24 Second PR

Up at my parent’s place for the weekend. Planned to use the treadmill but it wouldn’t start moving.

  • 8:00 Air Dyne
  • 5 Rounds
    • 20 Plyo Lunges
    • 20 Push-ups
  • 8:00 Air Dyne

Held about 70rpm to start. Went unbroken on the lunges and all sets of 10 push-ups. Started with 70rpm again and then pushed it for the last 4 minutes. Took a total of 21:12.

Did a series of back stretches and then felt like I should do more push-ups.

  • 50 HR Push-ups

Never stopped though I did slow down a lot, with slight pauses at the top and bottom of the last 25 reps. Finished in 1:52 for a 24 second PR with fatigued muscles!

Did another round of back stretches in between the Final Four games.

Dubs on Point

Moved Super Sunday to noon instead of 11 starting today. I warmed up with a 1,000m row in 4:28 and various stretching.

Gymnastics

“Death By” Pull-ups

  • 1 Pull-up in the first 1 min
  • 2 Pull-ups in the second 1 min
  • 3 Pull-ups in the third 1 min
  • Continuing this for as long as you are able

Made it through 17 and got 14 of 18 for a total of 167 pull-ups! Was hoping to get to round 15 or 16, so huge win. The last time I did something like this was back in November of 2012 and it started with 2 and went up by 2 every minute. Got 16 + 17 for a total of 89 that day. Big improvement and I’m about 12 pounds heavier now. Wore the leather grips so I wouldn’t risk ripping my palms going into the Open.

butterflies-human-pull-ups

Conditioning

4:00 AMRAP

  • Burpee Box Jumps (24″)

Got 11 in the first minute, then fell off pace a bit, but wanted to get to 40, so I stepped it up in the last minute and managed to get 41 total.

Chipper

  • 100 DU
  • 25 T2B
  • 50 Plyo Lunges
  • 50 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Plyo Lunges
  • 25 T2B
  • 100 DU

I went unbroken on the first 100 dubs in 48 seconds! Couldn’t believe it was that fast. On the toes to bars I started with a set of 5 and then did 5 sets of 4 both times. I think I went 16-18-16 and 20-16-14 on the plyo lunges. All sets of 5s on the push-ups. I really wanted to hit a bit set of double unders at the end. Started feeling the burn at 50 but kept it going. Made it to 95 and then messed up! So close. Total time was 12:44.

Shoulders = wrecked! Did Crossover Symmetry Recovery. Switching me schedule again so that Monday and Thursday are rest days. Will be doing the Open workouts on Friday nights.

Going to Miss Sundays

Love my Sunday workouts, but probably won’t be home for the next three weeks. 😦

Warm-up

  • 1,000m Row (4:21)
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Stretching

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 MU

Felt really good today! Maybe because it was the first thing and I was so fresh. I started working more on the push away at the top while finishing the dip. I think it helped generate more momentum. No real risk of missing any reps today.

Explosive Training

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 3 TnG C&J (155# for 3 rounds, 165# for 2)
  • Evens: 3 Box Jumps (38″)

Repping out those weights was tougher than I expected. The box jumps weren’t really that hard.

10 Rounds

  • 10 Plyo Lunges
  • 8 Skater Jumps
  • 6 V-ups

Pretty quick one and not that hard. Took me 6:01.

  • 2:00 Burpees
  • 4:00 Rest
  • 2:00 Burpees

I got 40 and 39.

2014-11-23-crew

Friday Grindin’

Forgot I wanted to finish off the 2nd week of Smolov Jr before class, so rushed off to get there. Hit up Crossover Symmetry Activation and got right into it the lifts.

Shoulder Press

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 3×135#
  • 10x3x142.5#

I nearly missed the last one in the 8th working set, but made sure to keep tight and use the bounce on the final two sets and didn’t have a problem. One more week of the cycle and then I might reset for another one instead of testing my max.

Did some banded tricep stretching after to continue warming up.

Skill

IMG_4866Practiced triple unders for 8-10 minutes. First by just getting one at a time and stopping. I was able to get 2 in a row several times, but I need to work on slowing down the rope after the 3rd spin because it kept coming around and hitting my feet before I had time to jump again. Jump will need work too. I was kicking my feet back a lot. I think I’ll have to work on these using my Rx rope instead of the RPM, because the bare cable can draw blood!

Conditioning

20:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Power Cleans (155#)
  • 15 T2B
  • 20 Deadlifts (155#)
  • 25 Sit-ups
  • 30 Air Squats

All singles for the cleans, 3 sets of 5 each round for toes to bar, and broke deadlifts up into 2 sets of either 10-10, 11-9, or 12-8. Completed 3 full rounds plus 10 cleans, 15 t2b, 20 deadlifts, and 3 sit-ups. It was a grinder!

Accessory

Farmer’s Carry

  • 135m (62# & 53# KBs)
  • 100m (62# & 53# KBs)
  • 100m (2×44# KBs)
  • 135m (2×44# KBs)

Owwww! Shoulders and forearms on fire after this.

Quick afternoon session in the garage. Warmed up with 5 minutes on the Air Dyne at about 55 PRM for 2.18km and then rested two minutes.

5 Rounds

  • 10 Plyo Lunges (Jumping)
  • 1:00 Air Dyne
  • 2:00 Rest

Really had to push in the last couple to keep going. Distances were 0.76, 0.78, 0.79, 0.78, and 0.8 km. Cooled down with another 5 on the AD for 2.14km. Rest day tomorrow!

MOFO Training

Matt got a couple of Concept2 rowers and a couple of Air Dynes, plus I traded him my Concept2 for future services, so he asked me to come up with a WOD to do during Open Gym tonight. I love programming so was happy to! I went in to the 7pm class and was looking forward to a bunch of cleans, but due to the new machines, he switched up the workout. Stayed after for open gym at 8pm and did a workout with some of the beasts.

Warm-up

Teams of 3, 3 rounds

  • 200m Row
  • Sit-ups
  • Air Squats

After the 200m row, we rotated stations.

Strength

10:00 EMOTM

  • 5 Front Squats (195#)
  • 10-12 calories on Air Dyne

First time using an Air Dyne and the combination with front squats was brutal. My quads were smoked.

WOD

21-15-9 with a partner

  • Air Dyne calories
  • Over the Bar Burpees

Kevin and I finished in 6:42. We tried to switch off with another team to get a rower but nobody was having it. Again the Air Dyne smoked me.

Open Gym WOD

15:00 Partner AMRAP

  • Partner 1: 250m Row
  • Partner 2: AMRAP of
    • 4 HSPU
    • 6 Ring Dips
    • 12 Lunges (stepping or plyo)

Matt requested HSPU and I was happy to oblige. They are no longer a weakness for me, but I can still use the work. I’ve done them paired up with ring dips a dew times while out in Phoenix so figured it would work well here. As I was thinking about this and making last minute changes, I came up with adding in the lunges otherwise everyone would have been too smoked by the upper body movements to do much at the end of the 15 minutes.

I teamed up with Michelle and we finished 13 rounds plus 16 more reps. I did all of my HSPU unbroken and quite a few rounds of the ring dips too. I need to work on my ring dip kip though. Some of the lunges I did stepping back and forth and other times I pushed through and did them plyo-style.

We had 7 people do this and it was a lot of fun.

Finisher

2x MB Pass Partner Circuit

  • 10 Straight
  • 10 OH
  • 10 Right
  • 10 Left
  • 10 Up

Brought this little ab killer back from CrossFit Full Strength and everyone seemed to love/hate it.

A Fresh Look On Monday

Don’t compare yourself with anyone in this world…if you do so, you are insulting yourself.

Bill Gates

As time has gone by, I’m feeling better about my performance in 13.1. I looked back at my placing after 12.1 and 12.2, compared to 13.1. I’m ranked higher in the world and there are twice as many registrations. I’d say that’s a win. I’ll know more about exact placement and percentile Tuesday night after score validation closes.

My disappointment in not getting a score of at least 150 is nearly gone. I know there will be workouts that play more into my strengths and I can make up ground. I gave 13.1 my best shot and honestly don’t know where I could have gone any faster to pick up the 45 seconds I would have needed to get the final 8 burpees.

It’s a new week and back to training until the next workout is announced. My body feels good, just a little sore in the upper back. I went in for 9am and there sit Gayle and Adam, just having got done with Saturday’s WOD. They’re starting some 2-a-days, so I did that same workout on my own.

Warm-up

  • 750m Row at 20s/m

I kept right around a 2:15/500m pace.

WOD #1

2 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 25 HSPU
  • 400m Run
  • 30 Pistols (alternating)

I finished in 17:10. HSPU were broken down into 10-5-4-3-3 and 5-5-5-4-3-3 I think. I’ve improved my strength for them so much in the last 2 months. My second round of pistols was a lot faster than my first round and felt good. Out of there in well under an hour and home to rest for later.

This wasn’t really too bad because I had quite a bit of rest during HSPU while breaking them up. Solid strength work though with cardio in the mix.

I jumped on the scale after the WOD and was 189 with shoes and clothes on. I ate really bad yesterday as my cheat day after the workout. Usually those kind of days put me up 2-3 pounds on the scale, so I’d say I hit my first goal of leaning out and getting down to around 185 for the Open.

Back at 4:15 for round 2!

Warm-up

  • 600m Run
  • 3 Rounds:
    • 5 Pull-ups
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 15 Air Squats

I did strict pull-ups to work on strength and chest-to-deck push-ups.

WOD #2

5 Rounds (Similar to the “Chief” WOD)

  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 3 Ring Dips
    • 6 Plyo Lunges
    • 9 American KBS (53#)
  • 1m Rest

* Start each 3:00 round where you left off.

Instead of only doing straight up ring dips, I put the rings up at about eye level, got down with my legs bent under me and on my toes, looking up at the rings. Took a false grip and worked on the MU transition by doing a jumping/strict MU type move from there. Once I got up above the rings I did my 3 dips each time. Now that I’m thinking about it I should have put the rings higher and just done jumping MU or even tried doing a kipping MU each time.

This was a solid WOD and those KBS really started to hurt in the last two 3 minute rounds. I finished with a score of 18+3. To make this a little better, I think I would swap the rep counts for the lunges and the KBS.

Those were two solid WODs today, but not the kind that knock you out for 2 days.

Coming off a Cold

I started coming down with something on Wednesday night and yesterday was spent mostly in the napping position. Felt better and better today as the hours passed. Still somewhat tired, but went in to the 4:15pm and then stayed after a bit during open gym.

Warm-up

  • 30-20-10 Air Squats
  • 15-20-5 Burpees

WOD

  • 400m Run
  • 20 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)
  • 40 Plyo Lunges
  • 400m Run
  • 14 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)
  • 30 Plyo Lunges
  • 400m Run
  • 10 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)
  • 20 Plyo Lunges
  • 400m Run
  • 6 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)
  • 10 Plyo Lunges

My running was pretty terrible today due to being a little rundown, but I can fly through the Turkish get-ups so I made up some time there. Finished in 18:35.

Finisher

5 Sets

  • 10 Ring Dips
  • 2m Rest

Did each round unbroken.

Open Gym

6:00 EMOTM

  • 3 OHS (75#)
  • 20 DUs

I was going to go for 10 minutes but could feel myself getting tired and didn’t want to overdo it with this cold. I also did a few bar muscle-ups, which is pretty good after all of those dips. I don’t think I’ve ever done more than 1 in a day before, but I always try to do them after a WOD.

A Quick One

As it got into the afternoon I was feeling better than when I woke up this morning. Once I ate lunch, I felt like I could handle a workout, so I gave the food a couple of hours to settle while floating in the lake. Of course laying on my stomach on a floatie tightened up my lower back.

Warm-up

2 rounds

  • 10 PVC OHS
  • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 20 Plyo Lunges

WOD

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

  • Goblet Squats (50# KB)
  • Diamond Push-ups
  • Box Jumps (24″)

This was a pretty easy one. Did it in 7:50. To make it harder I could have done front squats holding 50# DBs, decline push-ups, and box jumps on the 31″ ledge. The quick workout was enough for today though.

Finisher

50 OH Lunges (50# KB)

I broke these up into sets of 15-10-15-10, with short breaks in between the sets. Didn’t time it though. It was some nice work on shoulder stability while also working the legs a bit.

Garage WOD

My buddy Mo came up for a couple of days to visit and wanted to try some CrossFit. Today we worked out in my garage with the limited equipment I have.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up

  • High Knees
  • Plyo Lunges
  • Butt Kicks
  • Mountain Climbers

If you aren’t used to the intensity, this can be a tough 16 minutes, but he hung in there. Plyo lunges were fun in a Tabata.

WOD

4 Rounds

  • 1m Man Makers
  • 1m Air Squats
  • 1m KBS (Russian)
  • 2m Rest

We alternated who started with Man Makers and who started with KBS, but always kept Air Squats in the middle. Doing Man Makers first and KBS as the 3rd exercise was definitely easier. We counted total reps for each round, so this was like 4 mini-WODs in one. I got 82, 81, 68, and 73 reps in my rounds. I had 4 Man Makers for each of the first three rounds, but only managed 2 in the last one, due to time lost in transition. We used my 50# KB for the swings and went with 45# DBs for the Man Makers. That’s a nice jump for me and was challenging.

Finisher

10 Rounds

  • Sprint Driveway (down and back)
  • 20 Russian Twists

I used a 25# DB for the Russian Twists and Mo actually did leg lifts instead because of a lower back issue. Time to complete that was 6:24.

Prowler Sprints

I wasn’t feeling all that motivated today when I was deciding which class to attend tonight. I’m not sure if the busy day with multiple WODs yesterday or walking 18 holes of golf this morning took a lot out of me. I ended up going to the 5:30pm class and felt fine once I got moving.

Warm-up

3 rounds

  • 1m MB Russian Twists
  • 1m MB V-ups
  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Bicycles
  • 1m “Mystery”
  • 1m Rest

I used a 20# MB for Russian twists and V-ups. Each round, the “Mystery Move” changed; first we did side planks, then flutter kicks, and ended with prayer crunches. I was really feeling a burn during this ab circuit due to the leg lifts I did yesterday.

WOD

50 reps of each

  • Air Squats
  • Burpees
  • Box Jumps
  • KBS (Russian)
  • Close-grip HR Push-ups
  • Plyo Lunges
  • Pull-ups
  • Sit-ups

I used a 24″ box and a 53# KB. Since I flew through everything, I did full sit-ups to make it harder. I finished in 23:22 and then did 12 reps on the GHD as a bonus.

The close-grip HR push-ups were a bit awkward because you have to keep the hands far enough apart that you can lift them off the ground when your chest is laying down. Pull-ups felt really good and my kip is getting dialed in. I need to learn those butterfly pull-ups soon.

Strength

10 Sets

  • High grip Prowler sprint
  • Low grip Prowler sprint
  • Rest

Finally I got to use the Prowler! I probably won’t be too excited when I feel the effects tomorrow. Stayed after class a bit to finish these. The Prowler was loaded with 180# of weights so I’m guessing over 200# total. The distance was probably 25-30 yards each way. The high grip wasn’t too bad, but the low grip took everything I had to get the Prowler moving, was much slower pushing, and got harder each time. Here’s a video of Casey and I. I’m shown first pushing it back to our starting line.