I have not saved the world from obesity for quite some time. My excuse? I don't really have one. I get back from an intense WOD and the last thing I want to do is write about it. I am still a teenager and like to have some fun time so pardon my adolescence.
The CrossFit Games are coming up soon and I cannot wait one bit. I get top see the fittest people on earth and the love of my life Stacie Tovar! Now I know she is married and to her husband I say teach me your ways. But she is really a top 5 hopeful and with her snatch and HSPUs she is a real competitor.
Now for the life of fitness. I am a runner. As much as I do not want to admit it, my strength in CrossFit is running and metcon not strength. Don't get me wrong, I still move decent weight but it is not my greatest thing. So to fix it I have been trying to add on as much strength as possible using a Russian Squat Program Generator and it is amazing! Two weeks in and I added 20 pounds to my back squat. It works and you should try it.
There is some real science behind it. Now don't think too hard on this all you reluctant scholars. Too bad for you I cant type slow for you. It is a mental, physical conditioning program. Your body trains to support heavy weight by adding the number of mitochondria in each muscle fiber versus adding more muscle fibers. You are becoming more efficient. Sure you get more fibers but when you do lots of low rep sets you are conditioning mainly and growing secondly. As your body gets used to handling heavy weight the sheer fact of holding and controlling heavy weight becomes less of an issue allowing you to focus on the lift.
How do you add size? After your strength program throw in a few kill sets to failure or some higher reps and you will spark some real anabolism there.
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
Rest day today. No lie, I needed one today, but it hurts because I know the workout today is a one mile run for time which could quite possibly be one of my favorites. But I am being a good little athlete and taking my rest even though my heart stopped beating. It seems like every rest day I have is the day of an awesome workout! I hate it but what can I do.
So this topic is one that I take personally. For example, yesterday was a team throwdown and it was very competitive. What does that mean, everybody wanted to win. Now I am not calling anybody out, but especially men, I know most of you have probably done this. Adding on a few reps to your total just to beat that guy next to you. Sure it feels good to have won according to the board, but did you win? No! You LOST! Dead last. You cheated yourself, you don't have accurate numbers to track your progress for the next time you do the workout. Not only that but you just straight lied which gets you nowhere.
You might as well sit down and watch people workout and then take their numbers. A lie is a lie. CrossFit is not about being that guy who wins in every WOD or beats the man next to him, it is about who makes the most gains. Sure you dead-lifted more than him, but in a two month period he increased his PR by twice as much as you. That is a true win. It is not about being the guy on top. I would much rather come in dead last in every WOD but make personal gains than to cheat to win and not make gains.
So next time your doing a WOD, be completely honest. I get beat by 40 year old men sometimes, sure they are in freakishly good shape, but still it hurts. But there is no need to lie. You are stealing their deserved glory and cheating yourself from lots like the feeling of success when you break a true PR.
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
Well here I am over training again. It is so easy to over train during the summer. I wake up, have nothing to do so I spend my time working out. Then one thing leads to another and I have been working out for 5 maybe 6 hours. I don't mind it until it hits me and one day I am worthless and am left with no strength. Haha. Sounds like I need another beach trip to give me a break. Nothing beats ice cold waters and burning sand. Actually indoor rock climbing does. Sounds like something to try.
Onto the topic. Don't over train. It is a horrible thing that I myself am very guilty of. Working out can be addicting especially if you love being fit. And especially with the mentality that comes along with it, the more I workout, the stronger and fast I will get. That is not true. When you overwork yourself it is detrimental to your progress and very unhealthy.
Symptoms of over training
Always feeling tired
Constant soreness
Dreading each workout
Waking up in the middle of the night
no appetite
Pessimistic
Let us look at the effects of over training.
Lack of energy: When you do too much, you have increasingly less energy for each exercise, so you lack the intensity with each set. As a result, you fail to maximize the benefit of the movement.
Prone to injury: Over training leads to bad form, and the body focusing all energy towards movement and strength and not other healthful benefits that we need to prevent injuries. For example too much lifting leads to bad form and a hurt back or impingement or shoulder issue. In running, too much running can lead to inflammation of joints, swelling, and stress fractures.
When your body has no more glycogen or lipids to gather energy from, the body goes to its next source which is muscle cells. When this happens you are losing muscle while you are trying to gain it. That is self explanatory. Burning muscle is not good.
Weight gain: When your body uses all of its lipids, it begins to create and store its own lipids, leading to weight gain over time. If our body is the main source of lipids, it is most certainly a horrible thing because they arnt stored in the best of ways.
Central Nervous System fatigue. After serious over training you CNS will actually take a beating. It will actually run low on neurotransmitters, inhibiting your workout, the most important being acetylcholine.
Once you have over trained, you need to take a long rest. About a week would be ideal. During this week you want to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, going into a low energy state in which your body can maximize muscle repair to fix the muscles you have destroyed and not for the better. You also need to keep the protein intake high so your body has building blocks for the muscles.
Ways to prevent over training
Set a new workout schedule where you do not do as much in each day. You do not have to run, swim and lift everyday. It is not needed. Recovery is just as important as exercise. Make your schedule smarter not harder.( I made a new schedule that I will show you all tomorrow.)
Take at least one mandatory rest day each work. Two would be even better. On these days, do absolutely nothing. You need to rest and build back up. No running, no easy jogs or lifts. Nada. Zip. Zap. Zilch. ZERO!!!
Spread your workouts throughout the day. Morning then evening. That little rest in the middle of the day will pay off greatly. I promise.
Eat Eat Eat!!!! Make sure you are eating plenty of calories. Plenty of protein and plenty of water. The more you eat, the faster you will recover.
Listen to your body. If it hurts, take time off. Don't push through it.
Well that about sums it up. I will add my email address for anybody who wishes to send me individual questions which I would be glad to answer.
Today's Workout
CrossFit
Practice Kipping Pull Ups
WOD
Each Round 1:30
200m run
AMRAP Push Ups
1:30 rest
Results: 32,28,27 (push ups)
Really really easy WOD.
Gym
50 Pull Ups Broken up as needed
Heavy Dumbbell walking lunges 4X(15,12,8,6) 45,45,50,55lbs
