Tag: deadlift

A PR Morning

Took a rest day yesterday and walked 18 holes of golf. Woke up today feeling more beat up than I should. In at 10am to test my deadlift.

Warm-up

3:00 Row

Olympic Lifting

Snatches

  • 45# Position Work for 5:00
  • 95# x 2
  • 115# x 2
  • 135# E30S 3:00
  • 155#
  • 165#
  • 175# (PR)

My snatch is feeling really good lately. I was planning to do 135# for 5:00 but it was feeling good so I stopped and started bumping up the weight. That was a 10# PR. Looking forward to trying more.

Strength

Deadlift

  • 185# x 8, rest 2
  • 275# x 5, rest 2
  • 325# x 3, rest 3
  • 375# x 1, rest 3
  • 425# x 1, rest 10
  • 475# x 1 (PR), rest 12
  • 500# x 1 (PR)

My old PR was 455# in April, so this was a big jump. The 425# lift hit me hard for some reason, even though I’ve pulled it for 3 several times before. I saw sweating and light-headed, so took a long rest before the 475# attempt. If Kevin and Matt weren’t there pushing me I was going to go for 485# or so next, so I’m glad they talked me into the 500# attempt.

Back to Survival Fitness at 5pm for a class.

Warm-up

  • 30 Air Squats
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30 PVC OHS

Strength

Front Squats

  • 5 @ 115#
  • 5 @ 145#
  • 5 @ 165#
  • 5 @ 185#
  • 5 @ 185#

Kept it light and fast. Didn’t need any more heavy weights after the morning session.

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 5 Strict HSPU
  • Evens: 8 Box Jumps (32″)

The HSPU felt good today. Probably should have done a deficit, but I already put in a lot of work and had an idea of how bad the WOD was going to be, so I backed off a bit.

WOD

  • 30 Hang Squat Cleans (95#)
  • 30 Push-ups
  • 30 Thrusters (95#)
  • 30 T2B
  • 30 OHS (95#)
  • 30 Burpees
  • 30 Shoulder to OH (95#)

The burpees were horrible. Slowest ever! Finished in 19:12.

Double Day

Feeling good this morning. Hamstrings a little tight from squats on Tuesday, but body feels good. In at 10am.

Warm-up

1/2 Mile Sled Drag (115#)

Olympic Lifting

Every 1:30 to 2:00

  • Snatch
  • Hang Snatch
  • High Hang Snatch

I did it with 95#, 105#, 115#, 125#, 135#, and 125#. No misses on any of the lifts. I think 135# in a new high for the high hang, by 10#. Getting better!

Strength

5/3/1 Deadlifts – Cycle 2 Week 3

  • 5 @ 165# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 210# (50%)
  • 3 @ 250# (60%)
  • 5 @ 315# (75%)
  • 3 @ 355# (85%)
  • 1+ @ 400# (95%)

Pulled 8 reps @ 400# for an estimated max of 505.5#. Booyah! Looking forward to testing 1RM next week. It won’t be close to 500# but I should see a nice improvement over 455#.

WOD

5 Rounds

  • 10 OH Lunges (45# empty bar)
  • 10 Goblet Squats (53#)
  • 5 C2B Pull-ups

I used a clean grip on the OH Lunges. First time doing those with a barbell. Did everything unbroken and finished in 5:56. Not a killer WOD, but did make my legs shaky when I was done.

Core

  • 100 Sit-ups

Was hoping for a sub three and was on pace, but died a bit in the 3rd minute to finish at 3:06, 4 seconds off my best. I need to figure out how to stop moving backwards because I have to adjust the AbMat every 10-15 reps.

3 Rounds NFT

  • 10 T2B
  • 5/5 Side Bends (80# KB)

Grip may have been the toughest here after deadlifts and C2B pull-ups.

Went back at 8pm. Warmed up with 3:00 on the Air Dyne.

Conditioning

6 Rounds

  • 40 yard Prowler Sprint (High, 210# total)
  • 60s Rest
  • 40 yard Prowler Sprint (Low, 210# total)
  • 60s Rest

We took this from a challenge posted by Jim Wendler, but 3 rounds (6 sprints) was too easy so we doubled it. Ended up being pretty perfect.

I also did 3 sets of 10 wall squats to work on my vertical torso.

Quads on Fire

Yesterday I walked 18 holes of golf and then got one of those massive headaches from the sun and heat. It was in the 90s and I guess I didn’t drink enough water out there. So my garage gym still isn’t all set back up with the GHD yet. In at 10am this morning and feeling great after 9.5 hours of sleep.

Warm-up

1000m Row

Strength

5/3/1 Shoulder Press – Cycle 2 Week 2

  • 5 @ 60# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 75# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 90# (60% – warm)
  • 3 @ 105# (70%)
  • 3 @ 120# (80%)
  • 3+ @ 140# (90%)

I have a bit of the right elbow problem on shoulder presses too and that right elbow is also the one that gets sore after snatches or OHS most of the time. Hmmm. I got 6 reps @ 140# for an estimated max of 167.5#.

Deadlift – 5/3/1 Cycle 2 Week 2

  • 5 @ 165# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 210# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 250# (60% – warm)
  • 3 @ 295# (70%)
  • 3 @ 335# (80%)
  • 3+ @ 375# (90%)

Crushed the deadlifts today with the day off yesterday. 10 reps for an estimated max of 499. BOOM!!

3 Rounds NFT

  • 8 Front Rack Walking Lunges (135#, forward)
  • 8 Front Rack Walking Lunges (135#, backward)
  • 8 Chin-ups

I didn’t put the bar down on the lunges and my heart was racing after all 16 lunges.

WOD

5 4:00 Rounds

  • 6 T2B
  • 1:30 Air Dyne
  • Rest

I made a point not to go out too fast on the first round. Went 31-33-34-34-32 calories. I focused on keeping the speed at over 22mph. This is much worse than Air Dyne Hell because you hurt for longer.

Leg Day

Still sore in the legs from Tuesday and now sore in the core and upper body from yesterday. In at 10am.

Warm-up

  • PVC OHS and pass-thrus
  • 450m Run

Strength

5/3/1 Deadlifts – Cycle 2 Week 1

  • 5 @ 165# (40% of training max – warm)
  • 5 @ 210# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 250# (60% – warm)
  • 5 @ 270# (65%)
  • 5 @ 315# (75%)
  • 5+ @ 355# (85%)

Felt really solid. Focusing on being more explosive with my legs and hip drive is helping a lot. I did 10 reps at 355# for an estimated max of 472#.

Did this following ladder after the snatches. Not for time. Go through once until failure and then start over from 1 and do it to failure again.

  • 1 Strict Chin-up, 2 Strict Ring Dips, 3 Sit-ups holding 10# plate behind head
  • 2-4-6
  • 3-6-9
  • …

I got 5 + 15 and 3 + 10.

OLY

Warmed up with 45# snatch position drills, wearing wrist straps, for 7-8 minutes.

E20S 2:00

  • 95# Snatch

3:00 Rest

E30S 3:00

  • 125# Snatch

3:00 Rest

EMOM 3:00

  • 135# Snatch

The 125# snatches felt really good. I started jumping forward a little on the 135# snatches though and wasn’t hitting quite as good on the hips. Better than I ever have hit though and it’s my first try at 135# so I might stick to this for the next session before going up another 10#.

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 10 Backwards Front Rack Walking Lunges (155#, no rack)
  • 10 OHS (75#)

Yuck! Those backwards lunges were brutal at 155# and I’m glad I didn’t go with 95# for the OHS. Originally thought about doing 5 rounds, but legs were thrashed from the deadlifts and snatches. Finished in 5:47.

Sweat & Steel 2013

Went down to CrossFit Deviate in Rochester for a 6 person team competition with Casey, Kevin, Michelle, Breanne, and Katy.

Event 1

Follow the leader style:

  • 25 Burpee Pull-Ups (8’/7′)
  • 500 Meter Row
  • 25 Wall Balls (30#/20#) ball must hit the black line (10′)

Not too bad for us guys since we could all jump most of the way up on the pull-up. The gals really struggled with the wall balls. I did mine in 10-10-5 because I had plenty of time. We finished at exactly 18:00 (the time cap) and were 7th out of 16 teams in the open division.

Event 2

3×3 Min AMRAP

  • 3:00 AMRAP Shoulder-to-Overhead (135#/95#)
  • 1:00 rest to change plates
  • 3:00 AMRAP Clean (185#/115#)
  • 1:00 rest to change plates
  • 3:00 AMRAP Deadlift (275#/185#)

You paired up a guy and a girl for each movement. Kevin and Michelle did out SH to OH, Casey and Breanne on the cleans, and Katy and I on deadlifts. We crushed this one finishing 5th. I did all of my deadlifts in sets of 5s until the end where I did a set of 9. I completed something like 45 reps in the 3 minutes!

Event 3 & 4

Completed as one 16 Min event, but scored independently.

4:00 AMRAP

  • 6 Muscle-Ups (3 each) One male and one female

I did the 3 MU and them Michelle attempted for the next 3 minutes to get her first one. Hurt us not having a girl who could do any. Tied for last with 3 other teams that also didn’t have a female with MU.

12:00 to find Max Weight Front Squat (remaining 4 members)

Everyone set or tied a PR but we finished down in the pack on this one as well in 10th or 11th I think. Somehow despite these two workouts we managed to stay in 9th place and get into event 5 for the top 10 teams.

Event 5

For Time – 12:00 Time cap

  • 90 HSPU
  • 90 C2B Pull-ups
  • 90 Pistols
  • 90 T2B

Teams were divided into 3 men and 3 women, with the men completing 2 of the movements and the women completing the other 2. Our guys did HSPU and pistols, which was different from most teams, but we had to because our girls would have died on HSPU and their pistols would have been way too slow. This hurt us because even though they got through the C2B, they were slow. We were the first team in our heat off of the wall by quite a bit, but quickly fell behind in the C2B. Our ladies got done withe 37 of the T2B before time ran out. We held on to 9th place, even moving up a bit in the points.

It was a really fun team event and I couldn’t believe we were in 6th place after the first two events against some top-level teams. I knew of at least 3 teams that went to Regionals and several other competitors went as individuals.

Too Much?

I walked 18 holes of golf yesterday morning and was pretty exhausted most of the rest of the day. No idea why. I got in an hour nap and was in bed early to get 9 hours of sleep. In at 10am this morning.

Warm-up

  • 450m Run
  • 100m Sled Drag (160#)
  • 25/25 Band Walks (Red)
  • 10/10 Flamingos
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)

Strength

5/3/1 Deadlifts – Cycle 1 Week 3

  • 5 @ 165# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 205# (50%)
  • 3 @ 245# (60%)
  • 5 @ 305# (75%)
  • 3 @ 350# (85%)
  • 1+ @ 390# (95%)

To beat my previous best estimated 1RM I needed 7 reps and I ended up getting 8 for a new estimate of 493#!! Probably still quite a bit higher than my real max, but I’ll take it. I might have pushed a little too much though, because I felt something in rep 5 or 6 and then in rep 8. Hopefully it was nothing, but low back was pretty sore almost immediately, although it did hold up in the WOD.

Kroc Rows

3 Sets of 15/15 with a 53# KB

Actually did these after the WOD, but wanted to group them up here in the strength section.

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 20 Deadlifts (135#)
  • 15 Back Squats (135#)
  • 10 Push Jerks (135#)

First longer barbell complex in a while and it showed. Took me 11:37 to finish. I went 19-1, 10-9-1, and 14-5-1 on the deadlifts, back squats all “unbroken” (never dropped the bar), and 5-5, 6-4, and 6-4 on the push jerks. If we hadn’t just done heavy deadlifts I would have been able to get them all unbroken each round I think. I was starting to feel pretty rough trying to recover after this.

Finisher

“Air Dyne Hell”
10 Rounds

  • 15s at 100% (20s at 100% on the last round)
  • 1:45 Rest

Kevin and I got 273 calories, down from our last time with 287. No idea how we managed that before!

I got home and thought I was going to pass out for the next 20-30 minutes. Slamming a lemonade helped right away though. I think that might have been too much intensity after the heavy deadlifts.

I went back at 6 since my legs were already feeling the morning session and my back was pretty lit up. Figured it would be good to flush things out a bit.

0.5 Mile Sled Drag (forward) with 115#

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10

  • DU
  • Sit-ups

Smashed my old PR of 7:41 with a 7:08. I missed my first DU on the sets of 50 and 40, but otherwise did them with 50, 2-38, 30, 20, 10. Could have been sub 7 without those misses, but I have no idea how people do sit-ups so damn fast. I never stopped moving.

0.5 Mile Sled Drag (backwards) with 115#

Ugh, backwards is so hard on the hip flexors. I wanted to stop after 2 of 6 laps, but kept on truckin’.

Feeling Wrecked in the Morning

Feeling pretty beat up this morning, especially in the posterior chain. Went in at 10 with Kevin and Ellen for strength lifts though.

Warm-up

5:00 Air Dyne

Strength

Bench Press – 5/3/1 Cycle 1 Week 2

  • 5 @ 85# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 105# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 125# (60% – warm)
  • 3 @ 150# (70%)
  • 3 @ 170# (80%)
  • 3+ @ 190# (90%)

* Working sets completed using the Reactive Sling Shot

In the set with 170# I realized if I came a little lower on my chest I could keep my right elbow in a lot better. I think I was benching too high on my chest, which makes it hard to keep that elbow in. Went on to knock out 13 reps at 190, which is the same number I hit at 180# on Sunday! And I didn’t have a single issue with the right elbow flaring out to cause that arm to lack behind. Estimates my max at 271.5#, which is a joke, but I’m improving!

Deadlift – 5/3/1 Cycle 1 Week 2

  • 5 @ 165# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 205# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 245# (60% – warm)
  • 3 @ 285# (70%)
  • 3 @ 330# (80%)
  • 3+ @ 370# (90%)

Felt good. Pulled 8 reps at 370# and it actually felt better than the 9 at 350# I did on Saturday. New estimated max of 467.5#.

Maybe I should lift more often when I’m not feeling great! Cut the session after those lifts because I’m going to a class this afternoon with a friend who wants to try out CrossFit. Went in at 4pm to a pretty big class.

Warm-up

  • 30 Air Squats
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 10 Burpees
  • 300m Run

Strength

Wasn’t too big on doing another big strength lift with 2 already this morning, but I can always use an extra squat session. Front squats on the menu today.

  • 5 @ 135#
  • 3 @ 185#
  • 3 @ 225#
  • 3 @ 245#
  • 3 @ 255#

Fuck it, go big! Matches my best 3RM, but the two sets before were higher than I’ve gone before, and legs got some solid work with the hill sprints last night and deadlifts this morning. When I last did this a couple of months ago I used 155-175-195-225-255, so this is a nice improvement in overall weight moved.

3 Rounds NFT

  • 8 Ring Dips
  • 8 Ring Rows

I still suck at ring rows. Did all of my dips strict and unbroken though.

WOD

12 Rounds

  • 1:00 AMRAP (continue next AMRAP where you leave off)
    • 5 Pull-ups
    • 10 Hand Release Push-ups
    • 15 Air Squats
  • 1:00 Rest

I was getting over a round per minute the entire way. In the 10th round I thought my hand felt a little funny on the bar. I got stuck to some old tap glue and it ripped it right open because I couldn’t slide around the bar on my butterfly. Ugh, just what I needed a few days before the Warrior Dash. I finished with 14+1 rounds, with the push-ups being my limiting factor. Probably could have gone a little faster on the air squats too, but all pull-ups were unbroken.

5/3/1 Begins

Was up early and got back to Saginaw around 11am. In to the gym this afternoon with Kevin to train. I read 5/3/1: The Simplest and Most Effective Training System for Raw Strength (2nd Edition) last week and loved it. Decided to start my first cycle of 5/3/1 today. Really looking forward to see how it works. I like having a program where I don’t have to guess what weights to lift; give me percentages and reps and I’ll do the work and trust the program.

Warm-up

I got a new, lighter/thinner cable for my Rx Jump Rope and tried it out as the warm-up for today. Got a streak of 73 in a row right off the bat. I was hitting the ground a lot with the cable though, which I haven’t been doing with the cable that is one step higher. This would prove to be a big difference when fatigued.

Strength

5/3/1 Deadlifts – Cycle 1 Week 1

  • 5 @ 165# (40% of training max – warm)
  • 5 @ 205# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 245# (60% – warm)
  • 5 @ 265# (65%)
  • 5 @ 305# (75%)
  • 5+ @ 350# (85%)

I got 9 reps at 350 before stopping because my grip had been failing since the 5th rep and I could start to feel my low back giving out. Wendler says leave a little in the tank, so I did.

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 7 Strict Chin-ups
  • Evens: Snatch Grip Deadlifts (135#)

I should have had the straps on right away, but didn’t until the 2nd round of snatch grip deadlifts. So I only got 4 in the first round, then 6 in the 2nd, and 8 in the last 3 rounds. Was really a struggle in the last two rounds of chin-ups. Working on the snatch grip deadlifts and hitting the hips hopefully will help me out with my full snatches.

WOD

30:00 AMRAP

  • 500m Row
  • 400m Run
  • 100 DU
  • 10 Ring Rows
  • 10 Ring Push-ups
  • 20 Air Squats

Figured we’d do a long WOD, which I haven’t done in at least a month. Kevin smoked me right out of the gate because he kicks my ass on the rower. I couldn’t catch back up. My DU kind of sucked and I think the new cable got me. Felt like it was hitting the ground so much it would either bounce up or lose shape. I could rarely recover from nicking it and I actually got whipped quite a few times, which hasn’t happened to me in who knows how long. Tried Kevin’s cable which looks to be 2 inches shorter after the WOD and I seemed to do better with it. So maybe with the lighter weight it just spins that much different that I need to chop off that much length. Or maybe I just need to get used to it.

Anyway…I finished 3 full rounds and was about 100m through the run in the 4th when the time ran out. I kept going though and completed everything in the round, so it was about a 35 or 36 minute AMRAP for me. 🙂 Had to split up every set of ring rows, but got all of the ring push-ups and air squats unbroken.

Air Dyne for Breakfast and Sled for Dinner

Sleeping better each night because the night sweats are slowly disappearing.

Started the morning with “Air Dyne Hell” at about 8:20.

  • 5:00 warmup
  • 10 Rounds
    • 15s @ 100%
    • 1:45 Rest
  • 5:00 cool down

Did 419 cal and went 4.45 miles. The AD2 seems much easier or has a different way of counting calories because I did about 230cal by myself in the interval portion and Kevin and I combined only got in the 280s on the AD6.

Worked on some snatching before lunch.
30:00 E3M

  • High hang snatch
  • Hang snatch
  • High hang snatch
  • Hang snatch

Had 95# loaded on the bar and used lifting straps to stay connected. I’ve always had a lot of trouble meeting my hips from the hang, but I hit every single rep today! Here’s a video of the last set.

Before dinner it was time for more sweating.

10 Rounds NFT

  • 10 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 50m Sprint
  • 50m Walk back

After every two rounds I took an extra little break to drink some water. Solid little WOD.

A few minutes after I went out for a sled drag. Loaded it up with standard 135#, going 0.68 miles in 19:03. I paused RunKeeper at the turnaround point but didn’t pause during the two breaks on the way back. Not going to lie…that was rough! Didn’t help that I was actually going a little uphill on the way back.

The Road Back

I made it through 2 naps today without any sweats, so figured I could get back in the gym. Went it at 8pm for open gym.

Warm-up

  • 450m Run
  • PVC pass-thrus
  • Banded Good Mornings (green)

Strength

Warmed up with 5 deadlifts at 135#, 5 Pendlay rows at 115#, 5 deadlifts at 225#, 5 Pendlay rows at 135#, and 3 deadlifts at 315#.

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 3 Deadlifts
  • Evens: 5 Pendlay Rows

The plan was to use 85% of 1RM for the deadlifts, so I threw 385# on the bar and used 145# for the Pendlay Rows. Got through the first round and the first deadlift of round 2, but had to drop weight. Went down to 345# the rest of the way, which was plenty hard enough. I need to get back into deadlifting more. Being sick has some to do with being weak, but my body just isn’t used to the weight either.

5×3 OHS

  • 3 @ 95#
  • 3 @ 125#
  • 3 @ 145#
  • 2 @ 165#
  • 2 @ 165#

Ugh, so frustrating! Nowhere near my 3 rep max and I failed on it in two attempts.

Core

5 Rounds NFT

  • ME Ring L-hold (knees up)
  • 10 V-ups

Felt pretty good on these but could tell I was getting a little tired. It’s hard, but I have to realize it’s probably going to take a week or two to get myself back to pre-MudCrud fitness.