Rest Day

Tabata Farmers Carries

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the morning…

Back Lever Practice 20 minutes

WOD 2 – in the afternoon…

Snatch 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

3 Back Squats every minute on the minute until failure to complete @ 80% 1RM. 10 minute cap.

Eccentric parallette HSPU 3 x 5

Abmat situps 3 x 20

WOD 3 – in the evening…

Tabata farmers carry for distance (53# kbs)

Low volume day today, but high intensity. The back lever is a skill I am only able to stick intermittently, so today was an attempt to solidify and improve that ability. Most of my reps were done with bent knees just so I could get more of them done. I also didn’t want to be so spent that it affected the afternoon lifting. I managed to hit 215# for a double, then 225# for a single. Missed the second but felt good about how the weight felt. Next week I’m expecting a PR on my singles.

The conditioning session was short and sharp… 4 minutes of tabata farmers carries with 53# kbs. This was great and simple. Because you get to set the weight down every 20 seconds, your grip recovers enough to never have to drop the kbs during the runs. My legs and heartrate were as taxed as my grip and that’s rarely the case with this exercise. My total distance covered was 482 meters.

Run the Mountain

Workout of the Day

Hill Run.

After spending the holiday with my family up in North Tahoe, I took this morning to try and burn off a bit of the decadence we’d indulged in the past few days. From highway 267 to the gates of the new Ritz Carlton atop the Northstar gondola is a no joke climb that was close to 3 miles. The challenge on this run was all about getting enough air. The elevation was way above 6000 feet so every bit of the hill made it hard to breath and get oxygen to the muscles. And not having done a big hill in a while, I could feel the difference. It took me 24:26 to finish the climb.

Rest Day

Back in Action

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the morning…

3 position isometric handstand holds

WOD 2 – in the afternoon…

Snatch 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

5 Back Squats every minute on the minute @ 70% 1RM for 10 minutes or failure to complete

WOD 3 – in the evening…

1:00 max double unders 1:00 max pullups

2:00 rest

Repeat 3x for max repetitions

So it’s been a full 2 weeks since the last time I trained seriously… I was all set to come back a week ago Friday in preparation for the Level 10 throwdown this past weekend when I pulled a muscle in my back doing pistol squats, of all things. I’ve since been told that this was most likely the result of an overly tight psoas being forced into flexion. All I know is that I heard the thing pop and I was on my back immobilized. This remained the case for most of the next two days as I iced and pounded anti-inflammatories. Finally things began to relax and they’ve been getting steadily better ever since. Needless to say I missed the throwdown and have been twittling my thumbs trying not to do anything stupid. That all ended today.

I felt my way through the snatches to make sure everything was moving correctly. It was. I wore a belt to be safe and actually snatched really well. My top set of triples went up clean at 215#, giving me a big burst of confidence going into the squat sequence. This I approached a little more cautiously, using 65% rather than 70% of my 1RM. I made all the lifts easily, but my legs felt the effects nonetheless. Even after an immediate ice bath I expect major soreness from this protocol yet again.

The evening conditioning WOD offered a return to interval training. Max double unders followed by max pullups, each within a 1 minute cap. The doubles felt amazing, scoring 107, 108, and 107 respectively for each round. The pullups weren’t quite so consistent, as the cumulative pump from the early sets took their toll by the end: 34, 33, and 24.

All in all, very satisfied with today and can’t wait til my next session Wednesday. Reminder for everyone interested in the Wales weekend next month: your contact is Ross Coughlan

Spontaneous Anywherefit Event!

It's in the UK and happening in less than a month. If you're in the neighborhood, come out and join the party...

Anywherefit Iceland 2012 Announcement

Here it is... the dates and preliminary information for Anywherefit Iceland 2012. To reserve a place, contact me at morrison.blair@gmail.com

Run the Mountain

A few of us headed up to South Lake Tahoe for a trail run Saturday... turned out to be a little snowier than expected!!! 2 miles uphill in 6 inches of snow is a different type of run, let me tell you. Totally cool experience and a beautiful view at the top though.

Between the altitude and the snow I think this type of thing is incredible training. Those of you out there complaining about cold weather climates... come off it and take advantage!!

Front Rack Carries

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the morning…

Isometric handstand holds

5 minute alternating Turkish Getups (35#)

WOD 2 – in the afternoon…

Split Jerks 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

3 rounds for time:

20 meter front rack carry (315#)

60 foot pulley hoist (105#)

WOD 3 – in the evening…

“Death by ball slams” @ 40#

Awesome training day. Hit 305# on the jerks and made 23 rounds + 18 reps on the ball slams with a 40# ball. Exhausted but stoked about how the body is feeling overall. Travis from East Sac came over to do the strength session--been really awesome training with him these past 6 weeks. We both felt that walking with heavy weight in a racked position would be a great assistance exercise for jerks. It was. Don't think I've seen this done before, but it's very similar to a yoke carry. I like this version personally because the object I want to feel lighter when I'm squatting or jerking is a barbell. Finding a way to balance it and keep it secure while moving was a challenge in itself. Then backing it up with pulley hoists mad things even more saucy because your grip gets shot. Check the video below.

Hope Valley

This Saturday I'm heading to Hope Valley in Northern California. Just East of South Lake Tahoe, Hope Valley offers some of the best Autumn foliage in this area. The WOD is a trail run from bottom to top --approximately 2 miles of steady grade terrain through an alpine forest of aspens and firs that I will run for time. Anybody who lives in this area is welcome to join. The plan is to meet at CF Anywhere in Folsom at 9 am and carpool up together. If you're coming from somewhere else, that should put us near the trail head around 11:00. Shoot me an email at morrison.blair@gmail.com if you'd like to join.

100# Tabata Sled Pulls

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the morning…

Unbroken double under ladder 10, 20, 30… etc

WOD 2 – in the afternoon…

1 Squat Clean every minute on the minute @ 95% 1RM until failure to complete. 20 minute cap.

10 minute AMRAP: 10 x 1 arm sled row 10 ring dips

WOD 3 – in the evening…

In a 5 level parking garage do the following until reaching the top:

100 lb sled drag, 10 seconds Pushups, 10 seconds

Rest, 10 seconds

The body is still pretty beat up from Saturday’s activities, the most destructive of which were the GHD situps. My hip flexors and abs are absolutely shredded, leading me to two conclusions. 1) I overdid it doing 100 repetitions. 2) I don’t do this exercise enough if I am this sore from it. Local muscular endurance is something that doesn’t get trained specifically in crossfit, but inadvertently gets covered for the most part. This part of my body has obviously slipped through the cracks.

In spite of my soreness, however, I had a hell of a training day. I made it 8 double unders shy of the round of 80 this morning, resting less than 10 seconds between. The goal here is to get to 100 in less than 5 minutes. Great way to practice this skill if you’re one of those athletes who struggles with the jump rope.

This afternoon I hit 275# for all 20 minutes on squat cleans. Ecstatic with this showing. The weight felt lighter than it ever has, to the point where no rep was really in question. This is proof positive in my eyes that the every minute on the minute stuff works. Following up the squat cycles with a clean cycle only consolidated the gains previously made.

Finally, the evening conditioning offered one of those rare trips into hazy-ville that crossfitters so often muse about. I was a pile of shit at the end of this thing, no joke. Dragging a sled is hard enough… put it on an incline and add pushups and you’re entering a whole new world of pain. It took me 6:40 to get to the top of the 5 story parking structure in old Folsom, or 13 Tabata rounds. Max heart rate? Check. Muscle failure? Check. Mental toughness? Check. All around kick ass WOD, definitely recommend trying it.

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