11-05-04: Close Grip Bench Press and a swing-push-up couplet

CrossFit Garden City WoD for April 28, 2001


Warmup:

• Jumprope/Double-Under practice
• Active Stretching

Strength:
Close Grip Bench Press (30X0)
 - In 15 minutes build up to 1 rep max
Conditioning:

• In the first minute complete 1 KB Swing.
• In the second minute compete 2 Pushups.
• In the third minute complete 3 KB Swings.
• In the fourth minute complete 4 Pushups.

Continue in this manner until you can no longer complete the prescribed number of reps in a given minute.
RX'd weight is 32kg for men and 24kg for women. Scale accordingly.

---

Second to last time working out with the kiddies (moving to New Haven, CT...WooT!), and it was a classic rock kind of day. I can make my peace with that.  After an uneventful warm-up, I staked out some real estate right in front of the radio and got to work with the close grip benches. As always, lacking a rack of any kind, every set was started with a hang power clean, a squat down to the bench, then lying down with the weight. The worst part (by the end of the workout) was having to do a press to get the weight up to the "start" position, then struggle to get it BACK up there to actually complete the first rep. Both failures at 185# included a perfect close-grip bench press, but failed out AFTER the slow negative that started the rep. Fair enough, but MeMeMeMeMeMeeee!

Close Grip Bench Press:

weight #	105	125	145	155	165	175	185	185
reps	3	3	3	2	2	2	F	F

Since my previous PR on the close grip bench press was 145# (but for a set of 5 at a slower (read: harder) tempo), this was a substantial improvement. Had I not been up against the end of the 15 minute timer, I would have shot for 180# just to put a cap on it. As it stands, I now have a new PR to shoot for!

After resting a bit, I got set up for the dumbbell swing/push-up ladder, using a 55# dumbbell rather than the non-existent and truly impressive 70# weight called for! I knew going in that the first few rounds would be easy, but that it would ramp up quickly. I was a little impressed with how long I managed to keep every set of push-ups unbroken (broke in the 12th minute), and was very happy to beat my goal of 10 minutes. I figured the push-ups were going to catch up with me faster than they did, which was pretty cool. I almost made it out of the 16th minute, but only scored 14 push-ups. Had I gotten those last two, I think I could have easily banged out the 17 swings... but alas, twas not to be.

Dumbbell swing/Puh-Up ladder:
15 minutes plus 14 push-ups ( 64 swings, 70 pushups total)

Cooled down with some extra jump-rope practice, working on both extended single-bounce counts and some double-under work. All in all, not a bad day.