Monday, November 14, 2011

Monday's Workout: Home Sweet Home


A week of vacation on Maui has left me well-fed, tanned, and happy, but there's nothing like coming home to sleep in my own bed, cook in my own kitchen, and work out with my fellow 5 a.m. nutjobs at CrossFit Palo Alto.

Strength Skill:
  • Kettlebell Snatches (5-5-5-8-8-8)
Today, my kettlebell snatches felt tight and controlled; I was able to punch out effectively and string the reps together without banging the weight down on my forearms. For me, the lack of bruises is a sign of progress. Pathetic, right?

Metcon:

4 rounds for time:
  • 10 power cleans (155lbs / 115lbs)
  • 20 ring rows
  • 30 running jump-ropes
The men's RXed weight was beyond my reach; I would've put myself in traction trying to clean 155 pounds forty times in a metcon -- even if my back was 100 percent. I went with the women's RXed weight instead, and found that it was plenty heavy. But it wasn't the cleans that killed me today.

Nor was it the stationary-running/jump-roping movement, though I have to admit that at the start of the workout, I was all left feet. For whatever reason (*ahem*lackofphysicalcoordination*ahem*), I couldn't get my legs to hop over the rope one at a time without tripping after every five or six jumps. It took until the third round for me to get into a decent rhythm, and it wasn't until the final round that I went unbroken. Still, I got through 'em fine, and they didn't take long.


Nope -- what really got me were the ring rows. We positioned the rings so that when our arms were extended, our backs were parallel to (and just an inch or so off) the ground; with most of our body mass directly under the rings, the struggle against gravity was no joke. The first round flew by, but each of my last three sets of ring rows were interrupted by long pauses, during which I lay on my back, stared at the ceiling, and wished I was still sunning myself on an island beach in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Result: 12:19