done
Now starts the final countdown leading up to the games. I have been training really hard and heavy and now I am going to change my training up a bit. My volume has been very low. My workouts have been very short. I have been using really heavy weights. Now it’s time to change up the routine a bit and start increasing the time. I somehow get the feeling that at this year’s games, the workouts are going to be long. I am not sure how long but long nevertheless. I just think that everyone is under the assumption that they are not strong enough and so have changed their training to match that. I do think the workouts will be different (maybe obstacle courses) but I really feel that they are going to be long. I was just thinking the other day, what if Coach wanted us to run a marathon? We don’t normally train that way and it is game, so why not? That would be horrible but you can’t count it out. Maybe not a marathon but maybe 13 miles covering hills and terrain. There could be a number of things that show up. Carrying stuff, pushing stuff, dragging stuff, jumping over stuff, etc., etc.
I am going to start increasing my work time just in case. I am strong enough at this point. I am ready for heavy stuff, both for low reps and high reps. I’ve done it all. Now it’s time to go for real long. I am going to run a few long distances over the next two weeks. I am also going to engage in some other types of training like strongman. I am going to try and utilize UNO (nebraska omaha) to get in workouts. Pushing gators, running stairs, flipping tires, dragging sleds, and all sorts of stuff like that. I figure I only have about a week and a half before I pull back the reins full throttle. I need to heal up a bit and so Fourth of July weekend will probably be an enjoyed weekend with no workouts, and maybe only one or two more light workouts the following week. We’ll see how all this goes.
Wednesday’s WOD
Rest Day
Tuesday’s WOD
On the minute every minute until 75 thrusters were completed:
5 burpees, then
135 pound thrusters, max reps
Time: 19:45 (20 rounds)
Monday’s WOD
Rest Day
I haven’t forgot about posting just been really busy the past few days with a lot of business stuff and dad stuff. I don’t have much to post at the moment other than what workouts I’ve done over the past few days. It’s been really heavy and my body is really starting to feel it so today is a rest day for me. I really need it.
Sunday’s WOD
Back Squat 1RM
330 lbs. (not a pr but only 5 pounds off)
Teams of 5, 2 teams (we lost)
While one person runs a 400 the other 4 work at eliminating 1000 double under’s and 1000 situps. Basically, everyone had to do 200 a piece. If we finished early, we could help someone else with their reps. Lots of fun.
Saturday’s WOD
Team workout of 3, two teams.
One person rows 21 calories while the other two are doing either 135/95 pound push press for reps or burpees for reps. Everyone on the team must have their turn at 21 calories on the rower, followed by 15 calories on the rower, and finally 9 calories. The most reps wins. We won this one.
Friday’s WOD
Power Snatch 8 sets of 2 at 80% of 1 rep Power Snatch (147 pounds)
rest 1 minute b/w sets.
met-con
As many round in 12 minutes of:
5 chest to bar pull-ups
10 Pushups
15 Box Jumps, 20 inch box
Rounds completed: 13
Thursday’s WOD
“King Kong”
3 rounds for time of:
1 Dead-lift (prescribed weight is 455 pounds and I used 440 pounds)
2 Muscle-ups
3 Full Squat Cleans (prescribed is 250 pounds and I used 242 pounds)
4 Handstand Pushups
Time: I’m not sure yet, but I do have it one video so once I cut and edit it, I’ll post it with time. It was heavy though and scary at times with those dead-lifts.
Not much to say today. I have been busy with running the business and adapting to our new organizational plan that we have in place to make our workday more productive. There have been many days in the past where Joe and I just went through a workday with nothing getting done as pertaining to improving the business side of our affiliate. Not anymore. We now have put daily and weekly task sheets into the mix and we all have set schedules. This has been great for all of us here working at the gym. The schedule has given us a reason to be more motivating and encouraging and to come with our A game because we now have no excuse. We are either working the morning shift or the afternoon shift and not both anymore. I feel much better about this and I have seen the improvements in my coaching go up. At least from my viewpoint. I feel more uplifted and motivated. I also love the morning shift because I don’t have to work the afternoon. This gives me more time to be at home doing stuff that needs to get done like yard work, washing my truck, and some other things that need to get tended to. I feel more rested now too.
We’ll see how it goes in terms of long term but right now it’s working great.
Tuesday’s WOD
For time:
300 meter run
20 KB Swings, 1.5 pood
20 Box Jumps, 20 inches
20 Pushups
Walking Lunges, 20 steps
20 DB hang power cleans, 40 pound db’s
Slam Ball Chest Throws, about a 90 feet, 10 Trips
300 meter run
Time: 6:29
Monday’s WOD
5 rounds for time:
7 Dead-lifts, 315 pounds
21 Double Unders
Time: 3:39
Two of the last four (the other two were heavy as well) workouts I have done have been the epitome of my style of training and basically what has gotten me to where I am today. If you were to ask anyone in my gym, client or colleague, what kind of workout do you see Ricky doing. Nine times out of 10, they would tell you very heavy and low on the volume. I just love moving large amounts of weights with a barbell, especially the Olympic lifts. Now, I probably should pay more attention to my gymnastic efforts because I am not the greatest at moving my body-weight. I think I may have even surpassed my ability to proficiently complete pull-ups, pushups, handstand pushups, and the like with heavy Olympic Lifts and Power-lifts as well as thrusters, etc. etc. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not bad at gymnastic type movements but I should be better than what I am, at my body-weight. I just don’t like doing pull-ups and all that stuff. I’d rather be throwing a heavy barbell overhead.
Onto another subject. I re-read an article just yesterday about training Olympic Lifters. I read it on CrossFit North Santa Cruz’s website. The first time I read it, it was a few years back when I was still training athletes at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The article was written by one of the best in the business of getting people strong and powerful. This guy knows all about work capacity and it’s importance to a person’s respective sport. He knows all about weaknesses and addressing them before they get the best of you. He, like Coach Glassmann, is before his time. I look up to Louie Simmons and when he speaks, I listen. If you get the chance, read the article. You can learn a thing or two about training. You may not necessarily agree with his philosophy on training but the essence of what he is talking about holds true in any type of training. Keep your training highly varied, get your work capacity up to par, address weaknesses, and absolutely avoid specialization. Does this remind you of anything? CrossFit closely resembles the conjugate method of training. That is, as long as the person programming knows what the hell they are doing. If you like the article, check out Louie’s website (btw, Dave Tate is a disciple of Louie’s training methods), Westside Barbell.
What If I Were An Olympic Coach, by Louie Simmons.
Sunday’s WOD
3-2-1 rep rounds for time of:
176 pound Full Snatch
220 pound Full Clean and Jerk
Time: 8 minutes
Saturday’s WOD
As many rounds in 20 minutes of:
242 pound Back Squat for 3 reps
6 Weighted Pull-ups, 25 pound dumbbell
9 Handstand Pushups
Rounds completed: 10 (didn’t break up the hspu’s until the 7th round i believe)
This is one of the best times of the year in Omaha, Nebraska. We play host to the NCAA Division I Men’s College World Series. It is an awesome experience for everyone involved. As you may already know (if you don’t, you will now), I am a huge Texas Longhorn’s fan. I got married on the day they won the series back in 2002. I was here when they won it again in 05 and now I hope to watch them pull it off for a third time since moving to Omaha from the great state of Texas. I love Longhorn athletics, especially football, and can’t wait to see the guys take the field and kill ‘em with small ball. It is amazing at how bunting becomes such a crucial part of their game. It has to annoy the hell out of the other team’s and their fans. I remember when I wrestled at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, back in my redshirt, freshman, and sophomore years how we had a certain style of wrestling that was very effective. How do I know it was effective? Because teams started to gameplan for us and actually took the time to try and learn how to counteract our style.
We were known for wrestling on the edge of the mat. We used this area to maximize our scoring ability because opponents would become lax as we approached the edge because they would figure we would just go out of bounds and re-start. Our plan was to get our opponent to the edge, work some hand fighting, circle our backs to the middle of the mat at the last minute, and shoot a takedown out of bounds. At the time, if at least one foot (one supporting point) was within the circle, point awarded. We would score and win so many matches this way that it would just piss our opponents off. Like I mentioned above, teams started to gameplan for our gameplan if you will. They refused to get anywhere near the edge of the mat. They would try anything and everything to avoid that space. A lot of the times it backfired on them anyways. I feel that this is a lot like how Texas plays and Augie coaches baseball. Other teams and opponents hate it.
Whoever comes out on top by the end of next week, we can all be sure that it will be a fantastic week of athletes performing at their best. Omaha will be hustling and bustling. I can’t wait to make it out to a game.
Friday’ WOD
Rest Day
Thursday’s WOD
21-15-9 rep rounds for time of:
132 pound Sumo Dead-lift High Pull
Ring Dips
200 meter run
Time: 6:11
Wednesday’s WOD
Whichever comes first, 15 reps or 10 minutes:
Clean & Jerks @ 220 pounds
15 reps in about 9:40 or so. (I clean thrustered about 11 or 12 of the reps)
I had a great workout today. I did kind of a double whammy of sorts. I did what was about two met-cons. I did the Power Snatch WOD from CrossFit Football and then threw together a little triplet of my own using only either body-weight or really light loads. I felt good today and lately. I have felt strong and spirited. I don’t normally do two workouts in the same day because sometimes my body can’t handle it. As of late, I have felt better than I can remember and it has showed in the training. I feel like I can or that I want to do two workouts. I know that I can’t give my all to both of them and so I pick the one I think will give me the most return and the second workout is used as a sort of finisher or burn-out. I didn’t time the second workout but just tried to keep an honest pace.
After I was done, I still felt good. I felt a little winded but not much. During the snatch wod, I went heavier than I thought I would go. I did more than 80% on the last two sets. It wasn’t easy but I had it in me. I never truly got winded either. I felt good. The second workout, I did not time. I just moved from one exercise to the next and focused on meticulous form. Tried to push range of motion. Use that to make the workout hard and not so much the clock. I felt a little winded during this one but not too bad.
All in all, a good double workout day. I am a little tired but to tell you the truth, a lot less than usual. Good stuff.
Tuesday’s WOD
CFFB WOD
3 Power Snatches on the minute for 10 minutes. At least 80% for the load used. Misses during any round = 5 Burpees
Minutes 1 through 8, weight used = 155
Minute 9, weight used = 165
Minute 10, weight used = 170
2nd workout
5 rounds of:
5 Muscle-ups
10 Ball Slams, 20#
15 Wall Balls, 20#
Didn’t time the second workout but broke up rounds 4 and 5 of the muscle-ups, nothing else.
I don’t really have much to say today. I am going to take the day off from training as I have went 4 days straight and they have all been pretty similar it seems. Just the way the dice roll sometimes. I feel good though. I know when my training is on the right path because I don’t feel sluggish and I am actually kind of antsy in the pancy to workout today. I feel as though I have a shit ton in the tank. Don’t ask me how much a shit ton is either. Joe actually knows the answer but I forgot. I’ll post how much it is at a later date.
What I mean is that I am not tired and I am a little bigger, body-size and body-weight, than what I am at competition time so it’s kind of where I want to be. I am starting to clean up my diet a little (only about 4 weeks out or so) and I am still going to get some heavy strength work in but I will be sure to get in some more grunt work in as well.(heavy and gymnastic met-cons)
I am excited about competing. I want to go at it right now. It’s going to be so much fun. I was actually watching a Gatorade commercial yesterday and wondered, if I called them, would they want to sponsor a CrossFit athlete? Have they heard of CrossFit? That kind of stuff. I think I may send them an email. I may look into other sponsorships as well. I think that’s where the games are headed so why not start now. I may be silly for thinking that I could get a sponsor but what the heck right? Shoot for the stars and land on the moon right? I think that’s how it goes. ha.
Sunday’s WOD
1 round for time of:
500 meter row
30 Burpees
10 shoulder to overhead, 165 pounds
Time: 4:30 (kind of slow)
I love CrossFit and everything it stands for. I love the community that an affiliate can produce. I love the athletes that it can produce. I love mental toughness it brings about. Everything about CrossFit is money, except for one thing. The one thing that I don’t agree with. Actually, it’s not even that I don’t agree with it but more that too many people abuse benchmark workouts. Helen, Fran, etc. are benchmarks. These benchmarks are tests of progress. Tests that should measure where you are at, how far you need to go, and should only be used every now and then. When I say every now and then, I mean maybe once a year. Once a year not for every single one of them but only a few once a year.
For instance, CrossFit Omaha had four individual qualifiers for this year’s CrossFit games and besides me, the other three have not completed many benchmarks. I don’t need them to because I believe in my programming. Now if you want proof, I can have them do a benchmark for you. But I don’t need them to do benchmarks in order to test their work capacity. I know they have it because they qualified. Some one other than me required them to do a certain number of workouts and they completed them in times that got them qualified for the big show.
Here is my thing with practicing benchmarks. And I have heard or read this from other people as well. The big thing is range of motion. Range of motion that is valid and reliable. If it isn’t there or it isn’t valid and reliable on a consistent basis, the results will show in competition where valid and reliable range of motion is required. There are a lot of athletes out there with great benchmark times. But a lot of these same athletes don’t do as well in live competition with the world’s greatest. Why is this? One reason is the obsession with beating the clock and not having enough obsession with finding the greatest range of motion and building true work capacity. This rears itself in competition.
I have no problem with throwing benchmarks at my athletes but I want them to be different so I change things up. How about 155 pound thrusters and chest to bar pull-ups? How about 176 pound thrusters and strict, dead-hang chest to bar pull-ups? How about 45 pound thrusters and chest to bar pull-ups for a larger amount of reps like 32-23-14. This is still Fran but in a different light. I still want to know what my best athlete’s Fran times are but maybe on a Thursday afternoon in the middle of Summer, out of nowhere, I say, “Kyle, let’s see how fast you can do Fran in?” Once we find out what his Fran time is, we probably won’t do it again until next year, maybe! It’s measure of progress and the one time he does it, I’ll know where he’s at. I don’t need to do it again in a month. If I have him do it again in a month, he’ll just get used to it and it won’t be as effective as a measure of progress. I don’t want him to lose that butterflies in the stomach feeling he gets right before performing Fran. I want it to be there for as long as he is involved with CrossFit. If you are not afraid of Fran or Helen or any of the other base benchmarks, then you practice them and are referred to as who we like to call “Benchmark Nerds.” No offense.
Saturday’s WOD
Team workout
Two persons on a team
One person hangs from a pull-up bar while the other person completes:
3 Power Snatches, 135 pounds
6 SDLHP, 115 pounds
9 Burpees
The person must hang for the duration of a single cycle before being allowed to switch positions. Each member must complete 4 rounds. If a person falls from the pull-up bar, the cycle does not count and has to restart.
We didn’t time it.
It sucked.
Friday’s WOD
“Oh Shit” Fran (Ha)
9-6-3 reps for time of:
176 pound thrusters
Strict, Dead-hang Chest to Bar Pull-ups
Time: 3:30 (my goal was to keep the hip and knee from closing at all during the pull-ups and still touch the chest to the bar)
I think I should have went with 12-9-6 reps instead. It was tough but not enough.
Ha, so much for trying to post daily. I have been telling myself the last two or three days, “just post tonight” but I never end up doing it. Well, here goes catch up.
Let’s talk about being stuck on an island. Let’s say that for some odd reason you were even in the vicinity of an island and somehow you got stuck there. Now let’s say that you could have one piece of equipment for exercise. What would would you choose?
It’s kind of an interesting question isn’t it? If I had a choice, knowing what I know, I would definitely put my stock into a barbell (mind you that the barbell comes with a full set of bumpers, the rainbow if you will). I could prepare myself for the CrossFit games with just this piece of equipment. First off, you have an indispensable amount of body-weight exercises at your disposal. Second, you could pretty much replicate any weighted exercise with the bumpers by themselves. For example, swings, weighted lunges, weighted pushups, weighted pull-ups of branches, etc, etc. The thing is that you will be hard to find anything that can efficiently replicate barbell lifts. The barbell lifts are magnificent in their execution and ability to produce power, strength, agility, accuracy, speed, cardio-respiratory endurance, stamina, balance, functional flexibility, and coordination. You could clean, jerk, snatch, dead-lift, front squat, back squat, overhead squat, zercher squat, goodmornings, press, throw, and a whole host of assistance exercises. The barbell is king. I guess, what I am trying to say is that on the road to greatness, you need only a barbell and your body-weight. If you are starting a home gym, make sure you have a barbell and some bumpers. If you have money for all the nice things like kettle bells, dumbbells, medicine balls, etc., then by all means, purchase those things. If you only have a few funds, then put your money on a nice barbell and some bumpers.
For a lot of years, I didn’t do a lot of handstand pushups, or burpees, or wall balls, or slams, or stuff like that. All I did was barbell lifts and sprint. I did some pushups and pull-ups but I also did a lot of rows or horizontal pulling. These were mainly used to bring up my barbell lifts. I put all my money into cleans, snatches, back squatting, front squatting, overhead squatting, benching, and push pressing. I would then go outside and sprint. 10 yards, 20 yards, 40 yards, 100’s, 200’s, 300 yard shuttles, 60 yard shuttles, etc. You name it, I did it. When CrossFit came along, it just screamed at me to bring up my other areas that hadn’t gotten so much attention. The good thing was though that the barbell lifts made the other areas easy to bring up. For example, if your holy grail is body-weight exercise and/or kettle bells and that is all you do your life and then a competition comes up where there is a multitude of fitness modalities, you will excel at the body-weight and kettle bell stuff but will suffer greatly at the barbell and heavy stuff (more often than not). Now, if you come from and strength and power background, a couple of runs at the body-weight stuff and kettle bell stuff should suffice for you to be competitive in those events and you will smoke the the barbell and heavy stuff. Get my drift?
I am not saying don’t just put all your stuff into barbell lifts because if you can, you should be attacking all weaknesses. That’s only common sense. What I am saying is that you give yourself a better chance at competing if you only did barbell lifts as compared to only doing other stuff independently. Now, I get that there will be those that say it takes too much time to learn a lot of those movements or that the injury rate is much lower with body-weight/kettle bell/dumbbell’s, or a whole host of other counter-points but the fact remains that barbell lifts are king. It does take some time to properly learn these movements but no one learned to walk in one day and we didn’t stay with crawling because it was too tough to or too unsafe to learn how to walk. I mean, crawling still got us from point A to point B but we decided it wasn’t efficient movement. And machines? Don’t get me started on those. That’s like walking with a cane or walker. Do your own work people!
So in the end, get yourself a barbell and a set of bumpers. You only have a few minutes a day? Learn the barbell lifts and perform them. Learn them and follow a nice linear and then undulating program to develop your strength and power all while mixing and matching these movements with body-weight movements and sprinting for your metabolic conditioning. So maybe you Squat heavy and then perform a nice little met-con of cleans and pushups. It really is simple. No frills. Just get strong as hell and develop a fierce, metabolic heart and you will be untouchable. The rest is just baggage.
Today WOD
Front Squat 3-3-3-3-3 reps
132×3
176×3
220×3
242×3
262×3
277×3
As many rounds in 15 minutes of:
110 yard sprint
7 DB Weighted Pull-ups, 50 pound dumbbell
Rounds: 1 pull-up short of 6 rounds
Wednesday’s WOD
Rest Day
Tuesday’s WOD
5 rounds for time of:
5 Push Presses, 185 pounds
400 meter run
Time: 10:19
Monday’s WOD
3 DB Front squats, 50 pound dumbbells
6 Pushups
9 Box Jumps, 20 inch box
Rest 1 minute between 3 minute cycles
As many rounds as possible in 3 minutes of the above triplet, repeat cycle 5 times.
5 rounds/5 rounds/5 rounds/5 rounds/5 rounds
Sunday’s WOD
7 rounds for time of:
3 Power cleans, 200 pounds
40 yard sprint
Time: 4:30 or 4:40 something. Don’t remember.
I took Saturday off because I really needed to. I had a really tough three day stretch of workouts and my body was beat. My legs and lats are sore. My lower back is sore too. Today I worked out with Jeff Shannon and we had a good time doing so. It’s funny with CrossFit because we spent the majority of the time setting up the workout and warming up with only 5 minutes of actual workout time. We had to warm-up to the weights that we were going to use and set up the course per say. We talked a lot about what weights we should use and how long the workout should take. We were both off about how long the workout should take by the way. It went real fast. I love workouts like these. Just move some heavy weights and go as hard as you can for a short period of time. It was fun.
WOD
7 rounds for time of:
3 Power Cleans @ 200
40 yard sprint
Time: 4:30 (about)
