Strength and Olympic lifting log for Thursday, December 31st

A night out with my fiancee (or as Delilah said my beyoncé) a couple of drinks and a bit of congestion in the back of my nose/throat I slept in again, by choice.

Work day new year's eve ended at noon, after we were given the okay to leave for the day, I headed to the Y for my last workout of the year.

Started with squats, since I forgot my gear yesterday.

I worked up to a heavy single of 305#.  I wanted to try for a double, but the weight went forward on the way up. I was able to recover and stand it up, but I was no longer interested in going for another one.

So, then I moved on to cleans.  I figured why not see what I can muster towards my goal of 100kg.

After switching to singles at 185#, I jumped to 205# and it went up very well. Then I was going to go with 215#, my current PR.  At the last minute I figured why not add 2.5# plates for 220# and make it a new record.

And doing the maths, turned out that it would actually be 100kg: my stated goal (although my real goal is two plates, 225#).

Well 220# went up like 205#, I was really stoked, so there was no way I was leaving without at least trying 225#.

I recruited a buddy to film the attempt, and somehow I got it.  Didn't catch it as solidly as 220#, but I got under and had no trouble standing it up.

So new PR for my last workout of 2015.  That's pretty cool.

New Clean PR.  

Strength:
Bench: 230# November 19, 2014 (up from 225#)
Dead Lift: 365# September 17, 2014 (up from 355#)
Press: 145# September 9, 2014 (up from 140#)
Back Squat: 315# March 2, 2015 (up from 305#)
Front Squat: 280# September 29, 2015 (up from 275#)
Overhead squat: 155# September 22, 2015 (up from 145#) 

Power:
Power Clean: 205# July 4, 2015 (up from 195#)
Power snatch:  140# Dec 5, 2014 (up from 125#)
Push Press: 185# Sept 15, 2014 (up from 175#)
Clean: 225# Dec 31, 2015 (up from 215#)
Jerk: 205#  Dec 13, 2014 (up from 185#)
Snatch: 145# Apr 23, 2015 (up from 135#)
Clean and Jerk: 205# Dec 13, 2014 (up from 175#)

Strength and accessory log for Wednesday, December 30th

Late night, and up in the night so no Crossfit.  Grrr.  Planned for the Y at lunch but after leaving the house realized I forgot my lifting bag.  Double Grrr.

So I did what I could:  strict press, 3 rep max, followed by heavy rows, 3 sets of 3 at 165#

Press went well, hit 125# for 3, knew 135# wouldn't happen, so I tried 130#, got two! But the third just wouldn't go.  I'll take it.

Hit the row pulley machine at 105# for 8, 135# for 5, then 3 triples at 165#.  Felt good.

Will to 3 singles at 180# next week.

Strength and accessory log for Wednesday, December 23rd

Went to the Y at lunch, again, since I'll be a slug until after Christmas, and worked on overhead and accessory work.

Got a Christmas surprise, the new barbell arrived just as I did and Seb let me be the first to use it.

Nice bar. bushings not bearings (as expected), but smooth rotation (new bar), and pretty good whip.  I liked it.

Did press, push press, jerk, building up to max strict press of 135# and max push press of 185# (hadn't hit that in a while) but failed to lock out 195# with the jerk, but I was tired and sore, so I called it after that.

Then I followed up last Wednesday's accessory work with 5 triples of supinated rows on the pulley machine at 155#.  Went well.

Next week, if I can get to the Y I'll hit 3 triples at 165#.

Crossfit log for Wednesday, December 23rd

Didn't want to get out of bed this morning.  But since it will likely be my last Crossfit class until after Christmas, I dragged myself out of bed and planned to go easy. 

When I signed up just before leaving the house, there 14 of 14 spots left, I would be the only person. Thankfully Kyle and Véro where there when I arrived. I guess they hadn't signed up for the class.

Warm up was 3 rounds of 5 pull ups (strict), 10 empty bar thrusters, and 12 sit ups.  Did two rounds.

Started with a clean complex EMOM for 7 minutes:  1 high hang clean + 1 hang clean + 1 clean.  Don't drop the bar until after all three are done.

Did 135#, 145# and 155# for the first three rounds and stayed at 155# to the end.

Last couple of rounds were getting rough.


Then, after all those heavy back squats yesterday at the Y, we had 1 rep max back squat. Crap. 

Got up to 295# and called it there. 

The WOD was a 21-15-9 couplet of deadlifts and box jumps, 245#/30" for the men and 165#/24" for the women.  There was a 10 minute cap.

As I hummed and hawed, I remembered my plan to go easy and figured if I wanted any chance of finishing under the cap I should just go  women's Rx for everything and for get about using the 30" box or splitting the differenct on the deadlifts.

So I did women's Rx and had a great workout.  Finished right in the pack at 7:13.

Very happy with that..

Strength and accessory log for Tuesday, December 22nd

Had a great workout at the Y today.

Wanted to lift heavy.  Torn between cleans and back squats.  Since we did a ton of power cleans this morning and when in doubt you should always squat.  I voted for squats.

Decided to do 5 singles, and see how close I could get to that elusive repeat of last March's PR of 315#.

Warmed up to a double at 275# then began my singles at 295#.  Then 300#, 305#, which went up easily, even smoother than 300# did.  At 310# I fought a bit, but I got it.

For the fifth set I tried  310# again, looking to make it smoother, like 305# was over 300#.  Got it, much less fight. 

Very happy with that.  Maybe next time I'll try a double at 305# or 300#.

Then I did some RDLs, a warm up of 8 reps at 135# and a working set at 205# for 6 reps. 

That was good too.   Took a bit of a steam and headed back to work.

Good workout.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, December 22nd

This wasn't going to be fun.


Back to back mini WODs for Tuesday's f
15-10-5
- Power Clean  135/95#
- HSPU

 - Then Directly into -

15-10-5
- Hang Power Clean 135/95#
- Ring Dip

Used women's Rx, and it actually wasn't too bad.   HSPU sucked after the first 10 reps.

Ring dips, usually my strength, are a lot harder when you triceps are trashed from HSPU!

But I got through it.

Today was a day for scaling.  The post WOD was 2 6 minute EMOMs with 2 minutes rest between.


6min EMOM:
- Row 15/10 Cals

 - Rest 2 mins -

6min EMOM
- 5 C2B + 10 Push-ups + 5 Box Jump Overs

Rows went 15 cal, 12 cal, 12 cal, 10 cal, 10 cal, 15 cal  (last one, took the whole minute).

Second part did regular pull ups, scaled to 7 push ups.  Made 2 rounds like that, the dropped to 5, 5, 4 and the last round, having more time with no need for rest did a full 5, 10, 5.

So there.  Spent, but it went better than I expected.

Crossfit log for Monday, December 21st

Monday Crossfit.  Rough, of course.

Even the warm up was rough.

It was a sprint chipper of:
- 25 Medicine Ball Cleans
- 20 Wall Balls
- 15 Sit-ups
- 10 Superman Rocks
- 5 Squat Snatches, 75/55 lbs
- 2 Shuttle Runs

I was just about ready to go home after that.

Then we did snatch balance, working up to a one rep max.  I stopped at 135#.  Did it twice because the first one was ugly.

Then 1 rep max overhead squat.  Also did 135# and also did this twice.  Didn't get deep enough on the first one.

Granted my warm up going split snatch balance wasn't quite a OHS warm up like most everybody else, but it was okay.  

Then the WOD, teams of 2,  worked with Dave and Justin shadowed us.

2 rounds for time of:
- 20 Overhead Squats, 115/80#
- 20 Toes-to-bars
- 10 Squat Snatches, 115/80#
- 10 Bar Muscle Ups (scaled to 15 chest to bar pull ups)

I scaled to weight to 95#.  Dave did 85# and Justin did Rx.   Dave was really struggling with the OHS, he stopped at 8, so I did my 8, thinking we'd do 2 and 2 to finish off, but he was talking to the Coach Alex, so I just did my 10, as Justin was waiting.  Then I just did the remaining 2, that's what teamwork is for.  So we were able to go to the T2B.

These were okay, a bit slow, but we did our 10 each.

Snatch was even harder on Dave, but his last rep, running out of arms to muscle it up, he totally pulled himself under the bar, if he had caught it in the slot, it would have been the best snatch of his life.  But he caught it forward and lost it, but we counted it anyway. 

I did my snatches (I think I did an extra for his missed one, not sure) and moved on to the CTB.

Again, slow but done.  Then on to the dreaded round 2.

Dave shed 10# from the bar to 75# and he was a new man.  Too bad he hadn't done that from the start.  Breezed through the OHS, mine were fine until rep 8, really had to fight to maintain shoulder stability. But managed to get through my 10.

T2B were even slower 2nd time through.  Snatches went really well for everyone, and finally struggled through the CTB to finish off.

It wasn't a ton of work, but it was hard work.   Good job team!

Crossfit log for Thursday, December 17th

Wow, that was a killer.

The warm up was not too bad,  3 rounds of 15 ring rows, 10 glute bridges and 5 burpees.   Fuck burpees.

The strength was 5 sets of 5 close grip bench press.

Started at 165# for the first 3 sets then bumped it to 175# and finished up with 185#.  Happy with that, worked hard.

The WOD was horrible

4 tabatas in a row:  4 minutes of 20 seconds all out, 10 seconds rest, for 8 rounds each:
- back squats 135#
- toes to bar (scaled to sit ups)
- dead lifts 135#
- handstand push ups  (scaled to regular push ups)

I may have lost count a couple of place but guestimates conservatively for a total rep count of 209#  (on par with the others)

I Rx'd the bar work because I knew I'd be scaling the other two.

Back squats were good, but went downhill quickly,  Like 11, 10, 8, 6, 7, 5, 5, 4

Completely missed out on the first round of toes to bar, between trying to get set up and failing on the first one, I switched to sit ups and 20 seconds was up!

Got to just over 100 reps  in the remaining 7 rounds

Deadlifts sucked so bad.  First 3 rounds were fine, the rest was a suckfest.

Lost another round trying to get a handstand push up, switching too late to regular push ups.

Fought hard to get over 200, made it.

Workout log for Wednesday, December 16th

Too sleepy to get out of bed this morning.  So I really had to get to the Y at lunch.  I also had an appointment this morning, so I got in late and made my Y visit short as a consequence.

Quickly go into the Skills portion of today's WOD: Work up to 1 heavy set of clean complex with jerk:  high hang clean + hang clean + clean + jerk.

Did 95#, 135#, 155# and 185#.  The jerk wasn't pretty on the last one, but the cleans were solid. 

I was going to try the WOD which was a 21-15-9 of cleans and ring dips, completely doable at the Y with my rings.  But I didn't know how long that would take me and I realized it was Wednesday and I was supposed to do my row strength development work I started last week.

So I got set up on the row pulley machine, warmed up at 105#, supinated grip rows.

Then I upped it to 140# for the first of 3 sets of 5.  Went well, on the last set I upped it to 150#.  I think that would have been too much for 3 sets, but as the last set it was okay.  Next time I'll do 155# for 5 triples.

Then I called it a day and hit the showers.

Accessory log for Monday, December 14th

YMCA at lunch.

Started with Romanian deadlifts.  Used Dave's bar as he was working up on his clean.

Did 95# for 8 reps to warm up and since last time was so easy at 135#, I upped it to 155# and still managed to hit 8 reps without much effort. 

So I decided to do an additional set at 185#.  That was more like it.  Next time skipping the 155#, I'll warm up at 135# and hit 205# for reps.

Then I did some 1 armed rows on the pulley machine.  The warm up at 90# was harder than expected, and the reps at 120# weren't full range of motion. Next time I'll warm up at 75# and rep out at 105#.  Lesson learned.

Then I did my hip rotators drills, but didn't have time for the all-fours breathing, I was too busy watching and filming Dave hit a clean PR at 130kg.  It was a thing of beauty.

Crossfit log for Monday, December 14th

Hopefully the start of a normal week of training. 

Warm up consisted of 3 rounds of 25ft banded monster walk and 15 band pull aparts.

Then we went right into a snatch emom.  1 snatch every minutes, 80% for 3, 85% for 3 and 90% for 3.

Did 115#, 120# and 125#.  155# went well, and the last rep at 125# well.  The rest all had something lacking.

Then we quickly did back squats,  3 heavy doubles.  After a short warm up I did 245#, 250#, 260#.  Happy with that.

The WOD was a killer

3 rounds for time:
- 5 handstand pushups
- 10 power cleans 135#/95#
- 15 burpees
- 20 kettle bell swings 24kg/16kg
- 25 wall balls

Oh man. 

Back in September I did a WOD with 21 hspu, this would be 15.  That time I managed 19 and ran out of arms for the two last reps.  This time I hit the wall at 12.  Hmm...  Oh well, next time.

Scaled the bar to 115# and in the last round dropped it to 95#.

Burpees suck so bad.

KB swings were hard too.  Broke them up every time.

Wall balls, which I'm usually fairly strong at, I've been having trouble lately. Broke these ones up a lot.

Really glad it's over.

Accessory and physio log for Friday, December 11th

Got to the Y at lunch, starting to feel normal again.

I tried my ring dip EMOM, 7 rounds of 7 reps (8 on the first round, for 50 reps).

Horrible.  Made 5 rounds plus only 3 reps in round 6. So with the extra rep in round 1 that makes 39 reps total.  Ugh. Maybe I should go back to 10 rounds of 5.

After that I did some ring rows in to a bottom of dip position.   3 sets of 8.  Getting good.  I think all this mid-back work may  help my muscle up. We'll see.

Then I did my physio drills: all-fours breathing and hip rotator drills.

Then I hobbled to the showers

Good work.

Crossfit log for Friday, December 11th

Finally got back to Crossfit this morning.  Kiza arrived last night at bath time, so I went to bed early and was up at 5:00am

Showed up ready to go.

Warm up was 25 cal row, 20 med ball cleans and 15 burpees.

The rowers were all taken so I started with the burpees. Got them done while I was still fresh.  Good call.

Then we did a 9 minute EMOM of 1 clean and jerk, first 3 at 80%, second 3 at 85% and the last 3 at 90%.  I did 165#, 175# and 185#. Went well, the 8th rep was my best at 90%.

The WOD was killer.  Basically Grace plus Karen.

3 rounds for time of :
- 10 clean and jerks at 135#/95#
- 50 wall balls.

Looked harmless enough on the board.  As predicted the first round went beautifully and then the wheels came off big time.

I kept up with Kamil (we both scaled to women's Rx) until round 3, I would finishe after him on the C&J each time but I would catch him on the wall balls, but round 3 I had nothing left.

Finished in 18:10. 

Good to be back at it.

Strength, accessorty and physio log for Thursday, December 10th

This morning's trip to the physio exposed some new issues.  Yay.

Since my lower back was still experiencing discomfort in some positions, he checked my hip mobility and found an imbalance.

Sitting with feet dangling, hold a pencil between your knees.  If you can do that without your aductors cramping, you already ahead of me.

Then move your feet away from each other, sideways, you should be able to create a gap of 40 plus centimetres.  I can manage only 21cm.  My hip muscles don't feel that this is a worthwhile endeavour.

So after some acupuncture I was given some drill to activate the hip rotators.  I did those at lunch at the Y after my strength and accessory work.

Started with back squats.  Needed to lift heavy.  Got up to 305# and tried 315# once again, and again I couldn't get out of the hole.  Meh.  305# is still good. Likely 310# would've made it up.

Then I did some RDLs, a set of 8 at 95# and a set of 8 at 135#.  I think I can start to go heavier on these.  I'll wait to see how I feel in two days before making that decision.

After that I did the hip drills and finished up with the All-Fours-Breathing drill. 

Just keep chipping away at the weaknesses. 

Olympic Lifting and accessory log for Wednesday, December 9th

Made it to the Y.  Thank goodness.

Needed to lift.

Worked on snatch. 

Slowly worked up to a max lift of 135#, roughly 60kg.  It went up so well I was sure 145# was in the books, but alas. 

I did managed a split power snatch, with ugly press out at 145#, but I won't count that. I'll check my power snatch PR, I may take it.

But even the second attempt was a no.

Oh well.  Then I did some supinated rows on the pulley machine at 135#, for 5 sets of 5.  I think I'll follow my strength development plan for these, I think I could really benefit from seriously strengthening my mid back.

Feeling good.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, December 8th

Oh man, have I been delinquent posting my workout log!

I have two back posts to make after this one.

Today was my first normal day in weeks, at least that's what it feels like.  And it won't even be a normal week, Kiza is out of town yet again,  so Wednesday and Thursday are out of the question for morning Crossfit.

Today was okay.  A lot of volume on the WOD.

Warm up was 3 rounds of Cindy: 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 air squats.

Basic stuff.

WOD was 4 rounds for time:
- 7 clean and jerk  165#/110#
- 14 toes to bar
- 21 box jumps  24"/20"

Scaled to 125#, should have done 135# like Kamil but I was scared with that many. 

Scaled the t2b to 10 reps, those just kill me.

Box jump were fine for the first 2 rounds, then started with step ups and got slow.

Three rounds would have been okay, I really slowed down in round 3 and round 4 was a crawl.  Got capped at 16 minutes with 3 rounds + 18 reps.

Man that was not easy.

After that we did 7 rounds of row 1 minute rest 1 minutes.


This sucked but I was able to keep a good pace the whole time, likely thanks to the upper back work I've been doing with the dumbbell and barbell rows.

Strength log for Sunday, December 6th

Another delinquent post.

Because of my lack of workouts I used my Sunday, while the kids were in swimming lessons. Normally, I'd just do mobility but I needed to squat.

I decide to do a complex of 2 front squats + 3 back squats, for 5 sets.

Worked up to 225#. Did 3 sets at that weight then bumped it up to 245#. 

That was a bit harder, but I managed the two last sets.

Felt good to move some weight.

Crossfit log for Thursday, December 3rd

This is a delinquent post.  I'll have to search my memory to provide any useful commentary.  Thankfully the workout is available at Beyond the Whiteboard.

Coach Connor added a warm up with I think was a mistake, but whatever.

We did 3 rounds of 10 strict press (empty bar), 15 push press, and if memory servers 5 burpee box jumps.

I arrived at the last minute and by the time I got setup, I only had time for two rounds, and the second round I did only box jumps.  Fuck burpees.

We started with 2 rep max push press.

I had recently maxed out at 175# for a single at the Y so I made that my target.  Working with Kamil, we both hit 165# with not too much fight.  Kamil thought we'd just done 175#, so set us up for 185#, I just figured he wanted to go big (or go home), so I ran with it.  We both failed on the first rep.  Then he realized his math mistake. We had a good laugh, and called it quits

Then we did close grip bench press for 4 sets of 4.  I did the first 2 sets at 145# then when I upped it to 155# on set 3, I was too close to the rack and after hitting it twice, I re-racked it and set up again for 4 which were rough, essentially doing 6 reps.

I was going to go for 165# on the last set but with the screw up on set 3, I did 155# again and it went smoothly.

The WOD was a revisit of CrossFit Games Open 13.2
Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 mins of:
- 5 Shoulder-to-Overheads, 115#/75#
- 10 Deadlifts, 115#/75#
- 15 Box Jumps, 24/20 in

I had only found one record of this workout in my log, from last October where I scaled the bar to 95# and 4 rounds plus 24.  So I was moderatly happy with my new score of 4 + 28, 2 reps shy of 5 rounds.

But I just looked again an found my original 2013 Open log entry.  I did 115# (because there was no choice in the Open back then) and I got to 6 box jumps, so 4 + 21, with an extra 10# and with Strep.  I even re-did it on the Saturday, to have 2 extra days of anti-biotics and some rest, and hit 5 rounds plus 24!  A full round more than last October at 95#. 

Crap.

Olympic lifting log for Tuesday, December 1st

My appointment with Rob is Wednesday, so I didn't go to Crossfit today, as they had deadlifts on the menu and I don't want to make matters worse until I see Rob.

But doing nothing all day isn't an option. I went to the Y and did some overhead work from the rack.

Started with strict press, until I maxed out at 135# then switched to push press, going up to 175#, which was a real fight.

At that point I switch to jerks.  Every time I unracked it, I was thinking man this feels heavy and yet I jerked it each time without issue.  185#, 195#, 205#... bam, bam, bam.

So I had to go for 215# to match my recent clean PR, but I couldn't do it.  Soon.

Happy with that.  Then I did some grip strength work with bar and dumbbells and my "all fours breathing"

Looking forward to tomorrow's physio visit.

Olympic lifting log for Monday, November 30th

Went to the Y to do something.

Decided on a clean complex: 1 power clean+1 hang clean+1 clean

Worked up to 185# where I did only the power clean.  at 175# it was fine, but my back was still out of sorts so I called it a day.

Before leaving I did some supinated rows on the pulley machine at 120# for 8 and 165# for 5.  Not easy. Couldn't get full range to the chest, I may drop a bit of weight next time.

Then I did my "all fours breathing" drill and headed back to work.

Crossfit log for Monday, November 30th

Wow, that was a whole lotta volume for a Monday morning. Saved by the time cap.

After a 4 minute warm up of 5 kettle bell swings, 7 wall balls and 1 shuttle run, we got set up for the WOD:

4 rounds for time with a 16 minute time cap (thank goodness):
- 21 box jumps
- 18 wall balls
- 15 kettle bell swings
- 12 burpees.

Could've done without the burpees, or 3 rounds instead of 4. 

Thankfully the time cap stopped me at exactly 3 rounds.

After that we did 14 minute EOMOM (every other minute, or on 2 mintues):
- 1 snatch from the hang, 1 snatch from the floor.

I had a hard time getting all the pieces together,  either the pull wasn't to full extension, or I failed to commit to get low and the catch was more power snatch than snatch, or I wouldn't keep it close to the body and it would arc out.  It just seem that with the exception of 2 or 3 of the 14 lifts, at least one element was off.

Oh well, at least there were a couple of good ones.

After that, being short on time and still a bit sore, I rushed through the heavy double front squat (settle for 225#) and did 2 sets of 8 at 185#, which was hard enough. 

Glad that's over.  Booked another appointment with Physio Rob on Wednesday.  Can't wait.

Strength log for Friday, November 27th

Forgot to set my alarm and missed max back squat day at Crossfit.

So I went to the Y to make up for it.

Hit 305#, but couldn't get out of the hole at 315#. 

I didn't really fight for it, because my back isn't 100%.  I got about a quarter way up and stalled, contemplated fighting for a second or two, decided not to, dropped back down in to the bottom and sat there for another second or two deciding whether to try again, but I quickly realized if I didn't get it first try, the added fatigue and the fact that I'm essentially paused in the bottom, there would be no come back from this. 

So I let it roll of my back into the cage and called it quits.

Did some supinated rows with the pulley machine. 8 @ 120# and 5 @ 165#

It was pretty good on the pulley system.  I may alternate between the barbell and the pulley.  Maybe not. 

Meh. Another day.

Strength log for Thursday, November 26th

Needed to get to the Y

Presses, deadlifts and bench this morning, plus squats tomorrow left little to work on.

I suppose I could have done accessory work, but I wanted to lift.

So I did some overhead squats.  Wanted to test out the overhead stability after yesterday's physio treatment and I wanted to squat without going really heavy.

Did some lifts with the empty bar, 95#, 115# and 135# which was decisive and unhesitating, unlike last time, so the treatment worked.

I was able to stabilize 155# overhead without issue, but I couldn't get into the bottom position. I lost it forward. Tried one more time and no dice.

Did a couple of sets of 4 front squats to make up for it.  1 set at 185# and 1 at 225#. 

Then I did my breathing drill the physio gave me yesterday, called "All fours breathing". Sucks.  But should help with my thoracic mobility and posture and hopefully eventually with my overhead position.

Took a bit a of a steam and then headed back to work.

Nice to get a good day's work in for once.

Crossfit log for Thursday, November 26th

Yesterday I spent a very long time at the physiotherapist, I had pulled my quadratus lumborum, or QL on my right side, which is a lateral stabilizer, which was giving me grief when pulling from the floor.   That didn't take too long so he had time to work on my shoulders and hopefully help my overhead squat stabilization.

He said the the QL was the more likely culprit for the problems stabilizing overhead, but he did the work anyway, there were plenty of knots to needle.  Plus he did some compression and torsion on my rib cage to improve my thoracic mobility. 

It was an intense session and instead of hot packs, I went home and soaked in an epsom salt bath for half an hour.

So today, I went to morning Crossfit for the first time in nearly two weeks. 

Felt really good to be back, despite the dead lifts in the WOD.

Started with Pause Push press, deeper drive, pause at the bottom for a 3 count and then explode up into a push press for 4 doubles, I did 135#, and 3 sets at 155#.  Felt great.

Then close grip bench,  worked with Kamil and just did 115#, wasn't interested in push on this one.

The WOD was crafted by Coach Connor, a 21-15-9 triplet of my least favorite exercises:
- deadlift at 225#/155# 
- lateral burpees over bar
- box jumps 30"/24"

I scaled the dead lifts to 135#, no interest in hurting my recently fixed back. Burpees suck.  Did 3 box jumps at 30" nearly wrecked on the 4th.  24" from there on in.

Took me  15:13 to finish.  Meh.  First day back, wasn't out to impress anyone.

Crossfit log for Friday, November 20th at Crossfit Bytown

My back is way better midday than in the early morning.  Without Crossfit Bytown I would have had no workouts this week.  Mornings were a non-starter and no access to lunch time YMCA, these guys saved my sanity.

Second workout of the week was harder but I was alone in my class.  There were other athletes working out, but they were the competitive group doing their own thing.

I got to skip the 500m row since I'd already ran 1km to get there.

So after some targeted mobility work we did 5 sets of clean and jerk triples, touch and go, ascending weight.

Started at 135# after warming up with the empty bar and 95#.

Moved up to 145#, 155# and 165#, where I stayed for the last set.  I likely could have gone to 175#, but we still had the WOD to do. Back held out surprisingly well.

Coach Everett watched most of my lifts, and had very little to correct, so yay.  He even thought my jerk was way more than my clean, because it looked very solid at 135# and 145#, I said as it got heavier it was harder to commit to getting as low as I do at this weight.  But that was very motivating.

The WOD was Open WOD 14.1, 10 minute AMRAP of:
- 30 double unders
- 15 ground to overhead, 75#/55#

I had planned to split the difference on the weight at 65#, but I just realized that coach Everett loaded my bar while I changed shoes and he put 75#, the bastard!

So at least I can compare to when I did it during the 2014 Open.  I did 3 rounds + 37, this time I did 3 rounds + 38.  So there's that. 

Double unders when well,  snatches tanked me.

At least I got it done.

Crossfit log for Wednesday, November 18th at ByTown

Training off site for work going stir crazy without opportunity to workout, and discovered that Crossfit ByTown is just over 1km away from the training facility.

On Tuesday, I went there at lunch and introduced myself and asked about drop ins.  Everett, know Frank and Isabelle (the local Crossfit community is quite friendly).  He told me to use the free class option since I was just passing by. 

Very cool of him. So I signed up that night and brought my gear. 

Took off about 5 minutes before class broke for lunch and ran to the box.

Thankfully it was a short workout.  Unfortunately is was a short workout.

Man that was tough.  Started with some targeted mobility work and then an 8 minute EMOM of 8 thrusters.  Rx was 95#/65# so I split the difference at 75# (could've done 85#, but didn't want to risk over doing it while representing Physics).

The WOD was called Mission Impossible.  Yikes.

For time:
- row 2000m/1400m
- EMOM death by burpees.

So start rowing (I opted for 1400m) at minute 1, get off and do 1 burpee, resume rowing, minute 2 do 2 burpees, and so on, until you can't get back on the rower before the minute is up.

I managed 1054m, and 7 burpees, so 8 minutes of work.  Man burpees suck.

The run back was much harder than the run there.

My back is still tight.  It was a risk going there, but I really need to do something. I've registered for Friday, but I'll bail if my back is too troublesome.  Hope I'll be fine, I need my fix.

Minor workout log for Friday, November 13th

What a week, between Remembrance Day, and working from home yesterday and straining my right glute during Tuesday's deadlift workout, I haven't worked out since.  I have a massage appointment in 20 minutes, so I'll post this quick log and be on my way.

I couldn't not workout three days in a row.

Also, my barbell has been at the Y since Wednesday and I wanted to use it and make sure Dave and Seb knew that they were welcome to it too.

Since it was destined to collect dust in my garage all winter, I decide to offer it up, along with my women's bar to the Y to relieve the pressure of so few barbells.

So the women can use the women's bar (not many of them lift, but those who do won't have to compete with the men for a bar) and when Dave or I are there we won't be using up one of the few bars we have.

Win-win.

So I went today and did a few overhead squats and a few jerks just to use it.  Wrist was bugging me, I may go back to see Rob once more.

Now, for the Rogue bar, it's shouldn't be a problem as it'll be locked away for Seb, Dave or myself.  But the women's bar, I may have to sign some sort of waiver to let the general population use it.  We'll see what the manager says, next week.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, Novermber 10

After a week of no Crossfit, day two this week seemed like I'm already worn down. 

I need to pace myself better.

Warm up was 3 rounds for time of: 9 Straight Legged Deadlifts, 95# + 7 Strict Push Ups

Then we moved on to an EMOM for 10 mins: 2 Squat Cleans + 1 Jerk

Worked with Kamil, settle on 135#.  Was planning on going heavier but glad I didn't.  Got pretty hard at the end.

Also worked with Kamil on the WOD too.  Shared a bar and thankfully we didn't slow each other up.

5 rounds for time, 12 minute cap :

- 7 Deadlifts, 275/185 lbs

- 30 Air Squats

- 7 Strict Handstand Push-ups

I started on the air squats, Kamil on the bar.

 

We scaled to 225# but really should have done women's Rx, 225# was heavy. I broke up round 4 as 5 + 2 and round 5 as 5+1+1, because I was  done.

 

First round of air squats, being fresh, I sped through them. After that they got harder.

We scaled the HSPU to strict push ups,  I wanted to do them with feet on a box in  a pike position to better simulate HSPU, but the scale offered was push ups and that's what Kamil was doing, so in order to go head to head with him, I did the same.

I beat him.  Yay.    9:40.  Not sure what his time was (he just messaged me: 10:30).

I may take tomorrow off.

Acessory log for Monday, November 9th

Nice little trip to the Y today.

Started with some RDLs, 2 sets of 5 at 135#, got good and deep.

Then I did some bent over barbell rows. 8 @ 135# and 4 @ 165#. Still needs work.

Then I did some muscle up progressions using the TRX since I didn't bring my rings.  Basically rows and pulling my self up and over into a dip with my feet planted on the ground.

Finally I did some grip work, wrist curls with dumbbells: 8 reps @ 30# followed by 6 reps at 50#.  Then on to the barbell with suppinated wrist curls 8 @ 95# and 5 at 125#. The the same thing but pronated.

After that I was done like dinner.  Happy with that.

Crossfit log for Monday, November 9th

Good to be back at it.

Today we did something called the "Open Test".  We did this a year ago, and apparently my fitness has improved quite a bit in that time.

Warm up was to do 2 rounds of a few reps of all the stuff in the WOD, increase weight on the bar each time


Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 mins of:
- 50 Wall Balls, 20#/14#
- 50 Double Unders
- 40 Box Jumps, 24"/20"
- 40 Toes-to-bars
- 30 Burpees
- 30 Chest-to-bar Pull-ups
- 20 Power Cleans, 145#/100#
- 20 Jerks, 145#/100#
- 10 Snatches, 145#/100#
- 10 Muscle-ups

Wall balls were good, did sets of 10 last time, was set to do 2 sets of 25 this time, but 39 was an air ball.   44 looked like an air ball but hit the target on the way down, but I'd already committed to letting it fall.  I picked it up right away both times though. The pause at 25 was longer.


Double unders went way better than last time which I described as "some sets of 5, some of 10, some of 2. Grrr", this time I wrecked at 5 and at 11 and breezed through the rest.

Box jumps, I did rebounds, unlike the step up, jump down from last year. Caught up to Kamil on these, he took a slight lead on the double unders.

For the T2B, the plan was 6 sets of 5, turned into a hodge-podge.  Much like last year.

Once again, burpees were burpees. Kept a steady pace, up and back down rest a few breaths on the floor, the up and back down.  Wasn't very fast but got'em done.

This time I actually did do 30 regular, last time I did CTB, since Kamil was doing CTB, but I scaled to 15 reps and with less than a minute I squeezed in 3 power cleans at 95#

This time I got through the regular pull ups in 10, 8, 5, 4, 3 and with 115# on the bar do 8 reps, with a 4 touch and go in the middle to try and catch Kamil.

Wasn't enough though, be beat me by 4 reps.

Good workout. I did collapse to the floor at the end, but got up rather quickly. So it wasn't as bad as some recent workouts.

Finished up with 3 sets of 5 back squats.  I did 235#

Stength log for Friday, November 6th

I should have left well enough alone.

Went to the Y for some overhead squats.

During test week at the end of September I hit a PR of 155#.  With a recent PR on front squat, clean and a solid back squat yesterday, I thought it was high time to see if there was improvement to be had.

It wasn't.

Struggled at 135#, all attempts higher than that failed.  Meh.

At least I tried.

They can't all be great workouts.

Strength log for Thursday, November 5th

I had a small window of opportunity while the kids were in swimming lessons at the Y yesterday evening, so I took it.  I grabbed my lifting bag as I left the house and once the kids were safely on deck I hustled up stairs and got my knee sleeves and lifting shoes on for a quick heavy back squat session.

Worked up quickly.  Empty bar for a few, 135#, 185#, 225#, jumped to 275# then 295#.

It all felt really good.  So I put on 305# which I've done only once lately, and it went up without pause. 

I was running low on time and I don't like dropping at this Y, the plates aren't really bumpers, they are coated but not rubber.  So I called it quits there and did a set of dumbbell rows, 8 reps at 65# each arm then 5 reps at 100# each arm.

Then I headed to the pool to collect the kids.  Felt good to lift heavy. 

I feel very fortunate that I can lift so heavy; and I'm still improving.

Olympic lifting log for Tuesday, November 3rd

After the whirlwind of deploying the new site for the Prime Minister of Canada, I completely forgot to log my Tuesday workout.  No time for a workout at all on Wednesday, the day of the launch.  Today is looing sketchy too.

But I went to the Y on Tuesday to work on Clean and Jerk, and Snatch.

Work up to 195# without issue. Actually the jerk at 195# was a totaly press out, but I locked it overhead, so Crossfit-good, not Olympic-lifting-good.

Decided to do 205#, my current max instead of jumping to 215# for a PR.  Nailed it. The jerk was way better than at 195#.  Olympic-lifting-good!

Then I took a deep breath and put 215# on the bar.   The clean was UGLY, caught if forward, but my max front squat is 280#, I was able to pull it back and stand it up without problem. So new clean PR, yay! That's what I wanted. 

The jerk didn't go so well, according to Dave, the drive was good, plenty of height, but I just didn't get low enough under it.  Failure to commit.  I know I can do it now, so next time I'll get it.  100kg is in sight.  Aim is by new year's.

Switched to snatch and worked up to 135# where I started to struggle and run out of time, so I called it a day. 

Pretty happy.  I had a feeling after the Team Series when I got under 205# so easily that 215# was there. 

Progress update.

 

New Clean PR.  

 

Strength:
Bench: 230# November 19, 2014 (up from 225#)
Dead Lift: 365# September 17, 2014 (up from 355#)
Press: 145# September 9, 2014 (up from 140#)
Back Squat: 315# March 2, 2015 (up from 305#)
Front Squat: 280# September 29, 2015 (up from 275#)
Overhead squat: 155# September 22, 2015 (up from 145#) 

 

Power:
Power Clean: 205# July 4, 2015 (up from 195#)
Power snatch:  140# Dec 5, 2014 (up from 125#)
Push Press: 185# Sept 15, 2014 (up from 175#)
Clean: 215# Nov 2, 2015 (up from 205#)
Jerk: 205#  Dec 13, 2014 (up from 185#)
Snatch: 145# Apr 23, 2015 (up from 135#)
Clean and Jerk: 205# Dec 13, 2014 (up from 175#)

Crossfit at the Y log for Monday, November 2nd

With Kiza out of town yet again, no morning Crossfit for me.  Alas, it is retest week for the last week of September's test workouts, so I had to go full Crossfit at the Y.

So today was a repeat of September 24th WOD but with different strength work.

Last time we did push press for 1 rep max.  This time was 3 rep max front squat.

I managed 245# without problem, but then jumped to 265# and after 2 reps I was done, the second rep was a real struggle, even though the first one was up and down quite easily. 



Once again, the WOD was horrible.

1000m row - all out.  did 3:44  3 seconds faster than last time
Rest 5 minutes
Resume WOD at 8:44
3 rounds for time of
- 15 lateral burpees over bar
- 25 wall balls.  20# ball. Except the only med ball at the Y is 15#




Even with the lighter med ball, I took 33 seconds longer, might have been closer but once I realized I wasn't going to beat my time, I lost my motivation.

Finished in 21:39.  I blame the front squats.  I wish he'd paired it with similar strength work.  Oh well.   Done.  At least I was close.

Crossfit log for Thursday, October 29th

I toyed with the idea of staying in bed, for about 20 seconds this morning, and finally just sat up and went.

The warm up was not bad, I actually did the whole thing.


3 rounds of:
- 9 Kettlebell Swings
- 7 Push Press
- 5 Strict Knees To Elbows

Nothing fancy, just did the work.

Then we did a little jerk complex of
2 Power Jerks + 2 Split Jerk for 4 sets, same weight for each set. Instructions were to  keep weight light for SPEED and technique 60-70% of max C&J.

Did 135#, some were good, some not so good, but I did the work.

The WOD looked scary but it wasn't so bad. 

For time: 3 rounds of:
- 9 Shoulder-to-Overheads, 135#/95#
- 1 Rope Climb
-- then --
3 rounds of:
- 15 Kettlebell Swings, 24/16 kg
- 9 Handstand Push-ups
-- then --
3 rounds of:
- 15 Toes-to-bars
- 9 Front Squats, 135#/95#

 I scaled every single element of this workout except the rope climbs.  I split the difference on the barbell and used 115# (which sometimes backfires on me, but this time worked out). Same for the kettle bell, grabbed the 20kg purple.

HSPU I used one abmat and scaled to 5 reps.  T2B I did 9 instead of 15.

All good choices I finish in the mix with everyone for once in 16:31.

Happy with that.

Crossfit log for Wednesday, October 28th

Stayed up way too late last night watching the cinematics from Halo 5.

Managed to crawl out of bed and hit the gym with time to spare.  Used it to roll out my back and glutes.  Still some tightness going on, but almost all gone.

I did pretty good on the warm up for once, I think I got through four full rounds in the 4 minutes, granted I only used 75# bar and 14# med ball.

Warm up: AMRAP 4 mins: Power Cleans, Hang Squat Cleans and Wall Balls

Then we did the confusing EMOM, for 8 minutes, but every 90 seconds.  I should have guessed that the Beyond the white board pick lists did it wrong and not Frank doing bad math.  Because 8 minutes at 90 seconds, one, doesn't add up and two is only 5 rounds.  It was 8 rounds, the software assume 1 round per minute.  So I chose my weight for 5 rounds, but managed to pull through for all 8.

Every 1:30 for 8 rounds: Power Clean + Clean + Front Squat


Used 165# for the first two rounds then 175# for what I thought was 3 more rounds, which turned in to 6.  Oh well. I worked hard.


Then the WOD.
AMRAP 15 mins:
- 10 Power Cleans 135#/95#
- 20 Wall Balls
- 30 Double Unders

Scaled the cleans to 105#, glad I did, after round 2 I was wiped.

The wall balls went well, I wanted to do sets of 5, but everytime I'd do a 6th, then I'd rationalize getting to 7 and if I could just get 8 then I'd only have two left, so I'd do sets of 10.  Mind games.


Took until round 3 to finally get 30 double unders unbroken, gah! Then couldn't repeat it in round 4. In fact my last 3 double unders for round 4 were after the buzzer, but I counted them anyway since they were part of my last 12 unbroken streak.

Score: 4 rounds even. :P

Then we had a stupid EMOM of 7 burpee box jumps.

Yeah, scaled that to 5 reps, and after 5 rounds I called it.  It was enough.



7 Burpee Box Jumps, 24/20 in Every 1 min for 7 mins.

Strength log for Tuesday, October 27th

Wasn't feeling great for bailing on Crossfit this morning, so I did quite a bit of work at lunch to compensate.

Started with my ring dip EMOM.

As planned after last week's fiasco, I tried a 7 minute EMOM of 7 reps.  I what I really want is 50 reps in as little time as possible, so on the first round I did 8 reps.

Ironically on the last round I came up 1 rep short at the buzzer.

Up to round 5 things went swimmingly. Round six became 5 plus 2.  Then round 7 I was hoping for 4 and 3 or maybe even 3, 2, 2.  Ended up being 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, fail.

It's is unbelievable how quickly it just completely falls apart.

So after that, I did some ring rows, since the rings were already set up.  I found an angle that wasn't too demanding and focused on keeping a hollow body.  Did 3 sets of 10.

On the third set, I notices that as I got to the top I was nearly getting above the rings, like a muscle up progression, I actually tried a couple of reps to get on top of the rings using only my arms with my feet still on the ground. 

I may revisit this next week.

Then I did this morning's squat workout, 3 sets of 10.  Last time I did 205# and it wasn't too hard, so this time I aimed for 225#. A lot harder, but I still managed to get them all without hesitation or pause.

I was done after that though, exhausting work at that volume.

Done is done. 

Crossfit log for Monday, October 26th

I may have spoken too soon Friday, when I said it was one of the tougher WODs I've done.

Today's took the cake. Holy crap.

I barely made it through the warm up of 7-5-3 of front squats, jerks, overhead squats.  My wrist was really bugging me, I hadn't warmed up adequately. So I only ended up doing the first round.

Oh well.

There was a ton of work on the board.  A 1 rep heavy snatch, plus some snatch grip dead lifts and a 5 min CTB pull up AMRAP, but first we had to get through the WOD:

For time:
20 Thrusters  95#/65#
20 Sumo Deadlift High Pull
20 Jerks
20 Overhead Squats
20 Front squats.

Starting at minute 1, EMOM, stop and drop the bar, do 5 burpees.

O.M.G! Even scaling to 75# didn't help.

Hurried through the first 20 thrusters, no way I wanted to do more of those after burpees. Made it. 5 burpees took me like 20 seconds with only 40 to go, I still had to address the bar, I managed to get 10 SDHP before hitting the burpees again, so I figured next round finish them off .  Yeah, no.  Made 7. More burpees, but I was so tanked there was like only 15 seconds left, so I rested and did no work while waiting for the next set of burpees.

This paid off, I was quick on the burpees, like 17 seconds, finished off the SDHP and hit a couple of jerks.  But the jerks were really taxing.

Overhead squats were worse, took four rounds of burpees, one of which was the no work between sets kind.  Front squats went well, 2 sets of 10, thank Zeus.

17:57.  So that's 85 fucking burpees.  Ugh.  Took us forever to recover. 

Subsequent classes would get a 3 burpee option.  That would have been a different workout.

So there was no way we were doing snatch or deadlifts.  We all opted to do the 5 min EMOM of pull ups, minus the chest to bar. 

Cycling through 5 rounds, of 1 pull up, 2, 3, 4 and 5 unbroken, coming off the bar all 5 times between rounds.

Made 19 rounds, so 55 pull ups, total.  Ugh.

Crossfit log for Friday, October 23rd

We'll that was one of the tougher workouts I've done, even at women's Rx.

The warm up was a 3 round collection of banded monster walk, for 25', 10 glute bridges and 12 hollow rocks.

I really enjoyed the strength work, a 10 minute EMOM of 1 heavy back squat. I did 275#.

Then that WOD, OMG, rough, 20 minute AMRAP of:
- 3 power cleans
- 3 front squats
- 3 power jerks

Rx weight was 185#/135# with a note to use 65-70% of max clean and jerk. Which for me is right around women's Rx, so that's what I did.
There was also a note that there was s cap at 20 rounds.

So the plan going in was to do it as an EMOM and expect it to fall apart somewhere in the middle.

Yeah we'll, that lasted 3 rounds.

Around the fifth round I took a full minute rest. It was brutal. g At this point I refocused and channelled DT: I did 2 power cleans, break, 1 power clean 2 front squats, break,1 squat clean and the 3 jerks. This carried me through to the end.

Finished round 12 with 9 seconds left.

I was so dead after this. Looking forward to 2 days off.

Accessory and strength log for Thursday, October 22nd

Quick trip to the Y at lunch. 

I'm so sore everywhere, I didn't plan on much. 

Did some one legged RDLs with a 24kg kettle bell.  I think I need to stop these until my flexibility is a bit better with GoodMornings and regular RDLs.

Then I did some grip work.

Dumbbell wrist curls with 25# to warm up, then 45# for 5 and 50# for 5.

Since both racks were taken and some genius left the bench press with weights on it, I used that to do a set of pronated barbell wrist curls, which I thought was 95#, but seemed heavy.  Noticed afterwards that the plates were 35# not 25#, so 115# which is good, it means I wasn't a big wimp, just dumb.

That was all I had planned, but I felt unsatisfied, so despite having no wraps or other lifting gear and sore shoulders and, well sore everything, I decided to do some strict press.

Only did 1 warm up set with empty bar then put 95# and did 5 sets of 5.  Rough but satisfying.

Done for the day.

Crossfit log for Thursday, October 22nd

Today went a bit better than yesterday. 

Got out of bed quickly.  Got ready quickly.  I was at the gym before 5:20.

Warm up was a 4 rounds of 9 wall balls 7 ring rows.  Not a whole lot of fun.

Then we did close grip bench press for 3 sets of 10.  I've done 20 reps at 135# in the past, but that may have been too long ago to count.  I figured with enough rest I could manage 135# for 3x10.

Not quite.  Sets one and two went fine, but I ran out of triceps on rep 5 of set 3.  Good enough.

The WOD was a short 10 minute AMRAP of:
- 9 calorie row
- 20 wall balls
- 2 rope climbs.

Lost time retying my shoes after the first set of rope climbs.  Grrr.

I discovered an efficiency boost for my rope climbs.  I can pretty much climb 15' in two pulls, no matter what, but if I get a good jump and a tight tuck on the first one, I'm only a couple of feet from the 15' mark.  So instead of my usual second tight tuck, I can make the difference with a way less taxing shallow tuck which takes much less effort to straighten out.  Way better.

Managed 3 full rounds + 9 calories.

I was spent.  Wish I had tied my shoes tight from the get go.  

Power and accessory log for Wednesday, October 21st

My shoulders still feel fine, but I still opted to do nothing that would tax them at the Y today.

I wanted to do accessory work, but I also wanted to lift and do some power work.

I decided to start with some power cleans and hang cleans, working up that little complex to 195# where I failed on the hang clean, but totally go the power clean.  Got both at 185# easily.  Wrist is feeling pretty good.

Then I did some supinated barbell rows,  a warm up set at 115# for 10 reps and a working set at 165# for 6 reps.  Felt pretty good.  Made sure my back was as close to horizontal as possible.

After that I did some dumbbell rows, warm up at 75# for 8 reps per side and 100# for 5 each side.

Then I called it a day. 

We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Crossfit log for Wednesday, October 21st

Okay, so those strict ring dips really taxed my right shoulder.  I may have to visit Rob for this, as he said, you can only compensate so long before things start to break down. I'm worried I've been compensating and things are breaking down.

Maybe not, but better safe than sorry.

I had to resort to Advil at 2am, my shoulder was sore enough to wake me up and keep me awake for over an hour (half an hour until I finally decided to take some Advil and another half hour for it to kick in).

Naturally I went to Crossfit. ;)

An naturally, it was a shoulder intensive day.  Which may be therapeutic or not.  We'll see how things feel tomorrow and Friday.

Warm up was an empty bar quartet for 9-7-5 reps:
- muscle snatch
- overhead squat
- front rack lunges
- good mornings.

I like this, except the lunges which were hard for some reason.

Then we did a 7 x 2:00 of 1 power snatch, 1 snatch, 1 overhead squat, rest.

Went well at first, but at 115# after 3 rounds the power snatch was getting rough and the OHS were getting ugly. So I dropped 10 pounds and kept going at 105# which was a bit better.

The WOD was devastating.  Even at women's Rx and regular pull ups, I couldn't make the 12 minute cap. I did lose some time at the beginning getting rid of my useless grips, but not that much.

For time, 12 minute cap:
-25 deadlifts  185#/125#
-25 chest to bar pull ups
-25 front rack walking lunges 135#/95#
-25 ctb pull ups
-25 overhead squats 95#/65#
-25 ctb pull ups

Deadlifts were a breeze at 125#, done in one minute but after 5 reps, the grips were not working for the pull ups.  I had figured 3:30 for the end of each segment ending with pull ups. I was on track before the lunges. But the lunges really stopped me in my tracks.

The OHS were not fun, but were way faster than the lunges, I barely finished  them before the cap and never got to the last 25 pull ups.

So 125 reps.  Ugh.  My shoulders are toast.

Accessory log for Monday, October 19th

Short accessory workout at the Y.

Didn't have my lifting bag, but I did have my rings.

I did some z-presses, which I really need more work on.  Maybe I should abandon these in favor of RDL's, one legged RDLs and Good mornings, until my flexibility is a bit better.

I have trouble sitting with my legs straight out in front of me and keeping a neutral vertical spine.  Damn hamstrings.

Anyway, I did the best I could.

After that I did some strict ring dips.  Had to tape my wrist.  After physio this morning, it's a bit sore and I didn't have my wraps with me.

I tried to change the format of my EMOM, instead of 10 minutes at 5 reps, I tried to do 5 minutes at 10 reps.

This was a mistake. I made 3 rounds plus 6 reps.  Horrible.  Next time I'll try 7 minutes at 7 reps. See how that goes.

I did a couple of sets of strict pull ups and ring rows, then called it a day.

I need a more formal plan.

Crossfit log for Monday, October 19th

Oh man, it was chilly this morning and I really didn't want to get out of bed. 

I fell back to sleep and woke up at 5:05am  (alarm goes off at 4:45) and said, if you're gonna go, just go.

So I went.

Did a quick version of my morning routine and made it with a couple of minutes to spare.

The warm up was a good one, 6 minute AMRAP of 5 strict pull ups, 9 Romanian deadlifts and 2 shuttle runs.

Then the ridiculous WOD, thankfully a partner WOD.  Worked with Kevin, also a masters athlete, stronger, but less cardio than me.  We were a good match.

It was a chipper:
- 40 clean and jerk 135#/95#
- 1 mile run  (= 28 shuttle runs)!!!
- 10 rope climbs
- 1 mile run
- 100 burpees.

Man, that was a lot of work. 

We hummed and hawed over how heavy to go.  I didn't want to do Rx. Kevin was on board with that. So it was either split the difference at 115# or just go women's Rx.  He quickly volunteered women's Rx.  I would have gone 115#, but as I keep saying, I'm having a lot of success at women's Rx, it makes sense to do that on a WOD like this.  We did sets of 10.


We divided the run into 2 sets of 7 shuttle runs each, we didn't want to be too winded for the rope climbs.  I felt really good on these, good long strides, even pace. 

We started with 2 rope climbs each, the switched to singles. This gave me a bit of a chance to catch my breath as I finished the run last.

I totally forgot about the second run. Ugh. Same deal, alternating quarter mile.

Again I finished and was a bit winded, so despite our plan to do sets of 10, Kevin did 20.  I wish he'd stopped at 15, because I was ready and he was slowing down a lot. I did 15 and he did 10 then I said I'll do 15 and we'll be even.  Which we were and I figured for the last 40 reps, we'd do sets of 10, but no, he goes and does 15!  Argh!  So I did 10, because after 10 I'd start to slow down too.  He did 10 more and I did the last 5.

We finished in 29:26.  Only a few seconds behind the others.   It was hard work but we did it.  Probably would have been okay at 115# on the C&J.  Whatever. Done is done.

It was already 6:30, and the other class was starting, but I asked coach Alex if I could hang around and do the 3 sets of 10 back squats.  He said yes and since I was already pretty warmed up, I did only 1 warm up set at 135# and got to work at 205#.  With more time I might have gone 225#, but that was hard enough and way better than nothing.

Glad I went.  As usual.

Crossfit log for Friday, October 16th

Since I had a ton of stuff to do for our weekend trip to Great Wolf Lodge, I decided to take the day off.
This meant I could sleep in and go to the 10 o'clock class.
It was a met con, but we were given the choice between the met con programming or the regular. There were only small differences, so I was able to do what the morning group did.

Warm up was a short chipper of 500 calorie row, 30 wall balls, 15 strict pull ups.
Then we did push press for 4 triples at 85%. Was supposed to do 155#, but working with Tom, with what he had on the bar and the plates we had with us it was just easier to do 165#. Hard, but they all went up.
Then the fun part, back squats, 5 heavy singles. 85%, 87%, 90%, 92%, 95%.
I started my first working set at 270#, then 280# and 290#. Then for the last two I did 295# and 300#.
I almost didn't do the last one, I was getting tired, and my legs felt like jello. But I finally decided to give it a go and I totally got it.
The WOD wad a horrible little 5 minute AMRAP:
- 10 calorie row
- 10 front squats 135#

I had no legs left for this. Between the weekend's wall balls, the RDLs on Wednesday, and today's wall balls and squats, I was a wreck.

Managed only 2 full rounds and the row.

Ugh. 

I complain a lot, but I really love working out.

Accessory log for Thursday, October 15th

Pure accessory day at the Y

Started with 500m on the rower to warm up, the did my supinated bent over barbell rows.

Got a better position, legs bent more and back almost parallel to the floor, did a set of 8 at 115# to warm up and a working set of 5 at 165#.

Then I did a couple of pull ups before beating up my grip.

At the last minute I decided to do the dumbbell rows too.   Warmed up with 70# for 8 each side then got the 100#.  I asked if they had anything heavier and they didn't, but Dwayne suggested one of the pulley rigs.  I gave it a try.  Didn't get the range of motion or the vertical angle but it was worth a try.  Tried 110#, 120# and even 130#.

When I went back to the 100# dumbbell, it felt way harder.  Maybe due to fatigue?  Who knows. I'll figure something out.

Then I beat up my wrists. 

Started with standing wrist curls at 65# to warm up, then after a couple of reps at 95# I bumped it to 115# for 7.  That was the right choice. Man my forearms were burning.

Then I did some seated wrist curls with a dumbbell at 30# for 6 reps per side then another set at 4 reps. 

Good workout.  Feel like I hit everything this week, despite so few workouts.

Crossfit log for Thursday, October 15th

Fell asleep rather late last night, but with my schedule this week and having Clarisse over to be there for the kids if they woke up, there was no way I was missing today's Crossfit.

Crawled out of bed and got ready.

Started with a rather intense warm up, 3 rounds for time of:
- 5 Hang Power Cleans, 95/65 lbs
- 5 Front Squats
- 5 Squat Cleans
- 2 Shuttle Runs

I took longer to get ready and was a round behind so I stopped after two rounds.  After I changed my shoes for the cleans, I did round 3, in lifters instead of nanos and just didn't do the run.

Next was cleans, tripples at 70%, 70%, 75%, 75% and 80%

The two sets at 75% were the best, fast through the middle, fast under the bar.  at 70% I was slow on the second pull. At 80% the first one I caught to far back, the second two far forward and finally the thirds was just right, a la Goldilocks.

Then the WOD. Ugh.  Didn't like this one.

5 rounds for time, 15 minute cap.
- 2 Shuttle Runs
- 6 Strict Handstand Push-ups
- 7 Ground To Overheads, 155/105 lbs
- 15 Ball Slams

I wasn't comfortable going upside down with my eye, so I did paralette push ups with my feet on a bench, close enough.
I went way too heavy on the bar, I should've did women's Rx, but decided to split the difference and did 135#.   Even 115# would have been smarter.

Didn't even get through round 4, made it to two ball slams.  So 3+17.  Meh.  At least I enjoyed the cleans.

Accessory and strength log for Wednesday, October 14th

Man, it felt so good to workout again, seems like I've been idle way too long.

Kiza is out of town, so morning Crossfit if off the table.  Clarisse is spending the night so I can go tomorrow and hopefully Friday too.

So today I went to the Y with an ambitious plan and not enough time to execute it.

Wanted to do a set of RDLs for accessory, the Front Squat EMOM from this morning's Crossfit workout, some power snatch to work power and I figured I could actually managed the 12 minute AMRAP WOD from this morning.

Yeah, no.

Did the RDLs.  That went really well, did a warm up with empty bar and 95# for 8 reps each, then a working set at 135#.  Back was nice and straight, knees only bent a bit and my range was almost to the floor.  Pretty stoked about that.

Then Dave was looking to do an EMOM, but cleans, the plan we devised was he'd do doubles at 75% rounded up a lot to 205# (from 198.7#) for 12 minutes (if he felt good he'd go 15), and I would join him for the first 8 doing front squat triples at 65% (185#).

It was nice to see someone else suffer at the Y.  Doesn't happen a lot.  And he suffered, but he pulled through.  I ended up going 10 minutes instead of 8, and I was surprised when he made it to 12.  Then he just kept going.  Stopping at 15 despite how bad it was sucking.  Good work Dave.

Then I did some power snatch and a couple of overhead squats, but I wasn't feeling the love, and I had to bail because I was running late.

Oh well, no plan survives first contact with the enemy.

Crossfit Team Series Part Two, day 2, Sunday, October 11th

Today our sister gym wasn't there.  I guess it was a one day special.

So we were under no pressure to get only two workouts done by 3pm.

We decided to start with the longer one, 200s, 200 shared sit ups while two team members held a barbell overhead (75# men/ 55# women) plus 200 shoulder to overhead (same bars) while two team members hung from a pull bar.  Reps only counted while both bars were overhead or both members were in dead hang.

Then we'd have the 4 individual benchmark WODs done in succession where we could just go all out, not needing to save anything for subsequent WODs.

We setup with all 4 bars (for when either both boys or both girls were holding overhead), and got to work.

I was the weakest link holding overhead.  My shoulder range isn't quite good enough to lock out in a stable overhead for long. I cut Kiza's sit ups short more than once.  We were trying to get 25 sit ups each before rotating.

Kiza devised the plan, where after sit ups you'd rest by stand on the next sit up person's feet, then two shifts on the overhead.  This sucked for me, but we managed.  I made up for it by being really fast on the sit ups and did some extra reps when I could.  We failed to record our time on this part so I estimated 6:50

Then came part two, the shoulder to overhead, this I was pretty strong at. I can hammer out a lot of push press at 75# and for the hanging, with all the work I've been doing on grip strength over the last month or so really paid off.

We chipped away and finished in 14:45.  Sub 15! We were pretty stoked with that, having seen the other do this yesterday around the 20 minute mark.

We rested a bit and set an artificial deadline of 1:30 to start the last workout.  I would be going first again, since I volunteered to do Karen (150 wall balls, scaled to women's Rx for the men, so 14# ball and 9' target) because no one else wanted it.

My plan was sets of 50, 40, 30, 20, 10.  As I mentioned to the team before starting, no plan survives first contact with the enemy.  The first 50 went well. The set of 40 was aborted at 10. Ugh, this would be ugly. I alternated between sets of 10 and 15, with on set of 20 and one of 18 mixed in there somewhere.

I simply ran out of shoulders after the previous workout. Managed 7:10, which isn't too bad at all.

Kiza took over with Grace, 30 clean and jerks for time at 65#.  She smoked it. 2:47! I look forward to seeing her tackle this at women's Rx.

Linda fought hard for Diane.  The deadlifts were a snap. There is no doubting the power of her posterior chain, but the strict press at 55# required every ounce of her will and strength.  She did amazing, until the very last rep, the pain must have been so bad, that her brain defaulted to push press, a clear no rep, and she knew it too, before she even locked it out, the look on her face said it all. "Crap, no I have to do it again, without a dip!!!". And she did it.  Simply amazing finish in 4:29!

Brandon took over with quite possibly the worst workout of the bunch. 75 snatches at 65# (only 10lbs less than Rx, what's with that?), I didn't know what his plan was, or if he had a plan, I yell out, "get to 10!" after he started, but he kept going and did a solid 15, so I'm like hell yeah, sets of 15, this will be quick. But no, the next set was only 5. Like my workout, it was falling apart. So he did like I did, chipped away, many sets of 3, some of 5, I think once he did a set of 10 in there. But eventually he made it, spent, he rolled on the floor. All that struggle and he still finished in a stellar 6:11!

We were done. We did remarkably well this week.  My legs don't work today, but that's temporary.  I'm really happy with our performance.

Crossfit Team Series Part Two, day 1, Saturday, October 10th

Feeling recovered enough with my eye to tackle this weekends events head on.

After Kiza squared away the kids for the afternoon, the team assembled.

Our plan to do all four events in relatively quick succession was thwarted by our sister gym  Crossfit YOW joining us to do the WODS.

They were all starting with event 7, the 30's of deadlift/calorie row/overhead squats. So we figured fine, we'll get in wave two.

But then they put everything away?!  We kept a rower out to do it ourselves, but almost everyone in "wave two" was doing event 6, the 7 rep max front squat from the floor (aka max clean+6 front squats), we figured it was better if everyone did the same.  So plan "C" it was.

So with almost no warm up, we just went to work.  The last time I attempted my max of 205#, I injured my wrist.  The most I've cleaned since is 185#.

I started with 155# and after 2 squats I dropped it, no point wasting reps. I let the others go, Brandon and I shared a bar and Linda and Kiza shared one.  Brandon did his first full set, then I put 185# on.  I was sure I'd get under it and then the squats would be easy. Which is exactly what happened.

I waited for the others to make subsequent attempts.  Brandon was apparently satisfied with his effort so after humming and hawing I put 215# on the bar. Hey, if I got under it I was gold, if I missed. No biggie, at least I tried.

There was no way.  I tried twice, and just couldn't commit. So in frustration I peeled the 5# plates and tried again right away at 205#.  Boom! I was stunned, I got under it seemingly effortlessly.  Hit my 6 more squats and was pretty happy.

This, I think, inspired Brandon try more and he got it too.  Even Linda got in on the action and got within 5# of her clean PR. I lost count how many times she tried to clean either 145# or 140#, it was clear she was determined to get under one of those weights.  When she got under 140#, the squats were a snap. Like me, her squat is way more than her clean.

Kiza's first attempt was so close to her 1 rep max clean, the cost/benefit of going for more just wasn't there.  Made more sense to save herself for the next workout.

Our team total was 585#.  Not too shabby.

This was hard but no lasting effect, so we were ready for another event. Once again with so many athletes there was no room to go right away.  So we waited and recovered while the next wave of athletes to had a go.

Since we had the rower out and the last wave was doing all different workouts, we did event 7, the 30s.

I went first,  30 deadlifts at 135# went fairly quickly, not very taxing.  The 30 calorie row started to get winded.

Then the fun started.  30 overhead squats, thankfully only 65#.  These went surprisingly well.  I made it to 26 unbroken.  I wanted to be under 5:00 but when I dropped, a quick glance at the clock revealed that it wasn't going to happen, 5:06, grr. So I picked it back up and did my last 4 reps, finishing in 5:31.

Can't be disappointed with that.  However this put a target on my back.  Not for Brandon, he knew he'd struggle with the OHS.  And what a struggle it was.  Much like when I watch Sylvie tackle that horrible rowing thruster workout in the Open, it was inspiring to watch such dogged determination. Every rep was a fight, and he fought and won, 30 times.  Kiza however was hell bent on beating me. Granted her bars were lighter. Of course she did beat my time with a 5:18. And Linda smoked it, her deadlifts are ridiculously fast.  She finished her leg in 4:17, giving us a total of 23:52.

We were all ready to stay until 4:00-4:30 and get another one done when we realized the gym actually closed at 3:00. Hmm. So we had to make plans to come back tomorrow.  Oh well, a good night's sleep might not be such a bad thing.

Crossfit log for Friday, October 9th

Was really torn this morning.  With the Team Series part two this weekend, and stress and fatigue from life, I would have like to stay in bed.

However I was awake at 4am and there was no chance of falling back to sleep so I just got up and got ready.

For warm up we did a 5 min AMRAP of 7 cal row, 8 ring rows and 9 air squats.

Then we moved on to the strength work.

4 sets of 4 push press at 85% of max, I did 155# and that was not easy, so a good choice.

Worked with Kyle, who is much stronger than I am but as tall and nursing a shoulder issue so we did the same weight, only his were touch and go.  After I thanked him for destroying my ego, so paused between reps.  Nice of him.

For the squats, well he just added 45# plates for an extra 90# to whatever I was doing.

We did 6 singles at roughtly 82%, 82%, 87%, 90%, 92%, 92%

I did 255#, 255#, 275#, 285#, 295#    I guess I miscounted. Good enough.

Then the WOD.  An innocent looking AMRAP of only 8 minutes with only:
- 5 dead lifts 255#/175#
- 5 burpee chest to bar pull ups

That's it.  Started to suck at the end though.

I scaled the deadlifts to 185#, but only because I thought Rx was 225#.  If I had realized my mistake I might have gone for 225#, but with my eye recovering and all, 185# was likely a good choice.

The burpees were rough.

I managed 5 full rounds and 6 reps into round 6.  Happy with that.

Crossfit log for Wednesday, October 7th

This was harder than yesterday.

Tired from yesterday I guess.  After a week off, maybe I should've taken a rest day.

Oh well.

Warm up was a 3 rounds (of which I did 2) of superman rocks x 10 and empty bar thrusters x 15, went okay.

Then we did an 8 minute EMOM of 3 front squats at 62%.  Went all out on this, and rounded up 173.6# to 175#.

It was nice to squat.

The WOD was 1 round too long.

4 rounds for time.
- 40 double unders
- 7 lateral over bar burpees
- 9 thrusters 95#/65#
- 5 muscle ups (scaled to ring dips)

Double unders fell apart on round 3, but I salvaged them on round 4
Burpees suck, but 7 was manageable.
Thrusters I scaled to women's Rx, glad I did.
Dips were okay. 

The last round was horrible.

Finished in like 15:35.  Ugh.  Smoked.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, October 6th

After a week of inactivity following my eye surgery last Wednesday, I finally got back to Crossfit this morning.

They say 1 to 3 weeks of recover.  So yeah.  1 week it is. 

It was a great workout.  I couldn't have asked for better.

The warm up was a 5 minutes AMRAP of 5 strict pull ups, 10 hollow rocks and 30 second plank hold.  Went well.  Especially the pull ups.

The strength work was 3 sets of 5 deadlifts, touch and go, at 60%.  which would've been 210#, but I opted for 185#.  That worked well.  I likely won't hit prescribed weight until next week or the beginning of the following week.

The WOD was a partner WOD, 21 minute AMRAP of
- 21 calorie row
- 21 step down box jumps 24"
- 21 dumbbell snatch 70#/50#
- 21 chest to bar pull ups

I didn't feel like I'd be pulling my own weight in my condition and we were 9 this morning so I volunteered to shadow Kamil's replacement partner Jocelyn.

We alternated who went first each round, whoever was first did the extra rep/cal.

We split the calories in half (11/10), the box jumps in 4 sets of 5 (first person did 6), same for the snatches and at first chest to bar pull ups were 7 sets of 3, which didn't work so well.

They used women's Rx dumbbell and I opted for one of the new 45# ones, only 5# difference, but whatever.  50# wouldn't have been a problem.

Turns out I did hold my own, and totally kept up with Jocelyn (who is relatively new) at worst I was two reps behind him on the box jumps at one point, but caught up quickly.

I think we did 4 full rounds and 50 reps (the 50 reps I'm sure, the 4 rounds i'm pretty sure, if not it was 5 full rounds, but I don't think so).

There was just enough rest and just enough work.  I worked hard the whole time and didn't fade.  Felt good.

Accessory log for Tuesday, September 29th

Trying to maximize my workouts this week,  went to the Y to do some more accessory work and maybe a bit of lifting.

Started with Z-press.  Warm up set with 20# was aborted, my quads started to cramp, so I went to the wall and stretch my hamstrings.

This was interesting.  It has been a long time since I stretch them and usually after so long I can't get my butt anywhere near the wall with a straight leg.  This time however I was right up against it. 

Clearly the RDLs, Good Mornings and one legged RDLs are working. Like crazy.

So after I relaxed into a good stretch on each side, I went back and had a better time of it.  8 reps at 20#, then after a rest, 5 reps 40#.  Really felt that in the mid back.

Then I did some one armed, bent over, dumbbell rows.  I used my lifting straps since my grip was gone from this morning's farmer carries.  I did my warm up set at 60# for 8 each side and again, after a rest, 5 reps each side at 100#. 

This is the biggest dumbbell at the Y.  I'm not sure how I'll hit my goal of 120#.  I'll think of something.

After that I was itching to do some squats.  I want to see where my front squat stood. 

I warmed up and started lowering the reps as I increased the weight.  At 225# I did a double, then jumped to 255#for a single.  Then 265#. 

I put on 275#, my current PR, but at the last minute decided to add some 2.5# plates for a new PR attempt at 280#.  Wasn't easy, but I stood it up.  Nice to know I've still go some PRs in me.

Progress update.

New  Front Squat PR.  

Strength:
Bench: 230# November 19, 2014 (up from 225#)
Dead Lift: 365# September 17, 2014 (up from 355#)
Press: 145# September 9, 2014 (up from 140#)
Back Squat: 315# March 2, 2015 (up from 305#)
Front Squat: 280# September 29, 2015 (up from 275#)
Overhead squat: 155# September 22, 2015 (up from 145#) 

Power:
Power Clean: 205# July 4, 2015 (up from 195#)
Power snatch:  140# Dec 5, 2014 (up from 125#)
Push Press: 185# Sept 15, 2014 (up from 175#)
Clean: 205# Dec 13, 2014 (up from 191#)
Jerk: 205#  Dec 13, 2014 (up from 185#)
Snatch: 145# Apr 23, 2015 (up from 135#)
Clean and Jerk: 205# Dec 13, 2014 (up from 175#)

Crossfit log for Tuesday, September 29th

Partner WODs are good and all, but man you work way harder when someone else is counting on you.

I would have never put in as much work in a workout like that, if Kamil weren't waiting on me to finish so he could get going.

The warm up was a 5 min cycle of 5 pull ups, 10 superman rocks, 10 hollow rocks and 10 air squats.  Fun times.

Then we did seated box jumps at 70% of last weeks test high.  8 triples.  I started with the 30" box which is a couple of inches higher than my 70%, but whatever. Pat was adding a 25# plate for an extra 2.25", so rather than take it off each time, I just started using that after round 3 or 4.

After that was 3 sets of 5 touch and go deadlifts at 60% (I did 210#, using 350# as my max since 365# hasn't been possible in ages).   Not a problem at that weight, brought it down slowly and just tapped the floor.  No bounce.

And finally the WOD.  Ugh.

20 minute AMRAP. Share the work equally. 
- 400m farmer carry (24kg/16kg)  200m each
- 30 overhead squats (115#/75#)  Kamil and I agreed on 95#
- 30 bar facing burpees.  Ugh.

Our second round was faster than our first.  We only got two.  Kamil got 38m into the farmer carry, but only a full 400m counts as a rep. So it was for nothing.

Holy grip strength batman!  That was rough on the forearms.

My OHS was beautiful.  Had to be, my shoulder were so taxed, I had to really push my position to be able to do my share. Isabelle would've been proud.

Burpees suck.

Accessory log for Monday, September 28th

Gotta put in as much time as possible this week.  I'm going in for eye surgery on Wednesday, so I'll likely be out of commission Wednesday and Thursday.

I went to the Y with no plan.  I figured I have a ton of accessory work to do, I'd think of something.

I also want to work power through the middle, so I started with  power snatch.

Went well, did some doubles up to 115#, then 3 singles at 125#.  Felt good.

After that I did some supinated bent over rows with the 125#, realized I should have started with the Romanian deadlifts. so I peeled back to 95# and did a set of 8 RDLs.

Then I bumped it up to 115# for 5 or 6 more, can't remember.

Got some pretty good range of motion doing these, I think it's starting to work.

Then I resumed the rows at 175#.  I don't think I'm doing them right.  I'm going to peel back the weight and ask Dave to give me some pointers next time to make sure I'm working up correctly.

After that I did some ring rows. 2 sets of 8, focusing on grip and lat engagement and called it a day.

Felt pretty good.

Crossfit log for Monday, September 28th

After staying up late to watch the #SuperBloodMoon with the kids I opted for a bit of extra sleep and went to the 6:30 class.

It was neat to throw down with a different crowd.

It was a lot of work, but it was all timed so we finished early. 

Started with the shoulder routine: 10 band pull aparts, 10 block shrugs, 20 shoulder rolls, 10 lat raises, and 20 shoulder taps

I did the shrugs and taps with my feet on a box in a pike position.  Way easier and in the case of the taps, actually doable.

Then we did a mini WOD, 5 minute AMRAP of:
- 20 double unders
- 10 steps overhead walking lunges
- 7 chest to bar pull ups.

Double unders were a breeze.  Used a 35# plate for the lunges. Hard to keep my arms locked out.  Scaled the 4 muscle ups to 7 CTB. 

Then we did a 10 minute EMOM of 1 clean and jerk at 80% of max.  I did 165#.  We had the option of going up to max of 90% after 5 minutes, but I was working hard enough, so I stayed there the whole time.

Finally the real WOD, 10 minute AMRAP of :
- 5 ground to over head 155#/105# (scaled to 135#)
- 1 rope climb
- 15 abmat sit ups
- 1 rope climb

Would have been way faster at women's RX or even 115# but, you know, ego.

Rope climbs were fine.  Two pulls, every time.

Abmat sit ups were fine the first 3 rounds, round 4 however with time running out, they weren't fun at all.

Made 3 full rounds, + 19 reps = 5 gto+1 climb+13 situps.

Not bad.

Crossfit log for Friday, September 25th

I so wanted to get a good night's sleep.  Alas, it was not to be.

Both kids woke up during the night, within a half an hour of each other, and thankfully, Kiza dealt with them, but from that point on, my sleep was fitful, and not very restful. 

I was partly awake when the alarm finally went off, so I rolled out of bed to get ready.

Made good time, thankfully, because they finally set the clock to the correct time. It had been 5 minutes slow for the longest time, but now I barely made it on time.

Warm up was good.  5 minutes of 5 strict chin ups, 10 overhead squats 45#, 8 glute bridges. 

Then right to the WOD.

16 minute AMRAP of
- 4 rope climbs
- 6 ground to overhead 155#/105#
- 16 box jump overs

The notes said, try to go Rx.  So I did. Hard.  The ground to overhead turn into power clean push press.  I didn't have the core stability to jerk it. 155# really slowed me down.

Rope climbs were okay, box jump overs were tedious, but I got through them.

I managed 2 full rounds plus 3 rope climbs.

Finished off with death by chest to bar pull ups and double unders

1st minute 3 CTB, 2nd minute 20 DUs
3rd minute 6 CTB, 4th minute 20 DUs
5th minute 9 CTB, ....

For 10 minutes, maxing out at 15 CTB.  Once you can't complete the CTB within the minute, your workout is over.

I made it to 9 CTB, with 24 seconds left, but I didn't think I'd make the round of 12, so I switched to regular pull ups at that point and finished the workout.  I'll count my score at 3 rounds, not 5.

Accessory log for Thursday, September 24th

Had to make up for no YMCA workout on Monday or Wednesday (well, I got a bit done Wednesday, but still).

So first thing I did was some good mornings.  Did a couple at 45# and then did 3 sets of 5 at 95#.  This needs work.  Lots of work.   At least I'm working on it.

Then I did some supinated bent over barbell rows, a warm up set at 135# and a working set at 165# for 7 reps.  I think I'll get Dave to check my form next time and if it looks good, I'll bump it up to 175#.

Then I did some power snatch, from the ground and from the hang.  Worked up to 115#. Wasn't loving it, so I moved on to rings.

Did my 10 minute EMOM of 5 strict ring dips and still went unbroken for all 10 rounds despite push press this morning and destroying my shoulders on Tuesday. Rounds 9 and 10 were hard, especially 10, but I didn't come off the rings once.

I think I need to move on to something else (maybe ring rows) or up my game and go for 6 or 7 reps per minute.

Crossfit log for Thursday, September 24th

In bed before 9pm.  Did actually fall asleep until 10pm! Grrr.

Whatever, still managed to get out of bed before 5am.  Was fairly early to the gym so had plenty of time to warm up.

Did the same shoulder routine as monday:  10 band pull aparts, 10 block shrugs, 20 shoulder rolls, 10 lateral raises and 20 shoulder taps.

Then we did push press for 1 rep max.  Topped out at 175# for 2, well 1 and a half, the first attempt didn't lock out, so I racked it again pushed harder and locked it out.

Jumped to 195# for a PR but there was no way.  Meh, had to go for it.

WOD was horrible.

1000m row - all out.  did 3:47
Rest 5 minutes
Resume WOD at 8:47
3 rounds for time of
15 lateral burpees over bar
25 wall balls.  20# ball.

The row was hard enough, and although 5 minute is a long time, it wasn't enough.

Finished in 21:06.  What a gasser.

Running and accessory log for Wednesday, September 23rd

Almost the end of this RunClub initiative I started at work and I can't wait for it to be over.  I've had 2 runners once, and 1 runner every other time, that doesn't make a club.  This is the fourth time I've tried to kickstart this thing and it's the same every time.

The first time, I didn't mind, I was training for races and I was going out anyway.  This time, I'd rather be in the gym.  I have a ton of accessory work I want to do and supplementary strength training, a day off to run with a non-club is a waste of my time.  Any way the race is October 8th or 9th. Then it'll be over.

So I ran with Karen, who used to be my sole RunClubber in the early days, which was nice.  We did the same 4km and a bit in 25:43.  Good pace. 

When I got back to the gym, I was itching to do something. Settle on wrists curls using a 35# dumbbell. Did 8 reps each side.

Then I did some one armed dumbbell rows.  8 per side with 55#, the got the big 90# dumbbell and did 6 per side.  I can go heavier.  Next time 100#.

I decide to go back to the wrist curls, using the 35# as warm up, I noticed there was a pair of fat grips to but over the dumbbell handle for a thicker grip, harder on the wrist.  So I used that with a 50# dumbbell.  Wow, that was hard, got 5 reps on the right, with great struggle and only 4 on the left.

Next time, if they're still there, I'll try 45# instead. If not, I'll still try 45#.

At least I felt productive. 

Accessory and power log for Tuesday, September 22nd

After the success of the this morning, I wasn't planning on anything big at lunch.

Since the platform was available, I started with some power cleans.

Did 1 power clean + 1 hang power clean  x2  at 45#, 95# and 115#.

At 135# and 155# I did 1 set plus 1 power clean.

At 165#, 175# and 185# I did just 1 power clean.

I was happy to catch 185# well above parallel with not problem.


I tried at 195# but it wasn't there, so I didn't push it.

Then I did some one legged Romanian deadlifts with a 24kg kettle bell.  I was a bit easier to balance than the barbell.  My left has more mobility than my right.  Once I master the kettle bell, I'll go back to the barbell.

Finally i did 4 sets of 4 ring pull ups. Focusing on grip and lat engagement. Went well.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, September 22nd

Well I didn't see that coming.

In bed just a little bit too late for the second night in a row and low nighttime temperatures made it a bit harder to get out of bed this morning. But I did, as usual. Made good time, nothing spectacular.

Warm up was a nice 6 minute affair with 250m row, empty bar good mornings x 10 and 15 box jumps (step down). Made it through two full rounds.

Then we did overhead squats, for 1 rep max. 

I stretched out a bit, in a deep squat and tried to get my hips as far forward as possible, then the same with my arms overhead.

When I did my first few warm up reps with empty bar, my position was remarkably good.  Did a few reps at 75# and at 95#.  Things were going well in terms of body position, so I added the 15# plates for 125# for a single, easy as pie. 

I figured my shoulders were still fairly fresh, my position was good, if I tried 135# or 145# (to match my current PR) that would likely be the end of my shoulders, so I decide to go big or go home.

I threw on two more 15# plates for 155# and went for it.  It was really hard to stabilize on the way down, but it held. I wasn't sure if I was deep enough but I bottomed out and got a bit wobbly, so I quickly stood it up and was able to maintain control.

PR.  Completely surprised me.  Confirmed with coach Connor that I was deep enough.  I still worry that I'm not, but seems like I don't need to worry anymore, my squat has improved that much.

So I was good to go home now, with that under my belt, but we still had the pesky WOD to do.

3 rounds  15-12-9 of:
- toes to bar
- thrusters 115#/75#
- handstand push ups

The first scale option was reduce the rep scheme to 9-7-5.

That's what I chose,  I kept the 115# barbell, and did the hspu without an abmat.

The most hspu unassisted I've ever done in a WOD is 13. This would be 21.  Coupled with the heavy thrusters, it wasn't a good combination.

I had to break them up from the get go. Which was frustrating but I go through the round of 9 and the round of 7 for 16 reps, and I even managed 3 of the 5 in the last round before I ran out of shoulders and had to resort to regular push ups for the last two reps.

So 19 unassisted hspu. That's huge. For me anyways.

Time was 14:16.  But I'm happy with that.  Hopefully I'll be around for the retest and smash that. But I'll have to use the same scaling options.

Progress update.

New  Overhead Squat PR.  

Strength:
Bench: 230# November 19, 2014 (up from 225#)
Dead Lift: 365# September 17, 2014 (up from 355#)
Press: 145# September 9, 2014 (up from 140#)
Back Squat: 315# March 2, 2015 (up from 305#)
Front Squat: 275# February 26, 2015 (up from 265#)
Overhead squat: 155# September 22, 2015 (up from 145#) 

Power:
Power Clean: 205# July 4, 2015 (up from 195#)
Power snatch:  140# Dec 5, 2014 (up from 125#)
Push Press: 185# Sept 15, 2014 (up from 175#)
Clean: 205# Dec 13, 2014 (up from 191#)
Jerk: 205#  Dec 13, 2014 (up from 185#)
Snatch: 145# Apr 23, 2015 (up from 135#)
Clean and Jerk: 205# Dec 13, 2014 (up from 175#)

Crossfit log for Monday, September 21st

Wasn't too tired this morning, despite reading until 10pm.

Up and out the door by 5:15am

Today looked like a rough one.

Started with a new shoulder routine that I suspect I'll be seeing a lot of:
10 band pull-aparts
10 Block Shrugs
20 Shoulder Rolls (10 each side)
10 Lateral Shoulder Dumbbell Raises
20 Handstand Shoulder Touches (essentially handstand walk)

You can see the demo here

The last part was rough on my wrist, I couldn't really do them, but tried a few with little success.

Then we did seated box jumps for max height.  Nailed 40", got on top of 42" three times but was unable to keep my balance.

After that was a clean and jerk for 1 rep at 90% of max.  I maxed out at only 175#, in hindsight I should have tried for 185# but I wasn't interested in pushing my luck.

The WOD looked horrible 4 rounds of:
6 squat cleans @ 75% of max  (I did 155#)
2 rope climbs.
run 400m

The run was only between rounds,  but not after the last round. It was like a rest interval. Ha.

Kamil had put an extra 5# for 160#, but I was getting ready to drop to 145#, but decided to try at 155#.  Good thing, it was totally manageable. I probably could have matched Kamil.

We stayed close the whole time, and much like last time, I beat him on the cleans every time. But it cost me, the run I used as recover, but not so much as to let him gain too much on me.  We are pretty evenly matched on the rope climb.

It turned into a race on the last round.  He got to the bar first but quickly caught him on the cleans, finishing just before him, and went straight to the rope.  As soon as we got back down he went right back up. Fuck!  So I jumped up and climbed for all I was worth.  We hit the top at the same time.

It was a good race.

18:17 of brutal work.

Looks like I can still keep up with the kids.  Kamil is like 16 years my junior. So yeah.

Oh yeah, this was a "test" WOD, it will be redone at some future date, presumably in the next one or two months, to see if the training is effective.