PWNing the Back Squat - A Tale of Whoa

This is what 375 looks like...i.e. that's me next time :)

I'd like to thank my Mom & Dad, my agent...my hamstrings and that whole posterior chain that's been so supportive all these years.  You all knew I could do it, even in my dreariest moments of doubt...

OK, so you have to allow me a moment of self-indulgent gloating.  I'm not that guy...I don't normally think this way...maybe I just rarely get put in the position to say things like this but here goes...

I fucking destroyed this WOD.  I killed it.  The bar gave me everything it had and the damn thing was coming back up like styrofoam every time.  For almost five months I've been bitch-slapped by the majority of workouts in Crossfit.  But today I slapped back...hard.

I PR'ed my back squat by 50 lbs and I left what seemed like an easy additional 50 lbs on the table.  335 lbs.  A highly-symbolic weight, as I started this journey tipping the scale right around that very mark.  I saw the WOD come up last night and I could taste this moment.  I've missed back squat singles several times since I started, and endured limiting shoulder pain, triples instead of singles, metcons with high reps but less weight...so many explorations of this exercise but never a chance at a max effort...until today.

We warmed up with three rounds of:

20 Walking Lunges
10 GHD situps
10 back extensions

I got my sweat on nicely and was ready to dig in...

BLACK BOX WOD (current skill: back squat):
back squat 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Seven rounds of singles.  I knew I could start light and warm up before the true WOD kicked in, so I paired up with CFNYC regulars Lucio and Jeff and we got to work.  Kevin went through the movement, the low bar position, and (as always) some helpful hints on getting the most out of this lift.  Kevin is the shit when it comes to Olympic lift coaching.

We started with the bar and I let the other guys set the pace on loads.  I was ready to stay for hours until I got into the heavy zone.  After a while I lost count and just kept adding plates.

Warmup (Sets of 1): 45 – 135 – 155 – 175 – 185

I was putting these singles up quickly...Kevin said to not count reps toward the WOD until we got close to our former PR.  Since mine was 285, we had plenty of sets to go.  I was happy to make 20 or 30 lb jumps until I felt it getting heavy.  Turns out that moment wouldn't come until I got well over 300 lbs.

WOD (Sets of 1): 205 – 225 – 245 – 275 – 295* – 315* – 335*
*1-Rep Max PR

Every time I came up I heard Kevin bust out laughing behind me...he said my heavier reps came up quicker than the warmups.  The other guys were getting a kick out of it too.  Lucio always ribs me that I make them look bad on back squat days, but frankly it's my only time to shine.  The minute we switch from strength to bodyweight stuff I get destroyed...so hey I'll soak up this moment no problem :).  I told them that when you carry this much weight around for that long, any leg-heavy work is going to be no problem.  Today was case in point.

I've been reading a lot of articles on Westside Barbell and their philosophy on lifts.  They talk a lot about prepping your nervous system to get it accustomed to certain ranges of weight.  I truly could have put up 350+, but as I was thinking it Kevin said it.  Stop here.  Let your body absorb this one.  It was the right call.  This was 50 lbs heavier than anything I've ever lifted.  No reason to push.  I was in uncharted waters.  best to right the ship and sail home triumphantly.

I play poker a lot and there's a term for those nights when you just can't lose.  It used to be that you "owned".  Nowadays people say that you PWNed (pronounced "poned").  I played heads up against the back squat and I PWNed.  I look forward to cashing in my winnings in the weeks to come. :)

Easy Dippin

Sometimes you look at a WOD and you laugh because you KNOW there's no way it's happening today.  I literally looked at it and chuckled, but I still made the journey to Crossfit NYC for some reason.  I remember thinking that maybe Sara would let me do 150 kettle bell swings for time, which is a rest day WOD I missed last month and would LOVE to do sometime...funny how you always gravitate to the exercises you're good at.  Maybe that's why I couldn't imagine doing this one, even if it was ridiculously scaled:

WOD
30 Muscle-ups for time
If you cannot do the muscle-ups do 120 pull-ups and 120 dips.

OH I see...just 120 pullups and 120 ring dips...Wasn't it Monday when I almost collapsed doing 70 pullups and 40 ring dips?  120...yeah...um, no...obviously I'm a year or so away from doing muscle ups, so I didn't even consider attempting those...

Sara mentioned scaling to 60 of each.  OK now we're talkin, even though she suggested that they needed to be strict pullups and dips.  I was happy to set up my bands and make it happen.  For the dips Sara said we could put bands across the rings.  This is something Kevin shied away from on Monday, as he said the stability of doing box dips builds strength for ring dips without the dynamic, unpredictable motion of the rings.  But in the spirit of being constantly varied, I was excited to try both approaches in the same week and see how I did.  Sara said I could break up the sets into whatever combinations made sense, so I settled on alternating sets of 10.

3...2...1...GO!  I knew pretty early on that I made the ring dips too easy with the thick band...swapping sets of 10 made the earlier rounds pretty quick.  The latter two rounds were much slower, but doing three and four reps at a time I got through it without much problem.

WOD Time: 14:42

Dare I say it, but I made this workout too easy...maybe I should have done more reps...maybe I should have used a lesser band for the last half of the dips.  I dunno...but it's the first time ever after a Crossfit workout that I was comfortably on my feet.  I guess there's something to be said for my progress, but this was much more of a strength workout than a metcon.  C'est la vie...I'm not disappointed at all...just surprised.  I'll be back on Monday to satisfy my inner masochist.  For now I'm happy to end another strong 4-day week at Crossfit on a solid note.

Peace...

Games WOD II - MUCH BETTER

Don't get me wrong...this WOD was absolutely crushing, but in a way my body understands.  Three familiar exercises that gas me to the core, but at least it wasn't the fitness Wild West like Games WOD I.  That shit was insane...

After some major glitches in the Games website that delayed the WODs for a week, we finally see another competition WOD today for the 2011 Crossfit Games.  This one seemed right off the bat that it was going to be MUCH more my style, even if I knew deep down that after the first couple of rounds it would be sheer brutality:

WOD
CrossFit Games Open 11.2

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 15 minutes of:
155 pound Deadlift, 9 reps
12 Push-ups
15 Box jumps, 24" box

So initially I'm bummed because I know I'll have to scale pushups to knees and box jumps to 20".  I'd love for there to be at least one workout I don't have to scale for the Games, but I think 2012 will be a better shot.  Unless we do 100 back squats for time I don't see there being a way.  And I guess in the context of my scaling I shouldn't be disappointed.  It's March.  In January I was still doing step-ups instead of box jumps and the thought of doing more than 30 pushups was ludicrous.  So yes, I will shut the fuck up (about scaling anyway ;) and appreciate where I'm at in this journey.  As far as the deadlifts go, no problem...

I had the honor and privilege of tracking the progress of Tim Broder, a fellow CFNYCer who has been encouraging and inspiring throughout my experience at the Black Box.  He and I were two of 6-8 people doing the WOD officially for competition (even though my scaling takes me out of actual consideration for the Games).  The box was slammed today, with full Elements classes in the back and a ton of people ready to do the WOD.  We cleared some space for the competitors and Tim RIPPED through eight rounds like a champion.

Inspired but nervous, I got my bar and box set up, and Tim (of course fully recovered in the 3-4 minutes since he crushed this WOD) got his game face on once again.  It felt like we were truly a team...partners in crime against, well...you could say expectations...you could say my old self...but either way we were both ready.  Tim had some helpful words about pacing before we got started, and then it was go time...


3...2...1...GO!  I cranked through the deadlifts without a problem...I've pulled 315 before, so doing nine of these at 155 was pretty standard.  Pushups were fine the first round, but oh how things change so quickly.  Box jumps were tough, but round one went by without much of a hitch.  I just kept as steady a pace as I could.  Tim helped break up the reps so I had sets of three or four at a time, and I just kept at it...two rounds done...three rounds done...four.  After five rounds I got into fumes mode, and even had to break up the deadlifts into sets of three.  Tim would let me rest for a five count then get me back on the bar...same with pushups.  Set of four.  Set of three.  It took every drop of gas in the tank to finish pushups, which I did at the buzzer.

WOD Total: Five Rounds plus deadlifts and pushups.

Like every other AMRAP WOD, five minutes went by and I was kicking myself that if I shaved off a few seconds from every rest I could've hit six rounds.  But Tim said there's no reason to regret things like that, and he's right.  I scaled the WOD, so it's not like I would have been a contender for the games even if I did twice as many rounds.  But I got after it and put up decent numbers, and at the end of the day I can't be disappointed.  After all us athletes are never satisfied...that's why we keep coming back ;-).

I Miss Fran :(

I can't fucking wait to do Fran again.

That's right Crossfitters, I dig thrusters.  Deal with it.  I think it's one of the coolest exercises in Crossfit, and today I proved to myself that I'm going to annihilate my last Fran time  (Fran is sets of 21-15 and 9 reps of thrusters at 95 lbs and pullups, for time). Not to put myself down too heavily.  I went sub-10 minutes when I was only able to do ring rows and 75-lbs, and frankly I'm still using bands the size of truck tire to do my pullups so if I go sub-5-minutes it's not like I can measure myself against the upper eschelon of Crossfitters.  But I can measure against myself, and if Fran comes up within six months of the beginning of this little fitness journey I started in November it will tell quite a tale even if I can shave it by a couple of minutes.

WOD
Thruster 3-3-3-3-3-3-3

Heavy thrusters...I LOVE this concept.  Never done it before, and it's getting more rare to explore things I haven't yet done in Crossfit.  I was pretty psyched for today.

We started with the bar to warmup and then got right into the rounds of three.  We started at 95 lbs, which is Fran weight.  MAN I can't wait for the next Fran.  Now...I know once I get 10 reps into the first set of Fran I will likely get the big wake up call that it ain't easy, and it might be downright treacherous, but after putting up three reps at 95 lbs. I was shocked at how easy it was for me...here is how it unfolded:

Warmup: 45-lb bar x6
WOD (sets of 3): 95 - 115 - 135 - 145 - 155 - 155 - 165

Sara said the last set looked like it was still easy for me.  I was trying to manage the weight so I was still able to get the explosiveness in my hips and not struggle at the top.  Thrusters are best when there's no arm involvement whatsoever, except for holding the bar.  If you come out of the bottom of your squat with explosive hips that momentum alone should get the bar to the top.  Turns out I should have tried more weight, even if I had to get the arms involved to get the bar up there...there's always next time.

Throw this on the pile of the strength days where in retrospect I feel like I could have done more weight, but I was very happy with my progress.  Sara said she's confident I can put up 185 without a problem.  I guess we'll wait until next time.  But I hope I don't have to wait too long for Fran...seems like it's time she paid us another visit :).

Dip Fail

I didn't realize someone brought in a camera today

No problem...

I come back from a peaceful weekend with family...resting nicely and getting my legs back from last week's crushing, and I casually check the main site for my nice little Monday...HOLY SHIT!

For time:
75 Squats
50 Pull-ups
20 Ring dips
50 Squats
35 Pull-ups
15 Ring dips
25 Squats
20 Pull-ups
10 Ring dips

Um...OK then.  I guess there's some scaling in order for these pullups.  I mean I'm really happy with my progress lately, but 105 of them is a bit too big of a chunk to bite into.  I talked to Kevin about scaling and he sliced them down to 35, 20 and 15.  And I wasn't expecting the ring dips to be a walk in the park, but Kevin talked about scaling to box dips, and I figured I would give it a try at the RX'ed reps...I was so distracted by the number of pullups the dips weren't even a concern, even though they would end up being my undoing...

We warmed up with some standard stuff...some GHD situps (hadn't done these in quite a while...ouch!) and some good mornings with a PVC pipe.  MAN these were amazing for the hamstrings...I need to do more of them...felt great to get that heavy of a stretch with such a light movement...an excellent addition to my newfound mobility pallette.  Anyway we went through a couple of rounds, got set up and Kevin started the AC/DC...

3...2...1...GO!  The air squats were completely fine.   If there's an exercise in Crossfit I can handle any reasonable amount of reps in it's air squats.  I knew these wouldn't be a problem, especially after three days rest.  I broke up the pullups into groups of 5 at a time and rested about 20-30 seconds inbetween...maybe about a minute for the last two sets...the dips were TOUGH.  I broke those up too and got through the first couple of rounds.  By the last round of air squats I caught some wind and did them unbroken, but I really shredded myself during those pullups...15 very tough ones, and then I went to shit on the dips.  Had to do them one at a time, and I finally (with the entire gym already done and cheering) got full extension on the final rep...

WOD Time: 21:42

What can I say...I suck at bodyweight stuff.  I still have a lot of body weight to lose, so at some point the equation will flip and I'll be able to manage exercises like these a lot better.  For now I'll plow through and live to fight another day.

Peace...

Deadlifts and Toothpicks...a Tale of Pain and Progress

Of course.

Sara was right.  I wake up in borderline agony from yesterday's medball madness, and now I have a quandry.  My quads are exploding, but tell me this isn't a cool-as-shit WOD:

21-15-9 reps of:
225 pound Deadlift
135 pound Overhead squat

I don't remember the last time I did a metcon with deadlifts in it.  I've done several strength days with them, but I've really wanted to try something cool like this where there's a bunch of deadlifts for time.  And I'm definitely going to RX the weight if I show up for this.  The bitch of the situation is the overhead squats.  Last week I failed at my attempt at 155 lbs.  With my quads in this shape I don't know if I could overhead squat a broomstick without doubling over in agony.  But 135 lbs for 21-15-9 PLUS heavy deadlifts?  I'm a damned fool to try it.  Best to get back to bed and get another hour's sleep and call it a week.

...So anyway I get to CF NYC early to stretch out for the WOD.  Only me and Lucio showed up...seems everybody was destroyed from yesterday.  Lucio says his legs are shot too.  I told Sara about the problem and she's always sensitive to stuff like this.  I think she appreciates that we show up in that situation, so she's willing to scale as much as needed so we don't get crushed.  She agreed that I should RX the deadlifts, and after I told her OH squatting toothpicks might be a problem she chuckled and said it was fine if I just used the bar.

We did a mild warmup and I did some amazing hip stretches I learned from Mobility WOD (more on this amazing resource later).  I was feeling great, except for the fact that I could barely walk.  Literally my legs would occasionally buckle if I walked too fast...but hey, my hamstrings were ready to ROCK, and ROCK we did...

3...2...1...GO!

The deadlifts were heavy...damn heavy, but I was able to kick ass through the first set of 21.  It was far from unbroken, as I still haven't dialed in good technique for multiple deadlifts.  But I got through them fine and I was onto the overhead squats...I don't know if it was the warmup, the hip stretches, or the adrenaline, but these came a LOT easier than I thought.  As I segued into the sets of 15 and 9 reps got slower, but I stuck with it.  After an unbroken set of 9 overhead squats I yelled for time:

WOD Time: 11:15

Sara and I hi-fived and it really hit me that something special is happening here.  It's like I'm waking up slowly on a daily basis.  I started the day in pain and I left Crossfit in bliss.  After putting up several sub-20-minute times in the past week I can really see my progress in every way...on paper, in the mirror, and in my soul.  Everything I envisioned about this experience is coming to pass.  If this is what it's like after four months, I can't imagine my progress after the first year.  I'm really looking forward to finding out how far I can take this.

That's all for now...another four days of Crossfit on the books...time for some much needed REST!

Peace...

Medball Madness

My friend Kristina in Miami is a brand new Crossfitter.  I've known her for 20 years, and I think both of us have felt rejuvenated by our recent induction into the Crossfit addiction.  So it's pretty standard to send texts back and forth about our WODs and how we do in them.  Her gym does its own programming, so her WODs are different than mine at Crossfit NYC, as we follow the CF main site.  Today she texted me that she was doing "Karen" (150 wall balls for time).  I was jealous because we haven't done Karen since I started, and like any squat-based workout I'd love to try my hand at that one.  Since I forgot how many wall balls were in the workout I googled it and the main site came up from the last time they posted it.  Funny thing is when I checked my phone later on to see what today's WOD was going to be I thought I refreshed my browser.  I was shocked to see that we were also doing Karen (little did I realize mid-brainfart that my browser didn't refresh and I was still looking at the Karen post from before).  Even more bizarre is that I realized my mistake this morning and here's the official WOD for today:

Five rounds for time of:
15 Medicine ball cleans, 20 pound ball
15 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball


How strange is that?  150 reps, all medball, and as close to Karen as you can get get without it actually being that WOD.  A very Twilight Zone moment for sure.

I rocked this WOD nicely, and I was psyched that my medball cleans were a hell of a lot better than last time.  I RX'ed the ball at 20 lbs comfortably.  Sara was impressed and I was happy to put up another sub-20-minute WOD time this week:

WOD Time: 15:02

Sara said our legs would be shot after this one...I'm definitely feeling it already.  I hope the protein cushions the pain a bit...we'll see.  For now I have another triumph to text Kristina about.

See you tomorrow...?

Getting Fed Through the Chipper

"Chipper"

You hear the word and it conjures up equal parts fear and excitement.  Two syllables and the average Crossfitter knows they're about to face an opportunity to blaze a new trail in their fitness.  It's the ultimate test of both the physical and the mental.  The chipper is in its own category of metcon...large amounts of reps, and an array of exercises that do not repeat...you just have to do a shit ton of each of them.  Some days you get fed through the chipper.  Other days the chipper feeds through you...

My first chipper was the Filthy Fifty.  I was happy to scale it to the "Dirty Thirty" at the time, but I know next time it comes around the days of scaling reps on something like that are done.  I've arrived, and instead of not even registering on the performance spectrum I feel like I've earned my place, regardless of how buried I am in the "novice" category.  Today's chipper was a beast, and I knew I'd have to bring my A+ game to make it through this one:

WOD
For time:
70 Burpees
60 Sit-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 poods
40 Pull-ups
30 Handstand push-ups

I went to the store within an hour of seeing the WOD posted, as I had to find something to protect my knees.  The last time I did more than 50 burpees my knees were literally bleeding...something about the way I hit the deck scrapes away at the skin until the last 20 or so are excruciating.  I found some knee pads but they were too tight.  I ended up grabbing some big, flexible band aids that covered my knees...turns out they work like a charm.

I didn't know what to do for the warmup...I didn't want to waste an ounce of energy...so I did a modified version of Sara's gymnastics warmup day 1, which is:

Kick up to a handstand (3x)
5 ring pushups
frog stand (10 secs)
10 overhead squats (pvc)
10 kettle bell deadlifts (12 kg)

I usually do 5 handstand pushups for step 1 of the warmup, but I wanted to save every bit of those for the WOD.  So I just held the handstand for like 10 seconds and kicked back down.  We didn't do too many rounds of the warmup before it was go time.

3...2...1...Go!  You could feel everyone blazing out of the gate for this one...those initial bursts from a full class can be pretty powerful.  Once people settled into their pace everyone started getting a bit more methodical.  My approach, as always, was slow and steady.  I kept it going, the band-aids were holding out, and before I blinked I was halfway done with the burpees.  The last 20 or so were challenging, but I got some encouragement from some folks and kept at it. 

Soon enough I was on to the situps, realizing only then that I was a full round behind the pack...pretty standard (shrug). I asked Sara if I could do butterfly situps, and she was completely cool with it.  So I cranked through that set...my biggest problem with situps is keeping my mammoth legs together, so butterfly made it a lot easier for me.  Those probably took the least amount of time out of any of the exercises.  By far the kettle bell swings were my strongest exercise out of the lot, and I might have put the KB down 3-4 times during the set.  I love this exercise, and even though my form was messier than most other times, I was able to crank through this set without much trouble.  Pullups were just a matter of breaking up the reps so I was able to maintain explosive energy and momentum from the resistance bands.  The last 15 or so were tough, and a cool guy Matt who I've seen around the gym came over to help get me through them.  Sets of five became sets of four, became sets of 3.  Somehow I got there, and I was onto what became a WOD unto itself...the handstand pushups...

Matt is a fucking hero...I cranked out like 7 or 8 of them without much of a problem, but with 22 to go, and very little gas in the tank, we started with sets of three.  That quickly became sets of two as I fell out a couple of times.  I was breathing heavy, staring down the bumper plate that dictated my depth in this exercise.  With like 18 to go I was averaging two reps every 2-3 minutes, and I think while we were both determined, a distant cloud of doubt was floating into the room as to whether I was going to finish.  Very long story short, after what seemed like an eternity I got there.  HUGE props to Matt for sticking with me through that absolute mess.

WOD Time: 41:04

My reps weren't pretty, but I got full (scaled) depth and full extension.  I would say MOST of the WOD was challenging but very doable.  But that final hill of the handstand pushups was a vertical climb.  After launching into the chipper with strength and confidence, I got spit out the other end...shredded, in pain, but alive, well, and more fit than yesterday.

I like the chippers.  They don't quite like me yet...they'll warm up to me over time, I'm sure of it :).

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda...

Today's WOD was posted as a 10K run.  Even if I was capable of running a 10K in a reasonable amount of time, I wouldn't have the time to do this before work.  So I rolled the dice on coming into Crossfit, hoping Kevin would allow me to do yesterday's WOD:

WOD - For time:

135 pound Front squat, 10 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 9 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 8 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 7 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 6 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 5 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 4 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 3 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 2 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 1 rep
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent

Fun looking WOD!  I wasn't anticipating much resistance from Kevin, and I was excited to see one of my CF buddies Reda already doing that WOD as I walked in the door.  Kevin said it was no problem to do it, so I went ahead and got set up.  I was very confident I could RX the weight, as I did the 100 back squat WOD a few weeks back, and did that one in the high-bar position. Sara says that makes it basically the same exercise as a front squat, as you employ your quads a lot more than your posterior chain with the high-bar.

But anyway Kevin said the rope climb, which we scaled to four jumping pulls on the rings (touching chest each rep) would take a lot out of me between squat sets, so I reluctantly heeded his suggestion to do 115 lbs instead.  I knew I would be more than comfortable with 135, but I never want to pretend I know more than the trainer, as this is never true.  Though while I'm confident about very little in Crossfit, I'm confident that I can squat heavy, and I've proven that I can do a lot of reps at 50% of my PR 1-Rep Max weight. I don't fault Kevin for not knowing that, as Sara has much more of a handle on my history with these types of WODs. Needless to say I put the 115 on the bar and got ready to hit it.  There were around five other people who showed up...as I told Kevin, nothing silences a Crossfit box more than a 10K run...Kevin programmed a sick WOD for the other people with double-unders, sumo deadlift high-pulls and chinups.  "Good luck to them" I thought...though I probably needed that WOD more, I was now even happier to be doing yesterday's. We did a warmup that included shoulder dislocates, ring rows, and back extensions.  After that we were ready to hit it...

3...2...1...Go!  I got a great pace going right off the bat.  With the descending rep scheme I didn't hold back much on the squat sets, all of which were unbroken.  The ring pulls weren't bad, but by the fifth set I saw what Kevin meant, even though I still felt I could easily have handled that 135.  I heard Kevin calling out the time and I really felt I had a good shot at putting up a sub-10-minute time for the first time since Fran.  But this would not come to pass, as I hesitated one too many times, and damnit did I really need that drink of water going into the 8th set?

WOD Time: 10:10

I'm nobody to complain when I put up a 10-minute time for any WOD.  But it's further evidence that moving forward I'll be able to hold my own with RX'ed weight on WODs with squats.  I would have been happy putting up 12+ mins but lifting 135, but better safe than sorry I guess, and I got a decent sweat going to kick off the week.  Mission accomplished. :)

Let's Lift Heavy Things

Some WODs hit the main site that I know are going to be an absolute mess (like yesterday's for instance).  Others come up and not only are they in my wheelhaus, but I'm damned excited for them.  Today's is one of those WODs, as once again, I get a chance to lift heavy and put my squats to the test.

WOD
Overhead squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Front squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Back squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Try to increase the load on each of the 15 sets.

I knew the overhead squats were going to be a bit tricky, as I haven't done them with weight of any significance.  But needing to increase weight on every rep throughout the WOD, I knew we weren't going super-heavy on that exercise anyway.

A cool CF guy Mike was back at the gym after a while away, and he lifts in the same range as me, so we paired up for the WOD.  We started at 95 lbs and BOY the overheads were shaky from the start.  It had been long enough since I did them with weight that it might as well have been my first time on the exercise.  Occasionally I'll do 10 of them with a PVC as part of a warmup but this is a totally different ballgame.  So of course leave it to my last rep of that exercise to botch the lift and drop the bar.  Sara laughed as I was hesitant to lift the bar up off the floor, but she said "you drop it, you clean it".  Seemed safe enough...I cleaned it, set it up, and we moved onto front squats and back squats, which is much more my forte...

OH Squats: 95 – 115 – 135 – 145 – 155x
Front Squats: 165 – 175 – 185 – 195 – 205*
Back Squats: 225 – 245 – 265* – 275* – 285*

*1 Rep Max PR

Setting four PR's in the process was quite the good time.  Now I'm certain I can back squat over 300, but I'm making a slow and steady climb to my true 1-rep max.  Today's WOD wasn't the place for it, but I see it coming around the bend...should  be fun when it gets here :).

Four days in a row this week.  I'm happy to rest tomorrow and get back in the mix next week...see you then!