4 In A Row

So much for 3 on 1 off. I saw this WOD and really wanted to do it because I need the work with weighted pull-ups and the push-up reps. Tomorrow is a better day to take off for me anyway because I have the 2nd round of a golf tournament in the morning.

Warm-up

10:00 EOMOTM

  • 7 KBS
  • 12 Wall Balls

The goal was to pick a heavier KB each round. I used 48#, 53#, 62#, 71#, and 80#. That’s the first time I’ve ever swung the 80 pounder; hadn’t even done Russian swings that heavy yet. It felt pretty good. The wall balls were a good way to loosen up after all of the squat work yesterday.

Strength

5 Sets

  • 5-8 Weighted Pull-ups

These were one of the reasons I wanted to come in today. Kind of disappointed with how I did.

  • 8 @ 8#
  • 7 @ 10#
  • 5 @ 12#
  • 4 @ 12#
  • 3 @ 15#, plus a long negative on the last rep

WOD #1

5:00 AMRAP

  • 3 Plyo Push-ups
  • 6 Burpees
  • 9 HR Push-ups

This AMRAP was the other reason I wanted to come in. I need to increase my push-up strength and capacity. Lots of push-up movements here, so no break for the arms. I did 4 rounds plus 11 reps in the next round.

We rested 3 minutes before doing another WOD.

WOD #2

7:00 AMRAP

  • 7 Thrusters (35# DBs)
  • 7 Box Jumps (24″)

The Rx for men was 40# DBs and I grabbed them for about 10 seconds. After thinking about the WOD, I realized I would die so I swapped them for the 35 pounders and I’m so glad I did. In the first round I thought the 35# DBs were even going to be too heavy, but I stuck with it and did each round without putting down the weights. I really had to focus on the hip drive to get those suckers up overhead. The thrusters really wiped me out and negated my box jump advantage. I managed to get 6 rounds and 5 more thrusters.

Finisher

10:00

  • Hold the L-Sit as long as possible
  • 30 Russian Twists (30# KB)

I did the L-Sit on the rings to get that extra work on my upper body and I think it’s harder on the core as well. I was able to hold for about 25-30 seconds each time and surprisingly it was my arms that kept giving out. All of the Russian twists were done unbroken each round. I did 5 total rounds.

I’m glad I went in today because it allowed me to work on some weaknesses. I could tell I wasn’t all-in for today though; definitely not my best effort. Golfing the 2nd round of a tournament with the group of guys I play with in the morning, so it works out better for me to make tomorrow a rest day.

Designed for Me

Yesterday morning I walked 18 holes of golf but took a rest day from CrossFit. I really needed it after the hill sprints on Sunday. Went to the 9am class today.

Warm-up

  • 1m DUs
  • 20 1-arm Russian KBS (10 each arm)
  • 1m DUs
  • 20 Russian KBS
  • 1m DUs
  • 20 Goblet Squats
  • 1m DUs
  • 20 KBS

Right out of the gate I nearly set a PR for unbroken DUs. I get 43, just one shy of tying my PR. I think I get in my head and sabotage myself each time that happens. I had some pretty decent streaks throughout, but got worse as I got more tired. I used a 53# KB for everything.

Strength

Matt is starting to put more focus on strength work and shorter WODs finally. That is one of the things I loved about the box out in Phoenix. I was making big improvements each month in my squats and deadlifts. I haven’t even done a 1 rep max back squat since I came back to Michigan!

I grouped up with Brian and Rick for this.

3 sets

  • Max Reps Right Arm KB Shoulder Press
  • Max Reps Left Arm KB Shoulder Press
  • 2-3m Rest

Started out with a 35# KB and did 19 and 21 reps. Moved up to a 44# and did 11 reps on each side. For the last set I used a 49# and did 8 reps each.

WOD

  • 50 Box Jumps
  • 250m Run
  • 40 Box Jumps
  • 150m Run
  • 30 Box Jumps
  • 100m Run
  • 20 Box Jumps
  • 100m Run
  • 10 Box Jumps
  • 150m Run

If I didn’t know any better I’d say this WOD was designed for me to crush. We were allowed to rebound off the box and off the ground to work on the skills there. I used a 24″ box and finished in 8:54. I did some double rebounding to speed things up, but it really wears you out so I stuck with rebounding off the box most of the time.

Finisher

  • 100 HR Push-ups

I finished in 6:21, beating my 7:48 time from just 3 weeks ago!

12.3 Revisited

While icing yesterday morning after the chiropractor’s office, I got a little frostbite. Ouch!

Warm-up

30-20-10

  • Star Jumps
  • PVC OHS

WOD

18:00 AMRAP

  • 15 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 12 Push Presses (115#)
  • 9 T2B

Look familiar? This was CrossFit Games Open WOD 12.3. It was March 9th when I did it for the Open. Back then I got 5 rounds plus 15 box jumps and 6 push presses. Five months later I improved by more than a round, getting 6 rounds plus 15 box jumps and 7 push presses.

My weakness was still the 115# weight for push presses. I did better on push presses because I was able to rebound off the ground on the majority of the box jumps and I split T2B up into sets of 5 and 4 most of the way.

Finisher

1 Mile Run

Didn’t take much of a rest and then went out for a mile run with a few other people. The run wasn’t going to break any speed records because we were pretty whooped from the WOD. We didn’t even keep track of time.

Long and Heavy

This morning when I woke up everything was sore. Everything. Maybe it was the way I slept or maybe I’m recovering faster and faster, because a few hours later I was feeling just fine. I skipped doing a workout out at the lake, which let me pack up and drive home so I could hit open gym at Survival Fitness. I was really looking forward to some heavy barbell work after being away on vacation with only dumbbells to work with.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 2 rounds
    • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
    • 10 PVC OHS

Strength

Deadlifts

  • 10x 135#
  • 5x 225#
  • 5x 255#
  • 5x 285#
  • 5x 305#
  • 3x 325#

Deadlifting felt good. My grip gave out on the last set so I was only able to get 3 reps. I think that’s more than I’ve ever done for 3 reps, so no complaints.

Power Cleans
* Every minute on the minute for 5 minutes I did the associated number of reps with a weight. After 5 minutes I took about 2 minutes while I changed weights and recovered a bit before starting on the heavier weight for the next 5 minutes.

  • 7x 115#
  • 4x 135#
  • 2x 155#
  • 2x 165#

I’ve never done anything quite like this so it was an experiment. After completing my reps, I had about 30 seconds left in most of the minutes, with slightly more when I got to the last two weight with only 2 reps each. A few months ago 165# was my clean PR and here I am doing it for reps!

WOD

4 rounds

  • 25 HR Push-ups
  • 25 Wall Balls (10′ with 20# MB)
  • 25 Sit-ups
  • 25 Box Jumps (24″)

My plan for this morning was to do “Angie” and I was still thinking about doing it at open gym, maybe with a modification like you see here to turn it into 4 rounds of 25 reps each instead of 100 straight of each movement. After doing the deadlifts and the cleans, my hands were is rough shape and I was close to having some blisters and rips, so it was an easy decision to skip pull-ups.

I decided to substitute wall balls for air squats since I hadn’t done any while away on vacation. Instead of pull-ups I threw in box jumps thinking it would be my rest station. After killing my legs with deadlifts and cleans it was rough to jump. I couldn’t rebound at all.

I completed the WOD in 23:01. Nearly 2 solid hours of work and a great way to come back to town.

A Quick One

As it got into the afternoon I was feeling better than when I woke up this morning. Once I ate lunch, I felt like I could handle a workout, so I gave the food a couple of hours to settle while floating in the lake. Of course laying on my stomach on a floatie tightened up my lower back.

Warm-up

2 rounds

  • 10 PVC OHS
  • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 20 Plyo Lunges

WOD

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

  • Goblet Squats (50# KB)
  • Diamond Push-ups
  • Box Jumps (24″)

This was a pretty easy one. Did it in 7:50. To make it harder I could have done front squats holding 50# DBs, decline push-ups, and box jumps on the 31″ ledge. The quick workout was enough for today though.

Finisher

50 OH Lunges (50# KB)

I broke these up into sets of 15-10-15-10, with short breaks in between the sets. Didn’t time it though. It was some nice work on shoulder stability while also working the legs a bit.

WODing on the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!!

After arriving at the lake and unpacking the vehicle I did a WOD right away so I could eat lunch.

Warm-up

1 Mile Run

I felt good, went for it, and set a new PR with a time of 6:14. I wish I knew what some of my times were from high school track and cross country so I could compare then to now.

WOD #1

5 rounds

  • 20 SDLHP (50# KB)
  • 20 Box Jumps (31″)

I was excited to see some concrete ledges that are perfect for box jumps. I choose the bigger ledge during the WOD of course. Originally I was planning to do 30 box jumps per round, but it didn’t take but a couple of jumps to realize the ledge was so much higher than the 24″ boxes I typically use. After the WOD I got out the tape measure and sure as shit, 31 inches! The smaller ledge is a hair over 24″ and would have been perfect. I got through the 5 rounds with 20 reps on the higher ledge, but coming back down to the ground was hard on my joints.

I finished in 13:19.

Finisher

5 sets

  • 20 Chest to ground Push-ups
  • 1m Rest

The last two sets were pretty tough so I’m glad I didn’t do 5 sets of max reps which I originally planned.

Kayaking

We have a couple of kayaks at the cottage this year, so I took one out for a couple of trips. Wow, what a shoulder and back workout! The first trips was pretty short, but intense. The second time I went out, I went a lot further and did spurts of high intensity. I didn’t know if I’d be able to make it back. It’s a lot of fun building up speed and really getting the kayak to glide through the water. I’ll be doing a lot of that over the next 10 days.

WOD #2

Just after I got back from the long kayaking trip, Dad asked me to come up with a workout for him to try. Of course I wanted to do it with him, so I told him to give me about 30 minutes to recover.

4 rounds

  • 1m Russian KBS (50# KB)
  • 1m Chair Dips
  • 1m Sit-ups
  • 1m Rest

The old man did really well. He did 3 of the rounds, but I don’t think I saw him stop for any rests during the working minutes, which I can’t say for myself. I had him use a 25# DB for the swings

I’m Exhausted

I should have taken a day off somewhere during the week. I just got home from Survival Fitness where I attended the 4:15p class and stayed another hour for open gym. I’m exhausted and could really tell towards the end of the 2 hours. Finally I forced myself to leave. At least I’m out-of-town for the weekend so I can’t get in any WODs. I think all of the squatting we did this week really took a toll on my body too. I’ve never gone 6 days in a row before and now I know why.

Warm-up

100 V-ups
Every minute on the minute, do 5 box jumps (24″), except to start the first minute.

We didn’t do many box jumps this week, so I was glad to see them here, even if it didn’t end up being very many. I think I finished in the 6th(?) minute, but don’t remember for sure.

As we were waiting for everyone to finish, I jumped on the bar and got my first muscle-up! Did it again to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Next up, the rings. I actually just got a set of the wood rings from Rogue Fitness to use while I’m vacationing for 10 days and then I can hang them in my garage when I get back.

WOD

EMOM: 4 Burpees (start with 4 right away)

  • 50 PVC Front Squats
  • 30 SDLHP (88# KB)
  • 50 PVC OHS
  • 30 1-arm Push Presses (each arm) (45# DB)
  • 50 PVC Back Squats
  • 30 Ring Rows

 

I finished in 17:28, so I did 68 burpees. Front squats with a PVC pipe were kind of weird because there was no weight there to keep the wrists in place and help the elbows get up. Oh yeah, 150 more squats for the week! I wanted to get in some heavy front or back squats at open gym, but not with how much squatting we had already done for the week.

Finisher

5 rounds

  • 150m Sprint (rectangle in the parking lot)
  • 2m Rest

My sprints were all 21-22 seconds, which is pretty good considering the corners are pretty scary running in the parking lot. I felt really good doing the sprints.

Open Gym

I did some deadlifting to start. The plan was to do a 5×5 after the light warm-up set.

  • 10x 135#
  • 5x 225#
  • 5x 275#
  • 5x 305#
  • 1x 325#

I’m not sure what I was thinking when I increased the weight so much there. I had to set the bar down after the 3rd rep at 305# before knocking out the last two. Then at 325# I had to shut it down after one. I was starting to feel it in my back and got light-headed after I walked away from the bar. At least I got in some heavy deadlifting, but I should have been smarter about it.

Then Casey A. was doing some snatch balances, so I jumped in with him. We did some with the 45# bar and some with 65#. After that we did some squat snatches with 65# and 85#. I think I was doing 3-5 reps for a couple sets at each weight for both the snatch balance and the squat snatch.

Double Me

Last night I went for a 3.65 mile brisk walk to break in the Nike Free shoes and just relax. This morning I had the first round of the Saginaw District Golf Association Invitational Tournament, so walked 18 holes on the course. I shot terrible!

Warm-up


8:00 AMRAP

  • 10 PVC Shoulder Pass-thrus
  • 40 Lateral Hops (20 each leg)
  • 30s Plank

I have no idea how many rounds I did. Didn’t count since it was the warm-up and the pass-thrus are not something to rush through.

WOD

4 rounds

  • 20 Pull-ups
  • 30 KBS (53#)
  • 40 Box Jumps (24″)

I finished in 21:50. I’ve really been struggling with my pull-ups lately, but they came back around today. I concentrated on really snapping my hips and pushing away from the bar at the top, which I’ve been forgetting to do. For the box jumps I rebounded off the floor on well over half of the reps.

Finisher

Death by Burpees

I finished off the round of 12 with over 30 seconds left in that minute and then Cari turned off the clock for the end of class. Not exactly sure why since it was open gym right after. Would have been nice to see how far I could get, but I guess I won’t complain about doing less burpees since I did 115 of them yesterday and that’s another 78 today.

Open Gym

First thing on my agenda was to set a deadlift PR. I did the following:

  • 10x 135#
  • 5x 225#
  • 5x 265#
  • 3x 305#
  • 1x 335# (matching PR)
  • 1x 355# (new PR)
  • FAIL at 365#
  • 1x 365# (new PR)

BAM! That’s more that twice my body weight and a 30# PR. Hell yeah!

After that I worked on snatches for a while, doing some small sets with 85#, some small sets with 105#, and a few singles at 125#. Then I moved back down to 85# and worked on the squat snatch for a while. I have no idea how many sets or reps I did of any of this. I was more concerned with working on some technique.

I was going to start some work on butterfly pull-ups, but my hands were already pretty sore from the 80 pull-ups and deadlifting. With the 2nd round of the tournament tomorrow, I need to be able to swing a golf club. So I got out the prowler instead. Loaded it up with four 45# plates and did a 30 yard (?) high push followed by a low push back. Did that 5 times, with plenty of rest in between each down and back, before my legs just couldn’t do the low push anymore.

I was ready to head home, but Casey was doing some strict shoulder presses, so I jumped in with him.

  • 3x 85#
  • 3x 105#
  • 3x 105#
  • 3x 125#
  • 3x 125#
  • 1x 135#

I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was a 10# PR! Looking back at my posts, I had done 125# for 5 reps, but never more than that. I mistakenly thought I had done 145#, but it was the push press. (I had to update this section of the post 4 times because I kept getting the weights wrong)

I’m spent! I got to the box just after 4 for the 4:15 class and left open gym just before 7pm. Three hours of solid work. Tomorrow is going to be a rest day for sure.

Chase’s Birthday WOD

Sometimes we’ll do a birthday WOD on or near someone’s birthday. Usually it has something to do with their name and their age. Last Thursday was Chase’s birthday, but he was out-of-town, so we “celebrated” today. For the 5:30 class it was 92 degrees with 40% humidity. I think the weather contributed to a smaller class size than usual especially since it looked like the 4:15 class only had a handful of folks as well. We had 6 people show up and only one was female, which is very rare for Survival Fitness. I bet membership is 2-1 in favor of the women, but I’m not complaining about that ratio. 🙂

Yesterday I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods to try on some Nike Free running shoes if they had any is a size 14. Luckily they had just the pair I was looking for. I tried on the 4.0 v2 and absolutely loved them. They are so light, minimal, and comfortable, without being too close to a true barefoot style running shoe. I didn’t buy them right away because I wanted to check around online for color options and better pricing. I couldn’t find anything I liked better than the black/gray or a better price, so I went back today and bought them. I’m looking forward to going out for a recovery run on my next rest day.

Warm-up

  • Tabata Box Jumps (24″)
  • Tabata Deadlifts (85#)
  • Tabata Wall Ball Sit-ups (20# MB)

Instead of a Tabata mash-up we did all 8 rounds at a station before moving on. The deadlifts were light, but for a warm-up I could actually feel them by the end. Wall ball sit-ups were something new and really worked the abs. I’m a fan of those!

WOD

27:00 AMRAP

  • Chest-to-deck Push-ups
  • Hanging Leg Raises
  • Aabove the head plate lunges (10#)
  • SDLHP (75#)
  • End each round with a 150m run

Do 27 reps of each, except the run. I completed 3 full rounds, 27 push-ups, 27 leg raises, 27 lunges, and 27 SDLHP for a 3+108 score. There were about 20 seconds left on the clock and I knew I couldn’t finish the run in that time so I didn’t even make the attempt. I sort of defeated myself with the SDLHP and I’m disappointed. I should have pushed through them harder to give myself enough time to finish the run. I beat myself before I even started the first rep. Ugh!

Five Station Warm-up

I’m pretty sore from the long run yesterday, most of which is in my calves. I attended the 7pm class today. It was a hot and humid night. I thought I might stick around and do some strength work after class, but decided against it after sweating so much.

Warm-up

3 rounds

  • 1m Box Jumps (Big Tire)
  • 1m Star Jumps
  • 1m Hang Cleans (85#)
  • 1m Russian KBS (62#)
  • 1m Mountain Climbers
  • 1m Rest

If you did the Hope workout or have done Fight Gone Bad, this format should be familiar. I really enjoyed the hang cleans, but it was tougher than I expected to keep going for the entire minute with what was a relatively light weight. I didn’t count reps since this was only a warm-up.

WOD

10 rounds

  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 100m Run (sprint)
  • 90s Rest

For the 100m sprints we ran 50m down and then back. I finished in 19:12. I tried to jump out of the gates too quickly and as a result, tweaked my left calf. It was pretty tight for the 2nd and 3rd sprints, but then it loosened up. I was able to do all of the push-ups unbroken, but as the rounds went on the 10th through 15th reps got slower and slower.

Finisher

150 Air Squats with 5 burpees after every 25 squats (except the last 25). I didn’t check the clock when I started, so no idea how long this took.