Operation Avenger | heyarnold13's Battle Log

[heyarnold13]

Friday was a much needed rest day, and today was a great workout!

 

Saturday, March 7

 

Skill: Handstand to Forward Roll

Power Clean & Jerk
2*2*2*2*2

50 Burpees for Time

Finisher: Center and Front Splits

 

I need to get over my handstand fear... I just hate them! Weirdly, it's a lot easier for me (mentally) to go into a spotted freestanding handstand than it is to kick up onto a wall. Why? Who knows. Maybe because I like to roll out of them when I think my shoulders are going to give out? So the forward roll stuff was easy peasy for me because I do that already, but I need to figure my way over this mental block when it comes to inverting myself. Maybe some wall walks will help me.

 

Clean & Jerk is so great! I like them better when we don't go full squat on the clean (I don't know what that's called), but the jerk is always awesome. For my 5 reps, I went 45, 55, 65, 75, 85 with 85 as my new PR! Felt super great afterwards.

 

Because the lifts took so long today, we only had 4 minutes to fit the burpees in, so that became a 4 minute AMRAP of one burpee. If you reached 50, you could stop. I got to 40 and was DEAD.

[heyarnold13]

Sunday was a well-deserved rest day after 5 RtBs in one week!

 

Monday, March 9
 

Skill: Crow to Plank

Front Squat
5*5*5*5*5

15mn AMRAP
* 5 Pull-ups
*10 Pushups
*15 Air Squats

 

Day started with a really nicely paced 800m run around the neighborhood. It is finally SUNNY and almost warm out!!! And Daylight Savings, for as terrible as it is, does give me some precious sunlight to enjoy after work, so the run was really lovely.

 

Post-warmup was 3 rounds of 10 air squats, 10 hollow rocks, 3 eccentric pushups, and a 10-second hollow hold on the bar (or 10 bead swings if you can swing it.. badumtsss). I did hollow holds on the bar. My hands are in serious pain! Shoulda used more chalk. Oh well.

 

Crow to Plank was hilarious all across the board. One of our coaches did the workout with us while the other actually ran it, so SHE could do it no problem. The rest of us kept falling flat on our faces or onto our knees and it was a total giggle-fest. Actually doing Crow is something I am semi-capable of, so it was rewarding to work on my balance with that! Every time I tried to shoot my legs back into a plank, though, I went straight to my knees or my face came dangerously close to the ground.

 

Front squats... ohhhhh front squats. Squats are just not my forte. Give me cleans, deadlifts, benches, overheads... but squats? Gotta work on those! I did 3 rounds at 45lbs and then 2 at 50lbs. The weight felt super light, but my form needs work, so we stuck with me on the lighter weights. Things to work on: hips BACK, chest up, elbows up. My wrist mobility just wasn't there. They've been super tight lately. My coach sticks a 12-inch box under me so I have to push my hips back and get a touch on the box before coming back up. She also put a PVC by my knees to make sure those weren't coming too far forward to make sure I was staying back in my heels and hips. That is HARD! Is it my mobility? I think that's the largest part of it. 

 

The AMRAP was hard but good. 15 minutes is a long time!! I don't have pull-ups, so I went doubles on ring rows instead. Push-up was done on a bar at the rack. I was flying through the first few rounds, so my coach came over and made fun of me and put the bar lower when I wasn't looking. Then did it again one round later. It was a great challenge and I felt really good pumping those push-ups out. I needed something to bring my spirits back up after the disheartening squats, and the AMRAP did just that! 

 

 

[heyarnold13]

So my coach posts our RtB workouts the night before on Facebook. Monday night there was no sign of one. Okay, no big deal, right? She just forgot or something. We arrive at the gym at 6am and she rolls up on her bike and looks at all of us with this guilty look on her face.

Coach: so, did you notice I didn't post the workout last night? There's a reason for that.

Us: um wut

Coach: yeah, just concentrate on finishing it. Don't think about times. Go look at it; it's on the board.

Us: um wutttt

Coach: -waits as we slowly walk over to the whiteboard to see what hell awaits us-

Us: hill sprints. feck.

 

There were three of us, and we said NOTHING for the first 30 minutes of class. 

 

Tuesday, March 10
 

Skill: Handstand Pushups (6mn EMOM)

 

Hill Repeats (4T)
* 10

 

3 Rounds (NfT)
* 10e Weighted DB Step Ups (35/25)
* 20 Hollow Rocks

 

Handstands! Yargh! We did a few practice kick-ups, but still can't do HSPUs, so my EMOM progression was 10 overhead presses (45lb bar) and then an 8-second hollow rock each minute. The beginning was easy, but by minute 5 those overhead presses were killing me. Arms were definitely shaky by the time we were done! And then it was time for...

HILL SPRINTS!

 

Ah yes, the dreaded Adams Mill Hill I have heard so much about all winter. The snow and ice have prevented us from actually doing it until Tuesday. This hill is miserable. It's quite steep, and deceptively long. First, it's a little run to get to the top of the hill (maybe a third of a mile). Not so bad, right? Well, at 6:30 a.m. during Daylight Savings when it's pitch black outside and you're running towards certain doom, it's pretty bad. So we get to the fire hydrant that marks the top of the hill, our coach right behind us on her bike. She points down the hill to a light post at the end. There's the bottom of the hill. Our task? Run six continuous hills, not stopping, with the downhill as our recovery. 

Oh. My. Lungs. I mapped the hill on mapmyrun and, while it's only about 120 meters, it is SO STEEP! Elevation change of 40m in that short distance. 0.8 miles, 125 foot change in elevation. Sh*t is steep. It was so exhausting and by the end we were all DEAD but then we had to run back to the gym and there was still more to do!

Time for step-ups. On tall boxes. 20inches, maybe? Box was around knee height and I'm 5'8. And they were weighted, too. I started with 15lbs for the first round then switched to 12.5lbs for the last three since I was having trouble stepping up without lifting my foot off the box. 10 per leg in each round, followed by the hollow rocks.

What a workout.

AND YET!!!! I wasn't sore the next day! I told my coach that at the Wednesday workout (while she was seated atop a huge pile of weight plates on a tall box looking like a sage yoda-type) and she laughed and said she's magical. The step ups were the reason I wasn't sore from the hill sprints, because they flushed all the bad stuff out. She says magical. I called her diabolical.

[heyarnold13]

Wednesday, March 11
 

Skill: L-Sit

Snatch
3*3*3*3*3

9-7-5 (4T)
*Ring Dip
*Pull-up
*Snatch (95/65)

 

Yay for L-Sits! There were only two of us in Wednesday's RtB, so it was a little more laid back. Fun stuff! The snatch is such a great lift. SO hard, but so rewarding. I got up to 50lbs by my last round and had a really fantastic fail in there where I fell back on my ass in the middle of a rep. It was hilarious and I got right back up and finished my sets.

SO, this 4T workout. Apparently nobody had finished it yet that day since there was a 10min time limit on it. Challenge accepted. I was doing eccentric ring dips for first two rounds, then bench dips for last two. My pull-ups were double ring rows. And I snatched at 35lbs I think. I charged through and by the time I got to the 5 round, there were 90 seconds left. I pulled my final snatch in the last second of the 10min and finished!

VICTORY!

[heyarnold13]

Holy moly it's the 19th and I haven't updated since my March 11 workout... I am not going to remember so many number details.

 

Eh hem.

 

Thursday, March 12
 

Skill: Toes to Bar (kipping)

10mn EMOM
* Odd: 5 Deadlift (225/185)
* Even: 10 BB Burpees

Finisher: 4 rounds
* 10 Lower Ab Raises
* 10 Pushups

 

Shoulders were super sore from snatching the day before, so my toes to bar skill work was a lot of leg raises on the ground and hollow rocks! Totally okay with that. Hanging off that bar hurts my hands so badly.

 

This EMOM was awesome!!!! I hate burpees, but I love deadlifts, so the two balanced each other. We also had a killer playlist going, which I've since forgotten, but it was great. Beastie Boys maybe? Eminem? It was good. I was pulling 105 or 110 for my deadlifts on the EMOM, which felt really solid. I just can't wait for another deadlift day where we go for PRs, because I KNOW I'm going to beat the 145lb I had the other week! I finished all my burpees and deadlifts within their minutes and the whole thing just felt really good.

 

Finisher was pretty standard. I did 5 eccentric pushups instead of 10 strict. So close to finally getting that strict pushup, though! I come a little closer each day.

[heyarnold13]

Friday was rest, Saturday was a 3-mile run, and Sunday was yoga followed by the strength/speed class. I did not take a picture of the whiteboard, so I don't remember what that workout was, but I do remember it was a lot of bear crawls, weighted lunges, air squats, pushups, and dumbbell stepups. And my hips really hurt about halfway through. Probably from running then yoga then that without adequate rest. My goal this week is to get more rest! Anyway.

 

Tuesday, March 17
 

Skill: L-Sit

Bench 
3*3*3*3*3

5 Rounds (4T)
* 30 Double Unders
* 20 Plyo Lunges
* 5 Pull Ups (strict)

 

For L-Sits, we did 60 seconds cumulative at our progression. I'm feet on the ground, but I did my 60 seconds in two 30-second chunks! Felt good.

 

I PR'd my bench at 100lbs!!! It was awesome!! Triple digits never felt so badass.

 

Rounds 4T was standard. I did 2x single unders, 10 plyo+10 alternating, and 10 ring rows. All good stuff.

[heyarnold13]

Wednesday, March 18
 

Skill: Beat Swings and Kipping Pullups

Snatch
3*3*3*3*3

Snatch Pull
2*2*2*2*2

Finisher: 12 Pull Ups

 

I LOVE the snatch. I didn't until Wednesday, but I finally figured the damn thing out. I was having a super rough day (terrible week, friend died on Monday... I talk about that a bit more over in my challenge), but every time my hands were on that bar, I was so locked in. I had laser focus for my lifts and that was so needed. My coach and one of my gym buddies even pointed it out! I ended up PR'ing my snatch at 65lbs and then the snatch pull at 115lbs. 

 

For the pull ups, I was totally expecting to go straight to my ring rows. My coach made me do something different, though, and I loved it. First she told me to grab one of the thick green bands and actually get on the bar. I gave her a "you're crazy town" look, but did it. I managed to pull myself halfway up, which was more than I thought I could do! Then she took the band away and told me to go again. I can get a lil scapular pull up in. So my finisher was 12 scapular pull ups, then 3 sets of 4 ring rows on TRX bands where I had to pull myself up as fast as possible then lower for 5 seconds.

[heyarnold13]

Thursday, March 19
 

Skill: L-Sit

3 Rounds (NfT)
* Max Rep BW Back Squat
* Max Rep Push Up

Finisher: Run 1 mile (conversation pace)

 

Ugh, back squats... my mobility straight up sucks. I have so much trouble getting my hips backbackback without breaking my form or toppling over. It IS getting better though, so that's comforting. We did 5 rounds, with 3 of them at max reps. First two were just five reps with the unloaded bar to warm-up. I ended up with 50lbs as my weight and maxed out at 13 reps for my rounds. For push ups, those of us who don't have strict ones were relegated to incline ones on the racks. I had my bar at 7 holes high to start and cranked out a quick 20. Second round I got in 15. Then my coach called me out on how "easy" I was making them look and lowered my bar to 4th hole. Got 10 in before I was done. SO CLOSE TO A STRICT PUSH UP!!!

We were crunched for time, so the 1 mile turned into an easy 800m. Which was fine by me

[heyarnold13]

Saturday, March 21
 

Skill: Backward Roll to Pistol

Clean & Jerk
2*2*2*2*2

Finisher: Tabata hollow rock

Saturday was a nice and leisurely day of Clean & Jerk work. We did a lot of work on backward rolls and standing up from them and such at the beginning, and then it was on to the C&J! One of my favs. Wednesdays and Saturdays this month are all going to be focused on oly lifts.

 

I went 55, 65, 70, 70, 75 for my lifts. I think the 75lb was a PR! I'm finally getting good at the middle part of the lift, which is where I've struggled before. I have strong shoulders, so I've been cheating by just muscling the bar up during the clean instead of driving it up using the rest of my body. Can't really do that past a certain weight, though I started doing clean pulls before the full C&J movement to get my body into that full extension, and that really improved my lift! 

 

The tabata at the end was, for some reason, sooo much harder than usual. We were bumping into the 11:00 kettlebell class by the end of our session, so our coach sent us to the back of the space with her watch for the tabata. We were hilarious, though. There were five of us and we were moaning and wailing the whole time during the 20-second "on" hollow rocks/holds, and I know our coach was over with kettlebells rolling her eyes and laughing at us while she tried to explain to Kettlebells that we were part of the RtB program and thus were all part of the gym family, which is why we were being such children. We were laughing at each other with all the suuuuper attractive noises we were making during the tabata. Then we had to round out the day with 10 burpees since someone was late. Good times had by all!

[heyarnold13]

Monday, March 23
 

Skill: L-Sit in Rings and Wall Walk to F. Roll to Candlestick

“Karenâ€
* 150 Wall Balls (20/24)

Finisher: Hollow Rock Tabata

 

OKAY, so on Sunday I had a 4-mile run, and somewhere between Saturday's C&J workout, the run, and Monday afternoon, my back was out. of. whack. Serious pain every time I went from sitting to standing. All on the lower left side of my back, too. It was painful and strange, so I was worried about the "Karen" for the afternoon. The warmup was making my back hurt, so I did a lot of planks instead of wall walks. Forward rolls were all good, though.

 

For "Karen," we did a few practice wall balls to warm up and hit our marks outside. I had a 14lb ball, but my coach decided she was worried about my back and the weight of the ball coming down on my and putting stress on my back. So I did 150 air squats instead. We had a 10-minute time limit on this because 150 is a LOT. I got my air squats done in 8:30 or something, and they were some of the best squats I've ever done! I think my back pain was forcing me to really get into proper form with my knees and back position. Twas good.

 

We ended up swapping the finisher with the L-sits in the rings, so tabata was before wall ball, then we did holds in the rings and tuck holds on boxes to finish the day!

[heyarnold13]

I think I've been putting off posting because March 24 was such a TERRIBLE day for me... so I'm just going to skip it. Because I was a wreck and my back was really getting to me and I couldn't complete the day's workout so I felt like such a failure and it was just really bad. I took that Wednesday off completely, so here's that Thursday!

 

Thursday, March 26
 

Skill: Crow to Plank

Front Squat
5*5*5*5*5

4 Rounds (4T):
* 8 BB Burpees
* 6 Power Cleans
* 4 Pull-ups (strict)

Finisher: Center Splits & Wheel

 

Crow is fun, so I hung out in that and worked on my balance. Wee!! For front squats, I focused on form and depth since my back was still buggy. I did a few rounds on the bar then switched to dumbbells.

 

4 Rounds 4T ughhh burpees! But it was a great series. My power cleans were good and I did one full pushup in each of my 8 burpees (instead of a full 8 plank burpees). Pull-ups were doubled up ring rows!

[heyarnold13]

Saturday, March 28
 

Skill: Double Unders

Clean
3*3*3*3*3

6mn EMOM
*Odd: 5 Pull-ups
*Even: 5 Chin Ups

Finisher: 100 Double Unders (4T)

 

Yay double unders!! I'm finally getting better at them and can string together 5 or so before I mess up. I do a lot of single-single-double-single-single-double to work on them. They're a fun skill, though HARD, and I have far too many welts on my arms and legs from the rope, but I love them.

Cleans! YES! Love those lifts. My back was feeling pretty good since I took Friday off, so I got all the way up to 85lbs, a new PR! Huzzah for PRs!

[heyarnold13]

Monday, March 30
 

Skill: Kipping Pull-ups

Back Squat
5*5*5*5*5

5 Rounds (4T)
* 10 Burpees
* 5 Pull-ups (kipping)
* 15 KB swings (35/26)

 

Sunday, I had a 5-mile run followed by yoga, so I was pretty tired on Monday. Back squat form was SO MUCH BETTER THAN IT'S EVER BEEN THOUGH which is kinda funny since I've been working with a back injury all week. I PR'd on my back squat, though I don't remember the number... oops! I think it was 60? Felt great.

Then we got to the 4T and all of those burpees were hellish as usual, but so worth it in the end. Remember: burpees don't like you either!

[heyarnold13]

Tuesday, March 31
 

Skill: Handstand to Forward Roll

Half “Holleymanâ€
15 Rounds (4T)
*5 Wall Ball (20/14)
*3 HSPUs
*1 Power Clean (225/155)

(30mn limit)

 

HALF HOLLEYMAN SO HARD SO FUN AHHH!!! This was insane to see and think "oh god what am I getting myself into," but I signed up and showed up and loved it. The 15-round thing is so intimidating to look at (30 minute limit? That's a LONG time for a sustained workout!), but we had a good group there for our 6am class. 

 

After we got through our handstands and rolls and everything, we dove right into the half holleyman. I was on a 14-lb ball for my wall balls, and instead of HSPUs, we all had one wall walk that we had to do. My power clean was at 85lbs, which is my PR on a normal clean. I started at 65lb for a warmup where our coach was deciding what weight to give us, and she just threw me right up to 85 after seeing my 65. Cool! It was HARD, and I would have been just as happy at 80lbs, but it was a good challenge. She told us to aim for 10 rounds and then we'd reassess how much more to do. I got the go-ahead to 15 rounds, but by the time I finished 13, my form was starting to crumble so I cut it at 13 and was happy with that. 

[heyarnold13]

Thursday, April 2
 

Skill: Ring Dips 
6mn EMOM
* 5 Ring Dips

5 Rounds (4T)
* 5 Burpee Pullups
* 10 Pistols
* 15 KB Swings
* 20 Double Unders

 

The ring dip emom was HARD!!! I was doing dips off the bench with my feet on an 18in box, but by the last round, I was having trouble completing every rep. Arms were definitely feeling it! The rounds had a 12-minute time limit on them, which was good because my back began to bug me again so I had to change up my routine. Burpee pullups went from burpee+ring row to just double ring rows. Pistols moved to bulgarian split squat. KB swings went to KB deadlift. Double Unders remained same. We were shooting for 10 each round OR double single-unders. I went back and forth on those.

 

Then I took Friday AND Saturday off! Two days in a row! Because I am just so tired of my back hurting. I also rotated my mattress today to see if that helps so I can go in charging tomorrow and really kill my workout. It's been weird taking so much time off from the gym! 

[heyarnold13]

Monday, April 6
 

"Karen"
150 Wall Balls (14/20)

Hollow Rock Tabata

 

KAREN IS SUCH A B*TCH!!!! I came into Monday after taking three full days off my workouts, which I haven't done in god knows how long. And it was after Easter weekend, when my brother and dad were in town and all we did was drink and eat. And then it was off to face the dreaded Karen!

I got to the gym and my coach told me I was the only one who signed up. Gulp. Nobody wants to do this crazy stuff alone, especially if it's something like Karen. But one minute before class started, in walked one of my gym buddies! Thank goodness. So we went through our warmup, the warmup workout (which was a difficult series of air squats, pushups, and hollow rocks), and then outside into the alley with our balls. 

Balls. To. The. Wall.

I had a little 10# ball since I've been dealing with a back strain, and my buddy had a 20# ball. We lined up at our walls and started to mentally prepare by staring daggers at the wall. Our coach started her watch so we would stick with the 12min time limit, and off we went!

My gym buddy and I are like fire and ice when we approach hard workouts. He's very emotive and yells, and I get super quiet and go pure laser-focus on what's in front of me. So we're outside, throwing these stupid balls at this stupid wall, and my buddy (who is a hilarious British dude) is yelling expletives and cursing Karen and the ball and the wall in his accent, and I'm just glaring at the wall going rep after rep. Our coach was looking back and forth between us like "oh god these two."

When we reached the 12min mark, I was at 125 reps, and by then, I wanted all 150. So I kept going, and my buddy saw I was still going, so he kept going, and we both got all 150 in! My time was just under 15:00 and his was around 17:00. Was super proud of myself and wobbled home feeling fantastic.

[heyarnold13]

Tuesday, April 7
 

Deadlift 
5*5*5*5*5

Run 1 Mile

 

DEADLIFTS ARE LIFE!!!! The night before, one of my coaches posted in our gym's private group to tease a "much asked about lift" and ask who would be in the day's RtB. She then tagged me and this other girl. Because we literally always ask about deadlifts. I didn't care how sore I was from Karen the day before or that a 1 mile timed run was waiting for me at the end of the session. I was SO ready to deadlift my lil heart out!

Last time we did deadlifts, I got to 145# by our last set and I was not at my max. This time around, I still don't think I reached it. For the fifth set, I deadlifted 165# and was definitely feeling the weight, but I also had to factor in how utterly exhausted my body was from doing a full Karen less than 12 hours earlier. I have this habit of going to the 6pm classes on Mondays and Wednesdays then turning around and doing 6am Tuesdays and Thursdays. Today, one of my gym buddies referred to it as the "Jeanie Special." That's my name, in case it's unclear

ANYWAY, got a fantastic 20# PR for my deadlifts! Then ran a sub-11min mile, which I was super happy about considering everything I'd done in the last 12 hours. Later that day, my coach emailed me saying that Wednesday would be a "strategic rest day" for me and that I should probably skip. Which I did. It was a front squat day and I probably would have fallen over under a training bar 

I was sore for dayssss after the Karen to Deadlifts. So worth it, though.

[heyarnold13]

Thursday April 9
 

Skill: Handstand Walk

5 Rounds: 
40 Double Unders
20 Pistols
10 HSPUs

 

Handstands are my enemy but I'm getting better at then. I just did a bunch of wallwalks for skill work on this day! I'm getting so close to walking myself totally upright. Upside down? Whatever. Right on the wall. Weee!!

My double unders are very inconsistent and I can only manage a few at once, so I did 80 single unders for this workout. It was crazy! For HSPUs, we did dumbbell presses from a seated L. I had 20# bells in each hand and by the end of my 5th round I was dyingggg under those presses. Got through it all, though!

[heyarnold13]

Saturday, April 11
 

Front Squat
3*3*3

OH Press
3*3*3

Clean & Jerk
2*2*2*2

THIS DAY WAS SO MUCH FUN! It was only two of us plus my OTHER coach who had been out of town all week dealing with some intense family business. It was great to have her back, and she was thrilled to be home. She asked the two of us to think about if we wanted to do outside work (pull-ups, ring rows, hill sprints since it was gorgeous out) or stick with the usual Saturday C&J routine. Then she sent us out for an 800m warmup run. We discussed, weighed the benefits of how beautiful it was outside versus the horror of hill sprints, and decided a lifting day would be perfect. Then we made our coach join us for the whole workout   

Usually, Saturday's are spent doing a 3*3*3*3*3 or 2*2*2*2*2 C&J routine, but our coach decided to throw squats and presses into our warmup, so we just readjusted the whole workout and turned it into a b-e-a-utiful lift fest!!! I PR'd my front squat at 65#, got up to 75# on my OH press, and stuck 85# for the C&J. It's so interesting how my numbers stack up against each other. My squats numbers are my lowest (they should really be in my higher numbers), and anything with my shoulders is way up there. I can bench 100# and barely squat half of that. I haven't figured out how much of that is working on strength versus working on mobility, but I'm slowly getting better! I feel like I'm progressing and I have noticed changes in how I look and feel. There are muscles showing up on my body that I didn't know I had, and despite weighing 220 at only 5'8, I'm pretty happy with myself and am loving every second of getting stronger. I'm happy I've never been one to focus on numbers on a scale. Knowing myself, that kind of fixation would send me down a terribly unhealthy and dangerous path (in both mind and body), so I'm keeping myself focused on the plates on the bar and how I feel. And I feel pretty damn good.

[heyarnold13]

Monday, April 13
 

14mn EMOM
Odd:
* 2 Cleans (165/110)
* 3 Front Squats (165/110)
Even:
* 4 Pull Ups (strict)

(Inspired by CrossFit Woodbury)

This EMOM was gold. I have had terrible shin splintiness since Friday (too much walking in terrible shoes), so I was glad this was lower impact than usual. I had 55# on my bar for the Odds and did 8 ring rows for my Evens. It wasn't too difficult of a workout, and by the end, I just felt good and not super tired. Woo!

[heyarnold13]

Tuesday, April 14
 

Skill: Handstand

21-15-9
* Pistols (R+L=1)
* Ring Dip
* Burpee Box Jump

Finisher: 100 Hollow Rocks

Seriously eff you handstands *shakes fist*. ANYWAY, still suffering from shin splints today. Woke up a few times throughout the night and thought about skipping because I had pain while in my bad (weird, right?), but once I stood on my feet and walked around at 5am this morning before the gym, shin felt a bit better. Off I went! I have a reputation to uphold now since my other gym friend has named something after me. The "Jeanie Special" in which one goes to a Monday or Wednesday 6pm class and turns right around and goes in at 6am the next day. Woop wooo!

Did some kickups for handstands and a few wall walks, then it was on to our 21-15-9! Because of my shin, I was set to do step-ups instead of box jumps on my 18in box. I also did my pistols on that box and my ring dips were tricep dips off the bench. BUT, I did do a few rounds of eccentric dips on the "dip station" we have (bunch of plates on some boxes, lower self between them) as well as some ring holds. Gymnastics rings feel SO badass. We had an 18min time limit on our workout, and I finished in 17:50! Since I was doing step ups, I did 22-16-10 for the burpee portion and really had to crank those 10 out to make it under the time limit. I was the only one to finish! Felt awesome. Still feel awesome at work right now, though I'm really tired. It's one of those rainy days where all you want to do is nap. Snooze.

[heyarnold13]

Wednesday, April 15
 

Overhead Squat 
3*3*3*3*3

10mn AMRAP 
* 30 Double Unders
* 10 Toes-to-Bar (Kipping)
* 5 Snatches (95/65)

MAN overhead squats are hard! They point out ever deficiency in your form and strength and it's fantastic haha. I PR'd in my WARMUP round for this one! By the end of the five sets, I got up to a 30# PR and ended at... 65# I think? Felt great!

I finally figured out the rhythm on beat swings, too! We were warming up our movements for the AMRAP and when I was hanging on the bar, I also finally felt good hanging off there. I'm strong enough to keep my shoulders active for longer periods of time and my beat swings were great. By the end of the 10min, I was starting to get exhausted and took my toes-to-bar in sets of 5 instead of an unbroken 10, but it was all good.

Started snatching at 35# I think, and my coach threw another 10# on while I was doing toes-to-bar. She watched me pick the bar back up and said "you didn't even notice the extra 10 I put on there, did you?" Answer: nope! I can snatch around 60/65 when we're doing just lifting, but we often keep it lower for AMRAPs.

Still don't have consistent double unders, so I was doing 60 single unders instead. It was bugging my shin a bit, but not enough to stop or adjust, so I kept on. I ended up getting 4 rounds plus single unders and 3 toes-to-bar done in the 10min.

[heyarnold13]

Thursday, April 16
 

Skill: Backward Roll to Pistol + Crow to Plank

10 Rounds for Time:
1 Rock Creek Hill Repeat
4 Pull-ups

 

This was a fun day and can be summarized with this:

Caption: the hills are alive with the sound of HILL REPEATS!!!

 

Because when you have five people at the top of a dewy green hill at the butt crack of dawn on a Thursday and watch them scatter down like wildebeests in Lion King, you can't help but think of the Sound of Music.

 

There's this crazy hill with a bunch of static equipment at the bottom of it in my neighborhood about half a mile from the gym, so Thursday was all about outside work. Everyone was in "some sorta mood" (as my coach puts it) where we were either whining or laughing uncontrollably. Giggley little complainers, we were... it was fun. But we started the hill sprints at the top of the hill at our turnaround tree, and the way it worked was that the guys had to run down and off to the right to get to their pullup bars, and girls were going down and to the left to where the rings were. My shin is still killing me, so I had my own circuit of 10x pushups, situps, ring rows, air squats, so my coach and I were headed straight down the hill to a spot I could do my stuff and she could be heard by everyone. At the "go," we scattered down the hill like a bunch of ants and it looked hilarious.

I got 4 rounds of my circuit done in a 10min time period. The hill repeaters had a 12min time limit. Twas a good day and our coach let us walk back to the gym (we had to run the half mile on the way to the hill which murdered my poor lil shin) but she had to sprint back to unlock it for the 7am kettlebell kids. Lolz.

ALSOOOO I stepped on the scale and I am down to 216!!!! Remember how a few days ago I said I was 220? Well, turns out that ain't true. Super happy me.

[heyarnold13]

Monday, April 19
 

Skill: Handstand

4 Rounds (4T)
* Run 400m
* 5 Bear Complexes (115/85)

(Inspired by CrossFit Woodbury)

 

OH MY GOD BEAR COMPLEXES!!! The worst. Slash best. But really the worst.

Power clean -> front squat -> push press-> back rack position -> back squat -> push press 

And if you let go of the bar at all during the movement, you're done. These are HARD. You spend so much time under the bar. I did it with a 45# bar and got through three rounds in 20minutes. I also had a minor emotional breakdown during it for god knows what reason. On my first push press, I knocked my chin with the bar and bit my tongue and that pain triggered something and I almost had a full blown anxiety attack. I went out for my first 400m run and had to stop at one point just to keep my heart rate/breathing under control and to stop myself from hyperventilating. Ugh.

BUT apparently nobody completed the workout that day in the 20min time limit, my coach included (she didn't get her final 400m run in). I think my gym buddy that night got it just in time, but I was slow coming back in from my 3rd 400m run because I had to pause and get my breathing under control again. Oh well.

[heyarnold13]

Tuesday, April 21

 

Skill: Strict Toes-to-Bar

Workout: Plyometrics (4R or 20min)

• 20e skip hops
• 15 jump squat
• 20 ice skaters
• 15 plyo wall pushups

Finisher: Center and Front Splits

 

Okay, plyometrics... you win. I am SORE! Also there were burpees in the warmup (ugh), which was actually okay because I managed to do half of them WITH a strict pushup and not just planks! Yay pushup progress!

Toes to Bar was also good. I'm getting much better at just hanging off the bar which is really nice and I feel super solid in my hollow hold position on there. Woo!

As for plyos... good god those skip hop things are hard. And 20 on each leg? I had no idea how I was ever going to finish! But somehow, someway, I got through three complete rounds plus another round of skip hops and squats. One of my gym buddies (the one who did the Karen with me and was there Monday for bears) is an absolute beast and finished 4R in under the time limit, so when I was coming up on 10seconds left and hadn't finished my squats, he came over to cheer me and count them down with me and I finished all the squats when I thought there was no freakin' way! Gym buddies are the BEST.

Center splits felt sooooo good after all of that.. oye. Definitely sore, but excited about snatches tonight! I heart snatches