Going The Distance

Ring dips, for example. But more on that later.

26APR09: Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of-
95 pound Squat snatch
Chest to bar Pull-ups

Subbed 95lb clean and jerk, 22:34

27APR09:

Bench press- 135×10, 155×8, 155×7, 175×6, 175×4, 180×4, 180×4, 185×3, 185×2
Barbell row- 135×8, 135×8, 155×6, 155×6, 175×4, 175×4
Squats- 275×6, 275×6, 225×8, 225×8

27APR09: Five rounds for time of-
95 pound Sumo-deadlift high-pull, 21 reps
21 Ring dips

Subbed 84 regular dips (4:1). 1 complete round, second round 21 sumos and 50 dips. Arms subsequently die. 24:17. Would like to attribute death of arms to morning weights, but I think this time it’s because I did 84 dips in 3 minutes.

28APR09: Shoulder Press 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

115-120-125-130-135-140-145-150(f), need to be more. Heavier reps were more jerks than shoulder presses.
29APR09: Rest day
30APR09: "Elizabeth"-

21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips

For cleans, first set is 15×125 6×120, second set is 8×120 7×115, third set is 9×115. Ring dips as rx’d. 21:04

Yeah the cleans were the hardest part on Lizzie. First time doing dips. They were surprisingly not too hard. Definitely not 4:1 compared to regular dips. Once you get that tight balance its very easy to just crank them out. But today I fell in love with them. I’m currently buying my own pair. If all you’ve ever done is pullups, pushups, and bench presses, I say give the rings a try. They’re challenging, but mastering them I’m sure will help tremendously with the putting in numbers in the other exercises.

Yes, today is my effective date of rank, aka DOR, aka I got promoted. It’s not too important to me, since the O1-O2 promotion is automatic. But still, I’m not the newbie anymore and my pay is roughly $100 $400 sweeter. ($1,000 $800 sweeter in October!)

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Struggling to keep up with everything. Now I don’t have any excuse–I’m spending way too much time online and not enough time working out (the gym here has the most out-of-the-way wireless location that doubles as a time trap for me). But here’s some times and numbers to post.

15APR09: “Helen”

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

Some where in the 20s…I forgot…
20APR09: Back Squat 3-3-3-3-3 reps-185-205-225-275-295

22APR09:
Bench Press-155×8, 155×8, 175×6, 175×6, 180×4, 180×4, 185×2, 185×2
Deadlift-225×8, 225×8, 275×5, 275×5, 325×3, 325×2
Back Squats-225×8, 225×8, 225×8, 225×8

23APR09:
For time:
50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

44:35

25APR09: “Michael”

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

30:47

In all honesty, the pull-ups/dips workout on 12APR (see previous post) completely demoralized me. My arm was completely trashed after that and I found out just how out of shape I was. I just didn’t want to work out for a week after that, and I thoroughly used my arm as an excuse. As you can see, I did "Helen"three days later, and nothing until 5 days later. Well, not nothing…I did sneak in some weight sessions in the morning after unit PTs, but I simply could not move my arm. But I rallied and here I am again. I decided to change my weightlift routine to solely focus on compound exercises. Before I tend to do the stereotypical workout routine: one body part per day, completely redundant workouts (back rows & machine rows, bench press & decline bench press). Now I do bench press, deadlifts, and squats three times a week in the mornings. I think I need to throw in snatch & cleans in there as well, but we’ll see. I want to run twice a week in between weightliftings, but I think that’s overdoing it if coupled with crossfit. We’ll see. I’m doing fine again. Hopefully my arm doesn’t act up again. Inshallah.

The last time I worked out was exactly 27 March. Sad. Got caught up with work to the point where food and sleep became casualties to productivity. I actually started sleeping on my desk without me knowing it. One minute I’ll open my eyes and keep working, only to be surprised that two hours just passed. But it’s done with. Kalas. Move on to the next task.

12 APR 09
30 Muscle Ups for time
or
120 Pull ups & 120 dips for time

58:20

Did the alternate (120 p/u 120 dips). Sad time. Totally wanted to just give up while doing the pull ups. Pull ups took approximately 43 minutes. The rest were dips. I really have to get back into things. And I’m getting some mad fat growth recently, and it’s not too good. Diet? Maybe. I’m doing the "1/3 Diet": 1/3 of my plate is going to be something different–protein, vegetables and carbs. Then a couple of bottles of milk. Then maybe a cookie. I gotta have a cookie. Fine, maybe just once in a while. And no more fries. I don’t even like fries. But don’t ask me to stop eating fried stuff. The Army would fry butter if it could. Don’t worry, they will give you the nutritional value. They know you want to keep your girly figure.  

One really good news though: I quit smoking. Well, let’s qualify: I reduced my use to a cigarette a day. I’m taking happy pills (Zyban) courtesy of the Army, and they seem to be working. I don’t crave nicotine, which is half the battle. And I started to get more focused on work, which is a plus. Things looking on the up and up? Maybe. Ask me in five months when I’m outta here.

Didn’t do the WOD from yesterday. Too lazy to run. Instead, I did the WOD for today: 10 rounds of 10 pull ups and 10 dips. I’m supposed to do ring dips, which are supposedly much harder, but I did regular dips. However, we have this one crappy pull up/dip cage outside the gym that wobbles when you try to use it (yeah, pull ups are suicidal in that thing). I bet doing dips with that machine would be similar to ring dips, since you have to stabilize the machine to keep it from falling. But it’s windy and dusty outside, and I didn’t want to.

23:57

Yeah that’s pathetic. I still don’t get how to do kipping pull ups. Somehow it has to do with kicking up then rounding your body so you’re almost pulling your body into the bar from the side. Yeah it doesn’t make any sense. But I bet if I learn to do those learning to do pull ups will be a lot easier. Here’s the link to CF workouts: http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html Maybe you can figure it out for yourself. Backs and running tomorrow. Hopefully.

Yeah, title says it. This has been a pretty bad week. Work’s been kicking my ass. Life in general, has been kicking my ass. Worse still, the gym was not there when I needed it. Lack of sleep and motivation simply kept me and gym apart. The WODs have been great too: body weight bench presses on 22 Mar and thrusters on 23 Mar (deadlift WOD was technically 21 Mar, but moved it to 22 instead). Well, whatever. Life. It blows.

24 Mar: Part of why I didn’t workout on the 23rd and 24th is because we had a diagnostic APFT on the 24th. Most push-ups and sit-ups in 2 minutes, and 2-mile run in fastest time. Yeah, it sucked. 66 push-ups, because I lowered my goal to 90 points each event (22-26 age group). Usually I do 80. Sit ups, I did 73. Usually, I do 80. The worse part: the run. See, if I didn’t have to do sit-ups before the run, I can do 13:30 easy. But my midsection is weak, and the sit ups simply kills it. When I run after the sit ups, my breathing is pained, my lower back hurts, and my stride significantly shortens. In addition, imagine running and every two minutes you get stitches. It’s like getting punched in the guts. Run time: 16:25. 11 seconds from failing. 2:31 from my goal. Crap. Felt too bad to go to the gym the next day, and decided to stay and work until 0530 26 Mar. Boohoo.

26 Mar: Sleepy and tired, but entirely undeterred, I went to the gym. Did my squats as RXd by WOD yesterday (did back squats instead of front. Front ones freak me out. But I think I should start doing them since they work more muscle groups than regular back squats). After my squats, did my bench press exercises. Yeah, another awesome day at the gym. I’m turning a corner, I guess.

Back Squats, 3-3-3-3-3: 225-275-295-315-335*

Bench Press: 165×10-180×8-185×6-195×4-200×2-205×1*-205×1* (Stay)

Decline Bench Press: 160×10-175×8-180×6-185×4-190×2* (Stay)

Machine Bench Press: 230×10-250×8-270×6-295×4-310-3* (Stay)

The worse part? Trying to PR without Havoc. That will be a bitch. But really, it should be better without the super-charger, because it’s all in me, right? we’ll see. Tomorrow: WOD from today (4×800s) and doing the back. Excited.

21 MAR - Got lazy and, you guessed it, took a day off. My wrist is really bothering me, but I’m having difficulty admitting to myself if that’s good enough reason to take all these days off. But honest, it’s really painful.  

22 MAR - For time:
225 pound Deadlift, 21 reps
Run 800 meters
225 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
Run 800 meters
225 pound Deadlift, 9 reps
Run 800 meters

19:55

Got a little lazy and partitioned the first deadlift set and the last two 800s. If I didn’t, my time would probably be a minute and a half, up to two minutes shorter. Well, whatever.

19 March - This day was supposed to be all about pull ups: 10 sets of 3 weighted pull ups, 5 regular strict pull ups, and 7 kipping pull ups. But instead, I was thrown into a deadlift competition, in which I came in 2nd place at 350 pounds. The competition involved an exercise new to everybody except me and my commander, who treated deadlifts as if man is born to do them. Thus, the low number. Everybody kept doing the Bulgarian version: stiff legs and badly rounded backs. By 350, everybody was already straining. One guy had to do it three times because his hands were slipping (he was holding the bar in its smoothest portion, not using the alternating grip). I, on the other hand, being the lazy type, conveniently squated and locked my back, so 90% of the movement is on my legs. Everybody thought I made it look easy. I reminded everyone that everybody else is just making it look hard. I ultimately came in 2nd because the guy who managed to lift the same weight is lighter than me (the same guy whose grip kept slipping; I knew I should have taken my boots off during weigh-in). 350 pounds is a personal record, but now I know I can push that at the very least to 405. Afterwards, tried to do my pull ups. Got to two sets, but my lats and wrists are hurting so bad I had to give up.

21 March - Crossfit rest day, but chest day for me. The wrist pains continued from yesterday, and they are progressively getting worse. I’m going to get them checked on Sunday to make sure they aren’t just strained or weak. But as idiotic as it sounds, I did my chest today anyway. And hey - personal records! Two days straight of PRs. Hopefully it doesn’t stop after I get off of Havoc. I have a history of numbers going way down after a really good supp, but for some reason Havoc just provides gains that feel less temporary. We’ll see.

Bench Press: 135×8, 155×8, 175×6, 185×4, 190×2, 185×3, 195×2, 195×1, 200×1* (Stay)

Decline Bench Press: 150×10, 160×8, 165×6, 175×4, 180×4, 185×3* (+)

Machine Bench Press: 230×10, 250×8, 270×6, 290×4, 300×3* (+)

17 March - Out of sheer laziness, I took an extra rest day. It was worth it.

18 March - Split Jerk, 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

95-115-135-140(f)-140-145(f)-145(f)-135-140-
145(f)-135

Then I decided, what the hell. Why not.

Bench Press - 155×10, 185×3, 185×2

Today is a Cross Fit rest day, and so I planned to rest. I planned to rest…

Morning PT was step aerobics, a species of exercise in a genre of fitness regimes I dared not touch before, simply because of the images it has always conjured: middle-aged MILFs in neon lycra suits dancing to bad 80s music and Gene Simmons’ hairy sweaty self half contained in a sliver of shorts clearing begging to be put out of its misery. It was awkward, spending a morning with a bunch of dudes (and dudettes) expecting PAIN STRENGTH PUMP REPS SWEAT BLOOD TEARS, but instead relegated to getting their individual plastic steps and foam mats. The instructor, a friendly petite woman, nicely instructs Soldiers to position themselves across the gym. After getting everybody in place, she puts on her headphones, cranks on the trans music, and unleashes the catty beast within.

 Therein I experienced the worst hour of my life.

 I don’t think it was merely because of the fact that I just got done with three especially grueling crossfit days, or that I hurt my ankles only the night before trying to do assisted handstand push ups, or that my step was positioned so as to be a foot taller than everybody else’s, or that essentially it was an hour of awkward dancing. No. I think it was bad because it was genuinely tough. Within 15 minutes, I was creating puddles of salty water all around me. Within 30, my knees were buckling and my legs were shaking as I try to hold onto a squat. Within 45, little pleas for help could not help but escape from my pursed man lips as the instructor’s feline shouts taunts this wimp to keep his pelvis from touching the ground. Before the hour is done, I’m burned and tired and I’ve seen enough of the instructor’s snatch as she continously spread her legs to transition from one oblique side to another (what necessitates her to open up just to switch sides, you figure it out for yourself. As mentioned, she is limber).

I was tired and probably burned enough fat and calories to justify hash browns for breakfast. But would I incorporate it into my daily workout? Quite simply, no. (That is, unless the company decides to do it again, which it’s probably going to judging from all the compliments and high fives I saw after the routine.) Not just because I deliberately break man law just by considering doing step aerobics, and ruin my credibility further by actually getting tired doing step aerobics. It won’t be a regular routine because in the end, I don’t really know what it does to me. Sure I burn fat and sweat a little, but nothing running doesn’t do. And it certainly doesn’t give me the boost in strength that crossfit routines and regular weightlifting give. You move, your muscles burn, you sweat, and that’s it. I can get more out of a normal crossfit routine and two mile run, and it will last approximately half the time it takes to get your heart racing doing step aerobics.

For time, 21-15-9 reps of:
Handstand push-ups
Ring dips
Push-ups

13:03

Handstand push-ups were assisted (feet held by smith machine)

Five rounds for time of:
155 pound Hang squat clean, 9 reps
15 towel pull ups

28:19

I had to modify this one significantly. Rotator cuffs were falling off, and cleans at 155# were just a painful mess. Besides, I still need to get the hang of doing squat cleans–that is, with a full and proper squat and not just hurling the weight to my clavicles–and doing it lighter allowed me to focus on form.

Rd. 1: 90#

Rd. 2: 100#

Rd. 3: 105#

Rd. 4: 110#

 Rd. 5: 95#