Fitness - Back Squats - WOD - 9/18

Last night was the second night in a row I got more than 7 hours of sleep and I woke up feeling amazing. Really, I didn't feel groggy at all and my body felt super responsive and ready to rock. 7 hours of sleep for me is rare but I've noticed a HUGE difference in the way I feel after only 2 nights. The change in the way I feel in the morning after a full night's sleep is too big to ignore.

Today's was back squats and I'm not kidding, the rest I've gotten over the last two nights coupled with my rest day yesterday, had a drastic effect on my muscles. I went into the back squats feeling stronger than ever. My sets looked as follows:

Focus: 5x5, max effort back squats
1x5 - 120 Kg (264.5#)
3x5 - 140 Kg (308.6#)
1x5 - 150 Kg (330.7#)

150 Kg is the most I've ever put on the bar, even for sets of three. 140 was heavy but I knew I was capable of more. I kept a full range of motion with my butt almost touching my heels and the last two reps took everything I had. But with the support of fellow CrossFitters and a pressurized core, I was able to get them. The last rep almost got me, I stalled halfway up and it took me 2 or 3 seconds to push through that point. I felt a little dizzy/light headed after that last set.

WOD: 15-12-9-6-3 of:
Dumbbell cleans/Renegade row - 45# dumb bell each arm
Double unders (singles x3 if you can't do double unders)

Time: 8:43
Calories burned (focus & WOD): 450
Calories burned (bike to gym, focus & WOD, bike to work): 996

To get a picture of what the dumbbell complex looked like, picture a weighted burpee (holding one dumbbell in each hand). Except when the weights hit the floor and your at the bottom of the burpee, instead of doing a push up, we did one renegade row on each side. Jumped our feet back up to our hands (still holding dumbbells) and instead of just jumping, we did dumbbell cleans.

I've attached a great link above if you're not familiar with renegade rows. It explains the benefits and technique and there's also a video demonstration. They are an unbelievable core strengthening exercise and this guys' form is top notch. They also are a great back exercise. However, we did them much quicker without as much attention to form. Once fatigue sets in it's hard not to twist your torso or shift your weight from side to side a little bit.

This one smoked my shoulders. It was incredibly hard to do the dumbbell cleans and then go right into jumping rope. I can't do double unders with a jump rope so I had to scale down to singles. I was still feeling the burn like crazy though.

All in all, a great day at the gym with some big gains being made. Stoked!