Bottoms Up

I'm still here.

This past week has passed me by. I've been meaning to post, I've been busy with the kids while Michelle was at the 2012 Weston A. Price Foundation Conference. Blogging is fun and all, but so is running around the house playing Batman versus Iron Man and singing Weird Al Yankovic tunes at the top of our lungs.

Anyway, here's the latest rundown on my gym activities.

Friday

Strength Skill:

• Bottoms Up Kettlebell Cleans (5-5-5-5-5-5, one set every 3 minutes)

The rest of the class continued working on barbell cleans, and I wish I could've joined 'em. I've been feeling sharp pangs of envy whenever I watch other people practice cleans. So I did my bottoms-up kettlebell cleans in the back of the gym, and tried my best not to watch my classmates heave their barbells around.

Metcon:

• "Jackie" - for time:
• Row 1,000 meters
• 50 thrusters (45lbs / 35lbs)
• 30 pull-ups

It's only been a few months since we last did "Jackie," though this time around, I wasn't able to do the thrusters with a barbell. Instead, to ease the pressure on my wrist, I did double kettlebell cleans and presses, which approximated -- but didn't equal -- the experience of thrusting the barbell overhead.

Jackie still wrecked me (per usual). But the first squat after getting off the erg is the hardest, and once I pushed through the KB cleans and presses, the pull-ups went fairly quickly.

Result: 8:22 -- significantly faster than my 9:51 from June, but I did it RXed that time.

Monday

Strength Skill:

• Back Squats (3-2-1-1-1-1)

I was happy to hit a new PR at 245 pounds -- though I suspect I had some left in the tank.

Metcon:

• 21 burpees
• 21 overhead kettlebell swings (32kg / 24kg)
• 21 Abmat sit-ups
• 15 burpees
• 15 overhead kettlebell swings (32kg / 24kg)
• 15 Abmat sit-ups
• 9 burpees
• 9 overhead kettlebell swings (32kg / 24kg)
• 9 Abmat sit-ups

Pretty straightforward stuff -- and a workout I didn't have to modify to accommodate my wrist injury! (Well, I did have to do the push-up portion of the burpees from my fists, but that doesn't really count, does it?)

The overhead kettlebell swings slowed me down a bit. Seventy pounds is half my bodyweight, and every time I swung that iron ball, it threatened to pull me off my feet.

On the plus side: No Abmat ass-crack rash!

7:49 RXed

Friday's Workout

For time, three rounds of "Barbara":

• 20 Pull-ups
• 30 Push-ups
• 40 Abmat Sit-ups
• 50 Squats

Between each round, rest precisely three minutes.

That doesn't sound too bad, right? After all, it's only three rounds -- not the full five. Plus, it's all bodyweight stuff -- my favorite.

I got off to a quick start, finishing all the movements unbroken in the first round. At the 3:15 mark, I paused to take my first three-minute break.

Weirdly enough, three minutes of rest felt like an eternity. Part of me wanted to just jump right back onto the pull-up bar and keep cranking, but instead, I paced around, feeling my energy sap away as the seconds ticked by.

By the time I started the second round, my momentum was slowing. Although I did my pull-ups, sit-ups and squats without stopping, my push-ups were...problematic. (In other words: SLOOOOOW.)

In the third round, after another three-minute pause between rounds, I was even more beat. Mentally, it was tough to get back to the pull-up bar and will myself to complete the third and final round. I did it, but once again, the push-ups were slow going. Although I was in the lead for most of the workout, the Terminator edged past me as I repeatedly paused for air during the last set of push-ups. I raced through the sit-ups and squats as speedily as possible, but the cyborg beat me by a few seconds. Argh.

Result: 19:13 as RXed (including 6 minutes of rest time).

Hoo, boy. I'm going to feel this tomorrow.

Monday's Workout

The pros of being back home after two and a half months of living in an extended-stay hotel due to a flood-damage:

• New floors that give our abode a "new house" smell!
• The joy of sleeping in our own bed and cooking in our own kitchen.
• The relief of being back home in time for our seven-year-old to recuperate from surgery.
• The fact that the WiFi connection is a bazillion times stronger here than in the hotel.
• Being reminded that bathroom towels aren't crispy like the ones at our hotel.
• No overpowering odor of powdered "eggs"in the morning, and no industrial cleaner smell in the hallways.
• No surly desk clerks!
• No de-magnetized hotel key cards that bar your entry to your room when you have two kids and three heavy bags of groceries with you.
• The dishwasher in my house actually works.

The cons of being back home:

• The sawdust.
• Having to devote two solid days moving everything -- clothing, electronics, kitchen supplies, food, books, etc. -- back into the house after it had all been thrown haphazardly into storage.
• The sudden realization that we are pack rats, and that we accumulated an embarrassingly vast amount of utterly useless crap over the past six years -- all of which needs to be donated or thrown away.
• Not remembering how to hook up the speakers to the receiver to the TV to the cable box to the wireless router to the phone jack to the whatever.
• Paranoia about scratching the new floor.
• No more daily housekeeping.
• No free breakfast in the morning. (Of course it was crap, but IT WAS STILL FREE.)
• Being so exhausted from moving that I can barely type, let alone remember yesterday morning's workout.

(See what I did there? Nice transition, right?)

Strength Skill:

• Pistols (5-5-3-3-3)

I was happy to see pistols in this cycle -- I need the practice. When I'm doing 'em with my right leg planted, I can crank out pistols like no tomorrow, but I've always had trouble with my left (weaker) leg. Like a lot of other folks, I need to clutch a counterweight (like a kettlebell) to keep my balance when doing pistols from my left left. I suspect it's an ankle mobility issue for me, and it didn't help that I had -- and still have -- a left Achilles tendon that's been bothering me for a couple of weeks. That said, after massaging it with a lacrosse ball, I felt good enough to push through the sets.

Here's how I know I did 'em right: My butt cheeks are sore.

Metcon:

For time:

• 400-meter run with a medicine ball (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 45 medicine ball sit-ups (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 45 medicine ball overhead squats(20lbs / 14lbs)
• 400-meter run
• 45 Abmat sit-ups
• 45 PVC pipe overhead squats

The most challenging movement? Hands down, the med ball OHS. With your hands on either side of the ball, your shoulders and arms are in a much narrower position than with a barbell OHS, and you're pressing in on the ball instead of punching up on a bar. It's crazy-awkward, and I kept having to fight the tendency to bend my arms and let the medicine ball rebound off the top of my head.

The Terminator and I kept pace with one another until the very end. Although I started the final movement (PVC OHS) before him, he turned on the afterburners and zoomed ahead right at the end of the workout. He beat me by one measly second.

Dammit.

Result: 11:22 as RXed.

Wednesday's Workout

A good day at the gym.

Strength Skill:

• Front Squats (3-3-3-1-1)

For the life of me, I couldn't remember my max front squat. It wasn't until after I was done with my sets that I found my previous PR: 205 pounds. Today, I failed to squat even 185. Not good. It goes without saying, but I need to squat more.

Thankfully, the second half of this morning's class went a little better.

Metcon:

"Annie" - for time:

• 50 double-unders
• 50 Abmat sit-ups
• 40 double-unders
• 40 Abmat sit-ups
• 30 double-unders
• 30 Abmat sit-ups
• 20 double-unders
• 20 Abmat sit-ups
• 10 double-unders
• 10 Abmat sit-ups

What's not to like about Annie -- especially given what a kick-ass athlete her namesake is?

My previous Annie times have ranged from 9:11 (October 10, 2011) to 12:30 (March 14, 2011), and the last time I did this workout, I took 10:20 to finish. I was determined to match or beat my previous time -- I didn't want to lose more ground today.

At the very beginning of the first round, I landed awkwardly on my left ankle and felt a twinge in my Achilles tendon. But aside from that (and a couple of rope snags), the double-unders gave me no trouble today. The sit-ups were another matter; I'm used to flying through them, but this morning, I felt unusually heavy and sluggish as I struggled to finish each set.

Despite my crappy sit-ups, I somehow managed to set a new PR on Annie today: 8:25 as RXed. I'm happy with my progress, though I suppose I should work on my sit-ups some more.

In fact, I'm eyeing my Abmat right now.

Friday's Workout

Back to the 5 a.m. class!

Strength Skill:

• Turkish Get-Ups (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

My left shoulder wasn't feeling it today; for the first time in a while, I had trouble keeping my arm locked out even while using a fairly light weight (16 kg). I think I need to drag my kettlebells to our hotel room (yes, we're still living in a hotel while our floors at home are getting ripped out) and practice, practice, practice. All of the rest of my garage gym equipment is buried underneath mountains of furniture and boxes at the moment, but my kettlebells are still accessible.

What my home gym looked like:

What my home gym now looks like:

Plus, a number of great fitness minds agree: Turkish Get-Ups (and other kettlebell movements) are among the best exercises you can do.

Metcon:

3 rounds for time:

• Run 400 meters
• 20 kettlebell snatches (10 with each arm, 24kg / 16kg)
• 20 Abmat sit-ups

The sit-ups weren't a problem for me, but I felt like I was running in super-slow-motion today. And the kettlebell snatches were rough -- especially when I was using my left arm.

I know I say this a lot, but I need to get stronger.

Result: 11:29 as RXed.

Friday's Workout

Gah -- 115-pound push-presses are on the menu for the Open WOD 12.3 at CrossFit Palo Alto tomorrow, along with a crapload of box jumps and toes-to-bar. That's a purdy heavy weight for me. I have a feeling that those eighteen minutes are going to be a punch in the face.

Good thing we had a chance to practice today.

Strength Skill:

• Push-Presses (5-5-3-3-3)

I paired up with the Terminator, who has a bum shoulder, and therefore at less than full cyborg strength. We did the presses from a rack, and finished with 115 pounds on our final set. Tomorrow, we have to do 'em from the floor. Twelve at a time. Between box jumps and toes-to-bar. For eighteen minutes straight.

Again: Gah. Guess who's going to be doing some jerks tomorrow?

Metcon:

At least we had a nice barn-burner of a metcon today.

2 rounds for time:

• 40 double-unders
• 30 kettlebell transfers (24kg / 16kg)
• 20 Abmat sit-ups
• 10 ring rows

I tripped up a few times with the jump rope, but otherwise, this one blazed by.

Result: 5:04 as RXed.

Wednesday's Workout: Shoot Me Now

Pistols and Annie -- a lethal combination.

Strength Skill:

• Pistols (5-5-3-3-1)

Still working on my left leg. I think I'm going to start from scratch, and try to move through all the progressions from my left side until it can do everything my right can do.

Metcon:

"Annie" - for time:

• 50 double-unders
• 50 Abmat sit-ups
• 40 double-unders
• 40 Abmat sit-ups
• 30 double-unders
• 30 Abmat sit-ups
• 20 double-unders
• 20 Abmat sit-ups
• 10 double-unders
• 10 Abmat sit-ups

Just a few months ago, I finished Annie in 9:11, and it felt great. Today? Not so much.

I wish I could blame my crappy performance on my jump rope. Before the WOD began, I pulled my Buddy Lee rope out of my gym bag and saw a big crack in the middle of the plastic cable. M's Buddy Lee rope snapped in two last week, and it looked like mine was about to do the same. I quickly wrapped some athletic tape around it and got in position for the start of the workout, but realized that my rope wouldn't unwind. It was coiled around like a curly fry.

To be perfectly honest, though, my jump rope wasn't the problem. I know this because my first, third, and final sets of double-unders went entirely smoothly. With the exception of a hitch in my step early in my first set, I went unbroken on all of those rounds.

So ultimately, the rope wasn't to blame for my frustratingly awful second and fourth sets of double-unders. For whatever reason (mental? physical?), I couldn't rip out more than a few at a time, and kept snagging my right foot on the rope. The more I tripped, the more flustered I got, and the more flustered I got, the more I tripped.

Result: 10:20 as RXed. Yup -- I lost over a minute on my Annie time.

Ugh.

Friday's Workout

There’s something to be said about doing a hundred medicine ball cleans. And that something is: “Ouch.”

I’m getting ahead of myself.

Strength Skill:

• Handstand Pushups (5-5-5-5-5)

I love these. That is all.

Metcon:

AMRAP in 10 minutes;

• 20 medicine ball cleans (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 20 Abmat sit-ups

This looked easy. It wasn’t.

I felt great through the first couple of rounds -- but by the time I was midway through the third round, my quads were on fire. The lactic acid was searing my thighs from the inside out. Keeping my legs bent through 20 sit-ups was impossible -- I had to kick them out a few times to relieve the burn.

I felt like this guy:

Mark and I did the WOD next to each other, and we fought to a draw through the first four rounds. He whipped through the cleans, and I sped through the sit-ups. We took breaks at the same times, and when I saw him reach down and pick up his med ball, I knew it was time to pick mine up as well.

My plan was to try to sprint past him in the final round, but I ran out of gas, and Mark somehow managed to pick up speed and smoke me by 8 reps. He’s a beast, ladies and gentlemen.

Result: 5 rounds + 2 reps as RXed.

After the workout, Tim asked, “how was it?”

My response: “That felt just like a 2K row.” And I hate 2K rows.

Wednesday's Workout

It was freezing at 5 a.m. -- at least by Northern Californian standards -- but it didn't take long for us to get warm.

AMRAP in 20 minutes:

• 15 pull-ups
• 20 kettlebell walking lunges (24kg / 16kg)
• 25 Abmat sit-ups
• 200-meter row

Before we started, I was convinced the row would be my undoing. Although 200 meters ain't much, I harbor an almost irrational hatred for the erg, and figured the rowing would destroy my legs and leave me gasping for breath. 

Wrong. The kettlebell walking lunges -- something I dismissed as a cakewalk -- was what made my thighs feel like they were going to explode.

We were instructed to carry the kettlebell in whatever position we wanted, so I tried a one-handed farmer's walk grip and a goblet grip, but neither felt comfortable, and I felt off-balance the whole time. Next time, I'm going to experiment with hoisting it on my shoulder. And if all else fails, I'm sticking the damned thing in a backpack and wearing it.

Still, this WOD flew by. I love Abmat sit-ups (especially when my ass crack doesn't split open and bleed). And despite my less-than-fresh grip, I got through the pull-ups quickly enough. (They weren't very pretty, though. Afterwards, Tim coached me to try keeping a level gaze next time to keep from giving myself whiplash.) I treated the rowing as "active rest," so it was surprisingly bearable.

Result: 5 rounds + 7 reps as RXed.

At the end of the 20 minutes, I was on the floor, rolling around and feeling my heart try to pound its way out of my chest.

It felt great.

Friday's Workout: Time After Time

Last November, the morning after returning from our annual sojourn to Maui, we were treated to time trials at CrossFit Palo Alto.

This November, we're revisiting time trials right before my vacation. I think I prefer it this way; instead of ending a nice, relaxing beach holiday with a butt-kicker of a workout, I'm starting it with one.

With time trials, the name of the game is to go all-out in each of six different exercises -- with a few minutes of rest in-between -- in order to establish benchmark times. On the menu:

• 400 meter run
• 500 meter row
• 50 pull-ups
• 50 push-ups
• 50 Abmat sit-ups
• 50 air squats

Last time, I did 'em in order, which meant I was so gassed from the running and rowing that I could barely muster the energy to do the rest of the bodyweight movements. Today, I decided to tackle the squats, pull-ups and push-ups first. Given that I'm not yet 100 percent, I certainly didn't want to start with a heart-pounding sprint and row, only to struggle through my beloved bodyweight exercises.

My strategy worked -- sort of. Relative to a year ago, I did better on my squats, pull-ups, and Abmat sit-ups, and my overall time improved. I was happiest about shaving my pull-up time in half. (It obviously helped that I didn't try to do 'em right after rowing.)

On the flip side, my running was a lot slower this time around, which wasn't a total surprise. To begin with, I'm kind of a terrible runner. But I also made a conscious decision to hold back juuuuust in case a sprint might exacerbate my back and/or ankle issues. I lost 13 seconds.

Next time, I'm going to do the run before the push-ups; that way, my arms'll have more time to recover from the pull-ups, and I might have more pep to my step during my 400-meter dash. (That's what M did today. Smart girl.)

Results:

• 50 air squats: 0:46 (versus 0:52 in November of 2010)
• 50 pull-ups: 1:43 (versus 3:25)
• 50 push-ups: 1:08 (versus 1:02)
• 400 meter run: 1:38 (versus 1:25)
• 50 Abmat sit-ups: 1:05 (versus 1:16)
• 500 meter row: 1:49.5 (versus 1:47.2)

Total: 8:09.5 as RXed (versus 9:47.2 as RXed last November).

I improved by a minute-and-a-half overall, but the best measure of progress? I felt fine afterwards.

Monday's Workout: Annie

Despite not getting enough sleep last night (as usual), it’s been weeks since I last walked into the gym feeling as good as I did this morning. As much as I hated missing class (and Nicole!) on Friday, taking a breather was just what I needed to recharge my batteries.

Strength Skill:

• Turkish Get-Ups (1-2-3 on each side)

It’s been a year since we last practiced kettlebell TGUs in class, and I have to admit that this movement’s more challenging than I remembered. I stuck with a light weight today (1 pood), and focused on re-familiarizing myself with the proper form. For the most part, I did fine -- but I do need to work on resisting the impulse to plant my hand behind me when I’m on my way back down to the floor.

Metcon:

“Annie” - for time:

• 50 double-unders
• 50 Abmat sit-ups
• 40 double-unders
• 40 Abmat sit-ups
• 30 double-unders
• 30 Abmat sit-ups
• 20 double-unders
• 20 Abmat sit-ups
• 10 double-unders
• 10 Abmat sit-ups

For once, I was excited to see a double-under workout on the whiteboard. It’s been over a month since I was last able to crank out a double-under WOD, and I’ve been antsy to get back on the horse. And while we’d done Annie in class a couple of times before, this was my first opportunity to try it again after watching the WOD’s namesake, Annie Sakamoto, kick some ass at this year’s NorCal Regionals and the CrossFit Games. My previous Annie time was 12:12, and I knew I could do better.

Ironically, my nagging ankle issues ended up improving my double-under form. Normally, I tend to jump high and stomp down forcefully during double-unders, needlessly expending exhausting myself in my efforts to clear the rope. But with a tender left ankle that can’t sustain hard impacts, I was forced to keep my jumps small and controlled. Using less energy meant that I could settle into a more consistent rhythm, and I was able to get through the rope-jumping fairly quickly (for me, anyway).

Visualization also helped. In my mind, I replayed videos of CrossFit Games athletes doing double-unders with their feet barely leaving the ground. And thirty feet in front of me at the gym, I could also see Kyle -- our resident double-under fiend -- lightly bouncing up and down as his rope whipped around him. I did my best to keep up with him, and though I didn't succeed, I PR'ed by three minutes. Not a bad way to start the week!

Result: 9:11 as RXed.

I Want to Do This One

In the words of my three-year-old, this one looks "goo-OOD!"

• Walking lunge 100 ft.
• 21 Pull-ups
• 21 Sit-ups
• Walking lunge 100 ft.
• 18 Pull-ups
• 18 Sit-ups
• Walking lunge 100 ft.
• 15 Pull-ups
• 15 Sit-ups
• Walking lunge 100 ft.
• 12 Pull-ups
• 12 Sit-ups
• Walking lunge 100 ft.
• 9 Pull-ups
• 9 Sit-ups
• Walking Lunge 100 ft.
• 6 Pull-ups
• 6 Sit-ups

Spealler finished in just 6:42, but the dog looks unimpressed.

Monday's Workout: Mr. Magoo

Loved this morning's workout for three reasons:

• My ankle continues to improve (I was able to run on it today -- kind of!);
• I got to work on squat cleans; and
• Today's metcon was bodyweight-focused -- my favorite!

But in part due to my exuberance, and in part due to the fact that in my rush to get out of the house, I forgot to put in my contact lenses, I screwed up the workout anyway.

More after the jump...

Monday's Workout

Is there anything better than an early morning workout?

No, there is not. The fact that thirteen of us arrived before dawn at CrossFit Palo Alto to get our butts handed to us is a testament to how much we love this stuff.

Strength Skill:

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

Kyle and I paired up this morning, and we methodically moved from squatting light (65lbs) to moderate (105lbs) weight on the bar, taking care to focus on our technique above all else. It's amazing how difficult it is to overhead squat even a fraction of what we typically load onto a barbell. To hit my goal of cranking out a full bodyweight overhead squat by the end of this three-week strength cycle, I'm going to have to work at it.



The beauty of properly-executed overhead squat? It's a crazy-good full-body move that demands strength, balance, flexibility, and keen attention to form. The lack of any one ingredient will result in a missed rep and a dumped bar. It's virtually impossible to compensate for bad form; change the angle of your arms by a couple of degrees, and the weight's coming down. I love that there's no way to cheat this move.

Metcon:

Three rounds for time:

• 20 flag push-ups
• 25 Abmat sit-ups
• 30 kettlebell transfer swings (24kg / 16kg)

This one was awesome. But then again, I love all bodyweight workouts -- they're right up my alley.

What made this one even more enjoyable was that the Terminator and I were neck-and-neck the entire way through, just like old times. The guy is unstoppable: He never once even paused during the WOD. I took a knee twice during the last round of flag push-ups to catch my breath, but luckily, I was able to make up time by going balls-out through the Abmat sit-ups. In the end, I edged him out, but only by a few seconds.

By the way, I used the Danimal 24kg kettlebell. It's pretty fantastic, but would be even better if it sported the patented Danimal moustache and possibly some old-timey striped shorts.

Result: 7:39 as RXed.

Wednesday's Workout: 5-4-3-2-1

After missing Monday's class, it was good to get back in the gym this morning.

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

Total up all the reps to arrive at the final score.

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

Total score: 238. In other words, I got the EXACT SAME SCORE.

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.

Friday's Workout: Ow.

I woke up with a sore and twitchy lower back. It feels like some sort of impingement on the left side of my tailbone, starting near the top of my butt cheek and radiating down the back of my thigh. At the gym, I did my best to stretch and roll it out, but to no avail. At the bottom of each warm-up squat, I felt a twinge radiating from the general direction of my upper butt. (Sorry -- I’d be more anatomically precise if I was more edumacated.)

Possible culprits:

• The large volume of lifts from Monday’s and Wednesday’s WODs;
• My awkwardly clomping jumps during nightly double-under practice with M;
• The fact that I was sitting awkwardly in work meetings and in my car all day yesterday. (With traffic, it took me one hour and twenty-five minutes to drive home last night. Fun!)

Thankfully, the strength portion of today’s workout didn’t involve heavy loads.

More after the jump...

Wednesday's Workout: Highs & Lows

Today's morning workout started off great, but ended on a frustrating note.

Strength Skill:

• Front Squats (3 sets of 3, 2 sets of 1)

My front squats felt GREAT today, especially after Tim suggested that I move my feet closer together for more stability. It helped me stay tight, and I reached a new PR (205lbs -- about 1.5X my bodyweight). I think I have more in the tank -- let's see if I can go even heavier next week.

Metcon:

"Annie":

50-40-30-20-10 of

• Double Unders
• Abmat Sit-Ups

The last time we did "Annie," my time was 12:30; at the time, I hadn't yet figured out how to string together more than a couple of double-unders at a time. But since then, I've managed to whip through plenty of unbroken double-unders in WODs, so I figured I'd absolutely murder my previous time. Before class today, I warmed up with some double-unders, and had no problems cranking out a dozen or more at a time. They felt fine. My goal was to go sub-10 minutes on Annie.

Didn't happen. At all.

My first round of double-unders were an unmitigated disaster. For whatever reason, I couldn't bust out more than 3 or 4 reps before getting myself tangled in the rope. And the harder I tried to force it, the more frustrated I got -- and the harder it was to get into any kind of rhythm. As my impatience took over, my suckage got even suckier. Getting through my first set of double-unders took FOREVER.

The sit-ups were fine. But then it was back to more double-unders. And my second round with the jump rope -- while slightly better than the first -- wasn't exactly pretty, either.

Thankfully, I made up some time during the third round. Maybe it's because I finally settled into a groove, or perhaps I was looser 'cause I was tired, but I got through the third set of double-unders pretty much unbroken. But it was too little, too late.

Result: 12:12 as RXed. Better than last time, but not good enough. My goal is to one day finish Annie within spitting distance of Kyle, who killed this workout in 8:23 this morning. Sick, right?

Monday's Workout: Sort-Of Heavy Thrusters

Lately, I've waking up earlier and earlier. This morning, my eyes popped open a few minutes before 4 a.m. I knew there was no chance I'd fall back asleep before the alarm went off at 4:20, so I got up and sent out a bunch of work-related emails. I'm sure my colleagues think I'm insane.

They may be right.

Strength Skill:

• Heavy Thrusters (3 sets of 3, 2 sets of 1)

I was inspired after watching Danny Nichols of TJ's Gym crush the thruster ladder WOD this past weekend at NorCal Regionals. The guy made heavy thrusters look like child's play, and ultimately set a world record by squat-cleaning 325 pounds before thrusting it overhead. 

But of course, inspiration is one thing, and ability is another. Here's the sad truth of the matter: The RXed weights for last weekend's thruster ladder workout starts at 155 pounds, and goes up by 10-pound increments thereafter. Today, my final rep was 145 pounds. And it was a PR.

Am I happy that I was able to do a thruster that exceeded my bodyweight? Yes. Am I satisfied? No. Looks like I have more homework to do.

Metcon:

I loved this one. L-O-V-E-D. Loved.

AMRAP in 10 minutes:

• 10 ring push-ups
• 15 Abmat sit-ups
• 5 30-inch box jumps

As you know, I'm a big fan of bodyweight workouts, so this was right up my alley.

This was the first time I'd encountered ring push-ups at CrossFit Palo Alto, but there's nothing too complicated about 'em: Just lower a set of Olympic rings to just-above floor-level, and do push-ups while holding onto the rings. In some ways, I found them to be slightly easier than regular push-ups because I could shift my hands to the most advantageous pressing position during the movement. Still, by the end of the ten minutes, I wasn't able to string together more than five in a row without taking a breather.

The Abmat sit-ups took some time, but went fine -- I focused on getting full extension with each rep, and most importantly, I didn't give myself an ass crack rash.

And the box jumps? They were fun, then frustrating, and then fun again. Thirty inches is higher than I'm accustomed to jumping, but in the first few rounds, I mustered enough energy to hop up and down continuously and get a decent extension while popping straight up off the top of the box. To maximize my reps, I was hoping to keep jumping without stopping and stepping off. As the WOD progressed, however, I got tired and sloppy, and failed to get full hip extensions at the top. "NO REP!" Tim kept calling out. "NO REP!"

He called it out four times before I got the message. I re-did the reps, forcing myself to pause at the top of each jump. I'd tuck-jump onto the box and land in a low squat position, stand up, and then step off the box -- and discovered that it was a hell of a lot easier than trying to go unbroken. Why didn't I do this from the start?

(Answer: I'm a dummy.)

Result: 7 rounds + 23 reps as RXed.

Friday's Workout

As part of our warm-up, the 5 a.m. class took a slow 400-meter jog while Tim wrote the workout on the whiteboard. When we got back to the gym, he was still writing. Even when the pen started running out of ink, he kept going.

Uh, oh. Not a good sign.

The gory details, after the jump...

Friday's Workout

Where was everyone today?

Jason, Bob and I were the only 5 a.m. nutjobs to straggle into the gym this morning. Back at the flower shop, we would’ve been jockeying for space, but today, the box seemed cavernous – especially in the pre-dawn darkness.

But we didn’t let it stop us from having our early-morning fun:

Max reps:

• 5 minutes of overhead kettlebell swings (70/53)
• 4 minutes of pull-ups
• 3 minutes of push-ups
• 2 minutes of Abmat sit-ups
• 1 minute of barbell thrusters (45/35)

I can’t tell you how much I wanted to do the kettlebell swings with the RXed weight. But 70 pounds is fully half my bodyweight. After a quickly-aborted warm up with the 70-pound kettlebell (I struggled to heave it up over my head even once), I sighed in defeat and picked up the 53-pounder.

I made it through the first three dozen reps of overhead swings unbroken, but then had to chunk out the rest. Still, in retrospect, I could (and should) have gone with the new 62-pound KB. It would have been murder, but then again, it’s Friday – I have two days to recover. And I would’ve been closer to my goal of one day heaving the 70-pounder in a WOD.

The pull-ups went fine, despite the fact that I took a couple of long chalk breaks. (It’s a decent excuse; after all, four minutes of sweaty-handed pull-ups can start rubbing anyone the wrong way.)

Sadly, the push-ups didn’t go as smoothly today. It wasn't a surprise, though: My chest and shoulders have been wrecked since Wednesday’s HSPU/ring dip/push-up grinder. The silver lining? It was only three minutes, and then I got to lie down. (And do sit-ups.)

The thruster set at the end of the WOD was too short. By the time I picked myself off the floor, stumbled over to the bar and cleaned it up to my shoulders, there was less than 50 seconds left on the clock. And just as I started to get in the groove, time ran out.

Result: 77 swings + 53 pull-ups + 55 push-ups + 35 sit-ups + 18 thrusters = 238 total reps.

Our 5 a.m. class has long served as the guinea pigs for the other M/W/F classes at our box. (Ah, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune...) After collecting our feedback, Tim made a slight adjustment to the workout, swapping the order of the pull-ups and thrusters. So if you’re working out at CrossFit Palo Alto today and prefer thrusters to push-ups, I’ll gladly take credit for the change. But if you’re a push-up monster and wish I’d kept my big mouth shut, feel free to blame Tim.