Year: 2014

Running the Show

I got to CFi a little after 8 to hit some stuff on my own. Kevin has been out-of-town so I ran the 9am class for him. I did Crossover Symmetry Activation and then got after it.

Gymnastics

5:00 AMRAP

  • 3 Strict Pull-ups
  • 3 Strict Ring Dips

Was a fun was to get in some reps without taking all day. I got 10 rounds.

Weightlifting

  • 5×45# Muscle Snatch
  • 3×75# Muscle Snatch
  • 3×95# Muscle Snatch
  • 2×115# Snatch
  • 2×135# Snatch
  • 2×155# Snatch
  • 1×165# Snatch
  • 1×175# Snatch
  • 4x1x185# Snatch

Felt so money today! No misses. It was one of those days where I would have loved to keep going, but class time was starting, so I had to end it.

I didn’t do the warm-up with class (already plenty warm) or really the skill work of double unders either because I was trying to help people out with them. I warmed up a couple of quick shoulder press sets with 6×95# and 6×115#.

Strength

6 Rounds (Every 1:20, alternating)

  • 6 Shoulder Press (130#)
  • 6/6 Kroc Rows (62# KB)

I missed a set of Kroc Rows in the middle when I was screwing with the music.

Conditioning

4:00 AMRAP

  • 15 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 10 T2B

Rest 2:00 & Repeat

I got 3+15 and 3+12. All wall balls were unbroken sets. I think I did my first set of toes to bar unbroken and then 6-4 for all of the others. Should try to push myself more with those. Grip on the bar felt good with them today.

Super Super Sunday

Up early to start Super Sunday at CFi at 8:30 with Alex and Brent. I did Crossover Symmetry Activation and then some light stretching.

Warm-up

  • 10×45# Back Squat
  • 2×24″ Box jump
  • 5×135# Back Squat
  • 2×30″ Box jump
  • 5×185# Back Squat
  • 1×38″ Box jump
  • 5×215# Back Squat
  • 1×41″ Box jump

XWOD

  • 5-5-5-3-3-1 Back Squat
    • 5×235#
    • 5×255#
    • 5×275#
    • 3×290#
    • 3×300#
    • 1×315#
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1 Box Jump
    • 2s: 43.5″
    • 1s: 47.25″

I wasn’t even thinking, but that’s a standing box jump PR. I’d done 47.5″ seated, but never that high standing. Squats felt good with my back. Slowly building it back up. Haven’t attempted 300+ in weeks.

Weightlifting & Gymnastics

Did 5×45#and 3×95# muscle snatches, then 2×135# power snatches.

10:00 EMOM

  • 2 Power Snatches (155#)
  • 4 C2B Pull-ups

Both movements back to back every minute. Felt solid. Butterfly is getting easier and easier. Figured I’d switch up the chest to bar work today by pairing it up with a lift and kill 2 birds with one stone.

Thruster Attack

4 Rounds

  • 3:00 Tabata
    • 20s Thrusters (45#)
    • 10s Rest
  • 1:30 Rest

I think last week was much worse, so hopefully means this work is paying off. I really enjoy being able to think about improving different parts of the squat and press during all of these reps. Pushing the bar back on the press in having a good carryover to my other overhead lifting movements. I did 8 reps every work period except for the final one when I busted out 10.

Brent talked me into going over to Survival Fitness for the 11am class for a partner workout with him. Sure, why not! It was a big class with 30 people. We formed 2 lines and did a dynamic warm-up of stuff like zombie kicks, lunge & twist, butt kicks, bear crawls, power skips, and I don’t remember what else. Then teams split up into the different areas and we rotated between 3 different 10 minute workouts.

10:00 AMRAP

  • 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 OHS (75#)
  • 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Ring Rows

* Partner A does a round of 10 and then partner B does a round of 10. Same with 9 and so on. After the round of 1, start again with 10.

We were cruising for the most part with ring rows slowing us down a bit. I started us off, we got through the entire ladder, both did another round of 10, I got through the round of 9, and then Brent got 8 of 9 OHS.

Rest 3:00

10:00 AMRAP

  • 15 cal Air Dyne (AD6)
  • 80′ Burpee Broad Jump

* One partner working at a time. Split up work however you want.

I started off on the AD, Brent came at my from the other side of the building for 40′ of the burpee broad jumps, and then I did the second half. Then he was ready to go on the AD and we kept using that same strategy throughout, which worked really well. We got through 9 rounds of the AD (so I did 5) and then Brent was one burpee broad jump short of getting us 40′.

Rest 3:00

10:00

  • MAX Prowler Push
    • 50′ High Push
    • 50′ Low Push

We got in 2 attempts each. I did 270# on the sled (which weighted another 20# or so) and then 360#. Pretty brutal after all the work I’d done so far for the day.

Off to golf 18 (with card) this afternoon. I should sleep well tonight!

Eat Like Shit

Feeling good. Went to the 10am class at CFi and then stayed for some open gym time to row. While Alex was teaching the class cleans, I took a spot on the platform.

Weightlifting

  • 3 Hang Muscle Cleans (95#)
  • 3 Muscle Cleans (115#)
  • 3 Muscle Cleans (135#)
  • 2 Power Cleans (155#)
  • 2 Cleans (175#)
  • 2 Cleans (195#)
  • 2 Cleans (205#)
  • 2 Cleans (225#)
  • 2 Cleans (235#)
  • 2 Cleans (245#)

Conditioning

EMOM 16:00

  • Odds: 5 Hang Power Cleans
  • Evens: 30s Plank

I had 155# on the bar for the first round and it was way too easy, so I went to 175# for the next 5 rounds, then 185# for a round and finished with 195#. I held the last plank for 1:15.

3 Rounds

  • 2,000m Row
  • 8:00 Rest

The goal was to try to keep a 1:45/500m pace and PR on the first attempt. Then hold a 2:00/500m pace for the other two attempts. I was holding the pace up until about 750m left. Managed a 7:01.6 for a 9.5 second PR. So close to sub 7! Probably didn’t need to take so much rest in between, but I wanted to make sure I was recovered enough. Rowed 7:58.6 and 7.54.3 on the other attempts.

2k Row History

I looked back through my records and put all of my 2k rows into BTWB so I could see the improvement over time. I’ve dropped nearly 40 seconds! Today my average pace was faster than my opening 500m pace when I first attempted this distance in December of 2012.

My shitty diet doesn’t seem to be negatively affecting my performance in the gym. Doesn’t make much sense. Or would I be performing a lot better with quality food?

Later in the afternoon I figured I’d test out a set of strict pull-ups. I got 13, which is actually a PR by 1 from May of 2013. Would be a lot easier if I was 5-10 pounds lighter.

Pounding

Woke up with a headache, but hit the pavement around 8am. Went for a 30 minute active recovery run, covering 3.14 miles. Then I walked about a half mile to get home.

Switching up from strict pull-ups on this rest day to some different sets of push-ups. Did one big set for each type of push-up, stopping a few reps shy of failure. Undefined rest between sets as I did them during breaks from working. Was done over the course of a few hours.

  • 20 Clapping Push-ups
  • 30 Wide Push-ups
  • 25 Diamond Push-ups
  • 20 Ring Push-ups
  • 30 Push-ups

Can you tell I like pretty numbers? I cut the ring push-ups pretty short because I didn’t want to get strap burns on my arms. Next time I’d be sure to put on my shin skins.

Thruster Thursday

Getting back to my early wake-ups after managing to sleep in later for a couple of weeks. So had enough time to go through my morning routine and get to CFi early to get in heavy thrusters before the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Thrusters
    • 5×45#
    • 5×95#

Thruster Attack

Every 1:30 for 9:00 (6 sets)

  • 8×135#

Not too bad. Got me breathing pretty hard. Maybe too much rest. Will make adjustments to the plan for upcoming weeks.

Warm-up #2

  • 2 Rounds
    • 4 Inch Worms
    • 10 Good Mornings (45#)
  • Deadlifts
    • 5×155#
    • 5×245#
    • 3×315#

Strength

EMOM 8:00

  • 2 Deadlifts (365#)

Gymnastics

4 Rounds NFT

  • 4 MU
  • 5 Strict Ring Dips (right after MU)

Nice burn and got me out of breath. Have started to get the hang of pushing away from the rings at the top after finishing the muscle-up, instead of lowing back to the bottom of the dip and then falling. It’s definitely a different cycling into the next rep.

Conditioning

15:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 10 Burpees
  • 250m Run

I got through 5 full rounds plus 10 deadlifts and 10 burpees at 14:44 on the clock. No sense starting a run. All deadlifts and burpees were unbroken.

Walked 200m to cool down a little.

Afternoon intervals on the SkiErg! Warmed up with an easy 500m in 2:23.6. I think this interval workout may have come from Athlete Cell, but I don’t remember where I saved it from.

6 Rounds

  • 20s @ 100%
  • 40s @ 50%

Rest 3:00

4 Rounds

  • 30s @ 100%
  • 1:00 @ 50%

Rest 3min

2 Rounds

  • 45s @ 100%
  • 1:30 @ 50%

I went about 1,285m, 1,280m, and 950m in each of the blocks. Was able to get down in the low 1:30s during some of the short ones. Stayed under 1:40 almost the entire time when going 100%. Went at about a 3:00/500m pace for my 50% efforts.

High & Heavy

Not feeling very energized this morning, but in for the 9am at CFi.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Band Pulls & Pass Thrus
  • 20 Air Squats
  • Shoulder Press
    • 5×45#
    • 5×95#
    • 3×115#
    • 3×135#

XWOD

  • 3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 Shoulder Press (150#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1 Wall Balls
    • 2s: 20# MB to 13′ target
    • 1s: 25# Slam Ball to 13′ target

That’s a new 3RM on my shoulder press again and for 8 sets! Took some getting used to throwing the 25# ball so high, but was getting the last couple.

Conditioning

2 Rounds

  • 2:00 AMRAP
    • 10 Burpees
    • 10 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 AMRAP
    • 10 Goblet Squats (53# KB)
    • 10 Russian KBS (53# KB)
  • 1:00 Rest

All GO in these little AMRAPs. I went unbroken through everything, never having the kettlebell touch the ground. I got 2+5, 3+11, 2+3, and 3+8, so only fell off the pace a little the second time through.

Midline

3 Rounds NFT

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

Hit an afternoon snatch session in the garage. Warmed up with

  • 5×45# Muscle Snatch
  • 5×45# Snatch Press
  • 5×45# OHS
  • 3×75# Muscle Snatch
  • 3×75# Snatch Press
  • 3×75# OHS
  • 3×95# Power Snatch

Then I did a little complex of:

  • Power from floor w/ 2s pause at knee
  • Squat from hang at knee

I started at 115# and went up 5# at a time until I hit 160, so 10 sets.

Then I was planning to do an EMOM with a double squat snatch with 165#. Missed the second attempt in the first minute and then missed another attempt at it. So I started over. 🙂

10:00 EMOM

  • 2×155# Squat Snatch

I had one miss on the 2nd rep in round 6 but took a breath, concentrated, and hit a second make right after the miss. From that point on I really had to focus. My thoughts were on being explosive through the second pull and finishing strong to punch the bar overhead. I think a lot of my misses are because I’m not aggressive with the bar at the end and I lose tension.

Walked about a half mile after.

Labor Day

Feeling a little tight this morning but nothing is overly or noticeably sore. Hit up the Labor Day 10am at CFi. “Do Work” on Labor Day, right?

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 400m Run
  • Box Jump Drills

30:00 Partner AMRAP of “Jack”

  • 10 Push Press (95#)
  • 10 American KBS (53#)
  • 10 Box Jumps (24″)

Decided to scale back from the Rx 115# done in “Jack” so that I wouldn’t have to break up the push presses. Partnered with Alex. He started and got through 12 rounds. I got 11+10 and was able to keep everything unbroken, actually getting faster and busting through the push presses in the later rounds. Watched the clock on a couple of my rounds and they were right around 1:00. That was a fun workout and we had a good turnout.

Labor Day 2014

Started to do some front squats after, but just wasn’t feeling it.

Front Squats

  • 5×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×225#

My shoulders need a rest day tomorrow.

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!