4/12/2016

3 rounds not for time:
30' handstand walk
:30 2-arm passive hang from bar
:10/side bottom of pistol hold
+
6 sets:
250m row @90% aerobic 
:60 walk rest
200m run @90% aerobic 
:60 walk rest
:60 burpees @even pace- last set all-out 
:60 walk rest
+
Crossover Symmetry recovery

complete-ish
cut the pistol hold after the first set
+
complete
24 burpees last set
+
complete


I went and saw Balza today for my right knee. It's been bothering me off and on. I remember a few months ago it started feeling unstable but then it went away. It didn't really bother me during the Open but lately it's been flaring up again, mostly after I do high-volume light squatting like wall balls. There's no pain at all, my knee just feels unstable at times and everything around it is very tight. It usually goes away after awhile but I wanted Balza to check it out just to be safe. Also, I could tell there was a huge knot in my right glute. Balza said I wasn't activating my glutes properly and that's what was causing the discomfort in my knee. He said if I put it off for another few months I could begin to develop patellar tendinitis. He worked out a lot of tightness in my knee, hip, and quad and next week he's going to work on my right glute. I'm wondering if my uneven shifting of weight during wall balls and pistols caused this. It feels fine now, he said to just roll everything out with a purpose and try to reduce the large knot in my right glute before next week. I just need to focus on activating everything properly. 

I cut out the pistol hold after the first round because I didn't want to aggravate my knee after Balza had just worked on it. I should have worn my lifters for this, I was completely up on my toes the entire time. Handstand walk was easy and fast. 

I really enjoyed the aerobic piece, my breathing was great today! Everything was nice and steady. I managed to get 24 burpees in the last minute, that got tough. Everything was really fast up until 16 and then I started slowing down. My stomach actually started churning a little bit. I need to work on staying fast through the last twenty-thirty seconds, the same thing happened to me on Saturday during the row/burpee tester. I was really steady until I hit a wall and slowed way down. 

4/11/2016

A. Front squat, 3x4-6, 40x1; 2:30 rest
B. Close-grip bench press, 6-6-6, 22x1; 2:00 rest
+
10:00 @70% of [1 muscle ups + 5 wall balls @14 to 9- use both arms!]
5:00 rest
10:00 @70% of [30m prowler push w/straight arms, load so it's a heavy grind + max (-2) strict pull ups + 30 unbroken double unders]
+
Crossover Symmetry recovery 

A. 145-165-185(5)
B. 85-90-100
+
complete
+
complete w/90# on prowler
+
subbed DB external rotation, powell raise, trap 3 w/10#

Front squats were much better than last week. 185 was starting to get pretty slow on the way up so I called it at five, although looking back I should have just done a sixth rep. 

I actually didn't hate benching today! The tempo was tough, especially the two second pause at the chest. That's going to get interesting. Stephen said it's the time of the year for shitty tempos.

The muscle up/wall ball workout was fun, I lost count but I know I did at least 15 rounds if not more. I was really trying to focus on using both arms on the wall balls instead of doing that weird free-throw thing but I could feel myself starting to shift over to the right side once I got fatigued. This is weird. 

The prowler workout was rough. I loaded up the prowler with 180# because that's what I usually push indoors but I couldn't even move it. I think it was because of the rain, the mats were sticky. I seriously could not move it at all. I took 45# off each side and 90# was plenty for today, it was still really hard to push the prowler on the mats because of the rain. The strict pull ups were tough, I was averaging 6 pull ups per round. It was really hard to do these while breathing heavy from the prowler. I tripped up on double unders once and had to start over. This one was kind of a mess. 

Harris was putting that finisher/staining stuff on the platforms over by the crossover symmetry and it reeked so I just did all the scap stuff with the dumbbell. 

4/10/2016

Long, unplugged hike

subbed 30:00 assault bike @Z1 


I had a lot to do today so I went to the gym and did the assault bike/mobility instead of hiking. Fun day in the gym, it's always good energy when Teej and Alex are lifting. 

4/9/2016

A. Split jerk, build to a max
+
For time:
30 shoulder to overhead, 50% of A
+
AMRAP in 25:00
5000m row
max burpees in remaining time

A. 200
+
:51 @100# unbroken 
+
row- 22:47
34 burpees 


Another good day!

I was pretty happy with the 200# split jerk, I definitely didn't think I would go that heavy today. I failed the first attempt because it was slightly out in front so I rested for about thirty seconds and tried again. 

I'm glad Mike told me to go unbroken on the 30 STO because that was not my plan going in. I thought I would have to put it down at least once. The first 20 reps felt really easy and then the pain started setting in. I really had to focus on the last few reps to make sure I was completely locking out, my shoulders were so fried by that point. That got really tough but I'm glad Mike and Stephen pushed me to do it unbroken. 

I'm REALLY happy with the row/burpee test. I know this is really not an impressive number of burpees, but that last time I did this four years ago I only completed five burpees with a LONGER time cap. The row felt great, I'm very pleased with this. I was completely focused and my breathing was steady throughout. I probably should have pushed it a bit harder at the end but I wanted to have something in the tank for the burpees. The first 20 burpees were pretty steady but then they started slowing down. My legs were really fatigued and my neck actually started hurting. This was really weird and has never happened to me on burpees before. Every time I would stand back up I had the feeling like I couldn't hold up my neck because it was so sore. It was extremely weird. I know there are a few spots I could have pushed a bit harder but overall I'm pretty happy with this. I've come a long way since I last did this workout back in 2012 when I thought it was impossible to complete a 5000m row in under 27:00. 

4/8/2016

A. Squat clean, build to a max for the day
B. Back squat, build to a max for the day
C. Muscle ups, 1x max unbroken
+
For time:
65 toes to bar
65 wall balls, 14 to 9'
+
3 sets not for time:
5-10/side moderate/tough 1-arm DB rows, no tempo
10-15 light reverse hypers

A. 220
B. 255 (265 Fx1)
C. 9 (PR+1)
+
7:50-ish? The clock was reset while we were doing this 
+
complete
40# DB
45#/side for RH


Solid day!

I was really surprised with the 220 squat clean. I didn't think I would get much higher than 200 pounds considering I was struggling to front squat 225 a few days earlier. 200 was pretty easy so I went to 210 then 215. 215 was actually easier and more crisp than 210 so Stephen told me to go to 220. I got under it really easily, it was just a bit slow on the way up. I'm super happy with this considering we haven't done any heavy lifting in six weeks and it's only five pounds under my squat clean max! I think in a few months I could hit 230. 

The back squats felt really heavy today, 255 was pretty slow on the way up but I decided to just go to failure. I dumped 265 almost immediately. Oh well. This will get better over the next few weeks. 

Muscle ups went well today, I was happy with the PR. The ninth rep was a slow press out of the dip (or so I thought) but Stephen said he thought I could have done another one. 

The toes to bar/wall ball workout had a rough start. Matt reset the clock for us (us being me and Duprie) and he accidentally had it counting down instead of up. Then for some reason it started counting back up again and stopped at 99:59. Jim grabbed the remote and reset it the correct way but at that point Duprie and I really had no idea how long we had been going, so we just added a minute on to our time at the end. Toes to bar were tough. I started with sets of five but quickly dropped to four and three. I also did a lot of singles. My grip was blown up and my core fatigued really quickly. I dream of a day when I'm good at toes to bar. Wall balls were broken up 20/10/10/10/8/7. Duprie really pushed me on the wall balls at the end. It's always fun working out with that guy. 

4/7/2016

OFF

25:00 ROMWOD 


I'm really enjoying ROMWOD. Two thumbs up. 

4/6/2016

A. Power clean, build to a max for the day
+
AMRAP in 4:00
Power cleans, 90% of A
+
4 sets:
:30 row @100% each set- record meters
:30 rest- stay strapped in rower

AM
30:00 airdyne @Z1
+
15:00 mobility 

PM
A. 205
+
10 @185
+
154m
149m
144m
141m


Mehhhh. 

Power cleans felt terrible today, every rep was heavy. Sets were 125-145-165-175-185. I failed the first attempt at 195 because my foot slipped on the platform. I also failed the first attempt at 205 because I caught it too far forward. This prompted a slight temper tantrum about how I feel so weak right now. I hit 205 on the second attempt and it wasn't terrible. I was just sad about how heavy these were. 

The 4:00 AMRAP was awful, oh my gosh. 185 was really tough. I feel like I should be able to get a lot more than ten reps in four minutes. I had to really focus on set up on each one so I didn't fail. This was depressing. 

I gave it my all on the row sprints. This hurt. I thought I had possibly improved since last time but I just looked at my blog and the last time I did this (June 17, 2015) my meters were 159, 149, 143, 140. So I basically did a bit worse this time. Oh well. I really did give it 100%. I was pain for awhile after this was over.