Wednesday 14.1: Jack

Wednesday. Warm-up skills, 3rds of: 10 pull-ups + 10 pistols. Metcon, benchmark workout Jack, 20min amrap of: 10 push press (52.5kg), 10 kb swing 20kg, 10 box. Result, 10rds (300 reps).

I hit the gym for an early morning session. Decided to work more on skills in the warm-up section, something new I'll try now. Then it was time for a benchmark workout that I recently discovered by going through the list of all those nasty workouts. There are some great wods to follow!

Skills.

• 3 rounds of:
• 10 pull-ups
• 10 pistol squats

My palms are so extremely sore from yesterday's muscle-ups. There were so many reps for me that these hands are not used to. It wasn't easy to have my hands around the pull-up bar but somehow I got sets of 10 reps done, with 10 pistol squats completed after each set. I thought this is a good way to get some skills practiced in the day's training session. Change the movements and work on weaknesses on a regular basis.

Jack. Result, 300 reps (10 rounds)

• 20min amrap of:
• 10 push press, 52.5kg
• 10 kettlebell swing, 20kg (rx'd would be 24kg)
• 10 box jump, 61cm

This was an awesome workout! It looked tolerable even though the amount of push presses was a little scary beforehand. I realized there's gonna be a serious number of shoulder-to-overhead business going on during those 20 minutes of the wod. The weight was not significant but it was a high-rep workout so it would start to get heavy. The heaviest bell they have at the gym is 20kg so I went with that. Rx'd version would be 4kg more.

Kb swings were light, no doubt. And the number of box was not that bad. I was positively surprised they also felt that way through the workout. They could have easily become heavier but not this time. This was all about the push presses. And I was not going to put the bar down before 10 reps were completed each round. It hurt every time I cleaned the bar because of those sore palms, so I made sure to finish the sets unbroken.

Jack, first 10 minutes

That needed some extra breath after box jumps but it was a wise decision in order to shine in the presses, and thus in the entire workout. Once the timer hit its finish, I had just completed my last box jump to reach a total of 10 rounds, or 300 reps. I'm happy that my pace remained the same all the way to 20 minutes. This forced me to have the breaks between movements but it was a good call in order to get them done unbroken. Had I put the bar down, there would not have been that many reps completed. Great and painful workout!