My buddy Rob is in town doing drop-ins at Coach P’s gym, Crossfit Gotham, so I trekked uptown this morning to workout with them. After warming up and doing a few clean complex drills (power, hang power, hang squat, full clean), front squats, and wrist warmups, we go into today’s WOD…more cleans!
Starting at 95lb, perform 1 clean every minute on the minute, going up by 10lb increments until you can’t go any heavier. I maxed out at 225lb, which is a big PR.
I was doing full squat cleans for the first few rounds since I had never really practiced them before. Coach P gave me some really helpful tips - use the hook grip (duh), jump into it, and don’t think. He also suggested that I work the power clean until the weight got heavy enough to justify a full squat clean. Surprisingly, I stuck with the power cleans from about 175 to 215 and I just magically dropped into a full squat on 225. I’m sure it wasn’t too pretty, but it was full ROM and it counted. It’s amazing what a little thoughtful coaching can do.
Night workout at the 5th Ave Gym. Did a quick Cindy-like warmup and got to work:
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- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Power Clean
- Complex Pair - repeat 4x (Rest 60 sec between B & C and D & A)
- One Arm Bench Press x 5/arm x 80lb
- Decline Plyometric Pushups x 8
- DB Step Ups x 5/leg x 65lb (in each hand)
- Knee Tucks x 8
- Finisher: DB Swings
I was gassed out at the end and my swings were ugly so I bailed out of the rest of the finisher. Definitely got a sufficient workout and a good sweat. Also worked out a lot of the soreness from my tabata adventure the other day.
Gotta maintain some explosiveness/speed strength training in my life so I don’t become one of those slow twitch jagoffs. At the 5th Ave Gym:
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Barbell Punch Press
- Complex Pair - repeat 4x (Rest 60 sec between B & C and D & A)
- Dumbbell Row x 5/arm x 85lb
- Plyometric Pullups x 5
- Bulgarian Split Squats x 5/leg x 50lb (in each hand)
- Knee Jumps x 5
- Finisher: Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
Basement explosive strength training with my old friend Larry Storch. 80lbs for all exercises:
- Sandbag power clean - 4 x 5
- 4 x Circuit A
- Sandbag push press x 5
- Sandbag jump squat x 5
- 4 x Circuit B
- Sandbag explosive floor press x 5
- Plyometric pullups x 5
- Sandbag shouldering - 3 x 10/side
Minimal rest (45-60 sec between exercises). Didn’t feel too much fatigue or sweat until the high-rep shouldering for a finisher. Not sure if this is the best method for speed strength/explosiveness, but I thought the push press/jump squat combo was nice.
I still have the triple clap pushup in my arsenal, but I want to start incorporating more explosive/speed strength training to make sure I stay explosive. I did everything with my trusty sandbag, so 80lbs across the board:
- Sandbag getups x 5/side
- Sandbag clean & press - 5 x 3
- Sandbag sumo deadlift highpulls - 5 x 3
- Complex Pair - repeat 4x
- Sandbag floor press x 10
- Plyometric pushups x 8
- Sandbag lunges x 5/side
- Lunge jumps x 8/side
- Finisher: Sandbag shouldering - 2 x 10/side
High-rep shouldering is a great finisher. I was originally planning on doing a quick conditioning circuit after this session, but the finisher lived up to its name and I had nothing left in the tank. Also worth noting: the lunge jumps super-set is always torturous.
Warmed up with 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 pullups, pushups, and squats.
- Thrusters
- Barbell Punch Press
- Complex Pair - repeat 4x
- One Arm Bench Press x 5/arm x 85lb
- Plyometric Pushups x 8
- Wall Sit x 60 sec
- Knee Jumps x 8
- Finisher: DB Swings
Total time: 50 min. Strong work today. Strong sweat today. Comment of the day: “you got some ill plyometrics!”
Spreadsheet of my entire program »
Warmed up with some light thrusters to work on form.
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Power Clean
- Complex Pair - repeat 3x
- One Arm Bench Press x 5/arm x 85lb
- Plyometric Pushups x 8
- Bulgarian Split Squat x 5/side x 45lb in each hand
- Knee Jumps x 8
- Finisher: Sumo Deadlift High-Pulls
Total time: 45 min. Lawd, I’ve been missing some SDLHP in my life. They’re a great finisher, but they also fatigue my grip and arms in a way that few other exercises in my repertoire do. Good day overall.
Spreadsheet of my entire program »
Warmed up with some light DB Snatches and DB Swings, then went to work:
- Thrusters
- Barbell Punch Press
- Complex Pair - repeat 4x
- Side-to-side Pullups x 4/side
- Explosive Pullups x 8
- DB Lunges x 4/side x 60lb
- Lunge Jumps x 8
- Finisher: DB Swings
Total time: 45 min. I had to scale back the weight on the thrusters because I couldn’t get the movement connected and explosive when I went heavy. The transition from the front squat portion of the thruster to the overhead press is a lot easier with light weight because my wrists can hande the weight. I need to work on this before going heavier. Everything else was alright, but I was pooped today.
Spreadsheet of my entire program »
- Barbell Squat
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Power Clean
- Complex Pair - repeat 4x
- One Arm Bench Press x 5/arm x 85lb
- Plyometric Pushups x 8
- Wall Squat x 60 sec
- Squat Jumps x 10
Total time: 50 min. Morning session at the gym for a change. I tried to minimize rest between sets and it really got the sweat pumping. Everything felt pretty good and I was feeling very explosive on the cleans. So explosive, in fact, that I hit my chin with the bar and bit my lip. Too cooked for a finisher today.
Another day at the Zermatt Resort in Utah. They don’t have barbells but they DO have dumbbells up to 70lbs, so I went for an explosive strength workout:
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Double DB Push Press
- Complex Pair - repeat 4x (Rest 60 sec between B & C and D & A)
- One Arm Bench Press x 5/arm x 70lb
- Plyometric Pushups x 8
- Bulgarian Split Squats x 5/leg x 40lb (in each hand)
- Knee Jumps x 8
- Finisher: DB Swing
And of course I took a steam afterwards. I love a good steam.
I was sick and tired of not pushing any weight and gym in the Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui has dumbbells going up to 50lbs and lots of space, so I opted for an explosive strength workout.
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Double DB Push Press
- Complex Pair - repeat 4x (Rest 60 sec between B & C and D & A)
- Pushup bottom position static hold x 60 sec
- Plyometric Pushups x 10
- Wall Sit x 60 sec
- Box Jumps x 1
- Finisher: 100 Med Ball Slams (15lbs)
Caught a pretty serious sunburn the day before this workout, so I had to avoid any exercises that would put me on my back.
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Barbell Punch Press
- Complex Pair - repeat 4x
- One Arm Bench Press x 5/arm x 90lb (3 reps on last 2 sets)
- Plyometric Pushups x 8
- DB Lunges x 6/side x 65lb
- Lunge Jumps x 10
- Finisher: Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
Started off with some light jump rope work and 100 double unders. I got 44 in a row, which is a PR. Also did some jump rope at the end to cool down.
Explosive strength day.
- 1 Arm DB Snatch
- Barbell Punch Press
- Complex Pair - repeat 4x (Rest 60 sec between B & C and D & A)
- One Arm Bench Press - 5/arm x 85lb
- Plyometric Pushups x 8
- Lumberjack Squat - 5 x 100lb
- Knee Jumps x 8
- Finisher: Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
Went back to the old one arm DB snatch today because I just like it better than the split snatch. I consulted the good book and Ross recommended using 60-65% of your max for explosive/speed strength training, so I went for the 65lb DBs. Tried to minimize rest between everything today. Felt good.
After going through the first few exercises today, I realized I could turn today’s workout into a Javorek Complex-style workout and I did just that. Started individually:
- Double DB Split Snatch
- Double DB Hang Cleans
- Double DB Front Squat
- Double DB Push Press
Then I ran through the complex 3 times. Same exercises, but the weights never hit the floor. Since I’m dumb, I already tired myself out by doing them individually first, so I had to drop the weight between the hang cleans and the front squats on the second and third complex. This was tough, but could be a great workout if I was fresh. I’ll try it again.
Finisher: 100 Med ball slams.
