WOD 080831

Today I did yesterday's CF WOD. Yesterday I ended up doing about six hours of yard work so I didn't have time to fit it in. Today's WOD involved weighted pull ups, which I did twice last week, so yesterday's WOD seemed like a better fit.

CF WOD 080830:

Four rounds for time:

• Run 400 meters
• Rest 2 minutes

I didn't have a stop watch so I subbed walk 200m for rest 2 minutes. I think the whole workout took me about 25 minutes including my warm up. I did the linear speed progression warm up from Functional Training for Sports by Mike Boyle.

On that note, the Human Kinetics series is without a doubt the best line of fitness books I have come across. Every one of them is written by experts and has very high production quality. The wrestling and rugby series are excellent and the strength training series includes authors by luminaries such as Tudor Bompa. But I have to say Mike Boyle's book is my favorite. "Functional Training For Sports" is as ground breaking as Crossfit. Boyle's system emphasizes body weight exercises and isolation movements intended to enhance sports performance and prevent injury. Whereas Crossfit generalizes to all physical activities, FTFS is very specifically geared toward enhancing sports performance through exercises that emulate sports specific movement.

WOD 080829

I'm getting a little tired with the high rep, high intensity, metabolic conditioning workouts. As a little experiment, I decided to spend a few weeks going with heavier weights at lower intensities. I think mixing some periodization into the system could pay big dividends by retaining the exercise variation and emphasis on functional movements.

Todays work out -- "heavy-ish fran.

• 21-15-9 reps of:
• barbell thrusters (135 lbs)
• weighted kipping pull ups (15 lbs)

I did not keep time. Instead I went to failure on each "set." This workout followed my typical warmup of jumping rope, arm circles, push ups, squats, Sampson stretch, quarter squat rotations, inch worm, 35 lbs kettle bell swings, and running 400m.

Over the last few months i've noticed crossfit WODs follow a fairly predictable sequence. Throw in the 3 on 1 off schedule and you've established a fairly adaptable schedule. It would be interesting to chart the CF.com WOD variation over some time sample to see what kind of sequences emerge. So another approach I'm mulling over (beyond semi-periodization phases) is totally random crossfit. You put all workouts in a hopper and it spits out a daily workout with a 25% chance of a rest day.

The talkers

During my workout some guy came over and asked if he could work in with me on the pull up bar. I was doing weighted chin ups with a 25 lbs plate suspended from a chain and caribeener. [?] He took the chain and attached it to a weightlifting belt and did a few pull ups. When he gave it back to me he said I should use a belt because "it works better" than putting the chain around my waist.

I did a quick superset of weighter chins and dips then gave him back the chain. he attached it to his belt then wandered off into the gym to talk to someone. 3-4 minutes later he came back and said "Sorry about that. I needed to catch her before she left for the day." I said no worries. he followed up with "Besides you don't wait long enough between your sets anyway."

After his next set of pull ups he handed me back the chain and said "You should do pull ups instead of chin ups. Chin ups are too easy."

What compels people to give advice to complete strangers in the gym? And how come these guys always wear tank tops tucked into bike shorts? Maybe the same guy has been following me around from gym to gym over the past 20 years I've been lifting weights.

Primal Fitness WOD 080827

Crossfit.com featured an affiliate in Washington, D.C. called "Primal Fitness." PF offers Parkhour, Crossfit, yoga, and judo. The run their affiliate out what looks like an old firehouse. Pretty neat if you ask me!

I browsed around PF for awhile and found their WOD:

• Weighted ring/bar Dips-5-5-5-5-5
• Weighted Pull-Ups-5-5-5-5-5

This is supposed to be a muscle up progression. I was also inspired by my friend Adrian's back injury from too much squatting.

Anyway, my workout:

• Typical warm up (jump rope, push ups, squats, stretching, etc.)
  
• Weighted chin ups -- 5 x 10 lbs/5 x 25 lbs /5 x 25 lbs / 5 x 25 lbs / 5 x 25 lbs
• Weighted bar dips -- 5 x 10 lbs/5 x 25 lbs /5 x 25 lbs / 5 x 25 lbs / 8 x 25 lbs
• Pull ups -- 5 / 5
• Dips -- 12 / 10
• 1 mile run (9:24)
  

This was a nice strength focused workout. I'd like to do more of these and a little less volume, especially on pull ups, because I think there will be greater benefit in terms of strength and less wear and tear.

CF WOD 080826

As posted:

• Front Squat 10-10-10-10-10 reps

My results:

• Front squat 10 x 135/135/155/155/135

I went light and really concentrated on form. Last time I went heavy on front squats I may have ruptured a disk.

Just an FYI, here's my typical warm up. It takes me about 10-15 minutes.

• 3 sets of:
• 10 forward arm circles
• 10 backward arm circles
• 10 forward shoulder circles
• 10 backward shoulder circles
• 10 quarter squat rotations
• 1 minute jump rope (on running days)
• 10 push ups
• down dog stretch / inch worm
• 30 second Sampson stretch each side
• 10 35 lbs kettle bell swings
• 10 body weight squats
• 5-10 pull ups
• Run 400/800/1 mile (on non running days)
  

CF WOD 080825

CF WOD 080825

This workout is brutal. Physically and mentally demanding with massive volume. This is one of those smash-you-in-the-face workouts that gets lots of stares in big box gyms. This workout is named after a US patriot killed in Afghanistan. Read the comments in the link below before you do Murph. If that doesn't get you fired up nothing will.

"Murph"

For time:

• 1 mile Run
• 100 Pull-ups
• 200 Push-ups
• 300 Squats
• 1 mile Run

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

My time: 71 minutes. I did not wear body armor, I did not record a fast time, but I did complete Murph.

CF WOD 080820

"Helen"
Three rounds for time:

• Run 400 meters
• 1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
• 12 Pull-ups

18:30 as posted.