Clean & Jerk

First WOD at CrossFit Intuition

Couldn’t wait to get under some weight today. Went over to the box my buddy Kevin is opening this week and worked out with him.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Bottom Squat Holds

Kevin has a set of the real CS bands and I went pretty heavy with them.

Strength

Back Squats

10×45#
5×135#
5×185#
3×225#
7x5x265#

He’s going through a cycle of Smolov Jr. so I plugged in 350# for 10# shy of my max and did it along with him.

Accessory

GHRs

2×5
5 w/ 2kg plate
5 w/ 5kg plate
5 w/ 2kg plate

I should have just done bodyweight for every set because I was cheating so bad on the 4th and 5th sets to get them done. I could immediately feel them in my calves (after the cheater sets) and my hamstrings. Need to get these in more often.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

5 C&J 185#
30 DU

Didn’t cycle any C&J together, but tried not to rest much between reps. Did most of them as the clean right into the jerk, but stood up and took a second on a few of them and it was actually harder. Did all 3 sets of DU unbroken. Took me exactly 4:00.

Rested 5-10 minutes and then did 50 burpees for time.

Beat my old PR by 4 seconds with a 2:29.

Skill / Midline

Accumulate 3:00 in a handstand hold (facing the wall)

I wanted to hit 3 sets of 1:00, but couldn’t stay up on the last one. Came down after 40 seconds before I had to crash and took a short rest before finishing the last 20 seconds.

Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Recovery with heavier bands again and it was rough. My shoulders are pretty shot after all that.

Went back a course of hours later. Put 90# on the sled and pulled it on the pavement barefoot for 0.25 miles. I figured going without shoes would help work out all of the muscles in my feet and work on my sick tan line at the same time. Not one of my smartest ideas! I think I burnt the balls of my feet. 😦 Then I took 45# off and pulled it another 0.35 miles on the grass, which is infinitely harder to pull on.

Did 6-5-6 GHD sit-ups while holding a 15# slam ball behind my head. Holy shit! Hard as fuck! Then did 5×10 regular GHDs.

Pretending to be a Weightlifter

Walked 18 holes of golf yesterday for the first time this year. Legs needed a rest. Lifted with Alex at CrossFit Intuition today.

Did Crossover Symmetry Activation and some basic stretching to get loose.

3×75#
3×95#
2×135#
2×155#
2×185#
1×205#
1×215#
1×225#
3x1x235#
1×245# Clean only

The 245# clean was easy, but when I dipped to go for the jerk nothing felt right and I didn’t even try to get under it; popped it off my shoulders and let it drop. Jerks were feeling pretty solid and Alex mentioned that my timing was a lot better than in the past.

Snatches

3×75# Muscle Snatch
3×95# Muscle Snatch
2×95# Power Snatch
2×115# Power Snatch
2×135#
F+1×145#
1×145#

Was not feeling the snatches today, so didn’t go far with them.

Back Squats

5×45#
5×155#
3×205#
3×245#
4x9x270#

Last week of the Smolov base cycle. These sets of 9 are straight up cardio too!

The Froning & Foucher Show

Had a great time watching the Central East Regional. Rich Froning and Julie Foucher dominated the competition and Rich was sick! Those two are going to be the favorites heading into the 2014 CrossFit Games, especially beating such stacked fields in this region.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
5:00 Bottom Squat Hold
45# Clean position work
10×45# Shoulder Presses

Weightlifting

Clean & Jerks

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
2×155#
2×175#
1×195#
1×215#
1×225#
1×235#

I did power cleans for 95# and 115#. Was trying to pull the bar into my body on the cleans and it really helped them to feel fast and snappy. I don’t think I’ve ever done such an easy 235# clean. Jerks weren’t too bad. Almost no dip up through 175# again.

Strength

Back Squats

5×135#
5×205#
3×255#
7x5x290#

Day 3 of week 2 for Smolov squats. I squatted inside my Rogue rack for the first time. It was pretty odd for a few sets but got the feel for it. Those 7 sets were rough and got iffy on the low back. Fought for position throughout though and got everything done. I was really missing squats after 3 days off. Did a 5:00 squat hold after making up a protein shake.

Knees were a little weird from setting on bleacher and stands for 3 full days. I took Friday off from the squat hold challenge, but got them in on both Saturday and Sunday during the competitions. Only 2 more days to go after today!

Incline DB Bench Press

20×25# DBs
20×30#
20×35#
12×40#
12×45#
10×50#

Nice burn! Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Recovery. Missed out on it for a few days while staying in the hotel. I guess I could have figured out a way to rig it up in the fitness center.

Push Presses & Pull-ups Are Back

Feeling good. Still no shoulder aggravation from doing more things with it.

Warm-up

CS Activation (at home)
5:00 Bottom Squat Hold
Push-ups
Arm Circles
Shoulder Stretching
10×45# Shoulder Press

Strength

Push Presses

5×95#
5×135#
5×145#
2x5x145#
5×160#

Timing was off and I’m not used to receiving the bar again for the next rep. Little shaky, but good to be doing them again.

OLY

E15S 7:00

145# C&J

Didn’t want to push the weight and it was a good choice. Each rep was quick and felt solid.

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP
2-4-6-8…

Russian KBS (71#)
Box Overs (24″)
Burpees

Finished the round of 14 plus 16 swings and 1 box jump.

Walked a lap around the parking lot and then did a 5:00 squat hold. Tried pull-ups for the first time and got 3 sets of 5 strict with no issues. Did another 3:00 squat hold and then CS Recovery when I got home.

Shallow Dip

Went out and walked 9 holes of golf for the first time this year. I have plenty of swing issues but didn’t have any issue with the shoulder.

My legs feel fine from the squats, but I think the triples yesterday made my abs sore. Tell me you don’t work your core when you squat. 😉 I noticed I’ve been getting tired this week too. I think Smolov is hitting my CNS hard! Did a little work at night in the garage with Kevin.

Warm-up

4:00 Bottom Squat Hold
CS Activation
5×50 Band Pulls (red)
3 Rounds
- 20 GHD Sit-ups (to parallel)
- 20 Hip Extensions
15# Snatches & Snatch Presses
45# Clean Positions and Push Jerks

Today is the eighth day in a row getting 30 minutes in the bottom squat hold position. This was the first time doing a snatch in close to 2 months. Felt good. I was also able to snatch press the training bar from behind my head for the first time without pain! Last week I couldn’t do it with a PVC pipe.

Power Clean & Jerk

2×95#
2×115#
2×125#
2×135#
2×145#
2×155#
2×165#
2×175#
2×185#

I haven’t done jerks in about 2 months either. Felt good, so kept going. I focused on as little dip as possible in the jerks. They were the fastest I’ve ever done and felt better than ever. Maybe I should take a long rest more often!

Seated Good Mornings

5×135#
5×145#
5×155#
5×165#
5×175#
5×185#

Felt solid and stable doing them. Everything is getting stronger from all of the squatting!

Did a 6:00 squat hold at the end and called it quits. Pretty light workout on the day, but needed after the heavy squatting yesterday and the 2 hour session. I won’t get much Smolov in over the next week because I’m heading down to Cincinnati on Thursday to watch the Central East Regional and won’t be back until Sunday night. Body could probably use the rest though.

2014 CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.2

Was down to New Species CrossFit in Royal Oak again for day 2 of the BlessTheGym Tour/Camp with Kendrick Farris. Worked on the clean and the jerk today. Tons of carryover from the snatch positioning and drills yesterday. Really glad I went to this with Matt. Was a good experience and reinforced some of the things I need to work on in my lifts.

Got home, took a nap and a shower, then headed over to Survival Fitness to knock out 14.2. After week 1, I was in 28,476th place out of 109,998 men worldwide for top 25.9%. Considering my shoulder isn’t 100% and I was sick for the first workout, I’ll take it. My goal for the year is to finish in a higher percentile than last year, which was top 20%. I just wish I hadn’t taken 2 months to focus on weightlifting, because my engine still isn’t up to where it was.

I warmed up with a lot of shoulder mobility work, about 5 minutes on the Air Dyne, some squat stuff, and who knows what else.

2014 CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.2

Every 3 minutes for as long as possible complete:

From 0:00-3:00, 2 rounds of:
- 10 OHS (95#)
- 10 C2B pull-ups
From 3:00-6:00, 2 rounds of:
- 12 OHS (95#)
- 12 C2B pull-ups
From 6:00-9:00, 2 rounds of:
- 14 OHS (95#)
- 14 C2B pull-ups
Etc., following same pattern until you fail to complete both rounds

My goal was to get to the round of 14s and get whatever I could. Took it pretty easy in the first 3 minutes, going unbroken with OHS and 3-3-2-2 on the C2B. Didn’t rush the sets of C2B at all. Tried to take it easy on the 12s too, getting the first round done in about 1:15-1:20. Turned into a lot of doubles and singles in these rounds. Didn’t have much rest time before the next 3 minutes. Went 8-6 on the OHS, struggled through the C2B and held on to what I could with OHS to finish with a score of 124. Mission accomplished.

My engine just isn’t what I’d like it to be yet and not doing pull-ups for 2 weeks kind of sucked, especially since my pull-ups aren’t very good to begin with. Shoulder was fine during the workout though. Glad that workout is done and I can get back to training tomorrow. On to week 3.

Hours later I went out to the garage and did CrossOver Symmetry Recovery.

Blood on the Battlefield

Big storm dumped a bunch of snow on us last night, so the gym was closed this morning and I wouldn’t try to drive down my street anyway before they plow it out. Trained in the garage at 10am.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
50 Jumping Jacks

Strength

5×5 Shoulder Press @ 70-80%

10×45#
5×95#
5×115#
5×120#
5×120#
5×125#
5×130#

All sets in the zone again.

Conditioning

E3M 15:00

10 C&J (135#)

Worked out even better than I planned. My goal was to complete at least the first 3 rounds in under a minute, but I did all 5! Great to work on cycling and there was enough rest to be able to push hard each round. I wasn’t quite ready for the 2nd rep in round 1 because I hadn’t done a single warm-up rep, so it was a no rep and slowed me down a lot for the round.

Round	Time to Finish	Rep Breakdown
1	:40	10
2	:35	10
3	:48	7-2-1
4	:50	5-3-1-1
5	:47	5-2-1-1-1

10:00 EMOM

40 DU

Not the greatest day but all rounds were done in less than 30 seconds. Managed to slice my finger open in the first or second round and spray blood everywhere for the rest of the workout.

Midline

Tabata Hollow Rocks

I alternated each round between hands at my sides and hands overheard. OH is infinitely harder, especially since my abs are still sore from the 100 GHD sit-ups I did Saturday. I couldn’t even get full rounds in for the last 4 that’s how tough this got; I had to keep taking a second or two break.

Tuesday Double

Got a good night’s sleep, but a little sore from the squats. Hit up the 9am class.

Warm-up

20 Arm Circles
20 Traffic Lights
20 Behind the neck band pull downs
20 PVC pass-thrus
20 PVC around the worlds
10 Burpees

Strength

5×3 Shoulder Press @ 80-90%

5×45#
5×95#
3×125#
3×130#
3×135#
2+1×140#
3×135#

Fuck! My strength numbers are down so much. I couldn’t even get 3 in a row with 140 (racked the bar for a bit and knocked out a single for 3 total reps) and was planning to go for 3 at 145# on the last set. 😦

Olympic Lifting

Every 15s for 7:00

2 Clean & Jerks (115#)

Felt pretty good on these, but the second half was a battle. Finished in 5-6 seconds each time. Good work on cycling.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

4:00 AMRAP
- 10 Thrusters (95#)
- 10 C2B Pull-ups
Rest 1:00

Terrible feeling workout. My main focus here was to work on butterfly C2B through the entire thing, especially fatigued. I think the biggest set I got was 5 with a lot of 2s and 3s, but I’ve never done more than 2 in a row before. Just a brutal workout after that 7:00 of C&J already had us gassed. I got 2+14, 1+16, and 1+18. My endurance in these short go-go-go workouts is pretty bad right now. I’m decent in the mid range and longer stuff or when there is work/rest built-in. Gotta keep grinding with 3.5 weeks until the Open.

Went back in at 7 to do another NCLab rowing workout since tomorrow is a rest day.

Conditioning

6 Rounds

300m Moderate
200m Hard
100m Easy
300m Moderate
200m Sprint
Rest 1:30

Row Pacing Template

Sprint: sub-2000m PR pace (Faster than 1:47/500m)
Hard: 2000m PR pace + 0-5sec (1:47-1:52)
Moderate: 2000m PR pace + 10-15sec (1:57-2:02)
Easy: 2000m PR pace + 25-30sec (2:12-2:17)

Totals out to 6,600m, which is again a new longest row distance in a day for me, especially after I did another 1,000m at 2:20-2:30 to bring my heart rate down. This one was definitely harder than the one I did on Friday.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 9 Day 1

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Alex came over and lifted at 5 with me.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
15# Clean & Jerk Positions
45# Clean & Jerk Positions

Clean & Jerk

2×95#
2×135#
2×155#
1×185#
1×210#
1×230#
1×240#
1×250#
4xFx260#

I felt well rested and the cleans were easy on the way up. I let 250# control me a bit, but still wasn’t really an issue. I gave up on the first attempt early and then after the pretzel bail out, my head was completely out of it. Got damn mental! I am getting the bar plenty high enough in my cleans. Frustrating!

Power Snatch

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
2×145#
2×155#
2×165#

I focused on slow off the floor again and tried to keep my arms strong until hitting the power position because I usually have an early arm bend. Felt weird but pretty powerful! Here is the double at 165#.

Back Squat

5×135#
5×185#
5×205#
5×225#

Just a little work to get the blood flowing.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

20s Burpees
10s Rest

Monday has been my Tabata burpees day, but I quit after 4 rounds of 8 today. Couldn’t stop thinking about the clean. I might rest tomorrow so that I can go for the snatch PR on Wednesday instead of Thursday.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 8 Day 5

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. The end is near! Lifted at about 2pm today.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Band Stretching
15# Snatch Positions
45# Snatch Positions

Today I exaggerated going slow from the floor to the knees in both the snatches and cleans.

Power Snatch

2x2x100#
2×120#
1×140#
5x1x150#

Power Clean & Jerk

2x2x135#
2×155#
1×180#
5x1x190#

Glute Ham Raise

A simple 5 sets of 5, just bodyweight. No need to kill myself with anything heading into test week.

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

7 T2B

Only programmed for 5, but that would have been a cakewalk. Seven was a good challenge.

Conditioning On the Air Dyne AD2

10:00 @ ~65% (70 rpm)
No rest, straight to
8 Rounds
- 0:30 @ 80+% (Started at 82-83 rpm, got faster through the rounds, and hit 100 in the final one)
- 1:00 @ 50% (50-55 rpm)
Complete that 8th 1:00 @ 50% plus another 3:00 at the same recovery pace

Total time should be 25:00. My tally was 282 calories and a good sweat.

Now it’s time to rest for C&J max on Monday evening.