Bench Press

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.

Back Squat

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.

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.

Ready

Quick chiro appointment before the gym.

Warm-up

5 Strict Pull-ups
5 Strict Chin-ups
5 Strict Pull-ups
5 Strict Chin-ups
20 Air Squats
DB Squat Snatches
- 25-35-45-50# (1 or 2 each arm at each weight)

Figured I should at least try some squat snatches. First couple felt weird because I’d never done one before. Much easier than I expected them to be. Wouldn’t mind seeing those in the Open considering how many people will have a problem doing them. Doubt Castro would pick them though.

Skipped out on 3×3 deadlifts @ 85% because I don’t want to aggravate my back going into week 1. So I did a little benching until the guys were done.

Bench Press

10×45#
6×95
3×135
3×165
3×195
3×225

I started pausing each rep either with 95 or 135.

Conditioning

20:00 E2M (alt)

50 DU
20 Weighted Step-ups (2×20# DBs, 24″)

Missed after 44 dubs in the first set, but got the other 4 sets unbroken. Weighted step-ups were taking about 55 seconds. I really like this aerobic work each week.

3 Rounds

10 Deadlifts (225#)
20 Toes to Rings
30 cal Row

Scaled back the deadlifts from 275# and made it my goal to go unbroken each round, which I did. Used the rings instead of bar for T2B to save my hands and switch it up. Was able to do 2 sets of 10 every round. Such a difference from the bar. Tried to keep around 1,200 cal/hr on the rower in the first 2 rounds and then picked it up in the 3rd. Finished in 10:45.

Bring on the Open!

Hero Chipper

Was not looking forward to this session, which had a version of one of my least favorite workouts.

Warm-up – 3 Rounds

9 Strict HSPU
12 T2B
15 Air Squats

Handstand push-ups are feeling so much better, its unreal. Just a few weeks ago I was dying out doing 3×5 strict. I skipped out on the deadlift work today to let my back rest some more so I did my own thing for the warm-up and then some bench. I’ve definitely gotten used to the extra grip on the bar for toes-to-bars using my chalked up grips. I was falling off after 4 reps today when I wasn’t wearing them! Did all sets unbroken though by regripping through each set.

Bench Press

10×45#
2x5x95
5×135
5×165
5×185
5×205
2x5x225
5×235

If I had known that was only 5 pounds shy of matching my PR for 5 I would have gone for 245.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

1:00
- 10 cal Row
- Max bar-facing Burpees
1:00 Rest

Turned out not to be ad bad as expected. The minute of rest was really nice. I did 12-9-8-8-8-9-9-9-10-11 burpees. So many burpees lately; another 93 today.

“Chipper DT”

Ugh!! I do not do well with “DT” so was not excited to see this come up. The hang power cleans always trip me up so I was afraid of what 45 in a row would feel like.

60 Deadlifts (155#)
45 Hang Power Cleans
30 S2OH

I did 15-15-10 and then 3 more sets (of what, I don’t remember) to finish the deadlifts. My hamstrings and low back were pretty fired up at that point. I had no idea what to try for the cleans so I experimented for my first few sets. I quickly realized that taking the bar down and bouncing it off my legs just above my knee used less explosive energy than trying to stay more upright and bounce it high off my legs. I think I mostly did sets of 4 or 5. The cleans were still the worst part but seemed much easier than even having to do the 9 at a time in regular DT. I think I mostly did 5s on the jerks. It’s all a little blurry. Finished at 11:30, which is only about 1:30 slower than my best for the actual workout. Didn’t feel nearly as bad either, even after the other work we’d done already. Kind of makes me excited to give DT a real shot now. I think I could smoke my PR. Pretty cool variation though.

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.

Wake Up

Felt ok this morning, but maybe there wasn’t enough time yet for me to feel the effects of last night’s session. At the gym at 10 with the guys. I don’t remember the last time I was up and out of the house that early. I actually had to set my alarm to make sure I got up earlier than usual so I could eat something and be ready.

Snatch

Imagine that, another 3RM.

2x3x20kg
3×40
3×50
3×60
3×70
3×75
3×80
1×85, miss
miss, 3×85

Happy to have fought and made that final set. I’ll take it since 90+ is usually where my consistency with singles goes out the window. I think I’ve done a TnG triple with 165, but never tried multiple reps at much more than. PR ✅

Bench Press

Three working sets of doubles with 90%.

10×95#
6×135
4×165
2×185
2×215
2×235
2×245
2x2x255

Was feeling good and it’s been 18 months or so since I tried a max, so I went bumped it up on the last two sets. Got ’em, but barely.

Back Squat

Three working sets of 4 @ 80%.

4×185#
4×225
4×275
3x4x305

Not used to this, but felt better than I expected.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

10 OHS (95#)
100 DU
20 Russian KBS (70#)

I scaled back from the Rx 135#. Probably should have tried 115, but I’m fine with it. I incleaned the swings up from 53#. The dubs were by far the worst part. After hitting 60 unbroken in my second set of the first round I missed about 5 times to get the last 15-20. Each round I had way too many misses after 1 or 2 reps, which costs a lot of time. Overhead squats and swings were all unbroken. Finished in 11:52.

Will try to get in my final Tabata thruster day tomorrow, but we’ll see how I feel after going out tonight.

Bro!

Feeling a bit beat up today and originally planned a rest day, but switching it up to try to get on a schedule with Bryan.

Bench Press

10×45#
6×95
6×135
3×185
3×205
3×225
3x3x235

Working sets at 85%. Wasn’t sure how it would go. Definitely felt awkward with so much weight on the bar after not having done much benching in a long time. Spotters said it looked easy though.

Dumbbell Bench Press

15 reps with 40# DBs. Yep, only one set. That’s the heaviest we have at the gym.

Dumbbell Fly

15 – 20# DBs
2×15 – 30# DBs

Strict Ring Dips

3×12 – all unbroken!

Skull Crushers

12 – 20# DBs
12 – 30# DBs

Was not pretty with the 30s. Felt like we should have had a wall of mirrors at the gym for this session!

Conditioning

5-10-15-20

Push Press (95#)
T2B

Have I not done enough push presses and gymnastics since Saturday? Unbroken on the first 3 sets and was hoping I’d be able to do the 20 but no way; went 12-8. Went 5 and 10 unbroken with toes to bar, then 6-5-4, and 6-5 before I hit my wall and had to finish with singles. Finished in 5:01.

Sunday Shoulders

Rested the last couple of days after the holiday. I was still sore from thrusters until yesterday afternoon. Met up with a few people at the gym. Did a little bottom squat hold and shoulder stretching.

Strength – Bench Press

10×45#
8×95
6×135
4×165
4×185
4×205
4×225

Been awhile since I’ve benched.

Thruster Attack – Week 3 Workout 1

3 Sets

10 Rounds
- 20s work (35#)
- 10s rest
2:30 Rest

Did 8 each 20 seconds again for a total of 240 reps. Actually feeling easier.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

50 DU
10 Pull-ups
16 Lunges
20 Push-ups
25 V-ups

I messed up after 27 dubs on both of the first two sets and then did the second 2 unbroken. Went 5-5 on pull-ups, slow lunges, 9-7-4 on push-ups, and then 3 rounds of 10-9-6 v-ups with 10-5-5-5 to finish up. Took me 15:52.

Thumping

Was planning to beat the heat and lift before golfing so I woke up early. Wasn’t feeling it though so I got in a 21 minute ROMWOD instead. Walked 18 holes and it was a sticky one today. Was already getting one of my headaches on the 14th hole. Ate, relaxed, and took a long cold shower before getting to the gym at 5:30, still with the head pounding. Started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Snatch Push Press + 3 OHS

Three second pause in bottom of each squat.

Went 10 pounds heavier than last week and was much more stable overhead.

Tall Power Snatch + OHS

3×45#
3×75
3×95
3×105
3×115
3×125
3×135

Started using straps with 95#. By the end of the first week my hands felt raw. Not going to let that happen this week. I remember a triple with 145 being a struggle in the squat and this was pretty easy for powers.

Snatch Deadlifts

Three second pause above knee on descent.

5×185#
5×205
2x5x215

Used straps for all sets, but still uncomfortable on my thumbs.

Bench Press

5×45#
5×95
5×125
5×155
5×185
5×205
5×225

Been wanting to get in a bench session for a weeks since my last heavy session fell off on BTWB and I haven’t benched 200+ since January. Since today was pretty light and low volume it seemed like a good day for it. Felt much heavier than it should have, being 15# below my best set of 5.

Finished with Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap.

Ready for the 2016 Games

Got out to Cali yesterday, watched some of the teens and Masters at the Games and then watched the team Murph event. Froning’s Mayhem Freedom team was impressive in their pacing, as expected, and blew everyone away after coming in at about 20th place after the first run.

Bryan and I went to the hotel’s fitness center this morning before heading out around Los Angeles for touristy stuff. Warmed up with 400 meters on the treadmill.

5 Sets

10 DB Bench Press (50# DBs)
10/10 Single Leg RDL (45# DBs)

4 Sets

10 Push Press (45# DBs)
20 Russian Twists (50# DB)
10/10 Kroc Rows (50# DB)

Worked up quite a sweat! Probably won’t do much of anything until Monday.