Another Calf Strain

I took another nap yesterday and got a lot of sleep last night. Still popping drugs to keep this cold under control. My holiday break is over, so it’s back to work today. Out in the garage at noon.

Warm-up

5:00 Airdyne

Did 109 calories and 2.63 km.

Planned on doing 18.1, but my back is way too tight for those movements and didn’t feel like I had the energy for a solid effort.

Conditioning

Flight Simulator

  • 5-10…45-50-45…10-5 Unbroken Double Unders

Didn’t miss until 49/50 (before the clock was even at 4:00) and then it was a fucking shitshow!! My right calf strained (like it did over the summer) at 10:30 on the clock trying to get through 20 so that was the end of my workout. My PR is 9:30, so that tells you how bad I did coming back down from 50. Estimated that I did 580 dubs (which is probably low), so I logged it as an AMRAP in BTWB.

Accessory

5 Sets

  • 10/10 DB Hammer Curls (alternating, 25#)
  • 8/8 Kroc Rows (70#)
  • 1:30 Rest

I focused on not shrugging my shoulders up for the curls. With the rows I focused on keeping my shoulder blades down and back.

Midline

Side Plank

  • 3 x 20 seconds w/ 10 second rests (all 3 on one side, then switch)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2 x 20 seconds
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 1 x 20 seconds

Was able to do these on a elbow by using two layers of soft thick mats.

The gym finally opens back up tomorrow with limited functionality, but I might make it a rest day.

Sick, but Recovering

Started getting stuffed up on Monday night and woke up with my WHOOP recovery in the yellow after a seven day green streak. Sinuses really started bothering me as the day progressed. My quads and ass were getting very very sore! Made New Year’s Eve a rest day. I took a nice nap, loaded up on drugs through the day, and was in bed at 10pm. Still not feeling great this morning and my quads are still on fire. Out in the garage at 11.

Warm-up

5:00 Airdyne

Did 112 calories and 2.66 km.

Accessory

5 Sets

  • 6/6 Single Arm Front Rack Squats (53#)
  • 10 Sumo KB Deadlifts (70#)

A way for me to easy back into some lifting and see how my back handles a little load. When holding the kettlebell in my right arm I could feel my back a little unless I made an adjustment to my positioning.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 2:00 Sandbag Cleans over the Box (100#, 48″)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 1:00 Rope Pulls
  • 1:00 Hand Release Push-ups
  • 1:00 Rest

Not going to lie, I was scared when I went to pick up the sandbag for a warm-up attempt. No issues though. I twisted my ankle on a rep in the first or second round when I came down on the sandbag, but walked it off right away and it never bothered me. Just made sure to jump down to the side of the bag from there on out. I did 10-12-12-13 with the sandbag, 9 rope pulls each time, and 25-23-25-25 push-ups. Tried for some larger sets in that third round, which just made me rest more, hence the fewer reps.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 10 Curl-ups (3s Pause)

3 Sets

  • 10/10 Bird Dogs + 10s pause

60 Strict

My back is feeling pretty good, but my legs and ass are getting sore. Out in the garage around 10:30.

Intervals

4 Rounds

  • 4:30 Airdyne
  • 4:30 Rest

I tried to average around 85 PRM, doing 169, 169, 166, and 169 calories and 3.04, 3.02, 3.01, and 3.04 km.

Back in the garage around 4pm.

Conditioning

30:00 EMOM (40s of work)

  • Strict Pull-ups
  • Double Unders
  • HS Hold
  • Step-ups (20″)
  • Ski

I did 5×2 pull-ups, about 55 dubs, the full handstand hold, 5-5-3-3 step-ups, and 10 calories on the Ski Erg. Got shitty after about three rounds. Felt good about the consistency though, especially being able to do 60 strict pull-ups.

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 40 Hollow Flutter Kicks
  • 30 Plank Jumps
  • 20 Alternating V-ups

After the first round I did 20-10 plank jumps and 10-10 on the V-ups. Finished in 7:15.

I may rest tomorrow.

Hellasoreus

Through the night Friday and yesterday morning my back was pretty bad. Was feeling much better after doing nothing all day and taking a nap. Then had the gym’s Christmas party last night. This morning I’m moving around so much better. My WHOOP recovery score is somehow on a 6 day green streak. Out in the garage at 12:30 with Brandi and Ashley.

Warm-up

  • 6:00 Airdyne (3.01 km – 119 cals)
  • 10 Bench Press (45#)
  • 5 Bench Press (95#)

Strength

  • 100 Bench Press (135#)

I did sets of five about every 22-23 seconds through 80, when I had to switch to sets of three until finishing with a final set of five. Final time of 8:30, which is 13 seconds better than July of 2017.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 50 Lunges
  • 40 Air Squats
  • 30 Plyo Lunges
  • 20 Squat Jumps

Before the first round was done I thought about downgrading to three rounds, but I hung in there and knew I could still keep a decent pace once I got through the second round. I did all sets of 10 for the plyo lunges which were the worst burn by far and tried to keep moving with the other movements, only really stopping to adjust my knee sleeves. Finished the first round in just under 5:00 and a total time of 20:57, so I didn’t slow down much. If actually felt really good to get a bunch of movement in my back. Our legs and asses will be hella sore for the next couple of days!

Here We Go Again

My back was a little tight from yesterday’s workout. I went over and helped clean up at the new gym location, took a little nap, and then was out in the garage at 4pm.

Warm-up

4:00 Airdyne

Did 72 calories and 1.93 km.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 5 Strict C2B Chin-ups
  • 8/8 Kroc Rows (70#)
  • 1:30 Rest

Strength

Front Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 6×95
  • 6×135
  • 1×165

Tweaked my fucking back! Ugghhh. 😡 😡

Conditioning

7:00 AMRAP

  • 3-6-9… Bench Press (135#)
  • 30 Double Unders

Had this written for 95 pound push presses, but switched it for me. Glad I was still able to jump. I went unbroken through 9, then 7-5, 8-7, and 6-6-6. Only missed one dub I think. Finished the 18 presses and then 10 dubs.

Midline

8 Sets

  • 10s RKC Plank
  • 20s Rest

I’m going to try to do some extra work on my back tonight and hopefully will wake up with it being a minor tweak, even though it feels like one of the more significant ones.

40!!

I took a couple of rest days and ate everything! Got up this morning and drove home. Was out in the garage around 4pm.

Today is my 40th, so I came up with this gem of a workout.

Conditioning

40:00 AMRAP

  • 40 cal Row
  • 40 Russian KBS (70/53#)
  • 40 Deadlifts (115/80#)
  • 40 cal Ski
  • 40 Box Jumps (24/20″)
  • 40 Hand Release Push-ups

This went by faster than I expected, but I should have realized how much of a low back pump it would be. Got through 2+151.

Midline

Side Plank

  • 3x 20/20s w/ 10s Rests
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2x 20/20s w/ 10s Rests
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 1x 20/20s w/ 10s Rests

2 Sets

  • 10 Pallof Presses + 10 Rotations (per side)

Used the small blue band which was much harder.

4 Sets

  • 30s/30s Side Bends (53#)
  • 30s Hollow Hold
  • 1:00 Rest

The Final Workout

Got the stitches out of my head this morning and then went to the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • 2:00 Echo Bike (22 cals)
  • 3 Rounds
    • 10 PVC Passes
    • 5 Air Squats
    • 10/10 Leg Swings
    • World’s Greatest Stretch

Strength

Back Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 6×135
  • 3×185
  • 2×215
  • 2×235
  • 2×255
  • 2×275

I had no interest in the 20 rep Super Squats since I missed the previous two weeks of it and my back has been solid. It’s been more than 2.5 years since I had that much on my back. Thought about going up again, but that last set felt like a struggle, so I’ll take it and be happy with slow progress.

Conditioning

15:00 AMRAP

  • 7 cal Echo/Assault Bike
  • 10 T2B
  • 2 Squat Cleans

** Start at 50% and increase 5% of 1RM every two rounds.

With the machines in the other room there is so much wasted time walking back and forth. I did 5-5 toes to bars every round and did all of my cleans unbroken, which felt great! Weights I used were 135-150-165-180 and I got through eight rounds, the bike, and two T2B. Would have liked to go at 195 next.

I stuck around to row with Molly.

Endurance

5 Rounds

  • 1,000m Row
  • 1:1 Rest

Since I had just done class I didn’t push to set any records on the rower. Just wanted to keep it under 1:50/500m. Mission accomplished and even with negative splits. My times were 3:38, 3:37.9, 3:37.6, 3:37.1, and 3:36.8.

This was my last time working out in this location! The new location is schedule to open up on January 3rd, so will be doing a lot of garage workouts over the next week or so.

Heading up north for a few days and going to take two full rest days!

The End

Today was our last Super Sunday at this location! I’ve been programming Sunday workouts for 5.5 years there. My calves are still a little sore, but otherwise feeling pretty good. A bit tired from being up late for Star Wars.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Echo Bike (50 cals)
  • 30 PVC Passes

Strength

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 6×95
  • 3×125
  • 2×145
  • 1×165
  • 1×175
  • 1×185 (PR match)
  • 1×190 (PR)

I thought it would be a good time to also test out my shoulder press after all of the bench press cycles, even though I had done virtually zero dedicated should press work all year. I did 180 on August 30th and my all-time best was 185 on July 22, 2017. Pumped to get the PR with no focus on increasing this lift.

Conditioning

Christmas Couplets

  • @ 0:00 – 3 Rounds
    • 3 MU / 6 C2B / 9 Pull-ups
    • 6 Power Snatches (95/65#)
  • @ 10:00 – 5-10-15
    • Back Squats (135/95#)
    • Bar-facing Burpees
  • @ 20:00 – 15-10-5
    • Deadlifts (205/135#)
    • Ring Push-ups / Push-ups
  • @ 30:00 – 3 Rounds
    • 10 T2B
    • 100 DU

This came up in my Facebook memories from 2014 and I had called it Christmas Couplets back when the gym was CrossFit Intuition. It looked like a fun one to retest five years later. My previous times were 3:28, 4:10, 1:53, and 7:19. I thought about increasing the number of muscle-ups since I failed 5-6 last time and I can crush that now, but decided to leave it as is for comparison and since I did 30 earlier this week. My times today were all improvements! 1:55, 3:55, 1:35, and 5:18. Just a little fitter. 🙂 Everything was unbroken except for the double unders which I broke on purpose. Did 40-30-30 the first two rounds, but tripped up once in the last round so it was 40-25-35.

Went over to the new location and helped for a few hours.

Trending Up

Yesterday my calves started to feel sore in the morning, with my lats and upper abs still sore. Everything is still sore today. After nearly an entire week in the yellow, my recovery has been steadily going up.

2019-12-21-recovery.jpg

Went to the gym for the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • 20 cal Echo Bike
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 10 Good Mornings (45#)
  • 5 C&J (45#)
  • 3 C&J (95#)
  • 3 C&J (135#)

Conditioning

Partner Workout

  • 2 Mile Assault Bike
  • 30 C&J (135#)
  • 2000m Row
  • 30 C&J (155#)
  • 2000m Row
  • 30 C&J (185#)

I paired up with Chris who used his own bar and loading. We swapped out on the bike every half a mile and it was programmed to swap every 200 meters on the rower. Instead of running outside in the cold for two miles we did the rower for the third set, which is easier than the bike, but took at almost 50% longer. The scaling between the three modalities didn’t really make sense in this workout because the time domains are extremely different. On the barbell we swapped every five reps for the first two weights and then every three for the final. I was unbroken with 135, 3-1-1 with 155, and 1-1-1 with 185. It felt good and I was able to pick the bar right back up for all of my quick singles. I wore my belt for 155 and 185. We finished in 28:01. This kind of workout is my jam.

Midline

I stayed after class and did some stability work for my back since I’ve been skipping it all week.

2 Sets

  • 10 Curl-ups (3s pause)

2 Sets

  • 10/10 Bird Dogs + 10 second hold

8 Sets (Reverse Tabata)

  • 10s RKC Plank
  • 20s Rest

100 Calorie Warm-up

My lats and upper abs are sore. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

  • 100 cal Echo Bike
  • 4 Rounds
    • 10 Jumping Jacks
    • 10 PVC Passes
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 5 HR Push-ups
    • Front Rack Stretch
  • 3 Front Squats (45#)
  • 3 Push Jerks (45#)
  • 3 Front Squats (45#)
  • 3 Push Jerks (45#)
  • 3 Front Squats (95#)
  • 3 Push Jerks (95#)

I was there early so jumped on the bike before class.

Conditioning

15:00 EMOM

  • 5 Burpees over the Bar
  • 3 Front Squats (135#)
  • 3 Push Jerks (135#)

The Rx weight was 155, but I was having none of that. By using 135 I was able to keep a consistent pace with burpees and the barbell, getting over 30 seconds of rest every round. After 5 or 6 rounds I realized I could just go right from the third front squat into the jerk like I would with a C&J. Duh!

Accessory

5 Rounds

  • 15s Hollow Hold
  • 15s Rest
  • 15s Hollow Hold
  • 15s Rest
  • 1:00 Russian KB Swings (70#)

This was programmed as an alternating EMOM, but there is no way I can hold a one minute hollow five times. I broke it up and maximized a full minute with the kettlebell. I took a quick breather after 20 reps every round and did 33-32-32-32-33 reps for 162 total.