Thursday, November 28th 2013

Finally a morning with lots of sleep.  Felt good going to the gym today.  Plus, I always look forward to a good leg day on Thursday.

Strength:
Snatch Grip Deadlift OR Snatch Pulls 3 sets of 3

Back Squat: 3RM

Finally, some time to work on the Snatch.  I chose the pulls, because my biggest problem on the last max attempt we did was that I had a poor 3rd pull (and probably 2nd too).  I had never done Snatch pulls before, so I looked forward to learning.  Biggest coaching cue I took away from it was to bring my elbows up and not back.  Also have to focus on finishing the extension upwards rather than leaning back.  Hopefully some more work on these will help me have a breakthrough next time we go heavy on the Snatch.

Ah, Back Squats.  Possibly my favorite thing to do in the gym, although Front Squats are closing in.  Started with a couple of warm up sets at 135-185-225.  Then went to 235 and then 265.  I had hit 275 within the last couple of weeks for 3, and I knew I had more in the tank.  I got 285 for 3 and then, not surprisingly, I got greedy.  I loaded an even 300 on the bar, which would not only be a new best but also more than my current 1RM (295).  Unracked it, felt good.  Went down and up for 1 rep (Woo - New 1RM).  Went down for a second rep and stuck on the way back up.  I felt myself go downwards a touch and, of no fault to my spotter, dumped the bar.  Forward.  It was some weird, ninja bar dump but it was also really dangerous and a terrible idea.  Wouldn't ever recommend anyone doing it.  But at the end of the day, happy with a new 1RM and new 3RM.

WOD: 
10 Min AMRAP

10 wallballs
4-5-6-7-8-9... of pull-ups

In this one, we did 10 Wallballs every round followed by an increasing amount of pullups.  10 wallballs and 4 pullups.  10 wallballs and 5 pullups.  Following that pattern until the timer ran out.  Wallballs are one of my favorite movements (may or may not having something to do with my love of squats) so every set of 10 was unbroken and quick.  Pullups were not so good today, partly because my hands are just sore.  First couple of sets I did unbroken, but then got into small sets, which is frustrating.  Overall, Wallballs just provided a short break from pull-ups.  I finished the round involving 12 pullups and got 10 Wallballs+3 pullups of the next round.  I'm happy with that but would like to be stringing together more pullups.