Tag: Bird Dog

Hella Humid

I woke up at 7am to get in an early run.

Year of the Engine – Endurance

36:00 Run

2019-09-15-weather

Check out that humidity! My heart rate was 10-15% higher than an almost identical paced run I did at home last week, so I’m guessing it was due to the humid weather here. I went 3.63 miles. About halfway through the run I could feel a blister forming on the bottom of big toe, in the crease, which seems like a weird spot to get one. I was wearing my Reebok CrossFit Speed TRs, which probably aren’t the best for running any real distance.

After lunch I did the back stability stuff back in my room.

Midline

7-5-3 w/ 10 second holds

  • Curl-up
  • Side Plank
  • Bird dogs

Hilton Bike

Something occurred to me last night after seeing someone’s results for a rowing workout. So I went and looked at my stroke rate for my 5k PR and the average was 22. Compare that to my 30 from yesterday. Are my legs that much weaker since I can’t squat or deadlift heavy like I used to? Maybe I need to try a different drag factor on my rower. I was using 133 during a rowing program in 2015 and I want to say I’ve been around 125 lately. Or has my technique gone to shit? Definitely something to investigate when I get home next week.

Year of the Engine – Rocket Race

10 Rounds

  • 45s Stationary Bike
  • 1:30 Rest

Got up early and jumped on a bike in the hotel fitness center. No idea what kind of pace to go on the machine, so this week could be kind of a shit show. I’ll make due with what is available though. Eventually settled on a resistance of 19 and went a total of 4.02 miles. Good quad 🔥.

Midline

7-5-3 w/ 10 second holds

  • Curl-ups
  • Side Planks
  • Bird dogs

This is definitely boring work, but I can feel all the muscles working, so I hope it’ll pay off.

Light Barbell Work

Feeling good. Went to open gym at 10.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 15 Reverse Hypers (90#)

No B.S. Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 8×95
  • 4×135
  • 4×175
  • 4×205
  • 4×225
  • 4x4x240

Still on the low end of the recommended 240-245 for the working sets. Not sure I could have added the extra five pounds to either of the last two sets even. I have to remind myself 245 is my all-time 5RM (which I matched back in May) and I did 16 reps with 240 in this workout. Things are moving in the right direction.

Conditioning

  • E2M – 5 Rounds
    • 10 Power Snatches (75#)
    • 5 Muscle-ups
  • 4:00 Rest
  • E2M – 5 Rounds
    • 10 C&J (75#)
    • 5 Handstand Push-ups

My original version of this was using 95 and 115, but I switched to 75 and 95 yesterday. I did the first 4 sets of muscle-ups unbroken with a near failure on the last rep of those. Then I finished with 3-1-1. After struggling towards the end of the first couplet, I decided to stay at 75 for the clean and jerks. I also added an extra two minutes of rest because I was not recovering fast enough. As soon as I went for my first strict HSPU I knew it was going to have to change. I did 3-2 and 5×1 strict before switching to unbroken sets of 5 kipping for the other 3 rounds. I probably could have continued with 5×1 strict, but I wanted some rest time!

Damn, that light barbell can really give you a great workout. Too many people think you need to go heavy all the time and keep adding more weight.

Midline

6-4-2 with 10 second holds

  • Curl-up
  • Side Plank
  • Bird Dog

Increased from the 5-3-1 since it had been easy. This was definitely more of a challenge, but the workout may have contributed to that.

Did a bunch of yard work, ran some errands, and then was out in the garage by 8pm

Year of the Engine – Polarized

26:00 Airdyne

** Endurance pace with 7s sprint @ 6, 12, 18, 24

Went 692 calories and 14.93 km.

Core Stability Prehab/Rehab

The doctor thinks I might be suffering from allergies and some bronchitis, so I got an antibiotic, an inhaler (well, I should be able to get this tomorrow), and started taking an allergy pill. I was out in the garage during lunch.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

24:00 Airdyne

** Endurance pace with 7s sprint @ 5, 10, 15, 20

My legs were definitely tired from yesterday and my quads are starting to get sore. I did 665 calories and 14.02 km.

Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

  • 300m Row
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10 PVC Pass throughs
    • Front rack stretch (both arms)
    • 8 KB Swings (35#)
    • 5 HR Push-ups
  • C&J
    • 5×45#
    • 5×95

Conditioning

E4M – 5 Rounds

  • 5 Power C&J (135-155-175-195-215#)
  • 400m Run

The percentages were set at 50, 60, 65, 70, and 75. These numbers I picked would be pretty spot on based off of all-time max, so it felt good to hit them in this. I did all singles and wore my belt for the last 3 sets. Each round took 10-15 seconds longer than the previous one, which I thought was pretty good. I think my first round was around 2:10 and the last one was around 2:50.

10-20-30-40-50

  • Russian KB Swings (53#)
  • Push-Ups

It was programmed with Americans, but I did Russian swings and was able to go unbroken on all of them. I’ve done over 350 swings in the last 3 days! I did 10 unbroken push-ups to start and then all sets of 5 through 15 (maybe) of the 50 when I started doing mostly triples. Finished in 9:36.

Midline

5-3-1 of each movement with 10 second holds

  • Curl-up
  • Side Plank
  • Bird Dog

I read a good article about core stability for low back issues this weekend so I am going to start doing their recommendations and see if it makes a difference for me.

Kettlebell Thrusters

Body feels good. Went to open gym at noon.

Active Life – Shoulder Abduction 10

2 Sets

  • 100/100m Single Arm OH Carry (35# KB)

Conditioning

  • 1-2-3…10 Kettlebell Thrusters (35# KBs)
  • 5-10-15…50 Double Unders

Programmed it with dumbbells but figured I’d try something different with the kettlebells. Unbroken on all of the thrusters. Missed a double under in the round of 15 and another in the set of 40 otherwise all unbroken. Took me 7:59.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 5 Evil Wheels
  • 5 Pendlay Rows (135#)
  • 10 Bird Dogs (3s pause)
  • 5 Box Jumps

Warmed up a little with 5×45 and 5×95 Pendlay rows and 5 box jumps at 24 and 30 inches. Wanted the box jumps to be high. I used 36″ for two sets, then 38.25 and 40.5. Little intimidating looking at the stack after not having jumped anything big in a long time, but no issues when I went for them.

Backdate

I noticed I had an unpublished draft for my January 26th workout and then I accidentally published it for yesterday instead of backdating it. Fixed the date now.

Active Life – Single Leg Bias

  • 8 Tabata Side Shuffles (5m)
  • 3:00 Bottom Squat Hold
  • 10s L Hang
  • 10/10 Leg Abducted Rocking
  • 10/10 Lateral Leg Swings

Made it 52 lengths for the shuffles.

Conditioning

15:00 Airdyne

Just something low impact for today after going pretty heavy with the power cleans yesterday. Went 4.8 miles.

Active Life – Back Max

3 Rounds

  • 5 Cat Camel
  • 5/5 Thoracic Extension Rotation
  • 10 Alternating Bird Dog

3 Rounds

  • 10 Alternating Double DB Walking Lunge (50# DBs)
  • 10 Strict T2B
  • 10 Double DB Front Squat (50# DBs)

Wasn’t getting my feel all the way up to the bar.

I’m Sore-y

Yesterday was a rest day. My shoulders were starting to feel pretty wrecked, my abs randomly cramped all day, and my back was a little tight. Today I can’t straighten my elbows, most of my upper body and core is sore, but my legs and back feel fine.

Active Life – Single Leg Bias

Warm-up – 3 Rounds

  • 10 Sumo Inchworms
  • 10 Sumo Stance Good Mornings (45#)

Workout – 4 Rounds

  • 20 Sumo Deadlifts (135#)
  • 10/10 Sciatic Nerve Flossing

Active Life – Back Max

3 Rounds

  • 5 Cat Camel
  • 10 Thoracic Extension Rotation
  • 10 Bird Dog

I paused two seconds at each position.

3 Rounds

  • 10 Double DB Walking Lunge
  • 10 Strict Toes to Bar Strict Hanging Knee Raises
  • 10 Double DB Front Squat

I used 35-40-50 for both movements. Hanging from the bar hurt and there was no chance in hell I could do T2B, so I did knee raises up to hip height.

This was plenty of work so no conditioning today.

Not a Fav

In to the gym tonight since I won’t be here this weekend.

Active Life – Singe Leg Bias

Warm-up

  • 10/10 Lateral Step Overs
  • 3 Sets
    • 8/8 Eccentric Ankle Dorsiflexion

Workout – 3 Sets each arm

  • 10 One Arm KB Front Squat (53#)
  • 10 Groiners
  • 1:00 Rest

I was out of breath from this.

Conditioning

  • ** EMOM – 7 Wall Balls
    • 25 Burpees
    • 25 Power Cleans (135#)
    • 25 Burpees
  • 5:00 Rest
  • 21-15-9 Thruster (75#)
  • 42-30-18 Sit-up

Took me 7:49 to finish the first part so I ended up doing 56 wall balls. Thrusters felt really good. Finished the entire workout at 18:21.

Active Life – Back Max

12:00 for quality (2 breath holds)

  • 10 Alternating Bird Dog
  • 10 Alternating Dead Bug
  • 20 Side Plank

Decided to set the clock for 15 second intervals instead of trying to do all of the breath + rep counting, figuring there would be enough time wasted switching sides. Problem is that bird dogs and dead bugs are almost an instant switches compared to side planks, which waste about 5 seconds. It was too long and had to start taking rests after 10 seconds on the dead bugs after 5 or 6 of them. Side planks weren’t an issue, though still tough. With the clock running that way got through an entire round and 8 bird dogs. This is my least favorite of all of the back work sessions.

More Snatching

Went to the 4:30 class. Not doing any single-leg bias work today.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • PVC Passes
  • Air Squats
  • Stretching
  • 3 Sets
    • 3 Hang Power Snatch
    • 3 Hang Squat Snatch
    • 5 Burpees

I used 20-25-30kg for my sets.

Weightlifting

All power snatches for me (or at least for heavy reps) until my back is feeling much better.

  • 3x40kg
  • 3×50
  • 3×60
  • 65
  • 70
  • 75
  • 80
  • 83
  • 3 @ 80

Wasn’t feeling the greatest with the 83 (183#), so I dropped off a bit and did some drop sets.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 20 Hang Power Cleans (95#)
  • 20 Front Squats (95#)
  • 20 Push Presses (95#)

Wore my belt. My sets were all over the map. Rested more than I should have and finished in 10:47.

Active Life – Back Max

12:00 for quality

  • 10 Alternating Bird Dog
  • 10 Alternating Dead Bug
  • 20 Alternating Side Plank

Each rep was counted by doing a 2 breath hold and then switching sides. Harder than expected. I can see how this stuff is supposed to help with core stamina. Got through 10 side planks in the 2nd time through.

New Runners

Feeling a little beat from the last couple of workouts. Saturday has become my bench day though

No B.S. Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 6×135
  • 3×165
  • 3×195
  • 3×220
  • 3x3x240
  • 2x3x245

Week 3 of the program called for 5×3 @ 240-245. Was feeling ok, so I did some of each weight.

Accessory – 3 sets

  • 20 Shoulder IYT (purple CS bands)
  • 40s Bird Dog Hold
  • 40s Bird Dog Hold

Conditioning

Laced up my new pair of Reebok Runners and went for an easy 1.92 mile run that took about 19:28. Had to stop at a light and forgot to pause my watch. The shoes have memory foam for the insoles, which felt a little weird as I took off, but as I settled in I didn’t even notice I was wearing a new pair of shoes, so I guess that’s a good sign.