Unbroken

Was definitely fatigued yesterday after all of the training on the weekend. Walked 18 holes on the golf course though. In to CFi early this morning to max out the shoulder press. Started off with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Shoulder Press

  • 8×75#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 1×135#
  • 1×150#
  • 1×165#
  • Fail 172.5#
  • Fail 170#

Damn! Matched my PR from last May and it felt pretty good. I was expecting more after the Smolov Jr. cycle, but I guess I have to remember that I went 3-4 months without working my shoulders. Maybe after vacation I’ll do another cycle.

Warm-up

  • 15 Russian KBS (44# KB)
  • 5 Burpees
  • 10x CS ATYT
  • 4×135# Pendlay Rows
  • Kneeling Jump to 45# plate
  • 4×165# Pendlay Rows
  • Kneeling Jump to 2×45# plates

XWOD

  • 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 Pendlay Rows (185#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1 Kneeling Jumps
    • 2s: 2×45# plates
    • 1s: 2×45# + 35# plates

Shoulders and upper back are getting stronger. I used to struggle with this weight. Need to step it up more the next time I do the kneeling jumps.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 8 Deadlifts (225#)
  • 8 Burpees
  • 8 Pull-ups

Everything unbroken to finish in 6:44. Pull-ups are improving a lot with the shoulder work and focus on body positioning. Need to get up the speed of the burpees when fatigued though.

When I got home I took a bit and then back out in the garage for some quick work.

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10

  • Double Unders
  • Sit-ups

Anchored my feet under 50# DBs and tried to set my area so I wouldn’t be sliding back so much on the sit-ups, but that still happened. I finally got through this bitch without missing a DU and it made a big difference, giving me a 27 second PR with 6:28. If I’m going to get better I have to figure out how to do sit-ups without sliding backwards. By the time I get around 15 reps I have to move the AbMat back up and probably waste a second each time I do that. Really happy about this PR!

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap.

Later in the day I felt like getting in some intervals. Warmed up with 500m on the skierg in 2:34.

10 Rounds

  • 30s @ 90%
  • 30s @ 75%

* % based on 500m PR pace (90% is 2:03 and 70% is 2:38 for me)

My pacing was consistent through each half. Went 1,098m in the first 5:00 and 1,100m in the last 5:00 with an average pace around 2:16/500m. I was actually kind of hard to go as slow as a 2:38 unless I was doing just about nothing, so I was usually more in the low 2:30 range on the low intensity intervals.

Jump! Jump!

Ugh!! My shoulder got a little sticky yesterday. Felt it reaching for the garage door button in the Jeep and it definitely sticks when I go through the 90/90 movement. Must be those damn dumbbell snatches! Hopefully it doesn’t get worse or persist.

Feeling those GHDs for sure today. Went in early to get my presses done before the 9am class. Started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 2×135#
  • 10x3x145#

BOOM! Finished off the 3 week Smolov Jr. cycle. I’m so glad I decided to bump up the weights a little more for week 3. I don’t think I’ve ever done more than 145# for a triple, so this was huge. I was planning to take 3+ minutes of rest between sets but did about 1:45-2:00 for 8 and then not much more for the final 2. Thankfully I didn’t have any issues with the shoulder.

Did a little jump rope to warm up the legs since everyone else was already warming up on the rowers and I was late to the party.

Warmed up deadlifts with 4×155#, 2×245#, 2×315#, and 2×365#.

XWOD

  • 2-2-2-2-2-2 Deadlifts (385#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1 PVC Jump Course
    • Heights were 12-14-18-24-30-42″

IMG_4733

I guess it’s roughly another inch for each to clear the PVC or dowel. A few times I got off my timing or spacing and bailed before jumping the last one. Those were fun!

Conditioning

  • 10-8-6-4-2 Russian KBS (62# KB)
  • 10-8-6-4-2 Burpees
  • Run 2 laps (~250m)

We did everything outside. Perfect day for it. Finished in 8:22.

My arms haven’t felt this dead in a long long time. Glad to be getting a massage this afternoon and a golf day tomorrow.

Back to Back to Back

When you drink alcohol you are just borrowing happiness from tomorrow.

Went over to Survival Fitness Bay City for beering, grilling, and fireworks last night. Didn’t drink much but stomach was rolling a bit through the morning and I had to take a couple of naps. Trained with Kevin and Brandi at 5pm. Started off with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Shoulder Presses

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×115#
  • 7x5x130#

Phew! Went up 7.5# over week 2’s day 2. Hardest struggle I’ve had yet. Glad tomorrow is a rest day.

To warm up snatches I did 2 muscle snatches with 95#, 2 power snatches with 115#, and 2 power snatches with 135#.

Conditioning

  • 3 Rounds
    • 3 Snatches (use 70% of 1RM, same bar for all 3 couplets)
    • 6 Burpee Box Jumps (30/24″)
  • 4 Rounds
    • 6 Front Squats
    • 12 T2B
  • 5 Rounds
    • 9 Deadlifts
    • 27 DU

This is an original I came up with yesterday. No rest between couplets. I used 145# and finished in 15:37. My T2B held me back a lot. I could definitely feel the fatigue in my hips from all of the MU yesterday. This would be nice at 75%, especially if you hadn’t been out drinking.

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap when I got home.

Grinding Smolov Jr.

Headed in early before the 9am so I could finish up week 2 of Smolov Jr. shoulder presses.

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 10x3x137.5#

Felt rough from the get-go, but I made it through every set. Rushed in and started right away too without any other type of warm-up. Was only taking about 90 seconds of rest between sets so I could finish before class started. The final week should be interesting. I think I’ll bump up the weights a bit over the recommended. My shoulders are feeling strong!

Warm-up

3 Rounds NFT

  • 300m Row
  • 15 Reverse Hypers on GHD

I worked up quite the sweat!

Warmed up deadlifts with 4×155#, 4×245#, and 4×315#.

XWOD

  • 4-4-4-4-4-4 Deadlifts (365#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1 Explosive movement
    • 2s: Split Jumps (2 each leg, sandbag on back)
    • 1s: Kneeling Jump (10.25″ – 45-45-25 HG bumpers stacked)

Haven’t done any heavy deadlifts for volume in quite some time. Felt really good!

Conditioning

5 Rounds (Tabata style)

  • 20s Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Sit-ups
  • 10s Rest

I did 10 wall balls and 11 sit-ups each round.

Midline

3 Round NFT

  • 20 Russian Twists (53# KB)
  • 45s Plank

After class I stayed to do some extra work. Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap with the blue bands for heavy and yellow for light. Burn baby!

4 Rounds NFT

  • 15 GHD Sit-ups
  • 15 Back Extensions

Focused on being as explosive as possible for both movements, which got me breathing pretty damn heavy. Took solid rest between rounds to recover.

In the evening I went for a walk. 3.22 miles in 48:29. During the summers my conditioning is always the best, which I attribute in large part to walking so much on the golf course. Felt like some fresh air tonight and the walk was perfect.

Rope Climbs

Feeling a little sore in new places from climbing the trees Sunday night at The Adventure Park. Walked 18 holes of golf yesterday. In for the 9am class at CFi.

Warm-up

  • CS Activation
  • Arm Circles
  • 30 Jumping Jacks

Strength

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×115#
  • 8x4x130#

Paired up with XWOD of:

  • 2s – 30″ Box Jumps
  • 1s – Broad Jump

The shoulder presses were a lot more of a struggle today. The final day of week 2 should be very interesting!

Skill

Put on the shin skins and finally tried some rope climbs while the newbs worked on kipping with Kevin. We’ve been talking about me getting on that rope for the last couple of weeks, so it was time. I was using the faster method which starts about halfway through this video…

I did 3 or 4 of them and then did one legless too. Not nearly as hard as I was expecting. Felt a lot different strain on my shoulders doing them, so points to a weakness I need to work on.

Conditioning

7:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Deadlifts (115#)
  • 10 Push Presses (115#)
  • 5 Burpees

Finished 4 rounds plus the deadlifts and push presses. Did all 10 push presses in round 1 but then had to go 5-5 every other round. Rough after the shoulder presses.

About 2-3 minutes after we finished, we went for a 1 mile jog.

Hot & Sweaty GLBRT

Today was the 6th Great Lakes Bay Regional Throwdown, with it being hosted at Mission 1 – CrossFit Caro this time. I’ve competed in the last 3 and we won the belt for Survival Fitness at each one. The first two we competed in were one team takes the belt back to their gym and with the last one the format was switched up to make it more of a gym working together, where the top 2 scores from each gym count for each WOD.

Event 1

12:00 AMRAP

  • 200m Run
  • 21 American KB Swings 53/35#
  • 12 Pull-ups

2 teammates work at a time (1M/1F) to complete a round. When the first 2 teammates finish a round the second 2 teammates will begin a round. This pattern continues for 12 minutes. Score is total reps completed.

Both Partners run the 200m. The KB Swings may not start until both teammates have returned from the run to their area. Whoever chooses to start a set of KB Swings or Pullups must perform all the reps in that set, for that round. During the KB Swings the other partner must be hanging from a bar for the KB Swings to count. While the Pullups are being performed the other partner must hold the KB off the ground for the pullups to count. The 2 teammates that are not working must be touching the rig before they can be released for the run. They will be released after the working partners 12th pullup is completed.

Bre and I paired up with her doing all of the KBS and me doing all of the pull-ups. Brent and Laura started the workout and finished our 7th team round just before the time ran out. Wasn’t really that tough of a workout for me since it was just 3 runs and 36 pull-ups. I never dropped from the bar and went unbroken with kipping pull-ups on each set.

Event 2

There will be 8 stations for men and 8 stations for women.

  • Men’s weights = 75-95-105-115-135-155-165-185
  • Women’s weights = 55-65-75-85-95-105-115-125

Each athlete will have 20 seconds to work at each station and 10 seconds to transition to the next station to perform as many reps as desired. At least 1 rep must be completed at each station before moving to the next station. Score will be total pounds lifted per team.

Everyone knows the thruster. All bars will start on the floor. The athlete may complete the first rep as a full clean, receiving the bar in the squat position. The hips must clearly pass below the knee in the squat portion of the movement and the bar must end in a fully locked out overhead position with full extension of the knee, hip, shoulder, and elbow. There may not be a pause between the front squat portion of the movement and the overhead portion. It must be a thruster and not a clean and jerk. If an athlete fails to complete a good rep at a station then they will leave the field at the next transition time.

When we did a run through I only did 3 reps at each weight. Today I went 7-7-5-5-5-3-3-3. Should have gone harder in the early and middle sets. Happy I was still able to get 3 at 185. I did 2, had to drop it, took a breath, and then got in another rep. Tweaked my back a little bit though. 😦

Event 3

Chipper!

  • 50 Wall Ball (20#/14#, 10’/9′)
  • 40 KB Snatches 44/26
  • 30 T2B
  • 20 Burpees
  • 30 Clean & Jerk 135/95
  • 40 Box Jump 24/20
  • 50 Deadlift 185/135

2 men start the chipper. After they complete the 50 Wall Ball and move to the 40 KB Snatches, the 2 women may start their Wall Balls. This pattern will continue through the entire chipper. There will be 2 scores. First score is men’s time and second score is total time. Work can be divided between partners however they choose. For example, if one woman cannot perform a 35# KB Snatch but her teammate can, then she may perform all 40 of them.

Each lane will have 1 barbell for cleans with 2 45# plates, 2 25# plates, 1 45# barbell, and 2 spring collars. It is the responsibility of the team to load their barbell with the appropriate weight. When the men complete their clean & jerk they may load the bar for the women, however, if they choose to do this then the box jumps may not start until both men move off from the Clean station and on to the box jump station.

Each lane will also have 1 barbell for deadlifts with 2 45# plates, 2 25# plates, 1 45# barbell, and 2 spring collars. It is the responsibility of the team to load their barbell with the appropriate weight. When the men complete their deadlifts they must leave the field and cannot change the bar for the women. The first score is recorded upon completion of the men’s 50th deadlift. The second score is recorded after the women complete their 50th deadlift.

Brent and I beat our practice time by over 30 seconds and the girls beat their time by about 1:30! I couldn’t believe it when we were doing our C&J and they were waiting on us to finish. In the practice run, we got done way ahead of them and even changed the weight on the bar for them. They crushed it!

Great day and a fun team to compete with. The weather was brutally hot and it was even worse inside the gym. Spent a lot of time outside in the sun.  After today and walking 27 holes of golf yesterday in the hot sun and humidity I’m exhausted!

glbrt6-sf

Get ScapJacked!

Walked 18 holes of golf yesterday and feeling good. First time since coming back from Spain that my legs aren’t sore. Headed out to the garage before the 9am Survival Fitness class to get in the Smolov Shoulder Press along with an XWOD.

Warm-up

  • 27″ Seated Box Jump
  • 5×45# Shoulder Press
  • 33″ Seated Box Jump
  • 5×75# Shoulder Press
  • 39″ Seated Box Jump
  • 5×95# Shoulder Press
  • Couple attempts at 45″ Seated Box Jump
  • 41.5″ Seated Box Jump

XWOD

  • 6x6x115# Shoulder Press
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1 Seated Box Jump

I did 2×39″ and 1×41.5″ for the jumps. Tried to get 45″ in warm-up but I couldn’t make myself get up there being alone at home in the garage and so early in the morning. Good challenge. This was the first day of week 2 for my shoulder press Smolov Jr. cycle.

Got to SF and warmed up with leg swings, bottom squat holds, and some other stretching.

Strength

Deadlifts w/ bigger red band

  • 5×95#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 3×225#
  • 8x3x255# w/ 30s rest

Accessory

Bulgarian Split Squats (3x 45# bumpers stacked as the box)

  • 10/10 53# KB
  • 10/10 60# DB
  • 10/10 71# KB

Really weird with such a low box and having to touch the knee to the ground. I’m used to doing these on a bench.

Conditioning

  • 100 DU
  • 80 Air Squats
  • 30s Dead Hang + 12 Pull-ups
  • 40 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 30s Dead Hang + 12 Pull-ups
  • 20 Burpees
  • 30s Dead Hang + 12 Pull-ups

I got the 100 double unders unbroken! Wasn’t even a struggle and my shoulders felt fine the whole way. I guess that month of dubs really paid off, plus all of the Crossover Symmetry work I’ve been doing. My air squats wore slow and controlled, but I never stopped. Didn’t rebound on my box jumps, so all step downs, but again, no stopping. Burpees were pretty slow. I did the first two rounds of pull-ups unbroken without dropping, then dropped after 5 in the last round so I wouldn’t rip. Took a short break and got back up to finish out the last 7. Still doing all kipping pull-ups to build up muscle more than butterfly. Finished in 10:39.

Got home and did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap. Time to step it up! Rest day tomorrow to golf 27 holes and then we have a team competition Saturday against all of the gyms in the area.

Double Sunday

Feeling good after yesterday. Went to the 11am class at Survival Fitness.

2 Rounds

  • 1:00 Plank
  • 1:00/1:00 Side Planks
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 1:00 Dead Hang
  • 1:00 Bottom Squat Hold
  • 1:00 Jumping Jacks

I did a quick drop after 35 seconds of dead hang and jumped right back up to regrip. No need to rip my hands open with pull-ups and deadlifts planned for tonight.

20:00 Partner AMRAP

  • 12 Sit-ups
  • 12 SDLHP (53# KB)
  • 12 Squat Jumps
  • 6 Burpees
  • 250m Run

Partner 1 does all of the sit-ups, partner 2 does all of the SDLHP, and keep alternating each movement. Since partner 1 will be doing the run in the first round, the 2nd time through the movements will be switched for each person.

I paired up with Joe and we kept up a solid sprint pace. We were about 130m from finishing 8 rounds.

Over to CrossFit Intuition around 5:30 for another workout. Did Crossover Symmetry Activation and then figured it was a good time to try doing a “ninja get-up” since it’s been a long time and maybe the Explosive Seminar taught me a few things. Nailed it on the first try!

Clean & Jerks

  • 2x40kg
  • 2x60kg
  • 2x70kg
  • 1x75kg
  • 1x80kg
  • 1x90kg
  • 1x95kg
  • 1x100kg
  • 1x105kg
  • 1x115kg
  • 1x118kg (Clean PR, missed jerk)

Used all kilo plates in the Mid Michigan Barbell Club part of the gym, which is a first for me. It’s weird not knowing exactly how much is on the bar. I’ll call that a 260# clean I guess, for a 5# PR. I had the jerk locked out, but was probably a bit forward on me. I really need to work on getting under the bar after I extend, instead of extending some more.

XWOD

Warmed up shoulder press with 5×75# and 5×95#.

  • 8x4x120# Shoulder Press
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1 Explosive Push-ups

For the 2s, we did clapping push-ups and for the 1s we did a plyo push-up from the ground on to four 45# bumper plates.

Conditioning

  • 3 Rounds
    • 5 C2B Pull-ups
    • 10 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 2 Rounds (same movements and reps)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 1 Round (same movements and reps)

I wanted to make something short and fast, but still really intense. This worked out really well. I start losing my kip on C2B after 3 or 4 and was swinging all over the place a few times. I finished 3 rounds in 1:50, 2 rounds in 1:12, and 1 in 0:27, with a total time of 6:29 on the clock.

Did 4 sets of 10 reverse hypers with a green band on the GHD. Then I did Crossover Symmetry Recovery.

Don’t Touch This

My legs are so sore they hurt to the touch! At least I can walk on my feet without hobbling all over the place since I can barely feel the blisters now. Over to CrossFit Intuition this morning for Kevin to put us through a class.

Warm-up

  • CS Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Inch Worms
  • 750m Row

Conditioning

He tricked us saying we were going to do a Tabata row in order to get a 20 second meter number out of us. Mine was 98 meters. Then…

20 Rounds

  • 20s Row
  • 20s Rest

If you don’t make your number during a round, that’s a 5 burpee penalty at the end. Luckily I got over 101 each round. Totaled 2,471m with the rollouts. I was soaked with sweat at the end.

Strength

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 10 Pendlay Rows (40% of BW – used 85#)
  • Evens: 10 CS Reverse Fly (2 rounds with red, 3 with yellow)

Nasty little combo that made the light weight get hard.

Midline

3×10 GHD MB Toss (14#)

Fun workout!

Headed to Survival Fitness at 8 to try out the chipper for the upcoming GLBRT team competition.

  • 50 Wall Ball 20#/14# 10’ target for men and women
  • 40 KB Snatches 53/35
  • 30 T2B
  • 20 Burpees
  • 30 Clean & Jerk 135/95
  • 40 Box Jump 24/20
  • 50 Deadlift 185/135

Brent and I finished in 10:33, the girls could start after we got done with wall balls and the clock was exactly 14:00 when they finished. Fun little workout.

Sub-12 Hours of Rest

Quick turn-around from doing the barbell club last night. Stayed up too late too, so feeling sluggish this morning. Shoulder areas are sore from the combination of class and snatches.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation (at home)
  • Arm Circles
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Shoulder Stretching
  • Zombie Kicks
  • Band Pulls

Strength

Shoulder Press 5×5 @ 80%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×115#
  • 2x5x120#
  • 5×125#
  • 5×130#

I have no idea what my max would be at this point, so it’s a guessing game and I just keep putting on weight if it feels good.

OLY

Power Cleans (work up to working weight)

  • 2×125#
  • 2×135#
  • 2×165#

Every 15 seconds for 7:00

  • 185# Power Clean

Felt really good actually. Last rep was almost as “easy” as the first. Rx was 205# which sounded pretty rough, but I think I could have done it. I’m just not used to my increased leg strength yet. Lowering the weight did allow me to work on fixes for some of my arm issues though, like bending the elbows early.

Warmed up deadlifts for the metcon by doing 5×225# and 5×275#. We also jogged about 240m to get the heart rate up.

Conditioning

21-15-9

  • Deadlifts (315#)
  • Box Jumps (30″)

I made the mistake of starting out with 2 sets of 7 thinking I could go 7s, 5s, and 3s. Not happening! 315# is just too heavy for this when I have to break into singles during the round of 15. Finished in 8:32. Walked a lap after. Did Crossover Symmetry Recovery at home.