Big Men Can Butterfly

Workout date: 11/4/15

I have adapted a schedule where I do my heavy back squat days on either Tuesday or Wednesday so that I can get it done prior to a WOD.  Those are the only days that KOP offers Open Strength prior to a WOD, so it's either do that or have a heavy back squat day and skip the WOD altogether.  (Where is the fun in that?)  So on Wednesday, it was time to take on the 5x5 session.

As I've mentioned before, the 6x6 and 5x5 sessions are supposed to be the most difficult.  During this program, I got to add the 6x5 session on to that list, as I failed on the final set before re-doing it.  When I got to 6x6, it turned into a mini-marathon, as every set left me needing to sit down for a few minutes as I tried to catch my breath.  Thankfully I got through all 6 sets without failing.  Now it was time to take on 5x5 at 282.5 pounds.  That may seem like a strange weight to use, but I can explain.  The move from 6x6 to 2x2 in the program is a move from 80% to 100% of your pre-program max.  Along the way, you try to make four equal jumps in weight.  In my last program, the move from 80% to 100% was 60 pounds.  That divided equally into four 15 pound jumps.  This time around, I had to divide 65 pounds into four jumps.  I decided on jumps of 17.5, 17.5, 15, and 15, meaning the next four sessions would be at 282.5, 300, 315, and 330 (meaning this session would have the only oddball weight).

Now that the target weights were getting higher, the warmup routine had to be altered.  I started like usual with 5 reps at 135 and 4 reps at 185, but I was going to need two more warmup sets to get to 282.5 whereas I had only needed one more warmup set when I was using 265.  With more sets needed, I lowered the reps, doing 2 reps at 225 and 2 reps at 255.  From there, I was ready to begin my session at 282.5.

My biggest focus during this back squat program has been avoiding rocking on my feet.  I think somewhere along the way I confused "don't get up on your toes" with "don't rock on your feet".  In an effort to stay off of my toes, I've concentrated too much weight in my heels during my back squat.  As a result, during my rise from the bottom of the squat, my body has compensated by rocking forward.  I am my own worst enemy.  What a surprise.

Having watched other people back squat during Open Strength recently, I took notice of how balanced they were.  Not in their toes, not in their heels, but keeping their weight balanced on the entire foot.  Each time I took the barbell off of the rack for this session, I made sure my body weight was not too much in my toes and not too much in my heels before I did a rep.

For some reason, I was still having problems, as I was working really hard to get through each set.  During the first set, I got to the 4th rep and struggled to get out of the bottom.  Then on the 5th rep, I let the barbell roll up on my neck a little bit to help me rise up out of the squat (not a good solution).  When set #2 came around, Jim and Leslie were watching.  Things were the same.  During the second rep, I got on my toes a little bit, but otherwise my feet didn't move much.  The problem was how much energy I was expending as I kept finding myself stuck as I got about halfway up from the squat.  I made it through 5 reps in the second set, but I was sweating profusely and breathing heavily.  Three more sets sounded like a lot at that moment.

Leslie pointed out that I was a little crashy during that second set (crashy = letting your body plummet to the bottom of the squat in an uncontrolled manner), so I tried to prevent that from happening in set #3.  In this set, my feet were once again glued to the floor.  As I did the fourth rep, I struggled badly to get upright again, but I made it.  I took a little extra time to compose myself before doing the 5th rep.  I needed to get my breathing calm.  Finally ready, I went for the fifth squat, got stuck much quicker than I had before, and eventually had to bail the weight.

Failing during set #3 left me in a bad place mentally.  I was tired out.  I had only completed two full sets.  I had no idea whether I could finish another full set, never mind anything beyond that.  And if this session fell apart, how would I proceed with the next heavy session in a week?  I took at least 10 minutes before I approached the barbell again.  I didn't want any of that running through my head when I tried again.  The only thoughts I wanted in my head were to stay balanced in my feet and to drive hard out of the bottom.

My second attempt at set #3 saw me have very good foot control, but once again I had to work really hard to get through the final two reps.  On the last rep, I rolled the barbell up towards my neck again, but at least I didn't have to bail the weight this time.  Full set complete.  Back in a better mental state.

Rachel showed up to do her own back squat program while all of this was going on.  While I took a break, she talked me into doing the 7:30 WOD with her.  For the second time this week, a WOD was programmed that I had little interest in doing.  But since it was going to be close to 7:30 by the time I finished these back squats, I decided I might as well do it.  Rachel's attendance was really important in getting me through the last two sets of back squats as she picked up on something I was not doing, which explained why I was getting stuck so much and struggling to finish the last few reps in each set.

I have a bad habit of focusing on one big thing that I'm doing wrong in a movement and forgetting about the other things that I need to be doing in conjunction.  I had it in my head that I needed to focus on my feet and that thought absorbed all of my attention as I went through my back squats.  However, I had stopped pushing my hips forward as I rose out of the squat.  I used to get stuck all of the time near the bottom of my squat, especially when the weight got heavier.  Doctor Coach Sommelier VP Giulz was the one who had instructed me that if I pushed my hips forward, I would be able to overcome this sticking point.  And that tip has done wonders for me.  When I got stuck in the last rep of my 4th set, Rachel yelled "push your hips forward".  The light bulb went on.  I pushed my hips forward and got the last rep.  Four rounds down, one to go.

I took one more extended break since it was only around 7:05 and I had 25 minutes to kill before the WOD.  When I was ready to go, I set up with the barbell on my back, making sure my feet were in the proper position.  I controlled my descent on each rep.  On the 4th rep, I got stuck and Rachel yelled the same instructions.  I followed her directions and stood up from the sticking point.  I think she yelled those instructions one last time on the final rep, but I didn't need her to, as I began pushing my hips forward as soon I got stuck.  It was a very long session, but as I stood to put the barbell back on the rack, I was finally done.  Let's hope that was the toughest session of the program.

After putting our weights away, Christine, Rachel, and I closed up the annex and headed to the main gym for the WOD.  Tonight's WOD was Lynne:

Lynne:
5 rounds:
Max reps of body-weight bench press
Max pull-ups

I've done this WOD a few times before and never got all that excited, mainly because of how much I hated pull-ups.  My recent improvement in pull-up form didn't do much to elevate my interest in this workout, but I thought of it as a low-stress way to practice my pull-ups.  There was no chance of using my body weight for the bench press as I've only bench pressed my body weight once and that was a miracle.  I had done this workout with 135 and 145 pounds before.  I had done it with banded pull-ups and strict pull-ups.  To continue the evolution, I ended up using 155 pounds and kipping pull-ups for this attempt at it.

There were eight of us in class, but only three guys.  With 4 benches, we were supposed to partner up.  Ryan A is one of the biggest and strongest guys in our gym, not to mention a really nice guy to boot.  He came up to me and said "no offense dude, but I think you're the closest to me in terms of weight".  Body weight, yes.  Lifting weight, not so much.  (This would accidentally be proven later on.)  Despite our disparity in strength, it made sense for us to be partners during this workout.

The idea behind this workout is not to rush from round to round.  We were given 45 minutes to finish the 5 rounds and we ended up using the entire time.  While it isn't necessary to move fast between rounds, each athlete is required to go directly into their pull-ups once they have maxed out on the bench press.  Ryan decided he was using 185 pounds for his bench press and he led things off for us.  He had experienced some discomfort in his shoulder as he was warming up and only managed three reps on the bench press in round one.  He made up for it on the pull-up bar though.  I had seen Ryan do kipping pull-ups before and he moves very well for a guy his size.  What I had not seen before this night were his butterfly pull-ups.  Most of the body-weight ninjas at our gym are either girls or guys who happen to be on the smaller side.  None of them had anything on Ryan though as he glided through sets of 3 butterfly pull-ups, before coming to a hang and continuing on.  He would make it to 10 reps before dropping.  Super impressive stuff.

When it was my turn, I managed 10 reps on the bench press before going to do pull-ups.  My singular focus once again cost me.  I was so concerned with my kip and pushing away from the bar at the top that I forgot I could come to a dead hang and continue my set.  After four reps, I dropped to the floor.  That was dumb.  For round two, Ryan's shoulder began feeling better and he knocked out 10 reps on the bench press.  That amount would increase to 11 in round three, before declining a bit in rounds four and five.  On the pull-up bar, Ryan continue to glide through his butterflies in rounds two through four.  In round five, he just wanted to be done, so he wasn't on the bar very long.

As for me, my bench press numbers would decline the rest of the way.  In round two, I got 9 reps.  In round three, I struggled to get the barbell off of the rack.  As I lowered the weight to my chest, I pushed and pushed and pushed, but barely got my arms extended all the way to complete the first rep.  What the hell?  Had I completely run out of juice that quickly?  Then Ryan grabbed the barbell and said "wait, hold on".  I was confused before he followed that with "I forgot to change the weight on the bar".  I had started round three with 185 pounds on the barbell, not 155 pounds.  It was a noticeable difference!

With the correct weight on the bar, I got 7 reps in round three and four.  In the final round, I could only manage 5 reps.  As for the pull-ups, I took note of the fact that I could come back to a dead hang for the rest of the rounds.  I managed 7 reps in rounds 2 and 3, before dropping to 6 reps in round 4, and 5 reps in the final round.  Total score: 67 reps.

It was nice getting in a little bench press work as that is an exercise we don't do all that often at the gym.  And I shouldn't slack off of pull-ups just because Wolverine is now complete.  I'll be a bit more pro-active about my pull-up practice once my hands heal.  Hopefully that's only a few days away.

Thursday preview: Maybe the biggest sucker WOD of the year!