Reevaluations

By some standards, this was a disappointing month. But first, let me explain what I've been doing for the past week, and a little spiel on Rippetoe's books.

As I said in my first post, I'm taking some time to do powerlifting and eventually weightlifting (olympic). Why? They interest me, and I would also like to build strength and explosive power. I feel it's something that I lack. I'm going by a modified version of Rippetoe's novice program highlighted in both Starting Strength and more in-depth in Practical Programming. Both are very good books. Starting Strength provides a concise analysis of the major lifts: the back squat, press, bench press, deadlift and power clean. Now, the book is geared towards teaching others the lifts, but this is not to say that you cannot learn the lifts yourself if you are a beginner. They can be somewhat technical in nature; if you're used to say, Dan John's writings, which might say "do this", Rippetoe's books will say "tell your trainees to 'do this', but this is why you are really telling them to do it". Pick it up though, you won't be disappointed.

So, I wanted to get into the lifts, and still do a little CrossFit. We have a Saturday park WOD, and I'd like to work in a "girl" once a week. Rippetoe's novice program (it feels a little weird being a novice) involves 3 workouts a week, back squats every workout, and cycling through bench press, deadlift, and overhead press. You wind up doing 3 exercises per workout, with some sort of pull-up or chin-up supplement added on for good measure. For squats and presses, it's 5x5, for deadlifts, 1x5. That's not his only program, but that's the general idea for his beginner program. Progress for the novice is linear, the stress is so large that adaptation happens quickly. Weight will go up every workout, 5 or 10 lbs depending on the exercise.

In order to accommodate CrossFit into the program, I took the powerlifting down to two lifts per workouts, and I took the bench press out of the equation. Rippetoe, Rutherford, and many others will say that the bench press doesn't transfer well into overall fitness or athletics. And really, I don't like the bench. I worked in pushing supplement instead. So here's what 2 weeks of my program might look like:

Week 1
M: Squats, Press, pull-up ladder
T: "Fran"
W: Squats, Deadlift, ring push-up burnouts
R: Rest
F: Squats, Press, 3 efforts of max pull-ups
Sa: Byrd Park WOD
Su: Rest

Week 2:
M: Squats, Deadlift, ring dip ladder
T: "Helen"
W: Squats, Press, weighted pull-ups
R: Rest
F: Squats, Deadlift, plyo push-ups
Sa: Byrd Park WOD
Su: Rest

I started out with fairly low weight on everything, moving up 5 pounds on the press, 10 pounds on the squat, and 15 pounds on the deadlift per workout.

Here's my previous max efforts:

Press: 115
Squat: 305 (poor form, more of a quarter or half squat)
Deadlift: 340 (rounded back, again not great form)

So, I recently went for my max effort on squats after a month into the program. I expected a new PR. I warmed up, working up to 185. Easy. 235. A Joke. 275. More weight!
305. Oh shit. Coming out of a deep squat, I hit a wall somewhere around parallel. After being helped up, I went for 300. Again, no dice. So what's the deal? I've been at this for a month!

It seems that it's time to reevaluate things. Not necessarily my goals. But maybe they need to be refined, so I'll state them here:

Press: 160
Back Squat: 355
Deadlift: 425

I'm a long way off, so my little weightlifting experiment will take a little longer than expected. 16 weeks? Can I even put a time frame on this. not really. So I have to keep plugging along. Sometime you don't reach your goals as quickly as you would like. Some days you'll be sick, tired, stressed, or over trained. But with good programming coming from research and experience, you'll improve. Today, I'll pick the bar back up and once again start working towards my goals.

A Step in the Right Direction

I went to a USA Weightlifting certification this past weekend. My muscles are a little tight from two nights on cheap motel beds, and I'm surprisingly sore from the lifting we did (it was all at low intensity). But I'm coming back a little wiser, hopefully.

You can read all you want online. You can actually learn a lot in the process. That's all I have done to learn so far in my journey to first become fit and then instruct others properly. I read all of the CrossFit journals, we just got a subscription to performance menu, and I browse through everything from weightlifting message boards to NSCA journals. I've bought and read a couple of books, Rippetoe's have been really helpful in learning how to correctly perform the power lifts.

But there's something to be said for hands on instruction, and for learning directly from someone who has had years of experience. Not only do you get the benefit of their knowledge, having that person teach you. You get to see how that person teaches, their little tricks, their demeanor. The interaction between teacher and student is not something that can be read about. It is something that must be learned first-hand, both through seeing someone else teach, and through teaching yourself. No one can be expected to be a great instructor because they keep up with all the latest fitness crazes, what all of the big names are saying at this moment. You can tell clients "well, so-an-so says you should do a power clean like this, and that's why you should do it this way". Anyone can gain that type of knowledge. Any mildly determined person can find that out. You have to be able to effectively instruct based on your own experience, and your teaching style, also in a way that others can understand. It's something that takes time, research, and practice. It's something I'm working on, and this weekend felt like a step in the right direction.

Goals

For the past year or so, I've done CrossFit. It was a pretty natural progression from typical bodybuilding, being informed by one book from Barnes & Noble, onto "SEAL" training, until Matt and I wound up in a local park semi-nauseous and dripping sweat after an attempt at 2/3 of a Chelsea.

I was never very large or athletic. 2 years ago I was 150#, which isn't much at 6'2". Playing rec basketball, I only had one shot on the hoop. All air. Soccer wasn't much better. Through CrossFit, I realized that while some were born with a high level of athletic ability and fitness, real fitness could be created. I was never going to be much of a body builder, putting on mass for me is hell. Plus, it wasn't really that fun. But after a couple of months of CrossFit, I saw significant improvements. Times dropped by minutes, workouts didn't need to be scaled. I could lift more, run faster and go harder. Above all, I liked it. I looked forward to the workouts, even as the nervousness crept in when I realized it was time to do a "Fight Gone Bad" or a "Filthy Fifty".

Some people come to CrossFit because they need it. Cops, Firefighters, military. I came to CrossFit because I liked the workouts, and even more I liked the kind of fitness I was able to attain. There's many arguments about CrossFit, some say it isn't good for you. Some say it doesn't work. After a year, I feel like I can disprove both. But some disagree with it's definition of fitness. Maybe some aren't impressed with the work capacity of a 30 round Cindy or a 3 minute Fran? (no, I can't do either) But I am. The point is, I like CrossFit. But I don't need CrossFit to survive.

That's why I'm stepping back a little.

I'm taking some time to get into power lifting and Olympic weightlifting. Why? I like 'em. My new cycle involves 2 days of CrossFit, one a "girl" day and one is our regular workout in Byrd Park. The bulk of it however is power lifting at the moment, following plenty of advice from Rippetoe's Starting Strength and Practical Programming for Strength Training. I want to be able to back squat 400, and deadlift even more. A bodyweight shoulder press wouldn't be bad either. All pretty ambitious considering my starting point, but why not be ambitious?

Will my Cindy score suffer from a little CrossFit downtime? Of course. Will my Fight Gone Bad score be respectable after a couple months of power lifting? Maybe not. And while I'm enjoying power lifting right now, I'll be back to routine CrossFit soon enough. Hopefully, I'll come back the strongest I've ever been.