11-2-11

Bench 5-5-5-5-5
135-155-165-170-170

20 mins Stairclimber (80 floors)
3-3-3-3 Pullups

SLAP BET!!!

What bored cops get into...

11-1-11

5-5-5 Back squat

225-245-250

Shrug
4 x 315
4 x 315
4 x 315
10 x 225

10/24/2011

Back Squat 3x5 - 245#
Pullups 3x4
10 x 100yd sprint (grass) - no time, just getting work don.
5x5 Tire Flips

10-21-11

Quickie

3-3-3-3-3-3 Bench

135-155-175-185-170-170

10/20/11

3-3-3-3-3 Push Press
115-125-130-135-140

Shrugs - 225# 4x6
Dips - 3x10
KB Swings 2x1.5Pd (1 each hand) 6-7-8

10/19/11

Basically had to run through a workout today, I had limited time plus there was too much BSing in the racks going on when I got there before I could get a spot.  I warmed up with some pullups/chinups and 1.5 pd KB swings (1 hand and 2 hand "american")

Back Squat 3x5 240#
T-Bar Rows 9-8-9 3 plates
Cheat Curls 2x8 70#

10/17/11

Linear W/O
Deadlift 1x5 315#

Accessory W/O
Cable Row 140# 4x5
Tricep pulls 3x5 @65 w/rope, 4x10 @50# w/bar
Farmers walk 4 x about 50m with 70# DB each hand
  - adding 5# weekly to this one to get to a goal of BW farmers walk x 50m

Had a tough time holding my keys afterwards

10/15/2011

Back Squat 3x5 @ 235#
10-10-11 Dips
35# Alternating Bi Curls (yea, I did curls...it happens sometimes..)
10-10-10 185# BB Shrugs

10-10-11

Press 3x5 115# Failed the very.last.rep....dammit
BB Shrugs 4x10 185#
Cable Row 3x10 120#

Some muscular pain in my chest prevented me from going any further.  May have to see how it progresses and a possible visit to the doc..

Squats and a Busted lip...

No they're not related...

Today's Security training consisted of (among other things) Grappling.  Although I made it several rounds not getting submitted I managed to somehow get my lip busted, which is really more annoying than painful.  I did manage to submit a few Airmen with some Guillotine chokes and other fun stuff.

Evening Workout...

Back Squat 3x5 @ 230#
Trap bar DL/Holds w/ 2x 100# plates, not sure the total weight..
2 laps around the gym with 1.5 pood KB in each hand.
Several pullup sets w/ forward or reverse grip (I found that I can manage deadhang C2B chin-ups)

Wonder what tomorrow will bring, I'm sure my grip will be somewhat tired.

Train Test Train

Took my 3rd test for E6 today... I feel good about it, hopefully my positive thinking will pay off this year and I'll promote.  Easy to say I would rather be a peer of certain people, than a subordinate...

And todays training...

Press 3x5
115# x 4 (5th fail)
110# 3x5 (dropped 5#, will return to 115# next week)
Shrugs 135# 3x10
Dips 3x10
T-Bar Rows 100# 5-6-6
28" Box Jump 4x5 (Just for Kicks)

I really want to see increase in my overhead strength so I'll do my best to stay on LP for press, as well as my other areas where LP will still produce gains (squat/bench).

PS:  Today was National Taco Day!  I shoulda took a pic of the illest tacos in ABQ.  El Paisa on Bridge/La Vega Ave, South Valley...the Al Pastor is LEGIT!

10-3-11
Part 1

DL 3-3-3-3-3
225-275-295-305-315

Went light today because I've been overdoing deadlifts the last few times and need to build back up.

Part 2

Death by Tire Flips courtesy of StrongmanWOD.com.

1st round up to 6 flips, 2nd round to 6 + 4 flips.

9-30-11 Training Log

BS 225#  3x5

Pullups 5-4-3

Dips 12-10-10

Weighted Situps 25# 10-10-15

Have to remember to post my training here...I suck at keeping notes..

Believe.

Its been awhile since I've posted.  I've gone back to working 15-16 hour shifts so time gets away from me these days.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was approaching the illustrious Air Force PFT.  For the last 8 years we've taken this test I've scored 75-76 points with the occasional 71 (75 being the Minimum Passing Score).  My waist always measured 39-40 inches.  There were 2 things that I believed to be concrete fact:  1. I would never have a waist smaller than 36".  2. I would never be able to score more than 80 points.

The last time I took the test I failed with a 71.  The next day I left for a deployment.  Needless to say I had a plan to improve that score and get an 80 an that would "wow" everybody, because again, an 80 is the best I could do...right?  Starting the deployment I did the same stuff, run a lot, situps, mess around in the gym...whatever.  Then I started looking into this CrossFit thing.  It looked interesting enough and the videos were fairly motivating so I checked around on the message boards.

After looking around I started changing the diet, and using more barbell movements eventually building up my squat and deadlift to decent standards.  I dropped 30 pounds before returning back to Albuquerque, where I continued to eat better and hit the gym like that shit was going out of style.

Well, I just took my test and my waist was 35"!!  I finished the test with a 90.9%, which gave me an excellent rating!  Needless to say I no longer believe that I have a limit for performance.  I now believe that I can do any thing I want to do...doubt is a thing of the past.

Anyway...time to squat.

Back on the Grind

Been a week since I've updated.  I've been hitting the workouts in varying degrees of intensity trying to get ready to kick at least an 80 on this PT bitch.  Today was my first CF Benchmark WOD in awhile.  I did "Grace" (30 C&J for time RX=135#), I used 115# because I'm not comfortable yet putting that much weight overhead rapidly in a crowded gym, but maybe next time if there's less traffic.  Either way I did 8:55 at 115#.

Yesterday was a 400m Run/5 Tire flips for 4 rounds.  The last round was max flips and I got to about 7-8 before I was ready to die.  I made that one up and might increase it to 10 flips/round as I progress.

The two days preceding that were laziness, partly because it was the weekend and partly because Cullen didn't want to play soccer....

I like the equipment in the gym here but I have yet to find a time when it isn't incredibly busy and its getting frustrating, I'll have to check out the West Gym during daytime to see how crowded it is, but I cant imagine it will be a whole lot better.

I had a ton of stuff going on today, I had to get new tactical gear and papers to go back to work this weekend after a month and a half off work.  New body armor (looks sharp) and some other new crap.  Not sure how exited I am about going back to work.  1. I have no clue WTF I'm doing in Security (I'm a LE troop w/deployment experience/no Physical Security) and 2. Its the start of a huge security inspection. (...fml)  I'll just have to hit the ground running, learn as much as I can, as quick as I can, and be the best f**kin NCO that I can be.  (and maybe one day I'll get to move somewhere better...lol)

So..Gear (check), Licenses(check), Motivated (check), transportation(...ah shit)

Wish me luck...

Training, 2 weeks from the infamous PFT

Been a few days since I've written in this blog.  It looks like I'm getting more and more views.  I guess that mean I need to step up my game and make some interesting posts!

Lets get into training over the last few days.

Sunday - Rest.  I try to keep a 3-1 workout schedule as best I can.

Monday - Morning hike (fasted), 2 miles in the Sandia Natl Forrest, took a few pics while I was out, I'll get them posted as soon as I find that sneaky camera cable.  Nothing to crazy, just a good quick hike, with a little climbing in the middle.  Monday night, Back squats, 3x5.  Warmed up to 3 sets of 5 at 235#.  Definitely felt the soreness in the glutes/hams/lower back the next day.  Followed up with 10-9-8 Dips and 3-2-2 pullups, a few medball pushups.

Tuesday - No metcon or anything today, just a full day of chores around the house.  Evening workout was 5-5-5-5 push press, 115-125-130-135.  I warmed up with 54# KB swings/cleans/push presses and Front squats.  Finished off with10-9-9 dips.  Really working those dips back into the program after dropping strength in my shoulders.  Trying to get more weight overhead, more often.

In the wisdom of Rob Orlando, take something heavy and put it over your head everyday.  Tomorrow will be a more intensive workout; could see some sprints or 400m repeats, tire flips, and pullups.  Most likely will be a combination of the three seeing that Thursday is a rest day.

I've been pondering an outlet for this training, to give me some other goal besides being less fat or passing the (stupid as hell) AF PT Test.  I really really really want to play rugby...really, but there is no intramural rugby here on base and nothing too close off base, softball season is next spring, so its looking like soccer, or flag football (meh...).  Or I'll just keep playing soccer with my kid, its fun enough, until someone starts up a rugby league.

Saturday Deficit

Today's Workout

Deficit Deadlifts
3-3-3
225-295-315

The box is ~ 4" high, first time doing Deficits, definitely adds a special dynamic to the lift, but is stated to help speed of the floor when pulling max loads.  Normally would follow with some kind of conditioning workout, however, tomorrow is normally rest (3/1 Schedule) and I''l be playing soccer with Cullen, along with some sprints and whatever evil fun I can come up with out on the field.

Tonight is UFC in Rio!  The fight card is stacked, I'm pumped, its gonna be awesome...or all the fights will be boring and it will suck.  These things can go either way.  For now I'm just gonna enjoy some Fish Tacos at CPK before it goes down.

The Friday Report

Its the end of another productive week, well...productive in the personal sense, I haven't worked in a month and still have two weeks of leave.

Either way, had two pretty decent workouts over the last two days:

Thursday
- Back Squat building up to 3 sets of 5 reps with 230# on the bar, that's always a good time, squats are an all around good workout any day of the week, especially heavy.
- Several rounds of 28 or 30" box jumps x 5 reps, coupled with med ball pushups x 5-7 reps.  I really should figure out how tall that plyo box is.
- Finished with sprints across the football field.  Google Earth shows it at 100 yards post-post, ran 8 sprints.  Last sprint was 16.29sec.  Normally I run 100x10 but my mode of transportation was bicycle so I had to leave a little in the tank.

Today (Friday)

- Push Press worked up to 3 sets/5 5reps at #115.  So this is supposed to be strict press but I seem to have neglected overhead lifting for a few weeks leaving my shoulder girdle (as Bill Starr would call it) weak.
- Dips 3 sets to max.  Making my reps 10-9-8
- Bag work, ~20mins
-15 Tire flips, I think if I had my own tire at home I would probably overtrain from flipping it so much, just love doing it.

So, my take-away from today is that I need to stop neglecting overhead movements, and include dips in the end of every workout, just like pullups.

I'm also 2 days into this Intermittent Fasting thing, so still getting used to it but its pretty easy to follow, I can still have morning coffee (or Red Bull, sugar free) and BCAAs prior to any fasted training.

Getting ready to watch some fights this weekend.  UFC in Rio should be awesome, hopefully it lives up to the natural hype of having a premier fight card in Brazil.  I'm rooting for the "away team" on the majority of the fights,  I would love to see a belt return to Japan.  There are also some free (for me) Shooto fights on DirectTV tonight which could be entertaining.

I also need to start taking more pics to make this blog somewhat entertaining.

A day off.

Today was a rest day.  Not really a planned one but my wife got the chance to pull a few more hours so she took it.  More money is never really a bad thing.  This put me on Daddy Duty when I would otherwise be visiting Mr Barbell.

Yesterday's workout I never got a chance to post but it included One Arm KB swings at 1.5 pood, KB Clean/Press, 2 Pood Clean/Press and double 1 pood cleans/front squats.  Also knocked out a few BB front squats but couldn't get up to my current best so I called it good and finished up with about a 4 mile bike ride.

I've been giving a lot of thought to my diet and while I currently eat a well-balanced diet (mostly clean, avoiding grains, artificial anything, and drinking mostly water)  I'm gonna give Intermittent Fasting (IF) a try.  Simply put, you fast for 16 hours and eat for 8.  Keeping the same quality/quantity principles as you would if you were eating 3 well balanced meals all day.  You just don't eat between say 8pm and 12pm.  There are other methods to add such as putting the majority of carbs pre and post workout, which is just smart anyway.  So I'll give this a shot and see how well it works for about a month and report back.  More info can be found at leangains.com, a fairly well put together site.

Otherwise its just a regular old day, I'm going back and forth on what strength component I'll work tomorrow but I have a feeling that Back Squats are going to be the winner over deadlifts, as I am a little weaker in the squat than I am in the DL...and everyone can benefit from squatting more.

I also weighed in today at 203, I'm not sure how I will celebrate weighing less than 200 for the first time since AF Basic Training, but if it happens before the next UFC card I'll probably celebrate with a beer (just 1) and some good shitty bar food I haven't enjoyed in awhile, all while enjoying UFC without the 65$ fee on Direct TV.  200 is my goal weight at the moment, I may update it to 190 once I hit 200, who knows....we'll just have to see.

Monday Monday....

A lot of stuff happening today, re-restarting college courses.  So close to that pesky CCAF I can almost taste it...assuming a diploma had a flavor, it would be the taste of victory.  So it will be a fairly busy day.  I plan to get a workout going here in a few minutes, gotta ride the bike over to the gym and "get it in" as they say.

Today's workout will probably consist of:
 Power Cleans
3-3-3-3-3 (increasing weight)

- 115-125-135-145-150

- Bag work (10 min) - Homemade GHD situps, OHS w/30# beam

- 20 BFT flips

This weekend I'll get over to the hardware store and pick up a sledge, some sand for my sandbags, PVC for paralletes and small items to fasten a drag sled out of an old tire.  I'll be fully prepped to do serious work by the end of the weekend and probably won't spend more than 45$ on all of it.  If you like DIY strength stuff be sure to check out the CrossFit Journal and DIY Strength blog listed on my links.  The journal is one of the best 25$ you can spend on your health, hands down.  Less than a month out from my elusive AF PT Assessment.

A lot of work today on my short and long term goals.

A little goal oriented motivation from Bear Bryant (UA Roll Tide)

"Never quit. It is the easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don't quit until you attain it. When you do attain it, set another goal, and don't quit until you reach it. Never quit."

Cheers,

Crash

Cleaning out my closet...

Today's a good day,  took the kid out to the park again for some more "soccer practice".  Its generally a good time.  I think I need to get me some soccer cleats and see when the intramural season is.  I would rather play Rugby but they haven't shown that on the sports schedule, the cleats are the same either way.  Knocked out a few fat bar pullups on the soccer goal as well.

 


This afternoon I've been going through my clothes to get rid of them for two reasons; 1. We have too many friggin clothes and not a ton of space! 2. I've lost 30 pounds so far that I DONT want back so there's no need to save all this XXL, XXXL and Base Flag size clothing!  We're gonna give most of it away so there is a charitable value there as well.  Going through them makes me chuckle a little.  I remember all the excuses I used to give myself.  For a bigger guy I had a pretty good self image, which is of course, a good thing.  But after looking at "old" (6-7 months) pictures of myself I realize that I was waaayyyyy too big!  Another thing is that most people don't realize the MANY options they have for clothing below the XXL size.  The decrease in options from XL to XXL is incredible, somewhat unfair for the big boys, but damn it feels good to be a single X guy again.  I'm a naturally big person so the likelihood of me going down to a large is slim, even if I lean out all the way, which is obviously a goal, I'll still be an XL. (a damn good looking one at that :D)

I hope all these big ass clothes find a better home and someone who needs them gets them.  Dont worry about me, I still have PLENTY of clothes to wear...lol, If you know me, you know I can shop.


A little difference in size in 6 months

Pressing, Striking and Soccer...

Got into the gym today around 1030 in the AM, trying to experiment with different time to see what the crowd looks like.  Apparently the 1030 crowd is the retiree time frame.  I'm talking a serious crowd of seasoned individuals.  The plus side is that the usual "Broz" are at work.

It has been a few weeks since I did a strict press workout so I thought I would go ahead and take care of that today, my last 3x5 was at 115 and my 1RM was 135. after warming up I had 110# on the bar and it felt like a good weight to stick with. At 110# I was able to get 5-4-3 reps, so a few failed reps there.  I'll keep that weight for next week and try to warm up a little better.  Once I hit 5-5-5 I'll move it up 5# every week as usual.

After the press I headed over to the dip stand and went through 3 sets withe 8-7-6 reps.  Got a little weaker on those as well so i need to play them in a little more.  I was doing them about 2-3 times a week before, maybe I need to go back to that.

Moving on, I picked up a set of grappling gloves today from the local Sports Authority.  I've been wanting to do striking workouts for cardio for awhile but never got around to securing the gear for it.  I went through some sets of combos, kicks, threw in some pushups, squats and makeshift GHD situps.  Just did a whole lot of punching on the heavy bag.  My shoulders were SMOKED after the workout, but its pretty fun, and stress relieving.

Fast forward to 1745.  Took my 7 year old out to the field because he wanted to practice soccer, and I wanted to get in another workout before dinner. We did some dribbling and passing up and down the field, sprint "races", dribbling through cones, some pullups on the bars nearby and he even asked me to flip the big ass tire a couple times.  Pretty good workout for daddy!

It reminded me of a post I read on another blog where they mentioned that when we were kids we ate whatever we wanted and just burned it all off playing outside, sprint around with our friends, hide and seek, tag all that kid stuff.  Did we jog when we were 7?  Hell no!  They used as evidence to point out that Interval work at a high intensity burns fat faster that LSD runs and slooooow cardio,  and I'm pretty sure he's right. (he also isn't the first person to mention this)

More soccer practice tomorrow!

Back Squats and a BFT

Made it in today!  I hate going to the gym when its crowded and theres not much space.  Fortunately, due to the lack of folks that like to squat (for whatever reason), the squat rack was open. So I started with back squats:

45# 2x5
95# 1x5
115# 1x4
155# 1x3
185# 1x2
225# 3x5

Its been a few weeks since I've squatted so it was a little harder this time than usual, I still keep making the 5# jumps on the back squat so I can progress in a "linear" fashion.

Moving on...I wanted to throw in some kettlebell work today because its another "tool for the toolbox" and one that I especially like to tinker with.

1.5pd (24kilo) KB Snatch
3x20 (10 per arm)
I want to be able to complete the US Secret Service Snatch Test at some point in time. (AMRAP 24k snatches in 10 min), so I'll keep working these movements into my workouts as necessary.  The KB Turkish Get Up is another goat of mine that I need to work out.

Finished it off with 20 tire flips out by the softball field.  Still working on the actual weight of the tire but it looks to be in the vicinity of 700#..

100 Burpees for time...(Buck Furpees)

So yesterday I missed a workout, and today wasn't looking good.  I had to watch my son and we had thunderstorms rolling through so takin the workout to a park or the track was a no-go.  So, my equipment options were, floor space...and yea, that's pretty much the extent of it.  I got the crazy idea in my head to do 100 burpees for time.  This being about the 4th time I've done burpees it wasn't the easiest time.  I also didn't realize the high altitude would make such a difference, but I was SMOKED!

100 burpees, 10:27

done.

Hopefully I'll get into the gym tomorrow for some heavy back squats.

Monday 8-15-11 I'm Back

This will be the first post of my new training log.  I have an old log on the CF Message Boards, however, I would rather run over here in case I say anything that might offend the "thought police" of another message board.  If they block me there I kinda get screwed.

Anyway my interests in training include S&C Programs, Powerlifting, Strongman elements, Olympic Lifting, and all around CrossFitting.  I started working with barbells only 6 months ago and the change has been fairly dramatic.  So far I've lost 30 pounds and added muscle, I look better and feel better than I have in years. 

I'm always looking for new and used equipment so If you have any Pull up rigs, bumper plates, Oly Bars, stone molds etc, etc...let me know.

I had a week off of from training so I could take my kid down to Disneyland and Hollywood, which he thoroughly enjoyed.  Before that I had not taken and entire week off in 6 months.  I felt like a lazy bastard!  I did get to throw down on some In-n-Out Burger, which if you've never had, well, I HIGHLY recommend you try.  I got back into the gym today and thought...what the hell...lets do a 1RM deadlift(DL). (favorite lift BTW)

If you follow Greyskull LP, you'll note that they do not program Power Cleans into their training, unless you use them to warm-up to deadlifting, so I tried this.  First I warmed up with some air squats and "squat tests", a little mobility work on my hip flexors, some dynamic stretching.  Then it went something like this...

2 pullups
45# (the bar) 2x5 Power Clean (PC)
115# 1x5 PC
135# 2x5 PC
225# 1x3 DL
315# 1x2 DL
405# 1x1 DL

Each set had a couple pullups in between for good measure, then I knocked out a couple sets of pullups before heading out to the track/FB field....for a little conditioning:

Warm-up 400m run
Workout - 10x100m sprint (approx) Done on the "flag" football field, goalpost to goalpost, which is around 100m.  I didn't time it or rest for a specific amount of time, the purpose was mainly to begin acclimating myself to high altitiude. (We're about a mile up)  I need to prep to run in my PT test in about a month and passing out from lack of oxygen won't really cut it.  Expect to see a lot more sprinting in the next month or so.