So today:

Warm up (3 rnds):
2 min on bike
20 walking lunges
10 pushups
10 ring dips (tan band)
10 35# push press

Workout:
50-40-30-20-10
Hip Extensions
Sit ups (ab mat)

9:45

I hadn’t done hip extensions since I started subbing, assuming they’d hurt my lower back. But since it turns out the lower back pain is just referred pain from my hip rotators (thank you TEAL center), I thought I’d try adding these back in, balanced by something I knew wouldn’t hurt and a warm up that was guaranteed not to as well. Aaaand, success! The hip extensions both felt fine and were significantly easier than the situps, I was sailing through the reps. This one was fairly killer (read: I laid face down on the ground for a solid 2-3 minutes afterwards, but intensity was good and it was a nice change up in rep scheme and new move for a metcon. Tomorrow needs to be push ups / pull ups though, I’m overdosing on situps. But oddly still suck at them?

Warm up: (x3)
Roll out
10 lunges each side
10 DB Press, 15#
10 SPT
5 dead hang pullups

Workout:
5 min on Ol Yeller, goal was gauge above 4, but there was some slipping as my quads tuckered out
-30 seconds rest-
8 rnds tabata situps (total was 91)
8 rnds tabata step-ups (total was 58)
4 rnds widowmakers

Ha, I made up the widow maker recently, since I can’t do the squat or jump portions of the man maker. So I do a 10 second plank hold with a 10# dumbell in each hand, push up, row the left DB over head and do a 10 second extended side plank, come down into a push up, row the right side up into an extended side plank for 10 seconds, and then end with a push up. That’s 1.

Rolled out after and headed on my way. Thanks again to Curtis for sitting down and writing out a long list of possible workouts from my very short list of things I can do.

Yesterday:
10 minute bike, gauge above 3
-rest-
5 minute bike, gauge above 4
-rest-
2.5 min bike, gauge above 5
-die quietly-

then

tabata:
8 rounds situps (93 total)
8 rounds ring dips, tan band (42 total)

hmmmm, wonder where that weakness is.

today:
warm up: (3x)
10 SPT
10 hip extensions
Walking lunges, 1 length of gym
5 skin the cats
2 sampson stretch / hip roll out / hip rotator stretch

workout:
21-15-9
HSPU (blue band / green band)
Ring rows

9:44

This was fairly terrible, I’ve VERY weak at both movements. I was unintentionally kipping the ring rows because i can’t seem to pull with my back (who needs skill work on ring rows? this girl), which led to a little soreness post workout. This is one of the more ambitious ones I’ve tried in a long while (it felt better today, what are you going to do?). I took copious breaks, which is kind of a problem, but it was due to muscle failure and concern of injury rather than metcon limit, which is a good thing.

Tomorrow:
rest day. new 2 on, 1 off schedule.

INCOMPETENT – NEEDS MOST WORK
General metcon endurance – I’m slow
Running (POSE)
Snatches
Dead hang pullups (can’t do even 1)
Ring dips (same story)
HSPU (still on the blue band)
L-sits (could hold the H sit all day, but leg extension needed)
Thrusters – these are my kryptonite
Push Jerk – form weakness
Cleans – form weakness
KTE / TTB – hand ripping is an issue

FAIRLY COMPETENT – NEEDS PLENTY OF WORK
Pushups (max of about 30 at a go, enough for most rx’d workouts but not all)
Kipping pullups (max of 5 in a row, short term goal of getting this to 10 in a row)
Front/OH squats – form weakness
Ring rows
Bench press – related to pushup weakness
Push Press – muscle weakness
Handstands – on a wall no problem, would like to get to freestanding
Sprints – under 200 meters and I’m a champ
Medball clean – lack of shrug
Farmers’ walk
Wallball – haven’t done in awhile, form was way off last time I did them

COMPETENT – LOWER PRIORITIES
Deadlifts
Double unders
Back squat
Rowing
Box jumps
Lunges
SDHP
Burpees
Situps
KB swing
GHD situps
Back/hip extensions

I went and fed all the cows on the ranch this morning, and then did 3 sets of 100 situps on a Swiss ball. Headed back to OKC to fly back tomorrow. Short visit… I mostly rested :)

So here’s the thing… I suck at blogging. I have a short attention span, and it seems to take a lot of time to fill this business out after every workout. So I took another month off. And luckily for me, there’s not much catching up on to do. I’ve been injured for most of the last month (that nagging back pain after workouts turned into “I hurt 24/7.” So I finally went and saw Dr. Nagel and started subbing every workout per his instructions. The two critical “don’ts” were impact and compression of the spine. Now nearly every move we do involved impact or compression… anything with a barbell or heavy dumbells was pretty much out. No running, jumping, or skipping (and you know how Brian loves to program skipping… but I digress). Nothing terribly dynamic, which took out more than a few kipping pull ups or push jerks. Oh, and squats were also verboten as my hips are messed up from the weird muscle spasms in my back. To cap it off, rowing seemed to be tweaking my back out as well. Now since I can’t actually rest, what have I been doing in the gym? Mostly rolling out. Seriously. Like for half an hour or so everytime I come in. In between stretches, I lacrosse ball the muscle groups on either side of my spine (which have contracted into knots in an attempt to support my spine during a few very dumb almost injuries during workouts – namely 95# power cleans on the chief and one very ugly should-have-failed front squat). Lacrosse ball on my hip flexors and that spot underneath the glutes that reeeeeally hurts when you roll it. After fully loosening everything up, here’s the list of things I’ve been mixing up in tabatas or intervals:

Sit ups
Ring rows (never done these before, am awesomely terrible at them but they’re a new favorite)
Ring dips / dips off a bench
Bench press for max 3/5RM
Light DB push press
Dan’s bike of death
L-Sits
Push ups
Dead hang pull ups
Lunges
Step ups (carefully, not coming down hard)
Plank holds
Side plank holds
One legged squats

And that’s really about it. And then I roll out again and leave very frustrated that I don’t feel like I’ve worked out. I’m back in Oklahoma this week though (school starts next week), and actually taking a rest for the first time since this all started. 5 days totally off. Except for the few ranch tasks I got handed… which I think don’t count. Right? So hopefully this will heal up soon and I can go back to getting my ass handed to me by workouts. Although I’ve been thinking in the realm of training weaknesses, I probably need to stop with the extra heavy strength training and focus the other direction. I’m plenty strong for my size, but I’m very very slow. So scaling down weight and focusing on speed and precision of form (to avoid another injury) is going to benefit me more as an athlete than merely trying to get significantly stronger. More runs, more endurance, more skill work days on lifts–making sure form on all of the is flawless and then finishing with a small metcon. Thoughts, complaints, or general life advice?

SLEEP: plenty.

ZONE: mostly.

10 Bodyweight Deadlifts
15 Box Jumps, 24/20 lbs

7 rounds + 10 deadlifts and 7 box jumps at 155#

Did this one chasing Erika, and had her on the DLs but lost time every round of box jumps. This was a 10 on output though, I did not rest and did not break sets of deadlifts as I remember. My box jumps are just REALLY slow. Leaderboard work though! Love me some DLs, but my back is still not happy.

ZONE: not detailing it while catching up, but its been fairly solid 10P/7C/15F. Not super hungry in this heat.
SLEEP: usually 8ish hours

July 13
Snatch
1-1-1-1-1-1
Rest

3 rounds for time
50 Hip Extensions
50 Situps

65# – 75# – 85# – 95# – 75#
4:52 (pack scaled – 30 of each)

Hip extensions felt GREAT, I was a speed demon on those. But the situps felt slow and weak. Think part of the lingering issues with my back may be due to a strength imbalance between the back and the abs. More OHS/KTE/situps in my future to fix this. Scaled because Sally and I started about 7 minutes before curtis needed to leave. And it was day 6 on…

July 14
4 Rounds for time:
Run 800 meters
Rest 5 minutes between rounds.

3:41 – 3:44 – 3:25 – 3:28

Well I suck at running, so I didn’t think I could skip this one. But ran the first 800 and my left lateral tendon (cause of last summer’s surgery) failed on my and the front of my knee went numb. This has happened before, its not a huge deal, but still a little sceery. So I switched to the rower (where there’s no impact for the lateral tendon to need to stabalize) and finished out the sprints. Disappointing day.

July 15
rest day… after 7 days on. I have to stop making plans to work out with people. Went in to keep Sally company and ended up learning the butterfly kip (thanks Scott!). By no means chin above bar, but I’ve got the basic motion down. Was sore after these for days (biceps and elbows?), but SO much less energy than kipping. Stringing 4-5 together by the end.

July 16
Press
5-5-5
Push Press
3-3-3
Push Jerk
1-1-1

SP: 65-75-80
PP: 85-95-100
PJ: 110-115-125

I hate these. Apparently I’m not an angry enough person for them? I was push jerking my push presses and push pressing my push jerks. But still a PR on the Push Jerk. Poor form on all of them (collapsing under the weight a little) tweaked my back again though.

July 17
21 Deadlift, 225/150 lbs
15 Situps
Run 400m
15 Deadlift, 225/150 lbs
30 Situps
Run 800m
9 Deadlifts, 225/150 lbs
45 Situps
Run 400m

14:41

This one was AWESOME! Runs sucked, as knee is still a little unstable from the 800m a few days ago. But Justin kept me running and I finished with an alright time despite a little walking of those runs (oops). DL form was solid but started to get very uncomfortable by the end.

Went home and roasted myself some venison I shot while I rewired two lights in my house. Kickass day is what I’m saying.

ZONE: 10/8/14 (eggs / broccoli, venison and sweet potatoes, venison and zucchini, omelet, sorbet)
SLEEP: 8 hours, but 1 quality

July 18
rest day. my back is shot. that “tweak” from the last two weeks is full on “pissed.” spent the morning in class, will be icing the rest of the afternoon… and then writing “overtraining is poor training” 1000 times on the white board :)
ZONE: solid, but drinking tonight
SLEEP: 9 hours but terrible quality

July 7:
Push Press
3-3-3-3-3

Front Squat
3-3-3-3-3

Push press: 105 (pr)
Front squat: 155 (pr)
Total): 260

Got the last front squat rep after almost failing forward. Fought hard for it, but think I should have bailed. Lower back rounded in an evil way and is NOT happy.

Zone / Sleep: no idea

July 8:
Hang Power Clean
3-3-3-3-3

“Annie”
For Time:
50-40-30-20-10
Double Unders
Situps

65-85-105-95-85
Annie: 8:51

Love annie, today was the first time the situps were the limiting factor. Back still a little tweaky.

July 9:
Stadium Workout

30 Deadlifts (225lbs/135lbs)

16:47 (first leaderboard time)

This was AWESOME. Teamed with Sally, Pete, and Pat and I was the slow man on the totem pole. Wall balls were embarrassing, which was strange since I usually love those. I had the agreed upon hardest cycle, straight through the list above, then second on DL. Push press nearly finished me, but then did the DL almost unbroken (wasn’t switch gripping, dropped the bar after 27 from sweaty hands and then finished out). Killer, but a great mix. Really love team workouts, I push SO much harder than I would otherwise.

July 10:
Fran

21-15-9
Thrusters (95#/65#)
Pullups

9:14

This one’s my nemesis. Its the one I tore up my shoulder on originally, and its two moves I frankly suck at. But in the name of benchmark workouts, I was shooting for at least sub-ten rx’d (first time with rx’d pullups). Made that goal, but rested far too much.

July 11
yoga day – missed all the morning classes because of my plants class in the city, but went to an evening ashtanga class that kicked my ass

one last ranch shot. couldn't resist.

July 1:
rest day – fixed fence and prepped for bachelorette party
zone- probably solid
sleep – probably awesome

July 2:
forced rest day – had to go into the bank to photograph structural problems and find them an engineer to deal with it. hosted bachelorette party on my parent’s back porch (which rocks my socks off)
food – surprisingly good, given the day. made a full grill out zone meal for 8 girls (chicken, sweet potatoes and zucchini, guacamole, and salad) and then a zone-ish chocolate fondue (coconut milk based with unsweetened chocolate, agave nectar, and whipping cream… we licked the pot after) with apples, orange slices, strawberries, bananas, and brazil nuts. Drinks were paleo-garitas (mostly tequila… win) or champagne (apparently not everyone likes straight tequila and lime juice). Good times, all were happy with their unbeknownst zone meal.
sleep – decent

July 3:
WOD:
Karen – 150 wall balls
6:10
only had a 5# ball, which hardly counted but still went in and did this pre church decorating. Used a 12′ target to make up for the light weight ball.
Zone – eh. did ok with the mexican for lunch, and then did barbecue and coleslaw at the rehersal dinner. Far too much beer that night to make this one ok though.
Sleep – about 5 hours

July 4:
rest day – wedding. mostly keeping the bride sane and trying to stay in my dress (thank you 10# weight gain while at home…). as a bridesmaid I tend to not so much care what I’m wearing, what they do with my hair. This ended up meaning I had fairly large 50s beehive hair and a purple chiffon dress that was made for my measurements in Nov. and not tried on until the day of the wedding. Oops. The other bridesmaids were… shall we say “less curvy” and so it was an interesting pick for me to wear in front of a crowd too conservative to serve alcohol, much less dance at the reception. Best comment was my brother in law after asking if I made a lot of money on the cover they must be charging at the door. Awesome. As soon as the reception duties were done, I ditched out with my sister and went to find beer and fireworks. Sat on the back porch with the first watching 3″ of rain fall in about an hour. One more dose of brisket and then it was time to pack up to come home.
Zone – um, wedding cake, beer, and brisket. lets call today a loss.
Sleep – 4 hours

linebacker much... love the beehive best.

Tabata Situps

Back squat: 10@45, 10@100, 5@155, 5@155, 5@155, 5@155, 5@155
Situps: 106

Squats were way better today having had a little coaching in okc (a few weeks is a long time to forget all those little cues…). Correcting the gaze to midway up the wall and raising the bar up to the next notch in that weird pullup bar/weight rack seems to have helped reduce the scrunched form / collapsed chest. Knees were really squeaking though, despite lots of foot position adjusting.

video of today’s

Drove back to Cheyenne first thing in the farm truck with an inability to idle. So that was fun… Got pulled over once and had to have the cop’s help getting the truck started again. But he was super nice about it at least. Worked at the mexican restaurant in town (its in a 1917 catholic church, worked there all through high school) for my brother, worked out, and then fixed a little fence before assembling bachelorette party favors and making sugar scrub with lavender blooms from the yard. Interesting mix of a day…

SLEEP
7 hours, (3)

ZONE:
7:00 – 2P / 2C / 2F
2 eggs, slice of local whole wheat/nut bread, butter

10:30 – 3P / 2C / 5F
cheese stick, 1 new batch of protein bar

2:30 – 4P / 4C / 4F
fajita meat, black beans, salad, grilled onions, sour cream, guac

6:00 – 2P / 2C / 2F
2 oz chicken, zucchini, tomatoes, walnuts

8:30 – 3P / 3C / 3F
3 oz chicken, zucchini, tomatoes, walnuts (leftover Moroccan chicken stew)

10:00 – 1P / 1C / 1F
1/8 of a cup of ben and jerry’s… it was all that was left in the container

TOTAL: 15P / 14C / 17F
Out of control…

sunset progression - tiny desert thunderstorm on the horizon

midpoint

finale

BS was first and set me off on really the wrong foot. I thought my previous 1RM was 185… so I was shooting for 200. Nailed 185 with some form corrections from Madi and then failed to hit full squat depth at 200 (shallow by 3-4″). Then totally failed the second try. (Also, Sally reminded me later my 1RM is 205. Think that may have been mental?? Or it could be due to eating like shit and drinking a lot all week and not sleeping much the two nights before. Tom-ay-to, tah-mah-to)

Press was mildly better, but I was a little thrown off by the back squat failure. On my second try I hit 90 with decent form, the first PR on press in a loooooong time. I go up on my toes when I’m pressing super heavy weight though, why is that?

Deadlift was a nice solid end. My perennial favorite, I’d skipped the last DL workout in deference to my lower back, which had been sore for days. It was feeling good though, so I did 168 – 248 – 258 and then couldn’t stand calling a 3# increase a PR so I added weight and hit 263# with actual solid form (shoulders are usually rounded forward on PR weight here, but this one was solid).

After a breather, I convinced Ed to do PCF’s workout with me, slightly scaled down. So we did 3 rounds of
75 double unders
400 m run

Luckily we’d had a bit of a cool front come through. So it was only 98 outside doing the runs. After round 2, I literally thought I was going to die. But (!) the last round of double unders, I hit my last 50 in a solid row. Which gave me enough drive to beat him on the last run (he’d had a 20 second lead). Total time: 14:04

After regaining the ability to walk, we showered and hit up the stockyards for the best steak on the planet. Cattleman’s Steakhouse has been there since the 40s, and it’s the old school institution for perfection in the form of beef in Oklahoma City. 12 oz of perfectly seared center-cut sirloin later, we did some cowboy boot shopping and then headed home for a nap. Evening involved a backyard barbeque/fish fry at a friend’s house, and then drinking with college friends who now live in OKC. All in all, a super solid day.

SLEEP: 7 hours, (5)

ZONE:
ha… about that…
9:30 – 2P / 2C / 2F
2 eggs, 1 piece locally made whole wheat/nut bread, 1 t butter

12:30 – post work out limeade

2:00 – 7P / 4C / 6F
sirloin at cattleman’s, skin of the baked potato with butter/sour cream, small dinner salad

5:30 – 3P / 2C / 4F
leftover steak (I couldn’t abandon it…), 1 apple, almonds

9:00 – 8P / 10C / 6F
3 shortribs, 3 fish fillets (they caught it themselves!), spinach/apple/feta/walnut salad, corn meal on fish, bbq sauce on ribs

10:30 – 4C
2 beers

TOTAL: 18P / 24C / 18F
damned impressive to see that one all tallied up.

prickle poppy