ME Monday: HSPUs

"Skill": 3 x ME HSPU (2 strict, 2 strict, 3 kipping all to one ab mat)
Metcon rx'd: 4 rounds of 42 DU / 21 KBS (1 pood) / 12 pistols / 400m run
20:30

Post: worked on kipping HSPUs... got to a set of 7 kipping HSPUs (PR) to one ab mat

Not quite warmed up for the ME HSPU sets so I ended up working on it a bit more after. PR is 5 strict to 1 ab mat so way off today.
Metcon was fine. Good push from Jamie (who I wasn't going to catch) and Noel (who I caught up to and tried to stay in front of). KBS unbroken. Pistols were toughest after a few rounds... tough to balance and had to redo a bunch of reps.

PRs!!

PR: Strict Press 5RM: 65#
PR: 5 strict HSPUs to one ab mat


Cycle 4 Week 2: Press 1RM + 5% from Cycle 3
5 reps @ 40% (30#)
5 reps @ 50% (37.5#)
3 reps @ 60% (45#)
3 reps @ 70% (52.5#)
3 reps @ 80% (60#)
3+ reps @ 90% (65#): 5 reps

Metcon: 10 min AMRAP of
5 HSPU (1st round to one ab mat, the rest piked on 20" box)
10 hand release push ups
15 v-ups
3 rounds + 9 push ups

Post: Worked on kipping HSPUs. Can do it with two ab mats but not to one. Shoulders were done.
Post-post: butterfly kip work. Didn't have it today. Must be real tired.

I debated going today but against my better judgment, went for it as my upper body wasn't feeling too taxed. Abs, glutes, hips did not want to work out today so I guess I was lucky it was mostly an upper body work out.
Had I not gone today, I would have missed out on two PRs so that was a nice surprise! The 5RM press at 65# had been on my "to-do" list for a while so I finally got it!
Not even making it to fourth round in the metcon was a bit unexpected and really showed my fatigue this week after over a week off. The first 5 HSPUs pretty much took it all out of me even though they felt easy at the time. After one more on the second round, I had to switch to a pike as I was just going to fail. Push ups were painfully slow and failed multiple times in the later rounds when I rushed. V-ups were also painful as my rib muscles are not happy from those hollow rocks yesterday.
Really shouldn't go tomorrow but I want to DL. Will see how I feel in the morning.

Robb Wolf responds

I've been listening to the podcasts and decided to post my ganglion cyst/bursitis situation on Robb's blog.

His response included:
"Ganglion cysts really respond well to low carb, sleep etc. I doubt if glucosamine would help that."
and this.

More work + more stress + less sleep is messing with my insulin sensitivity apparently. I should probably be a little more strict on paleo. I love food... not being able to cheat little bits is going to be tough...

6am WOD:
3x max pushups: 16+10+6=32. I didn't do as many in my first set but more in my second and third sets. Total is a PR of 1.
Alex's alt WOD:
5 rounds of 5 strict press at 75% of my 1RM (used 53#) and 10 (unbanded kipping) pullups: 9:04
Limiting factors are still pullups but they're getting better. Blood blister but did not rip.
Finished it off with 3x 10 reverse sit-up thing using bench. Tough stuff. Thanks Rudy.

Pre-6am WOD: 1 muscle milk light
Breakfast at 8am: 2 fried eggs with Kerry Gold butter (best butter ever) and shrimp sauteed with garlic powder and tomato sauce. 1 espresso.
Mid-morning "snack": 1 16oz coffee
Lunch at 1pm: Chicken shwarma salad w/ parsley, cucumber, sumac onion, spicy tomato sauce from I Dream of Falafel
Snack at 5pm: almost-paleo banana walnut muffin
Dinner at 7pm: Dinner at Spring included yellowtail sashimi with sweet potato bouillon, lemongrass and coconut soup with shrimp dumpling, 1 glass of white wine, scallops with braised oxtail, bokchoy, and mushroom in a sweet soy sauce, 1 decaf latte.

Crossfit West Loop!

JJ and I decided to check out Crossfit West Loop today. The space is HUGE and this place will be amazing when it gets well-stocked. I'm sure the piano people upstairs are going to love us.

Today's WOD at CFWL

Back Squat: skipped due to hip
2x max deadhangs: Still don't have one yet but the negatives I worked on felt stronger than before. Try out alt grip next time.
1x max kipping pullups: 4. Felt weak today on these. I have been working on these quite a bit since I can't seem to do much else with the hip. Might think about resting a bit before attempting again.

Alt Metcon: JT (aka upper body killer)
21-15-9 of HSPUs / ring dips / push ups
11:00

HSPUs: pretty much unbroken through first round with 2 ab mats. I probably should have paced this in hindsight but I think I was too excited about doing this with 2 ab mats. When the 2nd round came around, I tried SO hard to stick with the 2 ab mats but my upper body was just so jacked from the ring dips and push ups that every time I went down to the 2 ab mats, my shoulders just refused to push me back up. I tried this 3 times before calling out to Kerry (thanks!) and asking for an additional ab mat. I just couldn't do any more using 2.

Ring dips: used flat clear band. Started with 10. Then sets of 5s. Second and third rounds were sets of 3s and 2s.

Push ups: When I got here the first round, I wanted so bad to do regular push ups but when I got chest to ground, I just couldn't get up. Tried twice before I finally gave in and did them on my knees. Even then they were like sets of 5 in the first round and sets of 2s and 3s in the remaining rounds.

This was probably one of the toughest WODs I have ever done. For all the ring dips / push up reps that I didn't get to lock out, I re-did them. Muscle fatigue was just ridiculous here but happy that I finally got this under my belt. I might be with JohnG on hating this WOD.

After the WOD, I rested a bit and wanted to get some cardio in. Goal at first was do double-unders until I could do 50 in a row. That goal quickly dropped to 20. I want to say I spent about 5 to 6 minutes doing double-unders and never made it to 20. The most I got was 17 before my arms were completely dead.

Breakfast @ 9:30am: 1 fried egg, shrimp with no-salt organic seasoning, sauteed spinach and peppers, crushed almonds, 1 americano

Light lunch #1 @ noonish: homemade chili (with chicken and beef) with pureed rutabaga (yum!)

Post-WOD @ 3:30pm: 1 clementine

Light lunch #2 @ 4:30pm: Chipotle salad (lettuce, chicken, fajita veggies, mild salsa, green salsa, guac)

Dinner @ 8:30pm: Half a slice of garlic bread with spicy marinara and 2 slices of pizza (one bleubird and one margherita) from Santullo's in Wicker Park. 1 Brooklyn Brewery Lager. A few sips of JJ's lo-cal Sprecher root beer.

Snack @ 12am: a few pieces of apple with sunbutter

Was supposed to go to The Bristol but they couldn't accommodate our large party of 9. Turned away from Mindy's Hot Chocolate too. Sad. I am one of the lucky ones and don't normally crave pizza... but if I were to cheat, I'd cheat with Santullo's pizza for sure!

A little less pain in the hip, a little more pain in the wrist...

I might just be minor-injury-prone or something... can't I go a week without pulling/hurting something? People at work always think they're joking when they ask me "what did you hurt while doing crossfit today"...
Wrist hurts today... either laptop keyboard or handstands maybe. I got an ergonomic keyboard today so hopefully that problem will resolve itself.
Nice to be able to do a WOD today even though I still can't do much with the hip.

This morning, I did yesterday's strength and today's WOD.
Press 5-5-5+: 43-49-56 (9). Felt solid.
15 Handstand negatives: these were kind of fun after you get over falling on your head. Nice to know that I can at least do the negatives on one ab mat.

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of HPC @ 63# and Ring dips.
HPCs were fast and felt good. Ring dips were pretty good too. Broke once in each of the 8, 7, 6, and 5 rounds.

Worked on some kipping pullups 5x5.

I'm back on the swing as to whether I should compete at Sectionals or not. I know I'm not training very hard and I don't really have much time to but I would love to just experience that atmosphere. If I can do a WOD un-scaled, great. If not, whatever. I'm not expecting much given the schedule... but then, the idea of competing at Sectionals still scares the hell out of me. Makes me nervous thinking about it. I might be last. I don't know. Think about it some more tomorrow... maybe the answer will just come to me (sleepy passive mode).

Pre WOD (5:30am): muscle milk light
Breakfast (8:30am): 1 of JJ's crabcakes, 1 sunnyside up egg, some veggies (zucchini, squash) with crushed almonds, 1 espresso
Mid-morning snack: handful of almonds and dried cranberries, 1 matcha green tea
Lunch (12:30pm): beef and chicken chili, roasted veggies (carrots, butternut squash, eggplant)
Mid-afternoon snack: handful of almonds and dried cranberries (I forgot paleo kit today)
Dinner (7:30pm): From Townhouse (work meal) - seared ahi tuna (covered in crushed peppercorns and salt), broccolini (I tasted butter)

Ouch

Ripped hands on kipping pullups today... used them for the first time in a WOD and I realized that I never really built up calluses in that spot. Sigh. Hope they don't take too long to heal.

Pre-WOD: Muscle milk light. I really shouldn't be drinking this stuff anymore and I don't normally but some mornings, I just can't put anything solid in my stomach. Just a way to throw down some calories real quick.

Breakfast @ 8:30am: Homemade chili, one hard boiled egg, Americano (black)

Mid-morning snack: handful of almonds, pecans, pistachios, dried cranberries

Lunch @ 12:30pm: Homemade braised short ribs, roasted veggies (peppers, carrots, green beans - I realize they're not paleo... I think we don't have anymore green beans now?)

Snack @ 5pm: homemade paleo kit

Dinner @ 8:30pm: Roasted chicken (leg and wing) from Costco with salad

Kipping and more C&J

Kipping pull-up form:


Clean and (split) Jerk @ 95#: