Full body

The first routine was a bit different today. Usually when I do front squats I switch from a conventional grip to a crossover one when the weight gets heavy and uncomfortable. It's usually my wrists that give out on me, causing me to change my grip. This morning I wanted to work on improving my form and technique, so if the weight got too heavy for me and felt uncomfortable I would just quit and not use a crossover grip. I expected to end the workout with a lower weight than my max with the incorrect grip - which I did, by 15lb - but I actually did much better than I expected.

Front squats:
100 x 5
115 x 3
125 x 3
130 x 3
135 x 3
145 x 3
155 x 2
155 x 3
160 x 2

Throughout this workout I balanced the bar on my clavicle. It was uncomfortable at first, but about halfway through it felt fine. The first 2 sets I used 2 fingers to keep the bar in place. The third set - 125lb - I used all 4 fingers, but my wrists were bent back and that was quite painful. After that I went back to just 2 fingers, which felt okay. I felt that allowed me to keep my elbows up as much as possible, which meant the bar didn't roll forward, I could keep my head and chest up, plus I did a much better job of keeping my heels down. I've noticed in my videos that when I do front or back squats my heels come up too much - at least an inch, when the weight gets heavy - which affects my balance and I start to fall forward. As the sets got heavier, I noticed that pointing my elbows in slightly helped me to maintain a decent overall posture.

The video shows the set at 125lb, using all 4 fingers to keep the bar in place, and the last 2 sets, where I'm using only 2 fingers of each hand. Although not perfect, I think my balance is better in the 2 heavy sets than the lighter one. I probably could have gone an inch or 2 deeper on some of the reps, but I'm not too concerned about that today. The point of this routine was to work on my grip, and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

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At the last minute I decided to do today's CrossFit main site WOD.

Weighted pull-ups: 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps (chin over the bar)
27, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 (F - got the bar at eye-level)