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.