Workout, Interrupted

Wondering where I've been?

I've been up to my eyeballs with work these days, having recently shifted my responsibilities to cover international markets at work (on top of my existing workload). Practically speaking, this means my days are spent emailing people in the Middle East at 5 in the morning, tackling my U.S.-based workload during the middle of the day, rushing home to take calls from Hong Kong in the early evening, and talking late into the night with business partners in India. My free time's devoted to daddy duty and helping Michelle with Nom Nom Paleo-related stuff. Meanwhile, this blog has gotten the short end of the stick.

I'm still heading to CrossFit Palo Alto in the wee hours of the morning to work out, though my day job has managed to intrude upon even my sacrosanct exercise time. The most stark example came this morning, when my WOD was interrupted by an unexpected (and unexpectedly frantic) 45-minute cell phone call from overseas about an urgent work matter. Fun times.

This was particularly frustrating because I'd been looking forward to getting back into the gym this morning. This was likely my second-to-last CrossFit class before heading off on a three-week business trip to Asia, so I was hoping to get my sweat on. The first half of the class delivered, with a workout of 10 strict ring rows every 2 minutes for 10 minutes, interspersed with max height box jumps.

The ring rows felt fine, though the fatigue set in by the final couple of rounds. It didn't help that I'd gotten four (count 'em: FOUR) shots in my shoulder in preparation for my travel to India. I'm used to feeling sore, but not this kind of sore.

And then: The metcon. It involved rowing, which meant I automatically hated it:

• Row 1000 meters
• Rest 5 minutes
• Row 1000 meters

"Go all out," Tim advised. I did, and it hurt. The first 1K took me 3:47 to complete, and my stubby little Asian man legs were on fire. I logged my time into my iPhone, gritted my teeth, and stumbled back to the erg. Let's get this over with, I thought. My five minutes of rest were almost up when I heard my phone start ringing. It was an urgent work call from Egypt.

Being on call at all hours of day can be...challenging.

As much as I detest rowing, I wasn't exactly a fan of delaying the inevitable, either. Instead of resting five minutes between the two 1K rows, I ended up with over an hour in between. After a lengthy phone conversation, a short drive home, a half-hour spent making breakfast for the kids, and a few business-related emails, I grabbed my water bottle and headed into the garage to (finally) finish the workout on the rower in my garage.

"How was it?" Michelle asked when I staggered back into the kitchen a few minutes later. "3:58," I said. "I sucked."

But at least I finished it.

And then I showered, popped my typhoid fever vaccine pills (yum?), and went to work. Whee!

Scoreless

I don't think I've ever done a workout at CrossFit Palo Alto that hasn't been scored -- until today.

Here's what we did:

4 rounds of:

• 3 minutes to complete a 12-calorie row, 10 overhead kettlebell swings, and 10 ring dips; and
• 3 minutes to complete a 12-calorie row, 10 wallballs (I did thrusters instead), and 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups.

The faster you crank 'em out, the more rest you get before the 3 minutes are up. And going balls-to-the-wall obviously yields a more intense interval workout. But after the first couple of rounds of this 24-minute workout, I finally figured out that it probably made more sense to pace myself, and to strike a better balance between speed and form. Knowing there was no score to target made it easier for me to focus on what I was doing.

But to be honest, I was still trying my damnedest to finish as fast as possible.

Whine, Whine, Whine

So when the doc said it would take "six to eight" weeks for my wrist sprain to heal, I chalked that up to him being a pessimist. Despite having zero medical knowledge or training, I was confident that I'd recover much more quickly. (See? I'm all about positive thinking!) It'll take four weeks tops, I told myself.

Not so much.

It's been over four weeks since my sprain (though it feels like four months), and I still can't put pressure or weight on my flexed wrist. Olympic lifts, push-ups, handstands, wall balls are all still on my no-go list. Consequently, I've had to modify most all of the gym's programmed workouts to accommodate my stupid, stupid wrist.

Here are our most recent workouts:



No snatches for me. I did kettlebell cleans and presses instead. Result: 10:29.

"Holleyman" looked like a fun one (well, except the wall balls). But I wasn't able to do any of the movements in this workout. I subbed out dumbbell thrusters for the wall balls, ring rows for the HSPUs, and a 70-pound kettlebell clean for the power clean. Result: 27:27.

On Monday, I attempted this run / ring dip / overhead reverse lunge workout as RXed, but after the first round, my wrist was aching. For the final two-thirds of the workout, I did ring rows (again) in place of the ring dips, and for the reverse lunges, I held a light kettlebell up overhead instead of a barbell. Result: 12:13.

I recognize that I'm overly impatient, and that in my eagerness to get back into the swing of things, I often bite off more than I can chew. (Also: I'm an annoying whiner. Obviously.)

But is it really going to take another two to four weeks for my wrist to heal? Really? Because I'm going to be totally insufferable until then.

Last Friday Feels Like a Million Years Ago

Honestly? I can't remember how long it took me to finish last Friday's workout. Guess I should blog more frequently, huh?

I do recall, however, repeatedly attempting bar muscle-ups prior to our metcon, and failing over and over again.

I've done ring muscle-ups, but bar muscle-ups are terra incognita for me. I almost managed to crank out one -- on my last try, I got my upper body over the bar, and my left arm was in position to push up, but my wonky right shoulder gave out and I flopped back down. Argh.

I'm so close to getting a bar muscle-up that I can almost smell 'em. Sadly, my right wrist has been sore and swollen since the weekend, which means I've gotta take it easy for a little while. But I've got my eye on you, bar muscle-up.

Catch Up

Crap. I forgot to post last Friday's workout. I wish I could blame it on work (which has, in fact, exploded recently), but I had all weekend to write. It just slipped my mind -- probably because I was busy teaching the boys to dance Gangnam Style.

Come on -- I know you want to watch it again.


Anyway...

Having been knocked down with a fever and sore throat for a solid week, I was looking forward to getting back in the gym on Friday. We practiced weighted ring dips  before the metcon was announced:

• 15 toes to bar
• 15 hang power cleans (115lbs / 85lbs)
• 15 box jumps (20")
• 12 toes to bar
• 12 hang power cleans (115lbs / 85lbs)
• 12 box jumps (20")
• 9 toes to bar
• 9 hang power cleans (115lbs / 85lbs)
• 9 box jumps (20")
• 6 toes to bar
• 6 hang power cleans (115lbs / 85lbs)
• 6 box jumps (20")
• 3 toes to bar
• 3 hang power cleans (115lbs / 85lbs)
• 3 box jumps (20")

Forty-five reps of toes-to-bar and hang power cleans? My wrists started weeping before the workout began. I decided to stick with the women's RXed weight because: (1) I am weak, and (2) I am not altogether stupid.

Result: 11:05.

This morning, I returned to the gym feeling like myself for the first time in ten days. (My voice still sounds terrible, but I feel fine.) Good thing, too, because I love me some kettlebell snatches. We practiced until my arms felt like they were going to pop off, and then:

"Elizabeth"

• 21 power cleans (135lbs / 95lbs)
• 21 ring dips
• 15 power cleans (135lbs / 95lbs)
• 15 ring dips
• 9 power cleans (135lbs / 95lbs)
• 9 ring dips

Remember how I said I'm not altogether stupid? Well, that means I'm still somewhat stupid -- which explains why I decided to do Elizabeth as RXed today. The last time we did Elizabeth, I used a 115-pound barbell -- a smarter move. Cranking out consecutive reps of 135 pound power cleans is doable for me...for about a dozen reps. After that, I had to eke 'em out in mini-sets of two or three.

(Clearly, my math skills are nonexistent. On Friday, I blanched at the thought of doing 45 reps of 115-pound cleans, and opted for 85 pounds instead. But today, I decided that 45 reps of 135-pound cleans sounded just fine and dandy. I'm an idiot.)

In the second round, I started no-repping. Twice, I failed to get my elbows down and around the bar fast enough, and ended up splashing the bar. Strange sounds started coming out of my throat.

On the plus side? All the ring dip practice we've been doing paid off -- I got through those fairly quickly.

Result: 10:28 as RXed.

A Long, Long Time Ago...

Friday's workout seems like a lifetime ago, but I've been so swamped with work (and, frankly, sick with a bad cold) that I haven't been able to summon the motivation to post about it. Still, I feel like I ought to jot down what we did before the details are completely lost to the fog of memory.

As I recall, we did a bunch of weighted ring dips as our strength skill before moving onto a quick-and-dirty metcon:

3 rounds for time:

• 12 power cleans (95lbs / 65lbs)
• 400-meter run
• 12 pull-ups

Result: 10:15 as RXed.

The power cleans were fast and fluid, as were the pull-ups (which I did unbroken). My running, though, was another matter entirely. Every time I hit the run, I was passed by several of my fellow 5 a.m. nutjobs.

I've never been much of a runner, though my gut tells me that in the past year, I've gotten a lot worse. When we lived in San Francisco, Michelle and I used to run regularly (okay, semi-regularly) through Golden Gate Park or around Lake Merced, and just a few years ago, I was logging as much as ten or fifteen miles a run. No, I wasn't fast or light on my feet, but I'd built up enough endurance that I didn't feel like keeling over every time I ran for a few hundred meters.

But these days, it feels like I'm dragging.

So my new goal? Run more. Not a lot more -- but enough to get my butt in gear again.

Of course, all of this is going to have to wait until I get over this damn cold. I hate, hate, HATE being sick.

Friday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Ring Dips (5-5-5-3-3)

I think I was still half-asleep when I did these because I honestly can't recall much about 'em at all. Either that, or I'm getting forgetful in my old age.

Metcon:

"11,250"

Remember this one? There's nothing subtle about it: You just deadlift 11,250 pounds for time.

It doesn't really matter how you hit the magic number. You can do 50 reps at 225, or 100 reps at 112.5 pounds. Me? I chose to do what I did back in March: 61 reps at 185.

And just like last time, I sped through the first 30 reps, and then hit a wall. By the time I got to my last 5 reps, I had to eke 'em out as singles. The difference? I eked 'em out a lot faster this go 'round.

Result: 4:28 as RXed -- almost two minutes faster than last time! The PR, however, came with a price: Two days later, I'm still sore as hell.

Monday's Workout

D’oh! I forgot to post yesterday. Memory loss: It’s a side effect of adrenal fatigue and lack of sleep. To the best of my recollection, here’s what we did yesterday at the gym.

Strength Skill:

• Cleans (5-3-3-1-1)

My shoulders and arms are still reeling from Friday’s 101 push-presses. The silver lining? This helped keep me from relying on my arms while doing cleans. I will say, though, that in my present state of soreness, getting my elbows up in the rack position didn’t feel especially awesome.

Metcon:

• 21 dumbbell burpee snatches – right arm (45# / 30#)
• 21 ring dips
• 21 dumbbell burpee snatches – left arm (45# / 30#)
• 21 ring dips

I went with 35 pounds instead of the RXed 45, fearing that the dumbbell burpee snatches would annihilate me. They didn’t look fun when Tim demonstrated the movement: We were to drop down while holding a dumbbell in one hand, perform a push-up while holding onto the dumbbell, jump up into a squat position, and then snatch the dumbbell from the floor to an overhead position with a locked out arm. (They look sort of like this, but with a push-up at the bottom.)

Yuck.

But when the workout began, I found that the burpee snatches weren’t so bad after all. I was able to find a decent (though not particularly quick) rhythm, and got through the first 21 without stopping.

The problem was the ring dips. I hit a wall very early on in the workout: After my first 8 or 10 ring dips, my arms were fried. I spent the rest of the workout struggling to string together more than a couple of ring dips at a time.

Again: Yuck.

Result: I can’t remember. It’s only been 36 hours since I did this workout, and can’t recall my time. Sad. I desperately need more sleep.

Wednesday's Workout

Is it possible that we've never done Elizabeth in class before? I combed through my blog archives, but can't find any mention of having previously done this workout. It's probably for the best, though, 'cause this crap was intense.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, we did Zercher Squats. I tried my damnedest to hit a new PR today, but fell just short when I realized I couldn't get up out of my squat during my final rep. The Zerchers had felt fine up to about 200 pounds, but once I got past that point, I struggled mightily, and ultimately had to dump the bar. Next time...!

Then, as I mentioned above, we tackled Elizabeth as our metcon workout today:

• 21 cleans (135# / 95#)
• 21 ring dips
• 15 cleans (135# / 95#)
• 15 ring dips
• 9 cleans (135# / 95#)
• 9 ring dips

Before the workout began, I practiced cleaning 135 pounds. It was totally doable, but I had to be honest with myself: There was no way I had enough gas in my tank today to speedily rip out 45 reps. I opted instead for a 115 barbell.

When the clock started, I quickly cranked out a dozen or so cleans before stopping, but once I did, I had trouble regaining my momentum. The ring dips were even worse; I never did more than 8 in a row today -- and more often than not, I was struggling through one or two at a time.

Still, I couldn't have asked for a better workout to slap my sleep-deprived face and tell me to get to work.

Result: 9:36

Wednesday's Workout

I woke up at 4 this morning to trade emails with the Nom Nom Paleo iPad app development team. We're getting close to the finish line, folks.

After swigging an espresso, I grabbed my gym bag and headed out the door. It was Fun Time.

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Ring Dips (3-3-3-1-1)

Per Tim's recommendation, at the top of my ring dips, I tried to get myself into a properly externally-rotated position. It didn't feel quite natural, but as K-Star points out, "That's the stable position of the joint."



Yet another movement I need to practice!

Metcon:

5 rounds for time:

• 9 deadlifts (135# / 95#)
• 6 hang power snatches (135# / 95#)
• 3 overhead squats (135# / 95#)

"We're going for speed," Tim intoned as we scurried off to grab barbells and plates. None of us were going to overhead squat 135 pounds. And frankly, I knew I wasn't even up for the women's RXed weight. I've never managed to snatch over 95 pounds, so there was no way I was going to speedily get through 30 reps at that weight. Seventy-five, I decided. 

It was a manageable weight -- heavy enough that I had to set down the bar in the middle of my last few rounds of snatches, but light enough to whip through this workout fairly quickly. 

Result: 5:48.

But here's the sad part. One third of this WOD consisted of 30 snatches at 75 pounds. If a workout consisted of just those 30 snatches at that weight, I could crank through them fairly quickly. (Granted, it might look super-ugly, but whatever.)

At 5 p.m. tonight, the second WOD of the 2012 CrossFit Games Open was announced:

As many reps as possible in 10 minutes of:

• 30 snatches (75# / 45#)
• 30 snatches (135# / 75#)
• 30 snatches (165# / 100#)
• Max rep snatches (210# / 120#)

I'm not doing this workout until Saturday, but I already know my score: 30. That is, unless I somehow figure out how to add forty pounds to my snatch PR in the next two-and-a-half days.

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.

Wednesday's Workout: Three-Quarters Nicole

A fun one today.

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Ring Dips (5-5-3-3-3)

The right side of my neck felt pinched this morning, but after grinding out a few ring dips, the tightness went away. I didn't go super-heavy today, but in my final set, I managed to eke out a few reps with a 44-pound kettlebell dangling from my weight belt. My goal is to get to 60 pounds by the end of this cycle.

Metcon:

AMRAP in 15 minutes of:

• Run 400 meters
• Max rep pull-ups

As soon as you drop off the bar, you have to run another 400 meters before coming back to do more pull-ups. To derive your score, add up the total number of pull-ups completed. In other words, this is a shorter (15-minute instead of 20-minute) version of "Nicole."

I love pull-ups, but running's not my strong suit, so I decided to employ a bit of strategy. When well-rested, I can usually string together close to three dozen pull-ups in a row, so my plan was to treat the running as active recovery, and to save my all-out effort for the pull-ups. It seemed to work; by conserving energy during the run, I was able to stay on the bar longer, and complete more reps in each set. Plus, I ended up running less, too -- I did the 400-meter run just 4 times.

Results:

• First round: 32 pull-ups
• Second round: 20 pull-ups
• Third round: 15 pull-ups
• Fourth round: 11 pull-ups

Total: 78 pull-ups as RXed.

Still, there's room for improvement. The Terminator beat me by two reps at the very end, when I dropped off the bar with just a few seconds to go in the workout. My cyborg friend was losing his grip, too, but managed to adjust his hold on the bar and rip out a few more pull-ups before time was called. I should've hung on, but didn't.

Next time...

Tuesday's Workout

I'm crazy busy trying to juggle a bunch of projects -- some work related, some not -- but I managed to squeeze in a half-hour of lifting this evening. (It helps that the kids are spending the night with grandma and grandpa -- no hour-long bedtime ritual tonight!)

After a quick warm-up on the erg, I dove into Day Two of the Whole9's version of the Power to the People protocol, following this formula for both deadlifts and strict presses:

• Set 1: +5lbs from Day One, 3-5 reps
• Set 2: 90% of Set 1, 3-5 reps

In particular, the deadlifts -- albeit light -- feel great. I'm doing my best to nail my form, making sure that my butt doesn't rise ahead of the rest of my body, and keeping my head and neck in line with my spine. Also, I'm trying to be slow and deliberate in my movements, both to increase time under tension as well as to train my brain and grease the groove.

Afterwards, I practiced some power cleans and squat cleans, and cooled down with two short sets of ring dips.

And that's all, folks!

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: Taking It Easy

I was thisclose to staying in bed this morning. I'm scheduled to attend Patton Gleason's Flow Running Seminar at CrossFit Palo Alto tomorrow afternoon, so for a brief moment, I contemplated playing hooky today. But I'd seen the doctor at the sports clinic again yesterday, and he'd encouraged me to keep mobile, so I pulled myself out of bed. I figured I'd join my fellow 5 a.m. nutjobs and see what I could do in the gym.

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Ring Dips (5-3-3-1-1)

To make sure I didn't aggravate my back, I didn't add any weight today, performing only bodyweight dips. And I didn't follow the rep scheme; I settled for just three solid sets of three. The slow reps felt good and clean, and I'm glad I resisted the urge to throw on some weight just to appease my ego.

Believe it or not, I'm doing my damnedest to focus on active recovery rather than the usual all-out RXed craziness.

Metcon:

For time:

• 22 kettlebell swings (32kg / 24kg)
• 500-meter row
• 22 burpees
• 100 double-unders
• 22 kettlebell swings (32kg / 24kg)

As soon as I saw the kettlebell swings, I knew I had to scale this one way, way down. In recent months, I've worked my way up to 32kg (70lb) overhead kettlebell swings in metcons, but I knew going anywhere near RXed today would result in a disaster of epic proportions. Heavy swings would surely exacerbate my back problem.

"What can I sub in place of the heavy swings?" I asked Tim.

"Light swings," he said. Right. Duh.

I picked up a 16kg kettlebell and cranked out a couple of practice swings. They felt light -- too light, I thought. But then again, maybe "too light" was exactly what I needed. It would get my back muscles moving without unduly straining them.

Even with a light weight, I wanted to be careful. "Am I going to wreck my back even more with the kettlebell swings?" I asked XFitMama.

"Don't go overhead. Stop at chest level," she advised. XFitMama is usually the first to go balls-out on WODs (remember when she did Kelly in her eighth month of pregnancy?), so when she suggests scaling down, I listen.

As a result, the kettlebell swings were easy and fast. I also rowed conservatively, bracing my core, making sure not to overdo the pull, and aiming for a slow 'n steady 2:00 time. The burpees and the double-unders were the movements I could do without worrying about my back, so I dove into those; I quickly learned, though, that burpees are no picnic after rowing, and the double-unders aren't easy after burpees. Nonetheless, I managed to consistently string together a couple dozen double-unders at a time, and got through the rope-jumping pretty quickly. And with a super-light kettlebell, the final set of swings were over in a flash.

Result: 8:14.

Admittedly, I felt a twinge of envy when I spotted Mark and the Terminator ripping out 70-pound kettlebell swings. But I didn't feel an ounce of regret.

Friday's Workout: I Didn't Fart 56 Times

A rip-roarin' WOD to end the week.

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Ring Dips (5-5-5-3-3)

I didn't go super-heavy today, and ended my final set with a 24kg kettlebell dangling between my legs -- a whopping 27 pounds below my PR from May. Even so, I can already tell that the gym's new Rogue dip belts are going to make weighted ring dips a lot more comfortable. It sure as hell beats jamming a dumbbell into my crotch. The chain and carabiner make it a breeze to load up with a kettlebell and/or plates. "But how does it stay on?" XFitMama asked when she saw that the belts don't tighten or buckle. My reply: "The junk in my trunk keeps it from falling off." That, and magic.

Metcon:

• Tabata wall ball shots (20lbs / 14lbs; 10' target)
• Rest 30 seconds
• Tabata shuttle run
• Rest 30 seconds
• Tabata roll-ups

Score = Total reps.

After all eight 20-second rounds of wall balls were done, I was spent. The shuttle runs were more like shuffle runs as I willed my legs back and forth across the length of the gym. By the time I got to the roll-ups -- a scaled version of toes-to-bar -- I was pretty well fried. To perform a roll-up, you lie down on a thin mat and kick both legs up and over your head 'til they touch a kettlebell on the floor behind you. My shirt kept riding up, and the suction created by my sweaty lower back against the mat produced a loud, wet farting noise each time I cranked out a rep.

"I swear I'm not farting," I assured XFitMama, who occupied the spot next to me. I'm not sure she heard me -- but I'm sure she heard every Hershey-squirty ppbbbt! emanating from the general vicinity of my butt. They were perfectly timed; with each and every rep, as my legs went over my head and my butt aimed skyward, a wet raspberry ripped through the air. The more I thought about it, the more I pondered how awesome it would be if a person could toot out 56 farts in 4 minutes. And then I couldn't stop giggling.

Results: 67 wallballs + 48 shuttle runs + 56 roll-ups = 171 reps as RXed.

I SWEAR I WASN'T FARTING.

Wednesday's Workout

I felt a lot less wrecked this morning, but some residual soreness is still cramping my style.

Strength Skill:

• Deadlifts (5-3-3-1-1)

Near the end of my deadlift practice this morning, Tim reminded me that I was able to rip out 49 reps at 245 pounds in a WOD just a couple of weeks ago. By all rights, I should be able to pull a lot heavier in a low-rep workout like today's. But for whatever reason, I couldn't. Just like last week, I struggled with 255-pound deadlifts, and didn't get anywhere near my previous PR. What happened to my mojo?!?

As a result, I'm contemplating incorporating deadlifts back into my routine at home. Maybe I'll revisit the Power to the People protocol again. A couple of short sets of deadlifts every other night shouldn't destroy me, right?

Metcon:

For time:

• 1 -> 10 ring dips
• 10 -> 1 box jumps (24")

In other words:

• 1 Ring Dip, 10 Box Jumps (24")
• 2 Ring Dips, 9 Box Jumps (24")
• 3 Ring Dips, 8 Box Jumps (24")
• 4 Ring Dips, 7 Box Jumps (24")
• 5 Ring Dips, 6 Box Jumps (24")
• 6 Ring Dips, 5 Box Jumps (24")
• 7 Ring Dips, 4 Box Jumps (24")
• 8 Ring Dips, 3 Box Jumps (24")
• 9 Ring Dips, 2 Box Jumps (24")
• 10 Ring Dips, 1 Box Jump (24")

I did this workout back in March in my garage, and it took me 7:28 to finish. Today, I fared better, shaving two-and-a-half minutes(!) off my time. I'm not sure if it's because I was in the gym with the 5 a.m. crew this time, but I certainly felt a lot speedier than when I was slugging it out alone at home.

Result: 4:57 as RXed.

Friday's Workout

"Don't worry if your legs are sore from Wednesday," Tim announced this morning during our warmups. "You won't be using 'em to lift today." I heard a couple of people sigh with relief, but I already knew what he had in store for us:

For time:

• Run 400 meters
• 21-15-9:
  
  • Handstand push-ups
  • Ring dips
  • Push-ups
• Row 500 meters

This looked virtually identical to the "JT Sandwich" WOD we did a few months back. In March, it had taken me over 22 minutes to complete this workout.

"I can do better'n that," I muttered under my breath. But I'm not sure I believed it.

In the end, I certainly didn't break any land speed records today, and my arms are now just as wrecked as my legs, but I shaved more than two minutes off my previous time. The difference? I FINALLY STARTED KIPPING THE HANDSTAND PUSH-UPS.



Until today, I'd insisted on doing strict HSPUs, but after watching the Terminator rock 'em out with explosive kips, I knew I had to give 'em a shot if I were to have any shot at beating him. I didn't, of course -- he beat me by over two and a half minutes! -- but I was happy to finish in under 20 minutes nonetheless.

Result: 19:52 as RXed.

Friday's Workout: Push It Real Good

This week's programming at CrossFit Palo Alto has been muy, muy bueno. It's not just the quick, challenging metcon sessions that I'm raving about; I'm also a big fan of the strength workouts we're doing in this cycle: Heavy thrusters on Monday, deadlifts on Wednesday, and today, handstand push-ups. These might just be my three favorite strength-biased exercises -- mostly because I'm at the point where I'm proficient enough at them to shift my focus to fine-tuning my form and adding more weight.

Strength Skill:

• Handstand Push-Ups (5 sets of 5)

I love practicing HSPUs as a strength move, though they tire me out pretty quickly. Twenty-five of these -- with breaks after each five -- was perfect, but the next time high-rep HSPUs are programmed as part of a WOD, I know I'll be in for a world of hurt. Tim's promised to program Workout 1 from the Regionals sometime soon (which involves running 1K, cranking out 30 HSPUs, and then rowing 1K). I know I'll get through it fine, but I can't say I'm looking forward to it.

Today's metcon, after the jump...

Friday's Workout: Full of Grace

If nothing else, today's workout offered proof that endorphin-generated exercise-induced euphoria is very, very real.

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Ring Dips (2 sets of 3, 3 sets of 1)

 PR! On my final rep, I stuffed all 50 pounds into the weight vest, jammed a 30-pound dumbbell into my crotch, held my breath, and cranked out a fairly decent ring dip. It felt mighty fine, and for a second, I was tempted to go heavier...but it was time for the metcon.

And it was a doozy.

More after the jump...