Short and sweet

After leading two classes through a thirty-minute slogfest that earned me my share of dirty looks, I opted NOT to join the fun and do it on my own - Rebecca was waiting for me, neither of us had eaten, and greater-than-twenty-minute metcons are supposedly off the menu for a while. So I made up this quick n' dirty little sweetheart:

21-15-9
2 pood KB swing
Burpees

7:17 RX

Now that was a long seven minutes. I like the workout, but for a class I think I'd make it a down-and-up ladder (21-15-9-15-21), to add that extra je ne sais quoi of awful and bring it to the 20-minute metcon sweet spot. Sadly (or perhaps not so sadly), that did not occur to me until well after I had done the workout.

Form over volume

Sleep: 12:30-9:00 slept pretty well.

Warmup: a little jump rope, ME, 400m, 20 air squats & 20 hip opener swings (kip w/o pullup), 10 burpees

WOD:
3 rounds:

Run 800 Meters
50 Kettlebell Swings 1.5P/1.0P
25 Burpees

Cash-out:
10 Step Ups* R
10 Step ups* L
10 Step Ups* R

*18" box

KB high pull practice mostly R arm
15 min or so stretching - primarily legs and hips

Results:
2 Rounds RX 36:02

Round	800m	50 KB Swing	25 Burpees	Total
1	5:08	5:52	4:43	15:43
2 (0:47)	5:36	7:34	6:21	36:02

Comments:
So - Ok - I DNF'ed this workout. But I seriously considered doing only 1 round (the 47 seconds at the beginning of round 2 was me making up my mind to begin round 2) so I did ... twice as much as 1 round ... but most importantly, I did it all RX. Every swing was overhead and driven with the hips as much as possible, and every burpee was full ROM - jumping back, full ROM pushup down and up, jumping forward, and an 'enthusiastic' jump and clap at the end of every rep. Keeping good form takes for frickin' ever. At least right now it does becuase I run out of steam quickly. I really need to work on building up muscular endurance (my cardio is ok - better than my musculat endurance anyway). I'm hoping the strength program we are working will help with that. At any rate, walking the line between intensity and good form is really hard. It's very easy to tell yourself "just a couple more breaths" more often than you really need to.

Daniel told everyone, "If you run out of burpees, do one, take one deep breath, do the next one." So after about 5 burpees, when they were all gone, that's what I did, and for the most part I managed to stick to it. For the swings it was 3-5 breaths between sets of as many as I could mange before I was using my shoulders instead of my hips to get the bell up - which after the first 10 was anywhere from 2-5 - but usually about 4.

Astonishingly, my first run was actually a pretty decent time for an 800m @ BIW for me. Not a PR - but not all that far off my BIW 800m PR. My second run ... I was just happy to finish it without having to stop and walk. I had this running conversation in my head "this workout sucks, it's so hard!" no! "I love running, running is fun!" but "damn, I am tired, and wow 50 KB swings really sucks", no! "This workout is not the boss of me! I am the master of this workout - it will get done!" ... on and on back and forth. But I made it through.

When it took 36 minutes to get through two rounds, I knew that it would probably take at least another 20 minutes to get through a third round, and as long as we're working this strength program, we're supposed to be keeping our metcons to around 20 minutes or less. So, I decided (with some relief) to call it at round 2.

Other than the not finishing part (which is a little like a little pebble in my shoe - irritating but not painful) I actually feel really good about this workout due mainly to my consistent attention to getting through the exercises with a minimum of B+/A- form. I really feel like I earned the Rx at the end of those 2 rounds. (Although I know that real Rx would, of course, be all three rounds).

Food:
10am 4oz black coffee
12:05 16 oz 2% milk
2:45 - 2-3 oz rotisserie chicken, 3 egg scramble w/ basil pesto sausage, 8 oz coffee w/ 3/4 cup whole milk, 1 cup raw spinach w/ 1 oz walnuts, 3 oz dried cranberries, 2 oz feta cheese
4:00 - 8oz 2% milk, 1 multiv, 2 glucosamine, 4 omega-3
6:15 - 16 oz milk
8:15 - 1 serving tempeh, sausage cauliflower mainara caserole thingy, 16oz milk
9:00 - 16oz milk
12:15 - 2 zma

Three small workouts

Got to the climbing gym a bit early today, so figured I'd hit some HIIT while waiting for Tor to get there. I hadn't done Sprint-8 on the rower in a while, and that seemed more appealing than 50 burpees.

Sprint-8 on rower: 3,375m
Climbing: 10a/b(o), 10c(f+), 10b(o), 10b(o), 10b(o)

Well, the good news is that I went about 200m further than I ever have on a Sprint-8 before - the sprints were consistently between 1:34 and 1:37 pace, the rests were usually around 2:30.

From the first 10c, it was clear my grip was totally shot. I don't THINK that's the rower's fault - I've rowed before climbing before and never noticed a problem. I more inclined to suspect last night's false-grip static hangs. Rather than spend all my time falling off the wall, I worked 10b's and just focused on getting to the top before my grip failed.

Max programmed a light WOD for today, since he and a bunch of other folks are going to the "Royal Rumble" affiliate throwdown at CF Diablo tomorrow, and he wants everyone to be rested (I'll be leading the regular classes at Ironworks). He also literally had Milk and Cookies for everyone.

"Milk & Cookies"

• Run 400 Meters
• 25 Squats
• 25 Push-Ups
• 25 Burpees
• 25 Squats
• Run 400 Meters

8:06 RX

I was keeping pace with Alex fairly well until the Burpees, when he smoked me. I was having a hard time with them on this one. I suspect my general conditioning is going south with this emphasis on strength-building. Oh well. Provided the strength stuff WORKS, then that's fine - I can always get the conditioning back later.

Virtuosity

Sleep:
12:15 - 8:00 super restless. woke up 3-4 times. partially from cats, prtially from just waking up.

No Kitchen Calisthenics today - i failed to make it to eating lunch.

Warmup:
Not quite enough (again) because I was late. 20 jumping ring dips, 20 20# med ball cleans

WOD - Results:
"Milk & Cookies"

Run 400 Meters - 2:36
25 Squats - 1:06
25 Push-Ups - 1:42
25 Burpees - 4:35
25 Squats - 1:09
Run 400 Meters - 2:26

Cash Out:
15 minute stretching hammies and hips, 17 Step-ups Right leg, 12 step-ups left 20" box.

Comments:
This felt a lot harder that it probably should have. I was sucking wind most of the time. I made a conscious effort to try to keep rests to a minimum, take a couple breaths and continue on, but I also was aiming for good form for every rep, and that's a very tough line to walk. I probably could have done a little better but it's a lot harder to do a squat or pushup or burpee with good form when you're winded. My ankles did not feel warm for the first run - and it was slow. Burpees after pushups is hard since the pushup muscles are more or less already done for. my legs were wobbly after the squats for the second run. But every squat was low enough, every pushup was full ROM and every burpee has a fully extended jump with a clap.

All in all a pretty mediocre performance, but I believe that focusing on doing the exercises as quickly as i can do them right is going to serve me better than just doing them as quickly as I can.

The cash out steps-ups were ... humbling. I can't do one on a 20" box without significant help staying balanced and getting started - either by jumping off my standing leg and/or pulling/stabilizing with my arms. But I'm sure they will improve with work.

Food:
8:45 6oz black coffee
1:40 cottage cheese, almonds & cinnamon, 12oz coffee w 3/4 cup milk
6:45 16oz milk
7:45 8oz beer, cepe vine "el Barron" no bun, sub salad for potatoes. I don't know why, but this was just DELICIOUS tonight. I put the avocado on the burger, and ate the mushrooms and onions more as a side dish, and everything just tasted exceptionally good tonight.
Meant to drink more milk and take my vitamins when we got home, but i forgot.

Strength, week 2 part 1

Spent a lot of time warming up today, with plenty of active stretches and assistance exercises, trying to open up the hips and loosen the hamstrings.

Back Squat x 5: 115 - 135 - 155
Back Squat x 21: 115
Bench Press x 5: 95 - 115 - 135
Bench Press x 21: 100
False grip static hang: 4 x 15 sec.

The 155 started to feel heavy. I wasn't pitching forward, but I do use my left leg more than my right in coming up. Need to watch that, and figure out how to come up more symmetrically. The bench press was fine - I knocked out the 21 unbroken, though it did burn somewhat.

The static hangs hurt like a sonuvabitch. HOW do people maintain false grip? It's inhuman!

Someday, I will figure out this damn squat.

Sleep:
11:30 - 8:00 - only got up once, i think. very restful night.

Kitchen Calisthenics:Heating Lunch - 1:30
45 seconds hands together counter pushups: 23
45 seconds hands apart counter pushups: 25

Warmup:
ME, 30 air squats, 30 situps, adductor stretch (not enough, but I was afraid I'd lose my squat rack)

Back Squat:
10 x 45# bar - really struggled with form - probably due to not being warmed up enough.
?? (10?) x 15# - needed to sort out some form issues with minimal weight
5 x 35#
5 x 50#
5 x 60#(f rep 4)
5 x 60#
21 x 45#

Bench Press:
10 x 45
5 x 50
5 x 55
5 x 65
21 x 50

Cash Out:
1 minute static hang w/active shoulders x 2
some right legged step ups to a 14" (or so) box
a few weak attempts at L sit practice in the captain's chair - but my shoulders were too tired to hold myself up.
10 minutes or so of stretching

Comments:
Daniel assures me that my squat is better than it used to be. And if I take a step outside myself and look at it objectively, I can see that is true, but better isn't Good - it's just less bad. It is frustrating to have been working on this movement for so long and to have come such a short distance towards consistently good form.

I am hoping that if I commit to working on stretching out my ridiculously tight hips and adductors thereby allowing freer ROM in them, that will help my fix some of my problems with the squat. The other piece of it is the weakness of my right side and its unwillingness to bear weight. I'm hoping to address that more quickly by adding right-legged step ups as a cash out at the end of all my workouts.

My bench press is satisfyingly strong. At least, I do not have the same funky form issues with it as with the squat. My right arm really is the weak link here, too, though - particularly in the set of 21. I think that it's going to be great work towards helping it catch up.

Just on a whim while I was waiting for Daniel to get out of the locker room, I set the pull down machine for 120 pounds to see if I could pull it down, and I couldn't but it confirmed the problem that I've been having with my pullups. My left arm was ok, but my right arm just couldn't go from straight to bent against that kind of weight. I tried 110# and my right arm still couldn't 'convert it', but if I 'kipped' the weight down to a point where my arms were bent, I could pull it the rest of the way down. Just further proof that my right arm is the limiting factor in a deadhang pullup for me. (Like I needed any more).

I'm pretty gratified that I was able to do full 1 minute static holds with active shoulders, and the first 40-45 seconds felt pretty easy. Several months ago - after we discovered the Crossfit Fitness Level standards, the Level 1 30 second hold was one of the first things I tried. I thought - just hang for 30 seconds? That's EASY. And I got it, but only just barely. And I feel certain that my shoulders were anything but active. So that's progress I can see, anyway.

Food:
8:45 - 3 egg cheesy scramble, 2 pieces veggie bacon, 12oz coffee 2/3 cup whole milk
3:20 - cottage cheese, almonds & cinnamon
3:50 - 1 multiv, 2 glucosamine, 4 omega-3
4:30 - 1 serving chicken Marsala - YUM
5:00 - 20oz water, .5 oz spiced almonds
7:20 - 16oz milk
8:00 - chille verde Burrito w/ guacamole from Las Palamas Taqueria & 16oz milk

Dismal failure

Man, I don't know WHAT went wrong this morning, but it was a train wreck. We had plans for the evening (more on that later), so I decided to try and knock out the WOD in the morning before work at home.

Complete as many rounds as you can in twenty minutes of:
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 L Pull-ups
15 Steps, Walking Lunge

THREE FUCKING ROUNDS

It was bad from the get-go. While warming up, I couldn't even squat without falling over. Everything was tight and sore, and I had a nasty headache every time I bent over (the HSPU's were a joy). Maybe it was the cold, maybe it was too early in the morning and my body was just too tight, I don't know. But nothing was working, and when the phone rang 16 minutes in, I basically said "fuck it" and picked up the phone. Chalk this one up as one that got away.

More stretching necessary!!!

Attended a Hip function seminar at CFO with guest speaker Kelly Starrett. He is charming, and extremely knowledgeable. Learned a lot of ways to stretch the areas around the hip, and basically got completely dressed down for not stretching often enough. It was a good seminar.

Kitchen Calisthenics:
40 couter-top pushups; 20 hands together, 20 hands shoulder width apart

Sleep:
12:05-8:07 the cats were restless last night. I think I got up three or four times - once was to let the healthy cat out (because he was scratching furniture in our bedroom which generally means "let me out") who proceeded to stand at the door and then changed his mind about wanting to go out. Shit head.

Food:
8:45 - 6oz black coffee
1:20 - 1.25 cup cottage cheese, 2 oz slivered almonds, 1 tsp cinnamon, 6oz coffee with milk.
1:40 - 1 multiv, 2 glucosamine, 4 omega-3
4:00 - 1 serving ma po tofu w/ ground turkey and broccolini
8:15 - 1 bowl AWESOME crock pot chicken Marsala. YUMMY. 16 oz milk
9:00 - 16oz milk

Only tuesday?

Lunch time calisthenics:
40 coutertop pushups while waiting for my lunch to heat up.
first 20 were with hands together in middle, 2nd 20, hands @ normal 'shoulder width' position

Sleep:
11:50 - 7:45: got up 3 or 4 times - mostly due to restless cats. We advantaged them this morning - serves them right!

Food:
8:30 3 egg cheese scramble with veggie sausage patty, 12oz milk 2/3 cup milk
1:20 - cottage cheese w/almonds & cinnamon
3:30 - 1/2 serving kung pao chicken
5:30 - 2oz spiced cashews
8:00 - 1 bowl, kales, walnuts, blackbeans & veggie sausage, 16oz milk
8:40 - 1 multiv, 2 glucoasime, 4 omega-3
8:45 - 16oz milk
11:25 - 2 zma

QOKAD

By now, the Gallon-of-Milk-a-Day (GOMAD) has become synonymous with Starting Strength and Mark Rippetoe, though the two are actually quite distinct. Rippetoe prescribes GOMAD to skinny adolescents who need, more than anything, to pack on some bulk, and whose metabolism is such that they can afford to take on far more calories than they likely will actually consume in a day. So what is the nutritional content of a gallon of whole milk?

Calories: 2344
Fat: 128g
Carb: 204g
Pro: 124g

On top of everything else you're supposed to eat, that's about a 5k-6k cal/day diet. Not to mention the carbs, which are over twice my daily limit in the milk alone. Yikes! It's no wonder that Rippetoe says, in his own ineffable style:

Older adults using milk for weight gain may find that they get a little chubby on this program. This is because as growth hormone and testosterone levels diminish with age, the ability to easily build muscle on a heavy training program diminishes as well. This means that less of the nutritional input can be converted to muscle in response to stress, and consequently more fat will be deposited.

This is rotten, shitty fact. I personally am offended every time I contemplate this. But the fact remains that older lifters cannot grow as efficiently in response to training as younger lifters can because of their inability to recover, and the efficient conversion of nutrition to muscle is a major factor in recovery.

(By the way, the forum thread that this comes from, a Q&A with Rippetoe on the Strength Mill forums, is well worth reading in its entirety both for the quality of the information contained therein, as well as the hilariously cranky comebacks he fires off.)

Well, I don't want to fork out $7 a day to choke back glass after glass of room-temperature whole milk so that I can gain a little muscle and a lot of fat. Not to mention the logistics (and mockery) involved in hauling around eight pounds of milk all day, every day. It's my hope that there's a better way.

Introducing Kefir

Kefir is fermented milk, invented bajillions of years ago by tribes in the Caucuses and Eastern Europe. You can buy it ($2.69/quart at Trader Joe's), but it's even better if you MAKE it. I've been making my own for a few months now, and it's about as simple a task as you can do in the kitchen:

1. Pour milk into container
2. Add kefir grains
3. Wait 1-2 days
4. Strain out grains, decant kefir into container(s)
5. Repeat
   

But...why drink a quart of the stuff a day?

So many reasons.

COST: Homemade kefir is about $1.75/qt using organic whole milk. I haven't found anything remotely like that in the store.

TASTE: It's goooooood.

EASE-OF-USE: It's a helluva lot easier to down a quart of kefir than a gallon of milk. You can drink that much with dinner, or bring it to the gym as an all-natural post-workout drink.

NUTRITION: I know this will shock the Rippetoe fans out there, but kefir is superior to milk, nutritionally speaking. First, the nutritional profile is somewhat better:

The majority of digestible carbohydrate of kefir is milk-sugar [lactose], of which at 24 hour fermentation followed by 24 hour storage seems to be approximately 3.5%, going by the figures available. This is about 50% reduction of the original lactose content in fresh milk.

Second, kefir is a probiotic (meaning it contains bacteria beneficial to digestion)

Kefir contains live active cultures of normal flora which is made of vary strong strains of microorganisms that help to over take pathogenic organisms, repopulate the digestive tract and aid in digestion. The microorganisms predigest the protein that enchanting protein digest and absorption and also use the lactose thus many people whom have lactose intolerance problem can be consume kefir.

Kefir has the complete proteins that are partially digested and in this respect the body easily utilizes them.

...Not sure whether that's a translation or an English-as-second-language issue in there, but you get the idea. At any rate, the second part is the money quote, and the reason I'm doing this whole experiment. Basically, the hope is that by drinking (somewhat) pre-digested proteins, the bioavailability of the protein in the kefir should be higher, and therefore translate more effectively to muscle repair and growth than regular milk.

Who knows whether it will work. I'm not doing a very scientific introduction of the plan, since I'm also introducing meat into my diet, and I'm sure it's all throwing my inner system for a loop. But I plan on trying it out over the course of this strength cycle, and will have a better clue at its efficacy in about eleven weeks.

Social Climbing

Just a little rest-day Social Climbing at BIW with the CFEB crew.

9(o), 10d(f), 10d(f), 10c(o)

The first 10d was an arete climb with a roof about 3/4 the way up, on a steadily increasing negative. The second 10d was...an arete climb with a roof about 3/4 the way up, transitioning to some negative stemming. Both climbs were marked by small, pumpy holds and awkward stances. At one point on the second one I found myself pulling down on the wrong side of a small undercling, as it was all there was. The last 10c was...a negative arete climb that moved to face climbing about 2/3 up. Again, small holds - my forearms and fingers were sore at the end of the evening.

Mostly Rest day - of the unwilling kind.

I did not manage to get all my homework done over the weekend, and it was due today, so I had to come home to finish it instead of climbing. In order to facilitate transportation for both me and daniel, I drove my bike down to work, daniel rode his bike down to the gym, I gave him the car, and rode my bike home. It was all the exercise I got today, but it was (embarrassingly) plenty.

Riding my bike home is always humbling. No matter the strength gains and the improved metcon conditioning, I am ALWAYS done in by riding my bike home; it's not that far, and it's really not that steep. It's a heavy, old fashioned 3-speed schwinn cruiser, and it's possible that the seat on my bike is at the wrong height. It's definitely the wrong geometry - it's one of those huge "comfort" seats - but it hits me in exactly all the wrong places, and is anything but comfortable. I should get it replaced, but a) I don't actually ride my bike that often and b) my bike would look pretty funny with a modern seat. But, whatever the reason, I am always toast by the time I make it all the way up the hill from work (or the gym) to home. And even with the bad seat and the heavy bike, I'd think it would get relatively easier the relatively more fit I am. (it's definitely easier to get it into the car!)

Ah well. I really should ride my bike more often. Now that it stays light later, I will endeavor to do so.

Sleep:
11:30-7:45 - woke up once on my own, twice by the cats.

Food: (not a good remembering to eat day)
12:05 12oz coffee w/3/4 cup milk
4:00 cottage cheese w/ almonds & cinnamon
5:30 1.5 oz spiced cashews
6:30 16oz milk
9:40 1 bowl Ma po tofu with ground turkey and tofu - served over 3/4 cup broccolini, 16oz milk
11:00 2 zma

Strength Cycle, week 1 cont'd - and Fight Gone Bell

Today was an experiment, to see if Rebecca and I could do our strength workout directly before the Firebreather WOD. The answer, for today at least, was yes - we'll see what happens when the strength weight gets heavier. The CFSB protocol calls for short and heavy metcons (~10 mins) after lifting, so I'm thinking this could be similar.

Deadlift x 5: 185 - 205 - 225
Deadlift x 21: 185
Press x 5: 65 - 70 - 75
Press x 21: 65

The deadlifts were pretty much fine, although my back was surprisingly sore - maybe from Friday's 3x7. I was able to knock out the 185 unbroken, though, with only medium discomfort - I'll go up next week. The 21 shoulder presses, however, were 12-5-4: I'll keep it at this weight until I can do all of them.

Following that, we got to go outside on a gorgeous sunny spring day for the Firebreather WOD.

Fight Gone Bell
3 rounds, one minute each movement (1.5 pood) with a minute of rest in between, of:

• Swing
• Clean
• Goblet Squat
• Push Press
• Snatch

225 RX

My first thought, looking at this, was that 300 would be a good goal: 20 reps of each movement. Upon further reflection, I altered it somewhat to 25-25-20-15-15 per round. I almost managed to actually do that for the first round, too.

Exercise	1	2	3	Total
KB Swing	25	25	20	70
KB Clean	25	16	14	55
KB Goblet Squat	20	15	10	45
KB Push-press	5	4	4	13
KB Snatch	20	10	12	42
TOTAL	95	70	60	225

Clearly, push-presses were my downfall. (Well, that and my vaulting optimism that I'd be able to maintain that pace for three rounds.) I'm sure the press workout beforehand did not help, but 1.5 pood push-presses have never been particularly strong for me (in fact, doing them at all is a pretty recent phenomenon). This was a good workout, overall - not as nausea-inducing as Gita (who designed it) hoped, but a good combination of many key ways to torture yourself with kettlebells.

Baby Fire Breather

Strength WOD
Warmup - ME, stripper stretch, hip openers, 20 air squats.
DL 5x3
Warmup - 45# x 10
95-115-120
95# x 21 (had to break @ rep 13 and every 3-4 reps after that to keep form safe)

Press 5x3
Warmup - 25#x10
35-40-45
25# X 21 - unbroken - 30# next week

Fire Breathers WOD:



Warmup: run 400m, ME, 25 situps, 10 pushups, WOD skills practice KB(swing, clean, goblet squat, PP, snatch)

WOD:
FGB Rules
Men 1.5P/Women 1.0P

Swing
Clean
Goblet Squat
Push Press
Snatch

Results:

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Total
KB Swing	15	14	12	41
KB Clean	9	3R 6L	1R 8L	27
KB Goblet Squat	6	6	7	19
KB Push-press	0	2	1	3
KB Snatch	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	30	31	29	90

Comments:
Well - first of all, I can't believe my math was so bad. I originally though5 - for some unknown reason I cannot now figure out- that my score was 61. It was actually 90. Still less than half the next lowest score, but much better than 61!

I am extremely excited that I got 4 cleans total with the 1P with my right arm, and a couple PP with the 1P with my left. Both firsts for me :-) I think my form with the goblet squats was a bit better than on Wednesday - I did better at keeping my chest up.

In the first round i did some PP & Snatches with the 12kg KB, but in the second round Max told me just to focus on the stuff I could do Rx and to just rest for the rounds i couldn't get anything, so the reps that were done with the 12kg are not listed above. In the last round I was not ready to just rest for the whole last round, so I worked on KB highpulls (snatch progressions) with the 1P with my right arm (I didn't keep count). On a really good rep I could get it shoulder high, on a less good rep I got it a little less than boob high. I think this could be a really good exercise for me to practice to work on really strengthening my right arm & shoulder (and hip drive). I'll try to remember it whenever I am looking for "cash out" or even warm-up options.

Sleep:
12:54 - 9:45 Hooray for extra sunlight! A pretty sound night's sleep - think I woke up twice, but they were brief. Woke up with congested ears though :-( DO NOT WANT DANIEL's COLD. :-P

Food:
10:30 - 3 egg cheesy scramble w/ 2 pieces turkey bacon. 12oz coffee w/2/3 cup milk
11:00 - 1 multiv, 3 wellness formula, 2 glucosamine, 4 omega-3
2:15 - 16 oz milk
3:35 - 1 bowl orange curry, 16 oz milk
7:30 - House of Curries: Approx: 1 8oz cup chai tea, 1/2 order each of daal, chicken w/cauliflower, tandoori chicken tikka & paneer tikka masala.
11:15 - 2 zma

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.