5x5 Deadlifts

Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5

275 - 285 - 275 - 275 - 275

Still recovering from this damn cold, I focused on the weight where my form breaks down and focused on maintaining strict form as much as possible. With my runny nose and phlegmy throat it was very uncomfortable.

Fail

I've been in denial, but this afternoon I came to accept that I overdid it on Thursday. The DOMS that it gave me negatively impacted the next three workouts, including today's - which was pretty horrible. It's been useful in a philosophical/programmatic way, however, and sparked an interesting discussion over at PMenu.

My takeaway from this lesson is that there is a time and a place for intensity. Heavy deadlifts for time is not it - I would have done and felt vastly better if I had done the workout at 185 instead of 225, I think. In general, I think that shorter (under 25 mins), low-and-bodyweight metcons are ideal for working on intensity (Helen, Cindy, FGB), whereas heavily weighted workouts should be treated with more respect and attention to form and safety. Chalk it up to a lesson learned, and come back and try again next week.

Deadlift 1RM: 225-275-285(f)
Bench Press: 135x5, 140x3, 140x4, 140x3, 135x2

I've been trying very hard to recover in time for today's workout. I've gotten more than 10 hours of sleep each night, been downing Omega 3's and animal protein like crazy, and have taken it easy on the last two workouts...it still wasn't enough. The warmups were OK, but the lift at 275 was scary. After dropping the weight, I fell to my knees and grabbed the bar to steady myself, as my vision tunnelled and a very loud buzzing completely took over my hearing. This freaked me out. I gave a half-hearted attempt at 285 (even just pulling it a little gave me a headrush), and gave up. So my score is 25 pounds lower than the 1RM I scored just two weeks ago.

It had been my intention to do the bottom-to-bottom tabatas that CFEB did this morning, but I was feeling lousy and Gita suggested I avoid high-volume work if I felt in danger of overtraining. So I joined them for 5x5 Bench press instead. I thought I had gone above 140 in my 5x5's, but looking back through my blog posts, it looks like no, that was the highest I ever got. So I don't feel so bad about not being able to finish a full set of 5 at this weight today. My bench is definitely weak - I should get this up to 175 for level II, but it's hard to work on by yourself. Maybe I could rope Jim into doing it with me once a week.

I am a beautiful butterfly

...or at least I will be.

I'll get to today's workout in a bit. First, I want to relay something that I find very exciting: I think I'm starting to understand the butterfly kip.

Aaron apparently went to CF Oakland, where they gave him a lesson in the butterfly, which he passed on to the rest of us after class. It took a few tries (it's difficult not to relapse into a regular kip), but eventually I started to get a feel for it. I can't yet get high enough on the bar - I get freaked out by the metal bar speed directly towards my face - but I was able to string a few together on the rings.

This is exciting to me for a couple reasons. 1) If you can do it, it's MUCH faster, but more importantly, 2) your legs stay bent the whole time. This means that the Ironworks bar, where I do the majority of my pullups and which is a bit too low for me, could stop being the frustrating kip-killer it currently is. My plan is to practice these until I can get my chin over my bar, then switch to doing them for the WODs. It will mean losing a few as-RX workouts, but it's my hope that with time and practice, I'll be able to do these C2B as well. I know it's possible, and those that can do it swear it's easier. I suspect this is because, done properly, the butterfly kip enables the vast majority of the power to come from the hip, and lets the arms do less work.

Anyway, on to today's workout. Max took pity on us for two difficult workouts (I've been pretty wrecked today), and gave us something quite low-key:

Floor press 5-5-5-5-5

135-145x4-145-150-155x4

An entire workout spent lying on the floor. Perfect. It's a weird lift - the ROM feels all wrong, but having the floor stop your arms prevents any bounce from the reflex action of the muscles, so you have to start the lift in midair. I didn't hate it, but it didn't feel super-useful to me.

Of meat and leading

So I came to a realization today: eating meat and lead climbing are actually quite similar experiences. As I put it to a friend: suddenly there's a wealth of choices that weren't there before, and at least once between starting and finishing a meal/climb, I have a surreal moment of "oh shit, I can't believe I'm doing this."

Today was my first full day of climbing since getting my lead card, and Tor and I were back on home turf at Ironworks. After the spectacular failure of the 10B last week, and keeping in mind that this is supposed to be recovery week, I resolved to keep the numbers fairly low.

L10a(o), L10a/b(o), L10a(2f), L10b(o), 10b(o)

The first two climbs were quite straightforward, and I tackled them with deliberate movements that belied my inner "oh lordy." The third 10a, however, was the long, LONG and extremely overhung 10a in the cave. It's just ridiculous calling this climb a 10a. Yes, there are nothing but big buckets the whole way, but it's also entirely upside-down and insanely pumpy. I had to take two rests, and when I finally came down, I landed 20 feet behind where I started. After that, the shorter 10b's seemed both easier (since they were short) and harder (because my arms were pumped). The last 10b was toprope, and the entire time I had this sense that A) it was SO easy! and B) I was forgetting something important.

Tonight's WOD was simple 5x5 shoulder presses. At my strongest with these I managed 95#, and I did not do that tonight:

95x3 - 95x2 - 90x4 - 90x5

It was partially weakness from being sick, I think, but mostly just being out of practice with the movement (and, likely, not quite as strong). I didn't really go at it 100%, anyway, since it's half-volume week.

Oh, and we did bottom-to-bottom tabata squats, which was (I think) the first time I've done this. I played conservatively and scored 10. I think I could have done 12, but it would have been much, much more painful.

Horrible

So I went down to the gym today after work...

Back Squat x 5: 95-135-170-170-170
False grip pullup practice (10 x 1)

The squats were horrible. My form felt atrocious - at the bottom of the squat, my torso pitches forward and I put far too much strain on my back when I stand up. These got so heavy that I felt like I might burst a blood vessel from the pressure in my neck and jaw, so I gave up after three rounds. I'm going to switch to deadlifts for 5x5's (I feel confident about my DL form) and drop the weight down on the squats so I can focus on form. I'll try to get video with Rebecca one of these days, so I can put it out there for review. I'm fairly certain if I kept it up as it is, I would injure myself.

The pullup practice was just that - deadhang pullups, chest to hands, in false grip. I need to get more comfortable with this grip if I'm ever going to get a muscle-up - right now it feels WAY harder than a normal pullup would be.

5x5 Squats and Ring Dips

Biked down to the gym after work to squeeze in a set of 5x5's before heading back for opening night.

Back Squat, x 5: 95-135-165-165-165-165-165
Ring Dips: 3-3-3-3-3

The squats felt really heavy, and like I might fail on the last rep of the last set. I really need to video these, as I feel my form is falling to shit, and it seems that I should be able to squat more than this without so much difficulty, so (I'm hoping) my form is the limiting factor.

Ring dips. OK, I knew I was bad at ring dips, but apparently I continually overestimate my ability at them, because I had fantasies of trying the FIFTEEN required for level II. Ha! I can do THREE before I fall apart, and those aren't even full ROM. Clearly these need a great deal of work. It's embarrassing.

Two more down

I only have a few weeks until my one-year anniversary, and I'm not going to make my goal of having all Level II skills checked off. But damn if I'm not gonna get as close as I can. To that end, I set my sights tonight on the 1/2 bodyweight snatch and 3/4 bodyweight clean, figuring I might be close enough to get them.

Back Squat, x 5: 95-135-160-160-160-160-160
Power Cleans: 75 x 5, 87 x 5, 115 x 1, 130 x 1(f), 130 x 1(f), 130 x 1*
Power Snatch: 75 x 5, 87 x 1*

And there you have it! My form was horrible on both of them, and they were more like muscle cleans and snatches than powers, and I still haven't quite figured out how to come to full extension before dropping under the weight, but dammit the weight went up, and that was all I cared about tonight. Now I can drop the weight to something more manageable and focus on virtuosity again.

5x5 back squats only

I was late getting to the gym today - about 45 minutes after daniel (stupid work thing), so i only did the back squat part of my workout - without a whole lot of warming up because i was afraid i was going to lose the squat cage Daniel had just vacated - but it still went relatively well.

Back squat x 5
45-55-65(f)-65-65-65-65

We forgot the Camera again. Next time, we will remember.

I will be at this weight again next week. To use Melissa's scale, I would say my form was probably (depending on the squat) anywhere from a C to a B-. It definitely degraded as the sets wore on. I will stay at this weight until I can keep better form.

Today my focus was primarily on depth, and secondarily on keeping my knees out. They are a great deal more solid than they were; they no longer wobble in and out as I am trying to stand back up, they just sort of stay slightly in. I guess I should re-read this: http://www.crossfitvirtuosity.com/blogs/articles/366-weak-in-the-knees.

My fail on rep 5 of my first set was due to attempting to keep my knees out, and, for whatever reason, i lost the ability to stand back up by keeping them out. My guess is a weak ... something - hamstring, glute, or adductor. maybe all three.

I only really struggled with the last few reps of the last few sets, though, so this is clearly the right weight. I know I could go heavier and not entirely fail, but my form would certainly suffer, so it'll be 65# next time, too.

5x5's, and another skill bites the dust

Back Squat, x 5: 95-155-155-155-155-155
Weighted Pull-up x 5: 15-15-15-15-15
Weighted Pull-up x 1: 45-60(PR!)

I resisted the siren call of heavy deadlifts in class tonight to pursue my back squat regimen upstairs. Eric was there, and we worked in together while he did his deadlifts. His main comment on my form was that I tend to pitch forward at the bottom half of the drive up, which puts inordinate amount of strain on my back. Well, yeah. I get confused, because I'm trying to get good hip drive like Rip says, but I guess I can't do it at the expense of my chest facing the wall. So I worked hard at keeping that back arch throughout, and Eric said I improved.

I went downstairs with the intention of finding my weighted pull-up 1RM, with the hope that just maybe I could cross off another Level II skill (I needed 1/3 bodyweight, or 60#). Folks were busy with their deadlifts and I didn't want to intrude, and I didn't know where the weight belts were. So I grabbed a weighted vest and decided I'd just do 5x5's. I thought the vest was 20#, but turns out I was wrong - which is fine, because 15# really felt like the right weight.

After class was done, Max showed me where the belts were kept, and I thought maybe I'd noodle around with single reps. Since I'd just done a load of weighted pullups, at only 15#, and they were hard, I figured I was not going to do well. But I tried 45#, and it really didn't seem that bad, so I just said "to Hell with it" and decided to try 60# and see what happened.

I got it! It was a real struggle, but my chest touched that bar. One more off the list.

5x5's and a little climbing

I've been itching to deadlift lately. Not really sure why, but it's been calling to me. Perhaps because it's by far the heaviest and most satisfying lift I can do, and perhaps I just feel incomplete if I only squat in the week. and don't deadlift.

DL x 5: 135-185-230-230-230-230-230
Climbing: ML10a(c), 10c(o), 10d(f+)

The deadlifts were, in fact, satisfying and not that hard. 230 is 80% of 285, my last recorded 1RM, and seems a good place to restart linear progression. It's my hope that the added CNS hit of the squats and deadlifts will promote further strength gains.

The downside of the deadlifts seems to be that they diminish my grip (unsurprisingly), making climbing a bit more challenging. The 10a mock went quite awkwardly, and I wasn't really feeling it so didn't mock again. The 10c was an interesting combination of roof, negative and some really tight book stemming - I quite liked it. The 10d was one I've done a couple times before, but really like, and with the couple pieces of beta that I can never remember (ie, the hold after the roof that looks like a foothold is actually very useful for your right hand) I could do it clean. It'll probably be gone soon, but I hope I get a chance to do it again.

5 x 5 (mostly)

Front Squat x 5
45-45-55-65-65-65-65(f)-65

Bench Press x 5
45-45-55-65(f)-65(PR)-65-65(f)-65(f)

Ow. 65# is heavy, and I will definitely not be moving past this weight in either exercise next week.

With the front squat, if I stayed really focused, I could get through all the reps, but if my attention wandered at all, that was it. I failed on the first rep of round 2 just because I stopped thinking about what I was doing, so I counted it as a false start. I failed on rep 3 or 4 of round 4 when I tried to power through feeling light headed instead of standing and breathing through it before I started the next rep. (Dumb).

Tom - one of the frequent weight-lifters we've become friendly with - gave me some good tips on my squat form - unfortunately, it was after I was done with all of my sets. ... I'm drawing a bit of a blank at the moment on what exactly they were though ... Crap! ... the main thing I remember is "use a wider stance". I had been using a stance that was just about shoulder width. He said that I wasn't keeping my back up and pitching forward as a result, causing me to do more work with my back than my legs, and having my legs further apart would help. I tried a couple reps, with an empty bar and it felt like it probably would work better - if I weren't already totally knackered. He also said that I wasn't staying tight all the way trough the movement - that - like with the bench press - everything should be tight all the way through the movement.

The Bench Press was ... HARD ... and it hurt my ass. I'll say that again. I hurt my ass doing bench press. LOL - WTF? Well - here's the thing - I had to clench everything to get that bar to go up, and my right hip/glute cramped. A bit.

The sets I failed I always failed on the 5th rep - i just couldn't QUITE eek out that last bit of effort. Many thanks to my excellent spotter (Daniel <3>:-p)

5x5's

Back Squat: 140
Bench: 135 x 5-5-4-5-5

The squats felt good - I'm still not totally upright, particularly at the bottom, but I'm getting better and better. I think warming up on the Smith machine helps kinesthesically (or whatever I'm trying to say there).

The bench felt really heavy, particularly the last rep. It helps to visualize my body, particularly my core muscles, as a solid floor that I'm pressing off of. Keeps everything really tight. But I'm feeling it in my front deltoids more than my pecs, which could mean that I'm doing it wrong, I suppose, or it could just mean that's the weakest link in my chain.

Has anyone seen my pullups?

I've lost them. Ever since the burpee/pullup workout a couple weeks back, when I did 120 of them, I haven't been able to string together more than a handful of kipping pullups at a time. At first it was that my muscles did not feel up to the task, and then it was that I seem to have lost my kip. It's frustrating.

Anyway, today we did 5x5's, only we ran out of time (had dinner with my folks), so we only made it through the squats.

Back Squat: 135 x 5

Felt better than last week. I'm contemplating switching to front squats, to better practice for thrusters and cleans.

And OK, so I know the Smith machine is supposed to be evil and everything, but we messed around with it a little bit after doing our regular squats, and I think it could be useful as a warmup tool to kinesthetically feel the proper bar path. I did a few back squats on the Smith machine with just a little weight on the bar, and it felt really good at telling my how far back I really SHOULD be. I think I might throw a set or two on the Smith machine into my warmup, until I have the form nailed.

A return to the 5 x 5

Warmup: Mobility exercises, 10 pushups, 30 situps, 30 air squats

Front Squats x 5:
45-45-55-60-60-60-60-60

Bench Press x 5:
45-45-55-60-60-60-60-60

Well - it was nice to get back to this. I decided to switch out back squats for front squats. Front squats keep you a lot more honest about keeping your chest up - you just have to - and I really liked them when we did them in class last week or so.

I got as high as 65# when we did them in class - but I decided to ease back into this a bit - so I opted to start with 60. The last rep of the last set was very nearly a bail, so that was probably smart. I felt like these were pretty good. THe knee wobble is there, and the corkscrewing is there on some reps - but my form and stability is much improved. It could still use some work (duh), but I feel that I now have the basics down enough to make it worth my while to try to progress.

I had thought about going with 55# for the bench - but Daniel said it looked easy when I practiced with it so I decided to do 60# instead (even though it didn't FEEL particularly easy) . Again, the last rep of the last set was very nearly a fail - but i pulled it out. (or pushed ;-) )
I don't know why, but my first set of bench press is always horrible. The bar goes up and down in this ridiculous completely uncoordinated way. It's like my muscles have to relearn how to do it. My second set was totally fine. And Daniel said that all my sets in general were looking really good. The bar is coming up evenly in one motion and is staying in the plane it should be in. I used to sort of 'ratchet' the bar up, one side at a time. My right arm definitely feels more tired than my left - which is awesome because that means it was actually trying to carry it's fair share.

Oh - and just to see if I could do it (which I couldn't not too long ago) I shoulder pressed the empty oly bar - it was only the one rep, but it was practically easy!

5x5's: Welcome Back

I've missed the 5x5's. I think they've done me a lot of good, and I'm anxious to try them in combination with my shiny new diet. So today we headed back to IW for some good ol' fashioned strength work:

Back squat: 130
Bench: 130

I backed it off 10-15 pounds from where I left them a couple months ago, and I think that was the right call - these felt plenty challenging, particularly the bench. It felt good to squat again, but I've never really been fond of the bench press, so that was more tolerance than good times.

Front Squats: 5x5

115-125-135-135-135

On 9/11 I did my last 5x5 back squat, and that was at 140. Considering this was my first real work at front squats, I'm pretty happy with this. I do need to work more at keeping my chest upright at the bottom of the squat - the front squats are excellent at keeping you honest on this point.

5x5's at home

No chance of doing Nicole today, and didn't feel like riding my bike across town to watch everyone else doing the WOD, so I made up a little something at home.

5 x...
5 weighted pullups (5#)
10 weighted pushups (5#)
5 L-sit leg raises

All the pullups were full-ROM deadhangs. I don't have the facility for dips at home, so chest-to-deck slow pushups with a weight around my neck was the best I could come up with.

Felt like a decent recovery workout. The last couple sets were hard to complete with strict form.

Ankle's feeling a bit better every day.

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.

One 5x5

Back squat: 140 x 5

Not much more to add, really. Had a sharp pain in my shoulder from Wednesday's WOD, so did the burpees in small sets throughout the day. The squats were fine (I know I can go heavier than this), but I gave up on the Bench Press after the first weighted warmup set - it was clear to me that it would prolong the shoulder pain, and the BP just wasn't worth it to me. So instead I went home and it's off to bed early.

Back in the saddle with 5x5's

43 Burpees done throughout the day

5x5's
Deadlift: 235
Shoulder Press: 95!

I was very pleasantly surprised by tonight's workout. After more than a week of being a lazy bum and filling my body with poisons, the five exploratory pullups I did this morning were WAY harder than they used to be. So I was fully prepared to bomb this workout.

Instead I rocked it! The DL's were heavy but manageable, but the shoulder presses were great! They felt solid and strong, and while two weeks ago I wasn't able to do the full five reps, tonight I was. I won't say they were no problem, because that last rep WAS heavy, and I really didn't think I was going to pull off the last rep of the last set, but overall they DID feel strong.

Part of it, I think, was a change in visualization on the origin of the effort. Previously, I had been thinking of the effort as happening mainly in my shoulders, but tonight I thought of driving the weight up from lower down my back, in my lats. For some reason this made me think of a triangle, or a mountain, and suddenly I felt much more stable and able to drive the weight up without so much teetering. I don't know where the change in perspective came from, it was just there.

In other, more maddening news, I'm ready to take a hammer to our scale. Two weeks ago it agreed with the Ironworks scale. Today it disagreed by three pounds. I think we need to get a new one, as this one seems to grow increasingly unreliable the further above 180 I get.