On the Ropes...

Feeling good despite the WOD yesterday. Ready to get after another week of Summer training. Looks like it'll be a fun week in the gym looking at the schedule...so let the games begin!


OWOD
7 x 2 Clean off Hi Blocks (@hip) + 1 Jerk - heavy as possible
bar progressions
95(3)-135-185-205 --- 225 - 235 - 245 - 255 - 265 - 275 (nailed the cleans, but lost the jerk in transition) - 275

Halting Clean Pulls - 4 x 2 @ 315
- I chose not to go to heavy on this one, because I wanted to focus more on staying tight and hitting my positions above the knee and moving to the pockets.


about and hour and half later...


Strength
HSPU - EMOM for 10:00; stay strict for as long as possible
4 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 4 kip - 4 kip - 4 kip - 4 kip
- Goal was to pick a number and stay with that number as long as possible. Also I wanted to stay strict as long as I could. I haven't done this one since school got out so it was nice to see I'm still making some progress on strict HSPUs. Dean was crushing it next to me today...he did 10 strict for 8 rounds and then got 5ish on his last two rounds...it was pretty sweet!

Weighted DH Pull Ups - 5 x 5
44# - 35# - 35# - 26# - 26#(4)
- These were rough. My arms were pretty dead at this point. I probably should have counted my 3rd and 4th set as 4s too.

WOD
10:00 AMRAP
1 Rope Climb (15')
10 Jumping Lunges
15 Wall Ball Sit Ups (20#)
= 7
- This was the first time I've done rope climbs in a WOD so I wasn't sure how it would go. The pull up work had me a little worried too. I was more worried about my shoes than anything else to be honest. They tore off some of the sole on my nikes...I really wish Reebok would restock there Nano 2.0s soon. Anyway...worst part of this WOD were the wall ball sit ups. My shoulders just kept getting rocked by these after the 3rd/4th round. I would walk over to the rope and have to take a second just to raise my arms up. The rope climbs were pretty easy. My arms don't really get gassed by them because I've learned how to support using my feet pretty good now. I figured out a nice little way to descend tonight that helped not gas me on the way down either. Fun WOD...looking forward to getting some different shoes and seeing these in some WODs in the future.

Three Wheels

Woke up excited for the week. My wife is on vacation this week and we got to celebrate out 6 year Anniversary today. Got some fun things planned this week with family. Early morning workouts start tomorrow.

OWOD
Clean & Jerk - 8 x 1
bar progressions
135(3+1)-155(2+1)-175(2+1)-185(2+1) ---
205 - 225 - 245 - 265 - 285 - 295 - 305 - 315 PR!!
-  Wasn't quite sure what to expect tonight. I was feeling well rested heading into the gym. I was dripping in sweat by the time I finished warming up. Feeling a lot more confident with heavier weight and a lot more comfortable with the changes I've made to my set up. Was catching the bar a little off during my first few working sets. I got into a groove at 285 and just kept moving. This was a big PR for me. I've cleaned more this when I was younger, but I've never been able to put this much over head. My goal was to try and be better than I used to be...today I did just that!!

Clean Pulls - 4 x 3 (heaviest possible)
315- 325 - 335 - 345

DH Pull Ups - 5 x 3 w/ 53#

Clean & Jerk 315#

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.

12.3 Primer

Finally made it to the DP this week! Woohoo! It sucks getting up this early, but it feels great once you get there and even better once your done! Had a pretty good sized crew going this morning...lots of estrogen! Back is a little tight because I didn't stretch at all yesterday. Gonna work on some mobility later today.

Strength
Weighted DH Pull Ups --- 5 x 5 w/ 35#  (5, 5, 5, 5, 4-1)
Weighted Strict Ring Dips --- 5 x 5 w/ 35# (5, 5, 5, 5, 3-1-1)
- Felt strong this morning. Had some good strong fast pulls out of the bottom. Finally lost it on the last set.

WOD
4:00 AMRAP
 12 Push Press/Jerk @ 115# (UB, UB, UB, 9-3)
 6 T2B (UB, UB, UB, 5-1)
1:00 REST
2:00 AMRAP
 Box Jumps (24") *games standard
= 4 + 30
- Knowing T2B were gonna slow me down, my goal was to stay UB on the Push Press/Jerk. I tried PP and PJ. Both have their pros and cons. The PP I felt wore out my legs a little more and PJ I felt really took a toll on my shoulders as I received the bar and maintained lockout. I had a real nice compact kip the first set of T2B, but couldn't find it on the last 3 sets. Wound up hanging on and doing some double swing thing to get up.
The Box jumps were pretty slow today too. I tried rebounding, but the landing was causing quite a bit of pain in my back. I started stepping down after about 3 or 4 and was fine. No need to aggravate my back a few days before I actually do 12.3.
- Overall, this weight is gonna get heavy quick. With as slow as I'll have to move through the T2B, if I can scrounge out 9 plus rounds in 12.3 I'll be pretty happy.

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!