Month: March 2017

Great Monday

I felt a little twinge in my back a few times as I moved around the house. Otherwise feeling good after yesterday’s workouts.

Warm-up – 3 Sets

  • 10 Air Squats
  • 8 Strict Chin-ups

Weightlifting

Work up to a daily max power clean + squat clean.

  • 4 @ 45#
  • 2 @ 95
  • 2 @ 135
  • 185
  • 205
  • 225
  • 245
  • 265
  • 275

Wasn’t sure how my back would hold up, but was able to hit a PR on my power clean and this is only 11# under the most I’ve cleaned!

Conditioning

20:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 5 Strict HSPU
  • 5 Power Cleans (185#)

Programmed as 10-12 strict handstand push-ups! Yeah right. I was able to hold on and do every set of power cleans touch-n-go. I probably could have done 6 HSPU each set, but not much more. Really good EMOM though. Was drenched in sweat at the halfway point.

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 MU

Figured this would be rough after all of the bar muscle-ups in 17.2 yesterday. Working on jumping into the first rep like I was able to get going on the bar. Usually I grab the rings from right underneath and then lift my legs up. The jump is must faster and more efficient. I was also working a little bit on using the back swing of my legs to drive me up through the dip motion. Made it through every set unbroken but didn’t have much left.

That was a lot of muscle-ups over 4 days! My hands need a break. Leaving for Austin, TX in the morning.

17.2 Redo & More

Rested yesterday so I could redo today. Could have probably even retried yesterday, though my shoulders were a little tight. In at 12:30.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • Banded shoulder stretching
  • PVC passes
  • Reverse Hyper Heel Drives
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Air Squats
  • Dead hang
  • 2:30 Airdyne

CrossFit Games Open Workout 17.2

12:00 AMRAP

  • 2 Rounds
    • 50′ Weighted Walking Lunge (2×50# DBs)
    • 16 Toes-to-bars
    • 8 DB Power Cleans (2×50# DBs)
  • 2 Rounds
    • 50′ Weighted Walking Lunge
    • 16 Bar Muscle-ups
    • 8 DB Power Cleans
  • Every 5-foot interval of the 50″ (25″ out and back), represents 1 rep of the lunge.

With my first attempt not affecting grip at all I knew bigger and fewer sets would buy me some time. I did 6-5-5 on both rounds of T2B, 6-2 on 2 sets of cleans, and all 8 cleans to lock in the tiebreak round. I wanted to go right into the lunges after that 8, but needed a breather so set them down.

Remembered to have my knee sleeves pulled up before the workout today. I also taped my thumbs ahead of time so there was no stop halfway through the last set of lunges. Still kept muscle-ups in sets of 2 because I thought triples would be too risky. I tried to shorten the rest a bit between the sets. I did do a triple right at the end, but more importantly no misses today. Over the weekend I had thought about trying to finish that first round of muscle-ups with 3-3 to save another 20-30 seconds, but I completely forgot.

Bought myself almost an extra minute, which paid off, allowing me to get through 5 more muscle-ups for a score of 121 with a tiebreak of 8:50.

17-2-2.jpg

Michelle kept all my splits again. Nice to see I slowly kept gaining ground throughout. Initial lunges were the same, but then I was ahead of pace by 10-14, 9-19-25, 19-35-46, and 47 seconds. I guess I was more methodical on my lunges (probably gathering my feet more, which is slower) and was definitely focussing more on breathing during them. I also didn’t stretch out to get over the line on any of the rounds. The first round of muscle-ups took me 3:08 today compared to 3:22, which was a little surprising considering I should have been more tired from going faster.

The challenge of the redo is actually pretty fun. One of my friends cracked a beer after his 2nd muscle-up and then got 3 more. LOL I love the Open!

Since my volume was extremely light Thursday-Saturday and I’m heading out of town for most of the week, I wanted to get in some lifting and barbell work. Went back to the gym at 4:30 to judge Bryan and workout.

Back Squat

Missed out on the 5×3 @ 80% yesterday, so definitely wanted to squat today. If I go 2 weeks without squatting it’s no fun the next time.

  • 10×45#
  • 6×135
  • 3×205
  • 3×255
  • 3×285
  • 3×305
  • 3×315

Back was getting a little tender so didn’t push it. Haven’t had that on the bar in awhile anyway.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 10×135
  • 10×165
  • 2x10x185

Bryan started benching while I was still squatted so I worked in and then was done with the squats by the heavy sets.

Conditioning

7 Rounds

  • 5 Power Snatch (135#)
  • 35 DU

Wanted to hit a barbell metcon for sure. Did all singles on the snatches. Missed too many dubs. It felt and looked like my rope’s shape was getting messed up. Maybe it’s time for a new cable. Finished in 9:20.

17.2 First Attempt

My upper back and shoulders were tight yesterday and legs were a little tired for part of the day. Feeling refreshed and ready to go today.

My standings after 17.1 were:

  • Open: 53,684 / 194,167 (27.6%)
  • Masters 35-39: 8,307 / 36,746 (22.6%)

I have some climbing to do. Hopefully that’ll be my worst placing. I’ve already dropped 6 pounds since that workout so cleaning up my diet is quickly leaning me back out.

Warm-up

  • Banded shoulder opening and stretching
  • Bottom squat hold
  • Air Squats
  • 3:00 Row
  • Various testing of DB positioning

CrossFit Games Open Workout 17.2

12:00 AMRAP

  • 2 Rounds
    • 50′ Weighted Walking Lunge (2×50# DBs)
    • 16 Toes-to-bars
    • 8 DB Power Cleans (2×50# DBs)
  • 2 Rounds
    • 50′ Weighted Walking Lunge
    • 16 Bar Muscle-ups
    • 8 DB Power Cleans
  • Every 5-foot interval of the 50″ (25″ out and back), represents 1 rep of the lunge.

Glad I figured out how to better link bar muscle-ups together last week! Definitely work my grips for this one. Had on knee sleeves but forgot to pull them up until after the first set of lunges. Jackass!

My steps on the lunges sucked. I stretched it out a couple of times but was just shy most of the rounds. I need to stretch out each step a little bit to speed those up. I did 4×4 on both rounds of T2B. Went 4-3-1 on the first 2 rounds of cleans and then 4-4 to get a faster tiebreaker. All doubles on the first time through muscle-ups. When I got back to them I started with a triple, got another, but missed the 2nd, and I think I missed another single. Hit the wall right there at the end. So finished with 116 reps and a tiebreak of 9:36. Michelle actually kept nice splits for me throughout.

My thumbs were rubbing on the dumbbells a bit during the lunges and I asked Alex to grab me a piece of tape. In that 4th set I did set them down after 25 feet and tried to quickly put the tape on. I’ll have to remember to tape up with my stretchy tape next attempt to save time there too.

17-2-1.jpg

Like I said, my grip and forearms were fine throughout, after, and now back home typing this post. I think I can make up time by pushing the lunge steps longer to make sure I get there without stretching the final one or having to take a last short one. Then obviously doing that 4th set unbroken too. Should be able to do 6-5-5 on the T2B since it’s only 2 rounds with plenty of rest in between. Cleans will be 6-2 or 7-1. I think I’ll stick to doubles on the muscle-ups because I did end up hitting the wall right at the end, though I was rushing a bit. I’m worried if I try to do triples I will blow it out before I’m through the first 16.

Should be an easy redo. This is one of the more fun Open workouts I’ve done.

Deadlift Day

Scores are still rolling in, but the redo jumped me over 5,000 spots out of 40,000+ men in the Masters 35-39 division and much more in the Open division. My body feels so much better after that second attempt than it did after the first one.

Warm-up

  • DU
  • Bottom Squat Hold

Deadlift

Work up to 5×5 @ 75%.

  • 10×45#
  • 10×155
  • 5x2455x295
  • 5x5x325

I hadn’t done the heavy deadlifts in a few weeks after tweaking my back, so instead of going up to the prescribed 385# I stayed with the boys and did an easy 325.

Conditioning

20:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 12 cal Row
  • 15 Push-ups

Boring! Felt good though. I was keeping my cal/hr over 1,800 and pushed some rounds over 2k and even 2,200. Push-ups felt great and did every set unbroken.

For time:

  • 30 Deadlift (225#)
  • 120 DU
  • 500m Row

Adjusted from 40 cal Assault Bike and 500m run. Did 15-15 on the deadlifts and had a burn down my back side in the final 5 reps like doing those 20RM. Struggled to get going on the dubs but eventually found a rhythm. Bryan got ahead of me there and I tried to catch him on the rower by pulling a sub 1:40 pace. Finished in 4:55.

Should be nice and rested to hit 17.2 on Friday.