The Corpse is Alive!

”Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”

10.30 am, WOD Part 1, Strength

A. Over Head Squat: 1-1-1, Front Squat: 1-1-1, Back Squat: 1-1-1
Weight must increase each set!

OHS: 93/1, 98/1 (PB!), 102/1 PB! (+7kg), FS: 111/1, 124/1, 138/1 PB! (+4kg), 147/1, 156/1, 165/F (2-3cm from full ROM).

Have been training almost every day since they released the WOD’s for the Regionals. Body feels surprisingly strong after that heavy volume and I expect it to feel much stronger after the next few weeks of tapering.

OHS is all about getting the shoulders stable for me, dooh! Once I do that it feels like I can lift a hell of a lot more than this. Racked the bar a little higher than before in the FS and that felt very solid. Lost balance a bit on 138 and stepped forward but I still count it since I got the weight up. Back Squat fail on 165 was only cause I chickened out. Feels good to see my strength increasing even though I’m under heavy pressure!

Have my game plans pretty much figured out for the different workouts in June, still worried about how I can handle ”Amanda” due to the shoulder, but with more and more rest it should be fine. Optimistic and eagerly looking forward to what’s coming!

Namaste!

Dare to be Great

”It ain’t about how hard you can hit,
Life is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
How much you can take, and keep moving forward.
That’s how winning is done…”

- Rocky Balboa -

 

Namaste!

Going Undercover…

”Learn the principle, abide by the principle, and dissolve the principle.
In short, enter a mold without being caged in it.
Obey the principle without being bound by it.
LEARN, MASTER AND ACHIEVE!!!”

- Bruce Lee -

WOD: setup a sh#tload of weights and put it back in it's place...

After some contemplating I have decided to keep my last few weeks before the Regionals a bit in the dark. I have a decent number of readers and I hate to disappoint anyone, but this forum is mainly to keep track of my workouts and sometimes spinning mind.
I have no Idea what so ever if my ”competition” for that first spot in the qualifier is reading here, I’ve just decided to:

1. Focus only on the workouts ahead and not how to cut them together into nice videos and let anything else with the blogging distract them.
2. If there is even the slightest chance of me giving away any information that could cost me any dangerous ranking spot in any event in June, it’s just not worth it.

I honestly think I have a really good chance of making my dream of qualifying come through and that’s gonna be all I’m having in my head from now on!

That said, I’m still helping all of our athletes at Cape CrossFit with strategic plans for the workouts, tapering for the weeks building up and gladly answering any of their Q’s that could help them. I still also get a lot of invaluable feedback from my friends via mails etc. and obviously sharing all info I have with them as well.

When it comes to my programming leading up to the event, I hate to specialize but with the knowledge of the workouts (not how I would have wanted it to been) I would be a complete moron not to take them into consideration. You can take a look at the picture above and maybe get a hint of what I was doing this morning, hehe.

What I will do is to post some smaller posts of workouts sometimes, random ideas that makes no sense to anyone but me as always and here is also a short breakdown of my thoughts of The Workouts!

1. Run/HSPU/Row. I like! Any time I’ll lose in the row against heavier and taller athletes I should make up easily in the run & HSPU’s!
2. Thruster Ladder. Well, I’m guessing my clean will be the limiting factor for me. Can’t lose too much ground to the stronger guys.
3. Deadlifts/Box Jumps. Ouch. I’m strong, but denying the impact 45 reps of 143kg deadlifts will have on me is impossible. BJ’s should favor me.
4. 100′s PU/KBS/DU/OHS. Should be my workout!
5. ”Amanda”. Only one that really scares me. All depending on how my shoulder heals up during my no barbell week. Right now squat snatching doesn’t work at all.
6. Chipper. Honestly man, just suck it up and smash this one!

All in all there will still be a life after the Regionals, if you survive the deadlifts that is, and I will train mostly for that. Being the better athlete overall is what I want to be the winning factor for me, not being the best specialist at these events.

Namaste!

Listen to the master

”To me totality is very important in sparring.” 

- Bruce Lee -

Load of Power Cleans from AM-session!

4.30pm WOD Part 2, 20 min AMRAP:

• 2/4/6/8… Burpees
• 2*50m Run
• 2/4/6/8… KBS@32kg
• 2*50m Run

Result: 16 round + 18 Burpees + Run + 18 KBS

So, as the Jet Kun Do Master him self, today I chose my sparring partners for the afternoon wod wisely (or just got lucky having them around). Ellie won the ”Short Trail Run Summer Series” in the beginning of the year, Mona is a weightlifter aiming for the Olympics and finished in 3rd spot in the African Sectionals and finally I was happy to be able to try to keep up with Hermann. He’s a very capable runner, (used to do triathlons and finished the Two Oceans Half Marathon in a very respectable time!).

In the first half of the 20 mins, Hermann was just ahead of me forcing me to never stop moving. Somewhere around the 14 round I managed to pull away and kept that lead to the finish. What I’m most happy about with this workout however, except actually moving the entire time for this long duration, is the way I didn’t break down mentally when rough got rougher!
Broke the 2 last rounds of burpees in 10/6 & 6/6/6 with the Rule of 3 Breaths on every break and planned to do the same with the KBS, but somehow I managed to tell my self to hold on to that iron ball and got them all unbroken.
EDIT: I can’t count. All in all I got 90 burpees, 90 KBS and 1700m of run on a grassy field, not bad at all.

I also must give some credit to the creator of the WOD, oh wait that’s me, actually think it was very well put together and everybody seemed to have chosen the right weight for the KB’s, think we all finished somewhere in the 18-round!

Namaste! 

Improving Weaknesses

”Our strength grows out of our weaknesses.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson -

[Oh, only 672h for my upload. Guess I'll try again later..]

10am. WOD Part 1

Warm Up: 10min Controlled Hand Stand Walk

A. Technique, 5*2-pos Hang Power Clean@70kg (ozm)
Mid Hang, Knee
B. Power Clean, 3-2-1-1-1:
84/3, 93/2, 98/1, 102/1, 107/F+F
C. 20 Unbroken Power Cleans @ 135lbs/61kg: DONE!
No dumping, no resting on the ground.

D. Row Intervals, 5*1 min on/2 min off:
Goal sub 1’37.5min/500m split 

• 311m/1’36.4 av. 500m split
• 310/1’36.7
• 310/1’36.7
• 309/1’37.0
• 307/1.37.7(!)
  Stupid mistake stopped rowing 5s too early on the last thinking I was ”clear”.

Total: 1547(+20)4m/1’36.9(-1.9s)

Walking on hands are like bananas – for monkeys! Still, I anticipate it coming to the Games at some point (Regional or Finals) and I would love to master it. If you count approx. 2m as mastering, I’m already there..
My ”rule” was to start the walking out of a solid hand stand and not just sprint away, hard stuff.

Cleans felt better than before. No PB’s or impressive numbers at all, but at least I’m not afraid of the weights anymore. Lower back issue makes me cautious with heavier weights and I can see that it keeps me from keeping a straight back. 107 not exactly close but well high enough.
Thought the 20 repper would be much harder. 70kg next week.

Row. Wanted to quit after three rounds, super pumped in the balls of my feet(!) and my biceps during last two. Annoying that I actually ”sprinted” last 20s and was sure I already done the work when display showed average sub 1.36, stopped at 55s and watched it climb. Will kind of count it anyway and aim even lower next week, uack!

Off to some outdoor training soon. Public Holiday down here so gonna take the opportunity to roll around in the mud where the Regionals will be held.

Namaste! 

 

Hello Jello!

”May your resolve to awaken and live in true power be indomitable.
May the lessons you are about to learn arrive in gentle ways.
May your dark nights of the soul be few and far between.
And may you shine so brightly that, at the end of your days, all will pause and say,
”Ah, there was one who lived life fully and completely’”.

- Robin Sharma, Discover your Destiny -

11.55 am, WOD

A. Back Squats, 3-3-1-1-1:
125kg/3, 143/3, 152/1, 161/1 PB! (+1kg!), dnf
B. Back Squats, 20 reps @ 116
DONE!

20 min rest

C. 5 Rounds On top of every 3rd minute, Hill Sprint
26.85s, 26.60 (PB), 27.19, 28.87, 30.56

Plan was to do an attempt at 166kg as well, but I just wasn’t there mentally on the 161 lift. Actually wanted to drop it but didn’t know ”how” so stood up with it instead!
The 20 reppers are honestly just a mental test, first three reps almost as hard as the last ones. Maybe I can get that 20 at 120 I was dreaming of next week?

Hill Sprints felt surprisingly swift considering my legs didn’t feel too explosive. First time under 27s for the full length of ”my” hill and the first round was about 90% cause I wasn’t really warmed up. Only did 5 rounds due to a needling appointment, next week I’ll go for ”death by” sub 30s..

Namaste! 

Ups and downs…

”I took a walk around the world to 
Ease my troubled mind 
I left my body laying somewhere 
In the sands of time 
I watched the world float to the dark 
Side of the moon 
I feel there is nothing I can do…”

- Three Doors Down, Kryptonite -

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9am, WOD Part 1

A. WU/Technique: 3 pos Snatch @ 43kg
High Pull/Hang Squat Snatch/Snatch Balance
B. Power Snatch, 3-2-1-1-1:
52/3, 61/1+F+F(!), dnf…

C1. Bar MU’s for Speed 3*5
C2. OHS@61kg 3*10
D. Death By Ring PshU’s with 18kg vest, 2/4/6…
Score: 10+11

5h later

E. ”Gaucoin”, 6 Rounds for total Rest @ 70kg:

• 2 Power Cleans
• 2 Push Jerks
• 2 Squat Cleans
• 350m Row

Score: 1,50 / 1,59 / 2,01 / 2,10 / 2,15 / 2,25 = Total Rest: 140s

5 min rest

F. On the minute 4*15 Pull Ups:
Butterfly, BF, 9 BF+3 Reg Kip, Reg Kip

Shoulder not happy, lower back not happy and me sleeping badly equals me not happy. No energy or motivation what so ever for the AM-session, besides the snatches was just off from the beginning. Can I please be lucky and not see a lot of them in the Regionals?
Bar MU’s felt ok at least.

Afternoon session was so much better. No monster result, but the first time I finish Gaucoin non the less! Took it quite easy on the row from start to goal and actually never got really smoked until the final round. ARE U KIDDING ME? Just checked Dave’s score = 141!!! What a joke…

Need to be more comfortable with the timing in PU’s in general, today they took me about 16-17s without stressing it which is ok. Felt good that I can transition to regular kip when I get fatigued.

One week of heavy training before I’m deloading a bit and then basically just tapering for the competition. Need to focus around outside stress and get my priorities right.

Namaste! 

GPP? (video)

”Fortune favors the prepared mind.”

- Louis Pasteur -

11.30 WOD

A. WU 1min on/1 min off:

• Max Total Cross Over Skips: 30
• Max Total Double Unders: 109 (99!! + 10)
• Max Triple Unders: 4 – took me 40s to get the first one…

B. 3*5 Kneeling Jumps with 18kg vest
C. 5 Rft:

• 3 Box Jumps, 100cm
• 15m Sledge Drag, 40kg
• 15m Sledge Pulls, 40kg
  60s rest

Total Time, incl. rest: 8’00 min

D. From CFFB, 10 Rounds:
Didn’t time. 

• 5 Side Hops, 20″/50cm
• 20m Sprint
  60s Rest

E. Eating Dark Chocolate, no wheat Brownie for time
And then feeling nauseas…

A/C joint, (shoulder), sore from yesterday and S/I joint, (lower back), acting like it did when I injured it a year ago. Need to be very cautious right now, which forced me to adjust my planned OL and hill sprints. Not complaining though since this was really fun and most likely very needed to increase my explosiveness!

Kneeling jumps imitates snatching a bit and can be done with a pvc pipe or even a bar, but I still need to work on not jumping forward. Haven’t played around enough with the sledge in a long time, loved it.

CrossFitters in general like to call them self very versatile, but frankly I still think that there are so many different areas and exercises that we avoid or simply miss out on in our programs. Coming into the Regionals in just 4 weeks, I’m guessing the most demanding skills will be different gymnastic exercises. That doesn’t stop me from believing the above training will come in handy. Be ready for anything, exclude nothing and handle any new physical demands better then the guy next to you – and guess what?
All of a sudden you are one step closer to that golden ticket to the Home Depot Center!

At least that’s what I’m hoping for…

Namaste!

Another long day…

”I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.”

- Dalai Lama

 

10am, WOD Part 1

A. WU/Technique, 2 pos Clean + 1 Split Jerk @ 61kg
Mid thigh/knee
B. Clean & Jerk, 3-3-2-2-2
79kg/3, 84/3, 89/2, 93/2, 98/2
C. Death by On the Minute 5 HSPU +4cm
10 min/rounds + 6 + 4 reps 

D. Row Intervals @ 90%, 5 * 1 min on/2 min off:
Goal sub 1’40min/500m split 

• 305m/1’38.3 av. 500m split
• 305/1’38.3
• 304/1’38.6
• 302/1’39.3
• 302/1.39.3

Total: 1527m/1’38.8

4h rest

4.20pm, WOD Part 2

E. From Mackies Metcon Archives, 4 Rounds For Time:

• 4 Muscle Ups
• 16 KB-Snatches @ 24 kg

Time: 7’33 min

Excactly 5 min rest

F. Alternating Tabata:

• CTB-PU’s: 16, 8, 6, 5 = 35
• T2B: 12, 5, 5, 5 = 27

Total: 62 reps

Exactly 5 min rest

G. Tabata ”Burning Man Burpees”:
5, 5, 4, 6, 4, 4, 4, 4

Total: 36 reps 

OK. Not gonna break all this training down in detail. OL felt better than earlier in the week, probably some 2-3rm PB’s, but doesn’t really count those.
HSPU was something I read about lactid acid capacity, goal was 10 unbroken rounds which was so easy that I decided to add a rep per round from there (regular Death By), and then I got stuck immediately!
Rowing sucked, but not as much as usual – am I getting better here or was it just slow? Planned to do a few more of similar intervals to build endurance.

Afternoon, guess if my grip was smoked after one round of the second metcon? Did the MU’s without false grip to get used to using my wrist straps, want to be able to do OL in combination with these if it shows up. It was harder but doable. Saw that Rich Froning did this one in 3’43 last year… 

Good workload today, lower back is protesting a bit from all the OL this week but I think it can hold on for a few more weeks before it gets some rest.

Namaste!

Sir Squat a Lot!

””Well,” said Pooh, ”what I like best,” and then he had to stop and think.  Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.”  

- A.A. Milne -

10 am, WOD Part 1, Technique & Strength

A. WU/Technique – 2-pos Power Snatch@43kg, (between cones to avoid broad landings) – DONE!
Immediately after:
B. Within 7 mins, establish Power Snatch Max for Day:
52kg/1, 61/1, 70/1, 75/F, 75/F
C. Strength: Front Squats, 3-2-1-1-1:
111/3, 120/2, 131/1 PB!, 134/PB! (+4kg), 138/F
D1. Assistance Work: Snatch Balance 3*10 @ 43kg (between cones)
D2. Strict Bar Series * 2
5 Pronated Pull Ups to neck, 5 Supinated to Chest, 5 Leg Raises

E. Back Squats, 20 reps @ 111kg – DONE!

2,5h later

2.30 pm, WOD Part 2, Conditioning

F. 7 Rounds For Time:

• 10 Push Ups
• 10 Walking Lunges
• 250m Row

Time: 11’09 min

G. Tabata GHD & Ab-Mat Sit Ups:
GHD: 10/11/10/10, Mat: 12/12/10/11 

Ouff, ok first of all not even I had planned to have all this work in one day. Squats was meant to be yesterday but I woke up feeling hit by a train so decided to take an extra rest day and try to squeeze it together today. Went ok. The cones for feet placement actually felt really good, I always broaden my feet a lot with heavier weight. I still do pull with my arms, very visible in the video, and with heavier weights just about everything feels awkward..

Front Squats felt good as always. 20 Repper Back Squat, not so good. At 5 reps I thought 10 ”might be doable”, glad I didn’t give up!

Was expecting the metcon to be way harder. Did this before with only 5 PshU’s a round but not after this kind of squat heavy day, was expecting the same cramps as I had with Hell-in, but not at all actually. Saved my legs by pulling only with my arms last 50m of each row in the beginning and I actually felt strong all the way through. That said, I was hoping for better. Last time was three months ago and 11’07 mins then with just 35 reps less should have been improved by now. Still happy that I was pretty consistent and very tired at the end.
Was meant to be a full Tabata GHD, but my hip flexors felt completely spent and I know that that usually leads to lower back pain for me so went to the floor, which was worse! Abs was cramping like crazy all of a sudden so I’m guessing I’ll be feeling this for a couple of days…

Rest day tomorrow again and then on to some more Olympic Lifting Friday & Saturday. So far my shoulder, elbows and lower back holds up pretty well, (knock on wood), so hopefully I will be able to put a lot of this kind of training in over the coming weeks and fixing all the problems I’m having with it.

PS. Every piece of advice you guys are giving me is highly appreciated, I actually write them all down in my notebook and try to go through them before each session!

Namaste!