So I may have gotten a smidge excited when I saw the WOD for today. Everyone knows the drill by now:
Dave hates the WOD --> Pull-ups
Dave loves the WOD --> Overhead squats
Along with the overheads there were some deadlifts as well. It was a 21-15-9 rep structure with RX being 135/95 for the overheads and 275/185 for the deadlifts. As with many workouts, it is important to get a sense of what the coaches are looking for in terms of time. Do I have as long as I want? Then I'll go heavy. Is this supposed to be a sprint? Time to scale like crazy. Generally I'll use the morning results to get a sense of what type of weight to use. And sometimes the good folks who work out way earlier than I desire to lay it out in black and white for me.
When I checked the blog this morning at work, the results for the 6am and 7am classes had been posted. The guys in those classes are typically better than me in most WODs, but it's always nice to have a target to go after. Today almost all those guys chose 115 for their overhead squat weight and 225 for their deadlift weight. So why do anything else? Might as well load up the bars with that weight and see how I do. Their time were in a pretty narrow range as well, giving me the sense that this workout should take approximately 10 minutes.
But we're doing overheads today! That's my jam, as the hipper members of KOP have told me. So I needed to ratchet it up. I had two goals for the day:
- String all 21 overheads in round 1. This 115 pound weight had given me trouble twice recently. Was 21 too many? I didn't think so, since I had gotten a 10RM with 165. It wouldn't be easy, but it should be more of a mental battle than a physical one.
- Complete the workout in 9 minutes. If things go really well, flirt with 8 minutes. This seemed like a workout I would excel at, but that usually means I've glossed over something important that was going to crush me. 9 minutes would be very good, 8 minutes would be awesome.
When there is a workout that I like, it probably involves something that most other people in the gym do not like. So it was no surprise to find a mostly empty gym at 6:30. There would be only 4 of us taking part in the 6:30 class and only 1 person in the 7:30 class (Matt E.). We got warmed up and had plenty of space to operate, although we ended up fairly close to one another once we got going. Each of us had two barbells set up, one for each of the movements. I threw on my lifting shoes because they keep me harnessed to the ground during the overhead squats and there is nothing more important than balance to get through that movement.
3, 2, 1, go! I did my typical squat snatch for my first rep, but as I stood up, I reset and made sure I was fully balanced. I was in this for the long haul, so I couldn't be screwing things up right off the bat. Once I was balanced, I completed rep after rep, pausing when I needed a slight break, but for the most part getting through the set at a good pace. Just kept telling myself "you are not putting the bar down". I got to my 19th rep and walked forward a little bit, feeling wobbly, but there was no way I was putting the bar down only to have to pick it up again for the last 2 reps. Got my balance and made it through the end of the set. 21 unbroken overheads at 115...goal #1 accomplished!
The best part was that it took me just under a minute to finish. Nearly half the overheads were done and I was making awesome time! That was until I got to the deadlifts. We did a recent workout where we had to choose a weight to do 20 reps of deadlifts with and I chose 225. And I was successful getting all 20 reps. So why in the world was I struggling so badly with it today? I tried to knock out a big set, but all I could manage was 5. In the next set, I held on for 6, because if you thought I was doing 4 sets of 5 and 1 set of 1, you're crazy. Having established the set of 5, I got through the final 2 sets and headed back to my overhead squat bar. Clock showed about 3:00. Still in good shape...
The second round of overheads did not go as well as the first. Perhaps I had tired out a bit. Perhaps I was deflated from the unexpected roadblock that the deadlifts had proven to be. Perhaps I didn't have the same focus I did when I was determined to string all 21 reps of the first round. Whatever the case may be, I got real shaky on the 7th rep and decided to drop. When I got the bar back up, I finished off the remaining 8 reps.
Knowing that my form was falling apart on both fronts, I tried to grit my way through the deadlifts. As I started, Keith commented that I was not keeping the bar close to my body. I could not comprehend this. I was trying to stand straight up and I wasn't bumping the bar away from me. How could I get it closer? I managed a set of 3, but Keith reiterated that I wasn't keeping the bar close. Now I'm not sure if it's the heat getting to me or not, but it has become really tough to hear critiques about my form when I'm in the middle of dying during a workout. Keith realized this and said something good to me, which was "I'm not telling you that your form is bad. I'm telling you how it could be better." That resonated with me. Although it didn't resonate with my brain as I continued having crappy form.
After the set of 2 and 3, I did 4 singles, then another set of 3 followed by 3 singles. I was around 7:15 on the clock. 18 reps to go. 8 minutes was probably not happening, but 9 minutes was still possible. Time to refocus. You can NOT let go of the bar on these overheads. Can't happen. I squat snatched the bar and got working on the final 9 overheads. And each time I did a rep, I shimmied forward. By the time I got to 5, I had to stop and take a large step back because I was closing in on my deadlift bar. I got settled again and finished off the set of 9.
The sweat situation was what you would expect, but I had to finish off these 9 deadlifts and be done. I managed a set of 3 to start, but then it was time for 6 singles. It was only 225 pounds, but it felt like it was double that weight each time I tried to lift it. The singles were slow and, without knowing it, my chance at getting done in 9 minutes had slipped away. I stood up with my final rep, looked at the clock, and saw 9:16. Damn. That was disappointing. Got off to such a good start and faded once again.
Afterwards, I spoke with Keith about my deadlift issue. I couldn't comprehend what I was doing wrong. Then he explained that it had to do with my shoes. The heel in the lifting shoes was forcing me to lean forward on the deadlifts rather than sitting back. As a result, when I stood up with the bar, a gap would form from my hip angle. (It would make more sense if you saw it) The gap meant the bar was not touching my body, making the movement much more inefficient and harder to do.
So where do we go from here? I'm not sure. The lifters saved me a lot of time on the overheads, but cost me a lot of time on the deadlifts. Would my time have been all that much different had I worn my nanos? I might try it out sometime just for my own curiosity. Overall, it was a good workout for me and I shouldn't be too down about it even though I thought I could manage better.
Tomorrow: the plan is to do mobility only. We'll see how well I abide by that.
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