Push Jerk

No Lungs

After cooling off and sitting at home last night I was feeling wrecked. My back wasn’t so bad but my body just felt beat up and exhausted. Woke up feeling good this morning and a little sore, but nothing compared to the day after my first attempt.

Warm-up

Bottom Squat Hold
Pass throughs
PVC Good Mornings
Body Rotations

Conditioning

15:00 AMRAP

30 Double Unders
12 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
3 Muscle-ups

Was feeling really good about unbroken dubs and I think I jinxed myself because then I missed 4 times in the final set after no misses. I made it through exactly 8 rounds with about 10 seconds left but didn’t feel like picking up the rope. All muscle-ups were unbroken without a problem.

My lungs didn’t seem to want to function today after working so hard last yesterday.

Rested 10:00 and then…

7 Rounds

10 Push Jerks (115#)
10 Pull-ups

We scaled it and turned it into a 3 main follow-the-leader. As written it was supposed to be 10 rounds solo of 10+10 with 135#. This was plenty of work and hard as hell as it we did it anyway. I finished after about 10:15.

Had my grips on really loose due to the jerks, but then they bunch up so much on the pull-ups that they cause more harm than help. Tore them off after the 2nd round. Did pull-ups unbroken until the last set where I had so much sweat I was slipping off the rig and did 8-2.

Much harder day than it looked like. Bryan was beat too so not sure how much was due to my 2nd 17.1 try or that first 15 minutes.

Hero Chipper

Was not looking forward to this session, which had a version of one of my least favorite workouts.

Warm-up – 3 Rounds

9 Strict HSPU
12 T2B
15 Air Squats

Handstand push-ups are feeling so much better, its unreal. Just a few weeks ago I was dying out doing 3×5 strict. I skipped out on the deadlift work today to let my back rest some more so I did my own thing for the warm-up and then some bench. I’ve definitely gotten used to the extra grip on the bar for toes-to-bars using my chalked up grips. I was falling off after 4 reps today when I wasn’t wearing them! Did all sets unbroken though by regripping through each set.

Bench Press

10×45#
2x5x95
5×135
5×165
5×185
5×205
2x5x225
5×235

If I had known that was only 5 pounds shy of matching my PR for 5 I would have gone for 245.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

1:00
- 10 cal Row
- Max bar-facing Burpees
1:00 Rest

Turned out not to be ad bad as expected. The minute of rest was really nice. I did 12-9-8-8-8-9-9-9-10-11 burpees. So many burpees lately; another 93 today.

“Chipper DT”

Ugh!! I do not do well with “DT” so was not excited to see this come up. The hang power cleans always trip me up so I was afraid of what 45 in a row would feel like.

60 Deadlifts (155#)
45 Hang Power Cleans
30 S2OH

I did 15-15-10 and then 3 more sets (of what, I don’t remember) to finish the deadlifts. My hamstrings and low back were pretty fired up at that point. I had no idea what to try for the cleans so I experimented for my first few sets. I quickly realized that taking the bar down and bouncing it off my legs just above my knee used less explosive energy than trying to stay more upright and bounce it high off my legs. I think I mostly did sets of 4 or 5. The cleans were still the worst part but seemed much easier than even having to do the 9 at a time in regular DT. I think I mostly did 5s on the jerks. It’s all a little blurry. Finished at 11:30, which is only about 1:30 slower than my best for the actual workout. Didn’t feel nearly as bad either, even after the other work we’d done already. Kind of makes me excited to give DT a real shot now. I think I could smoke my PR. Pretty cool variation though.

Tuesday Mash-up

Feeling fine after yesterday.

Warm-up – 3 Sets

1 Legless Rope Climb
12 Push-ups
6 Shoulder Press (45#)

Skipped a running part and didn’t do it EMOM. The rope climb felt 10x better than last week.

Conditioning

They call it the “2ewsday Mash-Up” every week.

10:00 AMRAP
- 9 T2B
- 15 S2OH (95#)
- 21 DU
Rest 5 minutes
10:00 AMRAP
- 3 MU
- 9 American KBS (53#)

Put my grips on and damn near broke my wrists trying out a warm-up rep with the barbell. Loosening up the straps and then was fine. In the first AMRAP I got a total of 5 rounds plus the T2B and 10 jerks (5+19). I did my toes-to-bar in sets of 5-4 for 5 rounds and then unbroken the last round. Everyone was smoking me on those, but I can’t hit that failure point or I’m just done and in an instant I can go from a set of 4 to singles. May need to look at how I do my T2B. I did the S2OH as push jerks the whole way and all sets unbroken. At the end I couldn’t hold the bar any longer and had to drop after 10 reps with about 5 seconds left. Better dubs, but shouldn’t be missing at all in sets of 21.

Wasn’t sure how the muscle-ups would go after all that shoulder work, but was much better than expected. Took my time between sets (all unbroken) and never missed until the very end. I got the first rep in my 8th round, then I tried to rush instead of concentrating on my hip drive, and I missed. Or maybe I just timed out all my rest perfectly and that was my failure point. ha! I felt good throughout and was confident I’d get that last set, but decided to rush it for some reason, when I had plenty of time to get the last 2 reps in 10 seconds. The kettlebell swings actually felt like the worse movement. So I finished with 7+1. Two more total muscle-ups than I did in the volume work yesterday.

Shoulders were definitely wrecked when we got done.

Squats on Squats

Needed the rest day yesterday and got a bunch of stuff done around the house on my last day of break. Went to the 6:30 class but squatted instead of doing shoulder press.

Strength – Back Squat

10x20kg
5×60
5×80
5×90
5×100
5×110
5×120
5×130

Not real great on the back between sets. I wore Nanos but used the belt for 100+.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

5 Front Squats (60kg)
5 Pull-ups
5 Hang Power Cleans (60kg)
10 Hand Release Push-ups
5 Push Jerks (60kg)
15 Air Squats

Stuck with kilos since I had them on a bar for the squats already. Unbroken on everything. Going from air squats into front squats was teh suck! Push-ups were the most annoying part of the workout. Finished in 9:42.

Midline

3 Sets

10/10 Side Bends (53# KB)

When the KB was in my left hand I could feel a tug on my back.

Too Similar to Thrusters

Hit the late 6:30pm class.

Warm-up – 3 Sets

10 Band Pulls (green)
20-20 Banded Monster Walk Steps (small red)
10 Burpees

Definitely warmed up after 30 burpees.

Strength – Shoulder Press

6×45#
6×75
6×95
6×105
6×115
6×125
6×135
6×140

Weak! Was starting to over-extend so I put on the belt for the last set. I could feel some fatigue from last night’s thrusters.

Conditioning

8:00 AMRAP

5 Squat Clean + Push Jerk (95#)
7 Pull-ups
21 American KBS (44#)

I could have done them as Clusters, but I’ve been doing enough thrusters, so I stood up all the way and then did a quick push jerk. Unbroken on everything. Using the smaller kettlebell doesn’t leave enough room for my hands, especially when I already keep my pinkies outside with the 53# bell. Could feel my fingers really starting to rub, but luckily the workout was short enough I didn’t make any blisters. Finished 3+25, or 8 reps shy of 4.

Midline – 5 Sets

4 Evil Wheels
14 Russian Twists (44# KB)

Kept moving from one to the other.

1 Day Remains

My core is sore from the Monday night work. Out in the garage at night. One day of Catalyst OTM left for me after this.

2 Power Clean + 2 Push Jerk

3×45#
2×95
135
165
185
205
5 Sets 215

Combined the two into a complex again, which increases the jerk weight over the %, plus they are harder in the complex. Saves a lot of time though. All TnG cleans.

Stiff-legged Deadlift

5×215#
5×235
5×255
5×275

All sets with a neutral grip and standing on 55# comp plate.

Midline & Accessory

20:00 EMOM (alt)

6 Strict HSPU
8/8 Side Bends (90# landmine)
10 Goblet Squats (90# landmine)
12 Wall Ball Sit-ups (20#)

Happy to get all sets of handstand push-ups unbroken! Using the landmine is not the full weight loaded, but the easiest way to keep track of the load. Doing goblet squats with the landmine attachment is really weird due to the arc of the bar path. Sends your body forward as you come up out of the squat.

Recovery day tomorrow and hopefully will be ready to lift heavy on Friday.

Burpees Again

Went in early before the 5:30 class. Instead of doing the class back squats since I squatted yesterday and my back has been weird, I did day 4 of lifting since it was only two movements.

Power Clean

5x20kg
5×40
3×60
2×75
1×84
5x1x90

5x20kg
5×40
3×60
2×75
1×81
5x1x86

Then I was ready to jump in with class…

Conditioning

E30S 5:00

6 Burpees

Took me about 12 seconds each set. There have been burpees during the last 4 classes I’ve gone to.

10:00 AMRAP

10 American KBS (53#)
10 KB Deadlift (53#)
10 Push-ups
10 Goblet Squats (53#)

My goal was not to put the kettlebell down, except obviously during the push-ups. I took a split second of rest at the top of the swings and got in some breaths before and after each set of push-ups. Mission accomplished going unbroken and transitioning from one movement straight into the next. Had to really concentrate on holding the KB during the swings from so much sweat. Finished 6 rounds plus 30 reps. Felt the burn on that one!

Make it a Combo

Out in the garage around 1. Combined the power cleans and push jerks into a complex to save time and make the jerks harder (even though it’s already heavier than the assigned % since I kept the loading based off my power clean).

Power Cleans + Push Jerks

5+5 @ 45#
5+5 @ 95
3+3 @ 135
3+3 @ 165
3+3 @ 185
2 Sets of 3+3 @ 195
3 Sets of 3+3 @ 205

All of the power cleans were touch and go. Took a little more time with the jerks.

Stiff-legged Deadlift

5×205#
3x5x245

Stood on a 3″ riser to get more depth. Used a neutral grip for every set, which almost made me lose hold with the last 2 sets of 245.

Midline & Accessory

E2M – 5 Sets

25s L-sit (parallettes, bent knees)
15 Push-ups

4 Rounds

10 Pistols
30 Russian Twists (45# plate)

Decided to do this part for time. Struggled too much on the pistols. Finished in 5:04 with all of the twist sets unbroken.

Get Up To Get Down, Turkish Style

Was able to get in that long ROMWOD last night. The front of my shoulders were sore yesterday and today from the Saturday class. I guess one day a week of CrossFit isn’t cutting it. More lifting today though. This is the 4th day of the 2nd week of the Catalyst OTM program. Really enjoying it.

Power Clean

5×45#
5×95
3×135
3×165
2x3x185
3x3x200

Never let go of the bar or my hook grip, but did take a second to reset on the ground at the heavier loads. Wore Nanos today for the light day and no accessories.

Push Jerk

5×45#
5×95
3×135
3×155
2x3x175
3x3x190

Stiff-legged Deadlift

5×190#
3x5x225

Took the top off the jerk blocks and stood on that so that I could get more stretch in the hamstrings. All sets with two overhand grips.

Midline

5 Sets

3/3 Turkish Get-ups
- 2 sets – 40# DB
- 2 sets – 45
- 1 set – 50

My left shoulder is definitely the least stable one. Overall my shoulders seem a lot more stable though, guessing due to all of the holds in the Vaughn lifting program. I used to really struggle with the 53# kettlebell.

4 Sets

30 GHD Sit-ups (parallel)

Decided to only go to parallel today for a change of pace.

Will do a 20 minute ROMWOD tonight.

Early evening update: Really starting to feel my back from the work yesterday. Been too long since I did those landmine rows. I’m sure some of the others, especially the chin-ups are contributing to the soreness as well.

It’s Working

Took a complete rest day yesterday. Didn’t even get to the 45 minute ROMWOD I had planned. Got to the track at 10:30 when the temperature was still in the 60s.

Aerobic Capacity – Race

400m Jog
3:00 Rest
400m Run
3:00 Rest
200m Run
3:00 Rest
200m Run
5:00 Rest
400m Run
3:00 Rest
800m Jog
400 walk

The 400m jog to warm-up and the 800 jog and 400 walk to finish were my additions. The first 400m was programmed at a mile PR pace, but I have no idea what they were using because it showed a 1:24 for me, which is well below a 6:00 mile. I settled on 1:36 as my goal pace, which would be 6:24 and well below the 6:51 mile I’ve run this summer. Ended up getting in at 1:27 with no issue.

The 200m runs were there to get a feel for two different pacing options heading into the “race” 400. The programming picked out 32 and 25 seconds. 25?!?!? Not a chance. I ran a 33.1 and 29.8, which was actually a PR by a tenth of a second and I didn’t even try! After the first 200 I was contemplating extending the 3:00 rest between 200s and the 5:00 rest before the race. When the clock rolled around I had recovered pretty well, so stuck to the programming.

2016-09-19-400m After running that 200m PR I figured I had to go out at that pace and could probably sprint out of the starting line even a bit faster to take advantage of that energy system. I don’t know what my split was at 200, but I’ll bet it was another PR even going down the straightaway into the wind. After the initial 200 my legs got really heavy. I knew I was losing pace, but I tried to push to make it feel like I was actually going faster. As I stumbled down the home stretch I was not confident it would be a PR day, but to my surprise I crossed the line in 1:02.1 for a 2.2 second PR!

Couldn’t be happier with these 8 weeks of the AC programming. I’m looking forward to seeing what my mile time will be, but I’ll have to wait at least a week because it’s not programmed in week 9.

Headed in to lift just after 6pm with Alex. Nice light day to go along with the max effort running from this morning. Didn’t even put on lifting shoes for this session. Warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Power Clean

2x3x20kg
2x3x40
3×60
3×75
5x3x85

Power Jerk

3x20kg
3×40
3×60
3×70
3×76
5x3x81

Stiff-legged Deadlift

5x81kg
3x5x93

I can tell a big difference in my hamstring flexibility from ROMWOD. Was getting to the floor in the very first set. May go with a deficit on these from now on. Wonder if I’ll be sore from them.

Gymnastics

4 Sets

5 Muscle-ups

Good day to add in some of this work. Haven’t done any bigger sets in a long time. Took maybe 2-3 minutes between sets. Was trying to get my toes up in the kip. Wasn’t doing it very well but could already tell a huge difference in my height up on the rings. Need to start working on the swing again.

Midline

Gotta get in that Catalyst ab work. I can even work in my GHD volume. 😀

5 Sets

20 Russian Twists (55# plate)

4 Sets

30 GHD Sit-ups

Well… 4 big sets of GHDs are shitty! Even with several minutes of rest between sets. Had to start taking some breaks in the final 2 sets and focus on not aggravating my low back.

Will try to get in ROMWOD since I skipped out on yesterday when I was going to do the long routine.