Burpees, Pull-ups and Sit-ups, with a dash of Thrusters

It had been a while since I made it to CFR on a Saturday morning.  At 11a.m everyone was going to be doing 14.5, but the 10am session had a slightly different WOD:

21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of:
-Burpees
-Pull-ups
-Sit-ups

Between each set, do five thrusters with 95lbs. 

I finished this in 18:34.



I did a muscle-up before the WOD.  I had to work to get up there.  I think I could be kipping and pulling harder.  Lifetime total is now 15.   

To Twelve and Back

Another Tuesday night at CrossFit Regina


"Thunderstruck" Warm-up

This was fun. As we jogged in place, they played "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC and everytime we heard the word "thunder" we had to drop and do a burpee.



Skipping

100 running skips - I did these unbroken.
75 double unders - This took me three or four sets, which is pretty bad.
25 crossovers -  I'm pretty sure I look awkward and spazzy when I do these, but I got through them.



To Twelve and Back

1 -> 12 <- 1="">Pullups
KB Snatch 55/35
**Alternating movements (1 pullup, 2 KB Snatch (1 per arm), 3 pullups, 4 KB Snatch (2 per arm), etc…)

This took me 13:52.  I think my technique fell to shit on the snatches by the end.  Also, my sissy hands were starting to hurt. 

  **Bonus**   I did a tremendously ugly muscle-up at some point in the warm-up portion. That brings my lifetime total to nine.  I thought about going for another one after the WOD was done, but I thought I would be courting disaster.   I'm thinking I should probably try to do at least one or two everytime I come to CFR. 

"Lynne"

5 rounds for max reps:

Bench Press  (I did approx. 75% Bodyweight - 135lbs)
Pull-ups

1. 10 and 20
2. 11 and 21  (And so Tyler thinks to himself: "Hey, I'm doing great! Maybe I'll go up a bit every round!")
3. 8 and 15 ("So much for that idea.")
4. 7 and 14
5. 4 and 12 

Total was 122. 

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.

"Nicole"

AMRAP in 20mins:
400m Run
Max Pullups

  My leg was still bothering me a bit but I felt it more on the dismount from the bar rather than the runs.  I wouldn't say I was going 100%, but I was going faster than I thought I would've been able to.     This was my first time doing kipping pull-ups since coming back.  It was fine.      Here's how the rounds looked like for me:    400m, 20 pull-ups 400m, 17  400m, 17 400m, 15 400m, 13 400m, buzzer went before I could get to the bar.      

“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. 

Father-and-son Jackie

A. Jackie

1,000m row
50 thrusters with a 45lb bar
30 pull-ups

When I got to CFR today, Kim Fly told me that everyone else had already started Jackie, so I'd be in a heat of one. 

The Boy was tagging along with me so I figured I'd make him do the workout alongside me, just modified with PVC thrusters and jumping ring pull-ups.  He wouldn't have to worry about counting reps, he could just switch when I switched. 

It was fun. I figured that I wouldn't PR this today, given that I'd be paying a bit of attention to him and not going up against anyone, but as it turned out I got a 20-second PR. 

7:56 (PR) 

B. 1 km run

Yeah... after doing Jackie, I wasn't going to be setting any records on this.  It was a nice little cool-down, I guess. 

5:04



The Boy didn't join me on the run, but did do a little sprint in the alley.  When I told him it was time to go home, he protested, "But I'm not sweaty yet!"

So he did a bunch of other stuff:
-headstands on an abmat, and handstand push-ups (his head comes up about 2 inches, but still);
-"atlas stone" lifts and carries with a 20lb medicine ball; and
-more jumping pull-ups.

I guess he got sweaty at some point, because he took off his shirt.  As Kim Fly noted, "You can do that here."

Finally, he and I also did a race to 10 burpees. He managed to eke out a win on that one and it was almost completely legit.

I was very proud of him... not just for the burpee win.

Earlier at home, I told him I was heading to CrossFit.  He had had a busy day already playing with some neighbourhood friends and looked like he was ready for a nap.  He told me he wanted to come to CrossFit with me.  I told him I wasn't sure he was up to it, but he insisted.  He said if he needed to nap, he could nap there.  (He's done it before.)

I'm proud that he seems to be grasping the idea that physical fitness is important. 

In the era he's living in, there are so many things that can derail a kid's happiness.  It would be great if one thing he and his little sister didn't have worry about were self-esteem problems stemming from weight, body image and athletic ability. 

It's a lesson I wish I had taken to heart a lot earlier in my life.   As I've noted here before, for most of my life pre-CrossFit,  I was overweight.  Maybe not obese, but ranging from chubby to fat.  It wasn't my parents' fault. They enrolled me in sports and prepared reasonably healthy meals.  But when left to my own devices, I'd spend hours playing video games or watching TV and consuming way too much junk food.  Genetically, I'm not predisposed to being able to eat whatever I want and still be lean. 

The results were predictable.  And I wrongly felt they were inevitable, that this was just the hand that I've been dealt.  I bought into the belief that I didn't have the capacity to change myself, because it was easier than getting off my ass and doing something about it. 

It definitely impacted how I saw myself, and not in a good way.  I'm not saying I spent every waking hour mired in a deep depression because I was carrying 20 or 30 extra pounds, but I wasn't always as happy or as confident in myself as I could have been.  Starting CrossFit five years ago definitely helped change that, though a lifetime of thinking of yourself as the fat kid is hard to completely undo. 

My goal for my kids is to encourage and enable them pursue healthy and active lifestyles.  If they achieve that through CrossFit, great.  I'd be just as happy if they did it through soccer, dancing, swimming, basketball, gymnastics or martial arts... or all of the above. 

Whatever activity they choose, they don't have to be the best.  I just want them to try hard and have fun being active. 

They shouldn't have to go through life thinking of themselves as the fat kid who can't. 

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




.

No Foolin'

For time:

21-15-9 of:

Snatch (75lb)

Pull-ups

Then 21-15-9 of:

Power cleans (75lbs)

Fucking toes-to-bar

THEN 21-15-9 of:

Push press (75lbs)

Box jumps (24")

This was going alright... then the first segment was done and my forearms caught on to the fact that I was in the process of doing something really terrible to them.  They started actively resisting on the T2B and even on the power cleans.  At that point, it was just a matter of chipping away at the middle segment like Tim Robbins digging an escape tunnel out of RapenSuck Penitentiary in The Shawshank Redemption. 

On the final segment, I went through the push press pretty fast but the box jumps were about as inspiring as you'd expect. (i.e. not very)

Final time: 21:15

Overheard at the Gym

"I'm doing that Whole Life Challenge."

"How is it?"

"It sucks."

"For something called 'Whole Life Challenge,' it sure seems like you're missing out on a lot of things."

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

Are you ready for some football?

CrossFit Football game

• Touchdown (6pt): 80 Squats, 40 Kettlebell Swings, 30 Pull-Ups, 20 Burpees
• Convert after TD (1pt): 50 Double-Unders (or 125 Single-Unders) 
• Field Goal (3pt): 20 DB Thrusters (2x45lb), 30 Sit-ups, 20 Box Jumps (20″)

Two 15 minute halves with 3 minute half-time. Work is divided between teams of 2, only one person works at a time. Skipping is not divided, both must complete.

 I teamed with Nathan (Team name: "Nat-Ty By Nature") and we split the work evenly. 

First half: FG, TD, FG, FG = 16

Second half: four FGs = 12 

Total score 28. 

We were three box jumps away from another field goal.  We barely fell short, just like the Riders. 

I think the best strategy for this is to go for field goals.  The DB thrusters do suck total donkey scrotum, but you and your partner can do alternating sets of 5 and that makes it bearable. 

You might want to do one TD when you're fresh, but when you're tired, those double unders will be a total time-killer unless you and your partner are total DU ninjas. 

I had done a slightly easier version of this before and scored a 26... but it sounds like I was a bit hungover at the time. 

Lost my nerve on Back Squats, found my mojo on "Jackie Lite"

A. Back Squats 3-3-3


I came into the gym thinking I'd try to break my three-rep record of 290, but for whatever reason, as I progressed through the lifts, I decided to stop at 275.   It seemed pretty heavy to me. 


B. “Jackie Lite”

For time:
1000m Row
50 Push Press 65
30 Pullups

Looking at the times earlier in the day, I was a little unsure about what kind of time I should expect to get.  Many of the times ranged between 9:00 and 10:00, with a few in the , but I thought I could break 9:00 if I finished the row in under 4:00, the push press in 3:00 and the pull-ups in 2:00. 

My goal with the rower was to maintain a good pace but not go so hard that it would wreck me for the rest of the WOD.   I managed to strike a good balance there. I was off the rower and started the push press by 3:50 or so. 

As it turned out, the push-press went a lot quicker than I expected.  I did them in sets of 25, 14 and 11, and it took a little over a minute to finish it.  I like doing relatively light push-presses.  I've got a pretty good rapid-fire technique down pat, plus my short arms give me an advantage because the bar has to travel less distances. 

Just don't ask me to get anything off a tall shelf for you.  #Midgetpower

I think I took right around two minutes to do the pull-ups. 

Final time was 7:07, which was briefly good for top EFS* score in the gym until Uncles and Chase beat it in the last session of the day.   Fuckers.  Where do they get off, being all strong and fast and in shape?

*EFS: "Except for Shae."  Shae's time on this was something ridiculous like 5:55.   

Fran

21-15-9

Thrusters (95lb)
Pull-ups

It had been almost exactly two years since I had last done the standard Fran workout.  (Note: I re-read my blog post from back then and holy shit do I take myself way too seriously sometimes.) 

I was still pretty sore from the WOD on Wednesday so my expectations were not great that this would be the day I would finally break 5:00 on Fran.  I tried doing a few thrusters when warming up and they got heavy after, like, three reps so that didn't exactly boost my confidence, either.

I'm writing this three days later, so don't remember a ton of what happened once the actual WOD started but here are some highlights from my fuzzy recollection:

• 21 thrusters - I did 11 straight, rested with the bar on my chest, did another four, rested again, did one more and then had to drop the bar.  Obviously, it wasn't as efficient as it could have been.
• 21 pull-ups - I think I did 12 uninterupted, then five and four. 
• Finished the first round in about 1:40ish

• 15 thrusters - Sets of eight and seven.  I know in the past I had to split these into sets of five, but I think that was because I had burned myself out in the first round by doing both sets uninterrupted.
• 15 pull-ups - Rapid singles, briefly touching my feet to the ground, but not letting go of the bar for a bunch of them at the start.  I must have stepped away from the bar at some point, and probably more than once, to give my hands a rest. 
• Finished the second round at about 3:30ish.

• 9 thrusters - sets of five and four, I think.  I can't remember.
• 9 pull-ups - As I got near the end, I remember thinking: "Okay, don't fall off the bar this time, dumbass. Especially since you're doing this on the 8-foot bar over a box."

"TIME!"


4:50.  PR 

Even though my first sub-5 Fran time comes about three years too late, I'm still happy about it.  It had been a longtime goal.

Days like this are when I really love CrossFit. 


.

"Lawless"

For time:


40-30-20-10 reps of:

Wall Ball – 20lb
Box Jumps – 24″
Pull-ups
Double-Unders


So that adds up to 100 reps of each exercise, which is decidedly un-fun.

Thankfully, I didn't tear my sissy hands on the pull-ups.  That's probably because I took way too many breaks. 

D3 blew past me somewhere in the 20s and ended up finishing more than a minute ahead. Considering the 20s and the 10s were supposed to be the quick rounds, that shows just how slow I was moving at that point.  He was pounding out multiples of pull-ups and box-jumps while I was doing singles. 

27:27, rx'd, and I'm not unhappy with that time. 

Dumbass

A. Bench Press 3-3-3-3


115 - 135 - 145-155- 165


B. Metcon = The “Expendable”

150 Double Unders
5 Front Squats (1/2 Body weight, for me that's 95 lbs)
5 Pull ups
10 Front Squats
10 Pull ups
15 Front Squats
15 Pull ups
20 Front Squats
20 Pull ups

I didn't exactly do it in this order, though.  I missed the rounds of 15, called "Time," then wondered how the hell I passed Jarvis who was way in front of me ("Hmm, he must of been really slow on his front squats.")

Then I looked at the whiteboard and realized I went from the 10s to the 20s. 

Dumbass.

10:58

Spring Fling 2011 WOD

20 ront squats 185 lb (taken from the floor, not the rack)
30 speed burpees
30 pull-ups (chin must break bar's vertical plane)

5:50 rx'd.

I wasn't sure how quickly I would get through the squats, but I did sets of 10, 6 and 4 and it was over sooner than I thought. I managed to avoid having to clean the weight too much.

.

Hang Squat Snatch / Ridiculously long 6 a.m. Metcon

6 a.m., baby. 6 A-motherfucking-M.

A. Hang Squat Snatch 3-2-1-1-1

95-105-115-125-130(F)-130. These are sort of fun, but then I'm not using a bunch of weight. I prefer singles to catching the thing on the way down. What can I say? I've got SISSY HANDS.


B. Metcon. Should've been called: "You know we have to go to work this morning, right?"

800m run or 1000m row
10 rounds of 10 pull-ups and 10 ring-dips
800m run or 1000m row

Something's going on with my left foot. It may have to do with the fact that I jumped out of a tree yesterday (don't ask) from a height that was probably unwise.

Anyway, it became apparent in the first half of the 800m that it would be unwise to continue running on it.

So I did a 400m run/500m row at the start and a 1000m row at the end.

Can I just say that 100 ring dips is a lot of fucking ring dips? Because it is.

A lot.

Of fucking ring dips.

My total time was 30:04, I think. I never actually looked at the board, but Harlan had yelled it out.

Back Squats and "Unlucky Sevens"

A. Back Squats  5 5 5 start @ 70% and increase
ended up at 280lbs

B. I don't know what the real name for this one is, but I call it "Unlucky Sevens"

As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:
7 Box Jumps – 20″
7 Pull-ups
7 Kettlebell Swings – 55/35lb, Int 35/25, Beg 25/15

9 rounds plus an extra box jump.

"Pheezy" ain't easy

“Pheezy”

Three rounds for time of:
5 Front squats – 165/115lb
18 Pull-ups
5 Deadlifts – 225/155lb
18 Toes-to-bar
5 Push jerks – 165/115lb
18 Hand-release push-ups

19:24 rx'd.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love toes-to-bar? I haven't?

There's a reason.

Hearing D3 pound out the deadlifts like they were nothing was somewhat demoralizing. He's more animal than man!




Overheard at the Gym

Christian: "Are you updating the Nobody-Gives-a-Shit Blog?" .

Early morning Ginger Power

A. 15(to 20) minutes to Back Squat Double (~3 attempts) then 85%x3x2

Doubles: 255, 275, 285, 300(PR)
85%: 255x3x2

I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty happy with the 300lb PR. I should have tried 300x1 long ago before, didn't have any confidence I could do it until I managed to do 275x5 about a month ago.

Christian attributed this to "Ginger Power first thing in the morning."

He likes referring to me as a ginger because he thinks it bothers me. I'm not a ginger but -- just to be clear -- it doesn't bother me that he calls me a ginger. Gingers are awesome, whether or not they have souls. It bothers me that he thinks it bothers me, if that makes any sense. I guess I just don't like seeing him derive joy from anything.



B. 4x600M Row, 2-5 minute recoveries

Yeah, this was not fun. 2:05, 2:05, 2:12, 2:24

Me: "I took a nice little rest on the last one. I regret nothing."

Ryan: "Just enjoying a ride down the river."

Me: "Look, there's a deer!"

C. Unbroken Pull-ups M=3x(5 Dead Hang+10 Kipping)

Time was running short and my arms were burnt out so I did one set and not as rx'd. Did the 5 deadhangs plus 2 kipping. Took a nice rest and did the remaining 8 kipping.