Busy week

I have not had a moment to wipe my ass this week..

Quick update.

Monday
Box Squats 5x5
I hit 185, 205, 225, 245 and 265 with success..
Box may have been a tad too high, but this felt good to push through regardless..

WOD - Vortex
10 Rounds, 2 burpees shy of 11..

This was mental, I should have gotten 11.. just checked out like an asshat.. Mad at myself on that one.


Tuesday
Max Vert 26".. up an inch from last time I did this.. 25" before.. progress?
Max Broad Jump 100".. This is right around where I typically land.. didn't feel as springy today on these.. I think my all time best is like 104, but that is pretty much where I top out on these..

WOD- Shrinkage
262 reps (144 and then 118)

This was horrible. I had an idea of how this might be and it was 50 times worse. The shoulder burn was crazy and my push ups just went to hell on round 2. I tried to fight through but I just did not have a whole lot left. My stomach was also on fire from holding tight for all the squats.. damn.. awesome workout, still sore 2 days later.

Wednesday - Rest. Need to make up Diane sometime this week, but I felt like trash today, just totally exhausted physically.

Weekend

After a much needed rest on Thursday

I came in Friday with the intention of doing something.. My hips were all tightened up from whatever I was doing this week so I opted out of doing 45 thrusters and replaced them with something else..

I ended up going with the following

5 Rounds for time:

3 Tire Flips

5 Kegs to Overhead (75#)

10 Plate Burpees 35#

10 Box Jumps 24"

Time 12:53? ( I think?)

I am not sure which was worse wind-wise.. 45 thrusters or 15 flips and 25 kegs to overhead.. but damn was that fun..

Plate burpees always suck, glad to get those overwith in 10s..

I LOVED the kegs from ground to overhead, it was almost like an off-balance power snatch-ish movement.. I liked it a lot.. really tough to control and needed a lot of focus every time..

Saturday

Partner WOD

3 Laps

Tire sled drag (with air squat penalty for switch)

OH Barbell carry (with burpee penalty for switch)

Buddy carry (with Mountain climber penalty for switch)

This was a half hour of grit grinding awfulness..

The sled drag had my quads and calves burning before we finished even a half of a lap..

The OH barbell carry was probably 90% mental but once your shoudlers went, your core went, and you needed to drop.. The burpees sucked a lot of time on these, I went at a deliberate pace.

The buddy carry was sort of fun but a little annoying because Jack and I were so tired and sweaty/slippery we could not fucking hang on to one another on our backs so we needed to switch to the less optimal piggy back at about half way because just flat out could not hold on..

I loved this workout in a masochistic way, it was a great "outside my comfort zone" day..

Resting tomorrow. NEED IT after that massacre.

Tuesday - Wednesday

Quick little recap.. Awesome day/night WOD combination..

Tuesday
1000m Row Time trial - 3:19.. PR.. Previous was 3:21.. Pleased with this.. I think I could have pushed the middle 500m a little bit but in general I don't know how much better I can really do on this..
I swear to god rowing without straps before workouts as a warm up every day is helping my rowing.. I feel so much more comfortable now.. I almost don't even need the straps tightened and the machine itself doesn't jostle everywhere.

WOD - Snatches, 1 on the minute for 18 min.. 

(6 Hang Power, 6 Power, 6 Squat)

I did a bunch between 100 and 120 for the hang power, didn't feel too great about it.. Went up from 120 to 150 for the power.. which felt solid.. And is actually a PR.. I don't think I have ever done more than 140 before.. I went on to the squat snatches and didn't do too well.. I did a few reps at 115 and then a few more at 125 and all of them felt like I was mis-hitting it.. Some position at the bottom just did not feel like I was getting it right..

When we were done I tried one more power snatch at 155 and got it overhead but I won't count it because there was a press-out with my elbows, it was more of a hideous clean and wide press.. Not something I want on my resume..





Wednesday..

Hero WOD Nate

AMRAP 20

2 MUs

4 HSPU

8 KB Swing 2 pood

Score - 9 Rounds minus 2 muscle ups Rx

I am sort of mad about this because I had a higher score in mind, but oh well this is sort of a PR..

So I got through 3 rounds without too much issue, but the muscle ups did not feel as solid as usual.. I think I was not throwing my head through at the top enough.. Anyhow I got to round 5 and started failing reps on the MUs.. Took some rest to regroup, failed again.. Got pissed.. kicked some stuff, cursed a bit and moved on to the HSPU and KB swings and then came back around. From then on I had to rest a lot to get more MUs which ate the majority of the time, but I am glad I woke up early to do this. Always love doing Hero WODs cuz they get me jacked up mentally.

I think last time I did this I got 8 rounds, but with Rx Muscle Ups and non-Rx HSPUs.. I had one abmat I believe.. Today I did them with full ROM and they were the "easy part".. So I am happy to see progress somewhere, but during the 20 minute time I just got mad because I don't like failing reps..


Night work..

Push Press 5-5-5-5-5

I started out doing the Deads as well but I did 295x5, and then 315x3 and my grip went to shit and my  back felt tired so I laid back off it..

I did 95 and 115 for reps to warm up.. Then I went with 130, 135, 140, 145, 150...

I have never actually tested this, or at least not in a long time, so this might be a PR.. but I am not really sure about it.. They felt pretty heavy to lock out by the end.. but the main thing was just bracing for it on the way down and not getting crushed by it..

Monday Back AT IT

Yikes, she is stronger than me..

 

Front Squat - 5x3

Warmed up pretty well and got into these with 95, 135 and 155 for reps to get a feel and then my working sets were: 175, 195, 205, 215, 225..

Last rep on 225 was a little wobbly, but overall I felt good about all of these.

The workout was less pleasant..

"Slap Shot"

2 Rounds:

Run 600 m

25 Pull Ups

25 Burpees

Time - 10:28 Rx'd

Gross, sweaty horribleness.. I really need to start running again in more WODs.. it destroys me so hard.
Pull ups felt ok on the first set, got some butterflies and then the second set fell apart on BFs and went to regular kips.. Burpees always suck. Not a whole lot more to say, just a good burner that snuck up on me. I had an idea of how it might be and it was 20X worse.

Weekend-ness

Quick post... not a whole lot of work done this weekend because I was super busy.

Friday - did the workout on my own..

Worked up to 90# DB snatch on my right hand, missed on my left, these get infinitely harder once it gets heavy, wow. The difference from 50 to 70 was no biggie, from 70 to 90 was like it was velcro'd to the floor.

WOD - Swirley
Score 408 DUs.. I loved this workout. Got to work on kipping HSPUs a bit, kipping K2E a bit, and then got to air it out with some max effort double unders.. First round I got 107, then 87.. then the wheels came off a bit and I got like 75-66-75.. meh.. Should have kept pace a little more.. I just flat out needed breathing time. I would do like 30 unbroken and feel fine but just needed to stop and breathe.. Cool WOD.


Sat & Sunday - Rested from any CF WODs..

I guess I did a lot of demo-ing for the SM Seminar (which was a blast for me) and then had some events the rest of the weekend with friends and family.

I went kayaking on the Charles on Sunday morning before a family Grad party which was quite fun. I would do that again.. Fun combo of sightseeing and "working out sorta"..

Thursday June 14th

Rest day..

Much needed, bunch of heavy lifts this past week, I will take today gladly and let it all heal up.

Also, I am going to bed at 8:30..

Wednesday night Fun...

 http://youtu.be/MfFyhPmKxMc


1RM Clean & Jerk

Pretty excited to get to this even thought I am quite sore.. oh well.. did a good warm up and got nice and sweaty and got into these..
Bunch of reps at 135 to get loose and feel out the jerk..My footing is usually the limiter on jerks, not my speed.. which is annoying.. but tough to fix at max weight.. need to keep practicing it.

I did a couple at 185, then got into my attempts.
I hit 205 without issue, 225 with a little wobble at the top, and then 240 as shown in the video. Clean felt easy, jerk was OK, not great on the right foot movement, but the speed was good enough to get it there..
I tried 250 and was too tired, I was not even close to be honest. Just spent..

WOD

"Outlaw"

3 Rounds

Row 500 m

7 C&J @165#

Time - 9:58

This was supposed to be with 400 m runs, but I had my oly shoes on, did not feel like changing, and had pretty much just enough time to get the WOD done before the 6PM so I subbed the row which was definitely slower by a long shot. Oh well.

I paced every row right at about 1:50 for 500 and the C&J I did all in singles, didn't really test my grip, just dropped from overhead and then got right to the next one.. Fun workout, really liked this..

Some of the athletes in the 6 & 7 I taught went apeshit on this thing.. Sarah D and Sherri did this in like under 8:30... frikkin cruising.. Yikes.

Tuesday June 12th

Pure met-con.. yum.

Plank Hold - 3:07.. I need to work on this.. minute 1, no issue, minute 2, not bad.. minute 3, felt like I was giving birth I was squeezing so hard.. New goal will be 5 minutes for this. That would be sweet.

Geoff and Collette did over 6 minutes today.. ridiculous.

"Almond Joy"

AMRAP 10

10 Push Ups

10 Ball Slams

10 Box Jumps

Score - 10 Rounds + 20 reps

Sweat-tastic.

I sort of alternated back and forth between games-standard Box Jumps and just flying through them as fast as possible (hips not fully locked out at the top).. I never can decide when I am in the middle of it. Hitting the standard perfectly for comps is all well and good, but today's workout was more just about "moving quickly" to get some bloodflow after the CFT yesterday, so I more or less stopped caring about that and just went as fast as possible.

In the last 3 minutes, push ups caught up with me and I started to gas on those, could only do maybe 3 at a time. Ball slams tired out my chest and shoulders more than I expected.

Fun workout.

CFT day!!!

I was super excited to try this out today..
I have not done a full CFT in a really long time. One of the last times I did it, my hip was ailing me so I didn't get a true back squat. I also have been squatting with better form recently due to a higher level of practice, and frankly coaching myself with more videotape has helped a lot..  My previous "PR" on squats was 300, but I don't think it was a good rep looking back. I had done 275 once before, so that was my goal today..

CFT Video on Youtube (click)

Video posted above for review.

My plan heading in was to try to hit 275-155-425.. I had a plan and really stuck to it.

My previous PRs like I said were 275-150-415, so I wanted to match my back squat from long ago, and beat my other two, god willing.


Before anything I warmed up for a while, like 40 minutes.. I rowed some 500s, did a bunch of heavy yoke walks, foam rolled, stretched out, etc.. It was a lengthy session, but worth it in the end I think..

For squats I did 135x5, 185x3, 215x1, 235x1, 255x1, 275x1.. The 235 and 255 felt really solid, the 275 felt slow, but it got up there..

For presses I popped right into these since I was already quite warm and did 95x5, 115x3, then 135x1, 145x1, 150x1, 155x1.. then I said fuck it all and tried 160 and failed comically.. just could not get it past eye level.. Oh well, still a nice PR.. With presses, 5 lbs is a big day.. Hard to add much more than that at a time.


Deadlifts I was most excited for because in all honesty, I am best at them compared to the other two. I also like the bar in my hands much more than on my back for whatever reason, just personal preference.. I even like front squats more than back just because I feel more in control. I am weird.

For deads I got up to my numbers quickly.. I did 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 275x1, 315x1, 365x1, 405x1, 425x1..PR..

The last couple times I have gone for a max weight, the 405 is usually the point where I know what is up that day. If the 405 feels like I am going to have a hernia, that is the end of it.. But today it honestly came right off the ground quickly and I had no issue.. Obviously I strained and was tight, but my form was rock solid..
Then I went for broke on my 3rd heavy rep. I skipped 415 and just went for 425 thinking "I am either getting this fucking thing up today or I am never going to get it, sack up".. The initial pull was a little iffy, got some slight back curvature and needed to shift back to my heels, but once it was above my knees I knew I had it, just needed to lock out the hips..

I almost blacked out when I put it back down, and stumbled off, which was pretty great.. Definitely hit my limits today and I am really happy.. Tomorrow, back to bouncy little met-cons..

Weekend Update

Super fast update cuz I am busy today.

Friday -
Tabata DUs - ugh, tripped twice got 26.. felt solid mostly though.
Death by sprints - horrible.. got 18. I hate that workout though..

Saturday 
CF for HOPE.
Money went to kids with cancer, couldn't complain much even though the workout was horrible. I had no idea where to pace it.. The burpees and the box jumps ended up being my best ones, but the others were just plain miserable for whatever reason.. didn't sleep well the night before either..
251 Rx'd.

Sunday - Rest.. mourned the celtics.. terrible..

Thursday June 7th

Squat cleans on YouTube

I was looking forward to today in a strange way.

I love squat cleans as a technical exercise.. I like them for 1 rep heavy weights, but HATE them for high rep light weight in a met con. Let alone Elizabeth which is high rep, moderate weight. Yuck.

Video above shows my lifts. Previous PR was 205 but I always thought I had a little more in me. Today I got it done, hit 215 and 220 with success.. the squat up was a little slow, but oh well.. still counts.. Good speed on all of these. Pretty happy..

Next up was this bitch..

21-15-9

Squat Cleans 135#

Ring Dips

Time 8:46 Rx'd PR

This workout is sooooo potent.. Wrecks me every time.. Previous PR was 9:46 so I knocked a minute off, which is sweet. I had a little better idea of the pacing this time and tried to make more manageable sets throughout. I think last time I did like 10 reps in a row of the cleans off the bat and then was never the same the rest of the way. This time I did sets of 4s for a while, stayed fresh, knocked out the ring dips as best as I could. I did like 10-6-5 for the first blob and then sets of 5 the rest of the way. I think I could have been even better if I mentally checked in and held onto the barbell better at the top position better.. Multiple times I just dropped it and let go for no reason. Oh well. PRs are always good. Fun class today.

Tues/Wed June 5/6

Tuesday I modified the WOD because my lower back and left hip were super tight.. I didn't stretch my hamstrings well enough post WOD on Monday and am paying for it today.

I replaced the thrusters with HSPUs.. working on my kip..

I did:
EMOTM 20
6 Strict Pull ups, odd
5 HSPUs, even

60 Pull ups and 50 HSPUs in 20 minutes is not exactly a blitz pace, but it was good strength and form work as every rep was really crisp and felt great..

Prior to tonight, I have never done more than like 40 or 45 HSPUs in a given day or workout, so the fact that I did 50 tonight and felt like I could have done 50 more, and could have gone faster, bodes well.

Wednesday night I rested, want everything to feel good for Elizabeth on Thursday.

I also want to retest my Diane time with this new-found handstand kip.. I bet I could knock 3 minutes off my time. Which is still comically slow compared to the regionals people I saw at Reebok.. I will see how I would have finished up in that pack soon.

Monday June 4th

Back Squat
3x5

I had no expectations for this today, I sort of had it in the back of my head that I was going to just do some maintenance squats and see where I am at, since I have not really pushed the envelope on these of late.

There was a big class and the energy was high so I pushed it a little more than I probably should have, but fuck it, it felt good to go heavy (for me)..

I did 135 and 185 for reps to get loose and then did 225, 235, 245 as my working sets.. the 225 and 235 felt really solid.. The 245 I think I cheated the depth a bit and lost some form a little (knees came in, back bent forward).. Nothing majorly horrible, but certainly not perfect. Will keep an eye on that better next time.. I was fatigued and tight in the hips today so I probably wasn't as best as I could be.

"Slim Jim"

For time:

Row 500m

25 Jerks @ 165#

100 Double Unders

Fun little WOD.. those jerks got damn heavy by the end.. I paced the row with a 1:45 finish (rowing has felt better recently every day, faster times are starting to feel more like cruise control).. I got off and did my jerks in sets of 7-7-3-4-4.. Wrists took the biggest pounding, as well as my core.. The weight itself I can handle.. Just gets tiring holding it up there..
The DUs I got done in about 3 or 4 sets, nothing crazy.. Something like 35-35-20-10..

Time was 7:19.. not sure I could have pushed it under 7 today.. I broke up the jerks about as best as I could.. and tried to limit the rest periods..

I am going to be sore tomorrow, I can already sense it.

Quick weekend recap

Quick wrap of the weekend.

Friday
Push Jerked 215x3 for a PR.. that was awesome. (taken from the floor also, extra challenge)

Vegas - 8:54 Rx'd.. I still suck at kipping T2B.. but just gotta keep practicing.
Light Snatches and burpees were fine though, I eat those for breakfast.


Saturday
Pyramid Scheme with Harper - 19:08 Rx'd..
We crushed this unbroken the entire way, and on the runs I did my best but certainly did not sprint.. hamstrings were GASSED for the last 600 meters in the rain..
I don't know how much faster we really could have pushed this.. It was just a lot of reps at the end of the day.

Sunday
Active recovery.. sore as SHIT today from a great week..
Played some pick up basketball to move around today, and it was awesomely fun.
I haven't played in way too long, forgot how much I love it.

Feet will be sore tomorrow though, its funny how I can train CF all the time, and then 1 game into pick up bball I am still just laughing about how different it is, and I am still sweating bullets after playing hard defense for 10 minutes.. Lots of starting and stopping on the balls of your feet = blister city..
Constant variation.

Thursday May 31

Continued my little mini streak of doing stuff I absolutely hate..

Never gonna get better unless I try. I made up the WOD from yesterday because it looked like a good test.

Snatch Balance Practice.

I did a bunch of reps at 45 to get used to dropping, 95x3, 115x2, 135x1, 145x1, 155 (fail)

 

You will notice a continuous pattern in these.
A) I suck at snatch balances.
B) I am sort of ghost-riding them half way down.. Like I dip and drive, try to get under, and I am just flat out not fast enough to beat the bar all the way to the bottom with heavy weights..

After I failed 155, I went back down to 115 and felt MUCH better, I was hitting the bottom of the squat quickly and standing it right up with control.. I need to work on the shoulder stability more than anything, but the timing came around at the end.. oh well..

WOD

"1 Minute On, 1 Minute Off"

4 Rounds

Max KB Swings 2 pood

Rest

Max Sit Ups

Rest

Total = 233 Rx'd

Yikes..  Somehow the sit ups were worse than the heavy ass KB swings.. go figure..

I was able to maintain pretty good consistency until the 4th round where it went to hell.

I averaged about 26 KB Swings for the first three rounds (I think 28, 24, 25) and about 35 sit ups for those rounds as well. Then I fell apart and got 22 and 30 for the final round.. Core was GASSED..

The rest was enough to help, but not enough to make me fully recover for the end. It was mostly mental to just stay on the KB and the sit ups you just had to try to keep moving. I suck at doing sit ups fast.