strong workout

Well, today's WOD had to be modified for me, but it was still good.

3 rounds
5 Muscle ups (I did progressions)
10 box jumps

2 rounds
15 HSPU (I used an abmat and two weight plates)
20 HEAVY KBHP (I did 20# med ball squat cleans)

1 round
25 pull-ups
30 burpees

Time was something like 19:28, pretty slow, and it can get a little frustrating. However, the burbees at the end were tough in a mental way, and it's been a while since I've experienced/enjoyed that. At around 20 I decided to rest for a couple of seconds, then try to bang out 5 as fast as possible, repeat.

It's been a long time since the HSPU, but I like having the abmats to gauge my ability. And I have to say, I feel pretty weak in the shoulders. However, some of them were free standing HSPU, so I'm happy about that.

I've only worked on muscle ups once before, so this was the first time to try progressions instead of jumping MU's. I really want to work out this and HSPU, so I think I'll start doing them on my own before or after the WOD.

Was talking to Andrea about her MU attempts, and she mentioned she has small hands and thus has weak forearms. ...I have small hands relative to my size, so perhaps this is why my forearms die so quickly with pull ups. I'm getting used to the fixed bar technique-wise (though I still want to do the butterfly kip someday) but my hands still tire out after about 5 pus. Pretty sad for someone who could do 27 pu's in the blue room.

My back feels fine, I'm glad I've been taking it easy. However, I'm tired of missing more than one class a week. I want to get back into the groove, where I xfit 5-6 days a week.

Saw the DO

So yesterday the plan was to wake up at 6, have breakfast, go to the 6:45 CFOT, go to work and use the PTO's gym to shower and change, work, and then go to see Dr. Craddock at 10:30. Pretty busy eh? Anyway, it all went to crap because I woke up at like 6:45. Not exactly sure what to do, I decided on going to the PTO gym and work out there. Rode the bike, ran a little, did some bench press and dips; all stuff that didn't affect my already affected back.

So when I went to see the D.O. I said, "you know, I'm not exactly sure what is wrong with my back. Do you know what the injury exactly is?" After adjusting my back, he noted that the L4 and L5 were twisted, which is right about where the pain is, and commented on some other stuff I can't rememeber right now. Anyway, the point is that when I asked him if he could give me a definitive diagnosis, he said, "No, not really. ...It could possibly be the illiopsoas, but your syptoms are very unusual."

So I'm still in the dark. After seeing a Doctor of Osteopath, an Orthopedist, and a massage therapist, none were able to give me an answer. Not knowing really bugs, me, it's my nature to learn about stuff. However, even if I don't know what's exactly wrong I know what I need to do: stop doing stuff that hurts.

Doc told me I shouldn't work out 36 hours after the adjustment, so today looks like it'll be my rest day. My back still feels discomfort, but I expect to go to CFOT tomorrow in the am.

rowing and sledge

Well, today was a row day:

2k row

I did it in 723.7, but I could have done it faster if I wasn't trying to improve my technique. When it came down to the last 100m, I had a choice: either to keep going using the new and more correct technique, or should I use my older, faster technique? I decided to use the faster technique, and although it is suppose to be less efficient (I bend my knees too much when moving the seat forward, causing me to use my calves and other weird muscles) my 500m rate went from 1:55 to 1:41-1:43. This was interesting because it wasn't a matter of endurance for me because I had juice at the end to sprint.

Did some sledge work afterwards, this was the first time we've had the opportunity to use this exercise and I loved it. Jerry seemed quite impressed with my aggresion, guess all that martial arts training helped out. Here's an animated gif of the exercise, have to say I think I look a little... crazy.



The back felt ok the whole time, but now it feels like it's been working, so I might have to lighten everything up again. Ugh. Oh well, if this is what it takes to get better, then this is what I have to do. Not sure if I will go in to CFOT tomorrow or if I will hit the bike or run for a bit, this will have to be a game time decision.

Think I should make a list of exercises I know don't make my back feel worse, this will probably be short but here goes:
sit ups
pull ups
box jumps
air squats
push ups
running
knees 2 elbows
jump rope
burpees

injuries, the story of my life and a picture diary

Well after doing the light deadlift on Thursday my back started to act up. It wasn't pain, but strong discomfort. Nevertheless, I had to back off and give it some rest. I wanted to participate in the Helen challenge, but with my back as is I could not do any form of kb swing, so until the next challenge.

I've decided to start a picture diary. I take a picture of myself every Wednesday after the workout. Right now I've only got two weeks worth of pictures, and I have to say, nothing is as humbling as seeing a picture of myself with indoor lighting and a flash. I'll post the progression after eight weeks. I was inspired by a friend of mine, Taylor, who sent me this pic talking about how he's changed in about seven months:

After seeing this I thought it would be cool to do this. I plan on taking the weekly pictures and perhaps make an animated gif of me morphing into what I become.

Day Three, the Deadlift

Well, today involved the deadlift. Because of the back I went light, 95#s and did 10, 15, 20 reps in the three rounds. The WOD Rx'd:

Three rounds
Deadlift 10 (245#)
knees to elbows 20


Here's a vid I saw that really, really helped me with my deadlift form:

The Deadlift from Patrick Cummings on Vimeo.

After the wod I did the long conditioning:
500m
40 squats
30 ab mat
20 push ups
10 jumping lunges (per leg)

Three rounds took me like 26 min, but I was glad to do this workout, I've really missed crossfit. I'm going to really have to listen to my back to see how it responds to today's workout. My back felt slightly sore from yesterday's workout, but it felt like good muscle pain, not bad muscle pain.

Day Two, Double unders

Chriss is in charge of the next two weeks, and I've noticed him talking a lot about double unders. Well, today we got an opportunity to work on them:

50 double unders

40, 30, then 20 of
KB swings (Rx'd is 72#)
box jumps
abmat situps

50 double unders

23:16. With this being the first real week coming back from the back injury, I dropped KB swings down to 36#. With such a light weight, this workout became a lot, lot easier. I felt kind of bad, but when I tried to bump it up to 42#, I could feel my back being used, and not in a good way. Anyway, the double unders took an immense amount of time, although attempts counted as well, I only got three in a row once, and twice like three times. So most of it was one attempt, reset, attempt, reset, etc. A very slow process.

Tried to work on the butterfly kip, with very, very limited success. I can't figure out how to recover from the first rep to wind up for the second rep, very frustrating.

Day one

So today begins the first day of the first full week back. This was some met-con:

200m
25 ring dips
400m
35 push press (65 #)
800m
45 wall ball

My time was 20:16 or something like that. Definitely not a fast time. This was really good to get some of the rust off, the wall ball motion felt really, really foreign. My hip felt, tight, but as I get back into form it'll get back to normal. Ran in the VFF's and it was tough as my calves have STILL NOT FULLY RECOVERED from Wednesday's workout. I think I'll bring a pair of more regular running shoes for at least the next two days.