Friday, December 13th 2013

Did some yoga last night with Gen at GoodLife.  Felt really good to focus on stretching and breathing.  I wish it was something I could do regularly but there are only so many hours in the day.

Strength:
Record set of 5 Back Squats

3 sets of 5 reps @ 90% of new record

I hit a new five rep max a few days ago when coach Howard mistakenly thought we had to do five sets of five at 90% of our 1RM instead of 5RM.  That was 265# and felt alright.  Baechler gave me some great motivation yesterday by hitting a record at 275#, which I knew would be a good goal for me today.  I got up to 280# for five reps and, on coach's advice, left it at that since it was already a PR.  Botch was a monster and hit 295# for five.  Motivation is building within me...

The three sets at 90% were performed at 255# and went surprisingly well.  I tried using the bounce out of the bottom, which helped me get past the sticking point on almost all reps.  I just had to remember that there was still lots of weight on the bar and commit to every rep because it was entirely possible to fail during the sets.  Everything went really well here.

WOD:
Chipper
15 Min Cap

50 WallBalls @ 20#
25 T2B
10 Power Cleans @ 185#
30 KettleBell Swings @ 32kg
25 Thrusters (Axle) @ 110#
20 Ring Dips (scaled to Bar Dips)

Oh God, I knew this was going to be horrible.  Aside from the fact that I knew the dips would cause me to scale the workout, I had left everything I had in those squats.  It took us quite some time to finish the strength so we had to get ready really quick for the WOD.  I broke up the 50 WallBalls 40-10 since Paiano told me he was going unbroken but that was a lie.  T2B were dreadful, with the usual singles.  Our in-house rockstar Nat Connors gave me some tips after the WOD for next time and I will for sure work on linking reps together.  The Power Cleans were fine, but I wish I could have done at least doubles if not triples.  I did singles for a couple of reasons.  First, I didn't tape my thumbs before the WOD and, sure enough, a few reps into the power cleans my epidermis was being separated from my body.  Second, I caught every single snatch pull on Wednesday night on my left hip and there is a massive and ultra-sensitive bruise now.  Anytime the bar touched it, my concentration for the lift was broken :(  There's just a je-ne-sais-quoi about Kettlebell Swings which ensures that they never get easier  to do.  I broke them up 10-10-10 with some lengthy breaks.  This is where Paiano basically caught up to me.  By the time I made it to the thrusters, I was just not in the zone anymore.  I did sets of 5-7-7-6 which isn't horrible but I wish I could have gone maybe 10-10-5.  I blame the squats, no matter what anybody says.  I had to setup a dip stations since I wasn't planning on getting her within the time cap and managed to get 15 reps with sets of 2-3 reps each.  Not too bad considering I haven't been doing unassisted dips for long so I will take the moral victory in this one.  Finished in a tie with Paiano but he did Ring Dips so he wins and Botch crushed us by finishing the workout with about a buck and a half left on the clock.

Score: 155 reps.