Tester # 3

Amrap 15 min:
10 X Squat Thrusters 65lb
10 X Pullups

PR's

I had some tester wods the last couple of days to see where I'm at with my training.

The first one was:

1 RM Back Squats

1 RM Hang Power Clean

1 RM Close Grip Bench Press

(video below)

then the next day I did:

2km row for time

My time was 6:40.2. My previous best was a 6:50 so I'm very happy with this and I felt great throughout.

Tomorrow I have one more tester, it's a 15 min amrap.

Max Day from joeywarren on Vimeo.

A sore day

A few days ago I had a couple brutal workouts that got me really sore. I cant tell if I just haven't done any volume like this in a while or if they truly were just tough. Either way i was sore! Here are the workouts:

am
3 rds for time:
Run 800 m
7 rope ascents - 15'
35 back extensions

time= 20:41 (video below)

pm
running clock burpees - I hit 20 minutes
rest 10 min
AMRAP DU"S in 5 min - 347
rest 10 min
for time:
row 500 m
75 sit ups
row 500 m (time - 5:38)
rest 10 min
200 walking lunges for time - all unbroken in 4:39

I had some more burpees in me, but I'm not sure if I could have completed 21, so I stopped after 20, most likely from fear of what was ahead of me. I hit up some more PR's I will post this week!

Gearing up for some PR's

One of the double day workouts from last weekend is below. Not too difficult of one but my abs were sore for a couple of days. This week has been mostly skill practice with some short sprints mixed in. I have some fun wods toward the end of the weekend. I will post some of those. And by fun I mean some 1RM's, 2km row, and death by burpees. There will be some PR's!!!!

Superfoods!

I remember my Mom sending an email a couple years ago with a list of the top 20 superfoods. I set out to eat all 20 in one day. It was actually easier than I thought but I wouldn't recommend it because it made my stomach a little "soft" if you know what I mean. I think there are a lot more than 20 superfoods, but I will always remember this list because when I think about eating healthy, I often think about items on that list.

Since I started turning up the intensity in my training, I also turned up a notch my healthy eating. Today I had some healthy leftover options along with some things that my Mom gave me which I threw to together to form a pretty superfood lunch. I recently discovered some new foods that I enjoy such as leafy greens from Whole Foods. A worker there showed me a list of the top rated vegetables for nutrient density, so I've just been experimenting from the top of that list.

I threw all these ingredients together in a pan with coconut oil to make a stir-fry:

1) Leftover chicken I baked the night before with some spices.
2) organic red bell pepper
3) white onion
4) chopped up brussel sprouts
5) broccoli
6) mixed nutrient dense greens - Whole Foods has this bin with a bunch of chopped up kale,collard greens,swiss chard and others
7) water crest - this was rated as one of the most nutrient dense. It's kind of spicy like arugula
8) black walnuts my mom gets these at her farmers market. They are the best I've ever had!

When I was done I had a few blueberries which is another one on the superfood list. I bought them from Trader Joe's and it must be season or something because they were the largest ones I've ever eaten.

It sure was a superfood lunch!

Sprint Fast!

Here is the first half of the workout I did the other day with Steve Howell. This part was fun, not often do I get to truly move as fast as possible. Each round took about 36-38 seconds.

Afterward sucked when we did 40 sec all out sprints on the airdyne. Its amazing how the same time domain on the airdyne can be so much harder. It must be because it's 40 sec max effort with the same muscle groups as opposed to doing three different movements each taxing a different muscle group.

A couple days later I did another workout on the airdyne:

10 sets:

90 sec airdyne sprint

5 min rest

Talk about some lactic acid build up. Im starting to hate the airdyne!

40 sec sprints from joeywarren on Vimeo.

Longest 40 seconds

Steve Howell was in town this weekend from Crossfit Whistler. We did some OPT training together, Olympic lifting at Catalyst, attended an Oly lifting seminar, and ate some good healthy food. I will have some posts from the weekend the next couple days. Here is the workout that we did together the first day he got here.

7 sets:
clean and jerk 155# touch and go
rest 0 sec
5 burpees AFAP
rest 0 sec
10 CTB chin ups AFAP
rest 5 min b/t sets - all sets @ 100% effort - NO transition time allowed
(rest 10 min)
7 sets:
Airdyne sprint - max effort for 40 sec
walk rest 5 min actively - record cals

This was truly a max effort day and got pretty tiring toward the end, a lot of burn in the body by the days end! Here is the video, and Steve the music is for you!

100 Turkish Get-ups

We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

-Aristotle

100 TGU from joeywarren on Vimeo.

Speed to Strength

If you look at my last month of training, you will see a lot of squats with bands and 1.25 squats. This has been to work on speed and stability in the hole of the squat. I took video of each one and I can see the progress that I have made; much more comfortable and stable in a full squat and way more power coming out.

A couple of days ago I worked up to a heavy 1 rep for back squat, a good test to see my progress. It felt the best it has ever felt. I was fast out of the hole and felt very stable. I hit a 5 lb PR and had some more left in the tank. This shows that some speed work and focus on form can lead to gains in strength.

This is a recent PR as I did squat around 350lb back in college football, but I believe this time was with better form, plus I'm in way better shape now. I was just "big" and strong back in college with not much other conditioning out of that domain. I'm working up to the strength I had in college very quickly, but with a lot more other skills added.

Here is the vid of the back squat:

The next few weeks I will be working on the same thing, then as I approach the sectionals transition to more Crossfit-style wods.

"Christine"

Yesterday morning I did "Christine." I was kind of nervous because I have been focusing on some strength while only hitting a Crossfit-style metcon (metabolic conditioning) once a week or so. This makes me think I have to push extra hard when I do a metcon, plus I'm not quite as confident as when I do them all the time.

So I was planning on sleeping in and doing it in the afternoon, but my friend wanted to do it with me early AM, so I took the opportunity to get a push. I was happy with my performance as I seem to be maintaining my conditioning or even seeing improvement. I felt fast during it and everything felt good. By good I mean how I felt throughout; this is a huge gauge of how I determine where my fitness is currently at. Felt like I had a couple more rounds in me at that pace, so maybe next time push harder on the rower.

Practice makes Perfect

Another good week...

Since they announced that I'm competing in the sectionals, I've been pumped. I really dialed in my nutrition, recovery, intensity, and focus. This week was a good week full of workouts. I hit a couple PR's in the end of the week that I will post the next couple days.

Here is the workout I did in the middle of the week that was more of a fun one:

FEB 1
AM
Row 500 m in 1:36
walk rest 5 min x 6 - 135.5/135.1/136.0/135.9/136.1/136.2

PM
3 rds for time:
15 KBS - 2pd
3 rope ascents - 15'
25 ghd sit ups
20 box jumps - 20"

This is the first time I got to practice rope climbs since the Games. I have practiced the foot position a lot before but it makes a huge difference trying to do it when you're dead tired, which I found out the hard way at the Games. I thought I would be fine with rope climbs, but in practice I get away with poor foot position because of my upper body strength. At the Games, my arms were so fatigued that I had to rely on my legs to get up that rope, but my technique was piss poor and I couldn't move up. I had the idea of where to place my feet but I missed a small point. I needed to reach my legs far up the rope like I was doing knees to elbows while leaning back, lock the feet in position, then pull myself up the rope. If you look at the top picture, you can see how upright I am, I should be leaning back and reaching up with my feet. I do it better in the video but I still need to get better and quicker at locking my feet into place. This is much more difficult when tired, just like anything else. It also makes a huge difference when the rope is 5 feet higher. Another thing that will take some time perfecting!