CrossFit Over 40

WODs, Diet, Crossfit OldTown Gossip and Lifestyle Ramblings by MarkyD

Monday, January 28, 2013

Snatch, then a metcon

Although I cannot / do not squat snatch. Every time snatch comes up in a wod I try hard to improve my form, without much regard to the weight. An oddly enough, weights that used to scare me or feel really heavy no longer do. A 95# power snatch for 10 reps feels easy. 115# doable. And 135# for a few reps - not a problem. Compared to even last year when 135# was my 1 rep max - with a press out.

Today - Wod A. 10 minutes - 2 reps per minute from the hang. I started at 95 and worked to 120#. Felt good.

Wod B. 3 times through 10 reps each of 135# push press, burpee and 80# kbs. Went mostly unbroken. A little breathing on the burpees.


Friday, January 25, 2013

What's the point, anyway?

The point of a blog is that you can be a little more expressive than a 140 character tweet; more than a snappy FB post.

And the point of Crossfit is to be as fit as you can be. Fitter than you can get at a globo gym, fitter than having a personal trainer.

And the point of a Crossfit Blog? Everyone has a different slant.  Drywall is funny as well.  http://www.talkinfit.com . Outlaw mixes his O-lift slanted programming with insightful fitness babble. http://outlawcoach.wordpress.com. And me, who knows what I do.

And every Crossfitter has has a different reason for hitting the wods, and they can change over time.

So what am I doing sweating, bleeding, aching, limping around for. As I approach my 4 year anniversary of Crossfit, I thought it would be a good time to reflect.

When I first joined CF, I made huge strides very quickly. Lost over 30 pounds. Got stronger. Got a little faster, and learned a ton about mobility and nutrition. Then sometime into it, I either tore, or re-tore (sp?) my right ACL. And ever since, my knee has been a swollen mess with severely limited mobility.  Two cortisone shots later squatting below parallel is kind of out of the question.

But despite the fact that just about every Crossfit movement is based on a squat, I carry on. I know that my quality of life is better now and hopefullt for many years to come. Being strong has benefits in every day life. Being conditioned as well. And better nutrition and mobility hopefully will keep me lean and active for years, which is at this point - all I can hope for.

More rambling later.

OPT Assessment

A while back I signed up to go through the assessment process that Adam Murphy was running. Having someone else judge, score and critique your movements is always a plus. This process seems to be quite in depth as evidenced by not being able to finish it today's session in 45 minutes. And in fact, the assessments felt like a bit of a workout.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Snatch complex and max reps

Warmup of 2,000m row. Very slow pace. Some mobility wod work. 

A. Power snatch/not squat snatch. 95, 95, 115,115,125,125,135.


 B. 95# for 9/10/12. 
More of a grip challenge.

More importantly, first wod with my new black nano 2.0's. I like. I like them a lot. 

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Lucky 7s

First up, I warmed up and did my CFOTe wods. 1,500m row to warmup. Some stretching. Then:

750m row x3. Pace about 2:00. Rest/stretch about 3 minutes after each. I did not want to tire myself out too much, since I did this immediately prior to the regular wod. But I was definitely warmed up after these intervals.

Wod 1 - 7 min amrap of 10 box jumps (24") and 5 hspu. I did 7 rounds plus 4 reps. Scaled from 30" box to 24"as I still fear jumping down and what it will do to my knee. So stepping down limits me to about a 24"box. This wod felt good. I did not get too tired.

Rest 7 min

Wod 2 - 10 kbs with 53# ( subbed for 75# thrusters, again out of knee cation) and 5 toes to bar. 6 rounds even. I did tire at the end of this and only got 2 rounds in the final 3 minutes, after being on a 1 round per minute pace.

I feel like my knee limits almost any wod I do. But the reality is I have no ACL and severe swelling and arthritis in my right knee. Squatting bothers it. And my doc told me not to. So for once, I am taking his advice. Likely looking at surgery in a few months to see if they can remove some floating loose bodies in my knee and reduce some of the swelling. Wish I could do everything, but I can't. Getting older is a slap in the face. Have to face up to some depressing realities some times. Have to push it when I can, which makes my 225# clean PR yesterday all that much sweeter.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

225

A 225# Power Clean is a pretty big bench mark. Kind of like back in the days of "whatta ya' bench". Anything less than 225# was not big league.

So after nearly 4 years of crossfitting, and after a year plus of being stuck somewhere between 215# and 220# - today was my day. Subbing out 1 rep of Power Cleans (Missed from yesterday's wod) for today's back squats (which I cannot do anymore) I worked 95/135/155/175/195/205/215 3 misses at 225 and then finally 225#.

Despite the misses, I felt strong and the lifts were pretty easy. The final lift landed comfortably on my shoulders without me anywhere near a full squat. So obviously no that I am past this mental hurdle, bigger #s are on the way.

#2013 is a new year.


p.s. 15 sets of 5 unbroken ctb pullups. A struggle to finish at 11:19. After 10 sets, I was losing power and it got real tough.

2013

So Jeremy Moss asked me to take the blog off the cinder blocks in the yard, and get it going again.

Can do. Work is busier than in the past, but frankly - keeping a wod narrative is smart. And I have missed having records.

First wod recap coming up shortly.