Tag: Wood Chopper

Home From Cancun

Well, we didn’t end up going to the fitness center again on our vacation. We got home last night, ran errands today, and were out in the garage a little after 3:30. We’re going to start some more structured golf stuff. The first is a series of swing speed home workouts from Jaacob Bowden, the founder of Swing Man Golf.

Dynamic Swing Strength

3 Sets of 4 Reps (per side)

  • Decline Chest Fly to Triceps Extension
  • Cross Body Lat Pulldown
  • Wood Chops
  • Lateral Raises
  • Incline Chest Fly

The program said to do 2-3 sets of 2 reps, but you could barely get a feel for the movement that quick and seemed like it would be way too easy. These are all using bands and we used the Crossover Symmetry bands we already have and we decided to do both sides of the body because we also want to be balanced. We really though the rep scheme was going to be crazy low, but we could feed the later sets of each move.

Conditioning

  • 10:00 AMRAP
    • 4/4 Twisting Box Jumps (12/14″)
    • 5/5 Wood Choppers (12/15#)
    • 6 Lateral Ball Slams (10/14#)
  • 5:00 Rest
  • 10:00 AMRAP
    • 8 Goblet Squat Jump (10/15#)
    • 10 Pike-ups
    • 12 Push-ups
  • 5:00 Rest
  • 10:00 AMRAP
    • 4 Burpee Pull-ups
    • 10 Renegade Rows (15/30#)
    • 6/6 Single Leg RDLs (20/30# DB)

We got really sweaty from these, especially after four days off. We’re also having unusually nice weather for November.

We sat to cool down and did a bunch of foot hurdles.

Up & Down the Driveway

Back Rehab

  • 10 Cat-Camel
  • 10 Kneeling Trunk Rotations
  • 5-3-1 McGill Big 3
    • Curl-up
    • Side Plank
    • Side Plank
    • Bird Dog
    • Bird Dog

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 10 Push-ups
  • 10/10 Half-kneeling Wood Chops (20#)
  • 10/10 Single Arm OH Big Flutter Kicks (20#)
  • 150m Run
  • 20 Band Pull Aparts (blue)
  • 20 In & Out DB Curls (20#)
  • 20 Pike-ups
  • 150m Run
  • 20 DB Push Press (20#)
  • 20 Weighted Lunges (20#)
  • 20 Hollow Pec Decs (10#)
  • 150m Run

Really good one and it was really hot and humid already here. The driveway had an incline on the way out and was in to the wind, but then we coasted on the way back to the garage. We didn’t use a timer.

Soak up the Sun

My back was a little worse through the night and when I woke up this morning. Could feel it a bit here and there through the day. My hands ached this morning as I sat and drank my coffee. Worked out at 2pm today.

Warm-up

  • Monster Walks
  • 10 Monster Band Squats
  • 20 PVC Passes

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 12/12 Hanging Oblique Raise
  • 12 Weighted V-ups (20# MB)
  • 12/12 Wood Chopper (30# DB)
  • 30s Seated Plate Twist (10# plate)

Took exactly 16:00!

Conditioning

40:00 AMRAP

  • 40/30 cal BikeErg
  • 30s Rest
  • 40 DB Push Jerks (30/20# DBs)
  • 30s Rest
  • 400m Run
  • 30s Rest
  • 40/30 cal Row
  • 30s Rest

I mapped out the 400 meters to be out to edge of Dundee and back. Originally I had the SkiErg programmed, but replaced it with the push jerks to break it up a bit.

We took the machines and dumbbells outside for some sun. I held a pretty steady pace on everything. Went 24-16 on the first and fourth rounds of jerks and 15-15-10 on the second and third. Finished 4 rounds plus 40 calories on the bike with 16 seconds to spare on the clock. I really like that bike and am so glad I bought one.

One Left

Got my cardio done in the morning so I’d have all day after the gym to clean the garage and maybe trim bushes.

Year of the Engine – Polarized

18:00 Airdyne

**Endurance pace. @ 4:00, 8, 12, and 16 sprint for 7s, recover back to endurance.

I felt good and was able to keep 73-75 RPM for the endurance pace. Racked up 530 cals and 6.72 miles (10,815m).

Accessory Warm-up

4 Sets

  • 30s Handstand Hold
  • 20s L-sit
  • 10 Barbell Curls (45-55-65-75#)

Still no chance of getting my legs in to a real L and doubt I’ll ever get there. Was nice to try some other curls after using dumbbells for months now.

Conditioning

12:00 Time Cap

  • EMOM – 30 DU
  • 100 Goblet Squats (70#)

This is a Jacob Heppner workout (he used 124#) I had saved in my list. I wore my belt for seven minutes and then threw it off. Didn’t really need it and it was taking up too much time. I started with 12 and then did 10s to get to 52. In the 6th round I really struggled with my dubs and ended up skipping squats that minute. I came back with two sets of 12, had a rough round on the rope only allowing me to get 9 squats, leaving 15. I had some more misses with the rope and pushed hard to get those squats done, but came up one rep short! After trying to get in those reps my quads were on fire and I struggled to jump for the dubs. Didn’t leave myself much time, but got in my remaining rep and finished at 10:57. Gross workout!

More Accessory

4 Sets

  • 30s Double KB OH Hold (44# KBs)
  • 20 Wood Choppers (30# DB)
  • 10 Pendlay Rows (115#, supinated)
  • 5 Evil Wheels

Those holds are so good for shoulder mobility.

Jump, Jump

I woke up sore in many different areas!! Went to open gym at noon.

Warm-up

5:00 Assault Bike

Just a casual 2.7km.

Strength

Bench Press

  • 8×45#
  • 8×95
  • 8×135
  • 8×165
  • 8×185
  • 8×200
  • 8×210

Warming up the weights were feeling really heavy, until 200, which felt really good. The 210 is 5# more than the last time, so I was thinking it was a PR. I was wrong because I’ve done 8×225 when I was approaching a 300 pound max.

Conditioning

10:00 EMOM

  • 25 DU
  • AMRAP Burpee Box Jumps (24/20″, facing the box)

I was missing once or twice per set on rounds 2-7. Started out with 8 burpee box jumps, then a 5, a bunch of 6s, and was able to speed up in the last few rounds. I found a nice step sequence for going into and out of the burpees. Ended up with 68 total burpee box jumps. I could really feel my engine work kick in over the second half of this workout. Probably should have pushed a bit harder in the first half, but I really thought this was going to be more miserable.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 10/10 Wood Choppers (30# MB)
  • 30 Plank Jumps
  • 20 Floor Wipers
  • 30s Hollow Hold

I will not be using a slam ball again for wood choppers; too awkward with the moving load inside of the ball. This was tougher than expected. Took me 9:20.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • Dumbbell Curl 21s (30#)

Planned to go 30-30-25, but decided to go for it.

Engine Builder – Endurance

36:00 Airdyne

I was not looking forward to this, but dragged myself out to the garage at 6pm. Ideally I’d like to get back to the 75 RPM pace I had been using up through 32 minutes, but the 34 and today were not up to par. Today’s average was probably 70 RPM. I got 917 calories and 12.65 miles. Just for comparison I had 924 calories on the 32 minute endurance ride.

I might golf tomorrow if the weather is decent, otherwise it’ll be a complete rest day.

Unrecovered PR

I guarantee I’m not going to any time soon, but I keep thinking I want to redo 19.5 to put in a better effort. Hopefully I stop thinking about it after today’s workout. I have to remember I got through these last three workouts with a significant injury, which prevented me from attending classes; I haven’t been able to squat at all or press any weight overhead. It will still be close to my best, if not the best, Open percentile ranking in the 8 years I’ve done it.

My quads and traps are incredibly sore today. Probably worse than post-Karen DOMS. Went to open gym at noon.

Warm-up

  • 3:00 Assault Bike (33 cals)
  • Dead Hang & Stretching
  • Shoulder Passes

Conditioning

J.T.
21-15-9

  • HSPU
  • Ring Dip
  • Push-up

The first time I tried this hero WOD, we greatly underestimated it and had to scale back to 21-11. Then two summers ago I completed it in 10:06. My goal for today was to go sub nine. The plan was 3×7, 3×5, and 5-4 for both types of push-ups and all triples for the dips. Figured it would come down to the ring dips.

I ended up doing 3 equal sets for all HSPU. Ring dips were 7×3, then 2 sets of 3 and the rest quick singles. For push-ups I struggled through 3×7 and then did triples the rest of the way. Finished in 8:04 for a 2:02 PR!!

  • 108-72-36 Double Unders
  • 36-24-12 Goblet Lunges (53/35#)
  • 12-8-4 Burpee Broad Jumps

Missed two dubs in the first round after 71 in a row and I don’t think I missed in the other sets. I thought the lunges were going to be harder than they were. Took me 8:01.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • Dumbbell Curls – 21s (25#)
  • 10/10 Single Leg Glute Bridges (squeeze at the top)
  • 30s/30s Single Leg Stand (squeeze glute)

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 10/10 Side V-ups
  • 20 Leg Circles
  • 10/10 Wood Choppers (25#)
  • 20 Plank Jumps
  • 20 Flutter Kicks

Took 10:23, which is 2:17 quicker than about a month ago. Wonder if the plank jumps will fire up my hip flexors like last time.

I planned to do some rowing intervals tonight, but my WHOOP recovery is only 12% and Mom is visiting for the night, so cancel that. Tomorrow will probably be a complete rest day, unless I get back in the green. Either these Open workouts are really blowing me up or the cardio work is more taxing than I’d expect.

Side Plank Jumps are Better

My nutrition wasn’t great last night and I was up late, so I’m feeling tired today.

Strength

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 6×95
  • 3×135
  • 3×165
  • 3×195
  • 3×215
  • 3×230
  • 3×240
  • 3×245

Only 10 pounds shy of matching my best triple, so at least I’m getting some of my strength back in my upper body. Wish I had tried 250 instead of 245 for that last set.

Helped with plate changing and cheering on some 19.2 attempts, so 25+ minutes before the metcon.

Conditioning

2 Cycles

  • 3:00 AMRAP (continue reps in the 2nd cycle)5 Bar Muscle-ups
    • 20 Reverse Lunges (50# DBs)
  • 2:00 Rest

Wore my grips and was able to do all sets of bar muscle-ups unbroken. The lunges got rough and I was surprised how nasty that first three minutes was. I got 2 + 11 in the first cycle and finished with 4 + 21. In the second cycle I was playing around with looking back towards the ceiling in my kip, which it felt like kept me patient in the pull. Something that needs more testing for sure.

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 20 Hollow Rocks
  • 20 Side Plank Jumps (alt)
  • 50 Hollow Flutter Kicks
  • 10/10 Wood Choppers (30#)

I like these plank jumps to the side a lot better. Finished in 9:01.

Accessory

Dumbbell Curls – 21s

  • 3 Sets 7-7-7 @ 20#

The end of the 2nd and 3rd sets got tough. Will I be able to bump up to 25# for one set next time? Maybe I should try increasing the weight on the first set instead of the last one.

Several hours later I went out to the garage…

Engine Builder – Speed

3 Rounds

  • 5:00 Airdyne (AD2)
  • 2:00 Rest

Based on my best 10 minutes for cals I figured 85 RPM would be a good pace for this. Turns out that was too hot for today. My legs felt heavy from the lunges. I tallied 175, 167, and 174 calories. Happy with the comeback on the final one. You can see from my heart rate that I didn’t push the second interval. Weak sauce!

I really need to fix my custom Airdyne monitor so I can keep an eye an all of the numbers at once.

Side V-ups from Kari Pearce

My quads are a little sore, but still feel pretty good.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Dead Hang
  • 10 Walking Lunges
  • Back Squat
    • 10×45#
    • 5×95
    • 5×135
    • 5×165
    • 5×185

Strength

10:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 5 Back Squats (205#)
  • 50′ Single Arm Overhead Dumbbell Walking Lunges (50#)

That got the heart rate up!

Conditioning

30-20-10

  • Dumbbell Power Snatches (50/35#)
  • Toes to Bars
  • Pistol Squats

Unbroken on the snatches and all sets of five for toes to bars. Pistols were shaky and slow with my back a little tight and just having done back squats. Can tell I haven’t done them in a long time. Grabbed my foot on each rep to help with balance. Squatting on my right leg actually felt fine, but I was unstable on the left. Finished in 10:19.

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 10/10 Side V-ups
  • 10/10 Leg Circles
  • 10/10 Wood Choppers (25#)
  • 20 Plank Jumps
  • 20 Flutter Kicks

B came up with this. The side v-ups were an idea from Kari Pearce.

The combination wasn’t as tough as I expected because the movements didn’t interfere with each other and we could keep moving. Good to hit more side action though because we don’t do much of that for our core in Crossfit. I finished in 12:40.

Accessory

Dumbbell Curl – 21s

  • 7-7-7 @ 15#
  • 7-7-7 @ 20#
  • 7-7-7 @ 20#

Felt a little easier than the other day with these same weights. All 20s next time.

Skill

Did a few handstand walk attempts. Got over 10 feet for the first time and ended there since it was already 90 minutes at the gym.

Tiger!

Today is all about Tiger Woods, but went to open gym at noon.

Active Life – Bulletproof Shoulders 15

3 Rounds

  • 5 Yoga Push-ups
  • 10 Cuban Presses (PVC)

3 Sets (each arm)

  • 75m Single Arm OH Carry (53# KB)
  • 1:00 Rest

Conditioning

2 Rounds

  • 25 MB Cleans (20#)
  • 15 Ball-facing Burpees

Those medicine ball cleans were burning in the first round before I got through 20 reps. Jumping over the ball was interesting. I was trying not too, but it felt like cheating if your feet were apart because they didn’t have to go over the tallest part of the ball. Was able to pick up the pace for the second set of burpees and finished in 4:19.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 5 Pendlay Rows (135#)
  • 6/6 Single Leg Deadlifts (135#)
  • 7 Evil Wheels
  • 8/8 Wood Choppers (40# DB)

This was some nasty work. The deadlifts got tough after not doing them for a while and those wood choppers were a lot harder than I expected.