Nicole, of sorts

Today's workout was a longer Nicole:

AMRAP in 22min
max pull ups
400m sprint

Last time we did this my score was 5.5 rounds, with a total of 69 pull ups. This time my score was 6.5 rounds, with 12, 11, 13, 9, 8, 9, 7 pullups, that's 69 pull ups again. Although I hit a new pr on the fixed bar, it's not like my sway bar pr of 27.

The transition from the sway bar to the fixed bar has been a bit rough. My form isn't as consistent as I'd like it to be, and my hands are the first to go. There have been days where I am able to nail chest to the bar, and others where just getting the chin over feels tough. Jerry pointed out that I today I didn't engage my shoulders at the bottom of the swing, my kip's range of motion wasn't as full as it could have been. Instead, I was relying more on my lats. I think with the greater swing I should be able to finally start getting back up into the 20's for pull ups.

Met-con Monday

So today was some met con:

5RFT
400m run
15 pull ups
100' weighted lunges (25#)

This one was pretty simple, and for the first two rounds I was in the lead. ...This was a very strange experience because I'm used to being somewhere in the middle/back. Suddenly I felt pressure to never slow down, to keep up the ridiculous-for-me-pace that I started out at (I finished the first two rounds in like 7:50).

This should have been all positive stuff, I should've taken it and, well, run with it. However, it made me very uncomfortable, and it makes sense because this happens so rarely for me. It was pressure I wasn't used to, and I feel like mentally I was buckling under it. Usually when I'm in the middle I don't let other people's actions bother me, so it was strange that today other people's performances bothered me. I'm a little disappointed with my end time (26:17), but I've also wondered how much easier this would have been if I used my normal running shoes instead of the VFF's.

Will be reporting in on the VFF's later.

squat cleans

Managed to attend the 6:45am class today, and the wod was:

Squat cleans,
5-5-5-5-5

My weights were 95, 115, 125, 125, 135. My main concern with this exercise was form, not lifting heavy. I'm getting better at pulling myself under the bar, and I think I'm starting to get a proper second pull.

With the fgb workout I decided to go shirtless for the last round in an attempt to pump myself up. After seeing the photos that were taken, I question the wisdom with this move. Not that I look bad (albeit I have room to improve), but it definitely sends the vibe of "I think I'm the shiznit", and that's not really my style. I've always respected those who have it but don't flaunt it, and I feel like I don't quite have it, and yet I flaunted anyway. Pardon my flaunting.

In a couple of weeks I think I'll post an animated gif of my picture diary. So far I really haven't seen any changes, thus the non-posting.

Introduction to Back squats

It's really late and really tired, so I'm just posting the Wod and results for the record books:

5 sets of 5 reps of back squats

This was first time to do a proper back squat so I focused on form and kept the load light:

135-165-185-185-185

felt like I really, really worked my legs today, good feeling.

fgb of sorts

Today was a reminder of old friend, Fight Gone Bad. Back in 9/28/08 my score was 228, and I hope to do it again sometime soon. However, today's wod was task oriented instead of time oriented, such as:

3 rounds
20 wall ball
20 kb high pulls
20 box jumps
20 push press
20 calorie row
1 min rest

Can't remember my times exactly, but I think I was around 5:30 for each round. I was happiest about the wall balls, since I didn't break up a single set I feel like I'm starting to really push myself with those. I remember when the kb High pulls of 52 used to be hard, now I'm working out with 70's and doing ok. The box jumps were surprisingly slow, I really miss the padded flooring of the blue room with those. The push press was by far the hardest, I tried to do them quickly, but in doing so I felt my back bend back unaturally. The row is getting a lot easier, I feel like my form is starting to shape up. All in all a good day, looking forward to tomorrow.

push Jerk, and boundless energy

Monday we worked on 3 rep push jerk

Push Jerk
3-3-3-3-3

I thought my 1 rep push jerk max was 145, so I started out accordingly. However, I was wrong, in that my 1 rep max was 175 on 1/13/09 and 11/21/08. So it seemed I might have started too low and over warmed up. I was cautious with this movement to see if it aggravated my shoulder, and it seemed not to, so I decided to go heavy. My reps looked like this:

115-135-155-175-185(failed)

So I was able to hit my 1 rep max 3 times, obviously a sign of improvement. Afterwords, I decided to do the metcon finisher: a ladder of pull ups and burpees going 1-7-1. Because of the shoulder, I used the reverse grip for chin ups (not pull ups). Andrea told me to try it because it uses less shoulder. This new grip made the chin ups waaay easier, I felt like I flew off the ground. The burbees also didn't suck as much wind out of me as I expected. I never stopped, and only had to break up the pu's once or twice because of grip. Although I felt fast, my time, as far as I could figure out, was 13:10.

I'd like to try this one again later, perhaps with a 12 lb weight vest on.

"Life is like a dream"

Thursday was a scheduled rest day, and even if it wasn't I think I needed to rest the shoulder. By the time Friday came along, it still hurt, but the pain was so dull and so subtle that I decided the WOD wouldn't set anything off:

10 rounds
1 min row as far as you can
2 min rest

My distances were 277 287 283 295 303 285 292 288 278 297. Today was a day for me to focus on my technique, because even though I've done very well with the row machine, these results were achieved with extreme intensity but horrible form. Basically I relied entirely on my traps and lats, not my legs.

Now I'm trying to use extreme intensity with good form. Thinking of the stroke as a deadlift has helped a lot. I also try to reset my arms first, so that as soon as my legs/torso are in the right position I explode back. However, I didn't realize there was something negatively affecting my stroke until the very last set: foot strap placement. When my feet are resting too high (and they were) I can't reset as much as I should. Because my feet are higher up, I can't bend my knee very much without my heel coming off the foot plate. Being that one needs to push from the heels to generate real power, so I couldn't explode as much as I wanted to. I realized this right before my last set, and the adjustment made a 19m improvement from my previous set.

On a different note, Friday was Jen's last day here at CFOT. She's leaving since she's moving because of work. I feel confident in saying all of us here at CFOT will miss you, make sure to stop by if you ever come back to DC!

Muscle up primer

So the workouts definitely seem to be still pointing to muscle up preparation. Lots of pull ups, lots of ring dips/push ups/burbees. Today's WOD:

For time:
21 pull ups, 21 burpees, 100ft lunge
18 pull ups, 18 burpees, 100ft lunge
15 pull ups, 15 burpees, 100ft lunge
12 pull ups, 12 burpees, 100ft lunge
9 pull ups, 9 burpees, 100ft lunge
6 pull ups, 6 burpees, 100ft lunge
3 pull ups, 3 burpees, 100ft lunge

This one was tough, and I tried it with a 12# vest. I figured the pull ups were getting easy enough to warrent the extra work, and burbees will never be easy so that's irrelevant. However, my left arm started to really give out on me, making burpees and the PU's tough. At first I thought it was just my arms being tired. However, after finishing the 12 set of PU's I realized my left arm wasn't experiencing the good-working-really-hard-pain. It was the ok-I've-hurt-my-shoulder-and-now-it's-numb pain. I'm afraid I've aggravated my rotator cuff muscle, which I tore last may. My guess is all of these muscle up attempts aggrivated the tear, and today's workout just increased the inflamation.

I quickly went home and took advil, followed my 20 min of ice, then waited an hour, then iced again for 20 min, repeat. Now my shoulder still hurts, but to a much, much lesser degree. I guess I'll just have to baby it for a while, perhaps a week, and see if it improves.

Once again there is an initial reaction of frustration, but I know that nothing good will come of trying to push myself now. I just have to be patient and wait. I know the time will come when I will be able to do multiple muscle ups. I just have to continue to believe in myself, and trust me, I have that in spades.

front squat

Today was finding our three rep max, so the WOD was:

Front squat:
3,3,3,3,3

got up to 185 and then went for 195. I don't know why, but I had absolutely no motivation going into my last set. For some reason, I just simply didn't feel the need to push myself. Regardless, I talked to danny a bit about it and it has fired me up for hitting the gym hard tomorrow.

After the workout I worked on some jumping muscle ups, and my problem seems to stem from a lack of ring dip strength. Of course, my shoulders and chest are in a continual state of soreness recently, so after three jumping mu attempts I decided it would be better to rest.

Here's a vid of the nasty girl workout, look at their muscle ups, they make it look so effortless:

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/051204.wmv

Nate, of sorts

well, today's WOD was Nate, but given that I can only do one of the three exercises involved in Nate, I chose the alternative.

Jerry was nice, in that instead of subbing 4 ring dips and pullups for 1 muscle up he required three for one. Also, he asked that we do strict shoulder dumbbell press until fatigue instead of hand stand push ups. So my workout looked like this:

6 ring dips
6 pull ups
db until fatigue
8 kb swings at 70#

I think this might have been the first time I've worked out with 70# kb, but it was the leas tof my concern. Using such high weight really forced me to focus on my swing form. I noticed I sometimes used my hips in a upward motion, which I corrected to a straight forward hip explosion and that made the exercise a lot easier.

The ring dips were difficult, as usual. The pull ups I originally tried chest to bar, but as the rounds progressed I started to just do chin above bar. I was surprised how quickly my db strength went away. I used 35#'s, first time it was like 12, then 8, then 5, then something like 8 again.

Yeah, I only managed to get 4 rounds in 20 minutes. Personally, I can't beleive it's that low, and I must have missed a round. However, I really can't remeber a fifth round, so for the record it's 4. ...This just seems really, really slow and weak. I can't wait for the day I can do a handstand pushup, or a muscle up for that matter.

I tried a couple of jumping muscleups afterwards, but I think my arms were fried. When I tried my second one, my arms came out, and you have to keep them as close to your body as possible. I figured that I was just tired, so I called it quits. I can't figure out why, but I feel like I should be stronger than I am.

Push Jerk

Friday's Wod was 5 rounds of 5 reps of push jerk. I got up to 145, and I was surprised with how tiring this workout was. Regardless, I did the metcon finisher because, well, because it seemed the least appetizing, and thus what I needed to work on the most.

I feel.... weak. I feel like I should be able to be a lot stronger, and a lot faster, than I am right now. I guess this goes to the mental aspect, of being able to push myself, but I don't know.

Wed, clean work

Jerry had us work on the first two pulls of the clean. This was a good thing, as I was thinking of the clean as a deadlift-shrug. This meant that once the bar passed my knees I would lock my knees. This is pretty much the opposite of what needs to happen: after the bar clears the knees, there should be a re-bend in preparation of the jump/hip thrust that is the clean. I thought the torso needed to be more diagonal than it should be. When the weight reaches mid thigh, it looks like you should be at around 60 degrees. You don't have as far to move the hips, but you're more in a jumping position, which is what the clean is all about. Didn't really go up to a heavy weight, I wanted to nail it with a light weight before anything else, and near the end I think I started to get it.

...Worked on muscle ups after wards, but my arms are so sore from Monday's workout I was pretty useless. I'm starting to get jumping muscle ups, now i need to just keep raising the rings and eventually I should be able to get one. ...I still think I can get one by the end of next week.

A wall-ball intenst workout

Tuesday was a monster that showed me I need to continue to work on the mental aspect of my game:

50 wall ball (20#)
40 KB swings (53#)
30 jumping lunges
20 jumping slam balls
10 pull ups
800m run
10 pull ups
20 jumping slam balls
30 jumping lunges
40 KB swings
50 wall ball

My time was 30:03. I think this was my first workout with the prescribed weight since the back injury, and it felt good and tough. Wall balls just seem to sap any kind of will power I have, mostly because it's so easy to throw up a lazy pass, requiring you to catch it off balance or to drop it. A wall ball is similar to juggling, it's not about good catches, it's about good throws. Anyway, hitting the wall just right seems to require more concentration than I thought. However, near the end, I figured out how to will myself to do the last12 or so perfectly. Hopefully I can take from this and do better next time. ...Other then that, I think I handled this wod pretty well, I didn't really pause too long for any of the other exercises. Just need to keep working on the mental game and really push myself.

front squat

So today was a strength day:

Front squat:
5-5-5-5-5

My weight progression went
95-115-135-165-185(4)

Obviously, I started out too light to really find my 5 rep max, but I'm still cautious with heavy exercises that I haven't done post back injury. My felt fine the whole time, so I'm really happy that after three months it seems to have recovered.

Did the strength workout after wards:
ladder of
chest to bar pull ups
ring dips

I found the right grip width for chest to the bar pull ups, and they were pretty easy until near the very end. The ring dips were tough, especially on my forearms. ...I would have worked on muscle ups after wards, but my arms were exhausted. Think I'll start working on my push ups, using the technique I talked about earlier.

Saturday, recovery day

Well, went out last night and didn't get back home until around 4, and when I woke up at 8 I was in no shape to go to CFOT. I would like to post about the best deal in the DC area: behold, the Orca platter!!!

Old Ebbitt Grill offers this dish, and it is awesome! It's a lobster, dozen clams, dozen oysters, dozen stone crab claws, and a dozen shrimp. Now, normally it's $94.50, but if you buy it at happy hour (3-6pm and 11 pm-1 am) it's half off. Split three ways that's like $16 for a lot of food. I know it's not zone friendly, but it is awesome!!!!

...Will probably go over to the PTO gym and workout, even if it's not CFOT I want to do something.

First Friday of the month, Kelly

So it was pick your own workout day, and a good friend of mine, Taylor, came to town to visit, so I wanted him to have a taste of crossfit. Since this was his first time, he got to do a modified Kelly:

5 rounds for time

• Row 500 meters
• 30 box jump, 24 inch box
• 30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

Taylor forgot to pack his workout shoes, so we subbed out the 400m run with a 500m row. Watching a friend do his first crossfit workout can be entertaining. For example, in the first round Taylor didn't actually count out 30 wall balls (probably did like 20) because he didn't "think it was that important". Taylor also waited for me once or twice, because he didn't realize the importance of trying to finish asap.

Now Taylor is waaay stronger than me, at least in upper body. So I was hoping my conditioning would help me win. Jerry wanted me to represent CFOT, and so did I. Well, it came down the last set of wall balls. Keturah was cheering taylor on, and he was breaking them up pretty badly. I just kept telling myself that this was the last round, and at rep 15 I passed him, and then I just hammered the last reps out, beating him by two seconds. ...Taylor said he thought he was still ten ahead, so he didn't feel the urgency to finish up, again a rookie mistake.

Later at the social, I pushed him to try to find his one rep pull up max. I got him up to 63, but then he got self concious and stopped. ....Now he really wishes he had tried heavier weight, but I guess he'll have to wait.

Rest Day... and Ice cream makes you stronger??

Well, this was my first planned rest day on the 3 on, rest, 2 on, rest schedule I'm trying out. I was tempted to not rest, as for some reason I'm not sore. However, I'll just take this opportunity to rest to I'll be ready to hit it hard tomorrow.

This week I also started eating more. I've suddenly realized that I'm starving throughout the early afternoon, before and after my 2 block snack. So I've upped my caloric intake, and tried out some of those Paleo Packs Jerry sells. I've really started leaning out now that I'm eating more, which is pretty awesome, because I love food. I don't know why, but it's taken this long for me to finally tweak the 4-4-2-4-2 zone block plan. Sticking with that program showed a lot of improvement, but now it's time to take it to the next level. I have to say, as stupid as it sounds, I haven't realized I haven't been eating when I'm hungry. However, after reading this thread on the main site about how Ice cream has helped crossfitters lean out, I realized that I needed to eat more.

Max Power clean effort

I got excited when I saw today's workout:

Power Clean
1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Sure I'm sore everywhere, but the clean is a lift I want to get great at. Having learned a lot about the lift at the Oly cert, I was eager to practice what I had learned. However, I was cautious because of my back, I still don't trust it completely. So I took today as an opportunity to try to coach some, and I hope I did more help than hurt.

Here's a great example of a power clean: http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/cfj-nov-05/power-clean.wmv

I'm still "slow-elbows" Adam, the bar hits me in the chest, and I have to push it up into the rack posistion. This is because I'm not getting under the bar, and I don't know why. I mean, I get the "third pull" in the snatch, but for some reason it's tough with the clean.

I over-warmed up with testing the back, but I managed:

135 165 175 185 185

Afterwards I tried the split clean. For some reason, with my split clean I get under the bar much, much faster. Perhaps next time we do this I'll try the split for the whole time. After this workout I was done, my shoulders and chest were numb with effort. Oh yeah, that's right: on the first 185 Danny noticed that my arms were bent even during the first pull. I tried 185 again with straight arms, and I could tell that it was much better. I also seem to push off the balls of my feet, but that fix didn't seem to come as easily.

Man my upper body is weak...

And on Tuesday we had the WOD to prove it:

5 rounds for time
7 HSPU
7 ring dips
7 burpees
7 pull ups chest-to-bar

I modify my handstand push ups since I can't get a full one yet. Instead of the floor, I lower myself until my head touches the top of a stack of two plates and an abmat. ...That's not a lot, but at the start it was tough, and near the end even this was almost impossible. However, I can keep my balance long enough so as to never need to break it up. The ring dips were really tough, last set I had to bang it out one at a time, and I kipped as well. Burbees were probably where I felt the strongest, halleluhah. Had a tough time getting my chest to the bar with the pull ups, not because of strength but I could find the right width of the grip. Too narrow, and my hands get in the way between my chest and the bar. Too wide, and it becomes tougher because it requires more arm strength ( I think).

Did it in something like 33 min, will edit this when the pictures are posted.

There was a finisher after this, but I was so beat I figured I didn't need it. I mean, if you pushed yourself hard enough you don't need to do more work, right? ...I should also report that I am sore from Fran, my quads, lats, and arms are barking at me.