Just. Do. The Work. Already.

Well, it just wouldn't feel like the kickoff to the CrossFit Games Open season without there being some sort of annoying non-troversy for everyone to get their knickers in a twist over. This year has proven to be no different. The first workouts were announced, and immediately the CrossFitters on the interwebz went nuts trying to figure out how to skin the WoDs most efficiently.

To review, for those of you lucky enough to be living under a rock:
Workout 15.1: 
9m AMRAP

• 15 Toes-to-Bar
• 10 Deadlifts (115/75#)
• 5 Snatches (115/75#)

Workout 15.1a
1RM Clean & Jerk

• 6 minute time cap

The first workout is an AMRAP (As Many Rounds/Reps as Possible) for 9 minutes, followed by a 1 rep max (heaviest weight possible) single lift Clean & Jerk. As discussed (at length) in the 6 minute standards video, the two workouts flow from one into the other, for a total combined time of 15 minutes.



If you watch the video (especially in light of what's to come), it rapidly becomes apparent that CrossFit HQ made a good-faith effort to account for every conceivable possibility in terms of how competitors could try to cheat the workouts. Re-watching the video is actually humorous to me now, because they clearly tried to deal with SO MANY ways people have tried to cheat in the past (or, to be charitable, "hack/bend the rules" in the name of competition.) Among those who actually wanted to try their best, the results were remarkable.

This year saw a slew of very strong athletes discover the tiniest loophole, and seek to exploit it for maximal gain. Why bother wasting time and energy on the AMRAP when you can just do a single rep of Toes-2-Bar
and then, fully rested, put up an amazing C&J. And so began the gaming of 15.1/15.1A. To be clear, some of the athletes involved are people I have the *utmost* respect for, and what follows is not me just ragging on people I look down on. Far from it. This is more disappointment than rage on my part.

To take a tangent, in college, I played Ultimate Frisbee. I was far from the best player on a team that was far from the best team... but we had fun. One of the BEST rules in ultimate, at least at that point, was "Spirit of the Game." What that entailed was everyone taking responsibility for their own actions, and their team's actions. You called your own fouls. If someone fouled you, you could call that, but it would be incumbent on the other player to really review what happened, and generally such fouls were upheld. There was never a need for a ref, and the idea of needing one was foreign. We were all out there to have fun, both teams, and that meant working to have a level playing field, without cheating or skinning the rules. Very sweet for a mediocre college team.

However, at the higher levels, where the stakes were higher, cheating and shitty calls abounded, fouls were made and then denied, or (a la the Italian National soccer team) fouls were claimed by players just looking to get that little bit ahead. But ALL the while, the values of "Spirit of the Game" were loudly professed to anyone naive enough to listen. It sounded good, but it was just another loophole being exploited by athletes more desperate to win than to win fairly and on the merits of their performance. (For the record, my love of Spirit of the Game makes me incredibly naive, too, as to hear any professional athletes talk about competition, its ALL about finding those loopholes and tweaks... but that doesn't make them right.)

Eventually, when Ultimate really wanted to go pro, they realized that, what with all the rampant cheating and poor sportsmanship on the field, they should probably get refs on the field and remove the ability to cheat from those most desperate to do so. At least as much as possible.

The CrossFit Open is struggling through the same transition right now. The Open has always been a grassroots effort to allow every CrossFitter, of every skill level, to participate, to test their fitness, to see where they compare against a global  collection of their gym-rat colleagues. Much like CrossFit has espoused from the very earliest days, athletes are expected to both know their own capabilities, but to also take ownership of their workouts. Sure, there are coaches to guide, but hopefully every CrossFitter has read
What Is CrossFit?, What is Fitness?, and Foundations. Nevermind that every article in the CrossFit Journal is now free for everyone to read, including all of the early articles that really broke down the basic movements. CrossFitters who've managed to avoid learning all of this foundational literature are really not so far removed from globo-gym members just rotely doing whatever their underpaid, undereducated trainer tells them to.

At the same time, CrossFitters, and especially those who aspire to the top of the Games Leaderboard, are expected to know what the workouts are really asking for, and what the workouts mean. In the case of 15.1 and 15.1A (to finally come all the way back around), HQs intent is *painfully* clear: Do grueling work for 9 minutes, blowing up your grip and back in the process. THEN, in a fatigued state, work up to the heaviest C&J possible. This is so elementary, it pisses me off to have to say it. AMRAP. As Many Rounds As Possible. Note the difference between that, and say... AMRAIFL. As Many Reps As I Feel Like.

The arguments put forward by those who only did a single rep, then hit a nice rested C&J, are of only the saddest, most pedantic variety. "HQ never said we had to do more than one!" "They should have changed to scoring, to combine the reps and weights. They should have seen this coming!" This is, of course, the most pathetic excuse for sandbagging one workout and then effectively cheating on the next. No, HQ didn't set a minimum, because then all of the sandbaggers would have just done that minimum, still completely missing the point of the competition.

Best part? The guy who did 3 full rounds and outlifted everyone else. Oh, and Andrew Rape completing 6+ rounds and still outlifting almost everyone. Cheating didn't even really pay off, except to be an also-ran anyways... oops!

Most delectable, as an observer, was watching the inevitable outcry from the peanut gallery when those scores were invalidated. "There goes HQ, changing the rules!" Um, go back and read the workout definition, watch the description, and tell me where HQ EVER implied it would be ok or encouraged anyone to not actually TRY on 15.1 before heading onto 15.1A. HQ didn't. Like watching Matt Murski bounce his squat clean & jerks off the ground in the 2008 games, this is a CLEAR case of people knowingly circumventing the intention of the workout, then getting butt-hurt when they got called on it. Even worse was HQ having to officially point out than an AMRAP should probably be treated like an AMRAP. Its so confusing...

So, where do we go from here? Clearly, Dave Castro has to spell everything out in purple crayon, and the standards videos will clearly need to be 10 times as long as the actual workouts, dealing with literally EVERY POSSIBLE WAY people might try to game the system. Every single workout will have to be done in front of Dave Castro himself to ensure that intentions are met.

After all, if we're going to cheat like 4-year-olds, we should probably be treated like 4-year-olds. Thanks guys. Another nail in the coffin of the Spirit of the Game. It's clearly too much to expect that everyone could be told the workout, and then go and DO the workout to the best of their ability. This is NOT the day and age of people just bucking up and doing the work. Actually, that's unfair. Probably 99.9% of Open competitors just did the work. That just leaves the whinging pedants to be told:

Just. Do. The. Work. Already.

NB. Big thanks to Matt Vincent for a fairly long conversation over Instagram on both his reasoning going into 15.1A after only a single rep in 15.1, as well as his acceptance of HQ's decision. His opinion that both scores should have been added together to really punish the sandbaggers makes a lot of sense. Given his upcoming strongman/highland games seasons, his desire to NOT epically eff up his hands on Toes-2-Bars, especially  in a competition he has no real incentive to kill himself for, makes a ton of sense. Its funny how the athletes who tried to skin the WoDs are the most accepting of HQs decision, but the peanut gallery is in absolute hysterics...

Not even just 'Frenemies?" CrossFit and the NPGL

The teams of the inaugural season of the NPGL. (adapted from NPGL.com)

You ever notice how there are those combinations of things that just ought to be GREAT, but ultimately, just fail to stick together? Vinegar and oil. Mentos and Diet Coke. [Insert some trendy celebutant] and [Insert some other celebutant]?!

Who are these people?! (Just kidding, Ozzy rules!!)

I'd have thought, after 10 years of steady growth, of really enjoying the thrill of kicking pretty much the entire fitness industry in the collective nuts (1), CrossFit TM would enjoy a new bit of friendly competition. It certainly gives another aspect into the dominance they have over the performance fitness universe they ultimately built from the ground up (2). Or, given that seemingly 90+% of their on- and off-Grid talent is coming out of the CrossFit community, the NPGL would be eager (or at least not reluctant) to name what appears, at least for now, to be the very best way to get in shape for their new sport!

Instead, we get this weird radio silence. Which isn't EVEN as good as if there were outright hostilities, so at least we'd all know where we all stood. Nope, this is like when parents are fighting, but the shouting has stopped... and the house is now icily quiet. Every one keeps their heads down, tries not to drop anything, or in any way add to the tension...

I've watched two 2-hour NPGL competitions so far. Wall-to-wall in CrossFitters. I literally JUST watched some of them at the CrossFit Regionals this year. They interviewed them. The C-word never ONCE came up. I can ONLY assume they've been banned (or at least strongly warned) against using it, but why? Marcus Hendren is on the DC Brawlers, who just edged out the NY Rhinos (still not sure about the name, kids). Why do I know who the goober with the iffy hair who exercises really well is? CrossFit. His interview? "I'm here with the team, we're gonna try to work together, communication, Grid, opportunity, Grid, Brawlers.... blah blah blah." Not one mention of "I came in fourth place to some seriously god-like MFers at the Central East Regionals, which means *I'm* pretty much god-like, and I'm gonna rip some shit up and show people what CrossFittians can do!! Hendren SMASH!! "

"Hendren SMASH!!" If he didn't yell that, it was a missed opportunity. (carrotsncake.com)

On the other hand, the NPGL commentators were reduced to having ***NOTHING*** to talk about. Where did all these ridiculously fit young (and slightly older) fitness athletes come from? Apparently vomited forth from the Grid itself, given there was NO background given for anyone. There was much talk about "generalists" vs. "specialists," which *I* know meant "well-rounded CrossFitter" vs. "powerlifter/gymnast specialist." Which again, would be OK if there was enough discussion of that actually means, in other words, who's made what trade-offs in their training. 10 heavy deadlifts coming up? Gimme a cockstrong deadlifter who can lift 10x as much, so can bomb through them! Need someone to knock out 20 bar over burpees? Apparently (according to the DC/NY match) a gymnast is what you need to bomb them out in 20 seconds... but WHY is that the case over a generalist? You know, and *I* know, but to whoever might be discovering the sport on their own... there's just NO background, no discussion....

"So, this guy comes to us from... uh, whatever. You know? Just... whatever, man. You're not my dad." (shutterstock.com)

From the other camp, CrossFit has seen fit to try to hype up EVERY big name convert to the sport.... but to very little effect, so far.  Footballer Discovers CrossFit. Basketballer Discovers CrossFit. Opera Singer Discovers CrossFit. Oddly enough (as awesome as each of those stories was), there's never any follow up. Why? Probably because when someone from an EXTREMELY skill-based sport, which is also EXTREMELY competitive just to make it to the highest levels, who has already completed 99.9% of the work to be at the top, adding in some CrossFit to the mix won't make that much difference.(3)

Granted, the CrossFit influence on the world of Olympic weightlifting have been (and will continue to be) massive, with record-breaking attendance numbers and participation... and some pretty impressive numbers being posted by CrossFitters in their debut meets. And NO ONE shies away from saying what gym a competitor lifts at, CrossFit or not.

But NOW, here's an entire sport LITERALLY grown out of the fertile land Coach Glassman tilled and sewed with his free online workouts for crazy people. (OK, can you have a *literal* metaphor? Bah...)  Nearly every single competitor is from a CrossFit gym, and if NOT, *that's* interesting, too. Who ELSE is creating athletes good at this? Don't we want to know? I do!! Are ALL former-college gymnasts bound to be good? Former collegiate football players? Some sub-set? Where do they train? How do they train? Maybe its just me being a coach and all... but to me, the training is as exciting as the final competition. Maybe even more so. That one-second fault for a bad tag doesn't mean as much if I don't have a good feel for which team seems like they *ought* to win, based on training and experience. Which means constant and repeated mentions for various CrossFit (and other) gyms. Which means free advertising for the Mothership. But I guess that's a... bad thing? Also, athletes being paid to be athletes, which is a model CrossFit has never once even dabbled with, so does it still count as competition? Again... is that a bad thing? How many professional "CrossFitters" are there? Rich and Samantha clearly made good cash last year... how many others made enough to live on? Any?

I guess when I started writing this, I was sort of hoping I'd stumble into some sort of epiphany about why things are the way they are between CrossFit HQ and the NPGL. (For the record, every time I use both names in a single sentence, I get a thrill of excitement. I sort of assume I'll get a letter from the Russels or mocked by Drywall. This paragraph is made of pure internet win... and or fail. We'll see.) In the end, I don't know. I just don't know. How is Crossfit not a sponsor of the NPGL? Is Reebok planning on swooping in? Their CrossFittian shoes ought to be just as stellar for Grid workouts, no?

Oh, Flying Spaghetti Monster, my eyes, MY EYES!! Somewhere, Coach (Baby) Mark just started giggling and he doesn't know why. (pfitpfun.com review of the Reebok ATV 19x, and they apparently LOVED them... oof. My eyes.)

In the end, I got nothing. I ought to have two things to really like, without worry that, like bickering parents, there's suddenly going to be an all-out war and eventual divorce... which would suck for everybody involved.

Notes:
(1) Yes, for all the powerlifters and bodybuilders, and basically everyone else who ALREADY had a gym obsession, CrossFit has been and always will be stupid to you, because it doesn't meet your goals. That's perfectly OK. In the same way that doing the same three lifts (and an infinite number of accessory lifts) and wearing 3-ply canvas underwear is stupid to me (it really is), that doesn't mean that what powerlifters do in pursuit of a 1,000# squat is any less valid. Its my opinion. Yours is yours. Opinions are like assholes. Mine smells like roses.

(2) Yes, some other names helped build the foundation and provided competitive support along the way. This isn't about them, and not having TV, I don't have to hear their annoying-as-crap infomercials anymore, so I can't even remember the names. Q-80-Z? Linsanity? Was that a thing?

(3) Now, those kids we're building from the ground up with massively improved General Physical Preparedness and solution sets... gonna be monsters. Go google the Martin kids from CrossFit Brand X. MONSTERS.

12-03-23: CrossFit Open 12.5

CrossFit Games Open WoD 12.5

Annie Sakamoto shows perfect thruster form. Deep into the squat at the bottom, bar supported by the shoulders, NOT the arms, into full extension, having used the power generated by opening the hips, knees, and ankles to drive the bar overhead. (CrossFit)

No doubt about whether or not this one's a legit chest to bar pull-up.  I actually only just noticed that it's a c2b chin-up, the version I attempted. Sweet! (Diablo CrossFit)

AMRAP 7 minutes:

• 3 thrusters
• 3 Chest-to-Bar Pullups
• 6 thrusters
• 6 Chest-to-Bar Pullups
• 9 thrusters
• continue pattern for as long as possible 

The final workout of the CrossFit Open, and it’s a variation on Fran. How could it not be? It *is* the prototypical CrossFit workout: Looks easy on the whiteboard, and will mess you up but good! The clincher? The pull-ups had to be chest-to-bar. You might ask me, “Dustin, do you even HAVE chest-to-bar pull-ups?” I would answer you “No, I do not.” My assumption, going into this, was that my score would be three reps. Three thrusters, then spending the rest of the time struggling to get even a single c2b pull-up. Turns out I surprised even me!

After confidently banging out three thrusters, I approached the bar. Fortunately, we could use whatever grip we wanted: overhand (pull-up), underhand (chin-up), or mixed grip. While I definitely do not have a c2b, pull-up grip, it turns out I can manage the occasional c2b with the chin-up grip. It requires a bit of kipping… which I’m also not too good at, but hey, having to kip 2 or 3 times in a single rep is a good thing, right? (No, its not, actually…)

So, I ended up being pretty surprised having to address the bar for the round of 6s. 6 thrusters later, it was time again to face the pull-up bar. Several multi-kipped, single-rep pull-ups later, with plenty of missed reps, I was even more surprised to find myself facing 9 more thrusters. At this point, my only goal was to keep the thrusters unbroken, since they were the only thing I could do well. 9 reps later, I achieved that goal, which was pretty cool. Time once more for pull-ups. I managed a single rep… but then spent the final minute of the WoD struggling to make any more reps. However, that one would be my last.

Round	3	6	9	Total
Thrusters	3	6	9	18
C2B Pull-ups	3	6	1	10
Total				28

12-03-17: Crossfit Open 12.4: Wallballs and other stuff

CrossFit Open WoD 12.4: Wallballs and other stuff

WoD: 12 minute AMRAP

• 150 wallballs
• 90 double unders
• 30 muscle-ups

To the experienced eye, the first bit of this workout, the 150 wallballs, is a CrossFit workout all its own, named Karen. And if a workout has a name, you KNOW it sucks. Well, Karen does suck. I knew going into this one that I had done Karen before... twice, I think, but I refused to look at my old time. I didn't want to know... I just wanted to plow through the wallballs and start trying to chain double-unders. My warm-up raised my hopes, as i was throwing down double-unders like i was good at them or something. I needn't have worried.

I cranked out 20 wallballs, then started taking breaks every 10 reps. This held me until about 77 reps, when I missed the catch and took a few seconds to recover. 87, 94, 100. At this point, things got ugly. Despite good coaching, I kept finding myself on all fours, hovering over the ball. Sure, maybe it was good for getting some oxygen into my completely scorched lungs, but dammit, getting up was slow and took way too much energy. Total bullshit move. I may have been destroyed, but I just made it worse on myself. Lame.

In the end, with some solid coaching and a final 15 reps that nearly killed me, I hit the 150th wallball with 2 seconds to spare before time ran out. No double-unders, and I hadn't even vaguely planned on attempting any muscle-ups! Annoyed that I didn't make it to the double-unders, which might have really shot me up a little in the rankings, I was kind of bugged by my performance. Until I saw my previous PR on Karen: 14:3x. 2 and a half minutes longer. I had carved 150 seconds off my time. So, there's *that* to feel kind of awesome about. Not where I wanted to be, sure, but also further than where I had been. 

12-03-10: CrossFit Open 12.3: Too Much Everything

CrossFit Open WoD 12.3


Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 18 minutes of:

• 15 Box jumps, 24" box
• 115# Push press/jerk, 12 reps
• 9 Toes-to-bar

Nothing here that doesn't suck. (Wow, parse all THOSE negatives!) High(ish) box jumps. Heavy(ish) push presses/jerks. Toes to bar. Nothing good. Nothing fun. After watching the first heat go through the workout, I jumped into the second heat. Not by choice... I assumed all the judges from the first heat were going to go, but apparently not. So, I jumped in. I had warmed-up and stretched as well as I could. My only concern was that my abs were still kind of tight and sore from Thursday's sit-ups/double-unders couplet, but that didn't really become much of a factor during the workout.

My only goal was really this: go steady and slow. 18 minutes is way too long for me to sprint, or even quickly jog. If I didn't sprint out of the gate, I would probably be ok. Matt Chan did a video on box jump efficiency, and two things I tried to take from it were not look down at the box, since that puts you in more of a compressed position after landing on the box, requiring both more time and effort to stand; and to jump down from the box, bounce off the floor back onto the box, utilizing the stretch-shortening cycle inherent in that landing to do some of the work, and to rest on top of the box. Stepping down, my usual MO since all the issues with my knees back when, actually requires more effort overall than the bounce, so provided there are no active injuries involved, jumping down and bouncing back up is actually the easier option, as well as being faster.

As a result of Mr. Chan's advice, I was actually the fastest through the first set of box jumps, and in total, they weren't as awful as I thought. I think I managed to keep that first set unbroken, but I might be wrong. After that, it was on to the "shoulder to overhead anyhow" movement, with 115# on the bar. That's a pretty light weight, until you're doing it for 12 reps. I don't think I saw anyone who didn't struggle with it, even the big guys. Even if you were well within your strength capacity for getting that weight overhead, doing it while suffocating because that weight is also crushing down on your chest and lungs will make anyone stop and take notice. That took two sets to get through, I think. Possible it was unbroken, but that's kind of unlikely.

On to the toes-to-bar. I hate these. I just can't chain them together very well, and lack the upper body strength to muscle myself to the bar to make a close rep a good rep. T2Bs were the only movement I got no repped on (though I may have missed a landing on a box jump... I don't really remember). I did a pretty good job of getting through the first round, but the next two rounds, and specifically the T2Bs, would be my undoing.

Back to the boxes, then to the bar. Each was broken up into several mini-sets to keep chipping away at the totals. At this point, I was in total oxygen debt (or, it certainly felt it), so I was taking short breaks, 2-3 seconds, to blow out some CO₂ and get some fresh air in. Funny to have people yelling support when you've only just paused, and you have a plan for restarting. The second set of T2B were... not fun. My judge, Sheri, did a great job of no repping me when I failed to make contact with the bar, which became much more common. I made sure to drop off the bar and recover for a second or two before attempting another rep after a failed one. No need to dig myself into a hole by trying repeatedly for something that I can only get while kind of fresh in the first place! Third round was just like the second, only more so, in all aspects.

Finally, with time running out, I made it back to the boxes for the 4th round. I tried to stay unbroken, but just could not breathe for the life of me. I only wanted to get through the push-presses, having no illusions about my ability to crank out more T2B at this point with the time running out. I got on the bar, and dammit, but I couldn't complete the initial clean, to get the bar onto my shoulders, without an annoyingly long recovery. I think the issue is that I'm still not rock solid on the clean, so it still scares me to try to do it completely gassed. After finally getting it up to my shoulders, I started trying to crank out push-jerks to make up for that slowness to start. There's no way I was unbroken, and honestly, I don't really remember. All I know is that I hit the tenth rep just as time ran out.

Completed rounds: 3 Extra reps: 25
Total Reps: 133

12-03-03: CrossFit Open WoD 12.2: Too Many Snatches

CrossFit Open WoD 12.2: Too Many Snatches

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet snatches with a full depth squat (ie, awesome) (or overhead squats... stupid still frame... and stupid me for not bothering to do any research into that question.) CrossFit Games

Dave Lipson and Josh Everett go head to head, 30 snatches for time at 135#.  in a little workout called 'Isabel.' See below for how such workouts are viewed OUTSIDE the CrossFit community. And from within it. Still, very impressive feats!

That's more weight than I can deadlift. Seriously.

Note the speed on the bar in the second frame, and the depth of the squat in the third. Both things I need to work on.

---

As many reps as possible in 10 minutes, following the sequence:

• 75# Snatch, 30 reps
• 135# Snatch, 30 reps
• 165# Snatch, 30 reps
• 210# Snatch, as many reps as possible

OK. If there's one thing Olympic lifters have good cause to grouse about with CrossFit, its the use of those Olympic lifts in workouts that guarantee that form breakdown will be real, and the cost could be severe. Its nice to see HQ putting absolutely NO stock in those reservations, and actually creating a workout that highlights that issue. Sweet.

Going into this workout, my plan was to hit between 30 and 60 reps, with the stretch goal of getting into the 60s. Why those ranges? Well, my one rep max on a strict snatch (with a full depth squat at the catch overhead) is only 125#, so right off the bat, those 135# reps were going to be near my capacity (I can power and muscle snatch way more than I can squat snatch right now, something I hope to reverse as my skill and experience with the full lift increase). So, I knew that 30 reps of a weight that I consider to be "really heavy" were not going to go quickly or easily. I did want an attempt or two at the next weight up (165#), but also knew that making those attempts while completely gassed from the previous 60 reps was going to be iffy.  Turns out I didn't even need to worry.

The first set at 75# was nice and easy, and pretty quick. Though I think I could have kept all thirty reps unbroken, I opted to stop for a breath after 20. I didn't want to charge so hard through the "easy" reps that I gassed myself out too early. After banging out another quick 10 reps, it was time to change weights, pulling off the 25# plates and putting on 45# in their place. Suddenly, it was a whole new workout. I was no longer able to just fling the weight up and stand up under it as it kept going up. Now the bar was stopping a lot lower, and though I was still not doing ANY sort of job squatting under it (aka "using "proper" technique"), I had to work a LOT harder to get control of the bar.
ECC CrossFit Open WOD 12.2_Athletes from Larry Jones on Vimeo.

I'm the guy in the bandanna who starts out to the far right. As should be abundantly clear, my technique by that point in the day was utter garbage. I can only imagine the number of burpees Coach Burgener would assign if he was there for that pile of crap. That said, I was way outside of my comfort zone, gassed, and just willing the bar overhead by that point. All told, I did as well as I thought I would, I hit my goal, and that's all I can ask for. If I were more comfortable working while exhausted (a key ability in the CrossFit Games), I could have nailed a few more reps, but as it was, I was taking the time I needed to feel that I would be safe under the bar, and more, that the people around me would be safe. Having watching one nearly disastrous bar dump from almost-overhead in an earlier heat, I was keenly aware of my shortcomings in the snatch, and didn't really feel like having those issues injure me or anyone else. By the final minute, I was done. I made three failed attempts, with the first two stopping more or less at the top of the deadlift position, arms extended, legs extended... no way to raise the weight at all. I was just too tired to transition from the yellow light, slow, deadlifty part of the movement into the green light, GO!, explosion part that drives the weight overhead. After taking about 10-15 seconds to really recover, I tried to get to 50 reps, and got the bar to about face height, but again, just couldn't manage to get *under* it. Time expired, and I was at 49 reps, exactly where I planned to be. Not too shabby!

Weight	Reps
75#	30
135#	19
165#	0
210#	0
Total Reps	49

12-02-25: CrossFit Games Open 12.1

CrossFit Games Open Workout 12.1 - February 25th, 2012

The burpee standards: Chest and hips to the floor, touch the target with both hands. Repeat as needed.

A cool solution to not having enough targets around: 2.5# weights suspended from the ceiling. Genius!

---

WoD: 7 minutes - Burpees
 - As many reps as possible

Official CrossFit workout description:

Burpees. Damn it.

Upshot on the standards: Chest and hips to deck, touch a target suspended 6" over your outstretched hands. Nothing about HOW you get down to the deck, or get back up. Both hands have to touch the target, but other than that, the standards are pretty freaking basic.There would be just one huge problem...

Sadly, after the epic leg catastrophe that was Wednesday's workout, my legs were still at about 40% by the time Saturday morning rolled around. (You should have seen me limping around on Thursday and Friday!) After commiserating with everyone else who went through the Leg Catastrophe while trying to roll the agony out of my legs, it was time for the rest of the warm-up. It did NOT go well.

After going over the pretty damn simple standards, as well as how to accurately count and no-rep another athlete while they perform the workout, it was time to find a station to suffer in. After quickly ruling out any of the pull-up stations (a preferred choice, since the target for the jump can't be set swinging with an ugly touch), since apparently I'm just too damn tall, it was time to settle for some Olympic rings set far off the ground. Well, 6" above my outstretched hands... but by mid-workout (and in hindsight) they may as well have been 20 feet off the ground.

I was lucky enough to have one of the Elm City coaches as my counter, and not just that, but one who takes the concept of official efforts and no-repping a failed attempt seriously: Bobby "Wheels" Wheeler. And what luck, he was in a bad mood from being crippled by one of his own recent workouts. Heh.

Finally it was time for the workout to start: 7 minutes of hell. w00t!

About 10 reps in, the little bit of breakfast I had had a few hours earlier immediately made its presence known, and would be a constant reminder for the rest of the workout. You be damn sure that slowed me down a little bit, but not so much as the legs of stone and lungs of fire. I had a few missed reps, where I jumped and missed the rings, usually more because of having migrated too far from the rings to reach out for them on the jump. Lame, but at least I didn't have to hit the deck again to restart the rep. I just had to jump again. Bah.

At about the three minute mark, I had 30 reps, but I was hurting, badly. Whereas I went into the workout with the hopes of hitting at least 70 reps (10 a minute), or even better, 77 reps. At that point in the workout, I just wanted to double my score, at least 60 reps. I'm proud to say I hit my goal with 2 seconds to spare. All in all (and compared to the leaderboards on the games website) its a shitty score... but for me, and where I was when I first showed up at ECC 8 months ago, its actually shockingly good progress. Its hard to remember to track your OWN accomplishments, and compare against yourself in the heat of competition. Yeah, a college lacrosse player and wrestler who never let himself get out of shape may have doubled my output... but with those credits, why the hell shouldn't he?! 60 is damn good for me, and though I wanted more, I'm totally proud of them. ;)

12-02-22: Air squats and wall ball shots

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Wall balls. Start in a full-depth squat (hip-crease below the top of the knee) and explode up to full extension, propelling the ball up to the target.

A better look at the starting position. Looks fun, right?

The air squat, as demonstrated by internet traffic generator Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet. These are super simple and easy, once you get the form right... but as with anything else, can start to suck massively at higher rep counts. Like, say, 50.

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• WoD: 2 x 6min with 3min recovery
  • 50 Squats
  • 20 Wallball 20#
• Sellout:
• 2x Max Rep Weighted Pull-up 25/10

"Leg catastrophe." I believe that's how Coach Vin referred to this workout. Boy, was he ever right. You can tell when you're getting experienced at the sport of exercise: You distrust that feeling of "hm, this isn't so bad" in your first set, because you just KNOW how bad its going to get down the line. Case in point, boy, that first round of squats and wallballs really wasn't all *that* bad. But transferring back into air squats, it felt like my quads were made out of concrete, and they weren't really all that excited about repeatedly squatting. I felt like I did pretty good in the first 6 minute round, slowing a bit towards the end, but trying to work straight through.

3 minutes of rest was... heavenly. And far too short, but it was awesome.

The second 6 minutes was... ugly. Seriously, just ugly. About 15 seconds in, the concrete in my legs turned into thick molten lava. Then my lungs caught on fire. Work slowed a bit after that, but I tried to keep from just sucking air, taking a few breaths and moving on. That was always the intention. I get the feeling (in hindsight) that I may not have been that awesome at it. Boo.


Total rounds/reps = 3 rounds + 34 squats

In other news, I signed up for the CrossFit Open tonight. Dammit.