Countdown to 30: 17 Days to Go

4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0

Well, 152 pounds is quite the comfortable spot for my body, eh?

Started with some bench work and deadlifts. Nick was kind enough to come into the gym with me on his day off (thank's sweetie!), so we did some heavy lifting together. Having him there made it a lot nicer to work on bench press, and I went to failure though I wasn't at my PR weight.

Warmed up, then went for a 5 x 5 at 105#. On the first set I did 6 reps instead of 5, so it bcame 5 x 6. I got my first 4 sets in, and got 4 of 6 reps on my 5th (last) set, but failed on those last two reps.

Nick worked at similar weight, working into my set and getting a feel for form. Nick's more a cardio guy, so throwing weights around is a bit foreign to him, and I don't think he's bench pressed since some sadist of a high school gym teacher made him back in the day, but he did an awesome job and made some really substantial form improvements even over the sets we did together.

Then it was on to deadlifting cause, well, I haven't pulled heavy since the Crossfit Total. I didn't feel 100% on with my deadlifts today. The back room with the lifting cage where I normally do my squats, deadlifts, etc. was occupied so we were in the front weight room (the dumbbell room, as opposed to the barbell room). We had a bar jacked up on 25# plates to get it up to the right height, and I just didn't feel like I had the focus I needed to really nail in my pull.

Nick and I warmed up, then settled in for a 5 x 5 at 145#. I did my first 3 sets at 145#, then moved to 165# for the fourth set and 175# for the fifth set. On the fifth set, I lifted clean 4 times, then had to regrip for the 5th pull. That's what I mean about focus. It just wasn't completely on keeping everything locked in with great form and a clean, efficient pull. Still, now that I think about it 175# for 5 is about where I was when I left of my strength building phase, so maybe that's not so bad after all.

After a brief rest, Nick took off to be the zen master of the slow twitch and went for a long, outside, uphill walk. I set up for a little action with Angie. Don't get all dirty, "Angie" is today's Crossfit Mainsite WOD. And she's kind of a bitch.

For time:
100 Pull-ups
100 Push-ups
100 Sit-ups
100 Squats

16:03, partitioned into 10 rounds of 10 for each activity. Now real badass types will tell you that partitioning totally destroys the point of this workout. As prescribed, you complete 100 reps of pull-ups before moving on to 100 push-ups, and so on and so forth. But you know what? Bella was in childcare so I could workout, and childcare was only open for another 45 minutes. I highly doubt I could have completed Angie as prescribed in less than 45 minutes, so I did what I had to do to get the work done.

Even broken up into sets of 10, this was brutal, and the push-ups were by far the worst. Coming after bench-to-failure, my push-ups were pretty weak. No full depth. Not even close. I even kicked my feet about a 18" apart towards the end to get some relief. It was wimp central. But, for what it was, I got it done, and in just a hair over 16 minutes.