After a busy day of work I was glad to leave on time and get to the 3:30pm class.  It was a small group (4 of us), but it was some good work to do.  It was a nice long warm-up to get the shoulders awake before doing some snatches.

We used a 2.5# plate to do a trio of shoulder rotations, then getting into the bottom of the squat and lifting the plate from parallel to the ground to straight up.  Then a SOTT press with PVC.

After a dynamic snatch warm-up we did an 8 minute EMOM with one Snatch per minute.  We stayed at the same weight for 2 minutes.  I started at 75# then 85#, then 90# and finished with 95#. The last couple were hard to do the full snatch, but I got it!

The MetCon wasn’t really a MetCon but 6 different accessory lifts.  3 rounds of the following:

12 Russian high pulls (35# kettlebell)

12 DB bench press (30#)

30 seconds of banded tricep extensions (about 15 each round)

And then 3 rounds of:

10 Bulgarian Split Squats per leg

10 weighted glute bridge (25# plate)

15 seconds of banded hamstring curls

It was weird to not be all hot and sweaty after being at Solcana.

Yay for another 5:30am class time.  Not many people are thankful for morning meetings off-site but they help me get to the AM classes so I love ’em!! It was nice to actually do some deadlifting in class today instead of at the Bouldering gym.

We had a nice little warm-up prepping for both the Deadlift and the MetCon.  Getting some overhead work (farmers carry) and some Good Mornings.  Then we did some warm-ups with the barbell and hit our 5×2 at 88%.  This was pretty heavy. I had 235# on the bar for these.  I partnered with Mike who was doing about 100#’s more than me so we did a lot of plate swapping but it worked out well.  The first couple didn’t feel too bad, but by the end I was definitely feeling some fatigue and pulled the last one with too much of my back.

I was able to complete the Sumo Deadlift with 165# on the bar at 10 touch and go reps. I was obviously tired, but they went well.

The MetCon was a quick burner – 50 calorie row with 50 overhead lunges!! The Gold was 35# dumbbell.  I wasn’t sure how that would feel through 50 but I went for it.  I spent a little over 2 minutes on the rower before pounding out the lunges in sets of 10.  I alternated arms with each set. They were noticeably easier with my right arm (both in keeping it locked out, but also in the actual lunge).  I finished the workout in 6:08.

Then some foam rolling and chatting before showering and heading on to my breakfast meeting! A great way to start the day.

Today was a Professional Development day at work which meant that I was able to go to the 5:30 AM class at Solcana this morning.  It was nice to be there! I should get to go next week too!

Thursday’s have been longer MetCon days.  Today was a fun partner MetCon that I did with Mike.  Well, first we started out with some shoulder stretching and Wall Walking! Being upside down has gotten easier, but the shoulder tapping felt really hard today.

On to the MetCon. It was actually 3 different sections.  Mike and I completed the Gold standards.

The first part was a 12 minute AMRAP alternating partners each round of

12 kettlebell to overhead (snatch) with a 35# kettlebell

9 box jumps (20 inch box)

6 burpees

3 minute rest and then…

Full depth clean ladder in 5 minutes.  After each partner we had to add 5#’s which meant I was jumping 10#’s between each lift.  We started at 75#’s and I did the last clean at 135#.

Then.. we had a minute of rest and then max effort plank.  When the first partner quit it was over.

For the first section we finished 8 rounds and 16 reps. I switched arms on the KB after 6 reps and Mike alternated each round. It all felt good.  The KB weight didn’t feel easy, but wasn’t too heavy either, I think the 53 would have been too much.

Like I said for the Clean Ladder I started at 75 and then did 85, 95, 105, 115, 125, and 135. It all happened pretty quickly and we pretty much kept moving the entire 5 minutes.  You were either lifting, changing plates, or trying to catch your breath! 135 is my 1 rep max for the full clean, I’ve done 155 in the power clean. So that was pretty cool!

The plank felt like forever but was really only 1 minute.  I was the one to stop first for our team.  Planking kicks my butt!

Another Deadlift day at the Bouldering gym.  It was a little busier today as it was more like 5:45 when I got there.  A lot of people were busying climbing and lifting.  It is always interesting to watch what other people are doing with their lifting programs.

Today’s Deadlifts were HEAVY!! 92% to be exact.  For me that was 225#. That’s 2 45# plates on each side! Fortunately, the rep scheme was only 4×1.  So I only had to pull that 4 total times. It felt manageable that way.  One thing I don’t like about the Bouldering gym is that I’m sure they don’t want us dropping the weights.  I’ve done it out of necessity before and no one yelled at me, but no one else is dropping weights.

After a short break I decided to do some shoulder press.  I don’t know, I still didn’t finish the workout.  I did 10, 9, 7 reps at 65# and I was supposed to do 3×10.  I did manage 2 then at 70# (should have done 5) and didn’t even attempt at higher weights.  That’s a little frustrating.

I rolled out my back and legs and called it a night