing to grow and improve and strive for full intensity in each and every workout. 

Then did 1 min front plank with 90lbs on my back, and 30 sec side planks for both sides.

115# Grace 8-24-08

Old School Grace (Power Cleans and Push Jerks) with 115lb instead of the Rx'd 135lbs

5:46

Compare to 7-22-08 when I did Grace with 95lbs in 5:25.  Only 21 seconds slower and with 20lbs more on the bar.  I'd definitely call that improvement.

Deadlift and Academy PT 8-22-08

Today was my first day as an Academy PT Instructor.  I am stoked about it.  Thankfully our deparment is headed towards a complete CrossFit based Academy PT program. Which I am 100% behind of course. I worked out with the recruits and did:

5 min Jumprope
30 Pushups
30 Situps
3 min Jumprope
25 Pushups
25 Pushups
1 min Jumprope
20 Pushups
20 Pushups

But...there were two groups, the second group was doing PVC skill work on some of the basic lifts. So when they finished, I did the workout a second time. I opted out of the jumprope as there weren't enough to go around. After finishing the situps, we did airsquats until the slowest recruit in the academy finished so we could start the jumproping together. Always pounding the importance of teammwork at the Academy. So when the weaker ones are still struggling, the stronger recruits are suffering even more through extra work. Good motivation to push hard together as a team. I enjoyed working with the recruits on their form, and pushing them a bit.

Afterwards I did:

Deadlift

135 x 5

205 x 2

225 x 1

305 x 1

315 x 1

335 x 1

355 x 1

My last PR on the deadlfit was 365, but that was with a stupendously ugly and dangerously rounded back and with my shoulders rolled forward. Today I kept my form clean on every lift. So really this is my true PR.

I also on a whim tried to PR on the Shoulder Press.  I banged out 120lb and then squeezed out 125lb (+10lb PR).  That is a small baby step forward in a major area of weakness.

Helen and Power Cleans 8-21-08

Helen, Pack version:

3 Rounds for time

400m Run

21 Dumbell Swings 45lbs

12 Pullups

10:00 min (PR)

I hit my goal of 10:00 min!!  Woohooo!  Now that I hit 10:00 min, I think its time to bump the weight up on the swings and do this as Rx'd with 55lbs.  It'll be interesting the next time I do Helen to see how much of a difference this makes.  

Then did some Clean work:

Working on my form, I repped out 3 sets of 3 each:  shrugs, high pulls, and hang power cleans with 95lbs

Then did Power Cleans:

3 x 135, 2 x 155, 170, 175(PR), 180(PR), 185 (failed), 185 (failed)

I was excited to PR by 10lbs.  It was a bit ugly, but the bar went up.  I was super close to nailing 185, I know it'll happen the next time I try it.  Just gotta commit when dropping under the bar and solidly plant it on my shoulders.

My buddy Gary came over for the first time.  He has been doing crossfit for about 3 months.  He did Pack Helen in 11:27.  He had been having trouble with his form on deadlifts, so we worked on it and it clicked for him.  He made a vast improvement with the simple instruction of keeping the bar over the middle of his foot.  By the end he had super clean form.  Then we worked on his squat.  It was already pretty decent.  He fixed the start and bottom of the squat by initiating the movement with his butt and coming out of the hole by driving his hips up, and we moved the bar down to his low back.  In no time he had his squat form down.  Then I taught him Cleans.  Hopefully his head wasn't spinning from all the info he got dumped at him in a short period of time.  I was impressed at how quickly he picked things up.  He also got his first muscle up ever...on his second try!  He got a second one as a cash out.  Good job GB!  A manimal in the making!!

Sandbagging It

Finally built a sandbag.  It was an easy process.  Followed this GUIDE

3 of the 4 50lb bags of sand I bought from Home Depot.  

On the left is a 50lb, center is a 25lb, far right 15lb, and in the front is a 10lb bag of sand.  I left convenient handles on top to pick them up with.

The bag filled with 100lbs.  I tied the handles to themselves so they would be out of the way.  Using them kind of defeats part of the purpose of these being great for building grip strength.

Ok, so I wasn't perfectly accurate at 100lbs, but then again I question how exact this scale is since about every other time I get a slightly different result.

These two items weigh almost the same exact thing, but will be very different to use.  Should be interesting.

Tabata Something Else 8-19-08

Tabata Something Else

20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest where the 1st 6 intervals are Pullups, the 2nd 6 intervals are Pushups, the 3rd 6 intervals are Situps, and the 4th 6 intervals are Squats, no rest between exercises.

When scaling down I pretty much always do a pack scaling.  Sometimes a slight scale up from pack or a porch scaling, but its been months since I did anything under pack level.  Until tonight.  I landed halfway between puppy and pack.  For big dawgs and pack level, I was supposed to do this with 8 rounds of each exercise, not 6.  Puppy level was 4 rounds each exercise.  I wussed out.  Just wasn't feeling it tonight.  Maybe it was the long week at work and the sparse hour and half of sleep I got last night.  Either way I almost talked myself out of the workout altogether tonight when the two workout partners that were going to join me bailed.  Oh well, I still got a decent workout in.  Now I feel like crap with a heck of a headache.  I did the situps as towel situps with feet unanchored and I'm still feeling my sore abs from the GHD situps 3 days ago.  I tried to keep my form real strict on every rep throughout the workout.  It was a bit tough keeping track of the time and the rep counts by myself but I was able to swing it.  Broken down it looked like this:

Pullups:   14, 13, 9, 9, 8, 6         =    59

Pushups:  17, 12, 10, 8, 7, 6      =    60

Situps:     13, 10, 10, 9, 8, 8      =    58

Squats:   19, 17, 15, 14, 14, 13   =    92

Total:    269

Time for this zombie to go hold his cot down and get some much needed shut eye.

******** EDITED TO ADD********  This workout is supposed to have a 1 minute break in between each exercise.  That would explain much of why I did so crappy.

Thrusters and Muscleups 8-17-08

Pack Version:

15 - 12 - 9

95lb Thruster

Seated Muscleups

8:37

Finished the first round of 15 Thrusters and seated muscleups in 2:40, but forgot to look at my watch after the round of 12 reps.  This WOD called for 135lb thrusters and full muscleups.  That definitely wasn't happening for this kid.  If you aren't familiar, see this VIDEO  about muscle up progressions, specifically what a seated muscleup is under the muscle up tutorial link.  I usually would do jumping muscleups as a sub for this workout, but decided to go with seated musleups instead.  This really worked the transition portion of the muscleup.  Almost did Karen (150 wallballs) instead because I did Fran two days ago, but decided to man up and do this one.  After all I want to improve my Fran time so what better way to do a Franesque workout?  I need to work Thrusters into my programming more often and this one looked fun.  It didn't disappoint.  

Tuck Jumps, GHD Sit Ups, GHD Hip Exts 8-16-08

Porch Version (35 instead of 50 reps)

3 Rounds for time:

35 Tuck Jumps

35 GHD Sit Ups

35 GHD Hip Extensions

1st Round:  3:43

2nd Round: 7:59

12:19

Subbed tuck jumps for jump rope double unders.  Used my giant tractor tire for GHD and propped one end up on 4 2x4's so I could get full range of motion.  Worked out pretty well.  I wasn't sure if I should do the porch (35 reps) or pack (25 reps) version, but figured I'd give the porch a try.  Broken down:

1st set of Tuck Jumps unbroken.  2nd set 10, 10, 5, 5   3rd set 10, 10, 5, 5

1st set GHD Sit Ups 10, 10, 5, 5, 5   2nd set 10, 10, 5, 5, 5   3rd set 10, 10, 5, 5, 5

1st set GHD Hip Extensions 20, 10, 5   2nd set 20, 10, 5   3rd set  35 unbroken

The toughest part was definitely the situps.  We'll see how sore my abs are and for how many days.  Should be interesting.

Fran 8-15-08

Fran

21 - 15 - 9 

95lb Thursters

Pullups

7:59

A PR by 12 seconds from 2 months ago.  I should be happy right?  Nope.  Not too happy in the least.  I was really hoping for a better PR.  My buddy Dan's last Fran from a few weeks ago is 6:40 and my other buddy Kris got 6:34 yesterday.  I was thinking realistically I'd get low 7's and with some luck was hoping for mid to high 6's.  Its true I haven't done a single thruster for the last two months, and yet....man I wanted to do better.  I can't really say I wussed out and didn't work hard either.  I pushed during this workout and could have sped up slightly expecially during the second and 3rd round of thrusters, if I had a workout partner to help motivate me.  But the wifey was there running the stop watch and encouraging the best way she knew how (not enough yelling or intimidation to really work).  It broke down like this:

21 Thrusters  14 - 3 - 2 -2

21 Pullups      15 - 6   

                       2:20

15 Thrusters   4 - 5 - 3 - 3

                       5:00

15 Pullups       9 - 6

                       5:55

9 Thrusters     4 - 3 - 2

                       7:33

9 Pullups         9

I've got a lot of work to do.

Compare to 6-17-08 and 5-12-08

Inspiring Video

Found this VIDEO on Diablo Crossfit's blog from a while back. Truly inspiring.

What excuses do you use to not workout?

Back to the beginning of my CrossFit experience

Here is a copy of an email that I bumped into today in my email history that I sent my brother Jake on 1-18-08 at 0800 hours:

"So, Jerrod and I worked out...and it reminded me how much of a wienus I am. And how much I need to get into shape especially because I'm a cop. We got to talking about work out routines and he showed me some different stuff that he thought was good.

He referred me to http://www.crossfit.com/ and showed me the catalouge where he has bought some of his workout equipment from. Here is their website. http://www.ironmind.com/ The website is run by the guy who compiled all of John McCullum's articles into the book "Keys to Progress", which I thought was cool that he is still around. Peruse the sites and let me know what you think.

Also...I've got a bit of extra money set aside for my "toy" fund, and have been thinking of putting it towards my home gym.

Anywho this is just stuff I've been looking at and I'd like some feedback from you.

Joe - Skinny as a bamboo rake"

Then later that same day at 1921 hours:

"Jake,
Ok so I've been looking at the corssfit website a fair amount and I'm really liking what I'm seeing. They've got some killer workouts and I like their philosophies. Spend some time looking into their site. Lots of good stuff there. "

This really was fun to look back on the conception of my CrossFit experience. It motivated me to finally dig out my entire CrossFit history and post it under the April section of this blog. I don't know how many people are reading and following this blog and might find it interesting to look back on my first CrossFit workouts, but HERE it is from the very beginning.

20 Rep Squats and Dips 8-13-08

Go Jonathan Horton!

20 Rep Squats 175lbs

Boy was this tough.  I mean I came real close to quitting on rep 17.  Luckily my workout partner Dan (Molan Labe) was there to push me through it.  I'm pretty sure I would have quite if he wasn't there.  But I didn't want to quit on him, so I kept going.  Very tough stuff.  My form got real ugly too as my knees came way in, not tracking over my feet.   I tried to correct it but just wasn't able to hold onto it as the set went on.  I did this too early in the week as the last time I did 20 Rep Squats was only 4 days ago instead of a full week ago.  I'm also wondering if doing the heavy Deadlifts yesterday caused  a tired low back which I was really feeling.  Oh well, I got it done, and will add 5 lbs next week.  

Then we did max ring dips for 5 minutes.  I'm embarrassed to post this, but I was only able to do 20 reps.  They were all full depth with full lockout at the top, as Dan didn't count 3 of them which I didn't get full lockout of my elbows at the top.  Wow this is such a weakness.

Then we worked on some lever progressions.  Which basically means we farted around on the rings and were reminded how studly those Olympians on gymnast rings really are.  Wow those guys are complete manimals.  So we hung upside down for a while as we attempted one legged levers and failed miserably.  So then we curled up into a ball and did levers like that.  If that sounds retarded, its because it was.  You've just gotta be a beast if you are going to do anything on Rings. 

Push Press and Box Jump Burpee 8-12-08

5 Rounds for time of 

20 Push Press 75lbs

15 Box Jump Burpees 24" box

20:00 (give or take 5 seconds)

Worked out at the PD today.  I scaled this down from 95lbs to 75lbs.  This was a good one.  Then I did:

Deadlift 

5 x 5  275lbs

I need to keep working in heavy deadlifting into my workouts.  I love them.  Definitely one of my favorites.  I just hope I'm doing them with good form.  I'll have to video myself and get some feedback on Brand X.

Hang Cleans and Rope Climbs 8-10-08

As Rx:

5 Rounds for time of:

155lb Hang Squat Clean, 9 Reps

15 ft Rope Climb, 3 ascents

I did the Pack version:

115lb Hang Power Clean, 5 Reps

8.5 ft Rope Climb, 3 ascents (no feet)

6:12

As I was doing it I had the thought that it wasn't a full body workout like most of these types of WOD's are because I wasn't working my legs, but just dismissed the thought.  Duh!  I did Hang Power Cleans on accident instead of Hang Squat Cleans.  Oh well,  This was still a decent workout but with the scaling I should have finished in closer to 10 min, so I think I scaled down too much.  Or I could have made it more rope climbs, but then my grip would have probably ended up failing.  Using the hook grip on the cleans definitely helped save my forearms.  Since I don't have a rope or room for a full 15 ft rope in my garage gym I made this "rope" out of a queen sized bed sheet.  I twisted it up to make it about 1.5" thick.  I hung it off my pullup bar which is 8.5 ft high.  It ended up basically being two pullups (with no feet involved obviously) for each trip up the rope.

Then I did 1 min front plank with 70lbs on my back, 1 min for both side planks, and 20 knees to elbows while hanging from my "rope" instead of the usual pullup bar.

20 Rep Squats 8-9-08

Squat 

23 x 170lbs (bodyweight)

I was supposed to do 20 reps.  I lost count part way through and decided to do a few more to make sure I completed a full set of 20.  I ended up doing 23.  There is something about doing this many heavy squats that makes it quite tough to count.  Oh well, more work is always better then not enough!

HERE is the video.