CrossFit Garden City WoD for March 15th, 2011
Warmup:
3 sets of:
Strength:
In 15 minutes quickly build up to a heavy single rep - NO FAILED REPS
All should be fast and clean, with only 2-3 challenging reps towards the end
Conditioning:
5 3 sets:
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| Josh Everett is a beast. |
After warming up with some basic jump rope, I moved into the prescribed warm-up, which included even more jump rope, though with an emphasis on double-unders. For each set, I increased the load on the overhead squat, starting just with my jump-rope of negligible weight, to a weighted jump-rope of unknown weight (5-10# tops), then the empty barbell at 35#. Because the barbell is so short, it definitely had a major impact on my arm position, which trickled down to changing my torso position, and then where my feet felt comfy. It was weird. Back extensions were no problem, and double-unders were the usual freak show of singles, doubles, the occasional triple, and the rare 10+. I'm getting there...now I just need consistency!
For the hang power snatches, I experimented with a thick, very dense piece of wood that was taken out of one of our treadmills a while ago. While its not particularly deep front to back, its long enough to accommodate those movements with a fairly restricted range of motion for the feet. My hope was that it would even out al the problems with the floor in the gym, which is massively uneven, lumpy, and in some places, littered with holes in the subfloor concrete. The wood did NOT address most of those issues, but it still felt pretty good. Made me wonder what an appropriately sized piece of wood on a better floor would feel like.
I added in a Burgener Warm-Up just to grease the grooves, as it were. After that, I did the following reps on my way up to a personal record for a heavy single on the hang power snatch.
35# x 3 / 45# x 3 / 75# x 3 / 85# x 2 / 95# / 105# / 115# / 125# / 130#F / 130#F
The final two reps were, strictly speaking, missed reps, as I ended up pressing out the weight at the top, rather than snatching the bar all the way up. So, while the bar did end up locked out overhead, in a competition setting those reps would NOT have counted.
I ended up having to scale the conditioning section of the WoD, mostly for time. While I believe I could have finished the workout *eventually*, it was better to go as hard as I could for only 3 rounds than just slug along, slower and slower, through the final two rounds, only to eventually get fired for being "out for lunch" for two hours. So says me.
I used the prescribed weights, though its possible I could have gone a bit faster had I made them a bit lighter. However, the 50# dumbbell snatch was still less per hand than I was just doing with the barbell a moment earlier, so it seemed like an ok place to start. Oddly, I found the left hand easier, as I was able to more efficiently utilize the hip opening to propel the weight up, while with the right arm I was more likely to just muscle it up with the arm muscles the whole way, or at least a lot more of the way. That'll be something to work on and improve. When the right side got tired, my form would improve a little, but the fatigue of doing it wrong for so many reps made it hard to capitalize on the improved form. Whereas on the left, as I fatigued, I was able to get even more hip pop to do even more of the work, so that arm seemed to stay fresher as the workout went on.
As usual, I had to substitute a dumbbell for the kettlebell swings, since our "powerballs" only go up to 25# (provided they haven't lost sand over the years...NOT a good bet). I've taken to gripping the dumbbell by one of the ends, so there's at least a little ballistic action on the other end, rather than grabbing the handle, mashing one hand over the other, and completely NOT having it feel like a kettlebell. Unfortunately, my grip never once felt strong, which led to a few broken sets when I stopped so I could reset my grip a little, and inevitably grab a few breaths.
The double-unders truly proved to be my undoing. While I was able to string together 2-3 pretty easily, anything longer was a real victory, and the 3 times I managed 10 or more were like a gift from the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Basically, I would get to the double-unders pretty gassed, and finish the round ready to puke. It was a brutal downhill spiral for the three rounds I completed, and attempting the final 2 would have been nothing but a deathwish fiasco.
Total Time: 21:45
