Tag: Pull-up

Testing My Back

I’m feeling good after the rest day yesterday. Matt is out-of-town for the weekend so I offered to help out with the weekend classes. Today was sort of on open gym and I was looking forward to testing out my back as well as trying a few things that are part of a competition I’m doing in October.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • Various stretching, including PVC pass-thrus and around the world’s, PVC OHS, world’s greatest stretch

WOD #1

“Grace”

  • 30 Clean and Jerks (95#)

This one comes straight out of the competition. I’ve been staying away from cleans for the last couple of weeks because of my low back. It felt pretty good doing this today. I finished in 2:42 without too much of a push since I was doing it by myself. A month or so ago I used 125# and did it in 5:10-ish, so I’m confident I can get down around the 2 minute mark.

WOD #2

10:00 EOMOTM

  • 5 Deadlifts (225#)
  • 5 HSPU

I’ve also been staying away from deadlifts because of my low back. These felt really good and easy. All of the HSPUs were strict and unbroken.

WOD #3

10:00 EOMOTM

  • 10 Thrusters (65#)
  • 10 Pull-ups

The competition has “Fran” but the beginner division, which I’m competing in, only uses 65# and does jumping chest-to-bar pull-ups. I figured this was a good way to build up for it. I should have gone heavier with the thrusters and maybe did fewer reps there. Everything here was unbroken as well. I’ve never been able to do that many rounds of pull-ups unbroken like that.

WOD #4

20:00 EMOTM

  • 30s Row

This a great one for conditioning. Go all-out for those 30s and then catch your breath for the next 30s.

I’m really happy with how my back handled the workload today. I wouldn’t have been able to do this 2 weeks ago. I’m in charge of making up the WOD for tomorrow’s classes, so that should be fun. It’s going to be some kind of partner WOD.

Sunday Partners

Went in for the 11am this morning. What a beautiful day!

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 1m Bottom Squat Hold
  • 1m Plank

WOD

I was teamed up with Brett and we destroyed (I think) this WOD.

  • 100 Burpees
  • 100mm Prowler (50m high and 50m low)
  • 100 Air Squats
  • 400m Sand Bag Run (40#)
  • 100 HR Push-ups
  • 5 minutes of Plank
  • 100 Wall Ball Passes
  • 150m Farmer’s Carry (45# DBs)
  • 100 Pull-ups
  • 100mm Prowler (50m high and 50m low)

Both partner could be working on rep counts at the same time, so that’s burpees, air squats, push-ups, and pull-ups. We split the prowler pushes in half so we each had equal time at the high and low pushes. The sand bag run and farmer carry were done together. For the planks we each did a minute twice and then each did 30 seconds. Our total time was 27:56. My time for the 50 burpees at the beginning was 2:33, a new low.

Finisher

I had no idea what weights to grab for the farmer’s carry but found out the girls had more than me when I got out there. So after a couple of minutes off I picked up the 60# DBs and did a 130m walk with them, which was a struggle. Next time I have to do a farmer’s carry I’ll know.

Random Friday Open Gym

My calves are even more sore today, but my shoulders aren’t bad. I went in at 5:15 for open gym and did a bunch of random stuff, trying to keep any stress of my lower back.

20:00

  • 30s Row
  • 30s Rest

I was planning on doing 10 minutes, but Matt guilted me into 20. I’m glad he did. The first 10 weren’t too bad, but I had to fight for intensity after that.

Brent showed up and we worked together on some stuff.

6 rounds

  • 10 DB Chest Presses (5 each side, 40# DB)
  • 10 Weighted Push-ups (sandbag on back, which is about 35#)
  • 10 Quarter Get-ups (5 each side, 39# KB)
  • 10 Russian Step-ups (5 each side, 35# DBs, 18″ box)

We did the chest presses on a bench. This circuit took us somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. We didn’t keep track of time, but kept up a steady pace and didn’t take breaks.

Matt noticed we had a lot of pushing movements there, so suggested we do some pulling and maybe GHDs. I tried a GHD sit-up, but it was too much for my back so I did hip extensions instead.

5 rounds

  • 10 Hip Extensions
  • 10 Pull-ups

No time again here as we didn’t do this for intensity. Brent headed over to do some rowing so I jumped on the squat rack in between sets with Cora.

3 sets

  • 8 Front Squats (130#)

Why not 10 reps each set? Because the bar was starting to cut off my air supply. 🙂

Solid work for a Friday night, being the 4th day in a row at the gym. No WOD tomorrow for me. I need to start taking more rest days and probably should try getting into a 3 on 1 off schedule. I may go for a run or bike ride if it doesn’t rain.

Scaled “Garrett”

I went back to the chiropractor today and he showed me the x-rays. I have some weird curves going on in my spine due to sitting all day for work. Might be time to look at setting up a standing desk. Sore in my calves today, probably from all of the push presses last night. Shoulder soreness is definitely from push presses and I bet they’ll be even more sore tomorrow after today’s WOD.

Warm-up

  • 10 Russian KBS (53# KB) each round before the Wall Ball set
  • 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)

I started out slow and steady, which quickly put me behind a lot of people. But I never rested and ended up finishing first in the class with a time of 6:15.

WOD

“Garrett”
Three rounds

  • 75 Air Squats
  • 25 Ring HSPU
  • 25 L-Pull-ups

Anyone that can do this WOD as prescribed is a fucking beast.

I’ve never attempted a ring HSPU and don’t have plans to try one. I started off doing HSPU with no assistance and got about 10 in each round before adding an AbMat under my head. I did mostly kipping HSPU, except for 4 or 5 strict ones at the beginning of each round. I did a few L-Pull-ups in the first two rounds, but quickly resorted to strict dead-hangs. After about 10 or 12 of those per round I added a purple band to finish out the 25. My total time was 32:44.

Finisher

  • 1m Side Plank (L)
  • 1m Side Plank (R)
  • 1m Plank

This was supposed to be 3 rounds, but there wasn’t enough time so I only got in the one.

Feels Good to be Back in the Box

I was still kind of sore this morning, but I was able to go in for the 9am class and I felt great after warming up.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 1m Bottom Squat Hold
  • 1m Jumping Jacks

WOD

“Helen”
3 rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 21 KBS (53#)
  • 12 Pull-ups

I felt really good in this one. All of the KBS were done unbroken and I broke each round of pull-ups into 2 sets. Finished in 9:30.

Finisher

EMOM 10:00

  • 100m Sprint (50m down and back)
  • 3 Burpees

This may have been tougher than the WOD. Felt good after, but the sprints started feeling slower and slower until the last one where I dug deep.

It sure feels good to be back in the box, especially after only doing one WOD last week leading up to the competition. Maybe all of the rest was really needed though since I had been pushing my body so hard the couple of weeks before.

One-arm Snatches

My back was still a little tight this morning, but feeling better than yesterday.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 3 rounds
    • 20 Hollow Rocks
    • 10 Supermans
    • 20 Russian Twists (50# KB)

Using the 50# KB for the Russian Twists was HEAVY, but worth it.

Strength

5 sets

  • MAX rep Pull-ups (on rings)
  • 2m Rest

I was able to do sets of 10, 6, 5, 5, and 4. The set of 10 is a new PR!

WOD

  • 100 Alternating one-arm DB Snatches (50# DB)
  • * 5 Burpee buy-in at the beginning of every minute, including the start

I did at snatches every single minute, only doing 6 for one or two minutes at the end with 8 or 10 for all of the other minutes. Finishing time was 11:49.

Finisher

50 K2E (on rings)

I didn’t time these, but took very little rest in between sets. I did 20 reps in the first set, beating my old PR of 10, and then did 3 sets of 10 to finish off the 50.

A lot of great work in this workout. Really liked it!

Hero WOD “Brenton”

As mentioned in my plan this morning, I ended up going for a 2 mile trip in the kayak. I went each mile without stopping, just kept a steady pace and kept paddling. When I reached the halfway mark at a point on the lake, I took a swim and drank some water.

Since the rings were still up from the morning WOD, I decided to see if I could get a muscle-up. After a couple of scary attempts (I’m not sure how I didn’t dislocate both shoulders), I managed to get one! It wasn’t pretty, but it counts. I posted a video over on my main blog. Now I’ll have to concentrate on doing some drills to improve my technique.

After dinner settled, it was time to tackle “Brenton”. It didn’t look bad, so I decided to skip a warm-up and jump right into it.

WOD

“Brenton”
5 rounds

  • 100 ft Bear Crawl
  • 100 ft Broad Jumps

* Every 5 broad jumps, do 3 burpees.

They did this WOD yesterday at Survival Fitness by doing 4 lengths of 25 feet for each 100 feet, so I did the same. My time was 10:16, but I grossly underestimated “Brenton”. I should know better than to think a Hero WOD would be easy. I think I did 9 burpees during each round, but it probably would have only been 6 if I was going 100 feet straight. Having to stop and start makes this WOD more difficult.

Finisher

Death by Pull-ups, by 3s, on the rings

I got through the round of 12 plus 10 reps in the round of 15. Pretty disappointing since I’ve gotten through the round of 15 before, but my shoulders are absolutely wrecked. I’m guessing the few muscle-up attempts (particularly the failures) really took a toll. It could be the kayaking or push presses from either the WOD last night or this morning.

Fat Bars on the Playground

Today is another hot one, so I got up early and took a drive down the road to a local school. They have all kinds of monkey bars, dip bars, and playground rigs to make WODs out of.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 2 rounds
    • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
    • 10 PVC OHS
    • 10 PVC Around the World’s (5 each way)

WOD

Fat bar DB “Fran”
21-15-9

  • Pull-ups
  • Thrusters (45# DBs)

There weren’t any great bars at a height high enough for me, so I went with the best thing I could find (pictured above). The bars were probably twice the diameter of a normal pull-up bar and I really had to bend my knees in order to get a kip going because I could easily touch the ground. Variety is good though right? My time was 9:32, which is worse than the 9:05 I did at Survival Fitness a couple of weeks ago. I’ll take it though since my intensity probably wasn’t as high as it would be doing the WOD next to other people and the fat bar makes this a lot tougher.

Finisher

Tabata Mash-up

  • Hanging Leg Raises (strict)
  • L-sit

I used the same fat bar for the hanging leg raises. For the L-sits there were some perfect dip type bars about 1.5-2 feet off the ground.

Kayaking

Went out for a 2 mile trip in the kayak again and it was easier than the first day. I had to keep switching up my grip on the paddle though because I started to get blisters on my thumbs the other day. I’ve really been feeling the kayaking in my abs over the last day or so as well. It really is a great workout. Not too long after, I went out and walked 9 holes of golf with by brother.

About 12 hours after the morning workout I did another one with Dad.

Warm-up #2

3 rounds

  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Lateral Hops (30s each leg)
  • 1m Side Plank (30s each side)
  • 1m Rest

I knew Dad could use the core work so I threw in the planks. Lateral hops were just something to get the blood flowing.

WOD #2

4 rounds

  • 5 HSPU
  • 25 Air Squats
  • 40 Tuck Jumps

The plan was to do 10 HSPUs, but I quickly realized that wasn’t going to be possible. My shoulders were pretty fatigued from pull-ups, thrusters, and kayaking. I had to scale back to 5 reps each round. For the first two rounds I did strict and kipping, then in the last two rounds I added one AbMat. Dad did piked push-ups and did 10 reps. He also scaled back to 3 rounds instead of 4. I finished in 9:57 and he wasn’t too far behind me for his 3 rounds.

Finisher #2

Death by Burpees

I made it through the round of 15 with less than 5 seconds left in the minute, so I shut it down there. That’s enough for one day. I walked a mile to cool-down.

On Vacation!

I’m officially on vacation and not back to work until the 16th. Woohoo! I’ve been looking forward to this for a couple of months.

My lower back and legs are pretty sore from doing 135 reps of 155# deadlifts yesterday.

Warm-up

5 rounds (10 min cap)

  • 5 Vertical Jumps
  • 5 Air Squats
  • 5 Broad Jumps

I absolutely loved the jumps in this warm-up, but didn’t understand the need for squats when we had 250 con deck. For the vertical jumps I switched between reaching with my right and left hand and touched the 10 foot wall ball mark each time. I took the broad jumps nice and slow and jumped over one width of plywood plus one width of horse mat on each jump. We had plenty of time to finish so I wanted to make the most of each jump. Did I mention how much I loved the jumps?! 🙂

WOD

5 rounds

  • 50 Air squats
  • Rest as long as it took to complete the reps

5 rounds

  • 10 Strict Pull-ups
  • Rest 2x as long as it took to complete the reps

10 rounds

  • 100m Sprint (50m down and back)
  • Rest 1m

This was a long one. I finished in 36:20.

During the last 2 rounds of pull-ups I had to use the red band, which is almost no help at all, so they were still a struggle. Having to keep track of the time it takes to do a round and then do math on top of that, while you’re fatigued, is no joke. I understand the point is to give everyone appropriate rest times based on their work time, but I’d rather see set rest periods in a WOD. I was so gassed after this workout that when I filled up my water bottle, I went to take a drink without putting the top back on and dumped half of it down the front of me and all over the floor. Smooth!

Finisher

3 rounds

  • 20 tuck jumps
  • 30s Handstand Hold

I was able to get in one round before Cari cut us off for the end of class. Going upside down at the end of such a grueling workout probably wasn’t the best idea, so I’m not too mad about missing out on 2 more rounds.

Tomorrow morning I head up north to Long Lake for 10 days of relaxation with my family. I’m taking workout equipment with me and I have WODs already planned out since I’ll have an endless supply of free time.

My Revenge on “Cindy”

My lower back has been pretty sore all day from yesterday’s multiple short WODs involving hang power cleans and deadlifts. It’s a good sore though.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Squats
  • 15s Mountain climbers
  • 15s Squat Jumps

I took it easy during the warm-up because I knew what was in store and there were a lot of squats coming in the WOD.

Skills

Tabata: Ring L-sits

Tabata: Over the box jumps (24″)

For the Ring L-sits I wasn’t able to keep my legs out for long and had to resort to holding my knees up as long as possible. My arms actually started to give out sooner once I switched to the knee tuck version. Over the box jumps were new and a welcome challenge. Since my basketball days I’ve always enjoyed jumping. I managed 6 or 7 over the box jumps during each 20s period.

WOD

Today we each got to choose between “Cindy” or “Mary” for the WOD. I have a little history with “Cindy” so this was an easy choice for me. Without that history I would have chosen “Mary” because I could use the work on HSPUs and lots of pull-ups. So, what’s that history with “Cindy” you ask?

I started CrossFit almost 8 months ago. My first on-ramp session was supposed to be a 1/2 “Cindy”, but I only made it into minute 6 or 7 before I nearly passed out and was literally on the ground for the next 30 minutes. I was doing ring rows instead of pull-ups and only managed 3 rounds. It was one of the most humiliating moments of my life, but I was instantly hooked on CrossFit.


Fast forward a month and a half after that, when I did jumping pull-ups during “Cindy” and completed 12 rounds plus 5 more jumping pull-ups and 1 push-up. Oh, and I also had to switch from regular push-ups to knee push-ups in round 7 or 8.

As you might expect, I wanted my revenge on that bitch!

“Cindy”
20:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Pull-ups
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 15 Air Squats

Today I completed my first Rx “Cindy” doing kipping pull-ups and chest-to-ground push-ups the entire way. Those first 3 rounds were done right around the 3:00 mark. All pull-ups were unbroken and other than a few sips of water, I never took more than a 1 or 2 second break during some of the push-ups and air squat sets. I definitely had to take the most breaks during the push-ups, but would only rest for a second or two at the top of a push-up before doing more. I ended up with 18 rounds plus 5 pull-ups and 6 push-ups, so scored 18+11 on the WOD!

Take that “Cindy”! I hope we can be friends now. 🙂