Jim vs. Push Press

This went well.

Push press
75 x 3
95 x 3
115 x 3
135 x 3
125 x 3
105 x 3
85 x 3

I didn’t mess up my shoulder, which always feels like a win. Not much to say beyond that.

Jim vs. Push Press, and Another Finisher

Back in the gym. When I did the Klokov complex, it drove home how rarely I do the push press. So I decided to start by changing that up.

Push press
95 x 3
115 x 3
135 x 3
125 x 3
105 x 3

Those weights seemed to be really good. There wasn’t an easy set in the lot, but I also got them all done.

I finished up with another, well, finisher:

6, 5, 4… 1 of:
Spider-man climbs (both sides)
Jump squats
X-body mountain climbers (both sides)

Got through this this in 2:42, and it definitely worked me harder than the last one. A big part of it was the quicker transitions; in fact, most of the time there was no real transition between the x-body mountain climbers and the next round of Spidey climbs. Good stuff.

Jim vs. the Klokov Complex, Box Jumps & KB Swings

I was gonna do deadlifts today. But while I was poking around Crossfit Virtuosity looking for a new metcon for the second half of my workout, I came across this. First of all, the name “Klokov complex” is totally badass; second, the complex itself looked fun. So I just did the whole CV workout.

Klokov complex
Deadlift, squat clean, front squat, push press, split jerk
65
95
115
135
145*
95

I thought the push press would be my limiting factor, and while it was tough the movement that ended up getting me was the squat clean. That asterisk is there because at 145 I didn’t do a full squat clean; I caught the weight in the power stance, then did a front squat. Of course, I then did a second front squat to continue the complex, and ended up nailing the push press and split clean. But it seemed like that was as high as I could effectively go, so I dropped back to 95 and wrapped things up.

Then I did the metcon CV prescribed:

10, 8, 6, 4, 2 of:
Box jumps
KB swings

I definitely didn’t use 30″ of box, and I only used a 52.5lb dumbbell for the swings. I finished in 2:32, and while that time indicates that I could’ve gone heavier, my lower back was damned tender afterwards. So while I could up the height and weight next time, I’m not ready to tackle this one as Rx’d.

Overall, this was a great way to wrap up a week of non-standard workouts.

Jim vs. Push Jerk, Push Press, Overhead Squats

Birthday workout!

Push jerk
135 x 1
155 x 1

Push press
120 x 2
130 x 2

Overhead squat
95 x 3
105 x 3
115 x 3

Putting barbells over my head this much without re-injuring my shoulder is one of the best gifts I can give myself. It’s a birthday miracle!

Jim vs. Push Jerk, Push Press, Overhead Squat

And then I got sick and missed twelve days of workouts. Awesome. Been a while since it happened — by which I mean, like two weeks — and I’m still always frustrated when it does. Got back into it today, tho.

Push jerk
125 x 1
145 x 1

Push press
115 x 2
125 x 2

Overhead squat
100 x 3
110 x 3

I did what was practically the bare minimum number of sets today, but I did push all the weights up from the last time I did this workout. So there’s that.

As it is, though, if I get in once more before the end of the month, February will have included an absolutely pathetic six workouts. Yeah, there was travel, and two bouts of sickness… but still. That sucks.

Jim vs. Push Jerk, Push Press, and Overhead Squat

Well, it was inevitable: I went home sick last Tuesday, and that kept me from working out for a solid week. Made it back into today and did Day 2 of tMBPitW… but went kind of light with it.

Push jerk
115 x 1
135 x 1

Push press
105 x 2
115 x 2

Overhead squat
95 x 3
105 x 3

Light or not, I was sweating before I was halfway through. I seem to have at least learned to ease back in after an illness. Overall things felt OK: the OHSs were tough, but the jerks felt very strong. The Vibrams seem to help with the pop on the Oly lifts, somehow.

I’ll probably get in Day 3 this week… then I’m traveling again.

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, Push Press, Box Jumps

After last week’s struggle with finding a 1RM in the shoulder press, I decided to give another 5×5 a go, ramping up the weight another five pounds.

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

So, that worked. But I wasn’t done with my shoulders.

Three rounds of:
30 seconds, 75lb push press
30 seconds rest
30 seconds, box jumps
30 seconds rest

My push press rep count was 13-11-9, and my box jump count was 14-12-13. Not bad, and it got me thinking about Fight Gone Bad again.

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. Mussolini

I briefly had the nickname “Il Duce” in college. Thus, I smiled when I saw this in the CF Ithaca blog.

“Mussolini”
AMRAP in 12 minutes:
4 push press
8 pull ups
12 weighted squats

I uses 75lbs for this: it was a guess, but I figured if it was good enough for FGB as Rx’d and my current work on Fran, it should work fine here. I did six full rounds, plus 4 push presses, 8 pull-ups, and 9 weighted squats of a seventh. It was hard getting that close to another full round and falling short, but it just lets me know what I need to do next time.