Productive Rage

Workout date: 6/18/15

This weekend I am headed to Belmont Park to take part in their live handicapping contest.  I've fallen behind with my handicapping, so I'm very excited to have a weekend where I can take part in a major contest.  Hopefully, my lifelong dream of winning a giant cardboard check will come true.  Since I will be in NYC for the contest (and in Philly for a happy hour Friday night), I will be taking three days off from the gym.  That meant Thursday night was my last chance to get in a workout before my break.

What was Thursday's WOD?  Glad you asked...

AMRAP in 12 minutes:
3 bar muscle-ups
6 power snatches (135/95)
9 box jumps (30"/24")

Couple things to note here:

1. Bar muscle-ups are my favorite thing to do in the gym that I can't actually do.  Huh?  Well, when I get to do jumping bar muscle-ups off of a box, then I can do the movement.  And it's a lot of fun.  It becomes a combination of being on a swingset and then feeling like a rock star when you press out above the bar.  I already know I will be way more excited when I get my first bar muscle-up than I will be when I get my first ring muscle-up.
2. I've decided that I will be going lighter for a while with most weights, especially when the workout is in an AMRAP format like this one.  I love the challenge of doing a workout RX, but I don't seem to be improving a whole hell of a lot.  When that's the case, it is time to switch things up.  Could I have stubbornly done this workout with 135 pounds for the power snatches?  Sure.  But 115 seemed reasonable enough.  And I had seen the carnage from the 5:30 class, which confirmed for me that this workout was probably more difficult than it sounded.  As for the box jumps, the 30" box does not get programmed a lot and when it does, it's usually in there for a reason.  So I used the 30" box.
3. My cardio has to get better or this summer will be a disaster at the gym.  It doesn't even matter what the temperature is outside anymore.  That thick, humid, stagnant air is in there to stay, at least until the fall.  I need to be able to get through a medium-length workout (12 minutes fits the bill for me) without falling apart.

We started warming up with bar muscle-up progressions and there were some eye-opening developments during it.  Giulz was explaining how we wanted to essentially be horizontal, while closing our shoulder violently and bringing our hips up to the bar.  She wanted us to try that out without trying to do the transition into the bar muscle-up.  I did this a few times and my hips came much closer to the bar than I ever thought they could have.  Maybe there really is a bar muscle-up in my future.  After that we tried the actual transition into a bar muscle-up and naturally I messed things up.  The odd part though was that by messing up and treating it like a pull-up as I was told not to do, I managed to do some very easy chest-to-bar pull-ups.  This whole sequence was blowing my mind.

When we went to the scale of doing a banded bar muscle-up, I felt very uncomfortable and did not come close to doing it properly.  And I didn't accidentally back my way into some other useful movement.  So banded muscle-ups are not for me.  Time for the box!  I grabbed a 13" box and got ready to go.  The first time I successfully did a jumping bar muscle-up with a box, it was a 20" box.  I tried to use a 17" box, but I couldn't make it work.  With some practice, I finally made it with a 17" box.  From there, I practiced a long time with the 13" box, but that resulted in failure after failure.  Recently, I managed to get my first jumping bar muscle-up with the 13" box.  Then I got another one.  At last, I could get these with the smallest box we use in the gym.

That was true until Thursday.  My first attempt with the 13" box was close, but no cigar.  This happened at least 2-3 more times.  Finally, I managed to complete a rep.  But in this WOD, I couldn't afford to take 5 attempts to get 1 rep.  Perhaps I was just a little rusty.  I grabbed a 17" box and put it next to my station just in case.

After completing the rest of the warmup, it was time to go.  Giulz gave us the countdown and we were off.  Bar muscle-up #1 was a failure.  As was #2.  My sweaty palms caused my hands to slide on failed attempts #3 and #4.  On my 5th attempt, I once again came close, but dropped again.  We were already 30-40 seconds into the workout and I had gotten nothing accomplished.  Not only that, this sweaty hands issue could be something that would sabotage the entire workout.  I considered punching the wall next to me I was so pissed.  Instead, I grabbed the 17" box and replaced the 13" box with it.

Now four inches doesn't sound like a lot, but it made a world of difference in completing the bar muscle-ups.  Still seething, I did three reps in quick succession.  As I got to my barbell, I saw other folks had already made it to the box jumps.  I was way behind.  I did six singles as fast as I could and moved over to my 30" box.  One after another, I jumped on my box, stomping in anger at the top before opening my hips to complete each rep.  By the time I completed my first full round, I had made up a lot of ground on the rest of the class.

Usually when I get mad during a workout, things begin to fall apart.  Yesterday was different.  I knew I could do the movements, but I was pissed off that I had lost so much time at the beginning trying to do bar muscle-ups with a 13" box.  And I knew I could do those too.  I was angry that I can't control my sweating and how it affects me any time I do something involving my grip.  I was livid that my score was going to be lower than it should have been, even though I had scaled appropriately.  But all that rage ended up driving me for 12 minutes.

Round two might have been even faster than round one (minus the time spent failing on the 13" box).  I got right into the bar muscle-ups and knocked them out very quickly.  I did a power snatch, dropped the bar, and re-gripped it to go right into the next rep.  And on the box jumps, I made sure to only pause between reps long enough to have my feet set to explode into the next rep.  If I could keep up this pace, I could complete 5 rounds, which was a score I would have been happy with before all the bar muscle-up trials and tribulations that marked the start of this workout.  But keeping up this pace for 12 minutes was not a trademark of mine.

Round 3 was more of the same on the bar muscle-ups and power snatches, although they were starting to get heavy.  And I was certainly feeling it on the box jumps.  I did not want to trip over the 30" box, so I was making sure I was composed before going into each new jump.  That required more time, but I was not taking any real breaks.  I heard Giulz say we were past the halfway point and the rage returned.  I was getting 5 rounds.  I started yelling "come on" at myself as I did each box jump.  I had to find more to get through these last two rounds.

The bar muscle-ups had become a formality and I ripped through 3 reps to start round four.  The power snatches were most definitely not a formality.  More time was required on the setup of each rep as I was tiring and did not want to mess up a rep.  A no rep now would be wasted precious energy.  I got through all six and returned to the box jumps, which went like they did in round three, although I imagine they were a little bit slower.  Four rounds complete, less than three minutes to finish round five.

I got my breath and yelled at myself one last time before starting round five.  I needed to complete this.  I was tired and I had spent a lot of energy to get to this point after a bad start.  But I needed to stay strong through the entirety of these 12 minutes.  This is where I typically started hitting the wall and if I did again, I'd fall short of my goal.  I did the 3 bar muscle-ups as quick as I could.  I got to the power snatches and did "fast" singles for 4 reps, then needed a second or two before doing each of the last two reps.  With just over a minute left as I headed to the box, five rounds seemed like a sure thing.  As I had before, I completed each jump, then took only enough time to get my feet ready for the next jump.  I was not getting nearly as high as I had been earlier, as I was landing in a squat on the box, then standing all the way up.  As I drew closer to finishing the round, I tried to pick up the pace.  And that was a mistake.

With 3 box jumps left, I stepped down from the box, then tried to go right into my seventh rep.  I did not come close to jumping 30" off the ground.  I fell over the box, getting my hands somewhat in front of me to brace my fall.  There was a stinging pain in my right shin from where I made contact with the box (after the WOD, I discovered I had a bit of a gusher on my shin).  Time was ticking away, but I needed 3-5 seconds to regroup before continuing.  Once I felt ready, I jumped again and made it this time.  With my confidence restored, I finished off round five as I heard there were less than 30 seconds left.  I ran over to the bar, did 3 more bar muscle-ups, then managed one last snatch in the final five seconds to end the workout with a score of 5+4.

It sucked not being able to do the bar muscle-ups with the 13" box, but I was proud of how I handled the rest of the workout.  After falling way behind, I ended up almost a full round ahead of the person with the second highest score in the class.  I kept things moving and managed to use my rage as fuel rather than letting it become a detriment.  I hope I remember how to do this in the future!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!  I'll be returning on Monday.  Keep your fingers crossed that you see me hauling around a giant cardboard check with me.