Overhead Squat 5-5-5-5-5
Then:
Five rounds for time of:
5 Back squats (175/275)
10 GHD sit-ups
If you missed it yesterday, our first Ignite video on the CrossFit Community page was up! Great job, Ty!
Meet Report – Prison
You'll read more about the atmosphere and the blossoming CrossFit community in Kinross in a CrossFit Community Page article, but for Catalyst Family members, here are the numbers:
Smaller competitive group than we're used to, about 30 lifters. With the overcrowding problem going strong, many of the inmates we'd become used to seeing regularly have been shipped out – paroled early – to make room for the harder cases. In the words of one guard, "You get all the better guys out, and get a lot more idiots." Restrictions have been tightened in the joint. Conversely, with fewer experienced powerlifters, meet guidelines were much looser and the meet was run smoothly but with a few inconsistencies.
Mike and I were placed in the first flight of lifters, which is rare for him – usually he's hitting top weight in the squat, at minimum, and often the bench. At my last meet, I was also among the second flight. Since we usually don't take anyone to help us with our gear, it's easiest for us to be in separate flights. This time, though, we were competing raw (no bench shirts or squat suits) and mostly for fun (he competed at Canadian Nationals two weeks ago) so it didn't matter.
The Pit has been changed a bit; now there's only one squat rack, which made warmups a little different. I was choosing a very conservative opener – 315, the lowest I've ever done at a meet – so I wasn't too worried about finding depth with it. In the past, wearing a squat suit, I've opened as high as 435, but had trouble making depth at that 'light' weight. 315 went really easily, but I rolled forward a bit. I should be looking up while squatting, and I've developed the bad habit of looking only about 10 feet in front of me (at the floor) under heavy load. Not good. We'll put up an article this week about why that's not ideal. I called only 335 for my next lift. It was a struggle; again, I didn't look up, and my knees collapsed inward a bit. I haven't lifted with a belt on for awhile, and so didn't have good abdominal stability. I called 355 for my last attempt, which WAS very conservative, but I wanted to make sure that I got it. It was a lower weight than most in my weight class (the 198s) but I knew I could make it up on deadlift if I just stayed close. 355 was by far my easiest lift: chin up, abs tight on the belt, great depth. I wished for a fourth attempt, but that never happens.
Bench press was over very quickly. In prison, we're at the whim of the clock, and usually we'd wait until after lunch break / inmate count to start bench pressing and deadlifting. In this case, we were ahead of time, so the first-flight guys were to bench press before 'count.' We started warming up all over again. Pressing with a shirt, my openers were usually around 290; this time, unsure about a shoulder impingement and worried about the 'pause' command, I opened at a very low 225, which put me second in the rotation. I had just started warming up – I'd done one set of 5 at 135 to feel the bar out – when my name was called to lift. My fault for not watching what was happening. As it turned out, the first lifter pulled out of the meet. I had to run to the stage (literally) to get set in under the 1:00 cap, and cranked 225 pretty easily, but my lats weren't set and the pause at the chest was LONG. That made me nervous about the next one, so I called for 245. Before we knew it, they were calling Mike up – several lifters had bailed, leaving only 5 in our flight. MUCH different from the old days of waiting 40 minutes between attempts! I was very glad for a high work capacity, because I had less than 5 minutes of rest, including watching Mike, to get ready between lifts. 245 felt tough – long pause at the chest – so I only went for 255. It was my easiest lift of the day, and went up like a rocket. Mike finished the bench with a 380, I think.
After lunch, I felt like a nap more than I felt like deadlifting, but we trooped back across the frozen yard and started to warm up all over again. We had plenty of time for warmups, and knew there would be several lifts over 600, so I was excited to get rolling. I already knew that I was way behind another lifter in the 198s, and he was opening with 605 in the deadlift, so there was no pressure; I asked for an easy 385 to open. They loaded 435 by mistake, but it was easy. I also warmed up in Chucks but they allowed me to lift in socks, which was new, but I prefer it that way. Just meant my warmups weren't quite the same as my lifts, but that's fine. I went 435 – 455, and then realized that I hadn't missed a lift all day. That's sometimes a good thing, but to me it says that I wasn't really pushing very hard. I contemplated a 500 attempt, but knew that 475 would put me over 1100 for the day, so chose that instead. It flew to my knees but I couldn't lock it out, which is probably a first; usually, if it's off the ground, it's up. A good day all in all, and one inmate gave me a copy of his "CrossFit" workout, which is too ridiculous to share. Mike ended with a 560 deadlift at 235lbs bodyweight.