CrossFit Nick

I'll save the soapbox. Suffice to say, the article is a worthwhile read.

6:15pm at home. Warmup: Kelly Starrett's Hip Prep and Shoulder Prep exercises. WOD: Tabata Something Else Tabata intervals of pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups then squats, for total reps. No breaks between exercises. (Tabata intervals consist of eight rounds of 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest.) My results: 39 pull-ups 60 push-ups 50 sit-ups 101 squats Total score: 250 Kipping isn't really an option for me here at home, so I started off strict then scaled back to add a slight jump.

Another real-world workout! This time, two thousand-pound steel barn doors. It took four people and a mix of levering and pure brute force to get these loaded up on a trailer. More good times!

One interesting phenomenon about living at home with the folks for a time: being recruited for manual labor. Today, my brother and I spent a few hours dismantling and moving about 3,000 lbs worth of corral panels. Great way to apply a lot of the fundamental lifting movements to the real world.

6:00pm at BrandX Buy in: Dead lift, 3-5 rep max WOD: "Nicole" AMRAP in 20 minutes of… 400m run Max effort pull ups Cash out: Balance beam and cartwheel work For the WOD I managed four rounds: 23-11-12-9, plus one final 400m run. Kipping rhythm was a bit of a limiting factor for the pull ups, all those extra swings certainly weren’t doing my grip any favors. Besides that, some unexpected stomach cramping had me walking bits of my last few 400m laps, not sure what that was all about. I’ll chalk that up to going into the WOD a bit too on the hungry side, I guess. And just sucking at running in general ;) Some decent dead lift progress tonight: 205x3, which is 20lbs better than my PR of 185x3 a few weeks ago. Not huge numbers by any means, but it's slow and steady progress on my way up to my double bodyweight goal of 300lbs. Next up: 225x3.

All that considered, I'm looking at a target CFT goal of around 505: that's a 205lb dead lift, a 185lb back squat, and a 115lb shoulder press. Honestly, I'd be thrilled with anything over 500.

6:30pm at BrandX Buy in: 5:00 of double-under practice WOD: "Cindy's Snatch" As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of… 5 power snatch (95/65) 10 push ups 15 squats Cash out: Practice Lever and Ice Cream Makers. I managed 8 rounds + 3 reps of power snatch. Scaled weight to 65lb for my first three sets, dropping down to 45lb for the latter five once my form started degrading. I have relatively little practice with power snatch, so this was a good opportunity to practice clean form. Overall, good snatch practice, and a chance to apply some lessons learned about intensity after yesterday's Fran. My goal for the next time I do this WOD is to stick to the same weight (65lb, or a bit more) for the duration of the entire workout. Oh, and I'm finally getting the hang of those double-unders! I really should have kept count because I had some very decent streaks in there.

6:00pm at BrandX Buy in: Thruster practice WOD: "Fran" 21/15/9 reps for time of… Thrusters (95/65) Pull-ups Cash out: Six laps of wheelbarrow walks. Gnarly! I think this was my first actual Fran, and its reputation certainly is well deserved. The WOD was capped at 10:00, and with 65lb thrusters I managed to only just finish the first two sets. That called for some homework, and it turns out that BrandX's own Jeff Martin wrote a great article on intensity that just so happened to use Fran as an example. The biggest limiting factor for me was definitely cardio-respiratory endurance. I managed the first set of thrusters without taking a break, but put the bar down four times during my second set. On top of that, my breaks were too long, apparently doing more harm than good for my body's breathing regulation. I need to learn more about that little physiological mechanism. The second limiting factor was my pullups, specifically my grip endurance. While my kipping is decent (though it could certainly be better), losing my grip just meant more frequent breaks, compounding the breathing issues further. By the end of that workout, my lungs were on fire, and I was hacking up my lungs (and even smelling a faint tinge of blood!) for a good two or three hours after the workout. Apparently this is called the "Fran Cough." Good times. Next time: Stick with 65lb thrusters, continue working on my pull-ups, and in the interim practice better intensity management so I can actually finish the WOD in under 10:00.

Getting out and doing stuff is also suffering from a lot of trips out of town. Still antsy for at least one snowboarding trip. Failing that, there's still the Mud Run coming up, and hiking season is just about here.