Tuesday, January 31, 2012

One Step Forward, One Step, Um....Sideways?

     Over the coarse of the last 48 hours I managed to finish a paper for a class I'm taking (towards a second bachelor's degree-this time in Fire Science), battle with ComEd about a bill that I paid that they say I didn't, deal with the bank to prove I paid said bill, crush some back squats, replace two tires on my shit-box car, get a chiropractic adjustment and massage, buy food and cook several huge meals.  After all that I finished my two days off with this little gem:


A. bench press @ 60%: 12-12-12-12; rest 90 seconds
B1. ctb pull-up: 12-15 x 4; rest 10 seconds
B2. ring row off box: 8-10 x 3; rest 2 minutes
C. db or kb press: 8-10/arm x 3; rest 2 minutes
D. ring dip: 12-15 x 3; rest 2 minutes (fast!) 


     If this looks familiar it's probably because it's pretty much the same thing that has been handing me my ass for about three weeks now.  Today was better than before in a few ways and very similar to my last few experiences in others.


   A. 57kg x 12 x 4.
   B1. 15(butterfly), 12(7 butterfly and 5 kip), 12(7 butterfly and 5 kip), 12(7 butterfly and 5 kip)
   B2. 8, 8, 8 (6+1+1)
   C. 45 lb./arm x 10 x 3
   D. 15, 12, 12.


     The first thing to notice is that I finally managed all of the reps in each set of the bench press. The last set was definitely a struggle, especially from reps 7-12, but I was able to push through and get them all.  I also got all of the reps in both arms for the presses.  My left is still generally weaker than my right but, today at least, it caught up.  The ring dips were horrible again, but I think I squeezed out one or two more reps on the last set than last week.  I really struggle to maintain a solid lock out when I near the end with these.
     The real issue here was with parts B1 and B2.  Holy crap!  I stalled and stalled before starting because I knew it was going to be painful.  And guess what?  I was right.  This combination of movements is brutal.  I did manage 15 butterfly chest-to-bar pull-ups in the first set but, after that, those fell off a cliff and I was back to my usual 7+5 routine.  If I was being judged in a competition a few of these might have been "no reps" because I think I missed touching my chest to the bar, especially at the end.  I basically just held on for dear life during the ring rows.  I didn't have a prayer of getting 10 of those and I barely managed 8 on the last set.  
     When I was done I spent some time on my shoulders and pecs with a lacrosse ball but, even after all of that, my arms and chest are killing me right now.  I hope no one at the firehouse minds cutting up my food and feeding me because I have no confidence that I'll be able to do that myself tomorrow.  


We definitely could be training partners.





Monday, January 30, 2012

Zen and the Art of Back Squatting



     This video is old but it's a bit of a classic so I thought I'd post it here for you to check out.  It's a little better than 2 minutes long but, if you're like me and have the attention span of a fruit fly, the real action is between about :35-:50 seconds.  Check it out....I'll wait....





     Fortunately I managed to avoid that today.  For the record, I actually am hoping to avoid having any of my lifts or workouts end up on YouTube.  Although, in all fairness, he was trying for a 1008 lb squat.  That's half a ton people!!  There's also a note in the original posting that says that after all of this, he actually tried the lift again!!  I'm not sure if that's indicative of having the heart of a lion or the brain of a lion.  Either way it's pretty impressive.
     Before I get to the results from today's training allow me to give a little back story.  Back in May of last year Justin and I set about trying to improve my back squat, with the goal of getting it to at least 250lb (114kg).  I started off with a PR of 105kg and it was just barely parallel.  Seriously...allowing me to count that rep was extremely generous.  Over the coarse of about 6 weeks we hit it pretty hard and managed to make huge strides with the quality of my back squat.  I went from just barely parallel to a true, full, ass-to-grass squat.  However, when we re-tested I saw literally no improvement in my numbers.  I failed at 114, 111 and 109kg attempts and was completely demoralized.  Justin managed to talk me down from the ledge (something that he's actually gotten pretty good at over the past year or so) and we moved on.  Fast forward a few months to October 2011.  After returning from the OPTathalon I started a strength cycle working with some of the real heavyweights at WCCF.  Something about this cycle clicked with me and I started to feel more comfortable under heavier weights (again, it's more mental than physical sometimes) and I took my then 108kg PR all the way up to 118kg (keep in mind that I weigh about 70kg).  This cycle is the first time since then that I've tried any squats in the upper percentages of my new 1RM, starting with last week's 85% day.  The one I wrote about here.  Today was a real test though and I'm happy to say that I totally passed!

SERIES 1
back squat: 90-95% x 2 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
+
airdyne - 4-6 minutes easy
+
depth jump over hurdle: 8-8; rest 4 minutes (drop from 12" box)
+
airdyne - 8-10 minutes easy
+
SERIES 2
back squat: 90-95% x 2 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
+
airdyne - 4-6 minutes easy
+
depth jump over hurdle: 8-8; rest 4 minutes (drop from 12" box)
+
3 sets:
12 glute ham raise
15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

     Both Series 1 and Series 2 back squats were 112kg x 2 x 2.  Hitting 247lbs 8 times felt like a huge victory, especially since none of the reps were ever in doubt.  I was able to stay focused and push through the sticking points with relative ease.  300lb squat- you will be mine, oh yes, you will be mine!!
     Series 1 of the depth jumps were 31" x 8 and then 34" x 8, dropping from a 12" box.  I did both sets of Series 2 over the 34" hurdle x 8.  These felt great as well and I worked on springing out of the drop and exploding over the hurdle.  It's hard to explain, but it felt right.   

     
Arnold wasn't watching me squat today but he would have been pretty impressed if he were.




Saturday, January 28, 2012

All Business Today...

   I'll keep this short and sweet since the last couple of entries have been marathons...


A. incline bench press: work-up to heavy 3 (15-20 minutes)
B. 1 arm bench: 12-15/arm x 2; rest 3 minutes
C1. bat wing @ 20X3: 8-10 x 3; rest 10 seconds
C2. kb clean: 8-10 x 3; rest 2 minutes
D. waiter walk: 40m/side x 3; rest 1 minute
  
    A. 77kg (last rep with a teeny bit of help)
    B. 45lb/arm x 15 x 2
    C1. 25lb x 10 x 3
    C2. 50 lb db x 10 x 2, 50 lb db x 8 (6+2)
    D. 32kg x 3


   This was another tough upper body day for me and another morning session (it was Saturday so I had no choice but to do this in the AM).  The incline bench was one kg heavier than the 3 that I did last week and I needed a little bit of help on the last rep.  I get really annoyed with myself when I need help like that and I feel a little like I failed.  I know I shouldn't do that to myself but, occasionally, I can't help it.  I looked back through my book at the last few times that I did any incline benching which, it turns out, was back in December.  My numbers now are pretty close or maybe slightly higher than what I was getting then, but it was a different protocol so it's kind of hard to say for sure.  The single arm bench work was no problem but, since I'm not that swift, I think I miscounted on the second set in the left arm.  I may have actually done 20 there.
   The bat wings felt generally pretty good.  It's a lot easier doing them as the first exercise in a couplet rather than the second.  That's probably pretty obvious to most people but, like I said, I'm not that swift.  My genius was further on display today when I misread the programming for part C2.  I missed that it clearly said kettlebell cleans and did dumbbell cleans.  This wouldn't have been huge except that I couldn't find the second 45 lb db and had to go up to 50s.  I struggled with these and wasn't able to feel much hip extension or explosion and was using a lot of my arms to get them up.  This wouldn't have been a problem with the kbs which I would have been able to work with more efficiently even at a slightly higher weight.  Way to read Phil!  Strong work!
   The waiter walks felt fine for the most part but I had to navigate a bit of an obstacle coarse of people doing double-unders and then people laying on the floor after doing double-unders.  This made these walks slightly more challenging.  I also made up the GHD work that I missed from yesterday.


  I don't have anything exciting to write about today or anything fun to link to so, here...enjoy this song by The Ramones:  







Hurdle Hops and Me: It's Complicated...



                                                                                      
   Before we get started here, take a second and check out Houston Texans linebacker and steroids aficionado Brian Cushing performing a 64" hurdle hop:

   
   I'll spare you the suspense and tell you that mine don't look like that.  I am, however, getting better.  We're slowly moving through these progressions and I'm starting to feel more confident with this movement.  When we first started working on them, Justin told me to think of it like I was driving for a layup.  Um...I'm a 5'7" white, Jewish kid from the suburbs.   I didn't spend a ton of time in the low post making layups.  Don't get me wrong- I was an active kid and I played other sports-  just not a lot of basketball and when I did play I didn't do much driving to the lane.  So jumping isn't a natural movement for me.  Having said all of that, these jumps felt pretty good today...

A. hurdle-hop: 3 consecutive x 8; rest 2-3 minutes (allow 2 steps)
B. hang squat clean cluster: 60% x 1.1.1 x 5; rest 2 minutes
C. kb squat jump: 32kg x 6 x 3; rest 3-4 minutes
D. farmer carry: 45 seconds tough x 3; rest 2 minutes (go back up in weight - slightly)
+
3 sets:
12 glute ham raise
15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

    A.  31" x 1, 34" x 1, 35" x 6.  The two step approach felt better than before and I felt like I was building on the work that we had done last week with a one step lead in.  I was able to clear 36" a couple times but my knee knocked the bar off a few times as well so I just went back down to 35" and stayed there for today.
   B.  60kg x 5.  These felt very good today.  It's been about 4 months since I've done any Olympic lifting movements at all so it was nice to get these back into training.  I focused on not pulling too early, which is a habit of mine in the clean, and on moving my elbows fast under the bar.  Don't tell Justin, but 60kg is slightly higher than 60% of my last known 1RM clean but these felt super light anyway.  
  C. The kb squat jumps felt very explosive, especially in the last set.  I was concentrating on staying back in my heels during the squat portion.
  D.  I went back up to 122lb/hand for the farmer's carries.  I got a relatively easy :45 for the first two sets but the last set was :37 + :8.  I couldn't hold onto the bar anymore and it slipped out of my hands.  Next time I should figure out a way to do something in between 117lb and 122 so that I can get all of the time for all of the sets.  This will involve combining the lb and kg plates and, I'm telling you now, I'm going to mess up the math on that.
   I ran out of time and didn't get to the assistance work today so maybe I'll toss that in for tomorrow. 

   For few months I've been doing some coaching at CrossFit 847, mostly on Friday nights when I'm not at work.  They follow a pretty reliable formula of skill, strength, WOD with their programming and tonight the skill was rope climbs.  This is definitely one of my weaker technical moves.  I'm strong enough to pull myself up with just my arms, and the very few times rope climbs have come up in my programming that's just what I did.  When it comes to using your feet and properly and efficiently climbing the rope, well, that's another story.  Will Howard was kind enough to give me a bit of a crash coarse today in rope climbing technique and teaching progressions and I'm glad to say that the classes were a success.  I even managed to coach a few people to their very first rope climbs.  And, selfishly, I got much better at climbing the rope tonight myself.  

    

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Two days of training and thoughts...


   Sit back because this could be a long one.  I didn't post anything yesterday because of business/laziness so this is two days worth of training and thoughts....

   On Tuesday 1/24 I did this:
AM session:
SERIES 1
back squat: 80-85% x 2-3 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
+
5 minutes - easy airdyne
+
kb squat jump: 32kg x 6 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
+
6-8 minutes - easy airdyne
+
REPEAT SERIES 1
+
box jump, 16": 25 unbroken x 3; rest 2 minutes
*16" box - focusing on reactive ability, minimal ground contact
+
3 sets:
12 glute ham raise
15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

   This felt great!  I was a little nervous about getting back into the heavier back squats (and am still a little nervous about a 90-95% day coming up next week) but I felt awesome doing this and hit all of the reps in both sets of both series at 100kg (85%) x 3. It felt relatively light and it was one of those days where, as soon as you lift up the bar, you know you're getting all of the reps with ease.  
   The kb squat jumps felt great too.  I felt really explosive even though I was slowing down the eccentric lowering portion, mostly to make sure that the kb fit between the jerk boxes that I was jumping on.
   Box jumps were easy as well and I focused on my reacting ability and trying to land on the same spot on the box each time so that I wasn't jumping forward and back and messing up the rhythm and timing.  I was most successful at that in the last set.
   I did this training in the morning.  I'm going to try and record when during the day I train to see if there's any correlation to the time of day I work out and how I feel during the session.
   When I got to the gym in the morning there was a guy there from crossfit.com who was doing interviews about the upcoming Crossfit Games Open.  Justin said "Hey Phil, come here.  This guy's going to ask you a few questions" and, all of a sudden, there I was with a camera in my face and a microphone in my hand.  I should have taken off my WCCF sweatshirt to reveal the OPT t-shirt I had on underneath.  That would have been a sure way to get me edited out of the video but, unfortunately, I didn't think of that until later.  The guy asked me to describe Crossfit in one word or sentence and what I thought about the Open last year.  He also asked about the competition between us and Crossfit Invictus for the most competitors from a single gym last year.  I have no recollection of what I said to these questions but it was pretty much a clinic in how to talk out of your ass.  The best was when he asked me to fill in the blank in this sentence: "I am the fittest ______"  All I could come up with was "firefighter in my firehouse".  This is not only not true but also a pretty ridiculous thing to say even if it was.  I guarantee that that will come back to bite me in the ass.  I'm really hoping that Crossfit doesn't make me look like a total dickhead with this but I have complete faith that they will. 
  
  Tonight on Wednesday 1/25 I did this:

A. bench press @ 60%: 12-12-12-12; rest 90 seconds
B1. ctb pull-up: 12-12-12-12; rest 10 seconds (keep working butterfly here)
B2. bat wing @ 20X3: 8-10 x 3; rest 2 minutes
C. db or kb press: 8-10/arm x 3; rest 2 minutes
D. ring dip: 12-15 x 3; rest 2 minutes (fast!)

   This was a rough one and, as I type this, my arms are still incredibly sore.  I actually had a hard time lifting my arms to wash my hair tonight and I haven't had that happen in a long time.    I was there in the evening but I don't think that had any effect on the difficulty because I did this exact thing last week in the morning and it still whooped me.  

     A.  57kg: 12-12-12-10
     B1. 12 (butterfly), 12 (butterfly), 12 (9 butterfly+3 kip), 12 (8 butterfly+4 kip)
     B2. 25lb x 10 x 2, 25lb x 8 x 2
     C. 45lb x 10/arm x 2, 45lb x 10 (right arm), 45lb x 9 (left arm)
     D. 15, 12, 10+1+1

   The bench presses felt heavy from the start and the last two sets were very tough.  In the last set I had Kyle Dillon spot me and I asked him what number we were on and he said "I don't know.  I haven't been counting".  Thanks dude!  We figured later that I managed 10 in that last set.  
   The first set of ctb pull-ups felt fantastic!  By the end I was struggling although I did more butterflies here than the last time I did this.  The bat wings were tough at tempo as usual.
   The db presses are coming along although there is still an imbalance between my right and my left.  I did more reps today in my left arm than I managed last week though.  Again- sometimes it's the little things.
   All I wrote in my notebook about the ring dips was "These felt horrible".  Not much more I can say here...
   I read two interesting articles today which have gotten me to thinking.  The first was about Billy Cundiff missing the game tying field goal in the AFC Championship this past Sunday.  The interesting thing about this wasn't the implication that the Patriots may have purposefully given misleading information on the scoreboard (although if there's any team that is capable of doing that in the NFL it's definitely Bill Belicheck and the Patriots).  The interesting part is about Cundiff's pre-kick rituals and, most importantly, the portion of his ritual that he missed by being rushed onto the field.  Apparently, Cundiff has specific rituals for each down as the Ravens get into field goal range.  On first down the long snapper, holder and Cundiff get together on the opposite side of the field and practice some timing drills.  On second down, he gets a little closer to the sideline and does some air kicks.  On third down he visualizes the kick one time.  This was the part that he had to skip due to the confusion about what down it was (Cundiff thought it was third when, in fact, it was fourth down).  Not any of the physical warm up, but the visualization.  Kickers are pretty routinely called on the field with little warning to kick extra points after touchdowns and, at only 32 yards, this kick wasn't much farther than a PAT.  So, physically, this should have been no problem.  But he missed this bit of mental gymnastics that he plays before kicks and it turned this chip shot into a terrible miss.  I'm fascinated by the mental portion of sports and competition and this made me think about this aspect in my own training.  I've really come to believe that training and competing is as much, if not more, mental than physical.  I've developed a few rituals of my own before lifts or workouts (I'll approach the platform or bar from the same direction each time, I put one strip of chalk on my hands, take a few deep breaths) but I need to focus some more on the mental portion of my training and I've started to do this a bit with some visualization exercises.    There's a ton to be said on this topic and I've only started to think about it and explore it for myself.  On a side note- I definitely have pre-fire rituals at work depending on my assignment for the day.  I put my gear on in the same order every time, I lay my tools out in the same place each day, etc.  I have always thought of firefighters as athletes, the main difference being that we have no idea when our game is going to be.  This is probably a topic for another post though...
   The second article was linked to by Cori Safe.  It was written by Aimee Everett and it is about her up and down motivation and drive to be the best weightlifter.  What was interesting here was about how Aimee (and Cori for that matter) has been lifting since she was very young and how she struggles with the motivation to give herself to the sport anymore.  I talked with Cori about this a little bit tonight and it reminded me of my relationship with music.  Cori mentioned that she's aware that many people in the gym would love to be able to lift like she does, but she's still losing the drive to compete.  Aimee recognizes the same thing and even says that she feels guilty sometimes for not giving 100% and still having the opportunities that she has.  I know that there are people who would love to be able to play guitar at all, let alone go to college and grad school for it and then function as a professional musician for a short time.  Yet I don't want to touch it anymore (and I haven't for almost 9 years).  The problem, I think, for Cori, Aimee and me was that we began to define ourselves by what we did on the platform or, in my case, with the instrument.  That made every failure, every let down, that much more difficult and...personal.    It basically set me up for a huge burnout that I have yet to recover from.  I tend to be a bit of an all or nothing person.  Things that I'm interested in or want to succeed at will consume me and I have to work hard to not let history repeat itself.

    




Sunday, January 22, 2012


    I did this on Saturday and I wasn't sure how this was gonna go because I slept like shit at the firehouse the night before but I was pleasantly surprised.  Last time I did the incline bench press triples I managed 75 kg and needed help on the last one.  I did 76kg today with no help at all and I probably (maybe) had a few more kgs in me but I ran out of time.  I moved up in weight for the second set of single arm benches because the first set (and last week's sets) were pretty easy.  I went down for all three sets of the tempo bat wings and today was the first day that those felt good.  I was still concentrating on actually cleaning the db cleans rather than curling them and those felt pretty good as well.  The waiter walks are getting to be simple, which feels good because when we first started those I was struggling with the 24kg kbs and now the 32's are no problem.  Sometimes it's the little things...

   A. incline bench press: work-up to heavy 3 (15-20 minutes)
   B. 1 arm bench: 12-15/arm x 2; rest 3 minutes
   C1. bat wing @ 20X3: 8-10 x 3; rest 10 seconds
   C2. db hang power clean: 8-10 x 3; rest 2 minutes
   D. waiter walk: 40m/side x 3; rest 1 minute 

       A.  76kg x 3
       B. 40lb/arm x 15, 45lb/arm x 15
       C1. 25 lb x 10 x 3
       C2. 45 lb. x 10 x 3
       D. 32kg/arm x 3

    The Super Bowl is going to be New England vs. New York which is a rematch of the Super Bowl that was played the day that I met my ex-wife Diana.  Watching this game could be kinda weird...  

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Jumping and a movie


    I felt really great today in the gym.  I hung around the house doing some reading from OPT's blog which I always find super interesting and inspiring.  When I was at the OPTathalon in San Diego in October, James talked about finding your own personal definition of fitness.  I think about this from time to time and I think I really need to give it some serious consideration.  Anyway...I didn't go work out until the early afternoon so maybe the extra rest did me some good.  
   
A. hurdle-hop: 3 consecutive x 8; rest 2-3 minutes (allow 1 step)
B. back box squat: 60% x 2 x 8; rest 45 seconds (back down to 60% - focus on exploding out of bottom)
+
kb squat jump, 24kg: 8-8; rest 3 minutes (intent = explosive, high as you can get)
+
5 minutes - easy airdyne
+
8 leg-to-leg bounds x 6; rest as needed (start from standing position)
+
farmer carry: 45 seconds tough x 3; rest 2 minutes
+
3 sets:
12 glute ham raise
15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

    A. I started the hurdle hops at 30" then 32" then 34 for the last 6 sets.  I've been basically relearning how to jump the past few weeks.  It's incredibly frustrating sometimes to try and learn to approach a jump in a very specific way.  It's not completely intuitive like you might think.  At least it's not for me.  Justin has me breaking these jumps down into smaller segments which, with my little pea brain, seems to be working.
   B. 71kg to a 12" box.  These felt really good and I was focused on being explosive out of the bottom.
   KB jumps and bounds felt really solid as well.
   I used 117lb/hand for the farmers carries and managed all 45 seconds in each set pretty easily.  Truth be told though there was a bit more than 2 minutes between the second and third sets because Justin and I got to talking.
   After all of this I met some friends and saw 24 Hour Party People about Factory Records.  It was pretty fantastic although I still have a hard time sitting still during movies.  I typically have the bladder of a 6 week old puppy, but I managed to make it through this whole film without peeing which might be a PR.  The film takes place in Manchester so everyone talked with these thick accents.  Apparently women dig that shit but it sounds like a lot of mumbling to me.  Unfortunately the American accent doesn't seem to fly in Europe though, which is a drag.  I might need to start faking a British accent or something.  

Wednesday, January 18, 2012


     This is day 4 of 5 days off from work which means that I should be getting pretty decent sleep.  Even with the solid 8 hours this whooped me today.  Nothing particularly heavy but my muscle endurance is garbage right now.  
     The bench was 60%, up from 55% last week.  I'm currently working off of a 95kg 1RM for bench.  It's a little lower than I would want (all of my lifts are a little lower than I would want) but I hadn't done any real bench pressing in a long time before working at it again this fall.  Last week's 55% was pretty easy but today the last set caught up with me.  It's a lot of reps and not a lot of rest.  CTB pull-ups were a mix of butterfly and kipping.  Bat wings at tempo are about 1 million times harder than without tempo.  Seriously...I had to go down in weight (again!) to get the minimum reps.  The single arm press showed me, again, how my right side is stronger than my left.  I went to failure on the ring dips.  I was kipping those which I don't normally do but Justin said to move fast.  

A. bench press @ 60%: 12-12-12-12; rest 90 seconds
B1. ctb pull-up: 12-15 x 4; rest 10 seconds
B2. bat wing @ 20X3: 8-10 x 3; rest 2 minutes
C. db or kb press: 8-10/arm x 3; rest 2 minutes
D. ring dip: 12-15 x 3; rest 2 minutes (fast!) 

    A. 57 kg x 12 x 3. 57 kg x 9+2 (fail on last rep)
    B1. 15 (13 butterfly and 2 kip), 15 (7 butterfly and 8 kip), 12 (7 butterfly and 5 kip), 12 (6 butterfly and 6 kip)
    B2. 30lb x 10, 30lb x 8, 25lb  x 8
    C. 45lb x 10/arm, 45lb x 10 (right arm) x 2, 45lb x 8 (left arm) x 2.
    D. 15 (:20), 13 (:20), 12 (9+3) (about :25)



Foxxx goes home today which is a drag.  Here's a picture I took of him the other day:

    

Here's an old, old, old photo of us back when I had a blond mohawk.  (Don't ask...OK I lost a bet I made on the Cubs and had to bleach my hair.  The mohawk I did for fun.  It looks pretty bad ass if you ask me...)  

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Reunited with the standing triple jump


I'm off today but this is what I did yesterday:  

SERIES 1
back squat: 70% x 6 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes (slow down, explode up)
+
airdyne - 4-6 minutes easy
+
standing triple jump: 6 attempts x 3 sets; rest 3 minutes
+
sled sprint: 4 pillar - as fast as possible; rest 2-3 minutes
+
3 sets:
12 glute ham raise
15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

The back squats were at 83kg and felt better in the second set than the first where I felt pretty slow exploding out of the bottom of the squat.  

The standing triple jump was...interesting.  Although I've been doing a lot of jumping work and bounding and working on explosiveness, this is the first time I've tried the STJ since the OPTathalon in October.  I somehow managed 25' then whereas today the best I was getting was 22'.  The first two jumps felt great but I felt less explosive on the third and final jump.  

I used 90lbs + the sled for the sled sprints.  Doing these inside on the mats at the gym is like trying to sprint through quicksand.  I moved as fast as I could but it was still probably pretty slow.  Justin keeps telling me that intent is key so we'll just go with that...I was trying to run fast...