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...

12-07-28: ECC Throwdown Part 2

Elm City CrossFit Throwdown Part II WoDs

Shoulder to overhead, in this case using a shallow split jerk to drop a little under the bar.

Another shallow split jerk. Hard to tell from the picture, but his back leg doesn't seem "soft" enough, but the picture may not be from the actual catch, but when he was starting to transition to the full standing position in the third frame. If he can lift those weights... I assume he's got good form.

Ground to overhead with Sage Burgener. The final final frame would be with the weight held overhead, legs and hips fully extended. For the purposes of the throw-down, there was no requirement to ever get into a full squat position. For that matter, it didn't have to be a snatch, as pictured, but could have started with a clean to the shoulders, and then any form of shoulder-to-overhead. Anything goes...

Buck furpees.

Kettlebells with CrossFit Games former Champion Kris Clever and two time Champion Annie Thorisdottir. (CrossFit Games)

Box jumps. woot! (happilives.com)

How to do a wall ball. My only tweak would be in the final frame: It would be way more efficient to catch the ball with the forearms closer to vertical and the elbows bent a little more (more like the position in the first frame.) Cushion the catch by bending the knees, cycling straight into the next rep. The more you can maintain that form, the faster you can go. (CrossFit 714)

A scaled version of handstand push-ups. I opted for this scaling, knowing I wouldn't have 45 reps of band-assist in me, even with the stiffest bands. If these look easy, you've apparently never tried them. (Unless you do have unassisted handstand push-ups, in which case these probably are pretty easy. Shut up.) Note the nearly vertical torso. A common error is to have the hands out too far, turning it into an elevated regular push-up. Still a nice exercise, but not targeting the shoulder girdle or core in quite the same way. (Snoridge CrossFit)

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WoD I

• 21-15-9
  
  • Deadlift @ 185#
  • Handstand Push-Ups (scaled to knees on the box)
• 10-8-6
  
  • Shoulders-to-Overhead @ 95#
  • Burpees

WoD II

• Wallballs til broken
• 3 minutes after last finisher
  5 rounds for time
  
  • 7 box jumps 30"
  • 5 Ground-to-overhead @ 95#

If I had written this two weeks ago... I might remember details other than ARGH! Owwie! It hurts!! I do remember my decisions on the scalings. Knowing that we were starting out with a workout named Diane (21-15-9 of 225# deadlifts and handstand push-ups), followed by another couplet involving the same bar (with a weight change), I decided to scale both weights by 40#, which would allow me to just slide the 45# plates off both sides of the bar between couplets. I also scaled the handstand push-ups to box handstand push-ups, knees on the box. For 45 reps, there was no chance of being in the bands and EVER finishing this workout! Our score on the WoD would be affected by the number of scalings, in my case, three.

For the second WoD, I went completely RXed, with my only nod to not killing myself being the decision to only complete 10 wallballs, rather than trying to do a ton of them, then finding my legs too crushed to actually complete the couplet. So, whatever time I got had ten seconds taken off (the number of wallballs completed counted as seconds to be subtracted from your total time... so if you did 90 wallballs and did the workout in 2 minutes, your total time would be only 30 seconds. Pretty sweet, if you have the motor to crank through a ton of wallballs, then recover enough to perform the workout well!

Comparatively, I don't remember details like my times and whatnot. All in all, it was an awesome showing from the ECC community, and great fun.  Even better was the barbeque afterwards, and showing off the newest member of our family, little baby Abby. It was also a nice opportunity to try some great paleo fair. Turns out that a burger without a bun, but cradled in a romaine leaf is *really freaking good.* A burger without a bun sticking to the back of your teeth is kind of a revelation! (Yup, I remember the food better than the workout. Go figure...)

12-07-09: Deadlifts, Wallballs and Push-Ups

Elm City CrossFit WoD for July 9th, 2012

The deadlift. See a heavy weight, squat down, and pick it up. Done.

Heather Bergeron right before or after locking out the deadlift at the CrossFit Games. 

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet prepares to deadlift. Or clean. Rotten freeze-frame photography!

---

• WoD: Strength
  • 5x5 Deadlift @ 85% = 340# 315#

  Rest as needed between work sets.
• 3 Minutes after your last work set:
  • 1 Minute of Max Rep Wallballs 20#
  • 1 Minute of Max Rep Pushups
  No Rest between Wallballs and Pushups.

Post number 300!  Ah, the joys of a big, round number! Ah, the joys of heavy deadlifts.  Having somewhat recently increased my 1RM to 400#, I was (rightly) concerned about my ability to do reps at a substantial percentage of that weight. During the warm-up, 315# felt damned heavy, and I wasn't too psyched about adding another 25# to it, feeling that the first point of failure would actually be my grip. Thankfully Coach Wheels was there to keep me completely distracted from my grip by working with me to increase (and maintain) my lumbar back arch, as I'm prone to letting it release, especially on the eccentric/negative part of the movement. Not such a problem on a 1RM attempt with no negative, but VERY bad when doing heavy reps.

After working my way through all five sets, resting between 3-4 minutes between each, it was time to rest before hitting the wall-balls and push-ups. I spent the 3 minutes rest unloading my bar and keeping moving, hoping the "active rest" would do me well. When it was time to hit the wall-balls, I managed to keep moving for the first 40 seconds unbroken, then finished up the final 15 seconds (a few to breathe, ya know), and managed 24 reps.

Then it was on to the push-ups. I was hoping for at least 10 in the first shot, more if I was lucky. However, I faceplanted after the fifth rep. Turns out deadlifts and wall-balls actually tax a lot of the same muscles, and the aerobic fatigue from the wall-balls certainly took their toll on the push-ups, too. Total reps = 16.

12-06-15: Back squats and deadlifts

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, June 15th, 2012

Heather Bergeron deadlifts in the CrossFit games.

Chyno Cho shows great depth on the backsquat, while Freddie Comacho spots in sandals...

Josh Everett, proving that moving huge weights doesn't mean you need to look like the wide side of a brick shithouse. (CrossFit Games)

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WoD: 

• 2 x 7 Back Squat @ 80% = 240#
• 6 x 2 Deadlift @ 85% = 340#

Rest as needed between work sets.

Finally, a brute strength workout with no real time domain to stay in, other than being instructed to rest at least a minute between sets, but no more than two. With a calculated squat PR of 300#, 80% came out to 240#. For sets of seven, it was pretty freaking heavy, but it was only two sets, so it wasn't terrible. One or two more sets might have broken me... depth was good, but I had to really fight to keep my knees out on the way back up. The best feeling was just dumping the weight off my back after the second set, since I would need the bar on the ground for the deadlifts. Whoever invented bumper plates is a genius! (Yes, I checked to make sure it was clear around me before dumping the weight, and I made sure it was a pretty vertical drop. No killing or hobbling other athletes!!)

For the deadlifts, I was working off a very definite PR of 400#, one that I've regretted setting on more than one occasion, when my ability to do reps of percentages of that weight has been crushed and destroyed. Though concerned that might be a problem again, I figured that for two reps at a time, I could probably handle it. Turns out I was right. Every set felt FREAKING heavy, but the bar came off the floor, I was able to stand up with it, and get it back down without dying. I felt like the picture of Josh Everett (above) on every second set... but he's probably lifting easily 200# more... so there's that.

12-05-xx:The Big Catch-Up Post!

Over a month's worth of WoDs from Elm City CrossFit

Ok, holy crap, its been over a month since I updated this thing. In rapid order, and with no record of times or accomplishments, are the WoDs I've been a part of since April 27th, my last post.


12-05-01: Running, Chelsea/Cindy, MORE Running!
WoD: For Time

• 800m Run
• *50 Pull-ups
• *100 Push-ups
• *150 Squats
• 800m Run

*done as 10 sets of 5-10-15

If you're CF savvy, you'll spot that this is a variation on either Chelsea or Cindy (both of which involve sets of 5-10-15 pull-ups, push-ups and squats. Only kicker? The bookmarking 800m runs. Needless to say, the pull-ups kicked my ass, the push-ups caught up with me, the squats were easy, and the first run was waaay easier than the second. Second one was actually harder because my arms were too shattered to help me with momentum... ugh. Slowest time of the day... whatever it was.


12-05-02: Kettlebells, Stiff-Legged Deadlifts, and sprints
WoD: 3 x 3 for time:

• 5ea SA KBS
• 10 SLDL @ ½ BW
• Crack Dash

1 minute rest between each round (so after every 3rd crack dash (means sprint to you and me...)

This started easy and got AWFUL really fast. Definitely a pain in the butt a day after a full body burner. Ugh.

12-05-04: Pull-Ups and Bear Crawls
WoD: For Time 75 Pull-ups *unbroken
*every break equal one bear crawl loop


Sheer awfulness. Used a nice heavy band, and still ultimately lost count of how many bear crawls I did. Enough that I could barely bear crawl OR do pull-ups by the end. The only band stiff enough to get me up and over the bar with ANY sort of form is the black band, which is so taut I can't actually hit full extension while standing in it: Not an option. I'm more likely to spike myself into the ceiling like a rivet with that thing!

12-05-08: Cleans and sprints
WoD: 7x 90sec to complete:

• 3 Cleans
• Crack Dash

Not a bad workout. I don't remember my clean weight, but it was heavy, but not undoable. The problem with waiting a month to actually write it up (yes, it IS in a notebook... at the gym!)

12-05-09: Rope Climbs and Double-Unders 
WoD: 15min AMRAP

• 1 Rope Climb
• 20 Double Unders

Thank god for the knotted rope. Made a bunch of ascents (maybe 8?) before having a panicky moment near the top when it felt like my grip was really giving out. Transferred over to doing 10 ring rows for the final two rounds, which was where it  became obvious that my grip WAS completely gone, as I could barely do a rep or two before sliding off the rings, just no grip left. Most of the jumping was single-unders, but I mixed in as many double-unders as I could. Might have gotten more rounds with just single-unders, but that would have reduced my rest time between climbs, so that just would have been me hitting the grip wall even faster. Likely amounts to about the same.

10 rounds, x extra ring rows


12-05-14: Front Squats, Overhead Squats and Snatches
WoD: 3x7
Front Squat @ 75%
Followed by: Heavy Singles of overhead squat or snatch

Completed every round of front squats unbroken, only had grip issues on the first set (finishing it with the silly California front squat grip I so hate and rely on sometimes). After banging those out, I opted to work on my overhead squats. After getting in several heavy singles on them, I also started to mix in the occasional snatch, but was having trouble getting fully under the bar in a full squat, so went back to the overhead squats to help myself get more comfortable in all ranges of the motion with the bar overhead.

12-05-16: Skill/Max day!
5 attempts each:

• Max Weight Dead-hang Pull-Up (no-kip)
• Max Height Box Jump
• Row 500m

This was a fun day (other than Coach Kimmie racking herself on a box jump and ending up with awful lumps on her shins. Fortunately they were merely superficial!)  Managed a deadhang pull-up with a 35# kettlebell attached. Made a few attempts to best that with the 44# 'bell and just couldn't manage it. Next time. Box jumps were another story. 24"? Easy. 30"? Easy. 36"? Easy. 40"? NOT easy... but I made it. Tried to make it to 44" but just couldn't get over the fear factor. Every attempt at that height was pathetic, with my feet not even making it over the seam of the bottom box (two boxes on their sides, one 45# plate on top), so its not like I was just missing. I was completely psyching myself out.

Rowed an ok first attempt on the 500m, and was more or less happy to leave it there. However, after the crappy attempts at the box jump, I decided to crank out another 500m, and shaved a good 10s off my time.


12-05-18: Jerks and skills
WoD: 20 Singles:
 - Jerk (front and/or back) @ 80%
Sellout: Skill work

Jerks out of a weight rack are so much more fun than off the floor... though, to mix things up, I did do a few reps as clean and jerks, just to mix it up. Jerking from behind the neck is so much infinitely easier (you don't need to move the head out of the way of the bar path, so its a simpler movement overall). Weight?

12-05-21: Wallballs, mountain climbers and crab walks
WoD: 2x 6min on: 3min off

• 3 Wallballs(20#, 10' target)
• 10 Mountain Climbers (1to1)
• 1 loop Crab Walk 

I don't remember how many rounds I completed... all I remember is that the wallballs were easy, the mountain climbers were fast, and the crab walks devastated me.


12-05-23: Bench presses and max-rep push-ups
WoD: Rounds of 5-4-3 reps, then 3s till failure (If you miss a 3, you're done!)

• Bench @ 85%
• max rep push-up

Round of 5 was easy, 4 was ok, first round of 3 totally sucked, but at that point, the push-ups really tapered off, and stopped being such a drain on the bench press. Managed 4 rounds of 3, failing on the final rep of that fourth round. I almost made it too... right up until the bar changed directions and had to be caught by the spotter (Thanks Vin!)


12-05-25: Interval kettlebell swings and box-jumps
WoD: 4x

• 1min Kettlebell Swings
• 1min Box Jumps (step down only)
• 1min Rest

My only goal was to try to maintain reps from one round to the next (count was total number of reps across both exercises each round), which I managed. I don't remember now which version of the swing I did... though it was probably the traditional/Russian swing out in front, rather than overhead. I believe about this time I read an article discussing the differences, and have started going overhead. This workout may makr the last time I did traditional swings. Ah well.


12-05-28: Memorial Day Team WoD!
WoD: For time (entire team)

• 400m weighted run 35#
• 50 squats
• 25 pull-ups
• 100m run
• 50 burpees
• 25 weighted sit-ups 35#
• 800m run 

Six 3-person teams squared off to tackle this beast of a workout, dreamed up on the spot by Coaches Vin, Bobby and Kimmie (mostly Vin and Bobby...bastards).  Every member had to to do every rep, and move from movement to movement together as a team. However, 1 person from each time could move ahead and complete the entire workout on their own, then swing back to help a struggling teammate with whatever they were chipping away at.  My team was Woody, Azaria, and myself: clearly Woody was going to be the sprinter on this one, and indeed he was. There were two things that made me excited about this one: it was my first team WoD, and it was also the first time Jen and Emma had come out to meet the crew and watch me compete. Nerves!!!

Long story short, we came in last, mostly because I got mud-stomped by the pull-ups, and Z got mud-stomped by the burpees. Woody came back around during the burpee phase, helping Z out with her final reps while I went on to sit-ups. As I struggled through them (its really hard to breath during sit-ups with a 35# plate on your chest... I felt bad for those who did it with the Rx'd 45#!), Bobby offered me the option of scaling the run to 400m, just 2x around the parking lot. I declined, and struggled through the full 800m, but was determined to complete the WoD as written (other than using a band on the pull-ups. I think I forgot to mention that... Meh.) Awesome day, and a great time was had by all!

12-05-30: Chipper Disasterpiece
WoD: For Time:

• 15 Pull-ups
• 30 Push-ups
• 45 Squats
• 2min Rest
• 9 Deadlifts @ 225#
• 9 Hand-stand Push-Ups
• 2min Rest
• 400m Run
• 15 Overhead squat 95# 
• 2min Rest
• 50 Double-Unders 150 single-unders
• 50 Sit-ups

Holy crap did this one suck. Especially two days after the Memorial Day chipper, to hit another epic full body disaster really kind of hurt! The only thing that kept it interesting was knowing that each couple/triplet was a round of one of the named workouts, so that was fun. The workout was HARD. One big upshot was doing all the weights as Rx'd easily, and even though I subbed out single for double-unders, I completed all 150 jumps unbroken. So, that was kind of awesome.

12-02-29: Deadlifts, baby!

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

Heather Bergeron deadlifting at last year's games.

Jolie Gentry deadlifting at the '08 CrossFit Games. Or '09? '10? I'm not sure.

Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet deadlifting.

Josh Everett lifting 100#s MORE than today's PR. Read on to see how awesome that makes Josh.

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Max: Deadlift

• 3 attempts/post warm-up

Attempts must be declared

Time once again to try for a one rep max. My last, set on December 28th, was 365#. Two months ago, 365# was brand new and terrifying. Since hitting it, I've been dying to hit 400#. Let's face it, I'm human, I wanted a big-sounding round number.

After a roll-out and warm-up that felt good for the first time in a week since the Leg Catastrophe last Wednesday, we reviewed the basics and standards for the deadlift. After warming up at 185# for 10 reps, I started jumping up in weight. My one big concern was over-warming up and being shot by the time I got to my max attempts, so I did 5 reps at 225#, 4 at 275#, 3 at 315#, then singles on up. After re-confirming that I could, indeed, lift 365# off the ground, it was time to put up or shut up.

One thing about max rep days: We get three attempts, but if you set a new record on the first attempt, you can consider yourself good for the day, if you want. For my first attempt, I went for a 20# PR at 385#. Boom. The weight came up pretty easily, though my form was less than perfect. My butt came up a bit before the bar, meaning I lifted the weight more with my back than I needed to. Lame.

I was more or less willing to let it go with that. A 20# PR is nothing to shake a stick at... but writing 385# in my book, circling it, jotting "1RM PR" next to it, and writing it up on the last page... it felt empty. I wanted that 400#, dammit. After rejiggering the weights on the bar, I declared an attempt at 400#. The only insanely stupid thing was that I was adding another 15# to an already 20# PR... sort of a lot of weight to be adding on at the raggedy edges of my abilities...

10 seconds later, I had an even newer PR to write in the book. 400#, and it came up off the floor smoothly. I *think* my form was better than on the previous attempt, but I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that the lock-out was solid, there were no grip issues, all in all it felt like a great lift. So great, I decided to quit while I was ahead on this one. All in all, I'm going to be whining like a little kid with a stubbed toe the next time we have to do a workout involving percentages of 1RM. I'll have to do reps on a weight that, until about 6am, was my 1 rep max. Ugh.

12-02-17: Deadlifts

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, February 17th, 2012

Deadlift. Why I love this picture: Note the abs and core working overtime to stabilize the massive load hanging from the arms.

Heather Bergeron rocking deadlifts in the 2011 CrossFit Games.

Jolie Gentry banging out deadlifts at the 2008 CrossFit Games (I think...)

The Terminator lifts more weight in one lift than I've probably lifted in my entire life combined. Jerk.

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, either deadlifting or setting up for a clean of some kind. All I know is that every time I include a picture and reference to Camille, my traffic quadruples. So, thanks for being awesome, Camille, and thanks to everyone googling for pics of you!

Back extensions. They seem easy until they start sucking. Usually on the 3rd or 4th rep.

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• Strength: 3-3-3-3-3
  • Deadlift @ 90% = 325#
• Sellout: 3x10
• GHD Back & Hip Extensions
• Kettlebell Calf Raise (2x 70# kbs)

I'm not going to lie... warming up to work weight on the deadlift was an almost depressing experience. Having recently increased my 1 rep max substantially, all of my scaled work is a lot harder than it used to be. Obviously, this is good in almost every regard except for the one where one of my warm-up sets just feels so freaking heavy... because it used to BE my one-rep max. So hooray progress, booo stupid heavy bar! 

After going over the movements, standards, and safety, we started warming up to our work weights. 135# is officially my starting weight, followed by 225# and 275#. As I said, even 275# felt heavy (of course it is... it just didn't need to FEEL it.), and moving up to 315# felt like I was going to be seriously in trouble to complete the workout. In the moment, it actually kind of felt like a victory just slapping on the additional 5# plates on each side to get me up to my working weight of 325#. 1.5x bodyweight for the workout. Neat! From 275# on, I used the alternating grip (most obviously in the Ahnold picture up there), changing which hand was supine on each set.

For the most part, the deadlifts ended up being pretty uneventful. Having gotten caught starting one of my warm-ups with a stripper pole move (start the lift by raising the butt without moving the bar off the floor at all...), I tried to keep my form in check. The only  issue came at the start of the 4th round, when the bar completely failed to come off the floor. After taking a quick breath, I swapped my grip to supinate the right hand (which has always felt a little stronger) and whoo-pah! that bar came right off the floor. I finished out the fifth round with the same grip, no problems.

The sell-out was ok, though targeting the lower back with the hip & back extensions right after deadlifts meant that the extensions were kind of a pain in the ass... well, in the back, I guess. The kettlebell calf raises were very uneventful... after a career of doing super-heavy machine squats and calf raises, doing them with two kettlebells was downright easy. Of course, since it worked my grip some more, all the muscles used to support the weight hanging off the frame, and involved the core to maintain balance and whatnot, the reduced weights are more than made up for by the massively increased music demand across the entire body.

Ooh yeah, feel the burn, baby!

12-01-18: Deadlifts, shrugs and the Big Butt test

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Heather Bergeron cranking the deadlift for reps. (CrossFit Games)

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet deadlifting. Or maybe mid-clean or something. (CrossFit Games)

Jolie Gentry NOT going for reps, I wouldn't imagine. (CrossFit Games)

Killian. I'll be back. With a well-maintained lumbar arch, even barefoot, and possibly high. Lock up your daughters and house maids...

The barbell shrug. Often ignored in functional movement circles, I guess a movement that both requires and builds grip and shoulder strength isn't all that useful. <>

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WoD: 6 Rounds

• 2 Deadlifts @ 1 ½ BW (275# using "ideal" bodyweight x 1.5)
• 5 Shrugs
• 2 min recovery

Grip work! Picking a pretty damn heavy weight, do two deadlifts, then 5 shrugs, all unbroken. Then, rest two minutes, and do it all again. 5 more times. The prescribed weight was supposed to be 1.5 times body-weight. Since that would put me up over 300#, I rolled it back to 275#, which would be closer to 1.5x my "ideal" body-weight. Good enough for me!

Six rounds of some serious work later, it was time for some truly important work. It was time to take the Butt Test. You lie on your stomach, someone else rolls a barbell, loaded standard Olympic plates, up your legs, and if your butt stops the bar, you pass. If you have tiny, under-developed glutes (or are just petite), you fail. You'd best believe my big-ass butt stopped the bar. Coach Kimmie actually kept pushing a bit, and the butt kept working. Passing felt almost as good as hitting a PR. Almost!

12-01-09: Deadlifts and Double-Unders

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, January 9th, 2011

Deadlifts: Good enough for steroid Arnie, good enough for me. Seriously.

Jolie Gentry rocks 285# at the CrossFit 2009 Games. (CrossFit)

Double-unders. Supposedly. I can see the jump-rope, so it might just be a regular single-bounce. (CrossFit Invictus)

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• Strength: 8 x 2
  
  • Deadlift w/ 30 sec rec after each set of 2, 87% (315#)
• WoD: 6min AMRAP
  
  • 10 Deadlifts @ 65% (220#)
  • 20 Double-unders

I saw it coming from a mile away: Setting a 30# PR on deadlift a week or two ago meant that the next time a percentage workout came up, it was going be brutally heavy. I hate being right sometimes.

After warming up to my target weight of 315#, I set into the strength part of the workout: 8 sets of 2 deadlifts, 30 seconds rest between each. I can't tell you how heavy it felt by about the 3rd round, and though I did the complete floor-up-floor movement for the first of each, I ended up dropping the bar after the second rep each time, feeling like my hands were about to be torn from my body. Other people in the gym actually thought I was injured when they saw me dump the bar like that... but no... I was just in agony. It got better when I remembered the wod was 30 seconds rest in between rounds, NOT 2 lifts every 30 seconds, a very different, harder approach!

After that, it was time to really do some work. 10 reps of the deadlift at 65% of 1RM (220#), followed by 20 double-unders. Sounds simple, right? Well, it would have been if I could have strung together even TWO double-unders... After cruising through the first 10 deadlifts, I proceeded to struggle with the double-unders for the next minute or so.  That screwed me completely for the next set of deadlifts... completely smoked, I ended up having to catch my breath at least three times (maybe more). The second set of double-unders was a little better, since I got at least 4-5 reps in a row. Wow. Rock on for me. Of course, that left me just as screwed for the 3rd round of deadlifts... which I failed to complete.

Total rounds: 2 rounds + 7 double-unders

11-12-28: Deadlift 1RM

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

Josh Everett. Scary strong in a "normal looking" package.

Jason Khalipa. Scary strong in a large, muscular looking package.

Rob Orlando. Scary strong in a scary strong looking package.

A cute little package. And the last time I use the word package. I swear!

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Strength: 1 Rep Max
 - Deadlift or Back Squat

 World's simplest workout: work up to a one rep max attempt on either the deadlift or back squat. That's it. After working through the new warm-up for the next two weeks, we went over technique on both lifts. I knew my 1RM on the deadlift was getting a little old, so I wanted to shoot for that. After warming up for a few reps at 135#, 225# and 275#. At that weight, I started making smaller jumps and doing fewer reps, hoping to keep the total poundage from getting out of control.

Once we hit working weights, I shared a bar with Al, who was working in the same weight range as me. Upshot is that we both had built-in rest time and cheerleading, which was definitely nice. After 2-3 reps at 295#, we jumped to 315#, then straight to 335#, my previous PR. Feeling all stupid strong, we jumped to 355#, which felt almost easy. Almost. Just for the hell of it, I slapped on an extra 10#, and lifted the crap out of it. So, with that, I hit a 30# PR, jumping it up to 365#.


Deadlift 1RM: 365#

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. ;)

11-09-19: Deadlifts and shrugs, body weight couplets

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, September 19th, 2011

The deadlift. (kanesivesind.com)

Shrugs. (bodybuilding.com)

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Strength: 4 rounds:

• 2 Deadlift @90%
• 10 Shrugs

WOD: 2x

• Max Rep Pull-up
• Max Rep HSPU
• 1min Rec

Score is total PU + HSPU
Sellout: 90 sec each

• Max Rep Push-up
• Rest
• Max Rep Sit-up

Full body burner. The deadlifts train total strength, especially posterior chain. The shrugs were less for trapezius work, and focused more on the grip, and it was actually expected that we might not make it to 10 reps. Which made me feel a bit better about only making it to 5 on my best set! So, apparently I need to do grip work in the 300# range. Fair enough.

Pull-ups and hand-stand push-ups were both band assist, and I failed to get final counts. (I knew them when they happened, but didn't write down what made it up onto the white board. Doh!!) This was my first time doing band-assist push-ups in a WoD, and it felt kind of good to not have time to overthink it... just kick up and find the band with my feet, and get going.  Not bad.

Final couplet of push-ups and sit-ups was kind of brutal after the rest of the work we had already done. I ended up switching to fist push-ups for the final 45 seconds, just to take some strain off my wrists and forearms. 28 push-ups in 90 seconds. Sit-ups were done on an ab-mat, with knees wide (to take hip flexors out of the motion). Felt pretty good up until the last 20-30 seconds... then speed fell off dramatically. 34 reps.

11-09-09: Deadlifts and Banded Muscle-Ups

Elm City CrossFit WoD for September 9th, 2011

Deadlift. Stand over a heavy weight, set your body into a solid position, and pick that heavy weight up. Ta-dah! (diablocrossfit.com)

Band-assist muscle-ups, one variation. Rather than having the band attached to the pull-up bar overhead, we wrapped the band around and through one of the rings, then through the other. The only thing keeping it locked into the second ring is your own grip, meaning you can't just camp out at the bottom in the swing. (crossfitsocal.com)

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Strength: 5 rounds

• Deadlift @ 80% (245#)
• Max Rep Muscle-ups (band assist)

Going into this, I had forgotten to check out my 1RM for deadlifts, and ended up choosing a conservative number (315#) and opted to back down a bit from there, so I did 80% of 305#, which is 245#. Turns out, at some point in the past, I actually nailed a 335# deadlift, so I should have added at least 20# to the bar, to get me to @265#. Given that I felt pretty good through all of the deadlifts, and didn't have to resort to an alternate grip, its possible that I could have pushed a bit harder and heavier. Bah.

While I both slowly lifted and returned the weight to the floor in the first round, I opted to just drop the weight from the top for the rest of the reps. I found I was ending up in a worse position when I carefully lowered the bar to the floor, whereas if I dropped it, I could then reapproach the bar anew and get reset in a better position. It also deloads the body for a second, allowing for a good cleansing breath between reps. Not the stuff of cranking reps out for time, but since it was an untimed WoD, that didn't really matter.

I don't yet have a muscle-up, but rather than resorting to pull-ups and dips, I opted to try a new (to me) progression for the muscle-up. Using a band attached to one ring and keeping it locked in with just my grip in the other, and sitting in the resulting swing, I was able to hang below the rings, bounce a little in the swing, and pop up into the dip position above the rings. The best part is that once up there, the band gave little to no assistance for the dip itself. The band reduces the effort needed for the pull-up portion, and allows for training the transition from pull-up to dip without the full weight of the body, or the full motion of a kipping muscle-up, to distract. Definitely a cool approach. In the later rounds, it was definitely my grip on the band that weakened first. Its possible that with the version in the picture above (band around the bar overhead, grip removed from the equation), I could have gotten more reps per round. I don't have a problem with it.

Band-Assist Muscle Ups: 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 3

11-08-15: Back squats and a deadlift-box jump couplet

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, August 15th, 2011

Back squat. It just doesn't get any more fundamental than this. Oh wait, probably the deadlift is a *little* more fundamental. They're both pretty important, and technique matters. The weight needs to stay over the center of balance at all times, heels need to say nailed to the floor, hip crease MUST go below the tops of the knees (a bit lower than shown in the picture, actually).  Coming back up, the lower back needs to stay locked in, so the butt doesn't come up before the shoulders, meaning the legs extended without actually moving the weight. Not much point in THAT, now is there? (Teen Fitness Blog)

Deadlift. Pick up heavy stuff. Hell, pick up light stuff with proper technique. Big muscles do ALL the work, while small muscles ALL work to stabilize and protect. It's sad how undervalued this lift is outside of CrossFit, powerlifting, and some weight-lifting circles. Again, all the weight should be on the heels, the weight stays over the center of balance, and the bar never leaves contact with the body. (2010 Crossfit Games)

Tire jumps! It didn't look nearly this awesome with three dudes sharing a tire in the half-light of a rainy CT morning. But still, it was good fun to share the tire! (Crossfit)

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Strength: 3 x 8

• Back Squat @ 80% (205#)

WOD: 5 Down

• Deadlift (205#)
• Box Jump (24")

First, the whining. I was badly under-rested coming into today's workout, and had spent much of the previous day wet-vaccing my basement and driving through torrential downpours with drivers who had NO business being on the roads in good conditions, much less cataclysmic conditions.  All said and done, I rolled in on about 4 hours of sleep (3 uninterrupted, the final one restless due to idiot cats who thought that just because I woke up for a second at 4am, that meant it was breakfast time. Idiot cats.)

As usual, I perked up a bit after some good rolling out, and the warm-up always makes me feel  a whole lot less crusted up and miserable. After going over the standards and mechanics of the back squat with Coach Mark (good job today, Mark!), I was happy to realize I'd have a squat rack all to myself. ("It's not my fault being the biggest and the strongest!" - Fezzik) Of course, that's only because Mark was coaching. If he was WoDDing with us, I'd have shared with him, and felt like a weenie every time we had to dump a ton of weight to get from *his* work weight down to *mine.*

Going off a previous workout's revelation that my calculated 1-Rep Max is probably around 255#, I warmed-up to a working weight of 205# for my work sets. This felt freaking HEAVY today. Though it was always ok for the first few reps, I definitely felt like I was fighting for my life for the last 2-3 reps. Either way, I made it through all three rounds without having to dump the bar, so that was pretty sweet.

After several minutes recovery, we moved onto the WoD. Woody brought out one of the tires for a few of us to use for box jumps. Not including a few test jumps 8 months ago at my Level 1 cert, this was my first time box jumping to a tire. I loved it. The landing was a bit softer, which made it a bit trickier, but also a bit nicer, too. For the WoD, "5 Down" refers to going through both movements with decreasing numbers of reps, so 5 deadlifts, 5 tire jumps, 4 deadlifts, 4 tire jumps... Down to one and one. This was designed to be a burner of a workout. I opted to leave the same weight on the bar, since there was no range given for the deadlift weight. 

For the first time ever, I got to celebrate my first "win" on a WoD, jumping off the tire at the end of the 5th round with a total time of 1:30. I felt good on this, like I finally found 3rd or 4th gear and was able to keep trucking, despite the rising oxygen debt. Though it was short, and therefore in my sprinter's wheelhouse, there was also enough going on that it would have been easy to stop for a second and catch my breath, or stop and make *sure* I was set-up correctly for the deadlift, rather than relying on experience and instinct to guide me through, which it did. Pretty sweet. Again, had Mark been WoDDing with us, (or if Larry or John had showed up), I'm sure I would have gotten smoked. But no matter, victory was MINE! Until the next WoD when I end up shattered on the floor... as usual. ;)