2010-05-23

Warmup:
run 1 mile: 10:29. not quite as fast as 5/16, but close.

ME, dowel dislocates/ohs

WOD:
As many rounds as needed to complete 45 reps of C2B Pull-Up/Pull-Up:

* Perform 25 burpees every three minutes on the third minute
* Max rep C2B Pull-Up/Pull-Up

Score is time to completion on Pull-Up.

Scaled to 20 burpees, and jumping pullups from a 24" box.

Burpees: 2:01; 2:04; 1:50
Pullups: 22; 17; 6

8:25

Hands and lats still ripped/sore from thursday - jumping pullups to avoid further hand tears.

2-5-2010 Presses & Cindy

Warmup: run 800m

Press 5-5-5
40-50-52(f rep4)

Cindy
9 rounds + 5 (jumping) pullups

Bleah. My aerobic capacity has gone to pot. The warmup run was sluggish and uncomfortable. And I felt like I was moving through molasses doing Cindy. The jumping pullups were hard; the pushups were hard; the squats were hard.

The first round was only 1:20, but most of my rounds were 2 to 2.5 minutes. I did manage to get my last full round under 2, so although I was really working towards trying to keep my form and ROM legit, maybe the thing that's missing (as much or more than aerobic capacity) is my intensity.

Sent from my iPhone

Big Fat DNF

3 Rounds

Run 800 Meters
30 Pull-Ups (C2B)
30 Push-Up

I got 1 round + 1 run and a handful of pushups in 30 minutes. i pretty much just gave up after run #2.

Cindy Gone Bad

Warmup: ?

WOD:
"Cindy Gone Bad"

In this workout you move from each of three stations after a minute. This is a three-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. We've used this in 3 and 5 round versions, this will be FIVE rounds. The stations are:

1. Pull-ups (Reps) *subbed jumping pullups - jumping C2B with a taller box after round 2
2. Push-ups (Reps)
3. Squats (Reps)

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.

Results:

Set	Pull	Push	Squat	Total
1	16	18	25	59
2	16	18	26	60
3	16	17	26	59
4	14	16	27	57
5	15	16	27	58
TOTAL	77	85	131	293

Comments:
Apparently I originally did my math wrong and I thought I got 303. 293 is still pretty respectable, i guess, but I thought I had broken 300 reps, and that was cool. oh well.

I'm very pleased that i managed to stay so consistent throughout all 5 rounds. It was a real battle to keep the reps up in rounds 4 & 5.

OMG a POST!!

Ok - yeah. it's been kinda a while since i last actually posted. The last couple weeks have been crazy and I've been feeling less than motivated. Sleep has been bad, food has been bad (due mostly to high time of stress at work but also to being out of town a lot), and thus workouts have been bad, and it is way less fun to blog bad stuff than good stuff.

I'm going to try to go back and make up the posts I've missed - but I have to start somewhere, so I'll start with today.

Warmup:
Some OHS with a dowel, about 2000m running, helping to set up the equipment.

WOD:
For time:

22 Deadlifts 250#/185# *subbed 105#
Run 400m with 10#/8# dumbbells
Single Kettlebell Carry 200m 2P/1.5P *subbed 1P for all KB
22 KB Swing 2P/1.5P
Single Kettlebell Carry 200m 2P/1.5P
22 Chest to Bar Pull-Ups *subbed jumping (as close to C2B as I could manage)
Run 800m with 10#/8# dumbbells
22 Wall-Ball 20#/14# *subbed 33# thrusters
22Bupees
Run 400m

30 minute time limit.

Results:

Round	Time	Elapsed
22 Deadlifts	2:14	2:14
400m Weighted Run	4:04	6:18
200m KB Carry	3:11	9:29
22 KB Swings	1:58	11:27
200m KB Carry	3:38	15:05
22 Pullups	4:44	19:49
800m Weighted Run	8:14	28:03
22 Thrusters	4:01	32:04
22 Burpees	3:43	35:47
400m Run	3:02	38:49

Comments:
This was a major slog fest, but it was a good slog fest, and it felt great to 'get back on the horse'.

At 30 minutes - when I'd finished thruster #8, Max said "Ok you're done - DNF." I sat down for about 20 seconds and realized that - dammit I was NOT done - I got back up and finished. I was essentially done with equipment, wouldn't be taking up anybody's space. It sucked but it was a good kind of suck. My 'discomfort tolerance' seems to have decreased somewhat. My mantra on the 800m run was - "it's only uncomfortable, just run, dummy" - obviously - at 8 minutes - I didn't run as much as I shoud have. The main problem on these was my grip. Holding dumbells while running is hard and unnatural and makes for a weird gait.

The deadlifts actually went pretty well. The swings went pretty well, too - even though I had to do them in sets of 3-5 due to my arms being fried from carrying that thing 200m first. I tried to see whether you can do KB swings with an alternating grip ... turns out not so much.

The pull ups were aggravating. There was no way I was going to be able to hang onto the bar for kip attempts - my hands were fried - so I decided I wanted to try to do jumping C2B pullups. but even jumping I can't quite get my C 2 the B. I got close, I had the height - particularly on the last 4 or 5 when I switched to a chin-up grip i jwas just always about an inch from the bar. I think I actually managed it on the last one. My shoulders definitely touched the bar - i just don't know if it was low enough.

Overall, it was hard, but it felt great to be back.

Deadlifts and Pullups and Running, oh my!

Warmup: ME, Deadlift Practice - dowel, jog 300m(or so)

WOD:

Five Rounds:

Run 400 Meters
10 Deadlift 225#/155# (subbed 100#)
10 C2B Pull-ups (Subbed jumping pullups - low box)

Results:

Round	Run	DL	Pullups	Total
1	1:38	2:02	1:16	4:56
2	2:10	2:23	1:31	11:00
3	2:00	1:44	1:25	16:09
4	1:59	1:40	1:12	21:00
5	2:12	2:05	0:48	26:05

Comments:
I very nearly decided to skip this workout due to the tweaked muscle in my leg from climbing this morning, and because I was feeling couch potato-ish. I'm glad I didn't. I didn't do 100% intensity. I'd say maybe 85%, but it was good to get out and get moving.

The run distance was definitely shorter than 400m, so none of these times count as PR's - i was definitely not running that fast.

I realized about half way through that I cold definitely have been lifting a little more weight, but ultimately, it's probably just as well that I didn't.

I don't have a lot of feed back on this workout - it felt (relatively) friendly and manageable, and it was good to just get out and do it - especially after the last several days of soreness induced inactivity.

Helen - in hell?

Warmup: ME, KB swings - 10 russian, 10 CF, 10 1 handed each hand, 10 KB presses, 10 KB front squats.

WOD:
Helen

Three rounds for time:

Run "400" meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

Results:
21:39

Round	400m	Ts.	KB S	Ts	Pullup	Ts	Total
Round 1	2:06	:17	1:34	2:25		:30	6:52
Round 2	2:26	:23	2:06	1:55		:36	14:18
Round 3	2:39	:52	2:08	:31	1:11		21:39
Total	7:11	1:31	5:48	2:00*	4:01	1:06

Comments:
I started this post the night after, but needed to go to bed. I need to finish it before the details get fuzzy!

This is about 3 minutes slower than the Helen I did on Nov. 26. There are, I think, 2 reasons for that. The first is the pullups. Last time i was doing jumping pullups from a 24" box, and I could tear through twelve in just a few seconds. This time, I wanted to try for a slightly more legitimate pull-up. My original intention was to try to do my pseudo/bent arm dead-hangs until they ran out, and then do jumping. Well - they just weren't there at all from the beginning, so I did jumping pullups from the 10" box which meant I had to do a lot more pulling with my arms to get my chin to the bar. (I think the bar is @ 8' or so.) These were a lot more tiring and took a lot longer - which feels like a more appropriate level to be working at.

The other reason is that the air quality was HORRIBLE, and I was having a really hard time breathing. At the time I just thought it was because I was tired or just having an off night and was having a bad aerobic capacity day, but a lot of other people felt it too. Afterwards, I had a cough for a couple hours. Yuck.

And the other reason - OK - maybe there are 3 - is that Max was urging us not to have any transition time or any rest time "to hit it as hard as we've ever hit anything", and I think that by trying to go full out and not rest and not have transitions, I ended up needing more rest and had longer transitions. I find that if I take a couple seconds to rest *before* I hit my capacity wall, I recover faster and can do more work more quickly than if I try to rest *after* hitting my capacity wall. Which is not to say that the "no rest no transitions" formula is a bad one to practice every now and again. I think it's probably useful to butt up against that wall and try to stretch that capacity.

That said, there were at least 4 minutes of transition time in this workout, and that's a LOT of transition time. There are maybe 45 seconds to possibly a whole minute in round 1 where I had forgotten to put my gloves on, and it took a little while to get that sorted.

One thing I am pleased about is that my run times were universally better than last time, AND the time before that (last time my runs were weaker than my previous attempt). I think that the daily walking exercises I am doing are actually making a difference. I even walked a few feet (25 or so?) of my last 400 when my breathing got ridiculously close to hyperventilating and I got a bit freaked out and decided to walk until I could get my breathing under control. (Another present from the HORRIBLE air ... did I mention it was bad?)

Also, this time, a greater percentage of my KB swings actually made it over head. Not all of them by any stretch, I counted anything that made it as high as eye level, but I tried for overhead when I could, and actually got it some of the time.

So - ultimately - even though my time took a step backwards, in terms of work performed and quality of work, i think this workout took a step forward.

The 42 - Max's birthday WOD

Warm up: ME, 10 squats, 5 burpees, 1 terrifying handstand hold of about 5 seconds, 10 KB swing (16kg) 5 kb snatch each arm (8kg)

WOD: *subs

42 Inverted Burpees *regular burpees)
42 KB Swing 2P/1.5P *1P
42 C2B Pull-Ups *Jumping Pullups
42 KB Snatch Left 1.5P/1.0P *8kg
42 KB Snatch Right 1.5P/1.0P *8kg
42 Burpees
42 Double-Unders *tuck jumps

Results:
38:16

Exercise	Time
Burpees	7:10
KB Swing	4:23
Pullups	3:36
KB Snatch - R	7:02
KB Snatch - L	3:38
Burpees	8:43
Tuck Jumps	3:43

Comments:
Uh - LOL - looking at the times, I think I might have done as much as 10 too many snatches on my right side ... I kept losing count - and at one point i couldn't remember whether i was on 23 or 32 ... so I went with 23 ... I mean - i took a couple breaks - and I forgot to hit my timer for the left until I was 3 or 4 into the left - but I really cannot imagine that 42 right took twice as long as 42 left - at least not today when the form was really clicking and I was pretty easily able to string reps together - even on my RIGHT!

In fact, I'm very excited about finally getting this with weight on my right side - the form was working so well - that I thinkI probably could have managed to work with the 12kg KB, but I'm glad I did do it with the lighter weight, and really nailed the form.

The burpees sucked - but I did a little math, and even though i added 1:30 to the second round of them, that actually is only about 2 extra seconds per burpee. Really not bad, I think.

Daniel has said that he will take some time to work with me on handstand holds. - I really need to just take some time specifically to really work on them. I tried 1 in the warmup, and it did not go well. Daniel basically had to lift me up because I was too scared to kick up, and once i was there I just got really anxious. It wasn't a strength thing - I felt like my arms and shoulders could hold it, but I was just really afraid of falling. I'm determined to keep working on these though.

Filthy 50 -> Funky 40

Warmup: Mobility Exercises, run 160m

WOD:

Filthy Fifty (Funky 40)
For time:
50 Box jump, 24 inch box *step-up to 24"
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Dumbell or Plate Swings, 35 pounds *25# plate
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows *knees to chest
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Supermans
50 Thrusters, 45 pounds *25# plate
50 Burpees
50 Double unders *tuck jumps

Results:
50:30

Splits:
5:49 - Box step-ups & jumping pullups
3:43 - Plate Swings
3:14 - Walking Lunges
4:43 - Knees to chest
10:46 - Push Press
1:59 - Supermen
8:22 - Thrusters
8:12 - Burpees
3:42 - Tuck Jumps

Comments:
As Daniel points out, I did 30% more work in 10% more time, so I guess I did better than last time, but looking at my splits ... most of the "improvement" appears to have come from doing a 1-for-1 replacement of my step ups to a 24" box instead of a 3-for-1 replacement of doing step-ups to a 10" box.

My Back extensions and Knees-to-chest were better - but they might be just because i didn't have to go down a flight of stairs to do them.

The push-presses were much longer - a little more than twice! - but they were 15# heavier this time, so I don't feel bad about that.

The thrusters ... I dunno the weight was about the same - but I am inclined to believe that doing them with a plate is somehwat harder than doing them with a comparably weighted bar. Maybe that's just wishful thinking.

I'm relatively happy with the burpees - it only took me 14 more seconds to do 10 more burpees. Unfortunately, the pushup movement really started to hurt the tweaked spot in my back, so I had to start using my knees around rep 15 or 20.

Meh. I had hoped for better improvement.

Nate

Warmup: 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 8 burpees, Run 800m 5:18

WOD: "Nate"

Complete as many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
2 Muscle-ups
4 Handstand Push-ups
8 2-Pood Kettlebell swings

OR

4 Jumping Bar Muscle-Ups * Subbed Pullups
8 Clapping Push-Ups * Subbed Regular full ROM pushups
16 1.0-Pood(35#) Kettlebell swings

Results:

Round	Time	HR
1	2:21	161
2	3:20	162
3	3:25	168
4	3:24	168
5	4:42	170
6	2:33	164

*The time for round 5 includes the pullups from round 6. And the time for round 6 is the pushups and KB swings only.

The KB swings, and not the pushups, were definitely the deal breaker in this workout (as I modified it). This is only the second time I've used the 35# KB for KB swings. The last time was here in Fight gone ... heavy? I only managed 6 then 4 then 4 swings in the three 1 minute rounds. And this was 16 reps.

All reps (that were counted) were above the eyes or better - many were fully overhead - and i think last time i really only managed eye level. My first round i actually managed to string the first 8 together. Most of the time it was sets of one or two. Although I actually got better at stringing reps together in my last couple rounds. And was able to get sets of between 4 and 6 when i managed to keep the curve in my lower back.

All pushups were full ROM - i actually accidentally did 9 pushups on one of the rounds. I probably should have made an effort at doing the clapping pushups. But I didn't think I would be able to keep them up throughout.

The jumping pullups were too easy. I needed to either be using a slightly lower box , or just doing 4 attempts at a kipping pullup (regardless of success) - which is what Max had one of the other Rebecca's in class doing.

That said though (I'm writing this late the next day) My shoulders are KILLING me. So I definitely worked hard - just not uniformly across each of the exercises.

One of my classmates remarked after class at how far I've come since i started. And it's true. I think that I've had a real break through, particularly in the last month or so - my strength seems to be shooting upwards, and I have to try to retain the perspective at how far I've come when I get frustrated at how much I still can't do.

1-2-3 Go!

Filthy Fifty

Ow.

For time:
50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

56:19, nearly RX (subbed tuck jumps for double unders)

Wow... this was a burner. I can't recall another workout where I've consistently felt so close to puking for so long - I was just redlined for just about everything from the KTE's on.

I'm really bummed because I set my splits on my watch, but must have hit the reset button in my backpack so I lost them. I can kind of recall my sets, though, so I'll try and outline them...

Box Jump: used the green girder. 50 unbroken. fast.
Jumping pullups: two sets of 10, then fives, then fours... fairly fast.
KB swings: two sets of 25. fairly fast.
Lunges: unbroken. fast.
KTE's: something like 10, 10, 8, 7, 5... fives from then on. These were hard. not fast.
Push press: 20, 15, 15. fairly fast.
Back Extensions: 25, 15, 10. fairly fast.
Wall-ball: five of 10 with long rests. not fast.
Burpees: 10 of 5 with LONG, LONG rests - this took over 20 minutes alone
Tuck Jumps: 10, 10, 10, 20. fairly fast.

I'm glad we're doing the Burpee Challenge...it's my hope that next time this rolls around, my work there will pay dividends in a faster time. These burpees were SO much harder than regular ones, though, just from being so gassed.