Strength log for Tuesday, September 30th

Started with my physio homework. Looking forward to being finished, it's a bit tedious.

Did some bretzels and the elevated knee hold for glute and hip flexor activation.

Then back squats.

I think I need to do some reps at less than max again.

Went better than last week, had no problem at 275#, but couldn't get out of the hole at 295#. 

I don't like counting a new max unless I can repeat it.  So this is on my list to confirm.

Laying bricks.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, September 30th

Not my favourite but it was a good workout

Started with snatch work.

6 singles at 80%. on 90 seconds rest.

Takes me a long time to warm up, so most of my singles were undre 80%, I think I did 3 at 105#

Then 3 sets of 3 hang snatches at 65%.  This was much better.  Easier to commit, easier to get deep at 85#

The WOD was a 12 minute AMRAP:
6 burpees over bar
12 deadlifts at 185#
24 wall balls w/ 20# med ball
48 double unders (scaled to 96 singles)

I really need to practice my double unders, this is getting ridiculous.

I started thinking it was 12 burpees, but once I got to 9 and everyone was doing dead lifts I clued in.

Deads were fine.   Wall balls really took a lot out of me. Then after 5 attempts to get past 10 double unders I broke down and switched to singles.

I only managed 2 full rounds and 6 burpees + 7 dead lifts.

Whatever.  Heart rate was through the roof form the get go.

Strength log for Monday, September 29th

The program I'm following calls for working up to 1 heavy rep, at 90% plus of max, and depending entirely on how I feel, either go for a new max, peel off for reps or call it a day.

Walking in you always hope for a new PR, which is of course, completely unrealistic.

So I'm naturally a bit disappointed I didn't hit a new max strict press.  However I did get the next best thing.

I matched my current PR of 145#, which means it wasn't a fluke.  I really can press 145#.  My attempt at 150# met the same result as every other attempt, perhaps getting marginally higher than before.

So I was still feeling good, I decided to go to for 3 sets of doubles at 135#

That was hard.

First to sets were a fight. Third set, the first one went up better than any others, but strangely, the second one wouldn't go at all!  Weird. 

Moved on to pull ups.  Strict, no weight, neutral grip. 

I did my physio home work before starting and some bretzels before my PR attempt.

Good day.

Crossfit log for Monday, September 29th

Not a great morning.

Somehow my 3 year old got a hold of my alarm clock and unbeknownst to me, change the alarm time to 3:00am instead of 5:00am.

I didn't realize this until after 10 minutes of self-talk to get my ass out of bed, whereupon I noticed and cursed and flopped back into bed to try fruitlessly to fall back to sleep.

Now when 5:00am rolls around, the self-talk is trickier, since now I have the added disincentive of lack of sleep to counter argue. 

Based on the title of the blog we can safely assume that I managed to talk myself into getting up.

Strength work was front squats.  4 sets of 2, just above max clean and jerk.  Fast out of the bottom.

Used 205#, lighter than last week, where I felt slow coming up.   Went okay

Then 6 cleans at 80% of max  (did 165#), need to work on the pop at the end of the second pull.  Was pretty good at getting under the bar.

The WOD was burtal:
"Unbroken 2"
7 rounds for time  15 minute cap  (yes, 7 rounds)
- 4 handstand push ups  (scaled to one abmat)
- 5 cleans touch and go  135#  (scaled to 115#, thankfully)
- 6 chest to bar pull ups
- 7 kettle bell swing  (I don't know how heavy the red kettle bell is, but I scaled to green: 24kg)

Yeah, nowhere near 7 rounds, made 4 plus 9 reps.

HSPU went really well (except on the last round I lost balance and briefly came off the wall on the 3rd rep, and technically should've started over, but I bounced right back up and did the last rep).

The cleans were rough, even at 115#, glad I scaled.

Chest to bar were okay, not strung together, but I never came off the bar. 

Kettle wasn't an issue, might have been able to handle the red devil, but it would've make the rest worse. 

Glad it's done.

Strength log for Friday, September 26th

Went to the Y at lunch. Mostly on autopilot.

Had to do my physio homework, so might as well make the most of it.  Did some extra mobility work.

Then, as usual I had to lift something.

I decided to see how many reps of bench I could do at 185#. 

Adam had thrown down the 20 reps at 135# challenge, which I somehow managed, so I figured let's see how many I can do at 185#. 

Turns out that number is 8.  It's a start.  I had really no idea going in what the number would be. I hoped it would be more than 5, so I guess I'm happy with that.

I'd like to try the 135# again to see if can break 25.

Crossfit log for Thursday, September 25th

I was glad I didn't go yesterday. Kiza went last night and told me it had pistols, handstand push ups and heavy dumbbell snatches, ugh.

But when I saw today's WOD, I thought yesterday's didn't seem so bad.

Started with three heavy doubles on front squat, I did 225#, so I guess I don't have to do front squat at the Y today.

Then we got everything ready for the WOD.

Chipper for time:
-1000m row
-100 double unders
-50 wall balls
-30 pull ups
-50 box jumps
-30 burpees
-30 toes to bar

We started at 6:00 so the implied time cap was 30 minutes.  Wasn't sure I'd make it.  Probably wouldn't have if I'd done 100 double unders instead of scaling to 50.

Row was fine, but my mouth was really parched at the end of it. Double unders were stupid, but the wall balls went really well. Did 10, 15, 10 15.

Pull ups were a snap, 15, 10, 5, no sense killing myself with so much work left to do.

Box jumps were tedious.  Burpees were, well, burpees.  And finally the t2b, broke them up in sets of 5, first one, I couldn't find a rhythm, 2nd one was nice.

The third one I managed only 3, but stepped through the rig and jump on the other bar for 2 more.  I'd wait until the top of the minute or at xx:30 to start again and did this 3 + step through + 2 for the rest, except the last were I managed 5 in a row.

Finished it 27:47   Tired, but happy I finished before time ran out.

Strength log for Wednesday, September 24th

Today was supposed to be a rest day.  Didn't go to Crossfit and slept in until nearly 7am  (woohoo!).  I was supposed to go to the Y and just do physio homework and mobility.

Which is what I did. Until it was almost time to go.

I started with my homeword, the right glute max activation. Then worked the lacrosse ball into my glutes, hips, erectors and lats. Then foam rolled my lats, pecs and mid back.

I also did the lift-each-knee-as-high-as-it-will-go-by-pulling-it-up-with-my-hand and holding it there while engaging the opposite glute drill. 4 times each side.

And I did some bretzels.

I was almost time to go and I got that familiar feeling like I had done anything productive. 

So I figured I should do bench.  Why not?

Warmed up aggressively with empty bar, 95#, 145# and 185#, the I did a single at 205# and then with butterflies in my stomach I loaded 2 plates, 225#.

"Do things that scare you" the saying goes.  "Fail harder", they say, well here was my chance. 

I got Dave (double under Dave, not Olympic lifter Dave) to spot me with clear instructions not to touch the bar unless I call for help. He did well.

I unracked it, brought it down slowly and back up the same speed it went down, and it was going up!  I was doing it. Then with inches to go, it stopped.  I pushed with everything I had, it started to move a tiny bit, but I was going to run out of steam soon, so my butt came off the bench a tad giving me just enough leverage to get it the rest of they way. 

So I'm not 100% I can call it official, but I'm taking it.

Progress update:

Bench Press PR. 

Strength:
Bench: 225lbs September 24, 2014 (up from 220lbs)
Dead Lift: 365lbs September 17, 2014 (up from 355lbs)
Press: 145lbs September 9, 2014 (up from 140lbs)
Back Squat: 295lbs September 12, 2014 (up from 285lbs)
Front Squat: 255# September 3, 2014 (up from 250#)
Overhead squat: 115# April 10th, 2014

Power:
Power Clean: 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs)
Power snatch:  125lbs Mar, 27, 2014 (up from 115lbs)
Push Press: 185# (up from 175#) Sept 15, 2014
Clean: 191# (up from 185#) July 29, 2014
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013

Strength log for Tuesday, September 23rd

Well they can't all be great can they?

Maybe the Saturday workout took a lot out of me, or the added Crossfit after a week of only strength work at the Y.  Maybe I'm coming down with something.

Either way, I just didn't seem to have any steam.  Took everything I had to hit 275# back squat for a single, I should be able to hit a double at that weight.

At least I got all my physio and mobility work done.

Steam room was nice after that debacle.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, September 23rd

Already starting to feel the extra volume.  Workout Saturday meant only 1 rest day, then 2 workouts yesterday, getting out of bed this morning was rough.

But as usual, once I got going everything was fine.

We started with more snatch work:

3x2 snatch balance at 70% of max. 

I took my time to warm up, rowing, bretzels, rolled my glutes, then several reps with no bar, just dropping into a deep split, the several more reps with an empty bar.

Finally put 75# on and that went well.  70% is 95# for me.  Loaded up the bar and my first to reps were so horrible, not nearly deep enough, completely unstable, I just kept going and the 2 next were reasonable.

Since we still had a lot of work to do and the WOD look like a killer, I ended up counting the 2 ugly reps as a set and only did one more (which thankfully weren't horrible).

Then we did 1 squat clean thruster + 3 thrusters.

The instructions were to go heavier than you would in the WOD but no more than 70% of clean and jerk max.  So I wouldn't be going Rx on this one because the WOD called for 135#, which is more than 70% of my c&j max!

I ended up using 135#.  Rough, but I managed.

The WOD was a rough.  4 rounds would've been much more enjoyable.

5 rounds for time  12 minute cap:
- 6 dead lifts 135#/95#  (scaled to 115#)
- 5 thrusters - same bar
- 4 pull ups
- 3 chest to bar pull ups
- 2 bar muscle ups  (scaled to 3 ring dips)

we had the option to replace all the pull up bar work with 4 pull ups and 3 dips but since I was scaling the barbell I didn't want to cut the pull up work, so I did the pull ups, ctb and replaced the muscle ups with dips.

It was hard, the worst of it being the thrusters.  Managed to finished just under the wire in 11:45. 

Strength log for Monday, September 22nd

Strict press day.  But not until I'd done my mobility and physio work.

I had a twitchy muscle under my left arm, either the lat, or one of the teres or something,  so I rolled both sides.  Used the Orb on my glutes then did my "left side lying right glute activation" exercise.

Once that was out of the way I proceeded to the rack for some presses.

Felt pretty good, worked up to 135# for a single and tried for 150#, but today wasn't the day for that, so I backed off to 125# (85% of max) for 4 sets of 3.  Last one was good and hard ( and the reason it wasn't 5 sets!!!)

Crossfit log for Monday, September 22nd

Nice to be back at the 5:30 class.  Still hard to get out of bed, but it was nice to be back.

Busy day,  a ton of snatch work which went long so we bailed on the backsquats (I'll make up for that tomorrow at lunch), followed by a 10 minute AMRAP.

Started with snatches,  after a good warm up:
- 2 @ 80%
- 2 @ 85%
- 2 @ 90%
- 1 @ 85%
- 1 @ 90%
- 1 @ 95%

Then 3 sets of 2 complexes at 65%
1 hang snatch + 1 overhead squat

I took a long time to warm up.  Really worried about my groin/aductor, this is what injured it in the first place. So I rowed first, stretched, bretzels and then did some lunges. I could feel it, but it wasn't a sharp pain like before.

Some of them were not too shabby, considering I haven't done split snatch in ages. I got deeper as things went along. But didn't hit near those percentages.

I even calculated my weights based on a previous max of 125#, instead of my more recent 130#.

Planned 100#, 105#, 115# then 105#, 115#, 120# 

But by the time I worked to 95# I decide that would be my first working set, so I did 95# for 2, then 105# and 110#, and that was just ugly. So I went back down to 95# and stayed there for the singles, working on getting low and some were pretty good.

For the hang snatch OHS combo I did 75# which was only 60% of my 125#, but I was having success with that, especially on the OHS part.  Something must've really clicked on Saturday.  I look forward to testing myself on these soon.

The WOD was horrible, 10 minutes of:
- Wall balls: 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, ...
- Double unders: 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, ...

Couldn't string together more than 6 double unders to save my life.  I need to practice them, but that'll have to wait, unless I do them as a warm up at the Y.  We'll see.

Got stuck on the double unders in the 4th round.  Oh well.

Crossfit log for Saturday, September 20th

Unscheduled Crossfit workout today, since Kiza is running the Army run tomorrow she opted out of her class, since someone had to bring Delilah to her Crossfit kids class, it made sense for me to do the workout.

Teams of four and as luck would have it the whole team from Brockville Team Challenge was present, so Maks, Natasha, Yvana and I reformed the team.

The WOD was share the work as you see fit:
250 chest to bar pull ups (scaled to regular pull ups)
250 kettle bell swings 24kg/16kg
250 double unders
250 overhead squats  95#/65# (scaled to 55# for everyone)

I did more than my share of pull ups and worked way harder on the kettle bell swings because Maks kept doing sets of 20, so I had to keep up to save face.

Double unders were mostly the girls. Natasha is really good at them, she do stretches of 30 or so, I'd so 6 to give a break, then Yvana would do 10 or 15.  Maks can only do singles.  At some point he did 100 singles which counted for 50 reps.  I think I did like 20 reps total.  Granted I had my lifting shoes, which may have hampered my performance.

Then, the part we all dreaded, the overhead squats.  I don't know where they came from but I was a OHS machine. Granted it was only 55#, but my position was rock solid.  Shoulders stable and externally rotated, deep squats, up and down.  I was stunned.

I did 3 sets of 15 unbroken and one set of 10.  Even the coach was stunned.  I wonder if the physio is actually helping.

Really glad I went.

Strength log for Friday, September 19th

Back squat day.

Back is still a bit tight from Wednesday's dead lifts, so I planned to go easy.  And by easy I mean no 1 rep max.  Wanted to try and hit a triple at 275# (93% of max), which in hindsight was too aggressive.

Made a double but the second was not pretty.  Dropped to 265# (89%) and tried again.  Much more manageable, but still only a double.

Called it a day.

Worked on physio homework and mobility.  Bretzel (1 and 2), upward dog and my right glute engagement exercise (There's even a video out there).

Another good week in the books.  Crossfit again soon.

Strength log for Thursday, September 18th

Had a very small window of opportunity to get to the gym yesterday, so I walked in to the Y in regular clothes and crocs and went straight to the bench and started warming up.

Today I would hit 220#. Last week's brush with 225# I knew I had it. 

My back was a bit tight from Wednesday's dead lifts, but it didn't prevent me from bench pressing. 

I made sure my position was good, digging in my heels, arching my back, pressing my shoulders into the bench. 

Worked up to singles at 185# and 195# then put 220#.  Asked a stranger to spot me and then I went for it.

Good lift.  Fought it a bit. But came up just a bit, but it was good.  225# here I come.


Progress update:

Bench Press PR. 

Strength:
Bench: 220lbs September 18, 2014 (up from 215lbs)
Dead Lift: 365lbs September 17, 2014 (up from 355lbs)
Press: 145lbs September 9, 2014 (up from 140lbs)
Back Squat: 295lbs September 12, 2014 (up from 285lbs)
Front Squat: 255# September 3, 2014 (up from 250#)
Overhead squat: 115# April 10th, 2014

Power:
Power Clean: 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs)
Power snatch:  125lbs Mar, 27, 2014 (up from 115lbs)
Push Press: 185# (up from 175#) Sept 15, 2014
Clean: 191# (up from 185#) July 29, 2014
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013

Strength log for Wednesday, September 17th

I'm pretty sure this is my actual 1 rep max dead lift: 365lbs.  It was tough, but I fought it and stood it up.

Every other recent PR, I've walked away saying: "That wasn't so bad".  Not this time. That was rough.

I think I'll take a little break from dead lifting.  I need to do a bit of running for a couple of races I have coming up, so I'll focus on press, back squat and bench for now.

Did my physio homework and some bretzels to activate my core for the dead lifts.  I think I have enough on my plate.  Plus I'll be back at Crossfit next week.

Progress update:

Dead lift PR. 

Strength:
Bench: 215lbs July 4, 2014 (up from 205lbs)
Dead Lift: 365lbs September 17, 2014 (up from 355lbs)
Press: 145lbs September 9, 2014 (up from 140lbs)
Back Squat: 295lbs September 12, 2014 (up from 285lbs)
Front Squat: 255# September 3, 2014 (up from 250#)
Overhead squat: 115# April 10th, 2014

Power:
Power Clean: 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs)
Power snatch:  125lbs Mar, 27, 2014 (up from 115lbs)
Push Press: 185# (up from 175#) Sept 15, 2014
Clean: 191# (up from 185#) July 29, 2014
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013

Strength log for Tuesday, September 16th

With out Kiza, I can't go to Crossfit.   Without Crossfit, it's hard to not go hard at the Y, it feel like I'm not getting anything done.

After physio to day, where another slew of weaknesses have been detected thanks to a fluke injury to my aductor magnus, I'm feeling a bit jaded.

The thought that's keeping my spirits up it that, whatever I'm doing, my numbers are still going up, so I can only imagine what I'll be capable off once these issues have been corrected.

Today I worked overhead squat. Since Rob beat the crap out of my hips and aductors with the acupuncture needles, I decided to go easy, in terms of weight but not easy in terms of effort.  Overhead squats fit the bill.

I feel exhausted for having moved so little weight.

At least it looked like overhead squats this time. 

Bit by bit, lay the bricks.

Strength log for Monday, September 15th

Decided to do push press today.

Figured it would be a nice change of pace after hitting a PR last week in the strict press.  I'll resume strict next week. Maybe alternate weeks.

My plan was to go for one heavy then work on overhead squats again.  Didn't work out that way.

Started light for several sets: 45#, 75#, 95# and 115#, then did a double at 135# and 155#.  Then I just decide to go for it and put 185# on the bar.

Bam!  Push press PR at 185#.  Likely could have gone even heavier.

Then I thought I'd peel back and try to hit a tripple at 135# strict press.  Yeah, not happening.

First attempt it went nowhere, brought it back to my shoulders and tried again with more gusto and manged one, but no double, let alone a triple.  Re-racked it and tried for a second single. Nope.  Oh well, my work was done for the day.

Tried a few OHS, but my back wasn't having it, so I called it a day.

I'll take the PR.

Progress update:

Push Press PR. 

Strength:
Bench: 215lbs July 4, 2014 (up from 205lbs)
Dead Lift: 355lbs September 5, 2014 (up from 345lbs)
Press: 145lbs September 9, 2014 (up from 140lbs)
Back Squat: 295lbs September 12, 2014 (up from 285lbs)
Front Squat: 255# September 3, 2014 (up from 250#)
Overhead squat: 115# April 10th, 2014

Power:
Power Clean: 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs)
Power snatch:  125lbs Mar, 27, 2014 (up from 115lbs)
Push Press: 185# (up from 175#) Sept 15, 2014
Clean: 191# (up from 185#) July 29, 2014
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013

Strength log for Friday, September 12th

Well it looks like I won't have to settle for only 2 PRs this week after all! 

Totally nailed 295# back squat.

After warming up to a double at 225#, I started doing singles with 245#.  The question was, how do I move up.  Going to 265#, 275# and 285# before hitting 295# seemed like too much work, so I decided to go 265# then #275 and then jumping 20# to 295#.  

When I started singles, I also started doing my bretzels between sets.

Just before I went to lift the 265#, I realized that going 20#, then up 10# to then go up 20# didn't make sense.  I decide to just go up 30# (so 275#) then 20# for the final lift. Then I realized that 20# is less than 10% at this weight, having my last lift before the PR attempt to be 275# would only be more taxing and take away from my chances for a PR. 

So I stayed with 265#, but then I went for it at 295#.    It was good and hard.  But I got it.   3 plates is coming soon!


What a week.  3 PRs.  4 PRs in the last two weeks.  Just need that bench PR!


Progress update:

Back Squat PR. 

Strength:
Bench: 215lbs July 4, 2014 (up from 205lbs)
Dead Lift: 355lbs September 5, 2014 (up from 345lbs)
Press: 145lbs September 9, 2014 (up from 140lbs)
Back Squat: 295lbs September 12, 2014 (up from 285lbs)
Front Squat: 255# September 3, 2014 (up from 250#)
Overhead squat: 115# April 10th, 2014

Power:
Power Clean: 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs)
Power snatch:  125lbs Mar, 27, 2014 (up from 115lbs)
Push Press: 175# (up from 165#) Feb 18, 2014
Clean: 191# (up from 185#) July 29, 2014
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013

Crossfit log for Friday, September 12th

For an only-three-Crossfit-workouts  week, I sure feel wiped.

I may have been a bit too aggressive.

Started with clean and jerk complex:  1 power clean + 1 hand clean + 1 clean + 2 jerks.   Once through at 65%, once at 70% and once at 75%.

The thing with working mostly strength is I know my percentages for squats and presses and deads, but not for cleans, jerks and snatches.

Jumped in with Kamil who was planning 145#, 155# and 165# (when I should've been doing more like 125#, 135# and 145#)

The last one was a struggle, but I managed it.  I was wiped for the next part:

3 sets of 2 clean and jerk at 80% which is 155# for me, but we did 175#  95% of max.   Not very smart.

Struggled on the first set, bailed on the second and called it a day.

Then the WOD.  Fresh I might have done well, but at this point I was toast.

14 minute cap chipper:
- 100 double unders  (scaled to 50 because I suck)
- 20 handstand push ups (scaled to 10 with 1 abmat)
- 20 toes to bar
- 20 push press 135# (scaled to 115#)
- 20 power cleans (same weight at push press).

Fucking double unders. Gah!  had a couple of good streaks, then wreck, wreck wreck.  Frustrating. Finally got to 50 and walked away.

I thought I could do 10 hspu with only 1 abmat, but I was wrong.  After 7 I was done, even adding a second abmat didn't help.  With hspu once you're done, you're done.

T2B weren't fabulous, but they weren't horrible either.  Same goes for the push press (115# was a good call).  Made it through 13 cleans before time ran out.

Ugh.  Not fun, but I worked hard. 

Strength log for Thursday, September 11th

I guess 2 PRs will have to do for this week.

Bench day.  Aggressive plan.  Going for 225#

Short warm up.  8 reps empty bar, 6 reps @ 95#, 4 @ 115#, 3 @ 135#, 2 @ 155#, 1 @ 185#, 1 @ 205#, then go big time.

Obviously didn't happen, but it was closer than ever before, butt came up almost right away, got it three quarters of the way up, but alas, it wasn't to be.

I might have actually hit 220# if I had tried that instead.  Maybe I'll do that next week.

Then I was done.  Helped René with his dead lift PR attempt.  Same deal as me, he made 405#, but 425# was just too much.  Next week.

Crossfit log for Thursday, September 11th

Finally got to go the Crossfit.  With Kiza out of town I had to wait until Clarisse was over to keep the kids.

Started with pause squats.  4 sets of 4 back squats pausing 3 seconds in the bottom and coming up without a bounce at 70% of max

That would be 200# for me, but I settled for 195#.

First two reps were good, each set, the last two were rough.  Coach said I looked very solid.  Happy with that.

WOD was a 15 minute AMRAP of:
1 rope climb
15 wall balls
5 toes through rings
20 air squats (Rx was 10 pistols)
5 33" box jumps  (Rx was 36")

Managed 4 rounds exactly.  I started up the rope for round 5, but there wasn't enough time to get to the top.

Good power biased workout.

Strength log for Wednesday, September 10th

Was unsure what I was going to do today.

Not bench, did press yesterday.   Not back squats, did those on Monday.  Didn't feel like dead lift, maybe later in the week.  I really should do some overhead squat work.

Finally decided to go with front squats for a heavy single then reps. Maybe do OHS for reps instead of front squats.

Worked up rather quickly again.  At 185# for 3 reps it felt heavy.  Great, I guess I won't be going that heavy.

In the past I've found it very satisfying to hit a recent PR to confirm to myself that I'm really capable of that weight.  I hit 225# for a double with the weight belt and that went up, but it was rough.

I put 245# on the bar and went to get some water.  When I got back I figured I had only one good lift left in me, so I added 5# plates to each side to match my current PR.

It wasn't until I addressed the bar that I remembered that my PR is 250#, not 255#.  Too late now.

Down to the bottom, stalled about half way up, pushed and pushed and slowly stood it up.

Sweet, new PR.

Then I did some overhead squat work.  Really rough. Didn't use weight, just worked position. 

Progress update:

Front Squat PR. 

Strength:
Bench: 215lbs July 4, 2014 (up from 205lbs)
Dead Lift: 355lbs September 5, 2014 (up from 345lbs)
Press: 145lbs September 9, 2014 (up from 140lbs)
Back Squat: 285lbs June 30, 2014 (up from 275lbs)
Front Squat: 255# (up from 250#) September 3, 2014
Overhead squat: 115# April 10th, 2014

Power:
Power Clean: 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs)
Power snatch:  125lbs Mar, 27, 2014 (up from 115lbs)
Push Press: 175# (up from 165#) Feb 18, 2014
Clean: 191# (up from 185#) July 29, 2014
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013

Strength log for Tuesday, September 9th - Trust the process

It's easy sometimes, when you are going through the motions, laying the bricks as I like to say, towards a goal, to lose perspective, to lose faith.

But then out of nowhere you break through a barrier and you realize that the process is working. Even when it doesn't seem like it, you have to remember to trust that the plan, if you are following it, will bear fruit.

The last time I tried to perform a shoulder press at 145lbs, one week ago, I got the bar about as high as my nose before it stopped dead in it's tracks.  After 8 weeks of slowly building up from five sets of five reps at 70% all the way up to 3 heavy singles at 95%, it was like a slap in the face.  After putting in all that work, how could I not get that 5lbs difference?

I didn't harp on it as I had many other lifts I was progressing on to keep my body and mind busy with. 

Today, going into the gym to hit a heavy single, and either peel back and do some reps or push ahead and attempt a PR, I didn't have a preference which it would be.  If it felt good, I'd go for it, if not, I'd salvage the workout with some heavy rep work.

My warm up was very short, only a few reps at 60%, 70% and 80% of my current max, then a single at 90% of my current max. Then I jumped 20lbs from 125lbs to 145lbs.

Straight up. Fought it a bit, but there was never any doubt it was going up.  In fact a took a few minutes to walk around and get some water and  then I did it again. Even better the second time.

It was a pretty awesome feeling, that completely erase the slap in the face from last week.

I have set some pretty aggressive goals for myself, but I know I'll get there.

I just have to trust the process.  



Progress update:

Strict Press PR. 

Strength:
Bench: 215lbs July 4, 2014 (up from 205lbs)
Dead Lift: 355lbs September 5, 2014 (up from 345lbs)
Press: 145lbs September 9, 2014 (up from 140lbs)
Back Squat: 285lbs June 30, 2014 (up from 275lbs)
Front Squat: 250# (up from 245#) September 3, 2014
Overhead squat: 115# April 10th, 2014



Power:
Power Clean: 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs)
Power snatch:  125lbs Mar, 27, 2014 (up from 115lbs)
Push Press: 175# (up from 165#) Feb 18, 2014
Clean: 191# (up from 185#) July 29, 2014
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013

Strength log for Monday, September 8th

Back squat day. 

Wasn't what I'd hoped but better than I should've expected.

Started by working up to a heavy single. I was doing my bretzels between sets and I think it really helped.

Hit 275#, but it was tough.  Probably could've done 285#, but 275# was just too rough.  So I peeled off to 245# and did 3 sets of 3.


That went well.  The second rep of the second set sent me on my toes, I thought I was in trouble for the rest of the workout, but I repositioned myself and the third rep went really well.  Easier than the third rep on the first set.

Third set went really well too.  So I have to be happy with that.  I'll try again next week.

Crossfit log for Monday, September 8th

Well that's one way to start the week. 

Another EMOM start to the day.

17 minutes this time:  8 rounds of power snatch, 1 round rest, 8 rounds power clean.  First to rounds 5 reps, then 3 rounds of 3 and 3 rounds of 2.  Adding weight along the way.  All touch and go.

Started the snatches at 75#, the upped to 85# for the triples and 95# for the doubles and did the last round at 105#

Started the power cleans at 135#, then 145#, and finally 155#.

Warmed up and sweaty already.

WOD was a thankfully short 10 minute AMRAP of:
- 30 double unders
- 10 dead lifts at 185#
- 8 toes to bar
- 6 chest to bar pull ups (scaled to regular pull ups)

I nicknamed this workout "The Grip" because grip strength was going to be the limiter.

Coach was impressed at how I "manhandled" the dead lifts at 185#.  Good for the ego.

Managed 2 rounds + 45 reps (up to 5 T2B).

Double unders sucked.  Dead lifts were good.  T2B were strange. first round I did 5, then 3 singles, couldn't get a good kip going.  Second round I did 8 unbroken, it was beautiful.  Third round made it to 5 again with 5 seconds to go, dropped off the bar and that was it.  Wish I'd have gotten through the the last 3 before the buzzer.  Oh well.

Really need to work on C2B pull ups, could've done this Rx if not for that.

Crossfit log for Friday, September 5th

Good day at the box.

Started with clean and jerk, work up to 1 heavy single at 85% of max. I hit 175# very nicely, which is 90% of my current max (which need to be retested soon).

Then we did dead lifts.  Find new 1 rep max.

Having done this just last week and failing to meet my goal of 355# I was eager to try again.  Last time I couldn't even get it off the ground. This time it went up unhesitatingly.

I was surprised.   Last time must've been completely mental.  And perhaps fatigue, having just PR'd at 345#.

I jumped from 335# to 355# this time.  No discomfort.

Then we did the WOD which I slogged through.

A short chipper of :
40 calorie row
50 wall balls
20 hand stand push ups  (scaled to 10 reps and 1 abmat and 1 small plate)

It was a bit of a mess since we did a staggered start and the wall balls and the hspu are pretty much in the same area, except 4 wall ball stations on the rig.  I wasted a lot of time finding a spot to squeeze in between some folks on hspu for a few reps when finally one of the rig stations freed up.  From that point on it was no problems.

Finished in 9:15.  Could've been faster, but I wasn't pushing it, I was just happy about the PR dead lift.

Progress update:

Yet another dead lift PR. 

Lift / target weight / current PR
Bench / 190lbs / 215lbs July 4, 2014 (up from 205lbs)
Dead Lift / 300lbs / 355lbs September 5, 2014 (up from 345lbs)
Press / 130lbs / 140lbs July 2, 2014 (up from 135lbs)
Power Clean / 185lbs / 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs)
Power snatch / 140lbs / 125lbs Mar, 27, 2014 (up from 115lbs)
Back Squat / 255lbs / 285lbs June 30, 2014 (up from 275lbs)

Other lift PRs:
Front Squat 250# (up from 245#) September 3, 2014
Push Press: 175# (up from 165#) Feb 18, 2014
Clean: 191# (up from 185#) July 29, 2014
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013
Overhead squat: 115# April 10th, 2014

Crossfit log for Thursday, September 4th

Really didn't want to get out of bed this morning but ultimately I did, and headed to the gym.

We did another 18 minute EMOM alternating three stations:
- 5 power snatches
- 10 toes to bar
- 10 ring dips

This really fell apart at the end.  At round 4 I upped the weight from 75# to 85#, which was fine.  Strangely, the snatches weren't the problem.

T2B fell apart almost right away, started with only 6 the first round, the 8, then mostly 7, last round I made it to 5. Horrible.  Arms were still feeling the pull ups from yesterday.

Dips fell a part on the fourth time through. Reduced to 8.  Kipping didn't help much.  Last round was 5 or 6 reps.

Ugh.

Like last week, the WOD was a short 8 min AMRAP
- 100 double unders (scaled to 50)
- 40 box jumps
- 20 burpees onto plate.

I hope I'm just tired and not coming down with something, this  WOD killed me.

Made it to only 10 burpees, and that's with cutting the double unders in half. Glad it's over.

Strength log for Wednesday, September 3rd

Did some mobility on my shoulder.  Then I did some bretzels before squats and in between sets.

Worked front squats. Worked up to a heavy single and jumped from 235# to 250#, I failed at 255# last time so I figured I'd split the difference.

I nailed it. Nice and deep, bounced out of the bottom and didn't feel a thing in my groin.  Triple win.

Needed that.

Progress update.

New Front Squat PR. 

Lift / target weight / current PR
Bench / 190lbs / 215lbs July 4, 2014 (up from 205lbs)
Dead Lift / 300lbs / 345lbs August 27, 2014 (up from 325lbs)
Press / 130lbs / 140lbs July 2, 2014 (up from 135lbs)
Power Clean / 185lbs / 185lbs Dec 30, 2013 (up from 175lbs)
Power snatch / 140lbs / 125lbs Mar, 27, 2014 (up from 115lbs)
Back Squat / 255lbs / 285lbs June 30, 2014 (up from 275lbs)

Other lift PRs:
Front Squat 250# (up from 245#) September 3, 2014
Push Press: 175# (up from 165#) Feb 18, 2014
Clean: 191# (up from 185#) July 29, 2014
Jerk: 185# (up from 180#) Oct 30, 2013
Snatch: 130# July 22, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 175# July 24, 2013
Overhead squat: 115# April 10th, 2014

Crossfit log for Wednesday, September 3rd

Squat clean thrusters.

Ugh.

3 sets of 2 at 80% of 1 rep max clean and jerk.  So I did 155# because it was easier to set up than 148#.

Ended up counting my last warm up set at 135# as a working set.  Ugh.

WOD was killer.

Team Series Event #2
For time:
Male/Female pair 1 completes:
30 thrusters (M) 30 pull-ups (F)
30 thrusters (F) 30 pull-ups (M)
20 thrusters (M) 20 pull-ups (F)
20 thrusters (F) 20 pull-ups (M)
10 thrusters (M) 10 pull-ups (F)
10 thrusters (F) 10 pull-ups (M)

95 / 65 lb. thrusters

Chest-to-bar pull-ups



Worked with Natasha. We scaled the pull ups to chin over bar.

We wise chose to start with a our weekest station and thankfully they were not the same for both of us. I started on thrusters and she on pull ups.

First round went really well, planned on doing 3 sets of 10 for everything, but first rep I hit myself on the nose going up. I've hit my chin before, but never my nose.  Man, that hurt!  I got 10 done, but then only 6, so I quickly did 4 more to make 10. Then did 5 and 5.  

Pull ups went well as expected, 3 sets of 10. 

Round 2 sucked.  Got 6 thrusters which was a minor miracle. Some quick math I was able to figure out that if I did 5 then 4, 3 and 2, that would be 20, so that's what I did.  Worked really well. 

Again pull ups went 10 and 10, but it was starting to hurt. 

Round 3, I somehow managed to get 5 thrusters, but took forever to start.  Nat was finisher her pull ups as I finished my 5 reps, then I did 3 and 2 and finally got the last 10 pull ups. 6 and 4.

Done in 15:11

Wow.  Sweatfest.  Exhausted.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, September 2nd

Strength work this morning (really glad I did press yesterday)!

Back squats  4x4 at 70% of max.
I was working with Maks, after we hit 185#, things were going well so upped it to 205#  and it went well.

Dead lifts 3x3 at 75%.  I can't remember if we settled on 255# or 265# (I think it was 255#), 75% would've been 260# so I was happy either way.  Also went well.


WOD
5 rounds for time
- 5 squat clean @ 185# (scaled to 165#, until last round: 155$#)
- 5 muscle ups (scaled to ring dips)

Scaling muscle ups to ring dips feels like cheating to me (I should really do chest to bar instead, they need more work). So I minimized the scale on the cleans to compensate.  185# is just too close to my 1 reps max to sustain for 25 reps, so I settled on 165#.  Hard but doable.

Well until the last round, I ran out of steam, luckily Kyle's bar had 155# on it, and he was finished, so I used that for the last round. I think my time was around 10:49, happy with that.

Strength log for Monday, September 1st

Lazy day at home, so I set up the bar in the garage and did some strict press.

Worked up really slowly. 10# increments starting at 65#.  Lowering the rep count to singles starting at 115#

Went well up to 135#.  Tried 145#, same deal as last time.  Can't get past that sticking point.

Dropped to 125# for 3 sets of 3.  Last rep was a real fight.   I'll try 130# next time. Unless I get that elusive 145#!