Out on the turf field at Washington Park. Originally intended to do some sprints, but it was jam packed so I found a corner and did Tabata intervals (20 seconds work/10 seconds rest) for the following exercises, circuit style:
- Burpees (9, 9, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8)
- Mountain Climbers
- Pushups (16, 15, 14, 12, 12, 12, 12, 11)
- Squats (18, 16, 18, 18, 17, 18, 18, 18)
- Chinnies
Repeat circuit 8x for 20 minutes total.
Burpees were right on par, squats were down due to fielding some questions from curious toddlers, pushups were down 10 reps from the last time (which was a poor pushup performance to begin with), but after lots of pushups and burpees the past few days I’m not too upset. Tomorrow - no pushups or burpees.
Previously: 10/9/11; 3/21/09; 11/22/08
Started with some DROMs and jumping jacks this morning. Then a warmup of 3 rounds of :30 hollow hold, :30 handstand hold (from wall walk-up). Then to the bar:
Floor Press:
- 3 x 185lb
- 3 x 205lb
- 3 x 225lb
- 3 x 245lb
- 3 x 255lb *FAIL*
Just didn’t have it on the last set. Probably should have tried it again after a bit of rest.
WOD:
- 15 KB Swings (24kg)
- 15 Box Jumps (24”)
AMRAP 7 min
Score: 5 rounds + 8 BJ. I have a hard time cycling 24” jumps so I had to break them up into sets of 5 after the first few rounds.
Then, Nick’s rowing cooldown: start rowing at 2:00/500m pace; at 300m decrease the intensity to 2:10/500m pace; at 600m go to 2:20/500m pace until 900m; and so on and so forth. I got 1500m in before I had to split.
Got in a little bit early so I hit the erg warmup: start rowing at 3:00/500m pace; at 300m increase the intensity to 2:50/500m pace; at 600m go to 2:40/500m pace until 900m; until I hit 2:20 and the whistle blew. Then some DROMs, PVC dislocates, and a whole mess of barbell warmups for the snatch.
WOD:
- 40 Burpees
- 20 Power Snatches (95lb)
- 20 Pullups
- 20 Burpees
- 10 Power Snatches (95lb)
- 10 Pullups
Time: 9:15. This was pretty tough. I tried to pace the first set of burpees so I wasn’t totally gassed, but I’m not sure it helped. Those snatches got tough to string together after the first set. I was really disappointed with my performance today and though some of it could be chalked up to a terrible night’s sleep, I gotta make some changes to my diet too. I got derailed by the holidays and too much abuse has gone on for too long.
Cooled down with the opposite of the rowing warmup: start rowing at 2:00/500m pace; at 300m decrease the intensity to 2:15/500m pace; at 600m go to 2:30/500m pace until 900m; at 900m go to 2:45/500m pace; at 1200 go to 3:00/500m pace. That’s it.
Just me and coach Nick at the 6am today. We scrappd the standardized warmups in favor of Nick’s erg warmup: start rowing at 3:00/500m pace; at 300m increase the intensity to 2:50/500m pace; at 600m go to 2:40/500m pace until 900m; and so on and so forth until you get to 2:00/500m pace. The first few 300s felt excruciatingly slow, but they were great for getting really detailed feedback on my form from Nick. I need to focus on pulling with my arms as soon as my heels touch, keep my back position throughout the catch, and keep everything nice and smooth. I also bumped my feet down to the ‘4’ notch and Nick suggested maybe even trying a 5 to get a better angle.
Press:
- 5 x 100lb
- 5 x 120lb
- 7 x 135lb*
This was my first press exposure for the Wendler cycle, so I’m using an estimated 1RM of 175 to calculate my numbers. Disappointed with only 7 on the rep out, but I really haven’t been pressing much.
WOD:
- 10 One Arm DB Hang Clean and Push Press/arm (40lb)
- 30 DB Swings (40lb)
Repeat 5x
Time: 12:12. Really, really slow. Not sure if I went too heavy on the weight or if it was just an off day. Limiting factor on this one was my GD grip.
Cooled down with the opposite of the rowing warmup: start rowing at 2:00/500m pace; at 300m decrease the intensity to 2:10/500m pace; at 600m go to 2:20/500m pace until 900m; and so on and so forth. I got 1500m in before I had to split.
Good morning with the 6am crew today. Started with DROMS and warmup 2:
- 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.
Squats:
- 5 x 200lb
- 5 x 235lb
- 9 x 265lb*
Since I hit all my reps for the last 3 weeks, I upped my estimated max 10lb to 345 and recalculated my work sets based on that. Felt pretty good. Was gunning for 10 on my rep out (which is what I got last time with 255).
WOD:
- Power Cleans (185lb) x 20 sec (4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4)
Repeat 8x, resting 40 sec between rounds.
Score: 32. This felt like the right weight - it was heavy but I was able to keep moving in every set. Can’t imagine getting more than 4 reps unless I controlled the weight down each time (I just dropped it). My collarbone took a real beating, honey.
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.
Squat day, baby! Started with some light foam rolling and then right into warmup 2:
- 5 Muscle Up transitions (low rings)
- 10 GHD Situps
- 10 GHD Hip Extensions
- 10 One Legged Squats (alternating legs)
Repeat 3x.
Squats:
- 5 x 225lb
- 3 x 255lb
- 7 x 285lb*
Last set was a rep-out. I gave up on the prescribed warmup sets (too much math) and just did 2 sets with the empty bar, then 135, and 185. Nice round numbers. Squats felt really good today. Maybe I should’ve fought for another rep or two on the last set, but it felt solid.
Partner Chipper WOD:
- 75 Shoulder-to-overhead (165lb)
- 100 Power Cleans (165lb)
- 125 Pushups
Time: 15:30. Worked with Allen and Isaac and ended up not quite pulling (pushing?) my share of the weight. The first few sets of the push jerk were 5 reps, as planned, the last few were 3 reps. Power cleans were strong - hit sets of 5 throughout and then a set of 10 to close it out. Pushups were 20, 10, 5.
Got in a few minutes early so I rowed an easy 3 minutes (20 s/m) then did a little foam rolling. Once class started, I got sent back to the rower for another 3 min, but pushed it to 30 s/m for the last minute. Then we did some PVC drills to warm up the OHS. THEN, warmup 1:
- 15 sec L-sit (rings)
- 10 Games-standard Pushups
- 5 Strict pullups to 10 Kipping pullups
Repeat 3x.
Overhead Squats:
- 3 x 95lb
- 1 x 135lb
- 1 x 155lb
- 1 x 175lb *FAIL*
- 1 x 175lb
- 1 x 195lb *FAIL*
- 1 x 195lb (PR)
I had more in me, but I ran out of time. Wasn’t sticking my butt back enough for a lot of these reps and once I got the cue it felt much stronger. Also need to focus on externally rotating my femurs to keep my feet from rolling in.
10 min AMRAP:
- 30 Double Unders
- 15 Overhead Squats (95lb)
Score: 4 rounds + 4 OHS. I’m really rubbish at OHS. First set was unbroken, the rest were broken in 2. Had lots of fails when I lost my position, which gets frustrating.
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.
New warmups, y’all! These even have modifications geared toward more competitive athletes. Warmup 1 for the first time:
- 15 sec L-sit (rings)
- 10 Muscle Snatch to OHS (2 sec pause at bottom) with PVC
- 10 Games-standard Pushups
- 5 Strict pullups to 10 Toes-to-bar
Repeat 3x 2x. Started late and ran out of time. Not sure about going right from those TTB to the L-sits - might make more sense to try kipping pullups on top of strict pullups. I should have used an empty barbell instead of a PVC too.
Squats:
- 5 x 120lb
- 5 x 150lb
- 3 x 180lb
- 3 x 210lb
- 3 x 240lb
- 8 x 270lb*
First three sets were warmup sets. Second Wendler squat exposure. Felt pretty good today. Then onto the WOD.
12 min AMRAP, resting 1:07 between sets:
- 3 Man-Makers (35lb)
- 5 Box Jumps
- 7 Ball Slams (30lb)
Score: 6 rounds. The first round took me 1:07, so I used that as my rest throughout. Finished subsequent rounds in 1:00, so I should have just made it easier on myself and rested 1 min. Really liked this since it was short, explosive, and with built in rest so I could go max intensity each round.
Today was the first day of the new Wendler 5/3/1 squat cycle, which is exciting. Started with warmup 1:
- 20 Hollow rocks
- 15 Squats
- 10 Pushups
- 10 Strict pullups
Repeat 3x
Squats:
- 5 x 120lb
- 5 x 155lb
- 3 x 185lb
- 5 x 195lb
- 5 x 225lb
- 10 x 255lb*
First three sets were warmup sets. All numbers were calculated using a handy 5/3/1 iphone app and based off of a 335lb 1RM (which is the heaviest I’ve squatted recently). That last set is a rep-out. I was shooting for more reps, but it felt heavy today. Then onto the WOD.
8 min AMRAP:
- 10 Pushups
- 15 Pullups
- 20 KB Swings (53lb)
Score: 3 rounds + 15 pullups. The pullup / KB swing combo always wears on my hands so I put the brakes on a bit to make sure I didn’t rip anything. Still a tough little workout.
Hopped on the rower for 3 easy minutes before class and then went through the day’s warmup with the class: skipping rope, bird-dogs, and basic mobility work. Then we warmed up our back squats to set up a 10RM (estimated at 75% of 1RM):
Back Squat:
This was a good weight for me. It was tough but I didn’t really have to battle any reps out. My bar position felt good throughout too, which is always a struggle on these long sets.
21, 15, 9:
Time: 3:50. This was about 1 minute faster than the last time I tried this. The main difference was that I hit all pullups unbroken this time (last time I was nursing some ripped calluses) so it felt much better.
Warmed up by running a quick 400m then doing some mobility work: triceps mashing, rack stretch, and a whole bunch of empty bar drills to warm up the clean. Then we had 20 minutes to find a 1RM on the clean.
Power Clean:
- 5 x 135lb
- 3 x 185lb
- 1 x 205lb
- 1 x 225lb
- 1 x 235lb (PR)
- 1 x 245lb *FAIL*
- 1 x 245lb *FAIL*
This was my first time cleaning with the weightlifting shoes and it felt good. I was really close to nailing the last attempt at 245, but I just couldn’t put it together. Still happy with the 10lb PR.
Flight Simulator WOD:
- 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 Reps of consecutive Double Unders
We didn’t have the full time to complete this, but I completed the set of 40 on the way back down. Tripped up twice on the set of 35 and once on the set of 50. I’d like to complete this for time to see how long it takes.
Started off the morning with an easy 2 min row followed by lots of foam rolling and lax balling on the hamstrings. Then I did a less sessile warmup:
- 10 Back extensions on the GHD (10lb)
- 10 Front leg swings/side
Repeat 3x, followed by even more rolling and stretching for the hips and hamstrings.
WOD:
15 minute row for max distance with a 16 s/m cap. I went 3540m, which is shorter than the last couple of times, but that’s expected at 16 s/m. I did a pretty good job of keeping the pace throughout and really got in to the groove after a while.
Afterwards Nick had me cool down with descending pace ladder, starting at 2:10 and adding 10 sec to my pace every 300m. Finished 1200m and called it a day.
Glad to make it in for another crush week workout. We skipped the standard warmups again and did this little number instead:
- 7 1-Arm DB Hang Snatches (35lb) each side
- 7 Ring Rows
Repeat 3x
Then, the WOD:
- 3 Muscle Ups
- 7 Thrusters (95lb)
Repeat 7x
Time: 11:03. I had two goals for this one: all thrusters unbroken and no failed MUs. I hit the first goal, but had two failed attempts near the end. First 3 sets of MUs were all unbroken. In the last few rounds I spent too much time looking at the damn rings and not enough time swinging. Still happy to complete this as Rxed.
