"Fran"
21-15-9 reps of:
- Thrusters
- Pullups
- Thrusters: Choose weight that allows for completion of workout in under 10 minutes
- Pullups: If 45 regular pullups is outside your abilities or will cause the workout to last longer than 10 minutes, scale to jumping chest to bar pull-ups
Chosen weight 65# (same as the last time I did this workout, December 17th at my Level 1 certification, giving me a time benchmark to beat (7:26)).
Jumping Chest-to-Bar pull-ups. New to me, but a cool skill to learn (rather than just clearing the chin, which is MUCH easier.) Did them, as ever, on the frame of the Smith machine. Not just a door-stop anymore! ;)
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| The overhead portion of the thruster should be generated with the initial hip explosion. If you are pressing the weight overhead, you're either not un-squatting hard enough, or mis-timing the transition into the press. (crossfit.com) |
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| Chest-to-Bar pull-ups. Note that the head and neck are WELL above the bar, meaning most people's reps on pull-ups wouldn't even count. Even doing the jump version of these was tough, with a couple of missed reps that needed to be redone to finish each round. (crossfiteastbay.com) |
After warming up with some jump rope (lots of single bounce, running steps, LR and FB hops) and active stretching, I experiemented some with the jumping C2B pull-ups. New, different, and kind of hard. AWESOME. It's true... as you start to conquer certain skills, the fear associated with trying new things starts to evaporate. The number of things that are now in my rearview window and shrinking in the distance that USED to be insurmountable obstacles is constantly growing. With that number, so increases my confidence. Sweetness.
As noted above, I scaled the thruster weight to 65#, just to compare/contrast with the last time I did this workout, a little less than a month ago at my Level 1 certification. There, I had a good friend, several new friends, as well as the always impressive and commanding training staff, screaming support, praise, and threats of physical violence if I didn't "pick up that f--king bar and get going!!!!!" Truly, inspirational. (It really was. It made me miss CrossFitting in an actual CrossFit gym with other crossfitters, rather than doing it on my own.) However, that time, I did the first round of pull-ups as real, albeit pathetic, pull-ups, with the 2nd and 3rd rounds done jump-style. This time, it would be jumping pull-ups, but with the added variable of 'chest to bar.' So, a fair comparison, but not a great one. Plus, other than eating too much over the holidays, and not working out as much as I might have liked, its not like I would have progressed all that far in less than a month... still... ;)
Chalked up a bit (love it! more good stuff from the cert. I had never worked with chalk until then. It's nice not having *every* barbell/pull-up workout completely devastate my hands...), set the timer, and got going. 21 unbroken thrusters. 15 jump pull-ups c2b, followed by another 6. Straight into round 2 of the thrusters. 11 reps, followed by 4 (bar resting on the floor between... i was so pissed at myself...). 10 jumping pull-ups, followed by 3, then 2. A quick water break (the sound of my gasping for air had turned dry, and it was starting to really hurt to breathe... as usual), then into the final 9 thrusters. Unbroken. Somehow. I really wanted to die. Unfortunately, that came at a cost. It took me probably about a minute to get my gasping ass back on the pull-ups. I spent about 30 minutes just gasping, then another with my hands on the bar, ready to go, and unable to will my legs to actually jump. Total brain fail. Body was good to go. I BANGED through the final 9 reps of pull-ups, so I couldn't have been *that* wiped prior to hitting them. No good.
Total time: 7:00
That minute or so gasping for breath really cost me a way better time. True, if I was an efficient pull-up kind of guy, that would have shaved off even more time, but spending THAT much time gasping just sucks. But, it'll come, if slowly. Sigh.
After recovering for a few minutes, I set-up the rings on the back of the Smith door-stop, and did some control hangs, a few dip negatives, as well as other movements to just get used to them. Spent some time with my legs up on the smith 'barbell,' hanging upside down from the rings. Clearly, if I'm to get better at handstands and ring work, I need to get more comfy inverted. The Smith machine has found another good use, so I'm starting to like it a little more... just not as a weigh-lifting device!
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