Failing, Then Trying Something Harder

Workout date: 3/10/15

I wasn't sure whether I should go back to the gym today.  My body is a little bit beaten up at the moment, and my psyche is a lotta bit beaten up.  Then again, if I didn't go to the gym, wouldn't I just be wallowing in self-pity about the disaster that was the second attempt at 15.2?  I was leaning towards staying home, especially because today's workout did not sound appealing.  It was a test day and today's test was "Amanda": a rep scheme of 9-7-5 of muscle-ups and squat snatches (135/95).  Yeesh...

For someone who has shown little ability to kip on a bar, the idea of kipping on rings to execute the mystical muscle-up seems very far-fetched.  So why not skip this workout?  For starters, my work day got worse and worse as the afternoon wore on and the gym is where I tend to blow off steam.  Aside from that though, I began thinking about the future.  If I want to keep progressing at the gym, then I need to get on the road to muscle-ups, even if it means showing some leg and hitchhiking my way there.

So I went to the 7:30 class with one very specific intention in mind.  I wasn't going to attempt real muscle-ups, but I did not want to stick with pull-ups (or ring rows) and ring dips as a substitute.  I've seen on the blog that many people do jumping muscle-ups as a scale.  I'd never done one before, but it had to be the next step.  Coach Keith walked through the various scales and then I asked if he could go through the jumping muscle-up as well.  He explained it and I gave it a shot.  Now to be fair, I'm sure I cheated a bit by jumping too high, but for the most part, the first attempt was a success.  The dip part of the muscle-up has never been my concern, it's the kipping pull-up part that holds me back. The other part of this that felt natural to me is that I've done jumping pull-ups and jumping bar muscle-ups.  And those are actually kinda fun.

I had one more successful attempt at the jumping muscle-up before deciding that I wasn't going to get a ton of them and that I probably shouldn't waste them all in the warmup.  But I will be practicing them at the gym in future workouts.  As for tonight's workout, we loaded up our barbells and warmed up for the squat snatches that we would be doing during the workout.  My original thought was to do 125.  I had done 115 on Saturday and that felt very reasonable.  135 had felt like too much.  125 would be a good compromise.  However, when Keith mentioned that we should really be moving fast in this workout, 115 seemed like a wiser choice.

Keith also gave me a very good cue during my warmup.  My biggest problem snatching is that I don't continue to pull throughout the lift.  I pull to my hip/groin region, where I then make like I'm doing a KB swing.  When my body hits the bar, I stop pulling and expect that hip thrust to knock the bar high enough for me to squat under it.  Keith explained that the contact with my body needs to be a quick part of the progression, rather than this halting point along the way.  I fixed that problem to an extent, although I may have created another one.  In pulling the entire way and taking the focus away from hitting at my hip, I stopped getting that big hip pop in the lift.  There was one snatch later in the workout where I don't even think I hit the bar with my body.  So that is a bit of a work in progress.

When the workout started, I wanted to get through the first round doing jumping muscle-ups.  I felt pretty sure rounds 2 and 3 would not happen, but I'd be happy with finishing round one.  My biggest concern was that when my dips go, they're gone.  There's a green light and a red light, nothing of the yellow variety.  We began and I started to work through the jumping muscle-ups.  I got to 7 and then I saw the red light.  There was no more energy to get through the transition and push out of the dip.  Time for some ring rows and banded ring dips.  For those, the scale was twice as many reps.  Per usual, I had fallen behind, but I got through my four ring rows and four dips pretty quickly.

At the barbell, my focus was on balance.  Do the lift correctly, but be balanced in the bottom so that you can successfully complete the lift.  I had a couple successful reps, then lost my balance on one and had to drop it.  Did 3-4 more, and then had to dump one behind me.  I hate wasting energy, especially when I'm sweating like a whore in church already.  I finished the last couple snatches and then ran over to try and catch up with the rest of the group at the rings.  I was planning on breaking up the ring rows, but I kept telling myself to hold on and do 1 more.  By the time I reached 10 reps, I felt certain I could get the full 14.  The dips would be a different story.  My triceps were burning already.  I broke the 14 reps into small groups.  I was a little closer to everyone, but still behind.

The set of 7 snatches went decently, though a bit slowly.  I had one where I lost my balance and had to dump it.  My 6th rep was one where I lost my balance on the way up from the bottom and had to chase the bar to stay under it.  After completing rep #7, it was back to the rings.  I broke the final 10 ring rows into 2 sets of 5, then nibbled away at the ring dips.  When I got to the barbell for my final 5 snatches, Shawn was done and Fayth and Anne looked like they were close to being done.  I set up and completed rep #1.  Then #2, #3, #4, and #5.  5 for 5 at a pretty quick pace.  Did that keep me from being the last one finished?  No.  But at least I didn't finish 3 minutes after everyone so that they had to hang around and offer me awkward encouragement.  Final time - 11:17.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the workout.  It was tough, but the movements were doable.  I will definitely be taking another crack at jumping muscle-ups again soon.  And I need to remember how to snatch properly as my current technique is not going to cut it at heavier weights.

Tomorrow is a rest day.  Gotta have an old man bath to rest my aching bones before the 15.3 announcement on Thursday!  Rumor has it that it will be pistols and double unders.  Since that would make me way too happy, I'm going to assume that will not be part of 15.3 at all.  It's probably bar muscle-ups and handstand push-ups.  Just let me be off the bar for one week please!