Month: September 2016

Hollow V-ups

Third day of week 1 of Catalyst OTM. Did some bottom squat hold with the bar on my legs before getting in the cleans. Wore my knee sleeves lifting, but no belt needed.

Clean

  • 5x20kg
  • 5×40
  • 3×60
  • 3×80
  • EMOM
    • 5x1x91kg
    • 5x1x98
  • EMOM
    • 5x1x104

Should have been 15 minutes in a row, but had to help out with class so had a 5-10 minute break.

Clean Pull

  • 3x3x111kg

Wore straps for these and the deadlifts.

Clean Deadlift

3 Segment Clean Deadlift (knee) + 1 Floating Clean Deadlift

  • 3 Sets @ 104kg

Pause Back Squat

  • 3x3x103kg

Paused 3 seconds on each rep.

Midline

Weighted Sit-ups

  • 10×40#
  • 4x10x80#

Haven’t done any of these in years probably. Way too easy on the first set so went as heavy as I could with the dumbbells available.

4 Sets

  • 20 V-ups

I started from a hollow body position and went back to hollow on every rep instead of flopping out to flat on the ground with a loss of tension. Much different!

Will get in a 20 min ROMWOD.

Attending Class

Last night I was feeling sore in my outer pecs. Must have been from the 5×5 push press the day before. Still a little sore to the touch today. Did a 20 minute ROMWOD this morning and walked 18 holes on the golf course in about 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Went to the 5:30 class at Intuition, my first class other than a Sunday in a long time.

Warm-up

  • 3 Rounds
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 30s Wrist Stretch
    • 20 Mountain Climbers
  • Front Squats
    • 5×45#
    • 5×95
    • 5×135

Strength / Power

14:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 15 cal Row
  • 5 Front Squats (185#)

Nasty! Took me just over 30 seconds for the first row and it crept up every round, hitting about 40 seconds the 7th time through. So no much rest going into the squats, which made them heavy! Could not recover going into…

Conditioning

10-8-6-4-2

  • Power Cleans (135#)
  • Over the Bar Burpees
  • 200m Run

I was ok with the cleans, because I was not going to drop the bar, but my heart rate and breathing were still up there from the previous piece so I couldn’t push the burpees or run. Finished in 10:40.

Midline

Weighted Plank (30 seconds)

  • 3×55#
  • 2×80#

Set 1 was the worst I think. I was shaking so much. Got my breathing under control and tightened up for the other sets.

Did not feel very good after this workout. Not sure if it’s my lack of metcons lately or if the pile of McDonald’s I ate less than 3 hours before was a factor.

Nasty? Nah

Got to the track at about 11am and went right into it.

Aerobic Capacity – Lactate Threshold

  • 1600-1200-800-400m (alternating paced 200s)
  • 15s Rest
  • 100m Sprint
  • 5:00 Rest

The target pacing for the 200s was “easy” (37-39 seconds per 100m) followed by “fast” (25-27 seconds per 100m). I was faster than the easy pace every time. My first fast 200 was 54 seconds but was never over 51 seconds the rest of the way. Averaged about 16.5 on the 100s.

When I first saw this workout I figured it was going to be really nasty because I’d just done 2 miles straight of alternating 200s with a slower jog pace than this easy pace. No issues though and I was faster than the prescribed paces in almost every 200 (easy & fast).

Have a 25 minute ROMWOD lined up for today, which I’ll probably do tonight.

Slanted

Did a 20 min ROMWOD this morning before walking 18 holes of golf. Headed out to the garage after 6pm for the 2nd day of the first week of Catalyst OTM.

Split Jerk

  • 5×45#
  • 3×95
  • 3×135
  • 2×165
  • 2×185
  • EMOM
    • 5x1x205
    • 5x1x220
    • 5x1x235

Started feeling heavy in the last 3 reps. After the set with 135# I went to get the next set of plates to add to the bar and all of a sudden… crash, bounce, boom, bounce, bounce! Scared the shit out of me, I look back, and one side of the bar had fallen off the jerk blocks. Learned to roll it to the back of the blocks after each set due to the slant of the garage floor.

floor-dents
Whoops!

Push Press

  • 5x5x175#

Nice being able to go right into it without needing warm-ups after the jerks. Had the belt out, but didn’t use it at all today.

Back Squat Jump

  • 3x3x95#

Seems like pretty low volume, but no complaints from me. Fun exercise.

Midline

5 Sets

  • 20s L-sit (parallettes with knees bent)
  • 1:00 Rest

I’m so bad at these.

5 Sets

  • 10 K2E with twist (alternating sides)

Was supposed to do 4×12, but felt my grip slipping so stopped at 10, kept there for each set, and decided to add another set to make up the volume. I wore my Bear Komplex grips after the first set. They still need a fair bit of break-in.

On The Minute

First day of a new lifting program. I’m going with Catalyst Athletic’s On The Minute Cycle, which I got out of the weightlifting bible. Out in the garage at 10am. Not wearing the knee sleeves today for a change.

Snatch

  • 5×45#
  • 3×95
  • 2×115
  • 1×135
  • 1×145
  • 15:00 EMOM
    • 5x1x155
    • 5x1x165
    • 5x1x175

Felt good to be able to hit full lifts from the floor after the Vaughn program and all of it’s tempo/pause work. Tried to work on receiving the bar where it was and not putting more into the bar than I needed to. Haven’t recorded lifts in awhile, but had the GoPro on the ground which produced a shitty angle…

Need to keep an eye on that jumping back. Don’t want it to be too excessive.

Snatch Pull

  • 3x3x185#

Pulls have always felt awkward to me, but for some reason they felt normal today. Wore straps. Tried to focus on leg drive and staying on my heels as long as I could.

Snatch Deadlift

3 Segment Snatch Deadlift (knee) + 1 Floating Snatch Deadlift

  • 3 Sets @ 175#

Wore straps for these too, but easy compared to the heavier loads used in the last program, which often included more pauses or tempo.

Back Squat

E2M – 12:00

  • 5×155#
  • 5×205
  • 5×235
  • 3x5x265

I forgot I was supposed to be doing a tempo descent, so didn’t start until the 3 working sets. It was a 5 second eccentric on rep 1. I was going to go beltless, but suspected the tempo would not be fun. I was right, so I’m glad I strapped it on for the working sets.

The OTM work really sets the tone for the entire session. I was finished with all of the lifts in under an hour, which never happened in the Vaughn program. It also helps a lot that each lift leads into the next one so you don’t need to warm-up different movements.

Midline

  • 5 Sets
    • 8 Weighted GHD Sit-ups (30#)
  • 4 Sets
    • 15 Lying Leg Raise

I’m going to try to stick with their recommended ab work with each session and can easily use my GHD as part of it. All sets of one movement were completed before going to the next movement.

I am however going to cut back and just try to get in 3 lifting days per week so I can hit a few more metcons here and there. My body doesn’t respond very well to lifting 4-5 days a week.

Walked 18 holes after lunch and will hit a 21 minute ROMWOD tonight.

Alternating 200s

My ankles were really tight last night doing ROMWOD and they are a bit sore this morning. Must be from the double unders because my calves are sore too. Went to the track before lunch.

Aerobic Capacity – VO2 Max

2016-09-12-200sWarmed up with an easy 400m jog.

8 Sets

  • 200m at target pace
  • 200m jog

Target for #1-3 was 54s, #4-6 was 52s, and #7-8 was 51s, which I was able to hit with ease. All my splits are in the screenshot. Walked a lap before heading home.

Wanted to hit a garage session in the afternoon, but got some yard work done instead. ROMWOD for 20 minutes tonight.

Not Even An Hour

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Shoulder Stretching
  • Ladder Footwork Drills
  • 5 Power Snatch (45#)
  • 3 Power Snatch (75#)

Getting better at some of the drills. One leg is definitely dominant.

Conditioning

8:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Power Snatch (75#)
  • 10 Bar-facing Burpees

Unbroken every round on the snatches. Getting the hang of my new bar-facing burpee steps better and better each time I do them. Dare I say I’m starting to enjoy them? First round was done in just over a minute, which I knew wasn’t sustainable, but I think is good for me instead of always pacing so much. Good to push the gas more. Finished 5 Rounds plus the 10 snatches.

Skill & Midline

  • 4 Tabata DU
  • 40s Rest
  • 4 Tabata Supermans
  • 40s Rest
  • 4 Tabata DU
  • 40s Rest
  • 4 Tabata Hollow Rocks

Basically just 1 Tabata round off between movements. Never missed a double under and think the Zeus rope is really helping with shoulder fatigue. I got 149 dubs, 44 Supermans, 150 dubs, and 72 hollow rocks.

Overhead Stability / Carry

  • 600m OH Single-arm KB Carry (44#)

Increase in distance, so went lighter. Switched arms about every 100 meters.

We finished in less than an hour today. Will get in a 21 min ROMWOD at some point.

Too Heavy

After staying up for the iPhone 7 pre-order, I took a needed rest day yesterday. I’ve had this crazy idea to try a 225# “Grace” for months. Today was finally going to be the day.

C&J Warm-up

  • 5×45#
  • 3×95
  • 3×135
  • 2×165
  • 2×185
  • 1×205

Heavy Heavy Grace

Oh boy, 205# was already feeling heavy in the warm-up. I got through 4 reps with 225# right around a minute in. Then I failed the jerk on the 5th rep. Enough of that! I am not fit enough; it would have taken me way too long to finish. So I rested up and lightened the load.

  • 30 C&J (185#)

This was more my level. Tried not to rest too much and happy with the result. Made it through 11 reps before I started to reset between the clean and the jerk. Finished in 6:59, which is the time domain I was looking for. I was so uncomfortable after I finished, I had to get everything off. Then for a few seconds I thought I might actually puke. My splits every 5 reps were:

  • 5 – 0:40
  • 10 – 1:42 (1:02)
  • 15 – 3:02 (1:20)
  • 20 – 4:39 (1:37)
  • 25 – 5:56 (1:17)
  • 30 – 6:59 (1:03)

Really slowed through the middle.

Aerobic Capacity – Strength Endurance

Took a solid recovery time and headed outside.

6 Sets

  • 25′ Broad Jump
  • 200m Run (Target = 0:39)
  • 2:00 Rest

Some of the instructions for this one said 10 jumps OR 25 feet. Using the distance seemed much better logistically to me, but after doing it I feel like I probably missed out on a lot of the intended response since I did the 25 feet in 4 jumps. I was easily under the target on the 200s every round since I didn’t mark off a 100m spot to check my pace. My run times were 36, 37, 36, 38, 38, and 37 seconds. Including the rests it took me 14:35 to finish.

Nineteen minute ROMWOD in the afternoon.

100% Open

Trip to the gym before lunch.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 5:00 Air Dyne – 1.5 miles
  • 5 OHS (45#)
  • 5 OHS (95#)

Open Workout 11.4

10:00 AMRAP

  • 60 Bar-facing Burpees
  • 30 OHS (120/90#)
  • 10 MU

I’ve had this one on my list for quite some time, especially since it was the lone remaining Open workout I hadn’t attempted. Without being able to do muscle-ups for 8+ months, it’s been on hold. Finally got to it today.

I was able to stick with my new BFB technique pretty much the whole time and felt pretty good. Finished them in 4:59, took a breather to put on the belt and then did the overhead squats in sets of 8-8-8-6. They went much better than I expected. Could have pushed for 3 sets, maybe 11-10-9. Finished the squats at 7:59. I planned to try going 3-3-2-2 on the rings, but had to go 3-2-2-2-1 instead. Had enough time left to get in 1 burpee.

Achievement unlocked… 💯% CrossFit Open Workouts!!

Midline / Skill / Conditioning

img_8092“Annie Up”

  • 50-40-30-20-10 Zeus DU
  • 25-20-15-10-5 GHD Sit-ups

I kept playing around with different rep schemes when planning my workouts for the week, mainly focused on getting in a bunch of GHD volume. At the last minute I decided on this upgrade to an already upgraded “Annie” I’ve done a couple of times with a regular rope. My best time had been 6:04 just over a year ago when I did it last. It’s a lot different with the Zeus rope and I have to admit I didn’t put the pedal to the floor today on this.

I did start off with a PR unbroken set of 35 Zeus dubs and then 15 to finish the 50. In the round of 40 I went 13-15-12 and then the 30-20-10 were each done unbroken. I never stopped when I was on the GHD but wasn’t going very fast either. Ended up taking 7:44.

Now I think I’ll hit the golf course (rode a quick 9 holes before leagues) and do a 23 minute ROMWOD tonight.

Vaughn Is Complete

Did a 22 min ROMWOD this morning and then sat around on my ass most of the day. This humidity is exhausting. Got to the gym a bit after 4.

Front Squat

Pause 5 seconds on the first rep of each set.

  • 6x20kg
  • 6×60
  • 4×90
  • 2×102
  • 6x2x111

Warming up the bar felt really heavy. Thought I’d have to go with the minimum 3 second pause. Just took some sets to get loose I guess because the working sets felt really good.

Snatch balance + OHS

  • 2x20kg
  • 2×33
  • 2×40
  • 2×50
  • 1×60
  • 1×68
  • 1×74
  • 1×80
  • 1×85
  • 1×89
  • 1×92

The instructions were to go for a max today. Finally on something! The last two sets were both PRs on my snatch balance, beating the 195# I’d done previously. Glad not to have any misses, even with the extra overhead squat. Maybe could have gone heavier, but it was time to move on with a lot of reps left in the session. Maybe wore the belt starting with 74?

Snatch

3 second lift off on every rep.

  • 3x20kg
  • 3×40
  • 3×50
  • 3×60
  • 3×70
  • 3×75
  • 2×80
  • 1×80
  • 3x1x85

I think I started dropping between reps with 60 kilos. I went for the 3rd rep in a row with 80 but was breathing pretty good already and just rushed it. Rested before making the final rep. First attempt with 85 was falling behind me. Felt pretty solid to make the final 3 singles.

Clean & Jerk

Clean with 3 second lift off and jerk with 3 second pause in split.

  • 3x40kg
  • 3×60
  • 2×80
  • 2×91
  • 2×98
  • 2x1x104
  • 2x1x111

Wore the belt with 91 and over. Started to feel my back a little with the final weight.

That’s a wrap on the Vaughn program! Excited to switch it up and get back to doing some lifts without pauses or tempo. This was a really solid base program though. It took me 5 weeks and 3 days to get through, which isn’t too bad considering I had a minor back tweak that set me back and spaced the workouts out a bit more to help my body recover.

I’m going to do a few different things for the rest of this week and probably part of next week, but continue running, and then start a new lifting program middle to late next week.