PTP Days 5 & 6

I highly recommend starting the PTP program on the 1st day of the month. It makes it easy when the date and the day of the program are synched up. :-D

No time to blog yesterday, I was running all over the place.


I was working with a milspouse friend at the base gym on CrossFit basics, so I did my deadlift and press there. I actually had a conversation with the on-base firemen about kipping pullups, which I was doing during my warm up on one of the squat racks. They are kind of attention grabbing in a "regular" gym. Of course I took a moment to try to sell CrossFit, we'll see what comes of it. :) I also had a fun conversation with a 65-year-old guy who competes in bench press competitions -- it's some variant of powerlifting where you can compete in a single event. He was cool, and I might swing back to the base gym next week to get some pointers from him and his lifting partner.

At our box we sign up for 5Ks and running events, but to keep it inclusive, I think we need to branch out and see if we can participate in things like powerlifting meets or Olympic weightlifting meets. One of my best friends at the box Allie is still working on her body comp, so her running is still really slow. But she out-lifts the rest of the ladies in the box by 30, 40, 50 pounds. A big part of me just wants to put her in the spotlight and let her beat us all soundly. :) She totally deserves it because she works her ass off, and never gets upset or frustrated, just keeps on plugging away.

Hopefully I will be posting more about that idea soon!

Anyway, back to the PTP stuff.

PTP Day 5:

• Deadlift: 115, 105
• Press: 55, 50

I really did intend to hit the track after that, but the posted WOD for the box was Fight Gone Bad, and I felt bad about skipping a chance to perform a benchmark WOD that I've never done.

So I went to the box and did Fight Gone Bad. I'll make up those sprints soon, though.

Here's the breakdown for my FGB, though I know no one cares about the rep breakdown other than me. :)

Wall ball: 11, 12, 12
Box jump: 28, 23, 19
Push press: 18, 14, 11
SDHP: 20, 16, 16
Row: 11, 11, 10

Total reps: 232

At first I felt good about those numbers, but after we all finished, I realized that I was in 3rd place, and had only been beaten by 4 and 7 reps. WTF???? Makes me think to myself I could've pushed out a few more reps here and there if I had know I could've pumped out the highest female score at my box.

So, as far as I'm concerned, Fight Gone Bad and I have a rematch sometime SOON.

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This morning I coached the 0930 class, and we did "Team Cindy". In pairs, only one partner works at a time, and whole rounds must be completed before switching off.

There was some debate before we started about how much "waiting around" would have to be done, but I enjoyed doing the WOD that way. I think it is a perfect way to prep to do Cindy, which I would like to do sometime soon (afterall, it is in my 1st quarter goals). By having a break while your partner works, you can not only cheer them on, you can also move a lot faster each time it's your turn.

I starting losing my pushups on about the 5th of 6th round that I completed... That sucked. But I'm happy to say that I only had 1 really awful round for pullups. I pretty much was able to complete 5 in a row on 6 or 7 of the 9 total rounds that I did. Being able to do pullups is freaking wonderful. Now to get those dead hangs...

Squats were cake, makes me happy I've been working on them a lot. :-D

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In two weeks I will be at my cert -- yikes! I need to re-read the study guide. I wish they provided some practice questions or something, I just feel like I don't know what to concentrate on since there are about 90 pages of material!

I also need to visit a copy shop and have them print and bind it for me, with extra pages added for notes. They provide some notes areas in the PDF file, but not enough for me.

PTP - Day 3

Wow, I have a feeling my blog post titles are going to be really boring for the next few weeks. :-p

I decided that I don't want to completely "tune out" from the programming at my "home" box while I'm working on PTP, so I will incorporate metcons where I can. Like today I did the daily WOD for my cash out, instead of 5-5-5-3-3-3 back squat as prescribed by PTP.

PTP Day 3:

• Deadlift: 5 reps @ 120, 110
• Press: 5 reps @ 60, 50

CF Camden WOD:

5 rounds for time

• 20 box jumps, 20"
• 20 situps
• 150m sprint

Results:  13:3? -- something like that :)

I also participated in two team WODs after our trainer development meeting tonight. Sprinting 150m with a sledgehammer, and then completing 100 reps of DUs, squats, K2E's and pushups as a team. And oh yeah, one team member had to hold a handstand while 2 others were working. Mandy is a slave driver! :-p

Let me just say that I have really earned my rest day tomorrow after all that. They only thing I want to do is tabata squats -- maybe. We shall see. :)

PTP - dia dos

I did *not* feel like working out today... But, I did...

PTP Day 2:

• Deadlift: 5 reps @ 115# and 105#
• Press: 5 reps @ 55# and 50#
• Cash out: 16:02 

Cash out:

5 rounds
10 DB snatch, 5R/5L (30#)
10 1-arm KB swing, 5R/5L (16kg)
10 burpees

Wow, I was freaking sluggish on the cash out.  I seriously considered doing only 3 rounds, but forced myself to do all 5. My left shoulder still feels weird with some movements, and the left arm snatches did not feel very good for some of the reps. My elbows feel a bit "crunchy" too, today.

Tomorrow will be my 4th day on... this should be interesting...

Restarting PTP

Today I restarted the Whole9 / CF 603 PTP program.

For reference:

• post comments on doing PTP here, thread will be monitored
• view entire program here 

Yep, I tried this back in January, and didn't carry through with it. I probably should have tried to get a partner to do it with me, so there was extra motivation to continue with it... Though I do have some virtual partner motivation, since 21st Century Amazon is also doing PTP right now.

Day 1:

• Deadlift: 5 reps at 110 and 105 (was supposed to be 100, but I screwed up my plates)
• Press: 5 reps at 50 and 45 (yay starting from new 1RM of 85 on press)
• Cash-out: 3rds, 30 DUs, 15 K2Es -- 11:45

Some thoughts, as usual.

Keeping my shoulders relaxed at the start of a K2E, when I'm just hanging from the bar, helps A LOT. I am kipping / swinging a bit to start the motion, but to make up for that I am making sure to engage my shoulders and really get up into a good final position before coming back down. I need to take some more video to make sure my back is getting close to parallel to the ground.

I would've done the cash out faster if I didn't have to pee in the middle of my 2nd set of DU's.

Press felt soooooo easy. Deadlift too. I think sticking to this program will be an exercise in patience, and will also teach me a lot about working with future clients who want to get stronger. Since one of my interests is training the older crowd, I think first-hand experience in a gradual strength-building progression will be invaluable. For someone who is older and worried about losing strength, strength gains seem like they would trump metcon / aerobic conditioning in importance.

PTP Day 2

With sore legs from my run yesterday (I was running somewhere between an 8:30 and 8:50 per mile pace, fast for me), I took it easy today.

CF Whole9 PTP - Day 2

I did my own warmup, minus the row, and skipped the prescribed Buy-In. Though I did add 10 GHD situps to my final 3 round triplet.

Deadlift:

• Set 1: 115 x 5
  
• Set 2: 105 x 5
  

I felt like my form was better on these on Monday, though I'm not sure in exactly what way? Maybe it was just muscle soreness making me feel off.

Press:

• Set 1: 50 x 5
  
• Set 2: 45 x 5
  

Considering how heavy 50 felt, I'm surprised that I actually managed to get up 80 during CFT a few weeks ago.

No cash out or cool down, just stretching and then doing some of the warmup with the 8:30 class. Only 2 ladies this AM.

Monday mish-mash

I was helping out at the box this morning, so I used the gap between 6:30 and 8:30 classes to start the 603/Whole9 PTP program.

First I did my own warm-up (see below), so I was really sweating by the time I finished the buy-in.

Buy-in

3 rds (only did 2 + 1 handstand)

• 20 sec handstand (used HSPU harness)
• 15 kb swings (16k) -- these felt heavy for some reason!
  
• 10 box jumps (20'')
  

Deadlift

• 1RM = 185
• Set 1: 60% = 110; 5 reps
• Set 2: 90% of set 1 = 100; 5 reps

Press

• 1RM = 80
• Set 1: 60% = 45; 5 reps
• Set 2: 90% of set 1 = 40; 5 reps

Cash out

3 rounds (only time for 2) -- 12:25 (took a video, so that took up some time)

• 30 double-unders
• 15 KTEs

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Am I the only one wondering how my KTE's look? Yes? Well, here's a video anyway. heh :)



I'm thinking I'm starting to do them closer to corect, because my shoulders were getting tired and sore after round 2 of 15 reps. So I must be engaging them...

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In addition, I started putting together a personalized warm up, which is one of my goals. I used a CrossFit Journal article and my experiences with warming up at Ultimate CF and CF KoP to create this baseline routine.

W/U:

• Run, at least 400m
• Row, at least 500m - focus on maintaining low stroke count and 2:10 pace (H/T Ultimate blog)
• 3 rounds with PVC:
  - 10 shoulder dislocates
  - 10 good mornings
  - 10 OHS
• 3 rounds:
  - 5 ring dips (floss)
  - 10 pushups (consecutive, on toes)
  - 3 dead hang pullups (floss/skinny band)
  (will work on increasing these reps as I get stronger)
  

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Talked to Joe a bit about my cooldown, and to help with maintaining lumbar curve during deadlifts, I'm definitely going to incorporate hip extensions there. Not sure what else I'll include, maybe a rope climb? Got some instruction on that on Saturday from the husband, plus watched a few videos last week.