Swim 50s

10 May 12 (Thu)

    10 Rounds

    50m Swim   (various: back kick, side kick, freestyle)

  Bought a nose clip, but couldn't get the damn thing to stay on, I suspect because nose was already wet. Getting better at kick-drills, though.

  Week 3 of Crossfit Games starts tomorrow, and is going to be live on ESPN3. Curious to see how their coverage is. Hope it has the normal Crossfit announcers and not generic ESPN guys who don't know what they're talking about.   :/   Should be fun.

ESPN Crossfit Games Week 3

Swimming

8 May 12 (Tue)

    Warmup

    20 Pullups          (assisted 120lb)

    20 Bench Press   (95lb, smith rack)

    10 Rounds

    50m Swim          (various drills: back kick, prone kick, side kick, freestyle)

  Good and comfortable with the back kick. Still need to work on exhaling underwater in other drills without getting water up nose.

Row & Snatches

7 May 12 (Mon)

    Warmup

    20 Pullups                             (120lb)

    As Many Rounds as Possible

    250m Row

    2 Snatches, +10lb each round  (75lb, 85, 95, 105)

    ***  4 full rounds + 1 row...failed 115lb snatch

    Cooldown

    25 KB Swings                          (40lb)

  Snatches still feel awkward and weak. I suspect that it's because of needing to do power snatches, as well as not being able to move the feet at any point. The knees are really screwing with the mechanics of this lift. I may have to just switch to KB/dumbbell snatches. I'll think on it. It'd be good to switch up just for variety of movement, anyway.

  I'm a bit surprised that I'm still able to drop 10lb of assisted-weight on the pullups weekly, but that may just be from still being in the initial newb-curve of quick, early results from getting back into workouts.

I think that I'm seeing visible bodily slimming and strength gains. I could do a weekly weighing, I suppose, but it kind of goes against the grain to be worried about weight & scales. Would be nice to see some tangible, concrete effects, though. It's a little over 1 1/2 months now, so I guess that's a reasonable time to be seeing some results.  :/

Deadlift 5s

4 May 12 (Fri)

    Warmup

    20 Pullups          (assisted 130lb)

    20 Bench Press   (85lb)

    20 Situps

    25 KB Swings      (30lb)

    5 Rounds

    5 Deadlifts         (135lb, 185, 205, 215, 215)

    ***  ~1min rest

  Back's a little tight after the deads; I knew it would be from the cleans a couple days ago. Not bad, just noticeable. I was considering staying at a lighter weight and working on form, but no.   :/

Swimming 50s

3 May 12 (Thu)

    Warmup

    20 Bench Press  (85lb)

    20 Situps

    20 Pullups         (assisted 130lb)

    10 Rounds

    50m Swim         (50m freestyle, 50m back-kick, alternating each 50m)

    **  ~1min rest

  My back-kick with arms extended is working pretty well, I think. Next time I shall do the same in prone with breathe in head-up, exhale head down. My main problem with trying lap-swimmming has always been that I inhale on one side and exhale on the other, both with head out of water. Once I can get a feel for exhaling underwater, then I feel that I could make good progress in being a consistent swimmer. I have a lifetime's worth of instinct to unlearn, though.   :/

  Above picture is from the swim event at the start of the 2011 Crossfit Games. Was good to see some swimming thrown in there.

2011 Women's Beach Event    2011 Men's Beach Event    2011 ESPN Day 1 with commentary

  The ESPN link doesn't work that well sometimes, and I'm not convinced that it's day one. It does have, however, the commentary from the standard crossfit announcers & athletes that we all know and love. I don't mind ESPN showing the games...in fact I encourage it, but I really wish that there was an archive available somewhere else that I could download like in previous years.

  Here's the Part One of Sevan's behind-the-scenes of the 2011 Games (beach event). As always, Sevan makes a great, personal, funny, interesting documentary. If you only watch one video of the beach event, this is the one.

2011 Games Behind-the-Scenes Part One     Part One Youtube

  Here's an article from the Crossfit Journal written by a reporter who normally covers things like Super Bowls, baseball, etc. It seems that she really enjoyed the 2011 Games & was awed by it. Well written.

NFL Reporter at the Crossfit Games

The Chief

2 May 12 (Wed)

    Warmup

    30 Situps

    20 Pullups            (assisted 130lb)

    4 Cycles              (The Chief)

       3min AMRAP

       3 Cleans            (95lb)

       6 Bench Press    (95lb)

       9 Box Squats      (air)

       **  1-2min rest

    ***  Did 2-3 rounds per 3min cycle.

    Cooldown

    500m Row            (2min14sec)

  AMRAP = As Many Rounds/Reps As Possible

  Used the smith rack for the bench presses. Partially because of safety without a spotter, but mostly because the rack is in the barbell area. Seems a hell of a lot easier to lift the same amount of weight in a smith rack as compared to self-supported. I knew this, of course, but the difference is striking.

  I've made myself a weekly schedule, which I know is the kiss of death but I'm an organizer.   :P   As follows...

  Mon:    Crossfit WOD

  Tue:    Endurance WOD

  Wed:   Crossfit WOD

  Thu:    Endurance WOD

  Fri:     Crossfit WOD

  Sat:    Crossfit WOD

  Sun:    Endurance WOD

  ***  Take rest days as needed.

  I'm going to use swimming as endurance for a while, I think. Always wanted to get proficient at swimming, and it's relatively easy on the knees. We shall see.

  Motivational picture today: Miss Jessica Simpson. She gets a lot of crap for being ditzy, but come on. Very pretty, hot curvy body, sweet, fun, happy, good voice, patriotic, country girl. What's not to like?   =)

Presses & Swim

1 May 12 (Tue)

    Warmup

    20 Pullups            (assisted 130lb)

    5 Rounds

    5 Shoulder Press   (75lb, 80, 80, 80, 80)

    Cooldown             (Swimming)

    8 Pool Lengths      (various relaxed kicks / strokes)

  Too many people at Gold's to do proper warmup.  >:|  Won't go in over lunch again, I think.

  Shoulder presses went well. Just the right weight. Didn't get a pinched nerve in my neck, which I occasionally get when doing overheads or handstands. Very good.

  My first use of swimming as a cooldown / workout. Worked great. Lets you get your breath back, pre-swim shower washes off sweat from workout, swim cools you off a bit; nice. There's a bit of a problem with the flutter kick dislocating the knees slightly and crunching cartilage a bit, but I think it's relieved when keeping the legs a bit more bent. I'll work on it.

  There's a lot more involved with using swimming as an exercise, what with the changing clothes back and forth, and the drying off, and what-not. Still... swimming.   :P