Month: June 2017

Push Press PR

On Thursday I golfed like usual. While out on the course Alex texted to ask if I wanted to play Warwick Hills on Friday. I got the go ahead to take the day off work at the last minute and had a lot of fun. A lot of people may not believe it, but 2 days of golfing out in the heat took a lot out of me. Was in bed early and slept in, but got out in the garage around 11:30 today.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 6×135
  • 4×165
  • 2×195
  • 2×215
  • 2×235
  • 3x2x255

Bumped 10# over the last time. I set my 3RM with 255 a few months ago, so was happy to get all 3 sets. Felt like it got easier each set.

Push Press

  • 10×45#
  • 8×95
  • 6×135
  • 4×165
  • 3×195
  • 2×215
  • 1×235
  • 1×245
  • 1×250 (PR)


The program called for three singles at 85%, which comes out to just under 210 pounds. In my notes planning out the day I already had decided to go 235 and then increase by feel. It was feeling good, so I went for the PR. Not sure what I’ll do for the next two weeks now that call for an increase of 5-10#. I’ll probably stay around 235-245 and then go for the big PR in the final week of the program.

Accessory

  • 3×15 Pallof Press (CS Blue)
  • 3×10 DB Side Raises (20#)
  • 3×10 Bent-over DB Side Raises (20#)

That wraps up the 8th week. Three more and then a week dedicated to setting new maxes in the shoulder press, bench press, and push press.

Conditioning

  • 1,000m Ski Erg
  • 100 Lateral hops (over line)
  • 100 H2H KBS (50#)
  • 100 Lateral hops
  • 1,000m Ski Erg

rope-snappedThe plan was to do 100 double unders, but when I got to the rope I forgot that the rings were hanging in the way. I tried a couple reps and nailed a ring right off the bat. So I thought maybe I could go facing another wall next to my rack, but was a little worried about the car behind me. Two reps in, I caught the rope on the barbell rack and it snapped.

Quick thinking decided I would do lateral hops over a line and get on with it. I kept wanting to stop on the kettlebell swings, but went unbroken. My splits on the Ski Erg were 3:57.8 and 3:56.8. The computer said the time between was exactly 6:00, which is kind of crazy. Finished at 13:58 on the clock.

I’m flying out to Minneapolis/St. Paul tonight for a few days.

Sub 2

Went to the 4:30 class.

Warm-up – 2 Sets

  • 10 PVC Passes
  • 20 Walking Lunges
  • High Knees
  • 10 Push-ups

Strength – Front Squat

  • 6×95#
  • 4×135
  • 4×145
  • 2×165
  • 2×185
  • 2×195
  • 2×200
  • 2×205
  • 2×210
  • 2×215

Haven’t squatted with a bar in well over a month so I took it easy. Felt fine.

Conditioning

“Grace”

  • 30 C&J (135#)

I’ve been chasing the sub 2 minute mark for a couple of years. In February of 2016 I did it in 2:04 and in November of 2014 my time was 2:17. I was nervous because I knew exactly what I had to do to improve my time and it was going to hurt. When I got the 2:04 I did 3 sets of 5, a set of 2 and then singles.

When someone called out 30 seconds I had just done my 10th rep, so I knew it was possible. I stuck to the 3×5 and was able to increase that 4th set to 3 reps before switching to singles. Then I forced myself to pick the bar up quicker than I wanted to, especially at the end when I knew it was getting close. Finished in 1:57 for a 7 second PR!

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 10/10 Kroc Rows (44# KB)
  • 30s Handstand Hold
  • 15 Sit-ups

I did the rows slow and controlled and tried to get a slight pause at the top.

Stopped at the gas station on my drive home for some celebration snacks. 🙂

I’ve posted a couple of things about CrossFit Programming over on my personal blog this week:

Getting Scary

Busy day. Out in the garage in the evening.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 6×135
  • 3×165
  • 3×195
  • 3×220
  • 2x3x240
  • 3×245

Not a lot of time left so I figured it was time to start doing some bigger increases. Need to start getting closer to failure in these last few weeks. I’ve been benching inside the rack with support straps whenever I’m alone, but it’s starting to get a little scary as I approach PR weights. I think this is the most I’ve had on the bar since hitting 3×255# during the Open.

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 6×95
  • 3×115
  • 3×135
  • 3×150
  • 3×152.5
  • 3×155

Accessory

  • 3×20 alt Incline DB Bench Press (50#)
  • 3×10 Half Kneeling Single Arm Bottoms Up KB Press (30#)
  • 3×10 Tricep Extensions (single arm, 30#)
  • 3×10 Landmine Twists (45# bar + 35#)

Ugh – KB presses. I haven’t done them in a few weeks. Swapping for the wider 10# plate on my adjustable bell (to go from 25->30) shifted the balance a lot! I really don’t like the single arm Tricep extensions; feels like a lot of pressure on the elbow.

Conditioning

  • 30 cal Ski Erg
  • 20 Goblet Squats (70#)
  • 10 Target Burpees (ceiling – 14″)

Calories are much different from on the rower! I felt like I was getting 2 for every 3 pulls with an average around 1,250 cal/hr most of the time. Went unbroken on the goblet squats but was breathing really heavy by the end. That jump to the ceiling is big! I missed once being lazy and had to jump again. Finished in 3:13.

Ruck It

We didn’t golf today since the course had an outing. I needed to get out of the hot house tonight. Since the weight vest walk went well last time I figured I’d give it another go, even if it was still 83° out at 7pm. Today I went 2.78 miles in 46:33. My legs aren’t even what gets tired, it’s the fatigue of the vest on my shoulders that gets uncomfortable.

Hard Minute

Noon with the crew.

Warm-up

  • Shoulder Stretching
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 3 Supinated Pendlay Rows (5151 Tempo, 45#)

Accessory

5 Sets – E3M

  • 3 Supinated Pendlay Rows (5151 Tempo, 75#)
  • 30s Double DB/KB OH Hold (44#)

Tried something new with the tempo rows. Could have done 85-95 pounds.

Conditioning

1:00 Work / 1:00 Rest until complete

  • 100 Burpees
  • 75 MB Cleans
  • 50 Box Jumps
  • 25 HSPU

I should have gone harder in the first minute, even if it caught up to me. I did 21-22-22-21 burpees, then the final 14 plus 6 medicine ball cleans. Then I did 22-23-24 to finish the cleans. My back was already getting tight, especially after the last two days of light clean work, so I did all step-ups. 20-23 and then the final 7 plus 13 HSPU. I think I did 8+5, but wish I had stayed up on the wall for the full remainder of that minute. Got the final 12 handstand push-ups without coming off the wall. Finished in 22:23, which is much faster than I expected.

The numbers geek in me quickly came up the formula to determine the minute you’re on based on your round number.

m=2n-2

Since I finished during the 12th round it was 2 * 12 = 24 – 2 = 22 minutes and then add on the elapsed seconds.

Ascending

Was up late to finish watching Bloodline, but made it to the 10am.

Warm-up

  • Shoulder stretching
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 500m Row

Strength / Accessory

4 Sets

  • 10/10 Single Arm Single Leg RDL (44# KB)
  • 5/5 OH Lunge (44# KB)

Conditioning

3-6-9-12-15

  • Power Clean (95#)
  • Front Squat (95#)
  • Burpee

Finished in 9:48.

Out in the garage before dinner.

Push Only 

  • 3×15 Pegboard Pull-ups (6-5-4)
  • 3×10 Rack Chins (35#) 
  • 3×10 Lat Pull-downs (green bands)
  • 3×10 DB Curls (30#)
  • 3×15 Shoulder IYTs (CS purple)

Was only supposed to be sets of 12 Pull-ups but I failed at math today.

90s Are Coming

Walked 18 holes yesterday and it was the hottest day we’ve had so far. Felt it out there and felt the fatigue in my legs this morning. Out in the garage at about 4 with Bryan.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 5×135
  • 5×165
  • 5×195
  • 4x5x220
  • 3x10x205
  • 3x10x175 (close grip)

Accessory

  • 3×10 Tricep Rock-n-Rolls (35# DBs)

Skipped the side raises and bent-over side raises due to time. They are usually in the program a couple of times a week anyway.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 10 C&J (95#)
  • 20 Toes to Rings
  • 400m Run

I was planning on doing 2 sets of 5 clean and jerks, but Bryan was going unbroken so I did too. No problem doing every set unbroken. The rings are not in a great position relative to my rack for doing much. I had to kind of twist to one side to miss hitting it. I started out with 10/10 on the rings for the first 2 rounds and then started to break them up into mostly sets of 5 with some 3s and 4s.

When I finished the first round at about 3:33 I felt like sub 20 was possible if I didn’t rest too much between movements or between sets on the rings. Each round my average pace got closer to 4 minute rounds. I had just over 4 minutes to get in the final round. I shortened my transition rests and was able to step it up on my run to came in at 19:44.

This next week is supposed to be at or above 90 every day. Yuck!

Perfect Dubs

Went to the 4:30 class.

Warm-up – 3 Rounds

  • 10 PVC Pass Throughs
  • 10 PVC OHS
  • 20 Plyo Lunges

10:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 5/5 Single Arm Front Squat (44# KB)
  • 1:00 Plank

Conditioning

7 Rounds

  • 30 Double Unders
  • 10 Toes to Rings
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 10 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Went unbroken on everything, even the dubs. Somehow I got an actual knot in my rope in the middle of the workout. If not for that knot I would have broken 12 minutes, but finished in 12:02.

I did a 1,500 meter row before leaving in an easy 5:57.

HPO Week 7

Played another solid round of golf yesterday, with an 82, which was 2nd best at the course. Out in the garage in the evening.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 6×135
  • 4×165
  • 2×195
  • 2×215
  • 2×230
  • 3x2x245

Still feeling great!

Push Press

  • 6×45#
  • 6×95
  • 6×135
  • 3×165
  • 3×195
  • 3×215
  • 2x3x225

Wore a belt for the final 3 sets. Not very fun.

Accessory

  • 3×20 Seated alt DB Shoulder Press (40-45-45#)
  • 3×10 Pallof Press (CS Blue)
  • 3×15 DB Front Raises (15#)
  • 3×10 DB Side Raises (20#)
  • 3×10 Shoulder Ts (CS Blue)

That wraps of week 7 of the Hybrid Push Only program. Still loving it, though today was a lot of accessory work!

Conditioning

  • 250m Ski Erg
  • 50 Sit-ups
  • 25 MB Cleans (20#)
  • 100 DU (62-0-38)
  • 50 Sit-ups
  • 25 MB Cleans (20#)

I wanted to go a bit on the erg since I’d be able to catch my breath on the sit-ups. Averaged a 1:45/500m to get through it in about 52 seconds. Should have pushed harder. Never stopped on either set of sit-ups or cleans, though the first set of medicine ball cleans was slower. I got 62 double unders to start, then missed again, and then got the last 38. Finished the workout in 8:50.

Muscle Fatigue

While watching Wonder Woman last night I started to feel sore in my forearms and upper back. Must be from the workout I did Friday night. When I woke up this morning everything around my shoulders and upper back was even more sore, but didn’t feel anything in my back. Went in for the nooner.

“J.T.” – 21-15-9

  • HSPU
  • Ring Dip
  • Push-up

Almost 3 years ago, we made an attempt at this, but we didn’t respect the combination of movements. I remember being down to singles in the round of 21, so we decided to scale it back to 21-11. It still took me 9:52 for that!

I was debating what how to break up the round of 21s. Initially I was thinking 6-5-5-5. As we warmed up I decided to try sets of 3 and then I could go bigger in the set of 15 if I was feeling good. As soon as I kicked up for the 21 handstand push-ups I changed my mind and went 6-5-5-5 through all movements. When I got to the first 6 push-ups I couldn’t believe how hard they were!

In the 15s, I did 5 HSPU and then 3-3-2-2. Ring dips were 5×3 and push-ups were 3×5. On the round of 9 I was having a hard time staying on the wall. I think I did 3 and 3×2 HSPU. Did 3 ring dips and then 6 quick singles. I had 13 seconds to get in the 9 push-ups and break 10 minutes, but I couldn’t do it! Finished at 10:06. Overall it went much better than I expected and ranks a 84 on BTWB. These last 2-2.5 months of upper body work is paying off.

30-20-10

  • Air Squats
  • Plyo Lunges
  • 2x Double Unders

After a burner on the upper body, I made up this lower body burner. The lunges were nasty! I think I did something like 10-6-6-8 for the 30 and 8-6-6 for the 20. Too many misses on the set of 60, but only 1 on the 40 I think, and none on the 20. Finished in 5:28.

30-20-10

  • Floor Wipers (hands to sides in a T)
  • Shotguns
  • Weighted Sit-ups (40#)

Might as well burn the core too, right? Finished in 8:01.

Ruck

I had thought about doing a 20-30 minute run tonight. Decided to put on the weight vest and go for a walk instead. Unfortunately my vest still has all 40# in it. Went 2.68 miles in 42:26. I’m sure my knees will hate me tomorrow.