Crossfit is only open 12-7 on Thursdays so I had a little experiment with going into work early, leaving before 4 and doing a PM workout. Think this will work well for future to keep a M/T/T/S schedule.
PR’d squats, but I won’t read much into it as I’m doing them at 4pm rather than 7am now so it’s mostly that, I think, but they felt very solid as squats go.
Bench less so, but it was new equipment and I was experimenting with grip. Hit reverse-grip T-Bar rows before each set that really blew up my lats nicely. Those are a keeper for sure.
Workout
Warmup
Flexible Five
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Glute drills
Main Giant Set
40kg load to shoulder (one per shoulder)
5x squats
60s plank
222.3 today. Only had time for a quick session so decided to run through the press medley a bit. Slightly worried how bad I am at it even five months out…
Workout
Warmup
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Flexible Five
So I’m around 55-60% as strong and/or good as I need to be for this. Barbell is super easy at these submax weights but I need more axle and DB practice. Think I’m just going to splash the cash on an actual Circus DB this month.
Went in with the aim of a deadlift PR and a secondary aim of four plates. Got one of the two.
Workout
Warmup
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Flexible Five
Glute drills
Main Giant Set
3x 20kg med ball slams
3x deadlifts
10x jacknife situps
Deadlifts:
3x120kg
3x130kg
3x140kg
3x150kg
3x160kg
1x172.5kg (PR)
0x180kg (got it off the ground but failed just below the knee)
0x180kg (I’m nothing if not stubborn!)
0x180kg (OK fine I get the hint…)
This is attempt #3. Not sure if it’s a technique/setup issue, a hip/upper back weakness or just generally not being strong/tough enough to power through the sticking point:
This absolutely fried me (funny, that) and I was running out of time so I moved on to assistance rather than doing my backoff sets.
Assistance Giant Set
30s each for three rounds:
3" deficit deadlift @ 100kg
Reverse-grip axle row @ 50kg
Flutter kicks
Rest
Strongman
Farmer’s walk, approx 25m w/drop and turn:
15kg
45kg
55kg
65kg
75kg (fail; apparently maxing deads and farmers on the same day isn’t a good idea)
3x65kg (hard!)
Going forward
I think that I’ll have to re-structure my Saturday/Events day; I’m kinda winging it at the moment. This will be the plan for the next six weeks:
Mon: strict press + assistance, axle continentals
Tue: deadlift + assistance, speed farmer’s walks
Thu: squat + bench, carries or axle/DB (space dependent)
Sat: power cleans, farmer’s walks, circus DB
After the next six-week block I’ll be getting a 10-week customised program from the man himself to see me through to the comp.
£40 on England (8.5) v Ireland @ 1/1
£15 on England outright @ 3/1
£30 on Patriots -2.5 @ 10/11
A +£100 weekend all in all, but annoyingly my Irish mate isn’t in work today and my Irish girlfriend doesn’t care about rugby so my gloating has been massively restricted.
Thanks mate. Previous 1RM PR was 170; pretty sure I was good for 175 today but I mean, you can’t not go for the four plates when it’s that close.
I have actually had previous experience of missing a PR, then getting annoyed at myself and going back and hitting it, which is my justification for being this stubborn/stupid.
Last time I went for 180 it was 100% rooted to the ground so I’ll take this as a small win.
Did you watch the vid or are you basing your/my bolded comment on the numbers? The more 600+ deadlifters who don’t have anything bad to say about my technique, the better…
Today’s workout was a bit meh, but considering that I hit max deads yesterday and slept poorly last night, it wasn’t bad. Actually, I got it all done fast enough to get into work to get a coveted parking space so it’s definitely a speed PR at least.
Weighed in at 222.8 AKA 101.6. Reducing calories a little going forward. Have been having ~3400 a day on average which has lost me just under 4lbs since 7 Jan, but the loss has plateaued out a bit so shooting for closer to 3000. Just a case of eating one less packet of free peanuts at work.
Workout
Warmup
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Flexible Five
Ramping lat pulldowns
Main Giant Set
3x chinups/pullups/NG chins mixed and matched
3x strict press
8x weighted cable twist thingies each side
Strict press:
3x40kg
3x45kg
3x47.5kg
3x50kg
3x52.5kg
3x55kg
1x57.5kg (hit this for three over Christmas, so pretty disappointing, but that was mid-holiday bulk and not early morning to be fair)
3x3x52.5kg
Assistance Giant Set
Five rounds, 30s each:
Lat raises w/6kg DBs
Front raise w/10kg plate
Facepull @ 25kg
Rest
First set reps were 16/14/27. Last set reps were 8/6/13. Fried my shoulders.
Pleased with how technique came along here. Was a bit too light for proper conditioning so at round 5-6 I threw in a push press at the end. Then I finished by just doing continental clean & presses with minimal rest until I didn’t want to do any more.
Got out of work and into the gym in time. Was hoping for a better squat session but it was pretty decent all in all.
As for bench… man, if I had a fiver for each time I’d been frustrated at my bench I could fly Dave Tate to me business class to personally coach me for a month.
Workout
Warmup
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Flexible Five
Glute drills
Main Giant Set
3x KB snatches each hand (12kg bell)
3x squats
10x situps
Brian Alsruhe always says you should be able to row as much as you bench. If I could bench as much as I row I’d be ecstatic; the 3x72.5kg row was like RPE6 and the bench was close to failing.
Ah well at least I’m doing strongman now… #teamnobanch
Speaking of:
Strongman Conditioning
Funfair DB 25kg
AMRAP in 70s (one round per hand)
Right: 6x
Left: 4x
Technique felt decent here. I’m ordering an actual Circus DB next week which will be fun.
Just bit the bullet and spent £200 on a 25kg loadable Circus DB. Hope that whichever comp I do next will have this event too so I really get my money’s worth.
Went out for dinner last night and while I kept the (solid) carbs reasonably low I still had a decent amount of food and half a bottle of wine, so up to 222.0 today.
Training
Warmup
Flexible Five
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Clean pulls/hang cleans w/empty bar
At 75% contest weight these felt pretty easy. Push press seemed decent. I did catch some skin between the belt and the bar on the second 60kg rep which is super painful. Guess it’s my fault for being so fat.
Farmer’s Walks Took these out the back today, so it was 20m/65ft before the drop & turn instead of the usual 12/40.
55kg for 40m w/drop and turn
65kg for 40m w/drop and turn (PR)
75kg for 40m w/drop and turn and drop again and drop again because grip was fucked and oh God why am I doing this (bad PR)
About 45s on the penultimate (no-drop) run.
The drop and turn is my least favourite thing here. You have the sweet relief of dropping the cunts and then you have to pick them up AND DO THE WALK AGAIN it’s so unfair.
Funfair Dumbbell
EMOM: rep each hand w/25kg for 10m
Misc grip training
Plate pinch farmer walk things (putting the plates back basically, made an exercise out of it)
221.9 today. Bit bloated. Yesterday’s sandwich became my cheat meal and was 1,600kcal. No regrets.
Going to do a 5:2 style low calorie day on Wednesdays going forward. The way my schedule is set up it shouldn’t have much effect on training but should do good things for my waistline.
Up to 222.4 today. Maybe eating an 8oz steak in a literal half-loaf of bread has bloated me a little.
Feeling super fatigued recently. Major core DOMs and my grip was pretty awful on warm-up sets.
Nevertheless, had a decent session all things considered. I am, however, really looking forward to next week’s deload.
Workout
Warmup
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Flexible Five
Glute drills
Main Giant Set
3x 20kg med ball overhead slams
3x deadlifts
8x V-sit-ups
Deadlifts:
3x120kg
3x130kg
3x140kg
3x150kg
3x155kg
3x160kg (joint PR) Considered going for 3x165 briefly, but a 95% triple probably wasn’t happening today. This set moved well though.
3x155kg
3x150kg
3x145kg
3x140kg
Assistance Giant Set
Three rounds:
12x140kg block pulls
20x25kg reverse-grip T-bar rows
10xBW situps
Strongman Conditioning
EMOM for 5m:
25m farmer’s walk w/drop and turn midway @ 50kg
Main Giant Set
3x chinups (sets 2-5 +5kg, sets 6-8 +8kg; PRs at this BW)
3x strict press
8x Pallof press each side
Press:
3x 40kg
3x 45kg
3x 47.5kg
3x 50kg
3x 52.5kg
3x 55kg
1x 57.5kg The second rep got to forehead level, and I wanted to beat last week so…
1x 58.5kg This moved so quickly it actually shocked me. Could have had a double.
1x 60kg Had to be done. Little bit of a dip, but not so much that it was a push press. Last time I hit this it wasn’t mid-giant set and it was in the afternoon after Christmas feasting, so pretty happy to get it under fatigue now.
2x3x 50kg
My sticking point on press has always been just below eye-level, and now it seems to be just above. I guess that means my shoulders have got strong enough to make my triceps the weak link, so will hammer them a little more next training block.
Assistance Giant Set
3 rounds:
AMRAP lat raises
AMRAP front plate raises
AMRAP face pulls
Around 30-45s rest between triples. Third and fourth set got super-sloppy so took about 90s and did a couple more. Will do EMOM for 10m going forward I think/hope.
