You Suck So Much

Workout date: 11/9/16

One of the new benchmarks being tested in 2016 has been the 15RM overhead squat.  When I saw this was added to the list this year, I was very excited.  The overhead squat has been my favorite lift at the gym ever since I started Crossfit.  I can't really explain why, but I have much more confidence in my ability to overhead squat than I have with any other lift at the gym.  Throw in that most other athletes loathe the overhead squat and, voila, I had stumbled upon a movement at the gym that I was above-average with.  I knew what my 10RM for the overhead squat was at the beginning of the year, (165 pounds) but I didn't know what my 15RM was.  So when I did this in February, I figured I'd feel out what my 15RM should be and then try to add 5 pounds on to it when it came up again every three months.

Fast forward to November.  That simple plan had gone off the rails.  In February, I was able to do 15 reps using 135 pounds, but I missed getting 155 pounds by 1 lousy rep.  No worries, I'd certainly get it in May.  Prior to attempting 155 again, I did 15 reps at 140 to establish a new PR.  But that wasn't the mark I wanted.  155 was the goal and there was really no reason why I shouldn't be able to get that 1 extra rep that was missing from my February set.  Instead of picking up a rep, I dropped a rep, as I was only able to complete 13 reps at 155 before dropping my barbell.  13-14 overhead squats at a heavy weight is an awful lot of work for no payoff.  A very aggravated Dave would have to wait until August to get 155.  Except that was right when I needed both a physical and a mental health break from Crossfit.  That meant November would be my last chance to get 15 reps at 155.  So much for adding on 5 pounds every three months.  The goal now was to tack on the one rep that had eluded me during my maiden voyage with this strength test back in February.

I attended the 6:30 class with Coach Jenna instead of my normal slot at the 7:30 class because Shawna was leading a mobility class in the upper level of the annex at 5:30.  Mobility is something that I should be better about, especially since I definitely notice more aches and pains in my older years.  However, I tend to do little in terms of mobility beyond some minor foam roller work after workouts.  With an actual mobility class on the schedule, I could force myself to do some of the stretching that I forget to do when left to my own devices.  This class would also mark my first visit to the upper level of the annex.  I've written about the fact that I don't care much for the lower level of the annex, but because the upper level is used almost solely for yoga classes, I had never seen what that area looked like.  First impression: there are an awful lot of hooks on the walls.  I'm not completely clear on why there are three rows of hooks lining the walls (maybe they are there to connect elastic bands to, as we would do during the mobility session), but it is a little creepy to see them when you first walk in.  Kinda looks like a serial killer's bachelor pad.  Anyways, the class had a solid turnout of nearly a dozen people and I was happy to see some folks I hadn't seen in a while (like Jill Herman and Vania).  It was also good to get some stretching in, but as is the case with everything in Crossfit, if you don't consistently do it, you won't see the dividends.  I need to incorporate mobility into my schedule even when special classes are not being held.

Shawna let those of us attending the 6:30 class (me and Cline) leave a few minutes early.  We joined the 11 others who were waiting for the 5:30 class to end.  Among the people in that group was Matt B.  Just as I knew I'd be working out with Cline on Monday, I knew I'd be doing overhead squats with Matt today.  It didn't become official until after Jenna walked us through the finer points of the overhead squat, but once we were told to grab racks, Matt and I talked and agreed that we should share a rack.

The strategy I'd be employing for my final 15 rep attempt at 155 pounds in 2016 was different from what I tried in February and May.  In February, I wanted a respectable score in case I couldn't hit 155 pounds, so I did a set at 135 pounds.  In May, I wanted to improve upon that score of 135 at least a little bit before trying 155 again, so I did a set of 15 reps at 140.  Did those sets take too much out of me, leaving me a rep or two shy of getting all 15 reps at 155?  Maybe.  I'd find out this time around.  The plan was to warm up with short sets at lighter weights before doing a set at 125.  After that, it would be time to confront 155 one last time.  It was a much bigger jump between sets, but I was hoping I could handle it with the energy I saved by going lighter before that set.

Matt and I started out with some reps using an empty barbell, then did small sets at 75 and 95 pounds.  From there it was on to 125 pounds.  I knew Matt wanted to eventually get to 135 pounds, so I wasn't sure if he wanted to jump right up to 125 pounds, but he was cool with it.  He did his set first and made it through all 15 reps.  I didn't realize it at the time (because his goal was 135 pounds), but that was a PR for Matt.  I stepped up and attempted the same weight.  I got through 11 reps without missing a beat, then had to pause before completing the last 4 reps.  That was the kind of set I was looking for.  It wasn't a big struggle, but it got a little tough towards the end, so I got to experience what it was going to be like for most of the set at 155.

Matt moved up to 135 for his next set.  He looked good as he moved through 5 or 6 reps, but suddenly he dropped the barbell in front of him.  Apparently it didn't feel as good as it looked and Matt let me know that he wasn't interested in trying it again.  We got the barbell back on to the rack and I added 20 pounds to it.  After walking around for a few minutes to try and get my mind right for the challenge ahead, I removed the barbell from the rack and got it overhead.

I ran into trouble quickly.  On my second rep, I felt I was leaning too much to one side.  I overcompensated and felt like I was leaning the other way on rep #3.  On rep #4, I felt very wobbly and had to stop at the bottom to steady myself once again.  After those initial troubles, I managed to slowly grind through the next 7 reps.  I didn't feel comfortable under the barbell, but I only needed to get through 4 more reps.  There was a definite wobble on rep #12.  Then I had to stop in the bottom again on rep #13.  Matt kept yelling at me that I was almost there and that helped me rise up to complete the third-to-last rep.  The 14th rep was another shaky one as I was starting to lose the shoulder strength needed to keep the weight overhead.  I found a way to stand up with it though.  Only one rep left.  I took a deep breath, descended into my squat, began to shake, and lost control of the barbell.  I was beyond enraged.

"YOU SUCK SO MUCH", I screamed.

I couldn't believe that I had fought through all of those shaky reps only to end up 1 rep short just like I had done back in February.  That was a whole lot of work for nothing.  I looked at the clock and saw that only a few minutes remained before we had to get ready for the cash out.  I highly doubted that I could put together 15 reps only a couple minutes after having done 14 reps.  My body certainly doesn't recover that fast.  But I'm a stubborn SOB and I had to give it a try.  I made it through 7 reps before my shoulders gave out on me.  I dumped the barbell to the floor and began to strip the weights.  Who knows when the 15RM overhead squat will pop up in programming again, but I'll have to wait until then to conquer 155 pounds.  (Unless I have some sick desire to take it on during Open Strength.)

It didn't seem like there was much chance that the cash out would make me feel any better.  It was an 8 minute AMRAP of 2 bar muscle-ups (still don't have those!) and 10 burpees (yuck).  Jenna mentioned that we should make attempts at whatever scale we hadn't quite reached yet, so if we had the ability to do chest-to-bar pull-ups, we should move on to banded bar muscle-up attempts.  That is precisely what Matt, Borden, and I would be doing.  The only problem was that we didn't have a lot of room to operate.  Matt was on the low bar in front of me and I was on the low bar in front of Borden.  Because we are all bigger guys who would be flailing around wildly, there was a really good chance that we'd be bumping into one another.  We did our best to avoid that by staggering our positions on the bar, with Borden and Matt setting up their bands on the left side of the bar while I set mine up on the right side.  I think Borden also waited for me to make an attempt before making an attempt of his own so that we weren't going at exactly the same time.  In later rounds, I'd do the same for Matt as he was in front of me and I could see when he was going.

I figured this would simply be 8 minutes of weak bar muscle-up attempts and crappy burpees, but I actually learned something in the midst of my bar muscle-up tries (also, my burpees weren't as bad as I thought they might be).  My bar muscle-up attempts in the first few rounds probably weren't very good.  I think I rushed them so that we didn't have a logjam at the pull-up rig.  By the time we got to round three, Borden, Matt, and I had some separation from one another, so I was able to concentrate more on my form, which led to some better attempts.  Jenna saw my second attempt of round three and told me I almost had it.  After 10 more burpees without any crawling, I came back to my band.  I made two more solid attempts, but I couldn't get my belly up over the bar.  That's when Jenna pointed out that I was worried too much about my belly.  She pointed out that if I just controlled myself once I got my upper body over the bar, I could probably press out from that position and complete the bar muscle-up.  Huh.  I had been so focused on getting my entire upper body over the bar all this time, yet that wasn't necessary to get in position for a bar muscle-up.

That eureka moment may have given me a little boost with my burpees.  I was feeling tired, but I didn't want to resort to crawling through my burpees.  And if I did get to that point, I wanted to make sure I was still moving and not taking breaks.  Borden was right alongside of me and I was having an Alona flashback to when we went rep for rep on the burpees in a cash out several weeks ago.  Borden wasn't slowing down, so I couldn't either.

During the next two rounds at the bar, I tried to control myself at the top of my muscle-up attempts, but couldn't quite stick it.  There was less than a minute left when I got to the sixth round of burpees, so I had to move fast if I was going to complete those before time was up.  Alona flashback part deux, as I knew this would be my last round of 10 burpees.  I dropped down and popped up as fast as I could, finishing up the sixth round with about 10 seconds left.  I hurried over to the bar to get one more muscle-up attempt in, but rushing to get in the band did not go as smoothly as I had hoped.  Six full rounds would have to do for the cash out.

After an extremely disappointing experience with the overhead squats, I ended the night with the hint of a silver lining.  Maybe there was a chance I could get a bar muscle-up with a band.  And if I figured out how to get one of those, then it wasn't impossible to think that I might perform one without a band in due time.

Thursday preview: My last workout before the Brawl In The Fall is a cardio-heavy trip to the nooner.