The Work Pays Off

Workout date: 6/30/15

I sincerely hope I do not jinx myself by writing this post.  But in the interest of fairness, I need to write about both the good and the bad.  And over the last two weeks, there has been a lot of good.  I managed to beat Rachel in a couple of workouts.  I got a PR on my jerk and my overhead squat, overcoming the plateau of 215 pounds that I had been stuck at.  With those two recent PRs, it was only natural to seek out a third when doing Tuesday's workout.  The strength portion of class was focused on the push press, with the following rep scheme:

5-5-3-3-1-1-1

While the reps were listed like that, everyone who took class was scored based on their highest 1 rep, so it turned into a 1RM push press day.  I last tried this out on February 9th, where I did my first ever 200+ push press as I locked out 205 pounds over my head.  With my jerk PR currently at 225, there wasn't a lot of wiggle room as far as where I could go on my push press.  You can jerk more weight than you can push press, so something in the 210-215 range wound up being my goal for the workout.

The Tuesday class was coached by Miranda (First Jason, then Miranda? Must be Throwback Coaches Week!) and she warmed us up with a series of fun medicine ball drills to get our shoulders activated.  She advised us to start around 50% of our 1RM or lower for the first set of 5, so I loaded 95 pounds on the bar to get started.  Even though this was a light weight, I had to stay focused on form because I learned during one of the Open workouts how easy it is to slip from a push press to a push jerk.  When your body is under any duress, it wants to adjust to become more comfortable.  When I go from shoulder to overhead and the weight begins to become heavy, my body naturally wants to bend at the knees to make the lift easier.  After your initial dip drive, your knees need to stay straight for it to be considered a push press and not a push jerk.  So as I did this first round, I made sure I was locking my knees during each rep.

The set of 5 at 115 wasn't too bad either, although I have this habit of hopping along when doing multiple reps of push press.  I'm all about using momentum in the gym, but the bounces turn into hops, mostly hops forward.  If I did a dozen of these, I would have been up against the wall at the end.  I continued the progression of adding 20 pounds.  I did 3 reps at 135, then tried to do 3 very controlled reps at 155, focusing on properly breathing as I got ready to take on heavier weights for the single reps.

I wasn't extremely confident about my ability to continue the 20 pound jumps for three more lifts, but I wanted to at least attempt a PR.  So instead of going 175-195-215, I went 180-195-210.  That meant a 25 pound increase for that first single rep, but after that it would be smaller increments getting to a PR attempt.  On each attempt, I would make sure I felt comfortable holding the bar in my front rack, make sure my feet felt right, that I felt balanced, and probably most importanly, that I was properly doing the breathing technique I have been working on.  Despite the 25 pound jump, I was able to successfully push press 180 without tremendous difficulty.

As someone who is still relatively new to weightlifting (35 years of no weightlifting before doing this the last 2 years), I'm always amazed at how fickle these lifts can be.  You would think that a bad lift at a lower weight would mean almost no chance at a higher weight.  Or that a series of easy lifts meant you're going to knock out a stellar PR that day.  Often though, it doesn't work that way.  I was concerned about the lift at 180, but once I popped out of my dip drive, the bar was moving and I could press it out.  Prior to that lift, I had some doubts, but now I was feeling more confident.  I put 195 on the bar, did my dip drive, began to press and...uh oh.  The bar felt like it was moving through mud, only pressing upward ever so slightly.  As other members of the class yelled at me, I was finally able to press it out.  But it was much, much worse than the rep at 180.

With that behind me, 210 seemed like a longshot.  I wasn't sure I could even match my previous 205 based on what just happened with 195.  Still, I had to give myself a shot at getting the PR now that I had come this far.  And based on the rep scheme of the WOD, I was supposed to do one more rep.  So I loaded 210 on the bar.  I watched a few of my classmates show me the way as they took turns successfully hitting PRs.  Finally, it was time for me to go.  No more stalling.  I went through my routine, got a solid grip on the bar, and pulled it off the rack.  Felt heavy, but not "oh my God, this is crushing me" heavy.  In the past, I would rush in situations like this, desperate to get the weight off me, believing that the longer I stood with it, the more energy I was wasting that could be used to perform the lift.  Now I'm more patient.  Made sure my elbows were up, my feet were set.  I inhaled big, pushed against my abs, and dipped.  I quickly popped out of the dip and pressed as the bar came off my shoulders.  And it was moving.  Like much faster than it had at 195.  This lift was much more reminiscent of the 180 lift.  Not sure why that was the case, but I kept pressing until I was fully locked out.  New PR!  210 was my new number.

Feeling good about how well that lift went, I decided to skip 215 and added 10 pounds to try 220.  Once again, I watched some other folks lift as I took some recovery time before digging in.  As with 210, I went through my entire routine, again patiently standing with the weight on my shoulders before going into my dip.  But there was no speed coming out of the dip.  I didn't drive the bar off my shoulders very well and there was only a momentary press upwards before I let the bar drop.  Perhaps I should have tried 215.  Who knows?  Either way, I've never been upset with a PR, so I put my weights away, happy with success at 210.

The skill portion of the workout was finding a max set of double unders.  I was kinda spent after the push presses, so I wasn't expecting much.  I told Ben that my first set was always my best set, so I was going to take a shot at it and then I could probably call it a night.  Sure enough, I got into a rhythm in my first set.  10, 20, 30.  I was closing in on my PR of 44 strung double unders.  35, 40.  Starting to tire quickly, need to hold on!  43, 44...45!  I made it!  Don't stop now dummy, keep going!  46, 47...shit.  So close to 50 in a row.  But 47 was yet another PR and I was happy to pack my bag and leave.

Except there was a vendor at the gym selling protein.  As several of us rotated between doing double unders and trying out a free sample, we ended up being there longer than expected.  Rachel hadn't even attempted a double under yet as I got the itch to try again.  Finally she got going.  And kept going.  And going.  A look appeared on her face that I knew all too well.  It was the "I'm out of juice, but I'm so close to some major number" face.  Could she be about to add her name to the wall of people who have strung 100 double unders?  I wasn't sure.  When the rope finally hit her, she let us know she had done 72 in a row.  Damn.  My 47 in a row seemed totally inadequate all of a sudden.

The ultra competitive side of me told me to go do more.  I managed a set of 4.  Then another set of 4.  Not really threatening 72 with either of those attempts.  Miranda was ready to wrap things up when I told her I wanted one more try.  I started twirling the rope and made it past 4 reps.  Then 10, then 20.  And once I'm past 20, I know it's a good set.  Passed 30 reps, nearing 40 reps, and feeling the burn again.  Hold on, hold on.  40 reps, 45 reps.  46, 47, 48, 49....NOOOOO!  50 unbroken would have been a huge deal for me, but I just couldn't make that 50th rep happen.  Such a bummer.  But considering where I was with double unders at the beginning of the year, 49 in a row is pretty astonishing.  I wrapped up my rope, very pleased with 2 more PRs.

On Wednesday, I woke up sore and was good for once, only coming to the gym for mobility.  We'll see how that works out when I take on Thruster Thursday.  Details in the next blog post.