Tracking Progress

Friday, May 30, 2014

Prehab:

Band Super Rack, 30 sec Each
Leg Swings
10 Back Extensions
Lat Activations

Warmup:

10 T-Pushups
5 Inchworms
10 Straight Legged Deadlifts
5 Front Squats
30 Sec Handstand Hold

Classic Strength:

Deadlift 3×3 – Rest 90 seconds
3x Max Effort Handstand Hold- Rest 90 seconds

Notes:  You will perform your Deadlifts first, then the holds separately. Ideal position will be nose and toes facing the wall.    This is the same work being performed as the Advanced strength, except without percentages.  This is designed for the newer athlete that does not have a true 1 rep max, but we still want you to keep track of these numbers because you will be repeating them over the coming weeks.    Perform 2 warmup sets and then add weight each set as needed.   

Advanced Strength:

Wendler Cycle 2, Week 2:

Deadlift: 70% x 3, 80% x 3, 90% x 3+
3x 3 Strict HSPU + ME Kipping HSPU, rest 90s

 Notes:  Percentages are based off 90% of adjusted 1 RM. When you see 3+, that means you do the max reps you can manage with that weight, with the goal of setting a rep record in each workout.  Perform a few warm up sets before getting into your working sets.  Keep rest intervals around 2 minutes. Click HERE for a full description of the Wendler 531 cycle.

 Conditioning:

 3 rounds for time of:

60 Double unders
30 Wall ball (20/14)
15 Deadlifts (225/155)

-18 minute cap-

 Notes: Perform 2-3x single unders or count attempts. 

Cooldown:

Straddle Stretch, 1 min
German Hang, 30sec
Band Super Rack, 30 sec Each

We now have been using Wodify for a couple of weeks and are getting more familiar with the features.  Some of you have really embraced it by using it to it’s full potential, by logging in your numbers daily, but also back-tracking and putting in your past history.  This is exactly why we decided to make the switch so that you can become more familiar with your numbers, not just for the conditioning, but also for the strength portion.  This system pretty much does it all.  It’s a great tool for recording not only your max lifts and benchmark workouts, but also can be used as a food journal. But I still am surprised by the fact that a lot of you do not know your performance numbers.  Many times we perform named workouts.  These are very important to keep track of your time because we use these for tracking progress.  Notice that we don’t really use a scale to do weigh-ins because our gym is not fixated on what a scale says to show you your worth and development.  We go more by what you have done in the past compared to what you can do now.  And these named workouts can show you how much your hard work is paying off, by how much faster you are able to go.  The same thing can be said for the amount of weight you can lift to dictate your 1,3,5 rep maxes.  Growth can really be seen by how much more weight you are able to lift compared to previous attempts.  It is true that you should not look to the past, but in this case, the past can tell you alot.  

I know most of you read these great blogs, look up the exercises in the prehab/ warmup/cooldown for the day, and go over what the strength and conditioning are even before you come to the gym to workout.  This is also the perfect opportunity for you to look at the progression of your weight amounts from where your started up until now.  It is a proven fact for nutrition that keeping a food journal will increase your chances of reaching your goals dramatically.  The same can be said for journaling your performance.  I personally have kept a workout journal since my first day of Crossfit.  I now have 3 spiral notebooks that are full of every workout I’ve done.  I can easily tell you my PR’s on any lift and benchmark workouts.  I am confident that same can be true for the other trainers.  I highly recommend that you get to know your numbers.  Not only will this help you choose what weigh to put on your bar, but also know what you are striving to achieve for the day to better yourself.  Most of us come to the box wanting to get stronger, better, faster.  Make journaling a priority in your daily routine and I promise you that you will achieve these 3 things and more.