Fall Begins and Spring Returns

Workout date: 9/27/15

No one is more excited about the cooler weather than I am.  Fall officially began on Wednesday and there has been a noticeable change in temperature inside the gym and the annex.  The other day, I was doing Open Strength in the annex and Marci was wearing one of KOP's new hooded sweatshirts while working out.  (Side note: Samson was doing the WOD at the same time and ran by outside without a shirt on.  I think it's safe to say Marci and Samson have different body temperatures.)

On Sunday morning, I returned to the annex for another Open Strength session.  It was time to take on the 2x2 portion of my back squat program.  The good news: there was a nice breeze coming through the door,  meaning it was perfect weather for a workout.  You know, in case someone was there and out of the blue asked me to do a workout once I had finished with the back squats.  The bad news: my back was tight again when I woke up.  I tried a variety of stretches to loosen it up, but it wasn't cooperating.  With only a light 6x2 day remaining on Tuesday before I tested out my 1RM to finish the program on Thursday, this 2x2 day was the last test that I would have to pass before going after 300.

I had two friends to help me get through 2x2 day.  One was Tom, who recently PR'd his clean and jerk and was in the annex for some additional practice.  The other was returning from a week away on a Mexican beach, having enjoyed drinks and not quite Chipotle-quality food during her honeymoon.  I am speaking of one Mrs. Rachel Spring.  Now because Rachel exhibits many of the same psychotic tendencies that I do when it comes to the gym, she was there to catch up on everything she had missed out on in one day.  There was some olympic lifting to start off.  Then she set up two racks so that she could quickly alternate between back squats and shoulder presses.  And a strength session with Rachel wouldn't be complete without a "cash out" at the end.  We'll come back to that.

I felt good about my chances of completing the 2x2 at 295 pounds despite the condition of my back and the fact that I had only successfully squatted 295 pounds once in my life.  Things had gone so well with the 3x3 at 280 pounds that I had some newfound confidence (a rarity for me).  Although any and all confidence I develop tends to get squashed quickly, so perhaps I should have known this wasn't going to go smoothly.  Man it would be nice to shut my brain off for a day if only so I didn't have these crazy debates with myself.  Maybe that's the superpower I should be wishing for.  Where was I again?

Oh yes, back squatting.  I did 5 reps at 135, 4 reps at 185, and 3 reps at 225 to warm up.  No problems so far.  Threw the weight belt on for 2 reps at 255 and didn't have any issues there.  When I got to 275 though, I had a serious problem.  On my first rep, my weight shifted and I began to walk forward as I tried to rise from the bottom.  Because I hadn't stepped very far back from the rack, I nearly stumbled into it as I came forward.  I threw on the brakes at the last second and managed to stand straight up.  After composing myself, I did a second rep with much less drama.  As I placed the barbell back on the rack, I noticed some soreness in my back.  No bueno.

The soreness wasn't like the twinge I had experienced weeks ago.  I wasn't concerned about a serious injury if I tried 295 pounds.  My back simply didn't feel wonderful.  Regardless, I was going to suck it up and get through these two small sets.  I added 20 pounds to the bar and got ready for 295.  I took the barbell off the rack and managed a much better first rep.  Okay, I can handle 2 reps at this weight.  Then I went down for the second rep and only got halfway back up.  I was stuck.  I kept pushing and slowly made my way out of it as Rachel yelled at me to stand up.  One set down, one to go.  I rested for a few minutes and then took on set number two.  Eerily similar to set number one.  The first rep went well, while the second rep saw me get stuck yet again.  There was more Rachel yelling followed by a slow rise to the standing position.  I had toyed with the idea of trying to do a third rep so that I could PR my 3RM for the second time in a week, but with the soreness in my back, I thought better of it.  I had just done 4 reps at a weight where I had only been successful once before in my life.  Take that victory and be happy with it.

When I was talking with Tom about his clean and jerk PR, he had mentioned that he thought I had done 225 already.  I wish that were true, but it is not.  But since we were chatting about it, I thought I'd give it a shot after I was done with my back squats.  I decided on a progression starting at 135.  My lifts at 135 and 165 were easy enough, but at 185, I no longer felt comfortable.  This probably wasn't the smartest thing to be doing with a sore back.  Still, I gave 205 a try.  The clean was fine, but I got wobbly during the jerk and dropped it.  And with that, I decided to call it a day for clean and jerks.

Did someone mention a cash out?  Oh yes, Mrs. Spring did.  Except what Rachel calls a cash out, the rest of us call a full-on workout.  Her idea for the cash out was doing the WOD from Friday.  I did my best to explain that a) 15 minutes was too long for a cash out and b) this workout was much more difficult than she might think.  After all, I had done this workout less than 48 hours ago.  I managed to talk her down to only doing 10 minutes of Friday's WOD.  I also went much lighter on the KB (45 pounds instead of 70).  The result?  I ended up with a score of 1+54.  That confirmed for me that if I ever did that workout again, I should be using a 53 or 55 pound KB.  Rachel used the 55 pound KB and was on her second round of rowing when the 10 minutes elapsed.  I told you she was psychotic like me.

Monday preview: ALL the clean and jerks.  All of them.