Workout Of The Day - 31st May 2010

The rain messed up today's run, sprint, and ring training plan a little. But pretty satisfied with what I managed to do today, despite a not-too-well tummy due to overly spicy lunch at work.

Deadlifting at Cross Fit Hub - 30th May 2010. Like they say, 'Lift Heavy Shit!'

WOD

• Run 2.5km
• 4 of 100m sprints
• 30 pull ups
• 40 parallel bar dips

 The deadlifts from yesterday left my hams & calves tight - making the sprints today very laggy and mildly 'retarded'. Good recovery work for the soreness & tightness.

Tomorrow shall be barbell work - shall work on my weaknesses - overhead squats, some hang squat snatchs too! And I'll try to bump up as many burpees as I can!

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Workout Of The Day - 30th May 2010

After yesterday's gruelling MetCon, I realized how much hip power generation can come from burpees. I really should add burpees into my dailys too, alongside with thrusters.

Today's workout at Cross Fit Hub is pretty heavy. Heavy loads.

WOD
3 mins on and 1 min rest, for 5 rounds, in each round as many of the following

• 5 deadlifts
• 5 KB swings
• 10 push ups

Nice to have to able to deadlift heavy - nearly 1 x bodyweight - as I don't have access to that many weights at home. My lower back is really sore now. Feels awesome.

I think I need to get more weight plates soon from JiezFit. Probably 4 x 2.5kg's or 2 x 5kg's, about time for me to go heavier and heavier. Or else I just keep getting fatigued at Cross Fit!

Tomorrow I aim to hit the running track, as its time for me to get to my annual IPPT. Also, time to take out the Rings. Looking at a hard workout tomorrow, hope I will be able to stick to my plans:

• Run 2.5km
• 1 x 100m sprint
• 100 m broadjump to burpee
• 4x20m shuttle sprint
• 30 x ring dips
• 30 x ring pushups

Time to learn more Ring training variations! Here's some ring pushup variations (click image for video):

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Workout Of The Day - 29th May 2010

 Cross Fit Hub - where we earn our weekends!

Made it down to Cross Fit Hub today - Singapore is getting really hot & humid, and nearly no winds at all. Today was serious MetCon. And MetCon is really painful, especially if it involves numerous Burpees!

Warm Up:
Dynamic Warm Up

WOD:
The "Sissy" Workout, for time.

• 20 burpees + 1 KB Swing
• 19 burpees + 2 KB Swing
• 18 burpees + 3 KB Swing
  ... ... ...
• 3 burpees + 18 KB Swing
• 2 burpees + 19 KB Swing
• 1 burpees + 20 KB Swing

 Time Taken: Approximately 48min.


That's 210 burpees and 210 KB Swings!

Okay, the good thing about MetCon is that you don't really get as sore. Its back to Cross Fit Hub again tomorrow for another WOD!

The huge ass tyres at the back of Cross Fit Hub. Someday, I'll flip tyres for a workout!

After all the MetCon and lots of hip work (burpees, KB swings really work the hip opening angle), was a long walk in the really humid & warm Singapore weather from Marang Trail up Mount Faber Hill, to Telok Blangah Hill, and to Hort Park.

My legs are really tired!

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Workout Of The Day - 28th May 2010

 Despite all the bad weather today, finally made it to Woodlands Stadium for a workout - bodyweight Tabata Interval's. Its a pretty good introduction to working out in Cross Fit.

Warm Up
Mobility Drills

WOD
Tabata 20sec/10sec for 5 rounds

• Air Squats
• Burpees
• Pull Ups

 Subway's new sandwich (I believe) - 3 types of meat. If only they serve it without the buns and had it wrapped in more greens!

Tomorrow is back to Cross Fit Hub - Kettlebell work! Really great stuff! I can't wait for the WOD!


If your wrist hurts from doing barbell thrusters, you should see this:


Thrusters from Patrick Cummings on Vimeo.

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Workout Of The Day - 27th May 2010

Had a day off yesterday for rest, quite needing it as its back to a new project in the yard which means more fatigue again.

Today's workout is short & simple - working on the 2 big moves again - the barbell thruster & the sumo deadlift high pull.

WOD
5 sets of

• 5 barbell thrusters
• 5 sumo deadlift high pulls

 Its the long weekend and I don't have to work! Its to the stadium tomorrow evening, nature trails & Crossfit on Saturday, and more Crossfit on Sunday!

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Workout Of The Day - 25th May 2010

Am really tired from the past few days' workouts so I took today's barbell workout lighter - but focused on 2 big moves - 1. the barbell thruster 2. sumo deadlift high pull


WOD

• 20 barbell thrusters
• 20 sumo deadlift high pulls

Here's a motivational video - Cross Fit North West Regionals Day 2.

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Workout Of The Day - 24th May 2010

Made it to the running route & the sprinting runway today after work. Had a good, powerful run & sprint session.

Earning my Saturdays with the folks from Cross Fit Hub.

WOD

• Run 2.0km
• 3 sets of 100m sprints
• 1 set of 4x20m shuttle sprints

Tomorrow is back to barbell work, which has been sitting under the bed for over a week. Time to get it moving hard and fast!

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Rest Day - 23rd May 2010

Its back to work today. Back to early hours and combining that with the sores from yesterday's great session at Cross Fit Hub, I decided to pass on my workout today.

Fran time.

Currently sore at the hamstrings, the quadriceps, biceps (from the pull ups), and the scapula (from the Hang Squat Snatches). It feels awesome to walk - I can feel every body part.

Am currently 58-59kg again, the last I measured somewhere in Seoul. Perfect. That's like 4-5kg gain in mass since I started this regime somewhere early in 2009. With Cross Fit Hub I'm only going to get nearer to my goals!

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Workout Of The Day - 22nd May 2010

Made it to Cross Fit Hub today, and am really rather proud of today's effort - because I did 2 x WOD's!

First I did 'Fran' with the 2 coaches, then Mobility Drills for Warm Up (nearly puked then due to the previous 'Fran') followed by the WOD with the class. Today's the first time I tore skin on my palms, which also means to say, today's the first time I did pullups in the Box. Nice.

WOD #1 - Fran
21-15-9 for time

• Barbell thrusters (65 pounds)
• Pull Ups

Time taken: 7min 35sec.

Warm Up - Mobility Drills

WOD #2
AMRAP 20min

• 20 Hang Squat Snatches
• 15 Pull Ups
• 10 Box Jumps
• 5 Toe To Bars
• 1 round of Farmer's Walk with a pair of heavy kettlebells.

Tomorrow I shall be heading for my runs, sprints, and jumps - its time to get ready for IPPT!

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Workout Of The Day - 14th to 21st May 2010

Was away for a week for a great trip to South Korea - a great break from work and before heading into the next project really soon. I love the cold weather - its 10 to 15 degrees Celsius in the mornings and nights, and and 18-25 in the mid day.

Seoul - Pretty much like Taipei. In fact, Korea is pretty much similar to Taiwan in its landscape, climate, people and infrastructure. 

Being housed in hotels means either no access to gyms or over-priced gyms. So I decided to turn to workouts in the hotel room. Worked on lots of push ups, some L-sit practice (holding up to 10 sec), some air squats and some terrible burpees.

Box Jumps at YongPyong Dragon Valley.

Next up I wonder - am I heading off to U.S.A in the month of June? I'll be so thrilled to head there but I'll be missing my special friend - bittersweet.

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Workout Of The Day - 13th May 2010

Today should be my last workout for awhile as I'll be out of town starting tomorrow for a week. Yesterday's WOD was messed up by a case of a bad tummy. Only managed 1.0km run and 3 sets of 80m uphill sprints - I can take it more like an active Rest Day then.

Today's back to the 2 moves I find the most exhausting with the barbell, (1) the Thruster, (2) the Sumo Deadlift High Pull.

WOD
5 sets of

• 5 SDHP's
• 5 barbell thrusters

 No Cross Fit this weekend, will be back (hopefully) to Cross Fit Hub the following weekend! I wonder if I'll be near the Cross Fit Affiliates when I'm overseas.

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Workout Of The Day - 11th May 2010

The sudden torrential rain means no run for today - back to barbell work!

Earning your Sunday's with a WOD at Cross Fit Hub

WOD
6 sets of

• 5 barbell thrusters
• 20 push ups

Ever thought if grain is really good for you?

A Second Opinion

Unfortunately, there was no mention of carbohydrates in their discussion. My dad will avoid fat like the plague, continuing his steady diet of egg noodles, bread, potatoes, and skim milk. He’ll be eating the very stuff that’s been killing him for the last sixty years.

Even worse, his highly educated, stethoscope-toting Specialist will sleep well at night, thinking he did everything he could to save Dad’s life. In reality, he put him on track for heart attack number five, albeit with a bit more metal in his chest and a newfound appreciation for the freedom of hospital apparel.

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Workout Of The Day - 10th May 2010

My quads are sore to the touch today, due to yesterday's Death By Thrusters over at Cross Fit Hub. As a result of this, I have set my mind to either (1) incorporate thrusters into my daily regimen, or (2) get more weights and get into overload training for my thrusters so that thrusters will never 'hurt' as bad as they are. Or even better - I'll add more weights and do them daily or as much as I can. I figure if I can dedicate a few days to hit out maybe 50 - 100 thrusters, I have nothing to lose.

No squats in today's workout, let alone thrusters. So moving to other skills:

WOD

• 5 SDHP's
• 5 Push Presses
• 5 SDHP's
• 5 Push Presses
• 5 SDHP's
• 5 Push Presses
• 5 SDHP's
• 5 Push Presses
• 5 SDHP's
• 5 Push Presses
• 5 SDHP's
• 5 Push Presses
• 5 SDHP's
• 5 Push Presses
• 5 SDHP's
• 5 Push Presses

And the amazing thing about Cross Fit class is that it forces you to go beyond your 'daily threshold'. Usually I'd stop at a total of 20 SDHP and 20 Push Presses. Today I made it 40 each. Perfect. After every weekend at Cross Fit Hub, you just learn newer ways of pushing yourself - and the pain feels significantly lesser each time.

This is exactly what I've been missing all along.

Some pictures from yesterday's workout (thrusters, crab crawls and agility footwork):

And some highlights from the 2010 Cross Fit Games Ohio Sectionals - amazing video:

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Workout Of The Day - 9th May 2010

Made it down to Cross Fit Hub today - quite a big turnout today.

Warm Up

• Mobility drills
• Agility ladder

WOD - Death By Thrusters

• For the 1st minute, do 1 thruster. Then in the second minute, do 2 thrusters, and so on. When you are unable to complete within the minute, do 15 burpees and start from 1 thruster again.

Think carbs should really be in your 'food pyramid'?

Disturbing Counsel

Hyperinsulinemia is a state of chronically elevated blood sugar, brought about by the incessant overconsumption of carbohydrates. It is linked to diabetes, heart disease, and obesity through a very simple and undeniable causal chain.

Insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas, removes sugar from the bloodstream, putting it into cellular storage for later energy production. When blood sugar is chronically elevated, insulin is unable to remove the bulk, and the pancreas ramps production back, recognizing the futility of rampant insulin release. Sugar remains in the blood stream, where it oxidizes with LDL cholesterol and creates arterial plaques.

Artery walls harden, and people die.

Clearly, money and health are at odds at the USDA, yet the conflict of interest goes unaddressed. As their mission statement illustrates, the organization is more interested in the economic benefits of high carbohydrate consumption than they are in health of the American people:

Cross Fit - The Push Up. The Burpee. Nothing as humbling as these:

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Workout Of The Day - 8th May 2010

Back to barbells today - a relatively light workout.

WOD

• 7 SDHP
• 20 push ups
• 20 air squats
• 7 SDHP
• 20 push ups
• 20 air squats
• 7 push presses
• 20 push ups
• 20 air squats
• 7 push presses
• 20 push ups
• 20 air squats

Am heading down to Cross Fit Hub tomorrow - hoping for more skills!

And am even more excited at the upcoming assignment at Houston, Texas. I'll be there for a month - all that shopping!

 Very unripe, hard, sour Kiwi's. Hard to stomach.

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Rest Day - 7th May 2010

Taking it light today as the left wrist isn't feel strong and good enough for anything overhead.

Grabbed a mini-WOD before hitting the showers

WOD

• 20 pull ups
• 15 deadlifts
• 20 push ups

Maybe, you will start stretching because you just don't like the concept of "fuzz" accumulating in your tissues. Fuzz you ask? I have a fuzz problem? What the fuzz? Gil Hedley, rockstar anatomist, makes an excellent case and presents a compelling hypothesis for internal muscular resistance. You can think of muscular "stiffness" as a measure of how well the muscle tissue (and other connective tissues) slide past one another. The more stiffness, the greater the internal resistance of the system. Increased internal resistance means decreased efficiency and lost power output. (We actually talk about this at the Movement and Mobility Seminar.) Dr. Hedley describes the formation of fuzz as secondary to immobility (like sleeping). As an aside, Leopards do stretch by the way, and you aren't a leopard--so quit using the "leopard defense" to rationalize your stiff/tight self. Know what makes even more fuzz accumulate in your body? Muscle damage. That's right. Working out.

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Workout Of The Day - 6th May 2010

Had a Rest Day yesterday, its back to the run/sprint/pull-up workout today.

WOD

• Run 2.0km
• 4x20m shuttle run
• 100m sprint
• 80m uphill sprint
• 4x20m shuttle run
• 100m sprint
• 80m uphill sprint
• 40 pull ups (Chest To Bar - CTB's)
• 40 parallel bar dips

Did some L-Sits skills practice later in the night. I still need lots of practice!

 Right now I am bumping up my runs and sprints to get ready for my annual IPPT. And along with that I am bumping up my pull ups to get to an eventual Bar Muscle Up.

During the WOD I tried to see how high I could go in a Bar Muscle Up attempt - I can get the bar all the way just below the nipple line. And on a lower pull up bar I can do a dip on the bar. So I reckon I have to work harder on the 'transition' from the pull up to the dip portion.

And the major ache in the abs from last Sunday's barbell rollouts have diminished to much lesser portions only today. That means I can start on some new skills - the L-Sit at home and some gymnastics.

And more from the Bar-Barians:

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Workout Of The Day - 4th May 2010

As from yesterday's post, I went to the Monkey Bars today after work to hit out some pull ups - did a hundred, but of course in sets of 5's - overhand, then underhand, and overhand, etc.

And as again I saw the same secondary school kid who was doing Bar Muscle Ups with me on the same Monkey Bar. I wonder where he gets all the strength from.

WOD

• 100 pull ups

Grains (rice, bread, oatmeal) will mess your body up:

The Grain Manifesto

Note that we’re not saying there is nothing good to be found in grains. They do contain vitamins and minerals in various proportions and amounts. But the serious down sides of grains far outweigh any potential health benefits. Bottom line – there is NOTHING found in grains that you can’t get from a better source with NO down sides (like vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds).

And here's more Bar-Barian goodness:

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Workout Of The Day - 3rd May 2010

Am sore from yesterday's workout - in the scapula due to the Sumo Deadlift High Pulls, in the abdominal from the Roll Outs, in the glutes, hams and thighs from the Barbell Thrusters.

And, preferring active recovery, I did a run, sprint, jump session today.

WOD

• Run 2.0km
• 4 sets of 100m sprints
• 2 sets of 4x20m shuttle sprints
• 5 Standing Board Jumps

Tomorrow I shall workout at the park - Death By Pull Ups and Parallel Bar Dips!

On a similar note - check out Bar-barian's video - makes me love my chin up bar at the park

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Workout Of The Day - 2nd May 2010

Made it down to Cross Fit Hub today. Did barbell work, in the form of a MetCon (Metabolic Conditioning) workout. I always love Feng Yi's mobility drills for Warm Up's.

The Sumo Deadlift High Pull!

Warm Up:

• Mobility Drills

WOD
21 - 15 - 9 for time

• Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
• Rollouts
• Barbell Thrusters

Followed by Suicides after each set.
Time taken: Approximately 17min 50sec

I can do a (bad-form) L-Sit on the floor already, and from that position, pivot my legs in between my arms, and shoot my legs back into the air, with really bad form. Shall work on L-Sit for the coming week and see how it goes.

Marina Barrage - Nice place. But the weather was killer.

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Workout Of The Day -1st May 2010

Today is more like a Rest Day. Yesterday's late night out at the BBQ got me waking up too late for Cross Fit Hub. And the humidity just drove me to the end of laziness.

WOD

• 14 barbell thrusters

Its back to Cross Fit Hub tomorrow, with Feng Yi coaching.

I've slowly gained quite some mass from the last few weeks onboard where I had some free time - lots of bench presses & pull ups. And non stop access to good protein. The last I measured I was 58 kg, 2 kg shy from my goal of 60 kg. Now that I'm back onshore, food is a challenge. But I get access to more workourts - Cross Fit and Dragon Boat on weekends, weekdays are for my barbell works, Ring training, runs, sprints, and intervals.

Now the next few goals I'm laying out for myself are:

1) Hit 62 kg in body mass
2) Master the Bar Muscle Up
3) Master the Ring Muscle Up
4) Gymnastics - the L-Sit (Download PDF)

Ido Portal - Balance Workshop



Nice Parkour from Damien Walters

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