Don’t Be Scared

Felt like was a useless piece of shit at work this morning, so I got out in the garage just after noon to sweat.

Hybrid Push Only

  • 3×10 Strict Pull-ups
  • 3×15 Rack Chins
  • 3×10 Strict Wide Grip Pull-ups
  • 3×15 DB Curls (20-25-25#)
  • 3×20 Shoulder IYTs (CS purple)

The wide grip variation is really hard for me. Done with that stuff in about 38 minutes.

Today’s Performance Plus workout was burpee pull-ups and IYTs. I think I’m covered on those! Just for fun, I put burpees in my metcon.

Conditioning

6 Rounds

  • 10 Thrusters (95#)
  • 10 Burpees
  • 200m Run Ski Erg

I was dreading this since I came up with it last night. Several times this morning I even tried to convince myself I should adjust to something easier. I decided if I was that afraid of it, I should stick to it and grind away. It started raining as I was changing clothes and I’m delicate, so on the Ski Erg it was. 😀

Even during my rest between sets of the pull-up stuff I kept trying to think myself out of it. “Maybe I’ll just do it EMOM style.” Then I got to thinking 18 minutes may actually be a decent time. I knew one thing, I was going to do the thrusters unbroken today since I was alone and didn’t care much about my time.

Wasn’t hard at all to keep the thrusters to a set of 10 each round. Right into burpees, but they were of course slow. Was getting a pace of about 2:15/500m on the erg. Finished at 15:02 and realized it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Running would have definitely taken longer.

2017-04-27-after-wod.jpg

You Never Know

Took a rest day yesterday but was feeling good. Went to the 4:30 class.

Rehab – 3 Sets

  • 15 Reverse Hyper (140#)
  • 100′ Right Arm Front Rack Carry (70# KB)
  • 100′ Left Arm Front Rack Carry (70# KB)

Warm-up – 3 Sets

  • 10 PVC OHS
  • 10 PVC Passes
  • 10 Jumping Jacks

12:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 8 OHS (95#)
  • 12 T2B

Wore grips and even the last set of toes to bar didn’t feel like I was going to fall off the bar.

Conditioning

8:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Strict HSPU
  • 5/5 Single Arm Suitcase Deadlift (70# KB)
  • 10 Russian KBS (70#)

Bryan says, “Are you going to do them strict?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“It’s only 5,” he says.

“Hmm, usually when I try that I realize it was a bad idea during the 2nd round. Fine, I’ll give it a shot. I don’t mind going slower on the other stuff.”

Surprised myself and didn’t have any problem doing every set unbroken! Seems like 5 months ago I would have struggled to keep doing sets of 5 kipping. Made it through 6 rounds, the HSPU, deadlifts, and 2 swings (6+17).

Midline/Skill

5 Rounds

  • 20 Sit-ups
  • 20 Double Unders

It was programmed for 4 rounds, but I upped it. Missed 1 dub after 18 in the 3rd round. Finished in 4:56.

Volume Day

My hands are sore from raking and my legs seem to be feeling those squat movements from yesterday. Out in the garage at 1pm.

I made some Farmer Carry handle straps this weekend. Super cheap and work great.

Bench Press

Moved inside the rack starting today to be safer with the straps that are in place.

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 8×135
  • 8×165
  • 4x8x180
  • 3x10x200
  • 3x10x165 (close grip)

I think it was during the second set of 8×180 that I thought there was no way I would get through the heavier tens. Did it though. Those close grip reps continue to be a challenge. Feels so different. This volume day is getting nuts even with some rep decreases.

Accessory

  • 3×10 DB Tricep Rollback (30-30-35#)
  • 3×15 DB Side Raises (15#)
  • 3×15 DB Bentover Side Raises (15#)

Had clock running to keep resting on track. Finished at 58:35.

Such pump! Lotta reps!

Changed into some compression shorts, laced up the shoes, and headed out for a run on a beautiful day.

Run

Did a loop I run quite often which is 2.57 miles. Did pretty well keeping it in the aerobic zone. Average heart rate turned out to be 138 and the zone alarms that were going off were triggered on 1-3 beats on the high side. Felt easy running at that pace, but it is quite slow. Took me 28:44 (RunKeeper).

Quick One

So my back tweak yesterday is nothing like where I was done and out for a week. Moving a little gingerly, but was able to mow the lawn and rake yesterday. Did more raking today. Out in the garage around 8pm after procrastinating all day. Since I skipped going to the noon workout today I figured it was a good day to get in the Performance Plus programming and make tomorrow a shorter workout.

10:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 20 Squats with feet together, holding 15# plate with straight arms (video)
  • 10 Plank Plate Pops on 45# comp plates (video)

Could tell I was getting warmed up and used to the feet together squatting because I got faster every round. Nice little burn with these two. Neat movements.

10:00 AMRAP

  • 3 Strict Pull-ups
  • 6 HR Push-ups
  • 9 Squat Jumps

Didn’t want to do anything with loading so all bodyweight seemed like a good idea. I’ve done a few similar workouts before. Got through 13 rounds plus the 3 pull-ups. That did the trick! All done is less than 30 minutes.

Was Killin’ It

Had been planning to go class yesterday, but was a bit tired during the day so made the call early to make it a rest day. Went to 10am today.

Warm-up

  • 3×15 RH (140#)
  • 2 Sets
    • 5 Inch Worms
    • High kNees
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 10 HR Push-ups

Strength – 4 Sets

  • 10/10 single arm single leg RDL (62#)
  • 5/5 OH walking lunges (62#)

Did my own version since it was programmed to de RDLs and lunges.

Conditioning

“Wall Ball Kalsu”

  • EMOM Buy-in: 5 Burpees
  • Accumulate 100 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

I made the call today that we were starting with burpees like it should be. I got 24-20-19 and then on the 15th rep of the 4th set I felt something and on #16 I got a minor back tweak. Clock was at 3:49 through 79 reps when I finished. I was killing it! Would have gotten a few more reps there and then could have finished in the next minute. I’ve done 4:50 in the version that doesn’t do the 5 burpees during that initial minute, so this would have been a nice improvement.

So I skipped out on the medicine ball sit-ups they did and figured I might as well get in my Push Only work for the weekend.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 6×135
  • 3×165
  • 3×195
  • 3×215
  • 4x3x230

Felt easy!!

Seated Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×75
  • 6×95
  • 3×115
  • 3×125
  • 3×135
  • 2x3x145

Subbed these instead of push press due to my back. Different.

Accessory

bench-on-boxes

  • 3×24 Seated alt DB Shoulder Press (40#)
  • 3×15/15 Pallof Press (red band)
  • 3×12 DB Side Raises (15#)
  • 3×12 DB Front Raises (15#)
  • 3 Sets
    • 20 Shoulder Ts (prone on elevated bench hanging over the edge, 5#)
    • 3x30s Overhead Opener

I’m so used to having the combination of side raises and then bent-over side raises I didn’t realize there were front raises. There were supposed to be first, but I was already 2 sets through the side raises when I realized the program difference. I decided to superset in the overhead openers from the Performance Plus program.

Performance Plus

  • Handstand Shifts (video)
    • 2×2
    • 3×8 Scaled with feet on plate stack
  • 3 Sets
    • 1:00 HS Hold (facing)
    • 1:00 Rest

😂 I tried doing the sponge shifts up on the wall but wow! I was using the eraser from the whiteboard. After 2 attempts I went for scaled, which was no walk in the park either. Instead of doing 3 max sets of handstand hold I did the intervals since I’d already worked my shoulders so much. Barely made it through the last 2 sets.

A Visitor

Bryan came over for a garage session. He did his deadlift program while I did the Push Only, which are both Hybrid programs.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 5×135
  • 5×175
  • 5×195
  • 5x5x210#
  • 3×30 alt DB Bench Press (50#)

Add 5-10# over last week on the 5 working sets. I added 5# since I started higher than 70% due to doing a couple of weeks of pre-program.

Shoulder Press

  • 5×95#
  • 5×115
  • 2x5x130
  • 5×135

Supposed to increase 5-10# here too. Last week I did 115-120-125 to ease in, which was actually low on the 65-70% starting range.

Accessory

  • 15/15 Half Kneeling Single Arm DB Press
    • 1 set @ 30#
    • 2 sets @ 35
  • 3×15/15 Tricep Kickbacks (15#)
  • Performance Plus – 3 Sets
    • 10 Scap Pull-ups
    • 10 Overhead Shrugs (45#)

Conditioning

  • 200 DB Snatch (50#)
  • 100 T2B

Had an idea to do something high rep before moving on to another movement. We did this as a partner workout, going 4 alternating snatches at a time. Then we did sets of 5 toes-to-bars. Finished the snatches at 9:39 and overall at 12:58 I think. There is a small chance it may have been 12:28. I thought the T2B would get much harder than they did. Snatches weren’t very hard either with that set breakdown.

I skipped out on a stretch from the PP programming that I’ll get in later.

  • 2×15/15 Bretzel (video)

Winner Winner

Rest day yesterday and really needed it. MOAR sore! Couldn’t straighten my arms and they still don’t want to go straight today. I knew that damn pegboard would get me, especially a day after doing 100 pull-ups.

This morning after seeing a contest for a book on Concept2’s Twitter account, I quickly hopped out to the garage on the Ski Erg.

I took me 3 attempts! Turns out it’s not easy at all to only go a few meters when you need to. I still won though.

I have a pretty good history with Twitter book contests! 😉

https://twitter.com/CAthletics/status/688434077683159040

Had a chiro appointment, got to the gym early to warm-up with my rehab stuff, and then did the 5:30 class.

Warm-up – 3 Sets

  • 15 Reverse Hyper (140#)
  • 100′ Single-arm Front Rack KB Carry – Right (50#)
  • 10 Single-arm Front Squats – Right (50#)
  • 100′ Single-arm Front Rack KB Carry – Left (50#)
  • 10 Single-arm Front Squats – Left (50#)
  • 10/10 Single-arm Single-leg RDL (50#)

Turns out 50# was a lot tougher than 44#. Could start to feel the fatigue when doing the carry and squats back to back.

Strength

Deficit Deadlifts – on 55# Competition Plate

  • 10×45#
  • 5×155
  • 5×205
  • 5×255
  • 5x5x285

Did these instead of the front squats programmed for class. Increase of 10# over last week. No belt today though. All with a neutral grip, which got rough on the last 2 sets.

Conditioning

21-15-9

  • Thruster (95#)
  • H2H KBS (53#)
  • GHD Sit-up

I substituted the hand-to-hand swings to keep getting in unilateral work and I’ve done enough sit-ups lately so I did GHDs. Seems like I haven’t done them in months! Finished in 6:27 going unbroken on everything.

Skill

8 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s Double Unders
  • 10s Rest

I missed my first rep! Then my shoe came untied going into the 3rd round so I got a 0 on that round. I always double tie my shoes but didn’t for some reason today. :-/ Managed 231 reps and had too many misses to set a PR anyway.

Pegboard Pull-ups

Sore all over from “Barbara”!! Quads, obliques, abs, lats, scaps, delts, and biceps. Did I forget anything? My early in the week plan for yesterday was to get in the Push-Only Pull-up day, but obviously that wasn’t going to work after that workout, so I had bumped it out until today. Got out in the garage at night after work. Thought I’d mix things up a bit and get some use out of the pegboard.

  • 3×15 Pegboard Pull-ups (3×5 each round)
  • 3×15 Rack Chins
  • Uneven Pegboard Pull-ups
    • 2×6/6
    • 2×4/4
  • 3×20 Hammer Curls (15#)
  • 3×20 Should IYTs (purple Crossover Symmetry)

Pump!! I really need to use the pegboard a lot more since I have it. If my previous uses have taught me anything, I’m going to be extremely sore for the next few days.

The Performance Plus programming fit in pretty well today…

5 Sets

  • 6 Russian Push-ups (video)
  • 6/6 Half Kneeling DB Press (40#)

Wow, I thought I was taking it easy picking 40#. Weak ass!! Supposed to be bottoms-up KB presses, but I have none at home. I could bring my 50# one home but that’s too heavy anyway.

Conditioning

  • 20:00 Airdyne

Aerobic work, but the damn Garmin was reading a heart rate of 101 again. Starting to really piss me off. I did 7.39 miles (11.89 km) for 568 calories. Thought about running, but it was already getting pretty dark outside. Good excuse anyway.

Barbara, Still a Weakness

We went in earlier, at 10, for a Sunday due to the holiday. I drank this sample of a women’s elite pre-workout on the drive.

Warm-up

  • 3×15 Reverse Hyper (140#)
  • Shoulder Stretching
  • False Grip “Hang” & Stretch
  • Bottom Squat Hold

Someone lowered the low rings even more so it wasn’t much of a hang with both feet easily on the ground.

Conditioning

“Barbara” – 5 Rounds

  • 20 Pull-ups
  • 30 Push-ups
  • 40 Sit-ups
  • 50 Air Squats
  • 3:00 Rest

Anything with this many bodyweight reps generally isn’t my cup of tea and Barbara is no exception. I’ve never done well with it. I did manage a 38 second PR though. Pull-ups were easy, going 2×10 every round. I did 3×10 for 3 rounds of push-ups but felt them dying so I did 10-8-6-6 the final 2 rounds. Sit-ups were fine for 2 rounds but got slow. Never stopped but it felt like each rep was taking sooo long. Actually did better than expected on the squats and got faster the last two rounds by pushing harder knowing I didn’t need to use my legs again for about 6 minutes when I finished the set.

Date R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Total
Sep 22, 2012 4:23 4:26 4:26 4:33 4:27 22:15
Nov 16, 2014 3:37 4:12 4:29 4:59 5:07 22:24
Apr 16, 2017 3:52 4:06 4:19 4:42 4:38 21:37

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

  • 4 Strict HSPU

I haven’t been doing much overhead pressing since the back issues, so wanted to try and get in some reps. Went much better than I expected.

Wonder What My Push Jerk Is

Walked my first 18 holes of the year yesterday. Wasn’t really tired, though did feel some pulling in my left hamstring over the last 4 holes. Still really wet and soggy out there. Went in for the 10am class today.

Warm-up

  • 3×15 Reverse Hyper (90#)
  • 2x
    • Couch Stretch
    • Wrist Stretch
  • 3 Sets
    • 10 Weighted Lunge (45#)
    • 10 Shoulder Press (45#)
    • 10 Front Squat (45#)

Weightlifting

1 Squat Clean + 2 Front Squats + 1 Push Jerk

  • 135#
  • 185#
  • 205#
  • 225#
  • 240#
  • 250#

Alex lifted with me. Wasn’t planning on going too heavy, but it was feeling ok. The squats did feel a little heavy. I haven’t maxed out push jerk in years, but the most I’ve done is 255# back in September of 2014. I think it’s a lot higher now.

Conditioning

30:00 EMOM (alt)

  • Row calories
  • H2H KBS (44#)
  • Bicycle Crunches
  • Jump Rope (singles)
  • Side Plank

Worked for 40 seconds of each minute. This was a nice little sweat. Alternated sides for the plank every round so that they were longer holds.

Out in the garage in the evening to kick of week 2 of the Push Only program.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 8×135
  • 4x8x175
  • 3x12x190

Increased 5# on both the sets of 8 and the sets of 12.

Close Grip Bench Press

  • 3x12x155#

Not knowing what I could do, I tried 135-150-165 last week, which was an average of 150, so a 5# increase over that seemed right for today and it sure was! High rep day is much harder with “strict” rests. I was doing about two minutes.

Accessory

  • 3×12 Clapping Push-ups
  • 3×12 DB Side Raises (15#)
  • 3×12 DB Bent-over Side Raises (15#)

Performance Plus

  • 3×15 PVC Lift Offs (video)
  • 3×10 Banded Arm Circles – 10 in all 3 positions and also in both directions (video)
  • Rolling Teres Muscles – 30 seconds / side (video)

Also did some psoas release and the entire second session only took 70 minutes.