Hallow-Bata 2: Revenge of the Screwed-Up Wrist

Perhaps if I'd dressed up as a superhero for our Halloween workout, I would've fared better.

At CrossFit Palo Alto, we were treated to (tricked with?) our second annual Hallow-Bata -- a Tabata-style workout that looks like this:

• 8 Tabata rounds of "green, slimy" grasshoppers
• Rest 30 seconds
• 8 Tabata rounds of "headless horsemen" (a variation on kettlebell palm presses) (24kg / 16kg)
• Rest 30 seconds
• 8 Tabata rounds of "cauldron jumps" (jump on/over a plyo box and onto the floor on the other side for each rep)
• Rest 30 seconds
• 8 Tabata rounds of "deadly" double-unders

Score = Total reps.

With a dozen of us in class, we split up into groups to start at different stations. I opted to hit the cauldron jumps first -- mostly because it was the least crowded station, but also because I knew I wanted to tackle the jumps while my legs were still fresh.

Cauldron jump results: 11 / 12 / 10 / 8 / 8 / 8 / 7 / 8

Next up: Double-unders. I got tripped up more than I'd care to admit, and with my swollen right wrist, I had trouble whipping the rope. Needless to say, I got nowhere close to my performance last year, when I managed to crank out 34 double-unders in 20 seconds. Argh.

Double-under results: 20 / 21 / 15 / 19 / 22 / 14 / 16 / 15

Then, it was grasshopper time. From my experience last year, I knew it was better to go at a steady clip rather than explode right out of the gate -- but even if I'd tried to hustle through the grasshoppers, my right wrist would've held me back. I can't flex it right now, so I did the grasshoppers while gripping dumbbells. Done this way, the grasshoppers felt fine at the beginning, but by the third set, my wrist felt like it was going to give out. You can see the drop-off in my reps:

Grasshopper results: 13 / 11 / 7 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 10

Last but not least: Headless horsemen. Tim and I agreed that I shouldn't do 'em with my right arm -- but that my left arm still works fine. I did all the kettlebell presses from my left side. Let's just say it was slow going.

Headless horsemen results: 5 / 5 / 5 / 6 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 6

Total: 326 (compared to 335 last year). My goal for next year (assuming I'm not injured): 350 or bust.

Wednesday's Workout

Alright -- let's break the good news first:

I got a new Zercher squat PR today (225 pounds)! (It's about time -- my previous PR was set way back in December of 2010.) It made me puff up my chest for a few minutes -- that is, until...

The bad news: Today's Tabata-style metcon. It knocked me on my ass.

• Tabata grasshoppers (6 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest)
• Tabata shuttle runs (6 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest)
• Tabata dumbbell snatches (40# / 25#) (6 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest)
• Tabata ring rows

Take the lowest number of reps in any single 20-second round at each station. Add 'em up, and that's your score.

The first round of grasshoppers wasn't too bad -- I cranked out 30 of them in 20 seconds, and felt pretty good about myself. And then the second round came, and I managed only 23. The next round: 22. It was a struggle to stay above 20 -- and by the time my three minutes of grasshoppers was up, I was panting like a dog.

The shuttle runs and dumbbell snatches were interminable.

Finally, we came to the ring rows. By the time we started our second set of rows, Jake and I were loudly grunting and groaning in pain. My arms were on fire, and I never managed more than 10 per set.

Ugh.

Result: 47 as RXed.

Monday's Workout

Holy moly, I'm tired. Forgive the brevity of tonight's post; I'm drifting in and out of consciousness at the moment.

Strength Skill:

• Thrusters (5-3-3-1-1)

I love max effort work. Despite some lingering achiness from the weekend, the thrusters felt good.

Metcon:

• Total cumulative reps (and calories on the erg):
• Tabata calorie row (6 rounds)
• Rest 30 seconds
• Tabata ring push-ups (6 rounds)
• Rest 30 seconds
• Tabata shuttle runs
• Rest 30 seconds
• Tabata ring rows (6 rounds)

Again: I'm tired. This workout may have had something to do with it.

The running and rowing were fine. The ring push-ups and ring rows? Ha!

Total score: 184 as RXed.

Passing out now.

Monday's Workout: Hallow-Bata

To kick off Halloween in style, the 5 a.m. crew at CrossFit Palo Alto threw ourselves into a devilishly challenging Tabata-style workout.

"Hallow-Bata"

• 8 rounds of Tabata "green, slimy" grasshoppers
• Rest 30 seconds
• 8 rounds of Tabata "headless horsemen" (a variation on kettlebell palm presses) (24kg / 16kg)
• Rest 30 seconds
• 8 rounds of Tabata "cauldron jumps" (jump over a plyo box and land on the floor on the other side for each rep)
• Rest 30 seconds
• 8 rounds of Tabata "deadly" double-unders

Score = Total reps.

With a lucky 13 of us in class this morning, we had to begin at different stations. I decided to start with double-unders, figuring I'd save my favorite -- the box jumps -- for last. Besides, I knew I had a better chance of cranking out more double-unders early in the workout, before I ran out of gas.

I was right. In the first 20-second set of Tabata double-unders, I ripped out 34. In the second set, I managed 28. But by the time the third set was done, I'd managed only 18. It wasn't exactly a shocker that my drop-off in movement efficiency, energy, and number of reps was exponential. I was pleased, though, that I was able to bust out almost 2 double-unders per second -- albeit only for the first 20 seconds of the workout.

• Double-under results: 34 / 28 / 18 / 18 / 17 / 17 / 16 / 15

As soon as I saw grasshoppers pop up on a CrossFit.com workout last week, I had a feeling we'd see it at the gym one day. That day came sooner than expected. Grasshoppers look simple enough: You start in a push-up position, and then kick a leg forward until your shin hits your opposite arm. That's half a rep. Repeat with the other leg for a full rep. In practice, though, grasshoppers are anything but easy -- especially with a lower back injury. But while I'd like to blame it all on my boo-boo and current lack of flexibility, the truth is that these are just plain hard.

• Grasshopper results: 15 / 10 / 8 / 8 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 6 / 

Next up were the "headless horsemen" -- a modified kettlebell palm press. Starting with the kettlebell on the floor, we lifted it up with one arm, palmed it with the other hand at chest level, and then pressed the weight overhead. To keep from straining my recovering back, I didn't even attempt the RXed 24kg -- but let's be frank: Even if I was 100 percent, there's no way I would've been able to get through 8 Tabata rounds of these presses at that weight.

• Headless horsemen results: 5 / 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 / 5 / 4

Last but not least: "Cauldron jumps." "Get over the box whichever way you can," Tim had instructed. "You can jump all the way over the box, or do a regular box jump and then jump to the floor on the other side. You can do sideways box jumps. Or step up and over."

Before the workout, I had planned on hopping like crazy over the box, but I thought better of it after two things happened: (1) One of my 5 a.m. pals took a nasty tumble off his box soon after the WOD started, and whacked his elbow something fierce; and (2) the double-unders, grasshoppers and headless horsemen left me too tuckered out to go nuts. Plus, I reminded myself of my current goal: Recovery, not PRs. There would be no attempt to jump clear over the box.

I did, however, start with lateral box jumps, which saved me a bit of time. I didn't have to turn around to jump back the way I came; instead, I just hopped sideways to change directions. But after three rounds, my lower back gave me a warning twinge, and I knew I had to dial it down some more. For the remainder of the workout, I stepped up and over the box -- which, oddly enough, allowed me to rack up more reps than I would've completed had I kept jumping.

• Cauldron jump results: 10 / 8 / 7 / 9 / 8 / 6 / 6

Total: 335

Happy Halloween, boys and girls. And take it easy on the candy tonight.

Friday's Workout: Barbell Tabata

No better way to kick off the weekend than with a good thrashing.

Strength Skill: 

• Strict Weighted Pull-ups (5-3-3-1-1) 

I finished with 40 pounds on the weight vest, but I'm not even remotely close to my previous PR. The groove needs grease!

Metcon:

"A Lotta Tabata":

• 6 rounds of Tabata muscle snatches (45lbs / 35lbs - 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest)
• Rest 1 minute
• 6 rounds of Tabata back squat to push-presses (45lbs / 35lbs - 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest)
• Rest 1 minute
• 6 rounds of Tabata deadlift to bar push-ups (135lbs / 95lbs - 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest)
• Rest 1 minute
• 6 rounds of Tabata split jerks (45lbs / 35lbs - 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest)
• Rest 1 minute

For each of the four movements, count the lowest number of reps achieved in one 20-second set. Add up the four numbers for your score.

Hoo, boy. Who knew lifting an empty bar could be such a punch in the gut?

The muscle snatches weren't so bad. I did ten reps in each of the first few rounds, and I tried my damnedest not to dip below that number. But towards the end, I managed only nine muscle snatches in 20 seconds.

After a too-short one-minute breather, I had the same experience with the back squat to push-presses (which, for all intents and purposes, is just like a behind-the-head barbell thruster). I started with ten reps in each of the early rounds, but dipped down to nine by the end.

Even with exhaustion beginning to set in, I had a great time with the deadlift to bar push-ups (do a deadlift, then set the barbell down and do a push-up with your hands gripping the bar, touching your chest to the barbell). This is an unbelievably awesome full-body movement. It takes a while to do, though, and I managed only four full reps with each round.

Last up: Split jerks. Not having done these before, it took me a while to get accustomed to the movement. My natural inclination was to plant my right (dominant) foot forward and shoot my left leg back, but dorsiflexing my left ankle still makes me wince. After attempting that once, I switched it up, jumping my left leg forward so I could land more flat-footed. Unfortunately, my experimentation cost me a rep, and in my first set, I managed only seven split jerks. I was able to crank out eight in each of the next three rounds, but the extra rep didn't count, so in the final two sets, I decided to stop when I reached seven.

I got tired. Sue me.

Result: 9 + 9 + 4 + 7 = 29 as RXed.

Wednesday's Workout: Clean, Squat, Run

A fun, challenging, and surprisingly short two-part workout today:

• Part One - In ten minutes, establish your 1-rep max clean.

• Part Two – For time: Using 65-75% of your 1-rep max clean weight, perform 30 front squats and then run one mile.

I don’t know if it’s because: (1) I just finished a cycle of squat cleans, or (2) my legs were relatively fresh this morning, but I established a new PR by cleaning 10 pounds heavier than my previous effort.

For Part Two of the workout, I changed out of my lifting shoes and back into my trusty NB Minimus Trails. (I wasn’t about to awaken everyone in the neighborhood by clomping a mile down the street in my wooden-soled Adidas.)

The front squats weren’t a walk in the park, but I managed to get through the first 20 unbroken before dropping the barbell for a brief pause. The final few reps required a bit of extra strain, but it wasn’t until I tried to run that I really felt the impact of the squats. It took a good 20 yards of wobbling and weaving before I was able to steady myself and run in a straight line. (Still, it was infinitely preferable to the bottom-to-bottom Tabata squats plus 1-mile run workout we did back in January.)

Result: 9:23. I definitely wouldn't mind doing this one again sometime.

Friday's Workout

Eight people showed up for the 5 a.m. CrossFit class this morning -- a new attendance record! -- and that number doesn't even include the longest-tenured member of our tribe, who had mommy duty and couldn't make it to the gym. Until I joined the gym last summer, she was the only member of the 5 a.m. class. Then, in the fall, we were joined by the Marine, and later still, the Terminator. Other than the occasional visitor, the four of us were the flower shop mainstays. But all of a sudden, in January, interest in the 5 a.m. class has exploded. In three weeks' time, the class has doubled in size. The more, the merrier. It's great to see so many folks ready and willing to get their WOD on before the crack of dawn.

And today's WOD was pretty damned good.

Strength Skill:

• Strict Presses (2 sets of 3, 3 sets of 1)

I'm getting incrementally better at this, but I haven't yet hit my goal of pressing my bodyweight, which is still a head-scratcher for me. Why is it that I can crank out a good number of handstand pushups but can't press the same amount of weight on a barbell straight above me?

Metcon:

Like last Friday, we had some fun with the Tabata protocol today.

Continue reading over at The Five Tribe.

Friday's Workout

Do you even care about what I did today? Or where I did it?

If so, check this out. And this, too.

Tomorrow: CrossFit Endurance One-Day Run & Performance Seminar with Brian MacKenzie at CrossFit San Francisco. Can't wait!

(I'd write more, but I'm literally nodding off as I struggle to type this...)

Saturday's Workout

I normally rest on weekends, but this morning, when my wife started getting ready for her kickboxing class, I felt like a slacker. So I trudged into the garage to give the "Tabata This" workout a try:

• Tabata Row
• Rest 1 minute
• Tabata Squat
• Rest 1 minute
• Tabata Pull-up
• Rest 1 minute
• Tabata Push-up
• Rest 1 minute
• Tabata Sit-up

Each exercise is performed as a Tabata set: 8 intervals of 20 seconds of work, followed by 10 seconds of rest. After doing all 8 intervals of one exercise, rest for one minute before moving onto the next exercise. The entire workout (including breaks) takes exactly 24 minutes.



Your "Tabata This" score is calculated by totaling the least number of reps you were able to crank out in any of the 8 intervals (or, in the case of the row, the least number of calories burned during any of the eight intervals).

Results: Hoo boy. Here's how I did, round by round:

• Tabata Row: 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5

• Tabata Squats: 18 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18

• Tabata Pull-Ups: 11 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3

• Tabata Push-Ups: 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13

• Tabata Sit-Ups: 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15

My score: 5 + 18 + 3 + 13 + 15 = 54

The row and squats made my legs burn, but the pull-ups and push-ups were the moves that really did me in.

Friday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Pull-Ups

I managed fine with a 45-pound weight vest, but couldn't quite get my chin over the bar after loading it up with 50 pounds (about 40% of my bodyweight). Dammit.

Metcon:

Tabata:

• Max rep 53-pound overhead kettlebell swings
• Max rep Abmat sit-ups

Then:

• Max rep double-unders in 2 minutes

Result: 178 total reps (swings + sit-ups) / 32 double-unders

The Tabata protocol consists of 20 seconds of all-out, maximum effort work, alternating with 10 seconds of rest. Typically, one does eight rounds. For the workout today, this meant doing 20 seconds of max rep kettlebell swings, followed by 10 seconds of rest, and then 20 seconds of max rep sit-ups, and another 10 seconds of rest. And immediately doing the sequence again, eight times in total. Once this is done and you're gasping for air, you try to crank out as many double-unders as possible in two minutes. Total workout time: Just 10 minutes.

Believe it or not, this was incredibly fun. I love Tabata intervals. They're efficient, intense, and flexible enough to accommodate just about any kind of exercise -- from sprinting and jumping to squatting and pressing. The Tabata protocol's been shown to be super-effective at increasing anaerobic capacity and VO2 max, assuming you're pushing yourself as hard as you can during those 20 second bursts of energy. Plus, it's more effective for fat loss than long but low-intensity training.

Sunday's Workout

• Row 500 meters
• 70 one-handed kettlebell swings
• Row 500 meters
• 70 one-handed kettlebell swings

I rested briefly in between, but my actual time spent exercising totaled less than 7 minutes. Who needs an hour of cardio when you can get all the benefits from a short, intense set of intervals?

Music Makes You Work Out Harder (Sometimes)

A recent British study shows that generally speaking, music can prompt people to exercise harder. For participants in the experiment, "up-tempo music didn’t mask the discomfort of the exercise. But it seemed to motivate them to push themselves. As the researchers wrote, when 'the music was played faster, the participants chose to accept, and even prefer, a greater degree of effort.'”

This isn't the first study to find that music tends to ease exercise: "In a typical study, from 2008, cyclists who rode in time to music used 7 percent less oxygen to pedal at the same pace as when they didn’t align themselves to the songs."

However:

[T]here are limits to the benefits of music, and they probably kick in just when you could use the help the most. Unfortunately, science suggests that music’s impacts decline dramatically when you exercise at an intense level. A much-cited 2004 study of runners found that during hard runs at about 90 percent of their maximal oxygen uptake, a punishing pace, music was of no benefit, physiologically. The runners didn’t up their paces, no matter how fast the music’s tempo. Their heart rates stubbornly stayed the same, already quite high, whether they listened to music or not. 

That result, according to a 2009 review of research by Costas Karageorghis and David-Lee Priest, researchers who have extensively studied music and exercise, is likely due to the ineluctable realities of hard work. During moderate exercise, they write, music can “narrow attention,” diverting “the mind from sensations of fatigue.” But when you increase the speed and intensity of a workout, “perceptions of fatigue override the impact of music, because attentional processes are dominated by physiological feedback.” The noise of the body drowns all other considerations.

So while catchy new tunes by Ke$ha or Cee-Lo might help get you through a low- to moderate-intensity workout (e.g., a neverending mind- and leg-numbing hour on the elliptical trainer, treadmill, or on the roads), you might as well stow away your headphones when attempting a brief but brutally intense WOD or Tabata sprint session. Your Bieber Fever won't make a difference.

(Source: NYT)

Thursday's Workout

I decided to do the Tabata, Row, Tabata workout in my garage this morning.

It took me a while to get into a groove with the Tabata squats. My first and second sets (out of sixteen total) yielded my lowest rep counts (18 and 17), while my highest reps (20 per set) came in my ninth, tenth, and eleventh sets.

The biggest disappointment? It took me 4:14 to row 1000 meters. (But it was kind of nice to get some use out of my Concept2 rower after all this time. We've had our rowing machine for years now, but haven't consistently used it. The Concept2 is evidently the CrossFitter's rower of choice, however, and it's featured in plenty of the WODs, so I'll be hopping on mine much more frequently going forward.)



I have to stop writing now. I think my glutes and hamstrings are about to explode.

Tabata Run

Today's recovery workout:

3 sets of 6 bench presses
3 sets of 5 front squats
3 sets of 3 front squats
3 sets of 6 pull-ups
3 sets of pistols

I put on my Vibram FiveFingers KSOs and took off for a 20 minute Tabata run (alternating between 20 seconds of sprinting and 10 seconds of jogging -- I covered a surprising amount of ground here in Seattle and simultaneously squeezed in a nice interval workout).

And then, I chilled out in the pool.