Monday, April 26, 2010

Squat Cleans then Box Jumps and Pull-ups Metcon

Squat cleans

3-3-3-1-1-1

I had never done max squat cleans before, so I started low, but the sets of three kept coming, so I would erase the early sets.

Ended up with

155x3, 175x3, 185x3


The singles didn't go so well.

195x1, 205x1 (FAIL).

I didn't try a third one. My elbows were threatening mutiny.

Then it was time for a little metcon.

30 20-inch box jumps
10 pull-ups
30 20-inch box jumps
20 pull-ups
30 20-inch box jumps
30 pull-ups

I kept up with Blair for exactly one round.

6:46 as rx'd
.

I ran out of gas a bit on the box jumps. I'm going to blame some noxious fumes I inhaled when I first got to CrossFit.

On a completely unrelated note, AngDesj, if you are going to DO THAT like a guy, you're going to have to do the guys' weight on future WODs.

.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

"Saturday with Jeff"

Not to be confused with "Tuesdays With Morrie."

AMRAP in 15 minutes:

5 one-arm 55-lb dumbell thrusters (left)
5 one-arm thrusters (right)
7 push-ups
9 24-inch box jumps.

I got 8 rounds, plus 5 thrusters.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Overhead Squats and Box Jumps

OHS 5x5

115-135-145-155(f)-155

On the failed set, I spent too much time with the bar over my head and my right arm decided it was done for the moment. I coaxed it back to work for the fifth set. I feel like I probably could do a bit more. My one rep max late last year was 165, and since I did the strength work, I find that the weights on a lot of my five-rep maxes are my pre-Strength work old one-rep maxes. But since I stopped doing strength work, I may have regressed a bit. Still fat, though!

24" box jumps for one minute x 3, resting four minutes between.

27-28-29. Just trying to keep up with the Janimal.

In the second and third sets, I had a smoother rhythm going for the first 15 or so. Then fatigue would kick in.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Power Cindy

AMRAP in 15 min:

1 power clean (135lbs)
1 round of Cindy

Each round, you add another power clean. (Round 2, do two PC then a round of Cindy, Round 3, do three PC and a round of Cindy, etc.)


I got nine rounds even.


Overheard at the Gym:

Ang(3&4)Desj: "My favourite is a skin sandwich dipped in gravy. And I'm not even talking about KFC."

Heh

Courtesy of Kat.

Double Unders in sets of 10

In order to somewhat attone for yesterday's gluttony at the KFC buffet in Weyburn, I grabbed my skipping rope and headed into CrossFit Creekside (the totally unauthorized and woefully under-equipped rogue affiliate that doubles as my garage) last night for a quick sweat.

My idea was to do 200 double unders. I have misplaced my stopwatch, so I wasn't going to worry too much about the time it took (another blatant flaunting of a core tenet of Crossfit; geez, no wonder this place is a "rogue affiliate"). Then, when I got started, I decided that I would only count sets of ten, sort of similar to the "Fran will not be broken" WOD from a few days ago.

All was well and good, until I hit 40, and then I couldn't put together more than seven DUs in a row. I couldn't figure it out. It may have been the fact that I wasn't using my new speed rope, or some kind of a mental block or something else. But it took me several minutes and numerous attempts before I could get another set of 10.

Eventually I got my act together and managed to string together some sets of 10 and 20.

The effort expended probably wasn't enough to completely undo the damage I did to my body in Weyburn, but hopefully it mitigated it somewhat.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

"My Pet Rock"

Partner up and each person perform
3 rounds for time:
15 X Bear Complex -95lb/65lb
30 pull-ups
60 push-ups
400m run

The “pet rocks” are a pair of 45# plates for men, 25# plates for women. One partner holds the pets while the other does the exercise. You may switch when necessary, but they must not touch the ground. Pets hate to be left alone or worse yet dropped. If the “pets” are dropped or set down on the ground each partner must add 5 reps to the exercise they are doing.

Brief Rest

Partner Rutman Mile:
Pass the sandbag back and forth without touching the ground.

I originally did this WOD with Harlan like a year and a half ago and we only got through two rounds. It was awful, mostly due to the sheer volume of work and the requirement to hold those plates off the ground.

I've been wanting to erase the DNF off of my conscience for a long time, but the two or three times this WOD has come back up, I have not been able to go to CrossFit, much to Harlan's chagrin (although he did get paired with BrianB at least one of those times, so he actually traded up on the deal).

This time, I was able to make it, though Harlan couldn't come. Instead, I was in a trio with "The Yeast from the East" Kat and Leya. I basically did whatever Kat did at the same time as her, alternating work with Leya.

Due to a smarter way of holding the "pet rocks" off the ground (basically, squatting with the plates resting on our legs), this wasn't so bad this time. I mean, it was still absolutely awful, but it was something that we could deal with.

We were done the first part at 70:57

We rested a few minutes and headed out on the Rutman Mile. Because I didn't have a dude to partner with, I carried a 45lb sandbag the whole mile, rather than splitting the work on a 90lb sandbag. Kat and Leya split the work on their own. When we got back, the clock read 87:56

Overheard at the Gym

"That's enough Vagisil talk. It's making me itchy."
-a trainer we'll call "Sparrow" in order to protect her anonymity.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

"Fran Will Not Be Broken”

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:
10 Thrusters – 95/65lb – UNBROKEN
10 Pull-ups – UNBROKEN
*To a max of 10 rounds

If you get 8 for example, start over until you get 10 in a row.

Rest 5-10 minutes, then 1K Run for time.

When I first looked on the CrossFit Regina website saw this horrible variation of Fran from the twisted mind of Robin, my first reaction was to cancel my plans to go at lunch.

Then I remembered that being scared of a workout is not a valid excuse to skip it. Actually, I believe one of the unofficial tenets of CrossFit is that if the workout doesn't scare you, it's not hard enough.

So I went. My plan was to attack this workout at a reasonable pace and rest when necessary so I didn't have any broken sets, which would just demoralize me and waste energy. I figured five or six rounds was a reasonable goal.

As it turns out, my strategy worked better than expected and I exceeded my goal.

8 rounds + 7 thrusters.

I don't think I rested unnecessarily all that much, but I may have been able to squeeze a bit more out of myself on this one.

The 1k run totally sucked afterward. About halfway through, my calves were threatening a mutiny and I thought I might have to start walking. Then, on the home stretch down McDonald St. we were running against a strong wind and that was just brutal.

Time was 5:16, which is slower than my 1k average the last time I ran a 5k.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

"Gates of Fire 2"

For time:
50 Situps
50 Push-ups
25 Front Squats
25 Back Squats
25 Overhead Squats
25 Front Squats
50 Pull-ups
50 Situps

Rx'd weight for the squats for dudes is 65lbs.

Time was 14:40... unless I miscounted on the sit-ups, in which case I did it in 15:12. But I'm pretty sure it's 14:40. It's more than a two-minute improvement from the last time I did it, and that's probably the first WOD where I've seen tangible benefits from all the strength work I did.

Back in September, it sounds like I was slowed down a bit by the results of the previous day's workout. Today, I was actually wondering if I should even go, as my shoulder is a bit tender. In the end, I decided to go for it rather than gorge myself on the delicious Indian buffet at Spices of Punjab.

The good: Squats. Oh, and I did 15 pull-ups straight to get off to a good start for the set of 50. It was mostly sets of five after that.

The not-so-good:
Push-ups. But you already knew that.