A Little Competitive Inspiration...

I didn't feel exceptionally great yesterday at work. The soreness finally subsiding from previous work, my legs were still feeling a little heavy. Yesterday was the first day of basketball practice so I felt a little worn down as I headed into the gym. Original plan was to just do some heavy Jerk doubles and clean pulls and call it a night, but my iphone supplied a lot of fuel for the ride. I had a great conversation with my coach back home and as we hung up I got a text from my buddy at CF Freedom. He PR'd on his clean yesterday at 325#. I was absolutely thrilled for him. J is strong as an ox. I always love hearing about his numbers. I typically don't let his numbers bother me too much because I know how strong he is, but when it comes to the lifts...not gonna lie...it bothered me quite a bit as I thought about it. My cleans have been feeling good lately so I decided I would warm up and see where the weight took me tonight....

OWOD
Clean - work up to a heavy single
bar progressions
135(3)-165(3)-185(3)-225(3) --- 255 - 265 - 275 - 290 - 300 - 310 - 325 PR - 335 PR - 345
- Warmed up and stretched out a bit and I actually felt pretty loose. Got into a nice sweat on bar progressions. By the time I got to 225# I was feeling really good. Built up rather slow from 255 - 275, but I could tell I wasn't gonna have a whole lot of juice tonight so I made some bigger jumps than I typically do. I hit 310 easy. I had to get 325 at least so I went straight there and it came up easy...a ton easier than 320 did in July. I jumped to 335 to put the nail in the coffin and it felt great. I was extremely happy about it, especially with how easy it felt. I loaded 345 up and took a half ass attempt at it, but was just too stoked about hitting 335 to make it happen. 335 put me back on top between J and I...it won't keep there for long, but it'll do for now!!
  The drills I have been working on have really been helping out. The confidence stepping up to heavy weights has been huge. Clear thoughts going on under the bar in my technique. I still need to be a little more patient in getting tall before my second pull, but it's getting better.

335# Clean

Jerk - 7 x 2; heavy as possible
135(3)-155(3) --- 225 - 275 - 285 - 275 - 285
- This wasn't very focused work. Three people rotating on the box for jerks. My jerk has felt real off lately. I really need to take the weight off and work some drills. I have too much head movement going on right now. Caught myself in the throat real good at the end of Summer...I think that might still be fresh in my head or something. 285 felt really heavy. Gonna have to put more work in so I can keep up with my clean now!

Max Effort Friday

Skipped my OWOD on Wednesday to give my body a little break and it was exactly what I needed. I felt really snappy tonight under the bar and my legs felt like they had plenty of juice, which is always nice when that happens.

SWOD(OWOD)
Hang Cleans - 7 x 2; heavy as possible
bar progressions
135(3)-185-205 --- 225 - 245 - 255 - 265 - 275 - 285 - 300 PR
- Like I said earlier, I just felt fast tonight. I had solid lifts all the way up. At 285 I thought about staying there for my last set because I left the 2nd rep out front and had to walk it out, but the first rep was solid enough to keep me moving up the ladder. Hitting 300 for a hang double felt great! Both lifts felt very solid.

Jerk (off blocks) - 4 x 2
135(4)-225 --- 245 - 275 - 300 - 305 PR
- When you're on...you're on. My shoulder got nice and loose through all the clean work and like before most of the pain comes from a snatch OH position. My front rack position has felt really good the last two days and it paid off tonight. I'm was a little forward in the 2nd lift, but it was still a make.

Great evening under the bar!

Core Galore

WOW!!! Yesterday took a lot out of me. I got to bed early last night (11p..I usually lay down closer to midnight) expecting to feel pretty refreshed this morning. Got out of bed and I was pretty stiff. My shoulders and upper back were pretty fatigued. Jerk singles today...let's go!!

Strength
Jerk 1-1-1-1-1@70-77-85-93-100--101%
Bar(pro.) - 95(pro.) - 135 - 155 - 185 - 205 - 225 - 245 - 275 FUGLY!!
- I may sound slightly excited about Jerk singles, but believe I'm not. The double under work I did yesterday tightened my shoulder up pretty good (I didn't expect that to happen). I got it fairly loose during warm ups, but still not quite right. I know I've lost quite a bit OH since my shoulder issue so I was interested to see where I am now. I've lost about 25lbs off my Jerk. Not surprised, actually happy it isn't more than that.
- Almost a year ago, I was trying to get my Clean to catch up with my Jerk. Now I'm vice versa. Not worried though. I've been blessed with pretty good muscle memory. Shoot...when starting Crossfit a year ago, I hadn't done any Oly lifting for 5 years and I hit a 265lbs C & J my first crack at a max..it'll come back!
- 275lbs was really ugly! Need to start working some BTN Jerks and Snatch Presses to build the strength back up.

WOD
4 rounds of:
20 Jumping Lunges
10 Pull ups
= 2:40
- A nice quick one for somewhat of a slow moving morning in the gym. I'm a big fan of anything I can complete in under 5 minutes! ;)
- Haven't done jumping lunges in years so I wasn't sure how fast that was gonna catch up to me. First two rounds were fine. Started burning halfway through round 3. Took a quick breath and finished out. I think I took 1-2 quick stops in round 4.
- All pull ups felt super easy today. All butter-jerked, as I call them, and unbroken. I actually thought about doing a 5th round...and looking back I probably should have :/

Cash Out
GHD Back Extensions 2x20
GHD Sit Ups 2x20
- Nothing special here. Just some much needed core work. I was pretty happy to be able to do the Sit Ups. I usually pass on these because they cause my back to act up. I restricted the movement slightly (hands stayed on my chest). They felt great. No pain at all, which is very encouraging to my back health.

Extra Credit @ School
10 Muscle Ups (in fewest sets possible) for time
4(PR) - 2 - FAIL - 2 - 2
*1:00 REST b/n sets
= 6:10
- I was extremely stoked to get the 4 in a row. They are becoming smoother and smoother every time I go at it. The work is definitely paying off.

T2R
2 x 15
*1:00 REST b/n sets

STC
2 x 5
*1:00 REST b/n sets
- totally felt the GHD Sit Ups from earlier in the day

Static Ring Holds
3 x ME
:30 - :25 - :20
*:30 REST b/n sets
- these are tough, but totally worth it. There were 2-3 reps in my MUs that my arms flared and I was able to stabilize and pull myself back together to get the rep. I believe it was due to this exercise in particular.

So Slow

Wednesday's School Work

Skill
10 Muscle Ups in the least amount of sets possible
1-2-1-2-2-2

Last set of two

Skin the Cat
3 x 5 *stay as open as possible

Progress...I'm coming little people!!

WOD
5 rounds of:
20 squats
40 DUs
= 6:12
- arms were pretty heavy after the ring work and legs started filling up with lead in the 4th round. Didn't stay moving as good as I was hoping to at all. I just couldn't find a comfortable groove in the squats.


Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming...

Baby Bear slept through the night and I felt great this morning!! Woke up with no shoulder pain, but pretty stiff and tight from a school workout I put together the day before. Excited to get after some Jerks though.

Strength
Jerk 3-3-3-3-3@63-70-77-85-93%
bar(progression) - 95 - 135 - 155 --- 175 - 192 - 212 - 234 - 255
- Like I said earlier, everything felt great. Warm ups took a little too long again. I even got here on time today. Knowing I'm not all there yet in overhead strength and dealing with a nagging wrist issue, I decided to go with my Push Press max(275#) to base percentages with. My goal was to stay as close as possible to those numbers. All the drilling last weekend is definitely paying off. Haven't felt this solid in the Jerk in a long time.
- 4th set was pretty heavy. I rushed into the 5th set due to time constraints and got one rep, racked it, set back up, and missed the 2nd. DONE! Lots of upside on this one. Posture and Pop is a ton better and a lot more comfortable under the weight.

WOD
10:00 AMRAP
10 Slam Balls (30#)
20 Sit Ups
30 DUs
= 6 + 24
- Slam balls were a cake. Sit Ups were the big slow down (as usual). Flew through the first 2 rounds and then I turned into a turtle. DUs were slightly disappointing. I had 2-3 unbroken rounds, the rest were 1-2 misses. I had two for sure in the last round, as I tried to speed up the rope and got caught. I can do much better than that...just gotta find my groove.

Cash Out
Pistols 10/leg

Almost Ready

I must confess. I am a horrible night owl. It runs in the family and I can see it already starting in my daughter. I have a horrible time trying to fall asleep before midnight. No matter how early I wake or what I do, it's just tough. It's even worse when it's paired with my addiction to crime dramas. It's hard to turn the TV off Wednesday nights when Criminal Minds, Law & Order: SVU, and CSI air all on the same night. Despite the lack of sleep, waking up for DP this morning was a little easier because I know I'll have an opportunity to rest since I had to call in sick because Pip isn't feeling up to hot. 

I was pretty anxious to come in today because I haven't worked Jerk in awhile and my shoulder has been feeling better. I've lost quite a bit of strength overhead dealing with this shoulder issue so I was curious how close I was gonna be able to stay to the percentages.

Strength
Jerk 5-5-5-5-5@55-63-70-77-85%
bar - 95 - 135 ---165 - 175 - 195 - 205 - 215
- Disappointed, but expected. Really struggled to get the shoulder warm this morning. It was a little tighter and tender than it's been because I tweaked it slightly demonstrating some moves at wrestling practice last night.
- I'm going back and forth deciding whether I should re-teach my self how to push jerk heavy weight or go back to the split due to my back and shoulder issues. The split tends to put some pressure on my back, more than I'm comfortable with as the weight goes up and warming up today my shoulder felt very unstable during the split reps, but fine during the push jerk.
- First set just didn't feel right. I still have a pretty bad pinch right at full extension and it forces my shoulder forward a bit which makes it hard to stabilize and stand at times. Threw the percentages out and just tried to make small jumps making sure technique was sound. Second set felt pretty solid and thought to myself "great" it's starting to warm up. Jumped 20lbs for the next set and there was that pinch again. Getting completely extended was tough every set & rep after this one. The last set was pretty taxing. My rack position got better the last two sets and made it easier to get the bar off with more velocity.
-- It was good work, but still slightly disappointed I couldn't go a little heavier. The progress is good though. I really feel I'm close to 100%. Snatch tomorrow is gonna be a good test too.

WOD
7 rounds of:
  7 Deadlifts (225#)
  7 Lateral Bar Hops
= 2:36

- I thought about going heavier (275) on this one, but with the USAW cert going on this weekend I didn't want to risk wearing myself out too much. The weight was just fine for today though as I found out.
- Focused on keeping a tight back and pulling through my glutes as I passed my mid-shin. My goal was to go unbroken and finish around 2:00-2:30.
- After the 3rd round my glutes and hams started to light up and burn something awful. I was happy with that because it meant I was getting lazy and using my back too much. Grip started to wear out in the 5th/6th round. I was pissed...I went 6 rounds unbroken and dropped my after my 6th rep of my 7th round...unacceptable when I'm that close. Lost focus for a second and caved. I followed the bar right down and picked it up...it was just a stupid mistake.
- Nice WOD. Another short one was perfect after the added volume during strength this week. Walked a little funny for awhile after the WOD.

CASH OUT
100 DUs
- not thrilled about how much I struggled. I went 38ish unbroken and then a couple of 10's and then finished on two 15ish runs. I need to cut the slack on the rope at the gym and shorten it up a bit to match the one I have at school still.
3 x max effort weighted DH Pull Ups
- 6-7-8 w/ 25lb KB
-- Love working weighted DHs. Need to work them a bit more if I want to get to my 50 UB pull ups soon. Building my DH strength is the best way to keep me going through my kips. Focus was on being explosive out of the hole every rep. Good work!