Month: December 2012

2012 Comes to an End

Last WOD of the year, and it’s been one hell of a year. Went to the 9am.

Warm-up

50-40-30-20-10

  • Star Jumps
  • Leg Raises

WOD

30:00 Partner AMRAP

  • 100 Air Squats
  • 10 Burpees
  • 80 Air Squats
  • 20 Burpees
  • 60 Air Squats
  • 30 Burpees
  • 40 Air Squats
  • 40 Burpees
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 50 Burpees

WOW! Going out of 2012 with a bang. I was partnered up with Sara, who I found out afterwards is 3 months pregnant! We finished 2 full rounds plus 112 more reps. I think we were a little more than 100 reps behind Laura and Brent, with a couple of other solid teams in between us.

I was thinking about getting in some rowing today, but after that WOD I think I’ll take the rest of the day off. It’s been a brutal week of workouts and my body is feeling it. Since the gym is closed tomorrow it’ll be a good day for a garage WOD.

Cardio Sunday

Pretty sore from yesterday. It hurts to even touch my traps. Went in for the noon class and was thrilled to see it was an “easy” one.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Jumping Jacks

WOD

  • 100 Jump Rope Singles
  • 50 Lunges
  • 50 Push-ups
  • 50 AbMat Sit-ups
  • 100 Jump Rope Singles
  • 40 Lunges
  • 40 Push-ups
  • 40 AbMat Sit-ups
  • 100 Jump Rope Singles
  • 30 Lunges
  • 30 Push-ups
  • 30 AbMat Sit-ups
  • 100 Jump Rope Singles
  • 20 Lunges
  • 20 Push-ups
  • 20 AbMat Sit-ups
  • 100 Jump Rope Singles
  • 10 Lunges
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 10 AbMat Sit-ups

At least they weren’t hand-release push-ups, but still were the toughest part and I had to break them up a lot. Finished in 17:53.

Finisher

Death by Jingle Jangles (18′, by 3s)

Got through 27 and was on pace to get through 30, but slipped on some sweat or water around number 22 and nearly did the splits. I was so pissed because I wanted a shot at breaking my 30 + 21 gym record.

Partner Barbell Complex

My low back is sore and tight. Went in at 10am.

Warm-up

3 Rounds

  • 1m Air Squats
  • 1m Jump Rope
  • 1m Russian KBS
  • 1m One-arm DB Snatch
  • 1m Sprawl (no push-up, no jump burpee)
  • 1m Rest

Nice and easy pace.

WOD

30:00 AMRAP (I go, you go)

  • 5 Power Cleans
  • 5 Front Squats
  • 5 Push Presses
  • 5 Bent Rows
  • 5 SDLHP

Casey and I knocked out 14 + 25 with 95#. He started first, so he did 15 full rounds. We kept a pretty consistent pace throughout, but slowed down some in the last 10 minutes. Great WOD, but brutal. Glad it’s over.

54 Inches

I had a massage from Cora earlier today, which usually translates into good deadlifting and today was no exception. Went to open gym.

Warm-up

Did a bunch of jump roping and double unders.

Strength

5×3 Deadlift

Warmed up with 10 at 135# and then hit 3 reps at 225#, 315#, 345#, 365#, and 385#. My goal for the day was to hit 385# which is supposed to translate into about a 425# 1RM, which is 10# over my current max. The reps at 385# were pretty easy so Matt convinced me to go for 405#. Once I got it moving it wasn’t much of a problem. But I started to lose the grip on the way up in my second rep and just couldn’t hang on through the 3rd one, so I had to bail on it. The strength was there though, so that’s good.

My low back didn’t feel very good on the set at 345#, so I was kind of worried, but the rest of the way it felt fine. 405# for 2 reps is supposed to come out to 430# for a 1RM and 3 reps to 445#, so I should be able to make a nice jump the next time around. Not sure I’ll be able to get it done next week since I leave for Arizona.

Explosion Training

Casey and I rigged up a box with mats and started doing max height jumps over a PVC pipe. I made it over 54″ without much trouble, but then my footwork got all messed up and my head got in the way. Was fun to do and a lot safer than jumping that high on to boxes.

WOD

14:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 4 Power Cleans (165#)
  • Evens: 10 Pull-ups

I wanted to get in some Olympic lifting work since we hadn’t done any all week. Was only planning on going for 10 minutes, but it felt good, so I added 4 more minutes. The cleans started to get tough, but overall this wasn’t that taxing on the cardio, which is fine since those heavy deadlifts and high jumps took a lot out of me. I’m sure tomorrow will be a nice long met-con anyway.

Unfinished Business

Enjoying my vacation, so I lazed around all day. Didn’t even get dressed until 6, so went to the 8pm class.

Warm-up

3 Rounds

  • 1m V-ups
  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Bicycles
  • 1m Flutter Kicks
  • 1m Russian Twists (35# KB)
  • 1m Rest

This was a doosey! It’s been awhile since it was this hard to hold a 1 minute plank, but I did it each round. I didn’t realize how sore my hamstrings were until those bicycles. I guess the abs got a good workout yesterday with the Zercher squats.

Strength

5×3 Floor Press

My shoulders are still feeling a little weird from the hour of Insanity with the weight vest and my back is still messed up, so I wasn’t sure how this would go. Went 135#, 155#, 175#, 195#, and 215# for 3 reps each. That was my goal for the day. Since we had plenty of time, Brent decided to go for one more set and hit his, so I said “what the hell” even though 215# was far from easy. Loaded up 225# (my previous 1RM) and squeezed out the 3rd rep. That’s even better than my bench press 3RM, so I’m convinced I have a distinct disadvantage in the bench because of my long arms.

WOD

5 Rounds

  • 30 HR Push-ups
  • 20 Kroc Rows (60# DB, 10 each arm)
  • 10 Ring Dips

I can’t remember the last time I failed to finish a WOD. I wasn’t really expecting to have a 16 minute time cap either since some of the times on the board were over that. I’m going along thinking I might be able to get it done under 20:00 and Cari says we only have 1 minute left! I finished 5 rounds and 5 of the push-ups. Arms were just fried from doing 6 sets of floor press. I figured the push-ups would kill me, and they sure did. After round 1 I was struggling to do 5 at a time. I also know I was in trouble when I couldn’t even do the first 10 ring dips unbroken. But I didn’t have to resort to using a band at all, so that’s good. I think there were only 6 or 7 people all day that finished this one.

My 33rd

The left side of my back is still swollen from landing on it in a basketball game on Sunday. Doesn’t exactly feel the greatest either. Today is my 33rd birthday and Matt decided to start a new tradition at Survival Fitness for birthdays instead of doing birthday WODs. You have to do your age in burpees at the beginning of class while everyone else watches. I knocked out my 33 in 1:10. Booyah! I even got the first 10 in 18 seconds which is a new best as far as I know. Got to skip the warm-up because I couldn’t breathe and was pretty warmed up. 🙂

Strength

5×3 Zercher Squats

I used 135#, 155#, 175#, 195#, and 225#. Last set didn’t feel the greatest with my back issue, but got it done.

WOD

EMOM do 5 Burpees (except the first minute, where you got to do reps of the WOD)

  • 100 Russian KBS (53#)
  • 100 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 100 Goblet Squats (53#)

I was flying until I got to the goblet squats. Was a minute ahead of the best pace of the day after box jumps and was done in less than 9 minutes with enough time to get 3 goblet squats in. From there I just died. It was a struggle to finish and I got done in 17:56. It was taking me around 22 or 23 seconds to knock out the burpees towards the end, that’s how dead I was. We were allowed to take an entire minute off if we wanted and I probably should have to rest up and come back strong, but I really wanted to keep going. I didn’t feel very good (sicky) after this one was over.

Lot’s of stuff that did some work on the back, so it’ll be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow.

Upping The Insanity

I’m up at my parent’s place in Rogers City for a few days, so I brought up my weight vest figuring I could have some fun with it. Dad’s been doing the Insanity workouts for nearly two months, so I told him to pick me one to do. He handed over Max Interval Circuit, I strapped on the 20# weight vest and headed out to his workshop in the freezing garage. For the first 15 minutes I thought I was going to get frost bite on my toes they were so cold.

The DVD was an hour, which is a long time to strap an extra 20 pounds to your frame. Try doing a bunch of cardio movements in a 6×8 area! It was a good long workout and I’m glad I wore the vest because it was a different kind of work for me.

My brother told me they have open gym basketball at the high school tonight and I’m super excited about it. After getting stronger, putting on a lot of muscle, and being in great shape, I’m curious how my game is. I bet I haven’t played in 3 or 4 years, so my silky smooth stroke will be rusty for sure.

Casey’s Birthday WOD

In at 10am for my last Survival Fitness class for a few days. Heading up to Rogers City for x-mas.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

  • 15s Zombie Kicks
  • 15s Butt Kicks
  • 15s High Knees
  • 15s Air Squats

WOD

28:00 AMRAP Partners (Each partner does a round of their own to make a complete team round)

  • 1 HSPU
  • 9 Burpee Clean Thrusters (95#)
  • 8 Double Squat Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target
  • 5 C2B Pull-ups

I partnered up with Casey and we did well. I started off first and got through 6 full rounds, then Casey got through 3 of his burpees clean thrusters before time ran out, so we had 5 + 27 to top the board. Having those thrusters and wall balls back to back was pretty brutal. Each round I’d start out fast on the burpee clean thrusters, but that would only last for 3 or 4 reps and then it was just a grind.

Finisher

8:00 Death by AbMat Sit-ups (by 3s)

I was able to get through mine all the way, for a total of 108. Not sure why, but it felt worse than doing 100 in a row the other day. Maybe it’s because of the other day!

Closing in on 100

Went in to open gym tonight.

WOD

30 Rounds

  • Power Snatch (95#)
  • 2 OHS (95#)

This was tough, but not in the way I expected. The OHS added up and really worked my legs and hips. I finished in 8:26.

Strength

Find 1RM Bench Press

Did 10 reps at 95# and 3 @ 135#. Then went 185#, 205#, 225#, and failed at 245#. Maybe could have got 240# if I had tried it.

Skills

Worked some on butterfly pull-ups and started to get the feel for them. I was getting a few in a row, but then I’d still bottom out on kill my shoulders. Getting better though.

Did a bunch of DUs and knocked out 5 streaks over 50! Last set of the day was 85, a new PR. So close to the century mark!

Running On Fumes

I was wide awake at 4:30am. After laying there for another 15 minutes, I crawled out of bed and put on the coffee. Was I really going to go to the 5:45am class? Yep!

Warm-up

5 Rounds

  • 15s Zombie Kicks
  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Standing Bicycles
  • 15s Butt Kicks

Strength

5×5 Deadlift

I went with 10 reps at 135#, then 5 each at 225#, 275#, 315#, and 345#. Once I had 345# moving, the reps were smooth and pretty easy. Now that I look back in my book, I made a mistake and should hove gone heavier. I got 345# for 5 reps with a 3″ deficit a few weeks ago. Oh well, it saved me from having to use more weight in the WOD I guess.

WOD

24:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 5 Deadlifts (175#) & 7 Burpees
  • Evens: 15 Russian KBS (53# KB)

Wasn’t bad at all. Easily completed all of the reps within the 30 second goal of each minute. My low back did start to get a little tight, but I was already feeling it some from the C&Js yesterday.

Finisher

100 AbMat Sit-ups

Flew through these in 3:34, beating my time of 4:03 from October 2nd. Good way to finish off the workout.

To be honest, it was kind of fun working out with a different group of people and the early morning didn’t bother me once I was up and moving. Fun to be in a class taught by Cora too. I’ll probably need a nap at some point later today.