BJJ

REST

To every man, there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing; unique, and fitted to his talents. What a tragedy, if that moment finds him unprepared and unqualified for work that would be his finest hour.

-Winston Churchill

TRAIN HARD FIGHT EASY

Test your strength. Know your capabilities. Find cracks and fissures in your foundation. Look for flaws, weaknesses, breaches of structural integrity, areas of compromise, limits, boundaries, borders, constraints, and reservations. Find a blowtorch. Go to work. Take yourself for a test drive until if feels right. Then drive it like you stole it.

50# d-bell on arm power snatch x 30 left arm
rest 3 min
repeat with right arm
rest 3 min
35# d-bell turkish get ups x 30
rest 3 min
50# d-bell farmers carry (.5 mile on treadmill)

TURN FEAR INTO CONFIDENCE

50# d-bell lunges x 10
50# d-bell squats x 10
10 rounds without dropping d-bells, alternating movements

Houston...we have a problem...

A new smelling, carpeted, air conditioned "gym" the size of a hotel room (hence being a hotel gym), Fox News on the television, three treadmills and a rack of dumbbells. Unfortunately I have no wod to post today and it's not because I didn't train. I'm a firm believer in taking my own medicine and doing what I ask others to do, ergo; I'm stuck with packing material this week and refuse to post something that someone may do that hasn't been corroborated as pure fitness-stimulating poison. I realize that we have to improvise at times despite the nagging frustration of not getting our fix. When starting crossfit it is much easier because we get caught up in the mire of intensity and the flurry of oxidative wods. We think everything should be oxidative and that if we don't feel like we got a work out then we didn't get a work out. As we progress and migrate into a more precise approach to fitness the programming becomes more challenging. We work hard to rectify shortcomings like muted hips and other impediments to a solid execution of a movement. We set specific goals and train to accomplish them. I guess my point is that there used to be a lot I could do with a set of 50# dumbbells but now I'm sort of drawing a blank. Of course we can always sacrifice weight for the production of more force in developing a certain skill but.... I'm still drawing a blank. What can a set of 50# dumbbells do for my power lifts or Olympic lifts or Fran time? Can dumbbells do something that a barbell can't? Has anyone become uniquely fit with d-bells? Perhaps tomorrow's 50# d-bell wod will be worth posting.

REST...NOT BY CHOICE

BUDGETING FOR TIME

155# squat cleans x 5
pull ups x 5
ring dips x 5
5 rnds for time

BJJ

24kg k-bell swings x 20
u/w swim (across pool)
push ups x 20
u/w swim

5 rounds for time

the crew did the following:
21 wallballs
50 yrd freestyle swim
21 sandbag thrusters
50 yrd swim
21 k-bell swings
50 yrd swim
repeat for 15 reps each mvment/swim
repeat for 9 reps...

REST

New tools of the trade, 100# sandbag and 150# log. Both were made from scraps.

overhead squat
20-20-20

one-legged d-lift
5-5-5 (per leg)

STRENGTH

bench press
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

135# power snatch x 5
tire flips x 10
farmers carry 135# b-bell per arm
86# log push press x 10
rope pull ups x 10
3 rnds with 3 min rest

tire pull/drag
3 rnds with 3 min rest

BJJ

The most fundamental principle of crossfit is to increase work capacity across a broad range of time and module domains. After walking out of the gym today with a limp and various bumps and bruises I realized that I'm not a pure crossfitter. In considering the aforementioned crossfit principle it would only make sense that if one wants to truly be fit aCROSS a variety of different domains then he or she should practice and incorporate a variety of different skills, sports, and activities. I could train for a sub two fran but what will it do for me in the real world that a sub three fran coupled with real world activities won't do? Depending on our goals we need to strike a good balance. The gym is only a tool used to prepare us for life's real battles. To some, it is the battleground. Nevertheless, it's a sterile environment that allows us to engage in direct and predictible muscle stimulation. It also allows us the comfort to pace ourselves, a luxury not afforded by nature. A crossfit wod allows us to rest when we think we need it but if we rest in nature or sport there are consequences, i.e. losing, getting tapped out or punched, etc. We should incorporate more real life mentality into our training and train in the gym as though our life depended on it. We should work to minimize rest and apply a level of focus that is generally found in the most serious athletes. The skills we cultivate in the gym will be the skills we need in real life whether it be work, school, or sport.

GROWING LUNGS

500 mtr warm up
500 mtr u/w swim (no fins, 25 mtr intervals)
25 mtr farmers carry
1-1-1-1-1
lung busters
25 mtr freestyle sprints (no breathing)
start at 1min rest between intervals
reduce each rest interval by 10 sec until intolerable

watch this video of peter pedersen

35' rope ascents
1-1-1-1-1
12' vertical monkey bar ascents
1-1-1

from dieselcrew

Benefits of Thick Rope Training:
grip strength – dynamic crush / dynamic pinch (dependent upon thickness of rope); dynamic wrist postures
intermuscular coordination – summation of tensions through the coordinated engagement of multiple muscle groups (prime movers, synergists, secondary movers, etc.) simultaneously
mental toughness - rope training is NOT easy, it is not a quick fix, it is a bust ass, relentless training means that most forgo
massive core strength – rope training can be done in a L-sit position, with knees tucked or while holding various odd objects in guard
high work capacity - because rope training utilizes the entire body, a high level of work capacity and muscular endurance is developed

FROM THESHOPTOPEKA

"The Shop Chipper"

135# d-lift x 10
20# wallball x 20
135# hang powerclean x 10
24kg k-bell swings x 20
135# front squats x 10
24" box jumps x 20
135# push press x 10
pull ups x 20
135# back squats x 10
burpees x 20

for time

RECOVERY

warm up

500 yrd swim

then 

500 yrd underwater farmers carry with 10# bricks

(in 25 yrd intervals)

BACK TO BASICS

315# back squats
5-5-5
d-lift (same weight)
7-7

YESTERDAY

bdy wt bench press/45# weighted pull ups

3 rnds max reps
...
rope slams
25# ball slams
pull ups

change exercises every ten seconds for two minutes
...
7 mile run

DAY FIVE OF FIVE

Krav Maga is a self-defense system that was developed in Israel during a period of anti-Semitic activity. This system has been proven to work and has both civilian and military applications. The most significant aspect of Krav Maga is that it utilizes fundamental body movements, instincts, and reactions making it easy to learn and apply. It sort of reminds me of crossfit, that is, embracing the utility and trimming the excess. However, I wonder why Greg Glassman aligned himself with Tony Blauer who admits that his one patented move is nothing more than a bridge to your next move. This doesn't sound like a very complete system to me. Furthermore, Krav Maga has a relatively tight handle on its curriculum. This means that if you find yourself in another city or country you can rest assured that by visiting a Krav facility your training won't miss a beat. I can't help but consider the contrast with crossfit. Affiliates are spread throughout the spectrum from A all the way to Z, some providing grade A services while others simply.... I'm not sure what the right answer is except that if you find yourself on the road try to build a tight network of places to train. Otherwise learn self-sufficiency and avoid depending on others for something as important as training. If you're not serious then it doesn't matter anyway.

DAY FOUR OF FIVE

135# shoulder press x 5
pull ups x 10
45# bar jumping squats x 20
5 rnds with 2 min rest btwn

The facility I'm at this week offers a crossfit class and has a modest cache of the necessary tools. I found a dark corner and went to work. Although a "crossfit" facility can now be found in just about ever city I still find myself looking for a park, traveling with a k-bell, or going to a globo gym and resigning myself to pure strength training. When I first started crossfit I never had second thoughts about sniffing out and visiting any crossfit facility I could find. Not any more though. What has changed?

DAY 3 OF FIVE

97# american k-bell swings
10-10-10-10-10
1.5 min rest
figure 8s (leg weaves)
20-20-20
1 min rest

We train and strive for perfection but never achieve it.

DAY TWO OF FIVE

97# alternating one arm russian k-bell swings x 25
5 rnds with 3 min rest


Sometimes a workout is the best way to combat the fatigue of training all day.

DAY ONE OF FIVE

One of the basic tenets of crossfit is to play new sports or engage yourself in atypical ways. This could be a confusing principle for someone relatively new to the activity, especially after reviewing the hype from the games and seeing some of the crossfitters who train for specific wods to post freakish times and numbers. On one hand we should do anything and everything that produces benefit yet the other sets an appealling trap for benchmark recognition. The truth is that a person should define their goals and decide how crossfit should be integrated in one's life. We frequently admonish the specialist and praise the generalist but crossfitters are evolving into crossfit specialists. Incorporating other activities such as the one I'm doing this week will do nothing for my fran time or any of my one rep max lifts on any lifts. Years ago I learned a valuable lesson from powerlifting; that is, the more skilled/stronger/faster/whatever at any activity demands less and less of a deviation therefrom. This is why, as powerlifters peek for their meets, they slowly trim the excess from their routines to include auxilary exercises and walks in the park. This is the cost of moving too far in one direction. To some, its worth the price.
The benefits of being a crossfitter and engaging a panoply of activities is that the fitness part is generally not an issue, new movements are learned fast, and recovery is almost instant.
The point of all this is that crossfit is either a sport in and of itself or it's a tool used as the foundation for another activity. Only the user can decide. The exception to sacrificing the highly sought after and dialed in routine is that, with elite fitness, the body should respond in no time to adapting anew or regressing to its foundation. It would be nice to get enough sleep every night, eat the perfect diet, train at the same time every day, and enjoy the qualities of the athlete's perfect world. A flying pony would also be nice but without it we must make do with what we have or make changes to get what we want.
Wods will more than likely be limited this week as it serves little or no purpose to try and squeeze more juice from an already depleted rock.

REST AND HEAL

We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources.

William James (The Energies of Men, p. 12)

TDS

WHO NEEDS A GYM!?

2 mile trail run
then:
80 mtr intervals of the following:
5 rnds of one arm log drag
4 rnds of totem pole carry
3 rnds of curl/rack carry
2 rnds of overhead carry
1 rnd battering ram carry/one arm overhead

20 rnds for time
150# bench press x 5
25# ball slams x 5
20# pull ups x 5