More Tabata Thrusting

Slacked off for a rest day yesterday. My legs are sore to the touch again from tabata thrusters. Went to the 5:30 class.

Warm-up – 2 Sets

  • 15 Pass Thrus
  • 10 Air Squats
  • 10 Push-ups

Strength – Push Press

  • 6×45#
  • 6×95
  • 6×125
  • 6×155
  • 6×175
  • 6×195

Conditioning

9:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 14 cal Row
  • 8 Deadlift (225#)
  • 10 Toes to Rings

Nice and easy.

8 Rounds

  • 20s Wall Balls (14#, 10′)
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Plank (hands)
  • 10s Rest

I didn’t really need more tabata thrusting movement, so I went light, which made this a cake walk.

Little Lifting

Went in for the 4:30 class, but was there early so got in my lifting instead of doing front squats with class.

Split Jerk

  • 5x20kg
  • 5×40
  • 3×60
  • 2×75
  • 1×85
  • 1×92
  • 1×97
  • EMOM
    • 5x1x102

Felt like I needed to crack my back in one spot and I just could not get it.

Push Press

  • 3x3x87kg

Couldn’t believe that was it for the lifting today. Deload week is kind of nice.

Conditioning

14:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 15 Wall Balls
  • 10 Bar-facing Burpees

Started getting rough after the 3rd or 4th round because I wasn’t slowing down on the burpees. The rhythm I figured out a few months ago is money!

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 15 Sit-ups
  • 10 Shotguns
  • 20s Plank

Even got in ab work to go with the lifting since it was part of the workout! Finished in 5:59. The shotguns were bothering that spot in my back that wouldn’t release.

Plank It

Don’t think I’m feeling anything from the mileage yesterday. Went to the 5:30 class.

Warm-up

5 Rounds NFT

  • 1 Wall Walk
  • 2 One-Leg Burpees
  • 3 Ring Rows
  • 4 V-ups (hollow)
  • 5 PVC Around the Worlds

Strength – Shoulder Press

  • 5×45#
  • 5×65
  • 5×95
  • 5×105
  • 5×125
  • 8×140

Class is on a new 5/3/1 cycle so it was 5+ at about 77% today. Doesn’t come close to what I should be able to do when estimating my 1 rep max. I didn’t feel like I was really warmed up for that.

Conditioning

  • 200m Run
  • 50 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 75 Burpees
  • 50 Wall Balls
  • 200m Run

I went 20-15-15 on the wall balls, then slow but non-stop burpees, and 15-15-20 wall balls. My legs would not move when I headed out on the final run. Finished at exactly 13:00. During the wall balls, I counted to 8 and then picked the ball back up. When I finished the burpees my plan was to go 15-15-10-10, but I took a couple of extra breaths after me break following the 30 reps and knocked out the final 20 unbroken..

Midline

  • Max Plank Hold (hands with straight arms)

Class was doing a full Tabata so my plan was to just hold for 4 minutes. When I passed the half way point without feeling terrible I decided to change it to a max hold and asked Michelle to keep track of my time. Made it to 5:32 for a 29 second PR! My whole body hurt after.

Twice as Nice

Originally planned to run today but it’s supposed to be even nicer tomorrow and I didn’t feel like dealing with anything going on for Friday night football games. Went to the 4:30 class for my 2nd one this week!

Warm-up

  • Front rock stretch
  • Lizard stretch
  • 500m Row

Strength – Front Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×215#
  • 5×235#

Took it easy since I do enough squatting with the lifting program and I have heavy front squat triples tomorrow. I didn’t feel like changing shoes and gearing up either.

Conditioning

5:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Push-ups
  • 10 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 15s Bottom Squat Hold

I messed up right off the bat and dropped the medicine ball after 5 and went into my squat. Quickly realize my mistake when everyone kept going. Was caught up by the end of round 2. Finished 6 rounds plus the push-ups, wall balls, and 11 seconds of the hold. We had a 2 minute rest and then into…

5:00 AMRAP

  • 10 cal Row
  • 10 Burpees

Finished 4 rounds plus 2 calories. We had more of a full recovery and then…

4 Rounds

  • 20 Zeus Double Unders
  • 8 Box Jumps (30″)

I was able to get every round unbroken. Stepped off the box every rep. Finished in 3:57.

Survived a double CrossFit week! haha

Fall is Here

Went to the 10am class. Haven’t been to class or done a metcon since last Friday and was up late drinking wine.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • 2x
    • 10 PVC Good Mornings
    • 200m Run

Strength

Romanian Deadlifts

  • 8×45#
  • 4×155#
  • 4×205#
  • 5x4x235#

Got out the 4″ platform to stand on with 205 and above. With all of the ROMWOD my hamstring flexibility is improving a lot.

Conditioning

16:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Push-ups
  • 10 Wall Balls
  • 10 Deadlifts (155#)
  • 200m Run

About 20 meters short of finishing a 7th round. Need to push the pace on the runs more with something like this especially when I wasn’t struggling with the other movements and they didn’t interfere with each other.

Midline

30s Weighted Plank

  • 55#
  • 2×80#
  • 100#
  • 125#

Relatively easy today. Should have done longer holds since it was programmed at 30-60s.

Will do a long 44 minute ROMWOD today. Update: completely forgot about it with a packed sports day.

Legs On Fire

Warm-up

  • Ladder Footwork Drills
  • 20 PVC Pass Thrus

Accessory

  • 5 Pendlay Rows (45#)
  • 5 Pendlay Rows (95#)
  • 5 Pendlay Rows (125#)
  • 8 Evil Wheels
  • 5 Pendlay Rows (155#)
  • 8 Evil Wheels
  • 5 Pendlay Rows (175#)
  • 8 Evil Wheels
  • 5 Pendlay Rows (185#)

Used an underhand (supinated) grip on the rows. I have a feeling I’m going to have sore abs tomorrow. Usually stick to sets of 4-5.

Grip / Carry Work

  • 400m Pinch Plate Carry (2×25#)

Getting easier to go longer without having to rest.

Conditioning

4 Cycles

  • 20 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 200m Run
  • 3:00 Rest

My rounds were 1:57, 1:55, 1:57, and 1:58. That final round of air squats was getting me and I had to take 2-3 brief stops instead of busting them out non-stop. Was able to pick up the pace since it was the last run to make up for the lost time. This was exactly the leg burner I planned it to be; did not want to head out the door running after the 40 squats.

Played 18 holes of golf, but rode in the cart. I’m going to skip ROMWOD today and make it up tomorrow.

4 Minutes

My back was pretty stiff again this morning, though I slept really well last night.

Accessory

6 Sets

  • 10 Reverse Hypers (210#)
  • 8/8 Side Bends (70#)

Had programmed 4 good mornings but I skipped those because of my back and did the RH instead.

Conditioning

  • 4:00
    • Buy-in: 400m Run
    • AMRAP Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 4:00 Rest
  • 4:00
    • Buy-in: 400m Run
    • AMRAP Burpee Box Overs (24″)
  • 4:00 Rest
  • 4:00
    • Buy-in: 400m Run
    • AMRAP American KBS (53#)

Pushed it on the 400s. I only looked at the clock coming in on the 3rd one and it was a 1:30, which is my goal pace for a mile I’d like to do this year. The first two 400s were a little faster. I did 50 unbroken wall balls, a short rest and then 14 more for 64 total. I did all step-ups on the box due to my back and made it through 22 reps. I started out stepping down too but started hopping down at some point. I haven’t done any American swings in a long time so wasn’t sure how they would feel with my back, but they were fine. I did sets of 10 and 15 and then held on for the rest of the way, which was nearly a minute, to get 27 in a row. 52 total swings.

10 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s Push-ups
  • 10s Rest

Went all-out and quickly fell off a cliff. Reps were 22-20-13-9-6-6-7-7-7-8 for 105 total. Whenever we’ve done this recently the rest has been much longer to help recover.

The Pacer

Warm one yesterday walking 18 holes. Actually felt some fatigue in my legs this morning. Got to the gym early, so jumped in on some bench press with Alex.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 10×135
  • 10×165
  • 10×185

Felt heavy at 135, but seemed better after that.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

  • Jumping jacks
  • Mountain climbers
  • Plank
  • Air squats
  • Bottom Squat Hold

I think we were switching every 15-20 seconds.

Conditioning

24:00 AMRAP – Team of 3

  • Person A: 200m Run (pace setter)
  • Person B: 10 Burpees
  • Person C: 10 Wall Balls (30#, 10′)

Ideally B & C get some rest while waiting for the runner to get back. Teamed up with Bryan and Weston. I started with wall balls, got through 8 rounds plus my wall balls and nearly finished the run with about 20 meters left. My pace on the runs felt really good today, even with the heat and humidity.

Midline Mash-up

2 Rounds

  • 30s Plank
  • 20s Plank Push-ups
  • 10s Plank
  • 30s Side plank
  • 30s Side plank

It was a Tabata but I skipped the rest since we were rotating movements.

Grilled out and played some Spike Ball.

This fucking heat is exhausting. One of my first projects when I got home from a work trip is to replace a couple of in-wall air conditioning units; one doesn’t work anymore and the controls are broke on the other one. They must be at least 15 years old. After feeling lazy all day I got off my ass and headed to the track.

Aerobic Capacity – VO2 Max

13 Rounds

  • 200m Run (slow)
  • 200m Run (mile PR pace – goal of 46s)

I decided to start with a slow 200m to warm-up a bit instead of running a final slow one at the end. The slow pace doesn’t really matter for this workout and continued to get slower and slower. Didn’t get that first pace right (maybe due to the faster “slow” 200 to start), but fell in after that and pushed on the way home.

  1. 1:23.0 – 0:50.6
  2. 1:30.7 – 0:46.8
  3. 1:35.1 – 0:46.1
  4. 1:38.0 – 0:44.5
  5. 1:39.4 – 0:44.0
  6. 1:42.1 – 0:43.8
  7. 1:42.1 – 0:43.6
  8. 1:45.4 – 0:43.7
  9. 1:46.8 – 0:44.5
  10. 1:46.7 – 0:42.8
  11. 1:48.6 – 0:41.8
  12. 1:52.7 – 0:40.0
  13. 1:54.0 – 0:38.1

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Rest Days

Felt exhausted on Tuesday from all the time out in the sun and playing Spikeball/Slammo. Wasn’t sore from Murph at all though. Wednesday walked 18 on the course. So with the 20 minute treadmill run on Friday and Murph on Monday that was only 2 workouts over 6 days. Ready to get back at it today.

At Regionals I had an assessment from Airrosti and the doc there thinks I have bicep tendonitis in that left arm. So now I know what to do to tackle the issue and hopefully get it cleared up soon. The last two days I did 20-30 minutes of mobility work around my left shoulder and arm instead of spending time doing ROMWOD. I’ll probably continue to do that at least during the week when I don’t have as much time. I’ve also started using my TENS unit on the area to try to speed things up.

The bands are rigged up and ready

Went to the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 3 Rounds
    • 10 PVC passes
    • Shoulder internal rotation stretching
    • 10 OHS (PVC)

I’ve noticed with some of the new mobility work that I’m missing some internal rotation so this was good to work on.

Accessory

10:00 EMOM

  • 2 Turkish Get-ups (44#)

One rep per arm each round. Easy.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 10 Toes To Bar
  • 10 Power Snatches (75#)
  • 10 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Did 2 rounds of T2B unbroken and 2×5 the other rounds. Snatches all unbroken sets. First round was done around 1:26 and finished in 8:09. This is one of the BTWB Fitness Level workouts in the Light category. Nice combination of movements.

60 Reps

  • Ball Slams (30#)

Unbroken in 2:39. Really wanted to rest around 40 reps, but kept moving. Big arm pump after. Could barely put my shirt on.

Run

Went out in the afternoon for a casual jog. Didn’t care about pace or distance but had a loop in mind I planned to run. Was guessing I was going at a 10-10:30 pace, but never checked my watch until I finished. It was a pleasant surprise to see a 9:48/mile average. Went 2.6 miles in 25:26.

Fuel

My hips, legs, and lower body in general is tight from yesterday. Put in a lot of work yesterday and a lot of loaded squats. Tough one today that I know is a long grind, but I was actually excited for the chance to redeem myself after what I felt like was a pretty poor time last year. Much cooler day today, with the temperature around 40-45°, compared to last year (May 3) being one of the hottest days of the year.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 3 Sets
    • 5 ATYs (5#)
    • 10 Shotguns
    • 50 DU

Got every round of dubs unbroken.

Strength & Midline

E2M – 6 Sets

  • 4 Pendlay Rows (165#, supinated)
  • 30s Hollow Hold

Did 10×45# and 4×135# to warm-up. Second week in a row I went with the underhand grip since I had gone two in a row pronated. I feel these rows just a bit on my left shoulder.

Conditioning

kelly“Kelly” – 5 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 30 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 30 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

There were some complications with the music last year so it wasn’t even a true time for me, but I called it 29:59, which I thought was actually shortchanging myself for how long it took me to fix the tunes. Could I push harder on the runs this year?

The first run started out a little faster, but that’s to be expected fresh. Tried to keep a steady pace on the other 4 runs. I did all step up/down on the box since that many jumps will lock up my back. They were 8 right, 8 left, 7 right, and 7 left every round. Wall balls were 4 rounds of 18-12 with a quick 5-10 second breather and unbroken to finish.

Wore my watch so I could see some of the heart rate data and get an idea of my round times. Unfortunately the HR data had a bunch of drops down near or under 100 bpm so the average is pretty useless. Does show a max HR of 166 for the workout, which should be pretty accurate.

Not easy to tell because the GPS data jumps all over the place while inside the gym doing the reps, but looks like my splits were 4:35, 4:48 (9:23), 4:57 (14:20), 5:02 (19:22), and 4:44 (24:06). During the workout when I checked my watch on each run I kept waiting to hit a wall but it never happened. I felt much better throughout than I was expecting. Really happy with how consistent those round times stayed for a long workout. The last round time came down because I did the wall balls unbroken.

I thought if I was able to PR by 3 or maybe 4 minutes that would be great. I thought a 5 round average of 5:00 was a pipe dream, but I was well under that. Improved by almost 6 minutes! I think I could almost walk fast and get that 30 minute time from last year. haha The heat could have been a big factor too.

Definitely looking forward to ROMWOD tonight!

Diet

I’m not sure if I’ve written about it, but I’ve been counting macros for about 4.5 months now. I used to absolutely hate all of the counting and keeping track, so was never able to stick with it for more than a week or two. Something shifted this time around and I’ve actually enjoyed it. My previous “diets” worked, but usually ended up with me falling off the wagon and I’d gain back the weight. My “go to” was always low carb and try to stay cleaner. Doesn’t really work in the long run for me though because I enjoy food too much.

So I read about Renaissance Periodization and figured I’d give it a shot. It’s been working brilliantly so far and I feel much better mentally and physically. I give almost no care to the quality of what I’m fueling my body with as long as the quantity lines up with my macro number goals. The fancy term for it these days seems to be “flexible dieting” or what a lot of people call IIYFM (If It Fits Your Macros). Another popular company besides RP that will help you is Working Against Gravity. While I can see the value in paying RP or WAG for help, it’s really not that hard to do on your own if you have some discipline. If I can do it, so can you. 😉

Progress was steady for the first 2 months. It leveled out during the Open, when I was having a massive 36 hours way over my macros after doing each week’s workout. I didn’t track food on a week vacation so gained a little bit there, but quickly lost that and have been stable at 203# since. The trend lines are still heading in the right direction and body fat % seems to be decreasing. We’re getting towards the end of an 8 week hypertrophy cycle at the gym so this means the muscle building has been working and muscle gain + fat loss are leveling each other out. Will be interesting to see what happens when we switch back to lifting heavy shit during our strength work. I’d like to drop closer to 195# and get the body fat down to 10-11%.

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