Strength Skill:
- Pistols (2 sets of 5, 3 sets of 3)
I love practicing pistols (a.k.a. one-legged squats). This deceptively simple movement forces us to work simultaneously on a number of physical skills -- including balance, coordination and flexibility -- and the full-body-tightness/control required is considerable. The deep butt-cheek soreness notwithstanding, I always feel great after a few sets of pistols.
Sadly, my left leg's still much weaker than my right. Pistols highlight my strength imbalance like nothing else. Clutching a kettlebell as a counterweight helps, but I clearly need to spend more time squatting with my left leg.
Metcon:
- 5 minutes of overhead kettlebell swings (70/53)
- 4 minutes of pull-ups
- 3 minutes of barbell thrusters (45/35)
- 2 minutes of Abmat sit-ups
- 1 minute of push-ups
This WOD's the same as one that Bob, Jason and I did in March (except that when the three of us tested this out last time, we did 3 minutes of push-ups and 1 minute of thrusters instead). I used a 53-pound kettlebell that day, and my score was 238 total reps (77 swings + 53 pull-ups + 55 push-ups + 35 sit-ups + 18 thrusters).
Although I've recently been getting used to swinging a 70-pound kettlebell, I grabbed the 53-pounder today to see how I'd match up against my previous score.
So how'd I do today?
- Kettlebell swings: 94 reps
- Pull-ups: 54 reps
- Thrusters: 30 reps
- Abmat Sit-ups: 38 reps
- Push-ups: 22 reps
I was happy that I ripped out a lot more kettlebell swings than the last time around (though I'm now convinced that 53 pounds is no longer heavy enough), and that I beat my previous marks in pull-ups and Abmat sit-ups, too. But switching around the thrusters and pull-ups didn't agree with me. I struggled mightily with the thrusters, and had to set down the bar after every five reps. And the push-ups were pure agony. In the end, everything evened out; while I got better and faster with some movements, I totally disappointed myself on some others.
The glass-half-full part of me wants to call this consistency. The glass-half-empty part of me wants to call this a plateau. I'm not sure which half of my brain to believe.
