Turkish Get Ups

Today I wanted to stay with the heavy lifting. I wanted to do some heavy Turkish Get Ups. I have not done these for awhile. Turkish get ups are a phenomenal full body exercise for developing strength, power, flexibility and coordination through the whole body. I set the clock at 15 minutes to work up to a heavy set of 1 on my weakest side. I decided to use the barbell for this exercise. I finished with 105 lbs. I maybe could have done 115 but I wasn't really going for a full max effort, just a heavy set.

I was a little sore from the weighted pull ups yesterday but that was about it. My legs handled the rest OK. After a pretty good warm up. The TGU's felt fine.

After:

2 rounds for a time

run 400 meters

12 kettle bell swings 70 lbs.

I finished in 5 min 21 secs. Using a dumbbell for the Kettle bell swings. I don't have access to that heavy of a kettle bell. I wasn't sure where I would finish with this wod. I just wanted to finish under 7 minutes. The swings were not really an issue but the running was. Expect to see loads more running in the future.

Short, Fast, and Heavy

3 rounds for a time of:

3 squat clean thrusters 185 pounds

4 weighted pull-ups 55 pounds b/w the legs

100 meters buddy carry ( Fireman style)

I finished in 6 min 51 secs. I really wanted to do something that was short, fast , intense and Heavy. All of this was pretty heavy for me. The squat cleans being the heaviest. Thinking about this workout now I think I have exposed a weakness in my training. That would have to be core strength. During the squat clean thrusters I would pull forward in the squat clean making it that much harder to come out of the squat and get the weight over head. With a stronger core I would be able to keep good allowing me to be able to do these no problem.

During the Fireman carry I recruited a kid from the gym who weighed about as much as I do about 190 pounds. With in the first 25 meters I would slump forward in the core making it harder to breath and carry this kid the full 100 meters. I will definitely make this a focus of mine to improve my core strength so that I can go again stronger and faster. On the positive side I did finish every round unbroken. That has sort of become a new theme of mine UNBROKEN! That is the chant I have in my head when faced with these difficult tasks. Keep going! Keep Pushing! UNBROKEN!

A sneaky one, climb a rope wod #4

20 ft rope climb, 5 ascents

Push a Ford Focus 150 meters

20 ft rope climb, 4 ascents

Push a Ford Focus 125 meters

20 ft rope climb, 3 ascents

Push a Ford Focus 100 meters

20 ft rope climb, 2 ascents

Push a Ford Focus 75 meters

20 ft rope climb, 1 ascent

Push a Ford Focus 50 meters

This was one of those really sneaky workouts. The kind that sounded fun and easy in the beginning. At the end left you wasted and tired thinking what the hell happened. Two things, I really love to train outside and I really enjoy climbing the rope. Especially now that someone has taught me how to get it down easier.

My friend Mike and I cruised around looking for a place to hang the rope and push my car. I have pushed my car several times in the past as sort of a prowler simulator. I am somewhat used to this. My friend Mike however has never experienced this kind of effort before. At the same time I have never pushed my car this distance before either. As well as the most I have ever climbed my rope in a single work out session before was 7 times during the climb a rope wod #3. Now we were looking to up the stakes a little or a whole bunch actually doubling the most we have ever done before to 15 rope climbs.

I finished in 16 minutes and 51 seconds. Mike finished in 27 minutes and 39 seconds. Climbing 300 ft of rope and pushing a car 500 meters. A great effort by the both of us. For me the first five rope climbs went really fast. Pushing the car went by way too fast as well. I remember feeling pretty leveled after that first round. I moved through the next four rope climbs trying to stay consistent. The third round of rope climbs is where I bonked. That little bit of doubt creep ed into my head. I remember thinking "will I be able to do this ", " This is way harder than I expected, what was I thinking". I just wanted it to be over with and fast. I kind of went out of my head a little and just kept going trying to not focus on the pain.

In the end I felt very satisfied that I kept with it and finished the workout. That is a difficult thing to do when you have this doubt in your head telling you it is to hard. So I am satisfied there. My friend Mike was up second and let me tell you this was inspiring to watch this man struggle as I did and keep on pushing. A couple of times mike would fail on the rope climb nearly making it to the top but reaching failure so close. This is extremely difficult because you loose a ton of mental energy. He stayed focused through the pain and disappointment and finished with style. Very inspiring indeed. A great workout and a very sneaky one. I actually thought this was going to be easy. Funny!

" Weakness doesn’t respect proper equipment or hours of operation"

I recently came across this article, Free of the gym, by Blair Morrison of Anywherefit. Check it out man.

Grace

So today I felt really good in the lower back area. I figured I would have a go at a Crossfit wod titled Grace. I have never actually done this before and I was really curious where I would finish. Especially since I have not performed any power cleans since November of last year.
Grace is 30 repetitions of ground to over head with 135 lbs. I have only done a wod similar to this on November 1st of Last year during the Scandinavian crossfit challenge I participated in in Halmstad Sweeden. During this competition each competitor had to perform 50 double unders and then 30 ground to over head with same weight ( 135 lbs) and then 50 more double unders. I finished this wod during the games in 4 min 45 seconds. At the time I thought my time was not very good. As it turned out it was good enough to give me second place in this event. The winner beat me by a full minute. Stud!
Anyway I warmed up on the rowing machine doing 2000 meters in about 9 mins. Went through the Burgener warm up. Added some weight for a few quick sets of five then I got after it.
My time was 2 min and 23 secs.
I am really pleased with this time and a little more motivated. I am confident I can get this in under two minutes. The first ten felt great. I probably should have kept going. However I decided to put the weight down and rest for ten seconds. Should have made it five. Then the second set of ten were OK . One rep was a little sloppy at the top that made me step forward and back and then reset in the bottom that I felt lost momentum. This second set of ten gassed me. I paused for another 15 or 20 seconds before going again. I did a quick set of 6 and then 2 and 2 to finish.
Power cleans are my favorite Olympic lifts to perform. I love the feeling of cleaning heavier weight off the ground. I really enjoyed doing this wod Grace. This is my first time and I am confident that the next time I do this wod I will get it under 2 mins.
Shortly after I did a two minutes of as many toes to bar as possible. I finished with 36. Grip strength was the limiting factor here which was surprising to me considering how strong I have felt climbing lately.
I have had some other really cool workouts with some friends lately photos coming soon. For now I am off to Yosemite for four days of bad ass climbing.

The most challenging workout this year

Run 150 trail stairs
21 KB thrusters using two 45# Kettle bells
Run 150 trail stairs
21 KB swings 45#
Run 150 trail stairs
15 KB thruster using two 45# Kettle bells
Run 150 trail stairs
15 KB swings 45#
Run 150 trail stairs
9 KB thrusters using two 45# Kettle bells
Run 150 trail stairs
9 KB swings 45#

By far the most challenging workout I have attempted this year. I finished this in 29 min and 4 secs. I actually thought that I would be able to do this in under 12 minutes. Ya, ummm way off. The stairs going up the trail to a vista over looking Emerald bay were random heights and distances apart. This made the stairs so challenging. Some steps had to be very powerful and others had to be quick. The trail was very steep as well. In the beginning my times for the stairs were around 40 secs, towards the end they were more like 1 min 15 secs. I thought that the first set of thrusters were really difficult. Just to finish them unbroken was a challenge. My friend Dan was working out with me today and he was the extra inspiration to keep me going. The swings were never an issue. Running the stairs were the most challenging part of this exercise, coupled with the swings and the thrusters made this one of the hardest wod's I have done this year.

19:36

Row 5K for a time
I tried something I have never done before. Row 5,000 meters for a time. The longest distance I have ever tried before this was only 2,000 meters. I finished with a time of 19 min 36 secs. I really have nothing to compare this time too. I know that going into it I expected this to be a huge mental challenge. Huge is an understatement. My strategy was to keep track of my progress 500 meters at a time. I wanted to keep each segment of 500 meters under the 2 min mark.
I managed this only barely. I think a couple of them were just slightly over by a few seconds. This work out required a ton of concentration. I needed to focus on technique to maximize each pull. As well as to keep my ass on the little seat. I needed to focus to make sure I did not slow down my pace. My grip started to bother me only after 2000 meters so the rest of the way my hands were completely pumped. I just figured this would be great accessory work for rock climbing. The last 500 meters were an all out sprint. At least that is what it felt like. It may not have looked that way. My goal was to finish under 20 mins. So the last 500 meters I was pulling hard to make sure I reached my goal.
I think overall I will chock this one up to a huge mental success. From this point forward on the rowing machine no other distance will compare.
Tomorrow I am meeting up with a friend to go out to Emerald bey to get in a great workout outside. I am really excited!

Rock climbing at Lover's Leap and a great met-con

Today was an amazing day. I met a couple of friends to do some multi pitch climbing at Lover's Leap. We were up and ready to go early , unfortunately many other people were as well. We got crowded off the first climb but that did not stop us. We headed straight for another classic. This worked in our favor and we enjoyed several hours of great free climbing amazing weather and stunning views in every direction.
After the climb my friends headed back to San Francisco and I headed over to the Sierra Athletic club to get some more training in. After yesterday working with the gymnastic rings I wanted to do something that I could incorporate the muscle ups with. This is what I came up with.
3 rounds for a time of
10 muscle ups
10 front squats w/155#'s
10 burpees
I finished in 15:01
This was a great wod. I finally got more than 5 muscle ups in a row. In the first round I did 6 consecutively. Not a huge improvement but I am happy with it. Then four more again. I finished the first ten pretty fast. I was really happy with that. The front squats were not bad. I did every one unbroken in each round. The burpees were not a problem either. The major factor in this wod were the muscle ups. The second and third rounds smoked me. I could not manage more than three and then I would just chip away one or two at a time. The last ten seemed to take forever. I really thought I would do this in less than twelve minutes. Not even close. :-) I probably should have done more weight with the front squats. I feel really good about this workout today. This is probably one of the most fun workouts that I have had in awhile and I love it when the sessions are fun. Tomorrow I am going climbing again and a BBQ and slack lining in my front yard after. Tomorrow will be a great day.

Angora lakes

After watching the world cup soccer game today I was extremely motivated. We are having such amazing weather here in Tahoe. I felt really guilty for spending the first part of the day inside watching the world cup finals. However after watching the celebrations it was worth the time spent.
My friend and I were eager to get outside and enjoy the day after the match. We came up with the plan to run Tabata sprints to Angora Lakes. 20 secs sprinting and 10 secs walking until we reached the Lake. The distance from the parking lot to the lake is not really that far however there is plenty of steep incline and elevation to make this a challenge. The best part of this workout session was that no matter where you were on the trail at the end of the 10 secs rest you still had to pick up and move your ass.
To me it was really amazing how fast the 10 secs rest went by compared to the 20 secs of sprints.
The total rounds to get to the lakes was 13. That is a little over four minutes of sprinting. Just before we left for Angora the original plan was to do tabata sprints to the lakes then go cliff jumping off of the many high cliffs surrounding the lakes. In the parking lot I noticed I had my gymnastic rings in the back seat. We decided to take them with us and work on doing muscle ups.
My friend Mike has never performed a muscle up before let alone see one done. So we worked on them for about thirty minutes. I just decided to do as many sets of 5 unbroken muscle ups as I could during this time. Not a very stressful workout. I finished with 7 sets of 5 unbroken muscle ups. After this I put what I believed to be a 15 lb. stone in my back pack and did a quick amrap of ring dips. I finished with 24. I really thought I was going to hit 30 but that was not the case.
We spent a few more minutes contemplating whether or not we should jump in the lake or not. Decided against it and trekked back to the car and headed home. The tabata sprints were amazing and when I reached the lake I felt like I was going to throw up my lunch for at least five minutes. The muscle ups are so much fun for me. I really love to do them. I just don't feel I do them enough. I will work on that. My goal for the rest of the summer is to be able to do 10 unbroken muscle ups. Tomorrow I am going climbing. So excited!

Summer time and the livin's easy

I have been out climbing with friends four days this week. Some fun easy climbing and some hard powerful climbing. I am pretty wrecked physically. My body is sore in the strangest places. I definitely need a rest day from climbing. I still felt like going to the gym and training today. I called up a friend that I new would be interested in doing some strength training.
We did strict press x1 push press x3 push jerk x5 and we repeated this five times with 3 min rest between sets.
I went with 155 lbs for this session. This weight was about right for the strict press. I was shooting for %85 of my 1 RM in the strict press for this session. I would have like to use 165, but I did not have the strength today.
We would perform one strict press then immediately do three push presses and then five push jerks with out putting the weight down. 155 lbs felt great for all five rounds. I would have liked to use more but I suppose I am just really tired from all the climbing lately.
After the presses we moved along to the row machine for a quick met-con. We decided to go with Tabata Rows. Which is 20 secs work and 10 secs rest x 8. So basically on the row machine we would sprint for 20 secs and rest for 10 secs repeating 8 times. Amazing effort if anyone has access to a rowing machine should try. We were going to set the computer to total meters but we couldn't figure how to stop the fly wheel from registering meters during the rest. We decided to go with calories instead. I think I did 64 total calories in the 8 rounds.
After the tabata rows we did an alternating tabata abs workout that I loved. We alternated toes to bar with butterfly sit ups. Exactly the same intervals as before on the rowing machine. 20 secs work and 10 secs rest x 8. We would do 20 secs of toes to bar and rest for 10 secs then 20 secs of sit ups then rest and back and forth doing four rounds for each exercise and a total of 8 rounds. On the toes to bar I did 8, 5, 7, and 8. on the sit ups I did 10 for each round.
Overall I had a great day today. I felt ok with the presses and I felt great on the rowing machine and I really loved the alternating tabata abs session.

The East face and a few missed wod's

The past couple of weekend for me have been packed with activity. I spent a weekend in Yosemite National Park climbing with friends virtually all hours of the day. This past weekend I went down to Lone Pine California to climb the East face of Mt. Whitney the highest point in contiguous states. An amazing trip. A journey that would challenge me to my physical limits as well as my mental limits and I love it. The Natural High.
Speaking of Natural High. My last few workouts have come from Natural High Crossfit of Alberta Canada, programming by OPT.
The workouts have gone like this.
2 rounds:
Run 1 min
Box Jumps (20"/14") 1 min
Double Unders 1 min
Rest 3 min

+ (10 min rest)

2 rounds:
Row 1 min
Run 1 min
Double Unders 1 min

+ (10 min rest)

2 rounds:
Box Jumps (20"/14") 1 min
DB Swing (30#/25#) 1 min
Double Unders 1 min

3 sets – rest 10 min between sets

As many rounds as possible in 5 minutes:
10 Push-ups
10 DB Thruster – 40/25
10 Double Unders

I scored four rounds in the first and second. In the third I hit the mental wall and could only do three rounds. Not very physically challenging because the times are so short but mentally challenging for sure.

Climbing a rope wod #3
10 min amrap of
15ft rope climb 1 ascent
10 burpees.
I scored 7 rounds, very challenging but I loved it.

3 rounds for a time of:
10 Chest to bar pull ups
20 double unders
30 box jumps
my time was 6:51