Forearms on Fire

I was up late setting up my new TV and everything along with it. Michelle was coaching and had me help her out with the programming with some movements she had in mind. Went in for the 11am class.

Warm-up

We did a bunch of dynamic movements going back and forth the length of the gym, including jogging, high knees, butt kicks, carioca, skipping, Samson stretch, hip flexor stretch, Sumo stretch, etc. Something new and fresh.

Then we did time through the Partner MB Pass Complex with 10 reps each of pass, overhead, left side, right side, and straight up.

WOD

30:00 Running Clock
Each part has a 10:00 cut-off. Part B starts at exactly 10:00 and Part C starts at exactly 20:00. If you finish a part early, rest until the next begins.

Part A, 3 Rounds

  • 15 Goblet Squats (53# KB)
  • 15 Ring Push-ups

This one was fast, but we were also the freshest here. I did it in 2:58.

Part B, 3 Rounds

  • 15 Burpees
  • 15 Ring Rows

I tried to pace myself on the burpees out of the gate, which allowed me to push on them a little more in the 3rd round. Ring rows are a big weakness for me. Took me 5:38 to finish.

Part C, 3 Rounds

  • 15 K2E
  • 15 Sandbag Clean & Toss Over Shoulder

I owned this one. Did the K2E in 15, 10-5, and 10-5 and never stopped with the sandbag. Took me 4:26 to get done.

My total working time was 13:02. About 10 minutes after we were done I could feel the burn in my arms and especially in my forearms. I didn’t see that coming when I whipped this up. Michelle had picked the first 4 movements, so I just plugged them in to my format and picked two more. The grip work in that last couplet was a real treat.

Rippin’ 455 Pounds

My shoulders are kind of fried from the last couple of days, so no shoulder lifts today. Went in and watched a few people redo 13.5 around 1pm and then worked out.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row

Strength

1RM Deadlift

  • 10 @ 135#
  • 5 @ 225#
  • 3 @ 315#
  • 2 @ 405#
  • 1 @ 435# (PR)
  • 1 @ 455# (PR)
  • F @ 465#

My warm-up lifts weren’t exactly feeling that great, so I was worried I’d bomb on a PR. But then 435# went up pretty easy so I took the jump to 455#. I wouldn’t say it was anything close to easy, but overall it was a pretty smooth lift for a big PR. So like a dumbass I had to add 10 more pounds and give 465# a try. It wasn’t moving off the ground and I quickly bailed. It’s not like me to even try that after already setting a 30# PR.

Kevin, Michelle, and I then did a conditioning WOD. I have a duathlon next weekend so figure I should probably get in a little running and the Air Dyne will help out my biking.

WOD

  • 600m Run
  • 750m Row
  • 21 cal Air Dyne
  • 400m Run
  • 500m Row
  • 15 cal Air Dyne
  • 200m Run
  • 250m Row
  • 9 cal Air Dyne

Judging by some similar WODs out in Phoenix I figured this would take 15-18 minutes, so it just goes to show how wrong some of our running distances were out there. I finished in 13:57. The Air Dyne seems to be getting easier each time I use it.

The Grizzly Bear Complex

Earlier this week I came up with a great idea to combine the Bear Complex with a Curtis P and add an OHS. I decided to call it the Grizzly Bear Complex. It goes like this…

Perform 10 touch-n-go doubles of the following complex.

  • Clean
  • Front Squat
  • Lunge
  • Lunge
  • Shoulder to Overhead
  • Back Squat
  • Shoulder to Overhead
  • Overhead Squat

Notes:

  • Rest 90 seconds to 2 minutes between each set.
  • Start with a light load. Increase the weight each set. The last 3 sets should be hard!
  • Combining movements is allowed. For example you can do a squat clean and a back squat thruster.
  • It works well to switch to a wide snatch grip before the back squat so that you can do a thruster and go right into the OHS.
  • After the OHS on the first rep you may want to drop to the back so you can switch to a clean width grip. Then do a short press just to get the bar over your head and back to the front rack, ready to go into the TnG for rep 2

I was able to round-up Kevin and Jason to give it a go at 8pm. I warmed up with a 500m row and some DU.

My goal was to be able to hit for some heavy OHS, 175# or more. Boy was I underestimating how tough this would get. I started at 75# and went up 10# each set. When I got to 135# in the 7th set, it took everything I had to keep control of the OHS, especially on the 2nd rep. I stuck with 135# for the 8th and 9th and then managed to get 140# on my last set.

I wasn’t sure how the lunges would feel, but they weren’t really too bad. I felt like I got stuck on a couple towards the end, but I think it was more from not concentrating on them than it was from the weight. The OHS was definitely the limiting factor, especially after holding on to that bar for so long. Great complex though and I’ll definitely be willing to try it again some time.

Brent got held up with kids, but showed up as were just finishing our last few sets. Then we did some work with Kevin’s new wheelbarrow drive sled from Again Faster. First we did 5 sets of a 50′ rope pull followed by a 50′ high prowler push. I think we had it loaded with 135# for the first 3 or 4 sets and then added another 45#. After that we converted it into the “wheelbarrow” did 5 down and backs of close to 100m total. At the end of 5 trips I think we had about 400# stacked on it. To finish things off we loaded it with 180# of plates and did a 50′ high prowler push with a low push back. On the 5th set we added another 45#.

Then we ended with a beer. All in all, a fun Friday night.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.5

Yesterday my body was absolutely wrecked after training for a total of about 6 hours Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I took the day off and even took an hour nap around 4pm. After 13.5 was announced last night I figured I’d give it a go today as long as I didn’t feel like shit. At 4 minutes, how bad can it be? So I went in around 4:30 to warm-up and hit it at 5pm.

Warm-up

  • 750m Row
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • Light thrusters

Open Workout 13.5

4:00 AMRAP

  • 15 Thrusters (100#)
  • 15 C2B Pull-ups

* If 90 reps (3 rounds) are completed in under 4 minutes, time extends to 8 minutes.
* If 180 reps (6 rounds) are completed in under 8 minutes, time extends to 12 minutes.
* If 270 reps (9 rounds) are completed in under 12 minutes, time extends to 16 minutes.
* Etc.

After getting 82 reps Monday on the 12.5 Fran ladder with 95#, I figured 60 was a realistic number to shoot for in this 4 minute WOD. With all sets being 15 reps there is a lot less transition time so pacing should overall be faster.

I planned to do 8-7 or 9-6 on the first 15 thrusters but felt good, so went unbroken. I stuck with my plan to go 5-5-5 on the first round of C2B and it worked well, keeping me away from the point of failure. I think my first round was done in around 1:20. In round number 2 I planned to go 5-5-5 on the thrusters, but again felt good so went 9-6. I didn’t have a plan for the C2B because I knew I’d be feeling the burn at this point. I did 5-4-3-3. I hit my goal! Then back to thrusters to go 5-6 and that last rep was a struggle. I don’t think I could have done a 7th if I had time left, so I think I attacked it pretty well. 71 reps in total, 11 more than my goal!

When I hit that point of muscle failure I’m pretty much dead from there on out, so I’m not sure trying to stretch out my sets would have helped me at all. Probably would have caused me to be hitting singles in that second round of C2B and wasting a lot of time dropping off and jumping back on the bar. I’m thinking I won’t hit this one again, but may give it a go on Sunday just for fun and try to push closer to failure to see what happens since it’s only 4 minutes.

The did some work with Kevin…

Warmed up bench press with 10 @ 45#, 5 @ 135#, and 5 @ 165#.

Strength

10:00 EMOM

  • Odd minutes: 5 Bench Press (165#)
  • Even minutes: 5 Weighted Pull-ups (15# DB)

I was a little fatigued from the WOD, so went easy on the weights to make sure I could get all of the reps in.

Conditioning

5 Rounds each

  • 20 cal Air Dyne
  • DUs until partner completes their 20 cal

Boy that Air Dyne is a bitch.

Finisher

10-8-6-4-2

  • HR Push-ups
  • Pistols
  • American KBS (71# KB)

Went unbroken on everything and finished in 4:06. Nice little WOD and some more good conditioning.

MOFO Training

Matt got a couple of Concept2 rowers and a couple of Air Dynes, plus I traded him my Concept2 for future services, so he asked me to come up with a WOD to do during Open Gym tonight. I love programming so was happy to! I went in to the 7pm class and was looking forward to a bunch of cleans, but due to the new machines, he switched up the workout. Stayed after for open gym at 8pm and did a workout with some of the beasts.

Warm-up

Teams of 3, 3 rounds

  • 200m Row
  • Sit-ups
  • Air Squats

After the 200m row, we rotated stations.

Strength

10:00 EMOTM

  • 5 Front Squats (195#)
  • 10-12 calories on Air Dyne

First time using an Air Dyne and the combination with front squats was brutal. My quads were smoked.

WOD

21-15-9 with a partner

  • Air Dyne calories
  • Over the Bar Burpees

Kevin and I finished in 6:42. We tried to switch off with another team to get a rower but nobody was having it. Again the Air Dyne smoked me.

Open Gym WOD

15:00 Partner AMRAP

  • Partner 1: 250m Row
  • Partner 2: AMRAP of
    • 4 HSPU
    • 6 Ring Dips
    • 12 Lunges (stepping or plyo)

Matt requested HSPU and I was happy to oblige. They are no longer a weakness for me, but I can still use the work. I’ve done them paired up with ring dips a dew times while out in Phoenix so figured it would work well here. As I was thinking about this and making last minute changes, I came up with adding in the lunges otherwise everyone would have been too smoked by the upper body movements to do much at the end of the 15 minutes.

I teamed up with Michelle and we finished 13 rounds plus 16 more reps. I did all of my HSPU unbroken and quite a few rounds of the ring dips too. I need to work on my ring dip kip though. Some of the lunges I did stepping back and forth and other times I pushed through and did them plyo-style.

We had 7 people do this and it was a lot of fun.

Finisher

2x MB Pass Partner Circuit

  • 10 Straight
  • 10 OH
  • 10 Right
  • 10 Left
  • 10 Up

Brought this little ab killer back from CrossFit Full Strength and everyone seemed to love/hate it.

Back to Survival Mode

I’m not really feeling any affects from last night’s garage session. Quads getting a little sore from the back squats, but nothing close to major DOMS. It was my first WOD back at Survival Fitness for the 4pm class today.

Warm-up

  • 30 Air Squats
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30 PVC OHS
  • 4 Rounds:
    • 15s Jumping Jacks
    • 15s Air Squats
    • 15s Mountain Climbers
    • 15s Squat Jumps
  • 4 Rounds:
    • 15s Plank
    • 15s Supermans
    • 15s Side Plank (L)
    • 15s Side Plank (R)

Back to the predictable warm-ups. 🙂

OLY

2 Power Snatches every 15s for 4 minutes.

I used 95# and tried to get full hip extension, but didn’t have much success with it. It was tough due to not having much rest time at all, but I got through just fine with that weight.

WOD

7:00 AMRAP
3-6-9-12-15…

  • Thrusters (95#)
  • C2B Pull-ups

He was going for Open Workout 12.5 but messed up on the Rx weights, which should have been 100# for men. I thought about upping the weight, but stuck with the 95# as it was on the board. My best score for 12.5 was 66 reps back in August and I got 82 today. Using the lighter weight helps some but that’s a pretty big improvement. I’m pretty stoked about that since I hate thrusters and my C2B are usually not very good.

Finisher

5 Rounds

  • 30s Handstand (against wall)
  • 30s Rest

I tried to use as little pressure on the wall with my feet as I could, even taking them off the wall in the first couple of rounds. I also tried to really push up off the ground and keep everything really tight to help with actual handstands and handstand walks in the future.

I got home, took a short rest and then did some stuff out in the garage.

Strength

5 Rounds

  • 5 Incline Bench Press
  • 10 Parallette Pass Throughs
  • 90s Rest

I warmed up with a quick set of 5 with the empty 45# bar and then used 115# for all 5 sets on the incline bench. I did do 10 reps on my last set instead of 10. All of the pass throughs were done unbroken.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 30s Row
  • 30s Rest

Was able to keep consistent efforts, except the first one was a little weak, but I made up for it in the last interval.

4-1-2013-row1

4-1-2013-row2

Solid day of training.

Kevin’s New Toys

I went over to Kevin’s for a garage session tonight. He got a bunch of new equipment so I got to try most of it.

4×10 Reverse Hyper

Loaded 70# for the first set and then 120# for the last three. Quite the interesting machine. It made my back really spicy almost immediately.

3×7 GHR

I held a 5# plate on the 2nd and 3rd set. Tried to use a 10# plate on the 3rd set but couldn’t even get 1 rep.

5×5 Seated Good Mornings

Used 75#, 95#, 115#, 125#, and 125#. I’ve only done good mornings a few times and this was the first time doing them seated, which I think I like better than standing.

Earthquake Bar Bench Press

Did 10 reps and then a static hold at the top. Did 50# and 90# with a 20 second hold and then 100# with a 30 second hold. We used steel plates for these. We did try 120# with a mix of plates and KB, but it was not happening because the KB are so unstable.

Back Squats

The plan was to do 5×5 at 75-80% of 1RM, but we were a little too fried from 13.4 this morning and all the back work. We did 5 reps at 135#, 185#, 245#, 225#, and 225#. The first two sets were going to be warm-up sets and then into the sets of 245# but we knew the 5 sets were not going to happen after that first one, so we dropped it down and cut the number of sets short. Then we dropped back down to 135# for a max rep set. Kevin stopped at 20 reps and I stopped at 30, deciding we wanted to be able to walk tomorrow.

We jumped back on the Reverse Hyper for a quick set of 15 with 70# to stretch the back out.

It didn’t seem like that long while we were lifting, but it was a solid 2 hours.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.4 (Redo)

welcome-back-balloonsI arrived home in Saginaw, MI at about 1pm yesterday. My Survival Fitness (CrossFit Saginaw) family surprised me with a welcome back party at the gym last night. I thought I was going in to witness a 13.4 throwdown between Matt and Casey, but they got me good. I felt bad not drinking with everyone, but I was exhausted so I wanted to be able to get a quality night of sleep, plus I was doing 13.4 today.

I didn’t get quite as much sleep as I hoped for, but it sure is nice to be back home in my kick ass bed. Went in early to warm-up and got going head-to-head with Brent a little after 11am. I scored a 73 in my first attempt, but knew I could smoke that score. I was hoping to get up close to 90 if I could execute the strategy improvements I wanted to.

I warmed up with a 500m row, some PVC pass-thrus, a bunch of stretching and rolling, and some TnG C&J reps at 95# and 135#.

Open Workout 13.4

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:

  • 3 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 3 T2B
  • 6 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 6 T2B
  • 9 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 9 T2B
  • 12 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 12 T2B
  • 15 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 15 T2B
  • 18 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 18 T2B
  • If you complete the round of 18, go on to 21. If you complete 21, go on to 24, etc.

I wanted to get through the 3 & 6 sets of C&J unbroken and I did. I also wanted to get through all of the T2B through 12 unbroken, but I had to break up the 12 with a quick jump off the bar and then back on. Matt was there yelling at me not to take the step away from the bar when I went to singles and it really helped me a lot. I knew I was in good shape when I got to the round of 15s over 30 seconds faster than my first attempt. I think I had somewhere between 20 and 30 seconds to get the 15 T2B done, but my hips were not having it. I struggled to get 7 reps. Had the time to get really close to 90, but my body said no. I’m really happy with a 9 rep improvement though. I knew I had a lot more in the tank than what my first attempt showed, but that’s understandable since I did it right after the announcement with no time to strategize.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.4 (A Safety Run)

I’m hitting the road back to Michigan early in the morning. It’s been a great 3 months in Phoenix but I’m excited to get home. Since the trip is 3 days I wanted to make sure to get in a score on 13.4 in case I got stuck on the road and don’t make it home as planned. I should get home on Saturday afternoon or right though and be ready to hit this one again on Sunday with my Survival Fitness family.

After doing 100 pull-ups and 100 push-ups in yesterday’s WOD I was really hoping not to see pull-ups in 13.4. I got my wish, but I’m not sure jerks were any better because my shoulders were pretty fried today.

I warmed up with a 500m row, some PVC pass-thrus, and some clean and jerks with increasing weights up to the 135#.

Open Workout 13.4

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:

  • 3 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 3 T2B
  • 6 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 6 T2B
  • 9 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 9 T2B
  • 12 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 12 T2B
  • 15 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 15 T2B
  • 18 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 18 T2B
  • If you complete the round of 18, go on to 21. If you complete 21, go on to 24, etc.

I finished the 12s and got 13 of the 15 C&J for a score of 73 total reps. I dropped every single C&J. I also broke up the 9 T2B into 5-4 and the 12 into 6-6. My buddy Adam, did in with me and we’re usually back and forth depending on the WOD. He did the 3 and 6 C&J as touch-n-go and didn’t break up any T2B until the round of 15, where he finished 13 of them. So his total score was 88. To be honest, this workout really didn’t feel too bad. It’s hard, but I think I’ve felt worse doing Grace because the C&J reps are not broken up there like here where you get a change of pace with the T2B.

I’m confident when I do this again on Sunday I can follow a similar strategy to Adam, maybe even get in a couple of C&J doubles in the round of 9 or 12. I also did mostly push presses like a jackass when I planned to start with jerks from the beginning. If I can do that, it’ll really help save my arms so the later reps aren’t so slow. Getting through those 15 C&J and having time to get back on the T2B is huge because those are quick reps. Every rep in this one is going to be huge for your ranking because there will be so many ties without a tiebreaker. I’m shooting to hit 90+ on Sunday.

After sitting around for a bit, I did an easy 2k row in 8:57 for a cooldown.

Now that I’ve sat around and showered at home, my shoulders and back are getting lit up. The next 3 days will be in the Jeep driving over 2,200 miles. I’ll do some body weight stuff in my hotel room the next two days. My shoulders and grip should be well rested come Sunday morning for a second shot at 13.4.