Fitness-12/29-"Sumo Thruster War", ring/rope work

Tuesday WOD

I coached the AM classes at the gym today which is always great fun. Awesome to get in with the AM crew, only a few of whom I ever exercise with because of schedules, and enjoy each other's energy. And today was no exception, the morning Jogo'ers brought it! Some very inspirational performances this morn. After the 7am class was over, I took that inspiration and got after a gnarly one with Em. I rarely workout in the morning, so it's always a good shock to the system and a good mental challenge to get amped for it. And going after it with Em stokes me up, we push each other well. And she's getting burls, look for her in 2010!

"Sumo Thruster War" was a partner wod in a "you go-I go" format but with all intervals timed so work:rest was 1:1 through-out. It looked as follows:

-Brad x 30 seconds thrusters @ 105#, Em rest

-Em x 30 seconds thrusters @ 75#, Brad rest

-Brad x 30 seconds sdhp @ 105#, Em rest

-Em x 30 seconds sdhp @ 75#, Brad rest

AMRepsAP in 20 MIN

score=215

This one finished a whole lot tougher than it started. I was pretty pleased with my effort as my goal was to average 20 reps/minute of work and I accomplished that. I was able to hit every interval unbroken although my pace slowed considerably by the end. My high round of thrusters was 14 and my low was 8. My high round of sdhp's was 18 and my low was 10. Pretty obvious here which one needs more work. Even though they need extra attention, I was still encouraged with the thrusters as they were coming off the floor, not out of the rack and it was an awesome fortitude builder to not put the bar down. Would like to go at this one again in a month or two and either go heavier and try to average 20reps/minute of work or go same load and try to average 25reps/minute of work. Stay tuned.

Finished the day with some ring and rope work. I did 5 rounds w/30 seconds rest between exercises and 60 seconds rest between rounds of:

-Max rep ring support knee tucks (trying to get knees to chest)

-12 foot rope climb-starting seated on ground

My high round of knee tucks was 14, low was 8. I wanted to go at every round of the rope without using feet but my grip was shot from the sdhp's and I ended up using my feet throughout. Another solid day. I'll probably rest tomorrow and then gear up for 3 good days in a row.

Fitness-12/28-clean and jerk, front squats

Monday WOD

Felt great to be back in the gym today after 3 full days of rest. My body was feeling pretty refreshed although my energy was down and my weight was up. In other words, I wasn't really feeling any aches or pains but I wasn't exactly feeling well fueled. Scary how 3 days of bad fuel and spotty sleep leaves you feeling, even if you were "resting." I still grunted it out and got after one today. Started with some power/strength work:

Clean and Jerks

-5 x 175

-3 x 205

-1 x 225

Front Squats

-2 x 205

-3 x 225

-6 x 245

The clean and jerks were a sub-max but heavyish warm-up to the fronts. Transitioning to the jerk out of the front squat of the clean still proves to be very challenging. It took me 3 tries to get rep 3 at 205. 225 went up pretty easy after making some adjustments and getting the rep at 205. I'm probably good for 10 reps @ 205 with a push-press out of the rack-just to give you an idea of how difficult the jerk is for me coming out of the clean. It's getting better though. My strength in the bottom of the front squat is improving, slowly, but improving none-the-less. 6 reps at 245 was brutal for me. Just have to keep grinding.

I finished with a good bit of muscle-up and hspu work. Solid day.

Fitness-12/24-snatch, deads, bench, hspu/rope/thruster

Christmas Eve

After taking Wednesday off as a rest day and with a few days planned off for Christmas, I went in to the gym this morning to get after it. Started with about an hour of strength work. It went as follows:

Snatch
-3 x 130
-3 x 150
-3 x 165

Deads
-3 x 285
-3 x 305
-15 x 335

Bench
-3 x 175
-3 x 205
-9 x 225

The snatch was sub-max and a great warm-up going into the deads. 15 reps at 335 on the deads felt like death, this was a painful effort. Honestly, after 5 reps I didn't think I'd make it very much further, was having one of those kind of days. But just decided to keep pulling. The reps prob didn't look great but this was a great mental effort if nothing else. I think I had 10 or 11 reps in me at 225 on the bench but I was in the gym by myself and didn't want to be foolish. The 9th went up slow and I decided to rack it. Press strength continues to improve which is promising.

I finished the day with a productive little circuit, un-timed. I did the following work with 30 second timed rests between each exercise and 1 minute timed rest between each round:

Round 1
-max hspu w/1 abmat
-12ft rope climb, no feet
-20 thrusters, 115#
-12ft rope climb, hands and feet

Round 2
-max hspu w/1-2 abmats
-12ft rope climb, no feet
-15 thrusters, 135#
-12ft rope climb, hands and feet

Round 3
-max hspu w/2 abmats
-12ft rope climb, no feet
-10 thrusters, 155#
-12ft rope climb, hands and feet

This little line-up proved more difficult than I'd thought it'd be. Body weight skills continue to improve which is motivating. Still lots of work to do.

Fitness-12/22-OPT WOD

Tuesday

Went after a short, intense one today. This little line-up was from OPT's (James Fitzgerald) website, one of CrossFit's elite. Not only is he an amazing specimen, he's legit when it comes to programming exercise and performance. So, every once and a while, we give his stuff a go. Today's workout consisted of two very short wods separated by a 5 minute rest. Looked as follows:

Perform 7 rounds of the following complex with 95# afap:

-1 x power snatch

-1 x snatch balance

-1 x ohd squat

-1 x hang squat snatch

time=1:15

5 minutes rest, then-

Perform as many reps as possible in 3 minutes of:

-3 x pullups, chest to bar

-3 x burpees

score=47

The snatch complex was right in my wheel house. I never even lost my hook grip. The only way I could've done this one faster is with smoother transitions between a few of the movements. As for the pulls and burpees, I think I did more than this but I lost count towards the end and when in doubt, most honorable to guess low. I never really stopped during this one either but the pulls got slow during that third minute. Overall, a nice short burst today. Fairly light, but good intensity. I'll get after one more session tomorrow before taking a couple days off for Christmas. Stay tuned.

Fitness-12/21-press, clean and jerk, front squats

Monday

I took Sunday off and got a good bit of leisurely rest. And the great news is that after taking the second half of Saturday easy as well, I woke up today with no pain or discomfort in my neck. I honestly went from not being able to turn my head to the side or hardly look at the ceiling to no pain in a day and a half. Amazing how capable the body is of healing itself. Went after some strength work in the gym today.

Press

-3 x 115

-3 x 130

-7 x 145

Clean and Jerk

-3 x 160

-3 x 185

-3 x 205

Fronts

-3 x 215

-7 x 235

Wasn't feeling strong today but still made the most of it. Warmed up for a bit and used a sub-max clean and jerk as a warm-up to the fronts. Getting stronger at the squat clean and jerk as a combined movement. I've jerked 275# before off of the rack but coming out of a front squat, I think the most I've ever jerked is 235 or 240. It's a transition that's way tougher than it sounds.

I'll continue to work on it.

Finished the day with some productive muscle-up and handstand work.

Fitness-12/19-snatch, deads, bench, "Ten Five"

Saturday

Woke up this morning still feeling tight and sore in that upper back/neck but markedly improved. Went into the gym for a big morning. Started with some strength:

Snatch

-5 x 125

-5 x 140

-5 x 160

Deads

-5 x 245

-5 x 280

-15 x 320

Bench

-5 x 165

-5 x 190

-10 x 215

The snatch wasn't max-effort, just a good active warm-up to the deads. I'd hoped to hit closer to 20 on the last set of deads but the body wasn't having it. Still a good effort. I failed on rep 11 @ 215 on the bench. We've been benching just as supplement and I don't care much about it. But it is getting stronger.

After the strength work, we went after a gnarly one. The "Ten Five" was a 800m row immediately followed by 9 to 1 push-press (155#), 1 to 9 front squats (155#), and 5 chest-to-bar pull-ups (body weight) for time. It went as follows:

-row 800m then...

-9 push press, 1 front squat, 5 pullups

-8 push press, 2 front squats, 5 pullups

-7 push press, 3 front squats, 5 pullups

-6 push press, 4 front squats, 5 pullups

on down to...

-1 push press, 9 front squats, 5 pullups

time=22:09

So, you were basically doing 10 reps of barbell work followed by 5 ctb pull-ups for 9 rounds. It was rough and I wasn't happy with my time at all. I rowed a mellow 800m, about 1:45-1:50/500m pace, because I knew I'd need some gas going into the barbell work. I got to the barbell work breathing easy and started slaying the barbell. All was well until I got to the round of 5-5-5. I was only about 8 minutes in at this point and I made it through the 5 push press/5 fronts without putting down the barbell. Banged out 5 quick pulls and then absolutely died. Hit the wall HARD today. Ended up having to lay down between every round from that point on. I think to be competitive, this workout needs to be finished close to the 15 minute mark. I plan to try this one again in the near future. It was good to "get humbled" today at the gym. I'm feeling more inspired to work harder.

Fitness-12/18-active rest

Thursday

I had a big day at the gym planned but when I woke up this morning, I knew it wasn't to be. My upper back and neck (from whatever I did when I felt a twinge on Tuesday jumping rope) were hurting good. I'd gone to sleep in pain, hoping I'd wake in the morning feeling good. Instead, I tossed and turned all night and woke up feeling worse. I spent most of the day on the couch resting up and then decided to go into the gym about 8pm and take myself through a thorough warm-up and some nice and light active rest work. I went through a ton of different, light-load movements. The only "work" I did (not timed) was:

-1k row

then, 5 rounds of:

-10 ghd hip extensions

-10 ghd situps

-200m row

I went through this nice and mellow, with no rests, but very slow and methodically. It felt good and really helped to loosen me up. I finished with some serious stretch and foam roll work.