Scenes from a Box

Or an Advertisement for Rogue.

I've been lugging around the new camera a lot lately to try it out in different types of settings.  Seeing as how I spend a lot of time at the gym, I thought I'd see what it could do there.

Slacker

There's a reason I've been a slacker. I haven't made, well much of anything since I last posted.  So I haven't had anything to write about there.  I also had/have an almost-hernia so my workouts have been less than amazing.  I've also been lazy.


I also may be waiting on a guest post from someone.  You know who you are!


The good news is that my almost-hernia is feeling almost perfect.  I'm still taking it a little easy, but I no longer have a stabbing pain in my lower abdomen every time I try to use my abs for anything.  Yay!


So I guess this can bring us to yesterday's WOD.


02/14/11 WOD
A)  Front Squats 5 x 10 (five sets of ten)


B)  3 Rounds
     75 Double Unders
     25 Pull Ups


I went pretty light on the front squats.  Doctor's orders are to breath while lifting for a little while so I've been focusing on form.  I'm focusing on keeping my back flat/arched, my chest up and my knees out.  I need to also work on leading with my elbows coming out of the squat.


Part B of the WOD wasn't so bad until I got to round three.  I was suddenly unable to string double unders together in sets larger than like 6.  And the more frustrated I got, the worse things got.  The key is to relax, but it can be hard to do when you have an inexplicable double under brain fart.

01/27/2011 WOD

Today we had a choice.  I stupidly gave away my freedom of choice.  Here's what Meaghan made me do.


3 Rounds
500 Meter Row
30 Overhead Squat @ 55#
21 Pullups (video shows variations)


I had been feeling dizzy for the past day.  It kicked in again in round two.  Oh well!


This was a deviously designed WOD.  The OHS after the row attacked your legs and back.  The pullups after the OHS attacked your grip.  And the row after the pullups started the whole cycle over again.

01/25/2011 WOD

I was half looking forward to/half dreading this one.  It turns out it was pretty fun, even if my hands hurt a little the next day.


7 Rounds
4 Handstand Pushups (I used two abmats as a target)
5 Squat Cleans @ 95#
6 Chest to Bar Pullups
7 Kettlebell Swings @ 55# (heavier than normal)


In order to do this WOD as perscribed (which I didn't really do since I used the abmats...), you had to perform each of these sets unbroken.  That means you can't come down from your handstands, can't put your bar down in the squat cleans, can't come off the bar for the pullups and can't put the bell down during your swings). 


For me this meant resting longer than I'd like to before the pullups, but I did it!  The handstand pushups felt kind of like a rest.  The fifth squat clean started feeling heavy about 3 or 4 rounds through.  I had to rest before the pullups until I was sure I could do them all without coming off of the bar.  This got more important as the rounds went on.  I wasn't fast, so I really, really wanted to go unbroken.  The swings felt fine.  7 at that weight isn't too bad.


All in all, not bad!

01/06/11 WOD

I took one look at this WOD and knew it wasn't going to be fun.  Generally I like chippers, I like being done with one movement and moving on to another.  But generally if the number of reps in a chipper changes, it usually goes down.  I prefer it when it goes down.  Mentally it makes things easier when the reps go down.  Here's what we did:


01/06/11 WOD


10 Thrusters @ 95#
25 Pull Ups
40 Kettlebell Swings @ 55#
50 Ring Dips (used a small band to scale)
60 Box Jumps (I do the jump up, jump down variety)
75 Back Extensions
100 Double Unders (the rope passes under the feet twice for each jump)


Time - 23:30ish

• Starting with the heavy thrusters wasn't so bad.  Even though I started the WOD already feeling tired, the heavy thrusters really weren't so bad.  I did those straight through with no problem.  
• The pull ups weren't awful.  My abs were are still hurting from Monday and I felt them in the pull ups.  The kettlebell swings were fine, I mean they were heavier than usual, but they really weren't too bad aside from forearms starting to fatigue from pull ups followed by kettlebells.  I wasn't quite in the zone yet, so I wasn't really pushing myself (bad, Jaimee.  BAD!).  
• Next came the ring dips.  I used a band by holding the band to the ring while doing your dips.  I'm just not good at them.  It's not like I could go fast enough to gas myself, I just got to a point where I couldn't do more than 3 at a time.  
• On to box jumps.  I thought I was relatively rested from the ring dips, but then I tried to jump.  I was wrong.  After the first four movements I couldn't use my arms to help at all.  Thanks to Johnny and John to get me actually moving through the box jumps and make me stop the bad double bounce habit I picked up while we were on the mats.
• Back Extensions weren't so bad aside from the sheer number of them and the fact that I was dripping sweat all over the floor.
• Or so I thought until I tried to stand up to do double unders.  My first few were at travesty as my back and hamstrings adjusted to being upright again and being used in a different way.

It was rough, but it was fun.

11/04/11 WOD

Remember how yesterday I was all "I'm totally not sore from yesterday's WOD!"  Oh how much things can change in the space of a few hours.  This workout made me feel every one of those GHD sit ups (and toes to bar) from yesterday.  I now know that I use my abs more than I thought on C2B pull ups.  Like, a lot more.


01/01/11 WOD
5 Rounds
8 Push Press @ 95#
16 Lateral Burpees
8 Chest to Bar Pull Ups (Your chest below the collar bone makes contact with the bar)
          I kinda sounded like this guy when I was doing my pull ups.


So this workout was hard.  It was really rough.  I am usually pretty good at overhead movements but there were a few rounds where I had to put the bar down.  The lateral burpees were just a complete disaster.  Jumping over the bar (which was the barrier we were to jump sideways over for the jumping portion of the burpee) slowly became just getting over the bar however possible.  My chest to bar pull ups were pretty solid.  A lot of effort comes from most of the body to make the pull ups solid, including my abs.  I felt my abs doing their portion of the work.  I was able to keep a steady connection of the pull ups and connected with the bar every time so I was pleased.


I completed the WOD in something like 18:35.


Coach Johnny Mac has me considering a new scaling method called relative scaling.  I want to do it for my future performance, but it would involve scaling down a lot of the WODs to increase my power output and speed.  I know I need this, but a part of me is prideful enough to want to have that RX next to my name, even though I know it's an arbitrary number.  More detail is on Johnny's blog "Running as a Skill."  More from me as I consider if this is right for me.

01/03/11 WOD

As part of my blogolution I said I would start posting my WODs.  Yesterday's was pretty difficult considering I've spent the past two weeks eating junk and not working out.


01/03/11 WOD
A)
AML(?)AP 10 minutes
1 - 5 Ladders of 105# Hang Squat Cleans
You had 10 minutes to do as many ladders as possible.  A 1 - 5 ladder means you do one hang squat clean and can put the bar down.  Then do two and you can put the bar down, three and put the bar down, etc.  Sounds simple, gets pretty rough.
I completed 3 ladders and set three of the fourth.


Cleans are kinda my wheelhouse.  I love cleans, even squat cleans.  I love that it's technical and I can still make my body figure it out.  I love that it's explosive and fast.  My back was really starting to get really tight as we headed towards the end of the wod.


B)
50 Toes to Bar (Mine don't look nearly this pretty)
50 GHD sit ups


Can't remember my time.


My grip started to go first on the toes to bar (as in I dropped off the bar at 49!), other than that they felt pretty good.  When I have high rep chippers like this I give myself a rep goal to reach each time.  So I'll say to myself "OK, get to 12 and you can shake your arms out and chalk up."  
Onto GHD sit ups.  I don't like to go full range of motion on these because of my back.  I go close, but my back doesn't like to hyper extend too far.  GHD sit ups are a fun movement, it's fast and aggressive, but you can get dizzy quickly and you need to build reps up so you don't get rhabdo.


This morning I'm a little sore, but not nearly as sore as I expected.  I can cough and laugh without pain.  My traps are hardly sore at all.  Maybe it's because I actually slept last night.

Warrior Dash

Earlier this month Eric, some friends and I did a little race called the Warrior Dash, essentially an 3.5 mile obstacle course/mud run. 

A few days before, Meaghan and I came up with some awesome outfits.  We were the only ones who wore our all black outfits complete with awesomely cut up t-shirts.

We did show our team spirit by wearing matching turquoise bandannas.

We left at 7:00 for a long drive out to Nowheresville, PA.  On our drive we saw a bunch of what I can only assume to be Mennonites since we saw them on scooters (not motorized) and rollerblades.

I don't have any pictures of the race because none of us wanted to sacrifice our cameras to the race.  I'll tell you we had some pretty fun obstacles to go through as we ran through the fields and the woods.  I think it's worth mentioning that as we were running through the field, yet another Mennonite was plowing it (with a horse drawn plow) and looking at us like we were insane.  We scaled old train cars, ran over big dirt mounds, darted through rope "spiderwebs," climbed a cargo net, crawled through tunnels, waded chest deep through a freezing cold pond where we had to go over floating logs...that rolled, crawl through mud and jump over fire.

My knee started bothering me about halfway through.  The dip through the freezing pond certainly helped.  Even though my knee was hurting I was disappointed when it was over. 

After the race we were covered in mud.  We had to take the after pictures and Meaghan and I had to do handstand pictures, which wowed the people waiting in line.  Some people asked us if we were CrossFitters and many totally copped our handstand style.  It's fine though because I was moving on to a turkey leg in my near future.

It was so much fun.  I can't wait to do it again next year.

The backs of our awesomely cut up t-shirts.

Team doo-doo brown.

Post race muddiness:

Post-race turkey legs.

Giant and Midget.

Muddy Kisses.

Our "shower"

How we got mud free for the long drive home.

For a Good Time, Call Fran: 21-15-9

We did Fran yesterday. 

Fran is a benchmark CrossFit WOD. 

21 Thrusters

21 Pullups

15 Thrusters

15 Pullups

9 Thrusters

9 Pullups

Usually written as:

21-15-9

Thrusters

Pullups

It's probably the most widely known WOD and is part of the vernacular.  You know you're part of the cult when some one asks "What's your Fran time" and you know the answer.

Oh, wait, you have no clue what I'm talking about?  Well here is a classic Fran video for your pleasure.  (I may call shenanigans on some of the form, but, hey, it's a classic.)



The thing about Fran is that the whole thing is intense and both movements take full body participation.  Thrusters are a front squat to a press.  I can't think of any muscle group you  don't use in a thruster.  In CrossFit, we generally do kipping or butterfly pullups - both of these involve using your entire body to generate upward momentum and to maintain intensity during the workout.

It was relatively brutal as usual.  Although I helped myself out a little this time.  I actually warmed up a little which limited my Fran cough to about an hour and kept me moving pretty smoothly through the first part of the WOD.  "Fran cough" is a term we gave to the burning throat and lung feeling and the accompanying cough that comes after Fran (or any short, high intensity workout).  Some blame this on a short, mild case of pulmonary edema, but I'm not a doctor and barely even know what that means.

Anyway, I did my 21 thrusters without breaking and didn't break my pullups until 11 (and I continued to do more than half in the first set every round).  I attribute this partly to much slower, more deliberate, more careful pullups since recovering from tendinitis in both shoulders.  My time was about 30 seconds off my max.  Next time I need to break through my mental barrier, take shorter breathers, push through the 15 thrusters in one set and do it on solid ground (rather than the mats we have in the gym now).  Hopefully I can go into it with less of a case of Fran tummy (another "Fran" term, this one I don't want to discuss but involves the nervousness finding out you have to do Fran invokes).  I have a plan of action!  Let's see if I can make it happen!

Make Your Own: Foam Roller

I thought I was happy with my foam roller, I thought it was fine.  That was until I tried my friend JohnnyMac's Trigger Point foam roller.  It was amazing.  It had a hard core that really helped get deep into the muscles.  My puny little foam roller (actually made of thick Styrofoam) was no longer going to cut it so I decided to try to make my own for a pretty substantial savings.

Foam rollers are used for self myofascial release.  Myofascial release is a technique in which muscle tissue is stretched and manipulated to relieve tension in the fascia, the thin tissue covering the muscle fibers.  It works by breaking up fascial adhesions and also by manipulating certain neuromuscular receptors to allow muscles to release any tightness.  A foam roller allows you to use this technique on yourself.  This video shows how to use the foam roller to target specific areas.



Materials

4x10 PVC Pipe - $15
Yoga Mat - free to me
PVC Cement - free to me
Scissors
Electrical Tape
Hacksaw

Directions
Gather your materials and find a well ventilated space.  The PVC pipe is available at any Lowe's or Home Depot.  I got the whole long piece of it, but you can get a pre-cut piece.  I used an extra yoga mat I had lying around and PVC cement the my contractor had leftover.

Cut your PVC pipe into the lengths you'd like your foam rollers to be.  I did one of about 24" and three of around 13".  If you don't happen to have a contractor at your house with a large table saw already in use like I did, wrap the pipe with electrical tape at the cutting point and use the hacksaw to cut through the pipe.

Measure the length of yoga mat you'll need to completely cover the outside of the PVC pipe.  Leave about a half inch on either side.  Sure you can use a tape measure and be precise about it or you can use my method; put the pipe on the mat and cut.

Make sure your pipe is laid out straight on the mat, swipe PVC cement onto your PVC pipe or yoga mat in about 1.5" lengths.  After some experimentation, I found putting the cement onto the mat to be the most effective method.  Don't skimp on the cement.

Apply pressure on the cemented section.  Allow the first section to dry for about 5 minutes.

I clipped the ends of the first and last sections I cemented to make sure the edges stuck and I rubber banded the middle to make sure it didn't buckle and to make sure there was a nice smooth edge.

Continue working your way around the pipe in 1.5" sections, making sure to get cement to the edges of the pipe and to the last dried section.  It dries pretty quickly so you'll only need to give those sections a few minutes to dry.  Make sure to press down on these sections while they're drying.

When you get to the last bit of mat to be glued you may have to CAREFULLY trim the free edge of the mat so it meets with the cemented end perfectly.  Swipe cement on the last bit of PVC pipe, clamp the ends, apply pressure and let it dry for a while.

You'll probably have extra yoga mat at the edges of your pipe.  Cut them off with box cutters or very sharp scissors.

Roll out those tired, sore and stiff muscles.

CrossFit Games Recap

Last weekend we were pretty busy, but I found time to watch a good amount of the CrossFit Games on the live webcast.  This was a first for the games.  This year 14 cameras allowed for a pretty dynamic production.  In previous years we've had to depend on twitter updates and composite videos after the fact.  Another first was the location.  The Games were at the Home Depot Center in L.A. (Where the L.A. Galaxy plays), a far cry from the Aromas, CA ranch where the games have been held in the past.  There was even a fly-over!

The feats of athleticism I witnessed were incredible.  I have quite a few new CrossFit crushes.  The WODs were very well designed and just brutal.  The individual competition consisted of 6 intense workouts over three days.

This recap video made by Again Faster gave me the chills:


Event 1 (Friday Evening)
This is where I fell in love with Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet.

9, 7, 5
Muscle Ups
Squat Snatches (135/95)

Event 2 - "Hell-In" (Saturday Morning)
This event was basically a diabolically re-arranged double Helen followed by an overhead lift.

Run 1,200
63 Kettlebell Swings
36 Pullups
Run 800
42 Kettlebell Swings
24 Pullups
Run 400
21 Kettlebell Swings
12 Pullups
90 seconds to establish a 1RM shoulders to overhead.

These two events begin to show an all around athleticism with the sprint like nature of the first event (if you have muscle ups) and the longer endurance nature of Hell-In.

Event 3 (Saturday Afternoon)
This WOD combines reps of a heavy lift with a rarely practiced pistol and the highly used, but easy to screw up double under. So you have to have brute strength, agility, coordination and gymnastics ability to be successful in this WOD. Oh, and you're already smoked from Hell-In.

As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP) in 7 minutes
7 Deadlifts (315/205)
Sprint across stadium
14 Pistols
21 Double Unders
Sprint back across stadium

Event 4 - The Sandbag WOD (Saturday Evening)
This was an awesome event to watch. It not only involved many aspects of athleticism, but a lot of strategy as well. This event was about your ability to do work and certainly speaks to the functional aspect of CrossFit.

Athletes had to move 600/370 lbs of sandbags from the top of the stands on one end of the stadium to the top of the stands on the other end (this involved getting them over a wall about 7' high).  They did have wheelbarrows to move the sandbags across the stadium.

Event 5 (Sunday Morning)
Most people can't do a single full range of motion handstand pushup. This WOD is going to favor gymnastically inclined athletes.

7 Rounds
3 Cleans (205/135)
6 ring Handstand Pushups/4 Handstand Pushups

Event 6 (Sunday Afternoon/Evening)
This is one of the most punishing WODs I've ever seen. One look at the course and you know you're in for a pretty fun time though. This WOD makes me want a scaling wall to practice on!

Event 6a
3 rounds of:
30 push-ups
21 overhead squats (65/95 lb.)
Wall rope climb between each element
(7-minute cap)

Event 6b
3 rounds of:
30 toes-to-bar
21 ground-to-overhead (95/65 lb.)
(7-minute cap)

Event 6c
3 rounds of:
5 burpee wall jumps
20-foot rope climbs (3/2)
(12-minute cap)


I'm so proud and excited to be a part of this sport.

2010 CrossFit Games

This weekend the 2010 CrossFit Games are at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.  A real venue this year!  I'm so excited to watch this weekend in between various other activities.  Live footage will be streaming online at live.crossfit.com.  I plan on watching from our new TV setup upstairs where we have a new 55" LED LCD with a 1080p computer attached.  I'll also be watching from my iPhone (Don't tell Eric).  So excited!!!! 

My Nemesis...

Yesterday I did a WOD called "Karen."  Karen is 5 rounds of 400 meter run, 30 box jumps, 30 wall ball (I had to sub single arm dumbbell thruster).  I had Johnny Mac, a good friend and a head coach for CrossFit Endurance video my last run.  Wow, I have a lot to work on.  I'm broken at the waist, I land on my heel with my leg far out in front of me, it takes forever for me to get to the ball of my foot and onto the next stride, my legs are straightening out, I'm not using my hamstrings at all, just my hip flexors, my hips were bouncing up and down.  The only thing I think I wasn't doing wrong was my arm position and maybe my head.  I have a lot of work to do.

Standing is a Struggle Today...

WOD: 1-10-1-20-1-30 Deadlifts

Yesterday's WOD (Workout of the Day for those of you who are unitiniated in the CrossFit cult) about killed me.  In this WOD the single reps are pretty heavy and the sets of multiples are (supposed to be) unbroken.

I did a couple warm up reps and went straight to 275# for my first single.  It wasn't pretty.  My back isn't supposed to be round, it's supposed to be straight.  But I figured, "hey!  I got it off the ground, I'm good to go!"  So I did my set set of 10 at 225#.  I knew by rep 5 that it was too heavy for that many reps, but of course I had to keep going.

I knew 275# wasn't coming off the ground again so my next single was 265# followed by my set of 20 at 205#.  By this time I knew that bending over was going to be an issue tomorrow.  My last single came in around 245#.  Well, at least that was done.  But OMG, the set of 30.  OMG.  I think I started at 175# and had to go down to 155# after my second rep.  I don't think I would have gotten through it without some outstanding coaching by Mike.

185# Deadlift at the 2009 CrossFit Games Qualifier

Lessons learned: 
My glutes are not as sore as they should be.  When I'm doing reps rather than working towards a max I need to focus more on my form and using my glutes and hamstrings, keeping my back and abs tight, pushing my heels into the floor. 

I kept feeling like my extremities were all getting in the way of eachother.  I widened my grip and my stance and was able to work through the reps much faster and smoother.

I need to go into a WOD like this with more focus.  I had a really hard time keeping my core tight through it all.

WOD: 1RM Squat Cleans

View Video

My 155# 1RM Squat Clean on May 11, 2010

I maxed at 155# yesterday. I think that's my existing SQUAT clean PR. Somehow I can power clean more than I can squat clean with a 1 RM of 160# power clean. I got under 160# a few times yesterday, but I couldn't get out of the stinking squat. Then I started getting tired (and getting brain farts) and couldn't even get under it. I think I lose the tightness in my core and then just can't bounce out of the bottom. I'm happy to have made 155# on the squishy mats, but still pretty frustrated by the elusive 160# squat clean.

After it was clear that I would not be getting 160#, I decided to work off the frustration (and kill the time waiting to meet up with Emily for dinner) by doing the one armed bandit WOD of the day for those of us that can only use one of our arms. So I did 5 rounds:
Lunges around the perimeter of the room (around 46)
15 35# Kettlebell Swings
20 AbMat Situps
25 Body Weight Squats