Easing into it

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Warm-up:
Take 15 minutes to work up to your 1 RM Squat clean and jerk (splitting is ok)

I put up 70#s. This was the first time for me to put heavy weight overhead with my wrist healed. It felt fine. Was still cautious of doing heavier than 70#s. I have a feeling I could break my C&J PR of 85#s. My technique has gotten waaaaay better since becoming a full time coach. Diso said he didn't have anything to correct today and that I move well. 

Workout:
“Christine”
3 rounds for time of:
Row 500 meters
12 Bodyweight Deadlifts (100#)
21 Box jumps Step Ups, 24 in.

My hip flexors were not happy. Probably from track night last night. During the row they def flared up. I was unsure if I would finish in the 15 minute cut off. So I'm glad. When I called time, I had that yummy heady feeling. 

Monday, June 4, 2012


Endurance Training 

Warm Up: 60 yard Suicides

Short Interval

Tabata Run

Remember Tabata is 8 rounds of 20 seconds of Effort, followed by 10 seconds of Rest.  If possible, use a treadmill hill at a 12% grade for the sprints.  Run 0-30 seconds slower than your 5k pace per mile, do not change the speed.  This is a pacing drill!

I ran about 525 meters, which is in line with my current 200m/400m pace. 

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

Warmup:
Back Squat 8-8-5-5 reps

Start around 60% of your 1 rep max and end around 80%.  So if your 1RM is 100 lbs, do 60 lbs for 8 reps and work up to 80 lbs for 5 reps.  Rest no more than 2 minutes between sets.

95-100-105-115

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 Chest to bar Pull-ups
5 Ring dips
15 Squats

My Score: 11 + 4C2B

The Chief

Workout of the Day:
Max rounds in 3 minutes of:
135 45 pound Power cleans, 3 reps
6 One-armed Push-ups on the Wall
9 Squats
Rest 1 minute. Repeat for a total of 5 cycles.

R1: 4 + 4 Push Ups

R2: 4 + 3 Squats

R3: 4

R4: 4 + 8 Squats

R5: 5 + 4 Push Ups

Things I realize: 

 

1.) Even though I'm not training regularly (one WOD a week, max, mostly low intensity), I haven't lost my stamina/endurance. I definitely had more gas in my tank at the end of the WOD. 

2.) My right side is hella strong. 

3.) Wall Push ups are deceivingly difficult. 

4.) That coaching has made my form/mechanics ON POINT

5.) I can do strict L-sit Pull ups!!!! On the RINGS, too, whassup!!! 

6.) Even though I haven't trained any heavy barbell work in almost 2 months, I'm still maintaining my strength. I deadlifted 185# 1 rep today and it felt frickin' easy. I can't wait to start lifting 225!!! Which is my next goal. 

 

Man, I'm so behind

I have about 2 weeks worth of WODs that I have yet to log on here.

I am in Florida for the next 2 weeks and I have been lucky enough to have found a box, Strongpoint Crossfit, that has that same lovely feeling I have when I'm at PCF. Where everyone is friendly, supportive, having fun... Challenging programming without it being completely demoralizing... Coaching that is encouraging and constructive. The people at Strongpoint CF give a shit. And I felt that from the first email I got back from owner Ryan over a month ago.

Monday, February 13

Power Clean every minute on the minute for 10 minutes for load.  
Rest.
“The Chief” – Five three minute rounds for reps of 3 power cleans (135# Men/95# Women), 6 push ups, 9 air squats.  Rest one minute between rounds.


73-73-73-73-73-78PR-78f-78-78-78


My score: 224

Wednesday, February 15


Overhead Squat 3-3-3 -3-3


42-51-60(1)-55-55

Workout of the Day:
Three rounds for time of:
275 153 pound Deadlift, 10 reps

50 Double-unders

My time- 6:12 
Was originally gonna do it 135# but happy I went with heavier weight. Just recently struggled with 3Reps @ 155# , so pleased I was able to do 30 reps. I'm super happy with my performance. I did this all by myself at Strongpoint, with Ryan encouraging me the entire time.  I collapsed in a sweaty heap, and I got that post WOD high that I'm addicted to :) 

More substitutions

Workout of the Day:

Three rounds for time of:
50 Double Unders

75 Squats 

The squats were ridiculous!!! 225 is a lot of squats. My legs were killed. 

Again quite pleased with my time. Must be all that clean eating--- darnit! 

Maybe just WOD happy

‘Barbara’ – 5 Rounds:
20 10 Pull-ups
30 15 Push-ups
40 20 Sit-ups
50 25 Squats

With a running clock, rest exactly 3 minutes between every round.  Your final time will include your 3 minute mandatory rest periods.

Kazoo walks in the door at 4PM and says, "You want to WOD at 5pm?" Without skipping a beat, I reply, "What's the WOD?"

Even though I did a strength WOD, a 20min AMRAP triplet, plus 400m walking lunge earlier in the day, another WOD was not out of the question. After hearing it was Barbara, I decided to scale it in half to keep the intensity up, really treat like interval training, and save my hands from pure annihilation. 

Off to LAXCF we go... 

I'm quite happy with my times: 

Round 1- 2:00 flat

Round 2- 2:28, my biggest drop off

Round 3- 2:44, 26 second gain

Round 4- 2:54, 10 sec gain

Round 5- 3:02, 6 second gain

Round 3 and 4 it seems that my push ups were the most difficult. Round 5, I did them in sets of 5. I really think that I have officially graduated to doing push ups in WODs with no bands forever and ever Amen. That's pretty fuckin' cool. 

I did all 10 pull ups straight without break all 5 rounds. My sits up felt like slow motion. My hip flexor was feeling really tight; must have been all those box jumps and Knees to Elbows. Squats were squats; thank goodness I do Curves :) 

Cindy Brady

“Cindy”
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 Pull ups
10 Push ups
15 Squats

Improvement by 1 round and 4 push ups! Man, those push ups are wretched. I'm happy with my improvement. 

Cindy

"Cindy"

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

5 Pull ups

10 Push ups

15 Squats

RX'd BABY!!!

I really pushed myself yesterday during the wod. I really wanted to make sure that each rep was of a perfect standard. I'm excited to learn that my scrawny little arms can do a high rep push up work out without a band. Woohoo!!!! 

I'ma get SWOLL over the next 8 weeks. Lol. 

"MURPH"

"MURPH"

For time:

1 mile run

100 pull-ups

200 push-ups

300 squats

1 mile run

On this Memorial Day, I did this WOD in honor of all the service men and women past and present whom give the ultimate sacrifice of their lives on the battlefield. "Murph" is named after Lt. Michael Murphy. Read about his courage under fire. 

I am really really really happy with my work today. I verbalized a goal of 75mins to finish the WOD, which I obviously succeeded. I've never done Full Murph so I don't have a time to compare it to, but let's put into perspective my improvement of fitness in the past year since I did Half Murph on March 17, 2010 . I did more than DOUBLE the work and improved my time over 2 minutes. I say more than double the work because I have progressed to unassisted kipping pull up vs jumping pull up, and my push ups are now on my feet vs knees, though I'm still using a band. 

This is how I broke up the work:

And this is how I tracked my work:

Per usual, the runs really sucked for me. Actually the first 800m was fine. It was the subsequent last three 800m that were yucky. After doing all the pull ups and push ups, I couldn't hold my arms up while running. My body just wouldn't stay upright while I ran. 

I was very impressed with my strict adherence to making sure each rep was perfect and could not be questioned as half ass. Again, that whole eating clean BS came into play with my pull ups. I thought for a second that I maybe wouldn't be able to do all 100 pull ups unassisted, but I felt like the PUs were almost "easy." The push ups were difficult but I made sure that I kept my body tight and all 200 were really nice looking push ups. Squats were squats. 

So ya, I'm pretty happy with my work. Body feels good. Never really felt like death. I think I paced myself really well. Murph is definitely a once a year WOD. It makes it special, holding it with reverence just like Lt. Michael Murphy and his bravery that fateful day Iraq. 

Wilmot

"Wilmot"

Six Four rounds for time of:

50 Squats

25 Ring dips (on parallel bars with band)

Just look back at my week. My arms have been dragged through the mud. This was the straw on the camel's back. I'm really really looking forward to my next 2 rest days. Almost ecstatic about it. 

So tired. So tired. 

Falling in love all over again

For time:

200 double-unders

100 kb swings, 53/35 100 Squats

* For every missed double-under AND every break in kb swings, row 25 m  do 5 Dumb bell push presses after final kb swing squat. Your time stops when the row  push presses are finished. For example, if you miss 25 double unders and break 5 times in the kb swings squats, you need to row 750m  do 150 push presses (30 x 5) before stopping your clock.

My time:  17:29

I am really really happy with my time. The first 100 DUs, I took 4 breaks. I did 40 straight, then another 10, another 26  straight, then took on last break before hitting 101. The last 100 DUs was another story. I took a total of 7 breaks. And my breaks this time around were longer in time. I was def. tired and was getting a bit discouraged. I was relieved to complete them.

The 100 squats I broke up into 30, 15, 25, 30. In total I took 15 breaks combined during the double unders and squats. That meant I had to do 75 DB Push-presses.

I was really disheartened. The number just sounded insurmountable. The had to break the 75 into smaller increments, lest I get overwhelmed by the work. I did it by 10s. After each set, I shook out my arms and took big breaths. All the jumping was killing my mid-section. I felt pukie by the 50s set. When I had 25 left, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I called time and collapsed on the floor. My body felt like one big heartbeat. I love that feeling.

I'm just happy that even though I have this potentially serious injury that could sideline me for a long time, I'm still getting my dose of high intensity. I have the best coaches.

A monday.

Ok, this picture is not correct.  The 105x3 is NOT  PR. The 100#s is technically and PR @ 4 reps.

After that I did...

"Tabata Something Else"

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

My totals listed are not in order of how we did the Tabata intervals. I think 39 is my pull up score. 93 is my squat score. 82 is my sit up score and 50 is my push up score. I'm happy with my work. 

I was passed over

The met-con was 1 round of:

Run 100 meters

50 Push-ups

Run 100 meters

50 Sit-ups

Run 100 meters

50 Squats

Run 100 meters

50 Back extensions

I didn't PR on my deadlift :( and I didn't do as well on the WOD as I wanted. I set a goal of 12 mins. I'm thinking of taking a rest day today. I'm obviously off my game.

Catching up

For time:

75 Squats

50 Pull-ups (25 for me)

20 Ring dips (10 reps)

50 Squats

35 Pull-ups (18 reps)

15 Ring dips (8 reps)

25 Squats

20 Pull-ups (10 reps)

10 Ring dips (5 reps)

When I saw this the other night on Main Page, I was completely intimidated by the high number of reps in this WOD. Diso suggested I cut the PUs and Dips in half but keep the same amount of squats. 

I did put up a band on the bar, in case I needed assistance since it was still a decent amount of reps even cut in half. I did not end up having to use the band and did all the pull ups unassisted. 

The first 75 squats felt like forever! I was the last to finish of my heat. It was a little discouraging, being that I"m the shortest and my squat should be the most "energy efficient" compared to everyone else. 

I was able to do 10 pull ups in a row, then broke them up in sets of 5.  The ring dips were tough. I initially used the thin 1/2" red band, but went to muscle failure and moved up to the white 1" band during the last round of dips. 

With my scaling down, I believe I was able to keep the intensity up. I'm happy with my time. 

My shoulders are pretty sore. I did do the thorough shoulder warm up, which I think definitely did me good; I'm injury free :)

Cindy

"Cindy"

Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:

5 Pull-ups

10 Push-ups

15 Squats

The last time I did Cindy was over a year ago, about a couple of weeks out of On-Ramp. Here are my results from that time. I did my pull ups with a very thick band. This time around I was doing the unassisted kipping pull up. I still can't say that I did Cindy RX'd because I did the push ups on my knees. I like Cindy. I definitely did not feel "gassed" in the lungs at the end of the 20 mins. It was my shitty dead arms that were screaming.  The push ups were horrible. I need to work on my push ups. I think I'll do 20 push ups as part of my warm up from this point forth and hopefully get stronger and work on my form. My elbows definitely bow out when I start to tired, like in this high rep  WOD. I did sloppy on my squats during the last few rounds, but Diso said I was getting below parallel. Meh. 

Tomorrow= deadlifts. Yay! Then I teach my first CF class at the park. 

Warm up

DROM

Squat Clinic

WOD

Cool Down

Nasty Girls

"Nasty Girls"

3 Rounds for time:

50 Squats

7 Muscle-ups

10 Hang power cleans

This was yucky. When I saw this posted, I was soooo excited to do this WOD. The "Nasty Girls" video was the one that got me all amped to do Crossfit. The hang cleans is what really got me gassed. I started at 65#s but on the second round I couldn't not get 65#s on my shoulders so I dropped 10#s. It still got me seeing stars.

I did the false grip progression in place of the muscle up. The squats were squats. I definitely felt slower at doing them than in the past. I've been able to do 50 squats straight with no break, but this time I only got to 25 and had to break. Either way, Nasty Girls is definitely one of those WODs that looks awesome on paper, then punches you in the gut when it's going down. 

I've been eating well so far. I did have a couple of cheats: Saturday I had half a shrimp taco, then later that night I had a glass of Macallan 12. It was worth it. Lot's sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, a pound of turkey a day, eggs-lots of eggs... 

I'm about 101#s, formerly 105#. I may have to zone soon if I want to get leaner. Which I think I do. Maybe. We'll see. I just like how I feel when stay away from carbs (besides the cravings). My sleep is on point, my skin is not inflamed. 

I'll be back. 

And my Crossfit hands are back!

Three rounds for time of:

Run 400 meter

15 Pull-ups

50 Squats

15 Pull-ups

So looking at the times on the board from the morning classes, I gave myself a goal of completing this WOD in 35 mins. So when I called time and saw that I did it in under 25 mins I was pleased as punch. 

My entire shoulder and upper arms were still sore from K2E on Monday; and I definitely exacerbated that 

soreness by working on my kipping last night with Rico. Actually my body feel pretty beat up as a whole. My posterior chain is very tight from the Deadlifts yesterday. Doing DROM was painful and pleasurable at the same time. 

The first run was fine. It cold as hell, though. I broke up the pull ups in sets of 5. Air squats are my thing. I think this is where I made up a lot of time. I mostly jog a very slow comfortable pace; it was rest time. The second run was different. I felt my nose running; it forced me to breath through my mouth, which I felt didn't oxygenate me as well. I got back to the box and blew my nose, at which I heard a loud pop in my ears. Then my head started to vibrate and ears started to rings. I felt a lot of pressure building up in my ears and under my eyes. My sinuses were putting on a mutiny. Somehow I managed to complete my 15 pull ups, then my squats... It felt good to massage my temples at that time. The second 15 pull ups were way easier than the first 15 in all 3 rounds- peculiar, right? 

The last run was easy and smooth. Got back and felt like I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The pressure in my head had subsided. But my hands were feeling really raw. I didnt tear or anything, but they were feeling very worn. The last set of 50 squats felt like they were going by soooooo slow. Again the last 15 pull ups felt like doable--- this time in sets of 3s and 2s. 

My body is soooo wrecked. I'm going to take the day off tomorrow. Let my muscles heal up. I don't want to really take the day off, but I know I should. Can't wait to get back in on Friday :)

I'm soooo sleepy and full of quab-lol!

Babaloo!

"Barbara"

Five rounds, each for time of:

20 Pull-ups

30 Push-ups

40 Sit-ups

50 Squats

Scaling Option B:

"Barbie"

5 Rounds, each for time of:

5 Pull ups

10 Push ups

20 Sit ups

30 Squats

Rest 3 Minutes

I opted for scale B because I really wanted to keep the intensity up and make sure I kept proper form all 5 rounds. That means chin above bar on every pull up, chest to the ground and arms locked out at the top for every push up, sitting all the way up so chest touches thighs for every sit up, and getting below parallel and standing fully erect for every squat. 

I did a scaled version of Barbara in May. I remember it really kicking my ass. This time around I felt really good and strong. My kipping pull ups were perfect. My push ups were "model" push ups. My sit ups were not lazy. And my squats were in good form. 

Doing the math for each round...

R1-2:11

R2-2:34

R3- 2:33

R4-2:35

R5-2:50

I kept each round under 3 minutes, which isn't too shabby for me. Kenny Kane had very similar times as me but he was doing Barbara as RX'd. What a crazy monster!!! 

I feel good. My abs still have residual soreness from The GHD workout from FRiday. 

Tomorrow is a total beach day. Can't wait!

In a world of hurt

Ten rounds of:

1 Clean and Jerk

5 Pull-ups

10 Push-ups

15 Squats

I'm really happy with my time. I don't care if I'm in the bottom tier for times. I did it as prescribed!!! I don't think I've done any pull up WOD RX'd.  60#s being 80% of my 1RM C&J. The C&J was the most difficult of the quadruplet for. Cleaning the bar felt like it took all my energy; right before I would jerk the bar, I had a sense of self doubt- the bar felt heavy.  With the push ups, I went to muscle failure every round after round 2. The pull ups were Ok. I broke them up in 2s. The squats were my rest. I injured my foot during the pull ups. How, you ask? All the boxes were being used for some WOD Diso was doing, so I used a KB as step stool to get to the bar. Well, I think I pushed off of the top of the KB at the center ball of my foot with all my body weight and hurt it some how. Now I can barely put weight on it. It was painful pushing the gas pedal on the drive home. I'm really sad about it. It's a stupid fuckin' injury. It's throbbing right now. I should ice it. BRB. 

Ahhhh, the ice feels sooooo good. I don't want to be injured!!!!!!!!!!! I'm all whiney now. FUCK fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!!!!!!

In more positive news, I have graduated to a taller box for my box jumps- 20". I had been using 16" for the longest time; it really was a mental thing. Then the other day, during the warm up, we had BJs to do, and I attempted the 20" box and VOILA! I did it. Sweet. 

(All the muscles in my foot are cramping and seizing right now... it's so painful... Jesu-christo!) 

Going to lie down now and watch the Lakeshow kick off the new season :)

Love letters to Dr. Izumi Tabata

"Test 3"

Tabata Squat

Max reps of Muscle-ups in 4 minutes

The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals. Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the eight intervals. Begin time for muscle-ups immediately after the last 10 second rest interval. Test score equals Tabata score multiplied by number of muscle-ups completed.

My score:

Super stoked about my Tabata squat performance. Rounds 1 & 2 clocked in 20 squats. Rounds 3 & 4 did 19 squats. By round 5 I was really tired, and did 17. Round 6 got back up to 18 squats. And rounds 7 & 8 I really had to really fight for 17 squats. I remember there was 7 seconds left on the clock in the 8th round, I was at rep 12 and I knew I had to go hard to get to 17... and I did, and it was painful. 

The last time I did Tabata squats, and used the traditional scoring method of your lowest rep, was in March. My score was 14, and I remember being quite proud of that then. So I'm really glad to see that I've improved in the past 5 months :)

I scaled the muscle up AMRAP to 4 banded dips/4 banded pull ups to equal 1 MU. My shoulder felt good, especially when my arm locked out on the rings supporting my weight, so that's a good sign.

For the warm up, there was 3-3-3 Deadlift. I started at 85#s, the first set of 3 being a "warm up." I slapped on 2-10# plates for 105, and that seemed easy. Added 2 more 10# plates for 125 and I did 5 reps and it felt effortless. Feeling "strong" in the moment, I decided to add 2-5# plates to equal 135#. I lifted the barbell and I didn't feel strained; I actually did 5 reps very quickly and could have done more, but knew I didn't have any more time before the start of the WOD. Take into account that my 1RM is 165# and my "go to" weight for high rep deadlift WODs is 105# (and usually I'm gassed at this weight), I'm quite happy that I have gotten stronger.

I have been diligent in the my efforts to attain double under SKILLZ :) Today, I chained together 11, and can consistently chain an average of 6 to 8 DUs with a short "recovery." While I have more work to get where I want to be, I know this improvement will greatly improve my times with WODs that have Double Unders in them. Yay! On average I spend about an extra 30 mins each time I'm in the box devoted to just working on my double unders. I know that I will have to start giving this type of attention to my pull-ups for me to see any gains in that arena.

If you're reading this, check out my new blog, Littlest Giant.  It is here that I will track my experience of acquiring my Level 1 Crossfit Certification, transitioning into applying the skills gained at my cert class by way of training, acquiring my CF Kids cert and hopefully one day "make" LITTLE GIANTS in my own box. So go to www.littlestgiant.com, bookmark it or "follow me" and share in the adventure :)

Supreme

Scaling Option A:

3 rounds for time of:

50 Jump and touch (14-12")

40 Squats

30 Sit-ups

20 Push ups

10 Pull ups

The jumping was crazy. My target was 13.5" above my highest point from my hand. My neck was killing me, not the jumping... I got vertigo fast. It made it difficult to do continuous jumps. 

The squats were not that great as well. My hips seemed really tight, I should have done the hip prep. Crazy enough, the ab-mat sit ups right after the squats felt great. Round 2 did my 30 situps straight without stopping. 

I scaled the push ups to just 10 reps a round. Still not wanting to stress out my shoulder with high reps. But the shoulder feels great. No more clicking, either. Just playing cautious. 

Since taking a break on my shoulder, doing the pull ups were difficult, like I had lost a lot of strength in my upper body. I used the 1" white band.

I could not imagine doing 5 rounds of this. Yuck. Took Hopper 26 mins. Amazing. And he did it prescribed!! 18"--- They don't call him "Hopper" for no reason. 

My 2 days of DMB was phenomenal. There is nothing more electrifying than live music. It floods my frontal lobe with immense waves of serotonin, and I feel nothing but elation and invincibility while swimming in the chords of the music... Saturday night, I really let go, just gave way to abandon. I never felt more alive. I was laughing and crying all at once. It was supreme. 

Sometimes I look around and question if the person next to me is experiencing a similar nirvana as I in the midst of the music. I mean, there are so many people who stay in their seats, and barely move their heads to the rhythm. They can't be feeling what I'm feeling, right? All emotion and feeling being bottled up... The emotion is so immense in me that it's like a champagne bottle all shook up, pressure just building, wanting to be released. 

I guess we all express ourselves in a different manner. I'm sure that person feels as deeply as I allow myself to express...