Tag: Thruster

Hello Barbell, my Old Friend

Yesterday my quads and ass were a little tight and sore. I worked the speed bag a couple of times for a few minutes and I’m already getting the hang of it. I took an awesome nap before a late lunch. Didn’t end up doing any PT or core work for the day.

Last night I slept 9.5 hours! Out in the garage at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Airdyne (99 cals, 2.51 km)
  • Monster Walks

Conditioning

“Jackie”

  • 1,000m Row
  • 50 Thrusters (45/35#)
  • 30 Pull-ups

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this girl WOD on my TODO list and didn’t end up doing it. Using an empty bar seemed like a good way to ease back in to the barbell. I rowed in 3:40 with my steady 1:50 metcon pace. Unbroken but way too slow on the thrusters. I was cautious with my back and not knowing how 50 reps would feel. I could have gone much faster. Finished those at 6:20. The pull-ups were much harder than I expected. I started out 7-5-5 I think and then like 3s and 2s. Pathetic. Finished at 7:45.

Accessory

2 Sets

  • 3:00 Banded Bear Hug Marches (30# Slam Ball)
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 3:00
    • 12/12 Lateral Step-ups (24″)
    • 12/12 Banded Bulgarian Split Squats (red, 3 count descent)
  • 2:00 Rest

Got the idea for the banded split squats from Eramo again. The timing of the reps I chose for the two movements in the second three minutes was damn near perfect, giving just a little extra rest before the two minute clock started.

Then I did some of my floor PT exercises. Was hoping to get in my core work later in the evening, but didn’t get to it.

Try Hanging On

I didn’t sleep very well last night. My hands and pretty smoked and can already feel tightness in my upper back. Miss doing partner workouts so I went in at 9am.

Warm-up

  • Plank Cuban Shuffle
  • 45# Snatches, C&J, Thrusters
  • 95# Snatches, C&J

Partner Workout

  • 2 Rounds
    • 400m Row
    • 25 Power C&J (135#)
  • 2 Rounds
    • 50 cal Assault Bike
    • 25 Thrusters (135#)
  • 2 Rounds
    • 50 cal Row
    • 25 Power Snatches (135#)

I worked with Tom, who scaled his weights a bit. We also had a 3rd guy, but he worked at the same time as me. We split the row at 200m down the middle, calories 15-10, and barbell in fives everywhere. With doing fives it meant I did 15 reps in the first round and 10 in the second. I think I did one set of singles somewhere on the C&J and then started with singles on the snatches before hanging on unbroken the rest of the way. Good challenge with my grip feeling like it was. We finished at 27:35. I thought the thrusters would feel the worst, but they ended up feeling really good. Snatches got tough at the end.

Get Out All of the Gear

Around 9pm last night I started falling asleep and my body was feeling completely wrecked. Crawled in bed around 10 and got some solid recovery. My glutes are pretty damn sore and my upper back started to get sore through the day. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

  • 2:00 Row (34 cals)
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 10 DB Shoulder Press (20#)

Strength

2 Front Squats + 2 Jerks

  • 45# (5 reps of each)
  • 95 (5 reps of each)
  • 135
  • 165
  • 185
  • 205
  • 225
  • 235

I haven’t front squatted that weight in almost two years, when I did 2×245 on December 14, 2017. It felt pretty good, all things considered. I did all push jerks except for the last set where I split jerked both reps. I think I started wearing my belt with 165. I also had knee sleeves on just because I’d want them for the lunges.

Conditioning

17:00 AMRAP

  • Buy-in: 5 Rounds
    • 10 Thrusters (95#)
    • 15 Pull-ups
    • 30 Double Unders
  • AMRAP in remaining time…
    • 10 Front Rack Lunges (95#)
    • 15 Russian KBS (70#)
    • 30 Double Unders

I broke the thrusters 5-5 from the start, hoping to keep my heart rate down, and did 5-5-5 on all pull-ups. My first round was just under 2:00 and round two was right at 4:00, but then I started resting way too much between movements. I think I was on the AMRAP right around the 13:00 mark, so I averaged three minutes for each of the last three rounds! Missed 3 double unders all together I think. Got through 2+10 of the AMRAP.

My Take on Frantasy Land

Had great night of sleep and didn’t wake up until ten after 8. Went to open gym at 10am.

No B.S. Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 5×135
  • 5×175
  • 5×205
  • 5×225
  • 4×240
  • 2x5x235
  • MAX @ 225 (7)

I’ve been struggling through this entire second cycle of the program. I couldn’t even hit one full set of 5 at the recommended 240-245 and then the max reps was seven again, which is what I got during the first two times of this cycle. Maybe it’s time to try benching in the evening. Or maybe I’m not eating enough. Or maybe all of the cardio is affecting my ability to get stronger.

Conditioning

  • 9-6-3
    • Thrusters (95/65#)
    • Bar Muscle-ups
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 12-9-6
    • Thrusters (75/50#)
    • C2B Pull-ups
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 15-12-9
    • Thrusters (55/40#)
    • Pull-ups

This is my take on Frantasy Land for an everyday CrossFitter. When I came up with the rep schemes I was wondering if I could go unbroken through the entire thing. Hahahaha!! I did go unbroken (very slowly) on all of the thrusters, but the dream was crushed early when I had to go 5-4 on the first muscle-ups. I went 3-3 on the 6 and did the final 3. First part took me 3:46. I almost quit the workout right there. I started with a set of 7 C2B, but after that I don’t remember. I do know I was doing a bunch of singles to end the 9 and then all of the 6. Took me 5:09! I felt better for the final couplet doing 3×5, 3×4, and 5-4 for my pull-ups. That took me 4:47 to finish. End time on the clock was 17:42. I am just not comfortable with a bunch of barbell work in a metcon right now. 😦 Stood around resting way too much in between sets and movements.

I don’t know if I’m coming down with something or what, but I wasn’t feeling great the rest of the day and skipped out on an engine workout again.

All Sevens

Up early to do the 9am heat at the gym.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 200m Run
  • Line drills

Conditioning

This workout was to honor State Trooper Timothy O’Neill, who died a couple of years ago.

  • 7 Rounds
    • 7 Thrusters (95#)
    • 7 Burpees
    • 7 Back Squats (95#)
    • 7 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
    • 7 Russian KBS (53#)
    • 7 T2B
    • 7 Box Jumps (30″)
    • 700m Run
  • 49 Push-ups

Instead of doing 135# for the back squats I used the one bar. There was already plenty of squatting. Didn’t do American swings with 70# either. This came down to how fast you ran because 7 reps of each movement wasn’t a big deal if you kept moving. After 2 rounds I had to start doing quick T2B singles because my hands were so sweaty and I was not going to risk flying off the rig.

2019-09-02-hr

My finishing time was 59:06 and my splits were:

  • 7:16
  • 7:56
  • 8:05
  • 8:47
  • 8:50
  • 8:32
  • 8:21
  • 1:15 (push-ups)

Not good consistency at all. I don’t remember the last time I did an hour workout. I need to push my running because it would have been nice to keep my rounds around eight minutes or less. I also think whatever is causing this cough and being stuffed up for 4 weeks is affecting me. I booked an appointment with my Doctor for tomorrow morning.

I really wanted to golf today or maybe hit an Engine Builder workout in the evening, but I was wrecked from that workout. I got a headache and everything, so it turned out to be a lazy rest of the day.

Hold On Or Else

My pecs are still sore if I press on them. Legs feel good though. In at 10am for open gym.

Accessory

  • 3×10 Reverse Hypers (160#)

No B.S. Bench Press

  • 8×45#
  • 8×95
  • 4×135
  • 4×175
  • 4×205
  • 4×225
  • 3x4x240

Yeah! Doubles next week and then I’ll start another cycle of the program instead of testing a max.

Conditioning

  • 30 Snatches (75#)
  • 30 Thrusters
  • 30 C&J

** 100m run each time you drop the bar

This was inspired by a workout Brooke Wells did with the Buttery Bros, but I moved the thrusters from the end to the middle and added the running penalty to force large sets.

It went better than expected. I was able to do the snatches unbroken. My runs weren’t anything fast because I was trying to recover before hitting another large set. I did 20 thrusters before breaking. Then 10 thrusters plus 15 C&J because they were getting slow and my shoulders were getting tired. This allowed me to fly through the final 15 thrusters and finish in 8:01, while running three times.

Midline

4 Cycles

  • 6x Tuck-up, V-up, Straddle-up
  • 30s Rest

Got this from Kari Pearce and decided on the 30 second rest on my own since she didn’t say. At the end of the 3rd cycle it get tough and then the second half of the last cycle was a bit of a struggle. The v-ups were the hardest by far because of the increased range of motion. Only took 3:07 to complete, but it was intense.

Year of the Engine – Endurance

36:00 Run

I was hoping it would cool off in the evening, but it definitely didn’t. I headed out at 7:45pm. It was 84° when I got done. Ran 3.63 miles. Spent too much time in zone 4, so maybe I should switch my Garmin to alert me when I go out of zones 2-3 instead of concentrating on averaging under a 10:00/mile pace. The WHOOP heart rate data shows that it just keeps rising over the entire run.

19.5 is Dumb

Here are my results for the previous workout…

19.4

Open Men: 29,091 / 153,496 (81.0%)
Masters 35-39 Men: 4,653 / 31,148 (85.1%)

Overall

Open Men: 15,389 / 185,449 (91.7%)
Masters 35-39 Men: 2,134 / 37,500 (94.3%)

Having a high skill like bar muscle-ups helped me in that workout. After last year’s terrible 46.6 percentile in 18.2 with bar-facing burpees I worked on the movement all year. So I’m happy that this year’s workout with the burpee was the 81st percentile. Wish I wasn’t injured because I could have done even better. The lower workout ranking didn’t drop me much in either of the overall standings. One more week, so I was looking for a good performance to finish my best Open.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Assault Bike (40 cals)
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 10 Air Squats
  • Dead Hang
  • Shoulder Passes
  • Kip Swings
  • Thrusters
    • 5×45#
    • 5×75#
  • 5 Pull-ups

CrossFit Games Open Workout 19.5

33-27-21-15-9

  • Thrusters (95#)
  • C2B Pull-ups

This is the dumbest workout ever programmed in the Open. The majority of people are going to be working for 20 minutes on two movements, which means A LOT of resting. The huge sets to start off don’t do us any favors.

After looking at some of my previous results, it quickly became clear that my goal should be to finish under the time cap. Small sets right from the start and hopefully with short rests. If I don’t go slow at the beginning, I know my heart rate would be way too high by 5:00 and I’d be standing around way too much is the last 75% of the workout, especially if pull-ups blow up.

The plan for thrusters was 6-6-6-5-5-5, 6-6-5-5-5, 6-5-5-5, 5-5-5, 5-4. For pull-ups three at a time as long as possible.

Speaking of strategy… people give some terrible recommendations in posts and videos during the Open. One guy on reddit shares his post every week and he recommended taking your max set of C2B and doing sets of 50% (or more) of that number! For example he said if you can do less than 7 reps, aim for sets of 4 and less than 14 max should do sets of 8!! I don’t care what kind of athlete you are, that’s a one way road to Blow Up City in the round of 33. I really hope these kind of people are not coaches.

The round of 33 went as planned and took me about 5:10. I was even feeling good about my pull-ups. Then it was a shit show. I kept my thruster sets as planned but stared at the barbell too much the rest of the way. I think I did one chest-to-bar triple to start 27 and singles the rest of the way. Wish I had thought to try a regular kip, but I totally spaced on that. Only got through the round of 15s, for 192 total reps. Not a good effort and not how I wanted to end the Open. 😦

19-5

At least my back felt pretty good, but I have to remember that the only time I’ve picked up a barbell in the last 2.5 weeks was 19.4, so the squats probably took more out of me than they should have. Maybe next year I’ll make it through an Open without an injury. My quads were sore within an hour so I think my body is going to be beat for the next few days.

Engine Builder – Interval

4 Rounds

  • 1k Row
  • 1:00 Rest

Figured I might as well get on the rower while watching Duke and see if I could put in a good effort for the day. My goal was to hold a 1:50/500m pace and I pulled it off. Had to really hold on after the second interval. I got 73 calories each interval and the times were 3:39.8, 3:39.7, 3:39.6, and 3:39.7. Can’t get more consistent than that.

Maybe I should have doe

Conquering a Weakness

My back did seem to loosen up for the rest of the day yesterday. Legs were feeling a little tired from the machines.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Dead Hang
  • Shoulder Stretching
  • Thruster
    • 5×45#
    • 5×95
    • 3×115

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 7 Thrusters (135#)
  • 14 Bar-facing Burpees

My goal was unbroken on the thrusters, keep a good pace on the burpees and not stare at the bar too long. Probably took more rest before each set of thrusters than I should have, but I almost got stuck in the last set, so maybe I wouldn’t have been able to stay unbroken. This had the feel of an Open workout and I’m very happy with a 6:25.

Can we get some heavy thrusters in this year? I’m extremely proud of how I’ve converted bar-facing burpees from a weakness to a strength over the last 11 months. It was always a movement I dreaded and led to some of my lower Open placements.

Was surprised how well I recovered and was able to start the accessory work 10 minutes after.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 10 Supinated Pendlay Rows (95#)
  • 10/10 Single Leg Deadlifts (95#)
  • 10/10 Half Kneeling Bottoms Up KB Presses (26#)

Single leg deadlifts burn! The kettlebell presses were more stable than I ever remember them. Could have been because I was really warm from the thrusters or maybe not that my shoulders are healthy and I’ve been able to work them pretty hard.

Midline

E90S – 4 Rounds

  • 6 Floor Wipers (3 each side, 45# plate)
  • 20 Russian Twists (45#)
  • 30s Hollow Hold

Only 6 floor wipers each round was too few if you ask me. Didn’t think I would be able to hold the hollow for 30 seconds every round, but I was able to suffer through it.

Skill

Worked on my handstand walking again. First I did some holds near the wall, trying not to touch it. I feel like that gets me warmed up and used to the positioning. Then I did some walks up to the wall and finally some on the open floor. I came close to getting five feet a couple of times. Still work to do!

8 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s Double under
  • 10s Rest

Had one miss in round four or five. I feel like I’ve gotten slow with my dubs and that was evident when I only got 32 in the first round. After that I worked on speeding it up. Finished with 280 reps, which is a common number for me in this. My best is 286.

Steaming

I started getting a headache on Monday night and still had a bit of it when I woke up on Tuesday. This seems to be happening now that I’m pushing myself harder in workouts. My body definitely told me it was a rest day yesterday, though I did get exercise clearing snow several times throughout the day.

Today I decided to stay home and do a garage workout instead of being out on the roads. We got a lot of snow.

Warm-up

3 Rounds

  • 200m Ski Erg
  • 10 Good Mornings (45#)
  • 5 Inchworms

Strength

Deadlift (Build to Workout Weight)

  • 10×45#
  • 10×135
  • 6×185
  • 3×225
  • 3×255

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 3 Deadlifts (275#)
  • 15 Thrusters (45#)
  • 12 Bar-facing Burpees

Came up with this based on the gym’s programmed workout which is an alternating EMOM of 3 heavy (athlete choice) deadlifts, 20 wall balls, and a 200m run (or 50 seconds of shuttle runs). Figured I’d get rid of the extra resting by making it a straight 5 rounds. No place for wall balls in the garage so empty bar thrusters sounded like a good swap. Obviously not running in the garage and wanted to get in more bar-facing burpees before the Open anyway.

I didn’t wear a belt in the warm-ups or the workout because it would get in the way for the burpees. Had thought about doing 315 when I first saw the gym’s workout, which probably would have been fine in the EMOM, but glad I cut back for this. I was resting too much before picking up the deadlift each time. Thrusters were at a controlled pace each round because the burpees were really jacking my heart rate. Was able to stick to my burpee technique and keep a pretty good pace every round on them. Finished in 11:01.

 

Accessory

DB Curl 21s

Remembered to stick to 7 reps for each part today. Did two sets with 15s and a set with 20s.

Skill

3:00 AMRAP

  • Double Unders

Started with 83 unbroken and had one or two other decent sets, but too many misses. Ended up with 253.

Don’t Break

Much needed rest day yesterday after nine in-a-row, with two of those being active recovery days. My shoulders were a little sore, but felt fine this morning.

Strength

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 8×95
  • 4×135
  • 4×165
  • 4×185
  • 4×195
  • 4×205
  • 4×215
  • 4×225

Barely made it on the last set. Improvement over the 5x5x215 from last week.

Conditioning

  • 10-8-6-4-2 Thrusters (135#)
  • 50-40-30-20-10 Double Unders

I got this one from Beyond the Whiteboard in the Heavy Fitness Level category. Warmed up with 5×45, 5×95, and 3×115. My goal was to go unbroken, but I had no idea what the thrusters would feel like. I just remember being the EMOM with 3×155 a few weeks ago being nasty. I made it through everything unbroken and probably could have picked the bar sooner after each set of double unders. Finished in 4:57. I’m pumped I was able to do those unbroken.

Midline

2 Rounds

  • 30 V-ups
  • 60 Bicycles
  • 30 Weighted Sit-ups (30# slam ball)
  • 60 Flutter Kicks
  • 30 Leg Raises
  • 60 Mountain Climbers

These higher rep core movements get so bad in the first round. Took about 14 minutes to finish.