GreatFalls Adventure

Here is a video from over the weekend out at Great Falls.  Just some creative fitness in a natural environment.

Gymnastics Wod 3 14 14

         Today I followed a structured gymnastics style workout rather than just picking a few random exercises and work on skill.  This Wod I found from Carl Paolis Gymnastics Wod website.  He has so much knowledge when it comes to gymnastics type movements and provides so many helpful technique and progression videos.  You can take a look at his website   http://gymnasticswod.com/ or look him up on Youtube.  I found a strength wod he posted a month ago which was four rounds for quality of 2 strict muscle-ups, 4 strict handstand push-ups, 6 strict pull-ups, 8 weighted pistols, and a 10 meter handstand walk.  I modified it a little bit since I can’t do pistols with my leg injury right now.  I decided to do four rounds of 3 strict muscle-ups, 6 strict handstand push-ups, and 9 strict pull-ups, and then a max effort handstand walk.  The workout was pretty straightforward but it was a nice change of pace focusing on quality rather than racing against a clock.  There wasn’t really anything worth noting during this part of the workout.  For my final set of strict pull-ups I decided to give it an all-out effort and wound up with 17.  Thought I should have gotten at least 20 but my upper body was already smoked.   After that I played with various transitions on the paralletes such as L-Sits to Handstands and crows to handstands.  I just recently started incorporating some gymnastics style training and I’m quickly beginning to notice the results plus this type of training is so much fun.  I think I’ll be hitting a hike slash climb at Great Falls tomorrow, hopefully I’ll get some footage.  Here is a video from today's training.

Barn WOD Video

Here is a video of a workout we did at the barn over the weekend, finally got around to editing the clips.  Take a look.
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Pinecliff Park Wod

Today I met up with Scoob, Greg, and Rob to hit a workout at Pinecliff Park right on the Monocacy River.  I loaded up the pickup truck with a bunch of equipment tire, sledge hammer, barbells, bumper plates, climbing rope, gravel-filled water jugs, and a kayak.  We looked around for a suitable place to do pull-ups but didn’t really find anywhere.  We brought the kayak to do a pull against the current with someone in the kayak the plan failed miserably.  So we then partnered up and switched between shoulder to overhead while the other partner does farmers walks or tire pulls.  Greg and I used 135lbs for the push presses and Rob and Scoob used 95lbs.  This couplet was a complete gasser and had us all trying to catch our breath.  The tires didn’t pull very smoothly on the asphalt so this was very taxing on the posterior chain.  We also came up with a truck push, deadlift, and sledgehammer swings.  The fourth person is steering and braking the truck as needed.  I was a little skeptical about doing a truck push with my leg injuries but they seemed to hold up alright.  My boy Scoob was in charge of getting the footage on the GoPro so he had it attached to his head for the majority of this workout.  Here’s the video check it out.

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Sugarloaf Mountain Hike

         Today was an awesome day with no reps, no weights, and no clocks to chase.  It’s just you and the mountain.  I had Scoob and Greg come with me to Sugarloaf.  We figured we would just hike, climb, boulder, and just have the mountain be our only obstacle.  We started with a hike slash climb about 800 feet up.  It got pretty interested here from the ice crusted snow and icy rocks.  We made it up and got an amazing view looking out on the horizon.  We played around with presses to handstands, handstand walks, boulder flips, and log carries.  It’s amazing how little I do these types of adventures but that is going to change.  It is amazing how much fun it is to use nature as your obstacle.  I got little clips from the day but somehow deleted the rock climbing we did which was the best part.  Oh well here’s the video take a look.

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Weekend Barn Workout

       Today was my first workout back at the barn and I had James, Scoob, and Greg join for a workout.  It was a lot of technique and working on some skills.  I had just gotten my first strict muscle-up the previous day.  I was pretty siked about that since I haven’t tried them strict in a long time.  I figured I’d give it a try and got five consecutive strict muscle-ups.  I also had been playing around with some of the moves from Prasara yoga such as crow press into a handstand.  We tried these from the parallettes and also did some rope climbing from my new rope.  I still can’t get a good foot hold and is making me crazy.  We also hit a pretty straightforward metcon consisting of a minute of floor presses and a minute of pull-ups rest and repeat two times for max reps.  Me and Greg did the floor presses @ 135 and James and Scoob used 95lbs.  My arms were fried from all the strict muscle-ups, parallette presses, and rope climbs.  Scoob finished with 133 reps, I finished with 127, Greg with 114, and James with 73 reps.  Planning for a little adventure up at Sugarloaf Mountain for a rest day.

Rest Week

1/2 mile swim

Morning WOD

2 min AMRAP(as many reps as possible) of Muscle-Ups

2min AMRAP of Floor Press

2 min AMRAP of GHD Sit-Ups

2 min AMRAP of Pull-Ups

2 min AMRAP of Ring-Dips

2 min rest between each exercise

Evening WOD 

15 mins of Various Handstands

1000m Swim for time:

          I didn’t really have much upper body lifting left that I haven’t already hit this week so I decided to do the above workout.  Two minute rounds of 5 different exercises for max reps with two min rest in between rounds.  The first exercise was muscle-ups and I got 8 on my first set not too impressive.  I waited about 20 secs and hopped back up and got 3 more and then I got two singles and missed a single right before the time was up.  Total of 13 muscle-ups in two mins I was shooting for 15 which definitely is possible.  For the floor presses I chose 135lbs and I managed 32 reps I can’t complain.  The GHD sit-ups were a dismal performance only managing 30 in the time period.  Really seem to struggle with this movement.  On to the pull-ups I got a total of 42 reps.  After this I really hit a point of exhaustion and could feel my breakfast making it’s way up.  I tried to regain my composure for the final round of ring dips but I was struggled and finished with a total of 37 reps.  So I got 13, 32, 30, 42, and 37 reps respectively. 

                I decided to condense my skill session and conditioning session into one workout.  I went to the Sport & Health club in my neighborhood and worked on handstands, and handstand walking.  I then tried a new variation of walking along the wall laterally on my hands this was a new and exciting change up.  Try walking on your hands laterally it gets tiring very quickly.  Now onto the conditioning which was 1000m swim for time.  I knew it was going to be brutal since I’m a land dweller and haven’t spent much time in the water.  I became quickly fatigued and felt like my heart was going to pop out of my chest.  I took breaths and breaks about every 50m it seemed. The gym was closing so I had to call it a quits at the 800m mark.  I swam a ½ mile and it took me just over 20 mins.  I think with more time spent in the water I can get that down to the 15 minute mark.  Certainly no Michael Phelps but I’ll take it for my first real swim.  I’m looking forward to a long weekend of recovery after the 8 training sessions that took place Monday thru Friday.

Ring Progressions

Morning WOD

Incline DB Press  5/5/5/5/5/20

Strict Toes to Bar  10/10/10

Back Ext

Afternoon WOD

Ring Dip to shoulder stand

Skin the cat to l-sit

Front lever progressions

Evening WOD

1 min on: 10 pull-ups + ME HRPU

1 min rest – continue until 100 HRPU are completed

I’m kind of running out of strength exercises to do with my knee injury.  I decided to hit an old Globo-Gym exercise incline dumbbell press.  I thought it would be weird since I haven’t pressed dumbells on a bench in six months.  Also I haven’t done incline bench anything probably even longer.  I did my sets of 5 with 80lb dumbells.  Didn’t really seem to lose strength on this exercise probably could have gone up to 85s but I didn’t want to overload the shoulder joint.  Good to know that overall strength carries over to all kinds of exercises. 

For the afternoon ring workout I worked on getting up and over the rings and transitioning from a dip to a handstand.  This is very awkward and unstable, I got my legs extended a couple times but never was able to grab the straps and fully extend.  It became increasingly more comfortable during the five sets so just something that will take time.  The skin the cats were good, I'm really starting to get my torso parallel to the ground.  I took a still shot which is below I am parallel but I would like to maintain a more neutral spinal position.  I would come out of the skin the cat and try and hold an l-sit, this part needs some more work.  The front lever progression I would stick one leg out at a time.  These were pretty ugly but it's a movement I have never tried before.  Pratice. Practice. Practice. 

         For the evening wod I came up with 10 pull-ups on the start of every other minute + max effort hand release push-ups.  Then took a minute rest, stop the clock when you reach a 100 total hand release push-ups.  I took me 10:31 which 5 minutes were rest so 5:31 total work time.  Not bad certainly not great.  Looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow!  I’m going try an EPSOM salt bath tomorrow since they seem to have so many benefits mainly in the recovery department.

New Training Day1

Morning session

Bench Press 5/3/1+

Weighted Chins

Weighted Dips

Weighted Sit-Ups

Afternoon session

Handstand Walking 5 x max effort

Freestand HSPU 3x ME

L-Sits

Light-Pole Climbs

Evening WOD

30 Muscle-Ups for time

                The morning session at Crossfit Grand Strand went as planned.  For my all out set on the bench press at 215lbs, I got five reps.  I’m pretty happy with that.  Then the rest of the strength session was routine.  For the afternoon session I went to these grass badminton courts in my neighborhood and walked on my hands for a while at least attempted too.  For some reason I seem only able to walk backwards on my hands.  Then I did some L-Sits on a bench, and then a played around with a few different creative things.  I didn’t do any work on the rings because of the 30 muscle-ups for time this evening. 

I got started with the evening WOD and got 10 on my first set, I was hoping for at least 12.  I took three breaths and jumped on the rings and got up and then lost the rings behind me.  It was a scary moment as both my shoulders got pulled behind me.  I jumped down and waited a few seconds to see if I had done any damage.  I didn’t I think so I hopped back up and knocked out 4 more.  From then on it was a couple sets of 3s 2s and a lot of singles.  I was frustrated from the start and the straps kept getting in the way of my grip.  I finished in 8:11.  Really not happy about the time but I think 30 muscle-ups for time might be a little ambitious for my skill on the muscle-up at this point.  It was a minute faster than the first and only time I did this workout.  I got my first ring muscle-up less than a month ago so I guess I shouldn’t complain.  It was a long day of training looking forward to some rest and recovery tomorrow.  Below is a video I took with my gopro of some muscle-ups

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New Training Schedule

I’m starting a new training protocol with a 1 day on and 1 day off approach.  I think this will be the best way to maximize my gains while minimizing the risk for overtraining and excessive fatigue.  Since my knees are still healing I’m only able to train upper body which makes my training a little redundant.  I will train Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and the rest of the days will be active recovery.  On my training days I will be training three times a day.  It sounds excessive but it isn’t.  In the morning I will do my lifting session which lasts around an hour.  In the afternoon I will be doing around 25-40 mins worth of bodyweight gymnastics skill training.  The evening will be my final workout which will consist of a metcon(metabolic conditioning) or some other sort of conditioning work.  This will last anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes depending on the workout.  So I will be probably training a total of 2 to 3 hours on my training days.  That’s not that much and the workload is about the same.  Also instead of cramming it all in to one session I’m able to split it up and get more benefit out of each area. 

Variation of Cindy

METCON- 20 min AMRAP

5 HSPU

10 Pull-Ups

15 Sit-Ups

I decided to just work on conditioning today so I decided to do a longer Metcon.  I thought 20 minutes would be good. So I came up with the following, as many rounds of 5 handstand push-ups, 10 pull-ups, and 15 sit-ups in the 20 minute period.  I did this at the regular gym in my neighborhood.  I completed 11 rounds plus 5 hspu, and 10 pull-ups.  So in all I did 60 HSPU, 120 pull-ups, and 165 sit-ups.  I really felt strong on the handstand push-ups, I did all of them strict.  I only broke up one set due to me losing balance not a lack of strength.  On the pull-ups I didn’t break up any of my sets of 10.  The butterfly motion seems to get more and more efficient.  I think I should up the number of pull-ups to 15 per set next time.  The sit-ups are where I struggled the most.  I just seem to lack core strength; I think most of this is probably from neglect of core training.  I will definitely make an effort to get my core stronger.  All in all I felt good with this metcon since I never really took any rest during the workout other than the walk from the HSPU to the pull-up bars.  I think I will start doing two longer metcons a week while my knee is recovering to keep my endurance.

Muscle-Up Ladder

Morning WOD

Strength 5/3/1 Bench Press 3,3,3+

EMOM Muscle-Up Ascending Ladder

METCON- 1 min rds of:

Floor Press @135lbs

Pull-Ups

Sit-Ups

Rest 1 min & repeat 3 times

I am on the start of my third week of Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 strength program.  I’m still only able to do bench press due to my nagging knee injury.  I’m thinking the start of next month I’ll be able to start doing the squat, deadlift, and strict press.  I am pretty weak on the bench press right now so hopefully this program will help with that.  On my top all-out set I got 6 reps @202.5 lbs. 

Then I was off to do an EMOM ladder of Muscle-Ups, min 1 do 1 muscle-up, min 2 do 2 muscle-ups and on and on until you fail to get the designated reps within the minute.  I felt a little shaky today on the muscle-ups.  I got through the first 6 rounds unbroken and was very fatigued going into the 7^th round.  I got 4 then I got two singles and failed on my final rep, one shy of advancing to the eighth minute… bummer!  All in all, I got 27 muscle-ups in 7 minutes with about half the time being rest.  Not too bad considering I got my first ring muscle-up less than a month ago. 

Now on to the Metcon which was a minute AMRAP of Floor Presses @135lbs, Pull-Ups, and Sit-Ups then 1 minute rest and repeat it three times.  So basically it’s 12 minutes of work and 3 minutes of rest.  I got a total of 234 reps, no idea what my reps were round by round.  This number was not too bad but I think I could get closer to the 300 range.  I haven’t done a WOD like this in a while but I think it’s a really good way to test your work capacity with very limited rest.  There wasn’t a ton of strategy in this workout just get after it.  The floor press I started setting reps to hit on the later rounds.  The pull-ups I just kept going until I could no longer get my chin over the bar.  Sit-Ups were pretty straightforward just up and down.  I think this exposed a weakness in my training and is a great way to test your muscular endurance.

Day 2 at the Barn

Second Barn Workout

Scoob and Greg arrive and we quickly get after it by staring with 10x2 Floor Press.  We struggled to get a proper set-up things were a little shaky at the beginning but we stacked the barbell on bumper plates so it was raised.  It began to smooth out a little and Scoob got to his working sets at 185lbs, I 225lbs and Greg 240lbs.  Greg seemed to be very strong on this movement.  I struggled to get comfortable with the awkwardness of this movement.  Scoob got some pretty tough reps.  Then we worked on some Handstands for about ten minutes. 

Now onto the metcon which was 3 rds for time of 20 shoulder to overhead @95lbs and 10 bar-facing burpees.  Scoob went first and was fighting for every rep after the first round.  The weight was probably a little heavy for him for this particular WOD.  He finished in 9 mins and some change. Then Greg went and the weight didn’t seem to be a problem for him going through the first two rds unbroken.  He broke up the presses the third round and finished with a time of 4:30. 

Now I’m up and wished I had gone first sine I had just watched all the pain and suffering and knew this workout was going to be a gasser.  I go unbroken on the first set but realize with my knee these aren’t strong push presses not much drive from the legs, which is the name of the game in this WOD.  Burpees felt fast and on to the second round I pick the bar up and realize that with no leg drive this is going to be really tough.  Get through it in two sets sprint through the burpees.  On to the final round and the presses are rough and I get through them in about 4 or 5 sets.  This really ate the clock up so I knew I had to hurry on the burpees.  Scoob and Greg are really cheering me on to get through this round.  I finished and clocked in at 4:54 not too bad, but not great.  I was hoping for a sub 4 minute time but I guess it wasn’t in the cards.  We were all gassed and glad to be done with the workout.  Heading back to South Carolina tomorrow, can’t wait to show my face back at Crossfit Grand Strand since it’s been too long.

First Barn Workout

First workout at the Barn

I recently worked on building my own home gym at my dad’s barn.  I will discuss this in a later post, but this is the first workout at the barn.  Today my boys Scoob and Greg came to train at my newly constructed home gym.  I was eager to show them as I knew they would be as excited as I was.  They arrive and I took them through the tour and they are pretty amped about the gym.  We start out with some Power Cleans and deadlifts for the strength portion.  I’m still recovering from my knee injury so I keep the weight light working up to 155 and decided to work on form and keep the weights light.  Same goes for the deadlifts I worked up to a couple sets of 5 at 275lbs.  Rut does the same.  James comes out just in time for the partner WOD I had created so off we go.  James and I were on one team and Scoob and Greg on the other.  One team member pushes the other down the driveway and back in a wheelbarrow while the other team is doing burpees.  Then the teams switch and the next round the other partner pushes the wheelbarrow.  We did 6 rounds total so everyone did 6 rds of burpees, 3 rds of pushing the wheelbarrow and 3 rds of sitting in the wheelbarrow (I think this was my favorite part).  We walked around while debating the next part of the workout.  We did a few hill runs up the neighbor’s backyard.  It is probably about 150 yards from the barn up to the top of the hill, definitely gonna throw this hill into some workouts in the future.  Then we used the same teams and competed first team to accumulate 100 pull-ups and 50 ring dips.  Crew is going to assemble tomorrow for another workout.

Injury

I have been dealing with a nagging knee injury which has greatly hampered my training for the last  month and a half.  I sprained my ACL but the main injury was a deep bone contusion in my knee which the doctor said would take three months to heal.  This is probably a repetitive use injury, probably need to get some better shoes.  Also I might need to work on my running form since about 80% of runners get injured throughout a year.  All too often injuries are part of Crossfit and any other sport for that matter.  This shouldn’t be a deterrent but rather a cautionary tale to listen to your body when training.  If you feel something is off don’t train through it.  Stop doing activities that aggravate it for that workout go home and take a day or two’s rest and re-evaluate that injury.  This is something I could have benefited from but often times I butt heads with my competitive stubborn spirit which tells me to toughen up and keep going. Taking extra time off is sometimes very hard to do, but three days off is much better than three months off. 

I have been battling this injury for months and trust me it’s no fun.  This has been probably the most frustrating and painful time of my life.  I never realized how painful a contusion can be or how much you need your knees.  I have had ligament and rotator cuff injuries, and tendonitis in both my elbows.  All of these pale in comparison to my knee injury.  The process of healing a bone contusion can be a very long process and there is really nothing to do but REST!  So do yourself a favor next time you feel something off, take it easy and get a few days rest if needed.             

Crossfit for the Cure

              Today was a long eventful and fun day at Crossfit Grand Strand.  We started with a seminar at 9am and had Scott Panchik the world’s 4^th fittest man two years in a row come in to talk.  If you don't know him he is the one in the image below.  Yes that is 315lbs that he just power cleaned, what a BEAST!  While there he went over his experiences and how he found Crossfit.  He also talked about what goes on inside the Crossfit Games.  He also came around and critiqued our form on various lifts.  It was pretty surreal that he was there engaging and giving me tips on my form.  This was a great start to the day.  We had about an hour and half break before the Crossfit for the Cure challenge.  I hung around and ate some jerky, nuts, and dried fruit.

               

             The two workouts were Fran and Diane.  The gym got really crowded there was probably 50 to 60 people in here and the majority of them were competing.  The atmosphere was electric with enthusiasm and bright pink outfits.  The guy wearing a pink tutu definitely wins best dressed.  There are two workouts going on at once and about three heats for each.  This wasn't considered a competition since it’s for a much bigger cause but you could tell people were still really anxious to post a good time.  My name gets called in heat 3 and so far people have been giving tremendous effort.  There were a lot of PRs going on a few times around 5 and 6 minute range.  I was up and ready to go.  I had nerves like I use to get before a basketball game excited but yet nervous.  I get through the first 21 thrusters relatively easy.  I’m the second one onto the pull-up bar and I go unbroken separating myself from the rest.  Then I got through 12 reps on my set of 15 and put the bar down.  Took a breath and picked it up and finished.  The crowd was very motivating and Daryl was right next to me encouraging me to get through my thrusters.  I think he was half the reason I PR’d on this workout.  Now I get to the pull-up bar bent over and really feeling it.  I jump up get a quick 10 hop down.  I’m back up finish my final 5.  Final round it takes every ounce of strength and fight in me to get through the final 9 thrusters.  I rush over to the pull-up bar and get through the last 9 reps and see a time of 4:01.  Best time so far, not bad 44 seconds faster than my time less than a week ago.  I collapsed and my heads spinning and I’m just trying to get myself together. The next round one of the contestants put up an impressive 3:30 time squashing my time.  I continually get worse and eventually make my way outside to puke  I had a pounding migraine and couldn’t do the second workout and left a little early.    

100 Burpees!

METCON

100 Burpees for time

Today I scheduled an afternoon metcon of 100 burpees for time.  I knew this was going to be absolutely brutal.  It was just as challenging physically as it was mentally.  This is a very low skill, straightforward metcon just down and up.  Seems easy enough but throw in a high number of reps at maximal intensity and this becomes an extreme challenge.  I started off strong and hit 25 burpees in my first minute.  It was at this moment that I started to realize what I was in for, the next minute was terrible.  My pace slowed considerably only getting about 20 in that minute.  I started breaking them in to sets of five and would take a quick breath.  I was fighting to get through the final 30 reps.  I was dripping sweat and mentally was struggling to carry on.  I ended up finishing my 100^th rep and stopped the clocked at just under 7 minutes.  I was happy with that time considering two or three weeks ago I did the 7 minute burpee test and only got 80.  So I increased my total work by 20% in the same time period. I think I can improve upon that time and get 100 in closer to six minutes.  It took me a solid fifteen minutes just to regain my composure I was in a foggy haze.  I don’t plan on scheduling that again anytime soon.

Reflection

My first month of Crossfit has been amazing with lots of fun training experiences.  I have been overwhelmed with knowledge and have learned a lot.  I have had a lot of good workouts and plenty of bad ones.  Tuesdays are usually a workout involving a lot of squatting.  This seems to be my weakness and I have finished many workouts on Tuesday near the back of the pack.  I have had many workouts where I finished first.  It feels good to be the first one done but it is so much different than any other sport.  You cheer people on after you’re done to help motivate them and show your support.  The day that I feel I gain the most are the ones where you’re struggling to get through a workout and want to quit but have found some motivation inside you to push even harder to get through the workout.  

I have decided that since I want to compete I need a little extra time to work on technique and strength.  So I decided to start my own programming.  For me to get to where I want to be I’m going to need to spend more than an hour to get my skill, strength, and conditioning work in.  It’s bittersweet because I will miss doing the WODs with the class but I’m also excited for what my new training will entail.

Fran

I walked in to the box and walk straight over to the whiteboard as usual and see the one four letter word I don't ever want too see "Fran".  It’s been a little over a month since I did Fran for the first time and here it is again.  My first time was 11:30 and when I did it two days later it was 8:44.  Today I knew I would get a faster time and I was excited and nervous.  It’s kind of the feeling before a game, like the feeling I would get leading up to a basketball game.  I got my barbell set up and placed it near the rig so I would have a quick transition from the thrusters to the pull-ups.  I ripped through the first set of thrusters and pull-ups unbroken.  Then on to the set of 15, and wow does this bar feel heavy.  I get 11 and drop the barbell and take three breaths.  I pick the bar up and get the next 4.  I get to the pull-up bar and I’m really breathing hard.  I hop up and get 15 and now I’m back to the thrusters.  I get 6 and then 3.  I finish the pullups and look and my final time is 4:45.  The image above is "Pukie" the Crossfit mascot and this pretty much sums up me after the workout.  This was a 7 minute improvement from my first time.  I felt really good with my time.  I’m hoping to stay in the four minute range for the Crossfit for the Cure challenge this Saturday.  The 4^th fittest man in the world Scott Panchik is coming to speak at Crossfit Grand Strand Saturday morning before the challenge. Going to be an awesome experience!