OPT Training Day - New Years Eve

I've been having a great time using my KB in the mornings to do some stretching and mobility movements to help wake this body of mine up. It's been surprisingly helpful and has really helped to "wake" me up. Afterward I feel revived, energetic and even better than if I had just woken up from a 9 hour sleep.

It's amazing what a little exercise can do to help you feel so much better.

Training:

A. Build quickly to a tough but not 1RM in the Power Clean - take no more than 7 minutes; rest 60 sec ONLY after last set before B

B. 1-10 CTB chin up ladder for time; rest 60 sec before C

C. AMRAP DB Burpees in 2 minutes - 25/15#/h

Results:

a. 185, 205, 215, 225 & 235#
All were done within the 7 min time frame. As soon as I started to get up to 225 & 235 I found that my technique was starting to slip, my feet were not landing in the proper position and I was losing that quick explosive drive from the knee's to open hip. I must work on that explosion!

b. CTB chin-ups were easy for about the first 7 sets considering I was doing them static but after that it got tough. I think I may have kipped a bit in the later rounds but I was really trying to go for all static.

c. I only have a 30# DB so that's what I used for the burpee's, it worked well and I managed to get pretty much what I thought I was going to but they were harder than I thought it was going to be.

New Years Eve tonight. This marks then end of an interesting decade for me, who knows what will happen in the next 10?

OPT Training Day

Training:
3 sets:
12 SDLHP - 125#/80#
Row 90 sec @ 90% effort
rest 2 min
+
3 sets:
12 db thrusters - 35/20#/h
AMRAP Double Unders in 60 sec
rest 2 min
+
3 rounds as fast as you can:
20 box jumps unbroken - 20/14"
25 sit ups

Results:

1. My right elbow felt excellent on the SDHP and no soreness afterwards was noted. This is great because of my squeaky tendon. I don't have a rowing machine so I subbed running on the treadmill at 10mph @ an incline of 2 for 2 minutes.

2. Thrusters were surprisingly easy, for some reason I thought that they were going to be painful but they just sailed by. I just managed to balst right through them though the double unders afterward were a royal pain. I just couldn't seem to get the rythm going and ended up completing in the 50's each round.

3. Box jumps are getting better since coordination is improving, I've never done many of them so perhaps it's something I should spend more time focusing on. The situps could also have been faster since it was a "for time" event this is what is going to put you behind the next guy over.

Christmas Break

Well Christmas was delightful and very relaxing. It was filled with too much good food, great people and lots of fun. At a couple of points I managed to get away for a 10k run, do a bunch of ring work and play around with my fancy new kettlebell. It was a good break and it's even better to be back.

Now is the time to focus in on the conditioning portion of OPT's training cycle and along with the training my diet must change dramatically. I wouldn't say that it's terrible, it just needs to be cleaned up and turned into a performance diet for the next 3/4 of a month. Then it's the big DAWG challenge, I'm interested in how this turns out though I don't think i'll be making my goal of top 3, but i'll try!

I start school in Nelson B.C. on monday Jan 4th and will have alot of time to focus on training since my beautiful wife will be staying in Creston. During the week I'll pretty much be doing schooling for electrical (my last 2 years!) then spending my time in the evenings on homework and the rec centre. I only hope that I can maintain focus on those two things for the duration of my stay in Nelson.