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.
No standard warmup again this am, but we did a fair bit of rope skipping, joint rotations, and foam rolling. Then we warmed up a few of the movements from today’s WOD and got to work:
- 70 Double Unders
- 600m Row
- 50 KB Swings (24kg)
- 40 Burpees
- 30 Overhead Squats (95lb)
- 20 Pullups
- 10 Ring Dips
Time: 14:44. This workout played well to my strengths but I didn’t do as well as I hoped. DUs were unbroken, took the row nice and easy at about a 1:55/500m pace, KBS were partitioned 30/20, burpees were the hardest part - split em 15/10/15, OHS were 10/10/10, pullups were 10/6/4, dips were strict at 4/3/2/1.
Good to be back with the 6am crew. It’s the start of crush week, so I’m hoping to hit the bulk of these workouts and ramping up the intensity this week. We started with an easy 3 min row followed by lots of foam rolling since most people totaled yesterday. Then we did some barbell warmups for the hang power cleans and thrusters to come.
WOD:
- 270m Sandbag run (45lb)
- 15 Hang power cleans (95lb)
- 5 Thrusters (95lb)
- 10 Hang power cleans (95lb)
- 10 Thrusters (95lb)
- 5 Hang power cleans (95lb)
- 15 Thrusters (95lb)
- 270m Sandbag run (45lb)
Time: 7:52. I would have done this at 135 if I was ready for full intensity. No issues with my back though, so I’m glad I kept it light. Tomorrow, we go heavy.
Modified version of warmup 1 to start:
- 20 Hollow rocks
- 15 Squats
- 45 sec plank hold
- 10 Strict pullups
Repeat 3x
Yesterday’s WOD was the week 2 CF Games open workout from last year. Since my doc advised me not to do much deadlifting just yet and to keep the intensity submaximal, I modified it:
- 9 Ball Slams (30lb)
- 12 Pushups
- 15 Box Jumps (24”)
AMRAP 10 min
Finished 5 rounds + 6 pushups. The ball slams added a higher metabolic load than the prescribed deadlifts, so I was sucking wind pretty good. Back felt fine throughout though.
On the Washington Park turf field this morning:
Repeat 10x
Rested as needed between sets. Pushups felt strong.
9am Sunday class with coach DO. Started with some light rope skipping and stretching, then warmup 1:
- 20 Hollow Rocks
- 15 Squats
- 10 Pushups
- 10 Strict Pullups
Repeat 3x
Every minute on the minute for 8 minutes:
- 2 Power Cleans (185lb)
- 1 Jerk (185lb)
The jerk was the limiting factor here. My jerk just isn’t a hell of a lot stronger than my push press (which isn’t that much stronger than my press). Ended up pressing out a lot of these reps.
The accessory WOD was “unbroken Fran” 21, 15, 9:
Score: one foul in 7:50. The goal was to take out the time component and focus on hitting all sets unbroken. I dropped the bar during the set of 15 thrusters, which continue to plague me. Pullups were nbd.
In the basement for a late-night quickie. Messed around with some HSPU practice but didn’t do any heavy volume. Then I tried to mix up some basic movements in a different way. Testing out a new timer app, which seems pretty solid:
- Pullups x 30 sec (13, 16, 15, 13, 13)
- Pushups x 45 sec (26, 22, 18, 16, 16)
- Squats x 60 sec (48, 40, 38, 36, 38)
Repeat 5x, resting 45 sec between sets
Muscular failure slowed me down on the pushups and I was sucking wind on those damn squats. Should have been more aggressive on the pullups.
Made it in for the 10am class today. We started with a jog around the block (.3 mi) and then did some foam rolling on the psoas and quads in prep for today’s work. No time for standardized warmup, Dr. Jones.
Front Squats:
Kept it nice and light since my back still isn’t 100%. These felt good though.
WOD - 21, 15, 9:
- Row (calories)
- Squat Clean Thrusters (95lb)*
Time: 9:55. I scaled down the Rxed weight (which was 115) again for my poor aching back. Heavy loads on my back (squats) and pulling stuff from the floor is what aggravates it the most at the moment, so I thought it was best to keep the weight light and the intensity sub-maximal. Glad I did because things feel gravy right now.
6am Wednesday class with coach Josh. Did some group warmups with jump rope and hollow holds, then onto warmup 2:
- 16 Reverse Weighted Lunges (35lb)
- 12 Single Arm DB Press (35lb)
- 12 Ring Rows
Repeat 3x
Worked some of the ring rows with the false grip as per Josh’s suggestion. Good idear.
Back Squats:
Was gunning for 275, but my back just didn’t feel right during the warmup sets so I cooled it off and went light and focused on form. Hopefully a few more days of rest is all I need. Did some foam rolling on the t-spine for accessory work, which really helped. Need to do more of this at home.
Private sessions with coach Fox today. I tweaked my back from yesterday’s RDLs or something, so wasn’t sure how much I’d be able to do. Warmed up with 3 min on the rower, then:
- 3 Strict Muscle Ups (assisted)
- 10 Hollow Rocks
- 20 Hand-to-Hand KB Swings (1 pood)
Repeat 3x
Started to warm up for some deadlifting, but my back was not having it. We tried doing some squat cleans into thrusters instead, but once we hit 135lb, my back vetoed that too. We spent the rest of the session doing some active recovery type stuff: foam rolling, PNF hamstring stretching with a band, some regular old stretching. Frustrated, but it definitely helped my back and wasn’t smart to try anything intense today. Also worked on some self-assisted muscle ups using the rings in the cage, which I’ll incorporate into my warmups.
Kicked things off this morning with warmup 2:
- 16 Reverse Weighted Lunges (30lb)
- 12 Single Arm DB Press (30lb)
- 12 Ring Rows
Repeat 3x
The, we spent 10 minutes working up to a heavyish single for thrusters. I worked up to 185lb, all in prep for the WOD.
Fight Gone Fran:
- Thrusters (135lb) x 60 sec (10, 9, 8)
- Weighted Pullups (45lb) x 60 sec (11, 8, 6)
Repeat 3x, resting 60 sec between rounds. This is pretty heavy weight for high reps, so things go tough pretty quick.
Sunday early birds class with coach Fox. Started with warmup 1, 3x:
- 5 Gillies
- 10 Leg Swings/leg
- 20 Hollow Rocks
- 15 Squats
- 10 Pushups
- 2 Muscle Ups
- 5 Strict Pullups
Then the WOD:
- Run 400m
- 35 Burpees
- Run 270m
- 25 Burpees
- Run 130m
- 15 Burpees
Time: 9:00. Took the runs very slow and the burpees slowed down way more than I anticipated. Should have finished in under 8 min. Glad I was able to run without any foot pain though.
I had a decent amount of time after this, so I did couch stretch on each leg for 2 min, then 2 muscle-ups every 30 seconds for 5 rounds (focusing on the transition), followed by 30 sec handstand holds for 3 rounds. Whenever I have time, I’ll do a few rounds of the 2 muscle-ups/30 seconds to get used to the volume.
In the basement, since I couldn’t get to the gym:
- 100 Pullups
- 100 Pushups
- 100 Situps
- 100 Squats
Time: 19:38. Lots of room for improvement.
Finished the pullups in 7:12. I started with a set of 20, then hit 5s throughout until the last 2 sets, which were 3/2, 3/2. Got a small rip on one hand at around 85, but I think I just took too much rest between sets. Didn’t really hit muscular failure. Pushups took 5:51, in sets of 10 for the first 40, then 5s the rest of the way. Again, too much resting. Situps took 4:00 and were harder than I thought. Broke em up 50/15/10/10/15. Squats took 2:35, which is too slow. Lots of room for improvement for sure, especially on those pullups.
It’s officially back-off week and we’ve got a new standardized warmup. Here’s version 1, done 3x:
- 20 Hollow Rocks
- 15 Squats
- 10 Pushups
- 2 Muscle Ups
- 10 Strict Pullups
I added the MUs to get more exposure to these bastards on a regular basis. Today’s back-off WOD was 20 minutes, not for rounds:
- 8 Reverse Spiderman Lunges (each leg)
- 10 Prone Angels
- 12 Hollow Rocks
- 14 Calories on the Rower
Finished 5 rounds and the lunges. The goal on the rower was to hit the calories in the fewest pulls possible. I did it in 13 pulls, 12, 11, then 11. After that I did some Turkish Get Ups because I had time and I was bummed to miss them yesterday.
- 3 x 45lb
- 2 x 75lb
- 1 x 95lb
- 1 x 105lb *FAIL*
Just kinda gave up on the last attempt because I was cooked. Then I did some more muscle ups to practice them while I’m fatigued. I got 3 in a row and failed on number 4. Need a more explosive transition.
