Bench Day Bro

Rough getting out of bed this morning for some reason. Can feel those 100 wall balls in my quads.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

  • 250m Row
  • 15 Rapid Toe Touches
  • 5 Inch Worms

Strength

Deadlift

  • 5×155#
  • 5×265#
  • 3×315#
  • 3×365#
  • 2×385#
  • 2×405#
  • 1×415#

Took it easy so I don’t tweak my back again during Open season.

Mobility

Took about 10 minutes to work on stuff for overhead squats. I did some shoulder stretching with bands.

Conditioning

16:00 EMOM (alternating)

  • 4 Power Snatch (135#)
  • 10 Box Jumps (30″)

It was supposed to be 8 OHS, but I didn’t want to push it with my right quad after all the wall balls yesterday, so I did the snatches instead. Did them all touch-n-go. Since it was only 10 box jumps, I went with the 30″ height. Didn’t rebound them, but did quick transitions.

Bench Bro

Week 3 of the bench program. Stayed after class to get it done and a few people joined me.

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×135#
  • 3×165#
  • 3×195#
  • 5x3x215#

Felt solid.

Midline

Did some planks at home at night.

3 Rounds

  • 2:00 Plank
  • 1:30 Rest

Shorter rest than I’ve been doing for long holds.

Limit Your Burpees

Took a complete rest day yesterday. First one since February 6th. Drove me nuts, but I needed it. Shoulders were pretty wrecked from Sunday.

Strength

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 6×75#
  • 6×95#
  • 6x6x115#

Recommended at 65%. Fast quality reps. Felt good not to struggle.

Conditioning

Wall Ball “Kalsu”

  • EMOM: 5 burpees (including @ 0:00)
  • Accumulate 100 wall balls (20#, 10′)

My goal was sub 6 and I made it. It’s a little fuzzy, but I think I was at 22-38-53-68-83 for my minutes, so I had 17 to go at the end. Knew I didn’t want to do another 5 burpees for a rep or two, so went a little faster through that 5th minute of burpees and sped up the wall balls to finish with time to spare in 5:54. Good mental battle with this one.

Midline

5 Rounds

  • 10 Sit-ups
  • 20 Russian Twists (53# KB)
  • 30s Plank

Went all unbroken. Took me 8:25.

Something I’ve realized in the last few days is that after cutting back my volume leading up to the Open, I’ve been feeling great during workouts.

Red Velvet Experience

Had a cheat night last night. Damn that burger was good and picked up some Oreos when I stopped at the store for milk (only had 2 left to finish the package this morning). Slept in later than usual too, which was nice.

red-velvet-oreos

Warm-up

  • 1,000m Row – 4:23
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Stretching

Skill

5 Rounds

  • 30s Bar MU
  • 30s Rest
  • 30s Box Jumps (24″)
  • 30s Rest

I wore gymnastics grips and taped my thumbs so I didn’t have to worry about ripping anything on the bar. I went 6 (5-1), 5 (3-2), 5 (3-2), 5 (3-2), and then 6 unbroken on the bar muscle-ups. Said screw it and went for it on that last round, setting a new unbroken PR. Stayed at the top for a couple of seconds and was going to try for a 7th, but when I got to the bottom with my kip I had nothing left. I couldn’t see the clock for the first couple of sets of box jumps, but turned after that. Got 14-15-17-17-18. No pain in my quad jumping, which is nice. Still can’t do a pistol on the right leg though.

Conditioning

  • 80-60-40-20 DU
  • 20-15-10-5 Burpees
  • 8-6-4-2 Push Jerk (175#)

Going heavy was a fun challenge in this. The set of 8 was bar the worst, but I never dropped the bar. Double unders weren’t as good as I would have liked. Finished in 9:19.

E3M 18:00 (6x)

  • 30s Row @ 100%

Should have set the computer for time intervals to be able to get exact distances, but tried to eyeball it with the time. Went 174-174-173-173-174-181. Being able to get that much more on the end pisses me off because it means I was holding a little back on the first 5 rounds.

Midline

Planks

  • 3:00
  • 2:30
  • 2:00
  • 1:30

Took at least a few minutes to rest between each set. Did them all with straight arms, on my hands.

Some Squatting

Feeling fine after yesterday, other than the lingering issues I have. This stupid shoulder has been acting up for a few weeks, but luckily hasn’t been an issue for any movements.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Dead Hangs (4-5x of about 20-30s)

Conditioning

Partner Workout

  • Pacer: 500m Row (4x each)
  • AMRAP:
    • 5 Push-ups
    • 10 American KBS (53#)
    • 15 Air Squats

I was trying to keep my pace around 1:45 on my rows and just keep moving at a decent pace through the movements. First time really doing any squats in 2 weeks. We got done around the 17:40 mark and made it through 13+7 on the circuit.

Midline

3 Rounds

  • GHD MB Toss (20#)
  • 8 Evil Wheels

Went all the way back to the ground on the first round of tosses, but only to parallel on the next 2.

Accessory

4 Rounds

  • 30 Shoulder Taps
  • 10 Ring Rows (feet on 20″ box)

I actually felt better than I ever have on the ring rows and it’s quite a bit harder on the box like that. Progress!

CrossFit Games Open Workouts 15.1 & 15.1a

Had the day off work today since House of Cards season 3 was also released and I knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on getting any work done along with that and thinking about the Open. Got to the gym just before 5:30 and started warming up.

Warm-up

  • 1,000m Row
  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Stretching
  • Empty barbell work
  • 10 Sit-ups
  • 2 C&J (115#)
  • 1 C&J (145#)
  • 1 C&J (165#)

Open Workouts 15.1 & 15.1a

9:00 AMRAP

  • 15 T2B
  • 10 Deadlift (115#)
  • 5 Snatch (115#)

Immediately to…
6:00

  • Establish a max C&J

I came up with a strategy and couldn’t have executed it any better. Went 4-4-4-3 on all rounds of T2B except at the end when I went 5-3 to finish. I’d drop from the bar, take a step, turn around, and get right back up. I did all of the deadlifts unbroken, but slow and with controlled breathing as almost a rest period and so that I wouldn’t spike my heart rate. I did all single power snatches, but was right on the bar as soon as it settled on the ground. Grip didn’t become an issue and my hips were just starting to fatigue in the last full round. I think if I had gone 5-5-5 like I was thinking last night, I would have had to break them up more than that in about the 4th round. I ended up getting 5 full rounds plus 8 toes to bar for 158 total reps. My goal was to get 5 rounds, so I’m really happy with that.

I quickly put my shirt back on for the grip on the bar on my chest. Loaded up 207#. After waiting almost 2 minutes, I power cleaned it, and push jerked to get on the scoreboard. Then I changed up my original plan because I knew the jerks were going to be shaky. I had planned on doing 227-237-247, but wanted to make one less attempt than that. So I went right to 237#, which was the minimum I wanted to hit. I quickly changed into weightlifting shoes and put on the belt. Made that attempt with about 2 minutes left on the clock. Power clean again, but split jerk. Put 247# on the bar for the last attempt and waited until 20 seconds left. Power clean again and a pretty shaky split jerk, but I controlled it and made the lift. Success!

Really happy with my scores for week 1. All of the gymnastics work we’ve been doing on the bars has paid off. My grip wasn’t an issue at all and my T2B didn’t die out like they have in past years.

2015 Open Goals

I beat 26.1% of the men in 2012, 80% in 2013, and 82.9% in 2014. It’s been a nice climb. My goal for this year is to beat 86% of the men. I’m not sure how the percentages might end up being different due to the scaled division, but that may not be a high enough goal. If that’s the case, I’ve had the number of beating 88% in my head. We shall see what the leaderboard looks like after week 1, especially with 2 very different workouts in the scoring mix.

Here We Go

Went to the gym before the 15.1 announcement to get my row on.

Row

20:00 – 4,552m

Tried to keep a really low stroke rate, but get in powerful pulls. It made the effort a lot easier and was pretty simple to keep a steady pace.

I like the double workout for 15.1. Will be interesting to see what my C&J looks like after a 9 minute AMRAP.

15.1 Eve

Had a chiropractor appointment in the afternoon, so went to the 5:30 class. Was there early so started early. I did Crossover Symmetry Activation to get started.

Weightlifting

Muscle Snatch

  • 5x20kg
  • 5x34kg
  • 3x40kg
  • 3x50kg

Power Snatch

  • 3x60kg
  • 3x70kg
  • 5x2x75kg
  • 5x1x80kg

I did the set of 60 as touch-n-go, but dropped the rest. For the doubles with 75 I was going about every minute and probably close to that for the singles with 80 too, but wasn’t paying as much attention to the clock.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 6 Evil Wheels
  • 7 Power Snatches (95#)
  • 8 Burpees

This was programmed with OHS, but still not squatting so I substituted the snatches and did them all unbroken. Finished in 7:56. Evil wheels are slow for me because of my length and reach.

10-20-30-20-10

  • DU
  • Sit-ups

My double unders are hot! Wasn’t close to missing any. Finished in 4:06. Probably would have been a good day for an “Annie” PR.

Strength

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 4×95#
  • 4×135#
  • 4×165#
  • 4×185#
  • 6x4x205

Second week of the bench program. Stayed a little conservative with a 10#, when it said to do 10-15#. Felt good. May make a bigger jump next week.

Can’t wait for the big 15.1 announcement tomorrow! Will probably do an easy 20 minute row before watching it at the gym.

Lighter Reps

Went in for the 9am. Warmed up my shoulders with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Strength

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×75#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×125#

Figured I’d wait to use the legs until I needed to. Build more upper body strength through the warm-up sets.

Push Press

  • 3×155#
  • 3×175#
  • 3×195#
  • E30S 5:00 (10 sets) – 1×215#

Rough going on those 10 singles.

Gymnastics

E30S 5:00

  • 2 MU

E30S 5:00

  • 5 HR Push-ups

Conditioning

15-12-9

  • C&J (95#)
  • Ring Dips

Thrusters were programmed in the workout, but I’m still staying away from squats, so I did clean & jerks instead. Most reps were actually a push press. All sets were unbroken. Went 5-5-5, 4-4-4, and 5-4 on the ring dips and finished in 5:23. Not so fun doing the ring dips after all the muscle-ups and push-ups fried the needed muscles. It was fun doing some C&J at a lighter weight for a change of pace.

I rested a little and then stuck around to get in some more work since my Air Dyne is still broke and it’s so damn cold out I don’t feel like warming up the garage later. Nice to be done for the day too.

20 Rounds
Air Dyne (AD2)

  • 30s @ faster than 10:00 pace (>80 rpm)
  • 30s slow

I was going 85 rpm and higher every round. Racked up 515 calories and went 6.76 miles. Did Crossover Symmetry Recovery before I left.

Midline

Took a break from work in the evening and knocked out some planks. Did these on my elbows because after the workout this morning my shoulders and wrists didn’t need the extra strain that comes from doing them on your hands. After seeing Michelle hold a 6 minute plank without even struggling, I’ve become a little obsessed with these. Body size probably helps her a lot because I start shaking 45 seconds in. No excuses though! Improving core strength is never a bad thing.

  • 2:15 Plank
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 2:00 Plank
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 1:45 Plank
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 1:30 Plank

Dubs on Point

Moved Super Sunday to noon instead of 11 starting today. I warmed up with a 1,000m row in 4:28 and various stretching.

Gymnastics

“Death By” Pull-ups

  • 1 Pull-up in the first 1 min
  • 2 Pull-ups in the second 1 min
  • 3 Pull-ups in the third 1 min
  • Continuing this for as long as you are able

Made it through 17 and got 14 of 18 for a total of 167 pull-ups! Was hoping to get to round 15 or 16, so huge win. The last time I did something like this was back in November of 2012 and it started with 2 and went up by 2 every minute. Got 16 + 17 for a total of 89 that day. Big improvement and I’m about 12 pounds heavier now. Wore the leather grips so I wouldn’t risk ripping my palms going into the Open.

butterflies-human-pull-ups

Conditioning

4:00 AMRAP

  • Burpee Box Jumps (24″)

Got 11 in the first minute, then fell off pace a bit, but wanted to get to 40, so I stepped it up in the last minute and managed to get 41 total.

Chipper

  • 100 DU
  • 25 T2B
  • 50 Plyo Lunges
  • 50 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Plyo Lunges
  • 25 T2B
  • 100 DU

I went unbroken on the first 100 dubs in 48 seconds! Couldn’t believe it was that fast. On the toes to bars I started with a set of 5 and then did 5 sets of 4 both times. I think I went 16-18-16 and 20-16-14 on the plyo lunges. All sets of 5s on the push-ups. I really wanted to hit a bit set of double unders at the end. Started feeling the burn at 50 but kept it going. Made it to 95 and then messed up! So close. Total time was 12:44.

Shoulders = wrecked! Did Crossover Symmetry Recovery. Switching me schedule again so that Monday and Thursday are rest days. Will be doing the Open workouts on Friday nights.