I think the fatigue continues... more on that later. Had a great weekend. Didn't do a lick of CrossFit, didn't do a lick of paleo...and I still had fun. Crazy. LOL. Went to a buddies wedding down near Branson, MO. First time down there, beautiful, hilly country. Sure it looks amazing when the leaves are changing. Wouldn't want to be there for snow/ice though.
Took Monday off, couldn't bring myself to the box. Today, it was day 5 of no workouts, so I felt like I had to show up...that and the WOD looked fun. The drive in, I wasn't feeling it. My knees have been having a hard time all weekend, I'm being a baby... or so I think. Still, despite my best efforts to talk myself out of it, I made it to the box. Dirty 30 today (in case it's not a universal set) went as follows:
Dirty 30
-30 Box Jump 24/20
-30 Jumping Pull-Ups
-30 KBS 35/26
-30 Steps of Walking Lunge
-30 Knees to Elbows
-30 Push Press 45/35
-30 Back Extensions
-30 WB
-30 Burpees
-30 Double Unders
Did step ups, and they felt good, quads were burning, but thats expected. Jumping pullups, did these just like the Lurong challenge. Breathing hard now. KB swings weren't awful. Haven't done them in a while, was kinda nice to do them again. Had some problems with the walking lunges. I didn't tie my shoes tight enough, so my feet were sliding around. Knees to elbows... I'm really starting to hate the rig at Establish, it kills my hands. Maybe I need gloves? Back extensions were supposed to be on this piece of equipment, forget what it's called. I did good-mornings with a barbell instead. Wall Balls are where the problems really start. I did my first one, and as I'm catching the second one, in the squat, I stop.... I mean it was a hard stop, there was no pop to get back up. I put the ball down and walked away for about 20 seconds. I tried to go back to it, got 2 more, and had to stop again. I mean these things are not looking like wall balls at all,this time. I'm moving, but there is no speed or power in these movements. I took a good 30 maybe 40 seconds. I was more than ready to quit on these. I told myself to just make it to 10. If it takes 3 minutes, then fine, at least do 10. I got to 10. It didn't take 3 minutes, but man, it hurt. My quads are in a bad way. Tried to finish strong with the burpees. I lost count. I kept going to the last person was done, and then I did 5 more. The doubles I did as singles, and got through it. 19:02. About 2 minutes over what I was aiming for.
Back to these wall balls... my quads quit on me the first time. I probably quit on them the second. I'm tired. I mean I still feel fatigued in my legs. Those wall balls ate my lunch. I really think I may be done with the squat cycle. This should be week 3 for me, but I don't think I have it in me. As much as I struggled with the WB's, and as intense as the burn was, coupled with the lack of power.... I feel like my quads need time to get it together. Maybe jumping to week 4's deload week is the answer? I don't know. I don't know if taking time off (as in doing nada) is the answer? I hurt and I'm sore... but how much of this is mental and how much is legit physical?
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Fatigued
Man I'm tired... Fatigued might be a better word. In the span of 3 days I've done 4 WOD's now. Last night I was up at CFDS, and we did some fun stuff, things I've never done in a CF box before. I did barbell pullups for the first time...weird to do, but it gave me my first real taste of what an actual pullup will feel like, and what it's going to take... I may be closer to using bands and kipping than I realize...then again, I may not be. :) My biggest takeaways were my lack of grip, and my forearm strength... and they're probably related. I fatigued big time with that...way more than I expected.
Other fun things we did... curls. LOL. We actually did deadlifts, the pullups I was just talking about, HSPU's and situps, and then a 4x25 of curls and tricep extensions. Beach season is coming to a close, I'm thinking maybe we should have done these a few months ago... What I did end up saying was that this WOD was the kind of WOD that makes driving an issue afterwards. My arms felt shredded, and had this been my first workout in months, I don't think I'd have been able to hold the steering wheel... but this wasn't my first workout, and shredded or not, I had no issues getting home.
Once I got back "home" to the hotel, I took a gander at what the mornings WOD would be a Unlocked... It looked like something I could do, and if I went to bed right away, I'd get 7 hours. Close enough. So I tried to go to bed right away... didn't quite workout. Think I got closer to 6 hours. Yaaawn.
This is another first for the week... a WOD on Thursday morning. Never have I done that...and I may never again...so tired... anyway, moving on. There was more deadlift work today, I didn't go quite as heavy as I would have normally, seeing as I'd just done deadlifts about 12 hours prior. After those, we did 3 rounds of max reps of power cleans (at whatever weight you chose, looking for 70% 1RM). I chose 135 since I'd done 115 and was fine when I did 14.4 on Tueseday... my first set, went 1 rep... and I knew it was too heavy today, so I stopped and went down to the 115. Good call, it was still challenging, but I was able to do at least 5 unbroken each time.
Last piece of this morning was an 8 minute AMRAP. 40 DU's, 20 situps, 10 deadlifts. I kept the same 115 for the deadlifts... I could have done the RX 185, but I wanted to get through more than 1 round, so I stuck with what was already on the bar. I'm trying to get this out before I have to leave to catch a plane, so I'll be brief about it... I'm still counting singles as doubles... I can't justify doing 80 singles when it takes me a long time to do the DU number. Case in point, just doing 40 singles, I was still the last one to move to the sit-ups today. The sit-ups sucked after doing a bunch yesterday, and the deadlifts were fine. Ended up almost getting to the deadlifts in the 3rd round, but not quite. I want to do this one again before Christmas, I feel like I'll see some big improvement in the coming months.
It's been what? 4, 5 months now? I should go back and count...it's been really awesome to see the growth in muscles and ability, see the shirking of the waistline, and getting to know all these awesome CrossFit athletes and coaches. I'm excited to hit 6 months and take a good measure of how far I've come. Thank you all for being part of this awesome community, it wouldn't be what it is without you.
dw
Other fun things we did... curls. LOL. We actually did deadlifts, the pullups I was just talking about, HSPU's and situps, and then a 4x25 of curls and tricep extensions. Beach season is coming to a close, I'm thinking maybe we should have done these a few months ago... What I did end up saying was that this WOD was the kind of WOD that makes driving an issue afterwards. My arms felt shredded, and had this been my first workout in months, I don't think I'd have been able to hold the steering wheel... but this wasn't my first workout, and shredded or not, I had no issues getting home.
Once I got back "home" to the hotel, I took a gander at what the mornings WOD would be a Unlocked... It looked like something I could do, and if I went to bed right away, I'd get 7 hours. Close enough. So I tried to go to bed right away... didn't quite workout. Think I got closer to 6 hours. Yaaawn.
This is another first for the week... a WOD on Thursday morning. Never have I done that...and I may never again...so tired... anyway, moving on. There was more deadlift work today, I didn't go quite as heavy as I would have normally, seeing as I'd just done deadlifts about 12 hours prior. After those, we did 3 rounds of max reps of power cleans (at whatever weight you chose, looking for 70% 1RM). I chose 135 since I'd done 115 and was fine when I did 14.4 on Tueseday... my first set, went 1 rep... and I knew it was too heavy today, so I stopped and went down to the 115. Good call, it was still challenging, but I was able to do at least 5 unbroken each time.
Last piece of this morning was an 8 minute AMRAP. 40 DU's, 20 situps, 10 deadlifts. I kept the same 115 for the deadlifts... I could have done the RX 185, but I wanted to get through more than 1 round, so I stuck with what was already on the bar. I'm trying to get this out before I have to leave to catch a plane, so I'll be brief about it... I'm still counting singles as doubles... I can't justify doing 80 singles when it takes me a long time to do the DU number. Case in point, just doing 40 singles, I was still the last one to move to the sit-ups today. The sit-ups sucked after doing a bunch yesterday, and the deadlifts were fine. Ended up almost getting to the deadlifts in the 3rd round, but not quite. I want to do this one again before Christmas, I feel like I'll see some big improvement in the coming months.
It's been what? 4, 5 months now? I should go back and count...it's been really awesome to see the growth in muscles and ability, see the shirking of the waistline, and getting to know all these awesome CrossFit athletes and coaches. I'm excited to hit 6 months and take a good measure of how far I've come. Thank you all for being part of this awesome community, it wouldn't be what it is without you.
dw
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
2 WODs, 2 Box's, 1 day.
Oh man, where to start... first, the laptop I normally do this on, is a brick again, I've been without a platform for a few days and I've had 3 workouts... really you can probably call it 4, in the last 3 days. Pretty epic for me. Getting stronger physically, but also mentally. I find I'm able push myself through things I that would have stopped me before. Pretty cool stuff really. Apologies in advance for any grammar errors, I'm writing this monster in one sitting.
Lets go back to Sunday. The plans for today were to do WOD 2 for the Lurong challenge. I wasn't sure when that was going to happen (5 or 6 pm) and when I got there, Weldy said he was going to do the WOD with the class, then we could do the Lurong one. Perfect. I had made the decision maybe 2 hours earlier that I was going to try and get 2-1 of the squat cycle started, looks like I'll get that chance now.
I'm writing this off of what seems like distant memories now, but 2-1 was miles better than 1-1. The back squats are by far my least favorite thing. I need to work on getting something to think about during this stuff, take my mind of my growing dislike. :) At some point during the back squats, Adrian and Linz showed up for the 6pm EST Barbell Club, they brought dinner and were at the front eating it. I was too lazy to walk over and ask, so I yelled (over the music) across the box (the WOD was going on outside) to Adrian. I asked/told him to make sure I was squatting correctly. Not stopping short or doing anything crazy. Never heard a peep. :) He later told me that it's day and night from the first squats he saw me doing. I won't call it amazing growth in that 3 months, but it's pleasing to know I've gotten (apparently) a lot better.
Linz later told me about my chest dropping... something I notice, but can't always catch or prevent...yet. I got my squats (front and back) done as the WOD was winding down outside. Weldy is gassed, I'm dying... we're going to wait a few minutes before doing the Lurong. I really feel like the days of front and back squatting in a cycle, can be a workout in and of themselves. IT's something between 40 and 50 squats. Combine that with all the stretching to make sure I don't get messed up... and then I'm going to turn around and do this AMRAP for Lurong... to me it feels like two WODs. Maybe I'm just being a baby.
Lurong 2 is a simple WOD. Ascending weight going ground to overhead, descending reps. In-between each set of g2o, 7 burpees. I'm sticking with level 1 (of 3). I can do the other ones, but in the spirit of doing it right, I stuck with 1 because it allowed stepping over the bar for burpees. I didn't, but I figure doing it at level 1 is the right one because I'm not stepping over the bar. Burpees are hard enough for me without having to move after each one. LOL... I need to stop being "lazy" about that part. The g2o's were easy, started with a 20lb med ball, then a 45lb bar, then with weight. The burpees slayed my time. I'm getting better (and faster) at the dang things, but they still slow me down... I wont go into the suffering, it was only 9 minutes of agon... I mean glory. Got to 1 rep of the 4th round, barely. I expect to be into the burpees of the 4th round next go round in 8 weeks (or whenever we test again).
Alright, so that was Sunday. Tired, sweaty, stinky Sunday. Monday was a non WOD day. Had the whole laptop fiasco at work, got a flu shot for work (it's that or wear a pink mask when I'm in the office). Just a run down feeling day. I was tired when I got back to the room, got my gear ready, and was OUT at like 8-830. 930 comes around, and I'm awake... like just took a nap awake, I was going to be up for a while. This sucks. Why you ask? Great question. I've made plans/commitments to be a CrossFit Unlocked tomorrow at 0545 am... another AM class. I ended up finally getting back to sleep around 0200... yeah, it was like that.
Bleary eyed, I got in the car and started going to Unlocked. Yaaaawn bro. I got there, and it was spectacular. First one on site, and I got out of the car early and got out and did a little star gazing. I "grew up" in a small town in Kansas. I was fortunate enough to live a little bit in the country, and got to see a fantastic sky at night. This was a little bit better (even fewer lights). Today was going to be a good day. Slowly a few more cars get there, and Brian unlocked (haha) the box and everyone started stretching/warming up. These Delaware folks are hearty people, but they're also a bit soft. Half of them have warm-ups or heavier jackets on. It's not that cold yet sissies! I kid.
This is going to be my 2-2 (OHS day) for the squat cycle. This piece is easier than the front/back days. It's going to fit in well in their WOD as they are doing week 3 of their snatch (or clean?) cycle. It's supposed to be the same setup as last time except with weight and not just the bar... again, with my laptop being down, I don't know for sure what I'm supposed to be doing, I'm going off of memory. Same setup as before, weight doing 1 less than max twice, and then going max effort. It didn't take long. Kinda embarrassed really, and maybe it was the lack of sleep? I went 6-4-9. These are the kind of numbers I'm expecting... I'm better than that.
The rest of the WOD was a burner. 12 minute EMOM of 5 power snatches, 7 push press, 9 back squats. So basically 4 rounds of those movements. Not being able to change weights quickly, I elected (with Brian Deleon's expert guidance) to go with 75#. The snatch is the weakest link here... I'm sure it was ugly while doing it too... and snatches...ug. Of all the movements that gas me when trying to do weights as cardio, this is the worst. In the end that 75lbs was the right call. The snatches were hard but fair, the push presses, I tried to work on making them a push, then press, rather than a strict press with a dip drive, the back squats were a pain... I really am getting tired of squatting. :P At the end of the EMOM, I'm sucking down air, trying to breath again. 3 minutes of rest is all I'm going to get. Seems there is more work to do.
5-4-3-2-1 of hang clean thrusters. On the -'s, do 2 wall walks. Are you kidding me? Everyone in the box kept the same weight for this... and I'm glad I did too. I thought about bumping it up, probably would have been a mistake. I didn't do particularly well with this stuff. I'm feeling the lack of sleep at this point...that is to say I'm tried. My hang cleans weren't hang cleans, at least not all of them. Ended up being more hang power clean into a thruster. And even those weren't very explosive. The set of 2, I recall one of them being a very slow strict movement. HAHA. I mean it was a sloooow front squat into a slooooow strict press. Zero speed in that one. I recall setting that bar down and chastising myself as I went over for the last 2 wall walks... and we're not going to talk about those. I'm further up the wall than before, but I didn't make any movements towards getting vertical on any of them. It was all I could do to get up on the wall and get my head through my shoulders on these. The last hang clean thruster was actually pretty good... I was all in and very mental about it.
Sweaty mess. This was a good workout...they usually are here at Unlocked. Of all the boxes, I feel like I leave here in the best shape mentally. It seems like it's always an asskicking, but I leave ready for the next one. CFDS is like this too, but it's just different... maybe it's that country air in Georgetown?
Speaking of CFDS, guess what else I did yesterday. I did my first two-a-day. Morning WOD at Unlocked, evening WOD at Diamond State. What are you thinking son? No idea, but I'd already committed to it, lack of sleep or not. As soon as I was able to leave the office, I was out and on the road. I got in and changed as quickly as possible... apparently my social media footprint is bigger in DE than anywhere else. Several folks were commenting on my mental state, doing 2 WODs in the same day. LOL. Lets get it!
14.4 is the WOD for CFDS. I had texted Andy on Monday, told him I was probably going to try a 2 WOD day, and asked if he could watch the programming and make sure it wasn't too similar. "no problem". Yeah, 14.4 is pretty well not what I did this morning... After getting the car ride stretched out of me, we did some push press for the strength. My man Dustin and I teamed up to share a stand. Since this isn't a partner WOD, I don't have to worry about it teaming up with him on this ;) I don't recall what weight we did... 125 I think, which might be near, or may even be my last recorded 1RM... The strength part was supposed to be 80% of your 1RM in an EMOM of 2 reps. Dustin and I worked up to this weight, and it was impossible, heavy, sure, but not a max (anymore :D). We motored through it. I was second for this, and at the end, Dustin was like "aww, looks like you could do 10 of those". So after two, I put up number three...and I thought about hitting 10, but he was already laughing and I couldn't keep going without laughing...and any time I laugh... I'm done with weights. Happens every time. LOL.
The main event has arrived. 14.4. There are enough people that we break it up into 3 waves. I got wave 2. For those of you who didn't click the link to 14.4, it's a 60 cal row, 50 toes to bar, 40 wall balls, 30 power cleans, 20 muscle ups. It's and 14 minute AMRAP, so you could conceivably go 2, maaaaaybe 3 rounds if you're ungodly athletic. Maybe that would be godly instead? *shrug*
Wave 1 gets started on the rowers... they're getting a 5 minute head start. 60 calories usually takes 3-4 minutes for most people. I did 64 I think in the first Lurong challenge which was a max calorie row in 4 minutes... so I know where I fall. While they've started, I made the courageous (remember, lack of sleep and 2nd WOD) decision to use a 20lb wall for these. I've been using 14's and 10's for a while, it allows me to go faster. I didn't put the 135 on the bar for the cleans... I didn't think I could do it... the day after (today), I think I should have. Oh well.
In the (I'm sure copyrighted) words of Bruce Buffer...."Iiiiiiiiittttttssss TIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMEEEEE!" Strap into the rower, and away I go. I try to keep good form, straight back, straight line in, legs then arm extension... I did an ok job of it, at times breaking badly... rounded back, over pulling, etc. Even stopped a few times to catch my breath. I took every bit of that 3-4 minutes. Was actually the fist one of my wave off the rowers, didn't pay any attention to them after that, but I was first...made me feel a little better about hitting 4 minutes. The toes to bar... I may have to start trying knees to elbows soon... still a lot of belly in the way, but it might be time to at least attempt that. I broke every set of these 50 into 5's. My quads hurt. I could feel them, particularly in the right leg with every lift. I feel like I lost a little time here, but my hands were hurting a bit today, and with my legs crying like babies with every rep, I went as fast as I could.
Wall balls... MEIN GOTT! I hit these as hard as I could. I can't remember if I did 5 or 10 unbroken for the first set, I think it was just 5... and I did the rest in sets of 5...again. A few times I had to just drop the ball and walk away. 20 lbs was a bad idea for time, but I think it was the right call. I struggled mightily to get done, but I feel like it was some of the best form I've ever had doing wall-balls. That's a pretty big deal to me. 20's normally bring my chest down and I do terrible with them. Yay! Towards the end, my 5 in a row's were really like 1-1-1-1-1, I just didn't drop the ball. HAHA. #movingon
I'm toast now, happily done with wall balls and on to the cleans. These got ugly in a hurry. Earlier I had watched parts of 14.4 being done by games athletes... and they were dropping the bar every rep. Must have stuck, because that's what I started off doing. Somewhere in there, I did 3 in a poor man's touch and go. LOL! I'm laughing because one of them, I pretty much just dropped the bar without letting go, and rode it right to the ground. I'm sure it looked bad, but I whipped it right back up... sorry, it was just a funny mental picture. Around number 10, my quads were screaming no more! I'm pretty sure I did two in a row with close to straight legs. I hear Andy somewhere behind me telling me to get my butt down... he sounded so far away. 40 seconds left, butt down, lift, drop, breath. Again! 20 seconds. Again! 10 seconds. Grab the bar, butt down, lift, drop, TIME!
My goodness. It's over, my quads....my poor poor quads. I wanted to fall over... or sit down, yes, sit down... I give a couple of fives, fist bumps, and then I sit for a good 20 seconds... oh the relief. It's short lived, wave 3 is still going, time to go cheer them on as I was cheered. These two young cats were struggling...probably looked just like I looked a minute ago... Laaawd I need work. We cheered, clapped, and motivated wave 4 till that clock hit 0:00. Great job everyone! Now the exhausted high fives, fist bumps, low fives, can't get up fives... it's all going round while we clean up. It was good to see and workout with these people again....these people...my peoples. It's always good to be at my CrossFit home.
I did better than I thought I was going to do... and part of that is due to the motivation provided by others, and part of it is just getting better. I feel better, stronger than I've been before, and mentally I know I'm stronger. I'd have mentally quit on those wall balls not even a month ago... this two a day... will happen again. It's hard, but it's still good. I had a good time, I felt good afterwards. Endorphins maybe? Today I'm a little fatigued, little bit beat up, but really, that's expected after doing two WODs and not getting any sleep the day before. Last night I slept hard. It wasn't unbroken, but it was restful. I even woke up at 5... might be a sign about going to AM classes... but not today, it was back to sleep.
Going back to Diamond State tonight, deadlifts and skill work sound a bit better than the workout titled "Kettlebell Hell". I'd already decided that last night... so it's not really cherry picking is it? :) I will miss not getting a chance to catch up with Dave and the Peets at Unlocked, but I'm pretty sure I'll see them next time I'm out here. Good peoples.
Time to go grab some lunch, maybe today I'll get something paleo instead of all the junk I ate yesterday.
Lets go back to Sunday. The plans for today were to do WOD 2 for the Lurong challenge. I wasn't sure when that was going to happen (5 or 6 pm) and when I got there, Weldy said he was going to do the WOD with the class, then we could do the Lurong one. Perfect. I had made the decision maybe 2 hours earlier that I was going to try and get 2-1 of the squat cycle started, looks like I'll get that chance now.
I'm writing this off of what seems like distant memories now, but 2-1 was miles better than 1-1. The back squats are by far my least favorite thing. I need to work on getting something to think about during this stuff, take my mind of my growing dislike. :) At some point during the back squats, Adrian and Linz showed up for the 6pm EST Barbell Club, they brought dinner and were at the front eating it. I was too lazy to walk over and ask, so I yelled (over the music) across the box (the WOD was going on outside) to Adrian. I asked/told him to make sure I was squatting correctly. Not stopping short or doing anything crazy. Never heard a peep. :) He later told me that it's day and night from the first squats he saw me doing. I won't call it amazing growth in that 3 months, but it's pleasing to know I've gotten (apparently) a lot better.
Linz later told me about my chest dropping... something I notice, but can't always catch or prevent...yet. I got my squats (front and back) done as the WOD was winding down outside. Weldy is gassed, I'm dying... we're going to wait a few minutes before doing the Lurong. I really feel like the days of front and back squatting in a cycle, can be a workout in and of themselves. IT's something between 40 and 50 squats. Combine that with all the stretching to make sure I don't get messed up... and then I'm going to turn around and do this AMRAP for Lurong... to me it feels like two WODs. Maybe I'm just being a baby.
Lurong 2 is a simple WOD. Ascending weight going ground to overhead, descending reps. In-between each set of g2o, 7 burpees. I'm sticking with level 1 (of 3). I can do the other ones, but in the spirit of doing it right, I stuck with 1 because it allowed stepping over the bar for burpees. I didn't, but I figure doing it at level 1 is the right one because I'm not stepping over the bar. Burpees are hard enough for me without having to move after each one. LOL... I need to stop being "lazy" about that part. The g2o's were easy, started with a 20lb med ball, then a 45lb bar, then with weight. The burpees slayed my time. I'm getting better (and faster) at the dang things, but they still slow me down... I wont go into the suffering, it was only 9 minutes of agon... I mean glory. Got to 1 rep of the 4th round, barely. I expect to be into the burpees of the 4th round next go round in 8 weeks (or whenever we test again).
Alright, so that was Sunday. Tired, sweaty, stinky Sunday. Monday was a non WOD day. Had the whole laptop fiasco at work, got a flu shot for work (it's that or wear a pink mask when I'm in the office). Just a run down feeling day. I was tired when I got back to the room, got my gear ready, and was OUT at like 8-830. 930 comes around, and I'm awake... like just took a nap awake, I was going to be up for a while. This sucks. Why you ask? Great question. I've made plans/commitments to be a CrossFit Unlocked tomorrow at 0545 am... another AM class. I ended up finally getting back to sleep around 0200... yeah, it was like that.
Bleary eyed, I got in the car and started going to Unlocked. Yaaaawn bro. I got there, and it was spectacular. First one on site, and I got out of the car early and got out and did a little star gazing. I "grew up" in a small town in Kansas. I was fortunate enough to live a little bit in the country, and got to see a fantastic sky at night. This was a little bit better (even fewer lights). Today was going to be a good day. Slowly a few more cars get there, and Brian unlocked (haha) the box and everyone started stretching/warming up. These Delaware folks are hearty people, but they're also a bit soft. Half of them have warm-ups or heavier jackets on. It's not that cold yet sissies! I kid.
This is going to be my 2-2 (OHS day) for the squat cycle. This piece is easier than the front/back days. It's going to fit in well in their WOD as they are doing week 3 of their snatch (or clean?) cycle. It's supposed to be the same setup as last time except with weight and not just the bar... again, with my laptop being down, I don't know for sure what I'm supposed to be doing, I'm going off of memory. Same setup as before, weight doing 1 less than max twice, and then going max effort. It didn't take long. Kinda embarrassed really, and maybe it was the lack of sleep? I went 6-4-9. These are the kind of numbers I'm expecting... I'm better than that.
The rest of the WOD was a burner. 12 minute EMOM of 5 power snatches, 7 push press, 9 back squats. So basically 4 rounds of those movements. Not being able to change weights quickly, I elected (with Brian Deleon's expert guidance) to go with 75#. The snatch is the weakest link here... I'm sure it was ugly while doing it too... and snatches...ug. Of all the movements that gas me when trying to do weights as cardio, this is the worst. In the end that 75lbs was the right call. The snatches were hard but fair, the push presses, I tried to work on making them a push, then press, rather than a strict press with a dip drive, the back squats were a pain... I really am getting tired of squatting. :P At the end of the EMOM, I'm sucking down air, trying to breath again. 3 minutes of rest is all I'm going to get. Seems there is more work to do.
5-4-3-2-1 of hang clean thrusters. On the -'s, do 2 wall walks. Are you kidding me? Everyone in the box kept the same weight for this... and I'm glad I did too. I thought about bumping it up, probably would have been a mistake. I didn't do particularly well with this stuff. I'm feeling the lack of sleep at this point...that is to say I'm tried. My hang cleans weren't hang cleans, at least not all of them. Ended up being more hang power clean into a thruster. And even those weren't very explosive. The set of 2, I recall one of them being a very slow strict movement. HAHA. I mean it was a sloooow front squat into a slooooow strict press. Zero speed in that one. I recall setting that bar down and chastising myself as I went over for the last 2 wall walks... and we're not going to talk about those. I'm further up the wall than before, but I didn't make any movements towards getting vertical on any of them. It was all I could do to get up on the wall and get my head through my shoulders on these. The last hang clean thruster was actually pretty good... I was all in and very mental about it.
Sweaty mess. This was a good workout...they usually are here at Unlocked. Of all the boxes, I feel like I leave here in the best shape mentally. It seems like it's always an asskicking, but I leave ready for the next one. CFDS is like this too, but it's just different... maybe it's that country air in Georgetown?
Speaking of CFDS, guess what else I did yesterday. I did my first two-a-day. Morning WOD at Unlocked, evening WOD at Diamond State. What are you thinking son? No idea, but I'd already committed to it, lack of sleep or not. As soon as I was able to leave the office, I was out and on the road. I got in and changed as quickly as possible... apparently my social media footprint is bigger in DE than anywhere else. Several folks were commenting on my mental state, doing 2 WODs in the same day. LOL. Lets get it!
14.4 is the WOD for CFDS. I had texted Andy on Monday, told him I was probably going to try a 2 WOD day, and asked if he could watch the programming and make sure it wasn't too similar. "no problem". Yeah, 14.4 is pretty well not what I did this morning... After getting the car ride stretched out of me, we did some push press for the strength. My man Dustin and I teamed up to share a stand. Since this isn't a partner WOD, I don't have to worry about it teaming up with him on this ;) I don't recall what weight we did... 125 I think, which might be near, or may even be my last recorded 1RM... The strength part was supposed to be 80% of your 1RM in an EMOM of 2 reps. Dustin and I worked up to this weight, and it was impossible, heavy, sure, but not a max (anymore :D). We motored through it. I was second for this, and at the end, Dustin was like "aww, looks like you could do 10 of those". So after two, I put up number three...and I thought about hitting 10, but he was already laughing and I couldn't keep going without laughing...and any time I laugh... I'm done with weights. Happens every time. LOL.
The main event has arrived. 14.4. There are enough people that we break it up into 3 waves. I got wave 2. For those of you who didn't click the link to 14.4, it's a 60 cal row, 50 toes to bar, 40 wall balls, 30 power cleans, 20 muscle ups. It's and 14 minute AMRAP, so you could conceivably go 2, maaaaaybe 3 rounds if you're ungodly athletic. Maybe that would be godly instead? *shrug*
Wave 1 gets started on the rowers... they're getting a 5 minute head start. 60 calories usually takes 3-4 minutes for most people. I did 64 I think in the first Lurong challenge which was a max calorie row in 4 minutes... so I know where I fall. While they've started, I made the courageous (remember, lack of sleep and 2nd WOD) decision to use a 20lb wall for these. I've been using 14's and 10's for a while, it allows me to go faster. I didn't put the 135 on the bar for the cleans... I didn't think I could do it... the day after (today), I think I should have. Oh well.
In the (I'm sure copyrighted) words of Bruce Buffer...."Iiiiiiiiittttttssss TIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMEEEEE!" Strap into the rower, and away I go. I try to keep good form, straight back, straight line in, legs then arm extension... I did an ok job of it, at times breaking badly... rounded back, over pulling, etc. Even stopped a few times to catch my breath. I took every bit of that 3-4 minutes. Was actually the fist one of my wave off the rowers, didn't pay any attention to them after that, but I was first...made me feel a little better about hitting 4 minutes. The toes to bar... I may have to start trying knees to elbows soon... still a lot of belly in the way, but it might be time to at least attempt that. I broke every set of these 50 into 5's. My quads hurt. I could feel them, particularly in the right leg with every lift. I feel like I lost a little time here, but my hands were hurting a bit today, and with my legs crying like babies with every rep, I went as fast as I could.
Wall balls... MEIN GOTT! I hit these as hard as I could. I can't remember if I did 5 or 10 unbroken for the first set, I think it was just 5... and I did the rest in sets of 5...again. A few times I had to just drop the ball and walk away. 20 lbs was a bad idea for time, but I think it was the right call. I struggled mightily to get done, but I feel like it was some of the best form I've ever had doing wall-balls. That's a pretty big deal to me. 20's normally bring my chest down and I do terrible with them. Yay! Towards the end, my 5 in a row's were really like 1-1-1-1-1, I just didn't drop the ball. HAHA. #movingon
I'm toast now, happily done with wall balls and on to the cleans. These got ugly in a hurry. Earlier I had watched parts of 14.4 being done by games athletes... and they were dropping the bar every rep. Must have stuck, because that's what I started off doing. Somewhere in there, I did 3 in a poor man's touch and go. LOL! I'm laughing because one of them, I pretty much just dropped the bar without letting go, and rode it right to the ground. I'm sure it looked bad, but I whipped it right back up... sorry, it was just a funny mental picture. Around number 10, my quads were screaming no more! I'm pretty sure I did two in a row with close to straight legs. I hear Andy somewhere behind me telling me to get my butt down... he sounded so far away. 40 seconds left, butt down, lift, drop, breath. Again! 20 seconds. Again! 10 seconds. Grab the bar, butt down, lift, drop, TIME!
My goodness. It's over, my quads....my poor poor quads. I wanted to fall over... or sit down, yes, sit down... I give a couple of fives, fist bumps, and then I sit for a good 20 seconds... oh the relief. It's short lived, wave 3 is still going, time to go cheer them on as I was cheered. These two young cats were struggling...probably looked just like I looked a minute ago... Laaawd I need work. We cheered, clapped, and motivated wave 4 till that clock hit 0:00. Great job everyone! Now the exhausted high fives, fist bumps, low fives, can't get up fives... it's all going round while we clean up. It was good to see and workout with these people again....these people...my peoples. It's always good to be at my CrossFit home.
I did better than I thought I was going to do... and part of that is due to the motivation provided by others, and part of it is just getting better. I feel better, stronger than I've been before, and mentally I know I'm stronger. I'd have mentally quit on those wall balls not even a month ago... this two a day... will happen again. It's hard, but it's still good. I had a good time, I felt good afterwards. Endorphins maybe? Today I'm a little fatigued, little bit beat up, but really, that's expected after doing two WODs and not getting any sleep the day before. Last night I slept hard. It wasn't unbroken, but it was restful. I even woke up at 5... might be a sign about going to AM classes... but not today, it was back to sleep.
Going back to Diamond State tonight, deadlifts and skill work sound a bit better than the workout titled "Kettlebell Hell". I'd already decided that last night... so it's not really cherry picking is it? :) I will miss not getting a chance to catch up with Dave and the Peets at Unlocked, but I'm pretty sure I'll see them next time I'm out here. Good peoples.
Time to go grab some lunch, maybe today I'll get something paleo instead of all the junk I ate yesterday.
Friday, September 19, 2014
1-3
Today almost didn't happen. After talking with my man Andy Paller, I made the snap decision to go to the box at noon to knock out 1-3. I really didn't want to do it see, and I IM'd Andy on FB, telling him that I was thinking about abandoning the cycle. I really wasn't feeling it, didn't really want to do it... I didn't have a good reason to stop. I'm not hurt, I'm not dying...so why quit? My guess is that I'm still in my head over how 1-1 and 1-2 went down. Sitting here now, I know I'll get better and do better.
I got to the box late, made the decision late... and only a few of the normal nooners are there. Smiles, nods, a mumbled apology to Clay for being late, and the stretches. I tried to put a lot of effort into getting looser this time, and I did a lot better with some written instruction on the board that I happened to miss when doing 1-1. I feel good, I feel ready. I brought my notebook with me this week. I took some of Jordans advice, used 90% of my 1RM and called it my training 1RM, then figured my numbers off of there, and did it all pre workout, saved me some time I think.
There really isn't much to say about squatting... it wasn't fun, and at first it felt really heavy, but as I got on with it, none of it was impossible. I did have one squat, it was the 5th one on my last set of back squats at 80%. I got to the bottom, and I stopped. Hard. A quick moment of panic...thought about dropping the weight, thought about reaching forward for balance... Tory saw me and started barking at me to push, fight it. He knew exactly what had happened. I took a quick breath and pushed my big butt back up. The last two weren't really an issue. Having told you that, I'm happy I've gotten more comfortable in a deep squat. As much as I hate goblet squats (I blame them on my knee woe's if you're new to this blog), I think they helped me when I had that extra weight on my shoulders today.
Not much to say on the front squats other than I may need to round up a little and put more on there.
Lurong has been difficulty, I'm having trouble getting back to a paleo lifestyle. Apparently I fell off the wagon and rolled a ways away. I'm working back to it, making better choices daily. Should be solid by next week, I hope. Going back to DE for the week. Miiiiiiight try to do a two-a-day, we'll see, I'm not crossing my fingers....and as dense and woodsy as some of the roads to Unlocked are, I could as easily hit a deer and not do any WOD's next week...
Tomorrow or Sunday I'll be doing WOD 2 for Lurong. Probably wont blog about it. Three things I can tell you now about it. 1, it's going to be awful. 2, it's 9 minutes of burpess and ground to overhead movements that get progressively heavier. 3, "I don't wanna!". Benchmarks are there for a reason though, so I might as well just #suckitupbuttercup
I got to the box late, made the decision late... and only a few of the normal nooners are there. Smiles, nods, a mumbled apology to Clay for being late, and the stretches. I tried to put a lot of effort into getting looser this time, and I did a lot better with some written instruction on the board that I happened to miss when doing 1-1. I feel good, I feel ready. I brought my notebook with me this week. I took some of Jordans advice, used 90% of my 1RM and called it my training 1RM, then figured my numbers off of there, and did it all pre workout, saved me some time I think.
There really isn't much to say about squatting... it wasn't fun, and at first it felt really heavy, but as I got on with it, none of it was impossible. I did have one squat, it was the 5th one on my last set of back squats at 80%. I got to the bottom, and I stopped. Hard. A quick moment of panic...thought about dropping the weight, thought about reaching forward for balance... Tory saw me and started barking at me to push, fight it. He knew exactly what had happened. I took a quick breath and pushed my big butt back up. The last two weren't really an issue. Having told you that, I'm happy I've gotten more comfortable in a deep squat. As much as I hate goblet squats (I blame them on my knee woe's if you're new to this blog), I think they helped me when I had that extra weight on my shoulders today.
Not much to say on the front squats other than I may need to round up a little and put more on there.
Lurong has been difficulty, I'm having trouble getting back to a paleo lifestyle. Apparently I fell off the wagon and rolled a ways away. I'm working back to it, making better choices daily. Should be solid by next week, I hope. Going back to DE for the week. Miiiiiiight try to do a two-a-day, we'll see, I'm not crossing my fingers....and as dense and woodsy as some of the roads to Unlocked are, I could as easily hit a deer and not do any WOD's next week...
Tomorrow or Sunday I'll be doing WOD 2 for Lurong. Probably wont blog about it. Three things I can tell you now about it. 1, it's going to be awful. 2, it's 9 minutes of burpess and ground to overhead movements that get progressively heavier. 3, "I don't wanna!". Benchmarks are there for a reason though, so I might as well just #suckitupbuttercup
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Double Postin'
Good morning. You're in for a treat today, a rare double WOD post. Seemed to have forgotten to talk about yesterdays WOD. There is a bit to cover, so lets dive right in. Yesterday, at about 0450, I get woken up from some fantastic sleep. !@#$, it's time to go. Most of our Lurong people are going to be at the 0530 class to get WOD 1 out of the way. I'm home this week, so I begrudgingly decide to join them. Yaaaawn.
I get there about 15 minutes early, and there are already 6 or 7 cars there. I see people I haven't seen since Murph... so this is where they all hide. I took a good 30 minutes to warm up, stretch, visit, and everything else you can think of. I'm not the only one mind you, we're all like that. Feels like a Monday. Surprisingly, I'm awake. No yawns, no "omg it's too early" or anything like that. I'm ready to go.
The Lurong WOD 1 was a 13 benchmark. There were 3 scaling options, and while I could do most of 2 and 3, the pullups were my limiting factor, and so I went with option 1. 4 minutes calorie rowing, 1 minute rest, 3 minutes max effort (jumping) pullups, 1 minute rest, 2 minutes air squats, 1 minute rest, 1 minute shoulders to overhead 65#.
The 4 minutes of rowing sucked. When it's just for time and calories...it's hard for me to stay focused and to keep a good rythm... really I haven't been rowing a lot in the past 3 weeks... and I could just be out of practice. I ended up with 62....not the number I wanted, was aiming for 80...but it could have been worse. That minute rest went by pretty quick, ot the jumping pullups. The challenge read like you needed to be at least 14" below the bar, but that 14" was probably a good height. I stood on 2 plates and was at almost 16", close enough. When you think about jumping pullups...this should be mostly leg right? Every time I do them, I pull with everything I've got to get up there, and I try not to just jump my chin over that bar. That said, had I did more jumping, I may have gotten more... anyway, ended with 32. That last minute and a half was killer.
After the next break, those air squats... the day before was 1-1 of the squat cycle, so I'm by no means fresh. I went and grabbed a med ball. People were like "what are you doing?". They thought I was crazy. Told them that I wasn't going to cheat myself with half assed reps, was going to hit that ball every time. And I did, 31 times. Nothing fast mind you. I'm still slow on the descend with every squat... probably why my cleans and snatches aren't awesome yet....actually it's probably a big reason why. Now this last movement, shoulders to overhead... I had ground to overhead in my mind. So I'm cleaning and then push pressing this 65 lbs as fast as I can, and I don't hear ANYONE else bar hitting the ground in that touch and go fashion. I can see out the corner of my eye that I'm the only one doing this. I did it the entire minute... as soon as it's done, I'm looking around and asking whats the deal... I completely missed the shoulder to overhead part...and apparently I read ahead to WOD 2 or 3 for the ground to overhead... oops. 13 movements.
Total score of 139, not terrible, will get better by the end of the challenge. After all of this, the better people were like "yeah, lets do a cool down". I'm thinking noooooo, but I follow along. 100 situps.... are you kidding me. Ug. After about 23, my stomach started cramping up. I would stop, do 2 or 3 more, stop, etc. Lost track, so I stopped just after the last person. Did some quick yoga to stretch the abs back out... wasn't enough. LOL. I was talking with Jordan after we were done, and I made the comment that the only thing I was worried about being sore about, was the abs....
So that was yesterday. Got it done, and it was pretty good getting up early, and getting everything done. Fast forward to today...and yeah, my abs are hurting...which means tomorrow is going to be awful. I got up early again for the 0530 class today... didn't sleep as well, lots of those 1 hour naps all night. Kinda sucked. I'm not very sharp right now, and I'm probably going to finish this, send a few emails, and go take a nap...
Today I didn't do the WOD...well, not all of it, but rather 1-2. 1-2 was overhead squatting. I wont bother you with all the numbers and how we got here. It was 3 rounds of OHS, the first 2 were supposed to go to one less than your failure. I had some of the same problems that I had with 1-1. I wasn't really into it, and I didn't do that great. I ended up with 10, then 8. And really, those numbers are bullshit. I know I can do better, but I mentally punked out. The last round was to go to failure, and I made it to 12 before I stopped. The more I think about this, the more frustrated I get... and really, I didn't sleep well, and it's day 3 of WODding... I shouldn't be that mad... it's all process. I'll be doing more next week for sure.
So after the OHS, the few of us squatting merged with the main class for the WOD. 12-9-6 of power snatch and box jumps. Let me tell you, I confidently went over and grabed some 25's off the stack and put them up on the bar. As I racked the bar to bring it to the floor, my first thought was "oh hell na"...like Gabriel Iglesias says it. JUST LIKE THIS So I went and grabbed 15's, and it was more of what I needed. Not a lot to say really, the snatch suffered as I was suffering, and the box jumps were step ups...and after all this leg work, it was rough. Then, after all this... 600m row. Which, frankly, I treated as part cool down. Got done in 08:11, which was middle of the pack... 2 minutes off the leader, 1 minute ahead of the last guy... I'll take it for now.
Alright, thats all that I've got. Need to get moving on the rest of the day, so I apologies for any grammar errors, hopefully you get what I was trying to say. Catch you next time.
I get there about 15 minutes early, and there are already 6 or 7 cars there. I see people I haven't seen since Murph... so this is where they all hide. I took a good 30 minutes to warm up, stretch, visit, and everything else you can think of. I'm not the only one mind you, we're all like that. Feels like a Monday. Surprisingly, I'm awake. No yawns, no "omg it's too early" or anything like that. I'm ready to go.
The Lurong WOD 1 was a 13 benchmark. There were 3 scaling options, and while I could do most of 2 and 3, the pullups were my limiting factor, and so I went with option 1. 4 minutes calorie rowing, 1 minute rest, 3 minutes max effort (jumping) pullups, 1 minute rest, 2 minutes air squats, 1 minute rest, 1 minute shoulders to overhead 65#.
The 4 minutes of rowing sucked. When it's just for time and calories...it's hard for me to stay focused and to keep a good rythm... really I haven't been rowing a lot in the past 3 weeks... and I could just be out of practice. I ended up with 62....not the number I wanted, was aiming for 80...but it could have been worse. That minute rest went by pretty quick, ot the jumping pullups. The challenge read like you needed to be at least 14" below the bar, but that 14" was probably a good height. I stood on 2 plates and was at almost 16", close enough. When you think about jumping pullups...this should be mostly leg right? Every time I do them, I pull with everything I've got to get up there, and I try not to just jump my chin over that bar. That said, had I did more jumping, I may have gotten more... anyway, ended with 32. That last minute and a half was killer.
After the next break, those air squats... the day before was 1-1 of the squat cycle, so I'm by no means fresh. I went and grabbed a med ball. People were like "what are you doing?". They thought I was crazy. Told them that I wasn't going to cheat myself with half assed reps, was going to hit that ball every time. And I did, 31 times. Nothing fast mind you. I'm still slow on the descend with every squat... probably why my cleans and snatches aren't awesome yet....actually it's probably a big reason why. Now this last movement, shoulders to overhead... I had ground to overhead in my mind. So I'm cleaning and then push pressing this 65 lbs as fast as I can, and I don't hear ANYONE else bar hitting the ground in that touch and go fashion. I can see out the corner of my eye that I'm the only one doing this. I did it the entire minute... as soon as it's done, I'm looking around and asking whats the deal... I completely missed the shoulder to overhead part...and apparently I read ahead to WOD 2 or 3 for the ground to overhead... oops. 13 movements.
Total score of 139, not terrible, will get better by the end of the challenge. After all of this, the better people were like "yeah, lets do a cool down". I'm thinking noooooo, but I follow along. 100 situps.... are you kidding me. Ug. After about 23, my stomach started cramping up. I would stop, do 2 or 3 more, stop, etc. Lost track, so I stopped just after the last person. Did some quick yoga to stretch the abs back out... wasn't enough. LOL. I was talking with Jordan after we were done, and I made the comment that the only thing I was worried about being sore about, was the abs....
So that was yesterday. Got it done, and it was pretty good getting up early, and getting everything done. Fast forward to today...and yeah, my abs are hurting...which means tomorrow is going to be awful. I got up early again for the 0530 class today... didn't sleep as well, lots of those 1 hour naps all night. Kinda sucked. I'm not very sharp right now, and I'm probably going to finish this, send a few emails, and go take a nap...
Today I didn't do the WOD...well, not all of it, but rather 1-2. 1-2 was overhead squatting. I wont bother you with all the numbers and how we got here. It was 3 rounds of OHS, the first 2 were supposed to go to one less than your failure. I had some of the same problems that I had with 1-1. I wasn't really into it, and I didn't do that great. I ended up with 10, then 8. And really, those numbers are bullshit. I know I can do better, but I mentally punked out. The last round was to go to failure, and I made it to 12 before I stopped. The more I think about this, the more frustrated I get... and really, I didn't sleep well, and it's day 3 of WODding... I shouldn't be that mad... it's all process. I'll be doing more next week for sure.
So after the OHS, the few of us squatting merged with the main class for the WOD. 12-9-6 of power snatch and box jumps. Let me tell you, I confidently went over and grabed some 25's off the stack and put them up on the bar. As I racked the bar to bring it to the floor, my first thought was "oh hell na"...like Gabriel Iglesias says it. JUST LIKE THIS So I went and grabbed 15's, and it was more of what I needed. Not a lot to say really, the snatch suffered as I was suffering, and the box jumps were step ups...and after all this leg work, it was rough. Then, after all this... 600m row. Which, frankly, I treated as part cool down. Got done in 08:11, which was middle of the pack... 2 minutes off the leader, 1 minute ahead of the last guy... I'll take it for now.
Alright, thats all that I've got. Need to get moving on the rest of the day, so I apologies for any grammar errors, hopefully you get what I was trying to say. Catch you next time.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Squat Cycle Day 1
Might not be a day 2. LOL. I don't know... we'll see how I'm feeling on Wednesday.
Took 4 days off. Fight Gone Bad, Fran (with toes 2 bar instead of pullups), and then Cindy, all back to back to back... I took 4 days off...thats all I can tell you. That's enough for some folks.... not for the Dan I want to be, but for the Dan I am today, it was all I could handle. Today was the start of a new week, and my knee seemed to get worse over the past 4 days. Plenty of rest and elevation... don't know what happened. For the first 3 days it was that side knee stuff... today it was a little of that, and then over the kneecap. *shrug*
Went to the box, had a good turnout tonight. The did bench press PR (which I wanted to get in on...) and then some poor mans Fight Gone Bad (which I didn't). I had planned on doing day 1 week 1 (hereby referred to as 1-1, next is 1-2, etc etc) anyway. Strap on my velcros and get to work. I didn't have a good plan on stretching... I did a lot of things, probably missed some really good ones for getting ready to squat... that said, I felt I was ready...enough.
1-1 is a simple enough setup:
So I took this info, wrote down my numbers going off my new 1RM... and then, proceeded to get everything wrong. Let me 'splain.
I got the math right using the printed scaled you can find in most boxes... and then I got it all wrong by what I put on the bar. I started off with a few warm up squats...knee wasn't feeling awful, so I went ahead and decided to do this. Did 3 with the bar, then did 3 with 25's on the bar. Feeling pretty good, a bit heavy for 95, my head must not be in the game.... no, my head wasn't in the game. I put on 2 more 25# plates, making it 145. It was supposed to 135. I wonder now, if I'd done it right, if I'd made it.... as it was, I got 5 of my first 10 done... and this ish was heavy. I stopped at 5... I've got questions...I walked (honestly, it was with a bit of a limp) over to Adrian, I have questions. Asked him about the rep scheme... wanted to make sure it should be unbroken... then told him I thought it might be a bit heave for me tonight. He told me people have been known to do rep schemes like this from a lower PR...will be something to consider. I'll follow up with head coach Jordan tomorrow.
So with this new found information, I go back and look at my bar... son of a bisch, thats 145 and not 135... well, 10 pounds isn't much, but it's still heavier. Considering this new information, and the fact I'm not feeling particularly strong tonight, I lower the weight by a large margin. I didn't write it down at the time, but I think I went back to the 95 and did 10 of those, and increased from there to a max of 135 for my "80%". I'm going to raise this for next week's day 1 which is similar... but it's where I'm at today.
The front squats would have been fine where they were, but I was already so deep in my own head with this, I dropped this down too far as well. I did something like 65 an d 95. Some of the last sets of 95 had me suffering a bit with keeping my back straight and chest up. All and all, not terrible, but not the weight I was supposed to be doing...
My squats from both sets were solid in my head, I felt like if I'd have put a med ball down, I'd have been hitting it hard enough that it would be a bit less medball looking... and that is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but I paused at the bottom of almost, if not every one of my squats, thats a plus. I need to work on pushing my butt back first, then going down. Talking to Adrian, he doesn't notice my knees crashing in, but things part of my knee issue may be that my hips don't know what to do with my butt quite yet... so this push it back part might help more than I think... need to stick with it.
So thats tonight... tomorrow I'm doing the first Lurong WOD. I'm excited and not at the same time, but not for the reason you may think. I'm ready to get some numbers on the board....just not ready to do it at 0530. I don't know about other boxes, but I feel like the Lurong Challenge is an after after thought here. Signups and general mood about it isn't exactly what I was hoping for. I know CFDS is doing it big, and I suspect Unlocked is putting a good deal in it too. I don't know that we have coaches who are willing to take measurements. Thats not to say they wont... I just mean no one jumped up like "hey, I'll help yall out". My community dreams have taken a hit in my own mind, feel like it's a lot of individuals moving in unison, and not as much of a team dynamic. Giving it time still.
Thats all I've got, it's 943, and I need to get to bed. 0450 will be here WAAAAAY too soon.
Took 4 days off. Fight Gone Bad, Fran (with toes 2 bar instead of pullups), and then Cindy, all back to back to back... I took 4 days off...thats all I can tell you. That's enough for some folks.... not for the Dan I want to be, but for the Dan I am today, it was all I could handle. Today was the start of a new week, and my knee seemed to get worse over the past 4 days. Plenty of rest and elevation... don't know what happened. For the first 3 days it was that side knee stuff... today it was a little of that, and then over the kneecap. *shrug*
Went to the box, had a good turnout tonight. The did bench press PR (which I wanted to get in on...) and then some poor mans Fight Gone Bad (which I didn't). I had planned on doing day 1 week 1 (hereby referred to as 1-1, next is 1-2, etc etc) anyway. Strap on my velcros and get to work. I didn't have a good plan on stretching... I did a lot of things, probably missed some really good ones for getting ready to squat... that said, I felt I was ready...enough.
1-1 is a simple enough setup:
| Back Squat | Front Squat | |
| Week 1 Day 1 | 10 @ 60 | 5 @ 60 |
| 8 @ 70 | 5 @ 70 | |
| 6 @ 75 | 5 @ 70 | |
| 4 @ 80 | 5 @ 70 |
So I took this info, wrote down my numbers going off my new 1RM... and then, proceeded to get everything wrong. Let me 'splain.
I got the math right using the printed scaled you can find in most boxes... and then I got it all wrong by what I put on the bar. I started off with a few warm up squats...knee wasn't feeling awful, so I went ahead and decided to do this. Did 3 with the bar, then did 3 with 25's on the bar. Feeling pretty good, a bit heavy for 95, my head must not be in the game.... no, my head wasn't in the game. I put on 2 more 25# plates, making it 145. It was supposed to 135. I wonder now, if I'd done it right, if I'd made it.... as it was, I got 5 of my first 10 done... and this ish was heavy. I stopped at 5... I've got questions...I walked (honestly, it was with a bit of a limp) over to Adrian, I have questions. Asked him about the rep scheme... wanted to make sure it should be unbroken... then told him I thought it might be a bit heave for me tonight. He told me people have been known to do rep schemes like this from a lower PR...will be something to consider. I'll follow up with head coach Jordan tomorrow.
So with this new found information, I go back and look at my bar... son of a bisch, thats 145 and not 135... well, 10 pounds isn't much, but it's still heavier. Considering this new information, and the fact I'm not feeling particularly strong tonight, I lower the weight by a large margin. I didn't write it down at the time, but I think I went back to the 95 and did 10 of those, and increased from there to a max of 135 for my "80%". I'm going to raise this for next week's day 1 which is similar... but it's where I'm at today.
The front squats would have been fine where they were, but I was already so deep in my own head with this, I dropped this down too far as well. I did something like 65 an d 95. Some of the last sets of 95 had me suffering a bit with keeping my back straight and chest up. All and all, not terrible, but not the weight I was supposed to be doing...
My squats from both sets were solid in my head, I felt like if I'd have put a med ball down, I'd have been hitting it hard enough that it would be a bit less medball looking... and that is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but I paused at the bottom of almost, if not every one of my squats, thats a plus. I need to work on pushing my butt back first, then going down. Talking to Adrian, he doesn't notice my knees crashing in, but things part of my knee issue may be that my hips don't know what to do with my butt quite yet... so this push it back part might help more than I think... need to stick with it.
So thats tonight... tomorrow I'm doing the first Lurong WOD. I'm excited and not at the same time, but not for the reason you may think. I'm ready to get some numbers on the board....just not ready to do it at 0530. I don't know about other boxes, but I feel like the Lurong Challenge is an after after thought here. Signups and general mood about it isn't exactly what I was hoping for. I know CFDS is doing it big, and I suspect Unlocked is putting a good deal in it too. I don't know that we have coaches who are willing to take measurements. Thats not to say they wont... I just mean no one jumped up like "hey, I'll help yall out". My community dreams have taken a hit in my own mind, feel like it's a lot of individuals moving in unison, and not as much of a team dynamic. Giving it time still.
Thats all I've got, it's 943, and I need to get to bed. 0450 will be here WAAAAAY too soon.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
My second date with Cindy.
Oh maaan, was I in for a surprise today. Let me start at the beginning... I stayed up too late. LOL. Simple enough. I got 6 hours, but after that 8+ the night before, my body was hooongry for that sleep. I know this because my alarm didn't wake me up right away. I felt like I had to fight my way out of a deep sleep to wake up. I can't explain it better than that... I felt like I was 20ft underwater, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, trying to get to the surface. Take away the lack of air, just the trying to break the surface to wake up... it was weird. Pretty sure the alarm was going for a few minutes by the time I finally came to.
Work was ok... towards the end of the day, I was on a caffeine high. Had some Monster... it was the tea one, had that over lunch, and around 4, I wasn't feeling it, so I popped another 5 hour. About 15 minutes later, it's like they both kicked in at once. I was GOOD to go. Not that twitchy stuff, but I was fully awake and processing data at a higher rate than normal. Good thing too, because something clicked, and I had to fix a lot of stuff, left the office about 40 minutes later than I wanted to. It's now 540 something, and I class is at 6. I'm going to be late for my second date with Cindy.
I got in and out of the hotel room in 3 minutes, and I was back on the road at 553... made it to Unlocked by 615... figured they'd still be doing warmups, or some sort of strength piece. They were, so I hustled in, got my shoes on, and started stretching as quickly as I could. I'm still a little jacked up on caffeine at this point. I'm a little nervous now... the talk is over, it's time to see if I really am stronger. My first date with Cindy saw me get to 9 rounds. Not a terrible number for being 482 lbs and only being in my second week of CrossFit (I think...).
Well this time is different. Round one had me doing jumping pullups, knee pushups, and then air squats... This time I'm doing some ring-rows (made harder by doing them steeper than I've done in the past), same pushups, and this time squatting to a med ball (didn't do that last time). I don't know what kind of squats I may or may not have done the first go round, but squatting to a med ball is probably a bit deeper than those fist time. So happy I've got a better squat now...
Round one kicks off. These steeper ring rows are going to be a problem, I can feel it. I get through the first round pretty quick, maybe sub minute time, I didn't look. I didn't want to know. Did everything unbroken. Same for the second round, but it's slower. Third round had me gassed, got finished when the call went out for 5 minutes. Dang, be lucky to get 12. I thought I was going to crush this.... Guy working out next to me, his lead is starting to increase, and now I've started breaking things up, he's only getting further ahead... I stop paying attention to him.
10 minutes. Crap, what am I on now... 5? Oh boy. Breath is coming in raggedy, I'm breaking up the ring rows in to 4-1, or 3-2's at this point. Pushups, at round 5 still were plank tastic, but it was 5, 2, 2, 1. Squats were 5-5-5. I'm moving so slowly. 6 is done, 7, slower still... Set 8, ring rows are 3-2 every time, and I'm arching, straining to get up there... feel like I'm kipping ring rows here... Push ups... plank is pretty well toast, I'm bending at the hips... not pretty, I'm not proud of it, but I'm struggling. It's going 5-1-1-1-1-1 with a small break...like a child's pose in yoga (I think) then back to the pushup. I've started talking to myself. Oh yeah buddy, you're almost done with 9, keep it up, we're getting a big PR today... through the pushups, and then the squats, I'm trying to convince my conscience that I'm on 9, not 8. I'm clearly not convicted or convincing about it, because now the voice in my head is pleading... he see's its of no use. 3 minutes left. Ok, I can bang out one more and hit 9 surely.
Right about now, Coach Dave starts barking out motivating things. "Don't quit", "Every rep counts", "Keep moving". There aren't a lot of athletes here tonight... so both 'class coach' Brian and unofficial class co-coach Dave (I'm just making up titles now) can easily watch everyone. Dave, God bless him, is both irritating, and motivating the heck out of me. I'm moving slow, but I'm pushing with everything I've got, I got through the set 9's ring rows unbroken. "Keep moving, even if it's slow". I'm trying man. "Get down Dan, lets go!" Oh man.... his eye is on me now... I get these pushups done. "One minute, lets go!" I bang out 8 beautiful squats, take two breaths, 7 more. "Every rep counts, you guys are doing great, keep going". These ring rows are killer, 3-2 it again. I'm coming off the rings. "20 seconds, get down there Dan". I move faster... trying to rise to this. Pushups.... I pushed, and pushed and pushed. 10 seconds, another pushup, then another, then ano... "3 seconds, 2, 1" I just laid there at 9 pushups, sucking air in like I'd been underwater for 3 minutes holding my breath. This date is over Cindy... maybe we should just be friends.
Thank you Dave. I may not have hit the +14 without that encouragement. It took probably 3 minutes before I could hold any normal conversation without gulping down air. Got my PR, even after upping the difficulty. I think had I done jump pullups, I'd have hit close to 11, but I got a little closer to Rx by doing it this way, so thank you coach Brian for the harder ring rows. Speaking of Brian, he's going to the Granite Games this weekend, his first event/heat starts at 12, 11 Central. Check it out, they're broadcasting on their website. Look for the guy who looks a bit like Stephen Lang, but with brown hair.... Look for the guy from Avatar... like this, thought Brian De Leon is probably stronger than Stephen Lang....
LOLOL. But really, it's who he reminds me of. Take it as a compliment Brian, you're famous, and please don't WOD me to death when I come back in two weeks. Good luck too, by the way.
Something else of note this week... I wish you cold actually target areas for fat removal. After Mondays WOD, I hopped out of the shower at the hotel...and like most hotels, there is this giant mirror... and I'm noticing these pockets where fat is now missing... which is cool, but it's not an even distribution...or subtraction. I just hope things do get too crazy, I'd like it to come off everywhere at the same rate... might be talking about this again soon if it gets nuts...
Thats all I've got, the PRs keep coming, my knee thing is still around, have to get that looked at sooner than later... probably start my squat cycle on Friday... unless I get word not too. Sigh. Ack well, we'll see soon enough either way. Cheers!
Work was ok... towards the end of the day, I was on a caffeine high. Had some Monster... it was the tea one, had that over lunch, and around 4, I wasn't feeling it, so I popped another 5 hour. About 15 minutes later, it's like they both kicked in at once. I was GOOD to go. Not that twitchy stuff, but I was fully awake and processing data at a higher rate than normal. Good thing too, because something clicked, and I had to fix a lot of stuff, left the office about 40 minutes later than I wanted to. It's now 540 something, and I class is at 6. I'm going to be late for my second date with Cindy.
I got in and out of the hotel room in 3 minutes, and I was back on the road at 553... made it to Unlocked by 615... figured they'd still be doing warmups, or some sort of strength piece. They were, so I hustled in, got my shoes on, and started stretching as quickly as I could. I'm still a little jacked up on caffeine at this point. I'm a little nervous now... the talk is over, it's time to see if I really am stronger. My first date with Cindy saw me get to 9 rounds. Not a terrible number for being 482 lbs and only being in my second week of CrossFit (I think...).
Well this time is different. Round one had me doing jumping pullups, knee pushups, and then air squats... This time I'm doing some ring-rows (made harder by doing them steeper than I've done in the past), same pushups, and this time squatting to a med ball (didn't do that last time). I don't know what kind of squats I may or may not have done the first go round, but squatting to a med ball is probably a bit deeper than those fist time. So happy I've got a better squat now...
Round one kicks off. These steeper ring rows are going to be a problem, I can feel it. I get through the first round pretty quick, maybe sub minute time, I didn't look. I didn't want to know. Did everything unbroken. Same for the second round, but it's slower. Third round had me gassed, got finished when the call went out for 5 minutes. Dang, be lucky to get 12. I thought I was going to crush this.... Guy working out next to me, his lead is starting to increase, and now I've started breaking things up, he's only getting further ahead... I stop paying attention to him.
10 minutes. Crap, what am I on now... 5? Oh boy. Breath is coming in raggedy, I'm breaking up the ring rows in to 4-1, or 3-2's at this point. Pushups, at round 5 still were plank tastic, but it was 5, 2, 2, 1. Squats were 5-5-5. I'm moving so slowly. 6 is done, 7, slower still... Set 8, ring rows are 3-2 every time, and I'm arching, straining to get up there... feel like I'm kipping ring rows here... Push ups... plank is pretty well toast, I'm bending at the hips... not pretty, I'm not proud of it, but I'm struggling. It's going 5-1-1-1-1-1 with a small break...like a child's pose in yoga (I think) then back to the pushup. I've started talking to myself. Oh yeah buddy, you're almost done with 9, keep it up, we're getting a big PR today... through the pushups, and then the squats, I'm trying to convince my conscience that I'm on 9, not 8. I'm clearly not convicted or convincing about it, because now the voice in my head is pleading... he see's its of no use. 3 minutes left. Ok, I can bang out one more and hit 9 surely.
Right about now, Coach Dave starts barking out motivating things. "Don't quit", "Every rep counts", "Keep moving". There aren't a lot of athletes here tonight... so both 'class coach' Brian and unofficial class co-coach Dave (I'm just making up titles now) can easily watch everyone. Dave, God bless him, is both irritating, and motivating the heck out of me. I'm moving slow, but I'm pushing with everything I've got, I got through the set 9's ring rows unbroken. "Keep moving, even if it's slow". I'm trying man. "Get down Dan, lets go!" Oh man.... his eye is on me now... I get these pushups done. "One minute, lets go!" I bang out 8 beautiful squats, take two breaths, 7 more. "Every rep counts, you guys are doing great, keep going". These ring rows are killer, 3-2 it again. I'm coming off the rings. "20 seconds, get down there Dan". I move faster... trying to rise to this. Pushups.... I pushed, and pushed and pushed. 10 seconds, another pushup, then another, then ano... "3 seconds, 2, 1" I just laid there at 9 pushups, sucking air in like I'd been underwater for 3 minutes holding my breath. This date is over Cindy... maybe we should just be friends.
LOLOL. But really, it's who he reminds me of. Take it as a compliment Brian, you're famous, and please don't WOD me to death when I come back in two weeks. Good luck too, by the way.
Something else of note this week... I wish you cold actually target areas for fat removal. After Mondays WOD, I hopped out of the shower at the hotel...and like most hotels, there is this giant mirror... and I'm noticing these pockets where fat is now missing... which is cool, but it's not an even distribution...or subtraction. I just hope things do get too crazy, I'd like it to come off everywhere at the same rate... might be talking about this again soon if it gets nuts...
Thats all I've got, the PRs keep coming, my knee thing is still around, have to get that looked at sooner than later... probably start my squat cycle on Friday... unless I get word not too. Sigh. Ack well, we'll see soon enough either way. Cheers!
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Thrusters are fun! ... said noone. ever.
My peoples! Had a pretty outstanding day, all things considered. I texted AP today, and told him that if I ever have a heart attack in the state of Delaware, it will be because of the "slower lower" drivers who can't get out of the way fast enough on my drive upstate to CrossFit Diamond State. I mean we're talking the speed limit or slower in the fast lane at times... before I go off the deep end, I'm going to stop... just telling you that I'm struggling with these fine folks being in my way...
Anyway. To the WOD. Went to CFDS if you couldn't tell, got to see a lot of my peoples, so it's always a good time. I was actually RIGHT on time, but it didn't give me any time to get my shoes on, or really socialize like I prefer to do. Missed a few stretches. Nothing that I felt was vital, but yeah. Got right into the strength portion of the WOD. I really need to do a better job of having my 1RM around...might put them on a page on the blog so I can get at them from anywhere...
So I don't know what the 1RM is. I guessed 135, but my math was awful.. durning warm ups, I stopped at 95, thought that would be good enough. The work was 6 round EMOM of 2 push presses (we worked in sets of 2). It was ok. To be very transparent about it, 95 was heavy at first, but the last 4 rounds, it felt like it was waaaay to light to be 80%. Might be some of the on the fly coaching I got. Andy asked me if my strict press and push press were pretty close. I told him yeah, I thought they were ( another reason to have that list digitized...). He's not surprised... My push press isn't utilizing the push from the dip. It looks right, but I'm not getting a lot of boost from the dip/drive, mainly doing a bouncy strict press. As I worked on trying to use more of the momentum of the movement, the weight seemed exceedingly light... so it's either that, or I get stronger as I lift, maybe a bit of both. Things to work on...
The METCON was something similar to a WOD I did at EST a week or so ago. 21-15-9 thrusters, toes to bar. With my knee being a baby, I'm not really looking forward to this. Dr. J gave me an adjustment on my knee pre WOD, and it felt better than it was before I started. I decided on the middle of the three weight offered. 75lbs. Cleaning that up to the front rack... it felt super light compared to the push press. I hit the first 14 unbroken, I was feeling good. The last 7 we're rough, I wanted to drop that bar. The toes to bar... didn't hurt my hands like they do at EST. I think part of it is the bar construction, and the fact it's about an inch or so higher than EST's. The 15 I broke into 3 sets of 5, same on those t2b's. The last set went 4, 3, 2. I was gassed, sucking in that air. Almost got all the t2b in the first pass, stopped short at 8, kicked myself, then got the 9th one. 7:28
This is the second WOD down here where I did better than I thought I would. I could have gone faster... still working on that mental game and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. While I'd say breathing is super important to get right, I also need to get better about not using it as a crutch to stop and take a break. Andy noticed on that last set, I came right off the rig, picked up the bar and started the thrusters. Said I was looking a lot stronger. Meant a lot to hear it, also means I need to keep that mentality going forward.
Lucky for me, I get a chance to test that mentality tomorrow.... I took a sneak peek. Cindy. This is what my first thoughts were of Cindy... I think this was the first WOD of my second week of CrossFit. I hit 9 that day. I better beat that by AT LEAST a round tomorrow.... I'll let you know either way. :)
Anyway. To the WOD. Went to CFDS if you couldn't tell, got to see a lot of my peoples, so it's always a good time. I was actually RIGHT on time, but it didn't give me any time to get my shoes on, or really socialize like I prefer to do. Missed a few stretches. Nothing that I felt was vital, but yeah. Got right into the strength portion of the WOD. I really need to do a better job of having my 1RM around...might put them on a page on the blog so I can get at them from anywhere...
So I don't know what the 1RM is. I guessed 135, but my math was awful.. durning warm ups, I stopped at 95, thought that would be good enough. The work was 6 round EMOM of 2 push presses (we worked in sets of 2). It was ok. To be very transparent about it, 95 was heavy at first, but the last 4 rounds, it felt like it was waaaay to light to be 80%. Might be some of the on the fly coaching I got. Andy asked me if my strict press and push press were pretty close. I told him yeah, I thought they were ( another reason to have that list digitized...). He's not surprised... My push press isn't utilizing the push from the dip. It looks right, but I'm not getting a lot of boost from the dip/drive, mainly doing a bouncy strict press. As I worked on trying to use more of the momentum of the movement, the weight seemed exceedingly light... so it's either that, or I get stronger as I lift, maybe a bit of both. Things to work on...
The METCON was something similar to a WOD I did at EST a week or so ago. 21-15-9 thrusters, toes to bar. With my knee being a baby, I'm not really looking forward to this. Dr. J gave me an adjustment on my knee pre WOD, and it felt better than it was before I started. I decided on the middle of the three weight offered. 75lbs. Cleaning that up to the front rack... it felt super light compared to the push press. I hit the first 14 unbroken, I was feeling good. The last 7 we're rough, I wanted to drop that bar. The toes to bar... didn't hurt my hands like they do at EST. I think part of it is the bar construction, and the fact it's about an inch or so higher than EST's. The 15 I broke into 3 sets of 5, same on those t2b's. The last set went 4, 3, 2. I was gassed, sucking in that air. Almost got all the t2b in the first pass, stopped short at 8, kicked myself, then got the 9th one. 7:28
This is the second WOD down here where I did better than I thought I would. I could have gone faster... still working on that mental game and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. While I'd say breathing is super important to get right, I also need to get better about not using it as a crutch to stop and take a break. Andy noticed on that last set, I came right off the rig, picked up the bar and started the thrusters. Said I was looking a lot stronger. Meant a lot to hear it, also means I need to keep that mentality going forward.
Lucky for me, I get a chance to test that mentality tomorrow.... I took a sneak peek. Cindy. This is what my first thoughts were of Cindy... I think this was the first WOD of my second week of CrossFit. I hit 9 that day. I better beat that by AT LEAST a round tomorrow.... I'll let you know either way. :)
207
I apologize in advance for any grammar or spelling errors I'm super tired, and trying to get this out in 20 minutes... Three hours of sleep and then I didn't sleep on my flight...oh, and then there was the first time doing Fight Gone Bad, thats probably a factor too.
Ok, coming back to this in the AM, my laptop had problems in the hotel, so I just shut it down, went to bed. Usually iron my clothes and grocery shop on travel Mondays, but I was bushed. As you can see above, Fight Gone Bad. Had some after effects this morning as I was walking around WalMart for groceries. Had a bit of a limp... not sure how serious this is, I feel fine... monitor it tonight at CFDS, which is going to be a gnarly workout... did one similar at EST not too long ago.
Back to F.G.B. Showed up at the newly signed... new signaged...whatever... at Unlocked... and got to see the new sign on the roadway for myself. I didn't take this picture yesterday, it was drizzling, but this here it is in all it's glory.
So I roll in, start stretching, catch up with coach Dave, we start talking about life in general, I mention my knee/calf issue, and he's like "oh yeah, just read about that today". Still a very cool and somewhat humbling experience having people tell me they read what I write. Thanks Dave.
After all the how you doings and catching up has been had, got some stretching done, it's time to get to bidness. Space...or rather, not having everyone have equipment out was the goal, so we split it up into people starting at different parts of the workout, so we wouldn't have lines, or everyone trying to do things at one time. The workout for those of you not in the know, 5 stations, 1 minute on each station. Wallballs, sumo deadlift highpull at 75#, box jumps, push press 75#, and then a calorie row. After all that, 1 minutes rest, then repeat two more times.
The 20# wallball still kills me, I go a lot slower with it, so I dropped to a 14. I also modded the box jump to my double plates. Have more to say on that in a minute... but that was it, I modded 2 movements rather than all of them... nice to know I'm getting closer to RX on workouts I haven't done before.
With the WOD being split up, I made this mistake of choosing to do the calorie row first. There is a good reason it's at the end... getting into and out of the foot straps takes time, and as you get more tired, you...or at least I, tend to get slower. In other words I waste/lose time...plus to go from that right to wall balls just isn't very fun. The first round went ok. the rowing was good, 21 calories I think, better than the next two rounds anyway. Wallballs I moved from the 20 to the 14 after like 4, and I think it was the right call. Sumo deadlift highpulls..... I need to spend a little more time doing these. I haven't done many prior to this, so I have a pretty good idea that they were very very very ugly. The weight was fine, but that form... ug. Next was the box jump, or for me the plate jumps. My legs are already gel like, but I was able to jump the entire round. Feel like I was close to biting it on just 8" of plates... but I didn't. The first round of push press was pretty solid. Tried to bounce a few of them... as in as the bar is coming down, rather than stopping it at the shelf, then doing the next dip, drive, I would take it down to the base of the dip, then push it right back up. Might be "cheating" might be a shortcut, I don't know. I do know I didn't do it very often, was getting worn out. TIME. wow... 5 minutes was quick, and really long at the same time. 86. Not awful, room for improvement....
The next two rounds were quite a bit rougher. Took a little longer to get off the rower, the wall balls had a few more breaks, the sumo pulls actually got uglier, and on and on. The box jumps...er, plate jumps. They stopped all together. I has a 10 second pause... lost time really. I was torn between stealing someones box and doing step ups, or doing step ups on my plates. I went with the plates in front of me, but in the future, until I'm doing box jumps, I'm going to do step ups on a box if I can't jump. The push press, at the end... last round at the end to clarify... those push presses looked more like a struggling strict press. No bounce. At all.
I get it now. Fight Gone Bad. I'm happy I did it, always seem to get rough ones on Monday at Unlocked... wouldn't have it any other way. My first WOD was on a Monday. It was Fran...so having to deal with rough stuff on Mondays is kind of par for the course. Ended up with 207, which is frankly better than I thought I was going to do. Strong rowing and the shorter step ups were probably the saving grace.
My knee/fibula issue, I'm going to have Dr. J at CFDS see if maybe there itras some subluxation going on, and at least get it adjusted before the WOD tonight, maybe it will help. If thats not enough, I'll have to take it to WebMD or something... see what my issue is/could be. Need it gone ASAP, especially with the squat programming I'm trying to do.
Other news... the Lurong may be making a difference already. Woke up this morning feeling really good about life... LOL. Like I was better rested that before, seemed a bit more energized. Could be the extra sleep... it does claim to boost energy though, and I didn't feel the need for caffeine in the morning... I'll keep an eye on this. I'm forgetting something...probably get it in tonight if I remember what it is. Until then my friends.
Ok, coming back to this in the AM, my laptop had problems in the hotel, so I just shut it down, went to bed. Usually iron my clothes and grocery shop on travel Mondays, but I was bushed. As you can see above, Fight Gone Bad. Had some after effects this morning as I was walking around WalMart for groceries. Had a bit of a limp... not sure how serious this is, I feel fine... monitor it tonight at CFDS, which is going to be a gnarly workout... did one similar at EST not too long ago.
Back to F.G.B. Showed up at the newly signed... new signaged...whatever... at Unlocked... and got to see the new sign on the roadway for myself. I didn't take this picture yesterday, it was drizzling, but this here it is in all it's glory.
So I roll in, start stretching, catch up with coach Dave, we start talking about life in general, I mention my knee/calf issue, and he's like "oh yeah, just read about that today". Still a very cool and somewhat humbling experience having people tell me they read what I write. Thanks Dave.
After all the how you doings and catching up has been had, got some stretching done, it's time to get to bidness. Space...or rather, not having everyone have equipment out was the goal, so we split it up into people starting at different parts of the workout, so we wouldn't have lines, or everyone trying to do things at one time. The workout for those of you not in the know, 5 stations, 1 minute on each station. Wallballs, sumo deadlift highpull at 75#, box jumps, push press 75#, and then a calorie row. After all that, 1 minutes rest, then repeat two more times.
The 20# wallball still kills me, I go a lot slower with it, so I dropped to a 14. I also modded the box jump to my double plates. Have more to say on that in a minute... but that was it, I modded 2 movements rather than all of them... nice to know I'm getting closer to RX on workouts I haven't done before.
With the WOD being split up, I made this mistake of choosing to do the calorie row first. There is a good reason it's at the end... getting into and out of the foot straps takes time, and as you get more tired, you...or at least I, tend to get slower. In other words I waste/lose time...plus to go from that right to wall balls just isn't very fun. The first round went ok. the rowing was good, 21 calories I think, better than the next two rounds anyway. Wallballs I moved from the 20 to the 14 after like 4, and I think it was the right call. Sumo deadlift highpulls..... I need to spend a little more time doing these. I haven't done many prior to this, so I have a pretty good idea that they were very very very ugly. The weight was fine, but that form... ug. Next was the box jump, or for me the plate jumps. My legs are already gel like, but I was able to jump the entire round. Feel like I was close to biting it on just 8" of plates... but I didn't. The first round of push press was pretty solid. Tried to bounce a few of them... as in as the bar is coming down, rather than stopping it at the shelf, then doing the next dip, drive, I would take it down to the base of the dip, then push it right back up. Might be "cheating" might be a shortcut, I don't know. I do know I didn't do it very often, was getting worn out. TIME. wow... 5 minutes was quick, and really long at the same time. 86. Not awful, room for improvement....
The next two rounds were quite a bit rougher. Took a little longer to get off the rower, the wall balls had a few more breaks, the sumo pulls actually got uglier, and on and on. The box jumps...er, plate jumps. They stopped all together. I has a 10 second pause... lost time really. I was torn between stealing someones box and doing step ups, or doing step ups on my plates. I went with the plates in front of me, but in the future, until I'm doing box jumps, I'm going to do step ups on a box if I can't jump. The push press, at the end... last round at the end to clarify... those push presses looked more like a struggling strict press. No bounce. At all.
I get it now. Fight Gone Bad. I'm happy I did it, always seem to get rough ones on Monday at Unlocked... wouldn't have it any other way. My first WOD was on a Monday. It was Fran...so having to deal with rough stuff on Mondays is kind of par for the course. Ended up with 207, which is frankly better than I thought I was going to do. Strong rowing and the shorter step ups were probably the saving grace.
My knee/fibula issue, I'm going to have Dr. J at CFDS see if maybe there itras some subluxation going on, and at least get it adjusted before the WOD tonight, maybe it will help. If thats not enough, I'll have to take it to WebMD or something... see what my issue is/could be. Need it gone ASAP, especially with the squat programming I'm trying to do.
Other news... the Lurong may be making a difference already. Woke up this morning feeling really good about life... LOL. Like I was better rested that before, seemed a bit more energized. Could be the extra sleep... it does claim to boost energy though, and I didn't feel the need for caffeine in the morning... I'll keep an eye on this. I'm forgetting something...probably get it in tonight if I remember what it is. Until then my friends.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Fullfilment and frustration with snatching
I need some help here. I've found a way to miss the second part of a WOD for the second time this week.... and it's related to squatting, which was done on both days. Here's the deal. I do all the stretching and warmups, get throught the squatting, and then my right knee/leg acts funny... I don't really know how to describe it... I feel like it's maybe a tendon or something running from the back of my knee down the fibula? I don't know what it is, but in the movement of walking at about the point in this picture below, is there I feel it along the right side of my calf and behind the knee... it feels like it's behind the meaty part of the calf and runs down the right side... I hope I'm explaining this well enough...
It's a weird feeling, it doesn't really stop me from moving, but at the same time, I've got the sense to not keep pushing it. I have several theories on whats causing it... One, it's the shoes...and I'm wearing lifters, but maybe my feet are too wide for them. Two, it could be the squats themselves. Three, it could be my mobility, which I think is pretty good as is. Four, it might be the goblet squats in the warmups. Could be all or none of these.
To expand upon the goblet squat theory, the past two squat WOD have had me holding this squat for one to two minutes. It's not very comfortable, but thats not the issue. Holding the squat for the time required... I feel it very acutely in that same area that has this issue... so it might just be I need to lay off the goblet squats. Seeing as EST is starting a squat cycle next week, and I'd like to participate, I'm going to have to watch this fairly closely.
The WOD today was... well if you haven't figured it out, squatting. Overhead squatting to be precise. The goal was to work up to a heavy weight that you could do 5 reps without a no-rep. My 1RM is 75lbs, which coincides with my snatch 1RM. In other words, putting anything on the bar is a heavy weight for me... and by anything, I mean 2-10lb bumpers/plates. I refuse to use a bar and anything smaller....it's a machismo thing. I got 5 done at 65lbs. Lots of arm wobbles at the end. Need to work on this stability...
Rather than add 2-5lb weights and try to match it, I went for glory on the very next set, added 2 more 10's. Had another athlete across the rig from me watching, cheering, encouraging ... It's a free standing rig, so people are on both sides... also had Torrey (todays coach) there. I got the first one done, second one... and then I got real wobbly, so I brought it down. I bring up the other athlete, because she was in the way of what I was trying to focus on. So as I'm standing tall, I can see the object, as I squat, she's in the way... I'm more worried about not looking like I'm staring, than focusing on the lift... minute later, she's grabbing more weights, and the coach is on the other side of the box with some newer athletes. Man, I grabbed that bar, threw it up, and busted out 5 smooth OHS. Only a little shaking at the end. New PR, and it was 5 reps of it.
Apparently I need to REALLY focus on these. Probably need to practice holing weight overhead for a longer period than a typical snatch or press.
After hitting that, I grabbed two five pound plates, and tried to do it again. My distractions were back, and after two, something took my focus, and that was it, wobbly, three, stood up with my arms waving all over the place. Brought it down for everyones safety. Another PR. :) Makes it 95... now there aren't as many excuses why I can't get some more weight on my snatch. Playing that mental game now.
That was it for me though, knee started acting funny, decided not to do the rest of the WOD...and it was a fat burner, a bit bummed that I didn't try to do it, but in the same breath, I haven't really hurt myself yet...I don't see the need to start now. Time to rest up, and get ready for next week.
It's a weird feeling, it doesn't really stop me from moving, but at the same time, I've got the sense to not keep pushing it. I have several theories on whats causing it... One, it's the shoes...and I'm wearing lifters, but maybe my feet are too wide for them. Two, it could be the squats themselves. Three, it could be my mobility, which I think is pretty good as is. Four, it might be the goblet squats in the warmups. Could be all or none of these.
To expand upon the goblet squat theory, the past two squat WOD have had me holding this squat for one to two minutes. It's not very comfortable, but thats not the issue. Holding the squat for the time required... I feel it very acutely in that same area that has this issue... so it might just be I need to lay off the goblet squats. Seeing as EST is starting a squat cycle next week, and I'd like to participate, I'm going to have to watch this fairly closely.
The WOD today was... well if you haven't figured it out, squatting. Overhead squatting to be precise. The goal was to work up to a heavy weight that you could do 5 reps without a no-rep. My 1RM is 75lbs, which coincides with my snatch 1RM. In other words, putting anything on the bar is a heavy weight for me... and by anything, I mean 2-10lb bumpers/plates. I refuse to use a bar and anything smaller....it's a machismo thing. I got 5 done at 65lbs. Lots of arm wobbles at the end. Need to work on this stability...
Rather than add 2-5lb weights and try to match it, I went for glory on the very next set, added 2 more 10's. Had another athlete across the rig from me watching, cheering, encouraging ... It's a free standing rig, so people are on both sides... also had Torrey (todays coach) there. I got the first one done, second one... and then I got real wobbly, so I brought it down. I bring up the other athlete, because she was in the way of what I was trying to focus on. So as I'm standing tall, I can see the object, as I squat, she's in the way... I'm more worried about not looking like I'm staring, than focusing on the lift... minute later, she's grabbing more weights, and the coach is on the other side of the box with some newer athletes. Man, I grabbed that bar, threw it up, and busted out 5 smooth OHS. Only a little shaking at the end. New PR, and it was 5 reps of it.
Apparently I need to REALLY focus on these. Probably need to practice holing weight overhead for a longer period than a typical snatch or press.
After hitting that, I grabbed two five pound plates, and tried to do it again. My distractions were back, and after two, something took my focus, and that was it, wobbly, three, stood up with my arms waving all over the place. Brought it down for everyones safety. Another PR. :) Makes it 95... now there aren't as many excuses why I can't get some more weight on my snatch. Playing that mental game now.
That was it for me though, knee started acting funny, decided not to do the rest of the WOD...and it was a fat burner, a bit bummed that I didn't try to do it, but in the same breath, I haven't really hurt myself yet...I don't see the need to start now. Time to rest up, and get ready for next week.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Last hot day of the year
Thats not to say that there wont still be warm ones, but according to the guessers, todays 96 was it. Summer (heat) is over....and I'm still wearing two shirts for workouts.... there is always next year, and quite honestly, if I haven't dropped the rest of this 54lbs by then, I'll be shocked.
WOD today wasn't a fan favorite from my point of view, but in the very very very same breath, it's snatch work, and it's stuff I really really want to get better at... so into the trenches I go. For the strength we're working on a hang full snatch. The goal was to work to a heavy weight... knowing my 1RM of a full snatch is just 75lbs... I started all my work with just a bar, and moved up to just having 10 pound bumpers on it.
I struggled with this weight... 75 is my 1RM for a very good reason. I tried to work on OHS's a bit, so I'd do one full snatch, then do another OHS. Funny thing is, found out thats what we're working tomorrow... so I'll get a shot at doing this stuff twice. :) What killed me was after we were done, hearing an owner/coach saying that he went light with the 95lbs... I'm over here thinking shoooooot, 95lbs is going to be a PR dance kinda day for me.
Let me tell you, I've been a bit beatup recently. Shoulder is still sore...tender to the touch really. Had a Stop n' Pop visit with @IamTheHealer tonight, so everything is at least lined up again. I'm looking forward to Sat and Sunday off. I'm talking real rest and recouperation. Knee was fine from yesterday...might be the shoes. Anyway, after tomorrow, and the rest, it's back to the grind in Delaware. Plan on stopping by both CFDS and Unlocked next week. Can't wait, it's been too long already.
Oh, and the New Balance replacements are ready...that will be a nice pickup as well. Less equipment to pack....maybe.
The METCON for tonight was a little 7 min AMRAP of 7 ground to overhead 135/95 RX and 7 toes to bar. I'm really considering doing toes to rig... my hands get sore doing toes to bar, and it might actually be a better movement as far as getting the ab benefit out of the workout... better ask someone about that.
I picked a heaver weight than in the past... like I've gone up a lvl :) 95lbs today, and I wanted to push it hard. Started out doing power snatches... that lasted exactly 3 pulls... then it was power cleans with a push press. Felt I could do more unbroken, faster this way. Old Dan (from last week) would have been doing this at 75lbs and gotten 3 sets + almost a 4th one done. After days of PR's this week, new day did it at a heavier weight, faster. 4 sets + 4 more ground to overheads. I pushed myself today, a bit further than before... I like the results, I'm going to have to make this a regular thing.
Not much else to say on the day... I'm letting the impending Lurong Challenge be my excuse to eat like a d-bag. On the way home tonight, stopped by Taco Bell... I already feel it... could be a painful evening...and I'm talking the gas moving around, that ish hurts...but Wendys was closed early. New hours they say... I don't eat poorly enough, often enough to know these things... *shrug*
Parting thought...and this is as much to put it on here as to give a heads up to any coaches reading... EST is starting a squat cycle next week, and I'm going to TRY to do it in addition to any WOD I do out in DE... It may not work out, but if I can get one of the three days in, it will make hitting the rest easier on the weekends home. Anyways, it's late...or early... so I'm out.
WOD today wasn't a fan favorite from my point of view, but in the very very very same breath, it's snatch work, and it's stuff I really really want to get better at... so into the trenches I go. For the strength we're working on a hang full snatch. The goal was to work to a heavy weight... knowing my 1RM of a full snatch is just 75lbs... I started all my work with just a bar, and moved up to just having 10 pound bumpers on it.
I struggled with this weight... 75 is my 1RM for a very good reason. I tried to work on OHS's a bit, so I'd do one full snatch, then do another OHS. Funny thing is, found out thats what we're working tomorrow... so I'll get a shot at doing this stuff twice. :) What killed me was after we were done, hearing an owner/coach saying that he went light with the 95lbs... I'm over here thinking shoooooot, 95lbs is going to be a PR dance kinda day for me.
Let me tell you, I've been a bit beatup recently. Shoulder is still sore...tender to the touch really. Had a Stop n' Pop visit with @IamTheHealer tonight, so everything is at least lined up again. I'm looking forward to Sat and Sunday off. I'm talking real rest and recouperation. Knee was fine from yesterday...might be the shoes. Anyway, after tomorrow, and the rest, it's back to the grind in Delaware. Plan on stopping by both CFDS and Unlocked next week. Can't wait, it's been too long already.
Oh, and the New Balance replacements are ready...that will be a nice pickup as well. Less equipment to pack....maybe.
The METCON for tonight was a little 7 min AMRAP of 7 ground to overhead 135/95 RX and 7 toes to bar. I'm really considering doing toes to rig... my hands get sore doing toes to bar, and it might actually be a better movement as far as getting the ab benefit out of the workout... better ask someone about that.
I picked a heaver weight than in the past... like I've gone up a lvl :) 95lbs today, and I wanted to push it hard. Started out doing power snatches... that lasted exactly 3 pulls... then it was power cleans with a push press. Felt I could do more unbroken, faster this way. Old Dan (from last week) would have been doing this at 75lbs and gotten 3 sets + almost a 4th one done. After days of PR's this week, new day did it at a heavier weight, faster. 4 sets + 4 more ground to overheads. I pushed myself today, a bit further than before... I like the results, I'm going to have to make this a regular thing.
Not much else to say on the day... I'm letting the impending Lurong Challenge be my excuse to eat like a d-bag. On the way home tonight, stopped by Taco Bell... I already feel it... could be a painful evening...and I'm talking the gas moving around, that ish hurts...but Wendys was closed early. New hours they say... I don't eat poorly enough, often enough to know these things... *shrug*
Parting thought...and this is as much to put it on here as to give a heads up to any coaches reading... EST is starting a squat cycle next week, and I'm going to TRY to do it in addition to any WOD I do out in DE... It may not work out, but if I can get one of the three days in, it will make hitting the rest easier on the weekends home. Anyways, it's late...or early... so I'm out.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
2 of 17
I failed to finish the WOD today... been kinda beat up. Slept on my shoulder funny (I think), need to see the chiro soon...tomorrow maybe. So I missed Tuesdays WOD, it had thrusters and what would have been ring rows... not exactly shoulder friendly things....
Got to EST plenty early today, wanted to lax ball the heck out of my shoulder that has been ailing... and lax ball I did. A few times had that quick intake of breath, it hurt so badly. Kept at it for 10 long, agonizing minutes. Felt quite a bit better, had most of the mobility back, was feeling good about getting everything done today.
Last post, you might have noticed that 50# front squat PR. Good stuff. Todays strength was a 1RM of the back squat. Shoulder or no shoulder, I wanted to get something similar to a 50lb PR. Started lighter than I probably should have, but I kept a steady increase on the weights. Unlike last time, I had a good idea where I was at. I had a goal in mind.
I think I said it before, but I'm too lazy to go look... but 200lbs is my goal weight for every movement. The movements I've got in mind so far, and I may add/remove as I get better:
Push Press
Strict Press
Jerk Press
Bench Press
Overhead Squat
Front Squat
Back Squat
Hang Clean
Power Clean
Squat Clean
Hang Snatch
Power Snatch
Squat Snatch
Deadlifts
Thrusters
Bear Complex
Shankle Complex
Turkish Get U..... uh no. LOL. That may get added, but right now thats a hell no.
There are other things that will be in there by association... like Snatch Balances... and I'm sure I'll add other complexes as I find them. But thats the list so far. 17 items. Today, I crossed off number 2. My previous written PR for back squats was something around 135, miiiiiiiight have ben 155. I can't find it anywhere... but my new PR is 215, I've got that written down. 80lbs if we go by the original number. Oh. Yeah.
I was all smiles. Broke that 200 barrier....and it was a crazy PR. Little bit of hard work pays off. #HWPO
After the lifts, my knee felt a little wonky...so I didn't do the WOD, box jumps and rowing might have made things worse, so I shut it down early, and in a minute here I'm going to have the knee up and iced for the first time in a while....might become more regular...should become more regular. Need to get them Rehbands as well.
Two down, seventeen to go. With the NFL starting up this week, quote the famous/infamous Bart Scott again. #CANTWAIT for number three.
Got to EST plenty early today, wanted to lax ball the heck out of my shoulder that has been ailing... and lax ball I did. A few times had that quick intake of breath, it hurt so badly. Kept at it for 10 long, agonizing minutes. Felt quite a bit better, had most of the mobility back, was feeling good about getting everything done today.
Last post, you might have noticed that 50# front squat PR. Good stuff. Todays strength was a 1RM of the back squat. Shoulder or no shoulder, I wanted to get something similar to a 50lb PR. Started lighter than I probably should have, but I kept a steady increase on the weights. Unlike last time, I had a good idea where I was at. I had a goal in mind.
I think I said it before, but I'm too lazy to go look... but 200lbs is my goal weight for every movement. The movements I've got in mind so far, and I may add/remove as I get better:
Push Press
Strict Press
Jerk Press
Bench Press
Overhead Squat
Front Squat
Back Squat
Hang Clean
Power Clean
Squat Clean
Hang Snatch
Power Snatch
Squat Snatch
Deadlifts
Thrusters
Bear Complex
Shankle Complex
Turkish Get U..... uh no. LOL. That may get added, but right now thats a hell no.
There are other things that will be in there by association... like Snatch Balances... and I'm sure I'll add other complexes as I find them. But thats the list so far. 17 items. Today, I crossed off number 2. My previous written PR for back squats was something around 135, miiiiiiiight have ben 155. I can't find it anywhere... but my new PR is 215, I've got that written down. 80lbs if we go by the original number. Oh. Yeah.
I was all smiles. Broke that 200 barrier....and it was a crazy PR. Little bit of hard work pays off. #HWPO
After the lifts, my knee felt a little wonky...so I didn't do the WOD, box jumps and rowing might have made things worse, so I shut it down early, and in a minute here I'm going to have the knee up and iced for the first time in a while....might become more regular...should become more regular. Need to get them Rehbands as well.
Two down, seventeen to go. With the NFL starting up this week, quote the famous/infamous Bart Scott again. #CANTWAIT for number three.
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