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...

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...?

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!

Going "Nutts"

I saw yesterday's WOD online and memories of "Filthy Friday" popped into my head:

"Nutts"

For time:
10 Handstand push-ups
250 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
25 Box jumps, 30 inch box
50 Pull-ups
100 Wallball shots, 20 pounds, 10'
200 Double-unders
Run 400 meters with a 45lb plate

With all of the shoulder press skill days last week and back squats last Friday, I was ready for a serious  metcon.  Problem was this was yesterday's WOD...and CF NYC hadn't posted the Monday WOD yet.  So I look to see what's in store for us in the Crossfit main site (NYC abides by the national site's WODs), and lo and behold we were scheduled to do back squats the same as last Friday, five sets of three.  I remember this guy Elliot from the class before me doing a previous day's WOD sometime last month, which I thought was very cool.  But I wouldn't imagine I'd break off from the pack to do it myself so soon after that.

So I emailed myself the WOD (scaled of course) in case Kevin was cool with my doing "Nutts" instead of more back squats.  I was psyched when Kevin was completely cool with it, so I went about setting up my stations.  Here's what I scaled to:

10 Pike Pushups
185 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
25 Step-ups, 24 inch box
35 Ring Rows
70 Wallball shots, 20 pounds, 10'
120 Double-unders
Run 400 meters with a 25lb plate

I could have tried the box jumps, as my knee has improved, but I'd rather not get back to where I was so quickly.  I decided to do step-ups, but in retrospect I should have done at least 10 of the box jumps to just try and get back into it.  Next time I'll push myself more.  Frankly the step-ups were pretty damn tough toward the end...two feet high is no joke...

While I've maxed higher than 185 on the deadlifts, I haven't done 15 in a row before, so I played that one cautiously as well.  I got through the ring rows quicker than any set I've done yet...I can feel the strength building.  I really want to do pullups!  Wall balls were super-tough, but I did them 10 at a time, and before I knew it I was done.  I did 120 single-unders, about 5-10 at a time, with the longest stretch being 18. After 120 though I felt like I should do more since it called for doubles, so I asked Kevin and he said to work on doubles.  I spent a few minutes trying, and someone gave me some solid pointers, but it just wasn't happening today.  I grabbed the weight and ran out the door to finish it off.  Coming back up the stairs was a bit of a kick in the balls to finish off the WOD, but I made it, and it felt great.

24:36

Was this WOD tough?  Absolutely...was I COMPLETELY spent the way I was after Filthy Friday?  No.  But I'm happy I was able to do this WOD, and I look forward to the next metcon.

I can feel the progress...good stuff!

Filthy Friday Crushes My Soul

OK...so here's the WOD as RX'ed:
http://crossfitnyc.com/2010/12/filthy-friday.html

For time:
50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

I scaled to "Dirty 30" (i.e. 30 reps of everything vs. 50). I had no intention of doing jumping pullups at all, but Sara had me on the box doing them in no time. I was excited to have a WOD with kettle bell swings, as we didn't even do these during Elements. Since my knee is still bruised and a little tender, I scaled to step-ups for the box jumps.

I cruised through the first three exercises like I actually had business being there. I was surprising myself with my pace. Wall balls WERE my favorite exercise, but today, with them smack in the middle of the WOD, they tore me down hard...by the time I got to the burpees I hit the wall. But rep by rep Sara was on me hard to finish. Somehow I found a way, and before I knew it I was done. 35:15!

This is truly an incredible experience. I am so psyched that I'm actually finishing these workouts. I cut a new hole in my belt yesterday, and I'm officially one shirt size smaller. It's the only way I'm measuring my progress. I still haven't stepped on a scale since I started. I just need to keep plugging away...

The knee shows signs of improvement...I'll still wear the brace next week, and I'll keep it to three WODs, or maybe see how I feel by next Friday...I don't want to push too hard, but this Crossfit experience is damn exciting.

word.

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.