Good Day for a Ski…Erg

On Friday my forearms were sore from all of the swings. I really needed the rest day yesterday after doing some kind of workout 12 days straight. Last night I drove home late from up north because of storms rolling in overnight. No heading to the gym today due to the ice storm and then snow on top of it. Went out to the garage around 11am.

Conditioning

15 Rounds

  • 30s Ski Erg
  • 1:00 Rest

It was snowing, so I might as well ski, right? I didn’t bother to heat up the garage, so wore a hat, gloves, and bundled up. Was stripping things off by the end though. You can really see the effect of no warm-up, where I thought I wouldn’t be able to hold the pace I went at for the first interval. I’m also not used to the ski erg, which I haven’t used in months and it’s easy to forget how much tougher it is to get up to speed compared to the rower. Settled in on a pretty solid pace.

Accessory

5 Rounds

  • 25 Band Pull Aparts (red)
  • 20 Diamond Push-ups
  • 2:00 Rest

Was controlled on the pull aparts and kept tension on the band. Did 2×10 push-ups every round, though the second ten got tough in round 3. Finished in 13:15.

Midline

Might as well start on some of the back isolation/stability stuff.

3 Sets

  • 10 Curl-ups w/ 2s hold

3 Sets, 2 Sets, 1 Set

  • 20s Side Plank
  • 10s Rest

Do three sets on one side and then three on the other side, rest 1:00, then do two sets per side, rest 1:00, and finally one set per side.

5 Sets

  • 20s RKC Plank
  • 1:00 Rest

During an RKC plank you are trying to create as much tension through the midline and posterior chain as you can be contracting all of those muscles. These get really hard.

Three Years of the Sissy Test

Third year in a row doing this on Thanksgiving. Started at 10:15am.

Sissy Test

  • 25->1 Burpees
  • 1->25 Russian KBS (53/35#)

Previous results and my time from today:

• 41:38 – 2012/04/19

• 38:16 – 2012/11/22

• 43:34 – 2017/11/23

• 39:32 – 2018/11/22

• 41:07 – 2019/11/28

I did all jump back and jump up on the burpees. Split the 22-23 swings in two sets and the 24-25 in three because there was so much sweat and my forearms were blowing up.

Settle In

Went to the 9am class.

Warm-up

3 Sets

  • 15 Reverse Hypers (50#)
  • 5 Scap Pull-ups

4 Rounds

  • 10 Jumping Jacks
  • World’s Greatest stretch
  • 6 Lunges
  • 6 Air Squats
  • 10 PVC Passes
  • 10 PVC Good Mornings

Strength

  • 8/8 Back Rack Reverse Lunge
  • 8/8 Single Leg KB RDL
  • 2:00 Rest

I did 45-75-95-105-115-125-135# for the lunges. On the RDLs I did one set with a 44# KB and then 6 sets with 53#.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 10 Front Squats (75#)
  • 8 T2B

I went 4-4 toes to bars for nine rounds and then unbroken to finish at 10:04. Could I have gone unbroken the entire way? I doubt it. This one really hit those hip flexors!

Stayed after class for this little gem.

45:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 40s cal Echo Bike
  • 40s Cal Row
  • 30s Target Burpees

That might be the longest EMOM I’ve ever done. You kind of settle in on a pace about halfway through.

img_3693

When I’m in the heart of the Sissy Test tomorrow I may wish I hadn’t done all of these burpees! Now I’m heading up north for the weekend.

More Bench PRs

Most of my soreness from Sunday is gone already. Out in the garage around 4pm. I jumped on the Airdyne for 5:00 and did 104 calories for 2.57 km.

Bench Press

  • 2x8x45#
  • 5×135
  • 3×185
  • 2×205
  • 2×225
  • 5×245
  • 5×245
  • 5×250
  • MAX @ 225 (10)

Last cycle was a failure when I could only get 4×240 and had to drop to 235 for 2×5. Three weeks ago I did 4×5 with 235-235-240-245. My previous 5RM was 245, so getting it twice and then beating it was great. The 10×225 was one rep better than three weeks ago, for another PR.

Accessory

5 Sets

  • 5 Strict C2B Pull-ups (fat bar)
  • 10/10 Kroc Rows (53#)

I stayed on the bar and went through the descent on every pull-up, compared to dropping from the top and doing single pull-ups like I normally do. I felt strong.

Get Out All of the Gear

Around 9pm last night I started falling asleep and my body was feeling completely wrecked. Crawled in bed around 10 and got some solid recovery. My glutes are pretty damn sore and my upper back started to get sore through the day. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

  • 2:00 Row (34 cals)
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 10 DB Shoulder Press (20#)

Strength

2 Front Squats + 2 Jerks

  • 45# (5 reps of each)
  • 95 (5 reps of each)
  • 135
  • 165
  • 185
  • 205
  • 225
  • 235

I haven’t front squatted that weight in almost two years, when I did 2×245 on December 14, 2017. It felt pretty good, all things considered. I did all push jerks except for the last set where I split jerked both reps. I think I started wearing my belt with 165. I also had knee sleeves on just because I’d want them for the lunges.

Conditioning

17:00 AMRAP

  • Buy-in: 5 Rounds
    • 10 Thrusters (95#)
    • 15 Pull-ups
    • 30 Double Unders
  • AMRAP in remaining time…
    • 10 Front Rack Lunges (95#)
    • 15 Russian KBS (70#)
    • 30 Double Unders

I broke the thrusters 5-5 from the start, hoping to keep my heart rate down, and did 5-5-5 on all pull-ups. My first round was just under 2:00 and round two was right at 4:00, but then I started resting way too much between movements. I think I was on the AMRAP right around the 13:00 mark, so I averaged three minutes for each of the last three rounds! Missed 3 double unders all together I think. Got through 2+10 of the AMRAP.

Pump Everything

Glad I took it easy yesterday. Haven’t been getting the sleep I need, so something to work on. Went to open gym at 10am.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • PVC Passes
  • Shoulder Stretching

Conditioning (upper body)

“J.T.”
21-15-9

  • HSPU
  • Ring Dip
  • Push-up

With the way my push-ups felt from the get go I wasn’t sure I could beat the 8:04 I did back in March. I went 3×7, 3×5, and 5-4 on the handstand push-ups. Ring dips were 7×3, a double, and then all singles. I did 7×3, 5×3, and then whatever I could do to finish the push-ups. New PR by five seconds with 7:59.

For the Girls

3 Sets

  • 7 Hammer Curls (35#)
  • 7 Hammer Curls (30#)
  • 7 Hammer Curls (25#)

So much upper body pump after those first two pieces.

Conditioning (lower body)

42-30-18

  • Russian KBS (70#)
  • Pistols
  • Walking Lunges

How about some work on the legs?! I put on my lifters and knee sleeves. Felt pretty good and I really liked this one. Finished in 10:33.

After lunch it was time for a bunch of yard clean-up.

Easy 50

My body is feeling good after going to four classes this week. I want to get back to more partner workouts on Saturdays, but if I went in this morning tomorrow would be 4 days in a row. There was also a bunch of dumbbell snatches and burpee deadlifts; I did enough bending over with DBs this week. I went out to the garage after 10am.

50:00 Airdyne

Went 1,161 calories and 27.07 km. Wasn’t even trying and went 3.12 km more than I’d done for 50 minutes.

4th Class This Week

My hip flexors have been wrecked all week from those 120 toes to bars. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

2 Sets

  • 10 Lateral Raises (5#)
  • 10 Front Raises (5#)
  • 10 Bent Over Lateral Raises (5#)

3 Rounds

  • 10 Jumping Jacks
  • 10 Air Squats
  • Worlds greatest stretch
  • Front rack stretch
  • 5 Ring Rows

I also did 10×45# front squats.

Strength

5 Sets

  • 10 Front Squats (95#)
  • 10 Hip Thrusts (50#, 4 @ 60#)
  • 2:00 Rest

These were supposed to be max rep sets at about 50% but these days I don’t like doing max reps with anything that’s going to affect my back. So I took it easy, especially with the squats cleans coming up in the metcon.

Conditioning

12:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Squat Cleans (95#)
  • 10 Pull-ups
  • 20 Double Unders

All single cleans export two at the end. Kept picking the bar up without extra rest though. I did 5-5 on every round of pull-ups and was having a hard time getting the rhythm of my butterfly. Didn’t miss any dubs until two in the last round! Finished 8+2 and slowing down on the cleans like that turned out to be a nice steady pace.

My back has held up well this week and I’ve been to 4 classes.

Easier Round Two

Still pretty sore from early in the week. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

  • 2:00 Echo Bike (22 cals)
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 10 H2H KBS (44#)
    • 5 DB Shoulder Press (35-40#)

Conditioning

2 Rounds

  • 2:00 Plank (on hands)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 AMRAP – DB Thrusters (50#)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 AMRAP – Double Unders
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 AMRAP – Devil Presses (50#)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 AMRAP – cal Echo Bike
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 AMRAP – cal Row
  • 3:00 Rest

I easily did the plank unbroken both rounds. Then 5-5-5-7 (22) for both rounds of thrusters and the second time through them was actually easier being warmed up. The first time through dubs I did sets of 30 reps at a time, getting 150 and the second time I just went until I missed, getting 172. The devil presses were at a controlled pace with an extra breath at the bottom of the burpee, getting 12 both rounds. I did 32-28 on the bike and 45-48 on the rower.

2019-11-21-wod

It’s kind of nice only doing one session right now. I need to start the back isolation stability stuff soon.