In which I can do nothing Rx

Many WODs are a happy combination of movements I am competent in and movements that I need to scale because I am still learning.  This WOD was not one of those.

3/26/12 WOD #30:

• Warmup: 500 m row
                 3x: 7 pass throughs
                       7 OHS
                       7 Strict pull ups
                       7 HSPU
                       7 Squat jumps
• WOD: For reps, 3 min each of:
                            Max rope climb (scaled this): 4 (+ 2 into climb 5)
                            Max distance HS walks: 4 feet
                            Max back squat (scaled to 65#): 25
                            Max wall climbs: 4 attempts
                            Max DU (I did singles): 140 singles = 46 doubles
                           ~84 total reps

Let's break these down.  

Rope climb: To scale a rope climb you lower yourself down to the floor and back up 3 times for each rope climb.  Your hands still hurt by the end of it and you stand a good chance of getting rope sheddings in your eyeballs if you don't keep your eyes shut as you lower down.  

HS Walk:  I actually don't suck utterly at these.  I can get my feet into the air and pause for a beat before coming back down, and occasionally I can get a step or two in there.  Now, that isn't very impressive, just not awful :)  But I have confidence that it will get better.

Back Squat: I attempted the non-scaled version of this with a higher weight and we rather quickly determined that I haven't really done back squats before and needed to work on my form before challenging myself with heavy weights.  The hardest part for me is getting that sweet spot in my squat where I have broken the horizontal plane with my quads but I am not yet literally ass-to-ankles and can't propel myself back up.

Wall Climbs: deceptively easy when watching Lori demonstrate them, diabolically difficult when attempting them yourself.  The movement here is starting in push up position flat on the ground with your feet against the wall.  Then you walk yourself all the way up the wall so that your belly is flat against the wall at the top, then walk yourself back down.  I kept slipping and sliding my feet up the wall till I was forming a weak triangle with the floor (I'm a hypotenuse!)  and then falling down.  There was a lot of swearing involved.

Double unders: we've talked a lot about these before.  My basic single jumps are improving although I am starting to be limited not by my rope handling (aka getting hit in the head or tripping on the rope and needing to start back up), but by my calves which are starting to cramp up as I do more and more jumps in a row.

Overall: It is good to be challenged by every aspect of the WOD. Not to say that other WODs are NOT a challenge (on the contrary, every single time I go to the box I get my ass kicked and love every second), but that this was more of a technique challenge and a slap in the face telling me I need to get some more techniques under my belt if I want to continue to improve.