First Rx Fran - 8:13

My goal is sub-7 minutes, so I have some work to do.

WOD 03/28/08

This last month of training has been intense and rewarding.  My form and technique are much-improved.  One more class and I get to train with the big kids.  Then it's Fran and Potluck this Sunday.  This is my first attempt at Rx Fran.  My previous best was 4:47 with 25# DBs.

Some new goals:
Snatch - 135
C&J - 150
DL - 350
PU - 40
Nasty Girls (shudder)
Angie (sub 25 minutes)
Fran (sub 7 minutes)

- - - - -

Warm up: 3 sets

1 Block run
10 Squats
10 Push-ups
10 Pull-ups
1 ea Sampson stretch

7x10 sec L-hold (45 sec rest)

WOD: 5 sets
15 Wall ball (20#, 20, 20, 8, 8)
15 Ball slam (20#, 20, 12, 12, 12)
OHDB walking lunges (25 yards) (15#)

Time: 23:47

WOD 03/25/08

Plain and simple: I suck at KB swings and have a weak lower core.  Any suggestions for KB WODs?  Should I go lighter stay at 20kg, heavier?  I'm thinking I should do swings every time there's a KB in the room.

Warm-up: 3 sets

300M Rows on the C2
12 KB Swings (20kg)
10 Squats
10 Push-ups
10 Pull-ups
1 ea Sampson Stretch

Intermediate Work: (8 minutes)
Try to knock your partner off a balance beam with a 20 med ball throwing over, under, and each side.

WOD: 21-18-15-12-9-6-3
KB Swings (20 kg)
Ball Slam (20#)

WOD 03/22/08

Warm-up: 2 sets

1 block run
15 OHS
15 Push-press (20#)
15 Pull-ups

Skills work:
Snatch: 45, 55#
5-4-3-3-3-3-3-3-3

Clean & Jerk: 55#
5-4-4-3-3-3-3-3-3

Thrusters: 95#
13-10-10-5-9

WOD 03/20/08

Warm-up: 3 sets
1 block run
10 OHS (PVC)
10 Push-press (20# DB)
10 SDHP (20kg)

Skills work:
OHS
Snatch progression

Snatch: weighted attempts with the bar
15#, 35, 55, 75, 75, 55, 55, 55

On my second 75 pound attempt, I took a nice spill and the bar landed on my shins. Wondering what that shredded wet grocery bag stuff was on the bar, I discovered that it shin. Nice.

I a deeper respect for people that can do body weight plus snatches. You need flawless execution. Getting the weight over your head isn't that hard. Getting it set in the overhead position to do the overhead squat proves very challenging.

Warm-up: 3 sets
1 block run
10 lunges (each)
10 pull-ups
10 push-ups

Skills work:
Snatch
OHS
C&J

WOD: 4 sets
(25#, 20, 20, 20 - DB)

5 1-hand OHS each side
15 C&J
15 Pull-ups

Time: 20:05 (dead last but only one to do full Rx)

Doing Box Jumps at Crossfit DC

Being short and doing high box jumps have both advantages and disadvantages. Hard!

Teaism in Dupont has an amazing cilantro scrambled eggs with smoked salmon breakfast. Wash it down with an iced green tea and you'll get the stuff your body craves after a WOD. Beware of the pretentious hipster set who will give your eyeballs a workout as you roll them.

* * *

Warm-up: (3 sets)
30 squats
10 push-ups
10 scorpion stretches

(Rest)
10 Overhead DB lunges (20#)
10 DB Cleans (20#)

WOD:
50 Jump rope
4 x 20 KB swing (1/5 pood)
4 x 10 Box jump to burpees (18")
3 x 30 V sit-ups

Rx: 100 Jump rope, 4 sets each

3 attempts kipping MU (more like front uprise) - fail

50 Jump rope

Warm-up: 3 sets

1 Block run
10 Squats
10 Push-ups
10 Pull-ups
1 ea Sampson stretch


WOD: 3 sets

Front squats (95#)
Push press (95#)
Deadlift to shrug (135#) - 4 sets


1 pass through the parkour course.

Time: :22

Athlete or Crossfitter?

I've had a standing difference of opinion with my friend. I contend that Crossfitters are not "athletes" just because they train. Let me be clear--I am not denigrating Crossfit in any way. It's the most effective collection of training modalities I've ever come across and I'm a koolaid-drinking, card carrying believer.

Having said that, I don't believe that completing an Rx-ed Fran with a head-exploding time necessarily makes you a complete athlete (or an athlete for that matter). Translating those functional strength gains into athletic achievements does. For example:

• throwing a baseball from right field to home plate on one hop to save a run


• dunking over three taller defenders late in the game


• getting a first ascent climbing a steeply overhanging rock face


• throwing a devastating roundhouse kick for KO


• sprinting 100 meters faster than your opponents

Mark Twight -- a man whose gym I am not fit to sweep -- agrees with me.

We train in preparation for sport-specific tests or work-related challenges, we do not train for the sake of it or because conditioning is our sport or hobby. We don't do this because we want to look a certain way or to lose weight (these are consequences). We suffer during training to improve ourselves physically and psychologically and we measure those improvements on mountains, on frozen waterfalls, in burning buildings, facing cunning adversaries, on the battlefield, on the mat and in the cage. Because these tests occur outside the gym we don't compete in the gym, we work hard, and we work together to make the sum greater than its individual parts. Cheating here won't help us get where we are going so we enforce all quality all of the time.

That's our yardstick, how long is yours?

For many that train, this distinction is meaningless because they train to compete in sports. But let's also not minimize what they do because some dude can do a lot of pull-ups. And let's not forget that much of Crossfit comes from the best of what elite athletes were already doing, not the other way around.

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* * *
In the above referenced article, Twight discusses quality versus quantity and how honor translates into true athletic gains. His discussion of Quality makes me examine how I train and how cheating myself is the cruelest deceit.

Warm up:
50 Jump Rope
10 Squats
10 Push-ups
10 Pull-ups
1 each Sampson Stretch

WOD: For time
10 Sumo Deadlift High Pull (1/2 pood)
10 Dumbbell push Press (20#)
10 Front Squat (PVC only)

Fran: not timed
21-15-9

Thrusters (65#)
Pull-ups

Warm-up: 3 sets
1 block run
10 squats
10 push-ups
10 pull-ups
1 each sampson stretch

Skills work:
Push-press
Sumo Deadlift high lift
Front Squats
2 sets jump pull-up to muscle up

WOD: 21-15-9 for time
Kettlebell SDHL (1/2 pood)
Dumbbell Push-press (20#)

Time: 4:00

Warm-up: 3 rounds

15 squats
5 dive bombers
15 supermans
5 burpees
5 scorpions (each side)

WOD: 5-1 minute rounds (2 min rest between super sets)

36" box jumps
Dumbbell thrusters (20#)**
Kettlebell swings (1/2 pood)
Dumbbell clean and jerk (30#)**

** Total movement score per round: 18-14-14-15-19


Skills work: Turkish Get-up
5 each side + practice tries (1 pood)

Cool-down: 5 minutes of stretching

This is the first time I tried Diane. I've always looked at this Workout of the Day with equal parts awe and envy of those that could do the fully prescribed workout. I tried it, but it just wasn't happening. Even though 225 lbs is around two-thirds my deadlift max, lifting it forty-five times was too much. Ditto on handstand push-ups. These require every muscle in your body to act in concert--equal parts balance and strength.

Proper breathing during WODs continues to plague me. I've had some very negative experiences in the past, resulting in pressure headaches. Audible breathing in yoga and breathing ladders have helped, but it's a skill I need to keep improving.

---

Warm-up: 3 sets

50 jump rope
10 squats
10 push-ups
10 pull-ups
1 Sampson stretch (each side)

Medicine Ball Catch (10 minutes)

We also tried something new today. Stand on a 2x4 balance beam about 8 feet apart and play catch (overhead, underhand, each side) with a 12# med ball. The last 5 minutes we tried to knock the other off. The catcher tried to absorb the blow without falling.

WOD: Modified Diane

18 hspu + 3 inverted L pu
145 DL

15 inverted L pu
135 DL

9 inverted L pu
135 DL

Time: 10:50

Rx'ed: 225# deadlift, handstand push-ups) - 21-15-9

I don't know if I broke through today, or what, but I felt immensely strong. Typically, I'm destroyed after a Crossfit WOD, but not today. Granted, it's an essentials class scaled for technique, gradually folding athletes into the CF method. But, hot damn if I didn't drive straight to the climbing gym afterwards and claw out 5 climbs that two weeks ago would have had me grabbing my knees panting. For good measure, I closed with a second moderate WOD.

I feel my functional returning, and to be honest, I wasn't even aware it was gone. It's only a matter of time before pull-ups and thrusters become effortless again. And I have some unfinished business with Fran.

---

Warm Up: 3 sets

15 squats
10 push ups
5 jumping pull ups
1 Sampson stretch (each side)
1 block run


WOD:

5-5-5-5-5 back squat (45, 65, 85, 95, 135)
5-5-5 push press (65, 95, 95)
5-5-5-5 deadlift (85, 95, 115, 155)


Cool Down:

Stretching


Climbing:

4 x 5.9
1 x 5.10


WOD 2: 15-15-9

Sumo squat (25)
Rotator cuff (5 each side)
Bent over flies (10)
KB swings (1/2 pood)

Ice Weekend 2008 Pictures

IMG_0620.JPG
Originally uploaded by Choizilla

Pictures from my 3-day ice climbing trip in February in Crawford and Franconia Notches, NH.

http://flickr.com/photos/55566535@N00/collections/72157603850810785/

First Day at Primal Fitness Boot Camp

A parkour group met after our boot camp group today. Their WODs were insane: Bear crawling one-handed push ups, pull up-chin up switching, pull up to muscle ups. I felt sick just watching them. I made me want to elevate my fitness.

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Pretty moderate WOD with mostly skills work for the new people.

Warm Up: 3 sets
1 run around a city block
15 squats
10 pushup
5 pull ups (jumping)
1 sampson stretch (each side)

WOD: 10 minutes (max sets) - 1/2 Cindy
15 squats
10 pushup
5 pull ups
Sets: 5

Cool down:
Several yoga-type stretches

Yoga
1:15 at Tranquil Space Arlington

Warm up:
15 squats
5 dive
15 superman
5 burpees
15 situps
5 scorpions


WOD: # of sets in 30 minutes
7 burpees
7 dumbbell cleans (45, 30)
7 barbell thrusters (85#)

Sets: 5 (terrible - class average around 8)

Things I learned - my ass almost touches the ground when I do thrusters. That makes thrusters kind of hard.

Cool down:
1 min V-sit
1 min plank
1 min V-sit
1 min plank