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