Saturday, January 21, 2017

Death by Pull-ups and Heavy Back Squats

I made it to the gym today.  It seems like more often than not these days that's something of a miracle.  It made my second day this week, which is better than the 1 I thought I was going to get, but still not quite the 4 I would like to be getting.  I have stopped looking at the WOD's before I go because I've found that I will talk myself out of going if it's something I don't like, or am feeling like, right now, I'm particularly bad at.  Like pull-ups.

Not getting to the gym on a regular basis, my pull-ups, dips, HSPU's and all things that require regular application to keep consistent with, seem to have become a goat for me.  It's been frustrating at times, but I know that the only cure for this is simply to get to the box more and practice more.  So, when I walked in and saw death by pull-up, I knew I was going to get an opportunity to "practice more".  For not having done any pull-ups lately, I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to do as many as I did.  I don't really have many calluses any more, so holding onto the bar was a bit painful, but despite that, I was able to start at 5 and make it through 9 minutes (missed it by 1 pull-up as time expired). So all in all, not too shabby but it's definitely an area I still need to work on improving.  Again, doing them will help immensely, so I just need to keep focused on the idea of finding a better balance at work and making sure that I am getting to the gym so I can get in that "practice time".

After death by pull-up it was 10 minutes to find a heavy 5 rep back squat max.  We did this last week immediately following sets of heavy cleans, so last week I had some Jelloesque legs when we did this, but still came up with a 5 X 205.  Death by pull-up didn't really kill my legs, but I still felt tired under the bar, but managed to come up with a 5 X 210. I think my 5RM for back squats (with just doing back squat day) is somewhere in the vicinity of 5 X 225.  So, to be doing WOD's beforehand, being that close to my 5 RM is pretty solid, and I'll definitely take it.  As odd as it may sound, I think all the walking/stairs/lifting I do at my job does help to keep my strength up.  It just unfortunately can't help me with things pull-ups or HSPU's.  Although, maybe I could install a pull-up bar or an abmat in my corner so that I can do things when I need to stop placing orders......... hmmmm.... an idea has emerged......

3 comments:

Brad said...

Yo, stranger. I have a bunch of news for you.

I'm divorced. Out of the closet. Living in Pittsburgh with my partner.....

Wanted to reconnect and say "hey."

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's one big update! My condolences on the divorce (those are never fun or easy) but my sincerest congrats on the new found happiness! ❤️I hope you're enjoying all the Steel City has to offer. I love Pittsburgh. Are you going to a box up there?

Brad said...

No - I fell off for a bit and am now getting back on it, by myself. I opened a box back home and learned all about politics of CF and business...NOT MY THING!

Are you on Facebook?

https://www.facebook.com/bradfordgthompson