Lift with your legs (not your back)

http://allisonbojarski.tumblr.com Allison Bojarski

From the CrossFit/Brand X forums, scaling info about this WOD along with info about the deadlift:
——————————————-
“I wish I knew how you could overstate the value of the deadlift.”
–Greg Glassman
Here are some vids everybody should watch regarding the deadlift whether you are familiar with the lift or not:
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_RipDeadliftIntro.wmv
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_RipDLAlignment1.wmv
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_RipDLAlignment2.wmv
If you are familiar with this lift then you are a Big Dawg today:
Big Dawgs:
as Rx‚Äôd
Everybody else, if you are unfamiliar with the lift watch the videos above and the use the time today to practice this lift with a piece of PVC pipe or a light barbell.
A wise investment is the book Starting Strength 2nd edition by Mark Rippetoe. If you don‚Äôt have a coach this book will help you understand the lifts. If you do have a coach it will point out how little he/she knows.
Here is a link to the book:
http://www.aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&rn=312&action=show_detail

Hari

Please take it easy on the floor. As you can see, we are in the process of building platforms. (There will be four.) It may be possible to use the one platform in the back for the heaviest lifts today (instructors, please decide whether this makes sense.)

Justin “Thor”

Hey all, left my watch at the box this morning… Its a black and red Nike. If anyone picks it up, if they can put it behind the desk and Ill get it tonight. Thanks so much!!

Alexei

Form still sucks on this… Jacinto made me drop weight down after attempt 4 to work on it a bit more.
If you look really closely, you’ll see that I’m wearing a CF-NYC T-shirt on that picture
… and under armour. Because it was like 2 degrees Celcius that day.

chris p

I left a pair of grey Nikes today too, promise to get them tomorrow morning…

Matt M.

Warm up
3 rounds 10 pushup, 10 pull ups, 10 squats
5 x 135
5 x 185
3 x 225
1 x 275
1 x 315
WOD
335, 345, 345, 345, 350, 355, 355

jim

i love how in the article from york,pa they through in a JoePa reference regarding… squatting!
plug for cf york… i have worked out there on a few occasions… top notch instructors and facility!

torch

One of our BK Boys, Keith Zeier, is running a The Keys 100 Ultramarathon in May to raise money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Keith is a Marine Special Ops veteran and a Purple Heart recipient. You can sponsor him through the link below!
http://www.firstgiving.com/keys100

Rory

I have a question for the group:
I am fairly new to Crossfit and have quickly discovered an unexpected weakness: I suck at pushups (and, by extension, burpees). I am fine for the first few reps but start to burn out after about 5‚Äì10 in my first set and 3‚Äì5 in later sets during WODs. I’m pretty sure this is a direct result of years of bench pressing primarily in sets of 1‚Äì3 while ignoring high-rep chest work.
So now the question: should I do additional work to build up my pushup endurance? For example, do 5×10 every night before bed, or maybe something like the Pavel pullup progression? Or should I just stick to the WODs and let it work it itself out as pushups come up?

Zach Singer

Rory,
No question in my opinion on this one — Pavel’s Grease the Groove (GtG) strategies work great for what you’re saying. Definitely start doing something akin to his Fighter Pullups.
I did this for pullups during college — an easy way for me to always get them in was just to do set of 5 every time I left my bedroom and came back in (this includeds going to the bathroom, kitchen, my roomies’ rooms, etc.) It adds up quickly, but if you’re diligent, your muscular endurance in that movement will develop pretty quickly as well. The idea is to always hit the sets when you’re fresh, and to never go to exhaustion. Play with it.

Hari

Rory,
Do one set of Tabata pushups during each four-day cycle. Start with 4 to 5 per interval. By the time you can do 8 to 10 for all 8 intervals your pushup problem will be solved.

Rory

Hmm, so far its seems the consensus is to target it specifically. However, Zach and Hari are essentially suggesting opposite approaches: work lightly throughout the day, never to failure; or work it intensely, likely to failure, by way of tabatas. Anyone else have thoughts?
One other aspect I’ve wondered about: is it better to stick to full pushups on my feet, resting/failing as needed, or should I drop to my knees when I start to burn out. i.e. is it better to have a tabata score of 4 with strict pushups or 7 with half of that on my knees?

Brett_nyc

http://www.thepowerbarn.com/2009/04/21/weds-evening-post/
WFS
315# DL at 130#. sweet.

Alexei

Mmm… Rory, I (still) suck at push ups also, even more so than I suck at anything else that I can think of. While I’m at it, I also suck at push press, bench press, shoulder press (see a trend?). However, I think that in the ~1.5 or so months of going to crossfit workouts regularly my push up numbers have increased very substantially.
To illustrate a point, when I came for the one beginner’s session, Josh made me do a half cindy. I got through 2 sets + 1 push up before my muscles failed. Then I got another roughly 3 sets with knee puhshups. After that I couldn’t raise my hands to a level high enough to shampoo my hair for about 5 days…
Today, I did 15 push ups for a warm up, followed by 10 burpees, and another 12 burpees after the workout (burpees for burpee challenge… day 22…). And all of this after doing 75 pushups until basically muscle failure while making up Angie yesterday. Not incredibly impressive numbers, I know, but considering I could barely muster out 20 a little over 2 months ago, there is a very noticeable improvement… and I didn’t really do much of anything to work on push ups. What happened? Crossfit works pretty well is what happened. For another example, see Hari’s bench press numbers from yesterday’s thread.
Point being the numbers will come if you are patient with them. …But just for kicks you should start a 100 day burpee a day challenge. They’re all the rage nowadays. And everyone knows that if something is popular it must be good

Justin “Thor”

Rory, thing is Zach and Hari are both right… Either will work. Give both a shot, see what works best for you. None of this is graven in stone (except that you have to squat!!).
The other part of your question would simply be make sure you are going through a complete range of motion, no half or quarter reps. So if you have to go to your knees, then do that to make sure you are going chest to deck to all the way back up.

http://allisonbojarski.tumblr.com Allison Bojarski

Rory, another way to deal with the dilemma of knee pushups vs. pushups from the toes is to elevate your hands on a low box and do the pushups from the toes (and make sure your chest touches the box, just like you would bring your chest to the floor).
With box-assisted pushups from the toes you’re getting used to having to stabilizing your entire frame, not just head to knees. The lower the box, the harder they are (but still a bit easier than from the floor).
The thing about pushups vs. bench press is that a pushup requires you keep your entire body stiff and tight against gravity while in the bench press, you’ve got the bench supporting your body, turning it more into a chest/arms exercise.
Pushups deserve our respect because they truly are a full-body exercise.
And in case you didn’t know this already, a push-up from the toes is around 60-65% of your bodyweight, so it’s no surprise they’re not easy.
As far as whether to take the Tabata approach or the GTG approach, since either style will work, choose the one that’s more appealing to you and best fits in with the rest of your lifestyle and training–you’re more likely to stick with it!

Zach Singer

And to illustrate Thor’s point about what is and isn’t graven in stone, please see the following.
http://ripquoteoftheday.blogspot.com/2009/03/quote-of-day-25th-march-2009.html
A couple things here — all in my less-than-humble opinion.
- Burpee challenges suck. Most people that started them did not finish them, and I know a fair number of people that did finish them and wouldn’t do it again. It definitely improved my burpees / pushups, but I believe it did so in detriment to other training at certain times. I just believe it to be an ill-conceived challenge that goes against the Crossfit notion of resting. The neurological (neuroendocrine) response elicited by Crossfit workouts is heavily taxing, and you need to rest to get the benefit of the work. The 100 day burpee challenge fails to account for this.
- Tabata work is good, no doubt — I like the tabata approach, but I tend to use it more as a measure of progress for myself than as a tool for improvement, though I will throw it in sporadically for that as well — try it both ways. Another progress tracker is simply to hit a max rep set of pushups every week or every other week while working on them. See where your numbers are.
- GTG tactics – my personal reason for using this is that I’ve done it and know that it works. beyond that, because the idea is to do it fresh and never to exhaustion, it typically doesn’t create any lingering effects that will hit you during your next workout (esp. if doing exhausting sets is going to leave you out for 5 days unable to shampoo like Alexei – not that I’m worried about your hair, just that I’m guessing you’re going to be relatively useless with a barbell or on a pullup bar as well
- Huge points for Thor on the ROM issue. You’re going to be highly disappointed if you do half-ass work at home and then come to the gym and can only get a fraction of what you’ve been doing because people are telling you to get your chest to the floor. So whatever scaling is needed to get your chest down – do it. Get the full ROM of the movement even if it means scaling — you will progress to Rx’d movement sooner and with better numbers than if you cheat the ROM.

http://allisonbojarski.tumblr.com Allison Bojarski

CrossFit encourages us to learn and play new sports.
I am of the opinion that dancing is one of the most fun sports you can learn, and it helps with cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, strength (if you have to lift your partner over your head), speed, agility, accuracy, coordination and balance.
It might also give you some grace and savoir faire, not to mention it’s a great way to meet people.
Anyway, all that’s to say, who’d like to do some Midsummer Night Swing this summer?
http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=167&Itemid=69

Hari

Rory,
You need to decide whether your objective is to maximize the number of pushups you can do in a single set, or your objective is to maximize the volume of work you can do using pushups (as well as other full-body movements) over various time domains. I assumed the later.

http://allisonbojarski.tumblr.com Allison Bojarski

205, 210, 210, 215, 215, 220, 225

Tripp

Good turnout for the 1230 WOD today – thanks Allison and Keith for the pointers during the KB warmup. Congrats to the recent Elements grads who got some nice first deadlift PR’s today.
Deadlifts 1×7
325, 365, 385, 405, 425, 445(PR), 455(PR) (55,54)
First workout since my extended vacation in which I felt good. My conclusion is that CrossFit is a damn hard sport to take a 4+ week break from. It seems your mind tells your body it can do things it is not physically ready to do yet with some painful consequences!
**QUESTION**
I’ve approached Josh, Court, etc. about starting a 3:00 p.m. WOD, which is a time that I know accommodates firefighters. I’ve spoken with several of the other firefighters at the box about this time, and it seems to work well. The question I have is does this time work well for anyone else at the box?? While there is a great group of firefighters doing CrossFit now, I’m not sure there are enough to regularly hold a late-afternoon WOD. Anyone else find this time helpful with your Monday thru Friday schedule?

juan

hey chris where did you buy the grey nike frees? I have the lame blue ones with the white sole.
today sucked but got some good pointers
315
355
385FAIL
365
365
385FAIL
375FAIL
metcon at the pool
3 rounds:
50yds
(rest your 50yd time)
100yds
(rest your 100yd time)

Zach Singer

Hari,
“Rory,
You need to decide whether your objective is to maximize the number of pushups you can do in a single set, or your objective is to maximize the volume of work you can do using pushups (as well as other full-body movements) over various time domains. I assumed the later.”
Are you suggesting the GTG is not an efficient method to maximize the volume of work one can do using pushups over various time domains? I must say that I’ve found the opposite to be true. For example, I believe Torch has found that the Fighter Pullups have helped his performance in recent pullup-heavy WODs like Lynne, Danny, etc. Being able to do high numbers strictly (with good form) will translate well to various time domains, I believe. For example, if I can do 200 straight pushups (I can’t) it would follow that you will probably break less during Angie, less during any round of Cindy, less during Murph, not at all (or very little) in a tabata workout, and so on. All this is not meant to say that I don’t believe Tabata will help, just that I would hardly call it the end all to developing one’s pushups, pullups, etc. Ultimately, I think that training either tabata or GTG will both increase your max rep sets of an exercise, as well as your proficiency in that exercise over broad time domains. You don’t just get better at one at the loss of the other.
Beyond that, please see the following CFJ article on pushups, with an emphasis on the honesty (perfect form) in each rep. At the end it outlines a recommended progression for developing your pushup prowess.
http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/07_03_Pushups.pdf

Sara

215, 220, 225, 230 (PR!!!!), 235(F) 230(F), 225
My former PR was 210… getting strong fast! My manager came up while I was working out to yell at whoever was making noise upstairs and he shut up really fast when he saw it was me… I now outlift most of the male trainers at my gym. Love it!!!!
What is GTG?
Question about breathing: coming from globogym world, I have always been taught to exhale through the hardest part of an exercise. Now crossfit is teaching me to hold my breath in on the deadlift for better core support, correct? Well, I feel this works but I also feel like my eyes are going to pop out of my head. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? Sorry if this is a stupid question;)

Hari

Zach,
“Are you suggesting the GTG is not an efficient method to maximize the volume of work one can do using pushups over various time domains?”
No, GTG will increase your work capacity using whatever exercise you choose. The problem is, you need to choose.
It is practical to do a set of Tabata pushups as part of the warmup on Day 1 of each cycle, Tabata ring dips on day 2, and Tabata handstand pushups on Day 3. It is not practical to GTG on all three on a daily basis.

Davi

Tripp -
Right on, 3 pm sometimes works well for me (oh, ye freelance schedule!).
***
Nice one, Sara!

Hari

Sara,
It’s okay to let out some breath as needed on the way up from the bottom of the squat, sort of like a relief valve. It is also okay to exhale and take a fresh breath at the top of a dead lift.

Zach Singer

Hari,
I see what you mean — didn’t realize he / we were looking at more than just pushups. I suppose you’re fine with that format of tabata then.
I think it would be equally effective to work tabata pushups daily and then once or twice a cycle have a skill work cash out wherein you work HSPU progressions (or HSPUs if you have them) and ring dip progressions (or ring dips, if you have them).
Just another thought / possibility.

Brett_nyc

GTG stands for Grease the Groove

Davi

I have a question about these 1-1-1-1-1 WODs.
Is there a strategy for these?
With the backsquat 3-3-3-3-3 WOD the other day Keith encouraged me to pick a decent percentage of my max (PR is 205 so I picked 185) and just go for 185 all the way across. This worked well for me. I maintained good form throughout, it was effortful, but not impossible, and I felt it the next day in all the right places.
In contrast, with my CF Total the other day – my first one – I felt like I was just stabbing in the dark at the weights and incremental increases.
My deadlift PR is 225. Any recommendations?

Brett_nyc

Davi, the 7×1 days are for going for your 1 rep max. The 5×3 can be used as Keith described for going straight across, or used to find your true 3 rep max. You probably won’t be able to get your true 3RM for 5 sets across, hence dropping a little weight and holding there. If you add all your poundage moved, staying at a heavy weight across all the sets (after warm up) will frequently add up to more poundage than increasing each set up to a true 3RM. So, do you want to go for max poundage or, figure out what you 3RM is?
For your case, I’d try something (135,185) 205,215,220,225,230

Jeff

swimming
250 superslow warm up
4 x 50 on the minute, each one took about 40 seconds
50 superslow cool down, took about 70 seconds
25 underwater
25 sprint
25 underwater
25 sprint
25 butterfly
25 cool down
25 minutes on treadmill
@ Clown College (aka Chelsea Rec Center weight room)
DLs
135, 185, 225, 275, 325, 360 fail, 360 fail, 355 fail, 345, 345, 325, 330, 335, 340, 325, 275, 225
cleans 140 x 3

Chris O

Juan – nike has finally released new versions of the free’s. you can check them out on their website. I just picked up the 3.0′s, and they feel pretty sweet

http://mrdegee.blogpsot.com Brian DeGennaro

Worked up to 180kg today, hook grip, clean DL (low hips, more vertical back, no rounding). Not bad considering my “normal” deadlift PR is 200kg from October and I haven’t pulled anything over 120kg since then so I was happy about that.
Davi, I say shoot to hit 215-225lbs today. If you’re feeling good, throw on a few of the fractional plates (1-3lbs) and get a new PR of 226-228.

Tripp

BrianJuanChris -
I’m going to buy shoes to lift in sometime this week. Can you recommend specifics, i.e. Nike or what you had the other night Juan?

http://mrdegee.blogspot.com Brian DeGennaro

Tripp, I like all the shoes I’ve tried on, from Adidas to Nike to Do-Win. That in mind, you also must remember what you need. I know you have flexibility issues, Tripp. Are your ankles limited? If so, I definitely recommend Nike or Do-win because of the higher heel. Also I recommend getting shoes that fit nice and snug (like running flats), so your feet do not slide around whatsoever.

Jeff

Sara
“I now outlift most of the male trainers at my gym.”
Need I remind you that you work at Crunch? That statement doesn’t mean anything.

Sara

Very funny Jeff… give me a couple months and I’ll be outlifting you biatch

Rory

Thanks for all of the suggestions on my pushups. I think I am going to start with a GtG/Pavel ladder program, as I’m afraid that in my current state of fitness/GPP, doing tabatas before WODs, especially every day, would really burn me out and effectively ruin the WODs.
On the other hand, I think maybe in a couple months, once I’ve gotten my pushups and GPP in a better place, it would be a great idea to use tabatas to take my pushups to the next level and also work the auxiliary exercises (ring dips & HSPUs).
I would use a 3 PM workout occasionally, although its not something I’m clamoring for.

Jeff

I’ll look forward to that day. I’ll be the first one to congratulate you and proudly say that I knew Sara way back before she started taking steroids.

Hari

It’s a good idea to keep in mind that corporations tend not to take lightly to being publicly insulted.
It is incredibly rare for us to delete a comment, but gratuitously insulting a competitor puts us in a place we don’t need to be.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5137489/Goldman-Sachs-hires-law-firm-to-shut-bloggers-site.html

Sara

Good point hari… I don’t need to get in trouble either! Ideas for a renaming of my oh so fabulous gym?

juan

tripp
I was talking bout nike free 5.0′s. I do not like to lift in those they are way to squishy. I doubt its even recommended to lift in 3.0′s.
Nike Romaleos are pretty bad ass lifting shoes.
Barefoot, chucks or vans make way more sense to me though.

Tripp

Anyone have tips on getting the Romaleos? And do they size like Nike tennis shoes?

juan

chris did you order them online or get them at the niketown store on 57th? I want some 3.0s as well i saw that they are up to version 2 now.
i still cant find they grey 5.0s you have anywhere though.

http://mrdegee.blogspot.com Brian DeGennaro

Re: Romaleos.
To me, they size just like my running shoes (Nike Air Zoom+). My suggestion, go to a Nike store, find a pair, find a nice snug fit, and get the Romaleos in that size.

http://allisonbojarski.tumblr.com Allison Bojarski

Speaking of shoes…
Please be sure to check the LOST & FOUND on a semi-regular basis as you may have stuff in there and not even know it.
Currently we have a pair of Nike Frees that showed up today and a pair of Vibram 5-Fingers that have been there a week.
There’s also some t-shirts and water bottles.
WE CANNOT HOLD THIS STUFF FOREVER. So please check your stuff because after a couple of weeks, the item will get tossed! Also, if you’re prone to forget stuff, try putting your name on it so when we find it we can tell you we found it.
The Lost & Found is a white box that lives on the window ledge by the fridge. It’s clearly marked Lost & Found.
THANKS.

Avery

208, 213, 228, 238, 248 (PR), 203, 198

Reagan

320-330-340-350-360(PR)-365(f)-350-350
Black Box (84,84)

george

i like the new free 5.0 v4
http://store.nike.com/index.jsp?sitesrc=USLP&country=US&lang_locale=en_US#l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-224611/pgid-224609
made up diane today – 9:45 pr
didn’t want to do max deads with me bum neck.

Brett_nyc

405,415,425,435,445,450(fail),450PR
post: Max reps DL @ 315lbs, 15 reps

Ryan

345,365,385,405,425,445(f)..basically shot after this and my hands still fugged from angie- hand wrap didnt help my grip.

Steve-O

265-295-315-325-330-335(Previous PR)-340(PR)

jim

tripp – let me know what size you need in the romaleos. i did some research about a month ago and found a lot of smaller and larger sizes priced at 49.99 new. not bad.

Alexei

any in size 15? … lol

torch

315-375-405-425-445-355-355

isaac

235-275-275-275-275-275-275 then tried for 305(fail)

Aram

198-220-220-231-242-252-262 (71,34)

jim

alexei,
oddly, i think there may have been. let me do some further research tomorrow. i will pass along available sizes on tomorrow’s posting.
j

max

365, 405, 410(pr), 415(pr), 420 (pr), 405, 405f day 4 100 burpees and tabata sprints this morning. is anyone going up to west point tis weekend for the lvl. 1?

Hari

Sara,
I was wrong when I wrote, “It is also okay to exhale and take a fresh breath at the top of a dead lift.” My bad.
Ideally you should hold most of the air in your lungs for the duration of the dead lift, from before the bar leaves the ground until it returns. You should not let more than a small amount of air out of your lungs as you go from the ground to the top of the lift, and you should not hang out at the top, but instead rapidly return the bar to the ground, while maintaining good form.

Hari

275, 285, 285(F), 280, 280, 280, 280(F)
(68,54), (12,11)

Denise

Jim,
At the other extreme, please let me know if you see them in a size 5. Thanks!!

Davi

Rock it Avery and Isaac!

Sara

Hari:
Thanks for the info… When doing multiple deadlift reps for time is the rule still to breathe at the bottom? I find it much more comfortable to breathe at the top of the lift. I was experimenting with my breathing on Monday (I did 100 bodyweight dl for time) and found that when I rest the weight at the bottom I have a tendency to jerk it off the ground as opposed to squeezing it up. Therefore I was breathing at the top and not resting it on the bottom at all.

Jeffrey B.

love DL days.
335, 355, 365, 385F, 370, 375 (PR), 380F

Hari

Sara,
I was assuming your question was primarily related to today’s 1 Rep Max effort. On multiple-rep WOD’s like “Diane” for time, I think it makes sense to breath at the top, bottom, or both as needed. (I sometimes take multiple breaths at the top and bottom.) The main thing is to make sure your lungs are full before you move.
On 3- and 5-Rep efforts, it’s probably best to take a moment at the bottom to breath and reset.

Rickke

Nice 8pm class tonight.
185-205-225-235-245(PR)-250(f)-250(f)
Form is improving. Last PR was 230. Thanks for the great coaching, Justin.

Stephanie

95; 115; 125; 135(failed); 125; 125; 130; 135
Justin and Hari, thanks for the coaching. Advice to “push the floor away” made the difference.

Tripp

Nice work on the DL’s everyone, now get some rest for the Filthy Fifty!!
Jim – I think I’d try 9, 9.5, or 10. I’m really into getting these, so I hope you can help me find them somewhere!

Justin “Thor”

The whole idea of the deadlift is in the name… It starts from a dead stop. Now in certain WODS, we do touch and go, but when doing reps for strength (ie 1′s, 3′s, 5′s, etc) , you should absolutely stop at the bottom and reset. Get your breath, hold it in through the entire lift (from the ground to the top back to the ground), and then reset again at the bottom.

Chris O

juan – i just ordered them from the website. I have never had much luck when going to the nike store, especially with the free’s.
tripp – i have only worn the romaleo’s, so I have no basis of comparison to anything else. that being said, I really do like them. you can get a nice tight fit with them, and they still have a feeling of a more traditional running shoe. i’ve even seen brett doing double unders in them. they can be pricey, but I recommend them. my pair are 1/2 size down from my free’s to give you a sense of sizing.

Aman

Warm up
Standard crossfit warmup (pullups, situps, squats, pushups)
8 x 185
4 x 225
3 x 225
1 x 275
1 x 315
WOD
275, 285, 297.5, 305, 310 (F), 310, 315 (PR)

Tony T.

185, 205, 225F, 225, 235PR, 245PR
Thanks Justin for the pointers.
(16,10)

Adam M

315, 365, 385PR, 395F, 395F, 390F, 315
The last 315 was disgusting form.

Jeff

Hari
I take back my comment about the Chelsea Rec Center weight room. It’s misleading for me to call it a “college”.

Gabe K

I’ll post since the blog hasn’t been updated yet—
Brett, thanks for all the help. 35# PR is great by me.
405, 415, 425, 435, 445, 450, 455.
Looked terrible all the way through, apparently I can’t do this correctly, but I can do it…

Lift with your legs (not your back)

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