Last Of The Yemenicans

Workout date: 5/6/15

Monday was a grueling workout.  Tuesday was a grueling workout.  What's on tap for Wednesday?  Just some light jogging, perhaps some sit-ups...oh no wait, it's another grueling workout.  Perhaps they know that I'll be away for almost a week starting this upcoming weekend, but KOP is showing no mercy to me this week.  Tonight's destruction of Dave's will was Team DT.  DT is normally an individual workout that consists of 5 rounds of 12 deadlifts (155/105), 9 hang power cleans, and 6 push jerks.  Team DT just means 10 rounds, with each person required to complete an entire round before their partner can start working.

Tonight's class was full of what I would call the regulars that I work out with: Giulz, Rachel, Michal, Cline, Matt E, Conn, and Borden, among others.  Earlier in the day, I had spoken with the three girls and we set up our teams for the night's workout.  Giulz and Michal would work together, while I would try my best not to disappoint Rachel.  I had done this workout twice before: once as an individual (using 105, took 10:46) and once as part of a team (using 125, team time 18:50).  Those attempts were both more than a year ago, so why not go nuts and try to RX this bad boy with 155 pounds?  Plus I wasn't about to screw up Rachel's RX by scaling.  I might be slow, but ruining the team RX would be unforgivable.

We got warmed up and then I decided I would go first.  As far as planning goes, there was only 1 new wrinkle that I was adding today.  I let Rachel know that since this workout was so grip intensive, I was going to use a mixed grip (one hand facing you, one hand facing away from you) for the first 11 deadlifts and then drop.  During DT, it makes the most sense to drop with 1 rep left if you're going to drop at any point, since each movement leads directly into the next.  So needing a regular grip for the hang power cleans, I would do the 12th deadlift with the regular grip and then go right into the hang power cleans.  If I had to drop on the hang power clean, I would drop after the 8th rep, so that I could do the 9th rep and go right into the push jerks.  For the push jerks...well, I was going to need to string all 6 or do some extra cleans.

Round 1 started and things went fine, although it was apparent 155 pounds was not going to be a picnic.  I finished the round in about a minute.  Just 4 rounds to go for me!  I can do this.  Rachel did her first round and blitzed through it even faster than I did.  The problem with partnering up with someone who is good is that you get very little rest.  And you feel like an ass when they have to wait forever as you do your set.  I would be feeling like an ass soon enough.

The toughest part of this workout for me was undoubtedly the hang power cleans.  Stringing 9 of them was tough enough, but then to go into 6 push jerks?  Agony.  For round 2, I knew I wanted to drop after the 8th rep, but my cleans were already becoming shaky.  So I went for two sets of 4 with a break in between.  Once I finished the hang power cleans, I made sure I got all 6 push jerks.  Two rounds down!  I'm just going to sit here and recover...oh, Rachel is done.  My turn to work again.  This is going to end badly.

For rounds 3 and 4, the story was the same.  11 deadlifts with a mixed grip?  Check.  1 deadlift with a regular grip leading into 2 sets of 4 hang power cleans?  Check.  1 last hang power clean leading to 6 push jerks?  Check.  The biggest problem was that my hang power cleans were slowly descending in height, as in they would rise from just above my knee to just above my belly button, where I used my waterbed-like physique to roll the bar up to my shoulders.  Who says jiggle isn't useful?

During this time, Rachel was methodically cranking through her rounds.  I hadn't looked at the clock much, but I started to as we approached the last round.  I once again did the 11 deadlifts, then 1 leading to 4 hang power cleans.  And then I had to change it up.  My grip and my arm strength were nearly gone.  Instead of another set of 4 hang power cleans, I needed to do two sets of 2.  With 1 hang power clean to go, I got the bar to my shoulders, pushed through 6 jerks, and it was time to cheer on Rachel as she brought us home.  Her 5th round looked nearly as crisp as her 1st round and before I knew it, she was done, stopping the clock at 17:14, which is a really good time!  I mean, I wish it hadn't taken me 11-12 of those minutes, but still, not too shabby.

Next to us, Giulz and Michal were working and Michal was doing a total Dave workout.  I am very partial to the Dave workout.  After all, it has my name attached to it.  It probably wasn't called that to be flattering, but you take what you can get.  Anyway, Michal had struggled a bit with shoulder-to-overheads on Monday using 95 pounds.  Today, she said "screw it" and decided to go for the RX weight of 105 pounds.  It was ambitious.  Perhaps a little crazy.  But she was determined, and I'm always impressed by that.  When Rachel and I had finished, Michal was finishing up her push jerks for round 3.  She was rushing a bit and failing on some of the lifts.  I could sympathize, because when you get tired and the weight gets heavy, you just want to get that weight off of you as quickly as possible.  When she finished, she looked pissed, especially since there were still two rounds to go.  Giulz did her round, then it was back to Michal.  She got through the deadlifts easy enough, struggled some with the hang power cleans, then worked through her push jerks.  She was trying to get two at a time, but the second rep was becoming problematic.  Eventually she had to do them one at a time.

After Michal finished her 4th round, Giulz got back to it and finished up her workout.  Then everyone got behind Michal and tried to help her complete things for her team.  Things that came out of the mouths of her support group included vulgarities, food items, and Katy Perry lyrics.  One by one, she knocked out those heavy push jerks and after nearly 38 minutes of work, Giulz and Michal were done.  I've been there before (hey, I'm the namesake!) and I know it's no fun finishing something like that off.  But I have to hand it to my friend from Yemen: she would not be denied!

Tomorrow will be a rest day, although it probably would not hurt to get some rowing and burpee practice in.  One more workout on Friday before I take off for NY and Texas.  If I manage to work out at all while I am on the road, I will be sure to post about it here.