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.

Workout Partner

My workout partner has returned home.  For those who didn't know he has a birth defect of a malformed right radius.  It is convex when it should be concave to match up with the wrist bone.  This causes a very loose joint which easily slips out of place like this x-ray shows causing, swelling, pain, and eventually destruction of the cartilage in the joint.  He has been back at the breeder's house for the past 6 weeks but has been doing real well so we decided to keep him and see how things go.  He's a trooper and doesn't whine or complain about his pain. I'm glad to have him back.  

Here is Blitz.  My 4 1/2 month old German Shepherd.  What a stud

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.