Ho-hum Tuesday

Feeling good! I can’t wait to start trying out the shoulder next week.

Warm-up

  • 2:00 Bottom Squat Hold
  • 3 x 30s Box Shoulder Stretch
  • 3 x 25 Band Pulls (thicker red band)
  • 2 x 1:00 Laying KB Hold (each side, 25# KB)
  • 3:00 Bottom Squat Hold

Strength

Warmed up with 5×135# pendlay rows and 5×135# RDLs. Then super set these two…

5 Rounds

  • 5×185# Pendlay Rows
  • 10×185# RDLs
  • 90s Rest

Conditioning

7:00 AMRAP
* 5 box overs EMOM starting at 1:00

  • 15 GHD Hip Extensions
  • 15 V-ups

I got either 5 full rounds plus 5 more hip extensions. I flew through the box overs, but those v-ups got slow.

Did a 6:00 squat hold after class. Will get in 15 more minutes throughout the day. Yesterday I did 5×5:00 without a problem, so I’ll make it a total of 26 minutes today.

Test Tuesday

My low back has never been so sore. Has to mostly be from the deadlifts on Sunday, but I don’t think the middle portion of that back squat PR yesterday helped either.

Warm-up

  • Foam-rolled my back
  • Rocket Ships
  • Arm Circles
  • Zombie Kicks

Cleans

  • 45# Positions
  • 115#
  • 155#
  • 185#
  • 205#
  • 225# (Switched to power cleans)
  • 235#
  • 245# (PR)

I haven’t worked on my cleans since the pretzel incident so I’m not mentally ready to go chasing a full clean PR, but the 245# power clean felt good. My feet didn’t even have to go super wide to receive it, which often happens with a heavy power clean. Wasn’t expecting that lift going into today.

2:00 of Pendlay Rows

I did 29×135#. The test was for muscle-ups but I can’t do those with my shoulder.

2 Mile Run

I was really hoping to be somewhere close to 14:00, which is lofty goal for a first run of the year and carrying this much weight on my frame. I ran 15:58. Yuck!

MAX Broad Jump

We got 3 attempts. I went 108.5″ and then got 115.75″ on the next two.

Test Week

We’re doing a shit ton of tests this week. I’m already sore from getting back after it the last couple of days.

Warm-up

  • High Knees
  • Butt Kicks
  • Jumping Jacks
  • Shoulder Stretching
  • Bottom Squat Hold

Back Squat 1RM

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 3×205#
  • 2×275#
  • 1×295#
  • 1×315#
  • 1×335#
  • 1×350# (PR)

Yeah!! Smoked 335# so much easier than I did on Saturday.

Strict press was up next, but I took extra time with my squatting since I can’t do anything overhead. 25 minutes is not enough time to max out in 2 lifts.

MAX Ring Rows in 1:30

Can’t do C2B pull-ups, so I did ring rows instead. Got 26. I still suck at these.

MAX HR Push-ups in 1:30

Did 39 of them. I should start hammering a lot of HR push-ups each week to help with chest size and tricep strength.

500m Row

My PR was a 1:34.4 so I tried to keep around a 1:35 or less early on, then started to kick it in with 150m left. Pulled off a 1:32.2 for a PR by over 2 seconds. Keeps getting better, but after that one I know I can go harder out of the gate next time.

Conditioning

Supposed to be a 1/2 “Cindy” but no pull-ups for me.

10:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Pendlay Rows (95#)
  • 10 C2D Push-ups
  • 15 Air Squats

I did 9 rounds plus 5 rows, 10 push-ups, and 4 squats.

My weight is up to the heaviest I’ve ever been, at 202.5# this morning. Starting a body fat challenge today and I measured at 15.4% on the device at the gym. I think I have a bit of an unfair advantage after gaining 8# in a week on vacation. I’ll be able to drop back to 195# in less than 2 weeks.

Growing Tree Trunks

My front delts are still sore from 180 burpees. Doesn’t take much pressure when pushing on them to feel the pain. Hamstrings are sore from the good mornings too.

Warm-up

  • 10/10 Hurdlers (forward, backward)
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • 2x30s Wrist Stretch

Strength

Front Squat 5×5 @ 70-80%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×235#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×255#
  • 5×260#

Up in volume from last time when I did 2 sets at 225# and up to 255#. Today the 255# felt rough, so I only took the 5# jump at the end. Last set actually felt better, so should have done 265#.

Conditioning

  • 50 Weighted Lunges (30# DBs)
  • 40 Pendlay Rows (95#)
  • 30 Goblet Squats (53# KB)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 10 Squat Cleans (135#)

Finished in 9:21 with legs on fire.

14.4 is announced tonight and it looks like it’ll be a chipper, as I predicted. Rest day and massage tomorrow for me and will plan to hit the workout on Saturday.

Possible Shoulder Impingement

A couple of hours after the workout yesterday I started to get a pain in my shoulder, which I think might be a shoulder impingement. Shit!

Went to the gym and worked out with Matt and Cora in the afternoon.

Warm-up

Did a little on the Air Dyne and some stretching.

Back Squats

While waiting for them, I got in some back squats. Trying to get that 3rd day of squatting in each week.

  • 20×45#
  • 5×225#
  • 3×245#
  • 10:00 EMOM of 2×275#

Could feel my back tweak on several of the reps, so it was important to focus on staying tight with good form. The squats themselves felt great though. Have dove a similar format before with 10 doubles a couple of times. Once with 275 and once with 285.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 1:00 Chest-to-deck Push-ups
  • 1:00 Row for calories
  • 1:00 Pendlay Rows (75#)
  • 1:00 Box Jumps (20″)
  • 1:00 Back Squats (75#)
  • 1:00 Rest

Fight Gone Bad style workout, but with the shoulder issue, I didn’t want to do anything involving my elbow being higher than my shoulder, so substituted 3 of the movements. I got 112, 114, and 108 reps. Happy with the consistency.

Early to Bed

I was exhausted early again last night so went to bed shortly after 10 and then in for the 9am class again.

Warm-up

  • 3 Rounds
    • 20s Bear Crawl
    • 10s Rest
    • 20s Zombie Kicks
    • 10s Rest
    • 20s Air Squats
    • 10s Rest
  • 10 Burpees

Strength

Deadlifts

  • 5×135#
  • 5×225#
  • 5x3x315#

Was programmed to be 5×1 @ 90+% but my back is still jacked from trying to do heavy triples on Friday. First set at 315 started to feel tight in that area, so I just stuck with that weight for every set.

Accessory

12:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 8 Pendlay Rows (135#)
  • Evens: 15 Band pulls (purple band)

Supposed to use 40% of max deadlift for the rows. Haha! I’m not sure I could row that much for 1 rep. 135# was plenty and still a struggle for the last couple reps each set.

Conditioning

20:00 EMOM

  • 4 Thrusters (75#)
  • 4 Pull-ups
  • 4 Burpees

Another choose your own adventure between 3-5 reps of each. Matt tried it with 5 yesterday and was terrible, so 4 it was for me. Was finishing rounds in 30 seconds at the beginning, but up around 43 seconds by the end. I was getting done with my thrusters in 8 seconds from start to finish. With a tighter kip and using the hips, pull-ups didn’t fatigue and felt good through all 20 minutes. Transitioning between movements slowed and my burpees got slow, which brought my times down. Rough workout; a real mental grind in the second half.

Three’s Company

Over to Kevin’s garage to train with him and Alex tonight.

Warm-up

5:00 Air Dyne

OLY

  • Blocks at the knee:
    • 2 x 2 Snatch Deadlifts + 2 Power Snatches @ 95#
    • 2 Snatch Deadlifts + 2 Power Snatches @ 115#
    • 2 Snatch Deadlifts + 2 Power Snatches @ 135#
  • 2 Power Snatches @ 145#
  • EMOM 5:00 – Power Snatch @ 155#
  • EMOM 5:00 – Power Snatch @ 165#
  • EMOM 3:00 – Power Snatch @ 170#

The EMOMs were a little longer because there were 3 of us rotating through each lift. I missed the 2nd one at 170, even though it was OH just fine.

Strength

Pendlay Rows

  • 7 @ 170#
  • 8 @ 185#
  • 8 @ 200#

3 Rounds, paced with 3 of us going

  • 5 Strict HSPU
  • 5 Kipping HSPU
  • 5 C&J @ 135#

The HSPU were on 55# competition plates with an AbMat, so a bit of a deficit. Wanted to get the feel for some touch-n-go C&J for Barbells for Boobs on Saturday.

Back Squats

  • 5 x 3 @ 255# for speed

Conga-line style, so very little rest between sets.

It’s pretty nice having the three of us being so close in a lot of lifts, makes it really easy to cycle through stuff without changing plates all the time. Kevin and Alex were done for the day after this.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 30s Row
  • 1:30 Rest

Would have done 10 if it wasn’t already approaching 2 hours for the session.

20131107-193435.jpg

For the first 2 intervals I was doing a few short fast pulls to get the erg going. Then for the last 3 I went back to a full pull to start. I think I know which one I’ll be sticking with. Is that consistency or what?

Row for Recovery

Another 10am session. My hands are feeling the most from all of those KBS yesterday. Legs are still sore too.

Warm-up

  • 3:00 Air Dyne
  • 45# Power Clean Positions

OLY

  • 2 Power Cleans + 5 Front Squats (95#)
  • 2 Power Cleans + 5 Front Squats (125#)
  • 2 Power Cleans + 5 Front Squats (155#)
  • 2 Power Cleans + 5 Front Squats (175#)
  • 2 Power Cleans + 3 Front Squats (195#)

Cleans were not feeling the best and the bar slipped out of my hands twice because it was humid in the gym and the bar was a little slick.

Strength

Shoulder Presses

  • 5 @ 95#
  • 5 @ 100#
  • 5 @ 105#
  • 5 @ 110#
  • 5 @ 115#
  • 5 @ 120#
  • 5 @ 125#
  • 5 @ 130#
  • 1 @ 135#

I worked on short rest for the first 5 sets or so. Caught up to me at the end there with 135# when I could only manage 1 rep and was shooting for 3.

Pendlay Rows

  • 5 @ 135#
  • 5 @ 150#
  • 5 @ 165#
  • 5 @ 180#
  • 5 @ 195#

Heaviest I’ve done with these.

Conditioning

Easy 20 minute Row

I tried to keep my pace in the 2:08-2:10 range and 15-17 spm seemed to be a good stroke rate. The final numbers on the rower were 20:05 for 4,686m with an average pace of 2:08.6.

Out of Gas

In at 10am this morning, but no gas in the tank. Need to start getting more sleep again and eating more. Kevin was out of it too, so we took it easy.

Warm-up

3:00 Air Dyne

OLY

Snatch Work

  • 45# Position Work
  • 65# Position Work
  • 75# Position Work
  • 2 x 2 x Power Snatch + OHS
  • 1 Power Snatch E30S 4:00 (135#)

During the position work Kevin noticed I was behind the bar in my setup and helped fix me. Really different feel in my hamstrings, but it was almost automatic to bring the bar in instead of looping around the knees like I’ve been doing. The 135# power snatches felt ok, but not a whole lot of pop today. Getting used to the corrected start position felt weird too.

Strength

Pendlay Rows

  • 15 x 105#
  • 15 x 125#
  • 15 x 135#

Front Squats

  • 5 x 135#
  • 5 x 185#
  • 3 x 5 x 205#

WOD

10:00 Row

Averaged a 2:09/500m pace and kept strokes at 18-20/minute.

Tweaked Back

Pulled something in my back on Tuesday, but it as weird because it just felt like a knot or tight during the session. Then as I cooled off at home it got progressively worse. Sleeping that night was horrible; I wanted to scream each time I rolled over in bed. Got a hot stone massage yesterday which really helped. Felt good enough to go in this morning for a training session.

Warm-up

1,000m Row (really slow, focused on warming up my back)

Strength

Front Squats

  • 5 x 45#
  • 5 x 135#
  • 3 x 185#
  • 3 x 225#
  • 1 x 255#
  • 1 x 275#
  • 1 x 295#
  • 1 x 310# (PR)
  • F x 320#
  • 10 x 135#

Had no plans to go for a PR today but after 295# felt good I figured there was no sense in matching a PR at 305#. The PR lift felt good so I went for more and couldn’t get it up. What tweaked back? 😉

Since there were 3 of us with Matt and Davy, we came up with a 3 station rotation between bench press, pendlay rows, and rest.

Warm-up

  • 5 x 135# Bench Press
  • 5 x 135# Pendlay Rows
  • 5 x 185# Bench Press
  • 5 x 185# Pendlay Rows

5 Rounds

  • 5 x 185# Bench Press
  • 5 x 185# Pendlay Rows

The benching got easier as the rounds went on, but the rows definitely got harder.

10:00 EMOM

  • Strict Ring Dips (10-10-8-6-6)
  • Strict Chin-ups (8-8-8-6-6)

Fuck these were hard after the benching and rows.

WOD

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10

  • DU
  • Sit-ups (anchored)

First time trying “Annie” with the anchored sit-ups and it definitely helped. Set a 13 second PR with a 6:55 with a bunch of DU misses; 4 in the round of 50 and 2 stupid ones in the round of 10.