Monday- 130429

“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.

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:

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.

WORKOUT 12.3

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 18 minutes of:

15 Box jumps, 24″ box
115 pound Push press, 12 reps
9 Toes-to-bar

The workout will begin with box jumps. The athlete will jump with two feet and come to a standing position with knees and hips locked out on top of the box. After 15 reps they will move to their loaded barbell. The barbell will begin on the ground. For the Push press to count the barbell will move from the shoulders to the overhead position, with the knees, hips and shoulders extended in one line. After 12 reps they will move to a pull-up bar. For the Toes-to-bar to count, the feet must begin behind the bar at the bottom and both feet must touch the bar at the same time at the top. After 9 reps are completed, the athlete will begin their next round.

Warmed up with a 400m run and some jump rope practicing double unders just to get myself loosened up and blood flowing. Really didn’t know what to think of this workout when it was posted, though I was glad they weren’t strictly requiring only  push presses for the reps to count, as I’m not sure I could manage that too much over the course of the workout.

Came in as a heat was finishing up, let one more run through before we got started.. Surprisingly didn’t have much in the way of butterflies or nervousness prior to starting, I just wanted it to get started so it could be over and done with.

Then, the suck began.

Box jumps didn’t really prove to be much in the way of a challenge, though in hindsight, I wish I had made more attempt for them to be bounding and chained together, rather than just one at a time. I didn’t do step-down during them however. I think a lot of people were confused, or slightly annoyed at the standard for the box-jumps, the full upright and open hip extension slowing some people from their normal rhythm and pace.

Then, it got worse.

By this point, we’ve been doing clean and jerks, either separate or together twice already this week, both times being the days we went to workout, and in my case, both times using… 115lb. So I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this component of the workout. Started out as best I knew how in cleaning the weight and jerking from the gate, I really doubt my ability to push press that kind of weight presently.

After that, the toes to bar were surprisingly not much of an issue. I tried out a new method, and I might have to experiment more next time knees to elbows comes up; taking a narrow grip with the hands and going wide on the feet to touch to the bar. Many reps I was actually getting either toes to the bar, or balls of the feet to touch, either way, I was pleased and surprised by what I could do.

Second round, no problem in the box jumps, moved to the weights again, and that was my sticking point for the whole workout, really. Every time I went to the rack, the bar and weight was just choking me out, stole every breath I fought to take to get the jerk and work the weight overhead. More than one rep I actually had to fight to press the weight out, before chiding myself and mentally forcing myself to get under and split jerk, rather than trying to muscle out push presses, or it wasn’t going to end pretty.

Another nine toes to bar without much incident, another round down, fifteen more box jumps, and time ticking down. Back to the weights, gassed and still fighting to breathe every rep, not to mention fighting to actually lock out and lift each rep overhead. Had six of twelve but the body wasn’t going to hear any more of this B.S. Fought and fought and fought to try to get seven, let alone finish the set, but couldn’t manage any more before the timer ran out.

Two rounds + 21, Total score posted on the games scoreboard of 93. 

Not as high as I was wanting, I was guessing/shooting for at least three rounds, but the 115lb presses really bogged me down.

Strength:

Heavy Turkish Get Ups

Take 15 Min to work up to a 1RM on each side.

WOD:

Level 2 Intermediates:

21,15 and 9 of:

Banded Pull Ups

Knees to Elbows

Push Press (50% body weight)

Warm-up of 500m row (1:54 @ 85% resistance) followed by 3x15 : 20lb Wallballs, Sit-ups, GHD Back extensions, and 2 minutes or five reps wall-walks, whichever comes first.

Wasn’t too happy to see wallballs again so soon, and heavier still. It’s still a problem for me, even after so many months, and it bugs me a little, honestly.  Sit-ups weren’t much of a problem aside from working up leverage to get up. Went a little slowly on the back extensions as well, just for wearing down a little. There had been a pretty severe thunderstorm that rolled through a few hours prior and left everything humid as heck.

The wall walks were kind of awkward, in part because my vibrams have a tendency to slip and not grip the painted wall very well. Also, once I got up and above a certain angle, I could feel my weight shift and press down into my back muscles - While not painful, it was an unusual and somewhat uncomfortable feeling. Finished 4/5 reps in 2 minutes.

For the TGU’s I started at 1 pood/36 lb. just to get started, one to a side, then went up from there to dumbbells, 40 - 45 - 50 just to do one to a side to see how I fared, a few times during it I dropped the weight for struggling to hold it up and arm locked out. Did ultimately hit my max at the 50lb. mark, where it became too much to do the motions, though I’m glad to see that’s my limit for the time being, it shows I’ve progressed.

At the same time it frustrates me to a degree, I want to be able to do this, and to do more, because even if it’s skewed, subjective and biased, I feel and I view myself as weak. Though lifting 30, 40, 50 pounds overhead and bringing yourself up from laying flat on your back isn’t the easiest thing for people to do, I still view myself lacking in some things that crossfit presents me with. So I’m driven to improve.

On the workout itself, the humidity post-thunderstorm would present another problem, in that the bars rapidly became slick and slippery, hard to grip. Even banded, I was fighting for grip to do the pull-ups more than usual, and not for grip strength, for a change. I decided against using chalk, I rarely use it in most WODs as it stands, and we were cautioned that given the humidity, it could potentially increase the possibility of rips/tears.

I went into this before I had considered the humidity affecting things, with the desire of trying to improve my form on knees-to-elbows, actually making the two connect, instead of merely coming close, or even having the knees pass to the outside of the elbows. Sadly, that kind of fell by the wayside, as the humidity, grip issues, and the general energy-sap of the workout all took their toll.

The push press at 1/2 body weight (Approximate; 80 lbs.) was challenging for its own reasons, not long ago when we had the 3 minute max rep workout, I think I knocked out 20-21 in the three minute span, this time time was less of an issue, but the WOD was still timed. More the issue, was that my wrists started hurting, aching a bit to rest under the bar in the rack position, and I had to keep racking the weight every few reps, fighting to get them out and keep a good pace going.

Deeper and deeper into the workout, the problems just grew more pressing and insistent; slick, slippery bars, poor grip, hurting wrists and flagging energy levels. It really got under my skin, especially with the K2E, wanting to get a proper form and somewhat losing out on the chance being pressed for time to finish instead.

Apparently something cracked (figuratively!!), because in fighting out the last two or three push presses, I felt a flood of anger, rage, just wanting to be done with it. And I got a shot of adrenaline, because suddenly 80 lbs felt like the bar or less, and I THREW that sucker up there to bang out the last reps, and hurled it to the ground. I think I surprised Jarrod, and I know it surprised myself after the fact. I’ve never lost my temper in a WOD, not like this at least. I really gotta see if I can find a way to tap that without necessarily going into rage-mode, but if going beast is what it takes… well, so be it. :)

Final time: 17:14.

If I feel weak, I must remember I’m stronger than I’ve ever been.

If I feel challenged doing something harder, I must remember I couldn’t do it at all before.

If I’m weak, I’m getting stronger. If I can’t do it, I will. If I’m challenged, I’ll get better.

WOD:

Level 2 Intermediates:

3 Min Max Row for Calories

rest 1 Min

3 Min Max rep Box Jumps (*Step down standard) 24″/20″

rest 1 Min

3 Min Max Rep Push Press 1/2 body weight

Rest 1 Min

3 Min Max Rep Double Unders

Warm-up of 20 box jumps with a 24” box, stepping down instead of bounding. Followed by a 10 meter bear crawl across the mat, 5 toe grab/extensions, another bear crawl back, 10 more box jumps, and a third crossing doing “inchworm”, touching hands and feet to the ground together, walking hands out, then walking feet back up, while keeping legs straight and knees unbent. Finally, ten burpees for time, rest two minutes, and ten more burpees for time.

Really getting serious about these warm-ups!

Recently we seem to have had a small rash of injuries among box-jumpers springing up and bounding back down, so the standard has been changed or lowered slightly, to step-down each rep. That said, I stumbled several times jumping up onto the box, but fortunately managed to catch myself with no serious injury. :)

There was no strength, skill or other component to today’s work, it was a warm-up, straight into the WOD.

First, the row. Augh.. 80% damper setting, and just trying to put out as much power as possible, to cram as much work into that three minutes as possible. I really can’t say I was very good at it, rowing seems to be a frequent weakness of mine, though I suppose I’ve gotten a little better at short sprints, 500m and such. But this was my usual 500m split time and then another half again.. ugh. I got so soft and doughy after the two minute mark or so, put too much out in the first 60%. Just kinda weakly limped along for the remainder of the the third minute. Finished with 54 calories rowed.

One minute breaks go by REALLY fast. Just enough time to mark my score on the whiteboard, get a sip of water, and move to the box for jumps.

Box jumps right after a row are evil. My arms are thick and noodly, and not working properly at all for leverage or counterbalance on the jumps, and getting up onto a 24” box with straining legs was none to pleasant to boot. Just tried to stay as steady as possible and alternate legs on step-downs coming back off. Only stumbled on my jump maybe once or twice, and again was fortunate enough to not injure myself, seriously or otherwise. 39 box jumps in 3 minutes.

Another all-too-short rest and I moved on to push presses at 80 lbs. The guidelines, such as they were, boiled down to “If you can’t do a handstand push-up yet but you can push press at least half of your body weight, do so for three minutes.” There is of course, a difference between ‘possible’ and ‘sustainable at pace for 3 minutes’. Got off to a start I was pleased with, and fatigue quickly caught up to me from the breaks, and I had to re-rack the bar several times, and ultimately knock out two reps at a time, before time was up. 21 80 lb. push presses.

Finally, jump ropes. I probably could have done singles til the cows come home, even this far into the workout, but I really, really do want to ultimately master double-unders at some point. So even going one or two at a time, that’s what I was convinced to do for the final three minutes. I was only counting double-unders, even without the singles strung together between attempts. I can feel myself getting closer to the level I want to be, it’s getting easier to get the motion.. But it’s just not quite clicked, yet. 25 Double-unders in 3 minutes.

Filthy Fifty (Or scaled to:)

Level 2 Intermediate:

“Dirty Thirty”

For time:
30 Box jump, 24 inch box
30 Jumping pull-ups
30 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 30 steps
30 Knees to elbows
30 Push press, 45 pounds
30 Back extensions
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
30 Burpees
30 Double unders (Or 90 singles)

Warm-up: 5 of each movement. No skill work or strength workout on today’s programming, just one demanding WOD.

Box Jumps: I was surprised more than anything that I managed to get the box jumps fairly steadily, and more so that I managed to actually have some ‘spring’ or bounce both at the top and bottom of the jumps, even on a 24” box. I started steadily and wore down a little further into the motions, but finished fairly quickly.

Jumping pull-ups: In doing the warm-ups I landed kind of poorly on one and felt a little tension or soreness in my ankle. Fortunately it didn’t bother me during the actual workout, and not now after the fact either. Somewhere between this and the next round I think I checked the clock, and had got about 2:30 in.

Kettlebell swings: One pood wasn’t a lot of weight.. Well, I say that now, since I’m starting to move into the next ‘weight category’ so to speak. I know this is about speed and good times, and getting the work down, done in the shortest time possible. Went steady, though I had to set the KB down twice for just a moment to reset my grip and rest a breath or two.

Walking lunges: Knocked out the first six or seven in crossing across the 10 meters or so of the mat, came back, and re-crossed, left the mat and finished the last of the 30 over concrete. Nothing too complicated, they’re body weight lunges, not weighted or farmer carries or anything mean.

Knees to elbows: I started on a lower bar than I probably would have liked, it was limiting in not being able to easily get the kipping motion to open/close my body as was demonstrated in the video. Came off to reset my grip, still being an issue for me, and got onto a higher bar, with more motion to it, and fared a little bit better. Reset grip and paused for a breath several times. Still have some difficulty in getting the knees to make full contact with the elbows. They can reach, and come close.. I’ll just have to make a more concerted effort in the future to see if I can actually touch.

Push press: Split these into three rounds of ten in straight succession, resting with the bar on the rack for a moment between rounds. Did each set of ten unbroken. Was as was suggested, a sort of rest or relaxing respite between some of the more challenging motions.

Wallballs: I hate wallballs. :P I knew before I walked in that wallballs were going to slow me down, were going to be the biggest stumbling block in my final time. But I knew I had to do them, one way or another. Somewhere near halfway through I had considered splitting at fifteen and coming back after another motion to complete it, but at this point I had done everything else as a whole, why change it up now? I sucked it up, and even if I was doing four, three, even two reps at a time, I had to get to thirty. Maybe it was just knowing that I had to get it done, but I was feeling a little better with doing the shots, getting them to the line, going down and popping back up. I don’t claim to be anywhere near “getting” wallballs down, but I did ‘em.

Back extensions: Didn’t really have much thought about these beforehand, got on and knocked them out as smoothly as I could. Fifteen, sweat dripping on the floor, twenty-five, thirty, and done. Others had complained afterwards of tension/tightness in their hamstrings, or even all the way down the leg, locking up down to the ankle, I didn’t feel anything like that until…

Burpees: I didn’t have leg tension, but doing the burpees, oh man did I feel tension and tightness in my lower back. Every burpee I felt it pulling. But every burpee was closer to me finishing and getting rest. I sucked it up and pushed through five, ten, fifteen, twenty-five, thirty.

Jump rope: I’m nowhere near to having double-unders under my belt for the sake of a workout, still working on getting where I can do more than one at a time without interruption. I’ll gladly do singles even at a 3:1 ratio. Knew this was the home stretch so tried to bust them out as quickly as possible. First 65 unbroken, then 72, 85, 90.

FINAL TIME: 20:00

I looked up, and I didn’t believe what I saw. I had finished in twenty flat? And I was the first to finish? That’s unheard of for my workouts. Now, to avoid sounding like I’m bragging, we’ve got a lot of new people in lately who aren’t as acclimated to crossfit like those of us that have been coming for months on end, and there were others that were doing the full RX’ed Filthy Fifty at 50 reps of each. 

Surprises / “discoveries”: Getting spring in my step on doing box jumps, getting wallballs down with some power up and down.

Detriments / “I need work”: Wallballs. :P But I’m still getting better, at everything.

But I don’t go to the gym to work out and compete with them, or Jarrod; I go to compete with me, myself, my expectations, and my limitations. And I want to win. Leave them behind me.

WOD: 

“The Bear Complex”

Level 2 Intermediate:

Complete 5 rounds

In the Bear,  one rep consists of 1 Power clean, 1 Front Squat, 1 Push Press (From the front) 1 Back Squat and 1 Push Press (From the Back).  Each round consists of 7 reps of this complex.  Experienced lifters may combine the Power Clean and Front Squat into 1 Squat Clean.  Rest as needed between rounds and try to increase weight from set to set.

Warmed up with ten minutes of open-ended skill work; i.e. we had ten minutes to work on whatever skill we chose. A great many people worked on their pull-ups, a few on handstands and handstand push-ups, Jarrod did some work with atlas stone cleans, I chose for double-under practice.

Still don’t quite have it, the few times I manage to successfully do a DU, I tend to get so surprised that I screw up and lose the rhythm :D

Remainder of the warm-up afterwards was 3x10 medicine ball cleans, swings (kettlebell style), thrusters, and “rocket jumps”, holding the ball extended fully overhead and max height standing jumps.

WOD was interesting. It’s so unusual to have a WOD with no prescribed weight, and no clock or timer or time limit. It’s so… freeform, it almost seems out of place compared to how regimented everything else is in crossfit. :P

Went up little by little, but also started about where I left off on max weight last time, as I recall. Last time bear complex was the WOD for me was sometime back in mid-summer before the move to the current location. So a few months to improve, and not keeping records or this journal back then…

Went 60-65-70-75-80 on the five rounds, didn’t start with squat cleans, but instead rolled the front and back squat with push press into thrusters on front and back. I /probably/ could have gone slightly heavier, but I was partnered up with Jarrod, sharing the bar and taking turns on lifts. He slowed, and stopped on the fourth round of seven complaining of shoulder pain, we’ve both had issues over the past few workouts, mine however wasn’t present tonight. 

Believed to be a torn muscle on the right arm, he’s disappointed that he’ll have to take a week or two off from exercising, or have what exercises and workouts he does attempt heavily modified or changed.

Relatively pleased with myself, though with last attempt not recorded, and this one not timed, scored or prescribed, it’s really kind of subjective how I did!

Next time I’ll be prepared. 

Next time I’ll be better.

Satruday’s WOD:

Strength: Turkish get-up practice, find max weight for each arm.

10 Minute AMRAP of: 10 Box Jumps, 10m Bear Crawl, 10 Jiu-jitsu sit-ups with 12lb. medicine ball, 10m walk back to box.

Definitely going to have to start coming to Saturday morning WODs more if only for the social element, and the MASS SEA of people that show up.

Really a pretty straightforward workout, did the AMRAP first, strength exercise second. First round through I tried doing the JJSU without a weight, which is how I did it the last time these came up in a workout.. it’s rough and slow.. so the remaining rounds I tried it with a medicine ball for comparison.. scaling is from “RX’d” with no weight, down to 12, then 20 lbs.. the more weight you use as a counterweight, the easier it becomes.

It felt remarkably easier with even the 12 lb medicine ball, how about that.. but it really made things smoother, faster.. got up into a squat more easily, stood up, and it helped me balance to go back down into a sit-up position as well. Definitely something to remember for any future occurrences of the motion.

Probably also could have done the bear crawls both ways for the short distance it took, but not too much of an issue there I suppose. TGUs weren’t too bad, no worse than a few days prior, I still don’t feel comfortable or strong enough for anything more than 1pood by itself just yet. Shoulder feels weak, left moreso than the right. I’ll just keep at it, and the strength and everything will come, just like all the other exercises we do.

Final of five full rounds in the ten minutes.

Monday, January 9

Level 2 Intermediate:

Press 5,5,5

Push Press 3,3,3

Push Jerk or Split Jerk 1,1,1

*Rest 90 sec between each set and try to add weight each set.  The last set of each movement should be a true max effort set or rep.

WOD: 

Level 2 Intermediate:

Row 500 M and complete as many KB Swings (1 pood/1.5 pood) as possible with the remaining of 4 Min.

Warm up with 25 push-ups and a 500m row (surprise! 1:54 at ~80% resistance)

Was really excited for the strength/weight portion of this workout, and unfortunately I came out honestly a little bit disappointed with how I did.

Presses at 5 x 65, 5x 75 and 4 x 80.. Though, as I recall my last crossfit total had my 1RM around 85, so I suppose the bar’s been moved, so to speak. :)

Push presses at 3 x 95, 3x 105, 3 x 115 with no real problem. Though I apparently let my core/middle get a little soft and spongy, felt some tension and a little bit of pull in my mid-back, just below the shoulder blades. Nothing injured, but definitely something I need to keep an eye on, and mind for the future.

Push/Split Jerks: 1 x 120, 1 x 135, 1 x 155, failing out on the third. I almost had it locked out overhead but couldn’t quite complete it, despite a few attempts. Really, really frustrated me, especially with being so close.

See image:

Yeah, it’s kind of like that.

But. BUT. I’m pretty sure even if I didn’t 100% a 155 jerk, 135 is still some kind of PR for me nonetheless. So at least I can take that away from the whole situation. PROGRESS!

Then for the “WOD”.. Seeing something looking like that after a lot of strength work, I had a feeling, “Yeah, this isn’t gonna be pretty or good at all..” 

And I was right! 1:50 on the rower at ~80% and went to a 1.5 pood kettlebell, something honestly rather new to me as I’ve almost exclusively stuck with 1 pood on almost anything involving one. I guess I gotta take the training wheels off eventually.. :D 

But these were ugly, 54lbs to swing around when it’s almost a third of your body weight does REALLY funky things to your sense of balance. I no-repped myself on probably a good 5-7 of them if not more, and finished with a final count of 17. I lost track after I fell over a few times.. :P

From Crossfit Murfreesboro:

Strength:

3-3-3-1-1-1 Hanging Squat Cleans:

WOD:

Level 2 Intermediate:

21,15 and 9 of:

Push Press (115/65)

Knees 2 Elbows

From Crossfit Murfreesboro:

Warm Up:

“Coaches Choice”

5 Minute Double Under practice

3x10 PVC Pass-through, Burpees, Back Extension

Strength:

3-3-3 Push Press

WOD:

Level 3 Advanced:

“21″

20 Push Ups   –     1 Sit Up

19 Push Ups   –   2 Sit Ups

18 Push Ups  -   3 Sit Ups

continue in this fashion and finish with 1 Push Up and 21 Sit Ups

So yes, this was about as bad as I was expecting it to be, at least for the WOD. :D

In the warmup, still working on DU’s, getting them just right in terms of timing. I feel like I’m close, but what do I know. :) All the same I’m going to keep practicing and working til I get it steady, because that’s how this works, right? Extensions, burpees, passthroughs, no real issues there.

For the strength portion I went for a few practice sets just to get warmed up, 5x55lb, 5x65 lb, then went for 3x85, 3x95, 3x115. Feels good to push press what (and more) I used for C&J for Grace a month or so ago, even if it’s for considerably less reps. Still suggests progress to me, which is what I like to see.

And then the WOD. Ow, I’m still hurting.

I wasn’t expecting it to be kind, oh no, but everyone stepped up and started all but volunteering for L3, I figured I might as well try. I’ve got a bruise on my forehead from laying my head/face repeatedly on the rubber mat flooring, and likely have either a bruise or a knot on the back of my head from the situps and coming down too hard, particularly later in the ladder. :P 

I “finished” when Carly “Carzilla” told me to stop at the end of 5-16, wanting to keep me from possibly getting rhabdo.. While I wanted to do the whole thing and only had four rounds left to go, I think it’s the right decision. I was the last one working, and had afinal time of 35:48 by that point. 

Even without completing the whole RX’ed workout, I still suppose I can feel pretty accomplished, it’s a mean, mean thing and I made it most of the way through.