Almost Back

Third night in a row I was in bed by 10. That’s some kind of record. My HRV shot up from 85 to 111 though; that’s how you recover! In for the 9am class at CFi.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 100 Walking Lunges
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Zombie Kicks
  • Squat Broad Jumps

Strength

Back Squat

  • 20×45#
  • 8×135#
  • 6×185#
  • 4×225#
  • 3×265#
  • 2×295#
  • 2×315#
  • 2×325#
  • 2×335#

We did 5 push-ups after each set of squats, though I forgot to do them after the empty bar set, so it was 40 total. I’ve done 340# for a triple, so nearly back to normal loads. Positioning felt solid through every lift. I’d say I’m actually in a better place with my squats than I ever have been before. I’m paying a lot of attention to quality reps and it’s paying off. That was day 23 of squatting every day.

2014-05-05-back-squat-potentials

Conditioning

  • Buy-in: 40 Sit-ups
  • 5 Rounds
    • 8 Thrusters (95#)
    • 16 American KBS (53#)
  • Cash-out: 40 Sit-ups

We did this one exactly 3 months ago when it took me 9:34. Today I shortened up my rest between movements and pushed through. Everything unbroken with a steady pace. Sit-ups still pretty slow. Finished in 9:05 for a 29 second improvement.

Midline

Weighted Planks

  • 4 sets 45s (55#)
  • 1 set 1:00 (55#)

So much sweat!

Lunge University

  • 150 Weighted Lunges (33#)

Threw an empty women’s bar on my back and knocked them out without stopping. Finished in 6:50.

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap and called it a day.

Week 4 Begins

Allergies were really hitting me last night. I did get up the energy to mow the lawn several hours after the workout, but I was exhausted. In bed by 10 two nights in a row. We got a little rain overnight so hopefully that gets a lot of the pollen out of the air and cools off my sinuses.

HRV is down more, to 85 this morning. With the combination of Kelly and not feeling great, I’m surprised it didn’t drop even lower. I have a weird soreness in my upper abs this morning, which had cramped up on me in the last round yesterday. Oh yeah, evil wheels are probably to blame for that.

Out in the garage at about 8 and warmed up with 5:00 Air Dyne (2.29 km).

Coffee Squats

Pause Front Squats (1s in the hole)

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×165#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×245#

Put in the reps. Didn’t push it today, but will start pushing some weight the rest of the week.

In the afternoon I did yoga, following the YRG Double Black Diamond video. Diamond Dallas isn’t the greatest voice for yoga and he rushes through too many of the moves if you ask me, but it’s a nice alternative to the P90X YogaX. It was my first time doing this video from the series and it was about 65 minutes.

3 Weeks In

My HRV was down to 88 this morning from 100 yesterday. Hmmmm… I was pretty exhausted after being out in the sun walking 9 holes, but that still doesn’t seem right. Had some good weight on the bar for back squats, but overall the day wasn’t very intense. Readings like that keep me doubting the usefulness of HRV.

Out to the garage after 8am. Warmed up with 5:00 Air Dyne (2.23km).

Coffee Squats

2 Front Squats + 5 Back Squats

  • 45#
  • 135#
  • 185#
  • 225#
  • 245#
  • 265#
  • 280#

I put the belt on for the last two sets. Not only trying to go heavier through each day of this thing, but also trying to go a little longer without the belt too, to help build up the core muscles more. Last week I did 265# for this, so was a nice jump. Felt pretty heavy in the early sets. Just 15# shy of the most I’ve managed for this complex. That makes 21 days in a row.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 12 Incline DB Bench Press
  • 12 JM Press

I put the bench at 60° and used 40-45-50-50# for the incline bench work. Used 45-55-60-65# for the JM presses. Both felt heavier than last week. Maybe I’m still feeling the effects of “Cindy” from Thursday.

Not too long after this I started to feel shitty. Maybe that’s why my HRV was low this morning. Since Thursday night I’ve been feeling like allergies are hitting me, though I haven’t had any problems in a couple of years. If it wasn’t Sunday I think I might have stayed home and took a nap instead.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 1,000m Row
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Band Pass-thrus

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 MU

Was curious how this would go with the way I was feeling. Made every set without a problem. YAY!

Strength

5 Sets

  • 12 Pendlay Rows (95#)
  • 5 Evil Wheels

Conditioning

“Kelly”
5 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 30 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 30 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Only done this once before. It was a 32:22 almost 3 years ago. Warmest day of the year (so far) is a good day to do a long workout right? This was so bad. I started out with a sub 2:00 first 400 and knew that was too fast. I didn’t rebound any box jumps, but never stopped either. Did mostly step-downs, but some jump downs in the later rounds. Wall balls were two sets of 15 until I went 18-12 in the last round. Should have just went for all 30.

When I got in from my 3rd run the music had stopped. Bluetooth still showed connected but no sound. I think it took me close to 2 minutes to get it going again. The official clock time was 30:59 when I finished, but I’ll be conservative and only knock a minute off for a 29:59 since the rest helped me in a way too. Wish I would have felt closer to 100% today, but it’s still a PR.

Walked 200m, sat on my ass to recover, and then did Crossover Symmetry Plyometric.

Back Over 3

Convinced Kevin to squat with me at CFi this morning. I had to bribe him with Nutella donuts and coffee.

I warmed up with 50 walking lunges.

Coffee Squats

Jumping Back Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×75#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×115#
  • 5×135#

Fun way to warm-up.

Back Squats

  • 3×185#
  • 3×225#
  • 3×255#
  • 3×285#
  • 3×305#
  • 3×315#

First time I’ve had 300+ on the bar in over 3 months. Felt pretty good.

Weather is so nice that almost nobody showed up for class today. Must be doing yard work and other fun activities. I did Crossover Symmetry Activation to get my shoulders ready.

Weightlifting

  • 5 Hang Muscle Snatches (45#)
  • 5 Snatch Presses (45#)
  • 5 OHS (45#)

Power Snatch + Hang Power Snatch + OHS

  • 75#
  • 75#
  • 95#
  • 95#
  • 115#
  • 115#
  • 135#
  • 135#
  • 155#

Used straps after 95# to save my grip some. Hang snatches felt weird today.

Conditioning

600-400-200m

  • Row
  • Run

Pulled the rowers outside to soak up some extra vitamin D. Not a crazy pace, but got the heart rate up and worked up a nice sweat. Didn’t even run a clock, which was relaxing.

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap and headed home. Going out to golf my first holes of the year this afternoon.

Cindy Aftermath

Damn Cindy, I forgot how you make the body feel. So many reps! Was up late to see the Avengers but still managed 7 hours of sleep. Feeling pretty beat this morning though and the HRV proves my body is telling the truth this morning. 87 is the lowest HRV I’ve had yet.

IMG_5865

Didn’t get out to the garage until 9am today. Warmed up with 5:00 Air Dyne (2.25km).

Coffee Squats

Pause Front Squats (3s in the hole)

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×165#
  • 2×195#
  • 2×215#
  • 2×235#
  • 2×245#
  • 2×255#

I instantly feel 10x better after that. Body is awake now.

Straight up out of the hole with no bouncy-bounce.

I was planning to get out for my first round of golf, but I’ll wait until the weekend when I feel fresher and it’s going to be in the 70s all weekend anyway.

The weather has finally turned, hopefully for good now. Went to the gym at night for some recovery work.

Sled Drag

  • 0.5 miles – 25# sled + 135# – 11:41
  • Few minute rest
  • 0.5 miles – 25# sled + 90# – 10:13

Class was outside finishing up the last part of their workout so I joined in for some.

  • 2x200m Farmer’s Carry (70# & 62# KBs)
  • 200m OH Walk (45# plate with both arms up)

Two Wheel Super

Tired this morning. Probably because I knew what was coming. Thursday is not my favorite morning. Warmed up with 3:00 Air Dyne (1.48km).

Coffee Squats

Back Squat

  • 20×45#
  • 10×135#
  • 5×165#
  • 5×195#
  • 20×225#

Wore the belt. Wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, but it’s always a fight no matter what is on the bar. I thought I was taking a video, but evidently I set the GoPro for pictures instead of video so didn’t get anything. Did all the work in about 20 minutes this morning since I got a late start.

I was regretting those Super Squats after Kevin posted the CrossFit Intuition WOD.

cfi-04-30-2015-wod

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 10 Air Squats
  • Hamstring Stretching

Strength

Deadlift

  • 10×45# (slow reps)
  • 5×155#
  • 5×245#
  • 4x5x295#
  • AMRAP 295# (15)

Nice back bump and started to feel a burn in my hamstrings with that max rep set.

Skill

Everyone else rushed through the strength work, so I only did 2 sets of dubs, getting 95 and 43.

Conditioning

“Cindy”
20:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Pull-ups
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 15 Air Squats

Yeah…was not looking forward to all the squats after super squatting this morning. I haven’t done a full Cindy in 2.5 years. Had a nice steady pace, making sure not to go out too hot and red line in the first 5 minutes. Push-ups were solid until the last 4-5 rounds when I had to pause once in each set. The air squats actually felt pretty good, but did start to burn pretty bad at the end. I set a PR by almost 2 full rounds and I’m 20+ pounds heavier now. Got through 22 rounds plus 5 pull-ups. Should have dropped for a few push-ups but I had enough.

Walked 200m and then did Crossover Symmetry Plyometric.

Lunge Sandwich

Squat day 17. Here we go. Warmed up with 100 walking lunges that took 3:58.

Coffee Squats

Front Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 6:00 EMOM
    • 2x5x225#
    • 2x3x255#
    • 2x2x275#

That was a good one. Originally I was going to use 285# for the doubles at the end but the triples were feeling rough with 255 and I wanted to be able to keep good positioning.

Strapped on the 20# weight vest and did 200 more walking lunges at a relaxed pace. Took me 9:14 but still got me sweating.

Wednesday night, so off to CFi in the evening. Warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation and then did this little number…

3 Rounds NFT

  • 75 DU
  • 10 Reverse Hypers (260#)
  • 5 Back Extensions (15#, 51X3 tempo)

Did the first two rounds of dubs unbroken and then got 49 in the last round. Those tempo back extensions create such a pump in my low back.

No B.S. Bench Press

Starting a second cycle of the program. Alex and Bryan are joining us this time around.

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 5x5x205#
  • AMRAP 205# (12)

Starting up 10# over the base number from the previous cycle. It the AMRAP that’s 2 reps more than I got with the 195# last cycle. Excited to see how the extra accessory work I’m adding on Sundays helps out.

Weightlifting

Snatch Balance

  • 5x20kg
  • 2x3x40kg
  • 2x3x50kg

Bringing the weight back down doesn’t feel very good on my shoulders so probably won’t be doing that for snatch work again anytime soon.

Clean Pull + Clean + Push Jerk + Split Jerk

  • 60kg
  • 70kg
  • 80kg
  • 90kg
  • 3×1 100kg

The push jerk was an interesting twist in this complex and so was bringing it back down to the rack for the split jerk. No misses.

Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap.

Playoff Hangover

red-wings-24-years-towelGot home late from the Red Wings playoff game last night. My HRV somehow recovered up to a 102 this morning from the 93. Not really sure I buy into the whole HRV thing because that was shitty food, beers, and not great sleep. Doesn’t add up to great recovery if you ask me.

Out in the garage at 8:30. Warmed up with 5:00 Air Dyne (2.35km).

Coffee Squats

Pause Back Squats (1s in the hole)

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 3×225#
  • 3×245#
  • 3×265#
  • 3×285#

Yeah buddy! That woke my ass up. 🙂 I’ve never done any pause squat with that much, even for one rep.

Around 5 I took a little break from work.

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • P90X YogaX (30 minutes until the first break)
  • Crossover Symmetry Plyometric

Pressing Combo

Did a bunch of yard work yesterday and was feeling pretty beat up from the workout. My body isn’t used to those heavy clean and jerks. Got to bed early for a good night of sleep. My HRV is way down to 93 this morning, but only orange not red. Tomorrow is going to be my “rest” day this week because of plans I have today. Will take it a bit easy in the 9am class today. Out in the garage at 7:30 in the morning. Warmed up with 3:00 Air Dyne (1.42km).

Coffee Squats

Front Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×175#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×265#

Had to fight a little and concentrate on positions. Not so much that I felt compromised though. Wore a belt for the last 2 sets.

Body lies so much. Last rep felt much tougher than the video shows. Happy to be keeping pretty good positions throughout the set.

In for the 9am class…

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • PVC Pass-thrus

Accessory

5 Rounds

  • 30s Air Squats
  • 30s Rest

I got 24-26-27-28-29 for a total of 134. Burned, but pretty good.

Strength

2 Shoulder Press + 2 Push Press + 2 Push Jerk

  • 45#
  • 75#
  • 95#
  • 115#
  • 125#
  • 130#
  • 135#
  • 140#
  • 145#
  • 150#

Fun complex to get in extra work with the weight.

Conditioning

7:00 AMRAP

  • 7 Deadlifts (135#)
  • 14 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Didn’t step on the gas and kept the load light. Did 6 rounds plus 7 deadlifts and 4 wall balls. 8+ is doable.

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap and the back/leg stretches before taking off. I’m interested to see what my HRV will end up being tomorrow. The front squats weren’t actually too far off the most I’ve done for a set of 5 and the pressing complex was pretty heavy, but I only went about 80% at the metcon.

2 Weeks of Squatting Every Day

I keep getting up earlier than usual and I’m not too happy about it. My upper body seems a little tight this morning from the 84 pull-ups. Didn’t rush out to the garage this morning since I have a lot more time to work with on Sunday mornings.

Switched it up with 100 Walking Lunges (20# vest) for my warm-up. It took me 4:30 to do them.

Coffee Squats

2 Front + 5 Back

  • 45#
  • 135#
  • 175#
  • 205#
  • 225#
  • 245#
  • 265#

Up 30 pounds over what I did last Sunday for this complex. This is the most weight I’ve had on the bar yet and it’s still well below the 295# I’ve done for this combo before.

That completes 14 days in a row at the squat rack. I’ll keep slowly increasing the weights and over the next two weeks I’ll hopefully be back to typical squatting loads. I’ve really been enjoying the morning squats as a way to kick off my day. Haven’t noticed any additional fatigue from them and don’t think they’ve been affecting my other training negatively. If anything they are probably helping. Don’t think I’ve mentioned the stretching routine recently, but I’ve been continuing to do it at least once a day, except when I do the 90 minute yoga workout.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 10 Incline DB Bench Press (45°, 40-45-50-50# DBs)
  • 10 JM Press (45-65-65-65#)

Going to try adding in some bench press accessory work on the weekends to see if it’ll help getting to 300#. Holy Shit! The JM Press is no fucking joke. There are a couple of variations out there. I used what looked to be the hardest one and I’m pretty sure I got that right. Wow!

I hope that didn’t smoke me too much for today’s workout. Super Sunday at noon…

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 1,500m Row (6:36)
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • C&J
    • 4×45#
    • 2×95#
    • 2×135#

Weightlifting

E2M 20:00

  • 2 C&J

Started with 155# and went up 10# each time, finishing at 245#. I think I wore the belt starting at 215#. Took my time with that last round, to make both reps. I squatted most of the reps but powered a few of the early ones when I wasn’t thinking. Last few rounds got rough. The cleans aren’t really a big deal for me, but I’m pumped to have made all of the jerks. We took about 5-10 minutes plus before starting the next part.

Conditioning

With a running clock, @ 0:00…
5:00 AMRAP

  • 5 MU
  • 10 Cleans (155#)

This is event 1 of the 2015 Masters Qualifier. Wanted to do some muscle-ups this weekend and this looked like a fun one to try. Was scared how this would go after all those heavy cleans, but it was just fine. I broke the MU into 3-2 every round and did relaxed singles for the cleans. Finished 2 rounds plus 5 muscle-ups and 2 cleans. It was fun doing some MU in a workout again.

I called on the group for some movements to make up the next two parts and then I came up with the rep schemes and how to split up the 4 movements.

@ 10:00…

  • 30 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 30 Push-ups
  • 30 Russian KBS (70#)

Wall balls and kettlebell swings were unbroken. I did the push-ups in 3 sets of 10. Finished in 2:50.

@ 20:00…

  • 150m Walking Lunges

I was excited when someone picked lunges and knew I had to put them solo. Finish the workout with a little Lunge University. 🙂 We went outside since it was a nice afternoon. I programmed it as 100 walking lunges, but after about 50 steps I went to chase Michelle down for extra credit since she was doing a lap. I don’t usually do them stepping through, but did to catch up and it’s so much faster doing them like that, but so much extra burn too. Finished in 4:03. I stopped counting the reps after deciding to go for the lap distance instead, but should have been about 150.

Midline

  • 60 Quarter Get-ups

Used a 53# KB and split this up into 10 reps per side at a time.

Knocked out Crossover Symmetry Plyometric before heading home. Kind of wanted to skip it, but was already feeling my shoulders smoked so I knew I should do it.

An hour or so later at home I am wrecked!