Wednesday's Workout

The temperature was 32° F when our 5 a.m. class arrived, shivering. "Balmy!" our coach exclaimed as we shuffled into the unheated gym. He's obviously insane.

Strength Skill:

• Zercher Squats (2 sets of 5, 3 sets of 3)

Remember these? They're fun, but not easy. I'm familiar with the movement now, and can handily Z-squat significantly more than my own bodyweight (which I've kept at just under 140 pounds), but today, I maxed out with 175 pounds on the barbell -- 25 less than I managed less than 3 months ago.

I'm going to blame it on the cold weather.

Metcon:

AMRAP in 12 minutes:

• 6 barbell cleans (95 pounds -- RX'ed is 115, but I wasn't feeling it today)
• 12 pull-ups
• 24 double-unders

Result: In 12 minutes, I made it through 4 rounds plus an additional 6 cleans and 2 pull-ups.

The pull-ups were easy (despite the cold, cold bars) and the cleans went fine. But the double-unders were a major pain in the ass.

Double-unders aren't new to me, and I can usually fly through a dozen or so before getting tripped up. The first round of today's WOD was no different; I think I cranked out 12 in a row, paused, and then finished with another string of 12. Even my second round wasn't horrible, though I was definitely slowing. But by the time I got to the third round of double-unders, I was completely smoked. I had trouble getting through even two or three double-unders in a row without getting tangled in the jumprope, and my arms were like noodles.



Oddly enough, I recovered on my fourth round and managed to string a bunch of 'em together again: 12 in a row, 8 in a row, 4 in a row.

The weird thing? My legs weren't gassed from the double-unders. My arms were.

"For those people who can't do double-unders," our coach said, "they don't understand how taxing the movement is for your wrists and forearms as you whip the rope around. Do double-unders in a WOD with pull-ups, and your arms are going to be nice and toasty."

Well, I certainly wasn't still cold by the end of the workout.

(Photo: Jon Tunnell)