Get It Overhead!

I’m feeling pretty sore in my shoulders from the HSPU yesterday and as the day goes on my ass is feeling those plyo lunges. Went in at 3:15 for some special OLY work and then stayed for the regular class.

OLY Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • 2 x 10 Pause Jerks with 45# bar

Jerks

  • 5x Jerk Short Step with 95#
  • Jerk from the Back – Doubles and Triples
  • Jerk from the Front – Doubles and Singles

I started off with 95# from the back, went 115#, 155#, and 185#. This was my first time doing any jerks from the back and they felt really weird. I only did a couple of singles at 185# because I don’t feel comfortable dropping that much weight back to my back and it felt uncomfortable to begin with. I need to do these once in a while to get the feel for them.

I dropped the weight back down to 155# and switched to jerks from the rack, doing a double there. Did a double at 185# and another at 205#. Then I was going to hit 225# for a single and Gayle asked if it was going to be a PR, so figured might as well throw another 5# on to make it 230# for a PR. Hit it easily without even punching under in fully. Upped it to 245# and pushed the weight forward instead of back, so failed. Fought it a bit and it didn’t feel too good on my low back.

Took a rest, made sure to punch under it, and got it up for a 20# PR. It was a little unstable over my head, but that’s fucking heavy. Gayle said I could have gotten my front foot out further too and got under it more. Did a good job of getting my head through though.

Class Warm-up

  • 3/3 World’s Greatest Stretch
  • 10/10 Scorpions
  • 10/10 Flamingos
  • 10/10 Legs Swings (F2B, S2S)

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 600m Run
  • 25 Pull-ups

I tried to push it harder on the run today and the temperatures are rising fast here in Phoenix, so that makes the running even tougher. Did all butterfly pull-ups again, but I’m having trouble stringing together more than 7 before I lose rhythm. Finished in 12:24.

Finisher

90s-60s-30s

  • DU
  • AbMat Sit-ups

This was actually part of the class warm-up, but I was finishing up my jerk PR when class started so didn’t do it at that time. Took some rest after the WOD and then knocked it out since there was plenty of time before the next class started.

A Fresh Look On Monday

Don’t compare yourself with anyone in this world…if you do so, you are insulting yourself.

Bill Gates

As time has gone by, I’m feeling better about my performance in 13.1. I looked back at my placing after 12.1 and 12.2, compared to 13.1. I’m ranked higher in the world and there are twice as many registrations. I’d say that’s a win. I’ll know more about exact placement and percentile Tuesday night after score validation closes.

My disappointment in not getting a score of at least 150 is nearly gone. I know there will be workouts that play more into my strengths and I can make up ground. I gave 13.1 my best shot and honestly don’t know where I could have gone any faster to pick up the 45 seconds I would have needed to get the final 8 burpees.

It’s a new week and back to training until the next workout is announced. My body feels good, just a little sore in the upper back. I went in for 9am and there sit Gayle and Adam, just having got done with Saturday’s WOD. They’re starting some 2-a-days, so I did that same workout on my own.

Warm-up

  • 750m Row at 20s/m

I kept right around a 2:15/500m pace.

WOD #1

2 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 25 HSPU
  • 400m Run
  • 30 Pistols (alternating)

I finished in 17:10. HSPU were broken down into 10-5-4-3-3 and 5-5-5-4-3-3 I think. I’ve improved my strength for them so much in the last 2 months. My second round of pistols was a lot faster than my first round and felt good. Out of there in well under an hour and home to rest for later.

This wasn’t really too bad because I had quite a bit of rest during HSPU while breaking them up. Solid strength work though with cardio in the mix.

I jumped on the scale after the WOD and was 189 with shoes and clothes on. I ate really bad yesterday as my cheat day after the workout. Usually those kind of days put me up 2-3 pounds on the scale, so I’d say I hit my first goal of leaning out and getting down to around 185 for the Open.

Back at 4:15 for round 2!

Warm-up

  • 600m Run
  • 3 Rounds:
    • 5 Pull-ups
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 15 Air Squats

I did strict pull-ups to work on strength and chest-to-deck push-ups.

WOD #2

5 Rounds (Similar to the “Chief” WOD)

  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 3 Ring Dips
    • 6 Plyo Lunges
    • 9 American KBS (53#)
  • 1m Rest

* Start each 3:00 round where you left off.

Instead of only doing straight up ring dips, I put the rings up at about eye level, got down with my legs bent under me and on my toes, looking up at the rings. Took a false grip and worked on the MU transition by doing a jumping/strict MU type move from there. Once I got up above the rings I did my 3 dips each time. Now that I’m thinking about it I should have put the rings higher and just done jumping MU or even tried doing a kipping MU each time.

This was a solid WOD and those KBS really started to hurt in the last two 3 minute rounds. I finished with a score of 18+3. To make this a little better, I think I would swap the rep counts for the lunges and the KBS.

Those were two solid WODs today, but not the kind that knock you out for 2 days.

Unbroken or Else

I was feeling ok after the Open WOD today and saw that tomorrow’s WOD doesn’t have strength work, so I figured I could get in a quick home WOD. I’m trying to work my push-up endurance and squats (strength and speed) always need work, so I came up with the following.

WOD

Unbroken AMRAP

  • 10 HR Push-ups
  • 3/3 Pistols (alternating)

What’s the time domain you ask? Keep going until you have to break the 10 or 6, moving from one movement right to the other.

I finished 8 rounds and 7 more push-ups, all barefoot. Some of the pistols were pretty ugly and I fell back while standing up a few times, but I’m counting them without having any shoes on. When I failed the push-up, time was 6:12 for 87 push-ups and 64 pistols. My best time for 100 hand release push-ups is 5:42, so I’ve either improved a ton since January or found a new strategy for doing high-rep push-ups.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.1

The 2013 CrossFit Games Open is upon us. My goal this year is to beat 50% of the men, which might not be a lofty enough of a goal, but considering I only beat about 25% of the guys last year, that would be a huge improvement.

Yesterday I wrote the post Why I Compete in the CrossFit Games Open, which explains a lot of my motivation for competing. You can also check out my Games Profile.

If there were any WODs I didn’t want to see come up again from 2013 it was the snatch ladder and the combination of thrusters and C2B pull-ups. Well, 13.1 brings back the snatch ladder, but pairs it up with burpees. A brutal combination.

Open Workout 13.1

17:00 AMRAP

  • 40 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (75#)
  • 30 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (135#)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (165#)
  • 10 Burpees
  • Max rep Snatch (210#)

My goal was to get to the 165# snatches and get at least one, which would have been a PR. I had several days to prepare, and obsessively mapped out a strategy based on tips I read online and chatting with friends who had already done the WOD. But it’s impossible to know how your body is going to react, so planning can only do so much for you.

I hit the pace I wanted to for the 40 burpees and felt good going into the 75# snatches. Broke it up into sets of 10-8-6-6 and they crushed me pretty bad. I wasn’t expecting them to get to me. Even so, I was only 15 seconds behind the pace I was hoping for at this point. But I was pretty dead already and the 30 burpees ended up going pretty slow. After changing the weights, I started the 135# snatches at around 9 minutes, now a minute behind the pace I wanted.

I did all singles at 135# and tried to get right back on the bar, but they were taking a lot out of me and I was already dead. I finished them at 15:52, almost 3 minutes slower than I wanted to. Managed to get 12 of the 20 burpees for a final score of 142. There was no way I would have been able to get a 165# snatch (10# PR) after all that work, so 150 was the best score I could have gotten.

I was disappointed (and still am a bit), but then I realized that last year in 12.1 I got 92 burpees in 7 minutes and in 12.2 I got 36 snatches in 10 minutes. In this combined 17 minute WOD I got 82 burpees and 60 snatches. Hell of an improvement, so I’m going to chalk this up as a win. The snatch is one of my weakest movements, so I ended up pretty well and I’m way ahead of pace to finish above average in the Open.

I guess I can count that as a 6:52 time for “Isabel” since it was 30 snatches. Shouldn’t be hard to beat whenever I do the benchmark on it’s own.

Bring on 13.2!

Pacing Burpees

Back of my thighs are sore from all those back squats still. The box is closed since it’s Friday and I’m going to rest tomorrow to do Open WOD 13.1 on Sunday. Figured I would get in a little home work.

Did a trial run of 40 burpees to a 6″ target as a slow and steady pace, so I could get used to it for the 13.1. I couple of weeks ago I did 50 of these all out in 2:39 and was dead for like a half hour. I did the trial run in about 2:50, which I think turned out to be pretty solid. I was breathing heavy, but not dying. Started out at about 4 seconds per burpee, but slowed down in the half. Good overall rhythm.

5 Rounds

  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 20s L-Sit
  • 20 Air Squats

I didn’t time it since my goal was quality movements and trying to do everything unbroken. I probably rested 2-3 minutes after each round, except for a quick turnover into round 5. Everything was done unbroken. For the l-sits I put two chairs together and help myself up, with knees bent and above parallel for all 20 seconds.

Deads & Cardio

I was originally planning to take a rest day today and do Open WOD 13.1 tomorrow, but things changed. My hamstrings are feeling pretty tight from the squat volume yesterday, but ended up going in for 7:15pm and I’ll make tomorrow a rest day.

Warm-up

  • 3m Jump Rope
  • 50 AbMat Sit-ups
  • 50 Supermans

Strength

4 Sets

  • 7-10 Deadlifts
  • 90s Rest

I did a 5 reps at 135# and 185# to loosen up. Then I hit all 10 reps at 225#, 275#, 305#, and 325#. Moved a lot of weight, but didn’t go overboard and end up with a headache that’ll lasts 3 days

WOD

  • 750m Row
  • 600m Run
  • 75 DU
  • 500m Row
  • 400m Run
  • 50 DU
  • 250m Row
  • 200m Run
  • 25 DU

Nice cardio WOD today. Struggled with me DU on the round of 75 failing about every 10, but was good on the other sets. Finished in 15:26.

Squat Volume

My shoulders, arms, and upper back are feeling spicy today. Went in for the 9am so that I’m free to watch the live stream of Open WOD 13.1 tonight.

Warm-up

  • 4/4 World’s Greatest Stretch
  • 3m Row at 20s/m
  • 2 Rounds
    • 16 GHD Sit-ups
    • 15 Hip Extensions

I really tried to be explosive with the GHD sit-ups today and lock out the legs. First time doing hip extensions in a long time.

Strength

5 Sets

  • 7-10 Back Squats at 20X1 Tempo
  • 90s Rest

Damn that’s a lot of volume! The tempo is pretty much just normal though, since it takes me about 2 seconds to lower anyway. I did 10 reps each at 135#, 155#, 195#, and 215#. Then jumped up to 235# to really push it on the last set and managed to get 7 before I dumped the bar. At the end I was sweating like I just got done with a 10 minute WOD.

WOD

10:00 AMRAP

  • 7 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
  • 7 Push-ups
  • 7 Pull-ups

I did all butterfly pull-ups and am really starting to get the rhythm down. Completed 10 rounds plus 5 more wall balls, pretty much going non-stop. Had to transition from a wall ball and push-up spot over to the pull-up bar each round, otherwise I bet I could have gotten at least another full round in. 70 butterfly pull-ups is a lot higher than any previous day I’ve done. I’m sure glad I remembered to shave my calluses this morning though!

Oh…almost forgot. Zach Lind, the drummer from Jimmy Eat World, was in to WOD today.

Destroyed Upper Body

Went in with a few people at 3:15 to work on our Olympic lifting and then stayed after for the regular class.

Loaded one bar up with 185# for snatch pulls and then used another bar for snatches. Started off doing one snatch pull, one power snatch, and one hang full snatch. I started at 95# and worked my way up to 125# on the snatch work. Then I switched to single full snatches with 135# after the snatch pull for a handful of sets. Probably worked for a solid 40 minutes, taking a few minutes of rest in between each complex. The snatches didn’t feel very good today.

Strength

5×3 Push Presses with 21X2 Tempo

The goal was to hit the 5×5 max from 2 weeks ago in our second set. Since that was going to be 165# for me, I started at 135#. Then went 165#, 170#, 175#, and 185#. Shit that was tough, but I’m glad I jumped 10# on that last set. My old 1RM push press is 190#, but it’s been a long time, so I should obviously be able to beat it pretty good now.

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 25 Shoulder to OH (95#)
  • 50 DU
  • 10 Ring Dips

OMG, my upper body was destroyed already in the first round. I did 15 and 10, then 10-9-6, and then probably 6 or 7 sets in the 3rd round, where I was even doing some jerks to get them done. The ring dips were pretty tough too. Finished in 16:09.

Working on Muscle-Ups

Feeling good today. Pecs are still sore from the competition. Was up early so headed in to work on muscle-ups before the 9am class.

I started out with rings hanging low from a pull-up bar so I could get in some reps working the transition with my feet bent under me and on my toes. Then I moved over to a set of rings I could grab on to while standing flat-footed and worked the strict transition. I kept missing because I’d let the rings get too wide and I was too slow in the turn-over. I nailed a few of them though. Just from that bit of work, my wrists started to rub raw. Need to try to do this once or twice a week.

Warm-up

  • 4/4 World’s Greatest Stretch
  • 15 No Push-up Burpees
  • 200m Run
  • 100m Run Backwards
  • 200m Carioca (100m each direction)
  • 300m Run
  • 3 Rounds:
    • 10 Evil Wheels
    • 5/5 Glute Bridge March
    • 10s Glute Bridge Hold

I worked up quite a sweat with the evil wheels.

WOD

  • 30 Box Jumps (30″)
  • 20 Full Cleans (155#)
  • 30 K2E
  • 20 Single-arm Push Press (53# KB)
  • 30 Sit-ups
  • 20 Alt Pistols
  • 30 Burpee Box Jumps (30″)

Damn those cleans sucked ass and then the burpee box jumps at the end were pretty killer as well. Everything else was smooth sailing for the most part. I did the box jumps unbroken, the K2E in 12-10-8, push presses in sets of 5 per arm, sit-ups unbroken, and pistols with 2 short breaks mainly to get back to balanced. Really had to concentrate on the box jumps at the end. Finished in 16:36.

Olympic Lifting Progress

I’m feeling good after yesterday’s competition. Little sore in my pecks, but not quite sure what that’s from. Went in to the Olympic lifting class at noon.

We started out with snatches. I concentrated on hip extension and Johnny got me really exploding with the hips and punching under the bar. I started at 95# and worked up to 135# doing doubles and then singles. Was hitting them at 135# easily. Didn’t want to go heavier because I wanted to focus on the technique. Felt a lot better today and could feel the speed of the transition instead of kind of floating through that part of the lift.

Moved on to clean and jerks and went for broke. Started at 135# to warm up, then 155#. Switched to singles going 185#, 195#, 215# for a 10# PR, and then finished with a 20# PR at 225#. The clean was really easy and the jerk felt solid, especially after over an hour of lifting. I think I have another 10-20 pounds in my when fresh.

Hike

Went out for a hike late in the afternoon. Wore the 20# weight vest and went 2.05 miles in 1:06:31hike.