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...

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...

Snatched from the Jaws of Pain...

If I wake up very sore I've learned to just get my body moving and I'll be alright .  A couple of times the pain has cost me a day at Crossfit.  But I've learned that by the time I get to the Black Box it's almost three hours after I wake, and I'm likely favored to power through a workout without much trouble.  If a metcon was on the schedule today that would have been very questionable.  The only way I was getting through today was the fact that it was all skillwork...a nice chill day where we focus on the ill-named but ever-powerful "Snatch".

A nice visual breakdown of the Snatch

I was happy to get some weight on the bar and see where I stood with this exercise.  I don't remember doing a straight-up power snatch (from the floor)...several times we went over the muscle snatch (starting from the bar at mid-thigh) and we did snatch balances a couple of times in the past (or maybe once in NYC and once in Morristown). 

Warmup:
Pullup Attempt (got 1/2 way up with thickest band several times...this is HUGE for me)
30 Kettle Bell Swings (16 kg)
20 Ring Rows
10 GHD Situps
5 mins Double-Under practice

Snatch:
6-7 warmups with bar (45 lb)
65 lbs (x3)
85 lbs (x3)
105 lbs (x3)

I'm pretty sure the WOD called for seven rounds of one rep, but I really wanted to get comfortable with the exercise, and Sara was more concerned with that than adhering to the exact number.  She had a lot of helpful comments, and she mentioned that my snatch form was better than my cleans.  I felt good with the weight, and I feel like if I pushed heavier it would be borderline.  I didn't want to get so heavy that I compromised the form of the exercise (or bring myself any additional pain).  It gets meaningless when you do that, even though it's the most common thing I see in other types of gyms.

Either way another productive skill day in the books, and I'll have a solid reference point next time we revisit the snatch.  The soreness from yesterday's madness didn't slow me down at all, but you can bet there's some solid rest coming up this weekend before I attack next week's Crossfit schedule.

Peace...

Skill Day - Snatch Balances

So the skill days have proven to be very helpful in really getting a sense of where my strength is at with each exercise.  A lot of them are still my first attempt, so I've been starting slow with the weight.  With the exception of push jerk and front squats I haven't been going too high in weight, which is fine by me.  But when I'm able to push a little bit without getting crazy, I welcome the challenge.  I realize that as long as I can maintain solid form I can comfortably explore higher weight and really get a ton of benefit.

The last time I did snatch balances was part of my second vacation WOD in Morristown, and in retrospect I didn't really do them very well because I didn't get nearly the amount of immediate speed on the way down that I should have.  It was more of a slow descent, and it seems the essence of the snatches is an explosive, near immediate shift to get the bar over you, or in the case of snatch balances get under the bar.  Kevin said the entire purpose of the snatch balance is to build confidence and strength getting immediately under the bar.

We started with a warmup:
2 Rounds:
500m row (moderate pace for form)
10 GHD situps
10 hip extensions
5 Handstand Pushups (scale to pike pushups)
10 OH Squats (pvc)
10 ring rows (feet elevated)

I got a decent sweat going, and had to scale ring rows because I can't get full reps when my feet are off the ground.  These 500m rowing warmups have been getting easier. Had a nice chat with Anthony (one of the CF regulars) WHILE we were rowing.  If you came up to me in November and tried to talk to me while I was rowing I would have vomited all over you.

WOD
Snatch Balances
1-1-1-1-1-1-1

45 x3 (warmup w bar)
55 - 65 - 75 - 75 - 85 - 85 - 95

I feel great about getting 95 lbs.  The movement was a lot easier with the weight than actually getting the bar in position on my upper back...I was fighting to not have the bar position take away from the movement itself.  This time I was mostly successful...

Onto tomorrow.  I feel a nasty metcon coming on...bring it!!!

I Did Fran!!!

That's right people...she's been playing hard to get for a while since I started Crossfit, but Fran just couldn't stay away any longer.  Yup...I did her, and there was barely anything left of me when I was finished...man she's tough!

Warmup:
I hung from the bar 3x, which by itself is super-tough for me at my current weight.  My hands get shredded so quickly.  But I tried to hang on long enough to start working on the back and forth that will help me eventually get to do kipping pullups.
Also several stretch exercises with the group (death stretch, wrist work, spinal twist)
5x ring rows (3 rounds)
10x kettle bell swings (16 kg - 2 rounds)

WOD:
"Fran"
3 Rounds for time:
Round 1 - 21
Round 2- 15
Round 3 - 9

Thrusters (RX'ed at 95, Scaled to 75)
Pullups (Scaled to ring rows)

Time: 8:08

Sara said she would stop us if we went over 10 minutes...the people in the 6:00 class were coming in anywhere from 4-8 minutes, so I don't feel like I lagged too far behind the pack.  I feel great that I at least have a reference point, and surprisingly I'm not fried from doing Fran today and the front squats yesterday.

Looks like I rest tomorrow...I'll likely be back on Friday though...it's tough to stay away!

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...

"Come in from the Cold" - WOD 2010-12-08

WOD
Three rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
15 Pull-ups
50 Squats
15 Pull-ups

Scaled running to rowing 500m (hurt my knee last week)
Scaled pullups to ring rows

Completed two (2) rounds

23:18

Last 11 ring rows were with crowd support...thanks folks...you made all the difference!

WOD 2010-12-02

5 rounds of:

500m row
7 thrusters @ 95lbs

17:18

Pants that were tight last month are loose today...feelin great.

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.