Day 313: CF Armoury: Back Rack Walking Lunge; WOD: 5 Rnds - OHS and DU

Tuesday; January 26, 2016 [post 7am class] @ Crossfit Armoury

:0-10
Warm-Up:

50' Walking Lunge with Elbow Touch
Pigeon pose on Box
Ballerina Pose on Box
10 Rep Empty Bar Back Rack Lunge


:10-30
STRENGTH:

Work up to a 5 RM Back Rack Weighted Lunge (5 per leg)
Start from the Rack


:35-42
WOD Warm-Up:  

7 Behind the neck press
7 Sotts Press
7 Overhead Squats
Load weight in 2 warm-up sets, 10 reps each
Practice Double Unders


:42-55
WOD:  

5 Rounds for Time:

10 Overhead Squats
50 Double Unders

 13 Minute Time Cap 


Today's Coach:  Jason

My Thoughts:
First class this week for me, usually I attend Mondays.  Life happens and well, I'm here today.  I was a bit worried coming in to do the strength work.  Last time, I had some knee issues and it prevented me from doing it at 85 lb.    Again, my issues is my knees going over my toes.   Something that I'm very conscious of and trying hard to break a bad habit.  

Warm-Up;
Started with a nice 50' Walking lunge and elbow touching the ground.  This week, my elbows touches the floor and I'm getting pretty good extension (stretch with my rear leg) and keeping my knees behind my toes.  Shin is pretty much straight up.  I'm feeling good.  
After reaching the end of the 50', coach Jason asked us to pull down a box from the stack.
Pretty much everyone placed the box on the end, so it was 30" tall.  The intention is to go into a pigeon pose on the box.  For some, Jon had to drop his box down to 20" to make it easier for him to get into the pose.  Even thou he's only an inch shorter than me, 6'1" vs 6'2"
he was having some mobility issues.  Fair enough, scale it so you can do it.  We did this pose on both legs.
Next up was a Ballerina pose on the box, this was something new for me.  Never done this pose before and think of it as balancing out the the stretch on the lower leg (as oppose to the Pigeon).
Grabbing an empty barbell, we set up J-Cups at one end of the racks and then counted 10 steps and setup another set of J-cups.  The goal is to do do 10 rep empty bar back rack lunge.  I had the opportunity to partner up with Jon.  We are the of the similar height, and it would make it easier to for the racking of the weighted barbell.

STRENGTH;
The goal was to reach a 5 RM Back Rack Weighted Lunge (5 per leg).   Prior to teaming up with Jon; I had envision maybe hitting 115 lb for maximum weight and maybe start the increase at 75 lb.   That was thrown away when Jon suggested 95 lb.   In the back of my mind, my last attempt was 75 lb before the knee gave out.  Was this a good idea?
Started with 95 lb and surprisingly, no issues with the knee.   Hmm.  Next weight, 135 lb and again, no issues with the knee.  Just have to work on keeping more upright and work on pushing off with my front foot before rising up.  I kept focus on keeping those knees behind the toe.   Next bump was 155 lb and I started to feel it in my knees.  I made it to the end with the cheers, voices of confidence from the class.
Jon continue with his weight while I tapped out as that was my max.  A nice increase and thanks to the friendly chirping of Jon.  Sometimes, you have to believe that you can do it and try.  Otherwise, in my case, I would had stayed at 115 lb.

WOD Warm-up;
Since Jon was still using the barbell, I opted to grab another empty barbell for the WOD.   We are not using the rack and will be doing the OHS from the ground.
I grabbed a wooden dowel to use for the Sotts Press as I have some issues with using the empty barbell (it's too heavy in that particular movement).  Trust me, I tried and was only able to get about 5 reps in before my arms felt like I was going to drop it.  Back to the wooden dowel.   So, I normally use a narrow grip for doing OHS; yes ,it's weird but I feel stronger when I'm doing it this way.  Especially when it get closer to my 1 RM.  Anyways, during my warm-ups; I widen my grip right to end of the bar.    Just prior to starting up on the WOD; coach Jason mentioned to me that it's not efficient to warm-up on a grip/width.  Meaning the width of grip for the OHS should be the same that I plan to use for the actual lift.   Make sense.  I'll keep this in mind for the future.
Started with 75 lb and eventually ended with 95 lb as the weight to use for the OHS.  I did a few practice attempts at my so called Double Unders.   Talked to coach Jason and he help me scaled it down to 20 double unders. (it's more like like, swing rope fast on first jump and get a double under.  Stop, reset and try again - I really need to get this down).  I'll take that on this year as my pet project, to get double under (more than 3 in a row).

WOD;

First round of 10 reps of Overhead Squat using the 95 lb was easy, as well as the double under attempts.  The second round and third rounds, I had to break it down to 6/4 and 5/5 reps for the overhead squats.  Double under started to tax on me and I started to mess up on my swings, and the little whipping of myself (toes, hands, back of the head).   My fourth round, I pushed myself to do 10 reps of OHS unbroken and took a few additional seconds (~20 seconds) before starting my attempt on the double unders.   Managed to get in 12 before the 13 minute time cap came into play.   There was no beast mode in Overhead Squat today.   4 rounds and 12 double under is what goes into the books.   

Misc:
It's only the third week of January and I already have a list of things that I need to work on. Some, I hope I will be able to accomplish this year.  Double Under will be the one I try to get better (that I will) and be able to string them together.   I think the fact that drives me is when we can't do double under in a WOD, we usually have to do 3x the amount in singles.  I don't have that kind of endurance.  I know I'm getting close as last week, Saturday class; Stephanie mentioned that I getting it, and suggested that I land on my toes instead of my heals.   I appreciate that feedback and will focus on my hops.  

Tuesday; January 26, 2016 @ Crossfit Armoury

Extra credit; also known as extra programming for the likes.   In case you find that the WOD was not enough, or you are looking on increasing your skills, strength for an upcoming competition.  This little nugget is the thing for you!   Coaches are on-site and can be asked for assistance if there is a movement you don't understand.  They will also provide some guidance if you are doing it wrong.
Usually, the extra credit is performed after the class.   And more than likely, there will be others from the class who will want to do it.   This is definitely another way to get to know the other members at your box.

1 Rep Deadlift:
 Start @ 75% 1 RM
 Add 10 lbs per minute until Failure

Remember to stay consistent in your training and tackle one WOD at a time!!