Monthly Review: January

After doing a year in review for the first time, I have decided to do a monthly review, so here is the first one for January. January was a relatively uneventful month for the most part with the last week being pretty exciting. For the first 3 weeks of the month it was very consistent of just doing a morning workout at CrossFit Haven and then going on with whatever I had for that day. We were doing a strength program based on Wendler’s 5-3-1 and it helped me get back to the strength I was at before having some issues last semester. It is a good program and if you need something more than a linear progression but not a complicated or advanced program, it is a good one to go at.

That next week we maxed out on the front and back squat, deadlift and strict press. I don’t like to max all that often but it was perfect timing for me because it was the last week I was home and would allow me to transition right into a new cycle at school. For my front squat I hit 185#, which tied a lifetime PR of mine so I was happy with that after having a lot of issues with my knee last semester. I got 225# for my back squat. I was happy with hitting that, and while it may not be a lifetime PR I am very happy with it. I can’t remember a time in the past that I maxed out for a single on my deadlift before this, or at least there is no record for it, so hitting 275# was good for me. I hardly deadlifted last semester so I’m pretty confident that with consistent pulling I’ll be able to surpass that pretty quickly. Lastly for my press I hit a lifetime PR of 120#. I was absolutely ecstatic about hitting that because I had been stuck at 115# since May; I had moved up all my rep maxes, but I couldn’t push past 115# so that was a great feeling.

After a rough day of traveling back to school, the next day I went to the Baseball Injury Prevention and Peak Performance Workshop at Nationals Park hosted by the Washington Nationals, specifically Dr. Weimi Douoguih, the Director of the Washington Nationals Medical Staff, Angela Gordan PT DSc, the Director of Physical Therapy for the medical staff, and John Philbin, the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Nationals.

This was an incredible opportunity for me, for one because I got to spend the day in a major league clubhouse, which I found incredible as a huge baseball fan, but also because it was an opportunity to learn from some of the best in the business. I learned a lot about the risks with baseball and balancing health with performance among other things. This was a very cool workshop, and if it is hosted again in the future, I will definitely consider going again.

This past week was the beginning of starting my next cycle as well as the first week of the semester. Like I said in the past, I am doing a 5x5 (3x5 for deadlift) starting at 70% and moving up 5# every week (every other week for press because 70% is so close to my max and I’d stall pretty quickly on that). It was a good start to it and I realized that adjusting to the relatively higher volume squatting will take a bit because while the weights were fine, it was harder than expected with the volume. I foresee this going well and progressing pretty well.

Friday I interviewed at CrossFitDoneRight in Rockville for an internship and Friday evening I found out I was accepted for it. My first thought was of pure excitement because it is a great opportunity for more experience and being in an affiliate setting will be really cool for me. My stomach then sank a little bit for how busy I am going to be. After some careful looking at everything going on though, I think I’ll be able to handle everything and I am extremely excited about this.

To a better day, week, month, year, and most importantly, to a better life.