Saturday Workout - Sore

My triceps are sore as shit today. I guess it is from those 100 ring push-ups yesterday. There were push-ups in the warm up today and man did they hurt. The workout was prescribed as the following for time.

• 30 deadlifts (185/135)
• 1 mile run or 2000 meter row
• 10 rope ascents
• 1 mile run or 2000 meter row
• 100 air squats

The kicker on this was it was maybe 17 degrees out this morning. Even so I still chose the run over the row. I did the deadlifts with the prescribed weight but could not get the rope ascents. I did 3 rope ascents and my triceps were so sore I was afraid I was going to fall off at the top. I substituted the remaining 7 rope ascents with 9 pull-ups for each for a total of 63 pull-ups. I did them jumping with a slow negative as I normally do. I completed the workout in 32:12, not bad I guess especially considering we rarely run.

Friday Workout

I went in and started the warm up with 100 single under jump ropes based on the board and then continued to the rest of the warm up which was 3 rounds:

• 10 box step ups
• 10 PVC around the worlds
• 10 air squats

In the middle of my warm up Jackie and rob showed up and started theirs. I was very surprised to see both of them doing jumping jacks. I looked at the board again and sure enough it said 100 jumping jacks. I guess I need to pay a little better attention to detail. The workout was 10 rounds for time:

• 10 thrusters (95/65)
• 10 ring push-ups

This is a hero WOD named for Army Sgt Keith Adam Coe who was killed inIraq in April of 2010. For more information check out this site. I had never done the ring push-ups so coach Brent explained them. This video is closest to what we did that I could find. Look at the second part except we had weights under our feet so our feet were at the same height as the bottom of the rings. You lower through the rings with elbows tight to the body and extend back all the way up. I started with the 95# on thrusters but quickly dropped it to 75#. I completed the workout in 29:18. If the ring push-ups ever show up on a WOD again I will be sure to wear a long sleeve shirt, the outside of my upper arms is rubbed a bit raw from rubbing the straps. It kind of feels like I have a sunburn which is odd since it is supposed to snow today.

  

Weak Ass Women

Now that I got your attention with the title have a read of the article I am referring to here. The message is clear ladies, get to the gym and get there now. I do take issue with the little box at the end of the article titled "Three Easy Ways to Fight Back." I have talked about this before, if it is easy you are doing it wrong. I have no problem with the suggestions given there but to suggest this is all you need to do to build muscle is irresponsible. If you want to build some muscle you need to be lifting heavy weights and everyone should want to build some muscle. Not that you want to be a bodybuilder but do large muscle group exercises and full body exercises and do them with heavy weights. Deadlifts, squats, push press, cleans, etc. So get to the gym girls you won't get too muscular.

Wednesday Workout

It was cold as shit when I got up to go to the gym this morning, 9 degrees. I dragged my ass out though and made it on time. The warm up was 500 jump rope singles. I don't actually know how many I did but it was maybe 5 minutes. I had to change ropes 2 times because I was not careful on size on the first one and the second one kept getting tangled. The rest of the warm-up was 3 rounds

• 10 PVC arm circles
• 20 mountain climbers
• 10 air squats

The workout was the following for time:

• 10 HSPU (Hand Stand Push-Ups)
• 20 box jumps (24/20)
• 30 pull-ups
• 40 hand release push-ups
• 50 kettlebell swings (53/35)
• 60 burpees
• 70 abmat sit-ups
• 80 air squats

I did pike push-ups with my feet on the 24" box instead of HSPU. I got in the HSPU position initially but there was no chance I was going to be able to do them. I also did most all my pull-ups jumping as I tend to do. I did the kettlebell swings with a 35# kettlebell. I completed in 23:26 and felt pretty good about it.

Interesting

In case you needed another reason to get to the gym and eat right a recent study found that being obese increases your odds of dying if you are in a car accident. The article can be found here. The full text of the article from the emergency Medicine Journal can be found here. Interestingly there is some additional risk to being an underweight male as well although not as much as being overweight. Women seem to have more risk if overweight as well which is interesting. So get to the gym and for God sake put down that snickers bar before you kill yourself on the road!!

Monday Workout

I was still sore this morning going into the gym, that Friday workout was a bitch. Adding Saturday on top of it probably didn't help. I was the only one there this morning and knocked the warm up out real quick. It was 200 single jump ropes followed by 3 rounds:

• 10 abmat sit-ups
• 10 hip extensions
• 10 air squats

We then were to do a bit of skill work. This was prescribed as 15 minutes of work on wall climbs. I had looked them up last night and found this video. Just ignore the douche with his shirt off, this is the kind of shit that gives crossfit a bad name. We all get that you are a bad ass, now put your shirt back on at the gym please. These turned out to be a bit easier than I was thinking they would be and I did a number of them. There were 2 parts that were maybe a bit tricky. First your feet tend to slip on the wall a bit but that will depend on your wall and shoes so maybe not a problem for you. The other thing is I did not go all the way to having my chest against the wall. I was a few inches probably from the wall at the top of the move. I really felt like if I went any further I would fall over backwards and I did not want to risk that. This seems to be a real good core exercise as well as the obvious shoulders and arms work going on. I think they will be working this in to a WOD somewhere soon, should be fun.

The workout was prescribed as a ladder:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

• hang power cleans (135/95)
• pull-ups

Sounds simple right. Well I put the prescribed 135# on and there was no way I was going to hang clean that. I worked down and settled on the 95# weight for this workout and was ready to go. I think I could have done a lot more if we were just to do power cleans rather than hang cleans. You can get a bit of momentum going into the move on those. For the difference see this power clean video and this one on the hang clean. The second on the hang clean is really showing a squat clean and you don't need to get that low in the squat to do a hang clean but my point is the starting position being the floor on a standard clean gives more momentum up through the move and lets me pull more weight. I did the pull-ups almost all as jumping pull-ups, I really need to work on pull-ups. I completed the workout in 13:59. By the end I was doing both the exercises 2 at a time with a real quick, maybe second or less, break in between.

On other news, my wife has been thinking of getting into some lifting and so I have been considering switching back to working out at home. I figure we can buy an old used set of weights and a couple bars for maybe $100-$200. I could make some medicine balls out of old basketballs. I might need to get a couple kettlebells and a bench. But I could probably do most of the workouts at home maybe with a bit of modification. I also would be able to more easily work in some traditional strength training which is something I have been thinking of doing lately. I would have to give up the working out with those at the gym which does push me some but if I do the workout the day after they do I can see their times and still have something to shoot for. It would save a crapload of money that is for sure and I could workout at different times of the day. At the current gym the 6:00 am is about the only one I can do. It is a bit easier to sit your ass on the couch and skip a day when there is no one to keep account too which could be an issue but I could always go back. Still thinking about it, we will see.

Saturday Workout

I went to the gym later than usual today so my wife could go to yoga this morning. I went to the 12:00 class and the warm up started with a 500 meter row followed by 3 rounds:

• 10 push-ups
• 10 abmat sit-ups
• 10 PVC arm circles
• 10 air squats

My legs were sore as shit from the Friday workout and the air squats during the warm up were tough. You know you are in trouble when the warm up hurts. The workout was next and was prescribed as follows for time:

• 100 burpee pull-ups
• rest 2 minutes
• 100 kettlebell swings (35/25) - EMOM do 5 air squats

EMOM is every minute on the minute so while doing the kettlebell swings you stop at the top of every minute and do 5 air squats. I completed the workout in 21:50. I thought the burpee pull-ups were going to be the worst part but they were easier than I thought. I did 25 unbroken to start and took a short break. I followed that with another 25 unbroken and took another break. I then did 10 and then started doing thrm 5 at a time and finished with that in 13:35 before moving on to the kettlebell swings when the clock hit 15:35. I guess that means I did the kettlebell portion in a bit less than 6:00, seemed like it took an hour. I pushed real hard on the last minute because I really did not want to have to do an extra 5 air squats so I guess that EMOM crap worked.

Just in case that was not enough we then did some core work.

• 100 weighted abmat sit-ups (20/10)

Last time I had done a bunch of abmat sit-ups I ended up with the infamous abmat ass crack rash so I was a bit concerned about this one. I put a folded up yoga mat down and went to work. When I got home and jumped in the shower I held my breath waiting for the sting and... nothing. Looks like that simple solution works.

Friday Workout

I did nothing on Wed. I was on travel for work and the way the schedule worked out I had to be at meetings real early in the morning so it just didn't happen. I went in today and we did a warm up starting with a 500 meter row followed by 3 rounds:

• 10 PVC around the world
• 10 medicine ball cleans (light weight)
• 10 wall ball shots (light weight)

I used a 12# ball for the warm up. We then did some skill work on a new move I had never done before. 10 minutes working on one arm kettlebell snatches. This is an interesting one that takes some practice to get right without smacking your arm with the kettlebell. I was a bit surprised to find I was better with my left arm than right. Next we moved on to the workout which was prescribed as follows:

21-15-9

• Bear complex (95/65)
• Box jump (24/20)

* Penalty if you drop the bar, hands come off the bar, or you drop to your knees is 3 burpees immediately.

If you don't recall the bear complex this video will show it. Doing this move 21 times in a row is pretty daunting. I started out with the prescribed 95# on the bar and made it through to rep 16 like taht and had to drop to 75#. I should have done 3 burpees at that point but forgot about it until later and just never did them. I might have been able to do the whole thing with 95# if I did not have to do the push press from behind my head, that just got too heavy by that point for that move and I was about to drop it on my head. I completed the workout in 27:21 with a lot of stopping at the bottom to rest for a few seconds. My legs were totally shot by the end and I could barely walk when it was over. This is a pretty brutal workout.

Monday Workout - I'm Back

I finally made it back to the gym. I was feeling better yesterday and was going to go to the gym but it was raining and the workout was all outside. I am not afraid of getting wet but I thought it was best that I not spend an hour out in the rain when I have been sick for nearly a week. I did get up at 5:30 this morning though and went. When I walked in Coach Brent asked if I was Ok. He apparently thought I must have really f'ed up my face when I hit myself with the bar last time I was there with him. I explained the birthday break and illness and we got into the workout. The warm up was a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds:

• 10 burpees
• 10 GHD back extensions
• 10 PVC arm circles

It seemed like it had been forever since I had been in the gym even just during the warm up, that is the last time I listen to Lenny. We started with 10 minutes of skill work doing wall ball sit-ups. Have a look at this to see how it is done. I spent about 9 minutes of the 10 minutes trying to get my ass up onto my feet. I at first started with no ball thinking that would be easier but it turns out it is not. I then tried using a ball to get a bit of extra momentum going but as I learned later I was getting the momentum going in the wrong direction, more on that later. I finally figured it out right at the minute and did maybe 3 reps, yeah me!!! The deal is to get your feet wide and as close to your ass as possible. This is a problem for me since my hip flexibility seems to suck ass for some reason. The other trick is that this move is easier with a bit of weight, the ball, because you can get a bit of momentum going to pull you up. When you bring the ball from overhead you want to reach up with it rather than forward between your legs. This will cause the momentum to help you get up on your feet rather than pulling you forward. Not even coach Brent had done this move before today. Everyone in the class got it pretty quick except me and the coach. We pretty well struggled until the end but if it comes up again I think I would be fine. I will say that given how much I hate wall balls this might be my new least favorite move.

The workout was then prescribed as 20 minutes:

• Weighted abmat sit-ups (20/10) - perform on even minutes
• Push press (95/65) - perform on odd minutes

This is scored by the total number of reps completed in the 20 minute period. I did 267 reps. I started out with something like 31 reps for the first 2 minutes, maybe 16 sit-ups and 15 push presses. By the end I was doing more sit-ups, 19 on the last round, but my totals were more like 24-27. I scaled the push press weight to 75# instead of the prescribed 95# which always kills me on the push press. I was able to do the sit-ups unbroken, kept moving, start to finish. For the push press I was breaking them up by maybe the 5th round. It did feel good to get back to the gym. I need to make sure to do something while on travel this week too.

Still a Lazy Ass

I am still on the mend here. Lots of coughing and headaches and flopping around all night in bed. I have been going to work but have had little desire to get up at 5:30 am to go to the gym. I am feeling a bit better today and will probably go back Monday morning just in time to go out of town for work on Tuesday.

More Time Off

I came down with something Tuesday and have been feeling a bit like shit. I have a sore throat, runny nose, headache, and am tired as hell. I went to bed early last night with my alarm set for 5:30 am fully intending to get up and head to the gym. I ended up flipping and flopping all night and turned the alarm off this morning and skipped it. I figure I need the sleep more than the day of workout. Will see how I feel Friday. See what happens when I take a day off Len.

Lazy Birthday

I was recently told by someone that I should take a break from time to time. Well today is my birthday and I skipped the gym this morning, happy Len?

Weekend Workout

My gym is having some sort of paleo challenge and the sign up and initial workout was Saturday so there were no open workouts, only could show up if you are signing up. I am not signing up so no workout for me Saturday. My son, 7 years old, has been bugging me to do a workout he came up with so I decided to do that with him today. He calls the workout "jumping runner" and prescribes it as follows for time:

• 50 jumping jacks
• 1/4 mile run
• 40 jump rope singles
• 1/4 mile run
• 30 burpees
• 1/4 mile run
• 20 jumping pull-ups
• 1/4 mile run
• 10 monster tires (4 count)
• 1/4 mile run

The monster tires is something I think he learned when we were doing P90X and looks something like this video. I would suggest you get more lateral movement though and get the knee way up. Everything else should be self explanatory. I finished in 16:08 and my son finished in 17:47. That is correct, he did it with me. He likes to do workouts with me but he also wants to keep up. He tends to not concentrate on doing the moves as correctly as he could and instead tries to go as fast as possible, sounds like some people I know at the gym. I tell him over and over about this and that it is not a race with me but he is 7 and he wants to beat me at everything. He is already smarter than me so you would think that would be enough for him but no. It was fun to do the workout with him an I think he really got a kick out of designing his own workout and doing it.

Friday Workout - Punch in the face

Got in this morning and Coach Brent was there all apologetic about not showing up on Wed. Said he had been sick and just overslept thinking it was a different day. Told him it was no big deal since Rob had a key and we were able to work out anyway. Warm up started with 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds of:

• 10 PVC arm circles
• 10 GHD back extensions
• 10 burpees

The workout today was another hero WOD caller Hammer. This one is named for

 U.S. Army First Sergeant Michael "Hammer" Bordelon, 37, of Morgan City, Louisiana, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), based out of Fort Lewis, Washington, died on May 10, 2005, from injuries sustained when a car bomb exploded near him in Mosul, Iraq on April 23, 2005.

It is prescribed as 5 rounds for time:

•  5 power cleans (135/95)*
• 10 front squats (135/95)*
• 5 push jerks (135/95)*
• 20 pull-ups
• rest 90 seconds

* Do these exercises from the ground, i.e. not from the rack. As long as you keep the bar up in the proper position you need not put it down but if you need to put it down it goes to the ground which means another clean to get back to position. I modified the weights a bit and did the power cleans and front squats with 115# and the push jerks with 95#. I did the cleans unbroken all the way through but the squats I did 2 sets of 5 each round which meant an extra clean. Also the fact that I was using a different bar with less weight for the push jerk meant another clean on that too. I did most of the pull-ups as jumping pull-ups. I finished this in 32:33 but had a slight slow down on the last round. On my last push jerk I hit myself pretty hard in the chin and bit my tongue and chipped a tooth. I sort of thew the bar and went off to the rest room to make sure my tongue was still there. After a quick check I came back and finished the last 20 pull-ups. I already had a dentist appointment today for a follow up to gum surgery about a month ago so I will see what they say. I still have stitches in from that.

Wednesday Workout - Back to the grind

I was back up at 5:30 this morning for the 6:00 am class and work today, dammit. The coach never showed up this morning but luckily one of the guys that works out with us early is friends with the owner and has keys. We did a 500 meter row and some calisthenics for a warm up and then on to the workout which was prescribed as 10 minutes to do a 1 rep max thruster, followed by 6 rounds for time:

• 1 rope climb (9 pull-ups can be substituted but not for Rx)
• 10 wall ball shots (20/16)
• 15 med ball cleans (20/16)
• 20 double unders (60 singles)

I did 125# on the thruster for a max. I racked up 135# but failed on that one at the end and did not want to try it again and hurt myself. I completed the 6 rounds in 18:17 with the only substitution being I did single unders instead of doubles. This was the first time I had done a rope climb since my trial period at the gym. I was unable to make the prescribe 3 climbs that time but this time I did all 6 climbs. I did have my sock slide down at one point on a descent and got a rope burn on my calf but it is not too bad. This workout did not seem too bad for some reason, we shall see what I feel like tomorrow.

Monday Workout - Lots of Hockey

I played in a hockey tournament yesterday so no gym. First game started at 7:30 am. My team ended up winning the tournament and we played 4 games over 12 hours, last game war at 5:45 pm, so I figure that was enough working out for the day. I can feel it today for sure.