Again had the day off from work thanks to the snow. I needed the extra rest, because this one was a doozy:
TUESDAY 100209:
10 Lou Burpees, 20 Pullups, 40 Double unders.
9 L Burp, 18 Pull, 36 DU,
...
all the way to 1,2,4.
This was very upper body intensive, and I was pretty darn slow on everything. The double unders were coming up more consistently, but Melissa pointed out that I keep my left arm much higher than my right, so that was causing a lot of difficulty. This was super annoying, because I had the rhythm down, but I kept hitting my left forearm and the left side of my head. I tried to focus on lowering my arm but when that happened everything else went to shit.
My time was something like 37:XX. I forget, but the pushups and pull ups were a serious workout.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
1 rep OHS PR, conditioning wod afterwards
So I braved the snow with Judy and we showed up to a somewhat barren CFOT. Today was 20 min to find your 1 rep OHS max and after that a conditioning wod.
I had great form with the OHS. I really worked on going down slowly and coming up quickly. Patrick hit 200 today, so I really wanted to do that.
I did 155 no problem, then upped it to 175, and did it without too much trouble. That's about 10 pounds heavier than anything I've OHS'd before.
With no time left, I tried to do 185, but I couldn't jerk it up to even try. It's a little frustrating in that I can't hold 185 over my head right now, but there was a major positive to take away from today, and that was my core stability. I felt much more stable today, and I think it's because I'm getting a better feel for contracting my stomach.
The conditioner sucked, but I love GHD's, and I was able to get a lot of them done. Near the end I started to figure out how to really work my stomach muscles while stretching them out, and I look forward to a sore stomach tomorrow. I miss that feeling.
I had great form with the OHS. I really worked on going down slowly and coming up quickly. Patrick hit 200 today, so I really wanted to do that.
I did 155 no problem, then upped it to 175, and did it without too much trouble. That's about 10 pounds heavier than anything I've OHS'd before.
With no time left, I tried to do 185, but I couldn't jerk it up to even try. It's a little frustrating in that I can't hold 185 over my head right now, but there was a major positive to take away from today, and that was my core stability. I felt much more stable today, and I think it's because I'm getting a better feel for contracting my stomach.
The conditioner sucked, but I love GHD's, and I was able to get a lot of them done. Near the end I started to figure out how to really work my stomach muscles while stretching them out, and I look forward to a sore stomach tomorrow. I miss that feeling.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Pick your poison: Grace
So it's first Friday, and this will be my fifth crossfit workout in a row. I didn't want to do a real long workout. I also wanted to try one that I haven't done before. I ended up on Grace. It seems to be a standard wod that a lot of people do, and I need to work on my clean and jerk.
I had a very hard time pushing myself in this wod, and the frustrating thing is I knew I was slacking and I couldn't figure out a way to really push myself. I worked on keeping my
stomach small while cleaning, but I still could not find a way to keep a really tight core on the jerk. In a way, this Grace was like a skill wod.
As this picture shows, my back is severely arched during the jerk. I've felt/known about this since I first started xfitting, but haven't figured out how to fix it. I know the cause, or as least I assume I know the cause, to be my back muscles are way stronger than my abs, so the imbalance of strength caused my back to arch in this manner. Now that GHD's are helping with my stomach strength, and I'm working on engaging my abs during lifts, I hope that some balance will be restored. ...This should also really help me with the push press in fgb. Just looking at this picture makes my back hurt a little, I really do want the ability to control my abs and engage them throughout a workout.
My time was 9:34, and I'm a little disappointed with this time. I mean, I've clean and jerked 95#s 74 times in only two more minutes. I guess it's simply a lack of strength, who knows. But I'm going to do Grace again, and I swear it will be lower by a lot.
I had a very hard time pushing myself in this wod, and the frustrating thing is I knew I was slacking and I couldn't figure out a way to really push myself. I worked on keeping my
stomach small while cleaning, but I still could not find a way to keep a really tight core on the jerk. In a way, this Grace was like a skill wod.As this picture shows, my back is severely arched during the jerk. I've felt/known about this since I first started xfitting, but haven't figured out how to fix it. I know the cause, or as least I assume I know the cause, to be my back muscles are way stronger than my abs, so the imbalance of strength caused my back to arch in this manner. Now that GHD's are helping with my stomach strength, and I'm working on engaging my abs during lifts, I hope that some balance will be restored. ...This should also really help me with the push press in fgb. Just looking at this picture makes my back hurt a little, I really do want the ability to control my abs and engage them throughout a workout.
My time was 9:34, and I'm a little disappointed with this time. I mean, I've clean and jerked 95#s 74 times in only two more minutes. I guess it's simply a lack of strength, who knows. But I'm going to do Grace again, and I swear it will be lower by a lot.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Snatch 1 rep max
So Thursday was my supposed rest day, but who can turn down a chance to work on the snatch?
i only had a few minutes to workout before I had to leave for some celebrating, I warmed up quickly and then hit 125 with not much of an issue. I jumped up to 145, and then failed twice. I was able to lift the bar up high enough, but I just didn't have the speed in me to get under.
Keeping my stomach tight and small is becoming more and more natural to me. I really hope this modification will help me take it to the next level.
i only had a few minutes to workout before I had to leave for some celebrating, I warmed up quickly and then hit 125 with not much of an issue. I jumped up to 145, and then failed twice. I was able to lift the bar up high enough, but I just didn't have the speed in me to get under.
Keeping my stomach tight and small is becoming more and more natural to me. I really hope this modification will help me take it to the next level.
Birthday Wod!
Although my birthday was on Thursday, I had to wear the weight vest a day early because Thursday was a strength day and Wednesday was a met con:
5 rounds elite
3 rounds pack
300m row
15 pull ups
15 wall balls
15 burpees
I did pack because, well, because I did this with a 20# weight vest. My time was 24:17, pretty slow for three rounds.
The row really didn't change much, the pull ups were ok as long as I did 3, rested for just a second, and repeat. I made the wall balls my biatch, only breaking up the third set because I mis-threw the ball and couldn't catch it.
Burpees, however, were another story. I couldn't do these very quickly at all, and to only reason I stopped at three rounds was because my shoulder was starting to feel "off" from the strain.
Very happy to get this one in. Also, I heard that my workout was used as motivation for others, that others found it inspiring.
5 rounds elite
3 rounds pack
300m row
15 pull ups
15 wall balls
15 burpees
I did pack because, well, because I did this with a 20# weight vest. My time was 24:17, pretty slow for three rounds.
The row really didn't change much, the pull ups were ok as long as I did 3, rested for just a second, and repeat. I made the wall balls my biatch, only breaking up the third set because I mis-threw the ball and couldn't catch it.
Burpees, however, were another story. I couldn't do these very quickly at all, and to only reason I stopped at three rounds was because my shoulder was starting to feel "off" from the strain.
Very happy to get this one in. Also, I heard that my workout was used as motivation for others, that others found it inspiring.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Annie (PR) and strict pull ups
Today was Annie:
50,40,30,20,10 Double-unders and Situps.
Back in December my time was 17:20, so this was a great way to gauge my double under ability. Today I wore normal running shoes so I wouldn't lash my feet up if I missed. I had some trouble finding my rhythm, no surprise there. I had lots of failed attempts, and was only to get one or two at a time for the beginning.
However, I started experimenting with the rope speed, and I started to find it again. On the second to last set I got something like 12 in a row, and on the last set I hit ten so easily I wanted to keep going, but after the eleventh one I decided I should just finish up and dropped the rope.
My time was something like 13:22, so almost 4 minutes faster than last time.
Afterwards I worked on the strength wod some:
Strength WOD: Weighted pullup x 1
I got up to 53#'s, but when I tried 58 I had to cheat a little at the top, so it didn't count.
After that, I worked some on double unders again. I tried a couple of times, and then I hit 16 in a row. Took a break, and then had a lot more failures until I hit 6 in a row. By then I figured I was just tired, called it a day.
50,40,30,20,10 Double-unders and Situps.
Back in December my time was 17:20, so this was a great way to gauge my double under ability. Today I wore normal running shoes so I wouldn't lash my feet up if I missed. I had some trouble finding my rhythm, no surprise there. I had lots of failed attempts, and was only to get one or two at a time for the beginning.
However, I started experimenting with the rope speed, and I started to find it again. On the second to last set I got something like 12 in a row, and on the last set I hit ten so easily I wanted to keep going, but after the eleventh one I decided I should just finish up and dropped the rope.
My time was something like 13:22, so almost 4 minutes faster than last time.
Afterwards I worked on the strength wod some:
Strength WOD: Weighted pullup x 1
I got up to 53#'s, but when I tried 58 I had to cheat a little at the top, so it didn't count.
After that, I worked some on double unders again. I tried a couple of times, and then I hit 16 in a row. Took a break, and then had a lot more failures until I hit 6 in a row. By then I figured I was just tired, called it a day.
Deadlift ladder, of sorts and a met-con
Haven't done deadlifts in quite some time, and this time I was going to do it with keeping my waist as small as possible, as oppose to expanding it as much as possible.
Strength: Deadlift 70% of your max x 2 dead-stop reps, add 5% every 2 minutes until you tap out (no touch and go).
Back at the MAC Hopper I had two reps of 365, so I figured 255 would be a good place to start. It was very, very strange to inhale but to suck in my stomach. I mean, when I think take in a big gulp of air I think drop diaphram and expand the stomach muscles. Realizing I've been lifting without proper core tension is pretty damn huge. I mean, most of these lifts the failure doesn't occur with the legs, it occurs in the core. I've been crossfitting without really working my core muscles.
That is pretty significant.
Now that I'm contracting in as opposed to pushing out, I expect to see even more of a difference with my stomach as well as my lifts.
Speaking of lifts, I started out at 255 and did ok, then 275 and did alright, then did 295 and my back started to bend some. This bend was probably from the lack of core tension because I was really struggling breathing in while making my stomach smaller. I was also looking up when I started to lift, and appearently tilting your head back can cut off your brain from really controlling your legs. For my 315 attempt I tried to keep looking down, breathed in, contracted my stomach, and tried to stand up. There was a pause, but it was slow and smooth, the best way to do it.
I then tried 335, and all I felt was a bend in my back. My back tapped out for me. I then dropped it down to 225 and worked on my form. It was still really rough. I need to work on this all over again. For all of the lifts, I'm back at square one, relearning everything. I am excited though, because if I'm able to get this far without doing proper technique, I should see a whole lot of improvement as I get better.
There was a second workout, and this one seemed mandatory, not like the backsquat one.
Conditioning: AMRAP 10 min 10, pushup, 10 KB Highpull(70#), 10 jumping slamball
I got 8 rounds plus 2 push ups. To report in, I have been doing random sets of 12-15 pushups, and I think that greatly helped. My push ups feel like they've got a "pop" now that's never been there before, a sort of explosiveness that I've never had.
Kind of feel like I've taken two steps back, but I know this'll allow me to make giant leaps forward.
Strength: Deadlift 70% of your max x 2 dead-stop reps, add 5% every 2 minutes until you tap out (no touch and go).
Back at the MAC Hopper I had two reps of 365, so I figured 255 would be a good place to start. It was very, very strange to inhale but to suck in my stomach. I mean, when I think take in a big gulp of air I think drop diaphram and expand the stomach muscles. Realizing I've been lifting without proper core tension is pretty damn huge. I mean, most of these lifts the failure doesn't occur with the legs, it occurs in the core. I've been crossfitting without really working my core muscles.
That is pretty significant.
Now that I'm contracting in as opposed to pushing out, I expect to see even more of a difference with my stomach as well as my lifts.
Speaking of lifts, I started out at 255 and did ok, then 275 and did alright, then did 295 and my back started to bend some. This bend was probably from the lack of core tension because I was really struggling breathing in while making my stomach smaller. I was also looking up when I started to lift, and appearently tilting your head back can cut off your brain from really controlling your legs. For my 315 attempt I tried to keep looking down, breathed in, contracted my stomach, and tried to stand up. There was a pause, but it was slow and smooth, the best way to do it.
I then tried 335, and all I felt was a bend in my back. My back tapped out for me. I then dropped it down to 225 and worked on my form. It was still really rough. I need to work on this all over again. For all of the lifts, I'm back at square one, relearning everything. I am excited though, because if I'm able to get this far without doing proper technique, I should see a whole lot of improvement as I get better.
There was a second workout, and this one seemed mandatory, not like the backsquat one.
Conditioning: AMRAP 10 min 10, pushup, 10 KB Highpull(70#), 10 jumping slamball
I got 8 rounds plus 2 push ups. To report in, I have been doing random sets of 12-15 pushups, and I think that greatly helped. My push ups feel like they've got a "pop" now that's never been there before, a sort of explosiveness that I've never had.
Kind of feel like I've taken two steps back, but I know this'll allow me to make giant leaps forward.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)