VolkeFit: A Double Shot of Steve

My wife said she was too tired to go to Steve's again, so asked me to take her spot.  She ended up staying home and dealing with our children, so I'm not sure it actually worked out for her.   Worked out great for me, though.


A. Every 2 Minutes for 30 minutes

Using 135lb barbell, every 2 minutes:
3 deadlift
3 power cleans
3 push press

The complex took between 23 and 30 seconds most of the way, so it allowed me to rest for the rest of each 2-minute round.



B. Don't Stop Skipping


300 DU
Everytime you stop, do 3 burpees and 1 handstand push-up.

Not for time, so I made sure to catch my breath in between rounds.

Here's how this went:

98 DUs (PR!)
3+1
55 DUs
3+1
6 DUs (DAMMIT)
3+1
60 DUs
3+1
81 DUs.

Weighted PLUs, HSPU clusters, "Venti"

A. Weighted Pullups 3-3-3


20, 30, 35, 40



B. Handstand PushUp clusters:

4 on the minute for 10 minutes (can uber with hands on plates)

I ubered this for six minutes, but in the seventh, my arms, , gave outwith little warning.  I could have tried doing normal HSPUs, but I wasn't sure if it was a minor injury or just fatigue.  I felt unsafe continuing to go upside down, and took a DNF instead. 



C. “Venti”

3 rounds:
500m Row
20 KB high pulls  (RX'd was using a 35lb kettlebell, but I grabbed a 45lb KB and didn't realize it until I was well into round one)
20 KB push press (10 per side)
20 Abmat situps

12:45. 

The push press, particularly with my left arm, was the hardest part. 

HSPU Clusters / Pull-ups and Wallballs

A. Handstand PushUp Clusters:
3 on the minute for 10 minutes (uber with hands on 25lb plates)

I did it, uber-style. 


B. "Nameless Fun"
3 rounds for time:
5 Deadhang Pull-ups
6 Kipping Pull-ups
20 Wallball 20lb

4:21



Overheard at the Gym
"Were you... making fun of someone?"
-Matt, commenting on my somewhat... enthusiastic burpee technique




.

"I should just quit CrossFit & make an appointment to get vajazzled"

A. Squat Cleans 3-2-1-1-1  then two sets of 2x85% of your one rep max

3x135
2x155
1x175
1x195
1x205 PR

I felt like there was maybe a bit more room at 205, but I'm really happy to get it. 

I used 175 for the two sets of doubles at the end.  My back was still a little stiff from the high-rep snatches on Saturday, and this movement aggravated that a bit on the first set. 

Even though there was a little imaginary birdie on my shoulder telling me I should just skip the last set and avoid any chance of injury, I stupidly decided I needed to do it. 

In fact, I would have to be a colossal pussy to NOT do it, wouldn't I?  I mean, I should just quit CrossFit and make an appointment to get vajazzled.



Obviously, I failed on the second attempt and tweaked my back even further to boot. I'll probably have to sit out CrossFit until Thursday at the earliest, Because I'm a dumbass who doesn't pay attention to the warning signs his body is sending him. 

But at least I'm not a pussy, right? 


B. Handstand Push-Ups: 5-4-3-2-1

Done.  I did them all strict, except for the set of three.  I did those kipping, but I did extra to compensate.


C. Run 1km carrying a 20 lb medicine ball

5:25.  That sucked some pretty serious ass.

Back Squats and Head over Heels

A. Back Squats 5-5-5 We were supposed to do the same weight across the board, a bit less than the max set of five we did two weeks ago. After a less than thorough warm-up I did three sets of 5x270. For me, that was heavy as hell. Like, seeing-stars-and-kinda-dizzy-afterward heavy. B. Head over Heels Not for time: 12 Handstand push-ups - Done. I did 7 or 8 in between sets of back squats, because I had arrived late and everyone was already doing the upside down stuff and I felt left out. 10 Wall spans - I think I only did six. Considering I'm pretty decent at HSPU, these are hard for me. 8 Shoulder touches - Done, in two sets of 4. I didn't do them as prettily as Thomas. 6 Inverted toe touches - Uh... no. .

Upside down at 6 a.m.

A. 10 minutes, on the minute (OTM) of:
3 Handstand Push-ups
10 Kettlebell Swings 55lb overhead

Done, rx'd. Other than the three times I lost my balance while doing the HSPU, I did most of the rounds in the first 30 seconds of the minute. The benefit of that was it allowed me extra time to rest and catch my breath.


B. 75 speed burpees for time

4:54.

"The Dog Sled"

“The Dog Sled”
3 rounds:
30 Double-Unders
10 Overhead Squats – 135/95lb

2 min rest

3 rounds
10 Handstand Push-ups (BCBD standards)
100m sled push with dowel – 115/75lb

Finisher for BCBD folks:
3×10 Chest-to-bar Pull-ups or 90 second Row (pick your pain)

37:02 as rx'd

That is a lot of OHS and HSPU. I did the row at the end. Got 426 m.

Front Squats and a Chipper

So I sort of gave up setting my alarm for 6, but I thought I might naturally wake up in time to go to CFR this morning because I got into bed fairly early. Problem was, my darling wife had an iced coffee right before bed and wasn't sleepy. So I didn't get to sleep until well after midnight.

Then, at some point in the early morning hours, the Boy (age 4) crawls into bed beside me with a stuffed up nose and proceeds to loudly snore RIGHT IN MY EAR. I woke up around 5:50, and had a brief internal chat with myself about whether to get up to go to the gym.

"C'mon, you will feel better after working out."

"One more hour of sleep would be awesome."

"Like you're going to get any sleep with that chainsaw in your ear."

"But I'm tired."

"You're being a pussy."

"I'm okay with being a pussy."

"The Bridge City Beatdown is less than a month away. You should probably do a few workouts before then, you flabby, bereft-of-disciplinefuck."

"But it's so warm under the blanket."

"Hey, you never regret working out. You ALWAYS regret missing a workout."

"Grrrr. Fine. Okay. I'll do it."


A. Strength = Front Squats 5-5-5

155-185-205(2) Couldn't match my previous best. But Christian said, "Nobody should be setting PRs at 6 in the morning.

B. Metcon = Dot Com Chipper from 110322
For time:
70 (Speed) Burpees
60 Situps
50 Kettlebell Swings – 55/35lb
40 Pull-ups
30 Handstand Push-ups

25:29

This was a pretty tough chipper.

***

Never stop dreaming.




***

"Dear CrossFitter: Be kinder to yourself."

Something to think about. Hell, we don't need to take this so seriously that it makes us SAD when we don't meet our lofty expectations of ourselves.

.

HSPU / DL / Pistols

A. 10 minutes of Handstand Push-ups
3 at start of minute and try to maintain the 3 per minute for whole 10 minutes.

I did this, and even managed to do it without kipping.


B. Bodyweight Deadlift for 5 minutes – 2 lifts every 30 seconds, perfect form

I used 190lbs, and did this. Not sure if my form was "perfect" but I didn't have any back issues afterward, so that's cool. Maybe the next time we do this, I could use a bit heavier weight, and hopefully not because I've gotten fatter.

C. Roll on tennis ball with each glute for 2 minutes/side

This was unpleasant.

D. 5 minutes of Leg Pistol practice

I sure needed this. Getting there.

Pull-ups/54321/Wt. Run

Finally made it to another 6am WOD. It was THE BEST. I seriously need to do that every Friday. Oh, except I'm off from work every second Friday, so there's no need to get up early. Still, THE BEST.

A. Max Kipping Pull-ups
*If you did 50 Pull-ups yesterday, do Max Push-ups instead.

I did 27. I used to be able to do more than 30, but I was also 12-15 lbs lighter.

B. “54321“ for total reps:
5 minutes Rowing for Calories Did 90
4 minutes of Box Jumps – 24/20″ Did 56
3 minutes of Hang Squat Snatch – 75/45lb Did 15
2 minutes of Wall Ball – 20/14lb Did 30
1 minute of Handstand Push-Ups Did 3*Modified (knee on box) count as 1/2 point each

C. Finisher = 400m Run with 45/25lb
*Grab a dumbbell, plate, sandbag, whatever and run to Elliot and back!

Used a sandbag that weighed 40lbs (at least it did when I started, a few ounces ended up down my back, I’m sure) and a 5lb plate. Awkward, yes. 1:52 on the new route.

Saturday Happy Fun Time

I can't remember what this WOD was called.

I partnered with Nathan and we split the non-running stuff, one partner working at a time.

21 pull-ups
200m run
21 push-ups
200m run
21 135lb squat clean and jerks
200m run
21 burpulls
200m run
21 handstand push-ups
200m run
21 calorie row
100m run.

The 9am class did this solo. I would like to give it a shot when I get my mojo back. It doesn't seem that much harder on paper, but then you remember that you get far less rest time and are doing a lot more work.

I couldn't get a smooth rhythm going for my pull-ups, so I probably looked like a spastic monkey up there. Thankfully, I only had to do 11.

I was a bit worried about how my back would handle the C&Js but it was good. My first three reps, I didn't get under the bar with a squat (I basically power cleaned it, front squatted, then jerked), but I got my shit together for reps 4-11 and it felt awesome.
Burpulls were better for my second set than they were for my first. I think I was just trying to keep up with Kurt and John.

My HSPUs have fallen off a bit, but I can still do them. Kipping ones anyway.

Time was 18:07 or 18:09. Can't remember.

"Barbara"

For time, five rounds of:

20 pull-ups
30 push-ups
40 sit-ups
50 squats

Rest three minutes in between rounds.

Total time, including the 12:00 in breaks was 38:44. My round times were:
4:23
5:14
5:39
6:04
5:24
_____
26:44 total work time.

The problem with this one is the math. If you think about the total number of reps you have to do, it's pretty daunting. Of course, since looking on the CrossFit Regina website last night, it's pretty much all I could think about.

During the workout, my pull-ups were fairly bad and my push-ups were atrocious. By the third round, sit-ups were like torture.

AngDesj was chasing me the entire time, and she kept letting me know about it. The last round, despite my head start, she made up a lot of time on the pull-ups and then passed me on the push-ups. But she's got an issue with sit-ups, so I thought I could catch her.

It was weird, something came over me during the sit-ups. It wasn't really a second wind, but more like I was suddenly filled with an inner peace that relaxed me and let me just do the work without feeling a lot of pain from my abs. I just closed my eyes, went to work, and was able to do 25 straight, and finish the rest pretty quickly. I also did better on the squats in the final round than any other round, doing 30 straight, quick breather, then two sets of 10.

Afterward, I felt like death. I was semi-concerned that I was going to pass out on the drive home.

Michele and BrianB kicked ass on this one.

I found a video of a "Babara" workout on YouTube. I particularly enjoyed how the dude in the muscle shirt isn't doing full pull-ups. Full extension on the arms, fucker!

Oh, are they anchoring their feet for the sit-ups? Yes they are. Are they sitting all the way up? No they are not. Someone needs to yank this gym's affiliation.

Diane

For time:
21-15-9 reps of
Deadlift 225lb/155lb
Handstand Push-ups.

I didn't do this one rx'd, but neither did anyone else in the 6am class. I deadlifted 185lbs and did kipping handstand pushups.

10:47. Couldn't catch the Janimal, who finished five seconds quicker.

I shouldn't have gone on YouTube, because I found a video of a guy doing this workout in under two minutes.


Fuck.

This week's gym challenge is doing levers on the pull-up bar. I tried doing that after the workout, but my shoulders remembered the 180+ pull-ups I did on Saturday and were all like "Fuck you, pal."

Viva CrossFit Las Vegas!

It's probably not an entirely healthy thing that one of the things I was most looking forward to about my first ever trip to Vegas was the chance to try out the CrossFit there.

CrossFit Las Vegas has a pretty sweet facility, probably about 5000 square feet. (Pictures later, once they're downloaded). The clientele that I saw there was a lot less demographically varied than what we have at CrossFit Regina. Most seemed to be in their 20s and 30s, and all seemed to be starting at a reasonably good level of fitness. Everyone was very welcoming and patient with me when I asked to take a few post-WOD group photos.

I was told they have around 130 members, which surprises me, given how big Las Vegas is, and this is the only official CrossFit affiliate there that I know of. Does everyone else train MMA or something?

The owner, Zach, definitely knows what he's doing and ran us through a good warm-up, which included a breakdown of each component of the squat clean. I liked this because when the time came to lose the PVC and pick up the actual weight, it seemed like second nature.

The workout was five rounds, for time, of
9 Hang Squat Cleans - 135lb is the rx'd weight, though I did 115.
7 Handstand Pushups - Most people used an abmat or two, I managed to do it to the floor with kipping HSPU.

11:00 was my time.

I am very much looking forward to going back, and any CrossFitters who pass through Vegas without stopping in for a workout are really going to be missing out.

Plus, doing a CrossFit workout helps relieve some of the buffet-and-beer-related guilt that Vegas begets.