Dips & Pullups

Sleep:
11:40 - 8:05 - mostly good sleep - except when the cats got me up once in the middle of the night. But it was "Let one out, refill dry food bowl, outside cat heard that came tearing back in, back in bed 5 seconds, cat scratching to get outside again, let cat out again. Wheee.

AM Commentary: I really managed to bruise my neck and shoulders with last night's back squats. I do not want to do that again. More form work necessary. Maybe "Elbows to the ceiling" will help me keep them tight through the whole squat.

Warmup:
Mobility, 5 Min static Plank Holds, 40 unanchored situps, 30 v-ups, 20 hollow rocks, 10 KtE. Ow.

WOD:
Five rounds for max reps of:
Ring Dips
Pull-ups

3 minutes rest between each round.
*Subbed Parallette Dips, and several different pull-up subs

Results:
19/1 - Legitimate pullup
17/0 - tried and failed to get a real pull-up
17/14 - switched to jumping pull-ups - didn't like this sub
18/6 - tried kip attempts - focused more on rhythm than actually trying to make it up to the bar - didn't like this sub either.
14/4 - switched to strong kip attempts where I made an active attempt to pull myself up over the bar after each attempt - should have done these all along.

Cashout:
20 minutes of stretching

Comments:
The Parallette Dips were probably too easy of a sub. Should have put my feet up on a ball. I need to work on my stabilization skills on the rings so that I can actually do a sub on the rings when ring dips come up.

Food:
9:00 - 6 oz black coffee
1:05 cottage Cheese
1:50 - coffee w/ milk
3:30 - BBQ chicken w/ 1 little yam
4:00 - 1 multiv, 2 glucosamine, 4 omega-3
7:00 - 16oz milk
8:00 - unsatisfying Thai food.
11:00 - 2 zma

Potomac Cross Fit

Look a Crossfit Christmas Tree!

Warmup: Medicine ball games.

Wod:

“Jason”-lite
For time:
100 squats
3 muscle-ups (9 pullups, 9 dips)
75 squats
6 muscle-ups (18 pullups, 18 dips)
50 squats
9 muscle-ups (27 pullups, 27 dips)
25 squats
12 muscle-ups (36 pullups, 36 dips)

Results:
26:45

Time	Exercise	Total
4:10	100 squats	4:10
1:00	9 pull-ups - blue band	5:10
0:35	9 dips - on parallets with feet on medicine ball	5:45
4:05	75 squats	9:50
2:30	18 pullups - blue band	12:20
3:48	18 dips - on parallettes - feet on floor, legs straight	16:08
10:36	50 Squats, 27 pullups - green band, 27 dips on parallettes, last 10 w/ knees bent	26:45

Comments:
This workout totally kicked my ass. I couldn't even finish it.

Initially I considered doing the MU progression that Daniel did - but I can't even do a partial ring dip. My right arm won't stabilize on the rings. Yet another movement that needs work.

Bu I've heard a lot about woody bands, and I've never had the chance to use them, so I was excited to get to try them out for the pullups. For the record, while it's pretty awkward getting into and out of the bands (Jen helped everyone who was using them to get into them), I quite like them. They seem to be a good middle ground between jumping pullups and ... well ... actual pullups.

I've also never had to do dips in a WOD. Dumb luck that I always seem to miss the WOD's that require them. Really!

The downside of playing with these new toys was that meant a higher volume than the 1-to-1 exchange with the MU progression movement.

I don't know whether it was just doing a lot of squats all at once instead of smaller chunks (like Murph) or what, but starting in round 2 (!), my legs were quivering with fatigue. Maybe it was the necessity of using my legs for the pullups and dips, too? But the squats weren't the only thing that was hard. The pullups were pretty brutal, too. ANd it didn't take long for the dips to really suck, too.

Maybe it was out less than stellar 'Vacation' diet - maybe it was a week of near inactivity, but whatever the cause, my quads have not been that sore since we did Murph right after our trip to FL. I couldn't walk normally until Wednesday evening.

Potomac Crossfit itself was really nice space - they had all the great crossfit toys - a whole wall of pullup bars, a little herd of Kettle Bells, a forest of C2 Rowers, lots of box jump boxes and medicine balls, etc. And Jen (pictured center, below) was a great trainer, we had a really good time meeting her.

Dipstick

Tonight was a bit of an odd one, as Rebecca had a PT appointment with Max an hour before class, so since I went with her I had some gym time butting right up against a CF class. I decided I'd start sketching out my new 5x5 plan: pullups & dips, with a side of static compression holds. All of this is with the ultimate goal of a muscle-up and a 30-second L-sit.

So, the workout was:

Pullups (unweighted): 5x5
Dips (unweighted): 5x5
Static leg-raises in the Captain's chair

The pullups were OK. I did them on the rings, slow and controlled with ZERO kip allowed, absolutely full ROM. I would start as a pullup and rotate to a chinup as I went - I don't know why, it's just comfortable for me that way. The last rep was always a challenge, but doable.

The dips....SUCKED. I have discovered a heretofore unknown deficiency in my capabilities: I can't dip for shit. I THOUGHT I was quite good at dips, but I was misinformed - my ROM was terrible. Going down as deep as I could tonight, I still couldn't hit maximum depth, and it felt like it was tearing up my front deltoid. GWPC doesn't have rings low enough for ring dips, but this is what I want to be working on, ideally. I have a ways to go on these...not sure when the right time to start adding weight will be.

The leg-raises were also pretty horrible. I got two 10-second rounds, and then managed to eke out a 15-second one. These are really hard. Damn long legs. I still can't do Richard Vanmeerbeek's sitting leg raises worth a damn, so I'll need to work up to those.

Then it was time for class, which had some warmup jazz before:

Three rounds of:
Double-Unders (Reps)
Burpees(Reps)
Double-Unders (Reps)
Burpees (Reps)
Double-Unders (Reps)
FGB-style

60 RX (ha!)

I'd already done 30 burpees this morning, so only really needed 37 more, but I did 10 every round anyway (for a total of 60). I did not get a single legitimate double-under (thus the pathetic score). But it wasn't for lack of trying - I was still hopping around and thrashing my legs with the damn rope. Add this to the long list of things I wish I could do but, for the moment, can't really.

5x5 sort of .. ugh

Maybe Thursdays are just a bad day to be working out, and maybe I should just steer clear of the gym altogether when it's "that time of the month" - though yesterday was fine, good even. Of course I also remembered to eat lunch yesterday ... :-| Actually - i should say managed - remembering really isn't the issue. I've got those stupid outlook reminders popping up all the time. I snooze them.

I hate being so stressed out. It's a real chicken and egg situation - when i get stressed I don't eat, when i don't eat, i get moody, when i get moody, i get stressed - maybe it's just more of a vicious circle. Add the monthly hormonal deluge that kicks the whole ugly cycle into high gear, and it's a bit of a wonder that I function at all.

The original plan was to try to make it to GWPC in time for their photoshoot, and to do our 5x5's there. But Daniel was delayed by traffic, and he didn't pick me up until 5:55. So we decided to check out BIW. I maintained that if it was crowded like last week we should still go to GWPC. It didn't appear to be, but just as we were heading out to our car to get our stuff, one of the people who only works out in the weight area came in, and i was afraid maybe we'd missed our window.

Turns out I was half right. We warmed up in the squat rack area and had it mostly to ourselves, but there were two oly bars on the rack by the mirror, and just as I was moving the second bar onto the second rack for daniel - that *)#$)@*&% guy slides into the rack by the mirror and starts doing back squats!!! I was so angry. (I wasn't in a great mood to start with). I should have said something, but i was really taken aback by the way he just scooted in there without even a 'hi' or 'do you mind' or ... anything.

Since Daniel is so much taller than me, there is no way we can share a squat rack set up. I need the bar set nearly a foot lower. So since there was no way we could alternate, i decided to go try to work on other stuff while he did his squats. I knew that if i stayed in the squat area I'd just get progressively more pissed off, and take it out on Daniel by sniping at him about his form - which wouldn't be a good thing for either one of us.

So - off to the gravitron i went. I did some pull ups on the downstairs gravitron - set to 70. But the pad was hurting my shins, so I went upstairs and did some more pull-ups on the compressed air one - where you can stand - i beleive it was set to 8. I tried a couple dips, but realized that f i had any hope of doing any bench presses that I'd be shooting myself in the foot, so eventually i just hopped on one of the bikes overlooking the squat area so I could tell when Daniel was done so I could have my turn. Cool fact- those bikes have little built in fans to keep you cool!

When Daniel was done I went down to take my turn. My intention was to only work on form with just the empty bar. Good thing too, since the empty bar was about all I could manage. My first set was terrible. I kept corkscrewing to the left - settling all my weight on my left leg, thereby misaligning my hips and shoulders. And the way I was holding the bar was really hurting my right arm. I nearly decided to just call it a day, but Daniel very sweetly and supportively urged me to try another set. So I did. and it was better. I did 5 sets, really focusing on trying to keep my weight equally on both legs, and they were better by the end - though rep 4 & 5 of each set was pretty much always a struggle(though i did not fail any reps). So:

5x5
45-45-45-45-45

As for the bench press: I got in 1 set of 45 that was a lot harder than it should have been - my shoulders are very tired from yesterday's workout - and daniel got in a set of 45 and a set of 95 which was also a lot harder than it should have been - one of his shoulders is bugging him - so we decided to call it a night.

Since I wasn't going to do bench press I did 9.5 dips of the air compressor gravitron @ 9 - and i finally understand how that darn thing works! Amd I did about 10 minutes of streching while Daniel showered.

And now I am going to go to bed. Early. Hopefully whatever Dark cloud that has been following me around will have dissipated in the morning.

Back to work

43 Burpees done throughout the day. I am definitely getting a whole lot better at these.

Deadlift x 5
45-50-60-60-lost count - at least 2 more sets worth i think

Push-Press x 5
45-50(PR)-50-50-50

Dips x 10 on BIW Gravitron
90- 90

I was in a foul mood @ work today - coming home from vacation tends to do that - and I am getting thoroughly disgusted with my company's rampant inefficiency. Anyway, I was relieved to get to the gym to put all that aside just to work on moving heavy things around. At least I feel like I accomplished something.

I kept the Deadlifts really light tonight to continue trying to work on my form. I did them in ront of the mirror - and it was a good thing i did, too. I started off only focusing on trying to not let my knee wobble on the lift and the descent. But I noticed - after about mythird set, that the bar was not parallel to my legs when I set it down on the ground. The left side was about 8-12 inches in front of my foot, and the right was much closer. This really confused me since I had been making sure to trace my shins with the bar on the way down.

This led me to take a much closer look at my form. I looked at myself in the mirror in the squat position just before the lift and I realized that while my shoulders were square over the bar, my hips were swiveled out to the left(allowing me to place most of my weight on my left foot) and my torso was compensatingly swiveled to the right to be 'square'. I worked to straighten myself out and - what looked straight in the mirror sure didn't feel natural. That will take some practice.

Long story short, after that discovery I stopped keeping track of reps, and just kept lifting trying to keep everything as aligned as possible both on the way up and the way down. Daniel's noticed the funny sort of corkscrew action I do when I was back squatting, too, so I am sure that this is something universal that needs to be fixed.

Astonishingly (meaning entirely predictably) when I was correctly aligned, the bar went up really easy, and the movement felt strong and sturdy. I'll have to keep working on this until what is 'right' also feel 'natural'. Once I manage to retrain myself (god only knows how long that will take :-< ) I expect that I'll be able to advance a lot more quickly in all of the lifts.

The push presses were pretty good. 50# feels quite a lot heavier than 45#. It really hurt (fatigued) my wrists. Daniel pointed out - and i think he's right - that I am not holding the bar in the front squat position - resting on my delts - between reps. I tried it, but couldn't quite figure out how to get from the 'rack' position' into a position I can push-press from. That will probably come with experience - and a little more wrist strength.

Then while Daniel was getting dressed, I decided to try a few dips. I've managed to miss every workout that calls for them - by accident not design - and they are definitely something I want to work towards developing. I set the BIW gravitron to 90 and manged 10 consecutive - the last few were really tough. When Daniel still wasn't out a few minutes later I managed to get in 10 more. I wasn't sure I would get the last couple, but I managed it. Next time I will try 80.

Overall, I am pretty happy with this workout. I'm glad I was able to identify a major structural problem, and I feel like it is fixable with the proper attention to detail.

This morning:
Climbing: 10a(o), 10b(o), 10d(dnc), 10c(f++), 10a

Felt strong at first with the two onsights, but that D was KILLER, and I burnt a ton of forearms trying to get up it. I was out of gas for the C, which was a hard one, and could barely limp my way up the slabby 10a to finish.

Tonight:
100 pullups, 100 dips for time
27:57, I think.

Scaling on Gravitron (in sets of 10):
BW (185), 145, 135, 135, 135, 125, 125, 125, 115, 115

I think this is an improvement, but I'm not sure...I was definitely not at 100% from this morning's climbing, so this felt quite challenging.

Spin class with Noel - brutal intervals.

90 pullups, 90 dips

Time: ~35:00

9 rounds of 10 reps. For pullups, only the first round was full BW deadhangs. Then jumping for the next four rounds, then Gravitron at 80, 60, 50, 60. Dips were BW for the first five rounds, then Gravitron at 80, 60, 50, 60.

Followed by spin class with Lara. HRM is still on the fritz, so don't know calories. I'd estimate 800-something.