Two Thirty-Sevens Lift 237 (Well, We Helped)

Workout date: 9/28/15

I've started to become anxious about the end of the back squat program.  It has taken a long time to get through and there is an eagerness to reach the finish line.  There is concern that I will have done all this work and then fail at the last moment.  There is paranoia about doing too much in the days leading up to my 1RM test.  Put bluntly: I'm worried I will F this up.

Leslie made me promise that I would not workout on Wednesday (she is wiser than I am), so I had Monday and Tuesday to get my WOD fix in.  These two days were important to me because I'm taking Wednesday and Thursday (I won't be working out after I test my 1RM back squat) off from any sort of metcon and I already feel like I'm lacking when it comes to conditioning.  The Monday WOD was a team workout that went as follows:

AMRAP in 20 Minutes:
Teams of 4 - 2 Female, 2 Male
Clean and Jerks - 30 reps per round.  One partner does 5 reps, then their partner does 5 reps, switching back and forth until 30 reps are completed.
Females go first, then males go.
Weight increases every 30 reps.
Female weights - 65, 75, 85, 95, 105, 115
Male weights - 95, 115, 135, 155, 175, 195

The 6:30 class had 11 participants until #keithie showed up fresh off of his first day at his new job.  After some urging, he joined in, giving the class 6 ladies and 6 guys.  The teams were:

"Megs", Sheila, Cline, and Brian
Steph C, Fayth, Matt B, and #keithie
Michal, Rachel, Jason L, and myself

Wait a second...was that a Jason Lyons sighting in the 6:30 class?  Indeed it was!  Fresh off of his first class trip to China, he was back in the gym to do a whole heck of a lot of clean and jerks.  I had the honor of working with Mr. Lyons as his partner.

After an extensive warmup routine, we got ready to go.  And when I say we, I mean Michal, because she was the only one that had to work when Aimee said go.  Although Rachel didn't have to wait long as Michal went through those five reps like they were nothing.  Meanwhile, Jason and I hung out.  (It was good to be a guy at KOP today!)  The dynamic duo finished up their 30 reps in less than two minutes and it was time for me and Jason to work.  Jason led things off for us.  He had no trouble during his three sets of five reps at 95 pounds.  I didn't struggle much either.  Round 1 was complete with the clock showing less than 4 minutes elapsed.  Solid pace!

Michal fighting through some heavy reps

Each team increased their weights as the other gender worked, so the girls were now operating at 75 pounds.  Clearly, they were not interested in letting their 37 year old counterparts get much rest, as they flew their second round as well.  Jason and I kept up a solid pace on our second round using 115 pounds, stringing together almost all of our reps.  Didn't glance at the clock at the end of this round, but we were under 10 minutes for sure.  Only problem was that fatigue was beginning to set in.

Rachel has clearly lost some strength since her honeymoon.  Or not.

Round 3 was where the mix of fatigue and increasing weight began affecting our performance.  The girls were still moving faster than we were, but we got some extra needed rest during this round as they clean and jerked 85 pounds.  When it was our turn, Jason and I took on 135 pounds.  Definitely time to break up the reps.  Jason was working through fast singles, while I tried to start each round by stringing 3 reps before finishing with singles.  With the third round complete, I looked at the clock and saw we were a few ticks below 14 minutes.  Six minutes for the fourth round seemed very doable.  Maybe the girls could even knock out some reps at 105 if we worked fast enough.

Aimee didn't take any pics of Jason lifting, but he sure seemed happy during the warmup!

Round four meant 95 pounds for Michal and Rachel, while Jason and I tried our hands at 155 pounds.  Michal is a fighter and kept finding more energy to get through her reps (see pic above).  Rachel was not phased by the 95 pounds.  (Side note: Rachel had offered earlier in the day to be part of a guys team.  That meant was okay with 95 pounds being her starting weight.  Scary.)  Not sure how much time was left when they finished, but I knew Jason and I would need to keep moving throughout our 30 reps if we were going to finish the fourth round.  There was nothing but fast singles during that round.  Get it overhead, then drop it.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  After we each finished 5 reps, I looked back at the clock.  Two minutes to go.  We did 5 more reps each and the clock said one minute to go.  This was going to be tight!  Jason's pace slowed during his final 5 reps and I had only 10 seconds remaining to try and do my 5 reps.  Best I could do was hammer out two before time was called.  Final score: 237.

Always fascinated with the ceiling in these photos.  No idea why.

It would have been cool to finish that fourth round, but it was still a very fun workout despite ending up 3 reps short.  Team WODs are almost always a good time and all four of us performed well throughout the workout.

Tuesday preview: The final light 6x2 back squat session.  Probably doing the 3RM front squat WOD as well, if only to try the pull-up/wall ball cash out afterwards.