Conditioning

I got to the gym late this afternoon and made up a conditioning session on the spot, to make up for yesterday's excessive eating.

Hang cleans; relative max reps
95lb x 12, 10, 9, 7, 6

My forearms and failing grip forced me to quit each time.

3 circuits; 90 seconds rest between sets:
Kettlebell figure of 8s x 10 for each side
Alternating dumbbell snatches x 10 per arm
20 burpees

I was a heaving puddle of sweat by the end.

3 sets; 60 seconds rest between sets:
10 x barbell twists
15 x decline sit-ups

Full body

Alternate sets; 5 x relative max reps
Bench press @ 125lb: 6, 5, 5, 5, 4

Weighted pull-ups @ 35lb: 5, 5, 5, 4, 4

Exactly 60 seconds rest between sets.

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3 rft:
15 dumbbell snatches @ 30lb, left arm
15 sit-ups
15 dumbbell snatches @ 30lb, right arm
15 toes to bar
Time = 18:15

This is a modified version of yesterday's WoD. I tried a light db squat snatch - 20lb - but I didn't have enough external rotation to allow me to squat at a reasonable depth. My arm was too far forward, which meant I couldn't get enough weight in my heels and I felt like I was going to topple over. I decide to go with a straight db snatch at 30lb, but, in retrospect, I could have gone at least 5lb heavier. The level of difficulty for each of these movements was exactly as expected - sit-ups were easiest, all unbroken; snatches were okay, with the first set unbroken for each arm, then with one break in the other two rounds. Toes to bar, however, included quite a few no-reps and several breaks in each set. That cost me a tremendous amount of time.

Upper body

I felt a bit bleh this afternoon, which is when I had planned to train at the Stonecroft gym. I had an upset stomach after eating a few almonds, which I'd forgotten sometimes make me feel ill. I never used to like the taste of them until a few months ago, some time after I started eating much better. Ironically, I soon discovered that just a handful of almonds would give a wobbly tummy. I ate one this morning, and it tasted sooo good, I just had to eat another dozen or so. Big mistake. Anyway, this consequently affected my concentration a bit while I was working out, so no major successes today.

Alternate sets

Incline dumbbell bench presses @ 35s: 10, 10, 9, 8, 7
Incline dumbbell flies @ 25s: 10, 10, 10, 9, 9

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Incline reverse flies: 15s x 10; 20s x 10, 10; 25s x 10*
Dumbbell snatches @ 35s: 5, 5, 5, 5 (per side)

* I've done these before with Paul, but I can't remember what the proper name is for this exercise.

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Row 1,000m
Time = 5:29

That's 32 seconds quicker than last week. I think I was rowing angry while watching the Southampton vs Arsenal game live on the gym's TV. God, the Gunners were friggin' awful.

21-15-9

Lindsey Valenzuela

This morning I started with the aborted lunges and snatches from yesterday. 

21-15-9 rft
Traveling lunges @ 35s (per leg)
Dumbbell snatches @ 35s (per side)
Time = 14:51

Yesterday I attempted this with 25s, but I decided to go a bit heavier because I was starting my workout with the routine, which meant I was much fresher. I spent plenty of time stretching out my glutes and quads beforehand, which was especially important because (a) my legs were quite stiff from Wednesday's exercises and (b) I went for an early morning bike ride and really pushed myself for speed. It was so damn cold when I set off to McD's (-5!) so I needed to pedal hard just to get warmed up! 

Anyway, I'm glad I was able to actually complete this today. The lunges were tough, but not as bad as I expected. The snatches, on the other hand, left me gasping for breath.

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I did something that was pure weight, just to allow myself to feel fresh again before my final routine.

Barbell curls @ 60lb; relative max reps - 12, 8, 6, 6, 5

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21-15-9 rft
Wide grip strict pull-ups
Strict sit-ups
Time = 9:18

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I was going to do some box jumps, too, but I realised that I only had nine steps for one side, with 10 on the other. There was a yoga class in session, so I didn't want to disturb them. Of course, it only occurred to me later that I could have simply done a routine with a lower height for the jumps. D'oh!

Legs and Pulling

Yesterday was so busy I didn't have time to visit the gym, so I doubled up this morning. I had a bit of time to spare, so I didn't feel rushed.

Superset - front/back squats (a2g)
115 - 3 & 3
135 - 3 & 3
150 - 3 & 3
160 - 3 & 3
170 - 2 & 3

I used the correct front squat grip throughout.

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Dumbbell snatches for time; 5 per arm, alternating (previous times in brackets)
40lb - 25 seconds (25)
45lb - 24 (28)
50lb - 28 (30)
55lb - 32 (51)
60lb - 1:01 (2:03)

Only the 60lb set needed to be broken up. I failed the third rep with my left arm, but only needed a few breaths before going again.

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50 deadlifts @ 205lb
Time = 6:11

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Drop sets
Weighted pull-ups - 25lb x 6, 4, 3
Pull-ups - bw x 3, 3, 2

All pull-ups were strict, with exactly 60 seconds rest between each double set. Not my best performance with this routine, but by this point I was cream crackered.

Pulling

18 year old Zhang Wanqiong (-53kg, China) snatching 90kg at the 2012 Junior Worlds.

Because my wrist felt pretty good after yesterday's pushing routine, I decided to test it with some cleans, which I haven't done for several weeks. I spent some time ensuring my wrist and shoulders were warmed up and flexible before starting the routine. Also, I didn't go quite as heavy as usual, but did considerably better than I expected.

Hang cleans
95 x 6
105 x 5
115 x 5
120 x 4
125 x 3

On all the reps I caught the bar cleanly on my clavicle. I didn't use just two fingers to keep it in place, but I was able to hold it there with my whole grip and bend my wrist back without any discomfort. Consequently, my elbows were well up and my forearms were parallel to the ground. With the last two sets, I could feel my grip starting to strain a bit, but other than that I felt good. Again, not my heaviest cleans, but I'm very happy with the results given the context.

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Rita Benavidez

Dumbbell snatches for time; 5 per arm, alternating
40lb = 25 seconds
45lb = 28
50lb = 30
55lb = 51
60lb = 2:03

The last time I did this I went too light, but this time it felt more of a challenge. The first time I took a break during a set was at 55lb, after the third rep for my right (second) arm. I really slowed down in the final set, failing with the third rep on my right side. After that, I took what I thought were short rests after each rep, but I was still surprised at the slow time for the 60lb set.

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Underhand lateral pull-downs @ 100lb
12, 10, 9, 8

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Horizontal leg raises (on the dip rack)
14, 13, 11

Full body (mostly upper)

Jessica Zelinka, who recently qualified to represent Canada in the 100 metres hurdles at London 2012.
Why do all these women have better arms and shoulders than me?!

Dumbbell snatches for time (5 per arm, alternating)
30lb = 24s
35lb = 24s
40lb = 27s
45lb = 37s
50lb = 1:17

I should probably have used a heavier weight in the later sets. My time with 50lb in the final set might make it look as if I was approaching a more challenging weight, but I inadvertently did 6 reps per arm instead of 5. A I was halfway up with my left (first) arm I thought, "Oh crap - that's #6!", but I decided to balance it out with a 6th rep with my right arm. I didn't video this routine, but I think I managed to maintain decent form without resorting to pushing out the bar overhead.

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Bear complex x 3 (1 power clean, 1 front squat, 1 push press, 1 back squat, 1 rack jerk)
65, 85, 85 (failed the second rack jerk), 85, 85

The last time I did this - with Paul - I aimed for a touch and go between sets. I couldn't manage that today as I had to reset quickly after the rack jerk in order to get the correct grip for the power clean. I couldn't figure out why I had a problem with this until I realised that my grip for the back squats and jerks was too wide for the clean. In the last set, I kept my grip the same width - just wider than my shoulders - and that seemed to help.

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Alternate sets:
Dumbbell military press @ 25s - 12, 11, 10, 8, 9
Chin-ups - 12, 9, 7, 7, 6

Full body

Power clean and push press - 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
65, 75, 85, 90 (3), 90 (4)

Just couldn't find my rhythm with these today. Not only was my form and technique shaky - check out the curve of my back - I simply struggled to get the weight overhead.

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Military press
45 x 10, 65 x 7, 6, 4, 6

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3 rft:
20 x back squats @ 115lb (a2g)
10 x dumbbell snatches per arm, alternating
Time = 11:38

Upper body

Not 35lb

Couldn't train this morning, so I did a short and simple routine while Madi was in her spin class.

Alternate sets, max reps

Dumbbell military press: 25s x 12, 11, 27s x 9, 8, 7
Cable rows: 100 x 10, 110 x 10, 10, 10, 10

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3 rft:
10 dumbbell snatches per arm @ 35
10 neutral grip pull-ups
Time = 9:25

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Rear delt machine: 40 x 10, 12, 8, 8, 7

Full body

Camille

My whole body is still sore as hell from Saturday's workout, especially my legs and traps. All I could do was grit my teeth and grind my way through today's workout. (The only other alternative was to do curls for the whole session.)

The first part is Saturday's main site WOD.

Squat clean (t&g) 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
(3 warm up sets @ 95lb)
100, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135 (1), 135

It was a momentary lack of concentration that caused me to fail after the first rep at 135lb, so rather than lighten the weight, I rested 2 minutes then tried again. My 1RM is 140lb, so while I didn't set a new PR, this wasn't a bad result.

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The gym was pretty warm and humid today, so I decided to do a routine in the parking lot (still warm, but at least there was a breeze). This is based on Regional Workout #3 and my original (indoor) plan was to substitute the sprints with either clapping push-ups or burpees. 

4 rft:
10 dumbbell snatches (5 per arm) @ 40lb
200 yd sprint
Time = 7:14

I used a mat to avoid beating the crap out of the dumbbell when it touched the ground. In hindsight, 40lb was probably too light. I thought of using a 45lb, but they were both being used. However, looking at my time, even a 47lb might have been a better challenge. For the "sprints" - which turned into more of a fast jog! - I ran from one end of the parking lot, touched the ground with both hands at the far end, then turned and ran back to the mat.

Surprisingly, my legs feel better now than when I woke up!

Full body / Conditioning

Personal training with Paul

Squat clean and push press - 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
65, 85, 95, 95 (4), 95 (4)

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Superset:
Incline bench press - 35s x 10, 40s x 8, 7, 6, 5
Push-ups - 11, 7, 6, 6, 6

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5 rft:
10 x dumbbell snatches per arm @ 35
10 x lateral jumps per side @ 16 inches
Time = 16:28

And a partridge in a pear tree

Personal training with Paul.

Today I had my last personal training session before Christmas, for which Paul had me do the same 12 Days of Christmas routine as last year. (Think of the song, but substitute an exercise for each of the gifts.) However, he made this year's version more challenging with heavier weight for the thrusters and power cleans, plus I used a heavier kettlebell for the swings (last year I used a dumbbell that was a couple of pounds lighter). I think the box jumps were higher this year, too.

1 x push-up
2 x knees to elbows
3 x box jumps to 24"
4 x pull-ups
5 x air squats
6 x kettlebell swings
7 x mountain climbers (per leg)
8 x dumbbell snatches (per arm)
9 x tuck jumps
10 x thrusters @ 95 lb
11 x burpees
12 x power cleans @ 95 lb

I completed the whole "song" in exactly 40 minutes; last year's time was dead on 50 minutes.

Really pleased with the greatly improved time, especially since the whole routine is a bit more challenging. It shows that my fitness has improved in the past 12 months, as has my mental strength.