Thanksgiving Holidays

So I've taken the week off to be in Dallas, and it's been strange not zoning and crossfitting. Living off of mostly pie and stuffing this week, I don't feel too bad as long as I don't eat too much. I've been doing random sets of pushups and the occasional air squat. But the throbbing pain in my hip is killing any motivation to really work out. I might visit Crossfit Dallas tomorrow if I have time. I am really looking forward to recieving treatment on my hip, very excited.

A Heavy Snatch Workout

The Wod:

AMRAP in 20 min
3 snatch
6 pull up
12 box jump @24"

I decided to try going with the elite weight of 135# for the snatch, which was a little cocky of me because it's my one rep max. I did three reps warming up, and then I did one round. For the second round, however, I failed twice, so I backed down to 115#. I ended up getting 9.3 rounds in this time.

I really worked on using my arms to pull myself up to the bar in pull ups, this seemed to help a lot. ...Someday I will get a nice smooth kip like I had back in the blue room.

After one of my snatches my hip was on fire, like lots of pain shooting down my leg and wrapping around my hip. As bad as this sounds, I take it as a good sign because it felt muscular, not joint/bone. I called and left a message with the Rolfer, now I just have to wait for her to call me back.

Three rep Deadlift Max PR

So today I quickly hit 335, which is a paltry 20 pound increase over the last time we worked on three rep deadlifts. I could've hit heavier, but my core is still just too weak. Even with 335, I can feel that thorasic bend. I keep the core tension so nothing breaks, but I just really don't want to push it.

...During this workout Andrea cautioned against people pushing themselves to the point of injury. "Not everyday is a PR day", and if you don't have it in you, you don't have it in you.

However, as I look back at the past 7 days of workouts I've had PR's in the snatch, front squat, strict press, and now the deadlift. The gains seem to be slowing down, but I'm still achieving my goal of making everyday a PR day. I'm not disagreeing with Andrea's advice, I think it is dangerous to push beyond what you're capable of. But my point is if I make this stuff my main priority, if I zone/paleo religiously, attend crossfit every day, and focus on the movement it is possible for me to make everyday a PR day.

After talking to my DO about my tight hip capsules, he reccomends I see a Rolfer. Rolfing is hard to describe simply, but basically it's deep tissue massage, and if this works I will be a very, very happy man. If my tight hip capsules are slowing down my core progress like the shoulder tendonitis was slowing down my upper body progression, then fixing this would (Cue heroice music) herald a new era of gains of which the world has never seen before.

Alright, time to set up an appointment.

Strict Press 5 rep max with a 1 rep PR

So we worked on our 5 rep strict press max. I got up to 120, but then managed to bang out only 1 rep of 125. 125 is a four pound improvement over last time we did 1 rep max.

After that we did:
AMRAP
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 double unders.

Think I did 7.6 rounds. The DU's were tough, I think what makes it so difficult for me is they require mental focus. I have to really fight to concentrate on more than one. If I can figure out how to do 5 in a row, I will be very, very happy because that means I can do 100 in a row with practice. For right now though, I'll be happy with 2 in a row.

Front Squat 2 rep max with PR

So we got to Front squat. Haven't done them in a while, and my hip hadn't missed them at all. However, I got up to 2 reps of 215 and managed 1 rep of 220, which is a five pound improvement over last time. My legs are definitely strong enough to way heavier, but my core is still playing catch-up.

On a related note, I'm starting to finally feel like my inner Spartan is starting to show. I don't know if it's the slight changes I've made in lower-caloric zone meals, or if the shoulder tendonitis was holding me back, but for some reason I've noticed a significant leaning-out over the past couple of weeks. Very happy about this, as you can imagine.

Chipper with heavy C+J

Once through:

800m run
15 C+J @ 155
20 burbees
25 box jumps
25 KB swings @ 70
30 dips
30 pull ups
80 Double unders

Time was 37:13
I chose to do the double unders because I need to get used to doing them while fatigued. I'm starting to find a good rythem with one double, one single, but it's still shaky. Vibrams are the worst shoe for double unders, I keep finding the rope catching in between my toes and it takes a while to detach myself. The clean and jerks were heavy, but they were fun. My dip strength has gone down a bit from where it was pre-tendonitis, but I can not wait to get back to doing muscle ups.

Snatch 1 rep max PR

Today we worked on the overhead snatch. I tried really, really hard to not power snatch it. Previously my 1 rep max was 125, but I really think it was a power snatch. Today I treated it like a skill day, I wanted my 1 rep to be perfect.

I got up to 135, so it's a 10# PR, but I think I have a lot more in me. Was going to do the extra, but I had to hurry home. ...That and my quads are still not right from Murph.