Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Back to the Fire Academy

Workout of the Day:

WOD 1

Deadlift 3, 3, 3+ @ 70, 80, 90% 1RM

Strict Press 3, 3, 3+ @ 70, 80, 90% 1RM

Muscle ups 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

WOD 2

4 rounds for time:

400 meter run

15 wall muscle ups (7 foot wall)

50 double unders

Was out at the Sacramento Fire Academy today training with a few of the city’s finest. Lifted hard on the deadlifts and presses, notching 400 lbs for 6 and 168 for 5, respectively. Afterwards we headed out to the track and messed around with a few tires before deciding on the 4 round beast described above. This thing was all out cardio. No breaks anywhere. Unfortunately we didn’t have a stopwatch that worked so the finishing times were a mystery, but if I had to approximate I would say I finished somewhere in the 13-14 minute range. This tested mental toughness on the runs and recovery during the muscleups and double unders. Not slowing down anywhere was the name of the game.

As we were walking out, John and I both were feeling the effects of a few intense sessions put on the back of a long week in the sun. Hoping to work some rope technique tomorrow and take a long day off on Thursday. The heat in Sacramento is cranking up.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Blair,
    I have followed your blog with a lot of interest in the anywhere fit concept in particular with regards to CrossFitting and how you would fair at the Games. All respect and props on your showing there.

    I was wondering if you have posted or plan to post a sort of reflection or post mortem on what worked and what didn't work from the training that you did.

    This isn't by any means a peanut gallery stab (I totally don't mean it that way and probably am not going to do a very good job representing my inquiry to you), but I really thought that you would kill so much stuff because of the training you did which really was do with what was there and very grass roots primal (if you will) nothing fancy down and dirty training. Not to mention your mental and thought process postings such as the Fitness is... series.

    So what happened, do you think?

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  2. Jor, no worries on the question. The events this year required a lot of high level skills that weren't primal in nature. I think my method of training the past year prepared me very well for general fitness principles like stamina, strength, and unpredictability, but not so well for specific skills like ring handstand pushups, pistol squats, etc. Sometimes very small variations can make the difference. For example, the first event featured a ring height out of standing reach, meaning we had to jump to set our hands. If individuals had practiced non-false grip muscle ups they performed much better. I had not, and I struggled. I don't think the final standings are an endorsement or indictment of any one particular style of training in general, just perhaps for this year's games specifically.

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  3. Thanks for the openness and the response. That is interesting because Mikko Salo said the same thing about it being a skill level issue and obviously Rich F. on the rope climb was faced with a skill level concern. I think conditioning can also be tested in a strange way due to the competition portion. I think about Ben Smith in the Helen Pyramid where he commented the KB swings wore him down but that probably surprised him. Also agree that it is not about one particular style of training over another (like saying that karate is so much better than kung fu type of philosophical musings). However, knowing what you know now, anything you are tackling differently this time around?

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  4. you can bet your ass im all over the rings...

    otherwise, i'm lifting heavy and getting outside as much as i can. finding a method of training that you love is more important than finding the perfect method for a specific competition. that's my focus.

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