11-08-05: Burpee, Knees-to-Elbows, Stiff-Legged Deadlift Triplet

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday August 5th, 2011

As Coach B says: "Yay Burpees!" Easy enough. Stand up. Then get your chest on the floor. Then get your feet off the ground and your hands clapping overhead. What you do in between is your business, unless strict burpees are called for, which require push-ups, squat jumps and that sort of thing. Either way, these things are HARD. (games2008.crossfit.com)

Eva Twordokens doing a pretty serious knee-to-elbow. To envision a supine variation, everything would look the same, except the bar would be over her head (ie, to the right, in the picture), and she'd be on her back. Get it? (crossfit.com)

Michelle Mootz from CrossFit Santa Clara demonstrating a perfect stiff-legged deadlift. The move starts from the fully standing position (requiring a regular old deadlift to get the bar into position), then you kick the hips back, and keeping the bar stuck to your legs (knees slightly bent), and keeping your back arched, lower the bar as far as you can without rounding your back. Super flexy? Do it standing on a platform that lets you lower the weight further. Old and stiff like me? Go as low as you can and come back up. (crossfit.com)

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WOD: 12min AMRAP

• 8 Burpees
  
• 4 Toes to bar (Supine)
  
• 2 Stiff-Legged Deadlift 155#
  

Bonus Round: 10 min
 - Work on under developed skills & progressions - ring work, dips and L-sits

[Prelude]
ZZzzzzZZZzzzzz. Stupid alarm clock. Stupid gym. Stupid cats sitting on my head waiting for me to get up and feed them! I'll just go back to bed... nah... maybe I'll feel better after rolling out and warming up at the gym. Maybe.
[/prelude]

It turns out I DID feel much better after the basic warm-up routine. Who would have thought? The soreness (in most areas) dissipated, the tightness (in most areas) evaporated. The urge to go back to bed? Not so much. I could still go back to bed now, 2 hours later. Sigh.

Pretty much any WoD, and especially any AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible), that includes burpees is going to suck. This was no exception. I tried to maintain a steady, non-frantic pace on them, but they just kick my ass so fast that by the end of the first round of them, I was already sucking some serious wind. Comparatively, the K2Es and SLDLs were downright easy.

I opted for the supine variant of the K2E's (lie on your back with your head towards your barbell, grab it like you were on a pull-up bar, and bring your knees to your elbows. Sort of like Ye Olde Reverse Bench Crunch. My hands have been really sore this week, and I didn't want to run the risk of tearing my callouses (again), so this seemed like a good option for maintaining the full-body aspect, while also protecting myself. Plus, it meant I got to keep lying down in the middle of each round. Sheer bliss.

By the third round, I was completely unable to string any burpees together, so the final 7-8 minutes of the workout were filled with slogging through burpees, then nailing the other movements pretty quickly. However, the burpee thing really killed my time moving from round to round.

Total rounds: 7 + 4 burpees

For my extra work, I focused on ring dips and ring L-sits, just trying to really maintain good support, body position, all that jazz.

Heather Bergeron (CrossFit New England) demonstrates all the many muscles required to make this happen. I don't think I can even get my legs parallel to the floor without leaning back in the rings. (crossfit.com) 

11-08-03: Pull-ups and double-unders

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

(Click to enGamesenate) Annie Sakamoto (center), one of the original CrossFit bad-assed women, demonstrates how many muscles can be brought to bear on a good kipping pull-up at this past weekend's CrossFit Games. Sadly, we were doing deadhangs, which means no kipping, which means no using hip drive and momentum to get above the bar. I'd complain, but I can't do a kipping pull-up anyways. Meh. (crossfit.com)

(Click to enhugenate) Double-unders at the 2011 Games South East Regional team event. I don't know the athlete, but his form is PERFECT. Body is vertical, there's no mule-kicking, wrists and hands are fully out to the side... perfect. (crossfit.com)

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WoD:

• 3 rounds for time
  • 10 Double Unders
  • 2 Deadhang Pull-ups
• ~2min Recovery~
• 3 rounds for time
  
  • 4 DHPU
  • 20 DU

Went into this workout feeling pretty good. I hadn't worked out since the Friday before, and rather being sore from previous exertions, I was sore from lack of exertions! Or maybe I've just been sleeping funny. I'm honestly not sure. I made sure I was wearing my Pumas, as they have a nice smooth sole, less likely to catch the jump-rope on the double-unders, and I made sure I had my own jump-rope, too. It's not all that special, but it gets the job done, and I can't seem to do double-unders with any of the ropes at the gym.

I struggled to chain the double-unders a bit, but still managed to knock out 10 faster than the group (recovering from a 24 hour race over the weekend) doing 10 sit-ups instead. However, they could inevitably knock out the 2 pull-ups faster than I could, so we were all hanging neck and neck. I finished the first round in 1:20.

Not surprisingly, the 2 minute rest flew by, and we were into the longer round. I opted to go band assist on this set of pull-ups, just to keep my time from spiraling out of control. My first band was WAAY too strong, and I had more trouble getting down to full extension than I did with the resulting pull-up, so I asked Vin to swap the bands for me while I did the first set of 20 double-unders for the second rotation. That set was *perfect*, 20 perfectly chained double-unders .Sweet! Meanwhile, Vin had set me up with a much more "medium" band, which did far less of the work for me. Upshot was that the final 8 pull-ups all required a bit of work from me, which is the entire point of being there in the first place!

Total time: 6:42 (both rounds and rest time included)

Afterwards, I spent some time working on ring dips and ring L-sits, since I haven't really done ANY ring work since leaving the House of Diesel back in May.

11-03-31: Pull-ups, sit-ups and walking lunges

CrossFit Garden City WoD for March 24, 2011
Warmup:

• 10 light Turkish Get Ups per Arm 20#

Training:
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of:

• Jumping Pullups
• AbMat Situps
• Walking Lunges

Accessory:

• L-Sit L-Tuck on Rings - Accumulate 2 minutes in as few sets as possible

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The Turkish GetUp. Learn it, live it.(physicalsubculture.com)

Chest to bar pull-ups. Like regular ones, but a bit more awful. (Sin City CrossFit)

AbMat Sit-Ups. Maybe more fun together than alone? (CrossFit Weekend Warriors)

Ideally, you actually should NOT teleport from one leg to the other. Stand up between EVERY rep, not just the first three and last two. (leg-exercises.com)

Heather Keenan Bergeron does that which I cannot. (crossfit.com)

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Though feeling a bit tight from the previous day's massive PR on deadlifts (335#...which isn't very heavy at all, actually...), I was pretty psyched up for today's workout. I scaled the warm-up a bit, doing only 10 Turkish Get-Ups per arm, rather than the Rx'ed 30/arm.  This was mostly a time consideration, as 60 TGUs is a bit time consuming. However, after doing those 20 reps, I did a little active stretching and prepping for the training phase.

Although I set-up a stretch band on the weight-assist pull-up machine, I opted to do jumping chest-to-bar pull-ups off the back of the Smith machine, figuring that over the sheer number of reps (84) for this workout, we didn't have enough bands for when I finally couldn't do any sort of normal pull-ups anymore, while my staying power on the jumping variety is quite a bit better.  After cranking up the new Amon Amarth album "Surter Rising" I started the clock and got going.

My only goal for each set was "unbroken." Just finish the reps for that round, that's all. It worked for the first and longest round, and I eventually recovered it for the final three rounds (9-6-3), but had no ability to maintain it on the rounds of 18-15-12, except for the walking lunges. Soccer legs saved me on those, making those my rest period compared to the rest.

Total Time: 10:18

For the L-Sit hold, I immediately scaled it back to an L-tuck, since I barely have a clean L-Sit, much less for an extended period of time. Though I've done some work maintaining the control position, and a little less time trying to hold L-sits and tucks, I had no idea what 2 minutes would feel like. Turns out, it feels like an eternity, even in four smaller bite-sized chunks!

L-Tuck 2:00m: 30s / 35s / 30s / 25s

10-07-12: Dumbbell snatches and Pull-ups

CrossFit WoD for July 12th, 2010
"Joshie"
3 rounds for time of:

• 40# DB squat snatch x 21, R
• 21 10 L-Sit Pull-Ups (anyway possible)
• 40# DB squat snatch x 21, L
• 21 10 L-Sit Pull-Ups (anyway possible)

In honor of Army Staff Sergeant Joshua Whitaker, 23, of Long Beach, CA who was killed in Afghanistan May 15th, 2007.

Boy, did this ever suck. Doing a workout that kills your lungs in a room bordering on 95 degrees, nearly 100% humidity, and sun pouring in the glass ceiling...not all that smart.  Thanks to early Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer, etc for keeping us going.  Oh, and the big stinking fan.

So, the scaling:  Did the dumbbell squat snatches as Rx'd, though there were a few power snatches that worked their way in occasionally that I counted. For the pull-ups, HA!!  I did them off the top of a smith machine frame, knowing that the L-sit would quickly devolve into a jumping pull-up, which it did.  First round (ie, two sets of 10 pull-ups) were all L-sit, though with feet touching down between every rep.  2nd round pull-ups were all jump-pull-ups with VERY slow negatives (ie, jump up into top pull-up position, and then sloooowly let gravity pull me down, to full extension).  3rd round pull-ups were straight jump pull-ups, with minimal slow-down on the negatives...at this point, I was lucky i was still holding onto the frame!

Why?  Because this workout is MURDER on the wrists and on every core muscle between the legs and the fist.  Managed to do the first several sets of dumbbell squat snatches in unbroken sets, but that ended when I lost the ability to breathe the nearly liquid atmosphere.  Fun!!  Typing hurts...let me tell ya!

All the sets and exercises were done with minimal rest times, though I did take time for the occasional drink or spell in front of the fan.  I was definitely having problems with my face going all red and feeling like it was going to pop from overheating.  I have NO idea how people workout/run/work down south, where this kind of crap is hell of a lot more common.  Ugh.  Either way, hit this one as hard as I could in honor of "Joshie" Whitaker.  It sucks that there's a need to pay these guys homage, but it does NOT suck to actually do so.

10-05-26: L-Sits, Good Mornings, Sit-Ups, Back Extensions

CrossFit WoD for May 26th, 2010:


Three Four rounds for time of:

• 60 30 seconds L-sit
• 45 pound barbell Good mornings, 30 15 reps
• 60 30 Abmat sit-ups 
• 25 pound plate Back Extensions, 30 15 reps

For the L-sit, accumulate 60 30 sec. For the Good mornings and Back extensions, minimize rest over speeding the movement. For the Abmat sit-ups (substitute a rolled-up towel if needed), feet unanchored with soles together.

Subbed and scaled as noted, with the decision to add in a 4th round at the end of the 3rd.  I'm glad I didn't attempt the full amount for three rounds, as there is pretty much no way I would have gotten the 60 seconds for the first L-sits, much less two more times! I can barely do them as a press off the floor, so tried to sub in doing hanging from the frame of our otherwise useless Smith machine.  I paid for the last two days' worth of pull-ups on that decision, but it really was the only way.  (Damn, just watched the CF video for L-Sits...definitely easier with parallelettes.)

For the sit-ups, I ended up doing the final 45 on a decline bench.  More ROM, but with feet/knees anchored.  I just didn't have the oomph do any more on the floor with a rolled up shirt under me without each one turning into a full body flop to get moving.  Not sure if a more supportive Abmat would have helped with that, never having worked with one.

Total time @24 minutes (short break before opting for the 4th round, so not sure of an accurate timing)