All I See Is Ass

Workout date: 11/3/16

Jenn had a big work event on Thursday evening, so that meant hitting up the nooner for a quick workout before heading into the city.  It was a workout that I had never seen programmed before, but it was one I liked for several reasons.  The WOD was split into two parts, with the second part considered a cash out even though it could have been programmed on its own as the featured part of a workout.  Leading things off was a strength segment where we would take 20 minutes to find our 1RM clean.  The first event at the upcoming Brawl In The Fall requires each team to find their 1RM clean, so this was an opportunity to practice the one event that I hadn't tried out on my own on Monday.  The cash out would have us do 3 rounds of 64 double unders and 8 squat cleans, with the RX weight being 135 pounds for guys and 95 pounds for ladies.  No need to set aside time for double under practice on this day as I'd be doing 192 of them within the cash out.

The express class was pretty large on Thursday with 14 people in attendance.  Perhaps they were drawn in by all of the energy being emitted from Aimee's body.  Coach Aimee tends to be fairly upbeat in general, but she was supercharged during this class.  One sentence lead into another and another and another and...you get the idea.  She was pumped for this class and she wanted all of us to be pumped as well.  If you combined the enthusiasm of all 14 athletes in our class, it still would have paled in comparison to how stoked Aimee was.  I definitely needed a cup of whatever she had to drink that morning.

After having us go through our warmup, Aimee talked about the finer points of the clean.  There was no requirement to do a squat clean for the 1RM (but I thought if it didn't say "power clean" then squat clean was inferred???), but Aimee went over this because it kinda becomes necessary as you start to tackle heavier weights.  And, oh by the way, squat cleans were mandatory in the cash out.  Aimee went around to check out our form as we did squat cleans with an empty barbell.  Once she was satisfied with how everybody looked, she set the 20 minute clock and we were free to begin our quest for a 1RM.

I was working at the far end of the gym with Joe M and John McHugh behind me.  With 14 people in class, it was tight quarters, especially because we were already carving out the space we would each need for double unders once we got to the cash out.  Across from me was Jessie, who would get heckled mercilessly during the class for not putting enough weight on her barbell (must be an inside joke where I'm on the outside).  Ahead of me were Seba and Mike Simonson, with Mike facing towards me.  Since we had 20 minutes, we were all laid back during this part of the WOD, taking a decent amount of rest between attempts and chatting away with one another.  Need an example of how seriously we were taking things?  Joe became nervous any time Aimee's glare was upon him, so I began to actively block Aimee from being able to see Joe when she came around to watch a lift of his.  Yeah, this was more of a fun session than an intense session.

That doesn't mean we weren't trying to set some new PRs.  I intended on doing squat cleans for all of my lifts as I thought it would be wise to get practice in at lighter weights before I got near the range of a new PR.  The progression in my head was 135-165-195-215-230.  With 20 minutes and ample rest, I could see getting in 5-7 lifts.  With a personal best of 225 pounds, I figured I'd need several shots at 230, with more than one attempt possibly necessary at 215 as well.  135 and 165 were not much of a problem (I had done 55 squat cleans using 155 for JJ, so one rep at 165 should have been easy).  After loading up my barbell with 195 pounds, I was getting ready for my 3rd attempt.  Right before I walked up to it, there was a scream of joy behind me.  "YEEEEESSSSSSSS!" was the victorious cry that stopped everyone in their tracks.  Mr. Intensity was back!  John had tied his PR with a squat clean of 185 pounds and he was excited.  We all laughed and congratulated John on his successful lift.

It was time to refocus after that and I was able to do so, cleaning 195 on my first attempt at that weight.  Mike was giving me encouragement as I moved into the higher end of the spectrum I'd be taking on.  I definitely enjoy talking about lifts with Mike because he is so damn strong.  I spoke with him a couple of times during the strength portion of the workout, usually as I was headed to the front of the gym to get more plates.  The one time he came down towards where I was working, a giddy Aimee stopped him in his tracks.  Mike was wearing a shirt that read "The Yard Classic", with the first two words written in smaller font on the top part of his shirt and the last word written in larger font towards the bottom.  Because Mike is a big dude, he was stretching the shirt out.  The shirt was so tight that Aimee told him "Mike, every time you walk by, all I see is ass".  Sometimes the titles of my blog posts are just handed to me.

I slapped on some 10 pound plates and got ready to take on 215.  It did not go as expected.  For starters, it actually felt lighter than I thought it would as I pulled it from the floor up to my knees.  Maybe that threw me off a bit.  Because when I went to perform the rest of the squat clean, I did a poor job of pulling and never caught the barbell properly.  I was hoping to get 215 on my first try so that I could take 2-3 cracks at 230, but now I was concerned about whether I'd get 215 after this initial failure.  As I took a few minutes to regroup, I reminded myself of how my first impression of the lift was that it was lighter than I thought it'd be.  Gotta be positive or it's not gonna happen!  When I felt ready to try it again, I approached my barbell, with John, Joe, and Mike yelling encouragement to me.  I told myself to remember to keep pulling as I did the clean.  A moment later, I had properly caught the barbell in a full squat.  I may have been in a slight state of shock as I sat there in a squat with 215 pounds on my body for a few seconds.  Stand up dummy!  Oh yeah, I needed to do that.  I slowly rose up from the squat to complete the lift.  I turned a one-part lift into a two-part lift, but it was successful.

The clock was nearing 16 minutes when I got 215.  I thought I could try 230 at around 18 minutes.  If I failed, I could squeeze one last attempt in right before 20 minutes hit.  Things don't always go according to script though.  As the clock ticked towards 18 minutes, Joe was about to attempt a clean.  Since he was right behind me, I didn't want to lift at the same time as him.  There was a tendency to dump the barbell forward if you missed a clean and I didn't want to have to worry about someone else's barbell as I went after a PR.  Joe did have to bail on his attempt, but he kept control of his barbell as it fell from his grasp.  He felt that he was close to getting it, so he wanted to try it again almost immediately.  He probably should have taken more of a break before the second attempt as he wasn't able to clean the weight again.  Meanwhile, the clock was now closing in on 18:45.  Uh oh.  I only had time for one attempt.  I could try and sneak a second one in before 20 minutes was up, but it would probably be rushed and I had just seen how well that went.  Better make the most of my one attempt at 230.

As I walked up to my barbell, I had the same thoughts in my head as I did during my second attempt at 215.  215 felt light.  This isn't much more.  Remember to keep pulling.  I lifted the barbell from the floor and experienced some deja vu.  You're supposed to catch the barbell in a squat and immediately rise from the floor, but once again I had caught the barbell and was just hanging out in the bottom pondering life.  I didn't catch this clean as well as I had when I got 215, so before I attempted to stand up, I had to straighten the barbell out.  When it felt level on my body, I began to stand up.  It was not easy.  I kept thinking about how I could front squat 230 pounds and that I just needed to keep pushing my hips forward to aid in my ascent.  It was working, but my whole body began to move forward as I started to stand up.  As a result, I had to take a couple of short steps in order to finish my journey to be upright.  It wasn't pretty, but I eventually managed to stand still with 230 pounds on my front rack.  That counted for Crossfit.  I had a new PR!  Final score: 230 pounds.

I had the better part of a minute to get a jump start on stripping my barbell down for the cash out.  That was good because I tend to be the guy who is always behind the class and has to rush around to get ready for the cash out.  No stress this time around.  I got my jump rope and discussed with Joe where he would be doing his double unders so that we didn't bump into one another.  I was kind of psyched about the upcoming test.  I wasn't quite at Aimee levels of excitement, but like a notch or two below that.  I've been practicing double unders like crazy.  Could I do bigger sets in a sprint?  Could I tire myself on another movement and then come back to my rope and maintain something resembling consistency?  Time to find out.

My first set of double unders to begin the cash out was 30-something reps.  (I forgot the actual number!  I'm slipping...)  All I remember was that when the rope hit me, I tried not to get flustered and I told myself that I was halfway done with the first round.  From there, I needed a couple of mid-sized sets to get to 64, but only a minute had elapsed when I got to my barbell.  Having just done a squat clean of 230 pounds, you would think that 135 pounds would be no problem.  But there's always more than meets the eye in these Crossfit couplets.  The double unders wore down your legs so that 135 felt more like 185.  I began to do singles of the squat cleans, but they weren't easy.  Even worse, each rep had the effect of knocking the wind out of you for a split second.  That breathing thing was going to be important with two full rounds left to go.

I tried not to look at the clock for most of this cash out, so I don't remember the exact time when I finished round one.  All I know for sure is that it must have been close to 3 minutes because I began to think that I'd be really happy if I kept my time under 10 minutes for the full 3 rounds.  In round two, the double unders were much more difficult.  I led off with a set of nearly 20 reps, then attempted to get about 15 reps every set after that.  Between sets, I would turn in the opposite direction from where I had been facing, walk in a small circle, then come back to the spot where I was doing my double unders.  They weren't long breaks, but they were necessary.  The second round of squat cleans was similar to the first.  I was tired, but I kept telling myself that the weight wasn't that heavy and that I was ready to do my next rep, even if I really wasn't.

Round three of double unders was a carbon copy of round two: led off with a bigger set, tried to do medium sets after that, did my little "walk in a circle" break in between sets.  There were very few hiccups along the way as I churned through 192 double unders, even as I got tired.  I lost the ability to do huge sets, but I kept plugging away at the total of 64 that I needed each round.  I felt like I passed the test.

As I dropped my rope for the final time, I glanced at the clock.  It read 8:50.  Just needed to get through these 8 squat cleans in about a minute.  I did the first 5 with what I thought were minimal breaks in between reps.  Except now the clock said 9:35.  I needed to pick up the pace if I was going to stay under 10 minutes.  I got right into the sixth rep.  I stood up with the barbell, dropped it, and immediately went into the next rep.  You can do three of these without breathing.  Breathe when you're done.  I caught the 7th rep and rose with it.  Dropped the barbell and went right into the last rep.  After I stood up with it, I looked back at the clock.  I made it.  Final time: 9:53.

With a new PR in the books and a successful outcome in one of the first big double under tests I've taken on, I headed home with a smile on my face.  I jumped in the shower, grabbed my suit, and headed to the city for Jenn's event.  A couple of days off from the gym would follow as it was Breeders Cup weekend.  Sadly I wouldn't be attending in person, but it was a strong handicapping weekend nonetheless.

Sunday preview: Actual Brawl In The Fall practice with my partner, Danielle.  Spoiler: she's in better shape than me.  I also attempt to help Danielle and Ashley with their squat clean form.  Guy gets a PR and thinks he's an expert all of a sudden.