531 5a Press + S run - Feb 28

Buy in
3x10/8/6 Hang Power Cleans @ 115/135/155
7 mins.

531 Press
Rx: 3x5 @ 115/135/150
Actual: 5x115/5x135/(4x150)
First miss in five cycles. I never would have predicted it would have happened on a Press day. I've been neglecting the bonus day pressing, ring dips and pulls. Pulling work has gone out the window and it really shows, see below.
5 mins.

BBB
5 rounds, in .30 on 1.15
Press x10///8/8 @ 105#
Chins, deadhang to kips (6's mostly)
14 mins.

PM
12 run up/walk down repeats on Brighthouse hill on 1.45.
Felt a little clunky and tight, just focusing on arm drive and missing the chuckholes.
21 mins.

7.5 hours - 2100/0530. 47 minutes total, PE: 8. 24 hours.

531 5a Squat - Feb 27

I was standing at the top of my 9th rep in the 4th round of the BBB work, staring down at number 10, and the thought that went through my mind was, "About 3 o'clock this afternoon, this is really going to suck." Delay the pain.

Reset my stance over the last week to a narrower, less powerlifty width. Still knees out and weight back, but standing more erect and high bar, focusing on really breaking through parallel.

BTW, working maxes for this round are
Squat - 365
Press - 193
Deadlift - 330
Bench - 340
...with BBB weights set at 60/65/70/50% of the 90% 4-rep each week for A/B/C/D.

531 Squat
Rx: 3x5 @ 215/250/285
Actual: 10x135/10x215/5x250/5x285
10 mins.

BBB
4 rounds, on the .30 in 1.15 timer
10@205 (60%=200)
Standing calf 13@240#
11 mins.

8 hours - 2200/0600. 22 minutes total, PE: 10. 24 hours.

531 5a Bench - Feb 26

For the first time in years, I got up this morning, shut off the alarm clock, and curled back up in bed. Just more tired out than I should be. What's the deal? Anyway, normally we start the week off with Squat day (see yesterday's balk and Cl day). This seemed like a good solution today, and, as Deppen loves the bench and wants to work on it but hasn't had a chance to do anything for a week, a good way to just get the week underway and delay the pain. Wednesday-Friday will be Squat/Press/Dead though, which might fit nicely into a new structure if I'm doubling down on Thursday nights. Press this week would mesh with rowing and striking. A dead day would twin up next week with Cl assistance work.

Death by pull ups
9.6 rounds, switching between fat/skinny bars
9 mins.

531 Bench
Working off the old table from cycle 4, but not following it. Paradox.
Rx: 3x5 @ 205/235/265
Actual: 10x225/5x235/5x265
9 mins.

BBB
5 rounds, in .30 on 1.15
10/9/8/8/6 @ 205 (60%=190)
Ring Rows x10
12 mins.

8.5 - 1 hours - 2130/0600. 31 minutes total, PE: 9. 24 hours.

Cl - Parking Lot Reversal - Feb 25

Tired from working on a treehouse all weekend, with not enough to eat or drink. Just got focused and skipped lunches and didn't stop for water. Today, staring at 531 Squat day, I sat in the car for 5 mins before getting up and going into the gym.
All for naught. All the squat bars were taken. Douches to the rescue.

4 rounds, .30 RI
Extensions x11 @ 195/210/225/240
Hamstring curl x11 @ 135
8 mins.

5 rounds, 1 min RI
Seated calf x10 @ 70
Standing calf x10 @ 225///210/
10 mins.

9 hours - 2100/0600. 19 minutes total, PE: 7. 96 hours.

531 4d Squat + Cl - Feb 21

AM
531 Squat
Rx: @ 135/165/200
Actual: 10x45/10x135/10x165/10x 205
8 mins.

BBB
4 rounds in .3o on 1.15
10/8/9/7 Full Squat @ 165
max reps FtB
11 mins.

Going deep on these, with a high bar position to stay upright. Really focused on getting down in the hole and trying to keep the knees out on the way up. I'm just glad this was deload day, just no gas in the tank.

PM
4x11-10
Hamstring curl @ 110/125///
Extensions @ 195/210/225//
1 min RI
6 mins.

5x10
Seated Calf @ 70
Standing Calf @ 240//225/210
11 mins.

Power clean x10
@ 95/135///
1 min RI
7 mins.

8 hours - 2200/0600. 19 + 24 minutes total, PE: 8. 48 hours. 229/14.

531 4d Press - Feb 19

Another easy day on easy week. I'm not worried about the workload at all - I feel overreached.

5 rounds, in .30 on 1.15
Press x10 @ 105#
Pulls, deadhang to kips
...531 Rx: 5x70/90/105 (50%=90) Which just sounded silly easy. I didn't want to hurt my shoulder with bar speed. I'll have to chain up for this sort of DE day.
12 mins.

Single arm cable vert pulls
x8-6 @ 95/90/85
1 min RI
5 mins.

8 hours - 2200/0600. 17 minutes total, PE: 6. 24 hours.

531 4d Would-be Squat day - Feb 18

It's a president's birthday, so only douches get the day off. Then they wake up late as hell and clog up the gym when working men try to hammer out some reps at lunchtime. Bitches.

531 Squat Day

531 Deadlift
Rx: 5x120/x150/x180 (50%=150)
Actual: 10x135/10x225///
8 mins-ish.

Incline Bench
10x135/10x175/10x195/10x135
8 mins.

4 hours - 0200/0600. 16 minutes total, PE: 6. 72 hours. 228/14.

All in the Wrist Bonus Day - Feb 15

Overhead Squats
x10 @ 45/65/85/105 3@125
Wrists hurt more than anything. 125 just made me turn into Gumby, with no ability to control anything. 

8.5 hours - 2130/0600. 11 minutes total, PE: 7.

531 4c Dead + Cl - Feb 14

AM
Buy in
3x max reps FtB
3 mins.

531 Dead
Rx: 531 @ 225/255/285
Actual: 10x135/10x185/5x235/3x255/2x285
...might have had 3 or 4 at 285 at least, but touch and go with those handled plates at doucheX - touched on the point and the wheel spun away from me, so I just dumped on the way up on 3.
14 mins.

BBB
4 rounds
10x210 (70%)
Seated calf @ 70
8 mins.

PM
Row 3k
13 mins.

4x10
RDL @ 135/155///
Standing Calf @ 225///240

4x10
Extensions @ 195/205/220/240

8.5 hours - 2130/0600. 26 + 28 minutes, PE: 8.

531 4c Bench Day - Feb 13

Buy in
3x max reps chins/bar dips
in .30 on 1.15
7 mins.

531 Bench 4c
Rx: 5/3/1+ @ 235/265/295
Actual: 5x235/3x265/3x290 - misread the schedule by 5 lbs
Felt light, just didn't have a spotter or would've been 4 or 5 on the + set.
9 mins

BBB
5x10 in .30 on 1.15
Bench @ 220 (70%) x10/8/7/8/5 - ran out of gas but kept the weight on ... this is Big Kahuna week, after all
Ring Rows x11-10
12 mins.

7.5 hours - 2230/0600. 30 minutes total, PE: 8.

531 4c Squat day - Feb 12

No buy in, we know how this goes, especially on week c. Narrowed my stance for the lighter stuff and pointed my knees out and got low. Really tried to get butt down during the BBB work sets, when I did, I couldn't get the full 10.

531 Squat
Rx: 5/3/1 @ 250/285/315
Actual: 10x135/10x185/10x 235/5x250/3x285/2 and a no rep x 315
16 mins.

BBB - no antagonist today
4x10/10/8/9
Squat @ 235
9 mins.

8.5 hours - 2130/0600. 24 hours. 25 minutes total, PE: 9. 228/15.

531 4c Press Day - Feb 11

Buy in
3x 10/5/7 FtB
4 mins.

531 Press 4c
Rx: 3x5/3/1 @ 135/150/170
Actual: 10x95/10/125/5x135/3x150/1x170
12 mins.

BBB
4x9 Press @ 125 (70%)
4x max reps recline ring rows
in .30 on 1.15
8 mins.

7.5 hours - 2230/0600. 72 hours. 25 minutes total, PE: 8. 231/14.

I'm a Crossfitterquitter.

This is the kind of post I would have wanted to make at the turn of the year, but never made time for the introspection. Besides, I needed another month of lesson learning. This all started at the end of December.

After a good year of getting completely back to the basics at an Anytime Fitness with only an open floor and one barbell and a lunch-window timeframe in which to get the job done, to a wide open schedule over the summer doing two-a-days in the box/backyard and on the bike, to a Fall of working through maxes and 531 to build strength in a max-effort mode I've ignored for over two decades, I was always feeling that, while Crossfit was the spark that changed my worldview about training in a revolutionary way, and, after re-thinking nearly all I was doing and implementing nearly all the basic tenets of CF, that I'd not truly experienced what CF has to offer – not having been involved with a box and the community members who call one home.

So imagine my glee when CFBako opened up their new doors literally 200 feet from my workplace. They moved in on a Monday, on Tuesday I hooked them up with a couple housewarming gifts (first aid kit and fire extinguisher) and paid for a few months, to start on the 1st of the new year. A new year with a whole new hope for training renewal.

Coming in, I was feeling that my training was short in a few areas. I'd been wondering if doing synthesized CF solo, or trying to cycle circuit work with the same functional movements at the gyms has been, say, sub-optimal over this last year. I was expecting a boost from:
1. Comaraderie
2. Coaching
3. Challenge

Anyway, I'm going to make a long story short. As I'm trying to lay my mental list down here, I'm amazed at how many ways the CF box didn't work for me. I did not expect this at all. Even after laughing at this, and knowing all this, I would never have predicted that I'd not renew after the first month. But here I am, walking away after the first month, and really, after only attending for 3 weeks.

There was some comaraderie, but not the fellowship I had anticipated. I kinda wished to be in with a group of people who were friendly, humble, in-this-all-together. Friendly in the at least as friendly as me, who might remember my name after I introduced myself to them way. The classes were clogged with mid-20's who wouldn't make eye contact let alone say hi.
Granted, there are a few more mature, friendly people there. But no more than any other gym where the great majority of people are just doing their own thing. It's human nature, I understand. I was hoping for a little less of the same ol' same ol'. I can get that at DoucheXchange for $30 a month.

Now that I'm gone, I'm still wondering if the box ownership will call asking what's up with me and am I going to continue? As of 2 weeks after my membership lapsed, and 2 and a half weeks without doing a WoD, I've not heard anything or gotten a call or text. This isn't a prerequisite for my gym membership, because I've never been to a gym where the people cared if you were there or not (after the box at high school), but wouldn't it be nice?

I had hoped for Steve, the principal and gifted trainer there, to take a good look at my form, take stock of my weaknesses and give me some fresh direction. He wasn't there… no explanations. When I thought of the coaching aspect of joining, he was the personality that comprised the mental image I had been hoping for. Where was the coaching I was looking for going to come from?
I got some pointers on my deadlift form at one late night WoD, but not the overall assessment I desired. I know, my form is good enough that I don't need basic coaching - but hey, I want to be Forging Elite Fitness, yah?

I wanted to work on my skills: muscle up, rope climb, double under, handstanding/handwalking, snatch - but I realized right off that I'd be working on those - if I was working on those – pre-class. On my own. Because, once the WoD started, it was all about just finding a place to get your bar set up, getting out of everyone else's way and getting going. Rope climb, for instance, was spec'ed into a WoD, but I had to scale out of it because I couldn't do it.

This segues over into the challenge category here. Generally, I didn't trust the WoDs. I don't want to do randomized, arbitrary exercises. I was getting my strength work in doing 531 at lunch, which is good, because the CF strength work was usually a 5x5 or 5x1 of a basic movement … to be repeated at an unnamed future date. Can't build a strength base on that.

In the same breath, I don't want to overwork myself and burn out, or worse, get injured, doing whatever. And the WoDs, while work, were a lot of whatever work. This is one of my beefs with CF in general: Who does the scheduling? Is there ever a plan for gains? There's some strength work (not focused) and a lot of metcon work (asking for burnout). My first session, I stepped back and out of the Cash out because I knew that I'd done enough for the day. If I've learned one thing in the last two years, it's that smaller sessions of high intensity that one can recover from are better than large, less frequent doses of prolonged work. Besides, this is how the Froenigs of the CF world train.

And does anyone ever do individual assessments followed by individual goal setting/cycle prescription? Besides those pros, I mean. There's an entire ground-breaking business venture just in that.

Finally, sometimes I just couldn't go. Being a dad, an employee, a homeowner and a friend, there were lots of evenings and Saturday mornings (hmmm, I didn't make a single Saturday morning) when I had other commitments. I don't want to pay extra for a gym I can only attend when there's a group session. The flip side of the coin is that I can't/don't want to bend my schedule to fit the posted WoD schedule at the box. There was some talk about open gym, but it never happened. I can do a WoD in my backyard in the drive time to the box and back on a Saturday – and that's what I found myself doing on those Saturdays.

Maybe the Helen PR I pulled down during a CF wod was the final red flag. I bested my Helen time by two minutes in the first week at the box - without metconning, and really, without doing the CF schedule. The improvement was because I had built a strength base over the fall, following my own prescription, getting stronger and working on a timed cycle. I was doing really no running. Not a direct relationship to the demands of the Helen WoD, but the conditioning carried over with good result.

Lesson learned: I've learned my lessons. The next step is to assemble my own equipment package so I don't need to go anywhere or pay anyone monthly dues to train. I probably should have prioritized Gym Independence years ago – amortized over a lifetime, I'd have been saving money. But this is more of a quality of training issue than a monetary one, and more of a I'll do better with no one in my way than a convenience one.

Stay Loose, My Friends Bonus Day Cl - Feb 8

5 rounds
Hamstring curl @ 120 x10
Extensions @ 195/210/225/240// x 10
Seated calf @ 80
A-frame @ 4.35
20 mins.

Overhead Squat
10 @ 45/55///
Going low, working on stance and hanging out in the hole.
7 mins.

8 hours - 2200/0600. 24 hours. 28 minutes total, PE: 7.

531 4b Dead + PullPush - Feb 7

AM
531 Dead
Rx: 3x3 @ 210/240/270
Actual: 10x135/5x225/3x240/6x270
9 mins.

BBB
5 rounds
10x205 (65% was 195 - just felt on today)
Calves on the A-frame @ 5 x17-15
in .30 on 1.15
14 mins.

PM
Death by pull ups
10 rounds +6

6 rounds
Recline DB bench presses x10 (to 7) @ 70#
one min RI

3x10
Single arm cable pull downs @ 90//85

5x10
Pulls/dips on the gravitron with 70# assist (pulls) and 40# (dips)
... dips were just a whole lot stronger with what was left today.

9.5 - 1 hours - 2030/0600. 24 + oh, about an hour minutes total, PE: 8.

531 4b Bench - Feb 6

Buy in
3x10 Hang Power Clean @ 95/115/135
5 mins.

531 Bench 4b
Rx: 3x5 @ 220/250/280
Actual: 10x205/3x225/3x250/4x280
8 mins

BBB
5x10 in .30 on 1.15
Underbar Horz pulls
Bench @ 205 (65%=205)
11 mins.

7 hours - 2200/0600. 25 minutes total, PE: 7.

531 4b Squat day - Feb 5

Buy in
3x10 Hamstring curl @ 125#
3x11 Extensions @ 195/210/225
30 sec RI - 4 mins

531 Squat
Rx: 3x3 @ 235/260/300
Actual: 10xbar/10x135/10x 215/3x235/3x 260/4x 300
19 mins.

BBB
4x10
Squat @ 215
Seated calf @ 70
10 mins.

7 hours - 2245/0545. 24 hours. 33 minutes total, PE: 9.

Oatmeal Super Bowl Blackout Stout

Steep Grains
1 lb flaked oats
- additional 2.5 lbs Quaker oats
1 lb Black Malt
1 lb English Dark Crystal
5 lb Maris Otter

Boil - 60 mins
6.3 lb Dark malt syrup
2 lb Briess Dark dry extract
4 oz US Fuggle (all)

Yeasts:
5 gal each - Safale 04 and Wyeast 945 NeoBrittania

We'll see which ale yeast wins in this brewing battle between the dry and the liquid - made better via lubrication as we downed the batch of Urca Vanilla Porter - which, by the way, kicked serious vanilla bootae - from last go around.

We had an OG of .1054 but added some water in after pitching, approx 1.25 gallons each corney. Didn't take a gravity reading after that, so we may have a not-too-stout stout.

Day 5: Fermentation more than complete. Both the corneys showed a FG of 1020. The Safale had flocculated completely and was dark and clear. The Wyeast had floating clumps and was cloudy and tan. No implications here, just observation.

Day 12: Racking out of the leakers and into the good dispensers. All seems well.

9 Weeks: Win. Both corneys were ready and good, a lighter-bodied black stout with a hint of the oatmeal maltiness over the top. Think Lobotomy or Stockyard.
Put 20# pressure of the C02 on them overnight, then drank them up at Monte's for UFC. The verdict: Dry yeast was the winner. The liquid batch had a bitter aftertaste - not so much it wasn't drinkable, but enough to make you want to drink out of the Safale corney all night.
I might stir in a couple teaspoons of honey to see if that will balance out the bite, still have 3 gallons in the Wyeast corney.

Seven weeks later: at the 4-month mark, we drank up the last of the Wyeast version while brewing a White House Honey Ale. Yes, two teaspoons of honey and a bit of time for the sweetness to saturate was all that was needed to cancel out any bitter bite.

531 4b Press Day - Feb 4

Too Super-Bowled to squat today. Almost went to McD's for lunch and a chance to just stare at the linoleum, but talked myself into pull ups. Then into doing Press day, at least.

Buy in
Death by pull ups
10 rounds.
11 mins.

531 Press 4b
Rx: 3x3 @ 125/140/160
Actual: 10x115/3x125/3x145/3x160
8 mins.

BBB
4x10/9/7/7 Press @ 115 (65%)
4xmax reps neutral grip pulls
in .30 on 1.15
11 mins.

7.5 - 1 hours - 2230/0600. 72 hours. 26 minutes total, PE: 8. 230/11.

531 4a Bench - Feb 1

Buy in
3x10 Hang Power Clean @ 95/115/135
7 mins.

531 Bench 4a
Rx: 3x5 @ 205/235/265
Actual: 6x205/5x235/6x265

BBB
5x10 in .30 on 1.15
Underbar Horz pulls
Bench @ 195 (60%=190)
19 mins.

7 hours - 2230/0530. 26 minutes total, PE: 8.