Jim vs. Deadlifts & Bench Press, Two on the Minute

I liked Friday’s workout so much, I decided to use the format again today. Twice.

On the minute for 10 minutes:
Deadlift x 2, 225lbs

On the minute for 10 minutes:
Bench press x 2, 135lbs

Oddly, though the loads I used for these were higher percentages of my maxes for these exercises, they felt easier than the back squats did. Still, good workout.

Jim vs. The Sandbag Clean and Press

This was one that made me say, “I wish I had a 50lb sandbag.” Well, sometimes wishes do come true.

The Sandbag Clean and Press x 50
Clean your Sandbag from the ground to shoulder level and press it overhead 50 times as fast as possible.

Finished in 5:31. Not quite “Nasty, brutish, and short” territory, but I’ll probably still make it under that and “Mid-range”; I’m sure I can get this one under five. In any case, it was well under the 10 minute cutoff, so I’m pleased.

Jim vs. Back Squats, Two on the Minute

I heard about this one from Charlotte, who got it from Brand X, who got it from the CrossFit mainsite. It was originally just back squats, ten sets of two. I added in the timing to put a bit of conditioning in.

On the minute for 10 minutes:
Back squats x 2, 145lbs

My hamstrings were aching at the end of this one. I focused on keeping my form strong, and getting deep into the squat. Good stuff.

Jim vs. Another Light Workout, Box Jumps

Take what I did on Tuesday, and sub in 18″ box jumps for the untimed rowing.

Not much to report here, except that a set of 20 box jumps really hit hard today. My conditioning could be much, much better.

Jim vs. A Light Workout, Rowing

Still not feeling great, so I’m gonna make this at least partially a light week.

Today, that meant doing a light workout: basically, I did a round of my usual warm-up — stretching, push-ups, pull-ups, etc. — and then ended the round with a n untimed 500m row. Did two rounds, total.

Good to move around a bit, I suppose.

Jim vs. Goblet Squats

Monday’s muscle problems led to ibuprofen. Ibuprofen led to gastritis. Gastritis led to an evening spent in Urgent Care, and a few days where working out wasn’t even an option.

Got back into it today, though relatively lightly.

Goblet squats
53 x 5
53 x 5
53 x 5
53 x 5
53 x 5

Went well. I’ll try to do another workout tomorrow, too.

Jim vs. Overhead Squats, Push Jerk, Bench Press

Ugh.

Overhead squat
120 x 3
110 x 4

No problems there.

Push jerk
145 x 1
165 x 0

And here’s where things went pear-shaped.  Not only did that rep not go all the way, up, but I felt a sudden, harsh tightness across my upper back. Not pain, per se, but… not right, either.

For better or worse, I went on to bench press, but lightened the loads.

Bench press
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5

Honestly, it felt good to just move the muscles a bit. I’ve also been doing some PT moves and taking ibuprofen. It doesn’t feel like too serious, and tomorrow’s a rest day. We’ll see how I’m doing on Wednesday.

Jim vs. Half-Mile Sandbag Run

I was sore as hell yesterday from Death by Deadlifts, so I didn’t do my workout until this afternoon.

Run a half-mile with a sandbag on your shoulder
25lb bag, finished in 4:54

Cut another four seconds off my previous time, which surprised the hell out of me. I still don’t think I’m quite ready to make the jump to the 50lb bag on this one, but this week my conditioning’s been proving better than expected.

Jim vs. Death by Deadlifts

I wanted to do deadlifts today, but I also wanted to try something different to see if I can’t help push my progress forward. Thus:

Death by deadlifts
With a continuously running clock, perform 1 deadlift the first minute, 2 deadlifts the second minute, 3 deadlifts the third minute until you are no longer able to perform the required reps in the minute. The bar is loaded to your bodyweight.

I used 185lbs, which is probably 7-10lbs below my bodyweight at the moment. But it’s also what I did last time, and I wanted to compare.

I finished 10 rounds, plus seven reps of the 11th round. That’s a solid improvement, which surprised me: considering where I’ve been at, both conditioning and strength-wise, I was pretty sure I’d do worse this time around.

Now we’ll see if this translates to my reverse pyramid deadlifts next week.

Jim vs. A 7-11 Circuit

This is something of my own design.

Three rounds for quality of:
Deadhang pull-ups x 7
Weighted hip thrusts, 50lb sandbag x 11
Goblet squats, 53lb kettlebell x 7
Weighted push-ups, 25lb sandbag x 11

No real problems. Can definitely do much more weight on the hip thrusts — though 405 is almost certainly beyond my reach — but the push-ups felt harder than expected. Ran into no issues with the deadhang pull-ups, which was a nice surprise.