Training to Compete at CF using different Methods

[Justin McCallon]

I should note that I listed an ideal bulk day. My worse days I do any/all of: eat too much protein powder and go over 1.5xBW in protein, miss 1-2 meals, and fail to eat enough fruits/veggies. The causes are usually being legitimately busy, drinking the night before, sleeping too much/irregularly, being lazy about eating, or doing time-wasting activities that I get obsessed with and refuse to stop until they are complete (like arguing on an internet message board or working on something in Excel ... usually something tangentially related to fitness/law school/real estate). I have been good lately and am focused on not letting the latter three issues interfere with training.

7/22/2011
Another good day. Focus delivers success for me.

Warm-up: Lower body day

Squats:
45 x 5 (pauses)
135 x 4 (pauses)
185 x 3 (pauses)
205 x 2 (pauses)
215 x 1 (pauses)
225 x 5 reps x 2 sets (pauses on 1st and 5th rep of each set)
Deload day. Focused on getting a deep stretch and getting as low as possible while maintaining good arch and leading with the head/chest. I could only see the mirror in front of me, but I thought my form looked pretty decent. Knees felt about average.

Bulgarian Split Squats:
BW x 5/5
45 x 5/5
105 x 5/5 (PR)
Starting to feel heavy and not just unbalanced. I think I can keep improving, but it’s getting pretty difficult now.

Romanian Deadlifts:
135 x 5
185 x 4
225 x 3
275 x 2
275 x 1 (accident; mixed grip)
305 x 1 (mixed grip)
305 x 11 (mixed grip) (PR)
Conventional deadlift on each set (not counted in reps). I’m starting to feel a lot stronger lifting conventional.
I had to cheat and use a mixed grip because I was working out in the crappy gym and my bar was really bad. This was still very difficult. I’m hoping to get 313 (weird because of kilos) next time.

Leg day static stretches as prescribed.

I had no access to the Varsity room so I couldn’t do Glute-ham raises today. I am planning to workout tomorrow (medium effort O-lift doubles and triples) and I will add these to the end of the workout.

I’ve been keeping up with icing the knees/shoulders and I believe it is helping. I iced last night and will ice again tonight.

[Justin McCallon]

7/3/2011
Warm-up: Everyday + Calf Dynamics + Rowed 500m + Abbreviated leg/arm swings

Snatches:
Bar x Partials
50kg x 2 (Power)
50kg x 2
50kg x 2
60kg x 2
70kg x 2
75kg x 2
80kg x 2
80kg x 4
60kg x like 5 more cluster-setted singles and doubles (just working on form)
The second set of 80 felt pretty solid. I felt like I could have pulled out another rep or two but I didn’t want my form to break down. Focusing on keeping my head neutral, pulling the bar in and being patient, and exploding up with my hips. Still have work to do!

Power C&J:
50kg x 2
70kg x 1
80kg x 1
90kg x 1
90kg x 2
90kg x 3 cleans
90kg x 2 sets of 1 clean pull + 1 clean

I didn’t have any more energy for form work. Practice was at 1 and I have been going to bed at 3 every night lately, which is pretty perfect except for Sundays. Felt like my energy was zapped by the end of practice (and this was the fourth day I worked out in a row).

Glute-Ham Raises:
BW x 3 without any pauses
BW x 8 reps x 2 (improved form)

Everyday + Leg stretches and foam rolls to cool down


---------

Diet was crappy today. I ate breakfast + during-workout + post-workout and then I ate again at 8, and now I'm drinking a ton of milk because I'm thirsty. I'll try to have 2 more meals, but that's really only 5 for a workout day. I'll call it intermittent fasting I guess. I had a lot that I needed to do today.

[Justin McCallon]

I saw (Dr.) Josh Glass at Georgia Sports Chiropractic today. As I mentioned earlier, Josh specializes in structural issues and ART. He works with several Track & Field medalists (several of whom I worked out with for awhile at Emory) and is one of the best in the business.

The session was very short. We went over the issues I was having, he tested my flexibility in a variety of areas, and he checked for potential structural issues, left/right imbalances, and signs of joint damage. After about 10 minutes, he told me I don't need his help and I just need to stretch and foam roll the hell of my quads (and sometimes my IT band) for awhile and keep up with the plan I had for upper body. He didn't even charge me, which was really awesome. He said that my quads and glutes were notably inflexible, whereas my hamstrings and especially my hip flexors (whatever muscle lets you sit into a really deep squat) were quite flexible. He advised that right after foam rolling I stretch. He also sold me a really unforgiving foam roller and told me to use it every day.

Upper body workout in a couple hours. Low volume bench, speed overhead press, chin-ups, and DB circuit. This weekend, I'm going to do a "Pros vs. Joe's" fundraiser to help get some of the local qualifiers to Los Angeles for the CF Games. It's a 2vs1 competition. If I can't beat Brandon Phillips (etc) 2vs1 I'll be really embarrassed. So far the only listed even is 135lb thrusters and double unders. 2 more events to be posted soon.

[Justin McCallon]

7/5/2011
Warm-up: Upper body + Elliptical for 2 minutes + Dynamic calf work + Rotators/Posterior Delts + Push-ups

Bench Press:
135 x 6
185 x 4
205 x 2
225 x 1
225 x 10
Last set was difficult but not the hardest set I’ve cranked out by any means

Speed Overhead Press:
45 x 5
95 x 3 (not speed)
95 x 5 reps x 3 sets

Pull-ups:
BW x 6 (CGPF)
BW x 3 (CGPF CTB)
BW x 3 (WGPA CTB)
BW x 16 (WGPA CTB) (well, actually 15 + 1 not CTB)
BW x 10 (WGPA CTB)
BW x 7 (WGPA CTB)


DB Front Raises, Side Raises, Bent-over Side Raises, DB Curls, Tricep Extensions: 10lbs x 6 reps each

Tricep Rope Pushdowns: “80” x 11 I think

Bent over Side Raises: 15 x 15
(1min rest)
L-Lateral Raises: 11 x 10
(superset)
Low Pulley Rotation: Band x 10/10

DB Curls: 50 x 7 (speed up, 4-5s negative) … could have done a little better but didn’t want to push it too much

Went home and did stretches (Everyday + Upper body)


Good diet today and yesterday. I didn't ice shoulders for 2 days, and I missed my knee icing 2 days ago (but got it yesterday). Back on track today.

[Justin McCallon]

Here's an example of how I waste a lot of time sometimes.

I went through my fitness links and put together a database of articles/websites/links that I thought were especially good. I'll add to it later, but some people might find this stuff useful. Note that, although I train for CrossFit, many of these sources are not in line with crossfit thinking.

[Justin McCallon]

7/8/2011
Warm-up: Everyday + Leg Day

Deadlifts: Sumo stance, “pull” style
110lbs x 3
209 x 3
264 x 2
374 x 1
440 x 1
484 x 1 (Belt)
517 x 1 (Belt)
467 x 1 rep x 3 sets (Belt all 3)
Felt solid. Got videos of the 484 and 517 and will post. Definitely left a bit in the tank, but that was the plan. I wanted to get used to pulling close-to-maximal weights and work on form before trying for a max next time around. 484 looked about as good as 374, and 574 went up smoothly but maybe saw a very minor breakdown in form. Need to focus on pushing the hips through.

Pause Front Squats:
154 x 2
198 x 1
209 x 2
154 x 4
Deadlifts took a lot out of me. Went light on these.

Pause Back Squats: Focus on speed
154 x 2
198 x 2
220 x 2 reps x 4 sets (Belt on last 2)
Decent; not unbelievably fast, but form seemed solid. No box.

Good Mornings:
154 x 5
154 x 13
Was able to get a bit deeper than last time because of the light weight, but I still get nervous it’s going to roll off. It’s just light enough for me to hold it in place.

Leg static stretches.

Today I just wanted to get in a bunch of heavy deadlifts without pushing a max. I did that and then just went through the motions on the other lifts with a focus on form. I did not have that much energy in the gym today.

Iced shoulders/knees tonight. Yesterday was a rest day, but I iced my knees last night.

[Justin McCallon]

7/8/2011
Warm-up: Everyday Warm-up + Rowed 500m (usually keep around a 1:55 pace, which is easy) + Calves + Foam Roll

Snatches:
20kg x Partials
50kg x 2 Power Snatches + OHS
50kg x 2
60kg x 2
70kg x 1
80kg x 1
90kg x missed 4 times
50kg x 2
That obviously went terribly. Close misses, but I had no power at all today. I planned to try and hit 90kg 5 times and missed it 4 times instead. I guess that after deadlifting heavy, it’s hard to do anything.

Power Clean & Split Jerk:
50kg x 2
70kg x 1
80kg x 1
90kg x 1
100kg x 1
Knee felt a little better on Jerk today.

Clean Pull + Power Clean:
70kg x 6 sets

3 Split Jerk doubles with the bar

I wanted to focus on Standing in the Snatch and then exploding, rather than Exploding at the Clean position. So I did a drill that started from the floor. First movement was Knees Back; second movement was to Stand; third movement was Shrug. Then I quickly reset and did the same thing faster and smoother. Then I did a full Squat Snatch. I did 3 sets with 50kg.

Clean Grip Hang High Pulls: 70kg x 10 (not too difficult)

Everyday static stretches

[Justin McCallon]

A few of my videos were posted online (one of my lifting partners took them).

Here is the 517 Deadlift (incorrectly marked as 506 because he forgot to add collar weight). Lift starts at 29 seconds.

484lb Deadlift (both from last training session)

I thought my 484 was better form than my 517. After looking at both again, they both look exactly the same. 517 went up about as easily, but that's probably because I got jacked up for it. (BTW the nerdy skinny kid in the background is actually pretty strong.

They also got the first 2 C&J's from the meet.
107kg C&J and 111kg Clean and Pressed-out Jerk.

[Justin McCallon]

I noticed after watching those C&J videos that I did not at all stay upright! I thought I did better, but I may have just forgotten to think before lifting. I'm pretty sure I have been doing better with this in training. I will record a new video.

On the deadlifts, I think my hips need to come through more and the initial pull off the ground looks slightly off. Maybe I need even higher hips?

[Justin McCallon]

Took 2 rest days. These next 8 or so days are going to be big. I hope.

7/11/2011
Warm-up: Everyday + Upper Body

Overhead Press:
44 x 6 (slow)
44 x 5 (fast as I can from here out)
88 x 4
110 x 3
132 x 2
148.5 x 1
159.5 x 1
154 x 5
154 x 4
154 x 3
Paused at the bottom of every set. Hoping to get 3x5 next week.

Barbell Rows:
132 x 6
174 x 4
220 x 1
220 x 12
220 x 11
220 x 9

Speed Bench:
133 x 5 (not speed)
166 x 4 (not speed)
165 x 5 reps x 3 sets (speed; paused on chest on second set)
165 x 3 (speed; paused on chest)

Everyday + Upper Body stretches

Did not have time to do my DB/Rehab circuit. Will do that tomorrow. I’m fragmenting workouts until I do deadlifts next. Good day today. Im always nervous to add any weight on Press, as in the past it has meant going from 3x5 to a single when I add 5lbs. I think that pausing at the bottom has helped. The week or two before I PR’d (at 176), I had worked up to 160x5 (one set) with pauses. I think I’m at about that point now, if not stronger. Tomorrow I am going for a PR on RDLs.


BTW, here are my buddy Andrew's comments on my Deadlift form. I'll be doing a speed day this week and try to employ them a little and hope there's a little carry-over to muscle memory. I don't like thinking too much on maxes:

I'd work on pushing your knees out a bit harder. They want to drift in slightly during the middle of the lift. Also your initial setup involves your knees tracking out a good bit in front of your feet and in front of the bar. See if you can't sit back just a bit more to help eliminate some of that angle. Other than that, just don't lead with your hips. You get a little quick with the hips and let em shoot up.