Friday, March 30, 2012

319# Split Jerk

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the afternoon… Split Jerks 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 Every minute on the minute complete 7 push press @ 135#. 10 minute cap. 2 x 10 back extension

WOD 2 – in the evening… 3 minute time cap: 100 meter truck push 20 sledge hammer swings (16#) AMRAP kb swings (32 kg) Rest as needed, complete 2 rounds.

After a great day of learning at San Francisco CrossFit yesterday, today had to be a light volume day. I skipped the morning skill session to account for the hours of skill practice with Carl yesterday and went right to jerk singles in the afternoon. Things felt pretty rusty early on, but by the end of the session I had nailed a new PR at 319#. My final lift actually felt better than the previous 3, an encouraging sign that with a little fresher legs I could up this number even more.

For conditioning Jay and I worked a 3 minute interval of truck push, sledge swings, and kb swings with the 32 kg. The idea was to challenge my lactate threshold during a fast movement like kb swings when already fatigued. Pushing the truck blew up my legs, as per usual, and the sledge swings elevated the heart rate even more so that by the time I got to the kettlebell it really, really hurt. I managed 31 reps the first round and 26 the second. If anyone tries this, be sure to rest well between rounds to give yourself a realistic shot for a decent second round.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

15 OH squats @ bodyweight!!!

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the morning… 2 x 10 skin the cat 2 x 10 ice cream makers 3 x 5 hollow muscle up transition 3 x max kipping muscle up

WOD 2 – in the afternoon… Power Snatch 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 Overhead Squat 3 x max reps @ bodyweight 3 rounds for reps: 1 minute pipe flip (330#) 1 minute ghd situps 2 minutes rest

WOD 3 – in the evening… 20 minute AMRAP: 100 yard swim 10 wall muscle ups 20 walking lunges (35# kb each hand)

Heavy workload today, but very well balanced. Highlight was definitely the overhead squats at bodyweight. I’ve never been able to complete the 15 rep benchmark and always wanted to. Today I got 15 reps my first set and 14 my second, majorly eclipsing my previous best of 13 reps. My third set I started to feel some pain in my left wrist so I stopped after just 2 squats. We followed this up with a minute of pipe flips and a minute of GHD situps x three rounds with rest. I’m getting MUCH stronger with the pipe, getting 4 flips in each of the first 2 rounds and 3 in the third. Think it’s time to re-test the 5 minute max flips I did back in December.

This evening Jay and I headed to the pool for a longer conditioning effort. The rain was pouring down, making this a super cool and unique environment to train in. It definitely brought me back to the days of being at early morning swim practices as a kid when the weather sucked and all you wanted to do was stay in bed. Just as in those days, the feeling quickly passed as soon as we were in the water. I managed 6 rounds plus 75 yards in the pool before time expired. Never felt crushed by this WOD, but was beyond comfort the entire time. Overall very happy with this day.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Anywherefit 2012: Munich-Vienna-Prague Itinerary

135# Turkish Getup!

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the morning… 5 minute continuous turkish getups (35#) Work up to heaviest barbell Turkish getup

WOD 2 – in the afternoon… Every minute on the minute complete 1 Split Jerk at 285# Three x max reps floor press @ bodyweight, pausing each rep at the bottom 2 x 100 meter Guidon march (70#)

WOD 3 – in the evening… 3 rounds for time: 1 mile airdyne 50 double unders 15 handstand pushups

Hell of a day, including an awesome lift, a new exercise, and yet another humbling experience with handstand pushups. Working on the barbell Turkish getups in the morning was a great chance to practice balance and control. I learned that when the weight gets heavy you really need to pull yourself up to your elbow to get off your back. I made it up to 135# on this, definitely the heaviest I’ve ever lifted on TGU.

The afternoon was a big split jerk session at 285# every minute on the minute for 10 minutes. Not every one was perfect, but none hit the floor so I was happy. Following up with floor press and guideon marches with a barbell provided the perfect assistance. Look for a video of the marches coming soon because this exercise has to be documented.

Finally, the conditioning sequence was a great blend of monostructural effort on the airdyne, skill work on the double unders, and local muscular endurance on the hspu. As usual, I got dominated on the hspus. First round, not too bad. Second round a little worse. Third round total destruction. Probably took me 2 minutes to do my final 15 pushups. Good news was that I smoked the airdyne and double unders, but still have a long way to go with the handstands. Time was 15:41.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Sled Drag Heaven

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the morning… Parralette handstand holds Kipping HSPU Every minute on the minute 10 meter handstand walk

WOD 2 – in the afternoon… Power Cleans 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 Thickbar Deadlift complex: 3 romanian, 6 conventional, 9 sumo Complete 4 rounds with rest. Assistance: 3 x 12-15 Back extensions, 3 x 15-20 hollow rocks

WOD 3 – in the evening… 10 minute AMRAP: 100 yard sled drag (130#) 10 burpees 100 yard sled drag (130#) 10 push jerk (135#)

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

400 meter relay

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the afternoon… Plow transitions & headstands

WOD 2 – in the evening… 15 minute AMRAP: 400 meter air-dyne 400 meter row 400 meter run

Last week I didn’t get to train much due to a little crunchiness in my left knee after the 12.2 snatch workout. I decided it would be better to take a few days off to let things calm down rather than push things unnecessarily. Because I was in the middle of a good program, this was hard to do, but looking back it was definitely the right decision. Sometimes you have to push on and sometimes you have to be patient. Knowing when to be which is the key.

Tonight’s WOD was a conditioning monster, the first in what should be a great month or two of conditioning biased programming to get my motor tuned up for the regionals. The worst part of this particular workout was definitely the row. I expected the air-dyne to be awful but it was by far the easiest portion. The row crushed my legs and the run was just uncomfortable after everything else before it. I finished 4 rounds in 15:12.

There’s still time to jump on the Anywherefit trips this summer. For more information on the Iceland trip go here. For Munich go here.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Anywherefit Iceland 2012 Itinerary

Here it is....

Recovery WOD

Got out to what's left of Folsom Lake today for a quick soak. Water temperature somewhere in the mid 50's... felt amazing.
Less than a month until the deadline for deposits to Anywherefit 2012, both Iceland and Munich trips. Below is a clip from the Wales trip last fall, just to remind everyone out there how incredible this experience can be.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Open WOD 12.2

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the morning…

Open WOD 12.2 – Complete as much of the following in 10 minutes: 30 snatches @ 75# 30 snatches @ 135# 30 snatches @ 165# Max reps @ 210#

WOD 2 – in the afternoon… For time: 1.5 mile run 50 box jumps 100 feet handstand walk 20 handstand pushups 100 feet bear crawl 50 pushups

Big volume day for me today. Between the open WOD and the outdoor chipper in the afternoon, my dogs are barking. My goal for 12.2 was to give myself an opportunity to go for the 210. Well, that didn’t happen. I ran out of time after 87 repetitions, falling 3 short of the goal, and the major separator for scores around the world. Still, I can’t really be disappointed because I missed no reps, felt whipped afterwards, and still wound up with a decent result. Also, there’s no way I was going to get anything legitimate on the 210# attempt if I’m honest. Doing that many reps leading up to it absolutely smoked me. Big ups to the guys out there getting more than 90 reps on this one.

In the afternoon a group of us from CFA met up with some guys from CF East Sac for an outdoor chipper in old sacramento. We ran across the tower bridge, around Raley Field, then back across the bridge and along the pier. God it felt good to run again! The last few times I’ve gone for runs it’s been either in the sand or up a mountain, so cruising on flat ground was like flying. After the run we went immediately into an assortment of bodyweight movements, including a 100 foot handstand walk that slowed most of us down significantly. Going over uneven grass, dirt, and bark makes this movement a different animal. Do yourself a favor out there and change up your surface from time to time. Great way to train your brain.

After we finished we headed to a new bar in old sac called the "other office" to watch the Duke/UNC matchup. After a couple beers, some mounting fatigue, and a ridiculously lop-sided game we called it quits. Great way to cap off the day.

Resting up tomorrow and Monday, then hopefully gonna catch some good weather for outdoor training next week. Have a few spots I’ve been wanting to get on tape for a while now so keep an eye out for those.

Friday, March 2, 2012

5 mile Air-Dyne

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the morning… 2 x max glide kips 2 x max rollovers 2 x max muscle ups 2 x max band assisted front levers

WOD 2 – in the afternoon… 1 split jerk every minute on the minute @ 275# until failure to complete. 10 minute cap. 5, 5, 5+ Floor Press w/ pause @ 65, 75, 85% 1RM 3 rounds of front rack carry 10 meters front walk, 10 meters back walk Santa Clara man test, 2 attempts

WOD 3 – in the evening… 5 mile air-dyne for time

In spite of a great rest day yesterday, I was feeling the effects of the high volume front squats. So it was a good thing most of the work today was geared to give my legs a break. The glide kips continue to get cleaner, and I took some real time to try and figure out why bar muscle ups feel so much more awkward than ring muscle ups. After watching some video clips it seems important to kip hard with the hips but not lay the body too far back, as most do on the rings. Some practice with it and I was showing improvement.

The evening brought the return of the air-dyne, this time for a 5 mile time trial rather than a 1 mile. I didn’t know what to expect, but fear was definitely my prime emotion going in. The 1 mile test absolutely destroyed me so it only seemed fitting that this would do the same. Turned out to not be so bad. I found a groove about 3 miles in similar to a runner’s high. From that point on I was over 7000 rpms where before I was hovering between 5000-6000. My final time was 13:59.

Plan is to hit the open WOD Saturday morning then go outside for a chipper in Old Sacramento.