Hanging Out: 01/29/13

It's real cold.  Actually today was pretty reasonable, but this winter has been brutal so I am going to join a gym. There are a variety of gyms near my apartment.  One is a Bally's where yelpers comment on how dirty the place is, how the water fountains don't work, and how they consistently scam people out of money.  Another is called Spartan Gym.  Ironically? reviews say there is nothing there and management sucks.  Today I went to a little neighborhood joint.  The whole place was about the same size as my apartment, but it was 40 degrees and rainy so I paid 10 bucks to the delightful owner and saddled up.  I can pretty much describe everything in the free weights "section"/basement.  smith machine, pretty nice DBs, a curl rack, two benches and, thankfully, a rowing machine.  I did 1000m on the rowing machine to warm up.  I was further limited because standing flat footed I could place my palms on the ceiling.  So I carefully did three sets of 20 plate burpees and ten prone rows on the smith machine bar. Next I did 3 sets of 10 kipping handstand push ups, 10 side ball slams, and 10 pistol squats on each leg.  Finished up with ab rollouts. And I left that place never to return and with no firm plans for a new gym.  Blargh.   

Crossfit: 01/22/13

I feel bad for those who still have this linked to some sort of alert system. I need to start keeping track of my work again. I finally have a 9-5 and I am thinking of joining a gym. I haven't had a 9-5 nor a gym membership since summer 2009, which is completely bonkers. My fitness goal right now is to get my lower back under control. I've blown it out three times in two years and need to figure out what's wrong with it (Dr. appt on Feb 5ht) and get it fixed (PT ASAP). In the meantime I am doing things I probably shouldn't be doing, including this crossfit workout today. I am gonna to compete in the crossfit games this year as long as my back holds out and I want to start tracking my progress. A: 2 mins of double unders (lost count, maybe 60-70?) + 6 min tabata; alternate 45lb DB renegade rows and 20 lb med ball slams B: hanging clean singles: maxed out at 180. When I could get my form right I felt real strong. C: AMRAP 2 min on 1 min off hanging cleans @ 75% of 1RM. Blarg. I think most people wisely went more like 65% or lower. I got 10ish every time, including some bloody hands and beat up collar bones. D: 10 mins of do something you aren't good at. I suck at muscle ups. I've done two? Maybe one in my life. I figured it's more of a technique issue than a strength issue. I tried twice and failed, but then got a good tip and got up three times our of four. I was happy. Ill forgo a post from last week and report having snatched 155. Maybe I can keep up with this. Probably not.

My Favorite Ultimate-esque Workouts

Field Tabatas: Two cones, 20 yards apart. Sprint from cone to cone for 20 seconds. At the end of 20 seconds come to a hard stop. 10 seconds rest. That 30 secs is one rep.

Technically a tabata is 8 reps of 20 secs on, 10 secs off, 4 minutes total, but I take some liberties on this. My favorite is 4 reps, 1-2 min rest, 4 reps, 1-2 min rest, 4 reps.

My other favorite is to do this with 4 people and set up a 20 x 20 box/field with thrower, marker, cutter and defender. Keep the positions for a 2 min tabata, then switch thrower/marker and cutter/defender. After 2 more minutes switch again along with positions.

Jog, Sprint, Stop, Walk: Four cones at: 0 ---10 ------------40----50 yards. Jog 0 to 10, sprint 10 to 40, walk 40 to 50. One rep.

I like to do a set of 8 reps at a time with 2 min between each set.

Constellation:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaab----7----c
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa|
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa7yds
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa|
X-----10yds---- a----7----d

Couple variations:

X to A, sprint A to B, backpedal B to A, sprint A to C, backpedal C to A, sprint A to D, backpedal D to A, sprint A to X

or

X to A then sprint A to B, B to A, A to C, C to A, A to D, D to X

My favorite variation is:

X to A then sprint A to B, B to A, A to C, C to A, A to D, D to X
10 secs fast feet
X to A then sprint A to B, B to A, A to C, C to A, A to D, D to X

2 min off

Repeat as necessary

Two Person Dump Huck drill
mini sized field 40x25 with players A and B
B goes backfield dump cut (start parallel, 3-4 steps upline, stop, backfield dump)
A throws dump to B and takes off deep
B throws deep to A, pauses, cuts in to the sideline opposite of where A is
A throws to B and jogs to dump position. Do not jog into dump cuts. Jog to where your ideal dump spot is, STOP!, and then make a real dump cut.

Field Workout: 05/04/11

Sorry kids, finals week. I also managed to mess my back up, perhaps doing the following workout.

10-30-10; cones at 0(A), 10(B), 40(C), 50(D)
jog 10, sprint 30, stop!, walk 10, turn, repeat = 1 rep
4 reps
90s
4 reps
90s
4 reps

(I really like this pattern. Because its the first part of the workout the first two sets aren't bad, but its a good workout. The last set is hard. Stopping that many times gets to your quads)

4 mins

5 Reps For Time (RFT)
1 rep =
15 yards of burpee broad jumps (same as two weeks ago, but try to gain as many yards as you can on the jump), whole foot has to cross the 15 yard "line" if not, do another burpee
15 yard sprint back, 15 yard sprint out

(Finished it in 1:50~ This was really hard. My legs were screaming 2 burpees into the 2nd set. I had a big advantage in that I probably did 7-10 less burpees than my main competition, who crept ahead till the last set, which I plowed through for the win.

4 mins

Little Dipper:
d 7yd c

7yd 7yd

a 7yd b

15 yd

x

x, a, b, a, c, a, d, x = one rep
one rep
10s fast feet @ x
10s rest
one rep
10s fast feet

90s

repeat

60s

repeat

30s

repeat

(fast feet are a deceptively hard part of this workout)

5 minutes

Two Man Dump Huck drill
mini sized field 40x25 with players A and B
B goes backfield dump cut (with upline fake)
A throws to B and takes off deep
B throws deep to A, pauses, cuts in for A
A throws to B and jogs to dump position
repeat
1 rep = 2 deep cuts, 2 dump cuts, 2 incuts

rep

60s

rep

60s

rep

(really hard if your partner is making you chase down hucks)

6 in 60
Start in pushup position
Down when time starts, hold everything an inch off the ground
1 rep = hold for 9s, up and hold for 10th second, back down on 1st second of next rep
1 set= one minute

set

30s

set

(1st set was good, second set was garbage)

done

Crossfit: 4/29/11

8 rounds of tabata rope undulations

10 min AMRAP:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 air squats
=10 plus 1 pullup (I suck at push ups right now. They are what killed my time.)

Good mornings:
3 @ 195
3 @ 205
3 @ 205
1 @ 215
1 @ 215

zercher squats: really stupid exercise. my forearms are gonna be a mess
1 @ 235
1 @ 245
1 @ 255
1 @ 265
1 @ 275

Track: 04/28/11

Oh the track. I hate it so much. I have no one to blame but myself, for many reasons really, but most importantly cause I made the track workout.

400, 90 secs, 400, 90 secs, 400
72, 73, 77 (I was screaming down the straight for the last rep and when I looked at my time I was astonished to see 77, but then I remembered that 200 m before I had almost stopped cause I felt so shitty. Looking at that time, I might as well have)

5 mins

200, 60s, 200, 60s, 200
32,33,32 (a monsoon blew through during my second 200)

100m, 30s, 100, 30s, 100, 30s, 100

I hate 100's. They are short enough that if you aren't going full speed you feel like you are not getting a good rep in, but long enough where if you do go 100% your wiped for a good minute or two. I suffered through these.

Point Gone Bad (yes I am ripping off cross fit)
cones @ 0yds and 20yds
0, 20, 0, 20, 0
jog 20
0, 20, 0, 20, 0
jog 20
0, 20, 0, 20, 0
jog 40
repeat

5 mins

Come back cuts
3 x's:
0,7,07,0,14,0,14,0, deep cut

Done

Crossfit: 4/22/11

warm up:
AMRAP in 10 mins
400 m run
500 m row

I ran (3) 400's and completed (2) 500 m rows and was 360m into my 3rd when time went off.

Snatch grip deadlifts + 10 ring dips after each set: I was told to move my hands in to the markers and it became loads easier. I should have gone heavier
3/3/3/3/3
195/210/235/245/255 too easy for this to be my last set, but had to move on

AMRAP in 10 mins
(5) 95 lb thrusters
(10) burpees
(20) double unders, which i finally started banging out uninterrupted by my stupid singles
5 rounds completed along with 5 thrusters, 10 burpees and 0 double unders. It was terrible.