Tag: snatch

“Nancy Grace”

Went golfing and walked 18 holes yesterday for the first time since getting back from Arizona. Was nice to have a day away from the gym. Went in at 10am this morning and trained with Kevin, Monica, and Kinde.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • 2 Rounds of “Cindy” with strict pull-ups

Strength

The end of squat week 5, one more to go. Front squats today. Warmed up with 5 @ 95# and 3 @ 135#.

  • 5 @ 185#
  • 5 @ 200#
  • 4 @ 215#
  • 4 @ 230
  • 3 @ 240
  • 5 @ 200

Felt really solid today.

Midline

3 Rounds

  • 10 Evil Wheels
  • 20s Ring L-sit (knees up)
  • 30 Russian Twists (35# KB)

Brutal!

OLY

6:00 EMOM

  • 1 Hang Snatch (95#)
  • 2 Snatch Balance (95#)

I missed on the first snatch, but felt pretty good with my technique after that.

WOD

“Nancy Grace”
5 Rounds

  • 15 OHS (95#)
  • 6 C&J (95#)
  • 400m Run

One benchmark girl isn’t enough, right? Pretty rough on the wrists after the previous work. Did 10-5 each round on OHS and had to fight for it. All C&J were unbroken. Running got progressively slower. Finished in 20:42.

Knees Out

Getting back to a schedule now that the flooring project is wrapped up. Went in at 10:30am.

Warm-up

  • 2:00 Jump Rope
  • PVC pass-thrus

Olympic Lifting

Snatch Balances

  • 5 @ 45#
  • 5 @ 95#
  • 5 @ 115#
  • 2 @ 135#
  • 1 @ 155#
  • 1 @ 165#
  • F @ 175#
  • 1 @ 175#

Matched a snatch balance high I did a few months ago. Didn’t feel the greatest dropping into position today.

Snatch Technique

10:00 EMOM

  • Power Snatch (115#)
  • Snatch (115#)

Felt pretty solid here and the weight allowed me to focus on good technique. Was getting some decent triple extension and started concentrating on knees out. I’ve had a bad problem of my knees caving in with both snatches and cleans on the knee rebend. Everything felt a lot smoother when I was able to eliminate that. Receiving the bar for the squat snatches felt pretty darn good.

WOD

10 Rounds

  • 5 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 10 Pull-ups
  • 15 Sit-ups

First metcon since Friday. Finished in 13:58, doing it by myself.

Finisher

15:00 Row

Just an easy row, keeping my strokes per minute around 20. Traveled 3,280 meters.

Recovery

Feeling more back to normal today, although I did wake up with a headache again. Went at 10am and Kevin and I did our own thing today.

Warm-up

I did a 500m Row and some PVC pass-thrus.

OLY Technique

1 Snatch EMOM for 10:00

I started out at 75# and worked my way up, doing the last 2 or 3 with 135#. It’s been far too long since doing a full squat snatch so it felt a bit awkward today.

Strength

5×3 OHS

Haven’t done heavy overhead squats since I set a 1 rep max of 165# last year. Went 95-125-145-155-160. Pretty tough, but felt good to do them again.

10:00 EMOM

  • Evens: 5 Weighted Pull-ups (20-20-20-20-25)
  • Odds: 5 Weighted Dips (20-20-20-25-25)

I had my belt so strapped on a KB for the weight. I don’t think I can count 5 full reps for my last set of pull-ups. Maybe should have added a 2.5# plate instead of taking the 5# jump.

Finisher

5 Rounds

  • 50m High Prowler Sprint (90# sled + 135#)
  • 50m Low Prowler Sprint (90# sled + 135#)
  • 20 Unbroken DU
  • 1-2 minute rest

On the last round I pushed another 15-20m for extra misery.

Solid workout today, without too much intensity to kill me after being off for 3 days.

13.1 Redemption

Another Competition Thursday at Survival Fitness and I was not excited about the WOD since I did horrible on it, but excited that I’d get the chance to improve my score. Went to the 5pm class.

Warm-up

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

WOD

The WOD for today was CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.1, which I scored a 142 on during the Open, with a 15:52 tiebreaker at the end of the 135# snatches.

17:00 AMRAP

  • 40 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (75#)
  • 30 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (135#)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (165#)
  • 10 Burpees
  • Max rep Snatch (210#)

I was much faster today and didn’t die as bad on the burpees, although they still sucked. I finished the 75# snatches at 5:01, which I think was about 20 seconds faster than in the Open. Was on the bar starting 135# snatches around 8:35-ish and finished them at 14:58 (I’m going to call that a 6:23 “Isabel” PR, since I still haven’t done it standalone), nearly a whole minute faster, which gave me plenty of time to got those last 20 burpees. I was extremely slow on them though and only had 18 seconds to spare. I didn’t even bother trying to put weight on the bar and try 165# because I would have just ended up hurting myself. I’m glad I was able to hit 150 reps this time and do everything a lot faster.

Strength

Second week of my squat program and front squats were on the menu. Warmed up with 5 fast reps at 115# and then had to do 5 reps each at 160#, 175#, 185#, and 200#. Solid work… not too easy and not too hard.

Garage Work

Headed over to Kevin’s place and did a bunch of hamstring and low back work.

3 Rounds (not for time)

  • 10 Reverse Hypers (120#, 170#, 190#)
  • 7 GHR
  • 5 Good Mornings (135#)
  • 20 GHD Sit-ups

Low back was already feeling a little spicy from they heavy cleans yesterday and today’s WOD, so this just lit it more. Good stuff though. Those GHR are rough and my form isn’t very good on them.

Running in the Snow

2013-out-for-bloodThis morning I was up early and drove over to Mount Pleasant. It was supposed to be for the Out for Blood Duathlon, but due to rain, slow, and sleet they had to cancel the bike portion of the race. Much of the running and biking courses were flooded and many other parts were covered in snow and slush, making it very dangerous to be racing on bikes.

I’ve competed in this race the last two years (winning my age group for the mountain bike division both years) and the weather has always sucked, but this year was the worst. They had to rush to come up with the alternate course, but thy could have easily had someone shovel off the snowy areas of the 5k course. They also didn’t correctly map out a course because it ended up only being about 2.65 miles instead of 3.1 for a real 5k. Oh well, nobody was setting any time records with the condition of the paths and the slick wooden bridges. I finished in about 21:11 after starting out way too fast. I placed 3rd in the 26-35 year-old group for today’s run. At least I can still be competitive as the old man. 🙂

Went in to the gym at 4pm with Matt, Cora, and Kevin to do some training.

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 4 Power Snatch (115#)
  • Evens: 12 Pull-ups

Got 12 unbroken butterfly pull-ups each round! I’m really finding the groove with the butterfly.

3 Rounds

  • 15 American KBS (53# KB)
  • 15 Burpees
  • 50 DU

I did the first round of DU unbroken, but started hitting the wall after that. Finished in 7:34.

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 30s Handstand Hold
  • Evens: 12 T2B

I made a discovery of how to cycle my T2B a little faster. Being able to do 5×12 unbroken is a huge improvement for me.

10 Rounds

  • 15s AirDyne max effort sprint
  • 1:45 Rest

This is the worst thing I’ve done in a year and a half of CrossFit. I thought I was going to puke from the 3rd round on. We even went 20s on the last round just for fun and I could barely move in those extra 5 seconds. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that I pretty much had to crawl off of the AD after each round. Kevin and I used the same AD and we totaled 269 calories.

After that high effort, I figured it would be a good idea to get some easy rowing in. Did 6 minutes at an easy pace for just over 1,200m I think

Back to Survival Mode

I’m not really feeling any affects from last night’s garage session. Quads getting a little sore from the back squats, but nothing close to major DOMS. It was my first WOD back at Survival Fitness for the 4pm class today.

Warm-up

  • 30 Air Squats
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30 PVC OHS
  • 4 Rounds:
    • 15s Jumping Jacks
    • 15s Air Squats
    • 15s Mountain Climbers
    • 15s Squat Jumps
  • 4 Rounds:
    • 15s Plank
    • 15s Supermans
    • 15s Side Plank (L)
    • 15s Side Plank (R)

Back to the predictable warm-ups. 🙂

OLY

2 Power Snatches every 15s for 4 minutes.

I used 95# and tried to get full hip extension, but didn’t have much success with it. It was tough due to not having much rest time at all, but I got through just fine with that weight.

WOD

7:00 AMRAP
3-6-9-12-15…

  • Thrusters (95#)
  • C2B Pull-ups

He was going for Open Workout 12.5 but messed up on the Rx weights, which should have been 100# for men. I thought about upping the weight, but stuck with the 95# as it was on the board. My best score for 12.5 was 66 reps back in August and I got 82 today. Using the lighter weight helps some but that’s a pretty big improvement. I’m pretty stoked about that since I hate thrusters and my C2B are usually not very good.

Finisher

5 Rounds

  • 30s Handstand (against wall)
  • 30s Rest

I tried to use as little pressure on the wall with my feet as I could, even taking them off the wall in the first couple of rounds. I also tried to really push up off the ground and keep everything really tight to help with actual handstands and handstand walks in the future.

I got home, took a short rest and then did some stuff out in the garage.

Strength

5 Rounds

  • 5 Incline Bench Press
  • 10 Parallette Pass Throughs
  • 90s Rest

I warmed up with a quick set of 5 with the empty 45# bar and then used 115# for all 5 sets on the incline bench. I did do 10 reps on my last set instead of 10. All of the pass throughs were done unbroken.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 30s Row
  • 30s Rest

Was able to keep consistent efforts, except the first one was a little weak, but I made up for it in the last interval.

4-1-2013-row1

4-1-2013-row2

Solid day of training.

Work the High Hang

Yesterday morning I walked 9 holes of golf and then went for a 3.15 mile hike in 58:38. I’ve been sore from doing “Karen” in 13.3, but nowhere near the DOMS I’ve experienced from previous run-ins with that bitch. Went it an noon.

Warm-up

  • 2m Row
  • 2 Rounds:
    • 5 Pull-ups
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 10 Air Squats
  • Burgener Warm-up (empty bar)

I did strict pull-ups to work on my strength and did slow quality chest to deck push-ups.

OLY

7 Sets

  • Power Snatch
  • Hang Power Snatch
  • High Hang Power Snatch
  • 90s Rest

Each set was done without putting the bar down. Great time to work on the hip extension like last week’s drilling on full cleans. I’m beginning to love the high hang lifts because without the hips you can’t move any weight. It really forces you to be explosive and use your hips, especially being the 3rd lift in the complex. I did 2 sets at 75# and then went up 10# each set, to finish at 125#. I’m really happy to be able to land those three lifts at that weight because my 1RM is still only 155#. My technique was better today than it ever has been and I was getting a lot of hip extension, making the bar move so much faster.

WOD

4 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 20 Deadlifts (185#)
  • 30 Sit-ups

This was a fun little WOD, with the 20 deadlifts becoming a real challenge. I did 12-8 in the 3rd round to save myself a bit and then really pushed the run in the last round and pushed hard on the deadlifts because I was trying to catch Lance. Ended up 8 seconds behind him, with my time being 15:18.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.1

The 2013 CrossFit Games Open is upon us. My goal this year is to beat 50% of the men, which might not be a lofty enough of a goal, but considering I only beat about 25% of the guys last year, that would be a huge improvement.

Yesterday I wrote the post Why I Compete in the CrossFit Games Open, which explains a lot of my motivation for competing. You can also check out my Games Profile.

If there were any WODs I didn’t want to see come up again from 2013 it was the snatch ladder and the combination of thrusters and C2B pull-ups. Well, 13.1 brings back the snatch ladder, but pairs it up with burpees. A brutal combination.

Open Workout 13.1

17:00 AMRAP

  • 40 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (75#)
  • 30 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (135#)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (165#)
  • 10 Burpees
  • Max rep Snatch (210#)

My goal was to get to the 165# snatches and get at least one, which would have been a PR. I had several days to prepare, and obsessively mapped out a strategy based on tips I read online and chatting with friends who had already done the WOD. But it’s impossible to know how your body is going to react, so planning can only do so much for you.

I hit the pace I wanted to for the 40 burpees and felt good going into the 75# snatches. Broke it up into sets of 10-8-6-6 and they crushed me pretty bad. I wasn’t expecting them to get to me. Even so, I was only 15 seconds behind the pace I was hoping for at this point. But I was pretty dead already and the 30 burpees ended up going pretty slow. After changing the weights, I started the 135# snatches at around 9 minutes, now a minute behind the pace I wanted.

I did all singles at 135# and tried to get right back on the bar, but they were taking a lot out of me and I was already dead. I finished them at 15:52, almost 3 minutes slower than I wanted to. Managed to get 12 of the 20 burpees for a final score of 142. There was no way I would have been able to get a 165# snatch (10# PR) after all that work, so 150 was the best score I could have gotten.

I was disappointed (and still am a bit), but then I realized that last year in 12.1 I got 92 burpees in 7 minutes and in 12.2 I got 36 snatches in 10 minutes. In this combined 17 minute WOD I got 82 burpees and 60 snatches. Hell of an improvement, so I’m going to chalk this up as a win. The snatch is one of my weakest movements, so I ended up pretty well and I’m way ahead of pace to finish above average in the Open.

I guess I can count that as a 6:52 time for “Isabel” since it was 30 snatches. Shouldn’t be hard to beat whenever I do the benchmark on it’s own.

Bring on 13.2!

Destroyed Upper Body

Went in with a few people at 3:15 to work on our Olympic lifting and then stayed after for the regular class.

Loaded one bar up with 185# for snatch pulls and then used another bar for snatches. Started off doing one snatch pull, one power snatch, and one hang full snatch. I started at 95# and worked my way up to 125# on the snatch work. Then I switched to single full snatches with 135# after the snatch pull for a handful of sets. Probably worked for a solid 40 minutes, taking a few minutes of rest in between each complex. The snatches didn’t feel very good today.

Strength

5×3 Push Presses with 21X2 Tempo

The goal was to hit the 5×5 max from 2 weeks ago in our second set. Since that was going to be 165# for me, I started at 135#. Then went 165#, 170#, 175#, and 185#. Shit that was tough, but I’m glad I jumped 10# on that last set. My old 1RM push press is 190#, but it’s been a long time, so I should obviously be able to beat it pretty good now.

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 25 Shoulder to OH (95#)
  • 50 DU
  • 10 Ring Dips

OMG, my upper body was destroyed already in the first round. I did 15 and 10, then 10-9-6, and then probably 6 or 7 sets in the 3rd round, where I was even doing some jerks to get them done. The ring dips were pretty tough too. Finished in 16:09.

Olympic Lifting Progress

I’m feeling good after yesterday’s competition. Little sore in my pecks, but not quite sure what that’s from. Went in to the Olympic lifting class at noon.

We started out with snatches. I concentrated on hip extension and Johnny got me really exploding with the hips and punching under the bar. I started at 95# and worked up to 135# doing doubles and then singles. Was hitting them at 135# easily. Didn’t want to go heavier because I wanted to focus on the technique. Felt a lot better today and could feel the speed of the transition instead of kind of floating through that part of the lift.

Moved on to clean and jerks and went for broke. Started at 135# to warm up, then 155#. Switched to singles going 185#, 195#, 215# for a 10# PR, and then finished with a 20# PR at 225#. The clean was really easy and the jerk felt solid, especially after over an hour of lifting. I think I have another 10-20 pounds in my when fresh.

Hike

Went out for a hike late in the afternoon. Wore the 20# weight vest and went 2.05 miles in 1:06:31hike.