Jim vs. Kali, Shoulder Press

Another solid class: more chambering practice, more interesting sinawali, plus practicing variations on the three-count sumbrada. Both involved work in which one parter had two sticks, and the other only one. Made things pretty interesting, that did.

Then I hit the shoulder press linear progression again:

105 x 5
105 x 5
105 x 5
105 x 5
105 x 5

Oddly enough, this felt easier than last week’s. Which is pretty cool, really.

Jim vs. Angie (50%)

So I’ve come to the conclusion that I need projects. The Summer of Murph and my back squat linear progression made up around 30-40% of my workouts between May and October, and they really drove me to push myself more overall. The shoulder press linear progression I’ve been doing has been good, but I needed something else.

I’ve decided to work my way up to a full Angie: 100 each of pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and squats, in order, for time. It’s definitely easier than Murph: only two-thirds the number of reps on the body weight stuff, and no running. But it has two elements that make it more difficult. First, it includes sit-ups, and I swear that ever time I’ve nearly gotten sick from a workout in the last year or so sit-ups have been involved. Second, unlike Murph, Angie requires yo to do your exercises in order: all the pull-ups need to be done before you start push-ups, and so on.

Angie (50%)
50 pull-ups
50 push-ups
50 sit-ups
50 squats

Finished in 9:17, which is my best time for a half-Angie. A good start, though now I need to figure out exactly what my progress up to 100% is going to look like.

Jim vs. Back Squat

A new take on back squats today:

125 x 6
135 x 6
145 x 6
155 x 6
165 x 6

Doing six reps just felt odd, and I think it may have wrong-footed me in terms of the loads used. I probably could’ve gone heavier, but when I was done my legs felt very tired and well-used. We’ll see how sore they are the next two days, I guess.

I’ve got something of an idea for my next project. More on that as it pans out.

Jim vs. Kali, Shoulder Press

Good class today: we practiced a more difficult sinawali, involving a new use of the umbrella block and switching back and forth between closed and open chambering. It was pretty challenging, and at the end of the class my partner and I felt like we might just about have gotten it.

Then, more shoulder press linear progression:

100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5

This is my fourth week, and it’s starting to feel tougher. Not sure how much of that is the weight, though, and how much is doing C&Js yesterday.

Jim vs. Clean & Jerks, 1k Row

Today was definitely one of those good gym days. Started with some clean and jerks:

95 x 3
105 x 3
115 x 3
125 x 3
135 x 3

Was going for form rather than a new 3RM on this one, and the form felt really good. Plus, those reps at 135 were only 10lbs  shy of my 3RM, so I still had to push them a bit. I wrapped up with my first 1k row in nine months, coming in at 4:39.

I don’t want to get into the habit of settling too much for days like this, but I’ve been feeling frustrated with my gym time lately and there is something satisfying about pushing yourself some and succeeding. Need to get my feet back under me a bit, and this helped.

Jim vs. Front Squats

Short time in the gym today, so I just warmed up and then got into the front squats.

135 x 3
150 x 3
165 x 3
180 x 1
135 x 3

I figured this would be rough, but I underestimated how rough. I barely got through the set of 165s, and simply couldn’t bring 180 up a second time. This sort of thing has me feeling like another four months of the back squat linear progression is in order… as well as revisiting this exercise more frequently.

Jim vs. Kali, Shoulder Press

Kali does warm up the shoulders quite nicely.

95 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5

And so the linear progression rolls on.

Jim vs. Power Cleans, Push-ups, DB Snatches, Double Unders

Really needed to get back into the swing of things today, and CF Ithaca provided some programming that was a bit unusual for me. Which, frankly, was perfect.

Power Clean – CrossFit style max. Starting with an empty barbell, you’ll have 15 minutes to perform a heavy single Power Clean.

Hadn’t done this kind of max before, and I’m not sure I paced myself all that well. I ended up doing 45 – 95 – 115 – 135 – 145 – 155(fail) – 155 – 160(fail) – 160(fail).  That 155 ties my PR  from over a year ago, and I can’t help but wonder if the 160 would’ve gone up on my 4th or 5th set, rather than my 8th and 9th. A lesson for next time, perhaps; I may use this format for finding my max again at some point.

Then, an oddly structured metcon:

2 rounds for reps of:
30 seconds max push-ups
15 seconds rest
1 min max db snatches, left hand
30 seconds rest
1 min max right hand
30 seconds rest
2 min max double unders
1 min rest

My results on this one were pretty good, all told: 32-23 on push-ups, 19-14 on the left-handed DB snatches, 18-15 on the right, and 15-12 on the double unders.  Those 32 push-ups were all in one go, which is a new PR, and I was doing the single-single-double thing for the DUs which made for a lot more work (and at least one occasion of me smacking myself across the face with the rope).

All in all, a good day at the gym.

Jim vs. Kali, 400m Runs

Another good class, which felt like it was building on the disarms from last week. Today we worked on the “tying/untying” motion of trapping your opponents arm and getting out of their own traps. Fun stuff.

It was sunny and relatively warm afterwards, so I did three 400m runs.

1:32
1:40
1:57

The first one is two seconds shy of my PR, but the last one reflects the fact that the two-minute breaks I was giving myself did not notably address the incredibly painful stitches I started suffering during the second run. We’re talking Murph-level pain, if not worse.

Of course, the last time I did any running was Murph, and that was a month ago. I’ll need to be spending some time on the Barton track once the snows fall; I apparently start to lose my running chops damnably quickly.

Jim vs. Kali, Shoulder Press

Another day without tagging myself in the head! And this time we even did disarms.

Afterwards, more shoulder press linear progression.

90 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 5

Still definitely in the realm where I’m not feeling pushed by the load. That’ll change, I’m sure.