Tag: Sit-up

Paying Off

I’m very surprised that my legs work today. Usually after doing “Karen” I can barely walk for 3 days, so was sure that the 260 training bar thrusters would be worse. In for the 9am class at CFi. I didn’t really warm up much today other than a 2:00 squat hold.

Strength

  • 10×45# Back Squats
  • 5 Push-ups
  • 5×135# Back Squats
  • 5 Push-Ups
  • 5×185# Back Squats
  • 5 Push-Ups
  • 6×225# Back Squats
  • 5 Push-Ups
  • 6×235# Back Squats
  • 5 Push-Ups
  • 6×245# Back Squats
  • 5 Push-Ups
  • 6×255# Back Squats
  • 5 Push-Ups
  • 6×265# Back Squats
  • 5 Push-Ups
  • 6×275# Back Squats
  • 5 Push-Ups

Taking it easy so I don’t tweak my back again. Focused on not bottoming out with a butt wink. Did nice and controlled descents on the push-ups with an explode up, trying to keep a vertical forearm.

Midline

10-20-30-20-10

  • Sit-ups
  • Russian Twists (35# KB)

Not for time, but all done unbroken.

Conditioning

21-15-9

  • Deadlifts (225#)
  • Over the Bar Burpees

Did my deadlifts in 12-9, 9-6, and 9. Didn’t stop on the burpees and had a little let to push on the last round. Finished in 4:41. If I were to do it again I think I’d go for the round of 15 unbroken.

Jumped on the rower for an easy 10 minutes and covered 2,045 meters.

Hit the garage in the afternoon to use the Ski Erg. Warmed up with 1,000 meters in 4:52 and then I hit the interval workout I did on the first day I got the machine, which wasn’t much more than a month ago. I didn’t just beat my times on everything, I destroyed them.

Max effort intervals

  • 60m (0:12)
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 60m (0:12)
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 100m (0:19.7)
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 100m (0:19.3)
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 150m (0:29)
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 150m (0:28.4)
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 150m (0:28.2)
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 200m (0:37.2)
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 500m (1:45)

Although this is programmed as a continuous series of intervals, it really should be treated as 2 sections. The 1st 3 intervals (2×60, 2×100, 1×150) and the 2nd 3 intervals (1×150, 1×200, 1×500). The 1st intervals are short and very explosive efforts that will recruit your fast twitch muscle fibers. The 2nd 3 intervals are all gearing up to that final 500m max effort. The final 3 intervals are focused on creating endurance while your fast twitch fibers are fatigued.

Set PRs on every interval and if the distance repeated, I beat it again! I’ll keep track of the 100, 200, and 500 on the PR page. The first time I did this, it absolutely smoked my arms, but I didn’t get any of that today. Hopefully the improvement is a combination of hard work over the last month and improved technique, not just the latter. Walked a half mile to cool down.

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

IMG_4866Practiced 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!

Pain Travels

Left calf is still really sore, but I’m able to move around on it, so that’s a good sign. Went to CFi at 9 for some lifting. Started out with Crossover Symmetry Activation and some snatch positioning with an empty bar.

Muscle Snatches

  • 2×75#
  • 2×95#
  • 2×105#
  • 2×115#
  • 2×125#

Snatches

  • 1×135#
  • 1×145#
  • 1×155#
  • 1×165#
  • 1×175#
  • 1×185#
  • 1×170#
  • 1×180#
  • 1×190#
  • 1×175#
  • Fx185#
  • 1×185#
  • Fx195#
  • Fx195#

Figured I’d try out some waves today. I guess I’d count the first 6 lifts as one big wave since it wasn’t a drop, so didn’t have a miss until the middle of the last wave. Getting the bar plenty high enough as usual. Called it a day after 3 misses. Glad to have hit 185 a couple of times and 190 once. Calf didn’t seem to affect anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VOykHRtLTk

Front Squats

Warmed up with 5×135# and 3×205#. Then did the following sets every 2 minutes.

  • 2×240#
  • 2×255#
  • 2×270#
  • 1×290#
  • 1×295#
  • 1×295#
  • 1×285#
  • 1×285#

Harder than it should have been, which is why I didn’t keep going with 295#. Calf didn’t hold me back here either.

Went back for the 5:30 class. My low back started acting up again this afternoon. 😦

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 40 Mountain Climbers
  • PVC Pass-thrus

Skill

I tried a few bar muscle-ups and got up there on the first one. Need to work the skill soon like I’ve been doing on the rings.
3 Rounds NFT

  • 4 Wall Walks + 20s Handstand Hold
  • 2 Rope Climbs (13′)

Those wall walks are so deceiving. Always end up breathing hard after a couple of them.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 10 OHS (95#)
  • 10 Pull-ups
  • 20 Sit-ups

I have my butterfly down now! No problem getting all of the pull-ups. The EMOM work on muscle-ups and chest-to-bar pull-ups must be helping a ton. Finished in 6:07 with everything unbroken. Sit-ups got slow though.

More Skill

4 x Wall Walk + Handstand Hold each time

We all did it together. He had us go for a max hold on the last one and I got around 1:30 before I bailed.

Midline

4 Rounds

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

The hollow holds were not easy after coming right out of a long handstand hold!

Cool Down

2k Row

Nice and easy, keeping pace under 2:10/500m. Finished in 8:28.

Spaz(m) Out

I only had one back spasm through the night. On the mend. In for the 9am class at CFi.

Warm-up

  • 3×15 Reverse Hypers (30#)
  • 15-10 Good Mornings (45#)
  • 10 Air Squats
  • Bottom Squat Holds
  • Wall Squat Stretch (laying on ground)
  • 5×155# Deadlifts
  • 5×245# Deadlifts
  • 2x25m Run
  • 2x25m Run @ 90%

XWOD

  • 3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 Deadlifts (315#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1 Sprints
    • 2s: 25m Sprint
    • 1s: 50m Sprint

Kept the weight lighter and focused on speed of the lifts. Controlled every rep back to the ground.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 1:00 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 1:00 Wall Balls (20#, 10′
  • 1:00 Sit-ups
  • 1:00 Rest

In the first round I went 26-17-27. Didn’t hear Kevin correctly and stopped wall balls early. Had time for a few more reps. Second round was better with 24-20-29, and busted ass for 25-23-29 in the last round.

Walked about 200m after and then did a bunch of hamstring stretching.

Afternoon session in the garage started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Shoulder Press

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 10x3x135#

I set the clock and went every 2 minutes. Might have to rethink adding 10# to each workout for the 2nd week of the cycle.

8:00 AMRAP

  • 2 Chin-ups (Strict)
  • 4 HR Push-ups
  • 6 Air Squats

Stole this little gem with a modification of my own.

I got 16 rounds plus 2 chin-ups, 4 push-ups, and 1 squat for a 16+7. I did it on my little rack, so tried to get my feet out in front of me in a good hollow position so they’d have as little contact with the ground as possible at extension. Push-ups got a little slow on my towards the end but never stopped.

Jumped on the Air Dyne (AD2) for 10 easy minutes at about 50-55% and went 4.49km to cool down. Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Plyometrics.

Setting a Baseline

We didn’t get to do the Adventure Park in the trees yesterday because there was thunder in the area. Knees are feeling the squatting from cleans yesterday but already better than they felt last night. Headed over to CFi at noon. Started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

“Baseline”

  • 500m Row
  • 40 Air Squats
  • 30 Sit-ups
  • 20 Push-ups
  • 10 Pull-ups

I’ve always wanted to try this. Did the row in about 1:50 or slightly under and then unbroken on all of the movements to finish in 4:33. I need to work on faster air squats.

EMOM 10:00

  • 5 C2B Pull-ups

Had originally planned muscle-ups, but don’t work the chest to bar pull-ups enough. Did each round unbroken.

Snatch

  • 45# Position Work
  • 3×75# Muscle Snatch + OHS
  • 3×95# Power Snatch + OHS
  • 3×115# Snatch
  • 2×130# Snatch
  • E30S 10:00
    • 145# Power Snatch
    • 145# OHS

The every 30 second complex at the end got bad pretty early. After 4 I wanted to shorten it in half. Wouldn’t let myself though and made it all the way through. A lot of work on the wrists!

20:00 AMRAP

  • 3 Strict Ring Dips
  • 6 Deadlifts (135#)
  • 9 Weighted Step-ups/downs (40# sandbag)
  • 12 Russian KBS (53#)
  • 50m Sled Drag (25m down and back, 38# sled + 135#)

Wanted a longer workout where I could just keep moving. I wasn’t rushing anything, but kept everything unbroken. Finished 7 rounds plus 3 dips and 6 deadlifts. Walked about 400m after.

8 Rounds

  • 15s Hollow Rocks
  • 15s Rest

Managed to get 14-13-13-14-13-13-13-14 on the reps.

Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap (blue/purple).

At night I did DDP YRG Below the Belt.

Last Day at the Lake

Finally a nice day on vacation! Walked 18 holes of golf this morning and had one of my best 9 holes ever. Ended up with a headache from being out in the sun though. Took a couple of short naps and finally decided to sweat some around 5pm. Warmed up with an easy 400m jog.

10:00 EMOM

  • 100m Sprint

Walked 0.43 miles for active recovery.

10:00 EMOM

  • 10s Squat Jumps (20# vest)

Focused on explosive jumps and got 5 each round. Walked 0.28 miles for more recovery

  • 100 Sit-ups

Did it in 3:14.

Heading back home in the morning. It’s been a nice change to get in a bunch of running and gymnastics work, but I’m ready to lift some weights!

Vacation!

Started a vacation today; 10 days off!

My back is a little tight from the deadlifts and all of the pulling in the muscle-ups yesterday. Walked 27 holes of golf today and then headed to CFi around 5:30. Warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation. I was planning on doing some heavy snatches and front squats, but after grabbing the bar I felt it wasn’t going to be a good day. So I did the WOD with the group.

12:00 AMRAP

  • 10 HSPU
  • 20 Pull-ups
  • 30 DB Snatches (40#)
  • 40 Sit-ups
  • 50 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Finished 1 round, plus the handstand push-ups, pull-ups, snatches, and 35 of the sit-ups. Should have tried to do my first 20 pull-ups unbroken.

Push Press

  • 3×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×155#
  • 3×175#
  • 3×185#
  • 3×195#
  • 3×205#

Thought about doing shoulder presses, but after a shoulder intense workout, figured it would be good to switch things up with some push presses since I haven’t done them in a long time.

Pretty happy about hitting that weight. Gets me back to the old 3RM I hit on blocks, dropping each rep at that time. So to hit it today, after the workout, from a rack, was a big step. After vacation I’m going to hit another Smolov cycle for shoulder presses.

Plus One Muscle-up

My hamstrings are spicy! Thrusters always seem to get me. Headed over to Bay City Survival Fitness at 1pm and started with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Snatches

  • 45# Positions
  • 3×75#
  • 3×95#
  • 2×115#
  • 2×135#
  • 1×155#
  • 1×165#
  • 2x1x175#
  • 1-F-1 x185#

Was only planning on 4 singles with 175, but the first two felt good so I went for 185. I’ll take 2/3 over 90%.

E2M 10:00

  • 4 MU

Four unbroken is a new PR and I did it 5 times!

A few hours later I headed out to the garage. Hit the CS Activation again to prep my shoulders for 200 reps.

“Angie”

  • 100 Pull-ups
  • 100 Push-ups
  • 100 Sit-ups
  • 100 Air Squats

I hadn’t done this benchmark in over 2 years and I can always use the bodyweight work. It sucked, but I managed a 59 second PR with a time of 22:42 at a bodyweight 17 pounds heavier. Started out doing 5 pull-ups at a time and resting 10 seconds, but couldn’t keep that up and had to switch to alternating between 3s and 2s. Got through the pull-ups in about 8 and a half minutes. Push-ups pretty much went the same way except I wasn’t looking at the clock for pacing early on. I think it took me about 7 minutes (give or take) to knock out the push-ups. Sit-ups were slow, but didn’t stop. The air squats were so much harder than I was expecting. Every time I tried to speed up and knock out some fast ones I got a horrible burn in my quads. Even at the end, in the last 10 reps, I couldn’t speed through them. So nasty!

I hope Kevin doesn’t program anything pull-up related after 59 C2B, 20 muscle-ups, and 100 pull-ups this weekend.

Took about 10 minutes to catch my breath then got on the Air Dyne (AD2) for 15:00 at about 55%. Got 220 calories. Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Plyometrics.

Unbroken

Was definitely fatigued yesterday after all of the training on the weekend. Walked 18 holes on the golf course though. In to CFi early this morning to max out the shoulder press. Started off with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Shoulder Press

  • 8×75#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 1×135#
  • 1×150#
  • 1×165#
  • Fail 172.5#
  • Fail 170#

Damn! Matched my PR from last May and it felt pretty good. I was expecting more after the Smolov Jr. cycle, but I guess I have to remember that I went 3-4 months without working my shoulders. Maybe after vacation I’ll do another cycle.

Warm-up

  • 15 Russian KBS (44# KB)
  • 5 Burpees
  • 10x CS ATYT
  • 4×135# Pendlay Rows
  • Kneeling Jump to 45# plate
  • 4×165# Pendlay Rows
  • Kneeling Jump to 2×45# plates

XWOD

  • 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 Pendlay Rows (185#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1 Kneeling Jumps
    • 2s: 2×45# plates
    • 1s: 2×45# + 35# plates

Shoulders and upper back are getting stronger. I used to struggle with this weight. Need to step it up more the next time I do the kneeling jumps.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 8 Deadlifts (225#)
  • 8 Burpees
  • 8 Pull-ups

Everything unbroken to finish in 6:44. Pull-ups are improving a lot with the shoulder work and focus on body positioning. Need to get up the speed of the burpees when fatigued though.

When I got home I took a bit and then back out in the garage for some quick work.

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10

  • Double Unders
  • Sit-ups

Anchored my feet under 50# DBs and tried to set my area so I wouldn’t be sliding back so much on the sit-ups, but that still happened. I finally got through this bitch without missing a DU and it made a big difference, giving me a 27 second PR with 6:28. If I’m going to get better I have to figure out how to do sit-ups without sliding backwards. By the time I get around 15 reps I have to move the AbMat back up and probably waste a second each time I do that. Really happy about this PR!

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap.

Later in the day I felt like getting in some intervals. Warmed up with 500m on the skierg in 2:34.

10 Rounds

  • 30s @ 90%
  • 30s @ 75%

* % based on 500m PR pace (90% is 2:03 and 70% is 2:38 for me)

My pacing was consistent through each half. Went 1,098m in the first 5:00 and 1,100m in the last 5:00 with an average pace around 2:16/500m. I was actually kind of hard to go as slow as a 2:38 unless I was doing just about nothing, so I was usually more in the low 2:30 range on the low intensity intervals.

Grinding Smolov Jr.

Headed in early before the 9am so I could finish up week 2 of Smolov Jr. shoulder presses.

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 10x3x137.5#

Felt rough from the get-go, but I made it through every set. Rushed in and started right away too without any other type of warm-up. Was only taking about 90 seconds of rest between sets so I could finish before class started. The final week should be interesting. I think I’ll bump up the weights a bit over the recommended. My shoulders are feeling strong!

Warm-up

3 Rounds NFT

  • 300m Row
  • 15 Reverse Hypers on GHD

I worked up quite the sweat!

Warmed up deadlifts with 4×155#, 4×245#, and 4×315#.

XWOD

  • 4-4-4-4-4-4 Deadlifts (365#)
  • 2-1-2-1-2-1 Explosive movement
    • 2s: Split Jumps (2 each leg, sandbag on back)
    • 1s: Kneeling Jump (10.25″ – 45-45-25 HG bumpers stacked)

Haven’t done any heavy deadlifts for volume in quite some time. Felt really good!

Conditioning

5 Rounds (Tabata style)

  • 20s Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Sit-ups
  • 10s Rest

I did 10 wall balls and 11 sit-ups each round.

Midline

3 Round NFT

  • 20 Russian Twists (53# KB)
  • 45s Plank

After class I stayed to do some extra work. Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap with the blue bands for heavy and yellow for light. Burn baby!

4 Rounds NFT

  • 15 GHD Sit-ups
  • 15 Back Extensions

Focused on being as explosive as possible for both movements, which got me breathing pretty damn heavy. Took solid rest between rounds to recover.

In the evening I went for a walk. 3.22 miles in 48:29. During the summers my conditioning is always the best, which I attribute in large part to walking so much on the golf course. Felt like some fresh air tonight and the walk was perfect.