Tomato, Tamata, Tabata

Woke up early again, this time with a headache. So skipped out on the 9am and went to 4:15pm instead.

Warm-up

2 Rounds NFT

  • 20 PVC pass-thrus
  • 20 Band pulls (purple)
  • 10 Burpees
  • 20/20 Arm Circles (Forward & Back)

Strength

5×5 Bench Press @ 70-80%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×180#
  • 5×180#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×190#
  • 5×195#

Felt solid. Started the first set 10# higher than 3 weeks ago.

Conditioning

  • Tabata DU
  • 1:00 Rest
  • Tabata T2B
  • 1:00 Rest
  • Tabata Box Jumps (24″)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • Tabata Row (cals)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • Tabata Alternating DB Snatch (60#)

Fun workout! 212 double unders, 51 toes to bar, 77 box jumps, 65 rowing calories, and 44 snatches. I did 10-7-7 T2B and then started to fall apart. I have a blister forming on a finger from the dumbbell AMRAPs yesterday, which didn’t help with holding on to the bar. Snatches were by far the worst so I’m glad I had them last.

Midline

10:00 EMOM

  • 30s Plank

Needed that! I stayed in to open gym and did them. Did a few MU transitions on the low rings too.

Managing with the Back

Didn’t sleep worth a shit last night, so got out of bed and did some work early. Went in for the 9am class again. Back feels better today, but can still get some solid pain if I move in the wrong positions.

Warm-up

Did some leg swings and back stretching before class started.

“Sally Up/Down” doing squats with PVC as a bar.

Strength

5×5 Front Squats @ 70-80%

  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×235#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×255#

BOOM! Squats are back! My form felt pretty good too. Didn’t even really start leaning forward much even on the last set. I’m fucking excited about this, especially with my back in less than ideal shape.

Accessory

12:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 8 Good Mornings (135#)
  • Evens: 30s Hollow Rocks

Felt some pulling in the back with the good mornings, but I think it helped to stretch it out too.

Conditioning

  • 4:00 AMRAP
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 3:00 AMRAP
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 AMRAP
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 1:00 AMRAP

A round consists of:

  • 5 DB Deadlifts (45# DBs)
  • 5 DB Hang Power Cleans
  • 5 DB Push Presses

I did 6+8, 4+8, 3+3, and 1+13. Rough, but I felt better in this than yesterday’s workout.

Headed back in at 8pm for some rowing. Another workout from NCLab

  • 1000m Row
  • 100s Rest
  • 900m Row
  • 90s Rest
  • 800m Row
  • 80s Rest
  • 700m Row
  • 70s Rest
  • 600m Row
  • 60s Rest
  • 500m Row
  • 50s Rest
  • 400m Row
  • 40s Rest
  • 300m Row
  • 30s Rest
  • 200m Row
  • 20s Rest
  • 100m Row

Kept under or at a 1:52 / 500m pace through everything. My splits were 3:44, 3:24, 3:01, 2:38, 2:17, 1:54, 1:31, 1:10, 0:48, and 0:24. I almost fell over when I got off the rower and was a little light-headed for 10-15 minutes.

Fuck, My Back

Moving a little slow this morning, but in for the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • 20 Zombie Kicks
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 15/15 Standing Hurdles (forward and backward)
  • 10 Burpees

Strength

5×5 Deadlifts @ 70-80%

  • 10×135#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×315#
  • 5×335#
  • 5×355#
  • 5×375#
  • 4×385#

What a fucking idiot. Tried to push it and now that low back area on the right side is worse than it was 2 weeks ago. It was starting to feel pretty good too. I want to slap myself. Pisses me off even more that it was already the most volume I’d done for a 5×5 before trying that last set.

2014-02-19-5x5-deadlifts

Accessory

Kroc Rows

  • 10/10 x 60#
  • 10/10 x 71#
  • 10/10 x 71#

Conditioning

  • 20 Thrusters (95#)
  • 20 Power Cleans (95#)
  • 20 Shoulder to OH (95#)
  • 20 OHS (95#)
  • 20 Front Squats (95#)

* Do 5 burpees EMOM starting at 1:00

I felt pretty terrible in the workout and didn’t push it on my burpees because I could feel my back there. Not to mention I couldn’t breathe and felt like shit. Took me 4 minutes to do the OHS, only able to get 5 reps each time! Not good. Total time of 10:57. I think I was the last one done.

Rested a bit when I got home, finished shoveling the end of the driveway, and then made a pit stop in the garage on the way in.

Accessory

  • 5×10 Reverse Hyper using GHD with green band

Blood on the Battlefield

Big storm dumped a bunch of snow on us last night, so the gym was closed this morning and I wouldn’t try to drive down my street anyway before they plow it out. Trained in the garage at 10am.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 50 Jumping Jacks

Strength

5×5 Shoulder Press @ 70-80%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×115#
  • 5×120#
  • 5×120#
  • 5×125#
  • 5×130#

All sets in the zone again.

Conditioning

E3M 15:00

  • 10 C&J (135#)

Worked out even better than I planned. My goal was to complete at least the first 3 rounds in under a minute, but I did all 5! Great to work on cycling and there was enough rest to be able to push hard each round. I wasn’t quite ready for the 2nd rep in round 1 because I hadn’t done a single warm-up rep, so it was a no rep and slowed me down a lot for the round.

Round Time to Finish Rep Breakdown
1 :40 10
2 :35 10
3 :48 7-2-1
4 :50 5-3-1-1
5 :47 5-2-1-1-1

20140218-112752.jpg
10:00 EMOM

  • 40 DU

Not the greatest day but all rounds were done in less than 30 seconds. Managed to slice my finger open in the first or second round and spray blood everywhere for the rest of the workout.

Midline

  • Tabata Hollow Rocks

I alternated each round between hands at my sides and hands overheard. OH is infinitely harder, especially since my abs are still sore from the 100 GHD sit-ups I did Saturday. I couldn’t even get full rounds in for the last 4 that’s how tough this got; I had to keep taking a second or two break.

Keep It Simple

Still pretty sore from Saturday’s back squats and GHD sit-ups. In for the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 20 Air Squats w/ pause
  • :30/:30 Lunge Stretch
  • :45/:45 Couch Stretch

Strength

5×5 Back Squats @ 70-80%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×250#
  • 5×255#
  • 5×260#
  • 5×270#

All sets in the range today, even based on my old 340# back squat. Well shy of my 5RM of 305#, but the total for the 5 working sets smashes the day I did that by 75#, plus I did 135# and 205# today warming up. More work done = progress!

2014-02-17-5x5-back-squats

Conditioning

12:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 5 Burpees

Finished 13 rounds plus 1 wall ball. The wall balls weren’t really a problem, but the burpees slowed down a lot again. Was able to hold a pretty good pace trough the entire workout.

Did a little mobility and worked on my kip.

Max Push-ups

Out to the garage around 9:30 for some recovery-ish work.

5 Rounds

  • 5:00 Air Dyne @ 55% (AD2)
  • MAX Hand Release Push-ups

Calories were 80-80-80-81-81 and push-ups were 30-25-25-25-25. The last 5-10 push-ups of each set were a slow grind. My focus was on keeping a tight midline so I wouldn’t snake them.

Got the heart rate up, sweated a bit even though I didn’t heat up the garage, and worked on my push-up weakness. I’ll call that a successful Sunday morning.

Back Squats and GHD Sit-ups

Originally I was going to go to the 10am class today, but after being up until 1 watching “House of Cards” and having been to classes 5 days in a row, I thought it best not to go. I went out to the garage around 4pm.

Warm-up

Nice and easy 5 minutes on the Air Dyne (AD2).

Warmed up with some back squats:

  • 20×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 3×225#
  • 3×255#

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 3 Back Squats (275#)
  • Evens: 10 GHD Sit-ups

Rest 1:30

E30S 5:00

  • :00 1 Back Squats (275#)
  • :30 5 GHD Sit-ups

Dropped the weight down to 225# for 3 sets of 5 back squats. Then over to the GHD for a straight set of 25 more sit-ups to make it 100 total. Maybe the most I’ve ever done in a row.

Cooled off with a slow 5 minutes on the AD again.

Quad City

I guess I’m just getting old or getting used to the early bed times. 9am for the 5th day this week. Feeling good though.

Warm-up

“Whip It!”
Play the song by Devo. Do jumping jacks throughout and then a burpee each time they say “whip it” during the song. Be careful not to mistake “whip”, which they say on its own several times. We were definitely warmed up after this.

Strength

Bench Press 5×1 @ 90%+

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 1×205#
  • 1×215#
  • 1×225#
  • 1×235#

Davy, Shaun, Matt, and I rotated through on the same bench. Ran out of time, but I think we were all pretty much done at the end there. Just 5# shy of my PR, so I’m happy with that. Didn’t have my right arm lagging behind like I used to, but my right elbow issue went away in the last couple of months too, so maybe it was related. My left arm actually was a bit behind on that last lift today.

Accessory

12:00 EMOM

  • Odds: MAX unbroken strict ring dips
  • Evens: MAX unbroken strict pull-ups

Went 15-10-6-7-5-5 on dips and 9-5-5-5-5-4 on pull-ups. Pathetic numbers for pull-ups.

Conditioning

21-15-9

  • OHS (95#)
  • OH Lunges (95#, total reps – not each leg)

Fuck! Fuck! Looking at this I figured wrists would be a limiting factor, but that was the least of my worries during the workout. I did the first 21 OHS unbroken with my shoulders shaking all over the place for the last 5 reps, and holy shit was that a mistake. I’ve never felt a burning in my quads during a metcon like this one. I’d get down into a toes squat to rest when taking breaks and that even felt horrible. Brutal brutal workout. I managed to power through the sets of 9 unbroken with a short break between movements and finished in 9:25.

Midline

7:00 EMOM

  • 12 V-Ups

Good core burn in the last 2-3 rounds.

Gettin’ My Squat Groove Back

Another early night and another 9am for the 4th day in a row. Not feeling too beat up though.

Warm-up

  • 3×20 second Wrist stretch on ground
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • 15 Squats Jumps
  • 20/20 second Lunge Stretch
  • 1:00 Bottom Squat Hold

Strength

Front Squat 5×1 @ 90%+

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 2×225#
  • 1×255#
  • 1×265#
  • 1×275#
  • 1×285#
  • 1×300#

Still working my way back into the swing of strength, so this was really only 2 reps over 90% of my old PR, but I haven’t hit 300# in about 3 months. Felt pretty good too.

Conditioning

7:00 – Alternate between movements every 15 seconds

  • 2 Power Snatches (115#)
  • 5 Box Jumps (24″)

Starting to feel better cycling reps, but could feel the 2nd rep start to be a struggle during the second half. Box jumps were no big deal and no missed reps today.

5:00

  • Row for calories

Tried to stick close to 1,200 cal/hr and then poured it on during the last minute to end up with 102 calories.

Early to Bed

I was exhausted early again last night so went to bed shortly after 10 and then in for the 9am class again.

Warm-up

  • 3 Rounds
    • 20s Bear Crawl
    • 10s Rest
    • 20s Zombie Kicks
    • 10s Rest
    • 20s Air Squats
    • 10s Rest
  • 10 Burpees

Strength

Deadlifts

  • 5×135#
  • 5×225#
  • 5x3x315#

Was programmed to be 5×1 @ 90+% but my back is still jacked from trying to do heavy triples on Friday. First set at 315 started to feel tight in that area, so I just stuck with that weight for every set.

Accessory

12:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 8 Pendlay Rows (135#)
  • Evens: 15 Band pulls (purple band)

Supposed to use 40% of max deadlift for the rows. Haha! I’m not sure I could row that much for 1 rep. 135# was plenty and still a struggle for the last couple reps each set.

Conditioning

20:00 EMOM

  • 4 Thrusters (75#)
  • 4 Pull-ups
  • 4 Burpees

Another choose your own adventure between 3-5 reps of each. Matt tried it with 5 yesterday and was terrible, so 4 it was for me. Was finishing rounds in 30 seconds at the beginning, but up around 43 seconds by the end. I was getting done with my thrusters in 8 seconds from start to finish. With a tighter kip and using the hips, pull-ups didn’t fatigue and felt good through all 20 minutes. Transitioning between movements slowed and my burpees got slow, which brought my times down. Rough workout; a real mental grind in the second half.