The Magic Snatch

Workout date: 6/29/15

Writing lyrics, such a grind
Nearly made me lose my mind
Rhyming words are hard to find
Explains why I'm two blogs behind

Wait, wait, wait...I need to stop doing that.  After spending way too much time trying to come up with rhymes for my Bridgeport Barbell Classic recap, it is a relief to be able to just write a normal blog post about how much I suck at Crossfit.  Ahhh...that's better.

Monday's was a test day at the gym and the WOD we would be testing was Amanda.  We had last done this on March 10th and for those who don't remember how Amanda goes (I wouldn't if it wasn't posted on the KOP blog), here's the workout:

9-7-5
Muscle-ups
Squat snatches (135/95)

When I attempted this back in March, I was just testing out jumping muscle-ups.  It was a miracle that I managed to get 7 of them.  For the rest of the workout, I did ring rows and banded dips.  I used 115 pounds for the squat snatches and finished in 11:14.  The goals on Monday were threefold: 1) to do all 21 jumping muscle-ups, 2) to use 125 pounds for the snatches, and 3) still finish under the 11:14 I posted last time.

The 6:30 class was packed, probably due to the return of one Jason Lyons.  It was good to have class with Jason again as it seems like no one has more fun teaching Crossfit than he does.  The class was also large because the recent Summer Shape Up program had ended and some of the graduates were now making their way into a regular class for the first time.  My initial concern was that there would not be enough rings, but many of the newcomers decided to work on paralettes, leaving plenty of rings for the jumping muscle-ups (or legit muscle-ups if you're so inclined).  The real logjam would be due to lack of snatch space. <giggity>  With 17 people needing to set up barbells, real estate was at a premium.  Those that claimed their territory early were fine, while others...

Okay, so I should have grabbed space first then put on my lifting shoes.  My bad.  Once I had my shoes on, I realized there was only one spot left: the lifting platform.  It had been left out from the meet the day before and everyone made sure to avoid it when figuring out where they were going to snatch.  With 16 people taking a step backwards, I suddenly realized that I had unknowingly volunteered to work out on the platform.  Not good.  First, the platform was perpendicular to the way everyone else was facing, so that was awkward.  And I suspect that because I was the only guy working out on the platform, I looked like a douche.

I warmed up with 95 pounds and got a few lifts in, but I wasn't feeling super sturdy.  As I headed back over to the plates, Jason said we were about to start.  Wait, what?  Hmmm...I didn't feel good about using 125 without some practice lifts, so I grabbed 10 pound plates to move up to 115 again.  Now my goal was to finish in under 10 minutes.

We got over to the rings to start the workout and in front of me was Laura A.  Laura is the latest in a line of female KOP badasses to come into the gym and simply excel at everything.  She's on the board for the 800 meter run and I hear she kills it at Endurance.  She competed in the BBC on Sunday and made all six of her lifts look easy.  And I was pretty certain that she was going to kick my butt in this workout despite sounding like she had little to no experience with jumping muscle-ups.  I would try and keep up with her as much as I could.  Round one began and I started on the jumping muscle-ups.  Getting through this round would be an improvement from March, but the reps started becoming tough as I got to numbers six and seven.  As I struggled, Laura finished her round and ran over to her barbell.  So much for keeping up.

I made it through the last two reps and headed over to the platform.  My focus was on balance.  Whenever I do overhead squats, I try to squat snatch the first rep to get a quick rep in.  And overheads are all about balance.  While I don't enjoy squat snatches as much as I would enjoy, say, a set of 15 overheads, there is enough overlap that I feel comfortable doing them.  Plus, I had recently done an overhead squat with 225 pounds, so 115 pounds was going to be relatively light.  But if I lost my balance, I'd be doing several extra reps and I didn't want that.  So each time I snatched the bar over my head, I thought about nothing but making sure I was balanced and completing good reps.  After nine squat snatches, I went back to the rings with approximately 4 minutes elapsed on the clock.

I was still on pace to break 10 minutes as I began the second round of jumping muscle-ups.  Laura was already working on hers meaning I'd be falling even farther behind.  Perhaps it was middle round syndrome, but this set certainly felt harder than the first, despite doing two less reps.  My grip on the rings was becoming a struggle and I was scraping my arms against the ring straps each time I dipped out at the top of each rep.  But I did manage 7 more, leaving me confident that I could finish the last 5 in round three.

Back over to the snatches and I repeated my routine.  Proper setup, good balance, good lift.  After dropping the bar each time, I tried to get right back on it and proceed to the next rep.  All 7 reps were good and it was back to the rings for one last round.  The clock showed about 7:30, meaning I was behind 10 minute pace.  Time to kick it into high gear!  I would do a jumping muscle-up, shake out my arms, make sure I had a good grip on the rings, then do the next one.  Five reps later and goal #1 was accomplished.  I ran over to the platform to see I had less than 45 seconds left to break 10 minutes.  As much as I didn't want to mess up a rep, I also didn't want to finish and see 10:03 or some nonsense like that.  Would have driven me nuts.  So I picked up the pace and balanced as best as I could.  A couple times I had to sit in the bottom of the squat for a second or two longer to steady myself, but the lifts weren't too bad.  I stood up from my final squat snatch and looked at the clock.  9:56.  Goal #3 accomplished.

Afterwards, while rolling out, Aimee asked me what I think about while I snatch.  My answer: nothing.  For the most part, I zone out during workouts these days, although I guess my answer could have been "balance".  She let me know that I was doing a good job of having the bar meet my hips, but from there I wasn't doing anything.  As Keith had told me once before, I needed to pull and not rely on magic to get the bar over my head.  (For the record, magic got the bar over my head 21 times during the workout.  Just sayin.)  But it is a good point.  When you don't focus on that final pull, the bar will float, but it floats out just as much as it floats up.  And it doesn't leave you in great position when you get it over your head.  So I need to focus on that a little more as that will definitely help me out when I need to snatch heavier weights.

One more blog to catch up on!  Push presses and double unders from Tuesday night.  Coming soon.