Month: October 2020

9 Years

I started CrossFit 9 years ago!

I’ve been really sore and beat from going three days in a row during the week, with my lats being the worst after 100 pull-ups and 68 toes to bars over two days. Took a complete rest day yesterday to recover. In the garage at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Row (1,318m)
  • 5:00 SkiErg (1,158m)
  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,662m)

Handstands

  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 4×6 alt Handstand Tuck Balance
  • 2×1:00 Wall-facing HS Hold
  • 2×5 Kick-ups (balance)

I did my best freestanding hold ever. Getting close to that 10 seconds!

Conditioning

8 Rounds

  • 30 Double Under
  • 10 Devil Press (30/20# DBs)
  • 1:00 Rest

I missed a double under in rounds one, two, and seven. Felt good in this one, with times of 1:13 – 1:13 – 1:08 – 1:08 – 1:06 – 1:04 – 1:02 – 1:01.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 20 alt DB Curls (35#)
  • 10 EZ Bar Skull Crushers (71#)
  • 8-12 Inverted Bar Rows (supinated)

On a Thursday

Switching our rest day from Thursday to Friday and I’m feeling a little bit beat up. I didn’t sleep the greatest either. 5pm today.

Warm-up

  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walk
  • 80′ Monster Walk
  • Wrist Warm-up

Handstands

  • 2x45s Wall Walk
  • 2x30s Wall Walk
  • 2x30s OH Plate Hold (45#)

Strength

4 Sets

  • 12 Lat Pulldowns (104#)
  • 12/12 Single Leg Step-downs (15″, 35#)

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

  • 12 Weighted Plyo Lunges (35# DBs)
  • 12 DB Floor Press (60# DBs)
  • 12 T2B

Didn’t wear grips because of sore on my wrist and was able to go unbroken until the final round when I went 7-1 toes to bar. Finished 5+32 overall.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 12 Parallette Shoot Throughs (5# ankle weights)
  • 24 Russian Twists (35# plate, 5# ankle weights)
  • 12 Weighted Leg Lifts (5# ankle weights)

Core is just tired from yesterday and the previous work.

Destroying Angie

My low back is a little tight from yesterday and my ankles are still tight from the broad jumps. In the garage at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 10:00 BikeErg (5,060m)
  • 20 PVC Passes

Conditioning

“Angie”

  • 100 Pull-ups
  • 100 Push-ups
  • 100 Sit-ups
  • 100 Air Squats

Been almost three years since I’ve done this workout. My best time was 20:40 from late 2014, at 1.5 miles above sea level in Colorado and I did 22:27 in January of 2018.

I was confident I could set a nice PR today by being more aggressive on the pull-ups and push-ups. I definitely work grips and shaved my calluses earlier. I started out doing a set of 10 pull-ups every 30 seconds and made it through 60. Then I did 5 more butterfly before switching to sets of 5 with a gymnastics kip, eventually dropping to 4s, to finish at 5:18, which was almost 2 minutes faster that when I set my PR. I did four sets of 10 push-ups and then all 5s to get done at 9:18, almost 4 minutes ahead of my PR pace! Sit-ups were kind of slow and were done at 13:03. Kept moving on the squats and was done at 16:10 for a 4:30 PR!!

Handstands

  • 2×5 Kick-ups (bad leg)
  • 2×5 Kick-ups (good leg)

Upper body was a bit tired so we didn’t do what was planned. This was enough. It’s hard being upside down and trying to balance when you’re tired!

Midline

4 Sets

  • 20/20s Weighted Side Plank (30#)
  • 20s Superman Hold
  • 10/10 Side Bends (70# KB)

No joke here!

Legs

3 Sets

  • 10/10 Single Leg RDL (foot on wall, 70# KB)
  • 10/10 Single Leg Glute Bridge (2s pause)

A New Toy

Complete rest day yesterday. My shins are sore from the broad jumps, as always. Out in the garage at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 10:00 BikeErg (5,062m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walk
  • 80′ Monster Walk

Handstands

Weightlifting

Power Cleans

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×135#
  • 5:00 EMOM – 3 Power Cleans (165#)
  • 5:00 EMOM – 2 Power Cleans (195#)
  • 5:00 EMOM – 1 Power Clean (215-225-225-235-245#)

I was planning to just stick at 215, but was feeling good and it’s been a long time so I went for it. Weight was going up good!

Conditioning

3 Rounds – 2:00

  • 24/16 cal Row
  • MAX Burpee Box Jumps (24/20″)
  • 2:00 Rest

I started out at about 1,700 cal/hr and got faster each round. I also adjusted my steps on the burpee box jumps after the first round. I was able to get 13, 15, and 16. This was hard!

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 10 Wrist Curls (12# DBs)
  • 10 Reverse Wrist Curls (12# DBs)
  • Wrist Roller (up-down, 5#)

A couple of days ago I put together a quick pipe, some string, and a carabiner to do wrist rolls. OMG I couldn’t hold my arms up for the wrist roller; got soooo heavy!

Hold for a Gold Star

My back is a little tight and my shoulders and elbows still feel pretty beat each morning. Didn’t get out of bed until 8, which is extremely rare these days. Workout at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 10:00 BikeErg (4,925m)
  • 20 PVC Passes
  • Wrist Warm-up

Handstands

4 Rounds (NFT)

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

Really nasty combo after yesterday.

Conditioning

To warm up my bench I did 10×45, 10×95, and 5×135.

20:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 10 Bench Press (155#)
  • 12/8 cal SkiErg
  • 15/10 cal BikeErg
  • 12 Broad Jumps

After two tough days I wanted something that wouldn’t be crushing. I picked up the pace on the machines each round, which got me a good sweat. Bench was easy to start but I think I would have been failing at the end if I’d done 10 more pounds.

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 20s Hollow Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Superman Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Star Plank Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Star Plank Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Single Leg KB Balance Hold (70#)
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Single Leg KB Balance Hold (70#)
  • 10s Rest

Back in January I could not hold a star plank and I was able to every singe one today without falling. I really like the glue activation in those.

A Kettlebell and a Partner

Body feels good. Worked out at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 10:00 BikeErg (4,902m)
  • 25 PVC Passes

Handstands

  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 8:00 EMOM (alt)
    • 10 Shoulder I-Y (red)
    • 30s Handstand 90° Hover
  • 5 Kick-ups (bad leg)
  • 5 Kick-ups (good leg)
  • 2×5 Kick-ups (balance)

An extra round of each movement in that EMOM from a month ago. Much better with the hover, but that’s still a brutal combination on the shoulders. Started doing my balance kick-ups out on the open floor.

Conditioning

I did 8 kettlebell swings, 8 clean and jerks, 10 air squats, and 6 overhead lunges to get a feel for it.

30:00 AMRAP (Partner)

  • 80 H2H KBS (53/35#)
  • 60 Single Arm C&J (53/35#)
  • 80 T2B
  • 60 Goblet Squat (53/35#)
  • 80 Single Arm OH Lunge (53/35#)

Brandi used a DB for the C&J and did weighted V-ups instead of T2B. We did 20 each on the swings and 10 each everywhere else. I was really happy to get all of my toes to bar sets unbroken (wore grips). She went first and we got through 2+49.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 10 Seated Cable Row (double handle, 126#)
  • 10/10 Tricep Kickbacks (25# DB)
  • 10 DB Fly (40# DBs)

I think I could really feel all of yesterday’s burpees in the front of my shoulders when doing the fly.

Keep Grinding

We’re giving handstand work a break for another day, hoping to let the shoulders recover. In the garage at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 80′ Monster Walks
  • 10 Monster Squats
  • 10 Double Unders

Conditioning

E5M – 8 Sets

  • 24 cal Row
  • 18 Burpees
  • 50 DU

This is the next level of some similar workouts that came from Ben Smith’s programming. My goal was to pull 1,600 cal/hr on the rower because I’d done 1,500 in that similar workout I linked to. I wore my knee sleeves because that many burpees will give me a nasty knee bruise.

When I dropped down for the first burpees, the front of my shoulders were screaming a little bit. Not sure how much of a rest this ended up being for them. I hit my goal on the rower and bet that my times were all within a second. Burpees got slower in some rounds toward the end and overall my double unders were pretty good. Shit got real in round three and then it was just holding on and telling myself I could keep the pace. My burpees must have gotten slower in rounds 6-7. Pretty consistent though for so much high intensity work. Here are my round times and number of double under misses.

Accessory

6 Sets

  • 20 alt Incline DB Curls (25# DBs)
  • 10 Low Pulley Knee-ins (27#)
  • 8/8 Partner Banded Rotations & Holds (blue)

Dialing in Kick-ups

My inner thighs are still a bit sore and my shoulders need some rest. In the garage at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 10:00 BikeErg (4,845m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 80′ Monster Walks

Handstands

  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 2×10 Kip Swings
  • 3×20 Wall-facing Handstand Sponge Shifts
  • 2x45s Handstand Shape 45° Hollow
  • 3×5 Kick-ups (finding balance)

I still find it amazing how much the sponge shifts improved since the first time. Today I was even keeping my feet together instead of a big spread to help with a stable base up at the top. I’m starting to really dial in my kick-ups and think it’s time to just do them in the open floor from now on so I don’t kick the wall when I overshoot and can play around with saving some of those more.

Strength

  • 8 alt Back Rack Reverse Lunges (45#)
  • 8 Pendlay Rows (supinated, 45#)
  • 4 Sets
    • 12 alt Back Rack Reverse Lunges (135#)
    • 12 Pendlay Rows (supinated, 95#)

Straight up cardio-ish!

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

  • 20 Russian KBS (53/35#)
  • 10/10 Lunge Pulses
  • 10 Weighted V-ups (15# DB)

No place to rest here. Got faster as we went. Finished 7+40.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 30 Band Pull Aparts (blue)
  • 20 Band Tricep Pulldowns (red)
  • 8/8 Parallette Supported Renegade Rows (50#)

This was a rough combination and didn’t really rest between sets.

No Max Test Today

Complete rest day yesterday. Up in my left scap was feeling like there was a knot, but it’s improved today. My inner thighs are oddly sore. Workout at 3:30.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,539m)
  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 40 Bottoms Up KB Press (20#)

Was going to test a max set of strict ring dips, but my shoulders were not having it with.

Handstands

  • 5 Kick-ups (bad leg)
  • 5 Kick-ups (good leg)
  • 2×1:00 Wall-facing Handstand Hold
  • 2×1:00 Frog Stands
  • 3×5 Kick-ups (finding balance)

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 10 KB Sumo Deadlifts (70/53#)
  • 15 DB Hang Clean & Jerks (30/20#)

I did shoulder presses for the most part and some cleans right in to a push press. Unbroken all the way for a time of 4:55. Shoulders need some rest!

Midline

4 Sets

  • 7/7 Hip Abducted Evil Wheel
  • 12 OH Crunch (60# DBs)
  • 10/10 Side Bend (60# DB)
  • 30s/30s Side Plank

Gonna be feeling this stuff!

Wrist / Forearms

  • 10/10s Bottoms Up KB Hold (20#)
  • 2 Sets 20/20s Bottoms Up KB Hold (15#)
  • 3 Sets
    • 10 Wrist Curls (12#)
    • 10 Reverse Wrist Curls (12#)