Jim vs. Murph (70%)

Oh, hell yes. I have regained some measure of my Summer of Murph groove.

“Murph” (70%)
Run 0.7 miles
70 pull-ups
140 push-ups
210 squats
Run 0.7 miles

Maybe it was the cooler weather, but this just felt better, stronger, cleaner right from the start. I kept up a solid pace on both runs, and felt like I just rolled through the middle section as well. I finished in 33:33, which makes the theoretical full-Murph time for this one 47:55. I am pleased not only in the fact that this is my fastest theoretical full-Murph time to date, but also because my actual time for this one was 14 seconds faster than my 65% time from two weeks ago.

Rawk.

Jim vs. the Bear Complex

“The Bear Complex”

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.

Last time I did this, I felt like I pushed too fast on the weight: my final two sets then were technically failures. So my goal for today was to be more conservative, and finish each round right.

63 x 7
73 x 7
78 x 7
83 x 7
88 x 7

Mission accomplished: no failures, and those last rounds still sucked sufficiently. I’ll go higher next time now that I’ve found a foundation, but the big lesson today: resting mid-set is not my friend on this kind of workout. The sets when I just pushed through 4-5 reps without stopping actually felt easier than the ones where I was resting after one or two. I’ll keep that in mind from here on out.

Jim vs. Shoulder Press, Helen

Not my best day. Started off on a search for a new 1RM on the shoulder press, and did not find one.

65 x 5
95 x 3
115 x 1
125 x 1
135 x 1
145 x 0
145 x 0
140 x 1

My current 1RM is 145, which as you can see I couldn’t even equal today. I went back to get the 140 for purely psychological reasons: I spent so long unable to get above 135 on this exercise that I needed to know that I still could. But other than that consolation, not much good news on this one.

“Helen”
Three rounds for time of:
400m run
21 kettlebell swings (52.5lb dumbbell for me)
12 pull-ups

Knocked this out in 12:10; better than last time, but far from my best effort. But I was using a bit more weight on the swings, and it still felt solid. I’ve set myself up for an ambitious week in terms of my workouts, and truth be told I think the next two are really gonna ramp things up.

Jim vs. Back Squats, Weighted Pull-ups

Four days since I hit the gym, but they weren’t all rest days: got in a seven-mile hike on Saturday, which sadly revealed just how little I’ve been hiking this summer. But today I was back in a mercifully cool Teagle to get my back squat on.

180 x 5
180 x 5
180 x 5
180 x 5
180 x 5

The linear progression keeps getting tougher, but the odd thing is that the first sets always feel tougher than the last. Maybe it’s just my muscles getting into the motion, or maybe it’s that until now almost all my barbell work involved increasing the load each set. Maybe my brain’s so used to the weight going up that keeping things steady feels like a relief.

I also got me a new 3RM on the weighted pull-up:

25 x 3
35 x 3
45 x 3
50 x 3
55 x 1

Always feels good to set a new max, and that one I really had to work for. Not sure why I decided to go back and try 55, but the results there were unsurprising. Still, I’ll take the win.

Jim vs. Shoulder Press and Another DB Complex

Well, maybe not a complex. Definitely a metcon. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Shoulder press
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5

Bumped the load up five pounds over last week’s, and still no problems. If this keeps getting programmed, I’ll keep raising the weight, in both senses of the word.

Now, my first real metcon of the week:

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 reps of:
Dumbbell Power Snatch, left hand
Dumbbell Power Snatch, right hand
Dumbbell Squat Clean + Power Jerk (two dumbbells)

I used 22.5lb dumbbells for this one, and finished up in 13:35. It was a more than slightly unpleasant experience, and I left a nice sweat angel on the floor of the still-overheated Teagle when I was done. But I do sort of like the 10! metcons, especially when I get past the 5th round or so.

Jim vs. Snatch, Running

I went for a new 1RM for the snatch today, and got it.

83 x 1
88 x 1
93 x 1
98 x 1
103 x 1
108 x 1

Everything there from 95lbs on was a new record for me, and I even felt like I could’ve gone higher. I’m really enjoying that lift, lately.

Wrapped up with two 400m runs, which took me 1:40 and 1:46. Not my best times, but that’s why I’m doing it.

Jim vs. Back Squats, Chin-ups, Push-ups

Today corrected some of the stuff I complained about on Saturday.

Back squat
175 x 5
175 x 5
175 x 5
175 x 5
175 x 5

I keep getting those weights up, so there’s that. Interspersed with those sets, I did the following:

Max chin-ups x 3: 15-10-8
Max push-ups x 1: 27

Felt pretty good about it all.

Jim vs. Murph (65%)

Two weeks ago I was sick, a week ago I was recovering, and so my Summer of Murph was delayed. And today I paid for that delay in bitter tears. (OK, I paid for that delay with a tougher workout and a longer time, but I thought this blog could use more melodrama.)

“Murph” (65%)
Run 0.65 miles
65 pull-ups
130 push-ups
195 squats
Run 0.65 miles

Finished this in 33:47, which gave me a theoretical Murph time of 51:58; not quite as bad as my first try back in May, but noticeably worse than my 55% or 60% efforts. I’m not surprised: not only have I not done Murph in a month, I haven’t done any running since then. I haven’t done push-ups or air squats as part of a WOD in that time, either.

All things considered, I’m glad I got this in today. Knowing that I’ve gotta meet Murph every two weeks tends to keep me focused. And reminds me, if nothing else, why I need to get out there and run more frequently.

Jim vs. Snatches, Double-Unders

What it says on the tin.

Snatch
83 x 3
83 x 3
83 x 3
83 x 3
83 x 3

Two factors led to the somewhat odd weight I used for these. First, I wanted to go heavier than the average weight of my most recent snatch work; second, I wanted to use bumper plates that weighed at least 25lbs, since smaller plates are narrow enough so as to tend to bounce laterally when you drop the bar. (After Tuesday’s Grace, I really wanted to be dropping the bar as much as possible.) So I went with the 25s and the 33lb bar, which gave me a weight 4lbs heavier than last week’s average. Perfect. I found myself tending towards power snatches again, but forced myself to do the full motion each time on the final sets, even if it ended up being a power snatch followed by an overhead squat.

As programmed, this day ended with a double-under ladder and Clea’s admonishment, “If you don’t have Double Unders, you’ll practice this skill for 12 minutes.” I don’t, so I did. It was frustrating, but I managed to get in more than a few DUs, plus progressions like the single-double, and the single-single-double. I couldn’t quite put together a single-single-double-single — just couldn’t get the rhythm down — but I got close. Mayhap I should add these to my summer goals.

Jim vs. Back Squats, Grace

This week’s linear progression day went better than last week’s, so maybe my struggles then were more related to illness and heat than to deterioration.

170 x 5
170 x 5
170 x 5
170 x 5
170 x 5

After that, I decided to make good on my promise to bring metcons back into the rotation.

“Grace”
30 clean and jerks, for time

I used 115lbs for this, same as last time, so as to have a direct comparison. I came in at 8:16, which is pretty close to the vague timing I did the last go-round. It’s a bit frustrating, as I was hoping for more improvement.