Warmup:
- Jump Rope
- Active Stretching
- Ring Dips, 5 sets of max reps (rest 2 min b/w sets)
Take the following acsending ladder as high as possible in 20 minutes:
- 1 DB Renegade Row
- 1 DB Hang Squat Clean
- 2 DB Renegade Row (1 each arm)
- 2 DB Hang Squat Cleans
- 3...
- 3...
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| (CrossFit Rockwall) |
| (Crossfit Jersey Shore) |
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| Diablo CrossFit |
Having had to take off several days for various schedule and life conflicts, I came into this workout physically fully rested, if a bit sleep-deprived from some of those life conflicts. Unfortunately (in a good way) the gym was crawling with students today. Good to see them working out...though usually they just hang out and compare abs and biceps. Blargh.
Took some time to work on jump rope skills, first just going for single-bounces as long as possible (about 70 with a slowly accelerating rope speed), then trying to link together some double-unders. After several false starts, I suddenly got 20 linked double-unders! So, its in there somewhere. I have NO idea what I did differently to make them start going, but with both a strength workout and a met-con component, I didn't want to spend too long gassing myself before the main workout!
After killing a little time (the Smith machine I hang the rings on was in use for 1/4 squats...), I got the rings hung up, and proceeded to set a personal record for ring dips (8 in a row!) in the first round. Each successive round was spent trying to match the previous round. I didn't manage that even once...
Ring Dips: 8 / 7 / 6 / 4 / 4 = 29 reps
The room was still a bit crowded to continue directly to the conditioning part of the workout, so I ended up working with some of the track and field guys with some med ball drills, working on their form. I took the opportunity to work in some med ball cleans, by way of warming up the squats for the dumbbell cleans to come. They actually felt really good, which was nice. I haven't done them much since first encountering them at the Level 1 certification in December, and it felt good to feel all of the performance points coming back to me. And, it totally did warm up my squats, which was key for my confidence going into the hang power cleans.
After getting some room on the floor for doing the renegade rows and hang power cleans, I picked a bit of music to go all out to. While I had a nice metal mix going (Anthrax, Slayer, Metallica, Amon Amarth, Clutch, DragonForce, etc.), I wanted to be sure the intensity stayed high. I know there are people who can go hard to the Living Strings, but I'm not that guy. I need pounding metal and thunderous guitars. Thankfully, Amon Amarth can deliver that, without ANY fear of a slow ballad or something to kill the mood. Hell, I actually had to skip a track that was *too* heavy. Plus, a song called "Where is Your God?" probably wouldn't play well in a Catholic school, if they could even make out any of the lyrics. (Though probably not as bad as most Slayer, come to think of it...)
With "Twilight of the Thunder God" pounding away, I started the timer and got to work. This was my first time doing renegade rows, and I wasn't entirely sure what weight to use. I did a hang power cleans with a pair of 35# dumbbells, and they felt ok. I can do FAR more weight with a barbell, but then the arms and everything are working together on a single weight, rather than independent weights like dumbbells. I assumed (quite rightly) that as the fatigue kicked in, rowing the 35# dumbbells was going to move quickly from "not bad" to "oh my god, I'm dying." It wasn't even my back or upper arms (the "working" muscles in a renegade row) that starting to give out; my forearms, and therefore my grip, were the first casualties. By the time I was done, I could barely stop the stopwatch or manage my water bottle.
My initial goal going in was 12 rounds, with no idea how optimistic or pessimistic that was. By round 8 or 9, I kind of thought I had bitten off more than I could chew, but I soon realized that I had just finished the 11th round with about 2 minutes left. I threw myself into the final 12 rows, and popped to my feet, ready to head into the hang power cleans. Then I spent a few seconds clenching my leg muscles, trying to keep from greying or blacking out. After the stars stopped dancing quite so far into my vision, I started banging out the cleans. And I'll be damned if I didn't get the 12th one done just as my 20 minutes were up.
Total Rounds: 12 (78 reps of each exercise)
Amon Amarth \m/
Twilight of the Thunder God
Free Will Sacrifice (video from 300)
Guardians of Asgaard
Varyags of Miklagaard
Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags
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