Wednesday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Overhead Squats (3-3-3-1-1)

Diving into overhead squats this morning, I was actually pretty happy with my form. I made sure to drive my knees out and keep my chest up and armpits forward; as a result, my reps felt stable and strong. I cautiously worked my way up to 125 pounds today, but feel like I had more in me...

...but then I saw the metcon on the board:

"Air Force WOD"

For time:

• 20 thrusters (95lbs / 65lbs)
• 20 sumo deadlift high pulls
• 20 push jerks
• 20 overhead squats
• 20 front squats

Plus: Every minute, on the minute: Drop whatever you're doing and do 4 burpees.

It took no time at all to get through the thrusters and sumo deadlift high pulls. But by the time I finished the push jerks, the burpees had taken their toll.

And then came the overhead squats.

It didn't matter that we'd practiced them just minutes before. At this point, my arms and legs were noodles. I snatched the bar up overhead to get in position for the OHSs, but almost fell backwards. By the time I stumbled through a handful of reps, it was time for more burpees.

Result: 13:50 as RXed.

It took me almost four minutes just to complete 20 overhead squats.

But hey: Better than last time, right?

Friday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Front Squats (5-5-3-3-3)

I paired up with the Terminator today, but I couldn't match the weight he was squatting. I couldn't even match my own PR of 205 (set over a half-year ago). In my last set, I eked out a few reps at 195 pounds, but ended up dumping the weight. New goal for this cycle: 215 or bust.

Surprise! No metcon today -- just lots of barbell work, which I loved. This was perfect for me; my metabolic conditioning's already pretty decent, but I'm nowhere near as strong as I'd like to be. I was excited to see a WOD pop up on the schedule at CrossFit Palo Alto today that prioritized strength and form over speed.

In place of the metcon, here's what we did:

5 rounds (not for time):

• 4 strict presses
• 3 push-presses
• 2 push jerks

I eventually made it up to 105 pounds, but this workout was harder than it looked. Just because the clock wasn't ticking didn't mean I wasn't getting fatigued by all the pressing and jerking.

Speaking of fatigue, I'm passing out as I type this. Not kidding. Must. Sleep. Now...

One More Time

I woke up less sore than I thought I'd be, so I headed back to Lahaina CrossFit to squeeze in one last workout before leaving the island.

Warm-Up:

• Row 500 meters
• 20 kettlebell swings
• 20 air squats
• 20 push-ups
• 20 push-presses
• 20 wall balls
• 20 pull-ups
• 20 lunges

We had fifteen minutes to complete the warm-up, which was plenty of time to finish all eight of the warm-up exercises. I was pretty sweaty by the end, though. And while I've never been a huge fan of the "Your Workout Is My Warm-Up" line, it felt apropos this morning.

Strength Skill:

• Push Jerks (5-5-3-3-1-1)

"We're not aiming for a one-rep-max today," Anthony said at the start of the workout. "We're just working on technique."

Nice. My form is rusty, and I couldn't remember my PR anyway. Once I got close to jerking my bodyweight, I called it a day.

Metcon:

"Baker's Dozen" - AMRAP in 13 minutes of:

• 13 kettlebell swings (53lbs / 35lbs)
• 13 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (53lbs / 35lbs)
• 13 toes-to-bar
• 13 burpees

Lucky thirteen. This was a doozy; after ripping through the kettlebell swings and SDHPs, trying to hang on for the toes-to-bar was a special kind of hell. It was enough to make me almost -- almost -- look forward to the burpees.

Result: 4 rounds + 40 reps as RXed.

After class, I lingered to chat with S and K, a super-fit couple in the 8 a.m. class at Lahaina CrossFit. We ran into them last night at the Old Lahaina Luau, where they work. Our family was wowed by S's beautiful hula dancing, and bowled over by K's gregarious charm. (Photos from our luau experience are on M's blog.) They're also two of the most friendly and inviting folks we've met on an island full of generous, warm people, and it was great getting to know them better.



You wouldn't ever know it from looking at him, but K told me that not too long ago, he was over 40 pounds heavier. Then, he and S started doing P90X (8 rounds!) and Insanity, and then moved onto CrossFit. Now, they're looking into Paleo. Sound familiar? I wish I could say that I'm just like S and K, but that would be wishful thinking; I could only hope to be as fit and strong (and nice!) as these two.

Maybe it's something in the water here. Or maybe I should move here to Maui and see if some of the mojo rubs off on me.

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: Overreaching

After practicing strict and kipping pull-ups in class this morning, we were treated to "Air Force WOD":

• 20 Thrusters (95lbs / 65lbs)
• 20 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (95lbs / 65lbs)
• 20 Push Jerks (95lbs / 65lbs)
• 20 Overhead Squats (95lbs / 65lbs)
• 20 Front Squats (95lbs / 65lbs)
• Plus: Start with 4 burpees -- and every minute thereafter, on the minute, drop whatever you're doing and bust out 4 burpees.

When we did this back in November, I'd used a 95-pound weight for all the movements EXCEPT the overhead squats. It was the first time we'd encountered overhead squats in a workout, so when we got to them, we stripped the weights off and squatted with the bar. Afterwards, we loaded the plates back on to finish up our front squats. It took a whopping 15:27 for me to finish.

But that was eight months ago. After eyeing the whiteboard for awhile, I decided to try to go RXed. Ninety-five pounds is just Fran weight for the thrusters, right? And I can easily sumo deadlift high pull, push-jerk and front squat 95 pounds. Yeah, the overhead squats'll be challenging, but I got this, I told myself. I got this.

I REALLY need to stop listening to myself.

More after the jump...

Friday's Workout: Burpees or Sleep?

I pry open my eyes and peer over at the clock. 4:05 a.m. Fifteen minutes 'til the alarm goes off. It's still pitch black. No sense in abandoning my warm bed just yet. I close my eyes.

I roll over and look at the clock again. 5:13 a.m.

SHIT. I'd dozed off, and I hadn't set the alarm. Class had already started.

I weighed my options. The penalty for arriving more than 5 minutes late for class at CrossFit Palo Alto is 20 burpees. I wouldn't have to do any of 'em -- or whatever crazy metcon Tim had up his sleeve -- if I just pulled the covers up over my head. Plus, I knew we were scheduled to practice ring dips today -- something I could always do later in my garage. Most tempting of all: If I skipped class, I'd get another hour-and-a-half of sleep before having to rouse the kids for school.

On the other hand, I hate missing class. HATE. IT. Missing class means I go into withdrawal and pretty much turn into a raging butthole.

My decision -- after the jump.

Friday's Workout

As part of our warm-up, the 5 a.m. class took a slow 400-meter jog while Tim wrote the workout on the whiteboard. When we got back to the gym, he was still writing. Even when the pen started running out of ink, he kept going.

Uh, oh. Not a good sign.

The gory details, after the jump...

Friday's Workout

Call me a masochist, but when the alarm goes off at 4:20 in the morning, I'm already buzzing in anticipation of the early-bird class at CrossFit Palo Alto. It's not 'til I arrive in the parking lot that a little bit of rationality fear creeps in.

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Pull-Ups (2 sets of 3, 3 sets of 1)

Horrible. I've lost about 15 pounds off my PR. I'm either getting weaker or heavier. Or both. Plus, I almost strangled myself with the weight vest. All in all, my pull-ups were kind of a disaster this morning.

Metcon:

For time:

• 500-meter row
• 21 sumo deadlift high-pulls
• 500-meter row
• 21 push jerks
• 500-meter row
• 21 barbell thrusters

The RXed weight for men is 95 pounds (65 for women), so I loaded up the bar without pausing to consider that we'd be finishing with thrusters. More on that later.

The rowing was surprisingly un-terrible today. No one's going to mistake me for having blazing speed on the erg, but at the very least, I was able to keep a consistent pace and reasonable stroke rate.

The lifts, though, were tougher than I expected. When I got to the sumo deadlift high pulls, I felt like I was still on the rower. With SDHPs, the full-body pulling movement is very similar to rowing -- down to the hand positioning and sequencing -- only it was heavier and much less smooth with a weighted barbell. 

I found the push jerks to be slightly better, and was able to crank out more than a dozen in a row before having to drop the bar. (I still need to work on consistently and fully locking-out at the top, though).

In the end, it was the thrusters that did me in. I went in thinking that 95-pound thrusters were totally doable. It's no worse than the first round of Fran, right? But after over 10 minutes of explosive hip-driving movements, I was spent. I reeled off a half-dozen reps at the start before dumping the bar, and then I managed another four in a row, but then had to eke out the rest in dribs and drabs -- three here, two there. My form was disastrous: I was jumping off the ground to heave the bar up, and landing on my toes. By the end, my brain was fried; I lost count twice, and had to dust off my crappy math skills to calculate how many thrusters were left in the set. So while I think I did 21, I honestly wouldn't be shocked if I actually did 19 or 23.

Even as I sit here now, I can't remember my time. 14:30, maybe? 14:20? 14:50? Whatever it was, it felt like forever.

T.G.I.F.

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Friday's Workout

Strength Skill:

Strict Presses (3 sets of 3, then 3 sets of 1, working up to a 1-rep max)

I'm kind of terrible at these. Sadly, this movement doesn't allow for any lower body movement; with my legs straight and knees locked, I can't use my hips to help drive the barbell above my head. My one-rep max? A measly 115 pounds. Let the mocking laughter commence.

Metcon:

You'd think that after a max effort press workout, our metcon would focus on something other than hoisting and pressing barbells. But then you'd be wrong.

For time:

"Air Force WOD"

• 20 Thrusters
• 20 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
• 20 Push Jerks
• 20 Overhead Squats
• 20 Front Squats
• Plus: Every minute, on the minute: Drop whatever you're doing and do 4 burpees.

It looks like this:



I decided to do it RXed with a full 95 pounds on the barbell, but it took me forever and a half (15 minutes and 27 seconds, to be exact) to get through this hell. (Point of comparison: Some guys can finish this workout in less than 4 minutes.)

The overhead squats sucked big time, which didn't come as a total surprise, given that I'd never done overhead squats before. But the worst were the front squats. I usually have no trouble with 'em, but after doing 80 reps of various O-lifts and God-knows-how-many burpees, I thought my wrists were going to snap off during the final round.

Plus? Even though they're not listed, you end up doing a ton of cleans, because after each round of burpees, you gotta get the bar up off the ground.

Note to self: Next time, blaze through this workout as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the extra burpees and cleans'll kill you.