Ronski's Training Log

[ronski]

Warm Up
3min DU practice
10 Inch Worms
10 Jumping Squats
10 Hip Extensions
10 Push Ups
10 Plank Up Downs
10 Monster Lunges
20 Shoulder Passes
Hip Mobility

Strength
Push Press - 5 x 3 @95% Training Max last set 3+

Warm Up
Bar x 10
30kg x 8
40kg x 5

Working Sets
60kg x 3
60kg x 3
60kg x 3
60kg x 3
60kg x 13! PB - the reps just kept coming - thought a good result would be 8-10 and I think I might have even had 1 more rep in there. Hoping I can get to a 75kg 1RM when I re-test

WoD
Benchmark WoD called "Jackie"

For time
1000m Row (3.49)
50 Thrusters @20kg (finished at 6.59)
30 Pull Ups

Result = 12min 29 secs Rx

Considering I have a pull up rep max of 5 this was a significantly challenging workout for me. I rowed a steady pace, thrusters while light is a lot of reps so I broke it down - 15, 10, 10, 8, 7 Then came the pull ups - I really wanted an Rx result so no band just me versus the bar for single pull ups for five and a half minutes. It was very hard but ultimately rewarding. The fastest guys in the class were doing this workout between 8 to 9mins so I have some way to go...onwards and upwards!

 

[ronski]

30 strict pull-ups is a lot - good work!

hah I wish they were strict - first couple were. In the end I had to do a hitch kick to get me up there. Either way it was horrible

 

[ronski]

Warm Up
3 Banded Resistance Run
20 Squats
10 Push Ups
10 Hip Extensions
10 Ring Rows
10 Monster Lunges
20 Shoulder Passes
Hip Mobility

Strength
3 x 20 Walking Lunges - I stayed light today @20kg

WoD
2 Rounds for time
30 Dumbell Snatch @45lbs
25 Deadlifts @60kg
20 Wall Balls @20lbs to 10ft target

Time = 8min22secs Rx

Tomorrow is the announcement for the final Crossfit Open Workout - I currently sit 7th for my Division (Master Men 40-44, scaled) in the Africa region so it is all to play for in the last workout to secure a top 10 spot which would be great

 

[ronski]

Up early this morning to complete the CrossFit 15.5 workout

warm up
500m row
20 Banded Squats
20 Banded Side Steps
20 Banded Lunges
20 Air Squats
20 Shoulder passes
Hip Mobility
Shoulder Mobility
Thrusters 20kg x 10
Thrusters 30kg x 5

Workout - 15.5 scaled:

For time
27 - 21 - 15 - 9
Calories on the rower
Thrusters @65lbs/29kg

Result =10min 46 secs

Again a very tough work out -the initial two sets are high rep counts so I was breaking the thrusters down into manageable sets of 3 and doing my best to stay consistent on the rower. I had set a goal of sub 12mins and was happy with the result - could I have gone faster? Perhaps, I could have done the last set of thrusters unbroken as opposed to a 5 and a 4 and saved 15secs but not much more.

The final time for submission is 5pm US time Monday - so a little bit of waiting to see my final position in the division I am competing in.

 

[ronski]

What's a rough distance to burn 21 calories?

Obviously depends on how much energy you are putting into it - but typically I am taking just under a minute to row 21 calories which is around the 250 - 275m mark.

The other way to look at it is - for every pull you should be ticking over 1 calorie but that is a hard pull.

 

[ronski]

You've made some tremendous progress mate, well done and keep up the good work. I started out in Crossfit in May last year, 10 months in now. The community and everything about it has been revolutionary for my life.

I went from having always been a keen sportsman playing footy, cricket, squash, going running, skiing and doing various martial arts, but never having done any weight training of any sort into Crossfit.

28 years old, 5'9" and a tad under 70kg.

Doing my fundamentals to learn the basics of the movements I started out with a 40kg clean & jerk.

Fast forward to December and I hit my 100kg C&J. A great way to end the year.

Now at 78kg, body looking very different to what it was and happy as can be. Done all the open workouts Rx (not necessarily getting great scores) and looking to keep progressing through 2015.

Which Dubai box you training out of? I know one of the coaches at Innerfight (DXB).

Look forward to reading more about your progress and not looking forward to tackling 15.5

Thanks BigChief! and massive congrats on a 100kg Clean and Jerk that is a significant achievement at your body weight. I managed to clean 80kg the other day so have no idea what a jerk at heavier than that must feel like

Also great to see you have done everything Rx - HSPU an MU! awesome -they are both big goals for me looking at the Open 2016 that's for sure

I train down at a gym called Fitness HQ - they will be getting affiliated next month I understand. The guys at Innerfight are hardcore! Looks like a couple of them will make regionals.

Best of luck with 15.5 (hint - manage your thrusters smartly) and I am sure you will smoke it

 

[ronski]

The HSPU absolutely smoked my shoulders. I've had muscle ups for a couple of months now, managed to get ring before bar muscle ups, but now have both. I can string a couple together when fresh, but struggle like hell if they're at the end of a WOD. I'm sure with the progress you are making you will have them in no time.

I know Phil Hesketh from Innerfight he won The Athlete Games (TAG) in Manchester earlier in the year. He's a beast!

One of the guys who is just ahead of me in the box leader board for the open did it Rx in 11:06 this morning, so that's my current target I need to beat. I'll be having my first attempt about 10:30 tomorrow morning.

Agree thruster management is key. Watched the announcement last night and watching Sam Briggs demolish it set unrealistic expectation of how I will go about it

Yeh Phil Hesketh is really active in the UAE Crossfit community and I think has a realistic shot at making the CrossFit games - I wish him all the best!

I could probably give 15.5 a dam good go Rx but I am sadly not quite there with 42kg thrusters - probably take me 25mins or something

Best of luck of tomorrow with the WoD! You got sub 11!

 

[ronski]

Legs really not feeling it this morning. So I went back to my favorite past time - bench press for wave 2 of 531

Warm Up
500m SkiErg
Thoracic Mobilization
Shoulder Mobilization

Bench Press:

Warm Up:
40kg x 5
47.5kg x 5
57.5kg x 3

Working Sets - 5s
62.5kg x 5 - smooth
72.5kg x 5 - smooth
82.5kg x 11 - PB - again happy, 11 good reps and a major spot on rep 12 so very good

Couple of heavy singles:
100kg x 1 - smooth
110kg x 1 - A fight and up! 1RM PB - sadly didn't video it but it was a real grind of a rep

Big But Boring - spurred on by some good success I upped the weight by 5kg to see if I could do 5 sets of 10

70kg x 10 - smooth
70kg x 10 - tough but ok
70kg x 10 - hard, big fight for last 2 reps
70kg x 8 - really starting to get tough
70kg x 5 - ok done, good to find out what my limit was on the accessory work and at this weight I really feel like it is helping

It was an enjoyable session and I am looking forward to Push Pressing later this week

 

[ronski]

Did 15.5 yesterday. It is utter filth. My legs haven't been feeling great for the last couple of weeks and after the 27's my quads were just on fire.

13.15 I finished in, not particularly happy with that. Going to go again tomorrow evening.

Phil and Ste Fawcett are the only two male Brits with a decent chance of making the games.

Well done BigChief - it's a decent time and good on you if you want to put yourself through that pain again

Yeh agreed - Phi and Ste Fawcett are the only contenders. Would be great to see at least one of them in the games!

 

[ronski]

Back in the gym this morning:

Warm Up
2 x 25m wheel barrow walk (surprisingly tough!)
25m Duck Walk
10 Burpees
10 Inch Worms
10 Long Jumps
10 Hip Extensions
25m Bear Crawl
10 Plank Up/Down
- Hip Mobility
- Shoulder Mobility

Skill
Clean Practice - 15mins
I kept it light today - Burgner clean warm up and bar only technique practice

WoD
30 - 20 - 10
Cals on the SkiErg
Thrusters @20kg

Result - 7min 34secs

Again kept it light rather than 35/40kg - just wanted to get some blood flowing around my legs which ares still a bit sore. Short but fun.

 

[ronski]

Did 15.5 again. No improvement on time unfortunately.

I think a combination of;

Doing it 48 hours later.
Having to do it 2kg heavier (45kg v 43kg as we only have one set of fractional plates).
Going in the second heat, having seen the guy who was on the same points as me in the box get a worse time than my first.

Meant I just couldn't and didn't go at absolutely 100%. Was roughly 20 secs slower.

The open is over, hurrah! Back to proper training.

Turns out I finished joint 8th in the box, with 4 coaches and a marine PT ahead of me. So I'm classing it as 3rd out of the realistic targets I could beat this year. Happy with that 10 months into Crossfit/strength training full stop.

41.3k worldwide, 4.8k in Europe.

Work starts now on improving that for next year.

Hope the training is going well mate.

Still a great finish and well done on completing your first open!

I was pretty pleased with my Open result - in my division (Master Men 40-44, Scaled, Africa) I ended up finishing in 5th place. It has been a real journey for me over the last 5 weeks and certainly next year I want to be able to do Rx all workouts (eek - Muscle Ups, HSPU and Chest to Bar) but a year to train for it.

 

[ronski]

Couple of busy days at work so sadly no gym - so went back today to catch up on my front squat and push press strength work

Warm Up
Row 500m
10 Inch Worms
20 Banded Side Steps
20 Banded Lunges
20 Banded Air Squats
Shoulder Mobility
Hip Mobility


Front Squat
Warm up
Bar x 10
40kg x 5
50kg x 3

Working Sets - 90% of training max 6sets x 5reps
5 x 85kg - smooth
5 x 85kg - smooth
5 x 85kg - smooth
5 x 85kg - smooth
5 x 85kg - getting hard now - last 2 reps a fight
5 x 85kg - reps 1- 4 ok, rep 5 - 4 second pause at the bottom and a fight to get back up - but done

While the volume increases - the extra couple of rest days has made a noticeable difference and I felt this was the best set of front squats to date. I have better rotation with elbows really getting through and a good speed up and down.

Next Push Press

Warm Up
Bar x 10
30kg x 5
40kg x 3

Working Sets - 90% of 1RM 5sets x 1 rep (last set AMRAP)
62.5kg x 1 - smooth
62.5kg x 1 - smooth
62.5kg x 1 - smooth
62.5kg x 1 - smooth
62.5kg x 7 - good push through the reps here, reasonable leg drive, felt there was one more rep there but erred on the side of caution and left it at 7 reps which is a PB for this weight.

Felt it would be a shame to leave the gym without a little WoD so I did the gym WoD that has been programmed the day before:

12min AMRAP
75 Air Squats
75 Push Press @20kg
500m row

Result - 1 round + 75 air squats + 54 push press

That felt like some good accessory work after the heavy lifting and was a fun way to spend 1200 calories.

 

[ronski]

.

You got this!

p.s. 120kg front squat pb last night!

Thanks for the encouragement mate and congratulations on your new front squat PB - that's a decent lift. In fact that is about the target weight for when I test in a few weeks time - so let's see.

Nice squatting! I have nowhere near the skills to front squat 15kg at the moment

Thanks mate - when our coach started this front squat cycle I had the same thoughts but over the course of the weeks I have actually started to enjoy front squatting (did think I would ever be saying that)

Back to the gym this morning:

Warm up
500m row
10 inch worms
10 burpee long jumps
10 Hip Extensions (3 sec pause at the top)
10 Kettlebell Swings @20kg
10 Plank Up/Downs
10 Side Plank and Hip Raises

Hip Mobility
Shoulder Mobility

Strength
3 x 20m Walking lunge (overhead - 20kg)

WoD
500m Row
100m Ski
400m Row
200m Ski
300m Row
300m Ski
200m Row
400m Ski
100m Row
500m Ski

For a total distance of 3km

Result = 14min 3 secs

It was nice to have good metcon after the heavy lifting yesterday. Am feeling good at the moment so might pop back tomorrow for some bench work...

 

[ronski]

Real life got in the way yesterday - so ended in the gym this morning to catch up with my bench work. This week it is the "3" week of 531 - second wave:

Warm up
250m ski
250m row
10 Press Ups
20 Shoulder Passes
Shoulder Mobility

Bench Press
Warm Up
Bar x 20
40kg x 5
50kg x 5
57.5kg x 3

Working Sets:
70kg x 3 - smooth
77.5kg x 3 - smooth
87.5kg x 8 - first 5 reps smooth, big battle for last 3 reps, actually pressed 9th rep but did have a light spot to help me through. So pretty happy as original goal was 8 reps to keep on track for this cyclel

Heavy single
100kg x 1 - got it, little slow on the lock out but a good rep

Big but Boring - last week I could not complete all 5 sets of 10 at 70kg (8reps and a 5reps on sets 4 and 5) so took a little more rest to ensure I got good solid sets in:

10 x 70kg - smooth
10 x 70kg - smooth
10 x 70kg - smooth
10 x 70kg - fight for last rep but got it
10 x 70kg - fight for last 2 reps but got it -

That is a significant step for me as before Christmas the thought of this would have been a dream. Gotta rest up now - tomorrow it is front squat day 6 x 6 @85kg....

 

[ronski]

Warm Up
Row 500m
12 Inch Worms
12 Air Squats
12 Push Ups
12 Hip Extension
12 GHD Situps
12 KB swings @20kg
12 Ring Rows
12 Bird Dog

Hip Mobility
Shoulder Mobility

Front Squats 6 x 6 @85% 1RM

Warm Up
Bar x 10
50kg x 5

Working Set
6 x 85kg - smooth
6 x 85kg - smooth
6 x 85kg - starting to feel it - HR 170
6 x 85kg - first 3 reps ok then push for all I am worth on last 3 reps - HR171
6 x 85kg - again first 3 reps ok then give it all on last 3 reps - HR 174
6 x 85kg - first 2 reps ok - then lock in and hang on for last 4 reps - form started to break down a little on the last rep - HR 178

Phew - hardest set of squats I have done to date, quads totally smoked and am glad this cycle of squats is over with. Will have a deload week next week and then retest 1RM


WoD

AMRAP 6min
12 Push Press @40kg
12 American Kettlebell Swings @24kg
Rest 2mins
AMRAP 6min
12 Walking Lunges - body weight only
6 Burpees

Result = 92 reps for first AMRAP and 90 reps for second AMRAP for a total of 182 reps Rx

Worked as hard as I could and happy with the result, the walking lunges were brutal after those front squats. Could not get breakfast down quick enough afterwards - in total the calorie burn was about 1200 calories

 

[ronski]

Warm Up
3min DU practice
25meter Bear Crawl
20 Walking Lunges
10 Inch Worms
10 Kettlebell Swings @20kg
10 Strict Pull Ups (done in singles)
10 Push Ups
10 GHD Situps
Shoulder Mobility
Hip Mobility

Skill - Snatch Practice 15mins
Burgrner Warm up with PVC Pipe
Burgner Warm Up with 20kg Bar
Some Snatches at 20kg
Some Snatches at 30kg
3 x 40kg - power snatch into Over head squat
1 x 45kg - PB Power Snatch from the floor
1 x 50kg - PB Power Snatch from the floor

Happy with snatch session - really focused on fast hip thrust and as long triple extension as possible. Also remarkably for me no shoulder pain during or after.

WoD
Metcon today
4 rounds
20 Hip Extensions
Row 400m

Time =11min 37sec

Workout was suppose to be run 400m - but I felt my calf was feeling a bit tight after the first 400m run I switched over to the rower. Tomorrow is 1RM push press day

 

[ronski]

Warm Up
3min DU practice
25meter Bear Crawl
20 Walking Lunges
10 Inch Worms
10 Single Leg Glute Bridge (each leg)
20 Face Pulls
10 Push Ups
10 GHD Situps
Shoulder Mobility
Hip Mobility

Strength
1 Rep Max Push Press
Bar x 8 - warm up
30kg x 5 - warm up
40kg x 3 - warm up
50kg x 2 - smooth
60kg x 1 - smooth
70kg x 1 - This was my old 1RM (tested 6 weeks ago) smooth
75kg x 1 - Booom smooth - PR
80kg x 1 - Fail - didn't get tight enough and bar path too far from body
80kg x 1 - up it went - PR
85kg - 1 - pushed for all I was worth - had a fight and got it! 15kg PR

Here is the lift:

WoD
6 rounds for time
15 Wall Balls to 10ft target @20lbs
15 GHD situps
15 Double Unders (or attempts as I my DUs still suck)

Time - 17min 19secs - the GHDs after round 4 were a real grind. Two more workouts before vacation...

 

[ronski]

Went into the gym this morning :

1RM Front Squat testing
Bar x 8
40kg x 5
50kg x 3
60kg x 1
70kg x 1
80kg x 1
90kg x 1
100kg x 1
110kg x Fail - did not setup properly, bar slipped a little on left shoulder
110kg x 1 PB
112.5kg x 1 PB
115kg x 1 PB by 15kg!

Really happy with that.

Went back to the gym in the evening for a rather long metcon:

EMOM 40min
1. 12 Cal Row
2. 8 Deadlifts @60kg
3. 10 Cal Ski
4. 12 Dumbell Snatches @55lbs

Result - I completed all 10 rounds - db snatches got hard after round 6

So I burnt about 2k calories today exercising and that is 5 days in a row. So time for a break and off to LA/Vegas on Friday

 

[ronski]

Two 15kg PRs in consecetive days?! Clearly crossfit really works!

Well it's basic 531 programming / Russian Squat variants + metcons + training five times a week + a high protein diet + good coach = what works

The problem is now making sure your clean stacks up!

In for a 100kg clean!

Good spot mrthingyx - this is exactly the next major goal - getting the clean into triple digits. I think I have 90kg ready to go - will need some more training to get to the ton. But for sure its going to be worked on.

Great work on the front squat and push press. Enjoy LA & Vegas.

Thanks mate! Still a little way to catch up with you. I hope to check out a few boxes while on vacation. Will report back!

 

[ronski]

ooh - forgot I still had final 1+ week on bench press to complete. Popped into the garage gym to complete them:

Warm up
10 cal assault bike
shoulder mobility

Bench Press
Bar x 20
40kg x 5
49kg x 5
59kg x 3

Working Sets
73kg x 5 - smooth
83kg x 3 - ok
92kg x 5 - reasonably happy - targeted six, however all the work during the week meant during reps 3 and 4 I could really feel my triceps feeling sore/fatigued. So I racked it at 5 and left it at that

Big but boring - in a change I went for the programmed weight of 50kg (as opposed to 60 - 70kg I have been doing) and focused on speed and minimum rest between sets.

70kg x 10 reps x 5 set - completed without issue in a total of 8mins

Done. So I am

a. officially on a deload week
b. officially on holiday for the next two weeks