WOD Wrapup for 1.28/1.29

I was able to get a ride in over at Ray's on Wednesday, so I took that as my WOD and stayed out of the gym.

Coming back into the gym on Thursday (1.28), I wasn't keen on back squat 1-1-1-1-1 that was listed on the mainsite as I typically do not squat heavy due to some low back issues. I typically keep squats pretty light and will deadlift heavy. For whatever reason, that is OK with my back.

After tapping the WOD archive, I found this and decided to do it (keeping with the squat theme), I am pretty sure this is off the CrossFit Football site.

"The Mooch"

AMRAP in 15 minutes:

3 reps back squat, 225lbs
6 pullups
9 pushups

On workouts like this, pullups (even though it's only 6 reps) will slow me down. I had the stopwatch on, but was going at a moderate pace and got though 7 rounds with some clapping pushups on the last 2 rounds.

1.29

I'd been itching to try this WOD that was on one of the Cleveland affiliate sites a few weeks back, so my man Brad and I lined up for this as Rich was "working from home."

For time:
10 power cleans
20 pushups
9 power cleans
19 pushups
8 power cleans
18 pushups
7 power cleans
17 pushups
6 power cleans
16 pushups
5 power cleans
15 pushups
4 power cleans
14 pushups
3 power cleans
13 pushups
2 power cleans
12 pushups
1 power clean
11 pushups

Yeah, I know, more pushups. I stayed on a pretty good pace for this one and rocked out a 11:44 using 155lbs on the cleans. I didn't copy down what the weight was, but 155lbs is a commonly used poundage for the CF stuff, so rolled with that. I made it to the 9th rep on the last round of pushups before I broke...TWO STINKING LOUSY MORE PUSHUPS ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!! I dropped for a second and did the other two. I should have knuckled up and did the last two, but I just lost focus and my chest blew out....next time!!

I good wrap to the week.

Peace out.

Traffic jam on the rower....

Ah, the downside of doing CrossFit at a globo, a corporate one nonetheless. ONE ROWER (at least it's a Concept 2) The 3 of us that do CF had great intentions of doing the 1/25/2010 WOD off the mainsite. Well, we met the intentions, but is was less than efficient.

After some warmup, I decided to do the 135lbs as RX'd and the other guys setup bars with their weights. We thought the thrusters would take a little longer, but, they didn't and we had a backup at the one lonely rower [maybe we can convince management to swap out some unused bikes for another rower].

I decided to stop my watch between rounds to capture total work time, and spent the 3 min or so spinning on a bike to keep my legs engaged. The 135lbs on the thruster was no problem at the pace we were moving at. So, we ended up with a solid rest, then blasting the 500m and going to thruster, then resting. In reality, it was OK for the first time through this one (none of us remember doing this one). It would have been murder if there was no rest, I can tell you that. Legs are taking the bulk of the load.

Anywho, I came in, as RX'd, with a work time of 16:31.

PS - I was in full on goofball mode today and attempted as many corny jump rope manuevers as possible, including running/jumping around the perimeter of the warm up room, and attempting to hop and jump in the same manner...and even some 'running man' jump ropes and some burpees up into a broad jump...hahaha, needless to say, I was pretty warmed up.

150...Now that's a lot of pullups!

Yikes, attempted yesterday's WOD from the CF mainsite this morning.

For Time:
225lb deadlift, 15 reps
50 pullups
225lb deadlift, 12 reps
40 pullups
225lb deadlift, 9 reps
30 pullups
225lb deadlift, 6 reps
20 pullups
225lb deadlift, 3 reps
10 pullups

Add them up, that's 150 pullups! Pullups are not my thing, I did about 25 and switched to jumping pullups to complete the WOD.

I finished with a time of 18:46, and I am guessing that a good 15 minutes or more was spent on the pullups!!

Two Years on Crossfit

I've been pretty busy writing a paper for a certification I have been working towards and have slacked a bit on my blog posts. I wanted to take a minute to look back on the past two years of training Crossfit and how I stumbled upon it.

I've been an athlete all my life, playing football, baseball, basketball, and even track. I played football at a well known Division II program in western PA (IUP). After football I just did bodybuilding, and did cardio activities here and there. I got frustrated with my weight at 270lbs and decided to do bodybuilding full on and ended up competing (at 185lbs, and then 193lbs a year later). It was fun, and it's amazing what you can do with your body using food to manipulate it. During that time I also did some powerlifting.

After a couple years of competing in bodybuilding, and add one child, then another, I just didn't have the time to do full on bodybuilding. My focus turned to cycling (which I had gotten back into after losing a bunch of weight), and I started getting into it bigtime, riding more and more and mountain biking whenever I had time. Growing up in the country, I really liked being in the woods and riding trails, it reminded me of being at home in Central PA.

I started to change my weight training to movements and routines that would make my core stronger and make me a better mountain biker and cancelled my regular gym membership (moved my training to the corporate gym) and I was really starting to get bored with weight training overall and was looking for something new to do, something to make me a better rider and something to keep me in shape to keep up with a toddler. I was browsing a well known mountain biking forum (MTBR) one day and came across a thread about 'off season' training, where someone mentioned Crossfit. I was immediately intrigued. This seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. I spent about two months reading documents off the main Crossfit site, and in January of 2008, I did my first workout off the mainsite. I think it was Filthy 50. I thought, what the heck, what am I doing...I LOVE IT.

I've spent the past two years doing Crossfit. I scale where needed, and adjust where needed for any physical limitations I might have, but overall, it's been a long time since I have had this much fun weight training. In addition, the impact on my mountain biking skills has been dramatic. The core strength, balance, and agility speak for themselves..but the impact on my overall aerobic threshold has been eye opening. Granted, time in the saddle makes an impact too, but knowing what I know about my body, I can tell when training is making a difference. I can take my heart rate up, and maintain it at a level where in the past I would have pulled off to rest. It's amazing.

When I am knee deep in a metcon (metabolic conditioning) style workout, I really try and keep moving, it might be slow, but I make an effort to get up on the bar and make it happen. It's almost like it takes me back to my football days, like a flashback where I can hear the coach yelling at me to keep moving.

There's so much to learn with Crossfit. The Crossfit family, the affiliates, people on the forums, and others I have come in to contact with through Crossfit have all been top notch. It took me a while to let go of my bodybulding ways, and now I really enjoy the variety and the challenge that comes with the workouts. I have learned alot about fitness and my capacity over the past two years, it's been outstanding. At 40 years old, I feel like I am in pretty darn good shape and I can thank Crossfit for that, seriously. The programming is killer, and with numerous affiliates that I follow, I can always count on a workout that will challenge me.

Rock on Crossfit.

WOD 1.19

Short, intense.

Part 1:

Max effort, weighted pullups

3-3-3-3-3

25-35-35-45-45

Part 2: (from http://www.crossfitfootball.com)

3 rounds for time:

10 standing broad jumps, minimum of 6' per jump
21 kettlbell swings - 2 pood (have to use a 70lb dumbbell)
24 pushups

Time: 7:44:73

Part 2 was a real lung buster.

WOD 1.18 Deadlifts

Finally, a straight up heavy WOD featuring deadlifts, been waiting for this one, thanks HQ, appreciate it. I've been wanting to get a heavy dead session in early in the year to baseline where I am, and this was it.

WOD

Deadlift 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3

As I was warming up, I was thinking about the later few sets and thinking about what weight I should start thinking about. I am terrible about writing things down, I never do. I used to at one point, but I hate carrying stuff around with me and taking the few seconds to write. I just end up not doing it...ack, I hate it. Whatever, I digress.

275-315-365

OK, knocked out the first three rounds. The set at 365 was the pivot set as I was calling it, I figured I would gauge where my weight went based on how that felt, and it felt goods, so it's game on.

385

OK, knocked that out and it felt pretty good, form was good...no corporate trainers were around so I was able to take my shoes off...upward I go...

405 - killed it.

Woot. Get up and get down. I got on the bar, sat in and got 3 nice pulls, and probably would have got 2-3 more pulls. Now, I sat there staring at the bar thinking about my next move. The WOD was complete, but I felt good. I didn't want to push it, but felt like I had good energy and good form, so I met myself halfway and went up for a single.

425 - smashed it.

It came up nice and slow, shot my hips through and squeezed it up. I was very, very pleased with that. No belt, no wraps, no shoes.

I finished up with some broad jumps and bear crawls and then hit the rower for:

10 rounds - 1o sec max efforts, 15 sec rest.

Weekend WODs. 1.16/1.17

Yo. My weekends have been shaping to be one grip training day, and one kettlebell day, and this weekend proved to be just that. My WOD for Saturday was a solid grip session that featured some super setting (my Crossft training coming though).

1.16

3 sets, 3 reps of 125lbs on the Ironmind Rolling Thunder

2 rounds each:
Rolling Thunder farmers walk with about 100lbs in each bag
10 reps - 20lb kettlebell catch (grabbing the bottom of a 20lb KB, toss up carefully and catch with opposite hand)

Moved to the Ironmind blockbuster grip attachment...did the following:

2 rounds:
Farmers walk with 30lb blockbuster grip
10 reps blockbuster kettlebell style swing - 30lbs

3 x 3 reps Ironmind pinch hub lift with 25lbs

I finished with 2 full and one 1/2 handle finger walk with each hand up the sledgehammer, I've not been able to do 2 full walks at the end of my workout, stoked about that. The rest day I took Friday was worth it.

1.17

Today was kettlbell day. I warmed up and work through this circuit 3 times

Alternating shoulder press from kneeling position (low ceiling) 35lb KBs - 15 reps
Renegade row using 35 as stablizer and pulling a 53 - 8 reps each hand
Cleans 53lb - 8 reps each hand
Sumo deadlift with 70lb - 20 reps.

I finished with numerous sets of Anthony DiLuglio's figure 8 to hold, you can check it out here. I was even able to get the lunge step down, was having a good time. I always have my iPhone plugged into some speakers while I workout, today was on genre = hardcore and Sick of it All came up about 3-4 times in a row, I was slammin out some reps!

All in all, a solid weekend. I was thinking of getting out for a ride today, I was out to the grocery store and saw a lot of people riding, it was 38 degrees...but, decided against. All of my bikes are in some form of incomplete, getting upgrades or getting maintenance done. I didn't really have time to get one back in riding condition.

Out.

WOD for 1.13.2010

OK. After looking at the CF mainsite, bodyweight bench press sounded good, but after all the pullups yesterday, we weren't looking to do more today. So, we started off with the concept of "Lynne" and initually used box jumps at 2x your bench rep count, no less than 10. Making it a little lower effort day. As we (my buddy Rich and I) were resting after out 2nd set, we decided to trade the box jumps for broad jumps, since broad jumps had come up recently in another mainsite WOD. So, we did 10 broad jumps immediately after the bench press set.

I typically don't flat bench due to some lingering shouler issue, so I usually do incline for this as it puts little strain on whatever is wrong with my shoulder. And, since we are at a corporate GLOBO, I don't have a free standing incline bench, I have to use a Smith Machine. In any case, here's the numbers....

BW = 245lb (off season ...lol)
Reps 17,9,7,8,8

The broad jumps were fun, more to it than meets the eye - if you really make sure to plant and explode and then extend your torso for max distance - it's a great movement, works lots of muscles.

Adios.

WOD for 1.12.2010

After yesterday's madness courtesy of CrossFit CLE, I wasn't looking to do the CF mainsite WOD today as I just couldn't take any more walking lunges, dang it. So I went through my notes and found a WOD that I did when I was in San Francisco at San Francisco Crossfit. It's more work on shoulders, but that's OK by me, shoulders need lots of work.

After the normal warmup:

Max effort on Push Press

3-3-3-3-3

Then, for time

10-8-6-4-2 of:

Dumbbell split jerk, using 40lb dumbbell
Pullups

The DB split jerk WOD is short and sweet and really makes you focus on form. At least I do anyway. Here's the scoop on my poundages and times:

For Push Press:

135-155-175-205-205

Since we don't have a rack that I can start this thing off with, it's always a clean into the press, I feel like I could be higher than 205, but considering the surroundings, with no rack or bumper plates, it's a safe weight.

I finished part 2 of the WOD in 8:52. I really have a hard time with pullups mixed in with something else. Man, my pullups suck.

Back to work, over and out.

WOD for 1.8.2010

Yeah, CF mainsite must have been reading my mind, was thinking of doing some power cleans!

So, today's WOD:

Max effort, Power Cleans

1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Now, I "think" I have decent form, although I learned it a while back and haven't had anyone really critique it specifically. Back in November I was able to visit San Francisco, and stop in at SF CrossFit for a couple sessions. Power Cleans happen to show up for one of the WODs we did. The trainer (Angel Orozco) had no problem reminding people about form, and helping them with corrections, etc. In other words, doing what he's supposed to! [Note: SFCF is a kick butt place to train, if you are ever in San Francisco, GO THERE, it's excellent]. Anyway, Angel had nothing to say as he walked by while I was cleaning, so I felt pretty good about that.

I can never tell what my form is like when I get to some heavier weights, I should video it sometime.

After my usual warmup, and some warm up sets of clean....here's where I ended up:

185-205-205-205-215-225-235

I stayed at 205 for 3 rounds to get a good feel for the form. It felt pretty good, and I think my form was OK. In this case, a coach would have helped, or, as I mentioned, maybe I will video it sometime....

That's it.

WOD for 1.7.2010

Today called for some deadlifts, so I hit my usual sources and came up with this one. It was the WOD off the CrossFit Football site from 1/5/2010. I was anxious to try it.

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

1 round consists of:

1 Deadlift at 80% of 5RM max
1 weighted pullup with 25lb plate
3 Deadlifts at 80% of 5RM max
3 weighted pullups with 25lb plate
5 Deadlifts at 80% of 5RM max
5 weighted pullups with 25lb plate

So, while my buddy Rich did a Crossfit Baseline, (try it sometime, see where you are) I started to warm up.

I went as RX'd on the pullups and used 315lbs for the deadlifts. I got through 4 rounds and had about 1:20 left on the clock, so I just did the 9 reps on the deadlift to finish out the 20 minutes. It was a solid workout, I love to deadlift. I really feel like I accomplished something when I am done. We should all more MORE DEADLIFTS !!

As you were.

2010: More Better

As my daughter would say, more better. That's what I am focusing on for 2010. The list of actual things that need to be more better, well, that's a long one. I will just hit a couple of the heavy hitters. Let's start with family. Teagan, my 18 month old is a cross between a bowling ball and George "The Animal" Steel (as my buddy Pat described him) and he's a handful. I need to be better at managing that little dude, he's very determined and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. I also need to be a better time manager, which is the anti-me, but something I have to work on. There's much more, I know what I need to do.

I don't talk to much about work on here, well, not at all. Let's just say I have a pretty busy year ahead and there's tons of things that I need to deliver on. It's cool, challenges are there, knowledge to be gained.

As for me, I need to be a little more steady on my efforts to eat paleo, there's been too many peaks and valleys. This will be a big challenge, but I need to baby step in that direction. I will continue ramping up my grip training in an effort to close the IronMind #3 CoC gripper. In addition, I want to pinch lift 2 45lb plates. More or less, those are the goals for grip training. On the CrossFit front, I just want to continue to get more better and consistently hitting solid times and moving good poundages. I'd like to get my deadlift back up to over 450lbs. (my PR from a few years back is 510lbs). I'd also like to ramp up more training at home, specifically working with kettlebells, mostly want to learn movements and get some workout ideas.

And lastly, cycling. I'd like to get my total miles up over 2000 for 2010. I think that's totally attainable, and will rely on many commutes to make that happen. I'd also like to get more miles on dirt, assuming I can achieve some of my family goals (time management) I might actually make that happen!

All in all, I stay a pretty busy dude. I like it that way, I can't be idle, it's just not what I do. There's always something that will get my attention, keep my mind active.

I am looking forward to making 2010 more better than 2009, period.

Out.