2008-10-27 : Back Squat PR

Before going to work I attended Crossfit Langley for a beating ;)

Saw on the board the 3 x 30 DUs so my warmup consisted of :

DUs until I got mad at myself (I have absolutely no coordination for jump rope!)
4 Muscle Ups in a row, almost 5 !


WOD

Back Squat : 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2
Snatch grip DL : 2 - 2 - 2

3 Rounds
-30 Double unders
-15 Back extensions using the Abmat

BS Weights (Last PR was 195 x3)
155, 185, 205! 216! 221 !!!

DL weights (starting at around 50% DL 1RM)
179 - 201 - 221

The 3 rounder was great... I was still getting mad on the DUs but I was able to do a few sets of 6-7 so I'm getting there. My legs are stiff today but from a 'good' soreness.

2008-10-25

Warmup : 7 strict pullups

WOD :

Clean / Press
5x45#, 2x 3x95#, 2x 3x105# (relatively easy... presses were getting sloppy at 105#)

5 Straight-legged 'feet-to-bar'

Am I ready for Elizabeth ???

Crossfit Lyrics ?

I was just listening to 'Nice Guys Finish Last' from Green Day and came to realize that they must have gone to a Crossfit facility to write it...

Nice guys finish last
You're running out of gas
Your sympathy will get you left behind
...

That's it ! No more nice guy at Crossfit... they're all going down !!!

Today's 'assistance' tools

White board :

Motivation, goal setting, sometimes just to piss me right off (when I'm at round #3 and 'done' but I still have 7 more rounds to go... for example)

Starting Strength

Best book on weight lifting in general : Deadlift, bench press, squat, clean and assistance exercices explained in great details and illustration, with no nonsense wisdom !

Zone books

To have the right fuel to compete with yourself. Being on the Zone is important for performance in my case.

Ipod

Motivation ! There's nothing better than 'let the bodies hit the floor' (Drowning Pool) or Breaking me Down (Soil... XXX soundtrack), Pain, even Crazy Bitch (Buck Cherry) or Bleed it Out, Faint or Given' up (Linkin Park) or even Hit That, Race Against Myself, Stuff is Messed Up, or Self Esteem (Offspring).

All these keep me motivated to go HAAAARD...

Cell phone

In case I pass out in a park after one of my Kettlebell routines... LOL (I was actually flat on my a$$ after the level II kettlebell snatch (30 each arm, 24KG) test and someone offered me medical assistance... LOL).

Heavy Deadlifts

Official Crossfit Langley WOD

Deadlift : 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Pretty straight forward : GO HAAAAARD !


My warmup consisted of a 1 Mi run with the vest (15# today) : 7'30"

DL numbers while wearing my vest : 135, 205, 255, 275, switched to alternate grip 295, 305, 310...

Pictured here is my last rep. I wanted to be able to analyze my lift to see if the bar was going straight up (hence the chain in the back to compare).

When I started to pull, my knees extended (to get outta tha way of the big bar), but I couldn't keep my lumbar curve.

I somehow managed to straighten my back! Go figure. Imperfect lift HELL YEAH... Still managed the 310# with my 15# vest on... not bad.

Now I have to figure out what happened :

1. Head higher than neutral.
2. My shoulders were behind the weight and not over it. GOOD !
3. Bar against the shins.
4. Bar over the middle foot (the oly shoes straps are great reference points !) ;

The lift :

1. Did I lead with my chest, keeping it up : NO at one point my chest went down. I think even when I started my chest wasn't quite up (the 1st picture was BEFORE I started lifting).
2. My back lost the lumbar curve as soon as my knees went into extension ;
3. My hips didn't quite follow the knees extension in keeping the hips angle constant, resulting in a smaller hip angle (back more parallel to floor = BAD) ;
4. The rest of the lift was a fight to straighten the back and lock the hips.

I have to learn how to keep the chest up and the hip angle constant when I start the lift ! I have no problem extending the knees so I should focus on my chest and hips a little more. I found out in my "Barbell Bible" (Starting Strength, from Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore) that this is a common problem in lifting... And I realize now that prior to my lift, when going through my checklist or technique points... I was focusing on : 'get your knees outta tha way first, THEN extend your hips'. I'm going to change that point to 'extend your knees while keeping the hip angle constant, then extend the hips more'...

Good learning experience today, and a 'PR' if I can add the full 15 pounds from my vest (325# total, last PR was 313#, so 12 pounds heavier !).

Dead friggin' last again

I've never been a great fan of bench press... but today was my doom ! After the Bear of yesterday and my shoulders still fried from the 70 or so push presses... came the 100 bench press !

WOD
100 reps of :
- Bench press 135#
- Pull ups

I tried 135# and I knew I wouldn't be able to complete the WOD as Rx'd... 1st deception ! So I went with 115#.

The first three rounds of 10s were great... then the bench press started to lag behind : Most of my pullups were completed in 10s (I think I had 11 sets of these).

The bench press was hard... I would be able to crank 4 impecable reps... then the 5 wouldn't even go up ! The muscles were just giving up abruptly. I finally completed the WOD dead friggin last but at least I completed it ! After thinking about it I should have gone with sets of 5s all around... 5BP then 5 Pullups reactivating the blood circulation for the BP and then vice-versa... oh well live and learn... I always said that if I don't get brighter, at least I will get stronger !

2008-10-05 : The BEAR

I changed my Blog title to : 'Your worst has got to be better than their best' for a couple of reasons.

For one... I'm a big Special Forces buff who wishes I could be as good as they are... Some of you might recognize the title as one of the Special Air Service (S.A.S) sayings.

Two : The quote directly relates to my current career choice. which I enjoy since day 1 !

Three : The quote represents the competitiveness of Crossfit... You're not going against other people but against yourself... if my worst can be better than most of my 'clients' then I will have a great and safe career.

My WOD today was a WOD from Crossfit Langley 2008-09-22 : The "Bear" : 5 rounds


7 reps of :


- Power Clean ;
- Front Squat ;
- Push Press ; lower the bar behind the neck
- Back Squat ;
- Push Press ;

Add the number of reps for your score.

My weights were :
1. 75# x7

2. 95# x7

3.105# x5

4. 100# x7

5. 100# x7

Score : 3115 pts !

---without including the 15# that my weight vest added on my torso.

Pictured above is my white board and my two new babies... Weight vest (up to 60lbs but here loaded with 15lbs) and my lifting shoes that are killing my feet but kick my lifts into gear !

I am sitting here still shaking from my workout... I decided to include the Burgener Warmup in my 'Oly' lift days since it helps me trying to figure out how to properly snatch and jump for the clean !

The vest is an addition that I will attempt to have on each WOD, since I'm always carrying extra weight when I'm working.

2008-09-25 : Get outta tha' hole. UUUUUP !

WOD
Overhead Squats : 3 - 3 - 3
Front Squats : 2 - 2 - 2

As many rounds in 10 min :
- 5 Clean and Jerk 30#
- 1 Muscle Up
- 10 Walking lunges

OHS : 95 - 115x2 (lost focus) - Sharp 115x3
FS : 135 - 175 (last PR) - 205x2 !!! (with belt)

7 rounds in 10 minutes... all MUs accounted for SIR ! ( 7 solid muscle ups, in 10 minutes...)

1. Kicked my OHS to 115# x 3 (although I can power snatch 105#, go figure).
2. Kicked my FS "where it hurts" by 30 pounds !!! Coach's "sweet and enchanting" voice helped me on these : 'get out of that hole.... get UUUUUUUUUP"... the P sound kicking in when I finally locked my knees and stood up after a guttural* grunt.
3. Completed all the prescribed MUs with relative ease... I stood up on the rings, partly shocked, each time I would be able to pull up and over them ! I guess I'm developping some pulling power !
4. The C/J and walking lunges were getting friggin hard after the power training we had : my left left seized up after the 10 minutes... and 2 days later I am still frikkin sore !

* Except of WIKIPEDIA :

The word guttural literally means 'of the throat', and is derived from the Latin word for throat. In colloquial usage, the term is used for any sound pronounced in the throat or near the back of the mouth that is considered "harsh". ---- I guess a LOT if not ALL Crossfitters use this guttural thing !

2008-09-24 Tha big box at tha 'Box'

MetCon WOD

10 rounds of :
- 200m row ;
- 10 K2E ;
- 5 box jumps (32" box)

Time : as fast as I could (can't remember the time)

It's amazing how bad I suck at rowing ! Each stroke is diffrent from the one before, chain flinging every which way, heart playing bongos with my ribcage, eyes wanna pop out... lungs giving up on me, etc, etc.

The K2E were amazing though ! I could crank most of them in 10s, although at round 3-4-5 I was doing 7-3 or 5-5 for some reason...

I conquered the 32" box ! My reps were pretty consistent. I remember only one my rep wasn't as sharp as I wished.

I'm going to bed after a nice night shift, after I finish my cottage cheese-pinapple-cajun chicken Zone meal !

Day 2 on the Zone

2008-09-23

Quick WOD to wake me up in the night/morning (I don't know if getting up at 4am is the morning or still nightime!)

7-5-4-4-4 Pullups
10 heavy(25#) - 10 normal anchored situps and
25 air squats between sets of pullups

Total : 24 strict pullups, 50x25#(1250#)situps, 50 situps, 125 squats.

My second day on the Zone was not too bad ! I had to clear from my Zone lunch (at 2pm) to cover my partner.

When we showed up at his location he was able to yell in his radio that he was 'hands on' with his 'subject of complaint' (or 'wiry b****' on crack). So from sitting in my car, we went to 100mph, running through the hallways of the hotel to the stairs, running up 1 floor, then jumping in the fight. Without getting into too many details, we had to secure her, then escort her to our car, holding her like a battering ram since whenever she would get to her feet she would 're-escalate' her behaviour and try to kick us. So we went down 1 floor then back to our car with this wiggly 100lbs subject in our arms. Time for this 'WOD', less than 15 minutes : Intensity definitely close to 100%!! I noticed after this incident that I was WAYYYYYY calmer than the previous confrontations I had to enter... breathing long and deep, no tremors from the nervous system overload, heartbeat felt way softer and slower... I guess Crossfit helped me there !

No one was injured during the incident (well no good guy/chick hurt... )... then I went back to my Zone lunch at 1700 (5pm). My shift was nice, and I had time to finish my lunch !

Day 2 on the Zone was good. I don't really feel the changes yet but I guess that will come ! I'm so proud of avoiding drinking Pepsi for the 5th day now !

Day 1 on the Zone

Today was my first day on the Zone. Gosh that was hard ! I'm working 12hr shifts that sometimes extend past that, and its hard find quality Zone food at 7-11 ! Today I stuck to my lunchbag and water bottle ! No pepsi, no shit food !

WOD : Isabelle
Snatch, 30 reps Rx weight : 135# NO FRIGGIN WAY I CAN DO THAT NOW !
The Crossfit website was advising 95#, 65# or 45#. 95# felt too heavy, and 65# felt too light.

So I picked in between at 75#.

30 x 75# in 5'55"... I thought b4 starting if I did it in less than 6' the weight was going up next time... 85-95# it will be next time !

My arms felt like my tendons were on fire... all the lil muscle that help close my grip were hurtin'!!!

Off to bed now... long day ahead of me tomorrow again ! It sucks being by myself in my zone at work !

Switching Fuel

REST

I've been resting for days now.

I am ready for the big change in my life.

I'm switching Fuel : I'm stepping into the Zone/Paleo Diet tomorrow (2008-09-22 : Day 1)

I'm kicking my training up a notch as well : I'm friggin tired of being in the back of the wagon all the time at Crossfit. I know I am in good shape, just not in CROSSFIT shape.

Situation

1. I CAN'T keep up with power houses and fast mean machines (Coach, Jesse, John, Larry, Riley, Brent and all the other guys...)
2. The women are catching up to me on the weights ( I mean... Hollie and Michelle are close to squat as much weight as I can ! This is BULLSHIT ! I can do better than that !).
3. My Cardio is gone to SHIT ! I can't keep up with anyone anymore due to my "poor" cardio !

Mission

1. Catch up to some of the guys. Lefinitely leave some of them in the dirt or on my tail.

Plan

1. The FUEL : I'm going on the Zone / Paleo
2. The training : Go to Crossfit Langley as much as I can. Keep working on the pullup program when I'm working. HARD cardio. Not that 100k race pace : weight vest and hills until I puke.
3. Introduce myself to Cpt. Pukie : I've been close to max intensity... but never reached it since I didn't want to meet Cpt. Pukie.
4. Mix my training : I need variety and I need to avoid over training...

Support

1. Weight vest ;
2. Lifting shoes ;
3. Zone books and recipes ;
4. Web log to log in my progresses.

That's it. I'm gonna keep posting until I see some net improvements !

2008-09-16

Workout of the Day
Ladders for time : 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Pullups
Clapping pushups

Run 400m then 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Pullups
Clapping push ups

Time : Dead friggin last ! (25' something)

That day I decided some foods were being kicked out the window... #1 Pepsi, #2 any kind of fast food, #3 foo foo drinks from Starbucks or Esquires... only espresso latte from now on... no more of that sugar shit !

I am getting on the Zone/Paleo diet that I have contemplated for months now... First day shift is going to be my first day on the Zone. 2008-09-22 is the date.

2008-09-15

6-5-4-4-3 Pullups
20 weighted situps in between (25# for 15-5 with no weight)

2008-09-14

6-5-4-4-3 of :
-Pullups
- K2E
Clean dips w/95#

2008-09-13 : KB complex

Today I went to the park close to my place and did the following :
6-5-4-4-3 of :
- Pullups ;
- KB complex ;
15-14-13-12-16 burpies

The KB complex was :
From the supine position, do 1 getup (stay standing), 1 swing, 1 clean n press, 1 snatch, do the lowering part
of the getup = 1 rep : switch arm.

So I would do 6 pullups, (getup - swing - clean/press - snatch - getdown)x6, 15 burpies.

I was not going for time of these since it's been a long while since I've done getups and I did not want to wreck my shoulders with poor technique.

My rest heart rate this morning was 55 and went up to 195 during the WOD. Great workout. Noticed a few soccer moms and dads eyeballing me with my KB wondering 'what the hell ?'.

Oh and I'm ahead 1 day now on my burpies... note to self... never ever forget to do the burpies for more than one day... these burpies were just killing me !

2008-09-09 : Crossfit Langley WOD

7 Rounds
3 - clean and jerk 135
6 - Dead hang pullups
9 - Kkb swings 53lb
200m run

Got my a$$ served on that one... 23'21", 9 minutes after the first guy finished !

My shoulder were still very sore from Linda... my cleans and jerks were ridiculously hard !
And I had absolutely no cardio !!!!
I was still half f'd up after 10minutes of rest !!!

Burpies : 11

Back to pullups !

2008-09-08, back to my recon Ron pullups program

6-5-4-4-3 pullups
15 Situps 15 squats in between.

Situps were with a 25# plate over my head for the 1st 10, then no weight for the last 5.

Burpies : 1+9, 10 (back on track)

2008-09-07 : Linda's the bitch

On that morning I attempted to do Linda Rx'd

Linda
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Deadlift : 150% BW (240#)
Bench Press : BW (160#)
Cleans : 75%BW (120#)

I first tried the weights for 1 rep and decided it would be impossible for me to complete the WOD, so I lowered them to :
240# DLs(kept the same #)
140# BP
110# Cleans

Then I realized I would have enough time (I started working in 30minutes)
So I went 10-8-6-4-2-1 reps (total 31 reps instead of 55).

Time :16'01"

This WOD will be friggin hard as RX'd !!! I almost died in that half a$$ version of it !

Burpies 8 instead of 9.

2008-09-06 Movin' on up

Pullups 6-5-4-4-3, 2 more pullups than last week.
Situps : 25 per pullup set
Weighted dips : 6x35#, 5x40#, 4x40#, 4x45#, 3x50#

7 burpies (I realize now that I was at 8... so tomorrow I'm gonna add one : if I don't get more intelligent from my training at least I was in better shape !)

I still can't believe that I was cranking 3x50#... that 50 is HEAVY when it hangs between your legs ! I'm getting closer to my goal of 55# on rings (I should try it out actually... next time I do rings, I might be at 55#).

Now 16hrs after my WOD, I'm feeling the soreness of my chest and triceps from the dips !

Sidelines progress

Saturday 2008-08-30
1 Burpie
6-4-4-3-3 pullups

Sunday 2008-08-31
No burpies
6-4-4-3-3 Pullups
Thrusters

2008-09-01
2+3 burpies
6-4-4-3-3 Pullups (3 pullups w/ 20#, 3 pullups w/ 25#, almost missed last rep)
Cleans/Presses 95# x6 then 4, 4, 3, 3, with 115#

2008-09-02
4 Burpies
6-4-4-3-3 (3s done as L-Pullups)

2008-09-03
0 Burpies
6-4-4-3-3

2008-09-04
5+6 burpies
6-4-4-3-3
k2E 2x10, clean practice

2008-09-05
7 burpies
6-4-4-3-3
Power Snatch 2-2-2-2 (95#-115# sloppy form-95# sharp-105#good)

New 'sidelines' training

On Saturday 2008-08-30 I decided to try a new hybrid probram besides doing as many Crossfit Langley WODs as possible. Here's my plan for the next 15 weeks :


Sidelines Training

I decided to combine the 100 Burpies challenge (a lot of Crossfit Langley crazies are doing it so why not me) with the 'Recon Ron' pullup program.

Burpies Challenge explained
This challenge is easy on paper. How fast can you complete 100 burpies. Day 0 : Do 100 burpies for time. Then starting at day 1 with 1 burpie, add 1 burpie per day until you reach 100 burpies on the 100th day. Easy enough... yeah RIGHT !

Recon Ron program
This one is gonna be hard I think. It calls for a set number or pullups in 5 sets, every day for 2 weeks on the same plateau : For example I started at Step 10 : 6-4-4-3-3... that is 20 pullups per day every day... then you just to step 11 for two weeks (6-5-4-4-3 : 22 pullups) and so on. Look it up on the internet... it's a valid "grease the groove" program in my opinion !!!

The first problem I encountered with this MIX is that it's hard to split 100 days in 7-days weeks. So my plan will be to take a break of burpies every 20 days (5 breaks total = 105 days = 15 weeks, I'm a genius). Since the numbers are not too high for the pullups I will attempt to complete them EVERY day, but I will try to monitor my body and back off a few days if I notice any signs of over-training. I will be focusing on perfect form in the first weeks since I know that after a few weeks, the numbers are going to be hard to hit with perfect form. I'll keep my progresses posted here so I know where I'm at !

Rule # 1 : perfect form
Rule #2 : if I don't complete the reps for one day, I have to catch up the next day
Rule #3 : KEEP TRACK (I'm writing this 5 days into the program and have a hard time remembering !

Here it is... Will post my progress as much as I can.

2008-08-24

WOD
5 rounds of :
10-rings body rows
10-ring jacknifes
15 pushups

Body rows were hard for some reason ! I think I placed the rings too low ! Same thing for jacknifes... they were friggin hard !

Jacknifes (or jacknives, or jackknifes) are my 'ring' equivalent of the Evil Wheel... you stand with rings lower than your waist (the lower the harder) and you push the rings forward, passed the pushup position... until your body is straight, then jacknife back !

Pushups were relatively easy, I could've gone to 20/round.

Saturday 2008-08-23 : Monkey Time

Today we had a small ceremony with the familly and finally put my mom at rest : it was emotional but the fact of seeing all my cousins, aunts and uncles having a good time together given the circumstances, made me feel better !

I decided to hang my rings on the tree to crank a few Muscle ups.

WOD

20 Muscles ups
- do 10 burpees in between sets.

My sets looked like this :
1-3-2-2-2-4-3-2-1 for a total of 20 MU's and 90 burpees.

Fran-like DLs/Ring Dips

2008-08-19

Finally got around to do a WOD !!! I had to plan our trip back East and all my plans were going to shit, so I decided to take a break and go vent my frustration on weights...

WOD :
21 - 15 - 9 for time
- Deadlift 225#
- Ring dips

Time : 6'12" or 14" ( Pukie gave me a shout... he was coming for a visit and only 2 blocks away)

Deadlifts went : 15-6, 10-5, 5-4
Ring dips went 20-1, 10-5, 5-4

Before Pukie arrived, I tested myself with the 2 minutes of airsquat madness... crank as many of these bad boys until your legs give up on ya.

Total :101 !

I looked at the clock and saw I had 2 secs left... went down for #102 but could barely get up... way after the 2 secs were gone by. 101 is still a decent number, although at one point I noticed that my form went out the window : I was folding at the hips but barely folding at the knees...

Great workout : I had to walk around the block twice to get a grip on my stomach and on my now cramping quads and lower back. PUKIE must've got lost on the way, I still haven't met him personally ! The workout took my mind off the stupid setbacks in my plans for my trip, and when I went back to planning and it worked well !

Here's a pic of my garage gym, more a garage than a gym I suppose !

2008-08-19 : My lower back is so friggin sore ! 225# Deadlifts x 45 will do that to ya ! Total of 10125 pounds lifted in 6 minutes is what I call a TEST. My quads are sore as well : 165# body weight x 101 in 2 minutes is not for sissies neither !

Going back East for a week and will probably not work out as much as here, although I will be practicing with the rings ! Muscle ups here I come !

Tryouts and Overhead Squats

This morning I decided I would attempt to complete some tryouts workout I did last year (trying out for a special unit). The standards were, without the run (5 pull ups, 40 pushups, then 40 situps in less than a minute). So I decided to do it Crossfit-style... 3 rounds, FOR TIME !

I was able to do all pull ups and situps within standard, while my push ups went 40, 25-15, 25-10-5.

Time : 19'20"



Crossfit Langley WOD
Oh I was pumped for this one ! I LOVE Overhead Squat ! 5-5-5-5-5 !

Weights : 45#, 65#, 75#, 85#, 105# !!! and the 105# felt AWESOME ! lil wobbly but I think I could've done 115#-120#.

Then 3 sets of L-sits hold (30 seconds) : those were hard 30s, 29s then dropped the last set at about 15s due to stupidity, then put it back up for 15more seconds.

My Quads were cramping up like bitches !!!!

Great Day of work !

Muscle-ups tryouts again !

Today I was so pumped after watching the Chinese gymastic team perform on the rings that I set up my own backyard rings, to attempt my own "feat of strenght" : Muscle ups !

When I got the technique right and completed 1 MU... I decided my WOD would be 10 MU's with handstands in between sets.

I did 1-3-4-3 (yeah that's 11)

My handstands are actually not too bad ! I could hold one up for approx. 5 seconds ! Need MORE and MORE practice... but its gettin' there !

2008-08-11

Yesterday I attempted to complete the snatch standard for LvL II at Crossfit Langley : 30 KB snatches per hand...

I was able to split it in sets of 5s (5left, 5 right) : 2 sets (10 each hand total) and I took a small break.

So it went like this : 5L, 5R, 5L, 5R [break of 5 sec] 5L, 5R, 5L, 5R [break 5 sec] 5L, 5R, 5L,5R.

Now I have to get rid of the rest periods ! (I'll probably do 10L, 10R [break] next time, then 15L, 15R or maybe attempt 30L 30R).

2008-08-09 the day Grace OWNED me

Yesterday before my shift I decided to attack one of the 'standard' Crossfit WOD : Grace.

After a few warmup reps with the bar, I tried a Clean n Jerk with 135# to feel the weight and could barely jerk it. Soooo I backed off a lil and lowered the prescribed weight to 115# and went at 'er, by myself like a big boy !

TIME : 9'23" A FRIGGIN' SUCKY TIME !

I started pretty good for the first 8-9 reps but for some reason I started to feel a sharp pain in my right elbow and shoulder (I think I 'yanked' 2 reps in a row, instead of 'squeazing them off the floor') then my form, energy and focus went all down the drain.

I think my rest breaks were too long, my form crappy, and the friggin cleaning lady kept opening and bracing the gym door open, so I couldn't grunt as much as I wanted and like Coach Rippetoe stated : " Insufficient yelling causes bad form".

Therefore I think my weight was too heavy for my current technique and fitness level... I can admit that. I will also say that I will own that B**CH some day because I will confront her more and more often now ! (and I meant BEACH...)

We're Saturday now and my arm is not as tender as it was after the WOD : ice is a great thing ! My arm is gonna be ready to attempt the 30 KB snatch each arm standard of LvL 2 at Crossfit Langley.

2008-08-07 : PR time !!!

Xfit Langley WOD

Back Squats :
3 x 135#, 3 x 165#, 3 x 185#, 3 x 195#

--- felt I had more in bank for these, should've tried a PR or at least go 3x old PR of 215#

Deadlifts :
3 x 225#, 3 x 255#, 3 x 275#, 3 x 297# (depicted above with the 1000-mile stare, the beach chest et al.)

--- yanked the 1st rep on that set, my elbows and wrists are whiny bitches right now !

Then 3 sets of Evil Wheel

Went all out on these... standing evil wHELL (no it's not a typo... Evil Wheel of Hell is an appropriate substitution !)

5 - 5 - 5

---using a 'safety bumper' (2.5# plate on the ground to stop the wheel and prevent my face to be introduced to the floor by the ever annoying bitch called Gravity)

Goal was to put the bumper farther and farther away...

Then for some reason I felt like I could accomplish something that evening... and I looked at the bar that the REAL MEN left behind. After counting the plates, I came to the conclusion that by removing the extra 25# on each side, I would end up with 313# which is 18 lbs heavier than my last PR... was it a sign ? I'm still not sure, but I decided to join the 300# club that day.

I was so confident in my ability to break through my last PR that I grabbed the bar using a straight grip. Knees got out of the way, hips extended, back was straight as a nun, the bar passed my knees (great I thought, my lift is done here, a few more centimetres and that bar is gonna go back down HARD, coupled with a victorious battle cry...)

--- Not quite ---

Given the fact I had a straight grip, both hands started opening, and it was only with the bar hanging on the last digit of every single one of my fingers, that I was able to complete the lift.

For more pain I decided to go extra strict on that one... holding at the top for 1 thousand and 1, 1 thousand and 2, 1 thousand and SLAM... no battle cry (I was still amazed my fingers held for that long, and was starring at my awesome 'kung fu' grip).

Then I decided to train intelligently... (you guys must think that I called it a day at that point, but I'm not THAT intelligent !!) I returned to the bar after a regulation-length rest period (just long enough to feel the tip of my fingers again) with an ALTERNATE GRIP !

313# felt very good, very confident : 1000-miles stare, chest up, neck straight, back even straighter, knees extended perfectly then the hips kicked into diesel low gear, with the arms locked straight and the steel grip merely the chain squeezing that fat bitch off the floor. I stayed in the top position for long enough to laugh in the face of gravity, then dropped the bar down...

---INSERT BATTLE CRY HERE--- (for some reason I kept the beach chest even if the rest of the 'technical points' of the lift disappeared as I walked away from the bar)

All in all I crushed past my last PR, which was a few months ago after doing lots and lots of DLing. Between my last PR and this one, I did not train specifically for the DL, that is what amaze me with Crossfit : let's train light high reps DLs, now squats, now cleans, now snatches... then you try 1 Rep Max DL... and you blast right through !

On a final note : 313# is 1.93x my bodyweight (162#) DAMN YOU MICHELLE !!! I am at this point 11 lbs short of my fitness goal !

'I'll be baK' like Arnie would say...

Tomorrow I'll try to kick the WOD Coach Clarke posts, by myself, if it is technically possible (I'm missing some crucial Crossfit gear at our work gym)... otherwise I'm gonna kick GRACE's ass or maybe HELEN's

Chimo !

2008-08-05 Squat attack !

Workout #5 of the Squat Attack :

135#x3, 155#x2, 175#x 2 x 6 sets

These are getting better and better : deep squats, bar feels good on mid traps, shoulders not hurting as much (flexibility ?) and no more leaning forward... most of the time its straight UP !

Did 3 pullups between each set, for a total of 24, then added two more sets of 3 for a total of 30.

2008-07-31 WOD sub

Squat clean
6-5-4-3-2-1 165/115lb
1-2-3-4-5-6
Weighted pullups 45lbs

rest 2 min Then :

Burpees
8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
Straight leg raises

The way it worked : 6 cleans then 1 pullup, 5 cleans 2 pullups... etc. Same for Burpies/leg raises

I subbed 135# for the cleans (I'm not a machine like Coach Clarke, Sterling, Brent or Jamie!!!)
and subbed 23# for pullups.

Apparently I have a great technique for the squat clean... then why am I getting my a$$ wooped by the other guys ! LOL They must say I have great technique cuz I'm soooo slow during the WODs...

2008-07-30 WOD Rx'd

Crossfit Langley WOD

Pullup/Dip
10/1,
9/2,
8/3,
7/4,
6/5,
5/6,
4/7,
3/8,
2/9,
10/1
inbetween each set of pullups and dips you will do 7 DL's@bw and 7 ab wheel rollouts.

Totals : 70 DL's and 70 ab wheel rollouts plus 55 pullups and 55 dips.

Time : 19'15"

2008-07-29

Crossfit Langley WOD of 2008-07-28

500m row
50 air squats
30 pushups
30 weighted situps 30# db held behind the neck feet anchored
30 pullups
30 db swings (15 per arm) 45#
30 k2e
50 OHS stick

Completed this one with a 800m run instead of the row

Time : 19'15" Proud of that one !! Only stopped for the pull ups (10-5-5-5-4-1) and for the K2E (the pullup bar at my work gym REALLY SUCKS : can't kip much and can't fully extend my body at the bottom of the K2E so I have to start from dead hang all the time )

2008-07-28 : Squats 4

Today I did another workout of squats :

135# x 3, 155# x2, 175# x 4 x 6 sets
with 5 "S2B" (shins to bar... straight legged K2E ?) in between sets to keep things interesting...

8 sets = 40 S2B

Total # : 4915# in 29 reps = 169# average... gettin' there !!!!

2008-07-22 : Crossfit Langley Class !!!

Today I had the nerves to go to Class before work !

For time, 12 to 1 of :
- Evil wheel
- DB Power Cleans (2x45#)
- Push ups
- K2E
- Box jumps

That meant 78 reps of each exercice !

Time : 24'31"

The other guys were just kicking my a$$ on this one I can't believe how slow I am getting !!! I'm gonna have to kick my training up a notch and start eating properly !

2008-07-21

Crossfit Langley WOD of a day before

As many rounds in 20 minutes of :
- 2 Pull ups (strict)
- 4 K2E
- 6 elevated pushups
- 10 jumping lunges (I had to use these instead of 8 DUs and 10 normal lunges)

Completed 11 rounds + Pull ups.

2008-07-20

Russian Squat Attack

I'm using a russian schedule and plan to help me develop my squat strenght (since I suck at it)

That day was the 3rd WOD if the Volume phase.

135# x 3
155# x 2
175# x 2 x 6 sets

Total volume : 2815#

5Mi Run

Wow this one was a kick for stamina...

5 Mi run, in full out 26degree sun, no wind...

Time : 40'44" just a lil over 8min/mile ! DARN!

Recovery was long and slow. I had to be meticulous cuz I had the chills just prior to finishing the run, so I thought if I stopped on a dime I would pass out... so I kept jogging at 25%-10% speed just to tell my body it was over... it didn't have to cool me down as hard. Then I walked for a while, then went to lie down in front of my fan to lower my body temp. I'm gonna feel that one tomorrow !

Not to bad of a time since it's been a looong while since I ran... I'm gonna have to start my running again, but with a twist : none of this LSD (Long slow Distance) stuff... I think I'm gonna gear up, find an obstacle course... and run it in 20-40 pounds of gear !

2008-07-16 : Snatch Time !

WOD 7 rounds of :

5x Snatch-grip DL : Power snatch : behind-the-neck press
10 Evil wheel

Weights were 45#, 65#, 75#, 85#, 90# (form was getting sloppy), 85#, 65# (strictest form I could manage)

Wow my traps and shoulders were blasted after that one !!!

2008-07-13 : Russian squat attack

On that day I did the 2nd workout on my program :

135# x 3, 155# x3, 175#x3 x6 sets

In between sets I would crank 20 situps as hard and fast as I could, but changing my breathing pattern each sets (inhaling on the way up, then next set inhaling on the way down, then next set inhaling through 4-5 situps, then exhaling thru 4-5 situps).

That workout felt great ! The situps were fun to do and this made me realize that I might not have been using the right breathing pattern to do my situps !

2008-07-12

Presses !!!!

I used to love shoulder presses... not anymore !

100 presses, whenever I put the bar down I jumped on the bike and cycled at 110rpm for 1 minute.

did 10 sets of 10, although at the end, my presses became push presses and 1 or 2 push jerks !

And I made it in time for work !

Cleans/L-Pulls/Presses

Warmup
20 Power Cleans with 45#

WOD 5 round of :

5- Power Cleans 155#
5- L Pull ups
12- 1arm bench press 75#

Time : 17'23"

Subs : PC (135#), bench press subbed with 24kg floor press.

Practice
5 x 5 PC at 95#
3x5 24KB snatches
2x5 24KB Clean and presses

Felt good although my hands are hurting a lot ! The skin under the 2 ripped calluses did not have time to heal yet and is very sensitive : had to drop the bar on a few cleans because I could feel the skin on my hand folding hard again and I did not want to rip this sensitive skin !

Pull ups are great... I still can't figure a way to straighten my arms all the way down though... there's always a lil bend in them at the bottom.

Floor presses felt good, it's the first time I was doing those and I will include them in my training for sure !

2008-07-09

Crossfit Langley WOD of 2008-07-08
As many rounds in 20 minutes :
- 5 DL 225#
- 10 push ups
- 10 1arm DB snatch 35#
- 200m run

Completed 8 rounds + DLs with the following subs :
- DL 205#
- Hang Snatched 16kg KB (35.2#) : instead of swinging the KB between my legs in normal KB snatches.

I felt terrible during and after : I sweat A LOT ! at the end I couldn't keep my eyes open cuz the sweat was dripping in them... Now after a cold shower I feel pretty good ! I guess the endorphins are kicking in !

Time for some chow and Vancouver Canadians baseball tonight ! Meet us at the Nat !!

2008-07-05 Kettlebell-o-fun Part 2

2 Ripped calluses, 2 KBs, one bad attitude ;)

Warmup (1-arm swings, 16kgL, 16kgR, 24kgL, 24kgR = 1)
2 x 10 swings (total swings 40 @16kg, 40 @24kg)

5min of Turkish getups
2L then 2R with 16kg, then singles with 24kgs

5min of windmills
Same principle

Sots presses (16kg-24kg)
I cleaned both KBs, did one set with the 24kg in my left hand, then switched the KBs
5x3
(24kg KB had to be pressed by my left handm then right hand for 3s, to count as a set... so the total reps for each 'set' was 6)

Total
Swings : 640kg + 960 = 1600kg
Presses : 480kg + 720 = 1200 kg

2800 kg without counting the getups and windmills, not bad !

2008-07-04 Kettlebells o'fun

Warmup
20 2-hand swings, Crossfit style (all the way up to full body extension / straight) w/16kg
20 swings w/24kg

Ladders (1 rep left arm, 1 rep right arm, then 1 rep @24kg left arm, 1 rep @24kg right arm)

2 ladders 1-5 swings with both KBs
2 ladders 1-5 snatches
3 ladders 1-4 Cleans and press (24kgs)
2 ladders 1-5 C/P (16kgs)

Total
16kg (30sw, 30sn, 60c/p) = 1920kg
24kg (30sw, 30sn, 60c/p) = 2880 kg

4800kg lifted !!!! No wonder I ripped 2 calluses !

Taking the Kettlebells for a spin

WOD
Warmup of 5 swing each arm of 16kg, then 24kg KBs (total 20 swings)

Then KB ladders :
1. Swings 1 to 4 with 16kg, 1 to 3 with 24kg, 1 to 5 with 16kg (do 1 rep left arm, 1 rep right arm,
then 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, then switch to 24kg 1-1, 2-2, 3-3...)
2. Cleans 1-4, 1-4 (24kg), 1-5 (16kg)
3. Snatches 1-4, 1-4 (24kg), 1-5 (16kg)

Clean and presses : 1-5, 1-4 (24kg), 1-5(16kg)

Total of :
105 with 16kg = 1680 kg
36 with 24kg = 864 kg

.... 2544kg lifted in work sets... in approx. 40 min

2008-06-10 BEAR TIME !!!

Bear 6x
(Deadlift, power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, push jerk = 1 rep)
95#, 105# or 115# --- I went for 2x95#, then 4x115#

Felt AWESOME !

Then for time :

3rounds of 6s
- Pull ups
- Push ups
- Push presses (24KB)
- 24KB Swing
- K2E

90 reps in 4'45" , or slightly over 1rep/3seconds !

The swings and push presses were a beach ! Damn the 24KB is a BIG notch above the 16KB !

2008-06-07

Back Squats
30 reps at "C Team" standards (100% BW) in as many sets as I wanted
20 situps in between sets.
Sets were : 5-8-8-9 so 80 situps.

Weighted pullups
1-1-1-1-1-1-1
started at BW, 35#, 45#, 55#, 55#, 45#, 45#

Felt great, although I still hate the squats !

2008-06-05

Crossfit Langley RULES !

WOD
Front squats
2 - 2 - 2 @ 135#, 165#, 175# (almost had to drop it but a grunt later and the load was up)

Bench Press
2 - 2 - 2 135#-165#x1 (lost focus on the second rep and spotter had to help) then 155# relatively easy.

Ring dips
5x35#, 4x35#, 3x35# and 2x35#

Separated by 7x evil wheels : I used a plate to stop my roll-outs and was doing standing EW... getting there !

2008-06-04 Team Ladders

WOD

5 Sets of Ladders (1 to 3) of Push Jerks 80%BW (135#)
2 Sets (1 to 4) of TGU 40# or 45# (can't remember)

1 to 10 to 1 of elevated push ups (30" box and parallelettes for depth)

I was teamed with John and gosh, this man can pump the reps !

My push jerks were getting sloppy at the end I really have to work on that speed !

2008-06-03 : Two Crossfit WODs !!!!

Today I did 1 WOD from Crossfit HQ, then the Langley Crossfit WOD

Crossfit HQ (Sub'd to 'pack' by lowering the weight from 135 to 95)
10 Cleans 95#
50 Situps
8 Cleans
40 SU
6 Cleans
30 SU
4 Cleans
20 Situps
2 Cleans
10 SU

The Crossfit Langley WOD

5 Rounds of
- 7 DB cleans 35#
- 15 Double Unders
- 4 Sandbag Around the World

then Weighted pullups (RX'd was 45# !!)
5 x15#, 5x20#, 5x25# then 5x35#

15s were completed without break
20s were 3-2
25s were 3-2 as well
35s were bitches... SINGLES !

I tried, just for sheeps and giggles to check how many strict pullups I could complete after this WOD... 9 god darnit !

I DID 9 STRICT PULLUPS ON THE ERT TRYOUTS AND WAS FRESH !!! LOVE CROSSFIT !!!

All in all it was all good, although my DB Cleans were not solid, since I was tired from my morning workiout. I attempted to do muscles ups after all this but this was NOT going to happen !

I'm off to bed... sleeping in tomorrow... hmmmmmmmmmmm lovely !

2008-06-02

That morning I tried one of Crossfit Langley WODs...

12 to 1 (12 reps, then 11 reps, then 10...) of :

- K2E
- DB Push press 45#
- Jumping lunges
- Janda Situps
- DB Hang Power Clean 45#

I was only able to complete the 1st half (12 to 7) since I had to go to work...
22'19" total, for 57 reps.

Breakin' the new bar

Today I got the new Pendlay bar for a spin.

Clean and Jerk
5x95# as warmup, then
2x135#, 2x155#, 2x160#(fail), 2x135#

Press
4x95#, 4x115 Push Pressed the last three, 4x105#


7 Rounds of :
7 DL 205#
4 Pull ups, as strict as possible
2x Sandbag to Shoulder

Time : 9'37"

My left arm is still bugging me. I think it is some kind of tendonitis or maybe I pulled a muscle around the elbow. Can't put my arm straight without pain. Sucks !

Blind from the sweat asking for direction to the closest set of rings

WOD
11 rounds of :

• 5 DB Split Snatches 20% BW
• 5 strict pullups/8 kipping /14 jumping
• 5 Walking lunges w/ 70# sandbag

Rest 2 min then

5 rounds of

• 5 pullups
• 10 pushups
• 200m run

Time 1st part : 20'01"

Time 2nd part : 7'44"

Remarks :

DB snatches were done with 35 pounder, which is technically 21.21# BW, so I overdone it ;) Snatches were great, lots of focus until round 10-11, so it's good given the WOD.

Lunges felt amazing too... I love throwing the sandbag over my shoulder like I mean business !

I knew I would regret picking the strict ring pull ups somewhere during the WOD... I didn't know it would happened as soon as the 1 round though ! But as Mia said : Finish what you started ! So after a few rounds I caught up to Michelle (or did she catch up to me ?) and we teamed up on the rings, going at them as hard as we could... man/woman against gravity teamed with these wobbly rings ! According to the Haglund chick, we were killing the rounds... According to me I was trying to ressucitate my arms and my back muscles on every break I would get and wipe the juice flowing out in front of my eyes. Dunno if it was tears or sweat.

Second part of the WOD was a killer. I loved to see that I haven't lost much of my kipping pullups, and my pushups were just flowing ! The runs were bad though... oh gosh I have to start running again... I used to be a French Gazelle ! (NO NOT THOSE CHICKS THAT COMPETE ON THE DAKAR RALLY !). Michelle kicked my a$$ on that one... although I flew past three of the newbies on the last 100m to the gym to finish right behind her. I hate when chicks kick my butt ;)

RANT

Ok now that so many peeps from Crossfit Langley have posted their view on Crossfit... here's my lil rant on physical conditioning and Xfit.

I want to start of with a lil war story. When I was in the army a few years back, I remember during a 16km road march with full gear (around 100 lbs total), an instructor slowed down to my position as I was behind the troop. The way it works is the fastest or fittest guys are in the back, to push (help) the guys in front of them : so I was in the back cuz I felt I was in pretty good shape. The instructor asked me a single question :

"Corporal Lamontagne, have you ever reached the end of your physical capabilities ? I mean have you ever been in a situation where your body was to break down and your mind was to give up ?"

Being the overconfident guy that I was I quickly replied that no, I've never reached that point. He smiled and walked away. Then came a serie of physical challenges that we, the guys-in-the-back-who-think-they-are-in-shape, had to complete while the rest of the troop was just marching. Some of us gave up and returned in the ranks of the troop, but most of us survived and kept going. I thought we made our point with the intructors and I forgot about that question. Later on that same course, we had to complete a tactical field exercice of 8 days where the exercice was a very close simulation of war. During these 8 days I only slept on the first night. I went for 6 days without any sleep that was longer than 15 minutes. I could see my buddies sleeping pretty much every other night but for some reason, I always had Night Patrols scheduled.

On the last two days of the exercice we do intense attack simulations involving lots of running, diving to the ground, getting up and running three more steps, then down again... so on and so forth for approx. 200-300 metres. On the last day... one of the instructor is teaching us a few small techniques to use during our attacks and he surprises me staring in the void (sleeping with my eyes open while standing up, basically). He gives me a good dose of yellin' and spittin' until one of the guys on my team advises him that I got stuck with all the night patrols since we started the exercice and haven't slept for 6 straight days. The instructor APOLOGIZES to me... and he offers me to go get a few hours of sleep in my hoochie (tarp that I set up to sleep under for so many days but haven't got a chance to !). I reply that I'm good to go, so he smiles and tells me I'm LEADING the next attack. So I'm there... leading an attack while completely SLEEP F***ED. My attack is a success thanks to my teammates, and I get to pass the exercice. The initial instructor comes up to me at the end of the exercice and asks me the original question : did I ever reached my physical or mental limit. He doesn't wait for my answer, smiles then walks away.

This relatively long story is to express my only opinion on Crossfit. My experience that week without any sleep or rest of any kind proved me something. The army made me discover that what I thought would be impossible ( 2 days without sleep, then 3-4-5-6) was indeed possible, if I convinced my mind to accept it (or as they did, forced my mind to accept that it was possible).

The same applies to Crossfit. Crossfit is not rocket science when it comes to sets and reps (you should see those Russian DL or Squat routines to see some real 'rocket' science). Crossfit is on the other hand focussing on something that most MuscleMag Grunt can't even grasp : the mental game. Crossfit leads your body to the edge of collapsing (Rhabdomyolysis is the prefect example). Crossfit puts you at the edge, approximately half-way thru your WOD. Then Crossfit forces you to make a choice... give up, or grunt and keep on pumpin'. Then that choice comes after every round, then every exercice, then every single rep at the end. Whenever we are thinking the WOD is too hard, too long, too painful... or that we are too sweaty, bloody or leaking any other body fluid, we have reached that limit that my instructor told me about.

The key with Crossfit and the Crossfit community is this : we keep pumpin' ! So here it is... it took me several years to finally get what my instructor meant back then... but now I can realize one thing. In Crossfit we always meet the limit of our body/mind capacity, every single WOD. And every time we have to make the choice to stop, or cross that limit... and establish a new one farther down the road !

By changing the exercices that HIT our bodies every day, coach Clarke will never reach a point where he's going to say : 'well I can't find anything new or challenging for these guys'. Yes we will always swear at him (I know I do for being so evil in creating our WODs). And every time we show up at the gym, we might have a moment of hesitation asking ourselves if we will be able to handle the pain, the sweat, the muscular tremors, the soreness the next day and if it is necessary to drop so much sweat, tears or blood on that gym floor. Every time that happens, I usually tell myself 'you drove for 1hr30 to turn back now !?', and I step inside...

Crossfitters are a weird bunch. Why would someone who is 'sane' submit his/her body to such training ? I mean the results are there... people's body fat melts away, they get stronger... they lift, run, push, pull, grip and move faster, stronger, and better. But why would someone go thru so much pain when they don't have to fight for a living or to live, run or pull him/herself over obstacles and so on... ? Every Crossfitter has their own answer to that question...

But tell me... have you ever seen a sane person with calusses on the verge or ripping, drowning and blind from the sweat pouring from his/her face, ask for directions to the closest rings/pullup bar/oly bar/C2 rower because they want to complete their rounds ? If you have seen such a person... it's probably in one of the Crossfit boxes !

That's it for my two cents on Crossfit. I am sore, tired from my night shift, and eager for my next Crossfit classe in a few hours... But I will "KEEP PUMPIN' " !

Work gym x2

2008-05-25

Back Squat 10 x 5 x 135# (getting back in the groove) = 6750 lbs
Evil wheel 10 x 10 = lots o' fun the next day : I am still sore 2 days later !


2008-05-26

DL 10 x 5 x 185# = 9250 lbs

Tried to do 10 x 10 of simple situps... but my abs were so sore I switched to :

Windmills 10 x 5(each arm) x 25

I missed Crossfit WOD yesterday cuz I had to do OT on a pretty serious matter so I'll go today ;)

Second rest day

I don't feel like working out today. Went to bed very late. Did not sleep much. Got up with almost no energy. Spent time with my brother and dad.

Still attempted to do a few muscle ups.

Got none the first time. 2 the second, and 4 on the last go on the rings. Not too bad.

Rest Day

It's raining today and conveniently, I decided to take a rest day today. Don't get me wrong I love working out in the rain (Rain was my sunshine for many years as a combat engineer), but after yesterday's WOD I had to take a day off.

Still supporting the family here although we feel that the end is getting near !

Farmer's WOD III

Today for the "warmup" I decided to kick my run up a BIG notch, Crossfit style : instead of running the same mile as fast as I could, I grabbed a 25kg grain bag, dumped it on top of my shoulders, and started running !

Warmup
2 mi w/ 25kg grain bag : 23'30"

WOD
In least number of sets possible :

10 Muscle ups : 2-4!-3-1
40 Ring Dips : 15-10-9-6
20 Pull ups : 7-7-4-2 (started to kip on the second set of 7 so I had to go super strict for the other sets)
50 KTE : 10-10-10-10-10

Notes :
- I was soooo close to my 5th MU in a row, but was soooo pumped after I cranked 4!!!
- Ring dips were good, although I can't figure out how to "not brace myself" against the straps ;
- Pull ups felt weak
- KTE felt good : last 2 sets were done with the false grip on the rings, and it was killing my abs!

My back felt pumped from the run and exercices although it's probably gonna get sore very fast. Rest day tomorrow, probably... Although I want to practice my MUs now !

Farmer's Crossfit WOD

Warmup
Run to the hills : pretty much half mile and back

Time : 7'19" ! (Great gain since yesterday at around 10')


WOD 5 rounds
75m Rock Throw (full clean of the Medicine Rock, then thrust up and throw the rock forward)
20 Ring pushups (20, 15/5 x4)
8 Jacknives
2 Pistols each leg (getting good at these !)

Time : 25'59"

The pistols were the best I've done in a long time. Most of them were really strong even though I was doing them at the end of the rounds.

Farmer's Crossfit

Warmup

Run to the hills... less than 10-minutes run, going at med-hard pace

3 rounds
30 paces Farmer's walk
10 Ring dips
8 Sandbag getup
10 Burpees
5 Body rows

Time : 20'25''

This thing smoked my a$$ big time ! For 1... the grain bag that I was using was 40kg instead of 25kgs that I thought and 2... my lovely burpees were just NASTY ! The rest was ok.

For the farmer's walk I just grabbed said 40kg grain bag and dumped it on my shoulder and walked the 30 or so paces. Dips were ok and body rows were relatively easy given the height I had to put the rings for the dips (too much "good" leverage).

Here's a few pics of the tools used at Farmer's Crossfit :

40kg grain bag

20lbs medicine ROCK

Green Milk container loaded with gravel, approx. 50kg

Rings

GRAVITY !

Low Batt but keepin' pumpin'

2008-05-11
Rest day, Mother's day, and Farmer's Crossfit equipment gathering, for tomorrow ! Morale is a lil better but it is hard on the whole Mind-Body System !

Found the following that I will use :
- Milk barrel that I will fill with sand ;
- Big rock (approx. 50lbs) ;
- Plain steel round beam of some kind (no idea how much it weights !)
- Some 50lbs grain bags ;
- Hay bale ! LOL

COULDN'T find a used tractor tire ! go figure !

2008-05-10

Yesterday I felt sore, didn't sleep well, and had to get up 3x during the night to take care of my lil mom.

3 Pistols each leg (assisted for second leg)

5 Pull ups
10 Pushups
10 Jacknives (last five were not straight : I was bringing the rings back to my sides in a circle, WAYYYY harder !)
10 Body rows
15 Dips
5 Strict pull ups

3 Pistols each legs, unassisted, full depth !!!

Feeling very tired and out of energy, but I think this just the morale that is not very good... body is not complaining too much, since I'm not hitting it DC-style every day ;)

Ring Monkey 3

My routine looked like this today :
- 10 strict pull ups ;
- 10 ring dips ;
- 10 jacknives (I don't know how to spell them but I know the pain they bring !);

- 10 body rows ;

- 10 ring dips ;
- 10 kipping pull ups ;
- 10 leg raises from support (top of dip position) ;
- 10 pushups w/ rings as low as my feet were ;
- 10 ring dips ;

No run today, my ankles were hurting a lil so I decided to take it easy :
- 3 Pistols (1-legged squats) - full depth - unassisted for right leg ;
- 3 pistols - assisted for left leg (which was starting to cramp while doing the right leg !)

I don't know if my left leg is THAT weaker than my right, but I will try to start with the left leg next time I do Pistols.

Doin' the ring monkey

These are the last three workouts I did here in Québec :

2008-05-06
Attached the rings to the tree in front of my parents place !

Ran 3.3 miles in 26'00'' : far from fantastic (over 8'/mile) but the wind was so friggin' strong !

Then I jumped on the rings :
10 pull ups
10 Dips full range
10 Jacknives (with rings at waist height, I pushed the rings forward past pushup position, like the Ab Wheel exercice that we do so much at Crossfit Langley)
10 pushups, full ROM
10 archer pushups

2008-05-07
Rings same as 2008-05-06 but 2 sets of each.

2008-05-08
Ring same as 2008-05-06 but 2 sets, and added 2x10 body rows.

Ran 1mi as well... forgot to start my watch

Work gym then Xfit

This morning, 0500 or 05 "oh-my-god-it's-early"

Deadlift groove 10 sets of 5 reps using 205#
Leg Raises groove 10 sets of 10

Totals :
50 DLs for a total of 10250 lbs ! (+/- 5 tons !!!)
100 leg lifts (pass the L-sit but lower than the V-up... my feet were about head high on each rep)


Evening (after working the whole day) : Crossfit Hell

50 x Wall Ball 20# 10ft target
50 x Pull ups
50 x Walking Lunges with 2x30#DB
50 x Push Press 45# (bar)
50 x Double unders
50 x K2E

Time : 26'05"

I needed a long time to recover on that one... almost 5 minutes lying down until the feeling of impeding doom dissipated. I was also feeling like my heart had moved to my head, right behind my eyes... no need for heart monitor I could've told my HR just from counting the pulses going through my eyeballs.

Overall great workouts, as usual... I am going to be sore tomorow but again, 1 pint of sweet in training saves 1 gallon of blood in combat (S.A.S. saying)

2008-04-23 : WOY (Workout of yesterday)

On the 23rd I did 5 rounds of :

7 thrusters 95#
7 Pullups
7 Burpees
7 Situps

Pullups had to be half kip due to the lower bar, making them probably twice as hard ! I hated myself for doing the WOD as RX'd specially the Thrusters which are not my strong exercice. Burpees were fine and situps were my rest were I was able to concentrate on slowing my breathing and heart rate.

Time 10'36" without any peer motivation (I hate working out by myself I need the crasy bunch from Crossfit Langley to push myself to the breaking limit).

2008-04-18 WOD

WOD (for time)
15 Front Squats 115#
20 Pull Ups
15 Push Press 115#
30 Burpees
15 SDHP 115#
40 Situps
15 Back Squats 115#

Rest 2 min then :
3x10 Evil Wheel

Time : 17'21" (without the wheel)

Did not have time to do the Evil Wheel since I was running late for work, had to jump in the shower, shave, put the vest on and go. The weight felt too heavy on most lifts : I did not complete any set without taking a break. The only exercice I completed in one set were the situps. I can pull myself up 20 times in a row, but the bar is sitting too low so I can't kip and have to keep my legs bent... so sets again for that exercice.

I hate my gym ! I basically had to do all the exercices on the squat rack, so it was Front Squats - put th bar on the stand, then realize I can't do pullups with the bar there, put the bar down - Push press, forgot to put the bar down so had to take it down when I had to do th SDHP-then back squats... HAD TO PUT THE BAR BACK ON THE RACK ! I'm pretty sure I lost 1-2 minutes doing that !

All around it was a bad workout for me... I sucked at it since I picked the wrong weight, the equipment sucks, I had no time to do the evil wheel (which I love !), and I felt like crap after !

2008-04-15

It's been a while since I posted ! I kept working out, mostly on my DLs and back Squats... but never took the time to post the WODs.

On the 15th I did the following in the morning before work.

Back Squat grease the groove :
10 sets of 5 reps at 155#
10 sets of 20 situps

Total : 2500 lbs and 200 situps


AND Crossfit in the evening :

Muscle Snatch 2-2-2 @ 75#- 85#- 105#
Power Clean (80% 1RM) 1-1-1-1 @ 145#-165#- 165#- 165#
Back Squat 2-2-2-2 @ 165#-175#-185#-195#

3 Rounds of :
200m row
10 KTE
7 DB Power Cleans with 2x45#

Time for the rounds : 7'21"

2008-03-31 Deadlift Groove

Work Gym :

Felt tired that morning : I hate getting up at 0400 after less than 5 hrs of sleep !

Deadlift : 10 sets of 5 reps x 185#
KTE : 10 x 5

Totals : DL = 9250 lbs
KTE = 50 !

All in less than 25 minutes ! My back and legs felt a little bit tight at the end, but that is probably caused by the lack of sleep/rest between my squats and DLs.

2008-03-30 Back Squat groove

At Work Gym :

10 sets of 5 x 135# (20# increase)

with 20 Situps as 'rest' in between

Totals : 50 reps for a total of 6750 lbs and 200 situps !

2008-03-17 : Work Gym Squats

Today I started my Squat program to develop my squats a lil, since my legs strenght is the weak link in my opinion.

Today was 10 sets of 5reps at 50% 1RM

I went for 115# since my 1RM is around 235-240

Simple, Practical, Hope it'll help me catch up a lil on the other guys at Crossfit !

Go out and have fun !

Today I took the ol' Kettelbell for a spin.

WOD was, for time :

5 Rounds of :
- 10-10 Kettlebell swings (10x left hand, 10 right)
- 5 Ring Dips
- 10-10 Kettlebell squats (KB in the rack position 10Left 10Right)
- 5 Jack Knife Pushups with rings (Stand approx. 3 feet from rings, then 'push' them until your body leans forward, straight... then back up)

Time : 15'29" not too bad considering !

I topped it off with :
- 2 x KB basketball lunges x 50m (pass the kettlebell between your legs when you lunge, kinda
like the basketball players do) ;
- 2 x 50m walk with the KB in the rack position
- 2 x 50m walk with the KB pressed overhead

Then 5 complexes (on each hand) of :
- Swing/Clean/Snatch/Windmill (swings once, then clean, then snatch, then with the KB still
overhead, windmill)

It felt great to start spinning the KB again... I'm thinking of buying the Two-Four !
Legs got hammered but I need to thoughen these lil sticks !

2008-03-08 : XFit Langley WOD

I did the WOD of the day before :

Complex of Squat Clean/Push Press
5/5/3 for two sets @ 95#
4/4/3 for two sets @ 115#
3/3/3 for two sets @ 135#

Then

Complex of Bent over row / Pull ups
8/4 (straight pull ups) @85#
8/4 @95#
8/4 @115#
8/4 @135#

Then

Ring dips / Ab Wheel
10/10
10/10
8/10
6/8
6/8

Time : 1hour 9'55"

Felt great, good technique throughout... great rest times between sets... felt awesome !

2008-03-07 'Pack' Diane

Completed 'Pack' Diane which consist of :
21-15-9 of

DL @ 225# (Pack is 185#)
Handstand Push ups (I used rings set up at pec level to support me, a lil easier than the full blown HSPU)

Time : 8'41" (I'm ready for the full meal deal I think !)

2008-03-06 - Rest Day

I just enjoyed myself and my friggin sore legs today... They feel terrible.

It did not kill me...

But I'm pretty sure I'll walk like a zombie tomorrow.

Work Gym in the morning, attempting to complete the WOD of 2008-03-04 :

Squat Cleans 2 x95#, 2x115#, 2x135#, 2x155#(power cleaned the last...)
Push Jerks 2x135#, 1x155# (couldn't lock the second one), 2x145#, 1x155# then 1x165#

I was done I had to go to work, so I did not complete the 3 rounds of :
-15 Ring Dips ;
- 50 air squats (mod from 200m row) ;
- 15 KTE.


Crossfit, evening class

1 to 10 Ladder OF HELL of :
- Bodyweight Back Squats (162 tonight) ;
- Pull ups .
(you do 1 squat, 1 pull up, 2 squats, 2 pullups, 3 squats...until we start getting the
feeling of impending DOOM)

Rest 5 min then

10 to 1 Ladder of :
- Body rows, explosive style ;
- Split DB Snatch with 20% BW (33#)

Results
I did squats with 157# I thought about going with 135# since my squats are not my strong exercice, but I followed Mitch the machine who put 157# (BIG MISTAKE FOR ME TO FOLLOW Mitch ! : 3/4 squats at 6 and 1/2 squats at 10... I couldn't complete the squats in the full range of motion so I decided instead of lowering the load, I would switch to a different 'braking and going back up' point... different stimulus, as much painfull ;

I went Split Snatching with 30# DB for 10-9-8 then swithched to 35# for 7 to 1, those felt awesome I should've gone heavier.

The Pull ups were my rest and my time saver... I was cranking theses babies... luv it ! The body row is new to me so I was struggling a lil, but now I jsut received my new EliteII rings and I'm gonna ABUSE these babies !

It's been only 2 hrs after the WOD and my legs are starting to be sore... NOT A GOOD SIGN. I think I will need crutches to go to work tomorrow.

2008-02-27

I forgot to add my Work Gym Workout I completed in the morning :

Back Squat 2-2-2-2-2

I did 135-185-195-205-215x1

My new PR 1RM !

1 week without lokking my training

I dropped the ball for the last week. Not that I did not workout but I did not write down what I did.

On 2008-02-28 : Work Gym
3 Rnds of :
- 5 Clean + Mil. Press + Front Squat + Push Press (all in a row, using 95#)
- 10 Janda Sit ups

My abs are very sore today, result of these nasty Janda Situps !


On 2008-02-27 : Crossfit Class
125m row
7-KTE
1-Rope climb
10-ab mat situps
6-Hanging DB power snatches 50lbs

As many rounds as possible in 20 min

I completed 7 full rnds + Row + KTEs + Power Snatches

I was particularly satisfied with my rows... I was going HARD ! I did one at around 1'20"/500m pace !


On 2008-02-21 : Crossfit Class
1000m row
21-DB swings 55lbs
21-Box jumps
750m row
15-DB swings
15-Box jumps
500m row
9-DB swings
9-Box jumps

Can't remember my time (around 14'30") but I was going at it pretty hard, trying to keep up with John who's a machine on the row ! Couldn't do box jumps after the row so I had to do (pretty much like everyone else but Chad) step ups instead of the jumps.

Haven't been so sore in a looong time

Yesterday was another WOD from Hell at Crossfit Langley.

For time :

12 DB Bench Press using around 75%BW (I used 60%BW or two 50#)
12 Back Squat using BW (I used 81%BW- 135# since I suck at them)
15 Pull ups
300m Row

9 DB Bench Press
9 BS
12 Pull ups
300m Row

6 DB BP
6 BS
9 Pull ups
300m Row

3 DB BP
3 BS
6 Pull ups
300m Row

Roll over and die... I took me at least 10 min to recover from that one.
Bench Press felt light, and I was cranking the pull ups non-stop !

I HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO IMPROVE MY LEG STRENGHT : Those are the exercices I suck the most at ! Going back to Beyond Bodybuilding from Pavel Tsatsouline for the squats !

Strenght at Crossfit

Today's WOD was :

Front Squats (2 reps x 5sets)
135-155-175-175-135 (last 135 was for technique as I still lean forward when I get bigger weights)

Clean Pulls (2 reps x 3 sets)
155-205-215

DB Push Press (5 reps x 3sets)
45-50-55

Weighted Pull ups (8reps x 3 sets)
15# (6/2) - 25#(4/4) - 30# (4/2/2) NOT BAD !

Ab Mat DB Situps (8reps x 3 septs)
35x6 - 25x8 - 25x8

Then I decided to test my max kipping pull ups : 21 before my grip was so sweaty I was about to drop... but I was cranking those big time ! They feel good too !

L-Sit Pull ups : 4 max

Hell in 40 min or less

Today's WOD in class :

5 Round of :

• 15 Power cleans - Split jerks using 2x35# DB ;
• 15 Ring Push ups

Then 40-30-20-10 of the combo :

• Box Step ups w/ 2x20# DB in the rack position ;
• AbMat situps

Completed the first rounds in 19'31" and the down-the-ladder in 15'33"

I can barely lift my shoulders anymore. My calves were cramping at the end of the WOD. I was sweating like a pig. And almost greyed out on the 30 part of the ladder (I was literally seeing the gym mixed with grey bars). I survived. Rest will be awesome, I will sleep like a baby to be back on track tomorrow morning !

Crossfit kicks your a$$ and leave you wanting more... go figure.

Sick with the so-called fitness experts

I've been 'slacking off ' lately with regards to my fitness : In fact I slowed down a lil since I started to feel that my right shoulder had a weird feel to it when I was doing my snatches last. I'm rolling back in business tomorow !

I've never been sooo mad about the fitness world ! A chick who has a B.A in kinesiology(I did do a typo the first time I typed B.S.) came to class today to tell us how fit we need to be and blah blah blah... Her 2 friggin recommendations : half of your plate should be veggies/fruits(duh with the Zone it's 1/3-2/3) and you should do more core stabilization exercices on the Bosu or swiss balls!!!

I was livid... and I was constantly looking at my watch and yes... her presentation went pass the time we were supposed to be released and therefore could not make it to the late class tonight. RAHHHHH I almost walked straight out of the door.

Good thing that I stayed : at one point she showed a slide of the gym facilities and while she was talking about the treadmills and how stationary bikes are great for fitness that is SPECIFIC to our job (!?) I got a glimpse of THE Machine... a C2 Rower !!!! SO tomorrow I'll probably stop at the gym for a nice hard row... then drive to Langley to enjoy CrossFIT !

2008-02-05

Last night was Group Class at Crossfit Langley. As usual I got more and more anxious or "Nervous" as I got closer to the gym...

WOD was :
Snatches 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3
(did terrible with 65-75-85x2-75-75)
75 will be my training wheels for now on with the snatch until I get the technique down pat : I
sucked at getting that third pull in.

Front Squats 2-2-2-2-2
My training buddies started rough with 135 (my last PR was 120x1!) but I followed and got 135-145-155-165-175 ! Which is 55 lbs over my PR !?

THEN 4 rounds of :

• 10 GHD Situps (those are awesome, they're my favorite now!)
• 4/4 Turkish get-ups with 35#
• 7 pull ups w/15# (7, 5/2, 4/3 : NOT BAD AT ALL !)

The # of rounds was supposed to be 3 but as I said... 'If I'm not getting smarter here, at least I'll get fitter' (we only had to do 3 rounds but I thought it was 4...).

Side Note : I think I pulled something (rotator cuff maybe) in my right shoulder doing the 1st snatch... and was stupid enough to keep training... we'll see how I feel tomorrow...

2008-02-04

On the 4th I did the unbelieveable WOD that was 1 to 6, 6 to 6

Basically, 1 ladder up to 6 reps then back down to 1. (1-2-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-1 = 42 reps)¨

- Pull ups
- Deadlift with 225#
- Push Ups
- Squats
- KTE
- Dips
- OHS 45#
- Janda Situps

That was a painful WOD ! I'm still feeling it in my legs and arms... and my hands were cramping after the WOD. So I looked like I had a kung-fu grip !

Crossfit Langley WOD of 2008-01-02

WOD consisted of :
5 Rounds
10 - Hanging power cleans 115lbs
10 - Pullups
10 - Ab(evil) wheels

3 Rounds
300m row
10 - Ring dips
10 - Deck squats 35

Sub'd the row with 75 air squats and the pullups with 4 strict pullups, since I would kill myself kipping on that wobbly squat rack.

Total for part 1 : 23'13"
Total for part 2 : 16'30"

I hate myself for those air squats... I can barelly go up the stairs.

On a side note... I had the shortest foot pursuit today... approximately 2-3 steps hehehehehe
The guy stopped right in his tracks... but I was ready... kinda feeling like "just before" a Crossfit group session : anticipation and readiness for action !

BE NERVOUS !

Rest Day and Technique Day

2008-02-01
Had to take the day off. My two sessions at Crossfit Langley liquefied my body and it needed some time to get back on track. Lil overtraining doesn't kill if you know how to recognize it !

2008-02-02
I finally fixed my paralelettes and they're up and running now. Worked on some balance positions, then on the handstand pushups using the wall for support. Did not work much since my body felt tense from two days ago, still.

2 Crossfit Classes, 3 times the fun

Today I decided to kick it up a notch since I've away from group classes for a while.

Did the WOD :
1. 1 Power Snatch + 3 OHS = 1 rep.
did 3 reps at 65 then 80 and 95 (9 OHS total)

2. Power Cleans
2(95#) -2(115#) - 2(135#) - 2(146#) - 2(157#)

3. 3 Rounds of :
10x Strict Pullups (6/4 - 4/4/2 - 4/3/2/1)
10x Stiff leg DLs (45#)
10x Evil wheels from my knees (10-10-6/4)

Then I did the SECOND Crossfit class

1. Weights were the same
2. Weights went : 135# - 165# - 175# Failed twice - 135 - 135 (last two for technique mostly)
Still kicked my PR for these, up a notch (155 1RM to 165x2)

3. 3 rounds of :
10 Abmat situps (15#x2)
10 Dips (BW, going as deep as my shoulders permitted)

Called it a night after doing two sets of 10 kipping pullups.

I FELT GREAT TONIGHT... But I think things will be a lil less enchanting tomorrow morning...

Langley Xfit WOD

Did the 2008-01-28 WOD after my night shift, this morning :

Back squat 145# 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 Alternate sets with PPress
Push Press 115# 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2
(weird that I can only squat that lil, I mean I was pressing overhead ALMOST as much steel !)

Then

Janda Situps (those are friggin hard ! I couldn't keep my hands at my temples had to ease off on the leverage and put them in front of me... no jerking or kipping though !)
15 x 3 : I did 15, then 10/5, then 10/5

Pull ups army style
15 x 3 : I did 10!/5, then 6/5/4 then 5/5/5

Remarks :
- I felt great, and could've put about 30/40 more pounds to the squat ;
- Push press is awesome... all the peeps in the room were looking at me weird... even a "tough" dude from the Emergency REsponse Team !!
- And finally... 10 pull ups in a row ! My max was 9 at Depot after 6 months of fooling around with pullups, then 9 again for the ERT tryouts... now I'm at ten... and had enough energy 20 sec later to do 5 more ! And I did 45 pullups in approx. 8 min ! That is VOLUME, Xfit style !

Kipping pullups, while they are "easier", are great to put more volume on your muscles without getting the muscles as tired as the strict pullups : follows the logic behind the Grease the Groove that I love so much !

2008-01-26 Active Rest day / Practice day

On the 26th I used my Random WOD generator.

My WOD looked like (10 reps at 50% 1RM) :

10 Turkish Getups (35# : dunno what my 1RM is)
10 Deadlifts (135#)
10 Super slow Dips ( put enphasis on depth since that's my problem with ring dips)
10 Janda Situps... darn those require focus !

All over in about 30 min, no clock this time, focus on technique and range of motion.

Felt great after !

Nasty Girls

Today I did a modified version of Nasty Girls

"Nasty Girls"
3 rounds for time of:
50 Squats
7 Muscle-ups
135 pound Hang power cleans, 10 reps

I used a small bench for "jumping" muscle ups on the squat-rack pullup bar, and lower the weight to 105lbs.

Muscle Ups felt great although when the bar got sweaty, it became evident that my dental plan could be on the line hehehehehehe. Got a good feel of the groove needed to develop a solid muscle up on the bar... dunno if I'll be able to transfer this skill to rings.

Could have gone heavier on the HPC, maybe 125 but definitely 115.

All in all... I did an extra round since I was "cheating" :

Total Time 25'51"

My legs are VERY VERY sore tonight... I'll have to suck it up, but change exercices for tomorrow.

13'16" was my time

Was trying to publish the pic of our board (to prove that the chicks were kicking my a$$) but I can't for some technical reasons...

Row til you grey out, then rounds till you can't walk

Today the WOD looked like this :

- 10 x 100m rows (for time of course) with 30s rest in between,
(unless you failed to set up the rower properly like myself on 3 of the runs...then I had less rest than the other guys !)

- Then round for time of :
Pushups - 20 - 15 - 10 - 5
KB Swings 15 - 20 - 5 - 20
MB Situps 10 - 5 - 20 - 15
Squat 5 - 20 - 15 - 10

The rounds are actually going vertically (20 PU, 15 KB swings, 10 MB SU 5 squats then round 2 15 PU... you get the picture.

I felt like crap, cuz I ate like crap today and last night. I greyed out on the rower on Lap 9 and 10 (you know when you can't see anymore... can barelly hear anymore, but you're body is still doing the last command your brain told him to...). After the rower, it took me around 2 min of rest to start feeling my right leg again, and both my feet felt like I stepped on a landmine : gone.

Although I kept everything under control for the rounds, I had to stop my rounds to focus on keeping Pukie away !

My times on the rower were not impressive, although the rower is not my "strenght"
My time for the rounds was around 13' and then some... can't recall.

I am definitely putting some more effort into my Zone diet from now on... cuz I suck ! and feel bad WHILE sucking...hehehehehe

Be nervous... I was before that one... and with great reasons !

Real rest day

Today is real rest day ! Yesterday was no rest !

Ate Zone most of the day so should be alright for 2 group classes tomorrow !

Real rest day

Today is a real rest day ! Yesterday was no rest !

OMVM and Rest day

Yesterday, I was going to run out of time for my super plan of doing 20 sets of (3 pull ups, 10 push ups and 10 situps) since I did not have a full hour to train. Sooooo in my Crossfit mentality... I pushed the enveloppe and cranked the intensity a lil. Instead of round of 1 minute, I lowered the round to 45 sec (therefore losing 15 sec of rest between exercices).

Last reps were getting hard at the end, but I still maintained a few reps in bank, so I knew I was not doing sets to failure. My body felt pumped throughout !

Total 60 pull ups, 200 push ups and 200 situps in 45 min, not bad !


Monday, 2008-01-21 : REST DAY

I had to go to court after my last night shift, mind you... going to bed at 0130, getting up at 0600, getting out of court at around 1300 and my shift tonight is at 2000... not what I call a rest DAY ! but hey... I think about these guys in Africa who don't even have a bed !

One Minute Volume Method (60min)

Today I'll do a WOD that I used to do while training to get on to ERT.

Set your clock for 1 minute :

1st minute : 10 Push Ups
2nd min. : 10 Situps
3nd : 3 pull ups (strict... I can't kip at work or I'll take the squat rack down with me)
4 min : 10 Push Ups
...
For a total in 1 hr of : 200 Push Ups, 200 Sit Ups, 60 Pull ups (20 sets of each)

The point is to get many (20) sets of easy number of reps for an enormous amount of "practice" in not so long. I approach today as Practice day... I don't want to drain myself, and have perfect technique on every single rep. It's a good WOD for active rest I think (almost 3 min of rest between sets of pulls for example).

The intensity is relatively low and you just 'grease the groove' !

Sat 08-01-19 Random WOD again

Today was a 'speed' WOD

4 Rounds of :
10 Push Press (barbell, 65#)
20 Push Ups
10 Back Squats at 75#
20 Anchored Sit-ups

Roll over and repeat ;)

I decided ah what the heck, these are weights for sissies... I put 85# for the push press and 95# for the back squat.

Time : 15'59"

The back squats were crazy easy until I hit the last round, then I started grunting... I'll need to add more iron to these next time ! Push press felt the same... easy until the last round.
Sit ups were my nemesis... as I sat down to do them... I could feel my abs rebelling against me (we're not gonna bring you up, a$$h...)

SORE muscles keep pumping

Today I used my lil random system to see what kind of work I would do... the dices landed on Strenght training 5x5.

5 Sets of 5 reps with weight of approx. 7rep max (that I could do for 7 reps, no more).

Sumo Deadlift High Pull 3 of 5x105# then 2 of 5x115#
Pull ups (Strict, dead hang, no kip pullups) : 5 x 5 Body weight only
Overhead squat : 3 of 5x70# then 2 of 5x75#
(almost dropped one in the last set... lost focus... regained it and kept on pushing_)
Leg raises to L-Sit (Maintain L-Sit for 2-3 sec) 5 x 5
(darn these were hard... my abs are killing me now)


I know I am not 'supposed' to train twice the same muscles, especially after the last WOD but hey... I would not be a Crossfitter if I wasn't pushing my enveloppe a lil.

Tomorrow should be more fun... but I will try to make it to Crossfit Class at 10:00 !

Workout of the Day

Crossfit Group Class, everyone was drained after this one... I myself almost tasted my lunch a second time.

For time
60 AbMat Situps (30-10-10-10)
30 OHS (25-5)
20 DU's (pretty much singles... I have no coordination for these !)
10 Evil Wheel (5-5)

2 Rope climbs ( I did 4 for some stupid reason)

10 Evil Wheel (5-5)
20 DU's (singles again)
30 OHS (16-9-5)
60 AbMat SU (20-10-10-10-10)

Finish with 500m row (1'53" of pain... I wanted to die after the first 200m !)

Total 18'53"

And I did not finish LAST ! (That is my main motivation... do the drills perfectly but don't finish last (or after the girls ;)

I felt down to the gym mat and lied there for 2 min of rest, then I felt fine... muscles are fidgety but that's ok, for now.