Back Squat

To D.C.

Legs are tired and my traps are sore to the touch. Out in the garage early afternoon before heading to the airport.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Back Squats
- 10×45#
- 2x5x155#
Shoulder Press (after squat work)
- 10×45#
- 2x5x75#

Strength

E3M – 5 Sets

5 Back Squat (53-63-73-78-83%)

My numbers were 195-235-275-295-315# today. Little grind but feeling good after the time away from heavy weights. Bar did not feel so good sitting on my sore traps.

E3M – 5 Sets

5 Shoulder Press (53-63-73-78-83%)

Now these got rough for the final two sets. Glad I had the belt on to help protect from over-extending too much. Weights were 95-115-130-140-150#. Seems like that last set was a PR or a PR match, but I don’t have great records of multi-rep maxes.

Glad to have time to get in my strength work for the week so I don’t fall off what we have programmed at Intuition.

Conditioning

30 GHD Sit-ups
500m Ski Erg
30 GHD Sit-ups
500m Ski Erg
30 GHD Sit-ups

Wanted to do 50-1000-50 but wasn’t confident the Ski Erg would stay on for me, so I adjusted. 30 reps on the GHD at a time was plenty! First set of 30 took exactly 1:00 but the other two rounds were much slower. My splits on the erg were 1:52.6 and 1:53.3. Finished everything in 9:03 and got my sit-ups done for the week. Now I’m of to D.C. for 10 days.

300+ Again

Still fucking sore in my shins. Went to the 9am class.

Warm-up

3 Sets
- 10 Reverse Hypers (210#)
10 Burpees
30 Jumping Jacks
4 Sets
- 20s Air Squats
- 10s Bottom Squat Hold
4 Sets
- 20s Back Squats (45#)
- 10s Bottom Squat Hold (45#)
5 Back Squats (135#)
5 Back Squats (185#)

Was worried I’d be dead from the Tabata work, but I went slow and it actually felt good.

Strength

E3M – 5 Sets

5 Back Squat (50-60-70-75-80%)

I went 185-225-265-285-305# based off an estimated 380# max. Haven’t maxed out in 2 years due to back tweaks so it’s all a guess. Been a long time since I’ve had 300 on my back. Felt good to push through that last set. I am liking the knees sleeves.

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

10 T2B

Tried to wear my new grips, but they need some break in time, which will be easier on pull-ups. I slide off the bar too fast on toes-to-bars so took them off after the 2nd set because it was even worse with the thicker grip. I did 6 Sets of 5-5 and 4 Sets of 5-3-2. Surprised I didn’t have to do any singles; 100 reps is a lot!

Conditioning

30-20-10

Burpees
Ball Slams (30#)

Wore the knee sleeves to see if they would help protect the bruising I get on my left knee and they worked great! Paced the round of 30s too much. Finished in 6:40. Walked 200m to cool down.

Nice night for running other than the wind on some sides of the track

Aerobic Capacity – Lactate Threshold

3 Sets
- 600m (goal pace – 3:12 or 0:32/100m)
- 90s Rest
4:00 Rest
3 Sets
- 200m at 1 mile PR pace (goal – 0:48)
- 90s Rest
4:00 Rest
3 Sets
- 500m (goal – 2:30 or 0:30/100m)
- 90s Rest
4:00 Rest
3 Sets
- 200m at 400m PR pace (goal – 0:33)
- 90s Rest

Pace was solid but not difficult for the 600s and 500s. Went too fast on the first three 200s so dialed them back after each one. Rude awakening just how fast I had to go on those final runs. My splits:

600m: 3:10-3:06-3:05
200m: 0:41-0:44-0:46
500m: 2:22-2:21-2:20
200m: 0:35-0:34-0:32

Walked 600m before leaving.

What a Bear!

My hips and quads are all pretty sore.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
3 Sets
- 5 ATYs (5# plates)
- 15/15 Monster Walks (small red band)
- 10 Walking Lunges

Weightlifting / Cycling

5 Sets

7 rep Bear Complex

I was out of breath with the empty bar! I did 45-75-105-135-155#. Decided to count that first set because I was taking quite a bit of rest with the bar on my back during the 135 and 155 sets. Going in I thought maybe 165, but 155 was fine with me and 10# heavier than I’d done.

I did all clean thrusters, but in the final two loads I started resting after lowering the bar on to my back before doing a back thruster. Got a little rest in the hang position a few times.

Accessory

6 Sets

4 Pendlay Rows (165#, supinated)
6 Evil Wheels

I did a couple of warm-up sets on the row with 105-155#. Could feel a little pull in my left shoulder with the first two working sets, but it went away by the 3rd set. Evil wheels have become very easy for me. Maybe from the GHD work I do?

Explosive “Conditioning”

For Quality

50 Burpee Broad Jumps

Didn’t even start the clock because the focus was on the jumps and not going balls to the wall; be explosive under a little fatigue. Kept a nice steady pace and tried to get some distance with each jump. Was much harder than I expected. Feet were really digging into the end of my shoes even at 10 reps in.

I’ll get in some shoulder mobility work and e-stim.

Do Reps

Woke up surprisingly sore from yesterday’s workout. Most in my quads. Did Crossover Symmetry Activation before hitting the platform. Put on the new knee sleeves for all of the lifting.

Snatch

Warmup reps @ 20kg
2x3x40kg
3×50
3×60
3×70
1 miss then 2×75
1×80
1×85
1×90
2 misses, 2 misses, 1 miss @ 95
2 misses @ 80

Glad to make 90kg which is 90%, but it all went to shit after that. The very light reps felt great, but once some weight started getting on the bar I did not have it.

C&J

3x60kg
3×70
2×80
2×90
2×100
105
110
115

Felt heavy, but no misses.

5×135#
5×185
5×225
5×255
2x5x275

Haven’t had 200+ on my back in 2 months. Felt ok.

I think the lack of sleep definitely played a role in the lifts feeling so heavy. Knees sleeves felt very warm on my legs, but having the A/C out in half the gym didn’t help that any. Knees felt weird when I took them off after nearly 2 hours.

Aerobic Capacity

I’ve been archiving workouts from the site for nearly a year. This one comes from last August and is an aerobic threshold workout. Headed over to one of the high school tracks in the evening.

1200m (6:09)
3:00 Rest
500m (2:02)
3:00 Rest
1200m (6:00)
3:00 Rest
400m (1:33)
3:00 Rest
1200m (5:45)
3:00 Rest
300m (1:01)
3:00 Rest
1200m (5:38)
3:00 Rest
200m (0:37)

Did it all with laps on my watch and finished at 49:59. Total of 6,200 meters. The pace targets for the 1,200 meter runs was recommended at 75-90 seconds slower than mile PR and the pace for the 500->200 meter intervals was at a mile PR time. I figured I would be conservative and base it off a 7:00 mile. I had recently just run about 7 seconds slower than that, but I know that’s my potential, even right now. So that came out to a 6:20 for each 1,200 meters or 32 seconds per 100m. On the fast intervals I was going to target 25-26 seconds per 100m.

As you can see above, I was under the pace targets for every interval. After I got through the 500 meters I know I could kick things up a notch and after each pairing I knew I could push some more. No need to go the conservative route I guess.

The pace graph (heart rate overlay on top) is kind of cool to look at. You can see where the rest periods are and walks after the 500m and 300m back to the bench at the starting line where my drink was.

2016-06-04-pace-hr

Got in 40 minutes of ROMWOD after dinner.

Heading to Regionals

My ass is sore from the split squats and the air squats probably contributed too.

Warm-up

3 Sets
- 30s Jump Rope
- 10 Zombie Kicks
- 5 Scap Pull-ups
10 RDL (45#)
10 RDL (135#)

Strength

E2M – 6 Sets

12 RDL (185#, standing on 55# competition plates)
8 Weighted GHD Sit-ups (20#)

My grip was starting to fail but I held on for every rep of every set. Have been doing them all with a double overhand to get in the extra grip work. Makes it extra hard when I add in the bonus sit-ups like this, but I had to get in my reps for the week with no other time left to do them.

And that’s a wrap on big strength sets! I enjoyed the lighter loads, but they got pretty nasty these final two weeks. I think we are going to do a little transition next week with our strength work due to Memorial Day and Murph being tough, but then we’ll start putting some weight back on the bar in our next cycle. Looking forward to some smaller sets and heavier weights!

Conditioning

20:00 AMRAP

5 Back Squats (115#, no rack)
10 Push-ups
15 Box Jumps (24″)

We hadn’t done much longer stuff in a couple of weeks so we changed the workout from what we had planned. It was a good grind. Kept moving, did all push-ups unbroken, and did all box jumps with step downs. Was able to pick up the pace in the last 3 minutes and finished with 11 rounds plus the 5 squats and 4 push-ups.

I’ll get in a little ROMWOD action before leaving town this afternoon. Heading to Columbus to watch the Central Regional! Then back Sunday evening in time for Memorial Day “Murph” on Monday.

Go Unbroken

Yesterday walked the golf course and the app said I was close to 7 miles. I guess I spent more time than usual walking back and forth trying to find my ball. First time of the year where we really got to feel the heat of the back 9 at Sawmill when you get out there in the trees with no breeze. Drank a lot more water than I have been and wore my Oakley’s instead of cheap sunglasses. Seemed to help prevent getting one of those sun headaches I often have trouble with. Also did a 45 minute ROMWOD at night. My legs were feeling a little tired all day after the Sunday workout and run.

I was coaching this morning so got in early for my warm-up and snatches before class started.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
2 Sets
- 5s of StrongFit Tricep & Bicep Openers (10#)
- 10 Reverse Hyper (210#)

Weightlifting

E2M – Squat Snatches

4×45#
4×75
4×95
2×115
2×135
2×155
6 sets of 2×175

I wanted to get in 10 total sets, so planned on 4 sets with 175#. Set the clock for 12 rounds just in case it was feeling good. It was, so I kept going. Of course then I rush the 2nd rep in the 5th set and don’t get it pulled into the slot. Stepped right back up and hit it though. That was the only miss. When I exaggerate those knuckles down it really helps me keep it close and feels so much more solid. I did power snatch the final rep, but then stood up and did an OHS with it. Feeling a lot more solid snatching lately.

With Class Warm-up

3 Sets

20 Push-ups
10 Band Pull Aparts (green)

Gymnastics

Max Set – Pull-ups
2:00 Rest
3 sets
- 50% of Max
- 2:00 Rest

Regular kip again and wore the leather grips. I’m going to look for some new type of grips at Regionals this weekend. I knocked out 30 reps much easier than the 26 a couple weeks ago. That was good, so dropped off the bar; I’ll take the 4 rep PR. Did the 3 drop sets at 15 reps without any trouble. Really happy with how fast pull-ups came back. I think spending some time on ring rows when I was scaling helped out, not to mention more of the Pendlay and landmine rows lately. Wish I could butterfly though. 😦

Conditioning

4 Rounds

200m Run
10 Power Snatch (95#)

Holy shit did I underestimate this one. Went out running fast thinking it would be a quick one. Goal was unbroken on the snatches every round and that jacked my heart rate sky high, making it difficult to push the runs. Really wanted to put the bar down in the last 2 sets but held on. Finished in 7:20 and I guess I ripped open a finger in the process. Dammit!

Cooled down and did Crossover Symmetry Plyo.

Out in the garage for a quick afternoon session to catch up on Monday’s strength work.

Warm-up

3 Rounds
- 1:00 Air Dyne
- 30s Bottom Squat Hold
10 Back Squat (45#)
8/8 Landmine Rows (45#)
10 Back Squat (135#)
8/8 Landmine Rows (55#)

Strength

E3M – 6 Sets

12 Back Squats (185#)
8/8 Landmine Rows (65#)

It’s hot in the garage now that summer has finally arrived. This combo wasn’t easy today but not as hard as I was expecting.

Murph Work

7 Sets

20s Push-ups
30s Rest

Went 20-20-17-17-13-12-12 for 111 total with all reps being chest-to-deck. Might as well do the extra work now so it seems easy during Murph on Monday. Already had done 3×20 this morning too.

Need to ROMWOD tonight after all of that work.

Vary Your Pull-ups

Morning 8am session in the garage to catch up on some of the Monday programming.

Warm-up

2 Sets

5s of StrongFit Tricep & Bicep Openers (8#)
10 Back Squats (45-135#)
8/8 Landmine Rows (45-55#)
20s L-hang (supinated grip)

Strength

E3M – 6 Sets

11 Back Squats (185#)
8/8 Landmine Rows (65#)

Yuck! One more week with sets of 12. I’m having to focus less on recruiting the other muscle groups in my squats as it’s starting to become automatic. Noticing a lot more explosiveness out of the hole late in the sets as I fatigue. I really like these rows a lot more than Krocs, which are easier to cheat.

Gymnastics

6 Sets

20s Pull-ups
30s Rest

Did them all with a regular kip and felt like I had a much better rhythm than in the half Cindy last week. Didn’t wear any grips because I need to get these hands conditioned again. My first four sets were 11 unbroken, then 7-2, and 6-3 for 62 total reps. Being forced to do a regular kip instead of always doing butterfly once you can do them is a good reminder to vary your movements.

Rested to catch my breath and then did Crossover Symmetry Plyo.

Went to the 5:30 class at CrossFit Intuition.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
3 Sets
- 10 Goblet Squats (44#)
- 15 Hollow Rocks
- 150m Row

Weightlifting

2 Snatch 3-Position Deadlifts + 2 Snatches + 2 OHS

45#
75#
95#
115#

Snatches

2×135#
2×145#
2×155#
2×165#
2×175#
2×185#
2×195#

All snatches to a full squat. The warm-up complex was done without dropping the bar. Drop and reset after each rep with the doubles. Was programmed for 6 sets so my goal was 185. It was feeling good, so I went for one more set. Huge save on the final rep with the bar way out in front of me on the left side. Shoulder work must be paying off because I never really save anything that heavy and I was able to pull it in, be patient to stabilize it, and stand it up. I think the 185 and 195 are both PRs for a squat double, but I don’t keep track of those that close so not sure.

Gymnastics

Max Diamond Push-ups
2:00 Rest
3 sets
- @ 50% of max
- 2:00 Rest

Got 40 and did drop sets with 20. All reps with chest touching diamond.

Conditioning

10-8-6-4-2 Burpees
400m Run

Did the burpees outside which makes the run a little short. Took me 10:07.

Of course I’m going to ROMWOD. 🙂

Morn & Eve

Legs seem to be a little tired this morning. At around 9am I went out in the garage to get in some strength work I missed yesterday.

Warm-up

2 Sets

5s of StrongFit Tricep & Bicep Openers (8#)
10 Back Squats (45-135)
30s Bar Hang (supinated)
30s Front Leaning Rest (rings)

It’s much harder to hang with that reverse grip. I had my feet touching the ground some because I was inside my power rack which is shorter. FLR (think plank) on the rings is a different feel. Tried to rotate my wrists out to put the shoulder in more external rotation.

Strength

E3M – 6 Sets

10 Back Squats (185#)
10/10 Kroc Rows (50# DB)

These squats are getting rough. A few more weeks before we start putting some real weight back on the bar. I don’t know why I thought I needed to go an extra 2 reps per side with the Kroc rows since the dumbbell was only 3# lighter than the kettlebell I’ve been using at the gym.

6 Sets

20s Push-ups
30s Rest

Didn’t want to game it, but did a little bit, leaving 2-3 seconds in the first 3 rounds. I got 20-20-17-17-14-13 for a 101 total.

Went to the 5:30pm class.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
3 Sets
- 10 PVC Pass-thrus
- 20 Push-ups
- 10 Band Pull-aparts (green)
- 20 Mountain Climbers

I was feeling the fatigue in the push-ups after this morning.

Weightlifting

2 3-position Snatch DL + 1 Snatch + 1 Hang Snatch

45#
75#
95#
115#

Snatch + Hang Snatch

125#
135#
145#
155#
165#
175#

Not sure if I’ve done 175 from the hang before. Definitely tough as the 2nd rep in the complex. Called a win there and stripped the bar.

Gymnastics

Max Pull-ups
2:00 Rest
3 Sets
- 40-50% of Max
- 2:00 Rest

Had to go with a regular kip due to my shoulder still and holy shit they are so much slower than butterfly. Wore gymnastics grips and for some reason the bar was really rubbing on the inside of my first finger down that whole side to the crease of the thumb. More on the right hand than on the left. Don’t remember feeling that before, but wonder if had anything to do with wearing the grips. Made it to 26 reps for a 5 rep PR actually. Shows I never really test these that my PR of 21 was during Fran. I did 23 unbroken butterfly chest-to-bar pull-ups a few months ago so I know 26 isn’t up to par for me. Did 3 drop sets of 13 unbroken. I can tell I haven’t been doing pull-ups because this was much harder than it should have been at those numbers.

Conditioning

4:00 AMRAP

Burpee Box Jump Overs (24″)

Started out at a pretty good pace getting about 14 in the first minute. Slowed a bit in minutes 2-3 and then turned up the pace in the final minute for 47 total reps. When I got into the last 30 seconds I really started to quicken the box over and drop into the next burpee. Didn’t want to do that too early and burn out.

Finished with Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap and will ROMWOD.

Civil War

My upper back and traps are sore. Maybe from the plank walks? Or maybe pulling the cleans since I haven’t done much of them lately?

Warm-up

2 Sets
- 5s of StrongFit Tricep & Bicep Openers (10#)
- 15 Reverse Hyper (210#)
3 Sets
- 10 Squat Jumps
- 10 Band Pull-aparts (green)
- 20 Plyo Lunges
9 Back Squats (45#)
8/8 Landmine Rows (45#)
9 Back Squats (135#)
8/8 Landmine Rows (55#)

Those squat jumps and lunges got the legs burning!

Strength

E3M – 6 Sets

9 Back Squats (185#)
8/8 Landmine Rows (60#)

Tried to activate my hamstrings and glutes again. Bumped up the weight on the landmine rows. Drenched by the end of these.

Conditioning

Regional 11.3
21-15-9

Deadlifts (315#)
Box Jump (30″)

Wasn’t sure if I would go Rx on this, especially since I haven’t pulled over 300 in about 7 weeks. Felt ok warming up and knew I’d be good if I broke it up. Warmed up with 5×185, 3×225, and 3×275 on the bar. I’ve only done this once before (8:32) and completely underestimated the deadlifts, so today I went with all sets of 3. Worked much better and finished in 7:56 (36 second PR) not feeling nearly as bad as I did 2 years ago.

Gymnastics Strength

MAX Push-ups
Rest 2:00
2 Drop Sets w/ 2:00 rest

Started dying in the low 20s but held on for some more slow reps and ended at 35, which is far from my best. Was going to shoot for 15 in the drop sets, but breezed through that so did 20 both times. That extra rest time after the “max” set I think helped to recover more from the metcon.

Will do ROMWOD this afternoon (and did end up doing Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap in the evening). Movie time tonight for Captain America: Civil War!

Parter Chipper with Birthday Bryan

Did a ROMWOD in the middle of the day. Went in early to snatch and finished up, so skipped the warm-up but did the rest of the 5:30 class.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
2 Sets
- 5s of StrongFit Tricep Openers (10#)
- 5s of StrongFit Bicep Openers (10#)
- 15 Reverse Hyper (210#)

Weightlifting

Snatch (all full squat)

3x20kg
3x40kg
3x50kg
2x60kg
2x65kg
2x70kg
15:00 EMOM
- 1x75kg

I missed twice in round 3 and didn’t try a 3rd, then missed once in the final round but got back on it for a make.

Strength

E3M – 6 Sets

8 Back Squats (185#)
8/8 Kroc Rows (53#)

Didn’t even do any warm-up reps since I had done all of the squatting with the snatches. I work up a hell of a sweat with this combo, even in round 2 already. Must be from that bent over position being harder to breath. I really am taking my time with the rows, resetting every rep and not doing any kind of bouncing. Tried to focus on engaging my hamstrings and glutes in the squats too, which felt different, but good. Might as well work on this with the light weights for the next few weeks.

Conditioning

Partner with Bryan

100 cal Row
90 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
20 Curtis P (135#)
80 cal Row
60 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
16 Curtis P (135#)

Took us 20:12. We evenly split everything with 25-25 cal, 25-20 wall balls, singles, 20-20 cal, 30 wb, and singles. Those Curtis Ps took forever. Don’t remember the last time I did a set of 30 wall balls. I thought I was in trouble when I got to rep 14. Need to push through like that more often.