Chris (almost) passes out in the gym and other interesting tidbits

Before we get to the fun stuff, let me post some solid workout results.

5 x 5 push press

Larry - 135, 135, 135, 135, 135

Jay - 135, 145, 155, 165, 175

Form & technique solid.

Met-con: 4 rounds: 10 inverted rows on rings
15 45# kettlebell swings
run 400m
Larry 14:05
Jay 15:53
runs getting faster!

Chris P. - 2 x 6 C&J (no Chris that that does not stand for Chris & Jared!)
started with 135, this was a tad heavy so we dropped to 115#
to maintain good bar speed and get a good fast split jerk.
Post workout note: I was taking a picture of Chris posing in a front squat position, and as I was about to snap the pic...Chris fainted! Wow can't say I've EVER seen that in the gym! He caught himself before he actually fell to the ground, thanks to being used to the feeling of losing consciousness. So I'm happy to say no injury occurred. He caught the barbell as it slipped from his grasp. Evidently because he had just gotten up from the ground and had been stretching, he was light-headed. Here's the pic!


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Fun in the Park

Sunday was a gorgeous day to get outside and a perfect day for a little Crossfit at Cole Park. A rare day with low humidity, and light winds and mild temperatures. Pretty much unbeatable conditions.

Congrats to everyone who showed, esp Ryan & Adam, who drove up from Kingsville to join us. It was great to have a couple of firebreathing Marines to really push the pace. Workout went well, at least based on the gruesome aftermath and the casualties laid out in the amphitheatre. Definitely worth doing again at some point! Also a nod to the good showing from American Revolution Muy Thai & Submission. It was great to have all you guys out gettin some. Larry & Jay, well what can I say, they don't miss too many workouts, I gotta respect that, even if they did stay up drinkin til 6am! Damn, and they still had a pretty damn good output. I can only guess at what kind of performance we'd see with 8 hours of sleep!

Here's the workout for the record:

Two 4 man teams

45# sandbag run to top of hill
10 32" wall jumps
return with sandbag to bottom of hill
20 pushups with 20# vest
sandbag run to top of hill
10 ground to overheads 45 kb's or db's
return with sandbag to bottom of hill
hand off to teammate and repeat....



Some notes. This workout format was awesome, I personally really liked the way it went and the team aspect of it was cool. Definitely need to add a second round next time, as there is plenty of recovery time.

Post WOD we still had a few brave souls who were ready for more. Ryan suggested the following, and Adam, Chris & Tim participated.

Two 2-man teams:
Team 1 runs to hilltop with sandbag while team 2 cranks out max rep pushups
When Team 1 returns the pushups cease, team 2 runs to hilltop with sandbags while team 1 cranks out max rep pushups. The format is repeated for kettlebell swings and whoever gets the most reps wins. I like this idea and plan to use it so if you're training with me get ready! All in all a very kick-ass day of hard training. Gotta love it, hope to do it again soon!

Another good one in the books

Participants: Chris, Dustin, & Tim

Deadlift - 5 x 5
Chris, 185, 205, 235, 235, 245
Dustin, 185, 225, 275, 325, 325
Tim, 185, 225, 275, 275, 285

I am pretty sure this was a PR for me on the last set, it was a PR for Chris, as his previous 1RM was 225! He's moving up very fast. Dustin has the physique and raw strength to move up well over 400. He pulled 325 for reps pretty easily. But it would still definitely be wise to progress slowly just to let the tissues adapt fully. Deadlifting is so damn fun! Somebody said it's the only lift where you see God. I love that.

Heavy Pullups 6,5,4,3,2,1

I didn't keep exact track but the progress went something like this.

Dustin, bw, 9#, 15#, 20#, 30#, 45#
Chris, 15#, 18, 20, 25, 30, 45 (I think!)
Tim, 45, 45, 45, 54, 60, 70

Met-con Tabata style

3 min each of burpees and sledge hammer strikes, 1 min rest in between the two exercises. This was one hell of a good metabolic finisher.

This is a must read...

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength

I dare you...

to watch this video and not get jacked, and feel the hair stand up on the back of your neck and feel some chills! I love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkBOI4lNfYs&feature=player_embedded

Sunday Fight Camp

Well if you read the "sneak preview" AND showed up Sunday, then you know by now that ain't what went down! Hey, crossfit style workouts are all about "the unknown and the unknowable" right? Ha ha!
       This was a hard, but fun, workout. Had a good showing and some new faces. We had Chris P.& Dustin from  American Revolution Muy Thai, and we had regulars Larry "the fro" Earls, & Jay, along with yours truly and "me love you long time" Ruben Cavazos. I'm already lookin forward to the next one, and next time no sucker punches!

Without further ado:

2 rounds: 20 seconds on , 20 sec off; 2 min per station, 20 min total

115# Hang Clean
100# Push Press
Tractor Tire Battle (for the battle it's a straight 2 min!)
Farmer's Carry 120# DB's (go as far as you dare)
Agility Ladder lateral drill (6 hurdles, 8-12", quick feet!)

After completing 3 out of 5 exercises, we started over and got a full 2 rounds. Thanks to my man RC for bringin his 120's, and the keg. Next time we'll have to include a keg exercise for sure.

Sneak Preview

If you have the heart to show up tomorrow, rain or shine, this is what's being served hot and fresh. Come sink your teeth in!

1200m run
210# deadlift for 20 reps
105# push press for 15 reps
110# dumbbell farmer's carry
800m run
210# deadlift for 20 reps
105# push press for 15 reps
110# dumbbell farmer's carry
400m run
210# deadlift for 20 reps
105# push press for 15 reps
110# dumbbell farmer's carry

If this looks like it might cause you to "spill your tea" you are probably right!

Thursday April 17th, 2010

Barbell Squat with blue bands - 8 sets, 2 reps each.

Chris P. 115, 115, 135, 155, 155, 135, 135, 115

Tim -  115, 135, 155, 155, 165, 165, 185, 185

We kept a strong emphasis on bar speed. Chris reached failure on 155, so we dropped back down. By keeping maximum speed on there bar, there is a greater emphasis on force development, and ultimately you will get stronger and more explosive. When the bar starts moving slower, your set is over! Next time we'll use green or black bands for sure. The blue was good to start out with for Chris, but the green will provide greater resistance at the top of the movement.

Metabolic Conditioning  - Fighter's Triplet

Three rounds, 1 min rest between rounds (just like a fight)

Kettlebell one arm clean & press - 45# 10 reps each arm
20 throws each 23# burly ball chest pass
20 burpees

Each of these exercises has a total body functionality that correlates directly with a fighter's needs in the ring. Every one of these exercises is ground based and uses the entire body. The Clean & Press, emphasizes explosive power, coordination, accuracy, stamina, strength, and balance. The heavy ball chest passes are fantastic, you have a strong eccentric component, your body has to "learn" to store and release energy. It emphasizes elasticity, explosive power, accuracy, balance, coordination, stamina, and speed. You should be going as fast and hard as possible right down to the 20th throw. You're standing so you're forced to engage your trunk and hips to accomodate the movement. This is a lot like pushing an opponent away from you when grappling. Finally, the burpees pretty much speak for themselves. We all know what a metabolic nightmare these can be. Anytime you do 20 in a row as fast as you can, it's tough. It's even tougher if you just finished all of the above. Of course burpees mimic a wrestling sprawl perfectly and then you're quickly back on your feet. The variation we do does not require a perfect pushup at the bottom, only that your chest and hips touch the floor together and that your feet leave the earth at the top with a clap overhead. This works better for a fighter, because it teaches them to get up quickly, and the pushup is irrelevant for that, besides, if you try and get clients to stick to a strict pushup, when they get fatigued, people will start shortcutting it anyway, so you might as well throw it out and have it be standardized for everyone.

Jay & Crew

Time to deadlift baby! Don't ya love it when everyone PR's...

Josh PR - 255
Jay PR - 335
Larry PR 315
Deshawn was rockin with the hex trap bar knockin out sets of 5 with 140#. Nice work my man! Not bad for a 16 year old who is about 6' 3" and not much more than a buck fifty!! Our goal is to pack 20-25# of muscle on this young man and watch him clearin some space under the boards for the Caroll Tigers! Just keep showing up my friend, you'll get there. Oh and lay off that junk food!

Jay & Crew sunk their teeth into the fighter's triplet for the met-con. Needless to say everyone was laying around in a daze in pools of sweat afterwards! Nice work gentlemen.

April 13, 2010

Had a really good workout with Chris P. and Jared. Both are from American Revolution MMA, in Corpus Christi.  Here's our workout.

After the warm-up...

Front Squats & Power Cleans

Kept the weight down to about 60% of 1rm, and did sets of about 5. We kept this unstructured, and focused on technique, speed, and skill. Still it generated a good metabolic response, and helped develop the coordination, and helped improve the motor skill itself. We did about 4 or 5 sets each of both front squat and power clean.

Metabolic Conditioning.

I put together what turned out to be a nice little triplet for metabolic conditioning. I did not invent slamball, and I did not invent wall ball, but maybe I invented "slamwallball." I loved it. Standing under the 10 ft target, do 2 ball slams, then 2 wall ball with a 20# slammerball. 2 of each counts as 1 rep. We did 4 reps per circuit. The other 2 exercises in the circuit were lateral & medial hops (one leg) on a 12" box. Back and forth is one rep, we did 4 per leg. Lateral and medial hops are performed from side to side on one leg. There is no stopping and no touching the ground with the off leg. You hop onto the box and directly off to the other side and then back over and repeat 4x. Then go to the other leg. Last was pullups. We did 8. So it looked something like this:

4 rounds of the following as fast as possible.

Slamwallball                                           2 slams, 2 throws = 1 rep, we did 4 reps per round
Lateral/Medial hops onto a 12" box        back and forth = 1 rep, we did 4 reps on each leg per round
Pullups                                                   8 reps

They always look so innocent on paper!     

There were 3 of us, so we did not keep time we just rotated thru the three stations, and no one really got held up waiting on anyone else. Worked out well and would be worth repeating.

Deadlift April 12th, 2010

Weigh in - 173.5 lbs. (Back in November I was at 184)

Deadlift

10 reps - 135

8 reps - 225

5 reps - 275

2 reps - 315

1 reps - 325

The bar normally sits 8 1/2 inches off the floor, at least that's what I measured. Using a pair of pulling stands at the very lowest settings, the bar is about one foot higher than that. I loaded up 395 and the bar was almost exactly at the kneecaps. I was able to lift that weight from there. It felt good but damn heavy! I rested several minutes and then went for 325 off the floor and got it. It did not really feel hard, felt like I could get close to 350. My goal is a 2 x bodyweight deadlift and then to run a sub 6 min mile afterwards.

 I think lifting the heavier load off the pulling stands helped activate more of the fast twitch muscle fibers, and helped me get the lift.

Sunday's workout got modified slightly to accomodate 5 people. Same as planned but I added a fifth station, Larry suggested sit-ups, so sit-ups it was. Turned out to be plenty hard. So it went like this:

Rope skip continuously (or double unders) while taking turns sprinting 200meters with a 40# vest. When all have completed the run we dive straight into the circuit:

1 min each, with 1 min rest in between.

1. Slam ball 20#
2. Pushups
3. Ring Pullups (jumping mostly, but the rings are set up high, so the jump did not help much!)
4. Sit-ups
5. 24" box jump

I put 1 min rest in so we could hit each station with maximum intensity. Otherwise people would be coming to a complete stop, which defeats the purpose.

To finish off we repeated phase 1. Post workout double under practice. Chris P. got 15 in a row, and he's never done them before. He did about 100 total. Awesome job on that Chris! Everyone else put out genuine effort, and pushed hard on this WOD. Everyone finished the 200m sprint under 1 minute. Chris had the best time of 41 seconds, and that was at the end of the WOD, and keep in mind it's an out and back course, not a straight line. If that doesn't sound hard, try it. Damn good workout, I enjoyed it!

Sunday Preview April 11th, 2010

Phase 1:

Group starts out skipping rope. One man runs 200m with 40# vest on. Everyone continues skipping rope while they wait their turn to run.  Next guy breaks out, does the same thing, and we continue until everyone has gone. The run should be completed in about 40-45 seconds. Failure to complete the run in under 45 seconds will result in group burpees.

Next is 4 stations: 1 min per station, max reps. 1 min rest between stations.

1. Slam ball
2. Pull-ups
3. Box Jumps
4. Pushups

To finish, we repeat Phase 1.

I am liking the look of this!

Thursday April 8, 2010

Barbell Complex - Deadlift, Power Clean, Push Press, Back Squat, 115# - 3 cycles thru
200 m sprint
Repeat barbell complex, this time for 5 cycles
400m dash
Repeat barbell complex for 7 cycles
600m run
Barbell Complex 5 cycles
400m run
Barbell for 3 cycles

I think a good goal to shoot for on this workout is for everyone to shave off about 3 or 4 minutes. How can that be accomplished? Well, number one we need to step up the intensity. Somehow we need to raise the stakes higher, and create a little more internal drive. When the words "for time" are written on the white board, that means I want to see someone spinning into the ground to crush the workout. That needs to be the group mentality. It's time to seek the next level. You must not let pain dictate your actions, or deter you from hitting it head on. When we feel that sensation of intense discomfort, our minds tell us to stop. That's when you must possess the tools to KEEP GOING, and re-double your efforts. If you can do that, you've unlocked the inner beast and let him out of the cage. It's rarely a question of physical capability. You CAN continue, it's just a question of will. Most people do not have the will, and are experts at talking themselves out of pushing thru that kind of pain. They will rationalize a hundred different ways why they slowed down. It's all about your inner self talk. What is that inner dialogue? Does it go something like this?

"I'm doing good enough, at least better than so and so...."

"I'll hit it harder next time"

"I'm still sore from last time"

"How fit do I really need to be? This is insane..."

"I hate running!"

"I'm beating everyone else here, so what the hell I'll slow down and just coast"

"This intensity is good enough, screw it, I'm just not feeling it today"

"I didn't eat a good meal today, so I just don't have energy"

"I'm just not good at this movement"

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Negative self talk will paralyze you and slow you down EVERY time. Crossfit intensity is 90% mental! Once you grasp that you will take a big step forward. Next time you are in the middle of a wod, and it starts to hurt, you must pause mentally and say "ok here's that moment coach was talking about." Right then and there you let out a primal scream and truly let it all hang out, like everything's on the line. Trust me this is not an easy thing to do, that's why most people simply will not do it.

Consider the following story. I was watching a documentary about big wave surfers in Hawaii. They were doing tow-ins at Peahi, also known as "Jaws." These are monstrous, ferocious, killer waves that can hold you under for several minutes if you wipe out. Gerry Lopez was being interviewed, and he said that before they went out, he was so scared that he could hardly move, he was so filled with tension. Finally, he had to say to himself, "Okay, shit, I guess this is a good day to die!" After he accepted this, he was able to relax and go out and kick ass, and do his thing.

I love that attitude of total commitment. It's an extreme example because Crossfit is not going to kill you, (well probably not), but the idea is hey, if you're going to do this, let's sell out completely and go for it. Fear is powerful, but it's exhilarating to overcome it.

GET SOME!

Results...
Larry 17:58
Josh 18:03
Jay   18:21
B    21:58