3/23/2012

So 10 days since Claudia. However, I did spend 5 of those days at 5000+ feet; mostly between 9000-12000 feet. I took a ski trip to Colorado, 2 days in Denver, with the rest in the mountains. I got to do some hiking and a lot of skiing, so I have not been slacking. I'll call it Low Oxygen training, since I was staying just around the corner from CrossFit Low Oxygen.

The WOD for 3/23/2012 at CrossFit 321 was:

MetCon
5 rounds for time of
400 meter Run
5 Barbell Split Jerks 135/95
10 Ring Dips
15 push-ups

I was a little late, so I had to skip the strength workout. I finished in 22:32.
This was a workout. To illustrate just how much of a workout: on my APFT, I can do 90-100 push-ups in a minute, consistently. By the last round of 15 push-ups on this workout, I was doing sets of 3. Ring dips are killer, and especially after you have done Jerks with 135#, which fries your arms during the lockout (and push). I am writing this 5 days later, and my triceps still hurt!

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!

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.

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!

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.