Bench Press

Just Run

Wanted to get on the water in the kayak this morning, but it looked pretty rough, so I laced up my shoes instead. It was a relaxing slow run, without any concern for speed, staying in the 11-12 minute per mile pace. After about a mile I decided I’d run until 45 minutes. Ended up being 3.95 miles. Walked about a half mile back to the cottage.

Went over to the Presque Isle Clubhouse with Heather and her clan to swim and hit the hot tub. I went to their little fitness area first.

Started with a couple of machines to get some leg work…

4 Sets

10 Prone Leg Curl (set @ 10 of 20)
10/10 Glute Machine (set @ 10 of 14)

Could use a lot more of this type of stuff.

5 Sets

10 DB Bench Press (50# DBs)
10 DB Front Squats (50# DBs)

Worked up a nice sweat and was breathing hard after doing them back-to-back. Probably rested about 2 minutes between sets.

4 Sets

8/8 Kroc Rows (50#)

No extra rest; went from one arm to the other until completed.

Go Fast

Walked 18 holes yesterday and enjoyed the rest day. In to the gym before the 10am class. Had to get some shit done before leaving town to golf.

Pause Back Squats – E3M

10×45#
8×135#
6×185#
3×225#
3×255#
3×275#
3×295#
3×305#

Short one second pause in the hole. Felt really good.

Rowing Sprint

250m Row

The fitness level on BTWB dropped off a good time and started using an interval 250m, which was a really low ranking. I usually do pretty well when I go for a hard row after lifting and today was no exception. I used the sprint rowing start and nearly set a 100m PR in the process. My goal was a sub 1:19/500m pace to beat my 0:39.7 best. Smoked it with a 38.3!! Didn’t expect that. It was less than a year ago when I set a goal of breaking 40 seconds for the first time.

Accessory

I wanted to do some kind of pressing and hadn’t benched in a long time so went by Prilepin’s Chart and combined with the rows.

10 Bench Press (45#)
5 Bench Press (135#)
4/4 Landmine Rows (45#)
5 Bench Press (165#)
4/4 Landmine Rows (60#)
5 Sets
- 5 Bench Press (185#)
- 4/4 Landmine Rows (75#)

Could have gone heavier on the landmine rows. Bench was easy but was enough and based on the chart anyway.

No feels in my left shoulder. 👍🏻 Going to stay away from gymnastics work on the bar for a couple more weeks and then hopefully I should be good to go with all movements again.

Dubbin’

3:00 AMRAP – Double Unders

I planned on 2:00 but was missing so much I went an extra minute. Only got 215 reps compared to 187 I’ve done in 2:00. Horrible.

The Pacer

Warm one yesterday walking 18 holes. Actually felt some fatigue in my legs this morning. Got to the gym early, so jumped in on some bench press with Alex.

10×45#
10×95
10×135
10×165
10×185

Felt heavy at 135, but seemed better after that.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

Jumping jacks
Mountain climbers
Plank
Air squats
Bottom Squat Hold

I think we were switching every 15-20 seconds.

Conditioning

24:00 AMRAP – Team of 3

Person A: 200m Run (pace setter)
Person B: 10 Burpees
Person C: 10 Wall Balls (30#, 10′)

Ideally B & C get some rest while waiting for the runner to get back. Teamed up with Bryan and Weston. I started with wall balls, got through 8 rounds plus my wall balls and nearly finished the run with about 20 meters left. My pace on the runs felt really good today, even with the heat and humidity.

Midline Mash-up

2 Rounds

30s Plank
20s Plank Push-ups
10s Plank
30s Side plank
30s Side plank

It was a Tabata but I skipped the rest since we were rotating movements.

Grilled out and played some Spike Ball.

This fucking heat is exhausting. One of my first projects when I got home from a work trip is to replace a couple of in-wall air conditioning units; one doesn’t work anymore and the controls are broke on the other one. They must be at least 15 years old. After feeling lazy all day I got off my ass and headed to the track.

Aerobic Capacity – VO2 Max

13 Rounds

200m Run (slow)
200m Run (mile PR pace – goal of 46s)

I decided to start with a slow 200m to warm-up a bit instead of running a final slow one at the end. The slow pace doesn’t really matter for this workout and continued to get slower and slower. Didn’t get that first pace right (maybe due to the faster “slow” 200 to start), but fell in after that and pushed on the way home.

1:23.0 – 0:50.6
1:30.7 – 0:46.8
1:35.1 – 0:46.1
1:38.0 – 0:44.5
1:39.4 – 0:44.0
1:42.1 – 0:43.8
1:42.1 – 0:43.6
1:45.4 – 0:43.7
1:46.8 – 0:44.5
1:46.7 – 0:42.8
1:48.6 – 0:41.8
1:52.7 – 0:40.0
1:54.0 – 0:38.1

Burnin’

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.

A Lot of Dubs

Really didn’t want to get up after being out late for drinks, but wanted to get in my workout with a bunch of stuff to take care of at work the rest of the day. Made it to 9am though.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
3 Sets
- 10 PVC pass thrus
- 10 Russian KBS (44#)
- 10 Hollow Rocks
- 10 Supermans

Strength

5 Sets

12 DB Bench Press (40#)
5 Strict HSPU

Could tell I haven’t done handstand push-ups in a few weeks.

Conditioning

Buy-in: 200 DU
10 Rounds
- 15 Air squats
- 10 Push-ups
Cash-out: 200 DU

Started with 91 unbroken I think. Took me just under 2:30 for that first set of dubs. All air squat sets were controlled and unbroken, making sure to hit full range of motion. I 8 sets of quick 5-5 push-ups and then finished with 2 unbroken sets. Moved on to double unders before the 10 minute mark and finished at 12:37. I know I started with a set of 50 and finished with 4 sets of 20, with whatever else sprinkled in the middle. Shoulders were really burning at that point so sets of 20 was all I could handle. We were going to run 600m but adjusted with the rain.

Midline

60 Side Bends (44#)

I did 10 per side and swapped sides without stopping until I was done. Little extra oblique work while a few people finished up the workout.

I’ll do some ROMWOD tonight.

Keep Moving, But Slow

My ass is surprising a little sore from yesterday. Got to the gym early again so I could knock out some strength work in case there was a big class. Did Crossover Symmetry Activation first thing when I got there.

Strength & Midline

E3M – 7 Sets

10 DB Bench Press (40# DBs)
10 Weighted GHD Sit-ups (20# MB)

Started out as plan to do 5 sets, then figured I’d do 6 so set the clock for that, but added a final set when the timer ran out.

Class Warm-up

400m Run
3 Sets
- 5/5 Bar Taps (tight/dynamic)
- 15 V-ups

V-ups were harder than they normally would be, due to 70 reps on the GHD.

Conditioning

30:00 EMOM (alt) – Aerobic Circuit

40s Row
40s OH Hold (45# bar)
40s Lateral Box Step Overs (14″)
40s Bicycle Crunches
2/2 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)

I think the aerobic days might be turning into my favorite (at least for now). Always surprising how much of a sweat we work up moving slow. Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Plyo and the purple band snapped at the end! 😦 Will hit some ROMWOD tonight.

Too Heavy on the Bench

Woke up and out in the garage a little after 8. My hamstrings are still sore from the RDLs.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
2 Sets – StrongFit Tricep Openers (8#)
Bench Press
- 5×45#
- 5×95#
- 5×135#

Strength

E3M – 5 Sets

11 Bench Press (165#)
24 Alternating DB Curls (20#)

I know exactly why I decided to start with 165# last week on the bench work but it’s way too much over my 50%. I remembered doing 10 sets of 10 with 155# this winter with Bryan and figured I should go heavier than that. Last half of sets were slow this morning, too slow. Should be using 140-145 instead. The curls are still easy.

Midline

50 GHD Sit-ups

Took me about 56-57 seconds for the first 25 and finished in 2:11. I had to start taking a few extra breath and breaking things up after 30 reps. I knew the 3:40 on March 1st was not a representative effort.

Took a break during the day and knocked out video 4 of the ROMWOD Welcome Series.

Headed to the gym at 4:30 to do Bryan’s Outlaw lifting with him.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
45# Snatch Warm-up
- Bottom Squat Hold
- Muscle Snatches
- Snatch Presses in Squat
- OHS

Snatch Pull + Power Snatch + Squat Snatch

40kg
50
60
65
70

Easy stuff. Looks like he’s on a deload week. Also through up an 80 kilo power snatch after.

OHS

3×95#
3×125
3×145
2×165
3×175

I was using a 33X1 tempo and then lost the final rep with 165 while in the hole. I also didn’t have my grip all of the way out in a snatch width for any of those sets. No tempo and a snatch grip on my final set. I really need work on my stability with these.

Clean Lift Off w/ 5s Hold at Knee

3×145#
3×195
3×220
3×230
3×245

Minimal rest between each rep. These were rough on the hook grip, but I felt better with them than I expected.

Back Rack Reverse Lunge

3/3 @ 135#
3/3 @ 165
3/3 @ 175
3/3 @ 190

I really like the reverse lunges. Not only is it better on the forward knee, but I feel like I can control the descent a lot easier and get full depth instead of banging my knee into the ground like on a forward step. Felt much more comfortable than with the overhead ones earlier this week.

Bamboo Bar Stability Work

30s Hold (52#)
30m Walk (52#)
30m Walk (68#)
3 Sets
- 30s Hold (84#)

Challenging! Used 25# KBs, then added 8s, and 8s again.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

1:00 AMRAP
- Thrusters (95#)
2:00 Rest

Really wanted to try these that were done in class earlier in the week. Right after that overhead stability work was not my best idea though. My reps were 24-23-19. Last round was nasty! I actually even rested in the bottom of a squat for about 5 seconds it was hurting so bad.

Finished up the ROMWOD Welcome Series later in the evening. Seems like a busy day but all of that really didn’t take too long.

Baby It

Yesterday I started doing all kinds of hip impingement corrective exercises and banded distractions. Seems to be helping. Hamstrings and quads are still pretty damn sore, so I’m hoping it’s just something minor causing the hip pain. One more day in the garage so I don’t aggravate the hip.

Warm-up

3:00 Ski Erg (645m)
Crossover Symmetry Activation
Bench Press
- 5×45#
- 5×95
- 5×135

Strength & Accessory

E3M – 5 Sets

10 Bench Press (165#)
10/10 Curls (alternating, 20# DB)

Wouldn’t have wanted to go any heavier on the bench.

E3M – 5 Sets

10 Romanian Deadlift (135#)
10 Pullovers (50# DB)

Can go heavier on the RDLs.

Conditioning – Ski Erg

4x
- 20s Sprint
- 2:40 Rest
5:00 Active Rest (after the last 2:40)
4x
- 20s Sprint
- 2:40 Rest

I got this Anaerobic Alactic Endurance workout from an OPEX template. Took me a few rounds to find a rhythm on the Skier, especially trying to get the pace up as fast as possible. In the first 4 rounds I thought it was too easy, but by the last two it was starting to get harder to hold pace and take longer to recover. I walked around the garage during the active rest period. My meters were 107-111-114-114 and 115-116-115-114. Briefly got down to 1:20/500m a couple of times.

Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap.

Easy Easter

Easy Sunday heading into some deload for me after the Open.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Bottom Squat Hold
Bar Hang
Close Grip Bench Press
- 8×45#
- 8×95#

Strength – Accessory

4 Sets

8 Close Grip Bench Press (145#)
4/4 Bulgarian Split Squats (44# KBs)

Conditioning

30:00 Aerobic EMOM (alt)

40s Plank (on hands, lean forward on wrists for bonus)
40s Row
15 Ring Curls
Box step-overs (14″)
40s Russian KBS (35#)

I started doing hand-to-hand swings because it was so easy with that weight.

Midline

8 Rounds (Tabata)

20s Hollow Hold
10s Rest

Last 3 were a fight, but held on through each round.

Shoulder Stability – Bamboo/Earthquake Bar

4 Sets – 10 Bench Press (26# KB on each side)
4 Sets – Seated OH Hold (52#)

Kept it light so I didn’t have to risk smacking myself in the face. I did all of the bench sets, raised the J-cups on the rig, and then all of the OH holds. Probably held at least 20-30 seconds each time.

Little Bitch

No problems getting out of bed this morning! 🙂 Went in early before the 4:30 class.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
500m Row

Then I was going for a new 1,000m row PR. I went out aggressive wanted to get my pace under 1:30 in the first 250 and then fall back. I did it, but after 500 started to really fall off the pace and feel terrible. I ended up bitching out and quitting at 740 meters. 😦 My average pace at the time was 1:32.7, so still well under what I needed to beat my previous 3:11. I’m kind of glad I stopped though because I was feeling it for about 15 minutes without even giving it that final 250 meter push. Some other day.

Strength

Bench Press (3-0-X-0 Tempo)

3x3x45#
3×95#
3×125#
3×145#
3×165#
3×185#
3×205#

Not sure I’ve done tempo on the bench before. Felt solid.

Conditioning

15-12-9-6-3 Burpees
60-48-36-24-12 Double Unders

It was supposed to be burpees and pull-ups but I did a few pull-ups and it was pretty bad on my shoulder. So I went with 4x reps on the dubs. Missed once. Finished in 5:04.

Rested 3:00 and then did…

2:00 AMRAP

Burpees

Got through 38 reps.

Midline

10:00 EMOM

2 Turkish Get-ups

I did 2 sets with 35#, 4 sets with 44#, and 4 sets with 50#.

Lauren was talking about doing something and Jason suggested my old favorite. So I whipped up a scaled version for her and jumped in.

“Annie”

50-40-30-20-10

Double Unders
Sit-ups

A few reps in I realized I forgot about grabbing DBs to anchor my feet down. If I had been alone I would have stopped. Makes a huge difference. I tripped up once starting the set of 30 because I wasn’t concentrating enough. Still not a bad time with a 6:24 though, which is 25 second off my best.