Crossfit log for Thursday, June 30th

Well that didn't go so well.

Between work, Clarisse, the kids and this injury, I just felt like I had nothing in the tank today.

Strength work went okay

Back Squat 1x8 at 75% of med
Rest as needed between sets.

Did 225#

Back Squat 4x5, using same weight per set
Rest 1 min
Romanian Deadlift 4x8, using same weight per set
Rest 1 min

Did 185# on the back squats and 135# on the RDLs.

This was hard on my upper back. But my position was pretty good, or so it felt.

The WOD was no fun.

4 rounds for time of:
21 Box Jumps
15 Rows
9 Sumo Deadlift High-pulls, 135/95 lbs

Too demanding on the posterior chain after all the strength work I guess.

Bailed before the end of round 2.

Meh. They can't all be great.

Crossfit log for Wednesday, June 29th

Well at least i made it this morning. 

No strength work. Started with max height box jump. Wasn't sure how my spine would appreciate the activity, but there's no harm in trying.

Didn't seem to be an issue. Made it to 39.5". Not far off my PR.

The WOD was a 20 minute AMRAP triplet, low reps, so you got back to each station quickly whether you looked forward to it or not.

-2 rope climbs
-7 thrusters 135#/95#
-12 abmat sit-ups

Scale to women's Rx. And apparently the tape on my rope was lower than 15', so I apparently scaled that too.

Whatever.

I literally did twice the amount of work in the first 10 minutes as the second.  At 10 minutes I was finishing my 4th round. At the buzzer I was at 6 round plus 2 rope climbs. 

Fell apart real quick after the half.

It'll do. Back feels pretty good.

Crossfire log for Monday, June 27th

So it's true, the hardest part of strength training is putting the weights away.

Last Tuesday, while picking up a 70# dumbbell after the workout I sprained my L5-S1 joint.

Once again, thank my lucky stars for Rob Crispo, he needled the surrounding muscles, but couldn't get the joint to crack, so he mobilized it with a variety of techniques and got me functional again.

He gave me some drills, which I've done daily since, and told me not to go heavy on squats or deadlifts for 7 to 10 days.  Except when I wake up, until it's warmed up, it has been fine, since Friday.

Today, 3 days later, 6 days since the injury, we had 1 rep max pause back squat. 5 seconds in the bottom.  I felt or each rep, and figured uninjured I would have gone for 275#.

225# felt fine so I put on 255# and that went up well, but it was heavy, so I hummed and I hawed for a few minutes and then called it my 1 rep max.

The the WOD.

10 min AMRAP
- 5 deadlifts  255#/195#
- 7 chest to bar pull ups
- 9 burpee box jumps.

I did women's Rx, at that weight the deadlifts didn't worry me, but the burpee box jumps did. For those I stepped down from the box and stepped down into the burpee.  Switched to regular pull ups after round 1.

Managed 3 rounds plus 10 reps at a fairly pedestrian pace.


Post WOD was 3 sets of 10 good mornings vs ARMAP of anchored sit ups. on 1:00 rest

DId 15 sit ups per round and went light on the Good Morning, 45#-75#-75#

Crossfit log for Tuesday, June 21st

Maybe i should have stayed in bed.

Strength work was close grip bench, 1 heavy set of 8, 75% of max.

Warned up with empty bar. 95#, 135# then my working set was 165#. Last rep was a fight, ski good choice.

Next was and alternating triplet: 25 banded side bends each side, dumbbell bench press for 8 reps, strict pull ups, pick a number you can hold for 3 sets

Side bends were rough, obliques were shot for yesterday's Y workout. First 2 round only did 12 per side until i noticed it said 25 per side, not total.

Bench started with 50# then 70#, and 70#(4).

Pull ups for 5 reps each round.

All fine and good until i went to our the dumbbells away, and pulled something in my left lower back, likely my oblique. QL or glute med.
Grrrrr

Did the WOD anyway, didn't really involve much back.

15 minute AMRAP
- 5 pull ups
-10 handstand push-ups
-15 pistols alternating

Pull ups were a snap
Did bear stance hspu
Pistol progression with heel on top off toes.

Went well. 6 rounds plus 5 pull ups.

Satisfied with that

Accessory log for Monday, June 20th

Brought my new toy to the Y. One of my handled barbells or farmer carry barbell.

After doing my postal homework on my hips and thoracic extension i got to work batting up my obliques.

I did 6 rounds of
- 5 one arm deadlifts left hand
- 50' suitcase carry left hand
- 5 one arm deadlifts right hand
- 50' suitcase carry right hand
110#

Brutal. Next time 8 minute AMRAP.

Crossfit log for Monday, June 20th

Summer solstice.

Somehow got out of bed and made it to the box.

Started with a 1 rep max deadlift. 

Was eager to try this using the new technique from www.strongfit.com, of interanally rotating the femur on the deadlift, forcing the obliques to engage like you would a deadlift with a stone or a sandbag.


315# went up nicely, no discomfort in my lower back.  Jumped to 335#, got if off the floor but chickened out.  I've neglected deadlift work lately.  I'll build it more gradually in my next strength cycle, once my thoracic mobility is dealt with (or nearly dealt with).

Then we did some front rack barbell step ups.  Left leg is way stronger than right.  I'm liking these unilateral movements, really helps identify weaknesses.

Coupled that with Good mornings, also done with internal rotation of the femur, and went well.

The WOD was not fun.

For time:
Wall balls         50-40-30-20-10
Double unders 10-20-30-40-50  (unbroken)

Started hurting after round 1.

Took 2 tired to get to 10 DU, after 3 tries to get 20 on round 2 I gave up trying to go unbroken on the DUs

13:18    I think.  I can't remember.

Crossfit log for Saturday, June 18th

Not sure why I went today.  Kiza was leaving town with the kids and I guess I was afraid I'd spend the whole in the house doing nothing.

So I went. It was hard.

Partner WOD, but I had no parterner.  So I did half the work and estimated the break time based on the other teams.

For time:
3 rounds of:
20 Push-ups
20 Squat Cleans, 115#/85#
30 Box Jumps, 24"/20" 
-- then --
4 rounds of:
21 Wall Balls, 20#/14#
15 Toes-to-bars
9 Thrusters, 115#/85#
-- then --
3 rounds of:
20 Pull-ups Run,
400 m

Partners share the work, but run together.
So I cut all the reps in half and did all the running.  Used 95# on the bar.

 First part was ok.  10 push ups I can handle. 10 cleans at 115# got rough at the end, and box jumps were okay.  Last round I did step ups for 5 or 6 reps to get my heart rate down.

Part two I did my 11 wall balls, 8 T2B but somehow forgot to do the math on the thrusters and did all 9.

At this point I fell behind my "shadow" team.  Thinking quickly, I just skipped the thruster on the next round and then broke up the last two with 5 and 4.

I had thought about just doing two full rounds, which might have worked, but I was getting tired and I knew there was some running in the hot sun coming up

The last part I had already done the math, 10 pull ups, but when I got there, I did the math again, and had 5 pull ups in my mind.  I did my 5 and thankfully looked at the board before heading out on the run, and saw the 20 reps. Oops, did a quick 5 pull ups and out for the run.

Wasn't fun, but I got it done.  The last run I wanted to come in under 90 seconds, not sure why but I hustled and I made it. 90 second 400m plus 35m to cross the gym after all that work, gotta be happy with that.

Crossfit log for Friday, June 17th

Fell back to sleep after my alarm again.  Delilah was up in the night and it took forever to fall back to sleep. 

But I hustled out the door anyway, and arrived as everyone was finishing the warm up.  Score.

Started with bench press for a 1 rep max. 

Hit 215# with a touch help from my spotter.  Need to work on that soon.

Then we did a horrible combo of 3 sets of 10 dumbbell bench press (35#) 10 abs rolls outs, and 15 reverse flies, 20#

Ugh.

Triceps are shot

Naturally the WOD has HSPU!

14 minute AMRAP:
- 1 rope climb
- 3 bar muscle ups (scaled to chest to bar pull ups)
- 5 strict handstand pushups  (scaled to knees on a box)

Workout was all about hspu. Once I stopped using my hip flexors to help straighten out my arms, it got really hard.

I only made 5 rounds plus 5 reps. 

Oh well.  Done.

Crossfit log for Thursday, June 16th

Not my  favourite workout but progress has been made.

Strength was backsquats  3 reps EMOM for 8 minutes.   Speed out of the bottom. Suggested weight was 70% (205#), but I was working with Kamil and at 185#, I wasn't feeling very speedy.  So I stayed there.  Also we squatted onto a med ball, which was new for me.  Worked well. 

Next was front squats vs RDLs,  three sets of 8 alternating, 1:00 rest between. Adding weight each round.  Again working with Kamil, I let him set the weights, for the squats we did 115#, 125#, 135#.  For the RDLs we did 135#, 155#, 185#.

Worked well and didn't kill my legs completely.  My back rounds on my RDLs,  I tried to tap the ground on the last set, which I was able to , and it felt like my back was straight, but coach Nikki pointed out that it wasn't.  Not even close.

Need to work on those hammies.

The WOD was a suck-fest, but also good.

For time: 21-18-15-8-9 of:
- kettle bell Russian swings (to eye level)  32kg/24kg
- box jumps  24"/20"

after each round 50' walking overhead lunges with plate.  (45#/35#)

Did women's Rx.   24kg kettle bell, 20" box for the first round then 24" for the rest, and 35# plate.

Kettle bell was fine,  box jumps were shaky the first round after the squats and RDLs, so I flipped it to 20".  The next round I felt better, so I tried again at 24" and it was fine.

The lunges sucked, BUT, I was almost completely locked out overhead, above my centre of mass.  It wasn't perfect, but it was better position than I have ever achieved in an over head lunge.  So progress!

15 minutes ish.  Didn't look at the clock when I finished, too wiped!

Crossfit log for Wednesday, June 15th

Somehow managed to get out of bed this morning and made it to Crossfit.

It was a fun workout.

For time: 6 rounds of: 

- 1 Overhead Squat 

- 5 Seated Box Jumps, 34"/30"  

- Run, 200 m 

-- then --  5min rest

5 rounds of

-Row, 300m - 300m - 300m - 300m - 300m

-Clean & Jerk Touch And Go 5-4-3-2-1

part 1:
-build to a heavy OHS from the rack
-increase weight each round
-learn to recover on running

part 2:
-clean and jerk must be tng unbroken
-increase weight each round
-score is weight of last rep.

Had to choose shoes, wanted lifters, but with box jumps and running, I opted for nanoes, I'd just do the best I could for the OHS.

So I did OHS at the Y yesterday  (yeah, yeah, I know, I didn't log it, whatever). Also in my Nanos.  I did a bunch of reps at 95# and 115# and with time running out I threw on 25# plates for 165# and failed.  Not surprising, my PR was 160#.

Was.

So today I did 75# for the first round, 95#, 115#,  125# and 145#. As I'm running my 200m before the last round, I debating.  Do I go 155# (which I though was my current PR) or do I try that 165# from yesterday.

Finally I decided, I was happy with 145#, so if I didn't make my 165# it wouldn't break my heart, so I decided to go for it.

Well I'm glad I did.  Beautifully executed, deep and stable bottom position.  Standing it up was a snap.  New OHS PR. In my freaking Nanos!

Then I worked up to 175# on the clean and jerk with the rowing.  Meh.  Too happy about the OHS to worry.

Fun day.   Next stop Physio.

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: 280# September 29, 2015 (up from 275#)
Overhead squat: 165# June 17, 2016 (up from 160#) 

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: 220#  Jan 5th, 2016 (up from 205#)
Snatch: 145# Feb 25, 2015 (up from 145# but not really)
Clean and Jerk: 205# Dec 13, 2014 (up from 175#)

Accessory log for Monday, June 13th

Went to the Y.  Yes I'm actually logging it for once.

Did one-armed deadlifts, 1 set of 8 each side at 135# and 1 set of 5 each side at 185#.

185# was rough.

Then I did some rows on the pulley machine, but to change it up I used a rope attachment to simulate a rope pull.  Not great.  Grip got slippery and made it harder than the handle way.  I felt it more in my hands than in my lats.

It was worth a shot.

Crossfit log for Monday, June 13th

Monday morning Crossfit. 

Strength work was 3 rep max back squat.  Worked up to 275#. Tried 285#, but after one rep I knew there wouldn't be 3, so stopped there.

Then we did chair deadlifts.  Not quite right would have needed a higher chair to get the right position.  Meh, next time.

Alternate 3 sets of 6 of those with 3 sets of max decline sit ups. 

WOD was not fun.

21-15-9 of
- cleans  135#/95#
- lateral burpees over bar

Did women's Rx and even that was rough.  Burpees suck

13:20.

Ugh.

Crossfit log for Saturday, June 11th

It has been a long time since I partnered with Nat Connors.

That certainly wasn't my plan going to Crossfit this morning, but there's always a risk.

I held my own, doing women's Rx, and she'd already done the workout at the 9am class without a partner, oh and she's recovering from a shoulder injury.

So yeah.  We still finished first. And beat her solo time from 9am

The WOD was
- 800m row, shared however you want
4 rounds of
- 30 pull ups
- 20 front squats 75#
- 30 abmat sit ups
- 20 push press 75#
Then
- 800m row

We split the row into 200m alternating, I rowed hard, pull 1:36-1:40 / 500m.

Because of her shoulder we split the pull ups 10-10-5-5, everything else was half each. I started.

It wasn't until round 4 that she started yelling at me to hurry and not pause or rest, to keep going, to not think about it, just do it.  So the 3 first rounds I was all good.

She also kicked off the second row at 160m, my second set on the rower was better, sub 1:45/500m

We did it in 19:36

Man, I work hard when partnered with her.

Crossfit log for Thursday, June 9th

Wow, that sucked.

Managed to get up this morning. That's getting harder these days for some reason.

Coach Nikki was late, so we didn't get started until 6:00

We did the back squat EMOM for 8 minutes.  Goal was 70% of max.

I did 185#, 205#, 205#, 225#, 225#, 225#, 225#, 225#

We skipped the front squat / Chinese plank part and jumped right in to the WOD.

100 Thrusters for time
EMOM 5 burpees.

Sucked beyond belief.  Started out hard.  20 thrusters, 5 burpees, 5 thrusters, 5 burpees, 8 thrusters, 5 burpees.  1/3 done.

Then if fell apart.

At 50 thrusters I dropped to 3 burpees, otherwise I would never have finished.

Took me 20 minutes,  last set of thrusters was 10 with 4 seconds left, there was no way I was doing more burpees at that point.

Strength log for Wednesday, June 8th

Went to the Y for some posterior chain work

 Was planning 5 sets of 5 deadlifts at 75%, but after 2 sets at 225# I realized I was using 75% of my squat not my deadlift. So bumped it up to 255# and did 4 sets at that.

Then I peeled back to 185# and did 5 sets of 5 RDLs

And that was it.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, June 7th

You'd think more test makes for better performance. 

Did some accessory work at the Y yesterday, and mobility work on Sunday (I've really got to log those workouts)

I did 120 alternating rows on the outlet machine, in sets of 20 each arm for 3 sets. Decreasing weight each set, 60, 45, 30 (I assume it's in pounds) but that doesn't seem to justify how smoked my shoulders felt today.

So today. First day for Coach Nikki. The warm up was 6 min of 10 kettle bell swing. 10 push ups, 10 air squats.

Strength work was push press, 4 sets of 8 @ 60%-65%-70%-75% of max. I did 5# more for each, because barbell math.  115#-125#-135#-145#(6).

Got really hard at 135# and wasn't able to finish the last set at 145#

Then was close grip bench vs. landmine rows. 4 sets of 8 bench and 10 rows.

I used 135# on the bench for the first 2 sets, then whatever Joee had on her bar (around 95#) for the third and didn't make the fourth for lack of time.

I did all the rows, using 20kg of smaller plates, for better range of motion. Dropped to 15kg for the last 3 sets.  Lats were smoked from yesterday.

WOD sucked so bad.

For time:

- 1000m row

4 rounds of:

- 10 power cleans  115#/85#

- 10 handstand push ups

Used 95# on the bar and did bear straddle hspu.  Sucked. So much. 13:29.  

Crossfit log for Friday, June 3rd

So, new rule, if Frank is coaching the 5:30am class, stay in bed.

Man that sucked.

He's a slave driver, that man.

Warm was a no nonsense affair.  3 rounds of row 200m, 10 ab rollers, 15 ball slams. 

Strength work was 9 sets of 3 speed bench press alternating narrow, medium and wide grip. 75% of max every 45 seconds.  So every 45 seconds do 3 reps, 1st set narrow grip, 2nd set medium grip, 3rd set wide grip, repeat 2 more times.

My max was too long ago, so I settled on 155# but dropped to 145# almost immediately. 

Followed that up with dumbbell press and dumbbell rows. 
Press 12-12-10-8
Row 10-10-8-8

35# was too much for press, did the last set with Joée's 25# dumbbells.  I can lock out nicely now with a barbell, because I can pull it apart for better position, but with dumbbells, I can't, locked out arms are way in front of center of mass.

Just when I think I'm fixed, I find I still have a ton of work to do.

70# was good for my left arm on the rows, but I struggled on the right at that weight.

The WOD was not fun either

10 rounds for time (yup, 10)  thankfully with a 15:00 cap
- 5 hspu
- 7 pull ups
- 9 front squats 115#/75#

Started with 3 hspu, that lasted 2 rounds, got an abmat for another round, then resorted to 5 regular push ups.  Fuck my overhead sucks.

Front squats sucked too,  even at 95#.  Should've done women's Rx. 

Ran out of time at 7 rounds plus 7 reps.

Meh, it's done.