Jim vs. Kali, Dips, Squats, Sit-ups

Good class today, though adding two moves to the sumbrada we’ve been practicing for weeks proved confusing to just about everyone. I’m glad Pete and Judd showed me the abanico strike on Sunday, because it totally came up today.

Afterwards I hit Teagle for a quick metcon. Luckily it was one I could do upstairs, since downstairs was insanely packed.

Five rounds for time of:
8 dips
16 squats
24 sit-ups

This was supposed to be ring dips, but I had enough crap to carry to and from work without adding in the rings. Unsurprisingly, the sit-ups were the toughest bit for me; I finished in 7:59.

Jim vs. Overhead Squats, Cleans

Heavy triples, all around.

Overhead squat
85 x 3
95 x 3
105 x 3
115 x 2

Clean
115 x 3
125 x 3
135 x 3
145 x 3

115 is my 3RM on the overhead squat, and I couldn’t quite get it today; totally a balance issue, but balance had been problematic pretty much every set. I haven’t done just plain ol’ cleans in quite a while, so 145 might be a 3RM there. In any case, I was able to do full cleans on all but two reps, so that felt good.

Jim vs. Murph

The increasingly inaccurately named Summer of Murph has come to a close.

“Murph”
Run 1 mile
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 squats
Run 1 mile

I confess, I just wanted to get this thing done. What I didn’t realize is that I’d get it done so quickly.

I finished in 38:20. That’s more than three minutes faster than my 95% time, and almost six minutes faster than my best “theoretical” Murph time. Everything felt smooth on this one: I kept up a strong pace in the runs, and instead of starting with 5 pull-up/20 push-up/5 pull-up/30 squat rounds and then fading to rounds of 5/15/5/20 (or fewer) two-thirds of the way through, I maintained the 5/20/5/30 rounds throughout. I knocked out five before my first breather, three before my second, and then the last two.

Rawk.

The Summer of Murph was rarely pleasant, but I’m thrilled with how it went. Between it and my back squat linear progression, my workouts have had a strong, focused core these last five months. I’m gonna take a break for some travel, and then I need me a couple more projects.

Jim vs. Kali, FGB Drills

Great class today: actually got the hang of the very long Sinawali we were working on, helped Guro Kevin demonstrate said pattern without humiliating myself overmuch, and had one of the kids I was partnered with tell another, “This guy know what he’s doing.”

To which I replied, “Which doesn’t happen often, so take advantage while you can.”

Afterwards, I stopped by Teagle to do some Fight Gone Bad drills. I didn’t do FGB5 this year, mainly because most of my fitness focus has been on the Summer of Murph and, until recently, the back squat linear progression. The workout strikes me as a potential future project along those lines, though: FGB4 showed me that I was capable of getting through a tough workout as Rx’d, and the next time I do it I want to excel. Jumping in unprepared seemed like a bad call, though.

Besides, I totally forgot when it was, let alone to start raising money for it.

So what I did today was tackle each of the components of a FGB round in turn, one minute each. Teagle’s set-up made it impossible for me to move immediately from one to the next, and they still don’t have 20lb medicine balls. But I pushed as hard as I could under the circumstances.

Push press: 20 reps
SDHP: 19 reps
Box jumps: 21 reps
Wall ball: 29 reps
Rowing: 16 calories

Not bad, but also not representative of a true FGB round. Still, if I can find a good way of doing the five exercises in a row, I’d definitely pick this one back up. Heck, maybe as next summer’s project.

Jim vs. Shoulder Press, Kipping Pull-ups, KB Swings

No kali class thanks to Fall Break. It’s not fair that when I go on vacation the kids still have class, but when they do I’m left out in the lurch. The injustice of it! But at least Teagle was open, and there were shoulder presses to be had.

115 x 1
125 x 1
135 x 1
145 x 1
150 x 0

The good news is that I was able to equal the PR I set back in December, something I couldn’t do in July. Bad news is that I couldn’t push any further. I’m considering doing a 5×5 linear progression on shoulder press as one of my new projects after the Summer of Murph wraps up.

Afterwards, I alternated sets of max kipping pull-ups with sets of 15 KB swings using the 70lb dumbbell. The pull-ups were not my best; my kip wasn’t great and I only got 15 and 11. The swings were pretty intense, as that’s the heaviest weight I’ve used on that exercise by 15lbs. Fun stuff.

Jim vs. Back Squats, 800m Run

Two new PRs today, though neither was huge.

Back squat
145 x 1
175 x 1
205 x 1
235 x 1
265 x 1
270 x 1

265 was a PR I made almost two years ago, and had been unable to replicate since. Getting it today felt good; getting 270 felt even better. Then I did an 800m run, finishing in 3:50. That’s a new PR by one second. Good start to the week.

 

Jim vs. Thrusters, Pull-ups, Push-ups

Thanks to the Summer of Murph, twenty minutes doesn’t seems so long anymore.

AMRAP in 20 minutes of:
5 thrusters, 95lbs.
10 pull-ups
15 push-ups

SoM’s also increased my tolerance to pull-ups and push-ups, but the thrusters proved to be a cruel limiter on my efforts; it didn’t take long for me to be stuck doing one or two at a time, max. I got through seven full rounds, plus the thrusters and pull-ups of an eighth. Muscle fatigue, rather than endurance, was what was holding me back towards the end. And, truth be told, towards the middle.

Jim vs. Kali, The Snatch

Another fun kali class, with more disarms learned. Never got good enough at the first four to practice the one where you trap your opponent’s fingers between their stick and yours. Luckily for any opponents I may have, I’ve got a pretty good chance of doing that move to myself at any given time.

After that, it was back to Teagle for heavy singles on the snatch.

83 x 1
93 x 1
103 x 0
103 x 1
113 x 1 (power)
113 x 1

Struggled with balance issues on these. That failure on 103 was my balance being off (and my mind not being on what I was doing). I was able to easily power snatch 113 on the first attempt, but didn’t have the balance for a full snatch. Got it pretty smoothly on the second attempt, though, and it’s a new PR.

Jim vs. Kali, Box Jumps & Hanging Leg Raises

Good kali class today; worked on more double-stick stuff, then some disarms. After that I stopped into Teagle for the following short metcon:

30/15, 20/10, and 10/5 of:
Box jumps
Hanging leg raises

I stacked a fourth box for my box jumps today, bringing the height to at least 21 or 22 inches.  Knocked the metcon out in 5:02, and had a nice set of sore legs and abs afterwards. Fun stuff.

Jim vs. Shoulder Press, Double-Unders

I’ve been doing a lot of 5x5s with the shoulder press lately. Decided to see about some 3s.

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

That’s a new 3RM on set #5, which made my struggles with double-unders sting a bit less. In the ten minutes I gave myself, I never got more than five single-single-doubles in a row, though I managed the five a few times. Far from my best effort, there; need to revisit these again next week.