Tick88-Thong's log

[tick88]

29/07/08

Continued with the strength focus and a modified met con.

Bench press

Warm ups
50kg x 10
60kg x 8

Then

65kg x 3
67.5 kg x 3
70.0 kg x 3
72.5 kg x 3 (PB by 2 reps)
75.0 kg x 3 (2, then had to pause a bit for 3rd) PB by 2.5 kgs

Then went for 1 rep max:

77.5kg …..YES!!! ;D ;D ;D Overall PB of 5kg (Body weight of 71.6kg)


Then did modified Fran

21,15 and 9 reps of

Push press 40kg
Pull ups (chin over bar)

Time: 7:51. Hmmm disappointed .

Finished with 100 squat

Time: 2:11 (PB by 45 secs last Sunday) ;D

Very happy with the bench press. I’d been stuck at 72.5kg for a while, partly due to lack of quality training and pain in anterior deltoid when benching.

Was disappointed with the modified Fran. My full (chin over bar) Fran PB is 9:11, so this would leave me 1:20 to squeeze in the 45 full front squats for the thrusters….d**n.

Pleased with PB on the air squats, quite an improvement on last effort.

[jules]

WOW..... 77.5 ,brilliant!! ;D

[tick88]

Tx Jules


30/07/08

Today, joined the team at CrossFit Reading. These sessions always make me nervous and feeling like sick before I start especially if it involves anything that requires me to put one foot in front of the other in a continuous motion ie running, because I suck at it.

I wanted to puke when I saw Helen on the board.

Not only that, for me it was going to be as Rx as there were 1.5 Pood Kettlebells (24kg). My current pb previously was with 16kg KB at 11:45 on June 28th 2008.



Firstly though did the usual warm up, then some thruster work
Then:

Helen

400m
21 KB swings
12 pull ups

3 rounds for time.

Time: 11:14 (though I thought it said 11:40 on the board at the time)

PB either way, this was pleasing ;D . Aim is to now break 11 minutes which I know I can do if I don’t get worked up before the dam thing.

Then finish with some 5 minute of jog, and the on command, do either Thrusters or KB swings

Focusing on strength and less Met con the previous 2 days seemed to leave me with more energy for tonights WOD even though I didn’t feel like it at the time. Will try to continue with this for a few weeks.

[tick88]

05/08/08

Some time off has bought some revelations in life for me.

5 years ago, I became addicted to golf (though I’m still not very good), 3 years after that I developed a passion for on-line poker (I don’t believe it was an addiction), 2 years after that I took my winnings (yep I won more then I lost) and bought my oly bar some bumpers and a squat rack and am still pursuing my passion of fitness…namely CrossFit.

Well, last Friday, I reunited with my colleagues from waaaay back for some golf, and after some beautiful tee-shots I realised something. My passion in life was re-confirmed. It was after the glorious 3rd hole that I felt the strong urge to.... squat clean and throw my golf bag and cheap clubs the remaining 4500 yards or so of the course, followed by seeing how far I could hammer throw the clubs…for time...passion for training sits above that for golf.

Revelation number 2 came from tonight’s session.
I’ve been mentally drained the last 2 days since starting a new job…so wanted to work on some snatch technique...which was a mistake

Did some hang power snatches:

20kg x 3
25kg x 3
30kg x 3
35kg x 3
40kg x 3

Although light, this session was a struggle.
Snatches are hard….and should not be done when mentally tired. 4 days away from training has left me feeling the effect. Need a good hard session to get the groove back...bring on Wednesday

[tick88]

From last night

06/08/08

I wanted to have a good session tonight. Third day in the new job and the body was adapting to the earlier start so I felt okay going down to CrossFit Reading, though slightly tired. Either way the WOD was very enjoyable

Started with some speed agility skills involving some 2 sets of 6 barriers and 2 agility ladders.

Did 5 circuits of single steps over barriers and into ladders, then 2 circuits of double steps.

Then worked on some hang power cleans focusing on driving up to get the bar to that level where it is ‘weightless’ to enable the third extension to get under the bar.

Then the WOD.

4 minutes of each of the following with a couple minutes rest in between.

SDHP 52
Wall balls 9kg 66
Press up 83
Ring pull/row 46
Skipping single unders 409 (I beat the girls – woo hoo ;D)

Total: 656

I’ve started to improve my technique on the SDHP and Wall balls as it felt that I was maintaining form more consistently into the later stages of the round.

This was a good WOD to get back the grove.

[tick88]

09/08/08

Second day of Nutrition module as part of PT course. Pretty interesting, but up at 7 and home for 9 means little time to train so far. However, ran from venue to in-laws through the streets and pollution of London, just to get something under my belt.

Had ruck sack, about 10lbs and it was lovely and rainy.

Ran 3 k

Time 15:30

Didn’t take into account any traffic stoppages of which there were quite a few…so was pleased with this time. This would work out at a 5k of about 26 minutes, which would be very pleasing if I do ever run that time for 5k.

[tick88]

10/08/08

Finished last day of nutrition module. Pretty interesting stuff, though only touching on an area that is obviously huge. Also met some more CrossFit people, including someone who is actually going to the certification in September, which was cool. Spent a lot of time in breaks talking about CrossFit and training etc. got a few more people interestd

Anyway got home and just wanted to squeeze out a max rep pull ups: Managed 19 which was an increase of 1.

11/08/08

First main session in a while again.

5 minutes of bag work

Then:

After yesterday pb on the max rep pull ups thought I’d give it a go again.

Max rep pull ups (kips) 18 (-1 from PB )

Despite this dissapoinment

Felt good for the main session though.
I’ve been wanting to do this as Rx for a long time

Dead lifts @ 60kg x 15
Pressups x 15
10 Sets.

Split times are as follows

Round: Cumulative time: Round time
1 0.50 0.50
2 2:02 1:52
3 3:58 1:56
4 6:04 2:06
5 8:48 2:44
6 11:48 3:00
7 14:40 2:52
8 17:44 3:04
9 20:40 2:56
10 24:30 3:10

Total: 24:30

On paper, I thought this was going to be okay. Less then half my Max deadlift, and 60kg deadlifts are okay at a bodyweight of 72kg…but deep down, I knew that something was going to make this really suck.

Things started okay, I was expecting to get below 20minutes. But something around round 5 just kicked in, or didn’t, and it started to really become a struggle. Had to break down into groups of 8 and 7 and 5,5,5 for the DLs in order to maintain form but to be honest, I think this started to go down hill as well the last few sets.

First time at this WOD, not too much to celebrate...but pleased to finish

[tick88]

12/08/08

Lower back, glutes and hams were all aching from yesterdays dead lift work out. Today, I wasn’t going to get anything productive out of anything involving the legs, so did modified WODs that focused on the upper half (sounds like a split routine, which is a bit rubbish, but legs just weren’t going to do what I wanted). So did:

Power Elizabeth:

21,15,9 reps of:
Hang power cleans 50kg (Rx weight is 60kg)
Ring Dips

Time: 10:18 (PB by 1:08minutes)

Was pleased with the improved time, but still feel a lot of work is need on my cleans, a definite weakness along with dead lifts (…and everything else ) grip was a real issue and sets were broken because of this.

Started a bit earlier tonight so decided to add an additional strength session, should have done this first but the girl WODS always scare me a bit so tend to get them over and done with first.

Anyway,

Finished with push presses 5x3

Practiced with 20kg to make sure I wasn’t going to jerk the bugger.

Then:

50kg x 3
55kg x 3
60kg x 3
65kg x 3
70kg x 2 + 1 (failed to lock out on third, but PB by 5kg for 2 reps)

Then just wanted to try my bodyweight (72kg)

72.5kg x 1 (held lock out with arms back to full extension for 3 secs to make sure) ;D ;D

Okay, this was satisfying, I think I could have done 75kg had I not done Elizabeth first, but decided to finish on the positive…now I just need to be able to clean that mass then I could have a go at C+Jerking my body weight.

[tick88]

13/08/08

At CrossFit Reading today. Feeling quite good, though still aches in hams and lower back and glutes, but not enough to stop looking forward and seeing what was in store.

Started with some thrusters practice.
Did:

5x 36kg
5x 41kg
5x 56kg

Then moved onto the WOD:

The Filthy Fifty

50 Box Jumps 24"
50 Jumping Pull Ups
50 KB Swings 16 kg
50 Walking Lunges
50 KTE's
50 Push Press 20g
50 Supermen instead of back extensions
50 Wall Ball 9 kg
50 Burpees
50 Doubleunders

Time: 29:22 ish I think (Andy to confirm)

This was my first FF as Rx and I was pleased to break 30 minutes…though I think I can go faster if the lower body wasn’t aching, really struggled on box jumps and wall balls and burpees (which I normally quite like), but did the jump rope double unders which after starting promisingly with about 11 in a row, struggled to get the rhythm again until the around the 30 mark where I managed to get a dozen or so out again.

Enjoyed this, can’t wait for the next one!

[tick88]

15/08/08

Okay, the plan for today was to do 5x5 back squats and a short circuit of some sort:

Warmed up with

20kgs x 10
60kgs x 8

Then:
80kgs x 5
85kgs x 5
90kgs x 5
The last 2 were somewhat farcical .

92.5kgs x 5 – this was split into a 4 and 1 .
95 kgs x 5 – was split 1 1 1 and 2 .

I was really p***ed off . The broken set meant I didn’t do a true 5x5. Will need to repeat at these weights again and do them unbroken before moving up. Not happy, I was even looking for excuses like the yellow bumpers were probably not caliberated properly and other stupid bs thoughts.

It left me actually doubting that I did my 1 rep PB of 97.5kgs back on the 27/07/08 .
So I decided to try my 1 rep PB again.

The nice thing about training in the garage was that I could grunt and shout to psyche myself up, saying stuff like the Chinese Oly lifters, I didn’t know what I was shouting myself sometimes. It was good because this is what happened:

97.5kgs x 1
97.5kgs x 1 Again to make sure.
100 kgs x 1 NEW PB – felt like the hulk. ;D ;D ;D
This was a bench mark I wanted.

Then:

102.5 x failed – felt like a p***y again, but a happy one .

Finished with 60kg x8

Stopped there as I was actually knackered.
Need top work on the 5x5 though.
Note: Must remember to grunt shout obscenities at myself before lifting - it really helps prepare the mind.

[Andy]

top session mate and congrats on the pb. on the 5x5 have you thought of doing sets across. once you can do 5x5 on that weight then it's time to move up the weight. With the new pb possibly 80-85 of that pb. couple sessions of that then 5x3 of 90% of 1 rep max for a couple of sessions. then try 1 rep max again.

If i'm teaching you to suck eggs i appologise buddy. It's worked for me though.

[tick88]

Not at all Andy, I'm always a student first when it comes to training.

What you've suggested is perfect, you've just saved me having to search the internet on 5x5 and 5x3.

I'll give that a go starting next week.

Cheque will be in the post

[tick88]

Not been able to update the Trog for a while, the PC died at the weekend, it’s had 6 years of heavy usage.

Anyway here are the last few sessions:

21/08/08

5X5 day.

Warm up.

3 rounds:
10 pull ups
15 press ups
15 squats

The 5x5s

Squats:

Warmed up with:

20kg x 5
40kg x 5
60kg x 5
70kg x 5

The main course 1
5x5 Squats with 85kg

Standing press
Warmed up with:

20kg x 10
40kg x 5

The main course 2
5x5 press with 47.5kg


Deadlift

Main course 3
Warm up 60k x 10

5x5 deadlift with 100kg

This was a good session, really enjoyable ;D ;D ;D.
I’m loving doing the squats at the moment.


22/08/08

Did modified version of a new WOD from the main CF site.

25, 20. 15, 10, 5 reps of:

Pull ups
Dips

This was half the number of reps Rx on the main WOD. Good thng too, took me a long 17.19 minutes.

The muscles were just pumped and so made it hard to get a good flow of reps without breaking the sets up.

Followed this with:

Overhead squats:

Warmed up with:

Broom handle x 10
Broom handle x 10 again.
20kg x 5
20kg x 5

Then:

5x5 of 40kgs

Finished with 50 sit ups.


23/08/08

Went for a 5 K run, it turned into a jog as my glutes and hams were feeling the effect of 2 days of squats.

5K in 32minutes Sh!te

A few days off to enjoy the Beijing Olympics hand over party in the London, and another day doing the garden and being p!ssed off when my PC died.

[tick88]

27/08/08

Crossfit Reading

Was very pleased to see Angie on the board .

Now was going to be a good time to improve the PB, of 26.33…training with the team helps do that. I felt good, rested and not too tired from work and not too hungry.

So:

For time

Angie
100 pull ups
100 push ups
100 sit ups
100 squats


The splits were roughly as follows:
Pull ups (15,5,15,5,10,10, then splits of 8,7 etc down to 3s for the last 12)
Push ups (30,10, 15, 15 and the arms were all pumped and had to drop to 10s for the reminder.
Sit ups (30, then 20, the 15 and 10’s)
Squats (20’s, then the last 30-40 were sets of 10s)

Time: 24 something (Andy to confirm)

I’m now really pleased with this new PB. ;D ;D ;D

As mentioned it helped when other team members were finishing ahead of you, makes you want to finish quicker. Also, when Readings Thousand Pound Monster, Andy, says a few words, that helps get that extra few reps out.

I wasn’t too happy after Angie at that moment in time though ...

Firstly, the squats absolutely trashed me.
The reason was my legs were totally pumped and the lactic acid was taking a while to clear. I felt like sh!t .

That was the second problem, my intestines started going haywire and I felt like the world was going to fall out of my bottom.

I’d had this before and knew that this was not an unheard of physiological response…often referred to as Runner’s Trots. (see here for more details www.time-to-run.com/doctor/runnerstrots.htm) Clearly the sqats were really having their post workout impact. Not nice.

I almost wanted to not do the second part of the session, but just about decided to, can’t remember the details of what we did, but it was running with the sand bags and some cleans…in teams.

I still felt bad.

Anyway, as Andy said, what don’t kill you makes you stronger.

Great session over all, when I look back in hindsight. ;D

[tick88]

30/09/08

At Crossfit Reading

5x5 deadlift

90kg
100kgs
105kg
110kg
100kg

Then

7 rounds of
7 cleans
7 press
7 thrusters

with 30kg

Time: 15.16minutes

The deadlifts were good, as had a chance to have form looked at, which was very useful, and some things to work on.
The circuit was a goodn' but really sucked the last 2 rounds

02/09/08

Warmed up with:
3 rounds of:
10 Pull ups
15 press ups
15 air squats

Then worked on back squats

20kg x 5 x 2 rounds
40kg x 5
60kg x 5
70kg x 5

Then:

5x5 Back squats at 87.5kg

I felt stronger and will aim to up the load once more then go onto the 5x3s next.

Finish with a scaled down mini version of the following:

5 rounds

Dumbell hang clean squat 12.5kg x 10
Ply push ups (chest slaps) x 10

(As Rx would be 10 rounds with 40lbs – aprox 20kgs)

This sucked. Not only was it getting harder with each round (the cumulative splits were: 0.55, 2:30, 4:49, 7:40, 10:20 minutes) but the chest slaps became harder as I tried to get the slap in quicker before landing flat on my face.

Good workout though, the plyo push ups gas you then you have to try and sustain this steady power output with the hang power squat cleans.



03/09/08

CrossFit Reading

5 rounds of:

200m? run
20 Box jump
20 K2E
20 KB swing
10 Thrusters


Due to time constraints, only did 4 rounds

Time: 24.40 minutes aprox
Sticking the thrusters at the end is a mean thing to do.