Wednesday's Workout

I woke up achy and cranky. After spending two days moving back into our house, I probably should've slept in, but didn't.

Strength Skill:

• Kettlebell Clean & Press (5-5-5-5-5)

Wow. I think I'm in love. From what I can tell, kettlebell cleans and presses -- done correctly -- are incredibly efficient (and effective) at developing power, strength, and coordination. Starting with your feet about hip-width apart and a kettlebell on the floor, you grip the handle with one hand, flexing your hips, knees, and ankles, and then use your legs to drive the kettlebell up to rack position in a straight line. "It's like zipping up your jacket," Tim cued us. With our core and lats engaged and elbows down and in, we were able to quickly and forcefully transfer the kettlebell up to a rack position before pressing it up into the sky.

Twenty-five reps with each arm were enough to get me toasty this morning, but I'd like to work this movement into my home workouts. They were fun, and deliver huge bang for the buck.

Metcon:

3 rounds for time:

• 10 hang power snatches (135lbs / 95lbs)
• 15 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 20 box jumps (24" / 20")

I scaled today's workout way down, snatching just 75 pounds and -- in light of my problematic left Achilles -- doing step-ups instead of box jumps. I could do the chest-to-bar pull-ups as RXed, but by the tail end of the workout, I had to bust them out one at a time. I can't imagine how long it would've taken me to finish the WOD if I'd gone heavier with the snatches and/or actually did some jumping.

Result: 10:11. 

On another note: As of today, the Nom Nom Paleo app has been available in the App Store for two months -- and it remains one of the top paid Lifestyle iPad apps! As of this moment, it's in the number 10 spot:

You can read more about the app here (and you can download it here), but for those of you who are interested in the backstory, I'm working on a series of blog posts about how Michelle and I created the app, from the inception of the idea and recipe development to working with a team of programmers and all the unexpected post-launch drama. Stay tuned...

Wednesday's Workout

So...tired...

I gotta make this quick. I'm about to pass out.

Strength Skill:

• Zercher Squats (5-5-3-3-3)

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.

We almost look awake!

Monday's Workout: Get Off The Floor

With M at work and no available babysitters, I wasn't able join the rest of the 5 a.m. crew at the gym this morning. (I suppose I could've snuck out of the house and left the kids unattended for an hour. So long as they remained asleep in bed, no one would have been the wiser! But I'm not that bad of a dad.)

Our garage has no room for cars.

I hate missing class. My garage is stocked with just about everything I need (except maybe a 2-pood kettlebell) to tackle a WOD, and I don't mind working out in my PJ-pants, but it's just not the same as kick-starting the week alongside the other early-morning nutjobs at CrossFit Palo Alto.

As soon as I realized I was going to be stuck at home on Monday morning, I sighed and shot Tim a text message asking what he had in mind for today's WOD. 

He responded last night via Twitter. "Ready?" he asked.

"Always," I responded, eager to find out what was in store for the morning.

"Row 2K."

I stared at the words on my iPhone screen, slack-jawed. Rowing is -- to put it mildly -- not my favorite thing in the world. My thumbs hovered over the keyboard; I couldn't think of an appropriate response that didn't include foul language.

"Get off the floor," Tim wrote a minute later. I'm not on the floor, I thought. Not yet.

But hey: I asked for it. So I hustled off to bed, determined to rest up for the morning shenanigans in my garage.

Strength Skill:

• Snatch to Overhead Squats (2 sets of 5, 3 sets of 3)

My three-year-old cried out at 4:20 this morning, frantic because he couldn't find his stuffed cat. I located his fuzzy toy (it was right next to him) and tucked him back in bed, but I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. Might as well get up and exercise at the same time as my 5 a.m. compatriots, if not in the same place.

After warming up, I eased into my snatches and overhead squats. It's been a few months since I last practiced snatches as a strength skill, and my first few awkward reps showed me just how rusty I'd gotten. Without the benefit of Tim coaching and cues, I took a short break to re-read skim the snatch chapter in Greg Everett's book and study a few videos on YouTube before continuing.



Resisting the temptation to go heavy, I managed to get into a groove after a couple of sets. Most of my reps felt solid (with the exception of a couple towards the end, when I failed to keep my chest up and ended up stumbling). I suspect I was distracted by the knowledge that it was almost time to mount the erg.

Metcon:

• Row 2K

I have bad news and good news about today's workout. (Yes, believe it or not, there's actually some good news.)

The bad news first: My goal was to finish sub-8 minutes, but I finished in 8:07 -- 3 seconds slower than the last time I attempted this workout (and 22 seconds slower than the first time I pulled 2K). By this objective measure, I'm moving in the entirely wrong direction. Plus, immediately post-WOD, I was flat on the floor for a good few minutes, panting and leaking fluids. (From my pores, people. My pores.)

I know exactly why I didn't beat my previous times. For the first 1000 meters, I deliberately kept a slower-than-usual pace in an attempt to conserve energy for the back half -- and it was a spectacularly dumb idea. At the 1K mark, I'd already let 3:57 slip by, and yet dialing back my speed hadn't stopped my legs from burning like crazy. At the midpoint of the workout, I realized my plan to save some gas in the tank had backfired. Try as I might to speed up and make up some time in the last 1000 meters, I couldn't. Live and learn.

But here's the good news: This time, after completing the 2K, I did not topple off the erg and curl up into a fetal position. My thighs did not clench up so hard that I had to pound on my quads to make them release. I did not roll around on the floor with my face contorted in a rictus of agony. My butt cheeks were Charley-horse-free. And I did not feel like barfing all over myself.

Instead, after a minute or two, I picked myself off the floor, walked into the kitchen, and ate a sweet potato.

Progress!

I dropped by the gym in the afternoon and watched Tim and Paul row 2K. This was the aftermath.

Monday's Workout: The Jerk Store

Strength Skill:

• Jerks (2 sets of 5, 3 sets of 3)

It's been awhile since our last encounter with jerks at the gym (as part of a strength skill workout, anyway). The movement felt good and smooth today, but I'm sure it's gonna look like crap once I start going heavier. My goal for this 3-week strength cycle is to jerk above my bodyweight (without putting myself in traction with crappy technique).

Metcon:

We did the CrossFit Games Open Workout 11.1 today -- a ten-minute AMRAP of:

• 30 double-unders
• 15 power snatches (75/55)

As a reminder, here's what it's supposed to look like:

 My double-unders did not look like this. At all. Why? 'Cause I'm still so rhythmically-challenged that I have to do a single-under between each double-under. This means, of course, that with every round, I have to jump 60 times instead of 30. In a workout like today's, this is a recipe for: (1) exhaustion, (2) frustration, and (3) a crap score. Today, despite feeling pretty decent about heaving the barbell overhead, I eked out only 3 rounds + 31 reps for a score of 166 (as RXed).

The worst part? My inability to string together my double-unders is all in my head. (I think. I hope.)

I NEED MY FRAKKING DOUBLE-UNDERS. But I'm sufficiently self-aware to know that I'm not going to put in the practice necessary to push past this mental block until/unless I set a deadline for myself. So here's it is: I'm giving myself two weeks to crank out at least 5 consecutive double-unders with zero single-unders in-between. If I can't pull this off, the penalty is 100 burpees and everlasting shame.

[UPDATED: Got 'em!]

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...

Monday's Workout

I'm still coughing up a lung over here. But I went to bed at 9 p.m. last night, so I got 7+ hours of sleep, which felt awesome.

Strength Skill:

• Snatches (3 sets of 3, 2 sets of 1)

The hook grip hurts. But after Tim pointed out that my hands were too far apart on the bar, I narrowed my grip, and it felt better. Not Palmolive-good, but better.

Metcon:

For time:

• 25 pull-ups
• 50 air squats
• 800-meter run
• 50 air squats
• 25 pull-ups

"This is right up your alley," Tim said to me. He's right: I love bodyweight workouts like you wouldn't believe. And we hadn't done pull-ups in a WOD in a while, so I was excited about getting up on the bar again.

I'm stoked (holy crap -- I just realized I haven't written the word "stoked" in at least 15 years) that I was able to peel off the first round of 25 pull-ups without stopping. I'm less stoked that I had to hop off the bar five times during the last round.

On another note: My torrid love affair with my new shoes continues. This was the perfect WOD for my New Balance Minimus -- they didn't drag me down on the pull-ups, they gave me a sufficiently solid heel base for air squats, and they were awesome for running.

Result: 7:34 as RXed. Not too shabby, but I think I can do better next time.

Monday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Snatches (2 sets of 5, 3 sets of 3)

It's been half a year since we last practiced snatches in class -- and though the movement feels less foreign this time around, I'm rusty.

On paper, snatches don't seem that difficult: Just grab a barbell with a wide grip and fling it overhead in one fluid motion. In practice, though, even hang power snatches -- where you start with the weight suspended above the ground and end with your thighs above parallel -- pose a significant challenge to the coordination-impaired (like me).



Oddly enough, though, the thing that bugged me the most today was the hook grip, a method that calls for wrapping one's fingers around both the thumb and the bar like this:

Over the past few months, I've gotten used to using a hook grip when practicing barbell cleans, but the wide grip required for snatches put more pressure on the inside part of my thumbs. I didn't enjoy the discomfort, but with practice, I'm sure I'll get accustomed to snatching with a hook grip sooner or later.

Metcon:

• Run 400 meters
• 15 dumbbell power cleans
• Run 400 meters
• 15 dumbbell squat cleans
• Run 400 meters
• 15 dumbbell squat clean-thrusters

The best (read: most difficult) movement was saved for last -- when everyone's legs and arms were already on fire. The RXed weight for men? A pair of 45-pound dumbbells. So did I go RXed? Oh, hell to the no.

Result: 10:04.

Wednesday's Workout

Strength Skill:

Zercher Squats

I tried for a new PR today, but ended up dumping the bar. Still, I matched last week's weight, and was able to crank out more reps today, so I'm not too bummed out.

Metcon:

"777"

7 rounds for time:

• 7 barbell snatches
• 7 plyo box jumps

Result: 8:05

My legs and shoulders are still creaky and sore from Monday, so I dialed down the weight on the bar for my snatches (I used 65 pounds instead of 95) and scaled down the height of the box (24 inches instead of 30). It was a fun workout, but completing 49 snatches and 49 box jumps wasn't easy; my transition times (from bar to box and from box to bar) kept getting longer as I got increasingly winded.

Sunday's Workout

Just some easy snatch practice with a PVC pipe this morning.

I'm glad I decided to conserve my energy; tomorrow's metcon workout at the gym has already been announced, and it's appropriately named "Nutts":

• 10 Handstand Push-Ups
• 15 Deadlifts @250 pounds
• 25 Box Jumps (30" box)
• 50 Pull-Ups
• 100 Wallball Shots (20 pound ball, 10' target)
• 200 Double-Unders
• Run 400 meters with a 45 pound plate

Holy hell.

Monday's Workout

On days when I'm stuck at home, it's nice to have a garage that's sufficiently stocked with the equipment needed to do the same kind of workout that the folks in my gym are doing today.

Strength Skill:

Power Snatches

I like 'em, but my movements are still kind of awkward. With more weight added this time around, I found it more challenging to explode under the bar, and kept losing my balance. And somehow, I managed to smack my forehead with the bar (not too hard, thankfully) on my second-to-last set.

Metcon:

3 rounds for time:

• 400-meter run
• 15 dumbbell power cleans
• 15 ring dips

Result: 12:14. My first set of ring dips were a breeze, which led me to believe that the subsequent sets wouldn't pose a problem. But the third round was humbling; I had to take my last few reps as singles.

Monday's Workout

Strength Skill:

Power Snatch



Nailing the power snatch is going to be a challenge. It requires more complex movements than I'm used to, and only with lots of practice will my body get used to powerfully cranking the barbell over my head in one smooth, explosive lift. But I'm getting there; even with just one twenty minute session, I've improved more than I expected.

Metcon:

AMAP (As Many As Possible) in 10 minutes:

• 10 Barbell Front Squats
• Max rep full-range push-ups (with hands off the ground at the bottom of each push-up)

Result: I ended up doing 5 rounds of front squats and push-ups. My push-up reps: 37, 21, 14, 11, 10 -- 93 total.

I'll be lucky if I can move my arms before tomorrow.