Nothing fun today...

     It's late, I'm exhausted and I have to work tomorrow so there will be no fun stuff today....


Today's training:


A. incline bench press: work-up to heavy 3 (15-20 minutes)
B. 1 arm bench: 12-15/arm x 2; rest 3 minutes
C1. bat wing @ 20X3: 8-10 x 3; rest 10 seconds
C2. db hang power clean: 8-10 x 3; rest 2 minutes
D. waiter walk: 40m/side x 3; rest 1 minute 


    A. 77kg x 3.  I got all of these without help which is a step up from last week.  The first two felt super easy but the last one was a bit of a grind.  I think I pulled something on my right side pushing the last rep out, but it was worth it.  (Don't worry...it's all better now)
   B. 50lb/arm x 15 x 2.  Light and easy.
   C1. 25lb x 10 x 3
   C2. 24kg kb x 10 x 3.  I used the 24kg kb rather than the dbs to make up for the mistake that I made last week.  I felt like this was a much better clean and I was using my hips and posterior chain to move the weight rather than relying on my arms.
   D. 32kg/side x 3.  My right side felt a little less stable today but, overall, these were no problem.


All right, all right...stop begging...I'll find something fun...


Here- how about Iron Maiden doing a super cool cover of Jethro Tull's "Cross Eyed Mary"...

A Healthy Debate...

     So there I was today, innocently trolling on Facebook when I noticed a posting by Robb Wolf, research biochemist, nutritionist and the author of the fantastic book The Paleo Solution.  His ideas, in conjunction with Mark Sisson and others, have had a profound affect on the way that I look at food and what I put in my body. His post was innocent enough but it ended up causing me to do some thinking, not usually one of my strong suits.
     What Robb wrote was:  "Heading to the @RonPaul rally in #Reno !!!"  
      I've struggled with how to write about this today or why it bothered me without becoming overly political or picking a fight with anyone who may be reading this (Hi Mom!).  I will say, however, that I consider myself a progressive, politically speaking.  A big ol' pro-choice, pro-marriage equality, pro-union, pro-health care reform, pro-secularism, anti-gun, anti-tax-breaks-for-the-rich, anti-corporate personhood Liberal (Capital L).  Some may read all that and just hear "Commie" and that's certainly their right.  Everybody has a right to a political opinion and, quite frankly, everyone should have one.  There does become a point where political discussion matures from the realm of ideological debate and becomes public policy and that is where the real effects on people's lives are made.  I know how I use my vote to shape that policy and Robb Wolf knows how he uses his.  But I won't lie and say that I wasn't disappointed to find out how this person, whose work I greatly admire, thinks politically.  I'm not looking to use this space to discuss Ron Paul, but you can read about his conspiracy theories here and his racist newsletter here, here, here and here.  (In no way shape or form am I suggesting that Robb Wolf believes what's in those newsletters...but at some point every Ron Paul supporter has to come to terms with them.)  What was interesting to me and what made me want to write this was this question:  At what point do personal facts about a person cross over into how their work is viewed?
     Does it make me think less of Walt Disney to know that he was quite possibly a nazi sympathiser?  (Yes).  Charles Lindburgh had some pretty terrible ideas but he's still regarded, mostly, as an American hero (the link is to Wikipedia but scroll down...the good stuff's about halfway down the page).  Same with Henry Ford.  Mel Gibson is no stranger to, um, let's just call them "fringe beliefs" (more here) and his abusive rant at his ex-girlfriend and the mother of one of his children is indefensible (it's not any better when pictured with kittens either), however, Braveheart is still a fantastic movie and I'll still watch it if I stumble on it on TV.  But does anyone listen to Chris Brown anymore?  How many Pennsylvanians are having an absolute crisis of conscious right now regarding Joe Paterno's legacy?
             

I'll stand up for Braveheart. Lethal Weapon 4 not so much...

                             
     These examples differ from just simple knowledge of someone's political slant, however.  I found a list of Republican celebrities and, scrolling through, found a few surprises (Easy-E? Johnny Ramone? Prince?) and a few not-so-surprises (Chuck Norris, Dennis Miller, Arnold).  Even my beloved Coach Ditka almost ran for Senate as a Republican against Barack Obama in 2004.  Curt Schilling considered a Republican political career as well.  Even KISS founder and marketing whore Gene Simmons put his two cents in about the presidential race (um, oops).  (A cynic might say that it's a lot easier to be Republican when you're rich.  I'm not saying that...but some people might...perhaps...moving on...)  I think I can honestly say that this list doesn't change how I think of the work of any of these people.  And, truthfully, it doesn't change what I think of Robb Wolf or his potentially life changing thoughts on diet.  But I do kind of wish that I didn't know that he was going to that rally today.  A little political TMI I guess...

Coach, yes.  Senator, no.

Today's training:

A. hurdle-hop: 3 consecutive x 8; rest 2-3 minutes (allow 1 step)
B. hang squat clean cluster: 63% x 1.1.1 x 5; rest 2 minutes

C. kb squat jump: 32kg x 6 x 3; rest 3-4 minutes
D. farmer carry: 45 seconds tough x 3; rest 2 minutes
+
3 sets:
12 glute ham raise
15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

     A.  34", 36.5" x 7.  I went up a little bit from last time even though last week I was allowed two steps and here only one.  These generally felt good but my knees hit the bar 2 or 3 times, mostly from a bad starting position rather than a bad jump.  I'm still experimenting with finding a good starting point for these jumps.  If I'm too close my knees hit the bar and if I'm too far away I run the risk of landing on top of it.  For the most part I'm not thinking too much about it though because I feel that over-thinking jumps makes them a lot harder than they should be.  I'm clearing these by a good distance too, apparently (at least that's what people said who saw them).

     B. 63kg x 1.1.1 x 5.  This was obviously heavier than last week but they still felt pretty easy.  I concentrated on good form and getting my elbows under the bar quickly and keeping them elevated during the squat..

     C. 32kg x 6 x 3.  These felt especially explosive during the last set.

     D. 119.2 lbs x :45 x 3.  I managed to successfully combine lbs and kgs to get the right weight and I'm very proud of myself for that.  Trust me- there are about a million ways I could have screwed that up, but I think I got it right.  The three calls we had at work after midnight had caught up to me at this point and I was getting pretty tired but the walks themselves weren't too hard until the last set, which I just barely made.  

     I completely forgot the assistance stuff so I'll make that up tomorrow.      

One Step Forward, One Step, Um....Sideways?

     Over the coarse of the last 48 hours I managed to finish a paper for a class I'm taking (towards a second bachelor's degree-this time in Fire Science), battle with ComEd about a bill that I paid that they say I didn't, deal with the bank to prove I paid said bill, crush some back squats, replace two tires on my shit-box car, get a chiropractic adjustment and massage, buy food and cook several huge meals.  After all that I finished my two days off with this little gem:


A. bench press @ 60%: 12-12-12-12; rest 90 seconds
B1. ctb pull-up: 12-15 x 4; rest 10 seconds
B2. ring row off box: 8-10 x 3; rest 2 minutes
C. db or kb press: 8-10/arm x 3; rest 2 minutes
D. ring dip: 12-15 x 3; rest 2 minutes (fast!) 


     If this looks familiar it's probably because it's pretty much the same thing that has been handing me my ass for about three weeks now.  Today was better than before in a few ways and very similar to my last few experiences in others.


   A. 57kg x 12 x 4.
   B1. 15(butterfly), 12(7 butterfly and 5 kip), 12(7 butterfly and 5 kip), 12(7 butterfly and 5 kip)
   B2. 8, 8, 8 (6+1+1)
   C. 45 lb./arm x 10 x 3
   D. 15, 12, 12.


     The first thing to notice is that I finally managed all of the reps in each set of the bench press. The last set was definitely a struggle, especially from reps 7-12, but I was able to push through and get them all.  I also got all of the reps in both arms for the presses.  My left is still generally weaker than my right but, today at least, it caught up.  The ring dips were horrible again, but I think I squeezed out one or two more reps on the last set than last week.  I really struggle to maintain a solid lock out when I near the end with these.
     The real issue here was with parts B1 and B2.  Holy crap!  I stalled and stalled before starting because I knew it was going to be painful.  And guess what?  I was right.  This combination of movements is brutal.  I did manage 15 butterfly chest-to-bar pull-ups in the first set but, after that, those fell off a cliff and I was back to my usual 7+5 routine.  If I was being judged in a competition a few of these might have been "no reps" because I think I missed touching my chest to the bar, especially at the end.  I basically just held on for dear life during the ring rows.  I didn't have a prayer of getting 10 of those and I barely managed 8 on the last set.  
     When I was done I spent some time on my shoulders and pecs with a lacrosse ball but, even after all of that, my arms and chest are killing me right now.  I hope no one at the firehouse minds cutting up my food and feeding me because I have no confidence that I'll be able to do that myself tomorrow.  

We definitely could be training partners.

Zen and the Art of Back Squatting

     This video is old but it's a bit of a classic so I thought I'd post it here for you to check out.  It's a little better than 2 minutes long but, if you're like me and have the attention span of a fruit fly, the real action is between about :35-:50 seconds.  Check it out....I'll wait....

     Fortunately I managed to avoid that today.  For the record, I actually am hoping to avoid having any of my lifts or workouts end up on YouTube.  Although, in all fairness, he was trying for a 1008 lb squat.  That's half a ton people!!  There's also a note in the original posting that says that after all of this, he actually tried the lift again!!  I'm not sure if that's indicative of having the heart of a lion or the brain of a lion.  Either way it's pretty impressive.

     Before I get to the results from today's training allow me to give a little back story.  Back in May of last year Justin and I set about trying to improve my back squat, with the goal of getting it to at least 250lb (114kg).  I started off with a PR of 105kg and it was just barely parallel.  Seriously...allowing me to count that rep was extremely generous.  Over the coarse of about 6 weeks we hit it pretty hard and managed to make huge strides with the quality of my back squat.  I went from just barely parallel to a true, full, ass-to-grass squat.  However, when we re-tested I saw literally no improvement in my numbers.  I failed at 114, 111 and 109kg attempts and was completely demoralized.  Justin managed to talk me down from the ledge (something that he's actually gotten pretty good at over the past year or so) and we moved on.  Fast forward a few months to October 2011.  After returning from the OPTathalon I started a strength cycle working with some of the real heavyweights at WCCF.  Something about this cycle clicked with me and I started to feel more comfortable under heavier weights (again, it's more mental than physical sometimes) and I took my then 108kg PR all the way up to 118kg (keep in mind that I weigh about 70kg).  This cycle is the first time since then that I've tried any squats in the upper percentages of my new 1RM, starting with last week's 85% day.  The one I wrote about here.  Today was a real test though and I'm happy to say that I totally passed!

SERIES 1

back squat: 90-95% x 2 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
+
airdyne - 4-6 minutes easy

+
depth jump over hurdle: 8-8; rest 4 minutes (drop from 12" box)
+
airdyne - 8-10 minutes easy
+

SERIES 2

back squat: 90-95% x 2 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
+
airdyne - 4-6 minutes easy

+
depth jump over hurdle: 8-8; rest 4 minutes (drop from 12" box)

+
3 sets:
12 glute ham raise

15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

     Both Series 1 and Series 2 back squats were 112kg x 2 x 2.  Hitting 247lbs 8 times felt like a huge victory, especially since none of the reps were ever in doubt.  I was able to stay focused and push through the sticking points with relative ease.  300lb squat- you will be mine, oh yes, you will be mine!!

     Series 1 of the depth jumps were 31" x 8 and then 34" x 8, dropping from a 12" box.  I did both sets of Series 2 over the 34" hurdle x 8.  These felt great as well and I worked on springing out of the drop and exploding over the hurdle.  It's hard to explain, but it felt right.   

     

Arnold wasn't watching me squat today but he would have been pretty impressed if he were.

All Business Today...

   I'll keep this short and sweet since the last couple of entries have been marathons...


A. incline bench press: work-up to heavy 3 (15-20 minutes)
B. 1 arm bench: 12-15/arm x 2; rest 3 minutes
C1. bat wing @ 20X3: 8-10 x 3; rest 10 seconds
C2. kb clean: 8-10 x 3; rest 2 minutes
D. waiter walk: 40m/side x 3; rest 1 minute
  
    A. 77kg (last rep with a teeny bit of help)
    B. 45lb/arm x 15 x 2
    C1. 25lb x 10 x 3
    C2. 50 lb db x 10 x 2, 50 lb db x 8 (6+2)
    D. 32kg x 3


   This was another tough upper body day for me and another morning session (it was Saturday so I had no choice but to do this in the AM).  The incline bench was one kg heavier than the 3 that I did last week and I needed a little bit of help on the last rep.  I get really annoyed with myself when I need help like that and I feel a little like I failed.  I know I shouldn't do that to myself but, occasionally, I can't help it.  I looked back through my book at the last few times that I did any incline benching which, it turns out, was back in December.  My numbers now are pretty close or maybe slightly higher than what I was getting then, but it was a different protocol so it's kind of hard to say for sure.  The single arm bench work was no problem but, since I'm not that swift, I think I miscounted on the second set in the left arm.  I may have actually done 20 there.
   The bat wings felt generally pretty good.  It's a lot easier doing them as the first exercise in a couplet rather than the second.  That's probably pretty obvious to most people but, like I said, I'm not that swift.  My genius was further on display today when I misread the programming for part C2.  I missed that it clearly said kettlebell cleans and did dumbbell cleans.  This wouldn't have been huge except that I couldn't find the second 45 lb db and had to go up to 50s.  I struggled with these and wasn't able to feel much hip extension or explosion and was using a lot of my arms to get them up.  This wouldn't have been a problem with the kbs which I would have been able to work with more efficiently even at a slightly higher weight.  Way to read Phil!  Strong work!
   The waiter walks felt fine for the most part but I had to navigate a bit of an obstacle coarse of people doing double-unders and then people laying on the floor after doing double-unders.  This made these walks slightly more challenging.  I also made up the GHD work that I missed from yesterday.


  I don't have anything exciting to write about today or anything fun to link to so, here...enjoy this song by The Ramones:  

Hurdle Hops and Me: It's Complicated...

                                                                                      

   Before we get started here, take a second and check out Houston Texans linebacker and steroids aficionado Brian Cushing performing a 64" hurdle hop:

   

   I'll spare you the suspense and tell you that mine don't look like that.  I am, however, getting better.  We're slowly moving through these progressions and I'm starting to feel more confident with this movement.  When we first started working on them, Justin told me to think of it like I was driving for a layup.  Um...I'm a 5'7" white, Jewish kid from the suburbs.   I didn't spend a ton of time in the low post making layups.  Don't get me wrong- I was an active kid and I played other sports-  just not a lot of basketball and when I did play I didn't do much driving to the lane.  So jumping isn't a natural movement for me.  Having said all of that, these jumps felt pretty good today...

A. hurdle-hop: 3 consecutive x 8; rest 2-3 minutes (allow 2 steps)

B. hang squat clean cluster: 60% x 1.1.1 x 5; rest 2 minutes
C. kb squat jump: 32kg x 6 x 3; rest 3-4 minutes

D. farmer carry: 45 seconds tough x 3; rest 2 minutes (go back up in weight - slightly)
+
3 sets:
12 glute ham raise
15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

    A.  31" x 1, 34" x 1, 35" x 6.  The two step approach felt better than before and I felt like I was building on the work that we had done last week with a one step lead in.  I was able to clear 36" a couple times but my knee knocked the bar off a few times as well so I just went back down to 35" and stayed there for today.

   B.  60kg x 5.  These felt very good today.  It's been about 4 months since I've done any Olympic lifting movements at all so it was nice to get these back into training.  I focused on not pulling too early, which is a habit of mine in the clean, and on moving my elbows fast under the bar.  Don't tell Justin, but 60kg is slightly higher than 60% of my last known 1RM clean but these felt super light anyway.  

  C. The kb squat jumps felt very explosive, especially in the last set.  I was concentrating on staying back in my heels during the squat portion.

  D.  I went back up to 122lb/hand for the farmer's carries.  I got a relatively easy :45 for the first two sets but the last set was :37 + :8.  I couldn't hold onto the bar anymore and it slipped out of my hands.  Next time I should figure out a way to do something in between 117lb and 122 so that I can get all of the time for all of the sets.  This will involve combining the lb and kg plates and, I'm telling you now, I'm going to mess up the math on that.

   I ran out of time and didn't get to the assistance work today so maybe I'll toss that in for tomorrow. 

   For few months I've been doing some coaching at CrossFit 847, mostly on Friday nights when I'm not at work.  They follow a pretty reliable formula of skill, strength, WOD with their programming and tonight the skill was rope climbs.  This is definitely one of my weaker technical moves.  I'm strong enough to pull myself up with just my arms, and the very few times rope climbs have come up in my programming that's just what I did.  When it comes to using your feet and properly and efficiently climbing the rope, well, that's another story.  Will Howard was kind enough to give me a bit of a crash coarse today in rope climbing technique and teaching progressions and I'm glad to say that the classes were a success.  I even managed to coach a few people to their very first rope climbs.  And, selfishly, I got much better at climbing the rope tonight myself.  

    

Two days of training and thoughts...

   Sit back because this could be a long one.  I didn't post anything yesterday because of business/laziness so this is two days worth of training and thoughts....

   On Tuesday 1/24 I did this:

AM session:

SERIES 1

back squat: 80-85% x 2-3 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
+
5 minutes - easy airdyne

+
kb squat jump: 32kg x 6 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes

+

6-8 minutes - easy airdyne

+
REPEAT SERIES 1

+
box jump, 16": 25 unbroken x 3; rest 2 minutes

*16" box - focusing on reactive ability, minimal ground contact

+
3 sets:
12 glute ham raise

15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

   This felt great!  I was a little nervous about getting back into the heavier back squats (and am still a little nervous about a 90-95% day coming up next week) but I felt awesome doing this and hit all of the reps in both sets of both series at 100kg (85%) x 3. It felt relatively light and it was one of those days where, as soon as you lift up the bar, you know you're getting all of the reps with ease.  

   The kb squat jumps felt great too.  I felt really explosive even though I was slowing down the eccentric lowering portion, mostly to make sure that the kb fit between the jerk boxes that I was jumping on.

   Box jumps were easy as well and I focused on my reacting ability and trying to land on the same spot on the box each time so that I wasn't jumping forward and back and messing up the rhythm and timing.  I was most successful at that in the last set.

   I did this training in the morning.  I'm going to try and record when during the day I train to see if there's any correlation to the time of day I work out and how I feel during the session.

   When I got to the gym in the morning there was a guy there from crossfit.com who was doing interviews about the upcoming Crossfit Games Open.  Justin said "Hey Phil, come here.  This guy's going to ask you a few questions" and, all of a sudden, there I was with a camera in my face and a microphone in my hand.  I should have taken off my WCCF sweatshirt to reveal the OPT t-shirt I had on underneath.  That would have been a sure way to get me edited out of the video but, unfortunately, I didn't think of that until later.  The guy asked me to describe Crossfit in one word or sentence and what I thought about the Open last year.  He also asked about the competition between us and Crossfit Invictus for the most competitors from a single gym last year.  I have no recollection of what I said to these questions but it was pretty much a clinic in how to talk out of your ass.  The best was when he asked me to fill in the blank in this sentence: "I am the fittest ______"  All I could come up with was "firefighter in my firehouse".  This is not only not true but also a pretty ridiculous thing to say even if it was.  I guarantee that that will come back to bite me in the ass.  I'm really hoping that Crossfit doesn't make me look like a total dickhead with this but I have complete faith that they will. 

  

  Tonight on Wednesday 1/25 I did this:

A. bench press @ 60%: 12-12-12-12; rest 90 seconds
B1. ctb pull-up: 12-12-12-12; rest 10 seconds (keep working butterfly here)
B2. bat wing @ 20X3: 8-10 x 3; rest 2 minutes
C. db or kb press: 8-10/arm x 3; rest 2 minutes
D. ring dip: 12-15 x 3; rest 2 minutes (fast!)

   This was a rough one and, as I type this, my arms are still incredibly sore.  I actually had a hard time lifting my arms to wash my hair tonight and I haven't had that happen in a long time.    I was there in the evening but I don't think that had any effect on the difficulty because I did this exact thing last week in the morning and it still whooped me.  

     A.  57kg: 12-12-12-10

     B1. 12 (butterfly), 12 (butterfly), 12 (9 butterfly+3 kip), 12 (8 butterfly+4 kip)

     B2. 25lb x 10 x 2, 25lb x 8 x 2

     C. 45lb x 10/arm x 2, 45lb x 10 (right arm), 45lb x 9 (left arm)

     D. 15, 12, 10+1+1

   The bench presses felt heavy from the start and the last two sets were very tough.  In the last set I had Kyle Dillon spot me and I asked him what number we were on and he said "I don't know.  I haven't been counting".  Thanks dude!  We figured later that I managed 10 in that last set.  

   The first set of ctb pull-ups felt fantastic!  By the end I was struggling although I did more butterflies here than the last time I did this.  The bat wings were tough at tempo as usual.

   The db presses are coming along although there is still an imbalance between my right and my left.  I did more reps today in my left arm than I managed last week though.  Again- sometimes it's the little things.

   All I wrote in my notebook about the ring dips was "These felt horrible".  Not much more I can say here...

   I read two interesting articles today which have gotten me to thinking.  The first was about Billy Cundiff missing the game tying field goal in the AFC Championship this past Sunday.  The interesting thing about this wasn't the implication that the Patriots may have purposefully given misleading information on the scoreboard (although if there's any team that is capable of doing that in the NFL it's definitely Bill Belicheck and the Patriots).  The interesting part is about Cundiff's pre-kick rituals and, most importantly, the portion of his ritual that he missed by being rushed onto the field.  Apparently, Cundiff has specific rituals for each down as the Ravens get into field goal range.  On first down the long snapper, holder and Cundiff get together on the opposite side of the field and practice some timing drills.  On second down, he gets a little closer to the sideline and does some air kicks.  On third down he visualizes the kick one time.  This was the part that he had to skip due to the confusion about what down it was (Cundiff thought it was third when, in fact, it was fourth down).  Not any of the physical warm up, but the visualization.  Kickers are pretty routinely called on the field with little warning to kick extra points after touchdowns and, at only 32 yards, this kick wasn't much farther than a PAT.  So, physically, this should have been no problem.  But he missed this bit of mental gymnastics that he plays before kicks and it turned this chip shot into a terrible miss.  I'm fascinated by the mental portion of sports and competition and this made me think about this aspect in my own training.  I've really come to believe that training and competing is as much, if not more, mental than physical.  I've developed a few rituals of my own before lifts or workouts (I'll approach the platform or bar from the same direction each time, I put one strip of chalk on my hands, take a few deep breaths) but I need to focus some more on the mental portion of my training and I've started to do this a bit with some visualization exercises.    There's a ton to be said on this topic and I've only started to think about it and explore it for myself.  On a side note- I definitely have pre-fire rituals at work depending on my assignment for the day.  I put my gear on in the same order every time, I lay my tools out in the same place each day, etc.  I have always thought of firefighters as athletes, the main difference being that we have no idea when our game is going to be.  This is probably a topic for another post though...

   The second article was linked to by Cori Safe.  It was written by Aimee Everett and it is about her up and down motivation and drive to be the best weightlifter.  What was interesting here was about how Aimee (and Cori for that matter) has been lifting since she was very young and how she struggles with the motivation to give herself to the sport anymore.  I talked with Cori about this a little bit tonight and it reminded me of my relationship with music.  Cori mentioned that she's aware that many people in the gym would love to be able to lift like she does, but she's still losing the drive to compete.  Aimee recognizes the same thing and even says that she feels guilty sometimes for not giving 100% and still having the opportunities that she has.  I know that there are people who would love to be able to play guitar at all, let alone go to college and grad school for it and then function as a professional musician for a short time.  Yet I don't want to touch it anymore (and I haven't for almost 9 years).  The problem, I think, for Cori, Aimee and me was that we began to define ourselves by what we did on the platform or, in my case, with the instrument.  That made every failure, every let down, that much more difficult and...personal.    It basically set me up for a huge burnout that I have yet to recover from.  I tend to be a bit of an all or nothing person.  Things that I'm interested in or want to succeed at will consume me and I have to work hard to not let history repeat itself.