Games WOD 5 - Getting Crushed on Film

So there's a reporter who's taken some interest in Crossfit, and he's writing a story that will feature my recent fitness escapades (not sure when it's coming out).  He came by the Black Box today to check out Games WOD #5; my first competition WOD in three weeks.  I missed #3 because I tweaked my hip, and I missed #4 because I was working late, and AMRAP Clean & Jerks on two hours of sleep is likely less than healthy.  So here I was...ready to take on another Games WOD and put up some numbers for the team.  Safe to say those numbers figure to round out the lesser end of the spectrum, but I was giving it everything I got, and would hopefully be in for a surprise.  Meantime the reporter requested to see a handstand, and it just so happened that today's warmup was Gymnastics Warmup #1:

5 Handstand Pushups
Frog Stand (10 secs)
5 Ring Pushups
10 Overhead Squats (PVC)
10 Kettlebell Deadlifts

I ran through the warmup a few times amidst conversations with the reporter, and we got to talking about today's Games WOD:

Crossfit Games Sectionals
WOD #5

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 Power cleans (145# for men / 100# for women)
10 Toes to bar
15 Wall balls (20# to 10′ target for men / 14# to 9′ target for women)

The Power Clean

Power Cleans?  Not a problem, but not at that weight.  I think it had been too long since I did a bunch of them in a WOD.  I decided to do women's weight.  Toes to Bar?  More like a very spirited knees to elbows...I'd give it my best but that one figured to look a little ugly.  Wall Balls?  That's my shit baby...no problem.  Squats, Thrusters, Wall Ball, Deadlifts...you name an exercise that uses my lower body and I'll sum up my strengths in Crossfit.  This one was gonna be fun.  Load the bar?  Check.  Chalk the hands?  Check. Set up the ball?  Check.

3...2...1...Go!  OK so maybe I went a little light on the cleans.  These were fine...I should have made them a little tougher.  Toes to bar found me getting my knees up to just above parallel.  I broke these up into two sets when I could, but eventually I'd be doing 3-4 at a time.  Wall Balls were cake, even with the caveat that we had to hit the ceiling because of the height requirements from the Games folk.  I powered through the first few rounds without a problem.  Being a 20-minute amrap I just wanted to keep a decent pace but not gas myself too early.  I noticed the reporter snapping pictures of me...can't imagine he got too many ideal shots, as I was doing knees to elbows and that likely didn't make for good photo...we'll see I guess.

Before I knew it six rounds were in the can and I had to do the toes to bar six at a time.  If I only got through those a bit quicker I would have maybe nailed seven rounds...that would have been sweet, and was so attainable...BUT...with the countdown fast approaching I hit the wall balls hard, but still came up four reps short of seven rounds.

WOD Results
Six Rounds plus 11 Wall Balls

I'm definitely happy with the results, but you always look back and know that there were extra seconds you could have shaved off the clock by picking up the bar quicker, cranking out just one more rep per set, etc.  But at the end of the day this is what I had in me, and as I lay on the floor recovering I felt like I put up some solid numbers for where I'm at.  I thought this was a great workout...I can see myself doing this one again someday.  Not this week though ;).

Peace...

Deadlifts and Toothpicks...a Tale of Pain and Progress

Of course.

Sara was right.  I wake up in borderline agony from yesterday's medball madness, and now I have a quandry.  My quads are exploding, but tell me this isn't a cool-as-shit WOD:

21-15-9 reps of:
225 pound Deadlift
135 pound Overhead squat

I don't remember the last time I did a metcon with deadlifts in it.  I've done several strength days with them, but I've really wanted to try something cool like this where there's a bunch of deadlifts for time.  And I'm definitely going to RX the weight if I show up for this.  The bitch of the situation is the overhead squats.  Last week I failed at my attempt at 155 lbs.  With my quads in this shape I don't know if I could overhead squat a broomstick without doubling over in agony.  But 135 lbs for 21-15-9 PLUS heavy deadlifts?  I'm a damned fool to try it.  Best to get back to bed and get another hour's sleep and call it a week.

...So anyway I get to CF NYC early to stretch out for the WOD.  Only me and Lucio showed up...seems everybody was destroyed from yesterday.  Lucio says his legs are shot too.  I told Sara about the problem and she's always sensitive to stuff like this.  I think she appreciates that we show up in that situation, so she's willing to scale as much as needed so we don't get crushed.  She agreed that I should RX the deadlifts, and after I told her OH squatting toothpicks might be a problem she chuckled and said it was fine if I just used the bar.

We did a mild warmup and I did some amazing hip stretches I learned from Mobility WOD (more on this amazing resource later).  I was feeling great, except for the fact that I could barely walk.  Literally my legs would occasionally buckle if I walked too fast...but hey, my hamstrings were ready to ROCK, and ROCK we did...

3...2...1...GO!

The deadlifts were heavy...damn heavy, but I was able to kick ass through the first set of 21.  It was far from unbroken, as I still haven't dialed in good technique for multiple deadlifts.  But I got through them fine and I was onto the overhead squats...I don't know if it was the warmup, the hip stretches, or the adrenaline, but these came a LOT easier than I thought.  As I segued into the sets of 15 and 9 reps got slower, but I stuck with it.  After an unbroken set of 9 overhead squats I yelled for time:

WOD Time: 11:15

Sara and I hi-fived and it really hit me that something special is happening here.  It's like I'm waking up slowly on a daily basis.  I started the day in pain and I left Crossfit in bliss.  After putting up several sub-20-minute times in the past week I can really see my progress in every way...on paper, in the mirror, and in my soul.  Everything I envisioned about this experience is coming to pass.  If this is what it's like after four months, I can't imagine my progress after the first year.  I'm really looking forward to finding out how far I can take this.

That's all for now...another four days of Crossfit on the books...time for some much needed REST!

Peace...

Getting Fed Through the Chipper

"Chipper"

You hear the word and it conjures up equal parts fear and excitement.  Two syllables and the average Crossfitter knows they're about to face an opportunity to blaze a new trail in their fitness.  It's the ultimate test of both the physical and the mental.  The chipper is in its own category of metcon...large amounts of reps, and an array of exercises that do not repeat...you just have to do a shit ton of each of them.  Some days you get fed through the chipper.  Other days the chipper feeds through you...

My first chipper was the Filthy Fifty.  I was happy to scale it to the "Dirty Thirty" at the time, but I know next time it comes around the days of scaling reps on something like that are done.  I've arrived, and instead of not even registering on the performance spectrum I feel like I've earned my place, regardless of how buried I am in the "novice" category.  Today's chipper was a beast, and I knew I'd have to bring my A+ game to make it through this one:

WOD
For time:
70 Burpees
60 Sit-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 poods
40 Pull-ups
30 Handstand push-ups

I went to the store within an hour of seeing the WOD posted, as I had to find something to protect my knees.  The last time I did more than 50 burpees my knees were literally bleeding...something about the way I hit the deck scrapes away at the skin until the last 20 or so are excruciating.  I found some knee pads but they were too tight.  I ended up grabbing some big, flexible band aids that covered my knees...turns out they work like a charm.

I didn't know what to do for the warmup...I didn't want to waste an ounce of energy...so I did a modified version of Sara's gymnastics warmup day 1, which is:

Kick up to a handstand (3x)
5 ring pushups
frog stand (10 secs)
10 overhead squats (pvc)
10 kettle bell deadlifts (12 kg)

I usually do 5 handstand pushups for step 1 of the warmup, but I wanted to save every bit of those for the WOD.  So I just held the handstand for like 10 seconds and kicked back down.  We didn't do too many rounds of the warmup before it was go time.

3...2...1...Go!  You could feel everyone blazing out of the gate for this one...those initial bursts from a full class can be pretty powerful.  Once people settled into their pace everyone started getting a bit more methodical.  My approach, as always, was slow and steady.  I kept it going, the band-aids were holding out, and before I blinked I was halfway done with the burpees.  The last 20 or so were challenging, but I got some encouragement from some folks and kept at it. 

Soon enough I was on to the situps, realizing only then that I was a full round behind the pack...pretty standard (shrug). I asked Sara if I could do butterfly situps, and she was completely cool with it.  So I cranked through that set...my biggest problem with situps is keeping my mammoth legs together, so butterfly made it a lot easier for me.  Those probably took the least amount of time out of any of the exercises.  By far the kettle bell swings were my strongest exercise out of the lot, and I might have put the KB down 3-4 times during the set.  I love this exercise, and even though my form was messier than most other times, I was able to crank through this set without much trouble.  Pullups were just a matter of breaking up the reps so I was able to maintain explosive energy and momentum from the resistance bands.  The last 15 or so were tough, and a cool guy Matt who I've seen around the gym came over to help get me through them.  Sets of five became sets of four, became sets of 3.  Somehow I got there, and I was onto what became a WOD unto itself...the handstand pushups...

Matt is a fucking hero...I cranked out like 7 or 8 of them without much of a problem, but with 22 to go, and very little gas in the tank, we started with sets of three.  That quickly became sets of two as I fell out a couple of times.  I was breathing heavy, staring down the bumper plate that dictated my depth in this exercise.  With like 18 to go I was averaging two reps every 2-3 minutes, and I think while we were both determined, a distant cloud of doubt was floating into the room as to whether I was going to finish.  Very long story short, after what seemed like an eternity I got there.  HUGE props to Matt for sticking with me through that absolute mess.

WOD Time: 41:04

My reps weren't pretty, but I got full (scaled) depth and full extension.  I would say MOST of the WOD was challenging but very doable.  But that final hill of the handstand pushups was a vertical climb.  After launching into the chipper with strength and confidence, I got spit out the other end...shredded, in pain, but alive, well, and more fit than yesterday.

I like the chippers.  They don't quite like me yet...they'll warm up to me over time, I'm sure of it :).

Snatch Encore

Well it seems the Black Box is on a mission to improve our ability to do the snatch.  Here we are with like the third skill day in a week dedicated to this exercise.

WOD
Perform 5 sets of the following:
3 reps of hang power snatch followed by 3 reps of overhead squat

Kevin went through the Bergener Warmup again, which I get more out of every time, as I'm trying to remember the positions in these lifts, which are the essence of the exercise.  When I started Crossfit I was so obsessed with getting more weight on the bar that I lost sight of what's important.  There really is a beauty to these movements when they are done properly, so I looked at this as an opportuntity to fine tune even more than last week.  Metcons can be a lot sexier than skill days for the snatch, but I believe the combination of the explosiveness of the exercise, mixed with the proper form, can only help metcon performance over time.

I would post loads, but they were minimal at best...starting with the bar alone, then increments of 5 and 10 lbs at a time after that.  My overhead squats were strong, and despite still being in pain from Friday's squat-fest I was able to get some decent depth in my squats.

A fairly uneventful day from a blog perspective, but anything that helps fine-tune my Crossfit performace is OK by me.

Cindy - 2011-02-22

Today's WOD caused a major conflict for me, because I love deadlifts and would love to see where I'm at for sets of 3. But I've never done Cindy before, and I just had to set a benchmark to see where I'm at for that workout.  I missed it on Monday (we had the choice between Cindy and Mary), and as soon as I saw it on the schedule I knew I HAD to make up Cindy.  It seems to be one of the quintessential Crossfit workouts.  Firebreather Matt Chan says that Crossfit comes down to pushups, pullups & squats, so in a way Cindy is a true marker of your Crossfit metcon performance.

WOD
"Cindy"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

I warmed up with four sets of three handstand pushups, with three abmats under my head.  I'm feeling great about these, and hopefully next time they show up in a WOD I can do them with some depth.  We'll see...
I also did some stretches with the PVC (shoulder rolls, shoulder dislocates, overhead squats).

Sara and I discussed where I'm at with pushups, as I still have to scale to knees.  I can do like 5 actual unbroken pushups, but my belly still drags me down and they're really brutal to try RX'ed.  So for something like Cindy I didn't have much choice if I wanted to get through multiple rounds.  Also Sara was saying that 10 rounds was a realistic expectation given my recent gains (isn't she always the optimist ;)  I was also planning on scaling the pullups using the 1.5 bands I've been using recently.  i wasn't anticipating a problem with the air squats, as I was actually not in any sort of leg pain for the first time in a while.  I crush squats under these conditions, and today was no exception.

3...2...1...Go!  I was doin pretty well out of the gate, and if pullups weren't involved I feel like I might have actually gotten 10 rounds.  But after the third or fourth round it was really challenging to get more than one pullup at a time.

Result: 7 Rounds plus 4 Pullups

I'm happy, even though it would have been nice to put up double digits.  Sara asked me what my Cindy number was in Elements, and I remembered that we did a half Cindy, and I couldn't get past the first round of pushups.  So if I was looking for perspective, there it is.  Progress is good, and today showed that my few months of Crossfit have paid massive dividends.

Peace...

Zero Degrees of Preparation

One of the locals snapped an action headshot

Butt. Ass. COLD! This was the simple truth facing me as I was the sole moron who actually showed up for the 7:00 class today.  Zero degrees with a nice breeze as New York City wakes up and sees me for the knucklehead that I am.  But hey, I ain't gettin' fit curled up for an extra hour in my bed, so I say BRING IT ON.

Kevin actually asked me if I'd prefer to row vs. run.  When I said run, he just handed me a stopwatch with this look on his face like "OK buddy good luck".

Warmup (2 Rounds)
10 Shoulder Dislocates (PVC)

10 Overhead Squats (PVC)
10 GHD Situps
10 Back Extensions
10 Ring Rows (RX'ed as Pullups)
10 Pushups (RX'ed as Ring Pushups)

WOD (3 Rounds for Time)
Run 800 Meters
Rest 2 Minutes

Times
5:49 – 6:25 – 6:10

I'm actually happy with my times, as I didn't walk long stretches at any point.  If I had to walk or slow down, I picked a visual spot to hit where I would start running full speed again, and it worked pretty well to motivate me.  Granted the obvious motivator was the fact that if I moved slow enough I might start cracking and bleeding right there on the pavement.  Either way chalk up another win.  Thousands to go...

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...

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...

Vacation WOD #2 - Morristown

Back to Morristown I went for my first WOD since last Friday (4 days off inbetween).  There were easily 15-20 people this time, but everyone was able to find their own space to make the WOD work.

After some PVC stretches and talk about form, the warmup was:
(2 Rounds)
5 Air Squats

1 Bergener Warmup (45-lb bar)
10 Overhead Squats (" ")

We then did some minor pullup work to stretch out the shoulders, and then got set for the WOD.

WOD (as RX'ed):
(3 Rounds)
4-Minute AMRAP, 1 Minute Off
6 Clapping Pushups
8 Snatch Balances (95 lb.)
10 Lunges in Place (95 lb.)

I scaled the weight to 65 lbs. for my first two rounds.  Got through 3.5 rounds before I basically hit the wall.  I don't know if it was the extra day or two off vs. what I'm used to, or just my inability to really get the snatch balances happening with weight of any significance...but I felt like I was chasing it the whole time.  I was actually happy to crank out an extra half a round once I completed the third...

Either way, I showed up, which is saying something I guess, but it definitely wasn't me at my best...maybe next time...still very happy to keep it going during vacation.


Peace...

WOD 2010-11-19

Warmup:
10 Kettle Bell Swings
10 PVC Overhead Squats
10 25lb weighted situps
10 pullup (scaled to ring rows)
also practiced w the jump rope

WOD (amrap 15 mins):
5 Deadlifts (135 was good for me)
10 Wall Ball
15 Double Unders (I just did 30 singles)

4 rounds plus a set of wall ball in 15 mins...not horrific, but at least a reference point for next time.