Back Felt Good with Deadlifts

Went over to Survival Fitness Bay City for open gym at 4. Legs are sore from getting back into squatting.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Holds
  • 3×20 Band Pulls (red)
  • Various stretching

3 Position Snatch Deadlifts

Did some reps with 65#, 95#, 135#, and 185#. Getting better with the positions. If I keep at it, hopefully it’ll be automatic when I can get back to the lifts.

Strength

Deadlifts

  • 5×185#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×275#
  • 5×315#
  • 5×335#
  • 5×365#
  • E2M 10:00 – 3×365#

Felt good. No issues with my back.

Front Squats

  • 5×135#
  • 5:00 EMOM – 5×185#

Might as well call it a metcon! I was out of breath and had a nice sweat worked up.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 15 Burpee Box Jumps (24″)

I really need to work on some running intervals. First run felt good, but when my heart rate shoots up I just can’t hold a pace. Was able to speed through the last round of burpee box jumps at a good pace though. Finished in 14:25.

I walked 400m to cool down and took a few more minutes of rest.

300 DU – Took me 6:13! Not very good.

Back (Squatting) in The Saddle

Was looking forward to hitting a workout today. The rest in Costa Rica felt great, especially with a couple of massages. Kevin came over and squatted with me in the garage around 5 and then I did some conditioning.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Holds
  • Stretching
  • 10 Good Mornings (45#)

Back Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 3×225#
  • 2×255#
  • 1×285#
  • 1×305#
  • 1×320#
  • 1×335#
  • 5×255#
  • 5×275#

Was thinking about trying to hit a PR today, but the pop just wasting there after not really firing the muscles in a week. The 335# was rough and only 5# shy of matching my PR, so maybe I’ll give it a go in a week.

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

  • 50 DU
  • 10 GHD Sit-ups (to parallel)

Knocked out the first round in under a minute, even with a trip after 1 DU, but did the next 49 unbroken. Started to struggle with the dubs in the middle rounds, but got myself to relax and slow down, then they flowed much smoother in the last few minutes. Finished exactly 7 rounds.

I rested 5 minutes or so.

10:00 Air Dyne (AD2) @ 80%

I felt like 70-75 rpm (I was steadily holding a 72 when the RPMs came around on the screen) was a good spot to be, but according to the 265 calories I racked up, it was about 75% of my PR for ten minutes. Worked up a good sweat though.

2014 CrossFit Games Open Results

14.5 still gives me nightmares. I’ve never dreaded a workout as much as I did going into that one.

When all is said and done I finished 13,737/80,281 for top 17.1% of men worldwide. That’s an improvement over 9,251/46,227 (20%) in 2013 and 16,389/22,174 (73.9%) in 2012. Since I haven’t been able to train shoulders in over a month, was recovering from some low back (disc) issues for the first few weeks of the Open, and was sick for 14.1, I couldn’t be happier. With the injuries, I set my goal to beat the top 20% finish of 2013 and I did that with room to spare.

This year’s Open was the toughest of the 3 by far and there were almost 4 times as many men as when I first competed in 2012. I’m stronger and more fit than I’ve even been in my life.

I had a great week of rest and relaxation in Costa Rica, but can’t wait to hit it today and get back after it. Plan to keep resting the shoulder though until it’s fully healed.

Costa Rica Tuesday

Went for a long walk on the beach yesterday afternoon, but that’s about it the last two days. Weather us beautiful here!

Was up early this morning and went for a 30 minute run of about 2.5 miles. Really hilly in this area.

After a post-lunch nap I hit the fitness center. Did 30:00 of bike hill intervals with a 5:00 cool down. I also did 5 rounds of 1:00 plank with 1:00 rest between. Need to do long planks more often because 30 seconds ain’t shit; the benefits come after you start shaking.

2014 CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.5

Rested yesterday to be able to hit the final workout of the Open hard! 14.4 was ok for me. I went from 14,785/100,777 (14.7%) to 14,652/93,611 (15.7%). In order to not improve on my top 20% last year I’d have to totally bomb this last workout, which could happen if the shoulder won’t work, but I doubt that.

I warmed up with a 500m row and a ton of stretching and mobility stuff.

2014 CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.5

21-18-15-12-9-6-3

  • Thrusters (95#)
  • Bar-facing Burpees

FUCK! That felt terrible! What a nasty combination. They way I broke up the thrusters they actually weren’t too bad. I would have like to go with bigger sets, but I had to play it a little safe with the shoulder. I went 8-7-6, 7-6-5, 6-5-4, 6-6, 5-4, 6, and 3 on the thrusters. Tried to count to between 8 and 10 seconds before getting back on the bar. Didn’t stop during the burpees, but they were awfully slow! Finished in 15:12. Would have liked to be down closer to 14:00, but I had nothing in the tank to push at the end.

I’m hoping my time will keep me around the top 15-16% worldwide mark. Should be safe from dropping down to the 20% where I was last year though.

Tomorrow morning I hop on a plane to Costa Rica for a vacation. I’m not taking a computer with me and have no plans to touch any weight. I will probably do some running and body weight stuff, but my legs need a break and it’ll be good rest for my shoulder too.

Oh Boy!

Wow, 14.5 looks like it’s going to hurt! I’ll be hitting it tomorrow afternoon.

Went out to the garage and did a slow 30:00 on the Air Dyne to get the blood flowing. Stayed between 55 and 60 rpm. I think it was about 480 calories. Checked my pulse with a few minutes left and it was in the 120-130 range.

Predicting 14.5

My legs aren’t even really sore. I can’t believe it. I figured I wouldn’t be able to walk today. 100 box jumps at 30 inches on Monday, back squat triples and 100 ascending weight front squats on Tuesday, and 89 medicine ball cleans yesterday. Let’s hit those legs some more!

Warm-up

  • 10 Burpees
  • 30s Wrist Stretch
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 1:00 Bottom Squat Hold
  • 10/10 Hurdlers (forward, backward)

Strength

Front Squat

  • 5 @ 60% (195#)
  • 3 @ 80% (255#)
  • 1 @ 90% (290#)
  • 5 @ 75-80% (255#)
  • 5 @ 80-85% (265#)

Different from the expected 5×3 @ 80-90%. This one came from a workout Michelle Kinney did the other day. The big jump up to 290# was a new feeling. The 3rd and 4th reps with 265# at the end were a grind and then I couldn’t get up the 5th one. I think I kind of gave up on it before even dropping down into the squat to be honest. Not saying I would have gotten it, but my mind wasn’t right. Just last week I got 260×5 for the first time, so I’ll take this after everything done so far this week.

Looking forward to a week without weights next week. My body needs a break.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 150m Row
  • 20s Rest

The metcon had OHS and T2B, which I couldn’t do anyways. After the last two days of thrashing the legs, I had already planned on rowing when I walked out of the gym yesterday.

I went too slow on the first round and only my 9th ended up being slower. Splits were 30.0, 29.1, 29.3, 29.3, 29.6, 29.8, 29.5, 29.9, 30.2, and 29.4. Everything within a 1.1 second range. Total work time of 4:56.1 with an average pace of 1:38.7/500m.

How about a 14.5 prediction?

We’re all thinking burpees and thrusters. With the shit Castro has been coming up with this year, I’m not sure we can expect anything.

We haven’t seen a triplet or a single movement workout. There has been a barbell in all 4 workouts. The live announcement will showcase 5 awesome athletes who have won the The CrossFit Games. I find it hard to believe Castro is going to take it easy on us in the final week, especially with these beasts doing the workout.

My initial guess was:
12:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Thrusters (100/70#)
  • 15 Bar-facing Burpees
  • 20 DU

Maybe we’ll see something we’ve never seen before. How about this?

7:00 AMRAP of Thrusters

You choose your weight (45/35, 75/55, 100/65, 135/95, 165/110), but you can’t change it once the clock starts. Your score is reps x weight. If you did 50 reps with 100# your score would be 5,000.

Medicine Ball Cleans Are The Devil

Feeling the squats. Small class with only me and one other person this morning, but Matt worked out with me too.

Warm-up

It was all shoulder stuff on the board to prepare for behind the neck snatch presses. Since I wasn’t doing those, I did a bunch of leg stretching and mobility.

Strength

Seated Good Mornings

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×165#
  • 3×175#
  • 3×185#
  • 3×195#

Skill

12:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 30 DU
  • Evens: 20 Hollow Rocks

My DU were terrible today. One round I was missing after 1 or 2 and it took me 45 seconds to get 30 done. First and last set were unbroken. Maybe my legs are just that fatigued. Hollow rocks are getting easier. Was able to hold arms over my head today, so shoulder is improving too.

Conditioning

12:00 AMRAP

  • 75 MB Cleans (20#)
  • 50 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 25 Deadlifts (225#)

I put the MB cleans in for wall balls. Holy shit! It was like 2 squats for every rep. Getting that first box jump was scary. I stepped down on them all, but never stopped. Did 20 singles with the deadlift and then a set of 5 to finish. I scaled the weight back from 275# because the back has been feeling good and I want to ease back into heavy deads. I finished 1 full round and then 14 more MB cleans. My legs are going to be feeling this for a couple of days.

Three Wheel Triple

Slept late-ish again this morning. Still made time to get a protein+coffee and pre-workout shower though.

Warm-up

4 Round Tabata Mash-up

  • Air Squats
  • Zombie Kicks
  • Shoulder stretching
  • Rocket Ships

Strength

Back Squat 5×3 @ 80-90%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×155#
  • 3×225#
  • 3×275#
  • 3×285#
  • 3×295#
  • 3×305#
  • 3×315#

I’ve been bumping up all my numbers over the percentages. Last time I did 2 sets with 275# to start, so I replaced one of those with the 315# set. Not sure, but that might be a 3RM. Though I have done 5×305, so probably not a true 3RM at this point, especially with all of the heavy sets. Felt great too! When squats are going well, it’s a tough feeling to beat.

Conditioning

  • 40 Burpees
  • 40 Front Squats (45#)
  • 30 Burpees
  • 30 Front Squats (95#)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 20 Front Squats (135#)
  • 10 Burpees
  • 10 Front Squats (155#)

100 more burpees. YAY!! Something that really surprised me in this workout was how fatigued my front rack got, even in the first set of front squats. 100 burpees yesterday and 40 to start today, really fried the front delts. After doing 25 I had to go 8-7 to finish the 40. Then I went 12-10-8, 8-7-5, and an unbroken 10. Took me 16:19 to finish.

Hops

Was tough rolling out of bed this morning.

Warm-up

  • 2x Band Pulls and shoulder stretching
  • 2x 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • 20 Star Jumps

Strength

12:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 10/10 Kroc Rows (62# KB)
  • Evens: 10 Weighted Sit-ups (53# KB)

Focused on doing the Kroc Rows as strict as possible. Tried to keep a good back position with the sit-ups.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 10 Box Jumps (30″)
  • 10 Burpees

I’m going to be feeling all of those jumps tomorrow. It’s been awhile since I did any box jumps higher than 24″ in a workout. Really had to focus on each jump after nearly landing on my face in the 2nd round. Finished in 15:50.

Midline

10:00 E2M

  • 10 Hip Extensions (on Roman Chair)
  • 30s Plank

I held the plank for a full minute in the last round.