Workout

3 x 5 Back squat @ 65, 75, 77.5 kg
3 x 12 Bench step-ups e.s. @ 40 kg (2x 20 kg DBs)
3 x 3 Pistols (no weight)
2 x 5 Turkish get-ups @ 20 kg DB
3 x 12 Side bends e.s. @ 20 kg DB

Notes

There’s a pleasant kind of fatigue that goes along with all this and there’s basically zero mental overhead to the program, which is exactly what I need right now.

Food

• 3 eggs in butter … w extra butter and a carrot
• Handful of almonds
• Cappuccino (double)
• 4 squares of 85% chocolate
• Grilled chicken & veggie salad w avocado & pesto + peach (PWO)
• Coconut milk, carrot
• Double ristretto macchiato
• 4 squares of 85% chocolate
• Quite a few JellyBelly jelly beans :\
• 1.5 pork chops w carrots, silverbeet, butter and olive oil
• Hot cocoa w cream

So, with the race behind me I’ve decided to finally spend some time addressing the shortcomings in my strength foundation… properly this time. I’m going to spend at least 12-16 weeks on a variation of the Westside Barbellprogram, primarily for the same reason Red is on Starting Strength: because it works, but also because Brother Pete has had some good progress on it so I have access to his experience tweaking the program for a very similar set of genes. ;)

Beyond that, the plan is to spend the winter focussed on athletic strength with the Coach Rut’s ME Black Box template. With the aim being to come out the other side capable of doing most of the CrossFit benchmark workouts as prescribed at semi-respectable times (i.e. no 10 minute plus PR Frans ;).

Food will be standard low-carb paleo fare because it’s friggin’ easy and simple and I feel and recover great on it. No GOMAD, no massive overfeeding, and we’ll see how it goes.

This is a fix I’ve been meaning to make for a long time now and the 10 week dedication (ha!) to cycling pre-Otway has given me enough of a break from the CF cycle to be able to come to strength work with the patience it requires.

Given that I won’t be doing a lot of racing over the winter time I’ll just cross my fingers and wing bike-fitness on the back of GPP. The other thing I forgot to mention though is that I won’t be doing the “standard” bodybuilder thing of actively avoiding oxidative pathway work. If the opportunity to ride – long or short – comes up, I’ll take it.

3 x 5 Bench press @ 30, 35, 35 kg
3 x 8 DB flies @ 10 kg

3 x 12 DB rows @ 15 kg
SS/w
3 x 12 Triceps cable pull-downs @ 88 (somethings)

50 CF sit-ups

Notes

Wow. Bench, tri pull-downs and flies. This is a different world. Weight on the bench sounded modest but felt right. I think I’ve done bench press maybe … three times in my life. Should be interesting to see progress on this one.

Food

• 3 eggs in butter, 1 carrot
• Strong latté
• 1 cottage cheese & raspberry muffin
• 4 squares 85% dark chocolate
• Tuna & veggie salad + coconut milk
• Sardines
• Lasagne with a few chips, asparagus, corn and carrot @ Alex & Kaz’s
• Tea x 2
• Hot cocoa w cream

3 x 5 Deadlift @ 70, 80, 90 kg
3 x 12 Knees to elbows
3 x 12 Good mornings @ 20 kg BB

20 KB chops e.s. @ 16 kg KB
1:00 Plank

Food

• 3 eggs in butter w olive oil
• Coffee
• 6 home-made sausage rolls (thanks Fee & Claire :)
• Short macchiato
• Rack of lamb w veggies & butter
• 4 tsp coconut cream
• Stewed apple (no sugar) w cream
• Hot coco w cream

5 Presses @ 30 kg
5 Presses @ 35 kg
5 Presses @ 40 kg

3 x 3 Ring pull-ups (strict)
3 x 3 Ring dips (strict)

Notes

Oh boy:  I. Am. Weak.

Gotta start somewhere!

Food

• 3 eggs in butter w olive oil
• 1 apple, 1 fig, spoonful of almond butter
• Tea
• Cappuccino (double)
• 1.5 slices fruit toast, 1/2 of Claire’s froggy biscuit, 1/2 of Fee’s lemon slice
• Salmon w veggie salad, olive oil, almond butter
• 1 fig
• Beef rissoles w big salad
• Tea
• Hot cocoa, sardines, 3 spoonfuls of coconut cream

Ouch.

Food

• 3 eggs in butter w olive oil
• 1 apple
• ~100g of liquorice bullets (oops!)
• Cappuccino (double)
• Big handful of almonds
• Big chicken and veggie salad w avocado and pesto
• Cappuccino (double)
• Assorted Thai + chicken & coconut milk soup (no rice, no roti)
• Tea

This is one of Pete’s sadistic concoctions from our CFSB experiment.

Row 250m
21 push-ups
21 OH lunge e.s. @ 25kg

Row 250m
15 push-ups
15 OH lunge e.s. @ 25kg

Row 1,000m
9 push-ups
9 OH lunge e.s. @ 25kg

Time: 0:15:30.7
Better than last time! (by 6 sec)

Food

• 3 eggs in butter w olive oil, 3 figs (shared with Claire)
• Cappuccino (double)
• Big handful of almonds
• Big chicken salad w avocado & pesto (PWO)
• Many little squares of dark (60-70%) chocolate
• Cappuccino (double)
• Ginger ANZAC biscuit
• 1/3 of Claire’s coconut icy pole
• Two tins of sardines, two big tsp. peanut butter, two big tsp. almond butter, 1 carrot, left over lamb, the bad ham from the fridge. Top fuel!

Food

• Tuna w carrot, broccoli & olive oil (late brekkie)
• Cappuccino (double)
• Big chicken & veggie salad w avocado & pesto
• 3-4 dark chocolate liquorice balls
• 3 JellyBelly jelly beans
• Ristretto macchiato (double)
• 3 squares dark chocolate (60-70%)
• Big handful of almonds
• T-bone steak w big salad & olive oil
• Almond butter

• Egg (3) and almond butter pancakes w cinnamon & butter
• Cappuccino (double)
• Lambs fry w veggies, butter & nutmeg
• Big handful of almonds
• Cappuccino (double)
• 3 JellBelly jellybeans, 1 dark chocolate liquorice ball
• Mixed Thai incl. coconut milk soup. No roti, no rice

Hoping to begin to get back to training again this week. Most of the racing I thought I would do this year is over or out of the question. For the kind of riding I want to enjoy, GPP will do. With the big bike goal behind me, it’s time to start moving toward some strength goals.

As yet I’m undecided on methodology. MEBB is appealing on the grounds that I’m loathe to lose general work capacity and find CF so much fun. I’ll hit up Brother Pete for some advice in this regard, as he’s made some stellar gains in this domain recently.

Food

• 2.5 eggs in butter, 1 carrot
• Coffee
• Lambs fry w fig & carrot
• Coffee
• Almonds
• Curried sausages with veggies
• Tea
• A few almonds
• Hot cocoa