Birthday Pullups!

To celebrate the 33 orbits of the earth around the sun since my birth, I did 33 pullups today. According to my (completely arbitrary) birthday pullup rules:
Kipping was allowed,
Chin above the bar counted,
Resting while hanging from the bar was allowed,
Letting go of the bar before rep 33 was not allowed,
Touching the ground before rep 33 was not allowed.

Reps were counted by a thoroughly objective and unbiased party. (Audrey)
The magnanimous folks at Get Built Chattanooga allowed me the use of their pullup bar.
Thanks to everyone who cheered for me!

DEC 30 2009 - Tabata Deadlift

I'm running a day behind the CFFB site, which gave me plenty of time to dread this workout.

Strength
Power Snatch 5 sets of 3 reps (55kg)
Strict Pullups 3 sets for max reps (15,11,12)

Conditioning
Tabata Deadlift at 100kg/225#
8x[20sec DLs for max reps, 10sec rest]
(9,6,6,7,6,6,4,3 = 47 reps)

I used my new weightlifting shoes for the power snatches. They definitely make it easier to get into a deep overhead squat. In fact I think I did my first legitimate full squat snatch during my warm-up sets with 45kg. I wish I'd had it on video, but my camera battery was completely dead. Landing low in the new shoes is still taking some getting used to.

Tabata deadlifts are crazy hard. I'd done them before as part of a DL/burpee Tabata mash-up called "Death by Tabata." That was with 85kg and the relative rest of burpees every other round. By round six today my back was screaming at me (tired, not injured) and it took a lot of effort to keep picking up the bar. Glad of the rest day tomorrow.

DEC 23 2009 - Why I hate Mirrors

No, it's not 'cause I'm ugly, but nice try. I hate mirrors in the weight room because they mess with my balance. I learned to squat by reading Mark Rippetoe's excellent book Starting Strength, and he is vehement about looking at a spot on the ground six to ten feet ahead while squatting. His reasoning is that it makes balancing a little easier to have a fixed reference point at about that distance. Since reading that I have not squatted at a facility with mirrors right in front of the squat rack. Until today.

When I squat at home I have a little water mark on the wall that I like to focus on. At the YMCA, the mirror stopped at about the same height as my happy little water mark, so I picked a spot just below the mirror as a point of reference. As soon as I started squatting, I saw myself move in my peripheral vision and couldn't stop from looking up. I wound up with my weight too far back and wobbled a bit in the bottom. Fortunately, this was my first warm-up set, and I had about four more sets to correct my tendency to look up.

But the mirror made it so hard to not look up. It seemed there were two types of distracting thoughts runnning through my head. One is the visceral "look out for danger" response that I have to anything moving in my peripheral vision. The other is more cerebral. I want to check my form. Are my knees staying out? Is my chest up? Did my lower back round at the bottom? It was actually easier to ignore the distractions caused by the mirror once the weight got heavy. The last two reps of each work set were hard enough that all I could think about was driving up.

But I still hate the mirrors. The only reason they're in the weight room is so the boys doing their alternate dumbbell bicep curls can 1) make sure they're flexing their glutes or 2) make sure someone else in the gym is looking at their glutes.

Strength
Squat 3sets of 5 reps (210# / ~95kg)

Conditioning
As Quickly As Possible: 100 Pullups
(7:35)

DEC 14 2009 - Press Progress

Strength
Squat 3 sets of 5 reps (91kg)
Press 3 sets of 5 reps (49kg)

Conditioning
4 rounds As Quickly As Possible:
. 5 Clean Pulls (90% 1RM Clean=65kg)
. 10 Strict Pullups
. 15 Back Extensions (Superman)
. 27 Sumo Deadlift High-Pull (20kg)

Even though I didn't get all 15 reps up on the press (missed the last one), I feel that I'm making progress on form. Heavy weights force improvements in form - you weed out inefficiencies or miss the lift. The head-bob that I was doing earlier is much diminished. I'm pretty happy with the lockout position. Also, watch the change in elbow position between when I clean the bar up and the first rep of press.

press 49kg 12 14 2009 from Scott Francis on Vimeo.

The conditioning workout required me to make some substitutions. The original called for back extensions in a roman chair or GHD while holding a 25# weight. I had to make due with Superman back extensions on the ground without the extra weight. The posted workout also called for rowing, which I replaced with 27 reps of Sumo Deadlift High-Pull with a 20kg kettlebell. It took me 13:17.

DEC 03 2009 - Substitutions

Sorry for the delay in getting these posts up.

Strength:
Squat 3 sets of 5 reps (87kg)

Conditioning:
As Many Rounds As Possible in 15 minutes:
1 Round = [3 Handstand Pushups, 5 Strict Pullups, 7 Knees-to-Elbows]

I made two substitutions: I did incline push-ups (feet 4' off ground) as I don't yet have a handstand pushup, and I counted pullups where my chin rose above the bar but where my chest failed to touch the bar. Since this Summer I've been doing chest-to-bar pullups and feel that it's been a tremendous aid in getting my first muscle-up, and improving pulling power all around. But I have a hard time getting chest-to-bar without kipping. So I still do strict pullups to the chin-over-bar standard.

10 rounds + 2 incline pushups.

NOV 30 2009 - Press Progress

Squat 3 sets of 5 reps (85kg)
Press 3sets of 5 reps (47kg)
Rest
5 Rounds As Quickly As Possible:
. 7 L-Pullups
. 14 Ring Dips
. 100m Sprint

I was able to complete all 15 reps of the press at 47.2kg today! Last time I only got 11 reps. My squat feels strong, but heavy. I come up slowly. The conditioning workout took me 14 minutes, 30 seconds. The ring dips really slowed me down.

NOV 26 2009 - Sluggish Turkey Day

I lacked motivation. The squats went well, but the split jerks and conditioning were less than my best.

Squat 3 sets of 5 reps (81kg)
Split Jerk 5 sets of 3 reps (55kg)
Rest
As Many Rounds As Possible in 15 minutes:
5 Pullups
7 Push-Press (45kg)
9 Knees-to-elbows

I managed 7 rounds, plus one pullup.

NOV 24 2009 -

Here's video of the first two reps of my deadlift. My butt rises a half second before the bar moves. This means my starting position is not right. Heavy deadlifts are great for pointing out flaws in technique. The bar doesn't come off the ground until you get it right. I'm in the habit of a more upright back from pulling cleans and snatches. But when it gets heavy, you have to be in an efficient position. Bar over the mid-foot, shoulders just in front of the bar, back set, chest up, and butt no lower than the tight torso dictates. If you pause the video right when the bar starts up, that's what you'll see. So all the movement before that is inefficient.



Deadlift 5 rep Max (129kg)
3 sets Pullups for Max Reps (13,10,9)
REST
As Quickly As Possible:
. 20 Thrusters (45kg)
. 100m Sprint
. 15 Thrusters
. 100m Sprint
. 10 Thrusters
. 100m Sprint
. 5 Thrusters
. 100m Sprint

The deadlift reps were HARD. If I can keep progressing on CF Football's linear progression I'll be back to setting PRs in a month. I'm looking forward to the chance to try a one rep max the next time the CFFB Total comes around.

I don't have dumbbells capable of holding 23kg each, so I used 45kg on the barbell. I missed out on some coordination & balance components in the workout, but was happy I got to go heavy. Not during the workout, of course. Any day that includes both deadlifts and thrusters is difficult. But it's great programming. If my nutrition and rest are dialed in, I can't help but get stronger in a hurry.

My finisher today was Tabata knees-to-elbows.
For knees-to-elbows hang from the pullup bar and touch knees to elbows. Try to keep from swinging. It's great for the abs & back.
Tabata intervals are 8x[20sec work, 10sec rest].
I got a total of 55 reps, spread between 8 and 6 reps.

NOV 17 2009 - Discovering Weaknesses, Day 2

Yesterday forced me to address my jumprope skill deficiency. Today the problem was my whole left side. I'm right handed, so the left arm thrusters in the workout were a huge challenge.

Deadlift 5 Rep Max (125kg)

Max Rep Pullups 3 sets on 2 minutes of rest between sets (15,13,11)

Rest

As Many Rounds As Possible in 20 minutes:

1 Round = [15 Right-arm KB Thrusters (20kg), 15 Left-arm Thrusters, 106 yard sprint]

Just to review, a thruster is a squat with a press at the top. You stand up, holding a weight in your hands, and push it all the way overhead. Moving the weight quickly through such a long range of motion is great for developing functional strength and power. Today the CrossFit Football site prescribed single-arm thrusters, which required me to balance a kettlebell on my shoulder and press it overhead. It was hard work for my right arm, but also a constant fight for balance with my left. I dropped the kettlebell a couple times, and was drenched in sweat by the end. Here's the sweat angel I left on the mat.

I managed 6 full rounds plus 15 R-arm thrusters and 15 L-arm thrusters.

To give yourself a glimpse of how much harder this workout was than traditional barbell thrusters try brushing your teeth with your less dominant hand tonight. It's maddening how alien a familiar activity can become when done with the other hand.

NOV 14 2009 - Quarter Fight Gone Bad

No heavy lifting today, just straight to the conditioning workout: Quarter Fight Gone Bad. I've done FGB before, but never the heavier QFGB. I was curious to see how much it hurt. I ended up scaling the weights back to what's below. The prescribed 60kg thrusters and 25kg pullups would have kept my reps at about 1 each per round. I scaled back to what I thought would wear me out, but let me keep moving the whole 15 seconds each round.

Quarter Fight Gone Bad
5 Rounds For max Reps:
1 Round = 3 minutes, broken down as follows:
15 seconds of Thrusters (45kg), 45 seconds of Rest
15 seconds of Weighted Pullups (16kg), 45 seconds of Rest
15 seconds of Burpees, 45 seconds of Rest

Physically, this was a hard workout. I had to give a lot of effort on the thrusters and pullups, though I think next time I'd do the burpees with a weight vest. I did 5 burpees every round and they weren't hard, which makes me think I can't go any faster. So I should go heavier!

Mentally, this workout frustrated me. My score was 61 total reps, slightly better than one quarter of my last FGB score of 230. At first I thought I may have scaled the Thrusters too light since I had a consistent number of reps each round. I guessed maybe 50kg would have been about right for me. But then I looked at the comments on the CF FootBall page and saw many scores doubling mine, and most of them at least over 100. Perhaps I didn't scale light enough. A much lighter bar would have let me do more reps, possibly increasing the total power output for the workout. But it's hard to tell from the first workout.

On reflection, I think that for my goals of increasing my strength & power, it was right to keep it relatively heavy. I'm curious if anyone has an opinion on what weights I should use next time. Please post a comment.

NOV 12 2009 - Slightly More Solid Squats

Strength work today went well. The depth is good and I feel like I was a little better at controlling my back angle in the bottom of the squats. But here's a vid so you can judge for yourself.



Well, maybe not. Reps #2 & 3 are good, but in #4 & 5 my hips come up first and I lean forward.

Presses were OK, though I felt some imbalance between my right and left arms. I wonder if I got one hand farther out when I shifted my grip after the clean.

The conditioning workout was a bear! I was breathing hard and shedding clothes in no time. The CrossFit Footbal folks have nailed the art of intensity. Doing two sets of the gymnastics movements instead of one big set of 6/12/18 kept me moving the whole time. Wicked.

Squat 3 sets of 5 reps (71kg)
Press 3 sets of 5 reps (41kg)
Rest 6 minutes
As Many Rounds As Possible in 15 minutes:
1 Round = 3 Power Snatches (45kg) + 2 sets: [3 Pullups, 6 Pushups, 9 Box Jumps]

I finished 6 rounds and missed the seventh by 5 box jumps.

NOV 09 2009 - How To Trick Yourself Into Lifting More

Had you asked me yesterday if I could push-press 45kg (99#) 55 times and do 55 strict pullups in 15 minutes, I'd have said "No." But it's amazing what one can do by breaking things down into smaller sets.


Today's Workout:

Squat 3 sets of 5 reps at 69kg (on 2 min rest)
Press 3 sets of 5 reps at 39 kg (on 2 min rest)
Rest 5 min
As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 15 minutes:
1 Round = [1 Push-Press, 1 Pullup, 3Push-Press, 3 Pullup, 5 Push Press, 5 Pullup]


For the Push-Presses I used a 45kg bar. I was able to get 6 full rounds completed, plus 1 more push-press and one pullup. Very tricky.

Here's a short vid - the last 2 reps of my press at 39kg. I tried to keep my head more in line with my spine. I'm pretty happy with this, I have no doubt that I'm locking out overhead. If anyone has feedback, I'd like to hear it in the comments section.

NOV 05 2009 - Correcting My Press

Here's a side view of my press lockout position. Note that the bar is NOT directly over my head. There is a vertical line between the bar (where I'm gripping it), my shoulders, and my feet. As viewed from the side, at least some of the lifter's ear should be visible in front of the arm. Locking out fully in the press means pinching your shoulder blades together and shruging your shoulders up to your ears. However, I'd like my head in a more neutral position: head in line with the spine. I have a tendency to tilt my head forward when I pinch my shoulder blades together in back. Avoid that, but get the bar shrugged all the way up. That last 1/4 inch of height on the bar provides a lot of benefit for your shoulder health by balancing the strength around your shoulder girdle. You can prevent a lot of rotator cuff issues and postural problems by pressing all the way to a full, shrugged-shoulder lockout.

Apparently the heavy set of five deadlifts and seven weighted pullups a couple days ago wasn't enough for the guys at CF Football. Today there were more waiting for me in the conditioning set.

Squat 3 sets of 5 reps

Press 3 sets of 5 reps

Rest

As Quickly As Possible:

10 Deadlifts, 10 Pullups,

9 Deadlifts, 9 Pullups,

8 Deadlifts, 8 Pullups,

7 Deadlifts, 7 Pullups,

6 Deadlifts, 6 Pullups,

5 Deadlifts, 5 Pullups,

4 Deadlifts, 4 Pullups,

3 Deadlifts, 3 Pullups,

2 Deadlifts, 2 Pullups,

1 Deadlift, 1 Pullup.

I squatted 66 kg because I forgot to put a 1 kg plate on the right side. It felt a little unbalanced, but I thought it was because I had not centered the bar on my back. Oops. I pressed 37 kg. For the deadlifts in the conditioning sets I lifted 75 kg, which is less than the 150% of my bodyweight (I'm 70 kg) that CFFB prescribed. But it seemed about right - it was heavy enough that I had to break up the set of 9 and take two breaths, but light enough that I kept good form on all but two of the 55 reps. I'd really like to do this workout again in a few weeks. Pullups were definitely my limiting factor. Again. I broke them into sets of three on the first set. Then singles by the third set. ARRRRRGH!

Well, that's why I'm training. I'll get my set of 33 unbroken pullups on my birthday.

NOV 03 2009 - Weighted Pullups

Today was a heavy lifting day; no conditioning work.

Snatch: work up to a heavy single rep
Clean & Jerk: work up to a heavy single rep
Deadlift: work up to your 5 Rep Max
Weighted Pullups: seven attempts to work up to a 1 Rep Max

I snatched 55kg, C&J'd 65kg, deadlifted 115 kg, and got a 20kg + body weight pullup.