Today’s workout was all barbell work. We started, like usual, with a strength workout.
2-2-2 Back Squat (90%)
I did a few warm-up sets, then tried 133#. I’ve done that weight before for one set of 3, so I knew I could do it. It didn’t feel like 90%, so I jumped up to 155#. I did three sets with this weight and felt good about it. New estimated 1RM is 172#.
On to the WOD.
8 Tabata Intervals Each of:
Push Press (75# / 45#)
SDHP (75# / 45#)
Just yesterday, we did a bunch of deadlifting and I was not happy to be doing more. Hillary wrote down my splits, but I forgot the paper at the gym. This one was tough, but I was able to do it Rx without running out of gas or having my heart and breathing shoot through the roof.
Total: 43PP + 43SDHP = 86
Our gym started its performance challenge about two months ago. Today was our final exam. I felt like I did pretty well last time. Let’s see if I’ve gotten any better.
1RM Deadlift
I’m still lifting too much with my back and not my legs. I was surprised that my back wasn’t sore the next day though.
Deadlift: 288#
For time:
Run to Stop Sign (~700 M)
30 KB Swings (35# / 25# )
30 Burpees
30 Double Unders
30 Push Presses (45# / 35#)
Run to Stop Sign (~700 M)
I’ve been working on my double-unders, but the burpees had taken so much out of me that I wasn’t able to string them together at all.
Time: 15:03
Since last time, I added 10 k to my deadlift, and took 3:22 off of my WOD time. I’m pretty happy with that.
Today was the first day of the gym’s Performance Challenge. We had two different benchmarks, 1RM deadlifts, and a metabolic conditioning workout:
Run to Stop Sign (~700 M)
30 KB Swings (35# / 25# )
30 Burpees
30 Double Unders
30 Push Presses (45# / 35#)
Run to Stop Sign (~700 M)
I’ve never worked on my max deadlift before, so this was a real treat. I worked my way up from a couple of warm-up sets, 177# to 265#. I tried 288# and got it almost up, but the bar started rolling out of my hands and I wasn’t able to fully stand up before losing control of it. I tried a second time with a mixed grip, but couldn’t stand up. I probably could have played around with weights between 265 and 288, but decided that what I got was good enough.
The MetCon WOD was not fun. I took it easy on the first run so that my breathing and heart rate weren’t completely blown away before I started the hard stuff. While doing the KB swings, I learned a lot about how to do it correctly. I finally got the “explosive hips” that everyone kept yelling at me for not doing in the past. I got through everything else by breaking them into sets of 2-5. The final run was a jog. Yuck. Final time: 18:25 Rx
Today’s workout was a fun one – running and barbell work.
4 Rounds of:
Sprint 250M
6x Hang Power Clean (155# Men / 95# Women)
3x Push Jerk/Press (155# Men / 95# Women)
My time was 6:12 using 77# for the HPC and PP.
Times for each round:
- :41 run / :40 weights
- :51 run / :37 weights
- :54 run / :50 weights
- :58 run / :41 weights
The first and third barbell sets were slower because I accidentally lowered the bar to a hang after the 6th rep and had to re-clean it before starting the presses. I’ll have to throw a little more weight on the bar next time, since I wasn’t having to dip much at all when catching the bar for the clean, and was doing straight push presses. Adding a little more weight will force me to shrug more explosively to get the bar up when cleaning, and make me catch the bar lower on the press. I’ll probably move up to at least 89# next time.