CC WOD 080730

Fran is an iconic crossfit benchmark workout, and one that I've never attempted before today. Its different than some of the other benchmark workouts in that its basically equivalent to a weightlifting sprint. Elite crossfitters regular post times in the 3 minute range.

Fran:

• For time 21/15/9 reps of:
• barbell thrusters (95 lbs)
• pull ups

To do well at Fran your thruster technique needs to be very efficient, the stations need to be close together, and you really have to bang out the pull ups without stopping. I still haven't mastered kipping, so, not surprisingly, I had trouble with Fran.

I finished in 8:26, second in the class. Experienced crossfitters typically post sub 6 minute times. I had no problems with the thrusters, but the pull ups killed me. I finished 7 of the last 9 with jumping pull ups.

Anyway, it was a nice measure and fun to see where I stand.

CC WOD 080728

Todays workout:

• 7 rounds for time of:
• 7 medicine ball cleans (20 lbs)
• 7 knee ups
• 7 burpees
• 7 DB push press (35 lbs)
• 7 kettlebell sumo deadlift highpull (55 lbs)

I finished in 21:52, about 1 minute behind the leader. It was a strange workout. The knee ups, burpees, and KBSDLHP felt easy, while the push press and cleans felt difficult. I may have lost count somewhere during the workout but I'm pretty sure I finished the whole thing.

I'm a little bummed that this is my last week. I have definitely noticed some changes in my body. My abs are more defined and my shoulders and arms are bigger. I feel a little more dense, too.

WOD 080726

Today I did a scaled version of Linda per my buddy Twine's recommendation. FYI, I weigh 183 lbs. I want to make sure I keep getting in some heavy lifting in addition to all the metabolic conditioning at CFC.

Unscaled Linda:

• For time:
• 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of
• bodyweight bench press
• 1.5 bodyweight dead lift
• .75 bodyweight hang clean

Scaled version:

• Ran 1 mile (8 min)
• 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
• bench press (135/135/135/155/155/185/185/185/185/185)
• dead lift (135/135/135/185/185/225/225/225/225/225)
• hang clean (95/95/95/115/115/115/115/115/115/115)

Linda took me about 45 minutes including weight changes and resting between supersets. Anyone who can do an unscaled Linda in under 30 mins gets my respect. My weights would have been 185 bench, 275 dead lift, 135 clean.

CC WOD 080725

Todays workout involved some high intensity metabolic conditioning.

• For time:
• 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of:
• pull ups
• kettle bell swing (55 lbs)
• hanging knees to elbows
• medicine ball slams (20 lbs)
  

I finished last in the class at 19 minutes and some change.

We finished by running 5 sets of ladders with back pedals. (10 yds, 20 yds, 30 ys)

I'm pretty disappointed that I'm %75 through the program and I still can;t do more kipping pull ups than hanging pull ups. On the bright side, the number of regular pull ups I can do has surely decreased, so maybe by the end of the month I'll reach the tipping point.

CC WOD 080723

Today was a good one. Partner workout, so we alternated, and each of us did half the reps.

• For time:
• Weighted burpees (35 lbs DBs) 50/40/30/20/10
• Push press (75 lbs) 50/40/30/20/10

We finished in 21.06, second in the class. I went with 35 lb DBs instead of the prescribed 30 lbs because there were not enough for everyone.

A weighted burpee starts standing with the DBs at your sides. You go down into a plank position, do a pushup, and then come up to your feet with a deadlift, leading with your chest. We didn't jump at the end.

I really enjoyed the last two workouts. I have a makeup from last Friday, so I might do another workout tomorrow. 1-2-3 go!

CC WOD 080721

Lo and behold a strength day.

5-5-5-5-5 front squat

• My results:
• 5 x 135 (warm up)
• 5 X 165
• 5 x 185
• 5 x 205
• 5 x 225
• 2 x 225 / 5 x 205

I felt pretty good going into my 5th set but didn't want to push it too hard. Front squat is technically much more challenging than back squat. My back is actually feeling it right now while I type this.

Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.

WOD 080719

I skipped Friday's CC workout after tweaking my hammy at rugby on Thursday, so I decided to get in another workout today -- "Angie."

• For time:
• 100 pull ups
• 100 push ups
• 100 sit ups
• 100 squats
  

My time: 35:45. MUCH slower than my previous Angie. Not to mention, I used anchored my feet on the sit ups. At the same time, I did many more kipping pull ups than the first time. Either way, I felt discouraged. Maybe the competitive classroom environment makes me push harder, or maybe I'm just getting weaker.

I actually enjoy crossfitting on my own more than attending the class. I like the 3/1 splits and I like the variation. We haven't seen too much variation in the classes. Theres been no distance running and no heavy lifting or olympic lifts thus far.

Practitioners call Crossfit the sport of fitness. If thats the case, then the classes are the wrong way to prepare for competition. From what I can tell the classes are primarily gained toward losing weight through aerobic training with weights. If I were training for a crossfit competition, I would start with a strength building phase where I really concentrated on the power lifts and olympic lifts. Metabolic conditioning can ramp up pretty quickly but building strength takes time and focus. I would then move into some weak point training to address the areas holding back my progress. For example, I feel that the kipping pull ups and ring exercises would be much easier for me if I had stronger abs. However, its against the crossfit ethos to focus ob ab work and core strength building through isolation.

Anyway, I do enjoy the classes, and I intend to finish out the term, but I think I enjoy crossfitting on my own more even if I lose a bit of intensity.

No workie

I tweaked my hammy yesterday at rugby practice so I skipped the CC class this morning. Heres the WOD posted on their site.

• Todays CC WOD:
  
• 1 Minute 115Lb DL (Max Reps)
• Rest 30 seconds
• 1 Minute Renegade Row (Max Reps)
• Rest 30 Seconds

Not to be too critical, but this will be the 3rd time we've done DL in the past week. We havent done any other lifting movements except the sumo deadlift highpull and the kettlebell swing. Where are the presses, snatches, cleans, jerks, push presses, and all of the other movements I learned in the elements class?

Anyway, I am going to branch out and do a weight oriented workout today.

CC WOD 080716

Today we took a break from the weights.

• As many rounds in 20 minutes of:
• 400m run
• 7 box jumps
• 12 pull ups

I completed 5 rounds + 1 400m. The best in class did 6 and a few did 4. We finished with 3 x 30sec L sits on the parallettes. (sic?)


Today I wore my team justin T-shirt to honor the memory of justin whitehead. Justin was born July 19th, 1974, and passed away in January of 2007. Justin was an excellent athlete, an even better person, and i'm proud to have played rugby next to him.

CC WOD 080714

Crossfit will either give me a strong back or a bad back.

Today's CC WOD:

• For time:
• 10 deadlift (185) / 50 kettle bell swings (50 lbs)
  
• 8 deadlift (185) / 25 kettle bell swings (50 lbs)
• 6 deadlift (185) / 15 kettle bell swings (50 lbs)
• 4 deadlift (185) / 10 kettle bell swings (50 lbs)
• 2 deadlift (185) / 5 kettle bell swings (50 lbs)

I finished in 9:46 which put me 3rd or 4th in the class (of 12.)

We finished with 15 minutes of partner medicine balls drills.

All in all, not too bad. The prescribed DL weight for today's workout was 225, but I decided not to push it too much. It's only Monday and I'm still sore from last Wednesday.

Twine WOD 080712

I've been trying to drum up some interest among my friends for the past few weeks in working out together. By together I mean either:

• Using each other for motivation, ideas, and accountability
  
• Sharing our workouts and posting our results
  
• Working out on the same days and posting our results
  
• Doing the same workouts on the same days and posting our results
• Challenges where we alternate suggesting workouts that everyone else has to do

Last week my buddy Eric took me up on my offer. His workout:

• For time:
• 100 pull ups
• 100 burpess

Today I did the workout with a slight modification:

• In 30 minutes max rounds of:
• 10 burpees
• 10 pull ups

And per the instruction of my crossfit coach, I did jump pull ups as a bridge to kipping instead of regular pull ups.

In 30 minutes I finished 9 rounds. As a side note, I did the workout outside in 95 degree weather at the DPS obstacle course.

Another note -- I finished the first 3 rounds in 6 minutes. The last 6 rounds to 4x longer.

Thanks Twine for the brutal follow on to Fridays workout! I'm still sore from Monday.

CC WOD 080711

Another rough one for plieb.

5 rounds for time of:

• 12 x deadlift (185)
• 12 x 24" box jump
• 12 X 10' medicine ball wall throw (20)
• 400m run

I finished last in the class but I finished. My time was 28.24. The fastest time was 19 minutes and the next closest time to me was 27 minutes.

I started with 185 on deadlift then moved to 135, 95, 135 for the last 3 sets. Only one other person went with 185 for deadlift and only 2 other people used 20 lbs med balls.

I'm too worn out to dissect my performance any further. Tomorrow CC is hosting a free workout at Town Lake at 8:30AM.

Another interesting note -- my back is very sore right down my spinal column from my neck to my lower back. When i would lock out my arms on the ring dips my entire body would start vibrating. I must have been activating my spinal erectors or whatever they're called.

US wrestling team workout

http://wrestling.flocasts.org/videos/coverage/view_video/234041/69433-time-to-get-jacked

Some things you'll see in this video:

• 36" weighted box jumps
• quick feet ladder
• tire flipping
• intensity
  

Iowa Wrestling weight workout

Heres a video I stumbled across of the Iowa wrestling team preparing for the NCAA championships. This is a weight lifting day.

http://wrestling.flocasts.org/videos/speaker/154/9592

Some people may criticize their form but you can't criticize the intensity... or the results. Iowa won nationals. For those who do not know, Iowa is a perennial wrestling powerhouse that consistently produces world and olympic wrestling champions.

Wrestling builds tremendous strength, quickness, flexibility, and kinesthetic awareness. Most of these guys probably need very little training beyond their daily mat work, not to mention the farmer strength most of them probably acquired working on the farm. It's pretty impressive to see 145 lbs guys throwing around 1.5-2x their bodyweight no matter what the form looks like.

CC WOD 080709

CC does not follow the WOD's posted at crossfit.com. Instead, they plan out all WODs on a monthly basis so that you are unlikely to hammer the same metabolic pathway several times in a row and wear yourself out. I think its a good idea in the sense that the primary goal of training should be to be able to keep training. However, I'm not sure if this approach jives with the crossfit philosophy of constant variation (randomness?) that mimics/prepares what you might encounter in the real world.

"Excuse me Mr. Mugger but I can't run from you today because I squatted yesterday and I'm still recovering."

Todays workout:

• 7 rounds of:
• 10 sumo deadlift high pull (75 lbs)
• 10 ring dips

• 3 rounds of:
• 20 medicine ball crunches to alternating knees (6 lbs)
• 20 medicine ball russian twist
• 20 medicine ball situps with ball on legs (hard to describe)
• hold plank 30 seconds

I finished the first workout in 11:33 which was second in the class. I finished the second workout first but no time was kept. All in all, I felt much better today than I did on Monday.

Todays crossfit.com workout is CFT. I did my last total only 3 weeks ago, so I will probably pass on it. I thought about doing it tomorrow (my rest day) but I should really give myself at least a month.

Other notes: CC is hosting a free workout on town lake this saturday and free body composition testing on sunday. i'll probably forward the info to the huns and blacks rugby club.

CC WOD

Today I attended my first crossfit class and crossfit central. The class started at 6:45. I rolled out of bed at 6:35, ate a banana, drank a cup of water, and walked down the street to the gym.

The active warm up was nice and brisk... some push ups, squats, trunk rotations, jumping jacks, and a 400m jog. After the warm up I felt ready to go.

The workout:

• 100 pullups
• 100 pushups
• 100 situps
• 100 squats

I knocked out about 60 pushups to start and then I hit a wall. My stomach felt queasy and I could only do 3-5 reps for the remainder of the drill.

next it was on to situps. Feet unsupported, and down until your back is flat. the coach didnt really care how we got up as long as we got up. i watched my classmates pump out situps while i struggled. it was very discouraging.

the squats were not difficult and i moved through them quickly. I think I only stopped twice.

the pullups were a challenge. Working out for time is totally different than your typical sets/reps. I did about 20 dead hang pullups / chin ups over three sets before moving to the jumping negatives. This also took me a very long time.

When I finished I didnt know I was supposed to yell time so the coach recorded my finished total as 32 minutes. It was probably more like 28, which still puts me in dead last place in the class. very discouraging. However, I did all of the reps and I tried my best to work out with good form. Some of my classmates did not even attempt real pullups -- kipping or otherwise -- before moving to the jumping negatives. Others went with modified pushups.

Anyway, I definitely have some room to improve. The intensity was a huge shock to my system, particularly since I'm not accustomed to waking up -- much less working out -- that early. Next Wednesday I'm really going to try and focus on being prepared before class. No more eating. Hopefully I will acclimate quickly.

WOD 080703

Instead of following todays WOD, I opted for the Tuesday WOD that I missed.

As posted:

• Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps
• Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps
• Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps

This is one of those limit strength workouts with no time limits.

My results:

• Shoulder press (115, 135, 145, 155, 165)
  
• Push press (5 x 135)
• Push jerk (5 x 115)

I didn't really stick with the spirit of the workout -- increasing weight as the exercises involve more of the body -- but I hit a new personal best fr shoulder press. If I can avoid injury, I think I will be able to shoulder press my bodyweight (185) pretty soon.

I also did a little warmup.

3 rounds of:

• 3 minutes jump rope
• 12 x 25lbs kettlebell swing
• 10 dips
• 15 second samson stretch
  

Crossfit Games Standards and Movements

Next week hundreds of crossfitters will compete in the second annual crossfit games in Armoas, California. The athletes will compete in a series of four events.

The events and standards are described here:

http://games.crossfit.com/documents/GamesFormat_Final.pdf

The first three events have already been named:

• 3 rounds for time (21/15/9 95# thrusters/ pullups)
• 5 rounds for time (5 275# deadlift, 10 burpees)
• 750m off-trail steep hill run for time

The 4th event will be randomly selected from a hopper deck that includes 54 crossfit WODs.

What is really striking about the games format is that the rules for each movement are very strict. For example, pull ups only count if some portion of the chset under the sternum touches the bar. This standard may present a significant challenge to competitors accustomed to chin-over-the-bar pull ups.

I for one think that the crossfit games are pretty interesting in that they introduce competition into exercise. Plus, I love hill running. I have a feeling that if Walter Payton were still alive, he might crossfit.

WOD 080702

As posted:

• Five rounds for time of:
• 135 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
• 135 pound Hang power clean, 12 reps
• 135 pound Front Squat, 9 reps
• 135 pound Push Jerk, 6 reps

I tried to really hammer on the form that I was taught on Monday and Tuesday. Consequently, I went with lighter weight.

• Ran 2 miles (15:20)
• Five rounds of:
• deadlift (115 x 10, 95 x 10/10/10/10)
• hang power clean (115 x 6, 95 x 8/6/6/6)
• front squat (115 x 10, 95 x 10/10/10/12)
• push jerk (115 x 4, 95 x 6/6/6/6/6)

The workout was NOT fun. I understand the intent was to progress to lower reps with more difficult exercises at a constant weight, but I was unable to follow due to my comfort level with certain lifts. I also didnt want to change weight between exercises so I went with the lower weight.

The deadlift and front squat were easy while the hang power clean was difficult at 115. The push jerk was do-able at 115, but I wasn't confident doing this unfamiliar exercise at my work gym. Instead I chose to really concentrate on my form. Hopefully that will pay dividends in the long run.

Crossfit Elements

Today I completed my second Crossfit Elements session at crossfit central. Crossfit elements is a prerequisite for the crossfit program where are coach teaches you the fundamental moves you will be using.

The elements program is supposed to cover:

• Squat
• Shoulder Press
• Deadlift
• Front Squat
• Push Press
• Sumo Deadlift High Pull
• Overhead Squat
• Push Jerk
• Med Ball Clean
• Rowing
• Muscle Up
• Ring Dip
• Ring Row
• Single Arm Snatch
• GHD Situp
• GHD Hip/Back/Both extension
• Barbell Clean
• Barbell Snatch w/ focus on the “scoop”
• kipping pull up (pull up)

In two sessions we covered most of these lifts. We did not cover GHD Situp/Back extension, single arm snatch, or the muscle up. I was supposed to have three sessions but they said they would cover everything in two. maybe they will comp me a drop in.

The instructor was friendly, knowledgeable, and intense. He did a good job of coaching me through the movements and demonstrating the movements. He was totally focused on my form and consistently called me on any cheating or slips. I would definitely benefit from additional individual coaching sessions with this instructor.

More than anything, I learned that I have been performing many exercises incorrectly. The kipping pullup was very difficult and I have a lot of bad habits to unlearn. Specifically, I lower myself after a completed rep, and the breaking action spoils my momentum.

In terms of the deadlift and clean, he gave me valuable pointers for the starting position such as keeping the bar in contact with my body and raising/lowering the bar in a straight line.

The snatch, SDLHP, front squat, overhead squat, and kipping pull up all required a considerable amount of shoulder flexibility that I did not have. That is definitely an area where I need to improve that should pay big dividends in terms of the amount of weight I can lift and safety. I was also surpised byt he amount of head motion and shoulder shrugging required to move the barbell efficiently.

The lifts feel different (much easier) when you perform them correctly, transferring the momentum up the kinetic chain from your hips to your shoulders instead of trying to muscle everything.