Month: February 2013

Clean Work

Not feeling too bad this morning, but legs are feeling those tempo back squats from Tuesday. Went in for the 9am so that I have 2 full days of rest before the competition on Saturday.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • 10/10 Scorpions
  • 10/10 Flamingos
  • 50′ Frog Hop
  • 2×5 Extremely slow Clean Deadlift up to shrug and triple extension (95#)

Strength

Clean Complex

  • Power Clean from high hang
  • Power Clean from above knee
  • Power Clean from ground
  • 90s Rest

I really tried to work on my hip extension, which is probably my weakest point in the Olympic lifts. I did 6 sets of the complex, going 115#, 125#, 135#, 145#, 155#, and 165#. We had plenty of time in class, so we moved on to doing some heavy singles.

Heavy Power Clean Singles

  • 185#
  • 205# (matching PR)
  • 215# (new PR, easy!)
  • 230# (fail)
  • 230# (Plenty high enough, little slow getting the elbows under, but fought for it.

That was a 25# PR on my power clean over the 205# set back in October and now it’s higher than my 225# squat clean max. I’m still not even getting full hip extension though, so plenty more in the tank if I can keep improving my technique.

WOD

12:00 AMRAP

  • 7 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 7 C2B Pull-ups
  • 7 Burpees

This one was a fight and I ended up ripping both of my thumbs. I guess I need to start taping them again, especially for high rep clean work. I finished 5 full rounds and an extra clean and jerk.

Above Rx

My legs are pretty beat up from the tempo work this week. That was some heavy lifting! Took a longer rest and went in at 5:15pm tonight. The WOD didn’t look too bad and no strength work so I was kind of looking forward to an easier day. I should have known better!

Warm-up

  • 5/5 World’s Greatest Stretch
  • 2/2 10s Samson Stretch
  • 1/1 minute Hip Flexor Stetch
  • 2×3/3 Turkish Get-ups

The hip flexor stretch was new and pretty rough. For the Turkish Get-ups I used a 35# KB and then a 40# KB.

WOD

5 Rounds

  • 40 DU (unbroken)
  • 30 Chest-to-deck Push-ups
  • 20 OH Walking Lunges (45# Plate)
  • 10 Ring Dips

That’s the Rx+ version of the WOD Gayle challenged us to do. It ups the DU to unbroken, push-ups to chest-to-deck, walking lunges to weighted OH lunges, and dips on a box or rack to ring dips. Shit the bed! So much for an easier day. I knew the push-ups would be absolutely brutal and of course they were after the 2nd round. I messed up a few times on my DU early in a round, but was solid with them until messing up at 33 in the 5th round. I think I let out an F-bomb. I pushed through the walking lunges as much as I could and then the ring dips were pretty brutal for me today. Finished in 22:36.

Being forced to do unbroken DU in WODs has dramatically improved them for me though. You concentrate so much more because you don’t want to do the work all over again.

Still a Little Cloudy

My head it still a little cloudy this morning, even after going to bed by 9pm. Oh well, shake it off with a workout at 9am right?

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10/10 Scorpions
    • 10s of Leg Swings (s2s, f2b)
    • 10 Wall Squats

Strength

5 Sets

  • 3 Back Squats (32X1 Tempo)
  • 2m Rest

* For the first set use your max weight from the 5×5 32×1 tempo back squats we did last week.

Holy shit that was heavy to start! I went 215#, 225#, 230#, 235#, and 240#. The pause at the bottom is brutal.

After another rest period follow that up with a max rep set at 30X1 tempo with 135#. I fought for 26 reps and then collapsed on the ground. Felt like I just got done with a WOD after that big set.

WOD

30-20-10

  • Row (calories)
  • GHD Sit-ups
  • Thrusters (95#)

Not much left in the tank for this WOD. My legs wouldn’t even work on the rower. Finished in 14:50.

Killed by Tempo Deadlifts

It was nice to skip a day from WODs yesterday and taking a longer rest today as well. Went in for the 5:15pm.

Warm-up

  • 3 min Jump Rope
  • 2 Rounds
    • 3/3 World’s Greatest Stretch
    • 5 Pull-ups
    • 10 Am. KBS (35# KB)

Went 3 minutes straight on the jump rope without a single miss.

Strength

5×5 Deadlifts at 2-1-2-1 Tempo

Pushed it to the limit and it was absolutely brutal. Went 225#, 275#, 305#, 335#, and 365#. It was heavy and I started to round the lower back just a little at the end. Fought to get all 5 reps in and that was definitely the max weight for the tempo. Then not much of a rest before starting the WOD. Forgot to take off the shoes for the deadlifts too.

WOD

  • 50 Am. KBS (53# KB)
  • 25 Pull-ups
  • 150 DU
  • 25 Pull-ups
  • 50 Am. KBS (53# KB)

Went 35 reps and then 15 KBS to finish off at the beginning and worked on butterfly pull-ups. DU were a struggle today, but got through them. The last 50 American KBS were really tough. Finished in 12:05 overall. Was done with the warm-up, strength, and the WOD is less than 45 minutes.

Got home and started to go into a tunnel vision and a headache. I think it was from the tempo deadlifts, which really killed the WOD as well. This is only the 3rd time a CrossFit class has hit me like this. Should have probably gone lighter on the deadlifts, but really pushed them to the limit.

Needed a Break

After 7 straight days and some pretty brutal WODs my body needed to rest today. I went for a really nice slow hike for active recovery. I went to a trail where there isn’t much of an elevation change and no challenging parts to it. The pace was faster than the tougher hikes I do, but the intensity was nowhere near those. It ended up being 3.97 miles in 1:25:32.

165 All Day

Didn’t sleep very well at all last night, which isn’t the greatest for going in to do a competitor’s WOD at 8am. Back is pretty sore from yesterday and my delts are still beat up from the tempo OHS.

Warm-up

  • Row 500m
  • PVC Pass-thrus

WOD

3 rounds

  • 8 Shoulder to OH
  • 14 Pistols (alternate legs for 7 each)

Then 3 Rounds:

  • 8 Front Squats
  • 15 GHD Sit-ups

Then 3 Rounds

  • 4 Ground to OH
  • 15 Pull-ups

The Rx weights for this are 190/125. Ha! It would have taken me forever to finish, so I picked 165# which would still be challenging. Having just done “DT” with 155# last week helped me pick the correct weight for this.

We staggered our starts because there are only 3 GHDs, so I actually started with the 2nd couplet, moved to the third, and finished with the first. Kind of brutal that way because as designed, your upper body gets some rest in the 2nd couplet. The WOD called for 2 rope climbs in the 3rd couplet, but I substituted so I could work on my butterfly pull-ups. They’re getting better!

I finished in 22:38. Even going up to 175# would have been a big jump for all of those overhead movements. Cleaning the bar so many times really wears you out too. Definitely taking a rest day tomorrow!

Go Big

Met up with a group to throwdown at CrossFit Full Strength at 12:30. They all did yesterday’s OHS strength portion, but since I was in yesterday, I did something else for strength.

Warm-up

  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • 500m Row

Strength

5×3 Deadlifts

We didn’t do any heavy deadlifts this week, so I figured it was a good lift to do. I went with 5 at 225 and then 3 at 315#, 365#, 405#, and 425#. My old 1RM was 415#, so I smoked that and did 2 more reps, not just the 1 rep. Feeling strong!

WOD

The gals did yesterday’s WOD and the guys decided to do a benchmark girl.

“Power Elizabeth”
21-15-9

  • Power Cleans (135#)
  • Ring Dips

My first time with “Elizabeth” so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I did the first 11 cleans TnG, then dropped the rest of the reps through 21 and all of the 15, before doing all 9 TnG. The ring dips were a struggle throughout, but I did a lot of sets of 4-6. Finished in 7:09. Next time I do this one, I’ll go TnG for all of the cleans and rest as needed to break up the sets.

My low back is pretty fried after all that.

Snatches and OHS

I was planning to rest through the day and hit up the WOD tonight, but then I got up this morning and was feeling good. The leg workout from Tuesday never really hit me hard. So I went in at 9am to get in my workout, with the plans to go for a hike or golf tomorrow.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

  • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 10 PVC OHS w/ 3-2-X-2 Tempo
  • 10s Tri/Shoulder Stretch w/ PVC behind back
  • 10 PVC Sotts Press

1x Burgener Warm-up with an unloaded barbell

Strength

5 Rounds

  • 1 Full Snatch
  • 4 OHS w/ 3-2-X-2 Tempo

Considering the shoulder burn I got doing tempo OHS with the PVC, I knew this was going to be a world of hurt. Started out really light with 65#, then went 75#, 85#, 100#, and 110#. The last 2 reps were kind of wobbly at the top, but my midline and legs were tight. Anything heavier probably wouldn’t have gone for 4 reps. That’s a long time to be holding the load overhead. If you think about it, it’s about 2 seconds for the full snatch and getting set for the OHS, then 8 seconds for each rep, which totals a good 34 seconds or more. Emily kept yelling at me to really push my knees out going down into the OHS, so that was a big concentration point for me to work on today. For the full snatches I really tried to focus on getting full hip extension, especially being lighter weights.

WOD

4 Rounds

  • 10 Hang Power Snatch (95#)
  • 200m Run
  • 25 Chest-to-deck Push-ups
  • 250m Row

Fun one. I did the first 10 snatches unbroken, then 7-3, 7-3, and unbroken again in the 4th round. Should have fought to go unbroken each round. My push-ups weren’t too bad today due to having 3-4 minutes between each set. I finished in 16:42.

Call Me Julie

I don’t think the leg burning workout from Tuesday night had hit me yet, so I went in for the 9am figuring I could then go in at night on Thursday and enjoy the longer rest.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • 2 Rounds
    • 20/20 Band walks
    • 15 Band Presses
    • 10/10 Hitchhikers
    • 10/10 T-stabilizations

Strength

5×5 Push Presses with 2-1-X-2 Tempo

The tempo work on for pressing doesn’t seem quite as taxing as it does for squats. I did a set with the bar to get the feel for it, then went 95#, 115#, 135#, 150#, and 165#. Couldn’t have gone any higher. Got really unstable at the top in the last two reps, but got it done.

WOD

7 Rounds

  • 7 HSPU
  • 7 K2E
  • 21 DU (unbroken)

I knew the limiter would be the HSPU, but didn’t think they would get as hard as they did. I guess I didn’t realize how little rest there really was between sets. I was solid for the first 3 rounds going unbroken and right around 1 minute per round. Even the 4th and 5th rounds weren’t too bad, but 6 and 7 were brutal for HSPU. And then I get all the way to my last rep and I failed half way up. Felt a little like Julie Foucher trying to do her deficit HSPU last year at the Games. All of my K2E were unbroken and I didn’t miss a single DU. Finished in 10:48.

Home WOD

Needed to do something at night sitting at home. I’ve been meaning to do a little burpee testing to see where I’m at, so game on.

  • 50 Burpees (Touch 6″ target above reach)

I can touch the ceiling with my fingertips standing up, so I slapped the ceiling with both hands making it 6-8 inches. Might have started out a little too fast because the last 20 reps were brutal. Took me 2:39 to finish, which nearly beats my normal PR for 50 burpees in 2:33. Jumping up to the target is a lot tougher and I could really feel the burn in my quads right around 25-30 reps. Yesterday’s big leg workout is probably starting to hit me as well.

In last years Open WOD 12.1 I did 92 of these in 7 minutes. I’d say I’ve improved some since then. I’m kind of curious to know if by starting out slower I would have been able to keep a steadier pace and get done quicker. Might have to play around with pacing once or twice in the next couple of weeks before the Open. I’ll bet they are going to have a burpee WOD again since it was a pretty good way to kick of the Games season in 2012.

All Legs

My hamstrings and triceps and still pretty sore from Sunday. Maybe I shouldn’t have done those extra 300 air squats that night. Took some extra rest today since tempo back squats were on the menu and hit up the 5:15pm class.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • 3/3 World’s Greatest Stretch
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10 Inch Worms
    • 10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S, each leg)
    • 10 Flamingos (each leg)

Strength

5×5 Back Squats with 3-2-X-1 Tempo

These are never easy. Entirely different ball game from regular squats. I focused on good form through each rep and keeping everything tight by holding my breath until the ascent out of the hole. Used 135#, 165#, 185#, 205#, and 215#. Don’t think I could have gone heavier either. Felt solid in my lifts even though it’s nowhere near the 255# I used for a normal 5 reps recently.

WOD

  • 20 Hang Power Cleans (155#)
  • 30 Box Jumps (30″)
  • 40 OH Weighted Walking Lunges (45# plate)
  • 50 Wall Balls (20#, 10′ target)

Phew! I went 10-5-5 on the cleans, unbroken 30 on the box jumps (but not rebounding), 17-15-8 on the lunges, and 5 sets of 10 for wall balls. Finished in 9:06, one of the top Rx times of the day, but am pissed at myself for the finish. I know my wall balls are a weakness and I pussed out by doing sets of 10. I should have pushed harder for bigger sets, especially starting out.

Finisher

So to punish myself and get in some extra work, I strapped on the 20# weight vest when I got home and did 100 unbroken weighted air squats. They were pretty ugly since my legs were fried, but I did them. Took me 2:29.