MarkFu’s Barbarian Blog

Enter Through the Barbarian’s Gate

Crossfit Total For February ‘08

It has been long while since I tested myself with the CFT; October of 2007, now that I think of it. I have set a few deadlift PR’s since then and even “acquired” a couple new injuries since then.

As I mentioned another time, I enjoy Saturday mornings at the gym but seldom enjoyed getting my ass kicked in something like “Fight Gone Bad” or the “Filthy Fifty” at Crossfit Marina. At Met-Rx on Saturday morning there is a good mix of the regular AM crowd and the PM crowd and that makes for some good energy.

Today was different. It is a beautiful day and the temperatures are in the 70’s so I think many went to the beach or maybe had to get some chores done that have been put off since the start of football season last year.

After my opening lift in each of the 3 exercises, I knew I was going to have difficulty rising to the occasion. Last time with the CFT I had a combined score of 890 and my goal today was 900 or higher.

I opened with the back squat, my weakest lift. I had already done sufficient lighter lifts to prepare for my 3 “money” lifts. I set the bar at 225 and it did not seem all the easy. Getting below parallel is a must so I set the safety bars in the cage accordingly. The squat scored 245/285/305/305. I did the 4th lift to cover for not quite getting as low as I wanted in the third lift and got lower.

The overhead press hasn’t seen any progress for a while and this one was a little tougher than it has been in the past. I completed two lifts, but failed at the third. 165/175/180f.

The last, my favorite and the one I have the most success with, the deadlift was the third leg of the trifecta. To get a score over 900 lbs I needed a pull of at least 420 lbs. With the way the lifts were going, it would prove to be difficult. When I made the first pull at 365 lbs I knew this would be difficult. I did get it though, with 5 lbs to spare and my last lift was at 425 lbs, 10 off the recent PR of 435 set recently. 365/405/425.

I am writing this several hours after I completed the CFT. After 1 hour, I was really hungry. After the second hour, I am really tired! Before, during and after the session, I drank BCAA’s in water for it’s anabolic and anti-catabolic effects. I’ll have another drink before bedtime for recovery.

Oh yeah, my CFT scored 905; 15 lbs above my last PR of 890. This was the first time, I PR’ed the total without PRing any individual lifts.

Nap time!

 

Technorati Tags:Crossfit TotalBack SquatDeadliftOverhead Press

February 9th, 2008 Posted by MarkFu | Training Log | 2 comments

How I Plan To Increase My Deadlift and Squat

Still enjoying my recent PR in the deadlift set on New Year’s Eve and wanting to go higher and yet bemoaning the state of my squat, I was reminded of an assistance exercise to both the squat and the deadlift that will make the numbers of each go up considerably.

That would be the Good Morning. Westside Barbell strongly urges doing more assistance exercises like the Good Morning and less deadlifts to increase the deadlift total.

Looks like I will be adding GM’s in once a week along with some Power Cleans. It will be really interesting to test my max lifts in both deadlift and squat occasionally along the way.

January 4th, 2008 Posted by MarkFu | Gym | no comments

Tabata 20/30 Squats

Did not get to Marina today and instead let the falling rain put me back into slumber. Sometime later, I thought I would do the Tabata Squats with 20 seconds on and 30 seconds rest for 8 rounds. I started with a 10 minute warm-up run (ok, a jog) and did most of the standard Crossfit Warm-up, plugged in the iPod, launched the SpeedBagForum timer and let ‘er rip.

Got off to a slow start with a 20, so the goal was to go no lower than that and I didn’t. Subsequent rounds were all 22 except for round 3 which was a 23. I got down real low and touched my med ball each time and got full extension on almost all. Total score was 175. Heart rate ranged from 150-168 bpm. Fast workout!

December 27th, 2006 Posted by MarkFu | Training Log | no comments