It's funny to see how one movement can really expose a lot of your weaknesses. For instance, I have had a shoulder injury about 5 months ago . Consequently - as I used more weight in the OHS - I noticed an instability in my left shoulder. I need to start working on my shoulder more (TGU, Ring work).
Here's what I did today (all weights in kg)
3@ 36
2@ 40
2@ 44
2@ 44
1@ 46
1@ 48
1@ 50
1@ 50
1@ 50
I didn't feel it would be wise to 'push the enveloppe' and end up re-injuring a shoulder. So I carefully stuck with 50kg. OHS form was ok though.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Saturday, July 30, 2005
30 Muscle ups
For time:
30 Muscle-ups
Well haven't gotten to doing 30 muscle ups (or anything similar) today, because I didn't really have the time and planned to use this day as a rest day, because of my time restrictions.
So here what I did today:
Tabata L-sit (4mins: 20sec work,10 sec rest)
I started with 2 sets of clean L-sits, but as my abs and triceps fatigued I switched to a bent legged L-sit for one set and a tuck sit for the remaining sets. This idea was given to me by Brendan Melville on the crossfit forums, he personally reported that : "Since starting tabata intervals with l-sits, my time has shot up. I went from approx. 32 seconds to approx 60 seconds. I do tabata l-sits every 2 or 3 days." ,that got me interested. So I will be doing tabata intervals Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and see how my current L-sit time (+/- 30 seconds) will improve from now on. I can't wait to hit 1 minute.
I have also been surfing around the Gym Jones website lately, which is excellent BTW. I took a look at their schedule - it's clickable, click on a day to view the workouts they did - and found some interesting workouts I might try soon.
I have also been looking at one workout to add in to my routine that would be 'my' benchmark workout, so no matter what happens this workout would come back every month at around the same time. For future reference this workout will be 'Jonesworthy'
. Why this one and not some other benchmark workout ? Well, first of all, because I'm drawn to it. It's tough, it has a lot of swings and a lot of pull-ups. It will take anyone at least 10 minutes to finish it. 10 minutes is out of this world, 15 minutes is an excellent time, 20 minutes is a good time, 25 is average and 30 minutes is a bad time. I'm curious to see how my times will evolve in the next couple of months. Stay tuned...
30 Muscle-ups
Well haven't gotten to doing 30 muscle ups (or anything similar) today, because I didn't really have the time and planned to use this day as a rest day, because of my time restrictions.
So here what I did today:
Tabata L-sit (4mins: 20sec work,10 sec rest)
I started with 2 sets of clean L-sits, but as my abs and triceps fatigued I switched to a bent legged L-sit for one set and a tuck sit for the remaining sets. This idea was given to me by Brendan Melville on the crossfit forums, he personally reported that : "Since starting tabata intervals with l-sits, my time has shot up. I went from approx. 32 seconds to approx 60 seconds. I do tabata l-sits every 2 or 3 days." ,that got me interested. So I will be doing tabata intervals Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and see how my current L-sit time (+/- 30 seconds) will improve from now on. I can't wait to hit 1 minute.
I have also been surfing around the Gym Jones website lately, which is excellent BTW. I took a look at their schedule - it's clickable, click on a day to view the workouts they did - and found some interesting workouts I might try soon.
I have also been looking at one workout to add in to my routine that would be 'my' benchmark workout, so no matter what happens this workout would come back every month at around the same time. For future reference this workout will be 'Jonesworthy'
. Why this one and not some other benchmark workout ? Well, first of all, because I'm drawn to it. It's tough, it has a lot of swings and a lot of pull-ups. It will take anyone at least 10 minutes to finish it. 10 minutes is out of this world, 15 minutes is an excellent time, 20 minutes is a good time, 25 is average and 30 minutes is a bad time. I'm curious to see how my times will evolve in the next couple of months. Stay tuned...
Friday, July 29, 2005
Run & Thruster
For time:
Run 1600 meters
115 pound Thruster, 9 reps
Run 800 meters
115 pound Thruster, 15 reps
Run 400 meters
115 pound Thruster, 21 reps
I'm not yet strong enough to handle those 115 pounds, so I settled for 88 lbs or 40kg. Subbed runs for 800,400 and 200 rope jumps respectively. Finished in 28:56 minutes. I'm glad I finally got under 30 minutes for these 'type' of workouts. Progress is coming bit by bit.
Since tomorrow I have a 9hr day at work, I decided to compensate for that prolonged period of inactivity and tried to add another WOD into my schedule this afternoon.
I picked one that had tempted me for quite a while:
Conclusion : two WOD's a day are reserved for people who have been on CrossFit for quite a while, not for a newbie like me.
Prior to my first workout today I did some timed L-sits and to my amazement I broke 30 seconds. Hmm, could this have anthing to do with Crossfit ? Prior to crossfit I remember struggling for 15 seconds...
I also set up my sandbag and will be throwing it around soon.
Run 1600 meters
115 pound Thruster, 9 reps
Run 800 meters
115 pound Thruster, 15 reps
Run 400 meters
115 pound Thruster, 21 reps
I'm not yet strong enough to handle those 115 pounds, so I settled for 88 lbs or 40kg. Subbed runs for 800,400 and 200 rope jumps respectively. Finished in 28:56 minutes. I'm glad I finally got under 30 minutes for these 'type' of workouts. Progress is coming bit by bit.
Since tomorrow I have a 9hr day at work, I decided to compensate for that prolonged period of inactivity and tried to add another WOD into my schedule this afternoon.
I picked one that had tempted me for quite a while:
Complete as many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
Run 200 meters
60-pound Thrusters, 20 reps
20 inch Box Step-ups, with 60 pounds, 20 reps
15 Pull-ups
Conclusion : two WOD's a day are reserved for people who have been on CrossFit for quite a while, not for a newbie like me.
Prior to my first workout today I did some timed L-sits and to my amazement I broke 30 seconds. Hmm, could this have anthing to do with Crossfit ? Prior to crossfit I remember struggling for 15 seconds...
I also set up my sandbag and will be throwing it around soon.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Rest Day
Front Squat 10-10-10-10-10 reps.
I couldn't keep still on a rest day now could I ;-) so I did the above and payed attention to my front squat form. I still need to work on some flexibility issues. I really want to make sure my back is as straight as possible. So here's the sequence (weights is kg's):
50,52,52,52,52
It looks easy, but in reality this workout naturally makes you watch your form. For those who are wondering where I got it, you might want to check the CrossFit archives now and then to look at some workouts you might not have done before that look pretty interesting.
I couldn't keep still on a rest day now could I ;-) so I did the above and payed attention to my front squat form. I still need to work on some flexibility issues. I really want to make sure my back is as straight as possible. So here's the sequence (weights is kg's):
50,52,52,52,52
It looks easy, but in reality this workout naturally makes you watch your form. For those who are wondering where I got it, you might want to check the CrossFit archives now and then to look at some workouts you might not have done before that look pretty interesting.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Clean & Jerk + Pull-ups
Seven rounds of:
Clean & Jerk, 1 rep
Max reps Pull-ups
C&J weight in kilos:
C&J:36,40,46,50,56,60,62
PU:15,7,8,9,7,6,8
I haven't really done a lot of squat clean in the past, but I do know that I would have maxed out at approx. 50 kilos. That means that I beat my previous (estimated) PR by +/- 10 kilos or 22 pounds. Pretty good progress for only ONE month of crossfit !!!
My goal is to eventually (this year) be able to clean & jerk 225 pounds or 102 kilos . After that I will be going for 225 for 15 then 30 consecutive reps ... but that's just my imagination talking :-) We've got some training to do before I can clean 225 for reps.
Clean & Jerk, 1 rep
Max reps Pull-ups
C&J weight in kilos:
C&J:36,40,46,50,56,60,62
PU:15,7,8,9,7,6,8
I haven't really done a lot of squat clean in the past, but I do know that I would have maxed out at approx. 50 kilos. That means that I beat my previous (estimated) PR by +/- 10 kilos or 22 pounds. Pretty good progress for only ONE month of crossfit !!!
My goal is to eventually (this year) be able to clean & jerk 225 pounds or 102 kilos . After that I will be going for 225 for 15 then 30 consecutive reps ... but that's just my imagination talking :-) We've got some training to do before I can clean 225 for reps.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Run 'N Snatch and behind the scenes of the WOD's
Run 5K
I didn't do the 5K as I'm gradually building up my running distance (as mentioned before) each Sunday of the month, so here's what I did instead:
For time:
Run 800 meters
Snatch, 30 reps
Run 800 meters
Did it in 13:46 minutes. Used 32kg (+/- 70lbs) and subbed 800 meter run for 400 rope jumps. I'm starting to feel like I can up the intensity, am no longer 'scared' of the workout but am slowly starting to 'fight back' Please note (Coach Glassman et al) I said 'slowly' ;-)
I have been taking a look behind the scenes of the Crossfit WOD's by ordering a back issue of the Crossfit Journal, more specifically issue #6.
I strongly recommend anybody interested in the Crossfit methodology to purchase this issue, as it will give you a good insight on how the WOD's are set up, how you can set up your own program and even (if you know what workouts you're good at) help you identify you weakness and work on that by focusing more on those type of workouts.
Also for those thinking about combining more strength days into their WOD schedule, you might want to order the Performance Menu back issue #3. In it, Coach Rutherford and Coach Josh Everett both discuss their unique approach to combining Crossfit with the 'regular' weight training schedule. This column provides great insight in the minds of 2 great coaches and how they manipulate Crossfit to suit their athletes' needs.
I didn't do the 5K as I'm gradually building up my running distance (as mentioned before) each Sunday of the month, so here's what I did instead:
For time:
Run 800 meters
Snatch, 30 reps
Run 800 meters
Did it in 13:46 minutes. Used 32kg (+/- 70lbs) and subbed 800 meter run for 400 rope jumps. I'm starting to feel like I can up the intensity, am no longer 'scared' of the workout but am slowly starting to 'fight back' Please note (Coach Glassman et al) I said 'slowly' ;-)
I have been taking a look behind the scenes of the Crossfit WOD's by ordering a back issue of the Crossfit Journal, more specifically issue #6.
I strongly recommend anybody interested in the Crossfit methodology to purchase this issue, as it will give you a good insight on how the WOD's are set up, how you can set up your own program and even (if you know what workouts you're good at) help you identify you weakness and work on that by focusing more on those type of workouts.
Also for those thinking about combining more strength days into their WOD schedule, you might want to order the Performance Menu back issue #3. In it, Coach Rutherford and Coach Josh Everett both discuss their unique approach to combining Crossfit with the 'regular' weight training schedule. This column provides great insight in the minds of 2 great coaches and how they manipulate Crossfit to suit their athletes' needs.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Today's Chipper
For time:
20 inch Box jump, 50 reps
15 foot Rope climb, 5 ascents
1.5 pood Kettlebell swing, 50 reps
50 sit-ups
40 pound dumbell Hang power clean, 50 reps
800 meter Run
50 Back extensions
20 inch Box jump, 50 reps
15 foot Rope climb, 5 ascents
1.5 pood Kettlebell swing, 50 reps
50 sit-ups
40 pound dumbell Hang power clean, 50 reps
800 meter Run
50 Back extensions
Well today was a long one . Subbed the following :
16" box jump (I really got to get myself a 20" box)
25 lb DB's .
400 rope turns for 800m run
Got a lousy time of 33:13 (actually 32:13, lost a minute to replace the dumbells weights with a weight I could handle). I'm about one month into crossfit right now and have seen about every type of workout. The last couple of days weren't 100% and maybe I won't start pushing the intensity to the max right away. I'm planning on just increasing my times right now and staying consistent until I have no more obstacles slowing me down for a while (parties and such ;-)
Then I will start 'going all out' on a daily basis.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Rest Day
Today was supposed to be a rest day, but I was itching to test my max reps on pull-ups and did 15 reps! That's a pretty good improvement when compared to less than a month ago when I could do +/- 6 reps . Keep in mind that these were kipping pull-ups and the 6 I did a month ago were dead hang. I do think was responsible for my addition in pull-ups, but not in a way that people would think it's 'cheating' , but in really making the pull-up more explosive and involving the upper body more (especially the abs and making better use of the lats vs the upper arms). I hope that I'll be able to break 20 in the coming month ;-)
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Drunken Linda
"Linda"
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of the triplet:
Deadlift: 1 ½ bodyweight
Bench press: bodyweight
Clean: ¾ bodyweight
I just came back from a pretty tyering 1.5 days . So I start Linda with a lot of good intentions, but my body was given me clear signs (muscles acting up) that I should keep it short and sweet so I did the first 2 rounds which took me a sloppy 25 minutes. I lowered the weight for the deadlifts to 225 (my BW being 150 pounds so about 10 pounds less that 1.5 x bodyweight) and I used 1 weight for the cleans and bench, because I only have 1 bar. 90 pounds was used for benching and cleaning. I did work up a bit of sweat, but I could have done better. So I called this a 'drunken Linda'.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Lunges & Burpees
Five rounds for time of:
45 pound barbell Overhead walking lunges, 50 feet
21 Burpees
I did 14:12, but when looking at the other times that's far from right. I did 4+4 Lunges on each leg, but that's obviously not enough distance. Anybody have a good substitute as to how much lunges -on average- would be required to lunge for 50ft?
I 'only' completed it in 14:12 minutes, but I did manage to work up a good sweat though.
I'm off to the beach ... see you all saturday. Oh don't worry, I'll try to do the missed WOD's on my future rest days ;-)
45 pound barbell Overhead walking lunges, 50 feet
21 Burpees
I did 14:12, but when looking at the other times that's far from right. I did 4+4 Lunges on each leg, but that's obviously not enough distance. Anybody have a good substitute as to how much lunges -on average- would be required to lunge for 50ft?
I 'only' completed it in 14:12 minutes, but I did manage to work up a good sweat though.
I'm off to the beach ... see you all saturday. Oh don't worry, I'll try to do the missed WOD's on my future rest days ;-)
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Rest Day
Well, again, today was supposed to be a rest day. But, tomorrow I'm leaving for 2 day 'holiday' to the seaside and won't be able to do the WOD's for a full 2 days ! ;-)
So I decided to do another WOD type workout today .
I got this one from Josh Everett :
How many rounds can you do in 15 minutes of :
20 2 arm swings (I made it 21 american style swings)
20 squat pulls
10+10 Lunges (mean 10 left and 10 right)
20 pushups
All done with a 1.5 pood kettlebell. My results were pretty lame... I got 3 rounds + 21 swings . Next time I'll try to add another round .
Well, I'm off to the seaside, see you all in a couple of days !
So I decided to do another WOD type workout today .
I got this one from Josh Everett :
How many rounds can you do in 15 minutes of :
20 2 arm swings (I made it 21 american style swings)
20 squat pulls
10+10 Lunges (mean 10 left and 10 right)
20 pushups
All done with a 1.5 pood kettlebell. My results were pretty lame... I got 3 rounds + 21 swings . Next time I'll try to add another round .
Well, I'm off to the seaside, see you all in a couple of days !
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Deadlift
Deadlift 3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1 reps
So here's what I did (all weights in kg):
3x100,2x102,2x104 (at this point I started using a mixed grip), 2x106,1x110 (my old PR),1x112,1x114,1x116,1x120: I beat my previous PR by 10kg or 22 pounds, without any deadlift specific practice other than what was described in the WOD's and in the March 2004 CF Journal (the beginner routine). All this with a little less than a month using CrossFit !!!
Thank you CrossFit and more specifically Greg and Lauren for the effort you put have put into this from the start !
By the time I reached 120kg I didn't have any more plates to put on the bar. Yep... gotta go buy some new plates.
Have also been seriously thinking about getting a 32kg kettlebell to have some heavier kettlebell work. My currently heaviest KB - the 1.5 pood - is starting to feel light. Especially for the swinging movements or 'ballistics'.
I have noticed that each kettlebell I have gotten in the past has each and every time been a 'stepping stone' to greater strength. This of course is due to the great workout your posterior chain gets from those massive iron balls.
I have also been looking into some workouts I could do on rest days -with a heavier kettlebell- that would nicely complement the CrossFit WOD's. Will keep you guys (and gals) posted.
So here's what I did (all weights in kg):
3x100,2x102,2x104 (at this point I started using a mixed grip), 2x106,1x110 (my old PR),1x112,1x114,1x116,1x120: I beat my previous PR by 10kg or 22 pounds, without any deadlift specific practice other than what was described in the WOD's and in the March 2004 CF Journal (the beginner routine). All this with a little less than a month using CrossFit !!!
Thank you CrossFit and more specifically Greg and Lauren for the effort you put have put into this from the start !
By the time I reached 120kg I didn't have any more plates to put on the bar. Yep... gotta go buy some new plates.
Have also been seriously thinking about getting a 32kg kettlebell to have some heavier kettlebell work. My currently heaviest KB - the 1.5 pood - is starting to feel light. Especially for the swinging movements or 'ballistics'.
I have noticed that each kettlebell I have gotten in the past has each and every time been a 'stepping stone' to greater strength. This of course is due to the great workout your posterior chain gets from those massive iron balls.
I have also been looking into some workouts I could do on rest days -with a heavier kettlebell- that would nicely complement the CrossFit WOD's. Will keep you guys (and gals) posted.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Fran
Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95-pound Thruster
Pull-ups
Well, I'm pretty mad. I got 10:50 minutes on this one. Not bad you say? True ... but I only used 66 (30kg) pounds and I managed to do all sets of thrusters unbroken. Pull-ups were still broken in sets of 3 except for the first set where I managed to knock out 8 reps in a row. Hmm I hope I can keep those sets of 8 coming ;-)
I kind of felt like Josh Everett or Greg Amundson - with the thrusters - in their video when doing Fran, but umm ,I'm neither of those mutants. So next time I'm going to have to up the weight by at least 5 pounds to make it harder... after all, no WOD is supposed to even be remotely easy. That's doesn't mean I wasn't working hard though ... just not hard enough.
95-pound Thruster
Pull-ups
Well, I'm pretty mad. I got 10:50 minutes on this one. Not bad you say? True ... but I only used 66 (30kg) pounds and I managed to do all sets of thrusters unbroken. Pull-ups were still broken in sets of 3 except for the first set where I managed to knock out 8 reps in a row. Hmm I hope I can keep those sets of 8 coming ;-)
I kind of felt like Josh Everett or Greg Amundson - with the thrusters - in their video when doing Fran, but umm ,I'm neither of those mutants. So next time I'm going to have to up the weight by at least 5 pounds to make it harder... after all, no WOD is supposed to even be remotely easy. That's doesn't mean I wasn't working hard though ... just not hard enough.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Cindy
“Cindy”
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats
I completed today's WOD, but before I give you my results I want to tell you that - as I mentioned yesterday- I did a +/- 3km run this morning. The results ? Well, it wasn't really easy ... or fun for that matter(not yet anyway) but I ran it in 15 minutes.
I'm planning to bring that time down to about 12-13 minutes before I run a greater distance.
On to today's WOD. It wasn't really pretty, but I managed 10 rounds and 5 additional pull-ups.
Now I realise I could have squeezed in some push-up's too.
Although the timer said 1 more minute, that minute still gave me the time to - possibly - do half a round, I just didn't think I had a full minute left. Well, it will be a lesson for these type of WOD's ... keep going until the timer beeps !
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats
I completed today's WOD, but before I give you my results I want to tell you that - as I mentioned yesterday- I did a +/- 3km run this morning. The results ? Well, it wasn't really easy ... or fun for that matter(not yet anyway) but I ran it in 15 minutes.
I'm planning to bring that time down to about 12-13 minutes before I run a greater distance.
On to today's WOD. It wasn't really pretty, but I managed 10 rounds and 5 additional pull-ups.
Now I realise I could have squeezed in some push-up's too.
Although the timer said 1 more minute, that minute still gave me the time to - possibly - do half a round, I just didn't think I had a full minute left. Well, it will be a lesson for these type of WOD's ... keep going until the timer beeps !
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Rest Day
Well , nothing to report today. I didn't do any skill practice like other would as fell of my bike yesterday and my knee and right hand are bruised, so I'm just going to relax today. I used RouteRuler to figure out a good running route for me to use tomorrow, as I have decided to work on my weakness: running. In addition to tomorrow's WOD I will run a 3.3km route through my neighbourhood . In the weeks to come I will consistently try to respectively descrease and increase :
1)Running time
2)Running distance
My priority will be with time for about 2 weeks, then slightly increasing the length, then focusing on time again, etc ... until I reach 5k. After which I will focus on running longer distances (>5k)more sporadically.
All this will eventually lead me to be a better athlete and actually run 10k when the WOD demands it.
There... No excuses, no compromises...Crossfit !
1)Running time
2)Running distance
My priority will be with time for about 2 weeks, then slightly increasing the length, then focusing on time again, etc ... until I reach 5k. After which I will focus on running longer distances (>5k)more sporadically.
All this will eventually lead me to be a better athlete and actually run 10k when the WOD demands it.
There... No excuses, no compromises...Crossfit !
Friday, July 15, 2005
Michael
Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups
26:37 but I'm adding 1 minute (final time being= 27:37)of 'penalty time' because I couldn't get my groove right with those swiss ball sit-ups.
My barbell was set up too high for me to hook my feet under it properly and during the workout I stopped the clock to get a towel to do sit-ups with , but ... the towel was a bit too thin and didn't really give quite enough support ... ugh ... so I kept doing the swiss ball sit-ups. Maybe I will consider one of those ABMATs.
I also used a swiss ball for the back extensions while hooking my feet under a barbell and lying face down on the ball (abdominals touching the ball) so I could simulate a back extension and I know, I know ... it's only a partial ROM, but I'm working with what I have here .
Also I'm starting to feel like my jumping rope is becoming too easy ,so I decided to raise the intensity by performing partial knee-ups to simulate the running motion, but not exagerating knee height to keep it realistic. It seems to work, I'm going to add these in the future. Tomorrow is a rest day ... enjoy.
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups
26:37 but I'm adding 1 minute (final time being= 27:37)of 'penalty time' because I couldn't get my groove right with those swiss ball sit-ups.
My barbell was set up too high for me to hook my feet under it properly and during the workout I stopped the clock to get a towel to do sit-ups with , but ... the towel was a bit too thin and didn't really give quite enough support ... ugh ... so I kept doing the swiss ball sit-ups. Maybe I will consider one of those ABMATs.
I also used a swiss ball for the back extensions while hooking my feet under a barbell and lying face down on the ball (abdominals touching the ball) so I could simulate a back extension and I know, I know ... it's only a partial ROM, but I'm working with what I have here .
Also I'm starting to feel like my jumping rope is becoming too easy ,so I decided to raise the intensity by performing partial knee-ups to simulate the running motion, but not exagerating knee height to keep it realistic. It seems to work, I'm going to add these in the future. Tomorrow is a rest day ... enjoy.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Kelly
Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
30 box jump, 24 inch box
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
Substitutions : Run 400 meters => 200 Rope jumps
24 inch Box => 16 Inch box
And finally , wall ball target was 9' high instead of 10.
And even with al these substitutions I got a measly 33:13 min. Well I can tell you one thing though, Arnold once said :
"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
This really applies to Crossfit . Crossfit builds character. If you keep going true a tough workout and don't stop, you build character. I think that's one of the reasons Crossfit is so popular amongst law enforcement and military personel.
I broke my 30 reps with both box jumps and wall ball shots into sets of 10 reps . Next time I'll break them both into sets of 15 reps, which will considerably up the intensity of course.
I'm going to try to get my hands on a 24 inch box a 16 inch really is small , compared to the 'real deal'. I folded a blanked in half to absorb the shocks of the jumps on the box, because I live in an appartement and work out on my appartement terras which is large enough (4m x 3m) to jump rope and do other stuff. I just have to minimize the noise for the old lady downstairs.
Well see you all tomorrow , can't wait to unwrap tomorrow's WOD ;-)
Run 400 meters
30 box jump, 24 inch box
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
Substitutions : Run 400 meters => 200 Rope jumps
24 inch Box => 16 Inch box
And finally , wall ball target was 9' high instead of 10.
And even with al these substitutions I got a measly 33:13 min. Well I can tell you one thing though, Arnold once said :
"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
This really applies to Crossfit . Crossfit builds character. If you keep going true a tough workout and don't stop, you build character. I think that's one of the reasons Crossfit is so popular amongst law enforcement and military personel.
I broke my 30 reps with both box jumps and wall ball shots into sets of 10 reps . Next time I'll break them both into sets of 15 reps, which will considerably up the intensity of course.
I'm going to try to get my hands on a 24 inch box a 16 inch really is small , compared to the 'real deal'. I folded a blanked in half to absorb the shocks of the jumps on the box, because I live in an appartement and work out on my appartement terras which is large enough (4m x 3m) to jump rope and do other stuff. I just have to minimize the noise for the old lady downstairs.
Well see you all tomorrow , can't wait to unwrap tomorrow's WOD ;-)
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Snatches & Pull-ups
Three rounds for time of:
95 pound barbell Snatch, 21 reps
15 foot Rope-climb, two ascents, without legs, from seated start
If you don’t have a rope, make plans to pick one up, and until then, substitute 20 pull-ups for each ascent. Snatch is squat snatch, not power snatch.
So that's what I did, except for the 95 pounds which I 'safely' replaced with a 65 pound barbell, because I'm not really familiar with the squat snatch. Turns out lowering the weight was good idea, because somewhere in the 2nd set I had to bail out and lower (it wasn't really a dump) the bar from the overhead squat position to my 2 tires positioned just under the plates of my barbell. I did this one in 30:35 minutes. Still a really bad time. I still blame pull-ups for a huge loss of time, considering I have to break them up into sets of 3 or maybe 4. Fatigue really makes it difficult to match your normal amount of pull-ups in a rested state. Yep, CrossFit is on to something allright.
But I'm still in my first month of crossfit, so I'm still not supposed to push myself too hard either. Here's why (scroll down to the 5th paragraph).
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Rest Day
Well, it's supposed to be a rest day... but I have decided otherwise. I have a 2 day vacation coming up in a little more then a week , so I decided to hit the crossfit workouts hard, to the edge of overtraining, so I'll really have earned those 2 days of pure 'laziness' :-)
Here's what I did today, and before you start laughing at my horendous time, please take into account that this workout was preceded by a 45min bike ride (the ride home from work).
For time:
100 Squats
40 Pull-ups
80 Squats
32 Pull-ups
60 Squats
24 Pull-ups
40 Squats
16 Pull-ups
20 Squats
8 Pull-ups
Time: 41:14 minutes. This definitely needs improvement. Pull-ups were broken into sets of 3 and squats were broken into sets of 20 when necessary.
P.S.: about yesterday's remark on not running for a while, I AM going to to long distance runs, but not just now. I'll start adding them when requested in about 1 months or so.
Here's what I did today, and before you start laughing at my horendous time, please take into account that this workout was preceded by a 45min bike ride (the ride home from work).
For time:
100 Squats
40 Pull-ups
80 Squats
32 Pull-ups
60 Squats
24 Pull-ups
40 Squats
16 Pull-ups
20 Squats
8 Pull-ups
Time: 41:14 minutes. This definitely needs improvement. Pull-ups were broken into sets of 3 and squats were broken into sets of 20 when necessary.
P.S.: about yesterday's remark on not running for a while, I AM going to to long distance runs, but not just now. I'll start adding them when requested in about 1 months or so.
Monday, July 11, 2005
First WOD
Run 5K.
That's what the Workout of the Day prescribed today. When I started crossfit I knew workouts like this were part of the program (long endurance events) and they usually were called for about once or twice a month. Right now I'm almost 2 weeks into crossfit, but don't feel like running long distances yet . So every time an endurance event like this is called for I will replace it by one of the crossfit 'benchmark' workouts.
So here's what I did today :
"Helen"
Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 ½ pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups
I completed this in 13:07 minutes. The only change I made is I jumped rope 200 times instead of running 400 meters. Pull-ups were broken into sets of 4 reps for set 1, 3 reps for set 2 and 3 or 2 reps for set 3.
How do I feel ? Well, first of all after those kettlebell swings - although they are two handed - my grip is weak. Second thing I noticed is my throat was really dry after this workout ... not to worry , water to the rescue ;-) . As said before I will attempt to get as close as possible to Josh Everett's time on every benchmark workout and in this case I will have to be twice as fast to make it . Well, got a long way to go ...
That's what the Workout of the Day prescribed today. When I started crossfit I knew workouts like this were part of the program (long endurance events) and they usually were called for about once or twice a month. Right now I'm almost 2 weeks into crossfit, but don't feel like running long distances yet . So every time an endurance event like this is called for I will replace it by one of the crossfit 'benchmark' workouts.
So here's what I did today :
"Helen"
Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 ½ pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups
I completed this in 13:07 minutes. The only change I made is I jumped rope 200 times instead of running 400 meters. Pull-ups were broken into sets of 4 reps for set 1, 3 reps for set 2 and 3 or 2 reps for set 3.
How do I feel ? Well, first of all after those kettlebell swings - although they are two handed - my grip is weak. Second thing I noticed is my throat was really dry after this workout ... not to worry , water to the rescue ;-) . As said before I will attempt to get as close as possible to Josh Everett's time on every benchmark workout and in this case I will have to be twice as fast to make it . Well, got a long way to go ...
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Last Workout before Crossfit WOD's
How many rounds in 20 minutes of :
Bench press 135 pounds x 10 reps / 12 L-Pull-ups
Well , as usual I had to reduce the weight on the bench press. I used 110 pounds (50kg) and because I don't have a real bench , I floor pressed the weight instead . Parallettes make good spotters :-)
Guess what ... I got 3 rounds - right - not good. Also for the L-pull-ups I made sure I never really started from a dead hang as I wanted to protect my shoulders . I kind of shrugged up so my lats were already contracted - protecting my shoulders - but keeping my arms straight . I have had problems with L-pull-ups in the past when not using this technique due to a weaker left shoulder . My left shoulder was injured in the past*so needless to say I don't want to injure it again.
*= NOTE: when practicing Turkish Get-ups, always make sure you do them outside, so that when something goes wrong you can drop the kettlebell (away from your body, of course) and protect your shoulder from being pulled in an unwanted direction .
Bench press 135 pounds x 10 reps / 12 L-Pull-ups
Well , as usual I had to reduce the weight on the bench press. I used 110 pounds (50kg) and because I don't have a real bench , I floor pressed the weight instead . Parallettes make good spotters :-)
Guess what ... I got 3 rounds - right - not good. Also for the L-pull-ups I made sure I never really started from a dead hang as I wanted to protect my shoulders . I kind of shrugged up so my lats were already contracted - protecting my shoulders - but keeping my arms straight . I have had problems with L-pull-ups in the past when not using this technique due to a weaker left shoulder . My left shoulder was injured in the past*so needless to say I don't want to injure it again.
*= NOTE: when practicing Turkish Get-ups, always make sure you do them outside, so that when something goes wrong you can drop the kettlebell (away from your body, of course) and protect your shoulder from being pulled in an unwanted direction .
Saturday, July 09, 2005
11th workout : snatches
Snatch nine sets : 3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1 .
Sets of 3 reps with 30kg , sets of 2 with 32kg and sets of 1 with 34,36,38 and 40kg respectively.
Sets of 3 reps with 30kg , sets of 2 with 32kg and sets of 1 with 34,36,38 and 40kg respectively.
Friday, July 08, 2005
10th WO : Pull-ups
6 sets of max pull-ups
Results : 9,7,7,6,4,3
That's a total of 36 pull-ups . I will be adding towel pull-ups into my routine soon , as I tried them yesterday and I couldn't do a single one ... My grip needs some work.
Results : 9,7,7,6,4,3
That's a total of 36 pull-ups . I will be adding towel pull-ups into my routine soon , as I tried them yesterday and I couldn't do a single one ... My grip needs some work.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
9th Workout
Seven rounds for time of :
Front squat bodyweight 10 reps/30 feet of rope climb.
I only used about 110 pounds and subsituted 15 pull-ups for the rope climb. I should have done 30 instead , but after having done 30 the first round and taking a lot of time to do it , I decided to reduce the reps. I also reduced the rounds to 4 instead of 7 rounds , because I didn't have that much time today . I finished in 23:45 minutes. Not really good huh ? I hope to drastically improve these times in about 6 weeks.
Front squat bodyweight 10 reps/30 feet of rope climb.
I only used about 110 pounds and subsituted 15 pull-ups for the rope climb. I should have done 30 instead , but after having done 30 the first round and taking a lot of time to do it , I decided to reduce the reps. I also reduced the rounds to 4 instead of 7 rounds , because I didn't have that much time today . I finished in 23:45 minutes. Not really good huh ? I hope to drastically improve these times in about 6 weeks.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
8th workout
How many rounds can you complete in 20 minutes of :
Run 400 meters/Deadlift 225 pounds x 7 reps ?
Since I'm not really up to deadlifting 225 for so many reps yet , I decided to tone it down a bit and deadlift 198 pounds or 90kg instead.
I managed 6 rounds . This was my best workout yet , and I really got this post-exercise high . It's been a little over 1 week on crossfit and I'm already starting to feel the differences . I can't really confirm those 'feelings' so I'm just going to wait until I'm 1 month into crossfit to test my 1RM on the basic lifts again and do a couple of workouts again (trying to beat my previous time , of course) .
Run 400 meters/Deadlift 225 pounds x 7 reps ?
Since I'm not really up to deadlifting 225 for so many reps yet , I decided to tone it down a bit and deadlift 198 pounds or 90kg instead.
I managed 6 rounds . This was my best workout yet , and I really got this post-exercise high . It's been a little over 1 week on crossfit and I'm already starting to feel the differences . I can't really confirm those 'feelings' so I'm just going to wait until I'm 1 month into crossfit to test my 1RM on the basic lifts again and do a couple of workouts again (trying to beat my previous time , of course) .
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Monday, July 04, 2005
7th workout and some great times.
5 rounds for time of :
60 pound two hand dumbbell swing x 21 / Glute Ham developer medicine ball throw sit-up with 12 pound ball x 15
I know, today was supposed to be a rest day (3 on , 1 off) but it worked out better for me to rest tomorrow and do this workout today . I replaced the med ball throw by crunches (situps at first ;-) with a 5kg plate and used a 1.5 pood kb for the swings . I finished the workout in 9:43 min , which I am quite happy about . Yesterday I spent some time looking at Crossfit's top athlete's times for the girls . I payed particular attention to Josh Everett's times . My goal are to match these times , some day ...
Chelsea 30 rounds 04/11/05 30 rnds in 30 mins
Diane 03:50 05/02/01 n/a
Elizabeth 04:19 05/05/23 bar dips w/24kg
Fight Gone Bad 400 points 04/12/01 Slightly modified
Fran 02:37 04/11/21 n/a
Helen 07:29 05/03/31 n/a
Isabel 01:30 04/11/11 n/a
Jonesworthy 12:20 04/12/03 n/a
Josh E.'s own 43:36 04/10/08 n/a
Linda 15:48 04/11/03 BW 185 lbs
Mary 14 rounds 05/01/19 14 rnds in 20:02
Tabata st else 500 points 05/05/31 n/a
Below you see the name of the workout , the time in minutes or the number of rounds completed or number of points scored, the date in yy/mm/dd format and finally a space for comments .Keep in mind that these aren't necessarily the best time for those workouts .Josh Everett isn't the necessarily the best crossfitter around either , he's just a good - scratch that - great representative of the 'elite' people at crossfit. These are times/scores to aim for .
60 pound two hand dumbbell swing x 21 / Glute Ham developer medicine ball throw sit-up with 12 pound ball x 15
I know, today was supposed to be a rest day (3 on , 1 off) but it worked out better for me to rest tomorrow and do this workout today . I replaced the med ball throw by crunches (situps at first ;-) with a 5kg plate and used a 1.5 pood kb for the swings . I finished the workout in 9:43 min , which I am quite happy about . Yesterday I spent some time looking at Crossfit's top athlete's times for the girls . I payed particular attention to Josh Everett's times . My goal are to match these times , some day ...
Chelsea 30 rounds 04/11/05 30 rnds in 30 mins
Diane 03:50 05/02/01 n/a
Elizabeth 04:19 05/05/23 bar dips w/24kg
Fight Gone Bad 400 points 04/12/01 Slightly modified
Fran 02:37 04/11/21 n/a
Helen 07:29 05/03/31 n/a
Isabel 01:30 04/11/11 n/a
Jonesworthy 12:20 04/12/03 n/a
Josh E.'s own 43:36 04/10/08 n/a
Linda 15:48 04/11/03 BW 185 lbs
Mary 14 rounds 05/01/19 14 rnds in 20:02
Tabata st else 500 points 05/05/31 n/a
Below you see the name of the workout , the time in minutes or the number of rounds completed or number of points scored, the date in yy/mm/dd format and finally a space for comments .Keep in mind that these aren't necessarily the best time for those workouts .Josh Everett isn't the necessarily the best crossfitter around either , he's just a good - scratch that - great representative of the 'elite' people at crossfit. These are times/scores to aim for .
Sunday, July 03, 2005
6th workout
Five rounds for time of:
35 pound Dumbbell thruster x 15 reps / 12 pull-ups
I didn't use 35 pound for the thrusters (= front squat / push press), but used two 26 pound dumbells instead. All sets were broken up into little doable chunks e.g. for pullups 4-4-4 instead of one whole set of 12 reps.
I was humbled by this workout ... again ... finished it in 23:00 minutes . I'm curious to see how this is time is going to improve in the next months ...
35 pound Dumbbell thruster x 15 reps / 12 pull-ups
I didn't use 35 pound for the thrusters (= front squat / push press), but used two 26 pound dumbells instead. All sets were broken up into little doable chunks e.g. for pullups 4-4-4 instead of one whole set of 12 reps.
I was humbled by this workout ... again ... finished it in 23:00 minutes . I'm curious to see how this is time is going to improve in the next months ...
Saturday, July 02, 2005
5th workout
5 sets of 50 Sit-ups on GHD.
Well , I don't have a GHD here at home , so I did tried to do 5 different kinds of situps . The first 2 sets I did regular situps , then I did a set of scissor situps , followed by some crunches and finally finished up with some hanging knee raises . Wasn't too intense , although I bet that if I had to do them on a GHD , that would have been a whole different workout .
Well , I don't have a GHD here at home , so I did tried to do 5 different kinds of situps . The first 2 sets I did regular situps , then I did a set of scissor situps , followed by some crunches and finally finished up with some hanging knee raises . Wasn't too intense , although I bet that if I had to do them on a GHD , that would have been a whole different workout .
Friday, July 01, 2005
4th workout
How many rounds can you complete in 15 minutes of :
Hang squat clean 135 pounds 12 reps / 15 ring dips
I did regular dips instead of ring dips . Well , crossfit really humbled me on this one : I only got 4 rounds and used 65 instead of 135 pounds. Ouch ... I did make a small mistake in the first round when I did 15 hang squat cleans in stead of only 12 , but that doesn't really make up for that pathetic score now , does it ? Forging Elite Fitness ... it's a work in progress :-)
Remember I did kipping pull-ups yesterday , well today I was sore in all the right places . I really feel my lats being sore instead of my arms and my abs are slightly sore too . I'm interested to see how kipping is going to affect my dead hang pull-ups (both weighted and Bodyweight) .
Hang squat clean 135 pounds 12 reps / 15 ring dips
I did regular dips instead of ring dips . Well , crossfit really humbled me on this one : I only got 4 rounds and used 65 instead of 135 pounds. Ouch ... I did make a small mistake in the first round when I did 15 hang squat cleans in stead of only 12 , but that doesn't really make up for that pathetic score now , does it ? Forging Elite Fitness ... it's a work in progress :-)
Remember I did kipping pull-ups yesterday , well today I was sore in all the right places . I really feel my lats being sore instead of my arms and my abs are slightly sore too . I'm interested to see how kipping is going to affect my dead hang pull-ups (both weighted and Bodyweight) .
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