Deadlifts - New PR!

Yesterday, our workout included 5 sets of 3 reps of deadlifts.  Last week, I finally achieved a new PR of 160 so today's plan was to work up to about 3 reps of 155 pounds.  When I got to 155, I felt like I still had more in me so I tried 160 and got three reps of that too.  Holy crap!  I switched to single reps after that and finished off with a new PR of 175!!!!!!!  Woo hooo!  I think I could even have gone to 185 if I weren't so tired and in a rush to get to a meeting.  Soon, I'll try again and see how high I can go.  I'm so close to my 200 pound goal!

Today, we did 5 sets of 3 reps of push presses.  I did something really weird to my neck (aggrivated an old problem) and stopped temporarily.  I finished off at one rep of 70 pounds, which is a PR for push presses - 5 pounds over last time.  Then, due to my neck pain, I decided not to do the WOD we had planned and choose to see how many air squats I can do in 20 minutes, which was 512 of them.  I could have kept going after that.  Now I'm wondering how many I can do in total with unlimited time.

"Badger"

I did the CrossFit Hero WOD (workout of the day) called "Badger" today.  It consists of three rounds of the following:

30 squat cleans (I did 45 pounds)
30 pullups (60 pound assist)
Run 800 meters (1/2 mile)

I did the whole thing in 39:56 and it was a very good workout.  Not full on brutal but it was sweaty and hard as hell.  I feel like I'm back in action after feeling out of shape last week.  Yesterday, I went to Zumba and didn't feel tired at all and then I got through Badger today with my usual committment to drive myself as hard as I can. 

I ordered pullup bands this weekend.  I can't wait for them to come so that I can get off the stupid assist machine and onto working through something that better emulates an unassisted pullup.  My goal is to get an unassisted pullup done by my birthday in September so that I can RX Fran on that day.  I have to work on my 65 pound thrusters too!

I'm out of shape!

I've been working out for the last few weeks without my CrossFit partner, Pete.  In his absence, I have been having a hard time getting myself to do the MetCon workouts.  I'm just falling more and more in love with the barbell and seem to gravitate towards it at the gym and have been focusing on heavy lifting.  Further, until this week, work and physical therapy and being distracted by the guy I'm seeing has made it hard for me to get to Zumba.  So today, having Pete finally back in the gym with me, I made sure to include MetCon in today's program which was:

1-1-1-1-1 Squat of choice (I did overhead squats up to 65 pounds)
3-3-3-3-3 Bench press (I did 50-55-60-65-65)

AMRAP for 15 minutes:
9 deadlifts (95 pounds)
12 CrossFit Games pushups
15 12" box jumps
(completed 6 rounds + 6 deadlifts)

250 airsquats (completed in 9 minutes)

The AMRAP part was so hard!  Sweat flying everywhere and totally out of breath!  I felt so out of shape.  I'm definitely feeling the impact of my lack of metabolic conditioning lately.  I can't let that slide again!  I was a great workout though.  My whole body is still feeling it hours later!

Some New PRs!

A few weeks ago I did a workout that included heavy deadlifts and heavy squats.  I got a new personal record (PR) on the deadlifts (155 pounds) and then wasn't able to go above my previous PR for back squats (which was 125).  Rather than be happy about the deadlifts, I walked away a little discouraged about the squats.  This incident really began to affect me as started to doubt myself every time that I tried to get a new PR on pretty much any type of lift.  Yesterday I went to the gym to lift for the first time in a week (was on a business trip last week).  I figured that I should do back squats but decided to focus only on moderately heavy lifts, doing 3-3-3-3-3.  As I started to add on more weight, I decided to drop down to one rep per weight and keep increasing.  Next thing I knew, I hit 125, then 130 and finally 135 for a new PR that was 10 pounds more than the last.  Finally!  I can't even describe the joy!  A new PR, which was also the first time I lifted more than my body weight on a back squat and the first time I got to use the 45 pound plates!  I followed this up with a new PR for jerks, reaching the 75 pounds that I couldn't quite get the week before last when I hit 70 pounds.  Today, I hit the gym again for a first-time 70 pound clean and 160 pound deadlift (as opposed to the 155 pound lift from a few weeks ago).  The amazing part in all of this is not that I am physically stronger, it is that I broke myself free from a cycle of self-doubt.  I should know not to doubt myself.  I should now that a small setback or one bad day should not be carried forward into other activities.  I am very good at not letting others get me down, hold me back or make me doubt myself.  I need to work on not letting myself get me down, hold me back or make me doubt myself.  The accomplishments of the last couple of days in the gym will help me towards that.

Ouch!

I am in so much pain from yesterday's workout.  I'm sure this morning's workout didn't do anything to help either.  My abs, inner thighs, chest, shoulders, biceps and forearms are in major pain.  This evening, it was hard to even carry an empty basket at the grocery store.  This is great though because I know that I worked my body hard and that's exactly what I try for every time I workout.

Today's workout consisted of:

1 km row
30 push presses at 45 pounds
1 km row

Time to finish: 15:35

This was my first time rowing.  I liked it a lot - much more than running.