brikis98's crossfit journal

[brikis98]

Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1, 425x1, 445x1, 455xF, 455xF, 405x6x1

My deadlift technique felt off today and I just could not engage my legs properly to get 455. Therefore, I dropped down to 405 and did a bunch of singles to work on technique. By the last two reps, my form felt right again and I had markedly better bar speed.

Gorda Fran
21, 15, 9 reps for time:
Thrusters 135 lbs
Pull Ups

Time: 9:12

This is one of CFB's Fran varieties and it absolutely sucks. My glutes were demolished by all the deadlifting, so both my squat and the hip extension for the push press fatigued very quickly. I had to break up the thrusters 10/4/4/3, 6/5/4, and 4/3/2, so they took a very long time. Pull-ups were problem free. My quads, calves and triceps cramped a little bit after I was done. Bleh.

 

[brikis98]

Run: 3x7 min intervals w/3min recovery between rounds.

Result: ran all three intervals at 9.0 mph on a treadmill, covering a little over a mile each round

 

[brikis98]

Snatch: 88x3, 108x3, 128x3, 148x2, 168x1, 178xF, stopped (shoulder)
Good mornings: 45x10, 65x10, 95x10

My shoulders suck. Catching the 168 snatch, I tweaked something in my right shoulder. It wasn't bad and stopped hurting almost immediately, so I tried another rep with 178. It hurt a lot worse and I had to dump as a result. No idea what's wrong, but I'll be icing it just in case for the next few days. I stopped doing snatches and switched to some light good mornings to work my PC a little bit more.

Strict pull-ups: 3x12
GHD sit-ups: 3x14
Air squats: 3x45

With my shoulder hurting, I skipped the metcon and instead did another circuit of bodyweight exercises and called it a day.

 

[brikis98]

Row: 3000m
* 85% first 1500m
* Rest 1min
* 95% for second 1500m

Round 1: 6:01
Round 2: 5:26

Workout felt fairly easy, which probably means I should have gone a bit faster.

Ankle flexibility

I found a great way to work on the flexibility of my left ankle: I put one foot up on a 24" plyo box and lift the other off the floor so that I end up in the bottom of a very deep pistol. With my right leg, I'm able to sit and relax in this position and hold it without difficulty, squatting up at will. With my left, I have to fight very hard to not fall backwards and can't hold it for more than a few seconds at a time. I definitely felt a ton of tightness in my ankle, so as I suspected, this must be what is limiting me in doing pistols with my left leg. Hopefully if I keep working on this drill and do other ankle stretches, I'll be able to even my ankles out. I also wouldn't be surprised if this sort of flexibility difference played a role in my hamstring injury.

 

[brikis98]

Power clean: 128x3, 178x3, 218x3, 238x5x2, 218x1x5

First time doing power cleans in a while and I've noticed that my foot landing has regressed into an awkward split stance. After fighting with it for a while, I was able to get it back into a quarter squat in the last 238 double and the quick set of 218 after.

Perform 3 rounds of:
21 KB Swings 2 pood
21 Knees To Elbows
21 Double Unders

Time: 10:02

Good workout. Haven't done heavy kb swings in a while, but they felt great. The KTE's were fine for the first 2 rounds, but on the 3rd, I could not get a kip going, and doing all 21 strict took a damn long time.

 

[brikis98]

Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x3, 355x2, 335x5
HSPU: 5, 7, 9, 10
L pull-ups: 5, 7, 8, 9

Squats went well, but I wasn't quite ready for 355x3. The second rep was extremely slow and shaky, so I racked it instead of going for the 3rd rep and after that banged out a rock solid set of 5 with 335. I usually do OH press on squat days, but with my shoulder issues lately, I opted for the smaller ROM of HSPU's instead. I haven't practiced them much, but they felt great. On the other hand, L pull-ups, which I haven't done for probably over 6 months, were very tough. I was swinging all over the place and really struggling to get full ROM without losing the 90 degree L. I should definitely practice them more.

Lizzie
12, 9, 6, 3 for time:
Power Clean 185 lbs
Ring Dips

Used 188lbs

Time: 4:59

Although still called "Lizzie", this CFFB workout used a different rep scheme than the last time I did "Lizzie". Back then it was 15-10-5 and took me 4:30. I guess the longer sets of the older one would've made it slightly tougher, even though I used a little more weight this time. At any rate, I think my slower time is a clear sign that I'm still not back to my previous fitness level after missing nearly a month of workouts back in June.

 

[brikis98]

6 rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
25 Burpees

Time: 24:30

150 burpees and 1.5 miles of running is brutal.

Pistol flexibility work

Mostly sitting in the bottom of a deep pistol and trying to keep my balance. It was once again effortless with my right leg, but I struggled a lot with the left. However, I had a little more success with it than last time and could feel a stretch deep in my ankle and adductors.

 

[brikis98]

Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1, 425x6x1
Deadlift (double overhand for grip training): 315x1, 335x1, 355x3, 365x1

After the 150 burpees yesterday, I felt like I had been hit by a truck. Everything was sore: my quads, glutes, shoulders, chest, lats, even my ribs. I was moving like an old man, so going heavy on the deadlift was not an option today. Instead, I did a bunch of singles with 425 - heavy enough to be challenging, but light enough where I could still maintain good form despite being fatigued. After that, I did a bunch more reps using double overhand to work on my grip. I should do more of this and see if I can get to 405 without having to resort to hook grip.

"Annie"
50-40-30-20 and 10 rep rounds of:
Double-unders
Sit-ups

Did sit-ups with my feet unanchored in the butterfly position.

Time: 7:20

I effortlessly flew through the double-unders, but the sit-ups were a chore. I ended up about 30 seconds slower than my PR, which is pretty disappointing.

Tabata Double-unders: 8 rounds of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off

Double-unders completed: 190 (PR)

After a crappy few weeks at the gym, I had to set some sort of PR and as double-unders felt good during Annie, this seemed like a good bet. I didn't quite hit my goal of 200, but I ended up doing 22 more than my previous best, so I can't complain.

 

[brikis98]

Run: 1.5 miles, for time

Result: ran on a treadmill @ 9mph (10:07)

Had another late night at work and I was very tempted to skip the workout, but I forced myself to go. I've missed WAY too many workouts this year and have been doing my best the last couple weeks to turn it around and stop slacking off. Anyways, it was a fairly easy run, which as usual means I should have gone faster.

I was stretching after the workout and did a cross legged hamstring stretch, which isolates one leg at a time. I noticed that the flexibility on my left hamstring is markedly less than the right one. So it looks like every damn thing in my left leg - hamstrings, adductors, ankles - is tighter than the right. Not sure if this is the cause of the hamstring injury or its effect, but I'm going to do more unilateral work to try to even it out.

 

[brikis98]

OH squats: 135x5, 165x3, 185x3, 205x2, 215x1, 225x1, 235x1 (PR), 245x1(PR)
Muscle-ups: 12 sets of 1-2 reps to work on technique

Snatches bothered my shoulder last time, so I did OH squats today instead and ended up with a 20lb PR. Even though my shoulder still swells up from time to time, it's good to see that my shoulder mobility work has at least paid off in some ways - my technique was rock solid and I probably had more in the tank. I was also surprised once more at how much easier behind the head jerks are (to get the bar into the overhead position) than the ones from in front of the head. 245 went up without too much difficulty, which makes we wonder what I could jerk this way. Too bad there is no way to clean something onto your back

I then worked on my ring muscle-up technique. I tried holding the rings a bit closer to my palm than my wrist to reduce skin tearing, and it seemed to work. It still hurt quite a bit - I couldn't hold on for more than 2-3 reps at a time - but nothing ripped open, which is a big win.

Tabata rowing: 8 rounds of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off

Round 1: 107m (PR)
Round 2: 106m
Round 3: 105m
Round 4: 102m
Round 5: 99m
Round 6: 98m
Round 7: 97m
Round 8: 99m

Total: 813m (PR)

A Crossfit class showed up just as I went to do my metcon and filled up the whole gym. The only equipment that was really available was the rower, so I banged out some Tabata Intervals. I went pretty damn hard the first 4 rounds, setting small PR's for a single round (1:28 pace at the end of round 1) and the total workout. My quads were on fire the last 4 rounds.

 

[conorvansmack]

I do the same behind the head jerk to get the bar up, just with a lot less weight. How do you bring the bar down when you're done? Or do you have bumper plates?

Nice job on the muscle ups!

 

[brikis98]

I do the same behind the head jerk to get the bar up, just with a lot less weight. How do you bring the bar down when you're done? Or do you have bumper plates?

I have bumper plates, so I usually just dump it after I'm done. However, you can get the bar back onto your upper back in a controlled drop (if you try to slowly lower it in a snatch grip, your shoulders may hurt) by absorbing the impact with "soft knees." Check out this video for more info. Having said that, I wouldn't go heavy on OH squats w/o bumper plates. When you miss an OH squat, the weight has a tendency to come down rapidly, in an unpredictable direction/angle, and from a decent height. I suppose you could try to setup the safety pins at the right height, but depending on where in the motion you dump, the weight may come crashing down hard.

 

[conorvansmack]

Thanks for the advice. My gym doesn't have bumper plates or a proper power rack, so I'm going to have to use my discretion on the weight.

 

[brikis98]

Cleans: 128x3, 178x3, 218x2, 238x2, 248x2, 258x2, 268x2

Squat clean doubles are pretty exhausting.

Five rounds for time of:
95 pound Power snatch, 15 reps
Run 400 meters

Used 98lbs on the snatch

Time: 18:04 (PR)

Fun workout. Crushed my time from 1.5 years ago by over 6 minutes. To run the 400m, I had to run across the entire gym floor, out the front door, around the building, down the sidewalk to a telephone pole, and back. Each time I ran by the front desk, I was massively slowed down by the crowd of people around it, so the 400m runs were pretty damn slow. Did the first round of power snatches unbroken and then did 8/7 for the remaining 4 rounds with a fairly small break in between.

 

[brikis98]

"Murph"
For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run.

Ran on a dirt track outside

Time: 34:44

Man, I suck with dates. I thought today was my 2 year CF anniversary, but after checking my journal, I realized it was actually on July 7th, not August 7th. Two years ago on that day I did my first CF workout ever - Murph - and it is now my annual tradition to repeat it each year. Unfortunately this year, I'm not only a month late, but my performance sucked too.

My lungs just hit a wall today. I ran the first mile in 7:40, banged out 5 quick rounds of "Cindy" (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats), and all of a sudden found myself sucking wind. I'm not sure what the issue was, as I'm actually pretty good at Cindy-style workouts. The first mile of running felt fine, and muscular endurance definitely wasn't an issue, - I never felt the "burning" sensation and even did some double Cindy rounds (10 pull-ups, 20 push-ups, 30 squats). However, I was out of breath far more than I'm used to and needed to take a lot of breaks. The clock hit 26 minutes by the time I headed out for the second mile, by which point I was nearly weezing/gasping. My final time ended up over a minute slower than my best outdoor Murph time and two minutes slower than my best treadmill Murph time. Very disappointing.

 

[brikis98]

Two Years of Crossfit

I was feeling a bit down about my Murph time, but then went back through this journal and had a fun time reading my time reading my one year Crossfit anniversary post and seeing the improvements I've made since then:

* Squat: 355 -> 405
* 20 rep squat: 265x20 -> 300x20
* Deadlift: 425 -> 475
* OH press: 185 -> 205
* Crossfit Total: 975 -> 1055
* Clean: 260 -> 288
* Snatch: 165 -> 200
* OH squat: 185 -> 245
* Pull-ups: 30 consecutive -> 42 consecutive
* 500m row: 1:41 -> 1:32
* 2k row: 7:48 -> 7:17
* Fran: 4:30 -> 3:20
* Cindy: 24 rounds -> 28 rounds
* Filthy fifty: 26:05 -> 23:20
* Fight Gone Bad: 291 -> 364
* Nancy: 18:04 -> 12:39

Although not as impressive as my first year improvements (which is expected), I've still made a lot of progress in year 2. I'm especially happy with this given how the last 6 months have been very inconsistent. First, I had the hamstring injury, and looking back through my journal now, I realize it took 4 months (including going to a chiro to get ART) to get back to 100 percent! Second, I missed nearly a month of workouts in June due to a 2 week vacation, food poisoning and lots of late nights at work. So all in all, I really can't complain about the improvements above.

Having said that, I still have some major weaknesses that I need to focus on. I still suck at running and have made very little progress in that department. My CFE workouts have helped my rowing quite a bit, but on my own two feet, I'm still slow as hell. The o-lifts are another big problem. Both my snatch and jerk (side note: who the hell named these lifts?) are completely stalled due to very inconsistent technique. The jerk problems are also related to the last major weakness I need to focus on: inflexible shoulders. Their mobility sucks and they get injured a lot. Plenty to work on in year 3

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Big congrats on the improvements. I know guys who have been doing CF for 2+ years without being anywhere near the improvements you've made. I don't do too many benchmark workouts, but I'm keeping track of my progress as well. It feels pretty damn good to improve, no matter what. With your latest Murph, running is so variable sometimes. If you have light asthma and ran on a drier day and then came inside for the pullups/pushups/squat, that could really do you some harm. Don't feel bad. You're around your PR, which means you've still got it.

I'm hoping to complete some more benchmark workouts like Fran in the upcoming months. It'll help me figure out what I need to work on more. To address your problems, you may just have to do some longer runs in actual running shoes to work on your form and local conditioning. And you can always work on your shoulders if you've got a broomstick or foam roller around. I've really been working on loosening my thoracic region up because I have the same problem. You only have to worry when you stop having things to work on. Again, nice job on the PRs this year.

 

[brikis98]

Big congrats on the improvements. I know guys who have been doing CF for 2+ years without being anywhere near the improvements you've made.

Thanks

With your latest Murph, running is so variable sometimes. If you have light asthma and ran on a drier day and then came inside for the pullups/pushups/squat, that could really do you some harm. Don't feel bad. You're around your PR, which means you've still got it.

Yea, I need to accept the fact that some days I'll have it, and some days I just won't. The first year of Crossfit spoiled me with PR's on virtually every single workout I repeated, but obviously that can't continue indefinitely. Much like dieting, having crappy days 10% of the time doesn't matter if you are doing well the other 90%.

I'm hoping to complete some more benchmark workouts like Fran in the upcoming months. It'll help me figure out what I need to work on more.

I mostly listed the benchmark workouts above because their names make them easy to refer to. I'm tracking my progress on lots of other non-named workouts, but writing "5 rounds for time of 25 pull-ups, ...." doesn't work so well

To address your problems, you may just have to do some longer runs in actual running shoes to work on your form and local conditioning. And you can always work on your shoulders if you've got a broomstick or foam roller around. I've really been working on loosening my thoracic region up because I have the same problem. You only have to worry when you stop having things to work on. Again, nice job on the PRs this year.

I've been doing the CFE workouts to get more exposure to running and today watched a ton of POSE running videos in the CFJ, including this excellent series where Dr. Nicholas Romanov teaches POSE step by step. I've already identified a handful of things I'm doing wrong, so hopefully fixing these technique issues will help. I've made good improvements in running in the past and know I can again, so I'm not too worried.

As for the shoulders, I'm not so sure. I've been doing shoulder dislocates before every single workout, as well as wall extensions and a few other mobility drills after. My shoulders definitely are more mobile now - for example, they felt much more comfortable when I did the 1RM OH squats the other day - but that hasn't seemed to stop them from flaring up from time to time. I'll go for a couple months without any issues, getting my OH press numbers up nicely, and then out of nowhere, they'll start to hurt like hell and I'll have to stop all overhead work. After lots of ice + rest, they go back to normal, I get another month or two, and the cycle repeats. I think bad genetics plus way too much bench press (w/ crappy form) from my stupid bb-style workouts years ago are going to plague me for a while.

 

[brikis98]

Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x2, 345x5

After heavy squat cleans two days ago and 300 air squats yesterday, I was tempted to skip squats today, but I'm glad I didn't. Despite my quads being a bit sore, I plowed through 345x5. Looks like I'm recovering from the 3 on, 1 off schedule pretty well now and need to stop underestimating myself. I think I'll be able to bump up to 350 or 355 next time w/o issues.

10 rounds for time of:
3 Deadlifts 315 lbs
5 Clapping Push Ups
7 GHD Sit Ups

Time: 12:30

This is an awesome, fast paced workout, but I really screwed up the pacing on it. I took nearly 8 minutes for the first 6 rounds, taking my time because I expected the push-ups to get hard (after 200 of them yesterday) or the deadlifts to slow down (after all the squatting), but halfway through I wasn't even breathing hard. I sped up and knocked off the last 6 rounds in 4:30, but had a ton left in the tank. Next time this comes up, I'm going to go much faster through out and wouldn't be surprised to get under 10 minutes.

 

[brikis98]

Run: 5k

Did a 5k loop near work today to work on POSE technique. I picked up some good tips from POSE videos on the CF Journal, including the Erin Cafaro Learns to Run series and Pose Drills. Today's focus was getting back into the pose (the number 4) and maintaining a high cadence. Every now and then, things would start to feel very smooth & effortless, which probably meant I was getting it right. At other times, however, I felt like I was doing superfluous motions and wasting lots of energy. However, for the most part, it went well. I didn't really time myself, but kept up a pretty damn good pace and from a look at the clock when I got back, I'm guessing I came in at under 24 minutes while hardly breaking a sweat.

 

[brikis98]

Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1, 425x1, 445x1, 455x1 460x1, 465x1
HSPU: 5, 3 (25lb bumper), 3 (25lb bumper), 3 (2x25lb bumper), 3 (2x25lb bumper), 3 (3x25lb bumper), 2 (3x25lb bumper)

Felt very strong on the deadlift today. A Crossfit class had shown up that needed all the plates I was using, so I actually had to blitz through the deadlifts, taking only about 1 min between sets. Despite that, the weight was absolutely flying today, and I managed to get 465 up without a belt (my PR with a belt is 475). There may be hope for a 500lb deadlift this year after all. I then moved onto handstand push-ups, doing them on top of progressively more 25lb bumper plates under each hand. By the time I had 3 stacked up, I was very close to a full ROM handstand push-up - at the bottom, my hands were probably ~2" from my shoulders. The good news is that my shoulders felt fine, so I might give OH press a shot next week.

"Elizabeth"
21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips

Used 138lbs

Time: 10:19 (PR)

Here's a bit of advice for you guys: never do Elizabeth after heavy deadlifts. It is absolutely miserable. I got through the first 10 cleans in a row, but after that, my back and glutes were totally shot. My form broke down pretty bad and I started to lean forward, ended up on my toes, and was doing some damn ugly, quad-only squats. I could bang out no more than 2-3 in a row for the rest of the workout, which took forever. I somehow still squeaked out a 3 second PR (despite using a slightly heavier weight), but considering my old PR is from a year ago, I should have done much better. Oh well, lesson learned.

 

[brikis98]

Hill Repeats
Run 2 x 3/4 mile hill repeats holding fastest possible pace without deviating more then 1 minute and recovering 1 min before descending hill easy. Repeat after 1 min recovery at bottom of hill... treadmill use 7 percent grade, recover 2 min and repeat.

Ran on the treadmill at elevation "7" as suggested

Round 1: 6.0 mph
Round 2: 6.5 mph

A percent grade (btw, I'm assuming setting "7" on the treadmill is 7 percent and not some arbitrary level 7) was quite a bit harder than I expected. My quads and lungs were burning hard the second round and I was really gasping for air for the last quarter mile.

Stretching

I recently went on a binge of Kelly Starret videos, including the Two Minute Drills and Rebuilding Khalipa series, and applied what I learned in my stretching today. I did two of his "two minute drills" today and in those 4 minutes, I think I did as much for my shoulder mobility as I had accomplished over the last 4 months. This stuff really works. I mean, it's not a magic bullet and I'll have to keep working at it to make the gains permanent, but the difference before and after stretching was ridiculous. I also did some of the drills from the Khalipa video, which also made a noticeable difference, but not quite as dramatic since my hip/hamstring mobility isn't that terrible to begin with (thanks to 2 years of dedicated work). One of the big differences was that I hadn't been doing PNF stretching quite right and watching a pro teach it really helped. Huge props to Kelly Starret for some superb instructional videos that teach very effective stretching techniques.

 

[brikis98]

Snatch: 88x5, 108x4, 128x4, 148x4, 148x3, 148x3, 158x1, 168x1, 178x1, 183xF, 183x1, 188xF, 188x1, 193xF, 193x1, 198xF, 198xF, 198x1, 203xF, 203xF, 203xF, 203xF

After watching some videos in the CFJ, I modified my snatch technique today to use a more upright starting position. It seems that this allows pure quad extension to be used to get the bar above the knees, leaving the hamstrings nice and tight to do the second pull. I did a whole bunch of reps with lighter weight to get used to it and once it felt comfortable, I ramped up the weight on a bunch of singles. It felt pretty damn good, but 203 continues to elude me. The second attempt was especially close - it had enough height, I got under it, but I ended up just barely off balance and lost it backwards. Very frustrating.

Two rounds of:
Right arm barbell push-press 12 reps
Left arm deadlift 12 reps
Run 800 meters
Left arm barbell push-press 12 reps
Right arm deadlift 12 reps
Run 800 meter

Used 55lbs on the push press and did suitcase deadlifts with 115lbs

Time: 22:22

Very fun workout. I really enjoy non-standard exercises and wish my gym had some huge tires, sledge hammers, sleds, kegs, sandbags, etc. I really get the impression that working with these oddly shaped, real world objects is an important aspect of fitness that I'm missing. However, the uni-lateral exercises in today's workout will have to do as a substitute, with the name of the game today being "midline stabilization." I have never done one handed versions of either of these barbell exercises, and being unsure of technique, I kept the weight light. In retrospect, I should have gone heavier: 65-75lbs on the push press and 135-155lbs on the deadlift would have been more appropriate. As it is, I ended up doing all the sets unbroken and spent most of the workout running in the parking lot around the gym.

 

[brikis98]

Stanford Dish Trail Run: ~3.7 mile loop, lots of hills, clockwise direction

Time: 32:50

This was my first time running the dish trail loop in a clockwise direction, which has a lot of the uphill portions in one steep area right at the beginning, making the start of the run seem much tougher. However, it turned out not to be as bad as I thought, and once I got past it, I was flying. It was a clear day, so the view from atop the trail was spectacular and included Stanford campus, the entire peninsula, and San Fran. Very fun run and a good workout.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Stretching

I recently went on a binge of Kelly Starret videos, including the Two Minute Drills and Rebuilding Khalipa series, and applied what I learned in my stretching today. I did two of his "two minute drills" today and in those 4 minutes, I think I did as much for my shoulder mobility as I had accomplished over the last 4 months. This stuff really works. I mean, it's not a magic bullet and I'll have to keep working at it to make the gains permanent, but the difference before and after stretching was ridiculous. I also did some of the drills from the Khalipa video, which also made a noticeable difference, but not quite as dramatic since my hip/hamstring mobility isn't that terrible to begin with (thanks to 2 years of dedicated work). One of the big differences was that I hadn't been doing PNF stretching quite right and watching a pro teach it really helped. Huge props to Kelly Starret for some superb instructional videos that teach very effective stretching techniques.

Kelly Starrett's videos are great. The two minute drills aren't anything special, but they show people stretches that can free up ROM for multiple movements. I especially like his breakdown of PNF for regular individuals. Kelly is a great physical therapist - I hope to bring about similar knowledge when I'm done with PT school.