The Day after Christmas

Workout of the Day:

In the morning…

Total 100 feet of rope climb. Rest as needed.

In the afternoon…

15 minutes of EDD's, then

With 30 minutes of running clock…

Use 10 minutes to establish a 1RM for Power Clean and Jerk

Rest 10 minutes

Do a 10 minute AMRAP of

5 x 100 kg front squats

5 x elevated handstand pushups (8”)

Waking up this morning after a long few days of Christmas cheer, it felt nice to do something simple and challenging like climbing the rope. I figured there would be little to no foot traffic in the halls the morning after Christmas, so I tied the rope to the top floor and did 4 sets (not every set reached the top), totaling about 100 feet of climbing. I mixed between using no legs, using my legs just to secure the rope while pulling myself up with my arms, and actually inch-worming up the rope using my lower body for lift. Afterwards, my arms were pretty toasted and my grip definitely would not have withstood another ascent.

Later in the day, I snuck over to L.K.V. and did max effort power clean and jerks with a time constraint. I made it up to 120 kg without missing—definitely a new record for power clean. Then I power cleaned 125 kg, but missed the jerk due to falling elbows during the upward drive. Though I was frustrated at missing the jerk, I was ecstatic about the clean. 125 kg matches the most I have ever squat cleaned, so if I am now able to power clean it, that means a sizeable increase in explosive power.

Following this, I rested for exactly 10 minutes then went into a 10 minute AMRAP of front squats and handstand pushups. Using 100 kg for the squatting movement and an 8” elevation for the pushups, I expected to get 5 rounds or so for this. The squats went fine, but the pushups were much harder than I anticipated. Supporting the bar during front squats took a lot out my shoulders, both in balance and strength, so that during the course of this routine I was splitting sets in doubles and singles. At the end I had only tallied 35 total repetitions (3 ½ rounds). The upside is that 100 kg felt fine on my legs. I got good depth on every repetition and the only point of struggle was keeping the weight racked with weary shoulders. The downside is that the handstand pushups at 8” are still a bit over my head strengthwise. It’s a good thing to know so I can keeping working to get better.

No footage of the climbing as I was by myself, but here’s the video of the afternoon session.