Today's workout:

A. 8 sets of 3 reps on 1 minute rest. 185 lbs plus 40 lbs of chains. Emphasis on speed.

B. work up to a tough double in squat with short rest

C. 1-5 UB hang squat clean ladder x 4 for time - 185#/135#

first set only. took 3:11. total time was 19:58. grip became the limiting factor.

Christmas Day 500m Row

7 am on Christmas, Mandy and Sean still sleeping. Not much time to workout so a quick warm-up and a 500 meter row was it for the day. Time of 1:21.7. PR effort. I want 1:20 someday. Still have a big chunk to knock it down that low but it's on the radar now.

Front Squat PR

Front Squat at 300 lbs. It's a 15 lb PR but my form looks extra sloppy. This is why I video my lifts so I can make corrections to things. That said I'm pleased to hit 300 lbs without strength gains as my primary focus right now.

A few days after this we tested 10 minutes for max calories on the Airdyne. I got 245 which was a 2 calorie PR. I used short hard bursts intervals. Next time I will try a more consistent approach and shoot for 250 by going for a ~1550 cal/hr pace throughout.

Deadlift at 485

Below is a couple training videos. The first is a dead lift at 485. I hit 495 after but the music in the background has some lyrics that may be offensive to some so I'm refraining from posting that. A dead lift of 500 has been a long term goal of mine to accomplish. I knew I could get there quicker if I devoted myself to it, but I wanted to be able to deadlift 500lbs while still being fit enough to able to comfortably run a mile in under 6 minutes. Current mile time is ~ 5:40 so next time we go for a deadlift PR I hope to hit the 500 mark. At this point it will be time to set new goals.

This second video is a set of 5 deadlifts at 345 lbs at a Tap and Go pace followed by 20 seconds of sprinting on the Airdyne. This was repeated for 4 sets with 5 minutes rest between sets. I hit 325,345,365 and 375 for the deadlift weights and 21,20,18 and 15 calories on the bike. The Tap and Go pace means no pausing at the bottom.

Handful of new PR's

Have had a solid few weeks of training with a few recent PR's. Competition starts in 3 months so trying to fine tune the engine now. The recent PR's

Back Squat - 325

Dead lift - 495

500m Row : 1:22.0

Thursday November 3rd, 2011

Training has been consistent and feeling strong lately. On October 29th we competed in a team event at Crossfit Albany. Competing on a team as a CrossFit athlete was a new and fun experience. I look forward to doing it again.

Some recent videos from training:

10 Touch and go power cleans at 155 x 3 sets . Rest 3 minutes between sets. Did last set at 165.

A testing workout

for time:

250m row

15 burpees

25 KBS @ 70 lbs

15 burpees

250m row

time: 3:51

Too slow on the first set of burpees

Some recent fitness test workouts

On 10-22-11 we did

10 mins for maximum calories on the Air-Dyne stationary bike. score 243 calories

My score was 243 which is an 18 calorie improvement from August 2010. Lots of different training went into improving on this time. Specific to the Airdyne we did things such as 20s sprints with 2:40 rest , 40s sprints with 6 minutes rest. 30 min sessions of 30s @ 90% and 30s at 50%. Happy with this score. Hopefully in 7-9 months I can crack 250 or 260.

On 10-23-11 we did the CrossFit benchmark workout Karen. It is 150 wall balls for time using with a 20 lb ball to a 10 foot target. I completed it in 6:19 which exceeded my expectations. In 7-9 months I hope to be sub 6 minutes on this workout. Shoulder fatigue was my limiting factor as once they get tired catching the ball and getting it to ten feet become difficult. Many different training sessions were dedicated to wall balls over the last 9 months including

50 unbroken wall balls., rest 2 min., 50 unbroken wall ball., rest 2 minutes., 50 unbroken wall balls.

Video of "karen" below:

OPTathlon competition review

On October 9th, 2011 Mandy and I had the opportunity to compete in the first ever OPTathlon in San Diego, CA. The event was put on by my coach for the past 2 years and 9 months, James Fitzgerald.

James won the 2007 Crossfit games and has been an incredible ambassador and coach for the sport of fitness. He is well respected for his program design and for constantly searching out answers in regards to fitness and fitness testing. He has wrote a detailed workout program and posted it to his blog daily since January 2009. The blog has been a gathering point for fitness enthusiasts across the world to come get their workout for the day, do the workout, and report their scores. The community created on the blog is hard to describe but it is exceptional. Top level Crossfit athletes and fitness enthusiasts from across the world follow the blog and report their scores on a daily basis.

James had the wonderful idea to have all these like minded competitors come to one place for a true test of fitness. The test of fitness would be a one day event, with lectures and presentations from those in the fitness and health community to be held on Saturday.

The test of fitness involved six workouts and used a completed scoring system similar to that of a decathlon. The idea is that these tests of fitness would measure more than just work capacity, it would measure strength, speed, power endurance, ability to adapt to new tasks and that nearly anyone could participate as the movements were relatively easy to complete.

The events were as follows:

1. clean and overhead (1 Rep max in 10 minutes)

This means pick up the heaviest loaded barbell and get it locked out overhead with control. Each athlete had ten minutes to do this. I was able to get 260 lbs from ground to overhead, which represented a 15 lb personal record, and quite honestly exceeded my expectations for this event. This event was adjusted for each athletes weight.

2. standing triple jump (3 attempts)

Start from a standing position and complete a triple jump. Each athlete got three attempts. On my final attempt I jumped 26' 5". This was something new and something we had not trained for. It was a good single leg test of power.

3. row repeats (500m row rest 90 seconds on rower, 500m row)

By far the most painful workout of the group. If you have not rowed a true all out 1k on a row or repeats on a rower the pain is indescribable. For this workout my first 500m was completed in 1:27.4 and the second 500m in 1:30.0. This is a huge strength of mine and I placed 3rd overall for this event. I could not get off the floor for 3 minutes after this workout and walking was painful for a full 25 minutes after. I was not ready to even consider workout 4 until one hour after this effort.

4. unknown circuit (the circuit was announced as an AMRAP in 7 minutes of 150 double unders to start the workout and then max rounds and reps of 7 wall balls and 5 burpees jumping to touch 1 foot over max reach. )

This workout represented my worst showing amongst all the workouts. I completed the 150 double unders rather quickly and got through 2 rounds quickly before hitting a wall where every burpee was painful. I completed 7 rounds but this was outside of the top 25 and in the end this poor performance keep me out of the top 15. A stronger mentality to push through pain is needed for these workouts for me to progress as an athlete.

5. reverse overhead shot toss (16# shot)

Throw a 16# shot put overhead in a reverse manner as far as possible. This workout was a near nightmare as I faulted on my first throw and threw the second shot too high and achieved a low score. My final shot went 31' 1" This was not a great score but it kept me in shape for a top 20 finish if I performed up to expectations on the 3k run.

6. track run (3000 m)

Just as simple as it sounds. Except that a 3k run is a tough distance to run. One mile and under you know to push the envelope from the start and try and hang on. Over 2.5 miles you know you must set a pace and can't go balls to the wall from the start. 3k is right in that middle ground, where you don't want to get too comfortable at a slow pace but you can't go all out from lap one. I finished this in 11:46. This was good for ~ 10th place and while I was hoping for about 11:30, at this point of a long day I was ok with this effort. I may have got sucked into too slow of a pace early and probably should have made an earlier effort to force the pace I wanted rather than settling in.

At the end of the day I finished in 17th place of 73 competitors. My important I learned some things about myself that I can apply to future workouts and competitions and life in general. All in all the weekend was a tremendous experience and I look forward to the chance to compete, learn and test again.

CJ of 260 at OPTathalon 2011

PR clean and jerk of 260. The workout was take ten minutes to build to a 1 RM in the clean and any way overhead. This lift was hit with ~ 10 seconds left on clock. This was a pure adrenaline lift with really poor technique. I look forward to refining that technique but keeping the same level of aggression.

last 5 reps of 20 rope climbs for time

Week of Training 9-26-11 to 10-2-11

9-27-11

5 sets @ 90-95%:

5 muscle ups

5 HSPU

10 KBS - 88 lbs

10 box jumps - 36"

15 double unders

15 row cals

rest walk 3-5 min b/t set

first four sets from 2:30-2:50, last set the high box jumps caught up with me and it took 3:51

+

1 set all out:

10 burpees AFAP

25 double unders

10 burpees AFAP

25 row cal

1:54 - legs were shot from the high box jumps.

9-28-11

A. Front Squat - 3 x 3 @ 80%; rest 2 min

230 lbs

Reverse Med Ball Toss- 3 reps w/ 8 lb ball

(throws @ 80,80,90,90,100%)

rest 1 min b/t sets

+

Run 30 sec @ 90%

walk rest 30 sec brisk

Run 1 min @ 90%

walk rest 30 sec brisk

Run 90 sec @ 90%

walk rest 30 sec brisk x 4

(work on holding same pace no matter time)

felt good

9-29-11

21,18,15,12,9 rep rounds for time:

Toes to Bar

Thrusters - 95#/65#

10:58 - not my best performance. 5am workouts seem to always lack a bit of pop.

10-1-11

A. Power Clean - build to a tough single in a few sets

255 ties PR. just missed 265 twice.

+

3 sets:

3 tough hang power clean TnG

sprint 30 m increasing speed throughout

rest walk 5 min

used 185, 195 and 200 lbs. sprints felt great.

10-2-11

Row 2K time trial

6:39.8 . 1 second PR from 6 weeks ago. Lots of pain afterwards. Tried to pace at 1:39 per 500m. First 500 was in 1:36 then 1:40,1:41, 1:41.6.

Saturday September 24th, 2011

part 1:

A1. Bench Press - BWT amrap; rest 20 sec

A2. AMRAP COVP chin ups; rest 5 min x 5

A1. 13,12,9,7,7

a2. 40,32,23,30,27

total = 200

First set :

amrap bodyweight bench press at 187 lbs rest 20s amrap covp pull-ups from pat skinner on Vimeo.

rest 40 minutes

part 2:

Run 800 m time trial

2:23

I feel like I left too much in the tank here. I was recovered in about 30s so I know I didn't push quite hard enough. First 400m was in 1:15, second 400m in 1:08. I should have been pushing harder the first 300m of the run. With 500m to go I decided to push it until I crashed but the crash never came, so I know next time I need to push the envelope harder earlier. Maybe this was the perfect pace for me to finish strong with but I think I low 2 teens is possible right now.

rest 2.5 hours

part 3:

for time:

25 squat clean - 95#/65#

20 HSPU

15 muscle ups

20 HSPU

25 squat clean - 95#/65#

19:58. HSPU are biggest weakness so this crushed me.

Thursday September 22,2011

Thursday training

part 1:

5 sets @ 97%:

5 squat snatch TnG heavy

5 power clean TnG same weight

10 explosive burpee broad jumps

rest walk 6 min b/t sets - record distance per set of BBJ's

part 1 all sets 1:02-1:10 did all burpees TnG pace as well so distance is a bit lower than if burpees were done at slower pace.

115 lbs / 84 ft
125 lbs / 88 ft
135 lbs /82 ft
140lbs / 85 ft
145lbs / 76 ft

rest 6 hours

part 2:

Airdyne

40 sec @ maximal effort

Rest WALK 6:20 x 8

(record cals/set)

part 2
42,39,33,36, 31, 32,32, 31
legs were nearly seizing up after 4th set. walking in between sets was possibly the hardest part.

Tuesday and Wednesday Sept 20,21 2011 training

Tuesday September 20

4 sets @ 97%:

15 power snatch - 95#/65#

15 burpees

25 double unders

rest 4 min after 1st set, 5 min after 2nd, 6 min after 3rd

All sets between 1:32 and 1:36.

Wednesday September 21

part 1:

3 sets:

Row 1K @ 97%

rest 10 min after set 1, 12 min after set 2

3:12.2, 3:16.1, 3:16.6

rest 6.5 hours

for time:

30 ring dips

Run 1600 m

30 ring dips

Run 800 m

30 ring dips

Run 400 m

12:54. ring dips went 30, 21/9, 21/9. runs were 5:54, 3:18, 1:30. mile time is probably 5:30 ish now when fresh.

Sunday September 18th, 2011

5-7 set @ 97%:

3 TnG Power Clean heavy

10 burpees AFAP

AirDyne 15 sec

rest walk 5-8 min b/t sets to get maximal power per set

Did 6 total sets and at that point my power was fading so stopped there.

Used 185,195 and then 205 for 4 sets for the power clean weight.

All burpees smooth and fast.

11 cals per Airdyne set.

6 mins rest for first 3 sets then 7 mins rest for last 3 .

Training sessions

September 8th

I was away from the gym so had to make some subs for part 1. I clean and jerked and KBS the heaviest rock I could find.

part 1:
4 sets @ 100%:
30 sec amrap clean and jerk - 115/80#
30 sec amrap box jumps - 24/20"
30 sec amrap KBS - 2/1.5 pd
30 sec amrap burpees
Rest Walk 12 min b/t sets

rest 4+ hours

part 2:
Run 400 m @ 90-95%
rest 5 min
Run 600 m @ 90-95%
rest 6 min
Run 800 m @ 90-95%

3 days off due to the flood and then back on it

September 12th

A. Clean and Jerk - build to a tough 2 in 10 min

225 lbs

B. 5 rounds for time

run 100m

25 double unders

3:02

rest 10 mins

C. 1 round of FGB - 150

rest 10 mins

D. max airdyne cals in 5 mins

112

September 13

A. Power Snatch x 1/OHS x 3/Squat snatch x 1; build to a tough set
145 lbs

B. OHS - 3 x 3 - 80%; rest 90 sec
155 lbs

C. on the minute - 3 tough TnG clean and jerk; 6 KBS - 2pd for 10 min
155 lbs

D. 5 HSPU on the minute for 5 mins

complete

September 14th

Run 3000 m on a track

11:51

September 15th

for time:
25 db thrusters - 55#/30#/h
6 rope ascents - 11'
25 db hang squat clean - 55#/30#/h
6 rope ascents - 11'
25 db front squat - 55#/30#/h
6 rope ascents- 11
25 db squat clean - 55#/30#/h

20:35

September 17th

A. Power Snatch 3x3

135lbs, 145lbs, 150lbs

"Fight Gone Bad"

3 rounds for total reps

1 min wall balls - 20# to 10ft

1 min SDLHP - 75#/55#

1 min box jumps - 20/14"

1 min push press - 75#/55#

1 min row calls

1 minute rest

total reps - 383