These are from the end of last week, since I worked all weekend and didn't get a chance to blog about it.  Nothing special ending the deload week other than some tempo squats and a trail run.

So it's time to start the second Phase of One Man One Barbell.  I tested the Shoulder Press last week to see where it was since that's kind of touch and go with recovery.  Hit a 15 pound increase in the three weeks I was doing the strength.  Crazy to think that I was able to gain so much.  It is still a good way to get back to where I was before the injury.  But I'm on the mend and I'm getting much better.  Today's work was fast and good for the press.  Then I also did the deadlift strength as well.  The lifts were actually feeling pretty light.  It's amazing what a week of deload will do to help you get ready to hit the ground running.  Today's work was great and I was happy to get back to lifting heavier weight.  After strength work was done it was time to take on the WOD, Grindy.  I hate that WOD with a passion, until today I had never finished it.  Today I was able to finish the workout in 23:15.   I still did the Ring Rows instead of Pullups because as much as I have gotten better there's still a long way to go before I'm doing Pullups in the workout again.  Now to make all this fit in along with working two jobs for the near future.  Let's see how that goes.  

Deload week from OMOB continues and as it does I'm enjoying coming in for a quick WOD at Capital City everyday.  I like the extra strength work too, but getting a chance to come in and out and be on my way is nice.  I've been bouncing around to a few different classes and seeing old friends and pushing myself to see what I have in the tank everyday knowing that I'm doing a lighter workload.   This week has held some interesting combinations that have challenged me in different ways.

Tuesday:
6 Min AMRAP
3 Thrusters @115
6 Pull-ups (Subbed Ring Rows for Shoulder)
9 Box Jumps @30"
Then immediately following 2 Min max Sit-ups
Score: 3+17/42 situps

Wednesday:
Strength - Shoulder Press
5-5-3-3-1-1
WOD
12 Minutes EMOM
1-4 Row for Cal 
5-8 Max Burpees
9-12 Kettlebell Swings 1.5 pood
Every minute 30 seconds max effort/30 rest
Score:
58/25/83=166

Great couple days, been good to get some time in doing the workouts in the morning, I'll miss it next week when I'm doing both jobs.  I think that the schedule is going to get very interesting very quickly.  We will see how it goes once I hit full swing come Monday.  I won't be testing next week so I'm going to add 10 pounds to the calculated max numbers and work from there.  I'm planning on doing a full test in month 3.  I want to give the cycles time to have an effect and to see how my shoulder holds up to the workload.  I do have a couple of observations so far, first that I know that I have added significant strength already.  Today in the shoulder press I lifted more than my previous max was when I started cycle 1.  My endurance to keep going during these lifts is up as well.  The inclusion of doing reps every minute for the last month has instilled confidence in my ability to keep picking the weight up even when I'm dead tired.  

Seems like things are going to take a post every couple to three days routine now.  I don't have internet at the place and I doubt I'll be making it somewhere to post everyday when I am working two jobs and putting in work at Capital City.  Today was the first day working out with the C3 crew and i have to say it was great.  It's been a year since Zack and I did strength work together and it's funny how quick you fall back into a routine with a workout partner.  Since it's deload I did nothing for OMOB.  Instead I did the box programming.  5x5-7 reps deadlift rest 20 seconds, 5x10 KB shoulder press rest 60 seconds.   Deadlift finished with 5 reps at 335, and did 1 pood Kettlebells in each hand.  Good shoulder work, and strength set all around.  Conditioning was a straight up row.  2k for time.  Finsihed in 7:47, not bad, as long as I'm under 8 mins I'm happy.  Afterwards Zack wanted to put in some Shoulder Press work since that's a weak spot for him.  We did 3x3 superseted with 3x12 of incline rows.  Not bad at all and really feeling good being back with that group of people.  Looking forward to getting more progress as the week goes on.  That's it for today.  Wonder what the rest of the week has in store.  Phase 

Busy week feels like it flew by but also feels like it took forever to make it through till today.  I don't know how it can be both but I'll try to sum everything up in a quick post and then leave things open for a longer post now that I've finished all three load weeks of One Man One Barbell and next week is the deload.

Thursday Barbell Club, Snatch Pulls, Cleans from floor, and a Hang Clean for good measure.

Power/Push Jerk 155x3 keep making progress with the shoulder.

So what did I do this week? Well to start off I squatted every single day, sometimes twice a day.  I did a ton of shoulder stuff thanks to the programmed WODs from Em.  Posted a sub 9 minute Jackie, 30 reps of Bear Complex, lots of pullups, and finished the week with McGhee.  Overall a great way to end my time at CrossFit Mokena before moving to Springfield for the next four months.  But what about my One Man One Barbell work, well that went as planned.  The Deadlifts were horrible, 330x2 a minute for 15 minutes was rough.  The Back Squats weren't so bad, the had work squatting if paying off for sure, they didn't feel nearly as heavy as I expected.  I'm still working on my Front Squat technique.   I believe that my feet are too close together and that's forcing a slight move to the toes.  Also I'm working on staying more vertical throughout the movement.  But even those reps didn't feel too bad till the last couple minutes.  I have enjoyed the work for the last three weeks.  I'm looking forward to a deload and then seeing where to go from there.

You know what I did after doing nearly 100 reps of some sort of weighted squat yesterday, why I did some more squats today.  Tuesday morning was time for the barbell crew to do some Snatch.   It was my first day doing them since I hurt the shoulder so I went pretty light and stayed in the power position.  Felt really good to get back to another lift that I haven't been able to do for a long time.  The Barbell Crew is always a fun way to spend a little time, and by little I usually end up there 2 plus hours.  The time flies by and I will miss that time moving weight some such a great group of people.  After finishing the Snatch work and the accessories, which included Back Squats today. It was time to get going on the OMOB week 3 for the Deadlift.  I had been looking forward to this knowing that it was going to be a time to pull some decent weight from the floor.  After the squats yesterday, the barbell work today, and the squats that were a part of this I knew I was in trouble.  Heavy single for the day was 410, then my EMOM work was 330 for 15 minutes.  You have not hated your life till you try to move 330 for 30 reps when your hands are killing you from the last two day's worth of work, and your legs are jello from all the squats.  But I made it through, I feel one of the key components to this training is the mental side of things during these every minute rep schemes.  Just pushing yourself and picking up that bar everytime the timer beeps is huge.  It isn't always the prettiest rep, but I make it past it and get myself ready for the next round.   Afternoon workload included what?  If you guessed squats you were right.  More of them, this time from the front, and then a nice little outside workout.  Lap on the track, KB Snatch, Air Squats, OH Lunge.  At the end of the day I collapsed into a chair and didn't move for a couple hours.  Even know I'm pretty sure that I won't make it out of bed in the morning.  I know that I'm going to pay for the volume I've put my legs through, but I'm pushing on to finish this week.  It's my last week up here for a while so next week I'll be doing my deload back at Capital city, and then I need to get ready to start another cycle.  I think that I'll be swapping out a couple of choices for some different ones, and seeing how that goes.  A few captures from today, don't I just make awesome faces when I lift heavy stuff?

Big weekend of fun down in Springfield.  Dominated by the events of working the Battle for the Hill Competition at the Illinois State Fair.  The event was a success with around 100 teams competing.  There were some amazing performances by both the men and women and I was proud of be a part of such a great day.  It of course interrupted my training schedule so it made Monday a little intense.  Friday - Back Squat strength 3 reps at percentages, then 3 reps EMOM for 12, no WOD instead loaded equipment that had to go to the fairgrounds. 
 Saturday - Stand all day in sun, burn like the Irish boy that I am.
Sunday - recover from said burns, no lifting, discover Gluten Free Cookies enjoy them.
Monday - 3 Strength workouts, 2 CrossFit Workouts.  Discover at end of day that you just want to eat lots of food and sleep.
Monday Morning: Strength A) Back Squats 4x5 rest 20 seconds B) 4xME pull ups rest 60 seconds WOD: 3 RDS 500M Row/30 Wall Balls/15 V-ups (Rest 2 Min between rounds) 4:09/4:17/4:30
Monday Evening: OMOB Strength 1) Front Squats (Makeup from Sunday) 3 reps to heavy set at 210, 3 reps EMOM @160. 2) Week 3 Shoulder Press, percentage work, then 2 reps EMOM for 15. WOD: 25 Min AMRAP 5 RDS 10 Deadlift/10 Hang Cleans/10 Push Press/10 Front Squats @135 remaining time 24in box jumps. Score 185 reps. 

So my day was more than ambitious, especially considering that I had very little food till I got home.  There is however more developments on the working/life front.  I will be moving back to Springfield till the end of the year.  That means I'm back at Capital City CrossFit for four months or maybe even longer.  We will see how it goes.   Overall I'm happy with how the way went work wise.  I'm happy to be lifting and tomorrow morning is Barbell Class again.  Looking forward to getting more work in when I get up in the morning.  

The big competition weekend has arrived.  Not that it has much stress for me since I'm only judging and not competing.  I will however be cheering on friends and looking forward to seeing some intense performances today.  Today's strength was for the Back Squat and instead of a normal WOD I had the "find a way to fit all this equipment into the back of the van to go to the competition" WOD.  Functional fitness at its finest.  Then afterwards the guys went to set up for tomorrow, here's the rig going up.

I'm looking forward to a full day, judges meeting first thing, heats start at 9 and will be finishing up around 5.  First WOD is team DT with hill sprints, should make for some interesting stuff.  I'll be summing the whole thing up in Sunday's post, because I'm sure that I'll be way too beat to post tomorrow night.  I'll also showcase my new vagabond lifestyle in the empty house.  So far it has one thing a futon mattress, no frame or anything.  Oh and there's Kill Cliff in the fridge, and a Quest bar.

To steal Jon North's tagline: Slam Bars Kill PR's it was my theme for today.  No OMOB programming but instead a good double today of Barbell class in the morning and the afternoon WOD.  After yesterday's shennanigans where my body decided that it didn't like to do work anymore it was great to be in the gym and doing what I feel like I was meant to do.  Become the best version of myself that I can be.  That means working on the parts of my technique that I'm not good at, lifting heavy things daily, and pushing myself past limits that I never thought possible.  Today's PR was was hitting a new best for Split Jerk since the shoulder injury.  I've got a few shots from the morning, I love the work that is captured in these shots.

After some time to recover and watch a little tv it was time for the afternoon workout.  Following the programming for CrossFit Mokena today was a good one.  Strength was 5x1 Deadlift.  I only got 3 reps before I was reminded that I did heavy deadlifts yesterday and that I should rest.  So only one pull over 400.  Not bad and I'll take it, first time I've picked up anything over 400 since before the injury.  

WOD was 
3x400 Meter Run rest 1 minute between.
Then:
5 Rds
10 Wallballs
10 Pushups
10 Toes to Bar (I subbed GHD situps because of shoulder)

Total time 17:11
Runs: 1:31/1:24/1:25
 
Felt great, and I was the first one done, nothing like winning the WOD to brighten up your day.  I'm kidding of course, you can't win the WOD.  Just goes to prove the point that everyday is a new start, and that you can't let what happened yesterday detract from what you may be able to do today.  Get out of your head and get things done.  It's amazing how quickly that the people of CrossFit Mokena have welcomed me in as one of their own.  Now that I'm looking at being away for a little bit for work I'm sad to go.  You have made this place feel like home very quickly, I'm going to be happy to be back when I'm done working down in Springfield.  At the same time I am very happy to be headed back to Capital City and seeing everyone day in and day out again.  

I've been missing for a few days, here's a quick update of what I was up to.

-Sunday open gym double work for One Man One Barbell, Front Squats and the beginning of week 2 Shoulder Press.
-Monday and Tuesday big time family vacation at Cedar Point for rollercoasters and camping
Wednesday I get back into the gym for week 2 of Deadlifts.  Today's heavy set was 370x3 and EMOM work at 285.  Then followed that up with the programmed WOD for CrossFit Mokena......Grindy....and just like that I died.  Pretty sure I died more than once, and that I only came back so that I could be even more miserable.  This is the first workout in a long time that I really felt like I could do nothing right.  Tonight had a 30 minute cap and I got my first Did Not Finish in a long time.  The bright spot for the day was my Deadlifts for the day.  One thing about CrossFit is that you're not going to do well everyday but when you have those bad days you can always look forward to getting another chance to do better next time.

A few shots from today:

It's Friday and when I counted my workouts for the week I realized that I've done 10 workouts already.  All week I've been doing the programming for CrossFit Mokena as well as the OMOB strength cycle.  So far I've done three out of four lifts for the week, today I did my Back Squats.  No pictures today because I forgot my camera when I went out of the house.  I realized that I have done a crazy amount of squats this week, and still have one more day to go.  I can already tell that this is going to give me some noticeable gains at the end and that my legs are going to really start showing some development.  I just hope that I can still fit in pants.  This post seems weak without pictures or video I'll just have to make sure not to forget my camera again.  Today's WOD's were:
CFMOKENA:
SWOD 5x3 Power Cleans - 165
WOD 30 Kettlebell Swings/50 Double Unders/20 Box Jumps/20 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls/30 GHD situps. Do the workout down and then back up.  Did the WOD in 18:27 not horrible overall.

OMOB:
High Bar Back Squat
4 reps
170/190/205/240
EMOM 4 reps at 170 

The EMOM work didn't feel too bad till I hit the seventh minute.  The WOD moved pretty fast until I hit the GHD and then I hit a wall.  Looking forward to getting more work in to finish the week.