Fitness - Two-A-Day, WOD #2 - 4/14

Uh, wow. WOD number two on the day and it was a long, heavy grinder.

WOD #2: 3 rounds for time
1000m row
800m run
30 body weight dead lifts - 90 kg (198#)

Score/ Time: 28:15
Calories burned (WOD only): 731

This one was all legs and lungs. My legs were already smoked, I knew I was going to have dig in and get through it.

I got after I with a good friend (and excellent crossfitter), Jim. He's about 6'6", 220 pounds and a beast on the erg. He's really powerful and can get so much out of one stroke. I would have been sandbagging on the erg if he wasn't there. He was off the rower before me each round, but I caught up to him on the run each round. I ended up beating him by just under a minute.

Anything I had left after the row and the run was zapped by the dead lifts, my ass was on fire. I got inspired on the last round of dead lifts and somehow finished that last set unbroken. It was a great mental victory.

In retrospect I think I could have run a little harder but who knows. I was pushing hard but there were times when I might have been holding back In order to save some energy for the rest of the workout.

Well, I'm updating this from the airport, about to leave on my trip and my plane is about to board. I gotta run, I'll be back next Friday.

Out Of The Country

Just a heads up, I'll be leaving on a little vacay tomorrow (Thursday) for 7 or 8 days.

I doubt I'll have access to a computer but I'll be writing all my WOD's down and entering them when I get back. I'm not really going to try to make time to enter them via my iPhone or anything. I'm going to enjoy this time away in far away lands.

I'm taking my jump rope and my rings with me and I plan to do at least one WOD a day. I'll throw in a few two-a-days, but only a few.

I'll be working with mostly body weight so that means lots of hand stand push ups, v-ups, ring dips, squats, pull ups, burpees, something to box jump onto, muscle ups and double unders etc. I see lots of hill running and sprinting intervals mixed in as well. I'm sure I'll be able to find a heavy rock or log and do some cleans, presses, over head lunges and things of that nature.

So far a few I've got pre-planned are: 30 muscle ups for time; 100 push ups, 100 squats, 100 burpees; lots of tabata stuff; 15x10-15 second sprint, 20 seconds rest.

And I'll have plenty of time on the plane to drum up some other goodies.

If you've got any ideas for me for workouts that can be done in nature (in the jungle/on a beach) just leave them in a comment below. Thanks and I'll be back on Fridaym, 4/23.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Box Jumps & WOD #1 w/ vest - 4/14

Damn, my hamstrings are so tight this morning. After every time we do good mornings my hammies are barking at me for days. This time was no different. I even started feeling them tighten up yesterday afternoon. I did a lot of stretching last night with a band and I'm sure it helped, it just doesn't feel like it.

Our focus this morning was box jumps. We worked with sets of 3 building up to a max height. I just listed my final height below, I didn't measure any of the other sets.

Focus: box jumps, sets of 3
1x3 - 48 inches

This was really fun. Everybody in the gym got behind one another was cheering everybody on. I had no idea how high I was going to be able to get so this was surprising, and it felt kind of effort less. I know I could have broken 50 inches today, just ran out of time.

WOD w/12# vest: AMRAP in 10 minutes of
10 wall ball shots - 10'/20#
5 frog jumps - 20# med ball
10 v-ups

Finisher (no vest): 400m farmer's walk with one, 32 Kg kettle bell per hand.

Score/Time: 13 full rounds, 9 wall ball shots
Calories burned (including focus, WOD & finisher): 644

The frog jump is where you hold the medicine ball over your head and do a squat jump. This WOD was a quad killer for sure. There was about 10 minutes left in the class so I went out for a walk around the block, it was a beautiful morning. As usual the farmer's walk smashed my grip.

But that's good, I need it to get stronger. WOD #2 coming up tonight.

Fitness - Good Mornings & WOD w/ vest - 4/13

Holy cow, I'm am really sore from yesterday. I think the second WOD I did in the afternoon compounded on heavy "Helen" really took it's tole. My traps on down to my calves, everything was sore and stiff this morning.

Focus: Good mornings, light weight, more reps
1x10 - 40 Kg (88.2#)
3x8 - 45 Kg (99.2#)

This is a great supplementary strength move for your glutes and hamstrings. Thus an awesome way to increase your dead lifts and squats of all variations. I don't do good mornings often enough.

WOD w/12# vest: In a teams of 5, 3 rounds for time of
250m row
10 knees to elbows
20 dumbbell push press - 40# dumbbells
20 full kettle bell swings - 24 Kg bell
20 ring push ups

Score/Time: 17:51
Calories burned (Including focus & WOD): 582

This felt like a good bit of work but there was too much rest built in for me. Because we couldn't move on to the next exercise until the rower was done (and I was on a team with 4 girls/women), there was a lot of time spent waiting for the rower to be done.

To get around all the rest I just hit it really hard when I wasn't resting. I kept my pace on the rower under the 1:35/500m mark and I went unbroken on everything except my last set of ring push ups. The weighted vest had a hand in me having to split it up into a set of 10, and two sets of 5.

Overall it was good and I was tired when it was over. I look forward to a lot of sleep tonight and another two-a-day tomorrow.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, WOD #2 - 4/12

Today's WOD was one from one of the other sectionals, not quite sure. But I was excited to get after it. It seemed like a bunch of random stuff just to beat you up, which is exactly what it did.

WOD #2: AFAP
35 sumo dead lift high pulls - 43 Kg (95#)
50 box jumps - 24"
35 push press - 43 Kg (95#)
50 air squats
35 toes to bar
50 full kettle bell swings - 24 Kg bell
35m walking lunge - one 24kg bell per hand
50 burpees

Score/Time: 17:17
Calories burned (WOD only): 432

Damn, this was killer. I expected to get a little bit of a faster time but this was tough. I knew the 50 burpee finisher was going to suck and would take me around 3 minutes just to finish those.

My grip was pretty spent after the toes to bar, then it was really torn up after the swings and holding onto the bells during the lunges was brutal.

Needless to say, I was happy when I was done.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Weighted Pull-Ups/Dips & Heavy "Helen" (WOD #1) - 4/12

Today's focus was a super set of weighted dips, which I hit up on the rings, and pull ups.

Focus: 3x3, heavy cross sets of weighted ring dips and pull ups
Dips
3x3 - 48 Kg added

Pull Ups
2x3 - 24 Kg added
1x3 - 32 Kg added

I felt good here even though I barely got my chin above the bar on my third set of pull ups. The dips were heavy as well, I focused even with the heavy weight on getting complete full range of motion. Especially at the top, really posting up through the upper back and shoulders to get a solid lock out.

WOD w/12# vest: "Helen", is 3 rounds for time of:
400m run
21 kettle bell swings - 24 Kg (I used 32 Kg bell)
12 Pull ups

Score/Time: 8:25
Calories burned (including focus & WOD): 637

I wore the weighted vest and went heavier on the swings, earning the Rx+ mark on the white board. The vest certainly made things interesting, I didn't feel it much on the swings, but it was hard to overcome on the running portion.

I've gotten pretty dang good/efficient with the butterfly kip and 12 isn't that many so I didn't have too much trouble with them. I had the first two sets unbroken and was on my way to all three sets unbroken but my grip failed me on rep 10 of the last set. My left hand slipped off the bar and I had to shake it out for a breath and finish the last 3 reps.

I was pretty stoked on my time, my Helen time if I follow the standard Rx is a sub 8, and this wasn't too far off. So, I'm happy.

I've got another workout this evening and i'm feeling great, so i'm ready to get after it.

Fitness - 1 Rep Max Snatch PR & 1 Rep Max Clean & Jerk PR - 4/10

To round out this de-loading week I got after some serious strength work. I really wanted to find out where some of my olympic lifts were at so I set my sights on new PR's in both the snatch and the clean & jerk

Snatch: Work up to 1 rep max
1x1 - 100 Kg (220.5#)
1x1 - 105 Kg (231.5#)
1x1 - 107 Kg (235.9#)

I am totally stoked on these numbers. I used to struggle with 90 Kg, this was a massive effort. I had the whole gym behind me and It was an awesome feeling when I nailed it. Scott gave me a ton of coaching throughout the session and helped a great deal.

I failed at 105 Kg once before getting it the second try and I failed at 107 Kg twice before getting it on the third, I was riding pretty high after I stood it up.

Clean & Jerk: Work up to 1 rep max
1x1 - 120 Kg (264.5#)
1x1 - 125 Kg (275.6#)
1x1 - 128 Kg (282.2#)

Calories burned during snatches and clean & jerks: 599

I feel great about this effort as well. I feel like I had a little more in the tank and could have gotten 130 or 131 Kg's but i didn't want to push it. I wanted to end the day on a good note with a successful lift. Plus, I was spent after the kettle bell work and all the snatches. My shoulders were feeling it pretty tough.

I failed at 128 before getting it the second time. It was a matter of not driving the jerk hard enough and then not getting underneath it deep enough. I felt really good on the cleans though, which I expected. My 1 rep clean max is currently 141 Kg.

Fitness - Level 2 Skills Class - 4/10

Level 2 Skills class
Today in the level 2 skills class there was no gymnastics or strength work. Instead, Dave gave us a kettle bell workshop. It was incredibly beneficial.

We set up two lines of kettle bells that progressed in weight starting at 12 Kg, then 16Kg, 20Kg, 24Kg, then the 32 Kg bells.

He had us start off with one two handed swings and work through the line (up to the heaviest weight that you could do with good form, or were comfortable doing). Then one handed swings followed by single arm kettle bell clean, then two arm kettle bell clean. Each time we went down the line he'd spend a little time tweaking or giving pointers if needed.

We then did two arm clean and jerks and moved on to two arm full squat clean and jerks. And finally the last movement we did down the line was the kettle bell snatch.

When we started each movement at the light weights, the point was to really work your form and not just throw it around because you could. That way when you get to the heavier bells, you're more efficient and it's a much more fluid movement.

After a lot of kettle bell work, I always feel really good. My whole body feels worked yet not destroyed. I don't know, i just feel like everything is in line. I can only relate it to how I feel after a yoga session. It just feels good!

clories burned during level 2 skills class: 882

Fitness - Annie, Dead Lifts & WOD - 4/09

I woke up feeling the rope climbs today. My back and grip is pretty sore, which is a good thing.

I got to the gym a little early to continue work on my double unders. I hit up "Annie" (50, 40, 30, 20, 10 of double unders and sit ups) un-timed.

Focus: Snatch grip dead lifts with chains, 5x3 cross sets
2x3 - 120 Kg (264.5#)
3x3 - 150 Kg (330.7#)

My hook grip is still struggling. I keep on being told that it's one of those things where the more you do it, the more comfortable you get with it. But it's not happening yet with me. It still is uncomfortable and hurts a little but i'll keep at it.

WOD: AMRAP in 12 minutes of
1 sumo deadlift high pull - 52 Kg (115#)
1 ring push up
1 hanging ankles to bar
2 sdlhp - 52 Kg (115#)
2 ring push up
2 hanging ankles to bar
3 sdlhp - 52 Kg (115#)
3 ring push up
3 hanging ankles to bar
4 sdlhp - 52 Kg (115#)
4 ring push up
4 hanging ankles to bar
5 sdlhp - 52 Kg (115#)
5 ring push up
5 hanging ankles to bar

Score/Time: 4.2 rounds (finished through the 2's of round 5)
Calories burned (focus & WOD): 602

I feel good about this. I like progressions like this and I went pretty much non stop as fast as I could. I really focused on wasting no time between transitions, which worked pretty well. I went from each exercise to the next and got to work.

I've got the level 2 class tomorrow and some strength work planned. I'm going to try to go for a 1 rep clean and jerk max, 1 rep snatch and if i've got enough in the tank, a 1 rep max clean.

After that i've got a short/heavy strength focused WOD planned: 3, 2, 1 of clean & jerks at 110 or 120 Kg's and snatches at 80 or 85 Kg's. Stay tuned for that.

Fitness - Strict Press & Rope Climb, L-Sits, Hip Bridges - 4/08

Today was a active rest kind of day in the gym, sort of.

Focus: Strict press
1x21 - 52 Kg (115#)
1x15 - " "
1x9 - " "

My shoulders stung a little after this, I felt the burn pretty bad.

WOD: 5 rounds un-timed of
2 rope climbs
8 hip bridges - 75 Kg (165#)
2x20 sec. l-sit (20 seconds on, 40 seconds off)

Score/Time: N/A
Calories burned (Including focus & WOD): 487

I wanted to get some glute/hamstring work in so I hit up the hip bridges, the rope climb was because I wanted to get some back work in. The l-sits I threw in Just for some core work, and I really want to get good at them.

I moved through this one with some purpose but wasn't going all out. I say it was an active rest day because I wanted to focus on some supplementary strength stuff (l-sits and hip bridges) but then there were the rope climbs, which was the real work out of this WOD.

Fitness - Overhead Squats, Push/Split Jerk, Front Squats - 4/07

Another night of great sleep. I logged 9.5 hours last night, and I am feeling the benefits again this morning.

I was excited for a strength focused day and to get under some heavy weight.

I first hit up some foam roller action and a nice long warm up/stretching session. For me to go heavy with overhead squats I need to really make sure my shoulders are warmed up and loose. Lots of mobility work and many warm up sets before I get into it.

Work:
Overhead Squats, sets of 3
1x3 90 Kg (198.4#)
2x3 100 Kg (220.5#)
1x3 107 Kg (235#)

Split Jerks, sets of 3
1x3 107 Kg (235.9#)
1x3 113 Kg (249.1#)
2x3 120 Kg (264.5#)

Front Squats, sets of 3
1x3 130 Kg (286.6#)
1x3 135 Kg (297.6#)
1x3 143 Kg (315.3#)
1x3 148 Kg (326#)

I felt great at all of these weights. My over head squat has come leaps and bounds from where it was. I've got way more confidence in my jerk to throw heavier weight over head. And my fronts are steadily improving as well.

I need to throw in strength fochsed days more often. I think i'll have a cleans and snatches setion with Scott either Friday or Saturday. I'm pumped to try to put up some big numbers.

Fitness - Windmills/Turkish Get Ups & Tabata Tuesday - 4/06

I went to bed really early last night and got a ton of sleep. I woke up feeling awesome. My legs felt fresh as I bounced out the door.

Today we did a lot of active stretching and warmed up with some kettle bell exercises.

Focus: Windmill's & Turkish get ups, work up to heaviest weight possible
Windmills - 2, 32 Kg kettle bells (one in each hand)
Turkish get ups - 44 Kg's added

I felt great after loosening up with these movements. They do well to get your whole body involved and get the blood flowing.

WOD: Tabata Tuesday,
Air Squats
Dumbbell push press - 30# dumbbells
Kettle bell swings - 32 Kg bell
Push ups

Score/Time: Squats-155(20), PP-143(19), KB Swings-97(12), PU's-91(10)
Calories burned (including warm up & WOD): 630

The total rep score for each exercise is there along with the tabata score, which is in the parentheses. The tabata score is the lowest amount of reps in any given round per each movement.

This was another one that is right up my alley for this week. Relatively low volume, low impact body weight stuff. It was definitely enough to make me feel like I got some work in, but not too much to do any damage.

Tomorrow's another day and I plan on getting in some mad strength work.

Fitness - Back Squat & WOD - 4/05

My upper back and legs are still sore from "Karabel" on Saturday. I'm for sure ready to take it easy this week and focus on strength work. I've got no two-a-days this week having just gotten beat down by three/week in the past two weeks. I'm taking it light-ish (no weight vest with WOD's) this week before hitting another heavy cycle. Also, I've been going heavier than the Rx with every WOD so far so I plan on doing the WOD's this week but staying at the Rx and cruising through them.

Focus: Back squat, 5x5
1x5 - 110 Kg (242.5#)
1x5 - 135 Kg (297.6#)
1x5 - 150 Kg (330.7#)
1x5 - 160 Kg (352.7#)
1x5 - 165 Kg (363.7#)

This felt pretty heavy, it took a few heavy warm up sets to wake my legs up. Pretty stoked on this effort though.

WOD: 3 separate timed intervals of
50 wall balls - 20#/10'
2 minutes rest

Score/Time: R1-1:22, R2-1:26, R3-1:25
Calories burned (including focus & WOD): 621

After Saturday's "Karabel" workout, more wall balls was the last thing I wanted to see. But it actually wasn't that bad. I got all three sets unbroken without too much trouble.

Dave was quick to throw the weight vest on me but I had to remind him that we had a "taking it easy. . . ish" (his words) week planned.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Level 2 Classes, WOD's #1 & #2 - 4/03

Level 2 Skills Class:
We started the level 2 skills class with some warm up rowing and stretching. We then got into some glute/hamstring work. Trying to exhaust and stretch out the back of the legs so they would give us less resistance later, when we worked l-sits.

So we started with hip bridges building up in weight. Then onto some weighted step ups and then the worst of all. I'm not sure what to call it but you are on your knees sitting upright and your partner is holding down your ankles. You then lower yourself to the floor as slow as possible. When you fail, you do a push up and with a straight body, pull yourself back upright with your hamstrings. This last one induces cramps almost 100% of the time, it hurts.

Our l-sit work was tough. Especially having done about 250 v-ups the day before, my abs were super sore. We did 15 second l-sit holds on parallettes for 5 minutes (15 seconds on, rest of the minute to rest). Then we did 3 minutes of 20 second l-sit holds, with the remainder of the minute to rest.

I couldn't hold it during the 20 second intervals because my abs were killing. I had to ditch the l-sit and just go to as high a tuck as possible.

With the rest of the level 2 class time the three of us got after a little 10 minute AMRAP where only the number of kettle bell snatches was your score. Most snatches wins!

WOD #1: AMRAP in 10 minutes of:
100m farmer's walk - 32 Kg kettle bells
Kettle bell snatches - 24 Kg bell
Row for calories

Score/Time: 75
Calories burned (during entire class): 820

It broke down like this: There was one of us at each station and the person doing the farmer's walk was the time keeper. So as soon as he got back to the gym, we'd all rotate (walker to snatches, snatcher to rowing, rower to walking).

There was just enough time so that everybody got through a full three rounds. It was a nice little met-con.


Level 2 Met-Con Class:
We got after a tough one today in the Level 2 met-con class. As my third two-a-day this week I knew it was going to hurt.

Scott had "Karabel" in mind for us today. Karabel is a mash-up of "Karen" (150 wall balls for time) and "Isabel" (30 Snatches for time).

WOD #2: "Karabel" is 10 rounds for time of
3 Snatches (ground to overhead) - 61 Kg (135#)
15 wall balls

Score/Time: 10:28
Calories burned (including warm up & WOD): 663

I'll be happy to not do this one again for a while, It was brutal. Fun, but honestly brutal. I was trying for a sub 10 minute time but that was not going to happen. An average of 1 minute per round would have been hard to keep up if I were fresh.

I'm looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow and a de-loading week next week. I'll be doing mostly strength work and no two-a-days, that's for sure. Two weeks of three two-a-days/week has taken it's toll.

Fitness - Ring Dips & WOD - 4/02

Focus: 4x8-10, weighted ring dips
4x8 - 16 Kg added

WOD: 10 rounds of:
AMRAP in 1 minute of 4 BW dead lifts, 8 v-ups
1 minute rest

Score/Time: 31 rounds
Calories burned (including focus & WOD): 708

I actually went above prescribed and instead of using BW (91 Kg - 200#), I went at 105 Kg (235#). This was pretty brutal. Myself and one of the other trainers, Matt, determined that being able to hold a 3 round average per minute of work would be a pretty good effort.

We did a lot to push each other and staggered our starts (he worked while I rested and vice versa) so we could give encouragement.

Towards the end, my ass was on fire and my abs were cramping up but Matt kept me pushing hard. In the end we both ended up with 31 rounds, we both got 3.5 rounds in the first two minutes of work.

Fitness - Agility/Plyometrics & WOD w/vest - 4/01

Man, I'm super stiff from yesterday's long run. We might run a mile or two during a workout but it's broken up into 400 and 800 meters. I haven't gone and done miles a time in a while, and my legs were feeling it this morning.

Focus: Agility/Plyometrics
We started off with some speed drills and agility training with a plyo ladder, some cones and boxes. Running through various stations in groups of 3 or 4.

WOD w/12# vest: AFAP
200 air squats
150 sit ups
100 push ups
75 pull ups

Score/Time: 17:56
calories burned (including focus & WOD): 683

This took me longer than I expected. The vest probably had something to do with that. Believe it or not, what took me longest and was most debilitating was the air squats. My legs were just so stiff form yesterday, after only about 50 or so my legs felt super fatigued and I had to break them up into smaller sets.

The sit ups got pretty hard with the vest as well. The pull ups and push ups didn't really give me too much of a problem though. Overall, it was a good effort. I really worked on not wasting time transitioning and when I felt like I wanted to stop, getting 5 more reps at that movement.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, WOD #2 - 3/31

Well i guessed it. The weather was nice, so it was time to run.

Dave had plotted out a nice little 1 mile neighborhood loop for me to run, complete with a gnarly hill section.

I was to run to the start of the loop (which started about a quarter mile away from the gym), then run the loop three times then head back to the gym.

WOD:
Approx 3.5 mile run.

Score/Time: 25:32
Calories burned (WOD only): 760

It was good to get this in. I'm going to start working some longer runs more often. I found the pace wasn't that hard to keep, except for the hill section. It was long and the beginning and end of it were steep. It had my legs and ass on fire (in large part due to the 175 sdlhp's I did this morning).

I stretched and rolled out when i returned to the gym, then did a super easy 800m jog, just to cool down and work out some knots. All in all, it was good.