Sunday, June 30, 2013

Lazy with the blog

I have not been very good about posting anything here lately. I have had lots of hockey the last 2 weeks and we wen camping for a weekend so I have not had as many workouts as normal either. I can't really remember all the workouts since last time I posted but one was 21-18-15-12-9-6-3:

  • Thruster
  • lateral bar jumps
  • burpees
Additionally you were to do a 100 meter dash between each round. I used 78# on the bar and completed in 25:52. My legs were a wreck at the end. Today I did Fran plus a mile. 21-15-9

  • Thruster (95/65)
  • pull-ups
Then run a mile. I just did this a few weeks back and completed the fran portion in 8:40 with 78# on the bar. Today I started with 93# and dropped it after 4 reps of round 2. I completed the fran portion in 9:28. I was doing the 93# thrusters 2 and 3 at a time after the first 10. My transition to the run took me like 1:30 which is kind of a long time. I work out in the basement and by the time I pulled off my gloves and got my ear buds and music going it was 11:00 in. I finished the run in just over 8:00, clock read 19:08 at the finish. Running in this humid nasty weather sucks. I have a spartan race coming up in august, I better get serious about training.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Run

Went for a run this afternoon. It was warm and pretty damn humid. Felt kind of like running in soup. I only went 2.69 miles according to mapmyrun and my pace was pretty slow, 7:53. I should probably run a little more especially with a race coming up in August. I am doing a Spartan race.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Fran plus some

Warmed up with a bunch of jumping jacks and then a bunch of stretching today. The workout was Fran plus a mile. Fran is 21-15-9:

  • Thrusters(95/65)
  • pull-ups
So you do 3 rounds with 21 reps of each exercise the first time, 15 the second, and 9 the third. I dropped the weight on the thrusters to 78#, I am still a lazy ass, and did most of the pull-ups jumping with a slow negative. I completed this in 8:40 which is pretty slow by crossfit standards but I was sweating like a pig and felt like I was getting a good workout so I don't really care. The fran portion was followed up with a 1 mile run and I have no idea what my total time was with that because my phone, which I use as a stopwatch, rebooted once I started running. The run seemed like a reasonable pace though, maybe 8:00 or a bit less.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Seven

Warm up this morning I did 200 jump rope singles followed by 2 rounds of:

  • 10 air squats
  • 10 pull-ups
  • 10 PVC arm circles
Workout was seven rounds for time:

  • 200 meter run
  • 5 hand release push-ups
  • 10 push press (95/65)
  • 15 abmat sit-ups
I loaded the bar with 93# and after the first 2 reps it was pretty clear that was not going to work for me. I dropped it down to 78# and finished the workout at that weight. I finished the first round in something like 3:30 and that included the slow down to remove a little weight. I decided I wanted to do the total workout in under 21:00 based on that so I had something to shoot for. I am finding that a useful technique, do one round and then set a goal for the total workout based on that, helps me since I have no one to compete with like at the gym.I did the push presses from the ground since I did the workout in the garage due to the run. This means there was a clean at the start of that exercise in each round. I did most of the push press unbroken. I put the bar down once in round 4 and once on the last round but that was it and both times I jumped back in quick. All others were unbroken. I ended up finishing in 21:02 so I missed my goal but not by too much, if I had not put the bar down those 2 times I would have made it. What a lazy ass.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Workout.. and Coffee, MMMM

Started the warm up with a 400 meter run, holy shit are my hamstrings sore as hell. I then did 3 rounds:

  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 abmat sit-ups
  • 10 push-ups
The workout today is a hero WOD in honor of Army 1stLt Omar Vazquez who was killed by an IED in Iraq in 2011. There is a news article about it here and many more sources for information if you are interested. The workout is prescribed as:

  • 10 thrusters (95/65)
  • 15 bar facing burpees
  • 20 thrusters (95/65)
  • 25 bar facing burpees
  • 30 thrusters (95/65)
  • 35 bar facing burpees
I started off with 93# on the bar and knocked out the first round pretty damn fast, a little over 3:00 without stopping at all on the thrusters. On round two I hit a bit of a wall and I had to drop the weight to keep my intensity up. I dropped to 78# after the first 13 of round 2 and finished with that. I might have been able to do the 93# all the way through but I was doing one at a time and wanted to get going a bit faster. I did round three thrusters in sets of 3 with a few seconds between. My range of motion and form were very good all the way through though so I am pretty happy with that. I also split the burpees a bit on the last round doing 10 at a time with a brief break and then back in. I was sweating like crazy by the end. I completed the workout in 19:13. I did some stretching after to cool down. Sarah did a few thrrusters as well and then even tried with a bit of weight on the bar. She is doing well but we need to get her doing some strength work, I will have to look into that.

I read an article this morning in the NY Times about the health benefits of drinking coffee. I know there is some discussion among thee crossfit community on coffee and if you should drink it or not. I have never given it up. I figure I drink it black so I really am adding nothing as far as calories, I think it is maybe 2 calories a cup, and I just enjoy it so I am going to drink it. The article talks a bit about some studies that indicate reduction in all kinds of things from cancer to diabetes to Alzheimer's. There does not appear to be any direct evidence of a causal relationship but there is a strong correlation in many of the studies. I am mostly just happy to have someone tell me it is good to drink my 5 cup pot every morning, not that I was going to stop anyway.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Jello

I did a warm up this morning that was a 400 meter run followed by 50 jumping jacks. I then did a bunch of stretching. The workout for today was 3 rounds for time:

  • 50 straight leg deadlifts (95/65)
  • 50 air squats
  • 50 GHD sit-ups
  • 50 GHD hip extensions
First problem is I don't have a GHD machine. Those things run anywhere from $400 to $800 and after reading a bunch about possible back issues from GHD sit-ups I swore I will never do them again anyway. I substituted abmat sit-ups for the GHD sit-ups. This is not really an accurate substitute I know but like I mentioned I have no desire to be going below vertical on these anyway given my history with lower back disks. Got the GHD hip extensions I put weights on my bench and laid stomach down on a stability ball with my heels hooked under the bench. This worked pretty well and is an accurate substitute. I had never done, or even seen, the straight leg deadlift so I read a bit last night and watched a few videos. This is a good one that goes over all the key points. I have not checked out men's health for videos since starting crossfit but as I recall from when I was doing my own programming they have a bunch of good ones explaining all the exercises, I will have to have a look around there again. I tried a few of these with no weight on the bar to make sure I had the move down and then loaded up. I loaded to 93#, as close to 95# as I can get without going over, and gave it a try. It did not seem near as heavy as I thought it was going to be. I completed the workout at that weight. This workout took me forever; I finished in 35:46. I was shocked at how much work my legs were getting throughout this one. By the end of round one my legs were shaky and weak as hell. I never would have thought this from looking at the moves. I also had some grip troubles on the deadlifts as my forearms were on fire after the first round. I had to take many quick 1-5 second rests throughout this one except on the abmat sit-ups which I did unbroken on all 3 rounds. My legs feel like jello right now and I am sure they are going to be sore tomorrow. I did some stretching after to cool down.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Hero WOD

Got up this morning and started with a warm up of 150 jump rope singles followed by 3 rounds:

  • 10 push-ups
  • 10 abmat sit-ups
  • 10 air squats
I also did some stretching once I got that done. Today's workout was DT, with a bit of an extra thrown on the end. DT is a hero WOD named in honor of USAF SSGT Timothy P. Davis who was killed in February 2009 by an IED. To learn a bit more about him you can have a look here or I am sure you can find more info elsewhere. The workout is prescribed as 5 rounds for time:

  • 12 Deadlift (155/115)
  • 9 Hang power clean (155/115)
  • 6 Push jerk (155/115)
Now I con deadlift 155# but there is no chance in hell I am cleaning or push jerking 155#. I put 153# on my deadlift bar, I have 28# bars so my numbers will vary a little from standard. I loaded up another bar with 113# and tried a couple cleans and it was not happening. I lowered it until I felt I could do both exercises without killing my form. I settled on 78# and then began the workout. I had to split the deadlifts into 2 sets of 6 with a second or two in between. On the cleans I was doing 2 sets each time as well of 5 and 4. My forearms were screaming on those. I also put the bar back down after the cleans so I had to do one extra each round to get to the rack position for the push jerk.  I was able to do all the push jerks unbroken at that weight. I probably could have done a bit more on the push jerk but I only have 2 bars so there was no way I could do 3 different weights without spending a lot of time switching weights. I completed the 5 rounds in 20:10 and was sweating like a whore in church by the end.

The bit of extra I mentioned was that once this DT workout is done you go immediately into a timed 1 mile run. I completed the mile in 7:40, not bad considering I just did that workout.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Monday and back at it

I did not do a workout this weekend. I was thinking of it on Saturday morning but I had a hockey game at 3:00 on Saturday and decided it would be better to just skip that. We won. This morning I started out with 100 jump rope singles and 3 rounds:

  • 10 jumping jacks
  • 10 abmat sit-ups
  • 10 PVC arm circles
I followed that with a bit of stretching and then went into some strength work which was 5 sets of 5 on the bench. This is the first time I have done bench presses at home since getting that new bench and it worked out pretty well. Sarah got up and did this as well, gotta have a spotter when doing bench press. I did the sets with 118#, 128#, 138#, 148#, 153#. I needed a little spot on the last 2 on the last set at 153#. This was then followed up with a METCON of 21-15-9-15-21

  • Push press (95/65)
  • Weighted step ups (95/65)
I did 83# on the push press for the entire workout. For the step ups I used the bench with a pair of dumbbells and started with 80# (40#each). I dropped during the 9 rep set to 70# (35# each) and then again during the second 15 rep set to 60#. I was getting a tweak in my upper back at the top of the step up on the right side and it finally went away when I hit 60#. If I do this again I think I could do 10# more on the push press and try to stay at 80# on the step ups. I finished in 17:22. By the last round I was doing 5 at a time on the push press but a real quick 1-2 second stop, just long enough to step away from the bar. I also had to split the step ups into sets by the end too. My forearms were screaming and the grip just could not make it to 21.