Fight Gone… Better than last time at least.

“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.”

- Buddha -

10.30 am, WOD Part 1 – Technique and Strength

A. WU, Hand Stand Walk 3 attempts:
3, 4, 7m PB!
B. WU-Series, 2 set @ 43 kg: 2 Push Press, 2 Split Jerk, 2 Press Behind the neck in Split position

C. 5 Sets: Power Clean + Front Squat + Clean + Split Jerk (5 sec hold on last).
61kg, 70, 79, 84, 88
D. Hang Snatch High Pull, Flatfooted, 4*4
43kg, 43, 48, 48
E. Double Dip Front Squats (1+1/4), 3*3 @ 102kg
Done!

4h Rest

 4.30pm, WOD Part 2 – Conditioning

F. ”Fight Gone Bad” 3 one minute rounds for max reps of the following:

• Wall Balls, 20lbs to 10″: 28/25/22
• Sumo Dead Lift High Pull @ 33kg: 28/18/19
• Box Jumps to 50cm: 35/30/30
• Push Press @ 33kg: 28/20/22
• Row, for Cals: 12/10/13

Total: 340 PB! (+43 points).
Actually counted wrong during the session and got a pleasant surprise of 4 more reps when I nerdly watched the entire video when I got home.

Morning session felt good, my hand stand walk is actually really solid now, want to be able to do 10+10m with a turnaround! 88kg for the Clean complex was just about to heavy for ”perfect execution”. Flatfooted Snatch Pulls was weird, but think I got it in the end. Front Squats heavier than I remembered them..

For the FGB I was stood down by my planned sparring partner, Graham had been sick and wasn’t up for it yet. Hard to push it when it’s just me and the clock for this kind of workout. When I hit the first round hard, I knew I would have the best score in the gym, (Antons 308), and that made me lose the mental battle to push it 100%.
Something like a year ago since I did this the last (and first) time so no surprise I would better my self a lot. One year is about as long as I’m gonna keep it with this specific workout, don’t think the SDHP’s are neither efficient nor healthy, specially with my shoulders.
Plan was to barely move at all at the rower to save energy for the other exercises and that’s exactly what I did…

On another note, I’m no longer the strongest guy in the gym! This is actually a quite cool story. We have Grant, a 37 year old and about 100kg athlete who has been doing CrossFit for about 7-8 months(?). That he is freakingly strong we already know, but when he this week alone first out-Squats me and then out-Presses me it’s just rude!
To the story comes some funny details. He PB’d his squat by +20kg yesterday on an ”off day”, and today he not only added 20 kgs to his previous 70kg pb Shoulder Press, (Yeah that’s a 90kg press now!). He did it in about 2-3kg increases from the point when I put on 72 on the bar for him, ”to give the guy a PB” (lol)!
To make it even more impressive I’m sure none of theses PB’s are physical maxes for this monster. He struggles with shoulder and knee problems and none of the lifts look even taxing on the dude.

Looks like I might have to consider a strength cycle within soon to at least give the guy a fight for the wall of fame top spots. Actually don’t think I stand a chance, but I love the ”in house competitive spirit” we have going on in the box right now. It pushes everybody, including me, to pick up pace and if there’s something I’ve been missing, it’s sparring.

Now, with all of the top guys becoming dangerously faster each month, maybe I’m gonna get more than I ask for..?

Namaste!

Pump it baby!

“Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.”

- Buddha - 

Do it like Arnold!

9.30am, WOD

A. Weighted CTB PU @ 1X21-tempo, 3*5 @ 18 kg
5, 5, 5
B. Butterfly CTB, 4*15 (60s)
19s, 21s, 1’06 min (8/4/3), 1’08 (6/3/3/3 regular kip)
C. GHD’s 3*20 (60s)
37s, 37, 38

Felt like doing a low volume and light wod today. Still in line with my ”increasing stamina programming”. Some how the BF CTB’s was way harder today, at least from round 3 and on. Maybe the weighted ones before had something to do with that..

Tomorrow it’s time for some more OL and then at night I have a date with a dreaded Benchmark WOD that I’ve only done once before, looking forward to it kind of.

Namaste!

And a video…

“Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.” 

- Buddha -

Just some of the work done yesterday…

Namaste!

Cramp it baby!

“The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.”

- Buddha -

12.30pm, WOD Part 1 – Technique & Strength

Warm Up Series, 3 set: 2 Snatch Long Pulls, 2 OHS, 2 Sotts Press
29kg, 29, 38

A. Snatch Segment Pull (1″/knee/hip/finish) + Snatch Pull 4 sets * 3 (1+1)
61kg, 66, 70, 75
B. Snatch 5*3 @ 60% (48kg)
3/3/3/3/3
C. 3 Snatch Push Press + 1 OHS * 4 sets:
61kg, 70, 84, 93 (shallow OHS..).
D. Back Squats 1+1/4, 3*3 @ 120kg
Done

6h later

6.30 pm, WOD Part 2 – Conditioning

E. Games Style KBS, 3*25 @ 32kg (60s rest)
25, 25, 25
F. Tabata Hand Release PSHU’s:
16, 14, 10, 8, 7, 6 , 5, 6 = 72
G. Double Unders, 3 * AMRAP, (60s rest)
130 (PB?), 9(!), 50

Technique felt good today, still not pulling my shoulder blades together enough when the weight gets heavy in the Snatch though. Only bad lift was the last set of PP + OHS where I guess the weights caught up to me and I ”after pressed” the Push Presses a lot, leaving my shoulders smoked for the OHS..

Night session is something I’ve programmed to do a lot of, straight sets with increasing reps of exercises. Will use this as a foundation, (but not as only part), of my conditioning the coming weeks. KBS felt really good until last round where my grip was toasted after 10 reps. Managed to pull it together, but over swung the KB on the last two reps and had to fight hard to stay with it. 3*30 next week shall be interesting.

Cramped up in my pecs during the PSHU’s but that was expected. Hasn’t been doing a lot of horizontal plane pushing since my shoulder injury. DU’s was fun, actually just stopped at 130 cause my head told me it would hurt like hell if I didn’t. Have to push it harder next time.

Namaste!

Taken back down from my pedestal…

”Too many people overvalue what they are not, and undervalue what they are.”

- Forbes -

10.30am, WOD ThrowdownSeries.com Event #5

Part 1 – 4 min AMRAP:

• 4 Hang Cleans @ 165lbs (75kg)
• 5 Burpees
  Rest Exactly 3 min

Part 2 – 6 min AMRAP:

• 4 OHS @ 135lbs (61kg)
• 12 Ring Dips
  Rest Exactly 3 min

Part 3 – 3 min AMRAP:

• Row For Calories

Score: 4 rounds + 3 Cleans (39p), 4 Rounds + 4 OHS + 9 Dips (77p), 60 Calories = 176p

Felt confident coming into the event, even though I haven’t paid much attention to this series I still wanted to challenge and beat Jobst – ended up with me being whopped by 10 points..

No excuses, conditioning felt ok considering I have been taking that very easy since the Regionals, only part that was really dreadful was the row, but with that one it doesn’t matter if I’m in the shape of my life – still smashes me completely.
Did a few mistakes, firstly I misread the clock in the end of part 1, thought it said 3:59 when it actually was 3:54, and I simply didn’t do the last Clean and could probably have pushed in a burpee or two as well.
Hardest part was without a doubt, but a bit surprisingly, the OHS. The ”great” shoulder stability I had in the snatches yesterday was gone and I basically had to fight with every rep to not drop the bar. Was expecting at least a full round more on that part so there’s where I lost most points.

Knew I had no chance against Jobst when getting on the rower, he was only 4 points behind me at that stage and is a hell of a lot better rower than me, (not that that says a lot). I said before the event that I wanted a 15p lead on the row to feel secure. Could probably have pushed my self a little harder and on a good day I might get around 5 cals more. If it’s a fight to the finish line I might even be able to push the 70′s, but my capacity isn’t bigger than that right now.

Rowing 2 times a week is scheduled from now on, (again), and I really liked the concept of this workout so I might copy it with some other combinations. Think it would be very healthy for me to finish a lot of my workouts with this kind of row. How fun that would be is another story…

Namaste!

Who needs to Snatch anyway?

”The whole secret to getting things done is knowing what to leave undone”.

- Unknown -

4pm WOD

A. ”Warm Up Series of your choice * 3″
@29kg: 2*2 Snatch Long Pull + 2 OHS + 2 Sotts Press / 2*2 Clean Long Pull + 2 Front Squat + 2 Clean Sotts Press

Just to show Dave how flexible I am…

B. ”Snatch – after 60%, increase 3-5% per set with singles until you reach heaviest good lift for the day”
48kg/1, 52/1, 57/1, 61/1, 66/1, 70/1, 75/1, 79/F+F+1, 81/F+1 PB! (+2kg)

I’m so happy about it, I even put it in slowmo…

C. ”Clean & jerk – same as snatch”
70kg/1, 79/1, 84/1, 93/1, 98/1, 102/1

Stoked!!! OK, it’s not a school book lift, but either the Cathletics positioning program is working REALLY well already or you simply don’t need to practice the Snatch so often to improve it? Last time I hit a PB it was also after a long period without heavy OL at all, just like now.
Hmm, who knows, maybe the insane amount of OHS and Snatches @ 61 kg I’ve been doing before and during the Regionals made me a bit more solid in the bottom as well..
On a technique note: as soon as the weights goes above 70kg I still broaden my receiving stance, think/hope the Snatch Balances in the cycle will fix this.

When I got to the C&J I was short of time and actually quite spent in the legs, maybe from all the Snatches. Technique felt decent, but not so explosive. Decided to call it after the 102, don’t think anything about a 107 attempt would have been anywhere close to ”heaviest GOOD lift of the day”.
As you can see I didn’t follow that rule for the Snatches, I’m cherry picking from the cycle and when my lifting basically felt better than ever, I think it was right to go for it.

Was meaning to do Dave’s Metcon tonight, but then someone showed me this months Throwdownseries.com. All of a sudden I found my self challenging Jobst and most likely scheduling my self a date with Pukie after that finishing 3 minute row tomorrow morning…

On another note, while I’m driving my scooter through pouring rain, warming up for 20 mins extra just to be able to feel my fingers and hating getting out of bed in the morning – you Swede’s are drinking disgusting booze, singing weird songs and dancing like frogs (yeah, I agree: WTF?), or in other words celebrating ”Midsummer”.
Even though I don’t drink the weird stuff or ever really understood the idea behind dancing around a huge fallos symbol (it only get’s weirder huh?), I do have to admit I miss my family a lot. I mean how can you not cherish moments like this:

Won't even try to explain...

Namaste!

Fun = Uncomfortable?

”Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it’s a small price to pay for living a dream.”

- Peter McWilliams -

1st ”real” metcon after Regionals…

2pm WOD

A. Warm Up Series, 3 sets @ 29kg: 2 Clean Long Pulls, 2 Front Squats, 2 Clean Sotts Press (yeah right!).

B. Clean Pull Segment + Clean Pull, 3 * 1+1
1″, knee, hip, finish
70kg, 84, 93
C. Clean & Jerk, 3*1 @ 60% + 1 *3
3 repper done with Power Clean & Push Jerk
D.  Snatch Balance 3*3
43kg, 52, 61

E. Metcon, 5 RFT:

• 10 Clapping PshU’s
• 200m Row

Time: 6’06 min

F. GHD’s, 3*15 (60s)

Don’t know if the dude was talking about CF when stating the above, but it fits. Another thing I don’t know is how I came up with this metcon when planning a week full of ”fun” wods to get back in the game. Just get it man – Row will never, ever, ever, ever be fun…

Clean segment pulls felt very healthy for my setup. Snatch Balance a bit awkward, I’m jumping forward for some reason instead of dropping straight down under the bar. Might try it from a ”toe standing position” next time.

Kept a pretty decent pace for the first three rounds of pain, about a minute each, but then I took longer and longer breaks. Pretty pumped afterwards, obviously nauseous for a good five minutes as well.

Namaste! 

 

Slowly…

”The greatest effort is not concerned with results.”

- Buddha -

Stunning views as always if you ask me..

10.30am, Hike up Lions Head, Yoga on the top & slow jog down

2.30pm, WOD

A. Cathletics WU-series, 3 sets @ 29kg, 2 Snatch Long Pull + 2 OHS + 2 Sotts Press

B1. Box Jumps, 5*3 @ 100 cm
10s to:
B2. Ring Dip to L-sit hold 3s, 5*5
120s to B1

C. 3 Rounds for speed:

• 15 Butterfly CTB
• 50 Double Unders
• 2 min rest

56s, 51, 60

Let’s hope the enlighten one is right about that, nothing with my training feels result driven atm. Can’t complain though, feels pretty good to have a sub max week right now to get back in the game.

Really like the warm up series so far, think that if nothing else it will make me a lot more flexible at least. First round of Sotts I dropped the bar forward, second I initiated them by driving with the hip and for the last round it actually felt ”perfect”. No heavy weight at all but it’s all about positioning right now.

Ring Dips a bit painful for the shoulder, damn thing refuses to heal, and L-sit hold just freaking hard. CTB’s unbroken, consecutively and easy. DU’s spiked the heart rate more than expected. No misses during the 2nd round, which always makes a big difference in time.

Yeah, almost forgot. Lions Head was quite a while ago. Love that piece of rock and just getting out in nature in general. Need to get that back into my weekly routines again!

Namaste!

Light Weight!

”Your goal is to find a weight that is a challenge, but allows excellent technical execution and speed.”

- Cathletics.com -

3pm WOD

A. Warm Up Series, 2 sets @ 29kg, 2 Snatch Long Pull, 2 Snatch Push Press, 2 OHS

B. 1 Power Snatch, 1 OHS, 1 Snatch (2 sec paus in bottom of each):
43kg, 52, 57
C. 1 Push Press, 1 Behind The Neck Jerk, 1 Split Jerk (5s paus in split on last):
70kg, 84, 93
D. 1+1/4 Back Squats, 3*3@111kg,
Done
E. KBS (regional standard), 3*20@32kg (60s)
42s, 44, 45
D. Back Extension, 3*10 (60s) 

Hehe, wouldn’t exactly call my lifting technique full of ”excellent execution and speed”. OH-pos felt off in all lifts and just holding the rack pos felt like a deep stretch in my shoulders, guess that’s what happens when you’ve been completely inactive for a week.
On a positive note weights felt easy overall, back squats was something I put in there my self and it felt like I could do a lot more. KBS was also a positive experience, shoulders took a little beating by locking out with complete extension, but in general all sets was unbroken and easy. Thinking about building this one up like I did with my GHD’s before and aim for a fast 100 reps for time, what ever that would be?

Feels good to be back in training again. Slowly getting over the disappointment from Regionals and realizing that I don’t do CrossFit only to compete, I do it because I love it in every aspect. I love chasing new PB’s, I love feeling stronger then before and faster than yesterday. Just need to get back on the right track mentally and I’m sure I will be more than a good enough athlete when time wants me to be.

PS. When starting a new training cycle with positioning and technique as the biggest goals, one of the most important tools should be to record and correct yourself. Needless to say, I forgot to bring the camera today…

Namaste!

Re-Focusing

”Only a man who knows how it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with that extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.”

- Muhammad Ali -

Promised my self a full week of recovery and resting after the Regional, and now that it’s almost to an end I’m starting to get restless. I want to get back into training mode but find it quite hard to find some real motivation, guess it’s a matter of me not having a concrete goal towards I’m aiming at for the moment. Well, I guess you could call getting to the Games 2012 should be motivation enough, but it’s also quite distant..

Have however made a short term program to get back at it, and regardless of my reluctance towards ”specialized” training, I cannot neglect my weaknesses when it comes to Olympic Weight Lifting. As a back bone in my new programming I have chosen a cycle from Cathletics.com which focuses on position, posture and pulling strength. Should fit me perfectly since I consider my self strong enough to get my numbers up as soon as the technique falls in place. I mean seriously, my Front Squat is almost 140kg and my Clean 107. My OHS is over 100 and my Snatch below 80..
Besides the fact that I think the positioning focus will fit me perfectly, the cycle also focuses on lighter weights & complexes with combined lifts which I hope will keep my injury prone joints happy.

I will however not follow the programming 100%, there’s just no way my shoulder could hold up with OL each session. So, I have decided to pick out the two, (for me) most beneficial sessions plus each weeks Friday session since that one is focusing on max lifting. I will combine it with, (again for me), ”advanced gymnastics” and conditioning training with a focus on getting my ability to handle high rep wods up.

I am hungry to find that ounce of power that will allow me to never fail again. I am hungry to become stronger, faster and better than I’ve ever been before. I am just not 100% sure how to get there, and will keep looking for a superior programming once I have got my body back into gear again, which should be a month from now or so.

Oh, I do have some goals with this cycle, (to be done before end of July), think that is always crucial to keep me going as hard as I can:

• Snatch: 85kg / Now 79
• Clean & Jerk: 115kg / 107
• Strict MU’s: 5 / 3
• Weighted PU: 55kg / 51
• 1 Free HSPU!

Namaste!