Jim vs. Lynne & Rowing

There are two ways to scale Lynne down to the Pack level: lower the bench press weight and do the full five rounds, or do your body weight and only do three rounds. I took the latter route today for the first time, throwing 175 lbs onto the bar. (I weighed in at 176.8 this morning, so I suppose I cheated myself out of those 1.8 pounds. I’ll live with it.)

“Lynne”
Three rounds of:
Max body weight bench press
Max pull-ups

Results:
1 –  7/8
2 – 3/7
3 – 2/5

My muscles were feeling pretty tired after that, but I still wanted to do something solid for a cash-out. So I went upstairs and did a 2k row, which took me 9:29. After that, I felt well and truly done for the day.

Jim vs. Weighted Pull-ups & Grace

Today I decided to try one of the workouts from Ithaca CrossFit: 5×3 weighted pull-ups, followed by Grace. This meant a shorter more focused workout, which is something I’m gonna need to get a handle on. The weighted pull-ups were fun, though, and a nice variation that I plan to revisit.

BW(body weight)+25 x 3
BW+35 x 3
BW+45 x 3
BW+45 x 3
BW+35 x 3

My form started to slip on the two sets that I had 45 lbs chained to my waist, but overall it was solid. Most days, that sort of thing would be it. But today I took a quick breather then moved on to Grace.

“Grace”
85lb clean and jerk x 30

Last time I did this one, I went for full squat cleans and didn’t feel gassed at the end. But I noticed in most of the videos for this WOD people were doing power cleans, and thus moving faster and getting more of a metcon workout. That’s what I did this time, and it worked: as noted, I did more weight, but finished in 6:48. And I certainly felt gassed after this go-round.

I may have to swing down once a week or so to workout with Clea at Ithaca CrossFit. I’ve been hearing great things, and this workout was great.

Jim vs. Burpees, Pull-ups

Inspired by Julie, I decided to wrap my week with a workout I made up.*

21-15-9
Burpees
Pull-ups

Knocked it out in 5:59. Burpees are still tough, but not as nightmarish as they used to be. After yesterday and today, though, my upper body’s really gonna need a rest day or two. But then, so’s the rest of me.

* At least, I think I made it up. Maybe I saw it somewhere and forgot. In any case, I think it was a pretty solid workout. Maybe it needs a third exercise? Dunno, but it didn’t feel like it was missing anything to me after I finished.

Jim vs. J.T.

Tried this one back in March, and it was a bear. It was a bear today, too.

“J.T.”
21-15-9
HSPUs (feet on bench first round,  knees on bench second and third)
Bench dips
Push-ups

Did it in 6:15, over a minute and a quarter faster than when I tried it in March. And in March, not only did I do the feet-to-knees sub on the HSPUs as I had to today, but I also did my second and third rounds of push-ups with my hands on a bench, and my second and third rounds of dips with my toes on the floor. So even with the bench dip subs — silly dorm room — it was a harder workout, and I finished faster.

Jim vs. 800m runs

Got up, stretched, warmed up, and did four rounds of 800m running, resting as needed between rounds.

1 – 3:51
2 – 3:52
3 – 4:08
4 – 3:56

Rested five minutes between rounds. Round three was when my nasty stitch developed, and it showed; round four was me pushing it because, hell, it was the last round. Total time 15:47, average speed 7.6 mph.  Slower than last time, and it was round three that did it when you compare the workout results: my slowest round this time was seven seconds longer, while all the other rounds got faster. Something of a mixed bag, really.

Jim vs. Walking lunges, Pull-ups, & Sit-ups

I should know better. I new my body responds better to starting my week with a strength day, even if I lack assess to a gym. So I toyed with the idea of doing a modified Lynne today, but went ahead and did a hard metcon anyway. This was a mistake, I think.

Walking lunge 100 ft.
21 Pull-ups
21 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
18 Pull-ups
18 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
15 Pull-ups
15 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
3 Pull-ups

That was how far I got in 9:39, before I collapsed with nausea. A few minutes later, I finished up:

9 Pull-ups
12 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
9 Pull-ups
9 Sit-ups
Walking Lunge 100 ft.
6 Pull-ups
6 Sit-ups

Did that in 3:32. Total of 13:11, though I can’t count that. That was not fun.

Jim vs. Hang Power Cleans

Decided to end my week with some strength work, since I’ll be traveling next week and metcons and running will be the order of the day. Week. Whatever. In any case, today I did hang power cleans, 7×1.

95 x 1
95 x 1
105 x 1
115 x 1
125 x 1
135 x 1
145 x 1

Since cleans had suffered from the same 135-pound-block that shoulder press had, it was nice to move past that today. Now, it’s off into the wild world with naught but a timer and a pull-up bar (that I dearly hope will fit in the doors where I’m going).

Jim vs. Thrusters

Because I hadn’t punished my shoulders enough this week, today I did 7×1 thrusters. I made sure to listen to my trap, and this time said muscle got to the fifth set before getting really talkative. My reaction to this is reflected in my results.

95 x 1
105 x 1
115 x 1
125 x 1
135 x 1
125 x 1
125 x 1

That 135 lb barrier still stands, even with the help of my legs. But it will fall.

Jim vs. 400m Runs, Squats

Sometimes it just ain’t no fun working out first thing in the morning.

3 rounds for time:
400m run
35 squats

Did this in 9:10, which is 10 seconds faster than my last effort. Not bad, but I’d hoped to shave off more time.  Felt tight and cold this morning right from the start, though.

Jim vs. Shoulder Press, Push Press, Push Jerk

This workout has something in common with running a 5k: it’s nice to be able to finish it. That may sound odd for a strength workout, but this thing is almost three times as long as a normal strength day, and last time I tried it I was dumb about the loads I was using and re-injured my left trap. So today my goal was just to get through without injury, which often meant telling the little voice that urges me to push my weights higher to shut the hell up.

Shoulder press 5×1: 85-95-105-115-125
Push press 5×3: 85-95-105-95-95
Push jerk 5×5: 75-85-95-95-95

The voice got loudest on the third sets for both the push press and the push jerk. When it got loud, I checked in with my trap, which was starting to feel tender. So I listened to my trap, and either dropped weights or kept them the same. End result: I finished the workout, and I’m sore without the sharp shock of injury. I find this acceptable.