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SociallyChallenged Workout Journal

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Thurs, May 6th Workout

Back Squats
10x45
5x135
5x185
5x225
3x5x255

Shoulder Rehab

Played basketball for ~40min after lifting

I've been realizing recently that my shoulder isn't well. It doesn't stabilize as it should in things like dips, pushups, any press, etc. I'm going to full blown rehab it. Pulling motions are fine and I will likely continue doing those with weight. I'll work my way up to regular pushups and see what other kinds of exercises I can do for it. I also forgot to post that I worked out on 5/4 just for upper body (T-bar rows, shoulder rehab) they day before the Wingate Test. I got 878W on the Wingate Test, but sadly the computer lagged wretchedly when I started the test. Because of that, my true peak reading wasn't recorded. I anticipate I was ~950W, which is alright with me. I was pissed when I got 878W though. The Wingate gassed me though. My legs were so full of blood it was insane. I had to lie down and prop my legs up to let it drain back toward my heart. It was a good experience though.
 
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Today's Workout:

Back Squats
10x45
5x135
5x185
5x225
3x5x260

Deadlifts
10x135
5x185
3x5x225

Shoulder rehab + light stretching

Basketball for 30min

Today, I decided to have my girlfriend take some form check videos. I feel like my squat is pretty good, which the video showed was true. I also took recorded my deadlift. I did a weight that was challenging, but did not make my form "feel" bad. Looking at the video, it's not great. I have slight rounding and my weight shifts to my toes (because of the octagonal weights... God, I hate those). Any way, I'm still working on my right gluteus maximus and medius flexibility because I feel that plays a major role in my trouble. I'll post them later today when I can get them from the girlfriend's phone. Check back later today to help me out with a form check 🙂
 
brikis98 said:
Squat looks good overall, but you need a little more depth.
Click to expand...

Do you think so overall? I've recently started flipping the rack hooks around so I don't look at the mirror. I feel like this affects my consistency of getting low rather than my overall ability. Also, keep in mind, I'm not looking to go below parallel. Everything I do and every functional aspect I apply squats to utilizes at most a parallel squat. I did notice that, on some reps, I'm not quite getting there. On others though, it seems like I get right there. Thanks for checkin' it. It's nice to hear that I have something else to radically work on 😛
 
SociallyChallenged said:
Do you think so overall? I've recently started flipping the rack hooks around so I don't look at the mirror. I feel like this affects my consistency of getting low rather than my overall ability. Also, keep in mind, I'm not looking to go below parallel. Everything I do and every functional aspect I apply squats to utilizes at most a parallel squat. I did notice that, on some reps, I'm not quite getting there. On others though, it seems like I get right there. Thanks for checkin' it. It's nice to hear that I have something else to radically work on 😛
Click to expand...

Some of the reps were better than others, but most came up a bit short of parallel. For example, here is a screen capture of you at the bottom of one of your squats versus a diagram of a parallel low bar squat. This is the depth you should aim for in a purely "functional" squat. It may just be an issue of proprioception or perhaps you need to work on your hip mobility more. Oh, and yea, and it's good you are getting away from mirrors. They are extremely deceptive when it comes to determining depth or even verifying technique for most exercises.

BTW, where is the deadlift vid?
 
SociallyChallenged said:
Do you think so overall? I've recently started flipping the rack hooks around so I don't look at the mirror. I feel like this affects my consistency of getting low rather than my overall ability. Also, keep in mind, I'm not looking to go below parallel. Everything I do and every functional aspect I apply squats to utilizes at most a parallel squat. I did notice that, on some reps, I'm not quite getting there. On others though, it seems like I get right there. Thanks for checkin' it. It's nice to hear that I have something else to radically work on 😛
Click to expand...

Some of them are better than others. A couple of reps I wouldn't raise too much issue with, but a couple of the reps are rather high, like half squat depth. Consistency will come with time, but yea, something to work on.
 
brikis98 said:
Some of the reps were better than others, but most came up a bit short of parallel. For example, here is a screen capture of you at the bottom of one of your squats versus a diagram of a parallel low bar squat. This is the depth you should aim for in a purely "functional" squat. It may just be an issue of proprioception or perhaps you need to work on your hip mobility more. Oh, and yea, and it's good you are getting away from mirrors. They are extremely deceptive when it comes to determining depth or even verifying technique for most exercises.

BTW, where is the deadlift vid?
Click to expand...

I can't download the video from youtube to rotate it. I was having trouble with it last night. I may just post the sideways one, lol. I'm so inept when it comes to video editing. Thanks for the input though, brikis. I appreciate it.
 
Deeko said:
Some of them are better than others. A couple of reps I wouldn't raise too much issue with, but a couple of the reps are rather high, like half squat depth. Consistency will come with time, but yea, something to work on.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. It's good to hear that from multiple experienced squatters. I'll definitely work on my proprioception and continue lifting without the mirrors. I'll take another form video in a week or two to re-check. Thanks!
 
SociallyChallenged said:
I can't download the video from youtube to rotate it. I was having trouble with it last night. I may just post the sideways one, lol. I'm so inept when it comes to video editing. Thanks for the input though, brikis. I appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Are you referring to this video? If so, it's a bit tough to judge sideways and I have little experience with the sumo deadlift technique, but I can offer one comment: your butt & hips always shoot up before your shoulders or the weight start moving. The sumo deadlift certainly involves less knee flexion and quad involvement than the standard technique, but you are getting virtually none, doing the entire lift with your hamstrings & glutes. There are typically a few possible reasons for this: you are setting up with your hips too low, your quads are weak relative to your hamstrings, and/or just a mental failure to move the shoulders and hips simultaneously at the start of the lift. My guess would be the last option and that you just need some mental cues to correct it. One that might help is to think of the deadlift as a "push" exercise: you start by pushing your heels into the ground and you end by pushing your hips/glutes forward. This is quite different than the normal mentality of the lift being a "pull", which may encourage you to try to pull the weight from the ground with nothing but your hamstrings and back.
 
brikis98 said:
Are you referring to this video? If so, it's a bit tough to judge sideways and I have little experience with the sumo deadlift technique, but I can offer one comment: your butt & hips always shoot up before your shoulders or the weight start moving. The sumo deadlift certainly involves less knee flexion and quad involvement than the standard technique, but you are getting virtually none, doing the entire lift with your hamstrings & glutes. There are typically a few possible reasons for this: you are setting up with your hips too low, your quads are weak relative to your hamstrings, and/or just a mental failure to move the shoulders and hips simultaneously at the start of the lift. My guess would be the last option and that you just need some mental cues to correct it. One that might help is to think of the deadlift as a "push" exercise: you start by pushing your heels into the ground and you end by pushing your hips/glutes forward. This is quite different than the normal mentality of the lift being a "pull", which may encourage you to try to pull the weight from the ground with nothing but your hamstrings and back.
Click to expand...

My quads are equally as strong or even stronger in proportion to my hamstrings so I definitely don't think it's a strength issue. I believe my problem is completely motor/form related. I think my glute inflexibility makes me focus too much on what's going on there and not enough on my knee extension. I'll try to utilize those cues for some help. I'm willing to try anything essentially so I'll let you know how that goes. Thanks.
 
Get some lifting shoes. Bring your stance in a little and look down more for more hip drive. Like others said, get a little more depth too.
 
coreyb said:
Get some lifting shoes. Bring your stance in a little and look down more for more hip drive. Like others said, get a little more depth too.
Click to expand...

I'd rather work on my flexibility and lift flat-footed than spend money on some lifting shoes to be perfectly honest. Bringing my stance in won't benefit me any since I jump from a wide stance as well (i.e. for rebounding). I'm built a bit differently than most so squatting with a narrow stance actually bothers my back and hips, even with great form at light weight. I don't think looking down is a good cue since most people tend to tip forward while doing that. I'm good with my neutral head position. It helps me drive upward. I agree that depth is an issue. Can I ask you what you think some benefits of narrowing my stance would be? I don't really see any functional advantage to a narrow stance compared to a wider stance. It works different muscles to a certain degree, but they're all being tremendously taxed either way. I appreciate the input.
 
SociallyChallenged said:
I'd rather work on my flexibility and lift flat-footed than spend money on some lifting shoes to be perfectly honest. Bringing my stance in won't benefit me any since I jump from a wide stance as well (i.e. for rebounding). I'm built a bit differently than most so squatting with a narrow stance actually bothers my back and hips, even with great form at light weight. I don't think looking down is a good cue since most people tend to tip forward while doing that. I'm good with my neutral head position. It helps me drive upward. I agree that depth is an issue. Can I ask you what you think some benefits of narrowing my stance would be? I don't really see any functional advantage to a narrow stance compared to a wider stance. It works different muscles to a certain degree, but they're all being tremendously taxed either way. I appreciate the input.
Click to expand...

Looking down slightly actually can help with hip drive. In reality, you are just keeping your neck in neutral alignment with the rest of your spine, but since the torso tilts forward in a squat (especially a low bar back squat), this has you ultimately looking down. The problem is that before starting a rep, most people pick a spot to look at that is too high, so when they are at the bottom of the squat, their neck ends up craned upwards. You can see this happening slightly in your video. It's not a big concern, but it is really easy to fix: at the top of the squat, pick a spot on the ground 6-10 feet away and keep your gaze on it through out the squat. This will result in a neutral neck position at the bottom and, for some reason I can't explain, really does make it easier to engage the hip extensors.
 
Today's Workout:

Rowing
6x1min with 2 min rest

Round 1: 311m
Round 2: 281m
Round 3: 281m
Round 4: 286m
Round 5: 289m
Round 6: 283m

This was a nice workout, which allowed me to work on my rowing, my anaerobic glycolysis, my shoulder, and my general fitness. I'm clearly out of shape and I'm exactly built (or conditioned) to be a rower, but it's nice to work hard. Next week I'll try to do 8 rounds at the same estimated rate (~1:45min for 500m).
 
Today's Workout:

Back Squat
6x135 (forgot the bar for some reason)
5x185
5x225
3x265
3x5x265

Shoulder Rehab/Warmup

T-Bar Rows
10x45
5x90
5x135
3x5x155

Isometric Lateral Shoulder Raises
3x3 (10s holds at ~20 degrees)

My hip flexor is a little angry at me from all the stretching/eccentric movement of yesterday's rowing workout. I'm taking some ibuprofen and icing it. I realized today that I can do isometrics for my shoulder. I've noticed my deltoids atrophy a bit and I don't like that. Even if I don't have perfect coordination, I want to maintain the size, which will also aid in rehab. I didn't go all-out on the tension, but it worked well and wasn't uncomfortable like full ROM lateral shoulder raises are. I took 3-5min rest today and felt better prepared for the squat. I made sure to go lower in the hole today, which made the lift a bit harder. It felt good though.

Also to brikis: I guess you're right about head position. I looked at a tile about 10ft away from me the entire time and used a lot more glutes than I've felt in a while. It may have been my increased ROM, but I'll keep this cue. Thanks.
 
I've been away from this thread quite a while, but have been pretty active. I rehabbed my hip just fine and have been working in some good active and passive stretches. Since I just graduated from UC Davis with my B.S. (in Exercise Bio), I no longer have access to the university's gym. I struck a deal with a CrossFit affiliate to help with some POSE classes. I'll be over there until mid August, but I've done the following workouts so far:

Thurs 6/17/10
5 rounds for time of (with 45 pounds):
1min behind-the-head jerk
1min overhead squat

Result: Didn't count my reps. Just wanted to get back into things. My shoulder is still fairly sensitive so I will scale all shoulder work for a bit.

Fri 6/18/10
As many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 12min of (with 1 pood KB):
15 situps
12 Russian KB swings
9 KB Power swings
6 American KB swings

Result: 6 rounds, 15 situps, 3 Russian KB swings

Mon 6/21/10
"Fight Gone Bad"
3 rounds of:
1min Wall-Ball to 10 ft high target (20lbs)
1min Sumo-deadlift high-pulls (75lbs)
1min 20" box jumps
1min push press (subbed to 55lbs from Rx'ed 75lbs)
1 min row

Count all reps (calories for rowing) and add up for a total score

Result: 238 reps.

This was a low estimate since the trainer had to record 8 people's results and missed at least one set for each person. I had trouble getting over to the rower and getting situated quickly enough. I typically only had 30s to row.

I'll be continuing these workouts for about 8 weeks total. I expect to see some pretty big improvements, but we'll see where I go from here. Wish me luck, check in with the thread, and feel free to post. Ask questions, make comments, anything. It helps to know that other people are kicking their own ass as much as I am 🙂
 
6/22/10
AMRAP in 15min of:
10 one-handed, 35lb DB burpee clean and press (scaled from 50lbs)
10 knees-to-elbows

Results: Either 5 or 6 rounds plus 10 burpee C&P and 3 K2E

I couldn't remember for the life of me if I got 5 or 6 rounds. I'm fairly certain it was 6 plus the leftovers, but I'd rather low ball than give myself high numbers to try to beat later.

I also found out today that the CF doesn't do too many strength workouts due to space and time limitations. Because of this, I'll probably start including a strength workout a couple times per week after I let my body adapt to the newly found stress. I think tomorrow's WOD is utilizing deadlifts and double-unders so I gotta work on my flexibility and limber up before tomorrow, lol.
 
If you want more strength work than .com WODs, you might want to look into either CF Football or the CFWF program.
 
katank said:
If you want more strength work than .com WODs, you might want to look into either CF Football or the CFWF program.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Right now, I'm getting some good general cardio conditioning and rehabilitating my shoulder. I don't have the facilities to participate in either CFF or CFWF, but may look for a place to do so in the future. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
6/24/10
AMRAP in 20 min of:
20 side to side hops (over small hurdles)
15 box steps (28" tires for me)
10 ball slams (23lb ball)

Result: 12 rounds, 20 side to side hops, 3 box steps

Today was the first workout that I had to try to pace myself. I only broke a set once to catch some air so it's encouraging to know that I'm improving. The 28" box steps (which were actually two huge tractor tires stacked together) were pretty difficult. I pondered just doing box jumps for them, but my Achilles tendon wouldn't have liked that. All in all, this was a good plyometrics workout. I hope I'm not sore tomorrow so I can get two more workouts in before the week is over. After another week or two, I'm going to incorporate some strength training separately (or I'll do some CFFB with the trainers). Oh, and I'm going to start adding my problem areas (too sore, potentially strained) to this little explanation so I can look back and maybe see where an injury came from, if I get one.

Nagging areas: After the last workout, my left trap was impossibly tight/sore. I started eating more and it fixed itself right up. Note to self: eat enough and eat throughout the day. Also, left Achilles is sore, but shoulders seem to be holding up rather well.
 
6/25/10
5 rounds of:
1min Power Snatch
1min Overhead Squat

M:95, F:75
Add reps to get score

Result: 83 (80-85, was hard to count after a while). I also used 75lbs since I don't want my shoulder to get too finicky. Also, afterward, I worked with the trainer on my jerk.

Right after the WOD (since it wasn't too intensive), we did a 2 round buyout of:
1min situps
1min plank

Result: 33 situps, 1 min pushup plank, 26 situps, 1 min pushup plank.

Split Jerk:
2x75
2x85
1x95
1x105
1x115
1x125
1x135
1x145
1x155
1x165
Fx175

My technique wasn't bad, but I was having trouble getting explosion from my hips. Guess I'll have to work on this. It's not bad at 155lbs of body weight, especially for my first time. I wanna work on these a bit since my shoulders are feeling pretty dang good.

Nagging areas: Achilles is very slightly sore, but nothing mentionable otherwise. I'm sure I'll have plenty to fill in here after tomorrow... We're doing Murph.
 
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6/26/10
"Murph"
1 mile run
100 pullups
200 pushups
300 squats
1 mile run

The pullups, pushups, and squats can be split up however desired, but the workout must begin and finish with a 1mi run.

Result: 42:04 Rx'ed

I split this up into rounds like Cindy (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 air squats) and found the pushups to be the most challenging part by far (due to my shoulders). I opened with a 6:32 mile, which was pretty good. I didn't really stop working at any point, but my last mile was crap from the pullups (bad arm swing). Goal next time is definitely sub 40, hopefully under 38min. To be perfectly honest, I'm pretty proud to do Murph as Rx'ed after one week of CF, let alone beat some of the CFer's at my box. This workout is built for me since it's all body weight stuff. I'll try to do this workout again before I move just to have something to compare to. Good stuff.

Nagging areas: Left shoulder and left latissimus were a bit tender after the warmup from attempting the butterfly kip. Note to self - don't try butterfly kip unless substantially warmed up.
 
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