Conditioning

Quick conditioning routine at Stonecroft this afternoon.

Row - 2k with damper set at 10
Time = 9:57

I just wanted to see what difference a higher damper setting would make. Today was 30 seconds quicker than last week.

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Amrap 12
7 dumbbell hang squat cleans @ 25s
7 dumbbell push presses @ 25s
Score = 7 rounds and 6 hsc

Upper body

Elisabeth Akinwale

Light weight, lots of reps today.

Push press - max reps @ 85lb
9, 10, 8, 8, 9

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Bench press - full rom
95 x 10
105 x 8, 7, 7, 6

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Supersets: Lat raises @ 20s / Push-ups
10/16 - 9/12 - 8/12 - 7/10 - 7/10

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Leg hip raises
18, 16, 15

Full body

Personal training with Paul

"DT" - 5 rft:
12 deadlifts @ 115lb
9 hang power cleans @ 115lb
6 push presses @ 115lb
Time = 19:22

I went waaaay too fast with the first set of deadlifts, which left me breathless too soon. In subsequent sets, I used the light deadlifts as recovery time, taking them at a slowish pace. Also, I made the strategic mistake of not resting before the penultimate rep of each movement so that I could reserve it for the next movement. For example, I obviously needed to perform a deadlift to get to the hang clean starting position, so I should have rested after the 11th rep, then done the 12th as the precursor to doing the first hang clean. Similarly, the push press starts from my chest, which means I have to clean the bar to get it there. I only made that error in the first round. I think Paul was rather lenient on the presses, because the form for some of them was a bit ropey. It's clear I really need to work on my push presses.

Not that it means much, but with most upper body routines, I use approximately 55-65% of the weight Paul uses; with legs, it tends to be closer to 70-75%. This workout was with 115lb and Paul used 155%, so that's around 74%.

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21-style dips - Top half, bottom half, full rom
3-3-3, 4-4-4, 4-4-1, 4-4-1

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21-style bench press
75lb: 7-7-3, 7-7-2
65lb: 7-7-4, 7-7-2

Conditioning

I haven't used a picture of a male athlete for nearly a month.
Oh, well...

For time:
50 skips (x 2)
50 burpees
50 thrusters @ 20s
50 sit-ups
50 push presses @ 20s
50 leg raises/hip raises
50 traveling lunges (50 steps)
50 dumbbell swings @ 30
50 dumbbell snatches @ 25
50 jump squats

Time = 32:41

Real life got in the way of my planned pushing workout today and I didn't have time to go to ABsolute Fitness this morning. It wasn't until 6:00pm that I was able to take a break from work, but I was only able to get to the Stonecroft gym. I spent a good 15 minutes stretching and warming up, especially as my right calf is still hurting from my cramp spasm after Saturday's PT session.

I adapted today's main site WOD by substituting some movements for the RXed ones; for example, thrusters with dumbbells instead of wall balls, and leg/hip raises instead of knees to elbows. Some of the changes were due to the equipment that was available, and some were because I don't have the skills (100 single skips instead of 50 double-unders).

Perhaps because it was later in the day, but I felt pretty lethargic at the start of this routine. However, I gradually felt mentally more energized as I progressed, although I was obviously becoming more fatigued. I was alone in the gym until the dumbbell swings, and I think I scared the crap out of the geezer who came in to use the machines. I was grunting and sweating my ass off, then I managed to gasp "Enjoy your evening" when I left. I'm probably the first person at Stonecroft who's done metcon training!

Upper body

Short and simple today because of time constraints.

Hang cleans 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
95, 115, 120, 125, 130 (3)

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Dips; maximum 60 seconds rest between sets
14, 8, 7, 6, 6

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Amrap 12
5 x push presses (from ground)
5 x clapping push-ups
Score = 9 rounds exactly

Full body: Conditioning

Personal training with Paul.

Bloody hell, I've got to stop suggesting workouts to Paul. Today's was a killer. I stumbled across a metcon on a Guelph box's website and sent it to Paul because I thought he might like to try it. But no; he made me do it instead (I'll be bloody pissed if he doesn't give it a go!)

2 rounds of max reps:

Burpees: 40 + 29 = 69
Chin-ups: 37 + 27 = 64

Push presses @ 95lb: 27 + 23 = 50
Back squat @ 45 lb: 52 + 40 = 92
Knees to elbows: 27 + 27 = 54

3 minutes per station; 30 seconds of "rest" to transition to the next station.

3 minutes of rest between rounds.

Total reps = 324

Score = 383

There's an option of doing knees to elbows or sit-ups instead, but the k2e reps count double, hence my total score is higher than the total reps.

The presses were the toughest, simply because of the weight. I was pleasantly surprised that my second set was only four reps fewer than the first. The back squats were surprisingly hard because they took my breath away. I took some long breaks during the second set because my head was spinning so much. There was only one failed rep in the whole routine - a chin-up - and the k2es, which were the last movement of each round, were done on auto-pilot. I shut off my mind and just concentrated on getting through the next rep. I've never know 30 seconds pass so quickly nor 3 minutes go so slowly.

I finished off with some sit-ups, none of which was timed.

Full body

Push press - 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
85, 95, 105, 110, 115 (4)

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Yesterday's main site WOD.

Deadlift - 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
225, 245, 255, 265, 270 (3)

At last - an official demo video that actually emphasizes good form and technique for a lift. I followed the advice of the trainer and leaned back once I had a good grip of the bar, because that put the weight firmly in my heels. Besides, there's no danger of me toppling backward, which gave me confidence with my posture. Plus, this helps to avoid "stripper's butt"! Also, I was strict about not letting gravity pull the bar on the way down, so I ensured that I had control when I lowered the bar. 

I used a one-rep max calculator to guesstimate what I should be aiming for with my final set. As my 1RM is 325lb, the target came out as roughly 280lb, which is 10lb more than I managed. However, when I do a 1RM routine, my form is usually dodgy for the final lift, whereas today I was being ultra strict with my technique. Therefore, I'm not disappointed with "only" hitting 270lb for three reps. I was very pleased with my form today, so that's a good trade-off.

I wore long jogging pants today to try and protect my shins, but when I was squatting to address the bar for my last set I could see some blood showing through!

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Wide cable rows; max reps @ 80lb
20, 15, 12

I don't want to overtrain again, so tomorrow will be a rest day. I'd forgotten that when I trained like this before, I worked out on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (PT session), so that's what I'm sticking with for a couple of weeks. I'll probably switch back to the previous pushing, pulling, legs and conditioning split at the end of the month.

Upper body

I ate a hell of a lot of food yesterday, but it was all "clean". I would have treated myself and eaten some apple pie IF SOMEONE HAD BOTHERED TO BRING SOME!

Push press - 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
85, 95, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125 (2)

I've put that I managed two reps at 125lb, but - to be honest - they weren't great. I got the bar overhead, but it came down pretty quickly both times. I was doing pretty well up to that point, too, and I felt like I got plenty of power from my hips and shoulders up to 120lb.

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5 rft:
5 power cleans @ 115lb
10 dips
Time = 8:59

All of the cleans were unbroken, although they weren't all t&g. About halfway through this routine I found that my form improved significantly by keeping the bar close to my body during the cleans. However, this new-found knowledge came at a price; when I brought the bar up my shins, I ripped off the deadlift scab on my right leg from a couple of weeks ago. I could feel the blood dripping down and pooling on my top of my sock! Also, I noticed that there were spots of blood on the carpet by the dips station. Ew!

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Chin-ups (strict), max reps
10, 7, 5, 5

Last flex of 2012!

Full body

Clever advertising campaign by Nike

Supersets:
Bench presses, max reps @ 125lb - 5, 4, 4, 4, 4
Cable rows, max reps @ 125lb - 8, 7, 7, 7, 7

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For time:
30 x hang clean and presses @ 95lb
10 x burpees whenever I drop the bar (not at the end)
Time = 10:57 (5 breaks/sets of burpees)

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50 strict sit-ups
30 leg raises/hip raises
40 straight leg raises
20 decline sit-ups

A couple of things: I did the leg raises/hip raises before the straight leg raises because the dip station where I do the former was being used. Also, I didn't do any toes-to-bar because all the benches were occupied, so I couldn't get up there! Stoopid short legs...

Pushing

The first thing I thought was: "Nice quads."
What's wrong with me?

Decent start to the week.

Push press - 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
85, 95, 105, 110, 115

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Bench press plus 20 push-ups
95 x 5
105 x 5
110 x 5 (4 + 1)
110 x 5 (3 + 2)

I decided to do standard bench presses - i.e. not using safeties - and went with fairly light weights that I was confident of controlling. As soon as I felt a bit of a struggle to lock out with the weight, I racked it and rested a few seconds. That only happened in the third and fourth sets.

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Alternate sets, relative max reps:
Dumbbell flies @ 27s - 12, 9, 7, 7, 7
Dips - 10, 7, 6, 6, 5

I rested exactly 60 seconds between each set/exercise.

Pushing

Team Poppa and the Moo at Saturday's Santa Pur-Suit in Waterloo.
This was so much fun - we finished the 3k in 31:59, 26th in the parent and child division.

A busy day ahead, so an early training session.

Military press - 5, 5, 3, 3, 2
65, 75, 80, 85, 90 (0), 90 (1)

I failed at my first attempt with 90lb - early start, so a bit rusty. I rested a couple of minutes, then tried again.

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Bench press (small bench, 6 holes)
Warm up: 95 x 8, 8
115 x 5
125 x 5
130 x 3
135 x 3
140 x 2
145 x 1

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4 rft:
10 push press @ 85lb (starting each set from the ground, as well as after a break)
10 dips
Time = 8:00

This went a bit quicker than expected. The first round was completely unbroken, and all the other push presses were 6 and 4.

Full body

I decided to try something different from my usual Monday pushing workout today, just for a change.

Diane: 21-15-9 rft
Deadlifts @ 225lb (sets broke down as 11, 5, 5 - 5, 5, 5 - 5,4)
Push presses @ 95lb (5, 6, 5, 5 - 5, 5, 5 - 5, 4)
Time = 12:54

Because I can't do handstand push-ups, I substituted presses instead. The last time I did Diane - with Paul - I used military presses, but today I went for push presses with more weight. The reason for trying this is because a few of the YouTube Diane videos show some athletes doing a kipping type of motion for the handstand push-ups, and I thought push presses might be a good approximation of that movement. My time ended up being quicker by 6:45, so perhaps I could have gone heavier on the push presses (the deadlifts were RXed).

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The second routine was yesterday's main site WOD.

For time:
5 front squats @ 125lb
25 pull-ups
4 front squats
20 pull-ups
3 front squats
15 pull-ups
2 front squats
10 pull-ups
1 front squat
5 pull-ups
Time = 13:14

The demo video stipulates using 65% of a 1RM for the front squats. I can't recall ever going for a 1RM, so I used my heaviest ever weight - 175lb - and did a little over 70% of that. That would have been 122.5lb, so I rounded up. The front squats were just breaking parallel and actually felt quite easy. This enabled me to do all the reps with good form; i.e. elbows up. The pull-ups, however, really took my breath away and slowed me down.

Overall, a good, sweaty workout today!

Full body

A bit more elegant than me

Personal training with Paul

Alternating sets
Bench press
95 x 5, 115 x 5, 125 x 5, 135 x 2, 135 x 3 (fourth rep was assisted)

Dumbbell rows
70 x 5, 75 x 5, 75 x 5, 80 x 5, 80 x 5

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For time:
50 hang power cleans and push presses @ 75lb
Every break (bar on the ground) do 10 pushups and 15 jump squats
Time = 10:57

I think I took breaks after the following reps: 14, 10, 8, 5, 5, 8. Edit: 14-10-10-8-8.

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50 strict sit-ups
40 straight leg raises
30 leg raises/hip raises
20 decline sit-ups
10 toes to bars

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At the end of today's workout I weighed myself on the gym's scale. According to that, I'm now 148lb, which is 6lb more than the last time I weighed on my home scale. There may or may not be a discrepancy between the two scales, but I think Paul might be exaggerating when he said I'm getting fat! The evidence in my favour...

Flexin' time

Looking back at all these photos, I can't see too much difference between them, although I do look a bit lighter in the early ones. Other than that, everything looks pretty consistent.

Pushing

Damn easy - and delicious - pulled pork.

Yesterday, we had a surprise party to celebrate my Mum's 80th birthday. There were about 30 guests, so I cooked a big batch of pulled pork, with a recipe from a Paleo cookbook Cher gave me for my birthday. The recipe is sooo easy, but tastes frigging amazing. The meat was juicy and tender, even though you don't add any liquid to it. It's just pork, a seasoning dry rub, and onions. It was one of those gratifying occasions when I cook something really healthy and everyone loves it!

Military presses 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
65, 75, 80, 85, 90 (0), 85, 85

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Supersets

Dumbbell bench presses; rel max @ 50s - 8, 5, 4, 3, 3
Push-ups - 10, 8, 6, 7, 7

Push presses @ 105lb - 5, 6, 4, 5
Dips - 6, 5, 5, 4

Pushing

A decent start to the week.

Bench press - 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 (small bench, 6 holes)
105, 115, 125, 135, 140, 145 (2), 145 (1)

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Push press - 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
85, 95, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125 (2)

I didn't PR on the benches nor the push presses in terms of weight, but I increased the number of reps - by one - of the heaviest I've managed with both routines.

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5 rft
10 x dips
15 x push ups
Time = 12:08

The dips station was being used when I started, so I used the unsecured pull up rack instead. It feels a bit different (a) because it doesn't have grips, and (b) the horizontal bars slant inwards. Even though the proper dip bars became vacant midway through this routine, I stuck with the same type of dips for the sake of consistency.

Pushing

After-lunch workout with mixed results.

Dumbbell seated shoulder press
30s (10), 35s (5), 37s (5, 5), 40s (4)

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Bench press (small bench, 6 holes)
95 x 10
115 x 7
125 x 4
135 x 2
135 x 1

A little bit below par with these.

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12-10-8-6-4-2 rft
Push press @ 95lb, from a clean
Push ups
Time = 6:18

I did this in August with 85lb from a rack. I was warming up with 65lb, then 85lb, and felt really comfortable, so I upped the weight. Also, I wanted to use cleans whenever I picked up the bar, rather than a rack. I felt like I took long rests, although not too often. I expected the extra weight and starting with a clean would slow me down, so I was really surprised when I checked my watch at the end and saw that I was over 3 minutes quicker. The presses felt really good, with plenty of hip power. 6:18 is two thirds of my previous time!

Pushing

I still feel damn sore from Saturday's workout. My lower back doms have almost gone, but my pecs hurt like hell. Oh, well...

Push press 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
85, 95, 105, 110, 115, 120 (1), 120

Both racks were being used, so these push presses were preceded with a power clean to get the bar to my shoulders. I don't think that affected the presses too much, as my 1RM for cleans is 145lb. I got the bar overhead with my first attempt, second rep at 120lb, but didn't lock out with my right arm.

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Dumbbell bench press
45s x 5 plus 20 push-ups
50s x 5 plus 20 push-ups
55s x 5 plus 20 push-ups
55s x 5 plus 20 push-ups

I did this using rack bench presses a few weeks ago as part of a PT session. Both racks were being used - by a personal trainer whose name rhymes with "Derek" - so I went for straightforward db benches instead.

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Amrap 12
5 db military presses @ 35s
10 db push presses @ 35s
15 dips
Score = 2 rounds exactly

I completed the second round with about 30 seconds remaining, but I couldn't complete another shoulder press without resorting to a dip and push motion. This was a damn sight tougher than I expected. The push presses were the only movement that felt comfortable.

Pushing

Bench press - small bench, 6 holes
105 x 2
115 x 2
125 x 2
135 x 2
140 x 2
145 x 0, 1

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Military press - 5, 5, 3, 3, 2
65, 75, 80, 85, 90 (1)

Got the bar to eye level while attempting my second rep at 90lb, but the weight just dropped back down again.

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Supersets - relative max reps
Incline dumbbell flies @ 30s - 10, 9, 8
Dumbbell push presses @ 40s - 7, 6, 6

Pushing

Alternate sets

Military press @ 75lb - 6, 4, 4, 3, 3
Dumbbell bench press @ 50s - 7, 7, 5, 6, 6

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Clapping push-ups - 8, 7, 6, 7, 7
Incline dumbbell flies @ 25s - 12, 9, 9, 11, 9

This was the first time I did clapping push-ups where my feet left the ground, too. 

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A quick metcon to finish.

RFT: 9-7-5-3
Dips
Push press @ 95lb (starting with a clean at the beginning of each round and after a break)
Time = 6:03

I probably could have gone 10lb heavier with the push presses, although there weren't any unbroken sets. The first 9 reps were broken down into 5 and 4.

Full body

Personal training with Paul

Complex: 1 power clean + 5 front squats
115, 125, 135, 140 (4 squats), 140 (3)

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Alternate drop sets

Weighted pull-ups - 25 x 9, 5, 4, 4
Pull-ups - bw x 3, 4, 3, 3

Military press - 65 x 9, 7, 7, 5
Push press - 65 x 7, 8, 6, 6

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Death by burpees
11 rounds + 9 reps