[quote]aikigreg wrote:
I’ve been supplementing the lifting programs I design for my athletes with crossfit for a couple years now. Sometimes it’s one day a week, and as we transition to off-season it gets ramped up.
If you want to have real world strength and stamina, crossfit will rock. If you’re looking for bodybuilding and bigger musacles, don’t expect to get them from crossfit.
Great program and ideals though.[/quote]
You do Corssfit more often to prepare for the off-season?
it all looks like great endurance first and possibly strength second training.
very similar to elite infantry training (rangers, seals etc).
but i gotta say every time i see the crossfit “guru” guy with that big ole pot belly of his…and always having a demo team, that he is not part of…
well you know the rest.
I think you should track your eating and rest habits during this trial too.
IMO, most people that ARE kicking ass working out fail because their eating and rest habits don’t match the quality of their workouts.
Food and proper sleep are at least two thirds of the equation (supplements and drugs could be fourth and fifth elements if you so choose to go either of those routes), so why leave them out.
Good luck!
[quote]zedhed wrote:
it all looks like great endurance first and possibly strength second training.
very similar to elite infantry training (rangers, seals etc).
but i gotta say every time i see the crossfit “guru” guy with that big ole pot belly of his…and always having a demo team, that he is not part of…
well you know the rest.[/quote]
I’ve got no problem with that. The best coaches are seldom also successful athletes. His job is to coach, not to do. Same deal with teachers, usually.
[quote]unearth wrote:
I think you should track your eating and rest habits during this trial too.
IMO, most people that ARE kicking ass working out fail because their eating and rest habits don’t match the quality of their workouts.
Food and proper sleep are at least two thirds of the equation (supplements and drugs could be fourth and fifth elements if you so choose to go either of those routes), so why leave them out.
Good luck![/quote]
I’ve been eating “instinctively” (for lack of a better word) lately. When I’m hungry, I eat. What I eat is very healthy, high protein, plenty of healthy fats and all that, I’m just not planning or keeping track of it. It’s been working, and I don’t want to change anything other than my workouts right now because I want to see what it does for me.
I’m mainly doing this because I’m fairly happy with my strength levels, but my conditioning is terrible. It’s a chore to make myself do any sort of cardio (slow, intervals, or whatever), so I figured if I just buckled down and did the workouts prescribed to me, I’d have no choice. Hopefully I’ll lose a little bodyfat in the process, but I’m more concerned with the performance benefits.
They’ve apparently revamped the format recently (with the help of Mark Rippetoe of Starting Strength and Practical Programming renown) to include more strength work. The reasoning, if I remember correctly, was that untrained people were having a hard time using the weights prescribed for the workouts (225x12 DLs in between 400m runs). Guys with weights experience were doing fine, but cardio people and regular newbies couldn’t build the strength base quickly enough. They now test the “Crossfit Total,” or 1RM in the Squat, Overhead Press, and Deadlift and do workouts designed to increase those lifts.
Anyway, I’m pretty sore in my chest, tris, and traps from the workout yesterday. I didn’t expect that from a 7 1/2 minute workout. Nice little surprise.
Tomorrow is 7x3 push press. I may add some stuff in, we’ll see. I’m working a double shift tomorrow and I have to work out before I go, so it depends on time.
Funniest comment from today’s workout so far:
[i]95#
105
115
120
125
125
125
Livestrong![/i]
Another used a mere 45 lbs for all the sets of push presses. Hmmm…
Ok, time for the workout.
Not feeling too strong today. Maybe it has to do with lifting first thing after I wake up, after breakfast. Anyway:
Push Press
warmup
5x bar
3x95
3x115
work sets
3x135
3x145
3x155
3x165
3x175
3x155
3x165
Not bad, but not great. I’ve done 185 for a triple before (been a while), so I’m a little disappointed.
Had to cut the WOD short today. I did it right before I had to leave for work and it took much longer than I expected, so if I completed it, I would have been late. The prescribed workout was:
100 pull-ups (any grip)
100 push-ups
100 sit-ups
100 squats (these are bodyweight squats)
I did:
100 chin-ups
100 push-ups
30 sit-ups
50 squats
Time was approximately 28 minutes. After 50 chins, I had to switch to jumping chins for time’s sake. From what I gather on the CF forums, this is an ok thing to do.
I expected to be done with all 400 reps in about 20 minutes. My conditioning is absolutely terrible. One guy posted that he finished in 17 minutes with a 20 lb X vest.
I’m going to hurt tomorrow.
[quote]OneEye wrote:
MurrDawg wrote:
Ill definitely be keeping with this thread…great idea! Think you could post before and after pictures and stats?
Eh…it’s possible. I’m more concerned with performance so I may not post pics, but I do plan on keeping track of my bodyfat. I’ll put some numbers up later, I have to go to work soon.
I went ahead and started today. I subbed regular dips for ring dips, and used 95 lbs for hang power cleans instead of 135 lb full cleans. I haven’t done any oly variations in a long time so I’m starting slowly for that kind of thing. Today’s WOD was:
“Elizabeth”
21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips
I was done in 7:34. Huge forearm pump and very winded. Heart rate was very high.[/quote]
When subbing regular dips for ring dips the usually multiplier is 3x-4x the prescribed number of ring dips. That means if your doing regular dips you do 63-45-27 if using the 3x.
I used to think there wasn’t a big difference between ring dips and regular dips. Once I got my rings I found out I was very mistaken and the 3x multiplier is well deserved.
[quote]OneEye wrote:
Had to cut the WOD short today. I did it right before I had to leave for work and it took much longer than I expected, so if I completed it, I would have been late. The prescribed workout was:
100 pull-ups (any grip)
100 push-ups
100 sit-ups
100 squats (these are bodyweight squats)
I did:
100 chin-ups
100 push-ups
30 sit-ups
50 squats
Time was approximately 28 minutes. After 50 chins, I had to switch to jumping chins for time’s sake. From what I gather on the CF forums, this is an ok thing to do.
I expected to be done with all 400 reps in about 20 minutes. My conditioning is absolutely terrible. One guy posted that he finished in 17 minutes with a 20 lb X vest.
I’m going to hurt tomorrow.[/quote]
While these workouts look pretty easy…they aren’t. Be very careful with overtraining injuries which happens when you go from doing pullups maybe for a few sets once a week to doing pullups for reps of 50+ 3-5 times a week.
I would definitely recommend taking the 4th week as a 1/2 intensity/volume week. Same as with any other type of training. So hit the WOD’s but take that last week of the month as a break week and adjust the workouts to a lower intensity mode. I’d caution against adding too much in after doing the WOD when you first start out. It’s tempting, I know.
I’ve messed with Crossfit on/off since Feb. 2005 and it has it’s good and bad points like any program out there. I know you mentioned you are concerned about performance more than aesthetics, performance for what? Also Crossfit isn’t just the WOD posted on the main page, most affiliates don’t even do that workout and have their own preferences (i.e. KB’s, O-lifts, gymnastic emphais…etc). Currently I mix Crossfit Met/cons with a more conventional lifting program and there are a ton of different variations on how to do this.
Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions.
[quote]Backlash79 wrote:
When subbing regular dips for ring dips the usually multiplier is 3x-4x the prescribed number of ring dips. That means if your doing regular dips you do 63-45-27 if using the 3x.
I used to think there wasn’t a big difference between ring dips and regular dips. Once I got my rings I found out I was very mistaken and the 3x multiplier is well deserved.
[/quote]
I should have mentioned that. Some of these workouts I’ll be easing into to get used to them. I’m a former gymnast so I know the difference between dip variations. After a week or two I plan to ramp up the intensity to do the full workouts.
I’ve been doing EDT with chins and presses so while it was a jump in volume, it wasn’t a huge one.
Good idea. I’ll do that.
If I do add anything, it will be something like a few sets of bench presses on a conditioning-type day to keep my strength up in that lift (since I don’t think they use it) or a few rounds of heavy bag work on a strength day (like today’s ME deadlift workout). Nothing drastic. But if it doesn’t work (eating into my recovery, etc.) then I’ll drop it.
I should have clarified. I don’t play any sport (although I’m planning on starting classes at a BJJ/Muay Thai school once I change jobs and have a stable work schedule), I’ve just been noticing that my conditioning sucks. I almost never do cardio, and since high blood pressure and heart attacks run in my family, I feel like I need to get my heart going more.
I’m also working towards aesthetics, but that is on the back burner while I’m doing this WOD thing.
I plan on doing the WOD for a while to get a feel for what they do, and then doing like you do by adding the conditioning-type stuff to a normal lifting program.
Thanks for your help, man. Will do.
I’ve been an avid weightlifter/bodybuilder for 17yrs. I never have competed, but I once squatted 420 for 4X15, benched 365 ,inclined 300, curled 170 fairly strictly. I have done mostly Crossfit workouts for 2yrs. I can easily do 24dips at a BW of 230. My stamina has improved a lot. I once did 60 pullups in 20min w/minimal cheating in one of the workouts. I enjoy the workouts. They definitely make you push yourself hard. They are also fairly short.
Which makes them convenient for adults w/jobs, college, etc. Some of the workouts can leave you so sore that you think that you are injured though. I honestly thought that I had completely tore both shoulders after one of the workouts that included a total of 230 squat high pulls w/70# w/minimal rest. the workouts also incorporate many moves/exercises that most conventional BB programs do not.
This definitely takes away from the boredom of day in/day out training. I’ve done MD, MD II, Renegade training, Fat to Fire (I and II), and Waterbury’s Summer Program, to name a few. Crossfit is every bit as challenging as any of these. So far I cannot attest to any muscle loss on the program.
I caught a cold and didn’t do the last couple workouts. I had some time to think about it and I don’t think I’ll be doing CF exclusively (many apologies to anyone who was interested in my results). I’ve liked the workouts I’ve done so far, but I think I’m just going to do a few CF conditioning workouts per week in addition to regular weight training.
If there’s any interest I’ll still keep a log. I’m still not changing my diet (just eating when I’m hungry), so I’ll be interested to see what effects a few extra intense conditioning workouts per week have on me.
I’m interested by your log, maybe you could write it in the blog feature in your profile, just an idea, good luck !
Keep going with the log bro… really interested to see what your comments are in a couple of months.
Ive done Crossfit before. I used to do their workouts about 5 days a week and even got into making up my own, and kept that up for somewhere around 1 to 1.5 years.
I eventually stopped because of several reasons. Firstly, I wasnt really getting any noticeable physical results (not even leaning out anymore after a certain point). Secondly (and possibly more importantly) I just hated worrying about my ball-busting anaerobic workout that would eventually come at sometime during the day. It seemed to me that most of the WOD’s were intentionally put together with the goal of making you puke up your lunch in mind.
It was a good experience and I think I took an important mental edge from it, but ultimately the cost-benefit analysis compelled me to stop.
[quote]MurrDawg wrote:
Keep going with the log bro… really interested to see what your comments are in a couple of months.[/quote]
Will do.
Here’s what I’ll be doing:
Monday - Chest and Biceps
4x4-6 Flat Bench
3x8-10 Incline Press
3x10-12 Incline Flyes
4x6-8 BB Curl
3x8-10 Preacher Curl
3x12 Reverse Curl
Tuesday - Legs
4x4-6 Back Squat
3x8-10 Romanian Deadlift
3x10-12 Standing Calf Raise (barbell, on calf block)
3x10-12 Seated Calf Raise (barbell, on calf block)
Every other week, I’ll do 4x4-6 Deadlift and 3x6-8 Front Squat instead.
Wednesday
Crossfit WOD (if it isn’t a metabolic conditioning workout, I’ll do the most recent one that was)
Thursday - Back and Triceps
4x4-6 Weighted Chin
3x8-10 DB Row
3x10-12 BB Shrug
4x6-8 CG Bench
3x8-10 Skull Crushers
3x10-12 DB Triceps Extensions
Friday and Saturday - Shoulders/Crossfit WOD
Day depends on work schedule.
4x4-6 Military Press
3x8-10 Behind the Neck Press
3x8-10 Elbows-out Row
3x12-15 Lateral Raises
3x12-15 Rear Delt Flyes
Every other week, I’ll do 5x3 Push Press instead of MP. If I lift Saturday, I’ll do a Crossfit WOD Friday and vice versa.
I’m also doing some bodyweight stuff. My goals are handstand push-ups, a solid L-seat, a flag, a one-arm elbow lever, a pistol, a one-arm chin, and a solid backflip (I can do one now, I just can’t land it right every time). I’ll practice handstands, backflips, and levers nearly every day, and I’ll work the other stuff in based on what I feel like doing that day.
I’ll also be doing some grip work, but I don’t have specific goals in mind for now. A long-term goal of mine is to certify on the CoC #3 but it isn’t currently a priority.
I’ll work in other Crossfit WODs in when I feel like some extra work. I’ll also be using my heavy bag for some conditioning work.
Check out this video:
Had a lot to do today so I’ll do the CF WOD or some conditioning work tomorrow after my weights workout. Today I just did some dynamic flexibility work.
BTW, here’s a great article about developing flexibility:
http://www.trickstutorials.com/index.php?page=content/flexibility
This page in particular is outstanding:
http://www.trickstutorials.com/index.php?page=content/flx3
My flexibility is terrible, and always has been (even when I was a competitive gymnast). Time to do something about it.
Today:
Dynamic Warm-up (several stretches from the link I posted one post up)
Weighted Chins
6 x BW+20
6 x BW+20
6 x BW+20
4 x BW+20
DB Row
10 x 65
10 x 65
10 x 65
BB Shrugs
12 x 255
12 x 255
12 x 255
Rather than doing my triceps workout, I did some handstand push-ups against a wall, some fingertip push-ups, and some tiger bend push-ups. My handstand hold was pretty solid today, held 20+ seconds a few times with minimal wobbling/walking.
Five rounds on the heavy bag, one minute each, with a minute between.
I’ll be doing some isometric and passive stretches before bed.