Max Horsepower

Workout dates: 3/15/16 and 3/16/16

Back to Crossfit.  When I last wrote about attempting something athletic, I was struggling for nearly 34 minutes during a WOD that included 340 double unders, 170 air squats, and 85 push presses.  The next night, I was at Dudes After Dark, getting ready for a workout that I had never done before, but seemed to be a cousin of one that I actually liked.  That workout was called the Bear Complex.  This one was called the Horsepower Complex.  And seriously, knowing my love of equines, how could I not be better at this version?  Here's how the Horsepower Complex works:

Horsepower Complex:
Without putting the barbell down, complete 7 rounds of the following:
1 snatch deadlift
1 hang power snatch
1 overhead squat
1 back squat
1 push jerk

(Note: For the Bear Complex, the 5 movements are power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, and push press.  Apparently coming up with a fifth unique movement was too difficult for the creators of the Bear Complex.)

Now that Dudes After Dark has become a cultural phenomenon, it seems like the class has been an even split of men and women.  That was once again the case as we had 2 guys and 2 girls there for the 7:30 class.  Ms. January (Christine) and Julie Foucher were representing the ladies, while me and Chris D were bringing bald power to the WOD.  I began looking over the results from earlier in the day and saw that all the scores seemed to be on the low side, meaning I was probably underestimating how difficult this workout would be.  Keithie had done 135 pounds and a couple other guys had gotten 115, but 105 seemed to be a solid score for this workout.  We were supposed to be doing 5 sets of the Horsepower Complex, but I had already determined that 4 sets would be plenty for me.  I'd start with just the barbell (45), then add 20 pounds after each set until I reached 105.

Even that plan seemed a little shaky after doing the first set with the empty barbell.  I thought I could rip through all seven rounds fairly quickly, but as I got to round four, my pace slowed.  There was a cardio aspect to this WOD that I hadn't fully considered.  I had seen Matt E and Fayth finish the 6:30 class and they were drenched in sweat, but my slow-reacting brain thought it was due to the fact that it was a warm evening.  Now I was realizing that it probably had more to do with doing 35 consecutive reps of this complex before putting the barbell down.  At least I wasn't underestimating the workout any more.

I completed the set at 45 and did a set at 65.  As I got ready to do my next set at 85, I saw that Chris had already gotten to 95 pounds.  I wasn't sure what set he was on, but it seemed likely that he had a couple of sets left.  I began to reconsider doing only four sets instead of the full five.  If 105 wasn't awful, I could try a final set at 115.  I would probably have to pick up the pace a little bit though as class had started at 7:45 and I figured we needed to be done by 8:30 (Coach Rachel had some intro folks asking her questions in the lobby for a while).

The set at 85 was where I had to start focusing on my breathing and taking advantage of the fact that this is not a timed workout.  After doing the overhead squat, you had the opportunity to rest the barbell on your shoulders behind your head as you prepared for the back squat.  This was easily the best place to catch your breath and re-grip if necessary.  In fact, I began treating this as the starting point of each round even though the real start came from the floor.  If I rested prior to the back squat, I'd do the back squat and the push jerk, then try to quickly get through the snatch-grip deadlift, the hang power snatch, and the overhead squat before resting again.  That was how I thought about each round.  At 85 pounds, I discovered that I could get through 3 full rounds and the beginning of the fourth round before needing that rest at the back squat.  The rest was to catch my breath even though I was trying my best to breathe throughout the entire sequence.  I got through all seven rounds at 85, but I needed to towel off as I was starting to become soaked.

It wasn't just the bald guys sweating.  Ms. January had a nice sweat going and Julie Foucher was doing all sorts of crazy balancing tricks with the barbell as her grip began to give way during her sets.    After a visit to the paper towel rack, I grabbed 20 more pounds to add to my bar.  It was about 8:20, so it was going to be tight getting in a set at 115 if 105 went well, but I'd do it if other folks were still working.  The set at 105 was similar to the set at 85 in that I got through 3 rounds before needing to slow down.  I began to worry about the hang power snatch as this was where your grip was really tested, plus it was easy to fail here if you got tired and used lazy form during the snatch.  The overhead squat was the most natural place to fail and I had to maintain focus there as well.  I felt confident that I could handle the overhead squat at that weight, but your body does funny things when it gets tired.  I could sense some wobble each time I began the overhead squat, so I started taking an extra second or two after the hang power snatch to ensure my balance was solid.  I finished up 105 and started thinking about 115.

Everyone was still working at this point, so getting that 5th set in didn't seem like too much of a problem.  And Rachel had let us know that we could run over a little bit since we had started late.  Chris had done 105 as well and went to try 115, but he ran into problems with the overhead squat and couldn't hang on to the barbell.  Julie Foucher had her own system going, one that included many a re-grip, but she managed to hold on at 70 pounds.  As for Ms. January, she worked her way through an entire set at what I believe was 85 pounds and dropped her barbell with a sigh of relief.  It was my turn to go again.  I made it through 2 rounds at 115 before needing to grab that break before the back squat.  From that point on, there was a lot of focus on breathing and technique.  The barbell wasn't extremely heavy, but this complex gave you ample opportunity to mess up along the way.  The deadlifts were easy.  My technique on the snatches were better this round than they were at 105.  I was strong on my overhead squats.  And the back squats and push jerks at 115 were not much of a problem.  I was feeling good about things as I transitioned into the 7th and final round when I felt my grip loosen.  I had needed to adjust my grip once or twice while resting the barbell on my back during this set, something that I hadn't done in previous sets.  I guess I was beginning to notice that my grip was weakening.  When my hookgrip came loose at the beginning of round seven, I was concerned.  There's nothing worse than blowing a complex after having done six rounds of it already.  I just needed to get through the hang power snatch.  After doing the deadlift, I got ready to do the snatch sans hookgrip.  Don't drop this, idiot...  Luckily, I did not.  Once I got the barbell over my head, I knew I could finish the set off.  Did the overhead squat, fixed my grip before the back squat, did the back squat and jerk and I was done.  115 was a success.  I had done 5 sets.  Time to call it a day.

Or not.  Ms. January was going to try and tie Aimee's score of 95 pounds, so she was going to do one more set.  And Rachel was adamant that my form looked really good during the complex.  She wanted me to try and tie Keithie at 135.  That seemed like a longshot.  Rachel was convinced I could still do more though, so she talked me into attempting 125, which would give me the second highest male score in the gym that day.  Fair enough.  Ms. January gave me some inspiration when she battled her way through a set at 95 pounds.  At one point, she actually lost control of the barbell after rising from an overhead squat, but she managed to snag it down near her knees and was able to recover from there.

My set at 125 started off like the set at 115 did with two quick rounds strung together before I needed to begin catching rest on the back squat.  I don't think I spent a lot of time in the rest position, just enough to get my breathing under control.  The hang power snatches went better than expected, but grip strength was definitely an issue.  I lost my grip at 115 when beginning round 7.  For 125, I lost it when beginning round 5.  But I was determined not to drop the barbell having gotten this far along.  There was no hookgrip for the last 3 snatches, but I got them over my head anyways.  I was extremely relieved when I got to drop the barbell after the 7th push jerk.  Final score: 125.

(Rachel would later text me and say "I wish there was time for you to do one more set at 135".  I'm not sure how well that would have went, but I appreciate how much faith she has in me.)

That was Tuesday night.  On Wednesday, I came in for strength and did my front squat program.  I did 6 sets of 3 reps at 215.  Around set three or four, I started to develop a rhythm to the lifts.  Getting three reps began feeling comfortable and I was doing a good job of staying in my heels and generating power out of the bottom of the squat.  After that, I attempted one of the Festivus WODs again.  I tried out the rowing/bench press workout again, this time using 85 pounds on the bench press instead of 75.  In order to beat my score with 75 pounds, I needed to complete 51 reps.  Sure enough, right as I pressed out my 51st rep, the alarm on my phone went off indicating time was up.  It doesn't seem like there is much to be gained from going higher than 75 pounds and there is no point using extra weight when I'll have three other WODs to do that day, so I think I'm set on using 75 pounds for that workout.

Thursday (St. Paddy's Day) preview: A whole day with Cline!  And Alison!  Follow along with me on a journey of running, drinking, and destroying my hip flexors.