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Workout 25/07/13 - Barbell Club

 

Warm Up:

Plenty of mobility and foam rolling

Snatch balance

 

Lifts:

Work up to working weight, then:

4 x 2 Hang snatch (30kg, 35kg, 30kg, 30kg)

3 x 3 Hang snatch pull (35kg)

3 x 3 Front squat (60kg)

 

Another successful barbell club session. My main goal before starting this session was to get under the bar quicker, and I am definitely getting there!! None of the weights I did were really pushing heavy, but it was much much easier to pull under, which I’m very pleased with. Also, I can easily see improvement in my second pull, the connection with my hips is definitely better and the bar is flying up in the air, admittedly without much weight, but I can tell it’s better.

 

I love barbell club, I improve everytime I go!

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Workout 29/07/13 - PR frustrations

 

Warm Up:

4 x 100m runs with 5 air squats at the end of each run

4 rounds of:

3 chest-to-bar pull ups

5 clean and jerk (20kg)

1 wall walk

1 spiderman lunge

 

Lift:

Each minute for ten minutes increasing weight until failure

1 x clean and jerk (I did power cleans and jerk, with a PR of 57.5kg)

 

Partner WOD:

21 med-ball sit ups each (7kg)

25 overhead squats each(30kg)

25 burpees pull ups between us

 

The lift was frustrating last night as everyone just hoarded weights, and there were none left for my partner Beth and I to be able to do this properly. We were supposed to increase the weight each rep until failure, but I had to stick at 52.5kg for every round, up until the last when I managed to borrow another 5kg from another team. This gave me my PR, but I know I could have gone higher. I also seemed to completely fallback to power cleans, instead of working on my squat cleans. Oh well, a PR is a PR, I’ll make sure to beat it properly soon.

 

I’m so close in chest-to-bar pull ups! I know I’m only about an inch away from contact, I just cannot get my chest to connect. I think that now my double-unders have come back to reasonable form I’ll concentrate on getting these when possible by arriving early to the class. I’m sure nailing this will be another step forward to the elusive muscle up.

 

The WOD didn’t cause too much of a problem for me. My partner and I found some middle ground with the OHS weight and the med ball weight, and we got through it all without much difficulty. Pretty enjoyable, but completely chaotic WOD when the gym is that busy.

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Warm Up:

400m run

 

Lift/Skills:

Clean 20kg

Pull ups

Ring Dips

Handstand Pushups

 

WOD:

 

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I was chuffed with myself stringing together 5 ring dips and 7 handstand push ups in the skills section, both of which are PRs, and I think there’s more there once the technique settles. I’m still a bit unstable on the rings, but with practise these will get there. HSPU are now Rx instead of with an added ab-mat too.

 

The WOD on the board looked insane! 6 benchmark workouts in a row, but of course with 3 people in each team that meant there was plenty of rest time, and a third of the amount of reps. We powered through this at a decent pace, but we did scale the weight on the bar to 35kg for everything apart from the deadlifts which were at 70kg. I probably should have gone to 40kg, but 35kg felt heavy enough mid-WOD. I managed to squeeze out a few HSPUs during the WOD too, which I’ve never managed to do before.

 

We completed the WOD in 26 minutes if memory serves, and it was a really good fun one. Pleased with the small progress I made with some skills movements during this class.

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Workout - 06/08/13

 

Warm Up:

300m row

10 push ups

10 barbell lunges (20kg)

10 pull ups

10 push ups

10 barbell lunges (20kg)

Clean technique

 

Lift:

1RM Clean (50kg squat clean, 55kg power clean)

 

WOD:

750m row

1km run

 

This was the first workout back after a long weekend on the road with the band, and I still wasn’t quite recovered from a severe lack of sleep and good food. Still, I struggled through and finished everything.

 

I was really hoping I’d have nailed the dropping under the bar part of the Olympic lifts by now, but it’s still not there. I can manage just fine up to around 50kg, but anything above I just can’t get under there. I know it’s a mental thing, as the bar is right up to my collar bone on most of the pulls. I seem to have forgotten some of the technique last night too, it doesn’t feel as natural as it did at barbell club a couple of weeks ago. Practice makes perfect ……

 

The WOD was simple enough, although my legs were like jelly going straight from the row into the run. I didn’t take note of my time.

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Workout 07/08/13

 

Practise:

50 double unders

 

Warm Up:

50 burpees

2 rounds of:

10 hollow rocks

5 knees-to-elbows

 

Skills work:

15 mins to work on butterfly pull up technique

25 mins to work on handstand push up technique

 

WOD:

50 HSPU

100 Pull Ups

12 min time cap

 

I very much enjoyed the skills session last night, I can now do kipping handstand push ups, so this was a good opportunity to make some progress in stringing several together.

I’ve never tried butterfly kip pull ups before, but I’m pleased that I picked up the technique pretty quickly. I can’t string them together just yet though, so I need to learn how to bring my legs back and into the next swing so that I go straight into the next pull up. I’ll add some of these to my practice sessions before class.

 

A 12 minute time cap for this WOD seemed ridiculous, but again it was a good opportunity to practice the HSPUs. I thought I was unlikely to finish all 50 in time, let alone finish the pull ups, but as I started I thought that it might actually be achievable! I was stringing 8’s and 5’s together with ease, but then my neck started hurting, and I realised that as I was getting tired I was resting too much on my head, and actually starting the push off the ground with my neck! This is bad BAD BAD form. From that point (around the half way mark on the HSPU) I really made the effort to avoid any neck pushing, but I’d lost all confidence in the movement, and was just getting 1s and 2s and many many failed reps. In the time cap I got to 32 good handstand push ups. Again I really need to work on this form, so this is another movement to add to my practice sessions.

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Workout 10/08/13

 

Warm Up:

Junkyard Dog

Deadlift technique

 

WOD A:

4km row for time - team of 5

 

WOD B:

4 minutes Tabata at each station.

Station 1 - double unders

Station 2 - deadlift (60kg)

Station 3 - toes-to-bar

 

Row felt pretty good in this, it was only 800m each, and so we all had a good go at smashing it. I’m not sure how quickly we did it, but it was a good lung burner.

 

Tabata was fine too, managed to get my swing going for double unders again, chaining 30 in a row for the first 20 second stint. Most of the others were more like 10-20, with one round I only managed 4, so consistency still isn’t there, but I haven’t lost them completely.

Deadlift round I started with 6 reps for the first 3 rounds, and 4 for the remaining 5 rounds. We were recommended to go just over 50% of our 1RM for this, so I chose 60kg.

I really struggled with the toes-to-bar though, only managing a maximum of 6 in a 20 second round, but with most only managing 2 or 3 proper reps. Speed is definitely something I need to work on with all kipping motions as I can only really do one at a time at the moment, stopping the momentum at the bottom of the swing, then starting it again.

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Workout 11/08/13 - CHARITY WOD!!!!

 

Warm Up:

1km run

Mobility

 

WOD: Running Fat Jackie

1km run

50 thrusters 50/25kg

30 pull ups

 

It was just a quick one yesterday, as we had visitors from Crossfit CF31 at the box and they needed to get moving quickly. The guys from the Bridgend box started a mission on Friday evening to do a WOD at every box in Wales over the weekend to raise money for Velindre, a local cancer care charity. By the time they go to us at 8:30 Sunday morning they had already completed 11 WODs in the previous day and a half, and after they had finished at Celtic Crossfit they had another 7 WODs to do that day. Absolute kudos to them all, they are total machines, and they smashed it, and kept on smiling. Hope you raised a fortune!

This contributed to a fantastic turnout and atmosphere for an early Sunday morning class, you can see the numbers below. What a great start to the day!

 

http://celticcrossfit.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/20130811-181236.jpg

 

As far as the actual workout was concerned I decided to scale the thrusters to 25kg, which was probably the right choice, as doing 50 of these as quickly as possible was HARD! So hard in fact that I couldn’t face pull ups after, and made a last minute decision to do jumping ring pull ups as a scale. In hindsight I’m mortified that I bailed on the pull ups, but my arms were so dead after the thrusters I may well have still been on the bar now, 24 hours after the workout started.

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Workout 14/08/13

Buy In:

50 double unders

Pull up practise

 

Warm Up:

200m run

Dynamic stretching

Static stretching

 

Met Con:

5 * 200m sprints (37s, 38s, 42s, 43s, 44s)

90 seconds between rounds

 

WOD:

7 rounds:

5 * thrusters 30kg

15 double unders

9 minute time cap

 

I don’t think I’ve ever trained sprints before, and it showed. My legs were like jelly after these finished, and my groin and calves are really tight still, the morning after. I should get the foam roller out this evening I think.

 

I’m pleased I finished the workout under the time cap, in 8 minutes. Double unders were chaining fairly well, which really helped. I did however scale the weight on the thrusters to 30kg. Rx was 60kg which I knew I was nowhere near achieving. My lack of strength is definitely my ahem….weakness.

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Workout 21/08/13

 

Warm Up:

Run 400m

3 rounds of:

7 front squat 20kg

7 push press 20kg

7 burpees

 

Lift:

3x5 strict press (30, 35, 35x3, 32.5x2)

 

WOD (Level 1):

50 thrusters (25kg)

3 burpees on the minute

 

Ah the press, I hate the press. I just cannot seem to get any stronger at it, in fact I have lost strength. Looking at my diary I have completed 3x5 @ 35kg a few months ago, but that just wasn’t happening last night. I guess I need more food!!!

 

I was a bit nervous about the thrusters last night, my quads and groin still hadn’t recovered properly since the sprints last week! Even on the warm up jog everything felt tight and painful. I made sure I stretched these out quite a bit beforehand, and it actually went ok. Rx was 60kg, but there was not a chance of that happening. I went for 25kg and finished in 9:30. I was considering going at 30kg, but at the last minute dropped down, and I’m glad of that. The work capacity is definitely there these days, and technique is improving on all the gymnastic movements and most of the lifts, but my strength is still not improving.

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Workout 22/08/13 - Barbell Club

 

Warm Up:

Row 300m

Pipe pass-throughs

Mobility work

 

Workout:

Snatch balance 20kg

Hang snatch technique 20kg

 

5x1 @ 80% 1RM Hang snatch (32.5kg)

3x3 Front squat (60,50,55)

2x30s L-sits (with knees bent)

100x plate twists (15kg)

 

I love barbell club, I’ve said it before, but I love it. I like spending time getting used to the technique, and I learn something new every session. Last night I feel my pulls were all fine getting the bar up, but the usual issue raised it’s head of getting under the bar into the catch position quickly. As I wasn’t raising the weight each time this did improve with each lift and I felt more confident with each set. Slowly but surely I am getting towards the proper snatch technique, and once I have that then I can start to think about increasing the weight on the bar.

 

Front squats tonight felt weak! Recently I did 3 x 3 at 60kg, so thought I’d have a go at 65kg, but it felt heavy, really heavy and I dumped the bar at the bottom of the squat. I have no idea why it felt so heavy! I went back and did 60kg, but form was crap, so went 50 and 55 for the 2nd and 3rd sets, which were both fine. Utterly frustrating!!

 

I was chatting to my training partner for the night about how I’m just not gaining any strength at the moment, and he suggested the mass gainer powders. I mentioned that it was whey based, and I was a vegan and he was gob-smacked, jokingly suggesting that is why I’m losing strength. Even bringing the coach into the conversation. To be fair, I am the weakest, skinniest guy at the box, but I was just as weak and skinny before going vegan, just with some added belly fat. These are exactly the sort of preconceptions I really want to break with my training and veganism, but I am obviously struggling. In fairness to the guys, neither were outright telling me I was wrong in my choice, or stupid, etc, and any knocking on it was completely from a friendly ribbing banter point of view, and I’m more than happy to laugh along with that, as I know at the moment I am completely fitting the stereotype of the skinny vegan….it’s just made me all the more determined…..which reminds me, it’s second breakfast time

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Workout 24/08/13

 

Warm Up:

400m run

3 rounds of:

10 KB Swings 16kg

10 sit ups

10 double unders

 

Lift:

5x3 back squat - 70kg

 

WOD:

800m run

50 sit ups

30 KB swings (24kg)

20 box jumps (24”)

150 double unders

 

Completed in 14:50 - Rx

 

More working on squat form rather than trying to get PRs here. I stuck at 70kg, and really tried to make sure that my knees stayed out and chest was up on each rep. Mostly I got there, with the odd little slip. Coach Ffred suggested I tried a wider foot stance, which I think did help, but felt weird. I’ll keep trying this and see if I can get used to it.

 

I was going to go for a mix of Rx and level 1 on this WOD, as I wanted to use a 16kg kettlebell, but I got talked into doing it Rx, and I’m really glad I did! 24kg felt heavy, but totally doable, the hardest part was the box jumps and I didn’t managed to chain any of these together, just doing slow and steady singles. 150 double unders were frustrating, as I couldn’t seem to get more than 10-20 in a chain, but against all odds I finished the workout just ten seconds short of the time cap, which I was chuffed to beans with. Fist bumps to my training partner for the day, Andy.

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Workout 27/08/13

 

Warm Up:

400m run

Mobility

Power Snatch Technique

Pistols progressions

 

Skills:

4 min max effort on one of the following, depending on where you’re at:

Muscle Ups

Chest-to-bar pull ups

Pull ups

 

WOD:

5 rounds - 90s on, 90s off:

5 x power snatch 35kg

5 x pistol variant (5 each leg)

(Completed 7 rounds and 2 power snatch)

 

A great session last night, I really enjoyed it. I used the skills session to try and get my first chest-to-bar pull up, rather than going for a max amount of reps on kipping pull ups. I’m now very close each time, there must be millimeters in it! The second to last rep I did actually feel my chest touch the bar, finally!!!! That’s my first PR in a while, and I hope that next time I try I can get a couple more in.

 

The power snatches were supposed to be at 40kg for level 1, but again I really want to make sure my form is good before bumping the weight up too high in a WOD environment. I dropped it to 35kg, which I think was the right choice. It never felt too easy, but it wasn’t so hard that I started to get sloppy with form. The pistol variants I did was where my trailing foot was flat on the floor behind me. This felt easy with my right leg, but still difficult with the left. I’m glad I learned these pistol progressions though, it’s something I can practise at home to build up the strength I need in both legs to do these properly.

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Workout 29/08/13

 

Warm Up:

1km run

3 rounds:

5 pull ups

10 deadlift @ 20kg

 

WOD A

8 min AMRAP

7 deadlift @ 80kg (Level 1)

5 pull ups

5 rounds and 2 deadlifts completed

 

WOD B

3 x 1km run

1:1 rest

Completed 4:53, 4:28, 4.30

 

Slightly different last night, there was no lift/skills session as the WOD had a lot of heavy lifting in. I opted for level 1 @ 80kg on the deadlift, level 2 was 100kg and Rx was 120kg, which is too heavy. At 80kg I could maintain solid form, but it was still hard.

 

The endurance part of the WOD wasn’t as bad as I initially thought, mainly due to the 1:1 rest, meaning for me it was over 4 minutes of rest time in between runs. It wasn’t so long back that even at this amount of rest I’d be struggling to do this, but I felt ready to go at the beginning of each round, and was pleased with my times. I probably could have gone faster, and for the last 200m of the last round I really tried to empty the tank of any remaining fuel.

 

All surprisingly great fun though, considering how rubbish I am at any sports, and how much I still struggle with nearly all the movements we do in Crossfit, I thoroughly enjoy every session.

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Workout 04/09/13

 

Warm Up:

400m run

3 rounds of:

10 slow air squats

5 burpee tuck jumps

400m run

 

Strength:

5 rounds for time:

5 front squat (level 1 50kg)

5 burpee box jump

Finished in 7:30

 

WOD:

Row 1km (between you and partner)

Run 1 mile

Finished in around 15 minutes

 

I had to go for level 1 on this WOD, as the bar was to be power cleaned into position, and level 2 was 70kg. I don’t think I could have completed one round of even the front squats at this weight, let alone cleaning on top. The 50kg was a struggle, but doable and I mostly kept form throughout, so I chose the correct weight there. Burpee box jumps didn’t cause any issues, I could have recycled them faster, but to be frank I was mostly putting off getting back on the bar.

 

The WOD was supposed to be row 1km and run 1 mile for time without a partner, but the class was so busy we had to split the row down, which after strength session I was grateful for. I was told by my mate Justin that my row form is good, I generally just try to keep the chain straight at all times, keep my back straight and use my back and legs for power, however I could also put more power into each pull to get more bang for my buck on the form. It was nice to have the compliment I have to say.

 

Big up to my training partner for the night Ellis, who has just got back from getting married in Crete to Miriam, and hit the workout hard tonight, looking really strong on the front squats.

 

I am umming and ahhing at the moment again whether I need to bring in a secondary progressive strength training programme to do alongside, or instead of a couple of the WODs each week. I do trust the programming of the coaches at Celtic, but my strength has plateaued for some time now, and I do wonder if an auxiliary programme might help. I know this would be fine if I could make the classes more times each week, up to 5, but at the moment I’m only getting there 3 times at most, which is hindering me I think. I’ll have a chat to one of them next time I’m there and see what they recommend.

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Yesterday's food was as follows:

 

7am - 50g oats with 200ml almond milk

10am - protein smoothie plus 25g mixed nuts

12pm - kale soup

2.30pm - banana

4.30pm - 25g whole peanut butter

7pm - post workout recovery shake

8.30pm - 2 x baked potato with homemade baked beans

 

My evening meal yesterday was roughly twice the size of my usual one, but my girlfriend was out so I had free reign to stuff my face, and it felt good!

 

As of today I'm looking to swap out the afternoon snacks for a mass gainer shake. I got the recipe from this forum, and made it up last night. According to myfitnesspal it's around 565 calories with 72g carbs, 18g fat and 27g protein. I think I can quite easily bump this up by another 100 calories and another 10g of protein, but I'll see how it goes to start with, I don't want to put on weight too quickly, but I do want to gain strength and so need the fuel.

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Workout 05/09/13 - Improvements all round

 

Warm Up:

3 mins double unders (106 reps)

2 rounds:

10 slow deadlift @ 20kg

5 push press @ 20kg

10 push ups

Clean technique with pipe

 

Lift:

5x2 Hang power clean & jerk (50kg)

 

WOD A (Level 2 with lower weight):

5 min AMRAP

5 power clean & jerk @ 40kg

5 ring dips

- 3 rounds and 2 power cleans completed

 

WOD B (Rx):

5 min AMRAP

10 deadlift @ 60kg

10 double unders

- 5 rounds and 2 deadlifts completed

 

First workout since upping my calories by having a homemade mass gainer shake and at first I thought I was a little full to be working out, despite having the shake 3 hours before training, but it actually worked out really well, and I felt FUELLED!!!

 

Stuck at 50kg for the hang power clean and jerk, as any higher and my form would go, and it was shaky even at 50kg. I was getting the bar up no problems, but my foot positioning for the split jerk wasn’t the best and I was sometimes a bit wobbly. Still, 50kg is a 10kg increase on the last time I did this.

 

The WODs felt good, I decided to give ring dips a try as I’ve never done them in a WOD before, and I was surprised that I could do them. The first round was unbroken, but the second two rounds were split into 3 and 2. Some work still required on them, but it’s another improvement. The first 2 power cleans I accidentally did as squat cleans, which felt good, but I switched to power cleans for speed purposes. My technique felt good for these and I could definitely feel the hip connection with the bar helping.

 

The second WOD didn’t have a hugely heavy deadlift weight, so I thought I’d Rx it, seeing as my double unders are of a reasonable standard. 60kg felt fine, and the 10 reps were unbroken for the first 3 rounds, and split 5/5 for the second two, but I think with a bit more mental strength I could have done these unbroken too and maybe got another round in.

 

All in all a great evening at the box, and I came away feeling I’d accomplished something.

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Nice workout.

 

I have extreme noise terror in my running play list and as a radio station on Pandora. I find death metal, industrial metal and hardcore punk to be a the best way to kick off my morning and my run. LOL, I get up at 4am so sometimes it pisses off the neighbors.

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Workout 07/09/13

 

Warm Up:

100 double unders

Mobility

 

Lift:

Back Squat - 20kg x 10, 40kg x 5, then 5 x 5 @ 65kg

Bench Press - 20kg x 10 then 5 x 5 @ 40kg

Barbell Row - 20kg x 10 then 5 x 5 @ 40kg

 

Last Saturday morning I decided to go to open gym instead of the crossfit class and make a start on a strength training program again. I’ve mentioned it a few times recently that my strength needs working on, so I’m going to try and make open gym on Saturdays wherever possible and slowly work through the stronglifts 5x5 program. This is going to be slow progress as I’m only doing the program once a week, when it’s supposed to be 3 times per week, however the Crossfit classes also contain progressive strength training, so this is merely supplementary to the programming, hoping to make up for time when I only manage to make the box twice a week due to being on tour etc.

 

I started fairly conservatively, 65kg on the squat I knew was achievable with good form, whilst still being hard enough for a workout. I probably should have started heavier on the bench and row, but I know that this will build up over time, and I’m in no rush.

 

Slow and heavy wins the race.

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I planned to get to the gym on Monday this week, but my girlfriend was ill and so I needed to get home from work and take over the household chores that she normally does while I'm at the gym (she's my true rock). As such I'm a day behind training this week, but I'm back tonight.

 

Food has been going well for the last few days too, nothing crappy.

 

Saturday

Breakfast - Oats with almond milk and a hint of agave

Post workout - lemon-lime recovery shake

Lunch - houmous and salad sandwich (white bread, bit of a cheat)

Afternoon snack - homemade mass gainer shake

Dinner - chickpeas, chilli and potato dish

Evening - 2 beers (playing a gig, difficult not to when it's sitting there waiting to be drunk)

 

Sunday

Breakfast - Fried up vegetables in a spicy tomato sauce

Lunch - Vegetable fingers in buns (cheat central)

Afternoon snack - homemade mass gainer shake

Dinner - Boiled potatoes, runner beans and vegetable pie

Evening - glass of wine

 

Monday

Breakfast - Oats with almond milk

Morning snack - 25g nuts plus green smoothie

Lunch - parsnip soup

Afternoon snack - homemade mass gainer shake

Dinner - Lentil dhal with potatoes

 

Tuesday

Breakfast - Oats with almond milk

Morning snack - green smoothie

Lunch - parsnip soup

Afternoon snack - homemade mass gainer shake

Dinner - homemade lentil shepherd's pie with runner beans

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Workout 11/09/13

 

Warm Up:

600m run

3 rounds of:

5 ring rows

1 length lunge walking

10 slow air squats

 

Shoulder mobility

 

Skills:

Pull Up or muscle up practice

 

WOD:

Level 1

4 rounds of:

400m run

max effort pull ups

 

Completed in 10 minutes-ish with 26 pull ups in total.

 

I used the skills session to try and work on chaining my kipping pull ups together. At the moment I can do several in one set, but I have to return to a dead hang and then kip again, wasting valuable time and energy and therefore making the whole movement much less efficient. I didn't progress very far with this, but I have I think worked out a way that I can practice this.

 

The WOD was fine, Rx was bar muscle ups, which I can’t do yet, and level 2 was chest-to-bar pull ups, which I've only ever done one of, so I opted for level 1. I did 7 pull ups in each round apart from the last, and I think I probably could have done more, the hardest part was that my grip was struggling due to the running in the rain.

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