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Crossfit 30/01/14

 

Warm Up:

3 rounds of

100m row

3 knee jumps

3 rounds of

5 wall balls

5 toes-to-bar

5 deadlift (increasing weight)

Lift:

Establish 5RM deadlift

 

Skills:

Max effort seated box jump

2 min max effort double unders

Wod:

12 min AMRAP

5 wall balls (Rx 9kg, I scaled to 7kg)

9 deadlifts (Rx 70kg, I scaled to 60kg)

15 box jumps (Rx 24")

Oh my life this was a brutal session! I was fairly pleased with my 5RM deadlift, although I only equalled what I have done previously, and I think I took a bit too long between reps for it to really count. My double unders fell apart and I only managed 40 in 2 minutes! Ordinarily I would have easily doubled this.

 

Pretty chuffed with the seated box jump though, I didn't measure what I actually did, but I had 30" box with 3 plates on top, probably coming to around 34". There may have been more there too.

 

The WOD literally left me shaking. Never in my life have I wanted wall balls to come round again so quickly. The weight on the deadlift was only 60kg, so pretty easy out of context, but this quickly got heavy. On the very last round I was doing them one rep at a time, I could feel my hamstrings trembling and my lower back was starting to feel super tight. The box jumps on top really made sure you had no breath left. I only managed 3.5 rounds and I was wiped out for the evening, ultra kudos to those warriors that completed 8 rounds and upwards.

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Crossfit 31/01/14

 

Warm Up

 

Row 300m

4 rounds of

7 push ups

2 hang power snatch

2 hang muscle snatch

 

Lift

5x3 bench press 50kg

3x5 hang power snatch 32.5kg

 

WOD

A:

4 rounds, not for time:

Max effort push ups (16, 12, 7, 6)

Max effort ring rows (supersetted with push ups) (15, 10, 7, 7)

 

B:

100 banded pull downs (blue band, approx 1" thick)

3x12 banded pull aparts (red band, approx 0.5" thick)

 

Great session, still a bit sore from last night, so I was pleased to see no squatting or deadlifting on the board this morning. Bench press at 50kg felt comfortable, so linear progression is working. Still a way off where I'd like to be however. Hang power snatch felt good, pretty easy actually if I'm honest. More weight can go on there.

 

Push ups and ring rows really show my lack of strength very quickly. While most were getting 25 reps a set easily, I was struggling to get past 10 after the first round.

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Workout 01/02/14

 

Warm Up:

1km run

50 double unders

Front squat position stretches

Work up to working weight front squat

 

Lift:

5x5 Front Squat @ 57.5kg

Accessory work:

3x12 Barbell good morning @ 30kg

 

I was planning to go for a 1RM power clean in this session too, but ran out of time. The accessory work was suggested to me by Coach Carter when I was saying I was doing front squat as I struggle to keep my chest up in a back squat and so I was trying to build that core strength. He also suggested things like plate twists, toes-to-bar, GHD back extensions etc, so I think I'll add all of these to my strength routines in the future.

 

57.5kg felt good in the front squat, It was a struggle in the last few reps of the last two sets, but that's where it should be.

Another tour coming up, so likely no training, unless I get some hotel room workouts done. I'm hoping to visit Crossfit Bangkok on Friday, but we'll see if I'm feeling up for training after 24 hours travelling.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So no training for nearly two weeks thanks to being on tour, and then some insane calf cramps due to sitting on a plane for 24 hours, not drinking enough water and not getting enough sleep for the week previous to that. However, because of this I got my first ever sports massage yesterday. It was only a short 20 minute session so it was concentrated on the cramped up calves, but holy shit do I feel better today! My calves are like new! I think I'm going to book another one next week and see if they can go a bit deeper this time.

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Weekends training.

 

Saturday 15/02/14

 

Front Squat:

Warm up to working weight

5x5 60kg

1RM Power clean

 

57.5kg - PB!!

 

Sunday 16/02/14 - Barbell Club

 

Snatch warm ups

 

3x3 position snatch (High-hang, low hang, below knee) @ 50% - 20kg

 

2x2 snatch @ 60% - 25kg

2x2 snatch @ 70% - 30kg

2x2 snatch @ 80% - 32.5kg

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Crossfit 17/02/14

 

Warm up:

3 rounds of:

30 second handstand hold facing wall (maintain hollow position)

10 ring rows

5 push ups (instead of ring dips)

20 unbroken double unders

2 minutes rack position mobility

 

Lift:

3x5 push jerk - 45kg

WOD:

Elizabeth - 21-15-9 - Power clean (60kg)/Ring Dips - 8 minute time cap

 

Scaled to 40kg power cleans and box dips x2 - DNF

A good session last night. I think this was the first time I've ever done push jerk as part of the lift session, and so wasn't sure just how heavy to go. I'm not doing the conjugate system, and am following a linear strength program, so found a weight that I could do the 3x5 without fear of failing, whilst still feeling heavy. I built up to 45kg and stuck there, although I think I could have probably gone heavier. This will become apparent as the linear progression continues.

 

I went for a mix of level 1 and 2 for the WOD as Rx would have just taken too long to complete. 60kg power clean is my 1RM, so 45 reps is a bit on the high side, and my ring dips are ok, but slow. I opted for a 40kg power clean, and then double the amount of box dips. I think I chose well, the power cleans were fine, a struggle in the last set, but got through them. Double box dips were really hard however. The first set of 42 went without hitch, but the second really hit me hard and they were broken into 5s. I reached 3 reps of the last 18 box dips when the 8 minute time cap ended, so probably could have jsut finished if I'd just gone that little bit quicker on the cleans beforehand. A brutal workout, and I haven't felt lung burn or muscle fatigue like that in a while. Fun times.

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Food yesterday

 

Breakfast

1.5 bananas, 40g oats, 1 desert spoon flax/pumpkin seed, 1 scoop protein, 2.5g creatine

 

Morning snack

Overnight oats with almond milk, raisins and syrup

 

Lunch

Chilli with brown rice

 

Afternoon Snack

25g mixed nuts

1.5 bananas, 40g oats, 1 desert spoon flax/pumpkin seed, 1 scoop protein, 2.5g creatine

 

Dinner

Pasta bolognese

 

Training

Nothing much last night. I'm getting my girlfriend into a home strength programme as she's started getting into pole dancing and needs to gain bodyweight strength, so I'm doing the 30 day plank challenge, and the 100 push up challenge alongside her. Only at the very beginning stages so not too strenuous yet, but I was pretty pleased at getting 22 push ups for the initial test. I think that's the most I've ever done in one set before.

 

Plank - 20 seconds

Push ups - 22

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Food log 20/02/14

Breakfast

1.5 banana, 1 scoop protein, 2.5g creatine, 1 desertspoon flax/pumpkin/sunflower seed, 40g oats, water.

 

Morning Snack

50g oats, 5g chia seeds, 30g peanut butter

 

Lunch

wholewheat pasta with fake bolognese

 

Afternoon snack

25g mixed nuts

1.5 banana, 1 scoop protein, 2.5g creatine, 1 desertspoon flax/pumpkin/sunflower seed, 40g oats, water

 

Dinner

Indian takeaway and a pint of American IPA (date night before I go off on tour again)

 

No training yesterday aside from a 30 second plank.

 

Crossfit 21/02/14

Warm Up:

300m row

10 pipe passthroughs

Then snatch complex, slowly increasing weight each time (snatch first pull deadlift, hang muscle snatch, overhead squat, hang snatch)

 

Lift:

5x2 snatch @ 30kg

 

WOD:

"Nancy"

5 rounds

15 overhead squat @ 42.5kg (scaled to 10 OHS @ 30kg)

400m run

15 minute time cap

 

Lift felt good today, I think I probably could have gone heavier than 30kg for the lift session, but the idea was to drill technique so stuck with that. Makes me think that my actual 1RM is higher than I have actually achieved before though.

 

The WOD is a good one. I did this before, again scaled to 30kg and 10 reps, but last time it was a 300m run. I finished bang on the time cap and was pleased with that. I could have done 15 reps at 30kg I think, but I would have gone over time. Still, getting better though, and the technique on the OHS felt comfortable, going unbroken in every round.

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Food log 24/02/14

Breakfast

1.5 banana, 1 scoop protein, 2.5g creatine, 1 desertspoon flax/pumpkin/sunflower seed, 40g oats, water.

 

Morning snack

75g granola with almond milk

 

Lunch

Bean curry with brown rice

 

Afternoon snack

25g mixed nuts

1.5 banana, 1 scoop protein, 2.5g creatine, 1 desertspoon flax/pumpkin/sunflower seed, 40g oats, water.

 

Dinner

Carrot, chilli and kale soup

 

Evening snack

Carrot, chilli and kale soup

 

Training

No crossfit last night, I was exhausted after another tour with little sleep, plus I'm fighting off a throat infection at the moment. So I just attempted the next stage of the hundred push up challenge, and the 30 day plank challenge with my girlfriend.

 

The plank was only 30 seconds, and was pretty easy. I can see that this is going to get more difficult pretty quickly however.

 

After the scoring 22 push ups in the initial test last week, the programme told me to jump straight to week 3, which I did. I had already done week 3 day 1 (forgot to log it) and found it difficult but doable. Last nights was supposed to have a 90 second rest between sets, or longer if required. I needed much longer. I was around 90 seconds for the first 3 sets, but needed more like 2-3 minutes for the final two sets.

 

Set 1 - 14

Set 2 - 19

Set 3 - 14

Set 4 - 14

Set 5 - Max (at least 19)

 

I managed all of them apart from the last set which I only reached 15. Pretty annoying, so I'm going to repeat this day on Wednesday when I'll hopefully get it.

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Dude! My girlfriend did the plank challenge too! I always thought they looked easy until I tried them... Good luck with it bro! I'm still fighting off a throat/chest infection too... Nasty stuff, have you noticed that everyone instantly says "are you Ill because you're vegan." As if non vegans never ever get Ill Winds me right up

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Can't be arsed to do a food log for yesterday. It's pretty much the same every single day anyway apart from on the weekend, when I don't eat enough.

 

Training - Crossfit 26/02/14

 

Warm Up:

2 rounds

10 pipe passthroughs

10 double unders

5 burpees

10 power cleans @ 20kg

 

Lift:

8x2 on the minute snatch @ 70% - 25kg

 

WOD:

5 rounds

5 power cleans @ 60% - 35kg

7 over bar burpees

50 double under buy out

 

Finished in 6:40

 

Snatch today just didn't feel right at all. I was initially going to go at 30kg, but when I worked out my 70% I was quite surprised. However 25kg was right considering how much I just couldn't get the movement nailed today. I don't think I warmed up the movement enough.

 

The WOD however was different, I felt like I totally flew through it. I did the level 2 version, the only difference being that Rx had 10 burpees instead of 7, and had a 100 double under buy out. I probably should have done this Rx, but still it was a really good blow out, and the burpees into the double unders were lung burners and crept up really quickly.

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Crossfit 28/02/14 - The Crossfit Open 14.1

 

So the Crossfit Games has begun again for 2014, with a pep in my step I woke up at 5:45 ready to get dressed, eat a banana and find out what the first open workout will be for the year.

 

14.1:

10 minute AMRAP

30 double unders

15 power snatch @ 35kg

 

Not too bad, I can do all the movements, my double unders are usually ok, and I can power snatch 35kg. However, there are two reasons why I scaled to the below version:

 

14.1 - Scaled

10 minutes AMRAP

60 single unders

15 power snatch @ 25kg

 

Reason 1 - Whilst I can power snatch 35kg, doing it for time and high reps I would struggle to maintain form. My 1RM is only 40kg (last time I tested) for power snatch, so this is a bit close to the mark to do at pace.

 

Reason 2 - At Celtic Crossfit they are running a box competition alongside the open workouts. We've all been placed in teams, and the team score is calculated on how well we all do in each workout. I've said from the outset that I'll be doing the scaled versions of the WODs, and so the points will be calcuated accordingly. It wouldn't make sense for me to do some of the open workouts at Rx, and some scaled, I need to do them all at the same standard for a fair representation.

 

So - 6:30 this morning I did 14.1 Scaled and got 360 reps. That's 4 complete rounds, and 60 single unders completed. I'm pretty pleased with that. See you next week Castro for 14.2

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Crossfit 03/03/14

 

Warm Up:

400m run

3 rounds of

10 push ups

10 wall balls

10 burpees

30 second lying kettlebell hold (shoulder joint mobility)

30 second shoulder floss

 

Lift:

Bench Press 3x6 @ 75% - 45kg

 

WOD:

Run 400m for time - 1:26 (PB)

 

2 minutes rest, then:

2 minutes burpees - 28

2 minutes sit ups - 38

2 minutes wall balls (7kg) - 23

1 minute burpees - 10

1 minute sit ups - 20

1 minute wall balls - 10

30 seconds burpees - 5

30 seconds sit ups - 10

30 seconds wall balls - 5

2 minutes rest, then:

 

400m run for time - 1:43

 

Managed the bench press at 75% with not too much effort, the last two reps of the last set were a struggle, which means that the right was about right I suppose. Annoyingly as it would suggest that my bench still isn't getting much stronger.

 

The WOD was tough. I was pretty please with getting a PB on the first run. I think I could have gone faster too. I'm not sure why, but I just had a burst of energy for it. The rest of the WOD was a real burner, no let up at all, and the 2 minute rest before the final run felt like nothing at all.

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Crossfit 04/03/14

 

Warm Up:

3 rounds of:

100m run

5 hang clean

5 front squat

5 push press

Increasing weight each time.

Then, 5 minutes of hip cleans

 

Strength:

5x3 Clean @ 75% - 45kg

5x3 Push Press @ 70% - 50kg (only 3 rounds complete, out of time)

 

WOD:

4 x 200m sprints 1:1 rest.

 

I need to spend some time on cleans again. I'm performing the second pull too early, and also there isn't enough shrug in there so the bar ends up going forward. This did get better as I went through the sets however, so it's just practice required.

I have no idea what my 1RM push press is, so guessed at 50kg for my 70%. It felt manageable, but still heavy so was probably about right. Perhaps I could have gone a tiny amount higher. Frustratingly we ran out of time to complete the full 5 sets of 3.

 

Ugh, sprints again, second day in a row! This time 200m. These weren't actually timed, so I'm not sure, but I know I was a lot slower in the last two runs than I was in the first two. I could feel that my tank was running empty. Still, all of them were attacked with whatever I had in me, so it was a good burnout.

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Crossfit - 07/03/14 - Open Workout 14.2

 

The second workout towards of this years Crossfit Open, and another time I did this as part of the Friday morning class. The workout was:

 

0:00-3:00 minutes

2 rounds of:

10 overhead squat @ 45kg for males

10 chest to bar pull ups

 

If you make it through those in the time cap then onto:

 

3:00-6:00 minutes

2 rounds of:

12 overhead squat @ 45kg for males

12 chest to bar pull ups

 

And so on, with each interval adding two reps on to the movements until you can no longer complete this with that 3 minute section.

 

Now with a 52.5kg PB for overhead squat I and the fact that I have only ever made one C2B pull up in my life, I had full intention on scaling both the weight, and the movement down to approximately 35kg and regular kipping pull ups. However, this was not an option. The level 2 scale was still with the full Rx weight, just with regular pull ups, and the level 1 scale was 30kg and band assisted pull ups.

 

I didn’t want to do band assisted pull ups, I personally don’t get on very well with them, and wanted to do regular kipping pull ups, so I had no choice but to bite the bullet and squat at 45kg. The only way I was going to achieve this was to clean the weight up, push press it out, lower onto my neck and then push press up into the overhead squat stance. I’m not entirely sure that was allowed as part of the standards for the competition, but as I was scaling anyway, and I’m not registered..what the hell.

 

I surprised myself in managing to get 8 reps off the bat in one set, and could maybe have squeezed the last two out, but the arm shakes were setting in and I dropped the weight out, meaning I had to reset in the method mentioned above. This takes time, and my squats weren’t exactly lightning speed, so by the time I’d completed 10 reps of the squat I only had 30 seconds left of the first interval. I quickly ran over to the bar and knocked out 8 kipping pull ups before the time ran out.

 

So, a grand total of 18 reps for my 14.2 result. I’m not completely disheartened as 8 reps at 45kg was easily a PB for that amount of reps, but it was disappointing to only get in a 3 minute workout today. If I’m feeling up for it I might pop into the gym tomorrow and attempt the same workout, but with 35kg on the bar, and regular kipping pull ups, just to see how I would have gone.

 

We’re bound to attempt this workout again in the future, so it will be nice to see how I progress, from getting the bar overhead easily, speed and strength on the squats, and hopefully chest to bars nailed too.

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Barbell club (olympic lifting) - 09/03/14

 

Warm Up:

 

300m row

30 x 30s front squat hold

5 x power clean @ 20kg

5 x clean @ 20kg

5 x jerk @ 20kg

 

Lift:

3x2 high hang clean and jerk - 40kg

3x2 hang clean and jerk - 42.5kg

3x2 below knee hang clean and jerk - 42.5kg

3x2 clean and jerk - 42.5kg

 

This was my first time clean and jerking for months, and it really showed, I just couldn't get in the swing of it. The cleans weren't a problem at that weight and there wasn't a single failed lift, but I can tell I'm chasing the bar forward in the clean, meaning I'm not shrugging it enough, or perhaps popping too early. My foot position in the landing stages of the jerk weren't great either. These really need some work.

 

In better news, one of the coaches gave me a tip to get chest to bar pull ups done, which was reversing my grip, more like a chest to bar chin up. Straight off the bat I managed 5 chest to bars with comparative ease. This is obviously only a progressive move to the real thing, but it felt good finally getting that connection.

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Crossfit - 11/03/14

 

Warm Up:

 

5 minute AMRAP

30 second wall handstand

10 ring rows

10 press @ 20kg

10 kettlebell swings @ 16kg

 

Skills:

5 minutes pull up practise

 

Lift:

3x5 press @ 80% (35kg)

 

WOD:

3 rounds for time

21 push press @ 50kg (Level 2 scale - 35kg)

15 pull ups

12 minute time cap

 

For the skills section I really wanted to work on chaining my kipping pull ups properly. This is something I've worked on before, and got somewhere, but then lost it again. I always seem to need to reset after each rep. So this time I made sure to push away at the top, and try to get my feet in the right position to chain into the next rep. I had some success, I chained 4 or 5 reps together on the first go. They weren't amazing reps, and I could feel the timing was off somewhere between my upper and lower body, but it was an improvement. I've been reading a lot about the technique of the kipping pull up recently, and I am really going to give this a go whilst maintaining a good hollow position where possible for maximised efficiency and also safety.

 

80% of my 1RM press is actually 32.5kg, but I did a 5x5 at that weight a couple of weeks ago, so I know I'm capable of more, therefore I bumped this up to 35kg. The first two sets were fine, but on the third set I rushed into it, and bailed after 4 reps. However I miscalculated the time and had another 5 minutes, so gave myself 4 minutes rest, and then completed the last set with comparative ease.

 

Before going into the WOD I knew that 35kg for the push press would get heavy very quickly for me, but if the open has taught me anything it's to lift weight where you can, and if nothing else I would go slower and give myself a good strength workout, which is exactly what happened. I didn't finish the workout within the timecap, but made it through to 8 reps of the last round of push press. That's pretty good volume for me at that weight. The pull ups weren't really an issue, and if nothing else they were almost like a rest between the push presses.

 

Last night I had another go at the stage I'm at for the 100 push up challenge too. I'm at week 3 day 2, but failed it last time, so gave it another go.

 

The layout was supposed to be the following:

14 reps

19 reps

14 reps

14 reps

Max reps (min 19)

90 second rest between sets (longer if required).

The only set that felt in any way easy was set 1. After that my triceps were burning! There was no way I was going to be able to do this with only 90 seconds rest, so upped this to 2 minutes for the earlier sets, and actually rested for 4 minutes before the final set. Unfortunately I only made it to 13 reps on the last set, so I'm still stuck at this level. Frustrating, but with food, sleep and patience I'll make it up a level soon (hopefully).

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Crossfit 12/03/14

 

Warm Up:

800m run

3 rounds of:

5 push ups

3 wall walks

5 air squats

3 box jumps @ 24"

 

Then:

Clean mobility

 

Lift:

5x2 hang clean @ 80% - 50kg - PB

 

WOD:

3 rounds for time:

21 power cleans @ 50kg (40kg level 2 scale)

15 box jumps @ 24"

10 minute time cap - DNF

 

Hang clean last night felt ten times better than it did in barbell club on Sunday. No idea why, but 50kg felt pretty easy, even in the high hang position. I'm really making sure I shrug hard, and try to get the second pull in properly. If I can nail that then I think it will really help me throw more weight up there. I think I could have gone quite a bit higher on this lift, but it was supposed to be at 80%, and although I didn't have a 1RM set for high hang clean this felt about right, and there was also a lot of cleans coming up in the WOD so I left something in the tank.

 

The WOD finished me. Again I decided on the level 2 scale to push my strength capacity, and it was a good choice, but it got heavy fast. the first round went quickly, but the second round of power cleans were in 2s or 3s. The box jumps were fine as long as I just kept chipping away. They weren't fast, but they were steady with no missed reps. I managed to get 16 reps of the last set of power cleans before the time ran out.

 

Thursday has been a rest day for me over the last two weeks as the open workouts are done in the Friday morning session, however I can't make Friday morning this week, and I am going to a(nother) beer festival in the evening, so Saturday morning is also not a sensible time to do 14.3. This only leave me Sunday morning, so I may well be doing a double session on Sunday, with the open WOD first, and then barbell club straight afterwards. This should make up for the two days without training in between.

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Man, shame on me for not reading up on your brewing activities! The berry porter looks delicious. Do you have much experience with spontaneous fermentation? Also, very jealous of your garden man, would love to have the space to bring up that kind of stuff.

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