There probably is a connection between having a clear mind and having a good performance at the gym. Perhaps unburdening myself outside of the gym is a better way to go about things than to use the gym is my version of pseudo-therapy. All I know is that I had what I would describe as my best night of the year so far at the gym last night and it came right on the heels of getting a lot off of my chest this weekend.
We had 15 people at the 6:30 class, eager to hop in the time machine and test out 13.4, an Open workout from two years ago. It was a couplet with ascending reps and a seven-minute time cap. The couplet went like this:
3 clean and jerks (135/95)
3 toes to bar
6 clean and jerks
6 toes to bar
9 clean and jerks
9 toes to bar
And on and on and on...
With only seven minutes to get the work done, this was essentially a sprint, albeit a long sprint. I knew I would do 135 for the clean and jerk weight. Getting through the round of 12 would mean completing Grace along with 30 toes to bar. That seemed like a realistic goal for me, since I have completed Grace in just over 3.5 minutes. I hadn't done toes to bar in a while and I was concerned about my form being off. I planned on using the high bar, but changed my mind later on after struggling during the warmup and watching what other folks used.
With so many people in class, we were splitting up into two heats. Once again I got to work with Matt B. It really is nice to work with him when we have to pair up with somebody, because I'm not sure there is anyone else in the gym that is as similar to me as he is. There was no doubt he was using 135, and like me, his only concern was the toes to bar. Well maybe not the only concern. I think both Matt and I have engine problems as well. In Crossfit speak, your engine is your ability to maintain your intensity for longer periods of time. Some people (like yours truly) tire out pretty badly at a certain point and are deemed to have "no engine". Other folks can take on a 20-30 minute workout and keep a strong pace throughout. This longer sprint was going to be a good engine test, as it was right on the border of how long I can go fast for a workout.
Matt prefers going first and I prefer going last, so again, we made a good team. Matt got going and was throwing around the 135 lb weight like it was a toy. He strung the first 3 reps. In the round of 6, he strung all 6 reps. In the round of 9, he almost pulled off three sets of 3 reps, but had to break the last set into 2 and 1 to finish things up. When you have the ability to hold on to the bar like that, you save a lot of time. He was moving fluidly through the toes to bar, doing singles on the low bar. He was a bit under 3:30 when he moved on to the round of 12. He did some sets of 2 when he could, but this would end up being where he would switch to singles. After the 12th rep, Matt had Grace completed and went back to the bar. His reps there became slower, but we pushed him to finish up the round before time expired. He finished the round with less than 10 seconds left, ran over to the barbell and got a final clean and jerk in to finish with a score of 61.
Watching Matt made me realize that in a sprint like this, doing toes to bar on the high bar made little sense unless you were very proficient, so I made my peace with doing fast singles on the low bar. When it came to the clean and jerks, something interesting happened. Like Matt, I strung the first set of 3 reps, then did 3 fast singles of toes to bar. But when I came back to my barbell, I decided to ditch the plan of doing sets. Not sure why, it just happened. I did a rep, dropped the barbell, and got right back on it to do another rep. I knew I was going slower than Matt and it concerned me, but it felt like the right way to get through this workout. And even though I was going slower, I told myself not to look at the clock.
At the bar, I did 6 fast singles of toes to bar, releasing my hands for a split second between reps to give my grip a break. I kept that mindset during the 9 clean and jerks: it was ok to do singles, but I needed to be right back on that bar after I dropped it. No standing around. You don't stand around during a sprint. And this wasn't a case of "just keep moving". This was "gotta move fast". After 9 clean and jerks, I went back to the bar and raised my hands to grab it. I could already feel some soreness in my core. That's no good. Doesn't matter, gotta move fast. One by one, I knocked the reps out, at what seemed to me to be the same cadence as I had done the round of 6. With my goal being completion of the round of 12, I felt it was necessary to look at the clock. During Matt's round, Coach Steph yelled out when it was the halfway mark of the 7 minute time frame. I hadn't heard it yet, so I was really hoping she hadn't forgotten to do it for heat 2. I looked at the clock and saw 3:11. Those super-short breaks were working!
Knowing I had almost 4 minutes left, the game plan changed. Barring a collapse, I was finishing the round of 12. Then it was simply a matter of how many clean and jerks I could throw above my head in the remaining time. So if I started the round of 15, it was gonna be time to start stringing reps again. First things first though, do the round of 12. I made it through 9 reps before I was feeling that "it would be nice to rest for a minute" sensation in my body. I probably took an extra second before doing each of those last 3 reps, but I internally barked at myself to get back to the barbell. When I finished that 12th rep, I was happy, because I knew I had pushed myself to keep going. I was developing a little bit of an engine, even if my engine only lasted 7 minutes.
Maybe I was a little too happy when I got back to the bar, as I lazily swung my feet up underneath the bar on my first rep. Matt said "one", but I told him I was no repping myself. From there, I swung with more intensity on each rep as I couldn't afford to be doing extra reps for no reason. As I hit my 11th toes to bar, I heard "one minute!". Yikes, time flew during this round. I grabbed the bar and made sure the 12th rep was legit. Time to crank out some clean and jerks.
Per usual, I was sweating like crazy and during this last mad dash, it started dripping in my eyes. But I wasn't doing anything with them except staring blankly ahead anyways. Believing I needed to string reps, I did my first rep quickly, then let the bar drop directly to the ground while holding on to it. Not the best execution, especially when I almost blew the next rep completely. The clean came up lopsided and not very high. I had to struggle to get it to my shoulders where I could control it for the jerk. That let me know I would not be stringing anything during the final minute. Still, I was able to make good progress with the fast singles, along with Matt yelling time updates at me. With 5 seconds left, Matt yelled "get one more!" I did a quick clean, then jerked the barbell over my head with a second to spare.
I was tired, but I was also energized. I knew from looking at the whiteboard that my score of 70 tied for the second highest of the day. But I also knew that Rachel was in my heat, so that was probably going to be adjusted to tied for the third highest of the day. As I walked over to her, she was sitting on the floor smiling. Oh god, remember Dave, no matter how badly she crushed you, be proud of what you just did. I asked her how she did and she told me she got 69 reps. Holy crap! I beat Rachel! In an Open workout no less! Where was this 3 months ago? <Sigh>
I badly needed to rehydrate, but to say I was pumped for open strength would be an understatement. Monday is the best day for me for open strength as I can do the 6:30 WOD and then still get an hour and a half for strength. And let's be honest, the first 15-20 minutes of that time is usually spent recovering from the WOD. Determined to turn my attitude around from Saturday, I was starting with some handstand push-up work. And I would be trying something I had never done before, but had seen in a video online (wow, that sentence sounded much worse than originally intended). I believe that the reason my handstand push-up form has fallen apart is because I've gotten used to the abmat being a safety net of sorts for me. So I need to practice the full range of motion. To do that, I would use a set of bands tied to the pull-up rig to help me out. I basically looked like this:
After some mild ribbing and some assistance to get upside down, I did 5 handstand push-ups with full range of motion. It felt awkward, but apparently looked cool, as Michal and Mr. Intensity asked if they could try as well. After they took their turns, I churned out two sets of 12 this way. I have high hopes that this new setup will improve my handstand push-up form.
Know who can do handstand push-ups without all of that? Michal. She worked her way through 24 in a row before coming off the wall. She's determined to get on the whiteboard (she needs 26) and I imagine she'll be writing her name up there soon. She also was willing to help me out with my pull-up kip. She noticed that I have been swinging my legs a lot and not activating my shoulders. With that advice in mind, I am going to focus on shoulder activation for a while and see if that can get my kip to a non-embarrassing level.
Finally, Rachel wanted to do a "cash-out" to end open strength. You'll see why I used quotes in a second. The setup was as follows:
3 rounds for time:
500M row
35-40 ft walking lunge (45/35)
100 double unders
35-40 ft walking lunge
Yeah, it was bad. Because Michal can knock out about 600 double unders at a time, she breezed through the hardest part of the workout, making up any time she was losing on the row or the lunges. And it still took her over 18 minutes. Rachel was probably in the 20-21 minute range. As for me...let's just say that I finished before Steph turned the lights off in the gym. It was a good workout for me because I need double under practice, but it was pretty brutal.
Next blog post: the return of the hardest workout I have ever done at KOP: Kalsu! It will not be pleasant.
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