Back before I wandered over to Crossfit KOP, I would watch episodes of the Crossfit Games on ESPN. They had all sorts of crazy events during this fitness spectacle. And despite the fact that every competitor looked like they had chiseled physiques, it was clear that each of the competitors was good at certain things and not so good at other things. Someone might finish first in the event held in the afternoon, then follow that up with a 29th place finish in the evening workout. You didn't have to destroy the competition in every event in order to win the Crossfit Games. It was a war of attrition. If you could consistently perform well in all of these events, you could end up on top at the conclusion of the weekend, even if you didn't win a single event.
That idea resonated with me. There have been very few things in this life where I could claim excellence. I was always good with numbers, so math became one of those rare things that people gave me credit for being great at. Beyond that? Not a whole lot. When it came to sports, I tended to be pretty good at a lot of different sports, but I never had a breakthrough in one sport in particular. So this idea that there was this new hybrid sport (for lack of a better term) where you could succeed by being okay but not great at a variety of things definitely sparked my interest. As I began my Crossfit career, I was always interested in the WODs where a bunch of movements were being tested. Testing three things in this workout? Great! Need to be able to do 5-6 movements to finish the WOD? Even better!
I think that explains why I've always gotten excited when Fight Gone Bad has been programmed. Fight Gone Bad tests 5 different Crossfit movements and you take that test 3 times before you are done. One minute at each station, with one minute of rest at the end of every round. Those five stations are:
Wall Balls (20#/14# to 10'/9')
Sumo Deadlift High Pull (75/55)
Box Jumps (20")
Push Press (75/55)
Calories Rowed
Great at box jumps, but suck at everything else? Then your score is probably going to be lower than someone else who is pretty good at all of these movements. This WOD was like a mini-Crossfit Games for those of us who will never make it there without paid admission. It was my chance to see whether my perception (that I'm moderately good at a bunch of things) matched reality.
Before going into how I did on Fight Gone Bad, let me begin with a bit of a reality check. Reality check #1: Being moderately good at sports does not mean you will automatically be moderately good at things you have never done before. When I first attempted Fight Gone Bad, I think the only movements I felt comfortable with were the box jumps (no rebounding) and the rowing (lousy form). The rest of it was a disaster, especially the wall balls. Reality check #2: Despite my love of WODs including many different movements, I've never shown any Crossfit aptitude in chippers. In fact, you could probably make an argument that I do worse on average in such workouts. So my results don't justify getting all excited about Fight Gone Bad. Perhaps I simply need variety in my workouts to keep me motivated.
The Monday 6:30 was a BAC (actual acronym for Big Ass Class) consisting of 16 people. The on-ramp program was semi-complete in that the folks who were in that group could now join regular classes if they were interested. If they were not, they could continue on with on-ramp instruction. Only two members of the program joined us for Fight Gone Bad (brave souls!), so a portion of the gym was needed for the on-ramp program still. That left enough space for seven lanes, meaning two groups would need to share a lane. They would do the workout concurrently, but start at different stations.
Before we even headed out to warm up, we were told to get a partner for this workout as it is traditionally run in two heats, with one person keeping score while their partner is working. I was standing right next to Ryan A and I knew he wasn't going to need to scale any part of this workout, so I asked him if I could be his partner. He was cool with that arrangement and we were all set. Most of the remaining members of the class began to search for a partner as well, but there was one team that knew they were working together before they even showed up to class: Dana and Pam. These two are always teaming up on partner workouts when they are not competing against each other at the noon express class. They were at the 6:30 class this evening due to unfortunate circumstances. Dana's father had passed away a few days earlier. She wanted to do Fight Gone Bad, but the only time she could make it was at 6:30 at night. Pam, being the awesome friend she is, agreed to come in at that time to do the workout with her.
Needing at least 35 minutes to get through the two heats, the warmup had to move quickly, as there were 5 movements to go over. Each partner needed to get some practice in, plus the barbells had to be set up with the proper weights. As we were doing all of this, Ryan asked me if I wanted to go first. I told him that it didn't matter to me, which was only a tiny lie. Typically, I'm a procrastinator and go second when we do this workout, but it seemed like Ryan might be the same way. That was confirmed when he flat out told me "I'd rather go second". No big deal. In fact, it would probably be good for me to stop putting things off and go first more often in workouts like this.
I was standing over near my wall ball when Coach Steph announced that we were going to get started. A few other people needed to run over to the wall as Steph began the countdown to the start of this 17-minute burner. Wall balls were the first station and I held on to the ball the entire minute. I tend to average one shot every 2 seconds and I was close to that pace, getting 29 reps in before the buzzer sounded, letting me know it was time to move on to the sumo deadlift high pull. This is easily my least favorite aspect of this workout (now that I know how to do wall balls properly). I tried to put together a couple of bigger sets during this minute, but 6-7 reps was about as big of a set that I could muster. After 23 reps, it was on to the box jumps. The normal box height for guys is 24", although there are some workouts where we must use a 30" box. So it was a nice change to only have to jump on a 20" box. I kept one thought running through my head: It's a small box, you don't have to jump that high. Typically I'm terrified of getting tired and tripping, but it was going to be hard to trip on the 20" box. I rebounded as long as I could to quickly get through reps. Towards the end I lost some steam, but it wasn't a bad first round, as I added another 23 reps to my score.
Up next was my favorite part of this workout: the push press. With the barbell only weighing 75 pounds, I could move it quickly and typically didn't need to put it down until I completed a very big set. Except that wasn't the case on this day. I'm not sure whether my shaky cardio caught up with me or not, but I felt the need to drop the barbell after every 10 reps. With time winding down, I grabbed the barbell a 3rd time and got 6 more reps for a score of 26 before going to my rower. You never get a full minute on the rower because you have to get situated and strap your feet in before you start rowing, so that always ends up being the lowest score. I tried to row steadily but with big pulls. That got me 12 calories. Round 1 total score: 113 reps.
I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in that score. Before the workout, my goal was 300 reps, despite the fact that my PR was 262 reps. How did I figure I was going to make that leap? Well, when I got 262 reps, it was in early February and I had done that workout after flying home from Vegas a little earlier in the day. And I was a bit hungover. If I could get 262 like that, then I could certainly get much more than that if I didn't abuse my body with alcohol for five days straight. In fact, I thought I could do 15% more! (Admittedly, this wasn't my strongest week when it came to logic.) The problem was that my scores in rounds two and three of Fight Gone Bad have always been much lower than round one. So if I was getting a score of 300 in this workout, I needed a first round score in the 120-130 range. 113 wasn't going to cut it.
I took a swig of water and tried to mentally prepare myself for round two. That one minute break goes by awfully fast though and we were back doing wall balls before any of us had fully recovered. I started doing sets of 5 wall balls before dropping, unable to hold on the entire time like I had done to kick things off in this workout. I got 17 wall balls in round two. At the sumo deadlift high pull, it was now sets of 4 reps, with a score of 14 for round two. At the box jump, I did some rebounding, but also worked in some single jumps from the floor when I needed a bit of a breather. I got 18 reps at that station. The push press remained more of a struggle than I had anticipated and I could only get 21 reps in before trudging to my rower. Once there, I got 10 calories before my second minute of rest began. Second round score: 80. Score through two rounds: 193.
Any delusions of getting 300 were now completely gone. I wasn't entirely sure I'd beat my hungover score of 262 as that required a solid total of 70 reps in round three. I did my best to control my breathing, but before I knew it, round three was beginning. There was very little difference between how I felt during round two and round three. I was exhausted, but I tried my best to keep knocking out reps at each station that I went to. I only got 16 wall balls in round three, while my sumo deadlift high pulls remained at 14. The box jump was much more difficult and I was lucky to get 15 reps completed. I tried to put everything I had into the push press as it was my last chance to drive up my score. After getting 20 reps there, I got on the rower, emptied the tank and managed 12 calories before the WOD was over. Third round score: 77. Final score: 270.
It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it was a PR. Right next to me, Danielle had caught me late and put up a score of 273. And two rows over, Pam had nearly gotten herself on the gym whiteboard with a score of 332, just missing Aimee's third-place score of 334. (Note: The top score of 360 on the whiteboard was done under easier circumstances. I think Pam's performance was comparable to that score as well.)
After a few minutes of recovery, I got ready to keep score for Ryan. His first round was similar to mine in every respect except for the box jumps, where I don't think he felt as comfortable rebounding as much as I did. And just like me, his second and third rounds were considerably lower than his first round. It really is brutal trying to maintain the intensity of round one in the final two rounds. Ryan's final score: 228.
Tic-tac-FGB
As I reported Ryan's score and the rest of the class gave Steph their partner's score, I heard Dana remark that her score was terrible. I walked over to her and saw the small white board her and Pam had used to keep score. In the bottom corner, Dana's score was circled: 270. Like me, Dana had visions of 300 reps in her head prior to the workout. I pretended to be very upset with her declaration, letting her know that I had gotten the same score as her. Her reply? "Your score is terrible too!" Her face remained angry for a second before she gave me a smile letting me know she was only joking. I thought back to the workout I did after grieving Indy's death and how quickly I mentally checked out during it. For Dana to put up a score of 270 after the loss she suffered spoke volumes about her resilience.
Pam and Dana were going to attend the noon class on Tuesday and told me that I should come too as they were going out to lunch afterwards. The promise of a meal after the WOD? Count me in! They took off, while I stuck around to do my 6x2 session of front squats at 215. I had just done the 3x3 session the day before, but I felt good enough to do the light session about 36 hours later. Plus, I was trying to accelerate the schedule for completing my squat program for reasons I'll lay out in future blog posts. Having rested up from my heat of Fight Gone Bad, I had no trouble getting through the 6x2 session. Only one more heavy session and one more light session before I could finally test my front squat!
Tuesday preview: It is really, really, really warm in the gym at the Tuesday noon express class. And my chest-to-bar pull-ups leave a lot to be desired. But at least there is day drinking afterwards!
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