Tag: Hand Release Push-up

Barbell Complex

Up and at ’em for the 9am today. I’m sore from Saturday’s death by pull-ups and from bench pressing yesterday. We are stepping away from strength for the week to recover and confuse the body. Good timing since it’s Thanksgiving week. My cardio and endurance has been a bit lacking, so this is a good chance to kick it back up a notch.

Warm-up

21-15-9

  • Squat Jumps
  • HR Push-ups
  • Leg Raises

WOD

30:00 Partner AMRAP (alternating rounds)

  • 5 Deadlifts
  • 5 Bent Rows
  • 5 Hang Power Cleans
  • 5 Back Squats
  • 5 Good Mornings

I was paired up with Kevin and we had 115# on the bar. He had to bow out, switching to a lighter bar and slowing down around 10 minutes, so I switched to doing a round every other minute on the minute. I think I had 4 rounds in during the partner portion and then I worked the last two minutes in a row to end up with a total of 14 rounds plus 5 deadlifts, 5 bent rows, and 5 hang power cleans. It may have only been 13 full rounds because I’m not sure where we made the switch.

After the first couple of rounds I fell into a rhythm and was consistently getting 55 second rounds. I had never done a good morning in my life so that took some time getting used to. I smoked through the hang power cleans early on, but in those last few rounds it was a struggle to get that bar up. I’m left feeling sick after this WOD, that’s for sure.

Finisher

3:00 AMRAP of Burpees

I got 48 of them, with 16 in each minute I think, so pretty consistent. Not bad with only a few minutes of rest after the WOD.

Shoulders!

Up for the 9am today. My hamstrings started to get sore last night. I think from back squat Monday. My abs are still sore and the GHD sit-ups last night are probably contributing to that.

Warm-up

  • 30 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 10 HR Push-ups
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 10 HR Push-ups
  • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 10 HR Push-ups

Great warm-up for the shoulders. I mixed in some around-the-worlds with the PVC too.

Strength

Find 1RM Shoulder Press

  • 10 @ 45#
  • 4 @ 95#
  • 1 @ 125#
  • 1 @ 135#
  • 1 @ 145#
  • 1 @ 155#
  • 1 @ 160#

Just over a month ago, on October 3rd, I missed 150# once and then barely squeezed it out on the 2nd attempt. Going into today I was shooting to match that PR and see if I had anything left in the tank. I was feeling good, so didn’t even make at attempt at it and went right for a PR at 155#. Got it without much trouble so went for 160# and had to fight hard for it.

WOD

2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16-18-20

  • Push Presses (40# DBs)
  • Burpees

Went unbroken with the push presses through the set of 12 and then broke the last 4 sets up, always getting just over half in the first go and then finishing off the rest after a break. Tried not to stop at all during the burpees and just keep going no matter how slow they felt. It was a struggle to push up off the ground for the last 5 reps. Finished in 16:15.

Finisher

5 Sets

  • MAX L-Sit
  • 60s Rest

I did these with my knees up, using the rings and got right around 30 seconds each round except for the 4th, where it was closer to 20 seconds. Good way to finish off the shoulders and get in the abs as well.

Flippin’ Tires

Up for the 9am today. I was thinking about just doing some rowing, but I have 48 hours to recover before the competition on Saturday, so I’ll be fine. Not feeling too bad after doing “DT” yesterday.

Warm-up

  • 1m DUs
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 20 Reach to the sky and then down to the toes
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 1m DUs

In the second minute of DUs I knocked off 78 unbroken, a new PR. That’s 3 PRs this week on my DUs, up from 44!

Strength

5×20 Weighted Sit-ups

I used 20# KBs, a 45# KB, a 60# DB, 30# DBs, and a 62# KB. Crazy how tough these get and how much you can sweat from doing sit-ups

WOD

42-30-18

  • Thrusters (45# empty bar)
  • HR Push-ups

Holy shoulder burner! I knocked out the first 42 thrusters unbroken, but that may have been a bad idea for the rest of the workout. I did 10 push-ups to start, but then it was pretty much 5 at a time for the rest of the workout with a few streaks of 4s or 6s in there. In the second round of thrusters I broke it down into 10-12-8 and then 10-8 in the final round. Finished in 11:13.

Finisher

10 Rounds

  • Tire Flip
  • 100y Sprint (50y down and back)

After doing CrossFit for nearly a year, these were the first tire flips I’ve ever done. Really liked this finisher.

Extra Strength

After I got home I went out to the garage for some dynamic low box squats. In order to keep my body guessing, I went with lower weights than I’ve been using for these, which also let me have faster reps. My legs were pretty tired from all of the thrusters anyway.

  • 2×2 @ 45#
  • 1×2 @ 75#
  • 1×2 @ 95#
  • 1×2 @ 115#
  • 8×2 @ 135#

Now I rest until Saturday.

Chicks & Dicks WOD

This morning at 9am, our newlywed couple of Casey and Kinde Malott were back in the gym for their first WOD after the wedding. Matt made it a partner WOD pairing up a guy and a gal for each team. I was paired up with Cora and we rocked it!

Warm-up

21-15-9 *

  • Air Squats
  • Jumping Jacks

* After each round, power skip 150m.

WOD


“Malott 13”

  • 13 Man Makers, Renegade (40# DBs)
  • 13 Around the World HR Push-ups (each one is essentially a 4 count with rotations)
  • 13 Laps of 150m Weighted Run (45# Plate)
  • 13 Over the Box Burpees (24″ – Each partner does 13 and can work at the same time)
  • 13 T2B (4 counts, so 52 total)
  • 13 Tuck Jumps (4 counts, so 52 total)

Our strategy on the man makers put us behind several teams, but we were able to make up a lot of ground and pass everyone in the runs. About halfway through my over the box burpees, I fucked up. For some reason in my head I thought I would jump up with one foot and have the other foot trail. What a train wreck that turned out to be. I hit the box hard, busted up my leg, jammed a finger and landed on top of the box with my stomach. Ouch! So then I had to do the rest of the box jumps on one leg essentially. My T2B were some of the best I’ve ever done and tuck jumps are easy for me. We finished first with a time of 16:00.

Finisher

Death by Russian KBS (by 3s, 53# KB)

Got through the round of 33 and then called it a day. That’s 198 swings in 11 minutes. Had about 10 seconds left before the next minute started, but my shoulders were pretty fried and I worked out each day this week. It was time to shut it down. There was also a strength portion doing heavy shrugs, but we had the option of doing the finisher instead.

Head Recovery

I got up for the 9am and was feeling light-headed and nauseous after having my coffee + protein. I’d blame it on Vicodin, but I hadn’t taken one since just after midnight. Luckily I felt better after eating some fruit.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

  • Burpees
  • Lateral Hops

Strength

5×3 Floor Press

Today’s sets were:

  • 3 @ 135#
  • 3 @ 165#
  • 3 @ 185#
  • 3 @ 205#
  • 2 @ 205#

Fought hard to get that last rep, just couldn’t get it past the halfway point. Tops my 5 @ 195# from last week though.

WOD

5 Rounds

  • 250m Run
  • 30 HR Push-ups
  • 30 Box Jumps (24″)

Felt good. As I would expect, the push-ups slowed me down a lot. I started out with a set of 10 each round and then continued with sets of 5 until my 30 were completed. Box jumps were unbroken throughout except where I lost balance up top and couldn’t rebound off the ground properly or if I missed my jump which happened a few times. I finished in 19:51.

Time for some food so I can take a Vicodin to relieve this head pain!

Clean High Pulls

Hips are tight today from all of the box jump stuff we did yesterday. I can feel my posterior chain as well. Went in for the 5:30pm class again.

Warm-up

5 Rounds

  • 7 Burpees
  • 150m Run

Just nice and easy. Nothing intense. Took less than 6 minutes.

Strength

5×5 Clean High Pulls

Today was the first time I’ve done these and I felt really weak compared to how great I felt last week doing 5×5 power cleans. I guess my legs did get blasted pretty good the last two days.

  • 5 @ 45#
  • 5 @ 135#
  • 5 @ 145#
  • 5 @ 155#
  • 5 @ 165#
  • 5 @ 185#

WOD

12:00 AMRAP

  • 5 C2B Pull-ups
  • 7 HR Push-ups
  • 9 AbMat Sit-ups

I felt good here, which always seems odd to me to feel so bad in one aspect of a class and so good in another. I broke nearly every set of pull-ups up into 3 and 2. Completed 12 full rounds plus 5 more C2B pull-ups. That’s the best I’ve ever done with C2B as far as number of reps. I had the top score of the day so far.

Finisher

10 Rounds

  • 25y High Prowler Sprint (90#)
  • 25y Low Prowler Sprint (90#)

We formed lines so there was at least a bit of rest time between each turn you took. At the end the other prowler line was done so I started jumping on that one with short rest periods to finish off my rounds.

Every Second Counts

Today was the Every Second Counts competition down at Oakland County CrossFit. We had 9 people compete and 6 of us were in the men’s beginner division, which turned out to be one hell of a battle.

WOD #

800m Run with a 25# Bumper Plate

Going in, I thought this would be my best event. Times were lower than I thought they would be, which scared me a little going in to my heat. I ended up winning the workout with a time of 3:07.

WOD #2

21-15-9

  • Thrusters (65#)
  • HR Push-ups

Originally it was supposed to be Jumping C2B Pull-ups in the beginners division but they ended up changing it. No idea why, but in the end it really ended up screwing me. This was my worst event and I took 7th out of the 10 guys with a time of 4:21. I got 3 or 4 no-reps on my thrusters and had no idea why until after the WOD was over when I asked. I guess I wasn’t getting my head through the window at the top of the movement. Shit! Two pushing movements really fried out arms and shoulders here.

WOD #3

5 rounds

  • 5 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 10 HR Plate Jump Burpees

This was the other workout I felt really confident going in. 185# isn’t heavy for deadlifts and I can knock out burpees pretty fast when the rep count is low like 10s. Originally this was supposed to be HR burpees, but at the competition they switched it up to where instead of jumping up and clapping overhead, we had to jump up on to a 15# bumper plate and stand up straight to extend our hips. I think this actually worked to my advantage because the repeated jumping is no big deal for me.

I got into a nice rhythm on the burpees and my deadlifts actually got faster as the rounds went on. I crushed it, winning the WOD with a time of 4:08. This put me back into 1st place overall with a 12 second lead on Casey A. from our gym. I knew I needed a lead on him going into the last WOD to have any shot at winning. I tested this WOD out 2 weeks ago in my garage and did 4:28 without having to do the plate jumps, so today was a sweet improvement over that.

WOD #4

“Grace”

  • 30 Clean and Jerks (95#)

I tested this 2 months ago and got a time of 2:42. Casey A. turned in a monster time of 1:16 before my heat was up, so I knew exactly what I had to do. I had to get 1:27 to win. It was going to take an out of this world performance. My first 20 reps went well and there was a chance, but then I did 21 and 22 and those last 10 reps were brutal. I finished in 1:46, putting me 18 seconds behind the 1st place. I improved by nearly a minute in 2 months though, which is pretty incredible.

I took 2nd place and couldn’t be happier. I gave it everything I had in all of the WODs. Our Survival Fitness crew ended up sweeping the podium and took 4th place as well. It was so much fun battling it out with friends, especially when we were separated by seconds all day long.

The “trophy” they gave out was a custom lacrosse ball with the logo of the competition and your place, as pictured above. Pretty cool. I also got a roll of tape and a speed rope.

Results

More Photos

Get Work Done

My upper ass is a bit sore from the lunges and deficit deadlifts. But I’m positive I’d be a lot more sore if not for using the rumble roller. Without a doubt it’s the best $70 I’ve spent in a long time. I’ve been rolling 2-3 times a day, usually when watching a little TV. I went in for the 10am class.

Warm-up / WOD

5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-45-50

  • Russian Twists (30# KB)
  • Leg Raises
  • Bicycles
  • 30s Side Plank

Take an optional 3 minutes of rest and head directly into the second half of the workout. I exchanged kettlebells and got right into it because it’s not like this was a cardio taxing workout. It’s mainly a day about doing work.

5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-45-50

  • Russian KBS (53#)
  • HR Push-ups

Do work. Do Work. DO WORK!

Today was all about keepin’ on. Get those reps done. This ladder adds up to 275 reps of each movement plus those 5 minutes of side planks. I finished in 55:04. Easily the longest WOD I’ve done.

Strap a Kettlebell to my Back

I’m pretty programmed now to wake up right around 7:30 each morning without an alarm. This is perfect timing to get a bite to eat and hit the 9am class. I even had some time to use the rumble roller this morning, which I’ve been trying to use whenever I watch TV.

Warm-up / Strength

20:00 EOMOTM

  • Odds: 8 Side Bends on each side (71# KB)
  • Evens: 30s Plank

WOD

  • 100 HR Push-ups
  • 21-15-9
    • Box Jumps (24″)
    • KBS (53#)
  • Run 10 laps of 150m holding KB (53#)

I smashed my PR for the 100 hand release push-ups by doing it in 5:46. My previous best was 6:21 just over a month ago. One thing I focused on today was not getting too big of sets early on. I started out with a set of 15, then 10, and then 5s the rest of the way. That really helped to have some gas left in the tank for the 2nd 50. Box jumps and KBS were no big deal.

All the “fun” was at the end with the weighted run. The best way to hold the KB is to use both hands and hold it by the handle behind your neck. It’s probably not real great for your neck and spine, but it’s really the only way to be able to run. We ran nearly a mile! After the 5th lap I couldn’t feel my hands and arms anymore. I wanted to put the kettlebell down so bad but knew it would be so much harder to get going, so I powered through the best I could. Total time for the WOD was 20:30. Even with the cool weather, I had sweat flying everywhere because I had to work so hard to keep that KB in place. Hopefully this transfers well to the 800m run with 25 pounds I’ll have to do next weekend in the competition.

Finisher

  • 100 DUs

Started out with a string of 29 in a row. It was hard to keep that rope spinning fast enough with fried shoulders and arms from the KB run. I finished in 1:45.

Strength in the Garage Gym

A couple of days ago I did the dynamic effort method of training on the bench press, so today I wanted to try it with box squats.

  • 2 sets of 2 @ 45#
  • 2 @ 95#
  • 2 @ 115#
  • 2 @ 135#
  • 2 @ 155#
  • 8 sets of 2 @ 165#

It was definitely a new feeling and variation on the back squat. Get down to hit the box/bench and then try to explode back up.

Adult Gymnastics at Gym Jesters

Traveling home from San Diego made for a long day yesterday. I got up at 7am to have some breakfast, was picked up from the hotel at 8:30am (Pacific) and the plane landed in Saginaw just before 10pm. I was in bed by 11pm. Today I went to the 11am class and then at 2pm we had an adult class at Gym Jesters Gymnastics Center

Warm-up

4 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Air Squats
  • 15s Mountain Climbers
  • 15s Jump Squats

WOD

Today was a long partner WOD. I was teamed up with Cora and Michelle, the two best women we have at Survival Fitness. We all pushed each other really hard in this one.

    • 30 Sandbag Over the Shoulder (40#)
    • 900m Weighted Run (35# Place)
    • 150m Burpee Broad Jump
    • 50 DB Snatches (40#)
    • 50 KBS (53#)
    • 100m Prowler Push (90# of the heavy sled, 50m high push, 50m low push)
    • 30 Deadlifts (225#)
    • 50 HR Push-ups
    • 100 Air Squats
    • 30 Pull-ups
    • 50 AbMat Sit-ups
    • 2m Plank

We had 40 minutes to do this. I was 8 squats short of getting through the 5th block (did all of the pull-ups). Everyone on the team had to complete both parts of a section before the team could move on to the next area. The team could break things up however they wanted, so in #5 I did rounds of 5 pull-ups followed by 10 air squats until I was all done with the pull-ups. Then I tried to finish off the rest of the squats and couldn’t make it even though I went all out for the last 30 seconds.

Gymnastics

Had a bit of time to rest at home and get some food before heading over to Gym Jesters. Scott and Brent from Gym Jesters started out by talking about the different positions of the back tuck flip and then started putting us through some progressions. First we started out by jumping into the air as well as sitting on the ground and rolling backwards. Next it was up to jumping up, tucking, and landing on our upper back on a high mat.

Some of us broke off to the trampoline, did some progressions, and worked up to doing a back flip while strapped in. After that I jumped into a foam pit from a hit bouncy thing, then into the foam pit just from the wall of the pit. Brent spotted me and I tried a few on just mats. At that point I was pretty good to work on my own. I came close a few times, but I have to work on jumping straight up, making sure to get a fast tuck, and then holding my tuck longer. My biggest problem was coming out of the tuck way too soon.

It was so much fun! I’ve wanted to do a back flip ever since I was a little kid. They just look so badass! Sounds like we might go back twice a month to try different things.