New Back Squat PR

Squatting is probably my weakest link in CrossFit. Why? Largely because the last three years I have spent CFing it is the thing I do the least...perhaps with the exception of L-sits. I have started squatting more over the past six months and this summer I am going to be squatting A LOT more.

I back squatted 160lbs back at the end of 2008 and then 6-9 months later when I tried maxing out my bck sqt again it was down to 150lbs. Shocking? No, b/c I didn't back squat during this time. I was a big cherry picker with strength training. Over the past year I've gotten it back up to 162lbs and then at the end of April I brought my 5rep to 147lbs and knew that I had a better one rep in me. Well, since I am preparing to do a strength cycle I want to know accurate 1RMs to base percentages off. So, today although feeling a bit worn down I went for it.

Results? I set a new PR by 18lbs hitting 180lbs. I was pleasantly surprised. The best/worst part is that it didn't even feel difficult as I imagine a heavy squat to feel. Here is a link to a large reason why I know it felt this way. The young yet wise Dutch Lowy discusses that strength is often not about an individual's size, but rather the amount of muscle mass you can activate. I was well aware of how little muscle mass I was able to activate today. While I was happy with the improvement, I definitely felt like my body cannot figure out how/where to contract in order to push out of the bottom of a squat. I have a great strength plan for the summer with lots of dynamic effort work. The focus on this is learning how to stand FAST! I'll keep you all posted.

Today's progression:

5x88lbs, 3x115lbs, 2x125lbs, 2x135lbs, 1x145lbs, 1x155lbs, 1x165lbs PR, 1x175lbs PR, 1x185lbsF (dropped chest), 1x180lbs PR!, 1x182.5lbsF (accidentally loaded bar wrong...guess that means it's time to be done!)

Day two of the Olympic Lifting series to build up for some new records in the snatch and clean and jerk.

Hang snatch @ 70% max snatch 8x2 for the snatch (75lbs) ~EMOM. Hit all and felt great.

Hang clean and split jerk (alternating lead legs) @ 70% max C&J (103lbs) Hit all and felt a bit tired.

Time to eat and then nap!

100m time trial, Max hang clean, 500m row PR

06/07/10 ~7.5hrs sleep

50 chest to bar pullups 23 consecutive then of 3:27 for the 50. Corey took 5-7 reps away.

100m sprints

15.7, 16.4, 15.9

100m route is NOT on a track, but rather fairly flat the first 40m and then a decent climb (may 50% grade) for the last 60m. Welcome to Asheville. Hopefully I'll be able to break 14.5 on a track. My best 100m in high school was 14.8 my senior year. I don't think we ever did 100m time trials in college. At least not with the distance crew. haha My "untrained speed" has always been pathetic. I worked for it a lot during high school. I remember odd things and below are my yearly time trial times through high school:

freshman year: 17.8

sophomore year: 16.5

junior year: 15.7

senior year: 14.8 200m: 30.3, 400m 62.4, 800m 2:19 (relay), 1600m 5:05, 3200m 11:05 in college I never improved these times, but I ran a 5k in 18:02 (2001) and 10k in 37:14??

06/08/10 ~7hrs sleep

hang clean finding a max

5x45, 5x65, 5x88, 3x108, 1x118, 1x128lbs, 1x133lbs stood it up, but my chest dropped. Max for today. Previous best was 3x125lbs.

Partner WOD with noon class

In a group of two complete 2 rounds of:

20 manmakers (8lbs dumbbells), 40 burpees, 60 double unders. Only one person working at a time, while resting the partner resting must hold a plate overhead. I held a 10lbs plate and coached the class while doing so. That was a fun experience. Where's the camera when you need it? My partner, Jess, and I split the reps in half. Overall time of 14:58ish. Planned to do HSPUs after the noon class, but participation in this WOD was unplanned. Will save those HSPUs for Thursday!

06/09/10 ~6hrs sleep

4 sets of max handstand push ups at the top of every 3 minutes. Used parallettes and bands. Red band over 8' bar, purple band as harness. Head touched ground for each. Parallettes sat on red square mat to prevent slip.

Rnd 1: 14

Rnd 2: 10

Rnd 3: 10

Rnd 4: 8

06/10/10 ~7hrs sleep

Rowing is NOT a strength of mine. At the SE regionals I dug myself a hole not only on the squat clean (50th place with 140lbs as max squat clean). Then, I don't even know what place in the 2 rounds of 500m row, 25 burpee hurdles. Not quite as bad as the squat clean being that I could redeem myself a bit on burpees as I was unphased on the row, but just couldn't pull for shit. I averaged like 2:07 for each 500m. My old PR is 1:55 from well over a year ago. I dont' think I have attempted a p.r. since. I hate to row and rarely do it....until this summer that is.

David put me on the spot in the middle of the 9am class and told me to row a 500 with him. I wasn't warmed up, but you don't need to be too warm to row. It was good for me, as with the eyes of the class watching my screen I was even pulling at 1:46 and 1:48 for a bit...I have NEVER even been able to get the monitor to read under 1:50 for a few pulls of literally anything. My overall time was 1:51.5! 4 seconds off my old time! I guess I'm starting to figure something out.

Did the WOD with the 6:30pm class AMRAP in 8 minutes of 8 plyo push-ups (slapped the chest) and 16 kettlebell snatches @ 35lbs. Was being a baby about some potential tears on my hand that I did not want to reopen. I was not hitting my KB snatches very clean, as the day after I have the forearm bruises to prove it. 3 rnds+14 reps.

400m run on the hill loop 1:21

6/11/10 sleep ~5hrs

O-lifting tons for the next two weeks or so and then going for new 1RMs. Coach Wilkes from CF Chesapeake gave me this series to ready me for some new PRs. Today was the first day.

15 snatches @ 80% ~every minute on the minute (85lbs) Missed one of the 15. He didn't tell me to go EMOM, but I was rushed for time to coach the next class.

15 squat clean and split jerk (alternating lead legs) @ 80% (115lbs)again ~EMOM, no misses

I am feeling the lack of sleep with the first week back after vacation. Difficult to get back on schedule especially in regards to going to sleep at night which trying to get caught with emails and what not.

First day back=Start of Strength Cycle

Post Southeast regionals and 4 days in Jamaica with my husband Corey.

Body is feeling a bit rough after a week of not excessive at any one point, but consistent alcohol and simple sugar consumption. The first thing I did when I got home was make a salad with fresh greens, avocado, EVOO and delicious spices. The only thing missing was some steak. Had a couple beers and smores with reeses cups last night so I'm not back on 100% clean or anything.

Warm-up: 500m row (2:03) it is all I can do to pull under 2:00 for any pace. I hit 1:57 and 1:59 for a bit, but unable to maintain it. David says he can see what I'm doing wrong. Sooo, we're sure as hell going to keep working on it. Foam roll and then...

Clean and Jerk @ 70% of max 1x12@60sec

Did full squat cleans and push jerks 101lbs was 70%. Used 103lbs. Felt smooth. My push jerks didn't start to feel right until about the 6th lift, but it is good to work them.

Deadlift @ 50% of max 2x12@60sec

Used 120lbs. Felt good. Still hard for me to feel like I am standing up fast enough, but I am working on it.

Overall, I am stiff today from a week of little to no movement and little to no stretching. My low back was a bit tight for the C&J but felt fine for the DL. Will see my husband Corey for some ART this week and my housemate Kat for some drop table work on my pelvis. I am super thankful for the regular access I have to quality bodywork. Kat is becoming a bad ass CFer herself. It definitely makes a difference when the doc can directly relate to the demands CFers expect of their bodies.

Some heavy snatching and new OHS/FS PRs!

Sunday May 15th CF Kids Cert...I rested the whole day. I can't believe I trained 6 days straight. I NEVER do that!

Monday May 16th...red eye flight home. Minimal sleep. Exhausted!

Tuesday May 17th...my hamstrings are still killing me from the past week. Another rest day indeed.

Wednesday May 18, 2010

3 rounds of:

7 push jerks at 105lbs

7 box jumps at 28"

Time: 3:26

Thursday May 19, 2010

Snatch work

65lbsx5, 75lbsx3, 85lbsx1, 95lbsx1, 100lbsx1, 105lbs F,F,F, 95lbs a bunch of random reps

Had 5 minutes to spare before running the noon class so I set the clock for 5 minutes and went for one rep every 30 seconds. Completed 8 of the 10 attempts. Feel good with this one. Definitely my favorite lift!

Friday May 20, 2010

Didn't exactly plan to train, but had to wait for Corey so decided to OHS as I have been thinking about going for a new 1RM ever since Tamara OHS 125lbs a few weeks ago and then yesterday she upped it to 135lbs. My old PR of 120lbs is old news.

OHS

5x65lbs, 75lbs, 88lbs, 3x98lbs, 1x110lbs, 1x120lbs, 1x125lbs, 1x130lbs, 1x135lbs, 140lbsF. I was totally unfocused on the 140lbs. I put it put it overhead, squatted into the bottom, foled in half and fell on my ass. Decided to go for a new front squat rather than attempt again.

Front squat

went back down to 11olbsx1, 130lbsx1, 140lbsx1, 150lbsx1. 10lbs pr

Mile Run Time Trial, African Regional WOD

May 6th, 2010

Rest Day

May 5th, 2010

Mile run for time. 3 lap block route on the roads (down Church St, L on Hillard, L on S. Lexington, L on Aston L to finish the block on South French Broad) with half downhill and half a gradual uphill.

May 6th, 2010

Thrusters at 65lbs 15 reps for time at the top of every 4 minutes

33 seconds

31 seconds

30 seconds

5 rounds of

250m row

5 squat cleans at 45kgs (99lbs)

5 handstand pushups (head to floor, no kip)

Rnd 1) 2:30

Rnd 2) 5:20 (2:50)

Rnd 3) 8:00 (2:40)

Rnd 4) 10:38 (2:38)

Rnd 5) 13:05 (2:27)

Tuesday

OHS

45lbsx5, 65lbsx5, 85lbsx5, 95lbsx11, 95lbsx9, 95lbsx9, 95lbsx10

3:50 pullups 15,6

7:20 10,3,2

8:48 9

Push jerks and line sprints

Friday 105lbs thrusters/5 muscle ups

3/2 1-1-1-1-1

3/2 1-F-F-1-1-1-1

Back started to tighten.

Saturday May 1, 2010

Round 1) 15 straight 208

Round 2) 6/5/4 527

Round 3) 6/4/3/2 928

Sunday

Got on the scale today for the first time in about a month. Since I did the bodyweight back squat WOD. Today 114 lbs.

Deadlift

5x45lbs, 5x88lbs, 5x110lbs, 5x130lbs

Clean (full squat) and Jerk (split)

Long warm up progression

2x45lbs, 2x65lbs, 2x75lbs, 2x85lbs, 2x95lbs, 2x105lbs, 2x110lbs (1 with each leg leading for split jerk)

One rep every minute on the minute for 20 minutes at 80% of 1RM C&J (145lbs). Today's working weight was 115lbs. I alternated the lead leg for the jerk every other minute. So, 10 on the left leg, 10 on the right leg. The right leg is my dominate leg, but the jerks on the left were feeling good today.