Man Cinco Escalates

Workout date: 12/6/15

It was nice to take a Saturday off from the gym, but it was back to work on Sunday.  There was a WOD scheduled, but Cline had prepared something extra special for the December Open Gym.  He had proposed not only taking on CF Total, but following that up with either Helen or Fran.  Then, because I was constantly babbling on to both Sir Cline and the Queen about their ability to get on the gym white board for running events, we were going to head to the track to test out 400 meter/800 meter runs.  Having a solid grasp of how slow I am, I would be playing the role of timer for that phase of the Open Gym Triathlon.

Plans didn't go exactly as they had been drawn up, but Sunday proved to be a fun and fulfilling day nonetheless.  Joining Cline and I for CF Total was Luke.  With only the three of us taking part in the workout, this was officially a Masters competition, depending on the jurisdiction.  I think it had been a while since any of us had done CF Total, so there was some confusion early on about the parameters of the workout.  The parts we agreed on: once all athletes were done with warmups, they got 3 attempts to find a max back squat, a max shoulder press, and a max deadlift.  The part that was being debated was whether there was a time cap on the workout.  Giulz was coaching Open Gym and insisted there was a 20 minute time cap.  I wasn't sure whether or not that was true, but I was certain that I had never done CF Total at KOP with any time cap previously.  Cline, Luke, and I agreed on a compromise: no 20 minute time cap, but we would keep moving through our lifts, not taking long breaks in between to give ourselves a better shot at hitting higher numbers.  (Note: It was later determined that there is not a 20 minute time cap associated with CF Total and that Giulz was wrong.  This brought Cline much joy.)

Now when I had done this in the past, I had worked with other people, but I thought we warmed up and then tested each lift, one after another.  We went a different way with this on Sunday.  The three of us started by doing warmup lifts for all 3 lifts: the back squat, the shoulder press, and the deadlift.  When all of us were satisfied with our warmups for all three lifts, we got started on the back squat.  I mentioned in a recent post that I've lowered my expectations on heavy lifts because I've decreased the amount of strength training I was doing.  As a result, I didn't think I could surpass 330 pounds on my back squat.  If my first two attempts were successful, then I'd go after a PR on my third, but I didn't want to push things too much with the first couple of lifts in case I was weaker than I thought.  My plan was to go 295-315-335 for my three back squat attempts.

Luke led things off for us on the back squat.  He mentioned that his last warmup lift at 225 wasn't as easy as he expected, so he wasn't sure how far he'd be able to go beyond his initial attempt at 255.  Except his initial attempt at 255 looked much better than the warmup lift at 225.  Go figure.  Cline went next and used 205 pounds.  That lift was so easy that Luke asked Cline if that was his thruster weight.  I went next and tried 295 pounds.  I heard someone say "depth" as I started to come back up with the weight.  I was worried that I hadn't gone low enough, but the guys were actually commenting on how low I got on the lift.  Attempt #1 was a success all around.

For the second attempts, Luke had another easy looking lift at 280.  We peer pressured Cline into putting 230 on the bar, which was 10 pounds higher than his PR.  Or should I say, what used to be his PR?  Cline took care of that 230 pounds and got his first PR of the day.  My lift at 315 was understandably tougher than my initial attempt at 295, but I was able to stand it up.  For Luke's third attempt, he was looking to hit 300 for the first time.  I'm not sure what went wrong on that last warmup attempt at 225, but he did nothing wrong after that, standing up 300 pounds for a new PR.  Cline moved up to 240 for his final attempt, but he was unable to add on to his new back squat record.  Finally, I took on 335.  It didn't feel as awful as I expected it to be when I took it off the rack, but after getting to the bottom of my squat, I got stuck and had to bail.  Still, I was pleased with my first score as it was 50 pounds more than I had gotten during my previous best CF Total attempt.  (Note: I went 265-145-365 for a CF Total of 775 pounds when I set my PR on this workout.)

Next up was the shoulder press.  This was the trickiest one for me to figure out because I know my shoulder press is less than it was when I completed Barbulls.  Back then, I got 145 and almost had 150 the one time I tried to go higher.  I knew it would be wise to plan on getting less this time around.  Having used 135 in recent WODs testing the shoulder press, I decided that my goal should be to try and get 140.  That would be the weight I would use on my second attempt.  If I was successful, I could try 145 or 150.  Figuring out what to use for the first attempt was the tough part.  I could try 125, meaning it would only be a 15 pound jump between the first and second attempt.  But part of me was concerned that I might fail with 125 and that would seriously mess me up.  So I settled for 120, despite the fact that a 20 pound jump in the shoulder press wasn't the best idea in the world.

Luke led us off with his first attempt at 115 and he got it.  Then Cline took no prisoners, opening with an attempt at 110 pounds that would be a new PR for him.  He didn't waste any time getting PR #2, successfully pressing that weight over his head.  My first attempt at 120 wasn't much of a struggle (should have used 125!) and we were on to our second attempts.  Luke stayed perfect for the day by raising 125 over his head.  Cline moved up to 120 and struggled for a bit, eventually putting the barbell back on the rack after an unsuccessful attempt.  Then it was my turn with 140.  If I'm being honest, I think my successful lifts back in the day with 145 were probably more of the "lean back and sort of bench press the weight" variety rather than a strict shoulder press.  I didn't want to do that here.  The result?  A very strange lift where I shimmied side to side, slowly raising the bar over my head.  It wasn't pretty, but it was a successful lift.  Luke moved up 10 more pounds to 135 for his final shoulder press, but he was unable to get it.  Cline moved down to 115 and had a lift that mirrored his initial attempt at 110.  Another 10 pound PR for Cline.  Finally, I tried to be a good sport and added 5 pounds for my third attempt, despite the fact that it was evident from my second attempt that 140 pounds and a feather was going to be too much for me.  I was able to get about halfway through the lift, but there was no getting it completely over my head.  After two lifts, I was still on pace to beat my previous best CF Total by 45 pounds.

With only the deadlift remaining, Cline still had a shot at a total of 700 pounds, while I was feeling good about eclipsing 800 pounds for the first time.  As for Luke, this was his lift.  He mentioned having a top deadlift in excess of 400 pounds.  For the sake of making the loading process easier, he went last during the deadlift.  Cline started us off with a successful lift at 305.  I went next using 345 and was able to bring that weight up to my waist.  With a good lift at 345, I had reached a total of 800 with two attempts to go.  Luke started with a whopping 375 pounds, but he was successful with that lift.  Cline told me I could start off the second round of attempts, so I stepped up to the 375 pound bar that Luke had deadlifted and duplicated his effort.  Cline stepped up to 335 and had a good lift yet again.  He was 20 pounds away from 700.  Luke moved up to 395 and made our group 6 for 6 on the deadlift portion as he got ready to move beyond 400 pounds.

For my final lift, I was once again going to try and repeat what Luke had just done by attempting 395 pounds.  385 pounds is my top deadlift and I've come close with 395 once before.  I've also stupidly attempted 400 pounds because it sounded cool and was unable to move the bar very much at all.  It felt like I had a chance with 395 pounds.  At least until I went to pick it up.  I didn't think it moved at all, but Cline assured me that one could have slid 5 sheets of paper underneath the weight during my attempt.  There would be no PRs for me on any of my individual lifts, but my score of 830 pounds was a 55 pound PR for CF Total.  Up next was Cline.  Luke and I did our best to peer pressure him into putting 355 on the bar, the amount he needed for a total of 700.  But Cline was concerned about injuring his back.  Once we heard that, we laid off of him.  Well, at least until Cline picked up 345 like it was nothing.  Then we gave him shit again.  Despite falling just short of 700 pounds, Cline had a 20 pound PR on his deadlift (PR #3) and his total of 690 pounds was a PR for CF Total (PR #4).  For Luke's final attempt, he went after 405 pounds.  I would have bet a decent chunk of change that he was going to get that lift after watching him handle 395, but he couldn't quite get enough momentum to bring the bar up to his waist.  Luke finished with a CF Total of 820 pounds.

After lifting all that weight, who wouldn't want to take on another WOD?  We were running short on time, but we began getting set up for the second part of the workout that was taking place at the gym. Cline and Luke wanted to do Helen, but I had recently done Helen and there wasn't much chance of me improving a whole lot on the time I got that day.  One of the final things on my wish list for 2015 was completing Fran RX, so I was going to do that workout while the guys got to enjoy some running and KB swings.  (Note: I should mention in advance that Fran is expected to be done much quicker than Helen, so keep that in mind during this part of the recap.)

What are Fran and Helen?  A quick reminder:

"Fran"
21-15-9 reps of
Thrusters (95)
Pull-ups

"Helen"
3 rounds
400 meter run
21 KB swings (53)
12 Pull-ups

So all of us were going to get some pull-up work done, while I got to squat some more with my 45 thrusters.  Giulz was getting ready to leave as Miranda had shown up to coach the kids' class, but she got the three of us started before taking off.  I had done Fran one time previously, using a thick band to get me through the pull-ups.  I managed to hang on for all 21 thrusters in the first round before (surprise!) falling apart on the pull-ups.  My time was 11:24.  My hope was to finish the RX version in around the same time.  I immediately began to question whether I could really make that happen when I was unable to string all 21 thrusters in the first round.  I put the barbell down after 12 reps.  With some quick breaks in between, I finished the first round with sets of 5 reps and 4 reps.  Cline and Luke were back from their run and working on their KB swings.  When I got on the pull-up bar, I got a set of 3 and a couple sets of 2, but I knew a steady diet of quick singles awaited me.  With 12 reps left on the pull-up bar, Cline came over to start his set of 12 reps.  And that meant he was definitely finishing his first round before me.  He headed out the door while I had 3 reps remaining, which I diligently finished off.  I took a peek at the clock and saw I was a few seconds under 4 minutes.  Was that good?  Was it bad?  At that point, I really had no idea since I couldn't gauge how much I might fall off in the final two rounds.

For the round of 15, I did 3 sets of 5 thrusters.  I got back to my pull-up bar and got to work as Cline came back from his second run, followed by Luke.  My goal was to do 3 quick singles before taking a break to breathe, but there was at least 1 set where I kept it together to get 4 of them.  I was tiring out, but I reminded myself that the last round was the easiest round.  I finished up the pull-ups and walked back to my barbell.  The clock was now showing a little over 8 minutes.  My mindset was now "work your butt off and finish under 10 minutes!"

As Cline and Luke finished off their second set of pull-ups, I got ready for my final 9 thrusters.  The sets of 5 were working out well for me, so I did a set of 5 and then a set of 4.  The guys were out on their last 400 meter run when I got to the pull-up bar.  Once again, I was able to keep going through 4 quick reps before needing a break.  Then I did reps 5-7.  With only two more reps to go, I didn't want to take a break, but I was desperately in need of some air.  I wasn't off the bar long, but I needed a couple seconds.  I jumped up for rep #8, then immediately returned for the 9th pull-up.  Final time: 9:51.

While I was gasping for air and trying to stay on my feet (collapsing on the floor after WODs has become a bad habit of mine), Cline returned to do his last set of KB swings.  About a minute and a half later, Luke returned from his run.  They both got through those, as well as the final 12 pull-ups, with Cline stopping the clock under 14 minutes (more than a minute better than his best, meaning PR #5 for those scoring at home), while Luke finished at around 15 minutes if I am remembering correctly.

Having beaten ourselves up pretty good, we finally employed some good decision-making.  Time trials at the track would have to wait for another day.  Instead, we celebrated our hard work by heading over to Taphouse 23 for lunch and beers.

Monday preview: It's called the "Dumbbell Destroyer", but we all know nothing destroys me more than pull-ups.  And there's 60 of them in this workout.