Getting My Groove Back

Took sometime off the typical WODs at the end of last week to try and let my shoulder rest. It seemed to have helped because I've had two of my best Oly sessions since the competition in the last few days. This is the last week of heavy Oly work since I go back to school next week so I'm looking forward to keeping the ball rolling and finishing Summer on a good note in the gym.


8.10.12

Strength
Front Squat - 5 x 3 @ 85% (375 1RM)
bar(8)-135(5)-185(5)-225(5)-275(3) --- 320

Push Press - 2 @ 80% (300 1RM) EMOTM x 10
135(5)-185(3)-205(2) --- 240

Weighted Glute Bridges - 2 x 10 @ 135#
- Solid strength session. Positioning in the squats felt really good. My shoulders were nice and loose for PP work, which helped a ton get into a solid rack position.


8.11.12

OWOD
Snatch Drilling - McCauley series - NHNF w/ empty bar - 65 - lots of triples
 - I woke up late this morning so I didn't have time to get my work in before class started. So I kept things very light and just drilled drilled drilled. Working hard to get more upright and on my heels. Loaded the bar to 65# and did Pendlay's NHNF drill in triples every chance I had.

Team WOD
Teams of 3: Beau, Alex, and Me

Start with...
   15 - 50m Sprints (1 person at a time)

Then...(everyone working at the same time)
   180 Push Presses (75#)
   240 KB Swings (53#)
   300 OH Walking Lunges (45#)
   360 Paralette Hops

Finish with...(passing ball down the line)
   90 Wall Ball Sit ups (20#)
- This will be the last team WOD I do for a very long time. I felt this WOD for several days after in my shoulders and quads. Weekends are for Oly and recovery...this one kicked the crap out of me pretty good and it doesn't help anything that I'm trying to accomplish at the moment.
  The PPs weren't that bad at all. The swings started to get easier as time went on. The lunges just destroyed me. My shoulders were burning at the time. I woke up the next day and my quads were a wreck for 2-3 days....the hops didn't help either.


8.13.12

OWOD
7 x 2 Clean off blocks (BTK) + 1 Jerk
bar progressions
135(3x2)-185(2x2)-225(2x2)-250 --- 265 - 275 - 275 - 285 - 295 - 305(fail jerk) - 305(fail jerk)
- YEA BUDDY! Back in business on this session! Best clean session of the Summer. All the drill work starting to pay off. Didn't have any catches on my toes today. Timing felt great and hips felt fast. Striking the bar really good today. All 4 reps at 305 felt fantastic! Struggled with the jerk a bit, but that is a whole other story. I actually felt very solid in my jerks all the way up to 305 and then it just fell apart. Part of it was probably because I wasn't very focused because I was so happy about the cleans.

305# Double (2nd set)

Back Squat - 5 x 3 @ 85% (460 1 RM)

225(5)-275(3)-315(3)-365(3) --- 395

- All reps were well earned. I will say I started to get into a little groove on the last two sets and they seemed much lighter than the first three sets. 

Clean Pulls - 2 x 3 @ 335#

- Pretty sloppy. Feeling a little fatigued at this point. Should have brought it down a bit. 

OH BB Carries - 4 x 75' @ 205#

- Needed to get some OH stability work in. Feels great on the shoulders and core. Good work on this one. Glad it dried up enough to get these in outside. 

Chinese Arches - accumulate 3:00 w/ 35#

1:10 (:50 rest) - 1:00 (1:00 rest) - :50

- Gotta keep building up the back side. Good posterior chain work!

WOD

4 rounds FT:

   5 Burpee Box Jumps (24")

   10 Ring Rows

   15 Sit Ups

= 6:11

- Not very good effort on this one. I just plugged along til I was done. Everything was UB, except last round of Ring Rows. I was drenched in sweat from all the previous Oly work and just drained all together. Couldn't get motivated to put a better effort in.    

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.

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#)