Performance: 5/3/1 “5 Week”
65%x5, 75%x5, 85×5+
Never done a 5/3/1 progression before? Click here for the details
Fitness: 2×10
Linear Progression
Start light with adding weight each week in mind, around 80% of your best 3×5 from last cycle.
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LBBSQ e1/6
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For Time:
30 Wall Ball Shots, 20/10, 14/9
30 Double Unders
20 Wall Ball Shots
40 Double Unders
10 Wall Ball Shots
50 Double Unders
There is a 10 Minute cap on this workout
Post time and Rx to comments.
60 of these today!
LFPBC, Scale Weight, and Impatience
By Chris Fox
I wanted to share an email I received from one of the LFPBC participants, as I’m pretty sure a few of you may be in a similar boat. (Note – The name is removed, and the person has given permission to use the exchange in this here)
“Week one of this challenge I was down 6lbs, week 2, down 2 lbs, week 3 up 1lb, on Weds I was back down 1lb. In 4 weeks I’m down 8lbs total – I’ve stayed entirely clean and strict; no sugar, dairy, gluten or alcohol. I’ve tacked rowing work onto the end of gym sessions to try to build some endurance and stamina – but my weight is hovering around XXX lbs. Your “thriving not surviving” comment resonated. I could just not eat for 3-4 days and that might reduce the lbs – but that doesn’t seem like a particularly rigorous or sustainable approach.
Any tips or hints or am I just heavy boned! (My waist has gone down nearly 2 inches – but weight hasn’t followed)
Thanks for your time,
XXXX”
I won’t post the entire exchange but here are a few of my thoughts on this type of situation
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This is amazing progress! Averaging a loss of 2 lbs a week is pretty fantastic, in my opinion. If this person continued in this fashion they would net a loss of over 50 lbs in a year. 50 lbs!
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The path of weight loss and body recomposition is never nice and linear. Similarly to the gains you make in the squat, some weeks you move ahead by leaps and some weeks you feel like the warm ups are crushing you.
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Adding in extra “cardio” can be helpful, but it can also be harmful. If you add extra stress to an already calorie depleted metabolism your body will do it’s best to conserve energy and you may have a harder time burning fat. A more helpful approach might be to add in some low stress extra activity on off days from the gym. Something like an easy long walk, or a quick tabata burpee workout can keep your metabolism up without much stress.
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This last part is based on a previous exchange with the above individual, but be sure to keep your protein intake consistent. Aim for no less than .8 grams per lb of lean body mass, ideally from real foods. Upward of 2 grams is common, however, your body cannot process huge amounts at a time. In other words, a huge prime rib, although satisfying on many levels, may not be fully absorbed by your body. This depends on how large a frame you have, your activity level, what else you have with the meal, and some other factors. Mark’s Daily Apple has a good write up about it here, and Precision Nutrition has another here. All of the research seems to suggest that spreading out your protein intake among multiple meals is the best way to go. Start with 20-30 grams at breakfast and go from there.
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Lastly, pay attention to markers other than a scale when measuring progress. Weighing yourself regularly can be a great way to monitor success in either losing fat, gaining muscle, or in maintaining. For some people it can make them neurotic. I’ve personally noticed weight fluctuations of 5 lbs from one day top the next. This is due to factors like carb/salt binges, resultant fluid retention, and simple volume of food consumed. Weight may go up or down a few pounds every week or so but over the long haul other markers like photos, girth measurements, and the fit of your clothing can provide great feedback as well.
CFSBK Community Potluck and LFPB Awards Ceremony on 2/22
Don’t forget that we’ll be hosting a second Gym potluck on Saturday, February 22nd where we’ll be announcing the winners of the challenge as well as talk about how to transition out of the challenge. This event is open to the entire community, even folks who didn’t do the challenge. We’ll also have our Farmers from Herondale and Sol Flower farm there to introducce themselves and answer any questions about the CSAs we host. If you’d like to come, please RSVP in the event page!
The green hat in the L & F pics is Mike's, I'll pick it up on Thursday before strength cycle.
I'm pretty sure I saw my tattered old black leather glove. I keep forgetting to get it when I'm in the gym but will remember tomorrow.
12pm class yesterday. Fun small group doing today's workout and cool new standardized warm ups!
LBBS –153 x 8
WB/DU — 6:21. The last set of 50 DUs took about 2 minutes. Ugh. Tripped up a bunch, foot cramps set in, …waa waa
MU work — Trying to clean up each component. Skipped the dips tho because my triceps were feeling fried. Thanks McDowell and Arturo for your help.
AHEM…
I realize that I'm competing with a Super Mario Kart tournament but I'm hoping some of you might be interested in drinking and trivia instead. I'm hosting Smart in DUMBO trivia night again on Sunday, and Charlie is tending bar. For those who were there the first time — I've made the questions considerably easier lately! You should come.
WHAT: Smart in DUMBO trivia night
WHERE: 68 Jay St Bar, DUMBO
WHEN: Sunday, February 9 at 7 PM
$: Free to play!
PRIZES: First-place team wins a free round of drinks. Second place wins half off a round. Best wrong answer of the night gets one free drink.
last night's 6:30pm group class:
performance WU#1: snatches/oh squat felt okay on shoulder, t2b didn't feel awesome, so just did two sets.
LBBS:
45×5, 95×5
work: 110×5, 125×5, 142×9 … left one in the tank, started to lose tension at bottom, overextension.
WOD as rx'ed (14#, 9')
5:50
I had a good 8-10 sec walk between my wb station and du space, which were a decent distance apart. So… I could say that my time was actually a good 40 sec faster than that… but I may have chosen to rest during that time anyway 🙂
WB: 17-13, 10-10, 10
DU: 26-4, 40, 38-12 (or something close to that)
*Key for doubles was keeping my hands lower than elbows. This was a pointer from Josh a few wks back when i started to fail with the short green speed rope, which is just long enough for me. Focusing only on this helped streamline the whole movement.
This morning's WOD: NFT shovel the slush/snow/ice in front of the gym!
7am with McD and Ro
LBBSq fitness: 45×5, 95×4, 135×2, 150x10x2 We ran out of time and didnt rest more than a minute in between sets. Still it didnt feel heavy, I went with 80% from my last 3×5, which is almost the same as my 70% x1RM
WOD, RXed but couldnt link DUs, so subbed it to 100SU on last round, and dropped the 20# ball to the 9' marker. I noticed that I push the ball with my right arm more than my left, which strains my right shoulder a lot. Will work on this.
Finished with 15 minutes of much needed AR and some Kipping swings.
Most dangerous bike ride in, most disgusting bike ride back. Ew.
6am private w/ Josh. Worked a 3 position snatch complex: high hang, mid hang, 1" off the floor. Hit 69kg. Pull was much better than last week, but I was catching it a bit soft on some reps. First time snatching with straps. Definitely helped with grip fatigue. Dropped down to 55kg for 5min EMOM of the same complex. Felt good until the last set when I missed the mid hang and low hang reps. Fatigued. Then alternated between snatch balance sets and a 3-position segmented snatch-width deadlift. The segmented deadlift is starting to feel slightly more natural.
6am class with the usual gang.
My walk to the gym this morning was pretty dicey, but a good warmup (think lots of leaping between puddles, cars, and pedestrians).
185# for low-bar back squat, 4:49 for the WOD at Rx.
Today was my first time doing low-bar back squat as we never focused on it in my old gym in Seattle. It was interesting. 🙂 I went way lower than my high-bar weight and focused on form. Thanks to MD and Dan G. for the tips, by the end of the workout I was feeling way better. Still feels weird when it rolls over your bones and shoulder blades. I'm looking forward to training this for the 5/3/1 this quarter.
The WOD was a lot of fun, I love little chippers like that. Was able to do the 30 WB's unbroken, then did 10 and 10 for the 20, then 10 for the last one. Unbroken double-unders through 30, then did 25 and 15 for 40. The 50 was a bit of a mess; 20, 8, then 10 and change. My legs were like rubber. 🙂
Great class as usual. Great working out next to Issac and Dan. Nice job everyone!
8am. Fitness at about 70% of the 120# 1RM last week. 45×5, 75×5, 85x10x2.
Both my partner and I felt like it wasn't easy but probably could have went for 90#. Figure it's a good jump off weight for the cycle. I have no idea what my actual time was for today's wod – since I don't have double unders, I used the all the time at the end on failed attempts. But with some help from Arturo afterwords, I got my first 2 double unders. Then they went away as quickly as they came, tons more practice needed. Wall balls were 12# / 9': 15/15, 15/5, 8/2.
6am. Fitness @ 115x10x2. The 10 rep action is interesting. I'm looking forward to doing it some more. The WOD was…what it was. 16# on the wall balls and my double unders were all a series of attempts in which I just gave myself 1.5 mins on each of the first two rounds. I ultimately went the full 10 mins with the last three or so minutes being DU attempts. Somewhere in all of that nincompoopery, I managed to string 4 DUs together, so I at least know my lack of coordination isn't terminal.
6am with the usual gang. The walk to and from the gym was terrible!
Back Squat felt good. I did 12 at 215# and felt I had a little more in the tank. It was the first time doing squats with weightlifting shoes.
I did the WOD in 5:56. It is both helpful and a little disheartening having Michael do the WOD next to you. It is makes you move fast(er) but you still feel slow!
10am with Jeremy.
Warm-up 2- I did not finish this so will have to time it better next time. Anyone else have this problem?
LBBS- Fitness
45 x 5, 95 x 5, 125 x 5, 140 x 10 x 2.
Wow! That was interesting and completely different to what I expected. It was hard to control my breathing but other than that it all felt pretty solid. But really, it was like a completely new experience! I have a renewed admiration for all you performance people who do rep-outs on a regular basis.
CRASH-Bs
I was kind of not in the right mental headspace to attack 'Hell' (which had been the plan) after all those squats so I went for one of the 'easier' workouts.
Skipped the warm-up as I was clearly already there.
4 x 1000m with 5 mins rest.
This was the one I quit halfway through a few weeks ago. Good to get it done. Disparate times though.
1. 4.04.9 2.02.4/500M 25SPM
2. 4.03.3 2.01.6/500M 26SPM
3. 4.04.1 2.02.0/500M 26SPM
4. 3.59.6 1.59.8/500M 33SPM
Perhaps I was too cautious for the first few since I was able to speed up for the last one.
Noon class with McDowell and josh…
Partnered up with David today. The lbbs went well if not light. Ripped out 10 at 190 felt I could have done 3 more for certain. The WOD was a different story. Started getting pins and needles feeling in my fingers and hands mostly my right side every time I caught the ball. David O. Suggested shoulder/overhead mobility crushing nerves/blood flow. It's certainly a recent thing. Threw me off some. The performance 1 warmup also didn't help my shoulders much. Picked the wrong rope twice while doing this as well caused some hiccups.
RX done in 6:47
Read the email post. Wanted to chime in…
A long time ago I use to train mostly brides trying to get in shape for their big day. Weight was always their factor on their mind. Never shape and it's such a bad way to think. First of all muscle weights more than fat. So to compare weight loss vs body composition is really where one should be thinking. If you fit in a size 8 and now you are in a 5 but you weigh the same you should be over the moon with results. If you look in a mirror and nothing is spilling out of clothes but you only lost say 6 pounds again amazing.
Weight is not a means to identify health on a micro scale and that's what we are talking here. Same reason BMI doesn't work unless you get put into a hydrostatic tank and measured. Go by how you feel, how clothes fit and how you look. See definition where there wasn't any? Then you are doing awesome.
If you are feeling that you need to do more because you are losing endurance vs strength that's one thing but if it's just to lose weight remember it's not healthy to try and tear off 10 pounds in two weeks every week if you don't really have 10 pounds to lose. At some point your body fat composition will get to a percentage it should not go below.
Good luck, you are all in the home stretch!
12pm class:
HBBS:
(45×5, 95×5, 135×4, 175×3)
195x5x2, 195×10
-10# jump from last week and it definitely felt much heavier. A couple reps in the rep out were a little disorganized…either falling forward onto my toes or trying to Low-bar squat it.
-Great partnering with Lisa and always nice to have McD watching me and guiding me through my repout.
WOD:
4:42 rx'd.
-all wallball unbroken. it was really hard to push for that 30 round unbroken but now I know I can do it.
-du's were all over the place. I've just been using one of the gym ropes but I've been tripping up so much lately in WODs that it might be time to fix my rope. DU's shouldn't be a problem for me. Took about a minute for that last set of 50.
Going to make sure to spend some AR time on a sore left shoulder tonight.
12pm class with McDowell & Josh
LBBS at 58# felt nice and easy. Haven't done these in a while so the warm up sets helped me organize myself.
WOD in 9mins. limiting factor was DU's as I can't do them…I end up spending to much time with my attempts or getting in singles. I need to make an effort to practice these on my own.
Noon class
LBBS – 195×5, 225×5, 255×10
Had some bodywork done yesterday and so I decided ahead of time to make this a set of 10. Felt weird to low bar. Knees felt a bit chippy afterwards.
WOD – 4:49. Really wanted to beat Jess but my gas wasn't there. WB unbroken (with a few extras for missing my target), doubles felt awful.
—
I saw Inka yesterday for some body work and it was great. I've been a fan of her massage work for some time now but she's really taken her knowledge up a step. As perfect as I like to think I am, she still uncovered a few postural faults I have and in addition to working the tissues involved, gave me a thorough explanation of what's going on. If you're not getting massage work at least semi-regularly then I recommend cutting a few lattes or cocktails out to make room in your budget for it.
Question for coaches.. Is this a real concern?
I know I have seen others do this when squatting and since we are starting it back up again…
http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/butt-wink
funny comments to what it's called I am sure will follow.
125# Strict Press.
reposting
Office work out
LBBS 45×5, 95×5, 125x2x10 This made my heart beat faster than squatting usually makes it beat, but felt like a good place to start. That makes me very afraid to think of the weeks to come.
T2B wanted to try kipping but strict moves well. I think it's going to take a high volume wod for me to figure that out. 10×5/30 sec rest . The last set went 8,2. Arms started swelling.
Ring dips/30 sec rest 4,3,3,3
I'm trying not to get sweaty before dinner so that's it for now. Wednesday's workout would've made me feel awful and would've given me many times to practice my outrageously bad wall ball. Next time.
4:30pm Class
Performance WU1
5/3/1 LBBSQ
165×5
185×5
210×20
I had to sit down for a minute after that 20 set. OOF.
WB/DU WOD as Rx'd
6:01
Lots of rests on the Wall Balls, minimal rest on the Doubles
I hate work outs that leave you no where to hide.
Fitness version of the WOD: 3 rounds + 8 pp at 6:30 last night
I felt sloppy linking the PP together, meaning I didn't link them together, and they got super tough in the third and last round. But aside from that, catching my breath was the deal breaker. I'm cutting back on coffee and haven't been as energetic as last week, so that might have something to do with it. Lovely being partnered with Ellie, who killed it with her usual grace.
AND THEN (DRUM ROLL) I TOOK PILATES WITH CAGE FOR THE FIRST TIME… and realized how whiny I can be. Wow. That shit was mighty tough. Kristin almost made me laugh enough to forget how much pain my core and ass and thighs were in. And when she told me I was doing something well or said, "GOOD, Kate!" I swear, it felt like getting a gold star for good behavior in kindergarten. She is an incredible teacher–not because she made me feel good about myself, but because she paid such close attention to everyone in the class and made an hour of productive torture whiz past.
5:30 class tonight
LBBS: 160×5 on the Wendler but I didn't have anything past that, so. One of the best things Kristin had us do last night was five air squats at the end of class, focusing on all the muscles we'd just used. I felt like I was biasing my right leg in coming up, and tried to remember what she taught us while squatting, but everything went kind of black.
WOD: 4:18 Rxed
Perhaps the only time I will beat Ms. Fox at anything (definitely went in with that as my goal), so I'm celebrating. Noah (jokingly?) told me before class that breaking up WB indicated a lack of mental fortitude. I'd like to dedicate this one to him, since I didn't break them up, and broke up the last two sets of DU in half. I feel like I have an unfair advantage since I was a Skip Elite champion in 4th grade.
6:30 class, partnered with Pierre and Ben for LBBS. 185×5, 205×5, 230×10. The rep-out felt pretty rough but definitely ended with a few reps left in me. Evidently I'm not holding the bar evenly, I guess I'll try Still Yet More Mobs and placing my hands farther apart.
6:38 on the WOD, rx. Pretty happy with that. I knew I was in for a rough time when Pierre started no-rep'ing my wall balls (how do you spell that?), but I'm glad he did. I was reduced to singles on the wall ball for whole the last set… DUs are much easier for me, definitely broken up but I managed to get into that calm state of jumping and breathing and swingin' easy a few times.
Snatch
220
242
253
266x1x5**
Went 3/5 with these. Missed attempts 2 and 5. Both good misses though, a bit out in front. Felt strong
Power Clean+2Jerks
264x(1+2)x5
HBBS
350x2x6
Planks W/45# plate : 1:00×4
Yesterday:
105 reps on the performance WOD. Things got real tough on the set of 30 push presses.
Today:
Wendler HBBS 1-week, based off 302.5:
175×5, 205×5, 230×19 — might have had the 20th in there.
WOD in 5:50. All WBs unbroken, DUs were the problem today.