Month: September 2020

Bounce vs. Muscle It

I didn’t sleep very well last night. My abs are getting sore from yesterday. Worked out at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,450m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walk
  • 80′ Monster Walk

Handstand Balance Breakthrough

  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 2 Sets
    • 20 Banded Arm Circles
  • 3 Sets
    • 2 Handstand Split to Stacked
  • 2 Sets
    • 30s Wall-facing HS Hold

The split to stacked drill felt better than the list time, but still not nearly as good as the kick-ups last week.

Legs

4 Sets

  • 20 DB Walking Lunges (diagonal, 50# DBs)
  • 10/10 Single Leg RDL (foot on wall, 70# KB)

3 Sets

  • 12 Barbell Hip Thrusts (85#)
  • 12/12 Lateral Step-ups (50# DB, 24″)

I bet it’s been at least three years since I’ve done barbell hip thrusts.

  • 12 DB Front Squats (40# DBs)
  • 12/12 Single Leg Calf Raises
  • 12 DB Front Squats
  • 12/12 Single Leg Calf Raises
  • 12/12 Single Leg Calf Raises

I skipped the third set of squats because my back was feeling weird.

Conditioning

2 Rounds

  • 10 Pull-ups
  • 10 Box Jump Overs (24/20″)
  • 15 Hang Power Snatch (75/50#)
  • 10 Box Jump Overs (24/20″)
  • 10 Pull-ups
  • 3:00 Rest

Pull-ups felt great throughout and I can really feel a huge difference when I concentrate on my hips in the kip. I did a lateral jump over the box so I wouldn’t have to keep turning around. The snatches in the first round were not great. I was trying to bounce them off the high pocket position, which was getting to me and slowing me down. The second time around I bounced them off my thighs and did sort of a muscle-ish snatch. First round was 2:00 and second was 1:50, so the snatches were much faster.

Don’t Forget

I got about 9 hours of sleep last night! Workout at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 SkiErg (1,077m)

Handstand Balance Breakthrough
Forgot to do any wrist warm-up. Whoops!

The tuck balance felt much better than the first time we did them. The hold was only programmed as 15 seconds, but that seems like a waste of time, so we did a minute.

Arms

5 Sets

  • 5 Weighted Ring Dips (25-30-35-40-45#)

3 Sets

  • 12 EZ Bar Preacher Curls (56-66-66#)
  • 12 French Press (60# DB)

3 Sets

  • 12 Tricep Pulldowns (underhand, 71#)
  • 8/8 Static Hammer Curls (30# DBs)

6:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 30s Tricep extensions on Ski Erg
  • 30s Bicep Curls on Rower

Conditioning

2 Rounds

  • 200m Run
  • 25 T2B
  • 30 Burpees
  • 35 Sit-ups
  • 40 Double Unders
  • 45 Hollow Scissor Kicks

I went 20-5 and 10-5-5-5 on the toes-to-bars and wasn’t wearing any grips. My double unders were not very good today. Went 30-15 on both sets of scissor kicks. Finished in 14:06.

13.2 After 7.5 Years

I’m really sore in all areas of my upper body. Did a bunch of woodworking last night and this morning, which doesn’t help. Out in the garage at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,539m)
  • 5:00 Row (1,300m)
  • 5:00 SkiErg (1,150m)

Handstand Balance Breakthrough

Yesterday we started doing wrist warm-up and we’re going to continue before each handstand session. Should help with my hands. After yesterday’s session, I was thinking it was unlikely I’d be doing holds after the four weeks of this program and I wasn’t expecting much from the kick-ups today. But then I did one and it felt so good! We probably did about 15 of them because we were really enjoying it. I was getting right up in to a handstand and able to hold some of them. I was also able to feel myself going too far and save some without hitting the wall. This went so well!!! For the walks we alternated between the two of us and it pretty much ended up being 4-3-2-1 wall walks.

Conditioning

CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.2
10:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Shoulder to Overheads (115/75#)
  • 10 Deadlifts (115/75#)
  • 15 Box Jumps/Step-ups (24/20″)

Hard to believe I’ve never done this workout again, when it was one of my best Open workouts ever. I got 8+25 back in 2013. Today I was able to keep a steady, on the border of red lining, the entire workout. I knew I had to. I’m sure my deadlifts are slower these days, but I was still able to PR with 9+3, doing all step-ups.

Midline

4 Sets

  • 12 Low-Pulley Knee-In (27#)
  • 15 OH Crunches (2s pause, 60# DBs)
  • 7/7 Hip Abducted Evil Wheels
  • 80m Sandbag Carry (100#)

Suped-up the original weighted ab workout we did in May to get this. It was very effective!

Going to do some yard work since it’s going to be a nice day before turning tomorrow. Will probably do some woodworking later too. Looking forward to a rest day tomorrow!

Almost Twenty

Yep, my hands are feeling the muscle-ups and carries from yesterday on top of what they’ve been feeling lately. My shoulders are feeling it as well. Workout at 9:30am this morning. Usually we do long monostructural work on chest and back day. Not today since we went long yesterday.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 SkiErg (1,078m)
  • Wrist Warm-up

Handstand Balance Breakthrough

The start of week 3 already!

We didn’t time the handstand split to stacked work, but kept alternating between us with time on the wall getting a feel for the drill. It was a new challenge for sure. Probably went 6-8 times each.

Gymnastics Test

MAX Strict Pull-ups

Haven’t tried this since May 10th when I got 17. Maybe not the best day to test after doing 56 muscle-ups last night, but I was still able to get 19! And I have the 🌲 back!!

Back & Chest

Warm-up

  • 5 Pendlay Row 45
  • 5 Bench Press 45
  • 5 Bench Press 115

3 Sets

  • 12 Pendlay Row (115#)
  • 12 Bench Press (165#)

I could definitely feel tired in the various muscles doing these sets.

3 Sets

  • 12 Seated Cable Row (120#)
  • 12/12 Static DB Bench Press (60# DBs)

Wasn’t sure about the 60s for this, but they went well. Glad I bought them.

3 Sets

  • 10 Close Grip Chin-ups
  • 10 Weighted Ring Dips (15#)

2 Sets

  • 8-10-12 Renegade Row (Right, 50-40-30#)
  • 8-10-12 Renegade Row (Right, 50-40-30#)

Nasty. Go all three dumbbells with increasing weight on one arm before repeating with the other arm. Rest 2-3 minutes and do it again.

2 Sets

  • MAX Diamond Push-ups

Did 40 and 32 reps.

Two Short of All Unbroken

My hips and low back were a tight yesterday but overall felt good and I walked 18 holes of golf. Almost every morning, as I lay in bed and then when drinking my coffee, my hands ache. It has to be from the handstand program because I don’t remember this ever happening each day like this. Goes to show how much of handstand balancing is in your hands. We went to the park at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 10 Kip Swings
  • 20 PVC Passes

Gymnastics

E2M – 7 Sets

  • 8 Muscle-ups

I was worried this was going to be too aggressive and kept debating what the workout should be. I’ve done eight E4M for five rounds alternating with other movements. I did 11 E3M for five rounds with the first two rounds unbroken. I wanted something I was afraid of.

I felt good through four rounds and started to feel it hitting me during round five. In round six I had to squeeze out the last two dips. In the final round I had to work for the dips in reps 5-6, I swung, and knew I wasn’t getting over the rings. I took a short break and did a single, rested 20 some seconds while Brandi did her pull-ups, and did my final single. Pretty pumped I got through six sets unbroken. At the end of December my max set was 9! I guess today would have been 50 reps in about 12:08, so I’ll note that as a benchmark. If I were to do a real test of 50 I’d start by trying five EMOM, which would be a time of around 9:20.

I think this video is some of the reps in round three.

Conditioning

30:00 AMRAP

  • 80/80m Hill Run
  • 7/7 Single DB Hang C&J (50#)
  • 15 OH Crunches (50#)
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 30 Mountain Climbers
  • 80/80m Hill Suitcase Carry (50#)
  • 7/7 Single DB Hang C&J (50#)
  • 15 OH Crunches (50#)
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 30 Mountain Climbers

My hips were not having it on the first run up the hill. I went at my pace and started to feel better for the final third of the workout. Got through the list three full times and all the way through the second set of crunches, so air squats and mountain climbers shy of finishing four rounds (or eight depending on how you look at it).

Before the Tweak

Felt pretty good this morning after another good night of sleep. Workout at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,526m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 80′ Monster Walks

Handstand Balance Breakthrough

3 Rounds (NFT)

  • 10/10 Bottoms Up KB Press (15#)
  • 20s Handstand 90 degree Hover
  • 10 Wall-facing Handstand Sponge Shift

Went with a light kettlebell so I wouldn’t tax my shoulders too much going in to the hovers. Yesterday was frustrating and I didn’t want a repeat of that after feeling like things had been progressing so well through this program. Today was 100 times better. I was really starting to balance in that hover position and I was able to do the sponge shifts unbroken each round with the final round being my best, especially when balancing on my right side, which struggles.

Legs

4 Sets

  • 20 Walking Lunges (40# DBs)
  • 10 Good Mornings (75#)

3 Sets

  • 12 Goblet Squats (70# KB)
  • 12 DB Step-ups (24″, 50# DBs)

This superset was absolutely brutal!

Was feeling like my back was going to tweak on me after getting through to this point, so I adjusted the next superset. I’ll bet it was the good mornings. I probably shouldn’t try to do those, even though I went super light.

3 Sets

  • 20 Sumo KB Deadlifts (70#)
  • 30s Superman Hold

Conditioning

2 Rounds

  • 45s cal BikeErg
  • 15s Rest
  • 45s Push-up + DB Pull Through (50#)
  • 15s Rest
  • 45s cal BikeErg
  • 15s Rest
  • 45s Renegade Rows (50# DBs)
  • 15s Rest

First round was 17-16-18-20 and then 20-19-20-22 for the second round. My legs were on fire during round two on the bike.

Arms on Arms

I felt so much better the rest of Sunday after moving through the workout. Woke up yesterday feeling beat again, but felt fine once I got moving while walking 18 holes of golf. It was a beautiful day. I’ve been sleeping much better for the last week+. Woke up feeling beat again, especially my hands just have been aching in the mornings. 4pm workout today.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 SkiErg (1,053m)
  • 20 PVC Passes

Handstand Balance Breakthrough

6:00 EMOM (alt)

We settled on setting the box to 32″ I think and did several sets of 15 seconds or so trying to get the feel for the hover practice. Just holding the handstand got really hard after the first time through and I was really frustrated when I almost crashed on my head. I was getting the feel a little bit warming up but then felt like I didn’t get the intended stimulus in the six minutes because my shoulders were blown!

Arms

3 Sets

  • EZ Bar 21s (56#)
  • 12 Tricep Pulldowns (rope, 65#)

3 Sets

  • 10/10 Single Arm Bench Supported Curl (25#)
  • 10 EZ Bar Skull Crushers (66-71-76#)

3 Sets

  • 8/8 Static DB Hammer Curl (30#)
  • 10/10 Tricep Kickbacks (25#)

3 Sets

  • 5 Wrist Curl (12#)
  • 5 Reverse Wrist Curl (12#)
  • 10 Plate Hammer Curl (10#)

Massive pump!

Conditioning

15:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Strict C2B Chin-ups
  • 15 Ball Slams (20# MB)
  • 10 DB Push Jerks (40# DBs)
  • 15 Seated Tucks

More arms on arm day? Yep!! This went well and I got through 6+30.

Literally Everything

I’m sore in every part of my body. No exaggeration. No outdoor workout this weekend because of the chilly weather and our schedules. In the garage at 10am today.

Conditioning

30:00 EMOM (40s Work / 20s Rest)

  • cal Row
  • Step-ups (20″)
  • cal Bike Erg
  • Push-ups
  • H2H KBS (53#)

Meant to be a recovery type workout. Of course after I got a couple of rounds and was feeling good I decided to push it. I went 12-13-13-15-15-16 on the row, 14-15-16-16-16-18 on the step-ups, 12-12-14-14-15-16 on the bike, 32-37-38-39-40-42 push-ups, and 22-22-24-24-24-24 with swings. My body felt much better after moving through this.

Midline

6 Sets

  • 12 Superman
  • 16 Medicine Ball Dead Bug (20#)
  • 25/25m Single Arm OH Carry (53# KB)

Really nice low-key session for a Sunday.

Shift It

Sore from yesterday already. Chilly this morning, but got started at 9:30.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 140 Double Unders
  • 700m Run

When it’s a 28 minute AMRAP and you can’t finish the final run, you call it a 5 rounder. 😉 I started with a set of 93 dubs and then a lot of my sets were in the 30-40 range the rest of the way. Took me 29:05.

Handstand Balance Breakthrough

I did 10-10 for the swings and 4-8-8-8-6-6 for the shifts. Those are hard and balancing on my right arm is much worse than on my left.

Back & Chest

3 Sets

  • 10 Incline DB Bench Press (60# DBs)
  • 10 Incline DB Row (45# DBs)

Nice to have the heavier dumbbells. It was hard with the 60s.

3 Sets

  • 10 Bench Press (175#)
  • 10 Pendlay Row (Supinated, 135#)

Wouldn’t have made it much heavier for bench than the 175. Haven’t done the supinated rows in a long time. Brandi and I swapped who programs legs and chest/back to switch things up.

3 Sets

  • 10 Incline DB Fly (40#)
  • 10 Seated Cable Row (handles, 120-120-126#)

These cable rows keep feeling better, which I think is a good sign for my muscle-ups.

3 Sets

  • 10/10 Standing Cable Crossover (facing sideways, 27#)
  • MAX Inverted Bar Rows (16-14-12)

Overlooked

Yesterday I walked 18 holes of golf and mowed the lawn. Worked out at 3pm today.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 SkiErg (1,087m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 80′ Monster Walks
  • 5/5 Standing Bottoms Up KB Press (20#)

Handstand Balance Breakthrough

40 Standing Single Arm Bottoms Up KB Press (25#)

Supposed to be alternating, but we don’t have pairs of KBs so we did five per side at a time until we did all 40 reps.

10 Handstand Kick-ups w/ ~5s Balance

I’ve been trying to keep an open mind about this program and starting from basics, especially since the first week went so well. When I saw this and read the notes I had my doubts. It turned out to be really good and I could feel myself starting to find that balance position. By the end I was kicking up without touching the wall.

Gymnastics & Weightlifting

14:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 12 T2B
  • 5 Power Snatch (95#)

Warmed up with 5×45# and 5×75# power snatches. Pretty excited I was able to get all seven rounds of toes to bars unbroken.

Conditioning

20-18-16-14-12-10-12-14-16-18-20 (I Go You Go)

  • Weighted Plyo Lunges (35/10# DBs)

Almost two months ago we did a 7:21 with Brandi going first and using 5# dumbbells. Had her go first again since it’s a bit easier and doubling her dumbbell weight was going to be a big jump. We both struggled a bit today. Maybe tired legs from Wednesday? I was feeling it in the early 18 and 16 and usually it doesn’t start to hit me until the 12 or 10. Today I was able to hold on and get every set unbroken due to it taking us longer overall and probably somewhat to do with doing a bunch of reps lately with 50# DBs. It took us 8:13, which is still our second best time at this workout.

Midline

12:00 EMOM (alt)

  • Mountain Climber Slides
  • Russian Twists (35# plate)
  • OH Crunch (35# plate)
  • Lying Leg Lifts

This Ibex Training workout was supposed to be 40 seconds of work with 20 seconds of rest each minute, but somehow that got overlooked and we worked the entire time except for transitions. Fucking brutal on the upper abs.