Melanie: Sunday

Ran 3.2 miles
35:10 minutes

Saturday Sore Corps

Sore Corps workout at the Moran compound this steamy Saturday.

Attending: Mike, Jim, Jason, Alana, Clive, Sam, Crish, Stephanie, Randy, Chris, Mel

Started off with handstand practice - everyone, despite fears and misgivings, rocked this. Photos below.

And then on to the workout:

5 rounds of:
5 balance beam jumps
5 burpees (curse you damned burpees! curse you straight to hell!)
5 OH squat with slosh pipe or 10 second OH static hold

4 rounds of:
Rope climb or weighted anchor pull
10 box jumps
10 Turkish get ups (5 per side)

A good, sweaty time was had by all.

Chris Friday

Intervals on stationary bike:

5 min. warm up followed by 5 repeats of:

1.5 minutes hard (90% max effort)

1 minute easy

5 min. warm down

This was pretty unpleasant. I wanted to hit the metabolic pathway used in middle distance sprint (e.g. 400 m run). Felt like stopping after 3, but said to myself, "what would Mel do?" and kept going.

Melanie: Friday

Back from the dead. Or, still unwell but decided to work out anyway. Putting on a happy face, as it were.

10 push ups
100 25# KB swings
10 push ups
100 air squats (30 x 3, 10 x 1)
10 push ups
100 sit ups (30 x 3, 10 x 1)
10 push ups

Christine Thursday

20-rep Squat wo
65x20

Now we're getting close to the right weight!

Chris Thursday

Played with handstand as part of my warm up, then:
OH squat - 45 lb x10, 65 lb x10, 75 lb x8
Cleans - 135 x5, 155 x 3, 165 x 2, 175 x 1
Push press - 115 x 5, 125 x 4, 135 x 3, 145 x 2
DL - 185 x 20
Knees to elbows - 50 total
Wrist rollers

Sam Thurs. wo

Bench 5x5 225, 245, 265, 275, 295 (3)

Squat 185x20
Much closer to the weight needed. Head rush following the set. I'll start going up from here.

Randy, Wednesday

Heading back to Nashville tomorrow morning and feeling refreshed after a little time away (being able to float around in the pool after workouts didn't hurt there).

AM Workout
Bench press: 135x7,6,3
Dead lift: 135x10
Box push-ups: 10x2

PM Workout
Bench press: 105x10,8,7
One-legged squats: 5 each leg (standing on bench, less than full ROM -- I'll add these to my things to work on for this month)
Front squats: 75x5 (terrible form for these, and my wrists actually gave out before the rest of me)
Box push-ups: 10

Christine Wednesday

Pushups 2x5
Much better! Straight and nearly full ROM

One arm KB swings w/18# 150 (75 each arm)

Wall handstand 20sec

Weaknesses

From www.squatrx.blogspot.com

September Is "Work Your Weakness Month"

It's official - September is "Work Your Weakness Month". If abs are your weakness, September is the time to brush the dust of that evil ab wheel. If your hamstring flexibility sucks, 30 days of work (and recovery) can make a difference. If there's an exercise that you should be doing, but somehow never get to or haven't gotten to lately, this month's for you!

What will I be working on in September?
*Abs
*Wrist Work
*Squats

Of course, other training will continue, but I plan to devote two sessions/week to one or more of these areas. If I can't spare two full training sessions, I will at least start my training with squats or an exercise targeting the abs or wrists.

What's your weakness?
____________________________________________________________________

Let's all think about it, pick one or two weaknesses, and really work on them in September. Between all of us there's someone that's good at what you're weak in so we can help each other.

Saturday WOD photos

Faster, Pops!


The don't call her mean Christine for nuthin'



"Man, wish we were as tough as those ladies..."


Who's your daddy?


(Quoting Kanye) That that don't kill me...


...can only make me stronger


The mysterious Russian twist

Melanie: Tuesday

20 squat workout
1 x 20 x 45

Coming off sick leave hopefully

Sam Tuesday

Barbell sots press 3x5x45
These were actually pretty difficult. Great stretch though.

TGU - 3 each side w/ 62# KB

Front squat 1x10x95

Wall Handstand 60sec

Also, I realized that 20 years ago this month I started lifting. I'm not sure how we should celebrate that anniversary but both drinking and lifting are called for.

Christine Tuesday

20 rep Squat workout
Uh, 1x20x55

Basically ripped right through them. We'll need to add some more weight next time.

Wall handstand - nearly vertical 20sec

Chris Tuesday

Did kickboxing class today (1 hour) -
warm up w/ jump rope, etc.
4x2 min. rounds of "light" boxing (hands only) sparring
2x2 min. rounds of kick/punch combination on heavy bag
4 rounds of entering drills - punch combo on mitts, then shoot and lift
these drills alternated with jump rope
6x1 min. tie-up/clench drill

Plan to do 10-10-10-10-10 front squats tonight.
Will post loads in comment section.

Karen's blah

It has been raining all day here.
Saturday I did 3 reps of 5 OH presses with 50 lbs.
Sunday I took the rest day.
Yesterday turned into a rest day, and today might too. I bet I can do those squats even though I am getting sick. Blah. I will.

Nina has had some thing where she is throwing up. She is better today, but she's been pretty green lately.

I hurt my head

So i decided to be a big girl and try the hand-stand pushups. Or just the hand-stand. Whatever at this point. I have a fear of tumbling--perhaps it came from one adolescent summer of practicing front hand-springs in my parent's over-run-with tree-roots back lawn, but i've been hesitant to summersault, tuck and roll, pike, or any such activity than messes up my center of gravity by putting my head below my moving body. Apprehensive as i was, i tried the hand-stand. My weak little T-rex arms could not support the weight of my ass apparently, because as I stood in hand-stand, my arms start bending, bending, bending until only my poor noodle is supporting said ass, torso, and legs. Sam was also terrible at spotting me during this, by the way. So i crushed my head, probably my brain with the weight of my body. Right over the somasosensory and motor cortices. Therefore, expect impairment in some of my abilities over the next week or so.

Sunday/Monday Workouts

No classes at the casino resort's gym on Sunday, so I did some stuff with my small bench/bar in the basement.

Bench press: 105x7x2, 135x5x2
Dead lift: 135x7
Power cleans (with sloppy form; I'll need to work on that more): 105x5
Box push-ups (one hand on a box and the other off, switching hands between reps): 10x2


Went to the gym's upper body session with my mom Monday morning and it was mostly high rep, low weight stuff. There was an evening class she went to also, so I went along and did my own thing while that was going on. I paired up the lifting parts into groups that used different muscles to cut down on my resting time:

Bent-over dumbbell rows (each arm): 35x8, 40x7, 45x7
Bench dumbbell flys: 30x7, 35x7, 40x7

Back squats: 115x7, 135x6, 145x5
Chin-ups: 7x3

Ab machine: 110x7x3

12 minute mile jog


Definitely feeling sore now -- nice to be getting back into the workout routine again.

Christine Monday

Pushups 2x5
- a little bent and not full ROM but pretty good

One armed KB swing - 75 each arm with the 18#.
- Didn't time it but 25 each arm, rest for 2-3 minutes, 25 each arm, rest 25 each arm.

Sam Monday

With a 40lb backpack
Dips 5, 5, 10
Chinups 3x3

Without backpack
Dips 1x20
Pullups 1x5

Wrist rolls

Wall handstand - 60sec

I have a riddle:
You know what's way heavier than 40lbs? ...
A 40lb backpack!

The power tower was pretty rickety for these. I think I'm approaching it's max weight.

Chris Monday

Pretty much the Crossfit main site WOD - "Murph," tho I subbed rowing for the 1 mile run 'cause my foot hurts from running yesterday.

Row 8 min. on C2 (1,750m)
20 rounds of:
5 pull-ups
10 pushups
15 squats
Row 8 min. on C2 (only made 1,600m this time)

just under 42 min. total time

This was followed by lying on the ground for a while.

Melanie: Sunday

Ran three miles.
33:17

I have soreness all over

Sam's workouts have this tendency to look relatively minor on paper, and then by the end of those three little exercises he listed, one is ready to vomit. Another Saturday workout when, by the end of the tabata squats, i seriously considered the likelihood of revisiting my breakfast. Later that day he asked me if i was sore and i was like "no, i feel good." Crushing agony came the next day. And today. Sore, sore sore shoulders, Sore thighs. I can feel the individual muscles in my upper back. My trick butt muscle that keeps acting up during deadlifts is fully awake and aware of the impact of tabata squats.

We watched Pumping Iron last night and Arnold said it best with his statement that those painful, aching muscles were necessary for success, because if you pushed through that pain and continued to work out, you would at least be eligable to succeed and win, but if you didnt push through the pain, you had no chance of winning at all. In general, his arrogance is inspiring.

Boot Camp

Back in upstate NY now. My parents have been going to the fitness center at the nearby Indian casino's resort a lot lately. It's a small but very nice facility with all the usual machines and such, but the really nice thing is that almost nobody uses it so it's like having your own gym. They run regular fitness programs there too, so I went to the Boot Camp session with my folks today. Pretty good workout, overall. There were about 6 major sections:

Jogging #1 - going along a nice trail along the side of the resort, with a few brisk walks in between and capped off with some lunges

Hills #1 - heel-to-toe running slowly down the hill with sprints up to the top

Jogging #2 - about the same as Jogging #1, but with extended lunges

Plyometrics - all the stuff I used to hate from soccer practices

Jogging #3 - like the other jogging sessions, but with some sprinting thrown in

Hills #2 - like Hills #1


Overall a fun workout, and I was impressed that my parents were able to get through it all. I also told them about our weekend workouts, and about how Chris is able to do everything in half of my time at nearly twice my age. I'll be ready for more pain next week and will be back in town, so I'll catch up with you all then.

Sore Corps Saturday

Chris, fill in the names please.

Bag shoulder and squat - most of us used Chris' 100# gravel bag. 3 shoulder and squat for 10 rounds in an alternating fashion (5 each side)
I think the ladies used Chris' 45# gravel bag for 5 rounds of 1 each side (10 total)

KB swing/pushups x10x5rounds

Tabata air squat - most of us did 5 rounds, others did more

Screwed off with Farmer's walks and some sled.

Karen's Friday and Weekend Extravagansa

Pull-ups with 50# assist
100 (I did them all in a row, except I stopped sometimes for a minute or two.)
Push-ups = 5 sets of ten, then 5 more sets of 10 (At first I was just going to do fifty.)
GSD sit ups = 25 X 2 (These are wicked hard for me. They hurt everything.)
Crunches = 50
Squats = 100 (they were gooooooood and all in a row)

For what it's worth, I'll tell you what I did in Squamish. This will be absolute gibberish to you unless you have climbed. Bear with me, because I am really happy. I think Crossfit is already making me stronger.
Day 1
I led 3 moderate climbs with traditional gear.
Day 2
I swung leads on an 8 pitch 5.7. (800 feet of climbing, relatively moderate, traditional gear.) I was really worried before I started that my left leg would get weak, because it gets weak sometimes, but it didn't until we were walking down. By the time I got to the bottom, it was dead, but I was elated. It could be said that I had a lot to drink that night.
Day 3
I led the hardest traditional climb I have ever led, and it felt just fine. 5.9, 55 meters. I yelled my guts out at the top.
Day 4
I did one boulder problem before going home.

Melanie: Friday

(weight x set x rep when more than one set)

Thrusters
45 x 10; 55 x 2 x 5

Squats
65 x 10; 85 x 5; 95 x 3

Hang Cleans
65 x 5; 75 x 2 x 3

Push Presses
65 x 5; 75 x 2 x 1

Full Sit Ups
50 x 2

Handstands, heels on wall
30 seconds x 1; 20 seconds x 1; 15 seconds x 1

Who will it be, Chris or Sam?

Chris Thursday

My hammie is still sore and I felt like I needed a break from the high-rep crossfit WO, so did the following after warming up:
OH squats - 3 sets of 10 w/ a stick, then the bar, then 65lb.
Front squats - 3 sets of 5 w/135 lb.
Bench press (believe it Sam!) - 135x8, 155x5, 185x4, 185x4, 185x3
Pull-ups - 10, followed by 4 sets of 4 w/ 40lbs. added
Slant board (approx. 45 deg.) sit-ups w/ 45lb plate - 15, 20, 20 (20 reps is 5 more than I've ever done before)
Static hand stand - 3x20 sec.

Sam Wednesday

OH Squat 65x5, 65x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x3
I think I cut depth a little on the last 2 for 135, the problem is I'm doing these without stands or catches so I can't really bail on it so I'm hesitant when it's feeling heavy.

Back Squat 135x1x20
Mike and I are finishing DL with a set of 20 and Rippetoe has a 20-rep squat workout where that's all you do for squat 2 days a week. Would like to go heavier but that's the weight I feel like I can press off of my traps no matter how tired I am (the same no rack problem - come on rack!). Squats in the gym Friday, maybe I'll go heavier for 20.

KB swings 97x3x10

One armed KB swings 25 each arm x 62# Did not time it but did it continuously without putting the KB down. Much harder than normal. About 1/2way through I was convincing myself "Hey Sam, you've already done those other swings. Take it easy." but I just kept going. Not in any grind through the pain thing, just kept going.

Posterior chain is pretty tired.

Finished with some sledgehammer forearm stuff and wrist rolls.

Christine Wednesday

OH Press 2x5 75, 70
DL 2x5 160, 155

Christine finally hit my least favorite part of DLing. You're on rep or set whatever, you're in the down position gripping the bar, you brain tells your body to lift it, and your body mutinies. It's weird, it refuses not because it's obviously burned out like in other exercises - you feel fairly reasonable - or that you're putting effort forth and it's just not moving, it just doesn't want to even attempt it.
Luckily Christine hit this point on rep 4 of her 2nd set. I'm watching her, amused because I'm thinking this is going on, and she rallies and finishes.

Chris Wednesday

Had to go out of town briefly for work this AM, but got back in time to catch the last 30 min. of boot camp. Run stairs, sprints, agility drills, some light DB work, and jogging around the gym (which my R knee is now objecting to). Finished with some static handstand holds and 3 sets of close-to-dropping-it farmers walks with the 100 lb. DBs. Now I'm drinking my milk (skim + AB) like a good boy.

Melanie: Wednesday

Ran 3 miles.
33:21.

This is the same slow time I got the first time I went out for a run a few months ago, 1.5 minutes slower per mile than my per-mile pr. But today, no cramps. So, you take the good with the bad.

Sam Tuesday

Heavy Bag shoulder and squat 2x5 each side
One arm barbell floor press (each side) 95x5, 135x2
Towel "Thick bar" DL 2x3x185
Wall Handstands 10sec, 20sec, 30sec w/ HSPU at the end of each
Pullups 2x5
Bar hangs 3x30sec (2 overhand, 1 underhand)

Originally had big plans for tonigh re: OH squat and other stuff but my hips felt too loose and I was having one of those nothing's tight and aligned days so I canceled and substituted. Me likey the bag shoulder and squat - expect these Saturday. The 135 floor press went up great with the right arm, it took me 3 or 4 attempt to get the left side up, aligned, and balanced properly but eventually I did it.

Christine Tuesday

OH Press 75x3, 70x5
DL 155x5, 150x3
Pushup plank 2x30sec

Melanie Tuesday: Deadlifts!

There are many things that make me happy today. They are all called deadlifts. I know that sentence really makes no sense but I'm riding high on endorphins baby so don't harsh my mellow. The only thing that makes me sad is it took me nearly 38 years to discover this joy-inducing feat.

Deadlifts
95 x 5
115 x 5 x 2
125 x 4
135 x 3 (old PR)
145 x 4!
155 x 1
165 x 1 (PR)

Benchpress (I like to think of these as CrishPresses for some reason. Probably because of all of the goading).
65 x 5 x 2
75 x 3 x 2

30 GHD sit ups

Chris - Monday

I'm sore and a little tired today, so I decided not to do the Tabata from hell WO that Mel did. Instead, I did a "recovery WO", and worked on some skills and some easy lifts:
Static hand stand against wall 3x about 20 sec each
OH squat w/bar only - 2 sets of 10. Today was the first day these actually felt good - went all the way down into full squat.
Snatch balance - 2 sets of 10, bar only
Squat cleans - 3x3 @ 135lb.
Shoulder press - 3x5 reps @ 95
Knees to elbows 3x10 w/ momentary hold at top

Rounds vs. Sets

This is really a response to a past comment/question by Sam about how I broke up a recent WO that had 50 pull-ups/50 dips, 40 PUs/40 dips, etc. Sam asked "did you break it up into sets of 10, or 5 or what?"

This leads to my short treatise on the distinction between doing the classical weight lifting "sets" and "rounds for time" concept found in many of the Crossfit WOs. My observation from watching way too many Crossfit WOD demos is that, when working for time, sets are out the window. In other words, you don't pre-determine how you are going to break up the designated number of reps - you just get them done as fast as you can. So, I'm not thinking about how I'm going to break up the total, but rather focus on the running count. On the WO described above, I might have gone for 15 or so PUs then got off the bar for maybe 10 sec, then back on and try to get maybe 8 more, and so on. This kind of approach hits you very differently than a "set" WO because you do not get to recover until the WO is over.

Melanie Monday

Did today's CrossFit workout.

"Tabata something else: Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises."

This was U-G-L-Y. My form was all over the map, but stayed mostly in the Suckistan region.

37 jumping / feet on table pull ups
56 push ups
80 sit ups
72 squats

Sunday Group Workout

Fun group workout today at David Lipscomb track area. Attending: Barbara, Jen, Stuart, Sam, Christine, Clive, Chris, Melanie. Introduced two new exercises - log throwing and anchor pulling.

Run to end of field and back
25 KB swings
7 one arm presses each arm

Two rounds of:
10 log / medicine ball throw in sand pit
Gravel bag carry for distance
Anchor haul - we used the tire sled as the 'anchor.' Pulled it 60 feet using a climbing rope. Stay stationary while pulling (pull the anchor to you).

Run to end of field and back again.

Sam Workout Sat.

At Health Plus for the first time!
This place is nice. A little worried about only one rack and bench but I'm going to cancel the Rec Ctr membership. I think Mike is convinced to do it too.
Anyhoo:

Straight leg DL - 225x5, 275x3, 325x1
OH barbell press - 135x5, 155x3, 185x1, 200x3 (!)
-I've never even tried to do 200 before. Actually I think I did it once pre-flexible Sam and did it seated with a limited range of motion and beginning from the extended position, never from dead on the chest. The first one (the only one I was planning to do) went up quickly so I decided a 2nd that went up fine so I decided on a 3rd which stalled partway up, but I got it. I'm surprised. Apparently I've been sissying it up on this movement. 225 here I come! That's going to be totally badass.

Seated row 170x10, 215x5, 255x5 (that's all the weight, sister!)
-I like this machine.

Wheel roll outs 2x5
Air squats on that 1/2 swiss ball thingie 2x10

Karen's pre-Canada Friday

Here I am!
I am going climbing in Squamish Canada for the next 5 days. I am really happy! Since I want to be strong for Canada, I just did cardio today:
At a pace of 3 mph, I did two minutes at each of the following inclines:
5%
50%
10%
45
15
40
20
35
25
30
0
-5
And I did tabata protocol with the quick run in place things that you see football players do.
I did the tabata the other day with running, and I loved it. Nina did it with me - she had to carry her son while she did it. Heh. We had a bunch of wine after that.

Chris - Friday

For time:
50 pull-ups
50 dips
40 pull-ups
40 dips
30 pull-ups
30 dips
20 pull-ups
20 dips
10 pull-ups
10 dips

Time = 33 minutes. The pull-ups got harder and harder. Maybe because I am being more honest and not counting incomplete/crappy reps? Things went quickly downhill after the first 50. Dips were not so bad. Going into the WO, I had considered doing some bench press afterwards to make Sam happy, but after the last rep, I was so happy to be done I could not consider anything other than stretching.

Melanie's Friday Workout

Started off with the much ballyhooed bench press in direct refutation of recent charges of iconoclasm.
45# x 10
55# x 10
65# x 5, 5

Then did yesterday's CF WOD for time, substituting single-unders for double unders.
3 rounds of:
50 jump rope
50 GHD sit ups
50 back extensions

Time: 15:05

Message to the masses...

Hey, we need to start thowing some pictures up here. This black background with 2 or 3 colors of text gets pretty dang BORING after a week or so. Mel and I are still planning to do a short video that we started when preparing for the mud run. Even tho we won't do the run until NEXT year, I think we'll finish the video just for fun.

Sam Thursday Workout- overhead fun!

KB press 2x2 R/L 97#
Handstand pushups 3x3
KB clean-and-press ladder to 5 62#
Bottoms up KB press 2x5 R/L 35#

I was going to try some light one handed barbell OH press but I had already put it away :P
Also, I can't wait to get a rack so we can do OH press from there. This cleaning crap is for the birds.

Christine Thursday Workout

OH barbell Press 2x5 (70#, 65#)
DL 2x5 (150#, 140#)

Karen's Thursday

I did three rounds of:
50 jump ropes with an invisible rope. Some were double :)
50 Sit ups - half were crunches
50 back extensions on a hippoty hop.

Back into it

After a week of laziness, I'm finally getting myself moving again. Started yesterday with the pushups/situps drill again and managed a slight improvement to 52/60. The pushups are really deceptive. I always get through the first 30 in 30-40 seconds without feeling much of a strain at all, so I start thinking I'll be able to hit 50 by the end of the first minute. The next 10 really start to burn though, and without being able to rest in a relaxed position, it's a struggle for me to get too far beyond there, so I usually end up stopping before the end of the two minutes. For the situps, I usually feel like I could keep going for a while longer, so I guess I need to work on doing those faster.

Chris - Thus.

Did today's Crossfit main site WOD:

Three rounds for time of
50 double unders
50 GHD sit ups
50 back extensions

My time = 20:15

The first round of double unders was horrendous. Technique improved in second and third rounds. I expect to do this WO much quicker next time. The back extensions left me walking funny for a little while.
Finished with a few minutes of round kicks and then combinations on the heavy bag.

Sam Weds - Happy Idiot Day!

Inspired by Connor's first dead hang pullup (Great Job Big Man!) I decided that I would start a semiregular "Feats of Strength Day" at the CrishDome. After the first feat I started calling it Idiot Day.
OK, the Bent Press - a lift made famous by Eugen Sandow and his ilk. Supposedly this is the way you can get the most weight overhead with one hand. I've tried it with the 97# KB but I mostly press that up so I thought "Barbell"
Now it's a real technical lift so I had no delusions about me being able to do it but I wanted to get the weight up to the shoulder. Sandow did 300 and I'm not even going to go close to that. So I figured 135. Got it up to the shoulder and boy is it heavy. It's not going anywhere for a long time.
So, what stupid feat could I try? One arm 135# barbell floor press? Sure. First attempt didn't budge it with the right arm but that side of the chest was tight with the attempt so I figured I'd do the same static push with the left. What's this? It went up!
Back to the right arm. Goes up with a herculean effort. You know what's really, really hard? A one armed barbell floor press with 135#. I'm done with this weight.
The rest of the workout as follows:

One arm barbell deadlift 135x3 (R,L), 155x2(RxL), 185 fail both arms. Barely got that one off the ground but I think these two exercises (this and the BB floor press) are going to help my powerlifts a lot.

Barbell bent press 95 fail both sides.
Did 5 each side with only bar - still pressing too much.

More barbell floor press 2x3x95# each arm.

50 one armed swings for time w/ 62# KB - 1:29 (previous attempt was 1:34)

I think the double unit RBC donation did take a lot out of me - I was suffering at the end of those swings.

Melanie Wednesday

3 round of 5 each:
DL 95, 115, 135 (broken down into 2, 3 on last set)
Squat 65, 75, 90 (3, 2 on last set)
Press 55, 55, 65 (2), 55 (3)

Randy's 2 minute push up / sit up drill:
70 sit ups
40 push ups

Chris Wednesday

Trap bar dead lifts:
135x8, 225x5, 295x1, 315x1, 325x1, 335x1

Standing press:
70x8, 95x3, 115x1, 125x1, 130x1

My GI tract was feeling funky since getting up this AM, so I decided not to push to failure. However, both of the final weights were PRs for me.

Nina's Wednesday

I did the following with 50 lbs, all the weight I have at home:

10 back squats
10 shoulder presses
10 deadlifts

15 back squats
9 shoulder presses (could not do 10th)
15 deadlifts

20 back squats
10 shoulder presses
20 deadlifts.

I am walking like Yoda. Sound effects, too.

Nina

Karen's Wednesday

WOD
At gym
Back squats: 3 rep 50 #, 2 rep 70 #, 1 rep 80# (I used a smith machine in case it got too heavy.)
OH press: 3 rep 50#, fail 60 # (I spent a little time struggling with it to get it into position, I got a few looks. Once it was in position, I was only able to stand there and struggle. More looks.)
Dead lift: 1 rep 80#, 1 rep 90#

At home
3 rounds of 10 dead lifts, 3 OH press, and 10 back squats with 50#.

I might do a little cardio this afternoon, but it is raining. We'll see what happens.

Christine Tuesday wo

OH Barbell press 2x5 (70#, 65#)
The 70 was actually a 4+1 she bailed on the 5th set it down and picked it up and did the last one. I attribute this to psychological factors - she actually knew what was on the bar unlike the day before when I surprised her. -Sam

DL 2x5 (145#, 135#)

Karen's Tuesday

I did a yoga class, and tonight I'm going to the rock climbing gym for a couple of hours. I hope to crush :)

Sam Tuesday Workout

7am with Mike

Bench 225x1, 275x1, 295x1, 315x1, 335x1 (FAIL)
8 chinups
Squat 135x5, 225x2, 275x2, 315x1
6 chinups

Thanks for letting us join!!

So I was hooked on this crossfit idea the second Melanie told me about it, but Karen and I needed more buddies!! I can't wait to get to know you all better! I am a bit glad today is a rest day since I am sore from almost a week of this, and I didn't take the last rest day. Today I think my exercise will be limited to walking the dog, and maybe a few burpees to get my heart rate up.

I still can't do a pullup.
Nina

Melanie's Tuesday WO

Ran three miles. A very, very slow 36:55.

I got the cramp again at the beginning of mile 2 but heard my dear husband's voice in my head saying, "You can keep running through cramps, you don't have to stop." I gave him a crazy, irritated, some might say incensed look when he said that to me the first time, but turns out he was right. As usual. I kept going and it sucked but did not in fact kill me. One other note: had to run this morning in my beautiful but ill-suited to running red Italian race car Pumas because I left my running shoes at work.

Christine Monday wo

OH Barbell press 2x5 (70#, 65#)
DL 2x5 (145#, 135#)

Hello from Karen!

Hi Everyone,
I'm Karen. I've been Melanie's friend since college. Nina and I have been doing crossfit for about a week, and we've been blogging to each other, but we need a little more camaraderie. I asked Melanie if we could join you, and I'm really happy you said yes. Thank you!

My workout today was
10 GHD sit ups
10 Hip and Back extensions
40 Lb thrusters, 15 reps
10 pull-ups (with a little hop to get me started).

I repeated three times, but on the last one I only did 5 pull-ups and 10 reps of the thrusters.
Then I rode the paddleboat twice around a lake with my daughter, Maddy Bee.

I'm pretty excited about Crossfit.
Thanks again for letting us join you.

Karen

Chris - Monday

Another death-by-pullups workout today:

10 GHD Sit-ups10 Hip & Back Extensions
95 pound Thrusters, 30 reps
50 Pull-ups
30 GHD Sit-ups30 Hip & Back Extensions
95 pound Thrusters, 20 reps
35 Pull-ups
50 GHD Sit-ups50 Hip & Back Extensions
95 pound Thrusters, 10 reps
20 Pull-ups

Really, the thrusters are what made me want to puke
Completed as prescribed in just under 35 min.

I like my new work-out

I like my new Power-to-the-People work-out. It incorporates my love of very heavy weights and very few sets. I plan to become a rocked-up killing machine shortly.

The olympics are pretty motivational. Women's power-lifting and gymnastics amaze me. I'd love to look at a brain of a gymnast. Seriously--these woman are very much attuned to exactly where their bodies are in space at all times. It blows my mind. It reminds me of the notion that there are several forms of "intelligence," and i can see where these gymnasts are physical, athletic "geniuses."

The Dudes' swimming events are pretty great to watch too, but what the hell is up with some of those swim-overalls they wear? And the complete and utter lack of body hair. Does it really cause that much resistance to have arm hair?

Melanie's Monday WOD

Did scaled-down version of today's main Crossfit workout at HealthPlus.

For the pull ups I used the assisted pull up machine and displaced all but 15lbs. of my bodyweight.

10 GHD sit ups
10 hip and back extensions
Thrusters ( 25# DBs x 7, 20# DBs x 13, 10)
25 pull ups

30 GHD sit ups
30 hip and back extensions
45# Thrusters (barbell) 10 x 2
20 pull ups

50 GHD sit ups
50 hip and back extensions
45# Thrusters (barbell) 10 x 1
15 pull ups

26:32

Walked back to my office with massive grin on my face.

Christine Sunday wo

OH press 2x5x65#
DL 2x5x135#

Christine's starting a Power to the People routine:
Two major exercises, two sets of 5, five days a week. (the same exercises the whole time)

Saturday wo

Sam, Christine, Chris, Melanie, Jenny attending

TGU 3x1

3 rounds of
high pulls x5/ knees to elbows x5

Swing/ Burpee up and down ladder to 5

Sled up and down the driveway frontways


Fill it in:

Sam:
TGU - 95# barbell, 97# KB
High pulls - 185, 135, 185
(185 is probably too heavy)
Swings - 97# KB
Sled 115# one trip (heavy - had to stop and go)

Chris:
TGU - 62#KB, right only - attempted L, but failed
Sumo DL/High Pull - 135 x3
Swings - 62#KB
Sled 45, 70, 70

Melanie:
TGU - 25#KB
Sumo DL/High Pull - 62#KB
Knees to chest on pull up bar x 5
Swings - 62#KB
Sled 45

Failed morning workout - Melanie

I set out to run 3 miles this morning but got a horrible cramp at the beginning of mile 2 and had to walk home like a chump.

10 push ups

Hooverball -- suggestion for a weekend workout

Doing a bit of reading in my recovery time and came across Hooverball in the process. According to Wikipedia, it's like volleyball, except it's played with a medicine ball and the ball is thrown and caught rather than struck (I don't think my limbs and joints would much appreciate hitting a medicine ball).

There's a short video of some guys playing with a 6-lb ball here, and a longer one of a mixed group playing with a 3-lb ball here. Looks like a pretty entertaining way to get a decent workout, especially when going from backcourt to backcourt.

ChristineThursday Workout

KB Goblet squats 3x5x35#

Pushup plank 3x30sec

Sam Thursday Workout

OH Squat 5x5x95
-First two sets felt tight then last three I was in the groove. May have bottomed out a little too much on the last set - felt like something stretched more than it should have. I'm going to do OH squats 2x a week, one time for heavy singles and doubles and the other for more volume like today.

Knees to elbows 3x5

KB press ladder to 5 each arm without the KB touching the ground, 62#
-This was a little tough but I may expand it to an up and down.

Crush plate press 2x10 - take 2 10# plates and push them into each other in front of you while standing and push them out and back, that's one rep

One armed barbell snatch 2x5x45#

Wrist rolls

Pushup plank 2x1min

Wall ball - it ain't no game

150 wall ball shots (10') w/ 20lb. medicine ball in 12 minutes. Did these in the stairwell. My form was not consistently pretty, but got 'em done. Can I go home now?

Thursday: Walking the plank - Melanie

25# KB snatch 5L/5R per minute x 5 minutes

3 rounds of:
plank x 1 minute
push ups x 10
goblet squats x 10 25#KB

Sam Weds. Workout

Floor Press 5x3 97# KB
Bent Row 3x5 97# KB
Handstand pushup 3x3
Situps 2x10

Christine Wednesday's Workout

Push press 2x3 35#KB
Situps 3x10

LASIK

Had the operation this morning -- all went well, and now that I've been awake from my prescribed nap, my vision is feeling a lot less foggy and I'm able to appreciate the extra sharpness.

I SURVIVED

Did the Crossfit main WOD today.

45 pound Dumbbell squat snatch, 21 reps each arm
42 pull-ups
45 pound Dumbbell squat snatch, 15 reps each arm
30 pull-ups
45 pound Dumbell squat snatch, 9 reps each arm
18 pull-ups

Oh yeah, and of course it's "for time."

The squat snatches rapidly regressed to power snatches, and the last 2 rounds of pull-ups found me doing a few singles at the end (getting off the bar between reps). However, completed all reps in 23 minutes. May need help brushing my teeth tonight.

Rest day?

30 push ups at the hotel. That's all.

Chris' Tuesday WODs

Muay Thai WO at lunch time - spent most of class on countering attacks w/ round kicks to leg, and using the foot jab to interrupt. Good sweat and some nice bruises.

Evening - did Crossfit WOD: 5-5-5-5-5 back squat
Loads = 135-225-225-245-245

Dreading today's mainsite WOD, which involves DB squat snatches and LOTS of pull ups.

I saw a guy at the Greenhills Y doing the Burgener warm up and then thrusters. I approached him and said, "crossfitter?" He's been doing it on his own for about 2 1/2 years. We shared our love/hate for Fran. BTW, had to wait a few minutes for a squat rack to come open - one was occupied by someone doing curls. Arrghh!! Isn't that what those cable things are for?

Tuesday Workout - Sam

TGU 5L/5R alternating 62# KB
-These were tougher than I anticipated. The first two on each side were ugly, then I got the groove.

Chinups - 8,6,4
- Wow! Considering my PR is an ugly 5 that's not too shabby. Plus I just had a finger grip due to the torn callus. I predict I'll hit my New Year's resolution of 10 dead hang chinups a couple of months early. Thanks Pavel!

Pistols off of a chest - 2x5
-want to start working on getting full pistols.

A sad and lonely KB

There's an 18lb. kettle bell sitting in my living room. It stayed on the front porch for a while and I got worried it might run off. If any one is looking for it, say for doing one-arm swings while sipping white wine, please call.

Sam Workout - Monday

OH Squat 3x3 95, 115, 135 (2 and I shorted depth on the 3rd)
KB snatch 62# - 5l/5R every minute on the minute - On the 6th round one of my calluses gave way so I decided to stop. I was pretty winded anyways. I'd like to work up to 10 rounds.
Chair suitcase step-ups. 2x5x62#.

Christine Workout - Monday

I decided that this may be easier since I realized that when I don't put the weight in the series I do it sets then reps so maybe put the wt. at the end? So it's (sets)x(reps)x(weight)
What does everyone think?
-Sam

KB bent row - 3x5x35#
Back squat - 45x5, 55x5, 70x3
KB floor press - 2R/2L 35#

Pushups/situps #3

Must have been tired from the weekend workouts since I dropped 3 on both for 45/56. I'll have to give this one another shot when I'm rested up.

Followed up with:
One arm KB swings, 44x10 (each arm)
OH KB press, 44x10 right arm, 44x2 left arm (sore elbow was giving out on me)
2-handed KB snatch, 44x10x3

Going in for a pre-appointment tomorrow and LASIK surgery on Wednesday if all goes well tomorrow, so I may be out of commission for the week. Sounds like healing time for it is pretty quick though, so I'll hopefully catch you guys this weekend.

Christine Sunday wo

KB press 35x1x3 each arm
1st one was press, others were push-press

KB swing 35x10x3

Sam Sunday wo

KB OH press - 97x1x5 each arm
KB bottoms up press - 35x5 each arm
Top of the pullup isometric h0ld 3x10 seconds
Dips 5x10
Handstand pushups 2x3
KB juggling with 35# work up to 5 consecutive single arm flips.
Pushups 2x25.

OH presses are getting easier. Did a GTG type deal, every 1/2 hour. Bottoms up press with the 35 went better than I thought. Going from the 18 to the 35 for juggling is quite a different deal. Plus the handle is a lot thicker making it harder to catch but I got the hang of it.

Morning WOD

100 25# KB swings for time: 2:35

100 sit ups with feet trapped for time: 3:45 (these were dragging this morning. needed several breaks)

Push ups 10x5

1 attempted jumping pull up, tweaked my neck. Stopped. Ouch.

The Face of Exhaustion

Saturday, Aug. 2 workout at the Moran Compound
Attending: Sam, Christine, Clive, J Money, Mac, Calvin, Bram, Stephanie, Randy, Bryan, Anna Claire, Shea, Sweet Pea, Jason, Stuart, Chad, Chris, Melanie

2 rounds for time:
1. OH squat or snatch balance x 12
2. Slosh pipe lunges x 10 each leg
3. Tire sled drag 45 lb / 70lb / or Clive
4. Box jumps x 30
5. TGUs x 5 each side
6. Rope climb or rope ladder
7. Wall (tree) ball x 12
8. Gravel bag carry
9. Full sit ups x 30
10. KB Swing x 12
11. Burpees x 20

Boy, this sucked. Too hot. Too long. Much sweat. But we are stronger for it...

And I ran, I ran so far away

Ran 3 miles. A new, recent-history, distance PR for me. Thanks Crossfit! 33 min. Goal is 27 min. by end of calendar year. My stride is all wonky, looking forward to borrowing Sam's Pose book.

KB swings
62x10x3