Great Weekend

Finished the month of August with another PR! I was pretty excited about coming into the gym today in hopes of following up Wednesday's Clean PR. Things went very well. September 1st marks the time of the year when things start to get a little crazy for me...HUNTING SEASON IS HERE!! It's a gonna be tough to get my workouts in during the next few months, especially once Oct.-Dec. come rolling around and the hunting gets good, but I'll do my best not to fall off. Stay tuned!

OWOD

Snatch - est. a new 1RM
bar progressions
75(3x3)-95(2x3)-135(3)-155(2) --- 175 - 185 - 205 - 215 - 215 - 225 - 225 - 235 - 245 - 245
- My hips and timing felt great from the start. Felt really fast and smooth the entire night. I kept my long sleeve on to keep the body temp up and I always think that helps to stay nice and loose. I was feeling really confident after hitting the 235# because it felt very fast. My bar speed on my lifts now compared to the beginning of the Summer is night and day. All the time spent in the gym and dissecting youtube clips of great lifters, reading this and that, and being super critical of myself is really starting to pay off. I should've stopped at 235#, but I was just too tempted. I'll just say 245# is very close!!

Snatch 235#

245# Miss

went home and got about 5 hours of sleep...walked to the bathroom and my hands and shoulders were just aching...laced up my boots and grabbed Mya and my shotgun...God rewarded me with this great morning!!

Lots of action, lots of laughs...can't ask for more!!

Snuck in this little at home WOD on Monday evening after some fun in the water...

WOD

3 rds FT:

 400m Run

 15 C2D Push Ups

 30 Squats

= 9:26

-  Nice little WOD to get me moving after a beer & meat filled night the evening before. Thighs were burning a bit on that last run. Those last 30 squats didn't feel good either! Gotta get a lot better.

Nothing Special

Walked into the gym pretty pumped still about last night's Clean PR. Pretty tired from a long hot drive up school to Palatine and then from Palatine to the gym. Needless to say I'm here and I'm gonna give it all I got.

Strength
Push Press - 4 x 3 @ 80% (300 1RM)
Press - bar(10) - 95(10)
PP - 135(3) - 185(3) - 215(3) - 240
- Wrist was pretty sore from the cleans yesterday so some of the sets were 2-1 splits. Trying to focus on setting the head back and driving it straight through.

WOD
"Helen"
3 rounds FT:
 400m Run
 21 KB Swings (53#) (all UB)
 12 Pull Ups (UB - 8/4 - 6/3/3)
= 9:34 (:01 PR)
- First run was around 1:48ish. I thought I was moving a lot faster on my runs, but I wasn't. I finished the first two rounds in 6:04 and thought "Sweet! Sub 9 here I come!"... got back in from last run at 8:12...DOOHHH!! Still finished with a :01 PR, but disappointed I let that sub 9 slip away! I gotta dig a little deeper to push through the suck better!

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!

Return of the Lunch WOD

Well school is back in session so it's time to start the old routine up again. Knew I wasn't gonna be able to make it to Prevail tonight so I modified the WOD so I could do it here at school.

WOD
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
 Box Jumps (28"...height of our stage in the gym)
 HSPUs
= 13:33
- The box jumps were a little tricky once I got started. The height of our stage was 28" first off, but the stage door is down as well. So I only had about 20-24" of depth before my face hit the stage door. Trying to rebound off the floor was tricky with the stage door. Needless to say they were a little slower than usual and I am now missing a good portion of skin off my left shin from a miss in the round of 8, which led to me no longer rebounding after that. HSPUs were cruising til I hit that round of 9. The last two rounds took up a significant amount of time 13:33. I'm having some sort of issue in my neck right now so I was a little more cautious than usual on the HSPUs. That one lit me up pretty good. Gotta get back to work on those HSPUs though.

Cash Out
Chinese Arches - 2 x 1:00

Feeling Heavy...

Back home and still recovering from a great weekend. Legs still pretty sore from Friday's work. On top of that I got about an hour of sleep Saturday night after the wedding before I jumped on an early morning flight back home. Woke up tired on Monday for work and had a tough time shaking that sleepy feeling all day. Grabbed a little cat nap while watching some cartoons with Pip before the hitting the gym, but it didn't help much. Time to get back to my routine though because it's time to squat!


Strength
Back Squat - 4 x 3 @ 80% (460 1RM)
bar(10)-135(8)-185(8)-225(5)-275(3) --- 365
- This is a deload week, but it sure didn't feel like it. Weight felt heavy from the beginning. I could feel my legs getting tired during the warm ups so I cut them a set short. Despite the soreness, my squat felt very comfortable.


WOD
FT:
800m Run (4:20ish)
100 DUs (UB)
400m Run
75 DUs (lots of misses)
200m Run
50 DUs (UB)
= 11:22
- Legs were heavy on the half mile run to start. I was actually trying to push it on the runs, but my legs just didn't want to cooperate. My DUs felt great in the first round. I was able to breath and stay relaxed. Oddly, my quads weren't as bothered by these as they were on the runs. I had plenty of misses on the round of 75 though. I was able to string together another round of UBs to finish up with. I was really hoping for something in the 10s...so I'm not all that happy with this one. My legs were shot by the end of this one.

Cash Out
Strict GH Raises - 2 x 8

A Visit to CF Foothill

Got to head back home this past weekend for one my best friend's wedding. It was a great trip overall. It's been about 5-6 years since the last time I was in So Cal. The place has a changed a lot, but most things are still the same. It was great to reconnect with a ton of old friends. I had some free time Friday morning so I decided to drop in to CF Foothill. My buddy, Nate, owns the place. They've been open for a little under a year now, I believe, and are doing great. Nate's been crossfitting for quite a long time and has been a consistent Regional competitor for the last few. He runs a great gym. His box is on the smaller side, but he's really created a great CF community inside it. If your in So Cal and need a place to train...check out CF Foothill...you won't regret it!


WOD
Battlefit West Qualifier #3
3 rds FT:
  12 Power Snathes (135#....UB/dbls & singles last two rds)
  12 Air Squats
  12 Standing Alt. Lunges
  12 Jumping Alt. Lunges
  6 Jumping Squats
= 8:23
- WOW!! This wrecked my legs!!! It's 3 days later and I'm still feeling it. Initially looking at it, I didn't think it would get bad til after the first round of jumping lunges...WRONG...by the end of the squats my legs were already burning. The lunges back to back were rough. I thought I would be able to handle sets of 3s & 4s for the snatches, but stopping the bar on the way down was killing my thighs. Great WOD...big gut check to keep moving!

Strength
Max Height Box Jumps - 6x2
Worked up from the mid 30's and finally failed at 46". Nailed 44", but couldn't even get one at 46".

Snatch  - 75% EMOTM x 9 (175#)

Clean & Jerk - 75% EMOTM x 9 (235#)

Weighted Step Ups - 2 x 8/leg (135#)

3 rds of:
 50yd West Side Style (heel first walk) Sled Drags (125#)
 15 Weighted Sit Ups (15#)
- Nate follows the CFNE's Competitors WOD for extra strength programming. He and few other members stuck around after to do the strength work from CFNE so I decided to join in. Like I said earlier, Nate's got a great group of guys to work with...one of them being Jon Pera who is a games competitor. Strength work was good. My O lifts felt great today. Snatches were the best they've been in a while. Step Ups were heavy. I really liked the sled drag...great PC work...now that we got dog sleds at Prevail I' gonna add these into my PC work rotation.

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!