The Outside-Inside WOD

I rolled up to an incredible sight on the sidewalk out in front of the building that houses Crossfit NYC.  People were doing the WOD right there on the sidewalk...pushups, sit-ups, squats and Supermans subbed for back extensions.  Not that I'd be embarrassed to hit the streets with them, but something about the discomfort of pavement and/or cement takes a bit of the charm out of the WOD.  Granted if you're going to do a workout that would make the everyman vomit, you might as well throw in some unforgiving hard ground for good measure.  Safe to say though, if I had the option to do the WOD inside I'd happily take what comforts the floors of the Black Box afford me.

WOD
Three rounds for time of:
Run 100 meters
50 Push-ups
Run 100 meters
50 Sit-ups
Run 100 meters
50 Squats
Run 100 meters
50 Back extensions

Kevin went over the movements and gave us the choice to do the WOD inside.  There were cones set up on opposite sides of the room to measure out the runs.  Three lengths of the room equaled 100 meters.  I knew the volume of pushups was going to be challenging, but I figured at this point if I can't crank out 150 pushups in a WOD, well, I guess I'll just have to do less :).  And that, unfortunately, is exactly what I did...but for reasons other than capacity...

3...2...1...Go! I hobbled a bit through the first run...those lunges weren't letting go of me just yet, but I wasn't in enough pain to slow my pace down.  Either way 100 meters at a time was very doable, even if I needed to warm up through the first round before the soreness subsided.  I cranked out pushups 10 at a time, swung my arms out between sets, and got through them without much trouble.  Round after round the runs got better, the reps more fluid, and I definitely hit my stride, but I realized my pace wasn't to fantastic...

As the clock was in the 50s and I was starting the third round, I did the math and I simply didn't have time to finish and make it to work on time if I did 50 reps of each exercise.  Kevin told us before the WOD started that we could scale to 35 reps, and I didn't consider this for a second until now.  So I figured that's just how it had to be...rounds 1 & 2 RX'ed, round 3 scaled...not a big deal...still more than 500 reps total, and one hell of a workout.

WOD Time: 39:43

A big thanks to Anthony & Tim for continuing their tradition of doing the exercises alongside me for my last round, even though their workout was already done. Shout out to the street people…I’m sure there were plenty of Paleo-friendly snacks on the sidewalk no matter which way you turned your head. If you looked hard enough I’m sure you could see the remains of my quadriceps, which have been MIA ever since International Lunge Day.

And of course, thanks to Kevin P for allowing me to demonstrate back extensions going into minute 40 of my WOD, so the new folks can see what it looks like to lose control of your form, your balance, and your glands after 540 reps and running a 1/4 mile.

A Minute to Win It

Looks like it was max effort day. 
He's really on the ball

My hip is feeling a lot better, and it helps that there's no running, deadlifts or any other hip-heavy exercises today, so I can keep away from it one more day...every little bit helps.  I haven't tried to mobilize the hip capsule again yet, and I think I'll wait a while until I'm confident I won't mess it up again.

Today was mellow, as is the case with a lot of strength days.  It's good that we're focusing on the shoulder press, because I feel like I need all of the shoulder strength I can muster if I want to improve with pullups, handstand pushups, ring dips, and heavier lifting overhead.

Warmup (3 Rounds with PVC):
10 Shoulder Dislocates
10 Good Mornings
10-second handstand hold

WOD
Resting 60 seconds between sets:
Press 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2

We paired up on the racks and got going quicky.  Pretty cool WOD, though in retrospect we didn't think ahead about how limiting the minute rest time was as far as increasing weight goes.  Frankly neither of us was a superstar on the press, so we were happy to stay around 85-95 lbs for the whole WOD and just focused on pressing well with good speed, and fighting my urge to push press.  We got through it quickly, and Kevin programmed a little "cashout" metcon since we had some spare time left:

CASHOUT
Five Rounds for Time:
10 Ring Rows
10 Situps

Time: 7:11

That was a nice little workout.  Not the most blistering day of work at Crossfit but a good sweat and some solid strength work.

Ready for more tomorrow...

Home WOD #1

So it's been a couple of days and I have been on the foam roller, doing light (non-hip) mobility work, and taking Wobenzym regularly, and it's been working well.  I feel my hip far less than I did on Tuesday, and it seems I just had to give it some time.  So hmmm...a Saturday night at home...just me, my Abmat and a random crazy thought...

HOME WOD!

What better way to get back in action than a little home-grown Crossfit programming?  Maybe some air squats...yeah just air squats...and a lot of em...like 100 or 200...yeah that'll do it.  Then I called Scott in Miami, and he had the great idea of throwing in some situps.  Ahh...a couplet...GENIUS I thought (I'm a little slow on weekends).  So here it is....

Home WOD #1
4 Rounds for time
50 Air Squats
25 Situps

The tough choice was selecting the heavy metal channel or the hip hop classics channel...hip hop won, as it seemed they were in the midst of an LL Cool J-a-thon and that seemed like the right prescription for this WOD.  Got my towel laid out, filled the water bottle and it was go time...


3...2...1...GO! Man I have to say squats are my thing...I guess I violated the enduring rule in CF programming, which says when programming your own workouts, program your "Goats", or your absolute weaknesses.  Not this time folks...I was crankin out squats like they were nothing.  At less than 2 minutes per exercise I had a good pace going...the situps were like nothing (the Abmat really really helps).  I guess I'll program 50 of those per round next time.  But before I knew it I was cranking out the last round...20 unbroken squats, then sets of 10...unbroken situps and I was done...


WOD Time: 14:55

Felt great!  No hip issues, and so easy to get a solid sweat on...SO much better than surfing the web, blogging (sorry) or watching the tube.  Seems this might be a trend on Saturdays if I have any more three day weeks at the Black Box.  The jury's out on whether it'll make sense to do a home WOD if I've done four days already.  But this was a good one, and I'm preparing for mad quad burn tomorrow.  Hopefully by Monday I'll be fresh and ready to go...

De-Mobilized

Shit...

I'm as careful as the next guy when doing these workouts, and while I finish all of my WODs I'm hugely conscious of not taking myself to the point of injury by doing something too quickly or recklessly.  And while my trainers would have a word or two about how well I do this, I'm very conscious of maintaining the best form possible so I don't tweak, pull, tear, or anything else that could put the kibosh on this whole process.  So leave it to the Mobility WOD to be the source of my first stumbling block since my bruised knee this past winter.

I had been doing hip MOBs (short for mobilizations) courtesy of Kelly Starrett of San Francisco Crossfit and his free site Mobility WOD.  The site has truly blown open a new dimension in my training and performance, and I dedicate 5-10 minutes each evening to stretching and mobilizing my body...usually things that will help with the following day's workout.  So there I am, well, mobilizing one night and I get up to find that I can feel the back of my hip.  No pain, but a noticeable feeling that somehow my femur has gained some wanderlust and isn't tightly resting in the back of my hip capsule.  FUCKIN GREAT! 

So coming in this morning I decided to try some gentler mobility stuff to get things working again, and while it helped for a few minutes, the feeling would come back to my hip pretty quickly.  It wasn't getting in the way of my warmup, but I dealifted a kettlebell and could tell I shouldn't be lifting from the ground anytime soon.  I should mention today's WOD to put the rest in perspective:

WOD - "Michael"

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

I told Sara about my hip and we agreed that I'd run the first round, and if I felt like it was getting worse I should row the next two.  The WOD was pretty straight-forward, so I hit the ground running with the first group and got started.

3...2...1...GO!  I did the 800m run in round 1 unbroken...felt quite a bit faster than last time I had 800m runs as part of a WOD but I didn't time myself.  I can't say that it got any worse, but weighing my options I came to the (rather uninformed) conclusion that I should row the rest just to be safe.  The situps weren't too brutal (I ended up doing those first because the GHDs were all occupied after I finished the run) but MAN those back extensions were intense...especially the last 20 of each round.  And finishing the back extensions and hitting the rower right away was absolutely insane...my back was in WTF mode for the first half of each round...tough to get a solid pace going with that painful transition.  But I got through it and put up an OK time, considering the situation...

WOD Time: 36:53

Later on after the workout I got into a really helpful dialogue with Sean M. and Mike K on the CFNYC blog comments discussion, and they helped me to realize I needed a few days off.  Another CFer named "MC" recommended an anti-inflammatory named "Wobenzym".  I just bought some, as I've read a few things recently about Ibuprofen and it seems it might be best for Advil to not be my goto (in addition to fish oil) each night to reduce inflammation.

So yeah...my hip actually felt better after the WOD, but the feeling is back now and I need to give this thing time to settle down.  Looks like this might be a 2-WOD week.  Sucks, but I'm sure my body will appreciate the rest.

Sigh...

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 :).

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.