Strength - Workout A

You know that rotten smell that clothes get when you left them in the washer for too long before drying and then they get a little wet when you sweat in them? My T-shirt today had a faint whiff of that smell going on. I'm pretty proud of myself for doing all my lifts successfully, despite this adversity.

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 270 lbs

Effing heavy. This is the most I've ever successfully done for three sets of five. I did my best to warm up well at 6am, but I came pretty close to failing on the first set. Actually, I came close to failing on all of them, I'd say, but you could probably say that for any of the squats I've done since about 240 lbs.

On Monday, I'm going to set a PR when I get 5 x 275. Gravity can go fuck itself.


Shoulder press - Three sets of 5 x 120b lbs

Small increases of two or three pounds for this reset. Perhaps I should have warmed up better, because I failed on my fifth rep of my first set. I decided to set that aside as a practice session, concentrate on my breathing and do three more sets, which I was able to do.

Power cleans - Five sets of 3 x 180 lbs

Coach Jeff noted that my feet tend to travel backwards as I lift, but the bar looks like it's going fairly straight vertical. He wasn't sure if that was a problem, seeing as the lifts have been successful.

Strength - Workout B

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 265 lbs

Nasty. I nearly lost it on the last rep of the second set. Third set felt great, though.


Bench press - Three sets of 5 x 160 lbs FAIL!

Got it up four times in the first set, five times in the second and three times in the third.


Deadlift - One set of 5 x 285 lbs

Fucking heavy, and I lifted too much with my arms. But it went up. I used the hook grip and that was not pleasant on the thumbs, let me tells ya.

Strength - Workout A

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 260 lbs.

Heavy. Very tough. On the third set, I lost count, so I may have done an extra one.


Shoulder press - Three sets of 5 x 117 lbs.

This was a 10 per cent reset from my failure at 130.


Power cleans - Five sets of 3 x 175 lbs.
I love power cleans, I really do. Though, I doubt I'll be saying that 20 lbs from now.

Strength - Workout B

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 255 lbs

These felt heavy, but fine, especially considering it's been more than a week since my last Strength day. The squat-focused WODs in Calgary probably didn't hurt, but it's still a long time between gym visits.


Bench press - Three sets of 5 x 160 lbs

Got the first set (PR), but then failed on the next two. Second set: four reps. Third set: ONE measly rep. Damn.


Deadlift - One set of 5 x 275 lbs

Got it, but it felt pretty ugly.

Time to eat something.

Strength - Workout A

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 250 lbs

Shoulder Press - Failed at 130 lbs again. Only got sets of 4, 4, 3.

Power cleans - Five sets of 3 x 170 lbs.

Strength - Workout B

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 245 lbs


Bench press - Three sets of 5 x 155 lbs (PR!)


Deadlift - One set of 5 x 265 lbs

Strength - Workout A

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 240 lbs
Heavy. 'Nuff said.


Shoulder press - Three sets of 5 x 130 lbs.

I went into this thinking that I would probably fail and, guess what? I was right. I got two reps in the first set, four in the second (had to take a step forward on the fourth, though), and two in the third set. Lame.


Power cleans - Five sets of 3 x 165 lbs.

This was okay. I'm getting more comfortable with the hook grip. I bashed my collarbone a couple of times.

Strength - Workout B

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 235 lbs

The first two sets were tougher than I'd like. The third set, I focused more and went at it a little more agressively, and it felt a bit better.


Bench press - Three sets of 5 x 155 lbs. (4,4,3)

I failed on the fifth rep on the first two sets and the fourth on the last one. This was not unexpected, since 150 was tough for me.


Deadlift - One set of 5 x 255 lbs.

I feel like my technique degraded on or just after the second rep. But I'm still walking upright, so it couldn't have been too bad.

Strength - Workout A

Back squat - Three sets of 5 x 230 lbs

Still heavy. The idea that I will one day be able to do 5 x 300 lbs seems almost absurd to me at this point.


Shoulder press - Three sets of 5 x 125 lbs

I failed on the fifth rep of my first set. I'd like to say that I did it to make Kurt happy, but that would be untrue. It did make Kurt happy, though. He received an extremely warm and satisfying feeling from watching someone else struggle with shoulder press; I wish I could find an appropriate metaphor that would accurately describe how happy this made Kurt. I was just unable to get my head forward on the last rep. I but got all five up on the next two sets. So I did an extra set and got all five reps on that, too. While exhaling on the last rep of the third set, I accidentally hocked a loogie six feet in front of me, which was pretty funny.


Power clean - Five sets of 3 x 160 lbs

These felt pretty good, too. I'm getting more comfortable with the hook grip.

Strength - Workout B

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 225 lbs

Bench press - Three sets of 5 x 150 lbs (PR!)

Came very close to failing, but didn't.

Deadlift - One set of 1 x 245 lbs


Overheard at the Gym:

RHM: "Suck it, haters."

Strength - Workout A

Back Squats - Three sets of 5 x 220 lbs.
Still heavier than they should be. Perhaps it's time to start drinking milk again. But I just got some semblence of ABZZZ back! Dilemmma!


Shoulder press - Three sets of 5 x 120 lbs.

On the last rep of the second set, I had to walk forward a bit. I think that would have disqualified me in competition. Not that I'm planning on completing, because I'm pretty sure there are 12-year-old girls who can press more than me. On the last rep of the third set, I also took a step forward, but I had already locked out.


Deadlift - One set of 5 x 235 lbs

Felt good, even with no DL warm-up. Jeff even complimented me on my technique, and he knows a thing or two about deadlifts. Of course, it's easy to look good when the weight isn't heavy. Talk to me 40 lbs from now.


Deadhand pull-ups (unweighted) - Three max sets

9, 7, 7. These have fallen off a bit, probably because I haven't been doing them. I will start adding weight next time and going for three sets of 5-8.

Strength - Workout A and training for an Isabel rematch

Back squat - Three sets of 5x 210 lbs

Why are these so heavy for me now? Oh, that's right, because I haven't been doing the fucking work.


Shoulder press - Three sets of 5 x 115 lbs

The last time I did these, this was supposed to be my warm-up weight. Then I failed trying it. Time to work my way back up.


Deadlift - One set of 5 x 225 lbs

This was okay.


After not being confident in my ability to do Isabel as rx'd, I kept 135 lbs on the bar and did some snatches. Not for time, just to do them. I did about 15, maybe averaging about three a minute. I think I was helped by the fact that I was pretty warmed up from the strength work.

I want to do a little work on my snatches at least once a week.

Doing 15 tells me that I can definitely do Isabel rx'd, but my time will probably be closer to 10:00 than 5:00.

Strength - Workout B: Taking the "progression" out of "linear progression"

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 205 lbs

After the last time out, I figured I should start a little farther back from my max than I did since this reboot. 205 was challenging but doable.


Bench press - Three sets of 5 x 135 lbs One set of 5 x 135 and two sets of 5 x 140 lbs.

Kat was spotting for me and said that 135 looked too easy. It really wasn't, but she threw five more pounds on there anyway and I know better than to say no to Kat. Hopefully Christian does, too.


Power clean - Five sets of 3 x 150 lbs.

I've been trying to use the hook grip for these. It seems to be going well.

Strength - Workout A (sort of)

Back squats - Four sets of 5 x 255 lbs.

The extra set was because Aaron said I didn't get low enough on a couple of reps in the third set.

Shoulder press - FAIL. It took me three attempts to get five reps on my WARM-UP weight of 115 lbs. I did three reps of 130 before failing.

Deadlift. Three reps of 275lbs. I wanted to do five reps, but my back was sending me some warning signals.

Strength - Workout B - Here I go again

Let's try this again.

My plan is to hit CrossFit Regina four times a week. Two of those days will be Stength work, two will be the scheduled WOD.

I've also got Ultimate Frisbee at least one day a week, so that should keep me pretty busy.

With the Strength stuff, I'm starting a bit below where I was before I hurt myself in mid-March. I should be back in the swing of things in a couple of weeks.

Here's what I did today:


Back Squats - Three sets of 5 x 250 lbs

That's 20 lbs under my max. And it still sucked.


Bench Press - Three sets of 5 x 135 lbs

Five pounds under my max. Plenty heavy.


Power Clean - Five sets of 3 x 145 lbs

Ten pounds under my max. These weren't exactly light for me, but they weren't as concerning as the other two.

Strength - Workout B - Well, sort of

Went to CrossFit Regina on Saturday morning to attone for a week of ice cream cake eating.

I'm not sure what happened, but when I was doing some warm-up squats at 225lbs, something didn't feel right in my lower back. It hadn't been bothering me before then, and I didn't squat any differently than I otherwise do.

I decided against doing heavy squats. Harlan suggested doing a lighter weight at more reps so the work would be the same. I agreed and instead did:

Three sets of 10 x 140lbs.

It wasn't easy, but I can't say it was nearly as challenging as doing three sets of 5 x 275 would have been.

Afterward, I did bench press:

Three sets of 5 x 140lbs.

And that was pretty much it. Lame, huh?

The worst part is, my back is still bothering me as I write more than two days later. Fuck.

Strength - Workout A

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 270 lbs

At the risk of sounding like a total dork... Yay!


Shoulder press - Three sets of 5 x 125 lbs

This was a do-over from last time, when I failed. This time, I got 5, 4, 5.


Deadlift - One set of 5 x 305 lbs

Only got one up. Switched the grip and got another. Tapped out.

Strength - Workout B

Back squats: Three reps of 5 x 265 lbs

Tough. This was my one-rep max the last time I did the Total.


Bench press: Three reps of 5 x 135 lbs

It felt pretty good, but the fifth rep on each of the last two sets was heavy.


Power cleans: Five reps of 3 x 150 lbs.

Felt good.

Strength - Workout A

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 260lbs

Each rep was a struggle. On the second rep of the first set, I had a bit of a balance issue.


Shoulder Press - It was supposed to be three sets of 5 x 125lbs

I failed in each set. First set, I completed three reps; second, four reps; third, two reps.

I'm not sure if it would have made a difference, but my shoulders were still feelin Tuesday's Chelsea WOD. I will repeat this weight the next time I do shoulder presses.

Deadlift - One set of 5 x 295lbs

This was the one that I worried about the most. I got it. My grip was a little sketchy on the later reps.


So, I had sort of planned on stopping with the milk. I'd like to lean back out and see if I could maintain my strength gains. But I think I'm going to keep with it for a while.

Tracey is gonna be thrilled.

Strength Workout B

Back squats: Three sets of 5 x 255lbs

I would say that this felt very heavy, and failure was a real possibility. But slightly less so than last Wednesday at 250lbs.


Bench press: Three sets of 5 x 130lbs

Feelin' good. I need to remember to pay attention to my back (to arch it) and my feet (keep the heels flat).


Power cleans: Five sets of 3 x 145lbs.

Just fine.