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)

---

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.

12-01-02: Backsquats, box jumps, jump and shrugs

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, January 2nd, 2012

Squat. All the way down. All. the. way. down. Otherwise, NO REP! (Paleo Now)

Box jumps. For this WoD, the height wasn't too high, to encourage faster cycling and explosive rebounding back up onto the box. Note the low reps to support that (High rep box jumps are now known to blow out Achilles tendons, which is becoming sadly common in CrossFit circles...) (Motor City CrossFit)

The triple extension: ankles, knees, and hips all opening to propel the bar upwards. Note that the arms are still fully extended, "showing off the triceps," allowing/forcing the much stronger lower body to do all the work. The "jump and shrugs" mimic exactly this portion of the lift, going from a slightly contracted angle in all three joints to full extension. The arms never bend, and the weights never rise above this height. (CrossFit)

---

Strength: 4x6

• Back Squat @ 80% (Calculated to 250#, then dropped to 250# for rounds 3-4.)
• Each set followed by:
• 3 Box Jumps
• 10 Kettlebell “Jump and Shrugs”

Ah the joy of figuring out calculated weights using OTHER calculated maxes to work from. I apparently managed to lift 265# for a set of 5 a month or so ago, so a calculated 1 rep max was 315#. So 80% of THAT would be 250#. So, 4 sets of 6 reps. Easy! Well, as it turns out, not so much.  I warmed up at steadily increasing weights, noticing that the bar felt REAL heavy at about 225#. I finally moved up to the 250#, and prepped for the WoD itself.

I struggled mightily on the first set, but made it through. After each set of squats, we had three box jumps (20") and ten kettlebell triple extensions (aka "jump and shrugs") (36# per kettlebell). Well, feeling crushed by that first set, I stumbled through the rest of the round. After resting up a bit, I re-approached the bar. On this set, the first 3-4 reps were tough... the fifth was awful... on the sixth, about 2" out of the bottom, I suddenly realized I was on the knife's edge of completely failing out, and I had no idea how I would get rid of the bar in that position. Between my not-great shoulder flexibility, and my completely squashed up position, I just didn't know what to do. Sucking in a great breath, I did the only thing I could think of: I stood up under the weight and managed to rack the bar amidst a haze of spots in front of my eyes. Not fun. After catching my breath for a few seconds, I finished the round and started considering dropping the weight to complete the workout.

Meanwhile, everyone else was already racking their gear, since my warm-ups took me into their second or third sets. Bah. After dropping back down to 225#, I went back for round three. By now, I was so annihilated by the first two rounds, even the lighter weight was almost too much, but I made it through, and completed the round. At this point, I actually considered cutting the workout short. Everyone else was done, including the person I usually give a lift to, who had other things to get going on that morning. No one else would notice... no one but me. Seriously, I could walk away, and no one would be any the wiser. I was tired, I felt broken, it would have been perfectly ok.

Bullshit. I re-addressed the bar, got my ass under it, banged out six more reps. The last two sucked almost as bad as the one that nearly wrecked me in the second round, but with the rest of the class cheering me on (well, those who were still there...), I made my way through it, and banged out the rest of the round. I'm glad I didn't give in to the temptation to cheat the workout, the coaches, and most importantly, myself. What's the point of spending the money, and taking my time and everyone else's, just to quit when it gets hard. What's the worst that happened at that point? With a lighter weight I fail and dump the bar and end the workout there? Who cares? At least I tried! And having successfully finished it, all the better.

11-04-26: Unending Devastation

CrossFit Garden City Wod for April 13, 2011

Wall-climbs. Hang on to your lunches! (CrossFit Beaufort)

Dumbbell swings, gripping one of the weight blobs. (CrossFit UNC)

Air squat. It's safe to say you're not going low enough in your squats. Hip crease MUST drop below the top of the knees. Otherwise, you're just doing knee-cricks, which don't count for reps. (CrossFit)

If the rope is invisible in the picture, it's probably a double-under. (CrossFit LAX)

---

Warmup:

• 3 sets of
  • 10 Overhead Squats,
  • 2 min Double Under Practice
• HSPU/Wall Climb Practice

(Determine appropriate scale for workout)
Training:

• 10 Wall Climbs
• 40 KB Swings (24/16kg)
• 60 Anchored AbMat Situps
• 80 Squats
• 100 Double Unders
• 80 Squats
• 60 Anchored AbMat Situps
• 40 KB Swings
• 20 HSPU (shortened ROM)

Scaling: HSPU: Full ROM - Shortened ROM - Kick To Handstand - Wall Climbs (Chest to Wall)

---

This was just an ugly, ugly slog to the finish line. The whole way through the workout, I kept thinking I was going to end up capping it after the double-unders, just in terms of time. However, I've been *terrible* about my diet lately, and felt I owed it to myself to beat the everliving piss out of me in retaliation for mistaking my fuel-intake for a garbage disposal. Warm-up was fairly uneventful. Struggled mightily with the double-unders, which after a week of not practicing, didn't exactly come as a surprise. It did make me start considering the requirement of doing 100 of them mid-workout, though. Decided to scale the initial 20 handstand push-ups to 10 wall climbs, which took me a few mini-sets to complete.

The first set of kettle bell swings I completed in two sets (I was having grip issues because of sweaty palms and using a dumbbell rather than a real kettlebell with a *real* handle to hang onto...). The sit-ups were where everything started to fall apart atrociously. It took a good 4-5 mini-sets to get through them, and my abs were on FIRE from about rep 30 on. Especially upper abs, where they attach to the ribs. That's one upshot of the abmat, where you have to unclench the abs on every rep, so you're doing a bit more work on every rep. Argh. The squats were hard, but not terrible. I ended up breaking them up a bit, just to get some blood back into, or maybe out of, my quads. Depth was good on every rep, but I was having trouble finding a good foot placement. Could have just been that as random smaller muscles fatigued (IT band, ab/ad-ductors), I was adjusting in a bid to ease up on them without really realizing it.

 Double-unders. 100 of them. I've never done that many in a single workout. I decided to see how I did, and scale on the fly if needed. After "accidentally" cranking out 30 at once, I was determined to complete the prescribed 100. Several mini-sets later, I had done just that. Words cannot describe how awesome that felt. Not that I'm great at them yet, but this was a huge mental hurdle that I barely knew existed going into it. "How can I ever do 100 double-unders?" In small chunks, that's how.

 With that out of the way, I opted to NOT scale or cut the rest of the workout. The second set of squats felt a little easier than the first, though it still took me two mini-sets to complete. The next 60 sit-ups nearly killed me. Seriously. The final 40 dumbbell swings were just a pain because of my grip slipping on the end of the dumbbell. I could have switched to holding the handle, but it changes the ballistics so much that I'm really not a fan of doing that with so heavy a weight. Some chalk and curses later, I was down to just the final handstand push-ups. I opted to do wall-walks, with 20 reduced-ROM handstand push-ups. I would be rewarded for doing more push-ups at once with fewer wall-walks. That carrot worked PERFECTLY, as I cranked out 5, then 7, then a final 8 handstand push-ups with only three wall-walks added in. That might be my constant scaling now, scaling that actually adds in a bit of work at the beginning and end of the mini-set (the wall-walk up and down), with some actual movement (the reduced-ROM HSPU), with a goal of minimizing the wall-walks and increasing the ROM.

Total Time: 47:30

11-03-01: Ring work, tabata rowing, push-ups and squats

CrossFit GardenCity WoD for February 24, 2011
Warmup: 
3 sets of 10 Overhead Squats, 2 minutes of DU practice
Skill:
Ring work - ring dips, pull-ups, etc.
Conditioning:

• Tabata Row
• Rest 1 min
• Tabata Pushup
• Rest 1 min
• Tabata Squat

---

Overhead squats. Those will wake up your shoulders in the morning.

Double-unders. Note the higher than normal jump and the invisible rope. Tell-tale signs. (CrossFit Jax)

Ring dips. Full depth ring dips. Man these suck. (CrossFit Rockwall)

Hey, that's Chuck Liddell and John Hackleman! Even the Iceman appears to suffer on the rower! (CrossFit Rockford)

Tabata push-ups. I really REALLY hate them. (CrossFit Works)

Air squats. At last, something I'm good at! (CrossFit Santa Cruz)

---

I love and hate the overhead squat/double under warm-up. If only it weren't so damn effective. The even further upshot was that I was finally linking a crap-ton of double-unders together. It was freaking awesome. Following an exciting warm-up (never thought I'd type that), I focused on some ring work. Plenty of dips, knee lifts, L-sits, pull-up progressions, and toes-to-bar, which were freaking HARD hanging from rings!

After recovering for a bit, I cranked up the tabata mix (20 seconds of metal, 10 seconds of calm), and prepped for some bad-assed interval training. The row was more or less uneventful, though I was really hoping the 7th round was the last, so the 8th was just awful when the metal kicked back in.

Tabata push-ups are my kryptonite. I had a fairly successful first round, but I tapped out pretty quickly after that. I wish the floor in the gym was a bit cleaner, because I ended up face down on it repeatedly in the last 3-4 rounds. However, tabata squats, while not being a favorite, are certainly one of the things I'm better at.

Rounds	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Totals
Rowing	60 calories								60
Push-Ups	12	8	5	5	5	4	4	2	45
Air Squats	14	13	12	13	13	12	13	14	104

11-01-31: Tabata kettlebell swings, push presses and squats

CrossFit Garden City WoD for Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
Warm-up:

• Jump rope: singles, jog step, double-unders
• Active stretching
• Ring dips and pull-up practice

Training: Tabata: 8 alternating sets of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off:

• KB Swing - 25# kettlebell, one-armed, passed back and forth
• DB Push Press - 30# dumbbells (video is with barbells, but the body motion is the same)
• Squat

---

Jeff Martone demonstrating one-armed kettlebell swings. While you could do one arm repeatedly (and with 8 rounds for this workout, that would actually have been an ok idea, 4 rounds for each arm), I opted to switch arms every rep, switching hands during the top part of the swing. (crossfit.com)

The dumbbell push press. The dip in B (note the vertical back) allows you to start driving the dumbbells up with the legs as you extend OUT of the dip, finishing with the arms overhead. Quick lockout, then repeat as needed. (yahoo.com)

Bad squat (rounded back, iffy loading on the foot are the two things that should jump out) on the left, and good squat on the right. Arched back means that when he extends his hips to stand, his torso will lift smoothly, NOT end up just rocking forward and maybe even down first, which the rounded back invariably seems to lead to. With the weight on the heels, you can explode out of the squat with full posterior chain engagement, rather than just sort of hopping out of it, as when the weight is on your toes. (crossfit.com)

---

While the lads did their poorly executed "concentration curls" and Smith Machine "squats," I grabbed some room out in the stairwell area to warm-up. Did a bunch of jump-rope, working for very fast single bounces and running steps, then some focused practice of double-unders. They are finally starting to chain together... little by little. With time...

Speaking of, I quickly attached the rings to the Smith machine and, after easily attaining the control position, banged out 5 ring dips in a row... somewhat easily! After dropping back to the floor, I did the same again! Of course, instead of 5 easy dips, *this* time it was 3 easy dips, one kinda hard dip, and one gut-check almost-at-failure dip... but it was five ring dips in a row, again. To say I was a bit psyched would be an understatement.

I tried for a few ring pull-ups, feet on the floor so I could work the 'false grip' handgrip, so as to be ready to transition from pull-ups and dips to full muscle-ups (a pull-up that transitions up into a dip, moving you from completely below the rings to completely above them):

Definitely click to embiggenate the picture. Notice in the first frame the funky 'false grip.' This is basically the same grip as in the dip, but with the body below the hands. This way, when you transition from the pull-up into the dip, your hands are already in position. It's a pain, but totally worth it... I assume, never having done one. YET. (croftoncrossfit.com)

 The next step to learning the muscle-up will involved lots of progressions to perfect the technique while also building the sheer brute strength needed to tie the pull-up and dip together.

Muscle-up progression. Even with feet on the floor, it looks like they're doing a bit of work, no? Again, note how the false-grip is the dip grip once you get your torso over the rings. (crossfit centurion)

---

By this point, I was feeling pretty well warmed up, so I took some time to go through my active stretching routine. I was feeling a bit acidy from lunch (apparently, beefy, bisony, beany chili doesn't digest all *that* well in 2 hours...), so I was a bit nervous about embarking on a Tabata interval workout. After drinking some water and spending some time futzing with my iPod Nano trying to find my 'tabata mix' (song mixes that go back and forth, 20 seconds extreme metal, 10 seconds soothing music), I was ready to go. Scoring was as follows:

Exercise	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Totals
KB Swings	11	11	11	11	10	11*	11	10	87
Push Press	10	10	10*	10	9	10	9	9	77
Squats	13	13	15	13	13	14	12	13	106

Total reps:270  Tabata score: 31 (total of LOWEST round scores)


I realized after the third round of push presses that the song mixes have an extra minute of 'soothing' music after each 4 minute (8 rounds) interval, so the rounds marked with asterisks show where I got an extra breather. I wasn't positive that hitting "next" on the iPod Nano would do exactly what I wanted it to do, and without a screen to visually see that it was going to go where I wanted it to, I enjoyed my extra 60 seconds of sublime relaxation. While that definitely helped keep me from booting up chili mid-WoD, it also gave me an unfair boost in the following rounds, as evidenced by suddenly higher than average rep counts for those rounds. Happily, the effect was short lived, and since Tabata scoring only looks at the LOWEST round scores, it actually didn't have too much effect, though its possible the 8th round would have been the lowest for everything without the extra rest time.

11-01-21: Angie!

CrossFit benchmark WoD: Angie
"Angie"

• 100 80 Pull-ups
• 100 80 Push-ups
• 100 80 Sit-ups
• 100 80 Squats

As Rxed, For Time :Complete all reps of each exercise before moving to the next.

Scaling: Sub-sets of 10 each to make it even remotely possible.
Jumping-Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups instead of real ones, because that's nearly an infinite number of pull-ups, at least for me...

---

If someone tells you pull-ups are good for isolating muscles in the back, try not to laugh at their utter incomprehension of what a full-body monster pull-ups CAN be. (crossfit.com)

All the way down, all the way up. Repeat as needed. (crossfit.com)

Abmat allowing proper lumbar curvature throughout the entire ROM of a sit-up, making it both more effective AND (at least in my mind) easier, because the initial ab contraction doesn't just fire your lower back into the floor. Because your back is supported, that initial contraction actually works towards elevating your torso! Just like what a sit-up is supposed to do! Yay Abmat! (abmat.com) (Note, I am NOT a paid sponsor, but if the abmat folks want to sponsor me, I'll do it!)

It's ok if your hip crease doesn't drop below the top of your knees. You just can't count the rep, and have to keep trying until you DO break parallel. For as long as it takes.  Come on, the toddler can do it! Why can't you? (For what its worth, watch almost ANY toddler, and you will see nearly perfect squat mechanics, perfect running form, everything. It's AWESOME!) (crossfit.com)

---

I ended up doing this workout at the end of the workday on Friday, having missed my window to get it in during my lunch hour. The number of complications this created was large, but the biggest were these: I had eaten lunch recently, and I usually workout on a nearly empty (read: pre-lunch) stomach, and I had pretty much written off working out, so I had very little time to try to psych myself back up when the opportunity presented itself. But, I grabbed my crap, headed down to the gym, cranked up the Amon Amarth, and went to work!

Some quick intense jump-rope and active stretching, then onto the workout. I grabbed a dumbbell to anchor my feet on the sit-ups, my AbMat for its first WoD use, and set myself up under the ever multi-tasking Smith machine (for the jumping chest-to-bar pullups, a scaling borrowed from the fine folks over at CrossFit Garden City). Then, viking metal cranking, I started knocking out sets of 10 of each exercise.  One other change (not reflected above) was that I did each exercise in the wrong order, having written down the workout from memory.  Rather than pull-ups, followed by push-ups, sit-ups and finally squats, I did them as followed: 10 squats, 10 push-ups, 10 jumping c2b pull-ups, 10 sit-ups, with the driving factor being not doing the squats the jumping c2bs back to back.

Two rounds in, I just wanted to die. Two rounds later, I knew I was going to die. In the fifth round, I started having to stop occasionally to let my stomach settle, since lunch was still floating around and starting to make itself known.  I didn't want to meet Pukie the Clown until it was because of my awesome intensity, not just my bad scheduling.

So, with some pasta and sausage and chicken with red sauce making its way around my guts, I continued working through sets.  By the time I hit the 7th set, I had to break up the sit-ups and push-ups.  Jumping pull-ups had already started being broken up in the 4th or 5th rounds, but really only because my form was starting to fall apart, especially on the negatives and landings. Better to take a breath and keep from re-tweaking my knees doing pull-ups (just TRY explaining that one to someone).

By the end of the 8th set, I was pretty much done. Had I pushed through the final 20 reps of each exercise, I certainly would have ended up booting, and probably still not completed the full workout. However, I also misread/misremembered the recommended scaling from CF GC, and thought that they wanted you to shoot for between 15-20 minutes for the workout, scaled as necessary. I finished round 8 at 19 minutes even, and figured that was perfect.  Having just reread their workout, it actually reads that we should have been shooting for 20-25 minutes... ie, I was right on track, or at least could have fit in one more round, if not both.

This highlights an unfortunate reality I failed to take into account when tackling this workout: if you don't plan ahead for what you want to accomplish specifically, you will end up doing less every time. At least, I will. Granted, CF GC's scaling recommended doing maybe 50-75 reps of each exercise to stay within the timeframe, so I did MORE than that... but in terms of the overall time period, I actually ended up cutting it short. Lesson learned, the hard way.

Music for the workout:
Amon Amarth - With Oden on Our Side - 2006
Valhalla Awaits Me - Live at Summerbreeze 2007

Runes to My Memory - official video

Asator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03mNIlsSbW0 (Embedding disabled by request, so I'm sure you won't follow the link. Heh.  Lord the Rings footage set to Amon Amarth. Love it!!
Hermod's Ride to Hel - Loke's Treachery Part 1

Gods of War Arise (Call of Duty games used as footage = awesome!)

With Oden on Our Side

Cry of the Black Birds

10-12-12: Officially certifiable

Day 2 of the CrossFit Level 1 certification. There's a good chance that some of this is out of order, as my recollections of what happened when are all a bit fuzzy a few hours later...

Still a little sore and creaky from our dozens of reps of the nine basic movements from the day before, as well as a killer rendition of Fran to seal the deal, we sat down to some more theoretical work. After another "classroom" section, we split off into groups to either learn the kipping pull-up OR do a work-out. And then we switched!  I got to learn the kipping pull-up first, as well as (more importantly) the tips to getting good at it. Now, if only I had somewhere to practice it... quite possible that putting enough weights/sandbags or whatever over the base of my pull-up/dip tower in the garage might allow me to do it there. I should probably try that out before i forget how...

After that, we swapped with the tired and sweaty bastages who were working out, and faced our doom: Tabat medley.  Basically, every Tabata I've done to date has involved staying with the same movement for several rounds at a time, usually 8 rounds.  Since the action is 20 seconds of all out effort followed by 10 seconds of rest, 8 rounds is only 4 minutes.  Do that over 4 stations, and you've just annihilated your body for 16 minutes in ways that most cardio-only fitness buffs can't even begin to comprehend...

In this case, after each 20 seconds of work, we would transition to the next exercise.  We did this across three stations (air squats, push-ups (deck to full arm extension), and kettle-bell swings) for 5 rounds.  Since that works out to 15 sets, for a grand total of 7.5 minutes' work.  Sounds simple, right?  You try it... and make sure you're squatting so that your hip crease goes below the top of your knee, and make sure your hips, chest, abs and chin all hit the ground at the same time, and that you come back up to full extension on every rep.  Basically, the first few sets were "ok" which quickly devolved to "ARGH!!!"

After that, we went back to the classroom to learn about the applications and uses of the glute-ham developer, most of which was review for me, but some of it was exciting and new.  After a lunch break, we came back for anther classroom lecture, this one on nutrition (which was probably before lunch...seeing as how some of the lecture dealt with food in my bag that i hadn't eaten yet, but decided to anyway...). Then we went back to our large "small" groups to work on our squat snatches and muscle-ups.

I do not have a muscle up on the rings. I can barely get to a control position on the rings. I need to get some rings, because they target muscles I didn't even know I was ignoring. Lame. Still, it was cool getting the pointers on how to approach the problem, both as an athlete, and as a trainer who wants to work with athletes who will undoubtedly struggle as well. Squat snatches (with pvc pipe as our "bar") seemed to go easily enough. I have to work a bit on footwork and opening the hip more explosively, but those are both common faults and easy ones to fix (hopefully) with some dedicated practice.


After one last classroom session on programming workouts and scaling, it was time for the test. (which sounds like I'm glossing over the classroom material.  I'm totally NOT, its just that there's waaay too much good info to try to squeeze into a "basics" post like this!  The test?  It was easy.  I swear to you, if you do the reading and pay just a little bit of attention in the classroom sessions and small group coaching environments, you almost CAN'T fail. I passed with flying colors, and did well enough that I'm actually a little bit bugged about those few questions missed.  Right now, I like to think I made extra marks on the scantron, and that I actually got everything right. Sigh...

So yeah, I'm all certified and shit.  Show me your squat!  Do it NOW!!!

10-12-01: Heavy Tabata

CrossFit WoD for Sunday, November 28th, 2010

• Tabata Weighted pull-up, 30# dumbbell
• Rest 1 minute
• Tabata Weighted squat, 45# plate
• Rest 1 minute
• Tabata Weighted ring dip, 30# dumbbell 25# weighted vest
• Rest 1 minute
• Tabata Deadlift, 165# 115# barbell

The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals.
Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the eight intervals.
Michelle Kinney 2 (15lb), 12 (35lb), 3 (15lb), 8 (125lb) = 25
Kevin Montoya 3, 9, 3, 6 = 21

---

Michelle Kinney on today's WOD - video [wmv] [mov]
Kevin Montoya on today's WOD - video [wmv] [mov]

Eva T. doing a 70# weighted pull-up. Me being jealous. This is where a real spot for pull-ups would come in handy. (crossfit.com)

Instead of risking a self-lobotomy, I tended to either clutch the weight to my chest, or up and over, on my shoulders.  Either way, it starts off feeling so easy... (games2010.crossfit.com)

The Governator rips out some impressive weighted dips. Not having a dip belt, and having given up on trying to hold the weight between my feet, I had opted for a weight vest by this point... (fitfinity.net)

Tabata deadlifts. Wooohoo! Note all the people using the alternate grip (one hand turned away from the body, one facing in.) This is completely unnecessary for anything other than max weight attempts. It's better to keep both hands facing towards your body, as this works the grip better, so you don't need the alternate grip as much. (crossfitasia.com)

---

Apparently, trying to do weighted pull-ups using a dumbbell in the middle of a Gravitron rip-off is a recipe for disaster. Our machine is such a piece of crap, I can't even find a picture of it online. Basically, it has a bar you stand on for weight assisted dips or pull-ups.  The bar is attached via a T-joint to a longer bar that passes under the weight stack to the cam that actually pulls the cable attached to the weight stack via the top of the machine. (Simple design, just an awkward description.)  The t-bar takes up most of the space that is enclosed by the base of the machine in front of the weight stack, which means that finding a spot to balance a dumbbell on its side is annoying at best.  Add in a spectacularly unstable floor and the fact that when the dumbbell inevitably falls over, it ends up straddling the bar, making it impossible to pick up with your feet, and you have a total clusterf***.

The first round had a great 6 reps.  Everything after that was either singles or total failures, which I refuse to count towards my score on general principal. Even if it only increases it by one, its something of a moral victory.  The problem in a Tabata set is that there's no time to stop and adjust in the middle of it. If what you're doing doesn't work, you're still stuck with it. I was less that thrilled, but hey, you live and learn.

Magically, the 45# plates weren't in use by the time the second round came up, so I was able to grab one and do this bit as Rx'ed, which made me very happy. I don't mind squatting, and its one of the few movements i can just power through. Whereas the other exercises in today's Tabata showed a marked drop-off, both of the leg/posterior chain moves showed staying power, but especially the squats. I started alternating between clutching the plate to my chest and holding up and behind my neck, kind of like a high-bar back squat position.  Both felt pretty good, and being able to mix that part up kept me from destroying my arms trying to maintain a single position.

During the squats, my workout partner opted to do hers with a 35# weight vest. I snagged the vest for the dips, obviating the need to try to wrastle with the frickin' dumbbell in the pull-up/dip machine again.  Definite improvement.  There was still a massive fall-off in reps, but at least that was just because my arms were smoked, not technical crap more or less beyond my control. Lots of good, if unintentional, work on the negatives, with all the failed reps in the later rounds!

More deadlifts! I was stuck with a curl bar, but again, the 45# plates were available, so I just threw those on and went to town.  I'm sure my form was compromised by the fact that I know the grip pattern on that bar was apparently done with a chainsaw, and if I let it even brush my leg, I was going to be bleeding like a stuck pig. So, the bar was always at least a little distance from my leg, which is completely wrong. I didn't overdo it, but just having it float away at all rather than keeping it locked directly over the center of balance was annoying... now add in the curves and excitement of a curl bar, and you have a guarantee of poor technique!

pull-ups

6

1

1

1

1

1

0

0

squats

12

10

8

9

7

8

7

7

dips

5

5

2

1

2

3

2

2

deadlifts

11

10

8

6

5

4

5

5

CF Total (not including zero rep failures) = 1 + 7 + 1 + 4 = 13
Total reps: 11 + 68 + 22 + 54 = 155

10-11-04: Barbara

CrossFit WoD for Tuesday, November 2nd 2010

"Barbara"
Five rounds, each for time of:

• 20 10 Pull-ups
• 30 20 Push-ups
• 40 30 Sit-ups
• 50 40 Squats

(Scaling courtesy the fine folks over at CrossFit Brand X.)
Rest precisely three minutes between each round.
Austin Malleolo 25:51.
Jason Khalipa: 2:53, 3:05, 3:23, 3:46, 3:54 = 29:01.
Kevin Montoya 31:29.

So yeah. Apparently Austin, Jason, and Kevin are all complete and total monsters. Sigh.  ;)

Pull-ups!!! (crossfit.com)

Push-Ups!!! (crossfit.com)

Sit-ups! (I promise, I try to look like less of a douche.) (crossfit.com)

Perfect squat form. Notice the depth of the squat. (crossfit.com)

I went into this with a fair amount of residual tightness in my lower back from yesterday's clean and jerk workout. No amount of warming-up or stretching seemed to touch it. However, I figured that, despite the core-centric nature of this workout, it probably wouldn't be too much of a problem. I was right. I was just wrong about why. It turns out this workout was just going to devastate me so completely, a sore back was seriously the least of my worries.


I opted for the BrandX scaling because 100 pull-ups in one workout is still WAY outside of my comfort zone, but 50 seemed doable...if optimistic. That left 100 pus-hups... ooookay, 150 sit-ups (uh oh), and 200 squats.  Well, that last didn't sound toooo bad.  I went with doing decline sit-ups on a bench, as we have no ab mat (go go gadget amazon list!), and that number of GHD sit-ups would have been sheer insanity. Maybe. In hindsight, a lesser amount of muscle isolation might have gotten me through the sit-ups more easily. Maybe not. I definitely tried to tense/flex my full leg musculature to assist on each rep, but I have no idea if having the knees locked at a 90 degree angle hinders that or not.


Either way, my first round took 5:40.  Having looked at the times posted above, this irritated the ever living crap out of me, and for the second round, I knocked it down to 5:10.  However, I had pretty much already blown up on pull-ups and push-ups, so times started increasing drastically from there on out.


The third and fourth rounds were both in the 6:30+ range, but things didn't go all pear shaped until most of the way through the 5th round. I was only working my way through the 5th round because I have an actual CrossFit Level 1 class and certification coming up in December, so I wanted to have a completed (if scaled0 Barbara under my belt. I felt run over at the end of the 4th round, and only the thought of the seminar got me back on the pull-up bar for the final round. I made it through the 10 pull-ups, broke the push-ups into two mini-sets, and then moved onto the final set of sit-ups. This was bad. I nailed maybe 10, but everything after that was in sets of 2 or 3, tops, and for the final several reps...I had my hands under my legs, helping to pull me back up. I was so far done, I was cheating in mostly ineffective ways!


I stood up from the sit-ups, and suddenly realized I felt TERRIBLE. My previous over-heating sweat was suddenly replaced by cold sweat, and I was suddenly battling with Pukie for the remains of my breakfast, or whatever was still left. I ended up making sweat angels for anywhere between 6-10 minutes. I wasn't sure how I was even going to get back upstairs to go back to work, much less finish the workout.  By the time "te spell" has passed, I had definitely recovered, so I banged out the final squats in sets of 10.  Those were the one exercise I kept pure the whole way through.  There were no quarter squats, or relaxation of the back flex.  I had to adjust foot positioning once in awhile, but my squats seemed to be pretty solid.  Final round time: 14:45.


Total time: 49ish minutes. I don't have my notes in front of me, that's pretty much ball-park. Man I wanted to die.


Musical accompaniment: Blind Man's Sun, the best band you never heard in your life.

10-07-22: Power Snatches, Pull-Ups, Push-Ups, Squats

CrossFit Football WoD for July 20, 2010
Complete as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes:

• 2 Power Snatches @ 80% of 1 RM
• 2 Round of
• 3 pull-ups
• 5 push-ups
• 7 squats

Not sure I really know my 1 rep max snatch, since I really have never focused on the lift.  I chose to make the best guesstimate at a heavy enough weight to make this difficult. 125#  Snatches are a beast of a movement...not that it's difficult to get the weight overhead, but it's hard to do so safely, and in control. I know I can start an attempt with MUCH heavier weight than I can actually control on top, so this seemed like a pretty smart place to start, given that the repeated-triplet following the snatches was only going to start fatiguing all the most important muscles!

Definitely watch the squat video, as there are amazing pointers in there for proper form.  Remember, if someone tells you to only squat to about a 90 degree angle, not only do they not understand the physiology of the knee, they don't understand the point of squatting.  Yes, at that point, the hamstring, hip flexors, abductors and adductors ALL come into play.  But if you're still trying to isolate your quads, you're reading the wrong blog.  Save that for the Mr. Universe competition. CrossFit is about functional strength, and unless you have an injury or a serious flexibility problem (that you are hopefully addressing), your ass should be nearly hitting your heels at the bottom.  To be fair and honest, my ham-string flexibility is crap, so I can't get that low either, but I'm at least aware of it, and working on that flexibility as much as I can.

Started out with plenty of gas in the tank, but was pretty screwed by the end of round 4.  It was so bad, I thought I had plenty of time to complete round 6, but only got through one of the triplets when time was called...where did the last 90 seconds go?!  No idea.

Total: 5 full rounds, + 2 power snatches, 3 pull-ups, 5 push-ups, & 7 squats.

10-07-19: "Rowing Nancy"

CrossFit The Rock WoD for July 19th, 2010

Active Stretching for Warm-Up

“Rowing Nancy”
5 Rounds For Time:

• 400 Meter Row
• 15 Overhead Squats 95 85#

Total time: 20m

Inspired by the CrossFit Games held this past weekend, I tried to hit this as hard as I could. The workout comes from a local CrossFit box (CrossFit the Rock, Rockville Centre, NY), which though I haven't visited yet, its nice to know its there. ;)

(Mens, Affiliate Competition, Womens, and Masters Women CFG 2010 champions - a.k.a.The Fittest People on the Planet.)

My left knee started out sore, aggravated at some point this morning on the train when I had to stand the whole way in.  Sitting on the subway didn't help (duh), and neither did a walk across Central Park.  Neither did sitting at my desk working.  Active stretching and warming up seemed to relax it a bit, but I started feeling it as soon as I started rowing, and on each and every overhead squat. Glad I scaled the weight back a bit, given that the knee was distracting me a bit.

That said, if there's room for improvement, its in the rest times after each bit of this.  I could barely move after each rowing segment, and needed a few seconds to shake out the shoulders/arms after each round of squats. Either way, without the recent inspiration of the games, my time probably would have been 10 minutes longer...

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.

10-07-06: Pull-ups, Dips, Sit-Ups, Squats

CrossFit WoD for Thursday, July 1st, 2010

10 6 rounds for time:

• 10x Pull-ups
• 10x Dips
• 10x Sit-ups
• 10x Squats

After nearly a week off, I was eager to get back to work.  However, as some of you may know, its been a bit brutally hot and humid here in the NYC the last few days, and yesterday was probably the worst of it.  I was drenched with sweat after a light warm-up!  The nasty, humid kind of sweat that doesn't actually cool you off at all. 

So, I tore into the workout, finishing 3 rounds fairly quickly... though I was definitely struggling with the bodyweight pull-ups.  However, after the 4th round, between the heat and fatigue, I just felt my strength totally disappearing.  After taking advantage of the craptastic gravatron*, I did the 5th round with 40# of weight assist, which was still not quite enough.  However, by the end of the dips (also with weight assist), I was racked with full-body exhaustion shakes (that said, I could probably have kept going with the sit-ups and squats...).  I rested a bit, drank some water, and sat in front of a fan trying to get my temp down.

Fought through the 6th and final round with 80# weight assist on the pull-ups and dips.  Spent a good 10-15 minutes just trying to stop sweating and getting my heart rate down before heading back up to the office.  Ended up nearly soaking through my work clothes during the few minutes between sitting in front of the fan and getting back into my AC'ed office.

*It's not really a gravitron.  It's some other off brand of 'weight-assist pull-up and dip' tower.  In their infinite wisdom, the posts that hold the dip bars come STRAIGHT out of the tower, meaning that they are in the perfect position to get you in the crotch, thighs and knees, depending on your technique.  Kipping is almost completely out, unless its a slow controlled kip motion.  I managed to bash my left knee and right quad on the same pull-up, which also served to demotivate the crap out of me. I'll need to get a pic of this horrific piece of crap.  Great idea, just not enough of it.