Monday's Workout: Fight Gone Bad

I've been sick for the past few days (hence my absence from the gym on Friday), and was hoping to ease into the week with a nice little 5 a.m. workout.

No such luck. On the menu today: Fight Gone Bad.

Rotate through five stations, spending one minute at each:

• Wall ball shots (20lbs / 14lbs), 10 foot target. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Sumo deadlift high pulls (75lbs / 55 lbs). Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Box jumps (20″ box). Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Barbell push-presses (75lbs / 55 lbs). Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Calorie row. Each calorie burned (according to the monitor) is scored as 1 point.

Rest one minute, and then repeat the five stations. Rest another minute, and then repeat all the stations again, for a total of three rounds.

The first time I did FGB was in September of 2010, when I eked out 209 points as RXed. It was ugly.

A year later, I attempted FGB again, and improved slightly, with 229 points as RXed. It was just as ugly the second time around.

But while Fight Gone Bad is certainly a grueling ass-kicker, it's really not much worse than any other grueling ass-kicker we've experienced at the gym. The difference is the nervous anticipation. We know months in advance that the Fight Gone Bad fundraiser is coming, so we end up psyching ourselves out. For a week before last September's FGB at CrossFit Palo Alto, I spent a few minutes each day working on my wall ball shots and push-presses in the hopes that the extra practice would pay off. I was excited about FGB, but I was also nervous about it.

A while back, Freddy Camacho wrote about "that anxiety you get when you first read what the workout is. We often experience what I like to call 'The Dread.' Nervousness, anxiety, making up excuses on why you don't need to work out that day...'The Dread' can kick your ass."

I suppose that points to another reason why I prefer going to the 5 a.m. class: The workout doesn't get written on the board until it's time to do it. All the subsequent classes eyeball the metcon as soon as they enter the gym, and I imagine they think about it as they warm up and complete their strength skills practice -- especially if the workout's particularly heinous. In contrast, those of us who show up at 5 a.m. are always surprised; after the WOD's revealed, we have just enough time to set up our equipment before the workout begins. We don't have the time to dwell on "The Dread." There's barely any "Dread" at all.

(Besides, we're barely awake enough to comprehend how challenging a workout's going to be until we're in the middle of it.)

Today, we jumped right into Fight Gone Bad without a second thought -- and it was great. Yes, it still whupped my butt. But even without practicing sumo deadlift high pulls in my garage all week, and despite still recovering from a cold, I set a new personal best.

Result: 239 as RXed. But before I get too carried away with myself, I should point out that a good number of my fellow 5 a.m. nutjobs beat my score this morning, including the Terminator, who competed in the NorCal 40s yesterday, where he finished in 13th place out of dozens of athletes. He found out we were going to do FGB today, and despite having completed 7 crazy WODs yesterday, he still showed up at 5 a.m. this morning. Clearly, the man is insane.

Fight Gone Bad 6

Yesterday, CrossFit communities across the globe participated in the sixth annual Fight Gone Bad fundraiser.

Our affiliate, CrossFit Palo Alto, did its part by hosting a blowout event, complete with prizes, food and even a mini-version of FGB for the kids. Eight heats of athletes -- from pre-schoolers to grandparents -- took part in the competition to benefit The Special Operations Warrior Foundation and the CrossFit Foundation.

The event -- expertly organized by Trish -- hummed along like a well-oiled machine, with assigned heats and starting stations.

M was in the second heat of the morning. Fueled with coffee and sporting her 4505 Meats tee, she tore through all seventeen minutes of the workout and managed to keep smiling through it all. (Except when she was grimacing.)

I wasn't slated to go until the second-to-final heat of the day, and watching everyone bust their butts getting through all the wallballs, sumo deadlift high pulls, box jumps, push-presses and rowing put me on edge.

Right before my heat was called, I applied more tape to my ankle (which, frankly, was feeling more decent than it had in the past couple of weeks), and got situated between Cesar and Vinny at the wallball station.

In the first round, despite babying my left ankle and going painfully, frustratingly slow on my box jumps, I managed to hit two of my targets: 30 wallballs and over 100 total points. (I busted out exactly 30 wallball shots in the first minute, and at the end of the first five minutes, had acquired 101 points.)



And then, I hit a wall. In the second round, I cranked out only 16 wallball shots -- half of my total from the first round. Everything else was just as bad. My legs turned to jelly, and even with my wife and kids cheering me on from the sidelines, I felt like there wasn't enough air in the room to breathe.



Result: 229 points as RXed -- the same as my previous FGB score in January.



Not terrible, but not stellar, either. I wish I could chalk it all up to wonkiness from my ankle sprain, but honestly, I just bit it in the second and third rounds. I was probably a little more careful with my ankle than I would have otherwise been, but it didn't hurt during the workout. Or maybe it did, but the rest of my body was in too much pain for me to notice my foot.

Still, this was hands-down the most raucously enjoyable event I've attended at CrossFit Palo Alto. Families and friends and even folks from other gyms were on hand to cheer and compete, and to share an excellent potluck lunch afterwards.

And did I mention the kids' mini-FGB? Because it was awesome.

A few more photos from Fight Gone Bad, after the jump...

Friday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Strict Weighted Pull-ups (5-5-5-3-3)

I went no further than 30 pounds over my bodyweight today -- it's nowhere close to my PR from New Year's Eve, but I wasn't about to go crazy today. Fight Gone Bad is just a day away!

Metcon:

• 50 double-unders
• 30 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 40 double-unders
• 25 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 30 double-unders
• 20 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 20 double-unders
• 15 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 10 double-unders
• 10 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)

I grabbed a 24kg kettlebell, but I knew that with my ankle sprain, the double-unders remain a no-go. I experimented with some one-legged double-unders before the WOD began, but heeding Tim's advice to not be stupid, I decided to go with single-unders on my right leg instead. Scaling, however, meant having to do 3 singles for every double.

I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to attempt 450 single-legged rope jumps, and not surprisingly, it took forever.

Result: 13:03

Wednesday's Class: Back to School

It felt good to return to the 5 a.m. class.

Strength Skill:

• Zercher Squats (5-5-5-3-3)

Mark and I paired off to tackle the Zerchers. I only made it through four sets; I dumped the bar on my final rep, even though I was squatting 30 pounds lighter than my 1RM from last December. Ankle permitting, my goal for the cycle is to hit a new PR -- which means I have a ways to go.

Metcon:

• In 3 minutes, run 240 meters and then max reps of pass-throughs;
• In 3 minutes, run 240 meters and then max reps of wallballs (20lbs / 14lbs);
• In 3 minutes, run 240 meters and then max reps of dumbbell ground-to-overheads (45lbs / 30lbs);
• In 3 minutes, run 240 meters and then max reps of box jumps (20").

Score = Total reps.

Sadly, I'm not yet able to run on my ankle, so I rowed 250 meters each time instead. I'm not a huge fan of the erg (to put it mildly), but it was better than trying to hobble around the block.

This workout was clearly intended as a tune-up for this Saturday's Fight Gone Bad (and if you haven't donated yet, shame on you, you big mooch). My at-home attempts at wallball shots and box jumps didn't go so well last weekend -- my ankle didn't appreciate the pounding -- so I was hopeful that I'd see marked improvement during today's WOD.

Not so much.

The wallballs didn't feel too bad, so long as I didn't jump up into the throw. But prior to spraining my ankle, I'd been able to string together over two dozen unbroken wallball shots -- something I couldn't come close to replicating today. And my box jumps were just miserable. I winced every time my left foot smacked down on the box and on the floor. After a few reps, I started slowly stepping off the box after each jump.

Result: 80 (using RXed weights but rowing instead of running). As a point of comparison, the Terminator beat me by 58 reps. In other words, I got schooled -- but it sure beats sitting at home.

Whine, Whine, Whine

It's been over a week since I sprained my ankle, and the slowness of the healing process is really pissing me off. Yes, the groin pull was annoying, and the torn hands weren't fun. But they're pretty much behind me now, which clears the way for me to obsess over my left ankle.

I can't run. I can't jump-rope. I can't even descend stairs without looking like an elderly Asian gentleman. (Not because Asians walk down stairs funny, but because I'm Asian. Duh.) I can't push off with my left foot, and anything that requires a decent amount of ankle flexion -- deadlifts, box jumps, push-presses, etc. -- is uncomfortable.

After two grueling workouts last week -- neither of which demanded too much ankle action, thankfully -- I benched myself for Friday's WOD to give myself a chance to recover. (And it's a good thing I did, because Friday's workout was 5 rounds of 500-meter rows and 400-meter runs. In other words, hell on earth.)

And after 5 days off, I am mentally ready to go now. Rest is awesome, but I've been itching to move around for days. I literally can't sit still anymore. This morning, when M got home from work, I ducked into the garage to do a bunch of sumo deadlift high pulls and push-presses and box jumps and wallball shots. (One must prepare for Fight Gone Bad this Saturday, right?)

Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that my ankle does not get along with push-presses. Or box jumps. Or wallballs. And when I grabbed my jump rope tonight to go practice double-unders, I came to the realization that I can't even do single-unders right now. And now, as I head off to bed, my ankle is aching again.

This is driving me crazy.

Pledge Break

The second birthday of this here blog came and went earlier this month without any fanfare (mostly because I totally forgot about it). But if you've been a faithful reader and are in a generous mood, I've come up with a way for you to help me celebrate two full years of obsessive-compulsive blogging. And it doesn't involve you buying our T-shirts! (Not that you shouldn't buy a tee, of course.)

If you have some extra coins rattling around in your pocket, please consider making a donation to support my Fight Gone Bad fundraising efforts.

This year, the nonprofits who stand to benefit from your donations are The Special Operations Warrior Foundation and the CrossFit Foundation.

The Special Operations Warrior Foundation provides full scholarship grants and educational and family counseling to the surviving children of special operations personnel who die in operational or training missions. It also provides immediate financial assistance to severely wounded special operations personnel and their families.



And the CrossFit Foundation is focusing its efforts this year on the CrossFit Kids ISR Swim Program. The goal this year is to contribute $1 million through Fight Gone Bad to prevent accidental childhood drownings.

As you may remember, "Fight Gone Bad" isn't just about raising money, of course. It also involves a butt-kicking seventeen-minute CrossFit workout -- one that prompted UFC champ B.J. Penn to remark: "That was like a fight gone bad." It looks like this:

Rotate through five stations, spending one minute at each:

• Wall ball shots (20lbs / 14lbs), 10 foot target. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Sumo deadlift high pulls (75lbs / 55 lbs). Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Box jumps (20″ box). Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Barbell push-presses (75lbs / 55 lbs). Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Calorie row. Each calorie burned (according to the monitor) is scored as 1 point.

Rest one minute, and then repeat the five stations. Rest another minute, and then repeat all the stations again, for a total of three rounds.

Last year, as a rookie CrossFitter, I kind of sucked at this, and I'm determined to do better this time around. On September 17, M and I will join the CrossFit Palo Alto community in a big sweat-fest, all in the hopes of raising as much as we can for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and the CrossFit Foundation.



I know times are tough, and that it's hard to spare any change these days. But these causes could certainly use your help. If you can, please pledge a few bucks (even just one dollar!) by clicking here or the button below. My current fundraising goal is modest, but I'd love to meet (and even exceed) it.

Thank you in advance, and I promise not to interrupt the regularly scheduled programming with any more requests for charitable giving. (That is, until next year.)

Monday's Workout: Fight Gone Badder

On today's menu: Task Priority "Fight Gone Bad."

"And just what is that?" you ask. Well, it's just like the regular, garden-variety Fight Gone Bad, but instead of cranking out max reps for a minute at each station, you have to bust out 20 reps before moving on. In other words:

Three rounds for time:

• 20 Wall Balls (20lbs - 10' target)
• 20 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (75lbs)
• 20 Box Jumps (20")
• 20 Push Presses (75lbs)
• 20 Calorie Row
• 1 Minute Rest

I've never experienced great success with Fight Gone Bad; my all-time high score (set back in January) is a measly 229. But here was my big chance to score 300! (Because, well, everyone scores 300 in Task Priority FGB.)

I started at the push-press station today, and they weren't so bad. Neither was the row (which is a surprise, given how much I hate rowing). But the wall balls? They're still a big speed bump for me -- try as I might, I wasn't able to do 'em unbroken. Heck, by the third round, I was lucky if I could string together five in a row.

Result: 23:18 as RXed. Not great, but not horrible. At the end, I was a sweaty mess, but I didn't feel like dying or anything. Progress!

Best line of the morning was from Jay, who scraped his shin bloody with a barbell during the "Fight": "Yeah, but you shoulda seen the bar," he grinned.

Monday's Workout

We're starting another week of long(er) metcons. First up: "Football Gone Bad" from the evil geniuses at CrossFit Football.

Three rounds for time:

• 1 minute of dumbbell thrusters (using a pair of 45-pound DBs)
• 1 minute of plyo box jumps (20" box)
• 1 minute of push-ups
• 1 minute of double-unders
• 1 minute of calorie row
• 1 minute of rest

Like Fight Gone Bad, this workout involves spending a minute at each station, accumulating one point for each rep (except on the rower where each calorie is one point) before moving immediately to the next. Believe it or now, I'm starting to really get a kick out of this format. The diabolically short stints at each station call for an all-out effort, before you know it, it's time to move on to the next exercise -- so it never gets too painful.

To make room for everyone, the members of our class began the workout at different stations today, and I chose to start with the box jumps. I kind of love box jumps (though I need to work on making sure I fully extend at the top on a consistent basis), and when I get cranking, I can cruise at a decent speed. During the first minute of today's workout, I completed 38 box jumps -- a new record for me.

But by the end of that first round, I was gassed. Saving the thrusters for last was not the brightest idea. I struggled to heave the pair of 45-pound dumbbells overhead, and managed just five ugly reps in that minute.

Results:

• Round 1 - 110 points
• Round 2 - 86 points
• Round 3 - 90 points

Total: 286 points as RXed.

(A point of comparison: Maddie scored 366 points -- RXed. And no, that is not a typo.)

Wednesday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Deadlifts (2 sets of 3, 3 sets of 1)

At long last: Double bodyweight deadlift PR! Woo hoo!

I know that's not saying much (especially considering these strength standards), but it's not bad, right?

Wait -- WHAT? An eight-year-old can do this? And a 115-pound girl can deadlift 2.6x her bodyweight? YOU ARE KILLING MY BUZZ, MAN.

Metcon:

Rotate through four stations, spending one minute at each:

• Burpees-to-Bar: Do a burpee, and then jump up to touch the pull-up bar. Each rep is scored as 1 point.

• Ring Rows: Simple, straightforward, hard. Each rep is scored as 1 point.

• Calorie Row: Each calorie burned while rowing on the erg is scored as 1 point.

• Dumbbell Ground-to-Overhead: Use one arm (doesn't matter which one) to get a heavy dumbbell from the ground to a locked-out position overhead. Dumbbell snatches and jerks worked pretty well with this one. Each rep is scored as 1 point. (RXed weight for men: 45 pounds.)

This was done Fight Gone Bad- style -- meaning we rested for one minute after completing all four stations, and then repeated everything again twice, for a total of three rounds. The entire workout takes just 14 minutes, but it's a LONG 14 minutes.

Results (as RXed):

• Round 1: 72
• Round 2: 53
• Round 3: 44
• TOTAL: 169

Tim calls this WOD "Not Quite Gone Bad," but I'm not sure I agree with the "Not Quite" part.

Wednesday's Workout: Fight Gone Bad (Again)

Remember Fight Gone Bad?



We did it again at CrossFit Palo Alto this morning.

All the gory details can be found here.

Friday's Workout

The strangest thing about getting up to exercise and finishing my workout before the break of dawn? By the end of the day, I've mostly forgotten what happened in my early-morning CrossFit class. The details get hazy, as if everything at the gym actually occurred in a dream. As a result, it sometimes feels like I've gone days between workouts.

I'm looking forward to forgetting about today's session.

Strength Skill:

• Presses (3 sets of 5, followed by 3 sets of 3)

We're not talking about push-presses. No bending of the knees, no hip drive, no jerking the barbell -- just strict muscle presses, engaging the lats and core to force the bar overhead. A pure upper-body exercise -- one that's vastly superior to the bench press. As Mark Rippetoe points out, unlike the bench press:

Pressing a bar overhead develops core strength, and somehow manages to do so without a Swiss ball. Since the kinetic chain -- the parts of the body involved in the transmission of force from the places where it is generated to the places where it is applied -- in the press starts at the ground and ends at the hands, everything in between these two points gets worked, one way or another. This includes pretty much everything. Specifically, the trunk and hip muscles have to stabilize the body while the force being generated by the arms and shoulders gets transmitted between the bar and the floor. This can get really hard when the weight gets up close to 1RM [1-rep max], and heavy presses require and develop a thick set of abs and obliques.

Sadly, I don't have a "thick set of abs and obliques" (yet?), and my current 1RM is a puny 110 pounds. (I ought to be able to go heavier, given that I don't seem to have any trouble with handstand push-ups.) Nonetheless, I gave it all I got, and managed to accrue a ton of time under tension -- mostly because I wasn't able to quickly power the bar up.

Metcon:

This was the part of today's workout that fried me. It triggered traumatic flashbacks to Fight Gone Bad.

AMAP (As Many As Possible):

3 rounds:

• 1 minute of push-ups
• 1 minute of deadlifts (using a 135-pound barbell)
• 1 minute of pull-ups
• 1 minute of rowing
• 1 minute of rest

The entire workout takes 14 minutes (if you don't count the final minute of rest). Your score is comprised of the total number of push-ups, deadlifts and pull-ups you can crank out, added to the total number of calories you row.

Result: I blazed through the first round (50 push-ups!) but was gassed for the final two rounds. My totals:

• Round 1: 93
• Round 2: 77
• Round 3: 76
• Total: 246

The good: My last set of deadlifts was unbroken. I didn't let go of the bar, and I didn't rest. Thirty-one reps in less than a minute! Plus, I was the point leader in my class today, which helps make up for my last-place finish on Wednesday.

The bad: I can't move my arms.

Fight Gone Bad

So much for resting on the weekends. This is what I did today.

Fight Gone Bad is a WOD that also doubles as CrossFit's signature annual charity fundraising event. It started five years ago, and has since raised over $2 million. This year, the three nonprofits supported by Fight Gone Bad 5 are LIVESTRONG, The Wounded Warrior Project and the CrossFit Foundation.

And why's it called "Fight Gone Bad"? Because after finishing this workout for the first time, UFC champ B.J. Penn said: "That was like a fight gone bad."

Here's the workout: You rotate through five stations, spending one minute at each:

• Wall ball: 20 pound ball, 10 foot target. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Sumo deadlift high pull: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Box Jump: 20″ box. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Barbell push-press: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Row: Your butt off. Each calorie burned (according to the monitor) is scored as 1 point.

Rest one minute, and then repeat the five stations. Rest another minute, and then repeat 'em all again. Three rounds in total.

The clock isn't reset or stopped between exercises; someone just calls out “rotate,” and you immediately stagger from one station to next.



Almost two dozen of us packed into our little CrossFit box for Fight Gone Bad (and for the post-workout birthday barbecue for Tim, our coach). Many of us dragged along family members and friends, too. I brought my kids (ages 2 and 5), who watched (with almost zero interest) as multiple heats of sweaty men and women jumped, rowed, and frantically heaved medicine balls and barbells around the gym.

You may not believe this, but my plan was to just watch everyone else pummel themselves with Fight Gone Bad. It's not that I didn't want to join in, but M's working this weekend, so I was supposed to be keeping an eye on the kids -- something I wouldn't be able to do if I were in the middle of a long WOD. But a few of the other adults volunteered to watch the boys, so at the last minute, I changed out of my khakis and into a pair of shorts and grabbed a score sheet.
I won't lie: Fight Gone Bad kicked my ass. I went into the workout hoping I could score at least 15 points per station, so my goal was to hit 225 in total. But by the time the third round started, I was running on fumes. Screw 225 -- my goal was just to finish without passing out in front of my kids.

In the end, I was happy to eke out 209 points -- and pleased that I did it without scaling down the difficulty of any of the exercises. (I stuck with the standard RXed weights for men.)

But the next time I do this? 225, baby.