Strength Training with Blonyx – Month 2 Update

Update!!!…. I can now lift cars over my head. Actually any vehicle that would typically have an engine, see picture below.

I most recently finished month two of my Wendler strength training program that is coinciding with the use of Blonyx’s HMB+. To catch you up on things, the three lifts that I have been performing are the squat, press and deadlift. Rather than add the typical auxiliary work that is to be expected with the program, I have used my box’s regularly scheduled programming. I have found that the movements being programed typically hit all my needs. If there is a shortage of exercises (or they are in excess) of what I require, I have made alterations to the programmed WOD.

Month 2:

Just as I noticed in the first month https://fitforfire.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/strength-training-with-blonyx-1-month-update/, all of the reps of final working sets in month two have gone up. Keeping in mind that month two is at a higher weight than month one and also more than the first Wendler cycle I did back in Nov-Jan, results are encouraging. I have added additional strength training once a week that mimics some of the three foundational movements I have been performing without compromising my ability to perform the main movements. A typical week has had me perform the squat, press and deadlift while also incorporating push press/jerks, front/overhead squats and snatch. Volume per week has also been sporadic at best as I typically perform all prescribed workouts at my box that may have movements that mimic that are in my own training.

Blonyx Benefits:

If I was to give only one piece of feedback about using Blonyx thus far, it would pertain to my perceived ability to do more work with less recovery. To give you a better idea of what I am working with, here is a bit of an explanation….

A typical schedule for me runs in eight day increments based off of my four on, four off schedule. Here is what a week could look like whilst taking out all committments/obligations and variables like extra shifts, injuries, ect.

– 10hr shift days: I will typically do one of the foundational lifts programmed with Wendler, mobility and auxiliary gynmastic work.

– 14hr night shift days: I typically sleep in on these days to prepare for the shift. Workouts in the afternoon for 2-3hrs will consist of strength training and the regularly programmed WOD.

– Days off: First day off has me follow roughly the same routine as night shift days as I recoup sleep from night shifts. The other three days I will add another workout in. For these three days it would not be uncommon to see a strength training workout, prescribed WOD and then a gymnastic/bodyweight based workout or a skills workout (varying intensities depending on rx’s WOD)

The reasoning behind the schedule explanation is that I wanted to show what volume of work I am performing. This schedule has been pretty typical since January. What I have found since supplementing with Blonyx is my body’s ability to perform at or near its highest level (not “a high level”, just my own personal level…mediocre and loving it!) on a more regular basis. I can go from a strength training session of push presses, into a WOD with OHS or a ground to overhead movement and then into a skills based workout like handstand walks without feeling debilitated the next day….most of the time. I have truly noticed better recovery results since starting to use the product, which has coincided with an increase in training volume. Had I continued with my four WODs a week programming from last year, with little supplemental work, I do not think I would have challenged/stressed myself enough to notice the difference that supplementation makes. My only rule of thumb is to listen to my body and scale up or down accordingly.

Final Thoughts:

One of the biggest reminders that I will throw out there is that I do all of this training for me. In other words, I am not trying to be a supremely awesome Crossfit athlete on course to make Regionals or the Games. I was drawn to this style of working out because it best suits my needs as a firefighter. What I am trying to do, which is not very measurable until I am in the latter half of my career, is prepare my body for doing the same work at the same level of efficiency up until the day I retire (and remain fit into my retirement because we are prone to dieing young). If I become “good at Crossfit” as a result, so be it. Crossfit was initially designed for protective services members as a way to train “functionally.” So I suppose that my “Crossfit Games” is a 30 year competition whereby finishing 1st means that I retired in great health, staved off cancer, do not suffer from congestive heart failure and I am able to keep up to my kids (who have better moved out by then!)

 

Thanks for reading the update, retests go in July.

 

 

 

 

2014 Crossfit Games-Regionals: A Judge’s Perspective

A congratulations are in order for all that competed in this years Crossfit Games- Regionals. For the individuals, it takes a truly special, dedicated athlete to even make it that far.  If you failed to reach your own personal goals, know that making it to Regionals is a huge step in your development. Look back on it with pride and satisfaction as the thousands who watched you over three days marveled at your athleticism and determination. For the Teams, congratulations on putting together a group of like minded and determined athletes who came together to realize their goals of competing at the next level. Some of you may not be “Individual” athletes but a team is the sum of its parts and you were a key cog in getting five other people to the next stage in the Crossfit Games. We all work through WODs together at our local boxes and you folks continued that teamwork and camaraderie on the biggest stage your region has to offer. For the winners, there is work to do. You are now a Crossfit Games Athlete.

As a judge I was able to get up close to the action, interact with other volunteers, athletes, Games support staff and even Dave Castro himself. We get the privilege of going onto the floor before, during and after the events, something that spectators do not. This allows us to see the inter workings and ultimately be part of the experience that only athletes get a taste of. So with that privilege comes great responsibility (kinda like Spiderman….get it?). As judges we are partially, but nowhere near fully responsible for which athletes make it to the Games, which athletes make their own personal goals and which athletes fall short. We judge and enforce the movement standards, we keep teams and athletes in their order and make sure they follow the parameters set by HQ for the competition. We watch for the false starts, the parallel vs. full depth, the full hip and knee extension and the two foot on the mat finish to assist in determining who is going to California. So with that said, should we be doing all of this? and better yet, should volunteers being doing this?

The Judge:

Perhaps we should start at the qualification stage of becoming a Judge. In 2013 you were initially required to have completed the Crossfit Level 1 Trainer Course and then the Online Judges course. Due to a lack of volunteers in our region, the CF-L1 requirement was dropped. I volunteered both last year and this year and because I met both requirements I never looked to see if a CF-L1 was required in 2014. It is entirely possible that someone with a CF-L1 cert and someone who has completed the online judges course is still not properly prepared to judge at such a high level with so much on the line.

The next step would be the experience factor. Let’s say that you have your CF-L1, completed the Judges Course and are part of an affiliate where you attend 3-5 times a week for the last three years. Is this enough experience to make you a great (not kinda Ok, or slightly acceptable, this is friggen Regionals we are talking about) Judge? How are your own movement standards? Have you ever coached someone? When was the last time you applied what you learned in the CF-L1 course to an athlete other than yourself? Maybe Crossfit is your first and only sport and you have never had any sort of education in human kinetics and no athletic background. If not, welcome to the largest faction of Crossfit “athletes.” This lack of experience does not make you a bad person, nor does it make you a bad athlete, but it is entirely possible that it makes you a not so great (remember, we are going for great, not just ok) Judge.

Lets focus on personality….are you an asshole? Good! You are well on your way to becoming a better judge! During the Open did you judge your fellow competitors at your box? How many “NO-REP!!” did you yell out? Or were you one of those athletes who gave that quizzical look to your fellow gym mate when they didn’t reach full extension? You know the look. The slight wince, the shoulders move up closer to the ears, maybe a quick glance around to see if anyone is going to call your no-rep, and then back on counting as if nothing happened? Maybe you say to yourself “oh it doesn’t matter, so-and-so is not going to the games so I’ll just give him/her one” well now so-and-so is going around the gym all ecstatic about their spot on the Leaderboard, or about their new PR that never actually happened. That is not fair to them. So if you couldn’t no rep someone at your box who is certainly not going to Regionals, how in the hell are you going to muster up the courage to no-rep the scary-as-fuck looking Lucas Parker when he is two points away from sealing the deal to California? He is looking for that same little look in your eye and before you can even contemplate reconsidering a no-rep he just busted out the remaining 205# overhead squats like its a de-load week. Too bad, so sad, too friggen late.

So the good thing about all of this….it is not your fault. It is not your fault that you suck as a judge, its HQ’s. They “prepared” you by maybe requiring you to take the CF-L1 course, and had you go online for 60min of judging. They set the parameters of what they require out of you. You as a judge are a volunteer, you are not compensated, not a professional, a volunteer. Their “Head Judges” did their very best to ensure that you were upholding the standards of what is expected but those gentlemen and ladies are compensated and have at some point achieved a higher level of training than you. They are also few and far between. Those “Head Judges” have two of three on the floor to watch upwards of fifty athletes at a time. The expectations of you are absurd given your lack of experience, education, competitive level, personality, ect. because you are just a volunteer. They may not even know that this is your first time ever judging anyone at any Crossfit event and your coming out party just happens to be the most important days of competition in many of the athletes lives.

An aside:

Hey athlete who argued the no-rep on the squat, the ring dip, the burpee, ect., suck it! You are supposed to be a Regionals level athlete. We both went to the athletes meeting where the movement standards were displayed and explained. You had the opportunity to ask any question that came to mind and every chance for you to not get a “NO REP!!” was given. It is not your judge’s (who is volunteering by the way) responsibility to make sure you get to full depth (which was explained earlier does not equal parallel). If it is anyone’s fault, it is your own for not videotaping you own movements during training, and perhaps some piss poor coaching. Oh you say that the judge in the other lane was giving the other athlete the rep? Well we have established that there is a very real possibility that judge may suck. Lucky for you, a full depth squat and a parallel squat takes roughly the same amount of time, but you just wasted it. As they say in boxing, don’t leave it in the hands of the judges. I would love to just sit back, watch you destroy the workout and set an event record. That means we are both done, I can get up off my sore knee a bit sooner, grab a bite to eat and get ready for the next event or maybe even go watch one from the stands. But when you decided to half-ass the movement and then waste time complaining, well you just ruined both of our experiences.

Conclusion:

I wanted to bring up the issue of using volunteer judges because it has been a hot button issue during all the Regional events. In my own region I saw some one get a good rep while using their face and then top of their head to achieve an overhead squat. I saw tons of muscle-ups without full extension and I saw one athlete complete an exorbitant amount of ring dips where they started each single from the dip position rather than lockout-dip-lockout. There were bad rope climbs, strict handstand push-ups, ect ect. This year we even saw an event record in Australia (Team) set by a team who’s judges failed to facilitate the proper flow of the workout by not holding athletes back at each station until the teammates in front of them were completed. It was such an egregious error and yet the result remained unchanged. In a “professional” sport where athletes have to pay for their invites and judges have to volunteer, a lot of much needed changes exist.

 

Strength Program with Blonyx

The time has come to get serious about strength…..

Now that the Open is but a distance memory, a faint silhouette as I drive away from it while flipping the bird, I enter the first strength training phase of 2014. The good people of Blonyx have asked me to write a review of their HMB+ Creatine product as it pertains to my performance during the three month phase. I will be following the Wendler 5/3/1 program through the duration of the three months as I feel it is the most appropriate program for me and I have yet to reach a plateau that require a larger amount of volume and specialization that you may find with other programs (ie. Russian Squat Program, Smolov). I will be supplementing with this product during the phase, taking the recommended daily dose during training days and one serving on off days.

So what is Creatine? As defined on Examine.com (I seriously recommend this site):

Creatine monohydrate is a molecule, produced in the body, but also found in foods, mostly meat, eggs and fish.

Creatine confers a variety of health benefits, including neuroprotective and cardioprotective properties. It also improves power output and is often used by athletes to increase high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass.

Creatine’s main action in the body is storing high-energy phosphate groups in the form of phosphocreatine. During periods of stress, phosphocreatine releases energy to aid cellular function. This is what causes strength increases after creatine supplementation, but this action can also aid the brain, bones, muscles and liver. Most of the benefits of creatine are provided through this mechanism.

Now lets get some info on HMB:

HMB (short for β-Hydroxy β-Methylbutyrate) is a metabolite of the amino acid Leucine that, along with KIC (α keto-isocaproate) and isovaleryl-CoA, mediate the effects of leucine. Approximately 5% of dietary leucine is oxidized into HMB, and HMB appears to be the main metabolite of leucine that more effectively prevents the breakdown of muscle protein.

When compared to leucine, HMB appears to be significantly more potent on a gram per gram basis at attenuating the rate of muscle protein breakdown but is less effective than leucine at inducing muscle protein synthesis. Due to this, HMB is marketed as an anti-catabolic agent (purposed to reduce the rate of muscle breakdown) rather than an anabolic agent (purposed to increase muscle mass).

Human trials don’t normally tend to be structured to properly assess the effects of HMB, as most of the studies are a standard diet paired with an exercise regimen investigating the role of HMB in promoting muscle protein synthesis (of which it is similar to leucine in the sense that there are positive results, but quite unreliably so); the limited evidence that assesses HMB during periods of muscle loss are either underpowered or not in athletes.

HMB, currently, appears to be a pretty interesting supplement for the purpose of reducing muscle wasting during periods where muscle atrophy is accelerated (cachexia, AIDS, bedrest) and should theoretically work in athletes on a calorie restricted diet but is not fully established for this role yet (which is a notable issue, since Glutamine has a large dichotomy between clinical and healthy populations).

This is not a scientific journal, this is a blog so I will limit the amount of info that I include. It you want to know more, go to http://examine.com/supplements/HMB/ and read on. I will also include a International Society of Sports Nutrition Journal review which is a great (yes….also sciency and boring) read on HMB. ISSN position stand on HMB supplementation

Here is the label on the product for more information, any further info about the product itself can be found by clicking the banner pictures.

.

So how are we going to know if this product actually works? Good question if I do say so myself!

I set my baseline 1 rep max for three different exercises. By following the Wendler 5/3/1 formula, taking Blonyx, giving feed back on a weekly basis and then comparing monthly results, we may be able to see a direct correlation between supplementation and strength training. I will also not be abandoning my metabolic conditioning programming as set by my coaches at the Crossfit affiliate I workout at. Nor will I avoid training the same body part twice in one day (unless the rep scheme/load are too similar). If this product is going to help with muscle repair, limit or reduce DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and assist in muscle growth, lets test it in the athletic parameters that challenge my body and the product.

So here are the numbers I am working with….

Squat: 265lbs

Press: 135lbs

Deadlift: 405lbs

Standing at a svelte 6’1″, 180lbs I clearly need to work on strength. Did you notice the number beside the word “squat”? That is sadly not a typo. A year ago, coinciding with starting Crossfit, I was introduced to this crazy ass thing called a “full depth squat.” What is this new fangled squat I speak of? Well apparently your hip crease needs to go below the knee on  the eccentric (lowering) portion of the squat prior to standing back up to full extension. I used to destroy the seated leg press in the community centre, and do not even get me started on my prowess of the half depth squat (ie. real way to squat!). Now that olympic lifting has glorified squatting to full depth and Crossfit ridiculously makes people squat to hip-crease-below-the-knee to properly gauge a good rep vs. NO REP!! I have had to adapt. One year ago I found it difficult to full depth squat 135lbs for reps. This was not a flexibility issue, it was a strength issue. I have come a long way but now I have only reached a realistic base from which to work. This is the reason why strength training is going to be essential in my development as a healthier, stronger and more well rounded athlete, firefighter, human being.

*For the not so obvious Crossfit fanatics foaming at the mouth in anger (who are we kidding, they probably just glossed over this blog, read that part, moved on and now link it to their Facebook crying about “the haters”)…..I am totally kidding about the ridiculousness of full depth squatting. I was an ill informed moron who was not squatting properly during my early years of “training.” Thankfully with the help of excellent trainers I have begun to build strength, flexibility, ROM where previously I had ignored.

If you have any questions, feel free to message me. Thank you for following along!

 

2014 Crossfit Open & its meaning to me

The Crossfit Games Open has come and gone, for many it will be the end of their competition season and others, the beginning. What it meant to you and what you experienced during the last five weeks is unique to you in its own right but at the same time representative of the inclusive the rest of Crossfit’s community enjoyed. Benchmarks of fitness were laid out for some, goals to strive for. Others used this Open to find weaknesses and start the long road of addressing said issues for next year. Some athletes took the culmination of their year long training to reach personal competitve benchmarks, while others used the annual Open competition to refresh themselves for Regionals. For all involved, the Open represented a test of fitness. Where we are now, where we are going and where we want to be.

In 2013 I finished 649th in the Canada West region amongst males. I was lucky in that this was essentially my first month of Crossfit, I was able to go in blind and set a benchmark for where my fitness was in relation to Crossfit’s parameters. I started off my training as most others do, by attending a couple classes a week without fully investing myself financially in the “unlimited membership” option that we see commonly offerered at boxes all over North America. The time commitment remained another issue, did I want to spend 1-1\2 – 2 hrs at the gym each day? These new and dynamic movements would see me taking my mobility, stretching, warm up and cool down to a whole new level to avoid the dreaded Crossfit overuse injuries we have heard so many newbies complain about. Did I want to make Crossfit my sport or was I going to use it simply as a way to add variety to my regular training schedule?

I entered my first local competition a few months after the finality of the Open. My inexpierence and level of fitness dictated that I would sign up in the Rx or “Open” category while leaving the “Firebreather” rank to those who were more seasoned, stronger and fitter then I. This competition is what changed my approach to Crossfit and would see me take my training to a different level. So what was that eureka moment? The moment that I realized I wanted to try my hand at Crossfit the sport and not Crossfit the hobby?

I lost…

That’s not to say that I finished last, but simply that I did not win. In common Crossfit scoring practice, my score represented my finish in each of 4 or 5 events (can’t remember), totaled up. The lowest score would determine where you would place and if you would compete in the final four of an all or nothing WOD. I was first and not by one or two points either. I had a pretty decent point gap between myself and the other three competitors going into the make or break WOD. Things got even better because for every point difference you had between your next competitor, you would get a 3 second lead. In total I believe I had 15-20ish second head start on the 2nd place competitor and a slightly farther lead on the other two. I maintained and even slightly extended my lead through 3 rounds of the 4 round WOD…..and then disaster. Call it inexperience, call it lack of technique or lack of strength but on the final two reps of a squat clean, I failed. I continued to fail, catching the squat and bottoming out each time. My lead vanished after multiple failed attempts until one wise onlooker said “clean it, then squat it!”, and there it was, two power cleans and squats successively. I got into my own mind, tunnel visioned and was unable to think for myself. What hurt about this loss was that the end result, winning or losing, was my fault. Although I was ultimately beat by my fellow competitors, it was my shortsightedness that kept me from winning. I vowed that I would never beat myself again and hand a victory to someone.

A few months following this competition I entered another in the same ” Open” division format. I finished fourth again but this time I earned that position instead of settling for it. It was a longer day of competition, with higher level of competitors, a larger field of participants and more varying in WOD selection. I went into the final WOD in 5th place and a one minute penalty (same head start arrangement), finished 4th and narrowly missed 3rd. I truly lost this competition but won 4th place and it stilly remains my favorite competition I have ever done.

So back to the change in training perspective. What this all meant was that it took me about 5 months after the conclusion of the Open to determine that I was going to train regularly for the sport of Crossfit. I am under no illusions that I will be making it to the games in California, simply not going to happen. What I am going to do is try as hard as I can over the next two years and make it to Regionals as an individual (Team would also be an honor but that is a sum of all parts and not indicitive of overall fitness of an individual, a lot of regional team athletes do not belong at Regionals). Will it happen? I have no idea but if I will never know if I do not try and if it doesn’t happen I will most certainly be in the best shape of my life.

To conclude this post, I set a goal of finishing in the top 300 after 7 months of regularly scheduled training and to lend insight into how much more I need to meet my goal in two years time. I also strengthened a very odd and awesome support network of people at my Crossfit affiliate. I have made friends who are like minded but maybe from different walks of life. I have been exposed to awesome conversations, stories, thoughts and opinions from people I may have never met without trying this whole Crossfit thing. If you do not know what I am talking about, let me explain. Take your favorite people who work at your current gym, mix them in with some of the parents you meet at your kids sports team practices, throw in a few down to earth police/fire fighters/military, mix in some stay at home moms, students, grandparents, teachers, office workers, mild mannered construction workers and former athletes. Now take this odd, yet inspiringly wonderful group of people with varying goals, fitness levels and abilities, create a team of people who workout with, against and for eachother. What you get is a weird ass support group/community that will change your life and make you want to workout every single day just because it feels right.

 

What did this Open mean to you?