We had a pretty straight-forward workout today — shoulder-press strength work, and rowing.

3-3-3-3 Shoulder Press (75% of Max)

We did 75% shoulder presses two weeks ago and I used 89#.  Did the same today.

3 Rounds of:

Row 500 Meters
Rest 1 Minute

I looked at the whiteboard to estimate what I thought my splits should be.  I was shooting for 1:45ish.  I went out too fast and, by the third split, I was struggling.  Afterward, my quads were so shot that I could barely walk to the car, though I was fine once I rested.

Splits: 1:40, 1:45, 1:57

We continued our shoulder press strength workout today, stepping up the weight, and decreasing the number of reps.  I did five sets of 3 reps with a weight of 89#.  I had poor-ish form, but got every rep, except the very last one.  I guess I had the perfect weight.  This puts my 1RM at about 120#

The WOD was 5 minutes of Tabata intervals (20sec work / 10 sec rest) on the rower using total calories as the score.  I know I’m a pretty strong rower, so I looked at the scores and thought that I’d try to do at least 7 cal per interval.  My first round was 8, and I had 9 cal on a few.  Total score: 84.  Tired but happy.

Today’s workout started with 5×5 constant weight shoulder presses.  Taking last week’s 5×5 shoulder press progression into consideration, Dave L. suggested that 77# would be a good weight.  I did two warm-up sets of 35# and 45#, then four rounds of 77#.  I Still felt good, so I did 82# on my last set.  I heard that we’ll be doing shoulder presses every week, but adding weight each week, so I’m planning to do 5×82# at that time.

21-15-9

Ring Pushups (scale reps as necessary)
Double Unders

I have never done ring push-ups before.  They are crazy hard.  I can do 25 push-ups easy, but could barely get through 5 ring push-ups.  I was able to do the first 21 strict by breaking them into sets, but on the second and third rounds I had to do knee push-ups.  I didn’t make up any time on my double unders.  My timing was all off.

Time: 10:27

The gym followed their regular template today with a combination strength workout followed by a MetCon WOD.

Today’s strength workout was 5×5 shoulder presses. We did 15 rep sets last week, so this would give me a chance to boost my numbers up a little more. I’ve never tried for my 1RM, so I’m using this strength workouts to help me get a feeling for what that number probably is. I did warm-up sets at 35# and 45#, then started with my max 15RM of 67#. Since that was pretty easy, I added on 10# and did that for two sets. Now that I was half way though, I tried pushing up a little more to try to find my failure point. I did a 82# set with a little struggle on the last rep, and pushed to 89# for the last set, only getting 4 reps before failure.

On to the WOD.

3 Rounds of:

10 Burpees
20 KB Swings (45#/35#)

I did a few 45# KB swings before the WOD, to see if I thought I could handle that weight.  I figured I could get through one round, then switch to 35# for the remainder.  By the 10th rep into the WOD, I wasn’t able to keep my elbows straight, so I switched to 35# at that point.  In the middle of the second set of burpees, I suddenly felt all my energy drain.  I was surprised by the suddenness of it.  The rest of the workout was a trial.  I was having a hard time with the burpee jump.  I remember feeling like I had a pained expression while doing the last 20 KB swings with no break (Thanks Landon and Dave).  I didn’t beat many people, but I felt like I gave it my all.  That’s all I try for.

Time: 4:28

The trainers have been busy the past few days, making new toys to torture us with.  They stuffed a bunch of army canvas with wood chips to make an uneven heavy sack.  Today we had to use them in a workout.

First, though, we had a strength workout.  Three sets of 15 shoulder presses.   I did 35# and that was pretty easy, so I stepped up to 67#.  This was a bit too aggressive.  I did 10 reps and this was all I could do.  After a bit of a rest, I did 5 more reps with this weight, then stepped down to 50# for a final 15 reps.

3 Rounds of:

10 Alternating Sandbag Cleans (5 each arm)
Run to Truck with Sandbag

Kyle suggested that I use a 42# bag and decided to stick with it after a couple of trial reps.  I though that the workout would catch up with me even though it felt easy at that time.  I should have used a heavier weight, since I cruised through it.  The running was difficult though.

Time: 4:27