Getting better at some of the drills. One leg is definitely dominant.
Conditioning
8:00 AMRAP
10 Power Snatch (75#)
10 Bar-facing Burpees
Unbroken every round on the snatches. Getting the hang of my new bar-facing burpee steps better and better each time I do them. Dare I say I’m starting to enjoy them? First round was done in just over a minute, which I knew wasn’t sustainable, but I think is good for me instead of always pacing so much. Good to push the gas more. Finished 5 Rounds plus the 10 snatches.
Skill & Midline
4 Tabata DU
40s Rest
4 Tabata Supermans
40s Rest
4 Tabata DU
40s Rest
4 Tabata Hollow Rocks
Basically just 1 Tabata round off between movements. Never missed a double under and think the Zeus rope is really helping with shoulder fatigue. I got 149 dubs, 44 Supermans, 150 dubs, and 72 hollow rocks.
Overhead Stability / Carry
600m OH Single-arm KB Carry (44#)
Increase in distance, so went lighter. Switched arms about every 100 meters.
We finished in less than an hour today. Will get in a 21 min ROMWOD at some point.
I’ve had this one on my list for quite some time, especially since it was the lone remaining Open workout I hadn’t attempted. Without being able to do muscle-ups for 8+ months, it’s been on hold. Finally got to it today.
I was able to stick with my new BFB technique pretty much the whole time and felt pretty good. Finished them in 4:59, took a breather to put on the belt and then did the overhead squats in sets of 8-8-8-6. They went much better than I expected. Could have pushed for 3 sets, maybe 11-10-9. Finished the squats at 7:59. I planned to try going 3-3-2-2 on the rings, but had to go 3-2-2-2-1 instead. Had enough time left to get in 1 burpee.
Achievement unlocked… 💯% CrossFit Open Workouts!!
Midline / Skill / Conditioning
“Annie Up”
50-40-30-20-10 Zeus DU
25-20-15-10-5 GHD Sit-ups
I kept playing around with different rep schemes when planning my workouts for the week, mainly focused on getting in a bunch of GHD volume. At the last minute I decided on this upgrade to an already upgraded “Annie” I’ve done a couple of times with a regular rope. My best time had been 6:04 just over a year ago when I did it last. It’s a lot different with the Zeus rope and I have to admit I didn’t put the pedal to the floor today on this.
I did start off with a PR unbroken set of 35 Zeus dubs and then 15 to finish the 50. In the round of 40 I went 13-15-12 and then the 30-20-10 were each done unbroken. I never stopped when I was on the GHD but wasn’t going very fast either. Ended up taking 7:44.
Now I think I’ll hit the golf course (rode a quick 9 holes before leagues) and do a 23 minute ROMWOD tonight.
Yesterday I was up early to play in a charity golf tournament. Fun day but I was exhausted when I got home. Took a 2 hour nap! Did a 19 minute ROMWOD late at night. Felt much better this morning. First time back for Sunday after missing 3 weeks.
Warm-up
Crossover Symmetry Activation
2 Rounds
5/5 Bar Taps
10 Pass thrus
15 Push-ups
20 Squat Jumps
Gymnastics Strength & Barbell Cycling
14:00 EMOM (alt)
5 Strict Chin-ups
5 Power Cleans (135#)
14:00 EMOM (alt)
5 Strict Ring Dips
5 Power Snatches (95#)
Originally I thought I’d do sets of 4 chin-ups but I went with 5 and had no problem hitting every set. Surprised the dips felt so easy after not doing any in quite a long time.
Conditioning
50 Bar-facing Burpees
Had an epiphany with my rhythm right off the bat. Was a lot quicker and used less energy with less movement. Took me 3:29.
Decided to squat after class since I wasn’t feeling tired and the lifting I needed to do later in the day looked like a lot of volume.
Back Squat
First rep in each set has 5 second pause in the bottom. Did the pause with each double. No special shoes, belt, or sleeves today.
6×45#
6×135
2×205
2×235
6x2x265
My traps were already sore (probably from the cleans) and it did not feel great with the bar on my back. First squat session without cutting back the sets.
Evening session to finish up the first week of the Vaughn program. In the garage around 6pm. Started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.
Snatch Balance
Three second pause in the bottom.
3×45#
3×75
3×95
3×115
2×135
2×155
1×165
Missed first try with 155, but then got it right after with a little patience. Need a lot of improvement with these.
Snatch
With a 3 second lift off.
2×95#
2×115
1×135
1×155
12x1x165
Did the 12 singles on an every 90 second clock. Missed attempts 3 & 4, but did 2 more at the end of the clock. Fell into a nice rhythm after those misses.
Clean & Jerk
Three second lift off in the clean and then a 3 second pause in the split.
2×135
2×155
1×175
1×195
10x1x215
Did the final 12 every 90 seconds again. Missed the full 3 second pause in the split a few times as I was off balance, but never missed a clean or jerk. Hands were really feeling beat up in the middle of those 10. Perhaps I shouldn’t have programmed so many lifting reps during class today. 🙂
The aftermath
That ends training for the 1st week of the program. It turned out to be a lot more volume than I originally thought. All of the pauses and tempo work really add up. I think I will stick to a 2 off 1 on schedule and not try to push 3 days in a row unless I really need to. Will keep to very limited WODS too, but try to get in 2 Aerobic Capacity workouts each week.
Out in the garage this morning to squat before golf. Also wanted to test out the percentages before classes made their attempts.
Pause Back Squats
3 seconds in the hole
6×45#
6×135#
3×185#
3×225#
3×245#
3×265#
3×285#
3×295#
We had 50-60-65-70-75% set after originally having the last 3 sets at 70-75-80. I made our picked percentages so added 10# more (78%) for a final attempt. Made it but that was definitely my limit for the day, so glad we didn’t go with 80%.
Those were some legit pauses, as far as timing if I do say so myself. 🙂 None of that bounce shit to get out of the hole either. 😉
Was a good warm-up before going golfing; walked 18 holes. Chiro appointment in the evening and then went over to the gym.
Warm-up
Bottom Squat Hold
Squat Clean
5×45#
5×115#
Conditioning
10-8-6-4-2
Squat Clean (135#)
Bar-facing Burpee
On April 18th I used 115# for this same thing and it took 5:25. I did break the 8 into 5-3 that day. Today I went unbroken every round with the heavier weight and finished in 5:13. Burpees slowed me down again.
50 GHD Sit-ups
2 mile Run
50 GHD Sit-ups
Not fun. I averaged about a 9:25 pace. Finished everything in 25:17. I was not feeling good afterwards. A lot of time out in the sun today since I got to the course early to hit some balls. Having McDonald’s about an hour before getting to the gym didn’t help either.
When I woke up and started moving in bed I was feeling some pretty good pain in my shoulder. Or maybe that was a dream because I seemed to be fine after actually getting out of bed. Legs feeling a little fatigued.
Warm-up
Crossover Symmetry Activation
2 Sets
5s of StrongFit Tricep & Bicep Openers (10#)
10 Wall Squats
10 Reverse Hyper (210#)
10 Close Grip Bench Press (45#)
12 OH Walking Lunges (55#)
10 Close Grip Bench Press (95#)
12 OH Walking Lunges (55#)
Strength
E3M – 5 Sets
10 Close Grip Bench Press (135#)
12 OH Walking Lunge (55# plate)
Accessory & Midline
5 Sets
5 Pendlay Rows (155#, supinated)
5 Evil Wheels
Conditioning
10:00 AMRAP
5 Bar-facing Burpees
5 Power Cleans (95#)
5 Push Press (95#)
Some similarities to 16.5, but felt much better without the big sets and without the squat part of thrusters. Was holding steady at under a minute per round pace and picked it up at the end to finish exactly 11 rounds with a second to spare. Everything unbroken and was able to stick with push presses all the way.
Bonus!
Tabata
Bottom to Bottom Squats
Did sets of 10 for the first 6 rounds and took the extra “rest” in the bottom position. Then kept moving in the final 2 rounds to get 13 and 14. Finished with 87 for a 9 rep PR. Coming out of that bottom hold for the final 4 rounds really is a hell of a burn.
Finished with Crossover Symmetry Plyo and will do ROMWOD at some point.
I hated 14.5 two years and said I’d never do it again. One of my least favorite workouts of all-time. Then Castro surprises us all and makes it the repeat for 16.5, bringing back bar-facing burpees for the second time in this Open season. With that said, I actually went in with a positive attitude about it, hoping to hit somewhere around 14:00.
Did it in 15:12 two years ago, when did the thrusters in 8-7-6, 7-6-5, 6-5-4, 6-6, 5-4, 6, and 3. figured I could push those more this year and I easily did by doing 12-9, 10-9 (yep, did an extra rep, because math is hard during a workout and I couldn’t hear my judge), 9-6, 7-5, 9, 6, and 3. So I eliminated 4 sets+breaks and felt a million times better through the thrusters. I never stopped moving in the burpees but they got so unbearably slow. How slow? I didn’t even PR, but was 5 seconds worse with a 15:17. 😦 I was wrecked after it was over, so know I had nothing left to push any harder than I did. I can’t really think of anything I’d change. I just need more fitness. I am 8-10 pounds heavier than I was 2 years ago, so I’ll make that my excuse. haha
I did another 3:00 on the Air Dyne to cool down after I recovered some.
Recovery Drinks
That’s a wrap on my 5th CrossFit Games Open. Don’t think I’m going to finish at a higher percentile than last year, which will be the first time I haven’t improved my percentile placing. I’ll do an update after scoring is finished this week. I need more fitness for that 35-39 Masters division next year! 😉
Proud to say it was a complete #OneAndDone year for all 5 workouts. I really wanted to do 16.4 again and can’t wait to try 16.3 when my shoulder is healed and I can string bar muscle-up together again.
Watched the 16.1 Open Announcement last night. When Castro started off saying it was a new movement I got so excited, hoping it was pistols. Did not see overhead walking lunges coming. Then when he said chest-to-bar pull-ups my heart sank. I haven’t been able to do pull-ups or muscle-ups in 6 weeks because of my shoulder. I still didn’t try until I got to the gym tonight. I was able to pull-up fine, but coming through on the butterfly hurt like a bitch. Stringing together kipping was uncomfortable, so my new game plan was to do all singles. Better than having to do 1 and stop like I feared!
Wanted to start out feeling slow after seeing people come out guns blazing. Something over 2:00 was the goal and it was 2:06 without actually feeling that slow. I knew I was in trouble at that point. The singles on chest-to-bar really slowed me down. Each round seemed to gradually get slower, especially on the burpees, but also picking the bar back up. I went out and bought some cheap knee sleeves which really helped save my knees and felt pretty good. Wore wrist wraps too, but holding the bar overhead was actually the easiest part of the workout. My shoulders didn’t even feel fatigued from that. The burpees got so slow and with an extra step in there as time went on. I did go 3-3-2 kipping pull-ups on my last round to hurry through and finished with 7 rounds plus one section of lunges for a score of 183. I’ll take it for a long workout and my shoulder problem. Better than the 19 I was scared I might have to take. Going to be sore for a few days!
I tried one bar muscle-up after recovering to see how it would feel. I can get up there no problem, but coming down sucks. Definitely would need to do singles there if Castro programs them.
My L-sit quickly becomes a battle to hold my knees up.
Conditioning
3 Rounds
15 Bar-facing Burpees
1 Round “DT”
12 Deadlifts (155#)
9 Hang Power Cleans (155#)
6 Push Jerks (155#)
The cleans get so terrible and even in the first round due to bar-facing burpees being the worst. I was arm-bending and arm-pulling way too much and can already feel it an hour later. If I dropped too low in the catch of the clean I could feel a nice jolt of pain in my quad too. I broke up the rounds of DT into my usual breaks of 11, 1+8, 1+6 to get rest between movements and not do extra reps. Took me 10:35. I tried to push it on the barbell movements, but knew I needed significant rest in order to not break them up into more sets.
Went out to a comedy show with a bunch of Michigan beers last night called Brew Ha Ha. Was home early though and drank a bunch of water to be ready for today. Can’t miss out on Super Sunday. 😉
I was at the gym early so took the time to get in a little extra warm-up on the rower. Did 1,000m in 4:09 to get moving. Did bottom squat holds and various stretching as well.
Gymnastics
4 Sets
Max C2B Pull-ups
Rest 1:00
My first set was better than 2 weeks ago and 2nd set was equal, but then fell off hard. The accumulation of the muscle-ups yesterday did me in. Went 15-12-8-8.
Strength / Midline
3 Sets
10 Good Mornings (95#)
5 Evil Wheels
1:30 Rest
Nothing crazy. More of a rest time before getting into the conditioning.
Conditioning
10 Rounds
2 Power Snatches (135#)
4 Bar-facing Burpees
When I wrote this, my goal was to have to dig in order to complete every double as touch-n-go. I made it. 🙂 Nice steady pace on the burpees and kept moving from movement to movement. Total time was 6:15.
Update: Makes me feel good when I see a very similar workout by one of the best. I’d sent the workout to a friend early in the week and looked back to make sure I hadn’t copied, but I had shared it before Spealler even did his workout. I hope to never make claims I’m an expert at programming workouts, but seeing stuff like this makes me think I’m on the right track with some good ideas. I program Sunday workouts a week or two in advance (and tweak up to a few days before we hit it) and a similar thing happened with last Sunday’s workout and something Outlaw did a few days later. Not identical, but along the same lines, with our version fitting our athlete base better.
We rested 10-15 minutes before getting into some Tabata work.
Tabata – Thrusters (45#)
2:00 Rest
Tabata – DU
2:00 Rest
Tabata – Thrusters (45#)
2:00 Rest
Tabata – Lateral Bar Hops
I did all sets of 8 on both thruster tabatas. The last few rounds of the 2nd time through were a big shoulder burn. I got a total of 240 double unders and 210 lateral bar hops. I think the bar hops were the worst part of the entire workout and I was not expecting that.
Cooled off with a really slow 2,000m row in 9:59 and then did some foam rolling on my back. That was one of my favorite Sunday workouts.
I’ve been excited about this one since I finished making it last Sunday. Probably made at least 10-15 changes to the met-cons until if felt right.
Warm-up
Crossover Symmetry Activation
3x10x210# Reverse Hyper
Bottom Squat Hold
Stretching
XWOD
5-5-5-5-5 Bench Press
2-1-2-1-2 HSPU
2s: Kipping HSPU
1s: Kipping Deficit HSPU (6″)
Including warm-up sets, I benched:
10×45#
5×95#
5×135#
5×165#
5×185#
5×195#
5×205#
5×215#
5×225#
It was actually programmed for 6 rounds, but our group was a little slow with Kevin helping out some people, so I cut myself a round short. Still hit a new 5RM on my bench press after not benching in over a month.
Conditioning
“Christmas Couplets”
@ 0:00 – 3 Rounds
3 MU / 6 C2B / 9 Pull-ups
6 Snatches (95/65)
@ 10:00 – 5-10-15
Back Squats (135/95)
Bar-facing Burpees
@ 20:00 – 15-10-5
Deadlifts (205/135)
Ring Push-ups / Push-ups
@ 30:00 – 3 Rounds
10 T2B
100 DU
The goal for the first 3 parts was to scale appropriately to finish each part under 5:00. Then make the 4th section a challenge and keep fighting since there was nothing else to rest for.
I screwed up my first muscle-up again, but didn’t need to come off the rings and as able to get my 3 in. Got 3 in the second set, then hit the wall on my third set and kept missing them. I should have rested more. Probably missed 5 or 6 times before I got in my 3. Held on for all of the snatches. Still was able to finish in 3:28 but could have been close to 2:00 if my muscles-ups hadn’t given out.
Part 2 was just a grinder that you had to fight through once you got into the 2nd and 3rd round. Took me 4:10 to finish.
I had actually programmed the 3rd part to have push-ups first, but we messed up. Worked out fine though. Everything unbroken and finished in 1:53. Quick one but a nice little burn.
The 4th part sucked with the double unders. Was lucky to get sets of 15 or 20 in and eventually started stopping myself at those numbers to try to keep from burning out. Was a ride on the struggle bus and the middle of my back was cramping up during the dubs. I did all sets of toes to bars unbroken though. Took me 7:19 to get done.
Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs 