Squat cleans and another Tyler falls on his ass story

A. Clean Work


A1. (all at 50% – 60%) Spend 5 minutes doing clean pull to the knee only, focusing on back position and squeezing the floor away with your legs.

A2. (all at 50%-60%) 5 minutes doing tall cleans, focusing on the pull under and speed.

A3. Spend 15 mins to build to a heavy Clean, max 5 attempts, only increase weight with good form.

I did cleans of 155-185-195-205 

205 ties a PR from last year and was a big confidence booster since I failed on it during power cleans last week. 


B. Team Rowing:

With a group of 3(max), complete 10min of rowing to a max distance. Each person will row 20 strokes maximum before switching, continue with 20 strokes each for the 10 min period.

I teamed with Mitch and Cara.   We had a system where we would try to minimize transition time getting on and off the rower, so the other two teammates would loosen the footstraps.  Somehow, I got worse at this as the WOD progressed, so I ended up costing my teammates some time.   It wouldn't be the only way. 

So I was concentrating on big, powerful strokes, and thought I was doing okay.  Then Cara gets on the rower and proceeds to go full Viking on it.  I mean, this girl was going HARD at this rower.  It made me realize I needed to step up my game, so I tried going all out when it was my turn. 

Things were going okay until it was -- I think -- my second last turn.  Then, I hop on, start pulling furiously... and my ass rises enough off the seat that it ends up rolling out from under me. 

I bounce off the slide bar and am off  to one side.  I'm stuck there because my feet are immobilized.  I'm not hurt, just embarrassed.   But I can't move.  My teammates didn't realize at first that I was utterly helpless. 

"Uh, HELP!" I grunt.  Mitch helps pull me back up and I resume rowing.  I managed through the rest of my shift and my next one without falling off. 
We finished with 2807m rowed in 10 minutes. 

Knock the Wind Out of You

3 rounds, for time:

500m Row
30 OH Walking Lunges (35/15) – 15 per leg
15 burpees, jump onto plate
200m Run

This took me 18:27.

The hardest part was the overhead lunges. 

When you have a WOD that involves rowing 500m and then other stuff, it's almost always a good idea to pace yourself on the row.  If you can complete the row in less than 2:00, and then transition quickly to the next movement, that beats killing yourself to get a 1:42 row and then being destroyed. 

The Boy joined in on this WOD and he was pretty hardcore about it.  Aimee took a picture of him doing overhead lunges with a 10lb bumper plate and it's one of my new favourite things.  I meant to post it on here but my computer wouldn't let me so you'll have to go to my Facebook timeline to look at it. 

If you can't view the picture because we're not FB friends, then why the heck are you reading this blog?  I mean, you have to be a pretty crazy obsessed CrossFitter to care about the random results of some 30-something average CrossFitter you don't know personally.

Unless you're stalking me.  Are you stalking me?  I've never had a stalker before. Wow. That's sorta flattering (as long as you don't hurt my family, me, or my dog).

Turkish Get-ups and Tabata Stuff

A. 0:10-0:20 Turkish Get-ups 3-2-1-1-1


Ended up with a 55lb single on my right arm, 45lb on the left.

I'm pretty bad at Turkish get-ups.  Like, if an actual person from Turkey saw me doing it, I feel like they'd be so insulted by my ineptitude that they'd consider it an affront to their culture and have no choice but to physically attack me. 

So, for any Turks who happen to be reading this, please accept my apologies.  To somehow try to repair the damage I've caused, here's a short video promoting Turkey as a tourist destination.  Enjoy!

Apparently, Istanbul has flying boats, levitating drummers and giant, bridge-jumping horses.  Unless those things terrify you, you should definitely go there.

C. Tabata Mash-Up

8 mins (20sec on, 10 sec off):

Pushups  (80)

Situps  (100)

For push-ups, I did 10s across, rather than do as many as I could in each round.  I thought this would maximize my results, because in previous Tabatas, I've started off with a lot and then by the end I was doing four or five, so the results were shitty (eg. 55 and 61).  HOWEVER, if I had done a bit of research, I would have noted that those Tabatas where when I was doing four minutes of straight push-ups, then moving to a different exercise.  On alternating tabatas, (20 sec of push-ups, 10 rest, 20 sec of box jumps) I managed to get my push-up numbers into the mid-90s.  So I actually might have been able to do better without using the strategy I employed here. 

Perhaps I should try to bump up my push-ups-per-round goal in the future. 

8mins (20sec on, 10 sec off):

Ring Rows (95)

Squats (23)

There was a bit of a clusterfuck here. They Boy was writing down my results.  In one of the later rounds, there was some confusion and while I was showing him what to write, I didn't notice that the 10-sec rest had elapsed.  So I ended up doing zero for one of the squat rounds.  It was my own fault, though. 

Total: 398

Annie, are you okay?

Back to CFR for a nice little Sunday WOD.

21-15-9

Thrusters (65lb)
Med Ball Cleans
Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
Wall Balls
Burpees
Rowing for Calories

This was somewhat nasty.  It took me 21:44 

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. 

Usain Bolt, you have nothing to worry about

The WOD at CrossFit Regina called for Power Cleans 3-2-1-1-1 and a metcon involving box jumps, bell swings and 400m runs. 

I did the power cleans, sort of, but was wary of doing box jumps or bell swings, as both have aggravated my injury previously.

Power cleans:
3x165
2x175
1x195
1x205 (FAIL, TWICE, seriously, like what the fuck?!)


After that, instead of doing the metcon, I did a WOD from a little while back, 8x100m sprints. 

I timed myself using a stop watch, and here are my times:

16.89 seconds
15.74
15.92
16.02
16.00
15.89
16.10
16.64

The Lion

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

1 Power Clean
2 Front Squats
3 Push Press
4 Back Squats 75/55lb

As far as I've been able to determine, this was my first time ever doing this WOD.

The number of moderate-weighted squats might not have been a great idea for my leg, but figuring out what I can do without consequences and what I'm going to pay for is a crapshoot these days. 

I was feeling this one for days after, in both legs. 

During the WOD, there were a few times, maybe more than a few, that I did three front squats instead of two.  Dumb.  The sets of four back squats were the hardest at the end.  The push press were still pretty easy, thanks to the fact that I have short arms and the bar doesn't have to travel very far. 

I ended up with 31 rounds, plus 1 clean and 1 front squat.  (31 rounds + 2).

Kim Fe's Dirty Dozen

That title sounds dirtier than I meant it to. 

Kim Fe loves chippers.  So she was coaching today and got to make up her own:

500m row buy-in
25 walking lunges
25 pull-ups
25 double unders
25 box jumps
25 ring dips
25 knees-to-elbows
25 bell swings
25 abmat sit-ups
25 dumbbell hang squat cleans (2x35)
25 push-ups
25 back extensions
25 wall balls
500m row

I found this pretty hard.  It took me 26:15.  I had way too many longer-than-necessary breaks, especially on the K2E.  Those were tough on the still-not-all-better leg, but once I concentrated on rocking back and looking up at the ceiling, they became manageable from a "my body is capable of doing these" standpoint.  However fatigue kicked in bigtime so it was more like "I don't want to do any more exercise, ever" situation.


The Boy has learned how to ride a bike with no training wheels, so we went for a long bike ride (for him) afterward.   

Later, I watched the CrossFit Games on TSN2 and gave thanks for the fact that I'm not an elite athlete.

"Five Alive"

5 sets for times of

•  250m Row
• 10 KB swings to shoulder height – 70/55lb
• 10 over the paralette burpees
• 1x gym length bear crawl

I chose the tallest paralette, which my right leg made me pay for, especially in the last round. 

Otherwise, not a bad little WOD, with the quick little sprints, followed by a rest. 

2:15, 2:17, 2:26, 2:18, 2:50

One of these things is not like the other. 

Chantelle

Today was the funeral for Chantelle Desmarais. 

Chantelle and her husband Blair are former members of CrossFit Regina, so that's how I met them.  I don't know them as well as some, but everything I do know, I like. 

Chantelle was a lovely person in every sense of the word.

Her courageous battle against cancer inspired countless people.  Her passing is heartbreaking.  She leaves behind a good man, three children who are far too young to have to have their mother stolen from them by the cruel, random whims of a terrible disease, and friends and family who mourn the untimely loss of someone who was -- by all accounts -- a kind and wonderful person.