Sunday, March 28, 2010

3/29/10; Squat cleans 5x5

Squat cleans, 5x5

Post loads. Be sure to check out this link on proper form. Do the usual protocol for warm up, but add 3 sets of Oly bar squat cleans (6 reps) to get the form down. Note the difference in receiving the bar on the squat clean. Remember to "shave the body" with the Oly bar.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

3/26/20; 8 x 1/4s

For time:
8x 1/4 miles

Protocol:
Each 1/4 mile is an all out effort. Rest period is equal to your run time. Log total time as your result.

Total time: 19:15 (7:00 of rest)

Warm up- 1/4 mile jog, followed by the usual protocol of 10s.

WOD- Nothing surprising here. Run all out at every 1/4. I was turning in decent times for the first few rounds (1:20 - 1:25). After that, I gassed. I was turning in 1:30-1:35 in the last rounds. Total suck. Winded and gassed. No technique or strategy was employed in this WOD. Just push as hard as I can. That's all about you can do with these WODs.

We had to modify the WOD, after we discovered that it's just too hard to calculate the rest cycle in between rounds. We went with the minute rest because it's a nice even number and the rest is minimal enough to derive an aerobic benefit from the WOD. Great effort by Doug and the wife. They cranked through the 1/4s and pushed really hard right through to the end.

Looking forward to resting this weekend and hitting the road to TN next week. While I'm in TN, it's Tabatas, running sprints, and gymnastic WODs all week.

3-2-1...GO!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

3/25/10; Unit Chipper WOD

Chipper- a WOD mixed with various different training modalities, designed to expose the athletes to various different physical tasks. In our line of business, this is good to throw in every once in a while.

For time:
Run 800m
30 45# plate Thrusters
30 Burpees
30 Box jumps
Run 400m
30 45# plate push press
30 pull ups
30 DUs
Run 400m
30 push ups
30 sit ups
25m 45# OH walking lunge
Run 45# plate back to start

Total time- 20:16

Warm up- Usual warm up protocol. We added one more to the group today. If we keep this up, the unit is going to be NMC during WODs….I’m good with it. I went over a description of some of the exercises and modifications for the new people in the group. For the 2 new people in our group, we changed number of reps to half on “G” exercises and cut weight to 25# plates on the other exercises, but stuck with the repetition scheme.

The WOD- 800m in 3:00 even. No land speed records, but I was working on keeping a good pace and saving some energy for the high power output exercises like the thrusters and push presses. As I type, my shoulders and forearms are burning…ugh. Banged out the thrusters in 20/10, burpees in 15/10/5 and box jumps in 10/5/5/5/5. I was TOTALLY winded on the second 400m. Push presses went 20/10 and pull ups went 21/5/4, DUs were just terrible. I couldn’t get into a rhythm and they really chewed into my time. I couldn’t get into a rhythm because at this point, my shoulders were on fire. Last 400m seemed like forever. My legs felt like I had 20# ankle weights on them. Unbroken push ups, the sit ups went 10/10/10, and then I muscled through the lunges stopping twice to rest. I jogged back…but it was a very slow jog.

I honestly felt like I wanted to add more of a strength component to this WOD. Power cleans or Clean and Presses with 135# would have been nice to add to this. The next time I program it, I’m going to add these events. Great work by everyone. Those that have been joining me in the WODs have been showing great signs of improvement evidenced by steady weight loss and general physical improvement in the realm of strength, power and endurance. I’m really proud of all of them.

3-2-1…GO!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

3/24/10; DL and PUs...

10 rounds for time:
135# DL x 15
Push ups x 15

then-

150 DUs for time

Total time- DL/PU WOD- 9:26; 150 DUs- 8:03

I figured everyone could use the practice... another head to head challenge. Awesome.

Warm up- We spent about 5 or 10 minutes jumping rope and working on the DU. Afterward, we went over the DL and how to properly do one. Focusing on the "strong back," and "open hips."

WOD- Grueling. More mental than anything else. Your body is so capable of handling this load when you're in shape, it's a matter of focusing and pushing through the muscle fatigue and lactic acid pain. We did this WOD head to head, again. I went up against Doug, who has made a TON of improvement since starting. We were neck and neck through round two and he tapered off, but just a bit (He ended up finishing in ~11:00.) After round 6 I really couldn't handle the 15 unbroken DLs, I was splitting them up in 10/5 or 8/7, with the exception of the last round, where I drove right through. The push ups are problematic for me, because of the bad shoulder. I was able to do straight sets until round 6. From that point on, it was 10/5 or 5/5/5. I was pretty stoked when I heard my time.

I knew the DUs were going to suck. I just didn't know they'd suck that bad. 8:03. Wow. I couldn't get into a rhythm and my back and shoulders were just spent, despite the 10 minute respite.

Tomorrow's our version of the chipper WOD. More suck...yay!

3-2-1...GO!

Monday, March 22, 2010

3/23/10; Cardio kill

Run 1 mile
10-20-30-40-50:
Push ups
Sit ups
Supermans
DUs

More PT test prep- cardio, muscle failure, and coordination rolled up into one!

Total time- 25:36

Warm up- We ran together at the track and ran a half mile to warm up. We added one more today and I ran through proper form on the squat and the lunge. We did the usual protocol of 10s of pull ups, push ups, squats, and lunges.

WOD- I felt like I had a little bit more in the mile. The head wind was pretty strong today, too. The mile went by in 6:19. After I got back to the start, I hit the WOD. I did straight sets through 20, but my shoulders were pretty fatigued and I split the push ups 20/10 in the third round. After that it was all down hill. The last two sets went 15/5 reps at a time on push ups and sit ups usually went to about 20/10/ 5 each remaining round. After round three, supermans were almost unbearable. I had to split them into 10s...grueling 10s. The DUs really improved. I went straight sets through the third round. Round 4 was split 35/5, and round 5 was split 42/5/3. Your lungs burn something fierce after doing DUs! This was a very challenging WOD.

Tomorrow brings more PT test prep and tons of fun!

3-2-1...GO!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

3/22/10; Barbell triplet

3 rounds for time:

135# DL x 7
135# Clean x 7
135# Push press x 7

Total time- 3:20

Warm up- We jogged a half mile today, rather than the usual 400m. We maintained the 10s of lunge, squat, pull ups, and push ups, though. Everybody in the group went through a demonstration on the points of performance for each of the lifts. Just about everyone went with the power clean and not the squat clean.

WOD- Head to head competition. It brings out the best in everyone. I went up against Drew today, who is an Ox. He's a really powerful guy and burned through this WOD just about as fast as I did. I went straight through on the first set. Had to readjust the clamps at the start of the second, then went unbroken on DLs. My second round went 4/3 on cleans, and unbroken on push presses. The last round went unbroken on DLs, 4/3 on the cleans, and 4/3 on the push press. I had to readjust the clamps every time I went for a break on the broken exercises...but I welcomed the rest. When I got done, my lungs were burning and I was SMOKED. Tough stuff.

3-2-1...GO!

3/21/10; Team WOD

30 mins AMRAP-
400m run
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 GHD sit ups

Total rounds with Doug/Amanda/Mike- 11 and the start of the run. In keeping with the team spirit, Doug continued mission and finished his round with just as much intensity as his first.

Warm up- We did the obligatory warm up and we played around with my daughter and our dog, Sadie.

WOD- Everybody did great. Kudos to Doug for doing all pull ups unassisted. Great accomplishment! This was more of a "hey, let's have an excuse to get together and hang out" WOD. However, everybody pushed really hard and got something out of the work out. On average, we cranked out a round every 2:30. Which, is pretty DANG good!

Afterward, I did some DUs and made it to 30...unbroken. It's the first time I've ever gone that high...it wasn't my usual DUs that have the 1-2-DU cadence, either. I was stoked. When I got done, I thought that my heart was going to fly out of my chest. Next stop is 50...then 100...then muscleup perfection.

Great WOD today and the family and I certainly enjoyed the company.

3-2-1...GO!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

3/19/10; Run 7k

Run 7k for time.

Total time- 35:41

Mt. Bonnell Route. Up the stairs and back to the unit. Compare to your last times

Warm up- No real warm up for this one. Just some ballistic stretching prior to the run and then a warm up 1/2 mile before I set into a pace.

WOD- Can't really be descriptive on this. Running is running. I will mention that I felt a lot stronger on the hills and stairs today. I think that the 38 second improvement in time shows that there certainly is some benefit to doing nothing but CF over the last two months.

Rest over the weekend...I may do a little METCON WOD tomorrow. I still feel really strong, but my legs are a little tight. I'm thinking DUs/DL/Push ups. 15 reps each, 10 rounds. I'll post if I decide to do it, but I'm not going to commit!

3-2-1...GO!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

3/18/10; 6 x 15s and Mr. Pukie

6 rounds for time:

15 reps each-
Push ups
KB Swings (55#)
Sit ups
KB Front SQT (55# plate)
Box jumps (24")

Total time: 21:16

I've been asked to post these ahead of time...I guess to help people get mentally right. So, here it is. More PT test prep. All full time staff must have a PT test completed by 9 APR.

Warm up- Usual protocol of 400m run, 10s of squats, push ups, pull ups, and some ballistic stretches to loosen up the joints a little bit. Exceptionally tight today from all the OH lunges yesterday. I woke up this morning and felt like I’d done a grappling tournament the day before.

WOD- I went head to head with a buddy that’s been making some great progress. The nice thing about going head to head with someone is that it drives the competitive spirit. I burned through the first round in about two minutes flat. The KB swings directly after the push ups really burn the shoulders. Another terrible combination is the squats followed by box jumps…just sick. I was completing round three right at about 10 minutes. The last round seemed to take forever. I managed to go unbroken on all my push ups and sit ups, however the KB swings, Squats, and Box jumps were a different story. I just had to break those up. Usually I was doing a 8/7 split or a 5/5/5 split on the reps.

We had a new kid join us for the fun today. I’m happy to say that Mr. Pukie made an appearance. About two and a half rounds into it, he looked at me, excused himself and became very intimate with a nearby light pole. The cheeseburger, fries and soda were a bad choice and evident in his pool of spew. He promptly returned and almost finished out four rounds. I decided to cut him off at 20 minutes and told him to drink lots of water, Gatorade, eat some food (fruit and a protein) right away and get rested. He did great and had lots of heart.

Great week this week. I got news from Drew today that after five weeks of CFing with us at the unit, he’s lost ten pounds. Great work, buddy. I’m interested to see the results of our CF experiment on the PT test in 3 weeks!

3-2-1…GO!

3/17/10; St. Patrick's Day WOD

In honor of my Irish heritage, a most sucky WOD-

6 rounds for time:
400m run
45# OH Lunge for 25m
Carry 45# plate back to start
12 Burpees

Total time- 26:39

Warm up- Standard 400m run, 10s of pull ups, push ups, lunges, and squats. I was still pretty tight from yesterday’s WOD. My back and hamstrings were dead from yesterday’s DL/DU WOD. I still feel really tight and I spent the better part of 10 minutes stretching after today’s Workout.

The WOD- I ordinarily blast out of the gates and burn through on the runs. I tried a different method today, with a goal of sub-25 mind. I ran all my 400s in the 1:50 range…well, I tried to. I think on the last two, I was right at 2:00. The OH lunges are an awesome core strengthening and leg and glute workout. I made it straight walks on only three rounds…ironically it was 1,2, and 5. The burpees were straight sets on rounds 1 &2, after that it was broke up into either 6/6 or 4/4/4. I just didn’t have the wind in me to keep it going. I was starting round 4 at about 12:30 and during the run, I realized my legs were just completely juiced. Somewhere on the last two rounds, I think that I left my quads and glutes on the grass where I was doing the lunges. I did, however, refuse to sit or lay on the floor after completion of the WOD… thank you, Miko Salo.

I found out today that one of the guys that’s been CFing with me for the last month (he got addicted in CA) has lost 10 lbs in the last month. Great work, Doug! Kudos to Drew for dropping some weight, as well (I believe it’s 8 lbs) and sticking with it today. All these guys that workout with me have nothing but heart and determination.

3-2-1…GO!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

3/16/10; DL/DU WOD

Three rounds for time:
275# DL x 10
DUs x 50

Total time- 9:41

Warm up- I did the obligatory DU warm up (5 x 20 DUs) and then did a set of 10 DLs at 135# in between each round. Broomstick shoulder stretches, pull ups, lunges and some lower back stretches rounded everything out.

WOD- If you're going to scale, the WOD is actually 75% of my last 1RM. The WOD was pretty difficult. Hammering out 10 reps was pretty tough and then transitioning to the coordination required to do a DU added an extra factor of suck. I was fairly consistent until last round...meaning that my DUs sucked. Getting into that rhythm was a pain and when I did it usually only lasted about 10-15 in a row before I got all white-guy-in-the-corner-of-the-dance-floor. The last round something magical happened - I did 33 in a row, then I finished off with the last 17. DLs were suck...no way around it. I did my 10 straight on the first set, broke up into 5-3-2 (regripping each break) on the second round, and then finished with 4-4-2 on the last set. Very demanding on the grip and lower back.

I've got a PT test coming up, so I'm going to run a 5k this evening. Nothing crazy...just about 80% of my best recent time. So, I'll keep it at 8:00/mile the whole time. CF proposes that if you're doing additional training (sport specific or CFE) that you break up the WOD/ secondary work at least three hours apart. I suspect that this has a lot to do with glycogen/ glucose replenishment and insulin spikes during post workout meals/ shakes.

In other news, the CF Level 1 cert in Dallas is paid for. I'm hoping that it's everything that everyone says it is. I dropped a substantial amount of money to do it. Even with a 20% military discount, it's a large chunk of change. Who knows...maybe Crossfit Conner at Steiner Ranch will become a reality after retirement from the Army?

3-2-1...GO!

Monday, March 15, 2010

3/15/10; 30 Muscleups for time, Max pull ups, and a century of situps...

For time-
30 MUs
Max pull ups (count reps)
100 sit ups on the abmat

Times/Reps:
10:06 for muscle ups
23 pull ups
3:06 for sit ups

As you can see, it's been a while since I hit a WOD. After a busy week, hectic scheduling, and a respite from stress, I'm back at it. Today was supposed to be Barbara, but I'll save her for another day. After caring for a sick wife and daughter, I was a little smoked and did my own "programming" today. It was a "G" day, so I worked on something I hate (Muscleups), pushed it a little hard (max reps pull ups after MUs), and got prepped for our upcoming PT test (sit ups on the abmat).

Warm up- 5 sets of 20 DUs and push ups/ lunges/ broomstick shoulder rotations. I've been adding in more broomstick rotations to add to my ROM on the bad shoulder. MUs are especially hard because of the restrictive ROM in the right shoulder. My transition is getting smoother, but the sticking point is the weak shoulder.

The WOD- So...the first thing you're asking is how the heck did Mike do 30 MUs for time if he can't even do one? I scaled them.... I watched a CFJ video on the gymnastics kip and scaled MU and that's where I got my idea. I did all MUs with the rings set at 52" and me on my knees and only using my toes to get myself into position for the transition on the MU. (It's a lot harder than it sounds) Just some recorded numbers- 8 reps @ 2:15; 12 reps @ 3:30; after that it was all downhill and sets of 2 or 3 at a time. After I got done, I popped up to the pull up bar and did as many pull ups as I could manage. I was in a nice groove until I hit 17... then the kip got weak, the grip waned and I was pulling the tower all over the place. I had the abmat pre-positioned on the mat floor and hit the sit ups. FYI- Abmat sit ups are many times harder than your standard PT test sit up. The range of motion is considerable for the little 1.5 inch hump in the center of the mat. At two minutes into the sit ups I hit 77 reps. Still maxing on the Army scale...but my goal is to hit 100 in 1:40.

To cool down I hit some more DUs and broomstick rotations and stretches. I felt great after working out and unfortunately, I'm wired and about 30 mins from my usual rack time. Great.

Another note- get into a schedule with PT and don't deviate from it. If your WOD time is O-dark-30 in the morning, then do it. If it's lunch, do it. If it's mid-afternoon, do it. Otherwise, you won't.

3-2-1...GO!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

3/11/10; Helen and the Muscleup...fail

“Helen”
3 rounds for time:
400m
21 KB swings (1.5 pood)
12 pull ups

Total time- 8:19 (New PR by 6 seconds)

Warm up- Run 400m; 10s of Pull ups, push ups, squats, lunges, and KB swings. It was a beautiful day outside today and perfect for doing an outdoor WOD.

WOD- It’s funny how when you’re going for a PR, you get a little bit of the butterflies just before you start. At least I do, anyway. I started strong on the run and turned out the KB swings and pull ups for the first round in unbroken. The next round, my time had reduced on the run and I banged out the KB swings unbroken again, but the pull ups were a different story at 8/4. It was at this point that my forearms were SCREAMING. My legs felt like rubber and I couldn't stop shaking out my arms. They had gone completely numb from gripping the KB and bar so tightly during the WOD. I left for the final round at about 5:30. I attempted to pick up on the last run, and when I came in I absolutely knew I wasn’t going to make the sub-8 I was hoping for. 7:19 is what my watch read. I hit the KB swings and broke it into 11/10. Pull ups were incredibly difficult and I ended up doing a 4/4/4 split because my arms just couldn’t take it anymore.

Despite being motivated by SISU and convincing myself I would never collapse to the floor after a WOD ever again….I did it anyway. I was spent, the world was spinning and I hit a new PR. Not a sub-8, but it was a new PR nonetheless.

I came back into the office, cooled down and answered/checked e-mail for about another hour before I went outside to try my first muscleup. So close. 9 times…so close! I was popping up into the rings in pits position, but couldn’t time the kick well enough to get the actual dip portion in. I’ll try again in a couple of days.

In other news- since starting the DU practice, I’ve been rocking them. They suck, but it’s good to have the skill down.

3-2-1…GO!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

3/9/10; OH squats and muscleup practice...

OH Squats 10-10-10-10-10
then
100 Sit ups for time

Oly bar-Oly bar-55-65-85
subbed half sit ups- 2:26

Warm up- The wife, daughter and I jumped rope together. The lil' one had a little difficult time, as most not quite three year olds do, and subbed holding the jump rope handles in each hand and jumping in place for DUs. We did three or four sets of max DUs. I immediately put on shoes after missing a DU barefooted on the first set. It's very unforgiving. Yowza! After that it was 10s of lunges, squats and push ups.

The WOD- pretty mundane, really. Just a simple familiarization with the movement and adding weight safely while trying to maintain the best form. I think that the next time, I'm just going to follow Mark Rippetoes advice and avoid going over 6 reps on strength days. Form just completely goes to crap when going up that high on the lifts for max loads. Which, of course, is incredibly dangerous...especially with the OH squat. I had to sub the sit ups because I have a GIANT strawberry on my butt from doing the sit ups yesterday. You never really notice those things until the hot water in the shower hits the affected area.

I did some muscleup practice tonight. Very slow and methodical. Just some drills I saw Jason Khalipa doing on CF journal. I started with a supine row and did five explosive jumps up to the rings in the pits position. After that I progressed with one at a time by going from a semi seated position with legs out in front, explode to the rings in pits, then finish with the ring dip. I was successful on five attempts. I stopped while I was ahead...why not? Later this week, I'll continue to progress and throw in an actual muscleup attempt. I think I've got this, but we'll see.

3-2-1...GO!

Monday, March 8, 2010

3/8/10; DUs and a bunch of other stuff...

For time:
50-40-30-20-10 of
DUs
Push ups
KB swings (1 pood)
Sit ups
Squats
Superman

Total time- 32:49

Warm up- Not much time spent here. I worked out exceptionally late because I can't stay away from playing with my little girl since she's returned. I only did about 20 DUs, 10 push ups, sit ups and KB swings. After that, it was game on.

WOD- In honor of Greg Amundson's recent failure of qualifying for a trip to Aromas, I've focused hard on getting the DU down. I practice them every day...just a little sumpin', sumpin' to have in my repertoire. Usually only three sets of as many as I can get in a rhythm- usually single, single, double...I haven't mastered the straight sets of DUs. That said, I had a hard time getting into a rhythm on the DUs for the first set. It was something like 10-14-15-broken on the rest. Push ups are a strong suit for me, but doing them after DUs is a little difficult. I've gotten a lot better at the KB swing. I went to 30 before I had to break and rest on the first round. Straight sets on the remaining exercises except for the sit up. I have an abmat and decided to knock the dust off that thing. Wholly different exercise when you use the abmat. ROM is significantly greater and adds to the difficulty of the exercise. The rest of the rounds were basically a suckfest of sweat, grunting and agony. I did manage unbroken DUs for the 30-20-10 rounds, though. I was particularly proud of that achievement.

My next venture for improvement? Muscleups. After that, it's going to be the Oly lifts. Baby steps, right? I'm loving CF and what its all about. I have folks at work totally drinking the kool aid and I'm particularly proud of their achievements. We had a PT test this weekend and one of the kids dropped over a minute on his run and made significant improvements on his push ups and sit ups. This CF stuff is awesome.

3-2-1...GO!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

3/6/10; Battle Assembly, Fran, and paint a room

Fran-
21-15-9 of
95# thrusters
Pull ups
for time.

Total time- 5:07

I busted my PR by over two minutes. After two months of CFing, this definitely shows a marked improvement.

Warm up- 1/3 mile jog. 10 reps of push ups, squats, lunges, and a set of 20 double unders.

The WOD- 21 unbroken thrusters, 15-6 pull ups; DEEP BREATHS; 6-5-4 Thrusters, 5-5-5 Pull ups; DEEP BREATHS, followed by pacing in the garage; 5-4 Thrusters, 3-4-2 Pull ups. Collapse and fall onto the cool concrete floor while the blood slowly rushes back into my arms.

Today was an exceptionally busy day that started at 0425. PT with the officers in my unit (4.2 mile run up to the to Mt. Bonnell), Army stuff most of the day, with a quick run to TSC to get 6 stall mats and laid them in my garage, a group of us hit Fran after work at the house gym, and then I painted my little girl's "Tinkerbell" room with help from a friend. I'm spent.

3-2-1...Sleep.

Friday, March 5, 2010

3/5/10; Hill Sprints


For Time:


10 100m hill sprints. The grades varied from 1% in the beginning to as high as 11% near the end of the run.
Total time- 26:13
The warm up- A group of the regular CFers I've recruited at the unit jogged about a mile to the hill site and looked at the daunting task. Once we arrived, I walked up to the top to mark off the end point and jogged back down.

The WOD- The rules for today's WOD were simple. Climb the hill as fast as you could, jog back down and rest a minute. Repeat ten times. The total time includes the rest times. I averaged about 40-50 seconds a hill sprint, with about a minute jog down to the bottom. It's funny how time seemingly gets faster as the suck factor increases. For instance- the first minute rest seemed like ample time compared to say, round six or seven. Everybody enjoyed this WOD and nobody was complaining about the lack of suck. The variety is a nice change from running two or three miles for time, as well. I really enjoyed this WOD.

Together, the group jogged back to the unit. I don't think that any of us really wanted to, but the wife insisted on jogging back to rush to work. Ugh. So, we all followed suit. When we returned, I stretched for an additional 10 minutes. My hamstrings and glutes were so tight from the last few WODs. I've really got to invest in a foam roller.

3-2-1...GO!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

3/3/10; Mike's filthy fifty and dirty thirty

Mike’s filthy fifty, for time:
Run 400m
50 Box Jumps (24”)
50 KB swings (1 pood)
400m
50 Lunges
50 Pull ups
400m
50 Oly bar push press
50 superman
400m
KB clean and press (25 each arm)
50 knees to elbow
400m
50 push ups
50 double unders

Total time: 32:06

The warm up- Usual warm up protocol- 400m, 10 reps each of push ups, pull ups, squats, and lunges. Afterward, I went through points of performance for each of the exercises, trying to apply and teach as much of the knowledge I could glean from the demos on the CF main site.

The WOD- Total suck. I really underestimated the difficulty of this WOD. In fact, I had to scale it for the people working out with me because once I did the first round I realized the workload may be too much. The participants all did thirty repetitions, with the exception of a co-worker’s son who is getting ready to enter the Army. He hung in there with me and finished with a really respectable time. The knees to elbows are an incredibly suck exercise. Your grip screams for a break while you’re struggling to maintain a tight core on the swing up. KB exercises just completely get you winded. I tried hard to get the swings in a straight set, but they got me at 32. Double unders after push ups…what the heck was I thinking? My shoulders were on FIRE as I approached 40 and when I would get into a groove of 5 or more in a row, my delts would scream with lactic acid in protest. Good times.

I decided to modify this WOD from the original "Filthy 50", because a lot of our folks at the unit have different fitness goals, namely to lose some weight and get better at the run portion of the Army Physical Fitness Test. I think that I succeeded in creating a WOD that would accomplish this goal. We added one more to the Crossfit crew today, kudos to DG for banging out her first “MGW” workout. A tough one, no less.

3-2-1…GO!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

3/2/10; Run, Burpee, Squat with Friends!

For time:
Run 400m
21 Burpees
21 Squats
400m
15 B&S
400m
12 B&S
400m
9 B&S

Total time:
MC-11:54
Amanda- 15:13
Hill- 15:35
Murr- 16:23

As you can see from the above times, I've gathered some people together to get the Community Crossfit dream going. We invited friends from work and had a great time together. We even had a time keeper for us. Unfortunately, she was feeling a little ill, so she couldn't join us for the WOD. But she's always welcome to join the kool aid drinkers.

The warm up- I read Greg Amundson recent article in CFJ where he described his anguish at not being able to do double unders, so I've been motivated to start adding them to my warm ups. I did 3 sets of 10 DUs. I'll progress to higher numbers once I get better. After that, we did a little half mile jog, added ten pull ups, push ups, lunges, and squats.

The WOD- Everyone did great! The run is a bit of a smoker, but I was actually using it to catch my breath and give everything on the Burpees and squats. I'm improving at burpees and I'm really watching my form on the squats. Here's a great video free on youtube. I really focused on ensuring that my drive came from the heels, my butt was sitting back and down, and that I completed the repition at the top (open hips). I went straight through on all squats, however the burpees were a different story. The sets went 18-3; 10-5; 8-4; and finally 9.

Post WOD- My wife did an awesome job cooking an incredible shrimp fettuccine dinner. We sat around the table and talked and just had a great time. We definitely want this to become a regular event and I thoroughly enjoyed this. Nothing gave me greater joy than opening my house to friends for a great WOD and then having an awesome dinner. Good times. This is what Crossfit is all about- great workouts, an encouraging, positive environment, and fellowship.

3-2-1...GO!

Monday, March 1, 2010

3/1/10; CF Total

Max loads:

Press x1
Squat x1
Deadlift x1

The warm up- We walked the dog this morning, I did some jump roping for about 5 minutes, and then I did the usual 10 reps scheme. I added 3 sets of Oly bar presses, 3 sets of squats with just 135 on the bar, and finally 2 sets of 95 and 185# DLs

Total: 775
Press- 155lbs
Squat- 255lbs (didn't go heavier, because I'm doubting the capacity of the squat rack and shaking)
Deadlift- I hit 345 easy, then upped it to 365, which I got pretty easy, too.


The WOD- Totals are above. I started at 135 and added 10lb increments for the press. On the squat, I did 225, 245, then 255. I noticed that my rack shakes horizontally when I re-reack the weights, which sort of freaks me out. On the DLs, I just rememberd my 3x max (325) and went from there. I think that the next time I do the total, I'll go to a globo gym and hop on a more sturdy rack.

Great, quick WOD. It's good to see what my baseline is, but I'm certain I can hit 300# easy on the squat and I'm going to attempt 405 the next time I DL for max.

3-2-1...GO!