All Good Things...

So after two and a half years of waking up in the middle of the night to get ready for 5 a.m. CrossFit classes, our merry bunch of early birds is abruptly disbanding. Turns out the gym has residential neighbors who aren't super-jazzed about being woken up by the sounds of barbells and grunting.

When I joined CrossFit Palo Alto in the summer of 2010, Steph was the only other person crazy enough to stick to a 5 a.m. schedule. But after a few months, we were joined by the Terminator. And then Mint came (and left). And Jackie joined, and Jason, and Jay, and Jake, and on and on, until there were 15 of us "regulars" in the class. 

Three days a week, these were the folks with whom I'd start the day. Half-asleep, I'd stumble into the gym, bedheaded and bleary-eyed, and spend an hour sweating alongside my fellow sleep-deprived nutjobs. It's not like we spent a lot of time chatting in class -- I'm not nearly awake enough to engage in intelligent conversation before 5:30. But our class had a great, supportive vibe, and the friendly competition kept me on my toes.

Could I have attended class at a later (and saner) time of day? Sure -- but I always looked forward to seeing the 5 a.m. crew. It's hard not to like the people with whom you've spent hundreds of hours over the course of the past 30 months, and it's the primary reason why I always set my alarm clock for 4:20 a.m.

But at least for now, the 5 a.m. class is kaput. Most of us are moving to crashing other classes, and the rest are finding other ways to lift heavy and move fast. I'm joining the 6 a.m. class along with a handful of other 5 a.m. refugees, so the silver lining is that I'll get three extra hours of sleep each week. And hopefully, we'll get to drop our weights without fear of the cops getting called.

Last order of business? The 5 a.m. class's two final workouts:

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we practiced Zercher squats -- a favorite of mine. Even better: This is a strength skill that doesn't require the use of my wrists, so my injury was irrelevant. (And yes, I'm still -- STILL! -- on the mend.) We also got a metcon that I didn't have to modify: AMRAP in 7 minutes of burpees.

The workout required that we jump and stand atop of a 45-pound bumper plate at the end of each rep. I did the burpees on my fists, and kept a fairly steady rate throughout. I was aiming for 100 burpees, and despite my best efforts to accelerate towards the end, I ended up one short. 

Result: 99 as RXed. So close! Still, I'm pretty happy with my score -- especially given that it took me almost a minute longer to complete 100 burpees last year.

Friday

I had much more trouble with the assigned movements in our final 5 a.m. workout. While the class practiced strict barbell presses, I had to settle for kettlebell and dumbbell presses. And the metcon looked like this:

• 15 chin-ups
• 10 wall balls (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 12 chin-ups
• 15 wall balls (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 9 chin-ups
• 20 wall balls (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 6 chin-ups
• 25 wall balls (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 3 chin-ups
• 30 wall balls (20lbs / 14lbs)

I can't yet catch a wall ball without destroying my wrist, so I did thrusters with a pair of 15-pound dumbbells instead. And I did the chin-ups from a pair of Olympic rings to reduce the strain on my wrist, too. Looking back, I'm glad the chin-up ladder was descending; by the end of the workout, my chin-ups were ugly and slow.

Result: 7:48.

With any luck, the 5 a.m. diaspora will be short-lived. But who knows? I suspect I might get used to the extra sleep...

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.

Monday's Workout: Flop & Sweat

Strength Skill:

• Cleans (3-3-1-1-1)

I'm not sure I was fully awake until I failed spectacularly at establishing a new 1 rep max squat clean this morning. The act of loading 20 extra pounds over my previous PR weight must have psyched me out; instead of using my legs to power me through the second pull, I yanked with my arms. The result: I pulled the barbell so far back that I landed flat on my back, with the barbell over my neck. (Don't worry -- there was plenty of clearance between my neck and the bar.)

I couldn't help but bust out laughing. This is the second class in a row I've back-flopped; last Friday during warm-ups, I attempted a freestanding handstand and ended up flipping all the way over and crashing down on the floor.

If nothing else, I'm quickly becoming an expert in impressive displays of physical incompetence. My next goal: Learning to fall down the stairs.

Metcon:

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 10 minutes:

• 10 hang dumbbell snatches - right arm (45lbs / 35lbs)
• 10 clapping push-ups
• 10 hang dumbbell snatches - left arm (45lbs / 35lbs)
• 10 chin-ups

This looked fun and -- dare I say it -- easy! Clapping push-ups? No problem! After all, I did tons of 'em with P90X a bazillion years ago, right? And chin-ups? Piece of cake! Maybe the dumbbell snatches would prove more challenging, but I was confident I could bust 'em out, too.

And then, I had this exchange with Tim as I went over to grab a weight:

Me: "Hey, do we have more 45 pound dumbbells?"
Tim: [Pointing to my ankle] "Are you a hundred percent?"
Me: "Uh, no."
Tim: [Makes a face.]
Me: "Uh, okay." [Grudgingly picks up a 35 pound dumbbell instead.]

And of course, he was right. The light dumbbells were my saving grace, because the clapping push-ups and chin-ups ended up being a lot more challenging than I initially thought. The first couple of rounds went relatively smoothly (though in my excitement, I started doing the chin-ups out of order and didn't realize it until I was halfway through the first set).

But by the third round, I had to abandon my goal of going unbroken on the clapping push-ups and chin-ups. Each time I landed after a clapping push-up, my arms felt like jelly. And instead of flopping on my back, I now found myself flopping on my belly.

Result: 4 rounds + 23 reps.

Monday's Workout

Here's a handy tip. If, in the past twelve days, you've:

• Worked out just once;
• Slept an average of five hours a night;
• Spent most of your waking hours planted on your ass;
• Driven over 1600 miles; and
• Ingested copious amounts of barbecue, offal and some ice cream to compensate;

THINK TWICE BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO SWING THE 70-POUND KETTLEBELL IN A WOD -- especially one that includes the term "AMRAP" in the instructions.

Our workout today at CrossFit Palo Alto:

5 rounds of:

• AMRAP in 3 minutes of 3 strict chin-ups, 6 burpees and 9 overhead kettlebell swings
• 1 minute rest

Heaving around a 70-pound kettlebell seemed like a super-swell idea throughout my first round of swings. Unfortunately, I was done with that initial round ONE MINUTE INTO THE WORKOUT. That left 14 full minutes of desperation and regret.

Kyle and I matched each other rep-for-rep during the first couple of three-minute rounds, but by the middle of this workout, I had fallen significantly behind. After a while, I wasn't able to chuck the heavy kettlebell over my head more than a few times before flinging it to the floor and catching my breath.

HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? I WAS WEARING MY NEW CHRIS SPEALLER SHIRT, FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!

The silver lining: The chin-ups and burpees seemed easy by comparison.

Result: 9 rounds + 16 reps as RXed. My goal was ten rounds, but I missed it by two kettlebell swings. Maybe I should've laid off that big ass plate of meat yesterday.

Pull-Up Bar: Best Bang for Your Buck

I get why people opt for budget-friendly, door-mounted, easy-on/easy-off pull-up bars. But given the number of pull-ups that I've done over the past 15 months, a good, solid-mounted pull-up bar is hands-down the best piece of equipment I've invested in. At the very least, I won't end up on video compilations like this one:



If you're in the market for a new pull-up bar, I highly recommend getting one that bolts to your wall or ceiling. (I know: Some folks -- apartment dwellers, etc. -- may not be able to do this due to space or lease constraints, but I'm just sayin'.) I still rave about the rafter-mounted pull-up bar I bought last year -- it's cheap, easy to bolt to the rafters in your garage, and super-stable. It's not currently in stock at Amazon, but you can order it from the New York Barbell Company. For those of you looking to avoid shipping charges, Amazon does offer a couple of similar bars from the same manufacturer: A ceiling mounted bar and a joist-mounted bar.

Other options: This one -- also sold by Amazon -- looks pretty decent. Rogue Fitness sells a stud-mounted pull-up bar that's a bit pricier, but looks strong as a tank. (I've not tried this bar, but can vouch for Rogue's quality -- everything I've bought from them have been rock-solid.) And Rogue makes a great portable bar, too -- you don't even need a door.

[UPDATED: Reader/commenter Mike has good things to say about the StudBar, too -- I hadn't come across it before, but it looks just as rock-solid as the Rogue mounted bar.]

But now that M is also regularly practicing her pull-ups, I have to admit that I'm weighing whether to build my own. It looks doable, even with my lack of proficiency with power tools.

Friday's Workout

First up: Weighted chin-ups.

I managed to crank out some 1.5X bodyweight chin-ups (with a 50-pound weight vest on and a 20-pound dumbbell between my legs) but was completely out of gas by the end.

I need to practice these at home -- which means I'm either going to have to shell out some moolah for a weight vest (good ones are not cheap) or cram some heavy rocks into a BabyBjörn.

Next up: Metcon.

3 rounds for time:

• 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 10 barbell front squats
• 10 burpees

It took me precisely 7 minutes to finish, and another 3 before I could breathe normally again.

Friday's Workout

I am officially declaring my love for practicing chin-ups at the CrossFit gym.

I have my reasons: (1) I find them to be much easier than pull-ups, which I hate; (2) I'm (BRAG ALERT) actually pretty decent at chin-ups; and (3) when we practice chin-ups in the strength/skills portion of our CrossFit class, it's highly unlikely that we'll have to do any pull-ups during the metcon.

But after doing a bunch of weighted chin-ups, we still had a WOD to finish:

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 12 minutes:

• 5 Ground-to-Overhead Lifts (I opted for squat cleans followed by push-presses)
• 10 Burpees
• 15 Plyo Box Jumps

I was halfway through my sixth round (4 Burpees in) when the clock ran out.



I always assumed "Burpees" were so named because it made people want to expel stuff from deep inside them (and "Barfees" doesn't have quite the same ring to it), but it turns out that they were actually named after...somebody.

According to some, the exercise was likely named after Lieutenant Thomas Burpee, a Revolutionary War-era officer in the New Hampshire Militia who had "the innate Burpee fondness for martial exercises." It's speculated that he introduced Burpees as a fitness and conditioning (and disciplinary) tool for the troops he commanded.

The Oxford English Dictionary, however, traces the origin of the word to Royal H. Burpee, an American psychologist who developed the "Burpee Test" in the 1930s and 40s to measure physical agility and coordination.

Regardless, I hate 'em.

Friday's Workout

Finally -- a (sort of) easy CrossFit skills workout!

At the friendly neighborhood CrossFit gym this morning, we worked on dead hang chin-ups by doing 3 sets of 5, and then 3 sets of 3. Thanks to months of chin-ups in various P90X workouts, this was a breeze. Noticing the ease with which I cranked out my first set, Coach T started adding weights. But even with a heavy dumbbell jammed into my crotch, this wasn't much of a challenge. I know the point of today's session was to develop neuromuscular connections and to master the technique, but three chin-ups per set are nothing compared with the high-rep sets in Chest & Back, Back & Biceps, and 30-15 Upper Body Massacre.

Thank you, Tony.

On the other hand, today's metcon was a killer:

• 10 ascending-rep sets (i.e., 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10) of Sumo Deadlift High Pulls

alternating with

• 10 descending-rep sets (i.e., 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1) of Barbell Thrusters

Here's what a sumo deadlift high pull looks like:



I finished in 10:54, but I barely put any weight on the barbell (75 pounds). Also, the girl in my 5 a.m. class who usually SMOKES me in metcons finished over a minute after I was done, which leads me to suspect that I miscounted my reps/sets and ended up doing less than I should have.

Or she miscounted and did too many.

Or I am awesome. Which is highly unlikely.