Whenever someone hears for the first time what my favorite things to do at the gym are, they usually make a face that expresses revulsion. There are a few people who like rope climbs, but not too many. Jill A might be the only other person in the gym who appreciates pistols like I do, but they don't show up in the programming all that often, so most people find that to be an odd fascination of mine. My other favorite movement is one that appears quite frequently at the gym: the overhead squat. Sometimes it shows up purely as an overhead squat. Sometimes it shows up as the second half of a squat snatch. It is a lift that tests your entire body. You need good shoulder stability to control your barbell overhead. You need a solid core to maintain your balance both as you descend and ascend in the lift. You need strong legs to push your body out of the bottom of the squat. I think a big reason that I like this lift so much is because of how challenging it is. Nearly everyone else in the gym could do without it. At least that's what I gather from how repulsed they look in reaction to my excitement about overhead squat day.
There were 7 of us at Dudes After Dark this week as LC would be coaching 6 dudes (me, Andrew, Noel, Actuary Mike, Bryan, and Neil) and The Prodigy. We started class with a 400 meter Indian run with a light medicine ball that we would toss through the line until it reached the final person. That person would sprint the ball up to the front and the process would begin again. We had done this at Dudes After Dark a few weeks ago, so we had all the bugs worked out at this point. There was little fear about blindly tossing the ball up in the air as we felt pretty certain that the person behind us would be along in time to catch it.
Once we were back in the gym, I was jittery about the WOD. Here's what we were doing:
Tuesday's WOD:
Find your 3RM overhead squat
followed by this cash-out:
800 meter run
70 double unders
35 GHD sit-ups
I don't think I paid any attention to the cash-out until after the strength portion of this workout was over. I was getting a PR on my 3RM overhead squat. The question was by how much.
Where was this arrogance coming from? It was the result of knowing that the 3RM listed in the spreadsheet I keep wasn't my true 3RM. It was the same as my 5RM, so that told me I hit 175 pounds for 5 reps one day and because that was more than what I had listed as my 3RM, I got to use that number for my new 3RM as well. (It was also my 2RM number. We've tested out our 1RM, 5RM, 10RM, and 15RM for the overhead squat in recent years, but the 2RM and 3RM versions don't show up as often.) If I could handle 5 reps at 175, I had to be able to handle more weight than that for 3 reps. Throw in that I had recently set a new 1RM overhead squat and I was expecting big things on this 3RM test.
With only 7 people in class, there was plenty of room for all of us. No need to share a rack with someone else. LC had us grab an empty barbell and set up our racks. As we got ready to do our warmup reps, LC gathered us around her to provide further detail on the overhead squat. Using a very serious tone, she explained to us that there were "only three ways to get it up". Now I readily admit that I have the maturity of a middle schooler, but I was not the first to snicker at this comment. Bryan and I were standing next to each other and we both spied The Prodigy cracking up before any of the guys in class. (She really does fit in well at Dudes After Dark.) LC would not be deterred by the giggles around her as she went on to explain the differences between the shoulder press, the push press, and the push jerk.
My goal for the 3RM was 205 pounds. Didn't have some mathematical formula to come up with that. It was purely guesswork. The recent 1RM I had hit was 230 pounds, but I really felt like I should have gotten 240 that day. Depending on which of those numbers I used as my "true 1RM", 205 pounds would be 85-90% of my 1RM. (Fine, there may have been some math involved.) We were supposed to do 5 working sets and my plan was to go 155-175-185-195-205 after two warmup sets at 115 and 135.
The two warmup sets were not a problem and neither was my first working set at 155. The set at 175 was the first one that felt heavy to me, but I got through the three reps at that weight pretty smoothly. It went so well that I began to dream bigger. If I had gotten through 175 pounds without a struggle, maybe I was being too conservative with my goal of 205. Perhaps I should be aiming for 215 pounds. Call it confidence, arrogance, or whatever other term you'd like to use, I was skipping the set at 185 and going up to 195 for my next three reps.
Confidence isn't a good color on me. It seems like whenever I try it on, I'm destined for failure. It could simply be that once I indulge in confidence, my judgment gets clouded. Jumping up to 195 pounds for my next set might not have been a horrible decision if I hadn't combined it with the decision not to wear my weight belt. I always wear my weight belt when I go heavy on squats, but I hadn't put it on up to this point and for some reason I didn't think it was necessary for the set at 195 pounds. I was wrong. The first rep was okay, but as soon as I started to descend into the second rep, I knew I was in big trouble. I needed a tight core to get through the set of three, but my mid-section felt wobbly. I tried to gain control of it as I hit the bottom of the squat, but that was a bad plan. It required me to stop in the bottom of the squat. If this was 135 pounds, I could sit there and stand up eventually without too much of a problem. That was not the case with 195 pounds. I was able to get up with it, but it took everything I had to make it happen. As I stood preparing for the 3rd rep, I was desperate. I was wobbly again and I had spent way too much energy on the 3rd rep. I hit the bottom of the squat, but this time I couldn't find the strength to stand back up. I bailed the barbell and immediately felt humbled.
Maybe I should have gotten through my remaining sets before changing my goal. Assuming that I would get 185, 195, and 205 might have been premature. I was definitely feeling stupid about the jump I had made to 195. It also dawned on me that I might be about to break one of my cardinal rules. I go to great lengths to avoid tying previous PRs, but if I couldn't hit another set of three, my score for the day would be 175, tying my 3RM coming into the day. I started thinking about dropping down to 185 pounds to make sure that didn't happen, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. I had gotten 2 reps on that initial try at 195 pounds, so I was close. I was also wising up and using my weight belt for this next try, so that was going to help me maintain a rigid mid-section. I'd be really disappointed if I couldn't get 195 the second time around.
The weight belt made a huge difference. I did two very solid reps and thought I was on my way to finishing off a quick set, but I got stuck in the bottom of rep #3. There was a split second of panic as I sat there unable to move, but I pulled myself together and was able to stand up with the third rep. Tia had seen me do the same thing during my last set and thought that I had gotten stuck on my second rep again. When I stood up and then dumped the barbell, she became concerned that I had given up with one rep still to go. I assured her that I had gotten all three reps before I let go of the barbell. I was relieved that I wasn't ending the day tying my PR. It wasn't 205 pounds, but 195 pounds was 20 more than I had ever done for three reps.
That wasn't meant to be my last set, but I took way too much time after the failed set thinking about what I had done wrong and where I wanted to go from there. Right before I walked up to my barbell, LC told us we should be on our final set, so I didn't try 205. Based on how the end of the set at 195 went, I doubt it would have been successful anyways.
It was time for the cash-out. Oh crap, I totally forgot there was a cash-out! Let's see, I was supposed to run a brisk half-mile, come back and do a good amount of double unders, then try and grit my way through a moderate amount of GHD sit-ups. It struck me as a cash-out where I was expected to go very fast, but one where I'd likely need a ton of rest along the way. So my goal ended up being a simple one: don't take any prolonged breaks. Because there were 7 of us in class and we only have 5 GHD machines, LC was splitting us up into 2 heats. I was in the first heat with Neil, Andrew, and Bryan. Noel, Mike, and The Prodigy would be in heat two.
LC sent us out on our 800 meter run and immediately I was unsure as to whether I was running a decent pace. Andrew is very fast, so he sped off on his own early in the run. I know Neil hates running, so he was going to be at the tail end of our group. That left me and Bryan. I figured Bryan was faster than me so I expected him to be trailing behind him, but he was taking on the honorary role of Jill Cardamone on this run. I could hear him right behind me the whole way. Hearing someone running right behind you is the absolute worst. Part of me wanted him to just go by. Part of me wanted to push harder and make sure he never went by. It felt like there was pressure on me the entire 800 meters. Because he wasn't passing me, I felt like I must be running at a solid clip, but Andrew kept pulling further away from us, so it was difficult to tell. When I hit the last 100 meters, I decided that I was going to kick it into overdrive and make sure Bryan didn't pass me at the very end of the run. I made it back to the gym before him. (Note: I wanted to keep my 800 meter time under 4 minutes for this run, but I forgot to look at the clock when I got back to the gym. Bryan told me that I completed it in about 3:40, a time I was very happy with for this cash-out.)
The best part of the cash-out was still to come for me. No, I did not magically string together 70 double unders in a row after that run. However, every time I hit myself with the rope, I only stopped to reposition the rope. I didn't take any real breaks. After sets of 11, 17, 22, and 20, I was on to the GHD sit-ups. It took me four sets to get through the 35 reps I did there (8, 10, 8, and 9), but I admit to taking some mini-breaks between those sets. Nothing gratuitous though. My time wasn't spectacular, but I felt like I met my modest goal of not taking any prolonged breaks. Cash-out time: 7:45.
Wednesday preview: Mobility with Shawna. Ribbing from Keithie. I do not tear my pec while doing Regional Event 2. Giulz says something to me that I'm not used to hearing from her.
Where was this arrogance coming from? It was the result of knowing that the 3RM listed in the spreadsheet I keep wasn't my true 3RM. It was the same as my 5RM, so that told me I hit 175 pounds for 5 reps one day and because that was more than what I had listed as my 3RM, I got to use that number for my new 3RM as well. (It was also my 2RM number. We've tested out our 1RM, 5RM, 10RM, and 15RM for the overhead squat in recent years, but the 2RM and 3RM versions don't show up as often.) If I could handle 5 reps at 175, I had to be able to handle more weight than that for 3 reps. Throw in that I had recently set a new 1RM overhead squat and I was expecting big things on this 3RM test.
With only 7 people in class, there was plenty of room for all of us. No need to share a rack with someone else. LC had us grab an empty barbell and set up our racks. As we got ready to do our warmup reps, LC gathered us around her to provide further detail on the overhead squat. Using a very serious tone, she explained to us that there were "only three ways to get it up". Now I readily admit that I have the maturity of a middle schooler, but I was not the first to snicker at this comment. Bryan and I were standing next to each other and we both spied The Prodigy cracking up before any of the guys in class. (She really does fit in well at Dudes After Dark.) LC would not be deterred by the giggles around her as she went on to explain the differences between the shoulder press, the push press, and the push jerk.
My goal for the 3RM was 205 pounds. Didn't have some mathematical formula to come up with that. It was purely guesswork. The recent 1RM I had hit was 230 pounds, but I really felt like I should have gotten 240 that day. Depending on which of those numbers I used as my "true 1RM", 205 pounds would be 85-90% of my 1RM. (Fine, there may have been some math involved.) We were supposed to do 5 working sets and my plan was to go 155-175-185-195-205 after two warmup sets at 115 and 135.
The two warmup sets were not a problem and neither was my first working set at 155. The set at 175 was the first one that felt heavy to me, but I got through the three reps at that weight pretty smoothly. It went so well that I began to dream bigger. If I had gotten through 175 pounds without a struggle, maybe I was being too conservative with my goal of 205. Perhaps I should be aiming for 215 pounds. Call it confidence, arrogance, or whatever other term you'd like to use, I was skipping the set at 185 and going up to 195 for my next three reps.
Confidence isn't a good color on me. It seems like whenever I try it on, I'm destined for failure. It could simply be that once I indulge in confidence, my judgment gets clouded. Jumping up to 195 pounds for my next set might not have been a horrible decision if I hadn't combined it with the decision not to wear my weight belt. I always wear my weight belt when I go heavy on squats, but I hadn't put it on up to this point and for some reason I didn't think it was necessary for the set at 195 pounds. I was wrong. The first rep was okay, but as soon as I started to descend into the second rep, I knew I was in big trouble. I needed a tight core to get through the set of three, but my mid-section felt wobbly. I tried to gain control of it as I hit the bottom of the squat, but that was a bad plan. It required me to stop in the bottom of the squat. If this was 135 pounds, I could sit there and stand up eventually without too much of a problem. That was not the case with 195 pounds. I was able to get up with it, but it took everything I had to make it happen. As I stood preparing for the 3rd rep, I was desperate. I was wobbly again and I had spent way too much energy on the 3rd rep. I hit the bottom of the squat, but this time I couldn't find the strength to stand back up. I bailed the barbell and immediately felt humbled.
Maybe I should have gotten through my remaining sets before changing my goal. Assuming that I would get 185, 195, and 205 might have been premature. I was definitely feeling stupid about the jump I had made to 195. It also dawned on me that I might be about to break one of my cardinal rules. I go to great lengths to avoid tying previous PRs, but if I couldn't hit another set of three, my score for the day would be 175, tying my 3RM coming into the day. I started thinking about dropping down to 185 pounds to make sure that didn't happen, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. I had gotten 2 reps on that initial try at 195 pounds, so I was close. I was also wising up and using my weight belt for this next try, so that was going to help me maintain a rigid mid-section. I'd be really disappointed if I couldn't get 195 the second time around.
The weight belt made a huge difference. I did two very solid reps and thought I was on my way to finishing off a quick set, but I got stuck in the bottom of rep #3. There was a split second of panic as I sat there unable to move, but I pulled myself together and was able to stand up with the third rep. Tia had seen me do the same thing during my last set and thought that I had gotten stuck on my second rep again. When I stood up and then dumped the barbell, she became concerned that I had given up with one rep still to go. I assured her that I had gotten all three reps before I let go of the barbell. I was relieved that I wasn't ending the day tying my PR. It wasn't 205 pounds, but 195 pounds was 20 more than I had ever done for three reps.
That wasn't meant to be my last set, but I took way too much time after the failed set thinking about what I had done wrong and where I wanted to go from there. Right before I walked up to my barbell, LC told us we should be on our final set, so I didn't try 205. Based on how the end of the set at 195 went, I doubt it would have been successful anyways.
It was time for the cash-out. Oh crap, I totally forgot there was a cash-out! Let's see, I was supposed to run a brisk half-mile, come back and do a good amount of double unders, then try and grit my way through a moderate amount of GHD sit-ups. It struck me as a cash-out where I was expected to go very fast, but one where I'd likely need a ton of rest along the way. So my goal ended up being a simple one: don't take any prolonged breaks. Because there were 7 of us in class and we only have 5 GHD machines, LC was splitting us up into 2 heats. I was in the first heat with Neil, Andrew, and Bryan. Noel, Mike, and The Prodigy would be in heat two.
LC sent us out on our 800 meter run and immediately I was unsure as to whether I was running a decent pace. Andrew is very fast, so he sped off on his own early in the run. I know Neil hates running, so he was going to be at the tail end of our group. That left me and Bryan. I figured Bryan was faster than me so I expected him to be trailing behind him, but he was taking on the honorary role of Jill Cardamone on this run. I could hear him right behind me the whole way. Hearing someone running right behind you is the absolute worst. Part of me wanted him to just go by. Part of me wanted to push harder and make sure he never went by. It felt like there was pressure on me the entire 800 meters. Because he wasn't passing me, I felt like I must be running at a solid clip, but Andrew kept pulling further away from us, so it was difficult to tell. When I hit the last 100 meters, I decided that I was going to kick it into overdrive and make sure Bryan didn't pass me at the very end of the run. I made it back to the gym before him. (Note: I wanted to keep my 800 meter time under 4 minutes for this run, but I forgot to look at the clock when I got back to the gym. Bryan told me that I completed it in about 3:40, a time I was very happy with for this cash-out.)
The best part of the cash-out was still to come for me. No, I did not magically string together 70 double unders in a row after that run. However, every time I hit myself with the rope, I only stopped to reposition the rope. I didn't take any real breaks. After sets of 11, 17, 22, and 20, I was on to the GHD sit-ups. It took me four sets to get through the 35 reps I did there (8, 10, 8, and 9), but I admit to taking some mini-breaks between those sets. Nothing gratuitous though. My time wasn't spectacular, but I felt like I met my modest goal of not taking any prolonged breaks. Cash-out time: 7:45.
Wednesday preview: Mobility with Shawna. Ribbing from Keithie. I do not tear my pec while doing Regional Event 2. Giulz says something to me that I'm not used to hearing from her.
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