Treble Crossfits Himself to the Moon

[Treble]

Heya folks. I'm a college student/wannabe composer in Nashville, TN. Last summer when I came home from school, I got real serious about my health, and I'm still going hard at it today. Still, I've got a long way to go to get to being the fitness machine I want to be, I can tell, and so from now on I'm gonna write down every step on my way there, right here. Whoa.

So here we go! Here I am now:

Age: 19

Height: 5'9"

Weight: ~176

Bodyfat %: ~10% (+/-2%)

Squat 5RM: 275

Deadlift 5RM: 275 (oof)

Press 5RM: 115

Bench 5RM: 160

Pushups (Unbroken): 28

Pullups (Unbroken): ~12

The Squat and Deadlift numbers are a bit old; they're from the end of my Starting Strength cycle in early May. I've been deadlifting and squatting since then, but in the context of Crossfit, and so haven't been tracking their progress. I think it's safe to assume that I couldn't put those numbers up for sets anymore, so I'm calling them 5RMs. Either way, that's a good ballpark for my strength.

Next spring, I'm living in Barcelona and studying at UB for the semester. The day I board the plane to Barcelona (approx. January 20th), these are my dream numbers:

Squat 5RM: 335

Deadlift 3RM: 405

Press 5RM: 155

Bench 5RM: 225

Pushups (Unbroken): 100+

Pullups (Unbroken): Enough so I don't have to count anymore! (>20)

My programming differs a little when I'm home (like now) vs. at school. While I'm here, I Crossfit 5 days/week and eat strict Paleo (except for grassfed meat, which I can't quite convince the parents to get into). At school, I focus more on strength training. I'm planning to eat Martin Berkhan-style (leangains.com) this coming year to maintian leanness and gain strength (duh); we'll see how that goes!

I'm going to become a beast. Help me get there! I'm excited!

[Treble]

6/25/11: one hundred pushups

Today, to get my pushup game proper, I started this awesome program called one hundred pushups (written just like that: very e.e cummings). It's designed to get you to 100 pushups in only 6 weeks. Legit. It's only 3 10-minute sessions a week, and the Crossfit Messageboard people seem to be OK with it in addition to a full week of WODs, so I'm doin' it. Hoo-rah!

I technically start on week 3 because I can already do 28.

Week 3 Day 1:

14-18-14-14-21, 81 Total

Ouch! This is gonna be hard. Loving it.

[Treble]

6/26/11: Rest Day

Worked today, did some unstructured, low intensity lifting mid 18(!) hour fast. Felt really good, actually! I'm starting to buy the whole IF thing; I forgot I hadn't eaten yet when I first got home. Spent a good deal of time trying to get my diet really dialed in, too; cutting out grocery store quality sausage, finishing (almost) my final tub of almond butter for the summer (which coincidentally I bought yesterday), cutting down on my apple intake, getting grassfed meat for the week, etc. I feel like I can eat a healthier paleo than I do now, so I'm gonna try and do it!

First WOD of the week in T-9 hours. Can't wait!

[Treble]

6/27/11: WOD 01

Warmup:

Foam Roll ITB

Run 800m

3 Warmup sets RDL: 10X45, 6x95, 6x135

WOD:

4 Rounds of:

Romanian Deadlift (start @ 60% of 1RM) 6-10 Reps

DB Bench (start @ 30% of 1RM) 6-10 Reps

Body Rows 6-10 Reps

Weighted Situps 10-15 Reps

RDL 185-205-205-205

DB Bench (per hand) 50-50-50-60 (last set 8 reps)

Situps 5-10-10-10

All of the weights, except where indicated, performed with Rx'ed reps (aka 10 for RDL & DBB, 15 for situps).

All sets of body rows 10 reps.

Good strength day. Time for breakfast!

EDIT: I thought the body rows didn't suck enough, so just now I did a quick close-grip chinup ladder for some extra upper-body pull action.

CG-Chins 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1-2-3-3-2-1.

Wanted to go all the way up to 4 for the second cycle, but hey. WOD in the morning!

[Treble]

6/28/11: WOD 02

Warmup:

Foam Roll ITB

Activation Work (Planks, Fire Hydrants, etc.) 5 min

WOD:

4 rounds each of:

BSQx5 (80% of 1RM)

V-Upx15

BPx5 (80% of 1RM)

2-Point Rowx10

Loads:

BSQ 215 across

BP 135-145-150-155

2-Point Row 35-40-45-45

We only did 3 rounds of the first couplet because of time constraints (sad face). And on the 2nd set I only did 3 reps for the BSQ per trainer recommendation. I thought I could probably handle all 5 but he's the boss.

Loving this strength week so far.

EDIT: one hundred pushups Week 3 Level 3 Day 2

20-25-15-15-25.

Hm maybe next time not the same day as benching... This program's so humbling! Struggling to get 15 measly pushups... very legit.

[Treble]

6/29/11: WOD 03

Warmup:

Foam Roll ITB

Activation Work (planks, Y's/T's/Flys, hydrants, etc.) 10 min

WOD:

3 Rounds for time of:

15 Burpees

15 KB Swings 1.5 pood (Round 1 1 pood)

15 Push Presses 65#

15 Wall Balls 15#

15 Jumping Pullups

17:03. Woof.

Mmmm, eggs...

[Treble]

6/29/11: WOD 04

Warmup:

Roll ITB

Dynamic Warmup (Shoulder Dislocations, Clean practice w/ PVC)

WOD:

3 Cleans

6 Chinups

6 Bulgarian Split Squats each leg

6 Push Presses

Each couplet for 20 min. Not for time.

Clean 45-65-95-125-125 (EEEEEEWWWW I'm bad at this movement)

Push Press 45-95-115-125

B. Spl. Sq.: 5-10-10-20 (each hand)

Not that happy with this WOD, really felt I could have pushed the weights more. He's the boss though... I'll treat it as recovery and hit it hard tomorrow morning!

[Treble]

6/30/11: WOD 05

Warmup:

Roll ITB

Dynamic Warmup: Jumping Jacks, Seal Jumps, Flings, Mountain Climbers, Groiners, Frog Jumps: 5 min

WOD:

3 rounds each of:

15 Romanian Deadlifts

15 DB Bench Presses

400m Run

15 Step Ups (each side)

15 Body Rows

400m Run

Not for time.

RDL: 135-145-165

DB Bench: 30-40-40 (each hand)

Step Ups: 20"-24"-24" w/10# DBs

Note to self: don't eat chili <12 hours before a workout, even if you cook it yourself. TMI?

Last day of one hundred pushups week 3 later today. Legitimately worried about getting all the reps. Get it!

[Treble]

Happy 4th!

7/4/11: WOD 06

3 Rounds each half. Complete each half in under 15 minutes.

Squat (50% of 1RM) 15 reps

Chinups 15 reps

Run 400m

Split Squat 15 reps

DB Press 15 reps

Run 400m

Loads: BSQ 135 across, Chinups w/black assistance band (2nd least amount of assistance), DB press 20# each hand. Modified after 3rd round of back squats; all movements=>10 reps, Run=>200m walk, due to illness.

This WOD was a disaster. I didn't feel right all yesterday, and slept from 4PM-9PM and then 11PM-6:30AM. One of the coolest things about eating right and working out is the increased body awareness; I'm pretty sure I'm sick, and I'm pretty sure I knew it the second I lay down at 4 yesterday. Nevertheless, I decided to try and go get my ass kicked this morning, because what better prepares you for a WOD then 11.5 hours of sleep and a bunch of food? Being healthy, apparently.

I got all the way through the back squats, and despite this WOD being muscular endurance-focused and not a full blown met/con, I felt like I wanted to die. Not sore, not a little winded, but dizzy, hands-on-the-knees, nauseated, the whole 9 yards. Now if I had just done Cindy or whatever that's par for the course. But 800m of running? 45 reps of BSQ at 135#? Something doesn't add up here. So instead of pushing through and losing my lunch or collapsing or something I spoke up and eased off.

That's tough for me. I don't get injured, really. I don't ever feel overtrained. I like going hard every day no matter what, and I absolutely hate leaving the gym feeling like I could have done more. Sometimes, though, you need to back off. A less intense workout is more advantageous then fainting/vomiting and the loss of nutrients/time training that would ensue. Whole9 wrote an awesome article about this, called the path of the buttercup. Check it out: http://whole9life.com/2011/03/suck-it-up-buttercup/

I also slacked on that one hundred pushup workout this weekend. No good excuses: I was tired and had work and when the time(s) came to do the pushups I didn't want to do them. I'm gonna do it later today.

[MegaCarp]

Man Treble, I sure hope you're feeling better dude. Also, hows the 100 pushup thing coming, I'm actually very curious.

[Treble]

Hey thanks man! I'm feeling way better now. The 100 pushup plan is going all right; I did the third workout yesterday after crossfit. I barely got the reps, and it's technically two days late, but I'm counting it anyway. Besides, even if it doesn't get me to 100 in exactly six weeks, it's still gonna help my pushup game.

Phew! Sorry for the delay from yesterday, I had a long day at work (and another one coming up) and was too tired to get online last night. So here goes, two days of updates:

7/5/11: WOD 07

FSQ 3 reps

Weighted Situp 10 reps

Bench 3 reps

Weighted Situp 10 reps

Each couplet 20 minutes. Work to 90% of 1RM for one set.

FSQ 135-155-175

Bench 145-155-165

Situps 10-15-20-25x4.

Definitely could have gone heavier on the front squats. My gym owner keeps this really old board of PRs that we never update (but still base all our strength loads off of); kinda frustrating, but I love the guy and his gym fits my schedule better than other boxes. I think he sorta saw the problem yesterday; he was like "next time we'll update that and see what your max is now..." Yeah sounds good.

That's just me being a baby though. Everything was still hard, which means everything was causing an adaptation, which is the point.

one hundred pushups, week 3 day 3:

22-30-20-20-28.

7/6/11: WOD 08

AMRAP in 20 minutes:

20 Overhead Walking Lunges (total)

20 Jumping Pullups

20 DB Push Presses (20# DB)

20 Alternating V-Ups (total)

4.5 rounds exactly.

[Treble]

7/7/11: WOD 09

Deadlift: Work to 1RM

Weighted Chinup, sets of 3

Press, sets of 3

Turkish Get Up practice

DL 135x5-185x3-225x3-255x2-275x1-295x1.

Weighted Chins 10-15-20-25-30-35.

Press 45x5-65x5-95x3-115x3-115x3.

TGU worked to 15# for 3 each side (never done these before!)

PR'ed deadlift by 20 pounds! Technically. I was pulling 275x5 at school, so I bet my 1RM then was way higher than 295, but that's the highest recorded number so far, so I'm counting it. Holllaaaaaaa

Turkish get ups are my new favorite exercise. SO legit. LOVED this workout.

[Treble]

7/8/11: WOD 10

3 rounds each of:

RDL (30% 1RM) 15 reps

Body Rows 15 reps

Toe Touches 30 reps

Step Ups 15 reps (each side)

DB Bench (15% of 1RM each hand) 15 reps

Russian Twist 15 reps each side.

RDL 95-105-105

DB Bench 35 across.

Kind of a recovery workout; barely broke a sweat. That's all right though: we went pretty damn heavy yesterday, comparatively. Accidentaly skipped the last 30 toe touches: oh well, between you and me I think they're pretty useless anyway. Pushups later today.

[MegaCarp]

I'm curious Treble, what is a turkish get up

[Treble]

For a demo, I'll hand the floor over to none other than Jason Khalipa, doing more than 10x the weight I did yesterday hahahaha:

GAAAAAAHHHHH how cool is that?!?!

[Treble]

7/11/11: WOD 11

WOD 11 on 7/11/11!

Snatch Work

Warmup:

Roll ITB

PVC Work (dislocations, snatch pulls, etc.)

Snatch 1-3 reps for 20 min

Snatch balances 5 reps for 20 min

Worked to 85 lbs for ~10 reps on the snatch, worked with the bar for snatch balances.

Had a major breakthrough in the snatch/OHSQ today. I'm really used to low bar back squatting, and thus tend to push my butt back to get below parallel. Fixed this today, could feel the new motor pattern being programmed. So excited about this; now that I feel safe overhead squatting, I can slowly start pushing more weight to get it competitive. I can also tell it's really gonna translate for my clean and front squat. Oly lifting win!

Might do some weighted chins and incline pushups tonight, but I have another wod at 7 AM, so maybe not. #fitnessambivalence

[mpbstereo]

Dude, this is awesome. Keep it up! I'm going to start posting my WODs here too.

[Treble]

7/12/11: WOD 12

Find 1RMs of FSQ and BP. In between FSQ sets, weighted situps x12. In between BP sets, DB rows x12.

FSQ 135x5-155x3-175x2-195x1-205x1

BP 135x5-155x2-175x1-195x1.

Weighted Situps 10-15-20-25.

DB Row 35-50-50.

30 lb PR on FSQ, 20 lb PR on bench! Kinda. Same deal as before; really old numbers, but new records are new records. I'll take it!

Thanks stereo! Definitely post yours too!

[Deis]

Silly question; what does nRM mean?

I have a feeling of being quite impressed, but very little understanding of why.;p

[Treble]

7/13/11: WOD 13

Roll ITB

Run 800m

4 rounds of:

20 wall ball shots

20 body rows

400m run

20 situps

Run 800m.

~34:00. Pretty slow, but endurance is by far my weakness in terms of fitness. So gassed!

Deis: nRM= n-rep max. So how much weight you could possibly do for 1, 3, 5, reps.

[mpbstereo]

7/13/11: WOD 13

Roll ITB

Run 800m

4 rounds of:

20 wall ball shots

20 body rows

400m run

20 situps

Run 800m.

~34:00. Pretty slow, but endurance is by far my weakness in terms of fitness. So gassed!

Deis: nRM= n-rep max. So how much weight you could possibly do for 1, 3, 5, reps.

don't feel too bad, i doubt i could do this in under 30 mins, either. the wall balls will gas anyone!

what do you use for body rows? i used to use a smith machine to adjust the bar height, but i recently invested in a pair of olympic rings... now, anytime i see an exercise in my WOD planning that i can transpose to rings, i will. stabilizing along a frictionless plane is like hot sauce for your muscles!

[Treble]

7/17/11 End of Tech Week

Woah. I work for this theater company, and starting on Tuesday I've worked 12-16 hour days until tonight. I got to the gym every scheduled time except Friday morning, due to a 7:30 A.M call following a 12:00 AM dismissal the night before. Don't feel that bad, but that's where I've been. I honestly don't remember Thursday's WOD at all, I'm so tired, but it was strength based and relatively heavy and I did half of it because my call was so early. I'm gonna catch up on a lot of sleep and get at it at 5:30 tomorrow night.

[Treble]

So instead of updating both a challenge thread and a workout log, just head over to my 6-week challenge thread for all my workouts. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet.