Front Squat

Monday, November 30, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) 12 of us including Cookie, Charlie, Tom, Bob, Dan, Steve C, and me

Warm Up

~750m Row followed by 4 rounds of Plank Hold, Superman, Hold at Bottom of Squat (20 seconds work/ 10 seconds rest)

WOD

20 min:

Front squat to a box (box set to parallel with normal foot stance). Work up to several heavy singles.

Dan and I worked out together warming up with 45#, 95#, 115# and 135# before heavy singles at 155#, 165# and finally 175#.  Pat pointed out to reach back more with butt and keep shins vertical.

then

AMRAP 12, alternating each exercise with a partner:

7 Deadlift

7 Hang power clean

7 Front squat

L3 – 135/95

L2 – 115/75

L1 – 95/65

Dan and I partnered up and he talked me up to L2.  He started with deadlifts, then I did the hang power cleans, then he did front squats, then I did deadlifts.  We completed 3 + 28 rounds with me finishing with deadlifts.  This was a tough workout and my form was really off for the hang power cleans.  Ben gave me the best tip of pushing my butt towards the back wall when receiving the clean in a quarter squat.  That got my back more upright instead of hyperextending with my hips forward.

The Ghost

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Coach ??

(11AM) 7 of us including Steve B, Stacey, Tom and me

Warm Up

3 Rounds with a beaded rope
20 Side Straddles
20 Forward Straddles
20 Skier
20 2 jumps on the foot alternating

WOD

“The Ghost”
6 rounds of:
1 minute of rowing (for calories)
1 minute of burpees
1 minute of double-unders
1 minute rest

Try for as many reps as possible of EACH exercise, not just total score. Post separate totals of calories rowed, burpee reps and double-under reps completed to comments.

I was pretty balanced on this workout, but my scores didn't weren't very impressive.  On the row I managed 13+14+15+14+14+13 = 83 calories.  Going into the burpees was tough after the arms are spent and I managed 10+10+8+8+8+9 = 53 burpees.  Then the double unders were even worse, I could rarely string two together and counting double under attempts, I had 16+12+16+13+11+12 = 80.

Gymnastics

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Coach Amy

(9AM) 10 of us including, Matt, Matt, Kat, Steve C, and me

Warm Up

4 Rounds of walk up massage room stairs, run normal stairs, and 10 reps of ATYT, rows, y's or rounds

Then leg swings in two planes, when rotating make sure to point toe up.  Then with lacrosse ball massage foot, top of quadriceps, and glute one minute each place, each side.  With band, flex glute, then quadriceps, then pull foot forward with band and pause before lowering

Strength/Skill

4 rounds with a partner do hamstring push-ups, pike sit-ups, bar ice cream makers and strict toes to bar.  I partnered with Steve C and instead of doing 5-10 of each motion, we did 3-5 of each.

Gymnastics Workout of the Day

12 Minute AMRAP:
10 Candlestick Handstand Push-up
10 Pike Heel (Hell) Taps
10 Candlestick Jumps
10 Jumping Lunges

I did Candlestick to Handstand attempt against wall or Headstand.  On the Pike Heel taps, my shoulders were pretty far back.  I did well on the Candlestick jumps but used a folded over mat.  I could do the jumping lunges properly.  I completed 2 + 1 rounds.

Clean from Blocks

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Coach Meriah

(9AM) Emily, Samantha, Matt, Anke and me

Warm Up

On your own, I did some arm circles and "Burgener" style warm up with PVC.

Clean from Blocks

Set up the blocks and with plates, bar should be low on thighs ready for the second pull.  I did a few sets at 40kg and then starting adding weight.  Drive from legs and direct bar up as you drop into a squat and then lift to standing (no jerk).

I went from 40kg to 45kg, 50kg, 55kg, 58kg and finally 60kg.  I felt pretty good and as soon as I stopped pulling with my arms and instead focused on my legs and a jump it became significantly easier.  Meriah was kind enough to send some video from one of my attempts.  I need to work on bringing my elbows around, dropping faster and relaxing my hook grip sooner as I get under.  Matt put up 120kg today.

Spent about 30 minutes on this and cooled off with squat against wall and flared legs against wall.

CrossFit

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) Tom, Steve B, Tim, Michael, a couple of others and me

Warm Up

Run to the fence and back.  Then 3 rounds of a lap around the rig 5 ring rows, 5 burpees, 5 inch worms with dive bomber, 5 kips/leg raises and 10 Overhead squats with PVC.  We changed it up a little bit by shuffling around the rig.  I cut the reps short on nearly all of the rounds and still felt warm and ready to go for the workout.

WOD

For time 400m Run, 50 Pull ups, 400m Run, 50 Push-ups, 400m Run, 50 Sit-ups, 400m Run, 50 Air Squats.

I scaled this workout to 35 reps and finished in 18:22.  My first run was under 1:50, my last run was on the order of 2:30.  The pull ups were the toughest and took nearly four minutes.  I did 4 then 2, 2, 2, and then quickly went to singles.  Meriah tried to improve my form to focus on a kip from shoulders and engaging lats when “weightless.”  I was wildly swinging my legs and not maintaining a good hollow body.  For the push-ups I did sets of 5 to 20 and then sets of 3 to 32, before going 2 reps and 1 final rep.  I did the sit-ups in 3 sets and the air squats in 2 sets.

Finished with mobility – couch stretch.

Back Squat

Monday, November 23, 2015

Coach Meriah

(11AM) 7 of us including Charlie, Daryl, Steve B and me

Warm Up

Run to the fence, 20 air squats, run back.  Then 3 rounds of 10 goblet squats, 10 RKBS, 10 one-legged deadlift, followed by jog down and back, shuffle/swing arms down and back, jog backwards, high knees back, butt kickers down, singing in the rain back.

WOD

20 minutes to work up to 3 heavy 5 rep back squats.

I started with the bar, went to 95#, 135# and then did my first heavy set at 155#.  I went up again to 165#, but was not getting low enough.  I did another set at 165# trying to get lower, but Meriah confirmed I need to get 1-2 inches lower.

then

Workout from 2015 Turkey Challenge – 21 calorie row, 3 eleven foot rope climbs, 15 cal row, 2 rope climbs, 9 cal row, 1 rope climb and finish with 20 box jumps (24”/20”).  The pros were finishing in 4 minutes using ski ergs instead of a rower.

It took me 8:03, but I paced well and felt comfortable through the entire workout.  I opted for a 20” box and am glad that I did.  My back felt fine throughout the whole workout.  I tried to do a legless rope climb, but did not get very far.

Finished with mobility, squat against wall and flared legs.

Lower Back Pain

From Friday November 6 to Thursday November 12 I went to CrossFit 7 days in a row and was understandably feeling a little beat down.  I took Friday off and then went for swim Saturday morning.  I felt some lingering tightness, but nothing horrible so I did some strength work on Saturday as well.  On Sunday, I did the gymnastics WOD and it crushed me.  I was working on kipping pull-ups and the explosive nature combined with fatigue forced me to really scale back the last 5 minutes of “Mary”

The net-net is that my back felt pretty bad.  Sunday, I did the usual foam rolling, vibration massage and stretching with no relief.  I took a Vicoden and was still up periodically through the night.

Monday morning I popped a 325mg Tylenol and another 500mg around 9:00 AM and the pain subsided significantly.  I took another 500mg around 2:00 PM and then left work early to get some professional help.

I went by The Joint in Arvada and was warmly greeted by Dr. Sean and his receptionist Sierra.  After filling out a lot of paperwork, providing an oral history and an evaluation, Dr. Sean went to work.  He treated two spots in my middle and upper back and then worked L5 in two directions.  His post assessment showed that my pelvis was more evened out and that I should come back on Wednesday.

That night I took 325mg of Tylenol which was pretty useless, but I supplemented that with a heat pad on my lower back which felt really good.

Tuesday morning felt as bad as Monday morning so I took 650mg of Tylenol which really kicked in around 10:00 AM.  Hopefully rest and stretching continues to help.  I intend to go to my appointment on Wednesday and can hopefully return to training on Friday.

After Wednesday’s session, the majority of the left lower back pain resolved, but the center of my back was now experiencing point tenderness that I had not previously noted.  I tolerated it the best I could and visited the chiropractor on Friday.  He did some adjustments but avoided L4 (where the point tenderness was isolated to).  He recommended no more heat and to ice it to reduce inflammation.

Starting Friday night I used ice and an Advil and my back felt substantially better.  It was pretty good on Saturday and I took another Advil Saturday night prophylactically.  This seemed to do the trick.  I ended up going to yoga Sunday morning without issue.