Shoulder Press

Tuesdays' WOD was the following...

Establish a 1 Rep Max Shoulder Press

175#

Shoulder Press, quite possibly the most boring of movements out there. Yet it needs to be done and I actually don't mind it as much. I enjoy these 1 rep max heavy days. I'm usually pretty good at them and to be honest I like the rest, especially after last week.  

I was happy with 175. I actually planned and thought I could do 185 and I almost had it. I had it about halfway up and seemed to hold it there for ever. I thought my biceps were going to burst. I tried one more time, but I had nothing left in the tank after that struggle. I even dropped done to 180, but by then my arms were toast and I couldn't even lift it off the rack. I definitely think I can do 180 and maybe 185 soon. 

File this under as... Rest Day

This is what my arms felt like afterward.  Hi Dad!

Heavy Days are Here Again

I am liking it. Once again today's workout focused on strength with a mix of skill work.

Tabata Hollow Holds

Skill: Toes to Bar

Strength: Shoulder Press 5-5-5-5-5
Max effort bar dips in between each set

15 minute cap

Rest exactly 3 mins between efforts

 145# / 13 reps

First off anything Tabata sucks. Choosing Hollow Holds as the Tabata. Pure Evil.  I joked around halfway through them that if this was my first day at CrossFit I wouldn't come back. 4 minutes of hell! It's funny because I dread doing anything Tabata, yet I kind of like the torture. The results are great as well. Painful, but worth it.

Tabata's follow this structure:

• Push Hard for 20 Seconds
• Rest for 10 Seconds
• Repeat this Eight Times
• Totally 4 minutes

We then went right into strict shoulder presses. The last time I did shoulder presses I did a 5 x 5 which equaled 25 reps @135# for each set.  The difference with this one is that I had to increase my weight on each set along with max effort dips also.  The dips were a killer. Totally sucked any extra energy I had in reserve. My sets went as the following:

• shoulder press 5 reps @95# / Max effort dips 13 reps
• 5 reps @115# / 11 reps
• 5 reps @125# / 10 reps
• 5 reps @135# / 7 reps
• 5 reps @145# / 7 reps 

Pretty happy with my weight. 145# is a lot of weight for 5 reps. I was shooting for at least 135# and I  honestly thought that with the dips thrown in there that there was no way I could achieve that. The 3rd set was pretty tiring. I had to walk out a few times so I could focus. Some days I can get distracted pretty easily with my surroundings. When that happens I tend to fail more often then not. I'm getting better at it though. I can recognize early on when it's happening. The only question is if I can reel it in in time.

Johnny Deadlift/Playboy then threw in a 10 minute 100 Toes to Bar to finish. Ugh!  First off I could barely hold myself up on the bar after doing a 145#'s for 5 reps. Plus, I did a 100 T2B a few weeks ago with Glen. Not exactly my idea of a good time, but I welcomed it anyway. I decided to do kipping T2B the whole time. I did have delusions of attempting to finish in the time limit, but I knew between 40 and 50 that I was taking too much time. I was having a tough time hanging onto the bar. I stopped at 70 and left it at that. That's 70 more than nothing. My flabs hurt...

Still pushing for Tabata Beer Chugs...