The Rockzone

12-02-08: Bodyweight Squats

2012-02-08T22:28:00.000-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

Karianne Dickson works backsquats with Louie Simmons and the rest of the Westside Barbell crew. In other words, there is much awesomeness in this pic.

More back squat awesomeness.

Box jumps. Der!

Strength: 5x

Max Rep Back Squat @ Bodyweight (185# (Ideal BW))
3 Box Jumps
2 minute recovery

A good simple strength workout. As many reps of back squats as possible (capped at 15), followed by three quick box jumps. Slow powerful movement followed by explosive movement. Awesome. The first round, I was glad for the rep cap, though I'm not really sure how many more reps I could have done... I just wanted to max out at least one round. The three box jumps after that were murder, but they were nothing compared to the squats that followed! I managed to gut out 10 reps in the 2nd and 3rd and rounds, but everything kind of caught up in the 4th: 6 whole squats before I nearly fell over coming out of the bottom.

Its funny how the body recovers, though. Having only done 6 reps meant that I had less to recover from during the two minutes of rest, letting me jump back up to 10 reps for the final round. The only thing that kept me going was that I wanted more than "the next big round number," in this case 9 reps, which would have brought me to just 50. I'm a sucker for a big round number, so getting past it before crapping out was kind of a small victory. I'll take it!

Reps: 15/10/10/6/10 = 51

12-02-06: Body-weight Beatdown

2012-02-08T22:01:00.003-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, February 6th, 2012

Burpees. If you don't know them by now, you will never, ever know them...

Pull-ups. Doesn't count if you chin doesn't go over the bar.

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet demos a perfect air-squat. Hip crease below kneecaps, arms up to help keep the chest upright. Down up, down up, repeat.

Knees to elbows. Kind of like sit-ups with massive grip and lat requirements. So, a much better sit-up. Curse the inventor...

American-style kettlebell swings: Up overhead, w00t!

WoD:

5min Burpees
4min Pull-ups (Band assist)
3min Squat
2min Knees to Elbows
1min Kettlebell Swings 55#, American style (overhead)

This was exactly as awful as I would have expected. Started sucking in the first 5 minutes, and did NOT let up at ANY point. I don't know how much detail I need to go into on this. 5 minutes of burpees is just awful. The only sort of high-light of the workout was the wardrobe malfunction I had in the middle of the pull-ups. To quote Coach Vin: "Funny, Dustin isn't usually the kind of guy to strip down in the middle of a workout!" Turns out that band-assist pull-ups are even worse when the band is catching on your copious chest hair. Maybe, one day, when I have a chiseled set of abs and pecs, THEN I'll be able to shave/wax/whatever my chest, strip down and not have the band catch on my all-natural sweater. Meh.

Total reps:

55 burpees
26 pull-ups
69 squats
16 k2e
14 kettlebell swings

12-02-03: Press, Overhead Squats and/or Snatches

2012-02-05T19:45:00.002-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Robb Wolf coaching the overhead squat (or the snatch... probably the OHS on a plyo box)... and then the CHUDS attacked.

Overhead squat form. Note the two overhead pictures a the top, and how the bar doesn't deviate from its position directly over her traps.

Sage Burgener demos a perfect snatch, with a nice deep catch.

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet snatches in competition at the CrossFit Games.

Strength: Pick 2

~~3 x 6 Press @ 85% (115#)~~
3 x 2 Overhead Squat @ 90% (110#)
3 x 1 Snatch @ 87% (110#)

Ah, a workout designed to work more than one goat at a time... sweet! Though I haven't worked presses in a while, I decided to shoot for the OHS and Snatch, since both involve both strength and skill, and I *need* to work on those skills. After a good warm-up and pvc bar review of all three techniques, we went to work.

First up was overhead squats, which I tried to warm-up extensively with the empty bar (45#). As always, I find the empty bar very difficult to do, as it doesn't seem to provide enough of a counter-balance, but that's probably just my not-quite-supple enough body mechanics, where I need heavier weight pressing down and back to counteract my inability to fully open up my trunk and hips in the front. Maybe. I'm still tinkering with it. After some more warm-up sets at heavier weights, I moved up to my work sets at 110#. Best coaching tip I've ever had directed at me: "That's the best overhead squat I've seen you do here. How did that feel?" It felt freaking amazeballs!! ;)

After three sets of two (interspersed with helping Larry reset his far heavier bar in the rack after it hit the floor after his reps), I moved onto the snatches. After a few reps with the empty bar and a few at 65#, I started working up in weight to 110#. My goal was to perform all full "squat snatches" (as always, a full snatch IS a squat snatch, so squat snatch is actually redundant), rather than the allowable power snatches, which require a bit less skill, and don't work the part of the lift where you actually get under the bar, the most critical part of the Olympic lift known as Snatch.

I hit the first rep fairly easily, and felt good catching it at the bottom, but then I failed on the second. In that instant, I resolved that I would NOT count any misses towards my three rounds. Good thing. I hit the third attempt, bombed out on the fourth (crap technique put the bar too far out in front), and nailed the fifth. So, there was that. ;)

In hindsight (writing this a few days later), any workout that makes all your core and stabilizing muscles sore as crap for a few days is absolutely a great workout. This one looked easy on the whiteboard, but definitely was a bit of a ball-buster!

12-02-01: Floor press, plank holds, and rope climbs

2012-02-01T20:51:00.002-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Floor press. Surprising how much these can tend to suck...

They still suck.

Googling "plank exercise" will come up with lots of people doing them on their elbows. While still a good core exercise, it doesn't translate over to functional fitness nearly as well, as part of the point is to be able to translate that core strength out to the extremities. Just sayin'.

Tell me there's a single muscle she's not using. Seriously.

WoD: 10-8-6-4-2
- Floor Press @ 70% of Max (145#)
- 60sec Plank Hold
Sellout:
- 2 x 3 Rope Climbs

Heeeeeey, more upper body destruction! Awesometastic! (As a middle-aged former soccer player, I actually kinda like knocking the ever living crap out of my weak upper-body!) 70% of a one rep max should be good for 12 reps, so 10 is easy enough. And it was... it was the first 60 second plank that truly kicked the ever-living crap out of me. Then, to immediately turn around and start banging out more reps of the floor press... argh. Argh argh argh....

Total time: 7:47

For the sell-out, it was time to hit the ropes a few times. Twice, we had to make 3 ascents in a row, or at least try. I am now more or less proficient at making it all the way up to the ceiling, pretty awesome. The first set, I ended up crapping out halfway up the rope on my third ascent, so call it 2.5 ascents. For the second set, I couldn't even get the third attempt going. Call that one two and the thought did NOT count!

12-01-30: Upperbody Destromination!

2012-02-01T20:07:00.001-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, January 20th, 2012

Burpees. Stand, squat, plank, squat, stand, jump. Doesn't sound awful, but it really, REALLY is. Really. (CrossFit Games)

Bear crawls. Kids make it look easy. Kids are jerks.

But then again, is this a dude you argue with? *I* wanna be strong like this guy!

WoD: 6 Rounds for Time

10 Burpees
Bear Crawl

How did I put it when I posted my results on the ECC page? Oh, right, "Unholy f'ing EFF!" Yeah, the burpees, though they did indeed creep up on me, weren't nearly the worst bit. Bear crawls around the gym are just one of the worst things ever invented. Nothing like having to put your body-weight on your upper-body just when the burpees have started to smoke your lungs. Just awful. Now repeat the experience half a dozen times.

Total time: 11:44

12-01-29: The Reebok CrossFit commercial

2012-01-29T21:03:00.001-05:00

The Reebok:CrossFit Commercial

During the 2011 NFC championship game, the world of fitness was changed forever when this little gem was aired for the first time:

Wow, I mean just wow, right? Seriously, the sport of fitness HAS arrived. Of course, all hell broke loose on the interwebz, with those FOR Reebok:CrossFit acting like the tide has completely turned, and now everyone on the planet will clearly begin CrossFitting tomorrow (or maybe the next day). On the other hand, holy crap, the haters couldn't fall out of the woodwork fast enough to start shitting all over it. My personal take on it? I think the commercial is a wretched pile of horse manure. Despite how truly "punny" the red box imagery is,* and they are *fairly* iconic, they also make the entire CrossFit "thing" seem pre-packaged and assembly line. Given that most of the pre-existing confusion about CrossFit is based on the unfounded assumption that there is no scaling or substitutions, and that its a one-size-fits-all approach, I personally kind of hate any things that could feed into that misconception.

Of course, that's just my opinion, and for what it's worth, if someone told me that the decision was made to actively ignore the idiot haters and just go for it, I would actually appreciate that. I would even support it. However, after the questionable image decision, (which lasts for most of the commercial, by the way), comes the 10-15 seconds of utter shitting-of-the-sheets. Not-Unfit-Hipster-Man opens the box and is treated to a hip, fast, exciting, MTV-generation jump-cut medley of insanely fit people doing insanely intense workouts. What's wrong with that? Well, from the beginning, one of the main points of CrossFit's infinitely scalable workouts is that ANYONE can do it, from (yes, ok) the strongest, fastest athletes on the planet all the way down to you, me, and our parents and kids. Funny. I don't see any of *us* in that commercial. While I might be impressed by the commercial, I don't feel represented. At all. In fact, after 3 years of CrossFitting, I'm actually feeling a little LESS "CrossFitty" as a result of this.

Reebok:CrossFit followed it up with this much improved attempt:

Again, only the strong, fast, and beautiful are represented. Its impressive and striking, but its in NO way representative of everything that CrossFit can be. And AGAIN, having somewhat left themselves open to criticism. Beautiful case in point: Fitness Lonnie.

Sheer poetry. But, on the other hand, once upon a time, the people in charge knew how to make a commercial.

Two words (sorry Mom): FUCK YEAH. (If I could make that blink, I would.) I want to do THAT. It looks hard, but rewarding. There are insanely impressive athletes and AVERAGE JOES, working out side-by-side. There's yelling, intensity, coaching, support, and COMMUNITY. On top of that, go to youtube and search for "What is CrossFit". There are a metric crap-ton of videos created by the various affiliates, each one showing their own individual character and traits.

So, while I personally think that the *business* part of the Reebok:CrossFit crossover is pretty impressive, I'm left a bit cold by their marketing attempts. Their clothing line is boring to look upon, but according the athletes being given lots of free Reebok gear, its insanely comfortable to work-out in, and, its possible (if unlikely) that they may even improve performance. The co-sponsorship of the CrossFit Games got them onto ESPN 2, which is kind of awesome. Here again, only the shiny awesometastic athletes get featured on the games, so while they're fun to watch, and in a few years, I would LOVE to compete at the Masters level (against the aging but still awesometastic current champions), they still don't really reflect on the other 99% of us out there.

*CrossFit gyms tend to be devoid of equipment, compared to the average $10/month gym which is just loaded with equipment, wall to wall. With the comparative lack of equipment, a CrossFit gym looks more like an empty box. Get it? Isn't the red box imagery awesome in that light?

12-01-26: Death by Clean & Jerk

2012-01-26T22:21:00.003-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Thursday, January 25th, 2012

Sage Burgener cranks through a perfect clean and jerk (the full version) with the bar coming from the floor, the catch in the full squat, etc.

Natalie Burgener bangs out a clearly awesome clean and jerk. Again, note that this is the full version.

A focus just on the jerk, with the dip and the re-extension to drive the bar up, allowing the athlete to drop under the bar with arms extended.

An insanely heavy (to me, and probably most people) clean. The technique of dropping under the bar and catching in the full squat means that you don't need to lift the bar as far. So, technique means you don't need to do *as much* work (as you would with crappy form) to get the bar on your shoulders.

Having stood up with the bar on the shoulders, there is another dip-drive, and the split (again) gets the body under the bar, so it doesn't need to be lifted as far. Technique equals efficiency, which means less total work per lift.

WoD:

Death by Clean and Jerk @ 65% (100#)
Sell-out:
- Skill work

Very simple: Minute one, one clean and jerk. Minute two, two clean and jerks. Continue 'til ya can't. The only spin on the rules was this: After the round where you reached inevitable failure, you had to rest the following minute, then start back down the ladder, the same way you came up, UNTIL the final athlete finished in failure. So, if you made it to three reps on the third minute, and failed in the fourth minute (perhaps only completing three reps), you would rest for the fifth minute, then in the sixth, start at THREE reps, then in the seventh minute, two reps, one rep in the eighth, and (should things come to that), work back UP the ladder. (It turns out, that last part would be unnecessary.)

We were given the choice of doing either the full squat clean, the power clean, or the hang power clean. Knowing that my form would probably crap the sheets just about the third round, I opted for the less skill-intensive hang power clean. Just for poops 'n' grins, I started each round with a power snatch from the floor. They felt ok, but very quickly, the fact that I'm at the limits of my forearm flexibility in the catch position of the clean started catching up with me. After the getting the bar onto my shoulders, the transition time to getting set to get it overhead grew longer and longer...

While the 6th rounds six reps took me all of 30 seconds, in the 7th round, it took me nearly the full minute, leaving me screwed to finish the seventh rep in time. I ended up having to rest in the 8th round, then started my way back down the ladder with six reps in the 9th minute. There was some confusion as to whether there WAS a ninth minute, as the person who had lasted the longest didn't actually complete round 9. Screw it, I finished my six reps to start on the way back down.

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total
Reps	1	2	3	4	5	6	6	rest	6	33

For skill work, I worked on a few different things. For the first, I banged out 34 push-ups (in 4 rounds), to get ahead in a facebook thing where for everyone who liked a status, i would do a push-up. 48 likes the last time I checked, and 34 tonight brought me to a total of 50. Much better than some other facebook denizens who, being way more popular than me, ended up owing 3,000 or more. Suckers.

Then, it was on to the joy of double-under practice. As usual, I had no idea going in if they would chain or not. For the most part, they did not. But, several serious welts later, they did start coming together. Near as I could tell, I tend to rush the spinning of the rope, making the double-unders even harder than they need to be. Stupid me.

Finally, it was on to a little work on kipping pull-ups. I haven't worked on my kip since leaving NYC what, eight months ago? No good. So, a little work on the basic swinging motion... until my palms felt like they were on fire. I *had* just done a bit of barbell work, after all. :-/ It's important to not be this guy:

12-01-23: Front squats, pull-ups, handstand push-ups and knees-to-elbows

2012-01-24T21:30:00.001-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, January 23rd, 2012

Elbows in the front squat. If you look like the picture on the left, you'll end up looking like the dude below, with your hands slipped out and in danger of losing control of the bar. If, on the other hand, your triceps aren't insanely tight and sore (see below), the bar will be well controlled on the delts. (CrossFit)

Very popular on Muscle Beach. That doesn't make it right, or cool. Note also the cheater board under his heels, making the movement a little easier. Its a similar assistance as given by the slight heel lift in oly shoes, but much more so, and far less stable. So, more cheat, and more unsafe. Awesome.

Band-assist pull-ups. As always, note the leg without the band crossed over the one with, to minimize the likelihood of the band slipping loose and zapping you in either the face or the junk. Never a good thing. (CrossFit Threshold)

Band-assist pull-ups. One of the hardest things to achieve, at least early on, is the fully extended body in the harness. Its difficult to not end up with the legs bent, bowing the entire body out of position, and resulting in the movement resembling a completely screwed up elevated push-up, rather than an awesome handstand push-up. I've been having a bit more success with that... a bit. (CrossFit King of Prussia)

Variations. L-R: Knees to elbows, toes to bar (rings), and knee to elbow attempts (ie, knee raises). (CrossFit)

WoD: (vertical)

15-9-6
- Front Squat @ 55% of 1RM (135#)
- Pull-ups (band-assist)
4 minutes recovery
9-6-3
- Handstand Push-Ups (band-assist)
- Knees-to-Elbows

Monday morning beat down time. After a nice warm-up and review of techniques and movements standards, it was time to start kicking ass and taking names. 55% of my one rep max for the front squat (285#) comes out to 135#. A fairly heavy weight for 15 reps, but not impossible. Good thing. There would be more after that... The one issue I had going into the workout was that my triceps were insanely sore and tight from the previous weeks' workouts, which translated into some stiffness in the front squat rack position. Further translation: stiffness in the front rack position meant I was back to being unable to keep my hands on the bar, requiring me to quickly switch to the annoying "California" front-squat position. Not as secure, and sort of lame. However, I did still bang out all of the squats, unbroken each time... so there was that.

For the pull-ups, I opted to go band assist, since for 15 reps, there was just NO way that going without assistance was going to happen. Sad but true. I'm working on it, and seeing some progress, but not enough to get through 30 reps in a timed workout. Bah. So, the blue band was my way of getting through the pull-up portion of the workout. The bad news is that I still have a LOT of work to do in terms of power output: even with the band assist, I still ended up having to break up the sets. Sad, but at least it points out one of my big goats, and what I need to keep working on.

I was one of the last ones off the pull-up bar going into the break, but I was determined to make it up one the second leg of the workout. After a VERY fast four minute recovery, I was back into it. All I wanted was to keep the sets unbroken. After powering through 9 band-assist push-ups (and having kicked up cleanly, I might add), I had a pretty good feeling about that goal. The knees-to-elbows proved to be a bit more difficult, more just because of my now completely smoked arms and failing grip. I just tried to protect my grip, only dropping off the bar to rub some life back into my hands and try to keep from getting a torn callous (I do try to keep them filed down, but still...).

By the end of the workout, I had caught up with several other athletes, though in all fairness, one had done the entire workout completely unassisted. So, even if I beat him by a minute or two, he did infinitely more work than me. Showoff bastard.

12-01-20: Ring Dips and Double-Unders

2012-01-21T22:25:00.001-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, January 20th, 2012

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet. Probably in the middle of a muscle-up, but she drives traffic. Yes, I'm getting cynical. She's an awesome athlete, and you found this blog because of her. Deal with it. ;) (CrossFit Games)

More ring dips. By the ways, these suck so much, they rule. There is no part of the upper body these don't annhilate. A day later, you can trust me on this one...

Double-unders. If the picture doesn't show you how much these suck, nothing will. On the other hand, thanks to Alice-Anne for hitting her FIRST double-unders on this WoD. w00t!

Left: bad form (broken, too much work being done) vs. awesome form (crisp, clean, efficient.)

WoD: 20 min

Max Rep Ring Dips
10 Double-Unders

In twenty minutes, perform as many rounds of as many ring dips as possible, then knock out 10 double-unders (or 20 single-unders). Pretty simple. Good thing both movements are a pain in the tuchus, otherwise this workout might have been too easy! Heh. As part of the WoD intro, we were instructed to be ready to scale down the difficulty of the ring dips as we fatigued, moving to band assist as needed. I ended up doing the same thing on the double-unders, as chaining them together was just beyond me during the WoD, and I ended up (as usual) scorching my lungs and legs trying to get 10 and taking too long and killing my cardio going for it. I switched to single-unders in the 5th round, and had added in band assist ring dips in the 6th.

With 6 ring-dip stations, and several people using benches as their scaling, I had a pair of rings to myself. w00t! (It's the little things...seriously!), but ended up needing to dodge 12 people's double-unders on my way to my jump-rope station. Bah! Still, nothing like dodging whirling ropes of death in the middle of a workout to keep you on your toes!

Total reps: 62 ring dips / 10 rounds

Scalings: 32 ring dips/30 band assist (red band) and 4 rounds double-unders and 6 rounds of single-unders

12-01-18: Deadlifts, shrugs and the Big Butt test

2012-01-19T09:55:00.000-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Heather Bergeron cranking the deadlift for reps. (CrossFit Games)

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet deadlifting. Or maybe mid-clean or something. (CrossFit Games)

Jolie Gentry NOT going for reps, I wouldn't imagine. (CrossFit Games)

Killian. I'll be back. With a well-maintained lumbar arch, even barefoot, and possibly high. Lock up your daughters and house maids...

The barbell shrug. Often ignored in functional movement circles, I guess a movement that both requires and builds grip and shoulder strength isn't all that useful. <>

WoD: 6 Rounds

2 Deadlifts @ 1 ½ BW (275# using "ideal" bodyweight x 1.5)
5 Shrugs
2 min recovery

Grip work! Picking a pretty damn heavy weight, do two deadlifts, then 5 shrugs, all unbroken. Then, rest two minutes, and do it all again. 5 more times. The prescribed weight was supposed to be 1.5 times body-weight. Since that would put me up over 300#, I rolled it back to 275#, which would be closer to 1.5x my "ideal" body-weight. Good enough for me!

Six rounds of some serious work later, it was time for some truly important work. It was time to take the Butt Test. You lie on your stomach, someone else rolls a barbell, loaded standard Olympic plates, up your legs, and if your butt stops the bar, you pass. If you have tiny, under-developed glutes (or are just petite), you fail. You'd best believe my big-ass butt stopped the bar. Coach Kimmie actually kept pushing a bit, and the butt kept working. Passing felt almost as good as hitting a PR. Almost!

12-01-16: Bench press, back extensions and push-ups

2012-01-17T20:21:00.000-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, January 16th, 2012

Bench press. Mark Rippetoe cueing Eva Twordokens on proper bench technique. Shoulders are pulled back, scapula contracted, making for a solid point of contact with the bench itself. Conveniently enough, it also decreases the range of motion required to hit lock-out. See the pic below for the reasons why. (CrossFit)

On the left, his hands are easily 2 feet from his chest, whereas on the right, the range of motion has been reduced several inches. So a stronger point of contact with the bench, a decreased range of motion... what's not to like? (Weber Strength)

Glute-ham developer back extensions. Look easy. Feel awful. (808 CrossFit)

Push-ups. I shouldn't have to add anything here. Seriously. Push-ups. Keep your core rigid. Always. (CrossFit)

WoD: 4 x 4
- Bench @ 90% (185#)
Sellout:
- 3x10 Glute-Ham Developer Back Extensions
- 2x Max Rep Push-up

Ah, the bench press. Staple of most strength programs, and something every person ought to know. "How much ya bench?" should be an answerable question, dammit! As we're in a strength-building phase, the goal was to do a percentage of one rep max for a set number of reps, 90% for 4 reps, 4 times through. A difficult number at that weight, but not certainly not impossible.

Four rounds of four reps later (with one near miss on the final rep), it was on to the sell-out, alternating rounds of 10 back extensions and max-rep push-ups. Back extensions were ok, but screw me, push-ups after heavy benches suck. I mean, I suck at them anyways, so being tired didn't change *that* much, but damn did it ever feel awful.

Bench @ 185#	1	2	3	4
Reps	4	4	4	4

Max Rep Push-Ups	Round 1	Round 2
Full/Knees	13/0	12/3

12-01-13: Snatches, sit-ups and snatch-balances

2012-01-14T22:21:00.001-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday the 13th, January 2012

Iranian Olympic lifter Rezazadeh throws several hundred kilograms of weight over his head the way I through my daughter over my head.. only he makes it look easy. (Sweatpit)

Sage Burgener shows awesome snatch form. So awesome that in the second frame, during the explosive pull, she's actually transmuting time and space. Awesomeness. (CrossFit)

Snatch balance. Start standing up, end in a nice deep full squat, bar overhead with arms locked out and fully extended. (crossfit)

Strength: 10min
- Snatch 75% and under @ 95#
- Work to get under the bar
WoD: 3 Rounds For Time
- 20 Sit-ups
- 10 Snatch Balance ~~95#~~ 75# (First time seeing this video, and its AWESOME! Great coaching and tips.)

Ah, more olympic lifts! Today's goal was to work our experience under the bar, specifically finishing the snatch with the arms fully extended (rather than pressing out), and achieving stability in that extended position at the bottom of the catch. Hence, the lower weights, and the time to focus on form for each attempt. Rather than training at the squirrely edge of technique with too-heavy weights, the goal was to use weights we felt at least mostly comfortable with that would still pose a challenge.

Warm-ups with the bar felt fine, as did 65# attempts. Working through 75#, 85# and finally 95#, I began struggling a little bit more. I was really working on form, trying my very best NOT to just muscle the bar overhead, which at those weights I would have been more than able to handle. However, since that wasn't the point of the workout, it was more instructive to land on my ass a few times after a failed attempt than work too hard to rescue it.

For the WoD, we worked on the snatch balance, where the bar is held in the high-bar back squat position across the shoulders to start, then dropping under it as fast as possible, catching it with arms extended. This is really very difficult, especially since its way easier to initiate the movement by heaving the bar up a little bit to give the bar a little upwards motion prior to dropping under it. Of course, that's the heaving snatch balance, and not the same movement at all. Admittedly, by the third round, the heaving version was the only possible version.

Compared to the O-lifts, the sit-ups were basically non-existent, just some filler in between rounds of much harder, more awful (I mean AWESOME!) olympic lifts. The snatch balances were definitely the surprise hero of this workout, because even though I knew they would suck, they ended up annihilating me, making me wonder if I would make it through the workout or not. I've only done them a few times in the past, not including warm-ups with PVC pipe. I can only recommend them as a great way to work on the critical catch component of the snatch.

Total time: 10:06

12-01-11: Squat cleans and pull-ups

2012-01-11T20:48:00.001-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

Squat clean. If the weight is heavy enough (like it clearly is HERE), proper form is the only way to get it up to your shoulders. And more importantly is the action of getting your shoulders DOWN to the bar, hence the squat portion of the movement!

Pull-ups. Deadhang, so no kipping. Strict deadhang pull-ups. Upper body strength. Exactly what CrossFit haters all claim we don't do. So sorry to disappoint. Hate all you want, we'll make more. (CrossFit)

WoD: 20 min Ladder Up (1-1-2-2-3-3…)

Squat Clean @ ~~¾ BW~~ 115#
Deadhang Pull-Up

Let's get straight to today's moral: DON'T JERK THE BAR STRAIGHT OFF THE FLOOR WHEN DOING A SQUAT CLEAN. The first part of the movement is a deadlift. A slow movement. A controlled movement. The entire point of the movement is to get the bar up to the power position and THEN jerk the shit out of it. NOT BEFOREHAND. BECAUSE DOING IT BEFORE HAND MAKES IT F***KING *HARDER*!!! Trust me... it makes the movement harder.

OK, sorry about that. After working out the kinks from the heavy deadlifts on Monday with some extensive SMR and the warm-up, we went over proper technique for the squat clean. Starting from the hang power clean, then transitioning into the hang clean, then to the full squat clean. After setting up our pull-up stations, we began warming up to our working weights for the squat cleans. After a couple of reps at 95#, I went up to 115#. My initial plan was to go up to 135#, but realizing how many reps I had ahead of me, and still working on my form, I decided to keep it where I was. That would be an awesome decision around set 5.

The first several sets were pretty simple, though my lungs were starting to burn by the end of the round of 4 each. What I realized as I struggled through the round of five was this: I was jerking the bar directly off the floor, and it was making each rep extremely difficult. Rather than having any control in the movement, trying to yank the bar that hard off the floor meant that I was shooting my hips up (without moving the bar, mind you... wasted energy and loss of efficiency), then cranking my hips open with the bar in tow, and trying to fire the bar up onto my shoulders from there. Seriously, just writing this is making me feel stupid. I can't imagine how stupid I looked! I did figure it out on the fifth rep, and man it was EASY doing it with proper form.

At this point, the only thing holding me back is my in-progress cardio. I could barely breathe each time I addressed the bar, so trying to make sure each rep was quality took longer and longer. But as I've said before, and as others have complained, you can not (or at least, SHOULD NOT) compromise form just to race the clock. While I wish I had more rounds done, I'm proud that I took the time I needed to do the best I could on each individual lift.

I did all of the pull-ups in the blue band, but in hind-sight, I should have done at least the first few rounds un-banded. I can do 3-4 pull-ups un-banded, so should have taken the opportunity in the early rounds. Still, could have been worse all told. The only other issue (at least in the early rounds) was the time it took to get in and out of the band. While it didn't matter as much in the later rounds (when the few seconds rest was most welcome), it was an awful waste of time for just two or three reps.

Total rounds: 7 rounds + 4 pull-ups (36 squat cleans + 32 pull-ups)

12-01-09: Deadlifts and Double-Unders

2012-01-10T20:10:00.001-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, January 9th, 2011

Deadlifts: Good enough for steroid Arnie, good enough for me. Seriously.

Jolie Gentry rocks 285# at the CrossFit 2009 Games. (CrossFit)

Double-unders. Supposedly. I can see the jump-rope, so it might just be a regular single-bounce. (CrossFit Invictus)

Strength: 8 x 2
- Deadlift w/ 30 sec rec after each set of 2, 87% (315#)
WoD: 6min AMRAP
- 10 Deadlifts @ 65% (220#)
- 20 Double-unders

I saw it coming from a mile away: Setting a 30# PR on deadlift a week or two ago meant that the next time a percentage workout came up, it was going be brutally heavy. I hate being right sometimes.

After warming up to my target weight of 315#, I set into the strength part of the workout: 8 sets of 2 deadlifts, 30 seconds rest between each. I can't tell you how heavy it felt by about the 3rd round, and though I did the complete floor-up-floor movement for the first of each, I ended up dropping the bar after the second rep each time, feeling like my hands were about to be torn from my body. Other people in the gym actually thought I was injured when they saw me dump the bar like that... but no... I was just in agony. It got better when I remembered the wod was 30 seconds rest in between rounds, NOT 2 lifts every 30 seconds, a very different, harder approach!

After that, it was time to really do some work. 10 reps of the deadlift at 65% of 1RM (220#), followed by 20 double-unders. Sounds simple, right? Well, it would have been if I could have strung together even TWO double-unders... After cruising through the first 10 deadlifts, I proceeded to struggle with the double-unders for the next minute or so. That screwed me completely for the next set of deadlifts... completely smoked, I ended up having to catch my breath at least three times (maybe more). The second set of double-unders was a little better, since I got at least 4-5 reps in a row. Wow. Rock on for me. Of course, that left me just as screwed for the 3rd round of deadlifts... which I failed to complete.

Total rounds: 2 rounds + 7 double-unders

12-01-06: Wallballs and Toes-to-Bar

2012-01-06T16:25:00.000-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, January 6th, 2012

Wall-balls. *I* wanna use the kids target! (Forged Fitness)

Toes to bar (and knees to elbow, third one back). (The Farm Project)

WoD: 6x

90sec Wallball
30sec Toes-to-Bar (substitution: Knees-to-elbow)
60sec Recovery

Third workout of the week... third with squatting. To say my legs were getting a bit stiff and achy would be an historic understatement. I tried to focus on mobilizing and flexibility on the warm-up. After that, it was time to find a wallball, a target, a suitable pull-up bar for toes-2-bars, and prepare for the coming onslaught.

6 rounds, 90 seconds of wall balls, 30 seconds of knees to elbows, then a minute rest. Here's a clue that a work/rest workout is going to be tough: The FIRST rest period feels like its too short. By comparison, in the Tabata protocol (20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest), the first few rounds don't feel that bad. At least for me, its always the 4-5th round where the rest period feels like an instant, and the next work set feels like an eternity. I had that feeling during and after the very first round.

Though we were only counting our 3rd and 6th rounds, and trying to maintain consistency across all 6, I recorded outcomes for every round, but can't find the sheet right now. I definitely came out of the gate too fast, racking up 39 wallballs in the first round, a feat I would NOT be able to replicate for the rest of the workout. The one thing I love about work/rest workouts is the built-in time to consider how much each part of the workout sucked... and how terrifying the coming 5-4-3-2-1 rounds are going to be. On the upshot, each time, there are fewer coming rounds to crap yourself over.

12-01-04: Overhead squats and more

2012-01-03T20:58:00.000-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Overhead squat (or the catch to a perfectly executed snatch) by Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet. Depth (as with all such lifts) is all-important. Go deep or go home... or go to Planet Mediocrity where no one cares if you get a workout or not... (CrossFit)

Stiff-legged deadlift. Starts and ends at the top, and the range of motion is defined by how far you can go down before form falls apart. If that's the floor, congrats. If its not, push into the depth, then come back up.

Nicole Carroll demos a perfect hang-power clean. Left: all three power joints (ankle, knees, hips) are slightly closed, arms are straight. Center: all three hips have opened forcefully, the bar is rising quickly, and the arms have just started to finally bend allowing, Right: the elbows to fire under the bar, with the upper arms parallel to the floor, the weight supported on the front deltoids, and the knees, hips and ankles rebent to cushion the impact of the weight landing. (CrossFit)

Strength: 2x Max Rep
- Overhead Squat @ BW
WoD: 3RFT
- 3 Overhead Squat @ 60% BW
- 4 Stiff-Legged Deadlift
- 5 Hang Power Clean (mid-thigh)

Warming up in a gym with no heat on a morning when its 14 degrees out is seriously no fun... but what inspiration to get moving and warming up! I was still feeling crushed by the back squats from Monday, lots of stiffness and tension around the quads, adductors, abductors, hamstrings, IT band... etc. All of it.

After going over proper form for the overhead squat with pvc bars, we moved onto the real thing. I warmed up a few sets at 45#, 65#, and 95#, pulling the bar out of rack in a the back squat position and jerking it up overhead. At 95#, I did five reps, but ended the set there, as part of the warm-up. At 115#, I managed 3 reps before failure. My final "set" as at 135#, at which I failed dropping into the first squat. Unfortunately, we were up against the starting time for the WoD, so that was the end of my work sets!

Going into the WoD, I first set up attempt it at 85#. I guess I was still gun-shy from failing so totally on the OHS at 135#, but it just felt insanely heavy. Rather than using the racks, we were going ground-to-overhead any way possible. While 85# should be well within my snatch tolerances, I felt really uncomfortable at that weight. So I dropped to 65#... and enjoyed a ridiculously easy WoD... I tried to focus on depth and form, since I ended up not really needing to worry about the weight. Kicker proving I still have work to do: I still wasn't the first one done. Dammit.

12-01-02: Backsquats, box jumps, jump and shrugs

2012-01-02T09:48:00.000-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, January 2nd, 2012

Squat. All the way down. All. the. way. down. Otherwise, NO REP! (Paleo Now)

Box jumps. For this WoD, the height wasn't too high, to encourage faster cycling and explosive rebounding back up onto the box. Note the low reps to support that (High rep box jumps are now known to blow out Achilles tendons, which is becoming sadly common in CrossFit circles...) (Motor City CrossFit)

The triple extension: ankles, knees, and hips all opening to propel the bar upwards. Note that the arms are still fully extended, "showing off the triceps," allowing/forcing the much stronger lower body to do all the work. The "jump and shrugs" mimic exactly this portion of the lift, going from a slightly contracted angle in all three joints to full extension. The arms never bend, and the weights never rise above this height. (CrossFit)

Strength: 4x6

Back Squat @ 80% (Calculated to 250#, then dropped to 250# for rounds 3-4.)
Each set followed by:

3 Box Jumps
10 Kettlebell “Jump and Shrugs”

Ah the joy of figuring out calculated weights using OTHER calculated maxes to work from. I apparently managed to lift 265# for a set of 5 a month or so ago, so a calculated 1 rep max was 315#. So 80% of THAT would be 250#. So, 4 sets of 6 reps. Easy! Well, as it turns out, not so much. I warmed up at steadily increasing weights, noticing that the bar felt REAL heavy at about 225#. I finally moved up to the 250#, and prepped for the WoD itself.

I struggled mightily on the first set, but made it through. After each set of squats, we had three box jumps (20") and ten kettlebell triple extensions (aka "jump and shrugs") (36# per kettlebell). Well, feeling crushed by that first set, I stumbled through the rest of the round. After resting up a bit, I re-approached the bar. On this set, the first 3-4 reps were tough... the fifth was awful... on the sixth, about 2" out of the bottom, I suddenly realized I was on the knife's edge of completely failing out, and I had no idea how I would get rid of the bar in that position. Between my not-great shoulder flexibility, and my completely squashed up position, I just didn't know what to do. Sucking in a great breath, I did the only thing I could think of: I stood up under the weight and managed to rack the bar amidst a haze of spots in front of my eyes. Not fun. After catching my breath for a few seconds, I finished the round and started considering dropping the weight to complete the workout.

Meanwhile, everyone else was already racking their gear, since my warm-ups took me into their second or third sets. Bah. After dropping back down to 225#, I went back for round three. By now, I was so annihilated by the first two rounds, even the lighter weight was almost too much, but I made it through, and completed the round. At this point, I actually considered cutting the workout short. Everyone else was done, including the person I usually give a lift to, who had other things to get going on that morning. No one else would notice... no one but me. Seriously, I could walk away, and no one would be any the wiser. I was tired, I felt broken, it would have been perfectly ok.

Bullshit. I re-addressed the bar, got my ass under it, banged out six more reps. The last two sucked almost as bad as the one that nearly wrecked me in the second round, but with the rest of the class cheering me on (well, those who were still there...), I made my way through it, and banged out the rest of the round. I'm glad I didn't give in to the temptation to cheat the workout, the coaches, and most importantly, myself. What's the point of spending the money, and taking my time and everyone else's, just to quit when it gets hard. What's the worst that happened at that point? With a lighter weight I fail and dump the bar and end the workout there? Who cares? At least I tried! And having successfully finished it, all the better.

11-12-30: Burpees, pull-ups, double-unders

2011-12-31T19:57:00.001-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, December 30th, 2011

Burpees. Anything less than perfect form is a no-rep. (Freal Fitness)

Pull-ups. Chin goes over the bar, otherwise its a no-rep. Eyes over? No rep.

Double-unders. Boy these can stink.

WoD: 18x On the minute (pick three and order)

2 Burpees
2 Pull-ups
2 Double-Unders
~~2 Sit-Ups~~

The goal of this workout was to do approximately 2:1 rest to work, so 20 seconds of work followed by 40 seconds rest, and additionally, to maintain that pace the whole way through. While it would have been easy to choose sit-ups and get rid of one of my many goats in the list, I decided to go after those goats with a vengeance. I only needed to do two of each move per round, so I figured I could easily handle the burpees and pull-ups, even doing those unassisted. The only question was really whether I could pull off the double-unders or not. If I ended up struggling, I would be in a world of hurt. The other part we had control over was the order of the movements: Each round, I wanted to hit to burpees fresh, head into the pull-ups with a lot left in the tank, then deal with the double-unders however they presented themselves.

As it turned out, I ended up keeping every round at about 20 seconds of work, and the only real variable was the double-unders. If I struggled, the round was usually closer to 30 seconds. My only concern was the pull-ups. I tried to keep them strictly deadhang at the beginning, but by the time 4-5 rounds had gone past, not only had I introduced a whole lot of kipping (uncontrolled, not entirely useful kipping at that!), I had also started letting my feet touch down between reps, to give myself a chance to reset quickly. All told, I would have preferred to not touch down, and to minimize the kipping... or to have kipped with purpose, adding in speed and power. OK, so I need to work on both strict and kipping pull-ups. w00t.

11-12-28: Deadlift 1RM

2011-12-28T20:32:00.001-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

Josh Everett. Scary strong in a "normal looking" package.

Jason Khalipa. Scary strong in a large, muscular looking package.

Rob Orlando. Scary strong in a scary strong looking package.

A cute little package. And the last time I use the word package. I swear!

Strength: 1 Rep Max
- Deadlift or Back Squat

World's simplest workout: work up to a one rep max attempt on either the deadlift or back squat. That's it. After working through the new warm-up for the next two weeks, we went over technique on both lifts. I knew my 1RM on the deadlift was getting a little old, so I wanted to shoot for that. After warming up for a few reps at 135#, 225# and 275#. At that weight, I started making smaller jumps and doing fewer reps, hoping to keep the total poundage from getting out of control.

Once we hit working weights, I shared a bar with Al, who was working in the same weight range as me. Upshot is that we both had built-in rest time and cheerleading, which was definitely nice. After 2-3 reps at 295#, we jumped to 315#, then straight to 335#, my previous PR. Feeling all stupid strong, we jumped to 355#, which felt almost easy. Almost. Just for the hell of it, I slapped on an extra 10#, and lifted the crap out of it. So, with that, I hit a 30# PR, jumping it up to 365#.

Deadlift 1RM: 365#

11-12-26: Double-Unders and hill sprints

2011-12-26T14:18:00.000-05:00

Post-Newtonmas WoD for Monday, December 26th, 2011

Matt Chan bangs out double-unders with perfect form. Note that hes not cranking up his legs to get over the rope, but just pogos up and over with a minimum of effort.

Chris Spealler with perfect running form (as usual, impossible to tell from a still frame... but trust me on this, he's perfect.)

WoD: 5 Rounds

20 Double-Unders
Jog to hill
Hill Sprint
Recover on walk back to driveway
Jog up driveway

Sell-out: ~~100~~ 200 single-bounces

Not a real scorcher, just enough to get moving, earn the previous days' gluttony, practice double-unders with a light, quick rope, and finally see if using the hill a bit up the street from where I grew up would be good for hill sprints. (Hint: it totally IS.) After warming up with some single-bounces with both my old rope and the new light hotness borrowed from the gym, I proceeded into the workout. After struggling to chain together even two double-unders, I jogged down the driveway and out to the hill in front of the neighbor's house. At the foot of the hill, I started sprinting up it, stopping at the crest. I walked back to my driveway, jogged up it, and repeated the process.

Oddly enough, on the third round, I suddenly very easily chained together 15-16 reps, and it felt great. I felt like I was doing no work on the rope, my upper arms weren't locking up (my rope requires my arms to be held out too far, making my shoulders sizzle like mad after about 20 seconds of work)... it was great. I was unable to re-create that experience for the rest of the workout, however.

For a sell-out, I decided on 100 single-unders. After sailing through those, I upped it to 200. By the time I was done, Fran-lung had set in, and it was time to come inside.

11-12-23: Max Bench

2011-12-23T22:01:00.000-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, December 23rd, 2011

Mark Rippetoe coaches Eva T. on proper bench press form. Nothing but awesome here. (crossfit.com)

Halp!!

For ~~Jesus~~ Newton: Max Bench

Bench press. Fairly simple, though I'm sure there are "classic" CrossFitters who have no idea what the hell it is or how to do it correctly. I would refer them to the Iron Samurai, Mark Rippetoe's crucial "Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training" for all the necessary information. As luck would have it, I had a bench and rack to myself, which was great, since I was moving weights far lighter than the two super strong guys, but a bit higher than the two smaller guys (but not nearly 'higher' enough given the size difference... either they're super strong, or I have a LOT of work to do!)

After warming up under the empty bar, then 95# and 135#, I started backing off on the reps. My goal was to hit 205# for a 1RM, which would be the first time I actually hit a weight that heavy. Having just done a quick search of the last time I did bench presses, I aimed a bit south of my calculated 1RM (I did 4 reps at 185#, which is 87% of @212#), but the 185# marked the biggest weights I had moved at all, so 205# was still an impressive benchmark for me.

The only real notes from this workout were the final two lifts. At 195#, the bar shimmied a LOT from left to right on its way up, which made me a bit worried for the next lift, but I knew I wanted it. At 205#, the bar totally stalled about a 1/3rd of the way up, but I managed to get it going and completed the lift. I definitely thought there was a possibility of failing at that instant. Coach Vin asked if I was going to shoot for the next weight, but I had hit my goal, with difficulty, and decided to stop while I was ahead of the game. Knowing (now) that my calculated 1RM would really have been 7-10# higher, I kind of wish I had kept going, but I'm ok with that for now. Next time, I'll destrominate that weight.

1RM = 205# PR

11-12-22: Rope climbs, pull-ups, bear crawls

2011-12-23T21:54:00.002-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Thursday, December 22, 2011

Rope-climbs: Of course, these bad-asses aren't using knotted ropes, which makes it even MORE impressive. Next time there's a skill day, I need to work on the footwork needed to climb this style of rope. (Costa Mesa CrossFit)

I don't smile at the top of pull-ups. There's not enough time. (crossfit.com)

Bear crawls. Holy incredible suckage!! These are just awfultastic. (Flatirons CrossFit)

Buy-in: 15 min
- Rope Climb
WoD: 10 min AMRAP
- 3 Pull-ups
- Bear Crawl

Ah, rope climbs. For the first time, I was the "experienced" climber on the knotted rope, trying to help coach a few other athletes through the process of 'jumping' up the rope from knot to knot. For myself, I managed 6-7 total climbs, all the way up to the new bells up at the rafters. So that felt pretty good. After that, the suckage set in.

If you're me, you haven't done bear crawls in... ever? So, while I was able to do unassisted pull-ups (I can handle small rep schemes without requiring a band-assist) for the rounds I completed, I was getting utterly *destrominated* by the bear crawls. Like being on hands and knees, except on your feet, which loads the weight a WHOLE lot more onto the upper body. Big time fun when that upper body has just climbed a rope repeatedly and then did a few pull-ups.

Final tally: 7 rounds and 2 pull-ups.

11-12-21: Power snatches, kettlebell swings, jerks and squats

2011-12-20T23:36:00.000-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Power snatches. The first few reps of Grace usually look pretty good, then its pretty much train-wreck time after that. Still, watching Dave Lipson and Josh Everett bang through it is pretty impressive. (crossfit.com)

Kettlebell swings. American-style go up over the head, rather than just shoulder-height. (CrossFit CFT)

I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray... And this paddle game. - The ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need... And this remote control. - The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need... And these matches. - The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control, and the paddle ball... And this lamp. - The ashtray, this paddle game, and the remote control, and the lamp, and that's all *I* need. And that's *all* I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one... I need this. - The paddle game and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches for sure. Well what are you looking at? What do you think I'm some kind of a jerk or something! - And this. That's all I need.

Back squat to acceptable depth: Hip crease below the tops of the knees. Note the back arch protecting the spine from the load. The nerd in me wants to know what the different colors mean as far as weights. (Crossfit Multikeo)

WoD: For Time

9-15-11
- Power Snatch @ ¾ BW
- Kettlebell Swings
~5 min Rec~
11-15-9
- Jerk
- Back Squat

Scheduling fail: I didn't make it to the gym today... but I was pretty proud of the work I already did on this the night before. Having seen the tail end of the final class of the day making their way through this... holy crapnuts. I think I need to hit this one on a make-up/amnesty day. Jeebus.

(And seriously, tell me the Jerk reference isn't classic, if completely out of place. SOPA or whatever the hell the internet censorship law is will destroy me AND this sorry excuse for a blog...)

11-12-19: 1RM Cleans and Front Squats

2011-12-20T09:23:00.001-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, December 19th, 2011

The clean. Floor to shoulders, using just about every muscle in the body EXCEPT the arms (other than just for control). If you're using your arms a lot, you're doing it wrong.Note pictures 2-3... the weight hasn't moved much, only the lifter has. And his arms are STRAIGHT in the 2nd pic.

Brett Marshall (AFT) demos awesome front squat form. The weight is out of the hands and riding on the delts. Knees are out, feet are flat on the floor. Perfection. (crossfit.com)

Strength: 1 Rep Max

Clean
Front Squat

Pretty simple prescription: Work up to 1 rep maxes on the clean, then on the front squat (ie, NOT in the same move; a full clean (which includes catching the bar in a full squat) does NOT count as the front squat attempt.) After a good amount of warm-up and review with empty bars, we set to work. Despite all of my recent complaining and whining about my own shortcomings and goats, especially the olympic lifts, including cleans, today felt really good. I felt like I was really popping the bar up to my shoulders using mostly the triple extension of hips, knees and ankles, and I was having some pretty good success dropping under the bar, rather than just relying on firing up to full standing height in a power clean. So that was all good. As I climbed up in weight, I just trying to keep my head fully in the moment, only worrying about the deadlift "yellow light" portion of the lift, then the explosive pop, then the catch, and not getting all flustered by dealing with everything at the same time.

After a few warm-ups at 95#, I started moving up in weight. I had two good lifts at 115# and 135#, then matched my previous PR at 155#. That felt so good with my improved form, I shot to 175# and nailed it, setting a 20# PR. After taking a few minutes, I tried for a final attempt at 185#, but didn't quite get under the bar properly, causing it to "stack up" on my left wrist wrong. Though I was able to shake it out in time for the front squats, it definitely made me bring my clean attempts to an end!

For the front squat, I picked right up at 185#, banging out two reps easily. I again started climbing, this time gunning for my previous PR of 215#. After a rep at 205#, I went to 225# and nailed it. I tried a rep at 235# and nailed it, putting me at a 20# PR on front squats, too. After nearly deciding to quit (it was time for the next class to come in), I opted for one more lift, this time at 245#. I nailed it, inking in a 30# PR on front squats for the day. Not a bad start to the week, and a welcome change from my usual bitching and moaning, at least in recent posts. Progress. Getting stronger. THIS is why we do this. No, its NOT always fun, but on days like this (or when I got to the top of the climbing rope, or broke 300# on my deadlift), its totally worth it!

One other thing I thought of later: I had NO problems with my grip on this workout. Granted, I didn't do any high reps on the front squats, so there wasn't a lot of time for fingers to slip out. I also did some triceps work during the warm-up, which I think definitely paid off. Interesting.

11-12-16: Box jumps and double-unders

2011-12-16T19:48:00.000-05:00

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, December 16th, 2011

High box jumps. We didn't go anywhere near this tall, but worked in with double-unders, that makes total sense. (CrossFit Roots, Denver CO)

Double-unders. Its just jumping rope... I don't know why Brandy Richardson needs to make it look so much harder than it is. Show off. (crossfit.com)

WoD: 3 Rounds for Time

1 Box Jumps (30")
10 Double-Unders
2 Box Jumps
20 DU
3 Box Jumps
30 DU
2 min Recovery

Some days you have double-unders, and others you start getting grateful for a single rep that doesn't result in you whipping the rope into your toes. Not so bad the first time, but the hundred and first time... well, its gotten old by then. This morning was a trainwreck, highlighting my need to do double-under work far more regularly, either as part of my warm-up or cool-down. I apparently don't have them strongly enough to put them away for a month, then come back and expect them to be there.

The first round started well enough. Easy big box jump, followed by 10 broken up double-unders, nothing too bad. Two more jumps, then a chain of 20 double-unders. Boo-yah, I'm back! Three more jumps, then a slightly broken up set of DUs, probably something like 6, 20, and 4 reps to get out of the round. My split time for the round was 2:15. It would be the last split I noticed.

The second round was... bad. After waiting 2 minutes, I jumped back in. Again, jumps weren't too bad at all. For this round, I think the most reps I strung together on the DUs was two... maybe three. Not bad for ten, but getting awful on the set of twenty, and sheer torture on the set of thirty. Little did I know that the 3rd round would be even worse.

Again, jumps were ok. As I struggled through the set of 10 DUs, most of the rest of the class finished. The stragglers were well done before I got out of the round of 20... and it was all me for the round of 30. I wanted to quit. I would have given anything to have been done and recovering. As it was, I had to have single-bounced enough between double-under attempts to have officially completed the scaled version of the WoD (2x singles for each Rx'd DU, so rounds of 20, 40, and 60 SUs.) Either way, by the time I was done, my lungs were scorched, my calves were unhappy, and my will was crushed. Well, not crushed. Like I said, I know what to learn from this experience: Remedial rope work before or after every WoD, and some work on off-days, unless they are deemed pure recovery.

Total Time: 13:53

Note: While trying to find pictures for this installment, I came across a great post on beastmodaldomains about utilizing box jumps in a WoD, and tackling the issue of massive reps being very risky in terms of achilles ruptures. Suddenly, instead of wondering why we only did 18 total box jumps, I marvel at the intelligence of it. Sweet. Plus, it has several awesome pics, including my new favorite: