Tag: Back Extension

Back and Forth

Still feeling those plyo lunges in my buttocks. Out in the garage at noon. Started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Warm-up

1,500m Ski Erg – 6:52.4

Conditioning

  • Buy-in: 150 Walking Lunges
  • 3 Rounds
    • 50 Lateral Bar Hops
    • 25 GHD Sit-ups
    • 25 Back Extensions
  • Cash-out: 150 Walking Lunges

Was hoping to do this down my street but it was raining out, so I was limited to the garage. Was able to do 5 steps each way. Only stepped through into the next lunge on the 30 at the end, but all were unbroken other than stopping to grab my hoodie after 15 reps in the cash-out. I did the 2nd and 3rd rounds of GHDs as 15-10 and the second round of back extensions the same. I tripped in my first 10 bar hops because my legs felt like jello from the lunges. Took me 21:17 to finish.

Did 10 minutes on the Air Dyne (AD2) to help flush out the legs after all of those lunges and went 4.26km. Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap too. Will do a set of back stretches tonight.

A Dozen Planks

Came home from up north this afternoon. I did a round of back stretches this morning. Headed out to the garage before 5.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 5:00 Air Dyne (AD2) – 2.4km

Midline

E2M 24:00

  • 1:00 Plank
  • 10 Back Extensions

I did the first 8 planks on elbows and the last 4 on my hands. Had about 30 seconds of rest each time through.

Conditioning

2 Sets

  • 6 Rounds
    • 30s Ski Erg
    • 30s Rest
  • 3:00 Rest (did rest 3:30 total after the 6th)

I did 3 sets of this back in August, but I guess I didn’t rest the extra 30 seconds between sets. My best interval back then was 140 meters with a 138 as well, but the other 16 were all 137 and below. Today I was over 140 for all twelve by going 143-143-142-141-142-142 and 142-142-141-141-143-143. That took a lot out of me.

I cooled off with 5 more minutes on the Air Dyne, but really slow, only going 1.93km. Then I did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap and will do another round of back stretches tonight. I’m already noticing a pretty big difference in my hamstrings after about 2 weeks now. Most of the time I do it while watching TV so it doesn’t even take my time away from anything else.

In the Sun!

Headed to the gym around 5. Finally a nice day where I could be outside! Time to soak up some vitamin D. 😎

Conditioning

I put 90# on the 25# Sled Drag and did 8 laps around the back parking lot, which was 0.95 miles in 17:50 according to RunKeeper. Then I rested for 5-10 minutes and did 200 walking lunges around the parking lot. Originally I planned to do one lap which is roughly 200m, but I only needed 20 more steps for 2 hundy, so I went for it. Ended up being about 0.15 miles and took me 6:50.

Without squatting heavy I’ve been wanting to add in more lunges and I was convinced to put in some volume after listening to the Barbell Shrugged episode with musclepharmpres. I don’t plan to do 400m of #LungeUniversity every day just like I don’t plan to squat every day either, but I think some added lunge volume can really help me. I’ve already been adding in some lunges the last couple of Sundays. Going for such a long distance was a challenge and I had to stop a lot for a few seconds, but never took any long breaks. Will slowly work up to a quarter of a mile.

Accessory

5 Sets

  • 6 Back Extensions (51X5 Tempo)
  • 10x Reverse Hypers

I used 210, 240, 260, 280, and 300# on the RH. Talk about a pump from those tempo back extensions since the 5 second hold at the top is followed up by a 5 second descent. Then reverse hyper right after? Wow. I the two movements back-to-back then took a few minutes between each set.

Warmed up my shoulders with Crossover Symmetry Activation before hitting week 7 of No B.S. Bench.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 3×205#
  • 3x5x220#
  • AMRAP 195#

I went 5# over the recommendation again since the 5# over for the 3×3 was easy. Today was a lot tougher though. Not in danger of missing, but I could feel the last rep on each set. The AMRAP set felt really tough though. Wasn’t sure I was going to beat 3 weeks ago, but I did by a single rep, getting 16.

Hit Crossover Symmetry Recovery before heading home. Did a series of my back stretches later on.

Oww

My legs ache. All over. My wrists are sore too. 15.5, you win!

I did the back stretches in the morning. Went out to the garage close to 4pm to move.

Warm-up

CS-bands-attached

  • 10:00 Air Dyne (AD2) – 4.28km
  • Crossover Symmetry Activation

Midline

5 Sets

  • 5 Back Extensions (51X3 Tempo)
  • 40s Hollow Hold

Took my time. Hollow holds were tough on the last 2.

Conditioning

20 Rounds

  • 8 Ski (calories)
  • 5 GHD Sit-ups

Might be the first time I’ve used the cals. Pretty casual pace. Just wanted to do something where I could keep moving for a long time. Finished in 23:12.

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap and wow, what a difference with the new set of bands. They feel a lot like there is a lot more resistance than the set at CFi. Huge difference over my ghetto setup too, so money well spent. Did another round of back stretches in the house.

Pothole Season

Rotating the strength movements at CFi, so Tuesday is squat day now, but still no squats for me with this right quad. I warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Strength

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×75#
  • 5×95#
  • 4x5x125#
  • 5×130#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×140#

Had planned to do all sets with 125#, but it was feeling so good I started bumping up. Still wanted the reps to be explosive without a grind and they were. Kind of surprised since my shoulders are still feeling pretty smoked from the 15.2 attempts.

Conditioning

8:00 AMRAP

  • 3 C&J (135#)
  • 6 Push-ups
  • 9 Box Jumps (24″)

Dropped every C&J, but quick back on it. Probably should have tried to do them touch-n-go since it was only 3 at a time. Everything else unbroken the whole way. First round was done in 40 seconds and the rest were all just under a minute. Finished 8 rounds plus 3 clean and jerks, 6 push-ups, and 4 box jumps.

Midline

5 Rounds

  • 10 Sit-ups
  • 30s Plank

Did the planks on my hands today. Took me 4:39.

More Conditioning

  • 2,000m Row

Thought about going for a PR, so I started out with a 1:45 pace, but just didn’t have the legs after the class workout. Still a decent time of 7:13.8.

Felt like doing something later so hit this in the garage around 5pm.

8 Rounds

  • 200m Ski
  • 10 GHD Sit-ups
  • 40 DU
  • 10 Back Extensions

Had to walk around the Jeep to get to and from the Ski Erg, which ate up some time or else I think I would have been under 20 minutes. Only did one unbroken set of double unders and all the rest had one miss I think. Not very good as far as my dubs go. Finished in 20:27.

Strict Morning

Low back is still pretty spiced up from the back squats. That weight vest walk wiped me out yesterday. In bed by 10 and got over 9 hours of sleep. Out in the garage at 9am.

Conditioning

Air Dyne (AD2)

  • 17:00 @ 80% of 10:00 pace (68-70rpm)

Kept a consistent pace and went 9.34km.

Gymnastics

8 Rounds

  • 3 Strict HSPU
  • 3 Strict C2B Pull-ups
  • 3 Strict Ring Dips
  • 6 GHD Sit-ups (parallel)
  • 6 Back Extensions

Tried to pick rep counts that wouldn’t kill me and nailed them pretty well. The handstand push-ups were the only thing that were close to failing. Didn’t want to stress the back by touching the ground on the GHD sit-ups. Walked from station to station and kept moving. Finished in 13:09. Good way to get in some strict work with a decent heart rate pumping.

Had a chiropractor appointment at 4, so went to the 4:30 class after. We warmed up with some bottom squat hold, shoulder pass-thrus, PVC snatch progressions, etc.

Weightlifting

  • 5 Muscle Snatch (45#)
  • 5 Muscle Snatch (95#)
  • 3 Muscle Snatch (115#)
  • 2 Power Snatch (135#)
  • 2×2 Power Snatch (155#)

I was just not feeling it after the 135# kind of lit up my low back. Made me not commit to the lifts because I was a little scared.

6:00 EMOM

  • 3 Power Snatch

Coming to class, I planned to go with 155#, but because I felt off, I figured I’d use 135#. Started feeling good with TnG, so after 2 rounds I bumped up to 145# for the next 3 rounds, and then went 150# for the final round. All touch-n-go reps. Felt good too! Confidence can be such a weird thing with the lifts.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 1:00 Sit-up
  • 1:00 Burpee
  • 1:00 Row (cal)
  • 1:00 Slam Ball (20#)
  • 1:00 Thruster (75#)
  • 1:00 Rest

I got 107-108-97 for reps. Not entirely sure that last round is correct because I kind of lost my thought process during the burpees. Felt like I might have made up some reps in the later movements, so if anything the count is low. No biggie.

Since missed out on most of the plank work, I got some it at night.

3 Rounds

  • MAX Plank Hold
  • 3:00 Rest

I did them on my hands with arms extended for a change of pace and so it would work the wrists. Went 3:15, 2:15, and 2:15. Damn, it’s a different ball game on your hand; wrists and shoulders really start to burn.

8 Below

I woke up and checked my phone to see what the temperature was like.

negative-8

Almost went back to sleep, but got moving and went to the gym. Only one there this morning so adjusted to suit my liking. 🙂 Did some bottom squat holding and then 10×45#, 5×75#, and 5×95# shoulder presses to warm-up.

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 5 Shoulder Press (115#)
  • Evens: 20s Row

Front squats were programmed but my legs are shot from Super Squats. Didn’t feel like going heavy so I kept the shoulder presses light. Went harder each round on the rower, getting 107-109-110-111-113 meters.

5 Rounds

  • 40 DU
  • 20 Sit-ups
  • 20 Russian Twists (45# plate)

Nice change of pace using a plate instead of a kettlebell. I had 2 stupid misses on dubs. After 1 rep in the first round and after 2 reps in the final round. I hate those kind of misses because it’s just a lack of concentration. Finished in 9:04. Was nice that this workout was pretty much just about moving. Was out of breath but didn’t really break a sweat.

Back in the evening to talk about the Open and then do some more work.

Row

  • 12:00 @ 5k pace (1:57)

Kept the average pace under and ended up around 1:56.4 I think for 3,099 meters.

Grabbed a bar and did 5 hang power clean and jerks (45#) and 5 power clean and jerks (95#).

7 Rounds

  • 5 C&J (115#)
  • 10 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 1:00 Rest

Finished at 9:40 with round times of 30, 34, 32, 31, 31, 31, and 31 seconds. Not sure why round 2 was so slow. The clean & jerks felt great and were all unbroken. I missed a box jump in the last round or I think it would have been the fastest round. Box jumps are quickly coming back, which makes me pumped. My calves are shot after super squats, double unders, jerks, and jumps.

4 Rounds NFT

  • 25 Back Extensions
  • 25 Shoulder Taps

Whoops, I had 20 back extensions per round written in my plan but never checked it. No wonder my low back was feeling so pumped at the end of each set.

Unexpected

Headed to CFi around 10 to do some stuff. Warmed up my shoulders with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Gymnastics

Every 15s until failure

  • 1 Muscle-up

Saw this on the main site the other day and it looked like fun. It was much harder than I expected because you don’t really get any time to recover. I made it through 21 reps before I failed. Stringing reps together in an EMOM is a lot easier!

Strength

Back Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×215#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×265#
  • 5×275#
  • 5×285#

Felt pretty good.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 2×205#
  • 1×225#
  • 1×235#
  • 1×245# (PR)
  • 1×250# (PR)

Damn! Was not expecting that. I haven’t bench pressed heavy since the day I hurt my shoulder, back in January. That was a 10# PR. I guess all of the shoulder pressing I’ve been doing has a big carryover.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 1,000m Row
  • 4:00 Rest

My goal was to set a PR on the first row and then go at a pace 10-15 seconds per 500m slower for the other 3. I wasn’t recovered very well yet for the 2nd row. I did manage to set a PR by 5.6 seconds with a 3:16.1 and then my other splits were 3:46.2, 3:41.6, and 3:40.1.

A few hours later I headed out to the garage.

20:00 Air Dyne @ Z1

Went 8.59km.

25-20-15-10-5

  • GHD Sit-ups
  • Back Extensions

Not for time. Just to get in some extra work.

Knotted Up

Woke up out of it and still wasn’t quite awake when I got to the box.

Warm-up

3 Rounds of “Cindy” NFT

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

I did all strict pull-ups and a chin-up grip for the 2nd round.

Skill

E90S 15:00 (10x)

  • Rope Climb (13′)

Really getting the “hang” of it. Noticing these are going to be really good for grip strength as well as some extra biceps and triceps work.

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 12 DB Snatches (40#)
  • 14 K2E

All step downs from the box and I went 6 in a row with each arm for the snatches. Started out with 5-5-4 for K2E, but was down to 5-4-3-2 in the last couple of rounds. Finished exactly 5 rounds just as time ran out.

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 20s Hollow Hold
  • 20s Rest
  • 20s Russian Twists (53# KB)
  • 20s Rest

I stuck around for some extra work.

10 Rounds NFT

  • 10 GHD Sit-ups
  • 10 Back Extensions

Did each round quick, but took my time in between. Focused on explosiveness with each rep. Nice burn after the other midline stuff.

Grinding Smolov Jr.

Headed in early before the 9am so I could finish up week 2 of Smolov Jr. shoulder presses.

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 10x3x137.5#

Felt rough from the get-go, but I made it through every set. Rushed in and started right away too without any other type of warm-up. Was only taking about 90 seconds of rest between sets so I could finish before class started. The final week should be interesting. I think I’ll bump up the weights a bit over the recommended. My shoulders are feeling strong!

Warm-up

3 Rounds NFT

  • 300m Row
  • 15 Reverse Hypers on GHD

I worked up quite the sweat!

Warmed up deadlifts with 4×155#, 4×245#, and 4×315#.

XWOD

  • 4-4-4-4-4-4 Deadlifts (365#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1 Explosive movement
    • 2s: Split Jumps (2 each leg, sandbag on back)
    • 1s: Kneeling Jump (10.25″ – 45-45-25 HG bumpers stacked)

Haven’t done any heavy deadlifts for volume in quite some time. Felt really good!

Conditioning

5 Rounds (Tabata style)

  • 20s Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Sit-ups
  • 10s Rest

I did 10 wall balls and 11 sit-ups each round.

Midline

3 Round NFT

  • 20 Russian Twists (53# KB)
  • 45s Plank

After class I stayed to do some extra work. Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap with the blue bands for heavy and yellow for light. Burn baby!

4 Rounds NFT

  • 15 GHD Sit-ups
  • 15 Back Extensions

Focused on being as explosive as possible for both movements, which got me breathing pretty damn heavy. Took solid rest between rounds to recover.

In the evening I went for a walk. 3.22 miles in 48:29. During the summers my conditioning is always the best, which I attribute in large part to walking so much on the golf course. Felt like some fresh air tonight and the walk was perfect.