Tag: squat

WOD, OLY and Bootcamp Bodyweight (Making Stuff Up)

Friday at the end of training we did a 20 round version of Chelsea, however since I have injured shoulders among my athletes there was some modification happening. I did chinups, pushups and squats but my girls (at least some) did VSnaps, handstands and squats. It was a 20 minute one per minute thing and I am happy to say we ALWAYS finish with at least 20 seconds to go. I remember the first few times I tried this and I would run out of time around about round 15 and never managed to get further than round 21. Now I would easily be able to make 30 in 30 although I have yet to try!

I went into work from midnight until 5am on Sunday morning after having rested all day Saturday in preparation. It didn’t really matter, I was still insanely tired on Sunday but I managed to crank out 100 deadlifts and 100 squats with 95lbs in around 20 minutes.

I am also trying to build a decent ab workout for bootcamp, I have some variations but nothing really bootcamp worthy.

So rather than rely on stuff I could find, I thought I would make some stuff up and see how they handled it.

Here’s the rundown, if you want to know what side rocker runners are, you will just have to email me and ask.

x2
10 full crunch
10 regular pushups
10 curl up to bar
10 pullups
10 side crunch

x2
20 leg up crunch
10 military pushups
10 mb situp double twist
10 pullups
10 hanging leg raise

x2
10 side plank leg raise / toe touch
10 spider each side
20 MB shelf stacker 10 per side
10 front lunge
40 side rocker runners each side

x2
40 running backs each arm
10 clap pushups
10 leg cross under hip touch floor each side
10 pullups alternate hands
20 wall sit mb side touch

x2
10 falling towers mb under butt
10 plyo pushup
30 second superman plank each
10 chest pullups
20 flutters low and middle only

10 pushup step out
10 clap pushup
10 plyo pushup
10 pushup side raise leg raise
5 Worlds slowest burpee with clap

 

My Olympic Lifting Days

I have been working on my technique in the last few weeks, knowing that I really shouldn’t be trying to achieve higher weights if I want to control my size. I know that now, being a little older, it’s not always better to be or go bigger. That said, I have been trying to work my way into developing a solid clean and press where previously I was using the hang clean to do the movement. It has taken me a while but I am now at a point where I can comfortably do around 10 full cleans with squat and press without feeling like I am going to lose my balance or lose the bar.

I have also managed to work on my rack position so that the bar actually rests on my delts like it should but I am having a tough time with wrist flexibility and arm size. My arms are built in a way that makes it tough to get the forearm and bicep to occupy a similar space and for the wrist to maintain even the most rudimentary grip on the bar. I did notice during the Olympics that the way the pros do it is to take an extra little bump after the rack to get the hands under the bar ready to press. I’m trying to work on that.

Finally, since my squat is pretty solid I thought I would give overhead squats a try. It’s something I have tried in the past with mixed results, and by mixed I mean absolutely zero success. For some reason I can’t get my arms back far enough to balance, that is until I realized that my hands were FAR to close together. Once I slid my hands out to the end of the bar, like one would for a snatch, I found that I could squeeze out a couple of reps. I was pretty happy, but it is a very uncomfortable and strenuous activity, one that will require many many more attempts to become comfortable.

Since I am getting more comfortable I have also started doing multiple movements, specifically going from clean and press to back squat. Not only that, but a 4 movement set of deadlift, clean, clean and press, clean and press with squat. It’s becoming a lot of fun and I can definitely feel the benefit in my legs and my lower back.

 

 

10.66-69 – My Olympic Lifting Days

Since I moved my bar up to the garage and have bumper plates that I can get decent weights with I am now getting more and more into the Oly movements. On a typical day I will try to do 4 movements, deadlift, hang clean, clean and press and squat. Occasionally I will do push press or power cleans but I don’t seem to be able to nail the regular clean quite yet, my balance seems to let me down. I will try to do 100 movements, it usually takes between 30-40 minutes and it is a great workout. I have a makeshift chin up bar out there too so I can always add chin ups into the mix to make it more interesting. I alternate between sets of 5 and 10 and even add in a 55lb kettlebell whenever I can. I know the weather isn’t going to last, but for this summer I have had a great time building great core strength, back strength and coordination with these amazing movements.

Last week my workouts resembled this:

Friday: 135lb

Deadlift 5×5
Hang Clean 5×5
Clean and Press 5×5
Squat 5×5

Saturday: 5 rounds of:

5 Clean and Press
5 1 arm swings
5 KB Snatch
5 Pullups

Sunday: 135lb

Sets of 10

Deadlift x5
Clean and Press x5
Hang Clean x5

 

10.40/2 – Weekend Review (O-Lift Special)

10.40 – Rest
10.41 – 100 Clean and Press with 115lbs
10.42 – 100 Squat with 115lbs

I can’t shake my past. Whenever I force myself to do some lighter weight rep intense timed workouts like I did this weekend I can’t help but feel cheated. I know the days of 400lb squats are behind me but its frustrating to be doing the workouts that I love but with weights I hate. Fortunately I have my daughter and wife to think of who would not benefit from my requiring extra back surgeries or anything worse. I guess I just have to learn to love lighter weights. That said, I think that bodyweight is a satisfactory max, which means I still have some room to grow since I can’t remember the last time I cleaned 230lbs. Once I get my hands on some more bumper plates I should be good. Just a couple of 45’s and I will be up to 205 which is a respectable working weight for C&P at least from my perspective. I have opted to go for barbell rather than kettlebell clean and press the last couple of weeks which means I will probably have to squeeze in a RKC workout this week. Even though I enjoy the barbell work, the KB swings are a major developmental movement when it comes to back strength. My form has been good with the barbell work too and I think I owe a lot of that to good KB work.

As far as the sets go, for the C&P I did 1-10-1 and for the squats just 10 sets of 10. It’s WOD day at the gym tonight so I have to get to grips with another Crossfit workout, that makes 3 in 3 days and no yoga this week. Maybe I will try and squeeze in FOY tomorrow.

In other news we went swimming with my daughter yesterday which was fun, she is finally getting used to the water and even dunked her head a couple of times! We also attended a birthday party for one of her friends on Saturday which was really nice, it was a good relaxing weekend and that’s what I really needed. As far as my body report goes, my desire to push below 232lbs isn’t really going anywhere. I make a couple of lbs here and there but seem to put it right back. My left shin splint is hurting at the moment and I still have residual pain from when I strained my achilles a few weeks ago at the gym. I think if I am going to push below 230 I think I need a significant change, maybe getting rid of dairy for  few weeks might do it. I’ll have to think about that one.