Crossfit Journal

Well, I am now a proud subscriber to the Crossfit Journal. I have been meaning to do this for some time, but never got around to it. It is exciting to have access to such a wealth of Crossfit related knowledge and I am looking forward to diving in.

Today was amazing. It is just fantastic that so many people were able to come and workout this morning. Living in the 6AM bubble, I had no idea the amount of athletes that call this gym home. Truly a strong community (in more ways than one). The workout was brutal, but everyone was there and suffered through it together. My partner was ZachR and I feel it was a good match-up. Our goal was to have the first person get through at least 4 rounds in each set. I went first on the first and third rounds and he went first on the other two. It actually worked out quite well and we accomplished our goal. The rounds went 4-4, 4-4, 4-3, 4-3 for rounds completed by the first and second person respectively. The quarters were pretty close and I took a hand to the face a few times during my DL's but that's just part of the game. No harm no foul. Not only was the workout a burner, but the potluck was also top notch. Great food and great people. It doesn't get any better than this. I love this stuff.

WOD
4 rounds of
AMRAP in 4 minutes
50 lb DB snatch 2 each arm
6 Burpees
135lb DL 9 reps

Partners can only work at the same time during DL and Snatch.

4-4, 4-4, 4-3, 4-3

Orange

This was a fun little number today. So affectionately called Cindy on Steroids. Same proportions as Cindy except times 3.
WOD
AMRAP in 20
15 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
45 Squats

5 rounds + 30 Push ups.

I wish I would have gotten through 6. This might have been possible if I hadn't broken up the squats or if my push-ups were stronger. Pull-ups didn't give me much trouble as I didn't have to break any sets (I did break one though because I forgot we were supposed to do 15. I stopped at 13 for some reason.) Push-ups, well here's something that could always use work. The first round went 10-10-10 and from there I did 8-7-8-7 with it falling off more in the last round. I wish my push-ups were stronger. There are some phenomenal push-upers out there. For instance, in a book about BUD/s, one SEAL in training completed ~230 push-ups in 2 minutes! That's just nuts. Imagine doing push-ups as fast as you can and now imagine doing them twice as fast and for two minutes. Crazy. Those guys do hundreds of push-ups a day, but still if I could do 100 in a row I would be pumped. Squats were squats. Shouldn't have broken them up.

For some reason, today I feel like on the brink of a break through of some sort. I feel as though I now have the guts or determination to push myself harder in workouts. I want to get to the next level. Hopefully this energy carries through the rest of training. I think that the thought of my back and shoulder (but mostly back) and the caution as a result have been holding me back (pun intended). Once my back gets fixed, there should be nothing holding me back right? We'll see how this all translated from thought to reality.

Coming up for Air

And we're back. It's been a while since my last post due to no free time (I probably shouldn't even be posting now), so need less to say I've got some catching up to do. Let's start with today. This workout was great. I really like getting caught up in a workout that you almost have to will yourself through. If you think about how much it hurts then you're screwed. All you can do is keep pushing. Funny story though: the weight felt pretty good during the first round and I thought, this isn't too bad. However, on the first rep of the second round I thought, "who's the sneaky guy who threw some extra weight on here?" Well I didn't actually think of that but it felt way heavier from then on. Not only that but the two hundred felt longer and longer. Always fun

2/25/2009
WOD
5 rounds
155 lb clean and jerk, 5 reps
200m run

10:10 Rx'd

Now looking back to Monday. As everyone else worked on power snatch, for the sake fo my shoulder, I just did some OHS (wide grip at first and narrow grip as the weight increased). I worked up to 155x4. I just wanted to do something that engaged the shoulder (safely). After that we were supposed to do something to get on the board. I didn't know this, but that's ok. Instead I did tabata push-ups with a couple of the he-men of 6AM. I picked 10 as my goal per round and nearly hit it. I missed the last rep of the last round. Must have been a good number to pick then.

Since I missed this weekend's WOD's for some North Dakota wedding escapdes, I came in on Friday to make up one day. I was glad I could fit it in, but it wasn't the same as lifting with the gang.
2/20/2009
WOD
Power Clean 1RM (198 failed at 203 about 7 times)
Back Squatx3x4 @90-92.5% (223x3x4)

Weekend WOD
Drink some alcohol and do some dancing
Done and Done and let me tell you I can sure cut a rug.

One more thing, I went to the chiropractor suggested by Josh and Addi on Monday. I was impressed with this guy as compared to the previous experience I've had in such endeavours. My back is still sore, but less so (at least I think so). Luckily he said that it isn't a blown disk and we just need to loosen to joint that's locked up (sachral?). However, he did say my hamstrings are way too tight, so I'll have to work on that. And, interestingly, that we may switch over to some acupunture. That would be quite an interesting experience, since I've never delved into such arts. Should be fun.

Yes Doctor, I'd like a new shoulder with all the extras

Well it happened again. My shoulder just seems to enjoy slipping out of socket too much. This time it was jumping pull-ups that did me in. In the first round even. It is landing and relaxing the shoulder that did it. When the muscles are engaged my shoulder handles fairly well, but when it is relaxed, like in the initial catch of a snatch or landing of a jumping pull-up, 'Pop' and it's out. This is the first time, however, that it has gone out and stayed out above my head. I was able to re-locate it, but opted to be smart and not finish the workout (a rather tough decision, seriously). the weird thing is that it feels better now than it did when I tweaked it this weekend. Maybe that will change as the day progresses or maybe, just maybe, it came out in such a way that actually rearranged the muscles and made it stronger! Maybe not. I'm going to start looking at the options for shoulder surgery while I'm still on my parents' plan and just hope that the games don't have snatch, OHS, or jumping pull-ups. Keep your fingers crossed.
I suppose it is just as well since I will be going to the gym tomorrow to get a jump start on the weekends work. I'll be going to Grand Forks, ND to help celebrate the wedding of a high school friend. I'm really excited. Also, I'm going to try and weasel my way into the university gym to get another workout in, just to keep up.

Today's WOD
frustrating

Yesterday's WOD
5x500m Row
1:52
1:48
1:50
1:49
1:46
I also got some practice in as a coxswain (vocab word of the day) lot's of fun. My eastern roommate would have been proud.

Pain and Jubilation

Well, since it's been a few days, let's go back to Sunday. This was a really fun workout involving some box jumps and snatch. (Sounds like it could get dirty right?) We started with a double box jumps. In this the jumper jumps over one box, briefly lands and jumps onto a second box. The standard we used was 5 red bumpers for the first 'box' and I got up to a 24" box+5red bumpers+1 green bumper on the second box. Turns out there are a lot of Crossfitters with some mad hopz. We should do more workouts like this.
After jumping box, our attention was turned to snatches. I have always been tentative about snatches and my shoulder stability (or lack thereof) so I took it easy and worked on form and catching the bar safely. Some progress was made and I was happy. (110-110-120-120-120)
As if that weren't enough, we moved on to a weakness exercise. Some of us did elevated HSPU while others did C2B pull-ups. I did the HSPU and since we had some time at the end a few of us also did the C2B. The drill was 1-3 reps every minute on the minute for 10 minutes. It wasn't too tough, so I did 5 pull-ups on the minute and 3 HSPU. Also, while messing around on the pull-up bar, I thought it would be a good idea to try and kip from a side pull-up bar to the higher cross-member pull-up bars and then back down. Getting up wasn't too bad, but it just so happens that the twisting motion coming back down was at just the right point to twist my shoulder. It's didn't come out completely, but it slipped within the socket. All that caution I used during snatch was now wasted. Oh well, such is life.
The highlight of this day was going to Brewburger and eating a double meat old fashioned sandwich. It was huge. I didn't eat it as fast and Jon D but I did finish and enjoyed every minute.

Today, we started another metcon cycle. Fun, but draining.
WOD
10 rounds for time
135 lb DL, 15 reps
15 push-ups
12:56
Push-ups are the key to this one. Lode it on those and you're done for. Unless your a push-up machine, pacing is the name of the game.
My back has been getting worse as of late and what was once a pain every now and then has turned into a constant ache. I want to get something done, but don't know which avenue is best. If anyone has advice I'd be happy to hear it. I can describe in detail what happened, as it was somewhat of an injury that happened back in November. Thanks in advance.

Whirling Dervishes

For those of you who don't know what whirling dervishes are here's the definition.
Dervish: something that whirls
Whirling: what dervishes do
It possible to get better definitions, but these are more suited to the tale that is about to unfold.
This early afternoon at Crossfit Omaha, a group of set forth to strengthen their bodies and minds in a workout of historic proportions. This is nothing out of the ordinary, but what happened next set the workout apart from others.
The first movement of the day was push press, a straight forward motion familiar to all battle hardened Crossfit warriors. The goal was to warm up and approach a two rep max. As the weights grew and muscles strained, bodies were pushed to the limit. In doing so, as is often the case, a limit is found and the lift is unsuccessful. During one of these failed attempts, I dropped the weight from overhead expecting it to come crashing into the ground as usual. Instead the weight fell and on side landed on the edge of green bumper plate. The bar, heavily laden with weight, jumped back at me with great velocity and intent to kill or maim. However, due to me cat like reflexes and ninja like agility, I was about to jump over the knee wrecking obstacle and land safely out of it's path. Furious with its failure to cripple me, the increased speed and sought another victim. As it approached the sound barrier, the bar came hurtling toward Angela. Seeing that the only way to appease the now enraged bar was through destruction, a bucket of chalk, in an action of self sacrifice, stepped up and took the blow that would have otherwise been dealt to Angela. Unfortunately, as the bucket was battered, chalk was strewn about the gym, most of which landed on Angela. But as the chalk settled, the spinning bar came to a rest, and all the Crossfit warriors were left shaken, unharmed, and able to face another day.

Today I met and worked with Bryce, who used to be a strength coach with Ricky and Joe and UNO. We warmed up with the same weight, but somehow he slipped ahead of me (by a few 50 pounds or so) in the work sets. He will be a tough competitor at the qualifier.
Push press: 155-160-165-165(F on 2, see story above)-165
DL: 200-225-250-265-285-308
The DL are rough estimates, but I was happy with 308, and didn't notice my back pain as much during the lift (but it's killing me now).

2 Min of DU ~100 (52 in a row)
50 K2E
8:21 (ouch)
Last night was not a good night regarding diet and the like. Definitely not conducive to a metcon.

On a scale from one to ten, snow is awesome

I would not have guessed that Omaha had the potential to deliver such an extraordinary blizzard. I love the snow, especially when it comes by the foot. It calms me and make the world seem quieter, plus school gets canceled. This is always a treat, except when a test that you're ready to take gets postponed. Oh well, that just means I'll have two on Monday. The more the merrier. Nevertheless the only thing that would make this storm better is if we had some Rocky Mountains in our backyard. Heck I would even take the Alps and in a pinch the Andes. Just somewhere I can shred some epic gnar (that's Californian for ski some excellent powder).

Now on to Crossfit, the topic at hand. I'm am still a little sore from the metcon cycle. My leg decided to wake me up yesterday by delivering a nasty calf cramp, always a treat. But that's neither here nor there. Today we began our second strength cycle and it went a little something like this:

Power Clean - 80-85% x 2 x 5

Front Squat - 80-85% x 5 x 4

For cleans I did 164-164-169-169-169. They all felt good and I really focused on form and speed. As for front squats I was in the dark as to what I should be lifting. Ricky and I did some calculations and came up with 165-170. The first two sets were 164-169. These seemed pretty easy so Ricky did some recalculating and determined that I should try and get to 208 or so. It took me three sets to do so, but I was happy with that. They were 184-198-208. All together now:
164-169-184-198-208
I found I really like front squats. Who would have thunk.

Zach is really pushing this intermittent fasting idea and wants to get started ASAP. I still haven't researched it as much as I like, so hopefully I can do it this weekend and get a plan going. I have enough trouble as it is trying to eat at the right times and in the right amounts, so this may be a challenge. Then again if I don't eat for a day I won't have to worry about eating for a day. Think about it. More to come on that little topic. As for now I'm going to enjoy the snow as it will probably be gone soon.

Revving up

These past few weeks have been busy ones for me. I'm still getting into the rhythm of working two jobs and taking classes. Today I have decided to make sure to devote 12 hours a day to either work, class, or homework. I enjoy being busy and constantly working my mind and body. I'm sure most people live with schedules like this, but I'm glad to be back in the thick of it.

Zach and I were talking today about diet and intermittent fasting. This is something I would like to try, after some research of course. I like pushing myself and finding the limits of my body and mind. Once I have a good feel of these limits I would like to push them. This doesn't really apply to IF, but it got me thinking along those lines. I thinks it brings out the part in me that was set to join the Navy and try to become a SEAL upon graduate this past May. I wanted to do it more for the challenge than anything else. Often I find myself asking what life would have been like if I had turned in my papers and gone down that path. Knowing that I will probably not end up with the Trident on my chest, I try and push myself in other ways, maybe to make up for it. Anyways, I was thinking about working out on sleep deprivation in addition to fasting. I don't know what it would do (probably wreck me for a while). But at least that way I know I can take it if I ever need. That's part of BUD's is about; setting a baseline of what you can handle. I know my body can handle a lot more than I allow mentally. Mental strength comes from challenging tasks like, for instance, Crossfit. In the future I am going to try and be more mentally aware to push myself and really block out the pain of screaming muscles and burning lungs. Speaking of which, today's workout was:
3 rounds
50 SDHP 65lb
50 Burpees
18:32
This was a really solid WOD that had to be taken head on with no second guessing. A great way to end the cycle. Others recent WOD's.

AMRAP in 20min
2 rope climbs
4 Thrusters 155lb
6 box jumps 36"
6 1/3

That was a really fun workout. With a little more strength on thrusters it would have been downright bliss.

Tabata Mashup
Pull-ups (86)
KB Swings 1 1/2 pood (87)
Total reps 173

This one alternated tabata timing between the two movements. I'm glad the KB didn't slip and smoke Greg in the back.

For the most part I am quite sore. This is awesome, because I haven't felt this worked since my first few days of Crossfit. I hope this continues and gains are made which are comparable to those in the beginning.

As for now I'm out of time. Hopefully, I'll be able to talk more about diet in the future.

Mixing it up a bit

I started out with the idea that this would be sort of a workout log for my training. Now that we have a workout log and stats sheets as provided by the gym, I might try and shift gears for a while and perhaps use this more as a journal? or I don;t know, something more interesting. Yesterday I saw a really cool blog (see Byers Blog to the right) and was inspired. I don't know how much to include because I don't know how interested anyone would be, but I'll try and keep things interesting and relevant to crossfit and nutrition. However, I can't make any promises that tangents won't arise.

Let's start with something simple. This morning I went to crossfit and had some fun. I think my sprints were ok (my last round was 13 if that tells you anything). Also, I was very please with the snatches. I have been babying my shoulder for a few months now. And with good reason; it has separated/dislocated at least 7 times (4 from crossfit either doing snatch or OHS). However, today it felt strong. I'm hoping that the supporting muscles are getting the picture and stepping up. I'm not going to let this go to my head and will take baby steps to what I hope is a full recovery. Today's progress 88x4x4.

Now on to diet, so far so good with the tangents. It has not been a good week for me. My sister was visiting and we went out to eat a few times. Also, she brought me some Valentine candy from my Mom (yes she still sends me Valentine candy), and I have been nibbling on that. But I have tried to limit the intake of sugar to immediately after a workout. I'm also sitting on the fence debating whether or not to drink milk and eat cheese on a regular basis. I have been drinking 12 oz. of chocolate milk as a recovery drink (by the way I think it was going bad when I drank it today). Different bodies say different things about milk. On one side there is the case of a village in Switzerland that relied heavily on unpasteurized dairy and showed excellent dental health and little illness, also Coach Rippetoe says whole milk is better than steroids. But the other side, Paleo, says that dairy is a no-no. I'm going to monkey around with it a see where it gets me. I've got a gallon of whole milk that I'll finish and not replace. Anyone out there know more about the logic behind dairy and is prepared to drop some knowledge?

Well I guess that should be enough for today. Off to scout some more CFO blogs!

20090205

WOD

Power Clean 75% x 3 x 4

Overhead Squat x 9 x 3

I did 169 on the cleans and 110-120-132 on OHS. I'm excited to start the new program Ricky and Joe have concocted. I'm all about the Crossfit method, but feel more comfortable for some reason with knowing what to expect and that the workouts all fit into a grander scheme (as opposed to the randomness of the main site). I'm not sure how my posting will proceed over the next months as I'll be posting on the training site and the spread sheet. I'll also be fairly busy in other aspects of life as I begin to execute my plans for the future. I'll try and keep current but no promises.

Also did 25 c2b pull-ups, could have/should have done 30 for the record. Next time.

20090203

WOD

Back Squat

5-5-5-5-5

154-184-198-208-218

Today felt pretty good until I checked my previous 5RM of 220. Probably should have checked that before the workout. Oh well, the lifts felt good and I feel my form was there. However, I had a few old injuries nagging me today, but nothing terrible. Also missed a few posts for the past few days, so here they are.

20090202

WOD

30 Muscle-ups

12:02(Pr by 1:30)

I know I could have gone faster, but I'll just hit it hard next time.

20090201

WOD

Kelly

5 Rounds for time

400m run

30 box jumps (24")

30 Wall ball (20lb)

DNF (with a 20 minute cut off time)

I did get through the run on the 5th round, but I'm not sure where I was at the 20 minute mark. this was a good workout and I'm pleased with being second only to Ricky. My calves are still quite sore from this one also.