Monday, December 13, 2010

Renegade Man Makers



5 rounds of:
10 renegade man makers
45 walking lunges with 10 push ups ever 15th, 30th and 45th lunge
1 sit start rope climb 15'

Another beautiful sunny day here in Boulder. When I got off from work I asked a co worker if they were interested in training at a park nearby. He mentioned that he had a couple of 30lb dumbbells lying around. I suggested he bring them to the park and I would bring my rope and we came up with this wod.
I have never attempted a man maker before and I like them. I Love them! The lunges kicked my ass as well as the push ups. Doing the push ups made the rope climb so much harder. I messed up my timer on my wrist watch some time around the 15 minute mark so I don't really know how fast we finished this workout. I really enjoyed this workout. Being outside at the park in the sun. Getting a new friend involved was also a plus. Great day ! Great workout!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Gassers


A gasser is a sprint from one sideline of a football field to the other and back and again to the other side and back. From sideline to sideline on a football field is 53 meters. So a full gasser is a 212 meters sprint.
Today after work I jogged up to a park by my apt with my rings, my jump rope and heart full of ambition.
After a good warm up I started off with 5 rounds of full gassers. The first three were pretty good. The last two my legs were not responding as I wanted them to. My times for each were 40 secs, 42 secs, 43 secs, 43 secs and 43 secs. I was pretty happy to keep each one below 45 secs. The rest ratio was 1:3 on these.
After a couple of minutes to catch my breath I got started on the second part of this workout. During my warm up I set my rings up in a tree in the park. The second half went like this
50 double unders
25 ring dips
40 double unders
20 rings dips
30 double unders
15 ring dips
20 double unders
10 ring dips
10 double unders
5 ring dips

I finished in 7 mins 40 secs. The double unders were pretty easy. Each set unbroken. The ring dips got me on round two. The first set was unbroken and felt good. The second set I made it to 17. I thought I would be able to get them all unbroken. But on 18 I just failed. It was pretty close through every set after that. I hit failure with just a couple of reps left.
For core work I did 5 rounds of 10 V sit ups coupled with 30 secs supermans. All of this work felt pretty good.

Tabata this


Tabata- 20 secs work with 10 secs rest X 8
Pull ups 44
Toes to bar 40
Push ups 94
Air squats 130
Studies have shown that when athletes perform tabata intervals, they increase both aerobic (endurance) and anaerobic (short bursts of energy) capacities more than any other type of cardio. Tabata intervals can be used as a fat burning method and can also improve performance in most aerobic and anaerobic sports.
One tabata interval is only going to last four minutes. Trust me, it is going to be the longest four minutes of your life. When you try this, pick a couple of exercises and use lighter weight or body weight only.
Remember, in order to get the best results you have to push yourself. Go for the highest reps possible in 20 secs and then rest for ten. When the 10 sec rest is up get right back to work and have fun. Helps to have some sort of timer handy.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Stairs + Sandbag = Pukie



As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
Sprint stadium stairs with 40 lb sandbag (60 stairs)
5 thrusters at the top of stairs with sandbag
5 turkish get ups at the bottom of stairs with sandbag

I finished with 6 rounds + 5 thrusters

I grabbed my sandbag and walked down to the high school for some work on the football stadiums stairs. It was pretty exhausting just to carry that thing to the stadium. I did some squats and lunges and presses with the thing on the way. Just to start my warm up.
There were 60 stairs from bottom to top of the stadium. Sprinting to the top with the sandbag had my lungs and quads burning. The thrusters were not easy. The TGU's were a total bitch.
The sandbag was awkward. Difficult to get set and I dropped it on my nose once. I did manage to get every set unbroken however. My goal was 8 rounds, but I underestimated the difficulty of this wod. The most challenging part was walking back home with my bag. My core was totally fried by this point and I had to keep changing shoulders every minute so I could make it back.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Bear Peak



Today the weather was sunny, warm and zero wind. I called a friend to see if he wanted to hike a local mountain with me. About 3 miles puts you on the top with amazing views of Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park in the North. Greys and Torreys Peaks dominating the western landscape and Pikes to the south. On the summit we had zero wind, clear skies and breathtaking views.
After the first mile I was feeling pretty loose and I had tons of energy. I felt like doing more than just hiking so I started to do push ups when we stopped for water or to check out the boulders on the way. I rattled off as many pull ups as I could when ever I found a tree branch low enough to grab on to. Towards the summit I would pick out markers in the distance and try sprinting to them. On the summit I was doing handstand push ups on a boulder and L sits between smaller boulders. I tried to get in some TGU's but the ground was not giving me the opportunity. Great day and a great hike. The world is my playground.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

"Pleasure spiked with pain" chipper


WOD
For a time:
30 burpees
5 muscle ups
30 push presses
5 muscle ups
30 sand bag wrap around w/ 40 lb sandbag
5 muscle ups
30 Kettle bell swings
5 muscles ups
30 meters over head walking lunges w/ 40 lb sandbag
30 meters sprint with sand bag
5 muscle ups
30 retaining wall box jumps ( about 6 inches above the knees)
5 muscle ups

I finished in 26 min 20 secs.
This was probably the most fun I have had working out in a long time. I got the idea for this wod from a couple of places. The first was watching this video at the bottom of this post. Basically the guy in the video is doing muscle up s between every lift. My second source of inspiration for this wod is from Blair Morrison of Anywherefit. Blair's creativity is off the charts and his vision has helped change the way I train. Blair wrote this great article for Sicfit awhile back titled " Free of the Gym" and I have read it over and over. I love it!
This paragraph from the article resonates inside me now more than ever.


"Don’t be a barbell brat, lift whatever you can get your hands on. Weakness doesn’t respect proper equipment or hours of operation, so don’t stand on ceremony while you get choked out.

There’s nothing that burns me more than when I ask someone about a trip they took and they tell me, “It was great, but I couldn’t get to the gym.” Wrong. Nut up, go outside, and make your own gym. The biggest obstacle is not a lack of resources, it’s a lack of drive and a crippling self-consciousness. Get over it and your world becomes a playground. Trust me, it’s fun and you’ll be better for it the next time you “get to the gym.”

You can read the entire article here.
Some of the equipment I used for this wod was just the same ol crap I have been using from the demolition site. I used a cinder block for the KB swings. I have the sand bag. I used a 20 ft long beam that is lying outside my apt for the push presses. This sucker is heavy as hell. I just get under one end of it. I hang my rings in a tree in front of my apt for the muscle ups. I used the neighbors retaining wall for the box jumps and I just did the lunges down the side walk and sprint back up it. So basically I lift what ever I can get my hands on.
I started off with the burpees because I figured that would be the most difficult part of this wod. I was way wrong. The sand bag wrap around was by far the most difficult part. I have this 40 lb. sand bag and trying to pass it around my body was so difficult. My biceps were completely wasted after just five. Arms already fatigued from the previous exercises and they only got worse during the wrap around. I must have dropped the damn thing 10 times. I had to pick it back up and start again. Exhausting work but somewhat pleasurable. The rest of the wod went by a little quicker. The first round of muscle ups were unbroken, however after the push presses I could only manage 2 at a time until the end. Overall this is the most fun I have had training in months. "Pleasure spiked with pain. That mother fucker is always spiked with pain"

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Diane with a Stone



Run 800 meters
21-15-9 of
Heavy ass stone dead lifts
Elevated hand stand push ups
Run 800 meters

"Diane" is a crossfit wod that a few people can finish in under 3 minutes. I do not have access to that kind of weight right now. So , I went back to the demolition site today. Picked out the same stone as last when I did the demolition wod. I think it is heavy enough and awkward enough for this modified version of "Diane".
I finished the first 800 meter run in 3 min 44 sec. Then the heavy ass stone lifts. The stone sits low and is very awkward to get off the ground. I have to get really low and stay focused in the core to get it off the ground. 21 seemed to take forever. For the hspu's I grabbed a couple of cinder blocks from a pile to make them elevated. This raised the bar about 7 inches making the hspu's really difficult. I had to break the first set into 11,7,3. The next 15 lifts were not as bad. However the hspu's got worse. I broke this set as well but more like 7,3,3,2. The last round was not bad either way. I finished the second run in 3 min 50 sec. For a total time of 26 min 48 sec. I got some interesting looks from the people walking by watching me pick up this big piece of rock. One guy actually asked if I needed help. He just laughed when I told him I was doing it for a workout. I had a really good time with this workout. I enjoyed lifting the stone. Hopefully I won't be too sore tomorrow because I have a really fun workout planned.

Here is a quick video of a guy doing "Diane" in about 3 min.