Deadlifts and No Bread Day 2

My No Bread Score at this point is a 48.  I indulged a little last night but quite minor in my opinion.  Today however has been bread free 100%.

Real happy with today's WOD.  It was a 2 parter.

WOD1
AMRAP 3 Min
Rope Climb

I'm typically pretty decent at rope climbs but for some reason tonight it just did not click.  I did 5 attempts and could not get a lock so I hopped on the ground and did pulls.  Ended up with only 4.  Something I need to work on.

WOD2
AMRAP 7 Min
10 Deadlifts 315# / 225#
15 Situps
10 Bar Facing Burpees

I decided to go Rx on this one knowing that it would be tough but I really need to work on heavy weights.  Ended up with 1 round complete plus 10 deadlifts and 10 situps.  The first round of deadlifts were broken into sets of 5.  I need to work on grip strength in order to get more.

Looking forward to CFT next week in San Fran.  Would love to go over 500 on deadlift.  My goal is to break 1000 total.

Jackie PR & No Bread Day 1

Back in the box today with Ms. Courtney today.  Jackie was on the menu and knowing this going into the workout I had planned to look up my old times but completely forgot to do it.

Spent the warm up working on rowing technique and found that it was a really great lesson.  I need to spend some off time working on this because my rowing is completely non efficient and it's pushing my further down the path of buying my own rower for Christmas.

Jackie
1000m Row
50 Thrusters 45#
30 Pullups

3-2-1 GO

Rowing was pretty nice overall.  I was gassed at around 700 and form totally went to hell.  Got off the rower right before 4:00 and had to walk  to shake out the legs a little bit before hitting the thrusters.  Thrusters are something that I am very bad at.  It is partially due to my lack of flexibility on the front squat and I end up really holding the bar out from my body and using my arm strength.  Not an efficient use of energy at all.  Ended up doing sets of 5 though the full 50 but need to up that to sets of 10 minimum.  Launched into pullups after this.  Had planned to use green band for pullups but after 10 was just too gassed to go so I hopped down and grabbed a red also to finish out the 20.

Total time was 15:02.  I was initially not that happy with that until I got home and looked at my stats.  15:02 is a 4:03 PR on Jackie for me and all prior times were black band and black and blue band.  I'm actually really pleased with this and further energized to get things moving.

Saw John D's post on the results that folks in his box got with the no bread challenge (especially his wife) and I had toyed with idea of starting no bread today for the next 30 days (will take it all the way to New Year's Eve).  I am definitely doing it now.

Waist: 49.5
Weight: 322.2

Great Rest over the Holiday

Spent most of the holiday relaxing with the family (girls and parents).  I got one workout in but it was more of a go through the motion workout than a work hard to improve workout.  I did bring back lots of good deer meat though which will go into the dehydrator and grill to jump start me on Paleo.  Need to focus on zero bread this month also.

Dropping the girls at dance tonight and then I'll head to the field house and do some cardio.  An hour or so on the bike or elliptical will be a welcome relief and help me get my sweat on.

Back in the box tomorrow and all set for the rest of the week.

Travel Weekend / Rest if I Can

Had an 18 hour drive with the girls to the good old farm in TN to spend the holidays with my parents.  First 3 hours of drive were the most hard due to general tiredness.  We made it in around 12:30 - 1:00 am.  Spent a little time relaxing then hit the bed immediately.

Woke up at 9:00 due to the tremendous wind / rain storm pelting the metal roof.  2 minutes later my dad walks into the room to get me to take a ride to Big Paul's house.  Paul's grandson visiting from Houston shot a deer and no one there had any clue what to do.  Pretty funny when you think about it.  So of course, Paul called my Dad and he and I drove over to gut, skin and quarter (partially butcher) the deer.  So, today's WOD consisted of lifting an ~135 lb deer up so that we could hoist it.

Did rest most of the afternoon though so I'll get after it tomorrow.  Looked at the WOD and it's one that I think I can pull off in the local gym.  Combination of front squats and turkish get ups.

11/17 Rest Day

Total rest day today.  Give my knees a little break and focus on diet and recovery today.

Burpees are pure evil...

...that are only topped by bar facing burpees (or burpee bar hops).

WOD1
50 Bar Facing Burpees for time

WOD2
Back Squat 3x5
Press 3x5

Burpees were actually not that bad. The plan was to keep moving but after 2 sets of 10 it was just sets of 2 or 3 or even 1. Eric stuck around and helped push me through this one. I ended up with 9:10 which wasn't that bad but if I had just kept moving I would have been sub 8 which is my goal for next time.

I was really looking forward to this strength WOD but the burpees left me a little gassed. I ended up with sets of 225,275 and 295 on back squat. Set at 295 I could only get out 1 and then had to dump it. Just nothing in the legs. I think with good rest I could do 295 for 5 easy. Press is a lift I need work on and ended up today with sets at 95,135 and then 155. Got up 2 at 155 then had to dump. Yesterday's WOD with the sand bag shoulder presses impacted today just a little bit.

Regardless, I amstill quite pleased especially given the previous blog post of dropping inches on the belly. Have not been below 50 in a really long time.

Delayed Weigh In for the Baseline Workout

I did the baseline workout on Monday and had planned to weigh in that night or at the latest the next morning.  Low and behold I forgot completely until this morning so when I woke up I did the weigh in and measurement.  The scale and the tape read 321 and 49".  Not where I want to be of course.  I need to be sub 300.  I'm putting a lot of emphasis on my weight and when I looked at the scale I was not pleased.  I then measured the stomach and noticed that I'm essentially 3 - 4" down from my when I was at my heaviest pre-Crossfit.  49" isn't that bad.  I'm pretty jazzed about it quite honestly.  Over the next 45 days I need to pull out the "no bread" challenge notes from John D. and see if that will help me get down below 310.  If I can shave another 1 - 2 inches on the belly that would be great too.

Need to make a note for myself on my calendar to go through this exercise at least every 30 - 45 days.  This is another way to really see the benefits of Crossfit paying off.

First Time Using the Stone

Recovery from Monday's WOD was solid.  Not feeling any residual pain in the knee which I am happy about.  I was concerned with all of the box jumps but thankfully no issues (yet).  We had a little bit of a FGB style workout today.  4 major exercises for 1 minute each then a 1 minute break.

CFP 095
Ground to Shoulder Stone
Row (for calories)
Sandbag press swapping shoulders
Weighted situps

There were 4 of us total so we each picked a station and started.  I ended up starting with the sandbag press.  3-2-1 GO.  I do it every time and have resigned myself that I will continue until I can drop weight and get my cardio up.  I went out real strong in the first round.  30 sandbag presses.  Didn't count the individuals after that but ended up with a first round score of 67.  After round 1 it went progressively down hill though.  Final round was a 44.  Ended up with 252 as a total.  Not having done this one before I did not know what to expect but 300+ is the goal for next time.

We ended up using the ~70-75 lb stone which quite honestly was very easy to lift.  I could essentially clean it up to my shoulder.  Just for fun after the workout and stretching I went for the big stone which is 115+.  While I could get it up with no issues it was more of a deadlift then squat then pull to chest then stand then shift to shoulder movement.  If I had tried to use this during the lift I would have been totally gassed after the first round.

Still enjoying things and looking forward to doing some solo workouts in the gym I found near my parent's house in TN all next week.

Baseline Workout

In prep for the holidays, Ryan decided to publish a workout that we are going to do today (did it) then again in early December and then lastly in early January.

2011 Crossfit Games Open Wod #2
15 min AMRAP
9 deadlifts (115#)
12 pushups (hands off)
15 box jumps (24")

I planned to do all Rx on this one which for me means zero pushups on knees.  Focus in the next 45 days will be to really work on my pushups.  I ended up with 3 rounds + 31 reps.  5 box jumps shy of 4 rounds Rx.

Good baseline and something to work on.

Nerf War and 1st Day on the Slopes

Saturday was by far one of the most fun days we had at the box. Ryan gave everyone the heads up to bring nerf guns to Saturday's WOD. Saturday started and we had 21 people show up at the box. After a nice little jog of about 600 meters we split up into teams and did capture the med ball while pelting each other with nerf darts. If you got hit you picked up a card from a deck and did the prescribed movement for the number or reps from the card.

Needless to say it was a complete blast.

Ended the weekend by heading to Abasin for the first run of the year. Snowy and windy and got in 3 runs. Perfect end to the weekend.

Ready to get after it this week.

I Still Hate Gymnastics

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I truly hate gymnastics.  I failed it in college by a point then passed by a point in summer school.  Coordination is not one of my strong suits but as I have said before I make sure I go on days where I am bad at the movements.  That's the only way to get bettter.

Today's WOD:
5 Rounds for time
20 ft. Bear Crawl
20 ft. Inch Worms
20 ft. Crab Walk

Spent a lot of the opening time on handstands and handstand walking.  It was a skill day.  I am not at the point where I can kick up against the wall.  I am good at walking up the wall though so I stuck to doing that today.  Courtney spent a good bit of time with me on form (ie. tight core...) which helped a lot and allowed me to walk down the wall when up, etc.  Something to work at of course.

Then on to the WOD.  Ended up with a horrible time 12:40.  I finished but it was painful.  Pushups are rocking though.  All on the inch worms were perfect form (zero knees).

Deadlifts & Double Unders

Able to hit the WOD this morning so that I can do a cardio session tonight.  Excited about getting in on this WOD.

5 rounds for time:
7 Deadlifts (315# Rx)
21 Double Unders

We had a nice warmup of jump ropes and core work.  10 minutes to setup the deadlifts and get a few warmup reps in.  Hit 135, 225 and 315.  When on the bar with 315 I can do the weight but as I look at things 7 reps for 5 rounds is a bit much and once I start I can't drop weights.  So, I chose to go with 225 (in hindsight I should have bumped to 275) for the WOD.

Final score was 8:10.  Real pleased with this especially on my double unders.  That's where I really made up my time.  I was able to consistently string sets of 11 or more together.  I only went through 1 round where I was looking at sets of 3,4 or 5 only.  On my last round I did all 21 in a row and was smoked.

Need to really stretch out tonight.

EVA - What an evil woman...

Today was my first attempt at EVA.  Needless to say, I was not thrilled when I saw this because of the multiple rounds with an 800 in there.  Running is not a strength.  I can say the life lessons from John D. ring true at times likes this.  It's those days when things are setup that are not my strengths that I can't miss.  So, off to the box.

Worked out with Courtney again today.  I always like seeing her because she was the one who put me through my foundations.  Had a chance to catch up with her after the WOD and it's always nice to hear when people see the progress and she has definitely seen the progress for me.  As I told her it has been a long 10 months and I have a long way to go but I'm having fun and getting better.

On to EVA.  Nice easy warm up since the WOD has a 50:00 timecap.  So, I needed to get after it quick.

EVA
5 rounds
800 m run
30 KB swings (2 pd is Rx but Ryan modified to 1.5 pd which is what I used)
30 pullups

Running is just something that I don't enjoy.  No stops on the first 800 but multiple walk segments on rounds 2, 3 and 4 (did not make it to 5 rounds).  Got into the box at 4:40ish on the first round after the run and jumped right on KBs.  3 sets of 10 no problem.  Jumped to pullups and knocked out first 15 with green band only then went to green and red band for remainder and for all other rounds except for the first 5 on round 2.

Total score was 50:00 timecap for 3 rounds plus 800 m plus 30 KB.  I'm finding (and made comment to Courtney) that for the KBs the weight is really not a factor.  It's all coming down to my cardio and breath.  Areas I really need to work on.  Pullups I felt were very solid.  Hindsight I should have knocked the first round down to just green band and I need to find whatever is between the green band and the green and red band.

Tomorrow will be a better day for me because it is strength movements.  5 rounds of deadlifts (315#) and 21 double unders.

Box Jumps & Squats

Quiet morning (which rarely happens) so I took advantage of it and went to the box for the 9:30am class.  I'm planning that tonight when I drop the girls off at dance that I'll head over to the rec center and get a cardio workout in (30 minutes or so on the bike).

Woke up and tested out the knee.  Per my previous posts I tweaked it a bit last Friday on double unders and was concerned that I would not be able to do that well on squat day.  Walked into the box and immediately told Ryan that my knee was bothering me and the details behind it.  He first said "thanks for telling me" and then he said go do this stretch with the roller on my thigh.  I was surprised by his first comment but I guess a lot of people come in and work through their pain.  My immediate thought was "what a bunch of idiots...do you want to get really hurt."  I went and got the roller and started working it out and all I can say is that the roller is pure magic.  Looks like the hamstring work on Friday focused on some muscles that I rarely use (and need to get on it quick) and I needed to really work it out.  Regardless, I was sensitive and didn't push as hard as I could have during the WOD so that I wouldn't hurt myself.

Warmup:

400 m run (Run was pretty nice.  Not getting winded on them at all now which i am real happy about.  Knee twinged a little bit but nothing major.  Cold as all get out though.)

2 rounds:
10 GHD Back Extensions
10 Ham band pulls
10 Squat Box Jumps
10 Situps (these were a cake walk which I am finally happy about.  Tomorrow is going to be rough though - 150 total expected)

WOD:
30 box jumps for time - 24" box
Back Squat 6 x 6 x 6 (50% 1 Rep Max)
OHS 5 x 5 x 3 x 3 x 3

Score:
Box Jumps - 1:33 (I was real pleased with this especially given that I stepped down on each one.)
BS - 135 / 185 / 205 (I was timid on this one for fear of hurting the knee and focused on form.  First 2 rounds were too easy though so I went up on the last one.  Was getting way below parallel so I was real happy with that.)
OHS - 45 / 95 / 105 / 115 (f) / 115 (f) - I am still not that comfortable with this much weight over my head.  Need to get past the mental part quick.  I can do the weight.  Do need to work on balance though.

Friday Tabata Row and Double Unders

Spent a few good days in Houston and was ready to hit the box on Friday night. I had expected a really fun warmup given the WOD did not look ike it was going to last long. Something like the junkyard warmup or similar. Not in the works. Instead Ryan gave us a little bit of a lecture on hamstring strength. I do like going through these on occasion and this was a good one. Our warmup was focused on building hamstring strength which can be applied in a bunch of different areas. All parts of the warmupwere controlled and slow movements.

Warmup (2 minutes each)
Incline row - focus on pulling forward with the heels down
Hamstring band pull
Jump rope - sigles, doubles, cross overs, mix it up
KB - 4 romanian deadlifts, 4 single arm swings each arm

WOD
Tabata row for distance
Tabata double unders

Rowing was a lot of fun. Ended up with 899 meters. Double unders started out great. 27 on the first round and all were in a row. Ended up with 8 on my lowest round. Tweaked my left knee a little bit but pushed through it.

Knee was sore and really tight all weekend up until Sunday night. Tomorrow's WOD is box jumps and squats so I need to make sure I tell Ryan beforehand so he doesn't let me go crazy and hurt it more. Hope to get in 5 days this week.

Double Unders and Clean / Push Jerk

I'm flying out to Houston tonight on the 6 pm.  Since I normally attend our 6 pm class at the box I went in early (10:30am class) to keep "ahead" of my fitness goals.  One thing that is a bit disappointing is that the attendance has dropped off quite a bit lately.  Not quite sure why but the morning classes are usually 4-5 people and the night classes are typically 7+.  When I signed up for the class I was the only one so I was real happy to see that Jon (who was signed up for the 9:30) decided to wait and do the 10:30 so he could have someone do it with him.  We also had Chad sign up last minute and a punch card guy (Brian) come in.

Looking forward to this WOD since I saw it posted yesterday.  Double Unders and 95# clean and push jerk.  Two things that I am pretty good at.  My body was still a little sore from yesterday's WOD (wall climbs were tough) so I went in 30 minutes early to get some good stretching in.

WOD:
5 min Double Unders
5 min 95# Clean & Push Jerk
3 min
3 min
1 min
1min
Score = Total number of reps

Temps were in the low 30's so we warmed up on the rower inside.  After rollouts I went through a few rounds of double unders and stopped right around 20 reps.  Did this 3 or 4 times.  Felt really good going into the WOD.

3-2-1-GO

Let me start with my final scores.  229 total Rx.  144 / 64 / 21.

On Round 1 I got a nice set of double unders in right off the bat.  51 total in a row.  Then the train fell of the tracks.  I could only squeeze in single digits in a row (and low single digits).  Ended up with 119 the first round.  Got to the bar for clean and push jerk and could only squeeze out 25.  I'm finding that the cardio is killing my performance and is an area I really need to get after.  Round 2 was 45 double unders and 19 clean / push jerks.  Don't remember what the final round was but I just kept moving.

Lessons learned:

Stay after my diet.  Drop the grains big time.
Work on cardio.  I think I'm going to start back up on the cardio workouts each day also.  30 minutes on a bike or elliptical or treadmill in addition to the WOD will pay off.