Month: January 2019

Don’t Break

Much needed rest day yesterday after nine in-a-row, with two of those being active recovery days. My shoulders were a little sore, but felt fine this morning.

Strength

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 8×95
  • 4×135
  • 4×165
  • 4×185
  • 4×195
  • 4×205
  • 4×215
  • 4×225

Barely made it on the last set. Improvement over the 5x5x215 from last week.

Conditioning

  • 10-8-6-4-2 Thrusters (135#)
  • 50-40-30-20-10 Double Unders

I got this one from Beyond the Whiteboard in the Heavy Fitness Level category. Warmed up with 5×45, 5×95, and 3×115. My goal was to go unbroken, but I had no idea what the thrusters would feel like. I just remember being the EMOM with 3×155 a few weeks ago being nasty. I made it through everything unbroken and probably could have picked the bar sooner after each set of double unders. Finished in 4:57. I’m pumped I was able to do those unbroken.

Midline

2 Rounds

  • 30 V-ups
  • 60 Bicycles
  • 30 Weighted Sit-ups (30# slam ball)
  • 60 Flutter Kicks
  • 30 Leg Raises
  • 60 Mountain Climbers

These higher rep core movements get so bad in the first round. Took about 14 minutes to finish.

It’s Coming Back

My shoulders felt tight through the night, but seemed fine today. This morning I posted a recap of my second week of calorie counting.

Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

8:00 AMRAP

  • 8 Step-Ups (24″)
  • 8 Behind the Neck Shoulder Presses (45#)
  • 4 Inchworms
  • 4 Vertical Jumps

Strength

Push Press

  • 6×95#
  • 6×125
  • 3×155
  • 3×175
  • 3×195
  • 3×205
  • 3×215

Did 3×205# in August so I wanted to beat it today. Still not my best, but getting my strength back. I wore my belt for the last three sets.

Conditioning

16:00 AMRAP

  • 15 Push Press (115#)
  • 15 Box Jump (24″)
  • 15 cal Row

We did the push presses from the rack today, though I’m not sure it helped because you have to control the descent and rack it. I did 9-6 for 5 rounds and then 6-4-5 at the end trying to go on short rest. All jump and step-downs on the box. Tried to keep above 1,100 cal/hr on the rower. Finished 5 rounds, 15 push presses, and 4 box jumps. My calves may feel this one for the next day or two.

Not counting calories today, because I’m headed to Brew Ha-Ha.

Winter Nancy

My shoulders felt a few tugs in bed last night, but no issues today. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

  • 2 Sets
    • 20 Jumping Jacks
    • 10 Arm Circles Forward
    • 10 Arm Circles Backward
    • 10 Arm Crosses
  • 3 Sets
    • 100m Run
    • 10 PVC Passes
    • 10 Behind Neck Wide Grip Push Press (45#)
  • 3 Sets
    • 5 OHS (45#, 3131 tempo)

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 1,200m Assault Bike
  • 15 Overhead Squats (95#)

Winter version of “Nancy” for us here in Michigan, though most everyone did 500m rows. I figured the AB and OHS combo would blow up my quads and right away in the first set of squats I broke, doing 9-6. Continued that until I did the last 15 unbroken. I should have fought to do them all unbroken and recovered on the bike. I guess I was the Nancy today. I probably averaged around 60 RPM and was dipping under that in the last two rounds. Finished in 15:56, which is about 30 seconds faster than my time with the 400m runs this summer when I did all of the squats unbroken.

For some reason I originally recorded 16:56. When I saw my friend’s time on the whiteboard only 20 seconds off mine and knowing I beat him by over a minute, I remembered pushing to get those final reps done under 16 minutes. Now I feel better about my effort. That’s what happens when I don’t have my notebook on the floor and record it right away!

Strength

We had plenty of time again, so I pulled out a barbell. The NCFit programming is cutting back on the strength work a bit to focus on conditioning with the Open coming up.

Deadlift

  • 10×45#
  • 10×135
  • 10×185
  • 10×205
  • 10×225
  • 10×245

All sets with a neutral grip.

Ripe from the Rope

Glad I did the active recovery yesterday with more gymnastics pulling today. People are messed up from so much grippy stuff. My hamstrings are actually feeling a little sore today. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

  • 2:00 Assault Bike
  • 5 Rounds
    • 3/3 Worlds Greatest Stretch
    • 7 Hand Release Push-Ups
    • 10 Air Squats

Conditioning

18:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 12 cal Assault Bike
  • 20 V-Ups
  • 2 Legless Rope Climbs (13′)

Held 75-78 RPM on the bike without any trouble. Could have reached higher with my legs on the v-ups, but didn’t stop during any set. The rope climbs weren’t programmed legless, but with only two every three minutes I went for it. After the first three rounds, the second rep started to get tough. Made it through them all.

Gymnastics

We had plenty of time left over, so I wanted to get in some pull-ups since I missed 100+ of them yesterday.

5:00 EMOM

  • 10 C2B Pull-ups

Was able to do all unbroken butterfly except two regular kipping chest-to-bars at the end of the last 2 sets. I didn’t come off the bar though. Hands were feeling pretty ripe after the rope climbs and I didn’t want to rip, so 5 sets was enough. I did wear grips for the pull-ups.

Body Says

After tough workouts the last two days, my back is hinting that I need a rest, especially with heavy deadlifts programmed at the gym. So I jumped on the Airdyne for 30 minutes of active recovery before lunch and went 9.78 miles. I’ll plan a complete rest day on Saturday.

Keep Squatting

I was messed up for the rest of the day yesterday and wanted to eat all the things. Stuck to my macros though. Woke up with a sore chest and by lunch my legs were starting to get sore. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be rough. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

  • 4 Rounds
    • 10 MB Hang Cleans (20#)
    • 10 Hollow Rocks
  • 5 Front Squats (45#)
  • 5 High Pulls (45#)
  • 5 Hang Muscle Cleans (45#)
  • 5 Hang Power Cleans (45#)
  • 5 Hang Squat Cleans (45#)

Like I didn’t do enough squats with the medicine ball yesterday!

Weightlifiting

Hang Squat Clean

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95
  • 5×115
  • 5×135
  • 5×155
  • 5×175

Worked up to a moderate weight or basically something heavier than we planned to use in the workout.

Conditioning

  • 12-10-8-6-4 Hang Squat Cleans (155#)
  • 12 Burpees to 6″ Target

Decided I’d try to get the cleans done in 2 sets every round, so I split the reps in half. Made it and did the set of 4 unbroken. Just kept moving on the burpees and then picked up the pace in the final round. I wore my belt for this one, loosening it and turning the buckle towards the back for the burpees. Finished in 11:08. Glad I went with the Rx weight instead of scaling back. The issue was breathing with that front rack position and the burpees bumping up the heart rate.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 25 Weighted Sit-ups (30# DB)

Big 11.5 PR

My legs were actually heavy last night and this morning from the cardio I did. Made Kodiak Cakes this morning to load up on carbs for the long metcon today.

Strength

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 5×135
  • 5×165
  • 5×185
  • 5×195
  • 5×205
  • 5×210
  • 5×215

An improvement over the last 5×5 in October.

Conditioning

Open 11.5
20:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Power Cleans (145/100#)
  • 10 T2B
  • 15 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

The Open is right around the corner, so it’s time to start pushing the conditioning. I’ve only attempted this workout once and it was three years ago. I got through 9+12 then by doing 4-3-3 on all of the toes to bars, so my goal was 10+ rounds for today.

I got out ahead of a 2:00 pace early and gave myself over a minute to play with after 4 rounds I think. Then I seemed to hold a 2:00 pace for several rounds, before starting to trail in the last couple of rounds. I did all single power cleans again. T2B were all 5-5 and I played around with my technique. If I keep my legs tighter and really get my shoulders through in the kip they are so much smoother. I made myself zone out on the wall balls to keep every round unbroken.

Finished with 10+9 for almost a full round PR. Chalk up another 2019 PR! Amazing how the body can keep improving at 39 years old when it’s healthy. The score of 309 ranks in the 94th percentile for all men on BTWB. I don’t push like that very often. Was doing a good job of not resting much at all between movements.

Ski & Bike

Busy day, but made time in the afternoon for some active recovery.

4 Rounds

  • 5:00 Ski Erg
  • 15s Rest
  • 5:00 Airdyne
  • 15s Rest

The rest was essentially just transition as I wrote down my score and jumped on the other machine. I did 1,089, 1,096, 1,113, and 1,123 meters on the skier, and 1.64, 1.67, 1.70, and 1.76 miles on the Airdyne. Fell in to a good feel and was able to pick up the pace each round.

Registered

I registered for the Open last night! It’ll be my last year in the Men’s 35-39 Masters division. Missed out on official participation in 2018 due to our gym not being affiliated during ownership changes. This morning I posted over on nick.blog about the first week of my nutrition experiment. It is going really well.

Warm-up

Tabata

  • Hollow Body Hold
  • Superman Hold
  • DB Goblet Split Squats
  • DB Goblet Split Squats
  • DB Sumo Deadlift
  • DB Sumo Deadlift
  • Single Arm DB Hollow Hold
  • Single Arm DB Hollow Hold
  • DB Front Rack Step Ups
  • DB Front Rack Step Ups
  • DB Russian Swing
  • DB Russian Swing
  • Supermans
  • V-Ups
  • DB Front Rack Step Ups
  • DB Front Rack Step Ups
  • DB Snatch
  • DB Snatch

Nine minutes worth. When a movement was twice in a row it just meant we did one arm and then the next arm.

Skill

10:00 Bar Muscle-Up Development

I probably did around 10 reps and helped some people with their technique. It makes a huge difference when I can get a solid kip in.

Conditioning

  • 50 Dumbbell Snatches (50#)
  • 30 Single DB Front Rack Box Step-Ups (24″, 50#)
  • 20 Bar Muscle-Ups
  • 30 Single DB Front Rack Box Step-Ups (24″, 50#)
  • 50 Dumbbell Snatches (50#)

I went 30-20 for the snatches and 16-14 on step-ups. Was wearing grips and started with a set of five bar muscles-ups before doing the rest in five sets of three. The second round of step-ups really sucked so I did 3×10. Started snatches with 3×10 as well and fought through the final set of 20. Finished in 14:20 to beat the 15:00 time cap.

Assaulted

Rested yesterday. My forearms were sore to the touch. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

6:00 “Running” Clock

Run. Starting at 1:00 and every minute on the minute do 8 air squats and 5 hand release push-ups.

Conditioning

E10M – 30:00

  • Row 1,000m
  • 40 Sit-ups
  • 30 cal Assault Bike

I was right around a 1:48/500m average for the first round, was done with the sit-ups at 5:00, and finished the round in 7:04. Couldn’t keep up the pace on the rower after that, with just over a 1:50 average I think. Did that round in 7:08. In the third round I asked Brandi to adjust the seat on the bike for me so I didn’t have to waste time messing with it. That made up some time because my row was shot with an average over 1:53 and I manage to put it on the bike to finish in 7:09. Talk about a leg pump. Nothing else can do to your legs what that Assault Bike can. Nasty! My total working time was 21:21.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 1:00 Tuck Hold
  • 30/30s Side Plank
  • 30 Bicycle Crunches

Wasn’t bad and was done in 8:17.