Arms really sore from those bloody plate overhead walking lunges on Thursday, shoulders moaning. Still got that strange knot below/behind right shoulder blade.

Did hang snatches (again) today, and towards the end they felt much better than Thursday.

Got the tip from my very helpful training partner to use a more narrow grip and really focus on trying to twist my palms outwards when the bar is over head. This helps keeping the arms straight and shoulders tight. Felt much more stable.

Did a couple of hang snatches on 40kg, then down to 30kg to focus on my form.

WOD

Weird one. Apparently we were scored on time to 5 rounds with a cut off at 9, which I didn’t get so I just kept going ending up finishing 8 rounds. So my time on the board is a guess…

3x2:30 mins, 30 secs rest between, to complete 5 rounds of:
3 HSPU (where I did 5 push-ups)
10 KB snatches (alternating 12kg right, 8kg left)
10 KB swings (20kg, not 24kg as on the board, bloody lbs conversion)

Since I didn’t go very high on the kettlebells to save my shoulders, not a very tough workout.

Then I did a half hour of stretching and mobility, following my checklist.

Started noticing that my lower back and glutes feel much more flexible with a wider range of motion. Feels like a good thing.

First Level 3 since injury. Felt incredibly awkward and a bit crap. Tired.

Can it be because I have been eating really poorly this week? All rice and noodles and restaurant food.

Also having a weird thing with my right shoulder blade. As if there’s a knot under it.

Grr. Taking my time with warm up and warm down though, which feels good. Have made a “mobility checklist” based on the sessions with Phil and Carolyn and the extra coaching I booked with Phil after my shoulder injury.

Yesterday I got Supple Leopard by Kelly Starret in the mail. The introduction alone is worth 50 quid, I think I’ll really enjoy going through that phone book thick hulk of a read.

Did shoulder presses today followed by hang squat snatches.

My press feels awful. But towards the end today I actually started to feel a bit better, that I could keep my abs tight and not arch my back. Need to stay low on the weight until I get the form right.

Hang squat snatch is hard. Really hard. No further comment.

Coaching points from Kat: roll shoulders back and make sure inside of elbows almost point forwards, keep shoulders behind the bar, chest up and forwards, shrug up and back to make sure bar moves in a straight line up… Phew.

WOD

5 rounds for time:
6 strict pull ups
12 burpees
24 lunges with OH plate (15kg)

Cut off at 13 mins, by which I had done 4 rounds and squeezed in 3 kipping pull ups. Although I only did 4 strict pull ups per round.

Finished with mobility exercises on my own.

What is a bit odd is that immediately after a workout and the mobility exercises, my back feels fantastic. Supple, mobile, comfortable. The day after the pain and stiffness will be back. I think the day after pain is gradually decreasing though, to I’ll keep plugging away at it.

Arrived so early for the 0730 class Tom let me join the 0630 group.

Warmed up with a quick 400m run, then 100 DUs to get calves warmed up for a max height box jump.

Worked up to a height of green box + 3 20kg plates + 2 10kg plates. Was there a 5 on there as well? Can’t remember… It felt awfully high!

Then clean drills before the WOD which I finished in 10:25.

5 rounds for time:
3 power cleans (50kg)
15 ring rows (feet on floor)
200m run

After that I spent almost an hour ball rolling and stretching. Funny thing happened.

When doing the chest and shoulder stretch with high band my left shoulder and upper arm moaned as usual. I persevered, and the second round the pain was gone! Felt amazing. Let’s see if it stays pain free, maybe I pulled something right.

Also, the “twin balls” (two tennis balls in a nylon sock with a rubber band to form a “waist” between the balls) make wonders for my lower back. This little torture implement really manages to dig in to the muscles and hit all the right spots. Somehow that removes all the pain.

CrossFit galore today. First the Skills class with Tim. We went through Turkish Getups, Double Unders and Kipping Pull-ups.

Great idea, the Skills Classes. Gives time to break all the moves down in their constituent parts and really think about the mechanics of the move.

The Getups felt ok, but really stiff and awkward. Need to practice them more for mobility.

My Double Unders feel really good now. New PB today with 49 unbroken reps. Tim gave me two great coaching points to improve further: 1) try jumping a bit higher without losing my good and straight posture, 2) keep elbows tucked in to the body to avoid shoulders getting so tired.

Kipping Pull-ups are getting there, but I need to practice them strict now to recover some of the strength I’ve lost.

Then did a Level 2 class with Kate where focus was on push jerks and toes to bar.

Shoulder feels quite good now and I went up to 45kg for the push jerks. My main issue is my lack of shoulder and chest flexibility making me arch my back when pushing the bar over head. It’s just impossible for me to maintain a tight core, really need to work on flexibility.

Toes to bar I can do a lot of, but I just don’t get how to string them together and find a rhythm. Applying the kip to the toes to bar is even harder than the pull-ups I find.

WOD

5 rounds for time:
10 thrusters (30kg)
10 burpees

Finished in 11:39, completely exhausted! That’s a really tough workout. Had to start breaking the thrusters up from round 3.

Shoulder felt really good throughout the day, although still stiff and awkward. Starting to feel that I am now over-worrying, it can take some more load now and I need to start working it properly to get strength and mobility back.

Lower back really painful lately. Not so much while working out, but at all other times. Can’t figure out why, will just keep stretching, ball rolling and foam rolling.

Shoulder can’t take jerks. Tired from yesterday and split jerks today made the WOD go crap.

Did 3 rounds, after realising I had to scale the pull ups to ring rows.

CrossFit Total: 238

Scaled strict press to KB snatch (right arm) due to shoulder.

Cindy 10 min: 7 rounds

Did the pull ups kipping, shoulder felt great! Will be interesting to see if I suffer later…

Fight Gone Bad for the first time in ages. Scaled it right down, and did kettlebell swings instead of push presses to not aggravated shoulder.

Shoulder felt fine, but lower back started moaning right at the first wall balls.

Did 264 reps, not unhappy with that considering.

Good class this morning, although I felt a bit useless. :D

Legs incredibly achy from Saturday’s sprinting class, muscle twitches in my left shoulder, sympathy pains in my upper right back, lower back still moaning and feeling a bit numb… 

Had to scale everything way back for the shoulder to cope. But I think training through the shoulder issue is the only way forward.

Skill

3x3 muscle up drills

Couldn’t do 3x5 as my shoulder started moaning.

These are tough! Basically ring rows, but with the added twist of doing them as you would a muscle up: starting in a bottom ring dip with false grip, hands to chest, straighten arms, twist hands out, then back up again.

Keeping the hands to the chest when leaving the top position is a struggle.

Did a fair amount of stretching my rotator cuff between sets (arm rotations on floor, pulling arm across chest), which really seems to help when pain comes creeping in.

Strength

3x5 OHS:
1 set @ 20kg
1 set @ 30kg, which felt crap
1 set @ 15kg

No push up test, did more warmup cleans instead at a low weight.

WOD

For time, ladder 15-12-9 of:
Wall walk holding rep # secs at top (I did these leaning forward)
Strict push press with dumbbells (5kg…)
Hang cleans (35kg)

Finished in 05:13. Since I couldn’t put any weight on I figured I should race through it all without any breaks, which I did.

Took my time on the cleans though, not hang cleaning them, going from the floor every rep and trying to nail the landing. Generally think I succeeded, and my lower back didn’t complain at all this session with just some residual pain afterwards.