Calm Before the Storm

After taking a rest day Monday, I was ready to get back in the gym last night. My legs for sure needed the rest, so I enjoyed a night of being lazy. It was like the calm before the storm since classes start tonight! Even though it’s going to be a busy 16 weeks until May, I’m excited. I’m ready to get further along in this process and getting closer to exiting this job!

I got in a little wod before going to the gym by shoveling the top half of our driveway for 40 minutes. So I didn’t need much of a warm up when I got there…When I got to the gym, I didn’t realize how heavy our strength was until I started calculating my numbers. While it was intimidating, I’m excited to get after this strength cycle and see what kind of progress I can make.

Strength: Cleans 5(55%)-5(63%)-5(70%)-5(77%)-5(85%)
79-90-100-110-122

I was sad I missed Monday with back squat, so I’ll have to make that up another day this week. But I was ready to get after the cleans. The first 2 sets I did touch and go reps, making sure to keep my back tight. I was hoping to do touch and go with 100, but did the first 2 and decided to go a little slower with it to ensure proper form. The fourth set definitely felt heavy after the first 15 reps, and the final set was for sure hard. I failed on the fourth rep because I bottomed out and my legs were gassed and I couldn’t get out of it. So I took a quick breath and reset and did two more reps. They were a little bit of a struggle to stand up, but got through them. While doing so many reps and some heavier numbers are a challenge, I’m excited about it. I want to get stronger, I need to get stronger!

WOD:
8:00 AMRAP
5 Handstand Push-ups (green and blue band)
7 Hang Power Cleans (115/75#)
10 Box Jumps (24/20”) I used 24”
5 full rounds

My main goal going into this WOD was to pace it and make sure all reps were FROM. I was happy with the HSPU, as I was touching my head to the ground each rep and all sets were unbroken. Going to go to blue/blue next time there are HSPU in a wod. Cleans felt good and fast. Box Jumps, I decided to use a 24” box, since it seems like that’s what HQ is leading towards for the women’s standard in competitions. I just made sure to do a quick pause at the top to open my hips, come down, reset, and jump back up. Overall, I was really happy with 5 rounds. It takes some time to get in and out of the bands, so I need to get to that wall sooner than later. I’ve also noticed after wods with HSPU that my lower back gets a little tight, so I’ll have to make sure to stretch that out more often.