Friday, February 11, 2011

Friday's Workout

Ten people in class this morning -- a 1000% increase in just eight months!

All of us took turns messing around with skin-the-cats on the Olympic rings and L-sits and pass-throughs on the parallettes, and then it was time to say Grace. Literally.



Metcon:
  • "Grace" - 30 clean & jerks for time.
The RX'ed weight for men is 135 pounds, but the last time I did this, I opted for the ladies' RX'ed weight of 95. Today, after some goading and peer pressure, I decided to go heavier -- by a whopping 10 pounds.

Yep, I'm a wimp. I finished Grace in 4:06 today -- more than a half-minute faster than the last go-round -- so in hindsight, I could (and should) have gone with at least 115 pounds.

Nonetheless, even with just 105 pounds on the bar, Grace is no walk in the park. After the first half-dozen cleans and jerks, I was no longer able to string 'em together, and resorted to dumping the weight from overhead rather than controlling the bar all the way down. (I'm sure the good folks at Planet Fitness would not be happy with me.) Grace may look simple on paper, but it's brutal.

On the plus side: Grace is also really, really fun. There's something incredibly primal and satisfying about picking something heavy off the ground, thrusting it over your head, and sending it crashing back down -- over and over again. (HULK SMASH!!!)


Besides, unlike a lot of other CrossFit WODs, it's over so quickly that you don't even have time to break a sweat.