Back Squat

Still Got ‘Em

When I workout late, I’m hyped up and can’t get to bed, so I was up until like 1:30 last night. Made it to the gym at 10am though. Hybrid had a bunch of heavy snatches programmed today because they didn’t adjust after 17.3 was announced and some long AMRAPs, but we didn’t feel like doing any of that stuff.

12:00 EMOM

10 Pistols
7 Strict HSPU

Have had doubts about pistols lately because my left quad has been bothering me a bit during squats. Once I got in a few reps they were feeling great though. Went for an increase on the handstand push-ups from what I’ve been doing and made every set. Was fun doing these two movements back-to-back.

10×45#
5×155
5×205
5×245
3x5x275

Felt heavy and I could feel my low back a little bit so didn’t push the weight.

Bench Press (pause)

10×45#
5×95
5×135
5×165
5×185
5×205
5×225
5×230

I couple of weeks ago I did 225 for a triple with the pauses so this was a big jump. My 5RM without pauses is 240, so wondering where my max is these days.

Conditioning

500m Row

It’s been too long since I did this for time. Had it going good with the average pace down to 1:22/500m at one point, but died in the last 150 meters. Finished with 1:24.1, which is only 0.6 seconds off my best.

17.2 Redo & More

Rested yesterday so I could redo today. Could have probably even retried yesterday, though my shoulders were a little tight. In at 12:30.

Warm-up

500m Row
Banded shoulder stretching
PVC passes
Reverse Hyper Heel Drives
Bottom Squat Hold
Air Squats
Dead hang
2:30 Airdyne

CrossFit Games Open Workout 17.2

12:00 AMRAP

2 Rounds
- 50′ Weighted Walking Lunge (2×50# DBs)
- 16 Toes-to-bars
- 8 DB Power Cleans (2×50# DBs)
2 Rounds
- 50′ Weighted Walking Lunge
- 16 Bar Muscle-ups
- 8 DB Power Cleans

Every 5-foot interval of the 50″ (25″ out and back), represents 1 rep of the lunge.

With my first attempt not affecting grip at all I knew bigger and fewer sets would buy me some time. I did 6-5-5 on both rounds of T2B, 6-2 on 2 sets of cleans, and all 8 cleans to lock in the tiebreak round. I wanted to go right into the lunges after that 8, but needed a breather so set them down.

Remembered to have my knee sleeves pulled up before the workout today. I also taped my thumbs ahead of time so there was no stop halfway through the last set of lunges. Still kept muscle-ups in sets of 2 because I thought triples would be too risky. I tried to shorten the rest a bit between the sets. I did do a triple right at the end, but more importantly no misses today. Over the weekend I had thought about trying to finish that first round of muscle-ups with 3-3 to save another 20-30 seconds, but I completely forgot.

Bought myself almost an extra minute, which paid off, allowing me to get through 5 more muscle-ups for a score of 121 with a tiebreak of 8:50.

Michelle kept all my splits again. Nice to see I slowly kept gaining ground throughout. Initial lunges were the same, but then I was ahead of pace by 10-14, 9-19-25, 19-35-46, and 47 seconds. I guess I was more methodical on my lunges (probably gathering my feet more, which is slower) and was definitely focussing more on breathing during them. I also didn’t stretch out to get over the line on any of the rounds. The first round of muscle-ups took me 3:08 today compared to 3:22, which was a little surprising considering I should have been more tired from going faster.

The challenge of the redo is actually pretty fun. One of my friends cracked a beer after his 2nd muscle-up and then got 3 more. LOL I love the Open!

Since my volume was extremely light Thursday-Saturday and I’m heading out of town for most of the week, I wanted to get in some lifting and barbell work. Went back to the gym at 4:30 to judge Bryan and workout.

Back Squat

Missed out on the 5×3 @ 80% yesterday, so definitely wanted to squat today. If I go 2 weeks without squatting it’s no fun the next time.

10×45#
6×135
3×205
3×255
3×285
3×305
3×315

Back was getting a little tender so didn’t push it. Haven’t had that on the bar in awhile anyway.

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
10×135
10×165
2x10x185

Bryan started benching while I was still squatted so I worked in and then was done with the squats by the heavy sets.

Conditioning

7 Rounds

5 Power Snatch (135#)
35 DU

Wanted to hit a barbell metcon for sure. Did all singles on the snatches. Missed too many dubs. It felt and looked like my rope’s shape was getting messed up. Maybe it’s time for a new cable. Finished in 9:20.

Figured out Bar Muscle-up Cycling

Oh by my low back is all kinds of sore and so is my upper back between my shoulder blades. Legs were tired last night but feel fine today. Ass is a bit sore. Went to the gym at 3 with Bryan.

Warm-up

Shoulder stretching and body twisting
1,000m Row
17.1 Movement Testing

I tried out some efficiency changes for both movements which should make up a lot of time. I wasted so many seconds when I did the workout.

Weightlifting

2 Hang power Snatch + 3 OHS

2 sets 45#
2 sets 95
115
135
145
155
165

Programmed as snatch + 2 hang snatch + 3 OHS, but I wasn’t pulling from the ground and didn’t want to drop into the squat. Hell, I was going to completely skip this portion but decided to adjust it.

Strength – Back Squat

5×45#
5×135
5×205
5×245
3x5x265

Supposed to be 3×5 @ 75%, which would be 285 on my estimated max, but with my back to tight I scaled it back.

Conditioning

20:00 AMRAP

20 Walking Lunges
15 cal Row
4 Bar Muscle-ups

Made some adjustments since it was too cold to run outside and no Assault Bikes. Did MU on the bar so I could try dropping back to the bottom of the dip before pushing away from the bar into the next rep. My goal was to do 2 sets of 2 each round so I could work on this. Took me a few rounds to work out a few things, like rotating hands at different points, etc. Really paid off though. I’ve never felt better with the transition. I did wear grips too, which needed some adjustments because they tend to really grip the bar when chalked up. I even did all 4 unbroken in my last set. We didn’t have an official count, but it was either 7 (most likely) or 8 full rounds plus 16 lunges. We didn’t push anything hard just kept moving. Felt good. I feel 10x more comfortable now if bar muscle-ups are in the Open.

Gymnastics Strength

10:00 EMOM (alt)

15 Ring Push-ups
7 Ring Rows

I still suck at ring rows.

Work-Rest

Feeling a bit tired today even though I got a great night of sleep. In later at 6pm.

Back Squat

Add 0-5-10 pounds on to last week.

8×45#
8×155
8×225
4×255
3x8x285

I added 10# and it was rougher than I’d like. My quad does not feel very good.

Snatch

Work up to a 1RM.

2x3x45#
3×95
2×135
2×155
2×175
1×195
Miss-make @ 205
Miss 215
Miss 225

Wasn’t there today. The 215 really crashed on me and 225 was way out front.

Barbell Cycling

E90S – 6 Sets

6 TnG Power Snatches (135#)

Was surprised to see it bumped up to 6 sets this week. Wasn’t an issue, but my thumbs got a little beat up from re-hook gripping the bar every rep. It was taking me 13-14 seconds per set. Really excited to test out “Grace” and “Isabel” sometime soon.

Conditioning

Alternating between 1:00 of work and 1:00 of rest until finished with the following chipper…

90 Bar Facing Burpees
60 Overhead Squats (95#)
30 Muscle-ups

I scaled the OHS down from the Rx 115# because I was expecting the muscle-ups to take me a long time.

Wow! The rests kept the intensity high. I did 19-17-17-16-16 burpees and the final 5 plus 10 squats. I’ll take that consistency! To finish the squats I did 10-9, 10-8, and 13 to get a little extra rest. In fact I took an extra 1:00 of rest instead of just one here before getting up on the rings. Looking back, I wish I had even just got up there for a set of 3 after the halfway point of the work minute. Oh well, the muscle-ups went much better than I expected. I went 3-3, 4-3, 4-3, 3-1, 2-2, and 2. I really wasn’t planning on getting much more than 3 or 4 per minute heading in.

I wasn’t having a problem getting up over the rings, but my dip started to give out when I only got 3-1. I don’t think I’m kipping the dips much, if at all, and then when I need to kip I’m all out of whack. I’ve never done that volume of reps in a WOD, let alone at the end, so I’m seeing some nice progress.

Finished at 29:07 on the clock. And… wrecked! It was coming up on 2 hours of work so we decided to skip the 80 T2B EMOM. Grip and hands were pretty beat up already and that was enough work for one day. Maybe I’ll get in the reps tomorrow because I definitely need them. Have been eating a bit better, but I needed fuel after this one so made a stop at McDonald’s on the way home.

More Scaling

The rest day was good yesterday. In at 5:30 tonight. Skipped the assigned warm-up because there was enough shit to get done, especially with 4 of us working in on the lifts.

Back Squat

Work up to 3×8, adding 0-5-10 pounds over last week (70%).

8×45#
8×155
6×205
4×245
3x8x275

My left quad feels a bit like when I couldn’t pistol squat for almost a year on the one leg. The weight was no issue though, even for the higher reps. Really liking how squats have been feeling on this program and have been able to get through without tweaking my back.

Snatch

Work up to a daily 3RM.

3×45#
2x3x95
3×135
3×155
3×175
3×190 (PR)

Missed the first rep at 190 but then got 3 no problem. Beats the triple from 2 weeks ago for a 5 pound 3RM PR. Starting to get a lot more consistent with this type of load, where I’ve typically started to miss, even though I never should considering I can hit them for powers.

Barbell Cycling

3 Sets – E90S

12 TnG Snatch (95#)

Fun stuff! Took me about 26 seconds each set.

Conditioning

10:00 EMOM (alt)

18 cal Row
12 OHS (95#)

I had a feeling this would become horrible and I was right. When I got on the rower for the 4th time I could not put any power into it so I dropped my reps down to 14 calories and 10 overhead squats for the final 2 rounds of each.

Gymnastics

The goal was to get up to 40 muscle-ups, trying to hit a consistent number every minute. When I looked at this I thought in an ideal world I’d be able to do 4×4 and 8×3. After the conditioning EMOM I had high doubts. I did 2 sets of 4 which felt pretty good, but then dropped to sets of 3. After 4 sets of those I decided to call it for the day. My right shoulder was starting to feel weird. 20 reps was good enough for me, especially when we have MU in a WOD tomorrow.

Surprises

I’ve been getting my sleep back on track for the last week.

Today is the first day of the Open prep cycle on the Hybrid Performance Method WOD program. Already noticing less lifting programmed this week (except today). Kind of cool that they put you through a warm-up “WOD” every day.

Warm-up – 5 Sets

5 Front Squats (45#)
5 Shoulder Press (45#)
5 Close Grip OHS (45#)
5 Sotts Press (45#)
5 Box Jumps (30”)

Back Squat

Three working sets of 8 @ 70%.

8×45#
8×135
8×205
4×235
3x8x265

Guess we could have started at 135 since we already did a bunch of squats with the empty bar. I’m getting better at making bigger jumps in many of the lifts, which is necessory or we’ll be in the gym all damn day to finish. Weight is feeling good but about sick of so many squats. That’s 5 back squat days in the last 8 I think. Looks like it might be dropping to once a week and once a week with front squats.

Snatch

Work up to a daily 2RM.

4×45#
2×95
2×125
2×155
2×175
2×190
2×200
1×210 (miss-make-miss)

Wanted to get at least 190 today and got a 5# PR with the 200# 2RM. No reason I should be missing the 210 because I can get the weight up there easily. I think missing heavy snatches is what aggravates my back because I was starting to feel it there and it’s lit now.

Barbell Cycling

E90S – 4 Sets

9 TnG Power Snatch (115#)

Going in, I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to do all 4 sets, but there was no issue and we actually got faster each round. That was fun. First round was about 26 seconds, not sure on round 2, and the last two rounds were both 21 seconds. This is nothing compared to what Rich and his crew recently did…

Conditioning

500m Row
15 OHS (95#)
500m Row
20 OHS
500m row
25 OHS

Didn’t row as fast as I should have. The 15 and 20 overhead squats were unbroken and then I went 15-10 to finish at 10:58.

Gymnastics

8 Rounds (Reverse Tabata)

10s C2B Pull-ups
20s Rest

I figured it would be a good time to break in my grips more, which I haven’t used much since getting them at Regionals last year. I was sliding all over the place losing my grip. I should have chalked them up. Silly! Took them off after the 3rd or 4th set. Went with 6 reps in the first round and then 4s the rest of the way.

Alternative Workout

I wish I could call a rest day an alternative workout and still get the effects of exercising. After having a tall beer at a birthday party this afternoon, the slight headache I had only got worse. Not the smartest decision when we were planning to hit the workout later after the party. After chilling at home a bit I almost didn’t get my ass out of the chair to head to the gym.

Power Clean + 5 Push Press

Work up to a daily max.

2 sets @ 45#
95#
135
165
195
215

Only 10 pounds shy of 2 weeks ago and it didn’t feel too bad. We were not up for pushing it today.

Snatch Pull

Working sets at 110-125#

3×135#
3×185
3×215
3x3x235

No way we were touching those percentages today.

Back Squat

Increase 0-5-10 pounds over the list time we did 6 reps.

6×135#
6×205
6×245
2x6x275
6×285

Fourth time back squatting this week! I wasn’t going to increase at all but the first two sets were fine, so I bumped up the last set.

Kroc Row

3 Sets

15/15 – 40# DB

Conditioning

3 Rounds

10 Thrusters (95#)
20 Front Rack Lunges (95#)
200m Row

There was no way in hell I would survive today with the Rx 155#, so I scaled way back and just worked through. I felt like going home instead. Didn’t put the bar down in round 1, then rested after thrusters and split the lunges in half for the other two rounds. The thrusters were no big deal but the lunges were really burning me. Cruised at about a 2:05/500m pace the first 2 rounds and then picked it up in the final round so I could break 9 minutes and did with 8:58. I had no energy whatsoever to do this, but glad I did something.

That’s a wrap on 2 weeks of Hybrid. Rough week, especially adding in the 2 extra thruster sessions. Glad those are done. The program is switching to Open prep starting tomorrow.

Front Squats of Death

Much needed rest day yesterday. My upper back, shoulders, and chest were all feeling really rough and overall my body was beat up. Was not really looking forward to the amount of work programmed for tonight.

Back Squat

Add 0-5-10 pounds over the last 3×4@80% type workout.

10×45#
8×135
4×205
4×245
4×275
4×295
3x4x315

I had used 305 so went with the 10# jump. Didn’t put on a belt until 295. Felt good.

Clean from Blocks (knee)

Work up to 3×3 @ 80%.

3×135#
3×165
3×195
3×215
3×235
3×245
3×255

Ended up being a couple of inches below my knee. I’ve never liked block cleans and always had a hard time getting myself to commit to dropping under. No issue today so I bumped it up on my last two sets. Maybe it was because the blocks were lower.

Split Jerk

Work up to a daily 3 rep.

3×135#
3×185
3×215
3×245

At this point everyone was starting to feel things a bit so nobody pushed the weight here today knowing what we had coming in the metcon.

Accessory

We combined these to save some time.

2 Sets

12-15 GHR
12-15 Dumbbell Bent Over Lateral Raises
6-12 Barbell Curls

I had to use the tiny orange band for my GHR and did 12 reps. Used 20# DBs for 15 laterals. Sets of 12 curls using 35# and then 65#.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

15 K2E
10 Push Press (185#)
15 Front Squat (225#)

Heavy, but with today sandwiched in between two rest days, we figured it was a good one to grind away and do the work. Ugh it was so fucking horrible. I did 9-6 and then 6-5-4 for 2 rounds on my knees to elbows. Was able to go 6-4 on every round of push presses, and didn’t resort to any jerks. The front squats were fucking death! I started 6-4-3-2 I think, then 4-4-4-3, and the last set I felt like I was going to fail every rep. My core was giving out. I think I went 4-2-2-2-2-2-1. I was going for the 3rd and final rep there on the end and had to bail at the bottom. Walked over and finished using Bryan’s bar for the final rep. Took me 18:13. Wore a belt and used racks for both bars. I was taking so much rest time between sets and still couldn’t breath or feel confident in the squats.

Oh no, not done yet!

10-20-30-20-10 Row Cals
30s Rest

The 10 and 20 were decent, but my legs didn’t have anything more after that. Finished in 5:44.

Talk about a session from hell. That was way too much work for one day. Normally the programming has been taking about 90 minutes. Today it took us 2:15 and we were not screwing around, even speeding up by putting the accessory movements into a little circuit. I’m going to try to finish the final day of the Thruster Attack tomorrow if I feel good enough.

No WOD, No Way

I can really feel those Pendlay rows in my upper back and my hamstrings are a tiny bit sore. Excited not to see any metcon posted today. Well, at least until we got going and realize how hard the work was.

Bench Press

The program had 3×3 @ 85% and then 4 sets of 6-12 reps, picking a weight which will get you to failure.

10×45#
6×95
6×135
3×185
3×215
3x3x235
12×205
10×205
10×205
9×205

Talk about an epic bench session! The working heavy sets didn’t feel easy. Based on a max rep set from a bench program over a year ago I picked 205. Amazingly all 3 of us picked a perfect weight, hitting failure at 12 reps in the first set. I didn’t expect to get so many in the next 3 sets but it started to feel “easier.” Going to be sore for a couple of days.

DB Fly

3 x 10-15

3×15 (30# DBs)

My arms didn’t want to move after the bench press and it was rough just holding the dumbbells up.

Strict Ring Dip

4×8-12

I was able to get 3 sets of 12 and then hit the wall, only getting 8. Didn’t expect to make one full set though, so I’ll gladly take it.

Back Squat

Add 0-5-10 pounds over 75% depending on feel and do 3×5.

2x5x135#
5×205
5×245
5×275
3x5x295

Didn’t feel as fast as yesterday, but wasn’t in danger of missing anything.

Was expecting an easier session since they was no conditioning work, but it still took us about 90 minutes, rotating 3 guys through.

I got the new Nano 7 today and they are really nice. Wore them for the squats and they felt great.

Almost There

Hmm, for some reason, last Tuesday didn’t publish, but it’s up now. Software!

Needed the rest day yesterday, especially being hungover. Trying to figure out where to fit in the final week of thrusters, so I decided to get out in the garage first thing in the morning. Warmed up with 10×45# and got right into it.

Thruster Attack Week 10 Workout 1

3 Cycles

3 Rounds
- 20s Thrusters (80#)
- 10s Rest
30s Rest

Stuck to my sets of 9. Gross, but glad to have it over with. Felt a little rough as I was working until I finally got out of the house and grabbed lunch.

Met Bryan at the gym at 6.

1 Power Clean + 5 Strict Press

Up to a daily max.

The power clean is pretty pointless. This matched my 5RM strict press. Felt myself started to lean back so didn’t push it any heavier.

Snatch Pull

Working sets (5×3) @ 100-120% of max snatch.

3×45#
3×95
3×155
3×205
5x3x235

Moved up quick because there was so much to get done.

Back Squat

Add 0-5-10 pounds over last week.

6×135#
6×205
6×245
3x6x275

Felt really really good today. The first working set was the hardest one.

Pendlay Row

3x15x95#

A lot of reps, so I stayed on the light side. Haven’t done any of these in months.

Conditioning

Supposed to be “Diane,” but I scaled the handstand push-up reps to keep up the intensity.

21-15-9 Deadlift (225#)
16-10-6 HSPU

Deadlifts felt great, but I broke that first set at 14-7 to keep my heart rate down because I knew the HSPU would get me sooner or later. Went 9-6 on set 2 and then 9 unbroken on the end. The HSPU felt great in the first round, going 6-5-5, so I was going to try 5-5 again. Got 4 and had to come down. Finished 3-3 and then was also able to go 3-3 on the end. I was a little worried those scaled reps would even be too high, but it worked out well. I was shooting for something sub-6 and I was done in 5:31. Bryan set a huge PR and beat me by over a minute going Rx. I need to work on coming down quicker into the next rep because I use up too much arm strength controlling my descent.

Nope, that wasn’t enough, we still had more to do. It was a 400m run with 2 minutes of rest for 3 times, but no way we were going outside.

500m Row
2:30 Rest

My plan was to try to be somewhere 1:30-1:35. Worked for the first one at least. My times were 1:34, 1:39, and 1:41.5. Dead!

I think I earned these Cinnabon Delights. 🙂