Making new baselines

3x1 low bar back squat (5x135, 5x185, 3x225)1x265,1x285,1x290(f)
3x1 shoulder press (5x85, 3x115) 1x135 1x140(f), 1x140(dna)
3x1 power clean (5x111, 3x155, 2x175) 1x199(f), 1x199, 1x204(f)
4x1 bench press (5x95, 5x135, 2x185) 1x[225,215,210](f), 1x210
3x1 deadlift (5x135, 5x225, 3x275) 1x325, 1x345, 1x355

Fun times!  I'm going to make an old style graph to put in here soon.

Opted to do a CFT-style test of my 1RM in the five different lifts I've been focusing on.  If we consider this a strict CFT challenge then technically I totally failed on bench (three failed attempts) but then got the fourth one to stick after the deadlifts.  Overall, I feel like this is a general success, particularly since I hit a new PR on every lift!

Compared to about 2.5 months ago, I increased about 40lbs on the squat, 5 lbs on the bench, and almost 40lbs on the deadlift.  I haven't done a 1RM for shoulder press in a very long time, maybe 5 years in fact, but it looks like I've gone up about 15lbs from then.  First time doing a 1RM for power cleans, so it's an automatic PR.

Sock it to me

Warm-up:
1000m row (~1:50 pace)
dynamic stretching

Crossfit Total, 3 max attempts each of:
back squat (45/95/135 x5, 185x3, 225x2 then 275/295/305[DNA] x1)
shoulder press (45x5, 65/95 x3, 115x2 then 135[f]/125/130[f] x1)
deadlift (135x5, 225x3, 315x1 then 365/385[f]/375 x1)

BS: 295
SP: 125
DL: 375
tot: 795

Went to Coles with my brother to make up for a week of stuffing my face and sitting on the couch in Indiana (If you're ever in northwest Indiana, I highly recommend Sophia's House of Pancakes - skillet with hash browns, peppers and onions, chicken fried steak, four eggs and a side of pancakes for $8!). Seeing as eating and rest are essential to strength gains (in addition to, you know, lifting), I jumped right back into a CFT. Wore my new Christmas socks for extra oomph...

Squats felt really solid, and I'm happy with the gains. Presses felt really crappy though, in no small part because my lower back was already sore after the squats. DLs were okay, but was shooting my hips and lifting with my back on the last rep (thanks to my bro for encouraging me to get the rep at 375). Compared to last CFT and previous PR CFT, good gain on the squat and slight bump on the deadlift, press going nowhere though; still, better than I had hoped for given the layoff.

Strawberry Fanta

Today Clayton and I hit the gym before lunch. Here's what we did:

"Micro-Cindy"
AMRAP in 5 minutes of:
- 5 pullups
- 10 pushups
- 15 squats

- GF: 6 rounds
- CF: Did a few pullups on the 1st round and then mostly did the pushups and squats, about 4 rounds.

Turkish getups: 10 (5 both sides)

- GF: 4 with 20 pounds and 6 with 25.
- CF: 10 with 15.

2 x 10 2 feet boxjumps

3x5 deadlifts

- GF: all at 135
- CF: all at 135

I am not sure how those are called but we did 2 sets of 10 lifting your legs straight and then the other pushes them down.

I added 5 weighted pullups at +50

Cindy was really hard for me, I can't believe K did 10 min. The getups were better than last time but I am still a bit all over the place. The deadlifts are at super low weight and still my back is feeling it. I am sure this is partly due to bad form.

I rewarded myself with a Taco plate and strawberry Fanta.

On the edge

I can't tell if I am climbing soft because you guys aren't around and I am getting worse or if all this climbing is translating into improvements, but today at some points I felt like I was on the edge of getting better. Its hard to tell because the changes are so small. Irrespective of whether I am getting better or worse, today had a lot of nice climbing with newbies.

First, Muriel, Erica, Clayton, and I headed to the Stanford gym. The three of them were doing very well for one of their first time climbing in years. Clayton had the upper hand sending one V0+, one V0, and working on the start of a third V0+ (that one imposes the hand sequence, which makes it trickier). Erica and Muriel both sent a V0(+) and reached close to the end on the other. They followed this by a 5.7, Erica doing all but the last move, Muriel managed about half way. I did a V2, V3, and two V4s. There's a third V4 that eluded me (I couldn't stick the last move). All the problems were new, which was quite nice. Erica went to run and the rest of us headed back to the department.

I then grabbed a quick dinner and headed to Planet Granite to meet Jess and her sister Nicole (on the way there I barely avoided rear ending someone who was stopped in an exit). Nicole did 5.6 (F), 5.4, 5.5., 5.6. She was very flexible which made all the routes look easy and with a bit more confidence she would do well. Jess did a 5.9, 5.10a, 5.10b, and 5.10c (multiple takes). The 10a was a great sent for her because it was overhanging and long, two things that give her a hard time. BTW Jess started a leading class yesterday and thus I will soon have a leading partner her in CA. I did 5.11a, 5.11b (1 take), 5.12a (1 take), 5.11d (1 take), and 5.11d. It felt like I could have done all of them clean, but obviously I didn't manage. The 12 was great, involving a huge throw to a big brain over an arch, which meant you feet were hanging. The first 11d involve many difficult move with pinches. The second 11d was a crimpfest, it felt more like TRC then most routes at PG. Next time I hope to send a 12 clean.

Puke bag

Muriel, Clayton and I went to the Stanford gym to start what we hope will be a bi-weekly routine. We did the following.

20 burpees.

4x5 benchpress:
MN: 65, 65, 65, 55
GF: 135, 145, 155, 145[f5]
CF: 135, 135, 135[f5], 95[f5]

20 burpees.

4x5 pull-ups (weighted or Assisted)
MN: -100, -100, -100, -100
GF: +35, +35, +35, +35
CF: 0, -10, -40, -70

20 burpees.

4x5 (I don't know how this is called but you put one hand and one knee on a bench then lift a weight until your elbow forms a 90 degrees angle and then either come back down or extend fully).
MN: 10, 10, 10, 25 (halfway), 35 (halfway)
GF: 15, 15, 60 (halfway), 60 (halfway)
CF: 10, 10, 35 (halfway), 35 (halfway)

It felt quite hard. Especially the burpees. Let's hope the next visit feels better, but just in case, I think we will bring bags.

Went the distance with a CFT, now including Adrienne!

Crossfit Total, 3 max attempts each of:
back squat
shoulder press
deadlift

												SS	KL	AS
Back squat												225	225	80
Shoulder press												115	105	35
Deadlift												335	345	125
Total												665	665	240

Welcome Adrienne to the wonderful world of strength lifting! Kenway did a little worse than last time, and I dropped to my lowest shoulder press weight in awhile, but found gains in the other two areas compared to last time. Adrienne learned how to squat and deadlift. Her squats were looking pretty good towards the end, but for some reason when deadlifting she tends to kick the bar out in front of her, throwing her balance way off. She still gets the weight up there, but I think she'd be able to lift more, easier, if she could halt the kick. She went to failure with the other two exercises, but not deadlifts, so maybe the solution is more weight?

CFT

CFWU x2

WOD 080530

"Crossfit Total"
Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep
3 attempts at each.

SS: 215, 125, 325

Total = 665
BW = 185

cooldown:
walking lunges across the b-ball court and back. still painful

An improvement all around from the last CFT. I'd really been itching to do this for awhile, so when it came up in crossfit I decided to go for it. I may have been able to do more on the squat but I'm not sure. I am pretty sure I could have done more on the deadlift, but I didn't expect to be able to do 325 anyway, so that was a pleasant surprise. On the whole, I'm fairly satisfied with everything except my squats.

CFT

Came back to the CFT today, improvements all around compared to the last time we did it.

Crossfit Total, 3 max attempts each of:
shoulder press
back squat
deadlift

Here are our scores:

Rippetoe and Kilgores' standards can be found here and CrossFit North's Athletic Standards can be found here.

Crossfit Total Fitness Day

For total fitness, you find the max weight at which you can do the following: 1x1 back squat 1x1 overhead press 1x1 dead lift Score is calculated as the sum of the max weights at each exercise.

Standards are from Rippetoe & Kilgore.

Strength standards

Standards for the shoulder press, back squat, deadlift and bench press.
Rippetoe's standards for the Crossfit Total (CFT) here. Individual tables with separate tables for men and women here.

1 rep max can be approximated here, and a note on the terminology here.

Crossfit North's athetic standards here.

John Allstadt's pull-up standards:
Body Weight Pull-Ups:
15 = Decent
25 = Good
35 = Very Good
45 = Physical Bad Ass

Weighted Pull-Ups for 5 reps:
120% BW = Decent
145% BW = Good
170% BW = Very Good
200% BW = Physical Bad Ass

One arm Pull-Up:
1 = Good
5 = Very Good
10 = Physical Bad Ass

CFT (first time)

Squat 225
Press 105
Deadlift 275

Total 605
Couldn't get squat rep at 245 down past horizontal. Could have likely gone higher on the deadlift but people waiting for bench.