Age Is Just A Number

Workout date: 2/11/16

My favorite thing about the Open is getting to watch people compete in it for the first time.  It is definitely intimidating signing up for 5 weeks of unknown workouts when you're just beginning your Crossfit journey.  At least during the WODs, you can scale the workout down to a level you feel comfortable with.  The format of the WOD may be the same for everyone, but you're not using the same weight or the same standards as everyone else in the class.  For the Open, you are pretty much doing the exact same workout as your classmates (although as of last year, you now have the option of doing an RX workout or a scaled workout).  Immediately one thinks "I can't do what these more experienced folks are doing".  Then they hear "3, 2, 1, go" and inevitably they do much better than they could have imagined.  Maybe they hit a PR.  Maybe they do a new movement for the first time ever.  But nothing beats that "holy shit" look of excitement on their faces.

My second favorite thing about the Open?  Getting to see those people that either don't work out in afternoon classes very often any more or that I don't typically work out with because they do morning/noon classes.  All of us get into a routine and have our workout buddies that we hang with regularly, but there are so many other people at KOP that are great to spend time with that we don't know about until events like the Open bring us together.  I've been lucky enough to get a head start on this by dropping into the Noon Express class every so often and it has been a lot of fun.  And since my weekend was starting with the completion of Thursday's WOD, I thought it would be nice to get it started early by taking class with some of the community that I don't get to be around all that often.

There were 13 of us taking part in the Express class and here is what we signed up to do:

AMRAP in 12 Minutes:
10 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
10 Hang Power Cleans (185/125)
20 Double Unders

I signed up to do this WOD for one reason only: to practice chest-to-bar pull-ups.  Say what?  You signed up for a workout to do pull-ups?  Well yes.  As much as regular pull-ups are my nemesis, there is a special hatred I reserve for chest-to-bar pull-ups.  Back in the 2014 Open, they were coupled with my favorite movement, overhead squats.  It seemed grossly unfair that my favorite movement was handcuffed to a movement I could not do.  But Coach Jason gave me a crash course on chest-to-bar pull-ups and I did my first eight chest-to-bar pull-ups ever in route to a score of 18 on Open workout 14.2.

The Crossfit gods mocked me a year later, as 15.2 was a repeat of 14.2.  Were my chest-to-bar pull-ups any better?  No.  On my first attempt, I got 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups.  On my second attempt, only nine.  That was the same night the old lady at Wegman's refused to sell me beer because my license had just expired.  It was a bad night.

With the Open around the corner and chest-to-bar pull-ups programmed for the WOD, it seemed like a good time for me to test my progress with this movement.  Have I practiced these a whole lot?  No. But I discovered during bar muscle-up practice that if I really closed my shoulders hard and looked towards the ceiling, I could hit my chest against the bar fairly reliably.  Did I have enough strength to do it for multiple rounds?  Time to find out.

I had done all of my chest-to-bar pull-ups on the low bar during the Open workouts, but today I would be using the high bar.  Why?  Because at a certain point you just have to get used to the high bar.  No time like the present to do it.  As for the rest of the workout, I decided to use 155 pounds for the hang power cleans.  Could I have used more?  Yes.  But I wasn't sure how long I would be on the pull-up bar.  If I got stuck there and got stuck on the hang power cleans as well, I wasn't even going to finish two rounds.  Better to find a weight that was relatively heavy, but that I felt I could push through in a reasonable amount of time.  After that it was 20 double unders.  Could I replicate those efficient, medium-sized sets in this workout, even when tired out from other movements?  Again, this WOD seemed like a good time to test that skill out.

Coach Aimee walked us through warm-ups, which included some double under practice and a lot of hang power cleans before we moved over to the bar.  After doing some progressions, she asked us to do 1 chest-to-bar pull-up.  Not sure if it was because I was fresh or because I was amped up, but I did another one of those reps where I hit the bottom of my rib cage on the bar, renewing my belief that one day I could get a bar muscle-up.  We did a couple more single reps before Aimee asked us to string three, using Dana to demo how it's done.  I once strung three chest-to-bar pull-ups, but it was on the low bar, and it required me coming to a dead hang between reps.  I gave it a whirl on the high bar, attempting to kip between reps.  Like Mr. Owl counting how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop, I did "a one, a two, a thrrrrrree".  Not sure how that magically happened, but my confidence in doing this workout suddenly skyrocketed.

My goal was to finish three rounds.  Yes, that meant doing three times as many chest-to-bar pull-ups as I had ever done before in a workout, but I also had 12 minutes for this WOD.  And I had faith that I could make up some time on the hang power cleans and the double unders.  Just needed to have the stamina to do that many chest-to-bar pull-ups.  Aimee got us started and I did a set of two reps.  Not bad.  I jumped up and attempted a second set of two.  Got the first rep, missed on the second rep.  That sucked.  I had to exert a lot of energy to throw my chest towards that bar and it was not a good feeling to miss it.  Also, I was only three reps in and that stamina I was hoping for might already be waning.  Why did I do 6 reps during the warm-up?

I had two more successful reps before failing again.  It was time to regroup mentally.  I could do this, I just needed to close my shoulders as hard as I could every single rep.  Anything less than max effort was simply going to be wasted energy.  I had three more successful reps before taking a peek at the rest of the gym.  I was on the bar closest to the front of the gym, so I could look down the rig and see everyone else.  Correction: I could look down the rig and see everyone else if they had not all moved on to their hang power cleans.  Way behind already.  Awesome.

I finished up my last two reps and got to my barbell.  I had used a lot of energy on the rig, but I didn't have much time to recover seeing as I was already behind the entire class and not by a small margin.  I picked up the barbell and held on through 5 reps.  A small break, then I got through the other 5 reps.  Definitely needed to get through those in two sets.  I came over to my jump rope, hoping that I could duplicate my effort on the hang power cleans and finish the round in only two sets.  Except when I began twirling the rope, I forgot to hit myself with it.  I strung all 20 double unders and got ready for more chest-to-bar pull-ups.  We were just over three minutes into the workout.

I had given up on trying to string the chest-to-bar pull-ups, believing that it was more important to focus on avoiding any no-reps.  I came close to missing the bar a couple of times, with my chest only grazing the bar rather than slamming into it.  But the no-reps were a thing of the past.  10 attempts led to 10 successful reps.  It was slow, but it worked out.  I moved on to the hang power cleans again.

Arriving back at my barbell, I felt pretty certain that I wasn't going to be able to go 5-5 again, so I resolved to go 4-4-2, which is what I ended up doing.  Got back to my jump rope and hoped for another 20 in a row, but the rope remembered to hit me this time after 12 reps.  I got right back on it and finished off my last 8 reps.  The clock showed that we were over 7 minutes in.

There wasn't a lot of difference between round two and round three, other than the fact that I couldn't help but stare at the clock once I got to the hang power cleans.  My 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups were the result of 10 consecutive successful attempts, although I had another couple of reps where my chest barely caught the bar.  For the hang power cleans, I ended up going to 4-3-3 as my strength began to taper off.  On the jump rope, I made it through 16 reps before messing up, then took care of the last four.  I had done it!  Three rounds complete.  I was very pleased with that.

There was still about 40-45 seconds remaining, so I went over and tried to get in as many chest-to-bar pull-ups as I could.  I did 3 relatively fast singles before needing to pause to catch my breath.  I turned to see there were ten seconds remaining.  I wanted to end the workout on a good note, so I concentrated hard, not wanting a no-rep on my final attempt.  I jumped up on the bar, swung hard, closed my shoulders, looked towards the ceiling and thrust my chest forward.  It hit the bar, I dropped to the floor, and time was called.  Final score: 3+4.

This was one of those workouts where it was hard for me to grasp what I had done until I had some time to roll out, drink some water, and think clearly.  I had gone from a best of 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups to 34 in this one.  I had used 155 pounds on my hang power cleans, but could have gone heavier.  I needed two sets or less to do my 20 double unders in all three rounds.  That's a pretty solid workout for me.  It was a nice way to head into the weekend.

Afterwards, I worked on handstand push-ups with Queen Pam and Shane.  They had lots of good tips for me just as Rachel had, although I discovered that Rachel, Pam, and Shane all do their handstand push-ups somewhat differently.  Maybe this is a movement that I'm going to have to feel out a bit on my own before it clicks with me.  Handstand push-ups could be like swinging a golf club: everybody seems to do it a little differently, but what's important is finding the setup that is right for me.  I'll keep after it.

During the handstand push-up practice, I started talking about all of the little aches and pains I've had recently.  My right knee locks up in the morning and when I drive for long periods of time.  My right wrist is sore after heavy overhead days.  My left calf tightens up after certain workouts.  Pam asked me how old I was and we joked about getting older.  Shane replied that "age is just a number", which is something much easier to accept when you're 19.  Well that number is about to increase for me.  I'm off to visit my buddies to celebrate birthday number 38.  Not sure if I'll be back in the gym until Sunday or Monday.

Weekend preview: Enjoy your weekend!  And if you do the Valentine's Day Massacre WOD at KOP on Friday, do not kill your partner.