Countdown

48 days until the the CrossFit Games Open begins. I can't believe it's come around again this quickly! That gives, what, seven weeks to get ready? I've got some work to do, especially on the lifestyle front, that should help me fill some of the gaps in performance. I've been kicking the bejeesus out of my cardio capabilities and gravity isn't as good as a friend as it could be to help with some of the gymnastics movements. Two skills I'd really like to work on would be fixing my jerk and getting HSPUs. I also have that lovely right hamstring injury I'm trying to heal up. Being off heavy squats and deads should give me extra time to spend on oly and gymnastics. Yay!

Even though I had a blast traveling to Edmonton last year for the sectional event, I kind of like the new format. It's less stress on the body and the pocket book. I will miss getting to meet people from other gyms and the excitement that comes from competing in-person, though.

A couple of days into the new schedule

I'm a couple of days into the new schedule.  Originally, when I asked Aaron for advice on what to do next, I was going to go to Nationals for powerlifting.  Looks like that isn't in the cards for this year so a goal for me in the coming year will be to qualify for it again when I lift at Provincials in the fall.  So, this may mean another talk with Aaron to figure out if I want more oly and less powerlifting.  Regardless, it's a wackload more cardio than I've done in a while.  My cardio is still there, for the most part, but the volume is kicking my butt pretty hard.  I can barely type today as I have hand DOMS thanks to Monday's bellswing ladder.

Monday
Oly lift of the day
10 minutes of opposite oly lift on the minute
5-7 minute metcon

Tuesday
5x5 squats
5-7 minute metcon

Wednesday
3x5 press (alternate bench and shoulder... going to just do shoulder press, I think)
10-12 minute metcon

Friday
3x5 front squats
5-7 minute metcon

Saturday
Cardio Party so Painstorm or Hero WOD or a WOD with a trip to the track after.

Skill work like muscle ups, HSPUs, C2B PLUs, deadhangs, weighted ring dips, etc can all be worked into warm ups.  I've also been looking at scaling up to using the men's weight in WODs where it makes sense.  I've done it twice this week so far and enjoyed it!

Starting lifts!

Well, Tuesday was a bit of a gong show with trying out some starting numbers.  I've been drinking about 6L of water a day and, well, that's not particularly helpful when playing around with heavy singles.  235lbs for squats went up without incident (240lbs would have meant a puddle on the floor) and my depth was good so that'll be where I'll start and I'll go from there.

Squat: 107kg
Bench: 52kg
Deadlift: 120kg

Robin lent me her singlet and it fit so that's awesome (thanks Robin!).  I'm still about 6lbs over the weight class I was hoping to lift in (yay for being a woman) so we'll see if playing around with water will work.  If not, it's all good!

Edited to add:

Here's How I Did

It was a fantastic first introduction to powerlifting.  Everyone at the meet was so supportive.  Ryan and Rhea Fowler helped Tiff and I with our warm ups and Ryan Stinn explained the judging process and then did a mock judged lift with us during the warm up so we'd be used to the cues, etc.  For my lifts, I ended up going with some more conservative numbers and hit all of my squats, all of my bench press attempts but only the first deadlift.  It's a good thing I went with a number I knew I could hit because if I had missed my first deadlift attempt, I would have missed out on getting my first total.  I used wrist wraps and a belt for my lifts but otherwise lifted raw.

Here's what I did:
Squat: 112.5kg (247.5lbs)
Bench Press: 55kg (121lbs)
Deadlift: 120kg (265lbs)

My total was 287.5kg and was enough to just barely qualify to compete at Nationals this year in Charlottetown.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it so I'll just have to requalify at Provincials in the fall in hopes that next year's Nationals are a little closer to home!

Figuring out my lifts for Last Chance

On the very last day, I got my application in to Ryan to compete in the 2010 Last Chance Powerlifting Meet in Moose Jaw next weekend.  Robin has kindly offered to lend me her singlet and I'm trying to find a tee shirt that covers my delts and reviewing the nine million page document of rules that govern the meet.

I've been playing around with some numbers and I'll make my decision after squats, bench and deadlift on Tuesday night.  I'm just going to think about the numbers in kilos as pounds are about 2.2 times more scary.

For squats, if I get 230lbs for my 5's, I'll go for 108kg, 113kg and 118kgs.  If not, then do 105kg, 110kg and 115kg.  The first set pretty much will get me a double bodyweight 1RM!  I'd be super excited to hit that milestone.

Bench is set.  It's a very weak lift for me and the pause at the bottom makes it really hard.  I'll start with 52kg then try for 54kg and 56kg.

Deadlift is last.  If I get 255lbs for 5, I'll go for 125kg, 130kg and 136kg.  If not, I'll play it a bit safer and go 120kg, 125kg and 130kg.  I'm really wanting 136kg, though.  Really, really badly.

Bruises, scrapes and scars

This morning, I woke up to two giant shiners, one on the top of each shoulder. I couldn't remember exactly what I had done to warrant them. It took me a while to put them together with the manned up dumbbell thrusters from last night. Visually, they kind of compliment, in a messed up way, the the remainder of my muscle up tats that I have going on on the front of each shoulder. These are in addition to the fading stripes across my midsection from squats with the weight belt, scars from box jumps gone awry and some rope burns on the tops of my feet.

CrossFit is fun. It'll make you strong and fast. It'll challenge the heck out of you. It'll sure give you some pretty muscles. But, dang if you don't sometimes end up looking like you've been out wrestling a bear-o-dactyl.

Image borrowed from one of the best sites on earth - The Oatmeal. Click on the link. Thank me later with a cookie (gluten free, obvs) and your undying gratitude.

RESET!

We're doing a reset. Maybe started a bit too high with the lifts. Today's the second workout at lower weights. It's a bit hard on the old ego but if it'll get me stronger, I'll do it.

Here was my first set of squats at 215lbs last Friday before we reset. Failed the last rep of the last set. The depth was fine (wasn't sure about that) but you can see some knee action goin' on. This is 10lbs under my old one rep max so it could just be cropping up again because it was just plain damned heavy. Or it could be because I'm a bit quad dominant.



Gotta say I've been really liking using the belt for these. Feels a lot more secure and I think it's helping me to strengthen my core as it gives me something to push against.

Okay! One more time, with feeling.

Aaron, who is awesome FYI, sat us down and helped us spiffy up the plan for the next three months. Thanks, buddy! And then we went and demonstrated how fricking right he was by attempting to do oly after a heavy strength day. Yeah, our lifts were AWESOME. No, no they weren't.

Oh, yeah, and then on the ride home, we figured out that doing ring dips and bench on the same day was also not a smart plan. And we came up with that on our own. Go B Team!

Monday
General warm up
Oly lift of the day as per CFR programming
Either on the minute clean and jerks or snatch for 10 or 15 minutes, depending on the lift.
Optional mini metcon

Tuesday
General Warm up
Skill Work - muscle up
Strength Workout
- 3x5 back squat
- 3x5 shoulder press
- 3x3 power clean
- 3xmax max weighted ring dips

Thursday
General Warm up
Aaron's oly club lifting program
Mini metcon

Friday
General Warm up
Skill Work - HSPU
Strength Workout
- 3x5 back squat
- 3x5 bench press
- 1x5 deadlift
- 3xDHPLU/weighted PLUs

Also, today Paul showed me how Spealler teaches the strict muscle up. Thanks to Paul's fine coaching, I did five! Woot! They feel way better on the joints than does the kipping version. 30 muscle ups for time as rx'd is up next. It's going to likely take me well over an hour but I really want to do it.

CrossFit Stuff

So, I've finally come up with a plan from now until the end of the calendar year that really focuses in on some of the gains I want to see this year in terms of strength and skill. I'm no where near as strong as I'd like to be. And I struggle with the oly lifts and more advanced gymnastics stuff. Frankly, it's also just fun to work on things that are dang hard, too. I've got progressive strength training happening twice a week, two days dedicated to oly lifting, MU and HSPU skill work before strenth work (I've got my muscle ups back... did four last night) and two short and dirty metcons post oly lifting. Most importantly, I'm enjoying the snot out of it! I heart lifting so much. The schedule kind of looks like this:

Monday
General Warm up
Skill Work - Muscle up
Strength Workout
- 3x5 back squat
- 3x5 shoulder press
- 1x5 deadlift
- 3xmax DHPLU/weighted PLUs

Tuesday
General Warm up
Aaron's oly lifting program
Mini metcon

Thursday
General Warm up
Aaron's oly lifting program
Mini metcon

Friday
General Warm up
Skill Work - HSPU
Strength Workout
- 3x5 back squat
- 3x5 bench press
- 3x3 powerclean
- 3xmax ring dips/weighted dips

Trying to also make sure I'm doing some mobility work after each evening and foam rolling at home as well to keep things feeling good. My diet is also really dialed in right now and my recovery after the strength work has so far been rocking. Not feeling stiff, sore or tired like last time when I went to town on the nut butter. I think the additional recovery day is also helping a bit. Where I'm falling down is the shit kicking I'm giving my cardio. 'Nuff said about that. I'm getting it sorted!

Next up on the competition front is the Sask Powerlifting's Last Chance meet here in Regina sometime in December. I'm hoping to make some nice gains between now and then!

Went shoe shopping instead. Suck it, Robb!

Okay, not really. After phoning all the book stores here in Regina AND Saskatoon, it turns out no one has The Paleo Solution in stock yet. So, I am forced to wait until the book is delivered to a book seller situated somewhere in our fair trapezoid.

In the meantime, Chad from CrossFit Saskatoon announced the first event of the Prairie CrossFit Challenge... a killer obstacle course.  I am so filled with squee at this point, it's kind of ridiculous.  Aside from being the most fun sounding thing you can do while getting sweaty with clothes on, this puppy is right in my wheelhouse.  Lots of running and happy leg endurance (stairs, tire runs) and a bit of strength mixed with endurance (sandbag fun, farmer walk) and no lifting anything above my shoulders.  The only thing that I'm not fond of are burpees. 



To celebrate, I've called Escape Sports and asked them to hold a sweet pair of size 38 Vibram Fivefinger Treksports in champagne. I figure they will come in handy on the course and my sprints will stay clean (although still smelly) for any indoor events.

Champagne! Unlike the Continental, I've not grown impatient with the French.