Journey Towards Elite Israeli Army Fitness

[Ilya Gurman]

Well Me and my friend have started doing crossfit for about a few weeks already (I started a bit earlier, about a month ago).

He'll post his details in this post later..

I'm 18 years old , about 1.78 meters high (5.8'), and about 75 Kilograms weight (165 lbs).

My goal is making it into the Elite units of the israeli Army, Got a 6 days pre-army camp coming up in about 2 and a half months, from which they take the best people to the very best units of the army, I've been doing all kinds of sports my entire life, mostly jogging, playing basketball, football, a bit of swimming now and then, and spent around 7 -8 months in a pre-army course training program .

Decided to keep track of my workouts to see my own progress.

going to start posting new workout comments starting of today's workout, but here's a quick summery of some of my Wod's until this date.

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- Did "Running with Angie" as my first CF workout, was a mistake probably, pullups murdered me. my time was terrible, can't remember exactly, more than 40 minutes.

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-Continued with a few NavySeal/Main crossfit wods that included some Deadlifts, KB swings, all kinds of shoulder presses, squats etc, to get my forms going, can't remmember exact workouts or times, I'll try to remember some.

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- I do remember doing 'Michael' in 20:01.


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- Did 'Frelen' (NavySeals upgraded 'Fran') which took me about 30 mins I think, but I actually don't remember very well.

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30.07.08
NavySeals Functional Tabata

Squats
Push ups
Pull ups
Overhead Press (45lbs)
Deadlift (65lbs)

was a REALLY tough workout, Happy I was able to finish it.. the last sets of each of the exercises were torture.
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-31.7.08
Some random WOD in the morning

that days evening did 6.7km run 29:00.

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01.08.08

did NavySeals Wod:

Run 400 meters

21 - 15 - 9

Thrusters (65lbs)
Pull ups

Run 1 mile

21 - 15 - 9

Kettlebell Swings (50lbs)
Box Jumps

Run 400 meters

Not sure I remember exact time but If i'm not mistaken 36:45 as rx'd.


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02.08.08
Rest.. A bit of medium intensity biking for two hours in the morning.
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-3.8.08 did crossfit's wod
Row 1000 meters
85 pound Thruster, 21 reps
15 Pull-ups

Row 750 meters
85 pound Thruster, 18 reps
12 Pull-ups

Row 500 meters
85 pound Thruster, 15 reps
9 Pull-ups

times wern't timed perfectly but anyway-

first round in about 8.5 minutes, second 7, third 6 and a bit.

followed by Seals Deck of cards :
Hearts = Burpees
Clubs = Squat jumps
Diamonds = Diamond push ups
Spades = Mountain Climbers (4 count exercise)
Jokers = 400 meter run

(done only half a deck cuz shared with a friend)

That day evening did 3+km interval run at medium intensity, felt good.


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- yesterday did :
Max rounds in 20 minutes of:

10 Kettlebell Swings (50lbs)
5 Burpees
5 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (65lbs)

13 or 14 rounds.
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And today+ coming up in comments.

[Ilya Gurman]

Today 05.08.08

Took my first shot at the crossfit total

Shoulder Press - 60 kilos (132 lbs), 70 kilos (154 lbs) - Failure, 65 kilos (143 lbs) - success but with a bit of a push.

Back Squat - 65 kilos (143 lbs), 80 kilos (176 lbs), 90 kilos (200 lbs).
-probably could make it with a higher weight as well, but exceeded the 3 reps limit so, i'll leave it to the next CFT.

DeadLift - 90 kilos (200 lbs), 110 kilos (242 lbs), 130 kilos (286 lbs), went for a 4th rep with 140 kilos (310 lbs) but felt I was arching my back in a bad form so I gave up on it.

CFT = 143 + 200 +286 = 629
Overall, pleased, hoping to improve.

A run expected in the evening as well..

[Ilya Gurman]

Noted progress so far, A month after starting:

- improved my pull ups ability from like 3-5 straight pull ups to 15+ (improved strength + proper form - half0kipping)
- Thrusters / Push presses / presses all weights increased in about 5 kilos, doing everything as rx'd right now
- Breathing and recovering from fast paced exercises is much better and more controlled.
- much improvement in interval training, especially running intervals, able to recover from sprints much faster and feeling good about my explosiveness in the opening sprint .
-speed improved slightly also, dropped a second off my 100 meter sprint.
- long-distance runs are about the same, working on it.

[Asaf Ben Natan]

hi i am 18 years old 1.84 meters (6.03 feet) and i am training CF for about 2 and a half weeks, my goal is to get into better shape for the israeli army paratrooper's reconnaissance unit. i have done alot of sports in the recent 5-6 years including basketball gym and about 7-8 months ago i have joined a pre-army course which improved my athletic ability drastically.
i will start following my CF Wods from now on, i'll try to write the Wods i have done allready.
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30.07.08
NavySeals Functional Tabata

Squats
Push ups
Pull ups
Overhead Press (45lbs)
Deadlift (65lbs)

this was really really tough one



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01.08.08

did NavySeals Wod:

Run 400 meters

21 - 15 - 9

Thrusters (65lbs)
Pull ups

Run 1 mile

21 - 15 - 9

Kettlebell Swings (50lbs)
Box Jumps

Run 400 meters

time : 50 min - a very bad time .....

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-3.8.08 did crossfit's wod
Row 1000 meters
85 pound Thruster, 21 reps
15 Pull-ups

Row 750 meters
85 pound Thruster, 18 reps
12 Pull-ups

Row 500 meters
85 pound Thruster, 15 reps
9 Pull-ups

times wern't timed perfectly but anyway-

first round in about 10 minutes, second 7:30, third 6 and a bit.

followed by Seals Deck of cards :
Hearts = Burpees
Clubs = Squat jumps
Diamonds = Diamond push ups
Spades = Mountain Climbers (4 count exercise)
Jokers = 400 meter run

(done only half a deck cuz shared with a friend)

That day evening did 3+km interval run at medium intensity, was kinda hard but i'v managed.

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yesterday:
Max rounds in 20 minutes of:

10 Kettlebell Swings (50lbs)
5 Burpees
5 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (65lbs)

12 rounds.

And today+ coming up in comments.

[Asaf Ben Natan]

Today 05.08.08

this is my first crossfit total so it might be little bad:

Shoulder Press - 60 kilos (132 lbs), 70 kilos (154 lbs) - Failure, 65 kilos (143 lbs) - success but with a bit of a push.

Back Squat - 65 kilos (143 lbs)- success, 80 kilos (176 lbs)- success, 90 kilos (200 lbs)- failure.


DeadLift - 90 kilos (200 lbs), 110 kilos (242 lbs), 130 kilos (286 lbs), went for a 4th rep with 140 kilos (310 lbs) but it was too much + my back was arching so i gave up on it

CFT = 143 + 176 +286 = 605
i did good for my first CFT but i wish i could have done it a little bit better.

evening run:
6.7 KM(4.163187 Miles) at 36:37, had a ruff time during the run -back problems + and food coming up so i had to stop to stretch it out (stopped the clock in while), was 4 min less then previous time but i am disappointed about stopping even though it was unusual problem hoping to do less then 35:00 next time

[Asaf Ben Natan]

06.08.2008:

2 rounds of:

50 Thrusters (65lbs)
50 Pull ups
Run 1 mile

time: 42:11 min

[Ilya Gurman]

06.08.2008:

2 rounds of:

50 Thrusters (65lbs)
50 Pull ups
Run 1 mile

33:49

[Asaf Ben Natan]

8.8.08:

5 Rounds for time of:

10 Dumbbell Snatch (30lbs each arm)
20 Pull ups
30 Sit ups
Run 800 meters (1/2 mile)

Time:41:30

[Ilya Gurman]

07.08.08

at night 15 mins of interval run


8.8.08:

5 Rounds for time of:

10 Dumbbell Snatch (30lbs each arm)
20 Pull ups
30 Sit ups
Run 800 meters (1/2 mile)

39:58

[Ilya Gurman]

09.09.08

15K +- of Tough surface and hill biking