Change-Up

I still can't put any weight on my flexed wrist, which has put me in a sour mood. It's been more than a little frustrating; I can't even lift the strap of my work bag over my shoulder without discomfort, let alone clean a barbell up to my shoulders. I've done what I can to keep pressure off my wrist -- recovery requires rest -- but I'm also determined to keep going to the gym. After all, just because I can't perform certain movements right now doesn't mean there aren't a host of other things I can still do to stay active.

For example, last Friday, while the rest of the class at CrossFit Palo Alto practiced barbell cleans, I worked on bottoms-up kettlebell cleans. I had to modify the metcon, too. Here's what everyone else did:

• 21 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 15 dumbbell thrusters (45lbs / 30lbs)
• Run 400 meters
• 15 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 12 dumbbell thrusters (45lbs / 30lbs)
• Run 400 meters
• 12 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 9 dumbbell thrusters (45lbs / 30lbs)
• Run 400 meters

No chest-to-bar pull-ups for me -- too much wrist flexion. Instead, I did chest-to-ring pull-ups, using a set of Olympic rings set high. I didn't have to twist my wrists to get all the way up, though generating any sort of momentum was a challenge. (You can't push off the rings horizontally like you can with a bar to start a big kip.)

Result: 11:36.

I rested on Monday (mostly because I didn't have a babysitter to watch the kids in the morning, but also because everyone at the gym did "Nutts," and I was too damned tired to attempt it in my garage).

On Wednesday, the strength skill was weighted pull-ups. My doctor said that pull-ups are a good exercise for my wrist, so I did 'em, though I didn't load up with as much weight as I did in previous sessions. Better safe than sorry.

The metcon: 

• 4 rounds: 
• 10 overhead squats (95lbs / 65lbs)
• 12 hang power cleans
• 14 lateral bar jumps

No barbell for me. In place of the overhead squats and hang power cleans, I did single-arm overhead squats with a kettlebell, and double-kettlebell cleans. It bugs me that I can't do the same workout as my fellow 5 a.m. nutjobs. It's weird how much I miss being able to just grab a barbell and clean it. Yet at the same time, I was happy to be able to join the gang in doing something -- and feeling just as exhausted and sweaty as I normally do after one of our workouts. The kettlebell OHSs and cleans were surprisingly good approximations of their barbell analogs, and I enjoyed a fine, ass-kicking workout without exacerbating my wrist injury. Win-win, right?

Result: 7:15.

Catch Up

Crap. I forgot to post last Friday's workout. I wish I could blame it on work (which has, in fact, exploded recently), but I had all weekend to write. It just slipped my mind -- probably because I was busy teaching the boys to dance Gangnam Style.

Come on -- I know you want to watch it again.


Anyway...

Having been knocked down with a fever and sore throat for a solid week, I was looking forward to getting back in the gym on Friday. We practiced weighted ring dips  before the metcon was announced:

• 15 toes to bar
• 15 hang power cleans (115lbs / 85lbs)
• 15 box jumps (20")
• 12 toes to bar
• 12 hang power cleans (115lbs / 85lbs)
• 12 box jumps (20")
• 9 toes to bar
• 9 hang power cleans (115lbs / 85lbs)
• 9 box jumps (20")
• 6 toes to bar
• 6 hang power cleans (115lbs / 85lbs)
• 6 box jumps (20")
• 3 toes to bar
• 3 hang power cleans (115lbs / 85lbs)
• 3 box jumps (20")

Forty-five reps of toes-to-bar and hang power cleans? My wrists started weeping before the workout began. I decided to stick with the women's RXed weight because: (1) I am weak, and (2) I am not altogether stupid.

Result: 11:05.

This morning, I returned to the gym feeling like myself for the first time in ten days. (My voice still sounds terrible, but I feel fine.) Good thing, too, because I love me some kettlebell snatches. We practiced until my arms felt like they were going to pop off, and then:

"Elizabeth"

• 21 power cleans (135lbs / 95lbs)
• 21 ring dips
• 15 power cleans (135lbs / 95lbs)
• 15 ring dips
• 9 power cleans (135lbs / 95lbs)
• 9 ring dips

Remember how I said I'm not altogether stupid? Well, that means I'm still somewhat stupid -- which explains why I decided to do Elizabeth as RXed today. The last time we did Elizabeth, I used a 115-pound barbell -- a smarter move. Cranking out consecutive reps of 135 pound power cleans is doable for me...for about a dozen reps. After that, I had to eke 'em out in mini-sets of two or three.

(Clearly, my math skills are nonexistent. On Friday, I blanched at the thought of doing 45 reps of 115-pound cleans, and opted for 85 pounds instead. But today, I decided that 45 reps of 135-pound cleans sounded just fine and dandy. I'm an idiot.)

In the second round, I started no-repping. Twice, I failed to get my elbows down and around the bar fast enough, and ended up splashing the bar. Strange sounds started coming out of my throat.

On the plus side? All the ring dip practice we've been doing paid off -- I got through those fairly quickly.

Result: 10:28 as RXed.

A Long, Long Time Ago...

Friday's workout seems like a lifetime ago, but I've been so swamped with work (and, frankly, sick with a bad cold) that I haven't been able to summon the motivation to post about it. Still, I feel like I ought to jot down what we did before the details are completely lost to the fog of memory.

As I recall, we did a bunch of weighted ring dips as our strength skill before moving onto a quick-and-dirty metcon:

3 rounds for time:

• 12 power cleans (95lbs / 65lbs)
• 400-meter run
• 12 pull-ups

Result: 10:15 as RXed.

The power cleans were fast and fluid, as were the pull-ups (which I did unbroken). My running, though, was another matter entirely. Every time I hit the run, I was passed by several of my fellow 5 a.m. nutjobs.

I've never been much of a runner, though my gut tells me that in the past year, I've gotten a lot worse. When we lived in San Francisco, Michelle and I used to run regularly (okay, semi-regularly) through Golden Gate Park or around Lake Merced, and just a few years ago, I was logging as much as ten or fifteen miles a run. No, I wasn't fast or light on my feet, but I'd built up enough endurance that I didn't feel like keeling over every time I ran for a few hundred meters.

But these days, it feels like I'm dragging.

So my new goal? Run more. Not a lot more -- but enough to get my butt in gear again.

Of course, all of this is going to have to wait until I get over this damn cold. I hate, hate, HATE being sick.

Friday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Strict & Kipping Pull-ups (6 sets of 5-10)

I mistakenly thought we were supposed progress to successive sets of weighted pull-ups, but the name of the game was to concentrate on form: Corkscrewing our arms to engage our lats, and driving our elbows straight down. When it comes to strict pull-ups, I've been sorely out of practice, so it was good to focus on technique rather than strain for maximum weight.

Metcon:

• 21 shoulder-to-overheads (135lbs / 95lbs)
• Row 500 meters
• 21 power cleans (135lbs / 95lbs)
• Run 400 meters
• 21 front squats (135lbs / 95lbs)

I went with 105 pounds, and decided to row 500 a second time rather than running. (My Achilles is still in less-than-spectacular shape, unfortunately.) But despite scaling the workout, I got smoked. Cranking out power cleans and front squats after a stint on the erg was mighty painful, and I ended up taking more mid-set breaks than I would've liked.

Result: 12:24. Molasses-slow. Argh.

Bear Complex!

What's a bear complex, you ask?

It's a barbell complex that consists of 5 rounds of 7 sets of the following sequence:

• Power Clean
• Front Squat
• Push-Press
• Back Squat
• Push-Press

You can't set the barbell down until each round is complete. Rest as needed between rounds, but keep increasing the load on the barbell until you find your max. Your score is the max weight with which you were able to complete a full round.

It sounds easy until you realize that this complex consists of 175 lifts in total.

Or until you watch others struggle through it.



Or until you try it yourself.

I tried it once before in my garage, but had forgotten how much I sucked at it, so I was excited to try it again with the rest of the 5 a.m. class at CrossFit Palo Alto. I was feeling giddy, and blazed through the first three rounds (at 65 pounds, 75 pounds, and 85 pounds). My plan was to lift 95 pounds during the fourth round and then jump to 115 for my final round, but Tim convinced me I was being a dummy. "Do the jump now, before you're too tired. Go for 105."

I finished (albeit just barely) the fourth round at 105. Good thing, too, because after I loaded the barbell up to 115, I crapped out before I could finish the final two sets of the fifth round. Was it disappointing? Yes. But I also enjoyed every second of this barbell complex, even as sweat poured off me in sheets.

I can't wait to attempt this one again. (And I will -- just as soon as I can move back into my house. I miss my garage gym.)

Wednesday's Workout

As you may have noticed (but probably didn’t), I neglected to post about my workout on Monday…mostly because I didn’t actually work out on Monday. With M at work and no babysitter to stay with the kids, I ended up sleeping in.

And it’s a good thing I did. After last Wednesday’s weighted ring dips and pull-ups and last Friday’s presses and jerks, I spent the entire weekend with a bad case of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). (By the way, a great article about DOMS is available to CrossFit Journal subscribers here.) The dull ache in my arms made me cranky, and I was annoyed that I couldn’t raise my arms over my head without my lats catching on fire. I was in dire need of a rest day.

 By this morning, though, the inflammation had almost completely subsided, and I was eager to get the gunk out with a hard workout.

After five sets of weighted ring dips, we cranked out a quick WOD:

4 rounds for time:

• 5 chin-ups
• 10 power cleans (95lb / 65lb)
• 30 running ropes

This was a fast one -- though I tried not to go so fast that I’d sacrifice good form on my power cleans. Surprisingly, even with my lingering soreness, the chin-ups were quick and easy, and the cleans felt solid. At first, the running ropes (essentially, running in place while jump-roping) were a bit of a challenge -- especially for a klutz like me -- but I got the hang of it soon enough. I spent too much time transitioning between sets, and could have (and should have) hustled more, but in the end, I was happy for the opportunity to crank out a good, intense workout.

Result: 6:08 as RXed.

Tuesday's Workout

I'm crazy busy trying to juggle a bunch of projects -- some work related, some not -- but I managed to squeeze in a half-hour of lifting this evening. (It helps that the kids are spending the night with grandma and grandpa -- no hour-long bedtime ritual tonight!)

After a quick warm-up on the erg, I dove into Day Two of the Whole9's version of the Power to the People protocol, following this formula for both deadlifts and strict presses:

• Set 1: +5lbs from Day One, 3-5 reps
• Set 2: 90% of Set 1, 3-5 reps

In particular, the deadlifts -- albeit light -- feel great. I'm doing my best to nail my form, making sure that my butt doesn't rise ahead of the rest of my body, and keeping my head and neck in line with my spine. Also, I'm trying to be slow and deliberate in my movements, both to increase time under tension as well as to train my brain and grease the groove.

Afterwards, I practiced some power cleans and squat cleans, and cooled down with two short sets of ring dips.

And that's all, folks!

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

Monday's Workout: Shin vs. Barbell

This blog is quickly turning into a catalog of my injuries.

For a couple of months now, my body's been in a perpetual state of disrepair. Some of my injuries have been relatively minor (e.g., a bee sting on the bottom of my foot, a gash on the back of my calf, torn hands from Mary), while others have been more of a pain in the ass (e.g., an ankle sprain, a groin pull). Finally, after many slow and frustrating weeks on the mend, I started feeling pretty damned good again. I woke up last Monday with renewed energy, and had a blast tearing through Annie.

But just when I thought I was in the clear, my body decided to revolt once again. A day or two after last Wednesday's session of deadlifts, my lower back stiffened up. I figured the soreness would go away after a couple of days, but even now, the discomfort remains.

Given my decrepitude, I decided to take it easy today. The strength skill today was Turkish Get-Ups, and I chose to stick with the 1-pood kettlebell for all but the final set -- and even then, I went only a few pounds heavier.

And then Tim wrote today's metcon on the board:

"DT" -- 5 rounds for time of:

• 12 deadlifts (155lbs / 115lbs)
• 9 hang power cleans (155lbs / 115lbs)
• 6 push jerks (155lbs / 115lbs)

"Go lighter than normal," Tim instructed. "I don't want any dropped weights." At five a.m., he reminded the class, we need to be quiet as mice, or risk incurring the wrath of the neighbors.

Frankly, I was relieved to have an (additional) excuse to go light today. I'd hoped that my back would loosen up during warm-ups, but the soreness lingered. Ninety-five pounds sounded good to me.

As the workout began, I actually felt fine. I raced through the first round unbroken, and quickly moved on to the deadlifts again. The weight was light -- even numerous reps of power cleans weren't super-difficult at 95 pounds. But I started to flag midway through the workout, and had to put down the bar (quietly) several times for mid-set breathers.

And then, at the end of the fourth round, as I lowered the weight from overhead, I lost my grip on the barbell. To keep it from clanging on the floor, I instinctively stuck out my leg. That's right: MY LEG. TO CATCH A FALLING BARBELL.

Needless to say, the barbell won, and my shin lost. (Wanna see?)

After a brief visit to the Pain Cave in my head, I finished up the final round.

Result: 8:56.

At this rate, I swear I'm going to be in a full-body cast soon unless I invest in a full-body protective suit.

Snazzy!

Friday's Workout

Let them eat cake frittata.

As a birthday gift to myself, I was going to treat myself to a blogcation tonight, but my obsessive-compulsive side won't let me take a break from posting this morning's workout. As a compromise, I've promised myself that I'll keep this post super-short.

Strength Skill:

• Strict Weighted Pull-Ups (3-3-1-1-1)

Felt fine at 45 pounds + bodyweight. Need to go heavier next time.

Metcon:

AMRAP: 4 rounds of 3 minutes (with 1 minute break in-between rounds):

• 3 power cleans (135lbs / 95lbs)
• 6 push-ups
• 9 squats

When we last did this workout (over a year ago!), I was just a few weeks into CrossFit, and power cleaned with a light weight. Today, I went RXed just to see if I could do a bunch of cleans with a barbell loaded with the equivalent of my bodyweight. It was a struggle (especially doing 'em immediately after finishing a set of squats), but I pulled it off.

Next: I want to see if I can establish a higher 1 rep max.

Result: 13 rounds + 10 reps as RXed.

One last thing: At the end of the WOD, a police office showed up in response to a noise complaint by a neighbor. Fitting, I guess. Every birthday should include a cop telling you to keep it down.

Friday's Workout: Upside

I woke up at 3 in the morning and couldn’t manage to fall back asleep until just after 4 a.m. Fifteen minutes later, my alarm went off. Perfect.

Strength Skill:

• Handstand Push-Ups (5 sets of 5)

They felt good, despite lingering soreness in my shoulders and triceps from Wednesday’s press-centric WOD. I did an extra set of 5 just to see how it might feel to have to crank out the 30 HSPUs programmed in Workout 1 of the Regional Qualifiers.

My only complaint: When I’m upside down, the surge of blood to my head makes my eyeballs want to pop out of my skull and shoot across the gym floor.

Metcon:

3 rounds for time:

• 12 power cleans (135lbs/95lbs)
• 12 pull-ups
• 400-meter run

The RXed weight of 135 pounds is equivalent to my bodyweight, and it also happens to be my one-rep max. So naturally, I wimped out and went with 115-pound power cleans instead. I wish I could say that in retrospect, I should’ve gone heavier -- but in all honesty, the 115 pounds I used for the WOD today was more than enough to punch me in the face. And in the groin. Simultaneously. And repeatedly.

Still, this was a fun one. I love cleans and pull-ups. And the running wasn’t terrible, either. Thumbs up.

Result: 12:02. And in case you’re wondering: Yes, the Terminator smoked me (again).

Wednesday's Workout: Zerch & Destroy

Back in the 1930s, you couldn't exactly roll into your local Dick's Sporting Goods and pick up a squat rack for your home gym. Even big-name competitive powerlifters and professional strongmen like Missouri's Ed Zercher didn't have one.

So Zercher did the next best thing: He loaded a barbell on the floor, deadlifted it up to mid-thigh, squatted down and balanced the bar on his quads. From there, he reached his arms under the bar and grasped it in the crook of his elbows -- and stood up.

This combo came to be known as the Zercher Squat. For decades, it's been used across the globe by lifters looking to improve their squatting; more than almost anything else, it boosts strength in the deep squat position, where folks are generally weakest and least stable. An added bonus: Zercher squats are fun. In the ten months since I joined CrossFit Palo Alto, we've done a few Zercher cycles, and they've been among my favorites.

We don't do 'em from the floor, though. (Why? Probably because Tim doesn't want to put everyone in traction. Go figure.) Instead, our Zercher squats are done from racks. They look something like this:

As you can see, they are awesomely awesome. And we got to do them again this morning.

The details of today's workout, after the jump...

The Two Final CrossFit Games Open Workouts

Which do you prefer: CrossFit Games Open Workout 11.5 or 11.6?

Here's 11.5, which is a 20-minute AMRAP of:

• 5 power cleans (145 lbs / 100 lbs)
• 10 toes-to-bar
• 15 wallball shots (20 lbs - 10 ft / 14 lbs - 9 ft)

And here's 11.6 -- a 7-minute ladder of:

• 3 thrusters (100 lbs / 65 lbs)
• 3 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 6 thrusters (100 lbs / 65 lbs)
• 6 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 9 thrusters (100 lbs / 65 lbs)
• 9 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 12 thrusters (100 lbs / 65 lbs)
• 12 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 15 thrusters (100 lbs / 65 lbs)
• 15 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• ...and so on until time runs out.

Both look painful, but 11.6 looks like one helluva Super-Fran on steroids, doesn't it?

Monday's Workout

The alarm jolted me awake in the middle of a sleep cycle. Getting up was the last thing I wanted to do; it took the blinding lights of the bathroom and a bracing splash of water in the face to get me going.

But I'm glad I made it to the gym this morning. I didn't know it before arriving, but we had a date with Fran.

But first things first.

Strength Skill:

• Power Cleans (2 sets of 3, 3 sets of 1)

Rather than sticking with trying to make 'em pretty, I tried to improve on last week's PR...and failed miserably.

Whatever. I was too distracted by the prospect of Fran to dwell on it.

Metcon:

"Fran"

• 21 barbell thrusters (95 pounds)
• 21 pull-ups
• 15 barbell thrusters (95 pounds)
• 15 pull-ups
• 9 barbell thrusters (95 pounds)
• 9 pull-ups

Tim likes to remind us that "some people can finish in less than two minutes." All I can do is laugh and shake my head. The first time I attempted Fran as RXed was back in October, and it took me almost 8 minutes to finish. I did it again in January, and as I wrote at the time, Fran punched me in the balls again. I finished in a molasses-slow 7:39.

Today? Still nothing to write home about, but significantly better than the last time around.

At the beginning, the thrusters actually felt pretty decent(!), and I managed to blaze through all 21 reps in the first round without pausing. The pull-ups, too, came fast and smooth, and I reeled off 21 uninterrupted. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself as I approached the barbell for the second round...

...and then the suckage started. Suddenly, the thrusters seemed a lot heavier. And my grip was gone. Five reps into the second round, I dropped the weight. Five more after that, I dumped the bar again.

Meanwhile, I could see Maddie cruising through her second round of thrusters; she was on her way to a 5-minute Fran. And a few feet in front of her, XFitMama -- in her third trimester of pregnancy -- was kicking ass, too. Those two breathe fire.

And the clock kept ticking.

Result: 6:32 as RXed. The pull-ups didn't slow me down, but the last two rounds of thrusters did me in. I'm happy that I cut over a minute off my previous effort, but I'm in awe (and envious) of Blake, who whittled down his Fran time by over three minutes(!).

Ah, well. I squandered too much time staring at the bar on the floor. The silver lining: There's plenty of room for improvement.

Monday's Workout

I woke up without a dry, sore throat today for the first time in a month. Did I have some weird infection? Possibly. Should I have gone to the doctor weeks ago? Probably. Am I an idiot? Most definitely. 

But whatevs. It's gone now, which means I can stop grossing out my fellow 5 a.m. classmates with my phlegmy hacking and overall disgustingness.

The photo above hints at today's WOD, but to keep from totally spoiling the surprise for folks attending this evening's classes at CrossFit Palo Alto, I'm hiding the workout description behind the jump...

Monday’s Workout

My alarm went off at 4:20 a.m., jolting me out of a dream. And in that dream, I was blogging.

I need to get a life.

Today's WOD -- after the jump...

Friday's Workout

Is it just me, or do we tend to do tougher metcons on days we mess around with gymnastics stuff?

Strength Skills:

• L-Sits
• Pass-Throughs
• Skin-the-Cats

I need to work on my L-Sits. A few months ago, I was able to hold an L-Sit for 30+ seconds without too much effort -- but today, my arms began trembling just ten seconds in.

Good thing I have a pair of parallettes at home, though the kids are constantly perched on 'em. M want to use them to practice her L-Sits, too. Looks like I may have to go pick up some more PVC pipe.

Metcon:

A barbell complex is a fine way to kick off the weekend.

7 rounds for time:

• 3 power cleans
• 5 front squats
• 7 deadlifts

When Tim first wrote this workout on the board, I was annoyed. I knew I couldn't do this one using the RXed weight of 165 pounds. The rate-limiting move, I figured, was the power cleans. On my best day, I might be able to power-clean 25 pounds in excess of my bodyweight for one or two reps (if that), but certainly not 21 times. I was stuck with a 115 pound barbell.

"But that's too light a weight for the front squats and deadlifts," I whined to Tim.

Smiling, he replied: "I'll remember you said that."

At the time, I didn't register what he was trying to tell me -- namely, that I was insane to think that the weight would feel at all "light" once the clock started. And of course, he was right: Even as I began my first round of front squats, I was regretting my choice of weights. Throughout this WOD, the only thing that kept me from setting down the bar during the front squats was the knowledge that I'd have to clean the damned thing back up again.

Result: 9:22.

Friday's Workout

This morning's workout was awesome, but I wasn't. I kind of sucked.

4 rounds for time:

• Run 400 meters
• 10 handstand push-ups
• 12 power cleans

The folks who showed up yesterday at CrossFit Palo Alto suffered through the Filthy Fifty(!), so today's metcon looked tame in comparison. And I was fully prepared to kill it. My Cindy-related aches and pains were gone, and I was feeling good. I had to take a few pounds off the RXed weight (of 135 pounds) for the power cleans, but I was excited about the handstand push-ups. They're fun! I told myself.

And honestly, the first three rounds weren't too bad. Yes, the handstand push-ups were getting increasing difficult as the workout progressed, but I was still well ahead of most of my classmates -- that is, until the fourth and final round. That's when my ability to crank out HSPUs just up and disappeared, and I couldn't seem to get it back. I struggled through my last six reps, performing them (barely) as singles. It took forever, and they were far from pretty.

Here's how it went down: Of the nine people in class (another new 5 a.m. attendance record!), I was in a respectable third place after the first round, a still-decent fourth place after the second round, a middle-of-the-pack fifth place after the third round, and DEAD LAST at the end. Result: 19:53.

But hey: It's good to get utterly humiliated by a workout once in a while, right?

Monday's Workout

Woke up with tons of energy today, but that doesn't mean I'm going to skip a perfectly good excuse to guzzle coffee. After slurping it down, I headed off for the usual Monday morning fun and games.

Strength Skill:

• Power Cleans (3 sets of 3, 2 sets of 1)

Still ugly, but less so than before!

Metcon:

AMAP (As Many As Possible) in 10 minutes:

• 10 front squats (no rack, sadly)
• Max rep push-ups

Full description and results over here.

Friday's Workout

Strength Skill:

Handstand Push-Ups

(Photo: CrossFit Kids)

I'm now able to crank out a bunch of handstand push-ups -- something I couldn't say just a couple of months ago. Like last week, I did 30 today, in sets of 5, but felt like I could have kept going.

Metcon:

AMRAP in 8 minutes:

• 10-meter dumbbell bear crawl
• 5 dumbbell burpees
• 5 dumbbell power cleans
• 5 dumbbell shoulder-to-overheads (my method of choice: push-presses)

Result: I was one burpee into my seventh round when the clock ran out. This was murder on the wrists, but I thoroughly enjoyed the bear crawls and burpees. (The shoulder-to-overheads? Not so much.)