2 PRs

3 short workouts today:

42-30-18
Double-under
21-15-9
Pull-up

4:59 (subbed 2pd KB swings for pullups, due to ab injury)

Work to a 1RM Clean

150# (pr)

Truly awful form, but it got there.

Run 1 mile

5:47 (pr)

4:59
150
5:47

Grace (scaled)

A: Work up to a 1RM in the Snatch

B: "Grace"
30 reps for time G2O/H - 135/95
6 minute time limit

1RM full snatch: 95 (been stuck here a while)
Grace: 5:55, scaled to 115#

The weight felt way heavier than expected, and the first few reps were full of "are you SURE those bumpers say 35?" Once I knuckled down and kept knocking them out, though, it got...well, tolerable I guess, if not easy.

2010-04-21

Warmup: Row 1000m

Deadlift 1RM attempt

95 x 5
125 x 2
145 (f)
135 x 1
145 x 1
155 (f)
150 x 1
155 x 1
160(f)
160(f)
160(f)

it was a relatively short workout because we got kicked out of our space by a north face office party.

Matched my PR from September. really wanted 160 but it just wasn't moving. should have tried 157.

Jerkface

Clean and Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

100-110-120-130(f)-130-140(pr)-145(f)

What do you know, a new PR! And I'm actually able to get under the bar a LITTLE bit on the cleans now - nowhere near where it should be, but not a powerclean, either. Someday...

Behind on blogging - catching up

It's been an extremely busy week - and I've fallen behind on these.

Wednesday 6/17:
AMRAP in 10 minutes:
5 Deadlift 315/205
10 OHS 115/75
15 Double-Under

I subbed 135# for the DL and 30# for the OHS. I got 1 round. The deadlifts took me 3-4 minutes, the ohs took 3-4 minutes, and i had a hell of a time with the double unders - though truth-to-tell i was sort of dreading more deadlifts so i wasn't sad when it took me a long time to get through them. i had about 1 minute left by the time i finished the DU - but I could not get the bar off the ground, so that was it. I taped my writst which actually really did help with the OHS. My wrists did not fail after 7 reps like they did lat week.


Thursday, we went to the theatre - Excellent show.


Friday:
WOD:
75 KB Swings 2.0/1.5P
50 Push-Ups
25 Ground to Overhead 115#/75#
Run 2 miles
75 KB Swings 2.0/1.5P
50 Push-Ups
25 Ground to Overhead 115#/75#

I subbed 1P KB swings, 45# snatches, and only did 50%.
26:13

The first 10 G2O, 20 PU and 30 KB swings took 4:30
The second set took 6:30
the last set of half that volume took 3:20
The mile took me about 11:30

I was feeling tired, run down, and migrane-y so I decided to take it easy. The 45# snatches actually felt almost easy (even though they were totally impossible today). The 1P KB swings felt harder than they should have - i think i just wasn't using enough hip. The pushups were done on a slight incline - one of the few spcaes that wasn't taken by people with heavy barbells or KB, so they were probably a bit easier, too.

I was just relieved that my head did not feel like it was going to fall off when i was done.

Recovery and some one-rep maxes

I have not been terribly good about posting entries lately - my bad. Given that Sunday workouts are under the radar, there's not a whole lot for me TO post...except Saturday, I guess. We were supposed to test our one-rep max in Deadlift and Shoulder Press Saturday, but I only made it as far as Deadlift.

Deadlift x 1: 310-320-330-335-340(pr)

I THINK this is my 1RM. I didn't try 345 because my arms were very painful. So this'll have to do until the opportunity arises again.

A word about my arms: they are concerning me. More than any particular movement, the trigger seems to be heavy loads - the heavier an exercise (ANY exercise) is for me, the more likely it is to make my arms hurt. Thus the problem with Squats and Deadlifts. Heavy Cleans are extremely bad. Bodyweight or lightweight movements are, by and large, fine. I'm still not clear on what the problem is, but I've resolved to take this week as a (mostly) recovery week, in hopes that I won't be troubled during my cert. The odds are good that I'm going to wind up doing Tabata Squats, Fran and Fight Gone Bad, which should be OK.

With that in mind, I scaled WAY the hell back on this one yesterday:

AMRAP in 10 minutes:
5 Deadlift 315/205
10 OHS 115/75
15 Double-Under

3 rounds, DL at 185#, OHS at #65.

Primary problem was the double-unders, as always. These were REALLY not working for this workout, though - I think my longest streak was five. The deadlifts were a joke, the OHS were just a matter of balance and wrist endurance.

Afterwards I felt a bit unsatisfied, so I went in to test my 1RM shoulder press.

Shoulder press x 1: 95-105-110-115(f)-115(pr)-117(f)

115 was my goal, so I'm pleased with that. Only Bench Press left to test!

Back Squat 1RM

Test time! Last time I tested my 1RM Back Squat, back in February, I managed 190. The strength cycle was specifically designed to get that up, so how did it go?

Back Squat x 1: 210 - 220 - 225(f) - 225(f) - 225(f) - 220 - 225(f)

As you can see, I really wanted that 225 - four 45# plates! - and I just couldn't manage it. Frustrating as hell, but it is still 30 pounds higher than it was four months ago.

My failure at squatting feels like it is more a fault of form than of strength, and puts way too much stress on my back. Something I continue to work on. No more back squats for a while, though - it's strengthening the wrong parts of my body, and ingraining poor form habits. Front and overhead squats only for the next cycle. Those'll keep me honest. And, hopefully, upright.

By the time I was done with the squats, my biceps were KILLING me. Like, Friday-night-level killing me. I am not clear on why squats should fuck up my biceps, though Rebecca professes to be unsurprised. At any rate, conditions were not auspicious to test my 1RM bench press, so I'll have to do that later. Perhaps tomorrow... I'm really not sure I'm up for Murph. I'm supposed to be taking it easy for the next week so I can be fresh for my certification next weekend, and my hands are barely recovered from the KB snatches on Sunday that ripped them up.

1RM Part 1

Warmup: Run 800m, ME, 30 situps, 30 OHS w/ dowel, iguana stretch

WOD:
Back Squat:
5 x 45#
3 x 55, 65
1 x 75, 80, 85, 90(f), 90 (PR!), 95(f) 95(f)

Bench:
10 x 45#
3 x 65#
1 x 70, 75, 80 (PR!), 82(f), 82(f)

Comments:
Neat-o!

I thought I could get 95, but I just couldn't quite get out of the hole. The pressure in my head from holding my breath and the strain of trying to stand up with the weight made it feel like my head might explode - which was unsettling. But I think if I can just manage to not 'good morning' the lift, I might be able to get 95 on a good day. it felt nearly achievable, which is why I kept trying.

The bench was a different story. 70 was easy, 75 was pretty easy, 80 was a little wobbly, but totally doable. 82 was just stuck. I had no sense of 'maybe I can get this up'. It just was not going to go. It was almost like hitting a literal brick wall.

When I started, my 5 rm of back squats was 60# and 65# for the bench. I never tested my 1 rm. My current 5rm for BS is 80# and ... I actually don't know what my 5 rm for bench is right now - I've been working 3's for the past several weeks because I was completely stalled at the 5's. I seem to have had a breakthrough though in the past 2 weeks as I've been able to get 72 and then 75 x 3 where I have been stuck basically since the start of the cycle. There's a slim possibility that I could get 72 or possibly even 75 by 5 now - though the 75 might be wishful thinking.

My weights have not actually gone up all that much, but i think I've made some great strides in form, and I have a much stronger foundation from which to continue to build strength. In some ways I feel like I am now ready to start this cycle - which is a little ridiculous. I am very much looking forward to our oly lifiting cycle, and getting some concentrated work in on OHS, snatches and cleans. (I'm less excited about jerks). I think focusing on those three movements will do wonders for my power output, coordination and strength.

Ready for a rest

Well, I made it to Sunday in one piece...mostly. My legs are pretty rocked from yesterday, and it's definitely a hobble-and-groan day, but I had to head down to IW for the last workday of the week:

Deadlift x 5: 225 - 245 - 275 (pr)
Deadlift x 21: 205 (unbroken)
Press x 5: 75 - 85 - 97 (pr)
Press x 21: 65 (unbroken!)

It turned out to be a good day. The deadlifts felt unscary, and the superset was done with NO extra breaths or pauses...and some seriously burning buttocks. I was really worried about the presses, especially with yesterday's overhead work, but they both went really well - I even finally got the 21 unbroken at 65, after all these weeks of trying. That was satisfying.

Next time: 280/210, 100/70 (gulp!)

It was my intention to skip firebreathers since I'm feeling so thrashed, but it was such a lowkey workout (3rm snatch) and such a beautiful day, I stuck around to hang out in the sunshine and try to throw some weights over my head.

Snatch x 3: 75 - 85 - 90 - 95
Snatch x 1: 100 (pr)

I still can't dip to receive the snatch once the weight gets even a little heavy, so these were almost all muscle snatches - but they were fairly clean ones. Only the 100, which came after a handful of failures, was really ugly. Still, it's a 13# PR from my 1RM of a couple months ago, so I'll take it.

Clean and Jerks

Simple 1RM C&J today:

Clean & Jerk x 1: 95-100-105-115-120-125-130(PR)

I got them all up, but that last jerk was UG.LY. Left arm went up, right arm stayed behind to press up to the top with excruciating slowness. Good thing there were clips on, or it would have been a disaster.

I can't find any record of trying for 1RM C&J before, so this is a good benchmark to know.

To Helen with You

Crappy, rainy day today. Led the two regular CFEB classes in the morning, then rushed off to GWPC for the Firebreather WOD:

Bench Press x 1: 135-145-155-160-165(f)

And that concludes February Firebreathers. 160 is 91% of my bodyweight, and actually closer than I thought I'd be able to get. It went up fairly steadily, and I don't think 165 is far off. Hopefully this upcoming strength cycle will get me to 175, and one of my few remaining level II skills. My cumulative score for the month is 417%, and although the results are not completely tabulated yet, this should put me DFL for men. I could make excuses about tall & skinny and blah blah blah, but that's really all they'd be - excuses. The rock doesn't care about ape indexes, watts and joules or bodyweight percentages. The rock just needs to be moved (assuming a scenario in which there is a rock that needs moving, of course).

A few of us stuck around afterward to do Helen in the rain.

Three rounds for time:

• Run 400 meters
• 1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings
• 12 Pull-ups

11:15 apparently not quite RX
(splits: 2:55 | 3:44 | 4:40)
(previous PR: 3:50 | 4:27 | 4:37)

I've been aiming for <11:30 on this workout for months, and was not going to be denied today. The joy over finally getting the benchmark score is somewhat blunted, however, by Rebecca's discovery that we were not running quite far enough. It's hard to tell, but it looks like I was maybe 30-40m short per round. There were a few other obstacles to slow us down, though - several corners and puddles to run around (and through), as well as a 180 turnaround.

I pushed, though. The first round was totally unbroken, the second KB swings were unbroken and pullups were 6-6, the last round was much worse. I felt truly horrible, afterwards, and it took quite a while to return to feeling human. I had a sharp, acrid metallic smell in my nostrils that I found somewhat alarming, and looked it up tonight. The internet is full of theories on this score, but a fairly common one seems to be that the alveoli in the lungs, overstrained to get the CO2 out of the blood, actually pass some number of high-iron blood cells through the membrane. These become airborne during exhaling, causing a metallic, bloody taste in the back of the throat. Ew. Diagnosis seems to be that it is relatively common during very hard anaerobic workouts, and not something to worry about overmuch.

Today was the end of my week subbing in as the CFEB trainer. I led 10 workouts and a total of 103 people (some, obviously, counting multiple times). I learned a LOT, and by and large really enjoyed myself. It is more tiring than I expected it to be, having to be "on" through the whole hour and really focused on the athletes, driving them to push harder while keeping them safe. It's also a lot lonelier than I expected - not getting to participate in class meant doing the workouts on my own, which can be nice in the not-having-to-share kind of way, but definitely is not as much fun or inspiring as doing it in class. Keeps you honest, though.

The feedback I got was universally good, which is satisfying (though I'd have to be pretty horrible for someone to actually TELL me I sucked). Many people asked when/if I would be getting a cert and if so, would that mean more classes with two trainers available to teach. That would, of course, be ideal for me - a combination of leading some classes and taking others - but the decision is ultimately up to Max and the folks who run Ironworks and GWPC. Max has said I should look at getting my cert sooner rather than later, so I'm keeping an eye on the calendar. There's one in San Diego in May that looks promising - we have friends that live down there, and maybe would be able to stay with them.

Fail

I've been in denial, but this afternoon I came to accept that I overdid it on Thursday. The DOMS that it gave me negatively impacted the next three workouts, including today's - which was pretty horrible. It's been useful in a philosophical/programmatic way, however, and sparked an interesting discussion over at PMenu.

My takeaway from this lesson is that there is a time and a place for intensity. Heavy deadlifts for time is not it - I would have done and felt vastly better if I had done the workout at 185 instead of 225, I think. In general, I think that shorter (under 25 mins), low-and-bodyweight metcons are ideal for working on intensity (Helen, Cindy, FGB), whereas heavily weighted workouts should be treated with more respect and attention to form and safety. Chalk it up to a lesson learned, and come back and try again next week.

Deadlift 1RM: 225-275-285(f)
Bench Press: 135x5, 140x3, 140x4, 140x3, 135x2

I've been trying very hard to recover in time for today's workout. I've gotten more than 10 hours of sleep each night, been downing Omega 3's and animal protein like crazy, and have taken it easy on the last two workouts...it still wasn't enough. The warmups were OK, but the lift at 275 was scary. After dropping the weight, I fell to my knees and grabbed the bar to steady myself, as my vision tunnelled and a very loud buzzing completely took over my hearing. This freaked me out. I gave a half-hearted attempt at 285 (even just pulling it a little gave me a headrush), and gave up. So my score is 25 pounds lower than the 1RM I scored just two weeks ago.

It had been my intention to do the bottom-to-bottom tabatas that CFEB did this morning, but I was feeling lousy and Gita suggested I avoid high-volume work if I felt in danger of overtraining. So I joined them for 5x5 Bench press instead. I thought I had gone above 140 in my 5x5's, but looking back through my blog posts, it looks like no, that was the highest I ever got. So I don't feel so bad about not being able to finish a full set of 5 at this weight today. My bench is definitely weak - I should get this up to 175 for level II, but it's hard to work on by yourself. Maybe I could rope Jim into doing it with me once a week.

Hey Sweet Annie

I used to be embarrassed by my press. I thought it was the weakest of my lifts (except maybe for bench), and did not anticipate doing well for today's 1RM Firebreather. And...well, I didn't do well. My press IS weak. However, looking at the spread of other people in class, I fall in about the same place (DFL among men) as I did for the squat, so I suppose my press is not actually relatively weaker than my other lifts. I'm just weak all over. Yay. :\

Press 1RM - best of 5 attempts (Press 1-1-1-1-1)

95-100-105(f)-105(PR)-110(f)

So my new 1RM for shoulder press is 105, or 60% BW. I don't think I'm far off with 110 - I could really just stand to do this more often to really nail the form. My point of failure is the inch or two directly over my head - which, I think, is a bit higher than where most people fail.

Max as much as told me not to go to the metcon class this morning, as it would diminish my 1RM, so we resolved to do something after Firebreathers (half-volume week is over, and I was eager to do something for realsies). We couldn't do the AMRAP from the morning because Max had a private client, so we grabbed jumpropes and headed up to the yoga room for Annie.

"Annie"
For time:
50-40-30-20-10
Double-unders
Sit-ups

12:32 RX
(splits: 3:37 | 3:18 | 2:55 | 1:49 | 0:51)

This was my first time with Annie. I quite liked it, and it felt really good being back in action for a full workout. My double-unders are not yet chained together, but I can fairly consistently knock out a dozen or so skip-double-unders at a time, so I'm not as useless with them as I've been historically. I actually lose most of my time in resetting the jumprope when I screw up. My situps were fast, and nearly entirely unbroken.

Bad Mornings

Woke up with a sore throat this morning: bad sign. Rebecca's just getting over a cold that knocked her out for a week, and I was thinking I was fortunate to dodge that bullet, but perhaps I didn't. So I'm throwing back the Wellness Formula, and, after today, am taking a recovery week. Until next Sunday, I'm doing half-volume workouts. I'm telling this to everyone I know and asking them to help me enforce it, because I'm not very good about being disciplined in this regard.

This morning:

Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:

• Run 250 meters
• Kettlebell Sumo deadlift high-pull 2P/1.5P, 28 reps
• Pull-ups 15 reps (Men C2B)

4 rounds
Not all my pullups were successfully C2B.

This was a good WOD, but the length of the rounds makes for a fairly small window of options. 4 rounds seems solid. Gita got 5 rounds, but nearly killed himself doing it. Most people got 3 and change. The runs were a nice rest, and I didn't find the SDHP to be terribly difficult. The real killer for me was the pull-ups.

With the help of some classmates, I've discovered why my pullups suck so much at Ironworks: the bar is too low! I can stand solidly on my heels and grab the bar, which means that when I kip I have to bend my knees to avoid hitting the floor, and this kills my momentum. If I take off my shoes and use the (slightly) higher part of the bar (by the whiteboard), I can kip much more easily. I hope this knowledge will come in handy in the future.

Afternoon:

The firebreather workouts this month are all one-rep max lifts. Today was back squats. We were all sharing one cage, which made it SLOW, but I was grateful for the opportunity to get feedback on my form. Max and Eric agree: it's cringeworthy. Apparently I'm pitching forward at the bottom of the squat, and then basically good-morninging the weight up. This puts insane amounts of strain on my lower back, obviously, and if it doesn't injure me, it will ensure that I will never get much heavier than I got today.

Back Squat 1RM - best of 5 attempts (Back Squat 1-1-1-1-1)

175-185-190(PR)-195(f)

So my new PR is 190, or 109% bodyweight. Pretty weak sauce. I brought the camera, so here's some video of 175, 190 and the failed 195 - you can see what I'm talking about with the poor form coming out of the hole.



Polly pointed out that one of the Squat Rx videos deals specifically with this problem - in fact, it's common enough that they address it in video #2. There are a number of good stretches and assistance exercises in this video, which I intend to incorporate into my 5x5 nights (with lighter weights):

• Goblet squats
• Wide-stance Squats
• Good-morning Squats
• Box Squats

Hopefully, once I can correct this fault in the form, I'll be able to knock out some higher numbers.

Carded

I finally got my lead card!

This is cause for great celebration and personal satisfaction. No longer will routes mock me with their empty toprope pulleys and "lead only" warnings. Now I can finally play in the cave! Where things are REALLY hard! It is my passport to climbing adulthood, like a driver's license for the wall.

I took the test at the Power Company with Tor. They were setting in the cave, so at first the guy behind the counter, Mike, wasn't going to test me - but he relented when I asked if he couldn't pick a route somewhere else. He chose a stemmy 10b that I think I've done before, and truth be told it was very easy - plenty of opportunities to rest, easy clipping stances, etc. The end was a bit scary: after I clipped the last draw and kept climbing I was trying very hard not to think to myself, "every foot I climb I'm going to have to fall past in a second." I made it to the top, took a quick breath and just let go - less thinking the better. My heart was pounding, but Tor caught me (of course) without any trouble. The belaying portion went very smoothly, though (keeping in mind the notes from last week) I intentionally kept more slack in the system, so when Tor fell he generated a good amount of momentum and pulled me up about 3 feet.

Mike passed me, and confessed that he had been hoping to be able to fail me, but couldn't find anything wrong with what I'd done. Apparently his pass ratio has gotten too high, which reflects badly on him as a tester, so he's looking to get a bit more strict. But not me!

ML10a(o), L10b(c), L10b(dnf), 10d(f+)

So, after my triumphant ascent of the stemmy 10b, I chose as my first real lead climb the 10b across the way, with a tricky-looking roof about halfway up. Clearly, I am not yet fully proficient in analyzing climbs from the ground. What looked "tricky" on the floor turned out to be "really fucking pumpy" on the wall, and leading is a different animal. It was about 10' off the ground that I came to the realization that I was really actually leading this climb, and there was no safety rope, and no instructor, and if I fell, it would not be a comfy toprope fall. This rattled me somewhat. I failed spectacularly getting over the roof, and took a small dive into thin air. Untying at the bottom, Mike came over and graciously informed me: "that's the worst 10 lead in this gym. It's a bitch." I thanked him for not testing me on it.

I decided to call it quits for leading after that, and toproped a very crimpy 10d on GWPC's "slab" wall with two falls.

The evening was simply deadlifts, which I'm always happy to do:

Deadlift 30-5-5-5-5-5

135-205-225-245-255-265...275 x 1-295 x 1-300 x 1 (PR!)

I was lifting with Gita and new guy Aaron, and we were having fun so we opted to keep going with singles when we were done with the 5's. 300 pounds is a PR by 15 pounds for me, though it's been a long time since I've tested my 1RM deadlift. I felt like I could have done a little more, but my form was starting to fall apart, particularly on the first third, and I didn't see any reason to push it. In general I feel quite solid with my deadlift form these days. I wish my squats were anywhere near as good.

Thrust me

Never tried a 1RM thruster before...

Thruster 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

95-100-105-110-115-120(F)-115

1RM workouts often leave me feeling a little hungry for more, and this was no exception - but I do feel like my thrusters have graduated from "appalling" to "bad," so that's good.