Andi's crossfit and bulking journal

[AndiMorris]

Not as heavy as 32

Going OK I think. Haven't weighed in a couple of weeks but the last time I did I had put on a couple of kilos. Hopefully they're still there with some additional mass when I weigh next.

[AndiMorris]

Weighed in at 71.9kg this morning, meaning I've put on around 1 kilo in about two weeks. Hopefully I can stick to that. We'll see though, it's something I constantly struggle with.

[esqinchi]

A pound per week is pretty good man. How much are you eating? Everything? haha Sorry to make light - I know that weight issues can be frustrating. Care to trade genetics for a few weeks? I'll put a lot of weight on you - but mostly fat!

[AndiMorris]

Crossfit - 02/04/14

Strength:
8x2 on the minute snatch @ 75% - 30kg

WOD:
15 minute AMRAP
1 power snatch @ 75%
10 double unders
2 power snatch
20 double unders
3 power snatch
30 double unders
…and so on…

I reached 7 power snatch and 59 double unders

Just a quick write up, as I haven’t logged the last 3 days workouts yet, and so a lot of catching up to do.

The lift section felt good today, nice and strong. The weight is still relatively light, but the important thing is that it’s starting to feel light to me too, and every rep was a full snatch without anything close to a failure.

The WOD was good, and tough too. It was very easy to begin with, but the double unders quickly started to add up, and doing them under fatigue started to get really tough. Pleased that I could Rx this though, and was happy with how far I got.

[AndiMorris]

Crossfit - 03/04/14 - Birthday workout

Warm Up:
3 rounds
100m rowling (get as close to 100m as possible, for every 1m over or under 1 burpee)
5 pull ups
30s nose to wall handstand hold

Strength:
5x3 front squat, adding 2.5kg from previous weight - 65kg

WOD:
Each even minute perform pull ups
Each odd minute perform handstand push ups
Minute 1 = 1 pull up
Minute 2 = 2 handstand pushups
Minute 3 = 3 pull ups
Minute 4 = 4 handstand push ups

Once you fail to complete the allocated reps in your minute drop to 3 reps per minute and continue until every is out.

I failed after 6 handstand push ups of the 12th round.

Front squat felt strong again today, increased weight without it seeming much more difficult. Chest is staying upright, everything feeling tighter.

The WOD was amazing!! So much fun, and more importantly, kipping pull ups just clicked!!!! I don’t know why, but suddenly the kipping motion just got in my head, and I was able to do over 5 reps without breaking, with relative ease. I only dropped off the bar to save my grip for the coming rounds. I am totally pleased as punch with this!!!! I need to keep on top of this, and do maybe a set of 10 each session, just to drill the technique into my head permanently so I don’t lose it again. I’m literally so excited for pull ups right now.

[AndiMorris]

Crossfit - 04/04/14

Warm Up:
2 minutes double unders

Strength:
3x8 of the following complex:

Romanian deadlift
barbell row
hang power clean
push press
overhead squat

First round was at 20kg, the second two at 25kg

WOD:
4 rounds, 30s on, 30s off
Thrusters @ 40kg (5, 5, 4, 4)
reverse grip barbell row (8, 10, 12, 12)
sit ups (15, 14, 14, 14)

Let me tell you now, that complex above is killer. 8 reps without putting the bar down was tough, even with an empty bar!!!

The WOD was again great! 3 times in a row I’ve Rx’d WODs. Well chuffed. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have done this at 40kg, but doing 14.5 last week at 45kg for thrusters gave me a new confidence, and 40kg felt really good today. I still couldn’t do them with any real speed, but they were all good, solid reps for each round.

It’s been a good week for training. Stuck to my plan of 2 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on, 1 day off too. Tomorrow is a rest day, in terms of the gym, however this blog with hopefully fill up with brewing and gardening posts from that rest day.

[AndiMorris]

A pound per week is pretty good man. How much are you eating? Everything? haha Sorry to make light - I know that weight issues can be frustrating. Care to trade genetics for a few weeks? I'll put a lot of weight on you - but mostly fat!

Yeah, I'm pleased with a pound a week. I think that happening over a two week period could easily be a one off though, we'll see if it keeps up over the coming weeks.

No problems about making light, I do the same all the time If we could split our genetics down the middle we'll both be stacked

I'm eating roughly 2800-3000 calories on training days, and about 2500-2800 on rest days, however I'm not counting anything really, just making sure I don't go hungry. I think a big factor over the last few weeks is making sure I eat as much on weekends as I do on weekdays. I find it easier to eat more during the week as I'm sat at my desk with all my meals prepared next to me. At weekends everything is a bit more haphazard. I've been making sure I still prepare my oat shakes the evening before, so they're there for my to scoff on the weekends too, which is something I rarely did before.

Appreciate you reading the journal

[AndiMorris]

Crossfit - 07/04/14

Warm Up:
Junkyard dog with full squat
High hang clean with pipe

Strength:
1RM Power Clean - 62.5kg - PB!!!

WOD:
'Diane'
21-15-9
Deadlift @ 100kg (Level 1 - 70kg)
Handstand push up (Level 1 - pike push up)

Completed level 1 in 5:23

I really needed this session after a particularly upsetting day, and I was rewarded with a NEW PB! Chuffed. I attempted 65kg but failed, but I think that with another couple of attempts I’d get it.

The WOD is a favourite of mine, however as that amount of reps at 100kg is too heavy for me I had to scale completely to level 1 and lose the handstand push ups. Fair enough though, you need to earn the ability to Rx. 70kg felt really light actually, so I think I’m making improvements there. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to attempt this WOD as prescribed.

[AndiMorris]

Crossfit - 09/04/14

Warm Up:
400m run
10 air squats
10 double unders
10 front squat @ 20kg
20 double unders
200m run

Strength:
3x5 squat @ 72.5kg

WOD:
4 minute max power clean and jerk @ 60kg (I scaled to 45kg) - 15 reps
4 minute double unders - 106 reps
4 minute burpees - 51 reps

Skill Practice:
3 sets max kipping pull ups - 4,4,4

Pretty annoyed at myself on the strength section. I did this at 72.5kg and then realised just after finishing my last set that I should have been on 75kg as I did 72.5 last week. Didn’t feel as strong this week and really struggled to keep my chest up. I also felt a twinge in my left knee during the warm up sets. I really hope that isn’t something that’s going to bite me.

Pleased enough with the WOD. I needed to scale the weight, but 45kg wasn’t too much of a struggle, and probably could have done this a little heavier. However 15 reps in 4 minutes is quite a slow pace.

Double unders were going well, I set myself a 100 rep target in the 4 minutes, and just made it.

Burpees were just beyond the target of 50 reps I set myself. These were slow as the double unders really took the wind out of me, but they were steady.

I managed to get a short amount of time to get some kipping pull up practice in too. 3 sets of 4 reps, which I was reasonably happy with, I hope to add to this each time I do them.

[AndiMorris]

Crossfit - 10/04/14

Strength:
10x2 on the minute - hang snatch - 30kg

WOD:
15 minute AMRAP
10 power snatch @ 30kg
200m run
Completed 6 rounds

Skills:
Kipping pull up - 5,4,4

All good fun, pleased with my snatch at 30kg now, even from hang it feels comfortable. I'm positive that my 1RM is now way beyond where it was last time I tested, which was 37.5kg.

Pull up practice is still going well, I'm aiming for 3 max effort sets per session, unless there happens to be a lot of pull ups already in the workout.

[AndiMorris]

Crossfit - 11/04/14

Strength: 
Work up to 3RM thruster - 50kg PB!
Also managed a new 1RM in the process - 60kg PB!

WOD: 
Fran (6 minute time cap):
21-15-9
Thrusters @ 42.5kg (scaled to 30kg)
Pull ups

(Completed 6 pull ups into second set)

Rest whilst partner does their Fran, then:

Helen (12 minute time cap):
3 rounds:
400m run
21 kettlebell swings @21kg (scaled to 16kg)
12 pull ups
(Completed 3 reps of final set of kettlebell swings)

Amazing but horrible workout. Really really pleased with the two PBs in the thrusters, and after this the 30kg thruster in Fran felt ridiculously light, however it's a burning workout, with no time to rest, so they got tiring very quickly. Doing this almost immediately into Helen was nothing short of sadism. I didn't finish either workout, nor did I Rx them, but I have definitely improved at both since the last time I tried.

[AndiMorris]

Crossfit - 15/04/14

Warm Up:
400m run
50 double unders
Dynamic stretching

Lift:
Back squat
10 @ 50% - 45kg
7 @ 65% - 60kg
5 @ 75% - 67.5kg
2 @ 85% - 77.5kg
5 x 1 @ 90% - 82.5kg

WOD:
A:
21-15-9
Power snatch @ 40kg (scaled to 30kg)
Box jump @ 24”
Completed in 7:38
B:
Run 400m
50 pull ups
7 minute time cap
Completed 40 pull ups

Squats felt great! Even the 90% didn’t feel like too much trouble. I really think my 1RM must be higher than 90kg now, which it’s been at for over a year.

Ploughed through the first WOD. There was a 10 minute time cap, but nobody came close to using it all. If I had done this at Rx weight I would probably have either not finished in time or hurt myself in the process, so scaling was the option I chose. I do think that 40kg power snatch in a WOD is achievable now though, I just need to give it a go. All box jumps were slow, and with step downs off the box, but I kept plugging away at them.

The run in the second WOD was the hardest part, there was only about 2 minutes rest after the first workout before we were out running, so my legs were like jelly and I couldn’t hammer this as much as I wanted. The pull ups however were great! I did sets of 5 for the first 4 sets, then the others were mostly sets of 4 and 3. This is a huge improvement for where I was just weeks ago with kipping pull ups and I’m very pleased, even if I was 10 short of completing.

[AndiMorris]

Crossfit - 16/04/14

Warm Up: 
50 double unders
250m row
2 rounds of:
6 russian kettlebell swings @ 16kg
6 ground to overhead with plate @ 10kg & 15kg
6 push ups
6 good mornings with plastic pipe

Strength: 
3RM sumo deadlift - 110kg - PB!

WOD: 
12 minute AMRAP
10 ground to overhead with 20kg plate
10 overhead lunges with 20kg plate (10 each leg)
10 hand release push ups

Completed 3 rounds, 10 ground to overhead and 4 overhead lunges

Quite pleased with my PB here, but I know I'm not far off lifting heavier. I lifted 120kg for 1 rep, twice, but I just couldn't budge it for the second rep each time. Perhaps I should have done 3 at 115kg instead. Still a PB is a PB.

This WOD was deceivingly tough!! The overhead lunges were the real killer and they slowed me down massively. The other two movements weren't too bad in comparison.

[AndiMorris]

Crossfit - 17/04/14

Warm Up:
3 rounds:
5 x kettlebell swings @ 16kg
5 x V-Ups
5 x lateral kettlebell jumps

Stamina:
3km run - 15:38

WOD:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 ladder
Kettlebell swings @ 32kg (scaled to 24kg)
V-Ups
lateral kettlebell jumps
Completed in 10:40

I wasn't happy when I saw there was no strength session today, and that it had been replaced by a 3km run, but I realised that I did heavy squats on Tuesday, heavy deadlifts on Wednesday, and so today should probably go easy on the weights. I haven't run this far in one go since starting Crossfit, and I was quite pleased with my time. It wasn't fast, but I wasn't struggling with it, and felt I could have easily continued onto 5km, or longer, which is good considering I haven't run 5km in over two years.

I enjoyed this WOD. I felt 32kg would be too heavy, so scaled to 24kg, but I kept this consistent with very little rest and got finished in a decent time. Time enough to have 10 minutes mobility at the end before having to leave for work.

I have a brew day planned tomorrow so I'm not sure I'll make the morning session, but I'll give it a go to get it out of the way for the day.

[AndiMorris]

Olympic Lifting - 20/04/14

Warm Up:
Snatch technique with pipe

Lift:
4x2 hang snatch - 35kg
4x2 snatch - 35kg

Very very pleased with myself with these. I didn't fail any lifts, and 35kg is only 2.5kg off my 1RM snatch. Everything felt pretty comfortable and relatively easy. Here's to hoping that 1RM has also increased.