2 Weeks of Squatting Every Day

I keep getting up earlier than usual and I’m not too happy about it. My upper body seems a little tight this morning from the 84 pull-ups. Didn’t rush out to the garage this morning since I have a lot more time to work with on Sunday mornings.

Switched it up with 100 Walking Lunges (20# vest) for my warm-up. It took me 4:30 to do them.

Coffee Squats

2 Front + 5 Back

  • 45#
  • 135#
  • 175#
  • 205#
  • 225#
  • 245#
  • 265#

Up 30 pounds over what I did last Sunday for this complex. This is the most weight I’ve had on the bar yet and it’s still well below the 295# I’ve done for this combo before.

That completes 14 days in a row at the squat rack. I’ll keep slowly increasing the weights and over the next two weeks I’ll hopefully be back to typical squatting loads. I’ve really been enjoying the morning squats as a way to kick off my day. Haven’t noticed any additional fatigue from them and don’t think they’ve been affecting my other training negatively. If anything they are probably helping. Don’t think I’ve mentioned the stretching routine recently, but I’ve been continuing to do it at least once a day, except when I do the 90 minute yoga workout.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 10 Incline DB Bench Press (45°, 40-45-50-50# DBs)
  • 10 JM Press (45-65-65-65#)

Going to try adding in some bench press accessory work on the weekends to see if it’ll help getting to 300#. Holy Shit! The JM Press is no fucking joke. There are a couple of variations out there. I used what looked to be the hardest one and I’m pretty sure I got that right. Wow!

I hope that didn’t smoke me too much for today’s workout. Super Sunday at noon…

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 1,500m Row (6:36)
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • C&J
    • 4×45#
    • 2×95#
    • 2×135#

Weightlifting

E2M 20:00

  • 2 C&J

Started with 155# and went up 10# each time, finishing at 245#. I think I wore the belt starting at 215#. Took my time with that last round, to make both reps. I squatted most of the reps but powered a few of the early ones when I wasn’t thinking. Last few rounds got rough. The cleans aren’t really a big deal for me, but I’m pumped to have made all of the jerks. We took about 5-10 minutes plus before starting the next part.

Conditioning

With a running clock, @ 0:00…
5:00 AMRAP

  • 5 MU
  • 10 Cleans (155#)

This is event 1 of the 2015 Masters Qualifier. Wanted to do some muscle-ups this weekend and this looked like a fun one to try. Was scared how this would go after all those heavy cleans, but it was just fine. I broke the MU into 3-2 every round and did relaxed singles for the cleans. Finished 2 rounds plus 5 muscle-ups and 2 cleans. It was fun doing some MU in a workout again.

I called on the group for some movements to make up the next two parts and then I came up with the rep schemes and how to split up the 4 movements.

@ 10:00…

  • 30 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 30 Push-ups
  • 30 Russian KBS (70#)

Wall balls and kettlebell swings were unbroken. I did the push-ups in 3 sets of 10. Finished in 2:50.

@ 20:00…

  • 150m Walking Lunges

I was excited when someone picked lunges and knew I had to put them solo. Finish the workout with a little Lunge University. 🙂 We went outside since it was a nice afternoon. I programmed it as 100 walking lunges, but after about 50 steps I went to chase Michelle down for extra credit since she was doing a lap. I don’t usually do them stepping through, but did to catch up and it’s so much faster doing them like that, but so much extra burn too. Finished in 4:03. I stopped counting the reps after deciding to go for the lap distance instead, but should have been about 150.

Midline

  • 60 Quarter Get-ups

Used a 53# KB and split this up into 10 reps per side at a time.

Knocked out Crossover Symmetry Plyometric before heading home. Kind of wanted to skip it, but was already feeling my shoulders smoked so I knew I should do it.

An hour or so later at home I am wrecked!

Legs – Oww

Legs are so sore! Don’t take 2 months off from the squat rack. Went in for the 9am class.

Warm-up

Didn’t really do much. Some bottom squat holds but that’s about it.

Strength

Pause Front Squats (2s in the hole)

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×125#
  • 5×145#
  • 5×175#
  • 5×195#

Didn’t really feel the soreness once I got moving. Didn’t notice any pain in my quad either, which is the real test. Decided to do pauses since I wasn’t going heavy. Still felt plenty heavy though.

Conditioning

10:00 EMOM

  • 5 Box Jumps (30″)
  • 3 C&J (115#)

Went high on the box since it wasn’t many reps and I was going to go light on the clean and jerks. Didn’t rebound any of the jumps, but cycled pretty fast. Was able to fly through the C&J by bringing straight to the ground. Took about 20 second each round once I got the rhythm of the TnG working. Was good to pick up a bar!

5 Rounds

  • 25m Prowler Sprint – High (90# sled + 90#)
  • 25m Prowler Sprint – Low (90# sled + 90#)

Yuck! Walked 200m after and then did Crossover Symmetry Plyometric.

Accessory

Reverse Hyper

  • 15×210#
  • 15×260#
  • 15×300#

Stuck around and did a round of back/hip stretches too after having done so much leg work.

In the afternoon, I went out to the garage and did 250 walking lunges in 9:20. I did laps around the garage today, which was 16 per lap. I’ll do another round of stretches tonight.

Pothole Season

Rotating the strength movements at CFi, so Tuesday is squat day now, but still no squats for me with this right quad. I warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Strength

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×75#
  • 5×95#
  • 4x5x125#
  • 5×130#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×140#

Had planned to do all sets with 125#, but it was feeling so good I started bumping up. Still wanted the reps to be explosive without a grind and they were. Kind of surprised since my shoulders are still feeling pretty smoked from the 15.2 attempts.

Conditioning

8:00 AMRAP

  • 3 C&J (135#)
  • 6 Push-ups
  • 9 Box Jumps (24″)

Dropped every C&J, but quick back on it. Probably should have tried to do them touch-n-go since it was only 3 at a time. Everything else unbroken the whole way. First round was done in 40 seconds and the rest were all just under a minute. Finished 8 rounds plus 3 clean and jerks, 6 push-ups, and 4 box jumps.

Midline

5 Rounds

  • 10 Sit-ups
  • 30s Plank

Did the planks on my hands today. Took me 4:39.

More Conditioning

  • 2,000m Row

Thought about going for a PR, so I started out with a 1:45 pace, but just didn’t have the legs after the class workout. Still a decent time of 7:13.8.

Felt like doing something later so hit this in the garage around 5pm.

8 Rounds

  • 200m Ski
  • 10 GHD Sit-ups
  • 40 DU
  • 10 Back Extensions

Had to walk around the Jeep to get to and from the Ski Erg, which ate up some time or else I think I would have been under 20 minutes. Only did one unbroken set of double unders and all the rest had one miss I think. Not very good as far as my dubs go. Finished in 20:27.

15.2 Again

Rested yesterday so I could take another shot at this. Got up early to get it in so that I could participate in Super Sunday. Got to the gym at about 8:30. Totally forgot about the stupid time change and I was up until after 11 watching the Duke-UNC game, so not much sleep. 🙂

Warm-up

  • 1,000m Row – 4:33
  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Stretching & Mobility
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 5×45# & 5×75# OHS

2015 CrossFit Games Open Workout 15.2

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

I wore a pair of the Natural Grips instead of the leather gymnastics grips, thinking they are thinner so would be better on the grip. Not sure either set made any big difference. Just didn’t want to rip at all costs.

Much better plan of attack today. All c2b were kipping today instead of butterfly, which I think fatigues me more. I did 5, rested 5 seconds on the back, then 5 more on both sets of 10 OHS and all singles pull-ups. Had 30-40 seconds of rest I think. Went 12 unbroken OHS and all doubles on the first set of C2B I think. Then 12 OHS again or possibly 6, rest 5 seconds, last 6. I don’t really remember. I think I did a couple of doubles, then all the rest singles. Had 23 seconds to rest. I know I could finish those no problem. I just died then. Dropped the bar 4 times during the set of 14 OHS and did all single chest to bar pull-ups. Finished them with like 3 seconds left and fell to the floor. 116 reps, which is 8 less than last year, but it’s all I had on this day. I’ll take it. Bring on 15.3!

Went home, got some food, and rested. Back for Super Sunday at noon.

Warmed up with some stretching, rumble rolling, bottom squat holds. Then some 45# and 95# pendlay rows.

10:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 10 Pendlay Row (115#)
  • 4 Banana Rolls

We were having a good time talking about P90X and the Superman-Banana that Tony Horton does. Did a few reps with 135# before loading up with 225.

10:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 5 Strict Pause Ring Dips (3s count in bottom)
  • 8 Stiff-legged Deadlift (225#)

Really like the pause dips. Need some work on the hammies.

Team WOD
3 Rounds

  • 2:00 Row
  • 2:00 Burpee Box Jump Overs (24″)
  • 2:00 C&J (95#)

Paired up with Dan. He would start getting off the rower after 55 seconds and by the time I was on and ready to go I had 55 seconds left. We split up the other two movements in 30 second chunks. I didn’t count anything, just went for it when it was my turn. Dropped the bar early on the c&J, but then ended each interval going the last 10-12 seconds touch-n-go. I didn’t think I’d have much left in the tank to push, but I did and it felt good. Didn’t keep track of any reps or anything, which was nice to just do work.

Stuck around to judge some 15.2 scores. I can definitely feel my quad now, about 90 minutes after the workout.

Rest day tomorrow, but probably with some active recovery.

CrossFit Games Open Workouts 15.1 & 15.1a

Had the day off work today since House of Cards season 3 was also released and I knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on getting any work done along with that and thinking about the Open. Got to the gym just before 5:30 and started warming up.

Warm-up

  • 1,000m Row
  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Stretching
  • Empty barbell work
  • 10 Sit-ups
  • 2 C&J (115#)
  • 1 C&J (145#)
  • 1 C&J (165#)

Open Workouts 15.1 & 15.1a

9:00 AMRAP

  • 15 T2B
  • 10 Deadlift (115#)
  • 5 Snatch (115#)

Immediately to…
6:00

  • Establish a max C&J

I came up with a strategy and couldn’t have executed it any better. Went 4-4-4-3 on all rounds of T2B except at the end when I went 5-3 to finish. I’d drop from the bar, take a step, turn around, and get right back up. I did all of the deadlifts unbroken, but slow and with controlled breathing as almost a rest period and so that I wouldn’t spike my heart rate. I did all single power snatches, but was right on the bar as soon as it settled on the ground. Grip didn’t become an issue and my hips were just starting to fatigue in the last full round. I think if I had gone 5-5-5 like I was thinking last night, I would have had to break them up more than that in about the 4th round. I ended up getting 5 full rounds plus 8 toes to bar for 158 total reps. My goal was to get 5 rounds, so I’m really happy with that.

I quickly put my shirt back on for the grip on the bar on my chest. Loaded up 207#. After waiting almost 2 minutes, I power cleaned it, and push jerked to get on the scoreboard. Then I changed up my original plan because I knew the jerks were going to be shaky. I had planned on doing 227-237-247, but wanted to make one less attempt than that. So I went right to 237#, which was the minimum I wanted to hit. I quickly changed into weightlifting shoes and put on the belt. Made that attempt with about 2 minutes left on the clock. Power clean again, but split jerk. Put 247# on the bar for the last attempt and waited until 20 seconds left. Power clean again and a pretty shaky split jerk, but I controlled it and made the lift. Success!

Really happy with my scores for week 1. All of the gymnastics work we’ve been doing on the bars has paid off. My grip wasn’t an issue at all and my T2B didn’t die out like they have in past years.

2015 Open Goals

I beat 26.1% of the men in 2012, 80% in 2013, and 82.9% in 2014. It’s been a nice climb. My goal for this year is to beat 86% of the men. I’m not sure how the percentages might end up being different due to the scaled division, but that may not be a high enough goal. If that’s the case, I’ve had the number of beating 88% in my head. We shall see what the leaderboard looks like after week 1, especially with 2 very different workouts in the scoring mix.

Lighter Reps

Went in for the 9am. Warmed up my shoulders with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Strength

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×75#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×125#

Figured I’d wait to use the legs until I needed to. Build more upper body strength through the warm-up sets.

Push Press

  • 3×155#
  • 3×175#
  • 3×195#
  • E30S 5:00 (10 sets) – 1×215#

Rough going on those 10 singles.

Gymnastics

E30S 5:00

  • 2 MU

E30S 5:00

  • 5 HR Push-ups

Conditioning

15-12-9

  • C&J (95#)
  • Ring Dips

Thrusters were programmed in the workout, but I’m still staying away from squats, so I did clean & jerks instead. Most reps were actually a push press. All sets were unbroken. Went 5-5-5, 4-4-4, and 5-4 on the ring dips and finished in 5:23. Not so fun doing the ring dips after all the muscle-ups and push-ups fried the needed muscles. It was fun doing some C&J at a lighter weight for a change of pace.

I rested a little and then stuck around to get in some more work since my Air Dyne is still broke and it’s so damn cold out I don’t feel like warming up the garage later. Nice to be done for the day too.

20 Rounds
Air Dyne (AD2)

  • 30s @ faster than 10:00 pace (>80 rpm)
  • 30s slow

I was going 85 rpm and higher every round. Racked up 515 calories and went 6.76 miles. Did Crossover Symmetry Recovery before I left.

Midline

Took a break from work in the evening and knocked out some planks. Did these on my elbows because after the workout this morning my shoulders and wrists didn’t need the extra strain that comes from doing them on your hands. After seeing Michelle hold a 6 minute plank without even struggling, I’ve become a little obsessed with these. Body size probably helps her a lot because I start shaking 45 seconds in. No excuses though! Improving core strength is never a bad thing.

  • 2:15 Plank
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 2:00 Plank
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 1:45 Plank
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 1:30 Plank

Crushing it for Kristin

Today we did a benefit workout to raise money for a 22-year-old student from CrossFit Bay City. She had a stroke a couple of weeks ago.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Rumble Roll my low back
  • 2×10 Reverse Hyper (210#)
  • 45-95-115# C&J and Snatch

5 Rounds

  • 6 C&J (135#)
  • 6 Snatch (135#)
  • 10 Over the Bar Burpees

Did all singles on the bar and tried to get back on it for the next rep. Finished in 13:34.

More Than I Bargained For

Needed that rest day yesterday, but it’s so hard not to do anything. Got a massage in the afternoon. In early this morning before the 10am class to get in some extra work.

Warm-up

  • 2k Row – 7:55.5

Gymnasty

E30S until fail

  • 2 MU

Made it through 14+1 and failed on muscle-up #30. I wanted that last one so bad. Smoked the total number of reps from doing 1 every 15 seconds. One big chunk of rest makes a big difference.

Accessory

5 Rounds

  • 5 Seated Good Mornings (165#)
  • 10 Weighted GHD Sit-ups (20# MB)

Yuck. Took 7:11.

Had a little rest time before class got going.

Row

3 Rounds

  • 3:00 slow (~2:25-2:30/500m)
  • 1:00 @ 90% (~1:45/500m)

Then another 2:00 slow to cool down, so 14:00 total. Went 3,115 meters.

Conditioning

Partner WOD

  • Buy-in: 50 Burpees
  • 4 Rounds
    • 12 C&J
    • 40 Wall Balls
  • Cash-out: 50 Burpees

Paired up with Dan. We alternated 5 burpees each, 3 C&J each, and 10 wall balls each through all of our sets. I used 155# for the C&J for a challenge, doing quick singles in the first 3 rounds, then I did 3 TnG and 2-1 in the 4th round. We finished in 15:44.

Midline

3 Rounds NFT

  • Partner MB Pass Complex
    • 8 Chest MB Passes
    • 8 OH MB Passes
    • 8/8 Side MB Passes
    • 8 Up MB Passes
  • 8 Back Extensions

I used a 20# medicine ball for the complex. We did 2 times through the complex, then switched over to the back extensions, where I used a 45# bar for my second and third set. Then we went back for our final round of the passes.

Double Morning

I’m kind of sore from the good mornings on Monday. Needed the recovery day yesterday, but really wanted to workout in the afternoon. Ready to be back at it today after another solid 9 hours of sleep. In before the 9am class for some extra work.

Warm-up

  • 14:00 Row

Had planned on holding a 5k pace, but decided against it on the drive in. Just had a feeling and it was a good call because I wasn’t feeling it during the row. Kept under a 2:05 pace for 3,369 meters.

Gymnastics

16:00 EMOM alternating

  • 3 Bar MU
  • 12 HR Push-ups

The bar muscle-ups are feeling so easy; I can’t believe it. I guess it worked out well not working on them until I was decent with MU on the rings and my pull-ups improved . I pretty much got to skip that whole phase most people seem to go through, where they get one arm over the bar with a lot of strain on the shoulders and elbows, then fight to pull the rest of their body and other arm over. I’m getting over right into the dip position with no problem. 🙂 Good number of sets too because I took a little piece of skin off my thumb in the last round. Might have to start taping my thumbs or figure out how not to feel that pull on the skin as my body swings back under the bar.

Had a few minutes to rest before class got going.

Weightlifting

C&J

  • 5×45#
  • 3×95#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×155#

I had planned on doing some full cleans and split jerks, but the quad was not feeling up for it after trying them with 95#.

Then we got into the meat of the workout, with a running clock.

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 C&J (175#)

Didn’t try touch-n-go until the last round and got it. Wish I had started out TnG and then switched to singles when I couldn’t hold on to the bar. Will know better for next time.

3:00 Rest

3 Rounds

  • 45s Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 15s Rest

Worst part of the workout, but not terrible by any means. I did 21-20-21 reps. Should have been all 21s but I wasted 2 seconds at the end of the 2nd round because I thought I heard the time differently.

Oh, I wore lifters for the lifts and wall balls.

3:00 Rest

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 Deadlifts (5 sets 275#, 5 sets 295#)
  • 5 Burpees

Wore a belt and went shoeless. Weight felt good so bumped it up for the 2nd half. Kept a pretty good clip on the burpees, doing each round in about 17-18 seconds.

It’s kind of nice having the extra work done already for the day, though I do have to clear the snow out of the driveway at some point since we got another 2-3 inches last night.

Repping Singles

Got to the gym early to put in some extra work.

Row

  • 2,000m @ 1:55 pace

Half way through I wanted to cut back to 1:57, so I know it was a good pace to have. Held on and was just under with a time of 7:39.8.

Gymnastics

I took this slomo before getting started.

E15S until fail

  • 1 MU

Got through 23, or 5:45, before missing. Amazing how hard they get just doing singles. Back in August I got 21 at 5# lighter bodyweight.

I was going to do some C&J EMOM work, but Kevin told me he’d do a partner workout with me if I created it, so I threw them in the metcon instead. We worked on goats for 20-30 minutes.

HSPU

  • 3 @ 2.5″ Deficit (Strict)
  • 2×3 @ 3.5″ Deficit (Strict)
  • 2×3 @ 4.5″ Deficit (Strict)

Conditioning

20:00 Partner AMRAP

  • 20 C&J (135#)
  • 30 Burpees
  • 40 T2B
  • 50 Russian KBS (62#)

Kevin used 95#. We split the clean & jerks, burpees, and toes to bars up into sets of 5 each for the first two rounds and the kettlebell swings into 15-10 each. I did my sets of 5 unbroken in the first round and my first set in the 2nd round, then quick singles. He hit the wall in the 3rd round during C&J so I started doing more than half the reps and some bigger sets of burpees and T2B, then I did 30 swings before letting him finish out. We had 1 swing left when time ran out.

Cool Down

  • 10:00 Row

Nice and easy with a pace around 2:18-2:19. Went 2,157 meters.

In the month of January I went almost 145 kilometers or about 90 miles.

  • Air Dyne – 88,200m
  • Row – 38,377m
  • Ski – 18,214m