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.

Wednesday's Workout

Unlike this year, I watched last year’s CrossFit Games from my couch. I’d just started CrossFitting the month before, and I found the online streaming video coverage mesmerizing. All the competitors were amazing, but one athlete in particular, Chris Spealler, made my jaw drop. Spealler and I have one thing in common: We both weigh140 pounds. But he’s also an extraordinarily strong and skilled firebreather, which makes him pretty much the opposite of me.

Of all the crazy-challenging programming at last year’s Games -- ring handstand push-ups, anyone? -- the one that lodged itself in my head was Event 3:

As many rounds as possible in 7 minutes of:

• 7 deadlifts (315lbs / 205lbs)

• 20-meter run
• 
14 pistols
• 
21 double-unders

• 20-meter run

To me, the competition looked absolutely brutal -- and not just because I was baffled at how anyone could crank out pistols and double-unders with such ease. Here's the thing: Spealler deadlifted more than double his bodyweight, and he did it 42 TIMES in 7 minutes. And the winners of the event, Austin Malleolo and Rich Froning, almost managed to complete 6 full rounds of this workout.



When I saw this WOD, I knew it was just a matter of time before it appeared on the whiteboard at CrossFit Palo Alto. And one year later, it did.

More after the jump...

Happy Anniversary to Me

One year ago today, I attended my very first CrossFit class.

At the time, I’d just completed a few rounds of the P90X and Insanity home fitness programs, and had managed to build up a passable level of metabolic conditioning. After months of bodyweight resistance exercises and jumping around crazily in my garage, I signed up for 5 a.m. classes at CrossFit Palo Alto expecting that the programming would be challenging, but nothing I couldn’t handle with a little extra effort.

It didn’t take me long to realize that "a little extra effort" wasn't even close to being enough. This shit was hard, and I was just plain awful at it. My initial attempts at Olympic lifting were laughably inept, and I couldn’t jump rope to save my life. I had no trouble with dead-hang pull-ups, but when I tried to kip, it looked like I’d grabbed onto an electric fence.

I SUCKED AT EVERYTHING.

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but each night before a workout, I'd crawl into bed with a pit in my stomach, scared of what evil plan Tim had in store for the morning WOD, and wondering how badly I'd perform. Once, Tim announced an upcoming workout on Facebook; I was so freaked out I couldn’t fall asleep.

But I never once thought about quitting, or even skipping a class. I was hooked on CrossFit – especially after watching last year’s Games and seeing someone my size kick ass at all the things I wanted to be able to do. I wanted to get better at CrossFit, and given my utter lack of athleticism (I’m a total nerd, yo), I knew that I wouldn’t improve unless I kept working at it.

So I did my homework. I peppered Tim with questions about O-lifting technique and studied his CrossFit "Fundamental Movements" instructional DVD (still the only one of its kind!) in an attempt to skill up. I bought myself a jump rope and made myself some parallettes -- and used 'em. I eventually amassed a nice collection of toys in my garage -- all so I could doggedly practice the same skills that XFitMama -- at that time, the only other member of our mighty 5 a.m. class -- was so easily cranking out.

Some skills took longer than others to learn, but every time a new movement clicked into place, I was over the moon. I remember the satisfying THUNK! of my heels against the floor the first time I properly power-cleaned a barbell. And I can recall exactly how it felt to complete my first successful kipping pull-up, muscle-up, handstand push-up and double-under. Each time, my excitement didn’t die down for days. Even with setbacks along the way – a failed PR attempt here, a less-than-fantastic Fight Gone Bad score there – I was gaining experience and confidence. And slowly, over the course of a year, I gradually got less terrible at CrossFit.

One year from now, if I’m still blogging away (and wouldn't that be pathetic?), I hope to be able to report that I continued to get better, stronger, faster. I’ll never truly be good at CrossFit -- but that’s the beauty of it: It'll never get easy or old. Unlike P90X or Insanity, I don’t have to pack it up (or repeat everything) after a few months. There’ll always be a new and difficult challenge to tackle.

And let's be honest: With me, there’ll always be plenty of room for improvement.

Monday's Workout

For the first time in over a week, I woke up feeling halfway decent. My throat is still scratchy and I'm not yet 100 percent, but my energy levels are good, and I'm not dripping mucous all over the place. No reason not to hit the gym.

Strength Skill:

• Snatches (2 sets of 3, 3 sets of 1)

I'm finally putting some decent weight on the bar, but my form is subpar. I keep having to remind myself to be aggressive with this lift, and to get under the bar quickly. Of the Olympic lifts I've practiced, this is clearly the one that needs the most work (along with overhead squats).

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

Chris Spealler can do Annie in four and half minutes. Sadly, I can't.

My double-unders are the rate-limiting step. I'm still adding single-unders between each double-under, which: (1) slows me down significantly (it's essentially doubling the number of jumps I have to do), and (2) exhausts me.

I found the sit-ups to be more challenging than usual today. I'm not sure if it was because the double-unders (and single-unders) had winded me, or if it was because I kept coughing up a lung. Either way, my abs hurt. And my butt, too. I hope I didn't give myself an Abmat ass-crack rash.

Result: 12:30 as RXed. My gut tells me I can reduce this by a good chunk of time once I figure out how to eliminate all the unnecessary single-unders from my double-under sets. Okay -- new goal: String together 10 double-unders without doing any single-unders in-between. I'm giving myself until the end of April to achieve this.

My calves are going to hate me.

Monday's Workout

Dead tired this morning. But I dutifully hauled my lazy ass out of bed and to my 5 a.m. class.

Strength Skill:

• Jerks (2 sets of 5, 3 sets of 1)

I'm better at barbell jerks than I was six months ago, when I first started CrossFit, but that doesn't mean I'm good at 'em yet. Every few reps, I'll manage one with perfectly clean form -- explosive hip drive, tight gut, elbows locked out, good punch-out at the top, satisfying thwack! of heels against floor. But for every rep that puts a smile on my face, I screw up two. Either my feet land a bit too far apart, or I don't get under the bar fast enough (which forces me to muscle the bar up rather than using my legs to fully drive it overhead).

A work in progress.

Metcon:

A classic.

5 rounds for time:

• 5 deadlifts (205 pounds for me -- RXed is 275, but at that weight, it's unlikely I'd get more than a few reps off the ground)
• 10 burpees

The last time I encountered this WOD back in August, I finished it in 5:33. Not exactly blazing speed -- Chris Spealler did it in half that time:



In fact, the last time I did this workout, I was beaten by 2 seconds by the one other person in class that day. And she's a small Asian girl.

With another four months of CrossFit under my belt, I figured I'd easily beat my old time (though I wasn't certain I could beat Small Asian Girl -- she's surprisingly strong/fast). When the clock started, I exploded out of the gate, quickly building a lead in front of my four classmates. I took a few breaks here and there -- my burning thighs made the burpees particularly uncomfortable -- but felt like I was speeding along. And I was the first to complete all five founds, with Small Asian Girl just a few seconds behind me. My other three classmates took another minute or so to finish. Even the Terminator. I felt good.

But then I looked over at the clock. 6:18. Forty-five seconds slower than my previous time.

Not good. I should have taken fewer and/or shorter breaks. I should have done all the deadlift sets uninterrupted. This wasn't a long workout; I didn't need breathers. I should have treated this WOD like Fran -- a race to the finish. Perhaps I should have re-watched the Spealler video for inspiration before diving in.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda.

Next time I do this? No breaks.

I Want to Be Chris Spealler Strong

Saturday's Workout

Yesterday, at the end of the 5 a.m. workout, our coach casually mentioned that the Saturday morning class would be doing "Angie" -- one of the original CrossFit benchmark workouts:

For time:

• 100 pull-ups
• 100 push-ups
• 100 sit-ups
• 100 squats

It looks like this:



Well, hell. I didn't want to miss this. "Angie" is a bodyweight-focused WOD, and therefore totally up my alley. But I'm playing suburban dad today -- shuttling the boys to martial arts class and a soccer game -- so there's no way I'm going to make it to the gym.

Thankfully, the only piece of equipment required for "Angie" is a pull-up bar, and I have one in my garage. And the kids weren't going to get out of bed until 7:30, so...

It was a no-brainer to start the day with "Angie," right?

Not so much. The first dozen or so pull-ups went off without a hitch, but then it started to really, really suck as my forearms started to cramp up. Soon, I found myself unable to string together more than three pull-ups in a row without dropping off the bar. It took me almost ELEVEN MINUTES just to get through the pull-ups.

Thankfully, the other three exercises in "Angie" are solidly in my wheelhouse. I cranked out all 100 push-ups in 3 minutes, and the sit-ups (my favorite -- not kidding) took even less time. My plan of attack with the squats was to break them up into five sets of 20, and just fly through them. It worked.

I finished "Angie" in 19:47.

If I can manage to improve my pull-up time (and, say, cut it in half), I might be able to one day complete this workout in less than 15 minutes, which would be awesome.

Of course, even then, I still wouldn't come close to Chris Spealler's 10:11 "Angie" time. I mean, the guy started by stringing together 70 straight pull-ups, fer cryin' out loud.

Monday's Workout

I have no idea why I showed up for the 5 a.m. class this morning. Our kids spent the night at their grandparents' place last night, so I didn't have to finish my workout before little feet came scampering down the hall. I could (and should) have slept in 'til 6:30 and then dragged my ass over to the CrossFit box for the 7 o'clock session.

Habits are hard to break, I guess. After my eyes popped open at 4:20 a.m., I was on cruise control. (And M was working an overnight shift at the hospital, so she wasn't around to talk sense into me.) It wasn't until I was at the gym, warming up with sets of wall balls, that I realized I should have been in bed.

Strength Skill:

• Turkish Get-Ups

We did ladders: a set of 1 rep on each side, a set of 2 reps on each side, and a set of 3 on each side before repeating the sequence again.

Nothing too difficult, though the get-ups started wearing down my grip strength towards the end. Which, by the way, wasn't such a great thing given today's metcon.

Metcon:

"Fran" -- for time:

• 21 barbell thrusters
• 21 pull-ups
• 15 barbell thrusters
• 15 pull-ups
• 9 barbell thrusters
• 9 pull-ups

This may not appear to be much of a workout, but believe me: It's a monster. There's a reason why Fran is arguably CrossFit's signature WOD: it's deceptively simple, and insanely challenging. As my coach put it: "Fran never gets easier. It just gets faster."

I first tried Fran a few months ago, during my first week of CrossFit. Back then, I scaled it significantly, lifting a lighter load and using a band to assist me. But even with all that assistance, it took me more than eight and a half minutes to finish.

These days, I wouldn't think of using the band for pull-ups during a WOD, but part of me still blanched at the thought of trying to blaze through 45 thrusters at the RXed weight of 95 pounds. But a bigger, bossier part of me was itching to do Fran as prescribed -- even if it took me 10 minutes to finish the workout.

Thankfully, it didn't. I finished in 7:58, shaving off more than a half-minute from my previous time. Still nothing to crow about -- I'm certainly no Spealler -- but I'm happy to see some improvement!

Friday's Workout

Skills practice:

Weighted Ring Dips: 3 sets of 5, followed by 3 sets of 3. I like these a lot (because I can actually do them!).

Metcon:

5 rounds for time:

• 5 Deadlifts
• 10 Burpees

Here's how it looks:



In this video, Chris Spealler killed this workout in 2:41. I took more than twice as much time to finish (5:33) and for the deadlifts, I used a significantly lighter weight (205 pounds). I guess this just means I have a lot of room for improvement.

Adidas' CrossFit Games Commercial

More evidence that CrossFit's gone mainstream (and corporate):



Pretty sweet ad, though. And Chris Spealler is my hero.