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.