A clean AMRAP

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes

5 push-ups
10 hang clean 95/65 (subbed 2 8kg KB)
15 sit-ups

14 + 5 pushups RX

I had my sights set on 15 for this one, and when 15 minutes rolled around I felt nowhere close, but I managed to pull out more rounds at the end than I thought possible. The only hard thing here was the cleans - the situps eat up time but are not particularly hard, and you can always do 5 pushups. I managed to do every set of cleans unbroken: a minor victory.

"Fluffy Pink Cloud"

A back-off workout, so we could be fresh for FGB on Sunday.

Perform as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:

5 Push-Ups
10 Squats
15 Sit-ups

10 rounds + 1 pushup RX

Set a goal of 10 rounds and made it. That felt good. It was a nice workout, actually.

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!

Beach Burpee Bingo

Today's the big (wedding) day, but we didn't really have anywhere to be until the ceremony at three, and with everyone busy making preparations, we made ourselves scarce and went down to the beach for an impromptu WOD.

AMRAP in 20 minutes:
100 meter sprint
15 burpees

8 rounds + sprint and 10 burpees

This was a gasser. Sprinting and burpees on the beach are challenging, especially when you're barefoot and the tide is coming in. It's hard to sprint in three inches of water! And it was fun when you'd drop down in the pushup position and the water would flood in just as you were about to drop your face to the ground. I did not approach this very intelligently - I made a new burpee angel at each round, with the idea that I could then use the angels to keep track of my rounds. This neglected to take into account the fact that Rebecca was going at the same time as I was, thereby making her own angels and confusing my math, as well as the fact that the first five burpees are by far the hardest, as your feet skid in the wet sand and don't provide good traction for jumping up until you've dug yourself a little trench. So I did not do it as efficiently as I could have - still, it was good to get out and move a bit, since I've been going stir crazy here.

The weather today was finally nice enough to WANT to go outside on the beach, too, which made the whole experience much more pleasant.

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.

Drinking from the Goblet

Max learned a new trick in New York, and couldn't wait to share it with us:

AMRAP in 20 minutes

• 5 Honest Push-Ups
• 10 2P/1.5P Kettlebell Swings
• 15 2P/1.5P Goblet Squats

5 rounds + swings RX
(splits: 1:57 | 3:20 | 3:51 | 4:24 | 5:27)

I've been feeling a little sick the past couple days, since Helen. Nothing major, just a scratchy throat, but I have noticed a corollary: push extremely hard on a workout, then proceed to catch a cold. Tonight I decided that I wasn't going to do half-volume or anything, but neither was I going to kill myself. Which felt good, and a little bit like sneaking chocolate on a diet. I'm happy with the work that I did, though, as my back was feeling like it might cramp up immediately afterwards. And my rounds are surprisingly close to the average. (I just think there's probably an upper limit to the number of goblet squats we can do at this weight right now.)

Those goblet squats are hard! I'm happy we're doing them, as they're an assistance exercise to help me with my "good morning" problem on my back squats, but they were definitely the pain in the ass for this workout. Never have push-ups felt so luxurious, and the swings weren't even that bad - they were all unbroken. I was never able to do 15 unbroken squats, though - my arms and grip just couldn't hang on that long. And breaking these guys up sucks, because you've got to pick up the weight again and get it into that awkward position. I'm hoping my back won't be too sore tomorrow.

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.