Month: August 2012

Hungover WOD

Last night about 20 people from the gym went out to Bennigan’s where Kevin from the gym was playing with his band. Stayed out way too late so didn’t make it to the 9am class this morning like I planned. I did get in a garage WOD though.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

  • Butt Kicks
  • High Knees

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 20 Lunges (50# DBs)
  • 10 Burpee Deadlifts (50# DBs)
  • 20 Kroc Rows (50# DB, 10 each arm)

The plan was to do 20 burpee deadlifts each round, but after the first 3 I knew that wasn’t going to happen after the lunges so I knocked it down to 10. Around 90 degrees today and this one was brutal. Finished in 11:34.

Finisher

5 Rounds

  • 10 Ring Rows
  • 10 Leg Raises

This was for quality, not for time. The leg raises were done on my pull-up/dip stand thing where you hold yourself up by your forearms being on pads and holding some handles. Nice way to finish off.

Now I’m off to Columbus, OH for the Level 1 Certification at Rogue Headquaters. I’m so excited there are not words to express it.

12.5 Retest

I went to bed later than normal last night, so feeling tired today. Knees are a little sore, but otherwise my body feels good. Going in to the chiropractor this afternoon for an adjustment and massage. After only two weeks I got used to the Tuesday massages, so with the scaled back treatment this week I’m really missing it.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 1m Bottom Squat Hold
  • 1m Plank

WOD

This was a retest of workout 12.5 from the CrossFit Games Open.

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:

  • 3 Thrusters
  • 3 C2B Pull-ups
  • 6 Thrusters
  • 6 C2B Pull-ups
  • 9 Thrusters
  • 9 C2B Pull-ups
  • 12 Thrusters
  • 12 C2B Pull-ups
  • 15 Thrusters
  • 15 C2B Pull-ups
  • …

If you complete the round of 15, go on to 18, increasing the reps by 3 with each new round as far as you can go. Thrusters are done using 100#.

When I did this back in March I got 58 total reps. Today, under less than idea conditions I got 66 reps. I didn’t think to put on my wrist straps, so my wrists started killing me on the thrusters. I was knocking out C2B pull-ups pretty well today, but 3 different bars started spinning on me, so I had to keep moving to a new spot. Ugh! At least I saw improvement, but should have been better.

Strength

3×20 Weighted Sit-ups

For my sets I held:

  • 30# KBs
  • 80# KB
  • 45# DBs

Those last two sets were a struggle, but I finished all of the reps.

Finisher

Prowler Sprints!

Used the lighter of the two prowlers today, loaded with a couple of 45# plates, and pushed it 40-50 yards with the high handles and then back with the low handles. Did 3 sets of that.

4 In A Row

So much for 3 on 1 off. I saw this WOD and really wanted to do it because I need the work with weighted pull-ups and the push-up reps. Tomorrow is a better day to take off for me anyway because I have the 2nd round of a golf tournament in the morning.

Warm-up

10:00 EOMOTM

  • 7 KBS
  • 12 Wall Balls

The goal was to pick a heavier KB each round. I used 48#, 53#, 62#, 71#, and 80#. That’s the first time I’ve ever swung the 80 pounder; hadn’t even done Russian swings that heavy yet. It felt pretty good. The wall balls were a good way to loosen up after all of the squat work yesterday.

Strength

5 Sets

  • 5-8 Weighted Pull-ups

These were one of the reasons I wanted to come in today. Kind of disappointed with how I did.

  • 8 @ 8#
  • 7 @ 10#
  • 5 @ 12#
  • 4 @ 12#
  • 3 @ 15#, plus a long negative on the last rep

WOD #1

5:00 AMRAP

  • 3 Plyo Push-ups
  • 6 Burpees
  • 9 HR Push-ups

This AMRAP was the other reason I wanted to come in. I need to increase my push-up strength and capacity. Lots of push-up movements here, so no break for the arms. I did 4 rounds plus 11 reps in the next round.

We rested 3 minutes before doing another WOD.

WOD #2

7:00 AMRAP

  • 7 Thrusters (35# DBs)
  • 7 Box Jumps (24″)

The Rx for men was 40# DBs and I grabbed them for about 10 seconds. After thinking about the WOD, I realized I would die so I swapped them for the 35 pounders and I’m so glad I did. In the first round I thought the 35# DBs were even going to be too heavy, but I stuck with it and did each round without putting down the weights. I really had to focus on the hip drive to get those suckers up overhead. The thrusters really wiped me out and negated my box jump advantage. I managed to get 6 rounds and 5 more thrusters.

Finisher

10:00

  • Hold the L-Sit as long as possible
  • 30 Russian Twists (30# KB)

I did the L-Sit on the rings to get that extra work on my upper body and I think it’s harder on the core as well. I was able to hold for about 25-30 seconds each time and surprisingly it was my arms that kept giving out. All of the Russian twists were done unbroken each round. I did 5 total rounds.

I’m glad I went in today because it allowed me to work on some weaknesses. I could tell I wasn’t all-in for today though; definitely not my best effort. Golfing the 2nd round of a tournament with the group of guys I play with in the morning, so it works out better for me to make tomorrow a rest day.

Squat and Squat Some More

Today I was sore from the combination of thrusters on Saturday and wall balls yesterday. Also sore from yesterday’s ring dips. Just sore enough in those areas to know something is working. I walked 18 holes of golf this morning and then went to the 7pm class.

Strength

5 sets

  • 5 Back Squats
  • 2m Rest

Warmed up with a set of 8 using just the bar. My working sets were:

  • 135#
  • 165#
  • 185#
  • 210#
  • 220#

No failures on any of the reps, but I need to get better at consistent weight increases. That was pretty wild. I haven’t done a 1RM since the end of March, which was 240#, so the next time we do that I’ll knock it out of the park.

Accessory

3 sets

  • 12 Bulgarian Split Squats (each leg)

For the first set we didn’t use any weight. I used a 35# KB for the second set and a 48# KB for the third set. I’m not sure why we didn’t hold 2 DBs for these.

WOD

7:00 AMRAP

  • Turkish Get-up (first half, the get-up part only)
  • 3 1-Arm Snatches
  • 3 1-Arm OHS
  • Turkish Get-up (second half, the get down part only)

Each time through the series is one rep and you must alternate arms after each rep. I used a 35# DB and completed 13 reps. The 1-Arm OHS may be one of the oddest movements I’ve done in a WOD. The balance seems impossible unless you get a super wide stance. I kept getting up on my toes at points and it was a struggle to get proper depth.

Finisher

10 Prowler Sprints

The prowler was loaded with two 45# plates and we used the heavier (wooden) one. Each sprint was about 25 yards one way with the high handles and then 25 yards back with the low handles. For the last couple of sprints it was only Michelle and I, so very little rest.

Lots of squatting today, which I need. I’m excited to see Matt is serious about putting a dedicated strength section into weekday classes. I’ve been getting stronger, but not at the pace I was seeing over the 3 months when I was out in Phoenix last winter.

A Partner Ladder

Today I got to make up the WOD for Survival Fitness since Matt and Cora are out-of-town camping. I taught the 11am and then worked out with the noon class.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Air Squats
  • 15s Mountain Climbers
  • 15s Jump Squats

Nice easy warm-up to get the blood flowing.

WOD

Partner Ladder

  • 10->15 Burpees
  • 5->10 Ring Dips
  • 10->15 Wall Balls
  • 5->10 T2B
  • 500m Sandbag Run

* One partner working at a time for the reps. For example, partner A does 10 burpees, partner B does 10 burpees, partner A does 11, partner B does 11, and keep going until both have done the round of 15 reps.

Since we had an odd number of people in class, I teamed up with Marisol and Brian for a team of 3. Brian and I worked at the same time as partner A and Marisol was our partner B. It’s gotta be tough teaming up with two guys and getting shorter rest periods, but Marisol did awesome.

I did Rx ring dips through the round of 7. Then in round 8 I think I did 4 Rx and 4 with a purple band. In the round of 9 I maybe got 3 Rx and then in the round of 10 it was all with the band. I was really hitting a good rhythm with the T2B today and only had to break up the last 2 rounds so I didn’t rip my hands. When I finished the run, the clock read 29:40. I was a bit ahead of Brian and Marisol, so I’m not sure what our official team time would have been. I’m really happy with how this WOD turned out. I was planning for the top teams to be around 30 minutes which was pretty close.

Finisher

3 rounds

  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Russian Twists (35# KB)
  • 1m Table Top (30s each side)
  • 1m Rest

Not going to lie, this sucked after the WOD. Even the planks were hard to get through.

Testing My Back

I’m feeling good after the rest day yesterday. Matt is out-of-town for the weekend so I offered to help out with the weekend classes. Today was sort of on open gym and I was looking forward to testing out my back as well as trying a few things that are part of a competition I’m doing in October.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • Various stretching, including PVC pass-thrus and around the world’s, PVC OHS, world’s greatest stretch

WOD #1

“Grace”

  • 30 Clean and Jerks (95#)

This one comes straight out of the competition. I’ve been staying away from cleans for the last couple of weeks because of my low back. It felt pretty good doing this today. I finished in 2:42 without too much of a push since I was doing it by myself. A month or so ago I used 125# and did it in 5:10-ish, so I’m confident I can get down around the 2 minute mark.

WOD #2

10:00 EOMOTM

  • 5 Deadlifts (225#)
  • 5 HSPU

I’ve also been staying away from deadlifts because of my low back. These felt really good and easy. All of the HSPUs were strict and unbroken.

WOD #3

10:00 EOMOTM

  • 10 Thrusters (65#)
  • 10 Pull-ups

The competition has “Fran” but the beginner division, which I’m competing in, only uses 65# and does jumping chest-to-bar pull-ups. I figured this was a good way to build up for it. I should have gone heavier with the thrusters and maybe did fewer reps there. Everything here was unbroken as well. I’ve never been able to do that many rounds of pull-ups unbroken like that.

WOD #4

20:00 EMOTM

  • 30s Row

This a great one for conditioning. Go all-out for those 30s and then catch your breath for the next 30s.

I’m really happy with how my back handled the workload today. I wouldn’t have been able to do this 2 weeks ago. I’m in charge of making up the WOD for tomorrow’s classes, so that should be fun. It’s going to be some kind of partner WOD.

Push Pressin’

I went in to the 9am, which isn’t much recovery from 7pm last night, but I have a bunch of stuff going on later today. Rest day tomorrow, but I’ll probably go golfing in the morning.

Warm-up

2 rounds, 10:00 limit

  • 50 Jumping Jacks
  • 40 Air Squats
  • 30 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 20 Leg Raises
  • 10 Burpees

I didn’t make it through the 10 burpees at the end.

Strength

Find 1RM for Push Press. Shoot for 7 attempts with 2 minutes of rest between each.

  • 5 @ 45#
  • 5 @ 95#
  • 1 @ 120#
  • 1 @ 130#
  • 1 @ 145#
  • 1 @ 155#
  • 1 @ 165#
  • 1 @ 175#
  • 1 @ 185#
  • 1 @ 190#

The best I had done before was 2 reps at 175#. I did more sets than I was supposed to but I didn’t think I would get that high, so my planning for the early weights was off. I really got a good dip and drive with the legs and 190# went up pretty easily. Always good to leave a bit in the tank for next time on a 1RM max. It’s better than failing on a rep.

WOD

10:00 AMRAP

  • 1-Arm Snatches (45# DB)

I was doing 5 reps with each arm before switching. Started off well, but kind of hit a wall in the middle. Ended up with 155 reps. Probably should have gone with 40# and kept a higher intensity.

Finisher

7 rounds

  • 10 Kroc Rows (60# DB, 5 each side)
  • 10 V-ups

Nice finisher to work the midline and get in some more strength work.

Weighted Chins

Feeling good. I think I like this 3 days on 1 day off schedule I’m trying to stick to. Walked 18 holes of golf this morning and went to the 7pm class.

Warm-up

4 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Air Squats
  • 15s Mountain Climbers
  • 15s Jump Squats

Strength

Weighted Chin-ups with 90 seconds of rest between sets

  • 8 @ 8#
  • 8 @ 10#
  • 6 @ 12#
  • 5 @ 15#
  • 4 @ 15#

I’m not entirely sure about the rep counts for the 10# and 12#, but I think they are right. Man, when you hit that wall, there is no way you’re doing another rep.

WOD

15-14-13…3-2-1

  • Burpees
  • Russian KBS (53#)

This is all about pacing yourself so you can keep going without resting. I finished in 11:42. Should have went heavier but I’m still taking things easy for my low back. I didn’t miss out on any intensity that’s for sure. That was 120 reps of each movement.

Finisher

Death by AbMat Sit-ups (by 2s)

Just like every other “death by” it doesn’t seem bad starting out, because it isn’t, but it sure does get tough. I managed to complete the round of 26 with about 2 seconds left in the minute and then got 25 out of 28 in the next minute. That’s a total of 207 sit-ups.

Designed for Me

Yesterday morning I walked 18 holes of golf but took a rest day from CrossFit. I really needed it after the hill sprints on Sunday. Went to the 9am class today.

Warm-up

  • 1m DUs
  • 20 1-arm Russian KBS (10 each arm)
  • 1m DUs
  • 20 Russian KBS
  • 1m DUs
  • 20 Goblet Squats
  • 1m DUs
  • 20 KBS

Right out of the gate I nearly set a PR for unbroken DUs. I get 43, just one shy of tying my PR. I think I get in my head and sabotage myself each time that happens. I had some pretty decent streaks throughout, but got worse as I got more tired. I used a 53# KB for everything.

Strength

Matt is starting to put more focus on strength work and shorter WODs finally. That is one of the things I loved about the box out in Phoenix. I was making big improvements each month in my squats and deadlifts. I haven’t even done a 1 rep max back squat since I came back to Michigan!

I grouped up with Brian and Rick for this.

3 sets

  • Max Reps Right Arm KB Shoulder Press
  • Max Reps Left Arm KB Shoulder Press
  • 2-3m Rest

Started out with a 35# KB and did 19 and 21 reps. Moved up to a 44# and did 11 reps on each side. For the last set I used a 49# and did 8 reps each.

WOD

  • 50 Box Jumps
  • 250m Run
  • 40 Box Jumps
  • 150m Run
  • 30 Box Jumps
  • 100m Run
  • 20 Box Jumps
  • 100m Run
  • 10 Box Jumps
  • 150m Run

If I didn’t know any better I’d say this WOD was designed for me to crush. We were allowed to rebound off the box and off the ground to work on the skills there. I used a 24″ box and finished in 8:54. I did some double rebounding to speed things up, but it really wears you out so I stuck with rebounding off the box most of the time.

Finisher

  • 100 HR Push-ups

I finished in 6:21, beating my 7:48 time from just 3 weeks ago!