Level 2 Certification

This weekend I flew to Seattle for the Level 2 certification. I had originally signed up for one in Oct in Oceanside, CA but I saw this one opened up at the last second because someone canceled and I signed up immediately for it.

I am SOOO glad that I went. The first day was intense and nerve racking. The 3 coaches were big name CF guys. Chuck Carswell, Pat Sherwood, and Adrian Bozman. Day 1 was a mix of lectures, demonstration from the coaches and the majority of the time practice coaching in groups of 5 with 1 coach observing and tearing us apart.

The level two is about being able to teach the 9 fundamental movements (air squat, front squat, overhead squat, press, push press, push jerk, deadlift, sumo deadlift high pull, and med ball clean), manage a group effectively, have good presence and attitude, see problems, correct problems, time management, proper teaching progressions, demonstration etc.

The Certification has about a 40% pass rate and the coaches make sure to not let ANYTHING slide. While going through the teaching progressions you have to be able to see major and minor faults, correct those faults while keeping the rest of the group moving, bring someone to the center to show others how to correct the fault, drill in the most important parts of the movements, keep everyone going at the same time on your pace, and be relentless on form.

Day two was the actual test. We had 8 people per group. Volunteers from other affiliates came in to be test subjects that we coached as well as the other people taking the certification. Each person had to teach 1 squat, 1 press, and 1 deadlift. We were graded by each coach and then the coaches met together tallied the scores and then determined who passed or not.

I passed! I was so excited. At the end of yesterday I thought I had a good chance, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. All 3 of my coaching sessions went really well and they didn't really have anything bad to tell me in my debriefing. It was awesome. It felt great.

Even if I had not passed I still would have learned so much and it would have been so worth it and would have returned to do it again. But, I am glad I passed....

Last Week

I did quite a bit last week. I did Nate, another WOD, and I did heavy back squats and got a huge pr on that.

Nate: 17 + 2 muscle ups & 2 hspu (PR old was 16)

Back squat: old 5 rm was 245...this week 255 easily and old 1RM 265...New 290 twice!

Monday

Press: 1x5 @ 45, 1x5 @ 75, 1x3 @ 95, 1x2 @ 115, 2x5 @ 130, 2x10 @ 95, 1x8 @ 105

MetCon:

10 min of Cindy:

20 rounds

Restart Strength Program

I am going to restart my strength program on Monday with Week 2 again.

Rest of the Week

So, I realized my back pain was not from my squats, but rather it was from my presses on monday. At the Barbell Cert I learned that it is completely acceptable to lean back when you press, but that the lean is from the waist and not in the lumbar. I must've leaned both in the waist and in the lumbar straining my ribs/back.

I did not feel good enough the rest of the week to continue with my heavy program. I didn't do anything on Tuesday and I only did 15 muscle ups for time early Wednesday morning because I had to beat Peter. I got a 1:36 on the 15 muscle ups I think.

Thursday I did power cleans, but I didn't go up to 155. I did a bunch at lower weights and then I went up to 145 and called it good. I did the WOD that the gym was doing that day. 5 rounds: 15 pull ups and 15 OHS @ 95 lbs. I got a 9:56 on that. My pull ups sucked with the new bars in the gym.

Friday I did a WOD called Grindy with Peter. We added a little more to the WOD to make it more even.

Grindy:
10 clean and jerks 135 lbs
5 rounds Cindy
10 clean and jerks 135 lbs
5 rounds Cindy
10 clean and jerks 135 lbs

and then we added an additional 5 rounds of Cindy.

Time - 19:05 and peter got like a 22 something.

I have not been that tired in a long time.

Saturday:
Dianne
21, 15, 9
Deadlift 225 lbs
Hand Stand Push Ups

Time - 5:55

Multiple Sets of strict muscle ups

1 set of ring push ups.

Back is jacked

My back is all tweaked and crap from the heavy squats on Monday. It doesn't feel injured, but just tweaked to where when I twist or bend over the pain takes my breath away. Not too good. It is getting better as the day goes and hopefully I'll feel good enough for a MetCon tomorrow.

Day 7

So, this is my first day repeating the WOD. Last week I did 225lbs back squat and 115lbs press.

Today:

Squat-
1x5 @ 45
1x5 @ 95
1x5 @ 135
1x3 @ 185
1x2 @ 225
3x5 @ 245

Press-
1x5 @ 45
1x5 @ 75
1x5 @ 95
1x2 @ 105
3x5 @ 120

My squat felt better than my press today. Still getting stronger though.

Saturday...Day 6

Gymnastics/Rest

Pete came into the gym pretty early and he did bench press for strength. His did his working sets at 235 which was awesome.

I did a mix of dead hang muscle ups (2 at a time) ab rollers super slow, handstand push ups on the parallette bars.

I can do 3 hspus on the bars head to ground every time now, which is pretty good. I would like to get that up though.

Day 5

Today I felt pretty good. My back was a little sore from the squats yesterday, but I was still able to do pretty decent weight today on my Deadlifts. Today was also my metcon day.

Deadlifts:

2x5 @ 135

1x5 @ 185

1x3 @ 225

1x3 @ 245

3x3 @ 275

MetCon:

5 rounds for time:

200 m run

20 kb swings 53lbs

Time - 8:02

I felt like an absolute slug. I swear I was basically walking. First, I haven't ran in awhile, which is definitely my fault and I need to do more of. Second, my back has never ever felt so tight in my entire life. As I was running the tightness in my back was truly taking my breath away. I was just glad to be over.

When I was done I spent some time on the foam roller, stretching, and then hanging from the pullup bar to release the tension from my back.

Next week I think I wanna do 295 on the reps of 3 for dead lift.

This video is of Mark Rippetoe at a Barbell Cert. This is exactly what I did on Saturday and Sunday.

This is a video of a CRAZY deadlift. I am hoping to get a mid-400's deadlift, but this guy did 1008!

Days 3 & 4

Day 3:  This is my rest/skill day.  I did a lot of handstand push ups, pull ups, and ring dips.

5x20 Butterfly pull-ups

5x10 handstand pushups

5x15 ring dips

5x10 dead hang pull ups

5x5 handstand pushups

5x10 ring dips

Day 4:  Squat and Bench Press

Squat:

2x5 @ 45

1x5 @ 95

1x3 @ 135

1x2 @ 185

3x5 @ 235

Bench Press:

2x5 @ 45

1x5 @ 95

1x3 @ 135

1x2 @ 165

3x5 @ 185

4x10 Narrow bench @ 135

My squats were better on day 4 than on day 1 and the working sets for bench at 185 felt good too.  I'll definitely be able to go up a little next week.

Day 2

Today was power cleans and a short metcon

Power Clean progression:

2x5 @ 65lbs

1x3 @ 95 lbs

1x3 @ 115lbs

1x3 @ 135 lbs

3x3 @ 155 lbs

2x3 @ 135 lbs

I wanted to get all five working sets at 155lbs, but my form got too crappy that I had to go back down.  I probably should've only gone down to 145 instead of 135, but thats ok.  

WOD:

5 rounds for time:

6 muscle ups

20 air squats

Time - 9:02 

Day 1

These WOD's include warm ups. I was definitely tired from them. Blake did Squats and Presses with me today. Tomorrow will be MetCon and Power Cleans.

Squat:

2x5 45lbs

1x5 95lbs

1x3 135lbs

1x2 185lbs

3x5 225lbs

Press:

2x5 45lbs

1x5 75lbs

1x3 95lbs

1x2 105lbs

3x5 115lbs

The first set of 225 was sloppy and heavy. I felt much much stronger on sets 2 and 3. It definitely felt heavier than I thought it would. Press felt pretty good, but rep 5 on all 3 sets went up pretty slow and shaky.

So, tomorrow I need to think of some kind of metcon that won't interfere with Deadlifts and Bench press on Thursday. I'm thinking some rowing/muscle up exercise.

This diagram shows different positions to hold the bar. The first is a front squat, which is a very valuable strength exercise and great CF exercise. The middle one is one that we don't do and the last one, the low bar back squat, is by far the most powerful of the three. The low bar squat is what we went over at the Cert and is definitely the exercise used to get big and strong.

CrossFit Barbell Certification

I spent all day Saturday and Sunday at the CrossFit Barbell Certification that SLC CrossFit hosted. It is put on by a guy named Mark Rippetoe who trains power lifters and Olympic lifters and has written many books and articles about the basic strength lifts. Overall, it was pretty interesting and they showed a lot of good ways to teach the basic lifts to beginners.

Their main point was that everyone can benefit from getting stronger, that I will be a better Crossfitter if I will get stronger. I do believe that for sure. But, these dudes were all about getting HUGE. Like the huge where you kinda look fat, but you're definitely still strong.

I want to get stronger and as a result get bigger, but not at the expense of being fast and good at MetCons. I am going to try one approach that they have. A little experiment.

The Experiment:

One of the trainers was this 23 year old Level 2 trainer/Kinesiology grad student who was BIG. He routinely helps people get big and strong, while still doing CF. He said that he regularly helps guys gain between 15-20 pounds of mostly muscle in about 8 weeks through eating A TON and a gallon of milk a day. You have to eat big to get big. He then does two days of strict strength and then two days of metcon and skill work.

Mondays: Squat, Press, Power Clean

Tuesdays: MetCon, skill

Wednesday: rest/skill

Thursdays: Bench, Deadlift, Squat

Fridays: MetCon/skill

Saturdays: Light MetCon

The Heavy Days are to be hit HARD.

I am going to finally pick this program and stick with it because he promised a dramatic increase in all my strength lifts and my CF times will go down...we'll see.

More Catalyst Athletics

Wednesday:

Front Squat: 81% x 2 x 5 ..... 205lbs HUGE PR

Snatch Push Press: 81% 3 x 5 ..... So, I have never done this movement before, but I really liked it and it was really hard and hurt...in a good way. I didn't know what weight to start at so I did my first set at 95, second at 115, and third at 135. Next time I will definitely do 135 and 145.

Clean Pull: 100% 3 x 3: 185 lbs

Thursday:

3x5 Shoulder Press: 115

3 Rounds:

15 kb swings 53 lbs

10 burpees

Time - 3:20 (me), 4:22 (Blake)

Clean and Jerk: 75% 2 x 2 and 80% 1 x 2.... 75% = 155 lbs and 80% = 165 (these number are based off my Jerk PR of 205...not my clean. My clean is pathetic compared to my jerk. )

Fight Gone Bad

I did a normal Fight Gone Bad today. The last time I did it I did the CF Football version. The normal way is muuuuuuuuuch harder than the football version.

3 rounds spending 1 min at each station:

Push Press 75lbs

Box Jump 24"

Wall Ball 20lb

Sumo Deadlift Highpull 75lbs

Row calories

Total score: 368

I was shooting for 400, but I came up short and am pretty disappointed. I took too many breaks. I'll get it next time though.

Getting Back on Track

I have been a mess staying focused with my own training. I've been relatively busy down at the gym, but I have been spending most of my time working on my own CF box and the Snow Gym that my training has been suffering. I also tweeked something in my back/neck last week that KILLED and stuck with me until yesterday.

I decided I was done making up WODs for myself and I was just going to rely on another Website. I chose Catalyst Athletics. These guys are incredible. They are professional Olympic Lifting coaches out of Northern Cali that now have moved into the CF arena and they post great Strength WODs every day. So, my plan is to do that WOD with a small metcon and skills work and be good for the day.

Catalyst WOD:

• Back squat - 84% x 2 x 5 (I used 225 lbs and went deeeeeeeep)
• Push press - 78% x 3 x 5 (140lbs)
• Snatch pull - 98% (of snatch) x 3 x 4 (155lbs & 135 lbs *had a weird knee pain)
• Weighted Sit-up - 3 x 10 (25lb GHD sit-up)

MetCon:

3 Rounds for time

30 pullups

30 hang power cleans 95lbs

TIME - 7:53

Body Weight Bench: 3x15