Tag: Push Press

More Shoulders

When I saw the WOD for today I planned to skip out. More shoulder work and I’ve already had a lot the last few days. But, my upper body strength is my weakest so I could use the work. Went in for 9am.

Warm-up

  • 50′ Burpee Broad Jump
  • 50′ World’s Greatest Stretch
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
    • 10 Leg Swings (side-to-side, front-to-back, each leg)
    • 10 KBS (35# KB)

WOD

  • 500m Row
  • 40 Pull-ups
  • 30 Shoulder to OH (115#)
  • 500m Row
  • 40 Pull-ups
  • 30 Shoulder to OH (85#)
  • 500m Row
  • 40 Pull-ups
  • 30 Shoulder to OH (65#)

On the first set of shoulder to OH the RX weight was 135#, which is heavy! Using 115# was heavy enough as it was for me. I went Rx the rest of the way though. Started off with 10 pull-ups, and then went 5s the rest of the way in round 1. Rounds 2 and 3 were pretty much 3 at-a-time the whole way, which short breaks to shake out the arms. For the presses I pretty much went push presses the entire way and I think I broke it down to 10-8-7-5, 15-10-5, and 18-12. Finished in 25:43.

Sunday’s Triple WODs and OLY

Up and at ’em early for the 9am. Lower back is a little tight from the deadlifts yesterday, but feeling good otherwise.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 10 Pull-ups
    • 10 AbMat Sit-ups

Each of the following 3 WODs have a 10 minute time cap with a continuous running clock. So if you get done with a WOD early, you rest until the next 10 minute chunk comes up.

WOD #1

3 Rounds

  • 10 Ring Dips
  • 50 DUs

Busted through this one in 3:37, hitting the last 50 DUs unbroken. Broke up the ring dips a bit in the 2nd and 3rd rounds

WOD #2

3 Rounds

  • 14 HSPU
  • 40 AbMat Sit-ups

I knew this one would be the toughest because that’s 42 HSPU and the sit-ups are never fast. I did the first round of HSPU unbroken, which is my best streak to date. Was really forced to get the kip down earlier in the week, which helped a lot here. I think I went 8-6 and then 6-4-4 in the last two rounds. Finished in 7:42.

WOD #3

3 Rounds

  • 10 Hang Power Cleans (135#)
  • 15 Burpees

Good way to finish it out. For the cleans I went 10 unbroken in round 1, 5-5, and then 6-4. Just tried to keep a nice steady pace with the burpees so I could keep going. Total time of 5:29.

That was a fun workout and a nice one for a Sunday.

Olympic Lifting

I headed back to eat something and then was back to CrossFit Full Strength at noon for the OLY class.

We started out doing a type of bear complex.

  • Deadlift and power up to shrug.
  • Hang Power Clean
  • Front Squat
  • Push Press
  • Back Squat
  • Push Jerk (from the back)

I did a few of those with 95# and then we did one EMOM for 10:00. I stuck with 95# for the first 5 and then jumped up to 115#. After a bit of rest we started doing:

  • Power Clean
  • Squat Clean
  • Push Jerk

I did one at 115#, one at 145#, and then three at 165# I think. From there we went to push presses, working from some warm-up sets of 5, to triples, doubles, and singles. I’m not exactly sure what weights I used, but I think it was something like:

  • 5 @ 95#
  • 5 @ 105#
  • 3 @ 115#
  • 3 @ 145#
  • 2 @ 155#
  • 1 @ 165#

I wasn’t keeping track and really don’t remember. Next up we did sets of 5 strict shoulder presses.

  • 5 @ 95#
  • 5 @ 95#
  • 5 @ 105#
  • 5 @ 115#
  • 4 @ 125#

There was a lot of good work in that hour+ of work. It’s good to be back for the Olympic lifting work for sure. Johnny knows his stuff and was picking out a few little things in both my clean and my jerk. I tend to sit forward a bit when receiving the cleans and not enough back on my heels. My stance was starting with my feet too far apart in the clean, not allowing enough room for my knees to push out and get out-of-the-way of the bar. I need to get my front foot out forward more in the jerk. Good stuff!

After the HSPU and all of that pressing, my shoulders are feeling it.

Partner Barbell Complex

My low back is sore and tight. Went in at 10am.

Warm-up

3 Rounds

  • 1m Air Squats
  • 1m Jump Rope
  • 1m Russian KBS
  • 1m One-arm DB Snatch
  • 1m Sprawl (no push-up, no jump burpee)
  • 1m Rest

Nice and easy pace.

WOD

30:00 AMRAP (I go, you go)

  • 5 Power Cleans
  • 5 Front Squats
  • 5 Push Presses
  • 5 Bent Rows
  • 5 SDLHP

Casey and I knocked out 14 + 25 with 95#. He started first, so he did 15 full rounds. We kept a pretty consistent pace throughout, but slowed down some in the last 10 minutes. Great WOD, but brutal. Glad it’s over.

Open Gym Friday

It’s been awhile since I did an open gym session at Survival Fitness. First I started with a WOD they did on Wednesday, which I had missed out on.

21-15-9

  • Box Jumps (24″)
  • HR Push-ups
  • T2B

The box jumps were easy and all done unbroken with rebounding off the ground. Hand release push-ups went better than expected, but I had to take some breaks in the rounds of 15 and 9. I set a new PR with 21 unbroken toes to bar, but that ended up hurting me. I couldn’t string them together very well for the next 2 rounds because my hips wouldn’t snap shut. They were one at a time in the round of 9. Finished in a time of 5:07, but was hoping to go sub 5. Great little WOD though.

8:00 AMRAP

  • 20 Push Presses (75#)
  • 20 OHS (75#)

I got 2 full rounds plus 20 push presses and 11 overhead squats, which is 3 reps shy of when I did it a couple of months ago in San Diego. I screwed up in round 2 though and for some reason started doing back squats, so lost valuable time and reps there. This is a great shoulder burner.

8 Rounds

  • 10 GHD Sit-ups
  • 10 Pullovers (45# DB)
  • 20 DUs

Didn’t do this for time, more to get in some midline work and some random DU practice.

Shoulders!

Up for the 9am today. My hamstrings started to get sore last night. I think from back squat Monday. My abs are still sore and the GHD sit-ups last night are probably contributing to that.

Warm-up

  • 30 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 10 HR Push-ups
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 10 HR Push-ups
  • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 10 HR Push-ups

Great warm-up for the shoulders. I mixed in some around-the-worlds with the PVC too.

Strength

Find 1RM Shoulder Press

  • 10 @ 45#
  • 4 @ 95#
  • 1 @ 125#
  • 1 @ 135#
  • 1 @ 145#
  • 1 @ 155#
  • 1 @ 160#

Just over a month ago, on October 3rd, I missed 150# once and then barely squeezed it out on the 2nd attempt. Going into today I was shooting to match that PR and see if I had anything left in the tank. I was feeling good, so didn’t even make at attempt at it and went right for a PR at 155#. Got it without much trouble so went for 160# and had to fight hard for it.

WOD

2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16-18-20

  • Push Presses (40# DBs)
  • Burpees

Went unbroken with the push presses through the set of 12 and then broke the last 4 sets up, always getting just over half in the first go and then finishing off the rest after a break. Tried not to stop at all during the burpees and just keep going no matter how slow they felt. It was a struggle to push up off the ground for the last 5 reps. Finished in 16:15.

Finisher

5 Sets

  • MAX L-Sit
  • 60s Rest

I did these with my knees up, using the rings and got right around 30 seconds each round except for the 4th, where it was closer to 20 seconds. Good way to finish off the shoulders and get in the abs as well.

New Barbells

Up for the 9am this morning on short rest from last night’s 2 hours at the box.

Warm-up

5 Rounds

  • 30s PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30s Zombie Kicks
  • 30s Lateral Hops (15s each leg)

Strength

5×1 Floor Press

Warmed up with a set of 5 @ 135# and then did working sets with 165#, 185#, 205#, 215#, and 225#. Up 20# from last week’s set of 3 and 10# higher than I’ve even bench pressed, although I’ve only done max bench once in the last 5 years and it was after a long workout.

WOD

“DT”

5 Rounds

  • 12 Deadlifts
  • 9 Hang Power Cleans
  • 6 Should to Overhead

Matt told us not to go over 10 minutes on this WOD because you want to keep up the intensity. Rx was 155# which is laughable. I used 115#. You quickly learn how to take breaks without making yourself do extra work. For instance, if you take a break after 11 deadlifts, you get your 12th one as you pick the bar back up for the power cleans. Then take a break after 8 power cleans. You end up doing an extra deadlift to get back into the hang position, but it’s not a big deal and you can then go right from the 9th power clean into your presses. Don’t put the bar down until all 6 are done. Rest in the rack position if you need to. If you aren’t smart about resting, you can do a ton of extra work in this WOD.

I strung together push presses as much as I could, but had to resort to push jerks in the last round with a short rest in the rack position between each one. My time was 7:31.

We got 8 new bars last night, so we’ll be doing a lot more WODs with a barbell. I’m excited!

Finisher

5 sets of 10 Ring Push-ups

Even after all that work, they felt good. Did each set unbroken.

Competition WOD Test

I’d already worked out 4 days in a row, but screw it, let’s make it 5. I didn’t want to miss strength squat day at the gym since I don’t have a rack to do squats at home yet.

Before lunch I went out to the garage to test one of the competition workouts.

WOD #1

5 rounds

  • 5 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 10 Hand Release Burpees

The pull to get the first rep on each round of deadlifts was tougher than I expected and I could gain some time by repping them out faster. I did a time of 4:28 without any warm-up at all. Warmed up and pushing it, I think I can break under 4 minutes in the competition. It was good to try this out and see how it feels.

I went in to the 5:30pm class so I had a little more time to rest from yesterday’s WOD and I’m glad I did, because it was a lot of the same movements.

Warm-up

4 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Air Squats
  • 15s Mountain Climbers
  • 15s Jump Squats

Strength

5×3 Front Squats

Coming out of last week only getting 2 out of 5 reps at 215#, my goal was to get all 3 reps at that weight this today. Counting the warm-up sets, here is what I did:

  • 8 @ 45#
  • 6 @ 115#
  • 3 @ 135#
  • 3 @ 155#
  • 3 @ 175#
  • 3 @ 195#
  • 3 @ 215#

After doing 95 front squats with 95# in the Deck of Cards WOD yesterday, I’ll take today’s effort. I don’t think I could have gotten 220# up for all 3 reps, but maybe. 215# is still my PR for the front squat, so 3 reps is more than I’ve done. I should be able to set a solid PR on my 1RM next week.

WOD

30 rounds

  • Power Clean
  • Front Squat
  • Push Press
  • Back Squat
  • Push Press

There’s something consisting of these movements called the Bear Complex, which is 7 rounds through without stopping. We did 30 rounds of the cycle instead and we were allowed to combine elements. For instance, we could do a squat clean thruster to take care of the first 3 movements and then a back squat thruster for the last two. This made it a lot easier.

Since I did most of these movements on their own yesterday, I wanted to go light today and try to fly through it. I loaded the bar with 85#. It turned out to be too easy and I finished in 6:43. So then I went up to 95# and knocked out another 10 reps. With the weight I used, I really liked these, but I probably wouldn’t say the same thing if I had gone a lot heavier.

Finisher

  • 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 T2B
  • 30s Side Plank (one side each round, switch sides for the next round)

I did all of the T2B unbroken, but ripped my right pinky on the middle portion of my finger. First time I’ve ever ripped anything there.

The weather is supposed to be great tomorrow so I plan to go golfing and will definitely be taking a rest day from CrossFit.

Deck of Barbells

I was planning to take today off and stick to the 3 on 1 off schedule, but my body is feeling good. Went in for the 11am class.

Warm-up

  • 150m Run
  • 100m Zombie Kicks
  • 150m Run
  • 100m Power Skips
  • 150m Run
  • 100m Lateral Shuffles
  • 150m Run

WOD

Deck of Cards

Suits:

  • ♣ – Hang Cleans (95#)
  • ♠ – Front Squats (95#)
  • ♥ – Push Presses (95#)
  • ♦ – 150m Weighted Run (35# plate)

Ranks:

  • 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace – 10 reps
  • 2 through 9 – Face value in reps
  • Joker – 1m Plank

The Rx for men was 115# but there is no way I’d be able to handle that. Loading the bar with 95 pounds was plenty heavy and this deck took me forever. I stayed into the start of the next class to finish in 52:54. It comes out to 94 reps of each on hang cleans, front squats, and push presses, 1950 meters of weighted runs, and 2 minutes of plank. That’s a lot of good work to help prepare for the competition.

I was planning to do some cleans in the garage later, but now I don’t have to. I guess I have more time to do real cleaning around the house and organize my garage gym.

Iliya’s First CrossFit Box

Last year at our company meetup, I was talking to Iliya about how he got so fit. He told me about this thing called “CrossFit” and the next week I started working out at Survival Fitness. Iliya has changed my life through a simple conversation after dinner. Although he’s been doing CrossFit workouts for a couple of years, he has never stepped foot inside a CrossFit box. Iliya lives is Sofia, Bulgaria where there aren’t any CrossFit boxes, so he does his WODs in a globo gym.

I’ve been trying to get him to join me at CrossFit Pacific Beach all week, but the 6am class time wasn’t exactly appealing. Since I wasn’t running the Bootcamp for Automatticians today, I was able to get up a bit later and attend the 7am class. Iliya finally joined me. When we got to the box, you couldn’t get the smile off his face. It was so cool to give something back to him for all that he’s done by getting me interested in CrossFit.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 6 Skin the Cats
  • 12 Strict T2B
  • 9 Wall Squats

Strength

Push Press: 3, 3, then max reps (85%)

I did some warm-up sets in addition to the working sets. Here are my sets:

  • 6 @ 45#
  • 5 @ 75#
  • 3 @ 105#
  • 3 @ 125#
  • 3 @ 145#
  • 6 @ 165#

The we did a few sets of OHS to get ready for the workout. I used the bar, 65#, and 75#.

WOD

8:00 AMRAP

  • 20 Push Press (75#)
  • 20 OHS (75#)

Started out strong by doing the push presses unbroken. I knew it wouldn’t last. Had to break the OHS down into 10 and 10 in the first round. In round 2, I did the press presses in sets of 12 and 8. I think the OHS were 10, 5, and 5. In round 3 I did 10 and 10 push presses. Then I didn’t get a stable active shoulder before beginning my OHS and had to bail on the first rep. I think I did 8 and 6 before time was up. Finished with 2 full rounds plus 20 push presses and 14 OHS.

My shoulders are fried! Tomorrow I’ll be flying home so it’ll be a rest day

Getting Better at Thrusters

My abs are a little sore today, but not really any more than yesterday, which is surprising. We really blasted them on Monday and Tuesday. I walked 18 holes of golf this morning and went to the 7pm class.

Strength

5 Sets

  • 3 Push Presses
  • 1-2m Rest

I warmed up with a set of 8 at 45# and a set of 5 at 95#. For my working sets I used 115#, 135#, 145#, 160#, and 170#. Had some left in the tank for next time too.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • MAX Ring Push-ups
  • 90s Rest

I knocked out sets of 28, 15, and 9 (I think). Honestly can’t remember the last set.

WOD

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

  • Thrusters (35# DBs)
  • Box Jump (28″)
  • 150m Run (length of run is the same each round)

Thrusters actually felt pretty good today. I think learning to properly scale my weights is really helping out. I did each set without putting down the DBs. The 28″ box was a bigger deal than expected. I finished in 13:50.

Finisher

DU Tabata

I did pretty good with me DUs today. Got quite a few unbroken strings of around 20.