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!)
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.
When on vacation, I'm all about sitting around the pool, reading a good book and watching the kids splash around. These days, our travels usually involve minimal sightseeing and maximal R&R. Still, too much lazing around gets me antsy; being inactive for more than a couple of days is torture.
Thankfully, this morning was a particularly active one. On the agenda? CrossFit, outrigger canoe paddling, and snorkeling -- all before lunchtime.
Using a bit of reverse psychology ("Fine by me if you want to sleep in and miss CrossFit"), I managed to get M out of bed and down to Lahaina CrossFit for the 7 a.m. class.
Our workout consisted of three separate components:
1. Interval Sprints
Class started with some self-directed stretching, and then some group warm-up exercises. Once the blood was pumping, Anthony instructed us to perform 10 interval sprints. We ran like our hair was on fire for about 100 meters, and then jogged back -- 10 times. By the time I was done with my third sprint, I was dog-tired. My shirt was already soaked from the humidity and my own perspiration -- and the sun wasn't even bearing down on us yet.
There's something to be said about working out in the chilly pre-dawn darkness, y'all.
You know I'm head over heels about Cindy. Bodyweight workouts are my favorite, and Cindy is the queen of bodyweight WODs. I've loved every variation of Cindy I've tried: half-Cindy, three-quarter Cindy, full Cindy, task-priority Cindy, double-under Cindy, Murph, you name it. When I saw Cindy on the whiteboard today, a huge grin broke out on my face.
In fact, I'm sure I was practically drooling.
Still, it's not like a dozen rounds of Cindy is a walk in the park. In particular, the pull-ups gave me some grief after the first half-dozen rounds. After Round 6, I had to pause a couple of times during each set of pull-ups to wheeze and shake the sweat off my face. Nonetheless, the pull-ups and squats felt fast and smooth, and I managed to finish fairly quickly.
Result: 10:42 as RXed.
(The worst part of the workout was afterwards, when M made me stop taking pictures of her as she did push-ups. Note to self: Do not piss off the person who makes your food.)
3. Cleans (5-5-3-3-1-1)
After Tuesday's running-push-ups-burpees-squats-pull-ups workout and today's running-and-Cindy WOD, I was happy to see some barbell work on the board. The strength workout was optional, but a good number of us stuck around to practice cleans. It's been a week since I lifted an object heavier than my three-year-old kid, so I was in the mood for some squat cleans.
"Be careful with your back," M warned as I went to grab plates. It was a good reminder; even though my back feels infinitely better than it did a few weeks ago, going heavy would be a mistake. I kept it light, and well below my 1-rep max. But by that point, I was exhausted anyway, so I doubt I would've been able to hoist a fully-loaded barbell up even if I'd tried.
Going light does have its disadvantages, though; judging from the bruise on my neck, I was cleaning the bar a bit too aggressively. Either that, or I passed out and someone gave me a hickey while I was unconscious.
After class, M and I drove back to meet up with the rest of the family, and we hit the ocean for an hour of outrigger canoe paddling with Maui Paddle Sports. My cousin and his wife are experienced, competitive, kick-ass paddlers, but M and I are total newbies. Secretly, I was hoping to be seated in one of their canoes so I could just coast and let them do all the heavy paddling.
Alas, M and I -- along with our boys -- were put in a separate canoe, so we actually had to work. It turned out to be incredibly fun and challenging, especially with our three-year-old dragging his paddle in the ocean and our six-year-old using his to giddily slap at the water. Paddling in unison, switching sides, thrusting with arms and back and core, bracing with legs -- all of it made for an excellent full-body workout.
"Regularly learn and play new sports," right?
Last but not least: Snorkeling. There's no better way to cool down than to float around in the warm ocean, casually following the fluorescent fish as they dart through coral.
I'm not sure I was fully awake until I failed spectacularly at establishing a new 1 rep max squat clean this morning. The act of loading 20 extra pounds over my previous PR weight must have psyched me out; instead of using my legs to power me through the second pull, I yanked with my arms. The result: I pulled the barbell so far back that I landed flat on my back, with the barbell over my neck. (Don't worry -- there was plenty of clearance between my neck and the bar.)
I couldn't help but bust out laughing. This is the second class in a row I've back-flopped; last Friday during warm-ups, I attempted a freestanding handstand and ended up flipping all the way over and crashing down on the floor.
If nothing else, I'm quickly becoming an expert in impressive displays of physical incompetence. My next goal: Learning to fall down the stairs.
Metcon:
AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 10 minutes:
10 hang dumbbell snatches - right arm (45lbs / 35lbs)
10 clapping push-ups
10 hang dumbbell snatches - left arm (45lbs / 35lbs)
10 chin-ups
This looked fun and -- dare I say it -- easy! Clapping push-ups? No problem! After all, I did tons of 'em with P90X a bazillion years ago, right? And chin-ups? Piece of cake! Maybe the dumbbell snatches would prove more challenging, but I was confident I could bust 'em out, too.
And then, I had this exchange with Tim as I went over to grab a weight:
Me: "Hey, do we have more 45 pound dumbbells?"
Tim: [Pointing to my ankle] "Are you a hundred percent?"
Me: "Uh, no."
Tim: [Makes a face.]
Me: "Uh, okay." [Grudgingly picks up a 35 pound dumbbell instead.]
And of course, he was right. The light dumbbells were my saving grace, because the clapping push-ups and chin-ups ended up being a lot more challenging than I initially thought. The first couple of rounds went relatively smoothly (though in my excitement, I started doing the chin-ups out of order and didn't realize it until I was halfway through the first set).
But by the third round, I had to abandon my goal of going unbroken on the clapping push-ups and chin-ups. Each time I landed after a clapping push-up, my arms felt like jelly. And instead of flopping on my back, I now found myself flopping on my belly.
My ankle continues to improve (I was able to run on it today -- kind of!);
I got to work on squat cleans; and
Today's metcon was bodyweight-focused -- my favorite!
But in part due to my exuberance, and in part due to the fact that in my rush to get out of the house, I forgot to put in my contact lenses, I screwed up the workout anyway.
A fun, challenging, and surprisingly short two-part workout today:
Part One - In ten minutes, establish your 1-rep max clean.
Part Two – For time: Using 65-75% of your 1-rep max clean weight, perform 30 front squats and then run one mile.
I don’t know if it’s because: (1) I just finished a cycle of squat cleans, or (2) my legs were relatively fresh this morning, but I established a new PR by cleaning 10 pounds heavier than my previous effort.
For Part Two of the workout, I changed out of my lifting shoes and back into my trusty NB Minimus Trails. (I wasn’t about to awaken everyone in the neighborhood by clomping a mile down the street in my wooden-soled Adidas.)
The front squats weren’t a walk in the park, but I managed to get through the first 20 unbroken before dropping the barbell for a brief pause. The final few reps required a bit of extra strain, but it wasn’t until I tried to run that I really felt the impact of the squats. It took a good 20 yards of wobbling and weaving before I was able to steady myself and run in a straight line. (Still, it was infinitely preferable to the bottom-to-bottom Tabata squats plus 1-mile run workout we did back in January.)
Result: 9:23. I definitely wouldn't mind doing this one again sometime.
I woke up with a sore and twitchy lower back. It feels like some sort of impingement on the left side of my tailbone, starting near the top of my butt cheek and radiating down the back of my thigh. At the gym, I did my best to stretch and roll it out, but to no avail. At the bottom of each warm-up squat, I felt a twinge radiating from the general direction of my upper butt. (Sorry -- I’d be more anatomically precise if I was more edumacated.)
My awkwardly clomping jumps during nightly double-under practice with M;
The fact that I was sitting awkwardly in work meetings and in my car all day yesterday. (With traffic, it took me one hour and twenty-five minutes to drive home last night. Fun!)
Thankfully, the strength portion of today’s workout didn’t involve heavy loads.
I'm digging squat cleans. A lot. I'm still getting used to the form, but even though I didn't attempt to go heavier than my own bodyweight today, my reps felt solid.
But just like last week, after I caught a glimpse of today's metcon, I wished I'd taken it a little easier on my legs.
Metcon:
For time:
Over the course of 400 meters, complete 5 rounds of:
20 overhead walking lunges (carrying a plate -- 45 pounds for men, 25 pounds for women)
20 push-ups
Then, complete the remainder of the 400 meter course while carrying the weight.
The 5 a.m. class doesn't get to WOD outside very often -- especially with noise ordinances keeping us from waking the neighbors with dropped weights and hurled expletives. So on days like today, we had to stay as quiet as possible -- so the eight of us remained silent as we lunged across a parking lot and down the street with plates held high. Other than a few grunts here and there, and the sound of knees kissing concrete, only our labored breathing was audible.
But that doesn't mean we didn't work hard. This one was no joke; my arms and legs were aching well before I was out of the parking lot. At one point, I lost track of which round I was in, and croaked out to one of our classmates, V, to ask if we were on Round 4. "Yep," he wheezed. "Just one more round." So close, yet so damned far.
Once I found my legs, I got through the plate carry okay. I threw the weight on my back and fell forward, stumbling all the way down and back. I reminded myself that this was (marginally) easier than carrying my six-year-old on my back, because the plate doesn't squirm and pull on my hair.
Result: 12:08 as RXed. In a sick way, this was really, really fun.
The alarm jolted me awake at 4:20 a.m. Sadly, I'm still on Hawaii time, and my brain desperately tried to convince me it was 1:20 in the morning. I knew better. CrossFit Palo Alto beckoned, and after a week away, I couldn't stomach the thought of missing class. I tumbled out of bed and did my best to shake off the sleep.
Strength Skill:
Cleans (2 sets of 5, 3 sets of 3)
"If you've done hang cleans before, practice power cleans from the floor this time," Tim instructed the 5 a.m. crew. "And if you already feel comfortable with those, start working on squat cleans." That meant me.
Although I've done squat cleans (where you catch the bar in rack position while down in a full squat) in metcons before, I'd never practiced them as a part of a strength workout, and was eager to give 'em a shot. Full cleans looked fun! I laced up my lifting shoes and got to work.
I started a little lighter than usual so I could focus on my form, and the first few sets felt great. My squats were deep and stable, and even the hook grip didn't feel as awkward as it normally does. I started adding weight.
"Don't look down, and don't look up. Keep your eyes straight ahead," Tim intoned from across the room. Sure, I thought. I got this.
Only I didn't.
On my second-to-last set, I let my mind drift, and began the first pull with my eyes staring down at the ground. A moment later, I found myself on my butt, with the weight of the barbell shoving my upper body to the floor. Luckily, I'm not particularly boobtastic; once the plates hit the mats, there was still some clearance between my chest and the bar, and I was able to just roll it away. It's been a while since I ass-planted during a lift, but this one was among the more spectacular.
"How many fingers was I holding up?" Tim demanded. Flat on my back, I shrugged.
"You don't know 'cause you were looking at the floor." (Later, he told me he hadn't been holding up any fingers at all.)
My next attempt was successful. I'd kept my gaze forward.
It may seem crazy that M and I got up before the crack of dawn -- WHILE ON VACATION -- to get ready for the 6 a.m. class at Kauai CrossFit this morning. But hey: 6 a.m. in Hawaii is 9 a.m. in California, so we actually got to sleep in. Besides, how could we possibly pass up a chance to WOD in paradise?
Open since last October, Kauai CrossFit is the only affiliate on the island. Owned and run by Jerome Hromiak, a recent transplant from the Bay Area, the gym has physical features resembling that of San Francisco CrossFit (which makes sense when you consider that Jerome was introduced to CrossFit by Kelly Starrett). Members exercise under a large waterproof tent and a wooden pull-up structure that offers some extra protection from the rain -- but otherwise wide-open to the sea breeze and sunshine. It's perfect, given the jaw-dropping tropical setting.
We showed up a few minutes before 6 a.m. to sign some waivers and learn a bit more about the gym and its programming. Since February, Kauai CrossFit has followed the workouts posted on CrossFit.com, though the WODs aren't necessarily done concurrently with the Main Site. And, of course, Main Site WODs tend to lean towards long metcon beat-downs -- something we do at CrossFit Palo Alto only one-quarter of the time. "People here like the 30 to 60 minute metcons," Jerome said. Holy hell.
And just to drive home the point, he warned us (with a smile!): "We have a really hard one planned for today."
But first, he led the eight early birds in the 6 a.m. class through a directed warm-up, and then three rounds of:
But honestly, I knew nothing of the context when the WOD began. I just knew I wanted to survive the damned thing. Even at six in the morning, the air was moist and warm. Rain had soaked everything around us, and as I loaded my barbell with plates, I started getting worried.
And in fact, it took a while to get through this one -- not because it was technically challenging (aside from the overhead squats), but because there was a ton of stuff to complete, and a lot of running, too. I had little-to-no difficulty with the deadlifts (though I scaled the weight down to 225 pounds), kettlebell swings, burpees or chest-to-bar pull-ups, and the first few 400-meter runs felt good. (Probably because I was so dazzled by the view from the running path.) The overhead squats were a killer, but at least they came fairly early in the WOD. I was proud of myself for snatching the barbell overhead, even though I'd scaled the weight down to 95 pounds.
It wasn't until the last two rounds that I really hit the wall. Box jumps at 24 inches are typically one of my favorites because I can whip through them quickly. Today, though, I was slow as molasses -- and even took a tumble off the rain-slicked surface. The dumbbell squat cleans seemed impossibly heavy. And my ragged running looked more like stumbling -- though whenever I felt tired, I just stared out at the blue of the Pacific and imagined I was stretching out on a beach towel instead of hustling back to the box to lift more heavy stuff.
Result: 30:12. Seemed like a lot longer, but I had it better than M, who -- because she didn't have her contacts in -- didn't see that the WOD kept going after the burpees. I'm sure she silently mouthed some expletives before powering through the rest of the workout.
The folks we met this morning were pretty kick-ass. They're clearly used to regularly grinding out long metcons, and all of them tackled the Lumberjack 20 with an unbelievably cheery, can-do attitude. For the first three rounds, I did my best to keep up with the leader of the pack. While we ran, she shared with me that she's currently recovering from knee surgery -- but by the end of the WOD, she'd lapped me. In fact, the thing that impressed me most was everyone's running prowess; even after over a hundred reps of fairly heavy lifts, these folks could still hustle like jackrabbits.
During the WOD, Jerome calmly walked around, helping us strip our bars to transition from deadlifts to overhead squats, and helping folks with squat clean technique. Even with all the clanking bumper plates and grunting CrossFitters around him, Jerome maintained a friendly, low-key approach that's perfectly matched to the environment.
As M and I gobbled down our post-workout purple sweet potatoes, we agreed that a good butt-kicking was the perfect way to start a morning on Kauai. To be frank, though, I don't think I could handle a bunch of Hero WODs three times a week on an ongoing basis. I think my head would explode and the cortisol would erupt like a volcano from the top of my neck-stump and slowly ooze down the front of my shirt, mixing with the briny sweat and blood. I can't help but have mad respect for the members of Kauai CrossFit, who throw down like this regularly.
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.
Squat cleans! Three sets of 5, and three sets of 3.
Today's metcon:
3 rounds for time:
400-meter sprint
60' overhead walking lunges (self-explanatory: do walking lunges while holding a weight plate overhead)
25 plyo box jumps
I finished (profusely sweating and out of breath) in 11:55.
Afterwards, I went home and completed Day Three of my Power to the People program: 2 sets of 5 deadlifts, 2 sets of 5 presses, and 2 sets of 5 weighted pull-ups.
All before 7 a.m.! (Which means I'm going to collapse before 9 p.m. tonight.)
I am officially declaring my love for practicing chin-ups at the CrossFit gym.
I have my reasons: (1) I find them to be much easier than pull-ups, which I hate; (2) I'm (BRAG ALERT) actually pretty decent at chin-ups; and (3) when we practice chin-ups in the strength/skills portion of our CrossFit class, it's highly unlikely that we'll have to do any pull-ups during the metcon.
But after doing a bunch of weighted chin-ups, we still had a WOD to finish:
AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 12 minutes:
5 Ground-to-Overhead Lifts (I opted for squat cleans followed by push-presses)
10 Burpees
15 Plyo Box Jumps
I was halfway through my sixth round (4 Burpees in) when the clock ran out.
I always assumed "Burpees" were so named because it made people want to expel stuff from deep inside them (and "Barfees" doesn't have quite the same ring to it), but it turns out that they were actually named after...somebody.
According to some, the exercise was likely named after Lieutenant Thomas Burpee, a Revolutionary War-era officer in the New Hampshire Militia who had "the innate Burpee fondness for martial exercises." It's speculated that he introduced Burpees as a fitness and conditioning (and disciplinary) tool for the troops he commanded.
I got all nice and bendy with the P90X X Stretch video this morning -- but then I attended my first CrossFit class today, which whupped me thoroughly.
We started with a 15-minute warm-up (1000-meter row, push-ups, pull-ups), and then, while the other two people in class today practiced crisp, explosive squat cleans with barbells and plates, I started learning how to do them with a hollow PVC pipe. "Learning" may be too generous; I had serious trouble following along with the movement. I kept flailing around, arms and legs akimbo, and although I finally managed to "advance" to practicing with a 45-pound bar, I never got proficient enough to justify putting plates on it. I'm pretty sure Tim was getting exasperated by my total inability to follow his very specific pointers. By the end, I was just heaving around the bar like a crazed, sweaty moron.
God, I hate homework, but I'm going to have to figure out how to fix my form by watching videos like this one:
I fared better with the metcon portion of today's class. The task was to do as many circuits of 3 exercises (five 24-inch plyo box jumps, 10 push-ups and 15 Abmat sit-ups) as possible in 10 minutes. I managed 9 circuits, but had to lie down afterwards. While I mopped up my sweat, Tim kindly pointed out that he intentionally programmed an "easy" one to give me a gentle welcome to CrossFit. Gee, thanks!
