Deadlifts...We Meet Again

I should've shown up to the gym today in warpaint.  The deadlift singles would stop eluding me today.  This was the day.  The day we turn the dial from "heavy" to "fuckin heavy".  I told Sara I was going to start with a few warmups with the bar and then some light weight before I really got to work.  With this being my first foray into deadlifting after my hip issue, there was no reason to get stupid.

WOD
Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Sara paired everybody up, but she let me have my own bar.  I had a little talk with the bar about playing nice, and I got started setting up.  I threw a couple of 25s on just so I could review some form and get comfortable, then start the jumps toward heavyland.  My last deadlift singles were on January 26th and I pulled 315 lbs, so I was ready to see what a few months of Crossfitting was going to do to that PR.

Warmup: 95×1 – 185×3

Feels good...check.  No hip weirdness...check.  Time to get going.

WOD: 235 – 275 – 295 – 325* – 345* (*1-Rep Max PR)

The first five sets were pretty much a breeze.  No problem dusting my former PR by 30 lbs with two pulls to go.  My jumps in weight up until this point were anywhere from 20 to 40 lbs.  Hmmm...345 felt pretty damn good.  Time to turn the dial a bit.  Let's see if 30 more lbs would bury the needle...

375*

Wow.  That was sick.  Came up feelin great, full extension, but I felt my grip slipping on the way down.  I needed to pay super-close attention to that for the next pull.  We can't drop weight at the Black Box so we need to put the weight down as carefully as we pull it up.  But man I did it...375.  The question remained, was I able to pull heavier?  I didn't feel strained, and 375 didn't feel like it took absolutely everything I had, though we were definitely in the fuckin heavy zone.  I grabbed a couple of 5s and slipped them onto what was left of the bar...I made a comment that it was comical how many plates there were on the bar and here I am throwing on a couple of 5s.  I think I took a little too much time setting up.  A few extra breaths and all of a sudden here comes the CF Endurance team up the stairs...now I've got a crowd, a ridiculously heavy bar, and sudden pressure to pull this quite insane amount of weight.  I blocked it all out, grabbed the bar, tightened up, and pulled....

385*

Up it went, I pulled, pulled more, got up...further up...grabbed with everything I had and shot my hips up for full extension.  People were clapping as I searched for that full standing position...

...I blinked and I looked up.  The weight was on the floor and there were smiles all around.  I searched out Tim in the crowd of folks at the top of the stairs.  I asked him if I got full extension and he winced a little as if to say "not really".  Then everyone was hi-fiving me and congratulating me and I still didn't know if I actually lifted this weight.  Sara said there was no doubt I made the lift.  Hari, co-owner of CFNYC said he wouldn't have called the rep back if it was competition...he didn't see why I would question it at all.  Frankly I was just so in the moment that I had no idea how far up I really got.  It definitely didn't feel as solid as 375, but I'm not going to argue with Sara and Hari.  Hari said "How do you feel about adding those 5s now?"  He was so right.  Once you get into the zone of your PR every added pound of weight can be the difference between feeling like a superstar and getting your soul crushed.  It's pretty amazing.

What a great day.  I'm psyched to have the confidence and the training to make these big breakthroughs.  It's so obvious how huge regular Crossfit training is for major fitness gains.  I can't imagine what I'll be deadlifting by the end of this year, but something tells me there's going to be a 4 in front of the number.

Until then...

Games WOD II - MUCH BETTER

Don't get me wrong...this WOD was absolutely crushing, but in a way my body understands.  Three familiar exercises that gas me to the core, but at least it wasn't the fitness Wild West like Games WOD I.  That shit was insane...

After some major glitches in the Games website that delayed the WODs for a week, we finally see another competition WOD today for the 2011 Crossfit Games.  This one seemed right off the bat that it was going to be MUCH more my style, even if I knew deep down that after the first couple of rounds it would be sheer brutality:

WOD
CrossFit Games Open 11.2

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 15 minutes of:
155 pound Deadlift, 9 reps
12 Push-ups
15 Box jumps, 24" box

So initially I'm bummed because I know I'll have to scale pushups to knees and box jumps to 20".  I'd love for there to be at least one workout I don't have to scale for the Games, but I think 2012 will be a better shot.  Unless we do 100 back squats for time I don't see there being a way.  And I guess in the context of my scaling I shouldn't be disappointed.  It's March.  In January I was still doing step-ups instead of box jumps and the thought of doing more than 30 pushups was ludicrous.  So yes, I will shut the fuck up (about scaling anyway ;) and appreciate where I'm at in this journey.  As far as the deadlifts go, no problem...

I had the honor and privilege of tracking the progress of Tim Broder, a fellow CFNYCer who has been encouraging and inspiring throughout my experience at the Black Box.  He and I were two of 6-8 people doing the WOD officially for competition (even though my scaling takes me out of actual consideration for the Games).  The box was slammed today, with full Elements classes in the back and a ton of people ready to do the WOD.  We cleared some space for the competitors and Tim RIPPED through eight rounds like a champion.

Inspired but nervous, I got my bar and box set up, and Tim (of course fully recovered in the 3-4 minutes since he crushed this WOD) got his game face on once again.  It felt like we were truly a team...partners in crime against, well...you could say expectations...you could say my old self...but either way we were both ready.  Tim had some helpful words about pacing before we got started, and then it was go time...


3...2...1...GO!  I cranked through the deadlifts without a problem...I've pulled 315 before, so doing nine of these at 155 was pretty standard.  Pushups were fine the first round, but oh how things change so quickly.  Box jumps were tough, but round one went by without much of a hitch.  I just kept as steady a pace as I could.  Tim helped break up the reps so I had sets of three or four at a time, and I just kept at it...two rounds done...three rounds done...four.  After five rounds I got into fumes mode, and even had to break up the deadlifts into sets of three.  Tim would let me rest for a five count then get me back on the bar...same with pushups.  Set of four.  Set of three.  It took every drop of gas in the tank to finish pushups, which I did at the buzzer.

WOD Total: Five Rounds plus deadlifts and pushups.

Like every other AMRAP WOD, five minutes went by and I was kicking myself that if I shaved off a few seconds from every rest I could've hit six rounds.  But Tim said there's no reason to regret things like that, and he's right.  I scaled the WOD, so it's not like I would have been a contender for the games even if I did twice as many rounds.  But I got after it and put up decent numbers, and at the end of the day I can't be disappointed.  After all us athletes are never satisfied...that's why we keep coming back ;-).

Deadlifts and Toothpicks...a Tale of Pain and Progress

Of course.

Sara was right.  I wake up in borderline agony from yesterday's medball madness, and now I have a quandry.  My quads are exploding, but tell me this isn't a cool-as-shit WOD:

21-15-9 reps of:
225 pound Deadlift
135 pound Overhead squat

I don't remember the last time I did a metcon with deadlifts in it.  I've done several strength days with them, but I've really wanted to try something cool like this where there's a bunch of deadlifts for time.  And I'm definitely going to RX the weight if I show up for this.  The bitch of the situation is the overhead squats.  Last week I failed at my attempt at 155 lbs.  With my quads in this shape I don't know if I could overhead squat a broomstick without doubling over in agony.  But 135 lbs for 21-15-9 PLUS heavy deadlifts?  I'm a damned fool to try it.  Best to get back to bed and get another hour's sleep and call it a week.

...So anyway I get to CF NYC early to stretch out for the WOD.  Only me and Lucio showed up...seems everybody was destroyed from yesterday.  Lucio says his legs are shot too.  I told Sara about the problem and she's always sensitive to stuff like this.  I think she appreciates that we show up in that situation, so she's willing to scale as much as needed so we don't get crushed.  She agreed that I should RX the deadlifts, and after I told her OH squatting toothpicks might be a problem she chuckled and said it was fine if I just used the bar.

We did a mild warmup and I did some amazing hip stretches I learned from Mobility WOD (more on this amazing resource later).  I was feeling great, except for the fact that I could barely walk.  Literally my legs would occasionally buckle if I walked too fast...but hey, my hamstrings were ready to ROCK, and ROCK we did...

3...2...1...GO!

The deadlifts were heavy...damn heavy, but I was able to kick ass through the first set of 21.  It was far from unbroken, as I still haven't dialed in good technique for multiple deadlifts.  But I got through them fine and I was onto the overhead squats...I don't know if it was the warmup, the hip stretches, or the adrenaline, but these came a LOT easier than I thought.  As I segued into the sets of 15 and 9 reps got slower, but I stuck with it.  After an unbroken set of 9 overhead squats I yelled for time:

WOD Time: 11:15

Sara and I hi-fived and it really hit me that something special is happening here.  It's like I'm waking up slowly on a daily basis.  I started the day in pain and I left Crossfit in bliss.  After putting up several sub-20-minute times in the past week I can really see my progress in every way...on paper, in the mirror, and in my soul.  Everything I envisioned about this experience is coming to pass.  If this is what it's like after four months, I can't imagine my progress after the first year.  I'm really looking forward to finding out how far I can take this.

That's all for now...another four days of Crossfit on the books...time for some much needed REST!

Peace...

Deadlifting Oswego

Surprise!!  No snow this morning (at least by 4AM)! So I rolled into Crossfit unexpectedly for today's skill day.  I missed both deadlift days last week, which I was particularly bummed about, because it's been since December and I really wanted to get some weight on the bar and give it a shot.  Last time I "PR'ed" at 215, knowing it was far below my threshold, and when I saw deadlifts on WODs on both Saturday and Sunday of last week I figured I screwed myself until at least March or April (since I can't make it into the city on weekends).  Lo and behold today's skill day involved deadlifts for the warmup and Rack Pulls for the WOD.  But I was determined to focus strictly on deadlifts to really get into it and see where I'm at.

Warmup
20 Pullups (5x4 Double-Banded)
30 KB Swings (50 lb)

WOD
Deadlifts - 235 x3 - 275 x3 - 285 x3 - 295 x1 - 305 x1 - 305 x1 - 315 x1 (1 rep max PR)

I was dead set on getting over the 300 mark.  While I have no idea how much I weigh (last I weighed myself I was 330 lbs in the spring of 2010) I assume I hit close to my bodyweight today, which I'm pretty psyched about.  I was going to stop at 305 so I could say that I dealifted Miami (word to Scott in the 305), but I powered through and deadlifted 315, so I guess I'll have to settle for deadlifting Oswego, NY. I guess next time I'll try to pull for Roscoe, TX (325)...we'll see...

My quads are thumping from yesterday.  Not psyched to limp my way through the evening commute (in a blizzard). Pray for me...

Peace.

Kicking Ass & Braving the Elements

Today's WOD felt GREAT!!!

It was snowing in NYC but that didn't stop most of us from running down to 6th Ave and back for the run portion...got a lot of support along the way and ended up a lot farther than I planned.  What a great end to a 4-WOD week.  Loving it...

WOD: "Rankel"
AMRAP in 20 minutes:
225 pound Deadlift, 6 reps (scaled to 135 lbs)
7 Burpee pull-ups (scale to 7 burpees then 7 jumping pullups)
10 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood (scale to 24 kg)
Run 200 meters

Final Tally: 3.8 rounds (one more run would have gotten me four but I ran out of time with two KBS to go)

You can't help but love the support of the Crossfit NYC crew.  Every time someone passed me on the runs (and they ALL passed me I can assure you) they all had words of encouragement...taking time out of an intense part of their workout to say "keep it up Reis" - "nice work Reis" - "get after it Reis".  It really works in such a big way.  And everyone is so approachable when I have questions about form, or just finding out about them as people and their own experiences with Crossfit.  It's getting tougher to stay away on rest days (but I know those are as necessary as the WODs, and frankly an extra hour of sleep is gold right now).

Excited for a weekend with my family.  I barely see my son during the week, so I'm taking him for pancakes in the morning (Dad gets his egg whites & black coffee :-).  End of the month I'm going on my first snowboard trip in over five years...I feel like CF/Paleo has been an intense training session for the endurance required for three days of solid boarding.  Can't WAIT!!!

I'm sure I'll have some more ramblings during the weekend...until then...peace...

Going "Nutts"

I saw yesterday's WOD online and memories of "Filthy Friday" popped into my head:

"Nutts"

For time:
10 Handstand push-ups
250 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
25 Box jumps, 30 inch box
50 Pull-ups
100 Wallball shots, 20 pounds, 10'
200 Double-unders
Run 400 meters with a 45lb plate

With all of the shoulder press skill days last week and back squats last Friday, I was ready for a serious  metcon.  Problem was this was yesterday's WOD...and CF NYC hadn't posted the Monday WOD yet.  So I look to see what's in store for us in the Crossfit main site (NYC abides by the national site's WODs), and lo and behold we were scheduled to do back squats the same as last Friday, five sets of three.  I remember this guy Elliot from the class before me doing a previous day's WOD sometime last month, which I thought was very cool.  But I wouldn't imagine I'd break off from the pack to do it myself so soon after that.

So I emailed myself the WOD (scaled of course) in case Kevin was cool with my doing "Nutts" instead of more back squats.  I was psyched when Kevin was completely cool with it, so I went about setting up my stations.  Here's what I scaled to:

10 Pike Pushups
185 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
25 Step-ups, 24 inch box
35 Ring Rows
70 Wallball shots, 20 pounds, 10'
120 Double-unders
Run 400 meters with a 25lb plate

I could have tried the box jumps, as my knee has improved, but I'd rather not get back to where I was so quickly.  I decided to do step-ups, but in retrospect I should have done at least 10 of the box jumps to just try and get back into it.  Next time I'll push myself more.  Frankly the step-ups were pretty damn tough toward the end...two feet high is no joke...

While I've maxed higher than 185 on the deadlifts, I haven't done 15 in a row before, so I played that one cautiously as well.  I got through the ring rows quicker than any set I've done yet...I can feel the strength building.  I really want to do pullups!  Wall balls were super-tough, but I did them 10 at a time, and before I knew it I was done.  I did 120 single-unders, about 5-10 at a time, with the longest stretch being 18. After 120 though I felt like I should do more since it called for doubles, so I asked Kevin and he said to work on doubles.  I spent a few minutes trying, and someone gave me some solid pointers, but it just wasn't happening today.  I grabbed the weight and ran out the door to finish it off.  Coming back up the stairs was a bit of a kick in the balls to finish off the WOD, but I made it, and it felt great.

24:36

Was this WOD tough?  Absolutely...was I COMPLETELY spent the way I was after Filthy Friday?  No.  But I'm happy I was able to do this WOD, and I look forward to the next metcon.

I can feel the progress...good stuff!

The "Deads of Winter"

This is not Reis, in photo or form...

Today was a benchmark day for the deadlift.  Sara said she should be able to call us on any random day at 3 in the morning and ask us our deadlift max and we should know it automatically.  I'm just getting into the competitive aspects of Crossfit, as every workout is my benchmark (since it's always the first time for every exercise).  I remembered that my first deadlifts after elements were at 135, which was a super-safe weight at the time, but I've been super-cautious with weight since I have no desire to overdo any of this.

So I started with 135...we did two reps per round for ten rounds.  Here are my increments:

135-155-175-185-185-195-195-195-215

I absolutely could have pushed past 215, which is kind of the point of the WOD, but I'm happy settting a new benchmark, and I know by the time deadlifts surface again I'll have a better idea of where to start. 

WOD 2010-11-19

Warmup:
10 Kettle Bell Swings
10 PVC Overhead Squats
10 25lb weighted situps
10 pullup (scaled to ring rows)
also practiced w the jump rope

WOD (amrap 15 mins):
5 Deadlifts (135 was good for me)
10 Wall Ball
15 Double Unders (I just did 30 singles)

4 rounds plus a set of wall ball in 15 mins...not horrific, but at least a reference point for next time.