Bench Press

Ten By Tens

Last night my tight back started to turn into a back tweak. Grrr! I could barely get out of bed this morning. So much for doing Open workout 13.2 like I’ve been trying to plan and looked forward to. I even got to the gym about 30 minutes early to do some mobility and see if I could loosen things up enough to be able to do the deadlifts and box jumps.

Warm-up

3 Rounds

10s Bar Hang
5/5 Bar Taps (tight/dynamic)
10 Heel Drives
20s HS Hold
30 DU

The dubs were not fun so I knew right there I should not attempt the workout. So I jumped in with Bryan on some bench while everyone did the metcon. I also did some mobility stuff I’ve found for relieving low back pain.

Strength & Accessory

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
10x10x155

Barbell Curl

8x10x45#

The curls were alternated with the sets of bench.

Midline

5 Rounds

20s L-hang
20s Rest
20s HS Hold
20s Rest

Skill / Midline

3 Rounds

1:00 Shotguns
1:00 Rest
1:00 Pistols
1:00 Rest
1:00 Step-ups (20″)
1:00 Rest

I didn’t think I’d be able to do the pistols because they usually put a lot of stress on my back, but they were fine. Subbed in step-ups instead of the double unders I had programmed. I did 37-39-37 shotguns, 20-22-20 pistols, and 22-24-25 step-ups.

Wanted to get my heart rate up a little so I stayed after.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

200′ Shuttle (4×50′)
10 Shoulder Press (65#)

Oh boy, my shoulders and chest are going to be feeling it after these and the bench press sets. I did the first 5 sets unbroken, then broke up the sets in half until grinding out the final set. Took me 9:24 to finish.

Did a little more mobility work before heading home.

Something New

Felt a little sick shoveling snow this morning but I think it was the extra caffeine I had in the Protein Energy mix this morning.

Warm-up

PVC Pass-thrus
Band Pulls

Strength – Bench Press

8×45#
8×95
4×135
4×165
4×195
4×215
4×230
4×245 (PR)

Felt heavy and the lift-off bugged me. Maybe due to my shoulder? Wanted to get 245-250 after getting 5×240 a couple weeks ago so I’ll take it.

Conditioning

Open Workout 11.6 / 12.5
7:00 AMRAP
3-6-9-12…

Thruster (100/65)
C2B Pull-up

My previous best was finishing the round of 12 and getting 6 more thrusters. Today I finished the 15s and a thruster. PR by 25 reps!

The pull-ups did not feel good on my shoulder in the first 3 sets. Maybe it just went numb after that. I did 3 & 6 unbroken then when I had to do 3-3-singles I was worried. I think maybe it was just the quick turnaround from the set of 6, because I did the rounds of 12 and 15 with sets of 3s no problem. Thrusters were unbroken through 9, then 7-5 and 6-5-4. If I had to do it again soon I’d try the 12 unbroken, do the 15 in 2 sets and try to do chest to bar in all sets of 3 except for the 6.

Midline / Skill

4 Sets
- 20s L-sit (rings)
- 10s Rest
30s Rest
4 Sets
- 20s Handstand Hold
- 10s Rest
30s Rest
4 Sets
- 20s Double Unders
- 10s Rest

The L-sits seemed a lot harder than usual after that workout. This was a tough little combination on the shoulders. I went 35-36-35-25 on double unders. Missed up twice back-to-back on the last set and didn’t have time to start back up.

Skill

30 Inverted Burpees

I’ve wanted to do try these but always forget. Was reminded of them a CrossFit HQ video this week. Pretty fun. I did sets of 5 and started getting the hand of going from candlestick right into the kick up. For the second half I started kicking up with two feet at once which was something new for me as well. I felt like it worked the shoulders and strength more than a lunge into one leg up at a time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAXfnJUnqDe/

Why Did I Agree To This?

Jason had the bright idea to try “Linda” today. Not sure why I agreed. I guess I’ve been on a benchmark kick lately and figured it was the final workout of the year. Made sure to load up on carbs last night, get to bed early, and even set my alarm so I’d get up and eat some oatmeal this morning before getting to the gym at 9.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
10 GHD Heel Drives
Bench Press
- 5×45#
- 5×115
- 3×165
- 3×195
Squat Clean
- 5×45#
- 3×95
- 3×135
- 3×145
Deadlift
- 5×45#
- 3×155
- 3×265
- 3×295

I wasn’t planning on doing cleans touch-n-go but something in my head got me doing them that way in the warm-up. Definitely put on the belt for the 295# deadlift and kept it on through the workout, usually loosening it during bench press so I could breath better.

“Linda”

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Deadlift @ 1.5x bodyweight (315#)
Bench press @ 1x bodyweight (210#)
Clean (squat) @ 0.75x bodyweight (157.5#)

I started out 4-3-3 for the deadlift and bench press, then did combinations of as many threes and twos until the single at the end. I grabbed the bar for the cleans and did 3 tng to start then 7 singles. After that I didn’t do a single until the final rep. All threes and twos there though I did the set of 4 unbroken. With having to rest so much between bench press sets I had the lungs to string the cleans together. I’m not sure it was really any faster than singles because I’d take a nice little break between sets. There is a lot of resting in this workout. Finished in 31:42. I’m not looking forward to how my body is going to feel for the next few days.

The alternative name “Three Bars of Death” is much more fitting for this benchmark.

As long as that took, I think it took longer to get everything set, warm-up, and then clean-up took forever. Happy New Year!

Quad Burner

My hands ached bad when I woke up. I wasn’t paying attention to walking down the steps because I was so focused on it and ended up falling on my ass and slid down 3 stairs. That woke me up! My legs were a little wobbly too. Didn’t think I did much yesterday.

Warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Strength – Bench Press

5×45#
5×95
5×135
5×165
5×185
5×205
5×215
5×225
5×235
5×240

Really had no idea what to expect here. The chart we have said a 5RM for 270 would be 236, so this was about right for my 275. Not sure I could have got all 5 with another 5# on the bar.

Conditioning

“Klepto” – 4 Rounds

27 Box Jumps (24″)
20 Burpees
11 Squat Cleans (145#)

I jumped without rebounds in round 1. After doing the first 2 squat cleans, I could feel my back would never hold up with box jumps, so I did step-ups for the other 3 rounds. Burpees were the rest and just kept moving. Cleans were all singles, but back on the bar quick. Was through 2 rounds at exactly 9:00 and finished everything at 18:29.

Going to start going with shorter met-cons on Sunday going forward to build that intensity up. Should have a solid base after all of the rowing and the last month of long Sunday workouts.

Midline / Shoulders

50 reps – 1/4 Get-ups (53#)

Originally programmed Turkish, but legs were smoked from the workout and didn’t feel like standing up. Broke it up into 10 each arm and then 15 each arm.

Benchin’ Bro

Power went out on the entire side of town by the gym, so no evening class like I had planned. Headed out to the garage around 5:30

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Bench Press
- 10×45#
- 5×95#

Strength-ish

100 Bench Press (135#)

Saw this on Instagram the other day and figured it would be fun to try, just wasn’t expecting to do it so soon.

As recommended I started out doing 5 reps every 30 seconds. In the beginning it was consistently like a reverse tabata but then it started to get hard around 50 reps and I could feel myself slowing down. I was getting closer and closer to 15 seconds of work. I made it to 85 reps with the sets of 5 and decided to try and push a little to see if I could get ahead of the E30S pace. So I switched to sets of 3 with shorter rests. Wasn’t easy, but got those 5 sets in to finish at 9:37 on the clock.

Accessory

6 Sets

10 Pendlay Rows (95#, supinated grip)
10 Back Extensions (30#)

Chest and back bro!

Conditioning

Through the 17 weeks of Rowing WOD I was staying away from the Ski Erg. Time to hop back on.

E3M 15:00

300m Ski Erg

Just what the doctor ordered. Times were 59.2, 58.4, 58.8, 59.7, and 59.0. The Fitbit says my heart rate only got up to 131. haha Yeah right! I’ll have to try wearing it higher on my wrist.

Death Due to the Rower

Didn’t make it to the gym until after 6pm.

Warm-up

8 Reverse Hyper (160#)
10 Front Squats (45#)
10 Bench Press (45#)
8 Reverse Hyper (160#)
5 Front Squats (155#)
5 Bench Press (135#)
8 Reverse Hyper (160#)
5 Front Squats (185#)
5 Bench Press (165#)
8 Reverse Hyper (160#)
5 Front Squats (215#)
5 Bench Press (190#)

Strength

10:00 EMOM (alt)

5 Front Squats (235#)
5 Bench Press (205#)

Front squats went pretty well. Bench got pretty hard by the last set. The combination was rough on the wrists.

Rowing WOD Week 16 Session 1

6 Rounds – Every 2:30
- 19 Calorie Row (+2 from last week)
- 10 Burpees over the Rower (+1 from last week)
5:00 Rest
For Time
- 38 Calorie Row (2x above)
- 20 Burpees over the Rower (2x above)

Fucking deadly. My intervals were done in 1:00, 1:04, 1:07, 1:09, 1:09, 1:14. Then I hit a huge wall just after 20 of the 38 calories. Took me about 1:27 for the calories and 3:17 total. That’s a long time to do 20 burpees! I had to take an extra step to get me closer to the rower and make sure I didn’t trip over it. I was so dead.

3rd week in a row of this brutal combo of calorie rowing and burpees over the rower. Each week it’s been bad. Slight headache each time and couldn’t leave the gym for at least a half hour after finishing. Total of 1,377 and 467 meters for the 2 parts.

Tricks & Treats

Pretty tired from not getting much sleep the last two nights. Damn Halo! 🙂 We kind of did some fun unusual stuff today at the gym.

Warm-up

Did 4 rounds of Rowling. Hard to do a lot with a big group.

Strength

Speed Bench Press

10x3x155#

Warmed up with 10×45 and 3×135#. Didn’t want anyone to go over 60%.

Conditioning

100 Partner Wall Ball Tosses over object

Most people went over a pull-up bar. Bryan and I went over a stack of boxes for more space. We had them stacked 24-30-30″. Pretty fun going unbroken.

We split into 3 teams and did a relay race with:

4 Rounds

20 cal Row
15 Sandbag Toss over Shoulder
Move Shit

I think I had a 20# MB, 35# KB, and 53# KB set out for each team. We had to take all of the objects down about 30-40 feet and then back to the starting point. Teams had 4 people so you got a little rest waiting for your turn. Each station could only have one person working and you couldn’t move on until the person in front of you was done.

Back Home

Still not the greatest night of sleep, but at least I started to be able to roll over like a normal human being at some point during the night. Looking forward to sleeping in my bed for a few days. Left Long Lake just before 9am this morning. Chilled out once I got home and then out to the garage.

10×45#
5×95#
5×115#
5×135#
5×155#
5×175#
5×195#
5×205#
5×215#
3×225#

The safety straps are hard to set in any decent spot for bench press. At the end I kept hitting them and one side of the bar would sort of rebound off, causing a weird imbalance. So without a spotter I didn’t want to push it and fail or push it to where I’d strain my back.

Front Squat

10×45#
5×95#
10:00 EMOM – 3×135#

Wanted to move under load, especially since my back is starting to feel better. The front squats kept most of the load off the back. Not heavy, but get some blood pumping into the big muscles.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

30s Ski Erg
30s Rest
30s Air Dyne (AD2)
30s Rest

Used the first few rounds to feel out pace and warm up my body a bit more. It was hot in the garage with only the back door cracked open. I picked up the pace as the rounds went on. Didn’t allow myself to bend over during any rest periods. Felt good. I totaled 1,513 meters on the 🎿 Erg and 3.5 kilometers on the AD.

Bench It Out

Vacation! Need to get back on a better sleep routine. The only time I’ve ever taken a break this long from work is over the holidays.

Out in the garage around 9 before packing and heading up north. Warmed up with an easy 5:00 Air Dyne.

Back Squat

10×45#
5×135#
5×205#
5×245#
5x5x280#

Start of week 4. Felt really good.

2015-07-11-back-squats

Conditioning

15:00 AMRAP

5 Bench Press (115#)
10 GHD Sit-ups
5 Power Snatch (95#)
5 Ring Rows (feet on 18″ box)

Almost 4 years and I don’t think I’ve ever done a workout with bench press in it. Wanted to pick stuff that I won’t be able to do this week. Went unbroken on everything and ended up with 8 rounds plus bench, GHDs, and 3 of the snatches. Was able to keep a pretty consistent pace throughout. Helps that there is that bit of built-in rest getting setup for these movements and walking around the garage from station to station.

After a rest I jumped back on the bench for a big set. Wasn’t sure how far I’d be able to go. Around 20 I started feeling it on my wrists. Stopped it at 30×115#.

Another 10

Busy week at work with a big launch. Got to the gym for last bench night in a while. Warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

No B.S. Bench Press

Last week of the 2nd cycle. That means MAX OUT!

10×45#
5×135#
3×185#
2×215#
1×235#
1×250#
1×262.5#
270# (PR)
275# (PR)

Yeah! That’s another 10# making it 25# total in the 20 weeks. On the way to three hundy. Seems pretty far away still, but much closer than at 250 where I started. I felt the last 3 reps in my abs, which has never happened before.

Took more time than planned, but to be expected when taking time for PR reps. So didn’t have time to do any weightlifting since I wanted to get in the squats to finish week 2

Back Squat

5×135#
5×205#
3×255#
1×295#
1×320#
6x1x337.5#

Alex squatted with me. Took longer between sets than going E2M like last week. Was still a grind.