Month: August 2014

Sunday Mass

In for an early Sunday at 9am because we’re heading to the Adventure Park to climb the trees again. I started off with Crossover Symmetry Activation and some stretching.

Warm-up

  • 10×45# Shoulder Press
  • 2 Kneeling Jumps
  • 5×95# Jerk
  • 1 Kneeling Jump (4″)
  • 2×125# Jerk
  • 1 Kneeling Jump (7″)
  • 2×155# Jerk
  • 1 Kneeling Jump (10.25″)
  • 2×185# Jerk

XWOD

  • 2-2-2-2-2 Jerks (205#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2 Kneeling Jumps
    • 2s: 10.25″
    • 1s: 13.25″

Felt pretty good on most of the jerks.

Strength/Accessory

  • 5×45# Good Morning
  • 5×95# Good Morning
  • 5×135# Good Morning
  • 5×165# Good Morning
  • 15 Push-ups
  • 5×175# Good Morning
  • 15 Push-ups
  • 5×185# Good Morning
  • 15 Push-ups
  • 5×185# Good Morning
  • 15 Push-ups
  • 5×195# Good Morning
  • 15 Push-ups

Focused on explosive drive back up out of the bottom in the good mornings to work the hamstrings more. I can feel a big difference when I engage my glutes and hamstrings to initiate the movement. All push-ups were unbroken sets.

Gymnastics

EMOM 10:00

  • 7 C2B Pull-ups

Did pretty good with the butterfly considering I’d never done more than 4 chest to bar in a row with it. Got several rounds unbroken without losing my kip. Have started to develop a bruise and broken blood vessels under my right pec where I contact the bar. I think maybe I should work on hitting higher, which should be less work. I feel like I’d smash my face though.

Thruster Attack

3 Rounds

  • 5:00 Tabata
    • 20s Thrusters (35#)
    • 10s Rest
  • 2:30 Rest

Damn that was tough this week!

Unexpected

Headed to CFi around 10 to do some stuff. Warmed up my shoulders with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Gymnastics

Every 15s until failure

  • 1 Muscle-up

Saw this on the main site the other day and it looked like fun. It was much harder than I expected because you don’t really get any time to recover. I made it through 21 reps before I failed. Stringing reps together in an EMOM is a lot easier!

Strength

Back Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×215#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×265#
  • 5×275#
  • 5×285#

Felt pretty good.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 2×205#
  • 1×225#
  • 1×235#
  • 1×245# (PR)
  • 1×250# (PR)

Damn! Was not expecting that. I haven’t bench pressed heavy since the day I hurt my shoulder, back in January. That was a 10# PR. I guess all of the shoulder pressing I’ve been doing has a big carryover.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 1,000m Row
  • 4:00 Rest

My goal was to set a PR on the first row and then go at a pace 10-15 seconds per 500m slower for the other 3. I wasn’t recovered very well yet for the 2nd row. I did manage to set a PR by 5.6 seconds with a 3:16.1 and then my other splits were 3:46.2, 3:41.6, and 3:40.1.

A few hours later I headed out to the garage.

20:00 Air Dyne @ Z1

Went 8.59km.

25-20-15-10-5

  • GHD Sit-ups
  • Back Extensions

Not for time. Just to get in some extra work.

Get Your Chin Over the Bar

Rest day today. I walked a quick 18 holes of golf this morning.

Jumped out in the garage for some sets of strict pull-ups, with varying grip widths. Can’t hurt right? I rested plenty between sets as I came in to the house and did some stuff before going back out for another set.

  • 6 (as wide as possible on the rack)
  • 8 (2″ closer)
  • 9 (another 2″ closer)
  • 8 (just outside normal grip)
  • 9 (normal grip)

Damn that wide grip is tough! I like the idea of hitting different grip widths to address slightly different areas on each set. 40 total reps. My grip was starting to slide more than anything on each set. Probably a really good grip builder as well as building up the pulling strength.

Shoulder Pump

My hammies are feeling tight from squatting the last couple of days I think. In for the 9am class at CFi.

Warm-up

  • Bar Hangs
  • 3 Rounds of “Cindy”
    • 5 Pull-ups (strict)
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 15 Air Squats
  • Deadlifts
    • 4×155#
    • 4×245#
    • 4×315#

XWOD

7 Rounds

  • 4 Deadlifts (345#)
  • 1 Broad Jump

Bumped up the weight 10# from last week which was 8×3. No issues with the back.

Strength/Skill

8:00 EMOM

  • 6 Thrusters (135#)

The thruster attack plan is working pretty well. Wasn’t easy but not terrible either.

Conditioning

“Helen”
3 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 21 American KBS (53#)
  • 12 Pull-ups

First run was about 2 minutes! Yuck. Need to be faster than that. All swings were unbroken and pull-ups were 12, 7-5, and 8-4. Finished in 10:04. I think thrusters destroyed my shoulders a bit. I couldn’t even touch my shoulders after the workout that’s how pumped up they were. Not even close to my PR time of 9:30, the only other time I did “Helen” over 2 years ago. Don’t remember what we did for the runs then, but maybe it was really short (or at least I’ll tell myself that to feel better). The bottom line is I need to push myself more when running in a metcon.

Afternoon garage time just before 4pm. Warmed up with an easy 3 minutes on the Air Dyne for 1.24km.

5 Rounds

  • 1:20
    • 15 C2D Push-ups
    • Air Dyne
  • 1:00 Rest

Was able to do the push-ups unbroken every round and couldn’t believe it. Gave me pretty much exactly 1 minute on the Air Dyne each round by the time I got on it. Distances were 0.7, 0.75, 0.74, 0.74, and 0.74 km.

Walked a half mile to cool down.

Wake Up

Not a ton of sleep last night but up early enough to make the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Holds
  • Inch Worms
  • PNF Rack Stretch w/ partner
  • Calf Stretching
  • Front Squats
    • 5×45#
    • 3×135#
    • 3×185#
    • 3×225#

Strength

8:00 EMOM

  • 3 Front Squats (225#)

Accessory

5 Rounds NFT

  • MU into 5 strict Ring Dips
  • 5 Strict C2B Pull-ups

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 1:00 Row (cal)
  • 1:00 Shoulder to OH (95#)
  • 1:00 Burpees
  • 1:00 Ball Slams (25#)
  • 1:00 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 1:00 Rest

I got 18-19-19 calories on the rower and have no idea how many reps at each of the other individual stations. Totals per round were 86-92-94 reps. Felt good to actually get better as it went on. I did a mixture of push jerks, push presses, and strict presses on the SH to OH.

Back at 4:30 for some stuff with Kevin, but he got caught up helping Alex coach his first class.

C&J

  • 45# Warm-up Work
  • 2×115#
  • 2×135#
  • 2×155#
  • 2×175#
  • 2x1x195#
  • 1×205#
  • 1×215#
  • 1×225#
  • 1×235#
  • 1×245#
  • 1×255# (PR match)
  • 1×265# Clean (PR)

Really had no plans to attempt this. Wasn’t even planning to do clean and jerks when I walked into the gym. The jerk was iffy, but felt good to hit the big weight. Had only ever hit that once and it was before X-mas. I don’t think I’ve attempted to jerk over 225 in months. I have room for so much more in my clean with how high I’m receiving the bar. I’ll take it 5# at a time so I don’t lose the confidence though.

Dripping

I’ve been sleeping in lately, though going to bed later a few times too. Wasn’t planning on going to 9am this morning anyway though. Out in the garage around 11.

Warm-up

5:00 Air Dyne (AD2)

Nice easy pace for 1.94km.

Strength

Back Squats

  • 20×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 3×205#
  • 3×225#
  • 3×245#
  • 3×265#
  • 3x3x285#
  • 3x5x205#

Debated going for more than 285, but didn’t want to push it and tweak my back again. Also though about doing 5 sets with it, but the 3rd set started to feel weird so I dropped the weight and did some speed drop sets. No reason to push it and end up with a set back again.

Conditioning

IMG_4884Ski Erg

  • Easy 600m, including a few surges at the tempo to be used for the 400s
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 5x400m w/ 30s rest between
  • 5:00 Rest
  • 4x400m w/ 30s rest between
  • 5:00 Rest
  • 3x400m w/ 30s rest between

* Target pace is 5-8 seconds slower than a 2k pace. Works out to 2:05-2:08 for me.

I went 2:45.9 on the warmup and here are my work sets:

  • 1:40.8 – 1:41.1 – 1:40.6 – 1:40.7 – 1:40.2
  • 1:40.4 – 1:40.4 – 1:40.1 – 1:39.5
  • 1:39.8 – 1:39.6 – 1:38.5

Humid as a mother fucker in the garage, even with the door open.

Went to the 5:30 class at CFi. Was there early so did Crossover Symmetry Activation and some bottom squat holds.

Warm-up

  • Shoulder Pass-thrus
  • 30 Mountain Climbers
  • 20 Jumping Jacks
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 5×45# Shoulder Press
  • Plyo Push-up (12″)
  • 5×95# Shoulder Press
  • Plyo Push-up (14″)
  • 5×125# Shoulder Press

Pass-thrus are iffy on the shoulder again. 😦

XWOD

  • 5-5-5-5-5-5-5 Shoulder Press (137.5#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1-2 Explosive Push-ups
    • 2s: Clapping Push-ups
    • 1s: Plyo Push-up (18″)

That was 2.5# up from the 7×5 I did last week. I decided not to start another Smolov Jr. cycle since I want to cut back on the shoulder pressing a little. I’ll wing it going off recent weights.

Accessory

8 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 10s Rest

Never stopped during work time and caught the ball and rested leaning up against it on the wall to let my arms drop. Got 10 every round. Not in danger of having to stop at all.

Conditioning

7:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Air Squats
  • 20 American KBS (53#)
  • 30 DU

Did everything unbroken throughout. Finished 4 full rounds plus the 10 air squats and 20 swings. Didn’t have enough time to grab the rope.

Midline

3 Rounds NFT

  • 20 Russian Twists (53#)
  • 20 Sit-ups

Shoulder the Load

Sunday is always interesting. Started out with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Strength

Shoulder Press

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 3×135#
  • 10x3x147.5#

That finished my second Smolov Jr. cycle. I was hoping to get up to 150, but 147.5 was still a new 3RM PR and an increase of 2.5 pounds over the last session of the first cycle. Can’t argue with improvement. I thought about going right into another cycle, but I’m not sure now. Might try dialing back a little to two shoulder press days a week, especially with the thruster work we’ve started and I need to put some time into working on my jerk. I can still pull numbers and sets from a Smolov Jr. but spread out a lot more than over 3 weeks.

Weightlifting

Snatch

  • EMOM 3:00 – 5×95#
  • 1:00 Rest
  • EMOM 3:00 – 4×115#
  • 1:00 Rest
  • EMOM 3:00 – 3×135#
  • 1:00 Rest
  • E30S 10:00 – 1×155#

All touch and go power snatches. Wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Worked up a great sweat.

Gymnastics

E30S 10:00

  • 4 C2B Pull-ups

Tried all butterfly. Lost the rhythm in some sets after 2 or 3. Never had to drop from the bar though and when I did lose my cycling I reset right back into the next rep.

Conditioning

  • 16 Rounds (Tabata)
    • 20s Thrusters (25#)
    • 10s Rest
  • 4:00 Rest
  • 16 Rounds (Tabata)
    • 20s Thrusters (25#)
    • 10s Rest

People think we’re crazy. I guess maybe we are. I was doing 8 reps throughout again, then did 10 in the last two rounds. So it ended up being 260 thrusters again. The 10# increase made quite a difference in how this felt. Towards the end of the first 8 minutes I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it all the way, but the rest was nice.

Had thought about doing a little metcon with burpee pull-overs. Did a few to try out the movement, but decided we’d done enough for one day.

Shoulders are beat!

Had a bright idea at night to do some push-ups and was going to shoot for a PR at 100 hand release push-ups. Was using the clock to pace myself with 5 reps at a time, but I could tell it was going to be bad, so I stopped at 50 in 2:27. I was already having to break up into smaller sets than 5s and I’d only have a few seconds to spare if I could miraculously keep that same pace for the next 50. Not a good day for more shoulder work. 🙂

Another Mile

Warm-up

  • 3 Rounds
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 5 Push-ups
  • 30 Mountain Climbers

Conditioning

12:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Pull-ups
  • 8 Hang Power Cleans (135#)
  • 10 Burpee over the Box Jumps (24″)

Completed 5 rounds plus 5 pull-ups, 8 cleans, and 5 of the burpee boxes. My burpee box overs were so slow!

10 Rounds

  • 20s Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 40s Rest

Got 10 every round. Easy.

Ran a mile, probably at about an 8:30 pace if I had to guess. Good time to work on shortening my stride and landing midfoot instead of running on my toes.

Strength

Close Grip OHS

  • 2x5x45#
  • 5×75#
  • 5×95#
  • 2×115#
  • 2×135#
  • 2×155#
  • 2×175#
  • 2×185#
  • 1×195#

Up to 135 with pinkies on the inner knurl marks and then after than I had to slowly keep moving them out. With 195# I think my index finger was just outside of the 2nd knurl marks. Still much closer than a snatch grip though.

I let Kevin talk me into running “another mile”, which fucking turned in to nearly 3 miles. A lot of time to practice running technique improvements.

All Day

Played 27 holes of golf today for our last little tournament of the year, so took the day off work. Headed to CFi around 5 for some open gym work. Started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Shoulder Press

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 4×115#
  • 4×135#
  • 8x4x140#

This was for day 3 of week 3 of Smolov Jr. At the end of last week I figured I’d have to dial back my plan a bit and I did today, dropping 2.5# from the planned 142.5#. Just 140# was hard enough. One more day.

Power Cleans

  • EMOM 3:00 – 5×115#
  • Rest 1:00 extra
  • EMOM 3:00 – 4×155#
  • Rest 1:00 extra
  • EMOM 3:00 – 3×195#
  • Rest 1:00 extra
  • E30S 10:00 – 1×225#

All touch and go reps. Was planning for 3-5 minutes of the singles with 225#, but kept pushing and adding more minutes. Finally said fuck it, get to 10. Not sure why, but I was actually running into my knees with the bar sometimes on those heavy reps. Maybe I wasn’t staying over the bar long enough. Last summer I did an EMOM with 225#, but they were squat cleans and it was a struggle! This was twice as many reps in the same amount of time and powering them.

Row

20:00 Easy

I was keeping around a 2:15/500m pace and finished with 4,492 meters.