Hello, Delhi!

This morning, as I peered out my window overlooking the city, I knew this was going to be a good day. Know why?

Because I had plans to go break a sweat at CrossFit Himalaya after work. I'd reached out to Piyush Pandey, the head trainer at the box, and arranged for my visit. I'd printed out the address for my driver and asked him to be ready to ferry me through rush hour traffic. It's been five days since my last workout, and I was getting antsy.

And as luck would have it, my evening workout would, in fact, coincide with the 6 a.m. class at CrossFit Palo Alto half a world away -- the one I'd be attending if I weren't on another continent.

Despite my plans, I was thisclose to missing the class tonight. After leaving my office, I had quickly changed into my workout clothes and headed straight for the gym, but the chaotic jumble of cars and buses and pedestrians and bikes and three-wheeled taxis had already choked the  dusty roads. By the time we made it to Chatturpur Hills -- just a few miles away! -- it was dark.

And my driver was lost.



It took another half hour and a couple of phone calls for him (actually me) to locate CrossFit Himalaya. Located down a flight of stairs from a busy stretch of 100 Foot Road, the box is a true basement gym, with equipment that Piyush proudly described as being entirely sourced from right here in India.

I'm a big fan of all different kinds of CrossFit gyms, but those that strip everything down to the essentials are among my favorite. CrossFit Himalaya has a whiteboard, a clock, pull-up bars, barbells and weights, kettlebells and jump ropes -- nothing cutesy, nothing extraneous to the mission of improving fitness.

Today's workout was a doozy. After a quick warmup, and skills practice (double-unders and wall balls), it was time to jump right into the metcon:

For time:

• 100 wall ball shots (10kg / 5kg)
• 100 double-unders
• 50 plate overhead walking lunges (15kg / 5kg)

That's right: One hundred wall balls -- two thirds of Karen! -- was just the start of the workout. By the time I finished heaving that damned medicine ball up the wall, my legs were fried. With numb legs, I stumbled and tripped my way through the double-unders. It wouldn't be accurate to say that I couldn't feel my legs anymore, though, 'cause I sure felt 'em during the walking lunges.

Result: 15:36.

Okay -- so my less-than-blazing time isn't going set any records, but I had a blast anyway. Plus, my goal of sweating buckets was achieved in spades. Can you tell?

[For more about my time in India, check out this post on Nom Nom Paleo.]

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.

All Good Things...

So after two and a half years of waking up in the middle of the night to get ready for 5 a.m. CrossFit classes, our merry bunch of early birds is abruptly disbanding. Turns out the gym has residential neighbors who aren't super-jazzed about being woken up by the sounds of barbells and grunting.

When I joined CrossFit Palo Alto in the summer of 2010, Steph was the only other person crazy enough to stick to a 5 a.m. schedule. But after a few months, we were joined by the Terminator. And then Mint came (and left). And Jackie joined, and Jason, and Jay, and Jake, and on and on, until there were 15 of us "regulars" in the class. 

Three days a week, these were the folks with whom I'd start the day. Half-asleep, I'd stumble into the gym, bedheaded and bleary-eyed, and spend an hour sweating alongside my fellow sleep-deprived nutjobs. It's not like we spent a lot of time chatting in class -- I'm not nearly awake enough to engage in intelligent conversation before 5:30. But our class had a great, supportive vibe, and the friendly competition kept me on my toes.

Could I have attended class at a later (and saner) time of day? Sure -- but I always looked forward to seeing the 5 a.m. crew. It's hard not to like the people with whom you've spent hundreds of hours over the course of the past 30 months, and it's the primary reason why I always set my alarm clock for 4:20 a.m.

But at least for now, the 5 a.m. class is kaput. Most of us are moving to crashing other classes, and the rest are finding other ways to lift heavy and move fast. I'm joining the 6 a.m. class along with a handful of other 5 a.m. refugees, so the silver lining is that I'll get three extra hours of sleep each week. And hopefully, we'll get to drop our weights without fear of the cops getting called.

Last order of business? The 5 a.m. class's two final workouts:

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we practiced Zercher squats -- a favorite of mine. Even better: This is a strength skill that doesn't require the use of my wrists, so my injury was irrelevant. (And yes, I'm still -- STILL! -- on the mend.) We also got a metcon that I didn't have to modify: AMRAP in 7 minutes of burpees.

The workout required that we jump and stand atop of a 45-pound bumper plate at the end of each rep. I did the burpees on my fists, and kept a fairly steady rate throughout. I was aiming for 100 burpees, and despite my best efforts to accelerate towards the end, I ended up one short. 

Result: 99 as RXed. So close! Still, I'm pretty happy with my score -- especially given that it took me almost a minute longer to complete 100 burpees last year.

Friday

I had much more trouble with the assigned movements in our final 5 a.m. workout. While the class practiced strict barbell presses, I had to settle for kettlebell and dumbbell presses. And the metcon looked like this:

• 15 chin-ups
• 10 wall balls (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 12 chin-ups
• 15 wall balls (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 9 chin-ups
• 20 wall balls (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 6 chin-ups
• 25 wall balls (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 3 chin-ups
• 30 wall balls (20lbs / 14lbs)

I can't yet catch a wall ball without destroying my wrist, so I did thrusters with a pair of 15-pound dumbbells instead. And I did the chin-ups from a pair of Olympic rings to reduce the strain on my wrist, too. Looking back, I'm glad the chin-up ladder was descending; by the end of the workout, my chin-ups were ugly and slow.

Result: 7:48.

With any luck, the 5 a.m. diaspora will be short-lived. But who knows? I suspect I might get used to the extra sleep...

I'm Hating My Wrist Right Now

I don't know what I did to my right wrist, but for over a week now, it's felt like crap every time I flex it. On Friday, we were supposed to work on touch-and-go cleans at the gym (five sets of five, one set every three minutes), but when I attempted to warm up with just an unloaded barbell, my wrist started screaming at me to stop.

Tim suggested that I ditch the barbell cleans and work instead on bottoms-up kettlebell cleans to help rehab my wrist. I kept the weights light -- this was the first time I'd attempted bottoms-up cleans, and the last thing I wanted was to exacerbate my mysterious injury. It was a bummer that I wasn't able to practice touch-and-go barbell cleans, but on the plus side: New skill!

Next up: The metcon.

3 rounds:

• 1 minute max effort calorie row
• 1 minute max effort toes through rings
• 1 minute max effort wall balls (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 1 minute rest

The calorie row and toes through rings weren't a problem. With my right wrist wrapped tightly with a wrist strap, the calorie row and toes-through-rings weren't a problem. Neither required much wrist flexion. I actually had a fantastic time with the toes-through-rings -- I found 'em to be much easier on the hands than toes-to-bars, and it was pretty easy to maintain a good kipping rhythm throughout.

The wall balls, on the other hand, were murder. I plodded along slowly, relying on my left (weaker) arm to toss and catch the medicine ball. Note to self: One-armed wall balls are not a good idea. Each minute yielded fewer than 10 wall ball shots.

Result: 123 as RXed.

I was hoping a weekend of R&R (and a mind-blowing meal) would fix what ails me, but alas: No dice. My wrist isn't any better. When my alarm clock started buzzing at 4:20 a.m., I briefly considered turning over and going back to sleep. But I thought better of it: There would be something I could do at the gym that involves no wrist flexion. And after a sedentary weekend, I was ready to get off my butt again.

The strength skill was front squats. To save my wrists, I did back squats (five sets of three, one set every three minutes) instead. Again, I took it easy, going only up to 185 pounds. I focused instead on maintaining proper form -- in particular, keeping my knees from collapsing inward during my ascent from the bottom.

More good news: The metcon didn't involve a whole lotta wrist action.

For time:

• 10 dumbbell burpees (45lbs / 30lbs)
• Run 240 meters
• 20 dumbbell burpees (45lbs / 30lbs)
• Run 400 meters
• 30 dumbbell burpees (45lbs / 30lbs)
• Run 800 meters

Before the workout, I'd planned to go with the women's RXed weight, but Tim gave me a skeptical look. "Way too light," he said. He was right. I went with a pair of 40 pound dumbbells, but I probably would've done fine with the 45s. In fact, the dumbbell burpees were more fun than I'd anticipated, though my quads were burning by the third round.

Even all that running felt good in the cool, misty darkness.

Result: 13:23.

Monday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Cleans (5-5-5-3-3)

When the going gets tough, I evidently lift more slowly -- the exact opposite of what I ought to be doing. Note to self: Stay aggressive on the bar. I need to turn off my brain and just lift angry. Like this:

Metcon:

For time:

• Run 400 meters
• 15 burpees
• 30 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 45 wall ball shots (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 30 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 15 burpees
• Run 400 meters

It took a while for me to decide whether to run or row. For the past few weeks, I've been subbing in a 500-meter row every time a 400-meter run's been programmed, but my left Achilles has been feeling better of late, and to be honest, I just hate rowing. I chose to run.

And you know what? I was fine. That's not to say I flew like the wind; this was no Forrest-Gump-shedding-his-leg-braces kind of moment. Instead, I slowly, gingerly trotted out the gym to the marker and back. But: No pain!

The first set of burpees and kettlebell swings were smooth and fast. When I got to the wall balls, though, I crashed and burned. It took me forever to get through all 45 reps, and I was pretty cooked after that. I'm pretty sure the neighborhood retirees out walking their dogs could've passed me during my final 400-meter "run."

Result: 14 minutes flat as RXed.

Wednesday's Workout

It feels like it's been forever since I last worked out. Sure, it was only a week and a half ago, and I've been engaged in a fair amount of strenuous physical activity (namely, carrying small children around Disneyland and the CrossFit Games in the sweltering heat). And I'm still dutifully cranking out push-ups every day as part of our 100-day push-up challenge. But it wasn't the same as pushing through a workout at CrossFit Palo Alto with the rest of the 5 a.m. crew.

I was particularly excited to get to the gym to check out the new Rogue pull-up rig that Tim and others installed last week. Would we get to do pull-ups today?

I hoped so. Pull-ups are infinitely preferable to box jumps or double-unders right now. Unfortunately, my left Achilles tendon and calf continue to bug me. Until further notice, I'm going to have to refrain from jumping off my left leg, and generally take it easier on myself. (For me, sadly, that's easier said than done.)

Strength Skill:

• Kettlebell Cleans & Presses (5-5-5-5-5)

This has quickly become one of my favorite movements. Before we left for SoCal, I'd practiced cleans and presses at home, and found myself missing my kettlebells while we were traveling. So I was happy that we kicked off our homecoming workout with KB cleans and presses -- even though I was sweating profusely by the time I wrapped up my final set. Twenty-five reps per side doesn't sound like much, but I certainly felt toasty afterwards.

Metcon:

No pull-ups!

For time:

3 rounds of:

• 20 medicine ball snatches (20lb / 14lb)
• 10 medicine ball V-ups

Then, 3 rounds of:

• 20 wall balls
• 20 Russian twists

Yeesh. The last time we did something similar, I wrote that the "wall balls continue to magically suck the energy out of my body," and today was no different. Tim noticed that my knees were collapsing inward during the squat portion of the wall balls, though, which may explain why I continue to be terrible at this movement. I tried keeping an image of Tommy Hackenbruck's Karen performance in my head for inspiration, but it didn't take.

Result: 10:52 as RXed. We'll get 'em next time.

Wednesday's Workout

Crap. Totally forgot to log yesterday's workout. I'm getting forgetful in my old age.

Strength Skill:

• Deadlifts (3-3-1-1-1)

"Get angry," Tim said as I failed to get the bar up past my knees on my final set. I was attempting a double-bodyweight deadlift, which would match my previous PR (set waaaay back in February of 2011), and I'd gassed out after barely getting the plates off the ground.

I put on my best Hulk scowl, got set, grabbed the barbell, and pulled the hell out of it. My legs shook as I struggled to clear my knees, and as I finally stood upright with the bar, my head started to swim. I dropped the bar and plopped my butt on the floor. But I was smiling. No new PR, but close!

Metcon:

For time:

• 240-meter farmer's walk with a pair of 53-pound kettlebells
• 45 wall ball shots (20-pound ball, 10-foot-high target)
• 240-meter farmer's walk with a pair of 53-pound kettlebells
• 45 burpees

I'm glad I was able to complete the first 240-meter course without once putting down the kettlebells, but I had less success with the rest of the WOD. Wall balls are not my forte, and I ended up repeatedly stopping for rest breaks during the second farmer's walk. Plus, the burpees completely kicked my ass, despite doing my best to stick to Carl Paoli's burpee pointers.

Result: 12:17 as RXed.

Still: It's good to be back.

Wednesday's Workout

I woke up at 3:30 a.m. this morning, and couldn't get back to sleep. After another half-hour of tossing and turning, I got up, made myself some coffee, turned on the laptop, and started emailing our app development team in Bangalore. And in just a few minutes, I was hopped up on caffeine. By the time I got to CrossFit Palo Alto, I was wide awake.

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Strict Pull-Ups (5-5-3-3-3, with 10 pushups after each set)

Even with just a 20 pound dumbbell jammed into my crotch, I struggled to get my chin over the bar this morning -- kind of pathetic given that my PR is almost three times that weight. I'm going to blame it on the lack of sleep, but the real culprit is my lack of practice. I used to do pull-ups whenever I walked into our garage, but I haven't even glanced at the pull-up bar lately.

I need more hours in the day.

Metcon:

J.Ho: This picture's for you.

AMRAP in 6 minutes of:

• 16 medicine ball snatches (20# / 14#)
• 16 medicine ball V-ups

Rest 1 minute, then:

AMRAP in 6 minutes of:

• 16 wall balls
• 16 medicine ball twists

It didn't look so bad on the whiteboard. I'd never done med ball snatches before, but they looked doable. So did the twists -- despite the fact that they reminded me of this unholy business:

The first 6-minute AMRAP was tiring, but I felt good. The V-ups slowed me down, but I quickly got the hang of the snatches.

The second 6-minute AMRAP? Horrible -- mostly because wall balls continue to magically suck the energy out of my body. Still, I was able to make up some time on the twists, which came fast and smooth (for the most part).

Result: 7 rounds plus 17 reps as RXed.

Wow. I just spent 30 minutes writing this post. My brain is shutting down. Time to sleep!

Monday's Workout: Balls to the Wall

First up at CrossFit Palo Alto this morning: Single-leg deadlifts. We hadn't done 'em since November of 2010, and in that time, I've evidently lost all ability to pull off this maneuver. Sixteen months ago, I was able to pull the equivalent of my bodyweight off the ground while balancing on one leg; today, I struggled to get even 115 pounds up while wobbling back and forth on my unsteady left leg. I'll just chalk it up to the rust that needs to be knocked off.

Metcon:


3 rounds for time:

• Run 400 meters
• 15 burpee-balls-to-the-wall (20# / 14#)

The balls-to-the-wall move entailed doing a burpee with one's hands on a medicine ball, and then doing a wallball shot by popping the weighted ball up to a 10-foot target.

I only have two things to say about this workout:

• I am a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad runner.

• I should've initiated each of my wallball shots from a deep squat, but instead, I stood up after each burpee and did this awkward push-press-like movement to get the ball up to the target. It was inefficient and exhausting. I would've generated a lot more power had I started from a full squat.

Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

Result: 10:42 as RXed.

Monday's Workout

Happy Monday, y'all.

Strength Skill:

• Snatch (5-5-3-3-3)

I did my best to pick up where I left off a couple of weekends ago at the Catalyst Athletics Oly lifting seminar, but I'm already rusty. Something tells me I need to grease this groove more.

Ideally, I'd like to get the point where snatching's like second nature, but right now, I still find myself running through a lengthy mental checklist before each rep. Hook grip? Check. Feet in pull position? Check. Knees back? Check. Elbows turned up? Check. Back arched? Check. Deep, tight breath? Check. It's a bit exhausting even before the weight leaves the ground.

Metcon:

For time:

• 21 kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 21 burpees
• 21 wallball shots (10' target, 20lbs / 14 lbs)
• 15 kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 15 burpees
• 15 wallball shots (10' target, 20lbs / 14 lbs)
• 9 kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 9 burpees
• 9 wallball shots (10' target, 20lbs / 14 lbs)

Ouch. This looked easy enough when Tim wrote it on the whiteboard, but by the start of the final round of burpees, it felt as though someone had poured hot lava in my shorts.

Result: 8:05 as RXed.

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.

Wednesday's Workout: Balls to the Wall

Medicine balls. Why'd it have to be medicine balls?

But first:

• Overhead Squats (5-5-5-3-3)

These felt great this morning. It's been a few months since we last practiced overhead squats, but I felt strong and stable through my midline. I kept it light and easy today, but I'm hoping to establish a new PR later in this cycle.

Metcon:

• 50 double unders
• 21 wallball shots
• 21 medicine ball cleans
• 21 medicine ball sit-ups
• 15 wallball shots
• 15 medicine ball cleans
• 15 medicine ball sit-ups
• 9 wallball shots
• 9 medicine ball cleans
• 9 medicine ball sit-ups
• 50 double unders

The first set of double-unders flew by. The final set? Not so much. And in between, the wallballs kicked the snot out of me. I wasn't bothered by the med ball sit-ups, but the cleans were tougher than I expected -- probably because I was still reeling from the wallballs.

It's a good reminder that something as simple as a stuffed ball can be a brutally effective training tool.

Result: 11:42 as RXed.

Monday's Workout

For a good ten minutes after I woke up yesterday morning, I lay snug under the covers, contemplating whether to play hooky. But after missing Friday's class, there was no way I was going to skip another workout -- especially now that the fog of the past couple of weeks is finally starting to lift from my head.

By the time I pulled into CrossFit Palo Alto's parking lot, I was ready to dive into whatever WOD awaited us. The bracing chill of the pre-dawn air made me want to move. After our warmup, Tim wrote the workout on the board.

AMRAP in 20 minutes:

• 15 wallballs (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 30 kettlebell snatches (24kg / 16kg)
• 60 double-unders

I can do these movements, and I can handle the RXed weights. So now that I've been injury-free for a few weeks, there's really no reason not to tackle this WOD with gusto, right?

Unfortunately, I hadn't considered:

1. How exhausting it might be to try to string all these gut-busting exercises together for 20 minutes straight;
2. How damned heavy a kettlebell can get after dozens and dozens of snatches; or
3. Whether my back might seize up in the middle of launching a big iron ball above my head.

It took me 10 minutes to get through the first two rounds, but they were decent. I felt fresh at the wallball station, and the double-unders didn't give me too much trouble. The kettlebell snatches were more challenging -- especially when I used my weaker left arm -- and they took forever, but I managed to slog through them. 

The third round, however, was hell. After a sluggish set of wallball shots, I picked up the kettlebell and pounded out more snatches. The reps came slowly, and by the end, I found myself struggling to crank out more than a couple at a time. With four left reps remaining in the set, I decided to push hard and finish them all at once. But as I snatched the kettlebell up and over my head for the last rep, I felt an all-too-familiar twinge in my lower back. 

Did I re-tear my back muscle? Or was it just fatigue?

I shook it off. The double-unders didn't bother me, so I kept going. I started my fourth round at the wallball station, and felt better. But as I finished my wallball reps, the twinge came back. Uh, oh.

Tim saw the concern on my face, and asked what was up. "My back again," I mumbled as I bent down to pick up the kettlebell. 

"Then don't be an idiot," Tim cautioned.

He was right. (Obviously.) After 90 kettlebell snatches, I was done. There was still a minute-and-a-half left on the clock, but I wasn't about to risk re-injuring my back just to post a few more reps, so I stopped. Raising a white flag can be an ego blow, but sometimes, it's the only reasonable thing to do.

Result: 3 rounds + 15 reps as RXed -- but I DNFed.

Today, I feel absolutely fine. My back is sore, but so is the rest of my body -- and there's none of the telltale pain that accompanied my previous injury. Normally, I'm not a big fan of quitting, but there's no doubt in my mind that it was the best thing I could have done for myself.

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: 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 Class: Back to School

It felt good to return to the 5 a.m. class.

Strength Skill:

• Zercher Squats (5-5-5-3-3)

Mark and I paired off to tackle the Zerchers. I only made it through four sets; I dumped the bar on my final rep, even though I was squatting 30 pounds lighter than my 1RM from last December. Ankle permitting, my goal for the cycle is to hit a new PR -- which means I have a ways to go.

Metcon:

• In 3 minutes, run 240 meters and then max reps of pass-throughs;
• In 3 minutes, run 240 meters and then max reps of wallballs (20lbs / 14lbs);
• In 3 minutes, run 240 meters and then max reps of dumbbell ground-to-overheads (45lbs / 30lbs);
• In 3 minutes, run 240 meters and then max reps of box jumps (20").

Score = Total reps.

Sadly, I'm not yet able to run on my ankle, so I rowed 250 meters each time instead. I'm not a huge fan of the erg (to put it mildly), but it was better than trying to hobble around the block.

This workout was clearly intended as a tune-up for this Saturday's Fight Gone Bad (and if you haven't donated yet, shame on you, you big mooch). My at-home attempts at wallball shots and box jumps didn't go so well last weekend -- my ankle didn't appreciate the pounding -- so I was hopeful that I'd see marked improvement during today's WOD.

Not so much.

The wallballs didn't feel too bad, so long as I didn't jump up into the throw. But prior to spraining my ankle, I'd been able to string together over two dozen unbroken wallball shots -- something I couldn't come close to replicating today. And my box jumps were just miserable. I winced every time my left foot smacked down on the box and on the floor. After a few reps, I started slowly stepping off the box after each jump.

Result: 80 (using RXed weights but rowing instead of running). As a point of comparison, the Terminator beat me by 58 reps. In other words, I got schooled -- but it sure beats sitting at home.

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: Sweet Bali Hai

More evidence that I've become hardwired for the 5 a.m. class at CrossFit Palo Alto: My eyes popped open at exactly 1:20 a.m. Hawaii time -- 4:20 a.m. Pacific time. It took me a second to remember that I wasn't in California, and that I could conk out for another three-and-a-half hours. Ah, vacation.

Still, at 5 a.m., M and I hauled our sleepy butts out of bed, threw on some clothes and drove down to Kauai CrossFit.

Today, Jerome started us off with some light stretching, and then we transitioned into a nice, blood-pumping warm-up consisting of a 400-meter run (again, along a path with ridiculously beautiful views of the Pacific expanse), and then three rounds of:

• 7 push-ups
• 7 knees-to-elbows
• 7 medicine ball cleans

And then the workout began. No long chipper today -- instead, we did something a bit more familiar to us: Some strength skill work and a short, intense triplet.

Strength Skill:

• Strict Shoulder Presses (3 sets of 5)

Yeesh. Strict presses have never been easy for me, and I still haven't yet hit my goal of pressing my bodyweight overhead without using my legs to boost up the barbell. But I think I've figured out why I can crank out a good number of handstand pushups but remain unable to press the equivalent weight on a barbell above my head: It's 'cause strict presses demand a greater range of motion. I think. I haven't tested out this theory yet, but I'll bet that I can press a heavier weight with my hands starting at top-of-head level than I can when the weight starts in rack position across my shoulders.

Metcon:

Three rounds for time:

• 30 overhead kettlebell swings (53lbs / 35lbs)
• 25 wallball shots (20lbs / 14lbs)
• 20 pull-ups

At first, even with the RXed weights, this seemed pretty manageable. In the first round, I managed to crank out all 30 kettlebell swings unbroken, and felt damned good as I walked over to my medicine ball. But as I began hurling that ball up against the wall, my hammies caught on fire. After the first 15 reps or so, I paused to stretch out my legs -- and for the remainder of the WOD, I'm not sure I strung together more than 5 wallball shots in a row again. Some of the folks in class got through all the wallball reps without stopping(!); they were already well into their pull-ups by the time I stumbled over.

Thankfully, my arms were fresh enough to get me through the pull-ups quickly. But then it was back to the swings and wallballs for Round Two. As M later put it: "Before I was done with the second round, I was already thinking about how the fuck I was going to get through Round Three."

It was a doozy, but on the whole, this WOD was right up my alley. I've always found wallballs to be challenging, but they're also a fantastic full-body movement -- and one I need to practice more anyway. And kettlebell swings and pull-ups are two of my favorites.

Result: 16:10 as RXed.

Over on the other side of the box, M went RXed with the kettlebell swings. It was great to see her heaving around the 35-pounder like a pro -- especially considering that just six months ago, she was tentatively swinging a half-pood (18 lb) kettlebell and declaring that it was "HEAVY!"

Given our schedules, M and I hardly ever get a chance to exercise together these days, and I've really enjoyed sharing this experience with her here on Kauai -- from the pre-workout protein-and-fat fueling to the post-workout breakfast of sweet potatoes, eggs and meat.

And that's not the only great thing about CrossFitting on vacation: Today, once we got back to the house, my recovery protocol consisted of sitting in the hot tub and sharing copious amounts of beef jerky with my six-year-old and then watching him practice underwater handstands in the pool.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Friday's Workout: The Big Boy

"Kettlebells," I thought to myself this morning as I changed out of my pajamas. "We haven't done anything with kettlebells in a while."

When I first began CrossFitting, we played with kettlebells all the time; I still fondly(?) remember swinging kettlebells with XFitMama, the Marine and the Terminator out on the sidewalk in front of the old flower shop in the morning darkness. I quickly got hooked. After reading Pavel Tsatsouline's "Enter the Kettlebell," I bought a 35-pound (16 kg) kettlebell from Dragon Door and practiced heaving the thing around in my garage. I later moved up to a 53-pound (24 kg) kettlebell, and recently, I've been using the 62-pound (28 kg) in metcons at the gym.

But in the past couple of months, kettlebells have largely been absent from our M/W/F programming at CrossFit Palo Alto -- so I was certain they would make a return appearance soon.

(This is called foreshadowing, kids.)

Strength Skill:

• Handstand Push-Ups (5 sets of 5)

As usual, I had fun practicing HSPUs -- and this time, I have the burst blood vessels to prove it.

But let's get to the good stuff.

Friday's Workout: Balls to the Wall

An exchange on Twitter yesterday:

@CFPaloAlto: Pending birth announcement for 5/20. It’s a girl. Glad @fitbomb is feeling better. #Crossfit

@PROGENEX: @CFPaloAlto Fun! What will we name her? Fran, Angie, Diane? Maybe Helen? Our recommendation: #TwinGirls #WOD

@fitbomb: @PROGENEX @CFPaloAlto – I’m cool with it as long as you’re not naming the baby Jackie, Karen, Eva, Kelly or Mary. #legsstillfried

Yes, I would have been okay with doing two WODs -- provided I didn't have to murder my legs again.

But of course, we got Kelly today. Figures.

Details after the jump...