Saturday metcon

actually went to a saturday workout. I guess 10 is easier for me to attend then 9. The wod:

3 rounds
25 squats
20 sit ups
15 pull ups
10 ring push ups
400m run

Did Jerry tell Geoff about my hankering for ring push ups? Did this in 18:16 I think. It was unfortunate but I had to break up the push ups during the second and third round. Looks like I need to really get cracking on those push ups. Hate to admit it but I've been slacking this week, but after this posting I'm doing a set of 20!

Well, I came across this YouTube clip, here's me push jerking 185 three times. To be honest, I'm surprised I make it look so easy.

Ladder of Thrusters and Sumo's

The owner of Crossfit Bloomington, Geoff, asked me what I thought about doing descending ladders of both thrusters and sumo deadlift high pulls. Thinking about what Jerry would do, I responded with, "Well, what do you think about making one ascending and one descending?" He liked it, he liked it a lot:

SDHP: 10, 9, 8, ... 1
Thrusters 1, 2, 3, ...10

There was no Rx'd weight as everyone here is so new to xfit, so I chose 65#. I still had Fran in the back of my mind so I wanted to do sub-Fran weight.

My time was around 9:17, although near the end the thrusters were becoming extremely difficult to lock out on.

Geoff introduced me to the three other people in the class, and announced that I was "a beast" for push jerking 185 three times. I have to admit I felt kind of like a celebrity, Vibram Five fingers and all. It also had the effect of the desire to try to share and help out in any way possible.

After I finished, I saw one member, Scott, pushing hard but I could tell he was having that internal battle between his body and mind. I thought about it for a bit, and decided it would be ok to provide support. I was next to him, excited for his performance and telling him he only had three thrusters left for the set, that he could do it. I told him he wasn't really recovering just standing there, and that the faster he finished the sooner he would get a chance to rest. He seemed to respond well, so I kept it up. After he was done, happy it was over and exhausted, I congratulated him and asked him it I bothered him or helped him. He responded by panting, "Nah man you were perfect."

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow' workout.

Crossfit B-town style

So I wandered into Crosfsit Bloomington for their 6:30 class, and I was surprised to find out that the gym is so small (they're brand spanking new) that people have to sign up for the classes. In otherwords, if you show up unannouncded you run the risk of showing up to an empty box. I showed up early enough to run into a few people leaving the 5:30 class. The assistant coach that was there was gracious enough to stay and supervise my workout. I decided to do their wod:

Push Jerk: 3,3,3,3,3
3 rounds
12 box jumps
500m row

I got up to 185#, and then did the finisher in 7:57. Kind of proud to say that I managed to get the lowest time of the day, but I feel like I lessened the workout by not selecting their highest box (it was like 42"). Regardless, we didn't have a timer, so the coach suggested we videotape the workout to record the time. I asked him to save it to email me, and he said he would. So maybe later tomorrow I'll be able to post a vid of my workout. He also taped me getting the 185, felt kinda cool.

Wednesday

A rest day, my whole body was really sore from Fran. Also flew up to Bloomington for the week to see the gf. There's a new gym here, and I'm excited to workout with them.

Deadlift 3 rep max

Today was Deadlift Day. I was working out with Peter, and he is as strong as an Ox!

I felt pretty good with my last full set of 265, but then we attempted 295. Peter handled the big jump with ease. I, on the other hand, couldn't lift it more than a couple inches off the ground.

I think one of the best things about today was my attitude. I wasn't intimidated at all when we put on the second set of 45's onto the bar. I figured I was strong, and this is what strong people do. Keeping that mind set will help me go far.

Fran, with another PR

I was totally shocked to see we were doing Fran on Monday. My mental preparation was pretty limited, I just had faith that today I would finish Fran in less time then I had before. I feel like I'm a lot stronger than I was three months ago, and 95#'s for thrusters didn't sound that hard. After all, I really didn't have a problem with a scaled DT and that was 125#'s. So I got the bar ready, picked out my pullup bar, warmed up a little, and hit it.

I managed to lower my Fran by 1:38, from 10:52 to 9:17. Albeit it's a substantial improvement, I was actually disappointed with my time. I thought for sure I'd get a sub 9 fran, maybe sub 8. However, my hip was fairly sore from the adjustment from the DO, and descending to the full squat took a lot out of me.

Actually, thrusters always take a lot out of me. I was breathing really, really hard after doing the first 15 unbroken. This time I never really did a smooth thruster. I rested in the rack position to breathe with pretty much every rep. I was breathing hard after like the first six, but that's expected. I was also a little unhappy with my performance on the pull up bar. However, like I said, I was able to lower my Fran time by quite a bit.

It is very strange though. While I should be happy with the improvement I've made, when I looked up and saw my time I just did a mental shrug. I expected myself to do a lot better, and I felt like I should've been able to get a sub 8 Fran. I mean, Fran is the ultimate benchmark, and I have one of the slowest times in the gym. Today I don't know if it was my mental game or my physical game that hindered me. I had a positive attitude, but I was surprised by how difficult everything was.

Regardless, I'm one step closwer to getting a sub 5 Fran.

Trying to lose fat.

First, let me address why I would like to lose some fat. First there's the obvious: I want to have abs of steel, I want people to see each individual ab muscle in broad daylight. But there is another reason why I would like to lose some fat: it slows me down. Using various methods, from the zone calculator to electrical impedance, my body fat is somewhere between 12-18%. I now weight 205, so that's 25-37 pounds of fat I'm carrying around. If I could lower that to, say, 8%, I would be losing 9-15 pounds (just guessing here, since I'm not sure much I would weigh with 8% bf). For anyone who's worked out with a weight vest, the difference of 10 pounds can make a difference.

So I happened upon this post at Byers gets diesel, and let me tell you this is a high quality blog, full of great info. Here are some points I picked up from her interview with Mathieu Lalonde, a man with quite a list of credentials in chemistry. These are just a few points taken from the interview, and applied to my current situation. I encourage anyone interested to read the entire article. Here are a couple of points I've taken away from the article.

Point #1:

The source of the calories is just as important, if not more, than the total number of calories itself.

In other words, follow a paleo diet because this will eliminate insulin-spiking foods. Although I already know this, it is yet another reminder for me to remove dairy from my diet. It will be hard, because I find it to be a convenient source of protein, such as my oatmeal breakfast or my fruit smoothie recipe. Other than dairy, I feel like I have a very clean zone diet, with my carbs coming from fruits and veggies.

Point #2:

Fat is healthy and should be your friend.

As Lalonde tells it:

...fat consumption triggers the release of N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine, which inhibits food intake, and foods that are high in fat also have a much lower insulin response when compared to foods high in carbohydrates. This is why Robb Wolf recommends cutting out carb blocks and replacing them with fat blocks for people who are always hungry on the Zone. Not only does subbing fat for carbs prevent hunger, but it also increases the caloric content of the diet.

Zone? Check. Always hungry? Check. Looks like I need to start consuming more fat. At first I was resistant to the idea of cutting carbs and increasing fat because I thought the zone was all I needed. However, it's starting to look like this kind of modification will help me out. The more I understand the reasoning behind this kind of modification the more I am mentally up for it.

Point #2:

Ideally, one would only want to consume enough complex carbohydrates to be able to perform optimally during exercise, with the remainder of the calories consisting of protein and fat.

So I need to figure out, probably through trial and error, how many carbs I need, and let everything go from there. According to the Zone calculator, I need somewhere between 21-23 blocks a day if I'm lifting heavy weights daily. ...That is a LOT more than the 16 blocks I was consuming for most of the winter/spring. I don't know what's triggered this sudden rush of hunger, but I like it. Speaking of feeding the hunger....

Point #3:

Not eating enough will make one sluggish and become more likely to over train (or under recover).

I would try to paraphrase as to explain why this is so, but Mr. Lalonde does such a great job of explaining I would only muddle it up. According to Lalonde:

The problem isn’t necessarily one of basal metabolism, which tends to slow down when a significant caloric deficit is created, but rather of energy stores. If food intake is insufficient for replenishment of muscle and liver glycogen, intense bouts of exercise such as CrossFit may become somewhat more challenging. That is because the amount of glycogen used by the body increases with the intensity of the exercise. The glycogen stores of someone on a low calorie diet may not be able to supply sufficient quantities of glucose to maintain a high level of intensity for the duration of the workout.

I've noticed the recent increase in hunger has been accompanied by an increase in a sense of fatigue. It seems that because I'm not eating enough to have sufficient stores of glycogen. So I need to eat more in order to have enough energy (glycogen) to survive through these workouts. But you still need to run a caloric deficit to cause the body to burn off fat right? Yes you do, but figuring out how much and by what method can be tricky.

Point #3:

For some people, the zone diet is all you need, for others a ketogenic-cyclic-low carbohydrate diet might work.

What is a ketogenic-cyclic-carbohydate diet? Well, ketosis is when you don't have enough glycogen for the task at hand, so your body turns to fat as an energy source. Burning fat for energy? Heck yeah why don’t we all do that?!? Not so fast. Because burning fat takes up more oxygen then burning glycogen, less oxygen reaches the muscles and inhibits performance. So while you are burning fat, that's because you have no other choice, and a drop in performance is almost guaranteed. The cycle part means you time your intake of complex carbohydrates based on when you need your glycogen stores replenished (This could relate to post workout meals, which is reference later). I think will be a last resort for me, as I feel that I have many other aspects of my diet with which I can improve upon. However, Lalonde makes one comment that applies directly to me.

A male CrossFitter on a Paleo diet with an already low body fat level between 10% and 15% can further decrease his body fat level with a ketogenic cyclic low carb diet, but performances will suffer to some extent.

Still, I feel like I can go a lot more Paleo and should consistently eat more per day before I try going ketogenic. Harold once ended up in a ketosis state and did not enjoy the drop in performance.

Point #4

If you have great insulin sensitivity, then a post workout (PWO) meal is a great way to get carbs to work for you and maximize performance and recovery.

Although it isn't crystal clear how to tell if you have insulin sensitivity, I get the idea if you've been paleo or zoning for a while you should be sensitive. Given that I never crave sweets and have been zoning for over a year now, I think I'm pretty sensitive. (Side note: Last week I snacked on like 10 Tostitos chips, made me feel like crap for hours.) Katie commented on one of my posts that I might be a candidate for a PWO meal, looks like she was right. This will take up another post after I research PWO meals.

So in conclusion, it looks like I will attempt to make two modifications: 1) try to eliminate dairy and peanuts from my diet (this will be really hard), and 2) increase my diet to 22 blocks. I don't want to make too many modifications because if I make too many changes I won't be able to figure out what works. If these two mods work, then everything will be hunky-dory and I’ll be shredded like this guy. If they don’t, or if my fat loss plateaus again, then I will look into adding PWO meals.

I find the increase to 22 blocks a little crazy because 21 is listed for a hard gainer, 1 block more than even a X-large male. I always figured X-large meant someone 6'6" weighing 280, but perhaps it's all relative. The increase means I'll have to switch to 5 block meals, with some 4 block snacks. ...That’s actually not too far away from what I've been eating recently, where I was eating 5 four-block meals (basically had two snacks together).

I have also started to incorporate Paleo Kits into my daily routine. Although they are fairly expensive, I find them worth the convenience. I'm going to count them as lunch, since they have 5 blocks of protein. What I usually eat as a 4 block lunch will now be my 4 block snack.

Looks like I'm really starting to tweak this stuff. I always figured that by simply zoning and crossfitting I would end up with a body fat % under 10, but it looks like I'm going to have to kick it up another notch in order to lose more fat. There is always room for improvement, and I'm glad because otherwise things would get boring.

5k sunday

In an effort to help lower my blood pressure, I ran a 5k today. Although I didn't have a watch, I used the songs on my iPod to figure out how long everything took. My first mile was a tick under 8 min, and it took me a total of 22:22, give or take a minute I suppose.

This is about 4:20 less then the last time I ran a 5k. If there is any accuracy in this, I attribute the improvement to my use of an iPod. Chriss disapproves them because he believes it distracts one from the exercise at hand, but for me, at least, it seems to help me focus. While listening to music, it energizes me and reminds me to keep pushing. My mind wanders a lot when I don't have music to listen to, but when I'm running with a soundtrack I can keep up a much faster pace, I have a better ability to tell my body to shut up, and keep pushing.

I'm tempted to try the iPod again with another met-con workout, should be interesting to see what will happen.

The elusive Saturday wod

So I wake up today, and I realize I just woke up on my own, never a good sign. As I lay there under the covers, I wonder,

"Did I set the alarm for 8?"
"Check"
"Did I wake up and turn off the alarm?"
"Nope"
"Well, maybe you woke up before the alarm"

So I peer over my feet, and the clock reads "7:26". So that's good.

Except it's blinking.

Blinking as in the power had gone out. So I reach over and grab my phone, and it reads "12:40"

Crap.

It has been forever since I've attended a Saturday workout, and I really want to. However, all is not lost, and I plan on going for a run. Since crossfitting, my blood pressure has consistently been measured borderline high, and I believe this stems from me no longer doing cardio for extended periods of time. When I used to run for 45-60 minutes, my bp was very low, around 120/60. Now I've found it as high as 140/80.

So I've decided to add one cardio day, probably on Thursday, my usual rest day. Since I missed the wod today, I will go for a couple miles today.

Tomorrow I will post about various ideas for fat loss. According to Feedjit, not a lot of people check out the links I post, but if you do have a chance, pleast checkout this interview about nutrition and how to lose fat. The interview will basically be the entirty of tomorrow's post and my application of the info provided.

Met Con again

Well, we had a choice of either working on our clean or doing a nice metcon wod. Now I will readily admit I need to work on my re-bend with my clean, but during the warm up my legs were screaming at me. ...It seems that I am still recovering from the strength training of Mon/Tues.

So I decided to workout B, which helped with my arch-rival/best friend, the push up:

30,25,20

Pushups on blocks
Cal Row
Box Jumps
KB high pull @ 70#

Time was 26:22 I believe. It's been a while we've done a wod like this, and while the row was extremely easy, the box jumps were surprisingly difficult. I believe I was able to bang out 20-25 pu's in a row for the first round, but for the second and third round I could tell my endurance still needs much improvement. However, I can tell that I am improving, and that's all that matters.

quick met-con

A really quick met-con:

21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Ring push ups
KB swings @ 53#
Jumping Lunges

Did this in 16:37. Got the first round of push ups unbroken, but after that is was down hill pretty quick, breaking it up with like 3-5 reps. As I'm typing this my shoulder is feeling very irritated, I see the Osteopathic in a few hours so I'll see what he thinks, but I'm assuming the tear in my rotator cuff is catching on something, causing some inflammation and thus pain.

Coming back from a week off is a little rough, the legs are pretty sore right now.

Hungry Hungry Hippo

Today we worked on Push Jerk Max. For some reason I really wasn't feeling it today, but I handled 165 easily, but barely failed a 185. The failed attempt left my shoulder a little numb, so I had to stop and call it quits.

...On another note, since coming back to xfit my appetite has skyrocketed. I mean, I'm hungry 2 hours after a 4 block meal. Here's what I had today:

4 block oatmeal dish
4 block chili
Paleo Kit
4 block deli meat/veggies dish
2 block snack
4 block steak & Eggs dish
2 block snack.

The thing is, I was STARVING throughout the time of 10:30am-5pm I just didn't have enough food with me to weather the hunger storm. Not sure how I'll be able to prepare enough food tomorrow to satisfy this hunger.

And I think I really do need to satisfy this hunger. When I first started working out, like 10 years ago with my personal trainer Cissy, I didn't really see a change until I started taking in protein shakes. A couple years ago in law school, I saw gains after eating a healthy slice of pie after my workouts. ...It seems that my body responds well to an increase in calories consumed. I'm eating a lot more than what I'm used to, but crossfit has made me a lot more active then what I'm used to.

That also reminds me, I'm still doing the random sets of pushups. I'm doing a fairly good job of getting in at least 5 sets in throughout the day, and I've increased the sets from 15 push ups to 20 pushups. I like what I'm seeing and how i'm responding, so it's great incentive to keep it up.

back in action

Well, I went to crossfit after recouping from bronchitis for five days and attended last Wednesday's workout. After that I went on vacay to see the gf and didn't workout then either. ...I gues my point here is that I was really itching to get back in the gym after only crossfitting once last week. Today's wod was (once again) heavy lifting:

3 cleans, 3 front squats
go heavy, 5-6 rounds
aim for 85% max clean.

Now because I missed last weeks workouts I'm not sure what my clean max is, but I remeber my squat clean max is 195, so I used that as my guide. I got up to 175 and did that twice, although I have a lot of trouble with the front squat.

I really enjoyed this workout, I feel like I'm starting to really "get" the clean. I feel like I'm really starting to figure out the first two pulls, and am able to really explode and yank the bar up high. I'm starting to also find the third pull, although I feel like I do not dive under the bar much at all. Perhaps this is because I've been using lighter weight that I can lift up to my shoulders, I'm not sure.

Here's an older clip, to see where I used to be. Thankfully, I have come very far, mostly because of the coaching I recieved at the olympic lift certification class I attended.


I'm also thankful I wear my hair shorter now, I looked too shaggy back then.

My abs/hip/back are kind of bothering me now, I really wish I knew what is causing me this pain. Hopefully this will subside, I'll really have to pay attention to it tomorrow.

so you think you can crossfit?

Since I'm still recovering from the bronchitis, I thought to put together a little presentation. I compiled some data from the profiles of the male qualifiers for the 2009 crossfit games, and so far this is what I've come up with:

Average height: 5'9.5"
Avg weight: 183
Avg Fran: 2:57
Avg Fight Gone Bad: 393
Avg Deadlift: 442#s

So if one of your goals is to make it to the crossfit finals, I highly recommend you shoot for these kinds of numbers.

I've also done a lot more number crunching. Now I know I don't have a large sample to work with, but here's what I've figured out so far (purely hypothetical):

1) For an rft or arap workout, smaller is better, up to a point.

This chart shows the average fgb score and fran time according to height. As the chart shows, there's an inverse relationship between height and Fran time and FGB score. The cutoff for this relationship for Fran is 5'5", while it's 5'8" for FGB. I know this is nothing new, but I still want to explain why. If your score/time is based on repetitions, and a full repetition is measured relative from your body (like a thruster or a pull up), the smaller you are the shorter the distance you have to travel, for example:

If you're 67" and weigh 177 (avg weight for 67"), and do Fran in 3 minutes, your body traveled .46m with the thrusters, and .55 meters for the pull-ups.

If you're 75" (the tallest of the competitors) and weigh 215, the same workout would require your body to travel .52m for the thrusters and .61m for the pull-ups.

The 6'3" competitor has to travel an extra .12m than the 5'7" competitor. It might not seem like much, but when you have a race everyone has to run the same distance. Not so in Crossfit. You would think that the added strength from being more massive/taller would be a benefit in crossfit, but this doesn't seem to be the case, as my second point shows.

2) Although taller is better for max lifts, the strength difference isn't that big, up to a point.


Unless there's a crossfit wod to find one's max, the strength difference between a 6'3" competitor and a 5'6" does not appear to be a factor. Although the average deadlift for a 6'3" was the heaviest at 497#s, the average 5'6" deadlift tied for third at 474#s (5'9" was second at 483#). That's only a 23# difference over a 9" difference.

However, once you're under 5'5" heavy weights will pose a problem for you, as the 5'3" group's fran time was significantly higher than even the 6" group. But if you're working out with relatively light weights, like in FGB, short competitors still have an advantage over tall competitors. For example, the avg 5'3" fgb score was 412, while the avg 6'3" score was 371.

In crossfit, it appears that the strength field is so level that what makes the difference in wod scores is speed. Given that shorter bodies have less distance to travel a WOD will always favor a smaller athlete unless the weight is extremely heavy (like 350# dl's). Because Wod's are usually scored by time or number of repetitions, the smaller athlete will always be favored. The only measurement I can think of where the larger athlete has an advantage is work performed. If wod's were set to work performed, the larger athlete would have an advantage. For example:

A 6'3" 215# athlete needs 46 reps of 95# thrusters to achieve 40k joules,
and 47 pull-ups to achieve 25k joules

While a 5'7" 177 athlete needs 56 reps of 95# thrusters to achieve 40k joules,
and 64 pull-ups to achieve 25k joules

I don't feel like I'm being too crazy to say the 10/17 rep difference gives the larger athlete the edge. Unfortunately, the only exercise that does this is rowing for calories, too bad there aren't more WOD's out there that favor larger people like me.

Health update

Oh yeah, apparently I have bronchitis, a respiratory infection. This would explain why I've had such difficulty this week with the wods. My body is spending a lot of energy fighting off the infection, so any exertion above that is very draining. This also makes my DT more impressive to me, can't wait to try this one again with the Rx'd weight. This also means I won't be able to work out for a while, hopefully I'll be back around Wednesday, the nurse said to play it by ear.

I was hoping to make it to the sat wod, but yet again it seems to not be in the cards.

Pick your own Workout: DT part deaux

Been looking forward to this for over a week now. 10 days before I did DT with 125# in 16:23. Friday I upped it to 155 and finished it in 13:58. ...Did I mention that I really like this workout?
Anyway, I recorded the workout, and so here it is. Two things I'm not happy about: 1) none of my push jerks are as snappy as I like'em 2) it looks like I really have a gut. I know I usually let my abs relax, but when I actually keep my core tight my waist is narrower than my chest. ...I promise.

Of course there are two things I'm really happy about: 1) my arms and chest look way bigger than I thought they would 2) my deadlifts look very strong, no bend in the back. Heeeeeeere's JT:

Intro to Ryan

Yesterday's WOD was Ryan:

5 rft
7 muscle ups
21 box jump burpees

This was ridiculous for me. Actually, I didn't finish, again, for a second time in a row. I attempted to do the mu's, and I was excited at the chance to do another one. However, it was not meant to be, I struck out and after three minutes of trying to get one I gave up and started doing the sub:

9 ring dips
12 pull ups
21 box jump burpees

I don't think I ever did a proper ring dip due to my shoulder. Ah yes, my shoulder. A little over a year ago I tore my rotator cuff muscle, and even now it flares up every now and then. It seems that the overhead squats on Monday caused some aggravation, as I had no ability whatsoever to push myself up from the lowest part of a ring dip.

After I realized I was done for with the dips, I tried double pushup burpees, then I just had to cut it for good. My shoulder was in pain, and it wasn't the good kind. It can be tough to just give up on a workout, but you have to know when you've stopped getting stronger and are now making yourself weaker. I'm taking today off as my regular rest day, then tomorrow I'm hoping to get in a good hero workout.

Biting off more than I can chew

Today was a barbell complex:

7 deadlift
5 hang power clean
3 front squat
1 jerk

This was a rough day. Allergies, lack of sleep, bla bla bla, for whatever reason today I was having a tough time bringin' it. Anyway, I warmed up with 95#, and then went with 135 and banged it out pretty easily.

Then came the trouble.

I decided to add on some 15's. I didn't really stop to think I was now attempting 165, and when I went to do the cleans I totally dropped it. I decided to get going, to see if I could do it. Well that was another mistake. Today my shoulders were useless, and I was having a really, really hard time keeping my core tight. I just felt exhausted the whole time. I eventually stopped when I was attempting the front squat for the third time and felt my back go. ...Keep in mind this is my second set. I just called it a day and went home.

I had debated whether to come in earlier today, and while I don't regret it I think I'll take this as a lesson to listen to my body and know when to push and know when to recover.

The other crossfit effect...

My friend Taylor has onlly been to one WOD, and yet I talk about xfit with him so much he saw this, took a pic, and emailed it to me:

Enjoy, I know I did.

Pushing myself to be strong

Today's WOD was a tough strength/metcon:

5rft

400m sprint
9 ohs (115)
9 pullups

Jerry said only 5 people did this Rx'd, so of course that revved me up to do it Rx'd. This was a tough workout, by the third round my shoulders were numb and I was having a tough time breathing. It wasn't pretty, but I wanted to really push myself on this one, and the last round I had to bang them out 1-3 at a time. However, I did finish it, albeit in 32:20.

...I would also like to add that my coworker and good friend Will printed out the picture of me doing my muscle up, put it on his wall, and wrote "Adam is my hero!!" underneath it. Thanks Will. ...I'm still stoked about the muscle up, and if I had any, ANY shoulder strength after this workout I would've banged one out. Speaking of shoulder, I only did one set of push ups so far today, but I felt like it bothered my left shoulder some. Will play it by ear.