3 rep front squat max, new pr

After looking online and seeing today's WOD, I looked up my previous 3 rep max workout, which helped me out a lot. Today's WOD:

Front Squat x 3,3,3,3,3

Since I had an idea of my max, 175 last week, I had a better idea of where to start, and that made all the difference. My workout went like this:

155, 165, 175, 175, 185

So I did 10 lbs heavier than last week. I felt good while doing this, it was easier to keep the core tight throughout and keep vertical. ...LTC Dan said I could patent my 165 effort because it was so textbook. To be honest, that type of complement means a lot more to me than lifting the heaviest weight. On a separate note, Dan is as strong as an ox. He did Strict press today, and in racking the weight basically did a 155(+?) reverse curl.

After that we had a Met Con Ninja workout:

7 rounds for time:
11 Wallball
11 Burpee
11 Pullup

Did this in 20:55, Wallballs are getting easier, never had to break up the pullups (they're easy now), and Burpees are the worst exercise Man has ever invented.

Crossfit in Dallas

Went over to Crossfit Dallas run by John, who I went to high school with. Today was an open gym day, so I worked on my overhead snatch. I tried to find my one rep max, but I think I overdid the warmup. I did 115 like 5 times, but after that I just couldn't put up any more weight. I tried like 120, but just couldn't. After that, I worked on trying pull ups on a fixed bar, using a butterfly kyp. It really is faster than a normal kyp. ...Fixed bar pullups really are difficult, they seemed to torque my shoulder a lot more but that might be from my lack of technique. After that, I tried my 500m row time. I was keeping a conversation while I went the first 200 meters, but after that I had to gut it out and my time was 137.6, almost 10 seconds slower than my pr. Kind of disappointed in that, guess I just need to practice it more.

...Got some new shoes for Christmas, they're Vibram Five Fingers, as you can tell from the picture. Got some Injinji socks so the shoes doen't smell. I got one pair of black socks, and I think they look pretty sharp with pants. Well, I say "sharp," but I still would feel pretty ridiculous wearing them in public.

Hope everyone is having a great Chrismas!

Murph again

This workout was a favorite of Navy Lt. Michael Murphy:

For time:

1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

My time was 65:29, only about three minutes less than my first time back in August. This is a really small improvement, but since my last time was pretty unofficial I question its validity. Regardless, I'm happy with this time. The push ups were the bottleneck, as expected. At one point I was standing there, waiting for feeling to return to my shoulders, when Jerry asked me something. I wasn't sure what he said, but his expectant look said, "What's the hold up?" "Why are you just standing there?" It was actually pretty funny, because I had no response, just got into the plank and start cranking them out.

The air squats were perhaps the easiest, I started pretending I had a weight racked and that helped with keeping my core tight. Never had to break up the pullups, and they were a welcome repreive from the other exercises. The pain in my ankle kept me from really pushing myself on the last mile run. It's like a sharp stabbing pain, and it hurts more so when I try to run. Hopefully a few days rest with the holidays will help.

three rep max front squat, pr

Came in late today, but I've noticed Sundays tend to be a find-your-max day, so I was betting that its wasn't some met con with a time constraint. I was right, it was 5 rounds of finding your 3 rep front squat max, my rounds went as follows:

115, 135, 155, 165, 175

This is a 25 pound improvement from three months ago. Again I was a little cautious in aggravating the back, so took this opportunity to work on form and find out how much I can do without my core collapsing. Every set felt really good, but the last one was very difficult, I don't think I got the depth that I needed to get make it a real squat. I really flared out my feet so that my hips were open and engaged, making it possible to keep my core vertical and my elbows up throughout the entire motion.

Around the 3-4 set I was forgetting to suck in a big breath to keep the core tight, but I recognized that I wasn't doing it and did it right on the last set for certain, possibly the 4th set as well.

There was a finisher

5 rounds
10 kb high pulls (73#)
10 jumping lunges
10 push ups

The push ups were pretty damn easy, if I do say so myself. I've been attempting to improve my pushup strength by doing sets of sub max reps (like 10-15) at random times during the day. I believe this is called "Greasing the groove", although if I'm wrong about this I hope Jerry will let me know ;)

Although the push ups were fine, the leg work was tough, the fourth and fifth round my legs were feeling numb, and I simply had to wait for some sort of control to return. I can't remember the time, but when the photo is posted I'll edit the post.

I really am impressed with the amount of leg work we've been doing. The biggest part I'm focusing in on is keeping my core tight by holding in a big breath. This skill is where I'm most lacking when it comes to squats, so I figure improving this will result in the biggest/fasted gains in my squat strength as well as reducing the chance of injury.

Quasi-rest day

Well, last night I fell asleep at 7:30 and actually woke up at 4:00 on my own. I should've gone to the 5:30, but for some reason that idea didn't occur to me (it's very strange to think I could attend the 5:30 class). So instead I had breakfast and did some online Christmas shopping. So 2.5 hours later I'm on my way to workout. ...I seriously hope I don't wake up at 4:00 am on my own ever again, such a waste of time waiting to work out.

I felt warmed up/alert enough today, but this was my sixth day of xfit in a row, and my hip, ankle, and shoulder were all feeling a little banged up. In about 2 hours I'm going to see the D.O. to fix the hip and look at the shoulder/ankle. The shoulder is the torn rotator cuff, I expect, but the ankle is swelling-bruising from breaking my Fibula two years ago. Here's the X-ray, it was a spiral fracture that resulted in imobilizing my foot for about eight weeks. If you're having trouble seening the break the bottom picture hilights the break with the yellow lines. The therapist said it would take a long time- "think years"- to make a full recovery with regards to all the connective tissue and muscles. I've noticed over the years that a massage or a lot of ankle work results in bruising around the ankle. The therapist said this was just swelling/blood being pushed out, but after all that running and box jumps yesterday there's also a little stabbing pain in my ankle as well. Now on to the workout...

10 Rounds for time:
4 Push Jerks
8 Burpees
12 Pullups

Like I said I just wasn't feeling it, so I decided to do the express (6 rounds) and go with a light weight (95#). The jerk was very easy, but I could feel the clean work on my shoulder a little, as well as holding onto the bar with pullups. Now that I think about it, I should have used a chin up grip for my gimpy shoulder and a pull up grip for my good shoulder. Now if you don't mind, I have to go perpare lunch (it has been almost five hours since breakfast.)

Noticing a lot of leg work this past week, and today was a lot of met-con.
5 rounds
400m sprints
30 boxjumps
30 wallballs

My time was 39:23. This one was pretty tough as I didn’t get much sleep last night; my running speed just wasn’t there. I think my box jumps are pretty darn good, but they are still slow (although I rarely stop once started). The wall balls were really tiring, and as I write this I’m a little annoyed that I didn’t push myself harder.

Funniest thing happened today. I was on my fourth round of box jumps, and Charlie the speedster was on his fifth round next to me. Randomly, as he approached the boxes he started singing the IU fight song. Now I wasn’t wearing any IU gear, so I was impressed that he remembered. So here we are, doing box jumps, and taking turns singing the IU fight song.

Charlie: Indiana, oh Indiana!
Me: Indiana, we’re all for you!
Charlie: we will fight for
Me: the cream and crimson
Unison: and glory of old IU…

Too funny. And I have to say, it helped take my mind off of the exercise.

It seems like I’m officially now an a.m. crossfitter, being that this was my second 6:45 class in a row. My body/mind is still having a tough time adjusting (like realizing 10pm is late), but hopefully if I just keep waking up early I’ll get to bed early.

The morning classes seem to have quite a different personality, although I’m not if I could pinpoint the differences or the reason why. Perhaps morning people have different personalities than evening people?

Besides the constant pangs of hunger, working out in the morning has been a little more challenging physically, albeit more satisfying mentally. I tried doing a little research, and there is a massive, massive amount of opinions out there, but here are the two that I like the most.

A Dr. in this cnn article states:

"The best time to work out is in the late afternoon," Zee said. "The reason for that is your muscle strength is at its peak, its highest. You're going to be less likely to injure yourself. It's also a time when people are most awake and alert."

However, there is an advantage to working out in the morning on an empty stomach if you’re trying to lose weight, as this Forbes article states

May recommends it for people whose main priority is losing weight. Working out, doing cardio especially, on an empty stomach will burn more fat calories because your carb reserves are almost used up. That causes the body to turn to fat stores for energy first. (Many fitness experts warn, however, that running on empty isn't the most efficient way to work out.)

I always try to have at least a little snack before heading over to CFOT in the morning to make sure I have the energy to push myself.

Honestly, I think working out in the 5p class would do the best for me physically. I feel like I don’t really need to concern myself with losing fat (although I really do want to lower my fat % some more) , but I do need to work on my explosive strength. I also wonder if working out with depleted carb reserve goes against the spirit of the zone diet. However, I’ve always wanted to be able to get to and leave work at normal hours, and just trying to get to work early doesn’t cut it.

I also want to shake up my routine a little bit. …I feel like I haven’t been as hard-core as I once was, this week especially. Now that I think about it though, I think that’s mostly due to sleep deprivation as my body adjusts to working out in the morning. I also haven’t been following the zone as near as much this week, but I’d like to make that a separate post, soon to follow…

Working out in the A.M.

This week I've been a lot more successful with coming to the morning workouts. I've noticed a side effect to this is increased appetite. ...Not just a little, but a lot. I'm going from a 4 block meal, 2 block snack regimen to something like a 4-4-4-4 plan, and I still find myself hungry. The difference is crazy, but I like it. Historically, I only see results when I really start eating a lot, so perhaps this will help.

Speaking of helping, I'm also revamping my food plan. For lunch I've relied on the two slices of bread in my sandwich for my carbs, but now I would like to replace it with two bags of steamed frozen veggies. I figure that will help with losing fat.

Today's workout was the deadlift again, but my back is still not 100%. After warming up with 135 lbs with my best form, my back was still feeling it so I tried the conditioning alternate:

20 min AMRAP
8 knees to elbows
8 KB swing @ 52#
8 med ball squat clean
8 pushups

I managed 11 rounds, and was really worn out.

Yesterday's wod was this:

Five rounds, each for time of:
300m Row
25 Ab Mat
20 Jumping Pullups
15 Box Jump
10 Turkish Get-ups
5 Burpees

Rest two minutes between each round.

My times were 5:57, 7:02, 8:07, 8:51, and 7:25

During this one Jerry helped me out with my TGU's which are still lacking in speed. Right now I still think of each step, so they're not very fluid or quick. Jerry pointed out that I wasn't getting my foot far enough back with one of the movements. After that it felt like my tgu time improved, possibly the reason for improvement on my last round.

wow...

I actually woke up BEFORE my alarm went off, so I'm actually going to make it to the 6:45 class!

Monday, "The Beast"

Jerry called this one the beast, but I kind of liked it for some strange reason.

Run both buildings twice (1 mile?)
30 Thrusters
30 Pullups
Run both buildings once (800-1000 meters?)
20 pullups
20 thrusters
Run small building (400 meter?)
10 pullups
10 thrusters

Load:
65lb women
95lb men

my time was 37:47. The thrusters were pretty difficult again, but I'm getting better at keeping my core tight when winded. the squat isn't difficult for my legs like my quads, it feels... I don't know how to describe it. I think it my hip flexors or something, because of the three things I focus on- keeping my core tight, my back vertical, and knees out- it's the knees out that feels the most foreign/difficult. I also think I need to work on my grip, because when I'm thrusting the weight up the bar usually isn't on the meat of my hands, it more like where my fingers and hand meet. This usually makes the thrust part a little more uncomfortable than it needs to be, but I can't figure out how to fix it.

Sunday, hang squat clean max

Today was a rough one, I wasn't running on much sleep and was in a fog. The weight wasn't the problem, it was my technique.

Clean and Jerk
1 rep, seven rounds

I maxed out at 125. I simply had difficulty getting under the bar. I succeeded some when I stopped thinking about it and just thought "violent movement", but I know I can do more.

There was a finisher:

7 rounds for time (11:11)
7 burbees
11 med ball squat cleans

During this finisher I got my squat clean groove back. Finally got the speed that I needed, and the movement came back to me. So mental note, do some medball squat clean for warm ups when doing this workout.

Friday, Diane

Well, it seems like I've been going out on a lot of dates this week, stood up Barbara yesterday and Friday was Diane. I didn't even come close to doing Diane Rx'd, but I really wanted to work on my Handstand push ups. I think I might have a mild strain of my lower back, so I really didn't want to push it with deadlift either.

Diane
21-15-9 reps of:
Deadlift
Handstand push-ups

Load: Women = 145lb - Men = 225lb

I did DL's with 165# and jumping handstand lunges time was 17:32 though.

My body is still struggling to remember HSPU's, the first few attempts fell flat, failing to keep my core tight. After a while though, I was nailing it. Sadly, the lowest my pushups ever went was just around midway full motion, but it's an improvement and I'll take it.

I have to admit I've been ignoring the fact my lower back doesn't feel 100% since the DL max lift day. I've been hoping (incorrectly) that it wil go away, but it hasn't. However, it doesn't feel worse either. I know that if I do the deadlift with correct form it shouldn't strain the muscles, so I just need to work on form. ...But I think I really should lay off back-intensive exercises. It's so frustrating when I strain my back, I just wish it would go away.

Thursday, rest and recouperation

Today I woke up at 12:30, so I figured if I needed 11 hours of sleep and still felt sore my body needed a day off. There's a fine line between pushing yourself and not letting yourself get the recovery you need. I'm still not sure if I've found it, but after looking on the crossfit forums, I found quite a few threads on recovery:

http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=29543

http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=39646

http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=37752

http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=2834

I think I'm giving recovery enough attention in that I eat zone meals and am usually sucessful in getting 8 hours of sleep a night, but I think I'm not drinking enough water. I try to drink a lot of water, but I've noticed signs that say that I'm still not adequately hydrated.

The forums also mention having a "half week" (or something like that, can't remember) after three weeks of all out CF. The idea is after three weeks of pushing your body to the limit you have a week where you cut every WOD in half, like if Rx'd is 1 mile run you do 800 meters, 30 pullups you do 15, etc.

I've heard Jerry talk about various wod's being active recovery, but since he's planning wod's for people on various schedules I can't imagine he'll plan something like a half week. I think I'll treat my upcoming christmas vacation as a half week. In the mean time, hit it and hit it hard!

Wednesday, Gwen

Ok so I've been slacking on the blogging, for that I apologize. I'm going to post some make up posts, and will be better at posting on the same day.

Thursday's exercise was Gwen:

As heavy a weight as you want,

clean and jerk 15-12-9 reps touch and go at the floor only, no regrip and no dumping.

I chose 116 since Jerry advised anyone who was thinking of doing 115 to do one more pound since that's what LTC Dan used. Sorry Dan, Jerry made me do it.

Going from the ground really added a different, more difficult, feel to the motion. 15 was actually pretty tough, but somehow I didn't stop. On the 12 rep set something screwing happened because I was getting tired and Jerry said I only got up to 10 (I knew something happened but couldn't figure out what). The last set was surprisingly easy, but the finisher more than made up for it.

Stacey convinced me, like she always does, to do the finisher, and this was painful. 75 Wallballs for time

3:23

I've noticed a difference in style between Stacey, who consistently gets one of the best scores of the class, and myself. Whenever we start an exercise together I consistently start out faster than her. Now the difference isn't too much, but my pace is slightly faster. However, after a while I have to slow down or stop all together for some period of time, whereas she briefly stops maybe once, if at all, and when she resumes it's the same pace as before.

We talked about this a bit, and I think these strategies accomplish two different goals. For someone who's as advanced as Stacey you probably have a pretty good idea how to pace yourself. This comes partially because as you get into better and better shape, your gains get smaller and smaller. For a noob like me I don't know my pace because I'm still unfamiliar with my body's strength since it's making rather large gains quickly. What pushed me two weeks ago might not be as tough today, so I just go as hard as I can for as long as I can and pray I don't die.

Another reason for sprinting out of the starting gate is I figure it will produce faster gains. My dad once told me that if you practiced running by alternating sprinting with slow jog you will see better improvement than a constant pace, although your time would be better if you kept it constant. Don't know if the same applies to crossfit, but I like any explanation for my still lacking (albeit improving) endurance numbers.

Learning how to keep the core tight

[Update 4/5/13: I've come to realize that my breathing technique was not helping me keep my core tight. I used to be in choir, and in the singing world you breathe in by opening up your diaphragm  you try to fill in the bottom section of your lungs and your stomach swells out. This is not how you should breathe in the lifting world. When you try to inhale to keep the core tight, try to fill in the top of your lungs, chest breathe.  Here is a great exercise, called the 90-90 hip lift, that works on teaching how to keep a tight core and engage the proper ab muscles.  The biggest thing (for me) is to keep the rib cage down, don't let it fly up.]

Today's WOD:

3 rounds for time:
Run 800m
30 front squat (100#)
30 box jump

This one took a while to complete for me, 45:43. The main reason for why this took so freaking long is I wanted to make my squat form perfect. After Fran, I've realized I still don't keep my core tight when performing squats, so I tried to make each one perfect. Like Fran, this was tough because I'm breathing hard from the previous exercise, so I waited until I could actually take a full breath and hold it for the squat. That took some time, but I really could tell a difference. I've been having a bit of a sore lower back, nothing too bad, I think it might have happened with the deadlift. Anyway, I noticed when I kept my core tight I didn't feel anything. Near the end I started doing scarecrow squats due to Danny's advice. Keeping my arms up forces me to keep my core tight at all times, but it was tough goings.

Still working on my pose style, whenever I remembered to lean forward it became easier on my quads, and harder on my core. I think I took the right approach today. I could've used a lighter weight, or placed emphasis on speed, but I really wanted to learn how to hold my breath and keep my core tight when squatting when my body is gasping for air. I saw Jack did this in 27:31, an unbelievable time. I'm not surprised, when he runs 800m he full out sprints it. I mean, I don't think my max sprint is as fast as his 800 pace. Someday though, I'll get up there. First, I just need to work on my technique to where squats are so difficult.

"You can't kip Push-ups"

So today was a nice met con workout.

10 Rounds for time:
7 pull-ups
7 burbees
3 minute rest
6 Rounds for time:
10 good mornings
20 ab mat situps
Extra:
65 push-ups for time

Don't remember the exact times but I think the first round went 12 something, and the second round went 14 something. When I did the pushups, I desperately wanted to do 30 push-ups (aka more than my pull-up pr). Instead, I got up to 21 and then could do more. I mentioned this to Danny the today, with which he wisely responded with, "you can't kip push-ups"

Seriously though it's sad that I'm so bad at push-ups. I'm glad I did the push ups, lord knows I needed it. I think I need to start doing 100 pushups for time after every class instead of those situps.

Putting the "Rest" in "Rest Later"

Ok, so this past week was my first real attempt at trying to make it to the morning classes, and I made it with some success. However, the price of waking up early was getting less sleep (seems like I have difficulty going to bed before midnight) Usually I got around 6-7 hours of sleep, but at least once I only got 5 hours. This has been much different from the 8-9 hours of sleep I'm used to.

So now it's the weekend, and my body is telling me I needed more sleep. For example, I went out for a bit on Friday night and went to sleep at like 1. I turned off my alarm and just let myself naturally wake up. This resulted in 12 hours of sleep. This alone is would tell me that my body needed some time to recover, but there's more. I also fell asleep only six hours later, around 7:00, while I was trying to figure out dinner. Woke up at 3:30, but went back to sleep after an hour. Although I set the alarm so I could attend the Grace challenge, when it woke me up I hit the "off" button instead of the snooze button, so I woke up at 10:40. That's nearly 16 hours straight, and 27 hours of sleep in a 36 hour time period.

I used to sleep like this on the weekends when I deprived myself of rest on the weekdays, so I'm really not sure how to handle my attempt at getting up in the morning. I mean, I really do like waking up early and being done with everything early. I prefer leaving work at 5 rather than 10:30 (obviously) . One reason why I think I've progressed so much with crossfit has been allowing myself adequate recovery (sleep) time. I'll post later about how sleep really is important, but right now I've gotta go make breakfast, haven't eaten anything for about 20 hours now!

Another Fran, another PR

Well, Thursday's workout was Fran. When I first learned this, I have to admit that my first reaction was fear. I mean, my lower back is feeling it from deadlifts on Monday, while my quads and pecs were really, really sore from Tabata Something else. I don't like the fact that my first response was to think about excuses for a poor performance, but it was. I then proceeded to chide myself, that everyone here have done the same workouts and experiencing the same thing. Fran in this context shouldn't be used to test you at your optimal rest/recovery, it should test how strong you are while you're doing the WOD's 5-6 times a week. So after telling myself that, I became less and less concerned with the aches and pains my body was experiencing.

I tried to make it to the 9am class, but I was a little too late, only Melissa was there. She mentioned how people have posted some good times, and I said I figured to get a new pr, like a sub 10. She responded with something like, "Oh I think you'll do much better then that." Her comment reminded me that I shouldn't look at Fran as something that will reveal how weak I am, but I should get excited because it demonstrates how strong I am. I'm still not used to thinking of myself as strong (at least in the upper body). When I was warming up at the 5pm class, Chriss commented, unprovoked, that he's noticed I've gotten a lot stronger, and thought I had a sub 9 Fran in me. Earlier this week, when Stacey got back from her six week work detail, she commented that I've gotten a lot faster; Chriss, coming back from an equally long work trip, comments that I've gotten a lot stronger. This is why I joined Crossfit. Well, not to be complimented, but to become faster, stronger, an elite athlete. Ok, so I'm starting to get into a more positive attitude in approaching Fran.

The First round of thrusters was tough, but I felt strong and I only put the bar down once, maybe twice. The pull ups were tough, but I felt like I pushed myself pretty hard. I decided to use the tape grips Crossfit Virtuosity talks about, and I think they did a great job of making it easier on my hands, allowing me to focus on my lats than my hands. Jerry talked about how he doesn't want to see phantom tags, but wanted to see actual contact with our neck/chin/chest with the bar. Although I didn't make contact a couple of times, he also commented if it's clear that your head is way above the bar, contact isn't necessarily needed. This standard really doesn't make it harder for me, it requires more lat strength, but it's the core that gives me difficulty.

The second and third rounds were brutal, and I started feeling light-headed, but I never really felt like I wanted to give up, unlike my first attempt at Fran. During my last round of thrusters, Jerry walked over and told me that I needed to take a deep breath and use that core tension to power the bar up. Unfortunately, I was gasping for air at the time, and holding a big breath of air was proving really difficult. Also, when I had only three more to go, Jerry was like, "Ok just knock out two." I don't know why, but whenever someone gives me a goal that is short of what is needed, I get a strong drive to prove them wrong. So, I responded by finishing up the three without lowering the bar. The last one was really ugly, basically the bar stopped about 3/4 of distance it needed to go, so I ended up strict pressing the bar up into active shoulder, and I imagine it wasn't pretty. The last nine pull ups were surprisingly difficult, I had to bang out the last two one at a time.

After I was done, I just simply collapsed. I tried to yell out time, but just couldn't, although I remember trying to make a T with my hands as I fell to the ground. Although I glimpsed the clock when I went down, it was just for a second. But I didn't care what the time was, I was just happy it was over. I also became a little worried because my hands went numb, like my wrists to my fingers felt like pins and needles. Eventually I got up and then realized I never really heard/knew my time. Mellisa, Matt, and Jack all said 10:5X, and that jarred my memory into 10:55. So after four months and ten days, I lowered my Fran time by 4:38. It's also funny to note that I forgot/was too tired to write up my time on the whiteboard. I mean, fran is the mother of all benchmarks. When two crossfitters meet for the first time, they never talk about their badger or murph time. Inevitably fran comes up within the first five minutes. Regardless, I forgot to post, but I definitely didn't forget the time.

Here's a graph of my Fran times, each one was done Rx'd so they are directly comparable:

This feels like a really big victory. I've been looking for quantifiable proof that coming in to CFOT all this time, eating strict zone for such a long time. Something that will show all of this work hasn't been in vain. This week has been fantastic with people's unprompted comments on how I've improved, and now this. As Jerry pointed out, my first fran was about 20 (19:43) min, my second was around 15 (15:33) min, and now it's around 10 (10:55) min. Can't wait for the next fran, since that's when I'll get my first 5 fran.

Heavy Strict press, pr

Sorry for not posting as regularly as I used to, been trying to change schedules and attend the morning class. Have to be brief, so here goes:

7 rounds
1 rep Strict press

Got up to 115, which is 20lbs heavier than my 5 rep max from September, failed at 120 twice, then failed 116, lowered it back down to 110 and did a couple of those, then failed, then went down to 100 and did 3 perfectly, could have done more but was just tired of the required mental focus.

...Learned that Fran is today. First I was fearful, then I started to tell myself this is an opportunity to demonstrate how much I've developed. Still working on pumping myself up about it.

Tabata Something Else, pr

Feeling much better after some much needed sleep, I was better prepared for today's WOD, Tabata something else:

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

I started on push-ups because there were more people than chin-up bars, and that killed my effort on the pull ups. I forget my set scores, but my total was 322. By the time I had a chance to write down my sit-ups, I somehow thought I did 93. Then later, I remember breaking 100, that I was at 92 before the last set. Then I remembered thinking I was one rep away from doing what Stacey does after every workout, so it was actually 113.

When I compare my score to two months ago, I improved my score by 22 points, and frankly I'm a little frustrated with that. I mean, I'm glad doing all those abmat sit ups after class improved my sit-up score by 30 in two months; I thought I would see a greater improvement then that. I'm still weak when it comes to push ups, although my pull ups stayed the same. My biggest room for improvement is push-ups, I need to find some program that will help me with those. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if I can do more pull ups (27) in a row than push ups.

We had another "finisher" I chose door number two:
2 rounds:
400m Farmer's Walk
400m run

After the pull ups my forearms were shot. Next time I will use KB's because the 40 lb dumbbells just didn't work.

Sooo tired

Got up at 4am est today to catch my flight back home.... I almost didn't make it today, and if it was a met-con workout I am sure I would've died I'm so exhausted. Instead, it was a strength day.
5 rounds
3 rep deadlift max

I got up to 245, it felt really strong, I think I did a good job on keeping my core tight and not using my back. I tried for 285 after that, but I only managed to get it up once. ...Deadlift gives such a strange sensation, but I have to say I'm getting used to it.

On a side note Jerry mentioned how my post wod abmat sessions might make me look pretty, but it would be good to vary it up a bit with something like planks. Frankly, I don't mind being pretty, but I think I'll have to try out planks.