Michael - the "no hands" workout

So - Ynez invited me to go with her to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival on Sunday, but that meant that we would have to miss the regularly scheduled CF classes, so we agreed to meet at the gym a little earlier to get our own workout in. Since my hands were completely wrecked from Saturday's workout, I suggested we do Michael - no hands required.

I knew Evelyn was looking to do something earlier in the day, too, so we invited her to join us, and posted a general message on Facebook, and a few other folks with torn up hands, or later commitments or other injuries decided to join us. There were 6 of us in all: And before you say - but there are only 5 of you, Maeve was there too, but she got done super fast and left before this pic was taken.



Warmup: Mobility Exercises, Some Pushups, some squats ... probably shoulda done more, but we were slow getting started and folks were antsy just to get underway with the WOD.

WOD:

"Michael"

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

Results:
37:20 RX! and PR :-D

Round	800m	Situps	Back Extensions	Total
1	5:00.9 162	2:12.7 146	(1:52)3:17.3 135	(10:30.9)12:29.9 148
2	5:24.9 178	3:10.6 148	4:03.3 139	12:38.8 155
3	5:29.7 171	3:28.1 152	3:25.4 149	(35:32.9)12:23.2 157

I am fairly pleased with the results of this workout. It's a good 5 minutes off my last time, though it's not a direct 1-1 comparison due to different situp and back extension substitutes.

This time, for the situps, I did a variation of GHD situps using one of the big ole tractor tires there. They are definitely harder than normal situps.

I also did real back extensions - not hip extensions (video) which is what i think i've done in the past when using the GHD thing, and not supermans which is what i did last time. Back extensions are a lot harder (for me) than hip extensions. But they definitely work that series of muscles in my lower back that gets quickly fatigued when I'm trying to squat correctly, so this is probably a good exercise for me to work on.

I had a really interesting experience on run # 2. Using the flat GHD apparatus puts a lot of pressure on my calves and hamstrings, so when i am done, my legs are all wobbly, and for the first 100-200 meters of my run I was being very careful with my stride and mostly just focusing on not tripping over my own feet, and also on my breath, and then when i was about 2/3 through the 800m, i realized that I was just running, pretty strongly, without a threatening cramp or anything. That was pretty cool. I usually have to fight my way through the runs. The last run was much more of a struggle - but it had nothing to do with cramping up, i just couldn't quite get enough oxygen - but i didn't ever have to stop and walk - which in my book is a total victory.

Now, of course, my abs are quite unhappy with me - it hurts to laugh! Ow. But it was a good workout.

Michael

Today's CFEB workouts were sprints and then playing with a bunch of different stuff, both of which were very tempting, but there were a couple problems: on sprinting, I'd be forced to use the rower, so I'd be all by myself, which isn't much fun, and the playground exercises looked like killers for either my shoulder or my ankle.

Meanwhile, Rebecca wanted to go to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass with Ynez, and they wanted an early start, so they were thinking of hooking up at 10 at Ironworks to do Michael (a hands-free workout, since Rebecca's hands are thrashed). I figured I'd join them. Rebecca mentioned it on Facebook, and Evelyn, Maeve and Nick all decided to come, too! So we had an impromptu mini-CF class all our own.

For time:
3 rounds of
Run 800m (sub: row 1000m)
50 Sit-ups
50 Back Extensions

29:23 RX (PR)

The nice thing about the rower is it keeps you honest. I kept the pace a little below 2:00/500m, so every session was ~4 minutes. I did my sit-ups on the big-ass tire outside, which worked well, except it made my shoes filthy. Those are definitely harder than regular sit-ups. Back extensions were done properly on the back extension "machine" inside.

I could have had a faster time, but for the transitions - walking up and down stairs, inside and out took a chunk of time. Still, it was fun, and after the last couple workout debacles it felt good to finish a workout properly.

Climbing & Michael (too)

Climbing
5.9 (c) 5.9 (f)

Warm-up
10 Rock n' Roll
20 Mountain climber (hands in runner start - alternating legs in runner start position by jumping them back and forth.)
20 Jump squats
20 Pushups
20 Burpees - think i only got through 8 before Max said 'enough' and I agreed :-p
Run 400 m

WOD
Michael
Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
*GHD 50 Back Extensions
*GHD 50 Sit-ups

*Due to lack of GHD hardware - sub 100 supermans & 75 situps

Time: 43:08

We met my best friend Katherine and her friend Claire at our climbing gym a little early to get some climbing in before the CF workout. This was to be Katherine's first CF workout - she's been highly skeptical about this whole 'Crossfit thing', and I was hoping that if she tried a class she might like it as much as we do, or at least stop being so negative about us doing it. Claire is visiting Katherine from Chicago and had never climbed or done CF before, but she was a really good sport and tried both. Big kudos to Claire!

We each got in two climbs before class. The first climb i tried was a relatively friendly 5.9 that was mostly a slabby climb (less than 100% vertical so more about balance than strength). I did that 100% clean.

The second climb i did was a much less friendly 5.9 that had a significant amount of negative incline, and one really hard move that I just failed to figure out; the geometry of it just completely escaped me. I had to cheat and use a hold from another climb to get past it, but after that I managed to complete the climb - with several rests.

Overall, I am very pleased with my Michael time. I did it completely, 100% as RX'd or at least as RX'd given the equipment shortage at our gym, and below the 45 minute time limit Max set for it.

I am a little disappointed with my run times. My first run was exactly 5 min. I really had thought i was making very good time, but clearly not since that's 20 seconds slower than my best time from Wednesday. My second was 5:15 and my third was ... longer - i forgot to check the actual time - but i got a stitch and had to walk most of the last 400. Grrrr. I was too focused on trying to get a good time for my last run, and I didn't think enough about my breath at the beginning, and the stitch was developing by the time I remembered. Sometimes I can pull out of the stitch spiral, but I didn't manage it today.

I do feel like i did a really good job, and picked up some good time with my situps - especially the first round: I think I did them nearly unbroken with a short rest @ the 50 mark. I've always liked situps.

The supermans were not horrible, but not my favorite exercise either, and 100 at a time is no fun at all. After the first 30 or 40 I had to break them into 10 rep sets.

I don't have it written down, but I am pretty sure that the last time I did this it took me about 42 minutes. BUT - I did it in 6 rounds of 400m, 25 situps and 25 back extensions instead, and while my transitions between exercises were longer and i had more of them - i also did 25 more situps per round this time through. So - 1 extra minute for 75 more situps and 50% more supermans than back extensions ... I totally rocked!

Katherine's still not sold on CF. Her time was better than mine (which I fully expected - she's always been more athletic than me); she finished in 3? something minutes. While i was working my @$$ off to finish out my last set of situps & supermen, she says to me: 'It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.' :-| That was so 'helpful' :-p

Michael

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 GHD Back Extensions
50 GHD Sit-ups

30:57 (PR)

Subs: 75 feet-anchored situps, 50 Good Mornings

The subs were because this was for class, and there's only one GHD in the gym. My first time doing Good Mornings, and I suspect I wasn't doing them right. My first outdoor Michael (ie, not running on the treadmill), so that probably added to my run times, but my transitions were much smaller.

A PR, though only by a few seconds. Not apples and apples, though, since I have different subs every time. Still, I was first in class to finish, which is a first, so that was cool.

Oh, and also warmed up on a 10a(o) and 10b.

5/30/2008

"Michael"
Three rounds of:
Run 800m
50 situps
50 back entensions

Mod:
I broke this into 6 rounds of
Run 400m
25 sit-ups
25 back extensions

Don't remember my time exactly, unfortunately. I think it was around 40 minutes or about 6.5 minutes per round.

Michael and stuff

Morning:
Climbing: 9(o), 10c(f+),10c(f),10c(f+),10a(f),10a(f)
The falls on the a's were just stupidity due to exhaustion. A lot of falling but I'm still pretty happy, as I climbed "Daniels" with only one fall at the crux, and I think it's possible to do it without falling if I can nail that move and get to a good resting spot.

5x5's:
Back Squat & Bench Press: 100x5

Evening:
"Michael"
Three rounds of:
Run 800m
50 situps
50 back entensions

31:20 (approx)

Not sure how I was slower on this than last time, considering I was rowing then. The runs were on a treadmill set to 9.1MPH, and that was HARD - my metcon is not what it was when I was spinning twice a week. I had to wait for the back extensions a little, and the second round of situps were done on an incline which took longer (the others were done on a Swiss ball). Could also be because it was my third workout of the day.

Michael

Climbing: 10a, 10a, 10c, 10b, stalled out on a 10b

"Michael"
Three rounds of:
Run 800m (subbed row 1000m)
50 situps
50 back entensions

31:06

Michael

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

I did the full WOD. Time: 32:01. Calories: 358. First time ever on a treadmill, so as my skill and comfort level there goes up my time should go down. After slowly building up I did the first round at 7 MPH and the next two at 8, which got my HR up to 91%. The back extensions were actually pretty painful, but mainly in my glutes and back of the legs - the back was fine. Did the situps on a balance ball, and they were fine.

Out of curiousity I left my HRM for the walk home with the weighted pack (~1.5 miles uphill, 16# plus workout gear in the pack). 240 Calories in half an hour.