Day 154: Back to Crossfit; Strength Update; Team WOD: Cindy

Monday; August 25th, 2014 - the Wall @ ROCK JUNGLE (West)

Warm-Up:

2 Rounds:

-  30 Double Under OR 2 Minutes Double Under practice
-  15 Squats
-  10 Push Press with Bar
-  10 PVC Passes
-  8 Easy Pull-Ups


SKILL:

6 Minutes BUILD to 70% of 1 RM (Rep Max) PUSH PRESS  OR
Difficult 7 if 1 RM is Unknown

THEN

Every 3 Minute for 4 Rounds
7 Push Press @ 70% 1RM
+ 40 seconds HOLLOW HOLD


WOD:   20 minute AMRAP (as many reps as possible)

WOD Results @ 8PM; Name / Rounds + Reps

HEALTH:

TEAM "CINDY"
-  5 PULL-UPS
-  10 PUSH UPS
-  15 SQUATS

FITNESS:

TEAM "SLUTTY HARD CINDY"
-  5  C2B (Chest-to-Bar)
-  10 HR (Hand Rest) Push-Ups
-  15 Jump Squats

*  one person works at a time


Today Coach:  Jodaye

My Thoughts:
First full Crossfit class since 5 months ago when I started my Strength program.  I was anticipating an exhausted corpse on the ground post WOD.    More on that in the Misc section.

Warm-Up;
Standard warm-up for the SKILLs to follow.  Haven't skipped for such a long time that I couldn't even get 3 in a row without whipping myself.  Perhaps I've lost my harden shell as the rope hurts more upon contact to the head, back, back of the legs and my toes.   Yup, I think I hit pretty every part of my body where a rope can hit.  I'll have to work on my tempo again.  

SKILL;
Push Press; taking the first 6 minute to build up to a nice 70% of your 1 RM (Rep Max).   After your 6 minutes, the fun part begins.  Every 3 minutes; you are to perform 7 (seven) Push Press @ 70% 1RM, followed by a 40 second HOLLOW HOLD.  You are responsible for watching the time so you know when you have the 40 seconds.  This is important, as the remainder of that time is you rest period.    You get to do this for four rounds.   You will feel it in the core doing the HOLLOW HOLDS.

WOD;
TEAM effort (2 people) for the WOD.  It's now broken down to TWO themes.  One is for HEALTH, the other FITNESS (harder).  Either way, it's challenging.   My partner, Paige and I decided to work on the HEALTH theme.   The WOD is a 20 minute AMRAP.   We strategized and decided to let the other completely finish the entire round before starting.  This will give each other the ability to rest between rounds.   We threw encouraging comments to each other to keep a constant pace.
In the end, we finished the best we could.   Paige has a very funny sense of humor.  When she marked our name down; I saw she put down "Pony".  I thought she had heard my name wrong, and I balked.   But she kindly pointed out with a smirk that if you put our names together....    It made me chuckle and smile.   Looking forward to future TEAM WODs with her.


Misc:
It started off with a program to supplement my Crossfit.   One of the goals I had set out for myself after doing an analysis after my first Crossfit Open was improving on my weakness.   The root cause  pointed to strength., or the lack of it.   Thus, I went about it by hiring a strength coach and a program was created.

What I saw for the last 5 months; 3x a week.

As I worked on perfecting my form and improving my resistance (adding weight to the barbell), I grew more fond of weight training/power lifting.   As the weight got heavier, I took more time in doing them and of course my Crossfit components started to drop off.  There is ONLY so many hours you can put toward exercising.    At some point, I did managed to balance both strength and crossfit (I would work on my strength components and then did the WOD with the class.)  Of course, that mean I would had to come in between 45 to 50 minutes before the actual class got started.   This seemed like a perfect balance but only lasted about 4 weeks.

Power rack; setting up for some Squats (back)

The lifts got heavier over time, and sadly, that wasn't the only part that was making gains (mid-section). 

I had finished my first strength program and prior to my strength coach leaving for his dream job (Canada Olympic Park); he gave me a second strength program.   It was to focus on more volume as well as more intensity.   However, this program did produced the results that I had wanted.  If anything, it stalled my gains.  I was ready to give it up 4 weeks into the program until I had a talk with someone that I should try for at least 8 weeks.    Again, after 8 weeks, I contacted Bryan and he suggested that I return to my first program.

This is so true... a shirt my wife bought for me

Injuries; damn it.....  I really do not know when this occurred.  Not sure if it was from the strict presses or from the Toe-2-Bar incident when doing the CF Open.  Or it was just simple wear and tear.  
I had suffered a "Sprain Rotator Cuff" on my right side about 6 weeks ago.  Been in physio for that duration, but continued with my lifting.  I ended up focusing more on my core and lower body.   Any pushing movement over my head  such as Bench Press and Strict Press (Military Press) were deemed off limits by my physiotherapist.  That and the pain I received when attempted any of those two movements was enough to stop me.  Even more so, when I conversed with members and other visiting crossfit peeps; they had strongly advised me not to attempted those movements.    Yup, it was a warning that I took seriously and avoided.

Fast forward to present time,  I had talked to the coach (Jody) about my injury and she mention to work on my technique, and less about speed.  I decided to go with lighter weight.  One thing I remembered from the past is that, always inform your Crossfit coach of any injuries.  Last thing you want to do is over do it and cause more injuries, longer delay in returning to Crossfit/exercising/lifting.

Why change from lifting to Crossfit?
Coming back to Crossfit after taking almost 5 months off specifically working on strength.  I had some reservations in the beginning.  It was one of those moments that I had to decide what to do after digesting some heart to heart talk with a coach;  digesting some comments (passive) made by other members about my eating style, and a few direct comments outside of the gym setting made about my recent changes (getting heavier) in size.   Those I didn't take lightly and no, I didn't punch their lights out.

Like *some* of us; the battle against weight is a constant See-Saw battle.  When you think you made the correct choices, something else falters or fail.  Your always in a state of change.   No, I'm not making excuses about the weight gain.   Funny how a few comments made can lead you in a different direction in the journey.

Root cause analysis:   I had gain over 20 lbs of weight, of which I wish I could say was more muscle than fat.  How much of that weight is muscle?   I haven't gone back and do that POD testing.  Perhaps its time I do and see the comparison.   But not doing as much cardio in the form of higher intensity workout, the mid-section grew.

Now don't get wrong that strength training, you don't sweat.  You actually do and you end up working different muscles.   The goal is to get stronger, which usually means muscle is heavier than fat.   However, the theory doesn't apply when you eat more than you can burn.  

Meals; started to go back toward my previous plan.  Eating Paleo...  Well, I'm trying..  it'll take a few weeks before I stop with the crappy eating habits, the consumption of grains and other non-paleo junk food.  I'll return to eating like a Smart Caveman

Eating Cleaner (Slow Cooked Balsamic Beef Ribs w/Asparagus) and of course an Cider

Support

One of the great things about doing something different in the gym was meeting the people.  Rock Jungle is not full of people who just do Crossfit.  There is also a core group of Power Lifters which I met over the time when I was working on my strength program.  Very supportive they are and received many tips and pointers.   Also, there are the climbers, which some also do crossfit and vice-a-versa.  And I won't forget our Yoga instructors, past and present.  Without you, I wouldn't have half the mobility as I do now.   It's an awesome place which I'm happy to call my second/third home. 

My Second/Third home away from home

Thanks for reading and if you like, follow me as I continue on my journey and blog each days WOD.

Don't forget to stay consistent in your training and tackle one WOD at a time!!