Friday, December 31, 2010

Triple WOD

Workout 31 December 2010:

Rounds in seven minutes of:
10 Thrusters (95lb)
10 Hand-release push-ups

Then:

Time for 21-15-9 reps of:
Pull-ups
Burpees

Then:

Max split jerk in 10 minutes

Results:
Thruster/PU: 4 rounds
PU/Burpee: 7'07
Split Jerk: 175lb

Previous best:
Thruster/PU: none
PU/Burpee: none
Split Jerk: 185lb (under no time constraint, 10 Nov 10)

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. What better way to end the year than with three workouts in one. Each individual workout stressed the upper body extensors, so when it was time to do the split jerk, I was just about fried. Despite that, I was able to put up 175lb which is only 10lb lighter than my previous 1RM PR. My goal for the first workout was 4-5 rounds and I hoped to finish the second in 5-10 minutes. Great end to a great year!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Shoulder Press

Workout 30 December 2010:

Shoulder Press 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Results: 125-135-145-150-155-155-150lbs
Previous best: 115-125-130-135-140-145-150(F)

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. During my last CrossFit Total, I pressed 155lbs once as my new one-rep-max. Today, I was able to press that same weight twice. Even though I knew I couldn't go up any higher, it's still evidence I'm getting stronger. Hopefully within a few months I can hit 160lbs.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Lynne

Workout 27 December 2010:

"Lynne"
Five rounds for max reps of:
Body weight bench press
Pull-ups

Results: 41 bench press (150lbs), 54 strict pull-ups
Previous best: 49 bench press (150lbs), 55 strict pull-ups (17 Apr 09)

I haven't done this workout in almost a year and a half but showed some reasonable improvement. Last time I had 41 bench presses @145lbs and only 38 strict pull-ups. I'm still a bit off from my previous best, but should be able to get back to those numbers soon.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Squat Slash Dip

Workout 26 December 2010:

Three rounds for time of:
35 Squats
25 Kettlebell slashers (16kg)
15 Ring dips

Results: 11'55
Previous best: none

Like yesterday's workout, this one was designed to be quick. Today's "goat" is ring dips. Although I'm far from bad at them, I should be able to do more before fatigue sets in. I had to divide them up into sets of 2 or 3. Eventually, I'd like to be able to consistently do 10-15 dips straight though with minimal kipping. The squats and slashers were unbroken.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas WOD

Workout 25 December 2010:

Four rounds for time of:
12 Sit-ups (Abmat)
9 One-handed kettlebell overhead squats (16kg)
6 Handstand push-ups

Results: 11'09
Previous best: none

Today's workout was designed to be quick since the rest of the day would be very lazy. Recognizing a weakness from my workout on the 23rd, I added in the one-handed KB OHS. They went slightly better and I was able to maintain better balance deep in the squat. I designed this workout to take approximately 10 minutes, so one minute over isn't too bad.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Deck the Halls with Bells of Kettle

Workout 23 December 2010:

Four rounds for time of:
30 Kettlebell swings
20 One-handed* kettlebell snatch
10 One-handed* kettlebell OHS
* Alternate hands each round
(All with 1 pood (16kg) kettlebell)

Results: 15'37
Previous best: none

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. Another Christmas workout, though not quite as painful as yesterday's. It's been awhile since I've done a good kettlebell workout, especially since the standards were set high by Coach Ben back in Cleveland. The swings went well and I only broke them up into two sets. I was also able to develop an efficient rhythm for the snatches, so those too went well. The hardest part of the workout, despite the fewest reps, were the overhead squats. I still have a problem with flexibility which throws me off balance a bit and prevents me from squatting as low as I'd like with each rep. I had to break these up into two or three sets per round.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

12 Days of Christmas

Workout 22 December 2010:

Twelve Days of Christmas for time:
1 Clean and split jerk, 115lb
2 Deadlifts, 185lb
3 Kettlebell high pulls, 1.5 pood
4 Pull ups
5 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 pood
6 Box jumps, 24 inch
7 Burpees
8 Push ups
9 Wall balls, 20lb ball
10 Squats
11 Push Presses, 75lb
12 Ring dips

Results: 30'30
Previous best: none

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. This absolutely brutal workout is done much like the "12 Days of Christmas" song: one C&J; two deadlifts and a C&J; three KB high pulls, two deadlifts, and a C&J, etc for a total of 364 reps for all exercises combined. The first few rounds weren't terrible but everything after round six or seven was painful. I'm actually surprised to have finished so close to 30 minutes. Although I had no specific goal (aside from finishing), I thought this might take longer or that I would need to scale some weights in later rounds.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Tens

Workout 18 December 2010:

Time for:
10 Cleans (95lb)
10 Burpees
10 Jerks (95lb)
10 Burpees
10 Power Clean and Jerks (95lb)
10 Burpees
10 Jerks (95lb)
10 Burpees
10 Cleans (95lb)

Results: 14'23
Previous best: none

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. I'm still not back to 100% because of my recent cold, and I really didn't feel up for a metcon today, but I decided to give this workout a go since I'm a big fan of the Olympic lifts in the workout. The lifts went well, especially since I purposely chose a lighter weight (I'd probably attempt this at 115lb next time), but the burpees just trashed me. My lungs were on fire after each set of burpees and I had to rest much longer than usual.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Bench and Pull

Workout 17 December 2010:

Bench Press 5-5-5-5-5
Weighted Pull-up 1-1-1-1-1

Results:
Bench: 155-165-170-175-180lbs
Pull-ups: 45-55-60-65-70(c)lbs

Previous best:
Bench: 155-165-175-175-175 (13 Feb 10)
Pull-ups: 1RM 90(c)lbs (21 Nov 09)
"(c)" indicates a supinated (chin-up) grip.

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. I got sick yesterday and although I'm feeling somewhat better today, I opted to skip the rx'd workout (a metcon) and do a strength day. I was primarily focused on the bench and wasn't planning on going exceedingly heavy on the pull-ups. Despite being sick, and rarely doing bench, I was still able to PR by five pounds on a set of five.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Dead Jump Sit

Workout 15 December 2010:

Three rounds for time of:
15 Deadlifts, 185lbs
30 Box jumps, 24 inch box
21 Sit-ups

Then Tabata Burpees

Results: 9'47, burpees 5
Previous best: none/none

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. This was a killer triplet. Individually, none of the elements was particularly difficult, but the combination quickly became taxing, especially the box jumps immediately following high-rep deadlifts. However, I was able to keep moving with short rests primarily during the box jumps. I managed to impress myself with a sub 10-minute time.

Afterwards, Tabata burpees. I stuck with five across all sets. Next time, I might try to go for six.

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm getting sick. I was already planning on a rest day tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be back in action on Friday.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Snatch

Workout 14 December 2010:

Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Results: 105-105-110-110-115-115-120(F)
Previous best: 1RM at 125lbs (28 Mar 10)

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. The prescribed workout was actually power snatches, but I feel like I need to get a full snatch handled before I feel comfortable with heavier power snatch weights. Although I've previously hit 120 and 125lbs during the Olympic lifting workshops I attended during the beginning of this year, it's been several months since I've attempted any heavy snatches, so I felt like today's lifts went well. I'm getting more comfortable getting under the bar, but I'm still limited by shoulder and arm flexibility.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Quartet

Workout 13 December 2010:

Nine rounds for time of:
4 Handstand push-ups
6 Toes-to-bar
4 Muscle-ups
8 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 pood

Results: 28'52
Previous best: none

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. This was a brutal workout, especially combining the muscle-ups and HSPU. By the seventh or eighth round, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to continue doing muscle-ups but somehow pulled through and managed to complete the workout without scaling, though I was definitely using some aggressive kips to get through the muscle-ups near the end.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Triplet

Workout 9 December 2010:

Time for 15-10-5 reps of:
Clean, 105lbs
Toes-to-bar
Burpees

Results: 10'49
Previous best: none

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. This workout provided a good chance to work on some lighter-weight high-rep cleans. The hardest part of this workout ended up being the toes-to-bars, not because of their inherent difficulty, but because I can't quickly string them together and it took longer than it should have to complete all the reps. With more practice, I hope to be able to significantly improve their cycle time. Next time I might also up the weight on the cleans.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Pull and Press

Workout 7 December 2010:

Five rounds for time of:
1 Shoulder Press, 135lb
3 L-sit Pull-ups
1 Shoulder Press, 135lb
5 Strict Pull-ups
1 Shoulder Press, 135lb
7 Kipping Pull-ups

Results: 12'30
Previous best: none

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. The shoulder press weight was chosen to be approximately 85-90% of one's 1RM and 135lbs falls at about 85% of my recently set 1RM of 155lbs. The shoulder press got very difficult by the fourth round and during the fifth round, it was a struggle to complete the lift, though I never failed once. The L-sit pull-ups went reasonably well and the kipping pull-ups were easy, but the strict pull-ups proved to be the most difficult part of this workout. By the third round, I was breaking them up into sets of three and two. I was hoping for a sub-15 minute time, so I'm happy with today's results.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Back Squat

Workout 6 December 2010:

Back Squat 3-3-3-3-3

Results: 215-225-240-250-255lbs
Previous best: 215-225-235-245-255lbs (21 Mar 08)

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. It's been over two years in the making, but I've finally reached my previous 3-rep back squat PR. Even at the heavier weights, my form remained decent, though I still have a tendency to tip forward onto my toes as I approach max loads. Better concentration on maintaining posterior chain tightness as I sink into the hole should help fix this problem.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Snatch and OHS

Workout 4 December 2010:

Five sets of:
1 Power snatch
3 Overhead squats
(2-3 minutes rest between rounds)

Results: 95-100-105-110-115lbs
Previous best: none

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. These are two of my weaker lifts, so this was a good chance to work on each of them. Due to flexibility issues, and also mind games, I have a hard time quickly getting under the bar during the snatches so I end up muscle snatching at heavier weights. I also have a relatively weak overhead lockout, so the OHS got tough quickly. Good workout, and I'm sure my hips will be feeling it tomorrow.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Hopper

Workout 3 December 2010:

Rounds in 15 minutes of:
5 Strict chin-ups
7 Burpees
9 Toes-to-bar

Results: 6 + 5,5
Previous best: none

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. This past week exhausted me and I wasn't able to give a great effort during today's workout. I tired quickly during the chin-ups and wasn't able to get a good rhythm to string together the toes-to-bars. As a penance, a few minutes after this workout was over, I did a moderate-intensity 1500m row in 6'15.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Clean and Jerk

Workout 1 December 2010:

Clean and Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Results: 115-135-155-165-175-185(F)-185lbs
Previous best: 150-155-160-165-170-175-180lbs (18 Sep 10)

Today's workout was at CrossFit Confluence. I wasn't originally going to count the 115lb lift as my first rep, but I ended up only doing six lifts afterwards since my elbows were starting to bother me. As I was doing the 185lb lifts, I didn't realize at the time that that weight would be a PR. As long as my elbows hold up, I can clean another 20-30lbs beyond what I lifted today, but the limiting factor of this lift is my jerk. I'm not yet able to get under the bar fast enough or deep enough to successfully catch the heavier weights. Part of the problem is psychological but the bigger part is a flexibility problem. Working on both should allow me to throw up heavier weights.