Front Squat

A Squat PR!

Went in early so I could start squatting before the 4:30 class so I’d have more time.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

Bottom Squat Hold
10 Reverse Hyper (210#)
20 Walking Lunges

Strength – Front Squat

5×45#
5×135
5×205
3×245
2×275
2×295
1×315
1×330 (PR)
1×345 (PR)

Finally a squat PR! That was definitely all I had because I was damn near at a complete stop in the middle, or at least it felt like it to me. PR by 25#.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

3 Handstand Push-ups
5 Overhead Squats (135#)
10 Deadlifts (135#)

This triplet really lit up the low back. All unbroken. Finished in 3:41.

Accessory

E40S – 5 Sets

10 Push-ups

E40S – 5 Sets

10 Push-ups
10 Air Squats

Was supposed to be 30 seconds but the clock was messed up so we got the extra 10. Was going easy so I added the air squats in the last 5 rounds. Every set was unbroken.

Weird Feelings

In at 3:30.

Skill WOD “Be the Master of Your Volume” Week 3 Day 3

Warm-up: 3 Rounds

10 Pass-thrus (over & under grips)
10 Straddle V-ups
10 Back Extensions
10s Handstand Hold
5/5 Bar Taps (tight/dynamic)

Test Your Max

1 Set of MAX C2B Pull-ups
4 sets at 60%
2:00 Rests between all sets

Didn’t have it today. Got 18, which is 5 fewer than last week so 60% (rounded up) was sets of 11. I got the first 3 sets unbroken and then went for a max of 13 on the last set.

In the 2nd drop set I started to lose some of my peripheral vision and was seeing sort of 2 squiggly rainbow lines on the right some of my vision. It was weird. Lasted through the accessory work and then my peripheral was still messed up for a little while after that.

Strength Accessory: 3 Sets

10 Leg Lifts (AbMat on box on jerk blocks)
20 GHD Heel Drives

Cut from 5 to 3 sets again since I didn’t want to fatigue my back too much before squats.

Strength – Front Squat

5×45#
5×135
5×205
5×235
5×265
5×275
5×285 (PR)

Wasn’t sure what to expect after the vision weirdness. Pretty solid lifting though and beats the set of 5 I did about a year ago.

Conditioning

Mini “Diane”
12-9-6

Deadlift (225#)
HSPU

I had looked back earlier when planning my week and saw a time of 5:18 from over 3 years ago for this so I was pretty happy with the 3:58 I did today. Until I got home at least. I had failed to see I later did a 15-12-9 in 4:10 over 2 years ago. Today I went unbroken on all of the deadlifts and 7-5, 5-4, and 4-1-1 on the handstand push-ups.

My neck and head weren’t feeling the greatest after this and then some of my fingers actually started going numb as I recovered. What the fuck is wrong with me today?

Skill

2:00 DU

Missed more than I should have, but did a decent set of about 80 unbroken in the middle. Managed 183 reps, which is still ranked high on Beyond The Whiteboard so I shouldn’t complain too much, but I expect better.

Really not sure what was going on with me today. I’ve never had some of those issues in a training session. I did take a bunch of extra carbs in both of my workout drinks, but not sure that would have had anything to do with it. I think it’s a sign to take a full rest day tomorrow instead of active recovery.

One More

Surprisingly I felt fine after the 125 push press reps from the other night. Don’t sense any improvement in my left shoulder. Planned on going to 9am but woke up in the night with a headache, so I slept in. Got to the gym at 3:30 to get in the pull-up work before class.

Skill WOD “Be the Master of your Volume” Week 2 Day 3

Warm-up: 3 Rounds

10 Pass-thrus (over & under grips)
10 Straddle V-ups
10 Back Extensions
5/5 Bar Taps (tight/dynamic)

Substituted the bar taps in for wall walks and skin the cat due to my shoulder which doesn’t feel good with either of those.

Test Your Max

Max C2B Pull-ups
2:00 Rest
4 Sets
- 60% of Max set
- 2:00 Rest

I got 23 today, which is another PR by a rep! I actually had counted 24 when I did the set, but had video and it was only 23. Shit. So my drop sets were 14. I did the first set unbroken and then 10-1-1-1-1 for the other 3 sets. Didn’t realize it until after class, but I have a decent blister on my thumb and one on a palm.

Strength Accessory: 3 Sets

10 Strict T2B
20 GHD Heel Drives

Cut back to 3 so I’d have a little rest time before class and because I didn’t want to fatigue my back too much going into squats. It was a great warm-up actually.

Strength – Front Squat

6×45#
6×155
3×205
3×235
3×255
3×275
3×295
3×305

No issues; felt good.

Conditioning

10->1

Box Jump (24″)
Power Clean (115#)
S2OH (115#)

I switched to step-ups with the round of 8 and my back still got a little cramped up by the end. For every set through 5 I dropped the bar with 1 clean to go so I could finish it off going into the overheads which were all unbroken. At the round of 4 and below I didn’t put the bar down. Should have done that starting at 5 though. Did mostly push jerks but some push presses mixed in. Finished in 9:32.

Midline

Class was doing Tabata planks, so I usually go for a max hold. Didn’t have it today though due to my back being lit up. Stopped at 2:30 (hands).

Use the Force

Had planned to lift with Bryan today at 10. Woke up with a headache and debated skipping out on the gym. Hauled my ass in though. Glad I did!

Warm-up

3×10 Reverse Hyper (210#)
Bottom Squat Hold (45#)
OH Mobility (45#)

Snatch

3x3x45#
2x3x95
3×115
3×125
2×140
1×150
1×160
1×170
1×180
1×185
1×190
1×200
1×210

Didn’t realize how many sets we were doing at the time. It was feeling food but nothing special. Then 200# felt great and I had been thinking to stop there but went for one more. I think I’ve only done it once and 215 once. Good place to move on with no misses.

Clean & Jerk

3×135#
3×155
2×185
1×205
1×225
1×245
1×260
1×275 (PR)

Don’t usually like to take such big jumps but now that I’ve figured out how to jerk I’m not afraid of it anymore. After nailing 260 and the jerk feeling easier than it ever had I literally said, “Fuck it!” and went for another 15# increase. I’m catching the clean so high. Haven’t missed a clean or jerk in quite some time now.

Music in the video is “Algorithm Of Desire” by Measles Mumps Rubella.

5×135#
3×185
2×225
2×255
1×275
1×295
1×315

Felt good. Maybe should have gone for 325 which I’ve never attempted before (even though I’ve done 320 for a double), but I’m still holding back a bit and moving up slow with the squats and deadlifts. Don’t break what’s been working. I know I’ve said it so many times, but it sure is nice to have my back healthy so I can lift big again.

Hurried home, showered, and went to Star Wars. Great movie!

Front to Back

Again, planned to do 9am, but was up late playing an addicting stupid iOS game. Went to the 5:30 class.

Warm-up

Jumping Jacks
Zombie Kicks
Rack Stretch
Lat Stretch
Calf Stretch
5 Back Squats (20kg)
5 Front Squats (20kg)
5 Front Squats (70kg)

Strength

8:00 EMOM (alt)

5 Front Squats (90kg)
5 Back Squats (90kg)

Wasn’t going crazy being the 3rd day squatting this week and may do more tomorrow with Alex. Not sure yet. Legs are kind of smoked from the Air Dyne last night.

Accessory

4 Sets

8 Supinated Grip Pendlay Rows (115#)
5 Evil Wheels

These rows felt really easy. I know they were light but maybe the pull-up work is already paying off.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

1:00 Row (calories)
1:00 Burpees
1:00 Medicine Ball Cleans (20#)
1:00 Rest

I did 27-25-26 calories on the rower and totaled 60-60-58 reps overall. Those med ball cleans suck ass but I kept moving the entire time each round.

Glad there was nothing I had to modify because it’s still hard to hang or pick anything up with my hands.

Saturday Snow

Got some sleep last night and in to the gym early this morning. Going to test out a few things before starting the gymnastics focus in another week.

Warm-up

3 Sets

10 Pass-thrus
10 Pass-thrus w/ reverse grip
10 Bar Taps
10 Bar Taps (dynamic)
10 Hollow Rocks
10 Arch Rocks

Chest-to-bar Pull-up Test

3 reps
3:00 Rest
3 reps
3:00 Rest
MAX Reps

I put on my leather gymnastics grips just to be safe. Had done 15 reps back in January so thought 20 might be a good number. I ended up getting exactly 20 and then was going to try to knock out some with a regular kip before coming off the bar. But after hanging there for a second I was done. Getting that number in your head before can really mess you up sometimes. Would I have gotten more reps had I not had that 20 number in mind? Who knows. Really happy with the 5 rep PR though.

Then I started lifting with Alex. First big session with the new kicks.

Front Squat

10x20kg
3x70kg (2s pause)
3x100kg (2s pause)
2x120kg
2x130kg

Not used to big jumps like that. Felt easy though.

Snatch

20kg warm-up
3×40
2x3x45
2×50
2×55
60
65
70
5x1x75

Was going a little slower off the ground and trying to drop under better. Didn’t feel all that great so I didn’t push the weight.

Clean & Jerk

2x2x60kg
2×70
2×80
2×90
100
105
110
2x1x115

Slow off the floor again, at least to 100 I think. Cleans felt money. Jerks weren’t too bad. Alex went a couple more jumps but I felt like that was a good place for me to stop.

Accessory

3 Sets

5 GHR
15 V-ups

Trying not to lead with my ass on the GHR. They are so hard for me though.

That was a long session!

15k

Legs still feeling smoked from that workout yesterday. I woke up to piss in the middle of the night and my left knee did not feel good. Threw on an Ace wrap for the wrest of the night and seemed to be ok when I woke up. Went in for the 9am class.

Warm-up

2:00 Bottom Squat Hold
3 Rounds
- 5 Strict Pull-ups
- 10 Push-ups
- 15 Air Squats

Strength: Front Squats

10×45#
6×135#
3×185#
3×215#
3×235#
3×255#
3×265#
3×285#

Felt good. Wore a belt for the last 3 or 4 sets.

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

40 Double Unders
5 Thrusters (95#)
5 Push Press (95#)

Took a little breather between the rope and bar. Kept all barbell reps unbroken. Finished 7 rounds + 38 dubs.

6 sets

30s Row
Rest as needed

Was still out of breath from the metcon in the first round so slowly ramped up each set. My meters were 154-161-165-169-174-179.

Wasn’t sure if I’d end up going back in the evening to finished out rowing for the week, but I did.

Rowing WOD Week 16 Session 2

3 Rounds
- 300 Calorie Row
- 4:00 Rest
5:00 Rest
10 Rounds
- 3 Burpees over the Rower
- 1 Calorie Row

The plan I wrote on the board was to go at 19-21-23 s/m and try for 950-980-1010 cal/hour. I stuck with the stroke rates, but after setting on the rower for nearly 20 minutes straight, the 2nd and 3rd round just couldn’t pick up the pace as much as I hoped for.

Rounds

18:51 @ 19 s/m for 4,637 meters at a pace of 954 cal/hr
18:30 @ 21 s/m for 4,595 meters at a pace of 971 cal/hr
18:20 @ 23 s/m for 4,571 meters at a pace of 980 cal/hr

The 10 round transition practice is dumb if you ask me. Unless you’re a high level competitor it’s not worth it. But I did it anyway. There is no good way to setup the rower for rounds with that, so I basically just did 3 pulls each time so that I wouldn’t could the rollover calorie or two you get from the previous round. I kind of lost track of rounds so might have done some extra. Who knows? Who cares? Not me. Time was 4:13 and monitor said 453 meters, but that’s 10 rounds of rollover.

I wasn’t too excited when there was rowing programmed this morning knowing what I had in store tonight or tomorrow. Ended up being over 15,000 meters total for the day. Surprisingly I feel pretty good.

Next week is supposed to be the last week of this cycle and then I’m going to be done with the rowing. Will be shifting a focus to gymnastics work leading up to the Open. Endurance with chest-to-bar pull-ups and handstand push-ups hurt me in 2 of the workouts in the 2015 Open

Death Due to the Rower

Didn’t make it to the gym until after 6pm.

Warm-up

8 Reverse Hyper (160#)
10 Front Squats (45#)
10 Bench Press (45#)
8 Reverse Hyper (160#)
5 Front Squats (155#)
5 Bench Press (135#)
8 Reverse Hyper (160#)
5 Front Squats (185#)
5 Bench Press (165#)
8 Reverse Hyper (160#)
5 Front Squats (215#)
5 Bench Press (190#)

Strength

10:00 EMOM (alt)

5 Front Squats (235#)
5 Bench Press (205#)

Front squats went pretty well. Bench got pretty hard by the last set. The combination was rough on the wrists.

Rowing WOD Week 16 Session 1

6 Rounds – Every 2:30
- 19 Calorie Row (+2 from last week)
- 10 Burpees over the Rower (+1 from last week)
5:00 Rest
For Time
- 38 Calorie Row (2x above)
- 20 Burpees over the Rower (2x above)

Fucking deadly. My intervals were done in 1:00, 1:04, 1:07, 1:09, 1:09, 1:14. Then I hit a huge wall just after 20 of the 38 calories. Took me about 1:27 for the calories and 3:17 total. That’s a long time to do 20 burpees! I had to take an extra step to get me closer to the rower and make sure I didn’t trip over it. I was so dead.

3rd week in a row of this brutal combo of calorie rowing and burpees over the rower. Each week it’s been bad. Slight headache each time and couldn’t leave the gym for at least a half hour after finishing. Total of 1,377 and 467 meters for the 2 parts.

The 25

9am at Intuition.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Bottom Squat Hold
10 Pass thrus
PVC Rack stretch
20 PVC Good Mornings
20 PVC Thrusters

Strength: Front Squats (1s Pause)

10×45#
5×135#
5×185#
5×205#
5×215#
5×225#
5×235#

Conditioning

4 Rounds

1:00 Slam Balls (25#)
1:00 Shuttle Runs (22′)
1:00 Wall Balls (25#)

For some reason I had 3 rounds in my head so I went unbroken on the 3rd round of wall balls. Then of course I had to do the 4th round unbroken. Guess it worked out because I made both. About 242 reps total. Class was rowing, but I’ve been rowing plenty so substituted the running. Most of the time we have 1:00 of rest between rounds, but not today.

Gymnasty

5 Sets

10 T2B
20s Handstand Hold

Bar work has been feeling good lately.

Halloween – Year 4

Today marks the 4 year anniversary since I started doing CrossFit. Changed my life!

Was up late playing Halo 5 last night. First time I’ve done that playing videos games in a few years. Made it for the 10am class. Weighed in before class for the challenge since the party is tonight. On my scale at home, I went from 16.3% to 13.4% body fat and 208.7 to 198.7 pounds. At the gym I think I went from 20% to 17.5%, but that’s with using it on the “normal” setting instead of “athlete” to make it consistent across the board for everyone.

I definitely feel a lot better and have said for a long time that 195-200 is a better weight for me to carry around. That body fat % still seems high though.

Warm-up

Bottom Squat Hold
Ring Hang Stretch
Good Mornings
Presses
OHS

Conditioning

5 Rounds

5 Hang Power Cleans (95#)
5 Front Squats (95#)
5 Push Presses (95#)
5 Back Squats (95#)
5 Burpees over the bar

Went unbroken and took a few breaths between sets that I probably didn’t need to. Finished in 6:39.

16:00 AMRAP

Partners share reps and run together.

40 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
20 Burpees
200m Run

Weston and I went sets of 10 wall balls and caught the person’s last throw off the way to save time. Went 5s on the burpees. we were in our 5th run when time ran out but finished with a solid pace on the last run, so probably about 16:20-16:30 or so.

Picked up Papa John’s on the way home from the gym. 🙂