Possible Shoulder Impingement

A couple of hours after the workout yesterday I started to get a pain in my shoulder, which I think might be a shoulder impingement. Shit!

Went to the gym and worked out with Matt and Cora in the afternoon.

Warm-up

Did a little on the Air Dyne and some stretching.

Back Squats

While waiting for them, I got in some back squats. Trying to get that 3rd day of squatting in each week.

  • 20×45#
  • 5×225#
  • 3×245#
  • 10:00 EMOM of 2×275#

Could feel my back tweak on several of the reps, so it was important to focus on staying tight with good form. The squats themselves felt great though. Have dove a similar format before with 10 doubles a couple of times. Once with 275 and once with 285.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 1:00 Chest-to-deck Push-ups
  • 1:00 Row for calories
  • 1:00 Pendlay Rows (75#)
  • 1:00 Box Jumps (20″)
  • 1:00 Back Squats (75#)
  • 1:00 Rest

Fight Gone Bad style workout, but with the shoulder issue, I didn’t want to do anything involving my elbow being higher than my shoulder, so substituted 3 of the movements. I got 112, 114, and 108 reps. Happy with the consistency.

Tomato, Tamata, Tabata

Woke up early again, this time with a headache. So skipped out on the 9am and went to 4:15pm instead.

Warm-up

2 Rounds NFT

  • 20 PVC pass-thrus
  • 20 Band pulls (purple)
  • 10 Burpees
  • 20/20 Arm Circles (Forward & Back)

Strength

5×5 Bench Press @ 70-80%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×180#
  • 5×180#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×190#
  • 5×195#

Felt solid. Started the first set 10# higher than 3 weeks ago.

Conditioning

  • Tabata DU
  • 1:00 Rest
  • Tabata T2B
  • 1:00 Rest
  • Tabata Box Jumps (24″)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • Tabata Row (cals)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • Tabata Alternating DB Snatch (60#)

Fun workout! 212 double unders, 51 toes to bar, 77 box jumps, 65 rowing calories, and 44 snatches. I did 10-7-7 T2B and then started to fall apart. I have a blister forming on a finger from the dumbbell AMRAPs yesterday, which didn’t help with holding on to the bar. Snatches were by far the worst so I’m glad I had them last.

Midline

10:00 EMOM

  • 30s Plank

Needed that! I stayed in to open gym and did them. Did a few MU transitions on the low rings too.

Managing with the Back

Didn’t sleep worth a shit last night, so got out of bed and did some work early. Went in for the 9am class again. Back feels better today, but can still get some solid pain if I move in the wrong positions.

Warm-up

Did some leg swings and back stretching before class started.

“Sally Up/Down” doing squats with PVC as a bar.

Strength

5×5 Front Squats @ 70-80%

  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×235#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×255#

BOOM! Squats are back! My form felt pretty good too. Didn’t even really start leaning forward much even on the last set. I’m fucking excited about this, especially with my back in less than ideal shape.

Accessory

12:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 8 Good Mornings (135#)
  • Evens: 30s Hollow Rocks

Felt some pulling in the back with the good mornings, but I think it helped to stretch it out too.

Conditioning

  • 4:00 AMRAP
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 3:00 AMRAP
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 2:00 AMRAP
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 1:00 AMRAP

A round consists of:

  • 5 DB Deadlifts (45# DBs)
  • 5 DB Hang Power Cleans
  • 5 DB Push Presses

I did 6+8, 4+8, 3+3, and 1+13. Rough, but I felt better in this than yesterday’s workout.

Headed back in at 8pm for some rowing. Another workout from NCLab

  • 1000m Row
  • 100s Rest
  • 900m Row
  • 90s Rest
  • 800m Row
  • 80s Rest
  • 700m Row
  • 70s Rest
  • 600m Row
  • 60s Rest
  • 500m Row
  • 50s Rest
  • 400m Row
  • 40s Rest
  • 300m Row
  • 30s Rest
  • 200m Row
  • 20s Rest
  • 100m Row

Kept under or at a 1:52 / 500m pace through everything. My splits were 3:44, 3:24, 3:01, 2:38, 2:17, 1:54, 1:31, 1:10, 0:48, and 0:24. I almost fell over when I got off the rower and was a little light-headed for 10-15 minutes.

Gettin’ My Squat Groove Back

Another early night and another 9am for the 4th day in a row. Not feeling too beat up though.

Warm-up

  • 3×20 second Wrist stretch on ground
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S)
  • 15 Squats Jumps
  • 20/20 second Lunge Stretch
  • 1:00 Bottom Squat Hold

Strength

Front Squat 5×1 @ 90%+

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 2×225#
  • 1×255#
  • 1×265#
  • 1×275#
  • 1×285#
  • 1×300#

Still working my way back into the swing of strength, so this was really only 2 reps over 90% of my old PR, but I haven’t hit 300# in about 3 months. Felt pretty good too.

Conditioning

7:00 – Alternate between movements every 15 seconds

  • 2 Power Snatches (115#)
  • 5 Box Jumps (24″)

Starting to feel better cycling reps, but could feel the 2nd rep start to be a struggle during the second half. Box jumps were no big deal and no missed reps today.

5:00

  • Row for calories

Tried to stick close to 1,200 cal/hr and then poured it on during the last minute to end up with 102 calories.

Sleepy Monday

Got really tired last night and was in bed at 11. Slept over 8 hours, but still feeling tired this morning before heading in to the 9am class. My low back is still tweaked, even with the rest day yesterday.

Warm-up

Strength

Back squat 5×1 @ 90%+

  • 10×45#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×225#
  • 2×275#
  • 1×295#
  • 1×300#
  • 1×305#
  • 1×310#
  • 1×315#

No misses today! Stayed in a better comfort zone and felt pretty good. Just Nanos again; no lifting shoes.

Olympic Lifting

Backwards MB throws overhead to work on hip extension. Then work up to a heavy power clean.

The throwing drill was messing up my timing, so I quit doing it. Did some cleans aw 135# and 155#, then went 185#, 205#, 220#, and 235# to match my power clean PR. I landed with really wide feet so decided not to go higher after that. My dropping under the bar kind of sucks.

Conditioning

7:00 AMRAP

  • 7 T2B
  • 14 HR Push-ups

Used the new stuff we learned in the gymnastics class to keep my legs as straight as possible in the T2B and my hip flexors didn’t fatigue like they normally do. I broke one round down to 5-2, but every other round was 7 unbroken, even the last round. I finished 5 full rounds plus 7 T2B and 6 push-ups. We had the option of doing hand release if we wanted and I figure if they are going to be in the Open they’ll definitely require the hand-release, so might as well work on it.

Back to the gym at 8 for open gym. Another rowing workout from the NCLab.

  • 5:00 mod, 3:00 rest
  • 5:00 hard, 3:00 rest
  • 4:00 mod, 2:00 rest
  • 4:00 hard, 2:00 rest
  • 3:00 mod, 1:30 rest
  • 3:00 hard, 1:30 rest
  • 2:00 mod, 1:00 rest
  • 2:00 hard, 1:00 rest
  • 1:00 mod, 0:30 rest
  • 1:00 hard, 0:30 rest
  • 0:30 mod, 0:15 rest
  • 0:30 hard

Row Pacing Template

  • Hard: 2000m PR pace + 0-5 sec (1:47-1:52 per 500m)
  • Mod: 2000m PR pace + 5-15 sec (1:52-2:02)

Oh my! What a fight just to stay on the slow end of the pace ranges. I think I messed up and only took 30 second rest after the hard 2 minutes, but it wasn’t so bad at that point. Going for 5 and 4 minutes hard was the worst. Racked up over 8,200 meters!

What a Bear!

Had a needed rest day yesterday and got a massage. Back at 9am today.

Warm-up

  • 20 Air Squats
  • 20 PVC pass-thrus
  • 20/20 Leg Swings
  • 30s Deep Lunge Stretch

Strength

5×3 Front Squats @ 80-90%

  • 10×45#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 3×225#
  • 3×245#
  • 3×250#
  • 3×255#
  • 3×265#

Dialed back my weights a bit today. Felt pretty good.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 3 Bear Complex (135#)
  • 10 Burpees

Rest 5:00 and then do it again.

Shit! I did 3 unbroken bear complex for the first 3 rounds I think, then the first and last round the second time through. I stepped down into nearly all my burpees except maybe at the start and then the last round each time where I tried to push through to finish. 7:38 the first time and 9:20 the second time.

Back to the gym at 8pm for open gym with Brent.

E2M 10:00

  • 150m Row
  • 10 Pull-ups

Rest 10:00

E2M 10:00

  • 10 cal Air Dyne (AD6)
  • 50 DU

The combination of rowing and pull-ups was absolutely brutal after the first 2 rounds. Did pretty well with my double unders getting the second set unbroken.

Tuesday Double

Got a good night’s sleep, but a little sore from the squats. Hit up the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • 20 Arm Circles
  • 20 Traffic Lights
  • 20 Behind the neck band pull downs
  • 20 PVC pass-thrus
  • 20 PVC around the worlds
  • 10 Burpees

Strength

5×3 Shoulder Press @ 80-90%

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×125#
  • 3×130#
  • 3×135#
  • 2+1×140#
  • 3×135#

Fuck! My strength numbers are down so much. I couldn’t even get 3 in a row with 140 (racked the bar for a bit and knocked out a single for 3 total reps) and was planning to go for 3 at 145# on the last set. 😦

Olympic Lifting

Every 15s for 7:00

  • 2 Clean & Jerks (115#)

Felt pretty good on these, but the second half was a battle. Finished in 5-6 seconds each time. Good work on cycling.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 4:00 AMRAP
    • 10 Thrusters (95#)
    • 10 C2B Pull-ups
  • Rest 1:00

Terrible feeling workout. My main focus here was to work on butterfly C2B through the entire thing, especially fatigued. I think the biggest set I got was 5 with a lot of 2s and 3s, but I’ve never done more than 2 in a row before. Just a brutal workout after that 7:00 of C&J already had us gassed. I got 2+14, 1+16, and 1+18. My endurance in these short go-go-go workouts is pretty bad right now. I’m decent in the mid range and longer stuff or when there is work/rest built-in. Gotta keep grinding with 3.5 weeks until the Open.

Went back in at 7 to do another NCLab rowing workout since tomorrow is a rest day.

Conditioning

6 Rounds

  • 300m Moderate
  • 200m Hard
  • 100m Easy
  • 300m Moderate
  • 200m Sprint
  • Rest 1:30

Row Pacing Template

  • Sprint: sub-2000m PR pace (Faster than 1:47/500m)
  • Hard: 2000m PR pace + 0-5sec (1:47-1:52)
  • Moderate: 2000m PR pace + 10-15sec (1:57-2:02)
  • Easy: 2000m PR pace + 25-30sec (2:12-2:17)

Totals out to 6,600m, which is again a new longest row distance in a day for me, especially after I did another 1,000m at 2:20-2:30 to bring my heart rate down. This one was definitely harder than the one I did on Friday.

Better Already

Day 2 doing the 9am.

Warm-up

  • 10 HR Push-ups
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 10/10 Leg Swings (S-S, F-B)
  • 10 Burpees

Strength

5×5 Bench Press @ 70-80%

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×170#
  • 5×180#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×190#
  • 5×195#

Little struggle with the last set. Not sure I could have done 200#.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 4×3 C2B Pull-ups
  • 3×3 Deadlifts (165#)
  • 3×2 Hang Power Cleans (165#)
  • 3 Shoulder to Overhead (165#)

Interesting twist with the sets. We could hang on to the bar from movement to movement, but couldn’t do more than the assigned number of reps per exercise at a time. I felt better in this workout than yesterday. Did all push jerks and strung them together in the last two round instead of stopping in the rack after each rep. Finished in 12:32.

Extra

  • 2×5/5 Turkish Get-ups (35# KB)

Went in for open gym around 5:30 for a row workout from NCLab.

  • 500m Moderate
  • Rest 1:00
  • 4 rounds
    • 300m Hard
    • 200m Easy
    • 100m Sprint
    • Rest 1:30
  • 500m Moderate
  • 4 rounds
    • 300m Hard
    • 200m Easy
    • 100m Sprint
    • Rest 1:30
  • 500m Moderate

That adds up to 6,300m. The most I’ve ever rowed was 5,000m in a day, which is pretty terrible when doing it for time. I reset the computer on the rower a bunch of times so I didn’t have to keep track of the rollover meters going into a new round.

Row Pacing Template

  • Sprint: sub-2000m PR pace (Faster than 1:47/500m)
  • Hard: 2000m PR pace + 0-5sec (1:47-1:52)
  • Moderate: 2000m PR pace + 10-15sec (1:57-2:02)
  • Easy: 2000m PR pace + 25-30sec (2:12-2:17)

The hardest part might have been going slow enough during the easy pace. I was under 1:40 for all of the sprints I think and really went close to 100% on some of them. Fun little workout.

Jumped on the Air Dyne (AD6) to do a 1:00 test, but fucked it up because we started with the timers at 0:06 and I forgot to keep going up to 1:06. Still managed to rack up 34 calories even though I slowed down a ton even before stopping early at 1:00. Will try it again next week and should be able to get over 40. I was still shaking from the row actually before doing this.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 6 Day 3

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Woke up a little sore today, probably mostly from Monday. Lifting with Alex out in the garage at noon.

Warm-up

3 Rounds NFT

  • 3/3 Turkish Get-ups (35# DB)

Haven’t done TGU in a long time. Took breaks between rounds, because 6 in a row got the lungs working.

Snatch

  • 2×100#
  • 2×120#
  • 2×140#
  • 1×150#
  • 1×160#
  • 1×170#
  • 4x1x180#

Made the first 180# lift, but failed the next two, so added a 4th rep to try and end on a positive note. Missed it too. Not bad misses, just a little forward and probably should have dropped under more on reps 2 and 4. Rep 3 I should have missed backwards but I got uncomfortable and pulled it forward for the miss.

Clean & Jerk

  • 2×135#
  • 2×155#
  • 2×180#
  • 1×190#
  • 1×205#
  • 1×215#
  • 3x1x230#

Made everything. Cleans are feeling really good and made some progress with the jerks today. Last two reps were a little iffy, but the other jerks felt solid. I was starting to push myself under more, even at the heavy weights.

Front Squat

  • 2×185#
  • 2×215#
  • 2×250#
  • 2×265#
  • 2×270#
  • 2×275#

Last two sets were programmed to be at 280 but I keep missing that last rep, so I dialed it down today, especially with the heavier cleans now. Still wasn’t easy.

Seated Good Mornings

  • 4×155#
  • 4×165#
  • 4×175#
  • 4×185#
  • 4×195#
  • 4×200#

200# is the heaviest I’ve gone.

Split up the day. Headed out to Survival Fitness for the first time since December 15th to open gym at 8pm. Brent joined me and Matt did some of the rowing with us.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row

Skill

  • 2:00 AMRAP: Shoulder touches
  • Rest 2:00
  • 2:00 AMRAP: Ring Dips

Switched from DU to ring dips since we did a bunch of DU last night. Had to scale the shoulder touches with my feet up on about a 14 inch box and then walked the hands in trying to get to vertical. I did 114 shoulder touches and 32 ring dips. Did 3×5 strict, a set of 5 kipping and then had to start going to 3s and 2s.

Conditioning

  • 1k Row
  • Rest 4:00
  • 500m Row
  • Rest 2:00
  • 250m Row
  • Rest 1:00
  • 125m Row

I added the 250m and 125m to get in some extra, since tomorrow is a rest day and Friday is a lighter day. My splits were 3:30.7, 1:42.3, 49.1, and 22.8. Wasn’t breaking any PRs on the 1k or 500, but it was good high intensity work for the 2nd session of the day.

Update: That 1k row turned out to be a 5 second PR!

Bring on rest day and hopefully a massage!

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 2 Day 5

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Hit up the garage gym around noon.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Jump Rope and DU
  • 45# Snatch Positions

First try using my new 9’4″ Rx Jump Rope (1″ shorter than I’ve been using since this summer) and I nailed 100 unbroken DU! Finally hit the century mark! 🙂 Reeled off a set of 73 the next try.

Muscle Snatch

  • 2×75#
  • 2x2x85#
  • 3x2x95#
  • 2×105#

Muscle Clean

  • 3×105#
  • 2x3x125#
  • 3x3x135#

Power Snatch from above the knee (Demo Video)

  • 2×95#
  • 2×115#
  • 2×135#
  • 1×145#
  • 1×155#

These felt really good! I’ve never tried 155# from a hang position before and it was easy. I think I might have done 145# from blocks with the bar starting at the knees, but not a power snatch.

Power Clean from above the knee (Demo Video)

  • 2×125#
  • 2×150#
  • 2×175#
  • 1×190#
  • 1×205#

Not as good as the snatches, at least in terms of feel.

Back Squat

  • 2×205#
  • 2×240#
  • 2×270#
  • 2×290#
  • 2x2x305#

Grinder in those last two sets. Doesn’t look as bad on video as it felt when doing the reps.

GHR

  • 4x with only bodyweight
  • 2×4 holding 5# plate
  • 4x holding 10# plate
  • 4x holding 15# plate

Either I finally figured out how to do GHRs or my hamstrings have gotten significantly stronger in the last two weeks from all of the lifting. I could barely do 5 reps without holding any weight before.

Took a quick shower and headed over to Survival Fitness for open gym.

Conditioning

Warmed up on bench press with:

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×135#

Then jumped into this workout:

  • 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Bench Press (165#)
  • 4 C2B Pull-ups

Going unbroken for the set of 10 was a mistake. I think I went 5-4, 3-3-2, 4-3, 3-3, 3-2, 2-2, 3, 2, and 1 on the rest of the bench press sets. Managed to do all sets of C2B unbroken which was the goal. Would have been doubtful to do had I chosen 5 reps instead of 4. Took me 10:47 to finish because of so many breaks in the bench press. This wasn’t part of the 60 Day Challenge programming, but since there no jerks today, I was feeling good, and tomorrow is a rest day I added in the extra work.

12 Rounds

  • 20s Row for calories
  • 10s Active rest (keep the flywheel moving)

As you can see below I screwed up on the 4th work interval, so made so to go for 13 total intervals. Didn’t feel like I pushed hard enough, but that was a solid 3 hours of work.

IMG_3865

IMG_3869The program called for “Establish Max Height Box Jump” but I have a mental block that prevents me from making an attempt once I get to a certain height. So I tested my vertical jump instead. On concrete, with no step it was 24″ and taking a step into it with one foot I could get 26″. I wish I could remember what it was back in high school.

Week 2 is in the books, so that’s about 25% done with the challenge. Can’t wait to see what the programming for week 3 looks like.