Scaled bad-assery

The warm up for this WOD involved doing rope climbs.  I have not done a rope climb successfully before but I figured a warm up was a great opportunity to give it a shot.  I managed to get myself halfway up a rope!  ...I don't know how it looked from the ground, but I am sticking with halfway.

5/2/12 WOD #44

• Warm up: 800 m run
                  2x: 7 strict pull ups
                        7 jumping lunges
                        7 burpees
                        7 HSPU (scaled)
                  1/2 rope climb
• WOD: AMRAP 12 minutes
             15 ft rope climb (scaled)
             15 push ups (girly)
             9 rounds + 1 rope climb + 7 push ups

Scaled rope climbs are lowering yourself down to the ground and back up to standing three times for every prescribed rope climb.  Normally this takes me a little bit of time, as I slowly lower myself down and come back up.  For some reason I started this workout with a sense of urgency- I wanted a lot of reps and a lot of rounds.  I move fast at push ups anyway (note to self: I should probably switch to non-girly push ups soon) and I just attacked the scaled rope climbs as fast as possible.  I felt like I was finally in beast mode!  It was sweet!

Manion

Manion was a marine killed by sniper fire in Iraq on April 29th, 2007.  He was 26. This workout was created in honor of him.

5/1/12 WOD #43: Manion

• Warm up: 800 m run
                  3 minute jump rope work (perfect!  This gave me a set time to just practice my double unders.  I didn't get any, but I feel like I am getting close.  The rope hits my toes on the second round so I either need to jump higher or spin faster.)
                  Bear crawl
                  Crab walk
• WOD: 7 rounds for time (30 minute cap)
             400 m run
             29 back squats (55#)
             3 rounds + 400 m run + 6 squats

My squats have a problem that is not common.  I am too flexible.  I drop down into my squats fast and hard and bottom out.  Then it is hard to come back up- I pull my knees in and tip slightly forward onto my toes in order to complete the movement. None of of this is good for my knees, or likely the rest of me either.  So thanks to two very good coaches I worked on my form.  

I think I made some improvement, but it is a lot to concentrate on all at once: elbows back, shoulders strong, butt out, don't bottom out, knees forced out, keep everything tight, chest up, don't collapse on the floor...you get the picture.  

The runs rather quickly became staggers after the first round.  Squatting with weight 29 times makes your legs all wibbly wobbly so I had some trouble forcing them into normal movement for a run.  I kept myself going on the run, honestly, by remembering that scene in Forrest Gump where he is carrying his entire injured platoon out of the jungle one by one.  Sorry guys, I just watched that movie the other day and it became my mental military reference for the work out.  Don't hate me.  And don't hate Tom Hanks- he is the nicest guy in Hollywood from what I hear.  And he loves his volleyball very much.

Nooners are fun!

Yup.  Dirty jokes abound in CrossFit.  Snatches, nooners, and yesterday we had a discussion about squat form that degenerated into poop references.  I promise we are, most of us, adults.  At least physically.

This particular workout was on my Thursday off so I took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in and hit the noon class instead of the 6 am.  I enjoy hanging out with a different group of people- each class has it's own personality and it is nice to mix it up.  This time I got in early enough that I got to watch one of my friends finish the workout- always dangerous because I got to see how hellish it looked before I even started.

4/26/12 WOD #42:

• Warm up: 800 m run
                  50 m: high knees
                           butt kickers
                           lateral shuffle
                           grapevines/carioca?
                           broad jump
                 10 pass throughs
                 10 OHS
• WOD: 3 rounds for time
             400 m run
             15 OHS (35#)
             30 weighted sit ups (25#)
             Time: 21:13
• OT: Max overhead hold 25#: 2:30

For the sit ups you grabbed an appropriate weight plate and held onto it while going through the sit up motion, bonking the weight against the ground both when your hands go back and when you sit back up.  And yes, they suck as much as you would think.  By the end I was having to do them in sets of 10 to get through them.  I was the final finisher in my class, BUT I actually beat the time of two of my friends in other classes that day, so I felt pretty good about that.  

I don't always do the overtime, but since it was my day off and peer pressure had everyone doing it, I sucked it up and held another 25# plate over my head.  My goal was to not drop first and I accomplished that goal.  I actually think I was the 4th or 5th to drop, and it was more because my arms were going numb either from lack of circulation or a grumpy nerve in my shoulder or something.  

Great burning thighs of fire

After Tabata hell my thighs were killing me.  Resting in squat position made my legs practically cramp up with death.  So imagine the joy in my soul when the workout two days later was all about lunges.  ...reading that back to myself makes me sound a little bitter.  But in truth, I love this stuff and my butt is going to look AWESOME because of it.

4/25/12 WOD #41:

• Warm up: 800 m run
                  10 mountain climbers
                  10 sit ups
                  10 good mornings (35# bar)
                  10 HSPU
                  10 ring pullups
• WOD: 100 overhead lunges (25# plate) for time.  Every time you drop the plate, complete 5 ring ball ups.
  Time: 8:16
• OT: 2 minutes of kipping ring pull ups -> none completed, but I tried!

I set myself a goal for this workout: I wanted to complete 25 lunges at a time before I let myself drop the weight.  I succeeded!   By the end of each set, my quads and glutes were burning like the fire of a thousand suns.  And my shoulders were not in a very happy place either.  I should also point out that I did not actually get a ball up, I mostly just pulled my knees up as far as I could.

Tabata hell

I fell a little bit in love with Tabatas when Jen came out to visit and I had my first Tabata.  I really liked the intervals and having an excuse to rest briefly.  This one may have ended my love affair...

Rather than rest during the 10 second breaks, instead we held an active position before going back to the workout.  This resulted in mild agony and less reps overall because I needed to shake out whatever body part was weeping with pain during the 20 seconds of work.

4/23/12 WOD #40: Tabata Hell

• Warm up: 800 m run
                  5 straight pull ups (2x)
                  5 turkish get ups (15# each arm)
                  5 HSPU (weight rack)
                  5 jumping squats
• WOD: Tabata Hell
             Squats (rest at bottom)- 53 reps
             Push ups (rest in plank)- 60 reps
             Thrusters (rest with bar overhead)- 35# for three reps, then 15# for the rest- 34 reps
             Sit ups (rest with legs 6-12" above floor)- 64 reps
             KB swings (rest without putting the KB down)- 15#- 61 reps
             Total reps: 272

Poop.  I was hoping to break 300.

I really need to rest less.

My amazing bruise.

Started in the shin, moved down the ankle to the foot. It's possible there is a secondary nidus as well because there is a spot just below the ankle that is tender as well. Go me.

Deck of Death

Saturday workouts tend to be interesting and crowded.  And often painful.  This was no different!

The Deck of Death was a team workout.  Each team got a full deck of cards and had to complete the entire deck for time.  Each suit represented a movement with the number on the card dictating the number of reps.  Every member of the team had to complete the allotted movements on the card before the next card could be flipped (which ended up giving our team penalty burpees because some of the guys were getting a little gung-ho about flipping while the slower teammates were still trying to finish the movements.  And yes, I was the slower teammate.  This resulted in a lot of yelling: "NO I STILL HAVE THREE BURPEES LEFT, STOP FLIPPING THE DAMN CARDS."  But anyway...).

4/21/12 WOD #39:

• Warm up: 800 m run
                  10 walking lunges
                  10 sit ups
                  10 push ups
• WOD: Deck of death
             Spades: squats
             Hearts: burpees
             Diamonds: push ups
             Clubs: sit ups
             Jokers: 400 m farmer's carry (35# then 20#) or fireman carry
             Face cards: 10 reps
             Ace: 11 reps
             Time: 46:42

Even though every movement had equal reps, this felt like never ending burpees.  We may have cheated the joker cards, actually.  Our team did 200 m of firemen carry (getting carried is not actually a picnic.  My sternum felt bruised from the shoulder digging into it.  On the plus side, after approximately 10,000 burpees, it was nice to be able to breathe for 200 m) then we each did the remaining 200 m with a farmer's carry.  I started with the 35# weight but that was awful and the weight kept digging into my wrists and I had to drop the dumb bells every 50 ft or so.  I switched to 20# weights for the second joker card and, while it was still hard, it didn't feel like I was dying.  

Do you want photo evidence?  For once, I have that!  

Squats.

Push ups (girly style)

I am not adjusting my pants, I am just adjusting the weight.

Trudging.

This was my rally face as I knew I was being photographed.  Rally face fail.  I still look awful.

This is my "praying dog position of please-no-more-burpees"

The Team!