Went up 10# of each set of front squats. Felt much easier than last week. I did wear the belt again.
4 Sets
10 Barbell Glute Bridge (95#) + 2 Banded Hip Abduction
15 Banded Frog Reverse Hypers
Went 20# heavier than last week and it was no problem.
Conditioning
30:00 AMRAP
10 Pull-ups
15 cal Row
10 DB Push Press (50#)
15 cal BikeErg
10 Renegade Rows (50#)
15 cal SkiErg
I should not have gotten that Taco Bell for lunch! I was able to go unbroken for the movements, but I felt gassed on the machines. Only needed five more calories to finish the 6th round. This workout got me.
No invitations yet for the Age-Group Online Qualifiers, but they did release the cutlines. For the Men’s 40-44 it’s 2,025th place and I’m ranked 1,941st. Quads are already getting sore from the squat jumps yesterday. Out in the garage at 4pm.
Warm-up
3:00 Row (757m)
80′ Lateral Monster Walks
80′ Monster Walks
10 Monster Squats
10 Toe Touches (w/ mini band)
5 High Hang Muscle Snatches (45#)
5 OHS (45#)
5 High Hang Squat Snatches (45#)
I think it’s been over two years since I’ve done a squat snatch and probably almost that long for overhead squats. I was falling over with the empty bar in this warm-up!
Weightlifting
High Hang Squat Snatch + Hang Squat Snatch + Squat Snatch
The workout was take 12 minutes to do five complexes @ 65% of 1RM Snatch or a moderate weight. I did it twice with 75, then once at 95 and 115 before loading my working weight of 135 pounds. I wasn’t really thinking about the percentage until after my first set and then calculated 143 pounds off my all-time 220 max, so I was actually heavy for any recent lift I’ve done. Really started to feel better after the first two complexes with 135. Like riding a bike.
Conditioning
15-12-9
Thrusters (115#)
C2B Pull-ups
The actual Mayhem workout was 135# thrusters and strict weighted pull-ups with 50 pounds. Was always going to modify that, especially training for the AGOQ. It would be a good version to try some day, but not this day. I warmed up with 5 thrusters at each of 45 and 95 pounds.
In the workout I went 9-6, 7-5, 5-4 on my thrusters and wore a belt. Just making sure not to push it too hard or take too many risks as my back gets used to some of this stuff again. The lifts themselves actually felt ok, but just gassed me. Looking back at WHOOP, my heart rate wasn’t even that high, so I probably should have pushed more with shorter rests. I went 9-6, 7-5, 7-1-1 on the chest-to-bar pull-ups and was losing my butterfly in some of the later sets since I’m out of practice. Finished in 5:24.
Each year I update my own spreadsheet with my Open workout rankings and calculate percentiles. If you use the iOS CrossFit Games app they calculate percentiles based on the number of registered athletes in the division, which I think is quite dumb because some people register and never post a score. I’ve always done my calculations based on the number of submitted scores. Here’s how my placing looks after week one.
Open Division 25,571 / 116,559 (78.1%)
Masters 40-44 2,183 / 16,776 (87%)
One of my goals each year is to hit the 90% or in the top 10% of participating athletes. That’s well within reach for the Masters division and all I have to do is stick around that placement to get there. The top 10% move on to the Age Group Online Qualifier. I wasn’t sure how CrossFit would determine the %, but according to a video they posted yesterday, I’m right under the cut line. So their using all registered athletes.
A repeat of 17.1, which I did twice that year. In my first attempt I got through 215 reps (10 short of finishing) and then I finished in 19:15. When this was announced as a repeat I wasn’t excited at all; it’s horrible on my back and that’s a lot of dumbbell snatches for a bad shoulder. On the bright side I weighed in at 206 pounds this morning compared to the 214 I was for that redo in 2017.
My plan of attack was pretty simple:
With the dumbbell, switch hands from the top, if my shoulder allowed it.
Step back and up on the burpees, turn through the jump and on the box, and step down backwards.
Tape my thumbs.
I knew my first split was behind that 17.1 redo and felt like I was dying every round of burpees. Turned out I was also behind split after the second round, I started closing the gap in round three, and then really made up ground in rounds four and five. I did all sets of 10 snatches until the 50 where I did 14-12-12-12. Finished in 18:30! Brandi really pushed me through the second half of this workout. Here’s my scorecard as well as comparing my splits between all three times I’ve done this workout.
Analyzed the video for more splits…
Looking at how much time a round of each movement took and then in parens how much of a time difference it was compared to the previous round…
My triceps and upper back were still pretty sore yesterday, but it’s almost gone today. Out in the garage at 4pm.
Warm-up
3:00 BikeErg (1,562m)
80′ Lateral Monster Walks
80′ Monster Walks
10 Monster Squats
20/20s Bottom Pistol Holds
10 Toe Touches
5 Hang Power Snatches (45#)
Legs
3 Sets
20 alt Pistols
10 Barbell Hip Thrusts (95#)
I’m not sure what was going on with my last week and even warming up today, but I was really hesitant to do pistols. I buckled down and found my technique again though.
3 Sets
10/10 Staggered Stance RDL (barbell, 95#)
15 DB Goblet Squats (50#)
I don’t think I like these staggered stance Romanian deadlifts.
Conditioning
12:00 EMOM (alt)
15-15-12-12-12-12 Hang Power Snatches (75#)
10 Bar-facing Burpees
Ewww! 78 is a lot of snatches after zero in three months. Originally I wrote this to be 10 powers but switched to the hang at game time to save my back. Since they’re quicker from the hang and the first round was feeling good I went for 15 reps. In round two I knew that was a bad idea as my rest time was quickly being eaten up. So I dropped to 12 reps in round three and told myself to survive the 4th set and then I could quit the workout. I got through the fourth and knew I could suffer through two more rounds. My grip almost had other ideas and those final two rounds were rough!
My body is tight from an hour of shoveling snow yesterday and probably the workout as well. Rolling solo today since Brandi’s knee is not feeling good. Out in the garage around 3:30.
Warm-up
3 Rounds
1:00 BikeErg (511-520-532m)
30s Dead Hang
10 PVC Passes
10 Toe Touches
10 alt DB Hang Snatch (20#)
10 alt DB Hang Snatch (35#)
10 Toe Touches
10 alt DB Hang Snatch (45#)
Glad I tried the 45 because it convinced me to scale back and use 40 in the workout instead of 50. Before even starting the warm-up I smartly decided I was doing snatches from the hang today with the other back movements in there.
Conditioning
20:00 AMRAP
5 Strict Pull-ups
10 Sumo KB Deadlifts (70#)
10 alt DB Hang Snatch (40#)
10 Step-ups (24″)
Kept a very consistent pace through the rounds and was even able to pick up some time over the last 3-4 rounds. Finished 11+23.
Midline
3 Rounds
12 Half Circle Knee Raises
12 alt Single Leg Lifts (L-sit on parallettes)
24 Plank Hops
12 Seated Leg Lifts
Slight modification to an Ibex workout we’ve done before by doing 24 of the hops instead of 30 seconds. Took me 4:40 to finish.
I took a full rest day yesterday. My left shoulder is really starting to bother me.
Warm-up
3:00 SkiErg (678m)
Crossover Symmetry Activation
2 Sets
10 Toe Touches
10 PVC Passes
Conditioning
5 Rounds
1:30 DB Burpee Box Step Overs (24″, 35# DBs)
1:30 Rest
1:30 cal SkiErg
1:30 Rest
I chose a good weight to keep moving with intensity, even though I started out too slow. I did 12-13-14-15-16 step overs and 25-25-26-27-28 ski calories.
Midline
3 Rounds
20 w. Hollow Flutter Kicks (10# plate)
20 w. alt V-ups (10#)
20 w. OH crunches (10#)
20 Russian Twists (10#)
20 Seated Leg Lifts
We’ve done this one from Ibex two other times and my best was 7:20. Today I smoked it in 5:57.
