5/31 WOD

"Kelly"

Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
30 Box jump, 24 inch box
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

Man, another beat down girl WOD. I'm a day behind, as I took yesterday off for a road trip. This was a tough one. Struggled mightily rounds 2-4. Started pretty good and finished pretty strong.

5:43 - 8:51 - 8:41 - 7:50 - 6:23

Total time: 37:28

I also threw on my heart rate monitor for this. 162bpm avg. and 179bpm max. Not bad for 37+ minutes but when I raced cyclocross last season I was able to maintain 180+ for 45 minutes. So still have a ways to go but continue to build on the foundation.

The newbs were in and did a fun one - Cindy scaled:

12 minutes as many rounds as possible:
1 pull-up (beginner)
4 push-ups
7 squats

TWay did 10 full rounds and 1 pull-up/4 push-ups. Scaled with beginner pull-ups and parallette elevated push-ups on knees.

Unelastigirl did 15 full rounds. Scaled with slightly tougher beginner pull-ups and push-ups on the floor on knees.

Good solid effort! Will do a heavy arm-centric day tomorrow... muwahahahahaaaaaaa!!!

5/29 WOD

30 Muscle-ups for time

Well, let's see - I can do 20 ring dips and 20 dead hang pull-ups but can't do a single muscle-up. So instead of the 4:1 substitution (120 dips/120 pullups) I worked on muscle-up technique progression.

Started with a 20# vest on with the rings about 5' off the floor. Then I had my feet on a 18" box. So had a partial assist with the transition but then pressed fully up with feet off box. Did 15 this way. Then did the remaining 15 without the vest.

9:26

Just like with the kip I will someday figure this out...

5/28 WOD

Woohoo love the max rep days. They are hard, but a different hard then the nasty metcon days. Nice day of rest yesterday, feeling re-charged.

Thruster 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Hadn't done this before so wasn't sure where to start. But quickly found out.

110 - 130 - 140 - 150 - 160(fail) - 155(fail) - 155

Nothing special, but slowly improving shoulder strength. Keep on keepin' on!

The newbs were in for their final workout in the cycle. A good one:

5 rounds
10 pullups
10 box dips

Ratcheted things up for Unelastigirl, tougher beginner pullups and parallette dips on the floor. TWay did the 24" box dips and the standard beginner pullups. Some whining to start because they were sore, but eventually they stopped and worked... :)

Unelastigirl: 5:26
TWay: 7:27

Good work!

5/27 WOD

Rest day for me but the newbs were back at it. Did a scaled version of "Danny".

Complete as many rounds in 12 minutes as you can of:
12-15 inch Box Jump, 20 reps
pvc-15 pound Push Press, 15 reps
20 Pull-ups (beginner or assisted okay)

Well they did step ups onto a 12" box. And looks like I goofed and they did 20 reps of the push press.. Doh! And beginner pull-ups.

Unelastigirl - 4 full rounds!
TWay - 2 rounds + box steps

TWay will hopefully learn next time to give more than an hour for food digestion. Just not enough time before exerting yourself. My rule of thumb is about 3 hours.

Nice work. No more french fries!

5/26 WOD

"Barbara"

1 Round =
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Squats

5 rounds, 3 minutes of rest between rounds.

I was actually pretty excited to see this one - no running! Plus, I had done it before so I could get a sense of where I was fitness wise from 2 months ago. But for some reason I didn't feel great and afterwards felt absolutely horrible. Throbbing head, queasy stomach, spent. I think I coulda puked if I had the energy. The only saving grace is that my ROM was better this time on the pullups and squats - so that likely played a role in the suffering (but not all of it).

Round 1 - 4:58 (previous 4:46)
Round 2 - 5:11 (previous 4:54)
Round 3 - 6:13 (previous 6:33 - finally a faster time!)
Round 4 - 8:12 (previous 7:57)
Round 5 - 8:31 (previous 7:59)

Total work time - 33:05 (previous 32:09) Note total time unfortunately doesn't include 3 minute breaks... :(

Oh well, off days happen. Thank you rest day tomorrow.

The newbs were back at it - the 2 days off is stretching itself - was 3 now 4. They're trying, but it can be frustrating when they can give 12 hours/day to work but can't give their health 30 minutes. Oh well, enough preaching. They were here and worked. Did a scaled Barbara for them:

5 Rounds
- 5 beginner pullups
- 10 elevated pushups (parallettes)
- 15 situps (assisted)
- 20 squats (used rope to get better ROM)
3 minutes of rest between each round

Had a little timing snafu, but got all of their times except for round 2.

Unelastigirl: 2:00 - ??? - 1:39 - 1:36 - 1:37 (probably can scale up next time)
TWay: 2:50 - ??? - 2:31 - 2:56 - 2:57

Some good work there. Introduced the beginner pullup to them and got a lot more depth on the squats. I would say that is some progress. Good work!

5/25 WOD

Run 5 K

Oh joy, more running. But gotta do it. Not my strength so keep at it until it is at least tolerable.

Well, I certainly didn't set the world on fire, actually fell asleep on the floor before I decided I better get a move on. Did the CFWU x 3 and hit the road. My 800m splits:

3:26 - 3:32 - 3:48 - 3:50 - 4:01 - 3:35

Total time - 22:56


Wasn't sure how to pace myself as I haven't run this distance in a long time. I'm still thinking the sub 6 minute mile is attainable under perfect conditions (track, good weather, no wind, and nothing else to do the rest of the day while I recover). That first mile of 6:58 was really pretty slow (but easy) since I knew there were two more to go. Definitely faded with 7:38 and 7:36 miles.

5/24 WOD

"CrossFit Total"

Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

Slept on a hotel bed last night, probably not the best day to be doing heavy lifting but oh well. Still waiting for my weightlifting shoes to arrive. Hopefully soon as they're supposed to make a pretty significant improvement. I goofed around with bare feet and work boots but neither felt right. Guess I'm used to the squishy feeling of running shoes.

New PR tonight on the CFT:

Back squat - 245# (same as PR)
Shoulder press - 125# (new PR, old 120#)
Deadlift - 333# (new PR, old 320#)
Total 703# (new PR, old 685#)

Not a huge jump - disappointed in the squat number. I tried 255# but failed. Full depth (below parallel) is still tough for me. Shoulder press - man, still pretty weak. But +5# is better than nuttin'. The deadlift is still obviously my best lift, almost shortchanged myself a few pounds - re-added and got the 333# number.

So all in all gotta be happy with some improvement. It's a marathon I need to keep reminding myself.

5/22 WOD

"Michael"

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions (GHD)
50 Sit-ups (Abmat)

Hero WOD, very meaningful with Memorial Day approaching. Click on the "Michael" above for details.

This was a tough one. Legs were pretty trashed from previous workouts, didn't have a lot of energy. 800m is not a fun distance either. My times were slower, but I gave it my all, felt a little pukey on the 2nd 800m. 800m times:

3:03 - 3:24 - 3:25

Overall time - 28:03

Dang those back extensions were torturing my hams. Situps were actually a partial relief and the easiest of the three exercises.

Will have a nice relaxing weekend and take one extra rest day on Sunday. But back at it on Memorial Day.

5/21 WOD

"Twins"

Two rounds, of each couplet, for time of:
750 meter Row
20 Handstand Push-ups

115 pound Thruster, 20 reps
20 L-Pull-ups

At some point in a lot of men's dreams, the idea of twins is quite appealing. Double your pleasure (and then they woke up). Well, these twins have no appeal whatsoever. Double the pain. Holy crap, whose idea was it to do thrusters right after handstand push-ups? Are you kidding me?!!!

Scaled the thrusters to 89# after a couple of attempts, first at 109#, and then 99#. Not sure if I could've gone much heavier than what I did. Also, my legs were bent for the L-pull-ups. Same position for the handstand pushups as before (55" barbell, hands 14" away).

27:50 (12:15 for the first twin, 15:35 for the second twin)

And the newbs were back in the gym for their 5th day - this completes two weeks for them. A little more focus this time - not so much yapping. Did a scaled version of J.T. for them (first one done on 5/7):

21-15-9

Push Press (8# db's)
Box Dips (24"/18")
Push ups (knees/hip bent/parallettes)

Amazing improvement in just two weeks:

Unelastigirl - 12:05 then, 7:00 now
TWay - 12:28 then, 8:08 now

Some dang good stuff. If we can keep the momentum going these two are going to get into shape! Great work! Little do they know that it doesn't get easier, you just go faster (and lift heavier weights)...

5/20 WOD

Four rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
50 Squats

Have I ever talked about how much I dislike running? Well, throw in a bunch of squats to make it even more miserable. But this should help me in my quest for a sub-6 mile with no specific running training, CF only.

14:36

I did the 4 x 400's in about 6:12 on open road, an out and back. So I think on a track in perfect conditions the sub 6 minute mark is doable. But we'll see.

The newbs were back at it after an extra rest day (or slacker day more like it). They yapped and yapped during the warmup so I ended up putting them through a tough test, the one they didn't like last time:

Puppy+ scaled version of Hansen:

3 Rounds
9# KB swings - 15 reps
Squat thrusts - 15 reps
Situps - 15 reps

TWay: 16:03 (last time) - 12:46 (this time)
Unelastigirl: 14:43 (last time) - 12:03 (this time)

Only difference was both did assisted situps, so that cut into the time some. But overall they did great! Nice improvement.

5/17 WOD

Well, the day started out with a bad case of Montezuma's Revenge or reasonable facsimile. Not good. Wiped me out but I seemed back pretty close around 2pm. I know I'm not feeling well when I haven't eaten anything until 1:30pm. Figured I could do the WOD and I'd have a rest day tomorrow. Felt decent actually.

For time:
Row 500 meters
Body weight Bench press, 30 reps
Row 1000 meters
Body weight Bench press, 20 reps
Row 2000 meters
Body weight Bench press, 10 reps

Well, 30 reps sucked... So did the 20. But I did hammer out the last set completely which was cool. The 2000 meter row definitely sucked. Did the rowing part in just over 16 minutes. The bench press part in just over 15 minutes for a total time of 31:16. Not bad... 160# BW.

The newbs were back at it after an extra day off. So I made them pay with a Tabata type circuit. Lat pull downs (40#), Push ups on the parallettes, situps, squats. 20 secs work/10 secs rest. 4 times each then move to the next station. Two full circuits. 16 minutes total. Good work!

5/17 WOD

Four rounds for time of:
100 ft Walking lunge, carrying 30 pound dumbbells
24 inch Box Jump, 30 reps
30 pound Weighted pull-ups, 20 reps

Well, those pullups destroyed me. Very tough. I probably should've scaled but oh well. I did use 25# plates instead of the 30# db's. Stepped down off the box.

28:30

Actually pretty happy with that time.

5/16 WOD

Lovely rest day on 5/15. A clogged up drain and a couple of hours in the crawl space made for nice rest. Not to mention the who knows how much food build up in that pipe... yuck. Sorry, wrong blog... :)

Anyhow, onto the 5/16 WOD:

"Diane"

21-15-9 reps of:
225 pound Deadlift
Handstand push-ups

Seems like it has been awhile since I've done any major deadlifts, so this one spooked me a bit. Plus been struggling with hand stand pushups. After watching the HSPU progression videos, decided to setup a barbell on my squat rack (55" high). I pressed with my hands 14" away from the bar. So not true vertical, but again, making progress as I was able to get through all the reps (with breaks though of course). The deadlifts were challenging - but was able to do 10 in a row however so that is cool.

16:35

5/14 WOD

Five rounds for time of:
30 Glute-ham sit-ups
25 Back extensions

Well, I did the first round of glute-ham situps pretty close to ROM, alternating arms and touching the ground. 2nd set was no arms down and just below parallel. Last three sets were on a heavy bag on the floor with feet anchored. I would touch my head to the floor. Extensions were all full ROM. Tired core, that's for sure. Will definitely feel this one over the next few days. 19:03

The newbs were in for the final day of their 5 day cycle. Way to go! Had them do the following:

7 Rounds
Sumo Deadlift High Pull, 10 reps
Box Dips, 10 reps

TWay said, "Is that all we're doing?" I warned her the last time she said that she nearly tasted her dinner a second time. Afterwards she agreed that it was a hard workout. Unelastigirl said, "When are we going to do some cardio?" I'm trying to break the strength/cardio separate training mentality. Did you work as hard as you could? Yes. Okay then, you did cardio...

TWay - 9:11 20# SDHP, 24" box dips
Unelastigirl - 7:27 18# SDHP, 18" box dips

Two well earned days off for them. Now gotta start dialing in the food part...

5/13 WOD

"Cindy"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

Hmm... didn't feel great tonight. Lack of sleep, traveling, and poor eating the last few days I'm sure did me in. Got in 18 full sets, 1 below my PR. But this time I did full depth squats (4" lower) so that also contributed to the difference I'm sure.

The newbs were in the gym tonight too and I set them up with a Puppy+ scaled version of Hansen:

3 Rounds
9# KB swings - 15 reps
Squat thrusts - 15 reps
Situps - 15 reps

TWay: 16:03
Unelastigirl: 14:43

Notes - TWay parallette assist on thrusters, assist on situps

This was a tough one for them. But they grinded through to completion. More good work. We continue to work on the base foundation. Long way to go but off to a great start!

5/12 WOD

Well, I was off and out of town, but the two newbs continued the momentum. Very nice. They did Fight Gone Bad since they had done it before and were familiar with it. Great effort and already some nice improvement from the 5/6 version. Same scaling.

TWay: 258(then) -> 268(now)
Unelastigirl: 280(then) -> 334(now) - WOW!

Great job!

5/11 WOD

Got a head start on Tuesday's WOD, since I'll be traveling - I'll take Tuesday as my off day instead.

Power clean 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

133-138-148-158-163-168(fail)-173!

And the newbs were in tonight too! Devised this circuit for them:

Pull downs (30#)
Deadlifts (35#)
Pushups
Situps
Box step up (12")
Squats
Push press (8# db's)
Row
Wall ball (basketball 8')

Two rounds, 1 minute per station, no breaks. Will record the scores later but good effort all around. Modified CFWU x2 to start too!

TWay: 142-135
Unelastigirl: 178-158

5/10 WOD

Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5 reps

Legs were a little tired after the 800's last night, particularly the calves. Nothing like some squatting to loosen them up.

133-153-177-197-197

Nothing special with the numbers, still learning how to do "real" squats, not the old style stop short of parallel but then say you were bada$$ and did the squat. These were full depth baby. Lost a little form on that last set and felt it more in the core. All in all a good effort.

Speaking of good efforts, tonight started the first cycle of 5 on, 2 off for the newbs. Unfortunately Unelastigirl couldn't make it but to my surprise TWay went for it. I devised a nice little workout for them:

- Pull-downs (have bands for pull-up assists, just too cumbersome in a 1 minute effort drill) - 25#
- Deadlifts! - 35#
- Pushups - parallettes/knees/hips bent
- Situps
- Squats
- DB push press - 8#

1 minute of work each station, 3 total circuits.

So a great solo effort and a good start to the new cycle.

5/9 WOD

Four rounds, each for time of:
800 meter run

Rest as needed between efforts.

Gawd I don't like running. But for short distances, I can suffer it out. These were going to hurt, that's for sure. Short enough to try think you can almost sprint these, but long enough to smack you in the face when you realize in the last 150m you went out too hot. Good chance for pukie if done properly... :)

So I have a course mapped out - an out and back starting at my house. It's pretty close, GPS varies a teeny bit but close enough. Some minor uphill/downhill. Would really like to try this at the nearby track, just not heading up there at 10pm by myself thank you very much.

So my times? Not bad. Had about 3 minutes of rest between each one.

2:43 - 3:01 - 3:14 - 3:03. Maybe that 6 minute mile is attainable... but going to need to run a little bit more.

5/8 WOD

"Grace"

135 pound Clean and Jerk, 30 reps

Such a beautiful name... such an ugly short workout. I scaled to 110# and got through it in 6:30. Could probably gone up in weight a little bit, but with the target being around 8 minutes, not much. Probably more push press then jerk, but I got the weight from the ground to overhead. I'll take it.

5/7 WOD

Rest day for me - yay! But the two newbs were back for some more fun. Did a scaled version of J.T. for them:

21-15-9

Push Press (15#/8# db's)
Box Dips (24"/18")
Push ups (knees/hip bent)

Close race to the finish with Unelastigirl edging out TWay 12:05 to 12:28.

Some more good work. Soreness should be pretty strong tomorrow (day two after the first workout is always the worst and then pile on some serious arm work). Now two days off for recovery and we'll start the 5 day on/2 day off cycle. Groovy!

5/6 WOD

Man, still feel the after effects of yesterday's WOD. A push WOD was much appreciated, although my shoulders/upper back are pretty tired. But a weak spot for me so I like this stuff (kinda).

Push Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Not sure my technique is great, but I did spend a fair amount of time practicing it in my warmup. Still weird that whole jump and push down thing.

109-129-134-139-144-155(fail)-155(success!)

Tonight too started two total newbs in the fitness world. Amazing how a little competition at work can motivate some people. But whatever it takes. I'm happy they're in here and they worked hard tonight (after the initial whining).

I like starting with Fight Gone Bad, since it is super scaleable and good for multiple people. I thought it was going to be a long night during the warmups but once the action started it was good. Great effort, some people are going to be so sore tomorrow that they're going to not want to workout. But we will. We're shooting for the 5 on, 2 off schedule (Sun-Thu). I hope I can keep them motivated. I think the results they will see should be a good motivator. But as I told them, I can help with the output, you will have to work on the input (food). Keeping my fingers crossed.

Wall Ball (8' - basketball)
Sumo Dead Hang Pull (9# KB)
Box Jump (12" step)
Push Press (15#)
Row (strokes)

TWay - 258
Unelastigirl - 280

Excellent effort after not working out in ages. A great start - we'll keep building on it.

5/5 WOD

Great so happy Cinco de Mayo now here is your WOD get ready to suffer...

Ten rounds for time of:
3 Weighted Pull-ups, 45 pounds
5 Strict Pull-ups
7 Kipping Pull-up

In the immortal words of Austin Powers when he gets hit in the head by the lethal shoe:



It sure did. I didn't do the set count thing as it would have been a data tracking nightmare (I did do the first round through unbroken). Just 10 rounds total time. I thought I was going to make it full RX'd, but at round 8 just couldn't must the 45# so scaled to 35#. 9 and 10 went to 25#. Still don't know how to kip, so I did some lame a$$ swing full body dry heave type pullup to substitute for the kip. Not efficient whatsoever. I didn't feel like this was a metcon type effort - lots of breaks simply due to necessity.

Total time - 40:26

And then of course leave it to me the dumba$$ to try kipping practice after this. Duh. That makes perfect sense. Wasted hands, arms, and upper back and I'm trying to practice. Clearly not thinking straight after that effort.

5/4 WOD

Front squat 3-3-3-3-3 reps

Well, still learning this move - so used to doing back squats. Rough on the wrists, I'm identifying a number of areas where I have pretty pathetic flexibility (wrists, shoulders). So this is good, identifying weak areas and attacking them. I spent a good 30 minutes doing some shoulder flexibility work, and plan on doing that several times a week to get these things some range.

So back to the front squats - weird to try to find the sweet spot to rest the bar on your shoulders - my clavicles get in the way or my neck gets pinched a bit. Also working on the full depth squat (hips below knees). That is new to me too but I like it. I setup my sawhorses to act as a safety just in case I needed to bail.

Did actually 7 sets of 3 since I wasn't sure about weight.

93-103-123-143-163-173-183

Pretty darn happy with that last number. I might be able to hit the 200 mark right now, but the wrists/bar position are more of the limiting factor at this point. More good stuff though!

5/3 WOD

"Hansen"

Five rounds for time of:
2 pood (70#) Kettlebell swing, 30 reps
30 Burpees
30 Glute-ham sit-ups

Marine Staff Sgt Daniel Hansen died February 14th in Farah Providence, Afghanistan when an IED he was working on detonated. Daniel is survived by his mother Sheryll, his father Delbert, his younger sister Katie, and his twin brother Matthew (also a Marine).

Well, read how tough this was and was ready to just skip this and move onto the next one. But after reading about this guy, I felt compelled to do it. Big deal - so I suffer in a workout. Nothing like what he and his family and friends went/are going through. So I hit it.

Had to scale the KB swings to 53# since that's the largest I've got. And anchored Abmat situps since my glute-ham setup isn't great plus those are too aggressive for me right now. I actually felt pretty good despite being sore from What's Tabata You yesterday, did the first round all the way through no stoppie. But then reality set in and I slowed big time. Still not sure what is the best strategy - hit it all out and crawl to the finish or pace yourself. I always seem to choose the former. Just about through the burpees in round 3 when I feel the right rotator cuff tweak. I finish those and the situps and decide I better call it a night. Playing baseball most of my life I know the rotator cuff all too well and well, I don't need to eff that up. So disappointing that I stopped after 3 rounds (I think this is the first WOD I haven't gotten through all the way since I started CF - not all at the RX'd btw). Still an excellent workout and I will get through the entire thing next time to honor the memory of Marine Staff Sgt Daniel Hansen.

23:22

5/2 WOD

"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. Record total reps.

Nice beat down here. Even 20 minutes or so afterwards, my daughter asked my what was wrong? She-ite. 10 secs of rest is just like a little tease. Enough to catch a couple of extra breaths but then "ding" and you're off and running again.

Total score 318

47 pullups
77 pushups
85 situps
109 squats

I think I killed my score going out too hot on the first set of pullups (17) and pushups (22). My reps tapered off rapidly after those. But is it right to pace yourself to get a better score or go full tilt like a true interval?

5/1 WOD

Well, that was a pipe dream to do Elizabeth and Tabata Something Else. Once again, more time on the floor afterwards then during the workout. Squat cleans suck, and I'm sure my move is not very good (or efficient). But I hit Elizabeth as hard as I could.

"Elizabeth"

21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips

Scaled the squat cleans to 93# (I know, oddball numbers with kg's mixed with pounds). Did full ROM for the ring dips (oddly those almost were like a break in the workout).

11:29

Okay, so I'll try Tabata Something Else tomorrow earlier in the day and then the normal WOD for the day in the evening. Makes way more sense. Just can't be a slacker next time.

Was just walking along and...

Looky what my friend snapped a photo of while he was taking his kids for a walk:

What are the odds? Pretty cool. Thanks Keith!