2016 Recap

When you write more than 200 blog posts over the course of the year, it's hard to keep track of all the accomplishments and failures you had.  More importantly, it's tough to remember all of the things you should have learned from those experiences.  My 2016 recap is just as much for me as it is for you.  Putting aside Crossfit for a minute, it seems like everyone wants better things out of 2017.  After all, 2016 was the worst year of all time!  But nothing is going to magically change just because the year at the top of your calendar now ends in a seven.

Wait!  7 is commonly thought of as a lucky number.  Maybe the numeric change is all that's needed to turn this world around!  Hmmm...on second thought, that seems too easy.  Let's go back to the motivational message.

My point is that simply hoping for things to change rarely results in actual change.  The tools to create change in your life (be it positive or negative) are often right in front of you.  You just need to be aware of their presence and be brave enough to use them.  That's the idea behind this recap.  I'm going to lay out the good and bad experiences from the year, explain what I've learned from them, and lay out what my athletic goals are going forward.

The Good

• Top moment of the year: April 16th at the Festivus Games
• It had been a pretty miserable day at the Festivus Games.  I had done okay in my first event before completely blowing it while trying to do double unders during my second event.  I did worse on the bench press floater WOD than I had in any of my practice attempts at KOP.  All that remained was the final event: 6 minutes to find a 1RM thruster.  I had low expectations as I'd never come through in any event in an individual competition.  But everything finally went right in this event.  With Cline yelling at me to hurry up, I did a 200 pound thruster (a PR) with only seconds remaining.
• Takeaways: If you set reasonable goals, you can set yourself up for success.  Sometimes a kick in the ass gets you moving in the right direction.  My public failure with double unders led to a year-long obsession of practicing them.
• Other moments of joy:
• 300 pound front squat on May 9th (Takeaway: Putting in extra work at Open Strength pays off.)
• Strict handstand push-up with 1 abmat on June 16th (Takeaway: I have more shoulder strength than I realize.)
• Nearly 4 minute improvement during 2nd attempt at JJ on October 27th (Takeaway: My cardio improved towards the end of the year.)
• 36 rep improvement on 3rd attempt at Fight Gone Bad on November 7th (Takeaway: Don't be afraid to rebound on box jumps.)
• 46" box jump on December 5th (Takeaway: White men can jump.)
• Over three and a half minute improvement during 4th attempt at Elizabeth on Dcember 13th (Takeaway: Just because you can power clean something doesn't mean you should avoid doing squat cleans.  The more you squat clean, the more likely a performance like this can happen.)
• Lifting the 215 pound Atlas stone to my shoulder on December 14th (Takeaway: There are actually things I do in the gym where I have better than average technique.)
• New back squat PR of 335 pounds on December 30th (Takeaway: My leg strength hasn't regressed since the conclusion of my last squat program.)
• 90 second improvement on Baseline workout on December 30th (Takeaway: You've come a long way in four years.)

The Bad

• Worst moment of the year: August 1st during Fight Gone Bad
• Two days after getting my butt kicked all day long at the annual King and Queen competition, I returned to KOP and tried to get redemption via Fight Gone Bad.  The combination of exhaustion and achy arms led to my decision to quit this workout early in round two.  Bigger picture: Weeks and weeks of frustration with my performances at the gym drove me to step away from Crossfit for 5 weeks.
• Takeaways: It's okay to take a break, even if it is a pretty long one.  Be honest with yourself when it comes to fatigue/injuries.  Continuing to force a square peg into a round hole isn't going to make the peg round.  Well I guess it could, but you'd need to be a hell of a lot stronger than I am to make it happen.
• Other times I experienced technical difficulties:
• KB EMOMs and DNFs on January 19th and July 21st - Coming into this year, there were only two workouts where I had thrown in the towel and called it quits (time caps and scales don't count).  This year alone, I had three such instances.  I covered what happened during Fight Gone Bad.  The other two?  They both occurred in EMOM workouts revolving around KB swings.  (Takeaway: These are clearly more difficult than I've given them credit for, so I need to be very conservative when choosing my KB weight in future EMOMs.)
• Poor performances at individual competitions, specifically the Open, the Festivus Games, and King and Queen (Takeaway: Not everyone is meant to do competitions.  I'll probably still do the Open for the social aspect of it, but there's no reason to continue putting myself through the ringer in other competitions.  There's no shame in being a cheerleader.  Or the scoring guy.)
• Deadlift purgatory and weak hamstrings (Takeaway: If I want my deadlift to improve, my hamstrings must get stronger.  I need to spend more time on the GHD machine.  I also need to simply deadlift more often.  Instead of doing squat programs, perhaps it is time to do a deadlift program.  Unless I want my 1RM deadlift to remain at 385 pounds for a 3rd straight year.)
• Heat issues during the summer (Takeaway: Aimee ain't installing air conditioning anytime soon and I'm not going to start sweating less.  If I'm concerned about the effect the heat will have on me, my only recourse is to scale further.)
• Regression in both pull-up and toes-to-bar abilities (Takeaway: Pull-ups were my obsession in 2015.  They weren't in 2016.  That huge decline in the amount of practice I did on the bar showed when either pull-ups or toes-to-bar were programmed.  It is tremendously difficult to practice everything in the gym, but I can't simply abandon certain movements and expect my skill level to remain the same.  I also didn't spend any time learning to butterfly like I said I was going to do at the beginning of the year.)

Things I Think I Know Now That I Thought You Should Also Know

• If I want to improve my pull-ups and toes-to-bar, I need to incorporate my shoulders/arms more (push down on the way back, push away at the top) and not rely on my cartoonishly large, horizontal hip pop so much.
• Speaking of being horizontal, a bar muscle-up will only come about if I stay more vertical when I kip.
• I need to learn to be aggressive.  It's not in my personality, but it is an essential part of kipping. An aggressive kip will help me get closer to a bar muscle-up.  An aggressive kip will be the key in performing handstand push-ups.  
• Be. Aggressive. Be. Be. Aggressive. B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E.  Weren't you paying attention in high school?
• Thrusters hurt whether you do them slowly or quickly.  So do them quickly.

It Must Be The Woman In You That Brings Out The Man In Me

• I think it's a pretty big deal when you complete a workout for the first time using RX standards.  Here's a list of the WODs that I conquered at the RX level for the first time in 2016:
• Chelsea
• Christine
• Sisson
• Karen
• Randy

Made The List, Time To Check It Twice

I came up with a list of 10 goals for 2016.  Even ranked them based on how likely it was that I'd accomplish them.  I didn't truly expect to complete all 10 of these goals, but some major progress on those that I fell short on would be nice.  Time to see how I did:

1. Finish Grace in under 3 minutes
• Status: Complete.  Finished Grace in 2:38 on February 19th.  Later in the year I was able to trim that down to 2:35.
2. Deadlift 400 pounds
• Status: Incomplete.  Made no progress on this goal despite attempting 405 pounds many times throughout the year.  Need to do a deadlift program in 2017.
3. 1 strict handstand push-up with 1 abmat
• Status: Complete.  Got two in a row on June 16th.
4. Finish Nancy in under 15 minutes
• Status: Incomplete.  This workout was not programmed in 2016.  I squeezed it in on December 11th and came close with a time of 15:35.  It will be a benchmark WOD at KOP in 2017.
5. Clean and jerk 245 pounds
• Status: Incomplete.  I've cleaned 235 pounds.  I've jerked 235 pounds.  I've yet to make both happen during the same lift.  Best clean and jerk remains at 225 pounds.
6. Finish Annie in under 10 minutes
• Status: Complete.  Finished Annie in 9:31 on February 28th.  Later in the year I was able to trim that down to 9:04.
7. 5 consecutive kipping handstand push-ups
• Status: Incomplete.  I may have bitten off more than I could chew with this one.  I thought I had done a single handstand push-up (no abmats) when I did a personal training session with Aimee a couple years ago.  After going to the handstand push-up clinic, I started thinking that I probably used 1 abmat during that training session. Whether my career number of handstand push-ups is zero or one, it's going to take a lot of practice to get to the point where I can do five in a row.
8. Front squat 300 pounds
• Status: Complete.  Was able to front squat 300 pounds on May 9th.  Total surprise.  Thought I'd need two front squat programs to get to 300, but I got there at the end of my first program.
9. 100 consecutive double unders
• Status: Incomplete.  Double unders were my obsession in 2016 and my ability to do them improved significantly.  That being said, my ceiling was 78 in a row.  I tend to get tired after about 60 in a row.  Anything beyond that point requires poor form and a lot of luck.
10. 1 bar muscle-up
• Status: Incomplete.  Rumor has it that I get high enough to do one of these, but my kipping technique leaves me too horizontal when I should be more vertical.  Need to use more shoulders/arms and press the bar down to my hips.  My kip should be more aggressive.  Not sure how close I truly am because it is a very technical movement.  May be a lot of small pieces that I need to put together.
11. Bonus!  The unlisted goal that I desperately wanted was to lift the 215 pound Atlas stone.  As you read earlier, the status of this goal is complete.

For 2017, I'll be pulling forward the six goals I did not complete in 2016 and adding four new ones.  I'm also going to throw in a new bonus goal as well.  In order from most likely to achieve to least likely to achieve:

1. Deadlift 400 pounds
2. Finish Nancy in under 15 minutes
3. 100 consecutive double unders
4. Row 2,000 meters in 7:15
• My rowing has slowly improved.  This seems like a good test of my technique and my cardio.  My current best for 2,000 meters is 7:42.7.
5. Clean and jerk 245 pounds
6. Run 5K in 25 minutes
• I was a runner once upon a time!  Ran 18:06 in high school for a 5K.  70 pounds later, I'm much slower.  I ran 28:13 in a very crowded Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day.  I'd like to trim over 3 minutes off of that.
7. 5 consecutive kipping handstand push-ups
8. 1 bar muscle-up
9. Complete Elizabeth using RX standards
• I know I could do the squat cleans.  This is mostly a test of whether I can do 45 dips in a workout while fatigued.  Doubt I could do 45 dips completely fresh.
10. Handstand walk for 20 feet
• My big stretch goal for 2017.  I see all those folks at KOP walking on their hands.  Why can't I?  Especially if I start feeling more comfortable being upside-down.
11. Bonus!  I'd like to complete my favorite "away from the gym" WOD: the Flight Simulator.

Pretend You Don't Miss The 80's

• My obsessions over the years:
• 2015: Pull-ups
• 2016: Double unders
• 2017: Handstand push-ups

Because Betty White Survived 2016

I want to close things out by saying thank you to everyone who reads this blog.  At the end of the first year of writing this blog, I mentioned how shocked I was that this blog had over 11,000 page views.  At the end of year two, this blog had more than 44,000 page views.  (Not to mention an additional 4,000 views during the first two and a half weeks of 2017.)  Whether I see you every day or whether I've never met you at all, thank you for reading one crazy person's journey through athletic mediocrity.

For those of you who love spreadsheets, you can check out my complete diary of what transpired in 2016 here.

Tuesday preview: Strict pull-ups.  Chest-to-bar pull-ups.  Shoot throughs.  Some very difficult movements to kick off 2017.