Friday WOD

Workout of the Day

AM – WOD 1:

Back Squat 5, 5, 5+ @ 65, 75, 85% 1RM

Bench Press 5, 5, 5+ @ 65, 75, 85% 1RM

Glute Ham Raise 10, 10, 10, 10

Plyo Pushup 15, 15, 15, 15

PM – WOD 2:

For Time…

30 Squat Snatch (95 lb)

40 m sandbag hill carry (50 lb)

30 Power Clean & Jerk (95 lb)

40 m sandbag hill carry (50 lb)

40 m oh hill carry (95 lb barbell)

Not nearly as sore as I expected after the mountain run, so I came into the day excited about lifting some heavy weight. It’s been a few weeks since I squatted last and I was hoping the time away had stored some strength. Turned out to be fairly accurate. I got 7 repetitions at 355 lbs for my last set, which is the most repetitions at that weight I’ve ever completed. Similarly on the bench press, an exercise I’ve only done once in the last 4 months or so, I pressed 7 repetitions at 265 lbs—also a record. As disappointed as I was in my ability to run up the mountain yesterday, I was as happy with my strength today.

In the afternoon I met up with my friends John and Elzy at a local park to do something a little more creative. We threw a barbell and some 25 lb bumpers in the truck next to a pair of 50 lb sandbags and headed over. The idea was to test my already fatigued legs with light to moderate weighted resistance after having ran distances and lifted maximal loads.

I broke the snatches into sets of 10, hoping to stay smooth without wasting too much time. This worked well the first two sets, but I found myself sucking some wind on the third section and broke the last 10 into two 5’s. I finished the 30 in just over 90 seconds and started heading up the hill with the 50 lb bag immediately. MUCH harder than anticipated. The hill was really steep and the footing not so clean, combining to make climbing with heavy legs less than fun. I got a little recovery on the way back down the hill and I did my best to get right on the bar and start lifting. The plan was the same, 3 sets of 10. The outcome was also the same: 10, 10, 5, 5. The power clean and jerks took much less out of me than the snatches but it didn’t seem to help the sandbag carry. That still hurt like hell. Surprisingly the overhead carry wasn’t so bad. I honestly think it was easier carrying that 95 lbs overhead up the hill than it was carrying the 50 lbs of sand on my shoulder.

After everything my time was 6:55. The big challenge was managing the breathing while keeping forward motion in the workout. If you have a hill and some weights, go there and combine the disciplines. Very fun and very effective. I’ve attached a video link below.