Working out at home

So I had missed a couple of days and knew I had some making up to do - but I didn't have a gym available. I had spent the last couple of days working on my hand stand push-up, including moving from head to floor to a raised 5" or so platform.

Today, I decided I needed a metcon workout - so I put together what bodyweight exercises I could and came up with the following:

50 HSPU (head to floor)
100 push-ups
150 air squats

I then cleared out a spot on the wall and started my HSPUs. These are tough - especially after 25 or so. Toward the end, I was doing these in increments of 3, 2 or even 1 - but my ability to get on the wall as well as push them out has greatly improved.

I finished the set of 50 in 11:09 and then moved into the push-ups. As I had hoped, the HSPUs were harmful enough to those general muscles that it made the push-ups more difficult than normal - knocking out only 40 in the first set and 20 in subsequent sets. I finished these at 15:40 - 4:31 total for the push-ups. I then moved into the air squats, which were harder than I expected, since I hadn't done much leg or abs, etc. to have an adverse affect - but I was very fatigued and winded from the HSPUs and PUs - so I finished these in 5:10 at 20:50.

This was more work than I had originally expected, which I am glad about!

2 mile run

Decided on an easy day - just wanted each 1/2 mile in a 2 mile run to be faster than the last.
I ran my first 1/2 mile in 4:00 flat. The next was dropped down to 3:50 for 7:50 first mile. The next half was 3:45 - still speeding up. I ended up finishing at 15:25 - making the last 1/2 3:40. The pacing worked - so next time I'll just start faster and do the same thing.

Fran + Official Warmup

I'm a little behind on posting my workouts - but I have still been doing them.
On 12/11 I got my revenge on my last failed attempt at improving my Fran time - and this time I did much better - though I'm thinking that until my metcon is improved more, it may be a good idea to bring some strategy to the table, even in such a short WOD.

I started out with my usual warm-up:
1/2 mile - 4:21
5 pull-ups
20 sit-ups
20 push-ups
20 squats
10 dips

Depending on the day, this is basically my "official warm-up", which is how I will refer to this warm-up routine from now on - with varying 800m times, or even with a 1000m row instead.

I then moved on to Fran which was last completed on November 21 with a time of 7:48, with a previous PR of 7:37. My goal was to beat that. Again, Fran is a progression of 21-15-9 of alternating 95# thrusters and pull-ups.

So I got my stop-watch started with 20 seconds to go before the hand on the wall clock reached the minute mark - this way I could get the bar racked and ready to start and subtract a known time from my time.

I started fast - real fast, finishing the first round in 1:28 with no rests. I paid for this a little bit in the second round, which I finished at the 4:38 mark - with 3:10 for the 2nd round - I needed to beat that time for the 3rd round - I needed a 2:59 to match my PR. Luckily this was a short round which helped mentally as well as physically. I pushed through the thrusters and then the pull-ups and finished in 6:17 - the last 9 reps were completed in 1:39 - slower than my first round, but much better than the second. I still have some work to do, but that was an improvement.

I cooled down with a 500m row.

Bench Press Day

Decided to give my back a rest today and lay on the flat bench with a series of heavy benches, in hopes of reaching a 1RM PR.

I started off with the warm-up as usual - skipping the pull-ups because someone was using the pulley devices at the pull-up station. So my warm-up went as follows:

1/2 mile run: 4:31
20 sit-ups
20 push-ups
20 squats
10 dips
10x135# bench press

I then moved into the main event - starting at 205#. I decided to start here and do an amount of reps that didn't bring me to failure, but gave me a good workout on each weight that I completed.

At 205# I did 5 repetitions.
I followed this by hanging off the chin-up bar to stretch my back muscles and decided to do a pull-up. I decided after each set on the bench I would do pull-ups - more than the previous set, but certainly not to failure.

I moved the bar to 225# and completed 3 repetitions, followed by 2 pull-ups.

I moved up to 245# - unsure whether I would be able to do 2 repetitions, as I had never done 2 reps at this weight before. But I pushed it out, feeling pretty confident after the first rep. I followed this with 3 pull-ups.

I decided to make a daring jump to above my 1RM PR of 260 and jumped to 265#. Of course, I didn't have a spotter, as usual and I was using a free weight bar, so I knew I had to be careful.

I pushed the bar off the rack and extended my arms all the way. I could tell pushing it off the rack that this would be a challenge. I brought the weight down and must admit that I changed my mind before getting all the way down - I probably had between 1-2 inches of clearance on my chest before I started pushing the bar up. Other than the less than full range of motion, I did get this repetition out. Next time around I'll working on getting my chest before pushing off. Until then, I think I will start doing some supplemental bench work after the WOD - perhaps in the 185-225 range, depending on how drained the WOD has made me.

After my 265, I did 5 pull-ups and then un-racked all but 135# and did 10 thrusters to finish off the workout.

Max Dead Lift

I decided to go with 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 Dead Lifts today after having taken the weekend off. Go big or go home.

I warmed up as follows:

800m Run - 4:29
10 pull-ups
20 sit-ups
20 push-ups
20 squats
10 dips
15 30# KB
5 x 135# Dead Lift

Today, the goal was to get a PR and also to increase my PR for the pronated grip as well as mixed grip - using my lifting hooks only when I didn't think I could lift any more otherwise.

So, using pronated grip on both hands (working on the hook grip) I did the following:

225-275-305-330

My previous record before going to mixed grip was 305 - so this was a new record there by 25#. The success didn't stop there, as the new PR here was already a tied PR for my mixed grip.

I only did 1 lift mixed, using my left arm for the supine grip - 365#. When I finished my left and paused at the full up position, I felt that the bar was starting to slip out of my hands - but still a PR by 35#. I then switched to my lifting hooks and continued on.

I went to top my previous PR next, which was 390# and loaded 395# on. This went up quite a bit easier than I expected, considering how slowly 390 had gone up when I set that PR. Since it was so much easier than last time around, I decided to go for a big jump and loaded all weights 25+ that were available -

45# bar + 6 45# plates + 2 35# plates + 2 25# plates.
So (7*45)+(2*35)+2*25)=435#

This was an extremely tough lift. I only got the bar 4 or so inches off the floor before it tried to stop going up. The rest of the trip up was more of a series of stop and start again than a good lift - kind of like a slow chatter to the top. However, letting out a groan, I managed to lock out at the top of the lift.

So my new PR, up 45# from 390 on October 26 is 435#.

I finished off the workout with 225x10 so I could stress my grip a little more and as more or less of a cool down. Then I did a little light KB work - overhead presses, a few swings - 2 & 1 handed, and then just some back and forth swings to stretch the muscles in my back.

I can tell my back will be sore and tired tomorrow. I'm thinking I may go for a max bench, so as to do something that won't cause me to over strain my back and lead to an injury.

Found this site:
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/weight.htm

He has a 1RM calculator at the bottom of the page which I used to look at the standards for my weight (now down to about 180) I used it to calculate the following standards:

Exercise: Novice: Experienced: Advanced:
Military Press: 110 137 163
Bench Press: 163 200 274
Squat: 219 268 366
Dead Lift: 273 314 436
Clean: 157 193 263

I can easily do the Experienced weight on any of these exercises. I can almost get the advanced on all of them as well - Dead Lift, I'm 1# short. Clean I have a little ways to go - 60# or so. Bench press I have 15-20# to make up.

Not feeling it

I'm not sure why, but I just wasn't feeling it today. I went down to do the WOD from yesterday:
Complete three rounds for time of:
Run 800m
155 pound Power cleans, 21 reps

However, when I got down there, there were 2 people on the treadmill and the third was out of service.
Instead of my 800m warm-up jog, I decided to do the row - which I sometimes end up going overboard on. This was just the case today:

1000m row - 3:43.4 - way too fast for a warm-up, which I should probably slow down to as much as 4 minutes or more. After this I did:
5 very wide grip dead-hang full range of motion pull-ups, coming to a complete 2-5 seconds stop at the bottom
20 sit-ups
20 push-ups
20 squats
10 dips
3x 135# power cleans to get the feel of the exercise of the day.

I had planned on doing something else - perhaps some heavy lifts today, but by the time I got to my dips, one of the treadmills was clearing out - so I had a spot to do my 800m run - so I decided to proceed with the WOD.

So I set up 155# on the bar and jumped on the treadmill and started my watch. I could feel at the beginning of the workout that I was less than 100%. It could have been the row being too much, or the fact that it was 3:45 and I had only had a small bowl of cereal, an english muffin, an activia yogurt, a banana and a protein shake for nutrients so far today causing low blood sugar - but either way, I just wasn't feeling it.

I kicked the treadmill up to 10.1 MPH for a just-under-3-minute 800 - of course, with the treadmill getting up to speed, it ended up taking me 3:04. Perhaps this was my second mistake (or third, if you count barely eating any calories) - as when I finished, I had to take a short break before starting the power cleans - and when I did, I only knocked out 5 before stopping. It didn't get any better from there either. Going on 10 minutes after finishing my 800 - and perhaps another 5-6 sets of power cleans, I was finally finishing set 1 at 13:10. I knew I had done something wrong, as other people on the forums had posted between 15 and 30 minutes - at this pace I was looking at not possibly finishing before 40.

I decided to stop - not completely, I ended up racking the bar and doing another 21 reps of bench press at 155# (this only took me 2 sets - 1 of 15 and 1 of 6).

This isn't the only time recently I just "haven't felt it" and had a hard time getting through the workouts. I'm wonder if it really is because of my eating schedule, or if I'm hitting a proverbial wall. Perhaps a change in diet?

Granted, my regular schedule was knocked out of whack - going to bed at the same time as usual (perhaps even a little later), I was up at least an hour earlier than usual - eating a full 1-1.5 hours earlier than usual (at 6:30 AM I had my small cereal) - started the day with a large coffee instead of a large glass of water, had little to drink throughout the day and also little food. I'm also coming off the holiday binge which isn't good - so who knows, perhaps I'll bounce back. Either way, I'll make note of what I am eating/drinking and what kind of sleep I'm getting as I post my near future workouts.

Not much to report

Didn't make it to the gym today due to lack of time. Decided to do the frog stand tonight before bed as a somewhat workout (static hold/gymnastic). I hit the 1 minute mark unassisted (hands on ground)!

I must say, that for such a seemingly simple exercise, this takes a lot out of you. I could feel the burn in my shoulders, my arms and surprisingly enough, my abs. In fact, I felt it quite a bit in my abs, just as I was trying to stand back up after. I enjoy doing this skill - I'll still work on my time on this a bit more and then I will move into the next movement of the planche progression - the tuck planche, which is essentially the frog stand, except that rather than supporting your knees on your elbows, your knees will go up and tuck into your chest so that you are only supporting yourself on your hands. From my understanding, once I move on to this, I will be back down to perhaps a 1-2 second hold before failing. I'll probably work towards 90 seconds in the frog stand before moving on - hoping that 1 minute will seem like a breeze by then.

The full planche progression I am following goes like this:

Frog Stand (90 sec)
- hands on ground
- knees supported on elbows

Tuck Planche (60 sec)
- hands on ground
- knees to chest, supported only by hands/arms

Advanced Tuck Planche
- hands on ground
- back straightened so that hips are around shoulder hight
- knees tucked under to keep center of mass closer to hands

Straddle Planche
- hands on ground
- legs straight, but spread to a straddle position - moves center of gravity away from arms, requiring a more rigid entire body.

Tuck planche push-up & advanced tuck planche push-up
- self explanatory

Straddle planche push-up
- self explanatory

Planche
- hands on ground
- feet straight back behind you - hardest position.

Another brutal workout

So today I did a workout from 11/21 on the main site:

For time:
21 Hand Stand Push-ups (HSPU)
400m run
21 weighted pull-ups - 20# (WPU)
15 HSPU
400m run
15 WPU
9 HSPU
400m run
9 WPU

I warmed up with a nice easy 800m run - 4:52 and did some other easy exercises:
5 pull-ups
15 sit-ups
15 push-ups
15 squats
10 dips

I then moved into the workout. I've only just started doing HSPU - having cleared out a wall in my bedroom to kick my feet onto - I did about 200 over the course of the weekend, so I felt pretty prepped for this, despite that my lats and triceps were still a little bit sore.

So I found a spot in the gym to kick up on the wall (note to self - next time I can do it on the nautilus machine in the middle of the room - less chance of kicking my feet through the wall, and there is nothing above it to obstruct me).

So I started off with 10 HSPUs, rested and then kicked up and did 6 more, another rest and 5 to finish out. I'm inconsistent still getting up on the wall, which I need to workout - at least twice in the first round I had trouble getting all the way vertical kicking up and had to try again - wasting precious energy.

I then jumped on the treadmill and cranked it up to 12MPH for the run - finishing the 400m in 1:22.
I then grabbed my 20# weight with my feet and proceeded into the weighted pull-ups, knocking out 10-6-5-5. I managed to figure out how to kip with the weight, which made things easier. I finished the first round at 6:37. This looked pretty promising, since the remaining rounds should be shorter. I was aiming for 15-20 minutes total.

However, then I got into the second set of HSPUs. These were brutal. I knocked out 8 - then had a bit of trouble getting up onto the wall, I eventually got 1 more out free standing, without ever hitting the wall, but hitting vertical before falling back over, I managed to squeeze one in. I then tried, fruitlessly to kick up at least 6-7 times before finally catching a break. This was brutal, as it killed my arms, legs, and abs - and kept me in a position (arms shoulder width apart in front of me, one knee to my chest and one leg out behind me) that kept me from adequately catching my breath - while simultaneously straining a large collection of muscles.

Once I did get up, I only got 3 more in - but had less trouble getting up the next 2 times to knock out 2 and then 1 last HSPU.

I moved to the treadmill and knew I had to go slower as I was breathing a lot harder than the first round. I ran at 10 MPH and finished in 1:35 - barely finishing that.

I moved back into the pull-ups knocking out 5 at a time for the first 2 rounds, then 4 and 1 - finishing at 17:50. Wow.

I dreaded getting back into the HSPU position and knew I had to do something smart to make it through. It took me again, 2-3 attempts to get on the wall. I tested my stamina at 5 reps, and kept going - knowing my best chance was to knock out all 9 - which I somehow managed to do.

I jumped on the treadmill at 11MPH - but kicked it up to 11.5 and half way through. I finished this in 1:31. It took me 3 more rounds of pull-ups to finish out at 22:41.

This workout was killer. Loved every second of it - and I am sore all over from it. The sprints certainly didn't help the leg pain from the burpees/squats the day before. I guess I'll need to work on getting into position on the HSPU!

Go hard or go home!

AMRAP 20 min - 25 Burpees, 15 BW Back Squats

Decided to do the WOD from 11/22 that I hadn't done:
As Many Rounds as Possible (AMRAP) in 20 minutes of:
25 Burpees
15 Back Squats with Bodyweight racked

A burpee, for anyone that doesn't know is basically a modified squat/push-up/jump. The progression goes as follows:

1. Start in the standing position
2. Squat down and place your hands on the ground in front of you, just in front of your feet, shoulder width apart
3. Kick your legs out behind you, dropping into the down position of the push-up
4. Simultaneously push to the up position and bring your feet to the original position explosively
5. From the squat position, launch into a jump as high as you can go (each repetition, this seems to get lower)

That's one repetition. It is an extremely brutal - and effective exercise.

So 25 before going into back squats with your bodyweight is pretty intense - more so than I anticipated.

I made room on my paper pad to record my finish times for up to 6 rounds. I was dreaming.

I warmed up with:
100m Row (3:54.7)
5 pull-ups
20 sit-ups
15 push-ups
20 squats
10 dips
15 sumo deadlift high pulls with a 30# KB

I then stretched for about the next 4 minutes while waiting for an even number to swing by on the clock - and then started my burpees.

I had to break the first set of 25 into 2 sets - 15 and 10. And then I needed to rest a few seconds before un-racking the bar for the body weight squats. This also took 2 sets to complete - 10 and then 5 more. I finished my first set3:55 - wow, if I keep this up, I could complete 4 rounds - I guess 6 is out the window right away!

I then got back into the burpees. I no longer remember how many sets this took - but I'm thinking it was 8, 7, 5, 5. I got back to the bar - this time a little less winded than after the first set of burpees, having broken them up more - but still took 2 sets to finish the squats. 9:40 on the clock. Slowing down - I'll be lucky to hit 4.

The third set was even more brutal. Now that I think about it, the number I mentioned above were for this set - no idea what I did on set 2. Anyway, this time I moved into the back squats and needed 3 sets of 5 to finish them off, glancing at the clock at 14:20.

And then I don't know what hit me. To be honest, I originally recorded 12:20 at the end of round 3 - but after careful review, I realised I must have read the clock wrong, because I know this round was slower than round 2 and 12:20 would be under 3 minutes. So I upped the estimate to 13:20, assuming I read the clock wrong - this would put round 3 at 3:40 - which again didn't sound reasonable - so I modified yet again to 14:20 - 4:40. This still put me ahead of schedule (and pace) to break 4 rounds in 20 minutes - but somehow I was only just finishing the burpees when the time ran out.

Like I said, I have no idea what happened, or where the time went. I do know that my reps on the burpees were 7-6-5-4-3 and that the rest time in between all but the last couple rounds were longer than in previous rounds - but I'm still unsure how it took me nearly 6 minutes to complete 25 burpees. I'm also a little cautious because it looks like I originally recorded 8:40 at the end of round 2 - which would have made 13:20 reasonable for round 3 - which I think would have put me just a little behind 15 minutes finishing round 4 of burpees.

Anyway - as you can see, I was too exhausted to tell if 20 minutes had passed on a clock with hands at a strange angle on the clock. I'm calling the official score 3 rounds + 25 burpees - but I'm not entirely sure I believe it. I'll try again another time to see if I have a drastic improvement - hopefully in the near future.

Kettle bell day

I only made it to the gym due to some needed coaxing from a co-worked that usually goes down at the same time - originally planning to run, I just didn't have a lot in me. So I decided to do some kettle bell work - which I had brought in to my work gym from home.

Warm-up
1000m row - 3:29.6
5 pull-ups
20 sit-ups
20 push-ups
20 squats
10 dips

What I did have in me, the 1000m row took out - for the most part - I was pretty exhausted after (not a great idea for a warm-up, I know - but I wanted to push that one!)

I then completed the following with my 30# Kettle Bell

KB Swing:
2 handed x35
1 handed x20 right arm
1 handed x20 left arm
Clean and Press:
10 L arm
10 R arm
Swing:
Alternating catch and release x30
Windmills:
10 R
10 L
Overhead Carry:
R arm - 86 steps (4x the length of the gym)
L arm - 86 steps

It was a good workout - for my lower back anyway. Still sore from the Angie/Fran back to back on the 20th/21st - the muscles on either side of my elbow - forearm and bicep included. Now that I think about it, doing Angie the day before Fran probably didn't help my time either!

Improvised PT

I was at my unit all by myself - and extremely busy with no help. I was completing an inventory turn-in, which included putting the gear into a portable pod. This pod was located at the end of a parking lot in a fenced-in area - about 100-150 yards away from my supply room. I was packing all my stuff into boxes or ruck sacks for the most part - which I ended up loading into my vehicle to transport. But there were a few items that I did not pack into boxes and only stacked in the transport module.

These items would have been wasted stacking in my vehicle, because I would have had to loaded them onto a cart to get them out of my supply cages - load them into the car, and then again unload them and load them into the pod. Instead I decided to handle them less times and pull/push my cart all the way to the cage with these items.

I did this at a high rate of speed - pulling the cart while running backwards - which resulted in a great thigh workout. On the way back, with the cart empty I either pushed the cart in front of me (glutes and hamstrings) or held it beside me in one hand as I ran. The alter resulted in a great abdominal workout as I had to work with them at full contraction while running.

That was basically my workout for the day - but I thought it was pretty good and inspired me with some ideas for relay races and etc. that I can incorporate into my unit PT.

Meeting with Fran

Fran had come up in the WOD on the main site - and I was looking to improve my time. So I decided to take a whack.

The circumstances were not ideal, the gym that I was in (military gym) only had a nautilus assistance pull-up station for pull-ups. This didn't work out well - I held the assistance seat down with a dumbbell - but the positioning of all the bars and etc. only left room for a dead-hang pull - which meant no kipping.

I warmed up with:
1 mile run (9:44)
5 pull-ups
30 sit-ups
10 135# bench press
30 2x3# DB squats
10 dips

I then waited for my heart rate to come back down a bit and started in on Fran:
Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups

I ended up finishing in 7:48 - slower than last time.

I'm upset - hate to make excuses, but I think it was caused by the inadequate pull-up station.

Afterwards I decided to work on my sit-ups:
10 20# decline sit-ups @ 45 degrees
10 decline sit-ups @ 45 degrees
AMRAP sit-ups in 2 minutes - 71

The 71 is good - my feet were anchored, so there was a better hold than if a person was holding my feet as in the APFT - but I still didn't make 100% reps - granted I was 1 Fran and a bunch of decline sit-ups in.

All-in-all, good workout.

Revenge on Angie

So I got another go at Angie - a few days behind the main site WOD, due to the crick in my neck - but I wanted to take another whack at Angie, so I made the workout up.

I last attempted Angie on September 26th. On that day it took me 27:36 to complete:
100 pull-ups
100 push-ups
100 sit-ups
100 squats
In that order, completing each set of 100 before moving to the next exercise - taking as many sets as needed to complete the 100.

Today I used a little strategy and didn't go near failure before finishing the set. This way, I didn't go from 25 reps on the first set of pull-ups to 15 sets of 5 to finish.

So I warmed up as follows, mostly avoiding the exercises I would be performing:
1/2 mile Run: 4:28
5 pull-ups
15 30# KB Swings
10 Dips
5/side 30# KB WindMill

Here are the results, with the total count of completed reps at the end of each set:

Pull-ups - 10,20,30,40,50,60,70,79,80,87,90,95,100 - 07:10
Push-ups - 25, 50, 65, 80, 90, 100 - 11:40
Sit-Ups - 15,25,35,45,55,65,75,85,90,95,100 - 19:50
Squats - 40,60,80,100 - 22:50

I improved my time by 4:46 in a little over a month and a half - but produced a very large and ripped blister on my left hand during the pull-ups.

Bench Press Max and Tabata Treadmill

So I've done 3 months of CrossFit - perhaps a month of which was self Rx'd, doing maybe 3 days with the Bench Press - but on those 3 days never going over body weight (185).

They say that the only way to train for doing heavy lifts is to do heavy lifts. Today - or yesterday, rather - I decided to put that theory to the test. Before this 3 month stint, I had a 1 rep max of 260 - but this was doing bench press 1-2 times a week - and usually going at least as heavy as 225 for a couple reps. So now, doing no more than 185 - and otherwise doing nothing more than push-ups so far as that particular pushing motion goes for 3 months - how would I fare?

I warmed up with:

1/2 mile run @ 1% incline: 4:41
10 Pull-ups30 sit-ups
20 push-ups
20 squats
10 dips

And then some stretching. I then moved into the bench press - starting low to do some more warm-up.

135# - 8 reps
185# - 4 reps

Right here, I can say that it felt like a not-so-good day. As I said, my neck is still bothering me - and though I have done 21 (or was it 13?) reps of my bodyweight in the past (recently), these 4 felt kind of difficult. To be honest, I was a little worried - but really, even if I didn't go very heavy today, I would know that it was because I was feeling "off" and that I could try again in a week or so for a better test.

That said, I moved on to my 1 rep weights, starting with 225. 225 felt pretty good, so I made another appreciable jump to 245. Again, no problems - it went up a little slow, but easy enough that I knew I could do more. I again cut my weight jump in half and went to 255 - with no spotter, using a free weight. This went up, but very slowly. I probably could have gotten that extra 5 pounds for 260 - which again is my best EVER and I think I've only ever done it once. So I would say that without a doubt, I have lost no strength in the bench press as a result of taking 3 months of to switch to CrossFit - with no specific training.

However, I would say that I feel confident that I could modify my training, still keeping true to crossfit - and make much more rapid gains than before to break 300 in the near future.

Will that be my next 300 quest? CrossFit my way to a 300# bench? We'll see.

So after my bench press I moved into a tabata treadmill run - 12% incline at 30 seconds below my 5K pace (which should be about 21 minutes - a 7 minute mile) putting my pace at 7:30/mile - or 8MPH.

In the past I have been overzealous on the tabata treadmill run - and also failed at the 7:30 pace for the tabata's older brother - 30 seconds work followed by 20 seconds rest, instead of 20 seconds work with 10 seconds rest.

So I was determined to make my pace all the way through.

I hit the quick start button and cranked the incline to 12% and then started speeding the track up until I hit my pace. I waited for the 1 minute mark and jumped on. After 2 repetitions, I was still feeling pretty good - until the end of the rest period, when I realised how quickly I had to jump back on. But I did anyway, telling myself I was 1/4 of the way done.

After 4, my lungs were already burning. It's amazing how quickly this routine hits you. During my 6th repetition, my legs were telling me to stop - but I didn't listen. I worried my legs might give out during the 7th rep - but I made it through. During my 10 seconds rest, I told myself I only have to hold on for 20 more seconds.

And that's what I did. 8 rounds at a 7:30 pace! That's smoking. I hit my goal - and I'll be happy to move forward - though I'll still use the same speed for at least the next few sessions.

Clean and Push Press

I actually did this one a week ago now, but hadn't posted it. In fact, I have a few make-up days to get on here.

This was done on 11/12 - the main site WOD was 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 clean and jerk. I haven't done the jerk before, and didn't feel comfortable with steel plates/no bumper plate and unsupervised - so I swapped for Clean and Push Press. I stopped doing push press after failure, but continued doing cleans up to 7 sets of 1 rep.

I warmed up with:
1000m row - 3:39
10 overhead squats - 45#
10 pull-ups
115# clean and press x 5

I then moved into the exercise. My previous PR on clean was 175 and 165 on the push press.

I started out nice and light - 135.

I took, including swapping the weights around 2 minutes rest between attempts. I did 155 next pretty easily and moved to 185. This went up, but it was a good struggle - PR by 10# and 20# for clean and push press respectively.

I then moved to 195 - clean was no problem - but when I got to the push press, I didn't quite make a full lockout before I felt a severe discomfort, somewhere between a pop and a pinch in my left shoulder. A week later, this is still causing my neck to be stiff - not exactly sure what happened, but it didn't feel good.

So after that, I opted to just do cleans (yeah, yeah - I maybe should have stopped). I pulled off 205 fairly easily, so I thought - getting nice and low with the full squat. Afterwards, I got a little over-zealous and attempted 220. This didn't make it to the rack position after 2 attempts. The first attempt barely got beyond a dead lift position before I brought it back down - it didn't feel like it was going up, so I stopped and went back down.

I probably should have given my self some rest, but instead, just adjusted my footing and grip and went back in for another go. This time I almost got it all the way through, but just couldn't get under it.

I dropped the weight to 210 and tried again - again maybe a little too quick - and I failed again.

So my PR for clean stands at 205 and my push press at 185. Good improvement!

300 Results

Here is my result post for the 300 challenge:

After 3 months of training, at the beginning of which I failed to complete the 300 challenge - flunking out after 24 minutes or so, only half way through the floor wipers. Also, I'll mention that when I first attempted this routine, I used a standard bench for your bench press - thinking this was about 24". However, when I built my 24" jumping box, I realized it was no-where near 24" - perhaps 18-20" at best - so I was doing a lot less jumping than I ended up doing in the finale.

So anyway, here are my results - total reps; exercise; # completed for each set; finish time:

25 Pull-ups - 25 - 00:38
50 Deadlifts (135#) - 30, 20 - 03:20
50 push-ups - 50 - 04:18
50 Box Jumps (24") - 20, 15, 15 - 09:40
50 Floor Wipers (135#) - 20, 15, 15 - 18:00
50 KB Clean and Press (30#) - 50 - 21:35
25 Pull-Ups - 10, 5, 5, 5 - 23:55

So after finishing the floor wipers, which was my longest event (08:20), I took an additional 05:55 to finish the entire challenge. Last time around I quit out less than half-way through the floor wipers. This means that last time around I would have had at LEAST another 6 minutes to add on to my time - bringing my total over half an hour - and I would venture to say I would have added at least another 4-5 minutes on top of that, since that should be about how long the remaining floor wipers took me.

So we are looking at an estimated 10-11 minute improvement - or about a 33% improvement in stamina and strength endurance over a period of only 90 days.

You can also see results just by comparing the number of sets it took to complete each exercise - the original results:

Pull-Ups - 24,25
135# Deadlift - 17,30,40,50
Push-Ups - 50
Box-Jumps - 10,25,40,50
Floor Wipers - 15, 26
Stop.

My 1st pull-up and deadlift sets were cut in half. In fact, if you look at the deaflift, my first two sets got me to 30 reps in my original attempt - which is where I stopped on my first set for the second go.

The box jumps were only a 25% improvement in sets - but then again, the jump was 4-6 inches higher!
The floor wipers, I was only just over half done after 2 sets - dropping from 15 to 11 reps - this time around, I was done after 3 sets - completing no less than 15 reps per set.

I am extremely happy with my results. Granted, I think I will continue to work and perhaps try this again down the road - but getting down to it, this routine was no harder than some of the every day routines I complete with CrossFit.

I'm going to stay the routine. My last APFT was under what I had hoped and expected - especially on the run - so I will work on getting my run and sit-ups up to 100%. Once I have done that, I will do what I need to improve, or at the very least maintain - but I won't focus on them. That means more cardio (or really, anaerobic endurance and running) routines in the near future - probably whenever I don't have all required equipment available to perform the WOD.

My revenge for Cindy

Today I get to do a comparison post! My first Cindy can be found at Day 28 of the 300 Challenge, 8/25/2009.

Today I took my revenge on Cindy after 2 and a half months or so of CrossFit. As expected, I saw an improvement.

First time around, I completed 18 Full Rounds + 5 pull-ups + 8 push-ups in 20 minutes.

This time, I noticed a marked difference in my stamina - I was getting more out of the way more quickly and feeling less tired. I also was having no problem doing all reps for each exercise without any rest.

My results: 20 rounds + 5 pull-ups.

I posted last time that I did Cindy that 1 set per minute was a good goal - and CrossFit has helped me to achieve that goal - so I am happy with that. Next time I expect to do better - perhaps I can eventually reach 25 rounds? I'll probably try Chelsea before then - the same as Cindy, except you never pre-load your sets - do 1 set on the minute, every minute until you can no longer complete the set within the minute - up to 30 minutes. This would allow me to still hit the 20 in 20 that I got today, but keep going and try to keep the same pace for 10 more rounds - which would certainly help with stamina - then I can start working on speed.

Anyway, I found the results for 300 - I'll post those in a few under a new post.

Run Day

I have my results from the 300 challenge - I just have to find them so I can post them. In the mean-time, I'll go ahead and post today's workout.

Self Rx'd today - I did 3 intervals on the treadmill at 12, 11 and 10 MPH respectively holding the pace for as long as possible (distance/time).

Results:
12MPH - .5 mile - 2:32
11MPH - .39 mile - 2:14
10MPH - .36 mile - 2:15

Times of course included acceleration. Total: 1.25 mi in 7:01.

Rest time was just until my heart rate dropped down to the same rate it was after my warm-up (approx. 140).

This was a good workout and IMHO seemed to be just about as daunting and effective as a tabata run.

Before this, I warmed-up with:
1/2 mile run - 4:54
10 pull-ups
30 sit-ups
25 push-ups
20 squats
10 dips

As I got my results from my recent PT test, I am going to be doing a lot of CFE style runs until I can get my 2 mile run time below 13 minutes - preferably 12:30 or so, so that I'm safe on a bad day. I'll also be ensuring that I continue to include high rep sit-ups in my warm-up. I may even start putting a set of sit ups at the beginning and end of my warm-up, e.g.:

25 SU, 10 Pull-Up, 20 squats, 20 push-ups, 25 SU, 10 Dips

This way I end up with more sit-ups total and don't do any sets that are particularly stressful. Other than that, I'm going to basically keep with the CrossFit WODs. In fact, I'll likely make up Friday's:
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
65 pound Power snatch, 12 reps
10 Push-ups

And today's Cindy

Almost time!

One more day of rest tomorrow and then Friday morning its time for the 300. To reiterate, the 300 goes like this:

Pull-ups, 25 repetitions
Deadlifts with 135 pounds, 50 repetitions
Push-ups, 50 repetitions
Box jumps (24-inch), 50 repetitions
Floor wipers (135 pounds), 50 repetitions
Single-arm kettlebell (35 pound) clean-and-press, 50 repetitions
Pull-ups, 25 repetitions

I'm thinking those Deadlifts are going to be a lot easier this time around. I'll either have to substitute a dumbbell for the KB clean and press, or I'll up the reps to 60 for that- since my KB is only 30# - I haven't decided yet. Either way - this sounds easier this time around.

Unfortunately, my legs are burning from the tabata back squats yesterday - a burn I don't think I was feeling going into this last time. Still one day of rest though.

Day 92 - Last Chance Workout

Today is my last workout before the 300 challenge attempt 2. I'll do this on Friday, 10/30.

So what did I pick to get the most possible conditioning out of it? Tabata back squats!

This was a tough workout - and I will certainly do front squats in the future, which will allow me to unload the bar in between sets. Instead I kept the bar on my shoulders for the entire duration - which was killer. Actually, not the entire time - and it wasn't a true tabata. This is because after set 4, I didn't think I'd be able to stand up many more times with the weight I was working with - so I had to drop the weight down.

Foolishly, without doing much research on this first, I loaded 185 on the bar at the start and tried this in a back squat position, which as I said, meant that I didn't have enough time to dump the bar to the rack during my rest interval - so that made the workout all the more gruelling.

I completed the reps with 185# as follows:

12-10-7-6

I then dumped the bar - it took me about 1:10 to get the weight switched and the bar back to my shoulders - just had to dump the 25# weights - then I was back in it on 135#:

12-9-8-6

I think 135# would have been a good weight to do all the way through without the 1 minute pause - though if I was doing front squats, I may want to drop that as low as 115 or 95 - probably 115, since I would be able to dump the bar. Anyway - GREAT burn.

I ended up finishing off with AMRAP pull-ups in 1 minute - got 25 out kipping, which I'm starting to get okay at. This will help on Friday.

300 - Day 91 - Dead Lift

I wanted to make up the 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 Dead Lift posted on the main site on Saturday, so I did that today as the main site had a rest day anyway.

So I warmed up as usual and then stacked the weights. I decided to start out with 225, because I don't have bumper plates available, so its hard to get extra 45s on without racking the bar, which interrupts the workout. With 225, I can stack well over my previous PR using just the 35s, 25s, 10s, 5s and 2.5s. I actually got some lifting hooks for after my grip gives out on the bar. I lift as much as I can with a raw grip and then rather than switching to an alternating/mixed grip, I switch to the hooks - though I may go higher with mixed grips as well in the future, though usually I will workout with less than what I can lift with a regular grip.

That said, here was my progression -

225
275
315 (previous PR with regular grip)
335 - had to use hooks, failed without
345 - previous PR
365
375
390!!

The previous PR was with alternating/mixed grip and this time around it was hook from 335 up. Next time I go for heavy dead-lifts, I'll use a mixed grip at least to 345 - and I'll do at least 2 reps with mixed grip, one with left supine and right prone and one vice versa.

The 390 was HEAVY. This came up SLOW. But I was really happy to hit it. Next time around I plan to hit 400 - but I'll need to do a lot of lower weight work first! I can't wait until my next Linda, when I can do it as Rx'd (290)!

300 - Day 90 - APFT Test

Unfortunately yesterday's PT test was moved to today - so taking both Thursday and Friday off was kind of unnecessary - despite that I'm sure it helped the tight neck muscle. I ended up doing a little bit of light skill work last night, having not done any exercising in 3 days, I really just couldn't help it with a gym readily available - I was sleeping at the reserve center with a gym all to myself. I practised the snatch and cleans.

Anyway, I had my PT test today - back in April before starting CrossFit, I did 90 push-ups, 67 sit-ups and ran my 2 mile run in 14:06. I managed this score by basically focusing on these three movements (push-up, sit-up, run) for about 2-3 months prior to the PT test - greatly improving over my last score, especially in the push-up. Before this PT test, I was running 6 miles at least once a week, and shorter runs 2-3 times a week. I was doing lots of sets of max push-ups and max sit-ups and supplementing this with an average gym workout.

Today, without having emphasised any of these (I don't think I usually run once a week these days...) in the same 1:10 as I did before (I have 2 minutes, but don't use it) I completed 95 push-ups, which certainly could have been more - but I felt my abs getting tired and had the sit-ups to go. I improved my sit-ups to 74 repetitions in 2 minutes - and this felt a lot easier than my previous 67 which I struggled for - and my run actually slowed a little bit to 14:28. I partly attribute the run to not having anyone push me for most of the time. My last run, I was chasing two guys starting at about the 1/4 mile mark - this time I was out in front for almost the entire run - one of the guys that was out ahead of me last time around slowed his time and didn't catch me until the 1 and 1/4 mile mark - he had a much better second half than I did, keeping his splits within seconds of each other.

Anyway, it was an improvement overall, so I can't complain about the run. I will continue to work the CFE WOD into my routine to improve this - and in fact, I'll try to take another PT test in two weeks when I have drill again to see if supplementing the WOD with focus runs and sit-ups will help to get that 300 that I am now so close to obtaining.

300 - Day 86 - Tabata Treadmill pt II.

I didn't do yesterday's workout - which was Tabata Something Else - 8x20:10 for max reps of pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups and squats. I didn't do this for two reasons - one being that if I can gather the needed time, I will be putting my Army Reserve unit through this very workout this weekend. It'll be easier to do this if I don't have to try to keep my own time - and I get to torture my troops with a good workout, which is an added bonus.

The second reason being that my neck was still rather tight. I even ended up taking asprin - which is not normal for me - to loosen the muscles up to help heal faster.

So I skipped yesterday and made up for it today with my return to the Tabata Treadmill workout. I had already been planning to do this today - and then as luck had it, the CFE site had the same workout I had been planning. The minor variation was that instead of 20:10 intervals, it specified 30:20 intervals at a 12% incline. This sounded good to me - so that's what I did.

I learned my lesson last time, stating at a 6:30 pace - so this time I put the speed at 8mph, or a 7:30 pace. This ended up being almost tolerable for the entire distance. I ended up needing to drop the incline to 10% for the last two rounds - but otherwise, it was a much better experience than last time. I grabbed the handles at the end of the last interval and it measured my heart rate at 189 - wow.

I'll use this same pace next time around until I can complete all rounds as Rx'd - and then I'll think about increasing the speed.

300 - Day 84 - Weighted pull-ups

Finally felt good enough to get back to the action today. A good day for it too - WOD is weighted pull-ups - 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

So I weighed myself in at 183.6# with my shoes and clothes - making note of this so that I can reference it for the same workout in the future. I then warmed up as follows:

1/2 mi run on 2% incline: 4:41
20 push-ups
40 sit-ups
15 dips
20 squats
2x5 pull-ups with body weight (strict dead-hang w/ full ROM)

I then strapped 2 10# ankle weights to my ankles - which I was really hoping I would need - and then grabbed my 30# kettlebell for rep 1.

Rep 1 was 50#.
This was fairly easy, so I got a 45# dumbbell, keeping the ankle-weights on and knocked that out. Again, fairly easy. My 7 reps ended up going like this:

50#
65#
75# (PR)
80#
90#
100# (f) - missed by 3-4 inches
100# - went neutral grip.

All strict, no kip, w/ full ROM:

I hung on for a good 5 seconds trying to muscle the failed rep out - but you know once you stop moving half-way up, you have no chance. Unfortunately, I strained a muscle in my neck trying to get that - as I spent those 5 seconds or so giving it everything I had from the muscle region - and my shoulders were still sore from the Hang Squat Cleans. Hopefully this feels better for tomorrows workout - but if not, then I'll have to rest again - I have a PT test coming up this coming weekend and only a few more days after that before I have my 300 test - so I don't want to exacerbate anything before either of those.

Anyway, hanging on to dumbbells with your feet is easier than expected - I only had up to 80# which ended up being my limit combined with the ankle weights - good thing I had those available - not sure what I'll do when I start being able to do more than 100... I actually think the ankle weights made it more awkward - though, they provided padding.

Cooled down with
5x20# weighted pull-ups
5 BW pull-ups
62 sit-ups - 1x max reps without rest - that 100% on sit-ups is in my reach.
500m row @ 2:03

300 - Day 80

So I ended up taking some more days off - still more sick than I thought and Fran didn't help the situation at all. Either way, the way I see it, its better to take a few days off to recuperate so that you can work at full intensity than it is to work a few days at less-than-your-best.

So I took my time off and waited for a good day to return. I thought today's workout sounded good - I even almost recommended it as a nice easy workout for someone at the office who is wanting to get into Crossfit - but keeps hesitating, being a little intimidated.

It's probably a good thing it slipped my mind. The WOD:
Five rounds for time of:
135 pound Hang squat clean, 15 reps
30 Push-ups

It didn't sound bad - but I should realise by now that those are the worst ones.

This was a brutal, brutal workout. I tried to do it as Rx'd - but after round 3, I knew I wouldn't be able to grip the bar long enough to complete another HSC - my forearms were that destroyed. So I lowered the weight to 115 and continued. To give you an idea, here are my times for each round:

Round 1 - 4:56
Round 2 - 12:18
Round 3 - 23:00
Round 4 - 31:00 (didn't stop the clock while I changed weights)
Round 5 - 37:50

With push-ups being a strong suit for me - I finished all my sets unbroken - you can tell how much work I need at the hang squat clean. I just didn't expect this to be as demanding as it was.

As I post this now (2 days later) my shoulders are BURNING still. I needed to ask my wife for a massage earlier - and even that was excruciating. My forearms are still sore and even my legs, which are my most powerful muscles are quite sore.

When I finished this workout, my pulse rate was about 160 - borderline on the cardio zone for my age - which just goes to show how demanding Crossfit is - nearing 40 minutes of cardio work with full-body heavy weight exercises.

If this workout comes up again any time soon, I'll definitely consider modifying the weight at the beginning of the workout until I can do this exercise less broken. I took both yesterday and today off because of the soreness - no symptoms of rhabdo yet though! Today though, I did do some running and monkeying around at the playground with the kids. Something to get the heart rate going anyway.

300 - Day 77

I took a few days off because of a cold. It was a real shame too - I would have liked to have run the 5K - I'm going to try and work it in on a day when I don't have the proper equipment available.

Today I decided to make up yesterday's WOD - after missing the 5K, the next day was a rest day and yesterday was Fran. I've seen people post times for Fran recently and wanted to give it a shot. I've done Fran before with a time of 7:37. I've seen times posted as low as 4 minutes or so - so I wanted to make a fairly drastic improvement.

Fran sounds quick and easy:
Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups

The trick though is doing the Thrusters in a full squat. Thinking back, I'm sure my first Fran was probably closer to a push-press, where instead of going into a full squat, you simply do a power position. This severely decreases the power output.

So with that in mind, this time around, I was doing full ass-to-grass squats - still hoping for a time improvement. But today wasn't the day. I was apparently still more sick than I thought as my respiratory system just wasn't cooperating and I finished with a time of 8:34. Almost a full minute slower.

Oh well - I'll get it next time around.

300 - Day 73 - Sumo!

The WOD for 10/8/09:
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
Row 250 meters
Sumo deadlift highpull 95 pounds, 21 reps
Pull-ups 15 reps

I have gotten in the habit of reviewing the older posts - the "compare to" date to see what I'm up against and to find an approximate average that I can strive to beat. In doing so, many of the workouts that I have compared, it looks like the average Crossfit athlete has improved. So for today's WOD, after reviewing the results from 05/25/2004, where the average rounds of completion was 4, I expected to see today's Crossfitters achieving 5-6 rounds on average.

After round 1, I realised I was sorely mistaken. I finished my second 250m row at the 5 minute mark. It's amazing just how quickly the Sumo deadlift high pull can crush your pull-up performance. Usually I can start my pull-ups off with sets of 15. Not today. After punishing my muscles with the SDLHP, I was only able to knock out 5 at a time. And that was kipping. I quickly realised it would be a feat to even finish 4 rounds - as while I was still fresh, I was barely ahead of schedule to do that.

However, I muscled through and finished round 4 with 19:43 on the clock - not even enough time to get my feet clipped in to start a new round of rowing. 20 minutes of punishment.
It's still amazing that nearly 3 months of this - and still, each workout is as demanding as was the first.

Crossfit is a way of life.

300 - Day 72

I did two workouts today - the CF main site WOD and the CFE WOD.

I came in early after seeing the two short workouts posted last night so I could do the CF workout this morning and to the CFE during lunch.

I warmed up with:
500m Row (2:28)
30 anchored sit-ups (explosive and fast!)
30 push-ups
15 squats
5 pull-ups
5 dips

I then moved into the WOD - Thrusters 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

I started out nice and easy at 95# and moved up liberally:
95-125-145-155-160(f)-160-170-185-195(f)

I did an extra rep at the end because the 160 was an accident. I had 45# and 10# plates loaded for the 155 and went to switch into 170 by adding a 5# and a 2.5# to each side.

Well, on the left side I accidentally unloaded the 10# plate first - so the weight was a little unven, causing me to fail the first time. I noticed that it felt off - but didn't heed my judgement. I just tried again with success. Once I put the bar back on the rack, I realized what was wrong!

The 170 felt good, but I didn't want to jump directly to 200, which is what I was aiming for today - so I decided to add the extra rep and knock out a 185 interim rep - which is probably a good thing, as I ended up decided between trying 190 or 195 (went for the 195 and failed) - but that gives me a lower failure to try to acheive for next time.

The CFE workout was a tabata treadmill run. This was my first tabata, which consists of 8 rounds of 20:10 (20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest). To do this run, you take your best 5K pace and add 30 seconds to the pace, run at that speed with the treadmill set at a 12% incline.

Being a fool and underestimating the workout, I used my best high school 5K time of 18:00 and set the treadmill for a 6:30 pace. I knew after 2 reps it was a mistake. After the 3rd rep, I had to slow it down. Again after the 4th, and 5th (resting 20 seconds after #5!) and finally stopping after the 6th rep when my pace was down to about 7:20. This was a seriously intense workout. I'll try this again in the future with a more conservative pace - probably more along the line of my current 5K pace, which is probably around 7-7:30/mile. I think I'll try a 7:30 pace.

Before this workout I warmed up with:
1/2 mile run (5:04)
5 pull-ups
30 sit-ups (again explosive)
20 push-ups
20 squats
5 dips
20 KB swings (30#)

300 - Day 70 - Muscle Ups?

Today's workout was 30 muscle-ups for time - or 120 pull-ups and 120 dips in any order.

I haven't done a muscle up before, but I figured I would try and if I could do any, I would just subtract 4 of each of the other exercises for each muscle up, and then finish the rest of the reps on pull-ups and dips.

But this didn't happen. It turns out that the bar at work (yeah - a bar, no rings!) was too close to the ceiling, so even if I could have done a muscle up, it wouldn't have been there. Next, the way the bars are set up was also not conducive to muscle ups - one set of 4-5" neutral grip bars, inconveniently spaced and a set of wide-grip, angled bar that only sticks out about 2-3 inches off the supporting bar.

So I had to opt for the pull-ups and dips.

I warmed up with a 1/2 mile run on the treadmill (5 mins even) followed by 15 GHD sit-ups, 20 push-ups and 20 squats.

I used more strategy in this than I usually have been. I started out doing sets of 10 for the first 4 sets of each. Then, I felt like I needed to drop down to 5, so I did. I did sets of 5 for quite a while. I ended up breaking this workout up a little bit - I had brought my KB in to work, because a co-worker had asked about them - and he happened to show up to the gym when I was about 80 reps of each in. So I showed him some basic KB moves while "resting" and then got back into my routine while he tried them out. I don't know how much time this took up, but it was probably a few minutes. Enough that my muscles were rested enough (when I hit 95 reps) that I was able to knock out a set of 15 and a set of 10 to finish up.

Even with the distraction, I finished at about 23 minutes - I didn't have my stop watch with me, so I was watching the wall clock. In the gym at work, the dip bars are also quite a way away from the pull-up bar, so I spent a lot of time walking too.

I'd like to do this again, re-positioning things and without distractions. I think I can do much better.

300 - Day 69 - Self Rx

Another home workout today - but that meant I couldn't do the main site WOD which was:
21-18-15-12-9-6 and 3 rep rounds of:
Power clean 95 pounds
Sit-ups
Back extensions

Of course, at my gym at work I don't have a back extension station, so being there wouldn't have helped much - but I could have subbed good mornings, or KB swings, etc.

So I decided to get in some much needed work toward getting a better score on my PT test.
I decided on 75-50-25 of push-ups, sit-ups, KB swings (30#) in that order.

I thought this sounded easy, but I was wrong. I found out on my last set of sit-ups that this was because my dumbbell anchors just weren't cutting it. The 20lb dumbbells weren't tall enough to allow me to place them on the ground and put my feet under them, so I had them propped up on 2x4s to give them a good height. This made them unsteady and I had to be careful not to pull them off their platforms. This ended up making workout harder, which I guess is a good thing.

So anyway, I warmed up again with an 800m or so run, 10 swiss ball sit-ups, 10 dips and 20 squats and then started the clock.

I finished my first 75 push-ups (good form, mind you) in 50 seconds. I was more tired than I usually am with 75 push-ups in - a testament of my letting them slide - the last few were even a little difficult. The first 75 sit-ups were another story, taking over 3 minutes - which I later attributed to my bad anchoring - but probably also from the day before and having already done push-ups and using my abs for stabilisation.

The KB swings got difficult to - something in the way of 40, followed by 20 more and then a final 15 push.

On the second set of push-ups, I actually had to rest around 30 reps before knocking the rest out. The sit-ups were again painful and I ended up knocking my platform over toward the end. As I was looking at that quickly, deciding if I wanted to fix it then, or wait until after my sit-ups were over, I noticed my freshly removed air conditioner sitting on the floor behind them, with a lip on it that was perfect height for anchoring my feet. I pushed the dumbbells and x4s out of the way and finished my sit-ups on that. Much better.

KB swings still took another 2-3 sets and I was off into my final set of everything. I was able to knock the push-ups out in one go. The sit-ups, not quite - my abs were burning at this point and I had to stop after 15 before finishing.

I pushed as hard as I could through the last 25 KB swings - amazed to find my time at 19:59.

I expected about a 15 minute workout - which may have happened if my feet were anchored properly at first, but its hard to tell. Either way, I am again going to need to work more sit-ups into my warm-up or workout. The GHDs have been good, but in all honesty, they don't prepare you for the quick and explosive action you need to do really well in the APFT.

300 - Day 68

Day 67 was a rest day at the main site. For Day 68, the WOD was as follows:
For time:
Run 800 meters
15 left-legged pistols
15 right-legged pistols
25 sit-ups
12 left-legged pistols
12 right-legged pistols
25 sit-ups
9 right-legged pistols
9 left legged pistols
25 sit-ups
Run 800 meters

As Rx'd this workout is done with a 55# (1 1/2 pood) KB - which I didn't have available and so swapped for my 30# KB. I did this at home in the "gym" I have set up in my shed - which consists of a cardboard box on the floor for a sit-up/push-up mat, my KB (30#), 2x20# DumbBells, a work bench that I can kitty corner in for dips, and an exercise ball that I use for a more full-range sit-up.

After a general warm-up of a 1/2 mile run (un-timed), 20 push-ups, 15 swiss-ball sit-ups, 10 dips, and 30 Jumping Jacks I kicked this off.

I ran my first 800m in 2:56 - a far cry from the 2:20 or so repeats I did in high school - around the ball park of 2:05 or sometimes better on race day.

The pistols were a little sloppy, and quite broken up - this is a move I definitely have to work on. The sit-ups were tiring, but at least unbroken.

My second 800m was about 3:30 or so - big slow down.

Overall time 17:46.

300 - Day 66

I stayed home from work yesterday (Day 65) because my wife wasn't feeling well and didn't manage to workout. The WOD had been 3x (400m, 21 1.5 pood KB swings, 12 pull-ups) in the least possible time. I'll have to find a location that I can do this at - as I don't currently have a measured 1/4 mile near a pull-up bar - and besides, my KB is less than 1 pood.

So either way, my body really felt like it needed a rest anyway. Its probably good to rest so I can put 100% in going into the final month of this challenge.

Today the WOD was again something I couldn't really participate in, due to lack of gear:
For time:
25 Walking lunge steps
20 Pull-ups
50 Box jumps, 20 inch box
20 Double-unders
25 Ring dips
20 Knees to elbows
30 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood
30 Sit-ups
20 Hang squat cleans, 35 pound dumbells
25 Back extensions
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
3 Rope climb ascents

I could have brought my 24" box in - but I haven't learned double unders; don't know what a knee to elbow is; don't have a 2 pood KB; no back extension station; no wall ball; and no rope (anyone know the standard height?)

So I decided to sub in a CFE (CrossFit Endurance) workout from within the last week. I decided on 2X10 minutes - basically, take 10 minutes, run as far as you can; rest 3 minutes and repeat.

I haven't yet measured the distance that I made it - I'll measure on the way home - but it was about 1.4 miles each way - or just about a 7 minute mile. This is slower than I had hoped - especially for the first one - I was aiming for about a 6:40 mile - though my 2 mile goal time is averaging 6:30s.

Looks like I really ought to start putting more runs in - so I'll either have to work a couple CFE days in combination with my WODs, or I'll have to replace some days - days like today when I don't have equipment.

300 - Day 64 - Self Prescribed

So today's workout was 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 of Snatch.
I have never done a Snatch before, and I'm using metal plates, so I decided to change my workout plan to: 4-3-2-1 of Clean, Overhead Squat and Dead Lift.

I warmed up with:
1000m row
20 Push-Ups
15 GHD sit-ups
15 kipping pull-ups
20 squats

I then moved into my workout. I did these one exercise at a time, completing all reps before moving to the next exercise. Here were the results:

Clean - 115-135-155-175
Overhead Squat - 135-135-135-135
Dead Lift - 225-275-305-345

I'm quite sure I could have done more on both the clean and the Dead Lift - they both felt good. I'll definitely go heavier on the dead lift next time. I did 1 rep of the 305 without using an alternate grip - which I believe is the most I weight I have done that with. The last 2 reps (1 of 305 and 1 of 345) I had to do with one over and one under hand grip.

I thought this was a good substitute for the snatch, because a snatch is basically a clean into an overhead squat - so I did both movements.

Still sore!

300 - Day 62 - 1 day until rest...

Today's WOD -
Complete as many rounds as possible 20 minutes of:
95 pound Thruster, 5 reps
95 pound Hang Powercleans, 7 reps
95 pound Sumo Deadlift High-pull, 10 reps

That doesn't sound too bad... but of course, I'm wrong.

Warm-up:
1/2 mile jog (5:05)
20 push-ups
15 GHD sit-ups
15 Dips (no pull-ups today!)
20 Squats

My abs, forearms, biceps, glutes, hamstrings, and traps are already sore from the week's workouts. Okay - 2 days of working out. Either way, I'm sore.

I ended up completing 6 rounds of this, with only 15 seconds to spare.
I didn't record all my rounds - but I was done round 2 at 4:45 - still ahead of pace for 8 rounds. Round 3 - 8:45 - about on pace for 7 rounds.

By the time I finished round 5 I was at 16:10 and had less time to do round 6 than I had taken for round 3. I gave it all I had and managed to pull through with 15 seconds on the clock. I didn't even bother seeing if I could pull off 5 more thrusters in the 15 remaining seconds.

As tired as my body already was, this was BRUTAL. Looking forward to rest!

300 - Day 61 - More WOD torture

Today's workout - Angie.

I've been actually quite excited about this workout - but simultaneously thinking I'm not ready.

100 pull-ups
100 push-ups
100 sit-ups
100 squats

Crossfit knows how to punish you. My abs are still burning from the GHDs yesterday and now I have 100 more sit-ups to do as quickly as possible after using my abs to steady myself in the prone (push-up) position. Not to mention, I haven't even come near mastering kipping yet - I can hardly even do it well enough to gain any type of advantage from it - so with that in mind, 100 pull-ups is a lot of pull-ups.

Also, its a weekend - so I don't have a gym or chin-up bar available - which means I had to find a make-shift alternative.

So, I went to the local park to do my pull-ups on the swing set and jungle gym. The jungle gym is a little too low so that I have to pick my feet up - and the swing, high enough so that I can barely catch the bar jumping - which of course causes extra work.

I warmed up with a 1/3 mile or so jog (unmeasured), 8 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and a lot of stretching and rotations.

I did my first 23 pull-ups in one go on the swing. I rested a little and jumped up and got out 10 more. 1/3 of the way there and only a little over a minute in. But that was about the end of my pull-up speed. It took me over 14 minutes to complete my pull-ups. I alternated between the jungle gym and the swing set.. it was hard to get anything but an overhand grip on the swing - so I used the jungle gym to try underhand, neutral grip, etc. But nothing allowed me to knock out any more than 5 or so at a time after the first 33. In fact, my last 3 pull-ups were all sets of 1. However, I did them all either strict or kipping - no jumping pull-ups.

Once I finally finished these, I dropped and knocked out 40 push-ups. Rested about 10 seconds and knocked out 20 more. The first 60 took me just over a minute, rest included. After that was a little bit slower though - taking about 3 minutes to do all 100.

The sit-ups slowed me down dramatically though - only being able to get 25 out before my first rest - I knew that was going to be a long, hard journey. In groups of between 5 and 15 I finished out the rest of the sit-ups at around 24 minutes. I knocked out 25 squats in a go, followed by a short break and 15 more, another short rest and 10 more. 1 more set of those like that and I'm done.

I ended up finishing in 27:36. Slow compared to regular crossfitters - but I finished - though I know I'll regret it tomorrow. Just driving after this workout was brutal. My forearms are iced.

300 - Day 60 - Hello Glute Ham Developer Sit-ups

Glute Ham Developer (GHD) Sit-ups or "Romain Chair" sit-ups as they are more commonly known have kind of fell out of use in most gyms, because a lot of people suggested that (like the regular sit-up) it puts a lot of unnecessary tension on the spine. However, like most exercises in Crossfit - if done properly, this is not true. So the Crossfit community still uses this.

So basically the GHD sit-up consists of using a back extension or GHD station to do even more full range sit-ups than regular sit-ups. Almost kind of like the ab-lounge, except unsupported and much, much harder and more effective.

So the WOD for Day 60 as per the main site was:
For time:
135 lb Squat clean, 10 reps
50 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 8 reps
40 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 6 reps
30 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 4 reps
20 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 2 reps
10 GHD Sit-ups

Of course, my gym doesn't have a GHD station but I wanted to try these, so I made a make-shift station. I took the bench that I was moving away from the Bench Press rack anyway (so I could do my squat cleans) and placed it perpendicular in front of the leg extension station. I then took the leg extension and put the foot pads in the upright-most position. I was able to place my legs over this with my feat tucked under the seat to do GHD sit-ups. I worked 10 of these into my warm-up to make sure the concept worked.

I warmed up as follows:
1000m row (nice and easy - 4:59.9)
20 push-ups
10 GHD sit-ups
10 pull-ups (strict)
20 squats

The improvised GHD station worked. However, I had been cautioned via the comments section on the main site to avoid doing too many GHD sit-ups your first time - so I heeded the advice and made a mat available in my usual sit-up spot for when the GHD sit-ups starting getting hard. It didn't take long.

The squat cleans (first 10) didn't take me too long, but I did have to rest for a second after 8 reps before I could get the last two in. This ended up being basically a theme for the rest of these.

I moved into my 50 GHD sit-ups and got 20 in before the burn kicked in and I had to rest. I realized these were tough. Real tough. I rested a few seconds and started off again getting 10 more in.. then 5 more... 5 more etc. until I finished. Those are tough - and I can see why people caution against them. These are the only 50 GHDs that I did. I did the last 100 as regular sit-ups.

My final posted time was 22:09. The only set I did in completion without rest were the two in the last round - 2 squat cleans and 10 regular sit-ups. Even before leaving the gym, my abs were already as sore as any day-after before now.

300 - Day 58 - MR Bench, Pull-Up, Squat

The WOD of the main site today was five rounds for max reps of:
Body weight bench press
Pull-ups
Body weight back squat

Which is great - I've been looking to do some bench and squats.
My shoulders and wrists were already sore from the last two days - shoulders fatigued and wrists being stretched beyond their usual capacity in the front squat rack position from the presses two days ago and even the front squats on day 53.

I warmed up with a nice slow 1000m at 4:26 and then completed 3 rounds of the following:
10 push-ups
15 sit-ups
10 dips
15 squats

I then did a good amount of stretching, as I knew I had a good workout ahead of me. I stacked 185 on the bar in the bench press rack, because I usually weigh in between 180 and 185. My previous MR (max reps) for this weight was 12 reps.

I completed the following

Bench Press - 13(PR)-10-8-8-6
Pull-ups - 16-13-11-10-10
Squats - 25-25-24-20-20

In case you can't tell by the reps on the squats for the first 3 sets, I probably could have done more during the first two - but I was flying blind getting the bar back to the rack and working without a spotter. Of course, the squat also presented a problem, having only one bar available, I had to complete the BP and then remove the weights so I could get the bar up to the squat starting position and re-load the weight - and then repeat in the opposite direction. This gave me some rest, but was a pain. I could have opted to use the smith machine for the squats, but I didn't think that seemed ideal. So I waded through.

I tried to get the bar during the squat in the correct position, which from what I can tell is lower down on the back than actually on the shoulders. This created some extremely uncomfortable wrist positioning for me - enough that on my last set, I put the bar back up on my shoulders and used a squatting pad.

Either way - my totals were 45 body weight bench presses, 60 pull-ups and 114 squats - total 219. Thats pretty good - again, from what I can tell - though, judging by the score posts in response to this WOD on the site, it looks like I need to work on my pull-ups, which what I thought I was pretty good at. I might have to start upping my pull-ups during my warm-up.

300 - Day 57 - WOD + CFE WOD

The main site WOD was yet again a routine that I could do - Dead Lifts: 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Crossfit Endurance (CFE) had a rest day, but since this was a simple WOD, I decided to throw in yesterday's CFE WOD, since today's WOD was short enough that I could go into work a 1/2 hour early and get it out of the way and then toss in the CFE WOD at lunch.

So I left for work a 1/2 hour early today and hit the gym for some Dead Lifts. I had a light warm-up, since it was a short workout and since I would do another later in the day. I warmed up with:
500m row
10 push ups
10 sit ups
10 pull ups
10 squats

I then moved into my Dead Lifts and progressed as follows:
225-255-275-295-315-325(PR)-335(PR)

My previous max dead lift was 315 - so I gained 20 on that today.

I then took about a 6 hour break and went to work. Took my lunch break and went into the CFE WOD.
The Rx'd workout was the concept 2 rower, 10x250m all out, resting 5 times as long as it takes to row the 250m.

I only ended up doing 8 reps, because the workout was taking too long. I warmed up with:
800m run (4:53)
10 push ups
10 sit ups
5 pull ups
10 squats
10 dips

My times were as follows:
Time: Rest:
----- -----
43.2s 3:35
44.2s 3:40
45.4s 3:45
47.6s 3:55
48.7s 4:00
48.6s 4:00
47.6s 3:55
48.0s 4:00

Total for 2000m: 6m 13.3s

I cut most of my rest times down to 3:30 or so, because as I mentioned, I was running short on time - so the rest column was more like the calculated rest time.

My shoulders and upper back are burning now - between a 100% shoulder routine yesterday and these two workouts. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

300 - Day 56 - WOD

So the main site finally had a WOD that I could participate in.
Today's workout:
Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps
Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps

I had not ever done the Push Jerk before, so I went to crossfit.com in the videos section and watched a couple of videos on it.

They didn't really specify how close to your PR you should get for each of these, so I decided to work my way up and try and find my PR for each - as I honestly just don't know for any of them. My shoulders have never been particularly strong - and I figure a 135 shoulder press was pretty good for me previously. Looking through my logs, I never really used more than 115 for a shoulder press - and then it looks like 10 reps was about all I had (last logged in March - I have done dumbbell presses since then).

I warmed up with the following:
1000m row (3:52)
20 push-ups
25 sit-ups
10 pull-ups
15 squats

I then started light on my shoulder presses, starting with 95. Rather than racking at shoulder level, I racked the bar at knee level for loading - un-racked and then hang-cleaned to the starting position. Here's what I ended up doing:

95-105-125-135-155

Even the last 155 felt pretty good - and I am pretty confident I could have pushed out 165 - but either way, so far as I have recollection that is a pretty big jump in my PR. So anyway, I dropped the weight back down to 115 for the push-press and started over again - accidentally knocking out 5 on the first set. So for the push press I used the following:

115(5),125,135,155,165

Now, I don't do much for push-press, usually opting for the barbell thruster, which is still similar - so I would say this is also a PR - and since I knocked all 3 out, I know I could have gone higher if it was only 1 rep for a PR. Even for the thrusters, I don't know that I have ever done over 135 - though I was doing higher reps.

Now, of course the Push Jerk was a PR as I have never done it before. I used the following weights:

115,135,145,155(3f),135

I knocked out 3 reps of 155 and failed on rep 4. Dropped the weight back to 135 and finished off. I can already tell my shoulders will be sore tomorrow.

I decided to cool down with 12 good full range dips to stretch my shoulders out.

So anyway, 3 new PRs:
Shoulder Press: 155
Push Press: 165
Push Jerk: 155

I had planned on finding some PRs today if the WOD didn't fit my gym, or couldn't be reasonably modded - shoulder press, squat and deadlift. So i got one of these out of the way anyway.

300 - Day 54 - Rest

A day of rest is needed. I'm sore all over. Tomorrow, I'm going to start 4 days on, followed with a day of rest - going to throw an extra day in to try and align my workouts with the main site. I'll let you know what I do tomorrow - probably just a run, or I may make a trip to crossfit321.

300 - Day 53 Part II - 1 mile TT + 3x400m

When I was done, I laid down on the grass and stayed there for about 3 minutes. Actually, I might not call it laying down, because the action was more of a flop or a collapse. Having done legs both yesterday (thrusters) and earlier today (squats/lunges), this was rough. Especially considering two days before today I did rows, which are also a decent leg workout.

I decided not to do my planned workout that I was making up - which would have been 1 mile TT + 4x400m with 25 KB swings between 1/4 miles. Instead, I swapped that out for the crossfit endurance workout that had been scheduled for the same day that was very similar - 1600m TT + 3x400m; 3 minutes rest after the 1600m & 30 second rest between 400m; 400m @ same pace as the 1600 - deviate +/- 2 seconds and foul - 1 minute of max burpees.

I decided to swap out because I figured my workout had been designed to be its own workout - whereas the crossfit endurance plan was supposed to be supplemental to the WOD. So anyway, I warmed up with just a light 1/2 mile jog, followed by a good amount of stretching. I could already feel the muscles in my legs ready to give up before I started.

I decided to try and keep a more even pace than I usually do on my 1 mile TT - usually I go out too fast and lose a lot of time on my second half. So I decided to try to keep an even 1:30 per 1/4 mile all the way through - since my legs were already jello, but I still didn't want to drop much time off my mile time (6 minutes pretty near even).

I hit the first 1/4 mile at 1:18 - too fast. I slowed it down a bit and hit the half mile at 2:48 - right on pace. I hit the 3/4 mile at about 4:27 - my pace had slowed, no doubt due to my faster than planned start - but either way, I was still good on time, I just had to step it up to a 1:30 for the last 1/4 mile. So I spread it out - the problem is that in the last 1/4 mile I have 2 90 degree turns that tend to slow me down - especially coming out the other side slowed down. I gave it all I had and finished up in 6:02.

I was happy - considering my legs were aching before I started. Of course, the problem was that now I had to finish each of my 1/4 miles in 1:30 or suffer the consequences. I reset my watch and started walking to my 1/4 mile starting line about 100 yards away. As 3 minutes neared I reset my watch again and then started. I tried to keep a nice even pace, guessing that I was using the right stride and turnover to be between 1:28 and 1:32 - but already being tired, it was hard to tell.

I finished in 1:30. Nice. Problem was, my breath was all but gone. I rested - not 30 seconds, but one minute. I know, I know - but I wouldn't have been able to get on pace at 30 seconds. So I took an extra 30 and started. Even with the extra rest, I was a little behind pace around the half. I tried to pick it up - but at the end, I hit 1:44. Ouch - thats 1 minute of burpees I really didn't want to do. And again I was beat.

30 seconds on the clock. More breath than at the end of the previous 1/4 mile - but still pretty dead. 3 seconds to go.. reset my stopwatch to 0 and started. I felt pretty good. Well, I didn't, but I thought I was on pace. But it turns out I wasn't. 1:40. Damn. Thats another minute of burpees. But at least the runs are over.

I walked the 1/8th mile or so back to my house and rested about 2 minutes and started the clock again for the burpees. I only managed to get 15 burpees in in the first minute - and it hurt almost more than the runs. Another minute on the clock, which is all I get to rest - and then I started again. This time only 13.

No cool-down, just back to where I started this post - collapsing to the grass for about 3 minutes, before gathering the energy to come inside.

300 - Day 53 - Front Squat PR

Well, it wasn't hard to get a PR in the front squat - this is the first time I have done them. I learned that I am extremely unflexible. It should be that during a front squat that your humerus (upper arm) is about parallel with the floor, with your forearm at an angle. Instead, my forearms were about perpendicular to the ground, with my upper arm hardly breaking an angle from perpendicular. I guess thats one of the benefits of the front squat is that it should help with that (eventually).

My workout today couldn't come from the main site, because they decided on Glute-Ham sit-ups and back extensions - and I don't have a station available for these exercises. So instead I browsed back through the archives and finally decided on the 3-3-3-3-3 front squats - after carefully eyeing the 1 squat, 1 shoulder press, 1 deadlift - I eventually decided that since I am rather unsure of what my 1 rep max weights are for these exercises - and I wasn't working out with a buddy if I picked too much weight, it was best to avoid for now.

So I warmed up as follows:
1000m row (3:56.1)
2 sets of the following:
10 push-ups
10 sit-ups
10 pull-ups
10 squats
10 dips

I then racked the bar and started loading weights for the front squats. I spent some time on StrongLifts.com the other day looking at the proper technique for the front squat, so I felt pretty comfortable.

I started pretty light for a squat - I don't know if this was really the goal for this workout or not - or perhaps I should have loaded them on relatively heavy and creeped up from there. However, I thought it better to start light and work on my form before going heavy - and then I could work my way up in leaps.

So I stacked 2x45# for a 135# Front Squat - and accidentally knocked out 4 of those before stopping myself. I guess its good to spend a little more time familiarizing with a light weight - but I'll have to get used to these low rep sets.

So here is what I ended up doing:

135 - 4
185 - 3
205 - 3
225 - 3
250 - 3

I think on the 250 one of my reps could have been a bit lower (the first one), but made sure to correct that on the subsequent 2 reps - though, really I think I was only going to about parallel - and from the reading I had done on these (and the pictures I had looked at), it looks like you would generally go lower. Front squats are not particularly comfortable - causing discomfort in my wrists, forearm and clavicles. I imagine this improves as you get used to it (and especially as your arm flexibilty increases).

After I finished these, I decided I wanted to do some lunges - I really haven't done these since starting crossfit. So I grabbed a 45# plate and held it over my head and did stationary alternating lunges - 3 sets of 10 per leg. I ought to feel that later if I can get to my run make-up tonight!

300 - Day 52 - Fran

I warmed up for Fran as follows:

1000m Row
And then 2 sets of the following:
10 Squats
15 Sit-ups
15 push-ups
10 Dips
10 second Samson stretch

I then did some additional light stretching and started the clock.

I had 95 pounds loaded on the bar, racked at shoulder height, so I didn't need to clean it up to the front squats position. The pull-up bar is about 10 feet away from the rack, and requires about an 8 inch jump for me.

I finished the first 21 Thursters and 21 pull-ups in 1:52. I was cruising. But I was also very tired. I did all the 21 thrusters without resting, but needed 3 sets to get through the pull-ups (14 + 4 + 3).

Despite that I was breathing heavily and my arms already felt like jello, I only took about 15-20 seconds before moving back into the thrusters. I managed to get 9 thrusters in before needing to rest. I rested what seemed to be only 20 seconds or so and then moved in to finish out the last 6. I moved to the pull-up station (taking a sip off my pre-filled cup along the way) and only knocked out 5 pull-ups. After resting for a few seconds, I managed two more sets of 5. I checked the clock - 5:10 - the 30 repetitions of the second set had taken 3:18, including any rest I had taken.

Another drink of water and maybe 10-15 seconds of rest and I was back at the thruster bar, unloading to the front squat position. I managed to muscle out all 9 - toward the end I depended on my legs to get me through the motion, without their assistance there is no way the bar would have peaked over my head. Back to the chin-up bar. I tried my best to kip these out - but I'm still not terribly proficient at it and so only got 5 pull-ups in before dropping to the ground. I switched to the neutral grip pull-up and managed 3 more. At the bottom of the third, I stopped for a moment and tried to knock out one more - with no luck. I dropped and rested a few seconds and moved back to the over-hand position and knocked out the last pull-up.

I stopped the clock at 7:37 and immediately caught my hands on my knees, hunching over to catch my breath. The sweat was pouring. Fran looked innocent, but she tore me apart. This was a brutal 7 minutes and thirty-seven seconds. I wandered over to the bench that I had moved from the rack where I had been doing my thrusters and sat down for about 10 seconds before remembering that its best to stay standing and walk it off. I stood and put my hands behind my head, trying to catch my breath.

The thing that amazes me about crossfit workouts is just how much they can sneak up on you. Only 2 exercises, with less repetitions and no change in weight between the 3 sets of each. It sounds like a cake walk. And the workout takes less than 10 minutes - so even more cake. But no - Fran chewed me up and spit me out.

Unfortunately, I don't think I will get my make-up run in tonight as I have plans for the evening. Maybe I'll work it in tomorrow. crossfit.com just had a rest day yesterday, so tomorrow should be a good day to get my workout from the main site - and I can make up the run in the afternoon - I shouldn't have any reason not to tomorrow. Perhaps though I'll get up early and check the site - if it's something I can do at home, I'll do it at home before my shower and then do my run during my lunch break, instead of hoping I have time in the evening.

300 - Day 51

So the main site didn't have a workout that invloves the back at all today. But that's only because it didn't have a workout at all.

My back was just sore enough (along with my glutes - but thats a good sore, indicating progress!) that I decided not to do Fran today. So instead I decided to use a modification on a WOD from the main site that had intrigued me.

For my upcoming APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test), I know that my weak event is the sit-up. The main site had sets of 50,40,30,20,10 of Sit-ups and Double-Unders for time.

If I was going to do a workout like that, I might as well do it at home, since I have all the equipment (jump rope and a place to stick my feet). So I modified and changed out the double unders for 500m Rows for time. This ended up being a gut wrenching little workout. It's nice, because it didn't take a real long time (I didn't time it, but it was fairly short), but I could really feel it.

The warm-up:
1/2 mile run - 5:03 (nice and easy)
20 push-ups
10 sit-ups
15 dips
15 squats
10 pull-ups

The workout:
50 sit-ups
500m row - 1:57
40 sit-ups
500m row - 1:58.8
30 sit-ups
500m row - 1:55
20 sit-ups
500m row - 1:47.7
10 sit-ups
500m row - 1:48

I paced myself on the row at first because my abs were on fire and didn't want to over-do it - but getting toward the end, I knew that I could push it more, so I did. My abs are still burning from this workout - and I finished about 1hr 45min ago.

The back doesn't hurt much at all now - so tomorrow its Fran. I'll make up my run tonight or tomorrow after Fran - though, I'm thinking probably tomorrow, as Fran should be a short workout. I may also supplement with some rowing, or something else.

30 - Days 46 to 50 - Slacking

So I was away for the weekend (starting Friday) for reserve drill - and since we were in the field all weekend, as suspected, I didn't get in my planned workouts. Luckily, I did have a couple rest days planned (46 & 48) and only 2 workouts planned for the weekend that I missed.

The original plan to make them up was that on Monday (day 49) I would make up both workouts and then I would do Fran today (day 50). Unfortunately, I did hurt my back just a little bit - no doubt some bad form on the sumo dead lift high pulls. Just some soreness with certain movements - think I arched my back instead of popping my hips on the last set of sumos, but did finish off my workout.

So for day 49, I warmed up as follows:
800m run
20 push-ups
35 sit-ups
20 dips
20 squats

I then did my 12, 9, 6 as follows:

Sumo - 95#
Thruster - 95#
Pull-ups

Sumo - 115#
Thruster - 115#
Pull-ups

Sumo - 135#
Thruster - 135#
Pull-ups

And finally a 800m jog cool down.
I didn't end up doing the run in the evening, because I got home a bit later than usual.
I also didn't do Fran today, for one because of the sore back - for two because Fran consists of thrusters and pull-ups - just like the workout I had done yesterday - so either way, I figured it was a good workout to skip (for now). If my back is still sore tomorrow I'll take a look at the WOD on the main site and see if the WOD skips the back (rare - but it happens!). If so, I'll do that tomorrow and then do Fran on Thursday (day 52). Otherwise, I'll make something up tomorrow. If the back feels good, I'll do Fran and then catch up on my mile TT + 1/4 mile repeats.

On that note, I thought it was funny that the day I had my 1 mile TT + 1/4 mile repeats planned, the crossfitendurance.com site had basically the same workout on their site.

I had planned: 1600m TT, followed by 4X400m repeats, with 25 KB swings between repeats.

They had: 1600m TT, a 3 minute rest, then 3x400m repeats on pace with the 1600m TT with 30 second rest between - deviate more than 2 seconds off the pace and do max burpees for a minute for each foul at the end of the workout, 2 minute rest between.

Not exactly identical, but pretty similar. I think they stole my idea. Or at least that's what I'll tell myself, despite that the visitor stats on this blog essentially prove otherwise.

300 - Day 45 - Core (ab) workout

Today I laid down a pretty nasy abdominal routine - though really every exercise I complete targeted both abs and shoulders.

The plan:
L-Pull-ups, Floor Wipers, Captain's Chairs

As I have been doing a lot lately, I modified this just slightly. I realized that the L pull-ups targeted the shoulders as well as the abs, so I wanted to get another shoulder exercise in there. I decided on the shoulder press, as I already had a pull exercise and decided to complement it with a push exercise.

Likewise with the abdominal considerations, the Floor Wipers work your obliques (side to side movement), whereas everything else hits the rectus abdominis (the visible 6-pack muscles). The Captain's Chair is a series of contraction and release, similar to the floor wipers. The L Pull-ups are a static hold for the abs that cause basically full contraction of the rectus abdominis. So the other reason that I picked the shoulder press is that your abs are again in a contracted state - but this time, rather than to prevent your legs from falling, the purpose is to stabilize your core as you lift a heavy weight over your head, so it also complements the L Sit-up well for that reason.

I had also originally only intended 3 sets, but I wanted to get 50 wipers in and didn't pull it off in 3, so I did 4 sets, doing each exercise in sequence for max reps - and called that 1 set.

So here is how I fared:

L Pull-ups - 10, 8, 8, 8 (34 total)
Floor Wipers (135) - 15, 10, 15, 20 (55 total)
Shoulder Press (95) - 10, 10, 10, 10 (40 total)
Captain's Chair - 15, 15, 15, 20 (65 total)

On my 3rd set of floor wipers, I discovered just how important breathing is for the exercise. By breathing in while my legs are dropping, and exhaling while I was pulling my legs up, there was virtually no resistance in my abs. This showed in set 4, where I completed 20 reps. I'm taking that tip to the bank.

Before starting this, I wamed up as follows:
1000m row (4:04)
20 Push-Ups
20 Sit-Ups
15 Dips
20 Squats

I may delay tomorrow's workout with the new 3 on 1 off philosophy. I'll let you know.

300 - Day 43 - 12-9-6, Squat, DB Bench, Dead Lift

So for today's workout, the plan was 12,9,6 of Squat, Dumbbell Bench Press and Dead Lift.
I decided to do one workout, complete all sets/reps and then move to the next exercise, only because I didn't want to have to take the one Olympic bar that I had available on and off the rack between the squats and the dead lifts.

I started off with:
1000m C2 Row (4:25.1)
20 Push-Ups
25 Sit-Ups
10 Dips
15 Squats

I then moved into my squats.

For my 12, 9, 6 I did:
175, 225, 275 respectively.

After completing, I wanted to go heavier - I had wanted to go heavier for the 6, but wasn't sure how I would handle it. But I felt good after the 6 on 275 so I decided to add an additional set of 3 on each my exercises. So I stacked on 305 and did 3 reps.

For the Dumbbell Bench Press, I used the following weights:
35, 45, 55, 70 (weight for one hand).
This was pretty nice. When I was at the gym in KY this summer that got me turned on to crossfit, I remember sitting on the bench there with dumbbell bench press, trying to get 2x75 up and being unable to. These 70s felt pretty easy and I am quite sure I could have hit 80 (I have no 75s available or I may have tried).

Dead Lifts:
145, 185, 275, 275

I didn't get any heavier for my last set, because my forearms were giving out and I was unable to keep the bar in my grip for a heavier weight - I even had to use an alternating grip on this. Please comment if you have a suggestion on how to help with this (other than bar straps - obvious, but also undesired). If I were to do Linda as Rx'd, I would have to use 275 for the DL - and I really don't think I could complete 55 reps of this weight at this time. Granted, when I did the DB Bench, the bench immediately next to the DB rack was occupied, so I was farmer carrying them across the room to the bench at the barbell rack - but mixing the DL with a BB Bench (okay - not much grip involved) and a Clean would wreak havoc on my forearms - especially with a 135 clean (as Rx'd). I have some work to do before I can attempt that one. Maybe on my next attempt I can hit Rx for BB Bench and Clean and maybe go 125% BW for the DL (83.3% of the Rx'd load) at 225.

I cooled down with 1/4 run and called it a day - though I had considered a regular press to even out my upper and lower body - but my workout was already nearing an hour and my lunch time was about up.