Thursday was an unintentional rest day as a result of some last minute cramming for my immunology final. Sigh. Friday will be another rest day unless something miraculous happens, like the transmission falls out of my ambulance tomorrow morning. Dare to dream...

More Starting Strength at home today:

Back Squat 3x5 (135)
Bench Press 3x5 (75)
Deadlift 1x5 (182.5)

Good times.

Filthy Fifty

Today was my first real crack at this monster of a sexy metcon. For those who aren't in the know, it's 50 of

Box Jumps (20")
Jumping Pullups
KB Swings (25 lb)
Walking Lunges
Knees to Elbows
Push Press (35 lb)
Straight Leg Deadlift (65 lb)
Wall Balls (12 lb at 8')
Burpees
Double Unders

I did all but the last 38 double unders in about 29:00. The gym got super chaotic at the end, and I got frustrated and packed it in. Oh well. What really slowed me down in this was the knees to elbows. Mind you, my ability to actually do them has improved immensely - all 50 of my reps touched my arm, if not my elbows - but I was slooow. Everything else was fine, with the exception of the burpees and obviously the double unders.

Sunday was another inadvertent rest day.

This afternoon I did

Back Squat 3x5 (132.5)
Press 3x5 (62.5)
Power Clean 5x3 (95)

Then

Toe-Assisted Ring Dips 4x5

After I got home from class, Alex wanted to do the PCF WOD at home, so I worked on

Front Squat 5x3 (95-105-105-105-105)

Light enough that I didn't have any problems with it, but heavy enough that I had to focus. I then practiced a couple sets of 5 box jumps on the 18" box and did 3 sets of 20 second flexed arm hangs (while watching the Caps game).

Friday Alex's parents were in town so I was indisposed. Saturday morning I was working so I couldn't go into the box, but in the afternoon I did do

Back Squat 3x5 (130-130-130)
Bench Press 3x5 (72.5-72.5-72.5)
Deadlift 1x5 (177.5)

Then

4 rounds
10 pushups
20 box jumps (16")

3:59

All box jumps unbroken. Time to step it up a few inches.

Today's WOD was

Clean and Jerk 2-2-2-1-1-1 (120)

Then

5 4x10 shuttle runs (10.49)

Pretty excited about setting that clean and jerk PR; I actually did 120 twice: the first time wasn't pretty, the second still had a little press out, but it was much better. I then managed to clean 125, which is a PR for that! I'd love to be able to get a bodyweight clean and jerk by the end of the summer, so it was nice to make progress toward that end today. Shuttle runs were a little disappointing but fun. Overall, this was the most fun I think I've had during a WOD in awhile!

Tuesday was a rest/work day.

Wednesday I worked out at home with Alex and did a little box jump work (3 sets of 15 on a 16 inch box), then

Back Squat 3x5 (127.5)

Press 3x5 (60)

Power Clean 5x3 (92.5)

Wanted to do today's PCF metcon but ran out of time because Alex and I had to get to a screening of Fresh the movie (www.freshthemovie.com), which I highly recommend to anyone who takes a serious interest in their food.

Anyhow, after we got home, did

3x20 sec flexed arm hang

Don't know if I'm just weak or my abs are still feeling Annie from a few days ago, but these were hard!

Today I did

Front Squats 5x3 (95-105-115-125-125)

Annie

9:54

Front squats I took it relatively easy on since I did back squats yesterday. 125 felt kinda heavy because my back was a little tired but it was totally manageable for 3 reps. I beat my last Annie time (from a few weeks ago) by nearly 90 seconds, so I was pretty jazzed about that even though I still had trouble with the first set of double unders. Shooting for sub 9 minutes next time!

Saturday was in large part a rest day other than an upper body template workout:

3 rounds
3 20 sec handstands
5 support shrugs
5 pullup negatives (focusing on going as slowly as possible)

Sunday I didn't make it into the gym but did

Back Squat 3x5 (125-125-125)
Bench Press 3x5 (70-70-70)
Deadlift 1x5 (172.5)

And then a variation on a upper body strength template workout:

4 rounds 5 ring dips with turnout and using toes

4 rounds 2 skin the cats

Today was my fourth day on, but tomorrow's a rest/work day, so it's all good. I warmed up with

2 rounds

5 ring dips with turnout using toe support
5 skin the cats

We did a dynamic warmup as a class and then hit up

Deadlift 5x3 (175-195-215-205-195)

I haven't done heavy deadlifts for many weeks, so since I was able to get 215 three times (which I could only do once in January), I was pretty happy. Callouses were a bit of a limiting factor - planning to get a good pumice stone stat to take care of those bad boys.

Today's WOD was

Push Press 6x3 (85-95-105[2]-85-95)

Then

4 rounds

10 Power Snatches (65 lb first round, 55 lb thereafter)
15 Box Jumps (20")

9:15

Shoulders are tired from past couple days, so the push press felt heavy and snatches - still a personal nemesis - were a shit show. Decided to go with the Rx'd box jump height even though I can't cycle them with the bounce yet, but I focused on going as fast as I could. Finished everything off with 4 rounds of 5 toe-assisted ring dips, with an effort in the last few sets on turnout.

Today was

AMRAP in 15:00 of

3 HSPU negatives
5 DB squat cleans (25 lb)
4 pullups

7 rounds plus 8 reps

Really focused on working the HSPU negatives (i.e. going slowly) and trying to break vertical plane of bar with each pullup (succeeding probably 75% of the time). My ability to string together pullups has totally disintegrated, but now that my arms and chest feel better, I should be able to work on them again.

Sunday I was lame and didn't workout. Today I went to the midday WOD, which was

Front Squats 2-2-2-1-1-1 (105-115-125-135-145[f]-135)

Really tried to focus on form and keeping an upright back. I then skipped the metcon because I felt a little woozy after not having eaten breakfast in preparation for the WOD. D'oh. I went home, ate, studied for a few hours, and then started my upper body strength template odyssey. Don't have appropriate sized dumbbells at the house, so I did day 2 of Brian's recommended rotation, which was

3 rounds

5 ring pushups w/ 1 sec pause at top
3 10-sec flexed arm hangs
5 HSPU negatives

Maybe it's because I haven't done anything pullup-related since Sectionals, but the flexed arm hangs were definitely the hardest movement of the bunch, closely followed by ring pushups. It was a little disheartening to suck as much as I did, but I'm looking forward to making slow-but-steady progress in this arena.

Friday was a rest/work day.

Saturday I warmed up with a little dynamic stuff and box jump practice (3 sets 10 unbroken on 16") and then did Friday's PCF WOD, which was

10-8-6-4-2

BW deadlifts (140 lb)
Ring dips (toe assisted)
Burpees

6:37

In the interest of intensity, kept everything unbroken. I probably gave myself a little too much help on the ring dips, so next time we do ring dips I will endeavor to actually be at the box for it so I can use the bands.

Today was

Power Clean 7x2 (got 115 a few times, did 120[1] twice)

Then we were supposed to do

As many HSPUs as possible in 10 minutes

I can't do them yet, so I worked on handstand running for the 10 minutes. Did sets of 30-25-20-15-10-30-25-20.

Afterward I stretched and then did some halfhearted box jump practice before giving up because my ankles had tightened up.

Today was a make up from the other day:

find 1-rep max Back Squat, then back off to 80% and do 5-5-5

I got up to 165, which was a little disappointing given that my last 1RM was 170 and I expected a little better, but I haven't squatted in awhile so it's all good. I then backed way off and did

135(2)-125-105

I was pretty fried after a pretty lengthy warmup and 2 failures at 170 so that's the best I could manage. My friend then came over and we went on a 20 minute jog - she's a runner rehabbing a pretty serious case of plantar fascitits, so I was happy to just keep her company on a run.

Today was my first day back at the box in awhile. I did the "pack" version of the WOD:

400 m run
30 KB swings (1 pood)
400 m run
30 box jumps (about 17 inches)
400 m run
30 presses (35 lb)
400 m run

13:18

Focused on cycling quickly, and was relatively successful at this. KB swings were unbroken, box jumps were 15-7-8, and presses were broken 3 or so times. Think being in the back of the gym slowed me down, as I had to walk all the way back to my place each time (she who runs in the gym with 30 barbells lying around is looking for trouble). Unseasonably warm weather didn't help either...

Chest at about 80% now, so feeling better.

Sunday=work/rest/enjoying the beautiful weather day.

Monday=rest day. Too little sleep the night before to justify a WOD.

Thursday I did the PCF snatch WOD. It was

Snatch Deadlift 2-2-2-2 (not sure, hung out at 85-90 range)

Snatch Balance 1-1-1-1-1 (can't remember exactly, but worked up to around 70)

Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 (only did about 5 sets of 1, stopped after I failed a couple of times at 75)

Chest muscles still really bothering me.

Friday was a rest day. Saturday my chest muscles still hurt (geez), so I didn't go to PCF for the big pullup/pushup/DL chipper. Instead I did lots of bouncing:

1 mile time trial (8:03)

rest

Annie (11:21)

rest

Box Jump practice - first 4 sets of 20 unbroken at about 13.5", then tried out 4 sets of 5 unbroken on my new 18" plyo box.

Time trial was ok, considering I didn't decide what I was going to do until about 2 minutes into the run. Will test this again in a few months. Annie time was a little disappointing, but still 90 seconds faster than my first attempt. I need to get a better rhythm going earlier. Box jumps were ok, but I could tell I was a little tired when I moved up to the taller box.