brikis98's crossfit journal

[brikis98]

Sunday, July 27

Day off.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was experiencing some mild overtraining symptoms and am taking today off to rest. Only thing I did today was stretch a little and worked on my planche progression for a bit (up to 35 seconds on the frog stance). Feeling better already and the rest day tomorrow should help even more.

 

[brikis98]

Monday, July 28

Rest Day.

 

[spamsk8r]

For me, 4 days a week of Crossfit is just about perfect. I get maximum benefits without burning out. If I do 5 days a week I get minor injuries, weird pains, brain fog, and fatigue. Nice work on the planche progression, I can't even hold the frog position with straight elbows for more than a second (although I'm working on it).

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: spamsk8r
For me, 4 days a week of Crossfit is just about perfect. I get maximum benefits without burning out. If I do 5 days a week I get minor injuries, weird pains, brain fog, and fatigue. Nice work on the planche progression, I can't even hold the frog position with straight elbows for more than a second (although I'm working on it).

I'll try once more with the 5 day a week schedule (3 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off) and if I get the overtraining symptoms again, I may switch to a 4 day a week schedule like you. On the other hand, I'm feeling 100% again today, so maybe all I need is an extra day off every 2-3 weeks. I was so energetic today, I really had to fight with myself to not go to the gym and instead forced myself to do 5 min. of jump rope (up to 3 consecutive double-unders now!), stretch and call it a day.

One other thing worth mentioning is that I may eventually bias my CF routine towards strength. I'm still working on the exact routine, but I may end up with something like two days of an SS-style routine and 2 days of CF metcon style workouts for 4 days total. However, I'm really enjoying CF as-is right now, so I think I'll extend my trial for another month 🙂

 

[brikis98]

Tuesday, July 29

Workout of the Day

Five rounds of:
Deadlift, 3 reps
Handstand push-ups, max reps

My numbers

Got to the gym early today and it was packed. Absolutely not one free wall (that wasn't near pointy objects), so I couldn't do handstand push-ups. There also weren't any racks free, and I didn't want to clean the weight, so I didn't even do military press. Instead, I settled for bench press (5x3) since it so rarely comes up in CF. And, as it's still July and my flexibility is still very far from ideal, I took it easy on deadlifts again, although I added slightly more weight than last time.

Deadlift: 225x3, 265x5, 275x3, 295x3, 315x3
Bench: 225x3, 245x3, 265x3, 275x3, 285x3

Comments:

* Despite very little sleep last night, I was dying to get back to the gym today. I've always had a ton of extra energy (which is why I looove exercise), but after doing CF for 3 weeks, I'm ready to burst after a day or two off. I looove deadlifts and had to have another battle of my will to refuse slapping on a ton of weight. I couldn't resist going up to 3 plates - hopefully I won't regret it tomorrow - and I was happy to find the weight going up very easily. All the glute/hamstring activation exercises seem to be paying off as I'm really feeling the deadlift in those areas and not at all in my lower back, which is how it should be. I feel great now and did lots of stretching after the workout and I just pray that I don't get a nasty surprise tomorrow morning with a sore/stiff back...

* I had been practicing with headstands yesterday and was excited to try out some HSPU's with my legs on a wall, but it was not to be. The gym was so packed the whole building seemed to be sweating. However, I was happy to finally do some bench press and was pleasantly surprised with my strength. Although I really struggled with 285, I got all 3 reps up with good form, if not good bar speed. So, despite having done bench press only twice in the last month, my chest is still just as strong as it was before CF - possibly even stronger when it comes to dips and push-ups. Of course, it's not as good as it was right before I injured my back a few months ago (315x4 PR), but then again, I was ~27lbs heavier back then, so it's an ok tradeoff.

* I made one mistake today and got my first CF war wound: before heading home, I tried a couple of muscle-ups and tore open a blister. I suppose it would've happened sooner or later, so it's better it was after the workout was done, but I hope it won't affect me the next few days.

 

[brikis98]

Wednesday, July 30

Workout of the Day

Five rounds for time of:
2 pood Kettlebell swings, 25 reps
25 GHD Sit-ups
25 Back Extensions
25 Knees to Elbows

My numbers

Had to make a bunch of substitution based on equipment available.

Five rounds for time of:
50lbs dumbbell swings, 25 reps
25 decline Sit-ups
25 45 degree Back Extensions
25 Knees to Elbows

Time: 45 minutes

Comments:

* Yup, time to admit it: I should not have let my ego get in the way and should've scaled this workout. It completely obliterated me. Three sets instead of five or 15 reps per exercise instead of 25 would've been far far better. By the end, I was just grinding out reps, which I believe is quite contrary to the hard & fast nature these workouts are supposed to have.

* My gym has no kettlebells, so I substituted a dumbbell, which worked fine, even for full swings that end overhead. I've never really done kettlebell/dumbbell swings, so I started with a lighter weight (50lbs instead of the rx'd 2 pood = ~72lbs). I really like them - they get the heart pumping and really work the abs, back, butt, hips, hamstrings and even the grip.

* I had only done knees to elbows once before for only a few reps and I was amazed how hard they are for longer sets. The first 6-7 reps feel really easy, but after that, some muscle starts to fail and each extra rep is a real chore. After yesterday's deadlifts (and the torn blister from a failed muscle-up attempt) and the kettlebell swings today, the knees to elbows were even challenging on my grip.

 

[brikis98]

Thursday, July 31

Workout of the Day

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Pull-ups

My numbers

I was short on time today, so I did 25 pull-ups per round instead of 50.

Time: 21:00

Comments:

* A friend of mine was visiting from out of town, so I needed to speed up my workout a bit today. However, it's probably good that I scaled the pull-ups: my hands were destroyed from the last two days, with several blisters torn open. Moreover, my kipping form seems to have gotten worse. I can't chain more than 2-3 in a row without stopping and wasting a bunch of energy getting the swing going. Considering I could do 12 dead hang pull-ups in a row, this is clearly a form issue. I'll need to find some time to practice, assuming I can get my hands healed in the near future...

* I was amazed at how destroyed my hamstrings, glutes and inner thighs were after yesterday's workout. It made running fast very hard today as without hamstrings, my stride had no kick to it. I guess those dumbbell swings really work 🙂

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Where are you getting the workouts from? These aren't the crossfit.com WODs

I've been Crossfitting for a couple of months now (following a strict 3 on/1 off and eating a paleo'ish zone for about 3 weeks) but I'm a steady .com'er with an occasional Crossfit Endurance workout thrown in there for good measure. The results, are honestly, just staggering. I've gone from a 15:32 Fran with 75 lb thrusters on May 10 to a full weight 7:17 Fran on July 24. I'm thoroughly impressed with the program.

I was going to see how you did on yesterday's 15k run, but you didn't run it 😛. I did mine in about 1:37, which I'm quite pleased with considering I haven't run anything over 5k in about a year!

In any event, keep up the good work! Kipping takes some practice, you really have to be stronger when you're coming back down on the kipping pullups than you do when you're not kipping. Make a conscious effort to push away from the bar and when you're kipping up use your whole body, it really helps!

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Where are you getting the workouts from? These aren't the crossfit.com WODs

I went back in the CF archive and grabbed a couple months worth of WoD from there. I believe I was doing the May workouts this whole July and will be doing the June workouts this August. This lets me plan ahead for workouts, figuring out what substitutions to make, what new movements I need to start learning & practicing, and helps me coordinate my schedule with the two friends I workout with. It also lets me do a 3 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off schedule instead of the 3 on, 1 off schedule used on the mainsite.

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
I've been Crossfitting for a couple of months now (following a strict 3 on/1 off and eating a paleo'ish zone for about 3 weeks) but I'm a steady .com'er with an occasional Crossfit Endurance workout thrown in there for good measure. The results, are honestly, just staggering. I've gone from a 15:32 Fran with 75 lb thrusters on May 10 to a full weight 7:17 Fran on July 24. I'm thoroughly impressed with the program.

I was going to see how you did on yesterday's 15k run, but you didn't run it 😛. I did mine in about 1:37, which I'm quite pleased with considering I haven't run anything over 5k in about a year!

That is some amazing improvement, congrats! I've only been at this CF thing for about a month, so I haven't had a workout repeat yet, but it should be interesting to see if I've improved much.

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
In any event, keep up the good work! Kipping takes some practice, you really have to be stronger when you're coming back down on the kipping pullups than you do when you're not kipping. Make a conscious effort to push away from the bar and when you're kipping up use your whole body, it really helps!

In what direction should you be pushing your body at the end of a kipping rep? Backwards? Down? Forward?

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: brikis98
In what direction should you be pushing your body at the end of a kipping rep? Backwards? Down? Forward?

Hmmm... well a lot of it comes down to feel and not everyone kips the same way. It's kind of difficult to explain in text and it's probably best to watch the videos on the website, they're much more descriptive than I can be.

Anyways, here's how I would think about it. When you get to the top, instead of coming straight down, you want to push away with a slight closing of the shoulders. As you get to the bottom, your arms will naturally bring you forward as they should be close to fully extended since you pushed out from the bar. As you start transferring the energy you have from the fall into horizontal motion, send your chest and upper body forward without sending your legs forwards. This should give your chest a good bit of forward movement. You'll get to the "front" of the pull-up and your body will start swinging back. As you move backwards, and this part can be tricky, you need to close your shoulders violently and use both your arms and core to transfer that momentum vertically.

As I said, it's really not easy to explain in text and even videos have their limitations. As you try to be more and more explosive on the pullups, you should be able to figure out the bottom part of the kip. To chain them together really comes down to a lot of feel and timing. I only figured them out a couple of weeks ago and I still lose the timing after a few of them.

The upside is that once you do figure it out, you can do pullups much faster and more efficiently since you're recycling much more energy from one rep to the next. 🙂

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle

Hmmm... well a lot of it comes down to feel and not everyone kips the same way. It's kind of difficult to explain in text and it's probably best to watch the videos on the website, they're much more descriptive than I can be.

Anyways, here's how I would think about it. When you get to the top, instead of coming straight down, you want to push away with a slight closing of the shoulders. As you get to the bottom, your arms will naturally bring you forward as they should be close to fully extended since you pushed out from the bar. As you start transferring the energy you have from the fall into horizontal motion, send your chest and upper body forward without sending your legs forwards. This should give your chest a good bit of forward movement. You'll get to the "front" of the pull-up and your body will start swinging back. As you move backwards, and this part can be tricky, you need to close your shoulders violently and use both your arms and core to transfer that momentum vertically.

As I said, it's really not easy to explain in text and even videos have their limitations. As you try to be more and more explosive on the pullups, you should be able to figure out the bottom part of the kip. To chain them together really comes down to a lot of feel and timing. I only figured them out a couple of weeks ago and I still lose the timing after a few of them.

The upside is that once you do figure it out, you can do pullups much faster and more efficiently since you're recycling much more energy from one rep to the next. 🙂

Thanks for the tips. I've watched a bunch of the videos and they all make it look so easy & smooth... I guess it's just practice practice practice 🙂

 

[brikis98]

Friday, August 1

Rest day.

Warmed up, worked on my handstand and stretched.

 

[brikis98]

Saturday, August 2

Workout of the Day

"Jason"
For time:
100 Squats
5 Muscle-ups
75 Squats
10 Muscle-ups
50 Squats
15 Muscle-ups
25 Squats
20 Muscle-ups

My numbers

I still can't do a muscle-up, so for each muscle-up, I substituted one "jumping" muscle-up, 1 pull-up and 1 push-up. So, for example, the first round had 100 squats followed by 5 "jumping" muscle-ups, 5 pull-ups and 5 push-ups.

Time: 30:25

Comments:

* Despite practicing, I still just cannot get enough height on my pull-up to get my elbows over the bar and dip out of it. I therefore had to substitute "jumping" muscle-ups where I had my feet on a bench and added a jump to my pull-up to help me get enough height. This obviously makes the muscle-up easier, so I also did 1 pull-up and 1 push-up per rep (I would've done 1 dip, but my buddy was using the only dip bars). I like the jumping muscle-ups as they still let me practice the change over and the bar dip, both of which I really like as an exercise and I can't wait to be able to do a proper muscle-up.

* I practiced handstands a bit more today and am finally having some success. I start by doing a headstand with my back to the wall and then do a handstand push-up (using the wall to help with balance) to get myself into a handstand. I then try to maintain my balance for as long as possible. I can only do a few seconds so far, but that's still better than 0. Being close to the wall, I think I'm very straight (don't have a huge arch in my back) and this is by far the safest/easiest way I've found to get into a handstand and work on my balance. I'll keep doing this every day or two until I can hold it for 15 seconds and will then try to get into a handstand without doing a headstand first. It's actually quite fun 🙂

 

[brikis98]

Sunday, August 3

Workout of the Day

Run 1 mile
Two minutes of each:
Row
30 pound Dumbbell thrusters
20 pound Medicine ball cleans
Double-unders
Pull-ups

The clock runs continuously for the ten minutes after the run.

My numbers

My gym has no rowing machine, so I substituted sumo deadlift high pull w/ 45lbs for reps. It also only has a small 12lbs medicine ball.

Run 1 mile: 07:09
Two minutes of each:
45 pound Sumo deadlift high pull: 41
30 pound dumbbell thrusters: 21
12 pound medicine ball cleans: 25
Double-unders: 16
Pull-ups: 22

Comments:

* This was a hard workout to by myself in my crappy gym. I don't have a good timer that would beep every couple of minutes, so I constantly had to stop and check the clock. I also had to run all over the gym to get to the equipment I needed, and as the clock runs continuously for the 10 minutes after the run, this wasted a lot of time.

* My legs were very sore from the 250 squats yesterday. What really sucked about this was that almost all the exercises today were completely leg driven. The 1 mile run didn't tax my lungs at all, but my legs were burning fiercely and I couldn't go any faster. I'm pretty sure I have the stamina to break my pitiful 1 mile PR of 6:30, but that'll have to wait for another day. Moreover, the sumo deadlift high pull with only 45lbs and the medicine ball cleans with only 12lbs were barely any different than just body weight squats, so I was in pain and really fighting to eek out reps.

* I'm still learning to chain together double-unders and can do no more than 3 in a row. At that rate, they were not particularly tiring but having to start the rope up again each time really slowed me down.

 

[brikis98]

Monday, August 4

Rest day.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

So overall, how did last week feel taking a few extra days off? It seems like you're still going strong, but I'm curious as to if they helped as much as you hoped they would.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
So overall, how did last week feel taking a few extra days off? It seems like you're still going strong, but I'm curious as to if they helped as much as you hoped they would.

I actually only took one extra day off, but it coincided with a scheduled rest day on my 3-1-2-1 schedule, so I had two days off in a row. It definitely helped, as I felt much more energetic the whole following week and was happy to test myself with each new workout. Moreover, my biggest overtraining symptom - difficulty falling asleep - went away.

So, overall, the extra day off was a success. However, I'm sure I'll need another one in the future. I think most CF people recommend taking extra rest once a month or doing a much lower intensity week every now and then. Exercising at CF intensities 5 days a week is tough, so I'll just listen to my body and rest as needed.

 

[brikis98]

Tuesday, August 5

Workout of the Day

"Crossfit Total"
Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

My numbers

I had not done a single back squat in over a month and wasn't sure how my back would take it, so I kept the weight low. I'm also still being paranoid with my back in general, so I didn't let myself get anywhere near my deadlift 1RM.

Back Squat
Warm-up: 135x8, 185x5, 225x3
"1RM": 255x1, 275x1, 285x1

Shoulder Press
Warm-up: 115x8, 135x5, 155x3
1RM: 165x1, 175x1, 185xmissed

Deadlift
Warm-up: 135x8, 225x5, 275x3
"1RM": 295x1, 315x1, 335x1

Total: 795

Comments:

* I really had to fight with myself to keep the weight low on the squat & deadlift. The CFT is a massive ego temptation, but I've had enough pain from deadlifts and squats to learn my lesson, and kept the weight down. Bar speed was VERY fast on the deadlift and I got all 3 lifts up with overhand grip without any issues. My back squat form was very rusty as I hadn't done them in ages. I felt very strong under the bar, but the bar speed was slow and twitchy as my body got re-acquainted with the motion. I think I'm going to add one set of very light back squats to my warm-up so I can get some more practice on this lift.

* I was practicing handstands yesterday and today at work by first getting into a headstand next to a wall and then doing a handstand push-up to get myself into a handstand. The result was lots of extra work on my shoulders and upper back, which is probably largely responsible for me missing the 185lbs shoulder press lift. That would have tied my PR from last month, but it barely made it past my nose before slowly working its way back down. Oh well, I'll get it next time.

* In better news, I got my first muscle-up today! I did it on a pull-up bar and it was ugly - one elbow coming up before the other - but I got up there and was elated. Everyone in the gym stared up at me as I was hanging there and gave me an odd look. I just replied with a massive grin on my face 🙂

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Nice CFT numbers, particularly on the SP strength and congrats on the muscle-up! Did you do it on rings or on a bar?

I still haven't been able to eek one out, I keep getting stuck in the transition; I struggle for a few seconds trying to get enough of my body over the bar and eventually drop it 🙁. I don't have access to rings at my gym and I think it's not helping.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Nice CFT numbers, particularly on the SP strength and congrats on the muscle-up! Did you do it on rings or on a bar?

I still haven't been able to eek one out, I keep getting stuck in the transition; I struggle for a few seconds trying to get enough of my body over the bar and eventually drop it 🙁. I don't have access to rings at my gym and I think it's not helping.

Thanks. Looking at my schedule, I have another CFT on August 27 and if my back is a bit healthier then, I'm hoping to crush my current numbers. If I feel bold, I should be able to add at least 50lbs to the deadlift alone, and by adding some back squat to my warm-up, I'll hopefully iron out the rust in that lift as well. Hoping to get to 900 for the next one and, some day a long way off, break the illusive 1000lbs CFT 🙂

As for the muscle-up, I edited the previous post to note that it was on a pull-up bar. My gym doesn't have any rings, so not much choice there. I did order rings 3 weeks ago, but they've been on back order and are yet to ship... grumble... Anyways, the muscle-up is a lot harder than I expected it to be. From my limited experience, it's all about generating a VERY explosive pull-up and I think the following things have helped me:

1. Learning and using the kipping pull-up in CF workouts. The kip is a MUCH more explosive motion than a dead hang and really teaches you to throw your weight up with a lot of speed.

2. Clapping pull-ups. Similar to clapping push-ups, you do a clap during the rep, which forces you to do a more explosive motion to give you enough time. I did some of these during warm-ups.

3. Jumping muscle-ups. I would stand on a bench (or any raised surface) under the pull-up bar and jump my way into a muscle-up. While this doesn't help you develop the pull-up explosiveness necessary (as the jumping replaces most of the pulling), it does teach you the skills needed for the change over and the bar dip. They are non-trivial and take some time to learn and I think it really helped me get a feel for the motion, the balance, etc. Also, make sure to do a slow negative on the way down as that'll further show you the position your body needs to be in and help develop all the appropriate muscles.

Good luck! It's definitely worth it and I can't wait to try another one tomorrow 🙂

 

[gramboh]

Congrats on the muscle-up, and your CFT is nothing to sneeze at, really strong on the OH press.

When CF says shoulder press, they mean OH press right? Same thing?

 

[crt1530]

Congratulations on the muscle-up.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: gramboh
Congrats on the muscle-up, and your CFT is nothing to sneeze at, really strong on the OH press.

When CF says shoulder press, they mean OH press right? Same thing?

I believe the press, overhead press and shoulder press are all the exact same thing. At the least, I'm doing whatever it is you see in the videos of the shoulder press on the crossfit exercises page 🙂


EDIT --> Thanks everyone 🙂

 

[citan x]

Originally posted by: brikis98
Tuesday, August 5

* In better news, I got my first muscle-up today! I did it on a pull-up bar and it was ugly - one elbow coming up before the other - but I got up there and was elated. Everyone in the gym stared up at me as I was hanging there and gave me an odd look. I just replied with a massive grin on my face 🙂

I am soo jealous, I am no where close to doing one. 😛

Anyways, Congrats!😀

 

[spamsk8r]

Congrats! I'm slowly working my way towards the muscle up (on the rings) and I'm getting better and better at holding the false grip, but I just can't get my weight over my shoulders yet. Nice work.