Strength log for Friday, January 9th

Work, family and DOMS have gotten in the way of my training this week.

So I just had to go to the Y at lunch.

Took my new Purple K creatine supplement and headed out to do some front squats.

Did a couple of handstand holds,  one was a good 20 seconds. Then off to the squat rack.

Wanted to hit a heavy triple and match my effort from Dec 19th of 245#.  Man that was heavy, but I did it.

I'm gonna blow away my 255# PR.

Then I worked on my rounded squats.  Decided to try some pistols with a small kettle bell as counter balance and to my utter surprise I was able to do one on my left leg and almost on my right.

Maybe next time try before the heavy front squats!

Strength log for Monday, December 1st

Complete failure.

I fought 150# for a good 7 or 8 seconds, several inches above my head, as my torso slowly collapsed under the effort.  

I tried a second time, after a long break and it was worse.

I have no excuse.  I was all creatined up.  Even took a "performance intensifier" called Rocket Science, by Magnum Nutracuticals. (yeah, that's not a word).

I think I need to hit my current max (145#) for a double before I try again.  That's my next mission.

We'll see how that goes.

Then I did some physio and mobility work.

Before I left I did some rows on the TRX. Not quite rings, but the closest I can get at the Y. Gotta start working towards those muscle ups!

Crossfit log for Thursday, October 2nd

Took yesterday off.  Didn't go to Crossfit. Did only mobility work at the Y over lunch.

Also added some nutrition to the mix with a BCAA cocktail.  Hard to tell if it has any effect, but I'll go with it for the duration of the container I bought.

Strength work was back squats, 5 sets of 3. 

I was happy to see this, another back squat workout this week is appropriate for where things are right now.

Worked up to 245#, but running low on time I counted my last warm up set at 225# as a working set.

The last set was the best one, so I feel good about it.

The WOD was a brutal chipper for time:

4 rope climbs
10 bar muscle ups (scaled to 10 chest to bar pull ups + 10 ring dips)
40 shoulder to overhead with axl @ 90# (scaled to women's Rx 70#)
30 calorie row
20 toes to bar
2 rope climbs.

Rope climbs, I'm good.  Muscle ups, I tried  but it's not there yet. The scale was to do ring dips, so I asked the coach if I could do 5 ctb and 5 dips because I need to work my ctb more than my dips. 

Just before the WOD starts, like 10 seconds before, he says, "you know James, do 10 ctb and 10 dips, you can handle that".  Gee thanks. So that's what I did.

STO with the axl was not as bad as I expected, but good thing I scaled. I was able to do 4 sets of 10.

The row was fine up to 20 calories, the last 10 sucked.  Took time to catch my breath before the t2b.  Managed to do 4 sets of 5. Last set was rough.

Doing 2 rope climbs after 20 t2b was not fun.  I can pretty consistently climb a 15' rope in two pulls.  No way at the end. Couldn't bring my feet up enough, took three pulls for both.

Got it done in 14:43.  Worked hard.

Strength log for Wednesday, May 7th

I've been a bit down lately.  Over tired I think from all the workouts I've been doing.  So slept in and didn't go to Crossfit this morning. 

Good call.  Feel much more rested. 

I haven't been taking my TestAlpha "natural" testosterone booster, since I ran out, and I don't know if it's the placebo effect, but I haven't felt as... I don't know, strong, confident, something, I just feel off. 

I ordered some more, but thankfully I had a good day at the gym to help boost my spirits.

Was reading an inteview with Pat Mendes over at LBEB.com and his workout strategy is to always go for a heavy single then either back off for reps or stop.

In a typical daily squat workout I go up to a heavy single. This is normally between 90% of my best and maximum. If it feels good I keep going, if not, I do reps or stop. 

So that's what I did.  My  front squat PR going in was 215# but I haven't tested it since last September (also a day I had slept in).

After 205# for 2 reps, I jumped straight to 225#, go big or go home right?  Up, down, not problem.  Sweet, PR!  So I kept going, 235#, boom!  245#, down, up... but not quite, had to bail.

20# PR.   Felt good.  Then I did some reps at lower weights, 185# for 3 then 135# for 8, and called it a day.

Progress update of revised weightlifting goals. Derived from intermediate level for my body weight (at the time the goals were set!) at www.exrx.net

New Front Squat PR. 

Lift / target weight / current PR
Bench / 190lbs / 205lbs Apr 18, 2014 (up from 195lbs) !!!!!!
Dead Lift / 300lbs / 300lbs Jan 22, 2014 (up from 285lbs) !!!!!
Press / 130lbs / 130lbs Mar 7, 2014 (up from 125lbs) !!!!!!
Power Clean / 185lbs / 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs) !!!!!!
Power snatch / 140lbs / 125lbs Mar, 27, 2014 (up from 115lbs)
Back Squat / 255lbs / 265lbs Jan 14, 2014 (up from 245lbs) !!!!!

Other lift PRs:
Front Squat 235# (up from 215#) May 7, 2014
Push Press: 175# (up from 165#) Feb 18, 2014
Clean: 185# (up from 180#) Dec 23, 2013
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013
Overhead squat: 115# April 10th, 2014

Crossfit log for Monday, April 28th

Leg intensive day at Crossfit.

When I arrived, everyone was still in their cars. Coach hadn't arrived yet, so I got out, put my stuff on the trunk of the car and took off to run laps of the building.  I've felt sluggish in the mornings lately so I figured, the weather being nice enough, a good warm up would help. 10 laps is a mile.  I made it to 8 laps before I saw the lights come on in the gym. 

I also loaded up on creatine last night, and again this morning.  Which may have helped my lifting, but left my mouth parched during the run and the WOD.

The workout started with 5 sets of 2 heavy squats. 

Worked up to 185#, then decided to go for 205#, 95% of my current max.  I figured I could either go back down, or at the very least, after 4 sets I could count my set at 185# as a working set.

Wasn't necessary, infact I for my last set I upped it to 215#, my current PR, for 2 reps without a problem. I think I'll be testing my new max next week.

That was all well and good, but the 135# squat cleans in the WOD were gonna suck!

WOD was a 10minute AMRAP of
- 6 squat cleans @ 135#
- 12 pull ups
- 24 double unders.

Made 3 rounds, at the buzzer.  Really had to hurry the last of the double unders.

Cleans sucked. Pull ups went really well. Double unders were sometimes a breeze, sometimes a struggle.

Finished off with 4 sets of 8 behind the neck snatch grip strict press.  Did 65#.  It was enough.

Strength log for Thursday, April 17th

After nearly 48 hours without working out I was itching to get some lifting done.

I decided to do a clean and jerk complex I saw Adam and Julien doing at Open Gym at Physics a couple of weeks ago.

1 clean, 1 front squat, 1 jerk, 1 hang clean, 1 front squat, 1 jerk. Without putting the bar down.  The new lifting bar at the Y was perfect for this workout.

Warmed up with some hang power cleans and push presses and a few front squats with the empty bar and started throwing on some weight.

Did 95#, 115# and 135# before it started to get interesting.

At 155# I put on my lifting belt.  After that I started 10# increments instead of 20#.  Did 165# then 175#.

At 175# I made a mistake.  I tried to re-grip the bar with hook grip while still in the front rack and managed it, but not quite write.  Made it easier to get back to the hang, but the position wasn't strong enough for a hang clean.

I should've re-gripped at the hang, but I was getting fatigued, so I tried to clean it and failed.  I dropped the wait and walked away, but quickly decided to just dead lift it and resume the complex from there. And was successful,  hand clean, front squat and jerk.  Solid.

Then I put 185# on the bar.  My PR.  Cleaned it no problem.  Front squat no problem. Jerk, a bit wobbly, and a hair away from being locked out, but close enough that I could press it out quickly.

Re-gripped at the hang, but didn't have enough left to get under it.   I should  have taken some creatine this morning, that might have made the difference.

Definitely happy to have matched my PR after that much work.  Soon I'll test for a new clean and jerk PR.

Crossfit log for Monday, March 10th: 14.2 take two

Seven is better than one!

I know, I know, I said no more re-dos, one and done. Yeah. I know.

But my score was 1!  It wasn't even a workout.  I could do no worse.  I felt that if I focused on stabilizing my shoulders I just might managed 10 reps and get myself to that pull up bar and give 14.2 a solid effort.

Since I knew I wasn't going to get very far, I took some creatine before leaving for the gym, with my ubiquinol and testAlpha supplements.  Whether it helped or not, the world may never know.

Well I did much better.  On Friday I took somewhere around 13 attempts for only 1 successful rep, whereas today, I took maybe 10 tries and got 7.

Still didn't make it to the pull ups.  The first 5 reps took me half of the the 3:00 for round one!

Considering on Friday, 95# was my 1 rep max overhead squat, I'm pretty happy with my result.

This time,  unless you got to round 2 you had to do the alternate WOD as well. I didn't mind.  I needed to get some real work done.

-100 double unders
-5 rounds of:
-- 15 wall balls 20# med ball
-- 2 ring dips
-100 double unders.

Rx was 2 muscle ups, so that was a non-starter.  You could also scale the double unders to 50, or 200 singles.

As I fumbled through the first set of double under, I got to 49 in like 6 or 7 tries, and was ready to quit at 50, but I ended up getting a string of 29, so I kept fumbling to 100.

The wall balls started to get rough on round 5. Shoulders were fried on the ring dips, thankfully there were only 2 reps per round.

Second round of double unders I stopped at 50. It just wasn't funny. 

Feeling pretty good.

Crossfit log for Friday, March 7th: Crossfit Open 14.2

The 2014 Crossfit open week 2.  I intentionally avoided the announcement. Which turned out to be easy, I fell asleep before it even aired at 8pm!

I didn't even look it up before leaving the house. 

I did all of my nutrition except creatine again, I meant to take some last night but forgot. Oh well. I'm likely saturated anyway.

It wasn't until I was putting on my shoes that I found out what it was.

It was modelled after last year's super Fran, but a bit different.

2 rounds in 3 minutes of
10 overhead squats
10 chest to bar pull ups.

If you complete 2 rounds before the time is up, you buy yourself another 3 minutes.  Unlike last year's 13.5, you can't start the next round right away, you rest until the 3 minutes are up then start the next 3 minute segment.  Each segment you increase the rep count by 2.  So the first 3:00 is 2 rounds of 10 reps, the next 3:00 is 2 rounds of 12 reps, the 2 rounds of 14 reps, and so on.

This last paragraph was for informational purpose only, as I didn't not make it past the first 3 minutes.

In fact, I didn't even make it to the chest to bar pull ups.  If you have read much of my blog you will know that my whole year of mobility was to address my inability to do over head squats.

At least I had my new lifting shoes from Risto, which gave me 1" heel.  So I grabbed Mitch's warm up bar (75#) just to try one. No go.  I couldn't break parallel with my hips. Now I'm thinking this will be a joke. 

So I grab a women's bar (35#) and try a couple and after a few reps I was able to get low enough.  Okay, my physio said that even he take many warm up reps before he can get full range of motion.

So I add a bit of weight and even at 75# I was able to get multiple good reps.  I confirmed that I could use the women's bar (the grip is narrower, and I'd been a having some success, so I wanted to keep going with what worked) and put on 25# plates for 85#.  Again, 2 or 3 reps out of 5 or 6 attempts.

So I added 5# plates and went off to judge Natasha's performance.  Sadly, despite getting a chest to bar recently, having done so many this week, she was sore and just couldn't get one.  She breezed through her overhead squats and spent 2 and a half minutes trying to get a pull up.  Frustrating.

But not as frustrating as my turn. All the practice I did left my shoulder's fatigued, first two attempts weren't low enough.  Third try and I finally got a good solid overhead squat at 95#.  Every subsequent attempt was either too shallow, of if I got deep enough, I lost the bar, unable to stabilize the shoulder.

Total score for 14.2: 1.



Oh well, it was a PR.  ;)

Afterwards, I grapped the 5lbs practice bar which is shorter, and I can press my hands against the collars.  Way easier to stabilize the shoulders and I did a bunch without issue.  I guess I need to work on shoulder stability. 

Progress.

Crossfit log for Monday, March 3rd

That was the worst, most humiliating workout of my life.

I had it all planned out.  14.1 take two.

I got a new rope.  I practiced my double unders with the new rope all weekend.  I have the welts to prove it.

I brought my own bumper plates, since we can't drop the 10s or 15s, I brought my York 10s from home, so I could feel free to drop them as much as I wanted.

Made sure I had my compression shorts on, so the snatches wouldn't rub my upper legs raw.

Followed my nutrition plan to a T, taking my creatine the night before so I wouldn't get that parched mouth during the workout.   Caffeine, carbs, ubiquinol, the whole 9 yards.

Everything was ready.

All for nothing.

I couldn't string together 3 double unders to save my life. 4, 5, 6 attempts before I could get a rhythm going. Once I got like 10, so yay, found my rhythm. Nope, couldn't get started after that.

Kamil was starting round two and I was still trying to finish double unders for round 1.

Round two, after 5 attempts to get to 8 reps, I threw my rope away in disgust.

At this point I laughed at myself.  Went to get my rope and decided to just forget my score, take my time and just finish the workout. 

Next attempt my rope handle comes apart. 

Workout over. 

I went to cheer on Kamil, who bested his previous effort by 11 reps.  Although, it's hard to believe an extra 11 was worth the effort that went into it, but that's up to him.

Going back to my Open Rule #1.  One and done.  No more repeats. Ever.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, February 25th

I don't often Rx a WOD, but with the Open so close, and this one looked manageable,  I knew I'd be slow but not ridiculously slow, so I went for it.

The WOD was :
1000m row
followed by 5 rounds of:
- 6 hang power cleans @ 135#
- 4 chest to bar pull ups

Went too hard on the row.  With the creatine I've been taking my mouth was bone dry at 800m so I really rushed the last 200m to get to my water bottle.

The first round I did the cleans unbroken.  I drop the bar into my lap to reset my hook grip and hammered them out 1 by 1.

The pull ups were rough, rougher than usual, I got a no-rep on the first one, chest was nowhere near the bar.  After that it was okay, but couldn't string them together.  I reset after each one while still hanging on the bar. Each round was pretty much the same deal.

Round two I did 3 cleans then dropped it.  I was going to do three more when I picked it back up, but then second one landed funny so I dropped it and had to dead lift it again.  Pull ups were the same.

Round three I was able to do 3 and 3.  Round 4 as well, but it took a lot out of me. Round 5 ended up being 6 singles.

Finished in 14:49.  Dead last, but I expected that.  That was heavy for me.

The strength work was after the WOD, which we've done a few times before, and I really don't like.  Thankfully, even though we had a staggered start, with only 3 rowers, there was still plenty of time left, so I rested a good 10 minutes before attempting the strength work.

We did 4 sets of 1 power clean plus 7 push presses versus 7 unbroken toes to bar.

I stayed with 135#, which is what the stronger athletes were doing, I could have dropped to 115#, but the bar was already there, so I figured go big or go home.

The certainly weren't touch and go, but I did them.  The toes to bar went really well, chained all 7 each time.  The push press were rough, so I found myself actually looking forward to the toes to bar.

I took shorter breaks after the push press since the t2b were going well and took longer before returning to the bar.  The last set I told the coach I should've gone lighter, he said: "Last set? Too late now".  So I got it done.

Proud of myself for attacking that workout.

Crossfit log for Monday, February 24th

After a weekend sitting in a car, eating crap, I really needed a good workout this morning.

I didn't want to go, but I knew I'd feel even worse than I already felt if I didn't.  I almost missed it.  I rolled over after turning off my alarm at 5:00am and when I rolled back it was 5:23!

Luckily my clock is a good 5 minutes fast, all told I was only 2 or 3 minutes late to the gym.

Started with front squat.  3 sets of 5, did 185#. 

Then we had one attempt to do a 15 rep max. So choose your weight carefully. I opted for 60% of max, so 135#.  Last two reps were a bit tough, but I could've done more.  If we every try again, I'll go for 145#

Then we had 8 minutes to work up to a heavy power snatch, because the WOD was:

15-12-9 of
- power snatch 85#
- toes to bar.

followed by AMRAP of burpee box jumps 24" box

The catch is you had to do at least 30 burpees, but there was a 10 minute cap for the whole workout. Your score was the number burpee box jumps you got in whatever time was left of the 10 minutes after you'd finished the snatches and t2b. 

If you ran out of time, you still had to keep going until you reached at least 30, if you finished 30 burpees before the 10 minutes was up, you kept going, it was an AMRAP.

Snatches are my biggest weakness, but I have so many other things to work on, that it's not even on my radar at this point. Needless to say the first part was a struggle.

My score was 1. I finished the last of the toes to bar with less than 10 seconds left. Buzzer rang as I stood up on the box for my first rep.

Then I just steadily worked through 29 more box jumps that didn't count for my score. :(

I forgot to change my shoes, and there was no way I was doing burpees or box jumps in my new lifting shoes, so after the last of the snatches, I took them off and did the t2b in my socks and my only burpee box jump too.  After that I put on my nanos to do the rest.

Dead last. Oh well.  Done is done.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, February 18th

After three days off, it was nice to get back at it this morning.

Gotta get back on the clean eating. I've been lazy lately and just ate whatever the rest of the family was eating.  I've kept up my supplement regime, except I've run out of the TestAlpha (d-aspartic acid/fenugreek/maca supplement), which it is apparently good to take a week off every 90 days.

That being said strength work was push press, 1 rep max, and I hit a new record.  A clean lift of 175#. No hesitation, no struggle.

Which means I could've gone heavier.  Tried 185# but that was a non-starter.  Maybe 180#.  Next time.

Surprised myself actually.

WOD was a 12 minute AMRAP.
70 double unders (blue: 35 reps)
40 over the bar burpees  (blue: 30 rep[s)
20 squat clean thrusters  115#  (blue 95#)
10 muscle ups.  (blue: chest to bar pull ups)

I did the 70 double unders, but I scaled the burpees (down to 30 reps) since I was scaling the muscle ups anyway, and the clean/thrusters to 95#.

The over the bar burpees sucked. I was so winded that the thrusters took for bloody ever.

I got to the CTB pull ups with only a minute left and manged to get only 6.

Wow. Well I worked hard, and I got a PR.

Cash out was strict pull ups vs double unders, 4 sets for max reps.  Pull ups were 5, 6, 5, 4 for 20, double unders were 27, 13, 23 ,34 = 97.  Not bad I guess.

Then I spend 10 minutes in my deep squat:

So much more relaxed in the shoes than barefoot. But I really need to get my pelvis in tighter toward my shins. Not sure if it's my quads, hams or aductors.

Work in progress.

Progress update of revised weightlifting goals. Derived from intermediate level for my body weight (at the time the goals were set!) at www.exrx.net

New Push Press PR. 
 
Lift / target weight / current PR
Bench / 190lbs / 195lbs Jan 10, 2014 (up from 185lbs) !!!!!!
Dead Lift / 300lbs / 300lbs Jan 22, 2014 (up from 285lbs) !!!!!
Press / 130lbs / 125lbs Oct 30, 2013 (up from 120lbs) 5lbs away
Power Clean / 185lbs / 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs) !!!!!!
Power snatch / 140lbs / 115lbs Aug, 15, 2013 (up from 105lbs)
Back Squat / 255lbs / 265lbs Jan 14, 2014 (up from 245lbs) !!!!!

Other lift PRs:
Front Squat 215# Sept 11, 2013
Push Press: 175# (up from 165#) Feb 18, 2014
Clean: 185# (up from 180#) Dec 23, 2013
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013  

Strength and mobility log for Wednesday, January 29th

Well maybe it wasn't the doubling up of strength work that killed me Monday.

I woke at around midnight that night, after crashing at 7:30pm, shivering. My skin was burning to the touch. I didn't even have the will to get some Tylenol.  (my go to: Advil, doesn't mix well with creatine).

After about an hour I was able to fall back to sleep, but kept waking, I just couldn't get comfortable.

I stayed in bed all day Tuesday, stirring only to get the kids at daycare, make a pitiful supper, which I ate none of, and give some quick baths before I was back in bed for the night.

No fever (without Tylenol, I was willing to risk it, to see if the symptoms had resolved themselves, which looks like they had).  But I still woke up in the night and took a couple of hours to fall back to sleep.

This morning I tackled the day as any other, following my routine as much as possible (minus Crossfit, plus a planned trip to Delilah's nephrologist). 

Took my nutrition, went to the gym at lunch.

Yeah, that might have been a mistake.

I wanted to try my new lifting shoes and missing a whole 24 hours of training, is like craziness.  

So I did a short front squat/back squat workout and I was wiped.

4 sets of 2 front squats 4 back squats @ 185#.

Was way harder than it should have been.  Oh well done is done.

I tried to hold a squat for the 30min/day 30 day squat challenge it sucked. Badly.

I'll try again tomorrow, I'll work up to 10 minutes and then start by doing 3 sets of 10 minutes throughout the day.

Crossfit log for Friday, January 24th

I am wiped.

I fell asleep right after putting Delilah to bed sometime between 8:00 and 8:30.

Woke up at sometime after 10 and went down to take my nutrition (Zinc and Vitamin D). Couldn't fall back to sleep until around midnight.

So it evens out I guess.

This morning we did a team WOD, since the gym is close tomorrow for the Firebreather competition. I guess that also explains why there were so many people at the morning class.

I worked with Rob, new guy. 

It was a 14 minute AMRAP, partner one does one round, while partner two rests, then switch, until time runs out.

2 muscle ups
4 ground to overhead 155# men/ 105# women
6 toes to bar
8 box jumps

Muscle ups were scaled to ring dips or bar dips
GTO was scaled lighter as required

We both did ring dips, and I settle on 115# on the bar, and Rob at 95#, we set up the bar while the other was doing T2B and box jumps to be ready for the next round.

I started. Rounds took about just under 2:00 each.  We both managed to get through 4 rounds and I got through the dips and the GTO of round 9. 

Not bad. I was slow on the T2B, but the third round I managed to string the last 5 together.  So I am able to do it, but it is so rough on the lats, teres minor and infraspinatis.  Definitely needs work.

Cash out was 5 sets of strict press vs 5 sets of strict pull ups.

Started at 95#, too heavy, but I made 2 rounds without problem, round 3 failed at 5, racked the bar and went back for 2 more, but that was it.

Used someone else bar for round 4, who had 85# on it, but still only managed 6 reps. Should have started at 85#.

Pull ups were 6 reps each round, except the 4th, just couldn't get that last one.

Then we ran out of time.

It'll do.

Strength and mobility log for Wednesday, January 22nd: Achievement Four unlocked

Well I don't believe it!  Another achievement unlocked!  But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Slept in.  Kiza went to Physics this morning and Delilah and Dex were kind enough to sleep until 7:00am!! Glorious!

I took my morning nutrition, and included the creatine even though I wasn't working out until later.

So for my trip to the Y at lunch I had pretty much settled on weighted pull ups and front squats. So I brought my lifting shoes and weight belt.

When Kiza got back she told me the workout had heavy dead lifts.  So I was torn.  I had already made up my mind to do front squats, and I really don't like deviating from a plan once I've made a decision, but it made more sense to do dead lifts since they aren't likely to come up again tomorrow, or Friday and I had missed them that morning.

Fine.  I'll do dead lifts instead.

Started with the strict pull ups.  I did 8 reps with my band as assistance, to warm up without taxing too much. Then I did a set of 5 unassisted. Felt tight, so before the weighted ones I hopped on the rower for 500m to loosen up the shoulders. 

I went too hard so I took a long break to recover and grabbed the chain belt from the front desk. 

I hooked in a 15lbs dumbbell for 3 reps, too a couple of minutes, another 3 reps, then switched to a 20lbs dumbbell for 3 reps.  This will definitely help a lot of things.

On to dead lifts.  My plan was to do 3 sets of three at 275lbs (96% of my current max of 285#).

Started at 135# for 5, then 185# for 4, then 225# for 3 taking 2 full minutes between sets. Then 275#, the up was fine, the down I didn't like so I stopped at 2 reps.

Now I start thinking (never a good thing in the middle of a workout), if I added to 10s I'd be at 295# a solid PR and really close to my goal. If I made it, I'd take the PR if I didn't well, I'd call it a day.  I hadn't tested my dead lift since last April.  I was due.

295lbs went up like, I can't think of a good penis metaphor, like surprisingly easily.

So now, do I go big and try 305# for just add some 2.5lbs and just hit my goal of 300#.  Dave, who was my witness, said "If you go big and miss it you'll kick yourself".  So I did the conservative thing and tried 300#.

I think my back rounded a bit, but it went strait up. No discomfort or strain. Boom!  Achievement Unlocked!  Glad I decided to do dead lifts.

After that I did my mobility homework I took home from physio. Teres Major stretch and exercise, deep squat stretch and exercise. They are both showing signs of progress. 


Progress update of revised weightlifting goals. Derived from intermediate level for my body weight (at the time the goals were set!) at www.exrx.net

New Dead lift PR.  Goal attained!
 
Lift / target weight / current PR
Bench / 190lbs / 195lbs Jan 10, 2014 (up from 185lbs) !!!!!!
Dead Lift / 300lbs / 300lbs Jan 22, 2014 (up from 285lbs) !!!!!
Press / 130lbs / 125lbs Oct 30, 2013 (up from 120lbs) 5lbs away
Power Clean / 185lbs / 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs) !!!!!!
Power snatch / 140lbs / 115lbs Aug, 15, 2013 (up from 105lbs)
Back Squat / 255lbs / 265lbs Jan 14, 2014 (up from 245lbs) !!!!!

Other lift PRs:
Front Squat 215# Sept 11, 2013
Push Press: 165# (up from 155#) Oct 30, 2013
Clean: 185# (up from 180#) Dec 23, 2013
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013  

Crossfit log for Monday, January 20th

Wow, that was a lot of work.

Took my vitamin D (4000 UI) and Zinc citrate (50mg) last night and this morning took Ubiquinol (100mg), TestAlpha (d-aspartic acid/fenugreek/maca) with coffee and maple syrup.

Stomach was a bit upset, by either the steak and eggs dinner or the wine. (Probably the wine).

Started out with five sets of 8 back squats, settle on 185#.  Good choice, challenging but doable.

Then 3x3 squat cleans at 75% of max (which would've been 140#, but I rounded down to 135# after a couple of warm up sets).

Finally skill work on touch and go shoulder to overhead. Was already starting to get tired. Worked up to 95#. Wasn't feeling the love.

The WOD was 13.4
7:00 AMRAP   reps: 3-6-9-12-15-18-etc...
- clean and jerk 135#
- toes to bar

I kinda wish I'd tried Rx to see if I could beat my performance last spring in the Open, but opted for 115#.  Made 42 reps.  Last year I went 31 at Rx.

7 minutes isn't a lot of time.

Crossfit log for Monday, January 13th

Feeling good today.  Recent records broken and goals met.  I'm over the soreness from coming back post Christmas. Well rested after two night going to be early.

Ready for another early morning workout.

Pre workout nutrition: 5mg creatine, 100mg ubiquinol, 2100mg d-aspartic acid, ~100mg caffeine ~ 400mg fenugreek, 6g CHO (maple syrup in my coffee).

Today we worked everything.

Started with jerks and front squats.

Every 90 seconds alternate for 12 rounds
- odd rounds: 2 jerks rest for remainder of 90sec
- even rounds: 3 front squats rest for remainder of 90sec

use  different weights, plenty of time to switch.  Jerk was important to not go so heavy that form became an issue.  I ended up staying at 135#, I tried 155# during warm up and it just wasn't stable enough, I might have been able to go 145# but I wanted to focus on form.

Front squats were 185#, happy with that.  The last set was hard.

So six sets of each.

The WOD was a 10 minute AMRAP:
- 10 wall balls 20# med ball
- 2 chest to bar pull ups  (add 2 pull ups each round)

I made it through 5 rounds so 10 wall balls, 10 ctb pull ups, finished the wall balls of round 6 and did 6 of 12 ctb pull ups, although it took me 8 tries, 2 of the last 4 my chest didn't touch the bar.

Glad I went Rx.  I was able to string 4 ctb together for a couple of rounds.

To finish we had 40 strict pull ups.  Did 6 unassisted, there was no way I was getting to 40 at that rate, so I got a small blue band to assist me.  Made it to 20 in multiple sets of 5 or 6 reps. Then it was time for the next class, so I stopped there.

Post workout nutrition: 25g protein, 5mg creatine.

Crossfit log for Thursday, January 9th

No trouble getting up this morning. 

Added a d-aspartic acid, fenugreek, maca supplement. I'll take this for the next 12 days.  So now my daily regime includes the above, ubiquinol (Q-10),  vitamin D, zinc citrate, fish oil and creatine. And protein of course.  We'll see how things feel in 2 to 3 months.


More than a little surprised to be doing back squats again, after Monday's 5x5 heavy and Tuesday, 150 air squats in "Nasty Girls" I wasn't expecting any additional leg work this week.

So 5 sets of 3 reps, at 95% of 5 rep max or more.  I worked with Kamil who is usually stronger than I am, but after his 3rd child's birth in early December, this was his first day back.

We warmed up with empty bar, the right to 135#, then 185# (had I known at this point that it was his first day back I might have gone up more slowly, but he's young, he'll recover).

Working sets were 205#, 215#, 215#, 225# and 225#.  Kamil did 215# on the fourth set and saved the 225# for the last only.

Was happy with that. I had no trouble at 225# for 3, I think I need to retest my 1 rep max.

Naturally having done heavy dead lifts yesterday, the WOD had heavy dead lifts.

10 minute AMRAP:
6 toes to bar
8 dead lifts 205# barbell
12 wall balls 20# med ball

Opted for 185# on the barbell instead of 205#.  Glad I did. First round was okay. Two first wall balls didn't hit the stupid wall. Second round, the t2b were impossible to string together.

Finished with 4 rounds plus 1 toes to bar. 

Good workout.

Talked to Seb at the Y to see if I could get some coaching. He was power lifting expertise, so could be useful in the stage from my training.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, January 7th

Getting out of bed at 5:00am on day two was harder than day one.

Same nutrition as yesterday.  Need to add some d-aspartic acid to the mix.

But as usually I'm glad I made the effort. 

I was also glad that strength work was before the WOD today, the normal way of doing things.

After a short row to warm up we did 4 sets a power clean and thruster complex.

1 power clean
4 front squat to press (aka thruster, unless we were supposed to strict press it, which seems unlikely).
2 power cleans.

Although I went up in weight each set, they seemed equally difficult. Did 95#, 115#, 125# and 135#.

The WOD was called "Nasty girls", mine was scaled since I can't do muscle ups.
3 rounds for time:
50 air squats
7 chest to bar pull ups
10 hang power cleans 115#

Rx calls for 135# cleans, but since I was scaling the muscle ups, I felt no need to Rx the hang power cleans.

First round went really well, very fast on the squats, didn't come off the bar once, but I had to restart my kip a couple of time on the CTB pull ups, and the cleans were done in 2 sets of five.

Round two was much harder, a couple of quick pauses on the squats, took time to chalk my hands but still came off the bar twice on the pull ups, and the cleans took 3 sets.

3rd round sucked.  Paused at 15, 30 and 40 on the squats, off the bar 3 times on the pull ups and another 3 sets for the cleans.

Worked hard.  Finished in 11:33

ETA:  Went to the Y at lunch and did bench,  worked up to 3x3 heavy (for me), 175#, 175#, 180#

Then did some mobility.

Crossfit log for Monday, January 6th

A week off.  A bit less if you count shovelling the driveway as a workout.

Diet has been touch and go.  Lots of good healthy food, but also lots of Christmas baked goods. Glad that's behind me.

Took my nutrition at 5:10 this morning.  5mg of Creatine in OJ with 100mg of Ubiquinol, and a coffee with cream and a touch of maple syrup.

Then I had to scape the ice off the car.  Roads were okay, but the driveway was a skating rink.

Big class this morning, a couple of new faces, many old ones.

Today we did the strength post WOD which sucked, but it would have allowed the creatine to get into my system, so I guess it's a good thing.

My focus is migrating to strength and power over metabolic conditioning and mobility.  They will still remain important but behind strength development.

WOD was a 17min AMRAP
5 handstand push ups
6 toes to bar
7 kettle bell swings 20kg
8 box jumps 24" box

Managed 7 rounds plus 1 handstand push up.  Took it slow and steady.  Didn't have any trouble with the handstand push ups.  My kip was very shallow, but it was effective. Toes to bar I was able to string 2 or 3 at times, but mostly 2 kips for 1 rep as I re-positioned myself.  KB swings and box jumps were just tedious.

Strength was 5 x 5 back squats at 90% of your 5 rep max (like anyone knows their 5 reps max)!  I know I've done 225# for 5, or at least I think I should be able to do that, so I took 90% of that and did 205#.

Worked up with empty bar, 95#, 135# and 185# then started in at 205#, felt very solid with my wider stance.  Good workout.