9/25 - empty bar thrusters (again!)

Warm-up 
300m run
Leg swings
3 rounds:
10 walking lunges
10 air squats with 10 second hold on last one
10 toes to overhead stretch
hip mobility
static toes to bar practice (very hard though Coach Tim called it ‘fun’) 

Strength 
3-3-3 back squats (working sets)

I went into this thinking my max. back squat was 85 which probably led to me going heavier than I would have otherwise.  I started at 40kg to warm up to a heavy weight and then did the same at 50kg.  I think jumped to 60kg to see how that went and it felt heavier than I thought it should have (again, still thinking 85kg was my max.).  I did the first set and then Coach Tim came by after watching my technique and asked what my 3RM was for back squats – I said ‘this’.  Ha.  And it was because I can’t ever remember doing heavy 3RM back squats in ages.  Anyway, when I went to write my new PR on the white boards I realized that my 1RM back squat was actually 77.5kg and not 85kg.  Ooops… and that would be why 60kg did in fact feel heavy. 

WOD 
10 min AMRAP
30 double-unders
20 thrusters with an empty bar (8/20kg)
10 burpee bar hops 
3/50 (Rx, 20kg)

Managed to do all the DU’s unbroken which was a mini-goal I’d set for myself at the beginning of the WOD (and is usually the case when we have DU’s in a WOD – I figure if I can get out decent sets when tired I’ll be that much better when I’m just going for max consecutive DU’s).  The empty bar thrusters were plain old mean mostly because they were a movement in the Primal Pairs on the weekend – we used a 20kg bar then and I used a 20kg bar in this WOD as well.  As Kayla said the other day – you work into them (maybe she said that about OHS or snatches or something but it’s the overhead part that I find you ‘warm up’ into).  The first two rounds really hurt.  I think I did 10-10 in round one (painfully) then went 5-5-5-5 for round two.  In round three I was back up to 10-5-5 and then rushing to get done in the last minute I did 5-5-5-5 with quick breaks in between.  The burpee bar-hops were steady and consistent throughout.  It was nice only having the bar on the ground to jump over (without plates).  I didn’t really have to stand up but rather had a nice low ‘jump’ over instead of fighting gravity.

I felt good with this one.  I knew the thrusters were going to hurt but it was awesome to see everyone using a 20kg  bar in the class.  All of the girls stepped it up.  Super cool.  It was also fun to workout (again) with people I don’t get to as often – Ric, Shonelle, Vini… good times and a different feel to the class which was fun. 

Post-WOD 
Muscle-up school
2-2-2 reverse pull-ups on the rings
Playing around on the full range of motion on banded rings

One of the coaches has added both Pull-up and Muscle-up ‘school’ to the white board.  It’s for anyone trying to master those movements and it’s a great idea.  It gives more of a focus and set of steps to focus on to get the strength to work into the movements.  Since I graduated pull-up school months ago I jumped straight into muscle-up school and there were a few of us working on it (again) last night.  Coach Match also helped us with turnout at the bottom of the reverse pull-ups to help us maintain the (oh-so painful) false grip.  It was good though I didn’t make it through the whole list of items as I was hurting (mostly in my shoulders).

My goal...

I also walked the length of the gym on my hands again just for fun – still falling over when I’m trying to make the turn at the other end though my turns are getting better when I’ve only taken a few steps they are still hard after a long ‘walk’.

Mobility

Pecs, pecs and more pecs

Abs

Did a lot of mobility while sprawled on the floor chatting with Vini, Shonelle and Ric.  It was good to catch up and a great distraction from the pain (though not entirely)

WLC Day 11

Another good day of eating and I picked up spicy meatballs from Angie… can’t wait to dig into those.  I skipped dinner – had a bit of melon and then went to bed early because I got some shitty news and had that down feeling that kind of turned me off of food.  Not a good thing but it was what it was last night and not a habit I’ll get into.  Surprisingly though I didn’t feel as hungry as I thought I would this morning though my hunger for second breakfast (two boiled eggs) came earlier than usual today – 9:30am instead of about 10:30.  It also means it’s time for another coffee (typically I only have one) as the morning is going slowly, work isn’t annoyingly painful at the moment (budgets really suck) and just because it’s one of those days.