Berkeley and Bro take on Potomac CrossFit

Upon the recommendation of our internet buddy Melissa Byers (whom we will hopefully someday meet), we went into Arlington today for a WOD at Potomac CrossFit, about a 40 minute drive from Rebecca's parents' house. Her brother Marc came along, but sadly did not elect to join us for the workout.



PCF is a really nice facility. It is much more the "traditional" CF box than the hybrid thing we have at CFEB, so while they have ALL the cool toys and a staff of trainers, they don't have the showers, sauna, 50-foot climbing walls, etc. But they clearly also have the strong, tight-knit community that we enjoy - everyone knew each other, they were planning on partying with each other for New Year's, etc. Jen Conlin, the trainer Melissa specifically recommended, was totally welcoming and a great trainer. She couldn't remember our names, apparently, and so called us "Bro" and "Berkeley" in her exhortations to work harder, which cracked me up. She also took pictures with our snazzy new camera, which was an unexpected treat! The WOD was a sort of two-way ladder of squats and muscle-ups:

“Jason”-lite
For time:
100 squats
3 muscle-ups (9 pullups, 9 dips)
75 squats
6 muscle-ups (18 pullups, 18 dips)
50 squats
9 muscle-ups (27 pullups, 27 dips)
25 squats
12 muscle-ups (36 pullups, 36 dips)

19:48
subbed Jen's knee muscle-up thingies

If that was Jason "lite," I don't think I ever want to meet regular or heavy Jason. My legs have been wobbly and barely keeping me up all day! Jen's recommended sub for the muscle-ups involved setting the rings quite low - approximately face-level when you are on your knees. Then, using the false grip, you pull yourself up to the dip position, using the tops of your feet to assist you. This winds up putting you in dip position with your feet on the ground, and you can use them as much or as little as needed to get you up for the dip. I was skeptical at first that it wouldn't be a lot of work, but it turned out to be quite tiring as long as I consciously tried to use my legs as little as possible, and it felt like great form practice. I intend to do this more.

The squats started strong, but got painful pretty quick. Her form was a little different, in that she wanted us to lift our arms up above our heads at the bottom of the squat (palms forward), which subtly changed the movement. It made it more full-body, which was good, and I think it helps keep the arch in the back, which is probably the point, but after a while I learned that you could use the arms to generate momentum to push you down and pull you up a little bit, which felt a little cheaty (a "kipping" squat?). But I used one of their med balls, so all my squats were full depth...although not all of them were in this "hallelujah" style.

Afterwards, we went into DC for what turned into a relatively unsuccessful tourist visit. On the recommendation of a friend, we went to a Capitol Hill flea market, which was somewhat anemic (we think because it was supposed to rain - although it never did). We had breakfast at a fancy french restaurant that, while delicious, was a bit too pricey and small-portioned for after a workout. After walking around the market for a while, it was quickly apparent there wasn't anything of interest there for us, so we wandered around the neighborhood a little, and then we got in the car and drove around DC looking at all the pretty buildings. Had we been more capable of walking, perhaps we would have done a museum or something, but after several years of trying we've come to the conclusion that we're just not really museumy types, so we just couldn't get excited about any of the options - particularly since we were both so wobbly from all the squats. So back home we went, and tomorrow morning we get back on the plane. I'm looking forward to being home. This place is hell on the diet.