Deth

Fitness and everything else

Did My Twenty Rep Front Squats And Two Sandbag WODS Today

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good so I decided I would do my twenty rep front squats today and if I felt up to a WOD I’d to tomorrows. The front squats went really well for me at 140 pounds. Between the weight increasing and me obviously getting some practice in again my front rack position is greatly improving.

Several years ago I managed to get the mobility to do front squats and hold a good front rack position with a full grip on the bar and that greatly improved my confidence in heavier weights and and just felt more stable in general. I still have that mobility but maybe the best we to describe it would be not quite having the ability to actively force use of it but it’s coming back.

I’m also regaining the ability keep an upright torso while performing front squats. Naturally under very heavy weight something breaks and usually it’s my upper back but generally that’s only at or near my 1 rep max. The biggest things that helped me gain that ability were practicing heavy paused front squats several years ago and keeping in my that I want to sit between my hips and not back like so many people push.

140 pounds is still well short of where I should end up maxing out on the twenty reps and I am looking forward to it getting heavier.

The first WOD I did was tomorrow’s. I think it was 4 rounds of twenty weighted step ups with the sandbag then 20 sandbag burpees. Step ups even unweighted tend to be a mental and and likely causing the former, a visual challenge. Back when we went to the gym I just didn’t do weighted step ups. The lighting wasn’t great and there were too many distractions including the mostly shitty, repetitive music.

I have been trying to do them here when ever they’re programmed and now that I have a plyo box I’m even doing them weighted! I prefer using the sandbag for them since that’s probably the safest and most forgiving if or more likely when I misstep and fail.

That was one tough WOD for sure but I did get through it. Sadly I don’t get the RX for it since I chose to use the 20 inch side of the box rather than the RX of 24 inches. the higher sides just bring me a little too close to the ceiling for my comfort. We have these wire things that hold the insulation up with pressure and I’m always afraid I’ll pop one of them out and get a face full of insulation. Maybe someday we’ll make drywall on the walls and ceiling a priority.

The second WOD I did was with Molly out in the back yard, another sandbag WOD. It involved sandbag shoulder to shoulder which are fun but I tend to knock myself in the head at least once whiles doing these. The sandbag just occasionally flops onto my head if I don’t have my hands staggered enough in the center of the bag. It’s just the nature of the way a bag full of loose filler will work.

1 armed sandbag rows which are a new movement for me but I felt pretty good with them and got through them. I have in the past I’ve struggled with unilateral stuff. That struggle, I’m sure, is a side effect of my vision. One of the things I’ve over time learned to accept for what it is and in some ways it will bring some struggles into my fitness movements. I’ve just learned to excel at what I am able to and get through what my low vision causes some struggles with. Sure I’ll get better at that stuff but I have to accept that there is a limit to how much I can overcome the eyesight which I cannot control.

Who can forget about these but the WOD involved more sandbag burpees! Another 50 total bring my daily grand total to 130. Fun. They’re really not a bad movement. Just a little slower in the second WOD.

All and all a pretty rewarding day today. We may play with the sled tomorrow.