Crossfit Total #2

So about six weeks ago we had a Crossfit Total at the gym, Crossfit Portland.  Best out of three attempts on the squat, standing press, and deadlift.  For the first total my liftts were as follows.

BW 175 lbs

Squat 300

Press 140

Deadlift 360

For the next total i had a strength progression all written up, and was going to do some speed work for the deadlift, focusing on speed off the floor.  That went well for a few weeks, then i got sick, had family and friends in town, and basically ate alot of food, went snowboarding, and did not train.  The next Crossfit Total was this past Saturday, but something came up that morning and i could not make it.  I was bummed, but my friends insisted i just Total on my own at the gym.  So last night i went in and did it, thoroughly not expecting much of myself.  Here is how it went down:

BW 175lbs

Squat 315

Press 140

Deadlift 400 (woohoo!)

I was pretty happy with myself.  My second attempt on the squat was 305, and i didnt quite like feel like i was going to die, so i thought i would go for it.  Three 45’s a side for 315.  The other trainer Adam said it was not pretty,, but it went up, though i felt like my torsso was about to collapse.  My press stayed the same as before, i kind of screwed myself on that one.  I made 140 for my first attempt, then went to 150, which was to big of a jump, as it was not moving much.  Oh well.  On the deadlift i went super conservative with an opener of 345, super easy.  Then i put on 375, and it to went up pretty easy, and that was my previous PR.  Adam saw it and said i better be putting a hundred pounds on the bar for the next attempt.  I talked him down and he loaded 400 on the bar while i rested and got a client warmed up for her training session.  Then i took off the shoes and socks, and with Adam yelling at me managed to deadlift 400.  It was tough and i could barely stand after.   All the speed work definitely helped, i was able to break it off the floor to my shins and from there it was just a slow grind up.

So all in all pretty good.  Sorry i did not get any pics.  If i have learned anything out off all this its that after a certain strength base has been built it seems like speed, explosiveness, and force generation is key to athletic endeavors.  Time to hit the O-lifts.

Anton

Home Workouts

Home/Low Tech workouts are a favorite topic of mine. Before joining Crossfit i worked out alot at home or at the juijitsu gym after class. You don’t need alot to get in an effective workout, though it may take some more creativity and thinking due to lack of equipment.

I like to separate my workouts into two broad categories. Metabolic Conditioning(MetCon) or Strength work. Metcon are the workouts we do in Crossfit that leave you lying on the ground gasping for air afterward. These workouts are often a blend of cardio vascular work, muscular endurance and power. Strength workouts are where we are trying to lift heavy weights or do high resistance bodyweight movements. An example might be a heavy deadlift, a one legged squat, or a handstand push up. The goal here is to incraese muscular strength, so the repetitions are usually lower, and the pace is relaxed enough so you don’t feel like puking afterwards.

Met Cons

Creating a metcon workout at home is pretty easy. Pick a series of bodyweight movements and string them together. Perform for rounds or time. So for example:

10 Burpees
10 Push ups
10 Squats
10 Situps

Go through this 10 times resting as needed. How long does it take you? I am betting some of you could blaze through it pretty quickly. If that is to easy you could spice it up some.

10 Burpees
5/5 One armed push ups
10/10 Jumping lunges
10 V ups
10 rounds for time

For those of you who find regular push ups and squats easier this will provide more of challenge.

Strength Workouts

Creating strength workouts at home is a bit more challenging, but it can be done. I like to pick a few different exercises and seperate them in my head as pushing, pulling, or lower body. I’ll perform 3-4 sets of each exercise, making sure not to go failure in each set. Leave a few reps in the “tank”.

A beginner who can do 10 push ups max and 15 squats might do something like this.

Pushups x 6
Squats x 10
Table Rows x 6
Plank hold – aim for 30 seconds

Rest two minutes between exercises, and repeat the entire circuit 3-4 times. Table rows are fun. Lay down on the floor underneath the dinner table. (make sure its sturdy) Reach up and grab the edge with your palms facing you. So your upper body will be under the table and your lower body will be extended out beyond it. Pull yourself up till your face reaches the underside of the table. Strive to keep the body straight as a board.

Another good option for home pulling options is to get a door way pull up bar. They are cheap and fit most doorways. My mother in law got us an Irongym Pull up bar for Christmas, and its great. We attached a large pallet band to it, and now Katie can work her assisted chin ups, and i can do regular ones. Highly recommended.

Once one gets beyond a basic level the above strength workout will probably be to easy. We can spice it up just like the conditioning workout with harder movements. So something like the following.

One armed push ups x 6
One legged Squats 5/5
Chin ups on your new doorway pull up bar, do a few reps short of failure
Front plank 30 sec, left side plank 30 sec, right side plank 30 sec

Rest two minutes between exercises and do 3-4 rounds total.

As you can see putting together a home workout is easy, one just has to think outside the box a bit.

Anton

Starting Strength Week 2

Well i am in the middle of week 2 of my Starting Strength program.  I started out the squat at 185, press at 85, bench at 155 (never have been a good bencher), had 12 unweighted pull ups, and deadlifted 215.  All the barbell lifts were for five repitions.  The bench and press alternate every workout, as do the deadlift and pull ups.  With the pull ups i am suppossed to do weighted ones every other pull up workout.

I’ll be squatting 210 today, pressing all of 100lbs, and shooting for at least 12 deadhang pull ups.  Last workout i deadlifted 225 for five reps, which felt good.  So far the squat feels heavy but not overly impossible.  I think part of it is mentally getting used to working up to squatting some real weight.  Double bodyweight is my eventual goal.  I feel i should have started the bench press a little more conservatively.  160 lbs on the last workout was already giving me some problems for the last few reps.  I was able to complete them, but the bar speed slowed a bit.  I’ll see how it goes.

Food wise i have been eating around 3200 cal per day, sometimes a bit more depending.  Just a note, if you have not drank milk for a few months don’t go and try to drink half a gallon of whole milk in a day.  I was not a happy camper.  I tried to drink some more milk a few days later and just felt all snotty and bloated.  So far i have been getting enough calories and protien from other sources, so i will forgo the milk for now.

I gained a few pounds right away, though its probably just water weight from all the eating.  I am going to monitor my weight over the next couple weeks before deciding if i need to up the calories.

Anton

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

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

20 Kipping Pullups

I managed to do 20 kipping pull ups yesterday for the first time.  Not a huge number, but its kind of a first major benchmark people try to reach.  We had to do 20 pull ups in the warm up, i got to 10 and it felt easy so i decided to go for it.  I was pretty happy.

Anton

My parents are working out

I am pretty stoked about something. My parents have been lifting weights. My dad has been emailing back and forth with me about how he is working at his bench press. I think that is pretty cool. My parents have always been pretty active with running, swimming and hiking, but have never really done much resistance training. Any activity is better than no activity, but for the past few years i have been encouraging them to lift. Maintaining and gaining muscle mass, increasing bone density, and strengthening the tendons and ligaments are all positive benefits of weight training. You read about older people who struggle to get out of chairs and I’ll be damned if thats going to happen to my parents.

Being the helpful trainer that i am i have started to design a strength routine for them. They are in Florida and i am in Oregon, so i can’t train them regularly, but at least i can start them off on the right foot when i go to visit in September.

The strength routine is nothing out of the ordinary. I am not worrying about super intense conditioning routines at the moment, we can tackle the thrusters and kipping pull ups later on. I tried to keep a couple points in mind when i wrote this program

• Emphasize full body compound movements that work multiple joints and muscle groups. Stuff like the press, squat, lunge, pull ups, body rows, bench, barbell rows, deadlifts, and push ups These provide the most bang for the buck and will carry over into everyday functional movement.

• Give them some time to adapt before upping the intensity. I decided to start with 2 sets of 10 reps for most of the exercises. It will let their joints and ligaments get used to the load, as well as promote some muscle growth. After a few weeks i would up it to 3 sets. As they continue to add weight i would look at dropping the reps and upping the intensity. Starting my parents off on a heavy 5 x 5 program would probably be a bit much

• Use ground based exercises whenever possible. Movements done standing will engage more stabilizer muscles as well as the core.

• Emphasize proper form and progression. I’d like to teach my parents how to squat and deadlift, but i know from past conversations that they are wary of these movements. I can teach them body weight squats. Unless their gym has bumper plates (rubber plates the size of a 45 that range anywhere from 10 to 25 pounds) its hard to start the deadlift the correct height from the ground at a light weight. Plus unless i was there to regularly coach them i would worry about form. I think movements like weighted lunges, stiff legged deadlifts, and bodyweight squats are good alternatives. Or who knows, perhaps they will want to deadlift.

Thats about it. Certainly nothing you can’t get from a basic bodybuilding routine. And though my parents are not trying to be bodybuilders they do want to build or maintain muscle. With all the great and different strength and conditioning programs out there you often hear that the old “3 x10-12″ is no good, but i think for the beginning trainee who goal is strength and muscle its not a bad way to start. If i could train them or they had access to a Crossfit gym i might go a different route, but i think this is fine to start. You can find my parents’ workout program down in the Resources section.  If you have any comments or criticisms about it i would love to hear.

Anton

Lower body, push, pull

I am a big fan of simple strength training routines. I have alot to do outside the gym, and my strength training can’t wipe me out for juijitsu practice. I need to get in the gym, do my lifting, and get out.

I first heard Robb Wolf talk about this series on his blog post of Art Devaney’s
. There is a link to a document where he goes into a bit more detail. He also talks about it in the Fight Prep article in the May 2007 Performance Menu Magazine. The protocol is basically this:

3×5 sets of 3×5 reps of
Lower Body movement
Pushing movement
Pulling movement

So that could be deadlift, push press, and weighted pull up. Or you could do back squats instead of deadlifts. Weighted dips could be done instead of the push press. Or bench. You could climb a rope instead of doing pull ups if you have access to one. Once you can do all the required reps for a given exercise then up the weight. This kind of progression is very effective at increasing strength levels for the basic lifts, takes very little time, and leaves you plenty of energy to play your sport. It worked well for me for the deadlift. When i first started training it 180 lbs felt heavy, then two months later i was up to double body weight at 320 lbs. It feels good to keep adding weight each session.

Since this a quick strength routine one could easily throw in a conditioning finisher. Sprints, farmers walks, sandbag carry, high rep kettlebell swings, tabata squats, burpees. Basically use whatever tools you have on hand.

Anton