Our Time to Change

Ever have one of those days in the gym that felt like everything was off? 175lbs felt like 275? I have had some of those recently. I try and shake it off and stick to the program.

This morning the stars must have aligned. While the weight didn’t feel light, it didn’t feel heavy either. I worked around 80-85% of my 1RM on the lifts I had on tap this morning and it all just felt good. Back squats were toward the end of the schedule and I normally don’t look forward to working on those for some reason. I had 5 sets of doubles at 80% and 5 sets of doubles at 85% but it all felt so good. Especially when one of the guys came over and said “Uh, Jason… Your bar is bending.”

When you have tough days that you grind through, days like today are just amazing.

May 16

Off season?

This came up a while back in a discussion about being burned out and it really hit home. At CrossFit, we are almost programmed to come in year round and go 110%. Most sports have an off season but for us normal folks who won’t make it to Regionals/Games, it is a year long activity.

I guess my question is, do you cycle it on and off, take breaks, go 110% all year long, or what?

May 14

Somehow, I ended up in the CoreFit CrossFit Games Sweepstakes - Final Round where the winner gets an all expenses paid trip to the 2013 CrossFit Games in California.

I just need the most votes on my photo. It would be extremely awesome for all you Tumblr folks out there to hit this page up with a vote for yours truly. Promise to bring you back something cool if I win.

May 13

Weekly Training Log: 130506 - 130512

TUESDAY - 130507
2-Position Clean (floor, mid-thigh)
2 sets @ 75% | 175#
2 sets @ 80% | 185#

Clean deadlift
1x5 Warm-up | 225#
5x5 @ 105% (of clean) | 255#

Front squat
5 @ 75% | 245#
4 x 2 @ 80% | 265#
3 x 2 @ 85% | 270#

Tough morning. Felt old, tired, and generally beat all to hell and back. I started with the clean deadlift to get really nice and warm. Front squats felt like I was trying to lift a car. Knee was really tight. Just out of rhythm the entire morning and my shins paid the price.

Conditioning: 10 rounds of 25m freestyle followed by 25m breast stroke; 75-80% 300m. The morning suck continued over into the pool.

THURSDAY - 130509
Clean & Jerk
2 @ 75% | 175#
1 @ 80% | 185#
1 @ 85% | 200#
1 @ 85% | 200#
1 @ 80% | 185#

FRIDAY - 130510
EMOTM for 5 minutes
2 hang power cleans + 1 power clean
2 rounds @ 165#
3 rounds @ 185#

Conditioning: EMOTM for 20 minutes. Odd minutes 5 hang squat cleans, even minutes 5 burpee pull-ups. If you cannot make it through a round, rest 1 minute. RX was 135# and I went with 155# which wore me out. Just wasn’t feeling it today. Form felt like crap and I was on my toes too much. Dropped the weight to 135# and finished the WOD. I think I had 3 rounds which I had to rest the minute. Great WOD for me though as I need the squat clean work as well as the burpee pull-ups.

SATURDAY - 130511
3-position snatch from the low blocks (power, hang, full)
7 sets @ 95#
7 sets @ 115#

Rest 2 minutes then work up to a heavy power clean single in 7 minutes. Worked up to 225.

Conditioning: 12 min AMRAP
90 ft prowler push (450lbs)
5 power cleans @ 185#
15 GHDs

Summary
Only spent one day in the pool, which I did not really mind. Kinda needed a break last week. Very quickly figuring out that I need more time to warm up and more focus on mobility throughout the week.

May 09

Power clean + jerk work at about 75% of my 1RM from the other day. I want to start using some videos to see where I need to improve. I think I am doing well with regards to the bar path. As the weight goes up I seem to have trouble dropping into the split. Not sure if it is my left knee that I am worried about or what. I failed a 245lb jerk a few times and I really believe that if I was more aggressive with the split I could nail it.

May 08

I just wish it wasn’t called Paleo

I have mentioned some of this before, and its been on my mind for a while now, but Iron-Inside’s post triggered it again for me.

The first time I tried to go strict paleo I absolutely hated it. I followed a meal plan from a well known author on paleo and it felt like all I was eating was meat and salt. I did not enjoy it. I had trouble with portion control. I lost energy. Granted I lost some inches in the waist, but the good did not outweigh the bad by any stretch. The next time I picked up the paleo thing I did on my terms, if you will. Meaning, I looked for recipes that I wanted to try and made my own meal plan. I found that my body responded much, much better the second time around. I enjoyed new and different foods. Through all of this I figured out what worked for me and what made me feel better.

The idea to me that Paleolithic era man ate the way that he did because he was a master nutritionist is laughable at best. He ate that way out of necessity. Bring a caveman into a pizza joint and he would eat his way into a cheese and bread induced coma. I always cringed when trying to explain to a co-worker what paleo meant. I usually got that tilted head look like my dog gives me when I think we are having a conversation. I can imagine them thinking “You try to eat like a caveman? Really?”

But I like the basic principles. Eat clean and unprocessed foods, limit sugar, etc. That works for me. I don’t care what it is called. Sometimes I think that labeling a certain style of eating just gives people something to chatter about and judge others. “Is that paleo?” Who cares? I can’t help but get a kick out of those who preach strict paleo nutrition yet funnel loads of chemicals into their body pre/post WOD and/or during an endurance event.

I guess looking at the big picture, I would not say that I eat strict paleo. I would say that I just try to eat clean. There is no real way to label it. Paleo just so happens to be the closest thing to what I follow. I have introduced some carbs back into my plan. I have done that to fuel certain workouts and I love the results. I feel better removing dairy from my diet. I don’t really care to label what I do or how I do it. Right now, this works for me.

I think the best thing about paleo for me is that it was an open door to a nutritional style that is currently working for me. Between the paleo diet and the Whole Life Challenge I became a lot more aware of what I was putting into my body. I paid more attention to how foods impacted my day, mood, and performance. During the Whole Life Challenge I kept bringing up paleo to my wife. She would always reply with “this isn’t a paleo challenge”. I would always argue that paleo was the closest thing to what we were doing. Where the need to label my eating style came in I will never know.

If strict paleo is your thing, that is awesome. If your body responds to it and you feel better, that is all that matters. Find what works for you, and do it.

May 07

Week 3 of the oly strength cycle and every Tuesday since starting I have felt absolutely worn out. Granted, Saturday & Sunday are high volume training days, and the general volume overall has increased, but for some reason Tuesday is rough. Even after a full day of rest on Mondays. Part of me struggles with reducing volume and another part struggles with sucking it up and moving through it.

This morning, the front squats felt heavy. Really heavy. I never went above 85% of my 1RM and it felt like I was trying to lift the entire gym. It got into my head to the point where the last set at 85% I almost didn’t want to sink all the way.

The last lift was a 2-position clean (floor & hang) and I was working at decent weight. Nothing too heavy but for this movement, challenging to me. The biggest trouble for me is hanging onto the bar in transition from the clean to the hang clean. On my first rep at 175# I failed the clean. It was like a slap in the face because that is a weight that I can always hit. No clue why I failed. Shook it off and tried to keep pushing. The final set was 2 sets of the 2-position clean at 185lbs. I hit the first one, though it didn’t feel good catching that on my thigh.

On the second one, my grip gave way and I let the bar go. I tried to move my knees and legs out of the way. I only got out of the way just enough for the bar to hit my thighs, knees, and then slide down my shins and bounce back up. So glad I had lifting socks on or this would have looked a lot worse.

May 06

Weekly Training Log: 130429 - 130505

TUESDAY - 130430
Woke up with a lot of pain, so rather than push it at CrossFit, I opted to sleep in. Since I can hit the pool pain free, that is what I did at lunch. 10x100m (rest to recover) and I went as hard as I could on the 100s. best time was 1:33 and slowest was 1:39. While I took longer breaks in between 100s than I normally do, and while this kicked my butt, it felt really good and I saw my best times on the 100 yet.

Conditioning (Pool): 2x500m @ 70-80% of max effort pace w/2 min rest. Averaged about 10 minutes per 500.

Conditioning: 4RFT of 6 deadlifts (225#), 9 burpee pull-ups, 15 walking lunges with 45# overhead. Despite a back up at the pull-up rig, this went really good for me. Felt the knee in the lunges but everything else was good. I was actually at 235# on deads and didn’t realize it under after the WOD but it didn’t slow me down. 9:54 @ RX+.

Cash-Out: 5 minute partner snatch duel. We used 115# which was a little on the heavy side for my partner. So he did 3 to my 5. 7 rounds total.

Clean & Jerk
3 @ 70% | 165#
2 @ 75% | 175#
1 @ 80% | 185#
1 @ 85% | 205#
1 @ 80% | 185#
1 @ 75% | 175#

Jerk (From the high blocks)
2x185, 2x205, 1x215, 1x225, multiple fails at 245. I was frustrated because I thought I was at 235 instead of 245. Took a shot at this about 4 times, with the last time about an inch or two from sticking it. 245 was my max a while back so even though I didn’t hit it, it felt really good to be working close to my 1RM.

Bench Press
4x3 @ 185#
2x2 @ 225#
ME @ 135#: 26 reps, 2-3 min. rest then ME @ 135#: 19 reps

Skill: Practiced DUs. Used my buddies rope and will most likely order one because it was that awesome.

Warm-up:
Row 5K

Clean Pulls
5x5 @ 205#

Push Press
2x5 push press @ 135#
3x5 push press @ 155#

Back Squat
5 @ 65% | 225#
5 @ 70% | 245#
4 @ 75% | 255#
3x2 @ 80% | 295#

Conditioning: EMOTM for 16 minutes. On odd minutes: 6 KB swings (88#) and on even minutes: 10 burpees. At minute 10 I thought I wanted to stop. Well, not thought. I really wanted to stop. But I also thought that at that point, that was where the real workout was. Only a few more rounds to go and shortening it up to 12 minutes would have bothered me all day. I would have felt like I took the easy way out. Glad I finished it.

Summary
Woke up sore as crap on Monday. Stuff hurt that I didn’t know could hurt. I had a 5” long bruise at the top of my leg from catching the barbell. My hands hurt from focusing on the hook grip. Tuesday was much of the same, but a little better. I slept in to not push things. Wednesday I was still feeling it, but went in and lifted. Everything was extremely heavy when it normally isn’t. The 3 position work is volumes harder than I thought. As the week went on I felt like I could push a little more, though I opted to do a regular WOD with the class rather than the strength cycle work. Probably going to have to do that from time to time. Overall, felt like a good week.