300 - Day 8

Here's the workout I completed for Day 8 (yesterday):

For the Dumbbell Clean and Press, I used 2 35# Dumbbells.
For the Floor Wipers, I used a 135# Barbell.
Dips I did with bodyweight.
For the Captain's chair, I held a 15# weight with my feet.

600m Row for warm-up - 2:34

Clean and Press - 13 Reps
Floor Wipers - 20 Reps
Dips - 19 reps
Captain's Chair - 14 reps
Rest - 1 minute

Clean and Press - 7 Reps
Floor Wipers - 12 Reps
Dips - 12 reps
Captain's Chair - 10 reps
Rest - 1 minute

Clean and Press - 6 Reps
Floor Wipers - 12 Reps
Dips - 10 reps
Captain's Chair - 8 reps

800m Row Cool Down - 3:47

This was pretty hellacious. I was definitely sweating like a pig by the end of this one (I realize pigs cool themselves with mud and don't have functional sweat glands - where did that saying come from anyway?)

To determine what weights to use for the clean and press, I looked at my workout archive and came up with a number I felt was low enough to allow high repetitions, but high enough to still be affective. Honestly, I think I should have gone 5# lighter, as for the first round, it was one of my two lower rep movements - the other being the movement on the tail end of my set. This low number was acheived when I was still fresh. I would like to have used a weight that would have allowed me to get about 20 reps in like I did with 2 of the other 3 exercises.

I also think that next time I do something similar to this, I would have done the Captain's chair without weight. Now that I think about it, it really makes sense to let the second two events be bodyweight only events so that you get a partial recovery during those.

I clearly still need some work on the Floor Wipers, so I'm going to include those a bit in my workout plan.

To help with my pushing endurance in my shoulders, I think I will do a workout that consists of dumbbell presses - but when I start to go to failure on the 2nd and subsequent sets, I will transition to a push-press (legs allowed to get the weight moving).

Good news is that despite that I am doing fewer sets with mostly lower weights than I have been using in my standard weight-lifting routines prior to starting this new philosophy, I can certainly feel that my muscles are more sore the day after a workout - which at least means that I am using my muscles in ways that they have not yet adapted to. CrossFit banks on muscle confusion to keep from plateauing - that seems to be working. I'll explain more about this on a rest day article.

At night last night, I did dumbbell forearm curls of different variations - so I'm feeling that today too. Afterwards, I did a good amount of stretching. All in all a good day.

My Week 3 workout plan is below:

Day 15 - Kettleball workout with box jumps (need to get that box built!)
Day 16 - 6X 400m run repeats for time. The plan is 1:20 for 400m +/- 5 seconds.
Day 17 - Floor Wipers; Dead Lifts; Dumbbell Shoulder Press/Push-Press; Walking Lunges; Pull-Ups - I'll do more resting between sets than I did for day 8's workouts, but I will do these workouts sequentially.
Day 18 - Stretch/Rest
Day 19 - 2-3 mile Fartlek Run
Day 20 - 6x500m Rows
Day 21 - Stretch/Rest

This is obviously a basic conditioning week for stamina and endurance.

Now off to the gym for Day 9.