OCR Fit Club (Summer Session)

[Vivi22]

Well, I only really got started on Tuesday, but I'll post my progress and my diet. I'll even include recipes for some of the things I've been eating later. I'm not sure of how many calories are in each thing. It's something I'll probably look into and try to reduce if necessary.

My typical diet is:

Breakfast sandwich

Peanut Butter sandwich and apple for my first snack

Pesto Pizza

Raspberry smoothie in the afternoon

Chicken salad

Small protein shake in the evening occasionally with another apple

My workouts consisted of:

Tuesday May 6

Run in the afternoon. Not sure of the distance, but I was out for about an hour.

Rock Climbing in the evening.

Wednesday May 7

Bike ride with a stop at a playground for the planche and tucked lever in the afternoon.

An hour and a half of Brazillian Jiu Jutsu in the evening.

Thursday May 8

Bike ride in the rain. Since the playground was wet I left out the planche and tucked lever that day.

Gym in the evening for an arm workout:

Bicep curls: 10 reps with 40 lbs., 3 sets

6 chin ups, 2 sets

Preacher curls: 8 reps with 60 lbs., 3 sets

Standing tricep press: 10 reps, 3 sets. Not sure what weight the machine was set to. It wasn't labeled well.

Overhead tricep press: 10 reps with 45lbs., 3 sets

Friday May 9

Did some interval training mixing sprints with jogging. I damn near puked when I got home, but god did it feel good. I was out for about 45 minutes.

I may be going rock climbing again later, but I'm not sure. If not I may head to the playground for an alternative workout. You'd be surprised what you can do on playground equipment.

I'm pleased with myself so far. I've kept to my diet almost religiously. The only little cheat moment I had was having a small hot chocolate on Wednesday at a restaurant. Keeping to working out twice a day is pretty tough but it's incredibly satisfying and feels great when you get used to it. Having to report here certainly keeps me motivated. It's probably the reason I've lost at least 4 lbs. already.

[Majin GeoDooD]

Back in '04 I became a DDR demon and lost ~70 lbs - from 230ish-160ish. I also drastically changed my diet as well, but I was doing...hmm...I was doing it on workout mode and with Maxx2 did the 20 song-in-a-row thing.

That's pretty cool. DDR is definitely a great tool to aid in losing some weight.

As for my check-in, I won't be as detailed as the others:

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I did a DDR workout for ~40 minutes each day. I've also been surprised at how easy it is to eat less than 2000 calories, I didn't keep exact counts but I've probably stayed around an average of 1700 a day. I haven't cheated on any food, and I've had a beer a night (except last night when I had 2), which is definitely less than my usual consumption .

Next week I'm gonna keep with the DDR and start going to the gym twice a week.

[MechaFone]

Well you guys may remember that on Wednesday I got myself a nice, deep cut in my right arm that incapacitated me for a while. I'm healing, but I haven't really been in good shape to excercise the way I want to. After this weekend is over, I should be back on the road. As I've said, I don't plan to do too much to start off with. I'm hoping to get some good running in and on a good schedule by the end of the summer, so here's hopin'.

[Kenobio]

Welllllll, it's the week before finals, so things have been crazy. I haven't been able to do as much exercising as I'd like lately, but I plan to play basketball tonight. However I've thankfully been keeping up with my pushup/jumping jack/crunches routine, effectively working out in the mornings before heading off to the library to exercise the body's most important muscle: the penis (sorry, I mean the brain). So yeah, for the past week and a half or so I've regularly been doing around 80 pushups a day, and I'm beginning to notice the difference in my physical appearance. My eating habits have been better too, and while I don't have a calorie breakdown of my daily intake I do know that I've been avoiding fast food and eating more things like cereal in the morning, a healthy sandwich or smoothie for lunch, and sometimes a salad for dinner. Although last night our office had a end-of-the-semester party and catered Korean BBQ, which I went crazy on. Mmmmmmm kalbi and meat jun! Anyway, hopefully after finals are done I can set a more regularly set schedule.

Good job everybody!

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I have not been as organized about my strength work as I'd like to be, and haven't done enough of it this week, though I have a (sort of) good reason: I've been spending more time tumbling and vaulting and less on flex/conditioning.

However, I have at the very least done a few straddle planches, a few front levers, and a bit of iron cross work every day (except today: did planches and levers, but my shoulders were too sore for cross work).

I just got an e-mail that my new ring grips have (finally) shipped, so I should be able to spend a lot more time on rings in the comming months (and I'll be able to start putting together a routine).

[The Derrit]

Checkin Time!

So this week, I had finals. Our practice schedule kinda got shuffled around due to that, but we still got in a good 2-3 hours a day. I've also been doing work on the planche, and started the hanging L static hold (which to my pleasant surprise was not a heavily challenging hold). It works perfect on a boat rack Dad Vails, the biggest regatta in the country, is this weekend, and I'm in semis tomorrow, so wish me luck! We're going for medals by the end of the day.

Next week I'll be in full swing buildup mode, and then I'll have a big list for you.

[Global-Trance]

I had a big post written about this week but I accidentally closed it so I'm a bit peeved about that. In a nutshell it's been good this week. Muscular stability increased and also my cardiorespiratory system got a nice wake up call. On top of resistance training everyday (except Thursday), a four mile jog/run was made on Monday, five miles on the elliptical on Tuesday, and 200+ floors (approx 4.2 miles) on a StairMaster on Wednesday, all without stopping was a great workout for the heart. Diet is okay, I don't really need to be strict about this as I don't really need to lose weight.

Oh yea a photo check since I didn't post one yet.

Also I'm now a nationally certified personal trainer by the National Academy of Sports Medicine as of last Friday.

[The Xyco]

Been out of it for a *little* bit this week, though I still made it to the gym a couple of times. Damn internship business is occupying most of my time.

Finally got back to doing mile-run warm-ups again though. Clocked in at about 6m 15sec yesterday, so I haven't lost too much time.

[Fishy]

Week 1:

I cleverly got dropped off at my friends house instead of the climbing center, and before I realised he'd already left, my dad was gone with the car, so I ran to the sports center, in an unexpected cardiac exercise. Climbed for 3 hours, trying to stay on the wall and moving for as much as I could, I can really feel the burn from it, so I know I'm having an effect.

On the food side, I'm trying to prepare more of my own food, and every time I feel myself wanting to reach for a chocolate bar, I slap my hand and go for an apple instead.

[LuckyXIII]

Weekly Check-In:

Started off alright - as mentioned in a previous post I overdid it a bit in weights and walk/jogging. I took Thursday off of w/j and then unexpectedly took off yesterday as I was called into work a couple hours earlier than anticipated. Therefore, I exercised today - or rather, tonight.

I'm going to chalk this week up to a calibration week. I pulled out the ol' DDR mat and spun up some MAXX action and I think I'm going to make this part of the routine, too. Especially on days it's raining (and so long as the apartment below me remains vacant).

At the end of the first week, weighing in at 201.

[DragonAvenger]

Weekly Check In:

Good and bad.

Good - pulled out my bike and got it set to go. Figured out that, yes, I do remember how to ride a bike.

Ride to work will be 3.25 miles one way. Downhill in the morning (great, won't get sweaty), uphill in the afternoon (not great, will be hot + uphill riding). Overall, it'll be a good workout for me.

Went riding on Sunday, Monday, and today.

Bad - Didn't really walk at all this week on the treadmill, and have had a recent surge in cookie eating. Damn those tasty cookies...

[L.T.W.]

Well, this is my check in:

I went 4 times this week to the gym.

Doing 30mins of strong cardio fallowed by 30 more minutes of weight training.

On average, I'd burn 450 calories on the cardio.

On the free weights I usually do everything w/ 25lbs dumbells and I can flat bench up to 125lbs counting the bar. I used to be able to do 145 though.

I decided that since I dont have a good set of routines I'll just do 2 exercises for every muscle in the upper body every time I go.

I have 1 question that is not gym related, but I want to know if what Im doing is safe for my body.

You see, I work in a meat department(For Publix ). So since Im the youngest guy in there, they have me doing the truck at least 3 days a week.

Meet is HEAVY (Average of 50lbs per box). And I like that because I get to lift weight at work too. I always use my legs to pull the boxes up and not my back, so no problem there.

Every now and then i get the real heavy boxes (80 to 100lbs each), so to try my strength, I lift them from the floor all the way up and the over my head, kinda like a dead lift, I think.

So far I've gotten no injuries, so I guess its safe.

Is it?

I got a little picture that will help you understand: (Im not an artist, but I think its pretty good )

[Penfold]

Just noticed this thread - didn't realize the new one was in the compo thread. Anyway...

Diet is okay, I don't really need to be strict about this as I don't really need to lose weight.

I'm on a relatively strict diet, but it's not because I need to lose weight (already very low body fat %). I do it because I found just how important nutrition is when it comes to training, and given that the STP is exactly 2 months away I really need to step things up to reach my goal (13 hours from Seattle to Portland on bike, including breaks, on day 1). It's funny, because people naturally assume diets are just for losing weight. Monitoring what I eat especially before my CF workout of the day, I find it can become easier to maintain workout intensity (or, at the very least, it won't hinder).

Speaking of WOD, since I'm still working on false grip and trying to figure out the muscle-up, I'm subbing 120 pullups and 120 dips for the prescribed 30 muscle-ups for time. To make it more challenging and to help get stronger for the muscle-up, I'll be doing these all on rings today, and will do as many false-grip PUs as my wrists can take. I'll probably just do a single round of warm-ups today, too, just to get into the workout faster.

Lord.Roderick.i - To answer your question, I don't think it'd be particularly unsafe, so long as you're keeping proper lumbar curve (which you probably are, from what it sounds like). So long as you don't feel like it's unsafe, too, you're probably ok. As an aside, the motion you're doing would probably be closest to a sumo deadlift plus a press, or maybe some sort of akward clean and press (since it's most likely not a snatch motion, which takes it straight off the ground and overhead without a separate press or jerk).

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Just noticed this thread - didn't realize the new one was in the compo thread. Anyway...

I'm on a relatively strict diet, but it's not because I need to lose weight (already very low body fat %). I do it because I found just how important nutrition is when it comes to training, and given that the STP is exactly 2 months away I really need to step things up to reach my goal (13 hours from Seattle to Portland on bike, including breaks, on day 1). It's funny, because people naturally assume diets are just for losing weight. Monitoring what I eat especially before my CF workout of the day, I find it can become easier to maintain workout intensity (or, at the very least, it won't hinder).

Speaking of WOD, since I'm still working on false grip and trying to figure out the muscle-up, I'm subbing 120 pullups and 120 dips for the prescribed 30 muscle-ups for time. To make it more challenging and to help get stronger for the muscle-up, I'll be doing these all on rings today, and will do as many false-grip PUs as my wrists can take. I'll probably just do a single round of warm-ups today, too, just to get into the workout faster.

Best thing to do to work the muscle-up is add a little of the transition to the top of each pull-up and the bottom of each dip.

120 of each? Over how long a period? That sounds like an awful lot if you're doing them all correctly. Keep in mind, you will probably get more out of a low number done correctly than out of a high number achieved with a bit of cheating. This is especially true for something like a pull-up. With a slight swing, I can knock out 40 or so in a row without much difficulty. With correct form and no swing, I don't think I can make it past 15 without stopping.

If you're getting these numbers while keeping good form, then I must say I'm impressed. That's more than I usually do in a single workout.

What I generally try to do is increase the difficulty of the exercise rather than increasing the number of reps. For example, you might try adding ankle weigths, or doing

instead of regular dips. As you go down, widen your arms and turn the rings in, and as you go back up, pull the rings back into your sides and turn your palms forward.

Usually, when I can do more than 20 or so reps of a particular exercise in a set (less for some exercises), I look for ways to increase the difficulty of each rep, rather than the number of reps. Right now, there are very few exercises for which I will do more than 50 reps total in a single workout.

[Penfold]

Best thing to do to work the muscle-up is add a little of the transition to the top of each pull-up and the bottom of each dip.

120 of each? Over how long a period? That sounds like an awful lot if you're doing them all correctly. Keep in mind, you will probably get more out of a low number done correctly than out of a high number achieved with a bit of cheating. This is especially true for something like a pull-up. With a slight swing, I can knock out 40 or so in a row without much difficulty. With correct form and no swing, I don't think I can make it past 15 without stopping.

If you're getting these numbers while keeping good form, then I must say I'm impressed. That's more than I usually do in a single workout.

What I generally try to do is increase the difficulty of the exercise rather than increasing the number of reps. For example, you might try adding ankle weigths, or doing

instead of regular dips. As you go down, widen your arms and turn the rings in, and as you go back up, pull the rings back into your sides and turn your palms forward.

Usually, when I can do more than 20 or so reps of a particular exercise in a set (less for some exercises), I look for ways to increase the difficulty of each rep, rather than the number of reps. Right now, there are very few exercises for which I will do more than 50 reps total in a single workout.

Breaking them up into sets of 10 or 20, I last did 120 regular pullups and 120 regular dips after my 3-round warm-up in somewhere between 10 and 12 minutes (I don't really take more than a few breathes before each set, though I do rotating sets and the two stations are almost on the opposite sides of the room, which allows me a little more recovery time). After about 80, I have to kip to keep it up without breaking up the pullup sets further, and usually around this point I have to begin breaking up the dip sets a little more too (as it becomes difficult to press to full extension, dip form is also affected...thanks to the kip, I don't experience these problems with the pullups, though it's almost like cheating ). A lot of CF can be nuts, but in maintaining intensity and sticking through it it's really been beneficial.

Anyway, again I want to say I really appreciate the advice! I've been trying to incorporate the greater range of motion at the top of the pullups and bottom the dips (suprisingly, I feel like I'm doing better at this with dips than pullups...a difference of starting point and finishing point, I guess), and I've definitely been thinking of playing with weighted PUs/dips more (I'm definitely going to be playing with Bulgarian dips later this week).

The reason it's 120 of each today is just because it's the recommended Crossfit substitution for those who can't do the 30 muscle-up workout (today's posted WOD). After digesting your advice a little, what I think I may do is split the difference, so I can first keep training toward the muscle-up but also fulfill the WOD's requirements. So, I'm thinking to start out by splitting into sets of 5 and add extra ROM for as many sets as possible (and moving at a speed to accommodate), after which point I'll try to continue doing the sets of 5 (all on rings still) with regular ROM . As a contingent, it's entirely possible that the stabilizer muscles will give out before reaching my goal of 120 each, at which point I'm just going to switch to bar dips and kipping pullups. I'm not sure how it'll end up going, but it'll certainly be interesting...

EDIT: Done.Took a little over 30 min, and while part of that was ring height adjustment I don't know how much faster it really would have gone if I didn't have to do that.

Started out with false grip pullups, and after the 3rd set, it felt like the skin was going to tear so I switched down to regular grip and went from dead hang (still not doing something right with that). For the most part I did sets of 5, but for reps 20-30, 50-60, 80-90, and 110-120 I attempted sets of 10...failed at 57, 86, and 116 on the pullups and 58, 88, and 113 on dips, so had to drop and start again. Overall, I was somewhat disappointed with my pullups but fairly satisfied with the dips - I kept a good range of motion on dips until that last set (above mentioned failures aside), but I wasn't able to much beyond chin-high even at the beginning. It was somewhat humbling, but a good learning experience.

Definitely going to keep trying to get more range of motion, and start doing more weighted pullups/dips. Btw, Geoffrey Taucer, when you do weighted pullups/dips, do you just generally help the weight with your feet, or you do wear a belt/vest? Never done weight dips, and I've only done two workouts involving weighted pullups, so I'm just trying to find the best way to go about this.

I also neglected to mention earlier that I agree with you, when saying that usually 50 reps of one excercise is enough, and a lot of the metabolic conditioning workouts call for 45-55 reps per excercise in CF. This is one of the rare instances that doesn't follow that general trend, the "usual suspects" being tabatas or max rounds in 20 min-style workouts.

[Global-Trance]

Just noticed this thread - didn't realize the new one was in the compo thread. Anyway...

I'm on a relatively strict diet, but it's not because I need to lose weight (already very low body fat %). I do it because I found just how important nutrition is when it comes to training, and given that the STP is exactly 2 months away I really need to step things up to reach my goal (13 hours from Seattle to Portland on bike, including breaks, on day 1). It's funny, because people naturally assume diets are just for losing weight. Monitoring what I eat especially before my CF workout of the day, I find it can become easier to maintain workout intensity (or, at the very least, it won't hinder).

Well I'm not entirely eating terrible things. I eat just fine for the most part. I don't eat sweets, I don't drink soda, and I don't eat junk food either. I guess I find my diet to be not strict at all because I stay away from stuff I'm not suppose to consume anyways without even thinking about it. I guess I like healthy stuff... though I do have folks feeding me Asian dishes so I don't know about that. I keep it light as possible.

Today:

Lateral rows - 6 sets (3 sets on 2 different types of grips; increased resistance each set)

Reverse barbell curls - 3 sets (20 lbs, 30 lbs, 40 lbs)

Run 5 Miles without stopping

Stretches

Worked on Planche Progressions

So... I'm kinda toast. Good feeling.

[Vivi22]

Well, yesterday I only had time for a small workout. My friend and I did a series of 10 chin ups, 10 dips then walking with our hands across a set of parallel bars, 10 pushups on elite rings, followed by climbing a 12-15 foot rope twice, all with no rest in between the sets. We did that twice and though my biceps and triceps feel fine (I was doing more than that a few months ago so I doubt I'll be too sore until we work back up) my chest and shoulders are certainly feeling the burn, most likely from the pushups with the rings which I've never done before.

Today I didn't really do any work out in particular since I'm using Mondays largely as my rest day, but I did bike to a friends house, and from there we walked downtown to order a power supply to finish building my computer. It was about a two hour round trip, then I biked back home. Still sticking to my diet, though I allowed myself a small bit of candy yesterday. I have to treat myself a little bit afterall. I'm down 6 lbs. in total as of this morning.

[Penfold]

Well I'm not entirely eating terrible things. I eat just fine for the most part. I don't eat sweets, I don't drink soda, and I don't eat junk food either. I guess I find my diet to be not strict at all because I stay away from stuff I'm not suppose to consume anyways without even thinking about it. I guess I like healthy stuff... though I do have folks feeding me Asian dishes so I don't know about that. I keep it light as possible.

Good stuff. Sounds a lot like me usually, though lately I've been more strict in eating very few complex carbs and balancing proteins with carbs (except for this last Saturday...went out for dim sum for a friend's b-day, so it couldn't be helped). I thought I'd just throw that out there in that post, just because it was something that's been coming up for me lately, with people asking why I'm on a diet if I'm not fat .

Vivi22 - I saw something about ring pushups last week online, and they sound rather interesting. Next workout I have that calls for pushups, I'm thinking to do ring pushups instead.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Btw, Geoffrey Taucer, when you do weighted pullups/dips, do you just generally help the weight with your feet, or you do wear a belt/vest?

I usually use ankle weights. The heaviest ones I have are 2.5 pounds each; sometimes I'll use two of those on each side.

Ankle weights don't make much of a difference for stuff like dips and pull-ups, but if you ever try planches or levers with wieghts, it makes a HUGE difference. When I'm fresh, I can typically do a planche and a front lever for 25-30 seconds each (both straddled). Last time I tried with 5 pound ankle weights, I couldn't make it past 8 seconds on either one (I might be able to make it to 10 or so now -- been awhile since I tried these with weights -- but I doubt I'd make it much further than that).

Today I did all my conditioning in alternating sets. First off 15 bulgarian dips, immediately followed by 25 modified pull-ups (I often do pull ups with my feet on a mat out in front of me and a bit lower than the bar, so my body is straight and approximately horizontal while I do the pull-up; it means less resistance, but it's also much easier on your hands when you're trying to avoid rips). Then another 10 bulgarian dips, and another 25 modified pull-ups (wide arms on the second set).

After this I did something similar with toe touches on a stall bar and reverse leg raises on pommel horse (lie on your belly on the horse, grabbing the pommels to keep you steady, then kick your legs up behind you in an arch as high as you can go without bending or separating the knees). With both of these exercises, I like to do sets of 5 reps, then a 5 second hold at the top, then another 5 reps, then another 5 second hold, etc. I believe I did 6 sets total of each.

Then I did 20 lunge jumps on each leg, 25 calf raises with my feet turned out, 15 more lunge jumps, and 25 calf raises with my feet turned in.

I did 3 sets of 10 seconds in a strech band assisted cross (finishing each set with a pullout to support), and did a bit of work on malteses and inverted crosses (didn't keep track of time or numbers for those -- I usually just do them until my shoulders get too tired to do them.)

And I finished off with some rotator cuff pulls.

Didn't do much in the way of cardio aside from running alongside my girls to keep up with them while spotting backhandsprings. (With how much I was sweating by the end of the floor rotation, I'd like to think I at least got something of a cardio workout from it)

[Vivi22]

Vivi22 - I saw something about ring pushups last week online, and they sound rather interesting. Next workout I have that calls for pushups, I'm thinking to do ring pushups instead.

Definitely give them a shot. I can hammer out 50 regular pushups in a set if I really want to, but doing them with elite rings really forces your stabilizer muscles to keep you steady and I'm not sure I could do more than 10 or 15 in a set right now. It definitely makes a huge difference.

[Steben]

Okay, thanks everyone who checked in. We still have a few people who are MIA for last week:

• Patrick Burns
  
• Random Hajile
  
• Blue Magic
  
• OA
  

I'll send them a PM if I don't hear from them in the next couple of days. Otherwise I'll have to start an inactive list or something.

Keep up the good work, all!

Personally, I'm struggling with this week. I think I've decided that counting calories isn't feasible while I'm at home... it's a lot harder when you aren't cooking your own food a lot of the time! However, I am making a point of eating healthier... the usual staples of my home visits (Pop Tarts and Pringles and the like) are replaced with some of the healthier choices I've picked up on over the past week. (Fruit, salad, etc.) That and watching portion sizes, and I should be good until I become the master of my own diet again.

Also, no gym means no real weight training. I don't even really have a good place to do pushups and the like, so I'm limiting myself to just running. Which is fine - I need a lot more work there anyway. My neighborhood is pretty nice, and big enough that I can usually mix up the direction I head when I go out running, so it's a lot more interesting than the track in Auburn, or certainly more than an elliptical machine.

[Global-Trance]

Definitely give them a shot. I can hammer out 50 regular pushups in a set if I really want to, but doing them with elite rings really forces your stabilizer muscles to keep you steady and I'm not sure I could do more than 10 or 15 in a set right now. It definitely makes a huge difference.

Are you doing these in a gymnasium? I need me some rings.

[MechaFone]

I've been having a little trouble myself, Steben. Like I said before, I injured my right hand, which limited my activities to nearly null. I got some decent excercise at work, but because of my recent handicap, even that has been limited. I've needed help at work every night or I'd rip my hand open.

On the top side, I went running this morning for the first time since my first run a couple weeks ago. Granted, I didn't get very far (I think I ran for about four minutes total-my record time cut in half. sigh.) But that's something, right? As I've said before, keeping a place like this to record my progress has really helped. Thanks once more, Steben.

[Vivi22]

Are you doing these in a gymnasium? I need me some rings.

My friend bought a pair of these: http://www.ringtraining.com/?gclid=CMjZ2Ji2o5MCFQptswod1RbdoA

Great quality and easy to set up in all kinds of places. We took them to a nearby playground and looped them over the monkey bars.

[Majin GeoDooD]

Well damn.. I was gonna start going to the gym today, which is located at my work just 2 minutes down the road, but nature ruined my plans.

We had about 7" of rain the other day which caused a big sinkhole on the main street just outside of my neighborhood. The sinkhole is in the perfect spot where it takes a long way to go around just to get to the other side. My work is now 15 mins away instead of 2, and with gas prices I can't afford that drive 2-3 times a week right now.

I'll just have to stick to my DDR routine, which right now is working as I've lost approx 6-7 pounds already.

(Pics for those interested - http://www.nbc4.com/slideshow/weather/16239777/detail.html - It's pretty crazy..)