Day 1 on Optimum Performance Training

I was tired of being fatter than I ever been. Tired of having the bad habit of not working out. I've been mostly off physical training since my knee injury.

Today I did the Optimum Performance Training WOD :

A1. mixed grip chin ups @ 31X0; 4 x 4; rest 90 sec
pull to supinated hand

A2. 1 1/4 back squat @ 4010; 6-8 x 4; rest 90 sec (did 95#x2, 115#, 135#)
full depth, come up to parallel, back to full depth, then up

B1. lean away supinated chin ups unweighted @ 4111; 4 x 3; rest 75 sec
pull straight up, lean away as far as you can on lowering

B2. db forward lunges @ 10X0; 8/leg x 3; rest 75 sec
drive through heel on return
---- did those with a 1.5 pood Kettlebell since I don't have DBs

C1. powell raises @ 3010; 8-10/arm x 3; rest 60 sec ---Did 5/arm KB Windmills

C2. anchored sit ups; 35 reps x 3; rest 60 sec --- Unbroken.

Overall my back squats were the toughest. I was losing my lumbar curve while going back down a second time so I had to reset it at the bottom of the squat, losing all elastic power from my Hamstrings. I also don't have a squat rack so I had to clean and jerk the bar then position it on my back so it was a pain in the a$$.

Chin ups were amazingly not too bad. I expected to be able to do only 3-4 in a row on the first sets then 3-2-1, but I kept the 4 reps each time. 4 reps were an comfortable 'AMRAP' cuz I didn't want ot push the envelope too much for my 1st day.

Did post WOD drink of 40g prot - 10g Carbs then balanced PCF meal 1h30 after the WOD.

FEEL GREAT SO FAR !

I was 178lbs last week. Now I'm 173lbs. Go figure.

My goal : 165lbs in a month. This fat shouldn't be too hard to lose !?

2009-09-26 : Angie

WOD

100 Pull ups
100 Push ups
100 Sit ups
100 Squats

Time : 34'38"

Had to sub kipping pullups with jumping pullups since my pullup bar setup doesn't allow me to kip. My numbers were :

Pull ups : 20-10-10-10-5-5-10-10-5-5-5-5
Push ups : 20-15-10-5-5-5-5-10-10-10-5
Sit ups : 40-30-20-10
Squats : 40-30-30

1st time doing Angie... it is an impressive workout !

Weight : 172 lbs

Lazy and FAT !

Ok I have to start by saying :

I suffer a debilitating knee sprain playing fastball a few months ago. Then I played two games before I sprained it AGAIN (right knee Lateral Collateral Ligament sprain grade, or level, II, to be precise). I thought I was done for the summer ! I called it quits with my Fastball season but behold... a fantastic playing opportunity in the World Police and Fire Games (hey this year ha seen more athletes than the Olympics, gimme a break !). So there I was, playing 'slow' pitch softball with my team (there's nothing slow playing at third base in slow pitch, trust me on that one). Oh my knee went fine... endured the rigors of the many stunts and dirt-eating catches and near misses. The only problem was I pulled my left Hamstring running after a stupid foul ball ! The back of my left leg is still purple/black from mid-thigh to mid-calf.

Ok so those were the set-backs. Now the real reason I got FAT was that I slacked off on everything else. Only my legs were injured... I could've worked out my upper body to maintain my metabolism. Even tried a few stunts like handstands, L-sits, V-sits or other parallelettes stuff. 1-arm push ups ? PISTOLS on my healthy leg why not (not too many, to avoid muscle imbalance). My food intake stayed the same (or even increased a little).

Results : Me being FATter than I'm used or even comfortable with. Yesterday I decided to calculate my body fat % to find my protein intake according to the Zone diet. That placed me, according to the same book, in the 'fatter-than-the-average-american-male'. That just blew me away !!! Being a CANADIAN farmer boy who was at 7-8% body fat less than 2 years ago... that was a difficult hit !

Dave Tate stated in his interview that injury was one of the gut-check in sports or athlete motivation... I found a new meaning to it : I really do have a gut now !!!! CRAP !!!

I started my Paleo diet today, with ballpark Zone into the mix (+/- 15 blocks/day of paleo food).

My stats yesterday
29 years old
5'7" (who am I kidding I'm not 5'8" !)
175lbs
around 25-28% body fat.
A GUT !

Workout of the day
Warmup consisted in running around the block in 20lbs vest.
Time : 6'33"
Distance : a little less than 1 mile

Stretching

Crossfit.com WOD (subbed the skipping with 1-hand 16KB swings since I broke my rope last time I skipped)

AMRAP KB swings
AMRAP situps

4 Rounds (2 min, 1'30", 1min, then 30 sec)

My numbers were :
55/50
47/31
35/25
19/20

Total of 156 swings and 126 situps.

Stretching.

Overall a great feeling. I'm off to a good start and hopefully I'll stick to my diet and fit lifestyle from now on !

Run fat boy run !

Squat cleans weak, stamina improving

Warmup :

-  10 Pullups

-  10 Situps

-  20 Squats

-  10 Double unders

Squat Cleans (5-3-2-1)

Warmup : Burgener warmup, 10x45#, 5x95#

5x 115# ;

3x135# ;

2x185# (fail x2)

1x185# (fail)

5x135# (for technique)

AMRAP in 10 min 

1 x Pull up, 2 x Double unders ; 2 pullups - 4 double unders ; 3 pullups-6 double unders ...

10 Rounds Completed + Pull ups + 8 Double Unders

My knee brace was getting in the way of the bar on the first pull so I seemed to be throwing the bar forward instead of straight up... then the coach told me to focus on pulling my elbows to the sides instead of rotating them in front of me.

I recovered awfully fast after the AMRAP part which was very good !

Official weight : 172 lbs

MetCon

Work out of the Day

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Deadlift 185/115
KTE
Run 800m
Box jumps
DU'sx2

Time : 21'15", not too bad !!!

Deadlifts + Abs Metcon

Deadlift

Warmup : 10x45#, 5x135#, 5x225#

2x 275#

2x 313#

1x 363# (fail)

1x 363

AMRAP in 8 minutes : 

5 Evil Wheels, 5 L-Pullups, 5 Clapping Pullups

5 Rounds + Evil wheels + Clapping pullups

did the last 5 pullups on my own time (singles)

Partner METCON

Workout of the Day

OHS
heavy single

Partner WOD
run 525m
50 - OHS 45 bar
40 - Med ball situp and throw
30 - KB swing 30/24kg
run 525m
Both partners run and then split the work on the rest

OHS : 10 x 45#, 5 x 95#, 2 x 115#, 2 x 135#, 1 x 145#

Metcon : 9'45"  : The KB swings were killing my legs then we had to go running !

Back to Crossfit after 1 month recovery

The physiotherapist finally gave me the green light to start working out again !

Physio : "Doesn't look too bad. Level 2 LCL injury. What do you do for workouts ?"

Me : "I've been doing Crossfit, lotsa olympic lifting and squating. How do I fix my knee ?"

Physio : "That probably saved your tendons from tearing completely. Go back to Crossfit. Try to avoid lateral movements"

---- He must have seen the spark in my eyes at that moment ----

Physio : "And MAKE SURE YOU DON'T GO TOO HARD AT IT"

Me : "I neveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer do"


So here I am now !!! My right knee decided to give up on me when I tried to avoid a tag at home plate during a fastball game. I've been limping around for almost a month now due to injuries but my knee feels a lot better !

The physio told me I might not recover the flexibility and strenght I had in my right leg pre-injury. We'll see if I can prove him wrong.


Today's WOD : Viking warrior conditioning #1

VWC is a VO2Max conditioning system created by Kenneth Jay, using the kettlebell snatch to teach you humility. http://www.dragondoor.com/b39.html

The VWC principle is simple.

Day 1 : Test yourself to find the cadence (in rep/min) that engages a VO2 stimulus. I've got 26reps/minute. From there you'll have to achieve 80 sets of 15 seconds of work/15 seconds of rest of KB snatches, switching hand each set without putting the KB down. They call it "15:15", I call it "ManMaker I"

Then go at 'er.

VWC #1

Warmup :
16KB swings x20 each arm
32KB clean/press x 5 each arm
32KB Snatch each arm (those bitches fold my palm skin like Pillsbury dough!!)

VWC (using the 16KB):
15:15 of 6 reps (26/4 = 6.5, since I want to focus on technique, rounded down)
Had to do 6 reps in 15 sec, then had 15sec of rest to chalk/deep breathe/sweat
Completed 30 sets in 15 minutes. Not bad ! ALMOST HALFWAY THERE !!!

Cool down techniques :
Turkish getup with the 16KB (had to twist my right knee so I went lighter a little) x3 each arm
Windmills 32KB x3 each arm
20 anchored situps holding 16KB over my head.
Stretches, focusing on knee flexibility/mobility

All in all, a 1-hr workout in the park in the sun !!! It's 2 hrs after my workout and my knee feels great ! I was able to do 20 air squats while being VERY CLOSE to my original flexibility !

Weight after workout : 170.2 lbs.