Man Maker + Man = Sweat Angels

So today's workout was pretty gruelling. The thing is, I'm trying to wear Kristen out, but she's a higher fitness level than me. This turns into killer workouts for me, and hopefully good workouts for her. Anyway, can't wait till Steph jumps into the fray, so we can suffer together :). I may start calling this Hell on Earth, if I can ever make my workouts truly nuts. Anyway I digress.








Warmup: Jarovek Obv.

Workout:

1) Snatch (real snatch-squats), 1RM

K: 25x6 45x3 65x3 65x2 70x3 75x1/1/1/1 (4 fails)
A: 45x6 65x3 85x3 105x2 125x1/1 (2 fails), 65x1

*Going to review the snatch w/squats and see about form. These felt like we were not getting the form totally right, both of us, with slightly different issues.

2) 3x5 Heavy Squats

K: 65x5 95x5 115x5 115x6 135x6
A: 95x5 185x5 225x5 225x5

*kristen psyches herself out with the weight. She needs to focus on adding more weight, just a mental block, no big deal.

3) 30x Manmakers For Time

K: @30lb 12:52
A: @45lb 17:40 (PR)

*This was absolutely nuts

4) just some pullups

Popedog's beastiary

Simon - you're a freak and I love you - thanks for the hardcore workouts to constantly challenge my body, and today, my mind :).

Warmup: Thanks Mr. Jarovek.

Workout: Thanks Simon :(

3 rounds for time:
40 M Bear Crawl
8/8 1 arm clean & push press

Aaron: 45 lb (20.45kg) 5:47.606
Kristen: 30 lb (13.63kg) 5:20.054


THEN

Workout:
25 burpee
30 x powerclean & jerk
25 burpee

Aaron: 115 lb (52.27kg) - 13:58
Kristen: 75lb (34.09kg) - 11:29

THEN: 1 RM bent over row (barbell)

Kristen:
75x3
115x3
135x3
155xFAIL
145x1
145x1
145x1

Aaron:
115x3
135x3

185x1
185x1
185x1 (Please update my PR for this, I didn't have form on my other PR :( )

Overall the workout was good. my hip was tender to start, and I couldn't jerk to a wide stance due to the tenderness. However, I didn't strain it additionally. It felt great. Wonderful workout. I was seriously breathing so hard and this felt like the hardest workout to date so far.

AP

"To be comfortable with the uncomfortable"

... as OPT said.

Today I learned a lesson. I learned a lot about how I can push myself harder. This is how I learned it:

We started out by playing around a little bit with kettlebells. We had some new faces at the training, which is always great, so we had to go through the basic swing etc a little bit.

Workout:
3 rounds for time of:
40m Bear Crawl
8/8 one hand kettlebell clean & push-press.

Result:
24 kg 5 minutes and 8 seconds, I think. Not sure about the time as always, since I try to remember it by head.

Next!

This time I was going to do one of the Scandinavian Challenge's workout... but slightly modified!

The workout was 50 double unders, 30 clean and jerk (overhead anyhow) @ 60 kg, 50 double unders. Since I can't do double-unders (my lower legs have their fascias pooped up so I can't do that kind of excersizes or I go boom), I did burpee's instead!

Workout:
25 burpee's
30x powerclean & jerk (overhead anyhow) @ 60 kg. No dropping weight from top position - take it down without breaking the floor.
25 burpee's

Result:
Time 13 minutes and 8 seconds if I remember correctly.
Once I had passed through the first burpee's I went directly to the powercleans trying to bring atleast 2/3 out of the way. What I didn't really realize was the amount of lactate acid that had started to build up in my body, together with the lack of O2. The first reps were really rough, and I expected the overhead anyhows to be a total pain in the ass. I kept a pretty low pace, trying to take them in pairs in order to keep the same pace through all the 30's. When I had come to about 25 they were beginning to be easier and easier, so I could push the last 5 in a 3+2 with maybe only 3-4 seconds of rest between them. The final 25 burpee's were hell though.

It was during maybe the last 5-10 overhead anyhow and the burpee's I found myself able to push harder and harder. I felt that my potential was more than I put out. That's bad because it shows that I could have done better, and I could have pushed myself harder. I didn't. Although I did push myself harder during the last burpee's than I normally do during burpee's, I still feel like I have more to give.

The last couple of months of training has really put an edge into my mind to pull out that extra that I haven't done before. I feel a lot stronger, faster and durable than before - and I feel that I can do even better. I'm not sure that I've ever felt this good.


/Simon.

Rest day(s)

Yesterday and today as rest days. The hip is a bit hurt, not sure what I should do about it. Here's an example of how it hurts. When I am walking, and my left leg goes forward, it's my right leg, in the front, just below the hip socket that hurts. Not sure if I pulled my quad up high on the lunges or what. Any recommendations on what I should do would be appreciated.

The pic was just for fun. The rifle I have is for hunting deer, it's pretty much the American equivalent of the FN-FAL. Just thought the pic would be funny.


So yeah I'm a bit nervous about the hip, it happened deep in my lunge, left leg forward, and it felt like a "pop" in the right leg just below the hip socket, but in the high upper quad. Any advice would be appreciated.

Meh

Yeah 'meh', that's what I have to say about today's training.

Warm up: barbell complex (thank you javorek), squats, pullups etc.

Work up heavy squat.

3x5 Squat.

Result: 120 kg, 3x5. It felt like my legs were really hurting bad after the third set so I stopped. I was thinking about doing 5 sets but I haven't really done this heavy workload on my legs since a few months back so I decided to not push it too hard. I'll try to throw in squats again on saturday or sunday just to push those 5x5 120 or even 125 kg.

Snatch (real snatch-squats), 1RM.
Result:
10x 20kg
5x 40kg
3x 50kg
1x 55kg (PR, since I've never snatch-squatted before).
1x 55kg
Fail: 60 kg.

Man that was rough. More technique demanding than I first thought. Probably a little bit stupid to do snatchSQUATS after heavy squats, so I suggest doing this one before doing the squats. It wasn't really the squats that was the issue though, sure it was heavy on the legs but the problem was more in technique and actually getting in under the bar. So much harder than power-snatches (which I can do 60 kg in). It was fun tho, I really liked training this. More technique needed.

Tabata intervals; rowing.

Now this was interesting. I could set a set amount of time to run the machine at, but it could only do one round. My rest between the sets are vague at best. I reset the round, took 3 breaths and kicked the next round. I hope that was roughly 10 seconds.
Results:
108m
108m
108m
106m
106m
104m
105m
107m
Total: 852m (PR). Wow. Ow. Woooow. Ooooooooooow. It took me more than 4 minutes just to recuperate from this. I was sweating so hard that it hurt just laying on the floor with my eyes shut as hard as I could, the sweat was everywhere. One guy even came off his bike and asked if I was ok. I have to note, Björn and Martin have 844/845m. My goal was to beat them and I knew that I would if I kept an avg of 106 or more. I'm pretty proud over that, actually. heh. I wouldn't have been able to do that 2 months ago, I'm not ever sure I would have been able to keep an avg over 100.

Anyways,
Cooldown:
Spartan push-ups, 3x 10 (one hand on the "correct position", the other one at your belly button but further out to the side... if that makes sense).
Normal push-ups, 20.

No time or anything, I just felt like I needed to get better in push-ups, so I did push-ups with a little bit of variation.

Besides the rowing today felt like meh. It was unstructed and I probably should have planned the METCOM part a little better than just the tabata-rowing. Atleast I got out there, I failed waking up this morning so this was the replacement.

/Simon

My Neck, my back, my uhhhhh, just like that...

Oh Simon how you work this spry 100 kg body of mine. Today I worked out with Blake and Dan. I was quite impressed by both guys. Blake is Steph's brother. He's really cool and a lot of fun to work out with. This guy is intense, funny, charming, shit, he has it all :) Anyway, enough about that.

Warmup: Jarovek complex

First:
Dumbell press, push press, push jerk.

Dumbell Press
Blake: 65x3 (29.5kg) 70x3 (31.8kg) 75x3 (34.0kg)
Aaron: 50x3 (22.7kg) 50x3 50x3

Dumbell Push Press
Blake: 80x3 (36kg) 80x3 80x3
Aaron: 65x3 (29.5kg) 65x3 65x3

Dumbell Push Jerk
Blake: 80x5 (36kg) 80x5 70x5 (31.8kg)
Aaron: 70x5 (31.8kg) 60x5 (27.3kg) 45x5 (20.5kg)

**my left shoulder started giving out and had to drop weight, I think both days of hard shoulder work in a row got a bit rough**

then:
Virtual Rope Climb, 3 sets of 6 rep pulls

Then, metcon:
3 rounds of
10xpushup+kickup (one pushup, one kickup, repeat 10 times)
10xOH 1h weight, lunge. (5 with left hand / right leg, 5 with right hand / left leg).
20xPull-up.


Blake Result: 6:37 - Total animal, 50 lb (22.7kg) on the lunges

Aaron Result: 9:03 40lb (18.2kg) on lunges **I skipped the last set of lunges because my hip popped pretty hard. Also my last 20 pullups were shit, mainly jump up and slow let downs. From yesterday and today, just so many pullups and was not able to do them well**

How you get eaten up, chewed to pieces and pooped out in 1 hour.

I think Björn hates me, or whomever of him or Martin that wrote the last 2 days of workouts. Today was a new experience, for sure.

First:
Kettlebell (or dumbbell) press, push press, push jerk.

Do 3x3 press, 3x5 push press and 5x5 push jerk. (on each arm)

then:
Rope climb 4.2 meters (use your feet). 3 times.

Then, metcon:

3 rounds of
10xpushup+kickup (one pushup, one kickup, repeat 10 times)
10xOH 1h weight, lunge. (5 with left hand / right leg, 5 with right hand / left leg).
20xPull-up.

Results:
Started the press with 24 kg's. Then did the push-press with 24 kg's. Raised Push-jerks to 32 kg's. Felt like I could do the push-presses with 32 kg, so I did a 5 with each arm, 32 kg's push-press. My shoulders were burning at this point. All the presses were done with a few starters to warm up technique. I don't think I've ever push-pressed 32 kg kettlebells before. I feel like being close on doing presses with them.

The metcon: 9:26 or 9:36 or something. The oh-lunges was done with 24 kg kettlebells and it put strains on my shoulders that were quite the new experience. In the second round I couldn't press and barely push-press the 24 kg to position. I even failed the first attempt on my lunge just because my shoulder couldn't keep up with it. The pullups went a lot better than expected. Now I've done 130 pullups the last 2 days. I would be pretty furious if they didn't improve.

Maybe I should take a rest day tomorrow, or maybe I should just go on like I should. Like the machine I want to be.

/Simon out

Oh what a feelin' - when you're dancin' on the ceilin'

Did Simon's last workout. Shout out - I <3 ya babe (Simon). Simon says workout. Popedog works out. Sheesh, still on the workout high from the metcon!

3RM Press / Push-press / Push-jerk

Press:
95x3 (44kg)
115x3 (52kg)
135x3 (61.4kg)
135x3 (61.4kg)
135x.5 (61.4kg)
135x3 (61.4kg)

Push-Press:
135x3 (61.4kg)
155x3 (70.5kg)
155x3 (70.5kg)
155x3 (70.5kg)

Push-Jerk (hey stop pushing me):
155x3 (70.5kg)
175x3 (PR!!!!! exceeds my 1 RM) (79.5kg)
175x1 (79.5kg)
175x1 :( (79.5kg)

***At this point my forearms are killing me, yikes.

Metcon:
3x room length (15M) walking lunge
30 pullups
2x room length walking lunge 2x50 lb (22.7kg)
20 pullups
room length walking lunge 35 lbs (16kg) overhead
10 pullups

Result: 8:32

** my last 7 pullups or so were jumping pullups trying to let the bodyweight down slow with deconcentric contractions, as I was no longer able to pull up....

**very happy with should press results, but I really need to get better at pull ups....


-------------------------------------------------
BONUS CONTENT!!!!
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Halloween Protein Shake!!!

1.5 scoops of your favorite whey protein
1/2 can (8 oz / .227KG) pumpkin filling (non sweetened, etc)
4 oz (120 ml) milk (mjolk)
13 almonds
dash of nutmeg
5 dashes cinnamon
4 ice cubes
and add splenda brown sugar (this is uber low cal) to taste

BLEND!
Eat!
YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Back to reality

So after a weekend of chips, beer, whiskey and other horrible things... I only have one evening left of that kind of behavior.

Anyways, training is back into its regular schedule.

We started out today with:

3RM press / push-press / push-jerk.

I went directly for the push-press and skipped the ordinary press. Unfortunately, because of time, I didn't really have the time to maximize all of them. Results were 70 kg on the push-press and 90 kg on the push-jerk. I think I can probably go up 5-10 kg's on the push-jerk, and more on the push-press. Oh well, it felt good anyway - haven't done any heavy push-press / jerk recently.

The metcon part:
I'm not sure how long our room is, but my guess is roughly 10-15 meters.

3 x room length walking lunge.
30 pullups
2 x room length walking lunge holding 2x24 kg kettlebell's
20 pullups
room length walking lunge holding 15 kg overhead weight
10 pullups

Time: 6:38 (I think, somewhere around that anyway).

This workout was awesome. I really needed some pullup-training and I even did 10 before starting. I feel the pull-ups getting better and better, and I'm hoping that I can do 21 in a row soon to be able to improve the time on fran. Speaking of that, I'm hoping to do fran this week (maybe wednesday) as an extra-training. I feel like I can get a lot better than my previous time.

Oh well, back to work / life etc. Tonight I'm going to watch "Every second counts" with Martin. I'm really looking forward to that!

/S

HSPU PU SU SQUAT - Wheee

Good workout today by our athletes!


AARON:

Workout:

maxrep HSPU (modified)
50 pushups for time. 1 minute rest.
75 situps for time. 1 minute rest.
100 squats for time. 1 minute rest.
maxrep HSPU


Results:
HSPU: 26 modified
Pushups: 2:07
Situps: 2:37
Squats: 2:27
HSPU: 25 modified

25 Strict form pullups 5x5x5x3x2x3x2
3x1 weighted pullups 50 lbs (22.7kg)

STEPH:

Workout:

maxrep HSPU (modified)

50 pushups for time. 1 minute rest.
75 situps for time. 1 minute rest.
100 squats for time. 1 minute rest.

maxrep HSPU (modified)

Results:
HSPU: 4 modified
Pushups: 4:53
Situps: 5:16
Squats: 4:16
HSPU: 2 modified

KRISTEN:

Workout:

maxrep HSPU (modified)

50 pushups for time. 1 minute rest.
75 situps for time. 1 minute rest.
100 squats for time. 1 minute rest.

maxrep HSPU (modified)


Results:
HSPU: 29 (modified)
Pushups: 2:01
Situps: 2:24
Squats: 2:27
HSPU: 26 (modified)

25 Strict form pullups 5x5x5x5x5

Training @ home!

Hey!

So I weren't going to the gym today. I promised a couple of people that, so I just trained at home instead. I felt much better today than earlier, so I thought it'd be ok!

Warmup: burpee's, some tumbling around generally. Bit of handstanding.

Workout:

maxrep HSPU

50 pushups for time. 1 minute rest.
75 situps for time. 1 minute rest.
100 squats for time. 1 minute rest.

maxrep HSPU

Dead-hang pull-ups (sorta).

Results:
HSPU: 4 (PR)
Pushups: 2:21
Situps: 4:03
Squats: 2:28
HSPU: 1 :(

Dead-hang-pull-ups-ish: 25 (didn't measure time). They were done in my closet, area/room was restricted heh :P

I became sweaty, for sure!

It felt good just simply working out to keep form etc.

Tabata and New Deadlift PR

Yo time to get down to business:

Warmup: Jarovek Complex

Workout:

Tabata Something else: 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest, full 8 rd work-through on each exercise:

Aaron:
Pullups: 7/6/5/5/4/4/3/3
Pushups: 25/15/8/5/4/4/5/5
Situps: 9/9/11/11/10/11/10/12
Squats: 17/16/13/13/15/13/13/14

Total Reps: 302

Kristen:
Pullups: 11/8/6/4/5/4/4/4
Pushups: 17/15/12/10/12/10/8/10
Situps: 10/13/14/13/13/13/12/12
Squats: 16/15/14/13/12/13/13/14

Total Reps: 350 (Just wow)



Deadlift work:

Aaron:
135x6 61.3kg
225x5 102.3kg
315x2 143.2kg
345x4 157kg
385x1 (PR) 175kg
400x1 (PR) 181.2kg

Kristen:
135x3 61.3kg
135x4 61.3kg
135x4 61.3kg
165x4 75kg
185x3 84kg
200x1 (PR) 91kg


I would like some feedback on these deadlifts if possible. Want to make sure the form is ok...





And here's Kristen's..

Sorry that I couldn't get the video to rotate :(

Tabata yeah!

So I had to get some encouragement to take on Simon's workout today. I wore the shirt, and I only break this one out for 110% efforts and balls to the wall type stuff. So far it has worked! So here's looking at you kids!

Warmup: Jarovek Barbell

Workout: Tabata Something Else

Each round 20 seconds max work, 10 seconds res, no extra rest anywhere:
8 rds pullups
8 rds pushups
8 rds situps
8 rds squats

****caveat, I assumed that these were to be cycled through, and not 8 rds in a row of each exercise****

Pullups: 10/7/6/6/5/6/7/7 *not sure how I got back up to seven
Pushups: 24/17/15/14/12/12/11/13
Situps: 16/13/15/14/14/14/12/13
Squats: 18/18/19/18/17/19/19/19

Result: 430 reps

I was sucking air hard pretty much the whole time, but for some reason my energy sustained even on the last round . My chest was starting to burn pretty bad, and my sustained heartrate over the 16 min was avg 187

Post Workout: Did some work for form on power cleans:

Frankenstein 45 lb 6 reps
Scarecrow 45 lb 6 reps
Whip Unders 45 lb 6 reps
Tall Muscle Cleans (no dipping) 45 lb 6 reps
Scarecrow Dive Under 45 lb 6 reps
Violent Shrug Dive Under 45 lb 6 reps
Full power Clean 45 lb 6 reps

I just kept it light, I'm a bit wore out.

"Tabata Something Else"

This workout was quite something else. We started out with some ring-dip training. After we got what was comming for us.

Workout:
Each round is 20 seconds of maximum work, then 10 seconds resting. No extra rest anywhere.
8 rounds pullups.
8 rounds pushups.
8 rounds situps.
8 rounds squats.

Total all reps for all rounds to a number. That's your result.

Result: 51 + 59 + 69 + 111 = 290 reps.

Wow. Just wow. That workout was really fun / really rough. Hopefully I'll get good enough in my hands to increase the pullups to maybe avg 8-9 / round. My last few rounds were at 4-5 there which was quite heavy. The pushups were that bad as well, 6-4-5 on the last 3 rounds.

/Simon

Rest day + burger.

Last night featured a Burger King Angus meal. It was foul and totally unsatisfying.

Today was rest day. It felt good actually, my right shoulder hurts slightly while fully extended. I ate thai food for lunch and now I'm chewing down tuc-crackers. Mmm, crap food.

I was going to write a long rant about how everything sucks but I don't have the time to do so. Instead I'll just put a list of what I was going to say. Probably easier for everyone involved.

People really are like the saying goes "ignorance is bliss".
Our school system sucks for not teaching us how to live a healthy and good life. This obviously connects with the above. "I don't need to train because I'm not dangerously overweight. I also eat good food from felix". Sigh.

You're never good enough until you're better than yesterday. Accelerated improvement is better than linear improvement.

Ignorance is not an excuse. It's up to you to know what's good for you and what isn't. You don't know well enough what's good for you.

Am I exaggerating? I am, but not enough.

/Simon

/S

Yo where the white women at!? AND Ladder of hell....

Hey all of you people who read this (like 5-6 now, not bad! maybe more!). As you know, my name is Aaron, and I've come to steal all your white women (I hear you have lots of fine blondes in Sverige!).

No really, down to business now. I have the pleasure, and misfortune, of reporting the results today (and every day) of myself, and any cohorts who manage to join me. It looks like it's going to be Kristen jumping on the bandwagon for a while (what a nice Scandinavian name!).

Kristin's results today:

Workout 1: She did a bunch of stuff for biceps and shoulders in the morning. I don't have those details.

Workout 2: (Brace yourself, this is one high performing woman)

Jarovek Complex warmup 45 lb (20.5kg) barbell

Powerclean work:
4x 45 lb (20.5kg)
4x 65 lb (29.5kg)
4x 75 lb (34.1kg)
4x 75 lb (34.1kg)
4x 80 lb (36.36kg)

Ladder from Hell:
25 pullup (yes, real ones)
50 pushups
75 x 35 lb (16kg) kettlebell swings
100 squats
125 situps

TIME: 15:50 - Yeah, sick! Good job!



Aaron's results:

Jarovek Complex

Powerclean work:
3x 95 lb (43kg)
3x 135 (61kg)
3x 155 (70.5kg)
3x 155 (70.5kg)

**my shoulders started to get a bit sore, and my elbow is too, not sure why. shoulders from yesterday and today probably.

Ladder from hell (different order, because we only have 1 pullup bar):
75 x 50 lb (22.7kg) kettlebell swing
100 squat
125 situp
25 pullup (these really sucked today :( )
50 pushup

TIME: 16:08

Overall pretty happy with the effort and work today for myself. It helps to have someone hardcore in the gym doing the same workout. Mad props to Kristen for being hardcore :)


PS: Hey Simon, can you update my widget with the PRs from powercleans yesterday and bodyweight fran and ladder of hell? Thanks!!

Powercleans and the ladder of hell.

Today we started with the powerclean. A move I've done a lot before and still I learned new things! Martin discussed the 2-pull or 2-stage powerclean and I can honestly say that I've been missing that part out a lot. I've been doing the accelerated pull from the bottom, which is wrong. I'm going to practice this a lot this weekend. I'll even try to throw it in before training on thursday if I can get there early (and if the gym is open). Since I also recorded myself powercleaning this sunday, I have a lot of things to go through and a lot of things to think about regarding my powerclean. I feel like I have a long way to go there and I feel like 100 kg's powerclean is an easy obstacle to pass at my next 1RM attempt.

Today's workout was something I named "Ladder of hell" after my breakfast.

Workout:
25x Pull-up
50x Push-up
75x 24 kg swings
100x squat
125x sit-ups.

Wow. Just WOW. I had my stomache cramping so many times at the sit-ups. The swings were brutal, my back and my shoulders were screaming so hard from yesterday's painful experience of 3x maxrep high-pulls on the 24 kg kb. The squats were a lot harder than normal - probably because of some soreness from yesterday 3RM squats.

My time? 18:09 or something, which isn't terrible. I can do a lot better. I could probably cut it down by 3+ minutes in the swings and the squats. Hopefully I'll get stronger in my stomache so I can muster the 125 situps in a better pace.

Tomorrow is rest-day, which I don't want to do. Oh well, you've got to rest! So I'll rest!

Bodyweight Fran deeds, done dirt cheap

Sorry for the short post, my bosses boss is in town and gotta hit the hay.

Jarovek Complex Warmup

Workout:

OHS
5x 95 lb (43.18kg)
4x 105 lb (47.7kg)

*had to stop because my shoulders aren't flexible enough yet I think.

Then:
3-3-3-1-1-1 Powerclean:
3x135 (61.4kg)
3x155 (70.45kg)
2x165 fail (75kg)
1x165 (75kg)
1x185 (84kg)
1x205 fail (93.1kg)
1x195 (PR) (88.6kg)
1x200 fail (90.9kg)

LOOOL :)

Then Burpee Helene:

21+15+9 reps of pullups+burpees

Time: 10:20 (PR)

This time really sucked. But my heart was racing the whole time and effort was very very high. So I can't say I am disappointed...


I am sure I will do great in the future. Not sure why it's so hard on these high intensity timed workouts :(

Bodyweight: 100KG

Swing and squat!

Hola!

Many new people at the gym today, which is excellent! Some new faces with previous experience of crossfit and some other interesting talents.

So first out today was 3RM squats. Unfortunately I only had one attempt at 100+ and that was 120 kg, it felt like a breeze. I think that I can probably squat 125 or so 5 sets 5 reps still, which means that I haven't lost anything in my squatting from the last couple of months of training (even though I haven't done any heavy squats other than frontsquats/OHS). It felt great! I'm going to try to do heavy squats on saturday or sunday.

Workout:
30 seconds of squats, 30 seconds rest.
Max-rep swings (24 kg high-swings).

Results:
Squats: 34 / 32 / 35
Swings: 50 / 15 / 25

The second round for swings really sucked. My back died really fast and I just had to let go. If I would have thought of putting more snatch into my hips during the second round I probably would have been able to do 25/25 for the last two. I'm not at all disappointed though. 35 squats in 30 seconds must be a new record for me.

/S

It's hard to think...

Hey!

Martin (one of my trainers at xfit uppsala) told me to do this workout:

First
21+15+9 reps of pullups+burpee's

Then:
3-3-3-1-1-1 powerclean

Then:
Start at 40% OHS 1 RM, increase 5 kg / minute. 5 reps / minute.

I also added:
3-3-3-1-1-1 of standing rows (instead of "death by pull-up").

Results:
Well, I wrote it all down on a paper... that I thought I left at home, but I left it in my jacket and I accidentially picked up a shopping-list for yesterday that I thought I had forgot at home. What a mess.

Anyways, I did
21 - 15 - 11 of Pullup+burpee. Uhm yeah, that's right. Time? Lousy 7 min 4 seconds. I recorded a vid and noticed that I rested WAY too long. I probably could have done it in 6 - 6:30 if I just would have cut down on the resting. I'm not sure why I did it. I wasn't fully warmed up when I began, maybe that explains it.

Powercleans:
x3 - 60
x3 - 70
x3 - 80
x1 - 90
x1 - 95 (PR)
x1 - 97.5 (PR)

I probably should have tried for 100. I didn't. I'm stupid.

OHS:
35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70 (fail after 3).
That was rough. The 70's were heavy as hell and I couldn't get up on the fourth.

Standing row:
60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110 kg. PR? I think so :P It's the highest recorded one I know of anyway. It felt like I could do more, though.

A nice workout all-in-all. I could have performed better, which is sad.

Oh btw, recording your workout is awesome. I'll post the vid for the burpee-pullup later. (I have to shrink it from 1.3gb). But on the powercleans I noticed a few things about my technique that definetly could be worth improving and probably will extend to my deadlift as well! Awesome.

/S

Burpee Helene - Aaron

I lay useless, like Austin Power's flaccid unit after his mojo being stolen - unable to do anything, as he was unable to perform with Heather Graham (man that would suck). I truly am wiped out and smoked like no other. Going into the workout today, I was already sore, not full of energy, and just plain wiped out. I considered taking a rest day, but then realized that hey, I have to do it, I just have to.

Warmup Jarovek Barbell Complex

Workout:

Burpee Helene:

3 rounds for time:

20 Burpees
21 Swings (50 lb kettlebell (22.72 KG)
12 pullups

Time: 14:48
Avg Heart Rate: 191


** This really hurt. I kept pressing myself any time I felt I could do a few reps. My heart rate was constantly 188-193 and it was so hard to keep pushing.


Deadlift Workout:

135 lb x 8 (61.36KG)
225 lb x 6 (102.27KG)
315 lb x 2 (143.18KG)
335 lb x 2 (152.27KG)

at this point my back was hurting and it felt like a good point to quit.


I can honestly say today I have 100% effort and I am pleased with how hard i tried. :)

Big five-55

Today's workout is inspired from gym jones.

Piston press on 24 inch ball @ 25 kg each dumbbell (one rep is one with each arm)
Pull-up
Deadlift @ 80 kg.
Burpee
Goblet squat @ 35 kg.

10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 reps.

Time:
31 minutes 43 seconds.

I'm not entirely satisfied with my time. Too much people at the gym, had to run around to find spots to pull-up at. I did my pull-ups with the grip that Björn and Martin taught me to use. I'm finding it easier and easier to do, although still not easy enough. I had to split some of the pull-ups. I think I probably rested too much between the sets, but the burpee's went really good. I'm going to be so fucking sore tomorrow.

That's my friday!

/Simon.

KettleBell, Push, Pull, Squat - and recruit people to workout with you!

Steph and I hit the gym eager for tonight's workout. Kristin was there as well and just getting started in her workout. Always up for a challenge, she agreed to do this workout with us. She's a bit of a freak, but in a good way, and performed quite well:

2 Rounds:
60 sec KB swing
90 sec rest
60 sec Pushup
90 sec rest
60 sec Pullups
90 sec rest
60 sec Air Squats
90 sec rest

(perform until failure, then perform at start of rest until failure)

Popedog:
50 lb (22.72KG) kettlebell swings

Round 1: (round 2)
KB: 37/11 (25/8), Pushups: 40/9 (27/11), Pullups: 11/7 (7/5), Squats: 30/20(28/13)

Steph:
12 lb (5.45 KG) kettlebell swings (she went uber light weight to get better at form etc.)

Round 1: (round 2)
KB: 29/20 (26/21), Pushups: 8/5 (9/7), Pullups (120 lb assist): 10/5 (9/5), Squats: 38/25 (34/17)


Kristin:
I think it was 35 lb kettlebell (16 KG) but might have been more?

Round 1: (round 2)
KB: 25/12 (20/12), Pushups: 25/13 (23/12), Pullups: 11/7 (12/5), Squats: 30/12 (34/17)

***I was impressed with the athletes today, very hard work throughout!


Then: 3 Sets of 3 press, 3 pushpress 3 jerks

Aaron:
125 lb: 2/2/1 (56.8KG)
105 lb: 3/3/2 (47.7KG)
105 lb: 3/2/2 (47.7KG)

Steph:
25 lb: 3/3/3
30lb: 3/3/3
30lb: 3/3/3

Kristin:
75 lb: 3/3/3 (34.09KG)
75 lb: 3/3/3 (34.09KG)
75 lb: 3/3/3 (34.09KG)

Swing, push, pull, squat!

So today it was Martin's turn to put us through some rough pain. First we warmed up by doing some ring-workout. Worked on progress on stable position and L-position. It's a lot rougher than you first would think.

Workout:
1 minute max reps of KB swing (24 kg, high-swings)
90 seconds rest
1 minute max reps of pushups
90 seconds rest
1 minute max reps of pull-ups
90 seconds rest
1 minute max reps of squats
90 seconds rest
2 rounds.
The idea was to do as many as possible without stopping to rest. Remember that number and then try to do as many more as you could during the rest.

Results (I'm not 100% sure on all of these).
29 swings, 40 pushups (PR!) +1, 12 pull-ups +7, 45 squats - not sure how many extra.
Round 2: 30 swings, 20 pushups + 5, 7 pullups +5, 55 squats!

Rough painful experience. I really like to note how much I dislike their pull-up bar. I'm getting better at using it though, 12 in a row is the best I've done at their place. Hopefully I'll be able to do up towards 30 there soon!

Simon out!

Mr. Tabata kicks Popedog in the teeth!

Good thing this isn't a podcast, cause who can talk with no teeth. I met Mr. Tabata today, and before he took me into the bathroom to rape me, he kicked me in the teeth. Not a nice guy.


Workout: 10 tabata-interval rounds: AMRAP 100%

20 seconds 55 lb Kettlebell Swings (25 KG)
10 seconds rest
20 seconds Burpee's
10 seconds rest

Results:
Top/Low swings: 12/11
Top/Low burpees: 7/4 (most rounds 5-6)


The burpees were worse than I thought, felt a bit brutal. Throughout the exercise my chest was burning and my lungs screaming for air, I about puked on round 9. I think I will do better next time, the kettlebell swings were pretty brutal but I managed to keep a high tempo it felt.


3 rounds x 6 reps: horizontal pullups with straight body to bar

Front Squats:

135lb x 5
155 lb x 5
155 lb x 2 (fail)
135 x 1 (sort of fail)

*My shoulders hurt pretty bad at the front today. My front squat form sucks a bit, but it will get better with practice.

Mr Tabata tells me to do burpee's and swings.

Yo!

This time:

Front squats. Go to 5x5.
I only had the time to do 3x5 @ 80 kg because my trainer had to leave early today. 80 kg felt pretty good for front-squatting 5 times. I could probably go heavier to 90-100 kg and still be able to do 5x5, although I'm not sure that I would be able to keep my form as good as this workout allowed.

Workout:
10 tabata-interval rounds (AMRAP during the work part, 100% intensity):
20 seconds 24 kg kettlebell swings.
10 seconds rest.
20 seconds burpee's.
10 seconds rest.

Result:
Top / low swings: 15 / 10. Top / low burpee's: 8/5. I actually kept the swings at 11 for 5 rounds before I had to step down to 10. 24 kg was a painful experience to do so many of. The burpee's went better than I thought. I finished the last round with 7 of them. I could probably step up to 6 / 20 seconds on avg next time.


/Simpster

Clean and Jerks, etc

Sup. So here we go:

25 clean and jerks at 150 lbs (68.18 KG)

*I was having problems front squatting with this as a part of the clean and jerk, so it was a strict clean and jerk without a deep squat, but just a small catch squat*

Time: 17:01
183 BPM heart rate avg

Cool down:

3 Rounds:
10 pullups
5 knee to elbows
10 dips
10 OHS @ 45 lbs (22 kg), I couldnt do behind the back pullups, need more shoulder flexibility I think

Time: 11:09
181 BPM heart rate average

Burpee Helene

So my trainer Björn pulled me through these things today:

Training on progress -> muscle ups. I ripped my skin on my wrists during that.
Training on hand strength, both from hanging on the bar (pullups) and by climbing ropes. The latter hurt like hell. Today, I noticed that their bar is much thicker than the ones I'm used to - which causes me to do a lot worse on pullups than I should be.

Workout: "Burpee Helene"
20 burpee's
21 swings (24 kg kettlebell)
12 pull-ups.
3 rounds.
Time: 12:30.

I'm not at all satisfied with my time. My pull-ups were really bad today partly because I had been working out the hands so my grip was already crap from the beginning, and partly I blame it on the thick bar. I had to split them as 6/6, 4/4/4, 3/2/1/1/1/1/1/1/1. This dragged out the time like hell. Oh well, it was a fun training anyway. Hopefully my pullups will be a lot better at the xfit gym after this attempt to murder my hands.

Naughty Food/Drink of the day

So I couldn't help myself. When my friend Paul told me about this recipe, I had to do it. Luckily, today is the day:

Jamacain Breakfast:

1 bottle Guinness Stout
2 raw eggs
1/2 can condensed milk

Blend


I have to say it's MMM mmmmm Good :). Although I think it makes more than what I want to drink, I'd say drink it with a friend for breakfast and split it and have something of substance with it too. It's just a bunch of calories lol. But quite tasty.

Alright, sorry to poison the blog with something bad :)

<3 Popedog

Clean and Jerk!

So today I was inspired by the workout that one of my trainers did. He got it from OPT, although it's only one of the two they were supposed to do that day - I felt it to be a good challenge.

Workout:
25 x Clean (real clean, with squat) + Jerk @ 80 kg.

Since my old powerclean record is 92.5, I knew this was going to be hard.

Times (deltas) (5 x 5)
02:27 - 2:27
05:46 - 3:19
09:02 - 3:26
12:14 - 3:12
15:14 - 3:00

I think I had a pretty good tempo once I got through the first 5 ones. I could probably have held a tempo of avg 2:40 instead of avg 3:15. My goal was simply to live through the workout so I ran a pretty low tempo and tried to rest a little between each rep. It worked out fine, though I can probably push myself down towards 13 minutes or maybe even better.

I fel like that wasn't really enough, so I did:
10x pullup,
5x knees-to-elbows
10x dip
3x behind-head pullup

and 2 rounds of that (no time).

And had some extra time, so I did 1km row at 3:29. I was pretty worn out though so I couldn't keep a higher tempo.

Make me a Man, Man Maker

So I totally got raped on this :(. I did the full weight, knowing that I'd probably end up slow as crap. As fun as it is to try and keep up with Simon, I'm just not there yet. I'll give results first, then analysis, etc:

45 LB (20.45KG) Manmakers x 30 reps

18:50
Avg Heart Rate: 188 BPM

**I am not happy with this time. I am not impressed with it. A few times during the exercise, I felt I could push harder, but I'm not sure how 195 sustained heart rate would work...

I tried very hard during the exercise to have controlled 1 arm rows without rotating my body too much. It was a bit hard, but not too bad to get the hang of.


Floor Wipers / Pullups
9/5
5/5
5/5


On the floor wipers, I notice that going to the right side, I am not as flexible or something in the lower back/hips. I'll have to figure out what that is and correct it...


Pretty tough workout. My energy level was there to do the work, but it seemed the hardcore blood/oxygen need is what slowed me down (cardio). Looks like that's the chink in my armor at this point.

The nice thing is, i can feel every day that I am getting stronger, and am convinced that these are some of the best workouts I've ever done :)

Man makers gave me the looks.

So,

Today I started out with OHS. First time I've ever really done heavy OHS. The technique was failing quite hard. After 75 kg I had to drop the weight, and it felt like more technique training was what would get me to use heavier weights, not another try.

I had been planning on doing 30xman makers for time, so I attacked it with all that I could muster. After 12 minutes and 27 seconds on the 20 kg dumbbells I lay sweaty on the floor, chipping for air.

As if that wasn't enough, I continued with:
10x floorwipers (@50kg)
5x pull-ups.

5 rounds. No time-taking, I just wanted to get better on floor wipers and make sure my kipping technique holds out. It went fairly well I think.

That's it for today!
/S

Pushup Situp and Swing (AP style)

Walked 5-6 KM at lunch today, nice fast pace about 4 MPH (6.45 kmph)

--------------------------------------

Today:

Jarovek Complex Barbell Warmup

AMRAP
5x Pushup + kickup per rep
10 x sit-ups
15x Swings, 55 lb Kettlebell (25 KG)

10 minutes

Result: 6 rounds in 9 minutes

I know I know, I stopped at 9 minutes. Why? I started seeing spots and couldn't breathe. I decided that it was a good point to stop and then continue to the next step of my workout. Next time I will improve.

--------------------------------------

75% Max Deadlift (275 LB (125 KG))
4 x 275
4 x 275
4 x 275
4 x 275

--------------------------------------

after the deadlifts I was pretty wore out. my lower back started to hurt a bit, but nothing serious, just good old working out. i did some hip stretches on the ground at home and then bellied up to a nice protein shake...

Pushup, situp and swing!

Back to training today.

Technique-trained clean/snatch (not powerclean/powersnatch). It felt good, technique training is always good.

Today's workout:
AMRAP
5x Pushup + kickup (jump with your feet up to your hands and back to pushup position)
10x Sit-ups.
15x Swings, 24 kg Kettlebell.

10 minutes.
Result: 7 rounds.

I didn't actually do many breaks so it felt as if I had a pretty good layup of intensity. I'm not entirely satisfied with the results, a little bit of nausia pulled me back while the muscle-work was pretty exactly what I could muster.

I also did a little bit of "false-grip" training in the rings, I want to be able to do muscle-ups within a month.

It felt good to be back to training after yesterday's dirty rest-day. I even ate a bag of chips yesterday, which wasn't worth it at all.

I'm anxious to get to tomorrow so I can work-out then, too.

/Simon

Rest day

I had planned to work out but I did not.

I had a feeling yesterday that I should chill out for a day. I haven't worked out much more than normally the last few days but it has been cake on cake as the swedish expression goes. Saturday I did a total of 240 squats, plus 160 push-ups and 80 pull-ups. On top of that I did heavy deadlifts which was rough the following days. Monday started out with pressing out almost 160 squats in 4 minutes. Add to this the 49 pull-ups and 49 burpee's, they pressed the parts of my body that was already under stress from saturday.

Yesterday was a harsh rowing-experience and late yesterday I felt that my muscles were pointing towards over-training. Instead of going up and doing another days workout, I simply took a pause. I've been eating great both yesterday and today (so far), so I feel that tomorrow I'll be back to working out with a better mood than ever. The sad part is that I really really felt like training today. I guess it's hard to do the right thing, and even harder when doing the wrong thing is doing the things you really love.

Enough of the emo-violin whining. I'm posting an article that I once wrote on facebook:

I came to a realization a while ago. This is hard for me to explain, but I would like to try and share it with everyone I know.

The key to my self-realization and self-knowledge is by overcoming my fears. I am not talking about fear of spiders or a certain type of animal. I am talking about facing the unknown, facing your fears. I do not want to continue giving the same answer and getting the same result. The only result from that is succeeding in avoiding my fears instead of addressing them.

Society today encourages avoiding fears instead of addressing them. We live our lives by a series of daily routines. Our lives are set into frameworks that are not meant to be changed. You live within the boundaries society encourages and, as a result, avoid your fears. In my view, society’s motto can be summed up as "The simplest way possible". If you see a person at the subway that is obviously feeling mentally ill, do you help them? Do you stand up and offer your assistance?

Facing your fears does not necessarily mean that you must break up your daily life and move to another side of the planet where you can find Nirvana. Facing your fears is an internal conflict. External factors such as where you live are simply not relevant to this discussion.

Everyone addresses their situation differently. For me, I am training, exercising, and eating in a way that I feel makes a difference. I try to defeat myself every time I go to the gym, every time I eat, and every time I go to a new place. Something as simple as learning how to dance makes all the difference. I might not win every fight with myself, but at least I try! But then, what can I lose when I challenge myself?

Everyone has their own unique way to face their own fears. Whether or not we realize it, facing your fears and addressing them will make us better in ways that we cannot understand until we have actually addressed our issues. Self-discovery, the inner conflict.

Alternate workout today (sorry :) )

Warmup - Jarovek complex with barbell

Workout:

Deadlift:

8 x 135 (61.4kg)
3 x 225 (102.3kg)
1 x 315 (143.18kg)
1 x 345 (156.8kg)
1 x 355 (161.36kg)
1 x 365 (ROUGH) (165.9kg)
1 x 355
1 x 355 (fail)
1 x 355 (partial)

Weighted pullups:
55 lb (25kg) x 1 x 3 (pullup followed by pullup, etc but not concurrently)
55 lb x 1 x 3
55 lb x 1 x 3


Virtual Shoveling:
right side 20.45 kg (45 lb) on the end of 20.45 kg (45 lb) bar
Right side 6 on right 6 on left
left side 6 on right 6 on left

Simon vs the machine

Morning training today!

Little did I know how much I hate to row in a rowing machine, until today.

Workout:
4 x 400m row for time.

HSPU-training between rowing.

Results:
1:07
1:10
1:12
1:10

Wow. That hurt. That hurt a lot. In the last round, my body was on fire. My legs, my feet, my hands, my arms, my shoulders, my back, my rear, my lungs, everything was hurting. It felt good afterwards. Mr Bear also talked a little bit to me about my technique for rowing and it seems like I'm actually pushing my hips forward too much. I think I can cut some more seconds if I do it more correctly. Thanks Bear!

Now I'm going to play the emo-violin the rest of the day.
/Simon

Intervals and Metcon

Hey ho, I was planning on doing a workout yesterday. That is, until I woke up yesterday morning. My body was hurting so bad from saturday's workout that I could barely walk. My shoulders, my legs, my back, everything was aching.

After one day's rest there was time for another hour at Crossfit Uppsala.

Martin started the day with forcing us to:

Maxrep squats
20 seconds work (100%), 10 seconds rest.
8 rounds. Lowest round counts.

I hit 18 as my lowest round. I felt quite good thinking of that I still had some aching in my legs from the total of 240 squats I did saturday. I started out at 20 squats first round, went up to 21 second round, held out at 20 a few and then dropped to 19-19-18 the last 3 rounds.

As if that wasn't enough, he put us through a metcon as well:

7 rounds of
7 jumping pull-ups
7 burpee's.

I hate burpee's. They own me, hard. Even though they do, it went a lot better than I thought it would. I finished the metcon on 6 minutes 7 seconds. Not too bad, an average of 3.75 seconds / repetition. Pushing below 6 minutes will probably be possible next time I do something similar.

/Simon

Cindy baby, it's rough!

So Cindy and I got together today:
AMRAP, 20 minutes:
5 pull-ups, 10 pushups, 15 squats.

Result:
15 rounds (I was in on the pushups when the bell rang).
I had some issues today with my breath, I'm not sure why. I felt ill
from roughly round 5 and forward. I think it might be because it felt as if
my belly was full of water (even though I hadn't eaten for over 3 hours) and
somehow I couldn't press myself as hard as I do sometimes / as hard as I want to.
Anyways, 15 rounds isn't too bad.

The better news:
My deadlift is back! I did 4x 2RM today, and although I didn't perform as
high as my expectations (do I ever, really?), I didn't feel any backpains
at all!

Results:
(warmup)
20 kg
70 kg
110 kg
140 kg
work:
160 kg (felt like my form broke on the second rep here, so I lowered)
150 kg
150 kg
150 kg.
So I'm all happy now!
Simon

Cindy - Let's try harder next time

Cindy and I broke up today. I just felt that she, or I wasn't trying hard enough, and that maybe we'd be better off going our separate ways. Or maybe we should go on another date and try harder.

20 minutes AMRAP (as many reps as possible)
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 deep air squats

The Bad news: 12 rounds


I'm not too happy with my number of rounds here. Maybe it was just one of those days, like, what I ate last night, or just general feeling, I'm not really sure. I feel like I should be able to do 14-15 rounds on this, but thinking about that now, it sounds rough.

The Good News: Max Power Clean @ 75 KG (165 lbs)

This went up 20 lbs, and after watching Mr. Ripptoes vid again, I see where I can improve a bit more on form and probably gain another 10-15 on the next try from form alone.

Alright, peace out!

Check out my Turkish Bazaar

Short and sweet, bed time.

15:00 minutes 35 lb turkish getups (19KG)
32 reps

my form started to break some on the last ones and i went slower to make sure i had very good form. for some reason the left getups are easier for me. i noticed that i need more hip and shoulder flexibility overall, just something I am noticing.

also did 10 wipers, but didn't have the right bar available, so stopped at 10

then did max bent over row. only 235 lbs :(


Night! <3