Wednesday's Workout

In the five days since my last workout, the pain in my right wrist has persisted. It's more than just sore, and I'm beginning to suspect that I may have mildly (or not-so-mildly) sprained it. I can't do push-ups with my right hand flat against the floor -- though I can do 'em fine with my hands balled into fists. It hurts to clean a barbell right now, and I can't throw or catch a medicine ball worth a damn. Still, I was itching to get in the gym and get sweaty, and figured there was other stuff I could do.

Like pull-ups. And renegade rows. And dumbbell snatches. And double-unders.

It turns out I could do all of today's movements (though I scaled down the weight of the dumbbells in the metcon). We did one set of 5 weighted pull-ups every three minutes, which was a great way to keep us moving and in the groove. And the metcon was nice and fast; I got through everything without pausing (except to disentangle myself from the jump rope a few times). 

Result: 8:09. Or 8:15. I think. Oh, hell. I think my brain's melting.

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?

Wednesday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Single-Leg Deadlifts (3 sets of 3, and then 3 sets of 1, working up to a 1-rep max)

These continue to confound me, especially as I kept loading on more weight. I tried doing 'em with a straight lifted leg (the way everyone else seems to be doing this exercise), and found that it's a lot easier to maintain balance and power, but my coach told me to cut it out. "Keep your back knee tucked in," he instructed. "Kicking your leg out throws your hips out of alignment. And try not to put your back foot down."

Fine. I'll just keep wobbling. At this point, I'm able to hoist a barbell loaded with the equivalent of my bodyweight while balancing on one leg, but it ain't pretty.

Metcon:

A fun one today.

3 rounds for time:

• 400-meter run (in my Vibram FiveFingers, as usual)
• 21 Abmat sit-ups
• 12 Renegade rows (using a pair of 45-pound dumbbells)

Result: 8:03. I'm happy with my time. I didn't take any mid-set or between-set breaks, and transitioned quickly from one exercise to the next. It's been a while since I last did renegade rows as part of a WOD, but they weren't that bad, even using the RX'ed weight. I could have run a bit faster, I suppose, but wanted some gas left in the tank for the sit-ups and rows.

I can't put my finger on exactly why, but I'm able to fly through Abmat sit-ups without much trouble or effort. I'd suspected I was doing them wrong, but my coach watched me perform today's workout, and didn't seem to have a problem with my technique. Could it be that all my Ab Ripper X practice from last year is paying off?