Kicked things off with some good old fashioned rope skipping before some basic DROMs. Then competition warmup 2:
- 5 Muscle Up transitions (low rings)
- 10 GHD Situps
- 10 GHD Hip Extensions
- 10 One Legged Squats (alternating legs)
Repeat 3x. Only hit the MUs in the last round (no time)
Deadlifts:
- 3 x 300lb
- 3 x 345lb
- 1 x 390lb
- 3 x 375lb
Got called for back rounding after the first rep of my heavy set, so I knocked the weight down and focused on form. Gotta keep those damn shoulders locked and tight once I start the pull. Then a dreaded WOD came up.
Death by Burpees:
With a continuously running clock do one burped the first minute, two burpees the second minute, three burpees the third minute…continuing as long as you are able.
My score: 14 rounds + 10. We had a 20 min cap on this one, so I started over at 0 after the set of 15 and then went all out on the last minute (20 reps). Looks like I was damn close to my score from the last time I did this a couple of years ago. I’m going to do this again after I complete my 30 day paleo challenge and see if the numbers improve.
Quick DROMS and right into warmup 1 today:
- 15 sec L-sit (rings)
- 10 Muscle Snatch to OHS (2 sec pause at bottom, 45lb)
- 10 Games-standard Pushups
- 5 Strict pullups to 10 Kipping pullups
Repeat 3x (ran out of time on the OHS in round 3)
Deadlift:
- 5 x 315lb
- 3 x 360lb
- 3 x 1 x 400lb
We did three singles for our heaviest set in lieu of the rep-out. Everything felt good today.
WOD:
- 50 Double Unders
- 40 Squats
- 30 Situps
Repeat 3x
Time: 6:54. I moved pretty steadily through this one, only had a couple of trip ups on the DUs when my rope hit the cage (it was crowded) and only took 2 short breaks on the last set of squats, which ate me up.
Hit my first deadlift exposure for this Wender cycle. Competition warmup 2 for the first time:
- 5 Muscle Up transitions (low rings)
- 10 GHD Situps
- 10 GHD Hip Extensions
- 10 One Legged Squats (alternating legs)
Repeat 3x. Got everything but the last set of OLS.
Deadlift:
- 5 x 135lb
- 5 x 225lb
- 3 x 275lb
- 5 x 295lb
- 5 x 335lb
- 3 x 380lb
We’re not doing rep-outs on deadlifts for this Wendler cycle. Glad I got paired with coach Fox for this since I had a trained eye on my form throughout. My position felt really good today and I liked deadlifting in my weightlifting shoes for the first time.
WOD:
- Wall Ball (30lb) x 1 min (24, 16, 18)
- Box Jumps (24”) x 1 min (24, 28, 18)
Repeat 3x, resting 1 min between rounds.
Score: 128. This was scaled up from the Rxed 20lb/20” and it really took its toll. I don’t cycle 24” box jumps that well (got in the groove on round 2 for a bit though) and I felt the extra 10lbs on those wall balls, I’ll tell you what.
Made it in for open gym today. Started with a little mobility work and then warmup 1:
- 20 Hollow Rocks
- 15 Squats
- 10 Pushups
- 10 Strict Pullups
Repeat 3x
WOD - AMRAP 7 minutes:
- 2 Deadlifts (335lb)
- 2 Muscle Ups
Score: 3 rounds + 1 MU. Bloody hell. I finished two rounds inside of a minute but I lost my muscle ups in the fourth round. I probably had about 10 failed attempts. If all went well I should have finished about 8-10 rounds. I was planning on doing a lot more deadlifting, so I did another 5 sets of 2 reps after the clock ran out.
Wanted to test my short distance rowing after that, so I hopped on an erg and pulled 500m in 1:32.5, averaging 26 s/m. I was gunning for sub 1:30. Next time.
Third private session with coach Fox tonight. After some hip capsule and chest mobility work with the lax ball, we got down to business. Started by practicing some muscle-up kips swings using a true (non-false) grip. I had a really hard time putting this together, but when we switched back to false grip, I got a few tips to really make this movement more efficient. I need to pull my knees to my chest, then throw my head down to turn over. Then I need to get my legs to full extension and kip the dip. We did some practice on kipping ring dips to reinforce this. Then we did some deadlift work:
Deadlifts:
- 5 x 135lb
- 5 x 185lb
- 3 x 225lb
- 2 x 275lb
- 2 x 295lb
Same cues apply: chest up, deep belly breath to tighten up, then lift from the shoulders. I moved my grip in a few inches, but I’m not sure this really helped. Still needs work. Then a WOD to reinforce these movements:
- 2 Muscle-ups
- 5 Burpees
- 2 Deadlifts (295lb)
Repeat 8x, resting 1 min between sets. I made some serious progress on the MUs today - I was able to string them together for the first time! All but 2 or 3 sets were strung together using my new, efficient kip. It’s amazing how easy the movement felt once I started doing them right. Deadlifts were hit and miss - definitely got soft on a few reps.
Made it in for open gym today and decided to stick with the standard warmup (#2 today):
- 30 sec Front/Supine Plank (alternate each round)
- 10 Reverse Lunges / Leg
- 10 Ring Rows
Repeat 3x
Deadlifts
- 5 x 135lb
- 5 x 225lb
- 3 x 5 x 315lb
Just wanted to do some submaximal deadlifts to reinforce the new cues that I got from coach Fox. After that I practiced some Sumo Deadlift High-Pulls, which are just really sloppy right now. I loaded the bar to 95lb and did 20 reps/minute 3x, with 1 min rest between each set. Lots of room for improvement.
Had my second private training session with Coach Fox tonight. Started with a warmup of 8 reverse lunges with pvc disclocates/side, 8 shoulder blade-contracting mini pullups, 30 sec supine plank, 3x. This was to prep for the deadlift, which went under the microscope tonight. We really focused on form and slowly worked up to semi-heavy singles.
Deadlifts:
- 5 x 135lb
- 5 x 185lb
- 3 x 225lb
- 1 x 275lb
- 1 x 315lb
- 1 x 345lb
- 1 x 365lb
The weight felt easy since I have no clue when my back starts to round, but apparently the flaws started to show at 275lb. It’s not my lower back that tends to round, but my mid-back. Fox gave me some cues to help: chest up, take a deep belly breath, and push the tops of my shoulders up towards the ceiling on the way up. All of those cues really improved my form and I felt pretty good. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue with this and go heavy. Then an on-the-minute WOD to practice form and assess my muscle-up technique:
EMOTM for 10 min:
- 1 Deadlift (275lb)
- 1 Muscle-up
This felt pretty good on both ends. I failed on my last rep of the muscle up, but I think it was mainly because my hands were really sweaty. Once I chalked up, I hit it. I got some good tips on exaggerating my kip on the MUs, but it wasn’t really the focus for today. We also did some static holds on the GHD and practiced some standing barbell rows, both of which should help me strengthen my erector spinae and make me more aware of proper back position in the DL. Gotta work these every time I make it to the gym. I’m really getting a lot out of these sessions and I’m glad I booked em.
3 minutes of rowing followed by some always appreciated hip capsule work for today’s warmup.
Deadlifts:
WOD:
- 5 Knees-to-Elbows
- 10 Reverse Lunges (each leg)
- 20 Double Unders
AMRAP in 12 minutes
Score: 10 rounds + 2 lunges. This was a good one - very different movements that allowed me to keep chugging at a pretty good clip. The only place I slowed down at all was on the lunges, but I never stopped. All DUs unbroken except for one trip up in round 6.
My deadlifts are still ugly and my back keeps fucking rounding. I can go much heavier, but what’s the point if I’m not doing it right? I need to focus more on keeping my upper lats engaged, which seems to help. Not sure what else I can do here. I really want to go heavy.
