Tag: Wall Ball

Lots of Legs

Yesterday I walked 18 holes of golf. It’s already getting easier on the legs. I’m still feeling at least a couple very short back twinges during a round and they usually aren’t during swings. Happens when I’m standing around, lining up a putt, or pulling a club out of the bag. Not pleasant. I also did a 45 minute ROMWOD last night.

In to the gym at 9 this morning for some lifting.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 2 Sets
    • 5s of StrongFit Tricep & Bicep Openers (10#)
    • 10 Reverse Hypers (210#)

Spilled my damn shaker all over the floor so took me longer than expected to get lifting.

Weightlifting

  • 5 Muscle clean
  • 5 Shoulder press
  • 5 OHS (close grip)
  • 5 Front squat

Did 2 sets through the complex with 20kg and 30kg.

  • 5 Squat clean
  • 5 Push press

Did 2 sets through with 40kg and 50kg.

Clean & Jerk

  • 3x60kg
  • 3×70
  • 3×80
  • 2×90
  • 100
  • 110
  • 115
  • 120

All squats and split jerks. Haven’t lifted either heavy in quite some time so the weights felt heavier than they should.

Skipped out on the class warm-up and didn’t need to hit any extra front squats.

Strength

10:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 5 Front Squats (185#)
  • 10 Cal Row

Conditioning

Partnered up with Bryan.

  • 2:00 AMRAP Push Press (135#)
  • 2:00 AMRAP Squat Cleans (185#)
  • 2:00 AMRAP Burpees
  • 5:00 AMRAP Wall Balls (30#, 10′)

We used the jerk blocks for the push presses and alternated every 3 reps to get through 45 total. All singles on the cleans for 20 total reps. Five burpees at a time for 35 total. Then sets of 10 wall balls for 123.

E2M – 6 Sets

  • 70m Sprint

Took it easy on the first, pushed for 3, and then slowed it down for the final 2.

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap before heading home.

Headed out for a run in the afternoon in between watching some Regional action. Went 3.05 miles in 30:11 and had negative splits each mile. Getting easier and easier each time I lace ’em up. Average HR of 135 and max of 149.

Will get in ROMWOD and maybe even a double dose since I put in a lot of volume on the legs today.

Parter Chipper with Birthday Bryan

Did a ROMWOD in the middle of the day. Went in early to snatch and finished up, so skipped the warm-up but did the rest of the 5:30 class.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 2 Sets

Weightlifting

Snatch (all full squat)

  • 3x20kg
  • 3x40kg
  • 3x50kg
  • 2x60kg
  • 2x65kg
  • 2x70kg
  • 15:00 EMOM
    • 1x75kg

I missed twice in round 3 and didn’t try a 3rd, then missed once in the final round but got back on it for a make.

Strength

E3M – 6 Sets

  • 8 Back Squats (185#)
  • 8/8 Kroc Rows (53#)

Didn’t even do any warm-up reps since I had done all of the squatting with the snatches. I work up a hell of a sweat with this combo, even in round 2 already. Must be from that bent over position being harder to breath. I really am taking my time with the rows, resetting every rep and not doing any kind of bouncing. Tried to focus on engaging my hamstrings and glutes in the squats too, which felt different, but good. Might as well work on this with the light weights for the next few weeks.

Conditioning

Partner with Bryan

  • 100 cal Row
  • 90 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 20 Curtis P (135#)
  • 80 cal Row
  • 60 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 16 Curtis P (135#)

Took us 20:12. We evenly split everything with 25-25 cal, 25-20 wall balls, singles, 20-20 cal, 30 wb, and singles. Those Curtis Ps took forever. Don’t remember the last time I did a set of 30 wall balls. I thought I was in trouble when I got to rep 14. Need to push through like that more often.

Landmines

Yesterday I got out on the course for the first time and walked 9 holes. Did a 47 minute ROMWOD during a work townhall and a short shoulder one at night. Coached the 9am so went in early to do my warm-up and strength work.

Warm-up

  • 2 Sets
    • StrongFit Tricep Openers (10#)
    • 20 Russian KBS (44#)
    • 8/8 Landmine Rows (45#)
    • 10/10 Donkey Kicks
  • Back Squat
    • 9×45#
    • 9×135#

Strength

E3M – 5 Sets

  • 9 Back Squats (185#)
  • 8/8 Landmine Rows (10# on 45# bar)

I worked up a hell of a sweat with this. I few years ago I didn’t see the value in a landmine attachment, but am now finding some neat uses. You can prop the bar into a corner (I had a box up against the wall) and it works just as well, for free. I really liked the different line of action you get compared to a Kroc row. Supposed to give some more oblique work too.

Conditioning

15:00 AMRAP

  • 40 DU
  • 20 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 10 Deadlifts (225#)
  • 5 Burpees

Was a good one. My goal was to go unbroken on the wall balls and deadlifts and was able to. I did the first 2 sets of dubs unbroken, then missed once in each of the other rounds. Finished 5 full rounds plus the double unders and 5 wall balls. Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap. Should be able to get in a ROMWOD tonight.

Thrust It

Finally over the soreness from 16.4. Went to the 5:30 class.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • Arm Circles
  • Shoulder Across Chest Stretch
  • Air Squats
  • High Knees
  • Zombie Kicks

Strength – Shoulder Press

  • 6×45#
  • 6×75
  • 6×95
  • 6x6x115

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 3 Power Cleans (135#)
  • 5 HR Push-ups
  • 8 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Didn’t push the pace though Bryan seemed to think I did. :-/ Finished in 9:17.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 5/5 Kroc Rows (53#)
  • 5 Ring Rows

Yes! Able to do Kroc rows again without any pain in my shoulder. Kept it light though.

Lifting – Thruster

Wanted to get in some heavy-ish cleans after class in case we have a max of some sort as part of 16.5. Didn’t really want to jerk, so figured I’d thruster them.

  • 2×185#
  • 1×207
  • 1×218
  • 1×233
  • 1×244
  • 1×253 (PR)

The boys were already over 200 so I jumped in and worked up fast. They were combining pounds and kilos on the bar which is always confusing.

I was actually feeling more tired than I expected from the workout. 80 wall balls will get you no matter what. Made the 3# PR, so called it good even though I had been thinking about continuing with cleans after I hit a big thruster.

16.4

Was feeling pretty good about this one when it was announced. I’m fine with deadlifts, have grown to enjoy wall balls a bit, and I’ll take a rower any day.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 3:00 Air Dyne
  • 3×10 GHD Heel Drives
  • Deadlifts
    • 10×45#
    • 5×135
    • 5×185
  • Bar Hang

CrossFit Open Workout 16.4

13:00 AMRAP

  • 55 Deadlifts (225#)
  • 55 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 55 Row (calories)
  • 55 Handstand Push-ups

split-to-calsMy plan was:

  • Start with 10s on deadlift with 15 seconds rest. Decrease if it got bad.
  • Do 5 sets of 11 wall balls with 10 seconds of rest so it was similar to a Tabata.
  • Hit about a 1,200 cal/hr pace on the rower.
  • Doubles on HSPU.

I was really expecting the deadlifts to be a lot worse. I stuck to the plan and ended up with 4 sets of 10, then 8-7 to finish. Wall balls were right on plan as well with no problem. I felt more comfortable at 1,100 on the rower and kicked it in for the last 5 calories. Did 6 or so doubles on the wall and was feeling good so did a couple of triples. Then tried to do some quick singles or maybe even some doubles towards the end. Never failed a handstand push-up until the very last one I was trying to get in to beat the clock. I ended up with 27 handstand push-ups for a total rep count of 192 and a tiebreak time of 8:34. So much time to do the HSPU!!

Looking back I really think I over-paced this one. I could have gotten away with 10 second rests on the deadlifts and maybe 3 sets of 15 plus a set of 10 wall balls. I should have pushed the row to be a little uncomfortable too and got up on the wall quicker. I realistically think I could have been off the rower in under 8:00, which would give me another 2-4 HSPU probably. I really expected those deadlifts to get me a lot worse or the wall balls to add up after the deadlifts, but I didn’t have a problem with either one.

I was hoping to average 3:00 for the first 3 movements and had no trouble beating that. My rep goal was 185-195, which was in the 80-90 percentile from the early scoring, so I’m not disappointed at all. You just learn a lot the first time you do a workout. I’m already thinking next year I might just commit to doing every workout twice for a change and an interesting challenge. If they do introduce a 35-39 Masters division it would be fun to see how I rank with full effort and redoing workouts too. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I have to worry about making it into the Masters Qualifier. I’m far from that level.

One more workout this year!

Double Down

Stupid time change. I was very confused for a few seconds this morning when I woke up after 9, before I remembered the hour shift. Messed up my entire morning before the gym.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Snatch
    • 5×45#
    • 3×95#
    • 3×115#

Conditioning

“Isabel”

  • 30 Snatch (135#)

Started with 5 doubles before switching to singles. Finished in 2:26 for an 11 second PR! At 1:00 I had exactly 15 reps done, compared to 17 when I did Grace. I really like this new strategy I mentioned in my last Grace post. Here’s more detail I just shared on Facebook…

For the last year, I’ve been thinking about a strategy for Grace/Isabel that I never really see. Just about everyone comes out of the gate hot, trying to get as many unbroken reps as they can. I think this is a mistake for the majority of us and with my recent attempts at both Isabel and Grace, I did a little testing. Let me explain…

My previous Grace was 2:17, done with 10 unbroken and 20 singles. I got the PR of 2:04 by doing 3×5, 1×2, and 13 singles. For Isabel I went from doing 2×2 and 26 singles to 5×2 and 20 singles. Ok, but what’s the difference?

Dropping the bar, getting (or waiting for) the bounce to settle, and grabbing it again takes the most time in workouts like these. In the first Grace, I dropped the bar and had to reset 20 times, but in the retest there were only 16 bar drops, resulting in a gain of 13 seconds. Isabel bar drops went from 27 to 24, for an 11 second improvement.

Heart rate isn’t all that important in a 2-4 minute workout, but I think it can help a little, at least from the point of how you perceive your level of fatigue. Smaller sets should keep HR down some. I think not starting with a huge set (to near failure) can help a lot with muscle endurance over those 30 reps though. The last 5 reps are going to suck no matter what, but they can feel just a bit easier.

Sure I could have gotten the same 16 bar drop Grace by doing 14 unbroken then 16 singles, but I would have been a lot more tired going into the singles, resulting in less motivation to pick up the bar with each rep. Starting off Isabel with 6 unbroken to make it 24 drops doesn’t sound very fun at this point in my fitness for the same reasons.

Would this work for you?

If either workout takes you more than 5:00, you should use a lighter weight. Check your ego.

If your time is 3:30 or longer, I’d recommend sticking to singles but speed up how long it takes you to pick up the bar. Anyone can get a time of 3:00-3:30 by doing all singles if you pick the bar up as soon as it stops bouncing. You can’t step away from the bar though, you have to be ready to go and pick it up every single time.

If your time is close to that 3:00 mark and maybe even all the way down to 1:40 (??), simply try to decrease the number of times you drop the bar, but keep your sets manageable. Switch to singles when you have to.

The tricky part is making sure you don’t pick something you can’t maintain. For example, I bet I would improve my Grace time if I did 15 sets of 2, getting me to 14 drops instead of 16. Probably wouldn’t be a very good strategy though, because I doubt I’d be able to maintain sets of 2 for the entire workout. I’d end up doing singles and then wouldn’t actually decrease bar drops.

Make sense? If you try it out or have any questions let me know.

On Your Hands

3 Sets

  • MAX Handstand Hold (facing wall)
  • ~2:00 Rest

I should have checked my PR before. Made it 2:36, just 4 seconds short of my best. Then 1:40 and 1:00. Not easy after Isabel.

Conditioning II

3 Rounds

  • 30 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 60 Double Unders
  • 1:1 Rest

Times were 1:36, 1:47, and 1:47. Unbroken wall balls each time with unbroken dubs in round 1, 2 misses in round 2, and 1 miss in round 3. Was fun to do some big sets of wall balls. If not for the shoulders being pretty wrecked from the earlier stuff, using 30# would have been a good challenge.

I tried the false grip bar muscle-up and it wasn’t great. I definitely was sliding off the bar on the swing and had to do kind of a chicken-wing attempt, which I never do. Going to start working on that false grip strength on the bar with some drills because I think it will eliminate the feeling I’m ripping off my entire palm with a full grip on the bar when linking them together.

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap before leaving.

Empty Sally

Woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t close my hands! They were fine this morning though. Feel pretty good after 16.3. My low back was lit up last night but seems ok today.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bar Hang
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • Air Squats
  • 500m Row
  • 45# Bar warm-up

Weightlifting

Clean & Jerk

  • 3×95#
  • 3×135
  • 2×165
  • 2×195
  • 2×215
  • 2×235

No belt or lifting shoes. Pretty easy double.

Conditioning

“Bring Sally Up”

  • 45# Back Squats

Easy, but how did I almost finish with 135#?

21-15-9

  • Wall Balls (30#, 10′)
  • Russian Kettlebell Swings (70#)
  • Burpees

Kept every movement unbroken, but paced myself through the 21 burpees knowing there was a lot of work left. Finished in 6:47.

Work Up Quick

Got to the gym around 5. Figured it would be a good idea to get in some heavy snatches in case some sort of max is coming in the Open.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Snatch Warm-up Complex (45#)
  • Pass-thrus

Snatch

  • 3x40kg
  • 3×50
  • 60
  • 63
  • 66
  • 69
  • 72
  • 75
  • 78
  • 81 (missed first attempt)
  • 83
  • 87 (missed first attempt)
  • 90

Starting at 60, Bryan and I went back and forth without much rest other than changing the plates. Worked up in less than 20 minutes because I wanted to do the 5:30 class. Felt like the make at 90 was a good place to stop. Was rusty for sure, so need to get these in more often. I much prefer lifting like this though instead of taking 40-50 minutes.

Strength – Shoulder Press

Class was programmed as 3 rounds of these sets:

  • 3 @ 85%
  • 2 @ 90%
  • 1 @ 95%

I based mine off what my max should be (180#) after a recent triple with 170#.

  • 6×45#
  • 3×95
  • 3×115
  • 3×145
  • 3 Waves
    • 3×155
    • 2×162.5
    • 1×170

I was questioning myself during the first wave, but they actually got easier the next two times through.

Conditioning

“Wall Ball Kalsu”

  • 100 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 5 Burpees EMOM (Starting at 1:00, so first minute is free)

I don’t like it this way because it doesn’t read correctly and it’s not how you do Kalsu. 🙂 You should start with the burpees as soon as you start the clock. But it’s good to vary things, right? I’ve done it the proper way, in 5:54, a year ago. Today the wall balls felt really light and I was getting in a lot more each minute than I did the other time. Started with 30, then 3 sets of 18, and a final set of 16 to finish in 4:50. I was kind of mad I dropped the wall ball early in the first 2 sets of 18 too, with about 6 seconds left. I could have gotten in 2 more each of those sets.

Update: I found where we did it this same way in October and it took exactly 5:00 then. I’ll take a 10 second improvement! 😀

Midline

8 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s Weighted Plank (45#)
  • 10s Rest

This was the worst part of the workout! I wanted to quit after round 4, but made it all the way through them.

Before the Storm

Felt a little sore in my legs a couple of times today. Maybe from all of the jump rope yesterday after heavy doses of dubs and step-ups on Sunday as well? Went to the 4:30 class.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 400m Run
  • Push Press
    • 5×45#
    • 5×95
    • 5×115
    • 5×135

Not as “nice” today but still in the 40s. Storm on it’s way though to send us back to reality.

Strength

12:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 5 Push Press (155#)
  • 10 Wall Balls (30#, 10′)

Not bad.

Conditioning

6 Rounds

  • 8 Plate Snatches (45#)
  • 8 OH Walking Lunges (45#)
  • 16 Sit-ups

Never stopped or rested. Finished in 6:22. Remembered to get out my AbMat pad too. So much better not sliding all over the place.

Gymnasty

Couldn’t do the pull-ups or ring dips that were programmed so worked on my own things.

5 Sets

  • 5 Ring Swings
  • 5 Strict HSPU

I can’t believe how much more I’m able to open up my shoulders in the back swing compared to just 2-3 weeks ago! Alex said it looked like I had wings.

True L

Almost late getting to 4:30 due to being in a coding zone for work.

Warm-up

  • 2×10 Reverse Hyper (210#)
  • Jogging
  • PVC Good Mornings

Strength – Deadlift

  • 10×45#
  • 5×155
  • 5×225
  • 5×275
  • 5×325
  • 5×365
  • 5×395

Could feel it in that left shoulder when it got heavy. Happy with the 395 though after the back tweak a few weeks ago too. Would have liked to be closer to the 425 I did before the tweak, but no need to push it. I’m already in rough enough shape.

Conditioning

  • 2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16-18-20 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 5 Burpees

Total of 110 wall balls and 50 burpees. Took me 8:36 to finish. All wall balls were unbroken sets. Burpees got slow to try and catch my breath a little.

Midline

7 Rounds

  • 10s L-hang
  • 10s Rest

Actually held a true L for the first 3-4 and then my feet started to droop more and more.

3 Sets

  • 3 GHD Back Extensions

The slow controlled kind. I forgot how hard these are. Probably should have had the pad back more after watching the video again.

3 Sets

  • 15 Reverse Hypers (160#)

Pump!