Thursday & Friday

Thursday 11-27-14

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Rest Day

Friday 11-28-14

Things didnt go too well today. My shoulder started to really hurt on the row during the WOD... It was really weird that rowing of all things is what made it hurt. I have never felt this before and it was bad enough I couldnt do muscle ups. I rested for a while and did a few more m/ups, slowly and then 40 Push press at 135#.

Kind of disappointed but I would much rather be smart and rest the shoulder than push it too hard and make it worse.
-

Strength

ever 2:00 for 20 min

Clean & Jerk

145, 145, 155, 165, 175, 185, 200x F, 195, 205, 210x F

I played around with my grip and it felt really weird. Some of my lifts and technique was off today. The bottom of the squat was looking pretty ugly and I think I need to work at lower weight if I want continue to use that grip. 

----

WOD

 Every 8 mins for 24 min (3 rounds) complete:

1000m row

10 muscle ups

20 push press 135#

DNF 

-

Wednesday 11-26

Wednesday 11-26-14

Fire Station WOD
Pre-thanksgiving WOD. So, I figured I would go for a long sweaty one and I have been wanting to do this one for a while now.

Post WOD

David Y. was on the East coast and saw this one at a box he visited. It was a memorial WOD, and it looks brutal!

WOD

100 DL 135#

100 Power Cleans 95#

100 S to OH 65#

43 Burpees

Score: 24:40

This one was tough. The DL went quick, sub 5:00. After changing the plates out to set up for the power cleans I went right to work.
These were by far the worst part. Normally, 95# power cleans aren't a big deal. But 100 of them really added up. It took me about 10 minutes to get through all of them.
The shoulder to overhead wasnt bad, taking about 6 minutes.... I was disapointed on how often I needed to rest,but finally got them done.
Burpees were harder than usual, I was at 20+ minutes now and my shoulders were worn out, and I was really breathing hard.
Finally finished in 24:40 I really had no idea what kind of time to expect. Still not sure, but it was a hard WOD and Im glad to have got that one under my belt.

Tuesday 11-25-14

Tuesday 11-25-14

Strength

Every 90 seconds for 6 sets
 Muscle Snatch

75, 95, 100, 105, 110, 110

-

Every 2:00 for 8 sets

High Hang + Hang + Snatch 

120, 120, 130, 130, 135, 135, 144, 144

---

WOD
AMRAP 8 minutes, Thruster, KB Swing ladder, 1/1, then 2/2, etc etc

Thrusters 95#
KB Swings 53#

Score: 10 + 5
-

Rest 5:00

"Jackie"

1000m row
50 thrusters 45#
30 pull ups

score: 7:45 rx 

Monday 11-24-14

Sunday 11-23-14

Rest Day
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Monday 11-24-14

At the fire station 

Back Squats 

200 x 6

230 x 4

256 x 2 

285 x 2 

290 x 1

max at 244# - 6, 3

---

Tall Jerks
100, 105, 105
---

Press 105, 105, 115, 115, 120, 120
Push press 135 x max 

---

WOD 

4 rounds

12 Thrusters 95#
12 C 2 B pull ups

Score: 7:41

Saturday 11-22-14

Saturday 11-22-14

Everything just felt good today.
I think I feel as good as I ever have and I dont know if its any one thing, or just a combination of several things, Paleo, some high quality supplements and good programming.

Paleo
So, we started a paleo challenge at the first of the month. I havent been 100% clean but I have been eating a lot more clean than usual. Plus, I went two weeks with no alcohol and have only had a couple tequilas since then.

Purepharma
I found an amazing product that I definitely think is playing a part in feeling so good. Its called Purepharma 3. It is an extremely high quality Omega3 fish oil as well as Vitaman D and magnesium. I have never workout so hard and felt so good over all. I really dont feel sore at all, not like I use to and I am sleeping great.

Blonyx 
Blonyx is a HMB + Creatine. This is a new product to me and its really amazing. I definitely think it is a major contributor to the gains and PRs I have been getting. . Here is what they have to say on their website:

HMB is one of the most researched supplement ingredients proven to reduce muscle damage and speed muscle repair leading to faster recovery. Supplementing the diet with HMB will increase strength and metcon performance gains making you a better athlete

Progenex

I have been on this for years, but its perfect for immediately post WOD recovery. I think getting the right stuff as soon as the workout is over is important and helps with recovery and honestly, just tastes good! 

Programming - CrossFit Invictus and Competitors Training are both my go-to for training along with CrossFit main site. 

It kind of seems like a lot of stuff, but you are going to pay for things one way or the other. The fact is, you can pay for health or pay to get out of sickness. I would rather spend the money up front to get quality products that not only help you feel and perform better but help keep us healthy than to spend money on medication, doctors, and medical bill to try and over come the damage done to my body by crappy food and poor health choice. 

All said and done, each product is about $60/month. I get about a month and a half out of a bag of Progenex and Blonyx. The Purepharma is a 30 day supply for $60. 

Well worth it to feel great and be able to hit it hard 6-7 days in a row and even some times doubling up and doing two a day. 

----

Strength

Hang Snatch 5x1

115, 125, 130, 135, 145#

Felt good, quick and I got heavier than I expected. 

---

Snatch

OTM 8

This went awesome, I hit my old 1 RM which I havent hit since pre-fire academy in 2011! 

135, 145, 150, 155, 160, 165, 170, 175 F, F.

I did a few extra sets b/c things were feeling good and once I hit 170, I knew I could get more. I didnt land 175#, but I know I can get it!

Snatch Work

---

Front Squats x 2

185, 205,
225 for 6 sets of 2

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WOD 

AMANDA

9-7-5

Muscle ups
Snatch (full) 135#

9:32 - RX (kind of)

Well.... I was extremely happy with this turn out. 135# snatches have always been out of reach. I just know I have to scale. After hitting my old PR in the warm up, I felt like I could do this one RX. And sure enough, 135# is no long out of reach. 

Only problem... I missed A REP! I failed two reps on the set of 9 and somehow lost count. So, my score is not official, I was 1 snatch short. but even though I missed a rep, I still feeling a new found confidence in snatch WODs.
AMANDA WOD 

After watching the video, my muscle ups need a lot of work. They are not smooth at all and Im wasting a lot of energy and time. 

---

WOD #2

3 rounds FT

75 DUs
25 GHD Sit ups
20 1 arm KB Snatch 53# (10/arm)

Score: 12:35 

Results 11-22

Thursday & Friday

Thursday 11-20-14

at the station again today. Wasnt feeling bad or beat up, but also not feeling 100%, legs just felt a little heavy and shoulders a little sore.

Strength

Back Squats 

several sets at 225#
235#
225#

then finished off at 205#

---

WOD

EMOM for 20 

Odd; Row 15 calories
Even: 15 Burpees

This was supposed to be done for 30 minutes but I only did 20. Also, it was surprisingly difficult. I got all the reps for the first 8 minutes, then I just did as much as possible in each minute. I typically got 12-13 calories and 10-12 burpees. 

Friday 11-21-14

GUYS NIGHT - WOD & Whiskey 

We had the first guys night at the box friday and it was a ton of fun. We had a really good workout and then went out for food and drinks. 

We had 12 guys show up and we decided to let everyone pick 1 movement. I started it off with Manmakers and then each person added something to the list. After we had all the movements listed, I put the reps and weight for each. 

I decided to cap it at 20 minutes. If you finish before 20, you get to do max burpees till its over. 

The workout was great. Some light stuff, some heavy. 

I was dreading the  KB swings and Push Press. I saved those for very last. I guess I am so use to swinging the 70#, I almost forgot what the 53# feels like,... it was awesome. I still had to bread them up, but they felt easy. Same with the 95# push press. I have been doing 135+ so often, that this felt like a PVC pipe! 

Finished in 17:30 and got 26 burpees. Fun one! 

Here is the video of all the action. 

Wednesday 11-19-14

Sunday & Monday 

I worked a double shift at the Station and so I took sunday as a rest day and tried to workout on Monday, but didnt get much in. I did a little bit of squatting and some shoulder stuff. NFT.

Wednesday 11-19-14

This is a challenge for Ken!

I saw this and am challenging you to do it. Its called the MAN test, according to K-Star, and its no joke.

Kelly Starett is the mobility guru and always has something new and interesting to help keep us supple.

KB Overhead squat with 53# KBs. I didnt expect to be able to do this at all... I started off with a long shoulder warm up and then some 35# KB's. I was surprised to get a few reps at 35, so went up to 44#. You can see my left shoulder is really having trouble stabilizing the load but I did pop off 3 reps.

Overhead squats really expose any weakness you may have and I saw that in the shoulders and especially if you watch my ankles. I know my ankle mobility needs improvement but you can see how much trouble I have getting deep and as a do squat down watch and see how much my feet turn out trying to gain some range of motion for my squat.
Fun test, looking forward to improving on this.

---
Strength

Press

-

Tall Jerks

95, 105, 105

-

Split Jerks
built up to 195# x 2

- 

WOD
AMRAP 4, (then 4 more, 8 total)

4 hang squat clean 175#

4 muscle ups

rest 4

AMRAP 4

8 ground to OH 135#

8 C2B

Score 

A)2+2 in 4 mins then 4+3 in 8 mins

B) 1+8

PM WOD

Came back in the evening and wanted to knock out another workout since I had missed several days of WODs.

This should have been easy... I thought it would be a 10 minute workout, but I was wrong!
It goes like this
Death by Squat Cleans 155#, goal is 10 minutes, however, if you fail to get through 10 mins, drop to 135# and start over...

I finished my set of 7 and didnt have any thing left in the tank... OK, so a little humbling. But no problem, I'll drop to 135 and knock it out.
NOPE, got through 8 +5. wow, I did not expect this to be so tough.

It was fun though, pretty short and heavy. I like those and as you can see... need to get better at them, so it was a good way to end the day.

haha, I just found this blog post from july 2010, looks like I couldnt even do 10 minutes at 135# fresh!

WOD
Death by Squat cleans 155#

goal 10:00

if you dont finish, drop to 135# start over

155# x 7 rounds
135# x 8+5

Saturday 11-15

Friday 11-14 

Rest Day

Saturday 11-15-14


Strength

Front Squat + Jerk

145
165
185
195
195
195
205
215 - Fail 

So, the good news is after last week struggling with 195 and failing at 205, I was able to get under 205 AND feel good. So I went up to 215. I failed at that weight but its a good reminder some days its just not clicking and other days it is. Hopefully, some day, I wont struggle with these same weights, but be able to know that 205 and even 215 will go up!

WOD

50 Wallballs

50 DUs 

40 BJs

40 T2B

30 C2B

30 bar burpees

20 p. clean 145#

20 push press/push jerk 145#

10 power snatch 115#

10 muscle ups

This was a long, probably too slow of a WOD. I felt ok, but just didnt move very quick. The long ones like this are deceiving. I was expecting 17-18 minuets, sub 20 for sure. BUT working out alone with no other times to compare too, I just waited around too long and rested too much. 

I even took time to grab a couple quick videos at the end of the WOD... 

Score 26:50

Saturday PM

Jeff Evans and I went on a 7.2 mile ruck with a 35# pack.

Jeff is training for another GoRuck Challenge, possibly even a Heavy and I love the chance to get out and do some rucking... and just hangout w/ Jeff. Plus, Im sure Ill end up doing another GRC.
The Heavy requires a Physical Test before it even starts. This is max push ups in 2:00, max sit ups in 2:00 and then a 12 mile ruck in sub 3 hours. If uyou dont pass that, you cant even start the Heavy!

So, anyway, we did a quick PT test then set off to get 8 laps at the Lincoln Park on MI as fast as possible. We got 8 laps, 7.2 miles in exactly 1:40. Felt good too!
I only managed 62 push ups, which is passing, but not as many as I'd like to get. I go 52 sit up, which were way harder than expected. You cant rest, at all, on the ground and must keep your hands locked behind your head at all times. Painful!

Thursday 11/13

Thursday 11/13

Like I mentioned before, I usually do 3 on 1 off, but I will be at the Fire Station again Friday, so I decided to hit it hard again today and rest tomorrow.

So, here goes day 4 in a row.

Strength
Back Squats

225 x 8

245 x 5

265 x 3

275 x 2

285 x 1

265 x 4

290 x 1

295 x 1

-

245#

2 sets x 10 

1 x 7

-

felt good, strong. 

-

Repeat WOD from 11-5, the one I failed miserably at. A quick recap, on Wednesday 11-5 I attempted a 24 min AMRAP. At the 14 min mark I had missed two rounds and ended up stopping b/c I was just wrecked. You can read HERE what happened last Wed.

Exact same WOD at before. 

AMRAP 24

1 - 10 Chest to bar

2 - 16 reverse lunges 2x 44KBs

3 - 10 Burpees + 20 DUs

previous - 14 mins 2 rounds missed, stopped at 15. 

Score - ALL rounds, ALL reps + 3 additional mins (27mins)

SO, I have no idea what happened, I just wanted to not have to quit, I didn't expect to get ALL the rounds and even feel good enough to add an additional 3 minutes on to the end. 

My only idea is that after 12 days of Paleo Im finally starting to see the benefits. Its taken a while to dial in the fat and carbs but when things click, they really seem to click!

Wednesday 11-12

Wednesday 11-12

I had about 45 minutes to get in the whole wod before I coached at the 5pm. So, I started with a very quick warm up and went right in to the first part of the strength.

Strength

A) Every 2:00 for 12 mins (6 sets) 

Clean & Jerk

 135, 155, 165, 175, 175, 175

-

B) Every 2:00 for 12 mins (6 sets)
Clean & Jerk

8 x 105

5 x 135

4 x 150

2 x 175

2 x 195
2 x 205 - Failed both

Super frustrated at the last set at 205#. I dont feel like that should be hard at all, but I had no energy to pop it over head. Maybe it was b/c I really had not rest for the last 24 mintues. I did go right from the warm up to part A) then right in to B) with no rest.... But I dont feel like that should make that much difference. 

So, I was definitely upset, but I have also need to remember not every day will be a PR or even feel good. Apparently Im still workout the Paleo diet and trying to get the proportions right. 

C) 

WOD

AMRAP 4 

5 Hang Snatch 135#(scaled to 115#)

10 Bar Burpees
---

rest 2:00

AMRAP 4 

10 power cleans 135# 

20 Pull ups

---

Rest 2:00

AMRAP 4 

15 Box Jumps overs 24" 

30 Wallballs

Score: 3, 2 + 2, 1 +23 

So, again, with almost no rest, I went right in to the WOD. And it showed. I just felt totally gassed from the start. Im sure not resting much made some difference, but I dont feel like it should effect me as much as it did. 

My heart rate was racing... it went right through the roof in round 1 and never came back down. I know that I should have got a much better score but I just couldnt breath and my heart was pounding like it rarely does. 

Not sure how much more I can deal with feeling this way. I mean, if I am eating crappy or drinking then I can expect it and sure, I have brought it upon my self. But when your eating clean and you think you should be going the right direction, but not seeing any results, it gets discouraging... 

We'll see how the next few days go... 

Tuesday 11-12

Tuesday 11-12-14

Fire Station WOD

Its hard to workout at the station.. well, at least "CrossFit". I dont like to go 100% all out b/c we could, and usually do, get interrupted during workouts. So there is a good chance Ill need to be somewhat together for our call, plus, I know if I am 10 minutes in to a 15 min AMRAP, I am not going to start over, and so I wont have a real score from the workout.

I usually do the strength work and some kind of WOD, but pretty light and usually kind of short. Today I got it all in without interruption. Snatches are tough with the bar we have and lack of bumpers. But all-in-all, good one.

Strength

Muscle Snatch x 3

65

85

95

100, 100, 100

-

Hang Snatch x 2

95, 115, 115, 120, 125, 130, 130 x 1, F, 125

-

WOD

AMRAP 10

5 Bar Muscle ups
5 Squat Cleans #135

5 Burpees Bench Jump Overs 

---

rest ~ 2:00
As heavy as possible in 5

Clean, Hang Clean, Front Squat, Jerk

135, 155, 165, 175#

This was a variation from the CompetitorTraining WOD on Monday.

I did 10 minutes, rather than 5, b/c I knew I would not be going 100%. I also went a little lighter only 135# for the squat cleans. 

I got the first two rounds easy. Round 3, I started to fail the muscle ups after 3, so I just moved on to to keep my pace and intensity up. 

I ended up getting 4 rounds in 9:00 and failed my last attempts at bar muscle ups.

The next 5 minutes went ok... I got 4 sets, each heavier than the last.

Here is two sets of the Snatch work and a quick demo of what I did for the WOD with my modification for box jumps. 

Monday 11-10-14

Monday 11-10

Back to it after 3 days off and LASIK. Its funny, when you can workout, you want a rest day, when you can't, you just want to be at the box!

CrossFit Invictus 11-10-14

Strength

Back Squats
225# x 6
245# x 4
 26# x 2
 275 x 2
285 x 1
285 x 1

---

Tall Jerks

This is a very interesting lift, I did these last week but they felt quicker and much better today. This really helps focus on foot work and speed under the bar. Which, even after only 2 days I feel like Im getting much better.
Bar starts on your head/forehead, raise up on to your toes, from there drop quickly and powerfully into the split, receiving the bar locked out over head.

3 sets  of 3 @ 95#

-

Split Jerks

160 x 3
165 x 3

180 x 3
185 x 2

190 x 2
195 x 2

My jerks have not been feeling good at all, but the felt crisp and sharp today.  I am working on adjusting/ improving my jerk technique.  I have been dipping too far (I think) and not dropping deep enough. So this is my attempt to change that. 

---

WOD

10-8-6-4-2 Thrusters 135#
5-4-3-2-1 Muscle ups

7:32 RX 

Usually, when I see 135# thurstes I get intimidated, really intimidated. So much so that I usually try to avoid them or at the least scale. But after the Thruster WOD from last week I feel a lot better about them. Knowing I got through 25 of them was a big boost of confidence.
So, going in to them today I tried not to focus on how heavy or hard they would be, but just the fact that I was getting stronger and they were not going to be my nemesis any more! 

-

Post WOD cash out

1 x max double unders
-
3x
10 GHD Sit ups
15 back extensions
-
Max effort 500m row - 1:39