Stuff

Random stuff as this is the last day of the new year, first off I mentioned in my last post that I was worried about being sore today....my worries were well warranted.  Not doing lunges or glute ham raises in a while is one thing, doing 64 of each (lunges being 64 per leg with 55 pounds in each hand) is another.  My legs were horribly sore, my quads and hamstring fairly sore....my glutes and inner thigh horribly sore....my own fault.

Second I decided to take a look back at the year, my goals I made before and how I felt the overall year went.  It wasn't until closer to the end that I was under the impression of trying to do too much at once, combining conditioning and strength and endurance all into one week.  This didn't work out as well as I had planned and it wasn't until close to the end of the year that I decided to focus purely on strength, and wow did the results ever start to come on strong then.  The inclusion of bumper plates at my gym meant I was finally able to challenge myself properly with certain olympic lifts, focussing on speed and power and strength.  Prior to the bumpers my max full clean and jerk was 200 even, now my max full clean is 250, my max jerk is 255, and put together is 245 (with a failed attempt at 250).....that's one hell of a change considering we only had the bumper plates for a few months.  Injuries, like always got in the way, gladly not my back this time but a new one, my elbow......it's certainly gotten in the way of most upper body routines, with a recent strain preventing most upper body moves safely (more so pushing ones).  It'll heal, just like my back did, just like my knees did, just like my wrist did...and I can be setting new pr's with it....till it does I am going to do what I can for the upper body and hammer the shit out of my legs.

Because of the injury I had to drop a lot of the goals from last year, but not all of them.  Of the 3 I was still able to tackle, they were trying to get 225 overhead, front squat 265 for 2 reps, and deadlift 3 good reps at 315.  I shattered the 225 goal by 30 freakin pounds, 255 being my best seen below;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsl9rLfjE54&list=UUY76daDPRwJx9guouwnll4A&index=9&feature=plcp

Then the deadlift goal of 315 for 3 reps, well here is my attempt at going for a 1RM and this is what happened;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBGYedsomSs&list=UUY76daDPRwJx9guouwnll4A&index=11&feature=plcp

So while that is a single, and being I have since done 425, I demolished the goal of 315, and I have snatch grip deadlifted that for 3 clean reps, done 3 heavy crossfit workouts that each totallde 35 reps at 315....ya I killed that one.

The front squat, that son of a bitch exercise I have probably done more than leg exercise out there, I failed at the goal of.  I tried it, but 265 is now my one rep max, BUT this requires some further explanation.  Back when I made this goal my 3RM was 235, so 265 seemed reasonable for 2, but that was when I was doing squats to just below parallel, I have no switched to hamstring to calf each and every time, making a pretty big difference.  Had I kept the same form of just breaking parallel, there is little doubt I would have made and beat the goal by a long shot.  The reason I switched to full range was because of consistency, hitting just below parallel for me can be inconsistent as I might change how much I dip below, hamstring to calf is easy....you hit it or you don't.  I don't call this a complete failure for that reason, and I hope to get it soon.

New Goals:
These goals are potentially long term, maybe not being within the next year but more like a bucket list.

Deadlift 500 pounds - 75 pounds away, doable but being I've transfered from intermediate to advanced on this lift strength gains are harder to come by, still....lifting a 1/4 of a ton, how badass is that.

Clean and Jerk 275 - 30 pounds away, and this lift is so damn technical and nerve racking when I go for a max it's hard to work myself up to it, hopefully one day.

Get 300 pounds overhead - This will be a split jerk for sure, but man would that goal be sweet, 45 pounds away.

Front Squat 275 pounds - 10 pounds away, setting a slightly smaller number here as this lift is one of my most trained and harder to get pr's on.

Back Squat 275 for 5 reps - 50 pounds away, and this is olympic style back squatting too.

This is a long term goal, but complete the crossfit workout king kong, arguably the heaviest of them all.  I don't care if it takes me an hour, but I want to be able to say I am strong enough to complete this workout.  As of now I am simply not strong enough, for reference the workout is; 1 deadlift at 455, 2 muscle ups, 3 squat cleans at 250, and 4 handstand pushups for 3 rounds against the clock.  The squat cleans would be the hardest part, and 250 is my 1RM, buut doing is 9 total times with other things is another challenge.

That's good for now, and this is getting long, Happy New Year!

Legs

Decided to design a quick leg workout to destroy my legs, why....I have no clue.

8 Sets of
8 DB Travelling Lunges - 55s (16 total steps)
8 Natural Glue Ham Raises

Not timed, just got through as a certain pace.  I wanted to keep the lunges continuous, meaning you never stand up at the top you go right into the next lunge, makes it harder.  Other than turning around at 8 steps, I did all up till the last my legs were simply done.  I haven't done a single leg movement in months, as my strength program is all about back and front squats and cleans for the quads, because of that there is a good chance this routine will make my insanely sore...only time will tell.  I keep forgetting about glute ham raises, I want to keep doing them I heard they are an excellent addition to doing  deadlifts, they were easier than anticipated but still hard.  Overall my legs were fried, I wanted to try some speed squats but they were too swollen to allow that, nice leg routine...I'm worried about tomorrow!

Deadlifts and core

Today I had no intention of working out, then Eric walked in and asked if I was working out, sure why not, I was done earlier than usual for the day.  Even better, I decided to try and pr my deadlifts.

Deadlifts
225x3
255x3
295x2
315x1
345x1
365x1
385x1
405x1
425x1 (pr)

75 Hollow Rocks

Oh man was that last set heavy, and while I don't have a video I do feel my form suffered, maybe I shouldn't have gone for such a big jump, 20 pound pr is pretty large.  Either way, it was completed, and 425 is something I am very proud of.  All the sets were done with a mixed grip till the last one, at 405 I felt my grip slip a bit, so I grabbed some straps for 425, it almost seemed to mess up my pattern but either way that's 20 pound improvement on a day I didn't even intend on working out.  The hollow rocks were hard, my abs were a bit sore from yesterday, not timed just moved as fast as possible.  Good feeling workout!

Legs and Core

We are meant to squat, even from the beginning

Back into it, elbow still not behaving, different from what it felt like before this simply feels like a minor strain, so time will heal it.  Lifting the weights I have gotten too comes with its territory, injuries may happen but it doesn't mean I can't workout at all.  Today I wanted to try a front squat and back squat super set with the same weight, it got heavy by the end.

Front Squat - Back Squat
155x 3-3
175x 3-3
195x 3-3
215x 3-3
225x 3-3

For time
50 Weighted Situps - 25 pounds
50 Situps
Time - 7:18

I can still do legs and core.  I rather liked that pairing, going right from one to next with the same weight.  I can back squat more than I can front squat (but not by much), so the first one makes the second harder.  The last sets at 215 and 225 were close on both, good leg pairing.  The abs part was hard, they started cramping up a bit on the weighted portion, which took just under 5 minutes I think, the rest going much quicker, abs burned.  Good workout while my elbow heals!

The front squat and back squat sets can be found on my youtube channel.

Olympic and core

Once again, no intention of going for a pr turning into lets go for a pr, I was distracted today and not feeling all there but decided to try it anyways.  Here's how it went.

Clean and Jerk (squat clean)
135x3
155x3
175x2
185x2
205x1
215x1
225x1
235x1
250x0 (failed on jerk, but pr on clean)

Hollow Rocks - 4x15........15 on all sets

The video is the set at 235, last time I did these I got 245 completed, with that in my head, and only wanting to do one more set I went right to 250, which would also be a pr on squat cleans.  I completed the clean, and was surprised at my form they definately have gotten better I felt much more powerful today, but then failed on the jerk which was disappointing knowing what my pr on the jerk is and usually my strength.  I was focussing on the cleans so much I didn't put the same effort into the jerk and that's why I failed as I know I am strong enough to make this lift.  I was close too, my right arm made it, but the left arm did not and despite my struggles to press it up that's just too much weight.  My elbow has been bothering me lately too, only since the true pushups, so maybe that was partly why as it was the same arm that couldn't lock out.....next time.  Either way it's still a pr on cleans and much better and more powerful form on them too.  Hollow rocks are painful, those last 2 sets were close to not making 15, last time I got 12 so glad to get 15 on all 4 sets.

The set above and the set at 250 where I failed are on my youtube.  Good thing there was no volume, as a very loud "fuck" left my mouth after the fail, the gym wasn't exactly empty either.

Full Body

This workout was actually done last night

Time to tackle another heavy crossfit workout, this one being the third and it did make me slightly nervous.

5 Rounds for time
7 Deadlifts - 315
21 Double Unders
Time: 11:42

Rack Front Squats (11 holes)
155x3
175x3
185x3
195x3
205x3

The rack front squats were a new exercise, doing something strength focussed after a metcon wasn't as bad as I thought, at first I didn't like it, but as the weight got heavy I could feel it pretty well.  I knew this would be lighter than my actual front squat, as this style takes away the stretch reflex.  Each rep starts on the bottom, and you reset each time.  I did a practise set at 12 holes high, felt too high though, 11 looked low for my height but it worked well.  The deadlift and double under workout was hard, I felt very stiff going into it for some reason.  I didn't use straps, instead opting for a mixed grip and bumpers so it allowed me to drop the weight, my grip was the limitting factor.  I feel my form suffered a bit, but the deads were all that was really hard, the double unders winded me a bit but were only broken when I tripped up.  Overall good workout.

The first and last round of the deadlift/double under workout is on my youtube channel, as well as all the sets of the front squats.

http://www.youtube.com/user/paul771771

Upper body ish

Well this is a new exericse

I am sore as shit today, my legs are barely letting me do anything, they just don't work too well right now.  Because of that I figured it would be potentially harmful to do something with squatting or even from the floor, so some push jerks and accessory work.

Push Jerks
135x5
155x5
165x5
175x5
185x5

Alternate Sets
True Pushups - 4x10......bw
Weighted Situps - 10, 10, 10, 10.......30, 40, 45, 50

I wanted to match what I got the last time I went for 5 reps on push jerks, I wasn't going for a pr as I wanted to improve my form over my weight, quality over quantity.  They went well, but damn my legs were sore as hell.  The true pushups I actually felt in my elbow, first time in a while but I was pushing to finish them by the end and I went really really deep, felt good though.  The set at 50 pounds for the weighted situps was sloowww but completed, didn't think I'd get 10.  Overall good workout for one where my legs weren't working properly.

Legs

Nothing but squats today, damn these days hurt, many many sets.

Front Squats
135x5
155x3
175x3
195x3
215x3
235x2
245x2
255x1
265x1
275x0

Back Squats
145x10
185x5
195x5
205x5
215x5
225x5

I am very happy I was able to match my old pr, as this is now the heaviest I've gone without the weight plates under my heels, and unless something happens that I can't foresee why they would return.  265 was flipping heavy and slow out of the bottom but completed.  I had planned on stopping there but what the hell, lets try 275....ya didn't work there.  I lowered down till my hamstrings were touching my calves, I raised back up maybe an inch, hah ya it was simply too heavy, maybe next time but I am still pleased with where my front squat is.  The back squats I approached different, after the set at 145 (more of an active warmup) I wanted to go a little heavier.  Heavy back squats scare me more than heavy deadlifts in terms of back health especially for a lifter with my frame, but I swore off deadlifts at one point and I recently hit 405.  So I just need to be smarter about it, and before I was not, today for instance I was more than warmed up properly and made sure my hips rise up at the same time as my shoulders, as soon as it starts to mimic a good morning I stop no arguments.  Well it went great and felt even better (but fucking painful).  225 hamstring to calf for 5 reps, well at least that's more than my front squat for 5 reps, but obviously not as high as it should considering what I can front squat.  I'll keep it at reps of 5 when I decide to do it again, overall great workout and I fear I'll be sore (btw 225 isn't technically my max I am just being cautious with it).

Full Body

Mixed workout results.  I reset my power clean, trying to focus on better form as when I did the 245 power clean and split jerk, I did not like my form on the power clean.  Today I focussed on dropping lower to catch the bar.

Power Cleans
135x3
155x3
185x2
205x1
215x1
225x1
235x1
245x0x0

'Freddy's Revenge
5 Rounds for time
5 Shoulder to Overhead - 185
10 Burpees
Time: 14:16

I have power cleaned 245 before, but I did not like my form, my one leg darted out to the side and I didn't catch the bar with my upper arms straight.  Today I focussed on fixing both of those, and while I failed twice at 245, my form at 235 was better than it was in the past, so I am not too disappointed I couldn't match my previous best.  The second part was a workout I looked at years ago and thought "damn no way I could even complete that."  With my new found strength gains I decided to give it a go, every person I have seen do this workout have a higher jerk than I do, but what the hell even if I am slow who cares.  I did complete it, slow, but completed which feels amazing.  The first round was all push jerks, the second and maybe third round started with push jerks then all the other reps became split jerks.  It killed my shoulders, breathing was up but not too bad, that 185 got flipping heavy.  If you want to see others perform this workout, and learn where it got it's name, go to the crossfit journal and type Freddy's Revenge, Pat Barber and Khalipa, as well as the man pictured above all complete this.  I am very pleased I can say I am strong enough to complete this.

Videos of the power clean sets and the first and last round of Freddy's Revenge can be found on youtube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/paul771771?feature=watch

Random

No workout today, I was sore as hell after that death by deadlifts at 315 and front squat workout, my hamstrings, erector spinae, and traps were sore to the touch.  I thought I'd post this article, it outlines something that gets on my nerves in the gym....people who assume there style of training is superior to others.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sex_news_sports_funny_grok/battle_of_the_strength_sports

It talks about the pros and cons of bodybuilding, powerlifting, olympic lifting, strongman training, and even crossfit.  People constantly get stuck in the mindset that the style of training they are on is superior to others, which is simply untrue, no one style is the best each have there benefits based on an individuals goals.  I oddly seem to have combined a powerlifting and olympic lifting style of training of my own....with crossfit showing it's face from time to time, but I altered the crossfit stuff to be more strength focussed.  It's a good read (if anything, read the pros and cons list and try not to laugh at any of them).

Tomorrow I plan on tackling another heavy crossfit workout, with my new strength gains I want to test it by seeing if I can tackle most of the heavy workouts crossfit has without scaling.  Even if I am slow, they are workout I would have first looked at and thought "I can't even complete that".

Full Body

First workout back after a little lay off, why I decided to do something so hard I don't know, actually I do know.  Last time I did death by deadlifts I got 11 rounds plus 5 reps, which totalled 71 reps but that was with 225.  Today I decided to make it harder and try the same routine with 315, I was expecting it to hurt.

Death By Deadlifts at 315
7 Rounds plus 7 reps

Front Squats
135x5
155x5
175x5
195x5
215x5

Holy shit that was hard, and it got my heart rate up quite a bit too, I used a mix grip at the beginning then used straps to keep going as I didn't want my grip to get in the way.  I am used to lifting heavy and I'm used to trying to do something while winded but combining the 2 sucks, I fear my form suffered but a client said it wasn't too bad.  The most limitting part was actually my hamstrings, they were burning like crazy.  That totals 35 reps at 315 pounds, which I am happy with, as this was a timed thing I did touch and go, not resetting.  The last time I went for 5 heavy reps on front squats I got to 205, 215 was pushing it my elbows dropped but it was my upper back fatiguing from the deadlifts, still a pr though.  Good workout!

I am wanting to keep my strength work up, but I also want to do some heavy metcons, the death by deadlifts at 315 is a perfect example of a heavy metcon.  It was short, but heavy and intense.

Conditioning

Chris Speal on an 235 Push Jerk

Conditioning, I've oddly missed it, but with all my strength improvements not too much.  This is a workout created by Jason Khalipa and also completed by Chris Speal, and tough as hell.

For time
1 Clean and Jerk - 155
1 Round of Cindy
2 Clean and jerks - 155
1 Round of Cindy
3 Clean and Jerks - 155
1 Round of Cindy
4 Clean and Jerks - 155
1 Round of Cindy
5 Clean and Jerks - 155
1 Round of Cindy
6 Clean and Jerks - 155
1 Round of Cindy
7 Clean and Jerks - 155
1 Round of Cindy
8 Clean and Jerks - 155
1 Round of Cindy
9 Clean and Jerks - 155
1 Round of Cindy
10 Clean and Jerks - 155
1 Round of Cindy
Cindy= 5 Kipping Pullups, 10 Pushups, 15 Squats
Time: 36:36

Wow that certainly sucked, the weight got heavy on those clean and jerks for sure but with the lack of conditioning done over the past couple months it was more my lungs the weight wasn't too bad, but I knew that going in so it's not like it surprised me.  I have a video of the last round of clean and jerks and the bodyweight stuff, it shows that fatigued affected my form on the starting position of the cleans and oddly my bodyweight squats, but my range of motion was fine.  This workout totals 55 clean and jerks, almost twice as much as grace and 20 pounds heavier, plus 50 pullups, 100 pushups and 150 squats, ya it hurt.  Does this mean I am going to go back into a more conditioning style routine, or at least do them on a regular basis, I don't know my strength numbers still aren't where I'd like them, but we will see.  This is good news as well because my elbow felt fine the entire time, my shoulders, grip and definately legs were shot, but nothing compared to my lungs.

With all the lifting from the floor I do, I may give a little rest to my body, I haven't taken one in a bit, we will see how my body feels.

Full Body

I am a really indecisive person sometimes, snatch deadlifts and split jerks were in my head today, and that stayed the same, but pr's were not, that changed as I went for it on both.

Snatch Grip Deadlift
185x3
225x3
255x3
275x3
295x3 (pr)
315x3 (pr)

Split Jerk
135x3
155x3
175x2
195x1
215x1
235x1
245x1
255x1 (pr!!)

My old pr on snatch grip deadlifts was 275, so that appears to be a massive pr, but this one is different because I used straps.  The snatch grip doesn't really allow a mixed grip so I might as well use straps, I was surprised at how 'light' the set at 275 was in comparison to before (which there is a video of).  I was happy with my form too, the above video is the last set.  The split jerks made me more happy, and this is where I changed my mind more.  I was maybe going to do heavy doubles, but after the set at 175 I decided it was time to see if I can hit a pr, so I made that decision pretty quickly.  My old pr is 250, my new pr is 255, and I do have a video which will be on my youtube very shortly.  Awesome heavy workout!

Good timing, this article was posted today, felt it was worth posting here.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_snatch_grip_deadlift