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.

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...

PWNing the Back Squat - A Tale of Whoa

This is what 375 looks like...i.e. that's me next time :)

I'd like to thank my Mom & Dad, my agent...my hamstrings and that whole posterior chain that's been so supportive all these years.  You all knew I could do it, even in my dreariest moments of doubt...

OK, so you have to allow me a moment of self-indulgent gloating.  I'm not that guy...I don't normally think this way...maybe I just rarely get put in the position to say things like this but here goes...

I fucking destroyed this WOD.  I killed it.  The bar gave me everything it had and the damn thing was coming back up like styrofoam every time.  For almost five months I've been bitch-slapped by the majority of workouts in Crossfit.  But today I slapped back...hard.

I PR'ed my back squat by 50 lbs and I left what seemed like an easy additional 50 lbs on the table.  335 lbs.  A highly-symbolic weight, as I started this journey tipping the scale right around that very mark.  I saw the WOD come up last night and I could taste this moment.  I've missed back squat singles several times since I started, and endured limiting shoulder pain, triples instead of singles, metcons with high reps but less weight...so many explorations of this exercise but never a chance at a max effort...until today.

We warmed up with three rounds of:

20 Walking Lunges
10 GHD situps
10 back extensions

I got my sweat on nicely and was ready to dig in...

BLACK BOX WOD (current skill: back squat):
back squat 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Seven rounds of singles.  I knew I could start light and warm up before the true WOD kicked in, so I paired up with CFNYC regulars Lucio and Jeff and we got to work.  Kevin went through the movement, the low bar position, and (as always) some helpful hints on getting the most out of this lift.  Kevin is the shit when it comes to Olympic lift coaching.

We started with the bar and I let the other guys set the pace on loads.  I was ready to stay for hours until I got into the heavy zone.  After a while I lost count and just kept adding plates.

Warmup (Sets of 1): 45 – 135 – 155 – 175 – 185

I was putting these singles up quickly...Kevin said to not count reps toward the WOD until we got close to our former PR.  Since mine was 285, we had plenty of sets to go.  I was happy to make 20 or 30 lb jumps until I felt it getting heavy.  Turns out that moment wouldn't come until I got well over 300 lbs.

WOD (Sets of 1): 205 – 225 – 245 – 275 – 295* – 315* – 335*
*1-Rep Max PR

Every time I came up I heard Kevin bust out laughing behind me...he said my heavier reps came up quicker than the warmups.  The other guys were getting a kick out of it too.  Lucio always ribs me that I make them look bad on back squat days, but frankly it's my only time to shine.  The minute we switch from strength to bodyweight stuff I get destroyed...so hey I'll soak up this moment no problem :).  I told them that when you carry this much weight around for that long, any leg-heavy work is going to be no problem.  Today was case in point.

I've been reading a lot of articles on Westside Barbell and their philosophy on lifts.  They talk a lot about prepping your nervous system to get it accustomed to certain ranges of weight.  I truly could have put up 350+, but as I was thinking it Kevin said it.  Stop here.  Let your body absorb this one.  It was the right call.  This was 50 lbs heavier than anything I've ever lifted.  No reason to push.  I was in uncharted waters.  best to right the ship and sail home triumphantly.

I play poker a lot and there's a term for those nights when you just can't lose.  It used to be that you "owned".  Nowadays people say that you PWNed (pronounced "poned").  I played heads up against the back squat and I PWNed.  I look forward to cashing in my winnings in the weeks to come. :)

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda...

Today's WOD was posted as a 10K run.  Even if I was capable of running a 10K in a reasonable amount of time, I wouldn't have the time to do this before work.  So I rolled the dice on coming into Crossfit, hoping Kevin would allow me to do yesterday's WOD:

WOD - For time:

135 pound Front squat, 10 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 9 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 8 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 7 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 6 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 5 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 4 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 3 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 2 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
135 pound Front squat, 1 rep
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent

Fun looking WOD!  I wasn't anticipating much resistance from Kevin, and I was excited to see one of my CF buddies Reda already doing that WOD as I walked in the door.  Kevin said it was no problem to do it, so I went ahead and got set up.  I was very confident I could RX the weight, as I did the 100 back squat WOD a few weeks back, and did that one in the high-bar position. Sara says that makes it basically the same exercise as a front squat, as you employ your quads a lot more than your posterior chain with the high-bar.

But anyway Kevin said the rope climb, which we scaled to four jumping pulls on the rings (touching chest each rep) would take a lot out of me between squat sets, so I reluctantly heeded his suggestion to do 115 lbs instead.  I knew I would be more than comfortable with 135, but I never want to pretend I know more than the trainer, as this is never true.  Though while I'm confident about very little in Crossfit, I'm confident that I can squat heavy, and I've proven that I can do a lot of reps at 50% of my PR 1-Rep Max weight. I don't fault Kevin for not knowing that, as Sara has much more of a handle on my history with these types of WODs. Needless to say I put the 115 on the bar and got ready to hit it.  There were around five other people who showed up...as I told Kevin, nothing silences a Crossfit box more than a 10K run...Kevin programmed a sick WOD for the other people with double-unders, sumo deadlift high-pulls and chinups.  "Good luck to them" I thought...though I probably needed that WOD more, I was now even happier to be doing yesterday's. We did a warmup that included shoulder dislocates, ring rows, and back extensions.  After that we were ready to hit it...

3...2...1...Go!  I got a great pace going right off the bat.  With the descending rep scheme I didn't hold back much on the squat sets, all of which were unbroken.  The ring pulls weren't bad, but by the fifth set I saw what Kevin meant, even though I still felt I could easily have handled that 135.  I heard Kevin calling out the time and I really felt I had a good shot at putting up a sub-10-minute time for the first time since Fran.  But this would not come to pass, as I hesitated one too many times, and damnit did I really need that drink of water going into the 8th set?

WOD Time: 10:10

I'm nobody to complain when I put up a 10-minute time for any WOD.  But it's further evidence that moving forward I'll be able to hold my own with RX'ed weight on WODs with squats.  I would have been happy putting up 12+ mins but lifting 135, but better safe than sorry I guess, and I got a decent sweat going to kick off the week.  Mission accomplished. :)

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...

WOD 2010-12-16 "For Load and For Time"

So basically I view every pullup as a weighted pullup.  When you tip the scale at over 300 lbs that's just the way (weigh?) it is. So when I see "weighted pullups" on the WOD I just think "Pullups".  And when I think pullups I think ring rows, because I don't have pullups yet, even with the widest support band.  I'll get there, but I need to challenge myself more on the ring rows (lower to the floor, more reps at a time).  Today I took some steps in that direction, even if the result was a bit sloppier than normal.

Warmup - Three rounds of:
10 Kettle Bell Swings
10 Good Mornings


Today's WOD:
Three rounds of:
10 Weighted pull-ups
30 Back extensions

My time: 8:20

I'm happy that my time came in under 10 minutes, which Sara said was required.  I really got after it on the back extensions.  The last 15 or so were tough, but I was able to crank them out five at a time.

Already psyched for tomorrow...

Peace.

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.