Sunday, September 11, 2011 -

being

 

part 1:

A. Squat Clean - build to a 1RM

B. Squat Snatch - build to a 1RM

C. HSPU - 50 for time

 

rest 6+ hours

 

part 2:

Row 1 min @ 95%

rest 5 min x 6

(record meters)

being

part 1:
A. Squat Clean - 210lbs (so close to getting 220.  I caught it and couldn't hold the rack position)
B. Squat Snatch - 135lbs
C. HSPU - Can't do HSPU's.  Did 3x5 Standing Press

*notes about the squat clean. Had I stood up with 220, it would have been a lifetime PR in anytime of clean.  I was so mad.

Friday, September 9th, 2011 - It's been busy

I've been doing alot of landscaping on my days off from the firehouse.  Trying to drink as much water to stay hydrated.  OPT programming is working well.  I'm getting stronger and my conditioning is improving.  FGB 5 is coming up.  Probably going to take the first 8 hours off work so I can compete.  Hopefully, I can get the time off work.

Did the double workout because my wife's birthday is tomorrow.  Tomorrow's workout looks fun.  I'll take a pass on it and do it Sunday.

Friday, September 9th, 2011 - It's been busy

9/9/11

Double Day

7 sets:

3 heavy hang power clean TnG

10 burpees AFAP

Run 150 m @ 90-95%

rest walk 5 min b/t sets

  

135lbs / 60 seconds
145 / 1:05
155 / 1:15
160 / 1:31
145 / 1:15
Ran out of time to do sets 6&7.  Took the kids to the park.

4 hours later

for time:
50 box jumps - 30/24"
Row 400 m
50 KBS - 2/1.5 pd
Row 400 m
50 Double Unders

12:16 - used 1.5p kb.  I don't have a 2pood

_____________________________________________

09/08/11

Daughter's first day of preschool, then the rest of the day at the firehouse.
Press 3x5 (second time this week pressing)
100lbs,100lbs, 100lbs
____________________________________________
9/6/11

A. Front Squat @ 30X0; 4,4,3,3,2; rest 5 min

B. 25 COVP chin ups unbroken; rest 3 min x 4

 

A. 185, 195, 205, 215, 235
felt very strong in the squat today. Lost the tempo on the last set.
B. Unbroken, rest unbroken
_________________________________________
9/5/11
Back Squat 5x5
205, 205, 205, 205, 205 - ass to ankles (never squatted this low before.   These were exhausting)
Standing Press 5x5
95,95,95,95,95
________________________________________________
9/3/11

part 1:

In 10 min build to a 1RM in the thruster

rest 5 min

part 2:

In 10 min as many rounds of:

7 HSPU

7 hang squat clean - 155#/105#

rest 5 min

part 3:

In 10 min:

AMRAP Double Unders

 

Hosting my daughter's bday party.  Only had time for the Max effort thruster

185lbs x 1

_______________________________________________

9/1/11

A. Front Squat  - 3 x 3 @ 80%; rest 2 min

B. 5,10,15,10,5,10,15,10,5 COVP Chin Ups; rest 30 sec b/t sets

C. Tabata Sit Up - no abmat, anchored, hands at temples - total divided by 8 is score

 

A. 205,205,205 - this felt pretty easy

B. 5,10,15,10,5 - unbroken...shut it down.  Felt a rip coming on

C. 86 total situps - score 10.75

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 - Power Cleans, Runs, Rows

 being

3 sets @ 97-100%:

15 clean and jerk - 135#/95#

Run 200 m

Row 250 m

rest 10 min actively b/t sets

Being
5:26 (row - 55 seconds)
6:11 (row - 53 seconds) (run was horrible)
Ran out of time to get the third round in.

The cleans felt heavy today.  Did lots of landscaping this morning for about 5 hours.  Tried to eat as much as I could this afternoon.  Felt tired and sluggish this morning.  The run on round 2 SUCKED big time.  I was trying to run as fast as I could.  It was more like a slow job.

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 - 100 Turkish Get Ups

Being

 

100 TGU not for time – 16/12 kg – slow and steady

 

 67 minutes

Sunday, August 28th, 2011 -

 function/being/will

 

10 rounds for time:

Row 500 m

15 push up burpees

 

post BWT in pounds, total time and avg time/round to comments

(i.e. 145#, 30:30, and the 10 seperate round times)

22:53 - only did 5 rounds
3:52
4:36
4:40
5:07
4:35
Didn't eat breakfast, didn't eat lunch, ate dinner and rushed to do the workout. Not smart on my part. Didn't have the fuel to get me through this one....sigh...

Saturday, August 27th, 2011 - Birthday, Power Clean PR

First and foremost, HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY to my wonderful daughter Addison!

A. Workup to 1RM in the power clean
B. Workup to 1RM in the close grip bench press

Score in BP/PC ratio

A. 215(5lb pr)
B. 200 - have never tested 1RM

score - .93

Power clean catch was pretty ugly, but I got it.

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

being

A. OHS - build to a tough 3; NOT a 3RM; rest as needed
+
for time:
30 wall balls unbroken
50 walking lunges - 90#/60# sandbag on shoulder
15 muscle ups
50 walking lunges - 90#/60# sandbag on shoulder
30 wall balls unbroken

OHS: 95x3, 115x3, 135x3, 165x1(fail)






for time:
30 subbed 45lb barbell thruster (no wallball)
50 walking lunges - 75lb barbell
15 Chest to bar Pullups / 15 ring dips (cant do MU's)
50 walking lunges - 75lb barbell
30 subbed 45lb barbell thruster (no wallball)


20:57

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

being

A. clean grip dead lift @ 11X1; 60% 1RM; 8 sets of 3; rest 45 sec
B1. high hang power clean - 3 x 3 @ 80%; rest 2 min
B2. close grip bench press @ 30X1 - 5,5,5; rest 2 min
C. GHD raises - 12 x 5; rest 1 min


A. 195 used for all 8 sets
B1. 95lb
B2. 95lb
C. Completed

Sunday, August 21st, 2011 - Still going strong with OPT

5 tough Front Squat
10 burpees AFAP
15 chin ups COVP AFAP

rest 5:15 actively x 5-7 sets @ 95%
(add FS weight per set)

155lb / 1:25
165lb / 1:27
175lb / 1:44
185lb / 1:44
190lb / 2:33

All the pullups were very broken.

Too much alcohol this weekend with a group of fellow xfiter's. As much of a drop off as I had in set 5, I'm pretty happy. I wanted to quit before the set even started.

I'm really pleased with how my training is going, under OPT's programming. I've slimmed down a bit to 183-185. My strength numbers have stayed consistant and my conditioning has only improved. The past few days I ran a 3K and the next day I ran a mile for time. Both runs felt great. I never was winded at all.

August 6th, 2011 - How's it going?

Still sticking with OPT's programming.

It's been pretty interesting thus far. Overall, I feel great. I'm down a few lbs. I've been weighing 185 pretty regularly. Strength feels good. Conditioning feels like it's improving. The biggest difference that I feel lately is that I don't feel so beat up on a regular basis. I'm making the attempt to sleep a bit more, but the biggest change has been the programming. I stopped taking fish oil on a regular basis. In the past, I thought it made such a difference.

Diet has been cleaned up a bit, but nothing SUPER strict. I still have some chocolate milk and a candy bar here and there. The one thing that I almost refuse to eat 99% of the time is bread and pop.

Recent accomplishments:
-205lb hang clean x 2 reps
-170lb touch and go squat cleans x 3 reps

OPT's programming has also called for Glute ham raises. OMG, are these eff'n hard.

This is been a very good move for me. Leaving regular crossfit metcon's behind that is. I miss the peeps, but it is what it is. Some other realizations that I've had recently is that "natural talent" vs. "hard work". People who work hard and have great bodies and put up great numbers, have been working hard for a "LONG" time. I keep telling myself to keep working hard and the results keep showing up.

New beginning?

Well, it's official! I've made the switch to following OPT's programming. After 32 months of Crossfit, I was looking for something new. Metcon after metcon after metcon just didn't cut it anymore. It's an amazing program and it's taught me so much about myself and just fitness in general.

Crossfit introduced me to new exercises and lifting techniques. I've had some great trainers and made awesome friends.

Looking forward to a new type of training of sorts. OPT differs a bit from Crossfit. OPT believes as do I, that there is training and there is testing. Much like football. There's "practice" and there's "gameday". You can't be in "gameday" mode with every single metcon. I honestly felt like I was being run into the ground.

I had been doing some workouts there were OPT-like the past couple of weeks. This weekend there was a local competition this weekend and felt amazing.

Here starts the journey to becoming an "unbroken" big dawg. I'm sure the next 32 months of training will be just as productive. On another side note, I've always been a follower of Freddy Camacho's One World Blog. That's one cool guy and lately his blog has just really hit home. Thus, solidifying my transfer to OPT.

I'm in the process of starting up a landscaping company as well. Looking forward to getting some kickass workouts in my garage, alone. 2 OPT workouts down...many, many, many more to come.

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011 - 10 min Amrap / Deadlift

Deadlift
5-5-5
215, 245, 275

Deadlifts felt light and fast.

10Min Amrap
8 53lb American KB swings
20 double unders
8 knees to elbows

5 rounds + 2 reps

Grip and lung burner

Monday, May 30th, 2011- 1/2 Murph

Run 800M
50 Pullups
100 Pushups
150 Squats
Run 800M

Rx'd - 23:17

OMG, did this suck. Worked the day before and came to CFWC right after work. Went to bed around 11. Woke up for a call at 12am. Back to bed by 12:45. Woke back up for another call around 1:45. Back to bed by 2:30. Woke up again for another call at 4am. Back to bed by 4:30. Woke up to go to Crossfit at 6:50. Workouts with LOTS of broken sleep are the worst.

Thursday, May 26th, 2011 - 5 rounds of as many reps

5 rounds, as many reps as possible
1 min max reps
3 burpees
5 135lb hang cleans
1 min rest

Round 1: 1 round + 5
Round 2: 1 round + 5
Round 3: 1 round + 6
Round 4: 1 round + 4
Round 5: 2 rounds

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 - Fran

Attended Rope Operations for work all week. Haven't had much time to workout.

Worked up to a heavy 1 rep thruster:  165lbs

Felt heavy, but not PR heavy.

Fran
21-15-9
95lb Thrusters
Pullups

Jake - 5:33 rx'd (11 second PR)

Lots of positive points on this workout. The thrusters never once felt heavy like they have in the past. In fact, the pullups seemed harder than ever. I guess that's because I'm about 10lbs heavier then the last time I did Fran. I never got the "Fran cough" after the workout. Also, the soreness in the day after never wasn't as horrible as it was in the past. I truely feel that I didn't give this my all. I can't wait to do Fran again and set a BIG PR.

Saturday, May 21st, 2011 - 2011 Regional WOD

Done in a team of 4.  Each member of the team starts after each individual.

Row 20 Cal
30 Burpees
30 Ground to overhead with 45lb DB's
30 Toes to Bar
100' lunges with 45lb plate held overhead
150' sprint

I was the anchor for the team.  I finished about 2 seconds after team 2's 3rd person finished.  Very challenging WOD.  As a team we finished around 17 minutes.  Individually, I would say this took me about 13-14 minutes to complete.

Friday, May 19th, 2011 - Press / Metcon

Press
95lb x 5
110lb x 3
125lb x 3

5 Rounds for time
5 95lb squat snatch
8 toes to bar
8 barbell bar hops

7:03 rx'd

Thursday, May 18th, 2011 - Deadlift / Row

Deadlift
220x3
250x3
280x4


Row 3200M
13:56 - rx'd

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 - Pain in the Man Cave

Last cycle was awesome.  First time in forever that I did a 3 days on, 1 day off.  Fish oil is doing my body good.  It's been about a month since I quit my part time job.  It's really weird.  I've had a minimum of 2 jobs since I was 21.  Two things are going to happen, I'm going to get very serious about my training.  Or, I'll get a 2nd job again....lol

Front Squat
Warmup: 95x5, 115x5, 145x3
Work Set: 185x5, 185x5, 185x5

Ring Rows: 3x8
Toes to bar: 10 unbroken

My 4 year old boy starts tball, basketball and soccer this summer.  So together we ran 200m x 2.

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 - Bench Press wk 2

Bench Press
125x3
145x3
165x3

Monday, May 16, 2011 - Back Squat wk 2.

Back Squat
205x3
235x3
265x4

Metcon
7 Min AMRAP
3 deadlifts @ 275
7 DB push jerks @ 45

7 rounds + 3 reps

Sunday, May 15th, 2011 - 1RM Power Clean / JT

Made it into CFWC this morning.  Wasn't sure what I felt like doing.  Everybody was already doing a metcon, so I grabbed a bar and warmed up with some power cleans.  Didn't feel like stretching, but I knew power cleans would get a large majority of my body properly warmed up.

Worked up to a 1RM:  210lbs (5lb PR) - FUCK YEAH!!

JT
21-15-9
HSPU
Ring Dips
Pushups

13:47 - scaled
WOW that was probably the worst workout ever.  I couldn't even imagen being able to do that Rx'd.

Saturday, May 14th, 2011 - Push Press / Wannabe Helen

Very pressed for time.  Had my sisters college graduation NIU today at 1pm.  Also, had to been back at work by 7pm.  No time to make it in CFWC.  Rolled up the garage door, let some sunlight in and we got it on.

Push Press
Warm up: 75x5, 95x5,135x3,
Work set: 3x5 @ 150

Metcon:
3 Rounds for time
400M Run
10 hand release pushups
10 pullups

10:13

I didn't measure it out, but it's pretty close.  It might be 380M or it could be 420M.....who knows.

Newsflash!!!!!  So, I've been bitching a moaning about not being able to recover and what not right?  I upped my carb amount and that helped a little.  I was still feeling pretty wrecked though after wods and it was taking forever to recover.  I would ice, stretch, etc.

Took some fish oil two days in a row and PRESTO!  I feel normal again.  WTF!!!  I stopped taking fish oil back in the fall as well.  Why do I do this to myself?  I guess I fully realize that I cannot Crossfit regularly, unless I take fish oil on a regular basis.

Thursday, May 12th, 2011 - Deadlifts/Metcon

5/3/1 - week 1
Deadlift 5-5-5
205-235-265

WOW...shockingly this didn't feel heavy.

3 rounds for time
10 Thrusters @ 135lbs
10 bar hop burpees

2 rounds at Rx'd 7minutes and change

Adductors started hurting really bad, so I called it quits.

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 - WK 1 Bench press 5/3/1

Bench Press
5-5-5

115/135/150

Hurting pretty bad.  Shoulders, abs....ugh

Overall in general, I feel as if my strength is down.

Monday, May 9th, 2011 - Week 1 of Wendler 5/3/1

Back Squat
5-5-5
195/220/250 - OMG did this feel heavy.  WTF

10Min AMRAP
10 DB Push Jerks@ 45lbs
1 round of Cindy w/ C2B's

4 rounds + 5 reps

Cashout - 50 GH Situps  (most I've ever done in one training session)  WOW did it hurt.

Sunday, May 8th, 2011 - Trying to get the engine restarted

Well, I've gotten like 2 nights in a row where I got more than 5 hours of sleep. I got 6.5 last night. Starting to feel a little better so...into the weight room I went.

Back Squat
95lbs x 5
115lbs x 5
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 3

Push Press
115lbs x 5
115lbs x 5
115lbs x 5

Later tonight
45 bar hop burpees
30 knees to elbows
15 deadlifts@205lbs

Giving myself a 10 minute cutoff. Lets hope it goes well.

Rx'd - 8:05

That wod sucked. The K2E's taxed the grip enough to make 205 deadlifts challenging. Unfortunately, I had to break them up into 5/5/5.

Friday, May 6th, 2011 - UGH...

Was planning on heading into CFWC today. Yesterday at work crushed me. Quite a few calls in the middle of the night.

It's sunny out, mama is at work and I got the kids. Took the train into Chicago, kids and I visited the Sears tower.

Walking is physical activity right...LMAO

Later in the evening, I reorganized my garage and got the squat rack into a nice new location.

Push Press
75lbs x 5
95lbs x 5
125lbs x 5
165lbs x 2
165lbs x 3

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 - Where ya been? Where ya at? Where ya going?

So, the last week and a half has been some what of a "hell week". Without looking at a calendar, I can't even count the hours at work. I know it's a little over 100 though.

My sleep has been wrecked. Nutrition got thrown out the window. Recovery, haha forget about it. The first two days after 11.6, my legs were as stiff as rocks. I did some light lacross ball work and some foam rolling. I don't feel as strong and definitly run down. My stomach is feeling HORRIBLE from all the grains and pastas I've consumed. YUCK! I'm stupid!

I LOVE my job, but it can and will wreck havoc on your health, if you let it. Which is why, I'm so thankful I found Crossfit. It has definitely given me the tools, that I'll need to have a successful 25-30 year fire career.

Yesterday, we had a firefighter consumption test. I showed a video on here a few weeks ago. So, even though I haven't gotten any weights or metcons in since last Saturday, I did about 16 minutes of strenous work.

Now let's set some goals.

By June 30th - Sub 5 minute Fran
By July 30th - 350lb Back squat
By July 30th - 205 Push Press
By July 30th - 5 unbroken HSPU's

I hope to get back to CFWC by Friday/Saturday of this week.

Saturday, April 30th, 2011 - Crossfit Open WOD 11.6

7 Minutes of as many reps as possible

3 Thrusters @ 100 lbs
3 Chest to Bar Pullups
6 Thrusters @ 100 lbs
6 Chest to Bar Pullups
9 Thrusters @ 100 lbs
etc.

Finished with 79 reps.

Just like that the Crossfit Open is over. Let's reflect on the Open...
I thought it was one hell of an event. As I expected, I would do better as the open went on. I wish I would have had better conditioning coming into it, but it just makes me hungier for next year. The added strength helped out so much. Had I had better conditioning, I would have had done alot better with 11.1

I think the workouts were programmed wonderfully. Very challenging no matter your fitness levels. I don't think anyone got cheated or didn't place where they should have. There are some men/women who can just flat out WORK. It's amazing when you look at some people's scores. People can say they cheated or their range of motion was shorted 1 inch, but come on let's be serious. If you got 25 reps in the clean and jerk wod and the guy who got 90 reps didn't lock out at the top of the jerk, were you really going to beat the 90 rep guy.

I had alot of fun and pushed myself to the limit every time.

Thursday, April 28th, 2011 - Garage Gym

First time this year to have a workout in the garage with the door open. It's raining, my kids are riding around on their tike cars/bikes and I'm throwing some weight around.

Front Squat
Warmup sets: 135 x 5, 135 x 5
Work sets: 145x5, 155x5,165x5

Then I put my son through a little metcon. He's only 4 years old, but he's starting to show some interest. I've taken him to two local track mets and he comprends that someone finishes 1st and someone finishes last.

Colin's 3 rounds as fast as possible
5 box jumps 9"
10 yard sprint (there and back)

The kid did awesome! Glad to see Colin got some of my mad hops. My daughter Addison even got in on the action and did 2" box jumps.

Push Press
Warm up sets: 45x5, 75x5,75x5
Work sets: 140x5,140x5

Metcon:
25 burpees
25 pullups
3:01 Rx'd

Got through about 18 burpees and started slowing down. Pullups were slow. Sets of 10,5,2,2,2,1,1,1,1....YUCK...pathetic

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011 - Recovery?

Still at work...still feel beat up.

20 minutes of foam rolling on the legs only (10min each leg)

3x5 Push Press @ 135lbs

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 - Rest day

Who needs a rest day...cough...more like a few rest days. THIS GUY!!!

I'm beat the f*ck up and I'm back at work today. Lots of foam rolling and eating like a horse.

Ran across a timely article on "Talk to me Johnnie". Do you feel at times, like your body was in a car accident? Man, all the time! I try to make a large majority of my food choices to be good. I eat cakes and sweets from time to time, because I'm human and damn-it it tastes good. Having 6 cookies isn't going to make my quads so sore that it hurts to walk down the stairs. It was those stupid wall balls.

Guess what though, I'm not complaining. That pain reminds me that I'm alive and that I'll need a few extra rest days. I'm not 18 and I work a pretty physically demanding job. I'll always attempt to train like I'm 18. You better bet your @$$ that I'll be rest up for the final Games WOD on Saturday. I won't be #1, but I'm going to give it hell.

http://talktomejohnnie.com/aggressive/it-is-better-to-burn-out-that-to-fade-away

Monday, April 25th, 2011 - Oh dear is my body a hot mess

Caught a itty bitty fire on Sunday, while I was at work. Didn't have to really do any strenous work, but the stressors of responding to a reported fire, the added weight of fire gear, the roughly 6.5 hours of sleep I got Saturday night....doesn't help the recovery.

I'm a very sore man today. Went to the box to get my stretch on and just try to generally loosen up.

Timmy put us through an awesome warmup.
3 rounds of :
kb swings
100m row
good mornings
ring rows
crab walks
samson stretch
42" box jumps

I was nice and loose and felt pretty good. I should have stopped right there.

1RM Deadlift
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 3
225lbs x 1
255lbs x 1
275lbs x 1
295lbs x 1
315lbs x 1
325lbs x 1
350lbs x FAIL....no PR's set today

I should have known better. I'll take the 325 though...especially considering how beatup I feel. Then I continued to push it more.

3 rounds for time:
10 Sumo deadlift high pulls 65lbs
10 OHS 65lbs
10 Bar Jumps

2:57...at least I was smart enough to scale the weight.

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011 - Crossfit Open 11.5

Celebrated my son's birthday on Friday, so ate some awesome pizza, had a beer, saw some of my favorite people. Awesome rest day.

Saturday morning 7am...I was a little tired and I thought about maybe doing the sectional WOD on Sunday morning. I was supposed to work today, but I took the first 12 hours of work off. I got a phone call and found out that I'll be working 24 hours on Sunday. So, off to the gym I went to do the WOD.

I wasn't feeling 100%, but I was everybit of 90-95%...let's give this thing a go.

20 minute AMRAP
5 power cleans -145lbs
10 toes to bar
15 wall balls 20lbs - 10 ft target

7 rounds + 7 reps

Very happy with this score. As I knew all along, my condition is growing by leaps and bounds as the open continues. Only disappointment is I got a HUGE blood blister on my hand and 11.6 has pull ups. Off to work I go for 36 houds.

BTW...I don't think I'll be sore after this WOD. I got sore during the WOD. The after effects of this WOD are going to be brutal.

Thursday, April 21st, 2011 - 2k Row

Feeling a bit beat up from Grace. Don't feel horrible, but I want to feel fresh for the Open WOD on Saturday.

2K row - 8:16

This row was the worst "recorded" 2k I've ever had. I stopped probably 5-6 times for a few seconds here or there. I didn't intend to set a PR, I got accomplished what I need to. I wanted to breath hard and sweat a little. I did just that. Nothing fancy tonight.

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011 - Grace...oh...sweet...Grace

Warm up: Cut my grass and give two kids a bath

Grace:  4:08 rx'd
I initally thought I got 4:20 rx.  I was kinda pissed.  After video review, I did 31  reps...HA take that!  That's a 2 minute exact PR from Barbells for Boobs 2010.  Who's been hitting the heavy weights? This GUY! I look alot stronger in today's video then back in December. Something to note about December's Grace video, is that it was 3 days before I had the shoulder/bicep injury.

Today's Grace:




12/2/10 Grace

Monday, April 18th, 2011 - Squat is king

Find 1RM Back Squat
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 3
225lbs x 1
255lbs x 1
275lbs x 1
295lbs x 1
310lbs x 1 (5lb PR)
325lbs x 1 (20lb PR)

I'm telling you man...squat is king when it comes to strength.  I haven't squated anything over 250lbs since 3/14/11.  Since then I've back squated twice with nothing more than 185lbs.  I truely feel it's directly related to squatting ever day for 2 months straight.

Metcon
10 Min AMRAP
4 HSPU's
8 Toes to Bar
12 KB american swings @ 53lbs

4 rounds + 1 rep - scaled

I tried doing the HSPU's Rx and got the first 2 reps.  After that I just did negatives.  The handstands are a GOAT and they held me back from completing more rounds.  I'm just happy I got to work them in.  Toes and Swings were all fast and unbroken as they should be.  Rest day for Tuesday.

Saturday, April 16th, 2011 - Crossfit Open 11.3

10 Min AMRAP
60 Bar hop burpees
30 OHS @ 120lbs
10 Muscle ups

Jake - 60 burpees + 13 OHS'

Thursday, April 14th, 2011 - Some of that owwwwwwww...eeeeeeeeeeeee

WOW!!! Talk about an ass kicker today.

3 rounds for time
10 sledgehammer strikes each arm (10lb'er)
60M weighted sled (30M turn around - 45lb plate w/tire)
5 DB squat cleans (20lbs each arm)

Jake - 5:33 - rx'd
Fireman Big Mike - 5:38 scaled

DUDE!!!  The amount of lactic acid pooled up in the legs was TREMONDOUS.  More about this later....I felt bad for putting my buddy through this workout.  We got a fire call 2 minutes after we finished and I wasn't sure Mike was gonna make it.  I think he fell in love with Crossfit.

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011 - Will County Metcon's

1 mile run - 10:28
Ran with Old Jim, pushed him/coached him to beat that 12 minute mark.  I never did like running and never will.  My jr high PR in the mile is 5:55, I still remeber it to this day.  I ran a mile for time about 18 months ago and it was in the 7:30 range.  I used the run as somewhat of a warmup.

5 rounds for time
7 deadlifts
7 burpee barbell hops

Rx'd - 255lbs (7:02)

You got to chose your own weight.  Some went with sub 200lbs...I should have went with 275lbs, 255 felt very light.  Top time was 3:09 with 225lbs.  I paced the hell out of the first 4 rounds.  Poured on the juice in the last round.  Finished the entire round in less than 25 seconds.  Been playing around with efforts for a while, just trying to get some good conditioning back....ya know....

Monday, April 11th, 2011 - Babies and Crossfit Football

My wife is pregnant with our third child.  Couldn't be happier about this.  It'll give me a total of 3 little rabbits.  I hope to inspire them to always compete in life and sports.  To realize that you'll go through a long list of failures, yet you always continue to strive for progress.

On to the juicy stuff...

A little Crossfit Footballish WOD if you will...

9-6-3
Ring Pullups
Burpees
60 meter weighted run (30m  turn around)

Jake 5:00 - Rx'd
Tommy Lee - 8:42 Rx'd
Naumann - 4:43 scaled

This doesn't sound like much, but it SUCKED ROYALLY.  The weighted run was a 5 gallon bucket of liquid foam concentrate.  It weighs 42lbs.

I even got some of the guys at work to give it a try.  They were curssing my name.  When I asked them what sucked the most, they said all of it.  Lung burner for sure. 

Sunday, April 10th, 2011 - Power Cleans

Power Clean
2-2-2+

135lbs x 2 reps
165lbs x 2 reps
190lbs x 3 reps

Saturday, April 9th, 2011 - Crossfit Open WOD 11.3

5min As Many Rounds as Possible
165lb squat clean / jerk

Finished with 13 rounds + 1 squat clean. Giving me 27 reps total.

This puts me into 469th place out of 604 people.  Five months ago, I didn't think I would be able to compete at all.  My bicep and shoulder were jacked up.  Couldn't be happier right now.  Only hope to improve through out the next 3 weeks.

The weight never felt heavy.  I didn't struggle with any of the reps until I got to the 28th rep and ran out of time.  Had my conditioning been better, I know I could have gotten more reps.  I really thought about giving it a go a second time, but what's the point.  I did well and there's room for improvement.

Wednesday, April 7th, 2011 - Farmer strength? Field Work?

A few posts back, I mentioned "farm boy strength" and that it was something I didn't have.  "Farm boy strength" being just old fashion strength.  I feel that barbell strength doesn't have a direct translation to carrying odd shaped objects or just old fashion work.  Got these cues from John Welbourn.

My abs felt pretty sore, I guess it was from the front squats and squat cleans.  Too bad, because CFWC had a pretty badass WOD programmed today.  HSPU's and cleans.  I would have loved to give it a go.  Quite frankly it looked downright scary.

So I spent most of the day in a Hazardous Materials class for work.  I could have scooted over to do the wod, but I was feeling tired and I knew that I had physical fire drill from 7pm-10pm that night.  Wasn't sure what initially was planned...but it was the good ol' air pack consumption drill.  This drill just pisses me off.  There is no true measurement of what excellent, average or poor performance is with this drill.  Take a quick peek of this video I found on Youtube.  Gives you an idea of what the test consists of.  Guys walking at a slow pace doing minimal work.



I took quite the opposite approach.  I treated it as a metcon/amrap.  I ran and worked as hard as I could the entire time.  I went through the course numerous times and I was breathing like I just did "Helen".

On average our airpacks are supposed to last 30 minutes.  However, it all depends on how hard your are working.  I made mine last a little over 12 minutes.  My thoughts on what this drill teaches...a ringing bell goes off when you have approx. 1/4 of a bottle left.  When you get really low, the bell stops ringing and you only have 6-10 breaths left.  Your scba mask starts to suck to your face.  It can cause extreme anxiety.  It's a feeling that you want to experience many times, so you don't freak out if it really happens in a live fire.  Point being, don't ever get into that situation.

All in all, Thursday morning I woke up a little tired and legs feeling a little sluggish.  Some light rowing tonight and I'm back at the firehouse on Friday morning.  Just enjoying the day off.

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 - Front Squat & Test Run

Front Squat
95lbs x 5 reps
135lbs x 5 reps
185lbs x 5 reps

All the weights felt light and fast.  Haven't been doing much strength work the last 2-3 weeks, so threw something together.  Weight equipment at work is pretty limited, oh well I'm just thankful that we have a barbell.

Open WOD 11.3
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 5 minutes of:
165 pound Squat clean
165 pound Jerk

Wanted to see what this felt like.  Did some warmup of the squat clean and jerk movement.  Started with the bar and went up in weight.  Everything felt fairly light and fast.  The 60 days of squatting earlier this year will pay dividends this week.

135lbs squat clean / jerk x 2 reps
145lbs squat clean / jerk x 2 reps
155lbs squat clean / jerk x 2 reps
165lbs squat clean / jerk x 2 reps

Sunday, April 3rd, 2011 - Crossfit Open WOD 11.2

15 min AMRAP
9 155lb deadlifts
12 hand release pushups
15 24" box jumps

7 rounds + 19 reps

This was an awesome WOD.  Really pushed your cardio and will expose you if you suck at pushups.  I'm glad I practiced pushups prior to the open.  When I've done Cindy, pushups was my limiting factor as well.  Box jumps were my money maker, all day long unbroken.

One thing for self note, in the 5th round I did the deadlifts unbroken.  I was close to my redline and doing them unbroken pinged my rev limiter.  Took a quick second to regain my composure.  All in all, a good effort.  Looking forward to finding out what WOD 3 is.

Later that afternoon....

Hand Stand Pushups
5x1

Power Cleans
135lbs x 3 reps
165lbs x 3 reps
185lbs x 3 reps

Friday, April 1st, 2011 - Exercise those lungs

5 rounds not for time
2 min row (roughly a 1:55/500m pace)
8 26" inch box jumps
    - 90 sec rest in between lungs

Checked my pulse a few times between rounds and it was roughly 170bpm (what a outta shape bastard).

Going in to work in the morning for 24 hours at the firehouse.  Hoping to do the Crossfit Open WOD 2 at open gym on Sunday morning.

Thursday, March 31st, 2011 - Further Analysis & a lil' bit of work

Morning is going something like this.  Replaced two faulty showerheads at my house, made a Home Depot run, picked up a new miter saw blade for my 20 dollar craigslist miter saw.  Made the kids breakfast and I hope to get some playstation in when the kids go down for their afternoon nap.  Even managed to get in this...

Light back squat day
95lbs x 5 reps
135lbs x 5 reps
185lbs x 5 reps

Planning on doing some 90 sec rows / 24" box jumps later tonight, gotta go into work tonight for a 10p-6am shift.

So last night, I took a long hard look at my last 12 months training and dietary intake logs.  Some of you might remember how I bitched and moaned about overtraining and burning out late last fall and then got injured in early Dec of 2010.

Right around early August, I made some pretty substanstial changes to my diet in my opinion.  I removed avacados and replaced it with much less olive oil and removed pretty much all fruit out of my diet and for a short while beer.  For fruit, my main staple was grapes...GOD I LOVE ME SOME GRAPES!!!(run on sentence...haha)

I won't place all the blame on removing those items, I have my fair share of cheat meals and I was a little shy on sleep.  Come on though...who isn't short on sleep.  We live in America for crying out loud, nobody gets enough rest.  So carbs are thy enemy right????  I'm going to tend to disagree.  Sure, carbs are thy enemy if you're eating doritos, oreos and snickers.  Fuck yeah they are thy enemy!

Recently, I introduced avocados and oranges back into my diet and I'm feeling ALOT better.  Like night and DAY better.  For breakfast, I'll usually have 1/2 an avacodo, an entire orange and some asparagus with my eggs.  Lunch same thing without the orange.

You always have to find what works best for you.  I'd like to think that with my work schedule, my dietary and workout requirements are probably alot different from an individual that works 7-5/M-F.  Looking at the big picture, if you're stalling in a certain area or feeling like you just aren't making progress, take a look at what's worked for you in the past.

Over the last few weeks, my stance on on training has shifted somewhat.  I'm a big advocate on squatting.  Squating needs to be done twice a week.  John Welbourn has said it, Justin form 70's big has said and I've done it.  I get much better results when I'm squating more than once a week.

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 - Ahhh... Light at the end of the tunnel

Working today...did various calisthenics with the other firemen. Worked up a mild sweat and provided moral support. Afterwards did some dynamic effort work.

DE Power Clean 8x2 on the min for 8 minutes
135lbs

Strength is totally there right now.  This is the lightest 135lb power cleans has ever felt.

Got wind of the 2nd Crossfit Games WOD
9-155lb deadlifts
12 hand release pushups
15 box jumps@24"

Talk about right in my wheelhouse. Been working like crazy on pushups with a guy at work. Box jumps...I can kill'em and the weight on the deadlift is light.

I've been so hard on myself about my training since well about Aug/September 2010. I remember having a discussion with JA about how I should train for the Games. I've had a game plan and for the most part Ive stuck to it. I knew I needed to get stronger, so I got stronger and put on some weight and body fat. Sure my cardio sucked but it's improving quickly. Didn't have HSPU's last fall...guess what? I got'em now.

It's ironic just the other day an article came out about Grahm Holmburg winner of the 2010 Croasfit games. He pretty much followed a similar style of training. He didn't murder the first WOD because he plans on being in peak condition during the finals of the Crossfit Games.

I knew I needed to peak right around April.  Well, I've laid back on the strength work, upped the metcons and controlled my food portions and it's all coming together.  Bodyweight has been as high as 196.7lbs in 2011 and last night it was down to 189lbs.  The plan is to be right around 183-180lbs the next few weeks.  Big thanks and shoutouts to CFWC...I've learned alot about diet over the last year.

Very pleased right now with the results of my training.  It's been alot of hardwork despite some serious injuries.  Looking forward to competing for the remaining 5 weeks.

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 - 8 min amrap + 2nd wod

Got to work on some weaknesses today.

8 min amrap
10 - 225lb deadlifts
20 20lb wall balls
10 toes to bar

2 rounds + 5 deadlifts (disclaimer - 1st round I did 30 toes to bar instead of 10...my bad)

Can't remember the last time I deadlifted.  Thankfully they didn't feel heavy.

3 mins rest

I scaled the next word
3 rounds for time
10 1arm snatch 35lbs (5 each arm)
6 pistols - 3 each leg

Time was roughly 5 1/2 minutes

Saturday, March 26th, 2011 - Crossfit Open WOD 1

10 min AMRAP
30 Double Unders
15 Ground to Overhead @ 75lbs

4 rounds + 12 double unders - rx'd

Pretty happy with the results.  I'm way deconditioned and didn't do too bad.  My double unders are fairly well so I think that helped counter being out of shape.  The open is 6 weeks long, so I hope to do real well on the 6th workout.

Thursday, March 24th, 2011 - Hey fatboy....Do you still workout???

Yeah...I'm still here.  The biceps are mucho perfecto.  I figured out what happen and why they got so tight.  A ubber strong guy at work loves to do pushups, so he talked me into doing some of his pushup workouts.

It went something like 15 pushups/60 sec rest/ etc. until you get to like 130 or in that ballpark.  Anyway, I wanted full range of motion and I was hyperextending my elbows at the top of the movement....DUH don't do that.  All healed up and ready to do.

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 5
255lbs x 5

I haven't lifted ANY weight in well over 10 days.  I'm so happy that I went through that squat everyday phase.  255lbs still felt ahh...no biggie.  I forsure gave myself some serious foundation strength.

Strict Handstand Pushups
5x1
Video of the last set.  I'm very happy with how these have progressed.  I'm weigh more today, but I have an easier time doing them....WTF kinda sense does that make....hahaha



Double Unders
7x10

Well I think I added the strength that I needed to lower some of my metcon times, it's time to get back on the CFWC schedule full time again.  I'm not liking the added body fat that I'm carrying, I look like a fat blob.  Fully healthy looking forward to a kickass spring and having some recreational fun competeing in the Crossfit Open. 

Monday, March 14th, 2011 - Squat/Press/Metcon

I know I know....been away from the blog.  Possible injury has me pissed off and discouraged, but hopefully it's not as bad as I think. 

Back Squat
140lbs x 5
235lbs x 5
285lbs x 5 (5lb 5rm pr)

Standing Press
80lbs x 5
100lbs x 5
125lbs x 4 - failed the 5th rep
115lbs x 5

5 Rounds for time
200M run
12 95lb sumo deadlift highpulls
8 pullups

11:51 - rx'd

I was so happy with this WOD.  Only having a few metcons under my belt, I felt like this is the first one I've done with some self respect.  Knowing where I was and knowing where I'm at right now, takes some patience, but I'm making progress.

I had always heard that conditioning comes easy, it's strength that takes forever to build.  Well I'm seeing it first hand.  My conditioning is improving much quicker than I thought.  I finished slightly over a minute behind 2 guys in the gym that have been stready.  I've been out of the Crossfit game for the last 3 months and a few WODs and I'm on some of these guys heals.  Obviously, it wasn't a top gym time, but it's competitive amongst my fellow Will County peeps.

So that was Monday, I walk out head held high knowing I put in some hard work.  Fast forward to Friday (3/18/11) and my biceps are fried.  They are in a constant spasm, just tight, can't extend fully, etc.

The Crossfit Open started this week and I really wanted to compete.  I worked so hard over the last 3 months to overcome a shoulder injury and now this happens.  I'm working 48 hours in a row this weekend and I might have a chance to complete the 1st WOD on Sunday morning.  I setup a massage with Tina for Sunday morning.  We'll see how I feel after that.  I'll give it a go, depending on how I feel.

The main this is that I still want to Crossfit on a regular basis, so no reason to risk any further injury.

Friday, March, 11th, 2011 - Farm Boy Strength...yeah don't have that

Spent 8 hours in a hands on class for work. "Forcible Entry"

Probably one of my favorite subjects. Crossfit Football touched on something last week that didn't occur to me. Welbourn came across a few teammates in preseason, one guy repped 500+ pounds another guy struggled with 225lbs. Guess what on the football field the guy struggling with 225lbs MURDERED the stronger athlete all day long. Come to find out the guy struggling with 225lbs grew up on a farm. While he never worked out with barbells and dumbells, he lifted alot of real world shit. Well today I experienced it first hand.

All the barbell work I've done over the course of the last 2 years didn't mean shit today. Welbourn also stated that lifting weights didn't help him get better at playing football. Playing football got him better at football. We'll I've mentioned the same thing about firefighting in the past. I'm not sure why I thought barbell strength would help out today, because it didn't.

Anyways the day consisted of using power saws to cut rebar, breaking open metal doors and picking locks.

Quick video of the instructor demonstrating forcible entry. We used this same door simulator. Forcing this door open is the equivalent of a door with about 8 deadbolt/padlocks on it.

Anyways...back to Farm Boy Strength.  CFFB suggested that you rotate in your workouts some type of physically demanding task related to your sport/profession.  I'll be trying that... 

On to the metcon...so after 8 hours of class, I didn't have time to make it into CFWC.  I did todays metcon alone in the garage.

5 Rounds for time

7 135lb Push Jerks

20 Air squats

8:55 rx'd

Being the deconditioned athlete that I am, I thought for sure I'd be 10+ minutes.  I was a happy man when I looked at my watch.  5-6 metcons under my belt and I'm starting to come around again.  I kind of figured the top times in gym would be in the 3-4 minute range and I was dead on.  Something to note, after the first few reps of the jerk, I was thinking it felt heavier then it should.  Spread my grip out another thumb length and I did the last 7 jerks of the 5th round unbroken.

Thursday, March 10th, 2011 - Squat / 20 min amrap

Back squat
135x5
225x5
280x5 5rm PR

20 min amrap
8 one arm snatches (30lb DB)
10 pistols
11 20" box jumps

Scales 6 rds+ 8 reps
-------------------
Been busting my ass trying to rehab my shoulder. Well it paid off today. I got my first true strict handstand pushup. In fact, I got 4 of them.

Strict hand stand pushup
4x1

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 - Sort of a Rest day

Max effort chin up - 9 reps
Rest
Max effort pull up - 6 reps

Tuesday, March 7th, 2011 - Deads & GHD

Deadlift warmup
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 3
255lbs x 2
295lbs x 5

Regrip on each rep. No bounce.

GH Situps
1x15

Monday, March 7th, 2011 - Sucky Wall Balls

Back Squat
135lbs x 6
205lbs x 5
255lbs x 2

Bench Press
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 5
185lbs x 5

100 20lb Wallballs 10ft target
4 burpees every minute on the minute until WB's are complete
15:57

Those were some ugly wall balls. I hit 21 of them the first minute and fell apart. My conditioning is horrible. Breathing so hard and getting that runner's flank cramps again. Gotta push through it as the conditioning gets better. Everybody finished this in the 6-10 minute range, but I suck with the slowest time of the day. Go me!

Monday, March 7th, 2011 - Back Squat Failure - No day 56

Yesterday, would have been 56 days in a row of squatting at least 250lbs. Went to day 2 of the Crossfit Football Seminar. Left there and went into work to finish the remaining 16 hours of duty. Ran a fire call and came back to the station. I'm not sure if I would label it as a migraine, but it was the worst head pain I've ever felt.

Needless to say, Back Squat Day 56 never happen. Reflections on the back squat project. I got stronger, put on some muscle mass and ate like a viking. I took my body fat% at CFWC on Friday and it read 18%. Not sure how accurate it is, but any body fat% scale has never read that low on me. So in essence, I gained about 12-14lbs overall and my body fat % lowered.

I didn't do a whole lot of conditioning work during this period. What I noticed with my metcons is, the weights so far haven't felt challenging in the least bit.

95lb OHS/SDHP weren't challenging and they shouldn't be for any grown ass man. Doing them in 21-15-9 is a different story. I feel in the next few weeks as my metcons slightly increase, my times will drop significantly.

Crossfit Football pointed out some amazing stuff. Some of it wasn't earth shattering though, because Johnny awesome's line of thinking/training format is much in line with what Crossfit Football does. Not sure if he realizes it or not, but JA has been an amazing trainer in the year that I've known him. Conditioning is somewhat of a by-product of Strength. Conditioning is easy to come by. Strength is what so many people are confused by and takes them forever to achieve. Some of these people never achieve it and continue to be 170lb weaklings. I say that tongue in cheek, its not like I'm even remotely strong. There's plenty of chicks out there squatting what I deadlift. I am making an attempt to put up serious weight numbers behind my name though.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster athlethes will always prevail and that's a given. If you want to be bigger, faster and stronger you need to eat like it.

Some people will disagree, but there is no way in hell I'm following Zone and I never will. My intention has never been to "cut weight". I have to tell you I feel alot stronger sitting at 192lbs vs. 178lbs. It's a world of difference and I sure as hell don't feel slower.

Notes about metcons and getting stronger. If you're doing Metcon after metcon you need to replenish your carbs. Without it, you'll crash hard. Trust me...I did. Calorie restriction/zone diet is starvation. Recovery is SOOOOO essential. Most metcons involve 95lb OHS/Thrusters/SDHP/Cleans/Snatches/etc. Will you strugle with that weight if your 1RM max thruster is 135lbs. DUH! Make your 1RM 225lbs and a 95lb thruster feels easy. How do you achieve this? Stop doing 5-8 metcons a week. Back off to 2 or 3 and focus on strength. Crossfit Football's metcon is very similar to JA's Barbell club. One of CFFB's biggest philosophies is no metcon longer than 15 minutes.

Other things covered, I got some help with my Split Jerk technique and alot of change of direction and overall speed techniques. Pose running was emphasized that it's great for distance running, but not for flat out speed.

HUGE SHOUT OUTS to the fella's at Crossfit Naperville. It's where I got my start. Without those guys, I would have never found Crossfit. Thank you for the invite, it's greatly appreciated. I'm sure they will be scaling back some of their long metcons in exchange for shorter more explosive metcons. I expect big things to come out of CF Naperville in the near future and wish them the best of luck.

Saturday, March 5th, 2011 - CFFB / Day 55

Listen to alot of information from John Welbourn and Raphael Ruiz today. More on that later.

I'll be coming up with my own personal definition of what "fitness" is to me.

Front Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 3

Back Squat
255lbs x 2

Friday, March 4th, 2011 - Metcon

12 o'clock noon
Press
3x5
65lbs
85lbs
95lbs

21-15-9
95lb Sumo Deadlift High Pull
95lb OHS

rx'd - 7:40ish Don't really recall what my time was, but I was in that ballpark

Right before bedtime
Back Squat 255lbs x 1

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 - Mini Metcon / Back Squats

My buddy at work Tom is very big into pushups. The guy Bench Presses over 300lbs...needless today I did one of his pushup workouts. So we rounded up the guys at work and everybody got their workout on.

15 pushups
60 sec rest
14 pushups
60 sec rest
16 pushups
60 sec rest
15 pushups
60 sec rest
15 pushups
60 sec rest
13 pushups
60 sec rest
12 pushups
60 sec rest - 100 total pushups

My pecs felt like they were about to exploded. On to the mini metcon. It's only fair to do a Crossfit workout since I did his workout.

50 Double Unders
12 95lb Push Press
12 Knees to Elbows
50 DU
9 95lb Push Press
9 KtE
50 DU's
6 95lb Push Press
6 Knees to Elbows

Jake - 5:38 rx'd
Tom - 5:24 singles instead of DU's
Jeff - 3:28 singles & 45lb Push Press

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

2nd Mini Metcon of the day
3 Rounds for time
5 185lb deadlifts
5 burpees

2:39

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 - Lazy Day # 53

Back Squat
255lbs x 1

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 - HSPU's and Barbell Club

Started the morning out with a 2 hour nap when I got home from work this morning.  Sleep at the firehouse just isn't the same as sleeping at home. 

45 sec Handstand holds + 1 negative handstand pushup
rest
repeat 3 times

Later tonight...CFWC Barbell club

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
225lbs x 5
255lbs x 1
275lbs x 5 (15lb or 20lb PR for the 5RM) and to be perfectly honest, I felt like I had at least another 3-5 reps left in me.  I stopped because the program only called for 5.

Power Clean
135lbs x 5 as a warmup
185lbs x 3
185lbs x 3
185lbs x 3
205lbs x 1 (10lb PR)
215lbs x Fail

Monday, Febuary 28th, 2011 - Day 51

Started the day out with a quick workout with the guys at work.

Misc calisthenics....
Tabata Squats - lowest score of 19
Tabata Pushups - lowest score of 10

Later in the day
Back Squat
135lbs x 3
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

Sunday, Febuary 28th, 2011 - Back Squat Day 50

Standing Shoulder Press
80lbs x 5 reps
100lbs x 5 reps
120lbs x 5

Back Squat
165lbs x 5 reps
255lbs x 1

Weighted Pullups
20lbs x 6
20lbs x 6

Saturday, Febuary 26th, 2011 - Team Metcon

Team Metcon with J to the A.
20-16-12-8-4
45lb DB Thrusters
20 - 20" Box Jumps
12 - Toes to Bar

5:55ish

Later in the day
Back Squats
115lbs x 10 fast back squats
205lbs x 1 rep
255lbs x 2 reps

Friday, Febuary 25th, 2011 - Jamming out to Nirvana

Day 48 in a row...

15 minutes of pushups, mountain climbers, burpees and air squats with the guys at work.

5 hours later

I did not want to squat at all.  Pandora some Nirvana and what do ya know....

135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 3

Thursday, Febuary 24th, 2011 - Getting CRUSHED fuels the fire

Man, did I get CRUSHED yesterday.  It was like my 1st day of Crossfit all over again. 2+ years of Crossfit and I'm a bit smarter this time aroud.  Woke up and was dying to get back in the gym.  Hammys were tight, upper back was tight.

Not sure about the upper back.  I got my 3rd session of rolfing done before I came in to CFWC and he did work on some shoulders and traps...soooooo who knows.

AM
Lots of stretching
30 second Handstand Holds x 3

PM
Lots of stretching
OHS
75lbs  x 15 reps
95lbs x 10 reps
115lbs x 5 reps

Back Squat
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

GH Situps
1x15

Febuary 23rd, 2011 - That suck't - Day 46

Front Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 5
Back Squat
255lbs x 1

1000M Row
50 KB swings @ 52.5lbs
30 toes to bar

11:54 - rx'd

Well what can I say...working out on your own in your garage just doesn't cut the mustard when it comes to metcons.  I'm a hell'uva lot stronger buy, my cardio is dog shit right now.  I finished the row in 3:38.  I told CK that I wanted a DNF at my 15th toes to bar.  Glad he pushed me to finish.  It never felt like I wasn't strong enough to finish a rep.  I just could not get a breath in.  Both my planks were cramping big time.

Tuesday, Febuary 22nd, 2011 - You are now entering the Black hole of squatting

Day 45 of Back Squat Project

I feel straight up like A$$.   I feel so run down.  During yesterdays row, I just felt like giving up.  This journey of squatting has been reassuring that I can accomplish ANYTHING as long as I don't give up.  My hips feel like they have been beaten with a sledgehammer....ok I'm being very obnoxious when I say that.  Hips just feel so sluggish.  My back feels tight.  My shoulders feel weak.  I'm tired.  I can keep going, but I'd rather be positive and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I truely feel that your body will only do what your mind allows it.  My body wants to quit the squat project and say that it's stupid.  However, I'm telling my mind that we will continue the journey and continue the struggle.

I was so proud of my mind and body this afternoon.  As horrible as I feel, I pushed through the dark hole and continued my training.  I hurt my shoulder back in early December and didn't lift anything heavy overhead for about 8-9 weeks.

So feeling horrible and week...I pushed myself to lift something heavy and continue to get stronger with weights overhead and had success.

Standing Shoulder Press
70lbs x 5
95lbs x 5
115lbs x 5

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

Monday, Febuary 21st, 2011 - squatting and rowing

Back Squat
135lbs x 3
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

Row 2k - 8:36

Sunday, Febuary 20th, 2011 - Day 43

Did alot of foam rolling and trigger point release last night, so I wasn't feeling too bad.  The hips actually felt average.  I can tell I'm starting to enter that "black spot" of training.  I'm feeling run down, tired and sleepy.  Overall, I just don't feel as strong.

I'm trying to compensate by eating ALOT of meat and veggies and sleeping as much as possible.  Overall the day didn't pan out too bad.

Front Squat
95lbs x 3
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 1
205lbs x 1
225lbs x 1
260lbs x 1 - fail
255lbs x 1 - 5lb PR

1k Row
3:56 - 13 seconds off a PR.  Wasn't intending to PR...just wanted a good fast 90% row.

Saturday, Febuary 19th, 2011 - Squat Day 42

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 3
205lbs x 2
255lbs x 1

Power Clean
2x3 - 135lbs

Tricep Press down - 2x8

Friday, Febuary 18th, 2011 - Day 41 of Project Back Squat every day

The hips are so beat to hell and my upper body feels recovered from Tuesday's metcon.  Upper body it is...

Standing Press
75lbs x 5
95lbs x 5
105lbs x 5

Barbell Shrugs
105lbs - 3x5

Weighted Pull Ups
5x3 - @20lbs

Negative HandStand Pushups
1x3

--------------------------
8 hours laters
Back Squat
185lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

Weighted pullup with my son holding on to me - 1 rep
I think he weighs about 35lbs

Thursday, Febuary 17th, 2011 - Mucho Squato not enough foodo

Had a good day with the family and running errunds and what not.  Didn't really consume much of any food.  Oh well...what'cha gonna do. 

All these air squats over the last two days have done a number on the hamstrings.  WOW are they tired!

Very light paced 3:00 minute row.  Finished 528 meters...just goes to show you how slow of a pace this was.  I wanted some blood flowing before I threw some weight on the bar.

Back Squat
135lbs x 3
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

Wednesday, Febuary 16th, 2011 - Partner named Cindy

Bench Press
135lbs x 5
145lbs x 5
155lbs x 5

I was trying to think of a fun workout to do with another guy at work.  My shoulder/bicep was a bit tight & his knee has been bothering him, so I was trying to get creative. 

5 Rounds of Team Cindy
5 Dead Hang Pullups
10 Pushups
15 Air Squats

Each partner does 5 total rounds of Cindy, but one is resting while the other does his round.  Untimed WOD, but it was something cool to try out.  Nothing too strenuous.

Front Squat
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 1
205lbs x 1
225lbs x 1
Back Squat
255lbs x 1

Tuesday, Febuary 15th, 2011 - He's Baaaaaackkkkk!!!!

1st day back to CFWC.....

3 rounds off the clock, focusing on effort:
Row 150m
25 Doubleunders
-rest in between rounds
This was untimed...but I was pulling a 1:27 pace on the row.

Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes:
5 Push presses 95#/65#
10 Squats
20 Skiers (over barbell)

Scaled this to 65lbs.  Finished with 9 rounds + 5 reps.  Totally sandbagged this metcon.  With the loss of some upper body strength, I didn't want to push my shoulders beyond what they could handle. All in due time...all in due time.

After the metcon...I kept the string of squatting everyday going.  I'm pretty happy with this.  255lb didn't feel heavy at all.  Especially after 2 mini metcons.  It's becoming very natural to squat heavy.

Day 39 Back Squats
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 2

Monday, Febuary 14th, 2011 - Rolfing Part 2

Today was the 2nd of 10 rolfing sessions.  Last time I got my shoulders and bicep worked on.  Today we started on the feet and calf.  It was explained to me and it makes perfect sense that I have imbalances in my feet which lead to imbalances in my shoulders.  The posterior line is out of wack and we'll get it all fixed.  Started with my left foot and calf.  It wasn't all that bad.  The pain was no worse than anything I experienced with Tina's house of pain.

After the left side was done, I stood up and there was a visual difference in my left foot and my right foot.  I felt like my foot was planted on the ground much more securely, stable if you will.  You could see the difference in how the right foot rolled in and the left foot was perfectly even.

Then came the right foot and calf.  OMG, I thought I was going to die.  The imblance was much greater on the right side.  Which explains some of the tightness I get in my right hip.  Long story short, we got some good kinks out.  We also noticed that the right quad is bigger and stronger than the left.  In the coming weeks we'll work on this.  Go in for session 3 next Wednesday.

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

30lb DB Push Press each arm x 20

Metcon
Row 90 seconds for max meters (425 meters)
-no rest
20 Unbroken KBS 45lbs
-no rest
10 Unbroken GH Situps
-no rest
5 20lb weighted pullups

Didn't time this...just wanted to breath a little hard.  If all goes as planned tomorrow, I'm hoping to make the 7:15 Will County workout.  We'll see what the day brings.

Sunday, Febuary 13th, 2011 - Damn it feels good

When I woke up this morning...or should I say when I went to bed this morning...
I went into work last night to work from 10p-6a.  We assisted a neighboring town with a fire at 1:30 a.m.  Got back to the station around 3:45am.  Slept until 5am and had to go to the rollover accident.  Got back to the station and had to leave to my other job.

Fast forward to 9pm tonight...

Supersets of
Skull crushers & Tricep Press Downs
2x10

Back Squat
135lbs x 5

Front Squat
205lbs x 1
225lbs x 1

Back Squat
255lbs x 3

Power Clean
135lbs x 5
170lbs x 3
185lbs x 3 (15lb 3RM)

Anyways, like I was saying when I went to bed this morning I would have never thought I would be putting up those power clean numbers.  This whole squatting everyday project was not my idea.  I got this idea from Dave Lipsons blog.  He puts 450lbs on the bar every day.  He's currently on like day 200+.  I'm just amazed at the strength that I've gained in the last 30-40 days.  All my lifts have gone up from simply lifting heavy shit every day.  I did have to scale back my metcons a bit.  I'm doing 2 maybe 3 metcons a week.

My upper body is recovering nicely.  I feel as though I crushed yesterdays "Baseline" WOD.  My biceps are kinda sore from the pullups.  The pullups felt easy when I did them yesterday.  Today's soreness is just a reminder that I have to ease the upper body back into working out.

All in all....I'm very satisfied with todays progress.

Saturday, Febuary 12th, 2011 - Come on hips....fire when ready

So looking back at things that last PR on back squats last Saturday took alot out of me.  I'm suprised it's taking this long to recover from 305lbs.  My IT band and TFL muscle just feel wrecked.  Tried out some Kstar stretches, but I must do them more.

I was reading about Austin Malello and he spents like 20-30 minutes on mobility a day.  Holy crap...that's focus.  Hope he does well at the Games.

Saw my friend the Garage Crossfitter did a WOD called "The Baseline".  I remember doing this WOD when I was at Crossfit of Naperville 2 years ago.  I want to say I finished in the low 6 minute range.  Let's give it a go.

Not before my beloved Back Squats though.
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 2
255lbs x 1

"Baseline"
500M Row
40 Air Squats
30 Situps
20 Pushups
10 Pullups

4:17 - RX'D

Holy Snikes Batman!  I would have never guessed that I would finish that fast.  I did the rowing, squats, situps and pushups in my 3 seasons room.  I had to run though my house and exit through the garage.  That's where my pullup bar is.  I timed myself how long it would take to go from the bottom of the pushup position to get on the pullup bar.  I took 10 seconds.  I think this spring when it's not -100 degrees out, I'll take the rower in the garage.  I think sub 4 minutes is completely doable.

Friday, Febuary 11th, 2011 - Need to eat more

I've been consuming less food the past few days and I feel it.  I feel run down and tired.  Not a tired like I haven't slept enough.  A tired like no energy.  More meat & veggies is a must.

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

30lb DB Press
1 x 15 reps

Thursday, Febuary 10th, 2011 - Even on your bad days...you still have to squat

Life is too short to not have fun.  You just have to work a little harder on staying focused.  That's exactly what I've been doing lately.  I don't think I've ever been this focused.  It's been almost 10 weeks since my original injury.

I've cut a bit back on my food intake and the increase of rowing has helped my weight come back down to 187lbs on a empty stomach.

My hips and butt have been knotty.  Spent alot of time breaking all that crap up today and tons of Kstar MWOD's.  Felt alot better.

Note about recreation and family getting in the way of squatting yesterday day.  That totally came out wrong.  Fitness is only part of life.  It isn't life itself.  I put fun and family before my fitness and that's ok too.  I was focused enough though that I still got my squats in before bed.

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
275lbs x 1

Weighted Dead Hang Pull ups
15lb DB x 5
20lb DB x 5
20lb DB x 5

Jumping up to the 20lb db was tough.

Wednesday, Febuary 9, 2011 - Holy Sh!t & Dammit

So this is technically Day 32 of back squatting more than 250lbs on the bar.  I say holy sh!t because I didn't even realize I passed 30 days.  I say dammit because family and recreation got in the way.  I won't say what time I did this, but I completed the squats before I went to bed.

I think I might have convinced a brother fireman to give Crossfit a try.  Tomorrow, he's going to give 50 burpees for time a try.  Love ya  bro....it's been a long 12 months apart.  He's been in paramedic school for the last year.

Back squat
75lbs  x 10 reps
135lbs x 3
205lbs x 2
255lbs x 2

Another reason to say dammit.  I  did tonights squats in my cold ass garage.  It's like -8 degrees out.  I don't even know the temp in my garage.  I was in jeans, snow gloves, snow jacket.  Anyways, I exploded my jeans doing squats.  Blew the ass wide open.  I guess 32 days of squats has made my ass bigger.  Cool beans!!!

Tuesday, Febuary 8th, 2011 - Starting the day early

Run down...wore out...banged up...

Came home this morning from work and I'm very crabby.  The last few weeks has worn down on a brother.  Had a conversation with a few fellow coworkers and they had the same feeling.  It's been very busy at work lately.  Yesterday went a little like this.  Do the house work and rig checks, go shovel out a bunch of fire hydrants that were covered in 4-5 feet of snow, group workout with the other 3 stations, cook dinner for the troops, and somewhere in between all that my station ran about  12-13 calls.  Needless to say dinner was awesome, but it got interrupted about 3-4 times.  The medics didn't eat dinner until about 9:30 p.m.

So, I got home and took the boy to preschool and got some quick work in.

Hand Stand Pushup Negatives
1x3

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 3  - Cool side note about about squats.  I flew through these.  No rest, just kept stacking weight. 
265lbs x 2  - I was pressed for time, so it was a big rush.  Go depth though

GHD Situps
1x15

So, now I'm off to pick the boy back up from school.  On a parting note...working out this early released some aggression.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Testing out that Bum shoulder

Push Press
75lbs x 5
95lbs x 5
105lbs x 5

Jeremy
21-15-9
95lb Overhead squats
Burpees

Jake - 5:35 not rx'd (75lbs)

Not bad...just disappointed in how much strength I've lost overhead.  In retrospect, on 05/06/09 my time was 6:36 with 21lbs.  Huge improvement...rock on man!

Monday, Febuary 7th, 2011 - Please don't make me go in the weight room

I tell ya...I was avoiding the weightroom like the plague.  I wanted nothing to do with it.  Thankfully, I caught a 20 minute nap this afternoon.  It helped, but I'm still dog tired.

Back squats
135lbs x 1
205lbs x 1
260lbs x 1

Power Cleans
135lbs x 3
155lbs x 3
170lbs x 3

I think that's the heaviest I've gone with 3 reps.  Felt fast enough I feel beat up.  Not nearly as fast as I can though.  The 3rd rep was a challenge.  I'm off to bed and it's not even 9:30 p.m......

Sunday, Febuary 6th, 2011 - Ugh...what did I sign up for?

Today, squats have never felt heavier this heavy.  I didn't have a whole lot to give. So it went a little something like this.

Back Squat
135lbs x 5 - felt oh so heavy
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1 - a struggle

Row 600 meters - 2:11
 - rest 5 minutes
Row 600 meters - 2:14

Saturday, Feburary 5th, 2011 - Wings and beer don't stop the squats

MAN, I almost let the day slip away.  Anderson Silva with an amazing performance!  WOW!

Started squatting at 11:47 p.m.  and finished by 12:08 a.m.  This technically counts, but I don't know...I almost let my 30 days straight of squatting lapse.  Yikes....let's not let this happen again.  What can I say, UFC, beer and wings came before squatting tonight.

Back squats
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1
285lbs x 1
305lbs x 1 (MAJOR F'ing PR....that's a 15lb PR....not to mention it was below parallel and I was in jeans)  Put that in your pipe and smoke it.  I can't wait to get back to Crossfitting in the box.  I go see my rolfer on the 2/14.  I'm hoping for a return on 2/15, we'll see what the future holds.

Febuary 4th, 2011 - Excuse this little rant...

I experienced some first hand Crossfit bashing.  So at work, there's a trainer that's been coming in to get the troops in better shape.  He's been jockeying for a sale for the past few months and he's here on a trial basis for 3 months.  Comes in 3 days a week.

Background on this guy...Highland Games competitor.  Joined Crossfit Tri Cities for 6 weeks and hated it.  He claims he had a 600lb deadlift and upon leaving Tri-Cities he had a 500lb deadlift.  Before I knew any of this information, when I first met him, he told me that he did Crossfit for quite sometime in his garage before Tri Cities even opened up.  His reasoning why Crossfit sucks is that it made him run more than 200 meters and he got weaker.

Judging upon physical attributes alone, I can tell he's not a well rounded fitness guy.  5'9, roughly 240-250lbs with a noticeable belly.  During his sales pitch he demonstrated an "inch worm" pretty much just a walkout with your hands and then walk your hands back to your feet.  He comes up out of breath.

Tries impressing me with his claimed "120 kilo" clean and jerk....whatever man.  So during his workout today which consisted of 2 rounds of "air squats, lunges, jumping lunges and jumping squats", he starts talking about how horrible my squat form is and that Crossfit "SQUATS" have fucked up my hips.

So he goes on about how stuipd Westside Barbell is and how high bar squat is the way to go.  I kindly disagree with him and inform him that I low bar squat.  Then he informs me that I won't get stronger by doing "heavy low bar squats".  I need to do "olympic squats".  Whatever that means and that the only way I'm going to get stronger legs is by doing "olympic cleans".

I was about to give this guy this business, but then we caught a fire alarm and had to leave.

I'm in no shape or form the strongest, fastest, smartest guy.  However, when you attack a person's workout regime for no reason, other than not being able to do it yourself...is BS.

Is Crossfit perfect.  Of course not, but Crossfit is perfect for my fitness/lifestyle goals.  It's helped me become thinner, faster and stronger.  Do I want to have a 600+lb bench press, 800lb deadlift and have a big belly?  Nope.  I like being 185lbs.  Running a sub 25 minute 5k, a bodyweight power clean, ability to do a deadhang pullup, do box jumps like nobody's business.  As far as I'm concerned, I'm functionally fit.  Not to mention, my gut doesn't block the vision of my manhood.

His closing statement before the fire alarm was "All Crossfit people want to do is get a faster Fran time.  Fran isn't even a functional workout.  Yeah sure it's kind of impressive, but kinda pointless".

Onto today's workout...

Weighted deadhang pullups
10lbs x 5
10lbs x 5
15lbs x 5

DB Seated Press
30lb db each hand x 5
40lb db each hand x 5
55lb db each hand x 5

Front Squat
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 1
205lbs x 1

Back Squat
265lbs x 1

Thursday, Febuary 3rd, 2011 - Day 26 of squats

Just finished another 48 hours at the firehouse.  I worked an additional 24 hours today for a friend of mine.  He'll work 24 hours for me in May and I'll have a week off.  I came home and crashed.  God bless my wife, she let me take about a 2.5 hour nap.  I woke up and still felt beat to shit.

Bless her little soul.  I walked in the door and eggs and bacon were being served.  So after all the calls we ran and all the snow we shoveled, I dug out 2 fire hydrants nearest to my home.  They were buried under about 6 feet of snow.

Took it very easy today...then 9 p.m. came

45lb KB Swings x 10

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 1
235lbs x 1
275lbs x 1

Row 1 min - 303 meters
rest 90 seconds
Row 1 min - 317 meters
rest 90 seconds
Row 1 min - 301 meters

Wednesday, Febuary 2nd, 2011 - Talk about a tough day...

Soooooo much snow to shovel.  I shoveled TONS of snow to allow our fire house the ability to respond to calls.  Just a rough rough day.  Not to mention my hamstrings are going through some MAJOR DOMS.

I looked at that squat bar and just dreaded it.  I made a commitment and I'm glad I'm sticking to it.  Had I not had 24 days in a row of squating under my belt, I might have quit.  I'm finally at the point, where it doesn't matter how I feel, I know I can squat 250 without any major problem.  It's just my routine.

Back Squat Day 25
135lbs x 2
185lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

Tuesday, Febuary 1st, 2011 - Holy Sore batman!

WOW!!!  My lats, shoulders and general back were extra sore.  Not to mention my legs and abs.  Had to do mucho stretching to loosen up my lats.

Back Squat
135lbs x 2
185lbs x 2
250lbs x 1

Monday, January 31st, 2011 - Dietary Distruction

Let's back up to Saturday.  Went to work and didn't plan accordingly.  Took breakfast, but forgot snacks and lunch.  I was a little short on cabbage, so I split some frozen pizzas with my co-worker (partner in the fire service industry).  Add a few snacks and something before bed and we're on our way to dietary compromise.

Wake up Sunday morning, dressed to go home and I get offered overtime for 24 hours on Sunday.  So now, here I am, with 20 minutes to pack up all my clothes, bathing items, bedding and fire gear and hustle all the way to the other side of town to a different station.  All I have time for is some quick Dunkin Doughnuts coffee and an egg sandwich.

So here I am 24 hours and I'm depending on my brothers to help a brother out with food.  I owe the Lt. $6 bucks for dinner and I was able to bum some pizza off another fireman.

48 hours of starch!!!

Monday afternoon/evening...I feel like shit

Walk into the Renteria Pain cave....

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 2
260lbs x 1

Thrusters
95lbs x 21 (18 fast & unbroken) then 19,20,21...something of a PR...I'll have to watch my last Fran)
115lbs x 10
135lbs x 5 (kinda fast & unbroken)

A month ago, I don't think I could have done 135lb thrusters.  For that matter, I don't think I could have done it 5 months ago.

Untimed Metcon
21-15-9
GH Situps
45lb KB Swings

SWEET!!!  All unbroken

Sunday, January 30th, 2011 - Day 22 of heavy back squats

WOW!  Before I started this whole back squat adventure, I would have never guessed that I would have been able to keep this up for this long.  My intent was to do it for 30 days only and let my arm heal.  The fact of the matter is, I'm seeing amazing benefits.

I've PR'd my power clean, front squat, 1rm back squat.  I generally feel stronger.  Power cleaning 195lbs the other day felt just amazing.  I've been trying to stay flexible and mobile, but quite frankly I haven't been doing enough stretching.  Now don't get confused, I am stretching...just not enough as I probably should.

Come on...I'm squatting every day.  I'll be a little tight.  I'm trying to up my upper body workouts, but it's been rough.  My bi's are tired and achey from the weighted pullups.  It's not a injury sore/achey...it's a I've done jack shit for the last 30 days and I don't want to work hard.  I'll pamper them for a little more, but dammit they need to start pulling their fair share.  Yesterdays buprees didn't help the shoulders yesterday either.

Day 22
Back Squat
135lbs x 5
Front Squat
185lbs x 5
Back Squat
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

Bench Press Wide Grip
95lbs x 3
115lbs x 3
135lbs x 3
165lbs x 3

This was the true test.  I did not feel the sharp pain in my chest that I felt in December.  Felt heavy, but no pain.  We'll see how I feel in the morning.

Saturday, January 29th, 2011 - 50 Burpees and everyday squats

Back Squats
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
260lbs x 1

This felt so much lighter than yesterday and it's 10lbs heavier.  Ate enough food to make sure I recovered.  Mostly not paleo, but dinner is roast, carrots and french cut green beans.  I wanted to take it easy, but I came across a guys blog who insprired me to do some burpees today.

At first, I was thinking maybe 100, but I went for 50 instead.  My last PR on 50 burpees was from 1/2010.  I was weighing in the neighborhood of 180. My time was 2:47.   I got on the scale today and it read 194lbs.  I'm looking leaner today then I was in January of 2010.

50 burpees
2:54 - rx'd

I'm pretty happy about this.  I'm close to 15lbs heavier and almost matched my time.  I wasn't super gassed and my legs weren't about to fall off.  The recently added leg strength has totally helped.



*********
So later that night I did weighted pullups

Weighted pullups
10lbs x 4
15lbs x 4
15lbs x 4

Friday, January 28th, 2011 - Somebody turn down the volume

WHAT?  What'cha say?  I can't hear you!!!  I said turn down the volume!  OKKKK!!

How does "volume" relate to exercise?

Weight training volume is the total amount of work you perform during each workout.  Each rep you perform adds to the total workout volume.  There is also "intensity", which relates to the % of your 1 rep max.  So today, I dropped my volume but kept my "intensity" up.  250lbs is just below 90% of my new 1 rep max (290lbs).

20 Days in a row of squatting
135lbs x 3 reps
205lbs x 1 rep
250lbs x 1 rep

3x10
30lb DB Push Presses

Pushups
1x15

MAN, am I feeling yesterdays training session.  It was alot of volume.  Today, I backed off quite a bit.  During my warmup, my hips were just oh so tired.  I put 205 on my back and it felt heavy.  250 felt like a bear.  Bicep isn't feeling too bad.  Glad to see I was shrugging the bar on the power cleans yesterday.  Came into CFWC this morning.  It was as what I would envision it would be like to walk into heaven.  I saw all the badasses working their butts off.  I was so envious.  Of course todays workout involved 49 ring dips.  You bet your britches I would have tired to do them too.  I'm just too hard headed to not try.  Instead I settled for a bunch of hugs, high fives and small talk.  Gotta get this arm feeling 100% so I can start busting hump again.


_____________________________________
Ok seriously...I'll take it easy tomorrow since I'm at work.  Hopefully, no serious calls.

1k Row - 3:42 rx'd (6 second PR) from 2 weeks ago.

Thursday, January 27th, 2011 - Turns out Squatting is MUY beneficial!!!

KB Swings
45lbs x 20 reps

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1
275lbs x 3 (PR - 3Rep PR)

Power Cleans
135lbs x 1
165lbs x 1
175lbs x 1
190lbs x 1 (PR 5lbs)
195lbs x Fail
195lbs x 1 (10lb PR)

GH Situps
1 x 20

So it's been 24 hours since my rolfing session.  My shoulders feel awkward.  I can actually feel like they've moved back a bit.  Doing American KB swings was very awkward.  I was out of my comfort zone, because of the increased flexibility.  I've also done this crazy weird stretch to keep the shoulders back three times today.  Power cleans felt very fast and I had alot of get up and go in my pulls.  Bicep feels slighty tender after the cleans. I don't think I'll go that heavy for a few more weeks.

Maybe a metcon tonight.  Maybe go visit my long lost Will County family.  The bicep still isn't right, but it's almost ready.  I'll have to see what happens after my next rolfing appointment.  Unfortunately, it's not until 2/14.  I'm thinking I might...it's a long shot, but compete in the sectionals.  If ring dips come up though, I'm fucked.  I'll refuse to compete then.  I'll have to work on the strict dips before I move onto the ring dips this time around.

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 - Almost didn't squat today...

...yeah right...although I didn't get my squats in today, until 10:45 pm.

What can I say, the day just kind of got away from me.  Spent some time with a close buddy of mine, took the family out to dinner, went to EMS drill.  Next thing I know, it's 10:30 and I'm lacing up my OLY shoes.  No warm up, just went right into squating.

Back Squat Day 18
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
225lbs x 1
250lbs x 1

So, today was my 1st time experiencing "Rolfing".  It's somewhat along the lines of what Tina does at her "House of Pain".  Was it anything earth moving?  I think it's too early to tell.  Although, I able to move my arms much more vertical then in the past few months.

He informed me that both shoulders are rolled foward, with the left shoulder also being higher than the right.  Feel are rolled in, knees rolled out, hips higher on right then left and slightly twisted to the left.  Looking foward to 9 more sessions.  All of this makes alot of sense, why I've had such difficulties in movements such as the overhead squat.

Here's a link to the rolfing website.  This guy is also a retired Wheaton Fireman.  When he retired, I was hired as his replacement.  He's also familar with Crossfit.  In his early years, he was involved with Gymnastics (ring guy), power lifting and body building.  I end today's note with a big thanks to main man George.

http://www.foxvalleyrolfing.com/

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 - Squat Day 17

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 3
225lbs x 1
250lbs x 1

GH Situps
1x20

Push Press
135lbs x 1

Pushups x 10

5 Hours later

Tabata Row
110m/39strokes
105/39
99/36
93/33
94/33
92/33
87/33
87/36

767 meters total

Monday, January 24th, 2011 - Lift some heavy sh!t every day bro...

2.5 minutes of rowing for a warmup
16th, straight day of squatting

Front Squat
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 1
205lbs x 1
240lbs x 1 (5lb PR)
250lbs x 1 (15lb PR)

2 hours later
Weighted pullups
10lbs 3x3

Sunday, January 23rd, 2011 - You know the routine by now...squats

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 3
205lbs x 3
255lbs x 1

Deadhang pullups
3x3

I'm hating my upper body right about now.  Went bowling last night and my right wrist hurts BAD!  It was painful to put 25lb plates on the squat bar today.

Shoulder is feeling pretty good.  Bicep is okie dokie.  I'm starting a 10 session rolfing extravaganza  this week.  It should get me all lined up and sync'd up properly so I can get back to Crossfit by mid-Feb/Mar.

Don't think I'm not missing ya'll my fellow Xfitters.  It was just too depressing for me to show up and do "gimpy broken" workouts.  I'm getting strong and I'll be back to crush fran. 

Saturday, January 22nd, 2011 - Seriously? Do I have to squat

Busy busy day....my poor mother in law broke her ankle.

Back Squat
75lbs x 5
135lbs x 1
255lbs x 1

Friday, January 21st, 2011 - Late night Row

6 hours after back squats

2k Row - 8:11 -rx'd

Friday, January 21st, 2011 - Lift some heavy shit Friday (PR Friday)

Day 13
Back Squat
135lbs x 5
205lbs x 1
255lbs x 1
285lbs x 1 (5lb pr)
290lbs x 1 (10lb PR)

Left a bit in the tank, as I have another 17 days in this squat cycle.  Remember I said I'm going to squat every day for the next 30 days.  Notes....my spinal erectors, glutes and hamstrings are feeling fried.  Yesterday, I had a 3 hour EMS class that I sat through about blood disorders.  I taped 3 golf balls together and sat on them for 3 hours straight.  Broke up all kinds of kinks and knots.  At times my legs feel sluggish, but then other times during the day they feel like they could lift some heavy shit.

Other notes...I've been eating around 75% paleo food with the other 25% being my wifes cookies and chicken wings from Jewel for lunch.  Body weight is consistenly 187lbs on an empty stomach.  This is probably the leanest I've been since August.  The part I'm happy about is that I'm about 7lbs heavier and being just as lean as I was in August.

Dinner time at the firehouse has been much healthier.  I've pretty much taken over the dinner cooking to ensure that we're eating paleo.  It's cool having 4 different firefighters to work with, but I do miss the old crew I had.

Standing press
75lbs x max reps
15 reps total

GH Situps
1x10

Thursday, January 20th, 2011 - hmmm...squats?

Day 12

Back Squats
135lbs x 4
205lbs x 1
250lbs x 1

Power Cleans
3x5
135lbs

Deadhang Pullups
3x3

Hopefully the pullups don't hurt the shoulder/bicep in the morning.

Good night world...this guy is off to bed.

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 - Seriously...more squats

Day 11:

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 1
225lbs x 1
250lbs x 2

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 - eeekkk more squats

Light 3 minute row for a warmup

Back squat
1x250lbs

Monday, January 17th, 2011 - Still going like the energizer bunny...

Back Squat
2-2-2
135lbs x 2
205lbs x 2
255lbs x 2

Sunday, January 16th, 2011 - Day 8 of well...squats

Back Squat
135x1
205x1
250x1

GH Situps
1x25

Saturday, January 15th, 2011 - Keep on squating

Back Squat
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 2
205lbs x 2
255lbs x 1

So 7 days in a row of squatting and I'm feeling good.  Hamstrings haven't felt tight at all.  Overall, I'm feeling stronger then just a typical day.  I don't really feel like I would need to warmup per say to squat 250lbs.  I think I could just walk right up to it and squat it for reps.

It's becoming a fun little habit to squat once a day.  The volume is low but intensity is high, so I'm not worried about injury or over use.  255 is roughly 90% of my 1RM. We're talking about 1,700lbs of total work.  On my heaviest week of the 5/3/1 program the total work was upwards of 9,000+lbs.

Friday, January 14th, 2011 - Some mo' squats

Back Squat
1-1-1-1
135x5
185x2
225x1
260x1

Thursday, January 13th, 2011 - Mo' Squats

Back Squat
1-1-1-1
135x1
185x1
225x1
255x1

Front Squat
1x5
185x5

Conditioning
25 burpees for time
1:05

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 - Yup...

Back Squat
135lbs x 4
205lbs x 2
225lbs x 1
255lbs x 2

GH Situps
1x15
1k Row - 3:48 rx'd - 8.5 second PR

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 - 250lbs is natural

Been farting around with squats.  At least for the next 30 days, I'm going to squat 250+lbs every day.

Squat 1-1-1
135lbs/205lbs/255lbs

Shoulder notes...man my shoulders are toast today.  That girly little shoulder workout yesterday, but me in soreness mode.  My lats are tight...my triceps are tight...my biceps are tight.  Going to see the ortho tomorrow.

Monday, January 10th, 2011 - Back Squat / Shoulder Press

Back Squat
1-1-1
185lbs/225lbs/250lbs

Shoulder Press test
3x5
55lbs x 5 reps
75lbs x 5 reps
80lbs x 5 reps

We'll see how she feels in the morning

GH Situps
2x10

Sunday, January 9th, 2011 - Back Squats

Back Squat
1-1-1-1-1
135lbs/185lbs/205lbs/225lbs/250lbs