It's beginning to feel alot like Christmas!

Well Christmas is fast approaching and I actually have all my shopping done. I spent one complete day shopping which for me is usually an overstimulating experience. I'm pretty proud of myself I never lost my cool until the drive home. Lethbridge is a relatively small city with a population of 80 000 but I'm sure we've got some the worst drivers in the country.

December 14, 2009

                                                                                                

3 Rounds

500m row

12 Bodyweight Deadlifts (165#)

21 Box Jumps (20")

Time: 8:48

Well I felt pretty good going into this workout. Coach Brandt said "Sean'O this is your workout, you gotta kill this thing." He also talked over my rowing pace with me pre-wod and we settled on a 500m time of 1:50 to 1:55 average for each of the three rows. My average for the 3 rows was around 1:55. Rowing makes or breaks this workout, you can pull a sub 1:40 row but then your legs are toast for the rest of the round. Taller guys have an advantage of stroke length on the rowers but us lightweights have the advantage of the lighter deadlift.  Anyways I crushed this workout going sub 9 min.

December 15, 2009

Lift Day

1RM SQUAT CLEAN

I was excited about this one, I really wanted to rock this one. Coming off a nightshift with 4 hours sleep i headed to the gym excited to throw some weight around. Well i started lifting and felt pretty good, got to 175# and the wheels fell off. My form was garbage, I was trying to power the weight off the floor and wasn't getting full extension at the top. Anyways I shut her down at 175# as my 1RM. I was pretty disapointed but contined to work on some hang cleans and more squat cleans with less weight.

December 18, 2009

"Two a Day"

Interesting Poster although technically we only did 2 workouts in one!!

500 m row and 3RM Split Jerk

Greg Everett, Lifting monster!!

Ok so I'm not a huge fan of sprint rowing but man if you want to push your body to it's limits in less than 2 minutes (less than 1:28 for my buddy Mike) an all out 500m sprint row is the way to do it. I clocked 1:36.5 I had more in the tank at the end of the row, I didn't give it all I had until the last 100m, now I know I can sustain it longer. Coach Brandt said to stick the "split time" on the 250m setting for this distance, I'll try it next time. Sucks ending a workout knowing you could have went a little harder, oh well leaves more room for improvement next time.

The 3RM Split Jerk I managed to get to a shaky 155#. I probably could have done a little more had we not done the row before it. I worked for about 20 minutes afterwards on quick feet with lighter weights. I really need to work on technique of lifts but it's hard to find any time to practice other than in the gym.

Today they are doing Barbara at the gym so I may do it in the garage when I get home.

Until next time Sean'O out!!

Winter Continues and so do the WODS!!

As I said winter continues, we've been below the -30 celcius mark for quite a few days now. Some days reach below -40 celcius with the windchill, so it's nice to have a warm gym to workout in!! Again as a reminder this month's wod's were chosen by the members and the SMA awarness wod is now on our schedule...........YES!! This month is very heavy workoutwise so I may be taking some extra time off depending on how my body is feeling. We have alot of "Named WODS" this month.
My last update was December 3rd spin the bottle, I took a few days off and cranked it up again with a lift day wod on December 8th which was 1RM Clean and Jerk

I managed to get to a 1RM of 175# . My strength on this lift is that I can get under the bar very quickly. My problem was getting out of the "hole" at the bottom of the squat. I am an "ass to grass" squatter which means I go really deep into the squat so my ass is only a few inches off the ground. For a while now I've been trying to stop so that my hip crease is just below the knee preventing me from going too deep. Also I have trouble with upper back strength which one of our coaches pointed out to me and gave me some exercises to strengthen my upper back up with. It seems to cave under heavy weight especially the deadlift.

December 9, 2009

"Dead-Dip"
21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Deadlifts (225#)
Ring dips

As you can imagine from the name this WOD was a killer! I modified the deadlift weight to 205# but did the ring dips (I hate modifying workouts but to keep the intensity high sometimes it has to be done). I managed to get a time of 15:something, I fought hard with the deadlifts after the 15 rep set. I'm not sure whether doing that many deadlifts is a good thing as from the 12 rep set on I could feel my back turtling. Ring dips really compound quickly, it doesn't take long before you are doing 2's and 3's.


December 10, 2009

"CINDY"
AMRAP 20 min
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Last time we did "Cindy" I got 16 rounds. I wasn't feeling too great coming in but as the workout progressed I felt better, I just kept going and banged out 20 rounds which I was very happy about. Averaging 1 round/minute is pretty decent. The push-ups are the hardest part for alot of people, one thing that helps with push-ups is letting your body drop on the way down and not guiding it down slowly. I did this and it worked for quite a few rounds before I got really tired.


December 13,2009

"FRAN"
21-15-9
95# Thruster
Pull-ups

What do I say about Fran other than she is my least favorite female so far even though my wifes Grandma's name is Fran she's alot nicer. Last time we did Fran I got 7:19. This WOD gives me massive butterflies a few minutes before we start. This time I managed to get a time of 6:06 which again I am happy with. The worst part of the WOD is working through the set of 15. After doing the set of 21 picking up the thruster bar again it seems like it gained weight, ALOT OF WEIGHT!! 95# doesn't seem like much but for me 95# comprises about 60% of my BWT but also the range of motion on a thruster is huge, similar to the burpee. Remembering also every time you drop the bar you have to clean it up again. I fractioned the thrusters 11-10/5-5-5/3-3-3.Pull-ups Can't remember how I fractioned them. Last time I did 21 straight thrusters, I think that really killed me. After the workout I felt terrible for about 10-15 minutes, usually I recover faster but maybe It's because I'm pushing to a new level. Not really sure.

Well today we are doing "Christine" tomorrow 1RM squat clean so I will update you on how they went.

Until next time Sean'O out!!!

Looking Like A Winter Wonderland

OK again very patchy posting. You have to be patient with me, between work, teaching at the college, crossfit, domestic duties and visiting a family member in the hospital in Calgary every set of days off is keeping me hopping.

Today the weather turned very nasty here in Alberta. My wife and I made a trip to Calgary which is 2 hours north of here (Lethbridge) to visit a family member in the hospital. To make it short it took me 4 hours to make it home and I made it to work just in time. So I'm a bit tired and working so not so happy!!

I'll backtrack to update the last WODs I've participated in.

November 27th

Last day for the monthly challenge, in which I entered the double under contest.



If you recall I had 84 at the beginning of the month and ended up with 112. I came in after a nighshift with no sleep because we were also heading to Whitefish for the weekend. I called my number before I started and met it. I hit like the first 55 or so in a row and then lost my composure. Struggled with the last half. Also this day was a 1RM PushJerk.


(In this picture the girl is holding the weight in the first frame out in front of her chest, you are supposed to have it sitting on your shoulders like a front squat. Imagine trying to hold 200# out in front of you like that!!! The dude even set her up, that's what is more disturbing!!)

I wasn't going to participate in it but how can you help but work it in?? So I did the pushjerk and worked my way up to a 1RM of 195# which I was happy with. I had 200# above my head but couldn't lock out, not sure what happened. Called her a day and went to Whitefish!!




Well this wasn't me in Whitefish but I drank enough "NorCal Margaritas" and "Jagerbombs" to give me a headache the next day. The Crossfit in Kalispell was closed for thanksgiving weekend so I didn't get a chance to check it out.


So at Crossfit Lethbridge we did something really cool!! We all (members) got to submit a WOD for the month of December. Then Coach Brandt took them and distributed them amongst the days in December and made a calendar out of everyones WOD. You should check it out on the Crossfit Lethbridge Site. We are also doing the "BUGABOO" WOD on December 29th, the link at the top of my Blog page explains the whole situation, I'll let you check it out.



Onto December 2nd

3RM DEADLIFT

Wasn't sure what I was going to pull tonight. Felt so-so going in but started pulling some weight and with some coaching from Coach Gillespie (Cory) I ended up pulling a PR of 335# X 3. I was very impressed my last PR was 295# I think it was due to the technique although I was told I had the old "Turtle back" going on, which is not good but who cares once you get the weight up it's all over!!

December 3rd

"Spin the Bottle"



How this works is every member that shows up for the WOD, spins the bottle and whatever it lands on that is one of the exercises we do. Keep in mind the more people that show up the more exercises we do. Then Coach marks them on the board and then puts the number of reps of each exercise up. Every classes is different but this is how ours played out!!




40 Push-ups
30 Pull-ups
20 Kettle bell swings
10 Pull-ups
40 walking lunges
30 Power lunges
20 Handstand push-ups
20 Burpees
30 Handstand push-ups
40 Presses (45#)

I did it in 18:something, I had to modify the last set of Handstand pushups because my shoulders were just cooked. I did however do 20 legit handstand push-ups which is very good for me!! The last 4 exercises were the worst!!


Here is a big Thank You to our friends Mike and Tammy for making us some great healthy food that my wife and I indulged in the other night. It was




















Well that gets you up to date for now, I'm working nights this weekend so I'll try and get a few WOD's done in the garage.

Until Next time Sean'O out!!!