Today's workout was...

[John Rauch]

Man...that sucks, Laura. It's really hard getting in shape, as an adult with responsibilities, health issues, pains, etc. I hope it gets better soon! I know I've been through a few things myself, but probably not as severe.

_____


Here are today's workouts.

WOD1:

185 lb. bench for sets of 3 (couple breaths) 2 (couple breaths) 1 (minute rest) until I hit 60 total reps.
9 sets of incline dumbbell bench w/min. rests between. (supposed to be 10, but I miscounted): 12, 10, 9, 9, 9, 8, 8, 9, 7 reps.
then finished with five sets of 10 push-ups/20 sit-ups. No rest between.

WOD2:

21-15-9 of:
95 lb. fat bar thrusters
Push-ups with feet in suspension trainer and hands close stance on a skateboard (I know it's insane. SHUT UP!)
and finishing with a 300 meter overhead carry using the 95 lb. fat bar.
Total time was 19:23. I wasn't winded at all, but fatigue set in early and stayed with me, so there was a lot of pacing myself and breaking up sets slightly before failure.

That's it for today. Would you believe that I feel fantastic and not even a little bit sore or run down?

P.S. -I also set a 28 second PR for my 4.4 mi. route yesterday at 30:18. 6:53/mile!

[John Rauch]

My shoulders are TOAST, especially in front, but I still had an AWESOME workout today. If you've been paying attention, you'd know that I haven't done squats in several weeks now, after getting burnt out on them and actually seeing my numbers go down. The last time I did them, I failed at 275 lbs. and decided that what I was doing (squatting 3x/week) was obviously not working. So, I started mixing it up a lot more, and using workouts from StrongmanWOD.com, pushing cars, doing heavy barbell lunges for very high reps, etc. Today, I came back to the squat and PRed at 325/1. This is HUGE for me and confirmation that what I'm doing is working. Here's how the actual workout went down:

Barbell back squats: 45/5, 135/5, 185/5, 225/3, 245/3, 265/2, 285/1, 295/1, 300/1, 315/1, 325/1

I usually set my bench behind me to know when I've squatted to proper depth. On the singles, it was set at exactly parallel, but the other sets were all about 4-6" below. These were all done with plenty of rest between sets, untimed, and the occasional shot of o2.

Following this, I decided on a metcon of 225 lb. squats and pulling an SUV wheel and two 45 lb. plates with a rope. The rope was only 20 feet, so I had to reset on the opposite side of the garage after each pull.

Back squats -225/10
150 lb. "Sled" pull -100 ft (five full lengths) Only one arm pulling at a time.
5RFT -19:23

[John Rauch]

I couldn't decide between a strength day today or just some light cardio, so I ended up splitting the difference and doing intervals.

505 lb. rack pull x5
60 lb. KB swing x10
8 lb. med ball slam x10
Lever/toes-to-bar combo x10
5 rounds, 5 minute rest between rounds.
Then 10 rounds of 50 double-unders with 30 seconds between rounds to finish up.

[Ryan]

I was in a funk where I was only working out about 3 times a week. This insane heat wasn't helping me want to do anything, so my wife and I renewed our gym membership (A/C!) to our university alma mater's intramural center. It was just renovated with two new pools, so I hope to do some lap swimming soon.

Today I did 35 minutes of 1 minute intervals on the elliptical machine.

On a general health related note, I have an abnormality in my left eye's retina that popped up the end of last week that is probably the remnants of a blood vessel tear related to stress. It distorts the center of focus in my left eye like someone took the smudge tool to whatever I'm looking at. Not really anything you can do about it now except hope it heals well. I have to wear an eye patch when I work at the computer because my eyes are sending me different information and it's amazingly uncomfortable.

All that to say, watch those stress levels everyone! It can apparently mess up your vision.

[John Rauch]

The heat can really drain you. That really sucks about the eye too. I've had a small speck on my right eye since my black belt testing last July. It hasn't gone away, but I don't notice it anymore, unless I'm focusing on it.

[John Rauch]

Dave, if you're still reading: Holy crap is biking hard on the quads! SRSLY!

[MBirkhofer]

ha. yeah the first few times if you aren't used to it.

[John Rauch]

No doubt. I do squats, lunges, and run hills all the time, but this was completely different. I haven't been on a bike since I was about 19-20, so clearly I'm not used to it.

[Ryan]

Yesterday: 35 minutes on the elliptical machine, 1 minute full speed intervals.

Today: 30 minutes swimming 50 m laps. I'm pretty spent.

[tennesseeg4]

You guys ever run bleachers? I did twenty the other day with my brother and it smoked my calves! I've been doing strictly stairmaster for cardio this summer because of the heat, but I think I'm going to find me a big hill or some bleachers to run when I get back home.

[MBirkhofer]

Bleachers/stairs are pretty much textbook high intensity/short interval training. Yes, one of the best possible things to do.
Its like sprints, but up hill for more resistance.

Yeah, John, you hit those muscles on a bike doing hills, you just normally get. If you have a nautilus/weight machine you can get them. Otherwise, its kindof unique. It goes away quick though. its not like its really strenuous. its just hitting an unused group.
I broke my bike out last week too. Ended up going a much longer ride then I intended because I hit a hill going DOWN, that I didn't want to go back up. haha.

[John Rauch]

I live raining hills and stairs. Great workout. I've been on the bike a couple more times since that first ride and it has gotten considerably easier.

[Ryan]

My wife and I like to run up the stadium stairs at our local university's football stadium. The only problem is it's open at really random times, so it's hard to plan for it.

Today: 35 minutes elliptical machine, weight lifting: triceps/biceps

[Ryan]

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 35 minutes elliptical machine, weight lifting: shoulders, chest, back

Wednesday: 35 minutes elliptical machine

Going to try to swim laps again tomorrow.

[John Rauch]

Lots of heavy stuff for me, lately. Conditioning is still happening, but in mostly short intense sessions. I benched Sunday, Muay Thai Monday (that should be a thing!), box squats Tuesday, a little bit of jumping rope and farmer's carries today. Unless I'm too tired from deadline crap, I'd like to do some overhead pressing tomorrow, probably paired up with pull-ups or something opposite.