My Steep CrossFit Learning Curve

Milk

Benchmark day!
On the 2nd of October, the start of the 6 week challenge, I did this same WOD.
 
Warmup 
Dynamic warmup Mobility 
Banded shoulder mobility WOD 
â€œThe Park Benchâ€ 
Benchmark Workout #1 
5 min AMRAP 
600m run 
10 wall balls (20/14#) 
max pullups 
-no rest 
4 min AMRAP 
400m run 
10 wall balls (20/14#) 
max pushups 
-no rest 
3 min AMRAP 
200m run 
10 wall balls (20/14#) 
max situps Strength 
8 rounds- :20 work/:10 rest 
Superman 
Hollow rocks
 
2nd of October:
Total Score: 78
Scaling: 14# wall ball and biggest available band for pull ups.
 
5th of November:
Total Score: 93
20# wall ball
Scaling: Biggest available band for pull ups.

Paekakboyz

shot bro!! that is a big improvement over quite a short period of time. You must be stoked.
 
You'd expect increases in performance as you get fitter and as your form improves. Nothing like a few hundred ((thousand!) repeats of an exercise to get that muscle memory etc - it's certainly more than just being fit or strong. Once you are pushing the limits of your strength/endurance it will all come down to form and being efficient in applying that power.

Milk

Thanks mate. Yeah, I'm keen for some of the movements and strength to come together so I can do a bit less scaling.
 
End of the 6 week challenge on Friday. Looking forward to be able to eat what I want when I go out and have a beer or two.

Milk

Warmup 
Introducing, or reintroducing the 9 fundamental movements. 
For the warmup, review and complete each one of the fundamentals 5 times each w/ a PVC, then again with an empty bar. 
Air squat â€“ Front squat â€“ OH squat 
Press â€“ P. press â€“ P. jerk 
Deadlift â€“ SDHP â€“ Med ball clean Mobility 
2 roundsâ€¦ 
10 dislocates 
10 behind the head presses Strength 
Review, warmup and complete a deadlift 5Ã—5
Still working on technique so just got up to 95# WOD 
â€œPublic Enemy #2â€³ 
8 min AMRAP 
15 burpees 
12 dips (with band) 
9 deadlifts w/ 60% of the last set of 5 completed in the strength (max 185/115#) 95#
 
3 rounds +5

Rest 2:00 
AFAP 
21-15-9 
Wall balls (20/14#) 
Box jumps (24/20â€³)
 
4:20

Milk

Firstly, today's workout (it was an interesting one):
 
Warmup and Mobility 
Increase heart rate w/ either 400m run, 500m row, or 3:00 of jumping rope 
Length of the gym 
Bear crawls 
Tin soldiers 
Spidermen 
Inchworms 
Ground scrapers 
Duck walks 
Frog jumps Strength 
OH strength day â€“ start with 70% of your 1 RM press and complete the following superset by adding weight every time. Complete all of one, before moving on to the next. 
Press â€“ 3Ã—3 Up to 95# 
Push press â€“ 3Ã—2 Up to 115# 
Push jerk â€“ 3Ã—1 Up to 130#
Skill and Challenge 
â€œRowlingâ€ 
The object of this game is to row as close to 100 meters as possible. The difference between your score and 100m is the # of reps you will be doing for that round. You will get on the rower and have 30 seconds to get as close to the 100m mark as possible, as soon as youâ€™re done rowing you will complete the # of front squats (165/115#) (95#) equal to the difference between your score and 100. Your challenger will then go for their round. Keep score over the ten rounds and the person with the lowest score at the end wins. The loser must run 50m for every point difference between the winning score and the losing score. 
If you get an exact 100m your score is zero. If you row 100m on your last row, you get a free row in which you can use to replace a round with a higher score.
 
We were in teams of three and I got 110m on the first row, so I was always going to lose from there. We cut down the workout to 5 rounds because we ran out of time. Over the 5 rows I went a total of 19 over (the last 4 were obviously a lot more controlled ). Best of our team only got 8, so I ran 550m.

Milk

----- UPDATE ------
 
Today is last day of my 6 Week Paleo Diet Challenge! 6 weeks without alcohol, wheat and diary!
 
It's a partner challenge where the winners get win everyone's $20 buy in. You get a point for going to the gym or working out (long walk, run, sports, etc). Lose a point for having a non-paleo meal.
 
I worked out 28 times over 6 weeks. Then you get a bonus 10 points if you don't cheat at all, another 10 if you keep a food diary, another 10 if you don't drink any alcohol. We find out the winners tonight, but I'm not too confident as my partner and I didn't work out as much as I assume other people did.
 
ANYWAY, the important stuff... results. I lost 13cm from chest, bust, hips and waist. I've still got a ways to go, but I'm pretty happy with that.
 
EDIT: This weekend will be a mess :). However, hopefully I'm back on the wagon Monday trying to abide by 80/20 rule diet-wise.

Milk

Wasn't even close to winning. Thank god I didn't know that some people were working out twice a day, otherwise I would have just cheated whenever I wanted.

Milk

Back on the wagon...
 
Warmup 
Dynamic warmup
 
Mobility 
Coach led joint mobility
 
Strength 
Front squat â€“ 3.3.3 x4 Finished at 115# 
Start your first cluster at 70% and add weight each time
 
WOD 
Keeping with the observance of our fallen heroes on this Veterans Day weekend, we will continue to show our respect and appreciation with a Hero WOD.
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.crossfitportsmouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/JARED-WOD.jpg'><img height="145" src="http://www.crossfitportsmouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/JARED-WOD.jpg" width="200" alt="JARED-WOD.jpg"></a>
U.S. Army Master Sergeant Jared N. Van Aalst, 34, of Laconia, New Hampshire, assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, died August 4, 2010, in Kunduz province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered while his unit was conducting combat operations. He is survived by his wife, Katie Van Aalst, his daughters Kaylie and Ava, and a posthumous son, Hugh Jared.
â€œJaredâ€ is normally 4 rounds for time of totaling in an enormous amount of pull-ups and pushups, so we are going to do a 20 minute AMRAP ofâ€¦ 
200m run 
10 pullups 
20 pushups
 
 
6 + a run (banded pull ups). Press ups were an absolute mess by the end of that.

Milk

Warmup 
3:00 jump rope 
Then 3 rounds ofâ€¦ 
5 pullups 
6 med ball cleans 
7 pushups 
8 wall balls 
9 hollow rocks Mobility 
Lax ball shoulder smash Skill 
Muscle up progression 
If you have your muscle up, work on you free standing handstand WOD 
â€œBlame it on the sandwichâ€ 
3 rounds for time 
3 muscle ups (instead did 9 burpee pull ups) 
20 KBS (53/35#) 
400m run 
80 D.U.â€™s
 
19:15... but I stuffed up and did an extra set of kettlebell swings and maybe even burpee pull ups. Made a meal of that one.

Milk

Warmup 
The Burgener warmup modified w/ junkyard dog 
After finishing the dropping under the bar portion of the Burgener w/u, stay at the bottom and complete a OH duck walk forward 10ft. and backwards 10ft. Then do 5 behind the head presses (also called â€œSotts Pressesâ€). 
At the end of the group warm up, repeat the entire sequence w/ an empty bar. 
Skill and Strength 
The snatch. 
10-15 minutes to find a new 1 RM snatch
 
Just got to 85#, technique still a mess WOD 
â€œThe force is strong in this oneâ€ 
10 minute AMRAP 
Ascending Ladder: 
25 OH walking lunges (45/25#) 
3 HSPU 
25 OH walking lunges 
4 HSPU 
25 OH walking lunges 
5 HSPU 
You get the ideaâ€¦
 
Completed 5 rounds using a 25# plate for the lunges and 2 * 30# dumbells instead of the HSPU, doubling the required reps.
Tough workout! 
Challenge Dodgeball!!!

Milk

Warmup 
Dynamic warmup w/ coach led joint mobility Strength 
Bench press 5Ã—5 at 70% and up. Add weight and get to 85% by your third set
 
Fair bit of work to do on this considering it;s the exercise I probably have the most experience with over the years. Apparently I need to get the bar further down my body as it's too high on my chest at the moment. Ok at 115#, failing at 125# WOD 
â€œEven Stevenâ€ 
With a partner complete 21-15-9 
Partner deadlift: yes, both of you on the bar at the same time (Rx is combined bodyweight between partners) 220# 
Situp ups (each): one partner rests 
Burpees (each): one partner rests 
*At the end of each round, each partner must complete a 250m row. While one partner is rowing, the other partner must hold the plank position. Switch.
 
17:53. Tough work out, but kind of fun I guess :)

Milk

FRAN!!
 
My first go at this, but I'm still on band pull ups, so really need to move past that. Anyway, yep pretty tough. Could barely move my forearms and hands for 15 minutes after.
 
Warmup 
We are going to focus heavily on the warmup for todayâ€™s WOD for obvious reasons 
400m run 
Dynamic warmup as a group 
400m run Mobility 
Group stretch then joint mobility w/ a PVC 
Banded shoulder mobility Skill 
Letâ€™s talk about the mental game of CrossFit, discuss the workout, and how to PR. WOD 
Guess who?! 
â€œFranâ€ 
21-15-9 
Thrusters (96/65#) 
Pullups (thick band)
6:24

Milk

Warmup 
baby â€œHelenâ€ 
4 rounds 
200m run 
10 KBS 
5 pullups Mobility 
Clean grip Burgener warmup Strength 
Clusters for cleans? Letâ€™s give it a tryâ€¦ 
Power Clean 2.2.2 x3 :20/2:00 
Remember, warm up to 70-75% of your 1 RM and add weight after each cluster only if your form is perfect.
 
Got up to 105# WOD 
â€œAlternate Endingâ€ 
20 calorie row 
30 wall balls (20/14#) 
20 T2B (K2E) 
30 box jumps (24/20â€³) 
20 SDHP w/KB (70/53#) 
30 burpees (so many!) 
20 shoulder to overhead (135/95#) 65# 
30 ring dips (with band)
 
12:29 

That was a lot of exercises!
Scaled to the women's RX, which was about right except I could have upped the wall ball. For once I was pretty grateful I can't do dips and have to use band - that absolutely killed everyone. I went from being one of the last, to beating most people by a few minutes! I felt bad and tried to do a couple full dips at the end and had no luck :)
 
Also, a lady at the gym smashed herself in the chin with the bar and started bleeding.

Kirwan

Ring DIps are pretty tough alright. I've hit myself in the chin on overheads (during Grace, so with 60kg), fucks with your chi that's for sure....

Paekakboyz

Ring dips are farkers!
 
In my limited experience If I don't keep my arms angled in, kinda pinned against the body, it all goes to poo!

Milk

Yep, ring dips are certainly way harder than they look. Putting them at the end of the workout made them even tougher.
I've hit myself in the chin too, certainly rattles you.
 
She was back in class today, no drams :)

Milk

Warmup 
400m group run 
Dynamic warmup 
400m group run Mobility 
Foam roller session. Everyone! Strength 
Rowing intervals â€“ w/ a partner row 2000m, switching every 250m WOD 
â€œBermuda Triangleâ€ 
3 rounds 
40 double underâ€™s 
30 situps 
20 pushups
 
9:12 RX :) Challenge 
Assembly line challenge. 
Everyone in a line sitting side by side, in the V position. Pass a med ball from on end to the other. How many times can you do it as a class?
 
We got to 21, and it was my fault we stopped! Gutted!
The guy next to me saw me struggling and pushed my back to help me up, but it all it did was wreck my balance and I went forward and touched the ground. Stink!

Milk

Warmup 
3 rounds 
50 rope swings 
20 walking lunges 
10 pushups Mobility 
10 dislocates 
10 good mornings 
10 snatch pulls Strength 
Complete 5 of the following complexes with as much weight as you canâ€¦ 
1 snatch + 2 OH squats
 
My OH squats were rough as guts! Just couldn't get down there. Got a few pointers from the coach about moving my hips back before bending the knees and it slowly got better. It's a technique issue for sure, but unfortunately it's also a flexibility issue I think. Very poor flexibility in my hips and hamstrings. Needless to say, very little weight on this one. WOD 
â€œNo plate left behindâ€ 
40 burpees to plate (45/25#) 
40 KBS (53/35#) 
40 box jumps (24/20â€³) 
40 power snatches (75/55#) 
400m partner run w/ the plate OH 
20 burpees to plate (45/25#) 
20 KBS (53/35#) 
20 box jumps (24/20â€³) 
20 power snatches (75/55#) 
200m partner run w/ the plate OH 
With a partner. You must finish each exercise before moving on, but those are the totals between the two.
 
19:24
Was in a group of three for this due to uneven numbers. I was going for RX on this one, so box jumps and KBS were pretty tough, but when we went on the run my team gave me a 25# instead of a 45#, and I was in no mood to argue at that point! Having a team of three makes that last exercise difficult because you have 2 plates to deal with.
 
Anyway, good workout - was totally shattered!

Paekakboyz

Don't beat yourself up about those OH squats mate. They are complex and not easy at all. I know what you mean about not being able to drop as deep into the squat - amazing how unnatural the squat feels as soon as you have weight overhead. Just totally messes up your balance. I can only just manage the bar now, let along adding any actual weight!
 
But when you get a sweet rep they feel awesome!! Just a bit few and far between for me at the moment ha ha

Milk

Yeah, they're very awkward to do. I have enough difficulty contorting myself with normal back or front squats!

The Silver Fern

My Steep CrossFit Learning Curve