A. Strength – Benchpress with banded KB’s: 61+48kg/5, 70+48/4, 75+48/2 (3rd fail).
B. 2 * ”Yogamans Ring Serie”: L-MU > Forward Roll > 3 * L-Hang to Skin the cat to Inverted Hang to lowering Front Lever
C. Row Intervals a la OPT, 8 * 25s on/2 min off (5 min rest b/t 4 & 5):
605w/150m
581/148
593/149
581/148 5 min rest
605/150
558/146
569/147
535/144
Av. w: 578 (+32w)/ Total m: 1182 (+22m).
Unstable Benchpress with KB’s is fun, nuff’said. Ring serie was actually looking way better than before. Still too stiff in my hamstrings to do a proper L-MU but my Front Lever was actually really nice and slow and the transition from there to L-hang as well. Goal is to get this ”perfect” and also I want the forward roll to end up in ring support, just don’t know how to do that yet..
OK, I’m not gonna go all crazy about some pretty average rowing numbers, but, the improvements I’m seing in my rowing makes me happy. Wonder if the 4 weeks of heavy deadlifting has helped me out here?
Anyway, no new PB’s on this years last day, I’ll save those for next year and truly wish that you all make 2011 your best one so far, I for one sure has planned mine to be!
A. ”OL-Technique” – On ze Min:5 * 3-pos Power Clean + 1 Split Jerk @ 70kg
B1. Strength – 5 * 3 Front Squats w double dip: 93kg/3, 97.5/3, 102/3, 107/3, 111/1
B2. KB-Pressing:
16kg Bottom Ups/5+5, 24kg BU/1+4, 32kg Press/3+3
C. Metcon, ”Sub 10 min” (lol), 10-7-4 of:
HSPU + 18cm RoM (paralettes).
OHS @ 61kg, (from floor to oh anyhow).
Burpee Box Jumps @ 70cm 60s rest b/t sets
Time, (incl. rest): 14’57 min
Finally! Been a little ashamed of my 500 row, just wanted to stop rowing like a little girl. Now I can at least say I row like.. a little boy?
Not really justified to call that a warm up, 5 min of pain after, nor is it really easy technique work for me with the cleans at this weight. Not heavy, but I’m definitely getting my heart rate up. Felt decent today, not jumping forward, but not opening my hip fully either.
Front squats felt really good. Preparing for the clean as you know, excactly as I wanna be sure that if I end up with that bar on my shoulders there’s no chance I’m missing the Jerk, I also wanna make sure that if I surprise my self with ending up receiving a heavy bar in the bottom, I sure won’t miss getting up. Think my back is looking pretty solid, at least compared to my early days?
KB-pressing was fun, like changing the pressing part of the Strength Bias Programme up. Could really tell the difference between my weaker left side that barely handled one rep with the 24. Goal has to be to get perfect bottom up reps with the 32kg!
The metcon was a joke. Got stuck already on the first round of HSPU’s, got 5 and then 2-3 but failed a couple here and there throughout it all. OHS after this was also a bit scary, felt like my shoulders could give up dropping the bar on my head at any time. Snatched the first one, but from there on I didn’t dare, so C&J:d it with wide grip kind of. Also missed the first OHS on the last round, eager, eager…
Oh, as I got to tick my rowing off from the goal list at the white board at Cape CrossFit, I also took the time printing some new ones up there. This is how my official goal list looks right now:
Short term, to be done in January 2011:
Clean & Jerk: 110 kg (105 PB right now).
Snatch: 80 kg (75)
500m Row <1:30 min (weee!).
5 Ring HSPU, shoulder to ring (like 1?)
1 Free standing HSPU, up & down (can get up)
60s L-sit over Paralettes (27s in Aug)
Back Squat: 160 kg (152)
Press: 85 kg (80, done like ten times since Sept 2009)
Front Squat: 130 kg (118)
Long Term Goals, to be done in March 2011: This is where it gets funny…
Snatch: 85 kg
500m Row: <1:25 min
Back Squat: 170 kg
Front Squat: 140 kg
Over Head Squat: 110 kg (96)
Press: 90 kg
Bench Press: 150 kg (145)
5 Free standing HSPU
Nothing wrong in aiming at the stars if I’m satisfied with at least ending up on the moon, right? I always do this cause when I dream big, I do big!
What about that corny quote on top? Well, as my scooter still is locked in, I’m enjoying walking to the gym every day right now. Trying to take new streets every time to see as much as possible of this town that I’ve come to love. Today I found this awsome piazza that felt a little like the Swedish ”Hötorget”, with it’s street vendors and weird mix of art and fruit stands, but also with a mix from Italy with the narrow cobblestone streets of Rome and even the little church that reminded me of Piazza Doumo in Milan.
No, I’m not religious, at all, (even though I believe in the power of a friendly universe). However, I can’t help being a sucker for thoughts and action making people happier. Call me a geek if you want to…
”In about the same degree that you are helpful, you will be happy.”
– Karl Reiland -
11.45 am WoD
A. Strength: 3 * 3 Deadlifts on double mats: 166kg/3, 175/3 PB!, 184/1
B. Metcon, ”Sub 10 mins”, 3 Rounds:
25 Burpees
500m Row
Time: 12’28 min
C. 3 * 20 alternating:
GHD-Sit Ups @ 2111-tempo
Reverse Hyperextensions @ 1X11
Started another hot Cape Town morning with some yoga on my balcony, almost got sunburned at 9.30 am, awsome! Had no breakkie at home so picked up a smoothie at Kauai on my walking way to the gym. Managed to get my scooter locked in on the parking outside the gym yesterday, seems like I will be walking for the reminder of 2010…
Was a bit worried about my lower back, but after a lot of foamrolling, trigger point pancaking and row technique warm ups, I felt ready to at least try some deadlifts. Went ok as you can see. Didn’t wanna lift too ugly considering my back, think it was smart to not go for more reps at 184.
Metcon was something Jobst did yesterday and even though my rowing times actually was faster than his, (1’44/1’48/1’51), I still got punished by almost two minutes. Walking around like a lost chicken, drinking water and just taking way to long between excercises is something I really need to get out of my system, now. However, don’t think I could have done this that much faster. Even though I don’t think I suck at neither rowing or burpees, my recovery from both sure do..
If 2011 is gonna be the year of the Yogi, I really have to keep on focusing on almost only my weaknesses. Re-planning and finetuning the programming is what I’m up to right now.
That it will never come again is what makes Life so sweet.
– Emely Dickinson
9.45 am-WoD @ Camps Bay Beach: 15 Backward rolls to Candle Light, 3 * 3 Forward rolls to HSPU, 5 Freestanding Kipped HSPU’s (to forward roll). Yoga and Meditation on the rocks.
Felt stiff, weak and out of agility. Two full days of rest and too much bad nutrients does this to me, guess I should have seen what was coming for the pm-Wod.
3 pm-WoD
A. Snatch Meant to be 1 RM: 52/2, 61/Fail+1.1, 70/1.Fail
B. Back Squats 3 * 3, (on two mats): 125/3, 134/2, 125/3
C. Metcon, ”less than 15 mins”, 10-8-6 of:
Bar Muscle Ups
KB Snatches @ 32kg
33 DU’s 60s rest b/t rounds
Total Time: 7’35 min, (work time: 5’35 min)
D. Terapeutic Tabata OHS @ 20kg: 11/11/11/11/10/10/10/10 = 84 reps
Spent 1h doing mobilitywork, foamrolling and dynamic warm ups even before I started my Burgener WU. Right Hip was totally unbalanced and sore, felt like I was rubbing dry wood when I used the lacrosse ball..
Obviusly my snatch was way off, not one single lift felt decent and when I got the 70kg with an ugly one I got pissed, pulled another try, missed it and I decided to postpone my 1rm try to next week. Same feeling for Back Squats, not stable at all in the bottom and leaned over to the right side. Got two ok reps with 134 but head told me to not go for that 3rd, which would have been a PB…
Metcon plan today was to do ”Amanda”, but since I knew Squat Snatching wouldn’t be a good idea I changed it around a bit. Have forgotten my rule of ”two new excercises per week” lately so the Bar-MU’s was a welcome change. Have done them before but that was more than a year ago. Fun metcon, I like the interval style and even though it ripped two nice holes in my palms, I liked the combo. Still feels like I have to find a higher gear though. Didn’t really sprint as I was suppose to, could definitely shave some time, but for 2011 I have the perfect cure for that:
Every time I don’t hit my Shame Level, (and it will still be equal to last PB or what I really think I should do if I haven’t done it before), I will have to do either a Tabata Row or 100 Burpees for time. To make me even more motivated to not have to do this, I also will have to start the ”Punishment” within 5 mins after finished wod, uack…
Eating clean and wearing my sexy recovery pants is what I will do tonight, hopefully that will get me back in the saddle for tomorrow’s Deadlifts and Rowing/Burpee-wod. Then on Wednesday, my active restday, we’ll do another trip to the Crystal Pools where I plan to film a fun wod hanging over the water!
Anyway, dreaded the row in the beginning, but it proved to be a piece of cake. Pretty sure I will hit that sub 1’30 in two weeks as planned. Weigh in was after both a pre-workout drink, post row proteinshake and with clothes and lifting shoes on so not so worried about the almost 80kg. Had already decided to do ”Linda” with 80kg rx’d so it didn’t really mather anyway.
Have been walking around pretty disappointed for a couple of days now, but today I looked through my notes from last time I did this, a little more than a year ago. Back then I was apparently a lighter guy cause I used calculations for 75kg at that time. So, in retrospect, using 5 kg more in both Deads and Bench and 2’5 kg more in the Cleans should of course slow me down. I was expecting the Cleans to be the hardest part, but actually they felt fine! However, my lower back gave me quite a hard time on the Deads from round 7 and on, had that painful cramping feeling towards my left side ligament again and it was really hard just to get down to the starting position. This was probably where I lost most time, struggling 20-30s each round just to get started. Anyway, I was pretty smashed after this so definitely no excuse for the result…
Later on I spent Christmas Eve, which is the real day to celebrate X-mas (ask any Swede), with my Swedish friends over in Camps Bay with a totally awsome braai mixed with Swedish traditional courses kind of Christmas lunch and dinner. Who would know that grilled huge Crayfishes makes a perfect combo with ”Jansons Frestelse”? Good wine, old and new friends, warm weather and a beatuiful African sunset truly was all I wanted for Christmas. Obviusly missed my loved ones at home like crazy, but then again you all know that this time of year isn’t when I’m at top…
Two whole days of resting and of course I’m sittin here with the pen in my hand planning the coming weeks of training. Did however manage to chill out totally yesterday when we went to a packed and sun boiled Clifton 2nd Beach. Sand everywhere, but hey, even I was able to enjoy the freakingly cold water!
Behind all seen things lies something vaster; everything is but a path, a portal, or a window opening on something other than itself.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Forgot to post this one earlier, so here’s my christmas gift to you :
Early morning drizzle in Cape Town on this Christmas Eve’s morning, but I truly expect the sun to shine on us for the afternoon braai. Before that it’s now time for my Christmas WoD, (resting is for Santas), going over to Cape CrossFit to do ”Linda”. Shame Level 20 minutes here I come!
`The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts.
That is where the battle should be fought.
- Mahatma Ghandi.
9.30 am-WoD
A. On ze min 5*3-Pos Snatch @ 52 kg
B. Front Squats (1+1/4) 3 * 5: 93/5, 97.5/5, 102/3
2,5 inactive rest
C. ”Helen” – 3 Rounds for time: Goal: 8’30 min, Dream: 8’00, Shame Level: 9 min.
400m Run
21 KBS @ 24 kg
12 Pull Ups
Time: 9’14 min…
Snatching felt very good today. These weights do give me a metcon feeling, but still I managed to avoid jumping forward and think I recieved the bar with full lockout almost every rep. Front squats was damn heavy. Could probably have got 5 reps with 102, but wisely aborted since I felt that I wasn’t getting the proper depth, (under parallel but I wanna be all the way down to prepare for heavy cleans), and was struggling to keep my upper back tight.
Plan was then to go to a friends old high school that ”definitely had a pull up bar and a 400m grass track”. Eh, got there and the PU-bar had fallen into pieces and the ”track” was a huge ass field that probably was like 1500m around – Stellenbosch track it is then, and this is why we got approx 2 hours in the car as our rest…
PU-bar at this stadium is outside a fence and with a small grass slope to climb so we shorted the track run off with as many paces as the detour was measured out to be. Plan was to go easy on the first two rounds and then go all out on the final round, no matter how much it made me break KBS and PU’s. Somehow that didn’t work. Stayed with the plan for two rounds and barely felt gassed, breathing quite hard yes, but body felt fine. Then when I got out on the final round, instead of picking up pace I somehow let the voice in my head decide. ”Take it easy boy, you might hit that wall if you sprint now..” and that was that for my shame level. Super disappointed at my performance, got everything unbroken and was no where near as exhausted as I should be after finishing. Can someone please teach me to push my self to the max, really soon would be nice?
Anyway, the little roadtrip it self was fun and to do the wod’s with the guys at the gym is nothing but a blast every time, hopefully I feel the same after tomorrow’s superheavy metcon. Talking about odds btw: Look at the video and please tell me how three guys with totally different programmings, weaknesses and strengths can end up getting those times…
The transformation of human consciusness is no longer a luxury, so to speak, available only to a few isolated individuals, but a necessity if humankind is not to destroy itself.
- Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks.
Uh-oh...
Walking like an old lady on drugs down the stairs from the loft bed is always a nice receipt from the past days of training. Hard to explain to a none-CrossFitter how you can actually enjoy being completely spent for a whole day, but, knowing it comes from breaking down virtually every part of your body as much as possible, somehow gives me a weird feeling of accomplishment.
Got into the gym to assist Roland in his quest for elite fitness, watching him do his 3 sets with 5 reps across in the back squat and later on The Filthy Fifty made me appreciate my rest day even more. I spent little more than an hour foamrolling and lacrosse ball pancaking triggerpoints, my ripped to pieces hamstrings got the most attention, before I did three grueling M-Wods. Started with the ”10-min in Bottom of the Squat”, did it in 3/3/2/2 mins with 1 min between and focused on pushing my knees out and keeping my back as upright as possible. Then it was time for the dreaded ”Couch Stretch”. Only did this full out once before, today I remembered why – ouch! If I was walking funny before that’s nothing to compared to my sexy swagger after this hip flexor destroyer. Finished it of with ”Calf Mobility” and hopefully these three will improve my performance tomorrow when I return to the Stellenbosch track for a hopefully rewarding Benchmark Girl. If not, why would I ever again spend time hurting my self like today..?
Ah, addictions! Last week I have actually been better at eating clean, and also getting more volume in calorie-wise, than in a long time. Feels great and I have no plans on stopping short this time. However, you do need to treat your self from time to time and if your body/minds walks around with a craving, nothing wrong to give in to it, (within reason), if you ask me. So, I had a small but beautiful piece of orange flavoured Lindt chocolate after today’s activity and when I later woke up from a couch nap, feeling 100 years old, I thought it was time to have my first sugarfree Red Bull in months. Not huge indulging, but damn it was good…
As expected, my hamstrings were no where to be found this morning, not even sleeping with the recovery pants helped! Foamrolled like crazy to even be able to get into a deadlift position. Gave up the idea of 5rm PB at 166 simply cause I felt weak. Tried 175 for new 3rm PB instead, but since I didn’t clamp the weights, one of the 4,5kg plates fell of after the other, lol…
300 was my first ever CrossFit-wod and I hadn’t done it in a year. Didn’t know I did cut that much off, so guess I have to be satisfied. However, I still walk around resting, staying in my comfort zone way to much and when I’m ”competing” with someone, for some reason I just make sure I’m ahead and then maintain that lead. What’s up with that?
Ralf got his revenge on the rower anyway. Why on earth I promised Jobst to do this dreadful joke of a work out, I will never understand or forget my self for. Literally was about to strap out of the machine from hell every 500 meter and at the end I thought about giving up after every stroke. Won’t blame my hamstrings, I simply suck at rowing. Would be nice to improve and become a sub 7 min-guy, but then I guess I have to row more, not so sure about if that’s ever gonna happen… Edit: Actually thought that this was the first time I did a 2k row. Good to be better then before at least. Also I noted my 1k time here and it was also a new PB…
Right after we must have been something of a hillarious sight. Sitting down in the office, trembling, sweating and trying to hold on to the forks and knifes to be able to put some energy back in our bodies. The grassfed did seem to help though, managed to wobble home on my scooter and then met up with Ralf again at Camps Bay for some very well deserved chillout time on the beach. Both fell asleep in the sun but then kind of woke up starving again. Can’t really seem to get enough food in right now cause no mather how much I eat, my body cries for more. Oh, Happy days…
To live in hearts we live behind us is not to die.
- Thomas Campbell.
9.30 am-WoD, Track Runs:
400m @ 85-90%: 1’09 min
400m @ 100%: 1’04.5 min
200m @ 100%: 29s
800m @ 80%: 3’21 min
Went to the training facicilty in Stellenbosch with Ellie from the gym this morning. One of the hottest days in Cape Town since I got back, 33°C in the city bowl and almost as warm out in the Wineland/University town!
Wont use it as an excuse for a pretty poor performance, but the wind played me pretty hard. Started into a curve without any impact, but then hitting the first straght it hit me pretty hard and I was out of breath for the last 150m. Maybe I’m also a little bit out of my running conditioning…
2.15 pm – WoD.
WU: + 60 min of mobility work, foam rolling, dynamic stretching, three types of pass throughs etc…
A. Technique Work, ”ozm” 5 * 3-Pos Clean + 1 SJ @ 70kg Mid thigh to squat clean, knee to power, floor to squat and jerk
B. Strength: 3 * 5 Back Squats on two mats: 111kg/5, 120/5, 125/5 PB!
C. Metcon – ”Sub 10 min”, 9-6-3 of:
Muscle Ups
HSPU’s + 11cm rom
Thrusters @ 61 kg 60s rest b/t rounds
Total Time: 10’39 min / Work Time: 8’39 min
D. Tabata Sit Ups: 17/16/15/15/14/14/13/14 = 118 reps
Didn’t plan to, but stayed like almost 4h in the gym today including the warm up and some cleaning lady coaching.
In the morning runs I felt my left hamstring cramping slightly and cause of that, a slight pinching in my lower back where I had my old injury. Didn’t wanna risk anything so warmed up thoroughly to say the least. 70kg for the cleans was a prob a bit heavy as technique work, had about 15s after each round so kind of felt like I did a metcon. Still think I was forced to be more explosive and didn’t jump forward as much as last time, so probably will stay with this weight for a few weeks.
Back squats was expected but still funny to get a new PB on the mats!
The Metcon was, horrible. All shoulders and the thrusters was just as bad as I thought when I planned it. Nice!
Gonna do one Tabata after every session as a finisher this week, (maybe not tomorrow, due to sick volume anyway), and chose SU’s today. Pretty annoying that I didn’t push harder to at least get 14 as my low score on the second last round…
Right now I’m pressing my self to finish a ridicilously big plate of approx 600g grassfed beef, 500g of broccoli, 3 big tomatoes and 100g of olives. Probably need it though, didn’t eat enough during the day and tomorrow is gonna be another silly high volume day since I promised both Ralf and Jobst to do two different wods with them. But hey, it’s active rest day on Wednesday and then I just have to survive two grueling Benchmark Girls before I’ll take a couple of days off during Christmas…
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