My Favorite Exercise

After waking up yesterday, I knew I needed a rest day. Working out 5 days in a row had me feeling beat up. So I swapped with today. Went in to the gym and did the workout solo since the guys stuck to the schedule and did the workout yesterday.

Warm-up

9:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 5 Strict HSPU
  • 7 Russian KBS (53#)
  • 9 GHD Sit-ups

Only half of the programmed 6 sets. Was planning to do 4 sets, but I was starting to over-extend and struggle with the handstand push-ups already so that was enough.

Deadlift

Do 5×5 @ 75% and then 20RM starting @ 50% this first time.

  • 10x20kg
  • 5×70
  • 5×100
  • 5×130
  • 5×145
  • 5x5x155
  • 20×120

The 5×5 was only at about 66% of my all-time PR, but I can’t pull that right now so have scaled back. I did go at 51% of my all-time 515# high for the 20 rep though, which I can handle better. Was a sneaky set and felt great until my posterior chain lit up in the last 5 reps.

Conditioning

4 Sets

  • 500m Row
  • 1:1 Rest

1:45 – 1:44.7 – 1:44 – 1:42.4

Goal was a 1:45 average so happy to be able to do negative splits.

7:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Bar-facing Burpees
  • 6 SDLHP (115#)

I couldn’t tell you the last time I did a Sumo Deadlift High-pull. I avoid them like the plague because I think they are a stupid movement. Guess I was doing them today! Kept a pretty steady pace and finished 5 rounds plus 9 burpees.

Get Up To Get Down, Turkish Style

Was able to get in that long ROMWOD last night. The front of my shoulders were sore yesterday and today from the Saturday class. I guess one day a week of CrossFit isn’t cutting it. More lifting today though. This is the 4th day of the 2nd week of the Catalyst OTM program. Really enjoying it.

Power Clean

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95
  • 3×135
  • 3×165
  • 2x3x185
  • 3x3x200

Never let go of the bar or my hook grip, but did take a second to reset on the ground at the heavier loads. Wore Nanos today for the light day and no accessories.

Push Jerk

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95
  • 3×135
  • 3×155
  • 2x3x175
  • 3x3x190

Stiff-legged Deadlift

  • 5×190#
  • 3x5x225

Took the top off the jerk blocks and stood on that so that I could get more stretch in the hamstrings. All sets with two overhand grips.

Midline

5 Sets

  • 3/3 Turkish Get-ups
    • 2 sets – 40# DB
    • 2 sets – 45
    • 1 set – 50

My left shoulder is definitely the least stable one. Overall my shoulders seem a lot more stable though, guessing due to all of the holds in the Vaughn lifting program. I used to really struggle with the 53# kettlebell.

4 Sets

  • 30 GHD Sit-ups (parallel)

Decided to only go to parallel today for a change of pace.

Will do a 20 minute ROMWOD tonight.

Early evening update: Really starting to feel my back from the work yesterday. Been too long since I did those landmine rows. I’m sure some of the others, especially the chin-ups are contributing to the soreness as well.

It’s Working

Took a complete rest day yesterday. Didn’t even get to the 45 minute ROMWOD I had planned. Got to the track at 10:30 when the temperature was still in the 60s.

Aerobic Capacity – Race

  • 400m Jog
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 400m Run
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 200m Run
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 200m Run
  • 5:00 Rest
  • 400m Run
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 800m Jog
  • 400 walk

The 400m jog to warm-up and the 800 jog and 400 walk to finish were my additions. The first 400m was programmed at a mile PR pace, but I have no idea what they were using because it showed a 1:24 for me, which is well below a 6:00 mile. I settled on 1:36 as my goal pace, which would be 6:24 and well below the 6:51 mile I’ve run this summer. Ended up getting in at 1:27 with no issue.

The 200m runs were there to get a feel for two different pacing options heading into the “race” 400. The programming picked out 32 and 25 seconds. 25?!?!? Not a chance. I ran a 33.1 and 29.8, which was actually a PR by a tenth of a second and I didn’t even try! After the first 200 I was contemplating extending the 3:00 rest between 200s and the 5:00 rest before the race. When the clock rolled around I had recovered pretty well, so stuck to the programming.

2016-09-19-400mAfter running that 200m PR I figured I had to go out at that pace and could probably sprint out of the starting line even a bit faster to take advantage of that energy system. I don’t know what my split was at 200, but I’ll bet it was another PR even going down the straightaway into the wind. After the initial 200 my legs got really heavy. I knew I was losing pace, but I tried to push to make it feel like I was actually going faster. As I stumbled down the home stretch I was not confident it would be a PR day, but to my surprise I crossed the line in 1:02.1 for a 2.2 second PR!

Couldn’t be happier with these 8 weeks of the AC programming. I’m looking forward to seeing what my mile time will be, but I’ll have to wait at least a week because it’s not programmed in week 9.

Headed in to lift just after 6pm with Alex. Nice light day to go along with the max effort running from this morning. Didn’t even put on lifting shoes for this session. Warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Power Clean

  • 2x3x20kg
  • 2x3x40
  • 3×60
  • 3×75
  • 5x3x85

Power Jerk

  • 3x20kg
  • 3×40
  • 3×60
  • 3×70
  • 3×76
  • 5x3x81

Stiff-legged Deadlift

  • 5x81kg
  • 3x5x93

I can tell a big difference in my hamstring flexibility from ROMWOD. Was getting to the floor in the very first set. May go with a deficit on these from now on. Wonder if I’ll be sore from them.

Gymnastics

4 Sets

  • 5 Muscle-ups

Good day to add in some of this work. Haven’t done any bigger sets in a long time. Took maybe 2-3 minutes between sets. Was trying to get my toes up in the kip. Wasn’t doing it very well but could already tell a huge difference in my height up on the rings. Need to start working on the swing again.

Midline

Gotta get in that Catalyst ab work. I can even work in my GHD volume. 😀

5 Sets

  • 20 Russian Twists (55# plate)

4 Sets

  • 30 GHD Sit-ups

Well… 4 big sets of GHDs are shitty! Even with several minutes of rest between sets. Had to start taking some breaks in the final 2 sets and focus on not aggravating my low back.

Will try to get in ROMWOD since I skipped out on yesterday when I was going to do the long routine.

100% Open

Trip to the gym before lunch.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 5:00 Air Dyne – 1.5 miles
  • 5 OHS (45#)
  • 5 OHS (95#)

Open Workout 11.4

10:00 AMRAP

  • 60 Bar-facing Burpees
  • 30 OHS (120/90#)
  • 10 MU

I’ve had this one on my list for quite some time, especially since it was the lone remaining Open workout I hadn’t attempted. Without being able to do muscle-ups for 8+ months, it’s been on hold. Finally got to it today.

I was able to stick with my new BFB technique pretty much the whole time and felt pretty good. Finished them in 4:59, took a breather to put on the belt and then did the overhead squats in sets of 8-8-8-6. They went much better than I expected. Could have pushed for 3 sets, maybe 11-10-9. Finished the squats at 7:59. I planned to try going 3-3-2-2 on the rings, but had to go 3-2-2-2-1 instead. Had enough time left to get in 1 burpee.

Achievement unlocked… 💯% CrossFit Open Workouts!!

Midline / Skill / Conditioning

img_8092“Annie Up”

  • 50-40-30-20-10 Zeus DU
  • 25-20-15-10-5 GHD Sit-ups

I kept playing around with different rep schemes when planning my workouts for the week, mainly focused on getting in a bunch of GHD volume. At the last minute I decided on this upgrade to an already upgraded “Annie” I’ve done a couple of times with a regular rope. My best time had been 6:04 just over a year ago when I did it last. It’s a lot different with the Zeus rope and I have to admit I didn’t put the pedal to the floor today on this.

I did start off with a PR unbroken set of 35 Zeus dubs and then 15 to finish the 50. In the round of 40 I went 13-15-12 and then the 30-20-10 were each done unbroken. I never stopped when I was on the GHD but wasn’t going very fast either. Ended up taking 7:44.

Now I think I’ll hit the golf course (rode a quick 9 holes before leagues) and do a 23 minute ROMWOD tonight.

Four By Three By Four

I walked 18 holes each of the last two days, during our end of the season tournament. Then rested up on Tuesday. My Dad came down on his way to Ohio yesterday otherwise I probably would have done something last night. I did get in a 45 minute ROMWOD though after skipping on Tuesday. I’ll do 2 today to make up for it.

Headed to the track after 10am and warmed up with a 400m easy jog.

Aerobic Capacity – Lactate Threshold

4 Cycles

  • 3 Sets
    • 400m (target – 1:53)
    • 30s Rest
  • 5:00 Rest

Finishes up 5 weeks worth of the AC programming. It still blows my mind how bad my “fatigue factor” is. Hinshaw says Rich’s 27% (when he started working with him) was one of the worst he had ever seen and mine is 34%. How close can I get to the 20-21% average?

The weather was great for running, about 65° with a nice breeze. I think this was my favorite workout so far. Felt good getting into a rhythm since there was only one distance and one pace. My splits were:

  1. 1:49 – 1:50 – 1:50
  2. 1:51 – 1:51 – 1:51
  3. 1:52 – 1:50 – 1:51
  4. 1:50 – 1:49 – 1:49

After resting a bit at home I did a 21 minute ROMWOD to catch up on the missed day.

Got to the gym a little before the 4:30 class started and did Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Snatch Push Press + OHS

Pause 3 seconds in the squat.

  • 1+5 20kg
  • 1+3 40
  • 1+2 50
  • 1+2 60
  • 1+1 70
  • 1+1 80
  • 1+1 85
  • 1+1 90
  • 1+1 95
  • Got down with 100 but lost it before getting up

I’ll take it. Wasn’t supposed to go any higher than a max snatch and I almost matched it. Needed to stay a little tighter. I put on the belt at some point, maybe with 70?

Tall Power Snatch + OHS

  • 3x20kg
  • 3×35
  • 3×40
  • 3×50
  • 3×55
  • 3×60
  • 3×65

I put on lifting straps for the 4 working sets. Saving my hands in this final week of the Vaughn program. Was able to get the power triple at the end, unlike last week where I had to get a little below parallel on the 3rd rep.

Snatch Deadlift

  • 5x90kg
  • 5×95
  • 3x5x100

Pause 3 seconds above knees on descent of each rep. I wore straps and the belt for every set. All that time under tension wiped me out. I’m glad these tempo deads are finished.

I also had the bright idea to do 20 GHD Sit-ups after each set, which was a deadly combo. After missing GHDs last week I wanted to make up for it this week by getting in both weighted and unweighted. We’ll see if that was a good idea or not.

Midline

  • 5×20 GHD Sit-ups

I’ll do another 21 min ROMWOD tonight and be caught up.

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.

Snatch Day

Will take a few days to get adjusted back to Eastern time. Little sore in some odd places today. Not as bad as I was expecting though. Out in the garage before noon and warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation. Day 2 of week 1 on the lifting program.

Snatch Push Press + 3 OHS (3s pause in bottom)

  • 45#
  • 75
  • 95
  • 115
  • 125
  • 135
  • 145
  • 155

Was supposed to keep it below 80% (175), which wasn’t a problem. 😉 Little shaky with my OH stability after the time away from the bar, but made all of the reps. Dropped the bar to my back trough 135, then tried with 145 but I was too wobbly and didn’t commit. Dropped it down my back and then didn’t try with 155.

Tall Power Snatch + OHS

  • 45#
  • 75
  • 85
  • 95
  • 105
  • 115
  • 125
  • 135

Yay!! Wasn’t expecting that much. Haven’t done much more than this when dropping into the squat (triple with 145 I think). Actually it was the first time doing the power variation of tall snatches. Thankful for powers to save my legs a bit while I adjust to squatting again.

Snatch Deadlift (3s pause at knee on descent)

  • 5×135#
  • 5×185
  • 5×200
  • 3x5x210

Horrible, but did the assigned %. Wore lifting straps. How did I ever snatch more than this? haha

Meant to start back on ROMWOD yesterday but it was a long day and I didn’t finish with the lawn until late. So today I’ll do a double. First 20 minute session after lunch.

Had a chiropractor appointment at 5 and then went to CrossFit Intuition.

Warm-up

2 Sets

  • 5s of StrongFit Triceps & Biceps Openers (5#)

Went light since I haven’t done them in weeks and I never really liked the 10# DB at the gym anyway.

Midline & Gymnastics

E2M – 10 Sets

  • 10 GHD Sit-ups
  • 3 Strict Pull-ups

I’m sure I’ll be sore for the next couple of days after not getting in my GHDs last week. No pain doing the pull-ups!! Finally. 🙂 They were actually really easy but I didn’t want to push it with too much volume. Patience.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 30 Zeus DU
  • 10 Burpees

The heavy Zeus rope is no fucking joke! It wants to fly out of your hands and is so much more work on the shoulders and grip. My biggest set was 17 unbroken I think. Took me 4:28 to finish. I think I went 11-17-2, 8-8-8-6, and 12-12-6. Forced myself to break after the first round because missing did not feel good. I’m interested to see if this helps the shoulder fatigue that comes in to play with regular dub on large sets or if it completely messes up your rhythm.

Did an easy 5:00 cool down on an old Air Dyne someone brought in and then did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap. Knocked out another 20:00 ROMWOD at home.

Under Tension

Out in the garage this morning to squat before golf. Also wanted to test out the percentages before classes made their attempts.

Pause Back Squats

3 seconds in the hole

  • 6×45#
  • 6×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 3×225#
  • 3×245#
  • 3×265#
  • 3×285#
  • 3×295#

We had 50-60-65-70-75% set after originally having the last 3 sets at 70-75-80. I made our picked percentages so added 10# more (78%) for a final attempt. Made it but that was definitely my limit for the day, so glad we didn’t go with 80%.

Those were some legit pauses, as far as timing if I do say so myself. 🙂 None of that bounce shit to get out of the hole either. 😉

Was a good warm-up before going golfing; walked 18 holes. Chiro appointment in the evening and then went over to the gym.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Squat Clean
    • 5×45#
    • 5×115#

Conditioning

10-8-6-4-2

  • Squat Clean (135#)
  • Bar-facing Burpee

On April 18th I used 115# for this same thing and it took 5:25. I did break the 8 into 5-3 that day. Today I went unbroken every round with the heavier weight and finished in 5:13. Burpees slowed me down again.

  • 50 GHD Sit-ups
  • 2 mile Run
  • 50 GHD Sit-ups

Not fun. I averaged about a 9:25 pace. Finished everything in 25:17. I was not feeling good afterwards. A lot of time out in the sun today since I got to the course early to hit some balls. Having McDonald’s about an hour before getting to the gym didn’t help either.

To D.C.

Legs are tired and my traps are sore to the touch. Out in the garage early afternoon before heading to the airport.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Back Squats
    • 10×45#
    • 2x5x155#
  • Shoulder Press (after squat work)
    • 10×45#
    • 2x5x75#

Strength

E3M – 5 Sets

  • 5 Back Squat (53-63-73-78-83%)

My numbers were 195-235-275-295-315# today. Little grind but feeling good after the time away from heavy weights. Bar did not feel so good sitting on my sore traps.

E3M – 5 Sets

  • 5 Shoulder Press (53-63-73-78-83%)

Now these got rough for the final two sets. Glad I had the belt on to help protect from over-extending too much. Weights were 95-115-130-140-150#. Seems like that last set was a PR or a PR match, but I don’t have great records of multi-rep maxes.

Glad to have time to get in my strength work for the week so I don’t fall off what we have programmed at Intuition.

Conditioning

  • 30 GHD Sit-ups
  • 500m Ski Erg
  • 30 GHD Sit-ups
  • 500m Ski Erg
  • 30 GHD Sit-ups

Wanted to do 50-1000-50 but wasn’t confident the Ski Erg would stay on for me, so I adjusted. 30 reps on the GHD at a time was plenty! First set of 30 took exactly 1:00 but the other two rounds were much slower. My splits on the erg were 1:52.6 and 1:53.3. Finished everything in 9:03 and got my sit-ups done for the week. Now I’m of to D.C. for 10 days.

From Your Knees

Felt a little tight when I woke up this morning. Went to the 9am class and I’m off work for the day to attend a wedding near Detroit.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 2 Sets
    • 5s of StrongFit Tricep & Bicep Openers (10#)
    • 15 Reverse Hypers (210#)
  • 3 Sets
    • Banded shoulder stretch
    • 15s OHS Hold (45#)
    • 5 Burpees
  • 2 Kneeling Jumps (4″)
  • 6 RDLs (45#)
  • 2 Kneeling Jumps (8″)
  • 6 RDLs (155#)

Went closer with my grip on each OHS hold.

XWOD

E2M

  • 6-6-6-6-6-6 RDL (225#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1 Kneeling Box Jump (2 x 12″ & 1 x 13.75″)

Been far too long since we did some of this stuff. Was nervous with the jumps but made them all. Double overhand grip is a lot tougher with that extra 40# on the bar. Tried one set with a hook grip, which sucked.

Conditioning

E5M – 5 Rounds

  • 200m Run
  • 10 OHS (95#)
  • 20 GHD Sit-ups

Fast runs since there was plenty of time to recover. Was taking about 45 seconds each time to get into the gym and run across to where my bar was. Snatched into the first rep each round. First few rounds were done in about 2:15, but was closer to 2:40 in the final round because the GHDs got slow. I came up with this last night and it worked pretty well. Nice to do some faster runs.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 12/12 Kroc Rows (53#)

Not enough time in class, but Ashley was staying after to do these, so I did too. Otherwise I probably would have skipped out on them even though I really need them.