Single Leg Squats 8-6-08

Single leg squats:

3 x 5

95, 115, 115 

I did single leg squats (aka Romanian Squats) on a 12 inch box for the first time with any kind of weight.  My cousin is a big fan of them as a supplement to the standard low back squat.  He learned them from his college strength coach Dave Williams who learned them from Angel Spassov who was a big time Bulgarian Strength coach before coming to the USA.  It seems to put less stress on your back and he has used it when recovering from a back injury.  It also works all the stabilizer muscles real well and a funny lil thing called balance.  Takes a little bit of getting used to but its not too bad.  You think you'd be able to do more then you actually can, which in my experience usually means its a good workout.

My cousin Jerrod single leg squatting 205lbs 3 sets of 5

Top position:

Bottom position:

Snatch Work and Static Core 8-5-08

Still in Virginia with my cousin and went back to Liberty University to workout and got some coaching from Strength and Conditioning Coach Dave Williams on the Snatch.  Worked on my form for about 30 minutes.  Did the static core (face down) with 95lbs on my back for a minute.  Did both sides of the static core with about a 25lb sandbag on my hips for a minute each.  Then did face down static core for a minute with about 95lbs of sandbags on my back for a minute.  Then both sides of the static core with about 50lbs of sandbags on my hips for 45 seconds.  

I found it interesting that throughout the quality gym that we worked out in at Liberty University, on the mirrors in front of many of the 16 squat stands is the phrase "SET YOUR CORE".  I talked to Coach Williams about the importance of 'setting your core' and core strength.  He talked about how in each and every lift no matter if you are squatting, snatching, cleaning, pressing, deadlifting...whatever, that you should set your core.  Taking a deep breath and tightening your abs.  Thats the simple explanation.  HERE is a great article on the subject written by Kelly Starrett Coach of San Francisco Crossfit.  Interestingly Brand X Crossfit Coach Jeff Martin also made this exact same point when I got some coaching from him.    

When talking about core strength, Coach Williams knocked hard on a steel squat rack as he said this is how hard your core should be.  When I asked the best way to make your abs that rock solidly strong he replied "the static core" (aka the plank and side plank).  He went on to tell me about how much the static core has helped him when squatting 500lbs.  He worked up to the point where his training partner would stand on his hips while he was holding the static core.  My cousin has been pestering me for weeks now to implement the static core into my programming, and I've been ignoring him.  Coach Williams changed my mind.  I'm now going to add it to my warmup.   How can you argue with a strength and conditioning coach who walks the talk and has so much knowledge?  I certainly won't.      

30 Muscleups 8-4-08

Still at my cousin Jerrod's house in Virginia.  

After lunch we went down to Liberty University (Jerrod's alma mater) to workout at one of their awesome athletic weight rooms. 

There are 16 squat racks and lifting platforms!!!

We had the whole joint to ourselves!  Whoohoo!

Had the pleasure of learning from a great man in the world of Strength and Conditioning.  Coach Dave Williams worked with the legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, did a stint as the Texas A&M head Strength and Conditioning Coach, and was the head Strength and Conditioning Coach for Liberty University for years.  See a more complete bio HERE  What a huge source of knowledge!  He was kind enough to take the time out of his day to give me a complete breakdown of the Clean.  Wow was that a ton of info packed into 30 minutes.  I'm sure I've forgotten most of it already.  But I learned a bunch and now just need to practice it like a madman and maybe some of it will stick and eventually I'll start Cleaning some semblance of real weight.  I worked on my form for about an hour and worked in some shrug and high pull reps of varying weight.  

  

Coach Williams was also kind enough to give me for free my very own weight belt for doing

 weighted pullups and dips.  It was the first time I had ever met him.  What a generous guy!  

I brought my rings all the way from California so we could do some ring work.  My cousin doesn't have any rings.  I have a feeling that will change following my trip here.  He got his first muscle up on his fourth try ever, the other day.  Just before dinner we set up the rings and did the workout 30 Muscleups for time which we scaled down to the Pack version:  30 jumping muscleups, 30 pullups and 30 dips.  

HERE is a video of Jerrod's workout.

I did it in 12:10 and Jerrod did it in 8:10.  He beat me by 4 minutes due to my extreme lack of tricep strength.  The dips were definitely my limiting factor in this workout.  It wasn't that I was too winded to continue, just couldn't press out of the bottom of the dip and lock out my elbows if I went any faster. Had a number bad reps where I didn't lock out the elbows at the top of the dip which made me do that many more to make sure I got them again with clean form.  Yet another thing I really need to work on and improve in.

Broadjump Burpees for 200 Yards 8-3-08

Broadjump Burpees 200 Yards for time:

11:12

Took me 74 Broadjump Burpees.  Was thinking about doing 100 Broadjump Burpees for time, but decided to do it for 200 yards for time instead.  This was a better idea because if all you are doing is burpees for reps then you will tend to cheat on the hardest part which is the broadjump portion of the rep.  When you are doing it for a certain distance then you want to jump as far as possible so you can finish that much sooner.  This forces you to be honest and jump far with each jump.  Coming up with this explosive power out of the bottom of the squat when you are winded is tough stuff.  This workout laid me out.  My cousin unfortunately whooped me by doing it in 9:20 with 71 broadjump burpees.  Good work comrade. 

20 Rep Squat 8-2-08

I'm back in Virginia for 5 days visiting my cousin Jerrod.  In the AM we did some weighted pullups and dips because I wanted to try out his weight belt.  

Pullups Single Reps

45lbs, 55lbs, 65lbs, 70lbs, 75lbs (chin was just under the bar so...failed)

Dips

45lbs, 50lbs, 57.5lbs (failed), 57.5lbs (failed), 57.5lbs (failed) -  I really wanted to try and get 1/3 of my bodyweight (56lbs) in a weighted dip.  That is the standard for Level 2 - Intermediate athlete on Crossfit North's fitness standards (see a link at near the top right corner of the blog). Oh well, I came real close which is why I tried it 3 times.  I really need to improve my dips.

Click HERE to see my cousin on his max weighted Dip of 160lb.

We also worked on our squatting form and have spent a lot of time with our noses in "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe.  If you are unfamiliar with this book and you workout in any fashion then that needs to change immediately if not sooner.  Don't even finish reading this blog entry, instead go BUY THIS BOOK!  It's that important to your lifting.  Most likely you are doing your squat, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, and cleans without proper form.  Those 

are some of the most important lifts there are and you need to master your form with them.  Especially the squat and deadlift.  Work hard on these lifts.  Don't just take it from me either.  I'm simply repeating the same thing I've heard the Crossfit Gurus preach.  I've really made some quality improvement in my form since going to Brand X a few weeks ago and I'm very excited about it, if that was obvious to you.

After lunch we went to a friend's house and farted around in the pool for about 2.5 hours.  Most notably was the 2 on 2 waterpolo version of football we played in the pool which did not include any silly rules like pass interference, holding, or roughing the passer....which means it was anything goes.  There was a lot of jockeying for position, dunking, wrestling and near UFC fighting in the pool during the game which really wiped us out.  A good reminder of how good of shape water polo guys have to be in.  

Then in the PM we did 20 rep squats.  I did 165lbs x 20.  

Slowly starting my march upwards with 20 rep squats.  It was encouraging to hear that Jerrod started out a few months ago at 185 x 20 and tonight did 250 x 20.  Looks like I have nowhere to go but up.

Death by Pushup 7-31-08

Death by Pushup

With a continuously running clock do one pushup the first minute, two pushups the second minute, three pullups the third minute...continuing as long as you are able.  Use as many sets each minute as needed.

15 Rounds plus 10 pushups in the 16th round

That was a total of 130 pushups in 16 minutes.  I kept strict form and put my chest to the ground with each rep.  I really need to get better on pushups so I thought this would be just the ticket.  

Weighted Pull Ups 7-30-08

Weighted Pullups 7-30-08

45lb - 45lb - 50lb - 55lb - 60lb - 65lb - 70lb - 75lb (failed)

Then worked on Pistols.  First time I've ever tried them.  Watched the Pistol video by Adrian Bozman from the April 2008 Crossfit Journal.  I almost got a pistol with each leg with my bodyweight only but wasn't quite able to pull it off.  I did my first pistol with each leg while holding a 10lb plate out in front of me.  Cool!  Holding the weight in front of me helped to counterbalance myself in the squat which made things a little easier. 

Then did some vertical leap practice to determine what my vertical leap is.  Maxed out at 19.5 inches.

Helen 7-29-08

Helen 

3 Rounds for time of:

400M Run

21 1.5 Pood (45lb) Dumbell Swings

12 Pullups

10:19

Somehow this was the first time I've done Helen.  It was tough but I was pleased with my time.  I know I did the 1st round in 2:34, 2nd round somewhere around 3:30 and 3rd round about 4:00.  My goal going into the workout was to get sub 11:30.  I'll take it.

2000 M Row 7-27-08

2000 M Row

7:38.7

I was trying to beat my cousin Jerrod's time of 7:35.  I set the pace boat at 1:53/500m pace so I'd finish in 7:32.  Lets just say that I was wishing the pace boat had a tow rope attached to it because with 800 M left to go I pooped out.  I had stayed slightly ahead of the nose of the pace boat for that first 1200 M.  But then I ran out of gas and couldn't hold the pace.  I kicked as hard as I could in the final 240 M and actually ended up closer to Jerrod's time then I thought I would.  Ended up at 7:38.7  Soo close, yet sooo very far away.  That destroyed me.  I wanted to do Fran today but didn't have a lot of time and wasn't in the right mental state to do Fran full out.  So I figured a 2000 M row would be better.  It wasn't.  I haven't rowed in waay too long.  That hurt big time.

Back Squat and 50 Burpees 7-26-08

Warmup:  50 Jumping Jacks, Snatch WU drills with dowel, 45lb squat x 5, 95lb squat x 5, 145lb squat x 3

Squat 160lbs x 21

Rested 12 min then did:

50 Burpees (touched target 12" above the top of my reach)

4:18

I'm going to try to work in heavy 20 rep low back squats into my programming on a regular basis.  I will try and do them once a week.  I'll add 5 lbs every week if possible.  If I'm not able to add 5 lbs and do 20 reps with it, then I'll add the 5lbs and do 12-15 reps and the next week step up the reps until I get to 20 reps and then I'll add 5 lbs the following week.  

I was real excited to squat today.  First time I've had any weight on my back in a squat since getting squatting pointers from Coaches Jeff and Dan at Brand X last week.  The changes to my squat from before: I kept my wrists straight, had the bar nice and low on my back, looked down instead of straight ahead, initiated the movement by dropping my butt back and down first before bending my knees, and used hip drive out of the bottom of the squat. I wouldn't say this felt easy by any means but I think I could have done a couple more reps if I really had to.  Felt it in my low back the most.  I think this is because I'm finally using the right hip drive out of the bottom of the squat.  

My cousin Jerrod did his 50 burpees tonight in 4:14.  Good job!  It really pushed me to work as hard as possible during the entire workout to try and beat him, but I came up just a hair short.  Man that was a full out sprint.  

Push Jerk and Sledgehammer/K2E's 7-25-08

Went to the Oakland Police Department Academy Graduation to see a buddy of mine graduate.  He graduated Valedictorian of his class and at 21 years old he is the youngest Valedictorian in Oakland Police Department history!  Go Andrew!  You are a stud!  He hits the streets on Tuesday for his first day on patrol.  On the other end of the spectrum was a classmate of Andrew's who is 45 years old and retired from the Army where he was a drill instructor.  He decided he was too bored and so he started his second career by joining OPD.  WOW.  Both men were a good reminder to me to stay fresh and never let complacency take hold in your life.  Always strive for excellence and strive to continue learning.  On to the workout...

Push Jerk 5 sets of 3

115

135

140

145

150

After a 10 min break I did:

63 - 45 - 27 

Sledgehammer Strikes - 10lb Sledge hitting a large tire hard (don't cheat yourself by swinging easy and slacking/resting).  Use full ROM overhead swings, switching every 10 strikes to other hand as the dominant hand (hand on top).

21 - 15 - 9

Knees to Elbows

I did this in the style of Fran where I did 63 sledge strikes followed with 21 K2E's followed by 45 Sledge strikes and 15 K2E's etc, etc.

Finished in 8:33

I was pleased with my Push Jerk numbers today.  Compare it with last week on the 19th at Brand X when I worked out with Jeff Martin, Big Dan and Large Lefty where I did 5 reps with 115, 5 reps with 115, 5 reps with 135, 3 reps with 135, 3 reps with 135.  So this time I put up 15lbs more on my last set.  It was awkward doing them at Brand X but it started to click today.  I wasn't dropping under the bar well at Brand X.  I watched the video on push jerks on the mainsite and it made sense.  I think I may have been able to hit 155, but I'm happy with 150 for today.  Next time I do this I should definitely get more then 150.  Progress with form and progress with putting weight over my head equals a happy Crossfitter.

I broke the K2E's up as 9 - 7 - 5 the first round then 7 - 3 - 5 the second round and 5 - 4 the third round.  All Sledgehammer strikes were unbroken.  I stole the Sledgehammer and K2E's workout from a private session that TMoney did with Jeff Martin at Brand X the other day.  Not only tough on the abs but this was a real forearm burner.  I like that it seem to address 3 areas in one workout:  metcon, abs, and grip strength.  

"Mountain Molly" 7-23-08

I went 4wheeling through the Rubicon and Fordyce Creek Trails over the past 3 days.  Before we get to the workout a little photo interlude of the trip for your viewing pleasure:

On Wednesday night I came up with this little concoction I called "Mountain Molly"...

3 rounds for time of:

Squat Clean Jerk and Throw 60-70 lb rock 50 ft

60 Meter hill run

10 Pullups

12 Squat Jumps

9:32

And a picture that actually has something to do with CrossFit.  Here I am doing my pullups.

The Squat Clean Jerk and Throws were the hardest part.  Tough to keep good form while huffin and puffin at about 6500 feet elevation.  I really enjoyed creating an austere workout while camping.  Good fun.  There should be no excuse for why you don't workout.  Having "no equipment" certainly isn't one of them.  Go get some!

Pack Grace 7-22-08

Pack version of old school Grace (30 power cleans and push press) with 95lbs

5:25

Didn't have much time today so I squeezed this one in before I go on the Rubicon (4wheeling and camping) for 3 days.  Concentrated on having good form throughout the whole workout.

200 Air Squats 7-20-08

I'm still on vacation, without equipment at a friend's house in Long Beach.  So I stole a workout from Eva T's blog.

200 Air Squats for time...

5:52

This was not easy.  I did the first 50 unbroken.  Then pounded them out roughly 15 at a time.  Took a short break at 100.  Then roughly 15 at a time again.  When I hit 170 I decided to try and do the last 30 unbroken.  Thats where it got real interesting.  I was able to make it to 200 without breaking that last set but my legs were screaming.  Afterwards my legs felt like bowls of wiggly jell-o.  A major lactic acid dump.  Yaowza!  So I tried doing a little cool down and some stretching.  Hopefully that will help.  

Brand X WORKOUT # 2!! 7-19-08

I was lucky enough to sneak back to Brand X this morning while my wife slept in.  Had the opportunity to workout with Coaches Jeff Martin, Dan Strametz, and Large Lefty.  Started out with Push Press...

1st set 115# of 5

2nd set 115# of 5

3rd set 135# of 5

4th set 135# of 3

5th set 135# of 3

When working out with coaches like this your form better be perfect, and mine is far from it.  But thats exactly one of the many reasons why I love working out there so much.  It pushes you that much closer towards excellence.  I was leaning back during the press, wasn't taking a good deep breath to fill my diaphragm, was holding the bar off my shoulders a bit when I was coming out of the bottom of the dip which meant I wasn't able to properly transfer the power from my legs/hips into the press, wasn't exploding enough, and wasn't under the bar well when my arms were at full extension.  In short, my push press was ugly, and they cleaned it up for me. Still not pretty, but better.  

After that we did a metcon workout.

3 rounds of:

3 Rope climbs

15 Hang Power Snatch 75# (they used 95#)

10 40" tire jumps

Finished in 10:21

This was my first time doing any rope climb and my form was horrendous.  This is definitely one where if you don't have the mechanics down it makes it much, much harder then it should be.  My forearms got a wonderful burn to them and I got a sexy little rope burn on my leg.  But it was still fun.  Even with scaling it down I came in last.  Oh well, I was just glad to be joining these firebreathers in a workout. After the workout I got to pick Jeff's brain a little bit more and that concluded my Brand X experience.  Very good times.  

If you ever have the opportunity to go to Brand X (or any quality affiliate for that matter) or even if you don't have an opportunity you really should create one, and keep stopping by in a consistent manner.  I can see there will be a huge benefit to me supplementing my garage gym workouts with a trip to a local affiliate every now and then to touch up my form.  Thanks Coaches Jeff and Dan especially for welcoming me to Brand X and making my few workouts there so very enjoyable.  

BRAND X WORKOUT!! 7-17-08

Well I had an unforgettable day.  It was my first time working out at a Crossfit Affiliate.  And none other then Brand X!  I got there in the early afternoon and had the entire place to myself as I worked out with Coah Jeff Martin.  How cool is that?  He's a great guy, truly a monster CrossFiter, and an absolutely top notch coach!  I did the pack version WOD of:

AMRAP in 20 min of

15 pushups

12 bar dips

95# Push Press, 9 reps

I did 7 Push Presses shy of 5 rounds.  This WOD addressed a couple of my weaknesses: Dips and Presses.  So much for trying to do an Rx'd WOD with Jeff.  My goal is now that the next time I visit Brand X it will be doing the WOD as Rx'd, no matter what it is.  I'm not sure when the next time I'll be down in this area, but probably not for a while, so I'm hoping this will be an achievable goal.   

But wait...there's more.  After the WOD, Jeff coached me on some squat technique.  I got to work with him on my air squat, back squat, front squat and overhead squat.  I got some great feedback and after a few adjustments my squats were looking good.  I'm stoked!  I now feel confident that my squat numbers will improve and improve with correct form.  The motion feels tighter and more powerful.  I'm looking forward to putting some real weight on the bar and trying out my new technique.  I'll be sure to give an update when that happens.  Jeff then put me through a more skill based, scaled down WOD, to practice the squat technique.

3 rounds with 95#:

3 Overhead Squat

6 Front Squat

9 Back Squat

12 40" tire jumps

Normally Jeff said he does this as 5 rounds for time.  That would have been an absolute killer.  Luckily he scaled it down to 3 rounds for me and gave me as much time as I needed in between rounds.  I rested about 10 min in between rounds.  I really liked this one.  I've never done a big tire jump like that before.  Now it looks like I need to get another big tire so I can add them into my home gym arsenal.  

I also got to meet a bunch of other Brand X'ers because I hung around for a while that evening.  I met Coach Dan Strametz (Big D from the Brand X forum), Mikki Marten, Keegan Martin, Travis Martin, Debbie Rakos (thanks for the Brand X shirts!), Laura Rucker, Cyndi Rodi (Go Irish), Marla Singer, and TMoney to name a few.  

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that I had a great time and man I wish Brand X was in my neck of the woods.  I'd be going there for certain!  Awesome facility, great community, outstanding coaching..... what more could you ask for?

Lunges, GHD Sit-Ups/Extensions, Muscle-Ups 7-14-08

Complete as many rounds in 30 minutes as you can of:

Walking Lunge, 12 steps

15 Glute-Ham Sit-Ups

15 Hip Extensions

5 Muscle-Ups (Jumping)

12 rounds and 5 Lunges

I was happy to complete this with the Big Dawg time today.  I had to sub jumping muscle ups for standard muscle ups.  I did the Glut-Ham Sit-Ups and Hip Extensions on my huge tire by putting my feet on the inside on one side and hanging off the other side.  I wasn't able to go quite as far down as if I was doing them on a Glute Ham Developer as the tire is only 2 feet tall, but it was very tough nonetheless.  I really had to pour it on in the last two rounds in order to complete Round 12.  Luckily my brother Jake encouraged me by saying "Come on, just like Rocky".  I then pictured Rocky Balboa doing those situps in the barn in the middle of a frigid Russian winter and eye of the tiger started playing in my head.  That was just enough to pull me out of the fog of CrossFit induced death and push me onwards at a faster pace.

Bear Complex 7-13-08

Bear Complex WOD or "The Bear"

5 Rounds, 7 Reps per round 

Each rep consists of the sequenc of:

Power Clean

Front Squat

Push Press

Back Squat

Push Press = 1 Rep

Round 1 - 95lbs

Round 2 - 105lbs

Round 3 - 115lbs

Watch this    VIDEO   for further instruction on this workout.

Unfortunately I ran out of time and was only able to complete 3 out of the 5 rounds.  My brother and a buddy who graduates in two weeks from Oakland PD's Academy came over to workout.  I went last and ran out of time before I had to get ready for work.  

This WOD is a lot tougher then it looks.  You aren't supposed to rest the weight on the ground at all during a round.  Rest as needed in between rounds.  This means your grip really gets taxed and it really tires you out in general.  I had planned on working up to 135lbs by the 5th Round, but that wouldn't have been doable, I would have stuck with 115lbs and it would have really kicked my but.  I was working pretty hard on round 3 with 115lbs.  Had to split jerk the weight instead of push press.  Silly me...I should have known that a CrossFit WOD with a name like "Bear" would be brute of a workout.  

Shoulder Press, Push Press, Push Jerk 7-11-08

Shoulder Press  1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 reps

Push Press  3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 reps

Push Jerk 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 reps

SP - 95, 100, 105, 110, 115

PP - 95, 100, 105, 110, 115

PJ - 100, 105, 110, 115, 120

I didn't do this when it came up a week and half ago.  So I worked it in now.  I would have done Angie, but I didn't want to risk ripping up my hands.  I want to be in top form when I hit Brand X next week.  Thats right, I'm going to visit Brand X at least once when I'm down in San Diego on vacation with the wifey.  Yahooo!  Can't wait.  It'll be the first time I've worked out at an affiliate.  I'm excited.  I'm also excited to meet some of the people that I've gotten to know through the Brand X forum.  Hopefully I'll also get my butt adequately kicked by Jeff Martin.

Jumprope and Throws 7-10-08

Crossfit called for a 10k run.  No thanks.  But I wanted to do some type of metcon workout.  So Dan and I created one.

8 rounds for time of:

With a 25lb plate, do a thruster and at the top of the thruster, throw the weight as far forward as possible (like wall ball, but throw it forward instead of up).  Throw it 100 ft 

100 Jump rope

13:48

Dan did it in 21:16.  He's a bit newer to jumprope so it really slowed him down.  This was a decent metcon workout and had us huffing and puffing by the end.  

Crossfit Total 7-10-08

My buddy Dan before the workout:

Dan eyeballing 400lbs

 

Dan Deadlifting 400lbs!  Now thats a big load.  4 bills!  Strong work buddy!  You are a monster.

Dan attempting 265.  He didn't quiet get it because he had just tried and failed 275 twice.  He got a little too hungry.  So his current PR is 255 which is conservative.  He'll destroy it next time he squats for a single rep max.

Crossfit Total

Deadlift: 255 x 2, 285 x 1, 305 x 1, 325 x 1, 345 x 1, 365 x 1 --->  New PR!

Press:  110 x 1, 115 x 1, 120 (failed)

Squat:  205 x 1, 225 x 1, 240 x 1 --->  New PR!

Total of 720

Me Deadlifting 365.  PR!

Me squatting 240.  PR!

I didn't follow the rules when deadlifting.  I just went for my max for each lift and didn't restrict myself to only three attempts.  Oh well.

Compare to 4-11-08  with a total of 620.  Thats an increase by 100 since last time!  I'm stoked with my improvement overall.  Especially in the deadlift as I've increased 60lbs since my last PR which was 2 months ago.  I need to be careful when maxing out on deadlift because on 365 I had real bad form and rounded my back.  I gutted it out and pulled the weight, but elected to not go any higher cause my form got scary bad on that last rep.

Most importantly I've reached one of my biggest goals A LOT earlier then I thought I would.  My goal was to hit 350 on the deadlift by February which will mark my one year of doing crossfit.  I got it in half that time!  I couldn't be happier!  Now comes the hunt for 400lbs which seems very doable.  I'm wondering if 450 by February will be realistic.  We shall have to see...  

Now my squat and especially my press numbers are a completely different story.  My press numbers need some serious work.  I don't know what gives.  I've only improved 5lbs in the last three months (on my first CFT).  I think part of the problem is I almost always do a push press or a jerk when pressing weight over my head.  This doesn't help develop the strength as well where its really needed...down at the bottom of the lift from the start point to the top of your head.  I really need to work them into my programming more.  Hopefully the Crossfit mainsite WOD programming agrees with that and I see more of them in the near future.  

But overall I'm quite pleased.  Solid improvement on the big lifts and my metcon and work capacity continues to get better too.  Thanks CrossFit!

Snatch 7-7-08

Snatch 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1  with 95lbs

I'm no good at snatching.  I only was able to make 3 reps with 95lbs.  On the 4rth rep I pulled the weight too far back behind my head and started to loose my balance, falling backwards on the way down towards the bottom of the squat.  In an attempt to recover and pull the weight back forwards over my head I tweaked my left shoulder at the anterior deltoid.  I should have let the bar go and let it fall behind me.  Instead I pulled it forward and jumped backwards out of the way so the bar dropped in front of me.  It doesnt hurt too bad but I decided I should stop and not stress it anymore.  I had almost run out of time to workout so real quick I did 3 sets of 5 reps of 150lb front squat. 

On a good note my brother Jake did his first ever full squat clean and jerks today in the 30 clean and jerks for time workout.  He used 65lbs and finished in 13:29.  Good job bro!!

Grace 7-6-08

Grace (with Squat Cleans and Split Jerks)

30 Squat Clean and Split Jerk 135lbs for time of:

21:19

These need to be full squat clean and jerks where the hip goes below the knees.  I had no problem with that as every time I sunk very low when in the bottom of the squat and my hips were well below my knees.  This was my first time doing full squat clean and jerks with any kind of weight.  Really enjoyed them.  Went a little slower then I probably otherwise could of cause it was real hard not to get sloppy with my form with heavy weight.  Sloppy form and heavy weights in Olympics Lifting do not mix.  I was stoked to do the porch workout this time.  If I hadn't talked to my cousin Jerrod just before working out I would have done the pack workout with 115lbs.  I'm hoping I didn't make the workout too slow and sluggish and stayed within a reasonable time limit, and stayed within the intent of the workout.  Some workouts are definitely more metcon based and a lighter weight should be used so they don't take 20 min.  For this one though I wanted to get some heavy weight above my head and work hard on one of the best lifts on earth.  Either way it was a tough workout that I enjoyed.

Crossfit Games WOD 7-5-08

I scaled one of the CrossFit Games workouts back slightly.

5 Rounds for time of

255lb Deadlifts 5 reps

10 Burpees

10:29

And the result...a beautiful CrossFit angel only Pukey could love:

Even Tilda looked whooped:

I really wanted to do this WOD as Rx'd.  As Rx'd was 275lbs for the Deadlift.  Last time I maxed (2 months ago on 5-5-08) I was at 305 lbs for my PR.  So 275 would have been 90% of my max 25 times and I'd be out of breath from the burpees.  Too tough for this cop.  A tougher man then me once said that a man has to know his limitations.  So I scaled it back to 255lbs which is 83% of my max.  Still a lot of work.  Those deadlifts were super tough, and I know I made the right decision to scale it back.  What a good workout.  I really enjoyed this one.  Really paid close attention to my form on the deadlifts cause I didn't want to get sloppy and round my back at all.  I was able to keep good form and kept strict form for all the exercises performed and was watched/judged closely by my brother Jake.  He held me to the strict crossfit games standards.  Great workout.

Death by Pullup 7-3-08

I guess I didn't die after this workout after all.  Here is proof...

One of my workout partners:  Tilda

With a continuously running clock do one pull-up the first minute, two pull-ups the second minute, three pull-ups the third minute... continuing as long as you are able.  Use as many sets each minute as needed.

14 Rounds = 105 pull-ups in 13:57

Ripped a blister off in round 12.  That always feels lovely.  For some reason my kipping was very ugly until about round 9 where I finally got into a groove.

Then did some Over Head Squats after a rest.  Did a warmup of 5 reps at 45lbs, 65lbs, 95lbs and then did 15 Over Head Squats (broken 5,10,14,15)

Here is my other workout partner, my buddy Dan on the Over Head Squats.

7-2-08

5 Rounds for time of:

95 lbx Deadlift, 15 Reps

95 lbx Hang Power Clean, 12 Reps

95 lbs Front Squat, 9 Reps

95 lbs Push Jerk, 6 Reps

15:20

The Pack version on this is with 65lbs, but that seemed too easy.  The porch version was 135lbs for 3 rounds, that seemed too hard.  So I chose 95lbs for 5 rounds.  It was definitely tough at this weight.  The Hang Power Cleans were the hardest for me and my form was a bit on the ugly side.

Most importantly though is that tonight's workout was a monumental occasion.  My work now has its very own Crossfit only Gym.  It was the first time I worked out at the brand spanking new SJPD Crossfit gym.  Woohoo!  See the photo from the Certification seminar held at the SJPD gym on 6-26-08 on crossfit.com.  Now I'm wishing I lived closer to work instead of 40 min away.  Now under my critical eye the gym could have a few more things to complete it such as a rope climb, 2 1/2lb plates and more plates in general, a tire or 3, etc, but its far from half bad and I sure can't complain one bit!  2 buddies and I carpooled to the gym and 4 other guys met us there.  It was a fun environment to work out in.  After the workout we played around with a few gymnastic things and I did 4 ring muscle ups (spread apart) and later busted out 4 total of my first ever muscle ups on a bar.  Something just clicked with my form making them more doable.  Very cool.  Its definitely a big motivator to have your buddies yelling encouragement (or insults), with their times on the board for you to try and chase down.  Much better then working out alone which I have been doing a little more then half of the time.  I know now that those mats will be soaking up plenty of my sweat over the years!  

Fight Gone Bad = Punishment 7-1-08

Fight Gone Bad

3 rounds:

Wall-ball:  27, 19, 12

Sumo Deadlift High-Pull, 75lbs:  26, 16, 12

Box Jump, 20" Box:  30, 17, 14

Push-Press, 75lbs:  20, 14, 14

Row (Calories):  15, 11, 13

For a total of 259

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.  The clock does not reset or stop between exercises.  This is a five minute round from which a one minute break is allowed before repeating.  On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to the next station immediately for the best score possible.  One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Well I haven't worked out in a week.  Thats the longest stretch of time without working out that I've gone since starting Crossfit at the end of January this year.  Not good.  Just plain lazy.  Now I will say I was sick on Friday.  I was feeling mostly better on Saturday so I attempted a Deadlift workout.  On the 5th rep I had a near spectacular blowout of my sphincter gasket which would have resulted in a slobbering droops (aka diarrhea) dump in my knickers.  Boy would that have been ugly.  I wisely decided to stop my workout there.  I mean meeting pukey is one thing, but having a dance with the Diarrhea Devil in the pale moonlight is a whole nother story.  Count me out.  Which brought me to a full week's time without working out.  Shame on me.  So I decided to punish myself.  How about a lil Fight Gone Bad for punishment?  Me thinks that should suffice.  Especially since this was the first time I've done it as Rx'd.  The last time I did Fight Gone bad was on 4-8-08, I scaled down to 65lbs on the SDHP and the Push-Press, I paced myself to try and stay around 20 or a little higher on each exercise, every round, and I did not keep a continuously running clock.  All of that to say it was much easier then this time and I got a total score of 365.  

This time I did it as Rx'd and let it all hang out.  Which means I blew my wad the first round and the last two rounds were me just quivering in unoxygenated pain with my mind in survival mode.  I'm just glad I didn't meet Pukey, but I was thinking about him numerous times throughout the second and third rounds.  Now I don't know if taking the week off and having just been sick effected my performance today, but I don't think so.  I think Fight Gone Bad is just that ugly of a dark, pain giving mistress.  I have been properly spanked.  Spanked but good.  Hopefully this will be a lesson to myself.  No consistency = Bad CrossFiter.    Bad Crossfiter = Punishment.  Punishment = PAIN.

Hand Stand Pushups/Rest Day 6-24-08

It was a rest day for me today, but my buddy Dan from work came over to workout.  He practiced his first ever Overhead Squats and worked up to 80lbs for 5 reps.  He then did 50 Boagrius Burpees for time in 15:13.  It was actually also the first time he had ever done any type of burpee, so I figured why not give him a proper indoctrination into Burpees and have him do Boagrius Burpees.  He loved the workout and said he sweated more during that workout then he has in a long, long time.  I immensely enjoyed seeing his CrossFit sweat angel on my horse mat.  

After his workout we practiced hand stands.  Boy do I need to work on them as my best tonight was probably 3, maybe 4 seconds.  However, I did my first hand stand pushup...5 of them actually...with Dan assisting my balance by holding my legs.  Cool gymnastic benchmark reached.  I've only tried them a couple times, but never with a spotter to help.  Dan explained I had probably been to far away from the wall when I tried them by myself in the past.  I tried my best to do a non assisted headstand into a handstand pushup but wasn't strong enough to push myself up...looks like I've gotta do a lot of assisted handstand pushups before thats going to happen.  

OHS 6-23-08

Overhead Squat 

100lbs x 15 

100lbs is 58.823529% of my bodyweight.  I'm on the long slow road towards my eventual goal of 15 bodyweight OHS.  First though I've gotta get one rep at my bodyweight, which is plenty challenge in and of itself. 

Then I did OHS:

115lbs 5 sets of 3

I wanted to do some deadlifts also but I ran out of time.

On rep 12 of the 100lbs OHS I dropped the bar on the top of my head when I hit the bottom of the squat.  I then cleaned it and finished off the last 4 reps.  My head doesn't hurt, so that's good.  Just a moment of not concentrating hard enough.  Hopefully I didn't look too much like any of these guys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27aLCZxhB-E&feature-related

50 Boagrius Burpees 6-22-08

I did 50 Boagrius Burpees for time....thats right... not just any burpees.... box jump 25lb dumbells hang power clean and press "Boagrius" burpees:

 

in 14:29

I'm calling them Boagrius Burpees because these are burpees that Boagrius himself would be proud of and probably did a few hundred every morning as a warmup.  I know, I know, Achilles easily took him out with one blow, so name your own workout after Achilles if you want... but you know Boagrius is a badass and sent many a man to meet his maker before he faced Achilles on the battlefield of Thessaly in Greece.  

If you have no clue what I'm talking about, go watch the movie Troy, its a great flick.  If you've already seen it and still don't know who Boagrius is, then watch it again, he's in the second scene of the movie.

These were tough!  Definitely worthy of Boagrius' namesake.  Compare to when I did 50 Burpees for time on 5-5-08 in 4:37 and it looks like these are about 3 times harder then regular burpees.  

I thought I'd name these because I didn't see this type of burpee listed in the most complete burpee list I've ever encountered which was compiled by BrandX's Jeff Martin aka Guarddawg in post #15 here (please correct me if I'm wrong and these have a name):

http://www.crossfitbrandx.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/4116/P0/

Muscleups 6-21-08

50 Muscleups for time scaled down to the Pack workout:

50 jumping Muscleups

50 Pullups

50 Dips

19:04

I broke up the pullups and dips into two sets of 25 each.  I had to do 43 of the dips assisted with a foot on the ground.  I tried to handle most of the weight with my arms and as little as possible with th foot on the ground.  I enjoyed working on Dips because they are one of my weaknesses.

Pullups, Thrusters, Burpees 6-19-08

5 Rounds:

7 Pullups

7 Thrusters 95lbs

7 Burpees

10:03

Worked out with a buddy Kris from work.  He kicked my butt and got 9:19.  I was hoping to beat him because in the Academy he was the top runner in our Academy and was stronger then me too.  I felt like I was always chasing him as far as fitness goes.  This was the first CrossFit workout we did together.  We just talked the other day and I realized that my Fran time is better then his.  I was feeling good about this, that is until we worked out today.  Maybe I shouldn't have eaten that Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl.  I could feel it like a rock sitting in my gut during the warmup.  I just felt plain sluggish today.  Enough excuses...I gassed out way too soon and was sucking wind like a fish out of water.  Thanks Crossfit for reminding me to check my ego at the door.

Run/Lunges 6-18-08

Ran a mile in 7:00 min

Then did 150 lunges

Fran 6-17-08

Fran 

21 - 15 - 9

95# Thrusters and Pullups

8:11

An improvement of 1:19 from a month ago on 5-12-08.  Not bad.  What was bad is how tough this workout is when you really push it.  Gotta love it. Definitely one of my favorites. 

I broke it up as follows... 

Thrusters: Round 1: 11, 5, 4  Round 2:  5, 5, 5  Round 3:  3, 3, 3

Pullups      Round 1:  7, 7, 7  Round 2:  7, 4, 4  Round 3:  6, 2, 1

Power Snatch/Power Clean and Jerk 6-15-08

Power Snatch - 95# x 5, 115#, 125#, 135# (failed), 135# - PR

Power Clean and Jerk 3 sets of 3 135#

I didn't have much time today so I just picked a couple key exercises and was done.

Deadlift and Dips 6-13-08

I ended up working out again today:

21 - 15 - 9

Deadlift 205lbs and Ring Dips

6:14

The last time I did this rep scheme in a couplet, I did 185lbs on the Deadlifts, so I was happy to do them at 205lbs today.  My buddy Dan from work, pushed the idea of doing Ring Dips.  I had to cheat on them and put my foot down to help me up for most of the workout.  Dips are my nemesis (one of many) and ring dips are just that much tougher.  I need to continue to work them into my programming.  

Power Clean and Jerk 6-13-08

3 attempts at a muscleup, got it on the 3rd try.

Power Clean and Jerk

95#, 115#, 135#, 155#, 165#, 170# (failed), 170# - NEW PR!  YAHOO!

A buddy Dan from work, came over and I showed him my garage.  He was impressed with my setup and we started to fool around.  It quickly turned into a competition to see who could Power Clean and Jerk more.  As it turned out he failed on 185# and was able to do 170#, so his PR is either 175# or 180#, but he had to leave before we could find out.  I was pleased to get my first PR on the Power Clean and Jerk.  The most I've ever tried before was 65# while working on form, when learning the lift.  So this was the first time I ever tried any real weight.  I was very happy to be able to do my bodyweight as my first PR.  It wasn't pretty, but it happened.  Now I need to actually get some strength and better form and start driving up the weight.

I think I might workout again tonight.

Heavy Bag and Sledgehammer 6-11-08

1 min Sledgehammer, 1 min heavy bag, rest... 1 min Sledgehammer, 1 min heavy bag

Kept it short and sweet tonight.

Squats 6-9-08

Squat 190lbs 5 x 5

compare to 5-18-08 and 4-26-08

I'm glad I completed this workout as its 5 lbs more then the last time I did 5 sets of 5, but I feel like I should be progressing faster with this lift.  Tweaking my back has definitely slowed me down.  But since then I haven't been working it nearly enough.  I really need to fix that.

Row and Pullups 6-7-08

Warmup 500m row 2:30/500m pace, Snatch and Clean & Jerk with dowel and 1 ring muscle up.

3 Rounds of 800m Row and 35 Pullups

23:43

800m Row Round 1 about 3:30, Round 2 3:20, Round 3 3:25

Did the Pullups broken:  Round 1: 15/30/35   Round 2: 7/14/21/26/31/35  Round 3:  10/15/20/25/30/35

Ripped some calluses again.  Which for some reason didn't hurt too bad then, but now I'm feeling them.  Ahhhh the joys of kipping pullups.  An interesting comparison is that I worked out with two buddies Malachi and Andrew who are just about equal in strength as me and we can do about the same amount of deadhang pullups.  We've worked out together before and our times are pretty similar.  However they don't know how to kip and so they did this workout with 15 deadhang pullups (though they tried to kip and kicked their feet like bicycling spider monkeys) each round and struggled to get through it.  One finished in 20:04 and the other in 19:54.  I was hoping to get a little closer to their times, but doing the extra 60 pullups slowed me down by 3 min and 40 seconds.  Oh well, I should have pushed a bit harder on the pullups and taken shorter rests.

Then as a cool down I taught them Overhead Squats and I did 45#x5, 65#x5, 95#x5 - My shoulders were shot from all those pullups, so 95# felt real heavy.

500m Row 6-6-08

500m Row in 1:35 .5 for a PR

Today was supposed to be a rest day but I forgot and started to workout anyways.  Did a 500m row to try and pr.  Apparently when you set up the PM3 computer to row a single distance of 500m at the end the distance becomes zero because it is a countdown from 500.  I wish it would reset to the distance you rowed so this would showed I rowed 500m in 1:35...but oh well.  I was also happy with this effort because I set the paceboat at 1:35, as you can see, and I hit it exactly.  My goal is to drop this down to 1:32.

OHS/Power Cleans 6-5-08

Pyrros Dimas

Watch this video in awe, for this is truly a Hercules among mere mortals.  Pyrros Dymas 213kg World Record Clean and Jerk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-9Clooz--atY&feature=related

Warmup:  1000m row,  20 Dips

Overhead Squats: 75# 30 reps broken - took a quick break at 14, 25, and 29

Power Cleans: 

95# x 5

135# 5 sets of 3

THE REAL DEAL

Jeff Sunzeri nailing a 185 kilo Clean and Jerk (if I'm seeing it correctly), thats 407 lbs by the way, at the 1982 US National Championships

And Jeff again at the 1982 US National Championships on a 135 kilo (297lb) Snatch.

Just thought I'd post a couple pictures (that I found on his website) of my new Olympic Lifting Coach Jeff Sunzeri.  He's the real deal.  Thats a lot of weight to be putting over your head!  Even if it was 26 years ago.  haha   I can safely say that is more weight then I'll ever be able to lift.  Nice strong work!

Olympic Lifting 6-4-08

Had my first session with an Olympic Lifting coach Jeff Sunzeri with The Athletes Congress Olympic Lifting Club in San Jose.  

http://www.sunzeri.com/AthletesCongress/

Went over the basics on the snatch and clean and jerk.  He started me out with a wooden dowel then moved me up to the 45# bar.  For a workout he had me do:

5 sets of 5 reps of 

Hang Power Snatch 20 Kilos (45lbs)

Hang Power Clean 30 Kilos (65lbs)

Squat 50 Kilos (110lbs)

At these weights all of these exercises were very easy.  But it wasn't about pushing the weight, it was about learning good form.  I had all kinds of firsts today.  Did my first Hang Power Snatch, first Hang Power Clean, first time using a York bar, first time using an Eleiko bar and bumper plates, and was the first time using a hook grip!  Wow!  Lots of firsts!

I was encouraged to hear that after a bit of tweaking and coaching he said I had great form for a complete newbie.  Watching Crossfit Videos, Jim Schmitz video, watching Youtube videos, and reading a bunch of articles online has really paid off.  I had a ton of fun doing these.  We were lifting in a Gold's Gym and it was great to see the strange looks on people's faces as they walked by the lifting platform.  Even better were the looks of sheer horror when the other lifters dropped 120 Kilos from overhead and it smashed into the lifting platform with a resounding boom.  For the entire hour I was there, the only 3 lifters using the platform were Sunzeri's lifters.  Not a single other person wanted to use the platform...what a shame.  As Jeff put it, "Those candyasses wouldn't have a clue what to do with a barbell".  hahaha  A coach after my own heart.  I was reminded once again why I don't workout in a globo gym.  I'll take my CrossFit garage gym ANY day of the week.  Now if I only had an Elieko  

Lynne 6-3-08

Lynne (modified):  5 Rounds max pushups and max pullups

Pushups: 62  35  36  34  26  =  193

Pullups:   21  18  15  15  12   =   81

                                   Total  =  274

Did pushups and then straight into pullups and 5 min rest in between 

Felt sluggish today.  Only had 2 hours of sleep.  Uugghh

OHS/HPC 6-1-08

Warmup 1000m row in 4:50

Overhead Squats 70lbs 30 reps

Hang Power Cleans 6 sets of 3

115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140

Crash/WOD 5-31-08

5 Rounds for time of:

10 Dips

15 Exercise Ball Sit ups

15 Exercise Ball Back Extensions

25 Squats

18:51

I decided to change up my workout today because I got in a crash on the freeway yesterday at work.  At 0230 hrs a car was going the wrong way on the freeway and heading straight for me while I was transporting a suspect to jail.  I saw the vehicle last second and was just able to swerve to narrowly miss a head on collision with him.  But then I lost control of my car as I swerved and crashed into the concrete median.  Luckily I walked away with just a minor sprained wrist, and my prisoner didn't have any major injuries.  I'm just fortunate that we didn't have a head on crash as that would have been ugly and could well have been deadly.  So I decided to change up my workout today and made up this workout.  The dips didn't hurt my wrist so I went ahead and did them because its a major weakness of mine.  I did them all with good form and without any assistance, so I was happy with that.

PURE MOTIVATION!

In case you were wallowing around today having a hard time getting motivated to work out, you now have your motivation for life, just in case you missed it the first time around.  For the outside chance you didn't know who you wanted to be when you grow up, now you know.  A man known for two of the greatest quotes in movie history; "If he dies, he dies" and, " I must break you", who kills mere mortal men with a single punch, straight from the Motherland, your hero and mine, a one man wrecking machine:      

     

Ivan Drago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWihWfdH4Zw

Just in case that wasn't enough for you, and set to a much more appropriate tune:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5fXbEivWec

GO LIFT HEAVY AND LIVE HARD COMRADE.

Deadlift and Press 5-30-08

Deadlift 135# x 20 reps, 205# x 20 reps

Press 95# x 3, 100# x 3, 105# x 3, push press 110# x 3

Heavy Bag/Sledgehammer 5-27-08

5-27-08

Warmup:  row 3 min

95lb OHS 7 reps.  Was going to do 2 sets of 15, but my left wrist started hurting, so I stopped at 7.

2 min punching heavy bag, 1 min rest, 2 min hitting ginormous tractor tire with 15lb sledgehammer, 1 min rest

2 min punching heavy bag, 1 min rest, 2 min hitting ginormous tractor tire with 15lb sledgehammer

My twin brother was in town and worked out with me.  It was fun to have him and he did a good job .... but I punch the bag harder.  = )

5-26-08

This addressed many weaknesses.

Pack

For time:

50 push ups

65lb Sumo-deadlift high-pull (SDHP) 35 reps

35 Ring Dips

35lb Weighted Pull-ups 20 reps

95lb push press (supposed to be hand stand pushups) 15 reps

17:05

The pushups and SDHP were ok.  But the pushups were a lot harder then they ever have been before.  I'm now doing all my pushups with very strict form, Brand X style all the way down to the floor with my stomach, chest, and face at the same time.  The ring dips sucked hard.  This was the first time I've attempted ring dips.  Bar dips are already a major weakness of mine.  Rings just straight up humbled me.  Had to do all of them assisted with my foot on the ground.  Only able to do a few of the pullups with full ROM and then jumped into them and did negatives.  Jumping with a barbell between your legs equals not easy.  When I attempted the handstand pushups (bridged to the rear), I just flopped onto my head, so I decided to sub in the push press instead of my usual handstand pushup variation of HSPU piked with my feet on a 5 foot bar.  What a disgrace.  Very humbling workout.  I am soooo not a gymnast and once again reminded of how far I have to go to attain any type of elite fitness level.

OHS/HPC/Squat 5-24-08

Overhead Squat 65lbs 5 reps then 30 reps.

Hang power cleans for 5 reps each set of: 95lbs, 115lbs, 115lbs, 120lbs, 125lbs

Back squats with 170lbs (Bodyweight) for 13 reps.  Was shooting for 20 reps, but just pooped out and didn't have the umff to push hard today.  I just made this workout up today as I wasn't feeling the crossfit mainsite WOD.

Swings/SitUps/Back Ext/K2E 5-23-08

4 Rounds for time of:

15 reps 1.5 Pood (55 lb) Dumbell Swings

15 GHD Sit-Ups - done on exercise ball

15 Back Extensions - done on exercise ball

15 Knees to Elbows

15:36

Felt sluggish today.  Ate dinner 25 min before I did this workout, but wanted to squeeze in a workout before work and not miss a day.  Boy did I feel the salmon, summer squash, and large glass of milk sloshing around in my gut reminding me of their presence.  Should have done 5 rounds to have completed the Pack workout, but I'm glad I had the excuse of the time constraint, cause this was quite tough just like this.

Deadlifts and HSPU's 5-22-08

Deadlift 3 reps and Hand Stand Pushups (modified to 4ft bridged to feet HSPU's)

Deadlift:

275#, 280#, 285#, 290#, 295#

Bridged HSPU's:

16, 13, 16, 13, 11

Pack Version of:

Row 1000 Meters

15 Burpees

Row 750 Meters

30 Burpees

Row 500 Meters

45 Burpees

21:11

This was a tough one!  My goal was to keep my row time to a 2:00/500m pace, and I was real successful at it, so I was happy with my effort.  I'm glad I didn't try the Porch version of this workout, cause this wrecked me plenty good.  Good times.  

Mini Cindy 5-19-08

Mini Cindy

As many rounds in ten minutes of:

5 Pull-Ups

10 Pushups

15 Squats

8 Rounds and 5 Pull-Ups 10 Pushups

I really worked on trying to have perfect form on every rep.  The pushups were by far the hardest.  I didn't sleep well last night and felt wiped out today, and had to really motivate myself to even get off my lazy butt and workout in the first place.   I'm glad I did.

Squats 5-18-08

Warmup: 5 min row, 1 ring muscleup - 1st EVER!!  YAHOO, 10 pullups, OHS 95# 2 sets of 7 reps

Squats:

185# 5x5

First time I've squatted heavy in 22 days, after I tweaked my back.  Its been FAR too long.  Felt good to get back under the bar.  I really need to keep pushing up the weight on this, the king of all exercises.  You don't get big muscles by lifting small weights!

60 Pull-Ups and 60 Dips 5-16-08

Warmup 

5 min row

 50# Overhead Squats broken down 20 reps and then 10 reps

As Rx'd WOD was 30 Muscleups for time...

I scaled down to the pack version and did,

60 Pull-Ups and 60 bar Dips for time:

12:18

During the warmup I tried playing with Muscleups on my rings for the first time.  I did some jumping Muscleups and then I was able to do my first Muscleup!!  But I did it with bent arms at the start, so its not a true Muscleup.  Still, I was happy with my first attempt.  So much of the move is in the mechanics.

Deadlift 5-15-08

Warmup:  5 min on the rower and 30 Overhead Squats with 45#

Deadlift:

255# 265# 275# 280# 285# 290# 295# 300# 305# - New PR !!

My previous PR was 285# on 4-11-08.  I've done 4 Deadlift exercises in the past month since I last did my PR of 285.  Not bad to have a 20# increase, and I broke the 3 bills mark.  I'm stoked! 

So go load up that bar. Lift Heavy, and Live Hard my hard living comrade!

Overhead Squat 5-14-08

Overhead Squat

Instead of doing the Crossfit mainpage WOD of 7 sets of 3 reps Overhead Squats (OHS), I decided to try and figure out what my max was.  My brother, cousin and I are going to have a contest to see who can Overhead Squat their bodyweight first.  We are going to have some kind of a prize for the winner and some type of dunce cap prize for the loser.  Still figuring out the details of the contest.  

Warmup row 5 minutes

OHS:

45# x 5

65# x 5

85# x 3

95# x 2

105# x 1

115# x 1

125# x 1

135# failed on first attempt to even get the weight over my head...just wasn't concentrating enough and didn't get under the bar and lock out my arms.

135# failed on the second attempt at the bottom of the squat

135# x 1 (New PR!)  I was able to grind it out...I didn't even try 140#, because that was tough! 

I am now 37lbs away from my medium term goal of OHS'ing my bodyweight!  My longterm goal is to OHS my bodyweight 15 times.  

Compare to 4-25-08

Fran 5-12-08

Fran as Rx'd

21-15-9 

for time of:

95# Thrusters and pullups

in 9:30

Thrusters broken 1st round 15/6, 2nd round 6/5/4, 3rd round 4/3/2

Pullups broken: 1st round 15/5 2nd round 7/4/4, 3rd round 7/2

I really pushed hard through the entire workout.  Felt like the intensity level was real high throughout the whole thing, so I was happy with that. Last time I did Fran in 10:45, so I'm thrilled with my improvement.  Part of the reason my last Fran was a little slower then it could of been is I cleaned the weight off the floor for some reason the first two rounds, which were also broken, and I did 12 reps instead of 9 reps on the last round of thrusters and pullups.  So my improvement this time isn't quite as strong as it looks at first glance.  But I'm still pleased.  I tore a callus off on my ring finger....Doh!  I thought I had my calluses properly shaved down....I guess not.  

Diane 5-11-08

Diane (scaled down to 'Pack')

21-15-9 reps of:

185lbs for Deadlift (Rx'd is 225)

4 ft bridged to feet HSPU's

in 4min 58sec

First set of Deadlifts unbroken and fast, but my form wasn't superb.  The other 2 rounds I took it a bit slower, reseting every few or every other rep and concentated on good form (yet still going as fast as possible, and not taking any rests longer then a couple of breaths).  HSPU's weren't too bad as far as difficulty, but were more of an elevated pushup.

I'm glad I took Jeff Martin's advice and went with a lower weight that I could do faster.  If I had tried 225, I'd have slogged through the workout at a much slower pace.

Puppy Crossfit 5-10-08

Hundreds of rounds, for no time of:

Ball chase, and ball bite.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

Still working on returning the ball for the next round.

Blitz's first ever air squat.  I had to help him quite a lot with his form.  Notice the complete lack of a lumbar curve in his low back...Maybe there was insufficient yelling in the gym that led to his bad form?

Much better form.  Notice his head up and eyes looking straight forward.

The results of a day of Crossfit .....Puppy style.

So there you have my excuse for not getting in a workout today.  The trip to the breeder just took too much time.  

We finally brought our puppy, Blitz home today.  His is a 7 week old German line purebred German Shepherd.  He comes from 5 generations on both sides of Schutzhund (Crossfit, dog style) titled canines.  My expectations for his level of elite fitness are high.  In no time he should be able to out run, swim, jump, and bite me and all of you with ease.  Look to see him on the winners board of the 2010 Crossfit Games.  We are in training. 

800m Run, 4 Rounds 5-9-08

4 rounds for time:

800 Meter Run

Rest as much needed in between rounds.

3:10

3:19

3:32

3:28

I rested about 7-9 minutes in between rounds.  Probably too much rest, but man did I feel like I needed it.  This was the first run workout I've done in the past two years.  The last time was in the Police Academy where I was running a lot.  A year and 4 months ago, I dislocated and fractured my ankle in a nasty dirtbike crash....apparently falling off a 50 foot cliff is a bad thing.  So the good news was my ankle felt pretty good today.  Measured out 800m with my GPS at a local park. Half of it was a slight incline and half was a slight downhill.  I think running on the grass at the park, rather then running around my neighborhood on the sidewalk was a good idea for my ankle.  Now I remember why running has never been my favorite.  I don't know why, it just hurts.  I'd rather row hard then run hard.  Am I the only one?   

50 Burpees 5-5-08

50 Burpees for time, jump and touch a target 1 foot above the top of your reach:     

4 min 37 sec

This is a good sprint type workout.  Lots of fun when you are really pushing the pace.  My eventual goal is to do this around 3 min as this would be a full out Burpee sprint pace with ZERO rest.

Then I worked on Overhead Squat form:

45# x 5, 65# x 5, 85# x 8, 85# x 7,85# x 8,  85# x 8 

Deadlift 5-4-08

I was able to squeeze a quick workout in.

Deadlift:

235lbs x 5, 240lb x 5, 245lbs x 5, 260lbs x 5, 265lbs x 5

Blaster Fight!

Its Cinco De Mayo weekend, which means a very busy weekend at work.  Actually it wasn't bad at work last night due to Cinco De Mayo, but we are working mandatory overtime so I have no time to workout tonight and will have even less time tomorrow night. 

I did have my first full on fight at work since I've started doing Crossfit.  One on one versus a Blaster (a suspect high on PCP).  He was completely naked and totaled his car into a tree.  When I arrived on scene, he growled and charged at me.  He was then promptly tased, and continued to attempt to fight me.  I tased him a total of 8 times, and he just kept on fighting.  Somehow my baton ring unsnapped during the struggle and my baton fell off my belt and dropped almost perfectly into the suspect's hand.  I was able to immediately rip the baton out of his hand as he cocked it back to hit me with it.  My first backup unit arrived and after a few minutes of wrestling we were able to handcuff the suspect.  As more backup arrived the suspect continued to violently fight us even with the cuffs on.  My backup piled onto the suspect, and we had to hold him down and WRAP (a tool which is a bunch of straps that basically mummifies a suspect) him due to his aggressive resistance.  I did notice after about 9 minutes of holding him down that my teammates were breathing hard and I wasn't.  Thanks to Crossfit, I knew I had the gas in the tank to keep fighting, which is an encouraging thought when its you all alone against a Blaster who has incredible strength and feels no pain due to the dope coursing through his body.  Funny what you think of in the midst of something like that.  No Cops were hurt and the suspect ended up in jail.  Scratch it up as a win for the good guys.

Thrusters 5-2-08

110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150

I was real happy with today's effort.  I concentrated on popping my hips at the top to propel the bar upwards.

Pushups 5-1-08

First time working out since I tweaked my back when I got a new PR of 230 in the squat workout on 4-26-08.  I only missed 3 days of not working out, but it seemed like such a long time!  It was driving me absolutely nuts.  

My back isn't quite 100%, so I decided to do something that didn't stress it.  I did Pushups:

60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 

6 minutes of rest in between sets on all but the last where it was 30 seconds.  

Felt great to finally do some type of workout, even though it wasn't exactly a Crossfit mainsite WOD, just something to get me going again.  Hopefully my hands will heal up soon and my back will be ready to lift heavy again.  I do have a feeling though that its going to be a reoccurring problem that I'll have to keep an eye on and do my best to deal with when it pops up.  To quote the guru of the Crossfit iron game:

"Accumulating injuries are the price we pay for the thrill of not having sat around on our asses."  ~ Mark Rippetoe

How very true.  Just got to keep those nagging injuries to a dull roar.