Wednesday's Workout

A couple of months ago, during a particularly pistol-intensive metcon, I chose to do all the single-leg squats with my right leg.

It wasn’t because my left leg was banged up (see, e.g., Chyna Cho in last year's Games). My decision was fueled instead by a fear that I’d fail to crank out unassisted pistols with my weaker left leg – and I really wanted to go RXed that day.

Stupid? Totally. And my right butt cheek still hasn’t forgiven me for that fiasco.

Today was my opportunity to make amends.

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Pistols (2 sets of 5, 3 sets of 3)

My left leg is still significantly weaker than my right. I can bust out pistols with my dominant (right) leg all day (well, not all day), but I'm still prone to collapsing to the floor when attempting the squats from my left side.

Thankfully, I find pistols to be infinitely easier when I'm clutching a kettlebell in my hands. Perhaps it's the counterbalancing weight that keeps me from toppling over, or maybe the kettlebell just reminds me to keep my core tight throughout the movement. Either way, it works, and that's all I care about.

Metcon:

3 rounds for time:

• 400-meter run
• 21 dumbbell push-presses (45/30)
• 12 pull-ups

After a couple of weeks on the road, the Terminator was back in class today. It was good to have him back to explode out of the gate and set an impossibly fast pace for the WOD.

The push-presses were the most challenging part of this workout -- I had to drop my pair of dumbbells more than a few times -- but overall, this one wasn't too bad. After weeks of rain, it felt great to run outside (no puddles!). And despite my achy hands, the pull-ups came smooth and fast today

Result: 12:20 -- a good forty seconds behind the Terminator. (I like to tell myself that it's more fun to chase him than to be chased by him. But I'm starting to suspect that I'm a liar.)