12.4 has passed us now. How was it? How is the open? Well if your anything like me it feels like a spider monkey went HAM on my legs. Things got real with 12.4.
Hide yo' kids, Hide yo' wife, RHABDO IS COMING! Yeah that little thing called Rhabdo came during 12.4 and took some people back to its van. So in all honesty, be careful. The nice thing about the open is you can redo workouts to get a greater score but make sure to listen to your body. Some of the most in shape people in my gym have gone rhabdo after one go at this WOD. Then I see some of the people who are not at their level doing the WOD again for a second time. This means one of two things, you did not go hard enough your first time or you are not listening to your body and giving it the rest it needs. Rhabdo is a serious thing that puts people in the hospital. Competition is intense and brings out the best in us, but make sure if it brings out the best then you rest enough to be at your best again.
A forewarning out there, whenever you are faced with a WOD from the depths of some nasty mind of a coach, warm up real good. Long row, squats, push ups, GHDs they all are good warm ups. And after, especially after, do a cool down of rowing and stretching with rolling the muscles out. This will decrease soreness and prevent that rhabdo man from showing up. What got people in 12.4 was the fact you did karen to wreck your legs, then you following it with high jarring movements like double unders which jarred all your muscles and then coming down from the rings was a huge shake and jar to the body. So be careful out there.
Make sure you get all your needed rest before you all blow 12.5 out of the water.
Remember at all times, Respect is not from a number or a score. Respect is from hard work
San Diego.......'nuff said. Sunny, warm,not a cloud in the sky what else can I ask for! Oh yeah chemistry class! Good thing I am like Walter White up in here!.....- the meth...and child...and wife... so the good life.
Well lets fix the problem of the world declining into a state of obesity. If you want to look like the woman above then you might want to get reading! And lets be honest, fitness isn't about looking great it is about being great and feeling great. Looking great is just a side effect. And for all you guys, this woman could totally kick your booty, so respect the lady because she is a dream wifey of mine.
The topic for today is scaling, so lets start out with a story to relate it too! Story time bro!
Once upon a time there was a man who was awful at math but just barely got by in all of his classes. Got that C- to pass his classes, but when he went to college he realized he didnt know anything. He then proceeded to flunk out of everything, become a hobo and live a horrible and sad life.
There was another guy who sucked at math beyond belief but this guy instead dropped down to the slow and remedial math classes. Sure he was behind the curve, but he ended up learning everything, passing college and getting a good paying job and a hot wife only to make more kids whom will soon rule the world
Moral of the study, step back before you step forward. Now lets apply this to fitness.
Scale workouts if you need to bro! Nobody will judge you by your weight. People judge people by the amount of work they put in at the gym, not by the amount of weight they do.
So when you need to heavy thrusters at 155lbs but can only do 115lbs with good form until it becomes a cluster fladoodle of form, then stick to 115. It is MUCH BETTER to do proper form ad full range of motion at a light weight than to kill yourself/look like a fool/ fail at a heavy weight. Simple as that. You will never get stronger by doing bad form. Bad form leads to bad habits and you will never reach your true potential unless you perfect your form. How can a 180lb kid lift more than a 240lb man? Good form. That's how. Results are not always immediate. They take work and time just like fitness. Nobody is instantly fit. NOBODY! It takes time and work just like proper lifting form and strength.
So more props to the dude doing 115lb thrusters than the dude giving himself a hernia with 155lb crap thrusters that are half squats and nasty presses.
I kept the science and technical info out today to save the mind, but tomorrow will fire those action potentials in the noggin'.
Another 1Rm today. Failed this morning, but I returned in the evening to get it and I was stoked! Best feeling in the world. But it was horrible weather so my sprint workout was cut short. And not to mention the crazy old man who tried to say a prowler would ruin asphalt. If he thinks that is the case then he has a lot to learn because we will prove to him that it is not bad for the asphalt via massive amounts of prowling. Benicia PD we have a 1074! Haha
Well this topic is something that I can talk about shortly because there is not much to it! Why shy away from any weight that is a 2RM or 1RM. People achieve a 5RM and then call it quits. WHY!!!!! Are you scared of hurting yourself? Well simple keep proper form and do less reps. Hence why when you increase the weight you find a 3RM because you will not be able to do as many with proper form. Secondly, just drop it. If it is heavy drop it where you are. We use bumper plates for a reason. You get stuck at the bottom of a clean. Drop it. You fail on a jerk, drop it. You lose your balance on an OH squat, drop it. It is a simple concept.
Not only can you gain large muscle and strength finding low rep maxes at high weight, you get an overwhelming sense of confidence. When you clean that weight and you are holding it up after a hard squat, stand there and take in your accomplishment. You deserve it. You are seeing results, which we all like to see!
Now don't be a complete douche about it and rub it in to people's faces or run around in circles yelling. Take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back. Remember half of being a true athlete is being humble at ALL times.
Workout
Clean Practice 1 RM 175lbs
Prowler sprints
2 high bar, 2 low bar
4@90lbs
4@160lbs
4@210lbs
Well I sure got my butt kicked today. Not only was it a tough workout, but it was a Monday, so of course every other breath was a yawn. But hey! I mean I got to enjoy a last workout with the beast Taylor before she leaves to kick butt and take names at the USNA!!! You go girl!
....................yes, the periods are necessary because I have to talk about Overhead squats which I completely hate!!!!! This is one of the workouts where flexibility is strength, so sure my legs can be as strong as they want, but if my shoulders are not flexible then I will not move much weight.
So let us take a look into the mechanics of an OH squat. So. Push press or strict press or snatch, any move you want to get the bar in the overhead position. Once up, Lock the shoulders and imagine that you are trying to pull the bar in two. It really helps you stabilize the bar. The bar should be right behind your head if brought straight down to ensure the weight goes straight up and down so you can perform a proper squat. If it is too far forward,directly over your head for example, you will squat on your toes. NO NO! It is awkward. I get it. But just do it right!
At the bottom of your squat for it to count you need to go past parallel with your legs. It sucks, and then bring it back up remaining locked out the whole time. Now this is really where flexibility turns into strength. Sure you can deadlift 300s but you may only be able to OH 115lbs because you cant get max power. Lack of flexibility leads to effort be put into the bar to hold it into position meaning that there is that much less power directed to the squat. So if you are flexible, you don't need to divert any power to the bar position so it can all be directed to the squat....lucky people...
So ways to help this out, do pass throughs before to open up the shoulder. This will help greatly. And the next best thing I already mentioned is really try to pull that bar apart when overhead. It will really help stabilize it.
Workout
Rode bike to everything today so the rides are short but tiring as they are right after workouts
4.5 mile bike ride
CrossFit
OH squat Max 120 (didn't do pass throughs, will retry for 130 soon) Shoulder flexibility sucks!
60 burpee bar jumps
30 OH Squats 75lbs
10 ring pushups
time : 10:31 Burpee bar jumps were long and tiring but not terrible. OH squats sucked after the burpees and the max. Had to do sets of 3. Ring pushups were a joke for me because I love my push ups
6 mile bike ride to gym
3x10 Squats at 150lbs (should have been 15 reps but tired from bike ride)
back extensions 4x15,12,8,6 at 10lbs,25lbs,35,45
dips 1x60 Broke up into sets of 10 with 10 seconds rest in between
sit ups 1x60 Broke up into 30,10,20 no more than 10 seconds rest
Well I sure am tired after today. Like no joke I hurt all over. The cure...A MASSAGE! Now the tough part is finding somebody who is willing to give me a massage. People these days, so worried about themselves and not wanting to help others in need.
Well the main topic of this entry is the clean and jerk. And man oh man is it one of my favorite moves. It is complex and requires power gathered from all parts of the body. Legs, core, arms, shoulders. It is some good stuff that I am going to pass on.
In short, the clean and jerk is the way to get the most weight from the ground to the overhead position. It starts off with a dead-lift stance and grip (which i covered yesterday). From there you explode up with your legs. Once the bar is past the knees you shrug your shoulders straight up and then at the top of your shrug row the bar the your chest. The whole time during all these moves, the bar is right against you, at any given moment the bar should be touching your trunk. At the top of your row, you jump under the bar into a squat and rest the bar on your shoulders in a front squat hold. Now for the clean to count, you need to catch the bar in a squat position where your legs are further down than a 90 degree angle. So catch it deep, we don't want it deemed as a no rep. Once there. Finish the squat and stand up.
Once you are standing with the bar resting on your shoulder shelf, like you are set for a push press, comes the jerk part. The jerk is pretty simple but is very powerful. You dip your hips no more than four inches so you can fire upward, once fired upward, drop low in either a split stance (lunge) or OH squat stance. I prefer and think the split stance is easier. Catch the bar with straight locked arms. It is easier to go lower with the legs then push press the bar up. Walk the bar up front foot first. stand straight up. And this is crucial! Let out a big roar to say look at me I lifted it and drop the weight. Okay maybe the roar is not needed because I usually need to do mine front squatting the weight.
No post yesterday, I know. No excuses right? Well to all of you heartless readers, I still worked out but I had to get some lady time in. I am a fan of lady time so if it means no blog for the day, then I think you can live, but it did kill me a little bit inside to not be able to blog.
So Two big things today. We will be breaking down the Dead-Lift movement, and also we will talk about strength vs. endurance.
So lets talk Dead-Lift. It is an awesome lift. And most likely your strongest lift. In simple. You pick heavy crap up. But worst of all, it also has the potential to screw you up pretty bad. But that is why I am here to pass on my impeccable knowledge of the dead-lift. Piece by piece we will break it up. Start with the bar over your your toes, and pull your shins into the bar. Next part. Chest up. Push it out like you are trying to impress the ladies. In doing so, your back will remain straight. But that is only part of it. Not only must your back be straight, but it must be extremely tight. The tighter the better, we do not want any sideways movement with it. With that said, Sit the butt down and grip thew bar with a comfortable grip outside your legs. Now you can go normal grip or split grip where one wrist faces forwards and the other backwards. This grip may be awkward at first but will give more stability and strength.
Now for the movement. Before the bar leaves the ground you should already be putting a tight pull on it. You should be tight, arms back legs and all. So if you pull before you lift it will prevent a jerking action which equals pain. We all love hernias right? No! So be tight. While lifting the bar, keep your back straight and tight always! Legs start the lift and extend all the way and the back finishes it out, but at any given time it is a combination of the two. If you don't have one you don't have the other. Then enough said, go back down the same way you went up, except backwards. Haha. And your done!
Now on the next note, everybody's muscles are different. Some people can lift massive amounts of weight, and others not so much but that is only one aspect. Don't forget about repping the weight out. Sure a guy can dead-lift 400lbs but how many reps of 225lbs can he do in a minute? Who knows but a guy with more of an endurance set of muscles can probably do more.
Me for example, I come from a running family so I am very endurance oriented, I can move decent weight, for example today I deadlifted 300lbs, and another guy deadlifted 340lbs. But when it comes to a WOD with 21 reps at 225lbs, I can destroy him. It all depends on your muscle set. So if you get beat out in maxxing out, don't worry because for every max effort WOD, there will always be a chipper or a high rep WOD. Again it is about finding the median in between the two, because a specialist in endurance or volume will not succeed overall but a person decent but not great at both will come out on top. That is the emphasis at CrossFit.
Lift Big and Stay Swift
Workout
CrossFit
DL 1RM 300lbs (sore should have gotten more)
5 min workout
1000m row
AMRAP deadlifts 190lbs
3:22 row (decent)
18 dead-lifts (again sore)
Gym (should not have even been in here)
Over head dumbbell press 3x12 (35,40,45)
Bent over Rows 4x15,10,8,6 (95,95,105,115)
Rainbows 25 each way
Man it is getting hot out. Well seems like it is just that time of the year to head to the beach, or lay in front of a fan. They both work. Today marked the official start of my marathon training and also my triathlon training. And so far it is not too bad. For those of you who think I put this on here just to add a pretty lady, SHE ACTUALLY HAS GOOD SQUAT FROM!!!! The rear is back and chest is up.
I want to talk about intensity today. What people think matters is the hours they put in to working out each day. And I feel sorry for those ignorant souls who are going to fitness hell. IT IS NOT ABOUT THE HOURS. Anybody can come sit down in a gym and do three workouts in an hour. Is that hard? NO! What really matters is how filled those hours are.
I guarantee that if you speed your workout up. Lower rest times and not talk at all. Your intensity will increase greatly and you will benefit from the workout much more. Shorten the workouts too. You should never have to spend more than 45 minutes working out lifting weights. If you need more time than that, then you might as well throw your gym time away because you are not getting the maximum benefit. Go big or go home.
Intensity is the key with most things, but not all. For example today was the start of my marathon training. I am following one of Hal Higdon's programs and they are awesome. But they are about building the body up and preparing but not about pure intensity. Save it for race day. Running itself is draining. So for each training run, my mile split should be one minute slower than my goal race day split. I am shooting for a 4 hour marathon so I need to train at 10 minutes miles. And besides I don't mind a nice easy jog everyday.
Workout
CrossFit
1 RM Front Squat 185 lbs
12 min AMRAP
8 Front Squats
8 HSPU (negative)
20 DU
2 Rounds + 2 HSPU
This was more of a form practice than a WOD but it still got me. I need to work on my HSPU.
Swim (not my forte) Will get more intense soon. I promise
2x100 yd breast stroke
2x50m breast stroke breath every 2
2x50m free breath every two
5x100 free
Gym
Squats 3x12 @ 135lbs (easy)
Dips 1x50 (broke up into 10s)
Back Extensions 15,12,8,6 (10,15,25,35)
Incline Sit ups 1x50 (broke up 30,8,6,6)
First blog as a high school graduate. And......I feel slightly different only because I have more time for activities. And I am for sure of graduate knowledge for you! Now that I am back to the blogging schedule I am full of stuff to say and ready to blow your minds.
Well it may have been awhile, but I am going to get right down to it.
ITS SUMMER!!!! What does that mean? DON'T OVER DO IT!!!! I may have already done this. Today in the gym I was only able to curl 85 pounds 3 times, should normally be an easy 15 reps for me. Now sometimes it may seem like an off day and you shake it off, but before you say that, look at what you have done previously. For me, the day before, I did a chest workout, lower ab workout, 6 mile run, CrossFit, and soccer training. So it was no off day for me. I had worked my body past what it should be able to do.
It does not matter if you feel like you want to workout more or you feel that you need to. Your body can only take so much before it starts to cut out on you for its own health. LISTEN TO IT. Stop lifting, stop running, and lay down and catch some sun. Enjoy life. Read something insightful.
Why am I making a big deal of this whole thing? Injuries happen when you workout past the point when your body can give you 100%. Shin splints, impingement, tendinitis, and pinched nerves; all of these are common injuries from overworking. Injuries are no fun, so let's not put ourselves at risk.
CrossFit
1000m row
1 min rest
100 Double Unders
Row Time : 3:25
DU Time: 2:42
Cardio
6 mile bike ride (ended because my tire got a pinch flat).. :(
Well all I can say is high school, it was nice knowing you. AP tests are done, only two finals to take, so pretty much the need to try is over with. Straight A's is what I have and intend to keep with the smallest amount of effort possible because B's are worthless! So do you know what this all means? More time to workout!!!! Awww YEAH!
Power = Work/Time; the rate at which work is done.
The goal of working out is to become a fit and powerful individual. Am I right? So sure you can dead-lift 350 3 times in 10 seconds, I mean thats cool I guess. You may be strong, but are you powerful? Well lets look at an individual who can dead-lift 185 10 times in 10 seconds. Now sure he's pretty strong too, but is he powerful? Lets break it down.
350*3*1/10 = 105J/s
185*10*1/10 = 185 J/s
So thanks to math, and physics if you will, we can see that less weight, but faster reps will give you a much greater power output. So knowing this, lets look at CrossFit itself. The idea behind CrossFit is to do the most work in a given amount of time.This explains the multitude of bodyweight exercises and emphasis on time for each WOD. It is not a matter of how much, it is a matter of how fast. So if you are truely trying to become stronger and more powerful, skip the heavy weights and go back down some, but make sure to focus on busting those reps out as fast as possible. That will be your key to increasing power. Not to mention a great plateau breaker.
Workout
3x(15,15,15) Superset every two
Triple Drop- Straight Bar Cable Curls
Triple Drop- Straight Bar Tricep Press Downs
