Life Needs Strength

I have been doing 'CrossFit' now for about 4 years.  This is my 3rd year competing in the CrossFit Games Open.  From the time I began my fitness journey, I have made significant improvements.  If I compare what I can do now to what I could do when I began or before I began, the difference is staggering.  However, for a couple of reasons, it is becoming more difficult to improve.  Primarily I am limited in how much time I can put into training, and frankly, I don't want to put a great deal of time training.  My largest priority in life is my family, and so supporting them and being with them will always have to come first.  And so, because I have no aspirations to be at the very top of competitive fitness, I must be satisfied with what I can put into it and what I will get out of it.  The best thing I can do then to be better, is to tackle weaknesses and to use my time as effectively as possible.

During this last Games Open, I discovered that I do a lot of things OK, and nothing great.  But a big glaring weakness I have is in the strength category.  By far my worst event was the one rep max clean and jerk.  I got 205 lbs.  That is actually a PR for me, but still by far my worst ranking event.  This is nothing new.  I have always known that I need to be stronger.  But how will I get stronger with my limited time?  I barely have enough time to do the daily workout.  Jesse has programmed lifting for us in the past, but I never have enough time to finish it.  So I need a new solution; a simple solution, and preferably a free solution.

I read an interesting article by End of Three Fitness called CrossFit makes you weaker.  It doesn't really, he's just trying to get attention with the title.  What he means is that if you are a strong person and switch to just doing CrossFit, then you will decrease in strength in all of your max lifts.  But if you are like me, and weak to begin with, you will become stronger, but only up to a point.  If you want to make gains in the strength department, you have to include a strength training program.  So here I go looking for the right strength training program for me.

I start looking online for strength training programs.  A lot of great programs out there, most of them for power lifters.  One that I really want to try, but I would have to pay $40 for the ebook, is the One Man One Barbell program by End of Three Fitness.  It looks like just what I'm after, but I don't want to pay, so I'm holding off.  I find the Stronglifts 5X5 program.  It looks great in terms of simplicity and very basic strength training, but it even says in the description, that if you can squat 300lbs properly then you are too advanced for the program.  Maybe, maybe not.  But one thing about it, is it will not help me at all with any of the olympic lifts, which is something I will have to work on as well.   How about Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program.  It looks like another awesome program.  He offers a little more flexibility with some of the supporting exercises.  He even gives you most of the info for free, but to buy the program with everything there it's another purchase.  Probably worth it, but I'm cheap.  I keep looking and find the Starting Strength program.  This looks like I'm getting closer.  I have been checking all these programs out, and doing a lot of reading, so I have a pretty good idea about the basis for each of these programs and how they work.

Using the Starting Strength program as my template, I add in one more day per week to bump me up to 4 days a week.  The program is so simple I can get through it pretty quick without having to switch a lot of weights around for each set.  The movements are core and basic and because of the extra day a week I can add in some new stuff so that I can also work on clean and jerk and snatch.  Here is what it looks like:

Week 1
Mon - Back Squat 3x5, Shoulder Press 3x5, Deadlift 1x5
Wed - Front Squat 3x5, Bench Press 3x5, Back Extensions 3x10, 3 max sets strict pullups
Fri - Back Squat 3x5, Shoulder Press 3x5, Power Clean 5x3
Sat - Overhead Squat 3x5, Barbell Row 3x5, Snatch 5x3

Week 2
Mon - Back Squat 3x5, Bench Press 3x5, Back Extensions 3x10, 3 max sets strict pullups
Wed - Front Squat 3x5, Shoulder Press 3x5, Deadlift 1x5
Fri - Back Squat 3x5, Bench Press 3x5, Back Extensions 3x10, 3 max sets strict pullups
Sat - Overhead Squat 3x5, Barbell Row 3x5, Snatch 5x3

You alternate weeks 1 and 2.  I'm planning to go for at least 12 weeks and we'll see how it goes.  As far as the weights to use, most of these programs follow a similar principle, which is to start light and progress from there.  So I have determined a starting weight for each exercise that is well below my 5 rep max.  Each time I successfully complete all of the reps on a given day, then the next time I do that lift, I increase by 5 lbs, except for back squat and deadlift, which I will increase by 10 lbs in the beginning and then as it becomes more difficult, slow that down to 5 lbs each time.  With such light starting weights, my primary focus will be on form, so that when the weights get heavy, I will be better off and be able to do better.

I have also tried to record all of my known maxes, So that I can measure progress.  Here are my one rep maxes as of now.

Bench Press  235
Back Squat  300
Front Squat  185
Deadlift        375
Shoulder Press (TBD)
Clean & Jerk  205
Snatch          155
OHS             175

So how am I to fit all of this into my schedule?  Well I still want to do the daily workout at the gym in addition to this strength training program.  I still have to leave the gym at the same time so that I can be to work on time.  Extra trips to the gym will be hazardous to my marriage.  So it looks like the best option for me is to get up a little earlier and get to the gym a half hour earlier than usual, so that I have time to complete this work before the workout.  That will mean I need to make sure to get to sleep at a decent time.  No staying up late watching TV.

I'll post back on this in a few weeks.

New Chapters

I'm a terrible blogger!  But it will be impossible to catch up on everything over the last couple of years.  I like having this here for posterity and all.  And it's faster than writing.  The best thing that has happened is that I have a new baby boy.  I never thought it would happen, but on July 11th, 2014, Kaitlin gave birth to our son Lukas Exeter Bradbury.  He has been a wonderful addition to our family and we strongly feel that our family is complete and we are not planning on having any more children.  Kind of sad in a way, but a huge relief too.  We have as much on our plates as we can handle.  Totally maxed out.

Lukas is a strong lad, and big.  He was born 9lbs 15oz, and has remained large through his development.  I guess that's what you get when you are constantly eating.  He is 8 months old as of this writing and in fact, just today he cut his first tooth.  Pretty exciting stuff.  Because he is constantly eating he is also constantly spitting up.  It has slowed down considerably in the last couple of months, but he spits up far more than our other children did.

So, what's been going on lately?  Well for the last few weeks I have been participating in the CrossFit Games Open, which is a lot of fun.  This will be my third year participating in this event.  In the past, those of us participating would head up to CrossFit Cache Valley and perform the weekly workouts there to have them validated through their affiliate.  This year we have been filming our workouts and posting the videos to validate our scores.  Since I have all the videos on You Tube now, I can link to them here.   Better yet, I can link to my athlete profile where you can click on the video for each of my workouts and see my score and ranking so far.

http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/164439

I usually place around 2000th in the region.  I really want to improve on that this year and get down closer to 1500th.  So far I'm doing OK.  I just need to have a couple more good workouts and I should end up where I want to.  I keep a separate fitness journal with my workouts and progress, so I do not have to be exhaustive about it here.

I think that's enough for one day.

Back in the Groove

I'm feeling more like myself again.  The sickness is subsiding, and I even did a workout yesterday.  It was a bugger.  This workout has a story to it.  It is called the "Hotshots 19" memorial workout, in honor of the nineteen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighting team, who tragically lost their lives on June 30, 2013 while fighting a fire in Yarnell, AZ.

"Hotshots 19"

6 rounds for time of
30 squats
135 pound Powerclean, 19 reps
7 strict pullups
Run 400 meters

I was getting sideaches like crazy during this workout.  We had a 31 minute timecap for this workout.  At the end of the 31 minutes I had just finished my 5th round.  We were all rolling around on the floor like we were going to die when I noticed that Cal was still going.  I asked, "are you going to finish it?".  To which he said, "I have to.  I have to finish it!"

Well that kind of crap inspires me.  So I said, "Well if Cal is going to finish, then I'm sure as heck going to finish!"  And we all started working out again until everyone had finished the 6 rounds.

It was great to see Cal and Ron trade off on the powerclean bar, yelling to each other to "put out the fire".
I love when people keep pushing each other above and beyond what they think they can do.  That's the kind of stuff that makes all the difference in your life.

https://hotshots19.crossfit.com/

Lousy weekend

I was really looking forward to this weekend. It was supposed to be a nice 3 day weekend, but unfortunately I've been sick for most of it.

Saturday began with a great workout.

30 clean and jerk (135 lbs) for time

I've done this once before with a time of 3:47. I only know this, because Jesse had recorded everyone's time, and then posted our previous time and weight on the board before we started. So naturally I had to best my old time. I was able to do so with a new time of 3:06.

The day is going great. Soccer games for both girls, and a game of Dungeon Slayers with Nik planned for later. Very good day. Only a very minor sore throat which I was sure would be gone by morning. But Sunday morning hit hard. My throat was killing me, and I felt like crap. I still do, and tomorrow I have to go back to work. I guess I'll be downing the Dayquil and maybe leave early.

Somehow we managed to still get a lot done around the house. We moved some rooms around and did a lot of cleaning.

Sleepless Run

Well this morning I couldn't sleep.  I woke up at about 3:30am and couldn't get back to sleep.  I was stressing about my 4-year-old daughter's soccer team of all things.  I'm coaching Sofi's team this season, and I've been bothered by a couple of things.  There are only enough girls for two teams to play, so it's the same girls playing each other each game.  The other coach has not made it to the first two games, and he won't be there for the third game either, because they'll be out of town on vacation.  I worry that because of this, the girls on his team aren't having a good time and won't want to continue playing.  Also, there is one girl on my team who is scoring tons of goals and nobody can stop her, which gets depressing for the other girls getting scored on constantly.  They get discouraged easily about it.  So I'm trying to find ways to help everyone have a fun time, and to balance out the play as much as possible.

Any suggestions?

Sofi, not being the most athletic, hasn't really gotten into the play much, so she's not having a great time either.  In the last game she just wanted to stand by me the whole time and say, "Me coach!".  She wanted to be the coach, and wouldn't play the game.

Well, because I was unable to sleep, I just got out of bed and went for a run.  I haven't been running lately, because my left knee has been bothering me when I do.  I have taken some time off to see if it will get better.  It doesn't hurt when I do a crossfit workout, just when I run.  After about a mile or two it starts to hurt.

Today it did pretty good.  I was able to go about 4 miles, and the pain was very minor, so I think it's getting better.  Maybe I can start to ease back into a little running.  Based on where I am feeling the pain I think it might be my LCL (lateral colateral ligament) that is hurting.  But I'm not sure.

Small Logjam

Well, it's been a few days now since I recorded my workouts, so I have a little catching up to do.

Monday
5 rounds of:
400 M run
10 front squats (135 lbs)
10 burpees

My time:  18:45 ?give or take a few seconds?

The goal was to go unbroken on all the sets, which I mostly did except my 4th round of front squats.  I had a little mental breakdown and dropped the bar after the 6th rep.  I feel I made up for this by doing the last round unbroken.  And I was ok with my time.

Tuesday
12 minute AMRAP
11 pullups
13 wallballs
15 kettlebell swings

My score: 5 rounds + 3 reps

I got really sluggish the last 2 rounds.  I was hoping to get through 6 rounds, but I just gassed out.  I did all the sets unbroken except for the last to rounds of pullups, I had to break them up.

Also, we had a pullup bar in the lab that I brought in for the nightshift guy to use, but it was still up in the morning so I ended up doing about 100 pullups between the workout and small sets at work each time I went to the breakroom.

Wednesday
Run 800 M
20 hspu
20 kettlebell snatch each arm (50 lb)
100 situps
run 800 M

My time: 16:46

I felt good about this one. I wasn't as fast as some people, but I was going full range on my hspu.  I did the workout Rx, which is always nice.

Since I did a boatload of pullups yesterday, I decided to to a truckload of pushups today.  I planned to do 10 sets of 20 pushups throughout the day.  Almost done, just three more sets to go.  I would like to make it so that pushups and pullups are a strength for me in workouts.

New Levels of Sore

I am sore today in places I've never been sore.  Last night for our scouting activity we took a little trip to the pool for some swimming.  We are incorporating swimming into our training for a triathlon.  I can swim, but I'm no swimmer.  I usually avoid a lot of swimming, because I'm not that good at it.

At first we just goofed off on the diving boards, and we were taught some basic pool entries from the side of the pool. Then we were told to tread water for as long as we could.  I figured I'd last about 5 minutes and I'd be done.  Heck I was tired after two.  But we all just kept on going.  After a while it didn't seem so bad and I felt like I could keep going a while.  Eventually we reached 15 minutes, and then we called it good.  I didn't think I would be able to tread for that long.  I was pretty worn out, but we weren't done.  We swam several laps working on different strokes.  That really gassed me out.

Today I am super sore in my legs.  Especially my calves and butt.  I think I will have to add some swimming into my regular routine.  I can see it doing great things to increase my base of fitness.