Deadlifts, Clappers, Sprints

You know, most of my friends think I am a little whacky about this stuff. How can you get so fired up about some workout you just did? How can that pain be fun?

I have become more and more infatuated with the WOD's on the CrossFit Football site. Yeah, yeah, I played college football (years ago), I should like them, right??? For years and years after college, I was a bodybuilder, doing bodybuilder type training, NOT CrossFit. These workouts take me back, make me want to hit the 7 man, makes me smell the wet grass during the early morning practice at fall camp, makes me want to taste dirt, makes me want to smash someone in the mouth (in a football kinda way)!!

Today we lined up a deadlift based WOD, no name for it, but it was off the CFFB site from some time ago:

6 rounds

3 deadlift - 315lbs

5 clapping pushups

40 yard sprint

We train at a corporate GLOBO. We have access to a pretty large aerobic room, and at the time we usually do our WODs, the room is not filled with spandex clad fitness "guru's" bouncing around, yelling WOOO! and listening to John Cougar Mellancamp. It's filled with CrossFitters getting their WOD on. We usually use that room to warm up, and will also use it for bear crawls, walking lunges, jumping rope, etc. Today we used it to do the 40 yard sprints. One length of the room is about 10 yards, so we went up and back twice, making it like a suicide, touch the floor at each turn.

I was so fired up and 'in the WOD moment' that I ended up doing 7 rounds, I wanted to keep going, I don't know why, something just triggered in my head to go, go, go, hit it, hit it, hit it!!!

6 rounds: 6:06

[I took a few seconds to rest, then I realized I couldn't remember exactly how many rounds I did, so I said, **** it, I am hitting another one!!!! BRING IT.

7 rounds: 7:16

Today was a good day.

The Fantasic Cleveland Tweed Ride

I set out on Saturday for The Fantastic Cleveland Tweed Ride. I'd been following some Tweed events around the country, and in London and think it's a pretty fun thing to do. Not sure of the total number of people who attended, felt like about 40-50 and it was a great turnout. We gathered behind the Cleveland Public Libray near the Fountain of Eternal Life (behind everyone in the photo above). We did a slow ride around town for a bit, and ended up at the Happy Dog over on 58th and Detroit.

I had a great time interacting with some people I knew, and some I didn't. I also enjoyed a great ride to and from downtown with Rick Smith, the creative mind behind Yehuda Moon! Although the ride home was a soaker, and Rick needs a GPS (lol).

Here's Rick's Rivendell which took home 2nd place in the "Most Prized Steed" category.

A great time was had by all!

Week of Firsts

Well, this week I did my first back to back commutes, and my first 3 day commute week. I am pretty stoked about that, I really want to get the miles in. Commuting is much more fun with some usable legs. My 3rd ride yesterday was good, did a good bit of work out of the saddle on the way home, with a pretty good load on board (extra clothes in my bags). My legs responded pretty well.

I had some pretty fun workouts this week too, and introduced someone to a CrossFit workout! Coolness.

My Thursday WOD was heavy hang cleans.

7 rounds:
3 reps - hang cleans
6 clapping pushups

For the cleans, I did:

155,155,185,185,185,205,205

Form is very important with the hang cleans, you need good explosion and lift and good grip to maintain your hold on the bar.

All in all, a good week.

Gripper WOD

I took a couple weeks off the Ironmind Grippers as my hands were getting tore up! Last night I got back into action and it felt pretty good. I typically do some sledgehammer work on gripper night as well.

FYI - I am working on close the Ironmind #2.5.

WOD:

15 reps each hand with the T

5 reps each hand with the - #1

2 rounds:
6 attempts each hand - #2 (I actually did it a little different, set it in left hand, hit it, then set in right hand and hit it, back and forth, etc. I actually closed and clicked it for about 5 reps in my right hand)

2 rounds:
3 attempts each hand - #2.5 (same format as above)

4 negatives with each hand - #3 (force close and hold)

Sledgehammer curl:
Did a warm up set with hand gripping up about 8-10 inches from bottom, curl wrist up, tap it on my shoulder, and back down

2 sets of 6 each arm

First set I moved up the handle 2-3 inches, second set, another inch or so.

2 sets of 3 negatives each arm
Placed hand pretty far up on the handle, swung it up and held negative as slow as I could.

The Past Couple Days

I've lacked some blogs posts here the past couple days, this is largely a workout log for me, unless I have something else to talk about. In any case, here's a recap of the past few days....

Monday 4.19 - I kicked the week off with a ride to work on my fixed gear, other than a really cold ride in, the conditions on the ride home were near perfect. Very little wind, and low 50's. The WOD I did yesterday was weighted pullups:

5 rounds
Pullups, 3 reps, as much weight as possible and still get 3 reps
Pullups, 5 strict reps

I used 50lbs for the weight (note to self: should have went up...)

Tuesday 4.20 - I rode to work again!! First back to back commute days, I did ride the geared bike though, just to be safe. Today's WOD was from CrossFit CLE from yesterday, but more importantly was with a new recruit!! Welcome to the club Luke!! (he's good friends with Aaron at CrossFit CLE)

Skills:
5-5-5 Shoulder press (mostly to introduce Luke to some movements)

Little Chestnut
Kettlebell swings:
30-25-20-15-10-5, then
Wall balls
5-10-15-20-25-30

Basically, do 30 swings followed by 5 wall balls, then 25 swings followed by 10 wall balls.

Considering I rode my bike, I wasn't pushing it as I want to actually make it home after work!!

Over and out.

500m Sprints

So, after a full rest day (thanks to a one day conference down in Columbus - which allowed me to sneak over to Rogue Fitness at lunch to grab another 24kg kettlebell, FTW!), I decided to the take on the CrossFit mainsite WOD today, which was:

4 rounds
500m row
3 min rest

I'd been curious about how fast I could do a 500m, last week I did a 1:42 as part of a WOD. So, after the usual warm up, I dove right in!

1:31, 1:47, 1:46, 1:43

Ouch. I came out super hot on the first one and was well under a 1:30 pace for a bit, then just dropped off, ack. That first heat took its' toll on me. The 2nd one was brutal, and I realized I had to have some kind of strategy. I settled into a good pace with the hope of getting in a kick at the end. I never really got the kick I was hoping for, but was able to hold the pace and increase a bit to end the 4th heat with a better number than the 2nd and 3rd heat.

My legs were like jello for a while after! I wrapped up the workout with a few rounds of pullups/GHDs/back extensions.

Pretty good WOD.

Mish Mash

Today's WOD was called Mish Mash, courtesy of CrossFit Santa Cruz Central. It was mad fun! However, it was first WOD I've had to scale in a long time. I have a weakness, overhead @$%&* squats!! Dang it. Based on the spot where OHS's occurred, legs were a little rubbery, so to be safe, I scaled it....

50 double unders
40 situps
30 push jerk (did press) 95/65

200m run (did 250m row)

40 lateral jumps over a bar (used a flat bench)
30 hang power cleans 95/65
20 burpees

200m run (did 250m row)

30 lunges
20 OHS 95/65 (did about 5 reps with 95, remaining 15 with just the bar)
10 med ball clean/wall ball combo

200m run (did 250m row)

26:24:16

I was sucking wind pretty good, but it was fun. Would be more fun in a group, had to roll it solo as my WOD cronies had timing conflicts.

Core Blast

Lot's of core work in today's WOD, pulled from my archive....

5 rounds for time:
25 - kettlbell swings, 2 pood (used a 70lb DB)
25 - GHD situps
25 - back extensions
25 - knees to elbows

27:04:70

A pretty good Friday WOD.

Nasty Girls

I had a little encounter with a workout called Nasty Girls this morning. I think at some point I saw a video of this, pretty sure it was Eva T and several others. Anyway, I was in the mood for some type of 'clean' movement, and found the Nasty Girl WOD in my archive. Here's the original, some mods made below...

3 rounds for time:
50 squats
7 muscle ups
10 hang power clean, 135lbs

I don't have rings, and if I did, it's unlikely I could do a muscle up, so I typically do the 3/1 conversion using pullups and dips. Today I just did the 7 pullups and x3 on the dips, and I added 20lbs to the clean:

3 rounds for time:
50 squats
7 pullups
21 dips
10 hang power clean, 155lbs

Things started off well enough, then got to the cleans. They went OK, but I could tell it was going to be a grip blaster, which normally I say, GAME ON SUCKAS!! I got through to the tail end of the cleans on round 2 when things got dicey. After about 5 reps, I needed to add a second or two in between reps which put even more strain on my grip as I was holding it longer. I got through 9 reps and my forearms were on FIRE! I kind of hunched over and attempted to rest the bar as much as possible on the top of my quad before pulling the last clean. I straightened up and hit it....and...my hands went up in the air MINUS the bar!!! Bwahahaha, grip FAIL. The bar dropped from slightly above my waist. No one was around (train at a globo, no bumper plates). I got through the final round, but had to break up the last set of clean (boooo).

Time was 12:13:05.

Ack.