Not yet strong enough

Warm Up
Level 2 (Socs)
Negative ring dips, banded pull ups

Level 3 (Allan)
Run
Strength
L2
WOD movements see below

L3
Turkish get up practice 16kgs KB
6×5 Push press @ 40kgs

WOD
Hammer
5 rounds
5 Power cleans (A:50kgs, S:30kgs)
10 Front Squat
5 Push Jerk
20 Pull ups (10 for Socs)
90 second rest

When I saw that we were scheduled to do a hero WOD called Hammer, I wasn’t sure what weight I would be doing. I can do 60kgs (Rx weight) power cleans for 5 reps sure. I can do 10 front squats as well. 5 push jerks are also possible I believe. Even at 5 rounds I could probably do it. But not all 3 in one round, 5 times. It’s not called a hero WOD for nothing.

I figured, correctly, that 50kgs would be the Goldilocks zone and it was apparent on the strength session that I am in still need of a strength boost. As Tom pointed out, my technique/mechanics are good but I can still improve on my strength. It just hammered in (pun intended) my current mindset of getting the weight on and concentrate on that. I just need to remind myself every time I step in to the gym.

Although I do need to sort out my sore shoulders and arms in order to maximize my training effort. Might just book myself a massage this weekend.

The WOD was as nasty as I imagined. Most of us in the class agreed that the combination of movements lead to us struggling on the push jerks. With a time cap of 25 minutes, I managed to do 4 rounds + 2 push jerk (I was ready to die then) while Socs finished 5 rounds in 21m24s.

80% man

Strength
8×3 Push Press (A:50kg, S:30kg)
then
1RM ring dip 28kg (Allan)
5×5 ring dip (Socs)

WOD
5 Rounds
Max Effort DB Man-maker (A:15kg DBs, S:7.5kg DBs) for 2 minutes 30 seconds
30 sec rest

I’ve always considered my shoulder strength as my weakness and I was always hesitant on pressing as I can never strict press anything more than 50kgs. But now that I think about it, if I can do 5 handstand push ups, I could strict press 65kgs (and push press/jerk more than that). Something to think about.

I was surprised I was able perform a ring dip with an extra 28kg weight relatively easily so I went for 32kgs (just below 1/2 my bodyweight). I was able to control it down, but failed to get up to full extension (in fact, I never got out of the hole).

The WOD was great! Quite simple really, try to get 50 man makers (pushup-row-pushup-row-squatclean-thruster combo with dumbbells) within the allocated time format. 2 Strict pull up penalty for each man maker off of the target.

I managed to do 40 which was around my target and Socs was able to do 45. I could have probably squeezed a few more reps as I grinding through the push up/row instead of blasting through it, burning my shoulders in the process. 5 more max if I timed my reps right (I could have pushed a bit more on the last 15 seconds to get 1 more rep in but it would be close and might have gotten a no rep). I was fairly consistent in the reps with 9-8-7-8-8.

Boracay Body Part 8: Barefoot Bruce

Warm up
Partner workout. Switch exercises if one fails in form, game over on next failure. Last pair standing wins.
Round 1 – Squat + Push up (Team Ben aka James)
Round 2 – KB Swing + Ring Dip (Team Allan aka Lee)
Round 3 – Tuck Jump + Burpee

Strength
KB Snatch (Max 24kgs)

WOD
3x 3 minute rounds (40 sec rest)
20 Dumbell push press (10kg dumbbells)
10 Ring Dip
20 Squats

I left my shoes at home so I worked out barefoot, well with socks as I didn’t want to put anyone off during the class. It was weird especially with the jumping bits, but I managed to do ok. Lindsay and I even managed to win a round on the warm up! Sally’s seemed to be having problems with names and called me Lee a few times, I think she’s called me that a few times before. I hope that’s because I remind her of Bruce Lee haha.

We went on to the strength session and it was actually nice to see how much I can snatch. I gave the 24kgs a go and felt it was close to my limit. I was able to get the kettlebell up on a few tries but still need more work on form I think. As I remember I need to twist my body more to get the bell in the right position. Will try that out next time.

The WOD was similar to last Saturday so I knew all I had to do was keep going and keep the rest periods short. As usual the push press was getting difficult, I think I may have mental limits on holding something at shoulder level. I should probably jack up the weight a bit to force me into being comfortable in that position. For some reason the ring dips felt a bit easier this time around. Over all a good workout, with a nice push from me at the last 30 seconds 3 reps shy of completing round 6 (I think, wasn’t really counting the reps).

That’s What I Get

Warm Up:

200m run
3 rounds of — 10 dislocates, 10 rollovers, 10 bootstrappers

Strength:
Overhead Squat 2,2,2,2 (30kgs)

WOD:
21-15-9
Push Press (25 kgs)
Box Jumps
Double Double Unders (Singles: 63,45,27)

Another PR today!  Nic and I were sharing a bar, and we worked up to 30kgs for the Strength bit.  I’ve not done a lot of Overhead Squats, but certainly happy we pushed for that weight.

The Push Press was definitely the toughest part of the WOD for me.  On the first round I was tempted to throw down the bar on my 15th rep to rest.  But I just told myself, it was only 21 and then the next set will be for less, so I should just stick with it.  Managed to go through until the end of the 21, but I did drop the bar at 10 for the set of 15.  I didn’t mind that I had to clean it off the floor again, I just needed a break.

0-1

Fight Gone Bad
3 rounds, 1 minute each of
Push Press 35kgs
Row
Wall ball 10kgs
Sumo Deadlift High Pull 35kgs
Box jumps
1 minute rest between rounds. Score by reps (row 1 rep = 1 calorie)

They say a true test of a man is when he gets in to a ring and fight. In this particular case I failed miserably. While I didn’t go in an actual ring and an actual fight, this one felt like it.