Kevin Davies
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« Reply #270 on: July 14, 2008, 07:26:01 AM » |
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I don't know how I'd do pull-ups without that taxation, though. I figure once I get into the 10+ reps, then I could pull that off, but at 6 or 7... hmmm... I will play with it, though, taxation or not I've always tried to include something like 3 x 3-5 pull-ups in my warmup, and have actually found that I can do significantly more pull-ups in my workout if I have done a warmup with pull-ups in it. Usually when I do my first few pull-ups in the warmup they feels really hard, but once I have warmed up they get much easier.
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Chris Salvato
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« Reply #271 on: July 14, 2008, 02:50:57 PM » |
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Tax into adaptation The main reason we work out is because it provides a stimulus for positive adaptation. Hypertrophy is a small example of adaptation a muscle goes through. The warm up is important to get the blood flowing through your body and your limbs because it increases the blood flow to the tissue, increases cellular exchange, increases muscle temperature, and decreases the viscous resistance within the muscle. What Chris is saying is to find a way to incorporate as many joints as possible into the warm up to to see the above mentioned benefits of warming up the body/muscle while not "taxing" it so much as to have it receive a workout, which elicits an adaptive response. Gotcha! +1 to both of you I don't know how I'd do pull-ups without that taxation, though. I figure once I get into the 10+ reps, then I could pull that off, but at 6 or 7... hmmm... I will play with it, though, taxation or not  Once you pass about 5 reps it becomes an issue of endurance, not strength. You may lose 1 or two if you stop doing them (as you see from your jump down to 7 from 10), but that's not a big deal, since you will easily get that back through minimal training if you want it back for some reason. If you want to work on pullups specifically, to get to 10 reps, then I would suggest formulating a workout to do just that. Once you are at 10-15 reps, you can incorporate 7-15 pullups into your warmup in some way - something like 3x5, 5x5, or 1x15 (assuming 15 isnt your ABSOLUTE max). I think if you just do some 3x5 pullup work as kevin suggests you will see translation back into your endurance of the move up to 10 reps. I am surprised you are doing pullups only once a week, though. I remember when i was doing x-fit, between my warmup and the workouts i would be doing over 600 a week regularly. (3x15 = 45 every day for warmup adds up fast). I was doing them kipping, too. With WODs and WU i was doing well over 500-600 a week and sometimes get dangerously close to the 1000 mark depending on the WODs that week.
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David Glass
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« Reply #272 on: July 15, 2008, 06:32:37 AM » |
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I am surprised you are doing pullups only once a week, though. I remember when i was doing x-fit, between my warmup and the workouts i would be doing over 600 a week regularly. (3x15 = 45 every day for warmup adds up fast). I was doing them kipping, too. With WODs and WU i was doing well over 500-600 a week and sometimes get dangerously close to the 1000 mark depending on the WODs that week.
Yeah, we are doing WODs in a park, and there is only 1 pull-up bar, and there are about 15-20 people in our group now, so coach is kind of staying away from the bar. I only remember 2 WODs we've done with pull-ups, the rest I have been doing on my own. You could say the more I have been doing WODs in the park, the less pull-ups I am doing since I am not hitting the gym. Last nigth I found a spot at home where I can do pull ups. It's a little ledge that divides the kitchen. I can get up it and my legs are free since the wall is only about 1 foot thick in height. The only problem is that puts a lot of pressure on my forearms and my fingers friggin kill me. Last night everytime I went under it, I'd try doing a few, which only ammounted to about 2 per set since I'd have to bail due to my fingers killing me
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Kevin Davies
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« Reply #273 on: July 15, 2008, 09:24:39 AM » |
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David, you love your kid right? I think every kid deserves a swing set in their backyard. A swing set whose top bar just happens to be about 7 feet high and perfect for pullups  . Tell your wife you want to spend more time with your kid and that you feel a pull-up bar swing set would be a great investment. I have a pull-up bar in my basement, but I find in the summer when my kids want to play outside, the best way to get some pull-ups in is to do them on the swing set while I am playing with my kids. The kids just think it part of the playing and they try to do them too.
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David Glass
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« Reply #274 on: July 15, 2008, 06:28:34 PM » |
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David, you love your kid right? I think every kid deserves a swing set in their backyard. A swing set whose top bar just happens to be about 7 feet high and perfect for pullups  . Tell your wife you want to spend more time with your kid and that you feel a pull-up bar swing set would be a great investment. I have a pull-up bar in my basement, but I find in the summer when my kids want to play outside, the best way to get some pull-ups in is to do them on the swing set while I am playing with my kids. The kids just think it part of the playing and they try to do them too. Hahaha! Right there with you! Though I think your plan would slip better under the radar. My plan was a little more drastic: I was going to buy the swingset, and build a gauntlet, which would consist of a square of poles about 7 feet apart, each 7 feet high. The idea I had was to have adjustable horizontal bars, which you could place in any configuration between 2 of the 4 poles. It would be daddy's playground, except I don't know if that would run too well  I think I like your idea! Well, I got back to the gym today (No Crossfit this week, unless I can swing in a weekend Park WOD) I followed Chris and Charles warmup idea by doing: Warmup: 3 rounds of - Air Squats, sets of 10 - Pull ups, sets of 3 Then I went and did 3 rounds of Pull ups: Sets of 7, 4 and 5 Thrusters with 45 lb dumbells: sets of 8 Then Deadlift 1 warmup set with 135 lbs 3 sets of 8 with 175 lbs Pretty good stuff, and I'm beat... I also got my 30 minutes of stretching in today, so life is slowly getting back to normal. I hope starting my job in 2 weeks doesn't make it complicated again!
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David Glass
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« Reply #275 on: July 16, 2008, 05:37:51 AM » |
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Haven't logged my diet in a while. I've been pretty consistent, with the exception of occasional parties here and there.
I've made some positive changes, like no longer pigging out on weekends. Although on weekends it's less structured, I still keep to the Zone, although the scheduling tends to be off as the environment on weekends is less controlled. Weekdays, my diet now looks more like this:
6:20 AM: - 2 eggs (fried in olive oil due to time constraints) - 1/4 cup of coffee (down from 2 cups) - 2/3 bowl of Total (down from 1 full bowl) 8:45 AM: - 1/2 cup of almonds - 1 banana 9:30 AM: - Sip on water for about 30 minutes 10:45 AM: - 1 fruit 12:00: - Lunch: Typically Turkey, Chicken Breast, Fish or Steak with some form of veggies, occasionally some beans - 1/3 cup of coffee... I had actually shaken this, but social pressure at work, particularly because I'm leaving, everyone wants to go out for that coffee with me. Today I decided to just ask for some warm milk and keep them company... this should work fine, I hope 2:00 PM - Snack: 1 Hard Boiled egg, 1 fruit (typically apple, but this week I'm having 6 or 7 strawberries to change it up a bit) 4:00 PM - Snack: 1 Hard Boiled egg, 1 fruit (typically pear, but this week I'm having 10 cherries) 5:30 - 6:15 approx: workout 6:30 PM: Recovery snack - Typically some dried mango, maybe a bit of oatmeal 8:00 PM: Dinner - Salad with nuts, cheese, vinagre and olive oil. 5 slices of turkey, or like last night, I had a 1/2 pack of smoked salmon instead (serving size was 1/4 pack which had 12 grams of protein, I went for 1/2 pack cause that's how I roll!) - 2 or 3 glasses of milk
My weight has remained relatively constant despite the fact that I was partying all weekend and didn't get to workout from thursday to tuesday.
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David Glass
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« Reply #276 on: July 16, 2008, 06:59:48 PM » |
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I wrapped this day up with a bang!
After going to the gym, I came back and had an early dinner with my kid. While playing with him, I began monkey vaulting parts of my sofa and really got into the mood.
After putting my kid to sleet, I went back outside and did a few lazies off my 3.5 foot high obstacle I built a while back. Then I did a few turn vaults and then decided... what the heck?
Months ago I'd tremble in fear over the thought of attempting to monkey vault this thing. Today I said "Just do it!". No fear whatsoever. First attempt I got over it. Minor clipping with the bottom of my shoe. Second attempt, minor clipping, but I still got over... third attempt, a nice clean monkey over the obstacle. I figure it's about a half a foot to a foot lower than my BBQ... guess what my next target is?
Today's gym workout went like this:
Warmup: 3 rounds of: - Pullups, sets of 3 and 4 (I will start warming up with sets of 4 now) - Air Squats, sets of 10 (knee pops a bit)
Bench Press: - 1 set of 10 with 135 lbs - 1 set of 5 with 185 lbs - 1 set of 3 with 205 lbs - 1 set of 5 with 225 lbs - 1 set of 3 with 225 lbs
I think I brought weight up too slow during my warmup, and this cost me a couple of reps. Next time I'll go to 225 lbs straight from 185 lbs
4 rounds of: - Bent Over Barbell Rows 1 set of 10 with 115 lbs 2 sets of 6 with 135 lbs 1 set of 8 with 115 lbs - SDHP 1 set of 4 with 95 lbs (I just grabbed the bar thinking it had 10 lb plates, but they were 25 lbs. I thought "no way I'm this weak and really gave it some effort... nice surprise there) 1 set of 10 with 65 lbs 3 sets of 8 with 75 lbs
Then I did 3 sets of rear delt raises using 17.5 lb dumbells
After my PK training, I did my usual 45 minutes of stretching... A nice day indeed!
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David Glass
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« Reply #277 on: July 18, 2008, 04:44:36 AM » |
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Whew! Last night I was spent. My entire posterior chain was feeling exhausted by all the deadlifts, SDHPs, pull-ups, etc
I'm finally realizing a few interesting things about Crossfit: Because exercises are multi-jointed, I often hit the gym not knowing what I'll do, and then just pick out a few exercises in a whimsical fashion. And no matter what you pick, you will end up working legs, back, shoulders, etc. Good stuff.
This is probably also why you don't need to work as many days as you would if you did isolated movements.
That being said, I do throw a little bench pressing here and there (gotta work on those chesticles), but that's pretty much the only variant.
Last night, I realized I had done all the X-Fit exercises, except: Cleans, Squats, Push-Press, so I set out to do these
Warmup: 4 rounds of: - Air Squats: sets of 15 (feeling more comfortable with these. My knee isn't bothering me as much, so I upped the warm-up sets to 15 reps) - Pull-ups: sets of 4 - Random upper body stretching, arm circulation, etc
Workout: 4 rounds of - Cleans + Push Press 1 set of 8 with 115 lbs 2 sets of 6 with 135 lbs 1 set of 6 with 115 lbs
Then I did a couple of sets of squats with 165 lbs, but my legs were done. I have not done any serious weight squatting since I inured my knee, so it even this weight was cumbersome
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David Glass
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« Reply #278 on: July 21, 2008, 06:32:28 AM » |
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Took a rest day friday (I REALLY needed it) Saturday we had a 40 minute WOD where we played a card game. The WOD consisted of 2 teams, each member would pull a card and depending on the card type, you'd get a certain exercise, depending on the number, the amount of reps. The workout was like so: Diamonds = Thrusters Hearts = Burpees, yeah Burpees Clubs = Pull-ups or Jumping Pull-ups based on ability Spades = Walking lunges Ace = 14 reps King = 13 reps Queen = 12 reps Jack = 11 reps and so on Jokers = Suicides for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 yards Here are some pics: http://crossfitbroward.typepad.com/photos/080719_pancake_wod/p1010043.html(I'm the dude towards the end on the floor with a towel over his head) After the WOD we had pancakes and fruit (slight deviation, but well worth it)... it was a cool get-together
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Chris Salvato
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« Reply #279 on: July 21, 2008, 12:15:55 PM » |
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Not bad!
In a lot of those pix though, i noticed a lot of poor front squat form. a lot of people were supporting the bar's weight on their hands. Bring the arm up so the humerus is parallel to the ground -- the bar should rest on the delts. When you hit the top, explode, the bar should bounce off on its own.
You are making the workout harder, reducing your power output and promoting poor front squat form.
Just my analysis, keep up the good training!
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David Glass
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« Reply #280 on: July 22, 2008, 05:35:28 AM » |
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Not bad!
In a lot of those pix though, i noticed a lot of poor front squat form. a lot of people were supporting the bar's weight on their hands. Bring the arm up so the humerus is parallel to the ground -- the bar should rest on the delts. When you hit the top, explode, the bar should bounce off on its own.
You are making the workout harder, reducing your power output and promoting poor front squat form.
Just my analysis, keep up the good training!
Yeap, right there with you. I think the frontal weight throws me off a bit. I got the air squats down like a pro because I drill them a lot (made them part of my warmup so I'm doing at least 60 a day). I also have the back squat down, but as soon as I throw a little weight on my front, I start driving from the balls of my feet rather than the heel (time to drill this too, I suppose) Last night we did Cindy Max rounds in 20 minutes for - 5 pull-ups - 10 push-ups - 15 air squats Pull-ups really messed me up. Towards the end, I found myself doing sets of 1 and 2 pull-ups just so I could complete the 5. To make matters worse, I was sharing 1 pull-up bar with another 2 guys who were doing jumping pull-ups, and didn't get out of the way when they were resting, so I ended up waiting for them a lot. When all was said and done, I had completed 10 rounds, which is still a HUGE improvement from the first time I did Cindy about 6 weeks ago (where I bailed after completing 4 sets in 8 minutes)
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Chris Salvato
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« Reply #281 on: July 22, 2008, 08:04:10 AM » |
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Not bad!
In a lot of those pix though, i noticed a lot of poor front squat form. a lot of people were supporting the bar's weight on their hands. Bring the arm up so the humerus is parallel to the ground -- the bar should rest on the delts. When you hit the top, explode, the bar should bounce off on its own.
You are making the workout harder, reducing your power output and promoting poor front squat form.
Just my analysis, keep up the good training!
Yeap, right there with you. I think the frontal weight throws me off a bit. I got the air squats down like a pro because I drill them a lot (made them part of my warmup so I'm doing at least 60 a day). I also have the back squat down, but as soon as I throw a little weight on my front, I start driving from the balls of my feet rather than the heel (time to drill this too, I suppose) Last night we did Cindy Max rounds in 20 minutes for - 5 pull-ups - 10 push-ups - 15 air squats Pull-ups really messed me up. Towards the end, I found myself doing sets of 1 and 2 pull-ups just so I could complete the 5. To make matters worse, I was sharing 1 pull-up bar with another 2 guys who were doing jumping pull-ups, and didn't get out of the way when they were resting, so I ended up waiting for them a lot. When all was said and done, I had completed 10 rounds, which is still a HUGE improvement from the first time I did Cindy about 6 weeks ago (where I bailed after completing 4 sets in 8 minutes) Good job on the Cindy improvements! You'll be at a round per minute in no time! As for your front squat form. Your torso should be more vertical than in the back squat. The back angle does not go nearly as deep. Focus on getting the bar on your delts and the humerus UP and parallel to the ground. NO weight should be on the hands - AT ALL. My fingers barely even touch the bar when I front squat. I am suspecting that your back angle is changing, making the weight go forward, so you are holding the bar with your hands and thus you have too much weight in FRONT of your body, not ON TOP of your body, causing you to drive from the toes. The bar will be dictating your Center of Mass, and you need to keep that as close as possible to just over the hips (your natural center of mass). Good cue for that is to keep the humerus up and focus on having the bar go straight up and down. Let me know how it goes
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David Glass
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« Reply #282 on: July 22, 2008, 11:22:28 AM » |
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I am suspecting that your back angle is changing, making the weight go forward, so you are holding the bar with your hands and thus you have too much weight in FRONT of your body, not ON TOP of your body, causing you to drive from the toes. The bar will be dictating your Center of Mass, and you need to keep that as close as possible to just over the hips (your natural center of mass). Good cue for that is to keep the humerus up and focus on having the bar go straight up and down. Let me know how it goes
You are right on the money! That's exactly what I am doing. I'll try this. Today we'll have a WOD with deadlifts and possibly thrusters. I'll definitely go for this then. I'll be focussing on having the bar on top of me rather than holding it with my hands... THANKS! +1
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Chris Salvato
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« Reply #283 on: July 22, 2008, 11:37:38 AM » |
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here is a decent video...mostly because it really highlights the hand positioning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd_WsfebYOgNotice, the bar is on the delts, the hands support no weight. Thrusters with light weight, up to around 135, can be held this way for most males. When you get to the very top, explode (thrust!) your hip joint open. This little burst will make the bar go airborne just a bit, where you can rotate your hands under it for a better pushing position. Practice with the empty bar and going to the top of the squat explosively. You can practice by going into a quarter squat, not a full squat, to start. You will notice that the bar will bounce up a bit. This is actually a push press. Try to harness this power and then push it off your shoulders violently. If the bar isn't bouncing on its own, then you're doing something wrong. Vertical torso -> Hip extension -> Floating Bar -> PUSH!
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David Glass
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« Reply #284 on: July 22, 2008, 12:42:43 PM » |
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here is a decent video...mostly because it really highlights the hand positioning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd_WsfebYOgNotice, the bar is on the delts, the hands support no weight. Thrusters with light weight, up to around 135, can be held this way for most males. When you get to the very top, explode (thrust!) your hip joint open. This little burst will make the bar go airborne just a bit, where you can rotate your hands under it for a better pushing position. Practice with the empty bar and going to the top of the squat explosively. You can practice by going into a quarter squat, not a full squat, to start. You will notice that the bar will bounce up a bit. This is actually a push press. Try to harness this power and then push it off your shoulders violently. If the bar isn't bouncing on its own, then you're doing something wrong. Vertical torso -> Hip extension -> Floating Bar -> PUSH! +1 Again! Thanks, bro... tremendous help!
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