I'm crazy busy trying to juggle a bunch of projects -- some work related, some not -- but I managed to squeeze in a half-hour of lifting this evening. (It helps that the kids are spending the night with grandma and grandpa -- no hour-long bedtime ritual tonight!)
In particular, the deadlifts -- albeit light -- feel great. I'm doing my best to nail my form, making sure that my butt doesn't rise ahead of the rest of my body, and keeping my head and neck in line with my spine. Also, I'm trying to be slow and deliberate in my movements, both to increase time under tension as well as to train my brain and grease the groove.
Afterwards, I practiced some power cleans and squat cleans, and cooled down with two short sets of ring dips.
CrossFit Palo Alto's closed for Turkey Week, so for the first time in a long while, I got to play around in my garage with some of my toys. Some of them -- like my Fat Gripz -- have been sitting in a box for a month, waiting for me to get off my ass and try 'em out.
Now that my back's feeling better, I want to work on getting it stronger -- and so my plan is to start doing some low-rep sets of deadlifts and strict presses, mixed with some super-short metcons. Sound familiar?
Dallas and Melissa of the Whole9 have a PTP template from their CrossFit 603 days, so I decided to jump right in with their programming for Day One. First up: the "Buy-In":
3 rounds:
20-second handstand hold
15 Russian kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
10 box jumps (20″)
This was a fun way to kick off the morning and get the blood pumping rushing to my head. Once I was nice and toasty, I was ready for PTP.
I had trouble wrapping my thumbs around the width of the Fat Gripz -- my grip felt much more awkward than I expected -- but the starting weight was light, so I managed just fine. We'll see what happens as the weight on the bar starts creeping up.
Press:
Warm up: A few reps at a light weight
Set 1: 60% of 1-rep max, 3-5 reps
Set 2: 90% of Set 1 weight, 3-5 reps
I used the Fat Gripz on the strict presses, too, though I don't think it made much of a difference. Presses don't rely much on finger strength, so I'll probably skip the Gripz for this movement next time.
Cash Out:
3 rounds for time:
30 double-unders
15 knees-to-elbows
This sounded easy, but the KTEs rocked my world. I cranked out the double-unders without much trouble, but they wiped me out enough to make the knees-to-elbows a royal pain in the butt. Also, to be consistent, I'd stuck the Fat Gripz on the pull-up bar, too -- and it didn't take me long to start regretting it. Getting a handle on the bar was much more challenging than I anticipated, and my hands kept slipping off. Ugh.
Result: 4:27 as RXed.
I need bigger hands. My teeny little baby hands aren't cutting it.
I felt a lot less wrecked this morning, but some residual soreness is still cramping my style.
Strength Skill:
Deadlifts (5-3-3-1-1)
Near the end of my deadlift practice this morning, Tim reminded me that I was able to rip out 49 reps at 245 pounds in a WOD just a couple of weeks ago. By all rights, I should be able to pull a lot heavier in a low-rep workout like today's. But for whatever reason, I couldn't. Just like last week, I struggled with 255-pound deadlifts, and didn't get anywhere near my previous PR. What happened to my mojo?!?
As a result, I'm contemplating incorporating deadlifts back into my routine at home. Maybe I'll revisit the Power to the People protocol again. A couple of short sets of deadlifts every other night shouldn't destroy me, right?
Metcon:
For time:
1 -> 10 ring dips
10 -> 1 box jumps (24")
In other words:
1 Ring Dip, 10 Box Jumps (24")
2 Ring Dips, 9 Box Jumps (24")
3 Ring Dips, 8 Box Jumps (24")
4 Ring Dips, 7 Box Jumps (24")
5 Ring Dips, 6 Box Jumps (24")
6 Ring Dips, 5 Box Jumps (24")
7 Ring Dips, 4 Box Jumps (24")
8 Ring Dips, 3 Box Jumps (24")
9 Ring Dips, 2 Box Jumps (24")
10 Ring Dips, 1 Box Jump (24")
I did this workout back in March in my garage, and it took me 7:28 to finish. Today, I fared better, shaving two-and-a-half minutes(!) off my time. I'm not sure if it's because I was in the gym with the 5 a.m. crew this time, but I certainly felt a lot speedier than when I was slugging it out alone at home.
There's no better way to end a day than with some tasty homemade Paleo grub, bedtime stories with the kids, and a couple of sets of deadlifts and pull-ups.
And now -- time for some (obviously and desperately needed) beauty sleep.
After an exhausting day (we threw our 6-year-old a birthday party), M passed out on the couch while one kid napped and the other watched T.V. With 15 minutes to myself, I popped into the garage for a quick Power to the People workout:
I'd forgotten how much I like this protocol. It takes very little time; I can finish before breaking a sweat. It helps that this time around, I'm not adding side presses and weighted push-ups to the routine.
There's nothing like a good set of deadlifts to start the morning. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to eke out a good set, though I managed a bunch of shitty ones. It appears that I've lost some capacity -- my max was a good 30 pounds less than my last go 'round. Pathetic.
7 Overhead Kettlebell Swings (using a 1.5-pood / 24 kg / 53 lb kettlebell)
This is more like it.
Box jumps are fun. The trick (for me, anyway) is to land on the box with knees slightly bent, and then kick your legs out straight to explode off the top of the box and backwards onto the floor. Land with knees bent, in a half-squat position, so that you're ready to power-jump back onto the box. If done correctly, you can string a ton of reps together by reducing (or even eliminating) the awkward pauses in between jumps.
The overhead kettlebell swings aren't too bad, either -- provided I don't try to kill myself with too much weight.
But burpees really are the king of all exercises: They're great for developing full-body strength and torching your metabolism -- plus, there's no equipment required (except a floor). Unlike a lot of folks, I love burpees. I love how the first few reps are always deceptively easy, and how they quickly grab you and throw you into a wall. Unlike exhausting moves involving heavy, loaded barbells, you're not in danger of dropping anything on your head or feet while doing burpees -- but you'll need a ton of willpower to keep going while maintaining proper form. I found myself lagging towards the end, and had to smack myself in the face (figuratively, not literally) to jump higher.
Result: In 7 minutes, I finished 5 rounds plus 16 reps. My goal: 7 rounds in 7 minutes.
I had a hard time deciding today whether to rest completely or to go balls-out, and ended up splitting the difference. Instead of a full-blown workout, I settled for a brief PTP session:
I woke up late, and only had a half hour before the kids got up, so I managed to squeeze in only a quick Power to the People workout:
2 sets of 5 deadlifts
2 sets of 5 side presses
2 sets of 5 pull-ups
It's been more than a week since I last did the PTP routine, but surprisingly, my numbers haven't gone down. My strength hasn't increased, but it hasn't decreased, either. Maybe this stuff works after all!
Later today, I'm going to catch up on the Mobility WOD stretches I haven't yet done. But after that, I'm just going to plant myself on the couch and read Greg Everett's book on O-lifting:
More strength-building, Power to the People-style.
50 air squats
2 sets of 5 deadlifts
2 sets of 5 side presses
2 sets of 5 weighted pull-ups
2 sets of 10 push-ups
Handstand practice
Turns out that prior to today, I was doing side presses incorrectly; I was doing basic shoulder presses, without really engaging my lats. Yesterday, Coach T showed me the proper movement, which looks like this:
More groove-greasing. This ought to look familiar by now:
2 sets of deadlifts
2 sets of presses
2 sets of weighted pull-ups
For good measure, I threw in some roll-outs and air squats, and I practiced doing handstands and double-unders. But overall, I tried to take it easy today. I love me some rest and recovery.
Squat cleans! Three sets of 5, and three sets of 3.
Today's metcon:
3 rounds for time:
400-meter sprint
60' overhead walking lunges (self-explanatory: do walking lunges while holding a weight plate overhead)
25 plyo box jumps
I finished (profusely sweating and out of breath) in 11:55.
Afterwards, I went home and completed Day Three of my Power to the People program: 2 sets of 5 deadlifts, 2 sets of 5 presses, and 2 sets of 5 weighted pull-ups.
All before 7 a.m.! (Which means I'm going to collapse before 9 p.m. tonight.)
I'm now making my way through Tsatsouline's "Power to the People," a book focused on building raw strength through daily practice of just two exercises: deadlifts and presses.
The "Russian strength secret" that Tsatsouline teaches in "Power to the People" can be summarized in one sentence: "Train heavy, but keep the volume, or the total number of reps per workout, low." Why? So we can "minimize the amount of 'torn down' muscle -- and the reconstruction that follows."
This approach won't turn anyone into a bodybuilder because the point isn't to grow big-ass muscles. Rather, the focus is on gaining "wiry strength" such that "[m]ost likely your measurements will not increase, while your weight will go up a few pounds. the packing density of your muscles' contractile proteins has increased, the first thing to happen when 'real' muscle growth takes place." By periodizing and increasing the amount of weight that's being lifted but without going to exhaustion, Tsatsouline says, you can steadily enhance your full-body strength without constantly destroying and rebuilding the muscles in your body
Sounds good to me. My health and fitness goals don't include bulking up or becoming a bodybuilder. I do, however, want to get stronger, and I definitely want to improve my deadlift. So this program sounds like it's worth a shot.
Whole9 modified/customized Tsatsouline's "Power to the People" program by adding some warm-ups and metcons to the deadlifts and presses. It's simple and easy to follow, which is a big part of why I've decided to try it starting today. On the days I don't head to my CrossFit class, I'm going to follow the Whole9 program and see where it can take me in 2-3 months' time.
Hence, my workout today was cribbed directly from Whole9:
DAY ONE
Buy-in: 3 rounds of 0:20 handstand hold + 15 KB swings (Russian) + 10 plyo box jumps
Deadlift: Warm up with some DLs at lighter weight
Set 1: 60% of 1RM, 3-5 reps
Set 2: 90% of Set 1, 3-5 reps
Press: Warm up with some presses at lighter weight
Set 1: 60% of 1RM, 3-5 reps
Set 2: 90% of Set 1, 3-5 reps
Cash out: 3 rounds for time of 30 Double-Unders + 15 Hanging Knees-to-Elbows
I followed Whole9's directions carefully and used weights that felt too light for me. I'm sure it'll get harder as the program progresses, but right now, I can't see how this is going to get me that much stronger.
Still, the full workout wiped me out completely. I'm nodding off while typing this. Time for bed.
