Fight gone bell-ish

5 Rounds for total reps of:

Kettlebell Thruster 1.5P/1.0Px2, 30 seconds
Rest 30 Seconds
Kettlebell Swing 2.0/1.5P, 30 seconds
Rest 30 Seconds
Burpees, 30 seconds
Rest 30 seconds
Goblet Squat 2.0/1.5P, 30 Seconds
Rest 30 Seconds

Round	1	2	3	4	5	Total
Goblet Squat	9	6	5	6	6	32
KB Thruster - 8kg	6	4	4	4	4	22
KB Swing	10	10	9	9	9	47
Burpees	7	8	7	7	7	36
Total	32	28	25	26	26	137

Comments:

Well - I was consistent. Having the thrusters immediately after the goblet squats just SUCKED. My squat strength really seems to have gone down the tubes.

The thing I'm kind of excited about though is my burpees. I used to only be able to do 7 in a minute. Getting 7 and 8 in 30 seconds is a huge improvement. I was on the same circuit as James C, and that was the only exercise I could ALMOST keep up with him on. I'm just excited that there were any ;-) It was a specific goal to try to keep up with him as much as possible on those. it helped that they were the last exercise in the round.

Half Gone Bad

Interesting change up on FGB:

"Half Gone Bad"

5 Rounds for total reps of:

Kettlebell Thruster 1.5P/1.0Px2, 30 seconds
Rest 30 Seconds
Kettlebell Swing 2.0/1.5P, 30 seconds
Rest 30 Seconds
Burpees, 30 seconds
Rest 30 seconds
Goblet Squat 2.0/1.5P, 30 Seconds
Rest 30 Seconds

Post total reps for all five rounds.

151 (Thrusters @ 1.25P)

Round	1	2	3	4	5	Total
Thruster	5	4	3	3	3	18
KB Swing	10	10	10	10	15	55
Burpees	6	6	6	6	6	36
Goblet Squat	9	9	9	10	11	39
Total	30	29	28	29	35	137

Apparently I had more swings in me, though by the final round those 15 swings were very difficult. Until I figure out faster burpees, that's about as many as I can do in a minute while winded. And kettlebell thrusters SUCK. Well - all thrusters suck.

Happy Birthday to Andy

CFEB Athlete Andy, that gorgeous hunk of manflesh you see over to the right, turned 23 this week, and in honor of his birth Ynez concocted this little piece o' pain:

For Time
23 1/1.5P goblet squats
23 HSPU
23 Superpeople
23 1/1.5P weighted Walking Lunges
23 1/1.5P weighted sit-ups

8:34RX

It was a fun WOD, but pretty brief for a Birthday Blazer, which I feel should be particularly painful. Three rounds would've been better, I think. I did all sets unbroken except the HSPU's, which were my FIRST time doing them in a WOD. My ROM sucks (I use one of the yoga blocks as a target), but at least I'm not piking or doing them off a box anymore. They felt good, actually - I just wish I were strong enough to knock them out full-ROM. The weighted squats, lunges and sit-ups were all fine, with a pleasantly uncomfortable burning sensation setting in about halfway through the set.

We're leaving soon for a weekend in San Diego, which should be a fun time, but will interrupt our regularly-scheduled workouts. Hopefully we'll find a gym down there with a decent free weight setup so we can continue our strength routine, and I'm thinking a beach 5K might be fun. We shall see.

Strength Cycle, week 1 cont'd - and Fight Gone Bell

Today was an experiment, to see if Rebecca and I could do our strength workout directly before the Firebreather WOD. The answer, for today at least, was yes - we'll see what happens when the strength weight gets heavier. The CFSB protocol calls for short and heavy metcons (~10 mins) after lifting, so I'm thinking this could be similar.

Deadlift x 5: 185 - 205 - 225
Deadlift x 21: 185
Press x 5: 65 - 70 - 75
Press x 21: 65

The deadlifts were pretty much fine, although my back was surprisingly sore - maybe from Friday's 3x7. I was able to knock out the 185 unbroken, though, with only medium discomfort - I'll go up next week. The 21 shoulder presses, however, were 12-5-4: I'll keep it at this weight until I can do all of them.

Following that, we got to go outside on a gorgeous sunny spring day for the Firebreather WOD.

Fight Gone Bell
3 rounds, one minute each movement (1.5 pood) with a minute of rest in between, of:

• Swing
• Clean
• Goblet Squat
• Push Press
• Snatch

225 RX

My first thought, looking at this, was that 300 would be a good goal: 20 reps of each movement. Upon further reflection, I altered it somewhat to 25-25-20-15-15 per round. I almost managed to actually do that for the first round, too.

Exercise	1	2	3	Total
KB Swing	25	25	20	70
KB Clean	25	16	14	55
KB Goblet Squat	20	15	10	45
KB Push-press	5	4	4	13
KB Snatch	20	10	12	42
TOTAL	95	70	60	225

Clearly, push-presses were my downfall. (Well, that and my vaulting optimism that I'd be able to maintain that pace for three rounds.) I'm sure the press workout beforehand did not help, but 1.5 pood push-presses have never been particularly strong for me (in fact, doing them at all is a pretty recent phenomenon). This was a good workout, overall - not as nausea-inducing as Gita (who designed it) hoped, but a good combination of many key ways to torture yourself with kettlebells.

Baby Fire Breather

Strength WOD
Warmup - ME, stripper stretch, hip openers, 20 air squats.
DL 5x3
Warmup - 45# x 10
95-115-120
95# x 21 (had to break @ rep 13 and every 3-4 reps after that to keep form safe)

Press 5x3
Warmup - 25#x10
35-40-45
25# X 21 - unbroken - 30# next week

Fire Breathers WOD:



Warmup: run 400m, ME, 25 situps, 10 pushups, WOD skills practice KB(swing, clean, goblet squat, PP, snatch)

WOD:
FGB Rules
Men 1.5P/Women 1.0P

Swing
Clean
Goblet Squat
Push Press
Snatch

Results:

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Total
KB Swing	15	14	12	41
KB Clean	9	3R 6L	1R 8L	27
KB Goblet Squat	6	6	7	19
KB Push-press	0	2	1	3
KB Snatch	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	30	31	29	90

Comments:
Well - first of all, I can't believe my math was so bad. I originally though5 - for some unknown reason I cannot now figure out- that my score was 61. It was actually 90. Still less than half the next lowest score, but much better than 61!

I am extremely excited that I got 4 cleans total with the 1P with my right arm, and a couple PP with the 1P with my left. Both firsts for me :-) I think my form with the goblet squats was a bit better than on Wednesday - I did better at keeping my chest up.

In the first round i did some PP & Snatches with the 12kg KB, but in the second round Max told me just to focus on the stuff I could do Rx and to just rest for the rounds i couldn't get anything, so the reps that were done with the 12kg are not listed above. In the last round I was not ready to just rest for the whole last round, so I worked on KB highpulls (snatch progressions) with the 1P with my right arm (I didn't keep count). On a really good rep I could get it shoulder high, on a less good rep I got it a little less than boob high. I think this could be a really good exercise for me to practice to work on really strengthening my right arm & shoulder (and hip drive). I'll try to remember it whenever I am looking for "cash out" or even warm-up options.

Sleep:
12:54 - 9:45 Hooray for extra sunlight! A pretty sound night's sleep - think I woke up twice, but they were brief. Woke up with congested ears though :-( DO NOT WANT DANIEL's COLD. :-P

Food:
10:30 - 3 egg cheesy scramble w/ 2 pieces turkey bacon. 12oz coffee w/2/3 cup milk
11:00 - 1 multiv, 3 wellness formula, 2 glucosamine, 4 omega-3
2:15 - 16 oz milk
3:35 - 1 bowl orange curry, 16 oz milk
7:30 - House of Curries: Approx: 1 8oz cup chai tea, 1/2 order each of daal, chicken w/cauliflower, tandoori chicken tikka & paneer tikka masala.
11:15 - 2 zma

Drinking from the Goblet

Max learned a new trick in New York, and couldn't wait to share it with us:

AMRAP in 20 minutes

• 5 Honest Push-Ups
• 10 2P/1.5P Kettlebell Swings
• 15 2P/1.5P Goblet Squats

5 rounds + swings RX
(splits: 1:57 | 3:20 | 3:51 | 4:24 | 5:27)

I've been feeling a little sick the past couple days, since Helen. Nothing major, just a scratchy throat, but I have noticed a corollary: push extremely hard on a workout, then proceed to catch a cold. Tonight I decided that I wasn't going to do half-volume or anything, but neither was I going to kill myself. Which felt good, and a little bit like sneaking chocolate on a diet. I'm happy with the work that I did, though, as my back was feeling like it might cramp up immediately afterwards. And my rounds are surprisingly close to the average. (I just think there's probably an upper limit to the number of goblet squats we can do at this weight right now.)

Those goblet squats are hard! I'm happy we're doing them, as they're an assistance exercise to help me with my "good morning" problem on my back squats, but they were definitely the pain in the ass for this workout. Never have push-ups felt so luxurious, and the swings weren't even that bad - they were all unbroken. I was never able to do 15 unbroken squats, though - my arms and grip just couldn't hang on that long. And breaking these guys up sucks, because you've got to pick up the weight again and get it into that awkward position. I'm hoping my back won't be too sore tomorrow.

Pullups #2 & 3 and a world of goblet squat pain

Warmup: 2 min jump rope, ME, 10 squats, KB swing practice, 10 KB cleans, 10 KB snatches, practice goblet squat

*Got 2 more pullups before the workout started!

WOD:
AMRAP* in 20 minutes

5 Honest Push-Ups
10 2 P/1.5P Kettlebell Swings*
15 2P/1.5P Goblet Squats *

*subbed 1P

Results:
4 rounds + 14 squats

Round	Time	Elapsed
1	3:06	3:06
2	3:38	6:44
3	4:41	11:25
4	4:56	16:21
14 squats	3:39	20:00

Comments:
Um. OWWWW. Goblet squats SUCK.
but first ... pullups #2 AND #3!! so #1 was not a fluke! Woo hoo!

And now back to the evil that is goblet squats. oh boy. i think these might have to have knock down drag out fight with burpees to decide who's more sadistic.

I have never in my life had a workout where i looked forward to pushups, and in fact, wished that there were MORE pushups. Until tonight. I will even admit to deliberately lingering over my pushup - becase it was an extra few seconds I wasn't holding a kettlebell.

The swings actually went pretty well - I don't think i ever got through them in fewer than 3 sets, but they were all well above eye level and many of them were fully overhead. I just had to rest and wait for my hip drive to regenerate.

The goblet squats were killer. I think they're a great exercise for working exactly the thing I need to work - more powerful squats - but man are they hard. I found a great way to get the bell into position was a SDHP, and while the bell is weightless, just change the grip. It was just keeping it there, and maintaining the lower lumbar arch that were "tricky". I know my lower back is going to be irritated with me for the next day or two. Back squats tomorrow should be interesting.

Sleep:
12:00 - 7:30. only got out of bed once. Some restless tossing and turning - but a relatively good night's sleep.

Food:
10am - coffee w/milk
1:45 - cottage cheese w almonds & cinnamon
3:10 - ma po tofu
4:30 - .5 oz cashews
6:45 - 16 oz milk
7:45 - regular chile verde burrito - black beans, salsa, guacamole, 16oz milk
10:45 - 1 multiv, 2 glucosamine, 4 omega-3, 2 zma