Crossfit Open

With the explosion in popularity of Crossfit and the huge influx of athletes wanting to participate in the Crossfit Games, the event organizers have created a format that I think is really interesting. In previous years, they've had to add regional qualifiers, and then sectional qualifiers in order to move on to the championships in Aromas. This year, they are adding yet another layer of selectivity for the games. 6 workouts over a 6-week period will be released and athletes will have the option of sending in home videos of themselves completing the workout, or completing it at a participating affiliate. I haven't been keeping up with metcons recently, but have kept up at least partially with strength training and running. The entry fee is 10 bucks and I could easily perform the workouts at Central Bucks Crossfit. I figured I would see what happens. The workout for Week 1 was as follows:

AMRAP 10 minutes:
30 Double Unders
15 Power Snatches (75)

I checked out the leaderboards and saw that 8 complete rounds would get me into the top 10. As always, these workouts look much easier on paper than they actually are. I completed 5 rounds, 30 DUs, and 9 snatches before the end and it was safe to say that I was hauling ass the whole time. The power snatches definitely killed me, but I was surprised at how few double unders I could finish in one stretch. I don't think my counter was doing a good job, missing 1-3 reps each set. This was aggravating, but I still couldn't string together more than 10 at a time in the later rounds. Frustrating. I left feeling drained in a way that I haven't felt in a while. Now I remember what it felt like to be doing those on a regular basis. I wish there was still an option to do this workout at Spring House, but hopefully they'll bring something similar to Malvern in the future.

Upswing

Early morning

AMRAP 7 minutes
5 burpees
10 Deadlifts (80)
8 rounds

AMRAP 7 minutes
15 Double Unders
10 OH Lunges (35)
5 High Low Planks
6 + 20 rounds

AMRAP 7 minutes
15 Box Jumps
10 OH Presses (55)
5 Plank Jacks
7 rounds

Early afternoon

Short trail run with Chris and Paul this afternoon. Runs like today make you realize that you're body doesn't always perform like it's indicating it might. After this morning's workout, I was doubting running, but wanted to hit a certain weekly mileage total. Fearing my legs would quickly fill up with lead, I decided against better judgement to venture out onto the trails. The monsoon-like conditions had left the quarry and nature preserve a veritable swamp-fest. My "jump-right-in" mindset over the past few days came in pretty useful, as entire stretches of trail were submerged in over-flowing creeks and mud that surged almost up to my shins in a few instances.

Honestly, it was the best run all week. My legs felt better than they have in forever during a run. When you factor in this week's activities, I would say that I'm finally on the upswing of what has been almost a year-long cardiovascular depression. Maybe it's too early to make that call. Maybe I should knock on wood before my long run on Sunday. But it just feels good to feel good about running again.

Tabata Something Else

Early afternoon

Tabata Something Else

Sledgehammer 14
Jump Overs (parallette) 20
Situps 12
Double Unders 12

This is not the same workout often described under the same name. The workout involves 32 consecutive intervals ( 8 per exercise) of 20s on and 10s off. In my mind, I thought this was supposed to be 32 minutes, but actually on adds up to 16 minutes.

Late afternoon

Basketball game. Pretty decent today, but still lost.

Workout comments: My calves were definitely sore after this, obviously from jump overs and double unders, followed closely by a basketball game.

Pushups, Metcon, Basketball

Early afternoon

Max Pushups: 35

Metcon: 4 Rounds, 6 Stations
1 minute, no rest between stations. 1 minute rest between rounds.

KB Swings 45#
Front Squat 45#
Renegade Row 20#
Step Ups 24in
Half Moons 20#
Double Unders

Couldn't keep track of all the reps, but I was fairly consistent throughout. Surprisingly, the toughest part was the half moons. These really took a lot out of me.

Late evening

About 1 hour of basketball. Both of our teams had a lot of subs for this game, but it didn't mean there was a whole lot of rest. We still play pretty inconsistently, but it was a win nonetheless. They had one player who could shoot from pretty much anywhere on the floor, and did so almost without resistance. If it wasn't for Shawn and his 4-5 three-pointers, I think we would definitely would have racked up an L for this game.

Metcon

Early morning

For time:
100 DUs
100 Squats
100 Pushups
100 Situps

10:12

Then: 30 second intervals of running, med ball twists, KB swings

Workout comments: Made it through 70 consecutive double unders before I realized that the workout could be sectioned off however you felt necessary. I pushed through all the double unders and then did 5 rounds of 20 reps of the remaining exercises. I could have made it easily through the squats and situps, but I knew the pushups would give me trouble.

Site Challenge

Early Morning

For Time:

100 DUs
100 Squats
100 Pushups
100 Situps

10:11

Comments: It wasn't until I was finished the double unders that I realized you could break up the workout into smaller sections to help you get through everything faster. Better that I found out the hard way, because I set a PR in consecutive double unders at 70. My forearms really started burning towards the end. The rest of the workout was broken up into 5 sets of 20 reps of each exercise.
Nutrition: Nothing but a glass of water and coffee in the morning.
Body: No real soreness anywhere.
Sleep: About 6 hours.

Strength, Short Metcon

Early afternoon

Pullups 6, 8, 6, 6, 10
Deadlift 5 X 3
Load: 210, 260, 260, 280, 300

Power Clean and Jerk 5 X 3
Load: 140, 160, 160, 160, 160
Incline Weighted Situps 5 X 10
Load: 25

Back Squats 5 X 2 X 235
On the minute

Metcon

3 Rounds for Time:
20 DUs
20 Jumping Lunges
20 Box Jumps 18in

Round 1: 1:28
Round 2: 1:58
Round 3: 1:53

Total: 5:19

Workout comments: I felt extremely sluggish this morning, a combination of a restless night's sleep combined with soreness in upper and lower body. This should not be the case, since all I did yesterday was a light run with short sprinting sets. I'm going to try some supplements over the next few weeks to see if this can alleviate the soreness and aid recovery time. Being sore all the time takes away from the feeling of fitness you're supposed to get from exercise.

Strength, Metcon

Afternoon

Strength

Max Pullup Test: 12

Squats 5 x 5
Load: 215

Cleans 5 x 3
Loads: 120, 140, 140, 140, 140

Metcon

3 Rounds for Time

20 DUs
30 Walking Lunges
25 Burpees
20 KB swings 44#
15 Push Press 35# DBs
10 Pushups
20 Box Jumps

Round 1: 6:37
Round 2: 8:43
Round 3: 8:58

Total: 24:18

Workout comments: I'm going to attempt a pullup program laid out by 50pullups.com. A few months ago I tried the Military Pull Program and it helped significantly with the number of strict pullups I could do. I believe in the course of 10 days I progressed from 8-10 max pullups to 15 pullups. I'm still average around 10-12 pullups over multiple sets, but I thought this seemed like a nice long term program that could easily fit into a normal workout schedule. I'm also going to be incorporating much more running into my schedule as the Spring rolls around, and with the numerous parks around my neighborhood, incorporating this into my routine shouldn't be too hard.

Bench Press, Wood Chop, Metcon

Late afternoon

Bench Press 5 X 5
Load: 205

Wood Chop 5 X 10
Load: 245

Attempted two rounds of an exercise to improve jumping ability. Resembled the SHDP but included an extra shrug and elevation up to toes. Did not feel comfortable or natural. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Pullups 2 X max
9, 7

Metcon

12 Deadlifts (260)
30 Double Unders
6 Deadlifts
20 Double Unders
3 Deadlifts
10 Double Unders

3:56

Workout comments: I full expect my lower back to be sore from the deadlifts tomorrow. I couldn't manage any pullups today so quit after 2 rounds. Figured I would give them a rest. Looking to get a long run in this weekend.

The tough mudder (toughmudder.com) is coming up in April and looks to be a pretty cool course. Even though they boast a "no results posted" attitude. The top 5% of all finishers are invited to the championships, which is a 48 hour endurance race. Seems pretty cool.

Modified Fight Gone Bad, Basketball

Early afternoon

Modified Fight Gone Bad

	R1	R2	R3
Wall Ball	45	38	50
SDHP	37	32	30
Box Jumps	20	17	12
Push Press	15	14	14
Double Unders	20	15	16
Total	137	116	122

Workout comments: Modification of the Fight Gone Bad workout. Total was 375. The rower is replaced with the double-unders. Had to take several breaks throughout the workout, which hurt my total reps. I just couldn't keep these up.

Evening

About 2 hours of basketball with the work league. Just an open gym tonight. I haven't played in almost 3 months, which is to say the game was pretty sloppy. Took some protein in after the game and slept well. Not as sore the following day as I expected to be.

Strength, Short Metcon

Early afternoon

Bench Press 5 X 5
Load: 195, 195, 195, 195, 205

Situps 5 X 20
*Superset

Squats 4 X 3
Load: 225

Pullups 4 X 8 (Neutral grip)
*Supersets

Metcon
Revised Annie

50, 40, 30, 20, 10

Double Unders
Burpees

12:45

I think my PR in the regular version of Annie is somewhere around 7 minutes. This was definitely a much tougher version, but I was dogging it during the burpees. I figured I need to make HSPUs, box jumps, and burpees a much more regular block of my workouts. They are the aspect of any workout I hate the most.

The bench press is getting better and better, while I'm continuing to make up lost ground on the squats.

Metcon

Early afternoon

1, 2...10 rep rounds of the following:

Push Press 100
Pushups
Front Squats 100
Double Unders
Power Cleans
Situps
Box Jumps
KB Swings 50
Pullups
Burpees

Workout comments: I didn't make it through to the 10th round. The 9th round took me close to 8 minutes to finish, and I was already at 38:30. I had a huge pile of sweat and aching hamstrings to show for it. Extremely tough workout to finish. Maybe a future goal of finishing in under 30 minutes? The pullups were also strict.

Short Trail Run

Early afternoon

Short Run around Malvern, through the quarry and following the stream, skipping the nature preserve. Maybe 4.5 miles in 40 minutes. Very slow pace to alleviate some of the ankle pain I felt after the run on Friday.

Late afternoon

Metcon

For time:

15, 25, 35

Double Unders

Swings (30#)

Thrusters (30#)

Box Jumps

Situps

Then, untimed:

2 Rounds (AMRAP 30s)

Dips

Decline Pushups

V Sits

One-legged squats (each leg, one leg elevated behind on box)

Plank hold

Workout comments: Unbroken double under rounds (except for the first round when the rope was too short). Did not expect this, but it was almost easier than I remembered. The second rope I used was definitely too long.

Bench Press, Wood Chip, Boot Camp

Early afternoon

Strength

Bench Press 5 X 3
Load: 205, 225, 225, 235, 245

Wood Chop 5 X 10 (each side)
Load: 230

Metcon
5 Rounds for Time

20 OH Walking Lunges 45#
15 DUs
10 Contralateral Pushups
5 Box Jumps 18in

12:34

Ab work

Workout comments: I guess all the upper body work is paying off. Tied my old PR for the 1RM, but doing 3RM. Of course, I was using the equipment in Spring House, which I think is always just a little different than what I've been using in Malvern.

First time doing a serious metcon in a while. Went better than I expected. I only really got held up on the box jumps, but mostly because I'm still thinking I'm going to slip like the last time. They are not the most reliable boxes. Lungs and muscles were burning, but I was still moving through everything pretty quickly. I was defintely feeling the cleans and deadlifts in my hamstrings from yesterday.

Squat cleans, Pushups, Short Metcon

Squat cleans 5 X 5
Load: 130, 140, 150, 150, 150

Pushups 5 X 50
* Performed as supersets, with 3 minutes rest following the pushups.

This is the first time I could perform the squat clean with a decent amount of weight. In the past, I was always afraid of dropping the weight on the floor (or on myself). But starting out with #130, which I know I can do easily, made it seem mentally easier. Maybe now I can start progressing upwards in weight.

Metcon

3 rounds for time:

50 DUs
20 KB swings #45
40 OH walking lunges #45 plate

12:54

OH walking lunges. They'll get you every time.

Squats, Pushups, Metcon

Early afternoon

Strength

Squats 5 X 5*
Load: 218# (76% 1RM)

5 X 30 Pushups*
Performed as supersets

3 minutes rest between sets

Metcon

AMRAP in 10 minutes

6 Squat Cleans (120#)
12 Pullups
24 Double Unders

5 Rounds + 4 reps

Workout comments: I was not feeling up to working out after coming in this morning. But felt good during the squat portion (although later I would realize I was actually 10 pounds off what I was supposed to be lifting) and my pushups felt great, going unbroken in the first, third and last round. The metcon went OK. Of course I flew through the first round in 80 seconds and later rounds would take much longer. All in all a good workout.

Cleans, Muscle-Up Practice, Short Metcon

Early afternoon

Strength

Power Cleans 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3

117, 137, 157, 167, 177*
*Failed 3rd rep

Bar Muscle Up Practice

5, 10, 10
Load: 215

2 X 10 Pistols

Metcon

50 Double Unders
25 Wall Balls 20#

5:40

Workout comments: Will showed me an interesting way of practicing bar muscle-up progressions. Using the Nautilus freedom training machine, you can hook up a bar, load up some weight, and you have yourself a great way of practicing muscle ups. The only down side is the the bar is very thin, which I think makes the muscle-ups incredible easier. I haven't seen a bar at any park or gym which is this thin.

I was disappointed with the power cleans, until I realized that one of my previous PRs several months ago was in the 180# range. Not too bad.

Squat, Incline Dumbbell Bench, Neutral Grip Strict Pullups, Metcon

Early Afternoon

Strength

On the minute for 10 minutes:

2 Squats (175#-60% 1RM)
5 Incline Dumbbell asdfasdfBench Press (55# DBs)
4 Strict Neutral Grip Pullups

Metcon

3 Rounds for Time:

10 OH Squats (77#)
20 DUs
5 HSPUs
10 Burpees
10 SDHPs

12:25

Workout comments: Need to work more on HSPUs. I would say I lost about 3 minutes of time doing these, probably more. OH Squats felt good without any pain in either shoulder.

Metcon

Late afternoon

10 rounds for time:

10 Burpees
15 Situps
20 Double Unders

19:47

Workout comments: Excellent weekend down in the Outer Banks, NC. Weather was a bit hot during this workout, hovering around the mid 90s. Nice dip in the pool after this one.

"300" workout

Late afternoon

Metcon
100 Double Unders for Time
1:12

"300" Workout (from Men's Health)

25 Pullups
50 Deadlifts (135#)
50 Pushups
50 Box Jumps (24in box)
50 Floor Wipers (135#)
50 Dumbbell Clean and Presses (35#)
25 Pullups

19:56

Workout comments: Double unders were done without shoes and were much easier to control. First 50 were done within 35 seconds until fault. Next 50 followed suit. Defintely lose some power with the cushioning of traditional running shoes.

I've done this "300" workout several times in the past. After watching the demonstration video again recently, I realized I was only doing half the recommended floor wipers, and was actually performing a dumbbell snatch, which I think is much easier. 6-8 months ago, when I was routinely doing this workout, I was averaging 22-25 minutes. I'm not exactly sure where I gained the most ground. Probably a combination of the pullups and box jumps. These were defintely the most consistent of everything.

Easy 15 minutes cycling to cool down and clear some waste from my very sore legs.

Supplemental work: about 30 minutes of foam roller work at night.