Wednesday, December 30

Strength

Overhead Sqaut 5-5-5-5-5

Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5

OHS 45, 55, 65, 75, 85, BS 5x185

I suck at overhead squats so went easy. Next time I will start at 85. I though I was going a little light with the back squats, but I had to really focus to keep good technique on the last two.

Olympic Weight Training

Max Snatch & Max Clean & Jerk

115, 165

I only tied my pr for the snatch. I don't think that I was warmed up enough. I later did the clean and jerk and to make sure that I stayed warm I practiced my double-unders in between attempts. I clean and jerk was 10 pounds heavier than my previous pr. The last two jerks were ugly.

I think I figured out my double-under problems. I was trying to keep my hands closer to my body to take stress off of my shoulders and arms, but it was actually messing up my rhythm. I was also using a heavier rope, I'm hoping that's not a big deal because I like my light weight rope. We'll see if it does me any good in a workout.

Bench Press 3x5 @ 135lb

12-29-09 WOD

Four Rounds for time: walking lunge 50m, sit-ups 5o reps

12:48 as rxed

I crushed my best time today, my last time was 15:57. I did my first round in less than 3 minutes but my sit-ups got slower and slower each round. Technically the lunge walk distance was a guestimate but I'm pretty sure it was longer than 50m.

89 days

12-28-09 WOD

5 rounds of: 95lb snatch, 15 reps, run 400m

not rx, broken into rounds with rest: 2:56, 3:00, 3:41, 4:57 ,6:55

I'm not to confident in my snatches when doing them for time. So I decided to increase the weight of the snatches each round starting at 55 and finishing with 95 instead of doing them all at 95. My recoveries were 2,3,4 and 5 minutes. When doing snatches for time I frequently have cramping issues in my lower back. Two reasons for the cramping; I let the bar get to far from me when doing snatches and my back is probably not strong enough. Today I started cramping in the 3rd round. By the time I got to the last set I had to slow down and them one at a time focusing on my technique.

I did feel good on the runs. I tried to use my garmin, but gps watches don't deal well with acceleration and 180 deg turns. I'm pretty sure that I was running at least an extra 20m at least.

Aftercise: I did a couple of muscle-ups. I have done any muscle-ups since I did the 30 for time

Countdown: 91 days, Saturday

12-26-09 WOD

5 rounds of: 21 thrusters, 75lbs, 21 double-unders

not rxed, 20:58

This was the wod I was to do on Thursday. I substituted two 12kg kettlebells for the thrusters, I think that it was a pretty even trade. This time is super slow. I couldn't do double-unders to save my life. I decided to practice before I started. It took me a while to get in a grove but I was able to get 13 straight. By the time I got to the double-unders in the first round I couldn't get more than three in a row. Just three days before I was busting out 20 or more at the gym with no problem. I have a theory on why I've been sucking in the wods. I've been doing my wods in dark garages which are on a slope and for some reason I just can't get a good feel for the rhythm. When you add fatigue from the thrusters and I'm just pathetic.

Yesterday

I changed things up yesterday. I was to do thrusters and double-unders today but I ran out of time so I workout with a client. I will try that workout on Christmas day.

Run

60s on, 50s off, 60s on, 40s off, 60s on, 30s off, 60s on, 20s off, 60s on, 10s off, 60s on, 20s off, 60s on, 30s off, 60s on, 40s off, 60s on, 50s off, 60s on, a modified CrossFit Endurance workout

209m, 227, 230, 211, 224, 209, 228, 209, 274, 286

There was supposed to be one more run but my garmin would only program 20 laps. Next time we do this workout we'll shout for 230 or 240m. This workout was on not easy but the only it wasn't tough either. I think a good goal for me would be 260.

12-23-09 WOD

J.T. 21-15-9 reps of: Handstand push-ups, ring dips, push-ups

not rxed, no time

I did the first round with a client, but I let him scale it too much and he finished the whole thing before I finished my first round. So I stopped and did some extra core with my client. After, I finished the other two rounds. I screwed up the time, but my best guess is 22 minutes. Handstand push-ups (hspu) not rxed, I used a foam roller. I can do about two regular hspu. I got through about 12 mod hspu before I hit the wall.

Olympic Weight Training

Clean & Jerk 1x75%, 1x80%, 1x75%, 1x80%, 1x85%, Clean Pull 3x95%, 2x100%, 2x100%+5kg, Clean Shrug 5x100%+20kg, 3x100%+30kg from Mike's Gym

115lb , 125, 115, 125, 130, 160, 170, 180, 200, 220

Olympic

I need to make sure that I'm not distracted when I do these workouts. I start talking to people and get cooled down and I lose focus. I felt good about the clean and jerks, but I had trouble with the clean shrugs. My left hand is tore up from the pull-up workout from last week. I could barely hold on the bar for the clean shrugs, so I think my shrugs were pretty weak.

Another Hated Exercise

12-21-09 WOD

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of: Row 250m, 21 sumo deadlift high-pull, 95lbs, 15 pull-ups

3 rounds, 250m rowed, 21 sdhp

This is a mainsite wod. When I first saw that I was going to do this wod I thought that it would be dominated by the sdhp. It was! I'm not that good at sdhp and worse when the weight goes up. I'm hoping that part of the problem was that I was doing them on a slant, but I always have problems with keeping my hands in a balanced position. The rows and pull-ups took just over a minute a round counting the transition. The sdhp took more than 3 minutes each time.

12-19-09 WOD

10 min amrap of: 10 double-unders, 10 kettlebell swing, 1.5 pood

not rxed, 6.5 rounds

I accidentally set the timer for 9 minutes, so not rxed. This was an early morning get it done while you can workout. I changed my schedule around. I was originally going to do the pull-up workout today and a deadlift workout yesterday, but I had just done a deadlift workout and I knew I wouldn't be able to get pull-ups in today so I switched the pull-ups and made up this morning's wod.

We left town, so later I did a hotel workout of push-ups and sit-ups. I did push-ups by increasing by 1 each round starting from 1. I separated the push-up rounds with sit-up rounds of 5. I did 13 rounds. I should have attempted the 14th round. I would have failed by 10. When I do push-ups, I do technically sound push-ups. I go low (either chest or nose to the ground). I hate when I see people doing half push-ups for timed workouts such as Cindy or Angie.

Smashing Old Times

12-18-09 WOD

10 rounds for time of: 3 weighted pull-ups 45lbs, 5 strict pull-ups, 7 kipping pull-ups

not rxed, 25:13

I am so excited! I just blew away my old time. Last time I did this workout I tried to substitute the weighted pull-ups for 5 extra pull-ups, but gave it up after two rounds. So I did just the strict and kipping pull-ups for the last eight rounds. Today I did the whole thing, but with 15lbs for the weighted pull-up. My time 3 months ago was 46:30. I dropped 20 minutes of my time while doing a harder version! I am pumped up and can't wait to do tomorrow's wod!

On the last round I ripped two calluses. It wasn't a painful as I thought it would be. I didn't even notice until I noticed the blood on the bar.

Rest Day

NorCal Sectional is now on March 27-28. I now have 21 more days to train. That will help me some, but truthfully I need a year or two get my strength to competitive levels.

Anyway, I decided to take today off. Thursdays are optional crossfit endurance days. My knees took a beating yesterday so I figured I'd keep off my feet today. I'm a relatively old guy (37) so its important for me to give my body time to recover.

Hump Day

12-16-09 WOD

For time: 12 snatches, 75lbs, 16 thrusters, run 200m, 9 snatches, 75lbs, 12 thrusters, run 200m, 6 snatches, 75lbs, 8 thrusters, run 200m, 3 snatches, 75lbs, 4 thrusters, run 200m

Rxed 15:29

My wife and I made up this work out. I like it, but the weight should probably be 20lbs more. That being said, 20lbs would have killed me today. When I do these metcons with snatches and some times the ones with cleans, my lower back muscles have a tendency to lock up. Today it happened and because of it my run times were pathetic. I was in a hurry to start the workout so I didn't warmup properly. I'll have to make a mental note to warmup well and focus on loosening up my lower back next time.

CrossFit Football WOD

5 rounds for time of: 7 deadlifts, 315lbs, 21 double-unders

Not rxed 8:45

I did this with 250lbs. I did this in my garage and I used all the plates that we own. This was a good weight for me. I don't think I've done any deadlifts for at least a month. I think I was supposed to do some the week I got sick. My double-unders were much better today. My rhythm is still not on. I don't think that I strung more than 8 together. For some reason I think I'm spinning the rope too slow.

Extracise: Shoulder Press 5-5-5 and sit-ups/back extensions

I did 105 but had to push-press the last one. I was going to do 5 sets but I've had a long day so I cut it short. I would have had to drop the weight for a forth set.

Olympic Weight Training

Snatch 2x70%, 2x75%, 1x80, 2x75%, 2x80%, 1x85%

80, 85, 90, 85, 90, 100

I need to redo my snatch max. My max was 115lbs. I think that I can lift more, but it depends on how my technique is that day. I tend to have troubles on my second pull because I don't get my knees back on the first pull and tend to let the bar pull me forward. I like the snatch. I find it hard to perfect, but it feels good when done right.

Back to Business

So I am back to my full workout schedule. I took it easy last week and only did one workout a day. This week I am planning to do a wod Monday-Wednesday and Friday, Saturday, a CrossFit Endurance workout Monday and Thursday, a short Olympic lifting session on Tuesday and Saturday, a CrossFit Football workout on Wednesday and hopefully a little extra strength whenever possible. Today was my first successful day, I was able to get in both the run and the wod in.

Run

6x 90sec on 90 sec off

368m, 390, 381, 388, 389, 406

It wasn't very fast but I was more consistent than I expected.

12-14-09 WOD
Four rounds of: 100ft Walking lunge, carrying 30lb DBs, 24" box jump, 30 reps, 30lbs weighted pull-ups, 20reps

Not Rxed 44:47

I only used 15lbs for the pull-ups, but they were hard. They took up the majority of the time, probably more than 30 minutes. I usually don't like box jumps, but today they were the easiest.

12-12-09 WOD

Front Squat 5-5-5-5-5

95, 105, 115, 125, 135

I didn't lift very heavy today. We don't have a squat stand yet so I had to do clean the weight to squat it. This workout was to be a back squat workout, but front squats worked better. I've had a long week and the garage was cold so I started light and focused on my squat clean technique. I should have at least doubled my squats.

12-11-09 WOD
Kelly (modified) 10 rounds of run 200m, 15 box jumps, 24", 15 wall ball, 20lbs
13:03 not Rxed

It was raining so I substituted rows for the runs and then I pussed out and only did 5 rounds. I should have finished it. I have no excuses. With only 85 days left I can't afford to be a psychological wimp.

2010 CrossFit Games Sectionals Announced

Rest Day

The CrossFit Games 2010 site is finally up and running. I will be competing in the NorCal Sectional March 6-7. That is 86 days away. That's not much time for me to prepare. It looks like CrossFit Oakland will be hosting the sectional. I don't know much about there programming but I will be checking out their site daily for the next couple of months. As I've said before my biggest weakness will be my strength, so I'm guessing that their wods will tend to favor stronger people. Even if thats not the case I need to throw in a little bias towards the strength and work on my diet. I just need to be consistent with my eating and eat more.

Annie

12-9-09 WOD

Annie 50-40-30-20-10 double-unders, sit-ups

15:38

I was 34 seconds slower than the last time I did this. I should've practiced a little before I started. I couldn't string more than 6 together. I just couldn't get a rhythm. By the time I did get a bit of a rhythm it was the last set and I was too fatigued to keep it.

Starting Over

12-7-09 WOD

Walking lunge 100ft, 21 pull-ups, 21 sit-ups, Walking lunge 100ft, 18 pull-ups, 18 sit-ups, Walking lunge 100ft, 15 pull-ups, 15 sit-ups, Walking lunge 100ft, 12 pull-ups, 12 sit-ups, Walking lunge 100ft, 9 pull-ups, 9 sit-ups, Walking lunge 100ft, 6 pull-ups, 6 sit-ups

13:58

Its been a while since I've done a lot of pull-ups, they took a lot out of me today. I last did this in August, I beat my last time by 32 seconds.

So I've got one day in the books. Its amazing how good a workout can feel. I just need to get a few more workouts in and then I back in the grove. As long I don't take more than one day off I can usually keep a good streak going.

Rough Week

I hate when I take more than one day off. I almost always have trouble getting my momentum back. So after getting sick last week I got two workouts in and then I got distracted by many things, the last of being my car breaking down. The end result is that I skipped two days of workouts. I let myself get distracted, I could have gotten those workouts in. There is no way that my fitness is going to be anywhere near what I want it to be by February if I let myself have weeks like this one.

12-5-09 WOD

10 min: as many rounds as possible of 10 double-unders and 10 sit-ups

10 rounds

This workout wasn't too hard. I had trouble with my rhythm for the first 3-4 rounds, by the time I got to the 8th round I had lost it again. In the future I will probably use this workout as an aftercise when I want to feel the burn. I was also thinking of doing this same workout as a death by wod (starting at 1 each the first round and increasing by one for each of the following rounds) but with a 10 to 20 min time limit.

Snatches

Olympic Weight Training

5x1@80%

90lbs,x,90,90,90

I'm working on my snatch technique. I hurt myself last week because I didn't activate my shoulders on a warm-up lift. I was trying to pull myself under the bar and in doing so let the weight get too far back and in the process of losing it I almost dislocated my shoulder. Dislocating a shoulder sucks. Mel Gibson made it look like it only hurt at the time, but your shoulder can hurt for days. Since starting CrossFit my shoulders have become much stronger, and I haven't yet dislocated it. In the past I've dislocated while doing v-ups, my arm got too far back and popped out. Today I had the opposite problem. I was having trouble getting under the weight because I was trying to lockout my shoulders before I got under the weight.

Feeling Better

11-30-09 WOD

Tabata Something Else (pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, squats)

324 (61,58,80,125)

This is the first time that I have done this WOD, I've done Tabatas before but not with pull-ups. I'm sure that some of my pull-ups were not legit, I dropped from 10 the first three sets to 5 on the last set. Back in April I did Angie (with 100 squats) and I could barley walk for days. Today I did 125 and was just a little wobbly after.

So after six days off that workout was a little harder than it would have been other wise. I'm not sure if I got sick because I overexerted my self or if it was just me getting sick at the same time of year as usual. Either way I decided to give myself the whole weekend at start at it fresh. Just to be on the safe side I am only going to do minimum to get by this week. Next week I'll start throwing in the extras. I want to build myself up slowly this time. I knew I should have taken it slower at the beginning, but I was excited to get as much in as possible. That's why it's usually better to have a coach. It's hard to think of many world class athletes that coach them selves. Edwin Moses is the only one I can think of. But he was able to win 122 consecutive races and set a world record that has only been surpassed once in the last 26 years.

Sick Day

It only took two days, four workouts, one night of sleep deprivation and honestly, not enough food, to wear me down. I have a sore throat a head cold and I feel week. I don't know if I'm sick or if my body is yelling at me to stop. So I took today off and I will take my official day off tomorrow. I'm bummed because I was to do Elizabeth today. Hopefully I'm back up and running on Friday.

Sleep Depravation

I got about five hours of sleep last night. I was so tired that when I realized that I had extra time I took a 10 min nap before heading out. I've always needed at least 7.5 hours a night, but when I'm doing intense workouts I need at least 8.5 hours.

Olympic Weigth Training

Snatch 5x2@75%

Did not do well on this one. I aggravated an old shoulder injury because I'm sleep deprived and I wasn't paying attention. I didn't lock out my shoulders at the bottom of one of my warmup snatches and almost hyper-extended my left shoulder as I lost the weight behind me. It took me so long to get the snatches in that I decided to drop the 5x 2 front squats and 1 clean jerk.

11-24-09 WOD

Micheal 3 rounds of 800m, 50 back extensions, 50 sit-ups

not rx'd, 20:24

I did this at home, so I did abmat sit-ups and "superman" style back extensions. My runs felt good and my times improved each round.

New Week, New and Improved Monday

Run

3x 1 minute on 3 minutes off, try to cover as much distance as possible

300m, 340m, 350m

I ran this on the road with my dog. She is small but can out run most humans. The first two runs were slightly uphill (less than 2%) and the last one was down. I use a gps watch so I round the distance to the nearest 10m, I doubt its even that accurate for the sprints.

11-23-09 WOD

20 minutes, do as many rounds as possible of: 5 handstand push-ups, 10 L pull-ups, 15 walking lunges

not rx'd 6 rounds and 5 handstand push-ups

I'm not quite strong enough to do handstand push-ups. I did handstand push-ups onto a foam roller. I need something a little lower because they were too easy at that height. The L pull-ups however, were really hard.

Rest Day

Fast Olympic Lifts

11-21-09 WOD

10 squat cleans, 135lbs, 50 sit-ups, 8 squat cleans, 135lbs, 40 sit-ups, 6 squat cleans, 135lbs, 30 sit-ups, 4 squat cleans, 135lbs, 20 sit-ups, 2 squat cleans, 135lbs, 10 sit-ups

not rx'd 11:49

I could have done this WOD as rx'd, but I want to work on improving my speed in workouts with olympic lifts. I have decent technique in the lifts but I like taking my time setting up for the lift. So I dropped the weight for the 1st, 3rd and 5th rounds to a weight I new I could do fast and kept the weight at 135 for rounds 2 and 4 and tried to keep up the speed.

Run Day

11-20-09 WOD

4x800 rest as needed

3:21.8, 3:05.8, 3:07ish, 2:58.3

I didn't want to take a long time so I only rested 3 min between runs. I was a sprinter in high school and a hurdler in college so to me a 1:1 rest ratio is short. Three minutes rest is an eternity for endurance guys. This workout was tougher than I thought it would be. I was hoping I could just run it relaxed and be able to run sub 3:00s. Well, it took four tries to break 3:00 and I was definitely feeling the effort after. I'm hoping that by the next time I run this workout my times will be hovering around the 2:30 mark. I'll probably give myself a lot of rest between efforts next time. Its hard to do but I love to sell out on runs like that.

Strength

Shoulder Press 5-5-5-5-5

75,85,95,95,95

My forearms are killing me! They were aching before the presses, but now there throbbing. I thought I was going light, but my arms are still wiped out from wednesday's muscle-ups. My strength (especially upper body) is currently my greatest weakness, so my programming includes a "strength bias". I want to be strong enough to do any WOD that they throw at us as rx'd.

Rest Day

So I am doing my own programming. Usually it is my belief that it's generally better to have someone else do your programming, because it's so easy to tend to programming what you like instead of what you need. But, I need practice with my programming, my wife and I have been accepted to start an affiliate and hopefully we can complete the necessary details with in the next few weeks to make it official. So I am my own ginny-pig. Our schedule will follow a 3 on 1 off 2 on 1 off pattern. We like this pattern best because it's easier for clients to stick to than the 3 on 1 off and the midweek rest day gives the clients a needed recovery day.

Athlete Profile: Jon Akers

Jon Akers

Age:37

Height:5'8"

Weight:160

DOB: 06/16/72

Place of birth: Raleigh, NC

Started CrossFit: April 2009

Lives in Clovis, CA

Fran: 6:55

Cindy: 14

Helen: 9:49

Grace: 13:43

Fight Gone Bad: 256

Deadlift: 345

Press: 120

Back Squat: 270

Snatch: 100

Clean and jerk: 155

Max Pullups: 37

Favorite WOD: Helen or Jackie

Favorite lift: pull-up/deadlift

Least Favorite WOD:

Least Favorite Lift:

30 Muscle-ups For Time!

11-18-09 WOD

30 muscle-ups for time

56:37

Today was an exciting day for me. Before today I had only done a total of 17 muscle-ups. So to be able to complete this workout was a great accomplishment. My muscle-ups are ugly, I let my arms get too wide as I'm pulling and I often get stuck with right arm out to the side. Its hard to complete the muscle-up when one or both hands get away from your body. Luckily I'm good at kipping so I can launch myself high enough to overcome my technical deficiencies. I was also able to get two muscle-ups in a row without letting go of the rings, the second one was the ugliest one I've done and the hardest to finish. In an earlier post I posted a video of my first muscle-up. I believe that that one was both the easiest and technically the best one I've done.

This is a shot of our garage gym. My wife Rosanna is practicing her muscle-up technique.

Tuesday, November 17

Morning technical work

Split Jerks- starting at 115lb working up to 155lb

Today's WOD

Four rounds of 50m lunge walk and 50 sit-ups

15:57 as rx'd, legs not anchored on sit-ups

Lunging happens to be one of the few areas that I'm good at, but my sit-ups are slow. I was checking out the comments on the main site for this workout and found out my time was slow. I have a lot of work ahead.

Monday, November 16

Monday Run

Run with the dog

Monday's WOD

Shoulder Press 1-1-1-1-1 Push Press 3-3-3-3-3 Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5

It was late when I did this workout. To save time I had the brilliant idea of doing one set a minute, starting low and increasing the weight by 5lb each minute. I used the tabata timer on my ipod touch. I forgot that the reps increased with the change of exercises. I kept on pace through the push presses, then thankfully my ipod died. So I took my sweet time on the push jerks.

SP- 85, 90, 95, 100, 105, PP- 110, 115, 120, 125, 130 PJ- 5x135

The shoulder press weight was too light, the push press was good and the push jerks were tough.

Preparing for the 2010 CrossFit Games

Today I am officially declaring my intent to compete in the 2010 CrossFit Games. I guess it’s no big deal since I am an unknown and no one reads this blog. I will use the blog as my motivator, it will help keep me accountable for my workouts. Over the next 3 to 8 months I will post my workouts and any thoughts that I have on CrossFit matters.

My First Muscle-Up

This was my first muscle-up! Completing a muscle-up is exciting. The only thing I can compare the since of accomplishment to is when I would run a fast and relatively mistake free 400 hurdles in college. Just like in the hurdles its easier when you do it right. The failures are hard the successes feel awesome.

Crossfit Games

2009 Crossfit Games winner Mikko Salo in white shirt and runner up Tommy Hackenbruck in Red competing in second workout of day two.

Split Jerk Day

This is one of the few areas in which Jon's technique is better than Rosanna's. Notice how low Jon gets compared to Rosanna. She could get under the bar she could get at least 10-15lbs more.

Jon's Hop

Jon lets the bar get away from his body. Look for the hop. Looking on is coach Rosanna.

Hang Snatch 7/7/09

Rosanna doing the Crossfit FTF WOD, Hang Snatch 4-4-4-4-4.