Tag: Romanian Deadlift

Strength Focus

My legs are feeling a bit sore. Not sure if it’s from the Super Squats or the step-ups on Wednesday. Shoulders are a little tight from the pressing and muscle-ups last night. In at 11 this morning.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Air Dyne
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
    • 10/10 Flamingos
    • 10/10 Scorpions
    • 10 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 5 RDLs (135#)
  • 3 Pendlay Rows (115#)
  • 5 RDLs (225#)
  • 3 Pendlay Rows (145#)

Strength

10:00 E2M

  • 5 RDLs (275#)
  • 3 Pendlay Rows (155# first set, then 160# for 4 sets)

Got some new lifting straps that are much easier to use. Really helped with the heavy RDLs.

DB Bench Press

  • 20 @ 35# DBs (DB held with palms facing towards feet)
  • 3 x 20 @ 40# DBs (DB held with palms facing each other)
  • 20 @ 45# DBs (DB held with palms facing each other)

Switched to the other grip after the first round to try to work on keeping that elbow in. Should translate more to ring dips as well.

Sled Work

  • 150m Sled Drag (205#)
  • 3 Box Jumps (32″)
  • 150m Sled Backwards Pull (160#)
  • 3 Box Jumps (32″)
  • 150m Sled Drag (205#)
  • 3 Box Jumps (32″)

Planned on doing 3 of the drag and 3 pulls, but it started raining.

Tough Mudder tomorrow with nearly 30 people from Survival Fitness!

Work Your Back Side

Feeling great after the workout yesterday. In at 10am this morning and trained with Michelle and Kevin.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • 2 x 3/3 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)

Strength

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 10 RDL (225#)
  • Evens: 5 Pendlay Rows (145#)

WOD

5 Rounds

  • 3 Deadlifts (345#)
  • 5 Over-the-bar Burpees
  • 7 HSPU

The deadlifts were brutal. Had to drop each rep. Finished in 6:54.

Core

5 Rounds (NFT)

  • 10 Floor Wipers (45# DBs)
  • 10 Hollow Rocks

My upper abs were on fire in those last couple rounds of hollow rocks. Hadn’t done floor wipers in a really long time, so was nice to do them for a change.

Finisher

10:00 Row trying to keep a 20s/m pace.

Unfortunately I was pretty much keeping a 18s/m pace. Good way to finish a good workout.

Competition Thursday at Survival Fitness

After 3 intense days of doing our own programming, it was time to get back to a group class. Matt has turned Thursday into competition day at Survival Fitness and will be bringing back old Open or Regional WODs for the most part. Should be a lot of fun and keep the competitive atmosphere going. I went to the 9am.

Warm-up

  • 30 Air Squats
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30 PVC OHS

I also did some jump rope to warm up the calves for box jumps.

WOD

2011 CrossFit Games Open Workout 11.2
15:00 AMRAP

  • 9 Deadlifts (155#)
  • 12 HR Push-ups
  • 15 Box Jumps (24″)

My first time trying this WOD. It was a grinder at that 15 minute length. I think I did the first two rounds of push-ups unbroken, but then 7-5 almost every other round to keep from reaching failure. Pushed through 12 slow unbroken in my last round. Had some no-reps on the box jumps, but rebounded almost everything. Finished with 10 rounds plus 6 deadlifts for a total of 366 reps.

Strength

Warmed up with 5 @ 135# on front squats and then went into what was prescribed for my squat program, although I accidentally went an extra 5# in the first set; 5 reps at each of 165#, 175#, and 185#. Not as easy as I thought it was going to be since those are only 60%, 65%, and 70% of my 1RM. But I’m not used to doing strength after a WOD either.

Then I did a Tabata bench with 115#. Started out too fast with 13 reps in the first round and everything was downhill from there. I had 40 reps through 4 rounds and ended up with 60 total, even failing on a rep in round 7. Have to take into account this is after 120 push-ups too.

Headed over to Kevin’s at night for some garage work with all of his toys. Figured I could handle a little extra work since tomorrow is a rest and massage day and then Saturday morning I’m doing a duathlon.

The Backside

3 Rounds (not for time)

  • 10 Reverse Hypers (120#)
  • 7 Glute Ham Raise
  • 20 GHD Sit-ups

Hopefully this stuff helps increase my squats as well as the extra squatting I’m doing.

Split Jerks

I’ve been wanting to try out the jerk blocks Kevin built and tonight was the night. My technique kinda sucked. Ugh! I did a couple of double at 95#, then doubles at 125#, 155#, 185#, and 205#. My last was going to be a double at 225# but after the 2nd rep Kevin wanted to try out a burst-mode camera app, so I did a 3rd rep. I’m happy with the weight I was able to do (my 1RM is 245#) but wish my technique had been better. Still need a lot of work.

I was going to do some light snatch work, but after having trouble landing a 95# snatch, I canceled that idea. My shoulders just weren’t having it. So I went back at my hamstrings and did 10 RDLs at 115#, 205#, and 205#.

Triple Max Front Squat

Went to the 7pm class because I had work to do this morning and waited for my iPhone 5 to be delivered tonight in case it needed a signature. Feeling good after a complete rest day yesterday.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

  • 15s PVC Pass-thrus
  • 15s PVC OHS
  • 15s Zombie Kicks
  • 15s Lateral Jumps

Strength

5×3 Front Squats

These felt great today. Started off with 6 @ 135# and then 3 reps at each of 155#, 185#, 205#, 225#, and 235#. Had some left in the tank too, but I didn’t want to fail and that was already my 6th set. My previous 1RM is 235# so hitting it for 3 reps today was a good place to stop.

WOD

20:00 EMOTM, do as much of the following in the first 30 seconds

  • 5 Romanian Deadlifts (185#)
  • 5 C2B Pull-ups
  • 5 Burpees

In the first minute I got 4 burpees, then 3 in the next minute, then 4, then 2 I think. After that, there were no more burpees until the final minute where we worked the entire minute and I barely got everything done. I kept doing my pull-ups as chest to bar throughout the WOD, but it wasn’t too long before I was only getting 4 pull-ups each minute. Only once did I just get 3, so that was somewhere around 90 C2B Pull-ups and 100 RDLs. This was much harder than it looked.

Explosion

Kevin talked me into staying after a bit to do some explosive stuff. We did 6 or 7 sets of explosive push-ups up on to plates by doing sets of 2s. The highest we got up to was 19.5″.

Then we started trying some kneeling snatches with his 15# training bar. I landed some, then went up to 25# for a few. Finally tried 35#, missed the first, and then nailed the second attempt. Next it was some kneeling jumps up on to stacked mats. We maybe got up to 8 or 10 inches.

Holy Shit Balls, That’s A LOT of Squats!

My hamstrings really kicked in today from the 100 good mornings Kevin and I did on Saturday night. Just in time for squat day and RDLs! Went to the 5:30pm class.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

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

Strength

5×5 Front Squat

It’s been over 2 months since we did this. Last time I got 215# for 2 reps on my last set, so my goal was to hit it for all 5 today and I did. Went 8 reps at 135# and then 5 reps each at 155#, 175#, 195#, and 215#.

Accessory

12:00 EMOTM

  • Odds: 10 RDLs (155#)
  • Evens: 10 Goblet Squats (55# KB)

Just what the Doctor ordered for sore hamstrings, high rep RDLs!

WOD

5 Rounds

  • 15 MB Squat Cleans (20# MB)
  • 15 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)

Towards the end of the 2nd round my hips really started to lock up. It was a struggle. Finished in 10:26.

That was as shit ton of squats today! I can barely walk already. Going to try and play soccer for the first time in my life at 8:30pm, so that should be interesting.

Licorice Legs

In for the 9am today.

Warm-up

5 Rounds

  • 15 AbMat Sit-ups
  • 30 Russian Twists (35# KB)

Strength

5 Sets

  • 3 Low Box Squats (12″ box, wide stance)
  • 10 RDLs
  • 2-3m Rest

For the squats I used 135#, 165#, 185#, 205#, and 215#. For the RDLs I used 135#, 155#, 185#, 205#, and 235#. Had another 10# in me for the box squats, but they felt good. Went a lot heavier than I ever have on the RDLs and they felt good too.

WOD

  • 10:00 EMOTM – 8 Front Squats (135#)
  • Death by Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target, by 2s)

It took everything I had to finish the last few rounds of squats, but I did each minute without putting the bar down. Thought about going 115#, but glad I Rx’d it and made it challenging. We didn’t have any real break between the 2 portions of the WOD, although starting out with 2 wall balls in the first minute gives you a lot of break. I got through 20 and then 15 of 22.

My legs are shot. Time to do some rumble rolling.

Moving Some Weight

I got a hot stone massage today from Cora because my back was pretty tight from the competition. Planned to take the day off, but was feeling good, so I went in for the 5:30pm.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

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

Strength

5×5 Low Box Squats

We went extra low with a 12″ box for the guys, compared to the 14″ we had used in the last cycle. It felt like we were never going to get low enough to reach the box. It felt soooo much harder. I went 135#, 155#, 175#, 185#, and 195#. But compare that to 5×5 on the 14″ box from 3 weeks ago when I went 135#, 155#, and then 175# for the last 3 sets. Up 20# today with a lower box. BOOM!

WOD

21-15-9

  • Sandbag Get-ups
  • Burpee Deadlifts (25# DBs, jump on 25# plate)

Doesn’t seem bad when you look at it, but it’s a gasser. I had a few misses on my get-ups and fell right back on my ass. I had only done deadlift burpees once before and used a much heavier weight so knew how bad they could be. Having to jump on the plate at the end was even harder. Finished in 9:12.

Finisher

10:00 EMOTM

  • Evens: 10 RDLs (135# in rounds 1-3, 165# in rounds 4-5)
  • Odds: 10 Goblet Squats (62# KB)

It’s been ages since I did RDLs and I don’t think I ever used more than 155#, but my regular deadlift is almost 100# more than it was then. This was a fun finisher, which took about 20-23 seconds of work each minute for me.

Lot’s of weight being moved today. My back held up great too!

Row, Row, Row on the Rings

After doing 210 KBS yesterday in the WOD, I can feel it in my posterior chain like I haven’t in quite some time. My back still has issues. I made it out to walk 18 holes of golf this morning.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 10 Single-leg RDL (62# KB)
  • 45s Rest

5 rounds

  • 8 DB Shoulder Presses
  • 45s Rest

I started off with 45# DBs, moved to 40# during the 3rd set and even had to go down to 35# to finish out. Not sure why I was so weak with these.

3 rounds

  • 20 GHD Sit-ups
  • 1m Rest

The GHD at the gym is whack! Doesn’t even adjust, but we make due I guess. 20 in a row was tough.

WOD

21-15-9

  • Thrusters (30# DBs)
  • Ring Rows

I’ve decided it’s time to start scaling weights more so I can increase power output. Again Faster has a great article you should read. I’m just not strong enough to do many WODs Rx that involve heavy weights, so why try, when it means I have to go slower and can’t keep up the intensity. I almost went with the 35# DBs, but switched to 30s at the last-minute. Ring rows were the real struggle of this though. I finished in 6:02.

Finisher

Work on HSPU.

I did 3 sets with a minute or two of rest in between. My arms and shoulders were already fried at this point. I managed to get 5, 6, and 4 reps. Terrible!

OLY and Beers

I wanted to get in to the box for the WOD this morning, but it was heavy on the DUs. Since I’m not doing any jump rope for a few weeks, to let my neck heal, I went for a 2.18 mile hike at Piestewa Peak instead. I did make it in for the Olympic lifting class at noon, especially since people were bringing beers and sticking around afterwards. In class we worked on the different steps of the clean and jerk. I worked up to 155# and stopped there because my arms and elbows weren’t feeling very good from yesterday’s Open workout. Then I did 4 sets of RDLs with the same 155#. Hung out for about an hour and a half shooting the shit with everyone. Made it out to walk 18 holes of twilight golf.

Swing Some More

Didn’t get as much sleep as I’d like last night because I had to get up early. I had a golf lesson scheduled for 10am so went in to the 8am open gym to do today’s WOD.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 2x
    • 10 Swimming Supermans
    • 10 PVC Pass Thrus
    • 10 Flamingos (5 each side)

Strength

3 Sets

  • MAX Push-ups, 2-0-X-0 tempo
  • 45s Rest
  • 6-8 Romanian DL, 3-0-1-1 tempo
  • 3m Rest

For the push-ups I was able to do 30, 22, and 18 reps. For the RDLs I started with 135#, went to 155#, and finished with 205#. I was able to do 8 reps on the first 2 sets, but only 6 on the last set.

WOD

4 Rounds – Against a 4-minute running clock, with 4-minutes rest between sets, complete four sets of the following for max reps of pull-ups.

  • 500m Row
  • 30 KBS
  • MAX Pull-ups
  • 4m Rest

This was brutal. Using a 53# KB, the swings add up quickly. I completed all 30 unbroken in the 1st round, but broken them into 15-15 for rounds 2 and 3, then 20-10 for the final round. I was able to knock out 8, 5, 2, and 3 pull-ups.