Tag Archives: Workout

“Air Force Karen”

I wanted to get another workout in last week, so I had planned on doing something on Friday night (9/30/2011) when V taught elements. Suzanne had texted me earlier in the day asking if we’d want to do a WOD with her that night, so of course, I said sure. When we got to the box, someone who shall remain nameless bullied us into doing the posted workout. OUCH.

Air Force Karen: 150 wall balls for time, but with 4 burpies every minute.

Time: 10:53 (Rx’d with 20# med ball)

After that, I saw a little supplemental WOD that could have only been written by Trevor up on the board. It was:

4 RFT

  • 5 hang cleans @ 75#
  • 5 pull ups
  • 300m row

Suzanne and I did this one but didn’t time it. I did my hang cleans sort of slow and tried to work on my technique.

FGB and More Strength

Dave said that I should do FGB on Friday. I didn’t want to, but he said to, so I did it. I got to the box at 4pm and did it alone. Just me and the Tabata timer. I have to say that I am somewhat happy that I was alone b/c it was pretty pitiful. Yeah, yeah, I know that just the fact that I went and did it is great and all that, but boy did it kick my ass and leave me feeling just… worse than 17 minutes prior.

I started counting my reps on the first round. When it became apparent that no PRs were gonna happen (unless you count a PR for WORST), I kinda just said “fuck it, it’s gonna be horrible anyway”, stopped counting and tried to keep it together for the rest of the 15 minutes.

Bad attitude. I know.

I do know that I got at least 10 reps every minute, so my score was AT LEAST 150. I also know that I got around 20 push presses every time and about 15 cals on the C2 each time, so perhaps I’m closer to 200. At any rate, when all was said and done, I was feeling pretty down and in the dumps about how far I am from where I used to be. I laid around for about 10-15 minutes on the foam roller inflicting pain on various parts of myself, then, when I could see straight again, got in the car and went home.

<BitchFest>

I was pretty sad and discouraged for the rest of the night. It was another one of those “nothing is really working and why the fuck am I putting all this effort in etc” waa waa waaa, you get the idea. So, it’s been a pretty much “eat whatever I want” kind of weekend b/c what the point, right? I was talking with Mike T. a few days ago and he told me that all of the people he talks to that have a hard time dropping weight have issues with sleep. Ding ding ding. My sleep is pretty much crap.

I can’t shake the feeling that I am doing all of this for nothing. Taking a step forward and 3 back. So much effort for so little return. Is there something wrong with me? How is it possible that I put in all of this work, am pretty fucking careful about what I eat most of the time and make so little progress?!? ARGH!

It’d be WAY easier to just sit around and do nothing. Honestly.

</BitchFest>

I guess though, I do have to be a bit positive and say thank you to all of the people that don’t let me fall into the little well of self pity that I commonly default to. Mostly V, but also, my friends (who I should really call family) for constantly encouraging me to just keep going despite all of this and that one day, things will be better. For also reminding me to just have fun and let go of all of this shit that I stress about. Maybe one day I will be able to do that. I will keep trying, but I hope you all will keep helping me b/c clearly, if you were not encouraging me, I’d be doing a lot more TV/Computer/video game watching, and a lot less moving around.

So, sincerely, thank you. You are the best.

Moving on.

Saturday morning, we went to open gym. V did the workout and started in on the third strength WOD of the week. This time around it was:

  • 3×5 back squat: 300# – all good… felt pretty strong. Thanks to Fio and Chanse for spotting.
  • 3×5 bench press: 205# – felt heavy bit still doable.
  • 1×5 dead lift: 365# – again, felt heavy but still doable. I had to take a little bit more pause in between each rep to make sure that I was all set up and keeping really good form.

2011.08.10

Today was really tough. I haven’t gotten very much sleep in the past few days, so I was already pretty tired before I even started. Anyway, I went in and tried as best I could.

  • Back squats: 3×5 @ 295#. Hard, but OK. I really need a spotter.
  • Press: 3×5 @ 160#. Very hard. I failed on the 1st set on the 5th rep. I then went to 155#, did it, then 157#.
  • Clean: 3×5 @ 175#. Hard, but doable.

Bonus

  • 1×8-12 Press @ 155# w/4s negative. Bad idea to use 155#. It was WAY to heavy. I got 7 reps and failed.
  • 1×8-12 Squat @ 155# w/4s negative. I got the full 12 reps, but it was pretty tough.

Dave HeyTell’d while I was working out to ask how things were going. I told him I didn’t have much in the tank and he suggested that I might be dehydrated. I hadn’t even thought of it.

Hopefully, tonight, we will get a bit more sleep and I will try to drink some more water. Let’s see how I feel tomorrow.

2011.08.08

So, after throwing a hissy fit and all in my last post, I was still back in the gym today working on strength, with a few additions from Bigg Dave:

  • Back squats: 3×5 @ 290# felt good… I definitely feel better when someone’s spotting me. Makes me think about what the best way to continue with this is.
  • Bench Press: 3×5 @ 200# felt fine. A bit challenging on the 4’s and 5’s but totally doable.
  • Dead Lift: 1xt @ 360# felt strong and solid. Good to go higher.

After that, the new additions were:

  • 1x(Fail 8-12) dead lift @ 165# with a 4s negative. I made it all the way to 12, so I guess we go heavier next time.
  • 2x(Fail 8-12) pull ups with 4s negative @ my fat ass bodyweight. I was not able to do 8 unbroken. I kipped and V counted for me. I was able to do 4, then 3, then 1. I will have to work up to doing 2 sets of 8, I guess.

Starting Strength #11

I am creeping back up on the weight for the back squats. Knee is feeling better. Today was a challenge…

  • Back squats: Went really careful during the warm up. Started my working set at 255#. That was pretty easy, so I went up 275#, then 285# for the subsequent work sets. I think I am good to go to 290# on Friday.
  • Bench Press: 3×5 @ 195#. Hard but not impossible. 200# next!
  • Dead lift: 3×5 @ 355#. These were HARD. Not impossible, but really hard. I had to really stick with it to get through all 5 reps. My grip also started to go a bit near the end.

My weight today at the gym was 221#, but when I got home it was 219#, so it seems I am down 4-6# depending. Pretty good for 4 weeks, I think.

Starting Strength #10

I had to back off the back squat weight a bit as my left knee has been giving  a bit of a headache. Maybe if it feels better, I will knock it back on Wednesday.

Anyway, here are weights from yesterday:

  • Back squat: 3×5 @ 265#. They all felt good. Just wanted to be really slow and careful b/c of my knee.
  • Press: 3×5 @ 155#. These were rough. I was still able to get them all out without failing.
  • Clean: 3×5 @ 165#. These felt really good. I think I am good to get up some more in weight.

Weight: 223#

Starting Strength #8

Wow… the gains keep coming…

  • Back squat: 3×5 @ 283# – These weren’t bad at all! I did feel a slight tweak in my left knee, but as long as I kept my form good, it was OK.
  • Strict Press: 3×5 @ 150# – These are getting really difficult. I doubt that I will be able to continue going up 5# at every session. I nearly failed on my last rep. 
  • Clean: 3×5 @ 155# – I decided to go up 10# from my last session because these are feeling better and better each time. I am debating 165# next time.

Weight: 220.75#

Starting Strength #6

I think I did awesomely today. Here are the numbers:

  • Back squat: 3×5 @ 277# – They all felt easy. Maybe it was just the magical spotting skillz of Big Mike T.
  • Strict Press: 3×5 @ 145# – Not too bad. The last set was very challenging and I thought I might fail on the last few reps but I squeaked ‘em out. I am a bit apprehensive about 150# for the next, but we will see.
  • Clean: 3×5 @ 145# – These felt great. I think my form is getting better. I am looking forward to a more challenging weight next time!

Intervals and some other stuff…

Since I have been doing intervals on off days, I have been making up stuff to do on the C2. Today, I wanted to do something for a longer period of time, but still have some HI stuff in there, so I decided to get on the rower and do the following:

1st Minute, comfy pace, then every minute on the minute, all out for 20s, then comfy pace again for the remaining 40s. I did this until the clock hit 11 minutes and got 2442m. Not bad!

After that, Chad was doing OPT’s site WOD, so I joined in the first part (until I had to leave) which was:

  • 8 – 6 – 6 – 4: snatch grip dead lift with 3s negative
  • 6 – 6 – 4 – 4: ring dip with 4s negative

These were supersets and there was 2 min rest between each.