Tag Archives: Dead Lift

My Thumb Hurts

I couldn’t think of a better title. Sorry. I think it hurts because I was really forcing the hook grip last night and I think I might have mashed it a little too hard. Anyway… it was another long night with some awesome programming, great PR’s, and lot’s of hard work by some good friends. Here’s mine:

  • 50 GHDs
  • 50 GHBEs (35#)
  • 3 minute KB complex (1.5 pood)

Then, we did the the following protocol for dead lift, clean & jerk, and front squats:

  • 5 @ 60%
  • 3 @ 70%
  • 2 @ 80%
  • 1 @ 90%
  • 1 @ Current 1RM
  • 1 @ Current 1RM + 2-5%
5@60% 3@70% 2@80% 1@90% 1@RM 1@RM+
DL

285#

315#

365#

405#

455#

465#

C&J

115#

145#

165#

185#

205#

205#

FS

165#

185#

215#

265#

315#

285#

A few notes on the fails… my grip totally went away on my dead lift. I think it was actually due to the again faster grip things. I was able to hold on to 465# just fine with just chalk. For the C & J, my hook grip psyches me out. It still feels really weak, so I’ll start to pull, then just drop it because it feel like the barbell is going to fly out of my hands. For the front squat, I really just don’t know my 1RM, so after doing 265#, which felt easy, I decided to jump up. A little too much, I think.

Then:

  • 1 set of max reps dips: 16 reps

In other news, little Miss Brenna has actually slept really well during the past 2 nights which has been absolutely phenomenal. The different in how I feel when I get sleep is completely night and day and affects almost everything about my daily life. I can handle things so much better. I am sure that this is true for everyone to some degree, but I do know some people that can operate just fine on 4-5 hours. I am not one of those people. Never have been.

At the suggestion of my good friend Ryon, I am experimenting with the lean gains protocol (http://www.leangains.com) and actually seeing some results. This is very exciting and after the first week of following it, I am compelled to continue on to see what it does for me. I can see (again, in just 1 week) difference both in the mirror and on the scale, which has not really budged for quite a while.

There are some things about this that are not “paleo”, like the use of supplemental protein, but I have always been OK with self experimentation as long as I see good results from it. Hell, I was skeptical about “the paleo diet” a few years ago and decided to give it a shot. If I were stubborn about trying that, I don’t know where I’d be right now.

At any rate, I have learned a few things about my particular eating situation over the past week that I think are really simple tweaks that might work for other people that aren’t seeing results on “paleo” aside from the 16 hour fast/8 hour eat window:

  1. I am eating just too much from a caloric standpoint. Robb Wolf talks about “not being a hoover”. As in, it doesn’t matter what eating diet/protocol you follow, if you are a normal size person that has a normal level of activity (i.e. NOT Michael Phelps @ 12,000 cals/day), eating 5000 cals/day of all paleo foods isn’t going to help you drop LBs. Lean gains requires that you count calories to some degree. While I am not neurotic about it, looking at how many calories are in certain things, especially fats/oils has been eye opening. I still use the same cooking oils, I’m just not as liberal with them. Which leads me to point #2.
  2. I was not getting nearly enough protein. Both Robb Wolf and Martin from lean gains talk about getting 1-2g/# of bodyweight of protein per day. For dude like, me, that’s A LOT. While I typically don’t like to supplement with whey and things like that, getting at least 200g of protein per day results in A LOT of meat and eggs, so I’ve started adding some whey in on workout days. The right tool for the right job, right?
  3. Timing of meals totally matters (for me, anyway). Lean gains is a protocol of timing your eating, not so much WHAT you eat. I suppose it’s not technically “paleo” although it can totally be. It sounds really complicated at first but after a week of working on it, it’s really not that bad. It’s really split in 2 columns:
Workout Days Non-workout Days
  • Eat a bit more from a caloric standpoint*.
  • Eat a bit higher carb.
  • Eat your largest meal of the day AFTER your workout.
  • Eat a bit less from a caloric standpoint*.
  • Keep the carbohydrate intake low.
  • Eat your largest meal as your breakfast.

*This requires finding your BMR and knowing approx. how many calories are in what you eat. I have pretty much ball parked it up until this point, but am slowly figuring stuff out.

SuperStrong

Bigg Dave started a new strength class at CrossFit Cedar Park called “SuperStrong“. We could NOT pass this up. It’s an 8 week class (2x/week) that focuses on making you freaky strong.

I haven’t really been blogging my workouts a whole lot as, for a while, I was happy just to get into the gym and move around. But now that we are doing more strength oriented workouts, I need to record stuff so I can gauge my weights.

Monday 9/19/2011

CrossFit Total – 3 attempts to find your 1RMs of:

  • Dead lift
  • Back squat
  • Strict press

Apparently, the starting strength stuff I was doing over the summer has had a pretty good affect on my capacity. My numbers worked out like this (holy crap!!):

  1 2 3
Dead Lift 425# 445# 455# (PR)
Back Squat 315# 345# 365# (PR)
Strict Press 155# 175# 180# (PR)

It was a good night, with a trifecta of PRs. My total was 1000 on the dot and it felt fantastic. I haven’t PR’d something in a really long time and it felt nice to show some progress SOMEWHERE.

My last successful CrossFit Total was back in October of last year and was 945# (445# DL, 335# back squat, 165# press). I have added 55# to it (10# DL, 30# back squat, 15# press).

Wednesday 9/20/2011

“We are going to get sore tonight”… he said as class started and… yes, he’s correct.

The workout last night was:

Hang squat snatch: 5 – 3 – 3 – 3 (75#, 95#, 105#, 115# (2, then lost grip).

Then,

  • 3×5 Front Squat, then 1 set of negatives
  • 3×5 Strict Press, then 1 set of negatives
  • 3×5 Dead Hang Pull Up, 1 set of negatives

Weights used:

  1 2 3 Neg
FS 225# 245# 265# 155#(12)
SP 155# 155#(4) 145# 135#(8)
PU Me Me Me Me(6)

I am pretty happy with all of this. My strict press seems to have suffered a bit, but it could be just fatigue, so I’m not really stressing about it. I really surprised myself with the front squats and the pull ups seemed pretty easy… not the negative… those were a bitch.

On top of all of this, the class runs from 645pm – 830pm, which is sort of hard with little Ms. Brenna, but, she has been SUCH a good baby and the people in the class have been so incredibly tolerant and helpful with her. I can’t thank them enough for not making us feel like we had the annoying baby there (I don’t think she’s annoying at all, but some people just don’t like kids).

Anyway… she has been a really good baby through both classes now and everyone in the class is awesome. This is why I love CrossFit and this gym. Thanks, guys (and gals)!

“I Do The Impossible”–Finals

Today was the last day of CrossFit Cedar Park’s “I Do The Impossible” challenge. It entailed doing the same workout that we did 8 weeks ago to see if, and how we improved. Although my team ended up coming in last, I have to say that I am really impressed and overjoyed with my results. Here’s how the workout turned out:

Exercise 8 Weeks Ago Today Delta
1RM Deadlift 315# 435# 125#
1min Thrusters 20 24 4
1min Pull Ups 20 24 4
2min C2 523m 530m 7
Triplet* 4:15 3:09 1:04

*3x{5 burpees, 10 push ups, 15 squats}

So, I improved in everything. Yay!

I think that the best part of the day was listening to everyone talk about what goals they set and what was actually accomplished. It’s pretty amazing.

Thanks again to each and every CFCP coach that had a hand in this awesome challenge. It as worth every second.

Heavy Deads and HSPU

I was planning on skipping last night, then I saw the WOD and knew I had to go and try for another dead lift PR.

The WOD was 3 – 3 – 3 – 1 – 1 – 1 dead lift with max rep HSPU in between. No time component.

Here’s how it broke down for me:

  1. 345lb + 6
  2. 365lb + 6
  3. 375lb + 5
  4. 445lb (Fail) + 3
  5. 435lb (Fail) + 4
  6. 415lb (PR!) + 5

The HSPU (29 total) were done with one pad under my head but were as full ROM as I could make them against the wall.

What went well?

The first three sets of dead lifts were awesome. They were challenging but not impossible. My previous PR going into this was 410lb, so I am happy to have raised that up a bit. My HSPU are also a PR for me. I really surprised myself doing all of the against the wall with no help.

What needs improvement?

My jump from 375lb >> 445lb was definitely over ambitious. I should not have tried to go up so much in weight. Also, I fought really hard to get that lift up. Although I got it about 98% there, about 3 inches from complete, I just couldn’t do it. That fight ruined me for the rest of the lifts as I felt that I had nothing left in me. I didn’t even get 435lb off the ground.

Overall feel.

I think that had this been a 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 WOD, I would have gotten the 445lb PR. Next time. There’s always next time. I feel good during this WOD. Again, I felt strong and my energy levels were good. I think I would have had a shot at 435lb if I wouldn’t have gone all Moby Dick on the 445lb lift.

Whirlwind WOD Update

Here’s all of the workouts that I missed blogging since my last depressing update…

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 @ CrossFit 2717 in Jackson, MS.

3×3 Hang Snatch (Ended with 135lbs)

Then…

5 rounds:

  • 10 KB Swings (1.5 pood)
  • 200m Sprint

Rest 1 minute between rounds. Total time was 9:10.

Then…

  • Run 400m
  • Row 500m
  • Run 200m
  • Row 250m

My time was 7:10.

I felt really good during these WODs. The 1.5 pood KB didn’t seem hard to swing at all! Maybe a little bit of time off was good b/c I felt really happy with my performance here. The only bad thing that happened was that my hand ripped during the warm up while I was doing pull ups. Since I hadn’t been doing them for long (due to my elbow), they were easily ripped. OUCH!

The owner of CrossFit2717 was incredibly nice. Their box was great and it was a lot of fun to work out with them. If you are ever in the Jackson, MS area, check them out!

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 @ CrossFit 215 in Philly, PA.

3×5 Push Press (Ended at 135lb)

20 Min AMRAP:

  • 7 pull ups
  • 10 box jumps

95lb snatch on the minute no matter what you are doing.

10 full rounds plus 4 pull ups.

This was a really hard WOD. Again, pull ups. Argh. My OTHER hand ripped here and my rip from Jackson, MS, just got worse. It was 20 minutes of constant hand pain. Yes, I know, get some gloves.

Don’t want to sounds like a broken record here, but the people at CrossFit 215 were really nice. The owner was a great guy who was very welcoming and helped me and V through the warm up as it was mostly gymnastics based and unfamiliar. I apologize for the mental picture of me doing anything gymnastics related. I would highly recommend checking this box out if you are ever in the area.

 

The following 2 WODs were at the Black Box in NYC.

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 Deadlift

I got 375lbs up 4.5x, but my last successful 5 reps was at 315lb.

These kinds of workouts make me giddy. I had really high expectations for this WOD. Although I didn’t completely meet them, I am still happy. I really wanted to get 375lb and I think I made too big of a jump from 315lb to 375lb. Despite the fact that “technically” my 5 rep max is 315lb, I still think that getting 375lb up 4.2x is really good and shows that I am getting stronger.

 

Sunday, June 13th, 2010 (this was outside and was not affiliated with CrossFit NYC)

4 mile run for Colon Cancer in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. My time was 43:27, in Vibram Bikilias.

I made some bad decisions right before this run. I don’t think I got enough sleep and well, I ate an entire huge ass bagel like a hour before the race. I felt heavy, weighed down, and sluggish through most of the race. My first mile was awesome though, because it was at a slight decline. Really easy to run.

There were lots of long, slight inclines too which don’t really agree with me. I had to take about 3 walk breaks too. Oh well. Maybe I’ll skip the bagel next time.

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Clean & Press Ladder

Do a 10 min AMRAP of 1-5 clean & press ladder (1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5). Rest 3 minutes, then repeat with a countdown of 10 minutes. You must reproduce what you did in your first set. For every 5 seconds over 10 minutes that it takes you to finish, you have to do a burpee pull up.

I got 3 full ladders plus the first 2 steps on in the first 10 minutes, then 3 full ladders plus 4 steps the second time around. I used 95lbs.

This was a FUN WOD! I loved this one! I think it was intended to be done with strict presses, which the coach told me about 3 minutes in. Since I had started with push presses, I just stuck with push presses. I really didn’t want to do any burpee pull ups, so I worked really hard to meet/beat what I did in my first set.

I have to admit that I am somewhat disappointed with CrossFit NYC. A WOD is a WOD, so we are still getting that but, well, the experience there is somewhat underwhelming. The coaches aren’t really THAT involved or, well, as involved as I have seen in the other boxes that we have visited. We met a woman there who went to the games that was REALLY nice. Probably the nicest person we have met there… anyway… she said that if we wanted better instruction, we probably needed to go to one of the other affiliates in the city or come to the morning/lunch class. I would like to that, schedule permitting.

Snatches and Soreness

Last night at CFCP was awesome. I really love the Friday evening class. The Olympic lifts that we are learning are SO much and even more fun when you know how to do them correctly.

We worked more on the Snatch last night and got into doing more of the exercises with weight (presses, snatch balance, heaving snatch balance, etc). The WOD was “Isabelle”. I did this one on Monday in Albany, but I didn’t go with the Rx weight. Last night, I did.

Again, “Isabelle” is 30 snatches for time. They don’t have to be full squat snatches with the OHS, they can be power snatches if you are strong enough.

Last night I got this done is 6:16… almost 3x longer than it took me with 95lbs on Monday. Whatever, I am happy with that.

After the WOD, I wanted to try to go a bit heavier on the snatch. I was able to get 155lbs. I quit there as I was tired.

This morning for open gym, I was on the fence as to whether or not I wanted to work out. I am sore as hell, tired, and well, just not really feeling that hot. When we got there, the WOD was:

3 rounds 1:30 on, 0:30 off of:

  • Dead lift (225lbs)
  • KB Swings (24kg)
  • Pull Ups

I didn’t count my reps on this and really just did the best I could with how I felt. After the first round, I really didn’t want to do any more. You can’t stop though, unless you want to be the target of endless ridicule, so I just kept going.

We did some grocery shopping after open gym, then got home, ate and took a really long nap. Almost 3 hours, I would say. We had a goal to clean the rest of the house today, which we did some of, but not all. It’s been like 2 months that we are trying to do this. Maybe before we leave for MS, it will get done. Who knows.

Tomorrow, we have the finals for the 5k challenge. I am really tired and sore, so, this will be an interesting experience, for sure.