2010-04-30

Warmup: Run 800m

Warmup WOD:
15-12-9
Burpees
V-ups

5:20 (or so). These were the first "full speed" burpees I've done in a while - although i say "full speed" because they still weren't terribly fast. They went ok.

WOD

5x3 hang squat cleans
35#

DNF

I got 3 or 4 sets done, and then I just started just working on getting my chest upright on the squat, and then my right knee started hurting, so I called it a day.

3 hours in the gym

Another marathon Wednesday in which I did not manage my time well

Warmup workout:

20 double-unders
10 KB swings (1.5P)
20 double-unders
9 KB swings
...
20 double-unders
1 KB swing

11:10RX

I was able to get about half the double-under rounds as a single set, which is gratifying. At least one skill seems to have come together. I credit the new rope.

Workout workout:

High-hang snatch x 3: 75-75-75-80-85
Squat snatch x 1: 90 - 95 - 100 (PR)
High-hang clean x 3: 95-95-100-105-110
Squat clean & jerk: 115-125-135 (PR)

Jim and I have started doing triplets from the high hang on both the snatch and the clean. I'm REALLY liking these. They put all the focus on the final pull and the dive, which I find to be the hardest part. I've noticed that they present a temptation that must be avoided: using hip thrust to send the bar out in front of me and then diving under to catch it. I have to work hard to focus on pulling the bar UP with high elbows and not OUT.

Another side effect seems to be that it has introduced a jump forward in my snatch. Here's a video of me doing a full squat-snatch at 100#, something I never could have done 10 weeks ago. The video reveals a lot of problem, but the biggest one I see is the forward bar path and jumping WAY forward to catch it. Must fix that!



The cleans were OK - my back is still a bit sore and complained about the heavy weight, but I did at least GET a 135# squat clean, which (combined with the 95# snatch) was my goal for this cycle. My back was rounded all to hell on the recovery, though, so I'm not really counting it until I can get it prettier.

Finished up with some muscle-up practice, which was a miserable failure, and some stretching.

Mutt and Jeff

So during the bench relay the other night, Polly and I got into our endless argument over whether CrossFit favors the short or the tall. I, of course, maintain that it's easier for shorter people. Polly's response is, invariably, "wall ball." Max heard the the argument, and came up with this fun team workout to test the theory: take 6 movements, 3 that supposedly favor the tall and 3 the short, divide the class into equal teams sorted by height (all the tall people on one team, all the shorter people on the other), and have them do a massive quantity of reps for time.

Each team, which was (I think) 12 people, had to complete the following:

Run 10k
300 Push-ups
300 GI-Janes
300 Ground-to-Overhead #95/65
300 Hang Squat Cleans #95/65
300 Wallball 20/14

Team short beat team tall, 24-something to 26-something.

I don't recall exactly what I did to contribute. Something like:

Run 1600m
50 GI-Janes
20 Push-ups
30 Wall-ball
20 Ground-to-Overhead
10 Hang Squat Cleans

It was a fun workout. And remarkably close, actually.

Food log:
Spinach salad with tuna, apple, toast and strawberries (5 blocks)
Cottage cheese with applesauce and milky coffee (4 blocks)
16 oz milk PWO (2 blocks)
Chicken with Broccoli and Garbanzo beans (4 blocks)
Slice of turkey, Guinness draught and 3 almonds (1 block)

Bar Gone Bad

Three rounds of:
Hang Squat Clean 95/65 (Reps)
Hang Snatch 95/65 (Reps)
Burpees (Reps)
Kettlebell Swings 2.0P/1.5P
Push-Jerk 95/65 (Reps)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep.

117 nearly RX (I did the snatches from the ground)

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Total
HSC	8	9	8	25
Snatch	2	1	2	5
Burpees	13	12	12	37
KB Swing	13	10	10	33
Push-Jerk	5	6	6	17
TOTAL	41	38	38	117

One of those workouts that really served to highlight how far I still have to go in terms of strength and power. :(

Another Games WOD (modified)

Legs very sore today from Wednesday's workout. Didn't really have any choice but to take it somewhat easy on the workout - anything involving bending my legs slowed me down.

In this workout you move from each of eight stations after three minutes. The stations are:

squat cleans (100/155 lb.)
toes to bar
box jumps (20/24 inches)
muscle-ups
Single-Arm Push-Press 1.5P/1.0P
double-unders
thrusters (95/135 lb.)
pull-ups (chin over bar)
burpees
walking lunge steps with 45/25 lb. plate overhead

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of "rotate," the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep.

190. Scaled the cleans and thrusters to 95#, and didn't get any muscle-ups (big surprise there).

Bonus workout: Linda

Well I THOUGHT I was done for the day. But then Rebecca saw that Evelyn was hosting a peer-workout of Linda tonight, and she asked if we could go. I've never done Linda before because of its crazy commitment of bars, and this seemed like the best opportunity that I was likely to get, so what the hell? We went.

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
BW Bench Press
¾ BW Clean
1 ½ BW Deadlift
Set up three bars and storm through for time.

1:04 at 72% RX

Never having done this before, but having heard many stories of how evil it is, I went conservative with the weight - hey, it's technically still recovery week, right? So it was 190# Deadlift, 95# Clean, and 125# Bench (we got the order wrong - oops). I think these were probably the right weights to use if I were doing it the right way, but with all the long rests in changing the bars around and spotting the others, it actually felt a little too light. I suspect I'll still feel it tomorrow. The deadlifts and cleans were easy enough to do in unbroken sets, but I was often one or two shy of a full set with the bench.

I felt like a real asshole monopolizing the bars for a whole hour, but at least there were three of us using three bars - I could not have justified taking all three bars for myself. It is a very difficult workout to accomplish logistically.

I felt better and better about the cleans as the workout went on. I'm still not dropping NEARLY enough to get under the bar - my knees are hardly bending at all. I have the same problem with Push Jerks, and haven't even gotten the courage together to really try Snatches yet. Oly lifts intimidate me.

5/31/08

5/31/2008
WOD:

"Broomstick Mile"
25 Back Squats
25 Front Squats (video link includes Rob Miller Squatting)
25 Overhead Squats
Run 400 meters
25 Shoulder Press
25 Push Press
25 Push Jerk
Run 400 meters
50 Squat Cleans
Run 400 meters
50 Snatches
Run 400 meters


All of this work except for the runs is done with a PVC pipe. The moves are done in synchrony and the run is kept to pace of the slowest runner. Everyone stays together for every rep.


FINISHER: 21 Kettlebell Swings for Time

Men 2 Pood
Women 1.5 Pood

Mod:Kettle bell swings done w/ the green kettle bell ... 12kg/26.4#

Guess who the slowest runner was ... yeah Me. Made me work harder during my runs, but i was sucking air by the end, and it was an ego bruiser to have everyone stuck @ my slow pace.

Form on Kettlebell swings was terrible, but i did them all. ... Eventually.

Hang Squat What?

Hang squat clean 3-3-3-3-3-3-3 reps

Never having done HSC's before, and wary of injury to my knee, I decided to follow the "dawg" advice and do these with a stick in order to practice the form. It felt goofy to be working with essentially no weight, and I think the balance is actually harder without the weight to pull you forward, but holy cow these hurt anyway. I thought I had strong quads from all the cycling, but have avoided full-ROM leg exercises because of my knee. I could barely walk afterward, but still went ahead and did Noel's spin class (970 calories, avg HR 88%, max 97%) and walked home with a weighted pack. My legs are shot today, so I won't be running. I'm hoping that the weather will be nice enough on Friday that I can try it then.

I am concerned about my knees on this sort of exercise. My right knee sounded like crumpling paper when I dropped for the squat, although there was no pain. I may try to come up with a substitute that doesn't use the full ROM when facing these sorts of exercises.