2010-03-26

Modified Linda

10-8-6-4-2
Deadlift 115#
power clean 50#
push-press 50#

16:41
4:25 - 4:52 - 3:45 - 2:32 - 1:06
This made me ridiculously sore for about 3 days.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2-16-2010

Got there too late for much warmup - did some jump rope - more or less counted the row as the warmup.

For Time:
Row 1000m (sub 800 meter run)
250 Double-Unders
30 Power Cleans @ 155#/105#

Results: Row 4:40, Cleans 9:00, Jumprope - DNF

My knees have really been achy and unhappy for the past week or two, so I Rowed 1000m (4:40 -steady 2:20/500 pace), I knew jump rope was going to be rough on my knees so I went straight to the cleans from the rower.

I did 30 60# cleans in just under 9:00 min or so - but that included time to increase weight from 50 to 60, try to find clips, change into weight lifiting shoes, etc. not my most intense workout, but the last time I tried it, 65# was my 1RM for cleans and 60# was my 3rm - so 30 60# cleans is kinda exciting. My form was better than it used to be - all power cleans not muscle cleans, but still only so-so - i think i did a lot of left-legged cleaning.

Repetitive hard landings from double-under attempts were definitely not ok with my knees, so I tried doing single unders but my knees still forced me to stop around 160 or so.

Barbell complex

Complete as many rounds as possible 20 minutes of:
95 pound Thruster, 5 reps
95 pound Hang Powercleans, 7 reps
95 pound Sumo Deadlift High-pull, 10 reps

I got 5 rounds using a 45# bar. we were going out for Daniel's b-day afterward, and i didn't want to be too tired and sweaty, so i took it kind of easy.

Wod 7-3-09

Warm up: Burgener, dowell skill drills

WOD:

12-9-6

Deadlift 250#/185#
Thruster 115#/85#

Results:

115# deadlifts
50# cleans

3:58 - 3:23 - 2:47 = 10:09

Comments:

I'm having a strange strained pain in the back of my knee, so I opted to do cleans instead of thrusters (darn). I don't know what caused it but it hurts to fully straighten my leg. I suspect it is related to the fact that my hamstrings have been extremely tight for the last couple weeks.

I started w 60# cleans - only got 1 switched to 50#, should have switched to 55#. They were kinda easy.

The 115# deadlifts on the otherhand were ridiculously hard given that my 5RM is 135. I can only hope it's because of whatever is wrong with my knee. But by a little more than half way through round 1 and for the rest of the WOD I was reduced to doing them one at a time.

Still - not bad for a workout I wasn't really sure I was going to do at all.

Blargh

Warmup - none to speak of - i was late to class, and i only got about 4 hours of sleep. (Late to bed, middle of the knight leg cramps, and woke up ridiculously early, unable to go back to sleep)


WOD:
Part A
Mini Bottom-to-Bottom -Tabata

First four intervals are pull-ups, without letting go of the bar, second four intervals are push-ups, rest in plank, third four intervals are sit-ups, rest in up position, final four intervals are squats, rest in bottom position.

Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the 4 intervals.

Plus Part B:

Snatch 5-3-3-1-1

Results:
Part A:
The pullup bar was full, so I started with pushups and then did pullups while everyone else was pushing up. My score was 6/0/7/5. kinda pathetic.

Part B:
Snatches - they just weren't happening today. my timing was completely off, and the 45# bar that went up so easily yesterday wouldn't make it past my nose today. I worked some light snatches - but nothing formal with any sort of rep scheme - up to about 35#. About half way through class I decided to work on cleans instead. 60# went up ok. Not pretty, but ok. Then I got 3 nearly consecutive pulls at 65# - my previous 1 rep max. So I decided to try for 70. First try failed, 2nd try failed. Waited a few minutes. Got it on my third try! New PR.

I do not drop under the bar. That is the reason I can't get very much weight up. It's mostly a mechanics and a balance issue. I am looking forward to the oly cycle we are planning on doing soon, but I know it will be fraught with frustrations and disappointments when my body can't figure out how to do what my brain wants it to. The only way to get better is to practice though, so I'll just have to stubborn through the frustration.

2nd time not quite the same as the first.

Warmup: ME, Squat hold, 5 minute static hang 10 burpee penalty for each stop followed immediately by 5 minute plank hold - same penalty.

WOD:
Run 400 Meters
15 Power Snatch 115#/75# (30#)
Run 400 Meters
15 OHS 115#/75# (30#, 35#, & 25#)
Run 400 Meters
15 Power Clean 115#/75# (50#)
Run 400 Meters
15 Front Squat 115#/75# (50#)

Result:
32:55

Comments:
We just did something very similar to this not a month ago. This time the runs were shorter and the rx weights a bit heavier. I decided to try to make my weights heavier all around, too.

Last time, I worked with 22# for the Snatches and OHS, and 42# for the cleans and Front Squat.

I forgot my watch and tried to borrow Daniel's but apparently I didn't start it right - or my hand kept hitting the button - or something - because I do not have my splits. WHich makes me sad. I was really pushing on the runs, and I really wanted to see how I did on them. ( I kept visualizing Ynez out in front of me and tried to 'catch up to her' to get myself to work a little harder.

The OHS were a complete disaster. I got the first 7 with the 30# women's bar. - that part was not a disaster - that part is actually pretty cool and probably a OHS PR. However, after that, my wrists completely gave out, and I just couldn't hold the bar up over my head anymore. The 15# bar was not being used, and Daniel suggested that I put the 10# plates I had standing by for my cleans to get it to 25# and finish my set. I got the plates on, found clips for them, managed to get it up over my head but MAN that felt so much harder than the empty 30# bar - i thought it was just having weights on a bar instead f an empty bar, I put the bar down. Tried again. Damn - just no way that was going to work. DAMN. have to go find some 5# plates I guess. Got the plates on, got them clipped. FINALLY did the math. "Daniel, 15# bar plus 10# plates is THIRTY FIVE pounds!!!" Finally managed to finish the last 8 squats. it only took me about 10 minutes.

Everything else went really well overall. The snatches were easy - pretty much unbroken. The cleans were good (though not great) - i really need to work this movement. The front squats went well, too. There were one or two very iffy reps where the bar got out in front of me and I just muscled my way up - but for the most part I feel like I was really able to keep my chest up and my knees out - my biggest problem was actually air. At any rate, they felt better than they did last time with less weight. Video might have told a different story - I usually do worse than I think I did - but things mostly felt right.

I would really like to know what my time would have been without the OHS lameness, and i really wish i knew what my run splits were. must not forget watch again.

Shorter and heavier

At first glance, this workout looks quite familiar. But it's 20# heavier than that workout, with fewer reps and shorter runs...I can't figure out if that's supposed to make it more intense or more strengthy.

Run 400 Meters
15 Power Snatch 115#/75#
Run 400 Meters
15 OHS 115#/75#
Run 400 Meters
15 Power Clean 115#/75#
Run 400 Meters
15 Front Squat 115#/75#

21:22 (Snatch @ 95#, OHS @ 75#, otherwise RX)

Due to some confusion with the watch, I don't have splits for this one, but I have some observations nonetheless:

• Snatches 10# heavier, and were heavy, but definitely doable. I didn't even have to split snatch until the last few.
• OHS were the same weight, but were considerably easier. I even did a set of eight consecutive! I'm eager to get better at these.
  
• Cleans were 8/7, as were front squats
• Back hurts again, like it did before.

All in all a good one, but (again) I need to be stricter with my form.

Hallelujah

Actually finished tonight's WOD! For the first time in four Fridays. Not well, though, and it was a pretty close call about halfway through.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 3, 2, 1 reps for time of:
Power Cleans (155lbs)
Ring Dips
KB Swings (24kg)

31:30 (cleans @ 125#, pullups instead of dips)

I did not climb this morning, in hopes that my arms wouldn't hurt for the workout. They did anyway - quite a lot, actually. Which means the Friday problem ISN'T the climbing, which is a relief. It must be heavy bench press the night before? Well, next week won't have that, so we'll see. Maybe my Fridays are just cursed.

Everyone seems surprised when I tell them I can only clean up to 135#. I'm not sure why my clean weight is so low. The distance the bar needs to travel, maybe? Shitty technique? Low power output? Probably all of those. Hopefully the Oly cycle I have planned for after the Games will address that shortcoming, and at least get me up to RX weight.

These cleans felt horrible, but I got them all, usually in sets of 2-3. Mainly split cleans, which gets me lower than power cleans. I think I may have bruised my breastbone. I subbed pullups for the ring dips because the dips were extremely hard on my biceps, and the pullups felt doable. The KB swings were a nice little bit of rest.

50% of hell is still pretty hellacious ...

Warmup: ME, Boz Warmup - 3 rounds

WOD:
Run 800 Meters
50 Pull-Ups (men C2B) *used green resistance band
100 Two-Hand Floor To Overhead 95/65 *subbed 45#
150 Burpees
Run 800 Meters

Results:
44:33 for 100% of the running & 50% of everything else.
Rounds consisted of 5 pullups, 10 clean/pushpress, 15 burpees - should have been a total of 10 rounds.
Round 2-5 were done 5 pu, 10 bp, 5 c/pp, 5bp, 5 c/pp

Exercise	Time	Elapsed
800m	5:11	5:11
Round 1 & 2	13:15	18:26
Round 3	6:21	24:47
Round 4	7:08	31:55
Round 5	6:51	38:46
800m	5:47	44:33

Comments:
I tried to stop as little as possible on the burpees - just go slow and steady. The ground to overhead (clean/push-press) definitely took the most out of me - even at 45# which should have been pretty manageable - but it probably had something to do with my neck and shoulders being stiff and sore and achy from yesterday's fall. And I'm also pretty sore from all the thrusters and backsquats, etc.

This workout was just taking forever - i was only at the beginnig of round 4 when Max started asking whether people were almost done, so i decided to call it at 50%.

My run times were pretty decent. I tried to run the 2nd one faster, but had to slow down almost immediately to keep a side stitch from forming. I think i probaly could have run the first one a little faster, but i was trying to conserve a little energy for the workout to come.

Shhhh

So we're not supposed to talk much about the super-secret training we're doing for the Affiliate Cup, which is why Sundays have gone kinda dark around this blog. Suffice to say this is some of the hardest shit I've ever done, and I feel completely worked.

I would like to note that I cleaned 135# ten times today. This was my 1RM in February, and my 3RM about a month ago. Progress feels good.

Damn you, Overhead Squats

I think I may be starting to get the hang of snatches - maybe even figuring out the final pull (though I'm still nowhere near diving under the bar). But I'm still horrendous at OHS, and will probably never get much better at the snatch until I get the OHS.

Run 800 Meters
21 Power Snatch 95/65
Run 800 Meters
21 OHS 95/65
Run 800 Meters
21 Power Clean 95/65
Run 800 Meters
21 front Squat 95/65

33:30 (Snatch at 85#, most OHS at 75#, all else RX)

So, let's check out the splits:

Run 1: 3:26
Snatches: 4:11
Run 2: 4:48
OHS: 7:55
Run 3: 4:10
Cleans: 2:16
Run 4: 4:21
Squats: 2:19

Wow, I didn't realize how crappy my runs got. But apart from that, it's clear that the OHS are the outlying movement. After 5 it was clear to me I needed to drop the weight if I was going to get anywhere, so I went down to 75# and worked in with Bill. The weight was not bad, but it hurts my wrists like CRAZY. I think the limiting factor here is actually hamstring flexibility: in order to go down all the way, I need a super-wide grip (all the way to the collars), which torques my wrists and makes them burn in a bad, bad way. It's all because my trunk leans way forward at the bottom of the squat. I can't really think of a way to work on this other than by doing squats up against a wall, or maybe front squats. But if I can get my trunk upright, then I can take a narrower grip on the bar, which will prevent wrist pain.

The second lesson here was about my lower back - it's been acting up lately, and I think the consequences of poor form are catching up to me as my weight and volume is going up - particularly as we keep hitting thrusters and snatches for reps. By the time I hit the cleans, my back was smarting pretty bad, but I found that if I focused on keeping my chest high, back arched and visualizing a short, vertical bar path then it didn't really hurt. Virtuosity is about more than efficiency of movement for a better time - it also prevents injury, and I need to be better about protecting my back.

5-20-09

WOD:

Run 800 Meters
21 Power Snatch 95/65
Run 800 Meters
21 OHS 95/65
Run 800 Meters
21 Power Clean 95/65
Run 800 Meters
21 front Squat 95/65

Results:
36:23

Time Elapse Exercise
5:12 5:12 Run 1
1:38 6:50 Snatch 22#
6:35 13:25 Run 2
4:09 17:34 OHS 22#
6:32 24:06 Run 3
2:06 26:12 Cleans 42#
6:42 32:54 Run 4
3:29 36:23 Front Squat 42#

Comments:
I think the weights I chose were too light for everything except the OHS. There was a bit of a scramble for bars, so i opted/offered to use the preset bars from upstairs, but they only have 10# increments, and OHS with 30# just wasn't happening, so I chose the 20# bar for the overhead work, and then ran up to get a 2nd heavier bar for the cleans and the squats.

My run times were pretty pathetic - but except for about 50m the second run when i got hit with a nasty side stitch, I managed to run all of each run. I discovered that if i felt a stitch forming, I just had to slow down to keep it at bay .... though at some point i'm not sure it wouldn't just have been faster to walk.

In which I discover Windows Movie Maker

Technically, today should be half-volume too. However, I have determined that half-volume strength workouts are just ridiculous, so I cut it short a day early.

Deadlift x 5: 225 - 250 - 280 (pr)
Deadlift x 21: 210 (unbroken)

Sadly, my shoulder is still too messed up to do presses - I made it to rep 7 of the 10-rep warmup and my shoulder was screaming at me. But enough typing! Today we took video:

I've never actually taken video of my deadlifts before. Three things stand out to me here:

1. My back is actually much straighter than I feared it was, even at heavy weight.
2. I tend to shoot my hips up too early before the weight leaves the ground, particularly on the first rep of every set.
3. When the weight gets heavy and I get tired, my shoulders round a bit more than I'd like. I'm not sure how much of this is solvable at high weights, but it doesn't look great.

Then it was on to 3RM cleans outside:

(props to Byers for the soundtrack idea)

Observations: Pretty spry on the 75 and 95, but as the weight goes up over 100 my receiving goes way downhill. It's clear from the bottom of the 75s that I'm tipping WAY forward at the bottom of the squat, and would never be able to hang on to that at heavy weight. More front squats are necessary, but then...I knew that. Also, fast elbows really help. One alarming thing is how hunched my upper back is on the first pull off the ground - that ain't good.

Two more down

I only have a few weeks until my one-year anniversary, and I'm not going to make my goal of having all Level II skills checked off. But damn if I'm not gonna get as close as I can. To that end, I set my sights tonight on the 1/2 bodyweight snatch and 3/4 bodyweight clean, figuring I might be close enough to get them.

Back Squat, x 5: 95-135-160-160-160-160-160
Power Cleans: 75 x 5, 87 x 5, 115 x 1, 130 x 1(f), 130 x 1(f), 130 x 1*
Power Snatch: 75 x 5, 87 x 1*

And there you have it! My form was horrible on both of them, and they were more like muscle cleans and snatches than powers, and I still haven't quite figured out how to come to full extension before dropping under the weight, but dammit the weight went up, and that was all I cared about tonight. Now I can drop the weight to something more manageable and focus on virtuosity again.

My first Linda.

Warmup: Mobility Exercises, 10 squats, 10 pushups, 10 situps

Wod:

Linda
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
BW Bench Press
¾ BW Clean
1 ½ BW Deadlift
Set up three bars and storm through for time.

Results:
1:05 - i accidentally erased the split data on my watch - but there was a lot of down time, so it probably wouldn't have been particularly instructive.

We decided to join Evelyn for Linda tonight at GWPC. I guess you'd call this 50% - I 'set' my BW @ 60# - I originally intended to DL 90# BP 60# Clean 45# - but ended up with a 55# BP and and switched to 85# DL 1/2 way through the firstround.

In hindsight - I probably should have stuck to the original plan. Once I warmed up a bit, those weights were fairly easy. Starting in round 7 I was able to get straight through the BP without racking. In fact, i was able to get through most rounds without much rest, which leads me to believe I wasn't working quite hard enough.

Since there were three of us, and only three oly bars, and the person on Bench needed to be spotted, there was quite a bit of waiting and resting and re racking of weights between rounds, so I'm sure my time would have been much shorter if I had been able to do it straight through. The weights might have felt heavier more quickly, too. But it was fun to do it together, and for it was good just to get a benchmark for this. Actually I think I got almost as much of a workout from racking and reracking weights on everyone's bars. I know my lower back did. :-p

It was good just to be moving heavy things around.