Tag: Air squat

Was Killin’ It

Had been planning to go class yesterday, but was a bit tired during the day so made the call early to make it a rest day. Went to 10am today.

Warm-up

  • 3×15 RH (140#)
  • 2 Sets
    • 5 Inch Worms
    • High kNees
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 10 HR Push-ups

Strength – 4 Sets

  • 10/10 single arm single leg RDL (62#)
  • 5/5 OH walking lunges (62#)

Did my own version since it was programmed to de RDLs and lunges.

Conditioning

“Wall Ball Kalsu”

  • EMOM Buy-in: 5 Burpees
  • Accumulate 100 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

I made the call today that we were starting with burpees like it should be. I got 24-20-19 and then on the 15th rep of the 4th set I felt something and on #16 I got a minor back tweak. Clock was at 3:49 through 79 reps when I finished. I was killing it! Would have gotten a few more reps there and then could have finished in the next minute. I’ve done 4:50 in the version that doesn’t do the 5 burpees during that initial minute, so this would have been a nice improvement.

So I skipped out on the medicine ball sit-ups they did and figured I might as well get in my Push Only work for the weekend.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 6×135
  • 3×165
  • 3×195
  • 3×215
  • 4x3x230

Felt easy!!

Seated Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×75
  • 6×95
  • 3×115
  • 3×125
  • 3×135
  • 2x3x145

Subbed these instead of push press due to my back. Different.

Accessory

bench-on-boxes

  • 3×24 Seated alt DB Shoulder Press (40#)
  • 3×15/15 Pallof Press (red band)
  • 3×12 DB Side Raises (15#)
  • 3×12 DB Front Raises (15#)
  • 3 Sets
    • 20 Shoulder Ts (prone on elevated bench hanging over the edge, 5#)
    • 3x30s Overhead Opener

I’m so used to having the combination of side raises and then bent-over side raises I didn’t realize there were front raises. There were supposed to be first, but I was already 2 sets through the side raises when I realized the program difference. I decided to superset in the overhead openers from the Performance Plus program.

Performance Plus

  • Handstand Shifts (video)
    • 2×2
    • 3×8 Scaled with feet on plate stack
  • 3 Sets
    • 1:00 HS Hold (facing)
    • 1:00 Rest

😂 I tried doing the sponge shifts up on the wall but wow! I was using the eraser from the whiteboard. After 2 attempts I went for scaled, which was no walk in the park either. Instead of doing 3 max sets of handstand hold I did the intervals since I’d already worked my shoulders so much. Barely made it through the last 2 sets.

Barbara, Still a Weakness

We went in earlier, at 10, for a Sunday due to the holiday. I drank this sample of a women’s elite pre-workout on the drive.

Warm-up

  • 3×15 Reverse Hyper (140#)
  • Shoulder Stretching
  • False Grip “Hang” & Stretch
  • Bottom Squat Hold

Someone lowered the low rings even more so it wasn’t much of a hang with both feet easily on the ground.

Conditioning

“Barbara” – 5 Rounds

  • 20 Pull-ups
  • 30 Push-ups
  • 40 Sit-ups
  • 50 Air Squats
  • 3:00 Rest

Anything with this many bodyweight reps generally isn’t my cup of tea and Barbara is no exception. I’ve never done well with it. I did manage a 38 second PR though. Pull-ups were easy, going 2×10 every round. I did 3×10 for 3 rounds of push-ups but felt them dying so I did 10-8-6-6 the final 2 rounds. Sit-ups were fine for 2 rounds but got slow. Never stopped but it felt like each rep was taking sooo long. Actually did better than expected on the squats and got faster the last two rounds by pushing harder knowing I didn’t need to use my legs again for about 6 minutes when I finished the set.

Date R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Total
Sep 22, 2012 4:23 4:26 4:26 4:33 4:27 22:15
Nov 16, 2014 3:37 4:12 4:29 4:59 5:07 22:24
Apr 16, 2017 3:52 4:06 4:19 4:42 4:38 21:37

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

  • 4 Strict HSPU

I haven’t been doing much overhead pressing since the back issues, so wanted to try and get in some reps. Went much better than I expected.

Get To It

Warm-up

  • 2×15 Reverse Hyper (90#)
  • 2 Rounds
    • 200m Run
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 10 PVC Passes
    • 15 Jumping Jacks

Strength – Front Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 6×135
  • 4×185
  • 4×215
  • 2x3x245

My back is definitely tight.

Warmed up cleans with 5×45, 5×95, and 5×135.

Conditioning

30:00 Partner AMRAP

  • 10 Power Cleans (185#)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 30 Row Calories
  • 40 alt Box Jumps (24″)
  • 50 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 200m Run

Paired up with Weston and we evenly split everything. I did 5 TnG cleans each time. Did box jumps in the first round, but switched to step-ups because my back was getting a little tight. We recovered on the run. First round was around 8 minutes not knowing how to pace. Got a little faster and then we pushed it in the final round almost getting through in 6 minutes. Finished 3 rounds and about 120 meters of the 4th run.

Midline

Max Plank

With my mid back already tight I didn’t push it. Stopped at 3 minutes.

Pulled a double day because I wanted to get in the bench work and be able to rest tomorrow with the nice weather and the Masters on. Out in the garage after 9pm…

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 5×135
  • 5×165
  • 5×185
  • 5x5x205
  • 3×30 alt DB Bench Press (50#)

Those dumbbell presses get much harder on the short rest.

Shoulder Press

  • 5×95#
  • 5×115
  • 5×120
  • 5×125

I haven’t done a shoulder press in months.

Accessory

  • 3×15/15 Half-kneeling Single Arm DB Press (30#)
  • 3×15/15 OH Single Arm DB Tricep Extensions (15#)
  • 3×15/15 Landmine Press (75#)
  • 3×15 Z Press (65#)

Single arm for the tricep extensions was not good but I thought it would be better for unilateral work. Didn’t feel the tricep working much at all. Won’t be doing them that way again.

I wasn’t sure if I did the landmine presses correctly the last time so I found a T Nation article. Yep, I had been leaning forward too much, effectively turning it into a shoulder press. Much harder when stand up straight and press out at an angle!

The Z Press was from the Performance Plus program. It was recommended to use about 33% of a max shoulder press. Focus on upright posture and fully opening the shoulders.

Because it was so decided to keep my rests at about 1:30. It helped me to prep the next movement ahead of time to keep rolling through. Finished all of that in 57 minutes!! It created a nice pump too. Short rest, Arnold style.

Still have 2 pieces of the Performance Plus to do, but will do them in the living room while watching TV.

Mobility

Scale to Get More Reps

Warm-up

After realizing the aerobic pace yesterday I better step it up in these warm-ups. Did 5:00 on Airdyne for 1.74 miles 2.8 km.

Strength / Accessory

  • 3×15 Strict Pull-ups (blue band)
  • 3×10 Rack Chins (feet on bench in L position)
  • 3×10 Wide grip pull-ups (blue band)
  • 3×20 DB Curl (8#)
  • 2×20 Shoulder IYTs (Crossover Symmetry – purple)

Wanted to use a band to be able to get in the higher reps but even that wasn’t easy. I don’t have my adjustable dumbbells home yet so my only choice was the really light ones.

Conditioning

12:00 AMRAP

  • 10 HR Push-ups
  • 10 Air Squats
  • 20 Box Step-ups (18”)

Planned on 15 air squats but made the decision during the first set to cut it back to 10. Wasn’t even able to do a single air squat until a few days ago. Loosed up a couple of rounds in and probably would have been fine. Heart rate didn’t get too high but worked up a little sweat even in the cooler garage. Finished 7 rounds plus the push-ups, squats, and 16 of the step-ups. I had to switch it up from only doing Airdyne conditioning and this was a good intro back.

Hoping to be able to pick up a barbell at the end of the week. Feeling much better but I can still feel the tweak here and there throughout the day.

Back to Sleep

I set my alarm and planned to do this workout before heading to the conference. Wasn’t happening so I did it before I head out for some Texas BBQ.

30:00 AMRAP

  • 14 Hand-release Push-ups
  • 14 V-ups
  • 28 Air Squats
  • 28 Bicycle Crunches
  • 14 Lunges
  • 14 Leg Lifts

Why 14 and 28? Because as I was picking movement, I got down to 15 lunges and that just doesn’t fly with me. I hate doing an odd number of reps on a movement that alternates sides of the body.

Kept a steady pace and picked up the pace on the air squats in the last 3 rounds. Finished 7 full rounds plus the push-ups, v-ups, squats, bicycles, and 1 lunge.

Rest day tomorrow and then I fly home Friday and hopefully will do a first attempt at 17.3 late that night.

Great Monday

I felt a little twinge in my back a few times as I moved around the house. Otherwise feeling good after yesterday’s workouts.

Warm-up – 3 Sets

  • 10 Air Squats
  • 8 Strict Chin-ups

Weightlifting

Work up to a daily max power clean + squat clean.

  • 4 @ 45#
  • 2 @ 95
  • 2 @ 135
  • 185
  • 205
  • 225
  • 245
  • 265
  • 275

Wasn’t sure how my back would hold up, but was able to hit a PR on my power clean and this is only 11# under the most I’ve cleaned!

Conditioning

20:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 5 Strict HSPU
  • 5 Power Cleans (185#)

Programmed as 10-12 strict handstand push-ups! Yeah right. I was able to hold on and do every set of power cleans touch-n-go. I probably could have done 6 HSPU each set, but not much more. Really good EMOM though. Was drenched in sweat at the halfway point.

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 MU

Figured this would be rough after all of the bar muscle-ups in 17.2 yesterday. Working on jumping into the first rep like I was able to get going on the bar. Usually I grab the rings from right underneath and then lift my legs up. The jump is must faster and more efficient. I was also working a little bit on using the back swing of my legs to drive me up through the dip motion. Made it through every set unbroken but didn’t have much left.

That was a lot of muscle-ups over 4 days! My hands need a break. Leaving for Austin, TX in the morning.

Ready

Quick chiro appointment before the gym.

Warm-up

  • 5 Strict Pull-ups
  • 5 Strict Chin-ups
  • 5 Strict Pull-ups
  • 5 Strict Chin-ups
  • 20 Air Squats
  • DB Squat Snatches
    • 25-35-45-50# (1 or 2 each arm at each weight)

Figured I should at least try some squat snatches. First couple felt weird because I’d never done one before. Much easier than I expected them to be. Wouldn’t mind seeing those in the Open considering how many people will have a problem doing them. Doubt Castro would pick them though.

Skipped out on 3×3 deadlifts @ 85% because I don’t want to aggravate my back going into week 1. So I did a little benching until the guys were done.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 6×95
  • 3×135
  • 3×165
  • 3×195
  • 3×225

I started pausing each rep either with 95 or 135.

Conditioning

20:00 E2M (alt)

  • 50 DU
  • 20 Weighted Step-ups (2×20# DBs, 24″)

Missed after 44 dubs in the first set, but got the other 4 sets unbroken. Weighted step-ups were taking about 55 seconds. I really like this aerobic work each week.

3 Rounds

  • 10 Deadlifts (225#)
  • 20 Toes to Rings
  • 30 cal Row

Scaled back the deadlifts from 275# and made it my goal to go unbroken each round, which I did. Used the rings instead of bar for T2B to save my hands and switch it up. Was able to do 2 sets of 10 every round. Such a difference from the bar. Tried to keep around 1,200 cal/hr on the rower in the first 2 rounds and then picked it up in the 3rd. Finished in 10:45.

Bring on the Open!

How?

I did not sleep well and feel weak and tired as fuck this morning. In at 10:30.

Warm-up – 2 Rounds

  • 5 Strict Pull-ups
  • 5 Strict Chin-ups
  • 20 Push-ups
  • 15 Air Squats
  • 40 DU

E2M 20:00 (alt)

  • 15 cal Row
  • 15 Burpees

Whoa, regular burpees for once! Was taking about 40 seconds to row and 45 for the burpees.

12:00 Time Cap

  • 150 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • Max Muscle-ups

I did 3 sets of 25 and the clock was just over 3:00 when I peeked. Then I did 3 sets of 15 and finally 3 sets of 10. Until the final 2 sets I was resting with the ball between my chest and the wall so I didn’t have to do extra work picking it up. I tried to count so my rests were less than 10 seconds. Finished at 7:06. Somehow my PR was 6:14 from 4 years ago in the Open. That was actually the last time I’ve done “Karen” too. I tend to avoid it because it’s so boring and I can barely walk for 3 days after. I’m beginning to think my judge miscounted my reps in that PR because my notes said I only did 2 sets of 25 and then 20s, 15s, and 10s. I was 30-40 pounds lighter back then, so maybe that’s it. I don’t know.

I collapsed to the floor for some breaths and eventually made my way over to the rings. I don’t think I touched them until after 8:00 on the clock. I did 2-2-2-2-1-1-3 for 13 total reps.

According to BTWB this makes 100 muscle-ups on the rings in 2017 already, compared to only 86 in all of 2016.

Hero Chipper

Was not looking forward to this session, which had a version of one of my least favorite workouts.

Warm-up – 3 Rounds

  • 9 Strict HSPU
  • 12 T2B
  • 15 Air Squats

Handstand push-ups are feeling so much better, its unreal. Just a few weeks ago I was dying out doing 3×5 strict. I skipped out on the deadlift work today to let my back rest some more so I did my own thing for the warm-up and then some bench. I’ve definitely gotten used to the extra grip on the bar for toes-to-bars using my chalked up grips. I was falling off after 4 reps today when I wasn’t wearing them! Did all sets unbroken though by regripping through each set.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 2x5x95
  • 5×135
  • 5×165
  • 5×185
  • 5×205
  • 2x5x225
  • 5×235

If I had known that was only 5 pounds shy of matching my PR for 5 I would have gone for 245.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 1:00
    • 10 cal Row
    • Max bar-facing Burpees
  • 1:00 Rest

Turned out not to be ad bad as expected. The minute of rest was really nice. I did 12-9-8-8-8-9-9-9-10-11 burpees. So many burpees lately; another 93 today.

“Chipper DT”

Ugh!! I do not do well with “DT” so was not excited to see this come up. The hang power cleans always trip me up so I was afraid of what 45 in a row would feel like.

  • 60 Deadlifts (155#)
  • 45 Hang Power Cleans
  • 30 S2OH

I did 15-15-10 and then 3 more sets (of what, I don’t remember) to finish the deadlifts. My hamstrings and low back were pretty fired up at that point. I had no idea what to try for the cleans so I experimented for my first few sets. I quickly realized that taking the bar down and bouncing it off my legs just above my knee used less explosive energy than trying to stay more upright and bounce it high off my legs. I think I mostly did sets of 4 or 5. The cleans were still the worst part but seemed much easier than even having to do the 9 at a time in regular DT. I think I mostly did 5s on the jerks. It’s all a little blurry. Finished at 11:30, which is only about 1:30 slower than my best for the actual workout. Didn’t feel nearly as bad either, even after the other work we’d done already. Kind of makes me excited to give DT a real shot now. I think I could smoke my PR. Pretty cool variation though.

Chesty Snatches

My back belt much better yesterday, but will take it easy this week. In early at 2pm with the guys.

Warm-up

3 Sets

  • 1 Legless Rope Climb
  • 8 Strict HSPU
  • 10 Squat Jumps

I did this warm-up since I was skipping the back squats. They had to do max reps at 70%.

Snatch

Work up to 3 sets of 5 @ 70%.

  • 3x3x45#
  • 5×95
  • 5×135
  • 5×155
  • 2x5x165

I did all powers to keep the stress of my back, which sometimes acts up in the bottom of the squat when snatching or doing OHS. The 155 is officially my 70%, but my snatch isn’t where it should be, so the extra 10# was no problem.

Conditioning

5:00 Cycles

  • Buy-in: 3 Rounds of “Chesty” before snatches
    • 5 C2B Pull-ups
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 15 Air Squats
  • Snatches
    • 15 @ (135/95#)
    • 12 @ (165/115#)
    • 9 @ (185/125#)
    • 6 @ (205/135#)
    • 3 @ (225/145#)

One of those bonus round workouts we’ve seen in the open. You get a 5:00 clock to start and must complete 3 rounds of “Chesty” and the associated snatches to “earn” another 5:00. You can start on the next cycle as soon as you finish the snatches to try to get ahead of the clock, banking up extra time.

First three rounds were no issue, as suspected, though my squats were too slow. I thought about doing triples so started with a double at 135# and quickly changed to singles. Breezed through them. Next cycle of “Chesty” I was getting even slower with my squats and started using my hands to push off of my knees, hoping to save my legs some for the snatches. I could have changed the weight on the bar faster too.

The snatches with 165# were challenging, but I was still able to power each one, taking about 10 seconds per rep. Or at least that’s what I was seeing on the clock as I tried to rush the last 30 seconds. I finished 10 of the 12 reps. Needed to be there about 15-20 seconds sooner and I would have been able to move on.

Doing rounds of “Cindy” with chest-to-bar pull-ups was a fun twist and wasn’t causing me any issues. I don’t know I’d want to do it for a full 20 minutes though.

Gymnastics

8 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s T2B
  • 10s Rest

I did all sixes plus an extra 2 at the end last time we did this. Goal today was sets of 7 and initially I was even thinking 4×7 and 4×6 would be nice to accomplish. Got through the first 7 sets of 7 unbroken and hit my wall in the final set, having to do 4-2-1. 56 total reps, which is a 6 rep improvement. Makes a big difference when I can remember to keep my legs straighter. Muscle memory is still hard to overcome though.