A little history:

I've done some variation of a split routine on and off through undergrad/law school, but have always been a captain upper body, almost always ignoring leg day. The very few times I did squat, I did them in the Smith Machine, and although I don't remember what my form looked like, I'm sure it was awful.

After law school, my first job was an absolute high stress grind, frequently working 12+ hour days on a regular basis. I ate like ****, was very inconsistent with my workouts, and ballooned up to 250 lbs.

About a year and a half ago, with a wedding approaching, I started cleaning up my diet, getting back to the gym, and running. In March 2012, I got down to 225 lbs., stagnated, and decided to start CF. I dropped another 20 lbs since then, have gotten a lot stronger (couldn't front squat 135 lbs last March), and now am hoping to continue to gain strength, albeit at a slower pace.

Stats:
I'm 29, 6'1, currently fluctuating between 200 - 210, guesstimate I'm somewhere between 15-17% bf. Got it tested with that impedance machine at a gym back in August, where a guy entered my stats and stuck an electric thing on my arm. Guy told me I was at 16%, although I was a couple lbs heavier back then and have no idea how accurate that machine is in any event.

1RMs:

HBBS -?? (LBBS is ~250 and only recently switched over to high bar, so I haven't tested yet and don't have any idea although I'd venture to guess it's anywhere between 225 - 240)
DL - 365
Strict Press - 130
Push Press - 165
Front Squat - 205
C&J - 170
Full Snatch - 155
OHS - 175

2013 Goals:

Drop 10-15 lbs of fat
300 lb HBBS
400 lb DL
200 lb C&J
185 lb snatch

Strength goals are going to be challenging as I am stuck with the programming at my gym, which is metcon-centric, with 5x5 type strength work sprinkled in maybe once every 4-5 days or so, and I only have access to open gym on Sundays and oly classes Saturdays. I don't want to switch to a globo-gym because I like having access to bumpers, platforms, and ropes for climbing, so it is what it is. Plus, the people are cool, the workouts are usually pretty fun, and group classes keep me much more motivated than if I were lifting on my own.

2/16: Oly work

High Bar Back Squat:

45x5
135x5
165x5
185x5
185x5
185x5
190x5

Hang Squat Snatch (from the thigh):

75x3
75x3
95x3
115x3
120x3
120x3
120x3

Snatch Grip DL: (these were weird, but were helpful in thinking about proper body positioning for the 1st and 2nd pull)

135x3
135x3
135x3
150x3
150x3

OHS: (was going to do these from the rack, but nobody else was using the rack, so I said screw it and just snatched the first rep each set)

125x3
125x3
135x3
135x3 (failed 3rd rep - bar was too far forward on the way up and I had to dump it)
135x3

2/17

2 shrug pulls from the hang into squat C&J:
135x3x1
155x3x1
165x2x1
175x2x1
185x2x1 (pr)
195xf - (20 lb squat clean pr but didn't even attempt jerk - it wasn't gonna happen)
190xf (legs were smoked--racked it at the bottom, but I wasn't going anywhere)

Front one and one quarter squats:

135x3
135x3
145x3
145x3
145x3
155x3
155x3

Press:
45x10
75x5
95x5
105x4
105x5 (last one was a real struggle. it took everything i had to get it up)
105x4

Pendlay Rows:

135x5
145x5
155x5
165x5
175x5
180x5
185x4
135x10

Conditioning:

5 rounds
2 curtis p's (w/ squat clean) @ #95
5 pull ups
Max effort double unders

got about 15ish dubs each round. Curtis P's were absolute murder. Legs are so sore from yesterday, the lunges killed even at the low weight. Funny that the heavy squat cleans felt great and the front squats, although tough, weren't too bad, but relatively light lunges were practically unbearable.

Great day overall though. 15 lb clean and jerk pr. 20 lb squat clean pr. 200 lb C&J should be well within reach this year.

Went to an art festival in the neighborhood today with the wife. They had one of those Blue Cross trailers with a fancy scale/bf calculator inside. Scale said I was 218, although considering I was wearing jeans, sneakers, watch, belt, wallet, etc., I'm going to deduct 5 lbs and say 213.

According to the print out it gave me after I stepped off the scale, a healthy BMI for me is between 143 and 188. 143 at 6'1...lol. I don't understand any conceivable scenario where a 6'1 male should weigh 143 pounds. Anyway, it said I had 18% bf, carrying 38.8 lbs of fat, so 179 lbs of LBM. My diet has been pretty piss poor since the start of 2013. I'd like to get down to 200 while maintaining as much LBM as possible. Time for me to re-focus my efforts and get my nutrition dialed in.

2/18: Was going to be a rest day after 2 days of high volume squatting, but felt like getting in a light workout.

Face Pulls - 3x15
Band Pull aparts
messing around with the ab wheel
3x5 pull ups

then

5 rounds of
500m row
ME High Plank Hold

got ~50 seconds each round on plank before everything gave out. 500m splits were right around 2 minutes each give or take a few seconds.

2/19

Warmup:
2 minutes on the rower
10 strict presses w/ the bar x2
10 push presses w/ the bar x2
20 walking lunges x2
(was supposed to do 3 rds of the presses with the bar/lunges, but decided to do shoulder dislocates and stretching instead as I already felt sufficiently warmed up)

10 mins to find 1RM strict press - 130 (5 lb pr) - got it up just barely. Got 135 up to eye level, but it wouldn't budge past the sticking point. Press is by far the most frustrating of all of my major lifts. I feel like I make basically no progress, and when I do, I get a whopping 5 lb pr. It's all the more emasculating when I see guys half my size press 185 like nothing.

20 min AMRAP:

10 push presses @ #95
200m run
30 butterfly situps
200m run

4 rounds + 10 pp and 200m run

Wasn't a big fan of this workout.

you should talk to your gym about doing more strength in the classes or letting you come in and doing more strength when you want to( most will be accommodating if youre not brand new at lifting) which your not.

To meet your goals, doing alot more strength will get you there alot faster. Met cons will make the strength goals take alot longer ( i agree tho that they are fun and I still do them way too often based on my goals which are similar to yours). In my experience, once you get strong(er), you can get your cardio good in a couple months (if/when you want to) while somewhat maintaining strength.

you've been doing crossfit for awhile so you've probably already done this but if not, you should stop kipping and stop doing sumo dead lift high pull imo.

check out mat lalonde for diet advice

I have been speaking with some of the coaches about incorporating more strength work. I hope it doesn't fall on deaf ears. I don't think I can go in and do my own thing because the gym is usually jam packed and I'm not sure how they'd feel about me setting up to do my own thing. There is sometimes an empty platform in the back though. Maybe I'll ask. They actually have another location across town where they have open gym from 6:30 am - 8:00 pm. It's just very inconvenient to trek all the way across town in Miami traffic to have access to a good gym, especially with the hours I already work.

One of the coaches actually posted this article today: http://www.tabatatimes.com/rick-scar...t-then-cardio/. I hope they practice what they preach and incorporate more strength/oly work. Something tells me it's unlikely though because they have more of an incentive to get people through the door and most of their clientele could care less about strength.

I never ever kip. All my pull ups are strict. I love my shoulders too much. Even when I do toes 2 bar or knees to elbow, I do them strict. It slows things down significantly and is much harder, but I'm more interested in maintaining shoulder health than getting a sweet Fran time. I don't do SDHP either. It is such a stupid movement. It has no place in any program. I really do not understand why it's programmed at all, especially in metcons where people are just going to be essentially upright rowing heavy loads in fatigued states.

I'll check out Mat Lalonde, thanks.

2/20:

Warmup:
400m run
then 2 rds of
5 burpees
15 air squats
40 singles or 20 dubs (opted for singles)

"Skill" Work:

3 rds of:
2 deadlifts
2 clean pulls
2 front squats
4 squat cleans

Apparently this was supposed to be with the bar or at a relatively light weight. I missed that part of the instruction and just put 135 on and did 2 rounds instead of 3, which is fine. I don't really see the sense in doing 3 rounds of this complex with just the bar unless you are unfamiliar with these movements.

Metcon:

was supposed to be 5 rounds of
Squat cleans: 10-8-6-4-2 descending ladder
5 wall walks
30 dubs

I already had my Do Wins on though and didn't feel like taking them off for the dubs. I also didn't feel like doing relatively heavy cleans (for me) in flat soled shoes. I didn't want to do wall walks either because my shoulders weren't feeling 100% after all those push presses yesterday, so I modified the WOD to something Oly shoe friendly minus the wall walks: 5 rds of squat cleans with same rep scheme @ 150# and a 200m row each round. 16:48. The squat cleans took me a little longer than they probably should have.

Missed the last few days because I caught a nasty cold at the end of last week. I ended up missing the 8 mile Spartan Race this Saturday too, which I was none too happy about because a) I wanted to race it; and b) it was expensive. Oh well, there's always next year.

2/23: One round of tabata squats at home.

2/25:

Warmup:
400m row
40 air squats
30 situps
20 pushups
10 pullups

then

2 rds of
10 35# DB rows
50 Russian twists w 35# DB
10 DB rows
50 leg raises

I saw a newbie who looked like he might have been 115 lbs soaking wet doing the most horrifying bent over rows I have ever seen. His back looked like a perfect horseshoe and I swear I think I heard his spine crying out "help me, help me." I contemplated saying something, but eventually the coach came over and did his best to correct his form.

I see some pretty awful form fairly regularly at my gym. When I see a quarter squat or some other partial ROM nonsense, I just ignore it. When I see somebody doing something legit dangerous like a camel back deadlift or a horrifying power clean, I always consider saying something even though it's not my place and not my job. I always think better of it though. It just makes me mad that we are all paying a lot of money for coaching and good instruction, and I see this kind of stuff all the time. But this is what happens when you have one coach for a 25+ person class . . .

Main workout:

25 wall balls/15 pull ups
20 wall balls/10 pull ups
15 wall balls/5 pull ups
20 wall balls/10 pull ups
25 wall balls/15 pull ups

Between each wall ball/pull up round, 20 seconds of max effort double unders.

I cut this one round short and finished in 16 minutes and change. I'm still not 100% over my cold and was dragging ass the whole workout, so I was fine with taking it relatively easy today.

i think people doing ******ed stuff like that is mostly a product of ****ty teaching in the beginner onramp, elements class or whatever its called, although some gym members are just ******ed and dont pay attention.

I definitely say stuff tho if I see some bad form; most people just want to improve and will appreciate the tips/avoiding injury.
that wallball workout looks horrible

I think it's a mix of a sub-par on-ramp program (the one at my gym is a 4 days - 1 hour a day and then you can join the regular classes) and not enough coaches for larger classes. Some coaches also simply don't care enough or are knowledgeable enough to correct form.

2/26

Dynamic warmup

EMOM for 12 minutes - 1 hang squat clean + 1 full squat clean

I wasn't given any instruction as to how heavy to go on this, so I decided to try it at ~85% of my 1RM - 165#. The last few minutes were real grinds, but didn't really come close to failing any.

then

3 rds
15 KBS @ 53#
10 box jump overs - 24' box
8 thrusters @ 95#

rest 3 minutes, then

15 hollow rocks
10 split squat jumps
3 wall walks

16 minutes and change with the 3 min. rest. Wall walks are the worst. So are thrusters.

2/28

dynamic warmup

Squats - was supposed to be 10x3 @ 85%

185x4x3
225x1 (thought I could get 3. I was wrong.)
205x2x3 (these were hard and my right hip flexor has been bugging me on and off the last few weeks. not quite sure what to do about this.)

The coach overseeing the class for some reason thought 10 sets of squats can be done in 12 minutes...this guy always does these long met-con like warmups and tries to rush the class through the strength work always sayings "let's go, let's go." ****ing ridiculous. And annoying.

Conditioning
12-9-6-3 power snatch (95#)/burpees
did it in just under 7 minutes. I liked this one.

3/1

30 V-Ups
30 leg raises
30 knees to elbow
1 min high plank
30 sec side plank
30 sec low plank
30 sec side plank

then

10 rds for time:
5 front squats (95# bar for all movements)
5 push presses
5 back squats
5 pushups
40 ft bear crawl

Lost track of rounds so just kept working for 16 minutes. Hip feels better today. Leg swings I think really help loosening them up and getting them warm much better than static stretching.

3/2

Back Squats - 5x5

135x5
165x5
185x5
190x5
195x5
200x5

Hang Clean (from mid-thigh) - was supposed to be 5x3 @ 70%, but just started doing singles after my second set

135x3
160x3
185x1
195x2x1
200x1 (pr)
205xf

after the second set, my coach told me to put more weight on the bar because it was looking easy, so I did, but at 185, I failed my second rep because I couldn't stand up with it. My limiting factor here is my rather pathetic squat. The pull and racking it are fine, I just need a much stronger squat. I know my cleans are pretty efficient considering the last time I tested my front squat, my 1RM was 205. I need to try and find a way to be squatting at least 3 to 4 times a week so my squat will become halfway respectable. Right now, it's just pitiful.

Halt Clean DL - 3x5

205x5
205x5
205x5

SLDL 1x5 @ 65% of squat, 2x5 @70% of squat

145x5
165x2x5 (standing on a 45 lb plate)

Edit: Weighed in today @ 208.

3/3

foam rolled and used the stick on my quads, hammies, glutes, and calves for a few minutes.
dynamic stretching, shoulder dislocates with PVC, and leg swings.

Snatch Balance -

45x5
95x3
125x1
145x2x1
155x2x1
165x2x1

Snatch -

warmed up with a few singles @ 115 from the hang

125x1
135x1
135x2
145x2x1 (missed 2 behind before I got these 2)
155x2x1
160x2x1 (pr) (I think I missed 1 before I nailed the next 2)
165x2x1 (pr) (missed 1 forward before I got these 2 up)
170x2xf - failed twice but both were very close, just couldn't lock out my catch at the bottom and had to dump it forward both times. I was also pretty smoked because at this point I was at it for ~45 minutes. I'm sure part of it is mental as well. I'm confident I'll be able to hit 170 within the next few weeks.

C&J

135x2x1
155x2x1
185xf

My shoulders were really bothering me on the jerk, so I just figured I'd give 185 a shot--not really sure what the logic was there. Anyway, I racked 185 at the bottom and got pinned. My legs just had enough. Called it quits for the C&J after that.

Pendlay rows

185x5x3

Press
45x10
100x5x5 (these were very very challenging, especially the last set, but that might have been because I was taking < 1 min breaks between sets)

~5ish minutes of double unders

Great day overall, 10 lb PR on the snatch. Couldn't be happier with my progress considering my 1RM on my snatch in the end of December was 135.

3/5

dynamic warmup and stretching

3 rds of 1 minute max effort of each of the following:

front squat @ 135 (from the floor)
hand release push ups
deadlifts @ 135
pull ups
double unders

1 minute rest between rounds

3 minutes rest after followed by 3 rds of 45 secs on/15 secs off: hollow rocks, weighted situps, and candlesticks for 9 minutes total.

was not very good of keeping track of my reps. I know my front squats were 11, 8, 6 each round. Beyond that, I'm not sure, but I think I had about 18-20 push ups each round, 15-20 deadlifts, 6-8 pull ups, and no idea on double unders. I wouldn't have thought 135 lb deadlifts would be so taxing. I could hardly catch my breath to do pull ups when that minute was up. The front squats also really took so much out of me that the push ups felt like a rest.

I came in today wanting to start a 6 week/3x a week Russian squat program, but decided to do this workout with the class instead. I'll do squats tomorrow.

3/6

Asked the coach if I could lift on the platform in the back as opposed to working out with the class and he was very cool about it--told me that when he's there I could do anything I want. Awesome.

HBBS -

45x10
135x5
185x8x2

Hang Clean -

135x1x3
155x1x3
185x4x1
195xf

Hang Snatch (mid-thigh)

warmed up with a bunch of snatches from the floor with 95

115x3x1
125x3x1
135x3x1
140x3x1
145x3x1

Weighed in at 205.8 today.

A 5 pound PR is a press is massive.

Wall balls confirmed pretty terrible. Did Fran in like 11:30 because I can't do a ****ing pullup and spent like half the time fumbling around doing a more strict pullup with a heavy band. I saw a competition once where they were doing 4 rounds of 10 rep thrusters at 65 pounds. From the sidelines I was like, **** that's easy lol. .... yeah no LOL confirmed worst movement ever. Also super painful for my wrists.

nice!! which squat program you going to do?

If you're having any wrist pain with a thruster, press, clean, or snatch, I'd definitely recommend investing in a pair of wrist wraps. I jacked up my wrist pretty bad last year on a power clean when I was first starting out and it took forever to heal. I've worn wrist wraps ever since.

Every time I've done Fran, there has been a 10 min. cap on it. I've only tried it twice, but didn't finish either time. Doing 45 strict pull ups is hard, especially for a 200+ lb man who isn't very strong.

It's a Russian squat program I stumbled upon on exrx.net where you just plug in your 1RM and it generates all your numbers for you. I put my 1RM at a conservative 230, so we'll see how it goes.

I didn't do any significant amount of research finding this so I don't know if this is the best one to be doing, but it appears to be an ok program. It's basically different set/rep schemes working at 80% for the first 3 weeks, 3x a week. The last 3 weeks look a lot harder. I just wanted to have some sort of template to follow and make sure I'm squatting at least 3x a week and this seems decent enough. Hopefully I see my squat numbers go up after this. Have you run any squat programs that you've had particularly good results with?

i have elite fts wrist wraps that i bought for benching. when they are tightly wrapped they are cast like and after about 90 seconds i go numb. if i wrap them a bit looser they work for longer periods of time but it's a little awkward because they are long.

i just started doing this one; http://www.catalystathletics.com/wor...php?cycleID=28
its going pretty good so far. the squats are relatively light but feel really heavy because they are always the last thing after deadlifts and oly stuff. its going to get tough at the end

I remember looking into the elitefts wraps, but I seem to recall reading they were too long, especially for oly lifting. I have two different pairs of 18 inch Rogue wraps. I use them for every barbell movement other than rows or deads and both are excellent, although I like the white series ones more.

that looks like decent amount of volume. Pretty weird that an oly cycle is programming kipping pull ups for conditioning though, although I'm sure you're doing your own conditioning with other met-cons at your gym, and I already know how you feel about kipping pull ups anyway. Still weird to see them here.