World O’ Hurt

The next few weeks I’m going to tread pretty carefully. I think that I tweaked my right shoulder (yet) again. I am going to try and take it a little easier this next week or two; I hope that the exercises are not shoulder-hostile.

Monday

I think this is the day that I tweaked my shoulder a bit. The form on my Dumbell Snatches is pretty good, and I always get a good range of motion on the squat. I do think that I should have gone lighter than RX, or looked for another option than going fully extended overhead with the weight. Three rounds for time:

• 15 Dumbell Snatch @ 45lb (total, not each arm)
• 400m Run
• 15 Wall Ball @ 20lb

My time was 15:27.

Wednesday

Shoulder stress continues. A Crossfit benchmark workout with two shoulder killers, Cleans and Ring Dips. Again, I did this one RX which I probably should not have, especially since my shoulder was hurting at the time I came in. Live and learn. “Elizabeth“: 21-15-9 Reps:

• Squat Clean @ 135lb
• Ring Dips

15:47. Afterward we were assigned 50 of each. Knees-to-elbows, Pullups. I accomplished 16 of each before time ran out.

Thursday

I decided to make this a rest day. I think this is one of those months where no matter what you do, you’re going to feel a little under the weather in general. It can’t be avoided, and you can’t expect every day to be better than the last. Life has an ebb and flow in general, and you have to take each day as it comes. Or maybe it’s the fact that I’m turning 30 this month. My advanced age is catching up with me!

I’m not sure if my shoulder is a symptom in general; I have been feeling a sort of vague malaise lately, as if my body is fighting off sickness (I also have a bit of a sore throat). I have also fallen off the diet wagon a bit. Oh well. Things will improve. I just need to do what I know needs to be done!

Friday

I decided to implement some of the things I have been talking about regarding katas and Crossfit-style workouts. Here was the Friday workout: AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• Max Reps Knees-to-elbow
• Kata 1 2x
• Max Reps Push-ups
• Kata 2 2x
• Max Reps Double-Unders
• Kata 3 2x

I had originally assigned specific katas (the first three long forms in our system, to be exact) but decided to let people pick any three discrete katas they wanted to practice.

It was my hope that people would utilize the katas as Crossfit would the 400m runs, as sprints designed to tax the three energy pathways. I actually did get a lot of positive reaction to the workout, but to me it seemed a bit muddled. I think it might be my view being colored by the hyper-focused Crossfit workouts, but I identified the following issues:

1. Difficulty of establishing standards of movement.
   This basically means that it is easy for me to run through the movements of a workout beforehand when they are simple and repeatable, as is the case with say, push-ups, sit-ups and what have you. When you look at a kata, you see a complicated series of interconnected movements. Therefore it is hard to establish a baseline of correctness so that the scores we write on the board actually mean something. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that people chose different katas, which leads to the next problem:
2. Class cohesiveness goes down.
   There is something to be said for the esprit de corps that comes from everyone “keeping together in time“. I believe part of my complaint from this perspective stems from allowing people to pick their katas. Now, this point may affect me more than it did the students, but it seemed to me that the workout on Friday was a bit more chaotic than usual.
3. More opportunity for slacking.
   I spied a few people utilizing the kata section as time to practice the moves of the kata or time for “active rest” as Andy puts it. That was expressly not the purpose of putting katas into the workout. My aim was to put katas in the context of doing something stressful and intense, and to have the students put the same intensity into doing the katas as they do the normal workout (again, I’m not levying this complaint against everyone). I have to take my share of the blame for perhaps not communicating that as well as I could.
   Of course, it is also the first time we have utilized this paradigm in class, and we rarely explicitly call for intensity when practicing katas, which does the material a grave disservice, in my opinion. Now, the reason I chose simple, fundamental katas for everyone to do (before changing my mind) was because people in general should have those sets of movements practically embedded in their DNA at this point, making execution second-nature, and intense execution consistently over 20 minutes the kind of stretch that I’d consider healthy.Practicing not-quite-mastered material in the context of an intense workout is probably healthy as well, however, and doing so would definitely simulate some of the emotional and mental stress that comes from testing.
4. Pacing slows down.
   Again, this could very well be a function of the newness of the concept, but there was some expensive context switching going on between katas and exercises. We are going to do this again, and I will stress the importance of keeping a high pace (and why it’s important) during the workout, and minimizing transition time between movements.

All that said, it was still a good workout and everyone seemed to enjoy the novelty of it. It is interesting to see the application of the general-purpose conditioning work we do in the context of katas. I do believe that it takes practice and intent to transfer those skills over from one modality to another! I intend to do more of this sort of training as testing time (mid-late August) creeps ever closer…

I did receive an interesting class review/complaint/request from one person who had not been to class in a very long time (having moved away for quite a while). To me it was very interesting to hear because it highlighted how different the class must seem for someone uninvolved in the process of its transformation to its current form!

Previous to this year, the class was not as self-directed or self-motivated for the students as it is now; I generally called out specific exercises at specific junctures in the class sessions for students to do this exercise or that; it was very top-down command-and-control. Nowadays of course, I lay out what I expect of the students in terms of exercises and movement standards and allow (nay, encourage) them to blaze their own trails through the workout.

This particular person said, very earnestly, that they liked the previous format better, because they considered themself (I know it’s not a word, and I don’t like using English’s sorry excuse for a gender-neutral pronoun; I’m just trying to protect their identity!) “kind of lazy” (???!!!) and needed the added motivation of everyone moving together, doing the same thing, at the same time (paraphrased).

Now, I can imagine how someone steeped in the previous class culture of calling-out-reps and sticking together through exercises would see the way we do things as strange. However, my response to what this person said would be that if they felt unmotivated in an environment which relies increasingly on self-motivation, then that is exactly the environment that they need to be in in order to stoke those fires in themself! It is time to step up to the plate and find baseline performance and construct target goals. Every day should be the day that we all get a little bit better, and a lot better in the long run. That is one thing that the top-down way of doing things cannot guarantee, and for those used to that, it is a tough tit to wean off of, but you have to start somewhere.

As an instructor, I try and lend as much strength as I can to the students, because they often do not see themselves as capable of doing things that I can clearly see that they are capable of! However, that doesn’t extend to changing the class environment to accommodate people who are completely non self-starting.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful July 4th!

Monday

A workout that catered to my strengths. AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 10 Double-Unders
• 10 Hip Extensions
• 10 24kg Kettlebell Clean+Press
• 10 20″  Box Jumps

9 Rounds, finished the 9th immediately before time expired! We did a slightly different version of the workout than the other classes; There were 10 Kettlebell lunges in the earlier version, right after the clean and press. No wonder no one got more than seven rounds before my class! This was further different than the D/U / Deadlift / C/P / Box Jump workout that was on the site (and I was incredibly excited about). This was still a great workout and a good time!

The interesting thing is how much contrast there is between my strengths and weaknesses. For instance, I tore through everything except the clean/press, which was a huge speed bump. I would not be surprised if I hit 15 or more rounds if the C/P had been replaced with something like push jerks. It is good because my weaknesses were exposed and now I know what I have to work on!

Tuesday

We hung some rings from a tree in the backyard next to the pool. A little tropical paradise. Throw in a mini-WOD, float around some, get back to work refreshed. I love working at home! 21-11-9 reps of:

• Ring Pull-up
• Push-up
• Sit-up
• Squat

I didn’t time myself. I just wanted to blow off a little steam. I did, however break my consecutive ring pull-up best: 12 (up from 11). Float around a bit in the warm water to refresh myself, and I’m good to go!

Wednesday

The nice thing about going to Crossfit Central is that whatever class you go to, you’re bound to be surrounded by dedicated, hardworking people who are bound to inspire you to reach new heights. Two of the many in my class are Paul and Tom who, like me, didn’t like the idea of going a full week without a Crossfit workout (perish the thought!). Luckily, a few of the Crossfit Central coaches stayed behind from the Games, so we got the opportunity to schedule a three-person session with Central’s resident Kettlebell guru, Chris Hartwell.  The workout didn’t look that daunting at first. It was three rounds for time, with a 15-minute limit:

• 9 Dual-Kettlebell Squat-Clean (I used 20kg Kettlebells, a total of 88 or so lb)
• 12 Pull-Ups
• 400m Run

I’m not sure why this workout was so incredibly difficult. Maybe it was the fact that I was on a fast. Maybe it’s the fact that I’d never done Kettlebell squat cleans before, let alone dual kettlebell squat cleans. Maybe it was the Central-Texas-in-July blast furnace outside of at least 105′ with 120′ reflecting up at us from the blacktop. Maybe it was the gulf of difficulty between how the workout looked on the whiteboard, and how it played out.

It was a killer. I barely made it in below the cut off, at 13:40 or so. The KB squat cleans squeezed the energy and sweat form me like I was a sponge, and although I did the first squat clean set and first pullup set unbroken, the next two didn’t go so well. I struggled at the runs, especially. Nevertheless, a great workout! Thanks, Chris!

Thursday

No serious workout, as I treated this as a rest day. I landed awkwardly dismounting from the bar on one of the pull-up sets on Wednesday, so my ankle was and still is a little sore. I did a lot of katas at my Kung-Fu class. Something struck me at class that I still haven’t identified. It was the germ of an idea about my martial arts training that could be a game changer for me. I’ll be sure to write more about it as I develop the idea.

Friday

We received an unexpected boost to the difficulty of Friday class this week. In fact, it was the Friday class that has been most like a real Crossfit class for one reason: The A/C was broken! I discovered this unpleasant fact upon unlocking the school and being greeted by a blast of not cool, but hot air as I opened the door.

Thinking that someone left the A/C off, I turned the two thermostats to the “meat locker” settings, and was greeted by a disappointing silence from one unit, and an anemic trickle of cool-ish air from the other. We were in for a long workout.

As someone who grew up without A/C in my martial arts schools, and who attends the 5:15 Crossfit class, just when the day is getting it’s hottest, I’ve never been overly concerned about working out in the heat. But I can’t assume that others are like that. While I continued with my overall workout plan, i tried to keep a close eye on everyone.

Jump Rope Ladder with 30 seconds of rest between each round, and 2 minutes of rest between the first and second halves:

• 5 Minutes
• 4 Minutes
• 3 Minutes
• 2 Minutes
• 1 Minute
• 30 Seconds (all-out sprint)
• 15 Seconds (all double-unders)
• 30 Seconds (all-out sprint)
• 1 Minute
• 2 Minutes
• 3 Minutes
• 4 Minutes
• 5 Minutes

2nd Workout: 21 – 15 – 9 reps of:

• Ring Pull-ups
• Push-ups
• Sit-ups
• Squats

I finished in 6:40 or so. Everyone looked very very tired by the end of the workout. I can attribute that to the long jump-rope effort, a sequence that we had worked up to over a period of months last year, but which came at us full-force all at once on Friday. That fact alone, that we performed the culmination of a progression, out of the context of that progression, should be a testament to the tenacity of the students and the efficacy of the methodology.

The heat took its toll on many students, which I suspected it would. In fact, upon stepping outside the school, it was immediately apparent that it was quite a bit cooler outside than inside the school! More fans as well as large bay doors would have helped here and daresay, made things tolerable.

After some reflection, I would not repeat the same class under these circumstances. The lack of ventilation as well as the heat produced bad conditions for working out, especially for those used to air conditioning. The prolonged cardiovascular nature of the jump rope workout along with the short breaks gave no opportunity for recovery . I am proud of those who stuck though it, and understanding of those who left.

Apparently this is a “Make Ryon do shit he doesn’t do well” week at Central. Well, bring it on! Not addressing weaknesses is a recipe for incapacity and error.

Monday

Well, not so much a “Make Ryon do shit he doesn’t do well” day here. Maybe more like a “Give Ryon a false sense of confidence the first part of the week then crush him later” week. This turned out to be a quick one. Three rounds for time:

• 7 Thrusters @ 135lb (I did 115)
• 7 Pull-ups
• 7 Burpees

My time: 4:16 and I could have gone faster or heavier, but probably not both! I had one of the quicker times that day. Going heavier is tricky for me because of my shoulder. I’m trying though, and I am looking forward to getting my shoulders in a place where I can RX the workouts again. This workout was a metabolic nightmare, and afterward we did sprints. My times:

• 400m @ 1:28
• 200m @ 37″
• 200m @ 41″
• 35m x 3 @ ?? (not timed)

I ripped a huge hole in the bottom of my toe. We’re talking Rhode Island-sized flap of skin hanging off here. I love my Vibram FiveFingers but I think I might need some toe socks to go with them. it was probably the moisture+friction that caused the blister. Plus my current pair is so messed up and ripped up I’m probably getting cut by rocks poking through them!

Wednesday

Hell on earth. If I was able to rip through Monday’s workout, it’s because I shifted the time I didn’t take to Wednesday. This was a horrible beast of a workout that prodded my weaknesses: Upper body strength, and running. Five rounds for time:

• 20 floor presses @ 55lb
• 400m Run

The floor presses were done with our upper backs on a medicine ball, and active hip (making the dumbbell presses almost a decline press). To compound things for me, I used the 1.5pood kettlebells, which, despite being “only” 53 pounds, are unwieldy and off balance compared to the dumbbells. Pressing them was just “fucked up”, as I was to exclaim after the first set. The runs were done in the relentless TX blast furnace heat, which I’m really starting to not mind all that much.

The upshot of the workout was that my shoulders still aren’t up to snuff. I managed two rounds and some change with the kettlebells, then mercifully switched to 30lb dumbbells about halfway through the workout… and STILL DIDN’T FINISH. I was 5 presses away from being done when time was called.

At least I know what I need to work on.

Thursday

Hell on earth. Again. Is this the first time I’ve had two consecutive days without finishing the workout? I think it might be, which is a good pointer as to what I need to work on!  At least today I have the consolation of knowing that almost no one else finished the workout either!

21-18-15-12-9-6-3:

• Dumbbell Snatch @40lb (I used 25lb). Note the number applies to EACH ARM, and you can’t split the reps. Finish one arm, then the next.
• Ring Dips (I used a dark blue assist band)

Hellish, hellish hellish. You are an elite athlete if you do this RX. The snatch is a soul sucking energy destroying full body movement. I got halfway through the set of 12, and 4 on the second arm when time was called. This really underscores the fact that my upper body isn’t where it needs to be, especially after the injury.

Friday

I’m actually posting this early so that Lucas, who comes to my class, can get an early start on planning to do the workout. This workout will hopefully inspire terror in my students.

The timer will be set to count down from 20 minutes. Starting out with:

• 1 Pull-up (Substitutes: Jumping Pull-up, Ring Row, Bench Dip)
• 1 Goblet Squat with kettlebell or dumbbell (Substitutes: Regular squat)
• 1 1-Arm Situp with kettlebell or dumbbell (Substitutes: Regular Sit-up, Crunch w/ medicine ball behind head)

Every round, add one repetition to each exercise, so on the 5th round, you would be doing five each of the pull-up, squat, and sit-up, for instance. The score is the number of rounds completed (with any partial rounds added as a note). Bon Apetit!

Update: I completed 10 rounds and 2 pull-ups of the 11th, at 55lb for the squats, and 35lb for the sit-ups. If you told me a year ago that I would be doing 58 pull-ups in 20 minutes, let alone the other stuff, I’d have thought it impossible. It just goes to show you how far the class has come, and I have come as well.

If you read this blog and take my class, or even just play along at home, please post your results as a comment!

P.S. Next week is benchmark week.

P.P.S. Please check out Lucas’s website and music. It’s terriffic stuff!

An important week for me! Saturday is the Spartan 300 Challenge finale. I’ve made some huge leaps and hit many of the goals for which I was aiming. The 400lb deadlift felt really good to hit. Not only was it a 30lb PR, but it was a specific goal of mine for the 6-week period! I also wanted 30 consecutive pullups, and I did get 20 last week, so I do believe that with a concerted effort, I could get 30! We’ll see if I reached my <8% body fat goal (which isn’t incredibly important to me, just a “let’s see if I can do it” sort of thing) during the weigh ins and measurements.

This week I really have to keep the diet under control and get adequate sleep and rest/recovery. I am signed up for the Level 1 challenge on Saturday (10:30, if anyone wants to watch…). I did sub-15 minutes on the level 2 during the beginning of the challenge, so I just don’t have too much more to prove there. I am going to enter the level 1 challenge with a little trepidation. I feel that it’s MUCH more difficult than the level 2, and I am going to take JDP’s advice and pretend like I already have it. I can’t afford to second-guess myself!

Monday

Crossfit workout. Brutality defined and refined. Three rounds for time:

• 100ft Lunge with Kettlebell (24kg)
• 15 Burpees
• 25 Kettlebell swings (24kg)

I finished in 13:45 I believe, maybe a minute quicker. Better to assume slower than faster, and try harder next time! This was a brutal workout. Kettlebell swings leech the life and vitality from you like nothing else.

Tuesday

Spartan 300 Challenge Workout:

• 50 Squats 2 Pull-ups
• 40 Squats 4 Pull-ups
• 30 Squats 6 Pull-ups
• 20 Squats 8 Pull-ups
• 10 Squats 10 Pull-ups

More difficult than it looks but also quick. I finished in 6:35, with all pull-ups on rings. My time was too slow for my liking but I have an unfortunate penchant for not pushing myself as hard when I’m solo. I must overcome this. I wanted 5 minutes on this workout. I saw several areas for improvement. Over the 6 weeks after this challenge, I will be going through all the workouts again, to try and get more out of them than I did this time around. This was my first Crossfit challenge, so I’ll do better on my next one. Fight Gone Bad IV, anyone???

Wednesday

“Heavy, Running Grace”. This was a beastly workout. It was a “Heavy” (20lb extra on the bar) “Running” (phases punctuated by a 400m run) “Grace” (30 Squat Clean and Jerk) for time. This challenged both my metabolism and strength to the extreme. On a side note, we had the priviledge of having Crossfit Central Affiliate Team member Kris Kepler work out with us. It’s humbling seeing a master at work. He finished the workout 4.5 minutes faster and 40lbs heavier than I did. Pretty amazing stuff. Three Rounds for Time:

• 10 Squat Clean and Jerk @ 155lb (I did 115lb, a 20lb personal best on the movement. I am moving cautiously forward due to my shoulders)
• 400m Run

I finished in 15:43, completely exhausted.

There was an interesting question posed to the class over whether it is better to do a workout lighter and with perfect form, or heavier with compromised form. I responded on Central’s blog entry like this:

It seems to me that the optimal weight is just enough to finish the workout in time.

I think there was an article about scaling in Crossfit Journal a week or so ago. As it turns out, if you go with a lighter weight and complete the workout faster, your energy expenditure is actually more than if you had done full or RX weight and taken a longer time to finish the workout.

In terms of form vs. Weight, I consider proper form to be very important. If you constantly increase your weight without considering your form and technique, you are not only reinforcing bad habits, but as above, you might not even be getting as good a workout.

I think the correct answer is to increase weight just until the point your form begins to break down, then remove a little. At some point it becomes impossible to increase weight without compromising form and correctness. I don’t think that is a bad thing, but it should be an informed decision: “You have to know the rules well enough to break them”.

To elaborate on my thoughts there, I believe there is a point where adding more weight is a long-term detrement in exchange for short-term gains.  as we see in this Crossfit Journal article, it is often a faustian bargain to always go RX weight, as this can compromise both the safety and efficacy of a workout. There is no question that for those capable of getting the most out of an RX workout, those persons should do an RX workout, but for many, including myself, the greater gains are made from scaling down the weight and concentrating on form and maximal energy output per unit of time.

I believe that since my shoulder injury, I have been just a touch too conservative with the weight, but I am still new at this, and exploring my boundaries.

Thursday

I will let this workout speak for itself:

• 50 Chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 50 Burpees

Gross! This workout was a nightmare. I have been working on my pullups, but chest-to-bar is a whole other ballgame. I stalled out rather early, dissappointingly enough (much to my chagrin, I was the last off of the pull-up bar), but I made up a lot of time on the burpees, finishing a close second or third with 10:10 RX. For a comparison, this was a workout at the “Hell’s Half Acre” qualifiers, and I believe that the best time was a stunning 3.5 or so minutes. Amazing.

This workout examplified some of the great things about CrossFit for me, it scales to fit all fitness levels, and there’s always room for improvement. In my case, 7 minutes worth, and that’s just for this workout.

Friday

I sat out this conditioning class workout, since I wanted a rest day before the Spartan 300 Challenge workout on Saturday. I’m pretty proud of this workout, and I think it’s very representative of what kung-fu conditioning workouts should be. It’s very metabolic but has a good strength component, and was easily scaled for different skill/conditioning levels. The after workout was one of my favorite stand-bys. The strategy was to exhaust the core during the main workout, and then finish the job after a little rest.

AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 10 Knees-to-Elbows
• 15 Push-ups
• 20 Lunges

I gave the option of stationary or walking lunges. I was pleased to note everyone mixed it up, and received the feedback that the walking ones were easier on peoples’ knees. Interesting.

After workout. Three Rounds:

• 1 minute front plank (on elbows)
• 1 minute front plank (high push-up position)
• 1 minute side plank (each side)
• 1 minute max reps sit-ups

This is an instant classic. I will have to tell my Crossfit coach about it . It does take more time than we usually have for Crossfit after workouts, but might be idea for a shorter WOD day.

A good day today, surprisingly. I was less than kind to my body, diet-wise this weekend. I hope that this week’s workouts go a long way towards burning off the whole carton of Ben and Jerry’s “Chubby Hubby” that I devoured on Saturday. I think the reason I’m not up on my food log right now is that my weekends are just garbage, health-wise. I don’t want to be completely ascetic, but I think I’m stretching the concept of a “cheat day” a little too far!

Since I’m in the Spartan 300 Challenge, I’m going to try and wrap it up with exceptionally good eating for the remainder of the time. I want to produce a food log I can be proud of!

I have said it before, but because I love food so much, I always feel compelled to test the hypothesis on my cheat days: I just don’t enjoy rich, filling restaurant food much anymore. It tastes good going down, but immediately upon hitting my stomach, the joy is drained from me as the food sits in my belly like a lead brick.

In contrast, eating paleo generally leaves me energetic and ready for more challenges, even when I eat my fill.

Monday

GREAT workout. I felt teriffic all the way through and finished as strong as I started. I did use 24kg kettlebells for the Farmer’s Walk, but it was honestly because I thought they were heavier than 55lb dumbbells I was off by a few pounds per hand. Right now I’m telling myself that the kettlebells are are harder to hold on to due to the much thicker, untextured handles, so I’m gonna say it’s a wash… Five rounds for time:

• 10 Knees-to-Elbows
• 30 Walking Lunges
• 30 Sit-Ups (butterfly-style, on the AbMat for extra “ouch”)
• 100m Farmer Walk (RX 55lb Dumbbell. As I said above, I used 24kg Kettlebells)

I finished this in 17:45 or so, the fastest time that day up until my class. I was really quite happy with my performance. I believe I only dropped from the bar on the K2E’s once or at most, twice, and I did not drop the kettlebells on the farmer walk at all (which would have incurred a 5 burpee penalty, on molten-lava-hot pavement).

I think I’ve finally hit a stride again.

Tuesday

Spartan 300 Challenge Workout. Four Rounds for Time:

• 50 Double-Unders
• 25 Push-Ups

My time: 7:45. I think I did 10 extra push-ups somewhere along the line, but lost count and figured better a few too many than a few too few. This workout was tailored for me. I take pride in my Double-Unders.

Wednesday

A real horrible sufferfest at Crossfit for me. A combination of my three worst excercises and not feeling 100% in the first place! The good news is that I turned in a performance that was good enough to surprise me (in a pleasant way!). After several months of Crossfit, I think I’ve come to the unpleasant realization that even physically, as in so many things in life in which I have accomplished less, I just don’t push myself to my limits. I gemerally go away from a Crossfit workout thinking “I did OK, even a little better than last time, but I could have done better”.

Perhaps that’s the power of Crossfit. Crossfit doesn’t  promulgate a “I’m OK, you’re OK just how you are” ethic, where clients can build their own mental and emotional fortress, and feel safe and sound, sequestered away from any thought that they are anything but already as good as they ever will be.

Crossfit will strip away from you any delusions of adequacy or competence, or any cloak of illusion you have drawn around yourself that you are “fit”. The WODs will break you down into your component parts. The reassembly and what comes after that is up to you. It is an important decision.

Three Rounds for Time:

• 500m Row (I believe my splits were under 2 minutes, with the exception of the third, which was slightly over)
• 21 Overhead Squats (RX 95lb, I did 65lb, which felt right to me as my shoulder asymptotically nears wellness again)
• 15 Pull-ups

My time: 18:54. These were three of my worst movements.

Thursday

A good one: Crossfit Benchmark “Nicole”. AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 400m Run
• Max pull-ups without dropping from the bar

This is a toughie. The more you drop from the bar, the more you run. I tried pretty hard on this one, shattering my previous consecutive pull-up record (29 from 10, on the first round). I managed a total of 6 runs and 74 pull-ups in 5 sets, distributed as follows:

20-12-15-15-12

Friday

I took a page from the Thursday Crossfit workout. AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 50 Double-Unders
• Max Reps Ring Rows

I got 11 rounds and 93 ring rows. Not bad! 550 double unders is a good haul!

A few notes:

• The shoulder is starting to bug me again, just a little. I am going to back off a little. I keep forgetting to progress slowly
• I’m going to start trying to zone my meals, or at least get them zone-ish!
• I’m fixing to start to make good things happen!
• I’m trying to integrate my martial arts and Crossfit training together such that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
• My intention is to start doing Triggerpoint and AIS more often, if not every day. The recovery is as important as the activity (if not more so!)

Monday

Crossfit Workout. It was like visiting an old friend! This was my very first Crossfit workout ever, as chronicled here. I noticed that I did not log my initial time in that post, but I happen to remember it: 18:40 or so. It was seared into my brain because of the panic of never having worked out so hard in my life! Things have changed since then:

• I’m four minutes faster
• No medicine balls for height. This means I’m getting lower on all my squats (even from the beginning, the medball being under my ass limited my depth instead of showed me how far down to go)

The workout. Four Rounds For Time:

• 400m Run
• 50 Squats

My time: 14:57. As I noted above, this cuts my time by 20% compared to my first attempt. Now that’s progress. BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE:

• 50 Toe-To-Bar

I completed 25, but I was as strict as I could be given my legs were jelly (I tried to maintain straight legs throughout, etc). The time limit was 5 minutes.

• Tabata pushup/plank. Ouch.

A great workout day!

Tuesday

This is the one of the days when I perform the Spartan 300 Challenge workouts. Never one to suffer alone, I do these at my Kung-Fu school and rope my fellow black belts Elliot and Tommy into doing them with me. I’m sill not sure how many of them to do a week, but I’m currently doing two of the four, with plans to move to three (shoulder allowing).

The workout. Five Rounds For Time:

• 12 Pull-Ups
• 18 Sit-Ups
• 24 Walking Lunges

I made some modifications to the workout:

• I use rings for the pull-ups
• I use an Ab-Mat for the sit-ups
• I did regular, not walking lunges (the space is small)

Hopefully the increased difficulty of the rings and ab-mat made up for watering down the lunges somewhat. I did manage two of the five sets with no jumping pull-ups, and then did as many as I could without resorting to jumping. I did well, but as I noted, my shoulder is feeling it. My time was 9:51. Elliot beat me with a gutsy performace on the rings with a time of 9:23. He DOES weigh 50lb lighter than I do!

Wednesday

Crossfit Workout. I really loved this workout. I think Push-jerks are quickly becoming my favorite lift right behind deadlifts! Five Rounds For Time:

• 7 Hang Power Cleans @ 135lb (I used 75lb)
• 7 Push-Press with the same load
• 400m run

This was a really great workout. As my shoulder is only on it’s road to recovery and not already there (as I have to keep constantly reminding myself), I lowered the weight significantly. I decided to make hay out of this situation by resolving to do each rep with perfect form, high intensity, and without dropping the bar. I accomplished this goal.

I will continue to go up in weight very gradually; I see no reason to be in a rush at all. I want to eventually coach this stuff, and to do that, I have to be healthy, and I have to have the ability to do everything well.

My time was 15:16.

Thursday

Crossfit Workout. This one actually looked fairly simple on paper, but it was far harder than Wednesday’s WOD, in my opinion. Ten Rounds For Time:

• 100m Run
• 10 Knees-To-Elbows
• 5 In-n-Outs

This was a beyotch, for sure. I rattled off 3-4 rounds fairly easily, and was a round and a half ahead of the rest of the field. I quickly gassed after that, but managed to pull through before the cut-off with a time of 19:13. I feel I could have done this more quickly.

Friday

Crossfit Spartan 300 Challenge Workout. Three rounds for time:

• 10 45lb Dumbbell Thruster
• 10 Burpees

A bitch. I did one set with 45lbs and then lowered it to 40lb apiece. Thank god for adjustable dumbbells! In retrospect, I probably could have finished it out with 45. My time was 7:39 but that includes 2-3 seconds to grab the weights after I hit start on the stopwatch, as well as the time it took to lower the weights to 40lb. I will follow JDPs advice and commit to a weight next time.

Kung-Fu Conditioning. We further explore the possibilities of the rings. AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 10 Knees-to-Elbows -OR- Toes-to-Hands
• 30 Sit-ups
• 10 Knees-to-Elbows -OR- Toes-to-Hands
• 60 Bicycles
• 25 Double Unders

I did a few rounds but did not keep track. I am having too much fun motivating my students and correcting their form! We also did a short bag workout, and finished with ie-chin-ching #13. Yum!

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.

My shoulder is feeling significantly better. The swelling in my AC joints is significantly less, and I am feeling pain only when I pull my arms across the centerline of my body. I am a few short weeks away from being able to do full WODs again. No need to rush though, JDP has been giving me plenty to work on without involving my crippled shoulders

Monday

Shoulder is feeling a little wonky today; Better than in the past. It doesn’t hurt per se, it just feels weird. My entire body is tired and crappy from all the bad food I ate. It is amazing how it affects me!  I actually felt worse after 4-5 days off than I did immediately after my last workout! My Psoas has been bothering me a little too. The WOD was another ass kicker:

Four Rounds for Time:

• 400m Run
• 50 Squats
• 30 Box Jumps (24″ Box)

My Time: 24:33. not the best time in the world, and not the worst time in the world. It is a supremely difficult workout, and seemed to work the aerobic and both anaerobic systems. I am not sure whether to attribute my exhaustion to the workout, the fact I was on a fast day after half a week of carb fests, or the fact that I actually felt a little dehydrated. At any rate, I didn’t perform my best, but I did the best I could!

I went to Kung-Fu and taught class as well, and did quite a bit of Warton active-isolated stretching. I am trying to make my teaching more engaged and hands on. When I got home, I did Triggerpoint, which seemed to have somewhat of a magical effect on my psoas. Weird.

Tuesday

A Kung-Fu day. I mainly hung out in the back room. I did a full compliment of Wharton stretching, and a nice long Triggerpoint session, and a little mini workout with pal Andy:

135lb Deadlift x 25, 20 Ring Rows, 185lb Deadlift x 15, 20 Ring Rows, 205lb deadlift x 5, 20 Ring Rows.

Just a little diversion.

Wednesday

When will I learn? My shoulder hurts a wee bit more from all the ring exercises I did on Tuesday (I admit to doing some ring dips). Anyway, another day another dollar. At Crossfit:

For time:

• 2000m row
• 2″ rest
• 1 mile run

My time: 20:04 including the rest period. I had an 8:14 (or so) split on the row, where 7:30 is considered pretty good. I admit to phoning in the run somewhat, but I also admit to my legs being paralized after the row. Whatever that muscle is on the front of the shin, it was numb. Yikes!

The rower is a beastly contraption and I hate it (but in a loving way).

Thursday

Guest torturer coach, Lance Cantu! What a bad dude he is. Everywhere you look at Crossfit Central, there’s someone to look up to.

For Time:

• 50 – 40 – 30 – 20 – 10 Kettlebell Swings @ 1.5pd/Situps

My Time: 11:51. This was the first time in quite a while I’ve done the recommended WOD, and it felt good to do so. I scaled down to 1 Pood because of the kettlebell, but also scaled up to my new AbMat. Not quite making up for the half pood difference, but it’s something

There was also a supplementary workout:

Five Rounds:

• 25 Air Squats
• 100 yard farmer walk with two 1.5pd kettlebells

I initally thought that we’d have to do the squats with the kettlebells, so I picked out 1pd kettlebells. After receiving clarification that they were air squats, I upgraded Mark and I managed three rounds before time ran out. That is an exercise that truly challenges the grip strength!

Friday

Conditioning class time! I continue to inflict primarily lower-body workouts on my class due to my shoulder. I will likely discontinue this in the next few weeks and start inserting upper-body and core workouts into the programming of the class, and just not do those exercises. My shoulder NEEDS to get better and I am not helping out the process.

For Time:

• 250 Squats
• 250 double-unders

My time: 11:40 (I think, didn’t write down times today. I will do it and update Monday)

Tabata:

• Farmer Walk (selection of 55lb dumbbells and 35lb kettlebells, as well as 20lb dumbbells)
• Body Blasters
• Medball Slams
• In-Outs (paralellettes)

The Farmer Walk is a truly excellent finisher. I will keep that in the rotation regularly!

Ch-ch-ch-changes: I’m going to start posting workouts in a weekly digest as opposed to one post per workout. This will keep things nice and tidy, as I plan on writing more on general subjects.

Monday 03/02/09:

Back to Crossfit after a much-needed break. My shoulder is feeling better, but I can’t use that as an excuse to go full tilt boogie again. I’mm just injure myself more! Today was another benchmark workout, this time the first part of Crossfit Total. One rep max of:

• Deadlift
• Shoulder Press

The previous week I had set a personal record (PR) of 300lb even on my deadlift, a weight I considered enormous at the time. Nevertheless, I was pretty hellbent on shattering that record, considering that deadlifts are one of the few things that don’t really bother my shoulder! I made a number of attempts:

• 185 x 8 – 255 x 5 – 305 x 3 – 365 x 1 – 365fail – 370

Wow, beating my PR by almost 1/3. I wonder what my real ceiling is! I am pretty much overjoyed at my progress.

I didn’t very well want to leave the shoulder press blank on the progress sheet, so I decided to do some light weight:

• 45 x 5 – 95 x 3

So a fairly light weight for a PR of 95 on the shoulder press. It kills me, because I know I could have put up 135 easily.

The last part of the Total, the Back Squat, we will do Wednesday…

Tuesday, 03/03/09

As I have injured shoulders (type 1/2 ACJ sprain) I’m finding it necessary to take it easy for a while. the only thing that is absolutely intolerable is pushups. I can’t do them at all. Other things are possible but why risk it? Today I went to my Kung-Fu school and did a full body stretch routine using the Wharton active/isolated method.

Even when injured, there’s always something you can do.

Wednesday, 03/04/09

The shoulder is getting better. As much as I want to, I can’t use that as an excuse to start working it hard again! John was nice enough to modify the workout (which had shoulder presses and squat cleans in it) for my special needs (man that sounds bad!)

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps:

• Deadlift at 50% bodyweight (95 lb)
• Back squat at 50% bodyweight
• Also, 10 box jumps (24″ box) each round.

completed in 17:29. Not bad, fairly difficult! My lower back was incredibly sore during the deadlifts, but within 5 minutes of finishing, I was perfectly fine again. Once again, I think I have far more headroom in my performance than I am utilizing. In addition, I will now sub in the 24″ box whenever possible for box jumps.

Thursday, 03/05/09

More Crossfit fun! My shoulder is in that dangerous territory where it feels well enough to almost, kinda-sorta do stuff, but I know if I do I’ll jsut injure myself more. So John, the kind soul that he is, put together a workout that seemed more difficult than the recommended WOD (which was):

“JT”: 21-15-9 Reps:

• Handstand Pushups,
• Ring Dips
• Pushups

The substitute was less strength and more metabolic. Kudos to JDP for realizing the leg-strength focus on the previous day’s workout, and subbing in core/endurance work:

Three Rounds for Time:

• 500m Row
• 400m Run
• 30 GHD Situps

Done in 19:43. This was a fucking killer. The GHD situps are incredibly brutal things that work muscles in places I didn’t know I had places. Has it ever hurt your abs to fart? If not, you should try doing 90 GHD situps and experience the phenomonon first hand.

Friday, 03/06/09

My Friday class returns after a two week hiatus! It was a special class tonight, the first re-appearance of a benchmark primary workout. It was time to see if the exercise protocols I had enstated had caused a significant improvement in the performance of the students. The Benchmark workouts will be ones that I feel are gold-standard in terms of difficulty and practicality. The “Beinedämmerung” (Twilight of the Legs) is one of these. It’s a four-round version of Mountain Athlete’s “Leg Blaster” with some double-unders thrown in:

“Beinedämmerung” (Twilight of the Legs). Four Rounds for Time:

• 20 Squats
• 20 Lunges
• 20 Jump lunges
• 10 Jump squats
• 20 Double-unders (or 60 single-unders, or any combination thereof)

I believe my time on this was about 9:25 or so (I didnt write down the numbers as I was in a hurry; I’ll accomplish it this week). I shaved around 30 seconds off my previous time, which I was satisfied with. This is a very difficult workout!

What I truly was impressed with were all the folks in class that were shaving well over a minute off their times, and at the same time, increasing their range of motion and intensity. No one in my class “phones in” a workout, and I’m very proud of that fact!

Saturday, 03/07/09

Helped out as a volunteer at the Crossfit Central Fittest Games Challenge, and wished I could have competed.

A few Thursdays ago, Crossfit Central played host to the annual afiliate gathering, where affiliate members from across the country came to Austin to meet and gree and work out together. Unfortunately, it took place during my Thursday class. Bummer. Fortunately, I was allowed to attend a make-up class of my choice. This means that this week, I will be doing four days of Crossfit. Whew!

Monday, 02/16/09: Choose your Poison:

“Cindy”. AMRAP 20 minutes:

• 5 Pullups
• 10 Pushups
• 15 Squats

vs.

“Mary”. AMRAP 20 minutes:

• 5 Handstand Pushups
• 10 Pistols
• 15 Pullups

For this workout, I chose Mary, after being goaded out of my original choice, Cindy, by my coach (John). In retrospect, I’m very glad that I made that decision because it worked on tougher skills at the expense of not being able to put as large a number on the board. I managed six rounds plus two handstand pushups.

Tuesday, 02/17/09: “Nancy”. For Time::

• 15 Overhead Squat (RX 95lb)
• 400m Run

My time: 15:44.

This was a tough workout for me. I think along with cleans/snatches, overhead squats are the most challenging exercise for me. During a previous WOD, I managed two and a half (out of five) OHS rounds with the recommended 95lb, but did not at all feel good in my form, so I kicked it down to 65lb from the start in today’s WOD. Even though it felt a little bit light, I’m glad that I did it, as today is a four-session week for me, and I am still a little iffy on the form.

As this was a make-up class I had my first Crossfit experience with a different coach today, Zach. One tough dude! After Nancy, he didn’t feel that we’d had enough, so we did a little ab work:

• Two rounds:
  • 50 Russian Twists
  • 20 Medball situps
• Planks (1 minute, I think)

I felt good on this little finisher because it’s stuff I commonly do in my Friday class. I should have used a heavier medball though.