MAYHEM AT HEADQUARTERS!!

THE PLAYERS

"I'm not going to get into it right now"
(I crack myself up)but for those of you who follow my Blog who are not avid crossfitters we had an unfortunate event happen within our "Crossfit Community". Look it up if you are interested, It was the recent black box summit. I just thought I would have some fun with it.

Back to business the past WOD's:

November 23rd

Strength Development Day = Hang Squat Cleans 3-3-3-3-3
















Basically what happens with this lift is you have the weight hanging down around your thighs (holding onto the bar with a hook grip. Stick your ass out with a slight bend forward at the hips. You want to pretend you have a sandbag on your back that you are trying to get off. You are thrusting your hips so that the weight will head straight up in the vertical plane. As you are doing this you are coming up on your toes leaning back of course with straight arms (At no point are you "muscling" the weight with your arms)When the weight is on its way up you "push" yourself down under the bar so you can cushion it on the way down. As you move under the bar you must change your grip so you can catch the weight on your "front rack" position. Once you catch the weight you go down into a full squat position and then stand up. Before this day I had never really done a hang squat clean, as a matter of fact I can only remember once doing a day where we did squat cleans. Normally Coach Brandt would say work to a 3RM on these lift days but instead wanted everyone to work on form. So a heavy set of 3 but keep form in tact. I worked my way up to 3 X 145# . My strength on these lifts is that I'm quick getting under the weight. The quicker you are the less height the weight has to go in the air.


November 24th

AMRAP in 20 Minutes:

10 Chest to deck Pushups
10 Power cleans (95#)

Whenever you see AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) the WOD is gonna hurt!! Seeing 20 minutes really hurts, especially when you put an Olympic lift in the mix!! Even though 95# is relatively light you know in 20 minutes you are going to be doing a whole lot of them, therefore it is key to keep form in tact. Chest to deck push-ups are exactly what it says, chest touches the floor every rep. Yes the chest, not the stomach or knees, the chest. It is amazing how much the extra 4 inches to the ground makes. Well I managed 14 rounds and 9 push-ups which I thought was pretty good. The push-ups were actually the weak link I really fractioned them up. The secret to the AMRAP is just to keep going without stopping at whatever pace you need.


November 26th



SPARTAN 300

25 Pull-ups
50 Deadlifts (135#)
50 Push-ups
50 Box Jumps (24")
50 Floor Wipers (135#) (video's on youtube)
50 35# Kettlebell clean and press (25/arm)
25 Pull-ups

Time 19:10
The last time I did this WOD I got a time of 28:30 (using 95# for the deadlifts and 25# for the clean and press) so a huge improvement. I'm still not elated with the time but I did just get up after a nightshift and head straight into my garage to do this one. It seemed as though things started slowing down at the Box Jumps. To keep the box jumps legit you have to jump and land with your feet completely on the box, standing fully erect at the top. I knew on some of the floor wipers my knees were bent therefore my legs not completely straight like they should be. By the time I got to the clean and press I felt fried, these were sloppy on my part. My legs were fried from the deadlifts/box jumps and my arms were fried from benchpressing the floor wiper weight. Even though the better your form is on the clean and press the faster and more efficient you will get them done. HOWEVER that said, when you are in survival mode the only thing you are thinking about is to keep going and finish up not really worrying about form. By the time I got to the last 25 pull-ups, this is embarassing but I was doing them in 2's and 3's. I had major blood throat and a rug burned back when I was done, couldn't keep the shirt on it was too hot plus I'm too cool. (Yeah right)

Anyways, I'm heading to Whitefish this weekend and Crossfit Flathead in Kalispell is closed (American Thanksgiving) so I may try and hit a gym somewhere and tear it up during the weekend. If not I'll take the weekend off and hit it hard Tuesday night.

Until next time Sean'O out!!!

Back in Action

After a sabbatical of sorts I'm back and ready for action. I have to appologize to my regulars ( if there are any) for keeping you waiting. I've had some unfortunate events happen over the last week that I had to deal with.

Last week we left off on Remembrance day. Well the following WOD (November 12) was a strength day WOD of 5-5-5-5-5 front squats. So 5 sets of 5 reps working to a 5 RM or 5 rep maximum weight. I worked my way up to a 165# (bodyweight) 5 RM which I'm ok with. My legs are my weak link so to speak, I believe it's from the years of running making them week.
Now in Crossfit the is one of the most, if not the most important functional movement in crossfit. Without a technically sound squat you cannot properly do wallballs, front squats, squat cleans, thrusters etc. you get my point I hope. Flexibility is key, you need to be able to sit like you are sitting in a chair with a STRAIGHT TORSO. Your flexibility has to allow you to keep your torso vertical while you sit so your hips are below the crease in your knee.
Notice torso is vertical and hips are at or below the crease in the knee. Bar position in the front squat is right up against your throat sitting on your shoulder muscles NOT your collarbone!!
Feet are shoulder width or a bit wider and feet pointing slightly outwards. The reasoning behind the feet is to activate your outside hip muscles when you make your hip thrust (pop) motion at the top. The more muscles activated in any lift makes it a bit easier. The hand position (bar just resting on the fingers) allows you to keep your elbows straight out. The elbows are pointing straight out and acting as levers, this is very important in helping you keep your torso straight when standing up. The tendancy is to lean forward if your elbows start to drop, this takes the bar out of your center of gravity and puts alot of stress on your lower back when you start leaning forward. So remember to push those elbows out and up on your way up. When you get near the top you pop your hips outward firing your hip muscles for a little extra drive. And you thought a squat looked simple!!

I took the next 5 days off as mentioned above and went back in on November 18th. This WOD kicked my ASS. I'm sure it was because of the stressful weekend I had and a combination of no sleep and a less than favorable diet. The WOD consisted of:

5 Rounds for time:

15 Wallball shots
15 Double unders
15 Kettlebell swings (55#)
Time: 9:56

I got through the first 3 rounds no problem, then I'm not sure what happened, I gassed out ,hit the wall, died any of these will do. First time in along time gassing out on a sub 10 min WOD with no heavy weight in it. No matter how hard I fought the brain had a stranglehold on my body, it wasn't letting me continue at the good pace I had completed the first 3 rounds. I should have been done around 8 min but "should have" gets you nowhere in crossfit. That's one of the beauties of crossfit it humbles EVERYBODY sooner or later.


So Thursday we did a Push/pull day again. We did the Shoulder Press and Weighted pull-ups. The format looked like this:

3 reps of Press
90 sec rest
3 reps of weighted strict pull-up (Palms faced forward arms AT LEAST shoulder width)
120 sec rest
repeat 5 times

Working to a 3RM or 3 rep maximum.

I surprised myself this day pulling a 3RM on the press which was my old 1RM, imagine that. I successfully pressed 132# three times in a row. I also achieved a new 1RM of 134# which also made me happy. If only my legs could start making gains!! As for the strict pull-ups, I went super wide using as much of my lats as possible because on my regular pull-ups my hands are just wider than my shoulders. Coach brought a point up to me a few weeks ago that the wider your hands are apart the less distance you have to pull up therefore less work done. I'm pretty good at my physics......but honestly never thought of it that way. So this is why I'm trying to widen my arms when doing pull-ups and get more lats involved. Anyways I got to about 26# plus bodyweight with the extra wide grip.

So that brings us up to date once again. Tonight I may do a WOD from last week I'll see how I feel when I get home. A clean and jerk/pullup ladder perhaps??

Until next time SEAN'O out!!

THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO FOUGHT FOR THE FREEDOMS WE HAVE TODAY!!!

Yes I know it has been a while so today might be a long post.

November 8th WOD.
I did this one in the garage because I was working nights. The idea behind this WOD is to do 2 sets and try and get similar numbers both times. So basically you do the 4 skills of each set without a break (just long enough to record your numbers) then you get a 2 minute rest. I found that the 2 minutes was plenty of time for getting your breathe back but not long enough for muscle recovery. This was a punishing workout, whenever you are doing As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP) you are going to failure or your form breaks down. My numbers are to the right (all pull-ups had to be strict = no kipping)

"PUSH and PULL/abs"











1.) Push-up 30/11 (Last skills day I had 45 in a row)
2.) Wide Front Pull-up 8/4 (12 is PB)
3.) Military Push-up 10/6
4.) Reverse Grip Pull-up 5/4

2min Rest

5.) Dips any style 15/16 Box dips with feet on chair
6.) Knee ins 57/46
7.) Side Tricep Push-up 9/6
8.) Chair pose 37sec/38sec

2min Rest

9.) Close Grip Pull-up 8/6
10.) Diamond Push-ups 11/9
11.) Mix Grip Switch Pull-up 3/3
12.) Decline push-ups 5/5


November 9th WOD was "Quick and Dirty"




For time:
400m sprint row
15 Burpees
15 -115# Thrusters
15 Jumping Pull-ups
30 Sit-ups

I clocked 5:08 but should have been under 5 min. When I went from Burpees to Thrusters I paused way too long. I thought the Thrusters would be harder than they were. I warmed up with 115# and it seemed not too bad then either, must have just psyched myself out. Let me tell you Rowing, Burpees and Thrusters are 3 of the deadliest exercises there are. Coupling them together luckily there was only one round. Burpees for bodyweight is probably the best all around exercise there is, it has the furthest range of motion of any bodyweight movement. The rower, it looks innocent sitting there doesn't it?? What it does to people in just over a minute is devastating, when they say sprint row they mean SPRINT ROW!! Of course thrusters........well you are taking 115#, squatting down, squatting up and then thrusting the weight over your head to lock out. Need I say more?? I broke the thrusters up into 5's. Jumping pull-ups and Sit-ups I went straight through on but couldn't get sub 5min.


November 10th WOD

21-15-9 plus 30 double unders at the end of each round.










BWT deadlifts (for me my bodyweight is 165# it pays to be light sometimes!!)
Ring Dips
Ball-slams

I clocked 8:36

I'll explain how the 21-15-9 works. The first "round" you do 21 of each exercise then 30 double unders, the second "round" is 15 of each exercise then 30 double unders then the round of nine. Well I burned through this WOD like reckless abandon until I hit my friends the double unders. I've been struggling with these for a long time, my form is really bad. To remedy this I am going to do AMRAP double unders in 2 min every day.


Today's WOD was a "HERO WOD" for Remembrance day.


"MURPH" After Michael Murphy (US Navy Seal) who died in Afghanistan in 2005 age 29. (RIP friend)






For Time:

1 mile run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1mile run

The kicker to this one............wearing a 20# weighted vest to do it required.

We did it in teams of 3, when we were running we had to pass around a 25# plate between the team members. When we got inside we could split up the exercises the way we wanted to. Our team just took turns (only one person could go at a time) we went through in order doing 100 pull-ups,200 push-ups then 300 squats, as many as we could do then the next person would go.


A "COOL" thing our gym is doing right now to help with skill development is having a "50/50 challenge". Basically how it works is every month the coaches come up with 2 skills which they feel people need to develop and everyone has the opportunity to sign up. It costs $10 and the person that "IMPROVES" the most for that skill (%age wise) over the month takes 50% of the money. This month it is AMRAP pull-ups and AMRAP double unders. I joined the AMRAP double unders as more incentive to improve mine.

Now that we are updated, I will try and find something interesting to talk about next time I post. I have an idea for next time, it has to do with taking more supplements. I start back on days tomorrow so it'll be a late post if I am able.
Until next time..........Sean'O out!!

"PUSHING IRON AND BLASTING METAL"

Well as far as I'm concerned a garage WOD doesn't get any better than "IRON" and "METAL"!! Lifting iron and blasting metal what an afternoon. Today's WOD was the Push Press 5sets of 5 reps working to a maximum weight. I raised my carcass out of bed about 1pm, turned on the garage heater (to warm up the iron) and made myself a protein shake. Headed to the garage turned on the tunes and warmed up. Did a few light sets of the push press because I didn't really know where to start for weight, Coach Brandt wanted us to go up by 5 or 10 pounds per set reaching our 5RM by the 4th or 5th set. So I started at 115# went by 10# increments and ended up getting to a 5RM of 165#. I took 4-5 minute breaks (Some people take longer) between sets which is a must when doing reps for maximum weight, you want to make sure you use everything you have each set. I tried 170# but could only squeak out 3 decent ones. It took me 6 sets instead of 5 to get to my 5RM but I got there. I'm happy with this, hoisting your bodyweight over your head 5 times with just a hip thrust is pretty decent.
I videoed myself today and need to concentrate on staying back on my heels a bit more. I had a tendancy to shift forward and push with my toes which causes the bar path to get out of the vertical plane. If you push your ass back while keeping a straight back and just using a slight hip pop the bar path should be straight up. Mine was a bit out front and then up. This wastes part of the hip pop and puts more strain on the shoulders as they are pressing more, basically the hip pop energy should be exerted straight up that way taking stress off the shoulders.
So this is night 2/3 for me, I will be doing another garage WOD tomorrow. I'm not sure which one I'll do, it pretty much depends on the weather. We have had high winds the last couple days so if it is windy I will most likely be doing a WOD I missed last week which can all be done inside. Unless tomorrows tech day WOD is something I can do in my garage.
Before the WOD as part of my warm-up I worked on my circle kip for my pull-ups. I think I have the hang of it which is good because they look way more efficient than the ones I do now. Can't wait to see what happens when I get proficient enough to use them in WOD's.
Until next time Sean'O out!!

A WEEKEND OF NIGHTS!!

Well I'm working nights all weekend so that means garage WOD's Saturday and Sunday. Which is fine because I missed one earlier in the week and one Friday that I can do at home. Friday I stayed home and tended to my wife who was pretty ill but Thursday I did go in and do the WOD. The workout was a technical skills day and was the following:
A1)OHS (overhead squats) 5X5 (5sets of 5reps)
A2)Toes to bar 5X1131 (1 sec to top 1sec hold 3 sec down 1 sec at the bottom)

So we did 1 set of OHS and rested 30sec and did one set of the toes to bar, we did 5 sets of that. That was the first half of the workout. After 2 minutes of rest from the first half the second half was:
B1) 60 Push-ups for time (1:22)Started having trouble about 45
B2) 60 Hanging back extensions for time (1:37)
B3) 60 Modified GHD situps for time(3:10) fell off the ball
B4) Pull-up hang (palms facing away from body), forehead to bar for time (:52)

GHD sit-ups (pictured left)are very tough and so are the Toes to bar(T2B), great for core development. Since it was a skill development day I went light on the OHS (115#) so I could get a good feel for them.

To start November off our head coach Chad Brandt started a new 3 and 1 program. We will now be doing 2 crossfit workouts separated by a strength development day. I'm a huge fan of our Coach's programming, it has worked wonders for me. I'm pretty excited about having one dedicated strength development day since that is what I really need. That's about all I have for now, like I said I will be doing a few garage WOD's this weekend so I'll keep you posted. (No pun intended)
Until next time Sean'O out.

The "CAGED ANIMAL"

Ok so this is day 3 of my "rest period" and as the picture and title describe, I'm feeling like a caged animal right now. Or another way to describe it is a crackhead without his crackpipe. I'm "Jonesing" for a WOD especially after seeing a "HangPowerclean" lift day disapear before my eyes. Even though I worked today I really would've liked to hit this one, yesterday's looked enticing too. Yeah I know it's crazy to think I wouldn't enjoy a few days off from crossfit but I don't. I'm addicted, it makes me feel so bad but yet so good after. To see familiar faces and go to battle!! (How dramatic) Lift days are the ones I really need. Being a runner pre-crossfit made me pretty weak, got the cardio of a horse but little strength.

Last night my wife and I (That's not us in the picture) had about a 30-45 minute session of stretching and rolling, I don't have a stiff muscle left. Feel great today, maybe I'll go back for a WOD tomorrow after work that way I can get 3 in before the weekend, I'm working nights this weekend so I'm screwed for Saturday and Sunday WODS.

I wish I could describe what a positive spin crossfit has put on my life. It is a lifestyle, I've changed the way I eat, the way I think, the people at my gym are family we all want to see each other succeed and progress to our goals. I'm in the best shape of my life at age 37, I'm stronger, faster and better than I've ever been and there is still LOTS of room to improve. For my friends that read my blog and are not part of crossfit I strongly urge you to try it. It'll definetly be a part of my kids life someday, whether it be at home or at the gym they will be doing WOD's. Too many sick people in the world today with too many EXCUSES!! Read the article in the "Crossfit Journal" about the female firefighter, tell me that's not a success story, no Excuses there. Anyways that's enough for now. To WOD tomorrow or not???
Until next time SEAN'O out!!

Rest, Rolling and Stretching

As "OPT" puts it best "KNOW PAIN, KNOW GAIN"


Today is the second day of rest for me from working out. I'm probably going to restart on Friday because that's when the first 3 and 1 starts again. There comes a time when you have to shut it down and just take some time off, my body picked Sunday as the perfect day. I was starting to get extremely stiff and could feel my overall body recovery suffering(With the H1N1 flue going around I don't want to bash my immune system too badly). Again I can't stress the importance of a good diet but you also need your rest. Shiftwork tends to be tough, I find it extremely difficult to nap before I start my nightshifts, this puts me behind on sleep many hours. It is important while working nights to keep things consistent such as eating and sleeping times. When I'm on nights I may eat a bit extra just to compensate for the lack of sleep and even though I may not feel hungry I still eat at my regular times. Everybody is different you MUST find what works best for you.

Rolling and stretching are very important parts of any exercise and should be part of your daily routines. At our gym we regularly roll and stretch to loosen tight muscles. I started rolling when I used to run marathons, my "IT" bands would get really tight. (IT band runs down the side of your leg from your hip to your knee) They got so tight that my right side started pulling on my knee and put me into physio which was the beginning of the end of my running. So rolling and stretching are very important. A foam roller like the one in the picture you can usually pick up from a physio office for about $20-$30, they last forever so it's pretty cheap. It should come with a list of exercises/rolls which you can do for different muscle groups.

Today I am just cleaning up halloween decorations and cooking food to get ready for the next few days at work. I'm doing some stretching and rolling as my lower body is pretty tight.
Until next time Sean'O out!

GROOMING AND CROSSFIT??

Again a few days go by without a post. Friday I had to put a halloween costume together for a party we went to and yesterday we had people over in the afternoon for a little halloween get together, my wife loves getting together with friends.

So Friday's workout was a birthday WOD. To add to the entertainment value we get at crossfit our "Head" Coach Chad lets people make-up their birthday WOD or names a WOD after someone for their birthday. Well it was our local "monster's" birthday and he picked power cleans, front squats and GHD sit-ups. So the required WOD was:

"Terrible Tens"
10 rounds for time with 115#:
10 Power Cleans
10 Front squats
10 GHD sit-ups

I finished 7 rounds and threw the towel in 19:41. I could have done 10 rounds but probably would have taken me a half hour.
For me 115# (70% of bwt) was pretty heavy, power cleans weren't so bad but going from the power cleans into the front squat was the crushing blow. If you've never done GHD sit-ups these things are awesome core strengthening exercises. I would advise people who have never done these before not to do a whole bunch the first time. The first time I did these we did a whole bunch and pretty much had to take a week off to recover. You have been officially WARNED!!

Yesterday we did some tech work on overhead squats before the WOD which was good because from my hips down was and is still really tight. I had trouble getting down into a full deep squat. So the WOD consisted of:
3 Rounds of:
30 Overhead squats (45# bar)
15 bridge pushups
15 kettle bell swings (70# or 2 pood kettle bell)

I finished the WOD in 11:59. If I was feeling 100% I could have shaved more than a minute off this time. I've decided that it is time to take a break for some rest and recovery time. I'll probably take 3 or 4 days off starting with today. Today I'm going to do some rolling and stretching. A bridge pushup is: from a standing position reach down and walk your hands out until you get to an extended position do a pushup and walk your hands back until you get back to a standing position fully erect.




So back to the title of this post. Believe it or not there is some grooming involved in crossfit that is vitally important especially for people who are just starting out. As you know or will find out kipping pull-ups are very hard on the hands, let's face it you are swinging your bodyweight + gravity around an iron bar supported by your hands. Gloves are "TABOO" so don't even think about it!!! This generates lots of heat through friction and can "rip" the skin open on your hands. So the pictures should have given my tip away. I actually shave my caluses down on the palms of my hands so they are flat. This way they do not get ripped open, they still get sore but you can continue doing WOD's for the next couple days. Ripped hands can lead to downtime due to open wounds, basically gripping anything after ripping is virtually impossible at the very least painful. If you do rip I found a pretty quick way to heal the hands up. Get some vitamin E softgels, rip them open and apply to the wounds. Cover with a band-aid and wear during the day. At night let the wound air out free of the vitamin E and preferably without a band-aid. A few days of this and the hands should be good to go.

Until next time, Sean'O out!!