Tidalwave's Workout Journal

**tidalwave** · August 13th, 2009, 10:38 PM

What's this? A workout? The past week has been baaad for the fitness schedule. Tuesday night taking a client to dinner, resulting in a later night than usual, so no Wed. morning routine. Worked outside in the Texas heat all day on Wednesday, no lifting in the evening, but got to sleep early. Still super tired Thursday morning, so I turned the alarm off and skipped the gym time.

Thursday evening I made it to the Crossfit gym and did the following workout:

7 timed rounds, no rest:
- 7 x 135 lbs. deadlift
- 7 KTE (hanging knee-to-elbow.. basically hanging from a pull-up bar and brining your knees way up to hit your arms.. great abs exercise)
- 7 push-ups

I completed this 7 round circuit in 6 min, 10 sec.

After a ~8 min break, we did Tabata sit-ups, for which my score was a paltry 10.

I'm just glad that I was able to get some activity today. I'm aiming to get some swimming and maybe some lifting in tomorrow morning before I fly out. That's all for now.

**tidalwave** · August 17th, 2009, 09:18 PM

Last Friday, I managed to get a spirited 20 min on the elliptical. W00t!

A few aircraft changes later, I've managed to do a lower body strength/power workout today (Monday).

Afternoon workout
hang power cleans: 12 x 95 lbs, 4 x 135 lbs, 3 x 155 lbs, 2 x 185 lbs.
squat: 12 x 135 lbs, 4 x 225 lbs, 4 x 245 lbs, 3 x 245 lbs, 2 x 245 lbs.
deadlift: 12 x 225 lbs, 4 x 275 lbs, 3 x 295 lbs., 2 x 315 lbs.
romanian deadlift: (new exercise for me, working on form first) 12 x 135 lbs., 4 x 185 lbs, 3 x 185 lbs., 2 x 185 lbs.

Walked about 1.5 miles after dinner tonight.

**tidalwave** · August 19th, 2009, 09:12 AM

Was 'off' yesterday, but in the interest of getting the heart rate up, I did one of the quick Crossfit workouts with no equipment needed.

burpees & sit-ups, alternating
rep scheme: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
As fast as you can.

Time: 6 min 4 sec.

Yeah, a 6 min workout isn't going to make a huge difference, but it was one heck of a sprint and I was drenched by the end. My heart rate was elevated and it got the blood flowing, so mission accomplished.

Today will be upper body at the gym.

**tidalwave** · August 19th, 2009, 07:06 PM

Went for some upper body hypertrophy today
Incline DB Press 12 reps x 60 lbs, 10 x 65 lbs, 8 x 65 lbs
Wide-grip Pull-Ups: 10, 10, 10
Dips: 10, 10, 10
BB Front Row: 15 reps x 50 lbs, 10 reps x 70 lbs, 10 reps x 70 lbs
DB Lateral Raises: 3 sets x 10 reps x 20 lbs (slow&controlled)
Reverse Flye Machine: 3 sets x 10 reps x 55 lbs
DB Flye: 3 sets x 10 reps x 30 lbs.
L-Pull-ups: 8, 8, 6
E-Z Bar Curl: 2 sets x 10 reps x 70 lbs.

**SAINT_X** · August 19th, 2009, 07:26 PM

Great work Tidalwave! You are motivating me...and I need it.

yeah, my sister lives out east of Austin...heat's killing them this year. Odd..in the Fort Worth area we usually get it worse than they do, we've only had maybe 20? days of 100 +....

**tidalwave** · August 19th, 2009, 09:07 PM

Yeah, the heat there is pretty nutty. My first summer in Texas and it's a memorable scorcher. I'm back up north for this week, so it's only 'steamy'. Hahah, I've learned the popular retort to people up here regarding the lack of humidity: "an oven is a dry heat, too!"

**pliny_2001** · August 19th, 2009, 10:47 PM

How do you like the cross-fit stuff? Does it help more with physique goals? or general fitness?

**tidalwave** · August 21st, 2009, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pliny_2001

How do you like the cross-fit stuff? Does it help more with physique goals? or general fitness?

I've only been doing it for about 2 months now, about 2x per week, so here are my initial impressions.

For general fitness, I think it's excellent. The improvements I've seen in un-trained beginners at the facility has been impressive. I have made decent endurance and conditioning gains, but they are less drastic since I'm relatively 'trained'.

Physique-wise, the jury is still out. The saying amongst people at t-nation et. al. is "Crossfit makes women hot and men small." I can't argue with the former, but there's a half-truth to the latter. By the nature of the programming, someone who has been doing bodybuilding routines with the correct intensity and diet might lose some size if he switches 100% to Crossfit. As expected, the body will adapt to exercises like thrusters, pull-ups, and handstand push-ups performed at a rapid pace, which is probably a bit of a sleeker physique than one that has adapted to push heavy weights for 8-12 reps. That said, someone like myself who has plateaued with the traditional bodybuilding routine sans cardio will likely benefit from the intensity, cardio conditioning, and altogether different programming of Crossfit.

To summarize, Crossfit has two distinct benefits that keeps me coming back:
1 - INTENSITY - The furious pace of the workouts done in a group setting with trainers watching makes me push myself extremely hard every time. Almost every single workout ends with me laying on the floor trying to regroup and catch my breath. You are racing against others and yourself by keeping a record sheet of your PRs in addition to shooting for the top5 results for the workouts, all posted on the white board. I normally push myself pretty hard in the gym, but I don't often end a normal lifting session on the ground and quasi-nauseous.

2 - Fun / Variety - The workout is different every day, which might be a liability if you're going for size, but that element adds some novelty. It gives an opportunity to learn new skills like olympic lifts, gymnastics, etc. Having the fun an novelty helps one stick with the program.. boredom is a major contributor to people not sticking to training for long enough to get hooked on results. At any rate, I'd rather do intervals smashing a sledgehammer against a tractor tire than mashing the speed buttons on a treadmill do do some HIT. In short, any gym where doing handstands and jerks won't get you odd looks is a good place, imo.

CF has some shortfalls, for those with more physique-oriented goals, but that's why I'm attempting to mix things up with a more traditional lifting program. So far, I think that my endurance, conditioning, and general fitness have improved as a result. More testing to follow!

**tidalwave** · August 26th, 2009, 08:30 AM

Back in Texas after an unfortunately lazy time back at home for a working-vacation (off-site, but still working - not intentional). In the past week, the best activity I've been able to get was 1.5 hours of surfing on the east coast, taking advantage of Hurricane Bill (which was awesome). Back on the horse..

Went to Crossfit gym last night and did the workout as follows:

Rowing machine, push-ups, sit-ups for warm-up.

5 sets of the following circuit, against the clock:
(20 yards bear crawl, 5 reps deadlift (225 lbs.), 10 burpees.)

The 5 rounds took me a total of 7 min 48 sec.

I'm getting back on the nutty sleep/wake schedule again, so no gym this morning, but I plan on doing that or an outdoor circuit after work.

**tidalwave** · August 28th, 2009, 10:51 PM

Crossfit again today. We did the "Death by Burpees" workout, which involves doing 3 burpees then an inverted hang, 2 more with a long jump, 3 more with a box jump, 2 more with long jumps, 3 more with squat cleans, another 3 with a 10' wall-ball, then row 500m. That circuit is done 3 times. It was something of a team workout, so I forget the time, as it doesn't necessarily measure individual performance.

I pushed myself pretty well and ended-up catching my breath on the floor after the last round.

The past two weeks have been disappointing as far as progress goes. Hoping to reverse the trend now. I'll be back to my lifting program this weekend. That's all for now!

**tidalwave** · August 29th, 2009, 11:14 PM

Well, I got some squats in today. I was in the gym at the wrong time and ended up doing a few sets before leaving due to a posse of like 5 guys who were using BOTH squat racks at a time doing supersets for about a month.

Strength still feels down.. probably because I'm not squatting frequently enough.

Back squat: 12 x 135 lbs, 5 x 225 lbs, 5 x 225 lbs, 4 x 225 lbs.
Calf raises: 4 sets x 12 reps x 180 lbs.
Hack squat: light weight x high reps for 2 sets

In the late afternoon, I played about an hour of (terrible) 2-on-2 basketball.

**mukey** · August 30th, 2009, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tidalwave

In the late afternoon, I played about an hour of (terrible) 2-on-2 basketball.

I lol'd. Sounds like me.

DEALER · August 30th, 2009, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Strength still feels down.. probably because I'm not squatting frequently enough.

Strength will improve rapidly on the squat if you keep at it religiously. IMO, #1 exercise for seeing gains in strength.

If you stop squatting for a long time, you will lose that strength even quicker. But it comes back.

**tidalwave** · August 30th, 2009, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DEALER

Strength will improve rapidly on the squat if you keep at it religiously. IMO, #1 exercise for seeing gains in strength.

If you stop squatting for a long time, you will lose that strength even quicker. But it comes back.

I hope so. For a while now, I've been doing higher rep bodyweight exercises for the lower body, but I'm thinking that I need to do loaded squats moar frequently than every 12 days.

**tidalwave** · August 30th, 2009, 10:23 PM

Bench Press: 12 x 135, 5 x 185, 5 x 185, 4 x 185, 12 x 135
Dips: 10, 10, 10
DB Shoulder Press: 5 x 60, 4 x 60, 10 x 50 lbs
Hanging Wipers (great ab exercise - just to try): 5
Close-grip Bench Press: 10 x 95 lbs, 10 x 95 lbs.
Tricep press down: 10 x 70 lbs, 10 x 70 lbs.
DB lateral raise: 3 sets x 10 x 25 lbs
Reverse Flye / Rear Delt Machine: 10 x 70 lbs, 10 x 100 lbs, 10 x 115 lbs.
Incline Hammer Machine Press: 15 x 45 lbs (each side), 10 x 45 lbs.
Cool down on the eliptical for 10 min

**mukey** · August 30th, 2009, 10:38 PM

My squats are coming back nicely, and it hasn't even been a month yet. I feel I have much improved confidence and motivation due to this too, its a great feeling for sure. And by the way what is a Hanging Wiper?

**tidalwave** · August 31st, 2009, 05:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mukey

And by the way what is a Hanging Wiper?

It's a nice abs exercise that gets you some weird looks at the gym. They're kind of a good progression from hanging leg raises. I don't look as solid as this guy yet, but they're coming along.

YouTube - hanging wipers

**tidalwave** · August 31st, 2009, 10:21 PM

20 min on the stair climber this morning, w00t!

Resting a bit this afternoon, generally following a 2 days on, 1 day off lifting schedule.

**tidalwave** · September 1st, 2009, 09:13 PM

Another evening workout. Quick and direct.

Deadlift: 12 x 225 lbs, 10 x 245 lbs, 6 x 275, 2 x 315 lbs, 2 x 315 lbs, 2 x 315 lbs.
Wide Grip Pull-ups: 12, 12, 10, 10
Hammer Row Machine: 3 sets x 8 reps x 90 lbs (each side)
EZ-Bar Curls: 15 x 45 lbs, 12 x 50 lbs, 10 x 65 lbs, 8 x 75 lbs.

DEALER · September 2nd, 2009, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Another evening workout. Quick and direct.

Deadlift: 12 x 225 lbs, 10 x 245 lbs, 6 x 275, 2 x 315 lbs, 2 x 315 lbs, 2 x 315 lbs.
Wide Grip Pull-ups: 12, 12, 10, 10
Hammer Row Machine: 3 sets x 8 reps x 90 lbs (each side)
EZ-Bar Curls: 15 x 45 lbs, 12 x 50 lbs, 10 x 65 lbs, 8 x 75 lbs.

No need to do much else after that many deadlifts. Good job.