Your ribs protrude out. If you take a deep chest breath in the mirror, you will notice it. That’s what your ribs look like during your squat. To have a more efficient squat, you have to keep our ribs down. I wouldn’t be surprised if you do the same thing when deadlifting.

Run

10k run at 5:57 pace. It was really really hot.

jdb, I'll watch a video on it and play around in front of the mirror and then post another video next time. Thanks!

Crossfit

Front Squat Complex:
15 minutes to build to a heavy 1 pausing front squat (2 sec pause at bottom) + 1 front squat

80
90
95
100
102.5

Running Jackie
For time:
1000m run
50 thrusters @20
30 pull ups

9:19 RX

I felt a little faint on the set of 100, and really faint on 102.5. I'm not sure if I paused the entire 2 seconds on the 102.5.

I'm really pleased with my time for the metcon. I've done Jackie quite a few times, and my last one was in Sep 2018 and did it in exactly 9:19. 1000m run is equivalent to a 1200m row, and Jackie is a 1000m row, so I did an extra 200m in the same time.

I finished the run in 4:44.
Thrusters were broken 10-10-10-11-9, and finished around 7:15
Pull ups were 5-5-3-2-2-2-1s.

My coach told me afterwards to straighten my legs during pull ups as I was losing a lot of power by bending them. I'll try that next time.

Run

2k warm up
4x400m, 400m jog/walk
1.5k cool down

I tried to keep the intervals below 100s. They were 98, 100, 96, 96.

jdb, I completely missed your comment a few weeks earlier about hyperextending my back. I've been doing a lot of mobility work and holding my bottom position of the squat in front of a mirror has been eye opening. I think I've realized my mistake. My weight has been too far on the heels of my foot. When I distribute it evenly, my back angle changes forward and the hyper extending doesn't happen.

We are in the same boat on having the weight shift to our heels on the descent. I still find it difficult to stay in my quads out of the hole. My knees tend to shift back and I good morning the weight up. I’ve also found that pause squats help find weak points. It’s still a whole different matter fixing them when the weight gets heavy.

Yeah, I have the same problem! I've been accumulating 5 minutes or so every day in the bottom position of an air squat and I think it will help. Let's see how it holds up under heavy weights

Open Gym: Strength - Upper

Bench Press (60s rest)
70x2x5
72.5x2x3

Barbell Row
40x8
50x8
55x8
50x8x2

OHP
40x7x4

Pull ups (90s rest)
10, 6, 5

Engine Builder - W1D1

Bike
3x5 min, 2 min rest

55, 55, 56 cals

Yoga

1 hour of yoga

I started an engine builder program that I had started a year ago and abandoned. Instead of running, it's more crossfit focused. I am going to completely dedicate myself to it, it is a 1 year program. It builds up to 5 sessions a week, but they are usually less than 30 minutes, so it shouldn't interfere with strength.

You may want to monitor if sitting in the bottom of a squat affects your workout the next day, especially if it involves squatting or deadlifting. I found if the day before deadlifting that I did yard work, in which I would squat a lot, my deadlifts suffered horribly. YMMV, of course.

I can't imagine it would, but I'll keep it in mind. Crossfit basically has me constantly sore, so I'm pretty used to not working out at 100%.

Engine Builder - W1D2

10k run @5:36

4k easy
4k at marathon pace (5:12, was aiming for 5:15)
2k easy

The program calls for a 22 minute endurance piece, increasing by 2 minutes every week. Since I do long runs anyway, I'm just going to make it a slightly faster pace (marathon pace) during a long run. This will keep me race ready at any time, if I keep doing the long runs.

Crossfit

For time: (12 minute cap)
21-15-9
Strict Pull ups
Strict HSPU

I started out wanting to do it RX, but knowing that there was only a 10% chance of me finishing it. I adjusted it on the fly to 21-12-9 for pull ups and 15-9-6 for HSPU and finished in 10:44

15 minute AMRAP:
Buy in: 1k run

Then,
3 wall balls, 3 burpees
6 wall balls, 6 burpees
9, 9 etc

114 reps RX (finished 6 burpees in the round of 18)

2 metcons in a day, brutal.

Engine Builder - W1D3

1.5k warm up
18x(30s run, 30s walk)
1.25k cool down

Average pace for the intervals was 3:55.

I did this exact workout in June 2018, when I half heartedly started this program last. Average pace was 4:07.

Strength - Upper

Bench Press
65x6x3
60x6x3

BW Pull ups
5,5,5,5,5,5 (super setted with bench press)

Barbell row
60x6x4

Push ups
15,15,13,10,10

Hollow rocks
12,12,12,12,12 (super setted with push ups)

We only have 45 minutes of open gym. I get there 5-10 minutes before and leave 5-10 minutes after, so these sessions never take more than 60 minutes.

Engine Builder - W1D4

Bike
1 min on, 5 min off x5 (anaerobic)

26, 22, 20, 19, 19 cals

It was my first time doing anaerobic intervals on the bike, and my pacing was all off. I know that I need to do more of this, I do way too much steady state. If in a month or two, I can redo this workout and hold 22 or 23 cals throughout, it will be a direct substantial increase in my crossfit skillz

Engine Builder - W2D1

15 rounds of 40 seconds on, 20 seconds off

146 total calories on the bike

I didn't preset the intervals because the stupid bike would beep every second during the rest period, so it may have run a few calories over.

Yoga

1 hour

Strength - Upper

Bench Press (15 minutes to build to a 5 rep max)
60x5
65x5
70x5
75x4

Tate Press
10sx12x3

OHP
40x5
42.5x5
45x5x3

Weighted Pull ups
5x5
8x5
5x5x2
5x4

It looks like my bench press has really gone down. I even had a good 4 minutes rest before my attempt at 75.

Engine Builder - W2D2

12k run at 6:05

I'm going to alternate a 10k run with some marathon pace in it, and a longer run to somewhat prepare myself for the half marathon. I'm going to try and keep the longer runs really slow and increase time on my feet.

I also went to the physio about my lower back. He said I have a very minor tear in my Left Quadratus Lumborum. He also said I'm a bit uneven and tilted one way, which is my this happened. My right shoulder is lower than my left. A physio 2 years ago told me this as well and I ignored her. He gave me a few exercises, which I will do for once.

The better news is that he said to squat and deadlift and do everything, but if the pain is more than 4/10 while doing it or for 24 hours after, then stop.

Strength - Lower

Front Squat (60s rest)
80x5x4
85x5

Deadlift (90s rest)
60x10
60x8
80x6
90x4
80x10
90x10

Back Extension
4x12

Banded Pull Through
2x20

Chinese Plank
3x1 minute

First time squatting and deadlifting after 3 weeks after getting the okay from my physio. I felt no pain during squatting, and could feel the injury very very slightly during deadlifts, so I kept them really light. The rep scheme was to build up to a heavy 10, and then drop 10% and do another set of 10. I kept it light and added a bit for the final set instead.

531 Bench Press - C1W1

Bench Press
45x5
52.5x5
60x5x5

Barbell Row
40x12
45x12x3
40x12

Ring Dips
5x5

Hammer Curl
40 myo reps with 10s

Plank
3x1 minute, 60s rest

Let's see if I can stick to a program for once.

Open Gym

10 minute bar muscle up EMOM
1 per minute, except 2 in the last minute

Engine Builder - W2D3

8x30 seconds, 2:30 off (bike)

12, 12, 14, 14, 12, 13, 12 ,13 cals

The muscle up EMOM was great. I haven't done muscle ups in a couple of months and by the 7th or 8th minute, my technique was much better and they were actually getting easier. I need to remember to keep my legs together and not lose power that way

Engine Builder - W2D4

Run

1k warm up
2x8 min, 4 min off
1k cool down

The 8 minute intervals were are 4:39 and 4:38 pace. Last year when I did it, my pace was 4:55! It was also really really hot today.

531 Squat - C1W1

I used a 1RM of 127.5 to start a bit lighter than usual due to my back problems and not squatting in 3 weeks.

Squat
70x5
80x5
87.5x5x5

Strict HSPU and strict PU superset
5 of each, every 2 minutes for 7 rounds (35 of each in total)

Barbell Lunges
40x5 per leg
50x5
55x5x2

Plank
Around 3 minutes total



My main cue was to keep the weight on my feet way more forward and evenly distributed. It used to be on my heels. I thought that would fix the hyperextending of my lower back, but has it?

I think they look fine.

Thanks renton.

Mobility update:

I have used GOWOD for a month now (mobility tailored to you). I did a total of 15 hours in the month and redid the same test.

Shoulders: 50 to 58
Overhead: 33 to 50
Hips: 53 to 65
Posterior chain: 25 to 38
Ankles: 100 to 100

Overall: 44 to 56

There has been a pretty big and noticeable improvement. I can touch my toes without warming up, which I couldn't do before. This can only be good for my long term health and I'm enjoying doing it anyway.

Engine Builder - W3D1

Run
3x4 min, 90 sec off

4:20, 4:20, 4:26

I need to stop looking at my pace so much for runs, because I nearly killed myself trying to keep it at 4:20 on the last interval. The last one was actually uphill, and the grade adjusted pace for it was faster than the other two.

Double session today, but I have a wedding this weekend for all the alcohol recovery.

The squats look pretty good. Only thing I see as even a possible issue is your knees stop moving forward just before bottom of your squat in some reps. Since you seem more than strong enough I suspect your ankles were locking out. Maybe do some ankle flexibility exercises during warm up and see if that helps.