VolkeFit: Some quality time with the Devil's Bicycle

Went to Steve's garage yesterday and he threw together a little bastard of a partner WOD. 

Partner 1 - 50 calories on the AirDyne (a.k.a. "The Devil's Bicycle")

Partner 2 - goes through the following circuit:

• 10 "cals" (drop to a plank over a weighted ball, come up as if you're in a burpee, but bring the ball with you, bring it overhead and then slam that fucker on the ground like you mean it) \
• 5 strict burpees
• 10 box jumps (stepping down) \

Switch off every 50 calories on the AirDyne, until we get to 400. 

We got through 15 rounds of the circuit in total for the 20-some minutes it took us to get to the 400. 

Afterward, Steve showed me how to use the elastic "floss" around my injured leg and it made a big difference. 

He really knows what he's doing.  I'm happy to see his personal training sideline is growing rapidly. 

VolkeFit: "All sorts of suck"

I hit Steve's garage to see what the mad scientist of home-exercising had cooked up. 

Not for time... just for pain:  


50 cal on the AirDyne 

Then three rounds, increasing weight, of:
3 squat cleans
20 weighted lunges per leg (We used 95, 115, and 125)

50 cal on the AirDyne

3x250m sandbag runs

Buy-out: 15 deadhang pull-ups, in as few sets as possible.  I did them in sets of 10 and 5.


Thoughts:

-God, that AirDyne is an awful/amazing thing.  Three minutes or so was a nice little sprint. The fact that Steve does 15 minutes on it regularly astounds me.

-My first time doing weighted lunges with a weighted barbell.  Almost fell over a couple of times, and really had to concentrate to get through the last reps. 

“One Bite at a Time”

20min AMRAP:

Partner A runs 400m
Partner B does 1 Squat Clean & Jerk (95/65) and 1 pull-up. Add one rep until you reach 5 C&J and 5 pull-ups; then complete 20 burpees.  After the 20 burpees, you do 6&6, 7&7, etc until you do 10.  After 10, start again at 1s. 

When one partner is done the run, he comes in and picks up where the other guy is at.  If a partner finishes the 20 burpees before partner finishes run, start  on the c&j and pull-ups. Score is burpees completed.

Only three of us signed up for this WOD, Nathan, Steve and me.  Nathan and I worked at the same time as Partner A, and Steve was Partner B.  I suspect that meant Steve had to do more work, because we did a bit more running.  It was a nice day for it. 

We finished 60 burpees, plus were into the 9s on the other stuff. 

Partner WODS

Saturday at CrossFit Regina featured three separate Partner WODs.

I got Steve as my partner, so we could be Steve 'n' Tyler aka "WOD Looks Like A Lady."

A.  100 Wall balls for time. 

Steve and I did these in sets of 10 each.  After one partner threw his 10th WB, the other caught it so there were no pauses in the action. 

It took us 3:12.

 

B. 10-min AMRAP

Alternating rounds with a partner (each partner does all 20 movements and then switches)

5 burpee pull-ups
5 jumping squats
5 clapping push-ups
5 toes-to-bar

Then, some idiot* suggested that to make this more interesting, the partner not doing the work had to be in a handstand hold. 

(*It was me.  Obviously.)

That made things interesting alright, if you define "interesting" as "exponentially more fucking terrible the longer this goes."

We did 7 rounds plus 4 burpulls. 

 

C. Partner Rhiannon, switching every time someone stops doing double unders.

This was a good WOD to have Steve as a partner.  He did 84 double unders off the hop... which was probably unwise when you consider that 10 min is a long time and I'm not nearly as good as double unders as he is. 

He did the lion's share.  We ended up with 738 and I think I maybe did 200 of them... if that. 

"Volke Gone Bad" (Alternative title: "Reset, Enter, Enter")

CrossFit Regina was closed on Saturday so Steve hosted a Fight Gone Bad-esque WOD in his garage. 

Three five minute rounds, one minute at each station during the round.  Resting two minutes after the first round and three after the second .

• Battle Ropes (L+R=1)
• Squat Thrusters (go into a push-up position, bring your knees to your chest and your feet under your ass, kick them back out and repeat until you regret being born)
• AirDyne for calories - There's a reason Nolan calls this "The Devil's bicycle."
• Wall Balls
• Kettlebell High Pulls

My score was 399.  Of all the dudes present (Steve, Shae, Nathan, Drew) it was the worst result, which is unsurprising given those guys are a bunch of animals.   Since it was the first time I ever did this WOD, at least I can say I PR'd it. 


Overheard at the Gym Garage;

"When a new person gets on the AirDyne, it's 'Reset.' 'Enter.' 'Enter.'"

"You've also just described my lovemaking technique."

VolkeFit - Group workout

This blog needs fewer pictures of me...





... and more pictures of chicks lifting stuff...

  



... and epic workout faces.

  

                

Spring has finally sprung, which meant some nice weather for another group workout at Chez Volke. 

There were six people in total: Steve, Nathan, Nolan, Mandy, Laura and me.  We were going to go in two teams of three, but decided it was simpler if we just did it all as a group with two people going at the same time on most of the exercises, with everyone contributing toward the quota.  I don't think we timed it. 

I'm actually writing this on Tuesday, so I might be forgetting something here:

-Run around the soccer field behind Steve's place (approx 500m)

-160 burpees over bar (in sets of ten) - I did at least four sets  (40)

-120 shoulder to overhead - Guys used 135.  All the other dudes, especially Nolan, made this look far easier than I did.  I think I did four sets of five.  (20)

-120 hand release push-ups. I did two sets of 10.  (20)

-120 weighted sit-ups.  I think I did two sets of 10 (20)

-40 Handstand Push-ups. I did sets of 7, 6, and 4. (17)

-Another run around the soccer field, but we took a detour to avoid some mud (approx 600m)

"It's Complicated"

Three person WOD.  I teamed with Nathan and Steve and Victor.  Yup, that's four guys. 

I'm writing this three days later so I may not get this exactly right, but this is about the gist of it.

Each person takes a turn at the station.  You don't move to the next station until the dude doing wall balls is done, and you only count the wall balls, so there w  Everyone does every station before moving to the next round.

Round 1
a) 30 WB, 15 burpees
b) five pull-ups, five hang cleans (95lbs) (then sixes, then sevens etc)
c) five bell swings, five sit-ups (then sixes, then sevens etc)

Round 2
a) 20 WB, 10 burpees
b) five push-ups, five bell swings (then sixes, then sevens etc)
c) five shoulder to overhead, five toes-to-bar

Round 3
a) 10 WB, 5 burpees
b) Power snatch
c) double unders

Round 4
a) 20 WB
b) five push-ups, five bell swings (then sixes, then sevens etc)
c) five shoulder to overhead, five toes-to-bar

Round 5
a) 30 WB
b) five pull-ups, five hang cleans (95lbs) (then sixes, then sevens etc)
c) five bell swings, five sit-ups (then sixes, then sevens etc)

I think we finished in 26:40-something. 

VolkeFit Harbour Village Throwdown!

Smile and the whole world smiles with you. Squat, and you squat alone.

Steve hosted another CrossFit get-together in his garage on Saturday.  (Oh shit, I hope by me calling it that, I'm not getting him in trouble with CrossFit HQ.  Gotta protect the brand, y'know.)

There were 11 people taking part, I think.  We split up into teams, and I ended up on a stacked team consisting of Matt, Leya, Shae, and Uncles.  It was kind of like being a journeyman left-winger for the Moose Jaw Warriors who somehow ends up playing on the mid-80s Edmonton Oilers dynasty team.

I didn't record results, so I'll just talk about what we did. 

WOD #1

Teams of three, conga line.  Two rounds of: 

10 burpees

15 squats

200m-ish run 

(Joel, Leya and me)

This was fine.  I like doing all of this stuff.  This was the first time I ran outside in my new, minimalist Innov-8s, so I may have gone a little slower as I was more conscious of where I was stepping. 

Or maybe I was just running that slow because I haven't actually run anywhere in five months. 

WOD #2 

Teams of three, one person working at a time 

-Three minutes of OHS for max reps (95lbs)

-Two minutes of hand-release push-ups 

(Matt, Shae and me)

I think I mostly held my own on the OHS, doing a couple sets of 15.  Let's not talk about how I did on the push-ups, mmkay?


WOD #3
7-minute AMRAP:
Teams of three, one person at each station:
-Sit-ups
-20 power cleans (135 and 95lbs)
-handstand hold

(Matt, Leya and Uncles)

Score was the max sit-ups.  You switch whenever one teammate has completed the 20 cleans. And -- here's the nasty part, which I'm proud to say was my idea -- you can only work when the one teammate is in the handstand hold 

I sat this one out... which made it way more entertaining. 



If your face doesn't look like this when you CrossFit, you're doing it wrong



WOD #4

5-minute AMRAP (I think... I could have the time wrong)

Teams of three - Each person at a station, rotate when everyone's done.



Keep in mind, the camera adds a good 50-60 lbs



-20 overhead lunges - 45lbs 

-20 front squats - 135lbs

-20 kettlebell snatches - 55lbs

The front squats were a special kind of awful, especially when you (meaning me) are the last person to finish at your  station in a garage full of hyper-fit people and your team is waiting for you to hurry the fuck up, fatass so they can get back to exercising. 

WOD #5

Everyone does this, going through one at a time. 

One minute at each station:

-Wall ball

-Box jumps (20")

-Pull-ups

-Battle ropes

Battle ropes are one of those things that look not so bad, but then you do them and you are just praying for the sweet release of death. 

***

Driving with Arnold:

I saw this on Fuck Yeah CrossFit and I liked it so I stole it and put it here. 

 

13.5: Thank God I'm not elite

"How dare you judge me, Steve? You have no idea what I've been through."

"13.5 may be awful, but it's over quickly.  Which is also the line of reasoning I use when attempting to woo Tracey."
-Me to AngDesj, on Facebook. 


I think I've mentioned before that I don't like AMRAPs for the simple reason that if you are better at CrossFit, your reward in an AMRAP is more work.  Talk about a disincentive. 

Well, 13.5 was even worse... but fortunately the only people who suffered the consequences are the people who are super fucking awesome at CrossFit.  

This would come as no surprise to anyone who's spent five minutes watching me do a WOD or reading this blog, but if there was a Venn diagram with a circle representing "People Who Are Super Fucking Awesome At CrossFit," your humble yet sexy blogger would not be inside that circle.  I'd be over in the circle representing "People For Whom CrossFit Is The Thin Line Separating Them From Obesity."

13.5
AMRAP in four minutes:
15 thrusters (100 lbs)
15 chest-to-bar pull-ups.

Here's the evil part:  If you get done three rounds within the four-minute time limit... you get another four minutes.

It doesn't stop there... for every three rounds you manage to complete, another four minutes are tacked on the clock.  So, theoretically, this workout could go on for a long time for those who are really elite.

Since the WOD was announced, I couldn't stop thinking about it and how I would have to get that bonus time or I'd be hugely disappointed in myself.  But for some reason I did the math wrong and thought that getting to that point meant completing 60 total reps, not the 90 it actually is.  I thought 60 reps would be hard, but doable for me. 

I got to the gym on Saturday morning, and Lexi told me no one at CFR had made it out of the first four minutes.  "It's 90 reps," she pointed out. 

Hey, they don't call it MathFit. 

Hearing that was like Christmas morning.  Which I guess means Lexi = Santa Claus. 

My goal was still to get into the 60s.  But now I had the luxury of knowing I didn't have to worry about having to do this for longer than four minutes.

I started the WOD unsure if I would do the first 15 thrusters unbroken.  In earlier heats, I saw a lot of people start fast and fade early. 

Once I got them going, I figured I should just finish rather than eat up precious seconds by resting early and having to pick up the bar again. 

Cary was doing this next to me and he finished his thrusters before me. 

As I moved to the C2B PLUs I was paying attention to his counter more than Steve, who was counting for me.  It probably helped me keep my pace fast, but really, I should probably just pay attention to what I'm doing. 

I got through the C2B fairly quickly and was back at my barbell with more than 2:30 left.  I was pretty sure at that time that I was going to break 60, since I was halfway there. 

I also knew that this set of 15 was not going to be unbroken. 

I picked it up and did 8 reps... I would have liked 10, but I had no choice but to drop it.  I thought I'd do the last 7 in one set, but after 4, I had to put it down. 

When I finally did get to the C2B, I did a set of 5 or so, then turned around so I could see what the clock read.  That helped me get through the last 10, though I did have to break it up into three or four sets, including a final set of 1. 

I was back at my barbell with 45-50 seconds left.  I don't remember what I did for sets, but I just knew I wanted to get to 70 or 72.  I would have been thrilled with 72. 

The gym was yelling at me, so that helped me pick the bar up when I really just wanted to leave that fucking thing on the ground. 

I got to 71 with four seconds left.  I was down in the squat part of the thruster for #72 when time ran out. 

Final score of the final Open WOD: 71 

After I went, I stuck around the gym to watch a couple of the later heats. 

And photobombing.  Hot damn, I love photobombing

There were some impressive performances, particularly Lance, who was the only person at CFR to get to that second four minutes. 

His reward for being elite was another four minutes and a final score (I think) of 124.  It was awesome to see. 

It's amazing to me to think that the top score in the world is more than double that.  Josh Bridges scored a 254. 

Sucks to be that guy... this week at least.

Volke Vikings Garage WOD: Squat cleans, Burpee Broad Jumps, Wall Balls

The mascot for Steve's garage gym.  I'm not sure if that counts as a hook grip.

"The thought of having to pick that bar up again makes me sad."
-Me, at the start of the second round.  Or maybe the third.  Whatever.

Steve Volke invited Rankin and me to his garage of discomfort (I can't remember... are we calling it VolkeFit?) for a Monday evening Volke Vikings workout.

The WOD was an adapted team version of the previous day's WOD at CFR.  I was acutally sorry I missed out on Sunday, so I was happy to get a chance to do it.  (Chalk this up to utter foolishness.)

3 rounds for time:
7 Squat Cleans (165/105)
9 Burpee Broad Jumps (we actually did them like this - broad jump, burpee, jump up to touch Steve's pull-up bar)
40 Wall Balls (20/14)

- 20 minute time cap


We started with a guy at each station and would rotate when the last guy had finished his quota.  When this was originally conceived, I thought maybe we should have each guy keep going until the last guy had reached his quota.  But Steve and Rankin did some warm-ups on the 165lb squat cleans and Steve informed me that my idea was fucking stupid. 

Steve is a very nice guy, so he was more diplomatic about it, but he was right.

This was way tougher than it looks, even with the brief respite you got whenever you were at the burpee broad jump station.

By the time I got to the wall balls each round, I was kind of wrecked so there were plenty of breaks.  I don't think I did any group of 40 in fewer than five sets, which is pretty bad.  It worked out okay for Steve and Rankin, though, because they got a bit more thanks to my lagging. 

We got finished in 19:47.  Originally, I didn't think you'd need anything close to 20 min for this workouts, but if I had done this individually, there's a good chance I wouldn't have had the motivation to finish this before the time cap. 
Afterward, I stopped by Starbucks to get my lovely wife a vanilla latte on the way home (because I'm sweet like that, yo) and my legs were so messed up I had to sit down while they made the order. 

Garage WOD at the House of Volke

Steve invited some CrossFitters over for a series of Team WODs at his house, and it was a good time.  Steve and his wife Carmen are such nice people and he's got a sweet little set up for small-group WODs.  With 11 of us doing events simultaneously in his garage and basement, things got chaotic, but it was a lot of fun.  

Here's what we did:

I was on Team 1, along with Joel, Lucas, and Michelle.    You can see our results above. 

Observations:

• Event 1 was the toughest, followed by Event 3.  
• Event 2, we only counted burpees but were still supposed to work hard on the other stuff, not rest until it was our turn to do a minute of burpees (only had to do that twice). 
• Originally these WODS were set up for three people.  We figured out extra stuff for the person to do for each WOD (Event 1 - 45lb pet rock, Event 2 -  shoulder height bell swings, Event 3 - rest.) I liked Event 3 best.   
• I have no idea how to do corkscrews without fucking up my back, so I did very few of them.  Though it wasn't so much the technique limiting me as it was the fact that I was fucking tired.
• The hardest part of Event 1 was the K2E.  I didn't want to drop off the bar. 
• The hardest part of Event 3 was the weighted step-ups.  I had to reach down to a dark place in my soul to get done the 10 reps on the last one. 
• Team Fran was not too tough, because there was a lot of resting involved. Four teams of 4, you could probably increase the number of reps in each round a bit, maybe 60-40-20 or something like that.
• Lucas did all 45 pull-ups in the first round by himself.  Joel did more than 20 thrusters.  I contributed my share to our efforts in Team Fran, but nothing herculean.  
• Team 3 had three people, so it would have helped them in some aspects and hurt them in others.  Plus, all the teams started on different events, so the standings are not exactly comparing apples to apples.

2012 Team Games workout #8

With a team (I had Steve and Michelle)

30 GHD or weighted situps
30 DL 225/135lb
30 Double-unders
30 OHS 95/65lb
30 Pullups
Athletes only advance once the station ahead is clear

I thought DUs would provide a nice little respite in the middle of this WOD.  Not for me, though, as I went second behind Steve and, other than a few seconds on the deadlifts,  he didn't leave me a lot of time for waiting around as he blazed through each station and was long gone before I could get there. 

The DLs were the hardest.  I did them in sets of 10, 5,5,5.  I did okay on the OHS, though, with sets of 12, 10, and 8.  

Our team was done in  18:19

Partner Manion

Partner “Manion”

Seven rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters together
15 back squats each, working one at a time, 135lb

31:23

I started out with Steve (Team "WOD This Way" reunited) but he pulled out in round 3 due to injury. I finished up with Nathan and Uncles, working the same time as Nathan.

I felt this one for the next couple of days.

.