Shoulder Press

High & Heavy

Not feeling very energized this morning, but in for the 9am at CFi.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Band Pulls & Pass Thrus
20 Air Squats
Shoulder Press
- 5×45#
- 5×95#
- 3×115#
- 3×135#

XWOD

3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 Shoulder Press (150#)
2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1 Wall Balls
- 2s: 20# MB to 13′ target
- 1s: 25# Slam Ball to 13′ target

That’s a new 3RM on my shoulder press again and for 8 sets! Took some getting used to throwing the 25# ball so high, but was getting the last couple.

Conditioning

2 Rounds

2:00 AMRAP
- 10 Burpees
- 10 Box Jumps (24″)
1:00 Rest
2:00 AMRAP
- 10 Goblet Squats (53# KB)
- 10 Russian KBS (53# KB)
1:00 Rest

All GO in these little AMRAPs. I went unbroken through everything, never having the kettlebell touch the ground. I got 2+5, 3+11, 2+3, and 3+8, so only fell off the pace a little the second time through.

Midline

3 Rounds NFT

20 Russian Twists (53# KB)
20 Sit-ups

Hit an afternoon snatch session in the garage. Warmed up with

5×45# Muscle Snatch
5×45# Snatch Press
5×45# OHS
3×75# Muscle Snatch
3×75# Snatch Press
3×75# OHS
3×95# Power Snatch

Then I did a little complex of:

Power from floor w/ 2s pause at knee
Squat from hang at knee

I started at 115# and went up 5# at a time until I hit 160, so 10 sets.

Then I was planning to do an EMOM with a double squat snatch with 165#. Missed the second attempt in the first minute and then missed another attempt at it. So I started over. 🙂

10:00 EMOM

2×155# Squat Snatch

I had one miss on the 2nd rep in round 6 but took a breath, concentrated, and hit a second make right after the miss. From that point on I really had to focus. My thoughts were on being explosive through the second pull and finishing strong to punch the bar overhead. I think a lot of my misses are because I’m not aggressive with the bar at the end and I lose tension.

Walked about a half mile after.

Dripping

I’ve been sleeping in lately, though going to bed later a few times too. Wasn’t planning on going to 9am this morning anyway though. Out in the garage around 11.

Warm-up

5:00 Air Dyne (AD2)

Nice easy pace for 1.94km.

Strength

Back Squats

20×45#
5×135#
5×185#
3×205#
3×225#
3×245#
3×265#
3x3x285#
3x5x205#

Debated going for more than 285, but didn’t want to push it and tweak my back again. Also though about doing 5 sets with it, but the 3rd set started to feel weird so I dropped the weight and did some speed drop sets. No reason to push it and end up with a set back again.

Conditioning

Ski Erg

Easy 600m, including a few surges at the tempo to be used for the 400s
2:00 Rest
5x400m w/ 30s rest between
5:00 Rest
4x400m w/ 30s rest between
5:00 Rest
3x400m w/ 30s rest between

* Target pace is 5-8 seconds slower than a 2k pace. Works out to 2:05-2:08 for me.

I went 2:45.9 on the warmup and here are my work sets:

1:40.8 – 1:41.1 – 1:40.6 – 1:40.7 – 1:40.2
1:40.4 – 1:40.4 – 1:40.1 – 1:39.5
1:39.8 – 1:39.6 – 1:38.5

Humid as a mother fucker in the garage, even with the door open.

Went to the 5:30 class at CFi. Was there early so did Crossover Symmetry Activation and some bottom squat holds.

Warm-up

Shoulder Pass-thrus
30 Mountain Climbers
20 Jumping Jacks
10 Push-ups
5×45# Shoulder Press
Plyo Push-up (12″)
5×95# Shoulder Press
Plyo Push-up (14″)
5×125# Shoulder Press

Pass-thrus are iffy on the shoulder again. 😦

XWOD

5-5-5-5-5-5-5 Shoulder Press (137.5#)
2-1-2-1-2-1-2 Explosive Push-ups
- 2s: Clapping Push-ups
- 1s: Plyo Push-up (18″)

That was 2.5# up from the 7×5 I did last week. I decided not to start another Smolov Jr. cycle since I want to cut back on the shoulder pressing a little. I’ll wing it going off recent weights.

Accessory

8 Rounds (Tabata)

20s Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
10s Rest

Never stopped during work time and caught the ball and rested leaning up against it on the wall to let my arms drop. Got 10 every round. Not in danger of having to stop at all.

Conditioning

7:00 AMRAP

10 Air Squats
20 American KBS (53#)
30 DU

Did everything unbroken throughout. Finished 4 full rounds plus the 10 air squats and 20 swings. Didn’t have enough time to grab the rope.

Midline

3 Rounds NFT

20 Russian Twists (53#)
20 Sit-ups

Shoulder the Load

Sunday is always interesting. Started out with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Strength

Shoulder Press

5×45#
5×95#
3×115#
3×135#
10x3x147.5#

That finished my second Smolov Jr. cycle. I was hoping to get up to 150, but 147.5 was still a new 3RM PR and an increase of 2.5 pounds over the last session of the first cycle. Can’t argue with improvement. I thought about going right into another cycle, but I’m not sure now. Might try dialing back a little to two shoulder press days a week, especially with the thruster work we’ve started and I need to put some time into working on my jerk. I can still pull numbers and sets from a Smolov Jr. but spread out a lot more than over 3 weeks.

Weightlifting

Snatch

EMOM 3:00 – 5×95#
1:00 Rest
EMOM 3:00 – 4×115#
1:00 Rest
EMOM 3:00 – 3×135#
1:00 Rest
E30S 10:00 – 1×155#

All touch and go power snatches. Wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Worked up a great sweat.

Gymnastics

E30S 10:00

4 C2B Pull-ups

Tried all butterfly. Lost the rhythm in some sets after 2 or 3. Never had to drop from the bar though and when I did lose my cycling I reset right back into the next rep.

Conditioning

16 Rounds (Tabata)
- 20s Thrusters (25#)
- 10s Rest
4:00 Rest
16 Rounds (Tabata)
- 20s Thrusters (25#)
- 10s Rest

People think we’re crazy. I guess maybe we are. I was doing 8 reps throughout again, then did 10 in the last two rounds. So it ended up being 260 thrusters again. The 10# increase made quite a difference in how this felt. Towards the end of the first 8 minutes I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it all the way, but the rest was nice.

Had thought about doing a little metcon with burpee pull-overs. Did a few to try out the movement, but decided we’d done enough for one day.

Shoulders are beat!

Had a bright idea at night to do some push-ups and was going to shoot for a PR at 100 hand release push-ups. Was using the clock to pace myself with 5 reps at a time, but I could tell it was going to be bad, so I stopped at 50 in 2:27. I was already having to break up into smaller sets than 5s and I’d only have a few seconds to spare if I could miraculously keep that same pace for the next 50. Not a good day for more shoulder work. 🙂

All Day

Played 27 holes of golf today for our last little tournament of the year, so took the day off work. Headed to CFi around 5 for some open gym work. Started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

5×45#
5×95#
4×115#
4×135#
8x4x140#

This was for day 3 of week 3 of Smolov Jr. At the end of last week I figured I’d have to dial back my plan a bit and I did today, dropping 2.5# from the planned 142.5#. Just 140# was hard enough. One more day.

Power Cleans

EMOM 3:00 – 5×115#
Rest 1:00 extra
EMOM 3:00 – 4×155#
Rest 1:00 extra
EMOM 3:00 – 3×195#
Rest 1:00 extra
E30S 10:00 – 1×225#

All touch and go reps. Was planning for 3-5 minutes of the singles with 225#, but kept pushing and adding more minutes. Finally said fuck it, get to 10. Not sure why, but I was actually running into my knees with the bar sometimes on those heavy reps. Maybe I wasn’t staying over the bar long enough. Last summer I did an EMOM with 225#, but they were squat cleans and it was a struggle! This was twice as many reps in the same amount of time and powering them.

Row

20:00 Easy

I was keeping around a 2:15/500m pace and finished with 4,492 meters.

Controlled Falling

Got moving pretty late this morning, but still made it to 9am, even though it was a few minutes late. I’ve never been late to a class. Legs are pretty tight today, either from the thrusters on Sunday or back squats yesterday.

Shoulder Press

5×45#
5×95#
5×115#
3×125#
7x5x135#

Phew! Somehow made it through all the sets again.

Conditioning

5:00 AMRAP

10 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
10 American KBS (53#)

All unbroken for 5 rounds plus the 10 wall balls. Got to the kettlebell, but didn’t get it locked out in time for a rep.

Rested 2:00, then…

5:00 AMRAP

5 Curtis P (95#)
5 Burpees

Ugh, damn barbell. Finished 3 rounds and with only about 8 seconds left I didn’t pick up the bar.

At 6:30 I attended a running technique class. Dan recorded us, talked about running form, had us do a bunch of drills, and then recorded us again. My main problem was running too much on my toes, which is what I’ve always thought running on my midfoot. Apparently not. But at least I don’t heel strike like the majority of people. Felt weird to try landing more back on my foot. I’ll have to continue to think about it as well as concentrating on the lean, which I’ve already been trying to work on.

Started feeling my hamstrings a lot more in the afternoon and at night. I’m surprised I could run at all with my quads tight from thrusters and squats and now my hamstrings from the deadlifts.

Tabata Thrusters

Really needed the rest day yesterday. Was up early do go play in a golf scramble. Kind of a shitty day since we had to use all of our rain gear. I was exhausted when I got home.

Got up early this morning, put on the weight vest and headed out for a brisk walk before eating or drinking anything. It was 3.06 miles in 44:05 with the additional 20# strapped to me.

Over to CFi at 12:30 to train with Kevin. Got started with Crossover Symmetry Activation and then did some warm-up sets of shoulder press with 5×45#, 5×95#, and 5×115#. Did a few single muscle-ups and some swinging on the rings too.

XWOD

6-6-6-6-6-6 Shoulder Press (127.5#)
2-1-2-1-2-1 Muscle-ups
- 2s: Kipping Muscle-ups
- 1s: Weighted Kipping Muscle-up

First time trying a weighted muscle-up. Failed with 20#, then failed with 10#, and made it with 10# on the last one. Shoulder press was the biggest struggle I’ve had out of any day in the 2 cycles. I may have to reevaluate my plan for these last 3 days. I should have been fresh after the rest day yesterday, but even the muscle-ups felt sluggish in my shoulders.

Gymnastics

E30S 11:00

3 C2B Pull-ups

Was planning to go for 4 every 30 seconds for 8:00 as a step up from 60 total reps doing 6 EMOM 10:00 last week, but after the XWOD I decided to adjust. Went the extra minute to get more volume in. Started doing butterfly chest-to-bar for the first time. Had a kipping one mixed in here and there, but was over 90% butterfly. I’ve never been able to string them together before today. Making GAINZ in many areas lately.

Experimenting

16:00 Tabata (32 Rounds)

20s Thrusters (15#)
10s Rest

Trying out something new. This was all about building an aerobic base for thrusters, which will continue to be built on. The goal is not to go balls to the wall, but slow, controlled, and consistent. I got 8 reps every round and went for it, getting 12 on the final round, which comes to a total of 260 thrusters! Not hard or terrible, but pretty boring. I’m a little worried how bad the DOMS is going to be.

Conditioning

Buy-in: 500m Row
3 Rounds
- 5 Snatches (95#)
- 10 T2B
- 15 Ring Push-ups

Pulled around 1:45-1:48 on the row. Did all TnG snatches, 5-5, 5-5, and 5-3-2 on T2B, 5-5-5, 6-5-4, and 6-5-4 on the ring push-ups. Finished in 7:13.

Midline

3 Sets

20 GHD Sit-ups

All under 2 hours.

Friday Grindin’

Forgot I wanted to finish off the 2nd week of Smolov Jr before class, so rushed off to get there. Hit up Crossover Symmetry Activation and got right into it the lifts.

Shoulder Press

5×45#
5×95#
3×115#
3×135#
10x3x142.5#

I nearly missed the last one in the 8th working set, but made sure to keep tight and use the bounce on the final two sets and didn’t have a problem. One more week of the cycle and then I might reset for another one instead of testing my max.

Did some banded tricep stretching after to continue warming up.

Skill

Practiced triple unders for 8-10 minutes. First by just getting one at a time and stopping. I was able to get 2 in a row several times, but I need to work on slowing down the rope after the 3rd spin because it kept coming around and hitting my feet before I had time to jump again. Jump will need work too. I was kicking my feet back a lot. I think I’ll have to work on these using my Rx rope instead of the RPM, because the bare cable can draw blood!

Conditioning

20:00 AMRAP

10 Power Cleans (155#)
15 T2B
20 Deadlifts (155#)
25 Sit-ups
30 Air Squats

All singles for the cleans, 3 sets of 5 each round for toes to bar, and broke deadlifts up into 2 sets of either 10-10, 11-9, or 12-8. Completed 3 full rounds plus 10 cleans, 15 t2b, 20 deadlifts, and 3 sit-ups. It was a grinder!

Accessory

Farmer’s Carry

135m (62# & 53# KBs)
100m (62# & 53# KBs)
100m (2×44# KBs)
135m (2×44# KBs)

Owwww! Shoulders and forearms on fire after this.

Quick afternoon session in the garage. Warmed up with 5 minutes on the Air Dyne at about 55 PRM for 2.18km and then rested two minutes.

5 Rounds

10 Plyo Lunges (Jumping)
1:00 Air Dyne
2:00 Rest

Really had to push in the last couple to keep going. Distances were 0.76, 0.78, 0.79, 0.78, and 0.8 km. Cooled down with another 5 on the AD for 2.14km. Rest day tomorrow!

Knees to Feet

Slept in until after 8 this morning, which never happens. Needless to say I didn’t go to the 9am class. Headed out to the garage around 10:30 and knocked out Crossover Symmetry Activation. Then I started getting warmed up for the XWOD.

Warm-up

5×45# Shoulder Press
2 Kneeling Jumps
5×95# Shoulder Press
2 Kneeling Jumps (5.5″)
4×115# Shoulder Press
2 Kneeling Jumps (10.5″)
4×125# Shoulder Press
1 Kneeling Jump (12.5″)

XWOD

4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 Shoulder Press (135#)
2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1 Kneeling Jumps
- 2s: 10″
- 1s: 12.5″

Bumped up the height a bit from where I’d been doing these previously. Wanted to go higher, but couldn’t get myself to attempt it at 14″. Here’s a slomo of my last jump of the day. I have a feeling the final day of shoulder press for week 2 is going to be rough tomorrow.

EMOM 10:00

3 Power Clean & Push Jerk 185#

Man, do I need this type of work. Keep on pushing 1 rep at a time. After getting a few rounds in, it was taking me about 30 seconds to complete the reps as singles.

Walked 0.42 miles right after and then did Crossover Symmetry Recovery.

Afternoon session at CFi with Kevin before classes started. I worked on some triple unders doing one at a time while I was waiting.

Row

5 Rounds

600m @ moderate pace (2:02-2:05)
1:00 Rest
100m @ 100%
100m Easy
100m @ 100%

Not too bad. My ass was really feeling fatigue (not from the seat) in the last round. Took me 22:40 (17:40 not counting the 5 rest periods). Walked about 400m after and then did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap before I left.

Gimpy Calf

Yesterday I played 18 holes of golf (rode in a cart) in the morning and did DDP YRG Diamond Cutter at night. Body felt pretty beat up all day. My low back felt pretty tight last night when I’d wake up and roll over in bed. In for the 9am at CFi.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
Squat Hold
Rapid Toe Touches
Zombie Kicks
Inch Worms w/ Cobra
5 Deadlifts (155#)
3 Deadlifts (245#)
3 Deadlifts (315#)
Couple of jump course runs

XWOD

3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 Deadlifts (335#)
2-1-2-1-2-1 PVC Jump Course

We had about 6 different PVC heights setup. I tried to get through them all each time, but would often miss the last one once during the double rounds because my spacing was off. I tweaked my left calf on the last jump in the 6th round of the course so didn’t jump again after that. Same area where it was really tight last week. Hopefully nothing serious.

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

5 Push-ups
15 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
20 American KBS (53#)

Kept everything unbroken with an extra breath or two between movements. Finished 5 rounds plus 5 push-ups, 15 wall balls, and 3 swings.

Midline

4 Rounds

20s Hollow Hold
20s Rest
20s Plank
20s Rest

Strength

Since we switched it up with deadlifts today I needed to get in my shoulder press since I’d already taken 2 days off from last doing them on Saturday. Stayed after class for week 2 day 2 of my 2nd Smolov Jr. cycle.

5×45#
5×95#
5×115#
7x5x127.5#

Little rough after the shoulder work in the WOD. Made it through though.

Kevin had me do a bunch of mobility and SMR work on that left calf. Ouch!

Went out in the garage for an afternoon session around 3. Started with an easy 1,000 meters on the Ski Erg in 5:19 and then rested about 4 minutes.

E2M 30:00

250m Ski Erg

The original plan was to go as long as I could without the time getting over 1:00. I quickly realized that could take all night so I settled on 12 rounds. Got there and said I need the push so did 15. I’d say if your speed starts to drop a couple of seconds, stop anywhere after 10 of these. My splits were 58.6, 58.2, 58.1, 58.1, 58.2, 58.6, 58.2, 58.4, 58.4, 58.4, 58.2, 58.2, 58.1, 58.2, and 56.6. So I had two at 58.6 and all of the rest were 58.1-58.4, with the exception of the 15th, where I pushed through to the end. My shorts and socks were soaked all the way through. Gets hot and humid in the closed garage.

I did a real slow 5:00 on the Air Dyne to cool down since it had started raining outside. Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Plyometrics.

All Push

Massage was great yesterday. Definitely needed one. The outside of my left calf is sore! Headed out to the garage around 8:30 this morning.

Warm-up

500m Ski Erg

Went at about 70%, in 2:25.

SkiErg Intervals

3 Rounds

6 Rounds
- 30s @ 100%
- 30s Rest
3:00 Rest (total, don’t rest the 30s extra after the 6th)

Round 1 meters: 134-137-135-134-132-134
Round 2 meters: 140-138-135-134-135-133
Round 3 meters: 137-136-135-135-132-133

Damn! That was a battle. Just enough rest to let you go hard again. I picked up some extra technique stuff from an old video on the CrossFit Journal showing to go up on the toes during the recovery phase, which gives your body more room to drop. Seemed to work and I’m getting more comfortable with the rhythm of the machine. Was holding 1:45-1:50 once I got the flywheel going on each interval.

Walked 0.45 miles around the block for a cool down.

Went over to CFi around 11. I did Crossover Symmetry Activation to get started. Then started warming up with shoulder presses and seated box jumps for the XWOD. Did 10×45#, 6×95#, and 6×115# shoulder presses. Also 2×24″, 2×32″, 2×35.5″, 1×38″, and 1×42″ seated box jumps.

XWOD

6-6-6-6-6-6 Shoulder Press (120#)
2-1-2-1-2-1 Seated Box Jumps
- 2s: 42″
- 1s: 45.5″

Weightlifting

E90S 15:00 (10 sets)

2 Squat Cleans

I went 165-175-185-195-205-215-220-225-235-245. Reps were TnG through 195# and then I dropped the bar between reps. Was thinking to go up by 5# at a time after 215# but after 2 little jumps, I went for broke with two 10# jumps to finish. My max clean is 260# so that felt pretty good to hit 245# for a double at the end of that work.

Conditioning

21-11

Handstand Push-ups
Ring Dips
Push-ups

The plan started out as doing “J.T.” but after the round of 21 we made an executive decision to adjust. Everything was pretty much down to singles by that point and we wanted to be able to use our arms at the Adventure Park tonight. My time was 9:52.

Midline

8 Rounds

15s Hollow Rocks
15s Rest

Grabbed some sushi after.

2014-08-09-sushi