I just finished reading an article on David Webster OBE from Beyond Strong.
I was fortunate to meet DPW in 2007.
via Beyond Strong. here is a short video of his life and accomplishments.
One of the members of my crossfit gym has started his own blog. As both a scientist and committed athlete he has a unique insight. I recommend his blog to every one.
Brown and Loud
The following is an article I wrote for my Karate club news letter. I have posted for future reference and to high light the universal nature of development.
Dan Newsletter June 2008
Our June seminar went well after some minor hiccups. There is just no substitute to actually getting out on the floor and training. I have already seen major advances in the members that attended.
I am of the strong belief that there is a need for a class specifically designed for the senior members of the school. On several occasions during the June seminar, I referenced Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore, two conditioning coaches I had the privilege of training with on my last trip to the United States. During my time with them, I learnt a great deal about what it takes to be a good instructor, but the number one lesson I took away was the need to develop programs that ensure continued improvement. In their book 'Practical Programming for Strength Training
The image above reproduced from page 17 of 'Practical Programming for Strength Training
Rippetoe and Kilgore divide athletes into four categories - Beginner: zero to 6 months training; Intermediate: 6 months to 2 years; Advanced: 2 to 3 years; and, Elite: over 4 years. Translating this scale to Soo Bahk Do, this would correspond as the following:
Beginner = Orange Belt
Intermediate = Green Belt
Advanced = Red Belt
Elite = Dan
I am currently working on programs for all belt groups to ensure we continue in our individual development. Training with other members with approximately the same experience is both challenging and beneficial. However, to ensure the highest benefit from our training programs, I feel we need to have specialised classes for each developmental level. Students with 3 years experience obviously need a different program to members with 3 months experience in order for all students to improve their skills.
Last night we had 4 in the shed and everyone set some new PR's. Yesterdays HQ WOD was push press so we sub that in for press. I managed to get 100kg over head. Other PR were Nick doing 5x105kg deadlift, this put some pressure on Sharon who meet the challenge with 5x100kg deadlift.
We must be doing something right in 'the shed.'
Doug (another trainer at the gym) believes that the 3x5 session we run is not the best way forward and we should have a stricter adherence to the crossfit program. I know there is a lot of good reasons for this but I also believe that there is benefits in still having designated strength days.
What crossfit program has in its favour is it randomness, this helps produce a well rounded athlete, strong in all domains but master of none. There is nothing wrong this. But I also want to be strong, 600 pound tire flipping strong. Can these both sit side by side? I cant see why not. And later on when if I decide to go completely HQ WOD, I know that the strength training I have been doing will give me a great foundation.
In Rippetoe and Kilgore's 'Practical Programming for Strength Training
I have taken this on board with my own training. I have never really been a strong person. I really did nothing to improve my fitness for many years. When looking at what I want to achieve and after training with Rippetoe and Kilgore I decided the best plan of action was to get strong and then move on to the more metcom workout.
Will I get to point were I think that I am strong enough and stick to just the WOD's?
My original goal from strength training was to deadlift and squat my own body weight and that has happened. Was this enough to make me change? No, I am just having to much fun with the three major lifts. But how strong does one need to be? I dont know, but I am going to have fun working it out.
I will discus with other people doing the strength training and see if they would like to incorporate more WOD's.
When working on this post I did not have 'Practical Programming for Strength Training
Squat: 3x5 150kg
P Press: 80, 90, 100x, 100
Deadlift: 1x5 150kg
I have not owned a set of scales for many years. I got rid of the last set when I got sick of having to use addition due to the fact i would lap the read out. I know that one of the important things to remember when measuring something like weight is to use a consistent set of scales. The scales i like to run with are at my local doctor. My visits to the GP are roughly ever six months so sometime I am tempted to jump on others. While on holidays I used a set at a chemist, I should have know better to use a set of scales some where they make a lot of money selling weight loss products.
White Goodman "Hey Michelle, add five pounds to the scales in the womans locker room."
On the chemist scales I was back up to the 140kg mark. But to day while visiting my GP I was pleasantly surprised with 136kg.
This morning we did the work out as rx'd by HQ 090223 and it was brutal.
For time:
Row 500 meters
50kg Push press, 21 reps
Row 500 meters
50kg pound Push press, 18 reps
Row 500 meters
50kg pound Push press, 15 reps
Row 500 meters
50kg pound Push press, 12 reps
I have to admit that I took the rowing a little easy to start with, my legs are thanking me now. I would like to say that I was thinking ahead and pacing my self. But no, i was just being lazy. But by the end of it both my legs and shoulders were completely cooked. I didn't get a time but I am hoping that this work up comes up again soon.
I am currently reading How We Decide
The book deals with how we make our day to day decisions mundane or life threatening. In the book Jonah goes in to detail of how chemicals like dopamine help determine how we make a decision. This leads me to the question am I a junkie? Do i really make decisions in life because i want to feel the bliss resulting from the release of dopamine? I will continue with book and write a more complete review when i am finished.
Sundays workout.
Only had time for two of three exercises.
Squat: 140kg
B. Press: this went well. I recently changed my 3x5 program and removed bench press from regular rotation. But for shiggles and to work in with some other gym members this weekend I did Bench. Everything went well and I am glad to say that I had no problem going up 5kg to a neat 100kg.
On Sunday i was training with a new recruit, Nick. It was Nick that requested we do bench. The main reason for this he was worried that he would loose all previous progress. Well on Sunday he added 7.5kg to his previous work set, or to make it sound even more impressive, 11%.
For a long time the fitness industry has been influenced by body building. One concept I often come across in the gym is people wanting to target specific body parts. For woman it is abs and thighs and for men it is their chest and biceps. Targeting these specific areas will lead to some improvement. But if we really want to improve on these areas we need to do the core lifts to stimulate adaptation. This is what Nick has experienced on the weekend, though we had not done much bench work we have been hitting the core lifts of squat and dead lifts. Also we have been doing associated lifts like the press. The adaptation that results from this has increase in his overall strength. Now, if nick wanted to be a champion power lifter i would work in more bench sets, but for now I believe rotating them in ever couple of sessions.
Last night I watched the latest episode of BBC Horizon program. Last nights episode was tilted "Why Aren't Thin People Fat" The theme of the program was to see why some of us are over weight and some people seem unable to put weight on.
The episode focused on a group of volunteers who all fit the 'I eat what I want and never put on weight' profile. The experiment had the volunteers dramatically increase there calorie intake for four weeks while limiting exercise.. What they found that all of them put on some weight but the results were varied. What they found was that some of the volunteers had trouble actually eating the prescribed calories and would throw up if they forced it two much.
The most interesting results was for the volunteer who had the smallest increase in body weight actually put on more muscle than fat. With extensive testing they discovered that his metabolism had dramatically increased to deal with the added calories, his body was fighting to stop him putting on extra fat.
A professor from Columbia University was interviewed. His research was to determine why peoples weight does not fluctuate more. Through his research he has calculated that for the average persons weight gain over there adulthood would have them only increasing there daily recomended intake by the calories of one extra fried chip. His hypothesizes is that people are unable to regulate there eating habits that precisely and therefore the most rational exploration is our bodies have a predetermined weight it wants to stay at.
Some of the themes during the episode were
- It appears that some of our predisposition for body weight is determined before we are born. This is due to our mothers physical condition and age while pregnant.
- Our ability to know when we are full varies from person to person. This was demonstrated with a charming experiment conducted with preschool age children.
- The number of fat cells in determined during our adolescence and stay with us for life. This does not mean that you will be fat for life but if you were over weight as a teenager you will have a harder time keeping weight off when you are older.
- Chocolate is yummy and packed full of calories.
- What goes in our mouth is not the only deciding factor on our weight.
- yes, there is evidence that our mothers are some part to blame (as if we didn't know that already)
All the people that took part in the experiment had no trouble returning to there pre weight. Just another example that there body know were it wants to be.
Something i would like more from the episode is how the volunteers got there calories. There is strong evidence that calories from one food is used differently by the body than other sources. I believe that this should have been discussed in the program.
For more information [link]
Now to Last nights workout.
We had a new face at the gym last night plus an old one return. I took some time out of my program to help supervise. I wanted to make sure the new recruits weren't to eager. I still completed some work sets but my over all work load was less than normal.
Squats: I was going to have 140kg as my work sets but the first set was way to easy so jumped up to 150kg. Still having trouble getting a consistent depth.
Press: Skipped most of the warm up sets. Put 80kg on the bar. First rep was good and strict but the others required some assistance from my legs.
Deadlift: Only managed 4 x 140kg. Back is a good sore to day and I am hoping that hopefully this will encourage some adaptation.
This morning we did as the title states Freddy's Revenge. If you are interested in how the workout got that name [journal] The workout included
5 Reps overhead anyhow Men 80 Kg, women 55 kg
10 Burpees
5 Rounds for time
I scaled down to 60kg. I really felt the workout in my shoulders, the other people in the gym said it was more legs. I am obversely not using my legs enough in the press. My ability to jerk as I have sated in previous post really needs some work
...I am getting better and better" The mantra of one Chief Inspector Charles LaRousse Dreyfus. The unfortunate supervisor of Inspector Clouseau in the classic Pink Panther movies. (The original and not that bloody Steve Martin cheap knock off) Dreyfus would constantly repeat the line to try and ward off the effects of of Clouseu's stupidity. The phrase is actually credited to Emile Coue, a French psychotherapist from the nineteenth century and I believe it should be our mantra in the gym.
A lot of programs I have seen have the athlete go and complete a set routine for a set numbers of weeks and then evaluated and rescaled as the trainer sees fit. This never really seemed right with me and just looked like the trainer was taking it safe. I know that we can not improve in everything every session but that should not stop us from trying, even if it is just the way you grip the bar, control our breath ect.
Last year I read 'The New Rules of Lifting' by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgroveand and found it quite refreshing. The book really didn't influence my program or the way I lift but I still got a lot out of it. One of the main themes I got from the book was that every session you should attempt to do something better. This really reinforced what i already previous thought.
This morning with my Sunday strength session I was still taking it easy. But I still have the focus on doing everything better than last time. When I did front squats I really worked on the rack position. With my presses with the lighter weight I could really work on 'active shoulder.' But my main accomplishment this morning was powercleaning and push press 90kg. A 10kg jump from last time.
Front squats: For ease and for the fact I was taking it easy I worked in with my girlfriend and another training partner in the gym. When the were squating I just did front squats all the way to 75kg. Even though my rack position has improved I still got pain supporting the bar with my hands. I believe that this just a flexibility issue which I will continue to work on it.
Press: All the squats stands were taking so we cleaned the weight up to rack position and then pressed for there. We got up to 50kg.
Deadlift/ Power cleans: Still work within the group I decided to do the deadlifts with them then power clean and press the weight. This went well with weights up to and including the 90kg. My technique was not perfect and the concept of even trying to push jerk something of that weight just seemed impossible so I was fortunate enough to accomplish it with just a push press. Time to dial in both my full clean and jerk and start lifting some real weight.
PS: after writing this article I discovered that I had also added 5kg to my working set for front squats.
There are a couple of blogs I read regularly. Mostly people that have similar goals to my self. its like a world wide support network. Today i was reading Zen of Sweating and today he has posted a collection of Mark Rippetoe quotes.
I went looking for some more. There is a great collection at
http://startingstrength.wikia.com
This morning we did a press workout of
Press 5,5,5
Push Press 3,3,3,3
Push Jerk 1,1,1,1,1
a modified work out of what was rx'd on 090206
Press: I did comfortably with 60kg
Push Press: Did with 70kg, a little bit harder.
Push Jerk: Did not even attempt. This is my first workout since Sunday and though my arms are good they did get quite tender. Did not want to push it.
No work out this morning, giving my arms a rest. During the day yesterday they started to ache a little. They are good now and i will be back at it tomorrow.
I have full range of moment and full use of my arms they are just ache, must be some repairing going on. I am guessing they are under a lot of tension holding the bar across my back and when it released forced my arms to extend. I will have a look at Google and see what it can tell me.
What does DNF stand for? Did Not Find? Do Not Forget? Do Not Forward? Defence Nuclear Facilities? No, it doesn't mean any of these. What is does stand for is Did Not Finish, or in plain English, I am a big girls blouse. (you can see my new passport photo right of screen)
Yesterday we did our totals. I was quite psyched about doing the lifts after my performance on Wednesday night. Though I did not really feel that strong I was well rested and ready to go.
Squats: My warm up lifts went quite well. Feeling quite confident. My first lift was 182.5kg, I just wanted to beat my last CFT squat even if it was by 2.5kg. Unfortunately I failed my first lift, watching the video I appear to have trouble balancing the bar and the left side traveled forward. My Second lift was much better and successful. On the third lift I set the bar to 190kg. I really did think I had it in me. It was a hot day and I had chalked but remember the bar being a little sweaty. It really felt good bringing the bar out of the rack. But when I started the lift I just kept going down. My feelings at the time was that I had it but just let the bar slip. Looking at the video tells a slightly different story. It actually looks like my body new it was to heavy and just let it go. Who is to say? But either way I did beat my last lift but also paid a price.
The same as when I had to dump a 150kg squat the was a lot of pain in my fore arms, but this time it was in both. It was just as intense and honestly it felt just as bad as when I have broken an arm. The pain went a way with time but affected my lifts for the rest of the day as I could not grip the bar.
Press: As I said before my ability to grip had been greatly reduced. When pressing I find it helpful to feel like I am punching the bar up wards, with my diminished grip I found this impossible to imagine. I successful lifted 75kg, 10 more than my last total but not as much as I have lifted recently. I was very disappointed .
Deadlift: I was running behind the group when we got to deadlifts. I can blame my bad performance on a lot of things, lack of warm up, my inability to grip but in the end I just don't think I have the heart for it. I successfully lifted my planed warm up set of 150kg but when I got to my first work set of 162.5kg the bar did not even move.
So I did not complete a official lift for the CFT. But if you include my warm up deadlift my total for the day was 407.5kg. 2.5kg better than my last try which is something I guess.
Other news from the gym was very positive. My girlfriend lifted less than last time, I put this down to her getting used to the lower bar squat position, but she did end 10kg to her dead lift. Doug squatted 5kg less but he add 10kg to his press he also added 10kg to his Deadlift to make it 200kg. Doug is the first person to deadlift 200kg and the first person to have a total of over 1000 pounds.
One other girl added 30kg to previous total. So in all it was a successful day in the gym for everyone but me. There is always next time.
This morning I did something stupid, more on that later.
Last nights 3x5 went well. I actually deviated off the schedules and did some heavy sets of 3 and some singles. This weekend we are doing out totals again so I wanted to work out some niggles plus work out what my first attempt weight should be. We have been a little bit relaxed on rules with the CFT but this weekend we will be sticking to the guidelines as written by Rippetoe. One of the things that we have been relaxed on is multiple attempts and depth on the squat so i am hoping i beat my last total squat at 180kg.
Squats: I worked all the way up from 80kg to 140kg in sets of 3 really working on the bounce. I then went up in 10kg increments of singles finishing at 170kg. I was very happy with my final lift and according to my partner easily broke parallel.
Press: Took a similar approach as with the squats. Best lift was 75kg. I tried 80kg but no luck. I believe my last total was 65kg so this is a great improvement. I have lifted 80kg before and I am hoping to get that out on Sunday.
Deadlift: By this time I was pretty stuffed. The over all workout took 2 hours and by the time we got to Deadlift I had nothing left. My girl friend hit her new PR with a lift of 120kg. I struggled with a single at 150kg. She is catching up fast :0 I hit 160kg last time and even if I hit 165kg on Sunday i will be happy.
Now for this morning, I was doing some work on my Clean and Jerk which consisted of rack pulls, hang pulls, that kind of thing. When working on just the push jerk is when I did something really stupid, I hit my self in the jaw with the bar. I was concentrating so much on what my legs were doing i drove the bar straight up into the jaw. I managed to bite my tongue and chip a tooth. Definitely not one of my brightest moves. To add salt to the wound, later when encouraging another girl in the gym to use her legs more in the jerk I smashed my head on the open garage door. yep, it was just one of those days.
Now to prove that I am not the only idiot I have included this video. I was origanaly looking for a video of some one doing the same stupid thing as me but apparently no one else is that silly. If any body finds one please post it in the notes.
Did the follow workout in 17:35
For time:
60kg Squat clean, 10 reps
50 GHD Sit-ups
60kg Squat clean, 8 reps
40 GHD Sit-ups
60kg Squat clean, 6 reps
30 GHD Sit-ups
60kg Squat clean, 4 reps
20 GHD Sit-ups
60kg Squat clean, 2 reps
10 GHD Sit-ups
I still cant catch the bar in the squat position so I just did a powerclean followed by a front squat. This something that I need to work on and i think going heavy will help. Had a little trouble with the sit ups but I struggled through.
My forearms are the part of my body that felt it the most. I think this is due to not racking the bar correctly in the front squat and carrying the load like I was about to do a thruster.
I will try to get into the gym on Thursday mornings to work on my clean and snatch. Doug did Isabel while I was a way. I really do not think I am up to the Rx'd weight.
I just come a cross the following artivcle. I am currently on statins to help regulate my blood presure so I am very interested in any new information I can find.
article
Back at the 3x5. CFT was scheduled for todays session but I have been away for two weeks so I will attempt it next weekend. I am thinking of dropping the bench press and powercleans and just sticking with the back squat, press and deadlift for my regular 3x5 workout.
Took it easy due to the break.
Squat: Target weight was 140kg. Had trouble competing due to falling forward. hopefully back at 150kg on Wednesday.
Bench press: Target weight was 90kg. No real problem at all could have gone heavier. Doug showed off with a quick and convincing single work set of 110kg
Deadlift: Target 140kg. I managed to complete the set in what would have been 5min. My work set really turned into 5 x 1. Is there a limit to the time a set is completed in? getting ready for next Sunday Doug attempted 160kg (my last 1RM) and managed to punch out three in quick succession, I really think that he will be break the 200kg in the CFT.
