The Stones Will Be Found, Dr. Jones

Workout date: 8/7/15

I did say in my last post that this week would be just as busy as last week.  It may have been even busier.  So my profound apologies for the delay in updating the blog, but I hope to catch up on everything that has happened in the past week and a half by tomorrow evening.  That includes workouts, a special non-workout blog post on the handicapping contest I was in this week (the event felt blog-worthy despite not having anything to do with Crossfit), and my experience at yesterday's Brawl in the Burbs competition with my Soukas.

Let's rewind back to last Friday though.  I was planning on meeting some friends in the city for dinner, so I got myself to an earlier class than normal.  In fact, I think it was my first ever 3:30 class at KOP in the 2.5 years I have been there.  The workout was 50% something I enjoyed (atlas stones) and 50% something I did not enjoy (sumo deadlifts).  We were starting off with the sumo deadlifts.  The goal was to find a 2RM.  Part of the reason I don't particularly like deadlifts is because I always feel like I am doing them wrong.  Probably not using my legs enough, although I actively think about using them when I start the lift.  I have been stuck at around the same max deadlift for a long time.  It had been 365 pounds, but then I finally got to 385, where it has remained since last year.

Somehow I don't think the remedy to what ails me with my deadlift form is to have an awkward stance, but that is what the sumo deadlift calls for.  You stand with your feet spread far apart, pointing in a NW and NE direction as you attempt to lift a huge amount of weight.  The bright side to this awkward stance is that it makes your range of motion smaller.  As a result, some people can lift more in the sumo stance while others can lift more in the normal stance.  As for me, there has never been any difference.  My regular deadlift PR and sumo deadlift PR have moved in tandem.

The best part of the 3:30 class was getting to work out with Justin R.  Of all the people in the gym, Justin is probably closest in body type to me.  He's slightly taller, weights a few pounds more (I didn't know that until he told me during this workout), and he's a few years younger than me.  There are a couple of things in the gym that I am a little bit better than him at and there are many things which he is much better than me at.  Add all of that up and it makes him the perfect guy to try to keep up with. It was no surprise that we would end up mirroring one another throughout the day.

We were supposed to do at least 7 sets during the workout, so Justin and I started at 225.  From there we moved up to 255 and 285 without much of an issue.  At 315, Justin looked a little less comfortable during his lifts.  He would be successful at 335, but that was as high as he completed.  I kept up the 30 pound increases and went from 315 to 345 and still felt relatively good.  345 was my 5th set and it was decision time.  Did I want to be aggressive and put another 30 pounds on the bar, going for 375 with a possible PR at 395?  Or did I want to be a bit more conservative and go 365 and 385 for sets 6 and 7?  If we were doing a 1RM, I almost certainly would have chosen the more aggressive path, but since it was a 2RM, I went the more conservative route.

The lift at 365 was the first real struggle of the afternoon.  I was holding my breath during the lift and by the time I dropped the bar, I imagine my face had turned a light shade of purple.  I exerted a lot of effort to get that second rep up.  At the very least, I felt good about my decision not to jump up to 375.  Now it was time for 385.  I had managed 385 for 1 rep doing a regular deadlift, so getting two reps here would be a PR of sorts for me.  My mindset was the same as it always is on these heavy deadlifts: just get the barbell moving.  I stepped in and got the barbell moving.  I paused briefly at the top of the first lift and held on tight for the second rep.  Once again, there was a lot of exertion, not a lot of breathing, and the feeling that my head might pop off.  But I got the second rep up.

Having been successful with 2 reps at 385, I wanted to at least attempt 405.  The 400 lb deadlift has been one of those nice round numbers I'd like to eclipse (same deal with the 300 lb back squat) and it's been a little frustrating not being able to get there.  So I loaded up the bar with 405 and once again told myself to just get the barbell moving.  I stepped in, pulled as hard as I could, but the barbell would not move.  That sucked.  I regrouped for a second shot at 405, taking some time to chalk up my hands.  When I was ready, I came back to the barbell, pulled with everything I had, only to figure out that the barbell was more stubborn than I was.  I would not be eclipsing 400 pounds today.

That wasn't so bad since I would now get to play with the atlas stones.  Atlas stones have a special place in my heart.  Before I began watching the Crossfit Games on ESPN2 at three in the morning, I used to watch The World's Strongest Man competitions in that time slot.  And traditionally, the atlas stones would be the final event.  Five stones needed to be lifted onto a podium with the "lightest" stone (some ridiculous amount of weight) being placed on the highest end of the podium.  As the athletes progressed down the line, the stones got heavier and the podium height was lower.  Sometimes the best events are also some of the simplest and this event was always fascinating for me to watch.  When I learned that our gym had some of these (albeit much lighter versions), I was psyched to learn how to lift them.

The cash out involved choosing a stone and lifting it to your shoulder as many times as you could in 5 minutes.  Once again, Justin and I would mirror one another by choosing a 110 pound stone, but that would be where all similarities would end.  This cash out sounded like it was about strength, when the truth is it was all about cardio.  For Justin, 5 minutes of cardio was going to be a breeze.  He won the KB swing/sit-up event at King and Queen this year by having the best engine in the gym.  Meanwhile, my Check Engine light comes on after a couple of minutes and it is not due to a faulty CO2 sensor.  I tried to keep up with Justin for the first minute, but he was a couple reps ahead of me even then.  As the minutes wore on, I needed more and more rest while Justin kept picking up the stone and plopping it back down on the mat.  When the 5 minutes were up, he had lifted the stone 38 times, easily besting my score of 23 reps.

There was still one more thing I wanted to try out.  There was a new 207 lb stone in the gym and no one had yet lifted it to their shoulder.  Maybe I could be the first!  (Just let me have my delusions)  First, I needed to get the 175 lb stone on my shoulder.  After messing up my first attempt, I got it on my shoulder on my second try.  Justin had tried to get the 207 lb stone, but said it wouldn't budge.  On my first attempt, I got it to budge, nearly pulling it into my lap.  I wanted another shot at it.  On my second attempt, I got the big stone moving again, but this time, I got it into my lap.  I really might be the first to get this on my shoulder!  (Seriously, just let me...)  I re-adjusted my grip, got my breathing comfortable and got ready to pop this stone up on my shoulder.  Except my body said "oh hell no".  As I went to pop up, my calves tightened immediately, leaving me without the help of my lower body as I tried to transition the stone.  There was an immediate strain on my back and I dropped the stone as fast as I could.  It was the closest I have come to having a major injury at the gym.  Needless to say, I did not make a third attempt.

While I avoided a major injury, I was still beaten up by the atlas stones.  I had red marks all over my shoulder and a bit of a gash on my collarbone.  I put Neosporin on it and bandaged it for a few days.  Each time I took the bandage off, there was yellow pus on the bandage.  I began to worry that I had a Khal Drogo situation going on, but in the time since then, it has healed more normally.

Next blog post: Rachel's birthday, a co-ed competition (thankfully not involving me), and the Monday WOD.