I'm hoping the heading got you wondering what mischief I have been up to, and what has gotten me all up in a knot again- but before I get into that I'll give you a short run through the last days training!
#1 Squat cleans 1- 1- 1- 1- 1- 1- 1
I worked my way up to 80kg and feel pretty happy with that. This is still one of these exercises that (once it gets a bit heavier) I start wondering if my hand, my hip and my knee will hold up? This time I had no problems whatsoever, but I felt that I was not pulling myself under the bar agressively enough, mainly because I chickened out! I'll just have to be happy with this for now, and let it all develop with some baby steps.. I have even been thinking that when everything starts feeling better, maybe I should make a trip to Manchester, and have the demon trainer Karl help me out..
#2 With a running clock, do 1 pull up the first minute, two the next etc, until you can no longer finish the pull ups in a minute!
I made it to 15 pull ups- and on the next laphad to give up at 11.
This is one of these WoD's that plays with my head! I feel fine and it feels like I could go on forever- but my grip just will not let e pass the bar-) Well, at 200lbs I'm pretty happy with getting to 15- next time I'll nail 16 for sure!
#3
50 ring dips
400m run
50 push ups
400m run
50 HSPU
400m run
What do you say? I was on fire until I got to the HSPU- and then it was like I just ran into a wall! 24:12 WOW I felt like I was invincible and hit the ground hard- these WoD's sure make me feel like I have a lot to work on!
However, every rep was legit, every single one!
Yesterday- Joshie!
I decided to use a 20kg dumbell, which I later realized converts to something like 44lbs the requirement is 40lbs! I did the first round with l-pull ups and then realized that the gym would close before I ever finished if I was to continue doing l-pull ups, so I opted for CTB instead!
34:06....... what can I say? JUst really happy I actually got it done:-)
No excuses!
When was the last time you took some time of to look through the comments posted after a days WoD on the main site, or any other site actually?
It is amazing to see how many excuses people have! It is scary to read how many people beging their post with: " Well I did'nt get enough sleep last night!" " I have been having a cold lately!" "I had to do my WoD at a time of the day I dont usually work out!" and the list goes on and on with more or less legit excuses, before the results are posted.
Why do you do that? If you have really given all you had to give and done everything you possibly could, there should be no need for excuses! You may not be able to do everything as rxd because of injuries or because you simply can't perform the exercise yet, or dont have the equipment at hand. I have no problem whatsoever with that, but when you begin your post with making excuses to your performance, something is wrong! You either did'nt give it your best shot, and feel like you need to justify your lack of commitment- or you have forgotten that it is all about your own personal development as an athlete, not about how your results meassure up to everyone elses! Just because you cant post a sub 7 Helen or a 400 point fight gone bad does not mean that you have to justify your effort- instead celebrate your development, and be honest to yourself about what you can improve!
There is another beast that comes along with this mindset that you dont want to feed- low self-esteem! When you have gotten into the habbit of making excuses for your efforts you will soon begin actually believing in these excuses and use them to legitimize (is that a a word) your lack of effort to towards improvement! Don't ever bring yourself down- other people will gladly do that for you! Instead be honest to yourself, and boldly evaluate your workouts and post your scores and reflections, it is better for you, and you deserve the boost that comes along with doing the WoD's!
Well a week from now I will be on a plane towards some fantastic training, but I promise to be in touch before that!
You gotta love Rippetoe!
In response to a question regarding how to bail out of a squat...
" In my gym, you get spotters, you safely dump it backwards loaded with the bumper plates, or you learn how to accurately judge your ability.
If you dump the bar on rails or pins or anything else in here, I will beat the cum out of you with the remnants of the bar."
Much love
Mads
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
What do you think?
I have been taking it easy the last 3 days, missing every single WOD! I have felt a cold coming on, and the departure for Santa Cruz is just around the cornor, so I decided to take it easy.. Not an entirely depressing decission, since it gave me extra time with my family..
I do however have a question I would like to share with you! Before I move on I would like to stress that I do not have a stone carved answer to the question, but I would like to hear what you have to say? So here we go:
Lately there have been some fantastic achievements on the .com site. I'm thinking about Rhabdo's and Speal's "fran times, but there have been others as well! These are fantastic achievements and I am genuinly impressed with these efforts, full ROM or not, these are kick ass achievements!
My question however is aimed more at those striving towards someday achieving such feats!
When you have an athlete who is doing a WOD, and the athlete has to rest to gain composure, breath, focus etc. before continuing the WOD, do you recommend that the athlete takes ie. 3 deep breaths and then continue, or do you recommend a slightly longer rest so that more reps can be done before the athlete has to rest again, or finnish the WOD?
Do you see where I am going? Would you rather that the athlete takes a slightly longer rest and as a consequense of this is able to do more reps, or do you push the athlete to rest less and risk that the athlete has to rest sooner?
Lately I have been experimenting with both, and found that the results vary from individual to individual, and from day to day, from WOD to WOD and is also depending on what time of day it is!
What are your own personal experiences? What are you experiences from client to client etc- please share..
For now that is all folks, until next time
Much love
Mads
Ps.. the picture... early days, how many people can you name?
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
To sub or not to sub- that is the question!
I have been called a "square" on many occations, and not always wrongly so. This means that I have been reluctant to substitute exercises and do WOD's that were not posted on the .com site. The exception being when I have been doing the programming myself, or following the expert programming of someone else, but then I have always strived towards actually doing the WOD's as perscribed!
These days however I find myself caught between a rock and a hard place! On the one side I want to follow the WOD's posted on the .com site. On the other hand I have to listen to my body in order to recover from the afore mentioned injuries. The last 3 days have been taxing that way! If nothing else I hope I will eventually become a better man for having to use the inside of my head and not just charge into the WOD's and tear something again??
Monday:
I had to come up with a combo of my own:
Overhead squat 50kg
HSPU
9/1- 8/2- 7/3- 6/4- 5/5- 4/6- 3/7- 2/8- 9/1
Time 11:48
Once again not a breath taking accomplishment, but nothing hurt afterwards
Tuesday:
The guilt of not having done Cindy on monday nagged me all monday and all tuesday, so I decided to go for it:
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Squats
AMRAP in 20 minutes
Score 17 rounds- every rep legit!
A far cry from my best performance, and I felt the need for improved cardio all the way through the WOD. My wrists and knee hurt like hell afterwards. For some odd reason though I felt like I had made up for the previous days "Cheat".. Wise or not? That remains to be seen!
Wednesday:
I saw the WOD on the .com site and immidiately felt an urge to do the WOD. It is a fantastic WOD and I have a strange love for squat cleans and ring dips, at the same time as I have improved my double unders dramatically, so I really wanted to hit this one hard.
However- my knees were killing me from Cindy the day before, so there was no way I dared do this one, and doing it half way was just not an option, so I decided on:
Deadlifts:
1- 1- 1- 1- 1-
100kg- 120kg- 140kg- 150kg- 160kg
I guess I should just be happy that my hip felt ok, but I still feel guilty for not doing todays WOD.
The need to be wise!
I am not sure if my current situation of having to nurse injuries have propelled me into the discussions I have been getting into lately, however I feel that I need to make a point!
I often meet people how are fantastic athletes and avid crossfitters, who seem to think that every single WOD is a competition, and the need to better past performances is the only objective. They will substitube exercises they do not completely master in a WOD just to make sure they are not slowed down during the execution of the WOD.
They will sacrifice technique in squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, push presses, push jerks etc. just to make sure that the score/weight is better than the one they recorded the last time they did the WOD.
Needless to say the objective should always be to improve from one WOD to the next, and to evolve as an athlete, and I will be the first to cheer for a faster "Fran" time, and celebrate a new PR squat- I just dont think it should be achieved through a thick skull and some borderline lethal effort, but through a combination of improved technique and the increased strength that comes along with said techniqual improvement!
First of all the borderline effort, based on poor technique and a skull thick enough to stop a magnum (not to mention the instances where the reps are just not good enough to be counted!). will lead to a sudden stop in the athletes development, when no amount of stubbornness will get the athlete any further. The alternative being that the athletes seriously injures him/herself, which will make all progression impossible!
But there is an altogether more serious aspect that is not to be forgotten! CrossFit is about becoming a better athlete, and developing new skills, so sometimes you just have to take a step back, and use the WOD's to improve your skills!
If your squat is not flawless and the WOD of the day is to do squat sets of 3-often the way to a new PR is to use that WOD to improve your technique. and you may very well find yourself blasting your old PR the next time you give it a shot!
I am not trying to lash out at anyone, it just makes me geniunly sad when athletes with true potential loose themselves in the competition, and forget that in order to improve in the long run, you have to master the technique..
For now that is all, but I will be back shortly
Much love
Ps... keep an eye on www.crossfitsvea.com things are about to happen on that site... Call it a gut feeling:-)
These days however I find myself caught between a rock and a hard place! On the one side I want to follow the WOD's posted on the .com site. On the other hand I have to listen to my body in order to recover from the afore mentioned injuries. The last 3 days have been taxing that way! If nothing else I hope I will eventually become a better man for having to use the inside of my head and not just charge into the WOD's and tear something again??
Monday:
I had to come up with a combo of my own:
Overhead squat 50kg
HSPU
9/1- 8/2- 7/3- 6/4- 5/5- 4/6- 3/7- 2/8- 9/1
Time 11:48
Once again not a breath taking accomplishment, but nothing hurt afterwards
Tuesday:
The guilt of not having done Cindy on monday nagged me all monday and all tuesday, so I decided to go for it:
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Squats
AMRAP in 20 minutes
Score 17 rounds- every rep legit!
A far cry from my best performance, and I felt the need for improved cardio all the way through the WOD. My wrists and knee hurt like hell afterwards. For some odd reason though I felt like I had made up for the previous days "Cheat".. Wise or not? That remains to be seen!
Wednesday:
I saw the WOD on the .com site and immidiately felt an urge to do the WOD. It is a fantastic WOD and I have a strange love for squat cleans and ring dips, at the same time as I have improved my double unders dramatically, so I really wanted to hit this one hard.
However- my knees were killing me from Cindy the day before, so there was no way I dared do this one, and doing it half way was just not an option, so I decided on:
Deadlifts:
1- 1- 1- 1- 1-
100kg- 120kg- 140kg- 150kg- 160kg
I guess I should just be happy that my hip felt ok, but I still feel guilty for not doing todays WOD.
The need to be wise!
I am not sure if my current situation of having to nurse injuries have propelled me into the discussions I have been getting into lately, however I feel that I need to make a point!
I often meet people how are fantastic athletes and avid crossfitters, who seem to think that every single WOD is a competition, and the need to better past performances is the only objective. They will substitube exercises they do not completely master in a WOD just to make sure they are not slowed down during the execution of the WOD.
They will sacrifice technique in squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, push presses, push jerks etc. just to make sure that the score/weight is better than the one they recorded the last time they did the WOD.
Needless to say the objective should always be to improve from one WOD to the next, and to evolve as an athlete, and I will be the first to cheer for a faster "Fran" time, and celebrate a new PR squat- I just dont think it should be achieved through a thick skull and some borderline lethal effort, but through a combination of improved technique and the increased strength that comes along with said techniqual improvement!
First of all the borderline effort, based on poor technique and a skull thick enough to stop a magnum (not to mention the instances where the reps are just not good enough to be counted!). will lead to a sudden stop in the athletes development, when no amount of stubbornness will get the athlete any further. The alternative being that the athletes seriously injures him/herself, which will make all progression impossible!
But there is an altogether more serious aspect that is not to be forgotten! CrossFit is about becoming a better athlete, and developing new skills, so sometimes you just have to take a step back, and use the WOD's to improve your skills!
If your squat is not flawless and the WOD of the day is to do squat sets of 3-often the way to a new PR is to use that WOD to improve your technique. and you may very well find yourself blasting your old PR the next time you give it a shot!
I am not trying to lash out at anyone, it just makes me geniunly sad when athletes with true potential loose themselves in the competition, and forget that in order to improve in the long run, you have to master the technique..
For now that is all, but I will be back shortly
Much love
Ps... keep an eye on www.crossfitsvea.com things are about to happen on that site... Call it a gut feeling:-)
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Now add intensity!
I said I'd aim to keep the blogg alive and kicking and be back with updates as frequently as possible. The problem however is that sometimes there is just nothing to tell, and things are moving along at a steady pace- so instead of the breaking news of "fantastic feats" that you are used to- this is more of an update, so here we go!
Training has been really good lately. I have had to amove along at a very slow pace just to make sure that all the injuries I have had, would not bust open again. So I decided to sacrifice intensity and do the WOD's as rxd and see how everything responded.
Needless to say my cardio was piss poor, but that hardly came as a surprise, and the way to improve it is really basic- 3- 2- 1- GO! So in that department I have my work cut out for me!
3- 2- 1- SLOW!
Strength wise however I managed to work my way to a 5 across squat of 117,5kg without experiencing any pain during the squats or afterwards- you have no idea how good that felt!
Push press is still virtually impossible for me to do, my wrist immidiately gets swollen, och hurts.
The good news however is that I absolutely nailed the jerk! I have been feeling that it was in the making for a while but the timing has been off just a little. But I got it, owned it, tore it apart- now it is time to do it heavier and during a cardio WOD, and see if I still feel as gutsy as I do now?
In other news:-)
In 22 days I'll be going to Santa Cruz with my dear friend Micke Syd- We will be there for a week, working out at NSC, Santa Cruz and Central- gather inspiration, hang out with some of the most wondeful people in the world, learn, laugh, and just basically enjoy- I just wish more people could come along! If you have not had the chance to go to Santa Cruz yet- please start making plans, it is worth it all the way!
Rumor has it!
That in Virginia Beach a very cool cat is in the process of opening a box which will be called CrossFit Obsession!m I wish you all the luck in the world bro' and look forward to visiting with you, and seeing you in Stockholm:-)
Well folks that is all for now! It is time to add intensity to the WOD's and keep my fingers crossed that everything will hold up!
Much love
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