Dope on a Rope

OK, so I can only imagine that the day I actually climb a rope...what a glorious day that will be...for now though I scale, and I scale hard...

WOD
Five rounds of:
15' Rope climb, max reps in 3 minutes

Scale to - Grab Rings overhead, start in squat position, jump & touch chest.  3 reps = 1 rope climb rep

Reps
42 - 35 - 33 - 36 - 34

So I imagined myself burning out by the third round, but I was actually able to power through this one OK.  Kevin gave us some amazing stretches to do afterward, which likely save my wrists, forearms, and chest.  He said we likely couldn't tell, but the compression of our chest to get up to the rings was intense, and without the stretch we would feel it hard (I'll likely be feeling it hard no matter what).

Also a great warmup today.  I feel more confident rowing, especially for shorter spurts like 500m.  I average around 1:50 per round, but depending on what else is in the warmup I easily go over 2 minutes (I didn't pay attention to the exact times today).  Here's what we did:
(2 Rounds)

500m row
10 Pushups
10 GHD Situps
10 Hip Extensions
10 Overhead Squats (PVC)
10 Pullups (Scale to Ring Rows)

All in all a decent Monday.  With tomorrow being a rest day I might ask to do one of the previous metcons, as I'm itching to tackle a big one that is way out of my comfort zone.

I need to get some bonus posts in about some amazing things I've been reading, on the web in general, but more specifically in the Crossfit Journal.  If you haven't subscribed yet it will be the best $2 a month you ever plunked down.  More on this soon...so many directions to choose from.  I've been nerding out on this shit hard.

For now...peace...

Skill Day - Snatch Balances

So the skill days have proven to be very helpful in really getting a sense of where my strength is at with each exercise.  A lot of them are still my first attempt, so I've been starting slow with the weight.  With the exception of push jerk and front squats I haven't been going too high in weight, which is fine by me.  But when I'm able to push a little bit without getting crazy, I welcome the challenge.  I realize that as long as I can maintain solid form I can comfortably explore higher weight and really get a ton of benefit.

The last time I did snatch balances was part of my second vacation WOD in Morristown, and in retrospect I didn't really do them very well because I didn't get nearly the amount of immediate speed on the way down that I should have.  It was more of a slow descent, and it seems the essence of the snatches is an explosive, near immediate shift to get the bar over you, or in the case of snatch balances get under the bar.  Kevin said the entire purpose of the snatch balance is to build confidence and strength getting immediately under the bar.

We started with a warmup:
2 Rounds:
500m row (moderate pace for form)
10 GHD situps
10 hip extensions
5 Handstand Pushups (scale to pike pushups)
10 OH Squats (pvc)
10 ring rows (feet elevated)

I got a decent sweat going, and had to scale ring rows because I can't get full reps when my feet are off the ground.  These 500m rowing warmups have been getting easier. Had a nice chat with Anthony (one of the CF regulars) WHILE we were rowing.  If you came up to me in November and tried to talk to me while I was rowing I would have vomited all over you.

WOD
Snatch Balances
1-1-1-1-1-1-1

45 x3 (warmup w bar)
55 - 65 - 75 - 75 - 85 - 85 - 95

I feel great about getting 95 lbs.  The movement was a lot easier with the weight than actually getting the bar in position on my upper back...I was fighting to not have the bar position take away from the movement itself.  This time I was mostly successful...

Onto tomorrow.  I feel a nasty metcon coming on...bring it!!!

Getting Easier...

Shout out to my good buddy Elliot from the 6:00 class...an inspiration to say the least...

Warmup (x2):
500m row
20 PVC Overhead Squats
8 Handstand Pushups (scale to pike pushups)
10 GHD situps
10 Hip Extensions

I finished the rowing in 1:59 and 2:11 respectively.  I'm really starting to be able to feel the warmups as exactly that.  I used to feel like I would do two workouts per session, but now my body is starting to gain strength and capacity I didn't have before.  Two months ago this warmup alone would crush me.  Today it got my blood pumping and I broke a sweat, but it was completely manageable.  I stopped the 2nd round of GHD situps because I used my upper body too much 1/2 way through, and paid the price...almost pulled something.  I think I'm going to ask for more help on form with those.  I'm most excited to get GHDs happening almost daily.

WOD (as RX'ed):
3 rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
30 Overhead squats, 75 pounds
21 Pullups

I scaled to 65 lbs. for the squats and ring rows for the pullups. I walked some of the way on the runs, once after I ran through a random lady's cigarette cloud...nice...good morning to me...

Time: 32:05

Sometimes it's the smallest changes that make the biggest impact.  I completed today's metcon, scaling and all.  Was it one of our hardest?  No.  Did I give it everything I had?  Yes.  Did I finish and collapse to the floor like a weeping, sweaty pulp like after most of the past metcons?  No.  I didn't.  I just took a knee for a few seconds, got up, grabbed my bag and hit the showers.  There...that was IT.  Did you see that?

I'm getting stronger.  I can feel it as I get deep into the WOD.  The ring rows were hard for sure.  But I did five at a time in the third round...even a month ago on the third round of anything I would be doing one at a time.

It feels great to really start seeing the difference.

More to come tomorrow...

Press Your Luck

I like when the main Crossfit site says "rest day" because it's always a "skill day" at the Black Box. We always focus on a particular exercise or a family of them, and really nail down the form so we can use them efficiently in future WODs.

Warmup:
10 PVC Shoulder dislocates
10 PVC shoulder rolls
20 walking lunges (with twisting to opp side)
10 GHD situps
10 hip extensions
10 pullups (sub ring rows)
2 mins double unders (sub singles)

Today's WOD was the shoulder press.  Five sets of five reps.  I've done a bunch of push press so far, but it's amazing how different an exercise the shoulder press is because you're not creating momentum from your hips to get the weight up.  You just get the bar above your head, lock out and repeat.  Check out this video of the shoulder press, push press, and push jerk observed side by side.

I started with a good test weight, since these were my first shoulder presses.  95 lbs. felt good, and I knew I could do a bit more.  Here are my stats:

Reps    Weight
5          95
5          115
3          125
5          105
5          115

We did a "cash out" of 30-20-10 double-unders and situps.  I'm still nowhere near getting a double under, so I did twice the RX'ed number of single-unders.  I counted up to 18 at a time that I'm able to do, which buries the max of two I was able to do just over a month ago.  Anyway I got through the cashout in 6:35...

Solid WOD to ease back into Crossfit after a much-needed weekend rest for my aching muscles.