Pullups / Double Unders / Mainsite(modified)

I was fully planning on doing a Mainsite WOD tonight which involved ring extensions, sots presses, and rolls... But during the warmup, i tweaked my shoulder - forcing me to modify. It was actually a full night:

Max Unbroken:

Double Unders
Pullups

(only 2 attempts given)

I crushed my previous pullup record by over 20 reps. I came within 20 of my Double Under record, but couldn't get it - at least tonight.

Then:

5 Rounds of:

5 "Corn Cob" Pullups
5 Forward/Backward Rolls
10 Sots Press 45#

I know, I broke the cardinal rule, and used an exercise from P90X... I couldn't, however, think of another movement similar to ring extensions. Please forgive me. For the Rolls, it was one forward, stand all the way up, one backward, stand all the way up.

After the max rep effort, this WOD was one I just grinded through. I would really like to do it as RX'd one day.

This is the WOD, RX'd




The Corn Cob Pullup (ala P90X)....



Speal Doin' it right! (long video, but so very worth it!)

800m Sprints

I'm still smarting from the week before, so I decided on a running WOD today. After all, how hard could a running WOD be, right? ...riiiight...

4 rounds of:
800m sprints

1 minute rest between sets.

This wouldn't have been so bad, but it was 28 degrees outside, I just ate, and was still hurting from last week. I was happy with my splits!

Ring Pushups / Hang Clean / Pullups

Friday was an extremely long and tiring day. So much so that I passed out before I was able todo a WOD. But today, I had a friend that wanted to do a WOD with me. We haven't done many together, so this one was pretty fun!

For time:

21-15-9 ring pushups
9-15-21 hang cleans 135#
21-15-9 pullups

I flew through the first round, and through the rings on the second round. When I hit the second round of the hang cleans, it was like a brick wall. This WOD was more about fighting muscle exhaustion than running out of steam. My shoulders and firearms were on fire!


Thanks for the WOD, 'Page'!

A Two-WOD Day

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I decided to do two WODS - one before dinner, and one after.

WOD 1
20 Minute AMRAP of:

150m Jerry Can Farmer Walk (1)
Pullups (3,6,9...)
Box Jump 20" (3,6,9...)
KB Swing 1.5 pood (3,6,9...)

This was good one. The forearms were on fire, and the legs got a tad shaky. It was close to 70 degrees outside (on THANKSGIVING). I liked this one.

WOD 2
G.I. Jane

100 Burpee Pullups

for time

I've been doing burpees a ton lately. This was a bit tough after the morning WOD and a ton of food. I'm glad I did it though. I got over the nasty turkey hangover.

"Wilmont" With Situps

I wanted to break my still rings and abmats in today. I liked Wilmont when I did it 5 months ago, but wanted to change it just a bit

6 rounds of:

25 squats
25 situps
25 ring dips

Great WOD, but my arms were pretty much useless for the rest of the day!

Offutt Chipper

One of those days that I just wanted to be toast at the end. I got some new still rings today, so I grabbed 'em and my speed rope, and went on base for this bad boy:

20 reps of:

Rows (cal)
Power clean 95#
Double under
Sumo DL high pull 95#
Pullup
Oh squat 95#
Ring aadip
Cf pushups
Ttb
Box jump 20"
Kb swing 1.5 pood

*between each exercise, do 4 bar facing burpees. It worked. I was toast

Power Cleans / Triplet

Tonight's WOD was inspired by Crossfit Charlottesville. They are working with a strength development program model, and my friend, who visited there, wanted to do this one.

Strength
3-3-3-3-3

Power Cleans at 60% - 70% of 1rm
60 seconds between sets

Then:

3 Rounds of:

15 Box Jumps 24"
50 Double Unders
15 Toes to Bar

We just did the burpee mile, so we swapped out the burpees for box jumps. This was a good WOD. I felt very smooth on the Double Unders too!

Well Deserved Rest Day

I can hardly move after the Burpee Challenge, so I took a rest day today. I wanted to (however) post two videos. The first is me doing a CFO challenge over a year ago. I was 30+lbs heavier, and my Fran time was 4 minutes slower. I gotta be honest, I'm embarrassed how I looked like back then; however, I don't run from it - I learn from it.



The next clip is of the challenge yesterday. It was cold, and dark, so the video quality isn't the best, but I'm still kinda proud of it!



It sucked! Now, there are four little things to look for: 1) I mumble something right before I start, and I didn't even realize I said it. 2) My Shoes and shirt start reflecting a couple minutes into the video. 3) While Ali is trying to get her time, she basically steps over my sprawled out body. 4) Both of those two were done for AT LEAST a half hour, yet it was me that was doing the math to figure out their times! Ha ha!!

The Burpee Mile

In "celebration" of my 30th birthday, my wife oh so kindly decided that we should do the burpee mile. After all, "a lot of people do it on their 30th birthday!" So me, a) never able to back down from a challenge, and b) being the "birthday boy" agreed to do it. We had a friend over, and he was going to join... Little did I know that I was the ONLY ONE of the three to do the full mile! The other two opted for the half-mile...

The WOD is simple enough (to explain).. It's 1 mile of standing broad jumps, with a burpee in between each jump... 3,2,1.. go!

I normally don't post my times, but I was happy with my time. I did it in 1:26.47. I had a goal of under 90 mins, so I'm happy.. Sore, blistered, achy, and flat-on-my-back worn out, but happy.

The other two? Well, the wifie had a goal of under an hour, and she did it at around 59 mins. Our friend didn't set a goal (that he said), and finished around 39 minutes.

We got parts of it on video, but it's choppy. Sorry about the quality.



Oh, and tomorrow will undoubtably be a rest day.

Transition and Grip Work

Tonight, I wanted to do a WOD that would force me to quickly transition between exercises. I did this one about six months ago, but at ten lbs lighter, and only had a 1 burpee penalty, not 5.

5 rds of:

5 deadlifts 105#
5 hang cleans 105#
5 press 105#
5 overhead squat 105#

For time

* 5 burpee penalty every time you drop the bar in between lifts (to be done at the end of each round)

I made it through each round with out dropping, so I had no burpees, thank heavens. This is a pretty quick WOD. It does, however, smoke your arms. I was pretty happy this time around. Even though I had ten extra pounds on the bar, I still beat my old time by almost 20 seconds. I'm hanging on to this bad boy!

A Story of Inches

I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do for a WOD tonight. I went to mainsite, got this one from a few years ago, and changed a couple things.

7 rounds of:

5 Handstand Pushups
10 "Change Plate" Deatlifts 185#
10 Chest to bar Pullups
1 Stone to Shoulder

For time

The WOD on mainsite called for normal deadlifts, and 20 double unders (instead of the Atlas stone), but I decided to make it a bit heavier on the weights.. I said it was because I've done a ton of double unders in my last few WODs... But maybe because I'm a glutton for punishment?

The "Change Plate" Deadlifts were inspired by the Crossfit Games Event 4. The two extra inches seems menial (as with the 2ish inches with the chest-to-bar pullups), but those few inches turned a tough WOD into a brutal WOD.

I'm also not the best when it comes to handstand pushups. They took me a while, but I did all of them required!

Couplet and Triplet Chipper

I had a friend that wanted to get a WOD in crazy early, so I was up at 4:45 this morning for this one..

3 Rounds of:
6 Back Squats 245#
24 Double Unders

Then .4 mile run (640m)

Then
3 Rounds of:
6 Ground to Overhead 145#
12 Wall Balls 20#
18 Pullups

For time.

I wanted heavy weights in my WOD today, so the weights were roughly 70% of my 1 rep max. It seemed heavy, but doable. My friend went about 60% of his 1 rep max, and he flew through it.

The double unders seemed to get me this time. I actually really liked paring the back squats with the double unders because the transition was fairly difficult. I think I'm definitely going to use this style of WOD again.

Double Unders and Snatches

I did a Mainsite WOD tonight (with a slight modification)

7 rounds of:

35 Double Unders
1 Snatch attempt

Your score is the total amount of weight successfully snatched (only 1 attempt per rounds) and your time.

This is the mainsite's WOD; however I'm not exactly ready to start loading on the snatch weights in the middle of a WOD, but I'm pretty good at a moderate weight. That being said, my WOD was:

7 Rounds of:
35 Double Unders
1 snatch 95#, adding 1 snatch per round

For time.

I this was a good WOD, and I liked the vast difference in the double unders and the snatches.

Veteran's Day Murph

I normally try to give each WOD about 4 months before I revisit them, but Because it's Veteran's Day, and Mainsite posted it, I decided to do Murph again. After all, it's one of my favorite WODs

Murph

1 Mile Run
100 Pullups
200 Pushups
300 Squats
1 Mile Run

* The Pullups, pushups, and squats can be partitioned in any way you want.

I PR'd This by over 2 minutes from the last time I did it. I really thought I was going to pass out during the last 400m of the last run... Glad I didn't!

Grace

I had very little time today, so I decided on Grace. This was on Mainsite two days ago, and I have been wanting to do it anyways.

Grace

30 clean and jerks 135#

For time.

With this many reps, it could be easy to let your form go in the toilet. I doubled down on my efforts to keep good form. I actually PR'd by about 30 seconds! Which makes me wonder what I was doing for those 30 seconds last time I did this WOD..

Epic Crossfit Day - Jerry Cans Included

Today was one of those days where it was just a good Crossfit day! I'm warning you now, I did many new things, so there will be MANY videos on this post!

Warm-Up:

Max Rex Butterfly Kip Pullups (2 rds)
5 Atlas Stone Ground to Shoulder
15 Sandbag Sit-ups
Slosh Tube Sit-ups
Practice Squat Snatch Form (w/ PVC)






WOD:
12 Minute AMRAP Ladder of:

Jerry Can Row
Jerry Can Overhead Lunges
Jerry Can Overhead Swings
Jerry Can Farmer Walk (x6)

The ladder is 2-4-6...

(Don't mind the tool, or audio in the video - just use it to get an idea of the ROM)



(They only went to eye level in this WOD, I went overhead)



(When watching this, I decided I needed a tree to climb)





Cash Out:

I cashed out with the fat bar loaded with 95#. I then did 5 reps for quality of each standing lift.

This was: Dead lift, hang clean, press, jerk, back squat, overhead squat, power clean, squat clean, thruster, power snatch, and squat snatch.



Today was a REALLY fun WOD day. I really had a good time, and enjoyed working on new things! I'm excited for my new toys!

Road Trip WOD

I had a crazy/fast road trip. 7 hours, little sleep, a bit of a chat, and 7 hours back.. I was smart enough to grab some Crossfit gear before I left, and threw this together..

21-15-9 of:

Double-unders
Crossfit pushups
Kb swings 1.5 pood
Air squats

Then 1 chance for max-rep double-unders

I had very little time, and nowhere do workout, so I did it in a city park.. At 6:45am.. In 28 degree weather. The few locals up that early gave me looks like I'm crazy.. Which, come to think about it - as I type, may be true..

DIY Atlas Stones

Here's a (fairly) easy way to make your own Atlas stones for cheap. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Materials Needed:

• Rubber Toy Ball
• 50# of Plaster of Paris
• 5 Gallon bucket
• Piece of plywood (5'x5' should be big enough)
• A plastic bowl
• Shovel
• Hammer 
• Wood Chisel
• Mixing trough
• 3-5 bags of Concrete Mix

1) Choose the size of your stones. One of the things about Strongman work is that it's not precise. No two items are exactly alike, and won't weigh the same amount. However, to give you an idea, follow the CHART to give you a rough idea of what weights you'll be.

2) Once you choose your weight make sure the toy ball is close to the same diameter. You can either over-inflate, or under-inflate them to get a different dimeter.

3) You will now need to cover the rubber ball with the Plaster of Paris. I was able to cover a 15" and an 8.5" ball with 50lbs. Place the plywood on the floor, and use it as your work surface.  Make sure you only mix 10-15lbs at a time. As soon as the plaster is ready, you only have a few short minutes to work. Place plastic bowl over the nozzle of the ball, and begin covering - with the bowl on the ground, and the ball on top. Cover the ball with approx 1" of plaster. Leave approx 5 lbs of plaster for later.

4) when the plaster dried (8-12 hours), turn the mold over, and remove the bowl. This opening will be where the concrete will fill the mold. Deflate the ball (you can either pop it, or deflate it and use it for later), and remove it from the mold.

5) Check the mold for any holes, or thin walls.Use the remaining plaster to patch it up. Then, leave the mold for around 24 hours to dry.

6) Once you are confident that the molds are dry, mix the concrete. I would recommend on the slightly more runny consistency of the spectrum. Then start shoveling in the concrete to the plaster molding. after every few shovels, tamp down the concrete. Repeat until the mold is full. Do whatever you can to assure that there are minimal cracks, gaps, and bubbles. Mound off the top of the mold with extra concrete. cover the opening with a damp cloth. Re-wet the cloths every day

7) After 4-6 days, grab a garbage can, a wood chisel, and a hammer, and start chipping away the plaster mold. Once the mold is removed, chisel any bumps, or excess concrete. Allow the stone to dry for several hours.

8) Sand the stone to smooth any rough edges, patch any problem area, and seal the surface with something like Cure-Seal! Wait a week before any serious dropping, but from here on, you have an atlas stone!

Notes

• Work outside, in the garage, or the shed. this is a very messy project!
• Avoid using your hands with the concrete!
• If possible, mix the required amount of concrete all at the same time. This avoids different consistancies
• When tamping down the concrete, be careful of not hitting the walls of the plaster molding
• Keep a garbage can, and a broom handy at all times

Parks had fun

Fresh out of the mold!

"Strongman" NOW Begins!

I finished my newest project, and used it in the WOD tonight - and it was AWESOME! I made two Atlas Stones. One at about 150# and the other about 25#. They weren't very difficult to make, and I would highly recommend getting some!

Tonight's WOD:

3 Rounds of:

30 Double Unders
20 Overhead Lunges w/ Small Atlas
15 Sandbag Squats 100#
5 Atlas Cleans
800m Run

For Time.

I really REALLY liked this WOD. I'm absolutely going to use more Strongman lifts in my WODs!

Another "Death By"

My hands still aren't healed up enough to grip - well, anything, so I was going to go for a run... But got caught up with NOT freezing my tail-end off. So, I was going to make it a stretching day... That was boring, so I had an impromptu WOD

Death by Crossfit (hand release) pushups:

1 the first minute, 2 the second... Until you can't complete the required amount.

I was still able to stretch, for about 15ish rounds.

Palindrome Day

In honor of Palindrome Day (Today's date was 11-02-2011), I put this bad boy together:

50-->10 Box Jumps 20"
10-->50 Squats
30x 5 Paralette Dips
10-->50 Lunges
50-->10 Sit ups

For Time


My hands were healing (and would have been fine to use in the WOD tonight), but I got a bit of a concrete burn on my healing blisters from death by pull-ups. My hands look like crap, and I had to stay away from using 'em.

My hands after Death by Pulls (5 blisters)

Which will ALL be explained on one of my upcoming DIYs!

The Carnage from a week or two ago..