I often write on this blog about movements that I need to work on at the gym, but that list usually only includes things that pop up frequently in WODs. It's easy to forget there are plenty of other movements I could use some improvement on that don't show up in workouts all that often. Dumbbell movements definitely fall in this category. You would think that dumbbells would appear in a lot of workouts at a gym, but that really isn't the case at KOP. When strength is incorporated into a WOD, we tend to use barbells to build that strength. With dumbbells, you have to go lighter because of the stability required. Having no lifting background before starting Crossfit, I mistakenly thought that if I could handle a 90 pound barbell in a workout, then I could handle two 45 pound dumbbells in a similar workout. Not quite.
Monday's WOD proved that once again as we were faced with something called the "Dumbbell Destroyer":
"Dumbbell Destroyer"
3 rounds
10 DB snatches - left arm
10 DB overhead squats - left arm
10 pull-ups
10 DB snatches - right arm
10 DB overhead squats - right arm
10 pull-ups
*RX weights for DB (55/35)
Hmmm...this had the potential to be a Sucker WOD except I'm terrible at pull-ups and I knew the DB movements were going to wear out my shoulders, making my least favorite movement that much tougher. So using a 55 pound DB went out the window quickly, despite having done a DB snatch of 90 pounds with each arm and despite my eternal love of overhead squats. 45 pounds seemed like a reasonable goal, although I began having second thoughts about that after our warmups. Samson was shadowing Aimee's class and let me know that the overhead squats were tougher than I might think. (Samson shares my love of overhead squats, so I took this warning very seriously.) I decided to warmup with a 25 pound DB to get a feel for the movements. The snatch was very easy with this weight, but the overhead squat was tricky, even only using 25 pounds. I'm not sure whether it would have been easier if I had a DB in each hand to balance things out, but I would have gladly taken a 95 pound barbell over the 25 pound DB I had raised over my head.
Part of the problem was that this was a completely foreign movement to me. With the barbell, two hands are required for the overhead squat. DB snatches are a one-handed movement, so there was no awkwardness there. But the one-handed DB overhead squat was going to require some practice. By the end of the warmup, I felt comfortable enough to try out some reps with the 35 pound DB. Again, the snatches were easy and the overheads were all about staying balanced. The weight wouldn't be a problem if I could just stay steady. In many ways, this was a replay of my trial run at turkish get-ups, as there was a genuine fear of dropping the DB on my face.
I decided that I could handle the 45 pound DB and got ready for the WOD. Aimee counted us down and we all got to work with some left-handed DB snatches. Because the end of the 10th snatch would leave me with the DB overhead and ready to go for the overhead squats, I decided to treat this workout like DT. In that workout, you want to put the weight down with 1 rep left (if you're going to put the weight down), so that when you do the final rep, you can go right into the next movement. I did 9 snatches and placed the DB on the floor. Shook out my arms, snatched the DB over my head, then took care of the 10 overhead squats. I did them a bit slower than I would have if I was using a barbell, but I kept my balance throughout and there was nothing more important than that.
On to my first of 6 sets of 10 pull-ups. 60 pull-ups...ugh. I jumped up to the high bar and did my first rep. Then I immediately dropped from the bar. I wasn't doing quick singles yet (although I would be soon enough). I was legitimately concerned that I had injured myself. For some reason, I experienced a sharp pain in my left shoulder when I did that first pull-up. I took some time to shake out my arms and to windmill my arms a bit to see if the pain persisted. I had experienced something similar in the shower a couple of weeks ago when I reached for the shampoo on the shelf (save the bald jokes!). It was a sharp pain that came out of nowhere, but almost as quickly as it had happened, it was okay again. I decided I would try another pull-up and see if there was still pain. If there was, I would need to shut things down.
I grabbed the high bar again and hoped for the best. Luckily, the pain did not return when I did the second rep. After that, I got a set of three in a row. I did a set of two and then the rest were singles. One round with my weak arm done. Let's see what I could do with my strong arm. The answer: a whole heck of a lot more. I did 9 snatches like I had done with the left arm. Then I did the last snatch and got to work on the overhead squats. Whatever caution I had shown with the left arm was non-existent with my right arm, as I bounced through the 10 reps like I was doing air squats. Maybe I could face the other way during my left arm rounds and use my right arm the whole time! No one would catch on to that, right? Fine, fine...I'll alternate between arms like I am supposed to.
At the pull-up bar, I accidentally made a discovery while doing singles. Usually when I'm on the way down from a single, I land a couple steps away from the bar. I think part of it is that I'm still doing that push away technique I need when stringing reps. But when I'm not stringing reps, that isn't necessary. I'm sure I stumbled on to this out of pure laziness, but after one of my reps, I landed almost directly underneath the bar. And when you're already under the bar, you feel kinda dumb just standing there. It was like my mind was peer-pressuring me into the next rep. So from there on out, I tried to land underneath the bar so that I would move quicker into the next rep.
Rounds two and three are going to sound exactly like round one, so I'll condense the recap on those rounds. I didn't struggle so much on my left arm in the final two rounds (I used my left arm, I swear). While doing my second round of overhead squats with my right arm, Samson called me out for not standing all the way up as I tried to speed through my reps. So naturally, I overcompensated by doing that weird thing where I am hopping off the ground at the top of each rep to prove I was completing the full range of motion. For all of the pull-ups, I did quick singles, but I did sets of 4-3-3 every time. I tried my best to keep rest to a minimum as I went from one movement to the next. Final time: 16:57.
I've spoken a little bit in recent posts about when I felt it was right to scale and when I felt it wasn't, as this seems to have become a hot topic at the gym. This workout was one that I should have scaled, but didn't need to scale. Let me explain. It would have been idiotic using the 55 pound DB, especially given the initial awkwardness with the overhead squats during the warmups. But after the workout was done, I realized I could have handled that weight. So it was right to scale the workout this time around, but should this workout be programmed again, I should move up to the heavier DB.
The Advent challenge was one that I was definitely interested in: max length broad jump. Does that mean it was one where I could win raffle tickets? Of course not. After an iffy first attempt, I managed a much better second attempt of 8 feet, 8 inches. That left me 9 inches short of the winner, but it was a distance that I was happy with. The chances of me winning Advent raffle tickets is right up there with the chances of me making it on the gym white board: miniscule. But it's still a fun thing to participate in at the end of the day.
Tuesday preview: Brace yourselves for some freakin' positivity! My best workout of the year takes place during a WOD that I don't particularly like.
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