Month: December 2014

Sayonara 2014

Didn’t sleep well and I was feeling pretty rough when I rolled out of bed. Ran the 9am class.

We warmed up with a game of Rowling for something different.

2014-12-31-rowling

I did a cycle through with an empty bar and then with 95#.

25:00 AMRAP – Teams of 3

  • 5 Deadlifts (115#)
  • 4 Hang Power Cleans (115#)
  • 3 Front Squats (115#)
  • 2 Push Press (115#)

* One person does an entire round at a time, while the other 2 rest.
* If you don’t do your round unbroken everyone on the team has to do 3 burpees after you finish your round before the next person can start. Incentive for people not to go too heavy.

Felt good after getting moving. Michelle, her sister, and I got about 23 and a half rounds. I was last so did 23 full rounds. Glad I decided to go with 115# instead of 135#, which allowed me to bust ass. The burpee penalty worked; people picked appropriate weights, and no burpees were done.

I had planned on doing some intervals on the Ski Erg at night, but I was exhausted. With all of the lifting last night and over 300 reps with the barbell today, my body is tired!

It was a good close to 2014. I’m feeling good and am happy with the change to CrossFit Intuition in the middle of the year. Looking forward to the Open and getting fitter in 2015.

Where Did 2014 Go?

Had a great massage yesterday and got adjusted at the chiro. Ran the 9am class (and worked out) since Kevin is traveling.

Warm-up

2 Rounds NFT

  • 300m Row
  • 10 Shoulder Pass-thrus
  • 10/10 Arm Circles

Strength

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 3×135#
  • 10:00 EMOM – 3×145#

Turned very rough is the last few sets, especially the first rep of each set.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 8 Weighted Push-ups (60#)
  • 15 GHD Sit-ups

Talk about a tricep burn after the presses!

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

  • 10 OH Walking Lunges (45#)
  • 10 KB Deadlifts (62#)
  • 20 Mountain Climbers

The deadlifts were deceiving and burned my legs more than the lunges. I did 8 rounds plus the lunges and deadlifts.

Skill

3 Sets

  • 20 MU Pulldowns

Thought they might be extra rough after the arm work, but they weren’t any worse than the other day.

Headed out to the garage around 5:30 or so. Warmed up with 500m on the Ski Erg in 2:10 and then some 45# snatch position work.

Tall Snatch

  • 3×45#
  • 3×75#
  • 3×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 1×125#
  • 1×135#
  • ✘ 140#
  • 1×140#
  • 1×145#
  • 1×150#
  • 1×155#
  • ✘ 160#
  • 1×160#
  • ✘ 165#

I had determined the weights ahead of time up to 135# and then wanted to keep adding 5#. When I failed 3 times I was done. So I was pissed when I missed at 140#, especially since I hit 145# for a triple last week. I was also holding the last rep of each set for 5 second is the bottom before standing up. Had a couple of big saves in there and was happy to hit 160#.

Back Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 4×155#
  • 4×205#
  • 4×225#
  • 4×245#
  • 4×265#
  • 2×275#
  • 2×285#
  • 2×295#
  • 2×305#
  • 2×315#
  • 2×325#
  • 2×335#

Hell yeah! My original plan was to maybe hit 315#. Was feeling good so I kept going and the last set even felt really good. Didn’t want to push it more since I just hit 345# for a single a few days ago. Slow and steady progress works for me. Lots of volume!

I strapped up a green band on the GHD and did 3 sets of 15 reverse hypers. Will do some rolling on the low back and hit it with the e-stim too.

Faster Recovery

Yesterday’s workout was a lot more intense than I had planned. Need that every so often though. Getting a massage and have a trip to the chiropractor today. Headed out to the garage after waking up for same active recovery.

30:00 Air Dyne (AD2)

My recovery pace is getting faster without any trouble. I even thought of going for 40 minutes today as I approached the last few minutes. Went 15.22km.

“Death” is Appropriate

I’m feeling those banded ring pulldowns through my back and arms. Legs feel the squats a bit too.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Rolling lower back
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Shoulder mobility

Death by C&J

With a continuously running clock…

  • 1 Clean & Jerk (135#) in the first minute
  • 2 Clean & Jerks (135#) in the second minute
  • 3 Clean & Jerks (135#) in the third minute
  • Continuing this for as long as you are able.

I’ve only done this once, 2.5 years ago, and I only got 4+4. Today I did touch and go through the 4th round and switched to singles in the 5th minute. Ended up getting 10+9. Almost a full “Grace” in the last 3 minutes. Gets so brutal at the end. My goal was to be able to make it through 10 so I’m really happy with that.

Skills

8 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s T2B
  • 10s Rest

2:00 Rest

8 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s DU
  • 10s Rest

I got 57 toes to bars and 209 double unders.

Conditioning

21-15-9

  • Deadlift (185#)
  • Box Jump (24″)
  • Wall Ball (20#, 10′)

Was feeling pretty beat early on with this. Took me 7:06. Huge leg burner!

Accessory

  • 100 Shoulder Taps

Did them in 4 sets: 30-30-20-20.

Back in the Garage

In the afternoon I put the new handles on the Ski Erg and felt like working out. I haven’t hit a garage session is way too long. Warmed up with a 500m ski in 2:10.6.

Ski Erg Handles v2

Back Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×155#
  • 3×205#
  • 3×225#
  • 3×245#
  • 3×265#
  • 3×285#
  • 1×295#
  • 1×305#
  • 1×315#
  • 1×325#
  • 1×335#
  • 1×345#

Rectus Femoris CompressionFeeling good! Getting more used to the shoes and belt each time I wear them. Only 15# shy of my previous best and decided that was enough since it’s 10# more than I’ve done since the back tweaks. No need to rush it. I can feel some squat PRs coming in January for sure.

Used the new Rogue training plates finally. I can fit 295# on the bar where 205# of Hi-Temps would fit before.

I’m 95% sure I’ve narrowed down my leg issue to the rectus femoris of the quad muscles. Starting to try some compression (too 3 bands!) and e-stim to see if that’ll make it feel better. I could definitely feel it at times when squatting, but didn’t seem to affect me.

Accessory

Banded MU Ring Pulldowns

  • 20 Red band @ 7’3″ bar
  • 2×20 Red band @ 7’3″ bar, sitting on 55# bumper

These come from CrossFit Training via Vivendi Lab. I’m an inch or so away from being able to do strict muscle-ups, so these should really help me out. Sitting on the bumper plate allowed me get full extension through the ring dip portion or else I would hit the ground with my knuckles.

Conditioning

  • 3,000m Ski Erg

Pretty sure that is the longest distance I’ve done at a high intensity. Even beat my 2,000m PR in the process, which goes to show I had no idea what I was doing when I first got the machine. My last 1,000m was the fastest of the 3 too. The 500m splits were 2:04.9, 2:06, 2:04.2, 2:04.5, 2:02.8, and 2:00.2. Not sure what I was doing in the second 500m. My 2,000m time was 8:19.6 and 3,000m was 12:22.6.

That was fun! Need to hit some solo stuff every week again. The quiet is nice, I can do whatever I want, and it’s a good time to think.

35

It’s my birthday!

Headed to the gym at 4 for a bro session.

Warm-up

  • Rolling and Stretching
  • 500m Row
  • 3x10x210 Reverse Hypers
  • Bottom Squat Hold

Clean & Jerk

  • 2x3x40kg
  • 2x50kg
  • 2x60kg
  • 2x70kg
  • 2x80kg
  • 2x90kg
  • 1x97kg
  • 1x102kg
  • 1x105kg
  • 1x108kg
  • 1x110kg
  • 1x113kg
  • 1x115kg
  • 1x118kg (PR)
  • 1x120kg (PR)

My jerks still got pretty terrible in the last few as I knew it was getting heavy. Almost more of a push jerk really, without much dropping under the bar. Cleans were easy. My shoulder started to feel a little funky so I stopped the jerks there and did a couple more lifts. 120kg is about 265#, which is a 10# PR on my C&J as well as my jerk. Damn that was a lot of lifts! Alex and I were going lift for lift, which was a lot of fun and a good push.

Clean

  • 1x123kg (PR)
  • 1x125kg (PR)

Had never even attempted more than 265# before so these were both first tries. Not much trouble. About 275-276#. I’ll take PRs in 3 lifts in one day. 🙂 Didn’t chicken out on any of the weights either for a 100% day.

Jumped back on the reverse hyper for 3x10x210 to protect my back.

Merry Burpees

Enjoyed the rest day yesterday. Tried to do some work on my leg with a rolling-pin and a tennis ball. While mom and dad were at church, I did my own worship…

100 Burpees

My goal was sub-6 and I did it with ease, beating my previous best by 39 seconds in 5:37. I had 21 reps at 1:00 and 40 at 2:00, then just tried to hold on and keep moving at a solid pace.

xmas-burpees

Rested for 5 or 10 minutes and then jumped on the Air Dyne (AD2) for 10:00 for 3.31 miles.

Now I won’t feel too guilty as I snack on shit the rest of the day.

Catching up to the Clean and Jerk

Why am I setting an alarm on vacation? Hauled my ass to the gym at 9am, but wasn’t really feeling up for the workout after the last couple of days beat me up a bit.

Warm-up

  • 2x10x210# Reverse Hypers
  • 500m Row (2:02)
  • 10×210# Reverse Hypers
  • Bottom Squat Hold

Strength

Thruster

  • 5×45#
  • 3×95#
  • 2×135#
  • 1×165#
  • 1×185#
  • 1×205#
  • 1×225#
  • 1×240#
  • Fx250# (hit my chin!)
  • 1×250#

All taken from the ground. Fuck it, might as well go far another PR even though I just did it 4 weeks ago. Now it’s only 5# below my max C&J. Embarrassing.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 500m Row (<= 2,000m PR pace)
  • 2:00 Rest

Wanted to get faster each round. Splits were 1:46.8, 1:46.7, 1:46.2, and 1:45.2. Mission accomplished.

Went back at 5:30 for some lifting. I did some foam rolling on my quads and then smashed them with a barbell for about 15 minutes. Owww! I did some snatch progressions with am empty bar to loosen up.

Tall Snatch

  • 2x3x45#
  • 2x3x75#
  • 2x3x95#
  • 2x3x105#
  • 3×115#
  • 3×125#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×145#

Wasn’t expecting to get that high, but ride the wave when it’s working!

Tall Clean

  • 3×135#
  • 2x3x165#
  • 3×185#
  • 2x3x205#

Rough at the end. Wanted to spend more time on the clean than on the snatch, but the work should have some carryover. Left thumb is getting a little tore up, so will be good to have a couple of days off. Jumped on the reverse hyper for 3x10x210# after having some of the 3rd reps crash on me a bit.

Squat Tools

I’m a little beat up this morning in a fatigued way. Mid back near the bottom of my scaps is sore. In for the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • 3x10x210# Reverse Hypers
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 10 Toe Touches
  • 25 Jumping Jacks

Strength

Back Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×235#
  • 5x5x255#
  • 5×275#
  • 5×285#

The last 7 sets were done every 90 seconds. I used a belt and my weightlifting shoes today. The weight felt really heavy but started to feel better as I got into the sets of 255. I think I had to get used to a new position with the shoes on. Could feel myself leaning to the left side on some reps due to this weird knot in my right leg that I’ve had for a couple of months now. Need to figure out how to fix it.

squat-tools

Accessory

4 Sets NFT

  • 6 Weighted Push-ups
  • 6 Weighted V-ups

Used a 40# sandbag for the push-ups. 20# DB for first set of V-ups and then 30# DB for the other 3 sets.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 2:00 AMRAP
    • 3 Bear Complex (115#)
    • 8 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 1:00 Rest

The bear always wins. Gave myself a push at the end though. The wall balls really surprised me. I could barely throw the ball up in my last round. We continued each AMRAP where we left off. I got 2+1, then through 4, and finished with 6+1.

Jumped back on the reverse hyper for 3x10x210# after cooling off.

Christmas Couplets

I’ve been excited about this one since I finished making it last Sunday. Probably made at least 10-15 changes to the met-cons until if felt right.

2014-12-21-couplets

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 3x10x210# Reverse Hyper
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Stretching

XWOD

  • 5-5-5-5-5 Bench Press
  • 2-1-2-1-2 HSPU
    • 2s: Kipping HSPU
    • 1s: Kipping Deficit HSPU (6″)

Including warm-up sets, I benched:

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×165#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×195#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×215#
  • 5×225#

It was actually programmed for 6 rounds, but our group was a little slow with Kevin helping out some people, so I cut myself a round short. Still hit a new 5RM on my bench press after not benching in over a month.

Conditioning

“Christmas Couplets”

  • @ 0:00 – 3 Rounds
    • 3 MU / 6 C2B / 9 Pull-ups
    • 6 Snatches (95/65)
  • @ 10:00 – 5-10-15
    • Back Squats (135/95)
    • Bar-facing Burpees
  • @ 20:00 – 15-10-5
    • Deadlifts (205/135)
    • Ring Push-ups / Push-ups
  • @ 30:00 – 3 Rounds
    • 10 T2B
    • 100 DU

The goal for the first 3 parts was to scale appropriately to finish each part under 5:00. Then make the 4th section a challenge and keep fighting since there was nothing else to rest for.

I screwed up my first muscle-up again, but didn’t need to come off the rings and as able to get my 3 in. Got 3 in the second set, then hit the wall on my third set and kept missing them. I should have rested more. Probably missed 5 or 6 times before I got in my 3. Held on for all of the snatches. Still was able to finish in 3:28 but could have been close to 2:00 if my muscles-ups hadn’t given out.

Part 2 was just a grinder that you had to fight through once you got into the 2nd and 3rd round. Took me 4:10 to finish.

I had actually programmed the 3rd part to have push-ups first, but we messed up. Worked out fine though. Everything unbroken and finished in 1:53. Quick one but a nice little burn.

The 4th part sucked with the double unders. Was lucky to get sets of 15 or 20 in and eventually started stopping myself at those numbers to try to keep from burning out. Was a ride on the struggle bus and the middle of my back was cramping up during the dubs. I did all sets of toes to bars unbroken though. Took me 7:19 to get done.