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| Squat. All the way down. All. the. way. down. Otherwise, NO REP! (Paleo Now) |
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| Box jumps. For this WoD, the height wasn't too high, to encourage faster cycling and explosive rebounding back up onto the box. Note the low reps to support that (High rep box jumps are now known to blow out Achilles tendons, which is becoming sadly common in CrossFit circles...) (Motor City CrossFit) |
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| The triple extension: ankles, knees, and hips all opening to propel the bar upwards. Note that the arms are still fully extended, "showing off the triceps," allowing/forcing the much stronger lower body to do all the work. The "jump and shrugs" mimic exactly this portion of the lift, going from a slightly contracted angle in all three joints to full extension. The arms never bend, and the weights never rise above this height. (CrossFit) |
Strength: 4x6
- Back Squat @ 80% (Calculated to 250#, then dropped to 250# for rounds 3-4.)
- Each set followed by:
- 3 Box Jumps
- 10 Kettlebell “Jump and Shrugs”
Ah the joy of figuring out calculated weights using OTHER calculated maxes to work from. I apparently managed to lift 265# for a set of 5 a month or so ago, so a calculated 1 rep max was 315#. So 80% of THAT would be 250#. So, 4 sets of 6 reps. Easy! Well, as it turns out, not so much. I warmed up at steadily increasing weights, noticing that the bar felt REAL heavy at about 225#. I finally moved up to the 250#, and prepped for the WoD itself.
I struggled mightily on the first set, but made it through. After each set of squats, we had three box jumps (20") and ten kettlebell triple extensions (aka "jump and shrugs") (36# per kettlebell). Well, feeling crushed by that first set, I stumbled through the rest of the round. After resting up a bit, I re-approached the bar. On this set, the first 3-4 reps were tough... the fifth was awful... on the sixth, about 2" out of the bottom, I suddenly realized I was on the knife's edge of completely failing out, and I had no idea how I would get rid of the bar in that position. Between my not-great shoulder flexibility, and my completely squashed up position, I just didn't know what to do. Sucking in a great breath, I did the only thing I could think of: I stood up under the weight and managed to rack the bar amidst a haze of spots in front of my eyes. Not fun. After catching my breath for a few seconds, I finished the round and started considering dropping the weight to complete the workout.
Meanwhile, everyone else was already racking their gear, since my warm-ups took me into their second or third sets. Bah. After dropping back down to 225#, I went back for round three. By now, I was so annihilated by the first two rounds, even the lighter weight was almost too much, but I made it through, and completed the round. At this point, I actually considered cutting the workout short. Everyone else was done, including the person I usually give a lift to, who had other things to get going on that morning. No one else would notice... no one but me. Seriously, I could walk away, and no one would be any the wiser. I was tired, I felt broken, it would have been perfectly ok.
Bullshit. I re-addressed the bar, got my ass under it, banged out six more reps. The last two sucked almost as bad as the one that nearly wrecked me in the second round, but with the rest of the class cheering me on (well, those who were still there...), I made my way through it, and banged out the rest of the round. I'm glad I didn't give in to the temptation to cheat the workout, the coaches, and most importantly, myself. What's the point of spending the money, and taking my time and everyone else's, just to quit when it gets hard. What's the worst that happened at that point? With a lighter weight I fail and dump the bar and end the workout there? Who cares? At least I tried! And having successfully finished it, all the better.
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