Category: Crossfit WOD Type Workouts

R4 D41 – Chelsea and iPhone Timers

I realized last night that Cindy and Chelsea are basically the same. I didn’t notice when I was writing up the list of WODs I have done but last night I elected to do my WOD in the garage with the chinup bar I mounted last year. That meant chin ups and push ups and squats. In other words, Cindy or Chelsea. Regardless of which I did, I still got to 21 and couldn’t continue. Doing the one a minute Chelsea version you would think it would be easier but the rest quickly drops from 30 seconds to 5 seconds after about 15 rounds. Eking out those last couple is pure hell. This time was especially difficult since the chin up bar in the garage is about 9 feet off the ground which means I have to jump to get on it, that also means no way I can reach the ground to assist. So full range pullups are the order. That said, I managed 20 rounds which is not great but not bad, especially considering it was about 5 degrees in the garage!

Chelsea:
Each minute on the minute for 30 minutes

5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Result: 20 rounds.

I also downloaded an app for my iPhone to time my intervals. It is called RoundTimer and is pretty much useless for more than 5 rounds. Let’s be honest (although it is the free version) most Crossfit workouts have more than 5 rounds so this timer is useless. I will try to find another and report it’s usefulness. The point is that I need a timer, most things I do require a timed interval plus a rest period so it is critical.

..later…

I downloaded a very good iPhone App for $2 its called WOD Timer and it does indeed do everything I need. I will report more on the useability once I have used it a couple of times but it has all the features I was looking for.

Round 4 Day 40 – Gym Shoulders and Traps (More DIY Equipment)

Last week I made myself a heavy ball.

If I had chosen to buy one I could have spent $120, yeah, not kidding but since I am committed to making as much of my own equipment as I can I thought I would give it a shot.

Basketball from Walmart – $9.96
Sand from Rona (open bag sale) – $3
Duct tape – $0

There you have it. A basketball full of sand weighing in at 26lbs. I cut out the valve and inserted a funnel and after about an hour I was done. If I had super dry California sand I am sure it would have been a few minutes but since it was slightly wet Canadian sand it was stoutly uncooperative. Still, lots of money saved and a wall ball to use.

Today was shoulders and traps so I made up the following:

With 25lb dumbbells 5 rounds for time with a 2 minute rest
Side raise x 10
Front raise x 10
High Pull (Upright Row) x 10
Wall ball (26lb) x 10

Plus 50 shrugs with a 135lb barbell without putting the bar down.

It was enough, but not really that difficult. Maybe 8-10 rounds would have been better.

Round 4 Day 36 – Barbara

Barbara

Five rounds, each for time of:
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Squats

I only managed 4 rounds after which I was incapable of doing another pull up. My round times were:

4:45
4:30
3:15
4:40

Pretty sad, actually. It also brought into glaring clarity the need for me to add some abs to my workouts since I gave up Ab Ripper long ago. My core is strong, but not strong enough to endure lengthy isolated movements. The push ups and squats were no problem. Hopefully as the weight continues to fall, the pullups will rise…

WOD’s I Have Done

Here is a list which will be expanded as I do more. In addition, there is a great list of the descriptions of the “Nasty Girls” workouts here:

Nasty Girls

(Thanks to Colin McNulty for the hard work)

Fran:
21 Thrusters 95lbs
21 Pull Ups
15 Thrusters 95lbs
15 Pull Ups
9 Thrusters 95lbs
9 Pull Ups

Chelsea:
Each minute on the minute for 30 minutes

5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Cindy:
AMRAP in 20 minutes:

5 pull-ups
10 Push Ups
15 Squats (Air Squats)

Fight Gone Bad:

  • Wall ball: 20 pound ball, 10 foot target. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
  • Sumo deadlift high pull: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
  • Box Jump: 20″ box. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
  • Barbell push-press: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
  • Row: Your butt off. Each calorie burned (according to the monitor) is scored as 1 point.

Barbara:
Five rounds, each for time of:
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Squats

Elizabeth
21 – 15 – 9 Reps
135lb Clean
Ring Dips

Elizabeth:
21 – 15 – 9 Reps
135lb Clean
Ring Dips

Sally:

For time, x 5, 2 minute rest between sets
30 wide push ups + 10 wide pull ups
30 regular push ups + 10 reverse pull ups
30 military push ups + 10 narrow pull ups

Round 4 Day 33 – Shoulders and Traps (Gym)

I can’t really find a good sequence of shoulder stuff in P90X so I am going to stick with regular gym and Crossfit stuff. I made up a short workout for yesterday and may have given myself tennis elbow in the process.

4 Rounds for Time:

Alternating Shoulder Press (35lb DB)
Upright Rows (95lb barbell)
Clean and Press (35lb DB)
Shrugs (95lb barbell)

It didn’t last long and I should probably have added some flys on the end of the workout to round out the shoulders but by the time I was done I was pretty tired. I was pushed for time since my wife and baby were waiting for me to finish so although it was short I had to make sure it was tough. The hardest part was the clean and press with the dumbbells. Controlling dumbbells through a clean motion is difficult at the best of times but add tired aching forearms to the mix and you have a potential disaster. Today I feel like I have tennis elbow in my left arm from not warming up properly. We went straight out for a walk after to Starbucks with the baby so at least I got the warm down right!
Anyway, that was yesterday, today is Pure Cardio.

I have also started to use FitDay.com to track my stuff. All my workouts and eating etc will be available here:

http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=Perfik

It’s OK, nobody is here… hehe.

Round 4 Day 32 – El Improvisario (FGB)

After completing the workout, he said it felt like a "fight gone bad"

I don’t know if that is even a word but my improvising skills are getting better and better as I try to keep up with some of the signature Crossfit workouts. Today, as promised, was Fight Gone Bad but since I lack the basic necessary equipment I had to improvise.

The workout Rx (as prescribed) is like this:

You rotate through five stations, spending one minute at each:

  • Wall ball: 20 pound ball, 10 foot target. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
  • Sumo deadlift high pull: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
  • Box Jump: 20″ box. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
  • Barbell push-press: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
  • Row: Your butt off. Each calorie burned (according to the monitor) is scored as 1 point.

Rest one minute, and then repeat the five stations. Rest another minute, and then repeat it all again. Three rounds total.

Wall ball is simple, just throw the ball at the 10ft target and catch. However, once you catch the ball, you have to go into a full squat at the bottom.
SDHP is also a simple move if you know the mechanics of a deadlift. Even if you don’t, as long as you keep your head up and back flat you should be OK with only 75lb.
Box jumps can be anywhere from 18″-24″ depending on  your comfort level
Row – Since there are many people who don’t have rowers at  home, you could sub outdoor sprints or treadmill running in a pinch. Since many of the WODs include sprints or short distance runs I don’t see the harm in this but your score would be off.

For me, working in my basement now that winter is closing in, this was going to be a challenge. I didn’t have the ball or the height to do wall ball and I have read that you can sub thrusters instead if you want. Not knowing this, I opted to use dumbbells and throw it as high as I could which in a 8 or 9ft ceiling basement isn’t far. I should probably have used more than a 20lb DB too but I can try that next time. For the SDHP I wanted to use the bar not only for the pull but also as a target to jump over for the box jumps so I put 25’s on the Olympic bar, rested the bar on 2 small boxes and had a decent set up. With my back history it was important that now I am moving back into Olympic lifts that I go easy so having the bar a little higher than it would normally be with bumpers was a bonus. The bar was only about 18″ off the floor so I had to make sure in my jumps I was clearing it by a decent margin. As you have figured out, my SDHP was done with 95lbs not 75.
I used 35lb dumbbells for the Push Press which left me 5lb short.
Instead of the row I had to run on the treadmill and since  the treadmill we have doesn’t like me running on it the fastest I can go is around 5mph, after that I blow the fuse.

So there you have it. With the warm-up and the WOD it was about a half hour workout. 3 rounds of 5 minutes plus extras.
My counts were (I am sure) pitifully low but here you go:

DB throw – 30 – 40 – 40 (110)
SHDP (95lb) – 8 – 10 – 10 (28)
Jumps – 14 – 15 – 14 (43)
Push Press (35lbDB) – 20 – 15 – 16 (51)
Run  ?

Without counting calories – 232

Round 4 (Phase 2) Day 29 – Chest and Tri (No Shoulders)

facepalm2

I have made a subtle mistake in my schedule. There seems to be too much chest in this second part of the schedule. My goal was to take the shoulder work out of the Chest Triceps and Shoulders routine so that my gym days would not include all 3 body parts. However, I seem to have mixed up the order and got an additional chest workout in there. This 3 weeks are based on my old gym workouts, a 3 day split with no legs however due to the fact I am doing Crossfit workouts and Insanity cardio, legs just aren’t necessary. If you saw my quads you would agree 😉
So I have modified the schedule a little (and gone back and noted the change in the previous posts) and come up with this for the next 4 weeks. Note that I have changed from a 4 on 1 off to a 6 on 1 off which given the failure to stick to my schedule so far probably won’t matter.

29 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
30 Max Interval Plyo
31 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
32 WOD with Pullups
33 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
34 Pure Cardio
35 OFF
36 GYM  Chest and Triceps
37 WOD with Pullups
38 GYM Back & Biceps
39 Pure Cardio
40 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
41 WOD with Pullups
42 OFF
43 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
44 Pure Cardio
45 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
46 WOD with Pullups
47 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
48 Max Interval Plyo
49 OFF
50 FOY Yoga
51 Core Cardio and Balance
52 Core Synergistics
53 FOY Yoga
54 OFF

29 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
30 Max Interval Plyo
31 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
32 WOD with Pullups
33 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
34 Pure Cardio
35 OFF
36 GYM  Chest and Triceps
37 WOD with Pullups
38 GYM Back & Biceps
39 Pure Cardio
40 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
41 WOD with Pullups
42 OFF
43 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
44 Pure Cardio
45 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
46 WOD with Pullups
47 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
48 Max Interval Plyo
49 OFF
50 FOY Yoga
51 Core Cardio and Balance
52 Core Synergistics
53 FOY Yoga
54 OFF

So for day 29 I did the Chest and Tricep portion of Chest Tri and Shoulders. It was about 30 minutes but was actually hard on me since you don’t get the rest of doing shoulders. It is basically a quick circuit of chest and triceps. Since I am doing dips instead of some of the stupid and frankly useless tricep moves Tony provides, my triceps get an awesome workout.

Following such a good day I was disappointed in my Insanity Plyo workout for day 30. For some reason I felt listless and tired. I didn’t make it through many of the sections and given that each one is only an minute that really sucked. Hopefully it was just a reflection of too few calories or not enough sleep.

Round 4 Day 25 – Rest Day or Not

Today was supposed to be a rest day but since I have rest “week” for the next 4 days I thought I would do a short run in my VFFs and see how they felt. It was a short 20 minute run but the shoes held up great, super comfortable and with none of the usual calf cramping, shin splints or back ache. It was a huge boost to the justification side of the KSO argument. The other side of the argument being why would you wear something that looks like gorilla feet or badly cut off circulation.

*Edit

And by the way, don’t skimp on the warmup or stretch. Even a couple of minutes is enough. For some reason I didn’t stretch today after my run and I am now feeling the tightness through my hamstrings.

I thought I knew about this stuff…

Round 4 Day 24 – Chelsea

Day 20 – Rest

Day 21 – P90X  Chest and Back

Day 22 – Insanity Cardio Power and Conditioning

Day 23 – Today.

The plan is to do a 20 minute Chelsea. Chelsea is supposed to be 30 minutes but I don’t think I need the extra physical stress that the extra 10 minutes would inevitably bring. Of course, not having done Chelsea before I may not make it to 20…

Chelsea:

Each minute on the minute for 30 minutes

5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Your score is the minute that you fail to complete the exercise. If you fail to do the 11th set on the 11th minute your score is 10. If you pass the 30 minutes, you can score Chelsea as Chelsea +3 if you managed to go to 33 minutes.

I will be wearing my new Vibram Five Fingers and I also wore them to do my insanity workout yesterday. So far so good.

.. The aftermath…

My official Chelsea score: 21.

The whole workout from music on to music off was under 30 minutes. It was a tough one, but very enjoyable. However it was a rude awakening that the first time I did the circuit it took me almost 45 seconds. It was then I realized that regardless of how little work it seemed, it was going to be tough. There was not a chance in hell that I was going to make 30 minutes though. Everything seemed to give out at once. I was suddenly struggling and dropping off the bar at 4 pull ups. I was still strong with the push ups but getting back up to do the squats was eating my seconds. Chelsea was good. I will try again for sure but the goal of 30 seems so so far away…

Round 4 Day 19 – WOD Fran (again!?)

So my last attempt at Fran was a bit of a failure. So much so that I didn’t even want to call it what it was supposed to be. According to the Crossfit site, Fran is as follows:

21 Thrusters 95lbs
21 Pull Ups
15 Thrusters 95lbs
15 Pull Ups
9 Thrusters 95lbs
9 Pull Ups

and the times that people proudly post for the workout are sub 4 minutes. I think that the last time I did this I was somewhere just over 10 minutes. Given that I didn’t rush through and was at the gym, I don’t think that really counts. This time however I just went through it without trying to hurt myself because I was using 35lb dumbbells instead of a barbell. That is mostly due to the fact that in my basement the ceiling isn’t quite high enough to lift the bar with the 45’s on it, or even I think the 25’s. Since I only have 35’s I was starting out with a 70lb weight. I shouldn’t have been worried however since after about 14 of the 21 Thrusters I had to change the weight for 25’s. It was mostly my balance that was the issue, not the strength. That made the whole thing a lot easier. Even so, I only managed an 8:35 for the whole thing which is a bit disappointing. I was hurting afterwards, so much so in fact that later during the evening I was still coughing up weird phlegmmy acid stuff that tasted like (I assume) battery acid. I almost drowned in my La-z-boy which led me to thinking that maybe I had done a little too much. My personal WOD then looked like this:

MetCon
Supposed to be row 2000m but since I don’t have a rowing machine I ran 1600m instead (1 mile)

WOD

21 Thrusters 70lbs (actually about 14 with 70 and 7 with 50)
21 Pull Ups
15 Thrusters 50lbs
15 Pull Ups
9 Thrusters 50lbs
9 Pull Ups

The whole workout including a short warmup took about 28.5 mins but I think it was the run that really did me in not Fran. For some reason, running messes up my breathing the first few times I do it. If I haven’t run in a while I get really bad indigestion (which I am a victim of anyway) and cough up the grossest stuff you have ever seen. After a few times it goes away, it’s all a bit of a mystery really.

Fran. I can see why people love it.