PR: Front Squat

I must admit that I've lately been uncertain what my personal record in the front squat was. I don't have an entry on this blog, my records for that move are not properly indexed, and my recent squat rescaling complicates matters further. When I went into Monday's workout, I was pretty certain my PR for a parallel-depth front squat was something like 225 lb. Despite all that uncertainty, the 235-lift I recorded that night is definitely a PR. And now that I've recorded the lift here, I won't have this problem again.

PR: Press

Today, I set a new record in the press, sometimes called the overhead press or shoulder press. The new record is 142.5 lb, a 3.5-lb improvement over the previous one. But those two numbers don't tell the whole story. I set that 139-lb record about 3 years ago. Since that time, I've developed an injury in my left shoulder and a resulting strength imbalance. I've smuggled a lot on this move, and my 1-rep max dropped to around 120. My strength has been coming back over the last few months, which has encouraged me, and this new PR has made me quite happy.

Sadly, my shoulder still hurts.

PR: Fight Gone Bad

On Thursday, I set a new PR for Fight Gone Bad, but the new record requires some explanation.

First, the PRs that I've posted for this workout were performed at home. Since I don't have a 20-lb medicine ball or 12-foot cielings, I've always done FGB with 2x20-lb dumbbell thrusters in place of the wall-ball shots. Since I've been going to CrossFit Diesel, I've been able to do the workout as prescribed, but I haven't beaten the 266 I recorded at home.

Thursday's workout was a CFD creation called Fight Gone...Good? It's just FGB with the sumo deadlift high pull and rowing replaced by rest. Because of the way FGB is scored, the new workout is a legitimate FGB, but one where the athlete has chosen to put zero effort into 20% of the rounds. My new score of 262 is higher than I've been able to post for FGB at CFD, so perhaps this workout is pointing me towards a strategy for maximizing my score on Fight Gone Bad.

Nightmares

Having a sick baby is a nightmare, except in a nightmare, you get to sleep.

PR: Jerk

Last night, I set a new personal record for the jerk: 205 lb. That's a 12.5-lb improvement or my previous best, which was performed in combination with the clean. Some of that gain is certainly due to omitting the energy-sapping clean; the rest is likely due to technique. In other words, I don't think I'm any stronger. Still, it's an improvement, and this new value is a skosh over 1.5 times bodyweight, so I'm quite pleased with it.

PR: Deadlift

On Monday, Halloween, during the Night of the Living Deadlifts, I set a new personal record for the deadlift: 345 lb, a 10-lb improvement. And I did it while wearing my Jayne Cobb costume.

PR: Grace

Today I set a personal record for Grace (30 reps of clean and jerk for minimum time) of 6:09. That's a huge improvement, so I'm quite pleased with it. I'll be aiming for under 6 minutes next time.

PR: Snatch

On Thursday, I set a new personal record for the statch: 136.5 lb. That's a 14-lb improvement. Given that I haven't really practiced my snatch in half a year, I think 145 should be possible with a little technique work. I also managed 190 lb on the clean and jerk, just 2.5 lb short of my PR, even though I was already pretty fatigued from the the snatch workout. So, I think 1.5 times bodyweight is possible in the near term.

PR: Back Squat

Yesterday I posted a new personal record for the back squat: 255 lb. That's a 10-lb improvement, so I'm quite pleased with it. I feel compelled to point out that this improvement isn't due to increased strength. At least, not only to increased strength. Steve cued me to not hang out at the bottom, deciding if I'd descended low enough, like I have been doing. Instead, he suggested bouncing out of the bottom. I realized that this motion not only reduces time spent at the point in the movement with the worst leverage, but also takes advantage of the stretch-shortening response. Applying this technique at 245, the load felt easier than 240 had, and I was able to put up 250 and then 255, but not quite 260. I'll aim to hit that last number next time.

PR: Sit-Up/Pull-Up WOD

Today I set a new personal record on this workout. My new time of 7:03 was only 4 seconds faster than my previous best, but a PR is a PR.