11-10-28: Handstand Push-Ups and Power Snatches

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, October 28th, 2011

Where was THIS a year or so ago? Big thanks to the fine men and women at CrossFit Camp Dubs: Forging Elite Warriors in the Mountains of Afghanistan.

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WoD: 10 Rounds or 25m AMRAP

• 10 Handstand Push-Ups- Band-assist
• 3 Power Snatches 155# 115#

Well, it was bound to happen. After feeling pretty good setting new strength PRs over the last few weeks, I needed the amazing ability of CrossFit to suddenly and abruptly keep my ego in check. Yup, a lengthy couplet chock-full of two movements I sort of suck at...I used to think I was ok at power snatches, at least prior to starting at Elm City. Now I've had the chance to be coached and had my technique looked at by someone else, and have a much better grasp on all the things I need to work on. They are legion.

Handstand push-ups have recently become near impossible again, since I graduated to doing them with assistance bands from the pull-up bar. Hell, its not even the HSPU's themselves... its getting myself kicked up into the correct position in the first freaking place. Well, I got a bit of practice today, that's for damn sure.

Today was a lovely workout, where there were only two of us (my assumption is that everyone else was saving themselves for tomorrow's Barbells for Boobs sponsored "Grace" (30 Clean & Jerks for time) being hosted locally at CrossFit New Haven.) which led to LOTS of personalized training and feedback. We blew through the first round in 90 seconds, and set that as the pace we should maintain. Sounded good on paper. Round two took quite a bit longer, and after that all bets were pretty much off. The second or third round, I could barely kick up into the bands. My power snatch form was unsteady throughout, which was VERY frustrating.

When we started the workout, there was no 25 minute cap, and no AMRAP element, just the goal of ten rounds, to ensure a proper focus on form, especially on the snatches, where a workout like "Grace" will tend to devastate form, leading those in the real Olympic community to hate CrossFit. Rightfully so. In musical terms (you did see the banner at the top of the blog, right?), its the equivalent of someone trying to play a Charlie Parker solo by wiggling their fingers as fast as they can go. Sure, they played a lot of notes, but chances are NONE of them were right, and it didn't sound *anything* like Bird. So, the goal was to avoid that, and where necessary, time was taken to stop and coach the power snatch.

My eye opener came when Coach Vin shot a video of one of my reps. Mid workout, he had me stop to watch. I'll be damned. The amount of crap I do wrong is frackin' JAW-DROPPING. Most heinous, I do the stripper move. Despite focusing on the start of the lift being a deadlift, apparently the sheer terror of what follows after the deadlift portion makes me completely crap the bed. The first thing to move up is my ass, like I'm sliding it up a stripper pole. (I wonder how many hits that phrase is gonna give me from Google searches...)

At some point, we were asked where we were in the workout. Kara had stormed into her 8th round, moving like a champ. I gasped out that I had just finished my fifth round. Next thing I knew, Vin had written the slight variation of "25m AMRAP" on the whiteboard. Again, form shouldn't suffer, but he apparently didn't want my corpse screwing everything up for the next class coming in at 6:30am. I continued trying to to work on my power snatch form as well as I could, and was finding somewhat more luck with the band-assist HSPUs. By the time the timer was up, I had amassed 7 full rounds and 4 HSPUs. Not bad, since I seriously thought I was going to pass out just about every time I came down from the HSPUs and in between power snatches after about the third round. That can be the one HUGE problem with working out first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. No gas in the tank can mean just exactly that.

11-10-27: Back Squat 5RM and Tabata Air Squat

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Chyna Cho cranking out back squats. (crossfitfootball.com)

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet with a perfect air squat. (crossfit.com)

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Strength: Back Squat - 5 Rep Max: 3 attempts
WoD: Tabata Air Squat

A quick look at my Personal Records page revealed that I had no previously written down maxes, so I ended up having to skim this blog to find any info. My highest previous max (that I could find) was a 5RM of 245#. That was set in a 20 minute effort to establish a new 5RM, which I believe it was at the time. My goal for today was to break it, substantially.

We were told that we would be limited to 6 sets, 3 warm-up and 3 attempts to set a new 5 rep max. Not including an empty bar set just to grease the grooves, I kept to that plan. My goal was to make my previous PR the first work set, then use the final two attempts to set a new PR.

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6
Reps	135#	185#	225#	245#	255#*	265#*

That's exactly what I did. I set a new PR on the 5th round, then did it again on the 6th. Granted, I thought I was gonna die on the 5th round...and thought I HAD died on the final rep of the 6th round. It's a bad thing to just want to stand up so that you can dump the weight and pass out safely. Fortunately, I managed to stand up AND not pass out. w00t!

For all that, then we had the HARD part of the workout: Tabata air squats.8 rounds of 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest. As always, the first round felt downright EASY. The second, a little bit less so. Third through seventh felt like travelling through circles of hell, while the eighth... ah, almost done by the eighth round. Overall, I was pretty happy with keeping my reps as regular as I did. Of course, even after heavy back squats, my ability to maintain reps in a squat tabata are far superior to push-up tabatas, when I usually end up with at least one round of one rep!

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Reps	17	14	13	13	13	10	10	12

11-10-26: Bench Presses and Pull-Ups

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

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• Strength: 3-3-3-3 Bench Press
  • 87%-90%-92%-92% of 1RM
• Following Each Set:
  
  • Max Rep Pull-up

First things first. I think I screwed up on my weight calculations. Having visited my PR page at 5 in the morning, I thought my PR was 175#, meaning my sets today would be at 155#, 160#, and two at 165#. All of which I banged out pretty easily. Looking back, it turns at that original 175# was for a 3-5RM. Using THAT to calculate a 1 rep max really means I should have been basing my numbers off of either 185# (3RM) or 197# (5RM). Fudge. So, following on from that, if my calculated 1RM was 185#, my work weights should have been 160#, 166# and 170#, and at 197#, they should have been 170#, 177# and 181#. So basically, I accidentally totally slagged off today. As I said, fudge.

Pull-ups, I opted to go with a lighter band than usual. I would have liked to do them completely unbanded, but frankly, wouldn't have gotten enough work in. As originally written, the workout was to be done with added weights. I definitely wanted more than one rep. :S

Round	1	2	3	4
Bench weight/reps	155#/3	160#/3	165#/3	165#/3
Pull-Ups	11	9	8	7

After working through the WoD, we had some time left over, so I worked on some 20# medicine ball cleans. They are SO easy compared to barbell cleans, but I do love them for working on the feeling of dropping into a nice full squat on the catch. After warming up with a few of those, I moved onto empty bar cleans. As usual, I've been struggling on keeping the bar close to my body, especially through the high pull/shrug. It may be super easy to pull the bar back in when its empty, but near impossible with any sort of weight on the bar. So, I tried to work on that for a bit, then distracted myself with some of the other movements I need work on. Overhead squats, front squats, back squats, barbell complexes, that sort of thing.

11-10-20: Push-Ups, Sit-Ups and Kettlebell Swings

Elm City CrossFit Wod for Thursday, October 20th, 2011

OK, I didn't do 'em one armed. I can do those... but I can use the other hand to count the reps, with spares...

Ab-Mat sit-ups, legs spread a bit wide to take the hip flexors out of the equation a bit. Top position (not shown) is shoulders in front of the hips.

Kettlebell swings, as shown by CrossFit Games '11 3rd Place Women's individual winner Annie Sakamoto. Yup, she rules! (crossfit.com)

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WoD: 4 Sets Until Failure

• Push-ups
• Sit-ups

Score is Push and Sit-up combined total

Sellout: 5x 30sec on:30sec off:
Max Rep KBS 55# NO DROP

(Note: writing this a week later... memories are fading rapidly!)

My only goals were to try to maintain my numbers from round to round, not in a "save some for next round" kind of way, but just in that the total from the previous round became the next round's goal and to break 200 points. I didn't base that on a lot, and didn't work too hard to keep track of my total as I went. So it was kind of gratifying to hit that mark.

Movement/Round	1	2	3	4	Totals
Push-Ups	22	15	13	11	61
Sit-Ups	50	30	30	33	143

Total score: 204

Obviously, it wasn't the most successful goal, though I did manage to stay fairly consistent on the sit-ups... after the first round. :S

Round	1	2	3	4	5	Totals
KBS	19	19	16	18	18	90

11-10-19: 1 Rep Max Clean and Jerk

Elm City CrossFit WoD for October 19th, 2011

Natalie Burgener cranking up some big weights in the clean and jerk. (Looks like 118kg according to the board behind her...260#? Yeesh. Someday, maybe. Maybe.)

Sage Burgener also cranking up some big weights. Strong family!

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Strength: 1 Rep-Max Clean and Jerk

• Complete no more than 10 attempts/sets

Pretty simple. After a bit of review and warm-up, we started in our warm-up sets. After a few reps at 45#, 65# and 85#, I hit my work sets. My previous PR was 125#, set back in June. I had the mental goal of 155#, just based off of setting two 30# PRs back on Friday. Not the sanest plan, but not a terrible one, either. After Monday's fun with power cleans and squat snatches, my right collar bone was a bit bruised up, making me a bit gun shy on the catches. I was also struggling with popping my elbows through quickly enough (picture #3 in the Natalie Burgener pictures, and #4 in the Sage Burgener set). They just felt crusty and slow, especially the left elbow.

I failed on my first two attempts at 95#, not due to a lack of strength, but due to a lack of technique. I can easily power clean that weight, which I did both times. However, after feeling myself slowly catch the bar and essentially lower it to my shoulders, I realized my pinkies had popped up into the way of the bar. I couldn't pop the bar back up into a full grip for the jerk, because of those damn pinkies in the way. In checking in with Coach Vin, we had a quick laugh at the fact that I was popping the bar up in front of my face (a several inch bump), but still couldn't get my hands back on the damn bar. At a heavy weight, where the bar would barely move a single inch, I would stand no chance. Technique technique technique. I finally nailed a 95# clean and jerk by not letting the bar actually roll all the way out of my fingers. It meant I didn't actually get my upper arms all the way parallel, but at that weight, I'm strong enough to do it poorly. This isn't necessarily a good thing...

I failed once at 115# (same issues), then nailed it on my second attempt. As there was a lack of 5# plates, I added two more 10# plates, and jumped to 135#, shooting for my first PR of the day. I failed twice, both for the same stupid issues as before. My clean form was getting a little worse, as I had completely stopped bothering to try to squat for the catch, and so was power cleaning the bar on every rep, without even getting my feet into the receiving position (a little bit wider than shoulder width). The only way I could have made it harder would have been to try to catch the bar while standing on my tip-toes. Still, it was all forearm/wrist/finger issues that was making me fail. Again, I finally nailed the 135# rep when I kept the bar from rolling out of my fingers, compromising my form overall. Meh.

I admit to being pretty psyched the whole way through with my jerk form. Though I wasn't overly happy throwing heavy weights over my head, I never once finished the rep by pressing out. Each time, I had a nice good pop, and my splits were all deep enough (and quick enough) that I was able to get completely under the bar. And hold and recover every single rep. As crappy as my cleans were, the jerks were all kind of awesome.

Finally, the time had come. My goal weight of 155#. (Another 20# jump... sheer stupidity, I know, but again, there weren't enough small weights to go around.) I failed once, but again, it wasn't strength that failed me... f'ing technique. F'ing pinkies!! I realized there was a pair of 5# plates, and that I could drop down to 145#... which I considered doing. Then I said "screw it" and tried again at 155#. This would be my 30# PR I was hoping for. All I needed was one good clean... crappy or not.

One crappy clean later, I had the weight on my shoulders. My hands weren't completely out of position. My pinkies weren't in the way. Holy crap, all I needed was one more good jerk. Just one more good jerk. I took a bit of time to gather my breath, trying not to panic at my stupidity for trying to throw 155# over my head. Dip, drive, CATCH! Holy crap, I had 155# over my head! I quickly got my feet back under me, spent a second to make sure the weight was solidly up, then dropped it, having just set a 30# PR on the clean and jerk.

So, though I struggled the entire time with form, and probably looked like an idiot with my crappy form, I still got that damn weight overhead. Can't complain too much about that. What it reveals though, is that I need to improve my form (and quick) if I want to lift heavier weights, and getting stronger will allow me to improve my form. Or, if you're from the 80s like me...

• Bill: Ted, while I agree that, in time, our band will be most triumphant. The truth is, Wyld Stallyns will never be a super band until we have Eddie Van Halen on guitar.
• Ted: Yes, Bill. But, I do not believe we will get Eddie Van Halen until we have a triumphant video.
• Bill: Ted, it's pointless to have a triumphant video before we even have decent instruments.
• Ted: Well, how can we have decent instruments when we don't really even know how to play?
• Bill: That is why we NEED Eddie Van Halen!
• Ted: And THAT is why we need a triumphant video.
• Bill, Ted: EXCELLENT! 

11-10-17: O-lift and box jump triplet

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday October 17th, 2011

Some women can be scared of learning the Olympic lifts, afraid of becoming big and burly. This is Natalie Burgener snatching far more than I can, and though it looks like she's working hard, she certainly doesn't look big and burly. Just awesome. (crossfitfootball.com)

(videos reposted from the original ECC workout page, because they are awesome)

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WoD: AMRAP 3 x 4min on:1min off

• 7 Power Cleans 135# 115#
• 20 Box Jumps 24"
• 3 Snatches (full) 135# 65#

I felt pretty good on the warm-up (pvc pipe with re-bar inside) but as usual, the transition to the real bar was intimidating. Warmed up a couple of power cleans and full snatches. Oddly, today the snatches felt better than the cleans, but I soon realized I was having trouble transitioning from the third pull (ankles, kness, and hips open, elbows high and wide, shoulders shrugged) to punching my elbows under the bar, especially on the left side. I tried some extra stretching and mobilization, but nothing really seemed to unlock it. No matter how fast I tried to make the transition, I kept getting caught out of position by the bar, resulting in it glancing/knocking on my clavicle more often than being caught on my shoulders. Basically, ow.

Worked up to the weights I was comfortable using the for the workout, which was just a hot mess of exhaustion. What ended up being nice about the weights I picked was that, each time my form lined up correctly, the weight felt WAY too light. A properly performed 65# snatch felt like I was throwing a stick up in the air. Of course, those perfect reps were the exception, and NOT the norm, but that's ok. It means that the skill is in there somewhere, now I just need to make those correct efforts the norm, rather than the exception.

11-10-14: Rope climbs and wall-balls

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, October 14th, 2011

Annie Sakamoto and Amanda Allen rocking the rope climb at the 2011 CrossFit Games. (crossfit.com)

Wall-balls. Use a full body extension to power a med-ball up to the target. If we didn't have to squat to full depth, these would be easy for us tall guys (thanks for pointing that out, Drywall. I used to like these... As it is... stupid standards.) (crossfit.com)

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WoD: 20min or 300 points

• 1 Rope climb
• Wall-balls till broken 20#/10ft

Score is total rope climbs + wall-balls = 154


This would be my first time climbing ropes since elementary school. It turns out, I'm still afraid of heights! (Well, I already knew that, and really, its not the height so much as the terror of falling....).  Instead of a full rope climb (15-20'), I completed 2 2/3rd attempts on the knotted rope (where the rope is tied into knots every 4-5'... much easier to climb!).  Definitely at the hairy end of my comfort zone, height wise, but I'm hoping that as I get used to the work and bored with only going up part way, I'll eventually push on to the next knot, then the next, then the ceiling. Baby steps out the door, baby steps down the stairs...


Thought this workout was never going to end. Kept track of score just in the off hope that I would finish early. Hah. 20 minutes later, I had amassed 154 points, and learned a new way to rest with the wall-ball in the bottom of the squat, where I didn't have to actually hold the ball off the floor, but had it cradled in my legs and arms. Much easier than standing there holding it against your diaphragm wondering why its so hard to breathe...

11-10-12:Overhead squats, front squats and running

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday October 12th, 2011

Hey, it's Robb Wolf! Helping to demonstrate awesome overhead squat technique. (crossfit.com)

Eva T. rocks the front squat. (crossfit.com)

Running. Not jogging. Running. (crossfit.com)

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Strength:

• 10 min to Max Overhead Squat
• 10 min to Max Front Squat

Sellout: 2x

• 400m Run

Rolled into ECC just as sore and tight as could be 24 hours after lifting heavy and often (deadlifts and kettlebell swings). It was bad enough that I couldn't actually roll out the soreness, since touching my back with the roller was agony.

Brownie points if you know WHY this is here.

I tried to stretch it out, too, but well, sometimes there are aches and stiffnesses you just CAN'T work out by yourself. This was one of those times.

I'm not the biggest fan of my own overhead squat form, but this was the first time trying them with my wrists taped, which definitely helped. My previous PR was 95#, but I don't know when I did that, and knowing about my form issues, I almost find myself doubting I did it. Probably NOT to full depth, but I'm not sure now. Doesn't really matter, I destroyed that PR on my way to a 1/2 bodyweight overhead squat, which is pretty cool to me! I was teamed up with Doug, one of our newer athletes, since we're about the same height. We ended up shuffling 10# plates, since I'm a little stronger than him. During the front squats, it got a little funny when we had a 25# plate on each side, and six 10# plates on each side too! After failing out on a few of the lighter lifts, I managed to go heavy all the way up to 125#, a new PR by thirty pounds! ;)

At the end of 10 minutes, we transitioned over to front squats. I jumped right in at 125#, and started going up in 20# jumps, then 10# jumps in the last few attempts. I finally nailed a 215# front squat, again increasing my PR by 30#. After the overhead squats, the front squats were SO easy! Anything's easy after stupid overhead squats.

Overhead squat max: 125# (PR)
Front squat max: 215# (PR)

For the sell-out, we were again running in the parking lot. Oddly, doing two 400s was downright easy compared to several 100m runs. For the second, I tried to keep up with Larry (the collegiate rower...bastage), and even though he smoked me, I came in at 1:23. I have no idea how that measures up to anything, but its interesting to note.

11-10-11: Deadlifts and kettlebell swings

Elm City CrossFit Endurance WoD for Tuesday October 11th, 2011

Heather Bergeron cranks deadlifts in dramatic lighting. (crossfit.com)

Kettlebell swings. By an amazon. (kettlebellisking.com)

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet runs, and makes it look a bit easier than I ever manage. (crossfit.com)

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WoD: For Time

• 6 Deadlifts @ 85% (285#)
• 12 Kettlebell Swings 55#
• 5 Deadlifts
• 12 KBS
• 4 Deadlifts
• 12 KBS
• 3 Deadlifts
• 12 KBS
• 2 Deadlifts
• 12 KBS
• 1 Deadlifts
• 12 KBS

Sellout: On the Minute

• 10 Dumpster to Dumpster - Run

There are those times when a revelation isn't quite what you want it to be. A great example is this: When it turns out what you THOUGHT was your one rep max turns out to be approximately 85% of your 1RM. In other words, what you thought you could do once, you actually need to do 21 times. Crap. I mean, awesome, but really, crap.

Thankfully, I had Coach Joe as my ref/counter for the workout, and his encouragement (and yelling) got me through the final few rounds. The first few weren't so bad, and overall, it wasn't even the weight of the deadlifts... it was the burning in my lungs from all the fracking kettlebell swings. I opted to go with the 55# kettlebell and the traditional swing (ie, just to shoulder height, NOT overhead). You'd think that would have made them easier. Nope.

Total time: 8:06

For the sell-out, it was running in the parking lot, dumpster to dumpster, or a little bit less than the length of the thing, approximately 100m (guesstimating from the google maps view of the lot).So, 10 hundred meter dashes. Well, by the last few, they were really just jogs, though I did try to sprint out the final length. I again paired up with Coach Joe, who took it into his own hands to modify the sell-out, so that twice, we ran back and forth in one shot, resting for the remainder of the minute we were on. Distance-running bastage. ;)

11-10-05: Bench press and triplet

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, October 5th

Coach Rip works bench press form with Eva Twardokens. If Rip tells you something, chances are he's right. Period. (crossfit.com)

Wallballs. Hip crease goes below top of the kneecap in the bottom position, and all the joints explode open at the top to drive the ball up to the 10' target. This is NOT an upper body exercise! (CrossFit 2L2Q)

Push-ups. Good enough for the military, good enough for you and me. Body is kept rigid the entire time, chest to ground all the way up to fully extended arms. (TideTheory.blogspot.com)

Eva T. again, this time demonstrating chin-ups. Of course, olympic show-off that she is, she's doing them with a 70# weight between her ankles. Some people... are just awesome! (crossfit.com)

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Strength: 3 x 8

• Bench @ 65%

Sellout: On the minute: 5x 10x

• 4 Wallball 20#
• 3 Push-ups (strict)
• 2 Deadhang Chin-ups (supine grip only)

According to my PRs, my bench is at 175#, so 65% of that is 115#. After warming up with the empty bar and 95#, I was ready to rock. 8 reps at 115# was EASY. Understanding that the workout was not designed to be uber-tough, I only went up 10#, but I wanted to do a little more work. I feel I could have safely gone up to 135# and been ok, but I didn't want to push it so that I was really outside the design of the workout. All sets were completed, fairly easily.

Since the class got done benching with time to spare, Coach Vin was able to make good on his threat to increase the number of minutes for the sellout. Instead of the 5 originally on the board, we upped it to 10 minutes of work, on the minute. I felt pretty good for this triplet. The wallballs were no problem, I can do three push-ups at a time no sweat, and I can do two unbanded chins at a time pretty easily, too. It felt good to do a pull-up/chin-up workout as Rx'ed, rather than having to scale with a band or something. If nothing else, it sped up how fast I could transition onto the bar, maximizing rest time for the rest of the minute.

I was lucky to be working alongside Greg, with whom I had just shared the bench. Greg is about my size, but MUCH stronger. Basically, I was benching 125#, and he was putting two 45# plates on the end of MY weights for his reps. My only goal for the triplet was to keep up with him. He's (obviously) got some upper body strength on me, so while we stayed pretty close for every round of wallballs, EVERY round of push-ups he smoked me and was onto the bar as I was still finishing the 2nd or 3rd push-up. Usually, I would be jumping onto the bar as he was finishing up. Still, for 10 minutes, I maintained about that same split, and I felt pretty good about that. 8-9 minutes in, a little kip started showing up in my chin-ups, but other than that, I know I held the form tight for the entire time, and the difference between my best round (@19 seconds) and my worst (@22 seconds, when I missed my grip the first time I got on the bar), is a testament to the fact that I wasn't having as much of a problem recovering as I used to. By Jove, I do believe this CrossFit stuff might actually be working!

11-10-03: Barbell complex and double-unders

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, October 3rd, 2011

Annie Sakamoto in action, showing the full triple extension (hips, knees, and ankles) putting some serious momentum on the bar. (crossfit.com)

Perfect form on the front squat. Hip crease is below the knees, upper arms are parallel to the floor, hands are open, allowing the bar to really rest on the deltoids. (crossfitsweatshop.com)

Stiff-legged deadlift. Weight starts at the TOP, travels down the legs (staying against them {careful around the kneecaps!}), weight touches the floor, then back up. Lower back stays rigid, chest is filled and UP. All the weight is carried on the glutes and hamstrings. If your back is sore, you're doing it wrong.  (weightliftingdiscussion.com)

Bent-over row. Back is still rigid and protected. I couldn't find a good picture showing the bar against the legs at the bottom AND a double-overhand grip AND the bar hitting the ab/rib boundary. So, you get this tepid mess instead (I'm sure its a valid technique to someone, and that's ok. Its just not ANYTHING that we were doing...) (hookedoniron.com)

pics

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Warm-Up

• Multi-Planar Lunge
• Supine Cross
• Cobra
• Butt-Kickers
• Stiff-Legged Deadlift with empty bar

WoD: 3 x 3! Barbell Complex

• Hang Power Clean 115#
• Front Squat
• Stiff-Legged Deadlift
• Bent over Row

2min Rest between rounds

Sellout: 100Double-Unders or 300 Singles

Tired and slow coming into this workout. Second weekend in a row that was basically more work than the work week, plus working an event at the school the night before, then going out for a few beers afterwards, I wasn't the most well-rested... or hydrated! Plus it was freaking COLD out this morning (by which I mean mid '60s, which just goes to show how screwed I am come winter!) I could have stayed on the rollers forever, and didn't feel particularly better after getting off them. There was a new warm-up routine this week, and some of the new movements are pretty cool, along with some old favorites.

 After going over the barbell complex with PVC, we warmed up to our WoD weights. The rep scheme is pretty simple, sort of. For the first round, you first do each movement 3 times in a row, before moving onto the next movement. So, three hang power cleans, followed by 3 front squats, then three stiff-legged dead lifts, and finally 3 bent over rows. For the second time through, do two of each, then one of each on the third time through. That's ONE round. After resting for 2 minutes, do it again. The total number of reps is only 18, so this was definitely more of a quick burn, enforced recovery, repeat kind of workout. I kind of liked it!

After a few times through with the empty bar (45#) and two 25# plates on (95# total),  bumped up to the 35# plates, for a total of 115#. I probably could have gone up to 135#, but at this weight I was able to keep working through the workout fairly effectively. I'm sure I could have done one round no problem, but getting going again for the second and third might have been a bit of a mess...


Barbell Complex: 8:00

By this point I had forgotten about the sell-out. Silly me. Sadly, though I started out fairly well, and got to 50 double-unders pretty quickly (usually in sets of 10), the struggle to 100 was EPIC. I went from feeling like I might finish fairly early to finishing dead last long after everyone else. I considered capping myself, or just lying, but instead persevered . It was worth it, I think. :-/

Now I'm just trying to consider getting ready for work rather than crawling back into bed.