Kind-Hearted Monster

“FIGHT GONE BAD”

Three rounds of:

Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20″ box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of “rotate”, the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Warm-up of a 5 minute Cindy, 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 air/body weight squats. Three rounds down and five pull-ups in when time called.

Man, I had no real way to prepare for this one. Is there ever REALLY a way to prepare for a WOD, though? I mean, you just gotta brace for the suck, weather it out and come out the other side, gasping for air on the floor or otherwise.

We were offered the option to start on a different movement if desired, and cycle through the movements in order, but I opted to just start at the wallballs and go from there. Not that I expected much, but I suppose I surprised myself a little bit, the first round I managed to get 20 reps out in a minute. Later rounds were 11 and 13, respectively. Not pretty, but pretty isn’t what’s being looked for here. 

Sumo deadlift high pulls at 75#, not used to doing the motion with a loaded barbell in place of a kettlebell. Was a little jarring, literally, to have the bar balanced just a little bit off, one side hitting ground first, then the other. But I kind of like the motion in general, something about it feels nice to me, I guess it’s reasonable to have certain components to workouts you like as ‘favourites’. 11, 14, 11.

Box jumps. Yay? It’s strange, I’m so very used to using a 24” box in workouts these days, that a 20” legitimately feels small to me now. The first two rounds I was not thinking things through all the way (when I was thinking at all) and standing up, open hip on top of the box. Last round I was getting up and opening the hip on the jump back off, before touching ground. I guess it’s just something to keep in mind for the next time FGB comes up, which will hopefully be a long, long time from now. :) 16, 13, 11.

Push presses, I was gassed and dying by this point, especially on the third round. Homigosh, so ugly, sweaty and having nothing left. Tried my best to make just a continuous motion, catch the downward fall of the press, dip and re-drive into the next push press. Ehhh.. mixed results, there? ;) Still.. You’d think 75 pounds for a push press wouldn’t be so hard, even in an AMRAP.. But by this point, yeah, think again. :) 11, 8, 9.

Lastly, rowing. I never like it, even in short sprint bursts like this. I’m not sure I’ll ever really ‘like’ rowing, haha. No Facebook likes here, that’s for sure. Just kinda jumped in the saddle so to speak and got to it, half the time I didn’t bother getting my feet strapped in, though it does feel weird to row ‘loose’ like that, so to speak. 11, 10, 8.

All of it so, so terrible.. :D Left on the ground just panting and sweating and dying. Augh, I hate you so much FGB. I can’t imagine those people that go five rounds. :D I’m just glad I did it in the morning and not heat of the afternoon, haha.

Final total/score: 177, as Rx’d.

What I’ll call “Frannish”

21-15-9 - 75 lb thrusters and burpee pull-ups.

Strength/Skill: Widowmaker, 20x back squats.

Warm-up consisting of 3x10 walking lunges, 14 lb. wallball shots and push-ups.

Open gym so we were actually just by ourselves working out there, Jarrod and myself. Saw all sorts of puffy clouds outside and hoped on the off chance a T-storm might drop and cool things off, but no such luck. Hot and humid and pretty awful for a workout. :D

Widowmaker was pretty basic, didn’t have reference to draw from, last time was a 110 set, so definitely a step down to today’s 90. Even so, probably not the best idea with thrusters lined up for the workout.

Started the WOD proper with 95 lbs on the bar for the thrusters, got two in and decided it was going to be too much to do for a reasonable time, for the whole workout. Stripped some weight down, dropped to 75 lbs. Even so, it was slow going, just too hot, not hydrated enough, too tired, I don’t know what the reason or excuse was.

In any event, I had trouble doing more than two reps at a time, and felt really disgusted and disappointed with myself, but kept going, even if I had to take long breaks in between paired reps. Eventually worked out the first set of 21, and found the burpee pull-ups were just as bad. Adding the burpee component really wrecks any sense of rhythm I would normally have in just doing standard/kipping/banded pull-ups.

Fifteen was no kinder in being a shorter round, though I found the fatigue of doing single reps towards the end of the round of 21 had left, and I could get back to doing two to three at a time. Fifteen more burpee pull-ups with sweat in my eyes, head swimming from heat and not quite knowing who or where I was…

Last nine and I was done, didn’t make that round go much faster than the previous two though, again really disappointed with myself, even if I could manage to stick with the (lowered) weight through the workout. 

Final time: 19:43

Strength:

(Changed the rep scheme from the “Sneak Peek” but its my Gym sooooo………..)

1-1-1-1-1 Press

3-3-3-3-3 Push Press

5-5-5-5-5 Push Jerk

*Add weight each set throughout the movements.

WOD:

8 Min AMRAP of:

Tire Flip Jump Throughs

*Use appropriately scaled Tire

Came in early and practiced more with double-unders, and to my surprise, managed to get three in a row without messing up, one more than my previous best, and what’s more, managed to do it a few times. That really, really felt good to do.. now if I can just identify exactly what it is that I did to manage such a feat. :)

Warm-up of 3x10 pull-ups or push-ups (I did 15 of each, had some tension in my forearms after attempting the pull-ups first), PVC pipe passthroughs and  kettlebell swings.

For the strength portion, I was primarily focused on the strict press, after having recently done the total, I wanted to see if I could make a PR in such a short span of time.

For 1-1-1-1-1 I went 80-85-90-95-100 and made the five pound increase. Out of curiosity I tried for 105 but just couldn’t quite make that one happen. Next time. :)

Push press 3-3-3-3-3 was 90-95-100-105-110, definitely getting harder with more reps involved, but managed to get them down.. Not without choking myself out once or twice in the process. Heavy catch in the clean position. :D

Push jerks 5-5-5-5-5 Got ugly. Strength failed me in a big way here, started 105 and went for a second round, third up to 110, fourth back down to 105, and fifth to 100. Was really unhappy, but while I was willing, it seems my body was not… Alas.

Tire flips and jump throughs! Nothing really all that special here, other than just an AMRAP and hang in through the suck as long as you can! Chose one of the lower-medium tires, as they’re colour-coded, and trying to find one that’s actually a bit lighter to make the workout more ‘cardio’-oriented than strength. 

I got crossfit-dumb somewhere along the way (well, several times, really) and lost accurate count.. to be conservative I did 53 in eight minutes, though I suspect I did more. A PR and an improvement on my double-unders in the same day. Good times! Now off to work.. or, well, my job.

Strength:

Level 3 Advanced: 

Snatch Complex

1 Power Snatch, 2 Hanging Squat Snatches, 3 Overhead Squats

*Complete 5 rounds resting 90 seconds between each round.

*Add weight after each successful round as long as form remains clean.

WOD:

Row 1000 M for time.

Warm-up of 500m row with +10 seconds added to your typical 500m time (2:06 @ ~70%) and 3x10 of jumping squats or “Toyotas” as fitocracy seems to call them, push-ups and zombie walks.

I came in a little bit early ahead of the class and decided to try to practice on double-unders and some technique refinement to that end. Trying to isolate movement to the wrists and get more flick and quick-twitch movement there, and less movement from the rest of the arm. Actually felt a little bit closer to the mark on ‘getting’ DU’s, but the timing still tends to be an issue, interrupting me from getting anything more than one at a time. It’s going to click one of these days…

For the strength exercise, I was caught off-guard, as we were actually directed to going through the motions of the full “Rx’d” snatch complex, rather than messing around with snatch balance and the like. My strength may not be the best, but I’d rather work with the real motions, even at lighter weights, to build muscle memory, so when I try to work with heavier weights, my body knows what to do.

Started with just an unloaded bar to go through the motions, then went through each set: 75 - 85 - 90 - 95 -105. Naturally got progressively harder, and found the hanging squat snatches harder than the power snatches, with there being less momentum to get the bar up, and get underneath it. Had everything going smooth, til the last round. 105 for me isn’t the easiest thing to hang snatch on, power snatch was no real issue. Had to repeatedly attempt the hang snatches, each time getting it up a little higher and higher, til I finally managed to get underneath and stand the squat snatch out. Took a break and went back to the unloaded bar to re-check motion and nearly threw myself off my feet quite literally, as I was so used to working with a heavy weight. For the last hanging snatch, it only took three tries to get it up and get it right. Ha.. ‘only’

The row was just kind of a close-out after those lifts, with a lot of my pulling power already shot from the one-two-three pull involved in the snatches - deadlift, hip crease and high elbows, and pull self under bar. Just set into it and tried to keep steady.. and tried not to watch the countdown on distance too closely. Better to not know til it’s over and done with. As tends to be the case with any rowing I do over 500m, I felt a little spongy along the middle of the ‘course’, but sucked it up and kept going til I finished.

Time: 4:09.9

15 Min Volume Training:

Rope Climbs, Pull Ups, Handstands, Muscle Ups or Pistols

WOD:

Level 2 Intermediate:

5 Rounds of:

5 Overhead Squat (95#/65#)

10 Wall Walks (Chest to wall)

Warm-up with 150 jump rope (singles) and some double under attempts thrown in for good measure, 20 PVC passthroughs and some shoulder mobility stretching and exercises.

Oddly I chose today for the skill/strength training portion more than the WOD, since we’re heading up to Columbus, OH for the Central East regionals tomorrow. I could still do the morning WOD, but this was more of interest to me; I wanted to practice on muscle-ups, or more accurately, progressions towards that end.

Ring dips ahoy! Rough to do with just the rings, arm stability isn’t developed enough, so after the first two attempts (max number of reps in a minute, rest for the remainder of the minute) I grabbed a medium band and strung it between the two. Definitely an improvement, I lost count of precise numbers for the subsequent attempts, but it was ranging between five to seven per minutes’ attempt. Didn’t take long to really feel it bunching up and straining along the triceps and up in my shoulders.. Just before we’re going to do overhead squats and wall-walks. Maybe I didn’t think my cunning plan all the way through…

The workout, I was focusing my dread after the skill exercise on the wrong half of the components. I was thinking the overhead squats were going to be the troublesome half, even dropped down to 75 pounds from level 2’s recommended 95,  but I was completely unprepared for the wall walks and all the suck those would entail. 

The first set was ugly, walking all the way up til chest touches wall, slow going and rough but I worked them out as best as possible.. Was later suggested by others suffering the same torment to scale it down to the level 1 standard, walk-up to 45 degrees and back down. Did that for my second round, still struggling, was suggested instead to do five per round, but full chest-to-wall.

Yeah, I don’t think there’s really anything that would have made this whole thing not-suck, but as was said, “if we’re this bad at it, we need it” so I kept at it as best I could, alternating between 5 OHS and 5 wall-walks. Towards the end I found I was starting to blister the palms of my hand from quick and successive hand-walks, they’re still a bit tender even now, but I sucked it up and did the last few, finished out.

Final time: 23:00

Strength:

5 x Clean Complex:

1 Power Clean, 1 Hanging Squat Clean, 1 Front Squat, 1 Split Jerk

*Rest 90 sec between each effort adding weight  after successful attempts.

WOD:

10 Min AMRAP of:

10 Over the box jumps (24″) *You may land on the box top and jump to the other side.

10 Walking Lunges (25#)

Warm-up of 500m row (1:56 @ ~75%) and 3x 15 air squats, 10 scorpion kicks on either side, duck walks down the 10m mat and zombie walks back.

The clean complex was interesting and honestly, kind of fun to do. Went as follows:

95 lbs for power clean, hanging squat clean, front squat, split jerk.

105 lbs for power clean, hanging squat clean, front squat, split jerk.

115 lbs for power clean, hanging squat clean, front squat, split jerk.

125 lbs for power clean, hanging squat clean, front squat, split jerk.

145 lbs for power clean, hanging squat clean, front squat, and had trouble with the split jerk. Couldn’t quite get it up, or get under it to stand it out, had trouble locking out the arms. Need to get under it faster. Tried it a second time after a little rest, same result. Rested again, made a third attempt with another failure. Decided to leave it at that, but I recall before 145-155 is about my 1RM (or above) for a jerk anyway. So I’ll keep that as a goal to beat for my next PR. :)

For the WOD, went with the 24” box and jump on-and-off the other side, and a 25lb. plate for the lunges, as suggested for level 2. Kind of straightforward, just ten minutes to suffer all the suck I can handle, and hope for the best on number of rounds, keep going as long as I can. Probably for the best I did up and over rather than attempting full box jump-overs, as I suspect I would have injured myself in the attempt. 

Flagged in energy somewhere along the way, but just kept going and tried to ignore the clock. On one of the later rounds I stumbled and very nearly took myself out on the box, but was fortunate or loose enough that I kind of rolled off without any injury or incident.

Finished with six rounds down, all ten box jumps and 5/10 lunges, in ten minutes’ time.

WOD:

“CROSSFIT TOTAL”

The CrossFit Total is the sum of the best of three attempts at the squat, the press, and the deadlift. All three lifts are done while standing on the floor.

There is no time limit for each lift or for the length of the session in which they are all performed, but they must all be performed during one session—i.e., you cannot leave the area to rest or perform other activities between the three lifts.

Anyone in a position to attempt a legitimate CrossFit Total should be familiar enough with their capabilities on the lifts to have a fairly good idea of just what might be possible for a one-rep max (1RM). This number is what you warm up intending to do. A meet situation will involve three attempts, and this is a good way to determine a true 1RM.

The first attempt would be a weight you know you can do for a heavy set of three. The second attempt would be a weight you know without any doubt that you could do for a single, having just done the first attempt. And the third attempt is the weight you want to do, based on your performance on the previous two attempts.

“Buy Out” (Optional)

Run 1 Mile for time

Warm-up of 500m row (1:56 @ ~75%) and 3x10 wallballs, push-ups and kettlebell swings.

Really straightforward stuff today. Totals are as follows:

Strict shoulder press: 95 lbs. (1RM, PR)

Back squat: 215 lbs. (1RM, PR +5)

Deadlift: 235 lbs. (1RM, PR)

Mile run: 7:42 (PR)

Total: 545 / Weight to bodyweight ratio, approximately 3.4.

I’m really pleased all around with it. The only thing that surprised me, I guess, is in doing the deadlift, I actually could feel my hamstrings REALLY fire and activate, trying to pull up the 235, it got stuck, and I fought through. I’ve never felt that sensation before, it’s.. unusual, but interesting.

Also my first time getting a benchmark for my mile time, and honestly I didn’t know what to expect, but I was thinking it was going to be a higher number. :)

WOD:

Level 2 Intermediate:

21,15 and 9 of:

Deadlift (185/135)

Handstand Push Ups (Boxed)

Warm-up of 3x15 14 lb wallballs  and max-time L-sit holds. Can’t quite do a ‘proper’ l-sit hold with legs extended, but with feet tucked and knees raised is a good bit of work for where I stand, for the first time that I’ve noticed, the motion actually pulls at my core and abs, trying to keep stable. 20, 24 and 20 seconds for the rounds.

For the workout, I loaded up the bar to 185, but for 21-15-9 reps, I found it was going to be a little heavy, would slow me down.. so I went down in weight to 165 instead, tried that, felt more comfortable with the weight for so many reps.

Was curious about the handstand push-ups doing ‘regular’ versus boxed. We were told, more or less to judge based on how comfortable we feel holding in a handstand. Since I’ve got that down pat, I decided I was going to try kipping HSPU with a pad, and raise on plates as needed.

Got started, and the deadlifts felt really just.. sluggish and heavy, even at 165, maybe I’m just out of practice (so to speak), it’s hard to say. But went with the lifts one by one, trying to do as many at a time as possible, and just chip away at the 21. Somewhere in all the mess that was, I noticed I was bleeding on my leg, bumped or nicked with the knurling, the raw spot that had been abraded from the rope climbs opened up.

Moved to the HSPU and was challenged, starting initially with just the ab-mat for padding on the floor itself.. changed and used a 25 lb plate as a ‘booster’ of sorts to scale the motions a bit, and found it a good deal easier. Blows my mind that I’m already to the point that I’m even attempting handstand push-ups in a workout, let alone actually doing them somewhat successfully. 

The second round of deadlifts felt even more sluggish than the first, and just sucked it up and worked to get them over and done with. I think I should work on my form and posture a bit for the deadlifts, I suspect if I could go back and watch myself, I’d see not enough of a straight back, though I suppose I do try to keep my weight back on my heels, at least.

Second round of handstand push-ups began to expose muscle fatigue creeping in.. Switched from a 25 plate up to a 45lb plate to bump up the handicap and adjust/scale for having more difficulty in completing the reps. Found a few times that my arms were starting to complain, I fell over to one side or the other in more than a few instances. For the last few of 15, an additional 10 pound bumper was put into place to assist.

The last nine deadlifts I did in sets of three, just steady pounding, one two three, rest, one two three, rest, one two three and done, back to the HSPU.

Probably just getting excited at knowing I was close to done, but I went and did the first five of nine HSPU unbroken, the last four were just knocking them out one at a time, but I finished.

This workout involved me doing nine times as many handstand pushups as I had ever done before. Nine times or more than I had ever expected of myself.

I think hidden somewhere in all the programming and development across ten skill areas and metabolic pathways and conditioning, crossfit also has an art. The art of  completely surprising yourself with what you are truly capable of.

Final time: 15:29

Strength:

1×20 Squat “Widow-maker”

*Use 5-10% More weight if last week’s set was completed unbroken.

WOD:

Level 2 Intermediate:

Four rounds for time of:

10 One-arm dumbbell snatches (2 Pood / 1.5 Pood)
100M Sprint (Out and Back)

Warm-up of burpee broad jumps, PVC overhead squats (no weight) and rope climbs just for practice. Actually managed to get higher up the rope than I have in the past, even while wearing my vibrams, kind of a neat thing. Still need practice on getting back DOWN smoothly, but hey it’s a start!

Widowmakers again, going to be a recurring thing from what I can tell, though I can’t say how long. Last time was 105, this time I went up to 110, maybe a little slow, but I think part of this is still working out where a ‘good place’ is for weight. Feels pretty good, a fairly heavy weight to work with, enough that halfway through or so I’m feeling some strain, and the least few are a good fight to get out, but got it done.

For the workout, I knew it was a sprint, figuratively and literally, just a matter of going as quickly as possible. The idea of 2 pood kettlebell snatches was intimidating though.. Before we got started I tried with one of the ‘lighter’ dumbbells at 55 lbs, and had some trouble with that, my right arm was feeling rather weak, specifically at the elbow. Dropped to 50 lbs for a dumbbell and went with that.

Started off a little shaky, but once I got into things I found a rhythm and the snatches actually became fairly straightforward, they were heavy enough to be challenging, but I felt really comfortable with the motion, without struggling too much. I did no-rep myself on a number of snatches on the second set because I didn’t feel they were clean enough or proper, using just one arm, and so forth.

The sprints were not a break, nor were they meant to be. Didn’t feel enough energy to manage a flat-out sprint for them however, at a guess the snatches sapped enough energy to make it challenging. Managed to pour what little I had left into the final, fourth sprint back in to the box. Finished up and just lay on my back staring at the ceiling for a good few minutes, catching my breath. I really liked this one.

Final time: 8:30

WOD:

Event #2

Level 2 Intermediate:

For time:
Row 2,000 meters
100 Squats
30 Hang cleans (135/95 lbs)

Warm-up of 1/2 mile jog with Evan and the rest of the class, then down and back inchworms, bear crawls, front and back kongs, all pretty bad and got me sweating profusely. :D Further practiced for the cleans with front squats with unloaded bars, 5x5 second hold in the squat, 5x3 second clean drops, and 5x hang squat cleans.

The 2000m row was.. unpleasant, to put it mildly. The damper was turned down lower than I’m used to, so it felt like more effort being expended to hit the same 500m pace, and then to keep going.. and going.. and going. It felt exceptionally long, slow going and grueling to watch the distance count up and up. Probably shouldn’t have watched it so closely, and just rowed, but I couldn’t really help myself. 

In comparison, 100 bodyweight/air squats seemed bad at first, but improved the further and further I got into the set, almost as if it was a rest period connecting two more intensive workouts. Probably why it’s programmed like that, if I had to guess. Probably could have done, or should have attempted, doing the pistols instead, but it was told to us that pistols are not something you should practice-attempt during a WOD as you would with say, double-unders.

For the cleans, we were told to begin with a weight to test with, and see if we could do five hang cleans without break or rest, as a somewhat arbitrary guideline to base from. Originally I considered 95, but tried 105.. and had it, was told to add 20 pounds. So up I go in weight, 125 lbs, just shy of the recommended for level 2 of 135 lbs. It was good and heavy, tried to go with as many as I could at a time, which turned out to be two. It was tough to hold on and just let it drop back to hang at arms’ length and go into the next rep.. so wound up breaking down to two at a time for the first 10-12 or so, then split up further still in singles.

Really bruised the hell out of my chest as I tend to with anything involving cleans, wasn’t surprised really. What I am slightly surprised with is that the bruise showed up by the same day, usually it at least waits til the next morning. 

Final time: 25:41

Skill:

Heavy Bag Shouldering.

WOD: 

15 Min AMRAP of:

100 M Loaded Shuttle Run caring one of the following:

L2: 70# Heavy Bag

*Score number of laps.

Warm-up of 3x15 wallballs, GHD back extensions and 24” box jumps.

Was a good deal more pleased with my work today versus yesterday, what with the DNF I came up with. 70 lb bag was.. awkward, cumbersome to clean and shoulder, but not terribly heavy, I PROBABLY could have managed the 100lb bag, but those were just compact as a brick and would have been even more awkward, I honestly think.

That said I tried to keep up as best as I could, a slow run or jog, alternating with just a walk, and tried to avoid putting the bag down as much as possible. If memory serves through all the sucking air and sweat in my eyes, I only set the bag down at the end of each lap, so that’s something in my favour. Just made the attempt to keep breathing and rest to a minimum, but in the later rounds, I found it harder and harder to just ‘suck it up’ and keep going.

Final result, ten complete laps and 1/2 of an eleventh when time was called. 1km ‘run’ with an extra 70 lbs body weight in essence, in 15 minutes. I’m a good deal more pleased than I was yesterday morning.

Strength:

1a) Max rep Handstand Push Up ( Level 1 and 2 use Boxed HSPU or Hand Release Push Ups)

1b) 3-3-3-3 Push Press

Move immediately to Push Press after the HSPU.  Rest 90 Sec between rounds.

WOD

Level 2 Intermediate:

21,15 and 9 of:

Sit Up Stand Up Wall Ball Tosses (20#/14#)

Hanging Squat Snatch (75/45)

9/8/8/5 declining push-ups, 75 - 85 - 90 - 90 push press, starting to break to split jerks towards the end.

WOD: 20lb. wallball, 55lb snatch. DNF.