Tag: clean

Training Week 1 Begins

Now that test week is over, Matt is starting a 12 or 13 week program for Survival Fitness. Looking forward to sick gainz bro! My hip flexors are sore from my low back down around my hip and up under my quads from all of those GHD sit-ups on Saturday.

Warm-up

  • Air Squats & Bottom Squat Hold
  • Zombie Kicks & Leg Swings
  • Jumping Jacks
  • Arm Circles

Strength

Back Squats 3×10 @ 65%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 10×235#
  • 10×245#
  • 10×260#

65% would be 228# for me, which is too light. I’ve been doing more than that already, so I went heavier on my sets.

Midline

5 Rounds

  • 1:00 Weighted Plank (25#)

We partnered up, so there was about 1:15 of rest between each round. Matt and I were placing the weight right over our lumbar area, which I imagine is the toughest spot since that’s where we hinge. If you put the weight up closer to the shoulders it should be much easier to hold.

Conditioning

21-15-9

  • 135# Squat Cleans
  • MB Push-ups

Was supposed to be a full “Elizabeth” but I think the ring dips have been bothering my shoulder, so Matt suggested the push-ups. I did all singles on the cleans and finished in 9:18.

I have a feeling legs are going to be sore for a couple of days.

In the afternoon I did a quick one in the garage.

5 Rounds NFT

  • 10 GHD Sit-ups (touch floor)
  • 20 Hip Extensions
  • 40 DU

Leaves only 400 more DU to do by Saturday for me 1,000! Dubs weren’t the greatest today. Not even one set unbroken. I was moving quick between movements, but not a rush like I’d have if I was doing it for time. Boy, was my low back pumped up starting in the 3rd round of hip extensions. Touched the floor today with the GHDs since I barely felt sore from 150 of the parallel ones the other day. May back has been feeling good, so should be able to handle it.

Test Tuesday

My low back has never been so sore. Has to mostly be from the deadlifts on Sunday, but I don’t think the middle portion of that back squat PR yesterday helped either.

Warm-up

  • Foam-rolled my back
  • Rocket Ships
  • Arm Circles
  • Zombie Kicks

Cleans

  • 45# Positions
  • 115#
  • 155#
  • 185#
  • 205#
  • 225# (Switched to power cleans)
  • 235#
  • 245# (PR)

I haven’t worked on my cleans since the pretzel incident so I’m not mentally ready to go chasing a full clean PR, but the 245# power clean felt good. My feet didn’t even have to go super wide to receive it, which often happens with a heavy power clean. Wasn’t expecting that lift going into today.

2:00 of Pendlay Rows

I did 29×135#. The test was for muscle-ups but I can’t do those with my shoulder.

2 Mile Run

I was really hoping to be somewhere close to 14:00, which is lofty goal for a first run of the year and carrying this much weight on my frame. I ran 15:58. Yuck!

MAX Broad Jump

We got 3 attempts. I went 108.5″ and then got 115.75″ on the next two.

2014 CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.4

14.3 was my best Open workout performance in 3 years, with a score in the top 6.8% (6,107th) worldwide. Made for a nice overall jump from 22,238/100,690 (22.1%) to 14,785/100,777 (14.7%). Should be no problem holding on to the top 20% now as long as my shoulder holds up for these last 2 workouts. I’ve been resting it since pushing it too much last Monday.

Yesterday was a rest day and I had a great massage. In to the gym at 1 today. My warm-up consisted of some 30 second calorie rows at a 1,200 cal/hr pace and a bunch of stretching and mobility.

2014 CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.4

14:00 AMRAP

  • 60 Calorie Row
  • 50 T2B
  • 40 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
  • 30 Power Cleans (135#)
  • 20 Muscle-ups

Wow, this workout should be called Deception! Paced out my row as planned and finished right at 3:00. Did 5 T2B at a time with 5-8 seconds of walking between sets. Got to 30 like that and then started doing some triples and doubles, with some singles to finish. Split was 6:37 going into the wall balls. I figured this would be a time to rest, but I got to 10 and dropped the ball. 4 sets of 10 to finish at 8:43. All singles on the cleans, trying not to waste time getting back on the bar. Tiebreak time of 11:51. I took my time getting to the rings, took a drink, and didn’t jump up until after over 30 seconds had gone by. Still missed my first muscle-up! Managed to fight for 2 good reps to score 182 reps. Hips had nothing left. I think I had 3 failures.

The only time I felt my shoulder was in the middle of the wall balls. The T2B really had me worried because that’s what aggravated things last Monday after all of the C2B in 14.2 the day before. We’ll see how it feels later tonight and tomorrow once inflammation kicks in.

Headed out to the garage around 7:30 and jumped on the Air Dyne (AD2) for 10:00. Knocked out 351 calories to beat my record by 9. That hurt and was a mental grind. Kept 80-81 rpm until the final 40 seconds.

Growing Tree Trunks

My front delts are still sore from 180 burpees. Doesn’t take much pressure when pushing on them to feel the pain. Hamstrings are sore from the good mornings too.

Warm-up

  • 10/10 Hurdlers (forward, backward)
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • 2x30s Wrist Stretch

Strength

Front Squat 5×5 @ 70-80%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×235#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×255#
  • 5×260#

Up in volume from last time when I did 2 sets at 225# and up to 255#. Today the 255# felt rough, so I only took the 5# jump at the end. Last set actually felt better, so should have done 265#.

Conditioning

  • 50 Weighted Lunges (30# DBs)
  • 40 Pendlay Rows (95#)
  • 30 Goblet Squats (53# KB)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 10 Squat Cleans (135#)

Finished in 9:21 with legs on fire.

14.4 is announced tonight and it looks like it’ll be a chipper, as I predicted. Rest day and massage tomorrow for me and will plan to hit the workout on Saturday.

Burpees, Baby!

I’m sore from the weekend of squats, but nothing terrible. You know it, 9am.

Warm-up

4 Round Tabata Mash-up

  • Air Squats w/ Pause
  • Zombie Kicks
  • Shoulder Stretching

14:00 EMOM

  • Evens: 5 V-ups (no hands OH) + 5 Deadlifts (135#)
  • Odds: 5 Power Cleans (135#) + 5 Box Jumps (24″)

Did the modified v-ups instead of T2B.

10 Rounds

  • 10 Burpees
  • 20s Rest

Started out flying with 19 seconds for each of the first two rounds. Then I started to hit the wall and did my best to hold on. Finished in 7:36. I almost did a 10:00 EMOM of 10 burpees or Tabata burpees yesterday; I’m glad I didn’t.

Jumped on the rower for an easy 2,000m in 8:44.

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.

Weak Shoulder Wednesday

Woke up with a bit of a headache that didn’t go away through the 9am class. Little sore in the low back.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

  • 20 PVC pass-thrus (partial range behind the back because of shoulder pain)
  • 20 Zombie Kicks
  • 20 Russian KBS (44# KB)

Strength

DB Bench Press

  • 10×30#
  • 10×35#
  • 10×40#
  • 10×45#
  • 3x10x60#

Shoulder press was programmed, but I couldn’t even do it with a PVC pipe without shoulder pain.

Accessory

12:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 30s Handstand Hold
  • Evens: 10 Pistols

Again, had to substitute handstand holds for the programmed strict HSPU. I got up as close to the wall as I could to be able to get into a better hollow body position. Then I’d keep as little heel on the wall or completely take my heels off the wall as long as I could. Getting better at holding the position.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 20 Power Cleans (115#)
  • 20 Burpees

Put in the power cleans instead of single-arm DB snatches. Power cleans were much more of a suck fest I think, due to grip issues. I tried to keep to sets of 5 as much as I could but did some singles, doubles, and triples in the 2nd half of the workout. Finished in 17:53.

Midline

2 MAX effort Planks

I did one for 47 seconds and one for 49 seconds with minutes of rest in between. Tough without much rest after the metcon.

Another visit to the chiropractor this afternoon and it might be the last one. With the TENS unit I can do a lot of therapy on my own.

14.2 gets announced tomorrow. My prediction is a 12:00 AMRAP of 10 Deadlifts (185/125), 15 Over the bar burpees, 20 Wall Balls with a second idea of 20 Wall Balls and 20 Burpee Box Overs.

Survival Fitness Winds Down for 14.1

Shoulder is pretty much the same, but back doesn’t bother me unless I get in certain positions. Heading back to Midland Chiropractic Sports Rehab this afternoon for my 2nd session. I’ve also ordered my own TENS unit after finding out they only cost $100. I remember the Marc Pro being about $600 and saying no thanks. For $100, I can’t go wrong though. The unit is a great way to speed up recovery.

The gym is winding down to rest up for the first Open WOD, which gets announced tomorrow. I could use a lighter day anyway with my injuries and there was no lack of intensity with the workout.

Warm-up

  • 20 Zombie Kicks
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 20/20 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • Shoulder stretching
  • “Roxanne” with jumping jacks, burpees, and squat jumps

Conditioning

2014-02-26-1k-row

  • 1,000m Row
  • 30 Hang Power Cleans (135#)
  • 30 Ring Rows (feet on 12″ box)

I substituted the ring rows in for C2B pull-ups, which lost some intensity at the end because I have to rest so much in between ring rows. I set a PR on my 1,000m row with a 3:25.3! First PR I’ve set in over a month. I held my pace around 1:44-1:45 and then kicked it in to high gear for the last 100+ meters. Took a pretty big break walking over to my bar and did the cleans in 6 sets of 5. I would count to between 5 and 7 between sets before picking the bar back up. It’s a great way to manage rest periods. Ring rows were pretty much doubles the whole way. Slow! Finished right at 10:00 total time.

Substitution WOD

Can’t wait to get this shoulder worked on this afternoon! In to the 9am class.

Warm-up

On our own doing some shoulder stretching and air squats.

Strength

Back Squat 5×3 @ 80-90%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 3×235#
  • 3×275#
  • 3×275#
  • 3×285#
  • 3×295#
  • 3×305#

Yeah buddy! Three weeks ago I missed after 1 rep of 305#, but it was no problem today. I’m going to say my squats are definitely back. Didn’t feel the back problem at all today doing them.

Accessory

10:00 EMOM

  • 8/8 KB RDLs (71# KB)
  • 10 Alternating Pistols

My balance was wobbly today.

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

  • 21-15-9
    • 115# Power Cleans
    • Ring Dips
  • MAX Burpee Box Jumps (24″)

I was solid on my power cleans going 11-10, 5-5-5, and 5-4, but ring dips were like in slow motion. Almost exactly a year ago today I did an Rx Power Elizabeth in 7:09 and this took me 7:48 with 20# lighter weight. I managed 19 burpee box jumps in the remaining time.

Taking it Easy

Was out with a ton of people from the gym last night celebrating a 40th birthday. Fun times! Went over to the Bay City gym with Kevin for open gym.

OLY

Did some clean technique work, working on speed and drive, mostly from the power position with a very small dip. Nothing over 125#.

Conditioning

30:00 Row

Kept a 2:10-2:15 / 500m pace. Nothing crazy and was able to hold some conversations while doing it.

20140223-160224.jpg

Skill?

  • 3x20x45# Back Squat

Yep, just the empty bar to keep good position and loosen up.

My back and shoulder didn’t bother me during any of this, which is good, but some of the easiest things trigger them, like pushing open a car door or lifting my right leg to get up in my Jeep. I have an appointment tomorrow with Midland Chiropractic Sports Rehab, which does ART, so hopefully they can work some magic.