I paired up with the Terminator. His first set was 225 pounds. Mine was 135.
My last set (at 195 pounds) ended with a missed rep, but otherwise, the Zerchers felt pretty good.
Metcon:
AMRAP in 12 minutes:
12 power snatches (95# / 65#)
10 knees-to-elbows
8-calorie row
Yup -- snatches again. Given the high-rep nature of this WOD, I went with 75 pounds, but even with the light weight, my form was all kinds of terrible.
Weirdly enough, I found myself looking forward to the rowing during this workout. And I hate rowing.
Result: 4 rounds.
On the plus side, I got to do this WOD with the entire 15-member Five Tribe of CrossFit Palo Alto. Amazingly, it's the first one we've all done together at the same time.
I missed last week's OHS practice, so I was looking forward to today's session. Overhead squats are quickly becoming one of my favorite full-body movements -- it demands flexibility, strength, and stability, and forces me to stay mindful of proper posture. And although we don't do overhead squats very often, I've seen progress every time we revisit them, which makes me want to come back for more.
Plus: I got to wear my new Reebok Olys today while squatting -- and it's all about the shoes. (By the way, they actually felt a bit too spongy for my taste; I think I'm going to remove the inserts to see if that helps.)
Before today, I think my heaviest overhead squat was 105 pounds. But I was feeling pretty good this morning at the gym, and ended up with a new PR of 125 pounds. It was on my last set, and there wasn't enough time to shoot for more. Still, I felt like there was still a little left in the tank, and I really wanted to try overhead squatting my bodyweight. After class (and CoffeeWOD), I came home and did it in my garage, cranking out a 135 pound OHS. Yay for me.
In CrossFit Palo Alto parlance, a badger crawl is a modified bear crawl using bent (rather than straight) legs and arms. (I know some folks do bear crawls with bent legs and arms already -- if that's the case with you, then badger crawls are synonymous with your version of bear crawls.) For today's WOD, each lap of badger crawls consisted of going down the length of the gym and back.
I discovered that I can scamper pretty quickly when on all fours -- probably because I have short, stubby legs that keep me close to the ground. The badger crawls were also a welcome respite from the forearm-numbing swings and KTEs.
CrossFit Palo Alto's closed for Turkey Week, so for the first time in a long while, I got to play around in my garage with some of my toys. Some of them -- like my Fat Gripz -- have been sitting in a box for a month, waiting for me to get off my ass and try 'em out.
Now that my back's feeling better, I want to work on getting it stronger -- and so my plan is to start doing some low-rep sets of deadlifts and strict presses, mixed with some super-short metcons. Sound familiar?
Dallas and Melissa of the Whole9 have a PTP template from their CrossFit 603 days, so I decided to jump right in with their programming for Day One. First up: the "Buy-In":
3 rounds:
20-second handstand hold
15 Russian kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
10 box jumps (20″)
This was a fun way to kick off the morning and get the blood pumping rushing to my head. Once I was nice and toasty, I was ready for PTP.
I had trouble wrapping my thumbs around the width of the Fat Gripz -- my grip felt much more awkward than I expected -- but the starting weight was light, so I managed just fine. We'll see what happens as the weight on the bar starts creeping up.
Press:
Warm up: A few reps at a light weight
Set 1: 60% of 1-rep max, 3-5 reps
Set 2: 90% of Set 1 weight, 3-5 reps
I used the Fat Gripz on the strict presses, too, though I don't think it made much of a difference. Presses don't rely much on finger strength, so I'll probably skip the Gripz for this movement next time.
Cash Out:
3 rounds for time:
30 double-unders
15 knees-to-elbows
This sounded easy, but the KTEs rocked my world. I cranked out the double-unders without much trouble, but they wiped me out enough to make the knees-to-elbows a royal pain in the butt. Also, to be consistent, I'd stuck the Fat Gripz on the pull-up bar, too -- and it didn't take me long to start regretting it. Getting a handle on the bar was much more challenging than I anticipated, and my hands kept slipping off. Ugh.
Result: 4:27 as RXed.
I need bigger hands. My teeny little baby hands aren't cutting it.
After five long days away from the gym, I was looking forward to joining my fellow 5 a.m. nutjobs at CrossFit Palo Alto today. Alas, M was at work, and my in-laws weren't available this morning, so I was grounded again. I wish I could say I slept in, but like clockwork, my eyes popped open at 4:20 a.m. Groaning, I pulled the covers over my head and tried to go back to sleep.
Another bummer: I missed the triumphal return of XFitMama. Despite giving birth less than two months ago, she's already in full-on beast mode: She did the WOD as RXed on her first day back at the gym. (Not a surprise, considering that this is the same firebreather who was doing WODs with unassisted pull-ups while nine months pregnant.)
Despite missing the 5 a.m. class, I was determined not to skip another day at the gym. I'd considered (for about a half-second) being a smart, reasonable person and resting my ankle, but I'm pretty sure I would've gone stir crazy if I'd stayed away. So in the end, I moved heaven and earth (otherwise known as a meeting and a conference call) in order to hit the noon class at the gym.
The class was packed with familiar faces; it was great to hang out with Lawyerhands (who thoughtfully brought me a bag filled with OldSkoolBoarder's various ankle braces), Carol (who occasionally pops in at 5 a.m.), Alma, Carmela, Jimmy and others. It was also oddly gratifying to see that I wasn't the only one with a bum foot in class today. Two(!) others were hobbling around due to extracurricular injuries, and during warm-ups, the three of us formed a sad little group in the corner, unable to do jumping jacks and high-knees.
Strength Skill:
Cleans (5-5-5-3-3)
Jimmy (who also has a sprained ankle) and I paired up and got through two ankle-jarring sets of cleans before we hung it up. Tim had us practice kettlebell cleans instead, which -- while a nice change of pace -- aren't quite as fun as squat-cleaning a barbell. Then again, I'm biased: I discovered today that I kind of suck at kettlebell cleans. Another skill to practice!
Metcon:
"9/11" - 5 rounds for time:
9 push-presses (95lbs / 65lbs)
11 knees-to-elbows
I did a few push-presses yesterday in the garage, and they were less than comfortable whenever I dipped and forced my ankles to flex. But for whatever reason (maybe because I took Tim up on his offer to treat my ankle by yanking on my foot before class?), my push-presses were surprisingly decent. This isn't to say that I was particular fast or graceful during today's WOD. On more than one occasion, I tipped forward at the top of my presses, which lifted me awkwardly onto my toes. And starting in the third round, I had to dump the bar a couple of times mid-set, which slowed me down considerably. My knees-to-elbows weren't super-fast, either -- but on the plus side, I didn't further wreck my hands.
I paired up with Kyle, stacking plates on the bar after every set until I could no longer lift the damned thing off the floor. I managed just one rep on the final set, despite not coming close to reaching my previous PR (set in February).
But hey: It's technique week. Speaking of which, Tim reminded us of one important pointer that I'd entirely forgotten: Keep your head in alignment with your torso, so that your neck is in neutral position relative to your spine. Don't crane up your neck by lifting your chin -- it'll put massive strain on your neck and lower back, and siphon power away from your lift.
Your starting position should look like this:
Not this:
It may not look like a big change, but it definitely helped. A lot. This is why Tim gets paid the big bucks.
To avoid spoiling the surprise for my fellow CrossFit Palo Alto members, the rest of the workout is hidden after the jump. Everyone else can feel free to check it out.
I showed up to class a few minutes before 5 a.m. Tim was already at the whiteboard, writing out today's workout.
I exchanged sleepy hellos with The Marine and the Terminator, and started stretching. One by one, the others arrived, and the low hum of morning conversation filled the gym. But Tim was noticeably silent. I looked over at the board.
He was still writing.
"You can put the pen down anytime," I yelled out. He laughed and kept scribbling.
Ten up-tempo exercises, each more demanding than the one before it, each requiring 50 near-perfect repetitions. Today, Petranek leads the way and finishes in 20:43 -- besting his previous record on this by nearly eight minutes -- then crumples to the floor struggling to catch his breath.
Yeah, these long metcons are kind of crazy -- but they're also sadistic fun. Once you throw yourself into the workout, the trepidation and pain disappears, and you end up focusing like a laser only on the immediate task at hand. In a way, it's kind of zen. Only sweatier.
I'm not saying I killed this workout. My knees-to-elbows were slow (I desperately need to work on my grip strength) and the wallball shots took forever. By the time I had to launch into my set of 50 burpees, I found that I couldn't string more than four or five together at a time.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed just about everything else that "The Filthy Fifty" had to throw at us. There's nothing like starting a morning flat on your back, making sweat angels on the gym floor and laughing about the sheer ridiculousness of it all.
To make sure I didn't kick off the week with another set of penalty burpees, I arrived at the gym a few minutes early this morning. But I wasn't the only eager beaver. As I got out of my car, our two favorite CrossFitting Marines pulled into the space next to me. And the Terminator was already inside the box, stretching. All in all, a dozen sleepy souls made it to CrossFit Palo Alto at 5 a.m. to shake off the weekend cobwebs.
Strength Skill:
Jerks (2 sets of 3, 3 sets of 1)
I maxed out with a jerk just slightly (ten pounds) above my bodyweight. Unfortunately, I still had two more single (max) rep sets to go. Adding more weight didn't seem to do much, though, except bruise my ego and make loud noises when I was forced to dump the bar each time. Still: I hit my goal for this cycle -- and notched a new PR to boot.
Drizzly morning. Perfect weather for getting sweaty.
Strength Skill:
Snatch Balance (2 sets of 3, 3 sets of 1)
Better than last week. Yes, I had to dump the weight once, and I still have a tendency to jerk the bar rather than explode under it, but my last few reps weren’t half bad. Besides, I managed to up the weight this week. (I’m still only at 2/3X bodyweight, but hey: Rome wasn’t built in a day, you know. Patience.)
My forearms were on fire. And my legs. And my hands.
Before we began, I positioned myself next to the Terminator. He smokes me every time, leaving me choking in his dust, but that’s exactly the motivation I need to fuel my workouts.
To my surprise, I somehow managed to stay slightly ahead of the Terminator throughout most of the WOD this morning. But he’s a machine, and with less than two minutes left on the clock, he steadily closed the gap until he pulled in front. In the final few seconds, I caught up to the Terminator -- barely. We tied, each having completed 6 rounds + 24 reps.
On days like this, the benefits of working out alongside other CrossFit crazies are clear. There’s no way I would have pushed myself this hard if I’d done this WOD alone in my garage.
I was feeling pretty good this morning, but jerks are not my forte. Lighter weights (~115 on the barbell) aren't a problem, but I start to struggle a bit when jerking above my bodyweight. The problem: I don't explode under the bar fast enough, and end up short of fully extending my arms in the catch position, which forces me to muscle up the bar.
Later today, I'm going to catch up on the Mobility WOD stretches I haven't yet done. But after that, I'm just going to plant myself on the couch and read Greg Everett's book on O-lifting:
I was going to make it a 2000-meter row, but I think I would have collapsed and expired. And even with just a 500-meter row, this workout took me a whopping 17:45 to finish.
I felt great this morning when I showed up at my CrossFit affiliate, but my sunny disposition was quickly pounded out of me.
After a quick warm-up (I did a bunch of dumbbell snatches to knock off another Level One testing requirement), we practiced doing single leg deadlifts. I figured I could just cut my normal deadlift weight in half and crank out a bunch of these babies. Sounds logical, right?
Not so much.
Doing deadlifts on one leg challenges not just your strength, but your balance as well. (Duh.) I ended up lifting only about 115 pounds, which is kind of embarrassing. (I kid you not: The 105-pound girl next to me pulled more weight than me.)
I tried to make up for my suckage during the metcon. On today's menu:
3 rounds for time:
15 Hanging Knees-to-Elbows
15 Handstand Push-Ups
20 Kettlebell Snatches
I finished in 7:08, though to be perfectly honest, my handstand push-ups (HSPUs) were actually pike push-ups, and I only used a 35-pound kettlebell. But I'm committed to practicing until I get better at this -- especially HSPUs.
