Monday 13 Feb 12

Rest day.

We're now only one week out from release of the first Open workout. My focus over the next week will be on continuing to hammer away at my metabolic threshold. That includes both pushing past the comfort zone on metcons and improving limiting factors (i.e., pressing endurance and leg strength). I've been trying to increase my volume on the pull-up bar in terms of pull-ups, knees-to-elbows, and toes-to-bar, as I want to be able to hammer these movements during the Open. I've also been emphasizing pressing endurance by including dips in my warm-ups and by performing extra push-ups at every opportunity. I should probably spend some time on the rings this week. My muscle-ups are decent, but could surely use some extra work. There's not much I can do at this point about ring dips and handstand push-ups other than continue to hammer away at my dips and push-ups. I can throw in some extra skill work, but I can't worry about it too much.

I'm pleased with how my deadlift and squatting have progressed. I'm front squatting more weight than ever and feel confident handling anything under 275# for reps on deadlift. I believe that some continued work on the GHD will help with both of these movements. Heavy weights will always be a weakness of mine, but I feel as though I've gotten over some major mental hurdles and feel more confident than ever lifting big weights.

One thing I haven't considered much is scheduling with respect to the Open workouts. I'm not sure how much rest I want to take beforehand and when they'll fall into the weekly schedule. I definitely want a full rest day before the workout, but I'm not sure about two rest days. Maybe a lighter volume day followed by a rest day would be best. I'll know more in a few days.