Are You Fitter Than a 6th Grader?

9/13/12
Another game day, which means another missed day at the gym. Put my students through a WOD for fitness day so I decided to see how I measured up to their whiteboard.

School WOD
 3 rds for reps:
 1:00 DUs (I had 5 of 140ish students able to do DUs in the WOD, the rest did SUs)
 1:00 Sit Ups
 1:00 Wall Balls (12#..heaviest one we got)
 1:00 REST
= 392
- I took 2nd of the 6 for those who did DUs. I had a 6th grade girl gymnast, who whipped out 30 UB the other day when I introduced DUs in warm ups, beat me by 3 reps. Being a 60# gymnast...her sit ups were much faster than mine :( My DUs struggled in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. I got 90 something in the first round, but only managed to get in the 70s the last two. The wall balls are deceiving. The ball is just light enough to keep you moving for a long time and to really bring on that lactic burn. Proud of the effort my kids gave today on this one. Not everyone's technique was perfect, but the effort all around was outstanding! Looking forward to introducing more throughout the rest of the year.


9/14/12
 End of the week is here and I'm excited for the weekend. CF Prevail Anniversary WOD on Saturday and relax for the rest of the 3 day weekend. Need to get some OH maxes at the gym tonight...looking forward to it!

Strength
Press - est. a new 1RM
bar(10)-95(8)-135(3) - 155 - 185 - 205 - 215 - 230 PR
- Always happy with a 5# PR on OH work. Steady progress...I love it!
Push Press - est. a new 1RM
225 - 255 - 275 - 300 PR
- Haven't maxed in this one in over a year. My last PR was at 275, but I've been using 300 as a training max this whole cycle. So I was happy I was able to hit 300#! My buddy J is at 305#, so I gave 310# a shot twice and just couldn't do it...next time!!

1st FAIL @ 310#

WOD 

4 rds FT:

 5 Ring Dips

 10 Ring Rows

 15 HR Push Ups

= 4:33 (Bonus 5th round = 6:29)

- Breezed through until the 4th round. Ring dips started to fail and push ups were rough! Wanted to WOD a little longer so I added one more round. 

Cash Out

2 x 10 T2B 

 - UB on both sets. Had a real nice kip going. Again, extra core work and strict work paying off. 

Getting One In

School will officially begin tomorrow. Looking forward to another great year with my co-workers and students. We got a bunch of new fitness equipment in that I can't wait to put to good use. I'm heading to So Cal on Thursday night for one my best friend's wedding. Super excited as I haven't been back home in almost a decade. Looking forward to seeing some old friends! Hit Prevail up for a back squat session (couldn't miss that) and one last WOD before I head out of town. Tomorrow is my lovely daughter's 3rd birthday...family time tomorrow!

Strength
Back Squat - 5 x 2 @ 90% (460 1RM)
bar(10)-135(8)-185(8)-225(5)-275(5)-315(3)-365(2) --- 415
- Been sitting for two days straight and my back and hammies are feeling it. Quick stretch tonight though as I wanted to try retain some stretch reflex for the heavy sets. Burned through my warm ups to get my body temp up. Weight was feeling light from the jump. My legs definitely enjoyed the last two days off. 415# felt good on my back. Kept the reps as fast as possible and as deep as I could get em. Felt strong tonight!

4th set...415# dbl Back Squat

WOD

5 rounds of total time - push ups for score:

  400m Row (1:20, 1:22, 1:21, 1:26, 1:23)

  1:00 ME HR Push Ups (34, 25, 22, 22, 21)

   2:00 REST

= 1136 - 124 = 1012

- Another one of those "this looks easy" sneaky WODs. Last few rounds were a struggle on the rower. I had a good groove in the push ups. My arms were just swollen by the 3rd round of rowing. Thought my legs would give me more problems coming right off the squats, but nope...they were fine. Rowed next to Alex, which helped push me on the rower a ton.

Cash Out

Strict GH Raises - 4 x 8

- Gotta get the PC work in!

Row Row Row your...

Up and ready for another week of getting stronger and faster. Temp was great out at 5am this morning. Slept with the window cracked just a little bit. Felt like a nice Spring morning when I got out from underneath the covers this morning. Big things going on today. Today marks the 3 week countdown for wrestling season, the start of some new strength training,  and tonight is the first Olympic weightlifting class at Prevail...very excited!

Strength
Back Squat 70%(250 + 50) x 5 x 5
* 50lbs of the 70% are hanging KBs from the bar
- We've gone through some pretty intense cycles the last 4 weeks,  so before we got into a new one I wanted to take it down a notch and deload. 
- Adding the hanging KBs really brings the focus on stabilizing the core and maintaining balance through the range of motion. I initially thought I may have overshot the percentage on this one, but after going through it...it was spot on. The sets were intense, but not grueling and that's what I was looking for.
- Definitely felt the pull of the bells through my core and it made my hips and glutes work a lot harder than just squatting alone. The bells really stepped up the intensity on a lighter load day.

WOD
1000m Row
5:00 REST
1000m Row
= 3:34 (24 s/m; 1:42/500m) + 3:38 (32 s/m; 1:49/500m) **damper @ 7**
- This wasn't that bad. I actually really enjoyed this rowing WOD. Harv has been having us lower our strokes per minute during warm up rows and I've really been hitting a groove during those rows. I felt real comfortable during both rows. I really wanted to try and be consistent between the two rows. I could have done much better on my 2nd row had I not gotten the farts right around 650m left. I ate a bunch of crap watching the Super Bowl yesterday and it caught up with me. I was maintaining a good 1:50 pace and then had to take it back to 2:00 for awhile, because you just can't trust a fart especially on the rower!

Cash Out
20 - 10 (12-5-3 --- 8-2) T2B
- My kip is starting to get better and better. The ring work is paying off. I got into a real nice groove for the 12 & 8 and then had to readjust my hand and just couldn't find it again.
20 - 10 Push Ups
- Did these on a 45# plate to keep my back rigid. C2D no hand release. Should have done more. :(

Reunion Episode

What a difference a crowd makes! I was the only solider on Tuesday at the DP and today I walked into a gym full of people, new and old. We had some old GYGers visit today, Ritchie and B-Rad.

I love working out with Ritchie. He is a good mover, as long as the WOD doesn't involve running. He is a strong guy with a solid work ethic, overall good dude.

As usual, we had the normal DPers and few new people as well. Prevail was buzzing today!

Strength
Deadlifts 5-5-5 @ 40-50-60%
Loads were 165-205-245 + blue band
- I added the blue band today to work on speed pulls. Quick tap and go pulls. The band really adds some snap once the bar travels past the knees. Solid work.

WOD 1
3 rounds of:
   10 Thrusters (110#)
   15 Walking Lunges
   20 Sit Ups
= 4:07

- My goal today was to not let Mark beat me! I'm a sucker for a good competition. I went through everything unbroken. Thrusters were solid. Shoulder felt great going OH. Almost no pain at all today in general mobility of it. No repped myself twice on the lunges. First round of sit ups I flew through which really surprised me because generally I'm pretty slow at these. Second and third rounds were pretty quick as well, much faster than my typical pace. Hopefully that means my core is getting a bit stronger finally with all the crap I've been doing strengthen it.

Cash Out
3 rounds of:
   Max Pull Ups 7-6-5
   Max Ring Dips 6-5-5
*used a 24# KB
**rest 60-90 seconds between rounds

WOD 2
50 DUs
25-20-15-10-5
   Push Ups
   Squats
50 DUs
= 5:22

- Gotta keep adding body weight WODs in at work so I can catch up to the little guys at Prevail. This one fit nicely into my lunch time. I was really happy with this one. All DUs were unbroken, felt especially to do the last 50 that way. Arms were pretty tired and legs were feeling swollen, to keep the rope going felt good. Squats were all unbroken and the burn kicked in during the 20 and never left. To fight through that was exactly what I need.

*Been doing some skin the cats, banded front/back lever, and static hollow holds on the rings at work lately. I definitely think it is helping bring up my core and shoulder strength/flexibility.