Lynne Crossfit Benchmark

I took a shot at another Crossfit workout today: "Lynne". I'm starting to like these benchmark lifts for a quick GPP session after a lift. Hit upper body pretty hard today and wanted something that hit a similar end. If you don't know Isabel is essentially supersetting cleans with ring dips and performing sets of 21-15-9. The cleans wern't bad. Dips kicked my ass. Between my shoulder going foul today and already being worn out the dips weren't happening. So I tied a band to the rack and stuck my knee in there and did them with some assistance. I think my total time was somewhere around 9:30 but at the moment I really don't remember.

Two things I picked up from today is I need to get in some serious shoulder rehab work and possibly work on my dips if I'm going to keep doing this. My dips are worse than my pullups.

Isabel Rx

My buddy did this last week (vid shot on Friday) and gave the bright idea to try it myself. Had to do some research on it first so I am hoping this was all correct. Also shot this on my brand new JVC camcorder. So far I'm liking it.




If you kept count at all you may have noticed what I saw. Only 28 reps. No blood to the brain = poor math. Also, I had no idea my hips rose up that high each rep. Even my 'good' ones. Definitely something I'll need to address from now on.

Atlas Stone - example GPP (conditioning, fitness, or whatever)

Well my workout was a bust today. Planned on getting some heavy squat work in and mess around with the chains but got into the weight room later than planned and next thing I know im running out of time before the bus leaves for the High School District meet. Instead I had to improvise and this is about what I salvaged in a 30minute block.

Weighted box jumps 5x5

First 3 sets with 40lbs of chain on 32" box (gotta throw those in somehow, right?)

Next 2 sets were on 24" box with a 80# sandbag on my shoulders

Stone workout- 9 pickups on the 240# on single rep lifts (too much dust to reset and hit again

3 sets x 8 lifts @170# and then shoulder carry 110# for a 20yard lap

And that was about it really. Wanted to do some other things but just ran out of time. Forearms are good and tore up and the workout felt pretty good. Im starting to get the feel for the 240# and its coming up much easier as long as I can get my grip set. I think its time to invest in a heavier stone and some tacky. When my arms get dusty its almost impossible to get a grip on the 240.

British Circuit - Crossfit crack

This is my template for a brutal and almost infamous workout amongst my athletes that quite frankly will send chills down anyones spine to whom I mention it to - The British Circuit. A circuit involving higher rep sets using Olympic lifts mixed with squats and choices of supplement exercises to induce a severe system shock. Sounds fun right?

Well lets get some background first.

A few years ago (few meaning around 8 or more) I attended a clinic for track that happened to have a popular guy named Jud Logan speaking. If you dont know this man you probably havn't done your homework. The topic was off-season conditioning and strength training. The big one that struck out amongst some of his other ideas was, as the title mentions, The British Circuit. Now mind you this came out LOOOONNNGG before Crossfit was even thought in any public sense. In fact I think 10 years ago there were only a handful of 'boxes' floating around the country compared to the thousands now...but I digress.

As Jud went on to discuss the circuit and I scribbled it got me excited to try it out. Sounded simple enough;
-Clean
-Squat
-Snatch
-Squat
-Overhead
-Core (a REAL core exercise...not some lazy crunching shit)
6 reps each with about 2-3 minutes rest between sets and start with roughly 55% of max in each lift.

So here Im thinking '55%? Sure whatever.' So I went home and next day gave it a go....<blurp> goes what little substance I had in my stomach by round 2. WTF just happened?!?! Jud was not joking when he said he puked his first time out as well. Damn was I not expecting that. So like any sadistic coach I immediately implemented it into my athletes workouts. Only one incidence so far of yack attack is when a shot putter a few years back thought he was hot stuff and went with 65%. He made it to the second round of snatches before I saw him dump the bar and run into the locker room. Another thrower/hurdler went at it pretty hard and afterwards didnt say a word to me the rest of the day. Good times.

So, anyways, fast forwarding to the present I have been playing around with that method and got some pretty nice results as far as off-season conditioning. Now, mind you, this is NOT a strength development program. And its tough to manage with a large group but is an excellent tool for strength conditioning and work capacity. Or just GPP for short (General Physical Prep).

Above was the original template I got but below I am outlining my variations and modifications I have made since then. Really its just about playing around with different equipment and reps/sets to see what works best.

This is the basic template. Further down are actual workouts we've done currently or in the past.
Each set 6-10 res for 2-4 rounds. Normally 2-4 minutes rest between rounds with minimal rest between exercises. Minimum of 6 complex movements with 1-2 core exercises. Advisable to start with 50% and work up. Its much tougher to start too heavy and work down.

-Pull (clean, dead lift, swing, swiss bar or log clean, etc.)
-Squat (back, front, box, single, squat jump)
-Fast pull (snatch, db snatch, kb snatch, med ball throw, tire flip)
-Light Squat (front, bulgarian, lunge, split jump)
-Overhead (push press, jerk, kb variation, mb push throw)
-Complex core (landmines, good mornings, curl ups, dragon flag)

There is definitly a lot of variety that can be thrown together. So its not just limited to oly lifts either although that was the original idea presented to me. Either way below is some ideas you can use to start off or just throw in your own!

BC for strength endurance/power;
6 reps each. 3-4 minutes rest between rounds. 55% of max starting week 1. Add an additional 5-10% each week or even each round to increase strength. Can be done 1-2x's a week.Continue for 3-6 weeks.
- Power Clean (or deadlift)
- Back Squat
- Hang Snatch (or tire flip)
- Front Squat
- Push Press
- Good Mornings
- Curl ups x15reps

BC for volume/hypertrophy/work capacity/stomach purging;
8-10 reps. 2-3 minutes rest. 50-55%. Add weight when desired. 1-2x's a week. 3 weeks continuous.
- Hang Clean
- Back Squat
- Hang Snatch (or close grip snatch)
-Front Squat (kettlebells or heavy bags/ stones work too)
-Dumbbell Push Press
-Romanian Dead Lifts

BC for SPEED
8-12 reps. 4-5 minutes rest. Relatively light weights.
-Trap bar deadlift (or dumbbells)
-Squat Jumps
-Swings
- DB Snatch (split reps- if doing 10 then perform 5 each hand)
- Split jumps
- Glute ham raise or Glute Bridge
- Reverse Hyper or Back Extension

BC for STRONGMAN
These numbers are up to the lifter due to the variety of the lifts. Continuous circuit stays the same. This is designed more as a conditioning circuit and speed endurance. 
-Deadlift
-Squat
-Stone to Chest
-Drag
-Axle Press
-Yoke Walk
-Hold (Ive used two cannonball handles attached to kettlebells for this one. works well)

BC for the kool aid drinkers
(honestly I just drew this up as Im writing this blog so try at your own risk! how many times can you get through?)
8 reps each. Continuous for 10 minutes.
-Power Clean
-Squat
-Snatch
-Walking Lunge
-Push Press
-Deadlift

Im sure if a Crossfitter saw this they can apply it to their own training with some different variations. My experience with the 'cult' is pretty minimal and unfortunately only a handful I've talked to left a positive image the rest not so much.

Enjoy!