Had a litte double-dip today starting with a nice, hilly 5k in the morning (rolled in at just over 23 minutes, should be better than that, but with the hills, I wasn't all that dissapointed). In the evening I had max effort strict presses with an absolutely killer metcon. When I failed at 170# on the press (I was able to get it locked out on my final set, but with a massive struggle) I realized a little something, I have been beating my head against the wall for way too long wih hopeful gains. I'll get into that in a second here.
The metcon, well, the note in my log book says it all...wow. 3 rounds of a 500 meter row, 10 squat cleans at 135# and 5 handstand push ups. Now I am sure t would have been a tad easier if I could actually rep out the HSPU's, but to be honest, I am feeling so much better with these, and felt good with my time of 11:53. I know that unbroken HSPU's would get that well under 10 minutes, but I gave the rows and cleans my all, so I'm pretty happy. Yeah, that crushed me!
So on to my shoulder crap. I hav always been a pretty big advocate for supplimental training, as in, additional exercises that assist growth in specific areas to help improve gains. But sometimes, as is the case with anyone in anything, I can get caught up in certain things and totally forget the most efficient and effectove ways to train. You see, I have been so focused on getting my strict press numbers and HSPU's up, that all I have been doing is strict press and HSPU's. And this is just NOT the way to go about getting better. I have failed to perform isometrics, eccentrics and modifications of the desired movements with DB work and unilateral work. When I came to this realization (thanks to a great conversation with 1st String strength coach Matt), I also realized that I have been neglecting these additions with all my other moves. I need to mix in box squats, bottom up squats and presses, rack pulls, single-limb movements and isometrics. Given how my progress has been, I don't want to change things up too much, but I know mixing these in during de-loading periods, and as additional supplemental exercises, I'll see some added punch to my already speedy improvements.
This is proof that even trainers need to surround themselves with fitness minds. Nobody knows it all, and even the most knowledgeable (and I am NOT one of those people) will benefit from outside advice. Here's to always learning and keeping your mind open! Oh yeah, I had steak last night for the first time in probably over a year. Not too bad at all!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
After a pretty successful strict press session (160# for two and felt very stable throughout, that's good for me folks!), then a handful of rounds of weighted pull ups and split jerk practice (45# and 80k respectively), I hit my crazy workout.
3 rounds of:
100 meter sprint
2 unbroken muscle ups
3 HSPU
4 power snatch 95#
5 pistol squats (each leg)
6 box jumps 30"
7 clean and jerk 95#
8 OH lunges 95# (total steps)
9 burpees
10 half moons 52#
I expected this one to kick my butt a little bit, but I had no idea it would do as much damage as it did. There was nothing about it that was overly taxing in terms of weight (although the clean and jerks and lunges felt like 200+ at that point), it was that there was no time to breath. The 100 meters was way too short to catch my breath, and the huge movements of each exercises was enough to just take it all out of me by the end of the first round. I stumbled through my final breath, gasping for air in 14:06 and I put every ounce of energy into that workout I had! What a great one, I would love to see what other people get with that one.
Now I am down in San Diego, ready to head to Ramona in the morning to attend a CrossFit Kids certification course. Should be a pretty fun weekend, and I can not wait to run around and be active with a bunch of kids. There is nothing like a child's energy to remind you just how fun being active can actually be!
I'll probably miss a post tomorrow, then post all about the weekend fun on Sunday, so look for that one. Enjoy your weekend everyone! I would love to hear any feedback/comment on the post about Process from yesterday, let e know what you think!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
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