Tag Archives: Crossfit

Hotel Bear

I have a love/hate relationship with working out when I am on the road. I hate it because you are subjected to what most hotels think is an “exercise room” with little no actual equipment aside from a treadmill and a bike. I love it because it’s fun to come up with WODs that don’t really use much equipment. Also, sometimes you get looks where people are clearly thinking “what the hell is he doing??!”. That’s kinda fun.

Anyway. This hotel actually had some dumbbells, so for some terrible reason, I decided a “Dumbbell Bear” was in order. Why, oh why?

I decided to do a 15 minute AMRAP with 35#. I tried a round with the 40’s and it wasn’t really pretty.

I got in 10 full rounds on the dot and was breathing hard the whole time. I don’t want to do this again for a while.

Open Gym & Sampling

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Yesterday, we went to open gym at our “CrossFit home”, CrossFit Cedar Park. Kelli put together a fun WOD for us. It wasn’t too difficult of a WOD, but it was still fun. We split up into teams of 3, then did 3 rounds of the following WOD:

15 push ups >> 15 sit ups >> 15 box jumps >> run 400m

Every member of the team had to complete each “station” before moving on. So, for example, everyone had to 15 push ups before you could move on to the sit ups, but you went one at a time. You could not start your next round until everyone was back from the run.

Our friend Rand came up from the depths of South Austin to work out with us. So, me, Victoria, and Rand finished up in something like 16:49.

The good.

Everything felt really good today. I feel like I was pushing as hard as I could on all of the movements.

The bad.

My only complaint would be that I should have run faster, but I went into “management” mode when it was time to run.

Overall.

I felt great during this WOD!

After the workout, we did another sampling for Perfectly Paleo. I love going to the CrossFit gyms and letting people taste our products. Even thought we knew almost everyone at this particular gym, it’s still fun to watch people enjoying the food that we make.

7’s and Heavy Metal

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On Wednesday (7/28/2010) of this week, we did a really fun WOD. It was 7 rounds of:

7 Sumo Deadlift High Pull (95#)
7 Ring Dips (no assist)

My time was 5:47 (very proud of that). We followed that up with a Tabata run. After we rested for a a little while, I decided to do 2 five minute intervals on the C2, just for funsies. In the 10 minutes on the rower, I got 2343 meters total (1163m + 1180m).

The good.

I felt great during the first WOD. My energy level was high, the SDHP’s were cake, and the ring dips, although challenging, were doable. The rowing was pretty good too. It’s good to do longer intervals, I think, so that you can working on stroking efficiently (let the jokes begin).

The bad.

Although I said the ring dips were good, they were still really difficult and I think that I started to loose a bit of the ROM towards the end as my chesticles started to fail. The tabata run sucked hard b/c I had my converse on. I hate running in them. I feel like I am running in clown shoes.

Overall.

Overall, it was a great night. I was very proud of how I performed.

Tonight (7/30/2010), we hit up another heavy metal class where the WOD was simply to find your 3 rep, 2 rep, and 1 rep max clean.

Things were going well. We started with about 95# to warm up, then moved to 135#, 155#, 185# (all 3 reps), then #205. As I was going for my second rep of 205#, I missed my front rack when I caught it in the squat and it pulled my fingers back really hard. I ended up dropping the weight and didn’t do another rep. To be exact, I tried a rep with just 65# to see how it felt and it hurt, so I decided to stop for the night.

The good news is that I cleaned my former 1 rep max twice with little problem, so, I suspect when my hands are feeling better, my max will probably now be higher.

My hands still hurt this morning, though.

In other good news, I had Dave measure my body fat again yesterday and here’s how it broke down:

Body weight: 219lbs (previously 221lbs, down 2lb)

Body Fat Analysis (caliper test)

Chest: 20.5mm
Abdomen: 34.5mm
Thigh: 22.5mm

Total Body Fat: 22.8% (previously 24.4% down 1.6%)
Fat Mass: 49.93 (previously 53.9lb, down 3.97lb)
Fat Free Mass: 169.07 (previously 167.1lb, up 1.97lb)

V is going to take my measurements again today so that I can see if they have changed at all. I doubt they have very much but I won’t know until she actually measures. At any rate, I am happy to see this progress, even if it is just a little bit. At least it’s in the right direction.

Rowing and Presses

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I went to CFCP last night to do an endurance WOD. I took the one right off of the CFE website:

10 x 30s all out sprints (on the C2) with 2 minutes of recovery in between

The blog didn’t say to record distance, but I did anyway. I actually did 11 rounds as 1 was “punishment”
from Wladi for “not trying hard enough”. All in all, I covered 2130 meters.

After I did that WOD, I hung around so that Victoria could take the 6pm class. During that time, I practiced some dead lifts, some cleans, and did some strict presses. We have a CrossFit Total challenge coming up and wanted to get an idea of where my strict press is.

What went well?

I thought that I did well on the rowing WOD. I pulled as hard as I could on every round. On the strict presses, I did 3x @ 135#, 3x @ 145#, then 1x @ 155#.

What sucked?

I really tried to keep my 500m time on the rower between 1:30 and 1:40. There were a few rounds where my energy dropped off even though I was pulling as hard as I could. Those rounds ended up a bit about 1:40. On the presses, I was hoping to get 3x @ 155#, but ended up hitting some muscle failure.

Overall feel.

Pretty good tonight. The endurance WOD really sucked the energy out of me. I walked around with dry mouth for a little while after that one. I thought about doing the WOD that the 6pm class did, but then opted not.

Weekend Workouts

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Heavy Metal night came back this week! I had missed it.

This class (Friday, July 23rd, 2010) was all about snatch. We started with the Burgner warm up, then moved on to lots of reps of this lift. Here’s the WOD that Dave had us do:

10 minutes – 1 snatch on the minute (I used 95# for about 1/2 then moved to 115#)
10 minutes – 2 squat snatches on the minute
5 minutes – 2 snatches on the minute + 5 burpees

I don’t really know how to measure work capacity over time for this one, but the weight felt good. I maybe could have gone a little heavier, but we hadn’t done lots of snatches in a while and it was nice to work on the technique.

It took me a little while to get comfortable with catching the bar in the squat position, but once I did, it flowed really well (I thought, anyway).

Saturday morning (July 24th, 2010), we headed over to CrossFit Leander’s open gym to workout with them and do sampling for Perfectly Paleo. I will be so bold as to say that I was tapped after the warm up, but pushed on so as not to appear a “wuss” with the following WOD:

21 – 15 – 9

Push up
Sand bag press (60#)
Sand bag step up (30″ (I think), with 60# sand bag)
400m run

This was followed up by a 135# sled pull up the driveway and back.. .which really sucked.

My time was in the 18-19 minute range. The idea was to actually have a few minutes of rest in between each round as there were stations and you couldn’t go until the station was free, but there were so few people using the station that I was at (the RX station) that I had no rest. Boo hoo. Suck it up.

What went well?

Push ups were easy. The presses were surprisingly hard. I had to consciously make sure that I wasn’t putting a dip in there and doing a push press.

What sucked?

It was hot out. Really hot out. This made it hard to run. The step ups were really hard too, but I got them done.

Overall feel.

Overall good. Again, it was really hot which made this whole thing just miserable.

Mile Time Trial

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Last night (Wednesday, 7/21/2010), we showed up for a short WOD at CFCP:

50 air squats
Run 1 mile

Rest, then do 100 v-ups (aka jackknives).

My times were:

50 air squats: 49s
Mile: 10:01
Combined: 10:50
100 v-ups: 5:19

What went well?

I did the squats unbroken. I was pretty happy about that. My running was OK. I was shooting for a sub 10 min mile, but I guess I missed it by a few seconds.

What needs improvement?

My running speed definitely needs to go out. I was the first of four out the door, but third back into the building. Two guys went right past me b/c I run at a snails pace.

The v-ups sucked. I tried really hard to get my back up off the floor, but once I got passed about 35, I couldn’t and my stomach muscles would have some nice spasms and cramps with every rep.

Overall feel?

I felt weak, slow, and sluggish (as always) on the run. The v-ups borderline hurt but I just kept at them until it was over.

Weekend WODs

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Friday Night (7/16/2010)

Dave and Robin were in Cali for the 2010 Games, so no heavy metal night… In light of that, we got to do the following.

5 rounds:

4 burpee dead lifts
3 burpee cleans
2 burpee squat cleans
1 burpee squat clean & jerk

Rx was 185#, but I used 135# because 185# is insane. I got this one done in 9:37.

What went well?

That first round felt great! The rest was just hell but fun too. Does that make any sense?

What needs work?

The last 3 reps of each round were tough. The squat cleans were very challenging but not impossible. I took a lot of breaks.

Overall feel.

I had good sustained energy throughout this WOD. Although it was really challenging I was able to keep on pushing.

Saturday Morning (7/17/2010)

Jason ran a fantastic open gym at our new box. He talked for a while about how your negative thoughts, as well as other people’s negative tendencies can get to you during WODs. We went in two heats as there were SO many people. The new box is awesome. I love it already!

5 rounds:

7 cleans (135# RX)
17 med ball slams (20# ball)
10 box jumps (small box to actually jump)

I got this one done in 14:20ish (I think, if I’m wrong, it’s somewhere between 14 and 15 min)

What went well?

The cleans and medicine ball slams went pretty well.

What needs work?

Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning. Man, I was sucking wind by the 3rd round of this thing. I need to get better at working in this state. When I get to the point where all my lights are flashing red, I tend to need to back away for a few seconds.

Overall feel.

Pretty good. I had a pretty sustained energy level throughout. I did start to get some soreness in my lower back, but I think that’s because I was still sore from heavy dead lifts on Monday.

Monday Morning (7/18/2010)

Since I am trying to get more WODs into my schedule in general, I decided to do this one at home to not burn one of my days at CFCP. I thought it would be fun and a good opportunity to work on my double unders, but man, was I wrong.

50 – 40 – 30 – 20 – 10

Double under
Push up

I got this one done in an awful and embarrassing 26:05.

What went well?

Nothing.

What needs work?

DOUBLE UNDERS!!! ARGH! The most I was able to string together was 2 or sometimes 3 if I was lucky. After about 30 push ups, I was battling muscle failure. I would get some sets of 5, but mostly it was anywhere between 2 and 3.

Overall feel.

Awful. Just terrible. Nothing about this WOD felt good and I was super pissed off when I was done. There was a lot of swearing and rope throwing. Time to start doing double unders as a skill.

I have been trying to incorporate more long walks into my weeks. I think that in addition to all of the high intensity stuff, some low intensity sustained work is good. Last night we went for a 45 minute walk with the new 20# vest that I bought. It was really cool and made me all sweaty like.

Heavy Deads and HSPU

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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:

345lb + 6
365lb + 6
375lb + 5
445lb (Fail) + 3
435lb (Fail) + 4
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.

No Heavy Metal

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There was no heavy metal class on Friday. I had a feeling there wouldn’t be, but I had to get my 2nd WOD of the week in so we went. Turns out the WOD was pretty difficult. Three days later, I am still pretty stiff-legged from it.

Friday, July 9th, 2010

800m run
50 kb swings (1.5 pood)
30 thrusters (95#)
800m run1

I did this one in 18:41.

What went well?

The first run, the KB swings, and the first 10 thrusters were great. I had lots of energy coming back in from the first run which carried through the swings and into the thrusters.

What needs improvement?

I swear, 95lbs is WAY heavier than it was before I left. At any rate, the thrusters we REALLY hard to get through. The run at the end was just murderous torture. I could barely move my legs to run. I took lots of walking breaks and made lots of embarrassing noises. I took a lot of breaks on the thrusters to catch my breath and basically, not pass out.

Overall feel?

For the majority of this WOD, I felt pretty damn good. I had a pretty high energy level and I had some good get up and go. I really lost it about 1/2 through the thrusters and it was downhill from there.

After the WOD, V and I hung around for a little bit to talk nutrition with Chad, Nikki, and Wladi. Originally, I wanted to get into Paleo Zoning. As you may have read on here before, I have tried to get that going in the past, but with no success due to extreme frustration.

We talked about zoning for a little while, then Chad had some just, fantastic advice. He told us to make sure that we are essentially hitting the following points:

Get your bodyweight in grams of protein per day. That means 220g per day for me.
Get full on protein, fat, & low sugar veggies, but focus mostly on protein and fat.
Save starchy vegetable and fruit for 30-45 minutes post a taxing WOD, like a metcon.
Eat until you are full, don’t worry how much.

I have been trying to do this since Friday when we spoke and I have noticed a few things so far:

I am not hungry AT ALL between meals.
I am sufficiently full when I eat.
My meals look a little bit different (a lot more meat).

I am now tossing around the idea of a protein supplement to get myself to the goal of 221g/day. I need to research that a bit more.

More WODs

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Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

I was feeling like getting a small WOD in so I decided to do this at home.

100 Double Unders for time

Tabata Sprint

It took me 5:42 to do the double unders. They started out well at first, but by the end, I was doing them one at a time. The sprints felt really good for the first 2 rounds, then got progressively slower and harder.

Wednesday, July 8th, 2010

Back at CrossFit CP, we did:

21 – 15 – 9

Medicine Ball Clean (20lb)
Pull Up
Wall Ball (20lb)
Mountain Climbers (42 – 30 – 18)

We followed up with a Tabata Row.

I finished the first WOD in 14:56 and got 810m on the row.

What went well?

The med ball cleans, the wall balls, and the mountain climbers all went off without a hitch.

What needs improvement?

PULL UPS!!! Argh!!! Ever since I stopped doing them often a few months ago, I am having problems getting more than 2-3 at a time. I need to get that swing back.

Overall feel.

Pretty good. My energy level was pretty constant throughout this WOD. I would like to think that there were areas in which I could have pushed harder, but still, I think I did pretty well. Had I had my pull ups from 3 months ago, I probably would have had a much better time. Lots of time was burned on doing them one and two at a time.