Flippin’ Tires

Up for the 9am today. I was thinking about just doing some rowing, but I have 48 hours to recover before the competition on Saturday, so I’ll be fine. Not feeling too bad after doing “DT” yesterday.

Warm-up

  • 1m DUs
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 20 Reach to the sky and then down to the toes
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 1m DUs

In the second minute of DUs I knocked off 78 unbroken, a new PR. That’s 3 PRs this week on my DUs, up from 44!

Strength

5×20 Weighted Sit-ups

I used 20# KBs, a 45# KB, a 60# DB, 30# DBs, and a 62# KB. Crazy how tough these get and how much you can sweat from doing sit-ups

WOD

42-30-18

  • Thrusters (45# empty bar)
  • HR Push-ups

Holy shoulder burner! I knocked out the first 42 thrusters unbroken, but that may have been a bad idea for the rest of the workout. I did 10 push-ups to start, but then it was pretty much 5 at a time for the rest of the workout with a few streaks of 4s or 6s in there. In the second round of thrusters I broke it down into 10-12-8 and then 10-8 in the final round. Finished in 11:13.

Finisher

10 Rounds

  • Tire Flip
  • 100y Sprint (50y down and back)

After doing CrossFit for nearly a year, these were the first tire flips I’ve ever done. Really liked this finisher.

Extra Strength

After I got home I went out to the garage for some dynamic low box squats. In order to keep my body guessing, I went with lower weights than I’ve been using for these, which also let me have faster reps. My legs were pretty tired from all of the thrusters anyway.

  • 2×2 @ 45#
  • 1×2 @ 75#
  • 1×2 @ 95#
  • 1×2 @ 115#
  • 8×2 @ 135#

Now I rest until Saturday.

New Barbells

Up for the 9am this morning on short rest from last night’s 2 hours at the box.

Warm-up

5 Rounds

  • 30s PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30s Zombie Kicks
  • 30s Lateral Hops (15s each leg)

Strength

5×1 Floor Press

Warmed up with a set of 5 @ 135# and then did working sets with 165#, 185#, 205#, 215#, and 225#. Up 20# from last week’s set of 3 and 10# higher than I’ve even bench pressed, although I’ve only done max bench once in the last 5 years and it was after a long workout.

WOD

“DT”

5 Rounds

  • 12 Deadlifts
  • 9 Hang Power Cleans
  • 6 Should to Overhead

Matt told us not to go over 10 minutes on this WOD because you want to keep up the intensity. Rx was 155# which is laughable. I used 115#. You quickly learn how to take breaks without making yourself do extra work. For instance, if you take a break after 11 deadlifts, you get your 12th one as you pick the bar back up for the power cleans. Then take a break after 8 power cleans. You end up doing an extra deadlift to get back into the hang position, but it’s not a big deal and you can then go right from the 9th power clean into your presses. Don’t put the bar down until all 6 are done. Rest in the rack position if you need to. If you aren’t smart about resting, you can do a ton of extra work in this WOD.

I strung together push presses as much as I could, but had to resort to push jerks in the last round with a short rest in the rack position between each one. My time was 7:31.

We got 8 new bars last night, so we’ll be doing a lot more WODs with a barbell. I’m excited!

Finisher

5 sets of 10 Ring Push-ups

Even after all that work, they felt good. Did each set unbroken.

Match PR Snatch

Olympic lifting class at 6pm and then regular at 7pm. We worked up to heavy snatches and I got up to 145#, matching the PR I set on Sunday. Nailed it on the first try though, compared to 4 attempts, just 2 days ago. Went for 155# but didn’t have the confidence in it and bailed on the pull. Did some clean and jerk work as well and stopped at 185#, doing a few singles there. I’m really enjoying the drilling and can feel a difference already in my technique.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

  • Side Plank
  • Mountain Climbers

Strength

5×5 Weighted Pull-ups

Today was the best I’ve ever done at these. Maybe because it’s been a few weeks and my pull-ups have felt really good lately. I used a 8# DB, 10# DB, 12# DB, 15# DB, and 20# KB without missing any reps. I don’t think I’ve gotten through all 5 reps on the last set using a 15# DB for the last two sets before, so getting all 5 at 20# was a big improvement.

WOD

  • 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
    • SDLHP (55# KB)
    • KBS (55# KB)
  • 2m Rest
  • 50 Ring Rows with 10 Star Jumps EMOTM

I finished the first part at 4:20, pretty much going unbroken except for some transition breaks as I adjusted my stance. The ring rows killed me as usual. I suck at them and resorted to pretty shitty technique to get them done. My total time including the rest period was 10:24, but I was 2# above Rx since all of the 53# KBs were in use.

Finisher

100 Quarter Get-ups (35# KB)

I switched sides doing 10 at a time. I think it took about 6 minutes.

21-15-9 and Reverse It

Little sore in my arm pit and chest area. Not sure if that’s from the dynamic bench press work, snatches, or maybe from “Cindy”. Went in to the 9am so that I have a long rest before the 6pm OLY class on Tuesday.

Warm-up

5 Rounds

  • 30s Bottom Squat Hold
  • 30s Jumping Jacks

Strength

5×1 Low Box Squat

Two weeks ago when we did 5×5 I used 175# on my last 3 sets because it felt terrible. Last week I narrowed my stance and got up to 215# or the 5×3. This week I went another 40# higher! Did a warm-up set of 5 at 135# and then did 185#, 205#, 225#, 245#, and 255#. That’s more than my 1RM back squat, but to be fair, I haven’t attempted a 1 rep max since March, which is way too long. I think I could have gone 265# or more today if there was more time. Hopefully that means my back squat is over 275# now (goal for the year), instead of my old 240# PR.

WOD

  • 21-15-9
    • Over the Box Jumps (24″)
    • Weighted Lunges – each leg, so 42-30-18 (35# KBs)
  • 3m Rest
  • 9-15-21
    • Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
    • Burpees

I started out with an 18″ box with a couple of 45# plates stacked on it, but the new plates are so slick they were sliding all over the place and it was not safe. Thankfully Lisa offered to switch with me since she had one of the 24″ boxes. Even with the set back in time I still finished first in the class in 14:14, which includes the 3 minutes of rest. I went unbroken in the lunges, which made up a lot of ground on everyone else. Everything else was pretty easy to do unbroken, although I did want to break up the last set of wall balls, but fought through them. First half took me 6:32 (with the time to switch boxes) and the second half took 4:42.

Finisher

  • 50-40-30-20-10 Russian Twists (30# KB)
  • 20 AbMat Sit-ups in between each round

The only set I didn’t do unbroken was the set of 40, which I broke into 2 sets of 20.

Sunday Extras

I busted out the dynamic bench press work.

  • 2×3 @ 45#
  • 1×3 @ 95#
  • 1×3 @ 115#
  • 8×3 @ 135#

Then I grabbed the jump rope and knocked out 53 DUs in a row, which breaks my old PR of 44. I should do them with untied shoes more often! Oh, and then I went back out and tried them again a bit later and got 70 in a row!

Casey A, Michelle, and Kevin came over to do some OLY work in the garage. Casey, Michelle, and I are all doing a team competition on Saturday where we have to do a max snatch as well as a max clean and jerk.

Casey and I did a bunch of lifts at lighter weights and then started going heavy. I set a PR by hitting a 145# snatch. My technique is still pretty bad, but it’s not going to improve a lot in the next week. In the competition I think we’ll have to rush through our snatches and focus more of the C&J because we’re more likely to hit some big PRs there. The 3 guys have 8 minutes to do both sets of lifts and the women have the same amount of time. The weight can’t decrease during the snatch or C&J portions though, only in between. Should be fun.

Dear Cindy, I’m Moving On

It was good taking a day off yesterday. I’m feeling refreshed, yet a little tired. My leg is pretty nasty looking and by the amount of pulling I feel on the skin when I move, I think it’s going to take a long time to fully heal. The side of my head still hurts too. Going off the Vicodin today though. Went in to the 11am class.

Warm-up

5 Rounds

  • 1m V-ups
  • 1m Russian Twists (30# KB)
  • 1m Side Plank (30s each side)
  • 1m Leg Lifts
  • 1m Bicycles

It’s been awhile since we did one of these 17 minute ab routines.

WOD

We had the choice between 4 different workouts today. There were only 3 of us in class and we all picked the same one.

“Cindy”
20:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Pull-ups
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 15 Air Squats

If you know my story, you’re aware that “Cindy” and I have a bit of a history. I got my revenge on Cindy about 4 months ago when we did it with chest to deck push-ups and I managed 18+11. Today we did a normal Cindy which doesn’t have the strict push-up standard and I got 20+6. I thought I remembered setting a goal of 20 rounds by the end of the year, but seems I set the bar high with 22 rounds as my goal! I think I can get there with a little more push. The push-ups were a bigger struggle today than I remember.

I think I can finally stop obsessing over “Cindy” and move on. There are plenty of WODs in the sea.

Finisher

10 Prowler Sprints (25y high, 25y low, 90# of plates on the light prowler)

These felt pretty easy.

Will probably get in some snatch work later today out in the garage with a couple of other people. The team competition 6 of us are doing next week had a WOD where everyone has to go for a max weight snatch and clean & jerk. I haven’t done heavy snatches since February so need to get an idea of what I can do.

Garage Strength Work

I missed out on this morning’s strength work of shrugs and I want to try to keep the dynamic effort stuff going, so I went out to the garage for some time alone with the bar and plates.

Dynamic Effort Low Box Squats

  • 2×2 @ 45#
  • 1×2 @ 95#
  • 1×2 @ 115#
  • 1×2 @ 135#
  • 8×2 @ 165#

As usual, a pretty strict 1 minute of rest in between each set, so these end up going pretty fast. Felt pretty good considering I did these in flip-flops and sat down to an overturned recycling bin, which ended up being a couple of inches below parallel. I really tried to focus on tightening the glutes and hamstrings to fire up off the box. The 8 sets of 2 got progressively tougher, which I read is supposed to happen, so I must be on the right track.

Shrugs

It was 5 sets of 10 in class, so that’s what I went with as well. I took 2-3 minutes of rest in between sets. The weights I used were 165#, 205#, 255#, 285#, and 300#. I put on a pair of batting gloves to help with grip and make sure I didn’t get any rips while holding the bar for so long.

Chicks & Dicks WOD

This morning at 9am, our newlywed couple of Casey and Kinde Malott were back in the gym for their first WOD after the wedding. Matt made it a partner WOD pairing up a guy and a gal for each team. I was paired up with Cora and we rocked it!

Warm-up

21-15-9 *

  • Air Squats
  • Jumping Jacks

* After each round, power skip 150m.

WOD


“Malott 13”

  • 13 Man Makers, Renegade (40# DBs)
  • 13 Around the World HR Push-ups (each one is essentially a 4 count with rotations)
  • 13 Laps of 150m Weighted Run (45# Plate)
  • 13 Over the Box Burpees (24″ – Each partner does 13 and can work at the same time)
  • 13 T2B (4 counts, so 52 total)
  • 13 Tuck Jumps (4 counts, so 52 total)

Our strategy on the man makers put us behind several teams, but we were able to make up a lot of ground and pass everyone in the runs. About halfway through my over the box burpees, I fucked up. For some reason in my head I thought I would jump up with one foot and have the other foot trail. What a train wreck that turned out to be. I hit the box hard, busted up my leg, jammed a finger and landed on top of the box with my stomach. Ouch! So then I had to do the rest of the box jumps on one leg essentially. My T2B were some of the best I’ve ever done and tuck jumps are easy for me. We finished first with a time of 16:00.

Finisher

Death by Russian KBS (by 3s, 53# KB)

Got through the round of 33 and then called it a day. That’s 198 swings in 11 minutes. Had about 10 seconds left before the next minute started, but my shoulders were pretty fried and I worked out each day this week. It was time to shut it down. There was also a strength portion doing heavy shrugs, but we had the option of doing the finisher instead.

PR on the OHS

I went to the 6pm Olympic Lifting class again. Did more drilling on the snatch, some snatch balances, a bit of cleaning, and then starting work on the jerk. Good stuff.

The side of my head is still pretty sore, but the top area feels fine. I really wish I could go off the Vicodin today. At least tomorrow I can finally run water on my head!

Warm-up

  • 30 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30 Air Squats
  • 30 PVC OHS

Strength

5×1 OHS

Was looking to set a nice PR today and it was not a disappointment. I did a set of 5 with the 45# bar and then did 95#, 115#, 135#, 145#, 155#, and 165#. My previous PR was 145# so after getting 165 I shut it down. The lift felt pretty good but I didn’t want to get greedy.

WOD

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

  • OH Lunges (35# Plate)
  • Thrusters (40# DBs)

* After each round do 15 AbMat Sit-ups.

I went a little out of my comfort zone by using 40# DBs for the thrusters, but it worked out pretty well. I finished in 16:55.

Head Recovery

I got up for the 9am and was feeling light-headed and nauseous after having my coffee + protein. I’d blame it on Vicodin, but I hadn’t taken one since just after midnight. Luckily I felt better after eating some fruit.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

  • Burpees
  • Lateral Hops

Strength

5×3 Floor Press

Today’s sets were:

  • 3 @ 135#
  • 3 @ 165#
  • 3 @ 185#
  • 3 @ 205#
  • 2 @ 205#

Fought hard to get that last rep, just couldn’t get it past the halfway point. Tops my 5 @ 195# from last week though.

WOD

5 Rounds

  • 250m Run
  • 30 HR Push-ups
  • 30 Box Jumps (24″)

Felt good. As I would expect, the push-ups slowed me down a lot. I started out with a set of 10 each round and then continued with sets of 5 until my 30 were completed. Box jumps were unbroken throughout except where I lost balance up top and couldn’t rebound off the ground properly or if I missed my jump which happened a few times. I finished in 19:51.

Time for some food so I can take a Vicodin to relieve this head pain!