12-07-03: Front squats and running

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

OK, if Baby Lex Luthor can do it, so can you! (What's with the prison jumpsuit already?) (Silvaback Athletics)

This is what my 800m runs feel like. I haven't been able to secure producers or Westheimer for the score, however, so I've had to settle for the sound of my own ragged breathing...

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WoD: 8x90 sec on/off

• 3 Front Squats @ 80% = 190#

Sellout: 2 x 800m Run 1:1 work:rest

After the epic destromination I endured at the first ECC throwdown (1 post previous to this), I was actually a little gun shy about showing up today. Additionally, I was running late, giving me every reason and opportunity to just go park and snooze somewhere else... but I pulled up in front of the gym and saw everyone was still rolling out, so I wasn't *that* late. Sigh.

Upshot was that the workout looked doable, which, after Saturday's "Stacked Double-Helen" assault, made for a nice change. Front squats? Sure! Reps well within the percentage amount? Sure! Working off a real 1RM? Sure! (Though to be honest, I actually wasn't sure about that until checking my blog as I write this right now.)

The goal was to do triplets of submaximal weights EVERY 90 seconds, so stressing the system some, letting it recover some, then hitting it again. And again. And again. Until you've done it 8 times. While the first few sets felt easy, the last few felt like they were getting damned heavy, and with legs that were still shot from running and kettlebell swings on Saturday, that fatigue definitely mounted quickly! Still, end result was 8 rounds of 3 reps each, with NO grip slip issues, and no failed reps. I felt like I had decent depth on every rep, and they all felt pretty damn solid, even if a few of the "stand-up" phases felt a bit slow and sluggish, the bar kept moving, so good enough for me!

After that, it was time to run again. Run 800m, rest for the same amount of time it took to run it, then run it again, trying to maintain that time. 4:30 to run it, 4:30 rest, then a mysterious amount of time to complete the second run, because I forgot to check the clock when I came back in. Sigh.  I felt ok on the runs, but am definitely finding myself working on my breathing, as its far too easy for me to slip into ragged panting, rather than controlling my breathing and maximizing my air. Panting just kills you over the long haul, so I have a LOT of work to do here. Upshot of (eventually) moving into our new house in August will be living about a mile from the gym, which means I intend to run to and from the gym as often as possible, biking it when time is shorter. Only under duress will I actually kick the crap out of a car to drive it such a short distance. Let's see how that works out! ;)

12-06-11: Front squats and double-unders

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, June 11th, 2012

AFT showing perfect front squat form: elbows high, butt below parallel, heels nailed to the floor. (CrossFit Calgary)

Heather Bergeron showing why mastery of the front squat will translate nicely into control on the Olympic lifts, especially (and somewhat obviously) the full depth clean, where the ability to drop under the bar and catch it in the bottom of the squat position requires the lifter to be rock solid in that position. (CrossFit New England)

The full-body control needed for crisp, efficient double-unders continues to elude me, mostly due to an utter failure to practice them. My own private failing, really... (CrossFit Invictus)

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WoD: 5 x 5

• Front Squat @ 85% = 210#
•   20 Double Unders Single-Unders

 Heavyish front squats (85% is about a 6 rep weight, so 5 reps plus double-unders would be pushing it),  in the classic rep scheme of 5x5. Five rounds, five reps each. Fails were ok, and possibly to be expected, but the goal was to go all 5 in each round. Success!

Double-unders were a crap-show, on the other hand. After several failed attempts to get them to go, I just resigned myself to single-unders... which were nearly impossible by the end of the 5th round. Ugh...

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.

12-04-25: Front squats and jump rope

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

Front squat. Elbows up, weight carried on the delts. 

Left: elbows down, weight prone to rolling forward, probably resulting in the picture below. Right: elbows up, weight secure on the deltoids.

Utter lack of control if the weight starts rolling. Note also the 2x4 under his heels. Cheater. (Who is strong as crap, so let's at least give him credit for THAT!)

Left: Broken form, too much work, wasted energy. Right: tight core, efficient  hopping, faster turnover with less energy spent.

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Strength: 5 x 6 reps

• FS @ 80% 195#
• 30 sec. jump rope

Fairly heavy front squats for reps, followed by agility/speed work with the rope, back and forth for 5 rounds. Yikes!  After warming up with increasing weights, and trying to stretch out my forearms, which let me know about their tightness nearly instantly after trying to lift the bar out of the rack for the first practice set, it was time for the real deal.

First set, that bar felt freaking heavy (well, it was, I mean 1 rep max heavy), and in the transition from the final squat to re-racking, my hands started to slip out from under the bar. Stupid forearms. Quickly catching the bar in the old California front-squat rack position (arms crossed in front), I got it racked, and hit the jump-rope. Our direction was to "jump-rope," not practice double-unders. Though I had warmed up some double-unders, on trying them in this first round, I was spectacularly unsuccessful. Getting myself disentangled from the rope, I added 5 seconds back onto my time, and single-jumped and alternate-legged my way through the interval.

After that first round, I didn't have any more terrible grip issues with the bar, never needing the California grip through the rest of the workout. My forearms were tight, and killed after each set of squats, but I would just shake them out on the way to the jump-rope, and stretch them out before the next round of squats.

12-04-19: O-Lift breakdown

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Thursday, April 19th, 2012

The power clean as presented by Coach Mark Rippetoe, aka the Iron Samurai. You don't mess with Rip.

Front squats from the 70s. Maybe the 80s. Hard to say...

Split jerk with more weight than I can deadlift. Kind of impressive...

WoD: 3x3min on: 2min off
Cycles of:

• Power Clean
• Front Squat
• Shoulder 2 Overhead

*Add 1 rep each cycle
Example: 1-1-1, 2-2-2, 3-3-3, 4-4-4…
 So, to put that description into English, the first round would be one of each exercise (actually short-cuttable to squat clean, thruster), then the second round would be power clean, power clean, front squat, front squat, shoulder 2 overhead (s2o), s2o. The third round would be three of each, and so on. I was just trying to stay consistent, and managed to finish the round of 4 each time, with extra power cleans on both the first and third rounds.

 

12-03-12: Front Squats, Presses and Stiff-Legged Deadlifts

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, March 12th, 2012

WoD: 3 Rounds

• 1min Front Squat @ 1/3 BW
• 1min Rest
• 1min Press
• 1min Rest
• 1min Stiff-Legged Deadlifts
• 1min Rest

Took too long to write this up, my notes are no longer available on ECC's website. All I know is that each round was worse than the last, except for the SLDLs, which increased by a rep or two each round. I seriously thought the front squats and presses would be the death of me, and couldn't believe how short a minute's rest could feel, or how very long a minute of work could feel. Just awful!

12-01-23: Front squats, pull-ups, handstand push-ups and knees-to-elbows

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, January 23rd, 2012

Elbows in the front squat. If you look like the picture on the left, you'll end up  looking like the dude below, with your hands slipped out and in danger of losing control of the bar. If, on the other hand, your triceps aren't insanely tight and sore (see below), the bar will be well controlled on the delts. (CrossFit)

Very popular on Muscle Beach. That doesn't make it right, or cool. Note also the cheater board under his heels, making the movement a little easier. Its a similar assistance as given by the slight heel lift in oly shoes, but much more so, and far less stable. So, more cheat, and more unsafe. Awesome.

Band-assist pull-ups. As always, note the leg without the band crossed over the one with, to minimize the likelihood of the band slipping loose and zapping you in either the face or the junk. Never a good thing. (CrossFit Threshold)

Band-assist pull-ups. One of the hardest things to achieve, at least early on, is the fully extended body in the harness. Its difficult to not end up with the legs bent, bowing the entire body out of position, and resulting in the movement resembling a completely screwed up elevated push-up, rather than an awesome handstand push-up. I've been having a bit more success with that... a bit. (CrossFit King of Prussia)

Variations. L-R: Knees to elbows, toes to bar (rings), and knee to elbow attempts (ie, knee raises).  (CrossFit)

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WoD: (vertical)

• 15-9-6
  
  • Front Squat @ 55% of 1RM (135#)
  • Pull-ups (band-assist)
• 4 minutes recovery
• 9-6-3
  
  • Handstand Push-Ups (band-assist)
  • Knees-to-Elbows

Monday morning beat down time. After a nice warm-up and review of techniques and movements standards, it was time to start kicking ass and taking names. 55% of my one rep max for the front squat (285#) comes out to 135#. A fairly heavy weight for 15 reps, but not impossible. Good thing. There would be more after that... The one issue I had going into the workout was that my triceps were insanely sore and tight from the previous weeks' workouts, which translated into some stiffness in the front squat rack position. Further translation: stiffness in the front rack position meant I was back to being unable to keep my hands on the bar, requiring me to quickly switch to the annoying "California" front-squat position. Not as secure, and sort of lame. However, I did still bang out all of the squats, unbroken each time... so there was that.

For the pull-ups, I opted to go band assist, since for 15 reps, there was just NO way that going without assistance was going to happen. Sad but true. I'm working on it, and seeing some progress, but not enough to get through 30 reps in a timed workout. Bah. So, the blue band was my way of getting through the pull-up portion of the workout. The bad news is that I still have a LOT of work to do in terms of power output: even with the band assist, I still ended up having to break up the sets. Sad, but at least it points out one of my big goats, and what I need to keep working on.

I was one of the last ones off the pull-up bar going into the break, but I was determined to make it up one the second leg of the workout. After a VERY fast four minute recovery, I was back into it. All I wanted was to keep the sets unbroken. After powering through 9 band-assist push-ups (and having kicked up cleanly, I might add), I had a pretty good feeling about that goal. The knees-to-elbows proved to be a bit more difficult, more just because of my now completely smoked arms and failing grip. I just tried to protect my grip, only dropping off the bar to rub some life back into my hands and try to keep from getting a torn callous (I do try to keep them filed down, but still...).

By the end of the workout, I had caught up with several other athletes, though in all fairness, one had done the entire workout completely unassisted. So, even if I beat him by a minute or two, he did infinitely more work than me. Showoff bastard.

11-12-19: 1RM Cleans and Front Squats

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

The clean. Floor to shoulders, using just about every muscle in the body EXCEPT the arms (other than just for control). If you're using your arms a lot, you're doing it wrong.Note pictures 2-3... the weight hasn't moved much, only the lifter has. And his arms are STRAIGHT in the 2nd pic.

Brett Marshall (AFT) demos awesome front squat form. The weight is out of the hands and riding on the delts. Knees are out, feet are flat on the floor. Perfection. (crossfit.com)

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Strength: 1 Rep Max

• Clean
• Front Squat

Pretty simple prescription: Work up to 1 rep maxes on the clean, then on the front squat (ie, NOT in the same move; a full clean (which includes catching the bar in a full squat) does NOT count as the front squat attempt.) After a good amount of warm-up and review with empty bars, we set to work. Despite all of my recent complaining and whining about my own shortcomings and goats, especially the olympic lifts, including cleans, today felt really good. I felt like I was really popping the bar up to my shoulders using mostly the triple extension of hips, knees and ankles, and I was having some pretty good success dropping under the bar, rather than just relying on firing up to full standing height in a power clean. So that was all good.  As I climbed up in weight, I just trying to keep my head fully in the moment, only worrying about the deadlift "yellow light" portion of the lift, then the explosive pop, then the catch, and not getting all flustered by dealing with everything at the same time. 

After a few warm-ups at 95#, I started moving up in weight. I had two good lifts at 115# and 135#, then matched my previous PR at 155#. That felt so good with my improved form, I shot to 175# and nailed it, setting a 20# PR. After taking a few minutes, I tried for a final attempt at 185#, but didn't quite get under the bar properly, causing it to "stack up" on my left wrist wrong. Though I was able to shake it out in time for the front squats, it definitely made me bring my clean attempts to an end!

For the front squat, I picked right up at 185#, banging out two reps easily. I again started climbing, this time gunning for my previous PR of 215#. After a rep at 205#, I went to 225# and nailed it. I tried a rep at 235# and nailed it, putting me at a 20# PR on front squats, too. After nearly deciding to quit (it was time for the next class to come in), I opted for one more lift, this time at 245#. I nailed it, inking in a 30# PR on front squats for the day. Not a bad start to the week, and a welcome change from my usual bitching and moaning, at least in recent posts. Progress. Getting stronger. THIS is why we do this. No, its NOT always fun, but on days like this (or when I got to the top of the climbing rope, or broke 300# on my deadlift), its totally worth it!

One other thing I thought of later: I had NO problems with my grip on this workout. Granted, I didn't do any high reps on the front squats, so there wasn't a lot of time for fingers to slip out.  I also did some triceps work during the warm-up, which I think definitely paid off. Interesting. 

11-12-09: Clean and Jerk complex

Elm City CrossFit WoD for December 9th, 2011


The inspiration for today's workout. Damn, this guy is strong!

Natalie Burgener clean and jerks. She's kind of awesome. Comes with being a Burgener, I guess. ;)

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WoD:

• 1 Clean*
• 2 Front Squats
• 1 Jerk

Repeat until failure
*Start @ 70% Max C&J and increase by 5% each cycle. End @ 90%

First time back to the gym in over two weeks (holidays, a death in the family, work overload, capped off with a fun case of food poisoning... cue my 'world's saddest violins,' please!), and crap, was it a rough re-entry. Not just a day requiring strength... but a day requiring a great deal of skill, too, and NOT skills that I had locked in before. While I wasn't cleaning at weights that were too much of a stretch, it also never felt that great. I realized fairly far into the workout that I was power cleaning (not on purpose) so much, I was catching the bar without having moved my legs out, and with my knees straight. As high up as I possibly could, in other words. Doofus.

The front squats were easy as pie, again not being anywhere near my max weights, and the grip wasn't too much of a problem... until it came time to transition into the jerk. My grip/forearms aren't flexible enough to keep all my fingers under the bar... and as the pinky and ring finger slipped out, I was completely screwed trying to prep for the jerk. The only weight I was successful at was my starting weight of 115#. After a few reps of that in my first work set, I moved up another 5% towards my C&J max of 155# (set on another day when I was struggling with the exact same grip issues), to 125#. After several failed attempts, all at the jerk, and all because of trying to get my grip re-situated, I dropped back to 155# to at least get some work done going overhead. For the final few minutes of the workout, I made a few more attempts at 125#. Failed all of them at the jerk. Effin' grip.

So, I clearly need to work on the transition, and on my forearm/grip flexibility. It's no good having work that you can do, strength-wise, be completely undermined by something "small" like that. Of course, that's not entirely true, as most olympic lifts and their variations are equally dependent on strength as technique... but still...

The one "upshot" is thatI got my re-entry out of the way early. Had this workout gone fairly smoothly, like I hadn't missed a beat, only to have a train-wreck the next time... bah. Best to have it out of the way now. I guess. Dammit.

11-11-01: Power Cleans, Runs, and Front Squats

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

 Casey Burgener cranking up what appears (at quick count) 205 kilos. Oops, plus 5 kilos or so... i.e. he's really freaking strong, and I'm sure completely efficient. Strong, efficient jerk.

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WoD: 6 Rounds: On the Minute

• 4 Power Cleans @ ¾ BW
• Crack Dash

Sellout: ½ Tabata

• Front Squat w/ Power Clean weight

After spending a LONG time on technique and cues, as well as working on sticking points in the power clean, we started warming up. I've found that one of my issues with the clean (of any type) is a reluctance to rebend at the hips for the catch. To try to ensure the bar lands on my shoulders, I stay leaning back a bit... which means that instead, I catch it on my freaking collar bone. My right one more often than not, for some reason. I tried like hell to work on that, trying to focus on hitting that "universal athletic position" so touted among people who don't have bruised clavicles....

Compare the picture to the picture of Casey Burgener up there. Pretty freaking close. You don't see anyone in either picture with their hips fully extended, pointing their chests to the sky. That's what I tend to do... and it hurts. A lot.

The prescripted weight was 3/4 body weight, which should have been 152# or so. However, in an attempt to not cripple myself, I scaled back to 135#. It would be a heavier weight than I've used in a while for an o-lift workout, but its a weight I could easily muscle-up, so it would still be a valid weight to struggle with form on. I was definitely right about that...

The second part of each round was the joy of the "crack dash." Though it sounds sketchy, it merely involves running out of the gym, hanging a hard right, running to the big crack towards the end of the driveway, then heading back. Sounds simple. However, I was the person the deepest in the gym, the furthest from the door. So, if someone else had 100m or so to run, I had 160m. Of course, that's my damn fault for picking the spot I did. Stupid stupid stupid. And all me. So someone make that rotten violins stop playing before I hurt someone... 


So, long story short, each round, I was lucky to make it back to my bar to begin the next one, but I never got back AFTER the round had started. I might have stared at the bar for a second after that buzzer, but I was standing right there, staring at it. Despite that, I tried to make each rep as smart as possible. If one of the big complaints about CrossFit is that we end up rewarding crappy technique by focusing too much on time, a workout like this, where there's pressure but NOT a do or die by the clock impetus, the smart thing to do is focus on the technique. Seriously, screw the buzzer if you need an extra second or two to get the form right. Hell, even in a time domain-based workout, there's just NO excuse for shitty form. Ever. Does it add a few seconds to your "Grace" or "Isabelle" time? Cry me a river (you can borrow my violins), and do it right with the proper form. Or screw up your back or something. No difference to me, champ.


The sell-out was particularly brutal after all of that. A clean to start the set of front squats, then 20 seconds of front squats, followed by 10 seconds rest. I got several in the first round, a few less in the second, then managed just 2-3 for each round after that. My total was 17 front squats. I truly felt like I earned each and every damn one of them. The rule was that we couldn't put the weight down until "Rest!" had been called, so the final two rounds ended with me sucking wind for the final 3-4 seconds, just waiting for that blessed word to come. My legs were shaking like jello, and the idea of cranking out that one final rep, while tempting, was just terrifying. I did manage it in the final round, since there's nothing left to save it for, but that was about it.

"I feel terrible!"

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.

11-10-03: 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.

11-09-05: Front squats and double-unders

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Tuesday, September 5th, 2011

Eva T. dominating a front squat. Makin' it look easy. Jerk. (crossfit.com)

Double-unders. I'm almost getting good at these! (games2010.crossfit.com)

This is about how a 100m sprint feels by the end of it! (cdindoorrowing.org)

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New Warm-up

• Roll:
  
  • Hip Flexor
  • Piriformis
  • Back
• Core:
  
  • Single Leg bridge w/ opposite knee pull
  • Plank w/pelvic rotation
• Balance:
  
  • OH Step-up to balance
• Agility:
  
  • Single Leg * Hops

WoD: 11 min AMRAP

• 7 Front Squat @ 95#
• 10 Double Unders

Sell-out:

• 6 x 100m Row - sprint

Feeling a bit better, but with continuing wrist/forearm issues, I was both looking forward and terrified of what this workout would do to me. Turns out I was right and wrong!  The new warm-up was pretty good, hitting a couple of new areas (at least for me), and targeting the core in new and exciting ways.

After going through the movement standards for the front squat with a weighted pvc (and having early misgivings about my right wrist), I quickly rolled it out on one of ECC's taped-together racquet-ball pairs. It seems that the tightness has migrated to the top part of my forearm, which makes sense, since that area would have been pulled against for weeks now by tightness on the underside. After extensively rolling that wrist and forearm out, I was hopeful that I could complete the workout at 95#, which is nowhere near the Rx'ed 75% of 1RM (which should be approx. 135#).  However, all things considered, I was happy just to be up and squatting.

Using all power cleans (ie, NOT working in a full (or squat) clean, to cut down on total movements), I just tried to keep cranking. I had a few moments of just staring at the bar, and more than a few of waiting for my arms to start going of their own accord on the double-unders, but I made a very conscious decision to just take a deep breath (or three) and get back to work. I had a few rounds where the double-unders were easy, a few where they sucked, and I have a few welts on the back of my hands nearly 10 hours later, but for the most part, the double-unders came easily.

Total Rounds: 8 + 4 front squats

The sell-out of 6 100m rowing sprints felt REALLY good. Its a small enough chunk of time that you can just swing for the fences while you're on the rower, but still recover fairly quickly when you get off. I liked this, a lot. A few of the rests took too long, but as people started finishing up, the rounds cycled a bit faster, so my last 3 were done in about the same amount of time as the first two alone. Twice I ended up starting a fraction of a second after someone else on the other rower, and beating them to the end of the 100. That felt good. It was also cool to see everyone's different styles, and see some of the issues and kinks (the legs that never reach full extension, creating a moment when the arms are still rowing and contracting, even while the legs are already scooting the body in, resulting in a total waste of energy and efficiency, for example). Nice little mental coaching game.

11-08-12: Hang Power Snatches, Hang Power Cleans and Front Squats

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, August 12th, 2011

Spencer Hendel demonstrates the dynamism involved in the Olympic lifts. Given his wide grip, this is obviously a snatch of some kind, though whether he's planning on diving under the bar in a "regular" snatch (ie, a full "squat snatch", although adding in "squat" ought to be redundant), or catching it in a standing position (the "power snatch" variant) is unclear. Either way, a whole lot of energy needs to be imparted on the bar to lift a heavy weight overhead. Notice that he's pulled up and jumped so hard that, even with about 185# on the bar, Spencer's feet have come off the floor. (crossfit.com)

Hang Power Clean. Again, notice the feet leaving the floor with the amount of force generated. Nicole Carroll is something of a bad-ass. (crossfit.com)

I keep using this image for a reason. I think I'm the person on the left, with not-great arm position that leads to repeatedly failing out as I get tired. Be the person on the left, with upper-arms fully parallel to the floor, where the bar can't even begin to start rolling down... yeah, be that person. So much better. (crossfit.com)

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WOD: 20 minutes of the following:

• Odd Minutes:
• 1 Hang Power Snatch 155# 115#
• 2 Overhead Squats (Sub two more Hang Power Snatches if OHS form sucks)
• Even Minutes:
• 2 Hang Power Clean
• 4 Front Squats

When we started this workout, there was actually a different time-scheme. Instead of being a 2-minute back and forth, there was a three minute schedule. Hang power snatches the first minute, hang power cleans and front squats the second, and REST the third. Apparently, we looked far to bright-eyed and bushy tailed going into the rest minute, so we quickly had that taken away from us. Seriously.

Given my (still) awful overhead squat form (tight calves, crappy shoulder mobility), I opted for the substitution of doing two more hang power snatches. It seemed like a good idea... once I got tired (about 4 rounds in), I was exceedingly happy to have made the swap. What sucks when I'm in fine form would certainly fall apart when I got tired. Trust me.

The whole way through, I had just ONE thought: bang through all the reps as fast as possible, to have as MUCH time to rest before the next set. I think I was fairly successful, in that even towards the end of the 20 minutes, I was still walking away from my bar to reset while most everyone was still finishing up their last minute or two.

As far as front squat form, I went back on forth on successfully maintaining a proper grip. My very first set was a total failure, with me nearly dumping the bar and resulting in me having to do what amounted to an out-of-position good morning as the bar started rolling down my arms. No good. That was the worst nearly-dump of the day, and most of the issues weren't nearly as bad. I am definitely still struggling to find the sweet spot where my hands aren't guaranteed to slip... or where they're guaranteed to stay. Someday. Some. Day.

11-08-04: Back squats, front squats, and overhead squats, oh my!

Elm City CrossFit WoD for August 4th, 2011

StartingStrength.com is Mark Rippetoe's (aka The Iron Samurai) site dedicated to barbell training. I'm not sure if he's parted ways with CrossFit (though I've seen rumors on the interwebz), but his teachings are still true, and just as important as always.

Karianne Dickson (one of my trainers at my Level 1 certification) works the band squat with power-lifting sensei Louie Simmons at Westside Barbell. Bands put more pull on the bar at full extension, making the lockout at the top that much harder than at the bottom. (crossfit.com)

Front squats. Yes, they suck. Do 'em anyways! Capice?! (crossfit.com)

The overhead squat. She may make it look easy. It ain't. By far the most difficult of the squats, based solely on how many muscle groups have to work together to stabilize the weight overhead. (crossfit.com)

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Strength: 5x 5-3-1

• 5 Back Squats
• 3 Front Squats
• 1 Overhead Squat

*weight is set @ 90% of OHS max for all lifts. The bar is placed in the rack only to switch grips.  For OHS the bar is Jerked from the behind the neck position.

As expected, my craptastic overhead squat technique was a problem. 90% of what I can overhead squat is barely cracking into warm-up weights for the other squats, which would have made today not much of a strength day. Along with a few other athletes, the scaling was to go fairly heavy, work to jerk the bar into the overhead position, try to stabilize it for several seconds, then work into the overhead squat.  Even if I failed, I had still done as much work as possible, at a pretty heavy weight, to improve strength in the overhead position for next time.

After warming up with sets at 45#, 65#, 95# and 135#, I settled in at 155# for my work sets. I could probably have gone a bit heavier in terms of the back and front squats, but at 155#, I could barely get the push jerk to work. I think I was just definitely intimidated by the thought of that much weight overhead, combined with all of my weaknesses (flexibility, experience) getting that much weight up there in the first place. Of the 5 rounds, I failed to get the bar overhead on three of them. The two successes had some pretty ugly technique on them, to the point where on one, I made the mistake of not just dropping under the bar (its coming up from my shoulders behind the head, so straight down is the ideal motion), but actually lunging forward. Sadly, this mistake was actually compensated for by my ultra-inflexible shoulders, and I ended up catching the weight overhead and feeling pretty good about it. Then Coach Vin pointed out how impressed he was that I managed to control it at all, what with all the forward motion.

I considered dropping the weight, but then that would have made the back and front squats kind of pointless. In the end, I did a few sets of reduced weight front squats (65#), just working on keeping the weight settled over and slightly behind my head, and trying to keep all the moving parts doing so correctly. One of the goals is to figure out where my issues are really stemming from. Is it really tight calves, reducing mobility all the way up the chain? Tight shoulders? Both? More than that? (My money is on "more than that.")  Well, you have to start somewhere. Here I am.

11-07-27: Barbell and dumbbell complexes

Elm City Crossfit WoD for July 27th, 2011
WoD: 4 Rounds for Time: Barbell Complex

• 1 Power Clean
  
• 5 Jerk @ 80% (95# for entire complex)
  
• 7 Front Squats
  

Sellout: 4 x 10 Dumbbell Complex

• Stiff-Legged Deadlift
  
• Curl
  
• Push Press
• 45 seconds rest between rounds
  

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Though I've been struggling with my olympic lifts a bit lately, I felt pretty good about this workout. If nothing else, I only had to power clean the weight 4 times (provided I didn't dump the bar in the middle of the complex, requiring it to be re-cleaned to the shoulders), so it wouldn't be the limiting factor in any case. Managed the first two rounds unbroken, then had to rest a bit before the third and fourth, respectively. Still, final time was 4:22, which, while not smoking fast by any measure, was a LOT better than I was expecting. I definitely didn't feel the need to suck as much wind between rounds, or dump the bar in the middle, meaning I was doing more work faster...always a good thing!

Oddly, the dumbbell complex was almost harder.  I don't know if my hands were just sore from the barbell, or if the grips on the dumbbell are especially rough, but they were killing my hands. And they were only 20# each! While 45 seconds seemed like forever between the 1st and 2nd rounds, it quickly collapsed into barely enough to catch my breath before stepping up to the weights again. Happily, I wasn't the only one feeling this way, as other people started getting harassed for taking longer than 45 seconds between rounds. In their defense, it actually becomes VERY difficult to quickly run the mental math for when 45 seconds will be over in a fatigued state. Thinking back, that sounds ridiculous, but I've been there often enough to know that when you're fatigued, figuring out adding :45 to x:38 is damn near impossible.

11-07-08: Hang power cleans, front squats, presses, SLDLs, and jump squats

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, July 8th, 2011

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1min on: 1min off until 20 Rounds completed

• 1 Hang Power Clean-Front Squat-Press 95# 85#
• (As Rx'ed: Hang Power Clean, Front Squat to Sotts Press, THEN stand with bar overhead)
• 2 Stiff legged Deadlift 95# 85#
• 3 Squat Jumps

Sellout:2x20
Supine bicycle

I was completely unable to do the Rx'ed version of the workout, as I have NO shoulder mobility in terms of the Sotts press. Even with an empty bar I was failing way forward. Maybe it really reflects limited heel/calf flexibility, and an inability to hit the bottom position of the front squat with a vertical-enough spine, but either way, no Sotts press for me. Yet. Unfortunately, I scaled my weight to try to attempt it, and probably should have just stuck with 95# for the modified version. Damn.

Felt pretty good the whole way through, but was totally frustrated when time ran out in the 11th minute just as I was descending into my final squat jump. I had to wait, and rack up, another whole minute just to jump from a squatting position to finish the workout. Lame.

Total time: 12:01

11-06-08: Front Squats and Jumping Pull-Ups

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, June 8th

Left pic: Pretty good elbow position. Right pic: GREAT elbow position.  As the original caption to this image says: "Any dropping of the elbows can be the difference between a made or missed lift." (crossfit.com)

Jumping Pull-Up: This motion is completely driven by the legs, with the arms basically acting as guides to ensure you pogo in the same spot. Speed, power, and lungs all come into play with a set of 30. Or six sets. (crossfit.com)

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Strength: 2X

• Front Squat
• 10@75% (145#)
• 8@80% (150#)
• 6@85% (160#)
• 30 jumping pull-ups after each set

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Day two at ECC. If you read this blog (Hi Mom, Hi J!), you know that I've struggled with my grip in the front squat, and today would definitely put it to the test. My best PR on the front squat was 185# for 2, which roughly translated to a theoretical 1 rep max of 205 or 210.  However, coming off a month-long lay-off, we decided to keep me at 185# for this, resulting in the weights shown above. This would be a ton of volume on an exercise that I haven't had to spend a ton of time on.

Side-rant: This raises on thing I almost don't like about CrossFit methodologies: I understand that the goal of constantly switching up the exercises is that you shouldn't get *too* efficient at them (consider how much more of a workout 2 lengths of a swimming pool would be for me, a crappy swimmer, than it is for Michael Phelps. It'll devastate me, creating a HUGE systemic impact, and causing massive amounts of rebuilding, and won't even begin to count as a warm-up for him).  However, it also prevents you from attaining much more than a passing acquaintance with them, unless you've been CrossFitting long enough to see front squats come up 20 times a year. I know all the theories of how it oughtta be done, from my certification as a trainer, but that's not the same as being under the bar actually learning not just the movement, but my body's response to the movement, what to watch out for, what to tweak.)  Meh.  At some point, Zach Even-Esh did a great journal article about introducing high school athletes to the fundamental CrossFit movements, and talked about having them do the same thing for a couple of days straight until he was sure they had it down cold before moving on to the next movement. This makes a ton of sense for ANYONE new to CrossFit, or even us "old hands" who've been doing it for a year or so, but have still only front squatted a few dozen times in our life...

However, the idea about NOT getting too good at a movement is completely logical, and I agree with it wholeheartedly, so take that little rant for what it really is: I was scared to front squat in front of people. (Cue the weepy violins...)  The other way this workout was intimidating was in the sheer number of jumping pull-ups. 180, by the end of the workout, and on ever more worn out legs. Fun fun fun.

Ooh, padded bar, too. Swanky.

I made it through the first few sets, with all the usual grip issues manifesting themselves. I would usually be able to a get a few reps in before fingers started slipping off the bar. My best guess is that I don't have the flexibility to get my elbows high enough AND KEEP THEM THERE, so as they drop, I'm stretching out my wrist and fingers more and more to keep controlling the weight, and eventually, the elbow sag pulls them free. EVERY set involved me switching to the rotten "California" front squat grip, including my final heavy set, performed as the next class was using me (the last guy still going, since we had three of us on our squat rack) as an example, both of what TO do (depth of squat, heels down, torso (pretty-much) upright), and also of what to do when you do something wrong (grip slip, switch to California grip mid-set and bang out the rest of the squats).  So that was cool and terrifying.

My only failure came on the 4th set, the repeat of the 10 rep "light' set. On the 5th or 6th rep, the bar just got away from me and hit the floor. A quick power clean later, I banged out another squat, but ended up dumping the bar again. Worried that I might completely tank the rest of the workout, I ended the set there, did my jumping pull-ups, and did the rest of the workout as Rx'ed, other than the grip issues.

I was also faced with a new question: how do you drive home when your legs and arms are shaking and useless? After spending a bit of time recovering in the ever-warming swampy air, I made my way home nice and carefully. Until Friday...