Getting Ahead

Feeling a little stiff today. I don't really know why because I pretty much lounged all day yesterday. This is the last week of the regular season for track. I got two dual meets and Conference meet to cram in this week so getting to the gym is gonna be rough. Lots of standing around so I'm sure I'll be feeling it by the end of the week. Gonna see how much I can cram in tonight at Prevail.

Strength
Power Snatch + OHS --- 65-75% x 1+1 x 7
Progressions - 95(3) --- 145 - 145 - 145 - 155 - 155 - 165 - 165
- I was coming in on a little bit of time crunch rushing to the gym from practice. For as stiff as I felt, my warm up was not as good as it should have been. I felt it during my first 3 sets. My first set, I was completely on my toes for the OHS. I descended too fast. It was just terrible. Second set was a little better. The third set I was finally feeling a good groove in my mechanics and my body temp was finally starting to rise. I was very pleased with my last 4 sets. The snatches had good snap at the hips and strong punch on the receive. I focused a lot on keeping that bar path closer with a tighter pull. On the OHSs, I kept control all the way down and paused for a 2 count at the bottom to get comfortable there and really focus on finding my heals and that last inch or two of depth. Felt good.

WOD 1
4 rds FT:
 20 Walking Lunges
 10 C2D Push Ups (all UB)
 10 Ring Dips (UB/UB/UB/5-2-1-1-1)
= 4:13
Rest 1:00
Bonus rd = 7:09 (push ups still UB, ring dips 2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1)
 -This was a decent WOD. It wasn't all that bad until the 4th round and it just slammed me on the ring dips. I was cruising through it at a pretty pace and then my ring dips just disappeared. I took a minute rest and was gonna try and squeeze 2 more rounds in, but my ring dips were just gone so I called it at one. I didn't see a point in continuing with that pace. My arms were pretty gassed up to say the least when I was done.

Make Up Strength
Find a 1RM Weighted Pull Up
58#

Cash Out
50 T2B (fewest sets possible)
11-6-10-11-5-5-2 = 7
- Continues to be work in progress, but I'm feeling a lot more comfortable in the kip.

WOD 2
3 rds FT:
 150' OH Carry (snatch grip; 135#)
 150' Tire Flip
= 10:33
- This was a fun one. I won't be able to make it in tomorrow and I was still feeling good so I decided to throw this one together. I haven't gotten to use the tire yet so why not, right? The OHCs felt good. The last carry was starting to get tough, especially the last 75'. The tire flips weren't bad, until the last 75' of the second round. My legs started to go, then my back started to tighten, my lungs were pushing it. I was having some fun with it that's for sure. The third round of flips got me! I stopped and bent over on the tire 2-3 times to get my wind back a bit. I did this one solo. If I was being pushed, I bet I could get inside the low 9s, maybe high 8s. Definitely a fun WOD. Gonna have to play with both movements some more.

Oly. - Snatch / C & J

Feeling pretty sluggish and very tight today. Surprisingly, no pain after the foolish thing I did last night. Gonna ease into it today and see how I feel. Plan is to work both lifts through ascending percentages.


OWOD


Descending progressions with PVC and bar

Snatch --- 60%x3 - 70%x2, 75%x2, 80%x2, 85%x1x3
95(3) --- 135 - 155 - 165 - 175 - 190 (F-1-F-F-F-1-1)
- SLOW. That is the easiest way to describe today's OWOD. I felt like I had no speed in my hips to get the bar up and I felt very slow during my pull to get under the bar. I had no misses til I got to 85%. My flexibility was an issue today. I noticed that early as I was having to turn my feet way out at the bottom of my catch. I used straps for most of the reps as well since my grip was pretty raw and fatigued from the night before. My misses were caused from swinging the bar out instead of pulling it up. Couldn't get everything to sit back. CT caught it for me and mentioned it. That was definitely the issue because the last 2 reps were solid, except for the flexibility issues at the bottom.

I bailed on the C & J work due to time restraints and fatgiue. Another day.

Getting Caught Up

I'm feeling pretty stiff from yesterday's WOD. I got out of bed this morning and my calves and ankles were stiff as a board and my thighs were tired. I loosened up a little bit as the day went on, but not very much. I had some doubts about how tonight was gonna go down.

Strength
Find a new Deadlift 1RM.
bar(10)-135(10)-185(8)-225(5)-275(5)-315(3) --- 365 - 405 - 425 - 445 - 475 - 505
- Kept my sweater on the entire WOD so I could keep my back nice and toasty. As fatigued as I felt I wanted to make sure I stayed nice and warm between sets. I took some extra warm ups sets because I was having a hard time finding my groove. I felt strong and smooth all the way up to 475. I thought 475 was 485 when I lifted it...used that lift to make the choice to go to 505 for a PR only to realize (once 505 was loaded) that 485 was actually 475. The 20# jump sounded a lot better than the 30# jump based upon the speed and smoothness of the pull. To get to 505 we had to tape 5# plates on top of the bumpers because there was no room left on the bar. I attempted the lift and stood it up, but I can't count it as a PR. After turning into a hunchback (yes I know...shame on me...first fault), I got the bar above my knees and paused (second fault), and then finished the lift. At the pause, one of the 5# plates fell off (third fault). I feel foolish and blessed all at the same time. I've spent a lot of time and money fixing my back problems since the Fall. My stubborn arrogance tonight, chasing a PR, could have set me back months of hard work to get where I am today. Chris recorded the lift for me, I was disgusted with myself that I held on and didn't make the smart choice to let go as I reviewed the lift. I feel very blessed that I didn't hurt myself tonight, but also pleased with the strength gains I've made to protect it during such a bad lift as well.

WOD
"Grace"
30 Clean and Jerks (135#)
=1:50 (:08 PR)
- My goal was to sub 1:30 on this. I did this back in Oct. @ 1:58. In Oct., I did the first 20 reps UB at like :50ish. The last 10 reps killed my time. I had high hopes for this one all week and was hoping to pull off my goal. I was disappointed about the DL fiasco and was hoping to use some of that to fuel me on the WOD.
I struggled to find a groove during the first 10 reps. At rep 18 my grip just blew apart and I had to let go. I did doubles the rest of the way with 2-3 singles mixed in. Mentally I lost a lot of steam when I had to let go at 18. I tried to fight through and stay quick on the bar as best I could. Somewhere between 19-30 I lost count and I have no clue where. We ran two heats so I had plenty of people cheering me on and doing there own count. Everyone had me at 31-32 reps, instead of 30. I thought I only did 30. Luckily, my wife recorded it and I definitely did 31 reps. You can't see the clock in the vid though so I'm not comfortable taking the time from that as my official time. I'll stick with the 1:50 for now and just have to hit that sub 1:30 on my next date with my favorite girl.

 Cash Out
2 - 80' OH Barbell Carries (135#)

A Little Closer

Feeling well rested today. I didn't get a chance to OWOD last night. Instead I had the pleasure of watching K Tuck perform some pretty sweet looking barbell gymnastics and almost PR! I had a blast watching her lift and I'm sure my legs enjoyed the rest. Still feeling strong...no kinks in the armor showing yet. Got two more PRs to hit still this week!

Strength
Find Front Squat 1RM
bar(10)-135(10)-185(8)-225(3) --- 275 - 315 - 335 - 355 - 375 PR - 385
- I was feeling good when I hit the gym this evening. Didn't take me long at all to loosen up and get into it. I built up like I usually do. Felt really good coming out of the hole and had a lot of snap. I hit 335 and knew 375 was going up today. I hit 375 and thought 385 was doable...I was wrong! Once again...just gotta keep chipping away. I got another step closer today!

Front Squat 375#

WOD

12:00 AMRAP

 200m Run

 10 Box Jumps (24")

 5 Thrusters (95#)

= 7

- My goal was to beat the runners today. All the runners got somewhere in the 6s today. I knew run was short enough I could move fast through it and weight was light enough to not be a problem. The question was could I fight through enough to keep moving on the box jumps. Every round was UB on everything. I used the run to catch my breath. Coming in from the run, I would walk from the door to the box just to calm down and then I'd start jumping. I lost my groove every once in awhile, but I wouldn't call it a break...rebounded just about every dang rep. Thrusters were fast and didn't start to burn til the 5th round. I finished the last thruster, to complete 7 rds, at the buzzer. 

I was very pleased with my effort tonight. Fought through some suck. Made the decision to keep pushing, instead of dropping. Never looked at the clock..stayed focused on my goal! Chalk one up for the Clydesdale crew!

Cash Out

1:00 ME C2D Push Ups

= 43

Double PR!

4/22/12

WOD
3 rds FT:
 500m Row
 50 DUs
= 8:27


Woke Tuesday morning with nothing, but squatting on mind! Wasn't sure what to expect as far as PRing goes, but I knew I had improved. I PR'd 2-3 weeks in to the cycle. If you look back I tried to change to those numbers and that didn't work out well so I've been working off of a lower max this entire cycle. I know my back has gotten stronger and my form has gotten better so I was pretty sure I was gonna PR again tonight.

Strength
Find new Back Squat 1RM
bar(10)-135(10)-185(8)-225(5)-275(3)-315(2) --- 365 - 405 - 430 - 460 PR - 475
- Kept my hoodie on the entire time so I would stay warm and keep a good sweat going. I felt really solid. Trying to eat clean these days and I think that may have hurt me just a bit. On the way to the gym, my energy was dropping so I slammed a few protein bars for a boost. Got under the weight and I didn't have that "pop" I've had for the last few weeks. Bar felt heavy at 365 :( Made it to 430 and felt good. Went to 460 and it put up a pretty good fight. I knew I might have one more good push in me so I made the jump to 475 and started out of the hole and bailed because I just slowed down too much. The goal was to close the 500 gap as much as possible. Chipped away at it a little more today and I'm happy with that. It'll come!

Back Squat 460#

5:00 REST

Find new Press 1RM
bar(10)-95(10)-135(5) --- 165 - 185 - 205 - 225 PR - 230
- Had to pull double duty because I was a day behind in maxes. I knew I blew through a lot of energy in squats so I just wanted to get this one done. I knew from the past few weeks of the cycle where I was gonna end up at anyway. I haven't PRd in press since last June so I was well over due here! I used a false grip and drove it straight through. Went up so easy I was convinced I may have another 5#...hahaha...I was wrong! Extremely happy with the start of the week...2 PRs...solid!!

WOD
15 Snatch (125#)
15 Ring Push Ups
12 Snatch (145#)
12 Ring Push Ups
9 Snatch (165#)
9 Ring Push Ups
= 6:51
- I was pumped for this WOD when I saw it on the schedule. I enjoy ladders. If I would do this one again I would change the weights to 135, 155, 175 just for the sake of the weight change. Having to deal with the 5# plate became a pain chasing around. Really focused on being as fast as I could while keeping my technique as sound as possible. It worked well. I made sure my set up was square every time and it paid off. I didn't miss any reps the entire ladder. I caught a few early ones on my toes rushing through a little faster than I should have. The ring push ups were cake all were UB. The only thing I noticed the push ups do was burn up my thighs and core from staying in the plank.

Great night at Prevail!!

Cash Out
30 GHD Back Ext. (25#) (20-10)
30 GHD Rev. Hypers

Hanging In There

Feeling a little sluggish this morning. My shoulders were achy and my hands were real tender. Plan on easing into some Oly work for both lifts after coaching class.

OWOD
Hang Snatch (Below the Knee) --- 75% x 2 x 5
Progressions with PVC & Bar
95-135 --- 165 - 165 - 165 - 165 - 165
- Warmed up with the class and then cooled down again as I coached. My right shoulder was giving my some pinching the whole morning in the OH position. I was struggling to grip the bar so I through on the straps for the last 4 sets. I missed one of the reps in the 1st set. The wraps helped me focus on knee pass better. I was struggling to find my heels during the warm up sets and the 1st set. Once I put the straps on I had no problems...solid posture through the pass, sweep back, hard punch, heels down. Started out rough, but finished up being a great snatch session.

Hang Cleans (Below the Knee) --- 75% x 2 x 5
185 --- 230 -230 - 230 - 230 -230
- No straps for cleans. Got through first set and my thumbs were just raw from hook gripping. Wrapped em up in some tape and finished the sets. Weight felt easy through all 5 sets. Good posture and a nice deep receive made for an easy front squat. My thumbs were ready to pop after every second rep though.

Snatch Balance --- 4 x 3
- I bailed on these. I've had a lot of OH work this week. I did one rep with 135# and my shoulder didn't like that very much. I had a good session up to this point so I called it a day. Next time.

Lonely Friday

Shoulders and stomach are pretty tore up from yesterday's work. It's a good soreness though, not enough to keep me out of the gym tonight. We had a really light Friday crowd. I kind of slipped in between the two last classes. Charlie showed up just in time to WOD with me.

Strength
Front Squats --- 5@60%, 5@65%, 5@70%, 5@75%
bar(10)-135(8)-185(6) --- 220 - 240 - 255 - 275
- Loads are a little light this week. Felt strong and flexible tonight. No issues in the back or my heels. Good night of squat work. I've missed most of the early weeks of the front squat work thanks to wrestling season and the Open WODs so I'm not quite sure what to expect next week with maxes. We will see what it brings.

WOD
30' Broad Jumps (down & back)
 10 Pull Ups
 10 K2E
Broad Jumps
 8s
Broad Jumps
 6s
Broad Jumps
 4s
Broad Jumps
 2s
= 3:52
- This one snuck up on me. I didn't think this was gonna be a tough one at all. I got through the round of 10 about the same time as Charlie. Got back to the bar for 8s and BAM...arms just went. Holding on to the bar for the pull ups got rough quick after having to hold on for the K2Es. My abs fatigued fast after the work they got last night. Getting through the 8s and 6s were work. Did the K2Es on the 4s and 2s as singles. Charlie beat me by a second or two! That boy is fast on some K2Es!! I'd be slightly ahead of him on the pull ups (sometimes), he'd blow by me on the K2E (everytime), and then I'd play catch up and pull ahead on the broad jumps every stinkin' round. Solid push and nice WOD to end the week on!

Gotta Love Competition

Got plenty of energy today! Track meet got canceled due to weather so I'm glad I got to make it in tonight to WOD. Solid group at the gym. Got to WOD with Charlie & CT & Hannah!

Strength
Press - 90% x 4 x 5
bar(10)-95(8)-125(5)-145(5) --- 175 - 175 - 175 - 175 - 175
- Reps felt solid tonight. No need to go to the false grip and really gained some confidence from these sets. Tonight really has me looking forward to a possible PR next week on press. I'm long over due!

WOD
5 rds FT:
 10 Push Press (95#) (all UB)
 40 DUs (UB/UB/UB/3-3 to 4 broken sets to 17-23/19-21)
= 4:12
5:00 REST
*Bonus Rounds*
2 rds FT:
 10 Push Press (95#) (all UB)
 40 DUs (UB/1 miss)
= 1:57
- This WOD was right up my alley. I was trying to stay as far ahead of CT as I could, but didn't even notice Hannah sneak in and beat me by about 15 seconds or so. It was a fairly quick one and I felt really good still at the end of it. So I waited 5:00 and took another stab at 2 more rounds. Gonna try and do this more and more on shorter WODs just to sneak in some extra work under the radar.

Cash Out Competition
L-sits --- 5 x ME UB
= 1:24 (:20, ??????)
T2B --- 3 x ME UB
= 33 (15-13-5)
- Alex decided to join Charlie, CT, and I for a little competition. This made for a fun way to push through some extra mid-line work, that is much needed. I took second behind Alex on the L-sits, who just killed me in the 4th and 5th rounds. I took 3rd by one rep behind Charlie and CT (Alex didn't partake in this one). I just couldn't hold on to the bar anymore. Good times!

Tougher Than Expected

Finally starting to recover a little bit from the WODs earlier in the week. My lats, shoulders, and wrists took a beating...more than I initially thought they did. My back is pretty tight today too from standing on the uneven ground at the track meet yesterday and being out there all day today for class too.

OWOD
Clean & Jerk --- 5 x 3 (70-80%)
progressions with PVC & Bar for warm up
135(3) - 185(3) --- 215(70%) - 225 - 225 - 225 - 225(74%)
- This was a lot tougher than the snatch work last week. 215 was no problem. The 1st rep at 225 was smooth, the 2nd rep smooth, and 3rd rep the jerk was terrible tough. That was the story just about every set at 225. My jerk technique needs to clean up before I went up any higher. The main problem was positioning my hands for the jerk in my rack position. I clean with 2-3 fingers on the bar. Getting my 4 fingers back on the bar to jerk is rough. I have bad mobility in my wrists which is probably the base of the issue. Tighter than usual lats (from Helen) didn't help either. I did work out a few kinks in my drop under the bar on jerk. I was getting way to forward before instead of sinking which caused some serious stress on my low back. Focused and developed some self cues to keep that back glute tight in my split and that really seemed to help a lot.

Back Squat --- 5@60%, 5@65%, 5@70%, 5@75%
255 - 275 - 300 - 320
- Missed yesterday's strength so I added it in tonight. Deload week getting ready for Max week. For lighter weight, it was a little tougher than expected after all the cleans. I focused on staying as fast as I could out of the bottom and keeping the reps moving.

Clean Pulls --- 4 x 4 @ 105% (320#)
- Used my wraps. Solid pulls tonight. After all that work my back felt pretty strong still. Kept good position throughout the pulls.

Finding Your Happy Place...

With "Max" week coming up very soon...thought this might be a good read for anyone who follows my blog.
 

The Mental Switch by Matt Foreman - Catalyst Athletics Blog

For those who need more visual demonstration....

250 Triple!!!

Not gonna lie...I was a little sluggish all day! Helen really worked me over so I'm a lot sorer than I thought I would be. My shoulders, lats, and forearms were really tight. Being this stiff I was little worried about tonight's SWOD heading to the gym.

SWOD
OHS --- 3-3-3-3-3 (Find a 3RM)
bar(5)-95(5)-135(3) --- 155 - 175 - 195 - 215 - 225 - 250
- Got to the gym a little (story of my life). Took the usual 20-30 minute stretch routine to get loose enough to feel comfortable to lift. With that warm up comes the usual razzing from everyone else about the length of my warm up. Once the blood got flowing I got pretty greased up and was moving a lot easier than I thought I would. Shoulders and wrists held up great and kept surprising me every time I upped the weight. So far, Stable Boy (Brandon) had the top score of the day at 210#. Started low at 155 and just kept gradually chipping away. Every weight increase got smoother and smoother, at the same time it kept feeling lighter and lighter! Initially I was gonna call it at 225, but it felt way too easy. I thought about going up to 235-240. Again..GO BIG or GO HOME...if I was gonna do 240# I might as well make it an even 250#...it just sounds better! Got under it and it felt every bit of 250#. Focused on initiating with the hip and driving the knees out. Lost my mid-line a bit on the 2nd rep (actually thought I missed the depth, which is why I attempted a 4th rep), but was able to recover and get a third. Attempted a 4th, but failed. I was very happy to see the video after and realize that my 2nd rep was low enough for sure.

My previous OHS 1RM was 250# back in the beginning of August.

Great night at Prevail! Saw some huge PRs all around!

OHS 250# Triple

Cash Out

GHD Back Ext. --- 4 x 15 (25#)

GHD Sit Ups --- 2 x 15

TGU --- 2 x 10 (5/arm; 53#)

Helen

Felt very rested and excited to take this one on. Helen was scheduled earlier in the week, but I couldn't make it because of my track meet. Lucky for me Charlie had missed too and wanted to make it up.

WOD
"Helen"
3 rounds FT:
 400m Run
 21 KB swings (53#) (all UB)
 12 Pull Ups (UB/UB/6-3-3)
= 9:35 (:52 PR)
- First run I hid behind Charlie the whole way out. I literally was almost giving him flat tires the entire way. Why...I was drafting and trying to push his pace a little bit harder than he wanted to go (we had a 20 burpee side bet going on). The wind was rough going out, but felt great pushing against your back on the way back in. Charlie and I got to KBs about the same time and started swinging. My technique is a little different on the KB, but I like it because it's slightly faster. Sometimes it backfires on me and sometimes it doesn't. The first round of pull ups were just weird. I haven't done a whole lot of pull ups lately so my kip was very awkward. Got back out to the run before Charlie and felt pretty good. Focused the whole run on trying to control my breathing. Second round was smoother than the first and all UB. The third round my legs started to die a bit on the run. I was trying to push it, but my lungs just weren't having it. Charlie gained a little ground on me during the round, but I was still 75m ahead or so. Forearms started to burn up on the swings. I got to the bar for pull ups with 9:18 on the clock. My goal was 9:24 so I could beat a buddy of mine over at Freedom. I knew it was a long shot and I would have to go UB, but I just couldn't pull it off. My grip was blown out after 6 reps. I dropped and jump back and got 3 more. Dropped again and took a breather...hit 2 and I was holding on by my fingertips for a long kip on my last rep.

Initially, I was bummed I couldn't go all UB and I didn't beat my buddy. I got over it quickly though. I still knocked almost a minute off my time since August and I was in pretty good shape in August. Good WOD!

O Lifts

It's the start of the weekend and there ain't nothing wrong with that. Got out early to teach the Oly class and Team WOD. Stuck around afterwards to get some more Oly work in. Gonna try hard to get at least 2 Oly specific sessions in a week for the next few weeks.

OWOD
Power Snatch + Snatch --- 65% x 1+1 x 2, 70% x 1+1 x 2, 75% x 1+1 x 2
Progressions ---145 x 2, 155 x 2, 165 x 2
- This was a lot rougher than the last session. I was pretty tight from all the running yesterday. My ankles were stiff as a board. Wound having to fight to find my heels for most of the lifts. I finally started feeling comfortable in the last two sets again.

Power Clean + Push Jerk --- 75% x 1+1 x 5
165-185 --- 230 x 5
- Cleans were great, but my jerk needs a lot of work. I'm very loose in the shoulders and my elbows are way to slow. Posture felt good.

Jerry

Feeling a little worn down from the long afternoon on the track yesterday. Looking forward to a light weight day at the gym.

Strength
Press --- 90% x 2 x 5
bar(10)-95(8)-135(5)-185(3) --- 197 - 197 - 197 - 197 - 197
- After the first set I wasn't quite sure if I was going to complete all the reps at the Rx percentage. Went to the false grip for 3 of the last 4 sets. Rarely use the false grip, but needed a little more tonight. False grip allows me to feel a little tighter in the lats and allows for a slightly better bar path. Felt strong during the last 4 sets. Looking forward to possibly PRing on press in a few weeks.

WOD
"Jerry" 
FT:
 1 mile Run (8:45)
 2000m Row (7:54) *damper@7
 1 mile Run
= 26:32
- After eating like crap this afternoon and dinner plans made for Bulldogs a nice long calorie burning WOD was more than needed! I was the only WODder for the 630p class so I thought I was gonna have to do this one on my own....luckily...CT was kind enough to move back and forth on rower next to me trying to provide the illusion of a pacing rower (which oddly enough actually worked) and Andy, my bro in law, was awesome enough to join me on my second mile which was HUGE!
 Thought process was....run hard on the first mile, but not all out...don't walk on transitions so not to waste time....stay in the 1:50s/500 on the row and don't blow your legs out...don't walk on the transitions...ran downstairs at 17:18ish....was hoping to stay as close to 25:00 as possible.
 I won the Clydesdale race for the day between Charlie & Big Harv so that's all that really mattered!

Snatch

Came in to coach Oly class and managed to get some work in myself too.

Strength
Snatch --- 70-80% x 3 x 5
155 - 155 - 155(2) - 155 - 175

Snatch Pulls --- 4 x 4 (w/ straps)
225 - 225 - 225 - 225
- Felt good tonight. I lost the first rep in the 3rd set in the front, but other than that weight felt great in all lifts. I jumped to 175 for the last set and hit all three easy. Really tried to focus on hitting my positions and keeping a good tempo from the floor to the knee. Best session I've had in a while.
 I continued to work tempo and positioning on pulls. Really focused on keeping my core tight and moving hips and shoulders together.

Yep...it's confirmed....

I STILL HATE BURPEES!!

Feeling good today. Had to stay home with the kids today and we had a blast. We all got plenty of rest, but we had to stay inside all day. That just I was raring to go come Prevail time. 

Strength

Good Mornings --- bar(10) - 95(10) --- 115(8) - 135(8) - 145(8) - 155(8)

Neg. Pull Ups --- 4 x 3

*alternate movements

- Still working on making the pos. chain bomb proof. Solid work today. The eccentric pull ups were rough and took a lot out of me. GMs were really working the hams today. 

WOD

FT:

 75 Barrier Hop Burpees (done @ 6:18)

 50 Sit Ups

 25 GHD Back Ext. 

= 10:45

- Had some severe flashbacks of 12.1 during this WOD. Thought process went something like this...

got to 30...feeling good

got to 40...surprisingly still feeling good

got to 50...OH THIS IS JUST TERRIBLE

got to 60...please release me from this torture

got to 75...I sat down for a second and forgot that I actually had more work to do!

Jumped onto the Abmat and got to 17 and then my stomach started to cramp. Did sets of 5-8 from then on out. Walked my sorry butt up to the GHD and did my back extensions. Good WOD! One I needed obviously, but hate doing! Thanks Harv!

**My classes are doing 8:00 AMRAP tomorrow! Guess what there doing? 

That's right...BARRIER HOP BURPEES....at least I'm letting them do it in teams though ;)

Speed Speed Speed

Had a great three day weekend with my family and friends. No case of the Mondays here. I feel very refreshed and ready for another week of work and WODs. Body feels great! No aches, no pains today so...let's go!

Strength
Back Squat --- 5@60%, 3@70%, 2@80%, 2@90%, 1@95%
bar(10) - 135(10) - 185(10) - 225(8) --- 255 - 300 - 340 - 385 - 405
- Like I said in the opening...I felt great today! I was pretty rushed because of traffic and needing to get out right away so my wife could WOD and I could take over kiddie duty. The rush kept me pretty focused. I got right into my warm ups and was able to start the same time the rest of the class did. Right away I knew this was gonna be a good squat day. We had a very heavy week last week and this week was a slight deload from that if you follow the rep scheme. Everything from warm ups to last set felt light. My depth felt great and so did my flexibility. Feeling the day I was having and recognizing the deload my focus was on keeping everything fast and quick out of the hole. Feeling like my old self today!

WOD
5 rounds FT:
 7 Clean & Jerks (135#)     (all UB)
 250m Row
= 9:57
- Carrying the momentum from strength I was pretty excited for the WOD. My goal was to be under 10:00 and keep the C&Js UB. I felt great on the lifts. Most turned out to be clean and presses in the early rounds, by midway through the 3rd I started jerking more. The fifth required all jerks. I was tempted to drop the bar halfway through the 5th, but made the decision to push through. Having T Mo and Harv lurking close behind was definite motivation. I took the rows fairly easily. I didn't want to tear down my legs or my grip for the cleans, so I just tried to keep my pace under 1:55/500m. This required some hustling up and down the stairs, but my legs didn't seem to mind. Fun WOD with friends and a great day at Prevail overall!

PainStorm

Got to the gym early today to teach Oly class. Feeling pretty good still. Little sluggish from a terrible day of eating yesterday. Charlie and I agreed on doing a very long WOD during team WOD today and I have to admit...I was looking forward to it. I felt pretty loose and considering the length of the WOD I didn't really warm up. Figured I would get warm enough in the first 10 minutes.

WOD
"PainStorm" by CF Northeast England
40:00 AMRAP
 200m Run
 5 Thrusters [all rounds UB, except 215#(2-2-1)]
*start at 65#, add 10# every round
= 16 + 200m Run (completed round of 215# thrusters)
- Gotta say this one intrigued me a little from the first time I saw it. I'm not usually down to do any WOD that takes me past 15-20:00, but the ladder really caught my eye. Pre WOD, my thoughts were I would get past 225# no problem because the runs were so short.
- I flew through the thrusters. I hit 95# and started to feel the weight. My legs felt it around 155-165#. The runs after 175# started getting pretty slow. On the way back in after 205# I picked up Kelly and carried her on my shoulder for 50m because she wouldn't stop teasing me while she was doing team WOD. That was the dumbest moment of the day! That completely shot my legs! I got in for the 215# thrusters and my legs were pretty wobbly. I hit 2, rested, hit 2 more ugly ones, rested, cleaned one, dropped it, and finally hit the last one.
- Post WOD thoughts. I ran a little under a 2.25 miles in my Oly shoes. That wore on my feet and legs as the WOD went on. The thrusters were pretty easy for the most part. Changing weight is really what stopped me from getting past 225#. It took a lot of time. I didn't think through setting all the weight out before we started. All the 5s were taken for Team WOD use so I was using 4 2.5#plates per side...it sucked! The worst part of the WOD was the last 10:00. My legs finally went and it was rough running and thrusting!

Good WOD! I thought it was pretty fun and something I needed for today!

225# Snatch 3 - Bear 0

Enjoying the opportunity to sleep in on Good Friday. It's always a good morning when I get to stick around long enough to be there when my wife and kids wake up. Feeling a lot more relaxed than yesterday when I woke up. Picked up a portable STEM machine and had a nice 30 minute session last night to help relax my back a bit. I love that machine! Felt great rolling out of bed.

Even though I felt great, it still doesn't make my warm up any easier. I got into the gym and it took me something around 30 minutes to finally feel comfortable enough to touch a bar. Once I was done feeling old (reminded me of training with my old Coach back when I was 21...all I needed was a heavy dose of Tiger Balm to fill the air) I felt awesome! I was a lot looser than I thought would be possible.

SWOD
Snatch --- 1-1-1-1-1-1-1
PVC pro. - Bar pro. - 95 Snatch + Hang Snatch (2) - 135 - 135 - 155 - 175 - 185 - 195 - 205 - 210 - 225 - 225 - 225
- AARRRGGG! I've attempted 225 in three different sessions since I got 220 last Spring and all 3 times I've failed. Today was the first time I've attempted it without some sort of ailment (back and shoulder issues) and it happened to be the closet I've come yet. It still evades me, but I'm getting closer. Positioning is getting better throughout. Still need to be more consistent on my tempo through my knees. Punch is getting better, but I think that was my fault today. Right arm is strong, but on 3 attempts my left arm couldn't get locked out. Good progress and enough to keep excited about working towards the next time.

Fail #2

Holy Soreness

Holy cow! I woke up feeling extremely sore Wednesday from my back squats on Tuesday. When I woke up on today it wasn't any better. I had to go to DP this morning and I knew it was gonna be a tough go getting loose this morning. My glutes, hamstrings, and calves were the main culprits.

Strength
Front Squats --- 5@65%, 4@75%, 4@80%, 4@85%
bar(10) - 135(8) - 185(8) --- 240 - 275 - 297 - 310
- These were a ever tougher than I thought they would be. I did everything I could to get loose and I was still tight. It was pretty difficult just to keep my heels on the ground during the first 2 warm up sets. During my sets, I felt some slight twinges in my lower back on all four sets right at the bottom. I'm pretty sure my back was surrendered at the bottom because my hamstrings were so tight. I paid for this as the day went on.

WOD
400m Row
 21 Box Jumps (24")
400m Row
 15 Box Jumps
400m Row
 9 Box Jumps
= 7:15
- I did a lot better in this WOD than I thought I was going too. With how stiff and sore my legs were I thought the box jumps were gonna be brutal on my quads. I took the rows somewhat easy, maintained a 1:55ish/500 pace for all three rounds. I left the box downstairs and had to travel up and down between rounds. Off the rower the first round I ran down the stairs and started jumping. The 21s were rough. They were steady, but slow. I just couldn't find a solid groove to stay in and keep rebounding. Ran back up the stairs for round two. Was a little slower heading down for the 15s. The 15s felt better. Towards the end I really got going and finished the set strong. I didn't run up the stairs this time, but I did take em two at a time and was still surprised at how good my legs were holding up. Arms started to die in the pull on the last row. Ran downstairs for the 9s and found my groove on the first rebound and a few seconds later I was done.

Cash Out
ME UB DUs x 5
91- X<10
- My back shut it down! I got 91 the first go and then I had nothing. My CNS was just misfiring left and right. I tried 4-5 more times to get moving and I just couldn't get everything to fall in place again. My back was starting to tighten as I was cooling down and every jump I could feel a little tender spot getting worse. My quads had enough at this point as well. Solid morning in my book.

Double Down

Woke feeling very rested and little stiff. The weather is great outside so I decided to lunchtime WOD and I plan on hitting Prevail up tonight. The lunch WODs help keep me out of the place that dieter's go to die, the Teacher's Lounge.

Lunch WOD
10:00 AMRAP
 200yardish Run
 10 T2B (10/9-1/6-2-2/4-2-2-2/3-2-2-1-2)
= 5 + 200 run
- The weather was just too nice not to WOD outside today, plus I've been itching to break in my new portable pull up bar. During my lunch WODs I really want to focus on my weaknesses (midline, running, gymnastics, and lactic threshold). My core is still pretty tight and fatigued and I've been done for about 30 minutes now. This was definitely a good WOD to start on. Felt good on the runs, even they were on a very uneven grass surface...just makes the core work harder right?! T2B were pretty tough after by the 3rd round, but I felt really strong in the first 2. I kept a pretty good pace I thought and tried to keep moving as best I could.

Strength
Back Squat --- 5@70%, 5@80%, 3@85%, 2@90%, 1@100%
bar(10) - 135(8) - 185(8) - 225(5) - 275(5) --- 300 - 340 - 365 - 385 - 425(2)
- I didn't get to back squat last week so I've been itching for this for awhile. My legs feel good and rested and my back feels great lately. When those two things fall into place...I get extremely excited to squat! This has been a very acclimating squat cycle. It's hard to explain the excitement of getting under a bar that previously just "felt heavy" and every week feels lighter and lighter because your getting stronger and your body is acclimating to the load. Each set tonight just got better and better. The speed of the bar and reps were moving. Typically, I stay to the plan and I would recommend others to do so. Tonight though in my last set I let my excitement get the best of me and went for a double when I should have hit a single. I've been using a lower squat max, for previously stated reasons, and I really wanted to test some waters with the max out coming in a few weeks. Tonight was fun under the bar!

425# Duece

WOD
4 rounds FT:
 5 HSPUs (UB/UB/UB/4-1)
 10 Power Cleans (135#) (UB/6-4/7-3/4-2-4)
= 4:08
- Was feeling good after the squat work and was pretty excited to get after the WOD. I really wanted to get a sub 4:00 on this one, but I fell off the wall in my 4th set of HSPUs and breaking the 4th round of cleans into 3 sets took that away. HSPUs felt a little uncomfortable. I did the 1st round strict and kipped the rest. I felt really close to the wall and I was shocked out how fatigued my shoulders felt in the 1st round. I don't know if they were worn out a bit from T2B earlier in the day or presses yesterday for strength, but man...I definitely felt something. Kips were just fine though. I was disappointed I didn't get through at least 2 rounds of cleans UB. My forearms lit up in that 2nd round and I had to drop it, same thing happen in the 3rd and 4th. They were quick drop and pick ups at least.
- I was pretty confident in my time so I accepted a bet from Charlie that if he beat me I would do 20 burpees (originally 50, but we negotiated that down a bit). He got me by 4 seconds! Pretty stoked for him and me...competition is getting better and better around the gym...gotta stay on my toes and think twice before letting go of a bar in the WODs to come!

Cash Out
I rested 30 seconds and did a 5th round. 

Home Sweet Home

Felt every bit of that 19 hour drive this morning when I woke up to get to work. Despite the stiffness, I felt great all day...very rested and relaxed! Enjoyed the first track practice of the season this afternoon and then headed over to Prevail to WOD. Enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up! Time to get to work!

Strength
Press --- 85% x 3 x 5 w/bands
bar(10)-95(8)-135(5) ---
 135+Reds - 145+Reds - 145+Reds - 145+Reds - 145+Reds(1) - 145+Reds - 185
- It's been awhile since I worked Press. I performed better than I thought I would though. I wanted to dabble with some banded resistance to make the lock out tougher. Adding the red bands was a good choice. Never done these before with the Press so I had to play with the weight and band set up a bit. I got to the 5th set and my shoulders just died after the 1st rep. Came and took some breaths and went at it again and had nothing. Dropped the bands and went to 185 straight weight and had nothing. Looking back a better idea would have been to drop the bands and do a rep out at 145. Next time!

WOD
2000m Row (7:33.8)
1000m Run
= 13:08
- This was just the WOD I needed to get back into the swing of things. The row felt extremely uncomfortable. I could not settle in on my pull. I was hovering right around 30-31s/m, which is a lot faster than I wanted it. I had the damper set at 7. I kept my pace right around 1:50-55/500. I slipped a little slower at times while I was trying to figure my stroke out, but never stayed there long. I picked up the pace in the last 500 to catch up a bit, but wanted to make sure that I didn't blow my legs out for the run.
- Felt real good on the run. Tried my best to control my breathing, keep a slight forward lean, stay upright, and keep a faster cadence with a shorter stride. My breathing kept racing away, but I was able to keep it in check for the most part. I was more surprised on how well my stride felt this evening. Felt real smooth and staying upright was a lot easier than it usually is.
Overall a good effort. I could have pushed a little harder in the row maybe.

Cash Out
TGU --- 3/arm@20k - 2/arm@24k - 1/arm@32k
- This was more messing around and making Charlie's post WOD experience a little more miserable than anything else. The 32k was pretty tough though I will say. I do intend to do more of these to help solidify my shoulder stability and midline.