Full body

Lots of different moves today. My wrist was hurting this morning and I was a bit concerned it might affect my workout, but other than at the beginning of the session, it didn't cause any problems.

Hang squat clean and thruster
65 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 4 (failed the fifth thruster when I leaned forward during the squat)
95 x 5
95 x 5

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Amrap 15
5 bench press @ 110
5 toes to bar
5 over the bench jumps @ 20" (per side)
Score = 7 rounds + 4 bench presses

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Russian kettlebell swings
16kg x 15
20kg x 15
24kg x 15
24kg x 15
24kg x 15

46 (again)

Personal training with Paul; my second "birthday" workout of the week.

For time:
46 Sumo deadlifts @ 205
Every 10 reps do 10 otb jumps (lateral)
Time = 8:25

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For time (broken any way):
46 bench press @ 95
46 pull-ups (no kip)
Time = 10:39

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For time:
46 power clean and press @ 95
Every 10 reps do 20 sit-ups
Time = 13:28

I did better at these routines than I expected because I actually felt a bit tired this morning; not sure why. I also had a few aches. The only time I really pissed at is for the last exercise. The last 6 clean and presses were pretty much non-stop, although I did drop the weights each time. If I'd kept up that rhythm for the previous 40 reps I would have been much quicker. I was mentally lazy for those reps, but kicked it up a notch to finish.

At the suggestion of English blogger and potty-mouthed Paleo recipe guru, Finn Christo of Modern Paleo Warfare (many's the time I've had to "blitz that fucker"), I'll be taking monthly pictures as an "incentive". Here's the first one. Cher was pissing herself laughing while she took this shot, commenting my left arm looks bigger than my right. I'll be displaying all the photos here. Hopefully, I'll start to look less self-conscious.

Light/Bodyweight/Conditioning

Yesterday's lunch: 2 homemade veal and beef burgers topped with eggs fried in olive oil (seasoned with black pepper), plus baked sweet potato with onion and sage. I'm getting into this proper cooking deal!

I give up. Seriously. My knee - which yesterday felt like someone was hammering a nail into it - is 100% fine today, so I thought I'd do some squats to parallel for the first time in ages. I did a few warm up reps with just the bar, then added plates to take the weight up to 135lb. With the first rep I felt a slight twinge in my hip flexor and the second rep was pretty painful. It's nowhere near as bad as it was, but it hurt enough for me to stop my routine, which was going to be 5 x max reps @ 135. I decided to stay away from leg work today and did a push press routine instead.

Push presses (with 2 second hold) 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
75, 85, 95, 100, 105 (1)

I got the bar overhead again in the last set, but even though I locked out I couldn't hold the bar up for long, so didn't count the second rep.

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Alternate sets:
Inverted row (parallettes) - 5 x max: 13, 12, 11, 11, 10
Dips - 5 x max: 11, 10, 9, 8, 8

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21-15-9 rft:
OTB jumps @ 20" (per side, so double the number)
True push-ups
Chin-ups (mild kipping allowed)
Time = 15:54

Olympic Lifting/Conditioning

My shoulder's still a little dodgy, so I didn't punish it too much today. Also, I woke up at 4:15am and couldn't get back to sleep! For some ridiculous reason I kept thinking about some of my favourite TV shows that got cancelled ("Human Target" and "Lie To Me"). Dumb reason for insomnia!

Hang cleans 5 x 5 @ 115
4, 3, 3, 4, 3 = 17

3 reps less than last week. There's something about doing hang cleans in the cage that I find off-putting. I never hit as many reps as when I do them at the squat rack, which was already being used today. Oh, well...

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Deadlifts 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
175, 195, 210, 220, 230 (2)

All of these were done using the wrist straps, which make a tremendous difference to how comfortable my grip feels. Last week I PRed with 1 rep at 220 without the straps. This week's performance was much better.

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For time:
20 x squats
20 x burpee box jumps
20 x chest to floor push-ups
15 x burpee box jumps
20 x tuck jumps
10 x burpee box jumps
20 x jump lunges (per leg)
5 x burpee box jumps
20 x squats

Time =  11:20

That's nearly 3 minutes quicker than the last time I did this routine way back in January, and that time I did them at the start of my workout. However, Liliana pointed out I was doing the burpee box jumps incorrectly. I did a burpee, then a box jump, so 2 separate movements. She suggested I should be going straight from the ground to a jumping position, but I'm pretty sure I did this as 2 movements in January, too, simply because I don't/can't lift my legs 24" high when I do a burpee.

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Incline bench curls @ 20s
12, 8, 6

Conditioning

Wednesdays are usually pulling days, but - even though my shoulder feels better - I don't want to take the risk.

I made up today's conditioning routine at the last minute. In retrospect, the first movement seems a little out of place because all the rest are bodyweight-based.

30 reps each of:
Hang squat cleans @ 95 to 5 risers
Burpees
Box jumps @ 24"
Burpees
Over the box jumps @ 24" (30 per side)
Burpees
Bench supported lateral hops @ 24" (30 per side)
Burpees

Time = 34:45

Seems a long time, but not bad considering my quads and glutes are toast after yesterday's leg session. I did 10 minutes of stretching and warm-ups before I started the clock.

It wasn't particularly helpful when someone came up to me while I was taking a break after rep 40 of the otb jumps and asked if I thought what it would be like if I tripped over the step while I was jumping. Thanks for the pep talk, pal.

Conditioning

My glutes were really sore from Tuesday's leg workout, so I spent the first 10 minutes today stretching and warming up. That turned out to be a good time investment!

For time:
10 burpee broad jumps
40 box jumps @ 24"
10 burpee broad jumps
40 bench supported lateral jumps (per side)
10 burpee broad jumps
40 over the box jumps @ 24"
10 burpee broad jumps
40 jump lunges (per leg)

Time = 18:55

This was a 1:24 slower than my PR, but also the first time I've done it completely as RXed. My burpee broad jumps had much more power than before (i.e. I jumped a greater distance forward), so that took more out of me. Surprisingly, I think I lost some time because I had to break down the box jumps into 4 sets of 10. I think I managed to do them close to unbroken before. 

The most significant difference today is that I did the otb jumps @ 24", which is the highest I've ever done them. I did a few warm up jumps before I started just to see if I could. It was a little intimidating at first, but a few seconds of staring at the set-up helped to pump up my confidence! During the routine itself I got more confident with the otb jumps, but I lost some time at the beginning because I was staring at the box before my first rep. By this time I was pretty fatigued so I was telling myself - out loud - to just bloody jump! My confidence gradually improved and I did the last 10 reps quickly and unbroken. The only time I had a lapse of concentration was when another gym user decided to walk really close by the box as I was about to jump, which put me off.

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25 box jumps @ 24"
25 bench-supported lateral jumps per side
25 otb jumps

Time = 7:05