Training week roundup 15th - 21st September 2012

iPad WOD application

Friday night seems like the perfect night to look back on the weeks training, take stock and prepare to push hard again for the week ahead.

This week was a little bit lighter than usual because I had some additional work commitments that meant I couldn't run at lunch as much as I would have liked although I didn't have a rest day so I am not sure exactly where that leaves the balance for the week.

I tried a new CrossFit box Wednesday morning, CrossFit Merciless (website currently down try Facebook instead), and as of Thursday began following the workout programming of Merciless' head coach Peter Trapp. Thus far the program has been a really good challenge that has left me aching more than I have in a while.

Training for the week of 15th - 21st September 2012 looked like this:

---

Saturday 15th
10km run
53:00min

---

Sunday 16th
4 rounds 40-30-20-10 reps for time
Walking lunge steps
Push ups
Walking lunge steps
Sit ups
16:43min

---

Monday 17th
10 rounds for time
8 x push press @40kg
15 x burpees
10 x pull ups
10 x push ups
36:26min

---

Tuesday 18th
8km run
41:30min

---

Wednesday 19th (CrossFit Merciless)
Strength
Standing long jumps 3 x 5
Box jumps 3 x 5
One arm ball push ups 3 x 5 each side

Metcon
4 rounds for time
10 x deadhang underhand pull ups
15 x thrusters @40kg (scaled down from 50kg)
20m frog jumps
17:30min

Finisher
2 x Fat grip reverse curls to failure (26 then 16 reps)

---

Thursday 20th
Technique
Double unders
Pistols

Strength
3 x Hand stand push ups to failure

6 minute amrap
20 x double unders
10 x sit ups
6 rounds + 5 x double unders

---

Friday 21st
Strength
18kg turkish get up 3 x 5
15kg weighted push up 5 x 10

Metcon
40kg tabata back squats (56 reps)
30kg tabata push press (80 reps)
20kg tabata reverse arm curl (96 reps)
Tabata score: 242

Lunch run
3.5km run
20:00min

Desperately seeking Susan... the coach

Sometimes it is the big questions that keep us all awake at night like "Are we alone in the universe?" or "Will they ever make more Firefly episodes now that Joss Whedon can do no wrong?", but recently I have been asking big questions of myself like "Just how far can I push my body?". As someone new to sport in general let alone actually competing I have very little frame of reference other than elite professional athletes. "Can I do what they can do?".

Jason Khalipa 2012 CrossFit Games
Image source

I have never been athletic. I have no formal education in sports training, biology or movement science. Anything that I have learnt about sports training I have picked up from the couple of coaches I have had personal experience with, in addition to blogs, youtube, podcasts and various websites.

When it comes to my physical training and sporting performance, as with most things in my life, I am completely self taught. I take inspiration in my training programming from my own personal experience, WOD's from CrossFit.com and my local box CrossFitCBD. While I am limited by the equipment that I have in my home gym I try and set myself an obstacle course centric program more tailored toward endurance work than strength training or CrossFit specific movements.

My diet is predominately Paleo, consisting of mainly lean meats and vegetables, little grains and fruit and almost no refined sugars. I cycle between eating enough calories for muscle building and recovery and an intermittent fasting routine for reducing my body fat percentage. As with my training program, when it comes to diet and nutrition I am self taught. I have learnt a lot from asking lots of questions of a couple of friends with formal education in dietetics but the rest comes from television, podcasts and blogs.

Paleo Diet
Image source

Sometimes it is very difficult to know what to believe when it comes to diet and training advice online. Everyone has an agenda, everyone has a product or a program they want to sell you and the sports science waters have been muddied with so much "bro science" that it is difficult to spot legitimate science from the rest of the unscientific nonsense. I guess that is the way of the world, but it makes it really difficult to educate yourself on these topics.

As a self learner I have become accustomed to being able to find reasonably reliable information on almost any topic on the internet, and for free! While it is difficult to find free weight loss information, it is out there if you know where to look. However to date I have been unable to find almost any sports nutrition information from anywhere that I would consider a trusted source. For every article or blog post I read on low carb, protein heavy diets or supplementing to improve performance and recovery I can find equal number or more articles presenting the exact opposite opinion.

Does this sort of general information not exist? Does every athlete needs a customised diet and training plan? Are we really all special little sporting snowflakes?

Do you need professional help?
Image source

Recently I have had a question rattling around in my head. "Do you really need a sports nutritionist and a coach to perform at an elite level?" I am starting to suspect that you really might. Take my current 10km personal best of 50min 23seconds for example. For example at the Winter Warrior Challenge in August the male winner completed the 12km course in 45 minutes. How do I get from 50min 23seconds down to 45 minutes? I have been improving by a few seconds each time I run a 10km, but 5 minutes is a lot of time to make up.

Is running faster or lifting more all about practice or could I see some major improvements by having a coach instruct me on technique? When I look at professional or world class athletes they all seem to have coaches, I presume they also have someone helping them with their diet. Are these professionals necessary or can you achieve the same results by yourself?

Can you get coaching on a suburban household budget? Is there some kind of athletic coaching handout scheme?

Training: Pushing the Intensity

Every story has a beginning

114kg starting point

When I first started training with Your Shape I was an overweight, out of shape 32 year who quickly found that every exercise in this "game" was tremendously difficult. "How is this a game?" i thought. Lunges and squats hurt my legs, shadow boxing seemed to hurt everywhere, you name it - it hurt me somewhere new every time!

At first I was constantly sore from the previous workout, but over time that changes. Soon you stop feeling sore after every workout, your body quickly adapts to this new routine, and what once left you sore for days soon no longer hurts much at all.

I think I must have misunderstood one of the fundamental components of training and competition from an early age. I always thought that you trained so that you could compete more easily on the day, that the increased level of fitness meant that you wouldn't have to work so hard to run the race or play the game. What I now understand is, in fact, the exact opposite. We train so that we can push ourselves even harder when it matters most, on game day or during the big race.

Twisting the dials

Jillian taught me a lot

What I have learnt from the numerous sources that I have watched, listened to and read during my fitness journey thus far is that you always need to be pushing the intensity, always striving to make things more difficult in training.

In that light here are some of the simple ways I have learnt to increase the difficulty of any exercise or a workout:

• do it longer
• do it faster
• add weight
• unbalance yourself

If you were running, try running for a longer distance, run at a quicker pace, wear a weighted vest. If you are doing CrossFit or weights you could do more repetitions, complete the workout quicker, wear the same weight vest or do some of your exercises using gymnastics rings or a balance ball to force you to both stabilise yourself and perform the usual movement.

A tough road

10km personal best

Keeping the intensity up and really pushing yourself is difficult. I personally find it really tough to give 100% during my training. When I push myself really hard I tend to hit that uncomfortable spot, that point where your lungs start to really hurt and I don't push any further. What I need to do is push past that uncomfortable spot and into a painful place and learn to live there in the "pain zone"!

When my legs or arms or shoulders are hurting and I feel like I am breathing fire, that is where I have to stay. At that point my body is screaming at me to back it off just a little, just to the point that it can start to recover and allow me to catch my breath. My body always wins, at least for a moment, until I notice I have slowed down just a little. Then I have to try and push back into the pain in little surges, I push and then my intensity falls against my will, so I push it again. Up and then it falls little, up and then it falls again.

From what I understand this is how you progress; this is how you lift a little more, run a little faster, keep going a little longer, be a little better. While it is always a thrill to get a new record time over a certain distance or lift more than you have before for a certain movement, when you are in the middle of that pain it sure is tough!

Gym equipment wish list

Gymnastics rings
These arrived today, they were my fathers day present for 2012. They are ideal for dips and ring rows. Ultimately I want to be able to do ring muscle ups.

Cost: approximately $40

9kg medicine ball

I am looking to buy a medicine ball from someone on ebay next pay. The 9kg (20lb) is the standard weight for 10ft wall balls in a CrossFit workout.

Cost: approximately $45

Pull up bar
I have drawn up some plans to make the rig out of 50mm galvanized pipe bolted to the wall and floor of the shed. Pull up bars are incredibly versatile for lots of upper body and gymnastic work.

Cost: unknown

3 in 1 20"/24"/28" box jump
This is the design used in the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games. I have some rough plans for building one of these out of 3/4" ply wood. Box jumps and any number of variations are great for building explosive power in the legs.

Cost: unknown

Tractor tyre
I plan to find a rural tyre outlet and ask if they have any second hand tractor tyres or if they could source one for me. I honestly have no idea what it would cost to buy. Flipping tyres is great fun and a killer whole body workout, the tyre is also good to hit with a sledge hammer.

Cost: unknown

Rubber floor matting
In an ideal world I would like to cover the entire floor of my gym in these rubber floor tiles, but in reality I would be happy to tile a smaller section where I usually use the barbell. These mats are also great at making ground exercises like burpees and push ups a little more comfortable.

Cost: expensive