25/8/2016 - squats and skipping and snatches oh my...

Did a bit of catching up on WODs today but the sun was shining and there was a hint of spring in the air so it was just nice to be outside.

Strength
10-6-4-6-10
Front Squat
35-40-45-40-35

This was actually programmed by Southern Crossfit on Wednesday and while I wanted to do it time just escaped me and I never got to it so it got delayed by a day.  I also did the Southern Crossfit WOD that was posted today so it was a bit of a mish-mash but still fun (besides the nearly dying once the WOD was over but we will get to that in a bit).

The front squats weights were supposed to be slightly heavier on the second 6 and 10 than the first but I just kept them the same for ease of plate changes and mindset as just doing them was a bit of a struggle once I got moving into them.  Again, focused on form over weight and just getting used to the movement pattern as it's been a while (at least before this week it has been).  Thankfully though the second set of 6 and 10 felt way better htan the first - likely a function of being warmed into them a bit more.

WOD
For Time
20-40-60-80-100
double unders
10-8-6-4-2
hang power snatch (60/40kg)
10:49 @25kg

What a lung burner.  Kept it relatively light on the snatches which in hindsight was a very good thing.  Though I held on to all the sets unbroken it was still a bit of a struggle and felt like putting the bar down and picking it back up again would be harder than just a short rest at the top of the snatch. 

The double unders were tough even though technically I am still good at them and can string them together in big sets by gasping for breath usually stops my momentum so I was doing at most 25 at a time but generally just trying to hang on for 15-20 throughout.

I tried to minimize rest as much as I could and telling myself to just start jumping again even if it was just for a few reps as that would keep me chipping away at the bigger sets of 80 and 100 and it would be all done sooner than if I just tried to rest which would never be long enough anyway.

I was happy with how I finished.  Other than increasing my aerobic capacity to do bigger sets of DU's thoughout I can't say I wasted too much time just hanging around so that was good. 

I liked this one and was nice to do it outside in the sunshine though I did get a bit warm at times. 

When it was over I think I laid on the ground for a good 5 minutes and even then still couldn't catch my  breath so that tells you how good it was for me.

Finished up the day with some ultimate practice - an hour or so of running around which again will hopefully mean less leg hurt tomorrow.  We will see.  I think my calves are going to pay the price (as usual) for so many double unders.  Fun times.

3/8/2016 – Improvising the Intensity

I had every intention of working out yesterday with the Southern Crossfit WOD (with a little modification as I don’t have a rower) but the day got away from me and I just didn’t do it. 

I have no excuse as I have all day to get it done but my schedule needs a bit of tweaking if I’m going to stay consistent.   I have always done the afternoon WOD at the gym as it fit in after work and I’m not at all a morning person so it was all good but now that I’m home all day my schedule is not as routine as it was, specifically my eating patterns and so by the time late afternoon arrives and I’m gearing up I’m also very hungry and low on energy because of it so I either need to train when I train or be more conscious of when and what I’m eating.  Anyway, that will come in time or I’ll just power through like I did today.

Another Southern Crossfit WOD on the cards with a bit of improvisation around the equipment I have (again).

WOD

5 rounds for time (RFT)

10 dumbbell shoulder to overhead (5 each arm) 25/20kg

50 double unders (DU’s)

10 dumbbell sit ups 25/20kg

15:49 (16kg KB instead of dumbbell for S2OH and 10kg plate for sit ups)

I’m really glad that I didn’t look at the times posted for this one as it was titled ‘Sprint’ on the website and it most definitely was not – at least for me.

It was however the stimulus I have been missing so far from my workouts – that pure lung burning intensity with a side of shoulder ache thrown in for good measure.  On a positive I know that it’s possible to get through a workout without any ability to breathe in oxygen.  Heh.

The 16kg KB for the shoulder to overhead (S2OH) was heavy.  I started with push presses for the first couple of rounds then had to bust out the push jerks.  I managed them all unbroken but not without a bit of struggle and lots of pain* something else.

I was happy my DU’s haven’t disappeared after being neglected for so long.  In my early crossfit days the gym I trained at didn’t have rowers so we did a lot of burpees, running and skipping which helped me develop my DU’s fairly quickly because we were forced to practice so often.  I am happy I have them in big chunks even when my lungs revolt and have me take long breaks in between.  Each set I started with a minimum of 25 reps so that was positive but the second half often devolved into 10-15 reps at a time.  Baby steps.

As I’m training at home on my own I’m not sure of the gym standard for this WOD in regards to the DB situps but given I was using a plate I touched over head and at my feet for a full rep.  Again there was an ache in my shoulders but also a burning in my lungs that makes it a bit more difficult to push through sit ups.  A challenge for sure. 

My lung capacity and endurance is definitely weak at the moment which means that there is nowhere else to go but up.  I’d like to challenge myself to try this one again in a few months to see the progress as I think I could hold a more steady pace per round with a bit more lung capacity and (hopefully) going unbroken on the DU’s.  Less rest more work and time will come down a lot I think.  My first round was just over 2 minutes to complete but then went downhill quickly after that given that the next 4 rounds took 14 minutes – over 3 minutes a round.

As a side note to this – I have seen many people through the years with DU’s and have often been questioned on how they can develop them to be more consistent – I think if you ask anyone who has them that the only true answer is to practice, practice, PRACTICE.  This is truly the best way – sure there are drills you can do with jumping teching and without using a rope but eventually you’re just going to have to practice.  One or two reps together will eventually be 6 or 7 then 10 and 20 and more.  Relax and have fun – getting frustrated will only make them harder as you’ll tense up and throw everything off.  Relax, breathe and find your rhythm. 

*I’m trying to keep working out fun and positive – a bit of an adventure and exploration as you will – and as such I’m going to avoid using words that tend to have a negative connotation such as pain, hurt, suck, dying, etc. from this place forward so I’m looking for some POSITIVE and HAPPY substitutes (they don’t even have to make sense – unicorns? Lilacs? Rainbows?  Who knows – I’m looking for suggestions here so post away in the comments and I’ll be searching the thesaurus for alternatives too

And a big happy birthday to my best girl Steph… this was was for you (give it a go!!) – I’ll tell you that the 16kg S2OH was way harder than it was a few years back when we randomly did them in sync at Primal Throwdown (photo).  Love you girl and can’t wait til the next time we can work out together.  Miss you.  xo

8/7 – DU’s and Rows and SEX WOD

Another rainy day today which meant that the running portion of the WOD was cancelled in favor of rowing – this is always the case, not because running in the rain is bad (I miss running in the rain) but rather because the road actually floods (quite easily at that) and it would be more like swimming rather than running.

Rowing it was (which we’ve been doing so much of lately).

Before that though we had a little gynamstic-y fun.

Pre-WOD

L - Sit 

3 Max Effort L-Sit Holds

25-25-27 seconds

Then

2 x 6 Minute AMRAP

50 Double Unders

200m Run Row

*2 Minutes Rest between each AMRAP

Round 1 - 3+20 DU’s Rx

Round 2 - 2+50 DU’s +176m Rx

Partnered up with Cam for the WOD today which included the L-sit holds.  He convinced me to give them a go on the parallettes rather than the pull-up bars (parallettes are harder apparently) so I did.  It wasn’t too bad though I did them with bent knees.  My abs were already killing from Monday and Tuesday so that didn’t help.  I managed to get 25 seconds in the first round as Cam counted up by 5’s – I pretty much dropped once it hit 25 seconds like that was my target.  In the second round I wanted to match this.  Going into the third Cam knew that I would be doing the same (this boy knows me for sure) so he didn’t count much above 20, I think he stopped at about 22 seconds then went silent and left it up to me.  Because of this I gained two extra second before dropping.  Felt good to get more but man did it hurt.  He laughed at me (in a good way).

Then it was on to the double AMRAP.  I sneakily got to go first based on the fact that Cam made me go first on the L-sits (I didn’t want to but that’s how it went) so because of this I didn’t have to wait 15 minutes before getting through this – so glad to have it over sooner rather than later – it was a lung burner.

Started out solidly on the DU’s (and as a note, I did 50 unbroken when we were doing the 30 second test before the WOD – I stopped at 50 not wanting to kill myself before the WOD).  The DU’s helped me keep pace with most of the boys.  I think I might have actually been ahead of everyone in my group that was actually doing DU’s (not scaled).  I got big chunks for all though they were diminishing a bit more by the end (down to sets of 10 or so).

I felt solid on the row even though it hurt (butt and hamstring cramping again- still?).  My pace on average throughout both WODs was 1:55/500m or below which I liked.  I also really focused on keeping my stroke rate low so that I could focus on catching my breath.  I noticed that I can maintain the same pace with anywhere between a 28-32 stroke rate so obviously I’m targeting the lower number.  I noticed a lot of the bigger boys in the second round weren’t getting that extra ‘rest’ at the end of the stroke which would make it easier on them if they could time it well – technique on the row makes a huge difference. 

I took my time in the transitions, walking to my rope and shaking out my legs so that I  could get feeling back and then trying to get right into the DU’s and bang out as many as I could before tripping up.  It helped overall I think.  Focused rest when necessary – getting right onto the rope knowing that I didn’t have a huge set but that I’d then get to rest.  Little things make big differences to the overall score.  I was happy to get as far as I did in the second round given that my DU’s sets were getting smaller as I was tiring.  I think I had about 45 seconds or less when I finished the last set of DU’s and headed to the rower.  Cam told me he’d let me know when there were 15 seconds left so I could go all out but I really wanted to finish the 200m so I went hard (as hard as I could anyway) right from the start of that last piece with my split closer to 1:50/500m.  I still didn’t finish but was so close – it definitely hurt but I really did want it and it was worth it.  I rolled off the rower and was so happy to be finished.  Definitely tough to rest for 2 minutes then go again on the same thing.  A new challenge.

Followed that up with the extra work.  There were two parts tonight and while I don’t usually talk about those workouts publicly (top secret y’all) – today I want to for a few reasons.

Sports Extra (SEX) WOD – August 7, 2012

1 x Max Set T2B

12

First we had to do one set of max toes to bar – I have had limited success linking these together in the past though I think my max before today was 4.  I knew I had one chance and I managed to get 12.  Not only get 12 but get 12 solidly and made them look pretty too.  Coach Jono was sitting on the box beside me and noticed and made some comment like ‘don’t screw these up’ and as I kept going and he kept encouraging me I noticed from my peripheral vision that people were stopping what they were doing (barbell club) and watching.  It was both awesome and intimidating all at once.  I felt strong and on every kip could feel the lightness in my grip on the bar and being able to move my hands a bit more, it was amazing.  I managed to get 12 in all before I missed on the 13^th and my abs were on fire – so sore still.  Definitely happy though.  There was a bit of an ‘awesome’ dance afterward.

Backsquats

7x5 @ 75%+5kg

7x5 @68kg

Not much to talk about on the squats themselves specifically but rather on mindset.  My legs are tired and I knew it was going to be another heavy squat day – my hip flexors are crazy tight even with insane amounts of mobility on them and lately I haven’t been looking forward to squatting.  Today I was over 80% of my 1RM for the work but instead of dreading the work all day I decided to be positive.  To love squats.  I made an agreement with myself and told all my friends that if I complained at all about squats that they could give me burpees.  It was set.  I didn’t want burpees (and squats) so I let myself love squats – even as Cam did everything he could to try and agree that the squats were going to be horrible.  And guess what… the squats weren’t horrible.  They were way easier to go overall with my focus being on the positives – getting through one set – knowing I was that much closer to them being done – feeling strong.  Enjoying the movement.  Half way through, only one set left.  All of it helped and they didn’t feel as heavy as they would have if I’d been negative.  So that’s the lesson – focus on the positive, turn things around and they are in fact easier.  Loved it.

7/23 – DU’s and running, mostly running…

WOD

300 DU’s

Every time you trip run 200m

10 minute cap

165

Well, this was one cardio WOD though I had fun with it even as my DU’s left me behind.  I started strong with close to 50 reps and then after that was mostly stuck to 20-30 each set.  Thankfully I had no sets where I tripped only a few reps in as that would have sucked even worse.  It was funny how quickly this became mental rather than a physical task – I found a few times where I was so focused on counting or getting to a ‘certain’ number that I’d forget to jump or my timing would be off so that was an issue – lack of concentration of all things.

I didn’t kill the runs knowing that I wanted to have some breath to get into the DU’s fairly quickly.  I did an extra speedy 200m at the end hoping I’d make it back in before time ran out so I could get maybe another 10 DU’s (really wanted 175) but that wasn’t the case, I got back from that run and it was 10:18 on the clock (10 minute time cap) so no luck.  Happy to have done it though and maybe one day I’ll be as hardcore as Shash and get 300 reps unbroken – rockstar!

7/20 - Saturday Sports Class

Friday night was another long one with Tarrsha and I being mostly motivated by thoughts of Nando’s chicken to get the work done.  We didn’t leave Southern til almost 7pm, grabbed some food and then it felt like bed time.  We wondered what the rest of the world’s Friday night looks like – we weren’t alone though – the box was pretty busy with everyone trying to get the extra stuff done – the energy was awesome.

We were back at it the next morning though we thankfully had a bit of a sleep in with no mandated SXF WOD.  Sports class only starting at 10am.  Sweet.

Partner Warm-up (practice for team stuff)

200m buddy carry (each)

10 bootstraps

10 scorpions

10 lying leg cross

10 inchworms

Then

100m farmer carry with 2x16kg KB (each)

Handstand hold while partner does 10 pull-ups

5 x synchronized barbell complex (deadlift, power clean, front squat, press, ohs = 1 rep)

WOD

EMOM10

2 power cleans @ 70-75% 1RM

45.5kg

Then

2 x 6 minute AMRAP

15 ring dips

15 front squats (42.5/60kg)

30 unbroken double unders

2+18 then 2+10 (Rx squats and du’s, orange band on ring dips)

Partnered up with Steph2 on the warmup which was fun.  Realised after at breakkie that we weigh the same amount too which made the buddy carry that much easier.  It wasn’t too bad though I could feel the tiredness in my glutes and hammies from all the squatting during the week.  We had the option of breaking them up if we wanted but we didn’t bother, just went the entire distance without stopping.  I could tell this was a Coach Scotty warm-up because he throws fun (and different) stuff into them (like the sled push and overhead plate carries the week before).  The entire group was having a good time with it, laughing and being silly with some ass slapping (giddy up horsey) and hip checks happening.  Laughter to wake us up.  Moved through the rest of the warm up pretty easily though the mirroring on the BB complex was funny too, just another little challenge to be in sync with someone else/ work on timing.

For the EMOM WOD I partnered with Ali, that was good.  Going into it I was planning 45kg (71% of my 1RM power clean of 63kg) so that extra 0.5kg wasn’t a big deal.  They felt solid throughout, which became funny after in the second WOD when power cleaning 42.5kg felt heavy.  Um.  Ya.  Coach Scotty told us to focus on technique and to put the bar down and reset for each rep rather than going touch and go which I so wanted to do out of instinct.  It was good though.

The second WOD was another challenge – having a break in the middle then having to fight through it all over again is another aspect that takes more mental power than physical.  You know it’s going to hurt, you know how you performed in the previous go and though you’re more tired you’re pushing for that same score.  I (thankfully) used the orange bands for the ring dips which ware by far a huge weakness for me – even then by the end it was quite tough.  Throughout Ali was busting out the 15 reps without any bands faster than I was doing them assisted.  Definitely need to work on those.

The front squats were a huge struggle.  As I mentioned above cleaning the 42.5kg bar was tough which meant not wanting to put it down but with 15 reps I had no choice.  I think I tried to do 8 or 9 and then 7 or 6 for each round, breaking it up only once.  I’m not sure if it is because of a lack of front squatting lately or the tiredness of a week doing the Smolov intro but my legs weren’t too happy. 

The DU’s though felt good and I managed them all unbroken on the first go even though at times the last couple of reps were a bit of a struggle.  Being solid at these really did help me on this WOD as I could breeze through them and get moving onto the next round even though I’d have to break up the dips and squats.  An asset to have for sure. 

Yesterday (Sunday) was a rest day and was greatly needed.  The weekend overall helped my spirit as well, breakfast (lunch) with the girls after Sports Class was fun as was catching up with Kelly and Pat for coffee in Freo then relaxing over an early dinner with Sharon.  Then yesterday I went to my normal coffee house and instead of writing I had the most beautiful conversation with a lady that has just moved over to Perth at the age of 66 for no reason other than it felt like the place she needed to be.  The world is fun of inspiring people and I’m taking all the time I can lately to connect with them which is buoying me up and I truly feel happiness radiating from within me.  I like it.  Take time for these things, they matter just as much as the hard training.

7/9 – Testing Week Continues

And so we continue on with testing week – the one that we did back in April.  It’s fun to compare the results though I didn’t actually do tonight’s WOD the last go around.  Here’s my chance.

WOD #1

400m run/row

1:25

It was raining so we all rowed.  I asked Hayden why we didn’t run in the rain later on and he pointed to the flooded street out front.  Good call Coach.  Never noticed this before.  It was pretty much a lake and I kind of feared a bit for my car stalling out as I was leaving the box.  Why is my life enveloped in flooding right now (two Canadian cities are under water, ugh).

The row was good.  I was thinking about 1:30 going into it and managed to hold under 1:50/500m split throughout though I was definitely feeling it in my legs – my hammies were still tight from all the squats the night before.  I also had a higher stroke rate that I’d have preferred – it was over 30 the entire way indicating that I wasn’t being as efficient as I could be though that being said, if I can get my split to drop at the (slightly) higher stroke rate then I can then focus on lowering the stroke rate at the same speed.  Give and take.

WOD #2

12-9-6

Power cleans (60/42.5kg)

50 unbroken DU’s

5:45 (42.5kg, broken DU’s)

Started on this one thinking the power cleans would be heavy though they didn’t feel too bad (as Brendo noted – the weight gets lighter as soon as 3-2-1-Go… is called – truth).  I did 7 and 5 on the first set, 5-4 and then 6 unbroken (ouch).  I also planned to go for unbroken DU’s as I’ve done 50 unbroken twice in the past week, I started out on the first set and had to struggle to hang on from 40 onward and tripped up at 47.  Argh…  this definitely took a lot out of me and I knew from then on that I wouldn’t be going unbroken – my shoulders (from HSPU’s) and forearms were screaming already so I bailed out of the ‘unbroken’ at that point but continued on at that point starting my DU’s at zero.  Did about 35 then finished off before hitting the cleans again.  I did managed to do most of the first two sets of cleans with a hook grip though – improvement right there though touch and go it got a little weird.  Anyway, something I need to get used to it helped.

Afterward went next door for open gym and did a bit of skill work – Steph and I have plans to be awesome…

I did

3 x 5 ring dips with the yellow band,

then

3x5 jumping muscle up transitions on the rings

Got some good feedback from Rhys on the jumping MU’s too – getting my head through and into a dip rather than trying to just straight into the locked out position.  Helped and started to feel like a MU would.  Baby steps.

Rolled out for a while and gossiped with Mikey and Shaun while waiting for the torrential downpour to stop – at least it eventually died down.