AndiMorris

Hey Ken, looks like we're the same dimensions, with the same goal. Best of luck, I'll be following this journal.

Warm up: 3 minutes double under 2 rounds of: 15s overhead squat hold (20kg, 30kg) 2 lengths bear crawl 5 snatch (20kg, 30kg) Lift: Achieve 1RM, then do 3x1 at 90% of 1RM. Got 50kg for 1RM (equalled previous PB), then did 3 x 1 sets at 47.5kg. Felt like there was more in the tank, so went for a new 1RM PR at 52.5kg and got this. I think there was probably some more there too. January goal....tick! WOD: 10 minute AMRAP 30 double unders 15 snatch - 30kg Managed to get 2 rounds and 30 double unders completed, at level 2, which was a power snatch into OHS, rather than full squat snatch. The first round's reps were full squat snatch, but I quickly tired of this. Simple on paper, but this really took it out of me.

I didn't manage to blog much over the Christmas break, but I did do some workouts, mainly focusing on lifting with one metcon workout. 27/12/13 Barbell squat: 20kg x 10 40kg x 5 60kg x 5 70kg x 5 x 5 Press 20kg x 10 32.5kg x 5 x 5 Kipping pull ups 3 sets of 10 (had to break the last two sets up as my grip was failing). 28/12/13 50 overhead squats 50 over bar burpees 50 sit ups To be completed in any order you choose. I chose to break this into 5 sets of 10 reps on each. Rx was 70kg, which is WAY to heavy for me in OHS, so I did this at 30kg and completed it in 13:58. 30/12/13 Front squat 40kg x 5 50kg x 5 x 5 Power snatch Attempt 1RM (42.5kg to beat) Failed - I couldn't even equal 42.5 and my max was 40kg. Very frustrating. 31/12/13 Deadlift Attempt 1RM (110kg to beat) Failed - managed 100kg but couldn't budge 110kg to equal previous PB. Squat clean Attempt 1RM (55kg to beat) SUCCESS - managed to squat clean 57.5kg. The first attempt was there, but a little shaky, was somewhere between a power snatch into front squat than a squat snatch. My second attempt was fine. Very pleased with this. That concludes my 2013 year of crossfit training. Looking back I set myself a few goals for the year, some I achieved, some I didn't. The ones I failed to achieve were gaining 0.5kg of muscle mass per month and getting at least 1PB. I am still struggling to gain clean weight, and have been making a real push for this over the last couple of months. The PR goal started out well last year, but I stopped seeing the gains after a few months. I'm carrying this forward into my 2014 goals. The goals I was successful in seem small now, but at the time they were things I just couldn't do, so I am pleased that I have got these skills now. They need work still, but they are there. The goal was to chain together double unders, and learn handstand push ups and toes-to-bar. All of these I can now do - woop!!! And on to 2014. Keeping it simple I'd like to achieve the following during the coming year. One PB in a lift each month. Get pistols nailed Get chest-to-bar pullups nailed I'm going to throw this one in...but I'm not expecting to do it....I'd like to join the muscle up club. The main things I need to do to help achieve these are, attendance and food. I need to make sure I get to the box several times per week, I'm aiming for 4-5 times, one of week being barbell club. Food wise, I'm looking to eat around 2500 calories on rest days, and 3000 on training days. I'll monitor my weight weekly and adjust this accordingly.

They're against a wall, and kipped, so not true handstand push ups, but I am pleased at how they're coming along.

Workout 20/12/13 Warm Up: 300m row the 3 rounds of 8 bench press (start light with increasing weight) 8 ring row 8 sit up Lift: 3x5 bench press - 47.5kg (failed on last set) WOD A: 30 handstand pushups 70 ring rows Can be broken up however you like. WOD B: 100 kettlebell lateral raises (4kg) 100 banded pull downs Can be broken up however you like. A nice Friday morning session before my work's Christmas party kicks off. It was nice to hit bench press for the first time in ages, but it was annoying to fail the third set of 5 after 3 reps....really annoying!! The WOD was a great one, the above WOD A was the level 2 version. The prescribed workout was 50 handstand push ups and 100 ring rows. I broke this into 10 rounds of 3 HSPU and 7 ring rows and finished in 11:27, which I was happy with. I only managed the first half of the second WOD as the class ran over time a bit and I had to leave for work. I finished 40 banded pull downs and 30 lateral raises before getting out of there. It was nice to have what felt like a great arm workout, ready for Friday fun.

Just grabbed, that, it looks interesting. Cheers.

Warm Up: 300m row then 3 rounds of: 10 x overhead squat - 20kg 10 x kettlebell swing - 16kg 10 pipe passthroughs then snatch warm up Lift: Snatch - 8 x 2 on the minute - 25kg WOD: 8 minute power snatch & burpee ladder - 30kg 2-4-6-8-10...... Another snatch session, and I felt a lot better about it this time than last week. 25kg is still not as high as I'd like to be currently on squat snatch, but it felt much better than last week. I think I've worked out why I hit a sudden limit when I can no longer drop down comfortably into the squat and lock out into a power snatch; it's got to be directly related to how much I can comfortably overhead squat. When it's too heavy going overhead, it's not stable and my body compensates by locking up and making it stable. I need to improve my overhead strength if I'm going to improve beyond my current 1 rep max of 35kg. The WOD felt ok, it was comfortable being at 30kg and I could plod through without stopping for more than a few seconds when the going got tough. I managed to get 7 snatches into my round of 12.

The finch/rabbit etc is down to post count I believe. Welcome, I'm also a crossfitter and like to do some extra lifting on the side when possible.

Welcome from another UK member.

That's incredible!! Well done!

Same here. I'm a bit taller at 5'11" and 69kg. I'd like to get to 80kg at around 12% body fat.

Warm Up: Bear Crawl tag Bergener variation warm up Lift: 5 x 2 snatch - 25kg WOD: 21-15-9 Snatch - 25kg Run 1km, 400m, 200m in between each round. (Rx was 50kg with 1mile, 800m, 400m runs) Disappointed with my snatching today. We had the choice of power snatch into overhead squat, or squat snatching for both the lift and the WOD, and I honestly thought I'd be able to do this at a higher weight, but no. I just couldn't drop into the squat snatch quickly enough when I tried at anything higher than 25kg. I really need to work on this. My technique feels ok at this weight, so I think as long as I work on it consistently the weight will go up, but still, disappointing.

OHS is a tough movement. I do find that making sure I can find a stable position overhead really helps. Perhaps invest some time on some mobility work to be sure you have full external rotation overhead so that you can fully lock out.

I use My Protein vegan blend, which is a mixture of hemp, rice and pea protein. When I first started taking it I used it in the same quantities as I was whey (2 scoops) and it made my stomach cramp like crazy. I cut this down to half a scoop, and gradually built up to one scoop per smoothie, and the problem disappeared. Maybe give that a try, perhaps your stomach is not used to hemp protein, which can take some getting used to.

That's a cool site!

That's one way to look at it I guess. I'm going to try and make it Thurs, Fri and Saturday now. I'd like to do the olympic lifting class on Sunday, but it's the gym Christmas gathering on Saturday night, so in all likelihood I won't be up for that.

Nice work!!

I was due at the gym at 6:30 this morning again, but I bloody overslept!! Damn it!

Thanks buddy. At the moment I can only dream of an 80kg clean and jerk and 65kg snatch.

Warm Up: 5 minute personal warm up 300m row 3 rounds of 8 front squat - 20kg 8 kettlebell swings - 16kg Lift: OTM 8 x 1 Squat clean @ 80% - 42.5kg WOD: 5 rounds for time: 3 power clean @ 80% of weight performed in lift session 200m run Completed in 6:50 with 35kg on the bar. Another nice early morning, raring to go. Surprisingly so actually. I initially balked at the idea of doing squat cleans again, but it was actually pretty beneficial doing these so soon after barbell club, as the technique was still pretty fresh. 42.5kg was around 80% of my 1RM as prescribed, but I really felt like I could go heavier. Dropping into the squat felt perfectly achievable each time and it didn't feel particularly heavy. I'm hoping that this means a 1RM for squat clean is coming my way soon. The WOD was a good blaster. My prescribed weight was 35kg for the power cleans, which honestly felt light, meaning I could blast through this all unbroken, something very unusual for me. Pretty pleased that I completed in 6:50, and I think I probably could have gone faster if I'd had my eye on the clock at all.

It was brutal yes. Remember that the amount of reps was between two of us though.

Two brutal sessions on the weekend, and my legs aren't thanking me for them now. Saturday: Warm up 5 minute personal warm up 5 minute snatch warm up Lift 8 x 2 OTM power snatch - 35kg WOD With partner 60 back squat - 60/40kg 60 wall balls - 9/7kg 800m run 60 front squat - 40/30kg 40 wall balls 600m run 60 overhead squat - 30/20kg 20 wall balls 400m run Completed in 27 minutes. I chose the lighter weight for all the movements so that I could actually make it through the workout. Kudos to my partner Gavin, who despite being considerably stronger than me, making sure I did exactly 50% of the work in this, no shying away. On the last run I thought my legs were going to give way beneath me! Sunday - Barbell club: Warm up: Spiderman lunges Front squat holds Clean and jerk technique and drills Lifts: Rounds of: High hang clean Below the knee hang clean Clean Jerk 5 x 2 jerk The above drilling was done several times, I didn't count. The emphasis was on nailing technique, rather than adding weight. This was my first time doing squat cleans in several weeks, and my technique has suffered accordingly. For this reason I worked up to 37.5kg and stuck there for the rest of the session. It's a light weight, but it meant I could really concentrate on getting into each position correctly, and quickly. For the first time ever I felt really comfortable dropping into the squat, but I suspect that comfort would have vanished if the weight had started to go up. Jerk technique has also suffered and I need to drill this a lot. I need to make sure my front foot comes forward enough, and my back foot stays on its toes. All in all, an excellent weekend at the box, and for the first time in ages I made 5 training sessions in 6 days. My legs are in bits today after Saturday's insane workout, so today is a rest day. Back to dawn patrol in the morning.

Yeah I did, it was a brutal brutal session. I'll write it up tomorrow. I've been on 2500 calories on rest days, and 3000 on training days this week. It's going well so far cheers dude.

Warm Up: 200m row 4 rounds of: 10 wide air squats 10 banded pull through 10 bar good mornings 1 length spiderman crawl Lift: OTM 12 x 2 dynamic effort low box squat - 60kg OTM 8 x 1 banded deadlift - 80kg + 15kg band resistance WOD: 3 x 12 banded kettlebell swings 3 x 12 weighted step ups - 20kg 3 minutes max toes-to-bar - only had time for one set, which was 10 reps Low box squat felt pretty good at 60kg, I don't think I could have gone heavier without losing the dynamism required, and I had to really concentrate to keep my chest up and knees out. Getting there though! Banded deadlifts worked out to be 95kg, approx 80% of my 1RM. These are a weird exercise, but I busted through the 8 sets on the minute. It felt heavy, but manageable. The WOD wasn't too bad. I went for a 16kg kettlebell and a red band, but I think I could have gone to the purple band for this as it wasn't too strenuous. I did the weighted step ups with an empty bar as I'd never done them before, and wasn't sure what to expect. This weight felt good, but I could have gone a little heavier for a bit more intensity I think. We ran out of time in the class to do the full 3 minutes on toes-to-bar as I had to get to work, but I did one max effort set anyway just to get them done as I've not done these since coming back from my break. I'm really enjoying getting back into the swing of things at the box. This is my 3rd session this week, so it's a scheduled rest day tomorrow and then back in Saturday. Still on for 3000 calories on workout days, and 2500 on rest days.

I can't do it freestanding yet, although I think I'm now confident enough to start to try and get a few seconds away from the wall and build up from there. My handstand push ups are currently kipped, I can't do them strict yet, but it's something to aim for. I guess it would require being able to strict press at bodyweight, which I'm nowhere near yet.