Medball Madness

My friend Kristina in Miami is a brand new Crossfitter.  I've known her for 20 years, and I think both of us have felt rejuvenated by our recent induction into the Crossfit addiction.  So it's pretty standard to send texts back and forth about our WODs and how we do in them.  Her gym does its own programming, so her WODs are different than mine at Crossfit NYC, as we follow the CF main site.  Today she texted me that she was doing "Karen" (150 wall balls for time).  I was jealous because we haven't done Karen since I started, and like any squat-based workout I'd love to try my hand at that one.  Since I forgot how many wall balls were in the workout I googled it and the main site came up from the last time they posted it.  Funny thing is when I checked my phone later on to see what today's WOD was going to be I thought I refreshed my browser.  I was shocked to see that we were also doing Karen (little did I realize mid-brainfart that my browser didn't refresh and I was still looking at the Karen post from before).  Even more bizarre is that I realized my mistake this morning and here's the official WOD for today:

Five rounds for time of:
15 Medicine ball cleans, 20 pound ball
15 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball


How strange is that?  150 reps, all medball, and as close to Karen as you can get get without it actually being that WOD.  A very Twilight Zone moment for sure.

I rocked this WOD nicely, and I was psyched that my medball cleans were a hell of a lot better than last time.  I RX'ed the ball at 20 lbs comfortably.  Sara was impressed and I was happy to put up another sub-20-minute WOD time this week:

WOD Time: 15:02

Sara said our legs would be shot after this one...I'm definitely feeling it already.  I hope the protein cushions the pain a bit...we'll see.  For now I have another triumph to text Kristina about.

See you tomorrow...?

Lord of the Rings: The Quest for My Inner-Gymnast

Sara was out today and our trainer was Josh, a cool funny guy who was super-knowledgable about mobility.  He discussed mobility vs. flexibility (I never thought there was much of a difference, but there is). He had us do very interesting movements to warm up. Some laying on our side, moving limbs to the opposite side...some crazy gymnastics-like movements on paralettes, but nothing that we did would prepare me for the pain that followed today's workout.

WOD
"Ledesma"
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 Parallette handstand push-ups
10 Toes through rings
20 pound Medicine ball cleans, 15 reps

(check out the video of the WOD, with an incredible performace from Austin Malleolo of Crossfit Albany, complete with horrible musical selections)

I got into a handstand and tried half a pushup before the warmup today, but no way do I feel like I'm ready to tackle the exercise as part of a WOD.  So I scaled those to pike pushups off a 24" box with my butt straight up in the air.  Josh saw me crank out the first round of them and said I can't be more than a couple of weeks away from doing handstand pushups...pretty crazy...

The biggest surprise though was my ability to jump my feet into the rings consistently throughout each round.  It takes a lot of momentum to get my body even semi-inverted, so this movement was super-challenging.  But somehow I found the strength to get my toes through those rings a lot, and when they didn't quite make it they were damn close. 

As far as the medball cleans, the less said about those the better. After watching the video I envisioned a fluid, steady motion between reps. But after Josh was done with me I was second guessing every rep, thinking about whether I was extending upward enough before dropping down under the ball.  So that hesitation translated into longer rounds, which resulted in more pain.

I got through four rounds, plus five pike pushups. I'm not going to say I took it easy, because a WOD like this (or any WOD for that matter) takes balls-to-the-wall energy to get through.  But I was still conscious of my Phlebitis, and while my leg was feeling better the bump was still there on my calf, so I didn't want to get stupid about it.  I was psyched to be back...anything on top of that was a bonus.

DON'T THEY KNOW I'M JEWISH?!?!?

This one fucking leveled me.  Plain and simple.  I gave it everything I had...all while scaling five of the exercises.  Here's the WOD as RX'ed:

12 Days of Crossfit

One Handstand Pushup

Two Rocking Pistols, One Handstand Pushup

Three Ring Dips, Two Rocking Pistols, One Handstand Pushup

Four Walking Lunges, Three Ring Dips, Two Rocking Pistols, One Handstand Pushup

Five Medball Cleans, Four Walking Lunges, Three Ring Dips, Two Rocking Pistols, One Handstand Pushup

Six Box Jumps, Five Medball Cleans, Four Walking Lunges, Three Ring Dips, Two Rocking Pistols, One Handstand Pushup

Seven Knees to Elbows, Six Box Jumps, Five Medball Cleans, Four Walking Lunges, Three Ring Dips, Two Rocking Pistols, One Handstand Pushup

Eight GI Janes, Seven Knees to Elbows, Six Box Jumps, Five Medball Cleans, Four Walking Lunges, Three Ring Dips, Two Rocking Pistols, One Handstand Pushup

Nine Wallball Shots, Eight GI Janes, Seven Knees to Elbows, Six Box Jumps, Five Medball Cleans, Four Walking Lunges, Three Ring Dips, Two Rocking Pistols, One Handstand Pushup

Ten Sumo Deadlift High Pulls, Nine Wallball Shots, Eight GI Janes, Seven Knees to Elbows, Six Box Jumps, Five Medball Cleans, Four Walking Lunges, Three Ring Dips, Two Rocking Pistols, One Handstand Pushup

Eleven Barbell Thrusters, Ten Sumo Deadlift High Pulls, Nine Wallball Shots, Eight GI Janes, Seven Knees to Elbows, Six Box Jumps, Five Medball Cleans, Four Walking Lunges, Three Ring Dips, Two Rocking Pistols, One Handstand Pushup

Twelve Kettlebell Snatches, Eleven Barbell Thrusters, Ten Sumo Deadlift High Pulls, Nine Wallball Shots, Eight GI Janes, Seven Knees to Elbows, Six Box Jumps, Five Medball Cleans, Four Walking Lunges, Three Ring Dips, Two Rocking Pistols, One Handstand Pushup.

My Time:  48:54
Scaling (with some help from Sara):

Scaled HSPU to Pike Pushup
Scaled Ring Dips to Jumping Ring Dips
Scaled Pistols to "Ass on the box" or whatever you call it...
Scaled Box Jumps to step-ups
Scaled GI Janes to 4 burpees then 4 ring dips

This was absolutely sick...LOVED it!