Tuesday night is almost certainly Dudes After Dark night unless I have some other obligation. Or unless I receive a better offer for my time. On Tuesday afternoon, I received a text from Samson about the NC State-Pitt basketball game that night. He wanted to know if I was watching the game. Knowing that Samson is a Pitt alum, I figured he had plans to watch it as well. Why not make a night out of it? The game was at 7, so I'd have to skip Dudes After Dark if I was going to cheer on my beloved (and highly disappointing) Wolfpack. I decided to go to the 5:30 class instead, leaving plenty of time for Samson and I to hit up the Taphouse for the game.
When I recapped the Saturday class that I attended, I mentioned that Keithie didn't have very many classes during the week that he coached. The 5:30 class on Tuesday just happened to be one of them, so I'd be getting my second dose of Keithie in the last four days. Speaking of people that I don't see very often anymore, who was that bright yellow fellow standing in the middle of the gym when I arrived for the 5:30 class? The name of that former Crossfitter (now professional distance runner) is Flounder and he was donning the most neon yellow shirt that I think I've ever seen in the gym. I snuck up on him and gave him a hug. If it wasn't for the fact that he knows I almost always go to the 7:30 class, he probably could have guessed who it was. We exchanged insults (as is our custom) and got ready for class to begin.
There were 11 of us in class to take on the following workout:
Tuesday WOD:
3 rounds:
3 bar muscle-ups
6 chest-to-bar pull-ups
9 hang power clean and jerks (155/105)
12 front squats (155/105)
Initial thoughts on this workout:
- Can't do bar muscle-ups. I could probably do jumping bar muscle-ups on the low bar instead.
- I could do chest-to-bar pull-ups, but I'd either need to switch to a high bar or move the box I was using for the jumping bar muscle-ups.
- Those first two movements were going to require grip. And there is no bigger grip killer than hang power cleans. So rather than string the hang power clean and jerks together, I was going to save my grip by attempting to do singles as fast as I could.
- The front squat weight was not bad. I wish there was some way I could use 135 for the hang power clean and jerks and 155 for the front squats, but that wasn't going to be an option. That meant I'd use 135 for both.
There were a lot of technical aspects to the movements in this workout, so Keithie didn't waste any time before walking us through them. A couple hands went up when he asked who could do bar muscle-ups. The rest of us would need a scaling option. Keithie asked how many of us could do bar muscle-ups with a band and zero hands were raised. He then asked if any of us had tried, so I was able to raise my hand to that. Since I had some experience with banded attempts, Keithie recommended I continue with that pursuit in the workout. That changed my setup a little bit. I felt it was better to use the high bar for the banded bar muscle-up attempts. I'd bring over a box to stand on so I could get my foot in the band. The high bar would allow me to swing more freely. This caused a dilemma with the chest-to-bar pull-ups though. If I wanted to use the high bar for those, I'd have to move the band out of the way. That seemed like a pain, so I decided to use the low bar for the chest-to-bar pull-ups. Because I was taking up a lot of space (two pull-up bars and a barbell) on a workout that I didn't think I was going to move very fast on, I took up residence at the far end of the gym, the spot where I was least likely to interfere with any of my classmates.
Keithie walked us through progressions for the chest-to-bar pull-ups, the hang power clean and jerks, and the front squats before giving us time to test everything out and make sure that we were happy with the choices we made for the workout. I tried to do a banded bar muscle-up with a medium-sized band, but I didn't come very close. Alicia was working next to me and saw my attempts with the single band. Her recommendation: use two bands. Didn't sound like a bad idea to me. I mean, that's a lot of assistance for a bar muscle-up and probably shows that I'm not nearly as close to getting a real bar muscle-up as I want to believe, but this workout was simply practice towards a longer range goal. I looped a second band around the center of the high bar, put my foot into it, and gave it a whirl. It was much more bounce than I was ready for. I shot up so high that I got freaked out about flipping over the bar. I basically threw my body into the bar to stop my momentum. Keithie watched this disaster and offered some advice. He told me that I was too vertical, which was funny because the problem I've been trying to correct has been being too horizontal on pull-up movements. Guess I needed to find a happy medium. He let me know that I needed to focus on pushing down on the bar, letting my body move back away from it before rotating over it to complete the bar muscle-up. I kept all of this in mind as we got ready to begin.
Keithie set the clock for us and we all got started on round one. I had a little trouble getting my foot into the double band (awesome start!) so I was behind everyone right off the bat. That delay at the beginning would be out of my mind soon enough. I swung into my first banded bar muscle-up attempt and thought about what Keithie had just told me. I pushed the bar down and away from me. I already knew the bands were going to shoot me upward with plenty of force. When I felt I was high enough, I rotated over. This was usually the moment when my chest would hit the bar, followed by that terrible feeling of rejection as the bar screamed "NO SOUP FOR YOU!" (At least that's what I hear as I'm being violently flung away from the bar.) That didn't happen this time. I was over the bar. It took a second to get over the shock. I pressed up and completed the bar muscle-up. Matt B had arrived early for the 6:30 class and I could hear him yell "yeah Dave" from across the gym. Maybe there was hope for me yet on the bar muscle-up front.
I'm sure this initial success made me think that I had this bar muscle-up thing all figured out. The next two attempts were a reminder that one successful rep did not mean the mystery had been solved. I came close on the second attempt, while my right hand slipped a bit as I tried to rotate over on attempt #3. Not great, but I still had two more rounds of attempts. And...oh yeah...there was still plenty of other work that I needed to complete in this workout. That other work began with the chest-to-bar pull-ups. I was relatively fresh when I got to this movement and I was able to get away with some sloppy form because I was on the low bar. I didn't have to jump to the bar and I could use the exaggerated hip pop (think me going horizontal) to brush my chest against the underside of the bar 6 times. I moved on to my barbell where I did three sets of 3 single hang power clean and jerks, with short breaks between the sets. When it was time for the front squats, I did two sets of 6 reps each.
I'd be lying if I said my focus wasn't almost exclusively on the bar muscle-ups at this point. I had made a semi-breakthrough and I wanted to get back to them. These other movements were just tiring me out for no good reason. I climbed on to my box and put my foot in the double band as I got ready to begin round two. First rep: success! Second rep: a little short. I took some additional time before my third attempt because I was concerned that I rushed into the second rep and didn't focus on the technique as much as I should have. Sure enough, my third attempt ended with me pressed out above the high bar. 3 for 6 so far. Much better than I could have expected.
The chest-to-bar pull-ups required more energy in round two than they did the first time around, but I didn't miss on any of the six reps. I had the same plan for the hang power clean and jerks, doing three sets of three singles in a row. The front squats felt much worse than I expected (guess I'm glad I didn't use 155!), but once again I completed them in two sets of six reps. I was well behind most of the class, but I didn't really care. I was headed back to the bar muscle-ups.
I had gotten one successful rep in round one. I had gotten two in the second round. I was destined to get all three in this final round. Having learned my lesson from the last round, I decided to take my time before all three reps. Attempt #1: success again. Attempt #2: my first time experiencing back-to-back successes with bar muscle-ups. I could complete the trifecta with one final solid effort. I shook out my arms, gathered my breath, stepped off of my box, and swung into the band. As I propelled back and up, I thought about when the right moment was to rotate over so that I landed in that perfect position to press out the remainder of the rep. When I felt like I had reached that moment, I went for it. And I failed. Truth be told, I was beginning to tire out and it showed when I barely got my body over the bar on this last attempt. Both of my hands slipped as I rotated and I ended up clinging to the bar like I was hanging on to the top of the wall when we do wall ascents at the gym. 5 out of 9 would have to do for today.
The last round of chest-to-bar pull-ups were very difficult. I'm not sure whether I was tired or if the air came out of the balloon when I failed that last bar muscle-up attempt. Perhaps I simply wasn't all that interested in the workout anymore because I had finished the aspect of it that had captured my attention. All I know is that those final 6 chest-to-bar pull-ups required a lot more effort than the previous 12 had. With the gymnastics portion of the workout over, I returned to my barbell. Once again, I did three singles on the hang power clean and jerks, one right after the other. As I took a break, Keithie came over and told me that he wanted to see me hang on to the barbell and string two reps. It didn't feel wonderful, but I managed to string two reps. Then I got a little mad at myself. Trying to string 9 in a row would have killed my grip, but doing singles was a bit too cautious for this workout. Instead of 3 singles, I would have saved time stringing 3 reps at a time and it probably wouldn't have cost me much in terms of my grip.
Remember how anger works with the barbell? I grabbed my barbell and hung on to it until I completed all four of my remaining hang power clean and jerks. It was now clear that I had wimped out on this segment of the workout in earlier rounds. I wish I had enough anger in me to put together 12 front squats in a row, but there is a limit to how much rage will help you when you're tired. I kept the same routine in round three, completing the 12 front squats by doing two sets of 6 reps. Final time: 16:29.
I sat down near the front of the gym to recover before we headed to the Taphouse. Shawna was also part of the 5:30 class and she was interested in watching the game with us after some recovery time as well. As I sat there and watched the 6:30 class warm up, I became really interested in watching them do this workout, so the three of us hung around and watched them before going over to watch the Panthers and Wolfpack battle. It wasn't the prettiest of games, but it was a tight one. The Wolfpack held a slim halftime lead. Pitt took control for most of the second half before NC State had a late run to regain the advantage. Samson and I started trading stories of how the team we rooted for was more likely to blow this game. The Wolfpack almost made me look like a genius when they nearly blew a 5 point lead with 7 seconds remaining, but the Panthers missed a 3 pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime. Chalk up a rare ACC win for the Wolfpack!
Wednesday preview: A WOD that is nothing but rowing. I will do my best to make it sound more interesting than it was.
Keithie set the clock for us and we all got started on round one. I had a little trouble getting my foot into the double band (awesome start!) so I was behind everyone right off the bat. That delay at the beginning would be out of my mind soon enough. I swung into my first banded bar muscle-up attempt and thought about what Keithie had just told me. I pushed the bar down and away from me. I already knew the bands were going to shoot me upward with plenty of force. When I felt I was high enough, I rotated over. This was usually the moment when my chest would hit the bar, followed by that terrible feeling of rejection as the bar screamed "NO SOUP FOR YOU!" (At least that's what I hear as I'm being violently flung away from the bar.) That didn't happen this time. I was over the bar. It took a second to get over the shock. I pressed up and completed the bar muscle-up. Matt B had arrived early for the 6:30 class and I could hear him yell "yeah Dave" from across the gym. Maybe there was hope for me yet on the bar muscle-up front.
I'm sure this initial success made me think that I had this bar muscle-up thing all figured out. The next two attempts were a reminder that one successful rep did not mean the mystery had been solved. I came close on the second attempt, while my right hand slipped a bit as I tried to rotate over on attempt #3. Not great, but I still had two more rounds of attempts. And...oh yeah...there was still plenty of other work that I needed to complete in this workout. That other work began with the chest-to-bar pull-ups. I was relatively fresh when I got to this movement and I was able to get away with some sloppy form because I was on the low bar. I didn't have to jump to the bar and I could use the exaggerated hip pop (think me going horizontal) to brush my chest against the underside of the bar 6 times. I moved on to my barbell where I did three sets of 3 single hang power clean and jerks, with short breaks between the sets. When it was time for the front squats, I did two sets of 6 reps each.
I'd be lying if I said my focus wasn't almost exclusively on the bar muscle-ups at this point. I had made a semi-breakthrough and I wanted to get back to them. These other movements were just tiring me out for no good reason. I climbed on to my box and put my foot in the double band as I got ready to begin round two. First rep: success! Second rep: a little short. I took some additional time before my third attempt because I was concerned that I rushed into the second rep and didn't focus on the technique as much as I should have. Sure enough, my third attempt ended with me pressed out above the high bar. 3 for 6 so far. Much better than I could have expected.
The chest-to-bar pull-ups required more energy in round two than they did the first time around, but I didn't miss on any of the six reps. I had the same plan for the hang power clean and jerks, doing three sets of three singles in a row. The front squats felt much worse than I expected (guess I'm glad I didn't use 155!), but once again I completed them in two sets of six reps. I was well behind most of the class, but I didn't really care. I was headed back to the bar muscle-ups.
I had gotten one successful rep in round one. I had gotten two in the second round. I was destined to get all three in this final round. Having learned my lesson from the last round, I decided to take my time before all three reps. Attempt #1: success again. Attempt #2: my first time experiencing back-to-back successes with bar muscle-ups. I could complete the trifecta with one final solid effort. I shook out my arms, gathered my breath, stepped off of my box, and swung into the band. As I propelled back and up, I thought about when the right moment was to rotate over so that I landed in that perfect position to press out the remainder of the rep. When I felt like I had reached that moment, I went for it. And I failed. Truth be told, I was beginning to tire out and it showed when I barely got my body over the bar on this last attempt. Both of my hands slipped as I rotated and I ended up clinging to the bar like I was hanging on to the top of the wall when we do wall ascents at the gym. 5 out of 9 would have to do for today.
The last round of chest-to-bar pull-ups were very difficult. I'm not sure whether I was tired or if the air came out of the balloon when I failed that last bar muscle-up attempt. Perhaps I simply wasn't all that interested in the workout anymore because I had finished the aspect of it that had captured my attention. All I know is that those final 6 chest-to-bar pull-ups required a lot more effort than the previous 12 had. With the gymnastics portion of the workout over, I returned to my barbell. Once again, I did three singles on the hang power clean and jerks, one right after the other. As I took a break, Keithie came over and told me that he wanted to see me hang on to the barbell and string two reps. It didn't feel wonderful, but I managed to string two reps. Then I got a little mad at myself. Trying to string 9 in a row would have killed my grip, but doing singles was a bit too cautious for this workout. Instead of 3 singles, I would have saved time stringing 3 reps at a time and it probably wouldn't have cost me much in terms of my grip.
Remember how anger works with the barbell? I grabbed my barbell and hung on to it until I completed all four of my remaining hang power clean and jerks. It was now clear that I had wimped out on this segment of the workout in earlier rounds. I wish I had enough anger in me to put together 12 front squats in a row, but there is a limit to how much rage will help you when you're tired. I kept the same routine in round three, completing the 12 front squats by doing two sets of 6 reps. Final time: 16:29.
I sat down near the front of the gym to recover before we headed to the Taphouse. Shawna was also part of the 5:30 class and she was interested in watching the game with us after some recovery time as well. As I sat there and watched the 6:30 class warm up, I became really interested in watching them do this workout, so the three of us hung around and watched them before going over to watch the Panthers and Wolfpack battle. It wasn't the prettiest of games, but it was a tight one. The Wolfpack held a slim halftime lead. Pitt took control for most of the second half before NC State had a late run to regain the advantage. Samson and I started trading stories of how the team we rooted for was more likely to blow this game. The Wolfpack almost made me look like a genius when they nearly blew a 5 point lead with 7 seconds remaining, but the Panthers missed a 3 pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime. Chalk up a rare ACC win for the Wolfpack!
Wednesday preview: A WOD that is nothing but rowing. I will do my best to make it sound more interesting than it was.
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