Month: May 2019

Mostly Modifications

Walked 18 on Wednesday and planned to golf yesterday as well, but a storm was coming so I didn’t bother going to the course. Sure enough, the storm missed us. Then I planned to workout later in the day, but I wasn’t feeling it so I took a complete rest day and didn’t feel one bit guilty about it. Some days the body needs that. I was out in the garage before noon today.

Year of the Engine – Interval

6 Rounds

  • 3:00 Row
  • 1:00 Rest

My pace was aggressive for the minute rests and the last three rounds were a battle. Got 835-835-836-835-835-835 meters. Might be the hardest effort I’ve put in to some of these intervals actually; I was pretty shaky when I got off the rower. Could also mean I need to get my nutrition back on track. My goal pace going in was < 1:48 and it was a success.

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Went to the 4:00 class.

Warm-up

Got there early to do some posterior chain shit.

2 Sets

  • 15 Reverse Hypers (90#)
  • 10/10 Single Leg Lateral Step-ups (30″)

3 Rounds

  • 200m Run
  • 5 Air Squats
  • 5 PVC Passes
  • 5 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 200m Run
    • Max Push Jerks (95#)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 200m Run
    • Max Power Cleans (95#)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 200m Run
    • Max Russian KB Swings (70#)
  • 1:00 Rest

It was programmed to be 15 cal Row, 15 cal AB, and 200m Run in the 3 different rounds, but I took the option to run them all and work on a weakness. Was able to keep a pretty steady pace on the runs, with 55-60 seconds. The push jerk Rx was 135, but it’s much easier to just use one bar, not have to change plates, and that would get heavy real quick when doing it for about 6 minutes total in this workout. I swapped in the power cleans instead of Sumo Deadlift High Pulls too because I I think it’s a stupid movement with way too much risk of back and shoulder injuries. The heavy Russian swings actually felt good other than the tear on my right hand. I was able to get 335 total reps.

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Phase 2

I got more sun that I thought yesterday and was exhausted after the BBQ at the gym. Still beat today, so I did some quick work in the garage. My quads are sore.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

15:00 Airdyne

At endurance pace, which is 73-75 RPM for me. At 3:00, 6, 9, 12 sprint for 7 seconds and then recover right back to the endurance pace. Interesting stuff. Got 457 cals and 5.68 miles (9,141m). This starts the next phase of the program.

Strength

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 6×75
  • 6×95
  • 6×115
  • 6×125
  • 6×135
  • 5x6x115

We don’t hit shoulder presses very often at the gym and it’s an area not beat from Murph. Tried out sets of six for something different.

2019 Murph

Signed up for the 9am heat with a bench of friends. Nice cool morning for it.

“Murph”

  • 1 Mile Run
  • 100 Pull-ups
  • 200 Push-ups
  • 300 Air Squats
  • 1 Mile Run

**Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and air squats as needed.

I haven’t done a real Murph since 2016. In 2017 I was traveling back from attending Regionals and didn’t do it at all. Last year my shoulder was messed up so I did ring rows. Here’s my Murph history:

  • 2012 – 44:26
  • 2013 – 39:41
  • 2014 – 40:17
  • 2015 – 37:18
  • 2016 – 37:11
  • 2018 – 43:10 (ring rows)

I’ve run less than 13 miles in 2019, with only two runs longer than 400m, and a good chunk being warm-ups for class. I just finished 12 weeks of Year of the Engine though, so my conditioning has been feeling great. My pull-ups and push-ups have also been really good this year, so I was looking forward to testing out this workout.

I ran the first mile in between 8-8:30 and got right on the pull-up bar when I found a spot (gym was packed!) I broke it up by doing 20 rounds of “Cindy” (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats), but didn’t wear any grips. I like to wear my Garmin watch for this to help pace the runs, so I took advantage of the lap feature to keep track of rounds. It worked great and kept me moving.

  • 1 Mile – 8:26.4 (after getting in the gym and finding a spot)
  • Round 1 – 43.4
  • Round 2 – 43.9
  • Round 3 – 46.4
  • Round 4 – 48.1
  • Round 5 – 50.2
  • Round 6 – 51.5
  • Round 7 – 53.1
  • Round 8 – 52.1
  • Round 9 – 51.6
  • Round 10 – 55.8
  • Round 11 – 54.6
  • Round 12 – 53.9
  • Round 13 – 55.8
  • Round 14 – 56.5
  • Round 15 – 58.5
  • Round 16 – 1:00.7
  • Round 17 – 55.8
  • Round 18 – 1:03.0
  • Round 19 – 59.7
  • Round 20 – 1:22.9 (After telling someone about the blood on my bar and leaving the gym)
  • 400m – 2:00.6
  • 400m – 2:31.3
  • 400m – 2:17.7
  • 400m – 1:54.6 (8:44.2 mile)

I think my watch said about 8:06 when I finished the first mile, but I didn’t hit the lap button until I found a spot to do my pull-ups. I was able to do all of the pull-ups and push-ups unbroken. I tried not to stop during the squats or pause at the top of reps; just keep moving. With about 5 rounds left I ripped my right hand a little bit and was really starting to slip on the bar. So it was a constant adjustment to finish. It took me just over 18 minutes to finish the 20 rounds, which only 2 of them being over a minute. Felt decent when I headed out for the run, but I guess I slowed over the middle 800 meters. Good enough for a time of 35:28 to PR by 1:43! Really happy with that.

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5 Rep Bench

I didn’t get out golfing yesterday because I found a bunch of water in the basement and spent almost 2 hours cleaning it up. I’m sore from that today. Went to open gym at noon.

Warm-up

3 Sets

  • 1:00 Assault Bike
  • 15 Reverse Hypers (90#)
  • 10 PVC Passes

Ended up with about 45 calories on the AB.

Strength

Bench Press

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95
  • 5×135
  • 5×175
  • 5×200
  • 5×220
  • 5×235
  • 5×245

My ass came off the bench a little in my last two reps, but that ties my old PR for a set of 5, when I had gotten my max up to 290. Can I hit 300 in the next few months?

Conditioning

25:00 EMOM (40s work / 20s rest)

  • H2H KBS (44#)
  • Plank
  • Jump Rope Singles
  • Sit-ups
  • Lateral Step Overs (14″)

I was getting 22 swings and 22 sit-ups each round. Never missed on the jump rope. Perfect little workout for today that didn’t get me breathing or sweating very hard. Ready for Murph tomorrow!

I wouldn’t mind getting out to golf but I need to do yard work and a bunch of other shit, so we’ll see.

Run & Bike

I was out the door by 9am and even though it’s not even 70° yet, it was a sweaty one!

Engine Builder – Endurance

42:00

  • 2.09 Mile Run
  • 22:00 Airdyne

I was hoping to do the run under 20 minutes and felt good, but I guess I fell off pace in the 2nd mile, so finished in 20:57. I did 7.88 miles (12,682m) and 585 calories on the Airdyne. That’s 502 more meters and 49 more calories on the AD than the 22 minute endurance workout I did way back in week two of the program!

Week 12 is done (Year of the Engine’s Foundation phase), just in time for Murph on Monday and then I think there is a deload week before starting the next phase of Engine Builder.

I may get out for a round of golf today.

Gymnasty Thrusting

Out in the garage around 11. I warmed up with a 3:00 row (750m).

Engine Builder – Anaerobic

10 Rounds

  • 20s Row
  • 1:40 Rest

Didn’t even break a sweat and got 31 meters more than last month with 116-116-118-119-119-119-119-119-119-119 meters. I don’t remember it being this “easy” the other times I’ve done it.

2019-05-24-row

Went to the 4pm class.

Accessory

  • 3×15 RH (90#)

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • 2x Tabata
    • Air Squats
    • Front Rack Stretch w/ PVC
    • Kip Swings
    • PVC Passes
  • 5 Thrusters (45#)

Gymnastics & Strength

  • E2M – 3 Rounds
    • 10 Pull-ups
    • 3 Thrusters (95-115-135#)
  • E2M – 3 Rounds
    • 8 C2B Pull-ups
    • 2 Thrusters (155-175-185#)
  • E2M – 3 Rounds
    • 3 Bar Muscle-ups
    • 1 Thruster (195-205-215#)

This was fun! No extra rest between the extra transitions other than what’s left in your two minute window. I was able to do all of the gymnastics movements unbroken and felt really good, especially not having done a bar muscle-up since the open. Thrusters were a little heavy since I haven’t squatted anything like that in a long time. I put the belt on for 175+ I think.

Conditioning

E2M except not at 0:00 – 7 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

  • 100 DB Snatches (40#)
  • 50 DB Hang Power Cleans (50# DBs)

It was programmed as wall balls EMOM but we didn’t do that because I guess it was too much for the morning folks with a 16:00 time cap, so they made the change for us and put a 12:00 cap on it. I scaled back the snatches from 50# and actually wore my belt through this entire workout too. I did 20-20 snatches before the break, then 20-10, 20-10, and just rested extra by my wall ball every time it came around. The cleans were a bitch! I did 10-10, 10-10, and 10. Finished at 10:38.

This week was a lot of lifting for me and it seems my back survived.

Repping Deads & Bench

My shoulders feel pretty good considering the work they did yesterday at the gym. I was out in the garage around noon.

Engine Builder – Speed

  • 2:00 Warm-up
  • 10:00 Test
  • 3:00 Cooldown

Done on my Airdyne (AD2) with 0.73 mile in the warm-up and 0.88 in the cool down, with rests between each part. For the test I got 387 calories and 4.26 miles (6,856m), which is a PR by 3 calories. My start and finish are good but I need to hold 85 RPM more in the middle of the ten minutes instead of falling down to 83. Getting closer to 400!

I’ve been doing this test long before Engine Builder and it’s neat to see the progress.2019-05-22-300-fy.png

I went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

8:00

  • 5 Up Downs
  • 10 Air Squats
  • 15 Lateral Hops
  • 10 Leg swings
  • 2x 30m Run

Just the run shy of getting 4 rounds.

Conditioning

  • 4 Cycles
    • 3:00 AMRAP
      • 400m Run
      • Max Sumo KB Deadlift (88#)
    • 1:00 Rest
  • 3:00 Rest (total – skip the 1:00 rest after the 4th cycle)
  • 4 Cycles
    • 3:00 AMRAP
      • 500m Row
      • Max Bench Press (135#)
    • 1:00 Rest

The cycles were programmed in the opposite order, but we have to adjust due to the number of rowers in the gym. I knew I could do well with the rowing when I was tired so volunteered to do the rowing one first. I ran the out-and-back 400m route and couldn’t be more pleased with my times there. Rx was 225# deadlifts, but I’m not ready for that, especially after so much lifting yesterday. I could have done a few more deadlifts in several of the minutes, but 35 in every round was more than enough reps! I wanted to keep a pace under 1:50/500m on the rower and I was able to. Wasn’t really sure how the bench press would feel, but after the first round I set a goal to start with a set of 10 each time. I did 10-8, 10-10, 10-5-5, and 10-5-3. So a total of 140 sumo deadlifts and 76 bench presses.

2019-05-22-gym

Midline

4 Sets

  • 1:00 Plank
  • 40 Russian Twists (35# KB)
  • 1:00 Rest

I did the planks on my hands because I was soaked in sweat already. The planks felt extremely easy. It took 9:33 to complete this.

So Much for Shoulders

IMG_2739Walked 18 holes in the cold yesterday and got more sleep last night after WHOOP told me I needed 9 hours. I haven’t been getting 8+ every night since my Utah trip, so I’d like to get back on track. Around noon I pulled the rower outside and did this on the back patio.

Engine Builder – Interval

3 Rounds

  • 2k Row
  • 3:00 Rest

Almost 2 months ago I tried to hold 1:50/500m for a 3k + 2k with 3:00 rest but couldn’t maintain for the final 1k. How far has my conditioning come? Could I make it through all 6,000 meters at that pace?

Yessir! My times were 7:19.9, 7:19.7, and 7:19.7. I really had to push over the last 1,200 meters.

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Went to the 4pm class and got there a little early for some rehab stuff.

Accessory

2 Sets

  • 10/10 Lateral Step-ups (30″)
  • 10 Back Extensions

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 15 PVC Passes
  • 10 Pause Shoulder Press (45#)
  • 10 Pause Split Jerk (45#)
  • 5 Power Cleans (45#)
  • 5 Push Jerks (45#)
  • 5 Power Clean & Jerks (95#)

Weightlifting

E2M – 10 Rounds

  • 10 cal Assault Bike
  • 2 Power C&J

Fatigued lifting! For some reason I was thinking this was only 5 rounds, so I was almost to my goal weight in the 4th round. A bunch of other people made the same mistake and the morning class actually only did 5 rounds! So I didn’t go as hard on the bike from the 4th round on. I did 135, 165, 185, 205 (6 sets!), and 225. All push jerks until the last set when I did split jerks. I think I belted up starting with the 205. I went straight from the clean into the jerk, without the pause and reset, on everything until the 225.

Conditioning

2 Rounds – EMOM 4 Burpees

  • 50 Push Jerks (95#)
  • 25 Toes-To-Bar

When I saw this workout I thought I’d try the Rx+ 115#, but after the mistake on the lifting I changed back to the Rx weight and was glad I did. It was horrible going between burpees and jerks with no rest for the shoulders. I did something like 20-13-9-8 in the minutes and those were not all unbroken sets. I had enough time to get in 5 T2B, then did 5-5 in each of the next two minutes. I took advantage of a little rest before burpees and then did a set of 10 in each of the next three minutes, resting with whatever time I had left. I did 5-5 in each of the next two minutes. Shoulders were completely rocked. Then I did 2×5, and 3×5 on my T2B. I could have pushed more on the T2B in both rounds of the workout. I was done in 12:53.

Without the Push-up

Feeling pretty good this morning. Open gym at noon.

Warm-up

  • 3 Sets
    • 12 cal Assault Bike
    • 10 Reverse Hyper (90#)
  • Bench Press
    • 10×45#
    • 5×95

Conditioning

20:00 AMRAP

  • 20 Bench Press (115#)
  • 20 No Push-up Burpees
  • 20 Box Jumps (24″)

I wrote this one with 200 meter runs, but it started raining out right before we started, so I substituted the burpees.  The no push-up variation was so they wouldn’t interfere with the benching. I had no idea how to pace out the bench press. I felt good in the first set so did 11-9. Felt a lot different in round two so I did 7-7-6 for five rounds and then I was able to get 11-9 at the end to score 6+20. Was 140 reps on the bench press. Felt really good on the burpees and box jumps, so it seems like the conditioning work is paying off.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 50/50m Single Arm OH Carry (53#)
  • 1:00/1:00 Single Leg Stand (70#)

After each single leg stand I was really feeling off-balance. Must have been from standing so long with the weight on one side of the body

3 Sets

  • Dumbbell Curl 21s (30#)
  • 30 Side Plank Jumps
  • 20 Weighted V-ups (20# DB)
  • 10 Supermen (3s pause)

Haven’t done weighted v-ups in a long time. Forgot how hard they get.

Out in the garage in the evening.

Engine Builder – Max Aerobic Power

20 Rounds

  • 45s Row
  • 15s Rest

I had 18 rounds of this about a month ago and starting at just under 1:48 was too fast that day where my average pace ended up being 1:49.9. Today my plan was to start at 1:49. I felt much better and could have gone even faster. 207-208 meters every round.

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27 Calorie Rounds

The gym workout for this morning was a partner workout with a lot of lifting and after so much snatching yesterday I felt it was a good idea to stay home. Need to be smart with the lifting due to my back. My body feels good after yesterday’s workout though. I warmed up doing 750 meters in 3:00.

Engine Builder – Anaerobic

6 Rounds

  • 45s Row
  • 3:30 Rest

Was getting up to 2,200+ cal/hr by the 4th pull. I got exactly 27 calories each round and 262-262-263-263-263-262 meters. That is 3 calories and 15 meters better than two months ago after the disappointing drop last month, when my back was really tight and affected my power.IMG_2728.JPG

Conditioning

25:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Strict Pull-ups
  • 15 Sumo Deadlifts (53# KB)
  • 25 Double Unders
  • 15 C2D Push-ups
  • 15 Bear Hug Squats (20# MB)
  • 25 Double Unders

I came up with this gem as something to keep moving through; wasn’t trying to set any records today. I used one of my old ropes since I was jumping on the concrete driveway. It felt like the wind was affecting the rope in my first two sets and I missed several times. After that I moved away from the tree, turned 90 degrees to face the wind, and never missed again! Didn’t expect that with a rope I haven’t used in years. I got through 7 rounds, the pull-ups, deads, and five dubs, so 7+25. Everything was unbroken except those first two sets of dubs. I was surprised my push-ups didn’t slow down at any point with the deeper depth and fifteen at a time.