Dreaded DUs

WOD

3 RFT

20 OHS 95 lbs (Rx)
40 Double-Unders (argh!)
20 SDHP 95 lbs (Rx)

21:22

I can't do DUs.  I knew this going into it, and nothing new was discovered in this WOD.  Long after everyone else finished the WOD, I was still struggling with my 3rd round of DUs.  And by struggle, I mean I lost my temper because I was so frustrated with my inability.

I will be working on these for sure.

Team Player

Today was a Team WOD, in which I paired up with a classmate to split the work however necessary in order to complete the entire workout in as little time as possible.  My teammate was a guy named Matt.

Only one person works out at a time.  The working guy can sub out with his teammate at any time during any workout on any movement.  There isn't as much strategy in this as it might seem, but to achieve a great time, both teammates should communicate clearly throughout the workout in order to make snap decisions about the best approach.

WOD

For Time

400m Sandbag Run 60lbs
35 KBS 53 lbs
24 Burpees
35 KBS 53 lbs
24 Burpees
100 Double Unders
35 Pull-ups
24 Clean & Jerks 135 lbs
35 Pull-ups
24 Clean & Jerks
400m Sandbag Run 60 lbs

[Blargh, I can't remember the time we got]

Here was my personal contribution:
200m Sandbag Run
15 KBS
14 Burpees
15 KBS
14 Burpees
18ish DUs
12 Pull-ups
8 or 9 C&Js
19 or so Pull-ups
7 C&Js
200m Sandbag Run

We finished 3 seconds behind the winners, Hector and Travis.  We were leading until the final 50m of the foot race.  It was pretty soul-crushing.  I feel like I really slacked off, especially on the C&Js.  In hindsight, I wish I had taken on the last 3-4 C&Js to give my teammate a break and let him run the first 200m of the final event.  I think that, had I taken the bag for the last 100-200m I might have found the will to beat Hector (or at least keep it very close).  I could tell Matt was pretty gassed in the final 50-100m, so I wish I had done a bit more to give him a chance to carry the energy level all the way to the finish line.

Next time.

Ease Back Into It

For a variety of reasons, I was feeling too sore to work out on Monday, so I gave myself an unplanned day off.  The following day I was feeling a little nervous so I scaled back the WOD in order to give myself a chance to ease back into the usual intensity.

WOD

10 RFT

3 Power Cleans 140 lbs (Rx: 155 lbs)

3 Box Jumps 30" (Rx)

7:48

Of note during this workout was my incredibly crappy form during the first several rounds of cleans.  The bar was too far from my body during the pull, which greatly magnified the difficulty of the lift.  I missed a few cleans because of this.

The box jumps looked a lot more intimidating than they actually were.  It takes a little more focus than the usual 24" jump, but getting clearance wasn't much of an issue.

Vegas, Baby!!

I met with my good friend in Las Vegas and we visited one of the local boxes to get in a workout.

WOD 3/23

42-30-18

Ring Dips (Rx)
SDHP 75 lbs (Rx)

14:00

That was a LOT of ring dips.  I thought that this choice of programming was a bit bizarre, but in retrospect I'm glad to have done the workout since I rarely do such an insane volume of movements.

I was sore for a few days after this one.

Tie Game

Friday 3/23 WOD

5 RFT

200m Run
25 KBS 53 lbs (Rx)

14:23

I can't quite remember my time, except that I was leading the class the entire time until the final 5 or 10 KBSs.  I tied Sarah with identical times.  If only I hadn't stutter-started my KBSs!!

First Place Finish!! (NO Asterisk!)

For the first time, I completed the WOD Rx and finished first among my classmates!

WOD

For Time

21-15-9

Burpee Deadlifts 185 lbs (Rx)

Chest-to-bar Pull-ups (Rx)

400m Run between rounds

14:50

It has been exactly 8 weeks and a day since my first official day of CrossFit and I'm happy to report that I beat everyone, including a few veterans, today.

Burpee deadlifts are simply regular deadlifts, but after returning the bar to the floor (don't let go of the bar), you perform a burpee by kicking your legs out, doing a push-up, and jumping your feet back to the starting position.

I'm not sure why things went so well today.  I partly think that the two guys who usually crush me kind of let me have this one.  But overall, each movement in this workout is something I've specifically worked on in the last several weeks, so perhaps this was the union of all things I've practiced into one WOD.

It was pretty funny to see Hector's (usually one of the strongest in my class) face when we finished our last C2B Pull-ups at the same time and I darted out the door.  He was right on my heels the entire time, which is why I think he sort of gave it away to me, but I wanted to make sure I'd keep a whatever little bit I had in the tank just in case he tried to make a move in the final 50 meters.

All in all, a really great day :)

Phoenix Rising

Yesterday's WOD was so terrible I didn't even want to revisit it on this blog.

WOD

5 RFT

6 Thrusters 135 lbs (Rx)
12 KBS 62 lbs (Rx)
24 HR Push-ups

23:54

Yep.  24 minutes of awful.  135 lbs is so freakin' heavy!!  There was supposedly a 20 minute time cap on this workout, so once I was getting close, I just wanted to wave the white flag and take a DNF.  But, in true CrossFit fashion, 2 of my classmates and the coach got on my ass to finish off the workout, whatever it took.  So I summoned whatever willpower I had left, finished off the last round of thrusters, managed the KBSs unbroken, and then slogged through the push-ups.  Even Coach Dave, who usually takes a pretty unsympathetic attitude toward me, told the other coach to take it easy because I "looked like I was dying".

In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have attempted to Rx this one.  When I showed up I was kind of excited about the WOD because the heavier-than-usual weights seemed like a good change of pace.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger though, supposedly.  Which is why the following day was so exciting...

3rd Place Finish (Rx)

Part of the warm-up had us do 25 burpees for time, in honor of hitting Day 25 of the 100 Day Burpee Challenge!  I did it 55 seconds.  Hooray.

WOD

For Time

21 HR Push-ups (buy-in)

6 Rounds:
7 OH Squats 95 lbs (Rx)
7 Pull-ups

21 HR Push-ups (cash-out)

9:36 [Edit required...I can't remember exactly]

All in all a pretty good workout.  For whatever reason, OHSs come easier to me relative to some of my peers (even the more accomplished CrossFitters).  I also liked that magic number 7; it's just small enough to make me think I can pull off the set unbroken.

The class was really full today, more than 15 people.  The gym was accommodating nevertheless!  Good times.

Coming back for more

For some reason I could not fall asleep last night.  That is the first time since I started CrossFit that I haven't been able to get a good night's rest.

WOD

20 min AMRAP

200m Run
21 KBS 53 lbs (Rx)
14 Box Jumps 24" (Rx)
7 HSPU

5 rounds + 6 KBS

Finally, an Rx'able WOD for me.  I know this because it reminds me somewhat of the 12.3 WOD I did on Saturday, only much easier.  KBSs are finally starting to feel a little easier than before, but they're still the first movement to wear me out the most in the last few WODs that had them.

Catching Up

I almost got lazy with this blog, having not posted several workouts.  Here's the catch-up post.

Friday's WOD (3/9)

For Time

50 pull-ups
15 deadlifts 245 lbs (Rx: 275 lbs)
40 HR push-ups
10 deadlifts
30 HR push-ups
5 deadlifts
20 HR push-ups
50 pull-ups

19:25

This was hard in a totally different way than I had been anticipating.  The sheer volume of lifts had me believing that this would be extremely tough on my lungs, but this WOD turned out to be a really long, tough strength workout.  Moving back and forth between the push-ups and deadlifts was interesting because switching from a relatively light push mode to a very heavy pull mode was a tremendous shock to my body.  I'd noticed that my first one or two deadlifts would be really difficult for me and I'd have awful form, but as I repeated them it'd start to feel easier.  (Shortly after it would start to feel hard again as I fatigued).

Today's WOD (3/12)

For Time

150 single-under jump rope (Rx: 50 DUs)
40 wall ball shots 20 lbs
30 pull-ups
20 burpees
10 wall walks

10:00

I've been hurting since Saturday, which I'll discuss in a moment, so I didn't feel that prepared for today's workout even though it wasn't that hard.  I wore myself out completely on the burpees (thinking I'd gotten decent at them by now) and struggled through the wall walks.  I should have been a couple minutes faster on this, at least.


The CrossFit Games Open WODs

I've been participating in the Open WODs just to establish my 2012 baseline so I'd have a way to compare my performance to my performance one year from now.  Here is a summary:

12.1 WOD
7 min AMRAP burpees
93

12.2 WOD
10 min AMRAP snatches
30 @ 75 lbs
(Could not complete any at 135 lbs)

12.3 WOD
18 min AMRAP
15 box jumps (24")
12 push press 115 lbs
9 toes-to-bar
205 total reps
I figured out how to kip T2Bs but it didn't matter much because 115 push presses are ridiculously tiring after a very short while.  All in all, I'm pretty happy with how I did.  It's been 2 full days and most of the muscles in my body are still exhausted from those push presses.

iPood

I Pood, teehee.


WOD

3 RFT

21 KBS 53 lbs (Rx)
12 Pistol Squats, 6 each leg

6:48

Pistols are incredibly hard.  The strength exercise was fairly taxing today, but I'm pretty sure I never would have been able to do all the pistols in this workout, regardless.  Needless to say, my WOD wasn't Rx'd.

There is so much stuff I want to work on, but the "constantly varied, functional movement, performed at high intensity" rarely revisits the same things, so it's hard to know if I'm improving and which movements to prioritize.

CrossFit Criticism and Controversy

CrossFit draws an awful lot of controversy.  The criticisms seem to boil down to a combination of the following:

1. CrossFit only prepares you to be good at CrossFit.  Its training is not transferrable to other "real" activities such as sports, life-and-death situations, or everyday physical demands.
2. Kipping Pull-ups are bullshit and that Clean & Jerk was sloppy.  CrossFit's use of Oly lifts and gymnastic activities in a high-volume, metabolic conditioning framework is sacrilegious.  It is a disgrace to the originally designed intent of such movements.  Additionally, these movements are often performed poorly or unsafely due to fatigue and/or poorly practiced form.
3. CrossFit is an elitist community and ostracizes a lot of people who could fundamentally benefit from CrossFit things.  CrossFit does not offer sufficient on-ramping and progression-based infrastructure to protect its participants and encourage success, especially newcomers and folks with pre-existing conditions.  It demands so much of a beginner that its workouts may easily injure him or drive him away.

I'm not going to defend CrossFit because I feel that it is, at least partially, guilty as charged on all three accusations.

1. Does CrossFit only help me get better at CrossFit?  I haven't attempted any sport other than CrossFit since I started, so I can't speak to this criticism in much detail.  I feel stronger, faster and healthier than I did before CrossFit, but at the same time I can't claim that I feel prepared to run a competitive 10K, swim a respectable 800m, play golf with greater accuracy, or be comfortable and confident in a fist fight.  I'm not looking for a fight, but I'll report back on my sports performance as it compares to my perceived present and prior performance.  CrossFit aims to maximize work capacity in a nonspecific way, so it's very difficult to assess whether it is actively enhancing my ability to do work (in the physics sense of the term) in specific applications such as kicking a soccer ball, carving a ski slope, or running a 10K race.  Time will tell.
2. Does CrossFit misuse Olympic lifts and other movements in its regimen?  Perhaps so...I talked about this in a previous post.  There are a couple good videos in which the father of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, discusses the philosophy and foundations of CrossFit.  In them, he indirectly defends the reasons for high-volume, full-body weightlifting: "work capacity across broad time and modal domains."  In other words, CrossFit aims to maximize work capacity (force applied over distance in various ways) executed over varying time domains (short time, longer time, long times).  His explanations make sense to me and I appreciate a more quantitative approach to defining health and fitness, but I'm not yet 100% convinced that the practice of high-volume Oly lifts and repetitive gymnastic movements are the most expedient (and safest) means to achieve maximized work capacity.
3. Is CrossFit elitist and, regardless of intention, exclusionary?  On this, I really have to agree that it is.  Robb Wolf, a journalist and author, provides a critique here.  Though it is pretty clear from his tone and diction that he himself got ostracized from the CrossFit community and therefore has some beef with CrossFit HQ, I can't help but agree that CrossFit has a tendency, though perhaps unintended, to leave behind beginners and slow learners.  It's not an easy regimen to follow and CrossFit's sense of tight-knit community seems to stem from survivorship bias and elitism, not from a special breed of fitness enthusiasts who happen to be friendly and outgoing.  In my own experience, I have occasionally felt that my classmates only became more interested in me after I had begun showing up more regularly and Rx'ing some WODs.  It could be coincidence or it could be a figment of my imagination, but it is an observation of mine.

CrossFit continues to attract a great deal of attention, both positive and negative.  This post is very unlikely to be my last on its controversy.  In spite of its criticisms and my doubts, I feel more engaged in my fitness than any time in the last few years and I find myself constantly hungry to improve.  If CrossFit has done that for me, I can't deny that it has a place in my world.

In Need of a Rest

I've been trying to maintain 3-4 days in a row of workouts followed by 1 rest day and I've been pretty good about it.  However, the third and certainly the fourth days are always pretty difficult.

WOD

15 min AMRAP

6 HSPU
12 KBS 53 lbs (Rx)
18 Tactical Lunges

6 Rounds

"Tactical Lunges" are walking lunges in which you pass the kettle bell to your opposite hand at the bottom of the lunge.  Needless to say, they're pretty hard after a while.  The HSPUs didn't bother me much and I even felt like the KBSs weren't getting too hard until the 5th round or so.

At any rate, I definitely need a rest day.  I'm way overdue for an Off-day Topic anyway, and so I'll leave my discussion on rest until then :)

More Fran-esque Workouts

I think I've developed a fear or aversion to Fran, since it was my first CrossFit workout and it absolutely humiliated me.

WOD

4 RFT

200m Run
10 Thrusters 95 lbs (Rx)
10 C2B Pull-ups
2 min rest

17:10

I'm glad I Rx'd this, but my time sucked.  Chest-to-bar pull-ups are surprisingly difficult compared to regular kipping pull-ups, but Thrusters continue to kick my butt.  I can't help but think that my recent poor diet choices contributed to this, but it's hard to say for sure.

Playing Favorites

I was going to skip Thursday's WOD to give myself a recovery day, but when I saw it I couldn't resist.  Also, when I woke up, I just felt like I needed to prove to myself I could Rx a workout.

WOD

For Time

3 HSPU
6 Deadlift at 225 lbs (Rx)
200m Run

6 HSPU
9 Deadlifts at 225 lbs
200m Run

9 HSPU
12 Deadlifts at 225 lbs
200m Run

12 HSPU
15 Deadlifts at 225 lbs

11:00

I tried to kip the handstand push-ups, which certainly helped but I don't think I was maximizing the upward momentum.  In spite of that, my only broken set was the final set of 12, so I'm pretty pleased with that.

I knew as soon as I lifted 225 lbs for the first rep that things would get difficult for me, but I simply aimed to keep a steady pace.  The sets of 12 and 15 were pretty hard, with the final 5 or 6 reps really sucking.

Ultimately, I finished it and in fairly good time.  The better guys in the class finished in 7-8 minutes, but at Rx weights I won't be too hard on myself.  I still beat a lot of guys who were doing less than Rx.