Tag: Front Squat

Sunday at the Bar

Out in the garage after 11. Can still feel sore quads and for about a week I’ve been feeling something in my left leg which seems to be almost exactly like what I had when I couldn’t do pistols for the better part of a year. Good news is I was able to do them the other day after this had already started. Something to keep an eye on.

Snatch

jay-z-dirt

  • 5×45#
  • 3×75
  • 3×95
  • 2×115
  • 1×135
  • 1×145
  • 1×155
  • 1×165
  • 1×175
  • 1×185
  • 2x1x195

Tried to shut off my brain on the last three. Always a good day when I don’t miss a snatch.

Clean & Jerk

  • 5×45#
  • 3×95
  • 3×135
  • 2×165
  • 1×185
  • 1×205
  • 1×215
  • 1×230
  • 1×245
  • 2x1x260

Jerks felt weak and slow.

Front Squat

  • 3×225#
  • 3×255
  • 3x3x275

Good Morning

  • 3x5x155#

Stiff low back so didn’t increase. Decided to skip any extra work since I took my time today.

That’s a wrap on 3 “weeks” of the OTM program. Week 4 is a deload week, which I’m not sure I need since I’m only doing 2-3 lifting days a week instead of getting all 5 in. I’ll take it though. Will be nice to speed through the lifts and have some more time for abs and accessory work.

Twice as Nice

Originally planned to run today but it’s supposed to be even nicer tomorrow and I didn’t feel like dealing with anything going on for Friday night football games. Went to the 4:30 class for my 2nd one this week!

Warm-up

  • Front rock stretch
  • Lizard stretch
  • 500m Row

Strength – Front Squat

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

Took it easy since I do enough squatting with the lifting program and I have heavy front squat triples tomorrow. I didn’t feel like changing shoes and gearing up either.

Conditioning

5:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Push-ups
  • 10 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 15s Bottom Squat Hold

I messed up right off the bat and dropped the medicine ball after 5 and went into my squat. Quickly realize my mistake when everyone kept going. Was caught up by the end of round 2. Finished 6 rounds plus the push-ups, wall balls, and 11 seconds of the hold. We had a 2 minute rest and then into…

5:00 AMRAP

  • 10 cal Row
  • 10 Burpees

Finished 4 rounds plus 2 calories. We had more of a full recovery and then…

4 Rounds

  • 20 Zeus Double Unders
  • 8 Box Jumps (30″)

I was able to get every round unbroken. Stepped off the box every rep. Finished in 3:57.

Survived a double CrossFit week! haha

Unbroken MU

My shoulders are still a little sore from Saturday, but my upper back is where the real soreness is from that gymnastics work on Sunday evening. Did a 20 minute ROMWOD during lunch today. The biggest issue with going back to work has been the right side of my back gets really tight after sitting for 2 hours. In the last month and a half I’ve noticed the same thing happening during any car rides over 90 minutes. Maybe I “deconditioned” myself out of my back imbalance a bit during the 3 month sabbatical. Anyway I hope things square away soon, because it’s really making the word days drag on when I have to keep taking forced breaks more often than I’d like. Got to the gym around the start of the 4:30 class.

Snatch

  • 5x20kg
  • 3×40
  • 2×50
  • 2×60
  • 1×65
  • 1×70
  • 1×75
  • 1×80
  • 3x1x85

I wasn’t sure how these would go with my back. In the early sets I really tried not to be too aggressive, which I think had a nice carryover to when it got heavier. Those singles at 85% felt really good.

Clean & Jerk

  • 5x20kg
  • 3×60
  • 2×75
  • 2×85
  • 1×91
  • 1×98
  • 1×104
  • 3x1x111

Solid here as well. I didn’t even realize I wasn’t wearing a belt until after the first rep with 111 kilos. Usually I like to put on the belt when I get over 200 pounds. Made a big effort to stay off my phone and keep moving from set to set after loading the bar. Not quite EMOM, should have been close most of the time.

Front Squat

  • 3x118kg
  • 2x3x125

I did put on the belt here, because sometimes my core gives out a little and I start to cave forward. I think I was pretty upright for every rep though.

Good Morning

  • 5x60kg
  • 5×70
  • 5×75

Took just over an hour to finish all of the lifting.

Midline and Gymnastics

Decided to combine abs with some gymnastics today so it didn’t seem like I was wasting so much time. I swear the ab work takes almost as long as the lifting in this program.

5 Sets

  • 10/10 Side Bends (70# KB)
  • 5 Strict Ring Pull-ups

Big focus on keeping a hollow body through each pull-up.

4 Sets

  • 25 Lying Leg Raises
  • 6 Ring Kip Swings

I need get back to doing those swings more often and translate the high feet into my actual muscle-up, because I still do the big knee bend on my forward swing.

Two weeks of Catalyst OTM ✅

Conditioning

5-4-3-2-1

  • Unbroken Muscle-ups

I had the urge to do some muscle-ups, even after fatiguing my pull and swing with the other work. Originally thought of starting with 6 down to 1, but made the right call to do with 5. Finished at exactly 2:00, with having to double or triple kip my final dip. I guess my rests between sets were spot on.

Double After Double

I made up the 45 minute ROMWOD this morning after coffee time. Getting a bunch of shit done around the house before my first day back to work on Monday. Headed in for the 4:30 class.

Warm-up

  • 2×15 second Lizard (that’s what ROMWOD calls them) on each leg
  • 2x
    • 20s Air Squats
    • 10s Rest
    • 20s Bottom Squat Hold
    • 10s Rest
  • 20s Back Squats (45#)
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Bottom Squat Hold (45#)
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Back Squats (45#)
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Jumping Back Squats (45#)
  • 10s Rest

Strength – Front Squats

Warm up to about 70% and then hit doubles with small increases for 20 minutes.

  • 4×135#
  • 4×205#
  • 2×235#
  • 2×245#
  • 2×255#
  • 2×265#
  • 2×275#
  • 2×285#
  • 2×295#
  • 2×305#

I put on the belt with 235 or 245. Last set was a grind on the 2nd rep.

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Ring Dips
  • 7 Toes to Bars
  • 21 Russian Kettlebell Swings (53#)

Everything unbroken. Finished 5 rounds plus ring dips, T2B, and 10 of the KBS. Grip!

Midline

  • 4:00 Plank

Class did a tabata, so Michelle and I held the entire time, plus the final 10 seconds of rest to get the full 4 minutes. I did mine on my hands. My low back started to heat up around the halfway point so I had to keep making slight adjustments to my hip and low back angles. Not ideal, but wasn’t quitting with Michelle breezing through it next to me.

Another 20 minute ROMWOD late.

Week 1 of Catalyst OTM

Out in the garage after 5. Started with Crossover Symmetry Activation. No knee sleeves again today. This finished up the 5th workout of “week” 1 of the Catalyst program. I quoted “week” there because I’m spacing them out and shooting for 3, sometimes 4 lifting days a week. My body can’t handle 5 days per week and I want to continue with Aerobic Capacity as long as the weather holds up while also getting in 1 or 2 CrossFit classes.

Snatch

  • 5×45#
  • 3×95
  • 2×115
  • 2×135
  • 1×145
  • 1×155
  • 1×165
  • 3x1x175

Focusing on a more controlled pull and not pulling higher than needed felt a lot better today.

Clean & Jerk

  • 5×45#
  • 3×115
  • 2×155
  • 1×170
  • 1×185
  • 1×200
  • 1×215
  • 3x1x230

Cleans felt easy. Tried to work on getting my jerk feel back.

Front Squat

  • 3x3x265#

After first rep of first set I wished I had the belt on. Low left side near the spine felt tight. Strapped on the belt for the other two sets and it was like night and day.

Good Morning

  • 3x5x135#

Kept it light due to my back feeling the way it was. Actually wore the belt too for the first time doing good mornings, which I think takes away some of the training effect, but gotta stay safe on days like this.

Skipped abs because of core work yesterday in class and my sinuses were going crazy from cleaning house so I wanted to be done. Will get in a 20 min ROMWOD tonight.

Attending Class

Last night I was feeling sore in my outer pecs. Must have been from the 5×5 push press the day before. Still a little sore to the touch today. Did a 20 minute ROMWOD this morning and walked 18 holes on the golf course in about 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Went to the 5:30 class at Intuition, my first class other than a Sunday in a long time.

Warm-up

  • 3 Rounds
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 30s Wrist Stretch
    • 20 Mountain Climbers
  • Front Squats
    • 5×45#
    • 5×95
    • 5×135

Strength / Power

14:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 15 cal Row
  • 5 Front Squats (185#)

Nasty! Took me just over 30 seconds for the first row and it crept up every round, hitting about 40 seconds the 7th time through. So no much rest going into the squats, which made them heavy! Could not recover going into…

Conditioning

10-8-6-4-2

  • Power Cleans (135#)
  • Over the Bar Burpees
  • 200m Run

I was ok with the cleans, because I was not going to drop the bar, but my heart rate and breathing were still up there from the previous piece so I couldn’t push the burpees or run. Finished in 10:40.

Midline

Weighted Plank (30 seconds)

  • 3×55#
  • 2×80#

Set 1 was the worst I think. I was shaking so much. Got my breathing under control and tightened up for the other sets.

Did not feel very good after this workout. Not sure if it’s my lack of metcons lately or if the pile of McDonald’s I ate less than 3 hours before was a factor.

Vaughn Is Complete

Did a 22 min ROMWOD this morning and then sat around on my ass most of the day. This humidity is exhausting. Got to the gym a bit after 4.

Front Squat

Pause 5 seconds on the first rep of each set.

  • 6x20kg
  • 6×60
  • 4×90
  • 2×102
  • 6x2x111

Warming up the bar felt really heavy. Thought I’d have to go with the minimum 3 second pause. Just took some sets to get loose I guess because the working sets felt really good.

Snatch balance + OHS

  • 2x20kg
  • 2×33
  • 2×40
  • 2×50
  • 1×60
  • 1×68
  • 1×74
  • 1×80
  • 1×85
  • 1×89
  • 1×92

The instructions were to go for a max today. Finally on something! The last two sets were both PRs on my snatch balance, beating the 195# I’d done previously. Glad not to have any misses, even with the extra overhead squat. Maybe could have gone heavier, but it was time to move on with a lot of reps left in the session. Maybe wore the belt starting with 74?

Snatch

3 second lift off on every rep.

  • 3x20kg
  • 3×40
  • 3×50
  • 3×60
  • 3×70
  • 3×75
  • 2×80
  • 1×80
  • 3x1x85

I think I started dropping between reps with 60 kilos. I went for the 3rd rep in a row with 80 but was breathing pretty good already and just rushed it. Rested before making the final rep. First attempt with 85 was falling behind me. Felt pretty solid to make the final 3 singles.

Clean & Jerk

Clean with 3 second lift off and jerk with 3 second pause in split.

  • 3x40kg
  • 3×60
  • 2×80
  • 2×91
  • 2×98
  • 2x1x104
  • 2x1x111

Wore the belt with 91 and over. Started to feel my back a little with the final weight.

That’s a wrap on the Vaughn program! Excited to switch it up and get back to doing some lifts without pauses or tempo. This was a really solid base program though. It took me 5 weeks and 3 days to get through, which isn’t too bad considering I had a minor back tweak that set me back and spaced the workouts out a bit more to help my body recover.

I’m going to do a few different things for the rest of this week and probably part of next week, but continue running, and then start a new lifting program middle to late next week.

In Early

Got to the gym just after 10 to get in the strength lifts from the next lifting day since the workout I programmed for class didn’t have any weights involved.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 3 Sets
    • 10 Reverse Hypers (210#)

Shoulder Press

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95
  • E3M
    • 10×125
    • 8×135
    • 6×145
    • 4×152.5
    • 3×160

I put on the belt after the set of 10. Was really over-extending a lot today, which is not great for my back. It was a struggle so I cut back 2.5# off the final set too.

Front Squat

  • 6×45#
  • 6×135
  • 3×205
  • 3×235
  • E2M – 7 Sets
    • 3×260

Put on the belt with 205 maybe? Felt solid. Could tell my power draining in the last few sets. Glad those lifts are done. Hopefully tomorrow I can knock out the other half of the week 4 day 1 work.

Class Warm-up

  • Ladder Footwork Drills
  • 20 PVC Passes

Gymnastics / Accessory

21:00 EMOM

  • 3 Muscle-ups
  • 12 V-ups
  • 8 Box Jumps (30″)

Felt a lot more fluid on the muscle-ups today. Slower and controlled on the v-ups so they wouldn’t aggravate my back.

Conditioning

  • 20 T2B
  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 30 Air Squats
  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 20 T2B
  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 30 Air Squats
  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 20 T2B

Nice little chipper. I put on my new-ish grips to save my hands since the lifting has really been beating them up. Did all sets of 5 on toes to bars except finished with 5 singles. Took me 8:55.

Finisher

  • 400m OH KB Carry
    • 200@70#
    • 200@53#

The seventy pounder was way too heavy!! Went inside quick and swapped it out. Still not easy. I think I should be doing something like that more often because it was a struggle, though hard to say how much all of the other work affected it I guess.

Golfing this afternoon in a cart and will do a 20 minute ROMWOD tonight and probably e-stim my back a few times too because it’s already feeling tight.

Deceiving

Gym time at 10am. Did Crossover Symmetry Activation to get started.

Hang Power Clean + Front Squat

  • 3x20kg
  • 3×40
  • 3×60
  • 3×70
  • 3×80
  • 3×85
  • 3×91
  • 3×97
  • 3×102

I think I put on the belt starting with 91 and also started dropping each rep there to save my grip. Catching the clean got a little ugly on the last rep or two, but was able to power everything.

Clean Deadlift

  • 5x80kg
  • 3×97
  • 2×113
  • 1×120
  • 1×130
  • AMRAP 140

All hook grip, which was no issue until the AMRAP, where it sucked! Could have done a ton more reps if I could hold the bar. Ended up getting 6. Probably should have went with straps on the last set so I could get the work on my legs and low back instead of my grip.

Pause Split Jerk

  • 2x20kg
  • 2×40
  • 2×60
  • 2×75
  • 2×86
  • 2×93
  • 2×98
  • 2×100
  • 2×102
  • 2×104
  • 2×106

Pause 2 seconds in the dip and 2 seconds in the split. Above 90 kilos was feeling really heavy. Did a pretty good job of getting the pause in all of the splits.

Much harder day than it initially looked like “on paper.” Was taking my time and was almost 2 hours by the time I did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap and left the gym.

Wanted to get in some golf but storms are coming for the afternoon. Will get in the 22 min ROMWOD.

On The Rings

Abs started feeling “Annie” last night, but didn’t seem as bad as usual. Out in the garage around noon to knock out part of today’s lifting and some gymnastics. Started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Pause Push Press

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95
  • 5×125
  • 3×150
  • 2×175
  • 1×185
  • 1×200
  • AMRAP 212.5

Pause in dip for 2 seconds and overhead for 2 seconds. I felt weak. Put on the belt for the final set and got 4 reps.

Gymnastics Strength

18:00 Alternating EMOM

  • 4 Strict C2B Pull-ups
  • 10 Ring Push-ups
  • 16 GHD Sit-ups

Could feel the sore abs on the GHD! Planned 7 rounds but stopped after my back started tightening up in the 6th round of sit-ups.

Conditioning / Skill

8 Rounds – Reverse Tabata

  • 10s Zeus DU
  • 20s Rest

Same as last time with 123 reps. My ankles were really stiff. From the dubs in “Annie”? Or maybe all of the saddle legs in ROMWOD? Hopefully not from the new running shoes?

Got to the gym a little before 5pm. Did some bottom squat hold before getting under the bar. Was nice having the push presses done.

Front Squat

  • 5x20kg
  • 5×60
  • 5×80
  • 3×93
  • 2×109
  • 1×118
  • 1×125
  • AMRAP 131

Put on the belt starting with the singles. Just under 289# for the AMRAP. Was able to get 4 reps. Starting to get my legs back.

Hang Snatch

  • 2x20kg
  • 2×40
  • 2×50
  • 60
  • 65
  • 70
  • 75
  • 80

Pause 2 seconds in the hang above knee and 2 seconds in the OHS. I missed one with 70 and then missed 85kg four times. Was getting it overhead no problem just out front or too much power and it was crashing an pulling me backwards.

Snatch Lift Off

  • 4x100kg
  • 4×106
  • 2x4x111

Used straps for all 4 sets. Felt easy.

Gymnastics

E30S 5:00

  • 2 MU

Wanted to do something more and haven’t done a muscle-up workout since tweaking my shoulder at the end of December. Initially thought about continuing until failure but 20 reps was enough volume to get back in to it. Shoulders were definitely stretching out in the swings, so hopefully they feel fine tomorrow.

Will do a 20 min ROMWOD.