Garage Gym Warrior Fitness

11/27/09

WOD:

Deadlift: 5 x 5

Athletes:

Susan........ 135, 135, 135, 135, 145

Jack.......... 185, 185, 185, 185, 205

After the top secret JackFit warmup, we decided that we could no longer avoid our beloved deadlifts. True, we've included them in a workout a few weeks ago but it was time to go over them in detail. For such a simple movement, you'd think once you know how to deadlift you're one-and-done. Not true, revisiting form as your power improves is always a good idea. This is especially true as strength increases and loads go up, small anomalies in form can easily grow into poor habits if left unaddressed.

Since some of us here were still recovering from the latest version of the flu or small muscle tweaks we focused on form and proper execution over weight. This turned out to be a great idea. While the main benefit of the deadlift is gained from the concentric movement, many injuries occur in the eccentric portion of the movement (putting the weight down). While we haven't had that happen here, it has happened elsewhere and it's often due to the athlete failing to maintain proper form during the entire duration of the lift. That's right boys and girls, just because you're picked the weight up doesn't mean you're done. It ain't over till the weight is safely back on the floor.

So what did we do? A very measured warmup with verbalizing through the entire setup for each lift. Every rep of the work set was treated as a single lift. In other words, we paid attention to what we were doing. The payoff; some extremely good looking deadlifts with near perfect form and kinesthetic awareness.

Ignore the numbers folks, this was a great WOD.

11/25/09

WOD:

Squat Clean: 5 x 5

Athletes:

Susan........ 65, 65, 65, 65, 65

Well, since everyone is slowing coming back from the flu it was going to be an easy start. Fortunately Susan is already running at full tilt so while your humble narrator decided to take things easy and just do a little warmup work with no real work sets, Susan got down to the business of the squat clean.

We've done this movement before more than once but it was finally time to spend some quality technical work developing form. After a good warmup and some broomstick movements to get the basics down it was time to put a little weight on the bar.

The clean is an excellent movement for building coordination, flexibility, strength and speed. It's quick and powerful, like a high school romance the entire thing over before it's barely had time to start.

Instead of going for overwhelming weight, we decided to get Susan into her groove. After a few over pulls and under pulls Susan was quickly able to start feeling out her comfort zone and began to make the small corrections required (ie. closer to the body, finish the pull, get under the bar faster, keep the elbows up, etc. etc.).

After the WOD she decided to put a few more pounds on the bar and do some singles. They looked pretty decent. Not sure but I get the impression she worked up a good appetite for Turkey Day. By the looks of it we'll have her squat cleaning some nice weight soon.

11/19/09 - 11/24/09

WOD:

The Flu

Athletes:

Jack........ 4 days

So far this WOD has proven to be a little more challenging that I would have anticipated. Fortunately I'm coming out of the back end here and it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

Susan seems to be getting better are well, she took the early lead on this and I can now see why she had to take a few days off.

With any luck by the end of the week everyone will be operational again.

11/18/09

Rest Day

"When a goal matters enough to a person, that person will find a way to accomplish what at first seemed impossible."
-- Nido Qubein

For Jordan....

11/17/09

WOD:

 21 - 15 - 9 of:

- Thrusters

- Knees to Elbows

- Bench Dips

- Push Ups

Athletes:

Susan...... 13:00* @ 45#

Jack........ 11:31 @ 75#

Man, I think we were all still a little slow from the previous workout but it was time to once again get down to business. The warmup focused heavily on OHS. It just seemed like the thing to do, ya know?

As for the WOD, it wasn't originally written like that. Susan took one look and said, "You know, maybe we should do thrusters." Hell, who am I to argue with that? By the second round I think she might have regretted her initial enthusiasm.

The first round wasn't exactly easy but it wasn't too bad either. Unfortunately once again after blasting through the thrusters and then bench dips, chaining 5 push ups in a row was just torture. Then it was back to the thrusters... yeah, not so nice. It felt like someone had added an extra set of plates to the bar while I wasn't looking. In fact, the first one was an immediate no-rep as I didn't get full extension on the thruster. Damn.

Susan was keeping a good pace and I was just holding on to keep up with her. The knees to elbows didn't give her much trouble and she was making some serious time on me there. I only caught a bit of a break on the last two sets of thrusters but it was still anybody's game. Chaining more than 3 or 4 together was just not possible and we both had to put the weight down a few times more than we'd have liked. In the end, it was a race to the finish and the numbers just don't convey the effort it took to get there.

Fuel the fire baby.

11/16/09

WOD:

 9 / 21 - 6 / 15 - 3 / 9 of:

- Heavy Deadlift

- Pull Ups

Athletes:

Camilo..... 9:36* @ 155#

Susan...... 10:10* @ 115#

Jack........ 3:50 @ 225#

Jordan : 30 seconds on / 30 seconds off - 8 round Viper Rope Climber interval

Before we go any further, I need to address the membership / joining question. Lately I've had a bunch of people ask me how they can join the gym. Short answer is, you can't. Seriously. This is not a commercial gym and we don't normally take new "members". We run on the Gym Jones model, if you're serious about wanting to train and learn how do this then come talk to us and we'll see what we can do. Our space is limited and our time is valuable, if you're looking for a gym to join for the occasional workout this isn't the place. If this is something you desperately want to do then allowances can be made.

Alright, last night's workout was... interesting. Space was a little tight with the MMA class running at the same time but we made do. After a little ring work and some OHS to warmup, we decided to get ready for the WOD.

Now, this looks like a fairly simple WOD and I suppose it is. I mean, 9 - 6 - 3 deadlifts? No problem, right? The pull ups are a little tougher and it's a 3x scale for jumping pullups. When the rubber hits the road though, this little couplet proves to be some serious work. Done with intensity it leaves you gasping for air and sore all over. In other words, it's my kind of workout!

Susan and Camilo both chose to pick a weight heavier than they normally use for multi-rep sets. The extra effort did them good. Jordan was having a little bit of a rough day and she subb'ed a slightly different workout. After the normal WOD, Camilo and I jumped on for 4 rounds each just to see if it was a easy as Jordan made it look.... it wasn't.

Cooler weather is here, let's see if we can turn up the heat and warm things up.

11/13/09 - 11/15/09

Rest Day

"Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready."
-- Teddy Roosevelt

 

Some people go to Vegas to gamble or catch a show. Me? If I'm going to drive 5 hours I prefer to do something like this...

11/12/09

WOD:

 21 - 15 - 9 of:

- Chin Ups

- Bench Dips

- Push Ups

Athletes:

Jack........ 6:44

Alright, after a somewhat frustrating day (let me put it this way, if American manufacturing moves to China and those people end up having to work at Starbucks making crappuccinos, I will not shed a tear) it was time to hit the gym. Rarely have I found myself this eager to vent my frustrations through physical exertion. Fortunately, it worked.

Jordan had to work, Susan is still sick and Camilo was smoked after the past two days. This meant that there was nobody to object to me blasting Barry Manilow on the stereo to get the adrenaline pumping. I'm kidding, I'm kidding... or am I?

After the patented new JackFit warmup (actually it's just a trademark but the copyright application is pending) it was time to get rolling. The first 15 chin ups came without much effort. Round one was going to be easy. The bench dips weren't too bad either but the push ups were where the trouble started. First ten, no problem. Next five, ok. Last six, agony. Shit, there's two more rounds left. No problem, break it down into fives. Yeah, that worked for the first five, now what? Damn. Threesies and twosies then back to dips. Nice, just had to stop once. Crap, 5 push ups and the arm pump was crushing. Take a breath, ok threesies and twosies. Crap, back to chin ups.... oh the humanity! To prevent cheating I made sure the bar was high enough that I had to jump to catch it, no extra help here. Ok, ok, finally done (that must have taken an hour). Back to dips, let's just make it straight through.... ugh, no chance. Take a breath and finish... done. Now the push ups, let's go. One, two, threeeeeeeee..... plop. Ok, shake the hands and take a breath, six more let's go. One, twoooooo, damn!

A small eternity later...

Alright, so this wasn't exactly a walk in the park. What did Glassman say? "Be impressed with intensity, not volume." Damned straight. You know, I feel better already.

After a short break there was enough left in the tank to do some supplementary work and it looked a little something like this:

1 min max situps @ 25# vest: Round 1 = 40, Round 2 =  32, Round 3 = 30

 

11/11/09

WOD:

3 Rounds of:

- 850m run

- 20 KB SDHP

- 20 Push Ups

Athletes:

Jordan...... 30:46* @ 26#

Camilo...... 23:59* @ 32#

Jack......... 16:48 @ 53#

What do you do when life throws you a banking holiday? Sleep late you say and stay in bed till noon you say? No, I don't think so. You get your butt moving and hit the park at the ass-crack of dawn. Bring some friends with you and hell, while you're it, drag some gear along. That's precisely what we did.

The sun wasn't shinning yet and the birds hadn't awoke so there wasn't much singing but at least we had the entire park to ourselves (save for one or two runners who had the warrior spirit or were as deranged as we must be). The warmup was a little slow because, to be honest, we weren't really awake yet. Stiffness from last night's workout finally beginning to set in as well. A few burpees sure got the blood moving though.

Jordan is normally not a big fan of the run but I have to admit, when the clock started she hustled. The improvement to Camilo's performance was really visible here as well. Half a year ago he'd be struggling just to finish this WOD but I didn't hear a single peep from him (nor Jordan, but that might be because she was totally out of breath for most of the workout... which was convenient because it made her unable to pummel me when time I told her to pick up the pace). I still remember when Jordan could barely string 5 air squats together and this morning she spent 30 minutes pushing to her upper limit. Excellent!

The WOD itself was just a bit of a meat grinder. There was no place to rest and you could actually feel your heart rate accelerating while pumping out the pushups. The urge to slow down on the run or maybe walk for a few seconds was great but having decided to run the whole damned thing through was really good for the soul (maybe no so much for the leggies though). The final round was all about fighting of that queasy feeling and pushing through.  

This my friends is what the breakfast of champions is all about!

11/10/09

WOD:

"Randy": 

- 75 Snatches @ 75#

Athletes:

Jordan....... 11:13 @ 10# (Single Arm)

Camilo....... 10:37 @ 45#

Jack.........  9:35 @ 75#

Well this was a new WOD for us. We've been working snatch technique for a few weeks now and with Veteran's Day just around the corner it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do a hero WOD and put our new found skills to the test.

Our lack of a junior bar (it was stolen from us along with much of our other gear on the "Night of the Long Knives" a few months back) meant that Jordan had to scale to a 10# weight and do single arm snatches. This meant that she would be doing 75 reps eachside. Camilo used the 45# bar and we used the elephant stands to give him the proper setup. It worked pretty well.

Having never done this WOD, we really didn't know what to expect. I mean, was it going to take 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes or more? Were we even going to be able to finish 75 snatches in a row? We just didn't know. After a solid warmup and practice reps we decided to get moving. After the first few reps it became obvious that our best best was going to be the power snatch. A muscle snatch was doable but as the fatigue set in that little extra half squat made a big difference. The first 20 reps were, dare I say, easy. In fact, things didn't start slowing down until 2/3rds through the workout. By then every 10 or so reps required a brief pause.

Having done the WOD now I'm fairly certain that we could all drop at least a minute or more off our times just by being able to better pace ourselves and knowing that we would still have enough left to finish. Having checked the main site a bogey time of 6:00 seems like a reasonable goal... eventually.

Since everyone could still stand after the WOD, we decided to work on some ring holds and L/ N - sits. No sense going home with some gas left in the tank, right?