Monday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Push Presses (5-3-3-1-1)

I was still sore from Saturday's lifting class at Catalyst, but oddly enough, I found myself looking forward to getting more practice lifting a barbell overhead. Push presses have never been my forte, and I didn't come close to my max weight today, but it felt good to get in the groove anyway.

Metcon:

• Row 500 meters
• 30 burpees
• 10 shoulder-to-overheads (165# / 95#)

Result: 6:23

This was a quick one, but not quick enough. We last did this workout a year and a half ago, and I finished in 5:52 -- half a minute faster than my time today. I have no idea where the time went; my 500-meter row time didn't vary much, my burpees were steady and unbroken, and I used the same weight as before. Perhaps I'm just getting slow in my old age.

Friday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Handstand Push-Ups (5-5-5-5-5)

My new favorite way to do handstand push-ups: Kip with one leg. Kipping keeps me from fatiguing too quickly, but I've found that when I kip with both legs, I tend to lose my balance and fall away from the wall. Keeping one leg up against the wall and kipping with the other leg is the perfect compromise: I can generate some additional pop with a strong kick while still maintaining a good amount of stability. Also, I've found that placing my hands a few inches outside of shoulder-width makes it a lot easier to push off without exhausting myself.

Between sets of HSPUs, we played around with rope climbs. A number of us were able to pull ourselves up to the top of the rig using just our hands, though it was murder on our skin.

Metcon:

6 minute AMRAP of:

• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...! burpees
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...! pull-ups

Rest one minute, and then:

6 minute AMRAP of:

• 200-meter row
• 20 dumbbell push presses (10 with each arm, 45lbs / 35lbs)

I sped through the first six-minute AMRAP as fast as I could. My goal was to go at a quick, steady clip and avoid pausing, and finished with 10 complete rounds for a total of 55 burpees and 55 pull-ups.

But then came the rowing and push-presses.

The rowing wasn't bad, but the 45-pound dumbbell was too heavy for me, and slowed me down immensely. I finished only two rounds of the push presses, for a total of 40 reps.

Result: 150 total reps as RXed.

Bear Complex!

What's a bear complex, you ask?

It's a barbell complex that consists of 5 rounds of 7 sets of the following sequence:

• Power Clean
• Front Squat
• Push-Press
• Back Squat
• Push-Press

You can't set the barbell down until each round is complete. Rest as needed between rounds, but keep increasing the load on the barbell until you find your max. Your score is the max weight with which you were able to complete a full round.

It sounds easy until you realize that this complex consists of 175 lifts in total.

Or until you watch others struggle through it.



Or until you try it yourself.

I tried it once before in my garage, but had forgotten how much I sucked at it, so I was excited to try it again with the rest of the 5 a.m. class at CrossFit Palo Alto. I was feeling giddy, and blazed through the first three rounds (at 65 pounds, 75 pounds, and 85 pounds). My plan was to lift 95 pounds during the fourth round and then jump to 115 for my final round, but Tim convinced me I was being a dummy. "Do the jump now, before you're too tired. Go for 105."

I finished (albeit just barely) the fourth round at 105. Good thing, too, because after I loaded the barbell up to 115, I crapped out before I could finish the final two sets of the fifth round. Was it disappointing? Yes. But I also enjoyed every second of this barbell complex, even as sweat poured off me in sheets.

I can't wait to attempt this one again. (And I will -- just as soon as I can move back into my house. I miss my garage gym.)

Wednesday's Workout

I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. More precisely: A monster truck named Murph.

Approximately 84.5 percent of me wanted to hurl my alarm clock against the wall and go back to sleep. But 12.5 percent of me recognized that my beloved iPhone was serving as my alarm clock, and stayed my hand. And the remaining 3 percent of me realized that today was my last chance to work out with the 5 a.m. crew until next Wednesday.

I staggered out of bed on legs that wouldn't bend, and pulled on my clothes with arms that refused to be raised more a few degrees. A slug of coffee later, I sprawled out on the floor of the hotel room, stretching and mobilizing as best I could. It was an unpleasant but necessary way to start the day.

After a creakier-than-usual warm-up at the gym, I paired up with Jay for some front squats. We got some decent weight on the bar, but both of us were feeling wrecked, and steered well clear of PR territory. I tried to focus on my form instead, working on leading with my elbows, pushing out my knees to generate torque, and keeping my gut tight.

Next -- the metcon:

• 5 rounds for time (with a 15-minute cap) of:

• 25 push-presses (75# / 55#)
• 50 double-unders

Surprisingly, my full-body soreness seemed to disappear once I got going. As soon as the clock started, my body somehow managed to crank out push-presses and double-unders without hesitation. (Well, for the first couple of rounds, anyway. After that, there was plenty of hesitation. I'm embarrassed to report that I took more than my fair share of mid-round rest breaks during the push-presses.)

Result: 14:48 as RXed. I snuck in under the wire by just 12 seconds.

And then I promptly went back to being sore.

Monday's Workout: Fight Gone Bad

I've been sick for the past few days (hence my absence from the gym on Friday), and was hoping to ease into the week with a nice little 5 a.m. workout.

No such luck. On the menu today: Fight Gone Bad.

Rotate through five stations, spending one minute at each:

• Wall ball shots (20lbs / 14lbs), 10 foot target. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Sumo deadlift high pulls (75lbs / 55 lbs). Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Box jumps (20″ box). Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Barbell push-presses (75lbs / 55 lbs). Each rep is scored as 1 point.
• Calorie row. Each calorie burned (according to the monitor) is scored as 1 point.

Rest one minute, and then repeat the five stations. Rest another minute, and then repeat all the stations again, for a total of three rounds.

The first time I did FGB was in September of 2010, when I eked out 209 points as RXed. It was ugly.

A year later, I attempted FGB again, and improved slightly, with 229 points as RXed. It was just as ugly the second time around.

But while Fight Gone Bad is certainly a grueling ass-kicker, it's really not much worse than any other grueling ass-kicker we've experienced at the gym. The difference is the nervous anticipation. We know months in advance that the Fight Gone Bad fundraiser is coming, so we end up psyching ourselves out. For a week before last September's FGB at CrossFit Palo Alto, I spent a few minutes each day working on my wall ball shots and push-presses in the hopes that the extra practice would pay off. I was excited about FGB, but I was also nervous about it.

A while back, Freddy Camacho wrote about "that anxiety you get when you first read what the workout is. We often experience what I like to call 'The Dread.' Nervousness, anxiety, making up excuses on why you don't need to work out that day...'The Dread' can kick your ass."

I suppose that points to another reason why I prefer going to the 5 a.m. class: The workout doesn't get written on the board until it's time to do it. All the subsequent classes eyeball the metcon as soon as they enter the gym, and I imagine they think about it as they warm up and complete their strength skills practice -- especially if the workout's particularly heinous. In contrast, those of us who show up at 5 a.m. are always surprised; after the WOD's revealed, we have just enough time to set up our equipment before the workout begins. We don't have the time to dwell on "The Dread." There's barely any "Dread" at all.

(Besides, we're barely awake enough to comprehend how challenging a workout's going to be until we're in the middle of it.)

Today, we jumped right into Fight Gone Bad without a second thought -- and it was great. Yes, it still whupped my butt. But even without practicing sumo deadlift high pulls in my garage all week, and despite still recovering from a cold, I set a new personal best.

Result: 239 as RXed. But before I get too carried away with myself, I should point out that a good number of my fellow 5 a.m. nutjobs beat my score this morning, including the Terminator, who competed in the NorCal 40s yesterday, where he finished in 13th place out of dozens of athletes. He found out we were going to do FGB today, and despite having completed 7 crazy WODs yesterday, he still showed up at 5 a.m. this morning. Clearly, the man is insane.

Friday's Workout

A fast one today.

Strength Skill:

• Push-Presses (5-5-5-3-3)

We kept it light this morning (I started at 95 pounds and finished at 125), and focused on technique -- changing directions and exploding up with speed, and keeping our bodyweight back and on our heels.

Metcon:

3 rounds for time:

• 21 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (24kg / 16kg)
• 15 kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 9 handstand push-ups

The kettlebell movements flew by, and my first round of handstand push-ups felt fine, but by the middle of the second round of HSPUs, I ran out of gas. It was a struggle to string more than three handstand push-ups together at a time, and my final HSPU rep took almost half a minute to complete.

I'll do better next time.

Result: 7:56 as RXed.

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.

Friday's Workout

Resting for a few days did me a world of good. My achy back still has a way to go before it's 100 percent again, but it's significantly looser than it was just a few days ago. I woke up this morning feeling better than I have in over two weeks. "Stay active," the doctor had said. So I headed back to the gym at 5 a.m.

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Ring Dips (3-3-3-1-1)

I worked my way up to a 28kg (62lb) kettlebell on the weight belt before calling it quits. For a moment, I considered trying to match my previous PR of 80 pounds...and then I realized I was just being a greedy idiot.

Metcon:

• Run 400 meters
• 21 sumo deadlift high pulls (95lbs / 65lbs)
• Run 400 meters
• 21 push-presses (95lbs / 65lbs)
• Run 400 meters
• 21 thrusters (95lbs / 65lbs)

We last did this workout almost exactly one year ago. Back then, I did it with the RXed weight of 95 pounds, and it took 12:39 for me to finish. (According to my blog post, I was dead last in my class.)

I struggled with the temptation to go RXed today so that I could compare my performance against last year's. But this was just more idiocy on my part. I'm injured; recovery is the name of the game. Besides, even if I went RXed, my results wouldn't be comparable because I wasn't hurt last October.

In any event, I scaled the weight down to 75 pounds, and as a result, the barbell lifts weren't too bad. My SDHPs were unbroken. I took one quick break halfway through the push-presses, and two breaks during the thrusters. My running was slow as molasses, but I still managed to finish the WOD relatively quickly.

Result: 10:23.

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.

Monday's Workout: Fight Gone Badder

On today's menu: Task Priority "Fight Gone Bad."

"And just what is that?" you ask. Well, it's just like the regular, garden-variety Fight Gone Bad, but instead of cranking out max reps for a minute at each station, you have to bust out 20 reps before moving on. In other words:

Three rounds for time:

• 20 Wall Balls (20lbs - 10' target)
• 20 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (75lbs)
• 20 Box Jumps (20")
• 20 Push Presses (75lbs)
• 20 Calorie Row
• 1 Minute Rest

I've never experienced great success with Fight Gone Bad; my all-time high score (set back in January) is a measly 229. But here was my big chance to score 300! (Because, well, everyone scores 300 in Task Priority FGB.)

I started at the push-press station today, and they weren't so bad. Neither was the row (which is a surprise, given how much I hate rowing). But the wall balls? They're still a big speed bump for me -- try as I might, I wasn't able to do 'em unbroken. Heck, by the third round, I was lucky if I could string together five in a row.

Result: 23:18 as RXed. Not great, but not horrible. At the end, I was a sweaty mess, but I didn't feel like dying or anything. Progress!

Best line of the morning was from Jay, who scraped his shin bloody with a barbell during the "Fight": "Yeah, but you shoulda seen the bar," he grinned.

Wednesday's Workout: Keep Going, And Going, And Going

Another good one today.

Strength Skill:

• Front Squats (2 sets of 3, 3 sets of 1)

I tried to add another ten pounds to my PR from last week, but had to dump the weight. As it stands, my personal best remains 205 pounds. I managed to reach my goal for the cycle, but wish I'd been able to go even heavier. Next time.

Metcon:

5 rounds for time:

• 5 push-presses (135lbs / 95lbs)
• 15 deadlifts (135lbs / 95lbs)
• 25 lateral bar jumps

The rate-limiting step for me: Push-presses. The deadlifts didn't pose a problem, but I wasn't even going to try to go RXed with this one. Hoisting overhead a barbell loaded with the equivalent of my bodyweight TWENTY-FIVE times? Not gonna happen. (Not until I become less of a weakling, anyway.) I dropped down to 115 pounds instead. It was the right decision; even at 20 pounds less than the RXed weight, the push-presses were plenty challenging.

Surprisingly, though, it was the lateral bar jumps that gave me the most trouble. Hopping from side to side was an unfamiliar movement, and my legs were burning from the lifts; as a result, my jumps were sluggish and slow. (Plus, I'm horribly uncoordinated.) After a while, I broke 'em up into twos: I'd jump across the bar and bounce back to my starting position, pause, and repeat.

From my spot at the back of the room, I could see everyone hopping around like mad: Jay, J-Ho, Colleen, Rachel, Jake. I spotted XFitMama gamely hopping over the bar. Despite being super-pregnant, she was definitely jumping faster than me. Next to me, Kyle was a blur, bouncing up and over the bar nonstop like a rabbit on speed. And across the room, Bob was hopping back and forth even faster. He ended up finishing the workout in something like five-and-a-half minutes. I'm surprised he didn't vibrate out of this plane of existence and back to his own dimension.

My result? 8:47. And although XFitMama beat me, I'm proud to say that I was thisclose to catching up with a woman who's due to give birth in a matter of days.

Wednesday's Workout: 3 Minutes Is A Long Time

My quads haven’t stopped aching since Murph, so I’ve been squeezing into a pair of compression pants before bedtime for the past few nights. As I’ve written before, multiple studies suggest that this body-hugging gear does appear to help reduce post-exercise trauma and muscle soreness when worn during recovery.

So did I notice a difference? Hard to say. I still woke up with stiff, sore legs. But hey: It’s deadlift day at CrossFit Palo Alto. I wasn't about to let a little achiness get in the way of another chance to work towards a new PR.

Strength Skill:

• Deadlifts (3 sets of 3, 2 sets of 1)

PEE ARRR, baby! My previous best was precisely 2X my bodyweight, but today, I managed to yank 5 additional pounds off the ground. Granted, I didn't exactly set the world on fire, but it still felt pretty friggin' heavy. It took everything I had to stand up with the weight. And just as soon as I hoisted up the bar, I lost my grip on it, and the plates dropped with a resonant KA-CLUNK!

From across the room, Tim admonished me for splashing the weights before getting set. "In a weightlifting meet, you gotta hold it ‘til the white light goes off!”

“Oh, I saw a white light all right,” I responded.

Metcon:

As many reps as possible:

• 3 minutes of strict presses (75lbs/55lbs)
• 3 minutes of rest
• 3 minutes of push presses (75lbs/55lbs)
• 3 minutes of rest
• 3 minutes of jerks (75lbs/55lbs)

There was a nasty twist to this one: During each 3 minutes of activity, the penalty for resting the bar -- either across the shoulders or on the ground -- was 5 burpees. Clearly, the objective was to keep moving for three minutes straight. Still, with 75 pounds on the bar, this didn't sound too hard. After all, what's three minutes?

Answer: An eternity, it turns out.

In the first round, I managed only 25 reps, and dropped the bar three times, which meant having to crank out 15 burpees. I expected the strict presses to be the most difficult of the three exercises, so I didn't freak out too much about my crappy performance. Still, I vowed not to drop the weight in the second round.

Didn't happen. In the second round, despite accumulating 31 push presses, I dropped the bar three times again. Another 15 burpees. Crap.

In the final round, I was determined to not only surpass my Round 2 results, but also keep the bar moving. No more burpees! No more burpees! No more burpees! I managed to eke out 32 jerks, but of course, I dropped the bar three times again -- the last time, just A HALF SECOND before time was up, which meant I had five final burpees to complete even after the clock had stopped.

Results:

• Round 1: 25 reps
• Round 2: 31 reps
• Round 3: 32 reps
• Total: 88 reps (and 45 burpees) as RXed.

The best thing about today's workout? I didn't once think about the soreness in my legs. The worst thing about today's workout? I'm going to have to wear a compression shirt to bed tonight.

Wednesday's Workout: The Need for Speed

A fast one today.

Strength Skill:

• Deadlifts (2 sets of 5, 3 sets of 3)

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.

Monday's Workout: Filthy

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.

For time:

• 50 box jumps (24"/20")
• 50 jumping pull-ups
• 50 overhead kettlebell swings (35lbs/26lbs)
• 50 walking lunges
• 50 knees-to-elbows
• 50 push-presses (45lbs/35lbs)
• 50 supermans/back extensions
• 50 wallball shots (20lbs/14lbs)
• 50 burpees
• 50 double-unders

When Muscle & Fitness profiled CrossFit a few years back, it filmed Andy Petranek’s CrossFit L.A. crew doing “The Filthy Fifty,” and described it this way:

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.

Result: 29:37 as RXed.

Wednesday's Workout

Another day, another sweaty workout on the island.

After a quick warm-up, the class got down to business.

Metcon:

For time:

• 50 Double-Unders
• 10 Pull-Ups
• 30 Dumbbell Snatches (30 pounds)
• 30 Overhead Kettlebell Swings (40 pounds)
• 30 Plyo Box Jumps
• 30 Dumbbell Push-Presses (30 pounds)
• 25 Double-Unders

Result: 11:59. The double-unders killed me -- I think I spent half the time doing nothing but struggle through the double-unders. At first, they were fine; I blazed through the first dozen or so in a row. But by then, I was winded, and had to huff and puff my way through the rest in mini-sets of three to six reps. The wet blanket of heat didn't help, either.

Strength Skill:

We finished off today with a grip strength move called Bottoms-Up Presses. I hadn't encountered this exercise before, but you basically grip a kettlebell tightly by its handle and invert the weight -- turn the entire kettlebell upside-down -- and press all the way up, straightening your arm, and balancing the kettlebell the entire way up and down. It's like a military press done with an upside-down kettlebell, and looks like this:



After a couple of sets of 5 reps with each arm, I called it a day. It feels damned good to work out the kinks before dedicating the remainder of the day to doing jack shit.

I happily spent the rest of the morning at the beach, where M went snorkeling, and I watched the kids giddily fling themselves into the ocean.