CFF Day 108 – Fun?

Wednesday August 5, 2009 6:00 PM

Last night I strained my quad muscle again and was hoping not to see a running/sprinting WOD on the board. I got what I wanted b/c it was all arms today! Well…..almost all arms….

Warmup
Sprint Driveway
10 x OH Squats
10 x Pushups
10 sec Handstand
Sprint Driveway
10 x Pull ups
10 x Handstand Push ups
10 x Walking Lunges

Strength: Front Squats 5-5-5 @ 50k-60k-70K -PR

For Fun: 3 x 10 Front Squats @ 30K

WOD: AMRAP in 15:00
5 Hand Stand Push Ups (Green, Blue Bands)
5 Pull Ups (Green Band)
10.5 Rounds

Thoughts:
Strength- These felt really heavy at first, so much so that I thought I wouldn’t be able to go up in weight. Eventually I loosened up and was able to go after it. I still need major work on my squat b/c my elbows kept dipping from the poor form. The weight was a lot, but nothing I shouldn’t be able to do. That is frustrating! I have so many things to work on…why can’t I be perfect at everything?!
WOD – HSPU – these were really hard. The last round I couldn’t even kick into the Hand Stand, so I stopped and did another set of pull ups, by then my shoulders had recovered enough to give me my last set of HSPU, they were ultra hard and I know my arms are going to be drained for a little while. Pullups – Much easier than the HSPU, b/c I was using the green band – I have to start using the Blue for everything, but the target rounds was 12 and I knew I wouldn’t get there with the blue. From now on if it is 7 or Less pullups, I’m using blue and 8 or more I’m using Green. I have to get off of them eventually….the faster the better!

++ My handstand on the wall is getting better, I came off for three times for 2-3 seconds apiece – progress!
—Squats – need to work on them more during downtime

CFF – Day 80 – Nasty Girl ‘Helen’

July 8, 2009 4:00 PM

Came to the gym today at 4pm. Have a big project to wrap up by the weekend so I need to be as efficient with my time as possible. Although I was feeling much better, I was still a little anxious about my legs. I even share this concern with Wild Bill over email during the day, tell him I’m coming in the afternoon and he ‘forgets’ to mention that we are doing Helen today…which involves a 3 400m runs as fast as you can….thanks Billiam! Well, it all worked out fine, so I guess he was right not to tell me…

Strength Work: Front Squats 3-3-3-3-3-3
40-45-50-55-60-65 (pr)

WOD: Helen
3 Rounds:
- 400M Run
- 21 Kettle bell Swings (16K)
- 12 Pull-ups (Green Band)

11:16

Thoughts:
Class: This was my first time working out with Dad, what a great guy, we trained on the same rack for the strength, he had some problems getting his elbows up so that the bar rested on his shoulders, but once he does, he’ll be squatting a whole lot more weight, he looked really powerful at the 65 that we ended at, I wouldn’t be surprised if he jumped up to 90 once he gets that flexibility. Also, want to give a shout out to Kris, she put up 57.6k on the front squat, I’m not sure what her PR is, but that was super impressive!

Strength: I dislike the front squats, my squat is laughable and that doesn’t make for a very good front squat. The one nice thing is that I have good flexibility in my arms and I’m able to point my elbows fairly easily. Have to work on squats!

WOD: I liked Helen, I pushed myself pretty good on this. My runs were pretty steady and I did all the KB swings and pull ups unbroken. My time was pretty good, I know the running is slowing me down, and as I get lighter and stronger, they will get faster. I was psyched about doing pullups today, let me tell you why… Tuesday at softball I was standing at the entrance in the dugout, watching the game with my hands on the crossbar above me. During a lull, I absentmindedly gripped the bar and started pulling. It was about 3/4 of the way up when I realized that if I was concentrating on it, I could probably do a pull up unassisted. That is crazy! I haven’t been able to do that in at least a decade. Crazy. Of course you know when I got to the gym, I tried it, and I didn’t get all the way up, but it was darn near 7/8 of the way, so I’ll take it for now. Obviously it is a combination of losing weight and getting stronger, but my pull-ups have progressed very quickly. The assistance bands are ranked by most thick and least elastic to least thick and most elastic. The rank is: Orange, Black, Green, Blue. When I started, I had very seriously considered asking for two of the orange bands. No joke, the pullups were that hard for me. After a short time though, I was able to do 10 unbroken with good form, so it was time to graduate to the black. The same thing happened and then I was on to the green. And now, after ‘Helen’, I think I might be moving on to the blue. Kids, after blue, it’s just you. That’s kind of a scary thought for a guy who couldn’t lift himself more than a couple inches on the pull up bar just 4 months ago.

Before CFF, this was the closest I got to a Pull Up

++Great pull ups, good PR in the front squat
—Front squat form, need to get deeper, and not let the chest/elbows drop at the higher weights.

Weight: still nervous about weighing myself, I’ve missed 2 workouts this week and my eating hasn’t been spectacular, I don’t think I’m under the 203 from the other day, I don’t want to see the setback on the scale.