He’s Alive! Workouts for the Week: 5/11/09

I’m back to blogging again. Hello, it’s been a long time, I hope this blog post finds you well.

I suppose I fell off the blogging wagon at the same time I found it necessary to take some time off working out because of my shoulders. As I’ve always been a kinetic, physical person, this was tremendously difficult. I would often stare at the composition fields on this blog and find myself with little to say. I suppose you could say that I was a little depressed over my injuries, especially when compared to the progress I was making.

The past few weeks have seen remarkable progress in my healing, and I’m now back to regular Crossfit classes, as well as having done the 2009 Spartan 300 Challenge this past Saturday. I turned in the fastest Level 2 time (90lb bar, 12kg Kettlebell, and jumping pullups) at 14:44.

My goal was to take the knowledge that I could have at least been competitive (although probably not have finished in the 20 minute time limit) in the Level 1 competition (135lb bar, 16kg Kettlebell, Full kipping pullups), and channel it into doing the Level 2 workout as fast as possible, with as good form as possible. And, I did it fasted.

On to this week’s workouts (this post will be updated):

Monday:

Crossfit:

• 20 Squats, 1 Barbell Snatch (RX 135. I did 20lb to give my shoulders some TLC), 1 Suicide Run
• 20 Squats, 2 Snatches, 1 Suicide Run
• 20 Squats, 3 Snatches, 1 Suicide Run
• 20 Squats, 4 Snatches, 1 Suicide Run
• 20 Squats, 5 Snatches, 1 Suicide Run

My time: 8:44. This was a wicked workout. The suicide runs are strangely harder than running in one direction for the same distance. I haven’t figured out why.

Kung-Fu: Light sparring and some Kata work. I am beginning to figure out that katas work one’s body differently than anything else, and in a way that totally compliments Crossfit. Amazing.

Tuesday:

Crossfit 300 Workout:

• 50 Pull-ups/Reverse Pull-ups/Standing Rows
• 50 Burpees

I will change the pullups to jumping pullups on the rings. The burpees will be… Burpees. Time: 5:42. It’s hard to do good jumping pullups on rings because you can’t push down. This slows the recycle time significantly.

Wednesday

Crossfit Workout. Five Rounds for Time:

• 15 Back Squat. RX 155lb, I did 95lb. I will not make the mistake of doing too much, too soon again.
• 400m run.

My time: 17:21. I felt surprisingly solid on the back squats. I need more strength, but my form is acceptable to good, and I actually felt stronger the longer I went on this. The run was another story. I felt progressively weaker each run, and I’m sure it won’t get better as the summer gets hotter and hotter! One thing’s for sure though: I’m going to be in sick shape.

Thursday

Crossfit: Cindy. AMRAP 20 minutes of:

• 5 Pull-ups
• 10 Push-ups
• 15 Squats

I managed 12 rounds and 1 half-hearted pullup before time ran out. I felt it a little bit in my shoulder (so THAT’S what did it!) and will be taking it a little easy on the pullups for a few weeks.

Bottom line: I’m back.

Friday:

Crossfit 300 Workout. For Time, Four Rounds:

• 25 Air Squats
• 10 Vertical Jumps
• 15 Pushups

My time: 5:45. I felt slow because of Cindy yesterday, but still pretty good. I try and maintain excellent form and range of motion throughout. All my squat jumps were bottom-to-top. I know this costs me time but I consider technique to be more important, and am willing to not cut corners at the expense of time. That is a faustian bargain in my opinion.

My Kung-Fu Conditioning Class:

I made these guys do a scaled version of Cindy. I think that getting the Rings to hang from the ceiling rebar was a really great choice! I can’t let those guys rest on their laurels, you know! The arms race continues!

AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 5 Pull-Ups
• 10 Push-Ups
• 15 Squats

I decided to give myself a little rest today. I did do 5-rep sets of ring pullups occasionally while running around and correcting everyone’s form, etc.