caveman goes for 5/3/1 for 300/400/500

[caveman]

12/10/2015 10:42 PM
The crossfit gym had an in-house strongman competition on Saturday. It was free and I was able to talk the wife into watching both kids on a Saturday morning.

Atlas Stones
The competition was to lift the most tonnage of Atlas stones over a bar at chest height in one minute. Stones available were 60, 110, 165, and 240 pounds. I decided to go exclusively with the 110 pound stone. I could lift the 165 stone, but the larger diameter required much greater care to get your arms wrapped around it for the 2nd part of the lift. I estimated that it took twice as long to lift it, but you only got 1.5x the weight.

I got 16 of the 110lb stones over in the one minute.

Max log press.
They have a Rogue log that you can add plates to. From the floor, clean it to your shoulders and then push press it overhead. Single elmination (i.e. miss the press and you're done).

I made 172 pounds and failed at 182 pounds. I thought I was going to get this based on how 172 went, but in reality it wasn't that close. I got it just over my head and it came right back down.
Unfortunately, this event took forever. So they ended up skipping the farmer's walk and the rope sled pull.

We did however did the tire flip.
I think it's a 550lb tire.
I flipped it 12 times in one minute. I think that was tied for tops and that guy was a big boy.

It was very informal, and it was a lot of fun. I definitely enjoy the strongman type of events. We finished out the day with some homemade elk chili. Delish!

[Simon Rest]

That sounds like a bunch of fun

[caveman]

I enjoyed it. I can see myself working some Strongman inspired work into my training.

2/14/2015 2:34 PM
Warm up - 4 rounds of
50' Prowler push
10 push ups

Backsquat - 5 rounds of
315 for 4
10 cuban press with 20lb dumbbells
10 weighted situps with 25lb plate

It took me longer to work up to my workweight than everyone else, so I had to rush through the last set of squats. I stripped off 20 pounds and cranked out 295 for 6. I'm interested to test out my belted squat soon to see if all the unbelted work has helped or not.

For time,
2k row "buy-in"
Followed by 4 rounds of
10 wallballs with 20 lb ball
10 burpees
I did the row in 8:29.6 which is a PR for me.
I think my total time was 17:36, but honestly my focus was on trying not to puke. Wall balls and burpees continue to kick my butt.

Then some half assed couch stretches. I waited for a rower to free up, because I wanted to row and not use the airdyne so that put me about 8 minutes behind everyone else.

[caveman]

12/15/2015
Memory has gone fuzzy

I remember warm-ups were "easy" (contrasted to bear crawls and inch worms which are difficult for me)
I think it was
5min on the rower
10 band pass throughs
10 band pull aparts
5 wall walks

Then it was time for some overhead pressing. I did push presses and push jerks, I opted against doing a full jerk, as the concept of rebending the knees was foreign to me AND my legs were pretty dang sore from squats yesterday and being explosive seemed optimistic.

So at 115 pounds, I did 4 push presses followed by 4 push jerks. I was supposed to do 5, but I made an audible and changed it to 4. Four rounds total, every starts on the 2min mark.

Then it was as many rounds as possible in 10 min of
10 hand release push ups (option to do ring dips, I did one negative and my right arm complained immediately, that was a bit disappointing, though after he used the floss band on it after class it's been fine)
15 kettlebell swings at 53 pounds
15 box jumps at 20", supposed to be 24" but there weren't anymore of that size.

I got 4 complete rounds + 10 pushups + 11 swings.

Then 100 bodyweight reverse hypers. I broke this up into 40, 30, and 30.


And that completes my 30day crossfit group-on experience.

[caveman]

30 day Crossfit summary

I'll be honest, I went into this with pretty low expectations. I ended up having a great time and learned quite a bit about many different things. I will say that I although I haven't been to any other crossfit gyms, I think this one is unique in it's approach to strength and conditioning, maybe not, but it seemed that way to me.

Later this week or maybe early next week, I'll check my normal lifts. That means I'll do some heavy belted squats and bench. I already now where my deadlift is at, because we tested that last week and it's about where it was before I started maybe a little stronger even. Though I am interested in testing my sumo to see where that's at.

Take home points:
I gained two pounds during this 30 days of intense conditioning work. Proof positive that diet is 80% and exercise is 20% if you are interested in losing weight. I don't think I gained weight in my gut, but my shoulders and upper back seem like they've filled out a little.
I need to do more overhead work. It's present in strongman and weightlifting. Not so much in powerlifting.
Even if I'm smoked after doing some heavy barbell work, it is possible to do conditioning afterwards. It's not easy, and it's not pleasant, but it is possible and heavy barbell work no longer counts as "conditioning" in my book.
I need to do more pulling work, pull ups, chin ups, rows, etc.
My blood pressure numbers moved down slightly, and I'm pleased with that.

I'll be adding the following exercises to my training, no idea how yet
jumping rope - singles, double unders, weighted rope
kettlebells - need to get some for Turkish getups, swings, etc.
tire flips - need to get a tire, and I'll probably only do this in the fair weather, but it's FUN
handstand work - why should my kids have all the fun
dumbbell overhead presses - I was shocked at how much weaker my left side was compared to my right side
all the stupid warmup exercises that I dislike - bear crawls, inch worm, wall walks
farmer's walks
500m and 2k rows

And maybe a few other things that I'll remember once I read through my notes.

[caveman]

From yesterday before lunch, 12/17/15

First time working out in my garage for over a month! Weird.

Bench press - 225 for 8, 4, and 4. I wanted to see where I was on bench and I knew that I had done 225 for 8 (though it should've been 9 due to technical errors) and I was able to repeat that performance, though this set of 8 was a grinder with no chance of hitting 9. So I'll call this a slight decline in bench performance, which isn't too bad considering that I did not do a single bench press rep in the last 30 days. Interesting.

Decided to skip CGBP to try and not overdo the whole benching again thing.

Overhead press - 115 for 5, 5, and 8. I did wear a belt for this, as my back tends to bother me less when I wear one for overhead pressing. I'd have to check my log but this is about where I was 30 days ago as well.

Orange banded pull-ups - a triple every 30 seconds. I was able to do this for 5 minutes and then I couldn't on the last set at the 5 min mark. Called it there.

Then I went inside and did 5 burpees and 5 Chinese pushups EMOM for 8 minutes. I still can't believe how hard this gets.

So it would appear that my upper body didn't get stronger or weaker for the barbell movements during the last 30 days of crossfitting. I think I need more volume, which was the same conclusion I came to when doing 5/3/1, so this wouldn't be a ding against crossfit, but a ding about not being in control of one's programming.

[caveman]

Afternoon, today 12/20/15

Ended up taking a couple of days off. Partly because I was still sore from squats earlier in the week and partly because I kept falling asleep fairly early each night.

Squats - 315 for 5, 5, and 5. After much internal debate, I decided to make this a volume day instead of an intensity type of day. I didn't feel like checking my log to see, nor did I know where it should be seeing that I haven't worn a belt for squats in quite some time. I ended up picking 315 and I think that was a good call. I was a good for a few more reps but held those back.

Front squats - 225 for 5, 5, and 5. I had the lever belt on but didn't cinch it tight. These felt pretty good.

Sumo deadlift - 315 for 8. I was hoping/planning to stop at 5, but decided to crank out a few more. I could have gotten 10 if I needed to, but I could feel my form starting to break down a bit and the grip (DOH) was starting to get borderline.

Powercleaned 135 once to get the bar back in the rack.

then inside I did 20 V-sit ups and 20 superman rocks. then I did some hollow holds, pronated and supinated.

[caveman]

From yesterday afternoon, 12/21/15

Bench press - 225 for 5, 5, and 5. This was fairly challenging, a bit surprised because I knocked out 8 last time. Oh well. I'll repeat this weight for next volume day.

I again omitted the close grip work. My elbows are a little unhappy from benching and I was also on the clock.

Overhead press - 115 for 5, 5, and 8. Despite my belief that I should be able to do this weight for 10 reps, it went fine.

AMRAP pushups in 8 mins. Never done this before and didn't know what to expect. Ended up starting with 5 reps every 30 seconds, and then near the end I switched to 6 reps every 20 seconds because I wanted to try and break the 100 rep mark. I ended up doing 104. Sweet. Had my son cheering me on for the last 50. My wife was in disbelief when he told her how many I had done. Haha.

Looks like I'm going to make some jerk blocks for the crossfit gym and trade my labor for gym time. Awesome. Though I think I'll supplement with some powerlifting specific work this go around to prevent any further loss of the gainzzz...

[caveman]

From earlier today, 12/22/15

2k row - Did it in 8:22.2 which is a PR for me. Previous best was 8:29.6. Still gunning for a sub 8 min time.

That was it, had to get showered up and head out for a lunch appointment.

[caveman]

From earlier today, 12/23/15

Trying to get upper body back in front of lower body.

Bench - 240 for 5. Phew! I thought I was done after 3. A little disappointed with how difficult this was, but am pleased that I was able to grind out the last two reps.

Slingshot bench - 260 for 5. Pretty much as difficult as the normal bench set, though only the last rep was a real grinder.

Push press - 155 for 3. I was going to go to 160 but this seemed appropriately challenging.

Jerk press - 155 for 5. These felt fairly natural. Much better than my first go with 115 at the crossfit gym. I can do more than this. Maybe I'll treat these like the slingshot for bench and just add 20 pounds and let her eat.

Max pullups in 8 min (used my recently delivered fat gripz and also used my orange band for assistance)
I think I ended up getting 36. (Doubles every 20 seconds for the first two minutes and then doubles every 30 seconds for the remaining time).

Then inside I did 3 rounds of
20 renegade rows with 8lb dumbbells
20 laying tricep pullovers with 8lb dumbbells

The jerk box build for the crossfit gym is going to happen. I'll get 2 free months of training out of it. I'm also in the process of getting a 45k BTU gas heater installed in the garage. No more excuses to be fat and weak...