Squats and an exercise in continuity

Just 3 sets of 80kg then a set of 10 with 60kg.
I spent the day walking around shops and my knees and ankles were wasted so I just wanted to get something done.

Then Fran scaled to 20 kg s and green Iron Woody band assist.
8:52

I was trying for no breaks and smooth reps to spare my shoulders and couldn't manage that.
I think I can say with some certainty that Fran as Rxed under 5 minutes is never going to happen for me. The gap is too wide.

I'll aim for the prescribed weight and get that some day near 20 minutes and be happy.

It's about the puff, not the grunt

Nopt that the puff lasted very long

AMRAP 10-12
6 x 40kg HPC
12 squats

Forgot I changed it to 12 minutes and set the timer for 10. Carried on when I remembered, but lost a little bit of time. As slow as I was going by then probably only about 2 squats worth.

8 rounds plus some squats

1 1:01
2 1:09
3 1:18
4 1:21
5 1:32
6 1:26
7 1:32
8 1:22

I really thought I'd get 10 rounds in the 10 minutes. Didn't come close. Squats are the killer, just slow and steady, I can't speed them up and keep my knees where they should be.

Deadlifts and stuff

3 x 137.5kg
No video, I knew it wasn't going to be an outstanding day. I didn't expect to do as well as that actually.


Then
5RFT
30 x 12kg dumbbell power snatch - 15 each arm
8 KTE

16:15

1 2:20
2 3:09
3 3:32
4 3:37
5 3:35

Runny Cindy

400m
3 Rounds
5 pull-ups
10 x 20kg press
15 squats
400m
3 Rounds
5 pull-ups
10 x 20kg press
15 squats
400m

18:42

Should have been back squat day and my shoulder is too tight to face them. My "running" was shockingly slow this time, the worst for ages.

Demonstration of stupidity

Deadlift
1 x 140kg
12 x 110kg

12-9-6
40kg front squat
Ring push-ups

8:59

Stupidity?
I jumped 60-100-140 in my deadlifts. The temptation to keep sliding on 20kg plates was too great.
I know to chuck a couple of smaller jumps in there next time.

Metcon was stupid because I should be able to front squat a weight I can (just) curl more easily than that. And my shoulder was not too solid during the ring push-ups, which I had to do on my knees.

It's been a long couple of days though and I've spent more than usual of them sitting at my desk. Overall it was good to be moving again.

'twas a dark and stormy night ...

Well, a blustery afternoon.

3RFT
200m
20 sit-ups
20 x 12kg T-handle swings
10:27

1 3:25
2 3:27
3 3:33

Decided to spare my shoulder and forwent benching.
Runs were slow even for me but fun fighting through the blustery headwind.

Got rained on slightly, not a bad thing.

Chuck Taylor's don't make good wet tyres. I didn't slip, but they're a bit skiddy.

Back Squats and a half Brendan.

1 x 95kg PR
12 x 60kg

The weight doesn't feel heavy walking it out and it doesn't really feel heavy when I'm squatting. It does feel darned awkward and when I go to drive up there just isn't anything there.

5RFT
10 x 60kg deadlifts
10 x 12kg dumbbell press
9:36

1 1:35
2 2:01
3 1:53
4 1:55
5 2:11

Grip loosened embarrassingly on the deadlifts.
Presses were typically yech.

I'm doing that again very soon. I can do better if I get my shoulders lined up properly under the weights.

Sunday AM AMRAP

AMRAP12
5 x 50kg power cleans
5 pull-ups

7 rounds + 1 clean

1 0:58
2 1:34
3 2:03
4 1:41
5 1:38
6 1:41
7 2:03

I was tempted to use my new 20kg bumpers and make it 60kg power cleans. I think I will next time, time to step it up. I've used 60kg before and it got messy so I've been practising a little. A little more so my clean technique is not absolutely disastrous and I think 60 will be OK.
Pull-ups were kipped. Grip failure was an issue as you'd expect wit that combo, which was part of the point. I didn't take into account the tendency for a galvanised iron pipe to become polished with weathering. Weird how that happens. I don't want to scuff it or I'll mess up the galvanising. Interesting.

Deadlifts, squats and jerks

Not a great strength day
2 x 137.5kg
10 x 105kg

Not much to say. Still struggling to muster as much energy for the lifts as when I was on holiday. Really should have stretched my back last night and this morning as I had planned. Uncurling just before lifting doesn't achieve as much if I haven't.

Then:
5RFT
20 squats
5 x 50kg push-jerks

10:11
1 1:57
2 2:05
3 1:53
4 1:53
5 2:21

Squats were slow, but I had my knees rotating out nicely most of the way through.
Push jerks were OK, it was resting the bar in the rack that was hard. And of course because it was hard I sat there waiting for it to get not hard before I jerked the weight, which was the easy bit.
Ive seen it in writing that I'm intelligent, where does that go when I'm training?

Bench baby steps and Helen

Bench
3 x 5 x 40kg
Not really hitting the groove yet.
My shoulders are still drifting forward.

Then
3RFT
400m
21 x 12kg T-handle swings
15 pull-ups - Green iron woody band assist

15:46

1 4:54
2 5:15
3 5:35

Ankle is still sore from my run the other day. It doesn't currently feel any worse, so my warm-up must have been adequate.
I intended to up the weight on the swings and forgot that I'd need to cut the PVC spacer tube to fit and didn't have time for that and filing the hole in the plates out, so went with what I had.
Pull-ups were a real struggle.

Generally a bit flat so I guess despite feeling pathetic at the time, yesterday's effort must have had some worth.

Back Squats, front squats, presses

3 x 92.5kg PR
20 x 50kg

Wrist bad.
Shoulder bad.
Squats ugly, Ok the second rep not so ugly, at least I sat back for it.
The stupid thing is, every time I sat back, the rep was less awkward. Still hard, but not awkward.

One day back at work and I'm struggling again. Oh yay!

Then
3RFT
5 x 50kg front squat
30 x 15kg press

11:50

1 3:14
2 3:54
3 4:40

What effing idiot programmed presses and front squats?
2nd and third rounds I couldn't press correctly and couldn't keep my shoulders up in the front squats/
First round, in fact all rounds, I couldn't stop my back rounding.

I think I should cancel today and try another Monday tomorrow

Deadlifts, run and measure

Deadlifts
5 x 137.5kg PR
19-20ish x 100kg. Lost count, need to watch video. 20, that's cool.

They all felt solid and not gut bustingly heavy this time. Didn't fart around with the silly collars to get 142.5kg, decided to stay with the plates that I have.
Just clicked the other day what the hip positioning is supposed to be that Kelly was talking about and that's what has been feeling weird with my right hip. With that locked in things feel much more solid. I keep losing it so will work on stretching there more so that it's easier to maintain.

My legs were getting wobbly by the end.

Then
Run 2 x round the block
Then another lap walking with the surveyors wheel

Results of the measuring:
Around the block, not including cul de sac 1416m
Cul de sac loop 256m

So I ran 3088m and walked 1672m.
Total of 4760m

Forgot to put my watch on, so no idea of how long that took.

Benching and a Fran variant

Tried some bench presses, got up to a few sets of 5 x 40kg. Working more on keeping my shoulders back than maxing out.

Then:
3RFT
400m
15 x 30kg front squats
15 pull-ups - green iron woody band assist

Watch got messed up, about 20 minutes.

Runs were a trot.
Front squats were slow and still fighting for correct bar position.
Pull-ups were a bit too easy. Round 2 was a real struggle to get my foot in the band and lost a lot of time there.

CF Birkenhead

Before I had lunch with Lynette I called into CrossFit Birkenhead to try out a suspect C2 monitor on the Model Cs he has there and have a chat about equipment and a nosy at the gym.
When I saw Paul I recognized him as having met him at CFNZ, I hadn't remembered his name I'm afraid.
The monitor was fine.

We had a talk about the equipment he imports and his pricing for it. He's substantially cheaper than the place I had been buying gear from, pretty much down to US prices. $450 for a GHD blew me away, The only other ones I'd seen for sale in NZ were over $1000.
All of the gear is excellent quality, more than good enough for a home gym and he's using it in his gym and it doesn't look like he has problems with it folding up on him. At $300 I would have bought a pair of squat stands instead of making mine. I can see my home made jobs being replaced in the future.
I bought 2 bands to give me a full set of light, medium and strong (which I already had). Total cost $50. I could have bought all 3 off him and paid half what I did for my strong band. Now that annoys me.
I'll be talking to Paul before I buy any other equipment.

I liked his gym too. Nice feel to it. Fun to see kids running around a CF gym again.

Squats and mini-metcon

3 x 90kg, unofficial PR
12 x 60kg

It's an unofficial PR because I decided that as things felt good I may as well bung 90kg on there and get the camera, whereas until then I hadn't bothered with it, but I forgot to press record. Hopefully I'll get to do a repeat or better it on video so I can check depth.
The 60kg were a bit too low, my butt is tucking. Pretty good aside from that. I stopped when I couldn't prevent my knees coming in any more.
Worked hard to press back into the bar. It came easier this time.
Shoulder was OK throughout. Twinging a bit so lots of stretching between sets.

Then
AMRAP 10
10 x 60kg deadlift
20x 15kg press

Not really an AMRAP because I totally lost count. More than 5 rounds I'm fairly sure, a guess really.
Deadlift could have been a bit heavier. My grip failed on touch and gos after a round or two so I switched to resetting my grip on each rep, which is what I would have done from the start if I'd thought of it.
Used the light barbell and worked really really hard to externally rotate my shoulders. Wound up tiring out my serratus of all things and the last set was broken because I couldn't get them to contract. Which is not the muscle group I hand in mind to hit, but it's exactly the overall action I was aiming for.
Shoulders feel worked and the internal rotators stretched. Twinging is diminished. Not an earth shaking metcon performance, but very satisfying from the rehab point of view.

Scaled CF Housewives

A lazy version of the WOD that hooked me on CrossFit.

3RNFT
10 x 15kg OHS
10 pull-ups, blue band assist

Worked very very hard to keep my shoulders externally rotated. I wasn't completely successful as my right shoulder is pretty twingy now, so I'm very glad I used the light bar.
Sigh, more stretching, more practise.

Using the band for pull-ups using the band was just laziness and still they were broken, so perhaps not so lazy after all.