Well Tuesday didn’t go at all well! Snatch practice was meant to be a simple matter of getting confident with my opening lifts, but it couldn’t have gone much worse. I dropped 3 out of 6 attempts at 65kg and dropped 2 out of 3 attempts at 70kg. Honestly, I should be getting every lift at these weights. I think months of training alone with no coaching is taking its toll. :-S
I still need to lose 5 lbs in the next 18 days so I finished up with a small Crossfit style metcon workout of my own devising. I included burpees as punishment for my failure at the Snatch, lol:
As for today (Wednesday), well that was a complete bust. I had felt a twinge in my hamstring doing deadlifts at the weekend, and so eased off. Well whilst I didn’t notice it at the time, I must have aggravated it on Tuesday, as it is slightly sore even to walk on at the moment. I think discretion is the better part of valour and so I’m going to take it easy. The last thing I need is a proper injury 2 weeks before the comp!
In other news, I’m working on a Crossfit post that has literally taken hours to put together. It’s probably the most useful Crossfit related post I’ve ever done on this blog, something I’ve been thinking of doing for ages and I can’t wait for it to be finished so that I can post it up! It’s even better than the Named Crossfit Workouts (the girls) post I did ages ago, that I still haven’t got round to updating yet. One day…
Anyway, this post will be ready in the next couple of days, it’s going to be awesome.
I’ve started seriously thinking about the BWLA British Masters Olympic Weightlifting Competition at Lilleshall (I came 2nd last year) at the end of March and how I’m going to prepare for it. For reasons I won’t bore you with, I’ve not done as much lifting as I should have done in preparation for this competition. It’s too close to the comp now to actually consider improving strength really, so I’m just going to focus on technique and get my confidence levels up for what I want my starting lifts to be.
The rules say that you must start within 15kg of the qualifying standard, which was 165kg for the 77kg M1 category. So starting at 150 would be an easy 60kg snatch and 90kg clean and jerk. I think I’m going to do a bit better than that and work towards 65kg and 90kg as starting weights, and see how it goes this month, I may up them both to 70kg snatch and 95gk C&J openers. I do need to be confident of getting a total though, so will err on the side of caution if training this month doesn’t go smoothly.
My aim for training is to not try anything that will cause me to drop a lift in the next 4 weeks. I want to go into the comp with utter confidence that I can lift my openers, then just increment each one by 5kg say on the day for the 2nd and 3rd lifts. That would mean if all goes perfectly (ha, when does that happen?!?) my current PB’s of 77kg and 100kg are in range.
With that in mind, my training this week was:
Tuesday
Hang Snatch and Snatch: 2×40, 2×45, 2×50, 2×55, 1×60
Snatch + 2 Over Head Squat: 2×60, 3×65
Snatch Pulls: 3×70, 3×75, 3×80
Then ½ the Crossfit.com WOD, which was 8 rounds (I did 4) of run 400, with 90 second rest between runs. I only did half as I’m not that used to a lot of running and I had brand new Evo Viva Barefoot running shoes and didn’t want to over do it first time out.
They are Vibram FiveFinger substitutes, as I don’t have the right shaped feet for Vibrams (boooo!). Certainly, they have not a lot of sole to speak of and you do feel a lot more of what you’re walking on. They’ll take a bit of getting used to, but should help the Pose running that’s for sure.
I followed this with a Crossfit WOD from a few days ago: Row 5k. I’ve never done a 5k row before, in fact the most I’ve ever rowed has been 2000m, and only once at that, so this was a bit daunting! In fact, it went better than I’d hoped. Each 1000m split was faster than the one before, and I had enough left to end with a bit of a sprint, finishing in a respectable (I thought) 20:28. Will have a go at beating 20mins next time.
Actually the biggest battle at the moment is making the 77kg (169lbs) weight category. I’m down from a portly 13st5 after Xmas to 12st7 as of this morning, so only 6 lbs and 3.5 weeks to go. Should be no problem, as long as I can continue to be good, hoho.
A couple of weeks ago, several members of the Crossfit community in Manchester attended the English Indoor Rowing Championships. They put on a good show, though sadly not quite the medal haul of last year’s English Indoor Rowing Championships but a fine showing nonetheless:
- Timothy Haddon, 8th Men Open Hwt
- Dominic Beardwell – 17th Men 30-39 Hwt
- Matt Foster – 4th Men Open 500m Hwt
- Daniel Green – 7th Men Open 500m Hwt
- Timothy Haddon – 16th Men Open 500m Hwt
- Dominic Beardwell – 7th Men 30+ 500m Hwt
- Matt Foster et al – 5th Men Open Team
- Jane Holgate – 2nd Women 50+ 500m Hwt
- (Hope I didn’t miss anyone?)
Unlike last year, I won’t gush too much about how Crossfit enables creditable performances even in sports for which it doesn’t specialise, but I am seriously considering entering myself for the 2011 EIRC. My weightlifting weight of 77kg is just a few kilograms over the 75kg lightweight rowing category, and my current best 500m time of 1:27.1 would be good enough to win the 500m 30+ Open in the lightweight category, so it’s awfully tempting, if I can just get to the weight close to the time for entry. Why do these things all seem to come just after Christmas?!?
I’m experimenting with dropping my carb intake a bit and upping my fats. I’m still doing about 15 blocks per day of protein, but only 8-9ish of carbs and about 30 of fat. And to be honest, I’m feeling pretty good this week.
Did 2 major WODs this week, yesterday’s Crossfit Snatch workout which was damn hard but I managed it. And today I did:
- Clean & Jerk singles up to 3 x 90kg. Just concentrating on technique.
- 5 Rounds For Time
- Run 400m
- 30 Box Jumps
- 30 Wall Balls 20lbs
I only had an 11lb ball, but that didn’t stop it taking 37:59 minutes. Not a great time, but I’m not displeased considering how few proper Crossfit metcon workouts I’ve done in the last 3 months.
As ever, whilst I’m actually doing the workout, I’m thinking “Why the hell am I doing this to myself?” About 30 minutes later, I think “That wasn’t so bad.” and an hour later I think “That was great, can’t wait to do it again!” It’s a total Statler and Waldorf moment! Lol.
Today I did Saturday’s workout from the main Crossfit site, it looked fun:
Seven rounds for time of:
- 95 pound Power snatch, 7 reps
- 95 pound Snatch balance, 7 reps
- 95 pound Overhead squat, 7 reps
95lb doesn’t compute too well to kg, and at the last minute I had an inkling that it could be harder than it looked (the rafts of DNFs on the main site was the hint!) so I plumbed for 40kg, which is exactly 1/2 my body weight at the moment.
I’m glad I did, man that sucked! Lifting half body weight over head 147 times was never going to be easy, and do to resting after each exercise, I actually ended up doing 7 more Snatches (to get the bar up for the OHSs). It was a pretty poor time of 32:55 and I was whacked at the end. That’s the longest Crossfit workout I’ve done in a while.
I’m pleased to report a very impressive set of results from my Crossfit comrades. For some reason, not all of them were shown as being affiliated with Crossfit Manchester, I suspect because it would have shamed all the other dedicated rowing clubs, to be totally out numbered by a fitness club that happens to use rowing machines in general fitness.
Either way, here are the results from the Crossfit members, bear in mind this is the whole of England indoor rowing championships. I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s a remarkable showing considering Crossfit’s non rowing specific training:
2000m
Men’s Open: Pos – Name – Age – Club – Time
22 Daniel Green 23 Crossfit Manchester 6:54.3
Mens 30-39 Hwt (Heavy Weight)
18 Matt Foster 31 Crossfit Manchester 6:55.5
Mens 40-49 Hwt
18 Paul Kirk 44 Crossfit Manchester 7:08.8
Mens 30-39 Lwt (Kight Weight)
6 Sean Murray 33 Crossfit Manchester 7:33.9
500m
Men’s Open: Pos – Name – Age – Club – Time
4 Daniel Green 23 Crossfit Manchester 1:26.2
5 Paul Kirk 44 Crossfit Manchester 1:27.9
Mens 30+ Hwt
6 Matt Foster 31 Crossfit Manchester 1:25.3
9 Dominic Beardwell 32 Crossfit Manchester 1:30.0
10 Chris Worrall 33 Crossfit Manchester 1:33.5
Mens Open Lwt 1 Karl Steadman 28 Glossop 1:34.0 2 Craig Massey 28 West Disbury 1:37.3
Mens 30+ Lwt 1 Sean Murray 33 Crossfit Manchester 1:38.6
Womens Open 1 Fay Collinson 21 Fallowfield 1:40.2
10 Lucy Goddard 27 Crossfit Manchester 1:55.2
Womens 40+ Hwt
5 Jane Holgate 49 Stockport 1:57.5
Womens Open Lwt
4 Rachel Steadman 28 Glossop 1:52.1
There’s nothing quite so effective at whiling away your precious life, as spending time watching crash compilations on the internet. So without further ado, I present for your Friday Fun pleasure: the luckiest helmetless motorcyclist ever:
The motorbike mate you *don’t* want to go out riding with:
And finally a selection of race crashes. Some really good one’s in here (I have no idea if anyone was seriously hurt, I hope not, but fess up, the only reason anyone watches motorsports, is to see the crashes):
In separate news, I’m looking forward to the BWLA Masters on Saturday, though my shoulder is still far from fixed. I couldn’t quite go 10 days before a competition without any training, that would not put me in good shape, so I did a typical Crossfit style blast tonight on the rear decking, with just the aid of a skipping rope:
As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 10 minutes of:
5 press up
10 double unders
15 squats
I was pleased with the 9 rounds I managed. It was suitably hard and blowy, but also should have stressed me too much for the comp in 36 hours. Just enough to get the blood flowing and to remind my legs and arms that they’ll have work to do soon.
I got confirmation a couple of days ago that I’m definitely in the BWLA British Masters Weightlifting Championships in Lilleshall, Shropshire in 2.5 weeks. The bad news is, I’m lifting against Brendan Cooke an established lifter from Northern Ireland and Ian Robertson, a 14x Scottish champion. There goes my chance to sneak a title then, lol.
I did think about trying to drop a weight category and go for the 77kg (169 lbs / 12 st 1) category, but I’ve checked the rules with the Chairman Bill Barton, and apparently I’m not allowed to do that now that I’ve entered the 85kg category. You are allowed to go up a category it seems, I assume that’s for those that don’t make the weight. I’ve also learned that you have to open within 10kg of the qualifying standard, so that fixes my opening weights at 70kg for the Snatch and 95kg for the Clean and Jerk.
I had high hopes for this week at the gym, however their new bumpers still haven’t arrived, but they have said I can have exclusive use of the knackered bumper plates. Here’s a photo of the Apollo bumper plates that I’ve been moaning about:
They really are shocking. This is the second gym I’ve been in that’s had Apollo bumpers and they’ve both broken the same way. I don’t have a shot of the 20s, but you see the 5 bolts of the centre plate, they all sheared off inside whilst I was using it, so the metal plate fell off! This is the collection of 15kg bumper bits that I collected after one session, and these are just the big bits I could be bothered to pick up:
Putting both the 10s and 15s on gives some stability, so I quickly worked up to 70kg on Tuesday and aimed to work at 70kg snatches for a while. Sadly things didn’t go according to plan. The warm up snatches were fine, upto and including 60kg, but the jump to 70kg was too much. I spent 45 minutes practising how to drop 70kg! I did finally get a scrappy one up, but was too tired by then to keep going and want to stop on a success. So I moved onto over head squats and worked up to 3 reps of 80kg (my body weight).
Then yesterday, having got my 100kg Clean & Jerk at the weekend, I was very hopeful for &J practice. But, for whatever reason, I started feeling dizzy and light headed at the top of the clean. I soon learnt that jerking whilst dizzy is not good for your health… nearly dropping 90kg on your head will do that for you! So again I moved on and decided to do a Crossfit Total:
Back Squat: 140kg, 150, 155(F)
Shoulder Press: 50, 52.5, 55
Deadlift: 140, 150
Crossfit Total = 335kg or 781 lbs
The Back Squat and Shoulder Press went well, but my back was feeling very tired on the deadlift and without someone to tell me how rounded my back was getting, I decided not to go up. I can’t remember what my PBs are, will update this post when I know.
Oops, I was out on the lash last night and got in far to late and too drunk to do a normal Friday fun post, so this will have to do: This is a list of t-shirt straplines, compiled by my mates at Crossfit Manchester. All applicable to Crossfit of course:
“I count my nuts”
“Pain is Weakness leaving the body”
“Crossfit – an Express Elevator to Hell”
“Strong people are harder to kill and generally more useful to have around”
“Your workout is my warm up”
“Crossfit: Last as long as you say you will”
“Superman wishes he could do crossfit”
“Nice snatch”
“CrossFit: That’s a great bench press! Now go crank out 40 pullups. Yes, you reading this! Go do it now”
“CrossFit: The only time you can do Jerks and Thrusters in public and it’s cool”
“Crossfit. This is gonna suck”
“No, It Just Feels Like Hell”
“Nice Rack”
“For each a road, for every man a religion”
“The calm before the storm”
“Time is on my side”
“Catch me if you can”
“Excellence is not a skill, it’s an attitude”
“My gain, nobody’s loss”
“There is no bar!” (matrix style)
“I used to keep birds!”
“Movement, technique, brotherhood: a new order of fitness”
“TIME, every little counts”
“The world is a lot brighter when your pupils are the size of dimes”
“Massaging your sternum with your heart starts to feel good “
“Sometimes, lying on the floor is its own reward”
“If you can talk, you’re not trying hard enough”
“No sane human being would enjoy such a feeling”
“What comes out the other side becomes legendary.”
On Saturday I went to Mytholmroyd in Yorkshire to compete in the Yorkshire and North East Counties Open Weightlifting Championships, officiated by BWLA (the British Weight Lifting Association). There were 6 of us in total from Crossfit, including 2 others who were lifting in their debut competition too.
If you’re read my last post on Olympic Weightlifting warmups, you’ll know that I was hoping to qualify for the BWLA British Championships. I needed a total of 175kg to qualify, well I won’t spoil it, here’s the video so you can see what happened.
I have to say, I’m slightly disappointed, but it goes to show I’m getting close to the 75 and 100kg I need, and I still have the Northern Masters in Feb 2009 to qualify, which is at Mytholmroyd again. Things I need to work on:
Keeping the bar much closer to my legs on the first pull.
Hopefully that will fix my erroneous forward jump.
Keeping my bum down and shoulders up on the first pull, so they both rise together.
Catching both the Snatch and Clean lower in the squat.
