Andi's crossfit and bulking journal

[Kora]

Oh ... those maybe fighting words. I am so not apart of the fitness world. I train for the pain and suffering, and the ability to inflict it on others. I'm an outlaw in Underground racing. lol

[AndiMorris]

Hahah, fair enough. You win this fight...but I'll be back.

[AndiMorris]

Workout 07/09/13

Warm Up:
100 double unders
Mobility

Lift:
Back Squat - 20kg x 10, 40kg x 5, then 5 x 5 @ 65kg
Bench Press - 20kg x 10 then 5 x 5 @ 40kg
Barbell Row - 20kg x 10 then 5 x 5 @ 40kg

Last Saturday morning I decided to go to open gym instead of the crossfit class and make a start on a strength training program again. I’ve mentioned it a few times recently that my strength needs working on, so I’m going to try and make open gym on Saturdays wherever possible and slowly work through the stronglifts 5x5 program. This is going to be slow progress as I’m only doing the program once a week, when it’s supposed to be 3 times per week, however the Crossfit classes also contain progressive strength training, so this is merely supplementary to the programming, hoping to make up for time when I only manage to make the box twice a week due to being on tour etc.

I started fairly conservatively, 65kg on the squat I knew was achievable with good form, whilst still being hard enough for a workout. I probably should have started heavier on the bench and row, but I know that this will build up over time, and I’m in no rush.

Slow and heavy wins the race.

[AndiMorris]

I planned to get to the gym on Monday this week, but my girlfriend was ill and so I needed to get home from work and take over the household chores that she normally does while I'm at the gym (she's my true rock). As such I'm a day behind training this week, but I'm back tonight.

Food has been going well for the last few days too, nothing crappy.

Saturday
Breakfast - Oats with almond milk and a hint of agave
Post workout - lemon-lime recovery shake
Lunch - houmous and salad sandwich (white bread, bit of a cheat)
Afternoon snack - homemade mass gainer shake
Dinner - chickpeas, chilli and potato dish
Evening - 2 beers (playing a gig, difficult not to when it's sitting there waiting to be drunk)

Sunday
Breakfast - Fried up vegetables in a spicy tomato sauce
Lunch - Vegetable fingers in buns (cheat central)
Afternoon snack - homemade mass gainer shake
Dinner - Boiled potatoes, runner beans and vegetable pie
Evening - glass of wine

Monday
Breakfast - Oats with almond milk
Morning snack - 25g nuts plus green smoothie
Lunch - parsnip soup
Afternoon snack - homemade mass gainer shake
Dinner - Lentil dhal with potatoes

Tuesday
Breakfast - Oats with almond milk
Morning snack - green smoothie
Lunch - parsnip soup
Afternoon snack - homemade mass gainer shake
Dinner - homemade lentil shepherd's pie with runner beans

[AndiMorris]

Workout 11/09/13

Warm Up:
600m run
3 rounds of:
5 ring rows
1 length lunge walking
10 slow air squats

Shoulder mobility

Skills:
Pull Up or muscle up practice

WOD:
Level 1
4 rounds of:
400m run
max effort pull ups

Completed in 10 minutes-ish with 26 pull ups in total.

I used the skills session to try and work on chaining my kipping pull ups together. At the moment I can do several in one set, but I have to return to a dead hang and then kip again, wasting valuable time and energy and therefore making the whole movement much less efficient. I didn't progress very far with this, but I have I think worked out a way that I can practice this.

The WOD was fine, Rx was bar muscle ups, which I can’t do yet, and level 2 was chest-to-bar pull ups, which I've only ever done one of, so I opted for level 1. I did 7 pull ups in each round apart from the last, and I think I probably could have done more, the hardest part was that my grip was struggling due to the running in the rain.

[AndiMorris]

Workout 12/09/13 - I f*&^ing HATE WALL BALLS!

Warm Up:
200m run
3 rounds of:
10 x KB Swings
10 x wall balls
10 jumping air squats

Lift:
Every 90 seconds perform the following for 8 rounds:
3 reps of:
1 x hang power snatch
1 x squat snatch
To be done at around 50% of 1RM (25kg)

WOD:
3 minutes on each station, 3 minutes rest between stations
KB Swings (64 reps @ 16kg)
Box jumps (52 reps @ 24”)
Wall balls (38 reps @ 7kg)
Row (43 calories)

I chose to do the Rx version of the lift, as I need to practice dropping down under the bar, and this was the only version that had the full squat snatch as part of the rep cycle. 25kg felt light to start with, but at the pace we were moving it quickly got heavy!

The WOD was a real burner! The 3 minutes rest in between stations was absolutely welcome, and I only ever felt slightly recovered before starting again. The wall balls were the real killer, I f*&^ing HATE WALL BALLS!

Last night was the last session at the box until next week as I’m off on tour tonight and don’t get back until the early hours of Tuesday morning. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to swing by Crossfit Moscow and pick up a shirt.

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

Great log Andi, love the training! I'm just starting to get an appreciation of CF after reading some articles about Froning. Strong as hell and a great physique to boot. Can you explain what the Wall Balls are?
Keep up the good work, enjoy your weekend buddy MF.

[AndiMorris]

Cheers, on the way to Russia as we speak.
Yes froning is a beast. An insane level of fitness and strength combined.
Wall balls.
Grab a medicine ball (usually 9kg for men 7kg for women but you make that decision yourself) with both hands at chest level.
Squat down and as you return to standing throw the medicine ball up to hit the wall above a 10ft mark.
Catch the ball and repeat.

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

Cool, thanks for explaining. What's happening in Russia?

[AndiMorris]

I'm playing gigs in st Petersburg and Moscow. It will be great fun, but the lack of sleep will be killer.

[James565]

Very interesting. I'm basing my own workouts using yours in this post. Thanks for this.

[Rigelol]

Hey! First time i pop out in your journal, i should have done it earlier... I definitely have to go back to the box and have some wod!
Anyway, i updated my workout playlist with some of your song xD! Have a nice stay in Russia!!
(I hate the lack of sleep too D: )

[robert]

Crossfit and bulking = awesome! I'm working on that combo to some degree right now too.

All the best with it!

[AndiMorris]

Thanks for the interest guys. I'm back from tour now and have now I think caught up on my eating and sleeping after not much of either went on over the weekend. I still won't be able to make the gym until the earliest Monday as I'm in the studio, I have to knock a wall down in my house, and then another gig in London on the weekend.

[AndiMorris]

Workout 24/09/13 - FRAN!!!

Warm Up:
3 minutes double unders - 70 reps
Split jerk technique
Pull up practise

Lift:
10x2 on the minute split jerk - 35kg

WOD:
FRAN
21-15-9
Thrusters (Level 1 - 25kg)
Pull ups (Rx)
10 minute cap - DNF

This was my first “Dawn Patrol” session, which is the nickname the 6:30am class at Celtic Crossfit has been given. I need to free up more time in the evenings so I'm planning on attending more of these, as long as it keeps on working out with the transport to work.

All in all, a brilliant session. I decided to go at 35kg for the split jerk as there was an element of metcon there with the on the minute every minute for ten rounds, but I actually think I could have gone higher as none of the reps felt like a struggle. Note for next time.

Oh Fran, how we all hate you. For some reason I didn't have written down what weight I used last time I did this benchmark WOD, so I took a guess and used 25kg, but still did not quite finish. I was 9 pull ups away when the 10 minute time cap elapsed. After checking my online diary later on I discovered that I have previous finished this benchmark in 10:21 at 30kg, which is somewhat annoying as I was nowhere near beating that this time. I think we’re repeating this soon, so I hope to at least finish in the time cap next time.

It felt great getting the workout out of the way that early, but I should probably look into fuelling myself a bit better as I felt like I burned out very quickly in the WOD. I'll have another bash at the Thrive direct energy bites and see whether there's any notable difference between that and the oats I had around 30 minutes before this session.