Friday's Workout

I woke up feeling great. For the first time in over a week, my joints didn't feel rusty and my muscles didn't ache. Evidently, a little rest does a lot of good. Despite the early hour, I had no problem popping out of bed and hustling over to the gym.

Good thing, too -- given the ass-kicking workout in store for us today. (And I mean that in the best possible way.)

Strength Skill:

• Strict Presses (2 sets of 5, 3 sets of 3)

No bent knees or hip drive to assist in jerking the barbell overhead -- just strict muscle presses, engaging the lats, shoulder girdle and core to force the bar overhead. Yeesh.

But if this kid can do 'em, what's my excuse?

Metcon:

AMRAP in 12 minutes:

• 10 renegade rows (the RX'ed workout calls for two 53-pound kettlebells, but I opted for a pair of 35-pound dumbbells instead)
• 10 walking lunges (holding the same pair of dumbbells)
• 30 plyo box jumps (20" box)

I sometimes wonder if others at the gym think it's weird that I routinely excuse myself to go pee before I start a metcon. But trust me: It's better for everybody. When I'm going balls-to-the-wall, the loss of bladder control is a distinct possibility -- especially after guzzling about 32 ounces of water.

Although today's metcon was a barn-burner (and the lunges made my quads want to scream), I loved it. Plyo box jumps are just plain fun. There's nothing like hopping up and down on stuff like a crazed jackrabbit on meth.

Result: 5 rounds plus 10 renegade rows and 10 walking lunges. I was hoping to complete the sixth round before time ran out, but didn't quite manage to do it. Still, I'm pretty happy with my time, and can't wait to do this one again.

I felt great today -- both before and after the workout. I'm going to chalk it up to the fact that I finally got some quality shut-eye last night. Which begs the question: Why am I still up and blogging instead of going to bed?