May 2009 Archives

3 dumbbell snatches per side, 35 lbs
7 high-jump burpees
Run 100 meters (or what looked like 100 to me)
5 rounds

Time: 11:40

This was just a little too easy; next time, 45-lb dumbbells. Considering I was doing 1-arm barbell snatches, which is 45 pounds, that's definitely the weight I should have used. I was chicken I guess.

I mowed the lawn right after this, including slopes, which added to the over-all sense of having done push-ups.

Yesterday I had just enough time to work on pressing. I did some sets of three, up to 35, then did four singles at 39. Sometime early last year I had a 1RM press of 42. I'll be back to that soon and hope to get 45. "Hope" is sort of silly with things like strength or guitar playing; train or practice is a better strategy!

Today we did a barbell complex: clean, then three push-presses, three front squats, three thrusters. Take turns and add weight until you can't complete a complex. I got up to 45 kg without failing and it was time to quit. I think I could have done 50.

I did my sets of five at 40 kg, 60, 85,  and 100 kg. Wait, that's only four sets.... the set of 5 at 100 was a broken set and that was enough.

Then we did a team workout that involved running 800, 50 kettlebell snatches, and 100 kettlebell swings.

Surprisingly fun: chain push-ups from Fran Mason on Vimeo.

I tried this out the day after the gym got the chains, with the assistance of trainee Teague (aka "the Bad Influence") (kidding). Next day I had everyone in my 4 PM CrossFit class, who is able to do any push-ups, try push-ups in chains! They liked it, and some people continued practicing their push-ups after the chains were put back in their storage bucket, just for fun.

The way I did "Grace," at home on our stone patio, was like this: Power clean from ground, split jerk, no dropping the weights, 30 reps, 95 lbs. Time: 7:38.

I think this is the first time I've done Grace. It's fun lifting outside on a nice cool, pleasant spring afternoon! But kind of tedious carrying all the gear up from the basement and out the kitchen door and back down!

I weigh 57 kg and tonight I deadlifted 115 kg, twice, for two single lifts. It was the first time I've lifted twice my weight. My weight was 60 kg for several years and I never got to 120 on the deadlift, but now that I'm on a whole-foods high-protein diet I've lost 3 kg in the past seven weeks. So, I was able to meet my twice-bodyweight goal halfway. I am determined to lift 120 in the next three months.

After getting a bit out of the workout routine in 2008, and paying the price in reduced fitness, I've been more disciplined this year and feel like I've come back to where I should be and can move forward with confidence.