Tag: Air squat

Push (Press) It Real Good

I was planning to hit up the 8pm tonight, but decided to go to the 7pm in case I felt like staying after for a bit and doing some extra work, which we can do during the 8pm. Shoulders are sore from yesterday.

Warm-up

4 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Air Squats
  • 15s Mountain Climbers
  • 15s Squat Jumps

Strength

Find a 2 rep max for Push Press

Started off at 5 reps of the 45# bar. Then did 2 reps at each of 85#, 105#, 125#, 145#, 165#, and 175#. The last time I tried a max push press was at the end of March when I got 145#. That’s a 30# PR with 2 reps.

WOD

10:00

  • Odd minutes: 7 Power Cleans (100#)
  • Even minutes: 7 Front Squats (100#)

Take 1 minute off to add weight

10:00

  • Odd minutes: 5 Power Cleans (120#)
  • Even minutes: 5 Front Squats (120#)

Take 1 minute off to add weight

10:00

  • Odd minutes: 3 Power Cleans (140#)
  • Even minutes: 3 Front Squats (140#)

After a couple of reps into that first minute of power cleans I didn’t think I could keep going. My back was really feeling it. I realized I was pulling too much too early with my back, so I slowed down the deadlift portion of the clean and then exploded with the weight once I got above my knees. It really helped a lot and I didn’t feel a problem with my back until after the we were done.

We ended up doing 5 more power cleans with each weight that what you would see here because we didn’t have racks, so everything was off the floor. I really liked this one. It was over 30 minutes, but there was less than 30s of work during each minute. Just enough time to recover before starting on the reps of the next movement.

I’m heading off to San Francisco early tomorrow morning and won’t be back until late on Monday night. Hopefully I’ll find some time to workout at the hotel.

Be a Warrior

Got to sleep late last night, but feeling pretty good today, other than my lower back of course.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 30 Air Squats
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30 PVC OHS
  • 4 rounds
    • 15s Jumping Jacks
    • 15s Air Squats
    • 15s Mountain Climbers
    • 15s Jump Squats
  • 4 rounds
    • 15s Plank
    • 15s Supermans
    • 15s Side Plank L
    • 15s Side Plank R

Long warm-up, but just what my body needed.

WOD

Cool partner WODs today. I was paired up with Laura. You keep alternating each part of the workout, so while one person is running, the other is doing the movement for reps inside.

10:00 AMRAP

  • 150m Run
  • Over the Box Jumps (24″)

We got 198 reps total. Great WOD that keeps up the intensity the entire 10 minutes. There is no place to rest here until you’re done.

We rested for 5 minutes before moving on to the second part.

10:00 AMRAP

  • 150m MB Run
  • Alternating one-arm DB Snatches (40#)

We got 175 reps in this one. MB runs are never easy. Another 10 minutes where there is no place to rest because snatches are such a full body move.

Now I’m off to run the Warrior Dash at 4:30 this afternoon. It’s only 3.25 miles and from what I’ve heard there is a lot of waiting at the obstacles, so I don’t expect it to be too hard on the body. I’ll use it as a recovery from this morning’s WOD. Then tomorrow I’m heading out-of-town for the weekend to golf with my Dad and a couple of buddies. Looking forward to the rest days.

Hold that Finish

Other than my lower back I’m feeling good. Went to the 5:30pm class today and with all the rain we got last night it was really humid out.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Air Squats
  • 15s Mountain Climbers
  • 15s Jump Squats

WOD

20-19-18…3-2-1

  • Burpees
  • Russian KBS (53#)

Wow, this one will kill you. I did all of my reps unbroken for both movements and only rested during transitions. I think we had 16 people in class so it was a scramble for KBs. I ended up with a 53#, which was just fine by me. It allowed me to keep a high intensity and maximize my power output. I finished in 25:51 with an ocean of sweat under me.

Finisher

5 rounds

  • 30s Bottom Squat Hold
  • 30s Handstand
  • 30s Plank

This looks rather easy, but it definitely was not, especially being so sweaty. When I went up for my 3rd handstand, the mat started to go flying and I nearly ended up on my head. My arms were even shaving in the 3rd round of plank. Great way to finish of the workout.

First Grace

Saturday night we had a great time at the 2nd annual Survival Fitness Picnic. I didn’t get home until 2am and slept in until 9:30. I spent the entire day watching the finals of the CrossFit Games. Amazing and inspiring! One of my favorite parts is seeing elite athletes cheer each other on, which never happens in any other sport.

After the Games ended, I decided to take a shot at rigging up my gymnastic rings in the garage. I made a quick trip to Home Depot for supplies and started working around 8pm. I quickly found out that both of the batteries for my drill were dead, which made things a lot harder because I had to keep switching batteries on the charger. I also had to make a run to buy some nutdriver attachments for the drill. A little before midnight, I finally had everything up. The project turned out to be much tougher than I expected, especially for one set of hands. I wish I had a taller ceiling in the garage, but these will be just fine for the limited use I’ll give them.

Yesterday was my second rest day in a row and a much-needed one. I did get an hour-long deep tissue massage, which really helped loosen up my back. I’m going to have to get massages more often. It’s supposed to hit 100 degrees today so I went in to the 9am class, which was already in the mid 80s. I was the only guy in a class of 9, which was kind of odd.

Warm-up

4 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Air Squats
  • 15s Mountain Climbers
  • 15s Jump Squats

Immediately followed by:

4 rounds

  • 15s Plank
  • 15s Superman
  • 15s L Side Plank
  • 15s R Side Plank

I was already sweating bullets at this point it’s so hot and humid.

WOD

“Grace”

  • 30 Clean and Jerks (125#)

This was my first time doing “Grace” and I’m pleased with the results. We had a 6 minute time cap so I was deciding between 115# and 125#, but glad I went heavier. My time was 5:10.

Finisher

10 Prowler Sprints (5 high, 5 low, loaded with 135#)

I’ve done these heavier, so this wasn’t too bad. Being able to go faster does some different work.

Fat Bars on the Playground

Today is another hot one, so I got up early and took a drive down the road to a local school. They have all kinds of monkey bars, dip bars, and playground rigs to make WODs out of.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 2 rounds
    • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
    • 10 PVC OHS
    • 10 PVC Around the World’s (5 each way)

WOD

Fat bar DB “Fran”
21-15-9

  • Pull-ups
  • Thrusters (45# DBs)

There weren’t any great bars at a height high enough for me, so I went with the best thing I could find (pictured above). The bars were probably twice the diameter of a normal pull-up bar and I really had to bend my knees in order to get a kip going because I could easily touch the ground. Variety is good though right? My time was 9:32, which is worse than the 9:05 I did at Survival Fitness a couple of weeks ago. I’ll take it though since my intensity probably wasn’t as high as it would be doing the WOD next to other people and the fat bar makes this a lot tougher.

Finisher

Tabata Mash-up

  • Hanging Leg Raises (strict)
  • L-sit

I used the same fat bar for the hanging leg raises. For the L-sits there were some perfect dip type bars about 1.5-2 feet off the ground.

Kayaking

Went out for a 2 mile trip in the kayak again and it was easier than the first day. I had to keep switching up my grip on the paddle though because I started to get blisters on my thumbs the other day. I’ve really been feeling the kayaking in my abs over the last day or so as well. It really is a great workout. Not too long after, I went out and walked 9 holes of golf with by brother.

About 12 hours after the morning workout I did another one with Dad.

Warm-up #2

3 rounds

  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Lateral Hops (30s each leg)
  • 1m Side Plank (30s each side)
  • 1m Rest

I knew Dad could use the core work so I threw in the planks. Lateral hops were just something to get the blood flowing.

WOD #2

4 rounds

  • 5 HSPU
  • 25 Air Squats
  • 40 Tuck Jumps

The plan was to do 10 HSPUs, but I quickly realized that wasn’t going to be possible. My shoulders were pretty fatigued from pull-ups, thrusters, and kayaking. I had to scale back to 5 reps each round. For the first two rounds I did strict and kipping, then in the last two rounds I added one AbMat. Dad did piked push-ups and did 10 reps. He also scaled back to 3 rounds instead of 4. I finished in 9:57 and he wasn’t too far behind me for his 3 rounds.

Finisher #2

Death by Burpees

I made it through the round of 15 with less than 5 seconds left in the minute, so I shut it down there. That’s enough for one day. I walked a mile to cool-down.

On Vacation!

I’m officially on vacation and not back to work until the 16th. Woohoo! I’ve been looking forward to this for a couple of months.

My lower back and legs are pretty sore from doing 135 reps of 155# deadlifts yesterday.

Warm-up

5 rounds (10 min cap)

  • 5 Vertical Jumps
  • 5 Air Squats
  • 5 Broad Jumps

I absolutely loved the jumps in this warm-up, but didn’t understand the need for squats when we had 250 con deck. For the vertical jumps I switched between reaching with my right and left hand and touched the 10 foot wall ball mark each time. I took the broad jumps nice and slow and jumped over one width of plywood plus one width of horse mat on each jump. We had plenty of time to finish so I wanted to make the most of each jump. Did I mention how much I loved the jumps?! 🙂

WOD

5 rounds

  • 50 Air squats
  • Rest as long as it took to complete the reps

5 rounds

  • 10 Strict Pull-ups
  • Rest 2x as long as it took to complete the reps

10 rounds

  • 100m Sprint (50m down and back)
  • Rest 1m

This was a long one. I finished in 36:20.

During the last 2 rounds of pull-ups I had to use the red band, which is almost no help at all, so they were still a struggle. Having to keep track of the time it takes to do a round and then do math on top of that, while you’re fatigued, is no joke. I understand the point is to give everyone appropriate rest times based on their work time, but I’d rather see set rest periods in a WOD. I was so gassed after this workout that when I filled up my water bottle, I went to take a drink without putting the top back on and dumped half of it down the front of me and all over the floor. Smooth!

Finisher

3 rounds

  • 20 tuck jumps
  • 30s Handstand Hold

I was able to get in one round before Cari cut us off for the end of class. Going upside down at the end of such a grueling workout probably wasn’t the best idea, so I’m not too mad about missing out on 2 more rounds.

Tomorrow morning I head up north to Long Lake for 10 days of relaxation with my family. I’m taking workout equipment with me and I have WODs already planned out since I’ll have an endless supply of free time.

135 Deadlifts

A new Paleo Challenge is starting today at Survival Fitness, but I’m not doing this one because I’m going on vacation, my body fat isn’t going to drop enough to be helpful to a team, and I don’t want to eat that strict anymore. I do still eat Paleo and am working out how to maintain my body composition, while also being able to build more muscle.

So we did a type of benchmark workout today.

Warm-up

50-40-30-20-10

  • Air Squats
  • Sit-ups

Time limit of 10 minutes and he said he didn’t want anyone to finish this. It’s just some movements to get the body ready for the WOD. I got through the 50s and 40s and did some of the 30 air squats.

WOD

10 Rounds (15:00 time cap)

  • 15 Deadlifts (155#)
  • 15 HR Push-ups

I was going to go with the Rx 185#, but Matt quickly talked me out of it when he showed that the top dawg in the gym barely finished this workout Rx. So I dropped down to 155# and I still didn’t get done. I was able to get in 9 full rounds as the buzzer went off on the clock, so had one round to go. That’s 135 reps of each, which is a ton of deadlifting.

On the board this WOD didn’t look too bad, but combined with the over 90 degree temperature and humidity it took a lot out of you. I know I’m going to be feeling it in my back for a few days.

We could have chosen a workout with 1-arm DB snatches, burpees, box jumps, and sprints, but I’m not going to have any barbell work for 10 days so I chose to do the deadlift WOD. I already have a DB snatch workout planned for the next week at some point. One more day at the gym before I’m outta here!

My Revenge on “Cindy”

My lower back has been pretty sore all day from yesterday’s multiple short WODs involving hang power cleans and deadlifts. It’s a good sore though.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Squats
  • 15s Mountain climbers
  • 15s Squat Jumps

I took it easy during the warm-up because I knew what was in store and there were a lot of squats coming in the WOD.

Skills

Tabata: Ring L-sits

Tabata: Over the box jumps (24″)

For the Ring L-sits I wasn’t able to keep my legs out for long and had to resort to holding my knees up as long as possible. My arms actually started to give out sooner once I switched to the knee tuck version. Over the box jumps were new and a welcome challenge. Since my basketball days I’ve always enjoyed jumping. I managed 6 or 7 over the box jumps during each 20s period.

WOD

Today we each got to choose between “Cindy” or “Mary” for the WOD. I have a little history with “Cindy” so this was an easy choice for me. Without that history I would have chosen “Mary” because I could use the work on HSPUs and lots of pull-ups. So, what’s that history with “Cindy” you ask?

I started CrossFit almost 8 months ago. My first on-ramp session was supposed to be a 1/2 “Cindy”, but I only made it into minute 6 or 7 before I nearly passed out and was literally on the ground for the next 30 minutes. I was doing ring rows instead of pull-ups and only managed 3 rounds. It was one of the most humiliating moments of my life, but I was instantly hooked on CrossFit.


Fast forward a month and a half after that, when I did jumping pull-ups during “Cindy” and completed 12 rounds plus 5 more jumping pull-ups and 1 push-up. Oh, and I also had to switch from regular push-ups to knee push-ups in round 7 or 8.

As you might expect, I wanted my revenge on that bitch!

“Cindy”
20:00 AMRAP

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

Today I completed my first Rx “Cindy” doing kipping pull-ups and chest-to-ground push-ups the entire way. Those first 3 rounds were done right around the 3:00 mark. All pull-ups were unbroken and other than a few sips of water, I never took more than a 1 or 2 second break during some of the push-ups and air squat sets. I definitely had to take the most breaks during the push-ups, but would only rest for a second or two at the top of a push-up before doing more. I ended up with 18 rounds plus 5 pull-ups and 6 push-ups, so scored 18+11 on the WOD!

Take that “Cindy”! I hope we can be friends now. 🙂

Hang Power Clean Work

My body is pretty sore from Friday even though I took yesterday off from the gym. I did walk 18 holes of golf in the tournament, which was exhausting enough out in the hot sun for close to 6 hours.

Warm-up


2 rounds

  • 10 PVC Shoulder Shrug & Roll
  • 10 PVC Shoulder Pass-thrus
  • 10 PVC OHS
  • 10 Plank Push-ups

Skill Warm-up

Hang Power Cleans

  • 5x 45#
  • 5x 65#
  • 5x 85#
  • 5x 105#
  • 5x 115#

WOD

Score is total reps performed during 3 AMRAPs.

7:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Hang Power Cleans (115#)
  • 10 Burpees

2:00 Rest

5:00 AMRAP

  • 7 Deadlifts (135#)
  • 7 Ring Dips

1:00 Rest

1:00 AMRAP

  • Air Squats

I really liked this WOD because we got in some barbell work and switched things up with smaller time domains where you could go all out. We paired up and one person completed the entire WOD while the other person counted. Then we switched roles.

For the first AMRAP, I did 4 rounds plus 10 hang power cleans and 8 burpees. 135# is Rx for guys, but when I saw the WOD, I figured 115# would be a good weight for me. I was right. I had to break each round of cleans up into 2 or 3 sets after that first set. Burpees were all done unbroken. If it was full power cleans I think I would have tried 135# even though I would have been much slower.

In the second AMRAP, I did 5 rounds plus 4 deadlifts. The ring dips took the most time for me because I had to break them up into small sets pretty early on. I think I did the first round unbroken, but not after that. Deadlifts at 135# is pretty easy, but we stuck to a standard of everyone adding 20# to whatever weight they used for the cleans.

To finish things off I did 45 air squats. My endurance with the air squats is starting to get better, but is still nowhere near the top dogs in the gym. So my reps were 98, 74, and 45 for a 217 total.

I think I’ll probably go for a run later to finally test out the Nike Frees.

Update: It wasn’t too much later. I figured there was no point in showering more than I had to for the day so I rested a bit and then went out for the run. Went 3.6 miles in 28:55 and was able to keep an unbelievably steady pace, which never happens for me. According to RunKeeper, my mile splits were 8:05, 8:06, and 8:06. I picked up the pace at the end and averaged a 7:47 pace for the last 3/5 of a mile. The shoes felt really good for a first run and not being used to them.

Five Station Warm-up

I’m pretty sore from the long run yesterday, most of which is in my calves. I attended the 7pm class today. It was a hot and humid night. I thought I might stick around and do some strength work after class, but decided against it after sweating so much.

Warm-up

3 rounds

  • 1m Box Jumps (Big Tire)
  • 1m Star Jumps
  • 1m Hang Cleans (85#)
  • 1m Russian KBS (62#)
  • 1m Mountain Climbers
  • 1m Rest

If you did the Hope workout or have done Fight Gone Bad, this format should be familiar. I really enjoyed the hang cleans, but it was tougher than I expected to keep going for the entire minute with what was a relatively light weight. I didn’t count reps since this was only a warm-up.

WOD

10 rounds

  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 100m Run (sprint)
  • 90s Rest

For the 100m sprints we ran 50m down and then back. I finished in 19:12. I tried to jump out of the gates too quickly and as a result, tweaked my left calf. It was pretty tight for the 2nd and 3rd sprints, but then it loosened up. I was able to do all of the push-ups unbroken, but as the rounds went on the 10th through 15th reps got slower and slower.

Finisher

150 Air Squats with 5 burpees after every 25 squats (except the last 25). I didn’t check the clock when I started, so no idea how long this took.