Workout date: 11/7/16
Monday was weigh-in day again. Can't really say I had any expectations this week. I continue to try and eat better than I did pre-September, but it's hard for me to believe that I'll reach 190 pounds by the end of January. Here's what the scale told me this week:
Original weight: 213.2 pounds
Last week's weigh-in: 211.0 pounds
This week's weigh-in: 209.4 pounds
Hey! At least we're headed in the right direction again. I haven't seen 207 on my scale in quite a while, so let's see if we can make our way down to that number. Baby steps...
Double unders update: Knocked out a set of 57 in a row. Feeling good about the fact that I can consistently find a big set like that, although I would like to build up enough stamina that doing 100 in a row would seem feasible. Right now, I can probably do about 60 in a row with solid form. Finding another 40 after that with deteriorating form is a bit of a reach.
As for the WOD, I was incredibly nervous about going to the gym on Monday night. A lot more nervous than I usually am. It was my first time taking on Fight Gone Bad since my ill-fated battle with it back in August. That encounter is best exemplified by the first fight from Rocky 3, with yours truly in the role of Rocky Balboa:
In the first round, I came out determined. Things hadn't been going very well for me at the gym, but I was going to pull it together and show that I could conquer one of the toughest WODs that is regularly programmed at KOP. I did really well on the wall balls and the sumo deadlift high pulls. I ran into some trouble in the middle of the round as I got to the box jumps, but I had a resurgence when I got to the push press. As the end of the round drew closer, I knew I was in trouble. I struggled on the rower, but the clock saved me. I had 60 seconds to recover before I headed back for more punishment. I hadn't made it very far into round two before I discovered that I was struggling to raise my arms. I didn't even last through half of the second round before Fight Gone Bad knocked me out.
(If you really want to draw out the parallels, you can view Mickey as the embodiment of my desire to continue on with Crossfit at that point in time.)
Eventually I came back to the gym and slowly I got to the point where I felt my workouts were respectable again. I'd even like to think that I've improved on the cardio front. Either that or I've gotten mentally stronger during WODs. (I ain't picky, I'll take either of those improvements!) Still there was apprehension about doing this particular workout. This was the one that broke me last time. Could I put that out of my thoughts this time around? What if my arms began to tire out again? What if I felt like I was too exhausted to continue? Was I going to be able to dig deep and find more, or would I throw in the towel like I did back in August?
I tried not to think about any of that when I walked in the door for the 6:30 class. There were 14 of us present and none of us looked all that thrilled about what we were witnessing. The 5:30 class was wrapping up it's second heat. (Fight Gone Bad is almost always run in two heats so that someone can count for you as you're pushing through 17 minutes of agony.) Everyone looked pretty miserable as they trudged from one station to the next as part of the third and final round. When the clock struck 17 minutes, bodies immediately tumbled to the side of their rowers and on to the floor. That would be us soon enough.
Coach Giulz sent us out on a 400 meter run and when we came back, we were told to partner up. It was only fitting that Cline and I partner up for this workout as he was my partner when things fell apart back in August. I think we both had pre-determined that we would do this workout together, at least that's the excuse I'm going with to explain how I ignored the other offer I received. I honestly didn't even know she was asking me, but apparently Michal asked me several times if I wanted to be partners. You might remember Michal. She used to do Crossfit, but she has turned her attention to Olympic lifting and has become crazy good at the snatch and the clean and jerk. We used to work out together all the time, but it's been a while since we took the same class. Here was a rare opportunity to work out with her again and I blew it because I wasn't paying attention. Had I been aware of her offer, I likely would have had to ask for a rain check anyway, but I did feel bad that we didn't do this one together. Hopefully we'll get to be partners in a workout in the near future.
Giulz had us warm up on each of the stations included in Fight Gone Bad. Here's a quick recap of this WOD in case it's not ringing a bell:
- 3 rounds
- 1 minute of work at each station
- 1 minute rest after completing a rotation through all 5 stations
- Stations include:
- Wall balls (20#/14# to 10'/9')
- Sumo deadlift high pulls (75/55)
- Box jumps (20" for everyone)
- Push press (75/55)
- Rowing for calories
Cline tends to prefer going first and I'm a constant procrastinator, so I was going second. I probably would have saved myself a lot of anxiety by going first, but I think there was part of me that wanted to derive some inspiration from Cline. I remembered how hard he fought through this workout back in August and I needed some of that fight today. Don't let me down, Cline!
He didn't. He had set a PR in August with a score of 255, but I got the sense early on during his heat that he would be going even higher today. He didn't let the wall ball drop at all during the first round, getting 28 reps there. He then made his way to the barbell to perform what I suspect is his least favorite movement in Fight Gone Bad: the sumo deadlift high pull. It is always during this movement where Cline puts on the pain face, often closing his eyes as he grinds out rep after rep. The funny thing is that he is extremely reluctant to let go of the barbell unless he has done a decent-sized set. When I get tired, I tend to default to quick singles. And that's the difference between having some extra fight in you and switching to what feels less painful. Cline got 22 reps here and was already up to 50 reps overall.
Cline was methodical on the box jumps, routinely jumping up, stepping down, taking another step back, then charging forward for his next rep. He got 18 reps here before returning to his barbell. I'm not sure Cline is a huge fan of the push press either, but he kept working through big sets here, completing 22 reps before it was time for the row. I am confident that this is his favorite part of each Fight Gone Bad round and not because it means the minute-long break is near. Cline never looks like he's going all out on the rower, yet he's always faster/more powerful than I am on it. He racked up 16 calories to end round 1, giving him a score of 106. Even if he dropped to 75 reps over the next two rounds, he'd still have a new PR.
Unless you are some super athlete, you tend to have a considerable drop-off after round one of Fight Gone Bad, with rounds two and three being pretty similar (in round three, you're more tired, but that gets counterbalanced by the adrenaline rush you get from knowing the end is near). The drop off is not something that sneaks up on you. You quickly realize it when you attempt the wall balls in round two. Keeping that ball in the air for a full minute is extremely difficult. You simply try to do solid sets and keep breaks to a minimum. That is what Cline did here. Same thing with the sumo deadlift high pulls. His box jump routine didn't change, but the push presses appeared to be more painful. At least he got to enjoy some rowing to cap off the round. Cline's second round score was 85. He only needed 65 more reps to best his August tally.
There was a lot of the pain face in round three, but there was no giving up. Cline's score on the wall balls went down by two reps and he lost a rep on the sumo deadlift high pulls and the box jumps, but he was able to match his round two scores on the push press and the rower. Final round score: 81. Total score for Cline: 272. It was a 17 rep PR and he had shown the fight in rounds two and three that I needed to have to get through this workout.
(Lest you think I remembered every rep of Cline's 17-minute workout, here is the cheat sheet that I used for this recap. Cline had posted it on Facebook.)
My handwriting is terrible
There was no time left to procrastinate. It was my turn to fight. And there was only one certain prediction for this fight:
My best score for Fight Gone Bad (ya know, when I actually completed it) was 270, so Cline had just topped that in his heat. My most basic goal for this workout was to not give up. The competitor in me had a different goal and that was to put up a score of about 275 so that I was back ahead of Cline. How was I going to reach 275? Well, there was one station where I was expecting an improved score. Last week, I did a workout that included 110 box jumps with the box height being 24". I was able to rebound on and off of the box for that entire workout. If I was able to manage that, there was no reason why I couldn't handle rebounding on and off of a 20" box for one minute at a time. I had tried to rebound while doing my box jumps during previous attempts at Fight Gone Bad, but I always gave up on that method during round one. Today I needed to do it for all three rounds. If I did that, 275 was attainable.
Heat 2 got started and I made sure not to drop my wall ball for that first minute. Wall balls tend to take about two seconds per rep, but I guess I slowed up a little towards the end of the minute as my score wound up being 29 reps. That is the only non-rowing score I remember from this workout. At the sumo deadlift high pull, I did a long set to begin, followed by a couple of medium-sized sets. Nate was working in front of me and I noticed that my speed on this movement was much faster than his was. (His form was likelier much better than mine.) When the buzzer sounded, I moved over to my box. This is where I had to fight. I knew as I got tired that I was going to want to step down. I couldn't do what felt better. I needed to suck it up and deal with the pain. Were there times when I needed to pause on top of the box for a mini-break? Sure. But I refused to step down. No idea what my score was, but it was much higher at this station than it usually is.
Because I was so determined on the box jumps, I paid the price at the next station. My favorite part of Fight Gone Bad has always been the push press and it is usually where I accumulate the most reps. Part of that might have been the result of me using the box jumps as a bit of a breather. Now that I was no longer doing that, I needed to catch my breath before I picked up the barbell. I also wasn't able to string together as many reps in that first large set. My performance at this station was by no means a disaster, but I got less reps than I normally do here. I moved on to the rower, where I typically struggle, but I was very happy to end up with 14 calories in my final minute of round one. Cline informed me that my first round score was 121. That was 11 reps higher than my previous best. I needed to average 77 reps in rounds two and three to hit 275.
I had gotten through the "easy" part of Fight Gone Bad. It was time for the part that crushed your soul. I didn't want to allow myself to think that I was tired (spoiler: I was), so instead of spending the first 30 seconds of my break sitting on the rower like I typically would do, I got up and started walking back to the wall. Cline decided to lighten the mood by telling me I only had three rounds left (so wrong) and that no matter what happened in round two, I shouldn't leave KOP for five weeks again. As my break came to an end, all I could think about was proving to myself that I could handle these next two rounds. Be strong on these wall balls, set the tone for the rest of the workout. I had done Fight Gone Bad enough times that I knew how bad the next minute at the wall would be, but I still needed to put up a good score at this station to make myself believe that I could carry things through all the way to the end. When the buzzer sounded, I did 10 reps before letting the ball drop. After a few seconds break, I picked up the ball again. I misjudged how much energy I had at that moment and didn't throw the ball high enough. "No rep!", yelled my counter. For a brief moment, I thought that a repeat of August was about to happen. That probably pissed me off enough to inspire the next set of 7-8 reps that I did. I didn't end up with 29 reps again, but I did far better than the 10 or so reps I finished with in round two of wall balls when I crumbled in August.
My mindset was the same at the sumo deadlift high pulls. I knew my score would be less, but it didn't have to be ridiculously low. Whenever I needed a break, Cline would yell at me to get back to the barbell, even doing a countdown sometimes, knowing that my stubbornness would drive me to at least place my hands on the barbell before he reached zero. From there I moved on to my box, where stepping down was not allowed. I needed an extra break or two during this minute, but I kept rebounding through my reps when I was moving. The push press was tough because I was struggling to breathe, but the weight was light enough that I continued to get a decent score there. I did the best I could on the rower, but I was definitely hurting by the time I got there, winding up with only 12 calories in round two. My round two score? 91 reps. Total score through two rounds: 212.
I needed some extra time on the rower during the second break. As I sat there, I did the math. I only needed 63 reps for 275. Unless I really fell apart, I was reaching that goal. With 212 reps through two rounds, I could dream bigger. Somehow 300 reps was a possibility. I needed another strong round of 88 reps to do it, but it wasn't nearly as far-fetched of an idea as it would have been at the start of this workout. I trudged back towards the wall, knowing that I needed to duplicate what I just did in round two.
That didn't happen on the wall balls. I think my sets were about 6-7 reps long and I did three sets (don't remember whether I finished the third set or if the buzzer sounded). I definitely lost some reps there. I came to the sumo deadlift high pulls and tried to do my best Cline impression. My arms were shot, but I had to keep pushing along and the best way to do that was to not let go of the barbell in between reps. When I needed a break, Cline was on my case, telling me I needed to keep going. I was even or possibly better at this station than I had been in round two. At the box jumps, I told myself to not be afraid of rebounding because I was not going to trip over the box during this minute. And I didn't. I desperately wanted to step down or take an extended break, but every time I showed any sign of doing so, Cline was on my ass about it. As was the case with the sumo deadlift high pulls, I was at least even with round two at this station.
Cline was really on my case when I got back to the push press. I was a mess at this point in the workout, with my walk turning into a woozy saunter. I knew I only had two more stations left though. I did two medium-length sets before Cline let me know that time was running out on the push press. I immediately picked the barbell up and fired out as many reps as I could before the buzzer sounded. I think I gained reps from the previous round due to that late surge.
As I strapped my feet into the rower, Cline told me that I was ahead of my pace from the previous round. If I had any awareness at that point, I would have realized how close I was to 300 reps. Matching the last round would get me 303 and I only had 12 calories on my second row. None of that went through my mind as I hit the final 60 seconds of this workout. There was only one word echoing through my noggin: PULL! I was desperate to match the 12 calories from round two. At first, it seemed like I wasn't going fast enough as I only had 4 or 5 calories after 30 seconds. But it takes you about 10 seconds to get situated on the rower, so the number of calories showing at the halfway point is misleading. I pulled harder and harder as the seconds ticked down and it became clear that I was going to get to 12 calories. A few final pulls got me to 14 calories. I let go of the handle and collapsed to the side of my rower.
I've tried not to get into a habit of laying on the floor for a long time post-workout. I'll usually lay there for what feels like 20-30 seconds, then tell myself to get up. That wasn't happening after this workout. I was completely tapped out, so much so that opening my eyes to look at the ceiling felt like work. Cline came over to me and began with the words "I'm not sure if my math is right..." Uh oh. My brain interpreted that as Cline telling me that he gave me the wrong scores for rounds one and two. I was short of 300. He continued "but I think you got 306." My eyes were still not open, but I raised my arms and yelled "YES!" as loud as I could. I've never been one to show a lot of positive emotion, but I couldn't help it this time around. I had officially exorcised the demons of Fight Gone Bads past.
(Note: Just to be clear, Cline didn't have some dramatic pause in the middle of telling me my score. I simply reacted before he finished his sentence.)
When I did Fight Gone Bad for the first time, I thought it was going to be my first RX workout. Then I stupidly did 6 step-ups and had scaled written next to my score of 206. The worst part about that mistake was I could have gotten rid of those 6 reps and been delighted with the remaining score of 200 RX. Fast forward three years later and once again I had 6 extra reps that I didn't care so much about as I had reached 300 RX. Crossfit can be a really frustrating journey filled with many plateaus. And then there are those really tough times where things feel like they are getting worse. When I walked out in the middle of Fight Gone Bad in August, I wasn't sure that I wanted to do this any more. But then you have moments like I had on Monday night. Moments that almost make you glad you went through the shit so that you could appreciate how far you've come. There are certainly more plateaus and pitfalls awaiting me, but I'm happy that I've stuck with my Crossfit journey.
Tuesday preview: Rocky 4! (I kid. I kid.) Another tough workout involving KB swings, toes-to-bar, and handstand push-ups. Making it even tougher is the strong scent of free food.
My mindset was the same at the sumo deadlift high pulls. I knew my score would be less, but it didn't have to be ridiculously low. Whenever I needed a break, Cline would yell at me to get back to the barbell, even doing a countdown sometimes, knowing that my stubbornness would drive me to at least place my hands on the barbell before he reached zero. From there I moved on to my box, where stepping down was not allowed. I needed an extra break or two during this minute, but I kept rebounding through my reps when I was moving. The push press was tough because I was struggling to breathe, but the weight was light enough that I continued to get a decent score there. I did the best I could on the rower, but I was definitely hurting by the time I got there, winding up with only 12 calories in round two. My round two score? 91 reps. Total score through two rounds: 212.
I needed some extra time on the rower during the second break. As I sat there, I did the math. I only needed 63 reps for 275. Unless I really fell apart, I was reaching that goal. With 212 reps through two rounds, I could dream bigger. Somehow 300 reps was a possibility. I needed another strong round of 88 reps to do it, but it wasn't nearly as far-fetched of an idea as it would have been at the start of this workout. I trudged back towards the wall, knowing that I needed to duplicate what I just did in round two.
That didn't happen on the wall balls. I think my sets were about 6-7 reps long and I did three sets (don't remember whether I finished the third set or if the buzzer sounded). I definitely lost some reps there. I came to the sumo deadlift high pulls and tried to do my best Cline impression. My arms were shot, but I had to keep pushing along and the best way to do that was to not let go of the barbell in between reps. When I needed a break, Cline was on my case, telling me I needed to keep going. I was even or possibly better at this station than I had been in round two. At the box jumps, I told myself to not be afraid of rebounding because I was not going to trip over the box during this minute. And I didn't. I desperately wanted to step down or take an extended break, but every time I showed any sign of doing so, Cline was on my ass about it. As was the case with the sumo deadlift high pulls, I was at least even with round two at this station.
Cline was really on my case when I got back to the push press. I was a mess at this point in the workout, with my walk turning into a woozy saunter. I knew I only had two more stations left though. I did two medium-length sets before Cline let me know that time was running out on the push press. I immediately picked the barbell up and fired out as many reps as I could before the buzzer sounded. I think I gained reps from the previous round due to that late surge.
As I strapped my feet into the rower, Cline told me that I was ahead of my pace from the previous round. If I had any awareness at that point, I would have realized how close I was to 300 reps. Matching the last round would get me 303 and I only had 12 calories on my second row. None of that went through my mind as I hit the final 60 seconds of this workout. There was only one word echoing through my noggin: PULL! I was desperate to match the 12 calories from round two. At first, it seemed like I wasn't going fast enough as I only had 4 or 5 calories after 30 seconds. But it takes you about 10 seconds to get situated on the rower, so the number of calories showing at the halfway point is misleading. I pulled harder and harder as the seconds ticked down and it became clear that I was going to get to 12 calories. A few final pulls got me to 14 calories. I let go of the handle and collapsed to the side of my rower.
I've tried not to get into a habit of laying on the floor for a long time post-workout. I'll usually lay there for what feels like 20-30 seconds, then tell myself to get up. That wasn't happening after this workout. I was completely tapped out, so much so that opening my eyes to look at the ceiling felt like work. Cline came over to me and began with the words "I'm not sure if my math is right..." Uh oh. My brain interpreted that as Cline telling me that he gave me the wrong scores for rounds one and two. I was short of 300. He continued "but I think you got 306." My eyes were still not open, but I raised my arms and yelled "YES!" as loud as I could. I've never been one to show a lot of positive emotion, but I couldn't help it this time around. I had officially exorcised the demons of Fight Gone Bads past.
(Note: Just to be clear, Cline didn't have some dramatic pause in the middle of telling me my score. I simply reacted before he finished his sentence.)
When I did Fight Gone Bad for the first time, I thought it was going to be my first RX workout. Then I stupidly did 6 step-ups and had scaled written next to my score of 206. The worst part about that mistake was I could have gotten rid of those 6 reps and been delighted with the remaining score of 200 RX. Fast forward three years later and once again I had 6 extra reps that I didn't care so much about as I had reached 300 RX. Crossfit can be a really frustrating journey filled with many plateaus. And then there are those really tough times where things feel like they are getting worse. When I walked out in the middle of Fight Gone Bad in August, I wasn't sure that I wanted to do this any more. But then you have moments like I had on Monday night. Moments that almost make you glad you went through the shit so that you could appreciate how far you've come. There are certainly more plateaus and pitfalls awaiting me, but I'm happy that I've stuck with my Crossfit journey.
Tuesday preview: Rocky 4! (I kid. I kid.) Another tough workout involving KB swings, toes-to-bar, and handstand push-ups. Making it even tougher is the strong scent of free food.
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