Week 2 / Day 6

10/31/08
Box Squat: 10 sets of 2 at 60%
- 205 x 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
Deadlift: 10 sets of 1 @ 60%
- 230 x 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
DB Shrugs: 3 sets
- 100(each hand) x 8, 8, 9
Roman Chair/ Incline Situps (last set): 3 sets of 10
- body wt x 10, +5 x 10, +25 x 10
Side Bends: 3 sets of 10
- 80 x 10, 10, 10
_______________________________

1/4 Mile Sprints:
1- 1:18
2- 1:20
3- 1:27
4- 1:29

*Running with a stomach full of milk = bad. Also did not take adequate time to recover between the two workouts.

Week 2 / Day 5

REST

Week 2 / Day 4

10/29/08
Military Press: try to beat old 5 rep max
- 160 x 5 (success!)
Ring Chinups: 6 sets of 6
Ring Flys: 3 sets of 3
Ab work with psuedo atlas stone
- extensions and twists with 125 & 135lbs
Ring Push Ups: 3 sets of 12
BB Curls: 3 sets of 8
- 100 x 8, 8, 8
_____________________________________

3 rounds for time of:
- 5 dumbbell clean thruster burpees* (35#)
- 8 ring pull ups
- 50 double unders

TIME: 7:49

* http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_DBBurpeePatNick.mov <--demonstrated here

Week 2 / Day 3

10/28/08
Swimming
- 50m warmup
- 500m freestyle
- Hypoxic swimming 2, 4, 6, 8 x 50m each*
- 10m underwater swim
- 25m underwater swim
- 25m underwater swim
- 50m cooldown
- Stretching

* Hypoxic swimming is swimming in an oxygen depleted state. This is done by restricting your breathing to one breath every so many strokes. In this case taking a breath every 2 strokes for the first 50 meters, 1 breath for every 4 strokes for the second 50 meters, etc

Week 2/ Day 2

10/27/08
Low Box Squat: Work up to a new 5 rep max
- 280 x 4 (FAIL!!)
BB Lunges: 3 sets of 10 each leg
- 160 x 10, 10, 10
Glute Ham Raise: 40 reps, in as many sets as needed
- 18, 13, 9
Psuedo Atlas Stone Lift:
- 160 x 2
- 180 x 1
Standing Ab Wheel Roll Outs

*Worste workout ever. Energy was low, I failed on squats, forgot to do a fourth set of BB lunges, glute ham raises felt stupid, and my atlas stone work is regressing. 180 felt heavy as hell and it shouldn't. I dunno...hopefully this was just a bad day. One good thing I took away from this though is that I need to get much stronger abs, so I'm going to be throwing in a lot of extra ab work.

Week 2/ Day 1

10/26/08
Dynamic Bench Press: 8 sets of 3 @ 60%, 1 set of 2 @ 70%
- 150 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
(alternate close, medium, wide grip each set)
- 175 x 2
Floor Press: 3 sets of 3
- 200 x 3
- 205 x 3
- 215 x 3
DB Bench Press: 4 sets of 10
- 70 x 10
- 75 x 10
- 80 x 10
- 80 x 10
DB Bent Over Row: 4 sets of 10 (each arm)
- 75 x 10
- 75 x 10
- 80 x 10
- 80 x 10
Farmers Walk: 3 sets of 30 steps with 100 lbs each hand
Tricep Pushdowns: 4 sets of 12

*I have more questions about this program. Why, for example, does it advocate 60-90 seconds of rest? This seems to be more in line with the rest periods a bodybuilder would take, when everything I've read about strength training suggests 2-5 minutes. I will have to read more of Louie's articles to try to find the answer.

*I'm also currious about the validity of speed days like today. I don't doubt that they would work, however it seems like it would be more useful if I had some way to quantify the lifts. On dynamic bench press, from what I gather, I'm suppose to be exploding and driving the weight up, generating high bar speed. Now weight is easily quantifiable. I used 150 last week. Had I been using 160 this week I know I would be making progress. Sets and reps are the same. If I had done more reps per set then I would be improving. However, weight, sets, and reps all stayed the same this week. That leaves only bar speed to determine my progress. How am I to know whether or not I'm moving the bar slower, faster, or the same this week as I was last week? There's no way to know. I'm warry of programs where it is difficult to guage progress and quantify results, but I'm still operating under the principle of "who am I to question the guys that wrote and follow this program?" And so I will continue with the experiment and see where it leads me.

Week 1/ Day 7

10/25/08
REST

*Thoughts on the program after week 1 -

This program is different for me. It feels a little counter intuative because I'm used to not doing much over 4 to 5 reps to gain strength, and even then it's usually 1-2 in any exercise. Here, the main lifts are generaly that way, but there are many assistance exercises that have me doing 10+ reps, which was difficult in the first week because I'm not used to that much lactic acid buildup. Also, I'm used to working at 85-100% of max constantly. Having said that, however, the lower percentages throughout the week for speed work are something I look forward to. Having to constantly work at such high percentages can make it hard to stay motivated all the time. It's nice to get some good work in and still not have to worry about straining so much under the bar. Whether this will work for me to raise my lifts, better than always working near 100% remains to be seen, but this program was written by some of the strongest men in the world so I think it deserves it's chance and I will be following through on the entire 12 weeks.
It needs to be noted, however, that I will make minor modifactions to the program because I am using it for general strength improvement. Not for making myself a better power lifter. I will be throwing in power cleans and various forms of them because it is a skill I don't want to lose. I will also continue to do some gymnastic-style static holds. Short metcons and sprints will be added on some days in the afternoon to keep my conditioning in check. I have to throw out reverse hyper-extensions, a lift the program often advocates, because I do not have access to a reverse-hyper machine and do not know of a replacement exercise that isn't already done on a different day.
So far so good. Looking forward to checking my progress at the end of the 12 weeks.

Week 1/ Day 6

10/24/08
Low Box Squat: 10 sets of 2 at 55%
- 185 x 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
Deadlift: 10 sets of 1 at 55%
- 210 x 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
Hang Power Cleans (to knees): 185 x 1, 1, 1, 1
DB Side Bends: 3 sets of 10
- 70 x 10, 10, 10
Hanging Leg Raises: 3 sets of 10
- 10, 10, 10

Week 1/ Day 5

10/23/08
REST
Stretching

Louie Simmons on the Conjugate Method.

http://www.westside-barbell.com/Articles%20Top%20Ten/PDF.Files/04PDF/The%20Conjugate%20Method.pdf

Week1/ Day 4

10/22/08
Weighted L-Sit: 3 sets of 10 seconds
- +10lbs for 10 seconds
- +15lbs for 10 seconds
- +20 lbs for 10 seconds
(weight placed in lap)
Overhead Press: work up to a 5 rep max
- 155 x 5
- 160 x 4 (I guess 160 isn't my max press...)
Chin ups: 5 sets of 6
- all sets completed
3 Way Shoulder Raises: 3 sets of 20 (10 lbs)
*20 front raises, 20 side raises, and 20 rear raises constitutes 1 set
DB Overhead Tricep Extensions - 3 sets of 10
- 65 x 10
- 70 x 10
- 70 x 10 (stay with 70 next time)
BB Curls - 3 sets of 8
- 95 x 8
- 95 x 8
- 95 x 8
------------------------------------------------

No metcon today. Too much school work.

Week 1/ Day 3

Active Recovery
- tread water for 20 minutes
- underwater swimming
- stretching

----------------------------------------------

And a little bit of motivation.


Sports Performance coach and a #1 ranked powerlifter (132lb class). Julia's best total is 1102 with competition lifts of 457 squat, 240 bench press and a 424 dead lift. Julia also won her weight class at the 2005 APF Senior Nations. Julia spends her days working with both men and women athletes of various sports, abilities and skill levels.
- elitefts.com

WOW

Week 1/ Day 2

10/20/08
Low Box Squat: Work up to 5 rep max
- 275 x 5
- 290 x 3
Glute Ham Raise: 30 reps, as many sets as needed
- 7, 6, 7, 7, 3
* peformed on an ab board, hands used to assist about halfway through eccentric and concentric
DB Lunges: 3 sets of 10 reps per leg
- 150 x 10, 10, 10 (each legs)
45 degree back raises - 3 sets of 15
- Body wt x 15
- +5 x 15
- +5 x 15
Weighted decline situps - 3 sets of 10
- Body wt - 10
- +5 x 10
- +10 x 10
-------------------------------------------

3 Rounds for time of:
- 5 ring pull ups
- 10 burpees
- 15 DB swings (50#)
TIME: 3:54
*Felt pretty lousy. Gotta get back into the swing of these metcons.

Week 1/ Day 1

10/19/08
Dynamic Bench Press - 8 sets, 3 reps at 60%, alternate close, medium, and wide grip each set
- 150 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
Floor Press - 3 sets of 3
- 150 x 3
- 170 x 3
- 200 x 3
Dumbell Bench Press - 3 sets of 10
- 70 x 10
- 75 x 10
- 80 x 10 (almost failed on last rep)
DB Bent Over Row - 3 sets of 10
- 60 x 10
- 75 x 10
- 80 x 10
Tricep Pressdowns - 4 sets of 12

Why is it here?

To track progress on the efforts to obtain a 1,000 pound crossfit total (max squat, overhead press, deadlift) and powerlifting total (squat, bench, deadlift) as well as becoming generally stronger and more useful.

Current program will be a 12 week west-side style beginners program.

Current Lifts:
Squat: 340
Military Press: 160?
Bench Press: 250?
Deadlift: 380
Weight: 180

12 Week Goals:
Squat: 360
Military Press: 180
Bench Press: 270
Deadlift: 400
Weight: 185

Program that will be followed, with minor modifications due to equipment limitations, obtained from:
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=207&pid=1079