Wednesday, August 31, 2005

5 RM Tests: a preparation for One Lift a Day

Military press

5x30kg
5x36kg
5x40kg

Power Clean

5x40kg
5x50kg
5x56kg

30 2 Arm Swings w/ 32kg KB.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Torn callous = Focus on legs

Due to my torn callous I wasn't really able to do any olympic lifts due to the strain the hook grip places on that specific part of the hand, so I decided to focus my time on improving my hamstring strength:

Side Press 1x6 (L&R) w/ 14kg
Muscle Snatches w/ bar x 6 (shrug, upright row, muscle snatch)
Pull-ups w/ 32kg (5 second top holds)

3 sets of:

'Natural Glute Ham Raise' x 5
32 kg Kettlebell 2 arm swing: 10

Monday, August 29, 2005

After the weekend

I just got my 32kg Kettlebell, decided to give it test drive:

Complete as many circuits as possible in 10 minutes of:

5 Cleans
5 1 Arm swings (L&R)
10 2 Arm Swings

I got 4 sets and my tore a callous just when I thought I had enough :-)

The 32kg feels solid, can't wait to snatch and press it.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Squat, C&J, Snatch & SP

-5x5 Front Squat w/62kg
-8x1 Clean & Jerk w/52kg
-8x2 Snatch w/36kg
-1x5 Side Press w/14kg

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Swings and rack walks

60 swings (30L+30R) to chin level w/24kg KB
2x max time rack walk (back straight) w/24kg KB

Will do Tabata L-Sits tonight.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Wednesday

-8x1 Clean and Jerk w/50kg (Only did 5x1 due to a sprained shoulder, yet again, I have to practice the recovery from the jerk position without putting too much strain on my shoulders)
-5x5 Front Squat w/ 60kg
-8x2 Overhead Squat w/ 36kg
-1x10 Side Press w/ 12kg (next time upping the weight by 2kg)

Monday, August 22, 2005

Fresh Start

Warm up:

Broomstick overhead squat work
Hip flexor stretches
Bar only snatches and cleans

Workout:

8x2 Snatch w/36kg
8x1 Clean & Jerk w/ 50kg
5x5 Front Squat w/ 60kg
1x7 Side Press w/ 12kg

For more info on this olympic lifting workout, please look into Dan John's Book 'From the Ground Up'

Also for some informative reading on the old school weightlifting days, read into Bob Hoffman's books here.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

20/08

Side Press: 1x7 with 12kg, this felt like the limit right now, so I'm going to stick with 7 reps for a while, then I'll 'upgrade' to 8.
Clean & Jerk: 1x6 30kg
Snatch : 1x6 30kg
Sit-up: 1x6 1kg
Swings: 50 swings with 24kg in 1:42 min, next time will do 60 swings

Friday, August 19, 2005

Taking a break

Hi all,

I have decided to take a small break from CrossFit. Why? Well, because of a slight case of overreaching. I got a new job a while back and had to drive my bike to work every day .It's about a 12 mile bike ride every day (that's total, to and from work). That's really nothing, but combining that with CrossFit, an irregular schedule, lack of sleep and not enough - healthy - food consumption quickly added up to some signs of overtraining (excess fatigue).

So I have decided to turn my training attention to something that would allow my body to recover first.

I have always had a great respect for the old time strongmen: Sandow, Goerner, Saxon, Aston, etc, ... So I have decided to try one of their training methods. They don't involve too many complicated cycling methods or 1 RM calculations. On the contrary training is kept quite simple:
Pick a weight you can do 10 repetitions with . Start by doing 5 reps with it. Next time 6, then 7 until your reach 10. Ten start over with a weight 5 or 10 pounds heavier, for one and two arm exercises respectively . All this is a brief summary of what you will find in George Hackenschmidt's 'The Way to Live', a very interesting view of how the strongmen of old trained.

Based on that, here's what my training looked like today (and will look like for the coming 2 weeks):

Side Press: 1x6 w/12kg
Clean & Jerk: 1x5 w/ 30kg
Snatch : 1x5 w/ 30kg
Sit-up: 1x5 w/1kg plate on forehead
Pistols: 1x3(L&R) 16kg (these only be done 3x per week along with pull-ups)
Secret Service Swing Test: 5:00 : Only did minute as my hands were still hurting from the pull-ups yesterday. Got 20L+20R
L-sit practice: 3x30sec with 2:30 min Rest Interval

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Murph

"Murph"

For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run


1:08:22 , substituted 1 mile run for 400 rope jumps and 10L+10R 24kg swings in the beginning and just 400 rope jumps in the end.

Also ended up doing 100 Push-ups and 150squats in stead of the prescribed number of squats and push-up. Pull-ups were done as RX'd.

Preceded the whole thing with 2sets of 5 side presses (L+R) with 12,10kg. My current goals is to be able to do this with 40kg.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Rest Day

I felt like a kettlebell inspired workout today:

Warmup:
10 (L+R) 16kg swings
10 (L+R) 24kg swings

16kg: 1x curl, jerk, overhead squat, press (L+R)
24kg: 2x loaded cleans (L+R)

2KB in one hand drills, inspired by Hermann Goerner's amazing strength feats

16kg+24kg (in one hand): 5x deadlift (L+R) + 5x Mini Swing (very small back and forth movement)

24kg: 1x Turkish Get-up (L+R)
16kg: 3,2 Turkish Get-up (L,R)

40kg: 5x Pull-up 3 second top position isometric holds

L-Sits: 3x +/- 35 seconds (last set was only 30 seconds), 3min rest between each set.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Helen

Did 12:19, that's about a 50 second improvement from last time... pull-ups are still my weakness.

Shoulder is still not 'quite allright' will RICE it some more today (the period of 48 hours after an injury is the most important for speedy recovery).

Monday, August 15, 2005

Elizabeth

Elizabeth didn't go the way I wanted her too. I had this - light - stabbing pain in my left shoulder while coming back down from a finished squat clean, hesisated, did a couple of more reps and felt the slight pain again. That's when I decided to stop at 2 rounds (clock was at 12 minutes).
Will RICE and hope to see it disappear quickly.
Used 46kg on squat cleans and bar dips instead of rings dips.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Pull-ups and wall ball

Five rounds for time of:
25 Wallball shots, 20 pound ball - 10 foot target
30 Pull-ups

Didn't do this workout today because I went to a party last night and I'm not really feeling up to it. Will try squeezing it in on the next rest day.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Rest Day

Rest day today, felt like some PR attempts. I didn't feel like high-rep pull-ups. I did, however, do some heavy weighted pull-ups. Well only a couple to be honest: 1 rep with chin just reaching bar level w/ BW+40kg.
2 reps with 24kg (could have done more, but didn't want to push it)
Next time I'll try some negatives with 40kg and top position holds, so I can at least get one clean rep. My previous pull-up PR is BW+30kg btw ;-) All that with no specific practice ...

Next I did timed L-sits. Got 45 seconds, a 5 second improvement. Hmm, not bad... will be focusing on L-sit volume more next week along with fewer tabata sessions.

Friday, August 12, 2005

Nancy

5 rounds for time of:
400 meter run
95 pound Overhead squat, 15 reps

Didn't use 95 pounds as I still feel fatigued from yesterday's deadlift workout, so dropped the weight to 65 pounds.
Did it in 16:33, all sets of OHS were unbroken... Yep, you guessed it, unbroken = not enough weight ;-) Will add some next time.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Deadlift Max Day

Deadlift 3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1 reps

All weights in kg.

Bodyweight=70kg

3x94 (used hook grip here)
2x104 (switched to mixed grip)
2x114
2x124 PR
1x130 (Fail, my grip was weak and I rested on my thighs)
1x126 PR (beat my previous PR by 6kg or 13 pounds !!!)
1x124
1x124
1x124

Since my grip was weak, I decided to add grip specific work into my 'specification program' (which currently consists of broomstick overhead squats and L-sits) that I will be doing before/after my workout, depending on the type of workout and how grip-specific it is.

I believe that if I improve my grip 300lbs is going to fly up, garantueed. Well, on to the next deadlift workout ;-)

Will do some Tabata L-sits this evening.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Cindy Or Mary

“Cindy”
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

OR

“Mary”
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 One legged squats, alternating
15 Pull-ups

Naturally, I picked Cindy. My last date with Cindy was pretty bad. At that time I did 10 rounds + 5 additional push-ups. I also made the mistake of watching the clock too much back then, which (believe it or not) really causes one to look at it too much ;-)
Today I improved my first time by 3 rounds. I did 13 rounds+5 Pull-ups and 5 Pushups. Allright ! Another PR !
I must say, the first time I did Cindy I didn't feel too good about it, but now I'm learning to deal with that feeling of fatigue ... and push on. I hope to keep loggin those PR's with the next benchmarks.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Rest Day

Well, this time I decided to take a break on a rest day... meaning no extra workouts . (not the one I had planned anyway).

Did some overhead squat flexibility work and worked on some drills to loosen up my hip flexors. E.g.: holding on to a door and pulling myself down into a deeper squat position while simultaneously pulling myself deeper pushing my knees apart.

What followed were L-sits. Not Tabata style though. Although still based on a set interval. 20 second L-sit (with shoes on; it makes a difference) followed by 40 seconds rest x 5 sets. Here I wasn't able to hold the L-sit for any time longer than 3 sets. I think this probably is due to the prolonged abdominal fatigue I have started to build up from all those L-sits and situps I did the past couple of days.
Now, we only have to wait until I recover and then, who knows, maybe a smashing new PR...

Monday, August 08, 2005

Extend, Pull, Push

21-18-15-12-9-6 and 3 rep rounds for time of:
Back Extension
Pull-up
Push-up

Did it in 20:13 minutes. Pull-ups broken, Pushups broken.

Prior to WOD did some overhead squatting, working to get that nice arch in the bottom position.
After the WOD I focused on the 'rack position' again. Did a couple of front squats with 65 pounds to ensure proper positioning.

Will do some Tabata L-sits tonight.

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Tabata squat + situps

Well I decided to play it safe and chose to use a 10 pound plate... ok, ok, I should have chosen more, but I have to bike to work tomorrow and want to be able to make the trip without stopping to start peddling with my hands ;-)

Weighted tabata squat : 11
Situps (unanchored): 150 in 07:59 I did 40 consecutive reps before taking a break.

As usual I did some overhead squats with a broomstick, trying to go deeper and deeper while keeping my back straight and 'pushing my legs apart'. No L-sits today. Will do them tomorrow.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Push Press Max Day

Started off with some Overhead squat flexibility work as usual, also did some ankle flexibility work. Will keep doing this as the ankle flexibility work allowed me to get more comfortable in the bottom position of the overhead squat.

Weights in kg:

3@ 38
2@ 40
2@ 46
2@ 50
1@ 56
1@ 60
1@ 66 Fail (failed to push press it, but kept upping the weight as this was already a PR in the clean as I clean the weight first, the PP it)
1@ 70 (Fail, but I made the clean !!! PR by 8kg or 17 pounds !)
1@ 62 (tried to PP it but couldn't get it past the sticking point)

After those PR's I lowered the weight down to 30kg and focused on the hook grip and my keeping that grip all the way up to the clean 'rack position'. Auch... Keeping the hook grip in the rack is not easy will have to practice that some more.

Finished off with some Tabata L-sits.

Thanks again CrossFit !!! Keep those PR's coming.

Friday, August 05, 2005

Rest Day

Today was a rest day, and - as promised - I tested my max on pull-ups and L-sits (in that order), here what happened:
1) Pull-ups (kipping) : 17 (PR by 2 reps)
2) L-sits : 35 seconds (PR by 5 seconds after a bit less than a week practice)

I will retest my max L-sit time tonight though, as I think my abs were pre-fatigued by all the kipping done in the pull-ups.

'Explosive Lifting for Sports' came in the mail today and I quickly proceeded to read the chapter on the technical execution of the Snatch and Clean & Jerk. Well, I gotta tell you. I learned quite a couple of things :
1) My wrist flexibility is nowhere where it's supposed to be.
2) During the snatch (and thus, overhead squat) I have always had the 'reflex' of keeping my wrist straight, but in the book they mentioned you have to flex your wrists ...
I tried it, and boy ... instant overhead squat improvement.

In the coming months I will keep it a steady practice to do overhead squats as part of my warm-up and when possible will practice 'rack position' supports to increase the flexibility in my wrists so I can improve
1) My squat clean efficiency/form
2) My front squat efficiency/form

There, that's it for today... will try another max L-sit later today. If it beats my current PR -don't worry- I'll post it ;-)

New L-sit PR tonight : 40 seconds

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Jump 'n Run

Five rounds for time of:
35 Double-unders
Run 200 meters

I didn't do any double-unders because the higher jump seemed to annoy the neightbors (live in appartement), so I replaced double-unders by 30 burpees... As usual I subbed runs for jump rope (regular turns, smaller jumps, less noise)
Finished in 14:24 mins
Tomorrow is a rest day, will test my max L-sit and max pull-ups tomorrow. Hoping to get some great PR's .

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Jackie

"Jackie"

1000 meter row
45 pound Thruster, 50 reps
30 pull-ups

Substituted SDHP with 45lb barbell for rows.
13:40

I'm surprised as how difficult the SDHP were (near the end of the set). Maybe I will be able to get a C2 one day and row 1000m and see how both compare...
Won't do any more L-sit until tomorrow, just want to give my triceps time to recover.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Elizabeth

“Elizabeth”

21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips

Time 13:48

Modifications:
1)Used 42kg or 92.5 pounds for the clean. Next time I will up the weight.
2)Did bar dips in stead of ring dips (I'm still waiting for those to arrive). I think I can easily say that if I did this workout using rings, my time would most certainly be over 20 minutes. That's a fact.

My goal is to eventually break 10 minutes for these 'type' of workouts (21,15,9 of 2 exercises).

I received the new issue of the CF journal today. This one deals with a loads of things including some progressions to learn the overhead squat. This information is priceless ! I will be incorporating these progressions into my training regimen to up my flexibility and improve my full snatch and full clean form.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Rest Day

As promised, today I did :

"Jonesworthy"

6 rounds for time of:
Squat 80-64-50-32-16-8 reps
1.5 pood Kettlebell swing 40-32-25-16-8-4 reps
Pull-ups 20-16-12-8-4-2 reps

As RX-ed, although my time ain't that spectacular ... yet, 25:01 minutes.
Will do some tabata L-sits when I get home from work this evening.