Here is a Christmas themed workout video a few days before the 25th. It was bomber, enjoy!!!
Showing posts with label Crossfit Titanium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crossfit Titanium. Show all posts
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Day 2 of Crossfit
I am pooched.
My muscles hasn't been this sore since I was training full time in Brazil about a year and a half ago but that isn't stopping me. I woke up and had to use a few different objects to get to my feet. My quads were completely spent and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to perform my strength workout. I wasn't about to bow out after my first session and I knew it was important for me to push through, so I did.
Mark and I planned on doing strength in the morning and taking the afternoon off. I got to the strength workout at 10:30 and I did a thorough 5 minutes on the rowing erg to break a healthy sweat. I was warm and my legs felt a more viscous jello than the night before. Heavy lifting time!
We worked through 5 rep progressions in squats, overhead presses and deadlifts. Each one started with the bar only and then we packed on plates until I found a challenging weight were 5 reps didn't come easily. From there we determined how my strength progression will go as each time I do strength I will have to lift that weight with 3 sets of 5 reps successfully to add 5 pounds onto the bar in the next one. It sounds like a fantastic way to increase weight slowly and I know this challenge is going to push me further than I have ever gone before in both strength and power.
With strength over and done with I went home and ate as much carbs and protein as possible. Cooking up 2 massive chicken breasts and a bucket of quinoa I feasted then went to my mother's school to teach the grade 6 and 7's in a volleyball clinic. They are progressing to the point where they are consistently getting 3 hits a side and I am very pleased with how much they have improved. Such an amazing gift seeing them rejoice after a good hit or serve!!!
The afternoon workout at 5 was a spontaneous one. I thought I would go and check it out but that plan crumbled the second I walked in the door as upon seeing the weights, bars and Medballs I knew I wanted everything to do with today's WOD. I applied heaps of KINeSYS sport stick to my quads as they weren't feeling spectacular then hit up the warm up of double under skips, burpees, quats and a shoulder mobility exercise. Once lubricated and mentally prepared to get after Crossfit again, I commenced the workout with the other two people in the gym.
The WOD consisted of two exercises performed in a diminishing sequence of reps. We started with 55 pound Kettlebell swings and then turned to a wall where we did 10 foot wall throws with a deep squat. The sequence of reps went 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 which doesn't look all that bad but it definitely hit me hard!!!
I powered through the first 21 reps in both exercises and it felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I ripped off 9 Kettlebell swings before I had to take a rest due to my right shoulder getting super sore and my cardio just not being strong enough to recuperate. I wound up having to take breaks in all the double digit sets because of my shoulder and inability to work through the fatigue but I went hard on 9-6-3 to finish at 9 minutes and 6 seconds. A burly firefighter guy by the name of John crushed it off in 6 minutes with no rest; I am jealous and humbled by the die hard Crossfit community!
I hung around after the workout to do some volley reps while I was super fatigued and boy was it difficult to get 20 rapid bumps in a row against a wall! I did 100 bumps and 100 sets and called it a day; tomorrow will be hell but my body will adapt.
Whatever I am doing, somewhere else in the world someone is working harder than me. I will strive forward; I am as strong as my drive.
My muscles hasn't been this sore since I was training full time in Brazil about a year and a half ago but that isn't stopping me. I woke up and had to use a few different objects to get to my feet. My quads were completely spent and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to perform my strength workout. I wasn't about to bow out after my first session and I knew it was important for me to push through, so I did.
Mark and I planned on doing strength in the morning and taking the afternoon off. I got to the strength workout at 10:30 and I did a thorough 5 minutes on the rowing erg to break a healthy sweat. I was warm and my legs felt a more viscous jello than the night before. Heavy lifting time!
We worked through 5 rep progressions in squats, overhead presses and deadlifts. Each one started with the bar only and then we packed on plates until I found a challenging weight were 5 reps didn't come easily. From there we determined how my strength progression will go as each time I do strength I will have to lift that weight with 3 sets of 5 reps successfully to add 5 pounds onto the bar in the next one. It sounds like a fantastic way to increase weight slowly and I know this challenge is going to push me further than I have ever gone before in both strength and power.
With strength over and done with I went home and ate as much carbs and protein as possible. Cooking up 2 massive chicken breasts and a bucket of quinoa I feasted then went to my mother's school to teach the grade 6 and 7's in a volleyball clinic. They are progressing to the point where they are consistently getting 3 hits a side and I am very pleased with how much they have improved. Such an amazing gift seeing them rejoice after a good hit or serve!!!
The afternoon workout at 5 was a spontaneous one. I thought I would go and check it out but that plan crumbled the second I walked in the door as upon seeing the weights, bars and Medballs I knew I wanted everything to do with today's WOD. I applied heaps of KINeSYS sport stick to my quads as they weren't feeling spectacular then hit up the warm up of double under skips, burpees, quats and a shoulder mobility exercise. Once lubricated and mentally prepared to get after Crossfit again, I commenced the workout with the other two people in the gym.
The WOD consisted of two exercises performed in a diminishing sequence of reps. We started with 55 pound Kettlebell swings and then turned to a wall where we did 10 foot wall throws with a deep squat. The sequence of reps went 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 which doesn't look all that bad but it definitely hit me hard!!!
I powered through the first 21 reps in both exercises and it felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I ripped off 9 Kettlebell swings before I had to take a rest due to my right shoulder getting super sore and my cardio just not being strong enough to recuperate. I wound up having to take breaks in all the double digit sets because of my shoulder and inability to work through the fatigue but I went hard on 9-6-3 to finish at 9 minutes and 6 seconds. A burly firefighter guy by the name of John crushed it off in 6 minutes with no rest; I am jealous and humbled by the die hard Crossfit community!
I hung around after the workout to do some volley reps while I was super fatigued and boy was it difficult to get 20 rapid bumps in a row against a wall! I did 100 bumps and 100 sets and called it a day; tomorrow will be hell but my body will adapt.
Whatever I am doing, somewhere else in the world someone is working harder than me. I will strive forward; I am as strong as my drive.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Crossfit = Pain in the best way imaginable
Well my life has finally allowed me to enter a world of pain I have been itching to dive into for a while. I am back home in the Comox Valley and everything is finally in order for me to explore Crossfit at local Titanium Crossfit! I had a beauty meeting with the owner named Mark Mazzocchi and he layed out all the basics. It is a perfect fit at this point in time in my career/season and it will definitely take me to the next level and beyond in terms of fitness and mental strength. GAME ON!!!
So I showed up today expecting to get my butt handed to me; it happened. We did the warm up and were introduced to the WOD (work out of the day). It was a 4 exercise Tabata workout which is a series performed under the following protocol. You exercise for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds and repeat that sequence 8 times. 10 seconds of rest before you move onto the next exercise. One word, BRUTAL!!!!
The four exercises to be performed in sequence went from Pull ups to Push Ups to Sit ups to Squats (body weight). All reps performed in the 8 sets were added up to make a total for each exercise and then your exercise total was added to give you your final workout rep count.
Well the first 3 exercises weren't too bad because I don't possess the muscle mass to really work beyond my cardio system. My muscles gave out before my respiratory system was hyper taxed so I just had to deal with giving out and fully trembling muscles. After the second rep in Pull Ups and Push Ups I aspired to get 2 and eventually 1 successful rep in a row. It got to the point where 1 rep was a struggle; the burn was intense and I risked falling on my face while pushing up. It was fun.
The sit ups weren't all that bad because once again I wasn't able to really explode through them to get enough reps. I definitely fatigued but because my upper body weights more than my legs I struggled to get through a lot of reps in each 20 second split. I was tired and huffing but the pain was manageable.
Last came the squats; these were the kicker. Since I am a large human being the medicine ball placed under my bum to check proper depth had to be elevated! We placed a thick plate under it and I was then ready to get heavy. I knew this was the exercise I could really push my total on and I committed to going harder than I ever have gone before.
My goal was to perform 20 squat reps per 20 second split. I hit that on my first few attempts but then my pace declined as the INSANE burn beat me down. I resisted and persisted and those 8 sets of squats were worse than the other three exercises combined. I managed to push to 123 reps and for the next 10 minutes I was queezy and my legs shook like a 10.0 on the richter scale. Driving home wasn't safe at this point.
I tried doing some roll outs but my body wouldn't allow me to perform anything other than breathing and stumbling to my car! That was it for the day and I wasn't about to rebel against my body!
All in all my first Crossfit work out went like so
The four exercises to be performed in sequence went from Pull ups to Push Ups to Sit ups to Squats (body weight). All reps performed in the 8 sets were added up to make a total for each exercise and then your exercise total was added to give you your final workout rep count.
Well the first 3 exercises weren't too bad because I don't possess the muscle mass to really work beyond my cardio system. My muscles gave out before my respiratory system was hyper taxed so I just had to deal with giving out and fully trembling muscles. After the second rep in Pull Ups and Push Ups I aspired to get 2 and eventually 1 successful rep in a row. It got to the point where 1 rep was a struggle; the burn was intense and I risked falling on my face while pushing up. It was fun.
The sit ups weren't all that bad because once again I wasn't able to really explode through them to get enough reps. I definitely fatigued but because my upper body weights more than my legs I struggled to get through a lot of reps in each 20 second split. I was tired and huffing but the pain was manageable.
Last came the squats; these were the kicker. Since I am a large human being the medicine ball placed under my bum to check proper depth had to be elevated! We placed a thick plate under it and I was then ready to get heavy. I knew this was the exercise I could really push my total on and I committed to going harder than I ever have gone before.
My goal was to perform 20 squat reps per 20 second split. I hit that on my first few attempts but then my pace declined as the INSANE burn beat me down. I resisted and persisted and those 8 sets of squats were worse than the other three exercises combined. I managed to push to 123 reps and for the next 10 minutes I was queezy and my legs shook like a 10.0 on the richter scale. Driving home wasn't safe at this point.
I tried doing some roll outs but my body wouldn't allow me to perform anything other than breathing and stumbling to my car! That was it for the day and I wasn't about to rebel against my body!
All in all my first Crossfit work out went like so
If you can spot my name, I scored 314 repetitions in a 16 minute maximal workout. Lets just say I am going to be sore tomorrow but guess what? I am doing a strength workout at 10:30 to get a baseline understanding of my 5 rep maxes in the Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!
I was warned Crossfit is addictive and I must say that after a single beating, I am in. I will become the best athlete I have ever been should I continue, although, I will monitor my body as Crossfit is hyper taxing. I will write a blog on each of my workouts so keep checking back for more stories of me getting destroyed by one of the most effective workout regimes available. It is a cult and I plan on getting my hands very dirty.
Keep pushing. Martin
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