Aloha Hawaii

Last day in Hawaii. My flight leaves at 11pm, so got up for one last workout in the fitness center. Went for my “go to” travel WOD, which I’ve been saving all week. Warmed up with a 400m run on the treadmill first.

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WOD

  • 100 DB Hang Squat Clean Thrusters (30# DBs)
  • EMOM (except for at the beginning), do 5 burpees.

Last time I did this was back in San Diego in September, with a time of 15:35. Today I finished in 14:37, almost a minute faster! I think it was due to a good first minute where I got 14 reps in and then 8 in the next minute. Went to 7s for the next 4 or 5 minutes and then 6s the rest of the way. No rest minutes, but I did make sure to leave myself about 10-15 seconds of rest time at the end of every minute before starting up burpees again. I wonder if that helps very much in the long run or if it would be faster to keep working nonstop the entire WOD.

I walked an easy 400m on the treadmill to bring my heart rate down, because this one really gets you going. Great workout!

The Seven

Feeling better today. Went in for the 9am class instead of the 8am Competitors WOD because the Hero WOD sounded like fun and I could get another hour of sleep.

Warm-up

  • 600m Run
  • 2 Rounds
    • 5 Push-ups
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 10 Leg Swings (Front to back, Side-to-Side, each leg)
    • 10 PVC Pass-thrus

WOD

“The Seven”
7 Rounds

  • 7 K2E
  • 7 Deadlifts (245#)
  • 7 Burpees
  • 7 KBS (70#)
  • 7 Pull-ups
  • 7 HSPU
  • 7 Thrusters (115#)

When it’s a Hero WOD you know you’re in for a suck fest. The first round wasn’t bad, but after that it was brutal. This WOD actually starts off with the HSPU and then thrusters but because of a big class size we paired up to share bars, so I started with the K2E. Rx for thrusters was 135#, so I scaled it down to 115#. I did all of my K2E, deadlifts, burpees, and KBS unbroken. Pull-ups were usually 4-3, but I think I got all 7 in round 1. HSPU were unbroken except for my 6th round where I went 5-2. Thrusters unbroken until round 6 where I wont 4-3. We had to stop at 33:53 because the next class was starting. At that point I had completed 6 full rounds and 3 of the pull-ups, so I only had 18 more reps to finish. Great WOD, but brutal. I think I did the first round in 3:11, but slowed down a ton after that.

Hike

Went out to Piestewa Peak and did the Summit Trail wearing the 20# weight vest. Going up while wearing that thing is horrible. The last 10-15 minutes with the vest is absolutely brutal, but I kept chugging along without stopping. Overall went 2.05 miles in 58:59 with 1,024 feet of climb.

Back to Back Squats

Coming down with the sniffles today, probably due to the cold nights because the heating situation where I’m staying sucks. It started warming back up today though, so that should be the end of the freezing temperatures. Shoulders were really looking forward to resting today after a few days of hitting them hard. Went in for the 5:15pm class.

Warm-up

  • Run 800m
  • 10 Air Squats
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 10 Burpees

Strength

5 Sets of 5-7 Back Squats, 2-3 minutes of rest between sets

  • 8 @ 45#
  • 7 @ 135#
  • 7 @ 165#
  • 7 @ 195#
  • 5 @ 225#
  • 5 @ 250#

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve done a lot of heavy back squats like this. Back at Survival Fitness we pretty much switched away from them to box squats a few months back. Nice to hit them hard again. Based on my previous 1RM, my goal was to hit 250 for 5 reps, which is supposed to put me at around 290 for a 1RM (and those calculators are usually a little low in my experience). I didn’t think I was going to get it after the set at 225#. It was a fight, but I got all 5 reps.

WOD

21-15-9

  • Deadlifts (255#)
  • Box Jumps (30″)

The Rx was 295# on the deadlifts and after getting light-headed on Saturday with 3 sets of 7 at 315# I knew scaling it would be smart for me. I broke the deadlifts down into 7-7-7, 5-5-5, and 5-4. My box jumps were pretty much unbroken, just getting set if I lost balance coming down off the box, but no rebounding since it was a high box. Finished in 6:43 and felt good about it.

Finisher

Core MB Complex, alternating with a partner
2 Rounds each

  • 10 Chest passes
  • 10 Overhead passes
  • 10 Side Tosses R
  • 10 Side Tosses L
  • 10 Straight up

I paired up with Zach and we used a 20# MB. Wow, what a burn that was!

Sunday’s Triple WODs and OLY

Up and at ’em early for the 9am. Lower back is a little tight from the deadlifts yesterday, but feeling good otherwise.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 10 Pull-ups
    • 10 AbMat Sit-ups

Each of the following 3 WODs have a 10 minute time cap with a continuous running clock. So if you get done with a WOD early, you rest until the next 10 minute chunk comes up.

WOD #1

3 Rounds

  • 10 Ring Dips
  • 50 DUs

Busted through this one in 3:37, hitting the last 50 DUs unbroken. Broke up the ring dips a bit in the 2nd and 3rd rounds

WOD #2

3 Rounds

  • 14 HSPU
  • 40 AbMat Sit-ups

I knew this one would be the toughest because that’s 42 HSPU and the sit-ups are never fast. I did the first round of HSPU unbroken, which is my best streak to date. Was really forced to get the kip down earlier in the week, which helped a lot here. I think I went 8-6 and then 6-4-4 in the last two rounds. Finished in 7:42.

WOD #3

3 Rounds

  • 10 Hang Power Cleans (135#)
  • 15 Burpees

Good way to finish it out. For the cleans I went 10 unbroken in round 1, 5-5, and then 6-4. Just tried to keep a nice steady pace with the burpees so I could keep going. Total time of 5:29.

That was a fun workout and a nice one for a Sunday.

Olympic Lifting

I headed back to eat something and then was back to CrossFit Full Strength at noon for the OLY class.

We started out doing a type of bear complex.

  • Deadlift and power up to shrug.
  • Hang Power Clean
  • Front Squat
  • Push Press
  • Back Squat
  • Push Jerk (from the back)

I did a few of those with 95# and then we did one EMOM for 10:00. I stuck with 95# for the first 5 and then jumped up to 115#. After a bit of rest we started doing:

  • Power Clean
  • Squat Clean
  • Push Jerk

I did one at 115#, one at 145#, and then three at 165# I think. From there we went to push presses, working from some warm-up sets of 5, to triples, doubles, and singles. I’m not exactly sure what weights I used, but I think it was something like:

  • 5 @ 95#
  • 5 @ 105#
  • 3 @ 115#
  • 3 @ 145#
  • 2 @ 155#
  • 1 @ 165#

I wasn’t keeping track and really don’t remember. Next up we did sets of 5 strict shoulder presses.

  • 5 @ 95#
  • 5 @ 95#
  • 5 @ 105#
  • 5 @ 115#
  • 4 @ 125#

There was a lot of good work in that hour+ of work. It’s good to be back for the Olympic lifting work for sure. Johnny knows his stuff and was picking out a few little things in both my clean and my jerk. I tend to sit forward a bit when receiving the cleans and not enough back on my heels. My stance was starting with my feet too far apart in the clean, not allowing enough room for my knees to push out and get out-of-the-way of the bar. I need to get my front foot out forward more in the jerk. Good stuff!

After the HSPU and all of that pressing, my shoulders are feeling it.

Off to Phoenix

Went in at 9am for my last Survival Fitness WOD for a couple of months. Starting the road trip to Phoenix this afternoon.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

  • Burpees
  • Plank

I did 5 burpees each round.

Strength

1RM Floor Press

Started with 8 easy reps at 95# and 2 at 165#. Then went 1 at 195#, 215#, 235# (PR), and missed at 245#. After getting 3 at 225# last week I figured I had 245# in the bag, but I just didn’t have it after a tough WOD last night.

WOD

Since it was my last WOD at SF for a while, Matt made up the WOD in my honor using my age and first letters of Momrik. 33 reps of each.

“Momrik 33”

  • Man Makers (40# DBs – push-up, row, row)
  • OHS (95#)
  • Man Makers (yes, again!)
  • Ring Dips
  • Inchworms
  • K2E

No rest for the arms and shoulders in this one. I started off with 10 man makers and then tried to stick to 5 reps at a time for the rest of the way. For OHS I did 10-10-8-5. Kipped all of the ring dips and was able to stick to sets of 5 so I didn’t hit failure. Took a short water break after 10 inch worms and then yelled at myself for taking any break on what was the easiest part of this WOD, so did the rest unbroken. On K2E, I went 10-8-8-5-2 I think. Finished in 19:58, which should be a pretty good time. Rx for the man makers was 45# DBs, but I know my limits there and 40# was just right for me.

My arms and shoulders are fried. I’m looking forward to a few days off as I drive out to Arizona. I’ll probably go out for a hike on Sunday when I get to town and then hit up CrossFit Full Strength on Monday morning.

2012 Comes to an End

Last WOD of the year, and it’s been one hell of a year. Went to the 9am.

Warm-up

50-40-30-20-10

  • Star Jumps
  • Leg Raises

WOD

30:00 Partner AMRAP

  • 100 Air Squats
  • 10 Burpees
  • 80 Air Squats
  • 20 Burpees
  • 60 Air Squats
  • 30 Burpees
  • 40 Air Squats
  • 40 Burpees
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 50 Burpees

WOW! Going out of 2012 with a bang. I was partnered up with Sara, who I found out afterwards is 3 months pregnant! We finished 2 full rounds plus 112 more reps. I think we were a little more than 100 reps behind Laura and Brent, with a couple of other solid teams in between us.

I was thinking about getting in some rowing today, but after that WOD I think I’ll take the rest of the day off. It’s been a brutal week of workouts and my body is feeling it. Since the gym is closed tomorrow it’ll be a good day for a garage WOD.

My 33rd

The left side of my back is still swollen from landing on it in a basketball game on Sunday. Doesn’t exactly feel the greatest either. Today is my 33rd birthday and Matt decided to start a new tradition at Survival Fitness for birthdays instead of doing birthday WODs. You have to do your age in burpees at the beginning of class while everyone else watches. I knocked out my 33 in 1:10. Booyah! I even got the first 10 in 18 seconds which is a new best as far as I know. Got to skip the warm-up because I couldn’t breathe and was pretty warmed up. 🙂

Strength

5×3 Zercher Squats

I used 135#, 155#, 175#, 195#, and 225#. Last set didn’t feel the greatest with my back issue, but got it done.

WOD

EMOM do 5 Burpees (except the first minute, where you got to do reps of the WOD)

  • 100 Russian KBS (53#)
  • 100 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 100 Goblet Squats (53#)

I was flying until I got to the goblet squats. Was a minute ahead of the best pace of the day after box jumps and was done in less than 9 minutes with enough time to get 3 goblet squats in. From there I just died. It was a struggle to finish and I got done in 17:56. It was taking me around 22 or 23 seconds to knock out the burpees towards the end, that’s how dead I was. We were allowed to take an entire minute off if we wanted and I probably should have to rest up and come back strong, but I really wanted to keep going. I didn’t feel very good (sicky) after this one was over.

Lot’s of stuff that did some work on the back, so it’ll be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow.

Casey’s Birthday WOD

In at 10am for my last Survival Fitness class for a few days. Heading up to Rogers City for x-mas.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

  • 15s Zombie Kicks
  • 15s Butt Kicks
  • 15s High Knees
  • 15s Air Squats

WOD

28:00 AMRAP Partners (Each partner does a round of their own to make a complete team round)

  • 1 HSPU
  • 9 Burpee Clean Thrusters (95#)
  • 8 Double Squat Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target
  • 5 C2B Pull-ups

I partnered up with Casey and we did well. I started off first and got through 6 full rounds, then Casey got through 3 of his burpees clean thrusters before time ran out, so we had 5 + 27 to top the board. Having those thrusters and wall balls back to back was pretty brutal. Each round I’d start out fast on the burpee clean thrusters, but that would only last for 3 or 4 reps and then it was just a grind.

Finisher

8:00 Death by AbMat Sit-ups (by 3s)

I was able to get through mine all the way, for a total of 108. Not sure why, but it felt worse than doing 100 in a row the other day. Maybe it’s because of the other day!

Running On Fumes

I was wide awake at 4:30am. After laying there for another 15 minutes, I crawled out of bed and put on the coffee. Was I really going to go to the 5:45am class? Yep!

Warm-up

5 Rounds

  • 15s Zombie Kicks
  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Standing Bicycles
  • 15s Butt Kicks

Strength

5×5 Deadlift

I went with 10 reps at 135#, then 5 each at 225#, 275#, 315#, and 345#. Once I had 345# moving, the reps were smooth and pretty easy. Now that I look back in my book, I made a mistake and should hove gone heavier. I got 345# for 5 reps with a 3″ deficit a few weeks ago. Oh well, it saved me from having to use more weight in the WOD I guess.

WOD

24:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 5 Deadlifts (175#) & 7 Burpees
  • Evens: 15 Russian KBS (53# KB)

Wasn’t bad at all. Easily completed all of the reps within the 30 second goal of each minute. My low back did start to get a little tight, but I was already feeling it some from the C&Js yesterday.

Finisher

100 AbMat Sit-ups

Flew through these in 3:34, beating my time of 4:03 from October 2nd. Good way to finish off the workout.

To be honest, it was kind of fun working out with a different group of people and the early morning didn’t bother me once I was up and moving. Fun to be in a class taught by Cora too. I’ll probably need a nap at some point later today.

Speed Burpees

Feeling a little beat up tonight, but screw it, I’m not doing anything high intensity tomorrow. More engine work!

10:00 EMOM

  • 10 Burpees

Did them as fast as possible each minute. Started out the first 4 minutes at a 20 second pace, even getting one round done in 19 seconds. Started to slow a bit, but the clock never hit 24 seconds while I was working.