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!

10 Too Much?

Wasn’t very sore yesterday, so I guess on Tuesday my legs were still feeling the thruster work from Saturday. Walked 18 holes of golf yesterday. Didn’t get my usual fill of sleep last night due to watching the OHS event of the CrossFit Games. Still in for the 9am at CFi though.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Box Shoulder Stretches
  • 15# Good Mornings
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Arm Circles

Strength & Skill

  • 5×155# Deadlift
  • 3×245# Deadlift
  • 3×315# Deadlift
  • 3×365# Deadlift
  • 3 MU
  • 3×385# Deadlift
  • 3 MU
  • 3×395# Deadlift
  • 3 MU
  • 3×395# Deadlift
  • 3 MU
  • 3×395# Deadlift
  • 3 MU
  • 3×395# Deadlift
  • 3 MU
  • 2×405# Deadlift
  • 3 MU
  • 3×365# Deadlift
  • 3 MU

Ugh, I had to try and go for 405# on the last two sets. Felt it in my back after the 2nd rep. Dropped weight and did 3 slow singles trying to keep a perfect back on the end. It was only an extra 10#, but maybe the same thing would have happened if I had stayed at 395# for that set. Who knows. Can’t change it now.

New PR for muscle-ups in one day with 8 sets of 3! Getting more and more comfortable with them every time I do them. This combination was pretty brutal though. I was sweating my ass off and completely out of breath.

Conditioning

10-8-6-4-2

  • T2B
  • Burpee over the Box Jumps (30″)

Damn near biffed it on the first jump to the box. Did all of the toes to bar unbroken and finished in 4:57. My burpees were slow.

Midline

100 Russian Twists

Grabbed the 35# KB with the goal of getting some big sets. Did it in 60-40.

Guess what, another afternoon break session in the garage! Did Crossover Symmetry Activation to get my shoulders ready.

Bear Complexes

If you don’t know what a bear complex is…

  • Clean
  • Front Squat
  • SH to OH
  • Back Squat
  • SH to OH

Usually condensed down into…

  • Squat Clean Thruster
  • Back Squat Thruster

I warmed up with some “bears”:

  • 5×45#
  • 2×95#
  • 2×115#
  • 2×135#

E45S for 8 Rounds

  • 2 Bear Complex 155#

My original (ambitious) plan was 16 rounds. Haha!! I wanted to quit after 4! Pushed through to 8. Dropping to my back was starting to get sketchy and I could barely get the bar locked out overhead. Good time to take a breather. I think I made it through the first 2 (maybe 3) rounds without dropping the bar in between each complex.

Rested about 5:00.

E45S for 8 Rounds

  • 2 Bear Complex 115#

Never had to drop the bar in any round. Too easy.

SkiErg

  • 10:00 @ 2:30-2:40/500m

Nice cool down and recovery pace. Made it 1,909 meters.

Finished up with CS Iron Scap.

Back to Back to Back

When you drink alcohol you are just borrowing happiness from tomorrow.

Went over to Survival Fitness Bay City for beering, grilling, and fireworks last night. Didn’t drink much but stomach was rolling a bit through the morning and I had to take a couple of naps. Trained with Kevin and Brandi at 5pm. Started off with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Shoulder Presses

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×115#
  • 7x5x130#

Phew! Went up 7.5# over week 2’s day 2. Hardest struggle I’ve had yet. Glad tomorrow is a rest day.

To warm up snatches I did 2 muscle snatches with 95#, 2 power snatches with 115#, and 2 power snatches with 135#.

Conditioning

  • 3 Rounds
    • 3 Snatches (use 70% of 1RM, same bar for all 3 couplets)
    • 6 Burpee Box Jumps (30/24″)
  • 4 Rounds
    • 6 Front Squats
    • 12 T2B
  • 5 Rounds
    • 9 Deadlifts
    • 27 DU

This is an original I came up with yesterday. No rest between couplets. I used 145# and finished in 15:37. My T2B held me back a lot. I could definitely feel the fatigue in my hips from all of the MU yesterday. This would be nice at 75%, especially if you hadn’t been out drinking.

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap when I got home.

Hot & Sweaty GLBRT

Today was the 6th Great Lakes Bay Regional Throwdown, with it being hosted at Mission 1 – CrossFit Caro this time. I’ve competed in the last 3 and we won the belt for Survival Fitness at each one. The first two we competed in were one team takes the belt back to their gym and with the last one the format was switched up to make it more of a gym working together, where the top 2 scores from each gym count for each WOD.

Event 1

12:00 AMRAP

  • 200m Run
  • 21 American KB Swings 53/35#
  • 12 Pull-ups

2 teammates work at a time (1M/1F) to complete a round. When the first 2 teammates finish a round the second 2 teammates will begin a round. This pattern continues for 12 minutes. Score is total reps completed.

Both Partners run the 200m. The KB Swings may not start until both teammates have returned from the run to their area. Whoever chooses to start a set of KB Swings or Pullups must perform all the reps in that set, for that round. During the KB Swings the other partner must be hanging from a bar for the KB Swings to count. While the Pullups are being performed the other partner must hold the KB off the ground for the pullups to count. The 2 teammates that are not working must be touching the rig before they can be released for the run. They will be released after the working partners 12th pullup is completed.

Bre and I paired up with her doing all of the KBS and me doing all of the pull-ups. Brent and Laura started the workout and finished our 7th team round just before the time ran out. Wasn’t really that tough of a workout for me since it was just 3 runs and 36 pull-ups. I never dropped from the bar and went unbroken with kipping pull-ups on each set.

Event 2

There will be 8 stations for men and 8 stations for women.

  • Men’s weights = 75-95-105-115-135-155-165-185
  • Women’s weights = 55-65-75-85-95-105-115-125

Each athlete will have 20 seconds to work at each station and 10 seconds to transition to the next station to perform as many reps as desired. At least 1 rep must be completed at each station before moving to the next station. Score will be total pounds lifted per team.

Everyone knows the thruster. All bars will start on the floor. The athlete may complete the first rep as a full clean, receiving the bar in the squat position. The hips must clearly pass below the knee in the squat portion of the movement and the bar must end in a fully locked out overhead position with full extension of the knee, hip, shoulder, and elbow. There may not be a pause between the front squat portion of the movement and the overhead portion. It must be a thruster and not a clean and jerk. If an athlete fails to complete a good rep at a station then they will leave the field at the next transition time.

When we did a run through I only did 3 reps at each weight. Today I went 7-7-5-5-5-3-3-3. Should have gone harder in the early and middle sets. Happy I was still able to get 3 at 185. I did 2, had to drop it, took a breath, and then got in another rep. Tweaked my back a little bit though. 😦

Event 3

Chipper!

  • 50 Wall Ball (20#/14#, 10’/9′)
  • 40 KB Snatches 44/26
  • 30 T2B
  • 20 Burpees
  • 30 Clean & Jerk 135/95
  • 40 Box Jump 24/20
  • 50 Deadlift 185/135

2 men start the chipper. After they complete the 50 Wall Ball and move to the 40 KB Snatches, the 2 women may start their Wall Balls. This pattern will continue through the entire chipper. There will be 2 scores. First score is men’s time and second score is total time. Work can be divided between partners however they choose. For example, if one woman cannot perform a 35# KB Snatch but her teammate can, then she may perform all 40 of them.

Each lane will have 1 barbell for cleans with 2 45# plates, 2 25# plates, 1 45# barbell, and 2 spring collars. It is the responsibility of the team to load their barbell with the appropriate weight. When the men complete their clean & jerk they may load the bar for the women, however, if they choose to do this then the box jumps may not start until both men move off from the Clean station and on to the box jump station.

Each lane will also have 1 barbell for deadlifts with 2 45# plates, 2 25# plates, 1 45# barbell, and 2 spring collars. It is the responsibility of the team to load their barbell with the appropriate weight. When the men complete their deadlifts they must leave the field and cannot change the bar for the women. The first score is recorded upon completion of the men’s 50th deadlift. The second score is recorded after the women complete their 50th deadlift.

Brent and I beat our practice time by over 30 seconds and the girls beat their time by about 1:30! I couldn’t believe it when we were doing our C&J and they were waiting on us to finish. In the practice run, we got done way ahead of them and even changed the weight on the bar for them. They crushed it!

Great day and a fun team to compete with. The weather was brutally hot and it was even worse inside the gym. Spent a lot of time outside in the sun.  After today and walking 27 holes of golf yesterday in the hot sun and humidity I’m exhausted!

glbrt6-sf

Don’t Touch This

My legs are so sore they hurt to the touch! At least I can walk on my feet without hobbling all over the place since I can barely feel the blisters now. Over to CrossFit Intuition this morning for Kevin to put us through a class.

Warm-up

  • CS Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Inch Worms
  • 750m Row

Conditioning

He tricked us saying we were going to do a Tabata row in order to get a 20 second meter number out of us. Mine was 98 meters. Then…

20 Rounds

  • 20s Row
  • 20s Rest

If you don’t make your number during a round, that’s a 5 burpee penalty at the end. Luckily I got over 101 each round. Totaled 2,471m with the rollouts. I was soaked with sweat at the end.

Strength

10:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 10 Pendlay Rows (40% of BW – used 85#)
  • Evens: 10 CS Reverse Fly (2 rounds with red, 3 with yellow)

Nasty little combo that made the light weight get hard.

Midline

3×10 GHD MB Toss (14#)

Fun workout!

Headed to Survival Fitness at 8 to try out the chipper for the upcoming GLBRT team competition.

  • 50 Wall Ball 20#/14# 10’ target for men and women
  • 40 KB Snatches 53/35
  • 30 T2B
  • 20 Burpees
  • 30 Clean & Jerk 135/95
  • 40 Box Jump 24/20
  • 50 Deadlift 185/135

Brent and I finished in 10:33, the girls could start after we got done with wall balls and the clock was exactly 14:00 when they finished. Fun little workout.

2014 CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.4

14.3 was my best Open workout performance in 3 years, with a score in the top 6.8% (6,107th) worldwide. Made for a nice overall jump from 22,238/100,690 (22.1%) to 14,785/100,777 (14.7%). Should be no problem holding on to the top 20% now as long as my shoulder holds up for these last 2 workouts. I’ve been resting it since pushing it too much last Monday.

Yesterday was a rest day and I had a great massage. In to the gym at 1 today. My warm-up consisted of some 30 second calorie rows at a 1,200 cal/hr pace and a bunch of stretching and mobility.

2014 CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.4

14:00 AMRAP

  • 60 Calorie Row
  • 50 T2B
  • 40 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
  • 30 Power Cleans (135#)
  • 20 Muscle-ups

Wow, this workout should be called Deception! Paced out my row as planned and finished right at 3:00. Did 5 T2B at a time with 5-8 seconds of walking between sets. Got to 30 like that and then started doing some triples and doubles, with some singles to finish. Split was 6:37 going into the wall balls. I figured this would be a time to rest, but I got to 10 and dropped the ball. 4 sets of 10 to finish at 8:43. All singles on the cleans, trying not to waste time getting back on the bar. Tiebreak time of 11:51. I took my time getting to the rings, took a drink, and didn’t jump up until after over 30 seconds had gone by. Still missed my first muscle-up! Managed to fight for 2 good reps to score 182 reps. Hips had nothing left. I think I had 3 failures.

The only time I felt my shoulder was in the middle of the wall balls. The T2B really had me worried because that’s what aggravated things last Monday after all of the C2B in 14.2 the day before. We’ll see how it feels later tonight and tomorrow once inflammation kicks in.

Headed out to the garage around 7:30 and jumped on the Air Dyne (AD2) for 10:00. Knocked out 351 calories to beat my record by 9. That hurt and was a mental grind. Kept 80-81 rpm until the final 40 seconds.

Multiple AMRAP Monday

In for the 9am class. So nice not to have to be doing the Open workout on Monday this week.

Warm-up

4 Round Tabata Mash-up

  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • Squat Jumps

I still can’t really do the pass-thrus all the way back so I did some shoulder stretching on the bar after 2 rounds.

Skills

20:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 30s DU
  • Evens: 30s Handstand Hold

I got between 39 and 54 double unders every round, so probably around 450 total dubs. Didn’t feel the shoulder fatigue like I did in 14.1. I didn’t even try a HSPU again, so did holds and tried to keep as little contact with the wall as possible. Feeling a lot more stable in the position and was up there quite a bit with no support on the wall.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 3 Burpees (6″ target – I jumped to my wrists touching the pull-up bar)
    • 5 T2B
    • 7 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
  • 1:00 Rest

First time through T2B and wall balls I thought I might have to swap out the movements, but my shoulder warmed up after that. I was able to stay pretty consistent by going 3+8, 3+9, 3+10, 3+7, and 3+5. Had to start breaking up the T2B in the last 2 AMRAPs due to the shoulder and a weakening kip.

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.

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!

Saturday Hangover

Woke up with a little headache this morning from having a few beers with my brother last night. Went to the 10am class.

Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • Band stretching

We warmed up on our own today.

Olympic Lifting

Work up to a heavy squat clean.

  • Did a little position work with 45#
  • 2×135#
  • 165#
  • 185#
  • 205#
  • 225#
  • 235#
  • 245#
  • F 255#
  • 255#

Was in nanos, which felt different. Didn’t commit to the first try at 255#, but got it on the 2nd try to match my PR. Was up on my toes a bit but hung on. Need to get the confidence up with these weights. I’ll take it today with the tweaked low back from deadlifts.

Conditioning

20:00 AMRAP w/ partner (each does an entire round and then switch)

  • 6 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 6 Thrusters (95#)
  • 6 Burpees

Cora and I were together. We used the same box and she had a bar with 65# for thrusters. Our game plan was to keep a nice steady pace and keep working, then kick it in high gear in the last 20% of the workout. Worked well for us. We each finished 12 rounds and she got a few box jumps in at the end. Every other team came out of the gates hot and I think we were the last team to finish a round each. But by the end of the workout, we’d passed every team but 1, maybe 2.

That’s 233 burpees for me in the last 3 days!

Back to the box at 1 for some gymnastics work taught by Joe.

He took us through the two basic shapes of the hollow and reverse hollow (superman) that translate into pretty much everything. Then we worked on handstands, kipping, bar stuff, and some ring MU stuff. I felt better doing the straight leg T2B than I did the last time I tried. Worked a bit on keeping the legs tight and in good position for my butterfly pull-ups. Joe helped me to get 2 unbroken bar muscle-ups for the first time. One of the biggest take-aways for me was understanding how to come down from the top and get into that hollow position in order to transition into the next rep. Need to put some time into working on it now.