Dominating “DT”

Went to the 9am class today since I don’t have time for a longer training session.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Air Squats
  • 15s Mountain Climbers
  • 15s Star Jumps

XWOD

7:00 EMOM

  • 2 Broad Jumps
  • 2 Thrusters (45# DBs)

I was jumping over 10′ on each jump and was really explosive on the thrusters.

Strength

5×3 Deadlifts

I’ve been trying to stay away from heavy deadlifts during my squat cycle just because I don’t need to focus on improving my max. I thought about staying lighter today, but after a couple of sets, I said fuck it. Did 225#, 295#, 345#, 395#, and 425#. Matches a 3RM from a couple of months ago and it felt easier today.

WOD

“DT”
5 Rounds

  • 12 Deadlifts
  • 9 Hang Cleans
  • 6 Shoulder to OH

The first (and only) time I went RX (155#) was back on February 15th with a time of 14:40. It hurt! Figured I could beat that today, but we had a 12:00 time cap, so I was really going to have to push it to finish. In the end, the time cap actually helped me out a lot.

In the first round I was able to pick a pace and force myself to rest so that I could last. I got 11 unbroken deadlifts to start each round, just like before. Last time around, the cleans and the push jerks were pretty horrible on me. This time around, the cleans ended up being the worst, but I was actually able to get a couple sets of 8 unbroken. I made the biggest improvement on the push jerks though, getting all 6 unbroken every round. Finished in 11:48, a PR by almost 3 minutes!

On Short Rest

In at 10am on short rest after doing 8pm last night. Trained with Kevin and Monica.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • PVC Pass-thrus

This has become my go-to warm-up when doing our own programming. Need to start switching it up some.

Strength

10:00 EMOM

  • Evens: 5 Weighted Dips
  • Odds: 5 Weighted Pull-ups

I went 20-25-25-30-35 on dips and 20-20-20-20-25 on pull-ups. The pull-ups were a real struggle today.

10:00 E2M

  • 4 Clean High Pulls
  • 6 Pendlay Rows

I stuck with 135# throughout and tried to work on some technique during the high pulls.

OLY

10:00 EMOM

  • High Hang Squat Clean
  • Hang Squat Clean
  • Squat Clean
  • Split Jerk

This was pretty brutal doing the 4 reps every minute. Not much rest time. I used 135# for the first set, then 145# for 4 sets, 155# for 3 sets, and finished with 2 sets at 165#.

WOD

5 Rounds

  • 8 HSPU
  • 12 American KBS (53#)
  • 400m Run

Went unbroken on everything, but my running kind of sucked after the 2nd round. Finished in 12:01.

Planning to take a rest day tomorrow and go golfing as long as the weather is nice.

Squats Are Getting Easier

In around 10 this morning and trained with Laura and Kinde. I came up with most of the programming for the day and Matt added the explosive work.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • 3/3 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)
  • 2/2 World’s Greatest Stretch

XWOD

7:00 EMOM

  • 2 Sumo Deadlifts (Fast reps and reset at the bottom, no bouncing – 205#)
  • 2 Broad Jumps for distance

Was supposed to use 40% for the deadlifts, but I didn’t want to calculate so picked 205#. Should have been closer to 180# I guess, but these weren’t hard so heavier was better I think.

Strength

Finishing up week 4 of the squat program. The back squats were pretty brutal, but the front squats weren’t too bad. Lot’s of volume though. Warmed up a bit with 135#.

  • 5 @ 160#
  • 5 @ 175#
  • 5 @ 185#
  • 5 @ 200#
  • 4 @ 215#
  • 4 @ 230#

Rested about 2 minutes between each set. I think this program is really paying off. The last two weeks look pretty brutal so we’ll see how it goes.

Olympic Lifting

7 Sets

  • Power Clean
  • Hang Power Clean
  • High Hang Power Clean
  • Rest 90s

I started at 115# and went up 10# each set, ending at 175#. Wasn’t easy there at the end, but I felt like I was staying over the bar pretty well and getting decent hip extension.

WOD

15-10-5

  • Power Clean (155#)
  • Bar-facing Burpees

I had to switch collars after about 5 reps because they kept popping open and flying all over the place. Smacked myself in the chin on a jerk about halfway through the round of 10. 155# didn’t feel too bad today. Finished in 9:20.

Finisher

Tabata Air Dyne

This was pretty terrible after all the other work. I only managed to get 72 calories.

3 Weeks of the Squat Program

Went to open gym at 5:15 tonight.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • 10/10 Flamingos
  • 10/10 Scorpions

Strength

Finishing out week 3 of the squat program with front squats. Did a few sets to warm-up and then did the prescribed 5 working sets.

  • 5 @ 45#
  • 5 @ 95#
  • 3 @ 135#
  • 5 @ 160#
  • 5 @ 175#
  • 5 @ 185#
  • 5 @ 200#
  • 5 @ 215#

Felt pretty good, but got tougher at the end. I’m liking this squat program, but it’s about to get real interesting next week, moving up to 6 sets and starting to hit some serious loads.

OLY with XWOD

  • 3-2-2-1-1 Cleans (135-165-185-205-225)
  • 2-1-2-1-2 Kneeling Jump

Cleans felt ok, but didn’t want to push it after all of the frost squatting, when that last one at 225 wasn’t the easiest rep. I only jumped up to my feet on the kneeling jumps, but probably should have gone for broad jump distance or something.

WOD

21-15-9

  • OHS (95#)
  • Ring Dips

A few of us were originally going to do “Elizabeth” but calves are sore from all of the box jumps yesterday and then did those heavy cleans, so we switched it up to OHS instead, which we all need more of. My kipping ring dips need some practice. I finished in 6:56.

That was 4 solid days of training in a row. Will be working on projects at the house all weekend so probably won’t do any workouts. Should be well rested to hit it again on Monday.

Rested Wednesday

Needed that day off yesterday. Worked out at 10:30 today. Kevin and I split off and did our own thing.

Warm-up

“Russian Twist Annie”
50-40-30-20-10

  • DU
  • Russian Twists (35# KB)

My DU were not the greatest, but finished in 5:03. Did another set of 40 unbroken DU a couple of minutes after finishing.

Strength

10:00 E2M

  • 5 HSPU
  • 5 Ring Dips
  • 5 Pull-ups

All movements are done strict, moving as fast as possible between them. On the last set, MAX out each movement. Finished each of the first 4 rounds in about 40-45 seconds, so had over a minute to rest. This combination was much tougher than expected. I got 5-6-5 in my last set and it was a struggle!

Warmed up a little more with some lighter clean and jerks.

WOD

5 Rounds (205#)

  • 5 Deadlifts
  • 3 Power Cleans
  • 1 Jerk
  • 10 Pull-ups

Rough. The 3rd power clean every round was pretty ugly and the jerk was by far the hardest part of the whole thing. Starting off with those 5 deadlifts wiped me out more than expected. Was shooting for this to take about 10 minutes and I fell just under, with a time of 9:57.

Finisher

We loaded up the 90# prowler sled with four 45# plates. Did 4 rounds of 25m high down and low back, then finished with a 40m low down and high back. Rested 1-2 minutes between each round.

Fast Recovery

I’m feeling great after yesterday’s first big session. Very little soreness anywhere. Matt, Kevin, and I worked out at 2:30 today. I warmed up with 25 calories on the Air Dyne at an easy pace and then did some PVC work for my arms and shoulders. I came up with the programming for today’s training.

Olympic Technique

7 Sets

  • Power Clean
  • Hang Power Clean
  • High Hang Power Clean
  • 90s Rest

I used 95, 115, 125, 135, 145, 165, and 175. Still focusing on hip extension, but also tried to start with my hips lower on the power clean from the ground.

Strength

14:00 E2M

  • 3 Power Cleans at 80% of 1RM Power Clean (195#)
  • 2 Broad Jump for distance (immediately after power cleans)

Figured it would be fun to try out a little XWOD action. The timing worked out pretty well so we had about 1:15 to rest before the next round.

WOD #1

3 Rounds

  • 400m Row
  • 20 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 20 T2B

I was planning for this to take about 12 minutes and I was just about right. I finished in 11:16. My T2B held up pretty well.

WOD #2

5 Rounds

  • 1:00 15 HR Push-ups & MAX Sit-ups
  • 1:00 Rest

This worked out better than I expected, considering it was completely made up and not based on anything I’ve done before. I was able to do each round of push-ups unbroken, although they did get progressively harder and that last round was a struggle. I actually got faster on them too until the last round. Managed 20-21-21-22-21 on the sit-ups for a 105 total. Abs were feeling pretty rocked after the T2B and the sit-ups.

The Grizzly Bear Complex

Earlier this week I came up with a great idea to combine the Bear Complex with a Curtis P and add an OHS. I decided to call it the Grizzly Bear Complex. It goes like this…

Perform 10 touch-n-go doubles of the following complex.

  • Clean
  • Front Squat
  • Lunge
  • Lunge
  • Shoulder to Overhead
  • Back Squat
  • Shoulder to Overhead
  • Overhead Squat

Notes:

  • Rest 90 seconds to 2 minutes between each set.
  • Start with a light load. Increase the weight each set. The last 3 sets should be hard!
  • Combining movements is allowed. For example you can do a squat clean and a back squat thruster.
  • It works well to switch to a wide snatch grip before the back squat so that you can do a thruster and go right into the OHS.
  • After the OHS on the first rep you may want to drop to the back so you can switch to a clean width grip. Then do a short press just to get the bar over your head and back to the front rack, ready to go into the TnG for rep 2

I was able to round-up Kevin and Jason to give it a go at 8pm. I warmed up with a 500m row and some DU.

My goal was to be able to hit for some heavy OHS, 175# or more. Boy was I underestimating how tough this would get. I started at 75# and went up 10# each set. When I got to 135# in the 7th set, it took everything I had to keep control of the OHS, especially on the 2nd rep. I stuck with 135# for the 8th and 9th and then managed to get 140# on my last set.

I wasn’t sure how the lunges would feel, but they weren’t really too bad. I felt like I got stuck on a couple towards the end, but I think it was more from not concentrating on them than it was from the weight. The OHS was definitely the limiting factor, especially after holding on to that bar for so long. Great complex though and I’ll definitely be willing to try it again some time.

Brent got held up with kids, but showed up as were just finishing our last few sets. Then we did some work with Kevin’s new wheelbarrow drive sled from Again Faster. First we did 5 sets of a 50′ rope pull followed by a 50′ high prowler push. I think we had it loaded with 135# for the first 3 or 4 sets and then added another 45#. After that we converted it into the “wheelbarrow” did 5 down and backs of close to 100m total. At the end of 5 trips I think we had about 400# stacked on it. To finish things off we loaded it with 180# of plates and did a 50′ high prowler push with a low push back. On the 5th set we added another 45#.

Then we ended with a beer. All in all, a fun Friday night.

Hard and Heavy

It’s been a couple of rough days with 13.1 on Sunday, 2 sessions on Monday, and a 2 hour session yesterday. I’m feeling a little beat up, but not enough to keep me away from the box today. This morning I went in for the 9am and it was a hard hour.

Warm-up

  • 2m Jump Rope
  • 2 Rounds:
    • 10/10 Leg Swings (F2B, S2S)
    • 10 Flamingos
    • 10 Scorpions

Strength

5-3-1-1-1 Back Squats

I’ve been waiting for a 1RM back squat day and it finally arrived. Last max lift was 285# and I couldn’t wait to join the 300# club. I warmed up with 5 at 45#, 5 at 135#, and 3 at 185#, trying to do fast reps. Then I went into my working sets:

  • 5x 225#
  • 3x 255#
  • 1x 285#
  • 1x 300#
  • 1x 315#

BOOM! Hit a 30# PR and could not have gone a pound heavier.

WOD

7 Rounds

  • 3 Cleans (205#)
  • 21 DU (unbroken)

About a month ago we did a competitor’s WOD very similar to this, but with 4 deficit HSPU instead. I remembered the 185# cleans being really tough, but I decided to go for the Rx today and see how long I could do 205#. I managed to do all 21 of them as power cleans. I did have one miss in the last round when Gayle said something about it barely getting over my knees, so then I thought too much about it. Had a few misses on DU, but thankfully they were all early in counts. Finished in 9:14.

Glad I went in early and got the workout done. Now I can relax and get work done the rest of the day. Rest day tomorrow for sure. I’m excited to see the 13.2 announcement tonight.

Working on Muscle-Ups

Feeling good today. Pecs are still sore from the competition. Was up early so headed in to work on muscle-ups before the 9am class.

I started out with rings hanging low from a pull-up bar so I could get in some reps working the transition with my feet bent under me and on my toes. Then I moved over to a set of rings I could grab on to while standing flat-footed and worked the strict transition. I kept missing because I’d let the rings get too wide and I was too slow in the turn-over. I nailed a few of them though. Just from that bit of work, my wrists started to rub raw. Need to try to do this once or twice a week.

Warm-up

  • 4/4 World’s Greatest Stretch
  • 15 No Push-up Burpees
  • 200m Run
  • 100m Run Backwards
  • 200m Carioca (100m each direction)
  • 300m Run
  • 3 Rounds:
    • 10 Evil Wheels
    • 5/5 Glute Bridge March
    • 10s Glute Bridge Hold

I worked up quite a sweat with the evil wheels.

WOD

  • 30 Box Jumps (30″)
  • 20 Full Cleans (155#)
  • 30 K2E
  • 20 Single-arm Push Press (53# KB)
  • 30 Sit-ups
  • 20 Alt Pistols
  • 30 Burpee Box Jumps (30″)

Damn those cleans sucked ass and then the burpee box jumps at the end were pretty killer as well. Everything else was smooth sailing for the most part. I did the box jumps unbroken, the K2E in 12-10-8, push presses in sets of 5 per arm, sit-ups unbroken, and pistols with 2 short breaks mainly to get back to balanced. Really had to concentrate on the box jumps at the end. Finished in 16:36.

Clean Work

Not feeling too bad this morning, but legs are feeling those tempo back squats from Tuesday. Went in for the 9am so that I have 2 full days of rest before the competition on Saturday.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • 10/10 Scorpions
  • 10/10 Flamingos
  • 50′ Frog Hop
  • 2×5 Extremely slow Clean Deadlift up to shrug and triple extension (95#)

Strength

Clean Complex

  • Power Clean from high hang
  • Power Clean from above knee
  • Power Clean from ground
  • 90s Rest

I really tried to work on my hip extension, which is probably my weakest point in the Olympic lifts. I did 6 sets of the complex, going 115#, 125#, 135#, 145#, 155#, and 165#. We had plenty of time in class, so we moved on to doing some heavy singles.

Heavy Power Clean Singles

  • 185#
  • 205# (matching PR)
  • 215# (new PR, easy!)
  • 230# (fail)
  • 230# (Plenty high enough, little slow getting the elbows under, but fought for it.

That was a 25# PR on my power clean over the 205# set back in October and now it’s higher than my 225# squat clean max. I’m still not even getting full hip extension though, so plenty more in the tank if I can keep improving my technique.

WOD

12:00 AMRAP

  • 7 Clean & Jerk (135#)
  • 7 C2B Pull-ups
  • 7 Burpees

This one was a fight and I ended up ripping both of my thumbs. I guess I need to start taping them again, especially for high rep clean work. I finished 5 full rounds and an extra clean and jerk.