Portland Crossfit Games 2008

Bell Ball

I had the pleasure of participating in the Portland Crossfit Games this past Sunday. It was sponsored by Crossfit Portland, Crossfit HEL, and Crossfit Clackamas. It was held at Mt Tabor Park, which is a dormant volcano, so i was sure some hill sprinting would involved.

After getting there and socializing with fellow Crossfitters we got walked through the course. It consisted of various stations/tasks with some short running in between. Here is how it was laid out.

50 Bodyweight Squats – The course started off with 50 bodyweight squats or 30 for a scaled version. They had us going in groups of two with a minute or two in between. The squts took me 47 seconds, which i was pretty happy about.

Hill Sprints – After finishing our squats we took off up a dirt hill, i think the sprint was a few hundred yards. Once at the top we ran down the other side, which was concrete stairs. I tried to take them fast but my legs were not quite working and i didnt want to fall.

50 Push Ups – At the bottom of the hill we had to do 50 push ups. Not overly difficult, but i was breathing much harder at this point. After this it was back up the stairs we came down on, which was pretty tough. Once at the top of the hill we had to run down another side across the street, and over to the kettlebell station.

52lbs each. These crushed me

Kettlebell Crosswalks – This is what got me. I wanted to use the prescribed weight of 24Kg (52lbs) each, so i gave it shot. Pick up the bells, clean one to the shoulder, then push press it up. Carry the other one alongside like a farmers walk. I would make it a few feet then my shoulder strength would fail me. You had to carry the bells a few hundred feet to this other line and back. I eventually did it, but had to stop alot. You could not move forward unless the bell was locked out overhead.

Bell Balls – After this it was bell balls. Take a 20lb medicine ball, squat, and toss it up to hit the bottom of a bell strung along a rope. Much harder when other participants are throwing their balls and the whole thing is shaking around. If you didnt hit the bell from the bottom or you dropped the ball it didnt count. 20 reps.

So tired

After this we sprinted over to the final unique challenge. Scott had a small table set out with five bolts and five nuts on it. We had to fit the correct nut to the bolt, and one nut could fit two bolts. A little mental/concentration challenge while sucking wind. I did not find this part overly difficult. After that quick sprint to the finish line and i was done.

I managed to finish in 16:07. Not dead last, but towards the bottom of the heap. The winner did it in half the time. The kettlebells are what got me, i was not quite strong enough to make up a decent time. But that is what happens when you up the weight, and i wanted to be on the same playing field as everyone else.

I had alot of fun at the event. It was great to meet other Crossfitters, as well as compete in something and learn to deal with the nerves a bit. Definitely looking forward to next years event.

Check out some professional photos taken by Devin Dahlgren

Done. Time to eat!

Anton

Combining Grappling and Crossfit

I enjoy Brazillian Juijitsu/Grappling, and i enjoy Crossfit. I’ve been having trouble lately balancing them both. I want to get stronger, improve my conditioning, but also have energy left over for grappling. I’ll talk about some various schedules i have tried and hopefully some others can learn from my mistakes.

I think first you need to have a goal. Whether its get stronger, get bigger, improve performance on a workout, or increase attributes for a sport you need to be working towards something. Without a goal you can’t plan, and then you are just sitting there spinning your wheels. How many people do you know that go to the gym year after year, but still look the same or never lift any heavier weights.

I prefer to focus on performance related goals rather than appearance related ones. If you train for performance than your physique will naturally follow, and you will actually be able to use what you have developed. Tired of your skinny legs, than learn to squat. When you can squat double bodyweight i assure you your legs will have gained some size. Physique goals are so subjective, and alot of people will never be happy with how they look. Pick a performance goal, write it down, and there will no doubt when you accomplish it.

At first when trying to balance both grappling and crossfit i tried to go six days on and one day off. That did not work so well. If i had a killer Crossfit or Jits class i would not perform so well the next day. And if my off day was a few days away i knew i would be pretty beat up by the time it came around. And then i never felt like i fully recovered.

After going to classes kind of randomly and trying to take regular days off i decided on the 3 on 1 off pattern that Crossfit uses. I will try to get in an equal amount of jits and Crossfit classes, though jits may take precedence at times. I will still show up at the Crossfit gym on my off days to help coach and learn. This is what my schedule looked like this week:

Friday – Jits
Saturday – Heavy Lifting
Sunday – Jits
Monday – Off
Tuesday – Crossfit, heavier conditioning workout
Wednesday – Jits
Thusday – Crossfit am, Jits pm
Friday – Off
Saturday – Heavy lifting

This is the schedule i am going to try and stick to. My off days will fall on different days of the week at times. I am going to try to get in a heavy strength workout, a conditioning workout that involves weights, like Crossfit’s Fran or Ross Enamait’s Magic 50, and then a conditioning day that involves more bodyweight excercises like pushups, jumping jacks, and burpees. If i am feeling frisky i may skip a rest day here and there, for example Fridays at jits is no-gi and one of my favorite classes. But due to my rest days rotating i won’t miss it every week. I am going to strive to get in two workouts a day occasionally. Thats if i can motivate myself to get up early enough.

I think this schedule will give me enough grappling time to improve my skills while allowing me to increase my strength and conditioning. One of the mistakes i have made in the past is doing to much conditioning outside of Jits, thinking it would help my performance on the mat. It does to an extent, but at least for me the biggest key to get better conditioning for grappling is to grapple more.

Hopefully eventually i will be able to train more jits as well. Three times a week is barely enough to make progress for me.

Anton

Mark Rippetoe – Starting Strength

There is a good interview with strength coach Mark Rippetoe over at www.t-nation.com Mark is the author of the book Starting Strength, which i can’t recommend highly enough. If you are new to lifting and want to put on muscle and build strength, this is where to start. It goes into great detail teaching the squat, deadlift, standing press, power clean, and bench press. I wish i had this when i first started lifting weights, i would have saved alot of wasted time.

Check out the interview here

Anton

A “fun” workout

Yesterday while at work i thought up a fun workout, basically combining a bunch of difficult exercises into one big suckfest. It goes like this

12 Thrusters at 95 pounds (A thruster is a front squat into a push press
15 Pull Ups
500m Row
3 Rounds

It took me 16:52 and was pretty difficult. I still need more practice on the thrusters.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.  If you dont have a rower you could substitute in running.

Anton

Heavy lifting with Jim

Don't worry, i go down to parallel

I did some heavy (to me) lifting with my friend Jim out at his house this past weekend. We had originally planned on the doing the Crossfit Total, which is max lifts on the Squat, Deadlift, and Press. But we ended up just squatting and pressing. I was pretty beat up from a three hour grappling session the day before.

I want to improve my strength on the basic barbell lifts. I can deadlift double bodyweight, which is ok, but my squat and press are lagging. I squatted 235 on sat, and felt i had about 15 pounds in me still, but Jim wanted to hold me back for that day. My goal is 320, or double bodyweight. I think it will come fairly easily, given that i have never squatted heavy for an extend period of time.

My press topped out at 122 or so. Not much weight, we did a few sets of lockouts at my sticking point afterwards. I tend to get stuck when the bar gets to my forehead, so hopefully the lockouts and more pressing will help with that.

I am not trying to be a super weightlifter or anything. But i would like to get my strength up to at least baseline levels. I feel grappling requires more muscular endurance and explosiveness than high maximal strength, but i think devoting once a week to max strength is fine. Endurance and explosiveness can only develop so far before they are hindered by maximal strength output.

All of 122 pounds or so

Anton