Thrust!

HSPU day 29 (10-10-9)

CFWUx2
Thruster 1-1-1-1-1-1-1
115#/120/125/130/140/150/160
Bench Press 3-3-3-3-3
175#/180/185/190/195(PR!)

This is the first time I've done heavy thrusters, so I decided to play it safe and start light. I plan on starting and ending a bit heavier next time.
I'm amazed at my progress on bench...I remember not too long ago, when I could barely get three with body weight (still at 160#)...now I'm right at the edge of 200! =D

Yesterday: CrossFit Total 012809

HSPU day 28 (10-8-5-5)

CFWUx2

CrossFit Total
Back Squat - 225#/235/250PR
Press - 125#/130PR/135F
Deadlift - 335#/345PR/350F

Total - 725

Very pleased with most of this. I think I've got a mental sticking point that prevented me from getting the 350# deadlift...its only 5# more than my new PR, but for some reason I didn't even get it off the ground. Squats were absolutely perfect, and I think I could have done 5-10# more. Press was barely an improvement from last time...only 5# and I almost didn't get it up.

Barbara just might be a ninja...

Yesterday: HSPU Day 26 (9-8-9)
Today: HSPU Day 27 (10-10-7)

Yesterday I took another rest day...my forearms and core were pretty jacked up from the last cycle, and the muscles in my right hand were really tweaked from ventilation training.

CFWUx2

Pack:
“Barbara Lite”
5 Rounds:
10 Pull-up
20 Push-up
30 Sit-up
40 Squat

2:31/2:49/2:51/3:25/3:22

I just couldn’t see why everyone was complaining so much about this one…until the last two rounds. A treacherous, sneaky woman that Barbara is!

Rest Day!

HSPU day 25

Finally. I can't truly rest though...have to clean the house for a showing this afternoon. Luckily most of it is straight, but the kitchen looks like a victim of nuclear fallout. Upsetting =/ haha.

Yesterday: WOD 012409

Yesterday:
HSPU day 24 (10-10-4)

CFWUx2

Pack/Porchish:
For time 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 rep rounds of:
Virtual shoveling (25# plate)
Pull-ups

11:27

Then:
OHS 3-3-3-3-3
95#-115-120-125-130(F)

Not too happy with that failure. It was more shoulder failure than legs...I could have squatted that weight easily, but my shoulders would not cooperate. And I refuse to believe that it's the HSPUs...they haven't bothered me at all so far.

WOD 012309

23 HSPU (10-9-4)

CFWUx2

‘1/2 Murph’

For Time:
1/2 mile run
50 pull-ups
100 push-ups
150 squats
1/2 mile run

24:19

That sucked…I could have probably gotten a better time, but I’m no good running in the cold…

Also worked on my Handstands, played around with the Sledgehammer (all wrist strength related work), and did a few tuck sits with my hands on the ends of dumbbells, held each one for ten full breaths.

Found an awesome poem on the San Francisco CrossFit blog...dunno who wrote it though:

Answer The Demon

Can't is the word that is foe to ambition,
An enemy ambushed to shatter your will;
Its prey is forever the man with a mission
And bows but to courage and patience and skill.

Hate it, with hatred that's deep and undying,
For once it is welcomed 'twill break any man;
Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying
And answer this demon by saying: "I can.
"

Goals 2009

23 HSPU (10-9-4)

I've been thinking about it and I think I need to list out my goals for the year...not necessarily so I can accomplish them, but just so I can stay on point with my training.

My Goals for 2009:
1. Deadlift 375lbs.
2. Back Squat 250lbs.
3. Press 150lbs.
4. Power Clean bodyweight
5. Hold a full Handstand for at least a minute
6. Flag for at least 30 seconds
7. One-arm Pull-up
8. Sub-15-minute 3/4 Angie

This isn't a complete list...I'll edit and add more later.

WOD 012209

Yesterday: HSPU day 21 - 21 done (11-10)
Today: HSPU day 22 - 22 donesky (10-10-2)

I feel like I'm really getting stronger with these, and recovery is not a problem just yet...we'll see if I'm singin' a different song by day 30 though...

WOD:
Front Squat 5-5-5-5-5
Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1

CFWUx2
Front Squat - 115#/125/135/145/165 (+5#PR)
Deadlift - 225#/275/295/315/335 (+15#PR)

Really felt like I could have gone heavier on both lifts, but since I'm still recovering from a hangover I decided not to push my luck.

Yesterday WOD 012009

HSPU Day 20 - 20 full HSPU (9-7-4)

CFWUx2
Buy-In - Bench 5-5-5 (165, 170, 175PR!)

WOD: Pull-up Variations (Pack Scale)
10 RFT of:
3 Weighted Pull-ups, 35 lbs
5 Strict Pull-ups
7 Kipping Pull-ups

Time: 13:40 (only completed 5 rounds)
Sets: 11

Cash out: OHS Multi 95#x13


This was horrible. As you can see, I only got halfway through the WOD. We got a call, so I had to stop, and by the time we got back I wouldn't have had time to complete it...so I just finished by doing as many OHS as possible w/ 95lbs. This WOD was upsetting though...I can knock out 35 kipping pull-ups, 18 strict, +70lb singles, and 3x5 w/ +40lbs...but I was having a LOT of trouble with this workout. Seems my pull-ups aren't quite as strong as I thought they were, and my grip strength NEEDS work. Oh well, I'll just consider it a learning experience and move on.

It's just like me not to finish things...

but I've come to the conclusion that doing a Starting Strength cycle without doing some of the important things like drinking a gallon of milk a day and eating 7,000 calories a day (I'm just skimming 5,000 as it is...I wouldn't be able to keep down an extra 2,000) won't get me measurable enough results to really make this program worth it on a purely strength-focused level, let alone a bulking-focused one. As usual, Garddawg (Jeff Martin, Brand X) was right...it's better to just stick to CrossFit and I'll get stronger through its constant variation. This routine is already getting boring, anyway...and I haven't done as many MetCons as I planned to, because I've been too focused on getting heavier lifts. I'm sure that's had a negative effect on my endurance. Therefore, I'll be starting back with CF starting tomorrow...and in order to continue getting PR's on my lifts, I'll add ME work and form practice after the WODs. Plus those constant heavy squats are starting to aggravate my back. Soooo...tomorrow will be the re-start of my strict CrossFit adherence!

HSPU Day 19 - 19 done (12-7)

Today, I'm not going to do a whole lot...mostly just to make sure I'm well-rested enough for my attempt at 220x5x3 Back Squat tomorrow.

I will, however, work on various bodyweight skills. These include handstands, crane pose, ab wheel, one-arm pushup (just tried and was successful with both arms!), L-sit, ring dip static hold, and I may try my hand at the Flag (shown at left). Just as with my Ringwork Day, I won't be doing any specific set/rep scheme...just spend time messing around with these various skills.

Yesterday: SS Day 7

HSPU Day 18 - 18 HSPU (8-7-3)

CFWUx2

Squat - 45x5x3, 65x5, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 220x5, 215x5, 210x4 (falied last rep)
Push Jerk - 45x5x3, 55x5, 65x5, 85x5, 95x5, singles 115, 120, 125, 130, 135
Power Clean (practice) - 45x5x3 hang, 45x5x3 full
Wighted Pull-ups (as many reps as possible +40# 5-5-5-5-5) - 5/4/3/3/3
Weighted Ring Dips 3-3-3-3-3 - 20#, 25, 30, 35, 40

Squat: This was upsetting, but I have a good idea why I wasn't able to finish the last work set at 210#...it is most likely because of a combination of things. First, I haven't really focused as much on recovery as I should. Second, I probably didn't warm up as much as I should have. Third, I was hungry and tired already before starting the workout. So, I'll get more sleep tonight, make sure to eat within two hours of working out, and do a couple extra warmup sets and try for 3 full sets of 220. If I'm not able to manage it, I'll take a little extra time off and start back up on Saturday...or I may just do something different, like Front or Overhead Squats as a sort of back-off workout.

Push Jerk: I love this lift. My form is good, but for some reason I always land with my feet a little too wide so I have to reset for each rep...and that takes a lot of extra energy out of me that I could use to put up a bit more weight. I probably could have gone up at least ten more pounds, but since we don't have bumpers at the station gym I'm a little hesitant to push it to the limit. Anyway, this lift was only a sub for the Press to try to stimulate a little extra growth/strength.


Power Clean: I realized after reading Starting Strength again that my Power Clean form was absolutely horrendous...so I've decided to start from the ground up and practice just the form until I feel I can add weight. I'm having trouble keeping the bar close to my body as I pass the knees, though, since my knobby knees are in the way of the bar's path. If I were to keep the bar in contact with my body until the second pull, I would continually smash it into my kneecaps. I'll have to figure out how to deal with this issue...I may have to suck it up and pay for a coach at the Kansas City affiliate to help me with my form...

Rest Day

HSPU Day 17 - 17 done (9-8)

Much-needed (and earned!) rest day today.

Analyzing my improvements over the last two weeks, I see some areas where I need some serious work still and others that may benefit from some temporary changes.

Squats: are great...perfect form, and I'm still getting stronger. When I do stop improving so quickly I'll throw in a different stimulus (like front squats, overhead squats, etc.) and see if that helps.

Deadlifts: are absolutely perfect and still improving by leaps and bounds. I won't really need to do a whole lot of changing things up to continue getting stronger with this lift. I'll change the set/rep scheme if my progress does happen to slow down.

Bench: is a basic movement and form was easy to redevelop, though I still feel I can do more weight...and my pull strength is still higher and that leaves me out of balance so I need to keep working hard on it.

Press: now this one is frustrating me. I have yet to see any kind of improvement on this lift. So what I'm going to do is introduce a different stimulus for the next couple times I do the workout that includes it. Tomorrow, I'll be doing push jerks. Two workouts later, I'll do 5 sets of 3 reps. Then I'll go back to the 3 sets of 5 reps and see where I'm at then.

Power Clean: I need to do a LOT of work on my form, so I'm going to start from the ground up and completely relearn the lift. That means I won't start gaing heavy on it until I feel like I've improved enough on my form.

Yesterday: SS Day 6

HSPU Day 16 - 16 done (9-7)

Decided to do a little extra yesterday, since today is my rest day...mostly worked on pull-up strength, since I'm trying to work up to a one-arm pull-up.

CFWUx2
Squat - 45x5x3, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 210x5x3
Bench - 45x5x3, 65x5, 95x5, 135x5, 155x5, 175x5x3
Weighted Knee Raises - 25x5, 30x5, 35x5
Plank - 2:00
Russian Twist Empty Bar x10, +25# 10x3
Pull-ups
- Side-to-side - 8x2
- Rope Assists (one hand on bar, one on rope...hand on rope pulls as little as possible) - 3x2/arm
- "Frenchies" (a negative plus three static holds at various angles) - x5

Squat: It appears my improvements may be slowing just a bit, because after adding ten more pounds, i was just barely able to get through the last couple reps of my last work set. Coach Rip says to continue adding ten lbs until you aren't able to get the last couple reps, so I'll keep going up in ten lb intervals for now. I hope I'm not starting to slow down already...but it may just be because I'm taking fewer rest days than Rip suggests. I'll keep going for now, and in about a week I'll go back and reassess my approach.

Bench: Bench strength is still progressing nicely. Hopefully after another two weeks or so, I'll have balanced my bench and pull-up strengths. I completed this one feeling like I still could have done more weight. Then I watched as our Combat Challenge team captain/coach used my work set weight as his warmup weight =/...haha. That just means I'll have to push even harder if I plan on making the team in May.

Everything else I did yesterday was stuff to work on other areas, especially core strength and working toward getting a one-arm pull-up. I'm closer than I thought, but I still have some work to do before I'm able to do that one.

Ringwork!

HSPU Day 15 - 15 donesky (10-5)

Today is a very special day...Ringwork Day! (I haven't officially decided how often I'll do this, but I do want to start adding the occasional day dedicated to ring work and other gymnastic stuffs)

On the rings (various reps and hold times):
L-sit holds
Dips
Jacknives
Push-ups
Skin the cat
V-ups
Ice Cream Maker

Off the rings:
Crane pose
Headstand
Frenchies (pull-up negative holds)

Fun stuff. I'll make a real routine out of it sometime soon. I was just doing a bit of playing today.

Yesterday: SS Day 5

HSPU Day 14 - 14 done (9-5)

CFWUx2

Squat - 45x5x3, 65x5, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 200x5x3
Press - 45x5x3, 55x5, 75x5, 85x5, 95x5, 110x5x3
Deadlift - 135x5x3, 185x5, 205x5, 225x5, 275x5
Pull-ups - 10x3 (2 sets strict, 1 set kipping)

Squat: Didn't feel good about another 10 lb jump yesterday, but I decided to try to grind though it anyway. Warm-up did nothing but cement my apprehension because I felt gassed before I even started to get close to my work sets. I kept driving through though, and managed to grind out those work sets. Form was a little wonky first three reps on my last work set, but I corrected and managed to squeeze the last two reps out with perfect form. I'll try to add another 10 lbs next workout, but I may have to go with smaller jumps.

Press: This one was upsetting. Warm-up sets went fine, but I planned on moving up to 115 lbs for my work sets. I managed to get it up twice, and then failed on5 the third rep...so I had to move back to 110. Which means no progress. Not happy about that. I'm going to switch it up and do push presses next time, and see if that stimulates growth/strength.

Deadlift: I was incredibly happy with this one. I added 30 lbs from my last workout. My legs were tired from grinding through the squats, though, and I really felt it during my work set. Everyone in the gym stopped and watched, probably because of my screaming each rep (haha, it's pretty motivating) and applauded when I finished my last rep. I'm glad I work out at the station gym, otherwise that might have been enough to get me thrown out of a Globo.

Yesterday: SS Day 4

HSPU Challenge day 12 - 12 HSPU, but not consecutive anymore =/ (9-3)


CFWUx2
Squat - 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 190x5x3
Bench - 45x5x3, 65x5, 95x5, 135x5, 155x5, 170x5x3
Good Morning - 45x10x3
Pull-ups - 35x5x2 pull, 35x5x1 chin

Felt good yesterday, and still feel like I can go heavier than I am...though as long as I continue progressing I'm alright with that. I only ended up jumping up 15 lbs. on my squat though. Seemed like 3/4 of the shift was in our tiny little gym, so due to space issues I wasn't able to warm up enough to attempt an extra 20 lbs. Still, I'm satisfied that I could go up 15 and still feel like I could've done more. Bench is progressing more than it ever has before, and so is my pull-up strength, though nowhere as fast.

Rest Day

Yay! Rest day!

HSPU Day 11 - 11 consecutive HSPU! 'Nother new PR!

Later I'll do some yoga, but other than that I'm not doing a damn thing today. Need to recover, because I plan on making an even bigger jump on squats tomorrow.

Yesterday: SS Day 3

Yesterday was HSPU day 10 - 10 consecutive HSPU
I'm damn proud of that. Before I started focusing more on strength and, of course, before I started this challenge I could barely get 95 lbs. over my head, and I couldn't muster more than 6 HSPUs...so that's more proof that this program can work for pure, functional strength!

Anyway, I digress...

CFWUx2

Squat - 45x5x3, 65x5, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 175x5x3
Press - 45x5x2, 55x5, 75x5, 85x5, 95x5, 110x5x3
Power Clean - 45x5x3 (hang), 95x5 (hang), 105x5 (hang), 115x5 (full), 135x5x3 (full)
Pull-ups - 10x3 (sets 1&2 strict, 3 kipping)

I still feel like I can go heavier on squats...not just because I'm improving and able to add ten lbs. each workout, but I'm just not going heavy enough to begin with. It's a mental barrier that I have to work through. My press strength is building quickly, which is a surprise since I've always had trouble strengthening my shoulders. The power clean needs work. My form is acceptable, but I'm not nearly aggressive enough. Instead of yanking the bar up and dropping under it, I'm trying to pull it up into position without actually trying to get under. Overall I'm pleased with my strength gains after just a week on the program. Hopefully I'll continue to get stronger at this rate for the full three months.

Revisiting Angie

HSPU Challenge Day 9 - 9 consecutive HSPU

CFWUx3

“Angie’s Half Sister”
for time:
50 Pullups
50 Pushups
50 Situps
50 Squats

8:00 flat! New PR!

That was pretty damn intense. I haven't taken that long to recover since Fran. It's officially time to scale up to 3/4 though.

Yoga later. Not sure what routine I'll go with, but I'm definitely waiting until right before bed, otherwise I may not be able to make it through haha...

Starting Strength Day 2

I had to miss the MetCon I planned on doing yesterday due to personal reasons. Luckily I had to go
to the station today anyway, so I knocked out my workout this morning.

HSPU Challenge Day 8 - 8 consecutive HSPU

CFWUx2

Squat - 45#x5x3, 65#x5x2, 85#x5, 95#x5, 135#x5, 165#x5x3
Bench - 45#x5x2, 65#x5, 85#x5, 95#x5, 135#x5, 155#x5, 165#x5x3
Good Morning - 45#x10x3
Heavy Pull-up - +30#x5x3

I'm continuing to do the standard CrossFit warm-up for now, because it works well to get my body significantly warm to start my warm-up sets.

I'm a little intrigued at how imbalanced my body is right now...squatting as much as I bench, but pulling a significant amount more than both. It will eventually even itself out, since I'll get stronger on the squat much faster than I will on the bench, and my pull strength will be the slowest to develop (it's taken me years to get to the point I'm at now...to the detriment of the areas I used to neglect). I just wish I could do the gallon of milk a day, since that would produce optimum results...

Tomorrow will be either a 3/4 Angie or 150 burpees for time, depending on how much time I'll have for it, plus a yoga workout in the evening.

Took some time off and used it to do some thinking....

Now, since my CFT about a week ago, I've realized that I really want to work on getting stronger. Therefore, I'm going to go against the usual CrossFit way for a while and do the whole Starting Strength thing. They say each person is unique and their responses to exercise are all different, so I'm considering this my personal experiment. I may succeed where others have failed.

So here's the lowdown...

I've set up my schedule to take advantage of the gym at the fire station and also incorporated one MetCon workout a week. I'll be doing a 3-on/1-off schedule. Day 1 will be SS workout A (Squat, Press, Deadlift/Power Clean alternate each workout, Pull-ups), Day 2 will be a MetCon that doesn't interfere with my strength gains and recovery (like Angie, anything with a lot of burpees, etc.), once a month I'll replace the MetCon with a 5K, Day 3 will be workout B (Squat, Bench, Good Morning, heavy Pull-ups), and on my Rest Day I'll do yoga. I may also throw in some yoga on MetCon days. I'll try to get as many calories in a day as possible, but I won't be able to do the gallon of milk a day that Coach Rip recommends since my stomach can't handle it. Instead I'll use other dairy products, especially cottage cheese, in its place. I know I won't achieve optimum results that way, but I want strength, not necessarily size.

I'll be doing this for three months.

Yesterday's workout:
HSPU Challenge Day 6 - 6 HSPU

CFWUx2

Squat - 45#x5x3, 65#x5x2, 85#x5, 95#x5, 115#x5, 135#x5, 155#x5x3
Press - 45#x5x2, 55#x5, 75#x5, 85#x5, 95#x5, 105#x5x3
Deadlift - 115#x5x3, 135#x5, 185#x5, 225#x5, 245#x5
Pull-up - 12x3 (sets 1&2 strict, set 3 kipping)