Return of the King

cardio,shoot me

BossArky wrote: »

OH MY QUAD(s) :eek:

BossArky

Wednesday August 19th: 531 Cycle 2 Week 2 Military Press (9:20-9:55pm)

Chin Ups
BW - 1x10
BW - 2x9 ... last set was 7+2 as slipped off. Sweaty, rushing & no chalk. Good quick full range of motion back to back sets with little rest. Just the calf raises for a breather between sets
---
Military Press
23kg - 1x5
28kg - 1x5
33kg - 1x3
37kg - 1x3 ... this set was a mistake as I misread week 1 instead of week 2
40kg - 1x3
45kg - 1x3
51kg - 1x3 ... top set, just made the numbers. Dizzy & saw stars after. Had to sit down
25kg - 3x10 ... big but boring, this was done after the dips
20kg - 2x10 ...had to lower the weight here to finish off
---
Dips
BW - 1x10 ... full ROM
BW - 2x9 ... ROM starting to suck
---
Calf Raise
BW - 7?x20 ... active recovery between sets of chins, dips & pressing
---
Barbell Curls
20kg - 2x10 ... as I was heading out the door
---

Bad session. Glad to just get through it and come back stronger next time.

Note to self - do not do chins first and leave all the pushing stuff in a row at the end.

BossArky

Thursday August 20th: evening

Bike (outdoors) 9.5 km

Hill Sprints
10x100m

Skipping
3x100 reps
---

Good.

BossArky

Saturday August 22nd:

Swim ~30 mins up the river Cam in Cambridge.

BossArky

Sunday August 23rd: 531 Cycle 2 Week 2 Deadlift

Bird dogs
2x10 per side warm up for deadlift

Deadlift
50kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
75kg - 1x5
85kg - 1x3
100kg - 1x3
111g - 1x10 ... pb for reps by a mile
60kg - 5x10 ... big but boring
---
Hanging Leg Raise
1x10
2x9
---
Glute Ham Raise (toes wedged under frame)
1x10
2x9
---

The 111kg deadlift for 10 reps gives me a projected max of 148kg. Very happy with this. I thought I'd manage maybe 6 or so. This is the first time I've started using mixed grip on my 531. Think I'll stick with it as can lift a lot more (obviously). Last month I used just double overhand to build up grip.

On my first set of hanging leg raises the fellow beside me commented "good exercise, but swing less". I finished off that set and the next two super strict. Ouch.

Very happy with this session considering I'm just back from a stag weekend.

BossArky

Monday August 24th:

Bike (outdoors) ~9.5km
---
Hill Sprints
2x[5x100m] ... 10 in total broken into 2 sets, separated by a 3km cycle
---
Skipping
3x100 ... first and third set were perfect. Second set had one tangle
---

Good.

BossArky

Tuesday August 25th:

Walking 8-10km ... not sure exactly

BossArky

Wednesday August 26th:

Swim 400m as follows

• 200m fc
• 200m bs

Steam room & sauna too.

rubadub

BossArky wrote: »

The 111kg deadlift for 10 reps gives me a projected max of 148kg.

Well done. I like using those calculators myself, both to figure out high & low reps, I find them quite accurate. I like to beat the prediction for high reps, gives something to aim for. I am going to try out higher reps for a while. Also for exercises you might not normally do you would usually start out light, and many rep calculators are restricted to 10 reps. I find this calculator great, gives 2 1RM estimates, and a 5, 10, 15 rep estimate, and your input rep amount can be higher than 10.

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/tools.php?itemid=18

BossArky

rubadub wrote: »

I like using those calculators myself, both to figure out high & low reps, I find them quite accurate.

The calculator I use is the same as the second one on your link above: weight * ( reps * 0.033 + 1 )

Got it in the Jim Wendler 531 manual which is the program I've been following for the past couple of months. Kinda satisfying going for higher reps rather than 1RMs for a change.

BossArky

Thursday August 27th:

Franley ~5:30 mins

• 21 burpees
• 21 air squats
• 15 burpees
• 15 air squats
• 9 burpees
• 9 air squats

Back in Ireland the past few days. Did this out in the back garden with my Father, dog and a couple of horses looking over the hedge. The time keeping was a bit off. When I'd finished and was gasping for air I remembered to check it. It was then at 6 mins, so I'd guesstimate the real time was about 5:30.

Way harder than expected. My quads totally locked up afterwards & could barely bend my leg! Stars were seen. I like it.

Those burpees included a jump with the hands overhead.

BossArky

Saturday August 29th: 531 Cycle 2 Week 2 Bench Press

Pull Ups
BW - 2x10 ... strict dead hang
BW - 1x9 ... strict dead hang, turning into a few dodgy reps as tired at the end
BW - a few ... figuring out kipping. All the kipping was done at the very end of the session
BW - 2x10 ... kipping, better
---
Bench Press
30kg - 1x5
40kg - 1x5
50kg - 1x3
60kg - 1x3
67kg - 1x3
75kg - 1x6 ... 7th rep needed spotter assistance so cannot count it
40kg - 5x10 ... big but boring
---
One Arm DB Row
18kg per arm - 3x8
---
Face Pulls
11.25kg - 1x10 ... aiming a couple of inches above forehead
13.75kg - 1x10
16.25kg - 1x10
16.25kg - 1x8 ... aiming at forehead
18.75kg - 1x8
21.25kg - 1x8
---
Calf Raise
10?x20 ... lots of active recovery between pull ups, bench, etc
---

Bodyweight 78kg. Was knackered from Franley on Thursday so wasn't expecting fireworks this morning.

BossArky

Sunday August 30th: 531 Cycle 2 Week 2 Squat

Bird dogs
3x10 per side ... 2 sets warm up, last set cool down
---
Squat
BW - 1x5
20kg - 1x5
42kg - 1x5
52kg - 1x5
62kg - 1x3
73kg - 1x3
83kg - 1x3
94kg - 1x10 ... pb for reps
50kg - 5x10 ... big but boring
---
Front Squat (from Hang Clean)
20kg - 1x8
40kg - 1x8
60kg - 1x4 ... dropped it before 5th
20kg - 1x8
60kg - 2x3 ... couldn't get more than 3 on either set
---
Bent Over Barbell Row
60kg - 3x8
---
Ab Pull Down
28.75kg - 1x8
38.75kg - 1x8
48.75kg - 3x10

Incline Preacher Curl ... new piece of equipment strategically placed in front of mirror
25kg - 2x8 ... ouch, this should have been easier
---
Alternating Medicine Ball Crunch (3kg)
3x30
---

Very pleased with the squats. That gives me a projected max of 125kg --> 15kg above my previous max of 110kgx2. I doubt I'd lift 125kg right now. Probably just squash myself on the floor.

However 94kgx10 is a lot of reps at a heavy-ish weight for moi. Big but boring feels good afterwards. My front squats are pretty weak. Quads lacking?

I like week 2 of 531. 3 reps allows you to save energy and build up to something big, more so than week 1 with 5 reps where you are half wrecked by the time you get to the top set.

Must have spent >60 mins in the squat rack working in with another fellow. He is setting himself up for an epic fail squatting 140kg with his hands straight out with a Jesus Christ crucifix grip on the spinning plates.

Lats, chest, bi's & tri's sore from yesterday.

Good.

BossArky

Sunday August 30th: 30 minutes after gym session above

Bike (outdoors) 10km

BossArky

Monday August 31st

Walk ~6km
---
Hill Sprints 10x100m timed as follows:

1. 16.0 secs
2. 17.0 secs
3. 17.5 secs
4. not timed
5. not timed
6. not timed
7. not timed
8. not timed
9. 17.0 secs
10. 16.3 secs

---
Skipping
3x100
---
Franley 4:40 mins

• 21 burpees
• 21 air squats
• 15 burpees
• 15 air squats
• 9 burpees
• 9 air squats

---

Good. Very tired coming into this session following yesterdays squats. Just wanted to get through it. It went well.

Franley was alot easier than last Thursday, 'cos I was warmed up from the sprints & skipping. I reckon 4 minutes will be attainable once I get the hang of it. The 4:40 included a good few stops to catch my breath.

Altogether the sprints took 23:59 (which includes the sprints and walking back down the hill). Good to see there wasn't a massive drop off in time in the last sets.

BossArky

Thursday September 3rd: 531 Cycle 2 Week 3 Military Press (6:30am - 7:15am)

Military Press
23kg - 1x5
28kg - 1x5
34kg - 1x5
42kg - 1x5
48kg - 1x3
54kg - 1x3 ... top set, failed on 4th. 3 is fine for the purposes of this week as prescribed reps are just 1
25kg - 5x10 ... bit but boring. Did these after dips
---
Chin Ups
BW - 2x10
BW - 1x9 ... next week all the assistance will be 3x10 so looking forward to that

Dips
BW - 2x10
BW - 1x9
---
Calf Raise
25kg - 3x10 ... active recovery during big but boring
---
Barbell Curl
25kg - 3x8 ... for the sake of it
---

Another good session. I'm enjoying training the last few weeks. 531 rocks.

BossArky

Saturday September 5th: 531 Cycle 2 Week 3 Deadlift

Bird-dogs
2x10 per side ... warm up for deadlift
---
Deadlift
50kg - 1x5
62kg - 1x5
73kg - 1x3
93kg - 1x5
105kg - 1x3
118kg - 1x6 ... top set, was aiming for 8. Prescribed reps were just 1 so no big deal
65kg - 5x10 ... big but boring. Restarted 3rd set a second time after a few reps 'cos a fellow stapled himself on the incline bench and needed help
---
Hanging Leg Raise
2x10
1x9
---
Glute Ham Raise (toes hooked under frame)
2x10
1x9
---
Leg Swings
3x10 per leg
---
Some fellow asked me if the Glute Ham Raise was an ab exercise. I explained it was for glutes, hamstrings & calves. Think he lost interest when he discovered it was for the lower body.

BossArky

Saturday September 5th: (straight after gym session above)

Bike (outdoors) 10.6km
---
Walk (outdoors) 1.15km
---

Nice day (for a white wedding) :pac: Got that song in my head.

BossArky

Sunday September 6th: 531 Cycle 2 Week 3 Bench Press

Bench Press
33kg - 1x5
42kg - 1x5
50kg - 1x3
63kg - 1x5
71kg - 1x3
79kg - 1x3 ... top set, was aiming for 5. Prescribed reps = 1
45kg - 5x10 ... big but boring = a lot easier than last weeks 5x10@40kg

Calf Raise
BW - 5x10 ... active recovery during big but boring
---
Pull Ups
BW - 2x10
BW - 1x9
---
Face Pulls
10.0kg - 1x10
12.5kg - 1x10
15.0kg - 1x10
17.5kg - 1x10
20.0kg - 1x10
22.5kg - 1x10
---
One Arm Row
20kg per arm - 3x8
---

I'm due a decent bench session. Next cycle I'm going to make sure I have a day off before benching. Bit disappointed with today. Looking forward to when big but boring gets up to 5x10@60kg. By then my max will be defo up a fair bit.

Pull Ups were tough today as my grip/forearms were wrecked from deadlifting yesterday.

Surprisingly I don't feel too fried overall on the posterior chain. Maybe those leg swings yesterday helped to get blood flowing for recovery.

BossArky

Haven't trained since Sunday.

On Tuesday I noticed a pain in my right forearm/elbow. Cannot straighten the arm fully at present two days later. Not sure what is going on but don't want to strain it further.

Woke up before 6am this morning but cancelled my last 531 squat of this cycle as didn't fancy trying to support the weight with a sore arm. Hopefully it will be ok in a day or two. If not I'll head to the doctor.

This is annoying 'cos I was hoping to put in a decent week's training this week and then relax next week ahead of the Crossfit invitational.

bigstar

BossArky wrote: »

Haven't trained since Sunday.

On Tuesday I noticed a pain in my right forearm/elbow. Cannot straighten the arm fully at present two days later. Not sure what is going on but don't want to strain it further.

Woke up before 6am this morning but cancelled my last 531 squat of this cycle as didn't fancy trying to support the weight with a sore arm. Hopefully it will be ok in a day or two. If not I'll head to the doctor.

This is annoying 'cos I was hoping to put in a decent week's training this week and then relax next week ahead of the Crossfit invitational.

im in a similar situation. my shoulder is fecked, so i took last week off. its still not great though but im hoping it will fix itself, you know, like magic.

BossArky

Thursday September 10th: 531 Cycle 2 Week 3 Squat

Bird-dogs
2x10 per side ... warm up for squat
---
Squat
BW - 1x5
20kg - 1x5
42kg - 1x5
52kg - 1x5
62kg - 1x3
78kg - 1x5
88kg - 1x3
99kg - 1x1 ... top set. Prescribed reps = 1. Didn't bother going more due to right elbow
50kg - 5x10 ... big but boring. Didn't increment to 55kg this session because of elbow

Ab Pull Down
28kg - 1x10
38kg - 1x10
48kg - 3x10 ... being almost pulled off the ground
---
Calf Raise
BW+7kg - 13x10 ... making use of my mini plates in the bag on my back on the walk home. Found a few minor slopes to do decline calf raises. Probably got some strange looks from passing cars
---

Squats were really loose as I was forced to use a wide grip due to sore elbow. Not much firmness where the bar was on my back. Getting into position was sore, but the squatting itself was alright.

Not sure how I picked up this injury. I benched on Saturday, then deadlifted on Sunday. There was no pain until midday on Tuesday. I'm not sure if I picked it up by sleeping on my arm in a strange position, or falling backwards suddenly and grabbing a tube rail.... or pushing open a door...

If the elbow had been sore after the gym then I would probably have guessed it was coming from all the pressing and big but boring 5x10 sets.... however it didn't appear after gym.

This week has been terrible for training --> Early in to work, late out, sore elbow, no time for proper food prep, etc.

Anyway, enough moaning. Tonights session feels like a step forwards as I didn't think I'd be able to squat at all. Yay!

BossArky

Saturday September 12th: 531 Cycle 2 Week 4 Military Press & Deadlift deload

Bird-dogs
2x10 per side ... warm up for deadlift
---
Deadlift
50kg 1x5
60kg 1x5
75kg 1x5
50kg 1x5
60kg 1x5
75kg 1x5
---
Military Press
23kg 1x5
28kg 1x5
35kg 1x5
23kg 1x5
28kg 1x5
35kg 1x5
---
Crossfit Cindy
5 rounds in 4:27
*~ 5 min break to regain senses*
4 rounds in 4:34

I did a round of Cindy as follows (which I think is correct):

• 5 kipping pull ups
• 10 press ups
• 15 bodyweight squats

---
Crosstrainer ~3.5km (18 minutes, ~170 cals)
---
Mini-Franley in 3:20

• 15 burpees
• 15 bodyweight squats
• 12 burpees
• 12 bodyweight squats
• 9 burpees
• 9 bodyweight squats

---

Today being deload allowed me time to mess around with Crossfit. The good news is that my right elbow has recovered 100%. I think the pain was due to a strain from banging in to a door at work. Very happy that it is not going to hinder my workouts going forwards and especially the crossfit invitational next Saturday.

BossArky

bigstar wrote: »

im in a similar situation. my shoulder is fecked, so i took last week off. its still not great though but im hoping it will fix itself, you know, like magic.

Hope it gets better soon, bigstar. My elbow is grand now so I'm back firing on all cylinders.

BossArky

Sunday September 13th:

Bike 13km (outdoors)

bigstar

BossArky wrote: »

Hope it gets better soon, bigstar. My elbow is grand now so I'm back firing on all cylinders.

thanks but its not. im seeing the physio on tuesday, magic does work apparently . good that your elbows ok. trainings going well for you too, good stuff.

BossArky

Monday September 14th:

Bike (outdoors) 9.5 km
---
Hill Sprints
10x100m
---

It was pitch dark by 8pm, just as I finished the hill sprints. Cycling home through the marshes & trees was hairy. Couldn't see a thing. Gonna have some DOMS in my left thumb from ringing the bell constantly!

Was planning to practice my double unders but too dark so will leave them until tomorrow.

Managed the 10x100 hill sprints back to back though so pleased with that.

BossArky

Tuesday September 15th: 531 Cycle 2 Week 4 Squat & Bench deload

Bird dogs
2x10 per leg ... squat warm up
---
Squat
bw - 1x5
20kg - 1x5
40kg - 1x5
50kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
40kg - 1x5
50kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
---
Bench Press
30kg - 1x5
40kg - 1x5
50kg - 1x5
30kg - 1x5
40kg - 1x5
50kg - 1x5
---
Crossfit Cindy
5 rounds in 4:19 ... 8 seconds faster than last time. Was mesmerized by the brilliance of my kipping and ended up doing 7 instead of 5 in the second set

One round of Cindy as follows:

• 5 kipping pull ups
• 10 press ups
• 15 bodyweight squats

---
Skipping ~2 or 3 mins warming up for double unders

Double Unders
5 sets of 5

1 double under rep = 3 normal skips followed by a double under. Took Hanley's advice to "spin really fast and jump really high"!
---
Mini-Franley in 4:20 ... slow after the other stuff above

• 15 burpees
• 15 bodyweight squats
• 12 burpees
• 12 bodyweight squats
• 9 burpees
• 9 bodyweight squats

---

The double unders were ok. Wouldn't be able to do a full fluid set of them but at least I can manage them stop start.

Probably my last training ahead of Saturday. I'm ready :cool:

BossArky

Saturday September 19th: Crossfit Ireland Invitational (Dublin)

Brilliant event.

Workout One: (Cut Off time of 12 Minutes)
7 Rounds for time:

• 7 Overhead Squats, 45Kg
• 7 Pull Ups
• 7 Wall Ball Shots

Overhead squats are something I don't train. Warming up with a pvc pipe was fine. Next up 20kg barbell felt "ok". 45kg for 1 in the warm up was a pb, lol.

Decided I wouldn't get through the workout if I didn't scale down. I took 5kg off the bar and went for it with 40kg. This was a mistake. Should have taken it down to maybe 30kg on the bar.

The first round of overhead squats killed me. Pull ups were fine but by that stage I was wrecked from the overhead squats.

8kg wall balls were tricky. The movement itself wasn't too bad but the target was illusive. I must have done double or triple the required reps. The majority didn't count as I kept missing the target.

I guess I was too distracted before the event thinking about work out 2 and failed to give the 45kg overhead squat the respect it deserved.


Workout Two: As Many Times as Possible in Three (3) Minutes:

• 75Kg Clean & Jerks

This was it. All or nothing. Previously my 1 rep max was 70 or 72.5kg from back in June. I've never cleaned (read muscle up) anything heavier than that.

So, I guess cleaning (read muscle up again) 75kg 5 or 6 times at the invitational was good. Not a chance of getting it overhead though.

I'm going to work on Crossfit "Grace" (30 reps of 60kg clean & jerk for time) in the coming weeks and see how I get on with that. I need to focus on technique here.


Workout Three: (Cut off time of 25 minutes)
5 Rounds for time:

• Run 400m
• 15 Clapping Push Ups
• 15 Double Unders
• 15 Overhead Lunges, 10Kg

This was my best one. Everything was fine except for the double unders. I lost a lot of time on these. I managed them, but 1 by 1 as opposed to the fluid 15 in a row.

I was a bit ahead of a couple of guys coming in to these each time, but they would fly past me here and I'd have to make up the ground again on the other stuff. I guess walking around the back of the building when out of sight of the camera's didn't help either.

I ended up getting through 4 full rounds and up to 9 double unders done in the last round, so almost finished it in 25 mins.


Overall -->a great event. Big thanks to the folks at Crossfit Ireland (Colm, William, Tom) for organising everything. It was also good to put names to boards.ie faces:

gabgab, Dead_Ed, Colm, token, Scramble, Bobby, Transform, Hanley, Malteaser

I'm definetly going to be including some kind of Olympic lifts in my training going forwards. Most importantly I'm going to focus on these:

• stringing together double unders
• figuring out how to snatch the bar up into an overhead squat
• getting used to overhead squats
• clean & jerk technique

Special thanks goes to Bobby and Stephen who got me through workouts 1 and 3 respectively. Hanley tried to coach me through workout 2 but there was just too much on the bar.

Shoulders are riddled with DOMS from the overhead squats now. I'm going to go away and work on these things and come back for the next event with more prep. I'd recommend this a great fun day for anyone in pushing their limits. I learned a lot and the sense of community at Crossfit is something which will push you onwards & upwards.

Videos to follow...

BossArky

Some videos:

Work out 1: Heats 2 & 3 (featuring Transform, Dead Ed, Bobby)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv4GDjeRnGw

Me failing multiple times with 75kg clean & jerk. Hanley tried to coach me through it but there was too much on the bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1uADZRmt9M

Work out 3: Heat 1 (featuring token & myself)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39249P9TO_Q

The final standings came right down to the wire. Here is a 7 minute video of the final workout where Transform (in white) battles it out with Scott (in red) for the top spot. Great tension! There was just seconds in it at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX6TZt-7IHY

... and finally a collection of photos combined into a 90 second slideshow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReZvSkEGtNk

I'm off to slog away for a few hard months and come back for the next invitational. Thanks again everyone (crossfit & boards.ie folk) for a great day.