Growing Tree Trunks

My front delts are still sore from 180 burpees. Doesn’t take much pressure when pushing on them to feel the pain. Hamstrings are sore from the good mornings too.

Warm-up

  • 10/10 Hurdlers (forward, backward)
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • 2x30s Wrist Stretch

Strength

Front Squat 5×5 @ 70-80%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×235#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×255#
  • 5×260#

Up in volume from last time when I did 2 sets at 225# and up to 255#. Today the 255# felt rough, so I only took the 5# jump at the end. Last set actually felt better, so should have done 265#.

Conditioning

  • 50 Weighted Lunges (30# DBs)
  • 40 Pendlay Rows (95#)
  • 30 Goblet Squats (53# KB)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 10 Squat Cleans (135#)

Finished in 9:21 with legs on fire.

14.4 is announced tonight and it looks like it’ll be a chipper, as I predicted. Rest day and massage tomorrow for me and will plan to hit the workout on Saturday.

Walk it Out

Didn’t want to get out of bed this morning and feeling beat. Resting and getting a massage on Friday though.

Warm-up

  • Shoulder stretching
  • Band pulls
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • PVC Good Mornings

Strength

Good Mornings

  • 10×45#
  • 10×75#
  • 8×125#
  • 8×135#
  • 6×145#
  • 6×150#
  • 6×170#

Matt was doing shoulder presses, so I used the same weights until my final one.

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP of a 3-6-9… Ladder

  • Box Jumps (step down, 24″)
  • Sit-ups
  • Air Dyne calories (AD6)

Finished the round of 15 plus box jumps, sit-ups, and 11 calories. Not a super high intensity, which was good. Did a bunch of walking back and forth in the gym after.

80 More Burpees

My shoulders are actually tight this morning. Maybe from the 100 burpees? Or possibly from the power cleans? Went to the usual 9am class. Yesterday afternoon I had another appointment at Midland Chiropractic Sports Rehab. Seemed like they really dialed it up on the spinal decompression table because my low back was feeling weird the rest of the day.

Warm-up

  • 150m Row
  • 21 Air Squats
  • 150m Row
  • 15 Air Squats
  • 150m Row
  • 9 Air Squats

Strength

Back Squat 5×5 @ 70-80%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×255#
  • 5×260#
  • 5×265#
  • 5×270#
  • 5×275#

Upped the ante quite a bit from a month ago. Felt great!

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 10 Pistols (alternating)
  • 15 GHD Sit-ups (on Roman Chair)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 1:1 Rest

I did pistols instead of HSPU and GHD instead of T2B. My rounds were 2:05, 2:09, 2:07, and 2:09. That’s 180 burpees in the last 2 days. You know they’re coming in 14.4 or 14.5.

Skill

7:00 EMOM

  • 30 DU

I only missed once in the 4th minute after 16 dubs. The RPM rope is money!

Burpees, Baby!

I’m sore from the weekend of squats, but nothing terrible. You know it, 9am.

Warm-up

4 Round Tabata Mash-up

  • Air Squats w/ Pause
  • Zombie Kicks
  • Shoulder Stretching

14:00 EMOM

  • Evens: 5 V-ups (no hands OH) + 5 Deadlifts (135#)
  • Odds: 5 Power Cleans (135#) + 5 Box Jumps (24″)

Did the modified v-ups instead of T2B.

10 Rounds

  • 10 Burpees
  • 20s Rest

Started out flying with 19 seconds for each of the first two rounds. Then I started to hit the wall and did my best to hold on. Finished in 7:36. I almost did a 10:00 EMOM of 10 burpees or Tabata burpees yesterday; I’m glad I didn’t.

Jumped on the rower for an easy 2,000m in 8:44.

Crash Landing

Out in the garage around noon by myself.

Front Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 3-5-X-1 Tempo
    • 2×205#
    • 2×215#
    • 2×225#
    • 2×235#
    • 1+Fx245#

That sucked!

5 Rounds NFT

  • 10 Hip Extensions
  • 10 Reverse Hypers (green band on GHD)

“Flight Simulator”
5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-45-50-45-40-35-30-25-20-15-10-5 Unbroken DU

I was cruising along and then crashed trying to get 45 on the way up. I couldn’t even get 15 or 20, so I called it quits around 9:30 in. Not sure what happened there.

Nap Time

Body feels pretty good after doing 14.3 yesterday. My low back is a little tight and some soreness in the hamstrings. Tired from going to a late movie though and a 90 minute nap made me feel more tired. Kevin came over for some squats.

Back Squats

ben-smith-poster

  • 10×45#
  • 10×155#
  • 10×205#
  • 10×215#
  • 10×225#
  • 10×235#
  • 10×245#
  • 10×255#

Early in the day I was planning to give Super Squats with 255# a go. After the nap, I changed my mind. All these sets of 10 might have ended up being tougher though. I went through 235# doing them without resting between reps to make it fun.

Kevin took off and I jumped on the Air Dyne (AD2) for a slow 20 minutes. Didn’t even really break a sweat to get 284 calories. I’ve done more in only 10 minutes if that tells you anything.

2014 CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.3

After 14.2, I moved up from 28,476/109,998 (25.9%) to 22,238/100,690 (22.1%) in the world. I was excited last night to see 14.3 announced. No shoulder work and heavy deadlifts. BOOM!

Hit it up right away this morning to allow recovery time in case I need to go a second time for the team on Monday.

I warmed up with 5:00 on the rower, leg swings, jump rope, mashing the legs with a mobility stick, and some foam rolling. Did some deads with 135# and a few step-ups, but figured the first 2 rounds would warm up the movements.

2014 CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.3

8:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Deadlifts (135#)
  • 15 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 15 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 15 Box Jumps
  • 20 Deadlifts (225#)
  • 15 Box Jumps
  • 25 Deadlifts (275#)
  • 15 Box Jumps
  • 30 Deadlifts (315#)
  • 15 Box Jumps
  • 10 Deadlifts (365#)
  • 15 Box Jumps

I finished 9 deadlifts at 315# for a score of 139 reps and a tiebreaker of 6:40 for my last set of box jumps. I went 10, 9-6, 7-7-6 on the first three sets of deadlifts, and then I think I did some triples and doubles with 275# before going singles the rest of the way. I did step-up, jump downs, which turned into step-downs in the final set. Legs were smoked at the end of this one. Every rep with 315# felt like a max attempt. I know it’s early, but I’m in the top 7% of scores in the world, so I’m pretty excited. Finally something in the Open I could crush.

Recovery Cards

My legs are trashed from the last few days. Was actually glad to see a deck of cards programmed for today.

Warm-up

About 6:00 on our own. I focused on some bottom squat holds and shoulder stretching for the most part.

Conditioning

“Deck of Cards”

Suits:

  • ♣ – Air Squats
  • ♠ – AbMat Sit-ups
  • ♦ – 2x Russian Twists (35# KB)
  • ♥ – Burpees

Ranks:

  • Ace – 20 Reps
  • King, Queen, Jack – 10 Reps
  • 10 through 2 – face value
  • Joker – Same movement as last card, but double the reps

I substituted in the Russian Twists for American KBS because of my shoulder. Kept a nice steady pace and was lucky on my jokers, but I did get 4 hearts in a row at one point for 33 burpees. Finished in 26:11 and got home early. Rest day and chiropractor tomorrow. Hopefully the shoulder will be ready to go this weekend for whatever 14.3 brings.

Legs, Legs, Legs

My quads and hamstrings are on fire! Class at 9am again.

Until the Open is done, I’m going to have to do what I can with the shoulder to keep it moving, while allowing myself to still be able to do the workout each week. As soon as the open is over, I’m going to be completely resting the shoulder for a month to let it heal though. Hopefully in a few weeks we’ll be able to do more stuff outside, like running, sled drags, and prowler work. That will be a month of hitting legs, core, and conditioning hard. Then when the shoulder is ready I can start putting in weightlifting focus and work on the upper body strength.

Warm-up

On our own. Did some shoulder and leg stretching

Strength

Barbell Lunges

  • 2x10x45#
  • 4×135#
  • 5:00 EMOM – 6×155#

Seated Good Mornings
5:00 EMOM

  • 6×155#

Conditioning

speed-ropes
4 Rounds

  • 1:00 Box Jump w/ Step Down (24″)
  • 1:00 DU
  • 1:00 GHD Sit-ups
  • 1:00 Rest

Being forced to step down was a nice change of pace. I got a new RPM rope yesterday from Rogue, so used it for the first time today. I really like it! Used the Romain Chair for GHD sit-ups, which isn’t the greatest, but I could really feel my hamstrings at the end of each round. I went 21-22-23-24 on the box jumps, 65-74-58-67 on DU, and 20-21-19-19 on sit-ups. Double unders and sit-ups were probably more like 50 seconds with the transition time.

Midline

3×20 Hollow Rocks with hands at sides because getting the right arm overhead was painful.

Shoulder is Angry

The chest-to-bar pull-ups on Sunday and toes-to-bar yesterday have fired up the shoulder, so I better take it easy for a day or two. As usual, 9am class.

Warm-up

4 Round Tabata Mash-up

  • Shoulder stretching
  • Squat Jumps

Strength

Find a 20RM Back Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 3×235#
  • 20×250# (PR)

The last time I attempted a set of Super Squats was July 9th with 255#, when I only made it through 8 reps. I’d done 245# two weeks before that attempt, but my squats were taking a nose dive around this time. I went to class prepared to attempt the 255# today, but after much thought I decided to go for just the 5# PR since it had been so long since attempting a set of 20. It was tough, but nothing even close to as horrible as I remember SS being.

Conditioning

20:00 Cap

  • 20 Burpees
  • 30 Front Squats (95#)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 25 Front Squats (115#)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 20 Front Squats (135#)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 15 Front Squats (165#)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 10 Front Squats (185#)

Programmed with thrusters, but I need to rest the shoulder, so front squats it was. Turns it into an easier metcon, but still no walk in the park. I didn’t have a final set of 10# plates out, which probably prevented me from finishing. I was 4 reps short of finishing all 100 burpees and 100 front squats.

My squats are feeling strong!