Jim vs. Shoulder Press, Push-ups

I felt like today’s workout was me calling out my block against breaking 135 on the shoulder press. It wasn’t the head-to-head — that’ll come next week — but it was a statement of intent.

95 x 3
105 x 3
115 x 3
120 x 3
125 x 3

That last round? It felt good. Solid. I had to fight for it, but there wasn’t even a second of doubt that I’d get it, even on the third rep. Bring on next week.

I also did me some push-ups. Today was 14-19-14-14, then maxing out at 20 when the mandate was at least 19. Definite progress there, too.

Good way to end the week.

Jim vs. Overhead Squats, Ring Dips, Rowing

Had some fun with a couple of metcons today.

1,2,3 . . . 10 reps of:
Overhead Squat, 65lbs
Ring Dips

Finished this one in 13:43. I did better on the overhead squats than I thought I would, taking them out in one go until round 6 or 7, and handling the remainder with only one spot of rest per round.  I just felt solid on that exercise, which is saying a lot considering how I used to feel about it. The ring dips were rougher: my final round went 2-2-1-1-1-1-1-1, which was about as unpleasant as it sounds.

Oddly, my legs didn’t feel blasted afterwards (my shoulders were a different story), and my cardio didn’t feel pushed. So I went upstairs to the rowing machine. Because I am a genius.

row 250m
rest 1 minute
row 250m
rest 1 minute
row 250m
rest 1 minute
row 250m

I finished that up in 6:45, and the rowing felt right in a way it never has. Also, this took care of my “legs not blasted, cardio not pushed” problems in a big way. That I manged not to fall down the steps from the gym afterward is a grand achievement.

Jim vs. Deadlifts, Push-ups

These 5×1 workouts always feel like a challenge to me, demanding that I at least attempt a new PR. With the current programming I follow, they tend to come after 5×5 and 5×3 workouts with the same exercise in previous week, so my perception of what the 5×1 represents is likely quite accurate. And with that mindset, I engaged the deadlift.

275 x 1
295 x 1
315 x 1
335 x 1
345 x 1

That last one is a new PR, and is just spitting distance from twice my bodyweight; I tend to fall between 175 and 180 these days, so we’re only talking 5-15 more pounds. Hopefully next time I try for a PR on the deadlift I’ll be under 177, and I can hit that goal.

Then it was more push-ups, which I decided to do after the deadlifts instead of before this time. Turned out to be a good call all around, and I knocked out 12-17-13-13 before getting the goal of 17 on the final set all in one go. I felt a bit silly: I was so happy to get the 17 in the final set that I stopped, even though it’s technically, “max (at least 17),” and I probably had one or two more in me. Well, I suppose I’ll have to make up for it later this week.

All in all, though, as solid a day as I’ve had in a while.

Jim vs. Back Squat & Eclipse

Doing a consistent weight across all the sets in a 5×5 workout is a completely different beast than starting low and looking for that 5RM. The last time I attempted the consistent weight thing was with back squats, and I revisited that today.

185 x 5
185 x 5
185 x 5
185 x 5
185 x 5

That was a solid weight for me: I was able to do it, but the 5th rep was always hard, and the 4th rep got tough as well the last two sets. That’s pretty much exactly what I said last time, but this time I used 10 more pounds. I’ll try to raise the weight further when this workout comes up again.

The second half of today’s workout was also a revisit:

“Eclipse”
Five rounds for time of:
120lb. push jerks x 3
pull-ups x 6
18″ box jumps x 9

That 120lbs was a bear, but the workout called for 80% of my max and I decided to make a go of it, and finished in 5:45. That’s 26 seconds longer than last time, but back then I only did 95lbs on the push jerk and (I now realize) only 16″ on the box jump. So the extra time is a trade-off I’m willing to live with for now.

Jim vs. Shoulder Press, Jump Rope, Box Jumps

Looks like shoulder press is coming back into the mix for a while, and I can’t say as I’ve missed it.

85 x 5
95 x 5
105 x 5
110 x 5
115 x 4

Not a bad outing, though I’d have dearly loved to get that fifth rep in at 115. But we do what we do, and then we do a metcon.

Four rounds of:
1 minute max jump rope (since I can’t do double-unders yet — maybe I’ll try next week? — I did single-unders)
1 minute max box jumps (18″)
1 minute rest

My jump rope results were 82-102-75-100, and that third set might’ve been 85; I honestly lost count. The box jumps were more consistent: 21-16-17-16.  It’s amazing how hard the box jumps were after the jump rope, but I got through it. I really need to do a longer metcon next week; I like focusing on strength, but you’ve gotta change it up from time to time.

Jim vs. Push-ups, Deadlifts

Whole lotta strength work today. Started out with some push-ups: 14-19-14-14, then maxing out at 13 before restarting and shoving my way to 19 in one go. I maxed out at 12 last week with those numbers, and it took me a second and third attempt to hit 19. So, slight improvement.

And then, 5×3 deadlifts.

225 x 3
245 x 3
265 x 3
285 x 3
305 x 3

That last set’s a new 3RM, and It honestly felt a lot better than the two previous sets. It really felt like everything came together for those last three lifts, and that just rocked.

Jim vs. Push-ups, Overhead Squats, Rowing

I almost forgot to do my push-up work today, but I remembered in time to squeeze it in before the overhead squats. I’m gonna do the same numbers this week as last week, so today was 12-17-13-13, then maxing out at 13 before pushing through to bring the final round’s count up to 17. Since last week’s effort only got me 9 reps on the corresponding final  set, that’s improvement. Unfortunately, between that work and yesterday’s run-in with the Bear, my arms were blasted before I started the overhead squats, and it took me until the third or fourth set to work through it.

75 x 1
85 x 1
95 x 1
95 x 1
110 x 1
120 x 1

What’s that you say? I did 6×1, when 5×1 or 7×1 would be the more traditional workout? Well, I’ll have you know I meant to do 7×1, but managed to not only do one set too few but not even notice it until I started writing this part of the post. (Apparently it wasn’t just my arms that were blasted.) But, hey, it’s too late to go back to the gym, and 120 is a new PR. Let’s take the win and speak no more of my inability to count.

Finally, I did two rounds of the 500m row. The first round was 1:57, which I believe is a new (if kinda sad) PR; the second was 2:17 and much more the time I tend to expect. Rowing fast is tough for me, less in the sense of “my body can’t handle it” and more like “I can’t figure out how to make my body do it.” It’s definitely something I should seek some coaching on.

Jim vs. The Bear Complex

Oof.

Here’s the description of this one from CF Ithaca:

5 rounds of the Bear Complex at ascending weight with as much rest between rounds as necessary. There is no time component to this workout.

Each round is 7 reps of the complex:

Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Push Press

The bar will touch the floor on each power clean, but resting the bar on the floor constitutes failure. You can rest and regrip with the bar on your shoulders or at your hip. You can combine the movements (thruster), but you cannot do a full squat clean and skip the front squat. You can jerk the weight overhead if necessary.

I pushed too fast on the weight increases, and it really hit home the last two rounds. I didn’t get through all seven reps on either one, and I’ll note the exact breakdown below:

65 x 7
75 x 7
85 x 7
90 x 4, 3
95 x 4, 2, 1

These kinds of movements really mess me up; for whatever reason, workouts like this bring me closer to nausea than any others, even the long metcons. I was glad to get through it, if frustrated that I let my eyes get bigger than my muscles this go-round. Still, a lot of it felt solid, and playing around with doing thrusters vs. separate squats and push presses vs. squats and push jerks was interesting in a “getting to know my body” kinda way. I’ll do this one again.

Jim vs. Greasing The Groove, More Push-ups

Another weekend spent greasing the groove with pull-ups: I did twenty sets of 5 reps over the course of the day, and am really loving that as a bit of exercise on the weekend. I also took 15-20 minutes to knock off Day 3 of Week 3 of the hundred push-ups plan. The rep counts of my first four sets were 16-21-15-15, and then I maxed out at 16 in the final set, rested briefly, then knocked out five more. I think I’ll do the same numbers next week, see how I’ve improved.

Jim vs. Overhead Squat, Dumbbell Thrusters, Kettlebell Swings

Ah, the overhead squat. Any exercise in which it’s so difficult to get the bar both into and out of the proper position makes one wonder if it’s worth doing at all. But then your legs are sore the next day in muscles you didn’t know you had, and a small bit of enlightenment enters your soul.

65 x 3
85 x 3
95 x 2
105 x Jim dumping the weight halfway through the first rep
105 x 2
115 x 2

As you can tell, balance got tricky as the weights got higher. But that 115 is a new PR, and this exercise is starting to come together for me.  Followed it up with:

15-12-9 of:
dumbbell  thrusters, 35lb each hand
kettlebell (well, dumbbell) swings, 50 lbs

I finished in 5:09, mainly because the DB thrusters wrecked me. I hadn’t done that variant before, and it was just brutal.