Yeah for sure. I got a little worried cause after googling my only symptom it's 99% pulls and hernias.

Happy with the diagnosis indeed.

Back at it.

Monday 07/04

8rounds
8 overhead db lunge @35lbs
8 db snatch @35lbs
8 burpees
then
4x500m assault bike w 1min rest in between

Tuesday 08/04

3rounds
15 chest to bar (I did strict banded, purple)
20 weighted hollow rocks (5lbs)
then 3 rounds
9 snatches @95lbs
20cal row

Timecap was 24min, finished in 22.

Tuesday 08/05

front squat 5x3x225lbs with 2min rest between sets

80m run
2 wallballs
80m run
4 wallballs
80m run
6 wallballs
80m run
8 wallballs
(etc until 60 wallballs total combined)

Pretty happy I hit 2 plates for 5x3 FS without training strength, and without oly shoes or belt.

Crossfit all week, didn't log. Will log again from next week.

Good things keep happening to me with CrossFit.

Still losing fat
More fit than ever
Abs start appearing
Shoulder getting more stable
Dips again for first time in years, completely pain free
Did my first handstand pushups (!) ever, both kipping and strict

The Good Life



Next to tackle is (proper) toes to bar and muscle ups.

Happy to have a great coach who knows how to safely progress my movements considering the bad shoulder history. Don't think it would've gone as smoothly in any of the other boxes I've ever trained at. This is crucial, especially with something as herpyderpy as CrossFit.

The kool aid has been drunk

STRENGTH & FATNESS IS DEAD! LONG LIVE HEALTH & FITNESS!

Thought I was doing well on kipping/muscleup/t2b progressions but woke up with a ****ed up left shoulder tendon. Lateral arm raise comes with a deep sharp pain. Way too much volume with bad mechanics last week. Back to basics!

More
- hanging therapy
- strengthening shoulder girdle
- core work
- technique practice

Two references for myself:
Shoulder Pain With Kipping Pull-Ups
The Position for Your Gymnastics Mission

Do you need to be doing any kipping?

Can you shoot for a relatively non-kipping muscle up?

I could avoid those kind of things entirely but I just want to fix it and be able to do it properly. It's a bit of a challenge, but I'm sure it's doable. Just requires me putting in the work.

Nobody needs to be doing any kipping. But like in any activity, there are going to be some movements that you need to become good at to progress in that activity, even if it seems weird/unsafe/whatever. With correct form and building volume appropriately, kipping is as safe as anything.

I hope your shoulder gets better soon, syndrom!

I kind of get that, it just seems like kipping is just not worth it.

Any sort of pulling exercise that you do is probably more effective for strength building if you do it without kipping. So all you're doing is adding injury risk, while making the exercise less effective on a per rep basis. Why would you want to do that?

I guess if synbro is going to start competing that's another matter, and then I'd say it's a necessary evil. It's not clear to me that's his goal, but if it is, then I guess I understand.

I think you're thinking too much in terms of it's either 100% kipping or 100% strict. In our gym, we usually have a skill/strength/weightlifting part followed by a metcon. If pullups are in the first part, it is always strict and sometimes weighted. If they are in the metcon, they are sometimes strict and sometimes kipping. Overall I think our gym has probably 80% strict and 20% kipping, which seems fine.

Also, kipping lets you do more reps. So say 30 reps kipping vs 10 reps strict - which builds more strength? Probably strict, but who knows, it may be close.

It's not just about competing - not doing kipping means you can't do classes RX and compare yourself to gymbros. You also can't do the open, which is pretty fun.

If strength is the primary goal then of course I agree kipping would be dumb and totally unnecessary. But I'm not training for strength, I'm doing CrossFit. I could skip it entirely and just do some assisted pull-ups or ring rows, but that's no fun. My training is not just a means to an end here, I'm actually enjoying it and I enjoy getting better at it, and I don't see how you can be "good at CrossFit" if you can't even do something as basic as proper kipping pull-ups. Momentum and efficiency is everything in WODs.

Imo the fact that I injured my shoulder is not so much a sign that kipping is bad, but more a sign that I have underlying issues in my posture and strength imbalances that I have to spend far more attention on. I've already come a long way throughout the years, but I'm not quite there yet. Yes kipping comes with a risk factor, but it's something I'm willing to work with.

Well I guess bolded is reason enough. I guess that is along the lines of "competing" even if it not a formal meet. If you like kipping, then kip away I guess.

On the list of things that I think are stupid about crossfit (which isn't much, I actually think that crossfit is great...it just has a few suboptimal features), kipping isn't the worst. My assumption was that you were more far more focused on strength than you are at being good at crossfit. But I guess I'm so used to Syndrom the lifter, that I didn't truly appreciate the change in your focus.

If you had elbow tendinitis and took time off from skull crushers, it wouldn't mean skull crushers have no value or that you could never again do them. Rather, it would simply mean that you'd be better off doing something else while recovering. Maybe that's where you are on kipping pull-ups?

Also, switching to standard pull-ups could help you bring up muscles that aren't getting hit as hard while kipping, making you stronger and more injury-resistant at the kipping variety down the road.

Looking at your latest picture, with your build you should be able to do a decent number of regular pull-ups, given some regular training focus on them. This could be some good low hanging fruit (it's always good to find stuff that's hard to do). If you have to start off with assisted pull-ups, that's just fine IMO. In fact, if even a standard pull-up is uncomfortable with your shoulder injury, going through the range of motion with assistance could be beneficial in itself.

Good luck with it.

I'm pretty sure Syndrom can do strict pullups just fine. He just wants to kip so he can do better on these timed crossfit workouts where non-kipping pullups will not allow you to do as many or do them as quickly.

Thanks. I understand that (at least to a degree...I'm no Crossfit expert). But, he mentioned assisted pull-ups, so I don't know if there isn't something else going on.

Unless he is hampered by that injury, I wasn't suggesting he can't do very many. Rather, I was thinking more like he can do ~15-20 strict ones but wants to get ~30 done fast (going by the picture and his other training -- the comment about assisted pull-ups notwithstanding).

Regular pullups are one thing, but doing multiple sets of high volume pullups with zero rest in the middle of a HIIT type workout is another. That's why crossfitters (need to) kip or do an alternative.

It's always misleading to see a WOD written out on a whiteboard with the number of sets and reps. You see "10 pullups" and think "oh easy I can do that", but always underestimate how exhausted you are by the time you have to do them. Heart rate through the roof, no breath, muscles burning, etc. But at the same time you're fighting the clock, so you can't just stand around and wait till you're good for it. So you either have to break things up in smaller parts, or find easier ways to do them.

Yea I've done a little bit of everything by now lol. Right now just in a phase where I'm enjoying whatever the box throws at me, go home and forget about it. Definitely not strong right now relative to where I've been in the past.

Okay...that makes sense.

Getting a little bored with CrossFit, thinking of splitting up my week in half strength half WODs.

I got a crazy good tip from the coach today about my push press, I should lean back way more at the start (which feels excessive but in fact makes me more straight). Power transfer into the bar felt better than ever. Weird I didn't figure this out myself throughout the years.

Started Nuckols' "Average 2 Savage" program, starting out with 2 strength days a week for now. Let's see how it goes.

A2S Week 1


Started out with extremely conservative maxes, especially for squat since I want to re-learn the movement without a bounce.

First session misjudged pretty much everything. I could've probably done 15+ sets if I really wanted to and I was doing 2.5-3min rest in between. Next week should be better with a decent weight bump and I'll try 2min rest.

Also it was only once I started the workout that I realized the auxiliary exercises are also supposed to be done the same way. It's gonna be challenging keeping all that under 2hrs including warmup.

Have you looked at the RIR or RtF versions if you want to keep the number of sets constant?

I have but I like trying it as is first. That's also the most different from everything I've tried before, and I like trying new things. Plus the added volume probably helps considering I'm only doing 2x a week.

I think I'm doing it wrong. With the standard A2S template, am I supposed to go to failure on the last sets?



This line made me think so, but re-reading it now it seems it's actually saying I can occasionally do so if I wish to check my accuracy.

So that means on the standard version I am simply doing sets until I reach 3RIR and quit - correct?