Morning Metcon + DJ40 #2

This morning:

AMRAP in 7 minutes of:

5 strict push-ups
30 unbroken jump rope skips

(If skips are broken, count starts over at one until 30 consecutive are reached.)

8 rounds + 5 push-ups

All skip sets were unbroken except one where I snagged my toe with the rope, but it was on rep one or two so no big deal. Push-ups sucked. I’ve gotten really weak on these. If I was better there I could have got a lot more rounds.

The whole day was spent feeding cows, shoveling snow, chopping ice and generally being fantastically sick and tired of winter.

Tonight:

Dan John 40 Day Program Day #2

Deadlift: 2 x 5 (153#)
Press: 2 x 5 (50#)
Pullup: 2 x 5 (reps 1 & 2 strict, 3-5 kipping)
DB Swing 25 @ 30#
GHD situps x 10

My anxiety level is high, as we have a judo belt test coming up in under two weeks. I’ve missed every test for the last year, and most classes for the last three months. The weather has just been crappy, and I’ve been needed here. Not really anything I can do about it unless I either learn to fly or learn to control the weather. Since I’m not going to become Nathan Patrelli or Storm from X-Men anytime soon I just have to make do. 

I tried a solo practice for a while. I filled some feed bags with pea gravel, duck taped them up tight, and stuffed them in an old backpack. It worked great for slams and throws, such as Ippon Seoinage and Morote Seoinage or even a crude hip throw. Things were peachy! Until… the backpack disintegrated. 

Bummer. Looks like I’ll be a brown belt forever.

Snowpocalypse Shmopocalypse

Hi! Did you miss me?

Um, okaaaaay. Did you even notice I was gone?

(tap, tap) Is this thing on? Anyone out there?

Beuller? Beuller?

So. You’ve heard about the thing in Washington D.C. called the “Snowpocalypse” where the weenies got like, a measly two feet of snow or something and they had to call off the government (thank God!) Big babies. So they can’t go out and get their lattes or sneak a little cash into the pocket of a Congressman for a few days. Wah! Out here in flyover country we’ve had many, many Snowpocalypses this year and nobody feels sorry for us.

In our most recent Snowpocalypse (other than the one raging outside my window right now) we lost electricity, water and phones for 14 days in a row. Can you imagine if that happened in DC or NYC? We’d still be hearing about it. Anyways, normally it wouldn’t be a big deal because out here we expect things like that to happen and we actually buy more than two days of food and store it in our basement, but since we have 160 very large and thirsty cows to water it turned out to be a mini-crisis. 

You see, in the olden days (ten years ago) our cows used to drink out of dams (stock ponds, to you city folk.) We’d chop a hole in the ice and they would drink out of it. But then we had an eight year drought and the dams dried up and we had to pipe water in from the river. The cows got spoiled, drinking cool, refreshing water out of tanks. They forgot all about dams. Besides, they would get their feet muddy if they had to venture to the water’s edge. How uncivilized.

So when the water quit, the tanks emptied quickly. A cow can drink 25 gallons of water a day. 25 x 160 = a crapload of water. We waited for a few days, hoping the water would come back on. No dice. So we started chopping holes in the ice (many Snowpocalypeses having filled the dams by now.) The cows refused to drink out of them. We begged, we pleaded, we cried, we screamed, we bribed. Nothing worked.

Finally, we resorted to hauling water in a 400 gallon tank from our neighbor’s artesian well. Do you know how fast 160 cows can drink 400 gallons of water? Fast.

So for fourteen days we hauled water, opened gates and carted giant bales of hay around. All day. Every day.

It was rather tiring.

Not to mention, we came home to a cold, dark house every night. We hung blankets over the door between the kitchen and living room, hauled a couple of Lazy-Boys in, and cranked up a portable propane heater. Not a big deal. Annoying, but not the end of the world.

So, since it was obviously a CRISIS. I apparently convinced myself I needed to eat every processed crap food I could shove into my mouth. The freezers weren’t working, you see. If the Ben & Jerry’s melted it would go from crisis to TRAGEDY! Couldn’t let that happen, now could we?

Finally, today I smacked myself a little and knocked a bit of sense back into me. Or something like that. I grilled chicken breasts, made homemade almond butter and Paleo chili. I got up early and did the CrossFit Endurance WOD:

40:20 x 5 (40 seconds on, 20 seconds off for five rounds on the stationary bike.)

And tonight I reset to the beginning of the Dan John 40 Day Program:

Deadlift 2 x 5 – 160#
Press: 2 x 5  - 50#
Pullup: 2 x 5 (2 strict, 3 kipping with red band)
DB Swing x 25 with 30#
10 GHD situps

The CF Endurance WOD looked easy enough on paper (ha!) I kind of sandbagged it on the first 40 seconds because I was in la-la land or something. I was going to add an extra harder round at the end but after round #5 I discovered that someone had mysteriously replaced my legs with two stump-like tubes of lime jello.

How odd.

DJ40 – Workout 2

Dan John 40 Day Program  - Workout 2

DL: 166#/166#
Press: 61#/61#
Pullup: 5 x 1 (strict w/red band)
DB Swing: 25@30#
AB: Abwheel 1 x 5

My pull-up bar was tenuous at best, a loose bar balanced on top of two closet doors. Since it was not possible to kip (possible, but not advisable) I did five sets of one strict rep each with the red band.

Dan John’s 40 Day Program

Today CrossFit Ireland had a link up to an article about Dan John’s 40 Day Program. Basically, you pick five exercises from five different groups of movements and do those every workout for 40 workouts.

The five movements are:

• A large posterior chain movement (the deadlift is the right answer)

• Upper body push (bench press, incline bench press, military press)

• Upper body pull (pull-ups, rows, or, if you’ve ignored them like me, heavy bicep curls)

• A simple full-body explosive move (kettlebell swings or snatches)

• And something for what I call an “anterior chain” move (an abdominal exercise). I think the ab wheel is king here, but you can also do some movements best suited for lower reps.

I picked:

1. Deadlift (duh)
2. Standing Press
3. Pull-up
4. KB/DB swings
5. GHD situps/Ab-Wheel

The rep scheme is two sets of five for the deads, press, and pull-ups, one set of 20-50 for the swings, and one set of five for the abs.

My first workout was tonight, and it looked like this:

1. DL: 163#/163# (easy peasy)
2. Press: 60#/60# (just right)
3. Pull-up: 1 strict, 4 kipping/1 strict, 4 kipping (all with red band and unweighted)
4. 20 DB swings, 30#
5. GHD situps, two sets of five (one set felt too easy)

I’ll alternate the GHD situps and ab-wheels depending on where I am. If I’m in the big city I have access to both, if I’m in the country I only have my home-made GHD. If I do GHD’s I’ll bump up the reps as they are a lot easier than ab-wheels.

Sadists

I tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. I dozed on and off fitfully, mumbled some angry words when the alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. and I drug my carcass across the frozen tundra to the box. What did I spy on the white board? Rowing. Three rounds of rowing interspersed with some other exercises I didn’t pay attention to in my shock.

I said to myself “Self? Didn’t we just do a crapload of rowing YESTERDAY?”

Since it was way too early in the morning and I was sleep deprived I actually answered myself.

“Yes.”

“Maybe we didn’t read that right.”

“Nope, it says row 1000 meters, 500 meters, and 250 meters. And, uh, some other stuff.”

“Maybe we’re not awake and this is a nightmare. Has the alarm gone off yet?”

“Fraid so.” 

“Are these people sadists?”

“Fraid so. Now suck it up buttercup.” 

So I did. 

Row 1000 meters
21 push-press, 42#
42 abmat situps
Row 500 meters
more push-press
more abmat situps
Row 250 meters
more push-press
more situps

Time: 15:17

I don’t remember the number of sit-ups and push-press the sadists required us to do on the last two rounds. I do remember it was 42 on the first round because that is an odd number, and I don’t mean odd as in “not even” but odd as in “that’s weird.” 42? Why not 47? Why not 36? Is 42 the square root the fraction of pie or some such thing? It gave me something to think about while I was doing them anyway.

I didn’t really hit my stride until round three, probably because I didn’t warm up. At all. I just sat down on my rower and waited for someone to say go. I was cranky. I was tired. I was cold. They were expecting me apparently, because my name was already on the whiteboard and a bar was loaded for me. I also figured that a 1000 meter row was pretty much the same thing as a warm-up anyway.

I didn’t check the damper setting when I started rowing and it was set a couple notches higher than I like. I was already rowing, and I’m too short to reach up and change it without unstrapping my feet, and I was too tired and pissed to mess with that so I left it. I just sat and glared at the little lever, hoping I could bend it with my mind.

“I hate you, damper setting 5.” 

It’s only taken me a WHOLE FREAKING YEAR to figure out which damper setting I like.

Looking back, I suppose it could have been worse. There could have been thrusters and flutter kicks involved.

If that was the case I probably would have went to the corner and sucked my thumb for three hours.

That would have really messed up my time.

Oh Yeah, Now I Remember What a Metcon Is

Catchy title, huh?

I drug my lazy butt out of bed at 5:45 to go to Dakota CrossFit. I would like to point out that this is 4:45 Real Time, also known as Mountain Time. Anyway, it was a metcon this morning.

AMRAP in 20 minutes of:

15 walking lunges
10 push-ups
Row 200 meters

I got 8 rounds plus 15 lunges. All the push-ups were strict.

This is the first metcon I’ve done since December 31 and it went surprisingly well. The lunges sucked, but lunges always suck. It’s one of the laws of the universe.

Law of the Universe Number 345: Lunges suck.

See? I told you.

As I’ve just definitively proven, the lunges sucked, but the push-ups and rowing were not too bad. I was surprised. I chalk it up to my meat-a-tarian diet. Carbs make me weak, meat and fat makes me strong. I have no other explanation because the only workouts I’ve done in the past two weeks have been some deadlifting and pressing, and not much of that.

So, GO MEAT!

Judo tonight. Pretty laid back class. We have a test coming up and we went through the throws, pins and takedowns and the breakfalling kata. We had some new people so we went through them very deliberately and broke it down step by step.

DIY Wrist Straps

A quick, cheap do-it-yourself wrist strap for weightlifting.

Continue reading…

Sisu

Strength workout:

• Snatch – (65% x 2, 70% x 2, 75% x 1) x 3
• Clean & jerk – (65% x 2, 70% x 2, 75% x 1) x 3

Weights were:

Snatch 60#/65#/70#
C&J: 75#/80#/85#

Judo class tonight. We had twelve people so it got kind of crazy in our tiny little dojo. It was fun though, as always. We worked on four throws, breaking the technique down step by step and putting an emphasis on kazushi.  We did two pins and escapes then called it a night. It was Neils’ last night before he moves so we had a little fun with him afterwards. There may have been duck tape involved, but if I told you the details I’d have to kill you.

I’ve been kind of lazy with my training lately. Making excuses for myself, which doesn’t do me one bit of good. Then today I watched the Mikko Salo documentary “Sisu” and the documentary about Tanya Wagner. For those of you that don’t know, Mikko and Tanya were the winners of the 2009 CrossFit Games. Wow. Inspirational to say the least. Two people that don’t make excuses and it shows.

It was enough to get me up off my fat ass to do the snatches and clean and jerks.

Mikko Salo documentary

Tanya Wagner documentary

Deadlift + Press + WHAM!

Deadlift 5×5 – 173# on all sets

Press 5×5 – 62# on all sets

These felt pretty good. I’ve been working on doing the deadlifts with the regular over-over grip as opposed to the over-under grip which I usually use. I read somewhere the over-under creates a strength imbalance and should only be used on max effort lifts. I made it all the way to the last rep before I had to switch grips, and I definitely felt it in my back the second I switched.

The presses have been feeling good too. I’ve been concentrating on form on those as well, using a tip from Sage Bugener’s blog: keep the elbows in front of the bar and pull your chin back like you are making a double chin before pushing the weight up. Doing this has helped me put the weight straight up, instead of weaving it around my head like I think I used to do.

I’ve been back on the low-carb paleo wagon since New Years. I’m not weighing/measuring, just trying to eat good quality food every time I eat. I get obsessive (and not in a good way) when I WAM. (And by WAM I mean weigh-and-measure, not WHAM as in Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. Although I did have a terrible crush on George Michael when I was younger, which I’m sure set me up for a lifetime of bad judgement when it came to men. Don’t leave me hanging on like a yo-yo!)

Also: Still snowing. Still shoveling.

3-Parter

3 sets:
12 SDLHP – 60#
Run 90 sec @ 90% effort
rest 2 min
+
3 sets:
12 push press – 60#
AMRAP Single Unders jump rope in 60 sec
rest 2 min
+
3 rounds as fast as you can:
20 box jumps unbroken – 12″
25 sit ups

This is the first time I’ve run since this summer and I felt it. The suck-o-meter was stuck way, way over on “Sucks A Lot.”

My knees hurt a lot today, which makes me wish Santa had left a rower under my tree. I’ll have to leave him some extra cookies next year. Or maybe some cheese. I have it on good authority that Santa likes cheese.