Why not rise from the ashes

[Why not?]

11 months ago I hurt my shoulder whilst leaping up an ascending ladder of pull-up bars. That plus a dramatic schedule change resulted in very little training over the ensuing 3 months (though I was still playing a good bit of soccer and doing a little bit of biking).

 

Then I finally started working out again...a month in I played in a 6-game 1-day soccer tournament. In the first game I separated the same shoulder I had previously injured. In the fourth game I injured my toe (which would remain undiagnosed). When I got home, after game 6, half of my foot was swollen.

 

The next 3.5 months...zero training of any kind. I finally started working out again at the beginning of January. A month and a half later, I PR'd my squat, bench, and deadlift at my first ever powerlifting competition.

 

Another month (and a mediocre CrossFit Open) later, and I'm feeling great. I still have occasional flare-ups in my toe and shoulder, but they're usually not so bad that I can't work through them. It's good to be back.

 

 

Last night's workout:

5x1 deadlift

415#

430#

430#

430#

430#

 

It was my first time doing heavy singles since the meet, and I'm still trying to get over a nasty cold I've had all week, but it went pretty well. I have officially used up every single plate in the house now, some I'm going to order a pair of 100s for deadlifting soon. I had to switch to mixed grip after the 3rd rep, which is unusual for me. I think it's because, now that I have a good belt, I'm not letting a little back rounding prevent me from going higher, so grip is becoming more of a limitation than it was previously. Final results: I took a lot of rest, since it was so close to my max. 415 felt easy, but 430 got rough after the first rep at that weight. I'm pleased with the workout though.

[Why not?]

Sickness continues to constrict my throat, so I remain restricted to strength work for the time being. Last night:

 

5x5 shoulder press:

135#

140#

145#

145#

140#

 

I am pleased with this workout. 145# is a new 5-rep max for me. I actually felt better than expected and, oddly enough, have experienced little to no residual muscle soreness from my strength work this weekend. It's especially strange, since my sleep hasn't been particularly high-quality due to frequent coughing. Oh well, I'll take it.

[Why not?]

Sunday Funday:

 

Death by Squat Clean...

1-rep per minute

Starting weight of 45#

10#/min increase

45-55-65-75-85-95-105-115-125-135-145-155-165-175-185-195-205-215-225-235-245-255 (fail at 265)

 

Everything went smoothly until 245. I tried putting a belt on at that weight (previous PR) and it hampered my mobility in the hole enough that I failed two reps before taking it off and sneaking a successful rep in under the time cap. I then got 255 on the first try...just barely, but hey, barely is enough for a new PR!

[Why not?]

Yesterday was kind of a rest-ish day.

 

Ran a nice easy 1.25 mi in 9:46, then did 4 laps around the track "sprinting" the straightaways and sloooowly jogging the curves. I'm still sick, so my lung capacity has not returned. Taking it easy on the cardio-intensive stuff until then.

[Why not?]

This morning:

 

5x5 back squat

275#

285

295

285

285

 

This was my first time outside of the powerlifting meet squatting with a belt. At the time, I was disappointed, largely because I misremembered my last 5x5 back squat workout. 295 barely went up on the 5th rep and I was initially unhappy, because I thought I had hit that before with less difficulty. Turns out I hadn't, it was 285. So, new 5-rep PR. I also increased my total volume by weight by 500# for the overall workout.

 

All things considered, I am pleased with my progress in the squat, given that I only squat with weight once a week for the most part. That will change once my yoke/sled/squat rack/pull-up bar arrives.

[Why not?]

Morning WOD:

 

"Hammer"

5 rounds, each for time:

5x 135# power clean

10x 135# front squat

5x 135# jerk

20x pull-up

90s rest between rounds

 

2:42

3:01

3:37

3:07

3:37

 

Lungs are definitely still not at full capacity. I spent way too much time with my hands on my knees in rounds 2-5. Wish I had some chalk, the pull-up bar was quite slippery by round 5.

 

Was this workout a great idea to do the day after heavy back squats? No. Did I have 5 minutes yesterday afternoon to figure out a workout for staff officer PT this morning? Yes. Whose fault is that? Entirely mine. Someday, when I have time, I need to start doing some longer range programming.

[The Most Loathed]

Do you have a stable of workouts to call on as needed? It's not true programming but just having a dozen favorites you can lean on should give you enough variety to avoid those issues. They also make for good benchmarks.

Or just revel in the chaos.

[Why not?]

Do you have a stable of workouts to call on as needed? It's not true programming but just having a dozen favorites you can lean on should give you enough variety to avoid those issues. They also make for good benchmarks.

Or just revel in the chaos.

 

Those are the squat, deadlift, overhead press, clean & jerk, and snatch...so basically powerlifting and oly movements. Other than that, I basically revel in the chaos haha

[Why not?]

This morning was supposed to be snatches. However, my left hamstring is still excessively tight, so I decided to do something quick and relatively non-strenuous as a result.

 

500m row, max effort

1:30

 

This was a 1s PR and also within 1s of my goal for the challenge, so that goal may be a bit easier to achieve than I originally anticipated. Also pretty good for having squatted the last two days. I did make an important realization, that being that I need to move my damper setting up on the rower. 7 is too low for me to use on speed work.

 

Also of note: I became physically incapable of pulling under a 1:30 pace around the 400m mark.

[The Most Loathed]

1:30 is a hell of a pace. nice work.

[Why not?]

Thanks

 

Today is a rest day, so I played dodge ball. As always, dodge ball was a highly questionable decision, since I can never warm up well enough and one side of my upper body always hates me afterward.

 

Left hamstring is still tight, but it loosened up nicely once I got moving.

[Why not?]

This evening:

 

5x3 front squat:

225#

255

265

255

245

 

Haven't done heavy front squats in a while, so I started off light...then got heavier fast. 255 was a 3-rep PR and 265 was actually my heaviest front squat ever. Pleased with tonight. Though I should mention that my shoulder mobility is still lousy and I need to get better at keeping my elbows up.

[Why not?]

Sunday was 5x3 shoulder press.

155#

155

155

155

155

 

Followed by 3 sets of strict pull-ups to failure (with 90s rest in between)

13

7

5

 

155 is my 3-rep PR, so I was pleased with my ability to complete all 5 sets at that weight. Pull-ups are going to be fun on my new rack, since the crossbar is at least the thickness of a Monster can. My grip strength will certainly improve, though I won't be completing, say, Angie anytime soon.

[Why not?]

Yesterday:

 

Morning

Ran 2.87mi in 20:40 (7:12 pace)

 

Evening

10 rounds of 15s of deadlifts followed by 45s of rest

Weight - 315#

Reps - 7-5-5-5-5-5-4-4-4-4 (48 total)

 

Man am I feeling that one today. Also, last night, my lower back was, for all intents and purposes, absent from my body.

[Why not?]

Yesterday was a much-needed rest day. My back still has not recovered from the deadlifts on Monday.

 

Today:

 

"Adrian"

7 RFT:

3 forward roles

5 wall climbs

7 toes to bar

9 30" box jumps

 

15:10

 

This was 5:31 faster than the last time I did this workout, back in 2013. My back is still feeling pretty sore, but I only really felt it on the box jumps. I'm pretty happy with my improvement on this one. I think the biggest factor in the improvement is that my upper body strength is better now.

[Why not?]

A quick catch-up post, now that I'm back from Kuwait.

 

Last Thursday:

For time:

80-60-40-10 DU's

40-30-20-10 KB goblet lunges

Total time: 22:16

 

Synopsis: I hate and am terrible at double unders. Because I was so dissatisfied with this workout, I added the next one right afterward.

 

5x1 front squat

265#

275

295

315

305

 

50# front squat PR.

 

Friday:

5x5 straight leg deadlift

250#-270-270-270-270

 

Followed immediately by...

 

"Lynne"

5 rounds of max reps (rest as needed, time cap of 30 min):

bodyweight bench press and strict pull-ups

8/14

6/9

4/8

5/7

3/6

Totals: 26/44 (bench press was at 185#)

 

I do 2/3 of these movements very seldom. That's my excuse for my mediocre performance on SLDLs and bench press. I have no excuse for the pull-ups. I need to get stronger.

 

Saturday:

Team WOD:

50 minutes of rowing for max calories.

1 teammate rowing, 1 doing abmat sit-ups, and 1 resting.

Rotate every 750m on the rower.

 

Team total calories (we each did 5 turns on the rower): 742

My totals: 280 Cal, 370 abmat sit-ups

 

As a result of the sit-ups in this workout, I now have the CrossFit equivalent of road rash on my tailbone. I hope it's gone by Saturday.

 

Monday:

5 rounds of "Cindy" (5x pull-up, 10x push-up [hand release], 15x air squat)

15x 115# power snatch

5 rounds of Cindy

Total time: 12:17

 

This was a good workout, minus the fact that upper body pressing strength was again a limiting factor for me.

[Why not?]

Currently resting up for a fitness competition on Saturday. I'll probably do some light snatch work today and mobility tomorrow.

[Why not?]

Saturday competition:

 

3000m row

11:11

Took this one pretty easy, trying to save up for the rest of the competition. Kicked myself for that later, since I missed 1st place by 7 seconds.

 

21-15-9

95# push press

"strict" pull-ups

3:59

I say "strict" because the only standard for pull-ups was that you couldn't kip. Anything else, you could pretty much get away with. 3rd place overall.

 

Clean ladder

135-185-230-250# (for time, 3 min cap)

First three were easy. 250 would have been a 5# PR and I was SO close to getting it. But I didn't. 3rd place, but zero points, since I didn't complete the ladder.

 

For time:

2x 20m sled push (60#)

20 burpees

2x 20m sled push

1:55

2nd place, thighs were definitely the limiting factor. Kind of irritated, because I missed first place by less than a quarter of a second.

 

Finally...

2x 25' rope climb for time

46s

6th place, not terrible, since it's a movement I never really practice. Needs to get better though.

 

3rd place overall...okay, but a little bit aggravating because I missed 2nd by one point, which I could have made up in a few different events. Oh well, motivation.

[Why not?]

Today:

 

Ran some 30/60s with my section (30s run hard, 60s walk) then went and worked out on my own.

 

5x1 shoulder press

160-160-165-170-175#

 

7x1 deadlift

405# for all

 

I was pleased with the 5# PR on shoulder press. Deadlift was another matter, however. I attempted 455 on my second rep, but only got it halfway. I then decided to just stick with 405 for the whole workout. I think I may have gotten a bit lazy with my shoulders/upper back. I also think it will go better with my belt, rather than the ones I have available to me at the gym. I will get that 450 this challenge.

 

Then, over lunch...

 

21-15-9

135# back squat

135# deadlift

burpee pull-up

9:54

 

That was unpleasant. I need to get my conditioning to the level where I can do something like that unbroken. That's still a long way off.

[Why not?]

"Brenton"

5 RFT:

100' Bear crawl

100' Broad jump

Every 5 broad jumps do 3 burpees

8:49

 

Not. Fun. Lower back soreness from yesterday's deadlifts was a limiting factor on the broad jumps.

[Why not?]

5x100m

13.1

13.8

13.1

14.5

14.1

 

This was on a dirt track. I'm hopeful that a rubber track would take a second off, otherwise I've lost more than I realized.

 

5 Rounds

Strict pull-ups, max reps

Strict dips, max reps

10/13

5/8

5/8

5/10

5/8

77 total reps

 

Wow, my shoulders felt burnt out this morning. I think it's a combination of yesterday's bear crawls and a complete lack of sufficient rest this week.

[Why not?]

4 RFT:

400m run

21 wall balls

12 GHD sit-ups

13:31

 

Then, just for funsies:

100m row

17s

 

Workout didn't feel too bad, need to get more vertical on my wall balls though and I clearly need to work on my cardiovascular conditioning level. The row is still slow. I need to work on my technique I think.

[Why not?]

Yesterday's workouts:

 

5x5 weighted pull-ups with a 25# plate

 

Felt pretty good, I might be able to go a little heavier.

 

7x3 thruster

155-165-165-165-170-175-185#

 

I went conservative on the thrusters, due to shoulder pain. Felt an odd pain just outside the top of my scapulas. Not entirely sure why. Also, the thrusters have aggravated my dormant costochondritis, so that's fun.

 

"Randy"

75x 75# power snatch

5:41

 

Grip smoker. That was definitely the limiting factor, though I was also really feeling my lower back afterward.

[Why not?]

Change of plans: Army Combatives training all week. Details in challenge thread.

[Why not?]

Combatives ended a couple of days early.

 

CF Open 15.5

27-21-15-9

Row for calories

95# Thrusters

10:27

 

29s PR from when I did this workout a month and a half ago. Legs were the limiting factor, possibly due to my activities the last three days. Shoulders hurt for the first several reps, same way they hurt on heavy thrusters last time, but I ignored them and they loosened up.