Balancing Act

It’s now been almost three weeks since a plumbing disaster forced us to hole up in a hotel -- and we’re still weeks away from being able to move back home. It’s not ideal, but it’s not the end of the world, either. We’re coping pretty well, all things considering. But there is one thing that annoys me to no end: We no longer have room for our designated babysitters (read: parents) to spend the night, which means I’m now unable to regularly attend the 5 a.m. class at CrossFit Palo Alto.

Major bummer.

Still, there is one silver lining: I get to sleep in.

I missed Friday’s workout, and this morning’s, too. Five days without exercise makes me a dull boy. I was antsy to get back into the gym, so I scrambled to wrap things up at work today so I could squeeze in an evening workout. Tim promised that today’s WOD was “gooooood” (with six -- count ‘em: SIX -- o’s), so I raced down to the gym in time for the 5 p.m. class.

And here’s what we were treated to:

For time:

• 30 sandbag floor-to-shoulders
• 400-meter run with sandbag
• 30 wall ball shots (20lbs / 14lbs, 10-foot target)
• 400-meter run with medicine ball (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 30 plate ground-to-overheads (45lbs / 35lbs)
• 400-meter run with plate (45lbs / 35lbs)
• 30 overhead kettlebell swings (70lbs / 53lbs)
• 400-meter run with kettlebell (70lbs / 53lbs)

As Trish instructed us about each of the movements and standards, the only thing going through my mind was: “Really? Six o’s?”

The sandbags were fine, though I can’t say I ran with lightning speed with the floppy weight draped across my right shoulder.

The wall balls were, well, wall balls. They’re not my favorite, but I survived them. But I’d never run with a medicine ball before, and had a difficult time trying to find a halfway-decent way to hold the sucker. I tried carrying the ball in front of me -- but it was too cumbersome and draining. I tried carrying on my shoulder -- but again, I found it too awkward.

Finally, I stuck the damned thing on top of my head, kept it steady with my hands overhead, and ran. I’m not saying it was easy -- my arms lost feeling after a while -- but it was less uncomfortable and imbalanced than the other methods I tried. The ball is soft(ish) and weighs only 20 pounds. Besides, people all over the world carry stuff on their heads, right?

I was actually feeling pretty decent as I grabbed a bumper plate and started my ground-to-overheads. The first 10 felt pretty good and strong. But after that, the 45-pound weight began feeling increasingly heavy. And running with the thing was not fun. I tried to stick the plate on my head, but it felt like it was going to crush my skull, so I opted for the good ol’ cradle carry.

Up until the kettlebells, I’d gone RXed, but I knew that hoisting a 70-pound kettlebell over my head wasn’t in the cards for me today. Even with a 53-pound kettlebell, I found myself pausing a few times between swings to catch my breath. With my grip strength shot, I wasn’t relishing the thought of lugging that thing with me on that last 400-meter jaunt. I farmer-carried it as best I could, and made it out of the parking lot before Kerry shouted out that it was easier to shoulder it. With the kettlebell pressed against my ear, I finished the course and collapsed just inside the gym’s open rolling door.

“Uh, you may not want to be sitting there when the next person comes in and drops their kettlebell,” Trish advised.

Result: 22:38.

(And yes, I’ll admit it: It deserved six o’s.)

Friday's Workout

Sandbags, sandbags, sandbags!

The last 5 a.m. sandbag workout we did at CrossFit Palo Alto was in August of 2010 -- eighteen months ago. In that time, I'd forgotten how challenging they could be.

4 rounds for time:

• 400 meter sandbag carry
• 10 strict pull-ups
• 15 sandbag sit-ups
• 20 bear-hug squats

The sandbag sit-ups (done while clutching a sandbag on one's chest) and bear-hug squats (done while cradling/hugging a sandbag) were fine -- I got through 'em without any trouble. But the sandbag run was all kinds of awful. Regardless of the position of the sandbag, I felt like it was dragging and twisting me to the side. My shuffle was slow as molasses.

As for the strict pull-ups, I'm a little embarrassed by my final two sets. Super-ugly. I'm just glad I got 'em done (eventually).

Result: 24:27 as RXed.

Wednesday's Workout

Strength Skill:

Deadlifts - I'm now deadlifting about 1.75X bodyweight, but shooting to pull 2X BW before month's end.

Metcon:

For time:

• 500 meter row
• 30 sandbag clean-to-shoulder-to-shoulders (clean a 50-pound sandbag from the ground up to one shoulder, and then push-press or push-jerk it up overhead and onto the other shoulder before lowering it back to the ground -- that's one rep)
• 400 meter run

Result: 6:52. It was tough, but did not crush our souls or make us cry.

(Source: College Humor / BuzzFeed)

Wednesday's Workout

Strength Skill:

Zercher Squats

Today was my first encounter with Zercher Squats -- an old strongman exercise -- but it was love at first sight. These barbell squat variations are much kinder to my spine, and allow me to pile on the weight. They're also kinder to my wrists than front squats.

Zerchers are known to murder the skin in the crook of your elbows, but thankfully, our gym has fat bars, which helped my puny, sensitive arms stay scratch-free.

Metcon:

3 rounds for time:

• 200 meter sandbag sprint (i.e., run while carrying a 50-pound sandbag on your shoulders)

• 10 sandbag hang cleans & overheads (i.e., clean the sandbag to your chest, and then press it over your head -- that's one rep)

Result: 6:24 (plus some sand in my eyes and a few bloody knuckles).

I love this stuff.

Monday's Workout

I'm used to exercising first thing in the morning, but as luck would have it, my workout took place at noon today.

The problem with CrossFitting at lunchtime? I couldn't decide whether to eat beforehand -- which might make me puke up my heaping portions of salad greens, carnitas and eggs during a crazy metcon session -- or wait until after I exercise, and risk being completely gassed out before the hour's end. (Yeah, yeah: I could eat a little something prior to my workout, but that just means I might barf out a little something rather than a big something. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I'm not a fan of vomiting even a small volume of acidic, chunky, semi-liquefied gack.)

One more thing I found to whine about: I discovered that my tiny neighborhood CrossFit gym can't really accommodate a lunchtime crowd -- at least not comfortably. The fact that my regular 5 a.m. class starts before dawn helps ensure that only one or two other early birds show up to share space in the gym. (Did I mention that the gym is the size of a two-car garage?) At today's midday class, the gym had to accommodate a half-dozen CrossFitters -- not a huge crowd by any means, but there were enough bodies (and squat racks and barbells) crammed in there to make you wonder whether someone would get clocked with an errant barbell or bumper.

There is, however, a big plus to working out with more people: More support and encouragement by fellow gymgoers, and a more competitive energy. CrossFit's weird in that way -- the workouts are structured to encourage competition, but people are incredibly supportive of each other, shouting out encouragement and sharing training tips and advice. God, I'm sounding like a cult member again.

Anyway, we practiced jerks today. Three sets of 3, followed by three sets of 1. I had to dump the barbell during my last rep -- it was too heavy, and I tried sticking in a split/lunge position and failed spectacularly.

The metcon was hard, but in an oddly fun way:

5 rounds for time:

• 110-meter sandbag sprint (i.e., run 110 meters while carrying a 50 pound sandbag)
• 20 kettlebell swings

By the fourth time I had to heave that sandbag up off the ground to take off running, I was pretty much spent -- but I still had a shit-eating grin on my face. This stuff makes you suffer, but it's also a blast.

In the end, I finished in 6:35 -- faster than I expected. I tied with another guy who calls himself "Danimal." I'm pretty sure that's not his real name.