Saturday, December 29, 2012

Saturday Workout

Today we started out, after the warm up, with 15 minutes to do a 5 rep max on front squats. I maxed out at 155# on this one. I might have been able to do a bit more but as I have mentioned in the past I am not a huge fan of trying to do max weight on any exercise, especially one where you can hurt your back. Looking back at my old entries it looks like last time we did a max on front squat we did 5 sets of 5 increasing each time to a max and I did 145# on the last set. So it looks like I still improved. The rest of the workout was prescribed as 5 rounds for time of:

  • 10 front squats (135/85)
  • 20 leg lifts
  • 20 ab mat sit-ups
I finished this in 16:52. The front squats were pretty tough for me at that weight. By the last round I could only knock out 3 to start it and was only doing 1 at a time by the end. I was pretty fast to jump back in though, so a quick step back from the bar and then right back in to do another. I was the only one using the medicine ball to make sure my range of motion was correct too, not sure why people don't use it more. I have a hockey tournament all day Monday so I probably won't go back to the gym until Wednesday. My shoulders are pretty sore from the Friday workout, feels good.

My parents are staying here for the holidays right now as well and my dad wanted to do a workout yesterday and asked me for something to do. I had him do the 10 rounds for time:

  • 10 push-ups
  • 10 sit-ups
  • 10 air squat
This was the Christmas Eve workout. He did 5 rounds in about 16 minutes or so, not bad especially since he doesn't do much working out.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Friday Workout

Today's workout was prescribed as follows:

50-40-30-20-10
  • push-ups
  • mountain climbers (single count)
  • shoulder press (45/33)
So on round 1 you do 50 reps of each, round 2 do 40 reps of each, and continue. This seemed pretty easy on paper and I was getting cocky last night saying I was going to do this in 20:00 or less and eventually thought I might be able to even do it in 15:00 or less. Well, I was way wrong. By the time I hit the shoulder presses on the first round I could not even get the bar over my head and had to shake my arms out for a few seconds before continuing. This is a killer shoulder workout. I finished in 30:36 and my shoulders are shot. I also did not get up and go in at 6:00 this morning since I am off work and would like to sleep in a bit. There was apparently no one at the 6:00 am class again today.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Wednesday Workout

I set my alarm to get up at 5:30 and go to the gym for the 6:00 class as I normally do but somehow the alarm malfunctioned and never went off. I instead went in for the 9:00 class. The prescribed workout was 5 rounds for time:
  • 12 deadlifts (225/135)
  • 20 pull-ups
  • 12 clean and jerk (135/95)
  • 20 knees to elbows
Those weights are crazy heavy for me. I looked up my last deadlift numbers and my 1 rep max was 265# and there is zero chance I clean 135#. I put 205# on for the deadlift to start and 95# for the clean and jerk. I did not feel good at all doing this one and my writs started hurting part way through. I have wrist issues sometimes doing cleans and they also seem to bother me some on knees to elbows so putting the two together doesn't help. I only did 3 rounds instead of 5 and dropped the deadlift weight to 185# after the first round because my lower back was starting to round. I finished the 3 rounds in 29:05. Not sure if it was the workout or the people I was working out with (not my normal crew) but I just really was not into it today for some reason. Oh well, there is always Friday.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Bonus Workout

I don't normally do a workout on Tuesday but since I ate a pile of crap this morning I thought it would be good to do something. The gym posted another do it at home WOD that was 100 burpees for time. I knocked them out in 8:40 but am thinking I should have been able to do them a good bit faster than that. I knocked out the first 25 in under 1:30 so I really slowed down as I went along. I did do them 10 at a time after that first 25 being done straight through. The last 15 I did pretty much unbroken, just a bit of a break at the top on each of the last 5 but real short. I was sweating like crazy at the end and winded as hell. I guess 1 burpee every 5.2 seconds is not too bad but I think I could do this in the 7:00 minute range maybe. I will try this one again some time, maybe when I am on the road for work.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Monday Workout

The gym is closed today and tomorrow for the holiday but they posted a WOD that can be done at home without any equipment for today. The Christmas Eve WOD was prescribed as 10 rounds for time:

  • 10 push-ups
  • 10 sit-ups
  • 10 air squats
I started off strong on this and when I hit the half way point I was at just over 5 minutes so I was shooting for an under 10 minute time. Of course I was moving a bit slower than normal because I was at home doing it alone rather than with others pushing me. Actually it was a bit worse than that because the kids were doing it with me which also slows me down a bit because they always have questions of get in the way. They had fun though. I finished it in 10:24, it was pretty damn easy compared to most of the workouts we do at the gym. Still felt good to do something though.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Workout

Usually I do a Saturday workout but I was out in the woods yesterday doing some deer hunting. First time ever, saw 4 deer but did not get a chance at any of them. I had a good time though. I went in today for the 9:00 am class and was more than a little dreading the workout after looking at it last night. This workout was broken into 2 parts and neither one looked like much fun. First was "Randy" which is the following for time:

  • 75 power snatches (75)
Randy Simmons was a 51 year old 27 year LAPD officer and member of their SWAT team that was killed in the line of duty. I have previously struggled with this move, for the elements of this one have a look at this video. I racked up the 75# on a 45# bar but instead of using 15# plates on each side I put 10# and 5# plates to give myself an out if needed. I do this sometimes because it makes me feel better. Coach Jay asked me about it and I told him I did not think I could get through 75 reps with that weight but I would do my best. 75# is almost half my body weight which is 155#. Even the smaller guys at my gym are typically more like 180# - 185# so this kind of weight is tougher for me than them. I decided I would concentrate on the form and see what I could do. I completed this in 8:57 which was the slowest of those at the gym today but not by much and only 2 of us were doing the prescribed weight. I did all of them with 75# and by the end I was still doing 5 at a time before stepping back from the bar for a second. Felt pretty good. However, I still had an AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) to do.

The AMRAP was 15 minutes to do as many as possible of the following:

  • 10 wall ball shots (20/16)
  • 15 push-ups
  • 20 slam balls (20/10)
I HATE WALL BALL SHOTS!! That is my least favorite thing to do because I suck at them but because of that I really try to push to get as many at a time as I can. I started off doing all 10 at a time and ended doing 5 and 5. I did the weights as prescribed. I completed 4 rounds and up through 5 slam balls on the 5th round. I felt pretty much like someone kicked my ass at the end of this one. Feels good.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Friday Workout

Today's workout was a new Hero WOD. This one has been named Victoria in honor of Victoria Soto, one of the teachers killed in the shooting in CT. If you would like to find out more information about her have a look around online but the story told by her students is that she died shielding them from the gunman giving them a chance to escape. The WOD was prescribed as 5 rounds for time:

  • 10 thrusters (95/65)
  • 12 burpees
  • 14 box jumps (24/20)
  • 12 sumo deadlift high pulls (95/65)
  • 27 kettlebell swings (53/35)
I scaled this one a bit by doing 75# for both the thrusters and the deadlift high pulls. I also used 35# on the kettlebell swings as I usually do. This was a very tough workout and I was hurting bad by the 4th round of this one but I pushed through and finished off as best as I could in 36:47. As with all of the hero WOD's when I began to feel real bad I just thought about Victoria and figured it could be worse, the WOD could be named after me and I kept moving. This is a technique I use on a regular basis even when not doing a hero WOD. There is not often a day that goes by that I do not think about some Marine I know was killed or just those I know that are still there and that can be great motivation to keep me from feeling sorry for myself in many situations. I will be missing tomorrow but will try to get in there Sunday, especially since the gym is closed Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Wednesday Workout, Holy Christmas!!

You might recall we did a Chanukah workout last week on Friday. You can check out the workout and my results here. Today was the Christmas WOD and boy is it a tough one. The workout was prescribed as the following for time:
  • 1 - 200 meter run or row
  • 2 - chest to bar pull-ups
  • 3 - 30 single under jump ropes
  • 4 - slam balls (20/16)
  • 5 - box jumps (24/20)
  • 6 - 2 count weighted lunges (25/10)
  • 7 - push-ups
  • 8 - wall ball shots (20/16)
  • 9 - knees to elbows
  • 10 - burpees
  • 11 - medicine ball cleans (20/16)
  • 12 - abmat sit-ups
(Performed in the same order as the song)

That is right folks, performed in the same order as the song. What does that mean? It means you do 12 round where round 1 is a 200 meter run or row, round 2 is 2 chest to bar pull-ups followed by a 200 meter run or row, round 3 is 30  single under jump ropes followed by 2 chest to bar pull-ups followed by a 200 meter run or row, and you continue through the 12 rounds in this manner. I elected to do the 200 meter run instead of row, not sure why but that is what I did. I did all moves as prescribed in this one even the wall ball shots. I figured it was only 8 at a time and I only needed to do 5 rounds with them in it so the chances I would drop it on my face again were slim. I didn't but it was maybe a bit harder than I had thought. I completed the workout in 45:53 and man was it tough. This is an odd sort of workout where it gets to be more and more stuff every round. A lot of these kind of workout are ladders down rather than up so they seem to get easier as it goes. Also there were a couple of moves at the end that I really struggle with like wall ball shots and knees to elbows. I did all the wall ball shots unbroken except the last round which I did 2 sets of 4 and I did all but the last 2 rounds of knees to elbows unbroken where I did 5 and 4. I did notice my movement from one move to the next got pretty slow on the last 2 rounds but I mostly was moving pretty good all the way through and I am pretty happy with the result.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Monday Workout

After all those damn thrusters and burpees yesterday I was not looking real forward to today's workout when I saw it last night on the web site. It was prescribed as 5 rounds for time:
  • 5 deadlifts (135/95)
  • 5 hang squat cleans (135/95)
  • 5 push press (135/95)
  • 10 pull-ups
  • 15 box jumps (24/20)
First thing I noticed was the weights are way high for me on a couple of these. I only weigh 155# so doing a 135# hang squat clean or push press is a pretty damn big deal for me. I set up 3 barbells at the start of this one with 135#, 95#, and 75#. I began doing the deadlifts with 135# and completed with that. I started doing 95# on the cleans and push press but after the first round I dropped to 75# on the push press. I could feel my form breaking down on the first set on the push press and felt it better to be smart than cocky. I also slowed down on the cleans as it went on and by the last round I had to drop the bar after 3 and come back for the last 2, my forearms were screaming. By the end I was also doing jumping push-ups instead of the standard dead hang, this workout is tough on the shoulders. I completed the workout in 19:06 which I felt pretty good about. I think I could do better but not the day after that workout yesterday.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Friday and Sunday

I did workout Friday but I didn't do it in the morning because I had a hockey game Thursday night at 10:30. Friday was a Chanukah WOD prescribed as 8 rounds of the following for time:

  • 8 burpees
  • 8 pull-ups
  • 8 air squats
  • 8 push-ups
  • 8 kettlebell swings (53/35)
  • 8 4 count mountain climbers
  • 8 leg lifts
  • 8 GHD back extensions
I completed the workout in 33:40 with a 35# kettlebell instead of a 53#. The worst part of this workout, which surprised me, was the mountain climbers. Those things suck and even more so right behind the kettlebell swings. That exercise reminds me of Marine Corps boot camp, it was a favorite of the DI's. We must have done a trillion of them over the 3 months of boot camp. This workout was another one that seemed easier on paper than it is. I was really dragging ass by the end of this one.

I did not go Saturday because of a cub scout event but I went today and the workout was prescribed as the following for time:

  • 70 thrusters (75/55)
  • 100 abmat sit-ups
(every minute on the minute do 5 burpees)

That is correct, do the workout but stop every minute and do 5 burpees. I did this a prescribed and initially thought it was going to be easy. I knocked out 20 thrusters the first minute but by the end of the thrusters I was doing only 4-5 at a time each minute. I completed the workout in 20:51 so I guess that means I did 100 burpees on top of the rest although it really felt more like 1000. Most people don't seem to like burpees much but I actually kind of like them and think they are maybe the perfect exercise for all around work. I would much rather do them than something like wall ball shots. I feel pretty good about that time and actually feel like I pushed real hard on this one. I am sure I will be a bit sore later today though especially since I was a bit sore from Friday even before going in for this one. My shoulders and back were a little sore and thrusters are probably not going to make that any better.


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Wednesday Workout, Follow Doctors Orders

More on the doctors orders thing later but first the warm up started with a 2 minute jump rope followed by 3 rounds of:
  • 10 PVC overhead squats
  • 10 GHD sit-ups
  • 10 Back extensions
The workout prescribed was in two parts today. First we did 10 minutes of strength work prescribed as 5 sets of 2 reps each deadlifts for maximum weight. My weights for each set were 135#, 225#, 235#, 245# 255#. I actually did something like 10-12 reps on the first set with the 135# weight just to get moving and warmed up. Looking back at the blog it looks like the last time I did a deadlift max I did 265# for a 1 rep max. As I have mentioned before I am not really a big fan of doing a max on anything. I don't really think it helps me a whole lot with progress but it can leave me open to injury. I might have been able to do a bit more weight on this but I am not going to push it.

The metcon was prescribed as 5 rounds for time:
  • 21 kettlebell swings (53/35)
  • 12 wall ball shots (20/16)
  • 21 push-ups
Seems easy right, not so much. I scaled the kettlebell swings as usual to use 35# instead of 53#, maybe some day I will up that be the 53 still seems to cause my form to suffer too much for my liking. If it was 10 reps I might have gone with the heavier weight but not 21. I started off with the 20# ball for the wall balls but then at the end of round 2 I dropped the ball on my face which is probably not the best thing for my stitches in my mouth and also one of the things the dentist wanted me to avoid, trauma to the area. I took a step away and kicked myself for a second then continued the rest of the workout with the 16# ball instead. I maybe should have done that from the start. It seems to be fine although I think I did git a small bit of bleeding during the workout after it happened but I will be fine. The push-ups are a no brainer but by the time round 5 rolled around I was only able to knock them out three at a time with a second or so of down time in between those sets of 3. My time was 17:16.


The cool down was a 500 meter row and a bunch of stretching. I took the row slow after my face mushing just to be safe.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Monday Workout, Ignoring Doctors Orders (Sort Of)

As I mentioned Friday I had a dental surgery and was going to ask the dentist about when I could workout and play hockey again but I wasn't sure I would believe her suggestion. Well she proved to me that they have no idea what they are talking about. When I first sat down with her pre-surgery and asked her point blank about the gym and hockey she said you can go back to all your normal activity on Monday. Then, once the surgery was over she busts out the standard post surgical care sheet to read to me and have me sign. This sheet says I am to do no strenuous activity for a week. She reads this and realizes she had already told me something else and tries to backtrack saying something like well I know what I told you before but we like to keep your heart rate down for a week, blah blah blah blah... By this time I am tuning her out completely and decided I will just do what feels right based on how I am feeling. I was feeling good about going to the gym today and so I went, although I did skip hockey last night.

The warm up today started with a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds of:
  • 10 air squats
  • 10 GHD sit-ups
  • 10 push-ups
The workout was prescribed as seven rounds for time of:
  • 7 handstand push-ups
  • 7 thrusters (95/63)
  • 7 knees to elbows
  • 7 deadlifts (95/63)
  • 7 burpees
  • 7 kettlebell swings (53/35)
  • 7 pull-ups
Seems real easy on paper but man was this one a bitch as it went along. I modified a couple of things here in this one. First off I did pike push-ups with a 24" box instead of handstand push-ups. I considered trying them but after the last time when I hurt my back I figured I will wait a bit before trying to get into that position again especially considering I have a mouth full of stitches. I also lowered the weight on the thrusters. I did the first 2 rounds with 95# then dropped to 75# and it is probably a good thing because I was only doing 2 at a time by the last round. I still did the deadlifts with 95# but I dropped to 35# on the kettlebell swings as I normally do. I also was doing jumping pull-ups by the end with a slow negative. As I mentioned before no more kipping for me for a while. I completed the workout in 31:51.

Cool down was a 500 meter row followed by a bunch of stretching. No problems with the mouth bleeding or anything so I think I made the right call on this one.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Interesting Article

I read an interesting article in the NY Times which you can find here. The article is titled "Updating the Message to Get Americans Moving." The basic idea behind the story is that people know that they need to exercise to be healthy, the message is getting out there, they just are not doing it. It talks a bit about people doing the least they think they need to do such as a walking class for college students. It also references some studies that used accelerometers rather than self reporting to measure peoples activity and states the results indicate things are way worse than was thought. People don't exercise nearly as much as they like to tell people. This should not be a surprise to anyone. The conclusion the author comes to is that the message needs to change.
Simply giving people an exercise prescription, like walking for 20 minutes a day, five days a week, is clearly not working. Nor are programs that claim very intense, very short bouts of exercise are all that is needed.
To encourage exercise, perhaps people should be told to find an exercise, and an intensity level, that makes them feel good, Dr. Ekkekakis said.
This is a great idea. I have said this many times on this blog if you go have a look. I say you need to do whatever works for you and keeps you interested because an exercise program you hate will never work. I also agree with the idea that exercise needs to be scaled for the individual and their is no shame in not being able to do everything the person next to you in the gym can. This is one of the basic premises of crossfit and one of the reasons I like it. Another basic premise of crossfit, however, is high intensity and most people in this country are unwilling to do that. Most people claim fatigue long before their body has come anywhere near reaching its limits. They feel a bit of discomfort and they quit. I learned a long time ago that the human body is capable of way more than people believe it is. In most cases the mind is the limiting factor not the body. The only way you will get the results from the exercise is to push your body beyond its current limits. You do this and it adapts over time to be able to handle the increased load or activity. If you don't push it to that point the adaptations just don't take place and the benefit is not what it could or should be. Maybe everyone should have to go through Marine Corps boot camp because that will absolutely teach the lessons needed to recognize that there is a difference between discomfort/pain and you limit.

The bottom line is that although I agree with much in the article it is unlikely that changing the message will change most peoples behavior simply because it is easier to park your fat ass on the sofa and eat Doritos than it is to go to the gym. even if you think you want to improve it is easier to take a bit of a walk than to run even though you will absolutely induce more positive change in your body from the running. I could go in but you get the point. The thing you need to do with your exercise is to be constantly increasing load and intensity to make sure your body is adapting, it is an amazing machine. It is fine if you can only walk today but your effort should be focused on walking faster and working to more intensity. Once you can walk faster try working toward jogging. It does not need to be walking and running do anything you enjoy but always work to increase the intensity your body needs it. You should be uncomfortable when working out or you are doing it wrong and most people are unwilling to do that because it is hard.

Friday Workout

Warm up today was 100 jumping jacks followed by 3 rounds of the following:
  • 10 PVC arm circles
  • 10 flutter kicks (2 count)
  • 10 pull-ups
I did the pull-ups as dead hangs again and no back issues. I am pretty convinced that the kipping got me last time around. I will be doing all dead hang from now on. Of course that means when we have to do a bunch I will be starting the jumping pull-ups earlier but so what. The workout was prescribed as 4 rounds of the following for rep count:
  • 1 minute front squats (75/55)
  • 1 minute push press (75/55)
  • 1 minute sumo deadlift high pull (75/55)
  • 1 minute hand release push-ups
  • 1 minute rest
So this works out to a total of 20 minutes. I did all the work as prescribed and completed a total of 218 reps over the workout. I did not keep track of my rep counts for each exercise just each round and they broke down as 69, 47, 50 52. I started off real strong and knocked out over 20 of the squats on the first round and only got to 15 on the rest. The weight feels heavy as hell on the push press after you have been holding it up in the rack position for the front squats for a minute. You don't think about squats hitting your shoulders but do front squats for a minute and your shoulders will be screaming. Still no back issues at all so that is promising.

The cooldown was a 500 meter row and a bunch of stretching as usual. I have a dental surgery today so will not be going to the gym tomorrow. I need to talk to the doctor today and find out when I am good to go back but I am planning on Monday. I might go on Monday no matter what she says, what the hell do doctors know anyway. The more conflicting studies I read on exercise a diet the more I think they have no clue what they are talking about.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Wednesday Workout, Back At It

I went back to the gym this morning. My back has been feeling better. I was expecting some post game problems after the hockey game on Monday but nothing happened. I was a bit nervous going in this morning though especially after I looked at the workout last night. I just figured I will do what I can and not push too hard. I am going to stay away from kipping pull-ups too, just do dead hangs.

The warm up started with a 400 meter row followed by three rounds of:
  • 10 PVC arm circles
  • 10 pull-ups
  • 10 back extensions
I did the pull-ups dead hang to avoid any back problems with the kip. The back extension on the downward move of the kip seemed to be where my problems started last week so I figure it is just easiest to avoid that. The workout was prescribed as the following for time:
  • 20 thrusters (95/65)
  • 50 double unders
  • 16 thrusters
  • 40 double unders
  • 12 thrusters 
  • 30 double unders
  • 8 thrusters
  • 20 double unders
  • 4 thrusters 
  • 10 double unders
They are now doing a new thing at the gym where they are being very strict on what is and is not an Rx workout. The following was posted on their site and coach Brent brought this up today as well. "In an effort to ensure consistency in scoring we will focus on range of Motion in determining whether or not our athletes achieve Rx indication on their score. Therefore, if you receive a 'scaled' score and an indication of R.O.M., then your range of motion was not adequate. We will make every effort to let our athletes know how their Range of Motion is during the WOD so they can achieve full range of Motion." Coach brent told us to make sure we had a medicine ball down and that we touch it on the squat portion of the thruster if we want to get the full R.O.M. score. I am not really one to give a crap what they put on their web site but some people seem to really care that they get this Rx score instead of a scaled score. I have seen people argue a bit about what they did being acceptable. I think that is all a bit silly and I am just there to get a good workout and get in shape, call it whatever the hell you want. For example, any workout with double unders I do scaled.

For this workout today I did single unders at 3X what was prescribed for double unders so in round one I did 150 single and round two I did 120 single but this gets marked as scaled since I did not not do the doubles. I can't do the doubles so this one is a no brainer. I also scaled the weight today and did this with 75# instead of 95#. I originally put 95# on the bar and tried one or two during warm ups but it was clearly too heavy especially since I have had recent back pain. I completed this workout in 13:02. By the end I was doing the thrusters like 3 or 4 at a time. I am getting much better at jumping rope though and I no longer look like a complete idiot tripping over myself. Maybe one of these days I will actually be able to get a couple double done.

The cool down was a 500 meter row followed by a bunch of stretching. I had also done some additional pre-workout back stretching beyond what the others did just to make sure I did not aggravate  things again.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Another Update

My damn back is tight again this morning. Not sure what the hell is up. There is one particular muscle running from my lower back down to my butt and upper leg that seems to be the issue. Gonna do some stretching over the next couple days and see what happens. It is odd because it was fine last night, no pain at all.

Friday, November 30, 2012

Update

Back is feeling much better today. I am planning to go back to the gym on Wednesday. I have a hockey game on Monday so I don't want to push it that day and I figure I will take at least this weekend off. I will miss at least one other day next week too since I have dental surgery on Friday.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Wednesday Workout

There was skill work at the beginning that was V-ups, have a look at this video for how it is done. I did some of these for the first 10 minutes as prescribed. The workout was next and was prescribed as 2 rounds for time:
  • 30 kettlebell swings (53/35)
  • 25 toes-to-bar
  • 20 clapping push-ups
  • 15 GHD sit-ups
  • 10 goblet lunges
  • 5 hand stand push-ups
Follow with core work:
  • 2 minutes V-ups as many as possible
Coach Brent walked us through all the moves and we tried all of them. During the warm-up my back felt a bit funny on the pull-ups and then when I tried out the hand stand push-up during the demo portion it hurt. I pushed off the floor to get my feet up to the wall and the left side of my lower back, same place as last week, started screaming. I dropped back down immediately and decided I would do box pike push-ups on a 24 inch box. I did the kettlebell swings with 35# and only did 20 toes-to-bar on each round because they bothered my back. I used the 35# kettlebell on the goblet lunges. I completed the workout in 13:28 but my back was pretty sore. I skipped the core work and went straight to stretching and by the time I left my back was sore. It got worse as the day went on but is much better today. I assume I aggravated the same injury from last week. I am going to skip tomorrow morning although I really want to go. I think it might be best to wait another day or two.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Monday Workout

Well this is the 4th day in a row that I have been to the gym. That is the first time I have done that, I feel real good although a bit sore. My abs are especially sore but most everything else too but not in a bad way.

The warm up today started with an 800 meter row and the board actually said "800 meter row (fast)." I asked coach Brent what that meant and he said make sure you get warm. I am not sure why they need to specify fast, I never assumed I should be going slow. This was followed by 2 rounds:
  • 10 PVC arm circles
  • 10 PVC overhead squats
  • 10 back extensions
We were then supposed to do some skill work consisting of 10 minutes of snatch balance for weight but we did not do this. This exercise is shown and explained in this video. Instead coach Brent walked us through a Burgener Warm-Up to teach us the elements of the snatch movement. This is apparently the most difficult and technical of the lifts in crossfit and after this workout I would tend to agree. The workout was then prescribed as 5 rounds for time:
Followed by un-timed core work as follows:
  • 50 abmat sit-ups
I started out with a 20# wall ball but switched to a 16# ball half way through round 2. I was pretty surprised with my wall ball performance.I was doing 15 at a pop to start off with and even on round 5 I did 10 to start and before a couple second break. I only did 45# on the squat snatch instead of the prescribed 75#. This is the first time in my life doing this move and it is pretty tough so I figured start off slow. On the first round I started off doing 1 at a time trying to get the move down but by round 5 I was doing 3 at a time with pretty good form. I do think I was not getting down into the squat enough though and next time I will try to work on that. I think I could probably increase the weight a bit as well. I completed the workout in 24:53. 

Cool down was a 200 meter run and a bunch of stretches.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Sunday Workout

I don't usually go to the gym both days on the weekend but I was feeling like working out so I did. Maybe I will do it more often and get 5 days a week in instead of 4. Today the warm up started with a 500 meter row followed by 3 rounds of:

  • 10 push-ups
  • 10 walking lunges
  • 10 abmat sit-ups
Following this we did some strength work. 10 sets of 2 bench press for weight with a 60 second break in between each set. I did 115#, 155#, 165#, 175#, 175#, 170#, 170#, 165#, 165#, 165#. We then did a metcon which consisted of a 10 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible):

  • 30 kettlebell swings (53/35)
  • 30 air squats
I scaled this using a 35# kettlebell instead of 53#. I completed 4 rounds and 20 additional kettlebell swings with that weight. I am feeling pretty good.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Saturday Worlout

My back was feeling way better as the day went on yesterday. It always amazes me ho doing some work can help so much more than sitting on your ass does. I am not suggesting going out and hurting yourself, I did skip the Wednesday workout, but I am suggesting that doing as much as you can without hurting yourself is the way to go. The hardest part for me over the last few years with my back has been learning the differences between pain and injury. If you can figure that out and work through pain and work around injury you should be good and be able to work out mos all the time.

Today's warm up started with a 400 meter run, actually by the time I got back from the run the whiteboard had been changed to a 500 meter row. This was followed by 3 rounds of:

  • 10 push-ups
  • 10 sit-ups (I did abmat)
  • 10 air squats
The workout was the bear complex. A good example with explanation of restrictions can be seen here. It was prescribed on the board as follows.

5 Rounds, 7 Sets, For Weight:

  • Power clean
  • Front squat
  • Push press
  • Back squat
  • Push press
I had done this one before back in August so I was able to see what my performance then was and see how I did compared to that. You can look back at that one if you want here. Coach Jay was there and as with the last time the instructions given did not match what I found online. We were told we could rest with the bar on the floor as long as our hands remained on the bar. I mentioned last time we did this that the instructions I found for this workout indicate you may rest anywhere but on the ground, i.e. touch and go on the ground for the 7 reps. I did this using the touch and go method progressing through 65#, 75#, 85#, 95# (4/3), and 90#. So I did the first 3 sets unbroken without rest on the floor with the weights shown. when I got to the 4th set @ 95# I made it through 4 reps and failed, I dropped the bar. I finished the set off with another 3 but counted only the 4 prior to failure. On the last set I dropped the weight to 90# and did the first 4 as prescribed but stopped for a 3 count on the ground on the last 3 reps. I was the only one doing these without resting on the ground. I guess you still get a workout that way but I assume they define no rest on the ground for a reason. I was thinking I might be able to do more weight on this based on my last effort in August and the fact that I am now a few months into this but I guess I improved a good bit given I didn't rest this time. That weight seems real heave, especially when you are doing a push press from behind the head. I think for next time I will shoot for 95# complete set unbroken.

I have started looking at the workouts the night before going to the gym which I had been avoiding before. I was originally avoiding it because I did not want to see something I did not want to do and not go. I think I am beyond that concern now and looking the night before gives me a chance to look back and see what kind of performance I should be shooting for to improve which I think might be useful.

Cool down was a 500 meter row followed by a bunch of stretching.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Friday Workout

Went back to the gym today and worked out again, first time since last Saturday. The warm up was a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds of:

  • 10 air squats
  • 10 pull-ups
  • 10 burpees
I started out the warm up and tried kipping for the first set of pull- ups and it hurt my back, I only did one. I switched up and did all dead hang pull-ups for the rest. I was a bit nervous after reading the workout. It started with strength work of front squat 5 rep max with a 15 minute time limit. Followed by 5 rounds for time of:

  • 10 front squats (135/85)
  • 20 leg lifts
  • 20 abmat sit-ups
I talked to coach Michelle about my back and she said to make sure I take it easy and don't go too heavy. I started off on the front squat max with just the bar and worked my way up to 95#. I didn't really feel like I was at my max but I did feel that if I increased I might screw my back up again so I stopped. So my max was a whopping 95# today. Not that I feel bad about that, I need to be smart. I dropped the weight down to 85# for the workout and completed it in about 13:00, it is not on the website yet so not sure exactly. The leg lifts turned out to be the thing that was worst on my back. I was able to do it all though and I feel pretty good right now. We will see how I feel in the morning, or later today.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Update

I did not work out on Monday since I had a hockey game Sunday night. My back was actually bothering me, presumably from the bone headed crap I pulled with the max squats last week. It has been bothering me some since then and was still bothering me yesterday although it is getting better. I skipped this morning as well since I don't want to screw anything up and have to miss more. It is just a muscle issue and I think, based on how it feels today that I should be back at the gym on Friday.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Saturday Workout

Not sure what the deal was today but there were only 3 of us there for the 9:00 am class. Usually this one is packed, maybe the Thanksgiving holiday has people out of town. The warm up started with a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds of:

  • 10 air squats
  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 push-ups
The workout prescribed was "fight gone bad". It is a 5 round workout for rep count prescribed as follows.

  • Wall ball (20)
  • Sumo deadlift high pull (75)
  • Box jumps (20 in)
  • Push press (75)
  • Row for calories
  • Rest for 60 seconds
The way this works is you do as many reps as possible of the first exercise in one minute and then move on to the next for one minute and the next for one minute. After the one minute rest at the end you do the whole thing again. repeat 5 rounds. Your score is the total rep count for all exercises, with calories burned used for the row instead of reps. This was designed as a training tool for MMA fighters to simulate the five minute rounds of a fight with a one minute rest between. Sometimes you will see it done with only 3 rounds which would be a non-title fight. My score was 333 reps. The wall balls kick the crap out of me every time no matter what workout you put them in.

The cool down was a 200 meter run and some stretching as usual. I am feeling pretty good although I can tell I was off for a week. I am glad to have done some workouts recently that I had done in the past though since that is really the only way I can know for sure that I am getting in better shape. Wed was a good indication as I felt way better on that one than I did when I had done it not that long ago and my time was way better for such a short time. The gym is adjusting the workouts a bit too as I mentioned and I think I like the new program.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Friday Workout

Back at the gym today, surprised they recognized me. We started off with a warm up of a 500 meter row followed by three rounds of:

  • 10 PVC arm circles
  • 10 pull-ups
  • 10 2-count flutter kicks
The workout the consisted of a strength training portion that was 10 minutes to do a max 1 rep back squat. I screwed up big time on this one and only did 135#. I started off with just the bar and did maybe 10 to get the form down with the wall ball down for depth. I then upped it to 135# and did a couple. At that point there was another guy that needed to join in since there was one to few racks. He did the 135# and then wanted to up to 225#. I, like a dumb ass tried to follow him instead of doing my own increasing weight. I ended up dropping the 225# weight and going down the rest of the way instead of up and I never completed another rep. Stupid. Oh well, lesson learned.

Next was a conditioning workout that was a 10 down to 1 ladder of the following 3 exercises:

  • burpees
  • air squats
  • push press (95/65)
The idea is do this in 10 rounds performing 10 reps of each the first round, 9 reps of each the second, 8 reps the third and so on. I started off with 95# on the bar but dropped down to 85# during the first round and left it there the whole time. That move cost me a bit of time but it really was not too bad since it happened during the first round. I completed the workout in 13:05. After that we had some core work consisting of the following:

  • 2 minute plank hold
  • 50 abmat sit-ups
I completed the plank in 2 1 minute blocks split up by maybe a 25 second rest. I did the sit-ups in sets starting at 15 reps but finished with 5 rep sets with just a second or 2 break. My abs were screaming by the end of that one. It was good to be back at the gym.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Wednesday Workout

I was out of town for that hockey tournament all weekend and was planning to go back to the gym Wed but I ended up going out of town for work as soon as I got back from Vegas. I did a workout Wed morning that I had done previously while on the road.

  • 1 mile run
  • 50 burpees
  • 1 mile run
When I was finished mapmyrun reported 2.05 miles and 19:50 for the time. This is almost a full 3:00 improvement over the last time I did this workout on travel a month and a half ago (September 27). You can have a look at that entry here. I am pretty happy with that improvement although I think I could improve more. I did the first 15 burpees unbroken and then did shorter sets but not consistent numbers. I only stopped for a second or two in between though. I did the last 10 straight as well. I also ran all 2 miles unlike last time and I know I did the first mile in under 8:00 and the last mile in right about 8:00.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Monday Workout

still a bit sore this morning from the filthy fifty yesterday but went in for the 6:00 am this morning anyway. for the warm up we did a 500 meter row followed by 2 rounds of:

  • 10 push-ups
  • 10 GHD sit-ups
  • 10 back extensitions
We then went on to do a bit of skill work. This is something new for my gym but it sounds like they are going to start doing this regularly. The idea is the same as in any sport, you don't improve your performance in a game that is done in practice. In crossfit the metabolic conditioning (metcon) WOD's are the game but you need practice too. To get some of this a lot of crossfit gyms break up their 1 hour classes into multiple parts. Start with a warm up, move on to some sort of skill work, do the workorkout (strength or metcon), then do a cool down. Some gyms do warm up, strength work, metcon, and cooldown and leave the skill work to you on your own time. The skill work is designed to help you improve your form on a particular move or class of moves and is usually done with little or no weight with a coach watching and correcting. The idea is if you do the move correctly with little or no weight over and over again you will do it correctly when you have weight on the bar. I like this idea a lot and am glad to see my gym going in this direction. I think I mentioned before that I am more interested in good form than kicking ass on the times. We worked on cleans today for skills. We did some med ball cleans and empty bar cleans. The coach broke the moves into their individual components and had us perform each on its own and then put them together. I think this addition will be helpful and am looking forward to more, although it did take a long time to get through the workout today.

We then moved on to the workout which was strength based.

3,3,2,2,1 for weight (complete all sets of each exercise before moving on)

  • shoulder press
  • push press
  • push jerk
My results were

  • shoulder press - 85#/95#/105#/110# Failed after 1/115#
  • push press - 105#/115#/125#/130# Failed after 1/130#
  • push jerk - 105#/125#/130#/135# Failed after 1/135#
I am relatively happy with these numbers. I think last time I did a shoulder press max I also did 115# and I don't think I have done a max on the others before. I feel like I must have got the numbers pretty close given the fact that I failed on my second rep on the 4th set for every exercise. when I say I failed I mean I dropped the bar on the second attempt each time not just that I could not get it. I also am happy with the fact that I then came back and put that weight or higher up for the final rep.

This is my last trip to the gym for a while since I will be out of town for a hockey tournament in Las Vegas. If you want to follow our progress you can go here and sign up for notifications. I am playing on the Frederick Force in the Red Flag division. we have 2 games a day for most of the weekend assuming we keep winning so I think the missed gym days will be fine. I might do something at some point anyway though.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Sunday Workout

I did not go to the gym yesterday because I worked out late on Friday and I had a couple of cub scouts events Saturday as well including a hike. I went in this morning to the 9:00 am class and guess what we get to do, the "filthy fifty." If you recall I did this workout back in August just a couple days into my free trial at this gym, if not you can read about it here. This workout is specified as the following for time:

  • 50 box jumps
  • 50 jumping pull-ups
  • 50 kettlebell swings (35/26)
  • 50 walking lunges
  • 50 knees to elbows
  • 50 push press (45/33)
  • 50 back extensions
  • 50 wall balls (20/16)
  • 50 burpees
  • 50 double unders
Last time I didn't make it through the workout. I got through 40 burpees and was done and it took me 40:54. Today I completed the workout with a couple modifications. I did the second half of the wall balls with a 16# ball because the 20# just got to be too much. I also did 150 single unders instead of 50 doubles as prescribed. I completed the workout today in 34:37 so that is a better than 6:00 improvement on the workout and I actually finished it all as well. This is the first real measure I have seen of my progress since I started at this gym. That seems to be a good improvement in just about a 2.5 month period if you ask me.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Friday Workout

I had an early meeting at work on Friday so I could not go to the gym in the morning. I actually ended up being there late too and almost didn't make it in before they closed. I ended up at the 7:30 pm open gym rather than a class and it was just me and one other dude there both doing the WOD. The warm up was 25 jumping jacks followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 wall ball shots (16/12)
  • 10 abmat it-ups
  • 10 PVC arm circles
My shoulder was still a bit tight so I did a bit of extra stretching too. The workout was "Daniel" named for Army Sgt 1st Class Daniel Crabtree who was killed in Iraq on 24 June 2006. The workout is the following for time:
  • 50 pull-ups
  • 400 meter run
  • 21 thrusters (95/65)
  • 800 meter run
  • 21 thrusters (95/65)
  • 400 meter run
  • 50 pull-ups
I completer the workout in 25:45 with a bit of modification. I knocked out maybe 30-35 of the pull-ups at the start before having to switch to jumping pull-ups with a slow negative. I also had to do the same on the pull-ups at the end but earlier, after the first 5. By the end I was doing 2 pull-ups at a time and then a second or so of rest. I also had to split the thrusters some but did do the prescribed weight. The first 21 I started with 7 then 6 and then dropped a bit until the last set I only did 3. On the second 21 thrusters I split them into sets of 3 with a short break between. I was shot by the end and felt a bit light headed. I dropped the bar rather than putting on the rack as I had been doing before. The workout felt pretty good and was fun.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Monday and Wednesday

Well I got a little backed up on the posts so this will cover two days. Monday we had the giant storm coming in but I still got up and made my way in for the 6:00 am class. I was the only one there for the class. I don't recall the warm up but the workout was a 20 minute AMRAP:
  • 25 kettlebell swings (53/35)
  • 25 wall ball shots (20/16)
  • 10 burpees
I completed 5 rounds exactly with 35# on the kettlebell and 16# on the wall ball shots. I tried starting off with the 53# kettlebell and knocked out 1 rep before I realized I would fuck my back all up if I stayed at that weight. I dropped it and grabbed the 35# kettlebell I had strategically placed directly next to me for when I wussed out on the prescribed weight. I also started the wall ball shots with 20# but switched to 16# part way through the second round. It is so much harder to push yourself when you are the only one there doing the workout. I think if someone else was next to me I likely would have done a bit more. That is not to say I wasn't wiped because I was but I think I could have pushed a bit harder. With that in mind I decided to punish myself a bit today.

Today's workout was a special Halloween WOD with the following note on the web site
Come in Costume (31 burpee penalty post-WOD for no costume)
Well, I don't ever look at the site ahead of time because I do not want to know the workout in case it is something I don't want to do so I had no costume. Not to mention, I would have had a tough time doing a workout in my costume.

The workout was a Halloween Chipper: Complete all 10 of the following for time.
  • Row for calories - 31 Cal
  • Bar facing burpees - 31 reps
  • Slam balles - 31 reps (30/20)
  • Double unders - 31 rep or single unders - 93 reps
  • Air squat - 31 reps
  • Kettlebell swings - 31 reps (53/35)
  • Box jumps - 31 reps (24/20in)
  • Toes-toBar - 31 reps
  • Dumbbell deadlift - 31 reps (2x45/2x30)
  • GHD sit-ups - 31 reps
Chipper WOD's are designed to be pretty challenging just based on quantity and variety of moves. Typically you will need to come up with some sort of rep scheme to pace yourself so you can make it through an entire chipper without failing before the end. A good example of failure before the end was my performance on the filthy fifty a while back. Because of the number of us there to do the workout we had to start at different moves in the list so we were not all on the same exercise at the same time. I started at slam balls, which in hind sight might not have been the best choice because it meant I had to end with burpees which is always a bitch. I completed the workout in 22:55 and did 35# on the swings and singles for the jump ropes. Everything else was as stated. Not a bad time for me I don't think. I was only :30 behind the one guy that beat me and he usually beats me pretty good.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Saturday Workout

My shoulder was a bit sore again this morning although not like the other day. I did some extra shoulder stretching again before the workout. The PVC arm circles hurt a bit though. The warm up started with a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 jumping jacks
  • 10 hip extensions
  • 10 PVC arm circles
  • 10 lunges
The workout prescribed was 10 rounds for time of the following:
  • 10 pull-ups
  • 10 slam balls (20/10)
  • 100 jump rope singles
That is right 100 pull-ups, 100 slam balls, and 1000 jump ropes. I finished it in 25:47, just a few seconds behind the one guy that beat me in our class. I was ahead of him until just before the end. I did well though. I was still doing kipping pull-ups by the end and I did pretty much all the others completely unbroken.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Friday Workout

Warm up started with a 2 minute jump rope followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 PVC arm circles
  • 20 lunges
  • 10 GHD sit-ups
My right shoulder was bothering me a bit and the PVC arm circles hurt some. I have been having some problem with it when I sleep, waking up because it hurts the way I am laying and then when I move it there is a pop. I talked to coach Brent about it and he had me do some extra shoulder stretches before the workout and it feels fine now. We will see what happens tonight. I also had a little bit of a sore muscle in my lower left back yesterday from an awkward run into the boards in my hockey game on wed night. I had been taking a bit of advil for that and stretching it and all seems well this morning. The prescribed workout is a modified "Murph":
  • 800 meter run
  • 100 push-ups
  • 200 abmat sit-ups
  • 300 air squats
  • 800 meter run
The normal "Murph workout would be:
  • 1 mile run
  • 100 pull-ups
  • 200 push-ups
  • 300 air squats
  • 1 mile run
Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy was a Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions when his 4 man team came under attack. All but one of the team were killed in that attack. It is worth doing a bit of reading about these guys. this was one of his favorite workouts and he was said to have done it every Wed. in body armor. So when it starts to get tough and you think you want to give up on this one suck it up and keep moving because it can't be as bad as these guys had it.

I started out strong running the first half mile in about 3:30 and then started pumping out push-ups. I made it to about 25 before I had to start breaking them into 10's then 5's, and finally by the end 2's. I had much more trouble with the sit-ups than I would have thought. I am usually really good with these but by the end I was doing them in 5's with maybe a second or two break. I guess 200 is a lot though. I did the air squats unbroken, 300 straight through with a med ball to make sure my depth was there. The first 50 meters of the second half mile was brutal after the squats. My legs felt like jello but after that they were fine and I finished it up strong in 35:40. this one was fun and you an do it anywhere.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Wednesday Workout on Tuesday

I am really mixing things up now. I have to be at a meeting for work in VA tomorrow morning early so I won't be able to make the morning workout. I instead hit the gym up tonight. The warm up started with a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds of:
  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 jumping jacks
  • 10 PVC arm circles
The workout was prescribed as the following for time:
  • 100 meter walking lunges
  • 50 push-ups
  • 50 double unders or 150 single unders
  • 25 knees to elbows
  • 50 box jumps
  • 25 overhead squats (65/45)
  • 25 pull-up
  • 50 abmat sit-ups
I completed the workout in 21:13 with a slight modification. I did the single unders instead of doubles because I can't really do doubles. I also switched from 65# to 45# at 15 reps on the overhead squats. My form was sucking at that weight and I figured I was better off keeping the form good instead of going for weight. Had I been thinking I would have put on two 5# plates instead of the 10# ones at the start so I could have dropped from 65# to 55# easily. Oh well, live and learn. I felt pretty good and it was a fun one.

Normal crap for cool down. 200 meter run and a bunch of stretching.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Monday Workout

Got in for the 6:00 am class today and the warm up started with a 500 meter row followed by  3 rounds:
  • 10 of some exercise I forget now
  • 10 PVC arm circles
  • 10 jumping air squats (seems weird given the workout today)
The workout as prescribed is For time:

10 round power clean ladder (115/85)
Cindy between each round which is
  • 5 pull-ups
  • 10 push-ups
  • 15 air squats
So what you are doing is the following:

round 1 - 1 power clean, 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats
round 2 - 2 power cleans, 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats
round 3 - 3 power cleans, 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats

You continue in this manner for 10 rounds and the whole thing is timed. coach Brent again did a very good job with explaining and demonstrating everything. I did the workout with the prescribed weight, 115#, but it took me a while. I completed it in 25:18 and the other 2 in my class were both done in under 20:00. I was struggling with the cleans by the end and actually dropped the bar 2 times on the last set of 10. I had to switch to jumping pull-ups on round 8 and I started splitting my push-ups at that point too doing 7 then a very short break, just a second or two, and then the last 3.

I finished off with the usual stretching.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Saturday on Sunday Again

I did not go to the gym yesterday morning because I had been in the evening on Friday and I was playing hockey Saturday night. I got up this morning and went to the 9:00 am class. I had not gotten home from hockey last night until midnight or so and when I got to the gym my posterior chain muscles (muscles on your rear from the base of the skull to the back of the knee) were pretty tight. Mostly my hamstrings, glutes, and lower back but my quads were a bit sore too. The warm up started with a 2 minute jump rope. I did OK on this but I think I picked a slightly short rope and it is pretty hard to do jump rope with a short rope. The rest of the warm up was 3 rounds:
  • 10 hip extensions
  • 10 PVC arm circles
  • 10 air squats
The workout was prescribed as 5 rounds for time:
The previous list has links to explanations of some of the exercises in case you don't know them. Given the soreness I was feeling in my posterior chain my heart dropped a bit when I saw this workout. I was thinking the deadlifts and slam balls were going to be brutal for me. I did the workout as prescribed in 20:46. I started pretty strong and finished as strong as I could but on the last round I split the deadlifts into 2 sets of 5 with a couple second break between them and I was doing the toes to bar moves one at a time. I did the slam balls on the last round in 2 sets of 10. I thought that was not too bad. The toes to bar seems to be one I struggle with and it is weird because it is not the move itself that is a problem but the grip. As I move through the workout it seems to get harder and harder to hold the bar without slipping off. I could probably do the moves 5 at a time at the end of this one if I could keep my hands on the bar. I might have to do some digging around online to see if there are any pointers for improving on that. I don't have grip issues with pull-ups but knees to elbows and toes to bar are tough to hold on for.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Friday Workout

So I missed the 6:00 am workout because my alarm was not set as I thought it was. I woke up at 6:00 am so obviously I couldn't get there. Instead I went to work early and then went to the 5:30 pm class. Very different vibe and crowd in the evening but it was good. The warm up started with a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds:
  • 5 pull-ups
  • 10 PVC arm circles
  • 20 flutter kicks
The workout was interesting and brutal. It was called deck of cards and here is how it works. There are 5 exercises each assigned a suit and one assigned to the jokers as follows.
  • Hearts - burpees
  • Diamonds - abmat sit-up
  • Spades - mountain climbers (4 count)
  • Clubs - medicine ball cleans (20/16)
  • Jokers - 400 meter run
You then take a standard deck of cards and shuffle it. Flip the first card and do the prescribed exercise for the number of reps indicated on the card. Face cards are 10 reps, aces are 20 reps, and all others are the value shown. Continue turning the cards over and doing this until you work your way through the entire deck and record your time. There is a 40 minute limit so you either make it through the deck in less that that or you stop at 40:00. I completed the deck in 36:53 which judging by the times posted on the gym web site is pretty good although I was second to last in the group I was working out with and the girl behind me did not finish the deck. This is a pretty brutal workout as I mentioned and my legs were screaming by the end. We got kind of lucky and all the aces came out real early, at least I think that is lucky but who knows. This work out sort of reminded me a bit of the filthy fifty we did shortly after I joined the gym and I think it is interesting that at the time I was unable to finish that one. I think I am definitely getting stronger. I need to go take a shower now because I smell ripe.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Wednesday Workout

The warm up started with a 2 minute jump rope. My calves were still pretty sore from Monday but I did pretty well. I am actually getting a bit better at these and made it almost the entire 2 minutes without tripping over the rope. If I keep this up I might have to start trying some double unders at some point. That was followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 air squats
  • 10 PVC around the world stretch
  • 10 push-ups
I can't seem to find a video on the PVC around the world stretch so you will just have to imagine it. the workout prescribed was a 20 minute AMRAP:
  • 10 Sumo deadlift high pulls (115/75)
  • 15 pull-ups
  • 20 GHD sit-ups
If you don't remember the first move check out this video. This video irks me a bit because I have seen enough of Glassman's other videos to know this is his douchness even though they don't show him and he just annoys the crap out of me. I completed 4 rounds and made it through 14 of the GHD sit-ups on the 5th round but my weight was only 95#, 115# was just too much for me on the second half of this move. The new coach was there again this morning, coach Brent. He is so much better than any other crossfit coach I have had. He walks us through the warm up and then gathers everyone around for full demonstration and instruction on all moves. He then has each of us do a couple reps of each and coaches us to proper form all before the actual workout starts. He also actively comments and corrects throughout the workout as well as encourages. It sounds like they may add a couple more 6:00 am classes on Tuesday's and Thursday's soon now that he is there. That would be nice since I could get all 4 days in during the week and even do makeup days if needed while still keeping the weekend free.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Monday Workout

I am a bit late getting this put in and I don't remember the warm up. The workout was 4 rounds for time:
  • 25 Wall ball shots (20/16)
  • 25 Abmat sit-ups
  • 100 Single under jump ropes
According to the web site I completed this in 18:36 with a 16# ball. I think the coach screwed up the time a bit and we were actually 2:00 faster than what he was calling but I could be wrong. He originally set up the clock wrong, for an 8:00 count down instead of counting up. Then after it ran out he called the 10:00 mark instead of 8:00. It was a new coach, coach Brent. He just started coaching a couple months ago and will be doing all the 6:00 am classes for now. He was pretty good and provided much more input and interaction than Michele and Jay do. I started off with the 20# ball and switched to the 16# about half way through the workout when I could ot get the 20# ball up to the 10 foot mark any longer. My squats are very low on this move and my legs were screaming by the end. On the last round I was only knocking out 5 in a row before I would rest for a couple seconds and stand because my quads just wouldn't go any longer. When I finished the last round and tried to walk to the abmat my legs were not wanting to walk they were so shredded. At one point when I took a break coach Brent told me if my knees were hurting to not go as low. I explained my knees were fine and it was the quads that were killing me an I finished off as I had been doing.

After the workout my sister and I went to do a hike at Old Rag Mountain. We did the loop which is probably 8-9 miles and it was fun. The uphill part was rough and the last mile is a lot of rock scrambling and even some almost rock climbing moves. My legs were shot by the time we made it back to the car for the ride home. I am feeling pretty good today though although my glutes hurt a bit. The views from the summit were amazing as well. If you have a chance to do this hike I would highly recommend it. Here are some pictures from along the way. It rained on us pretty good on the way up but then cleared and was nice.



Sunday, October 14, 2012

Sunday Workout

Warm up this morning was a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 jumping jacks
  • 10 air squats
  • 10 PVC arm circles
Seems they could use a bit more imagination on the warm ups but at least I don't have to think of it. There were 2 people involved in the challenge there this morning and the other 4 of us were members. The workout this morning was a partner workout prescribed as:
  • 20 calorie row
  • 30 hand release push-ups
  • 30 sumo deadlift high pulls (65/53)
  • 30 knees to elbows
  • 50 meter overhead walking lunges (45/25)
  • 50 meter sprint
Hand release push-ups sound odd but they are pretty simple, have a look at this video. The sumo deadlift high pull is kind of a variation on an upright row, see this video. Knees to elbows is pretty self explanatory but here is a video just in case. We did overhead walking lunges not long ago but in case you forgot here is a video of that. The way this workout was set up you did it with a partner and one of you goes and does the first exercise while the other rests and then the second does the first exercise while the second rests then move on to the next exercise. Sounds pretty easy right? I guess it depends on which exercise and who your partner is. My partner and I completed this in something like 16:30 but I don't know for sure because there are no results on the web site. Coach Jay was there today and it seems he does not really put our results in. Kind of pisses me off a bit given the amount of cash we are spending on the membership it seems this is about the least he could do, oh well. I went second which seemed like a reasonable thing to do until we got to the end. I completed the walking lunges and had almost no time for my legs to recover before the 50 meter sprint. At least it was the end though so I push through and finished it off fast. The knees to elbows are hard as shit. It is not so much the move that is a problem as it is being able to hold on to the bar for that long. It never seems so bad with pull-ups but this move makes it tough to hold on.

Cool down was a 200 meter run and a bunch of stretching.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Saturday Workout

Warm up started with a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 jumping jacks
  • 10 air squats
  • 10 PVC arm circles
The workout was a 20 minute AMRAP (As Many Rounds as Possible)
  • 10 burpees
  • 10 tire flip/jumps
  • 20 GHD sit ups
There were a pile of people there again today. The gym is doing some sort of challenge with an outside organization and it is full of people and none of them really know what they are doing. Also they are deaf so it is hard to help them figure out what they are doing. They are all very nice but it is a bit frustrating. I was the only actual member of the gym today. I am not trying to complain because I enjoyed helping them out but it is costing me time and intensity on my workout. I completed 4 round and then up to 7 sit-ups on the 5th round. The tire flips were a bit different this time than last, this time we did flip/jumps. Instead of just flipping you add a jump, much like a box jump to the move. Have a look at this video for a demonstration. I also substituted abmat sit-ups for the GHD sit-ups part way through round 3 because my ankle started bothering me.

Cool down was 200 meter run plus a bunch of stretching.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Friday Workout

Back to the gym today after missing Wednesday. I missed one day and I walk in at 6:00 am and there are 5 other people there none of which I recognized. It turns out that the gym is doing some sort of challenge through an outside organization and there are a bunch of people showing up as part of that. All of the people that showed were also deaf, we have a large deaf population in the area, which is good since I make all kinds of grunting and groaning noises when I work out.

The warm up started with 200 single under jumping jacks followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 air squats
  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 push-ups
The workout was a strength workout written up on the board as For Weight:
  • 5,5,5,5,5 Back squat
  • 5,5,5,5,5 Front squat
The idea is you increase the weight each time to get to the highest weight you can do the 5 reps at with good form. I did the back squats with 135#, 135#, 145#, 145#, 155# and the front squats with 115#, 125#, 135#, 135#, 145#. I used a medicine ball behind me to make sure I was dropping as low as needed to get the full effect. The medicine ball is just there to make sure you get the full range of motion not to be used as a bouncing device. The sets where I did not increase weight were due to me feeling my form had suffered on the previous set, i.e. getting on toes at some point instead of pushing through heels or not getting full range of motion, and I did not want to increase the weight until I got the full 5 with good form. The last set of front squats I only got in 3 reps before I dropped the bar, could not make those last 2 happen but I will get it next time. I think I can probably do a bit more on the back squats next time. I might start 10# higher next time.

Standard crap on the cool down.


Wednesday, October 10, 2012

No Wednesday Workout

I did not go to the gym this morning. I had a hockey game last night and got home late and I have another game tonight late. I think I will go both Saturday and Sunday this week to make up for the missed day.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Mmmmmmm Bacon

I would not be at all surprised to see this activity listed on the whiteboard one day when I get to the gym (thanks mom for the link). I thought I smelled bad when I left the gym, imagine what these guys smell like.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Monday Workout

Warm up started with 200 single under jump ropes. Once again I proved I am the most uncoordinated jack ass in the gym. That was followed with 3 rounds:
  • 10 ab mat sit-ups
  • 10 jumping jacks
  • 10 mountain climbers
The workout then consisted of 5 rounds for time:
  • 10 man makers
  • 400 meter run
I was not familiar with the man maker sequence, or so I thought, so coach Michele demonstrated. Here is a video of the move. First thing I need to do is confess this video does not represent what we did because it does not represent what coach Michele showed us. We only did one push-up, so after dropping down we did both rows followed by one push-up only. I found a lot of videos describing this exercise and all of them had two push-ups in them. According to the gym website I completed this workout in 22:17 and used a pair of 25# dumbbells. I believe that time is correct but I can't take credit for 25# since I only did it with 20# dumbbells. I finished up with some stretching as usual.

I never did update yesterday's workout with the results since the gym never updated their site with the results, slackers. I do know we did over 1000 reps but not sure what the real number was.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Saturday Workout on Sunday

No workout Saturday. I did an evening workout on Friday and the gym had an intro to crossfit and paleo seminar Saturday so there were no classes anyway. My wife went to the seminar and was less than impressed with the paleo stuff which is fine with me since I think we eat fine now. she said she probably didn't hear anything more about crossfit than what I had already told her either but she did go. I don't think she is going to give the crossfit a try, she will probably stick to her yoga.

Today the warm up started with a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 air squats
  • 10 jumping jacks
  • 10 mountain climbers
The workout for the day is a bit confusing. The way it is written up is as follows:

With A Partner:

8 Minutes:
• Ab Mat Sit-Ups
• Wall Ball Shots (20/14)
>REST 3 Minutes
8 Minutes:
• Ground To Overhead (115/75)
• Burpee Box Jumps (24/20)
>REST 3 Minutes
8 Minutes:
• Double Unders
• KB Swings (35/53)
>REST 3 Minutes
8 Minutes:
• Pull-Ups
• Push-Ups

The way this works is you do the workout with someone else and you each do one of the two exercises in each 8 minute period but not the same one to start and when one of you needs to switch you swap exercises. The idea is you are never both doing the same exercise. The score for this is the total number of reps on all exercises. Each person must do each exercise at least once, so you can't have one person do all of the pull-ups and the other do all the push-ups. I started on the wall ball shots and my partner on the ab mat sit-ups. I knocked out 20 right away unbroken which is pretty good for me. I did a pile of ab mat sit-ups on that first 8 minutes as well. That is one of my better exercises. I think the second 8 minutes was the hardest. I started with 115# on the bar but by the time the 8 minutes was up I think I was down to 85#. On the third 8 minutes I did the kettlebell swings with 35#, still not feeling like 53# is a reasonable weight for me but maybe in a couple months the way things are going. Also, both my partner and I did single unders instead of doubles. This means we had to half our rep count. Last 8 was pretty straight forward. The surprising thing to me was how long the 3 minute rest felt. I was expecting it to fly by but in all cases it seemed like a long time.

Today's scores have still not been put up on the web site. Coach Jay was there today and he does not seem real good at getting the results up very quickly, but that is a completely different story that I don't think I will get into now. I will update this when they post the results but we did something north of 1000 reps although I can't remember the exact number.

I had to bring the kids to the gym today because my wife had yoga. They are fine with that there and there are some toys and such there for them.They like watching too and sometimes  including today, they will do some rowing. There were a couple other kids there as well and the kids had fun. The other coach at the gym was there today too, I think her name was coach Sue. This was the first time I had met her and I liked her. She is in great shape, thick as hell especially the legs and she was really getting in there and trying to motivate and coach.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Friday Workout

I had a 10:00 pm hockey game last night so I did not get up this morning for the 6:00 am workout. I did make it to the 6:30 pm class after work. This is the first time I have gone in the evening and I was the only one there. I am sure most others are having a beer at 6:30 pm on a Friday. Coach Michele was surprised to see me at that time, said I was 12 hours late.

The warm up started with a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 air squats
  • 10 push ups
  • 10 jumping jacks
The workout started with a 1 rep max:
  • shoulder press
  • deadlift
  • back squat
The deal was do one rep 3 times increasing the weight each time to find your max on the third. Your score is the sum of all 3 max weights lifted. I did 115# max shoulder press, 265# ma deadlift, and 185# max back squat for a total weight of 565#. I put a wall ball down for the squat portion to make sure I dropped far enough since I find it is relatively easy to cheat by an inch or two if you don't have it there. This was the first time I had done one of these max weight tests so it will be interesting to see what kind of improvement in strength I have next time.

The workout then finished up with a 1000 meter row for time. I completed the row in 3:46 which I thought was pretty good but I might have been able to do a bit better. I started of very fast and didn't finish as fast. I should have started slightly slower and I might have been able to finish much stronger.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Wednesday Workout

Warm up started with a 500 meter row followed by 3 rounds:

  • 10 abmat sit-ups
  • 10 ...
Crap! I can't remember but you get the idea. The workout was "Cindy" which is a 20 minute As Manay Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) workout with the following being one round.

  • 5 pull-ups
  • 10 push-ups
  • 15 air squats
I completed 12 rounds plus an extra 4 pull-ups. I did have to start doing jumping pull-ups at some pint during the workout, I think it was around the 6th round but I am not 100% sure. I would do as many without as I could and then jump for 1 or 2. By the end I was doing all 5 jumping with a slow negative. There were only 2 of us there this morning, Jackie and myself. Jackie kicked my ass on this workout with a bit over 18 rounds. It amazes me how some people can seem to do pull-ups with little or no effort and here I am trying to squeeze these things out and struggling.

The cool down was a 200 meter run followed by much stretching as usual.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Monday Workout

Started off with 200 single under jump ropes just so I could demonstrate to everyone my complete lack of coordination, SUCCESS!! That was followed with a warm up of 3 rounds:

  • 10 air squats
  • 10 abmat sit-ups
  • 10 PVC arm circles
We then did a 10 minute skills work, no timer, in which we practiced Turkish get-ups. If you are unfamiliar with these, as I was, have a look at this video. I have done these a couple of times before with dumbbells when I was doing my own workouts at home but never with the kettlebells. These things are pretty difficult to get right and I can't imagine doing much wight with it if you were doing a timed workout. I was using a 25# kettlebell but might have been able to get as high as 30# if I did not need to do a lot. This is one of those moves that you risk dropping something real heavy on your head.

Following that we dis 20 minutes for total reps of overhead walking lunges (45/25). This move looks something like this although I think this guy needs to extend his arms more. I was initially concerned that my glutes and hamstrings were still sore from Saturday's workout but as it turns out that was the least of my worries. I could probably have done the lunges all day if I had the weight on a bar sitting on my shoulders or something. The real problem for me turned out to be holding 45# over my head for that amount of time. I did  the work in sets of 10 with a few seconds between sets, the few seconds got longer as time went on. I completed 250 reps in the 20 minute time frame. This is a great core workout which also surprised me, although I don't know why now that I think about it. It takes a lot of core strength to hold that weight overhead and do that move without falling over.

I cooled down with a 200 meter run and a bunch of stretching. Felt pretty damn good but I think I am going to be sore tomorrow.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Saturday Workout

Warm up for today was 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 push-ups
  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 abmat sit-ups
The prescribed workout was 3 rounds for time:
  • 100 yard walking lunges
  • 50 push press (45/33)
  • 10 tire flips
My wife and kids read this one on line after I left and decided to come watch because the kids wanted to see me flip tires. I performed the workout as prescribed and completed it in 24:35. I struggled a bit with the push presses, any overhead move seems to give me trouble. I knocked out 25 in a row the first round but by the last round I was doing sets of 10 before taking a couple seconds to breathe. The tire flips were fun, I had not done them before. Since I had someone there watching I got a couple of pictures. The kids got to try out the rowing machines as well which I think they enjoyed.




Friday, September 28, 2012

Friday Workout

Warm up starts with 200 single under jump ropes. Interesting change from the 400 meter run we usually do but I am uncoordinated as hell. Then 3 rounds:

  • 10 air squats
  • 10 GHD sit-ups
  • 10 pull-ups
The prescribed workout was 30 clean and jerks (135/95) for time followed by a 1 mile run. I loaded up with 135# and tried to pick the thing up and there was no way I was going to clean that. I bounced around for a bit and settled on 105# to start but after maybe 3 I had to drop to 95# where I left it for the remainder of the 30. I completed these in 8:29. Next the mile run which I had not done at this gym before so I was not sure where to go. They directed me but I missed the turn around mark on the ground for some reason and turned around at the end of the road instead. I completed the run in 9:29 but I do not know how long it was other than it was more than 1 mile. I have been doing a mile in something like 8:00 minutes lately.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Wednesday Workout

I was out of town for work yesterday so could not make it to the gym. I instead rolled my ass out of bed at the hotel at 5:30 am and did my own workout.
  • Run 1 mile
  • 50 burpees
  • Run 1 mile
I did the first mile in 8 minutes and then started pumping out burpees. By the end of the 50 I was gassed though and walked maybe 100-200 meters at the start of the second mile. I finished it up in 22:43 according to my phone and the mapmyrun application. I am not 100% sure of the time on the second mile but I think it was something like 9:30, slow as shit. I will probably try to do this one again next time I travel to see if I can improve.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Monday Workout

Coach Michele was nice enough to repeat 3 of yesterdays 100 rep exercises during the warm up today for us so that was nice. We started off with a 400 meter run as usual and moved on to 3 rounds of:
  • 10 air squats
  • 10 abmat sit-ups
  • 10 push-ups
surprisingly I knocked all this out with no problem. When I first saw it up there I thought it might be a little tough for a warm up after yesterday. The prescribed workout was the following for time:
  • 30 toes to bar
  • 30 deadlifts (185/135)
  • 30 double unders (90 singles but not Rx'ed)
  • 30 hang cleans (95/65)
I have never done the toes to bar move before so coach Michele gave me the quick run down while I was waiting for Jackie to finish her warm up. I am usually the first one there and done with the warm up before everyone else. I tried one and was surprised I was actually able to get my toes up to the bar. If you don't know what this is have a look at this video, they make it look much easier than it is. I looked more like the bad examples by the end. I then went to set up my weights. I put the full weight on each, 185# for deadlift and 95# for hang clean, and tried a rep. I thought it didn't seem too bad so I figured I would try the weights as prescribed. I started off pretty good with the toes to bar and actually got my toes up above the bar for about the first 15. I did not do them unbroken though, this is a pretty hard pone to hold on to the bar on. After 15 I was doing maybe 3-4 at a time and not quite getting my toes above the bar. By the end I was looking a bit sloppy and doing 1-2 at a time but I finished it. I did all the deadlifts with the prescribed weight but did stop a few times during the 30. I stated off doing maybe 5 at a time and finished doing sets of 3. I did 90 single unders rather than the double unders which I just can't seem to do. Someone else there was doing doubles and only doing one at a time because they were tripping every other time. They then would take time reset and start again repeating the process. My thought is I would rather do the 90 and be able to keep moving through the whole thing and get a better workout from it but what the hell do I know. Finally came the hang cleans, check this video out for a demo. I did this one with the prescribed weight of 95# as well and started off strong with a couple sets of 5 but by the end I was doing them 2 at a time. This one is tricky as when you get tired you really need to concentrate on getting yourself down low in the squat position so you can get under that bar. I finished in 17:12 and I am pretty happy with that, especially considering I think this is the first workout I have done without scaling the weights.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Saturday Workout, on Sunday

My parents were here yesterday so I did not go to the gym for the Saturday workout. Instead I went in this morning. The other owner was there today, Coach Michele's husband. He seems like a nice guy. The workout today was a repeat of one we did on September 9th, "Angie." If you recall I did it incorrectly at home that day so today's is a better representation of my performance. If you don't remember you can check out that post here. The workout is prescribed as follows for time:
  • 100 pull-ups
  • 100 push-ups
  • 100 sit-ups
  • 100 air squats
The rules are that you have to completely finish one exercise, all 100, before moving on to the next. That is where I screwed up last time and it apparently made it much easier. This time I did the progression as you are supposed to and recorded a time of 26:30 which is 7:01 slower than the last time when I did it wrong. I used a blue band on the pull-ups after about the first 15 and was doing jumps by the end with a slow drop on the way down. I made sure to get my chin above the bar on every one of them though so that is good. I also did the last 15 push-ups on my knees but I was getting my chest all the way to the floor for the whole 100. The sit-ups were done as ab-mat sit-ups as we were told to do by coach Jay. If you don't know what these are you can check this video out. I used a ball for the air squats to make sure I was getting down below 90 degrees as you are supposed to do. The air squats were probably my strongest move in this workout and I rolled through them with minimal breaks and even when I did break it was maybe a second or two. The sit-ups are probably a close second best and I clearly suck most at the pull-ups as usual. The lesson of the day is 100 pull-ups is a lot of pull-ups.

Edit: I forgot the warm up. Ran 400 meters followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 PVC arm circles
  • 10 walking lunges
  • 10 dips

Friday, September 21, 2012

Friday Workout

Warm up today started with a 400 meter run, shocking. We then did 3 rounds:
  • 10 hip extensions
  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 push-ups
The workout was prescribed as:

For weight:
  • Clean & Jerk 5,5,5,5,5
For distance:
  • 10 minute row
I had coach Michele walk me through the Clean & Jerk since I have not done this one before. I have done cleans but no jerks. If you are unfamiliar with it you can see some instruction here. I probably need a bit of work on my clean movement as I felt off on it part way through the workout. I went over and grabbed 33# bar and practiced a few with that to get back into the feel of it before I continued the next set. I did the 5 sets with 75#,85#,95#,105#,105#. I think that with a bit of practice on the clean I could up this a good bit pretty quickly. I did not seem to have much problem on this one with the jerk part, I can be a jerk no problem. I hit the rowing machine for 10 minutes at at the finish I had completed 2377 meters. Not bad I guess but I would have liked to have hit 2500 meters at least. Something to shoot for next time I guess.