Bench It Out

Vacation! Need to get back on a better sleep routine. The only time I’ve ever taken a break this long from work is over the holidays.

Out in the garage around 9 before packing and heading up north. Warmed up with an easy 5:00 Air Dyne.

Back Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×245#
  • 5x5x280#

Start of week 4. Felt really good.

2015-07-11-back-squats

Conditioning

15:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Bench Press (115#)
  • 10 GHD Sit-ups
  • 5 Power Snatch (95#)
  • 5 Ring Rows (feet on 18″ box)

Almost 4 years and I don’t think I’ve ever done a workout with bench press in it. Wanted to pick stuff that I won’t be able to do this week. Went unbroken on everything and ended up with 8 rounds plus bench, GHDs, and 3 of the snatches. Was able to keep a pretty consistent pace throughout. Helps that there is that bit of built-in rest getting setup for these movements and walking around the garage from station to station.

After a rest I jumped back on the bench for a big set. Wasn’t sure how far I’d be able to go. Around 20 I started feeling it on my wrists. Stopped it at 30×115#.

And Reverse It

Finally was able to sleep past 7. Still went to bed late, but felt good to get some solid sleep. Warmed up with some yoga type stuff and OHS stuff with a training bar.

Strength

Overhead Squats

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×155#
  • 3×175#

I haven’t been able to finish a triple at that weight in quite some time. Not sure what has been going on with my mobility. Felt pretty good, so bummed I didn’t have more time to go up 10 or 20#.

Conditioning

6:00 AMRAP
2-2-2-4-4-4-6-6-6…

  • Power Cleans (135#)
  • Handstand Push-ups

I did all of the power cleans TnG unbroken. Unbroken on HSPU through the 4s and then sets of 3 at a time. Finished the 2nd round of 6 cleans and got 3 HSPU.

Rest 2:00, and then reverse the ladder starting with the round you left off in. Different movements.

6-6-4-4-4-2-2-2

  • Deadlifts (185#)
  • Toes to Bar

All unbroken. Took me 2:44.

8 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 10s Rest

I was slow. Only 9 reps each round.

Can’t Single

Only 2 more days of work after tonight (trying to finish up some stuff before I go on vacation). Can’t wait! Did a little bottom squat hold to warm-up, but dove right under the squat rack.

Back Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 3×255#
  • 1×295#
  • 1×320#
  • 6x1x340#

That ends week 3. Glad I decided to use the program as a template and just standardize on 5# jumps each week with the 5×5 and 2.5# with the 6×1. Those singles are a grind. Tried to go every 3 minutes today.

Moved over to a platform. Shoulder presses of 10x20kg, 5x40kg, and 3x60kg. Then a C&J with 70-80-85kg.

1 C&J EMOM until fail

I started with 90kg and added 2kg every minute. The jerks started feeling heavy a lot sooner than I expected. I hadn’t done the conversions so had no idea what was on the bar. I made it through the 10th and then missed the jerk in the 11th minute with 110kg on the bar. I had already decided I wasn’t going to make it because I didn’t even move my right foot forward. Did the conversion and now it all made sense, since it was 242.55#.

What was confusing is that in my head I was thinking I’d be starting around 185# with greens on the bar, but I had reds on, not blues! So it was over 198# in the first minute. Dummy!

Conditioning

7:00 AMRAP

  • 50 Jump Rope (singles)
  • 15 Wall Balls (14#, 10′)
  • 10 Pull-ups

I asked Michelle to come up with something short for me. The only stipulation was that I didn’t want a barbell since I’d just done all that heavy lifting. She came up with this little gem based off the Open scaled workout with singles and wall balls.

It was like I had never touched a jump rope. Could not get any type of rhythm with the rope and for a long time I was jumping twice for every turn of the rope, just the opposite of dubs. My body wanted to do double unders so bad that I couldn’t get the timing of the single spin down. The wall balls were a piece of cake, but fun to do so light. No danger of having to break up a set. I did the pull-ups all unbroken but they started to feel tough at the end. Finished 4 rounds plus 29 jumps. It was fun to do something different like that.

In vs Out

Stayed up too late. Only drank a Mountain Dew Live Wire this morning before heading to the gym. Not a good idea. I felt like shit until I started working up a sweat.

I warmed up my push press with 10×45, 5×95, and 5×135#. Only did 6 deads with 155# to warm-up the lower body.

Strength

12:00 EMOM (alternating)

  • 5 Push Press + 10s OH Hold (155#)
  • 6 Deadlifts (245#)

Class was doing front squats but I did some yesterday and squat heavy tomorrow. Substituted the deadlifts instead.

Accessory

5 Sets

  • 4 Pendlay Rows (155-155-165-165-165#)
  • 4 Good Mornings (135-155-175-175-175#)

Felt good. Didn’t push it.

Conditioning

15:00 AMRAP

  • 60 Russian KBS (70#)
  • 50 Air Squats
  • 40 Burpees
  • 30 Ball Slams (25#)
  • 20 OH Walking Lunges (45#)
  • 10 Push-ups

I did the swings 40-20, unbroken on air squats, burpees, and ball slams. Then 10-10 on the lunges and unbroken push-ups. Second time through went 20-20-20 on the swings, unbroken air squats, and got through 21 burpees. Morgan pushed me to go harder than I really wanted to at the end to stay ahead of her. Good workout when I came in feeling like garbage.

Monday Before Vacation

Finally a better night of sleep. Feel good after yesterday’s workout. Out in the garage just after 7. Warmed up with 500m Ski Erg. Haven’t used that in a long time.

Front Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 6x3x220#

Took 2 minutes rest between every set, so had the sets done and weights all put away in less than 20 minutes total. These light days in the program are really nice. 🙂

Heading to the golf course. Five days of work and then I’m off for 17. Can’t wait for the break.

Triple Triple Double

Went to the driving range yesterday and again this morning. Right arm feels a little weird and I wonder if it’s from all of the swings. Did some bottom squat hold and stretching to warm-up.

Midline

8x

  • 20s L-sit (Rings, knees up)
  • 25s Rest

Cut back from the 30 second rest we had 2 weeks ago. Last 2 rounds were a lot of shaking, but made it through. Seems to be improving quickly.

Conditioning

  • 3 Rounds
    • 5 Thrusters (135#)
    • 5 Burpees OTB (lateral)
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 3 Rounds
    • 3 Squat Snatch (155#)
    • 3 Bar Muscle-ups
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 3 Rounds
    • 10 Deadlifts (245#)
    • 10 Box Jumps (30″)

Finished part 1 at 1:36. I actually felt really good during this part, but my heart rate sky-rocketed and I couldn’t recover during the rest. I was fighting it until the end of the workout. Part 2 was much worse than I expected. I’m glad I scaled it back from the original 5 reps of each I had planned early in the week. I knew it was going to be bad when I lost the 2nd snatch in the hole. I missed one in my last round too. Was a little scared about the bar muscle-ups since I haven’t done one since around March. Got the first 2 rounds unbroken without a problem and I think I would have been able to on the last round too, but my hands and the bar were sweaty. It wasn’t worth the risk of slipping and falling on my head, so I did 3 quick singles. Finished at 8:48 on the clock, so it took me 5:12! Had to rest quite a bit between each snatch. In the final part I went 10, 6-4, and 6-4 on the deadlifts, and unbroken on the box jumps, though no rebounding. Finished at 14:57 so part 3 took me 4:09. I wish I had pushed to do all of deadlifts unbroken.

Finisher

  • 100 OH Walking Lunges (45#)

Went outside. I did 26-24-30-20. Breathing got up there again. Rests were pretty long.

Just before 7pm I headed out to the garage. Felt like shoulder pressing for some reason.

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 2×135#
  • 1×155#
  • 1×165#
  • Fail 172.5#
  • 1×167.5#

Wow, didn’t expect to miss like that after I hit 165# for  double a few weeks ago during a shoulder press, push press, push jerk complex. Must just be fatigue from today’s workout because all of the bench press increased should have translated to a higher shoulder press too. I was lifting barefoot, but I doubt that had anything to do with it. Wore a belt for the last few singles because I have a tendency to over-extend at max weight.


First time using the big washers for fractional.

Rowing 4th

Yesterday was my first complete rest day after going 81 days in a row! It was 49 days of squats, 30 days of running, and a couple of days on top of that. Some days were just an easy 1 mile run, but still. It felt good to not do anything. I went to the driving range in the afternoon to work on my golf swing. This morning my HRV was up to 114, the highest reading I’ve ever had! A little surprising because I haven’t slept worth a shit most of the week.

Went to the gym at 10am.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 50 Walking Lunges

Strength

Back Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×245#
  • 5x5x275#

First day of week 3. Tried to focus on locking in all of my back and driving up out of the hole. Rested about 3 minutes between working sets. Tried to do one rep right after the other with just a slight pause at the top.

Conditioning

12:00 EMOM alternating

  • 2 C&J (185#)
  • 4 Muscle-ups

I did a full squat and split the jerks. Tried not to pull with my arms on the cleans and drive under the bar on the jerks.

Bryan was working out with me and had to take off. I rested 20 minutes and then jumped on the rower.

Row 5k

I’ve been meaning to give this a shot for the last few months, but it didn’t seem like a great idea during all of the squats and then I was getting plenty of aerobic work with all of the running.

I wanted to stay under a 1:55/500m average and possibly go sub-19 for my time. I’ve tried this only once I think, going 19:34 on October 25, 2013. I held the average pace without much trouble, with about a 0.3-0.4s cushion. Stroke rate was too high for the first 2,000 meters, but then I settled in to a rhythm. Started to pick it up in the last 2 minutes. Got a nice 36 second PR at 18:58.5. Whenever I do this again, I think it’ll pay off to lower that stroke rate from the start.

2015-jul-4-5k-row

1 More Burpee

In for the 4:30 today since I had work to get done. Low back is tight from the squats last night.

Warm-up

Did various things to loosen up the back and hamstrings using a training bar. Good mornings, stretching, etc.

Strength

Deadlift

  • 5×155#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×295#
  • 5×315#
  • 5×335#
  • 5×365#
  • 5×385#

Put on the belt starting with 315#. Felt pretty good. Can probably slowly start working my way back up since the back has been feeling good.

Accessory

While the rest of class was working on double unders I did 4×5 wide behind the neck strict pull-ups.

Conditioning

Death by Burpees

Finished 17 and then 15 of 18. Beats the 15 rounds I did 3 years ago.

  • 50-40-30-20-10 Double Unders
  • 25-20-15-10-5 GHD Sit-ups

Since I wouldn’t be able to set a PR on “Annie” after all those burpees I switched it up a bit. All dubs were unbroken. I took a short break during the first 3 sets of GHDs, breaking them up to 15-10, 12-8, and 9-6. Finished in 7:11. Got a little headache after that combination.

Now my back is really tight!

Another 10

Busy week at work with a big launch. Got to the gym for last bench night in a while. Warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

No B.S. Bench Press

Last week of the 2nd cycle. That means MAX OUT!

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 2×215#
  • 1×235#
  • 1×250#
  • 1×262.5#
  • 270# (PR)
  • 275# (PR)

Yeah! That’s another 10# making it 25# total in the 20 weeks. On the way to three hundy. Seems pretty far away still, but much closer than at 250 where I started. I felt the last 3 reps in my abs, which has never happened before.

Took more time than planned, but to be expected when taking time for PR reps. So didn’t have time to do any weightlifting since I wanted to get in the squats to finish week 2

Back Squat

  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 3×255#
  • 1×295#
  • 1×320#
  • 6x1x337.5#

Alex squatted with me. Took longer between sets than going E2M like last week. Was still a grind.

Successful June

I wanted to run at least 1 mile every day this month and total 60 miles. Mission accomplished! When running, I tried to focus on some running skill improvements:

  • Better breathing by taking long deep breaths instead of quick ones.
  • Increase my cadence closer to 180 steps per minute.
  • Turn my toe strike into more of a midfoot strike.

I was planning to go out with a bang today by going at least 5 miles. Ended up going just over a 10k for 6.23 miles in 59:15 for an average pace of 9:31/mile and an average heart rate of 136. For the month I went over 72 miles.

2015-06-30-splits

Kind of an interesting pattern to the pacing from mile to mile. Almost like I was going up and then down a mountain. 🙂