Muscle Clean

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 6 Day 4

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Alex couldn’t make it today, so out in the garage by myself at 5.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation

Not much messing around today. Get right to that loaded bar!

3x#95
3x#105
3x#115
3x#125
3x#135

Snatch

2×100#
2×120#
2×140#
1×150#
5x1x160#

I think the activation helped open up my shoulders.

Clean & Jerk

2×135#
2×155#
2×180#
1×190#
5x1x205#

Hit myself on the chin with a jerk for the first time in ages. That’ll leave a mark. Other than that, jerks feel like they are improving a lot.

Clean Deadlift

5x2x290#

Dang that’s heavy for a clean deadlift.

Ended with Crossover Symmetry Plyometric.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 6 Day 1

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Lifted in the garage with Alex at 4:30.

Cutting day 5 of last week short was a good idea. Needed that extra rest. Alex and I both felt great today.

Warm-up

Stretching and band pass-thrus
45# Snatch & Clean Position work
75# Muscle cleans and some presses

Muscle Clean

3×95#
3×105#
3×115#
3×125#
3×135#

Snatch

2×100#
2×120#
2×140#
1×150#
1×160#
1×170#
3x1x180#

Missed first attempt at 180# because my head wasn’t in it. Felt pretty good other than that one.

Clean & Jerk

2×135#
2×155#
2×180#
1×190#
1×205#
1×215#
3x1x230#

Felt light today. Even the jerks felt good for the most part.

Back Squat

2×205#
2×240#
2×270#
2×290#
2x2x305#

Squats don’t seem to be getting any easier, but the volume of weight before squats is going up and includes a lot of squatting, so I guess that’s one way to look at it as a positive.

Conditioning

8 Rounds (Tabata)

20s Burpees
10s Rest

I’m basing these off a set number of reps in each round. Last week I did 7 each round, so bumped my number up to 8 for the first 2 rounds. Made it tough to get 7s the rest of the way, but I squeaked by.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 5 Day 2

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Lifting on short rest so I can head out of town for New Year’s Eve. Out in the garage alone again at about 10am. I’m really missing the community aspect of CrossFit lately, but going to stick with this challenge, especially if it works out adding in some of my own conditioning work to the program.

I created a page for all of the details of my garage gym. Let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment there or using the contact page.

Warm-up

4 Rounds NFT

3 Strict Pull-ups
20s Handstand Hold

Muscle Clean

2×105#
2×115#
2×125#
2x2x135#

Snatch

2×100#
2×120#
2×140#
1×150#
5x1x160#

Clean & Jerk

2×135#
2×155#
2×180#
1×190#
5x1x205#

Even the jerks felt pretty good today! I’ve started using a timer for my rest between sets to try to speed things up. Was doing 60-90 seconds between snatch sets and 90-120 seconds between C&J sets. Got a nice sweat on by doing that and it should help out my conditioning too.

Clean Deadlift

5x3x235#

I’m going to rest tomorrow, so today is WOD 1 from the program.

Skill/Strength

12:00 EMOM

Odds – 10 Pistols
Evens – 20s Hollow Rock Hold

Took the first round to find my balance with the pistols and I also realized if I hold my leg to the outside instead of straight out it’s better for balance. Was getting the 10 done in 18-20 seconds. Getting better at the hollow rock stuff because it wasn’t too bad with these.

Conditioning

10:00 EMOM

3 Bar MU / 5 C2B Pull-ups / 7 Pull-ups
DU for remainder of each minute

I thought about doing C2B pull-ups, but just did 50 of them a few days ago. I need work to translate into bar muscle-ups, so I tried to do really high hip to bar pull-ups with a big hip pop and strong pull. I did 3 of those each round. I got at least a streak of 20 unbroken DU each minute, with streaks of 25 most minutes. Probably averaged about 35 total DU per round. This workout wasn’t complicated but it really got the heart racing and lungs burning.

I could definitely feel that I was on short rest from the workout about 13 hours ago. Might play some hoops today with my buddy

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 4 Day 5

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting.

Work continues on the garage gym. I put a Phillips screwdriver bit through my thumb today and made a nice canyon. Won’t be hook gripping anytime soon, so it’s good this last week was max week. All that’s left to do is hang up the dry erase board and some poster type things and then clean the garage because the dust from cutting is everywhere.

A lot of stuff to get done in the programming today so I split it up into two sessions. First session started out in the garage by myself before 2 and was done just after 3.

Warm-up

5:00 DU Practice
45# Clean Positions

Muscle Clean

3×105#
2x3x115#
2x3x125#

Snatch

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
1×145#
1×150#
1×160#
3x1x170#

I made the first 170# with a save in the hole, but couldn’t pull out the last two. Shoulder area is pretty beat from building ladder storage last night. Hours of work overhead!

Clean

2×125#
2×150#
2×175#
1×190#
1×200#
1×215#
3x1x225#

Felt pretty good considering I couldn’t hook grip. The programming had clean & jerks, but since I screwed up yesterday and with beat shoulders I made an executive decision to just go with cleans today.

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

5 C2B Pull-ups

Did them on the rack and it wasn’t too bad. Had to adjust my kip so that I wouldn’t hit the ground with my feet. Did all rounds unbroken though. Still need to figure out butterfly chest to bar pull-ups before the Open.

Back out in the garage at 6pm for part 2.

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting.

Back Squat

20×45#
2×205#
2×240#
2×270#
2×290#
2x2x305#

5 Rounds

5 Reverse Hypers (green band on GHD)
5 GHD Sit-ups

Had to improvise since I don’t have a Reverse Hyper machine (I might make a ghetto one to fit on the rack). They were kind of cool with the band. You could hold a bit at the top and squeeze more.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

1:00 Air Dyne (AD2)
10 HR Push-ups
5/5 One-arm KBS (not alternating, 53# KB)
90s Rest

The AD wrecked me to the point where I couldn’t breathe enough to knock out the push-ups. Had to take a breathing break at 5 or 6 reps and they were slow reps. My rounds were 1:54, 2:08, 1:55. I went all out on the first round of AD, which killed me. Quads were burning early in the 2nd and 3rd round. It was programmed to be 250m rows, but all I have is an AD. 1:00 is longer than 250m rows would take, but I could use the extra work. Found out from this that my conditioning isn’t the greatest, so might have to mess around with adding some more here and there over the second half of the program.

Week 4 is done! Added 15# to my total so far, with a lot of room for improvement in the C&J.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 3 Day 2

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Over to Kevin’s in the afternoon to lift. The Reverse Hypers were programmed for day 5, but he’ll be out of town, so I swapped the seated good mornings from today.

Warm-up

Scap work
2:00 Air Dyne
45# Clean Positions
95# Clean Positions

Muscle Clean

3×125#
3x3x135#
3×145#

Power Snatch

2×95#
2×115#
5x1x125#

Power Clean + Push Jerk

2+1×95#
2+1×115#
2+2×145#
5×2+1×175#

Lifts felt solid. Little tight in the left shoulder during push jerks. The power cleans and push jerk were a nice change of pace from the normal clean and jerk.

Reverse Hyper

10×95#
2x5x160#
5×210#
2x5x250#

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 2 Day 5

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Hit up the garage gym around noon.

Warm-up

5:00 Jump Rope and DU
45# Snatch Positions

First try using my new 9’4″ Rx Jump Rope (1″ shorter than I’ve been using since this summer) and I nailed 100 unbroken DU! Finally hit the century mark! 🙂 Reeled off a set of 73 the next try.

Muscle Snatch

2×75#
2x2x85#
3x2x95#
2×105#

Muscle Clean

3×105#
2x3x125#
3x3x135#

Power Snatch from above the knee (Demo Video)

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
1×145#
1×155#

These felt really good! I’ve never tried 155# from a hang position before and it was easy. I think I might have done 145# from blocks with the bar starting at the knees, but not a power snatch.

Power Clean from above the knee (Demo Video)

2×125#
2×150#
2×175#
1×190#
1×205#

Not as good as the snatches, at least in terms of feel.

Back Squat

2×205#
2×240#
2×270#
2×290#
2x2x305#

Grinder in those last two sets. Doesn’t look as bad on video as it felt when doing the reps.

GHR

4x with only bodyweight
2×4 holding 5# plate
4x holding 10# plate
4x holding 15# plate

Either I finally figured out how to do GHRs or my hamstrings have gotten significantly stronger in the last two weeks from all of the lifting. I could barely do 5 reps without holding any weight before.

Took a quick shower and headed over to Survival Fitness for open gym.

Conditioning

Warmed up on bench press with:

10×45#
5×95#
3×135#

Then jumped into this workout:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Bench Press (165#)
4 C2B Pull-ups

Going unbroken for the set of 10 was a mistake. I think I went 5-4, 3-3-2, 4-3, 3-3, 3-2, 2-2, 3, 2, and 1 on the rest of the bench press sets. Managed to do all sets of C2B unbroken which was the goal. Would have been doubtful to do had I chosen 5 reps instead of 4. Took me 10:47 to finish because of so many breaks in the bench press. This wasn’t part of the 60 Day Challenge programming, but since there no jerks today, I was feeling good, and tomorrow is a rest day I added in the extra work.

12 Rounds

20s Row for calories
10s Active rest (keep the flywheel moving)

As you can see below I screwed up on the 4th work interval, so made so to go for 13 total intervals. Didn’t feel like I pushed hard enough, but that was a solid 3 hours of work.

The program called for “Establish Max Height Box Jump” but I have a mental block that prevents me from making an attempt once I get to a certain height. So I tested my vertical jump instead. On concrete, with no step it was 24″ and taking a step into it with one foot I could get 26″. I wish I could remember what it was back in high school.

Week 2 is in the books, so that’s about 25% done with the challenge. Can’t wait to see what the programming for week 3 looks like.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 2 Day 1

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting.

I definitely needed a rest day yesterday when I saw what was programmed for the start of week 2 and I’m glad I took it even though I’m now a day behind in the program due to the CrossFit competition on Saturday. Oh well. I went out in the garage by myself today around 4pm.

Warm-up

45# Snatch Positions

Didn’t feel like spending a lot of time warming up since I could do that with the muscle moves.

Muscle Snatch

5×65#
3x3x85#
2x3x95#

Muscle Clean

5×95#
5x2x125#

Snatch

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
1×145#
1×155#
1×165#
3x1x170#

Clean & Jerk

2×125#
2×150#
2×175#
1×190#
1×200#
1×215#
3x1x225#

Back Squat

2×205#
2×240#
2×270#
2×290#
2x2x305#

Felt good to redeem myself after not being able to get 290# up once on Sunday with the whole squat fiasco. The second rep on each set with 305# was a fight.

I sure am not used to doing all 3 of those lifts with multiple reps at 90%. I think I’ll be feeling this for a few days, but I hope not because I have to do the same thing on day 3!

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 1 Day 3

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Yesterday was a rest day. Went oven to Kevin’s garage after 6pm to lift tonight.

Warm-up

Jumping Jacks
PVC work
15# Snatch Positions

Muscle Snatches

4×45#
2×75#
3x2x85#
2x2x95#
2×105#

Muscle Cleans

3×75#
3×105#
3x3x125#
3×135#
3×145#

I think these muscle movements are really helping my turnover. Bumped the weights up a couple notches from the other day and still felt good on these.

Snatches

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
1×145#
1×155#
4x1x160#

I was going to do the last 4 singles with 165#, but 155# felt bad, so I stuck to 160#. Stopped thinking in the last couple of reps and was much better. The last rep felt the best of the day.

Back Squats

2×205#
2×240#
2×270#
3x2x290#

First set at 290# was ugly, especially the 2nd rep. Second set too! Stopped thinking and nailed the 3rd set.

Seated Good Mornings

5×155#
5×175#
5×185#
2x5x195#

Have never done this much volume with them. Will probably be feeling them tomorrow.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 1 Day 1

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. In to Survival Fitness at 10am. Took about 2 hours total with my warm-up.

Warm-up

2:00 Air Dyne
PVC Pass-thrus
Banded OH Stretch (purple bands)

Wow, I was out of breath after the AD. Being sick really fucks up training.

Muscle Snatches

From 2 positions for each rep, above knee and below knee (Demo).

Warmed up with 2×45# and 2x2x75#
2x3x95#
3x3x85#

95# didn’t feel terrible, but it was a bit much and losing the technique aspect, so I dropped down.

Muscle Cleans

From 2 positions for each rep, above knee and below knee (Demo).

Warmed up with 2×75#, 2x2x105#
5x2x125#

125# was pretty ideal here.

Turned out both of these muscle movements were supposed to be from the floor, not according to the demo videos they sent. I was thinking it was turning out to be a shit load of reps!

Snatches

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
1×145#
1×150#
4x1x160#

Made every lift and felt pretty good.

Front Squats

2×95#
2×215#
2×250#
3x2x265#

This was a new way of doing squats for me. Big jump and not much warm-up! Felt really heavy after not squatting since Tuesday.