Strength/Power
Cleans: 135x3, 185x3, 205x2, 225x2, 245xF, 245x1, 255xF, 255xF
I'm definitely still feeling the effects of the CFT and just felt sluggish on the cleans. Hopefully, a rest day tomorrow will let me finally get back to normal.
Metcon
8 rounds for time:
* 40 yard sprints
* Rest 30 seconds between sprints
* Run at 90-100% effort on all sprints
I had a friend time me today. Obviously, the timings are subject to human error and are probably +/- 0.5 seconds.
First: 5.34s
Last: 5.15s
Fastest: 4.69s
I was too tense for the first few runs and actually got progressively faster on rounds 2-5, with round 5 having the 4.69s run (and possibly a larger than usual timing error ). After that, fatigue started to set in and I slowed back down. Running fast is fun.
Thanks. And yea, being able to constantly set PR's for over a year is an awesome motivation. It really makes me wonder how much my body can really do.Originally posted by: katank
Congrats on the PR on Angie. While nowhere near your times, a few months of Crossfit has made me set PRs by quite a lot. It's truly a great feeling.
Your first few times, you should probably just walk in them. Let your feet get used to feeling the ground, having no cushioning, etc. After that, try an easy 200m run or two. If that feels ok, next time do 400m. Then 800m, 1 mile, 2 miles, 5k, 10k, and then anything you want. Only move up to the next distance when you're totally comfortable with the previous - meaning you experience no pain and very little soreness. When you move up to a new distance, run SLOWLY and don't try to set PR's. Remember, that if you skip too far forward or try to do too much, you risk not only leaving yourself extremely sore (which will screw up subsequent workouts), but there is also a real possibility of injury to your calves, achilles, feet, etc. It took you years as a child to learn to run, so make sure you allow yourself plenty of time now to re-learn it.Originally posted by: katank
Any advice in running in them other than taking it easy on distance the first time? Should I try a grassy field or something first?
I actually meant skipping from a short run to a long run w/o doing the ones in between: for example, if the longest run you've ever done in your VFF's is 400m, jumping straight to a 5k would probably be a bad idea.Originally posted by: katank
What do you mean by skip too far forward? Do you mean heel striking or in terms of trying too much volume too fast? I take it that both are bad.
That may make the transition to VFFs a lot easier for you. I had always worn big, padded running shoes before (that I got from "experts" at a running store), so the transition for me was pretty tough. However, it has been WELL worth it, as my technique feels much more efficient and I have some running PR's to show for it.Originally posted by: katank
I've actually been running in thin soled flat shoes for a while now and mostly using a midfoot strike.
Strength/Power
None. All the barbells were in use today at the garage gym, so I just went straight into the metcon.
Metcon
"Fight Gone Bad!"
Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)
In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.
Wall Ball: 27, 22, 20
SDHP: 22, 20, 15
Box Jump: 25, 18, 15
Push Press: 25, 20, 21
Row: 16, 13, 12
Total: 291
Since the awesome folks who own the garage gym actually have a dynamax ball and a rower, this is the first time I've done FGB without any substitutions. This score is 10 points lower then my PR with thrusters subbed for wall ball and burpees subbed for rowing, so I guess my subs were pretty reasonable. Most of those 10 points could probably be attributed to my inexperience with wall ball (first time ever doing it) and rowing and I'm sure I'll easily make them up as I get better at those exercises. I actually liked wall ball: compared to thrusters, the added element of accuracy and coordination made the exercise a fun challenge. It's also worth mentioning that it was oppressively humid today and we had no airflow - all 10 of the people that did this workout complained of how hard it was to breath in these conditions. So, taking everything into consideration, I'm pretty happy with this performance.
Skill/Gymnastics
Ring work: l-sit, back lever, front lever
I haven't practiced my l-sit much lately and it has become incredibly weak. I'll need to focus on that in the future. My back lever, on the other hand, has improved: I held a very solid one (a friend verified I was perfectly parallel) for ~10 seconds today. The front lever was less successful: I can easily do the straddle variety, but can't even come close to holding the full version.
Strength/Power
Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 275x15xF
OH Press: 115x3, 135x2, 155x1, 175x1, 175x1, 175x1, 175x1, 175x1
Ugh, 20 rep squats. This is actually the first time I failed because my legs gave out rather than my resolve. I got into the hole for rep 16 and just couldn't get myself to get back out of it. As for OH Press, since my 1RM is stuck in the mud (at 185), I've decided to work on it by doing a bunch of singles. Hopefully, this will make me better at maximal lifts. Next time I'll bump it up to 180.
Metcon
None. No time today as I have a flight to catch. I'll be on vacation in Germany the next two weeks, so my workout time will likely be sparse.
Originally posted by: brikis98
I'll be on vacation in Germany the next two weeks, so my workout time will likely be sparse.
Strength/Power
Squat: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5, 295x5
OH Press: 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 155x5
Today was my first day back at the gym in over two weeks, so I kept the weight intentionally low. Overall, everything went pretty smoothly: my squat form felt fine and 295 wasn't too challenging. I'll probably try 315x5 later this week as a real judge of whether I've lost much strength or not. OH press was a little bumpy at first, but I think that was more of a shoulder flexibility thing. Once I loosened up, 155 went up pretty reasonably. I'll go for 165x5 next time and see how that feels.
Metcon
"Nicole"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
Run 400 meters
Max rep Pull-ups
Round 1: 10mph, 30 pull-ups
Round 2: 10mph, 17 pull-ups
Round 3: 10mph, 15 pull-ups
Round 4: 10mph, 15 pull-ups
Round 5: 9mph, 11 pull-ups
Round 6: 9mph, 12 pull-ups
Round 7: 10mph, 0 pull-ups (ran out of time)
Total distance: 1.75 mi (ties PR)
Total pull-ups: 100 (PR)
I haven't done Nicole in ages and am reasonably happy with this performance. I didn't go at it 100% since this was my first day back (I intentionally took some extra rest between rounds to keep my heart rate reasonable), but still managed to set a PR on pull-ups, primarily due to an excellent first round.
Body composition
I weighed in at 187.0lbs today, about 3lbs heavier than when I left on vacation. The 3lb increase itself is relatively meaningless, but based on what I see in the mirror, I'm guessing I've lost a small amount of muscle and gained a decent amount of fat over the last 2 weeks. Hopefully, getting back on my normal diet and exercise schedule will fix this fairly quickly. If not, I'm tentatively considering doing another cut for ~6 weeks and seeing if I can get down to 175.0lbs.
Strength/Power
Snatch: 95x3, 115x2, 135xF, 135x2, 145x1, 155xF, 155x1, 165xF, 165x1 (power snatch)
My form on the snatch was pretty rusty today, but I was still generating decent power, so I'm not too worried. The main problem was actually the catch in an OH squat: I must not have been locking it out properly as I missed forward (on 135 and 165) and backwards (on 155) even though I had plenty of height on the bar. I'm sure another session or two and I'll be back to normal.
Metcon
"Karen"
For time:
150 Wallball shots, 20 pound ball
Time: 8:37
This was my first time doing Karen and only my second time ever doing wall balls, so I'm fairly happy with the performance. I've found out that the biggest difference between wall ball and thrusters (my usual sub before I had access to wall ball) is not the throwing component, but the catch. Absorbing the impact of a 20lb ball falling from 10 feet over and over again is incredibly stressful on the body, especially if you miss slightly and have to catch it underhand or off to the side. Towards the end of the workout, my shoulders were pretty toast and my quads started to cramp, but I fought through it.
Originally posted by: katank
If you haven't already seen it, there's a recent video at Again Faster with some tips on wallball which might be helpful.
Originally posted by: katank
In this case, I think the reasoning is that you won't need nearly as much power to throw the ball up. In a max effort oly lift, every bit of hip power is needed. In wall ball, perhaps not so much. Perhaps if your heels don't lift up, then you can conserve that power during high rep wall ball WODs like Karen.
Strength/Power
Power clean: 135x3, 185x3, 205x2, 225x2, 245xF, 245x1, 250xF, 225x3
My quads have been incredibly sore from the last few days, so I chose to avoid squatting today and do power cleans. Much like with the snatch yesterday, I was generating decent power, but my technique was fairly rusty. I especially struggled with the stomp and rack, often catching the bar too high or low and my feet ending up in odd positions. Hopefully a few more sessions will clean that up.
Metcon
Complete as many rounds in 12 minutes as you can of:
10 Kettle Bell Swings 2 pood
40 Yard Sprint
Rounds completed: 8
Looking back at the comments for this CF Football workout, my final score seems quite low, as some people got 15-17 rounds. However, when I see "40 yard sprint", I always make sure I actually balls out sprint. This often meant taking some extra rest just after the KB swings to ensure I had the energy to actually sprint and not just jog the 40 yards. I'd then jog/walk the 40 yards back to the KB and start swinging again. This all took a lot of time and resulted in a lower score, but I think I still got an excellent training effect overall. Also, it's worth noting this was my first time actually using a kettlebell for swings, as the wonderful folks at the garage gym I've been using actually have them and I didn't have to sub dumbbells.
Strength/Power
Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5
Bench press: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 265x3xF
Man, my quads were still sore from last week's squatting and wall ball, so squatting today was a bit rough, but I got through it. All reps of 315 were solid, although a little slower than I would've liked. I'll probably try 325 next time. Bench press sucked. I was hoping for a set of 5 with 265, but by the 4th rep, my spotter had to help. However, I guess this is to be expected, as the last time I benched was July 18 and the last time before that was June 22. I think I'll need to do it more than once a month if I want to maintain it.
Metcon
Walking lunge 100 ft.
21 Pull-ups
21 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
18 Pull-ups
18 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
15 Pull-ups
15 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
12 Pull-ups
12 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
9 Pull-ups
9 Sit-ups
Walking Lunge 100 ft.
6 Pull-ups
6 Sit-ups
I used my usual estimate of 3.5-4.0 feet per lunge and did 28 lunges per round.
Time: 9:15 (ties PR).
I really struggled with the lunges today due to my sore quads, but burned through the pull-ups and sit-ups and ended up matching my previous PR on this workout.
Strength/Power
Power clean & jerk: 135x3, 185x3, 205x2, 225x1, 225x1, 235xF, 235xF (VERY close)
It occurred to me that I don't get nearly enough practice at the jerk, so I decided to try it today. My technique was horrendous. My initial dip and drive are too slow and I don't get nearly low enough on the final dip under the bar. I was able to squeeze it out with 225, but 235 was a no go. On the final attempt, I got under it, but my arms weren't locked and I struggled with it for about 5 seconds before finally giving up. My power clean form wasn't pretty either, so I think next time, I'm going to do a big deload (down to 185), work on doing full clean & jerks, and get my form fixed.
Metcon
For time, 15, 10, 5:
Deadlift 315
Sprint 20 yards
Pull Ups
(Perform 15 deadlifts, sprint 20 yards, 15 pull ups, 10 deadlifts, sprint 20 yards, 10 pull ups, 5 deadlifts, sprint 20 yards, 5 pull ups)
Time: 7:30
I'm not a fan of this CF Football workout. The extremely short sprints and relatively low pull-up numbers just didn't mesh well with the fairly heavy deadlifts.
Strength/Power
Snatch: 95x3, 135x1, 135x1, 135xF, 135x1, 155xF, 155x1, 165xF, 165xF
Today was supposed to be a rest day - and I could've used one after yesterday's deadlifts - but I'm moving out of my apartment tomorrow and flying to CA on Friday, so I'm not sure when I'll have time for a workout next. At any rate, I started with some snatches and found that while my first and second pulls felt great, my third pull and catch were very shaky. I kept ending up off balance at the bottom of the OH squat and had very few smooth reps. Although I could save the weight at 135 and 155, by 165, I couldn't hold on and had to dump it.
I talked with a friend of mine and she brought up a good point: I think I have the wrong mentality with o-lifts. With power lifts, like squats and deadlifts, your technique doesn't have to be perfect to go up in weight: you just need to have safe & effective technique. If anything, perfect is the enemy of good when trying to get strong. Moreover, as you go up in weight, to continue making progress, your technique will naturally improve anyway. This means that it's ok to go up 5-10lbs even after a slightly shaky set. With o-lifts, this is NOT the case. The technique is so much more complicated and the lifts are so fast that there is no time to make minor corrections/adjustments. This means that technique really should be perfect and weight increases should be tiny - 5lbs or even 2.5lbs. Since I'm deloading my C&J anyway, I'll do the same with my snatch. I'll go back to 135, only increase weight when I have a VERY smooth/clean motion, and go up no more than 5lbs at a time. It'll set me back a while and I might miss my 2009 o-lift goals, but I think I'll benefit in the end.
Metcon
"Joshie"
Complete three rounds for time of:
40 pound Dumbbell squat snatch, 21 reps, right arm
21 L Pull-ups
40 pound Dumbbell squat snatch, 21 reps, left arm
21 L Pull-ups
I accidentally used a 45lb dumbbell.
Time: 37:48
As my slow-ass time indicates, I really really really should've scaled this one. I'm not nearly good enough at L pull-ups to be doing 126 of them in a single workout; I think 21 per round (rather than 42) would've been more than enough. Now I'm going to pay for being a stubborn ass: my abs are already sore, just an hour after the workout. Tomorrow, I suspect that I'll be in agony. Incidentally, today was my first time doing DB squat snatches and for the most part, I enjoyed them. It's definitely odd squatting with a weight in one hand above your head, but I guess it's a great way to build core and shoulder stability. Not that my abs needed any more of a beating.
Strength/Power
None. I'm at my parents' house for one day before I fly out to CA and don't have access to a gym here. TBH, I'm glad I didn't have any heavy lifting as I'm still absurdly sore (mostly in the abs and upper back) from "Joshie" a couple days ago. Sneezing really sucks.
Metcon
Run 5k
Time: DNF. Managed 2.0 miles in 14:08 and then had to stop.
Something must have been wrong with my running technique today as I started feeling blisters developing only ~0.75 miles into the run. Normally, I can go ~5k in my VFF's before it's a real problem, and have even done a 10k in them before, but today I was in absolute agony by 1.5 miles and finally stopped after 2 miles. The result is two puffy and painful blisters on the balls of each foot on the side with the big toe. I'm not sure what I'm doing differently - my legs and lungs felt great and I was on pace to set a ~1 minute PR - but my feet just went to pieces.
Strength/Power
Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 325x5
OH Press: 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 165x5
Good strength day today. Both squats and OH press went well and, at least on these lifts, I'm back to where I was before the 2 week vacation.
Metcon
Five rounds for time of:
75 pound Thrusters, 21 reps
21 Double-unders
Time: 10:31
Having to do so many thrusters right after heavy squats and OH press wasn't the best combination, but I toughed it out and got through the workout. It definitely helped to have my double under technique in top form today: I did almost all the rounds in straight sets and my jumping height was only a tiny bit higher than with single unders, a sign of good efficiency.