Fitness-6/29-Squats, 2k Row

Monday WOD-Squat and Row

Today was another squat day for me. I was going for 3x3 for each of the lifts,hitting max effort on the last set. My sets looked as follows:

Overheads
-3 x 165
-3 x 185
-2 x 195 (failed at the bottom of the last attempt!)

Fronts
-3 x 205
-3 x 225
-3 x 235

Backs
-3 x 245

Big surprise here, I wasn't feeling strong today. I got to back squats, suffered through my first set and decided enough was enough, my body just hurt. I tried to row a 5k for time after the squats. It turned into a 2k. I crossed the 2k mark right about 7:10 and quit. My fastest 2k, rowed many months ago, is 6:55. Crazy thing was my breathing and heart rate weren't amped, I was pacing well. My body just hurt. It's starting to look like I'm a little burnt out physically. So, I'm going to look to make some adjustments and, most of all, get more sleep/rest. Stay tuned.

Fitness-6/19-press, squats, thruster/double-unders

Friday WOD

After a few days out of the gym, I geared up for a big day of work. I wasn't necessarily feeling as rested/well as I should after 3 days off. My nutrition has remained solid but I don't think I got over 6.5 or 7 hours of sleep on any one of the nights and today, I was feeling the effects of inadequate sleep. Went after it anyway. I started with some strength work. Today it was press followed by squats. I was aiming for 3x5 with a max effort x5 on the last set of each lift. My lifts looked as follows:

Press

-5 x 135

-3 x 155, 4x pushpress

-3 x 155, 4x pushpress

Overhead Squat

-5 x 155

-5 x 175

-3 x 185

Front Squat

-5 x 185

-5 x 205

-5 x 225

Back Squat

-5 x 225

-5 x 245

-5 x 255

Wasn't feeling my strongest today for sure but was still pretty productive. My press started off strong but then I failed on set's #2 and 3. So I finished each one with double reps on the push-press. My set of 175 on the overhead felt strong. At 185, I felt exceptionally strong through my core which was a good feeling but my shoulders and arms gave out at the bottom of rep 4. It's still rapidly improving. My front squat was what it was, same with the back squat. Both seemed way too hard for the weight that was on the bar but I continue to get deeper than I ever have before and am getting stronger at the bottom so I'll take it. 

Finished the day with a thruster/double-under met-con for time. It was 5 rounds for time of the following:

-21 thrusters, 75#

-21 double-unders

time=11:41

Not much to say about this one. I stunk up the gym. Was completely gassed after the 2nd round. It was awful. I'll definitely look to get an abundance of sleep in the next 2 days and try to regain energy. Today I just didn't have it. Still a good day none the less. 

Fitness-6/14-snatch, clean, deadlift

Sunday

I was supposed to deadlift on Friday and do oly work on Saturday but my body just wasn't feeling it. Especially yesterday. I hurt and was extraordinarily tired. So I rested best as I could, got a full night's sleep and was ready to make up a couple days work today. I started with the snatch, went on to squat cleans, then finished with deadlift. I was trying to hit 3x5 for each lift.

Snatch
5x135
5x155
5x175, pr

Squat Clean
5x185
5x205
5x225

Deadlift
5x315
5x365

It was a productive day. I hit a 5 rep pr in the snatch. I was able to finish a set of 5 on the squat clean at 225. It was a battle but I got it. Last week I barely finished at 205. My deadlift is still down and doing it after all the oly work probably isn't the most productive method. But, I wanted to feel some weight and when it's time to deadlift next, I'll give it it's own workout. I put 385 on the bar for a third set and the bar didn't move. I knew I was done.

Fitness-6/8/09-squats, "Fran"

Monday WOD-Squat work and "Fran"

Today was a squat day in my strength experiment. I worked overhead, front, and back squat. I aimed to work 3x5 on each hitting max effort on the last 5 of each lift. My sets looked as follows:

Overheads

-5x135

-5x155

-5x175

Fronts

-5x185

-5x205

-5x225

Backs

-5x185

-5x225

-2x275

-5x245

This was a productive squat workout. My overheads felt wobbly but improved. I'm stoked to see how much I can improve on this lift as I've never spent any significant time training it. Has to be one of the best core exercises known to man. It will also be interesting to see how much improving my overhead will help my snatch. Fronts and backs were rough but, again, very productive. I feel like I'm starting at square one on these. I'm going full depth and keeping a good back and just don't have good strength at the bottom. When I went to 275 and went full depth, I was having a hard time keeping a good back so I dropped back down. I expect my strength to improve quickly at the bottom.

After the squat work I went after my first chest-to-bar "Fran." "Fran" is 3 rounds, 21-15-9 of:

-thrusters, 95#

-pullups, chest to bar

time=7:22

I was pretty pumped with this effort. In hindsight it could have been faster(I took way too much time chalking excessively and transitioning from thruster to pull-up) but this was only about 20 seconds slower than my previous "Fran" pr which wasn't chest-to-bar. Tells me my work capacity is markedly improved. Right on.

Fitness-6/6-snatch, squat clean, "Half-Pack Cindy"

Saturday-Oly work and "Half-Pack Cindy"

Today was the first day of olympic lifting work in my two-month long strength/power biased experiment. I worked the snatch and squat clean. It was a humbling and very productive session. I haven't trained full squat snatch in longer than I can remember and I felt as strong or stronger than I ever have in this lift. My front squat, though, is weaker than it's been in a long time but there's a awesome reason why; I have a much fuller range of motion now and can hit depth without tucking my pelvis. So, I'm just having to start training this new range of motion to get stronger. It's a great feeling doing a full-depth squat and knowing your back is in the right position.

I started with snacth @ 3x5, aiming for max effort on the last go. It turned into 4x5 because I was feeling strong:

5x135#
5x145#
5x155#
5x165#

I went after squat cleans next, again aiming for 3x5 with max effort on the last go. It turned into 2x5 because I was a bit gassed by this point and not feeling I could safely go any heavier;

5x185#
5x205#

After the oly work, I decided on a little "Half-Pack Cindy" for a good met-con. It was as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:

-5 pullups, chest to bar
-10 pushups
-15 abmat situps

score=7 rounds in 10:49

Not bad here but the chest to bar pullups are still really slowing me down. But they're getting easier.

Fitness-6/4-press, box jump/run, wheel work

Thursday WOD

I started today's workout with some press work. I plan to spend the next two months trying to make some significant strength gains without spending too much time on strength biased exercise. I have it worked out where I'll be hitting each of the major lifts every 10-14 days. The olympic lifts I plan to hit every 7 days. For example, since I pressed today, I'll have pressed again by two Thursdays from now. But I won't press again before at least 10 days have passed. I will continue to do met-cons 4-5 days a week. It's a bit of an experiment, we'll see how it goes. I believe that purposeful strength work performed within these time frames along with strategic met-cons will see some significant strength improvement while still maintaining and even improving overall work capacity and fitness. I started the experiment Monday, 6/1, with the deadlift. We'll see how the next couple of months shape up. Stay tuned.

Today's press workout was 5x5 trying to hit a max effort 5 rep on the last set:

-5 x 95#

-5 x 115#

-5 x 135#

-5 x 145#

-3 x 150#, 2 x 150# push press

Failed on the last attempt at 5 but was still a very productive press day. I really see my press strength improving a lot over the next 8 weeks.

I finished off with some wheel work after a light and fast met-con for time:

-21 box jumps, 24"

-run 100m

-15 box jumps, 24"

-run 200m

-9 box jumps, 24"

-run 400m

time=4:08

My runs are getting faster. I've been working a lot on pose running. It is legit. I feel faster than I've ever felt on my feet and don't have much problem keeping a 1:20-1:30 min pace on 400m runs during wods. And it seems like it takes much less effort to run pose. But you have to think about it at first which is the tough part.