Jesters* Crossfit Journey

[Jester*]

Walked in today, checked the board and saw the workout. Knew it would be a good session!

WOD1 6:00

30 x Kettlebell Swings (24Kg)
50 x Overhead Squats (20Kg Plate)

This was a nice warmup, 24Kg feels so light after always having 32Kg programmed, went unbroken for all 30. Having good overhead mobility also lends itself to overhead squats with a plate. Did the reps in 25 - 15 - 10 to finish in 3:12.

3 x 8 Overhead Squats @70%
2:30

Did the first set at 60 then the last 2 at 65Kg. Hard work but happy with the reps.

WOD2 15:00
AMRAP

12 x Wallballs (20lb)
6 x Power Snatch (47.5Kg)
3 x Bar Muscle Ups

This WOD was great fun, some of the movements I am comfortable with. Wallballs and muscle ups were done unbroken each round. Posted 6 rounds and 4 reps, great result and shows how far I have come in the last year.

 

[Jester*]

Team workout today, and my last of the week due to night shifts coming up!

12:00 EMOM

1. 20 sec top ring hold
2. 20 sec handstand hold
3. 20 sec hollow hold
4. 20 sec chin over bar hold

Good warm up and bodyweight work again. No major issues and completed all the movements each time.

25:00 Teams of 2

50 x Thrusters (42.5Kg)
400m Run (Both have to run)
40 x Thrusters (50Kg)
500m Row (Both have to row 500m)
30 x Thrusters (60Kg)
400m Run
20 x Thrusters (75Kg)
500m Row
10 x Thrusters (82.5Kg)

Very tough time cap on this one, my partner and I made it to just before the last row, we had one thruster left of the 20. He kept up with the weight until it hit 75Kg then started to struggle. I managed to keep powering them up and did more of the heavy thrusters. A good workout to finish off the week.

 

[Jester*]

Do not underestimate a lack of sleep when you train. That was this mornings message.

My first proper nights sleep after coming off night shift didn't go too well. Restless and not enough and it really made me pay during today's session. But I took it easy on myself to ensure no stupid injuries occurred.

5 x 5 Bench Press @ 80%
Every 2:30

Did the first 3 sets at 70Kg and the last 2 at 75Kg. Felt good and happy with the weight.

WOD 15:00

5 Rounds

5 x Power Clean (90Kg)
10 x Burpee Over Bar
15 x Box Jump Overs

This workout is where the lack of sleep kicked me right in the face. I felt really sluggish and energy levels were not great. Hit cap with 4 reps left, normally I really should have finished this workout in the time. But I won't be too hard on myself.

3 x 20 Bench Press @ 50%
Every 3:00

This is one of the first times the coach has programmed the same movement at the start, post exhaustion. It wasn't pretty! Did all my sets at 45Kg but only managed 12 of the last set of 20.

Time to relax, eat well and get to bed at a proper time and sleep well.

 

[booyaka]

Strong power cleans......Felt a bit rubbish today myself and possible down to a late night last night for no particular reason. Sleep is your friend....

 

[Jester*]

Strong power cleans......Felt a bit rubbish today myself and possible down to a late night last night for no particular reason. Sleep is your friend....

Oh definitely, got a better nights sleep last night. Keep up the good work, your log is really coming along.

Today was legs, some more legs oh and finished off with .... legs.

6:00 E2MOM

30 x Wallball Cleans
15 x Ground to Overhead (20Kg Plate)

This was so much worse than I thought it would be, Finished the first round in about 1:50, second in 1:59 then the legs just fell off for the final 2:00. Good way to turn the legs to jelly before going to....

5 x 5 Back Squat @ 80%
Every 2:30

This was bad. Went slightly less than 80% for the first 3 rounds at 120Kg before legs wanting to give up in round 4. Dropped to 100Kg for the final round.

WOD 9:00 Ascending Ladder - 3's

3 x Hang Squat Cleans (60Kg)
3 x Pistol Squats (Each Leg)
3 x Bar Muscle Ups
6 x
6 x
6 x

This was quite frankly abysmal on the legs. After the previous work my pistol squats barely resembled pistol squats but got them done slowly and were the limiting factor, the squat cleans felt like they were going to bury me. The muscle ups were the easiest part (you don't often get to say that) Finished with 44 reps nearly finished the 9's for the pistols.

 

[Jester*]

Feeling very sore this morning, so obviously went back out to train again. Praying that there was not going to be too many leg movements!

WOD1 6:00

3 Rounds

20 x Thrusters (20kg Bar)
10 x Burpee Box Overs

Mmmmmm thrusters with sore legs was not a very nice warmup, eventually got into it by the last round and finished in 5:39. Burpee box overs are never fun.

4 x 12 @ 70% Push Press
Every 2:30

Stayed at 60Kg all the way through, not quite my 70% but not too far off it either. Volume of the movement definitely hit hard, but its ok surely there wouldn't be shoulders in the workout.....oh wait.

WOD 2 15:00

3 Rounds

12 x Shoulders to Overhead (60Kg)
14 x Front Rack Lunge (60Kg)
16 x Toes to Bar

Oh look shoulders and lunges. Just what I really did not want to have to do! Shoulders were pretty toasted already, don't even get me started on the lunges. Toes to bar was probably the easiest part of the workout, but even then relying on shoulders makes them tough. Finished in 12:33 and fully collapsed into a heap.

Just come back from seeing the sports therapist for my monthly session. Massage and hot cupping on chest and quads, finished off with cupping on my hamstrings to check and make sure they were looking good. My upper chest looks horrendous, definite attention needed there and around the connecting points of the knees were also crying out for some love. Time to kick back and take it easy, let the body recover, eat and sleep well!

 

[booyaka]

Good stuff !

 

[Jester*]

Today I have taken a rest day. When I woke up my body was generally feeling beaten up and sore and rest is always good.

If anyone is interested this is the state of my chest nearly a day after the massage and cupping therapy, yes it still is quite sore

 

[booyaka]

you paid someone to do that???

 

[Jester*]

you paid someone to do that???

Haha yes I do. They still do not look much better today either. But my chest feels sooooooo much better.

Nice little session to finish the week for me. Watching my coach compete at the European Championships tomorrow and I am back to work Sunday!

4 x 10 Snatch Grip - Behind the Head Strict Press
Every 2:00

Did the first set at 30Kg then the last 3 I went to 35Kg. Awkward lift and tires the shoulders out quite quickly but felt good and strong.

9:00 EMOM

1. 40 sec Handstand Hold
2. 20 x Hollow Rocks
3. 5 x Strict Pullups

Didn't have any issues with any of these movements, am really enjoying bodyweight movements at the moment.

WOD 18:00

I go, you go.

5 x Handstand Pressups (Hands on 20Kg Plates)
15 x Kettlebell Swings
200m Run

Good workout this one, went unbroken for all of my reps, the time limit was enough to push it to just about that failure point where I started to think I might have to break up the swings. Myself and my partner posted 9 rounds + 20 reps. Just over 1 round for every 2:00.

Will try and get some photos of tomorrows competition as it might be of some interest for people and do a mini write up of the day.

 

[booyaka]

Nice one - Sammy Jess from ULT (my box) is smashing the Teens at the moment at the European Champs. There are other guys in the main categories but Sammy is an amazing athlete for 17 years old. Enjoy the day

 

[Jester*]

So Saturday was a blast. Seeing competition for the first time was great. The atmosphere was exceptional and some of the athletes were extremely impressive.

Had a few good events through the day inbetween the competition itself. 3 on 1 challenge featuring Crossfit Games athlete Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson and a world record attempt for the most amount of strict ring muscle ups in a row, which he got at 14!

I was mainly there to support my coach who qualified as the oldest Male RX competitor at 34 years old and made it through to the semi finals where he finished 26th out of 78 competitors. Definitely makes me even more determined to get as close to that kind of level as possible. It will take a long time and huge determination but it would be fantastic to achieve. Did not take many photos but here are a few.







Gudmundsson before starting his 3 on 1 challenge

 

[Jester*]

Todays workout was very shoulder orientated.

5 x 5 Snatch Grip Deadlift @ 100/110% of Snatch 1RM
Every 2:00

Did all my reps at 90Kg, felt good and smooth. The initial pull is definitely one of my weaker stages to the snatch so just getting some time to drill this with a heavy weight was great.

E2MOM 12:00

1 x Snatch
1 x Hang Snatch

You had the option to go every minute at about 50% of your max but I chose to go every second minute and get as close to my 80% as possible. I did the first 3 rounds at 65Kg and the last 3 rounds at 70Kg. It always takes time to warm up into snatch and I didn't feel 100% happy with the lifts but they still felt good and strong.

WOD 12:00

3 Rounds

50 x Double Unders
15 x Burpees
10 x Dumbell Snatch (22.5Kg)
5 x Ring Muscle Up

I knew this was going to be a solid and challenging workout when I saw the ring muscle ups. This was the first time I have done them within the workout and proved to be very challenging. Went through the double unders, burpees and dumbell snatches with no major issues and kept consistent. I managed to get the first 5 ring muscles ups and put myself into the second round, go through the other movements then hit the shoulder fatigue wall on the muscle ups. It was extremely frustrating as I missed about 6/7 reps as I physically couldn't push out at the top, did the hard work of getting myself in the right position but couldn't push out. Only managed 4 of the 5 so hit cap with 81 reps left.

Have to remind myself that I have only been able to do them since December and hitting 9 during a workout is still really good. But we always want more, I am definitely no different!

 

[Jester*]

Open prep is in full swing.

WOD1 6:00

4 Rounds

20 x Overhead Lunges (20Kg Plate)
15 x Hand Release Press Ups
3 x Strict Pullups

Time cap was tight on this one, the HR press ups were the toughest part of this little warm up workout as the chest started to fatigue. Finished in 5:54.

5 x 4 Front Squat (3 second pause at the bottom) @ 70% of 1RM
Every 2:30

Did all my sets at 90Kg. The pause really changes these squats into a very uncomfortable movement. Promoting strength in the catch of a clean, it really fried my nervous system and the WOD fully destroyed me.

WOD2 14:00 AMRAP

21 - 18 - 15 - 12 - 9 - 6 - 3

Thrusters (42.5Kg)
Box Overs (24")

Pure dirt, a very common structure for Open workouts to follow in recent years. Thrusters were bearable but the box overs is where I started to suffer. Got to the round of 6 with 2 reps of thrusters complete. So 152 reps in total. Very critical of myself and feel like I should have done butter, however coach said don't let it get into your head, this is training after all and not just a single workout.

 

[Jester*]

Shoulders got more of a pasting today.

E2MOM 8:00

15 x Wallball Cleans (20lb Ball)
10 x Progression Pushups (Muscle up development push up, when the chest touches the floor you roll back onto forearms then roll forward back onto your hands then push up)

Completed all reps each round. The shoulders really did burn after those push ups.

WOD Every 2:30 for 12:30

10 x Strict Handstand Pressups (20Kg Plates)
8 x Toes to Bar
6 x Burpee Box Overs (24" Box)

The strict handstand pressups were the hardest part of this, I couldn't do the volume on plates so went to just hands on the floor. Even then I didn't manage a complete 10 before the shoulders blew up. Toes to bar were pretty straight forward and the burpee box overs were done with the new RX standard that is coming for the open, jump out and jump back in.

10:00 To Establish 3RM Strict Press

Then @ 70% of the above

4 x 12 Every 2:30

Just to finish off the shoulders, I hit 55Kg for the 3RM then did 40Kg for the 4 x 12. Third set I only hit 11 reps and the last set I hit 10. Happy with the training today, just keep putting the work in.

 

[Jester*]

Post night shift workout. When you really want lots of barbell strength work and short workouts you end up getting...

40:00 EMOM

RX

1. 15 Cal Row
2. 30 x Double Unders 10 x Wallballs
3. 20 x Dumbell Snatch (15Kg)
4. Rest

Athlete RX

1. 18 Cal Row
2. 30 x Double Unders 15 x Wallballs
3. 20 x Dumbell Snatch (22.5Kg)
4. 10 x Pistol Squats

So we could mix and match elements between the workouts depending on ability and how we were feeling. 40 minutes is a long time to maintain all of this work and I knew that on interrupted sleep this was going to be a huge slog. I decided to maintain the 18 Cal row, attempt to maintain 30 x DU and 10 x WB and as I know the dumbell weight in the Open is going to be 22.5Kg I decided to do as many reps with that weight as possible and then take the rest minute. The row was good, managed to maintain the 18 Cals, the DU and WB were going so well until round 7 and fatigue just start to creep in and failed to do the WB in time and I managed to do 8-10 Dumbell Snatch each round. Long gassy workouts, probably the worst area for me, but it is always good to push out of the comfort zone and just do your best.

Tomorrow will be a team workout, but the coach is programming the first 30 minutes of the Friday sessions leading up to the Open as time to improve on areas of weakness that you might have. Pistol squats are high on that list for me!

 

[Jester*]

To round out the weeks training...

30 mins Free time Fridays

I decided to do 20 mins of ROMWOD to get all strechy and the last 10 mins spent doing some pistols.

Team WOD 18:00 AMRAP

Teams of 2

Partner handstand holds while you complete
50 x Deadlift (100Kg)

Partner dead hang holds while you complete
50 x Handstand Pressups (20Kg Plates)

Partner deadlift holds (100Kg)
50 x Kettlebell Shoulders to Overhead (24Kg x 2)

This can be broken up how you wish, reps can only be completed when one partner is in a hold.

Good fun this was, hard on the shoulders after the first round. The hardest set for me were the kettbells, coach programmed the RX at 32Kg Kettlebells. No one across the day managed to use the 32s.

 

[Jester*]

First session this week after recovering from having a cold over the weekend.

WOD 1 6:00

50 x Push Jerk (20Kg bar)
20 x Candlesticks

A good warmup workout especially for the shoulders. Finished in 2:47.

WOD 2 18:00

50 x Box Overs (24")
40 x Burpees onto Plates (20 + 15)
30 x Toes to Bar
20 x Kettlebell Snatch (32kg) 1 rep on each arm counts as 1 total rep.
10 x Ring Muscle Up

A tough time cap on this one, the athlete RX was 32kg on the kettlebell which was solid but I got through the 40 reps and hit 5 of the muscle ups for a total of 145 reps. Strangely really enjoyed this!

5 x 5 Strict Press - Behind the head , snatch grip.
Every 2:00

Did all my reps at 40Kg. Felt strong and potentially could have gone slightly heavier.

 

[Jester*]

We all love Burpees. ...

WOD 1 6:00

For max reps - Burpees

Kept a good solid pace and hit 93 reps. Happy with that, properly gassed out after!

Every 2:00

5 x Power Snatch (Touch + Go)
5 x Overhead Squat

Coach told me he expected 70% of my power snatch 1RM. So 55Kg was stuck on the bar and off I went, found snatch easier than the OHS.

Set max effort unbroken strict handstand pressups
Then every 2:00 for 10:00 complete 50% of your max effort.

So after the rest of the workout I managed to hit 6 reps. So had to complete 3 reps every 2:00 and on the last round I hit 4 reps.

Good workout today, a very gassy start and middle with some good strict work to end. The Open begins in 2 weeks and really looking forward to it.

 

[booyaka]

Nice work - Would be interested to give that burpees a go to set a standard for myself.