Nearly three weeks with Team Ruthless

Duncan Bayne's picture
Submitted by Duncan Bayne on Sun, 2008-02-03 00:25.

I'm nearing the end of my third week with Team Ruthless. Things are progressing nicely, despite a few injures on my part (I cut my foot on a carpet edge strip, and received a cricket ball to the wrist in the nets).

Positives: I'm now a lot fitter & stronger than I was. I've moved up to using 11kg (25lb) dumbbells for one-arm swings and power snatches, and am finding body-weight squats and press-ups a lot easier. Probably as a result of the two-arm dumbbell swings I'm finding my lower back is a lot more robust than it was. One of the reasons I work out is to prevent lower back weakness, and that's just plain vanished since starting these workouts. I'm also benefiting from dietary advice - although I'm having difficulty sticking to it 100% (it's damn hard to find low-complex-carb meals at the staff cafe where I'm contracting, for instance) I'm feeling a lot better for it. Also, the workouts are quite brief - 45 minutes tops, usually closer to 30. This is good, because anything more simply wouldn't fit in my schedule.

Negatives: Really the only negative is the 'distance-learning' aspect of the training, because I'm in Australia and Dino in the USA. Mostly this works out well - Dino will keep in touch by email and send me videos, or links to videos, of Team Ruthless instructors performing particular exercises. The only issue has been availability; it can take a while (sometimes a couple of days) to get a reply back. This has only been an issue as a result of my injuries; normally that kind of turn-around wouldn't present a problem.

So, I'm very happy with the way things are going, and due to the rapidly visible benefits I'm looking forwards to my next set of sessions. It'll be interesting to see if I remember how to use a skipping rope ...


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*laugh* You are undoubtedly

Aaron's picture
Submitted by Aaron on Fri, 2008-02-08 05:29.

*laugh* You are undoubtedly in better shape starting out on this than I am now. I get cardio exhausted after 30-35 walking lunges or 10-15 burpees, and would need significant catch-breath times to repeat them for 30 minutes.

I've done two-handed dumbbell swings (sub for kettlebell swings that Crossfit likes) a few times - some sets of 25 at 30# and now up to 35#, mixed in between various other exercises. I've not done single arm dumbbell swings before - is it between legs or off to a side? Today was the first day I've ever done dumbbell snatches. Neat, though even at only 10-12# to get the form I had a rough time with it balancing something on one arm above my head Smiling.


Improving rapidly but not there yet

Duncan Bayne's picture
Submitted by Duncan Bayne on Wed, 2008-02-06 23:38.

Thanks - although I'm seeing rapid improvement, I'm not quite at that level yet Smiling. At the moment I'm scaling weight; reps not unless I fail outright.

Last night my workout was to do as many front lunges (onto a step, so nastier than a standard front lunge) and burpees in 30 minutes. I did 450 & 45 in three sets of 150 & 15.

The night before that it was one-arm dumbell swings (great for abdominal & lower back strength) and dumbell power snatches, using 11kg (25lb) dumbells. Still mighty hard for a desk-jockey I should add Smiling I failed after around 65 swings and 35 snatches.

(I should also note that the burpees last night were without a jump at the end as I'm nursing a cut on the bottom of my left foot; likewise the step lunges were a substitute for a skipping rope which I can't do either, due to the cut).

Good to hear you're enjoying CrossFit. You're right that they sound very similar - even down to the availability of online video indicating correct form. As regards the core strength & flexibility, I've noticed that's improving faster than my outright strength. My wife was away for a fortnight & when she came home we got to rough-housing; she tried to push me off-balance, stopped with a puzzled look on her face, & commented that I really was seeing some improvement Smiling

 

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After being intrigued by

Aaron's picture
Submitted by Aaron on Wed, 2008-02-06 21:55.

After being intrigued by your description of what they are doing, I checked them out. Workout-of-the-day is:

50 Clean and Jerks (95lbs/155lbs)
100 Shins to the Bar
100 Roman Chair Sit Ups

Holy shit, Duncan! That's a killer workout. Do/how much do you have to scale weight or reps?

I'm now about six months on CrossFit. The philosophy of Team Ruthless must be very similar - compound motions, body weight exercises, including some oddities such as Olympic lifts, jump rope and bell swings, all at high intensity. I'm still only a CrossFit 'puppy' with regards to having to scale down the workouts, but I love the variety, the available videos and forums, and it's been more effective than the traditional 3-days-a-week 3-sets-of-x-reps weights I did for about 2 years prior. I can actually do a couple pullups now (hadn't since freshman year of college Smiling ) and recently got flexible enough to do overhead squats (I've found I'm often flexibility, balance or cardio limited).

Anyway, I'm glad the program is going so well for you. I'm interested in hearing more on your progress and will definitely check out more on Team Ruthless.


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