Month: July 2020

Stormy Ride

Turned out I didn’t have pink eye. Must have been some type of irritation after mowing the lawn in the morning yesterday. It was all good later in the day. My entire body hurt last night, through the night, and this morning from laying laminate flooring for almost 6 hours. I slept like shit because I couldn’t get comfortable. After my coffee and doing more work on the new office flooring this morning I actually felt much better. Out in the garage at 9:30 for the workout, in the middle of a big storm, which cooled things down and gave us a nice breeze. The humidity kicked in later.

Warm-up

  • 30:00 BikeErg

I was feeling even better as I got in to this and kept increasing my pace. Went 15,383 meters.

Back

4 Sets

  • 12 Straight Arm Lat Pulldowns (55#)

I’m still doing these with an open palm, but I feel like my hands are going to slip sooner or later since my homemade lat bar rotates.

4 Sets

  • 12 Wide Grip Lat Pull Downs (85#)
  • 12 Behind Neck Lat Pull Downs (85#)
  • 12 Close Grip Lat Pull Downs (85#)

These are terrible every fucking time. The pulleys on my system seem to be failing. Maybe I need something that can handle more volume, because this is the second different type I’ve tried.

4 Sets

  • 12 Seated Cable Row (double handle, 85#)
  • 12 Seated Bent Over Back Fly (2@35, 2@30# DBs)

I was losing form and cheating too much so I dropped to lighter dumbbells for the last two sets.

4 Sets

  • 10/10 Single Arm Landmine Rows (45 + 40-45-50-55#)

I kneeled on a bench with one leg and arm again to help give my back some support. Felt better with the movement this week.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 16 OH Crunches (w/ pause, 50# DBs)
  • 40 Weighted Bicycles (5# ankle weights)
  • 8/8 Hip Abducted Evil Wheels
  • 100m Front Rack Carry (155#)

I kept the ankle weights on for everything again. I really don’t even notice them on the carries anymore. This was one of the worst weighted ab workouts we’ve done, especially since it was only three sets. The front rack carries suck for that distance, but I got through them without a problem. Don’t get me wrong, I was breathing like I just ran a 7:00 mile after each set.

All Balls

I think I woke up with pink eye. Mowed the lawn this morning and ran some errands before heading to the track at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 800m Run

Speed

E5M – 4 Sets

  • 400m Run

My plan was to get a feel in the first one, go for it in the second, and then hold on for the third and fourth. My times were 1:23, 1:07, 1:21, and 1:21. Not really happy with the 1:07 considering I ran a 1:02 in 2016, but I was doing a running program back then too. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Walked a lap to cool down a little.

Conditioning

20:00 AMRAP

  • 15 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 10 MB V-ups (20#)
  • 10 MB Push-ups
  • 15 Ball Slams (30#)

I was not feeling this one from the start. Was being very cautious with my back on the ball slams after feeling tightness during the sprints. Picked up the pace in the last 2.5 rounds and finally started catching the slams on the bounce for the final round. Finished with exactly 8 rounds.

Now it’s time to install flooring in the new office.

Like “The Chief”

Yesterday I walked 9 holes in the rain before we called it quits. My body was feeling pretty good and I think getting more sleep again is helping with my recovery this week. Out in the garage at 3:30 today.

Warm-up

  • 3:00 Row (771m)
  • 160’ Monster Walks
  • 160’ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 5 Muscle Snatches (45#)
  • 5 Muscle Snatches (75#)
  • 8 Power Cleans (80#)

Weightlifting

  • 5:00 EMOM
    • 2 Power Snatch (95-105-115-125-135)
  • 5:00 EMOM
    • 1 Power Snatch (155-175-195-195-195)

Originally I planned on going up 10# every set with the singles and still ending at 195#. It felt solid with 155 so I jumped and then jumped again. This way I got to 195 two sets early, with the option to go heavier if I was feeling it. I wasn’t. My legs were super wide in the catch at 195 so I stayed there.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 4 Power Cleans (115/80#)
    • 8 Push-ups
    • 12 Plyo Lunges
  • 1:00 Rest

*Restart every AMRAP at the top

I designed this one based on “The Chief” since I wanted to ease in to high rep lifting with a little lighter weight. I got halfway through round one and time seemed to be crawling so I knew I was in for a world of hurt even though I purposely started a little slow. Then I went a little too fast and shit really hit me in round four. My scores were 4+12, 4+17, 4+14, 4+9, 4+4. Really hot and humid today. Would like to retest this one in cooler weather.

On the shorter side for our session today, but that was pretty brutal. I went down in to the back reset position a couple of times after the workout just to help myself recover and hopefully not lead to a tweak.

Hold It

I’m starting to sleep in a little later again. Out in the garage for a 3pm workout today.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,550m)
  • 2 sets of 15 Steamboats in each position

Strength

4 Sets

  • 8/8 Single Arm Bench Press w/ OH Hold (50#)
  • MAX Dumbbell Bench Press (50#)

The single arm presses were done with the dumbbells in a line similar to a barbell and then the max set was with the DBs pulled in, parallel to each other. I did 16-12-10-20 for the max sets. It would be nice to have a set of 60s for dumbbell bench press.

3 Sets

  • 12/12 Static Bicep Curls (25#)
  • 12 Standing DB French Press (50#)

3 Sets

  • 12 Hammer Curls (25# DBs)
  • 12/12 Tricep Kickbacks (25# DB)

Those were some good supersets.

Conditioning

4 Rounds w/ Partner

  • 10 Burpees / Plank
  • 15 Pull-ups / Band Pull Down Hold
  • 15 DB Push Press (35#) / HS Hold
  • 30 Air Squats / Bottom Squat Hold

**One person does the hold while the other does their reps then switch places. Same thing with each movement pairing. Each round alternate your starting movement so you experience both orders for each pairing.

I haven’t done a partner workout with holds like this in years. After the strict handstand push-ups yesterday I didn’t want to get too heavy on the push presses, so I went with the 35 pounders and they were perfect because the last five reps got pretty slow each round. You don’t always have to go heavy to get in solid work. Did all pull-ups unbroken and they felt really good. Even my air squats were fast today. We finished in 18:46.

Not Going Faster in this Repeater

My upper body was pretty sore yesterday and my upper back definitely still is. My hands just ached this morning. Yesterday was the last day of my four day weekend and I walked 18 holes of golf. Worked on the new office a little in the morning and then for a few hours after I got home. It was a busy four days and my weight was under 193 this morning, so I need to build back up to the 195-198 zone. Today we worked out at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 SkiErg (1,113m)
  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,510m)
  • 160′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 160′ Monster Walks
  • 8 Kossack Squats

Strength

E4M – 4 Sets

  • 1:30 Banded March (green, 30# MB, 1x bear hug, 3x front rack)
  • 16 Goblet Kossack Squats (40# DB in front rack)

4 Sets

  • 10/10 Landmine Curtsy Lunges (1@115, 3@125#)
  • 10/10/10 Three Position Calf Raises (40# DBs, out-neutral-in)

These were both good supersets!

Conditioning

15-12-9

  • Over the Box Jumps (24″)
  • Strict HSPU

5:00 Rest & Repeat

I was hoping to get through in three sets and I did the first time by doing 6-5-4, 5-4-3, 4-3-2 to finish in 5:19. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sustain that a second time so during the rest I came up with a four set plan. I went 4-4-4-3, 3-3-3-3, 3-2-2-2 and I was on the brink of failure a lot. Finished in 6:17. Just not a #repeater workout you’re going to get faster on after the first cycle through. Happy with the way that turned out though.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 20 Jack Knife DB Pullover (25#)
  • 12/12 Plank w/ Tricep Kickback (20#)
  • 24 alt DB Leg Drops (25#)
  • 12/12 Banded Partner Rotations/Holds (2x red, 1x blue)

Some new stuff that was rough. Those banded rotations/holds are still the worst movement though.

Paint, Workout, Paint

Didn’t sleep great, but WHOOP has me in the green for the first time in over a week. My body feels pretty beat from the last two days. My hands probably feel the worse, from 50 muscle-ups and then moving the pool table. More painting today. Out in the garage at 3pm.

Back

After a few weeks of mostly heavy work, we’re going back to higher rep supersets and we’ll go heavy on the stuff we were doing drop sets with.

4 Sets

  • 10 Straight Arm Lat Pulldowns (55#)

4 Sets

  • 10 Wide Grip Lat Pull Downs (85#)
  • 10 Behind Neck Lat Pull Downs (85#)
  • 10 Close Grip Lat Pull Downs (85#)

4 Sets

  • 10 Seated Cable Row (double handle, 80#)
  • MAX Ring Rows (13-10-8-8)

4 Sets

  • 10 Inverted Bar Row
  • 10 Seated Bent Over Back Fly (35# DBs)

3 Sets

  • 8/8 Single Arm Landmine Rows (45+40#, 45+50#, 45+55#)

Midline

3 Sets

  • 12/12 Oblique Knee Raise (5# ankle weights, hands on bench)
  • 12 Yoga Ball Crunch (30# DB)
  • 8/8 Standing DB Windmill (30# DB)
  • 100m Sandbag Bear Hug Carry (100/65#)

Wore my 5# ankle weights for every movement of the three sets.

Straight back to more painting after the workout!

2x5s

What a day yesterday. I hit a PR for WHOOP strain.

Went to bed late (for my new normal) and didn’t even wake up to piss through the night. Would have liked to sleep in, so I’m feeling a bit tired this morning. Tried to take a half hour nap just before 9. Loaded up and headed to the park at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 5 Ring Swings
  • 200m Run
  • 16 Walking Lunges
  • 10 Air Squats

Conditioning

5 Rounds – (each, I Go You Go)

  • 10 Muscle-ups
  • 8/8 Single Arm OH Walking Lunges (50 DB)
  • 20 Squat Jumps

I went in hoping to be able to do two sets of five muscle-ups each round and I made it! That’s big for me it a workout with 50 muscle-ups. After the first round I did walk around the swing set for a quick rest between each set of five. I finished my rounds at 2:15, 6:40, 11:05, 15:35, and 20:10. Brandi was doing ten unbroken ring pull-ups so her rounds were much quicker than mine and our total time for the workout was 22:03.

5 Rounds

  • 140m Hill Sled (25# + 2×55, 3×90#, 70m backward up, 70m forward down)
  • 20 Push-ups
  • 70m Hill Sprint & Walk Down

I did not bend over and put the straps between my legs for the forward sled drags this time. Stood more upright with the straps coming around the sides of me to save my back. Had a 55# plate (80 total) on the sled for 2 rounds and then 55+35 (115 total) for 3 rounds.

Mom came down and we started painting what will be my new office. Then I had a “break” when some people came and bought my pool table and ping pong stuff. That was a bitch to get up the stairs!

As I finish typing this up at 10pm my WHOOP strain says 18.5, so another big day.

Machine Madness

Yesterday I worked on the room for my office in the early morning before work, walked 18 holes in the last day of the heat wave, and worked on the room again late at night. Today I had a vacation day, so again I worked on the room in the morning and walked 18 holes. Worked out at 4pm.

Skill

Practiced some handstands with feet off the wall.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 12 Seated Incline DB Curl (30#)
  • 12 Cable Hammer Curl (rope, 40#)

3 Sets

  • DB Curl 21s

I used 25-30-30#. Looks like I was up to three sets with 30# late last year, so not bad considering we haven’t been focusing on biceps.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 2:00 SkiErg
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 Burpee Pull-ups
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 3:00 400m Run + Rest
  • 2:00 BikeErg
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 Row
  • 1:00 Rest

This was really good. A battle, but a good one. I went out too hot on the bike, not really knowing my pace yet, otherwise improved on every other movement through the workout. Running felt really good too and I was not expecting to be able to run that fast. For the machines, the numbers below are distances in meters.

An hour and a half later I’m feeling rocked from today so far. I still need to do some work on that room though, so things dry before painting tomorrow afternoon. I should sleep well tonight!

18.2 Redemption

Out in the garage at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,535m)
  • 160′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 160′ Monster Walks
  • 20 Air Squats

Conditioning

CrossFit Games Open 18.2: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

  • DB Squats (50/35# DBs)
  • Bar-facing Burpees (w/ jump back and up)

This was one of my most hated Open workouts. It seemed so simple on paper; 55 squats and 55 burpees. For whatever reason it destroyed me though and I got a very disappointing time of 9:44. I’ve been wanting to redo it for a long time. I found a nice rhythm with the burpees. When I jumped up out of the bottom I didn’t try to do too much and was ok with taking two short steps and then jumping over the bar. I think this really helped to pace me out. After the front squats didn’t feel very good yesterday I was worried. These squats felt great and I got faster and faster with them. At the end I busted ass through the final 10 burpees and finished in 7:50!!!! I’m so happy with that. I was surprised at how good I was feeling through the second half of the workout and even when I got done. Still not a great time compared to scores around the world but a huge improvement for me and I feel like I could push the pace more. I really didn’t know how hard to go early on because something like that can hit you out of nowhere (and did in 2018!).

Strength / Accessory

Warmed up bench press with 8×45, 8×95, and 8×125#.

4 Sets

  • 8 Bench Press (155#)
  • 8 DB Chest Fly (35#)
  • 8 Bench Press (155#)

Being smart with choosing my weight today instead of going for it in the early sets. Wanted to be able to have something left for shoulder presses. That’s a decrease on the bench and in increase on the fly. Every time I got to the second bench it was a fight.

3 Sets

  • 5 Shoulder Press (115-125-135#)
  • 12 Lateral Raises (15# DBs)

Shoulders were tired!

4 Sets

  • 20s Ski Erg Triceps
  • 12 OH Cable Tricep Extensions (35#, rope)

This was so hard after the first set. We weren’t taking much more rest than letting the other person do their set.

Midline

4 Sets

  • 12 Knee-ins (5# ankle weights)
  • 12/12 Side Plank Bounces/Pulses
  • 24 alt Weighted V-ups (5# ankle weights)
  • 12/12 Partner Banded Rotations

Another great ab workout. Those ankle weights were a good purchase.

Leg Burn

I was off work yesterday but instead of golfing I used a steamer and removed wallpaper in a room I’m turning in to my office. Workout out at 3:30 today.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 SkiErg (1,087m)
  • 160′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 160′ Monster Walks
  • 3 Power Snatches (45#)
  • 6 Front Squats (45#)
  • 9 Deadlifts (45#)
  • 3 Power Snatches (95#)
  • 6 Front Squats (95#)
  • 3 Power Snatches (115#)

Conditioning

  • 3 Rounds
    • 3 Power Snatches (145#)
    • 6 Burpee Box Jumps (30″)
  • 4 Rounds
    • 6 Front Squats (145#)
    • 12 T2B
  • 5 Rounds
    • 9 Deadlifts (145#)
    • 27 DU

This is the first workout I can find where B and I started training together for Super Sundays. Yesterday’s rest day would have marked six years since. We had wanted to redo it before CrossFit Whip left the location where we started the Sundays back at CrossFit Intuition, but my back had been bothering me then. So we did it near the anniversary. Back in 2014 this took me 15:37. Today I did it in 12:58 without really doing much barbell work in metcons and this was a lot of fucking barbell. I did all singles with the snatches and two sets of 6 for the toes to bars. I think I missed one double under.

Strength

5 Sets

  • 10/10 Single Leg RDL w/ foot on wall (70# KB)
  • 10/10 Landmine Curtsy Lunges (pulses, 3@105, 1@115, 1@125#)

Those are both really solid movements for hitting the affected muscles.

3 Sets

  • 10/10/10 Weighted Calf Raises (3 position out-neutral-in, 35# DBs)
  • 10/10 Single Leg Lateral Step-ups (24”, 45# DB on shoulder)

These were effective as well!