Meat Tanking : Battle Patterns

[This is Seth]

Meat Tanking : Battle Patterns

 

Everyone knows that marching into battle without a plan would be asinine. Much is the same with heading in to the gym. If you enter those hallowed grounds with no set plan, you're just wasting your own time. over the course of this challenge, I'd like to get together a plan for how I can use my new found enjoyment of CrossFit to fit into an overall strength plan. A lot of this is rooted in the fact that I'll be heading down to the NF Lift Off in January and really don't want to lose to BigM because of the fact that I haven't been training like a Warrior for 6 months. 
 
So, how to establish these battle patterns?
 
1[F]. Setup Your Basecamp

First we need to setup a a standard. Something that we can rely on every week. I started this last challenge and it helped me stay sane during some rather stress filled work weeks. I'd like to make sure that I'm keeping a routine of getting to class 3 times a week and in by myself at least once a week. Same scoring as last time.

• 3 classes a week
• 1+ extra day per week.

 

2[F]. Ready the Troops

Once you have a solid foundation built, it's time to lay the ground work for your building. I'm mixing my metaphors here... Once you have raised your fortifications, you need to ready your troops! Troops are useless if they're underfed and running ragged. The second goal is to ensure that my body is given enough of what it needs to properly recover. I don't think I'm doing this at the moment and really want to work on it. 

• PWO Shake + BCAAs after each workout
• In bed at 10 on workout nights
• Only two nights drinking a week

 

3[L]. Study the Enemy's Movements

More of a life goal than the others, this challenge goal is work related. I've started perusing my brother's library for books on improving managerial and/or people skills. I'm being put into such a position in my company where I have direct subordinates and have a lot of face time with clients. I want to make sure that I'm taking full advantage of these situations and can progress professionally from the outcomes of the projects that I'm heading. 

• Read another managerial book
• Create S&P for Client repo

 

 

4[F]. Devise Battle Patterns

As the year comes to an end and I'm getting into the swing of things at CrossFit, I'd like to setup my own battle patterns. What that really means is setting up programming around the WoD that we do during class. I haven't benched in 5 months now.. I haven't pulled anything over 85% for deadlifts in about that long.. 

I'm not sure what programming I want to get into, if it's PL or WL focused. A lot of that is going to depend on feedback from my coaches who are in the notes for this goal. Jen is thinking about doing a WL class during the week and Rick is our strength coach, so any programming I'll be running past him. 

 

• Have a program setup with input from Rick/Jen on how to enter the new year

 

 

5. Sub Goals

• Place in my CF Competition this week?
• Beat(don't hold back) TinMan and Ska at the Spartan in two weeks.
• Make progress towards my bodyweight snatch challenge with BigM.
• Get in a couple heavy pulls to prep for the NF PL meetup in January.

[cline]

Rangers rangers!!!

 

Yea!

 

 

5. Sub Goals

• Place in my CF Competition this week?
• Beat(don't hold back) TinMan and Ska at the Spartan in two weeks.
• Make progress towards my bodyweight snatch challenge with BigM.
• Get in a couple heavy pulls to prep for the NF PL meetup in January.

 

 

Yes

Yes (pics please)

Yes

Yes

 

Awesome side goals.

[spezzy]

[chairohkey]

 

 

3[L]. Study the Enemy's Movements

More of a life goal than the others, this challenge goal is work related. I've started perusing my brother's library for books on improving managerial and/or people skills. I'm being put into such a position in my company where I have direct subordinates and have a lot of face time with clients. I want to make sure that I'm taking full advantage of these situations and can progress professionally from the outcomes of the projects that I'm heading.

• Read another managerial book
• Create S&P for Client repo

If you have time we could be classmates.

 

https://www.coursera.org/course/lead-ei

[This is Seth]

 

 

Ahhh Baby Panda!

 

 

If you have time we could be classmates.

 

https://www.coursera.org/course/lead-ei

 

Oh that is cool. Do I honestly think I have time to keep up with an extra 3-4 hours a week? No... Will I sign up to get the materials, yes.  Thanks Mick.

 

Bit of a recap of what's been going on this week. 

Sunday - Olympic Lifting Seminar with our resident oly coach. Went through like triple digits on snatch and c&j. Getting my technique critiqued is awesome, I've gotten pretty close with Jen, so she's pretty straight forward with me on what I suck at. My jerk stance sucks, didn't know that. My setup on snatch isn't great because I don't stay out in front of the bar during my pull. Good to know. Now I have stuff to work on. 

 

Monday - Max Squats Day. Who's happy? This panda is happy. Went 325/345/365. 365 didn't feel great. But it went up pretty quickly for something that was a previous 1rm at my box. Got a few spotters around and went for 375 and nailed it. Felt great, felt solid the entire lift. Good bounce, no slow down through the half way point, which has been my weak point. New gym 1rm? I'll take it. 

WoD: we did a 10 EMOTM of double unders and pull ups. I'm just getting double unders, can't string them together yet.. I do the single, single, double method. Did 5 DU/5 PU for the full 10 minutes. Good little workout to not fry my legs anymore. 

 

Tuesday - Game night! 

 

Wednesday - Turkish Get Ups. I've never actually done these for a training event. Had some fun working up to a 1.75pd(~63#) KB. After that, did an empty barbell just to find out what the differences were. They're huge. Barbells is a burner on the grip and wrist. Fun stuff though. 

WoD: Ugly All Day. It's named the Belching Toad. I, being the idiot that I am, didn't look at that. Popped a few BCAAs and Fish Oil supplements beforehand, mostly cause I forgot to take them with my lunch. But, fish oil burps all training session. Idiot. 

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of burpees 

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 of 2pd(~72#) KB swing

Did this in 6:46. Was not expecting to hit it that hard, but went after it trying to keep up with Coach Rick and another guy, Brendan. Brendan hit all his KB swings unbroken and I did not. I split 8 and 10 into two sets. I was planning on hitting about 8, so when Rick called out that I finished in sub 7, I was fucking pumped. 

Pumped on the ground, wanting to puke... but pumped none the less.

 

Will update again tomorrow as I plan on getting in one more time before the competition this weekend. 

[EmCee]

If you have time we could be classmates.

 

https://www.coursera.org/course/lead-ei

 

This is actually something that would be super helpful to me. Signing up also. 

[Crooked]

Hello hello. I dig your theme, I dig your goals, and I'm excited for your challenge!

[AgentsSka]

Whoa.  We got a like button on posts now??  How very facebook!

 

Loving the theme and the goals, buddy.

 

 

5. Sub Goals

• Place in my CF Competition this week?
• Beat(don't hold back) TinMan and Ska at the Spartan in two weeks.
• Make progress towards my bodyweight snatch challenge with BigM.
• Get in a couple heavy pulls to prep for the NF PL meetup in January.

 

 

AROOO!

[catspaw]

Subbed.

[This is Seth]

Nice and quiet night in the gym. Those of us competing this weekend stayed off to one corner, working mobility for about a half hour and talking strategy. We all went through a short workout that went over small scales of each of the movements we're going to be seeing this weekend. 

 

Went something like this:

2 rounds of

500m row

3 cleans

4 thrusters

5 overhead squats

6 deadlifts

5 toes to bar

5 box jump overs

50' KB walk in catch position

 

Just a simple walk through, really just above getting the blood flowing and not going loose over two days off. Tomorrow is rest day and we'll be in the cars at 7am on Saturday morning. 

 

WoD list looks like: 

 

Saturday's WODs will be: 

 

WOD 1:

5 Rounds (12 Min Time Cap) 
Rx: 
10 Squat Cleans (95/65) 
25 Double Unders

Scaled:

10 Power Cleans (95/65) 
100 Single Unders

 

WOD 2: 

Jackie Gone Bad 
1000m Row 
50 Overhead Squats (75/45); (45/15) 
30 Toes to Bar (30 Sit Ups)

 

and the Floater,  
Max Revolution Kettlebell Walk (in rack position):

Rx and Scaled: 53/35# KB

-Competitor will hold two kettlebells in rack position, and will travel 20 yards back and forth until elbows drop and kettlebell is no longer in rack position. Scored for time.

 

 

Sunday's WODs will be 

WOD 1:

 

3 Mins Max Weight Jerk (from Rack)  

WOD 2 and 3: 
 

8 Min AMRAP: 
Thrusters (115/75); (75/55) 
5 Burpee Bar Hops EMOM 
Scored at Min 3 and at Min 8

WOD 4:

 

12 Min Workout -  
Every 3 Mins: 
-200m Run 
-10 Deadlifts (185/135); (135/95) 
-Max Rep Box Jump Overs 
Event is scored on total # of Box Jump Overs

 

 

 

Only other thing about tonight was that I got told to coach somebody, which was fun. I was helping another member make sure they were hitting depth in the OHS. He was coming off his heels, both our oly coach and I saw it and she shouted across the gym, "Seth, coach him out of that". Yay! I can be helpful. Gave him a few cues on how to spread the ground with his feet to keep his foundation solid and not have him rocking back and forth from toes to heels as he hits depth. His next few sets looked a lot better. Woot!

[Knightwatch]

Good luck tomorrow!  You got this!

[DirtyLittleSecrets]

Ahhh Baby Panda!

 

 

 

Oh that is cool. Do I honestly think I have time to keep up with an extra 3-4 hours a week? No... Will I sign up to get the materials, yes.  Thanks Mick.

 

Bit of a recap of what's been going on this week. 

Sunday - Olympic Lifting Seminar with our resident oly coach. Went through like triple digits on snatch and c&j. Getting my technique critiqued is awesome, I've gotten pretty close with Jen, so she's pretty straight forward with me on what I suck at. My jerk stance sucks, didn't know that. My setup on snatch isn't great because I don't stay out in front of the bar during my pull. Good to know. Now I have stuff to work on. 

 

Monday - Max Squats Day. Who's happy? This panda is happy. Went 325/345/365. 365 didn't feel great. But it went up pretty quickly for something that was a previous 1rm at my box. Got a few spotters around and went for 375 and nailed it. Felt great, felt solid the entire lift. Good bounce, no slow down through the half way point, which has been my weak point. New gym 1rm? I'll take it. 

WoD: we did a 10 EMOTM of double unders and pull ups. I'm just getting double unders, can't string them together yet.. I do the single, single, double method. Did 5 DU/5 PU for the full 10 minutes. Good little workout to not fry my legs anymore. 

 

Awesome max squat! That's terrific .

I'm also working on stringing double unders. My coach said at this point it's all about me staying closer to the ground as I jump now. Apparently I'm putting too much oomph in my jumps.

Glad to see you're starting out strong .

[EmCee]

Good luck!

[This is Seth]

End of the first day. Just got home, I've been up for just over 12 hours and I'm physically and mentally spent. Just think I get to do this all over again tomorrow. I took so many stimulants and aminos today that my body just wants to sleep now. And I'm happy to comply. 

 

Saturday

WoD 1 : 7:06(7th place) Wasn't pleased with this. Pretty sure I did this in sub-7 in the gym. I think it was just the nerves and not being properly warmed up. My quads were on fucking fire afterwards. 

WoD 2 : 5:38(1st place) Calves hated me afterwards. 100 single unders are just annoying. Ripped both thumbs as well because their knurling is sharper than ours. Still, this was a great workout for me. 

Floater WoD : 1:16 with 53# KBs. I'm somewhere in the middle of the pack on this one. I'm not entirely sure how the points are working on this event, as it's not up yet. 

 

As it stands, I'm tied for second place in the men's scaled division. Three workouts tomorrow. I need to go eat some fish oil and fall asleep. Later nerds!

[AgentsSka]

This is awesome!!

Go get 'em, Seth!!

[exjamieus]

Your challenges are the best because I always learn something. If you find any people skill books that you especially like, pass them along. Professional development is so the theme of my life right now. 

[cline]

I'm so excited for you!!! Waiting for full recap.

[catspaw]

Wooo!  Goooo seth!

[Stronkey Kong]

Sub'd

 

So this is the third thread I've read that had BCAAs on it.

 

What are they? What do they do? When do you need them?

[This is Seth]

Can't do full recap at the moment. Just getting in, extremely tired and sore and a little drunk. For good reason.

 

Sunday

WoD 1 : 6,035 lbs (3rd place). I literally changed my weight about 3 minutes before starting this event. I was going to go 115# but realized that there was no one in my division going higher than 95. I dropped weight to 85 and push jerked the shit out of this event. Completely pleased with the turn out. 71 reps in 3 minutes under high scrutiny. 

WoD 2 : 37 reps (3rd place) This one was a bit strategy. I didn't expect to be able to keep my lead for the whole 8 minute workout and they were scoring evenly at 3 minutes and 8 minutes for this burpees/thrusters competition. So, I went balls out on the first three minutes. 

WoD 3 : 67 reps (2nd place) I didn't expect this. Honestly, I didn't think I was doing that well. I hit ~5 a minute after the three minute mark and then burned it on my last minute. I beat out everyone but my rival for this metric.

WoD 4 : 118 reps(12th place) Not going to lie. I tanked this event. It was not a good even for me anyways, but I honestly didn't go 100%. Probably 85-90%, I knew that statistically, I would have to come in dead last in order to lose second place. As long as that didn't happen, I was fine. That said, this was the worst pain I've felt in a workout all weekend. Those step overs were high and just ripped your glutes and hammies apart. 

 

If you haven't been keeping score, you may have missed this:

 

 

I came in second in my first ever CrossFit competition. I'll give you a full break down later, as I literally am about to fall apart on this couch. I'm beaten up and I fucking love it. I just paid money to have 200 people scream in my face to get one more rep. I've never felt so alive.

 

Because, I hit that rep. 

 

And I fucking loved it.

[catspaw]

OMG congratz!!!  You must be so proud!  Go Seth!!

[I-Jo]

yay- that's fabulous- super proud of you.

[cline]

Stopped by because I hear awesome is happening here!

[Stronkey Kong]

Can't do full recap at the moment. Just getting in, extremely tired and sore and a little drunk. For good reason.

 

Sunday

WoD 1 : 6,035 lbs (3rd place). I literally changed my weight about 3 minutes before starting this event. I was going to go 115# but realized that there was no one in my division going higher than 95. I dropped weight to 85 and push jerked the shit out of this event. Completely pleased with the turn out. 71 reps in 3 minutes under high scrutiny. 

WoD 2 : 37 reps (3rd place) This one was a bit strategy. I didn't expect to be able to keep my lead for the whole 8 minute workout and they were scoring evenly at 3 minutes and 8 minutes for this burpees/thrusters competition. So, I went balls out on the first three minutes. 

WoD 3 : 67 reps (2nd place) I didn't expect this. Honestly, I didn't think I was doing that well. I hit ~5 a minute after the three minute mark and then burned it on my last minute. I beat out everyone but my rival for this metric.

WoD 4 : 118 reps(12th place) Not going to lie. I tanked this event. It was not a good even for me anyways, but I honestly didn't go 100%. Probably 85-90%, I knew that statistically, I would have to come in dead last in order to lose second place. As long as that didn't happen, I was fine. That said, this was the worst pain I've felt in a workout all weekend. Those step overs were high and just ripped your glutes and hammies apart. 

 

If you haven't been keeping score, you may have missed this:

 

 

I came in second in my first ever CrossFit competition. I'll give you a full break down later, as I literally am about to fall apart on this couch. I'm beaten up and I fucking love it. I just paid money to have 200 people scream in my face to get one more rep. I've never felt so alive.

 

Because, I hit that rep. 

 

And I fucking loved it.

 

Awesome job!

 

In the photo it looks like the guy in first is trash talking, and the guy in third is just like whatever...(jealous)

[AgentsSka]

AWESOME job, Seth!!!