Heavy Overhead

Busy day yesterday. I didn’t have/make time to workout.

Active Life – Hips

Warm-up

  • 20 Side Shuffles (5m)
  • 2:00/2:00 Banded Posterior Hip Distraction
  • 10/10 Lateral Leg Swings

Workout – 6 Sets (3x each side for the step-ups)

  • 10 Lateral Box Step-ups (30″)
  • 5/5 Eccentric Ankle Dorsiflexion

Shit! I haven’t had these ankle dorsiflexions in weeks so I’m probably going to get really sore calves.

Active Life – Back Max

5 Rounds

  • 10s Supinated Deadlift Hold (225#)
  • 10 Alternating Push Up Shoulder Taps (3s hold)
  • 30s/30s 1 Arm Overhead Hold (70#)
  • 5/5 Kroc Rows (70#)

After round 1 I didn’t think I was going to make it with the holds. Helps to breath and remain calm.

18.0

I’ve had that knot in my mid back when waking up a few times this week, so I’m wondering if it’s something to do with the way I’m sleeping or my mattress. My shoulders and upper back are pretty sore from Wednesday’s workout.

Active Life – Single Leg Bias

  • 8 Rounds (Tabata)
    • 20s Side Shuffles (5m)
    • 10s Rest
  • 2:00 Bottom Squat Hold
  • 10s L Hang
  • 10/10 Leg Abducted Rocking
  • 10/10 Lateral Leg Swings

Conditioning

18.0
21-15-9

  • DB Snatch (50#)
  • Burpee over DB

Finally got to this one. I switched hands on the ground for all of my snatches, which is really slow. Took me 5:42. 👎🏻

Active Life – Back Max

Kettlebell March – 4 Sets

  • 60m One Arm Farmer Carry (53#)
  • 5 Russian KBS every 10m (53#)
  • 30s Rest

The other time I tried this I went light with 35# and did 3 sets with each arm. Today with 53# was another story and I was barely able to make it through 2 sets per arm. Finished in 9:17.

Is This The One?

Active Life – Single Leg Bias

Warm-up

  • 3:00 Ski Erg (678m)

Workout – 10:00

  • 10 Samson Walking Lunge
  • 15 Russian KBS (35#)
  • 20/20 Lateral Leg Swings
  • 10 Lateral Step Overs

Hips were really lighting up from so many leg swings. Got through 3+18.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 10 Ring Rows
  • 15 MB Cleans (20#)
  • 20 GHD Sit-ups (Parallel)

My back acted up at 10 cleans in round 3. Slowed a bit and finished in 6:40.

Active Life – Back Max

3 Rounds

  • 60m Single Arm Farmer Carry (35#)
  • Every 10m – 5 Single Arm Russian KBS (53#)
  • 30s Rest
  • Repeat with other arm
  • 30s Rest

Stayed light after the back tweak. Finished in 14:22. Hopefully my back is nothing.

15th of December

My quads and glutes are a little sore from yesterday.

Active Life – Single Leg Bias

Warm-up

  • 3:00 Airdyne

Went 0.91 miles.

Workout – 10:00 for quality

  • 10 Samson Walking Lunge
  • 15 RKB Swings (53#)
  • 10/10 Lateral Leg Swings
  • 5/5 Lateral Box Step Ups (30″)

Got through 3+25.

Conditioning

Picked this out of the BTWB Fitness Level Workouts in the Light category. Warmed up with 5 hang power cleans at each of 45, 95, and 115 pounds.

3 Rounds

  • 15 Hang Power Cleans (135#)
  • 15 Burpees

Went 9-6 on the cleans each round and finished in 6:14. Too much resting.

Active Life – Back Max

3 Rounds

  • 2x 10s/10s Standing Straight Leg Hold
  • 10 Lemon Squeeze
  • 10s L Hang
  • 10 GHD Hip Extension (2 second hold at top)
  • 20s/20s Samson Stretch

I did the L hangs on my fat pull-up bar, which was no big deal for only 10 seconds. The hip extensions were much easier this time.

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’.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.5

Yesterday my body was absolutely wrecked after training for a total of about 6 hours Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I took the day off and even took an hour nap around 4pm. After 13.5 was announced last night I figured I’d give it a go today as long as I didn’t feel like shit. At 4 minutes, how bad can it be? So I went in around 4:30 to warm-up and hit it at 5pm.

Warm-up

  • 750m Row
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • Light thrusters

Open Workout 13.5

4:00 AMRAP

  • 15 Thrusters (100#)
  • 15 C2B Pull-ups

* If 90 reps (3 rounds) are completed in under 4 minutes, time extends to 8 minutes.
* If 180 reps (6 rounds) are completed in under 8 minutes, time extends to 12 minutes.
* If 270 reps (9 rounds) are completed in under 12 minutes, time extends to 16 minutes.
* Etc.

After getting 82 reps Monday on the 12.5 Fran ladder with 95#, I figured 60 was a realistic number to shoot for in this 4 minute WOD. With all sets being 15 reps there is a lot less transition time so pacing should overall be faster.

I planned to do 8-7 or 9-6 on the first 15 thrusters but felt good, so went unbroken. I stuck with my plan to go 5-5-5 on the first round of C2B and it worked well, keeping me away from the point of failure. I think my first round was done in around 1:20. In round number 2 I planned to go 5-5-5 on the thrusters, but again felt good so went 9-6. I didn’t have a plan for the C2B because I knew I’d be feeling the burn at this point. I did 5-4-3-3. I hit my goal! Then back to thrusters to go 5-6 and that last rep was a struggle. I don’t think I could have done a 7th if I had time left, so I think I attacked it pretty well. 71 reps in total, 11 more than my goal!

When I hit that point of muscle failure I’m pretty much dead from there on out, so I’m not sure trying to stretch out my sets would have helped me at all. Probably would have caused me to be hitting singles in that second round of C2B and wasting a lot of time dropping off and jumping back on the bar. I’m thinking I won’t hit this one again, but may give it a go on Sunday just for fun and try to push closer to failure to see what happens since it’s only 4 minutes.

The did some work with Kevin…

Warmed up bench press with 10 @ 45#, 5 @ 135#, and 5 @ 165#.

Strength

10:00 EMOM

  • Odd minutes: 5 Bench Press (165#)
  • Even minutes: 5 Weighted Pull-ups (15# DB)

I was a little fatigued from the WOD, so went easy on the weights to make sure I could get all of the reps in.

Conditioning

5 Rounds each

  • 20 cal Air Dyne
  • DUs until partner completes their 20 cal

Boy that Air Dyne is a bitch.

Finisher

10-8-6-4-2

  • HR Push-ups
  • Pistols
  • American KBS (71# KB)

Went unbroken on everything and finished in 4:06. Nice little WOD and some more good conditioning.

Hard and Heavy

It’s been a couple of rough days with 13.1 on Sunday, 2 sessions on Monday, and a 2 hour session yesterday. I’m feeling a little beat up, but not enough to keep me away from the box today. This morning I went in for the 9am and it was a hard hour.

Warm-up

  • 2m Jump Rope
  • 2 Rounds:
    • 10/10 Leg Swings (F2B, S2S)
    • 10 Flamingos
    • 10 Scorpions

Strength

5-3-1-1-1 Back Squats

I’ve been waiting for a 1RM back squat day and it finally arrived. Last max lift was 285# and I couldn’t wait to join the 300# club. I warmed up with 5 at 45#, 5 at 135#, and 3 at 185#, trying to do fast reps. Then I went into my working sets:

  • 5x 225#
  • 3x 255#
  • 1x 285#
  • 1x 300#
  • 1x 315#

BOOM! Hit a 30# PR and could not have gone a pound heavier.

WOD

7 Rounds

  • 3 Cleans (205#)
  • 21 DU (unbroken)

About a month ago we did a competitor’s WOD very similar to this, but with 4 deficit HSPU instead. I remembered the 185# cleans being really tough, but I decided to go for the Rx today and see how long I could do 205#. I managed to do all 21 of them as power cleans. I did have one miss in the last round when Gayle said something about it barely getting over my knees, so then I thought too much about it. Had a few misses on DU, but thankfully they were all early in counts. Finished in 9:14.

Glad I went in early and got the workout done. Now I can relax and get work done the rest of the day. Rest day tomorrow for sure. I’m excited to see the 13.2 announcement tonight.

Get It Overhead!

I’m feeling pretty sore in my shoulders from the HSPU yesterday and as the day goes on my ass is feeling those plyo lunges. Went in at 3:15 for some special OLY work and then stayed for the regular class.

OLY Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • 2 x 10 Pause Jerks with 45# bar

Jerks

  • 5x Jerk Short Step with 95#
  • Jerk from the Back – Doubles and Triples
  • Jerk from the Front – Doubles and Singles

I started off with 95# from the back, went 115#, 155#, and 185#. This was my first time doing any jerks from the back and they felt really weird. I only did a couple of singles at 185# because I don’t feel comfortable dropping that much weight back to my back and it felt uncomfortable to begin with. I need to do these once in a while to get the feel for them.

I dropped the weight back down to 155# and switched to jerks from the rack, doing a double there. Did a double at 185# and another at 205#. Then I was going to hit 225# for a single and Gayle asked if it was going to be a PR, so figured might as well throw another 5# on to make it 230# for a PR. Hit it easily without even punching under in fully. Upped it to 245# and pushed the weight forward instead of back, so failed. Fought it a bit and it didn’t feel too good on my low back.

Took a rest, made sure to punch under it, and got it up for a 20# PR. It was a little unstable over my head, but that’s fucking heavy. Gayle said I could have gotten my front foot out further too and got under it more. Did a good job of getting my head through though.

Class Warm-up

  • 3/3 World’s Greatest Stretch
  • 10/10 Scorpions
  • 10/10 Flamingos
  • 10/10 Legs Swings (F2B, S2S)

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 600m Run
  • 25 Pull-ups

I tried to push it harder on the run today and the temperatures are rising fast here in Phoenix, so that makes the running even tougher. Did all butterfly pull-ups again, but I’m having trouble stringing together more than 7 before I lose rhythm. Finished in 12:24.

Finisher

90s-60s-30s

  • DU
  • AbMat Sit-ups

This was actually part of the class warm-up, but I was finishing up my jerk PR when class started so didn’t do it at that time. Took some rest after the WOD and then knocked it out since there was plenty of time before the next class started.

Still a Little Cloudy

My head it still a little cloudy this morning, even after going to bed by 9pm. Oh well, shake it off with a workout at 9am right?

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10/10 Scorpions
    • 10s of Leg Swings (s2s, f2b)
    • 10 Wall Squats

Strength

5 Sets

  • 3 Back Squats (32X1 Tempo)
  • 2m Rest

* For the first set use your max weight from the 5×5 32×1 tempo back squats we did last week.

Holy shit that was heavy to start! I went 215#, 225#, 230#, 235#, and 240#. The pause at the bottom is brutal.

After another rest period follow that up with a max rep set at 30X1 tempo with 135#. I fought for 26 reps and then collapsed on the ground. Felt like I just got done with a WOD after that big set.

WOD

30-20-10

  • Row (calories)
  • GHD Sit-ups
  • Thrusters (95#)

Not much left in the tank for this WOD. My legs wouldn’t even work on the rower. Finished in 14:50.

All Legs

My hamstrings and triceps and still pretty sore from Sunday. Maybe I shouldn’t have done those extra 300 air squats that night. Took some extra rest today since tempo back squats were on the menu and hit up the 5:15pm class.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • 3/3 World’s Greatest Stretch
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10 Inch Worms
    • 10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S, each leg)
    • 10 Flamingos (each leg)

Strength

5×5 Back Squats with 3-2-X-1 Tempo

These are never easy. Entirely different ball game from regular squats. I focused on good form through each rep and keeping everything tight by holding my breath until the ascent out of the hole. Used 135#, 165#, 185#, 205#, and 215#. Don’t think I could have gone heavier either. Felt solid in my lifts even though it’s nowhere near the 255# I used for a normal 5 reps recently.

WOD

  • 20 Hang Power Cleans (155#)
  • 30 Box Jumps (30″)
  • 40 OH Weighted Walking Lunges (45# plate)
  • 50 Wall Balls (20#, 10′ target)

Phew! I went 10-5-5 on the cleans, unbroken 30 on the box jumps (but not rebounding), 17-15-8 on the lunges, and 5 sets of 10 for wall balls. Finished in 9:06, one of the top Rx times of the day, but am pissed at myself for the finish. I know my wall balls are a weakness and I pussed out by doing sets of 10. I should have pushed harder for bigger sets, especially starting out.

Finisher

So to punish myself and get in some extra work, I strapped on the 20# weight vest when I got home and did 100 unbroken weighted air squats. They were pretty ugly since my legs were fried, but I did them. Took me 2:29.