The workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday left me craving a rest day on Thursday. My pride was telling me that I should suck it up and go in on Thursday, but then Mother Nature intervened and gave me an out. We had the snow equivalent of a flash mob on Thursday morning, which led to the cancellation of the early classes. Not that I was heading to any of those classes, but I took those cancellations as a sign that I should stay home and wait until Friday to come back to the gym.
Friday is typically nooner day for me and there weren't any random hurricanes rolling through the area that let me weasel my way out of skipping the gym again. I got in the car and headed to my regular class. The workout on Friday would be more Open prep. As the Open gets closer and closer, we have seen more and more Open workouts from years past pop up as programmed WODs. We'd be doing some extensive traveling in the way back machine as this Open workout came from 2012:
Open Workout 12.2
10 min AMRAP
30 snatches at 75/45
30 snatches at 135/75
30 snatches at 165/100
Remaining time for snatches at 210/120
Just the setup of this workout was fascinating to me. If this workout were programmed today, the weights would almost certainly be different. When guys do a workout with 75 pounds on the barbell, the equivalent weight for females is 55 pounds. 135 pounds for the men typically translates to 95 pounds for the ladies. 165 and 115 tend to go hand in hand. As for 210, that isn't a weight that gets programmed very often, but 205 is. When the guys need to use 205 in a workout, the ladies tend to use 135, so let's call 210 and 140 equivalents. Based on the weights chosen for this workout back in 2012, it seems like the bar has been raised for the women of Crossfit over the last 5 years.
(Note: It's not like the women of KOP can't handle these tougher standards. They still routinely kick my butt even though they go heavier than they had to once upon a time.)
Aimee had a class of nine awaiting her at the express, although only 7 of us would be doing this workout. The royal couple (Queen Pam and King JP) were going to do the Nutrition Challenge instead, as they didn't want to wait until Sunday to come in and do it. The first part of that workout was 10 minutes long, so it would sync very well with our WOD. After their 10 minute metcon was over, they would spend the next 15 minutes trying to find a 1RM front squat. I would probably spend that 15 minutes contemplating why I signed up for this class.
With only 1 movement in the workout, the warmup was pretty simple. Get the shoulders loose. Make sure your snatch form is on point. Work on the technique for stringing reps. Wasn't a whole lot more to it than that. From there, it was on us to choose appropriate weights for the workout, grab the plates we would need to transition from one round to the next, and pick out an area to work in. As was the case in an express class from a month ago, getting organized turned out to be more confusing than expected. Initially it seemed as though we were all going to be facing the whiteboard for this workout, so Nicole N and I turned our barbells that way as we got ready. (Note: Nicole and I were neighbors for this workout, so we were talking to one another about how we'd get set up prior to the workout.) Then Tim H and Rich decided to use the magic platform, meaning they'd be facing the back of the gym. If we were all going to face the same direction, then Nicole, myself, and several others needed to turn our barbells to the left. We did that, but then we discovered Pam and JP were still facing the whiteboard because it made more sense for them to face that way during their workout. Nicole turned her barbell once more, but I wasn't changing directions again. I was fine facing the back of the gym, even though that meant me and Nicole would be perpendicular during this workout.
I was using the RX standards for this workout because I was almost certainly going to use the RX standards for the Open workouts. I might as well get used to doing whatever I was told to do. The first round (75 pounds) likely wasn't going to pose too much of a problem, but that was a big leap to the second round weight of 135 pounds. My back issues had come about because I had stupidly made a 70 pound jump between sets of back squats. This would be a 60 pound jump on a much more difficult movement. I was definitely concerned about how this would play out.
That second round of 30 snatches at 135 pounds had a name: Isabel. She has a cousin named Grace. Grace is 30 clean and jerks for time using 135 pounds and I can motor through that in less than 3 minutes. But 30 snatches at that weight? That was going to be tough. I didn't exactly have a good history when it came to Isabel. I had to research what my best time ever was for that workout and saw that it was 6:13. It took me over 6 minutes to do it fresh. Here I would be doing it after 30 snatches at a lighter weight. If I could manage all of that in under 10 minutes, I'd be ecstatic. Just to throw a cherry on top, I decided my goal for this workout would be 61 reps (or 1 snatch at 165 in round three).
Aimee checked on us to make sure we were ready and when we all gave her the thumbs up, she sent us on our way. I hate stringing snatches because maintaining that wide grip feels awkward to me, but I tried to put that out of my mind. I was determined to start this workout off with a big set and I did a decent job of that by completing 16 snatches in a row before dropping my barbell.
My form wasn't bad with only 75 lbs on the barbell
I tried to take a very short break before getting back into it, but that ended up being a bad idea because my next set felt awful and I had to cut it short (4 reps). From there, I did 2 sets of 5 reps and got to work taking the 15 pound plates off of my barbell and putting on 45 pound substitutes. I must admit, I was a little lazy during this transition, attempting to roll the new plates over to my barbell when I should have just picked them up and moved with more urgency. When I was ready for my 1st snatch at 135, I looked at the clock to see how much time I had left. 3:20 had elapsed. Even if I tied my previous best Isabel time, I'd only have 27 seconds left when I was done with 60 reps. That wasn't going to be enough time to transition to 165 and complete a lift. I needed to improve my Isabel time or simply be happy with finishing this round.
I knew before I even started this round that there would be no more stringing of reps. It would have to be quick singles for the next 30 lifts. I made my first attempt and was taken aback at how heavy it felt. I got it overhead, but the steep increase in weight was tough to overcome. This felt like the 165 pounds I was supposed to be using in round three. I did 4 reps before taking a break. As I walked up to try rep #5, I saw the clock showing 4:20. 4 reps per minute was not going to cut it. I needed 5 reps per minute at least. Gotta pick up the pace.
I tried to make that next set longer than 4 reps, but after another 4 successful lifts, I had my first missed rep. I walked away from the barbell, shook out my arms, and tried to get my mind right. I approached the barbell for rep #9 and saw that the clock was nearing 5:20. I was definitely screwed. 4 reps per minute might get me to about 26 reps. That was assuming I could maintain this pace of 4 reps per minute. If I had more failed reps along the way, I wasn't even going to reach that total.
From that point forward, I did my best to keep churning through reps until I failed on a rep. Then I'd walk away and try to regroup. I was fatigued, but this was a strength and form issue as well. Not giving my body a tiny bit of time to recover was not going to help me get more reps. Rushing into more snatches without focusing on my form was not going to help me get more reps. I had to give myself the best chance possible on each rep and put the clock out of my mind. I would do a few reps and then fail. This happened on multiple occasions. By the time I got to the end of this workout, I must have missed on 5 or 6 reps. When I got to the last minute, I became a little concerned that I might not reach 20 reps in this round. I hadn't gone into a full squat for any of my reps, but I was willing to do that in the final minute. Turned out I didn't need to. I did a partial squat for the last 3 or 4 reps and that allowed me to complete 22 reps at 135 pounds before time was called. Final score: 52.
That score was a bit disappointing, especially because I had so many failed reps along the way that could have put me within striking range of finishing the round had they been good reps. I was talking with Rich afterwards and he said something that was very true. He pointed out that if I had gotten those reps, my adrenaline probably would have kicked in and I might have gone fast enough to reach 60. Instead, those failed reps were followed with small walks away from my barbell as I shook out my arms and muttered to myself.
I sat on a bench and looked down at the other end of the gym where Pam and JP were testing out their front squats. They seemed to be taking turns at their respective barbells, with one performing a lift while the other walked down the gym to grab more plates. 15 minutes is a fair amount of time to find your 1RM and neither of them seemed to be in a hurry. I was probably chatting with John McHugh and not paying attention when I heard a squeal from the far end of the gym. It was barely audible, but I caught it. I looked down that way and saw Pam by herself (JP was retrieving more plates). I asked her what that noise was about and she told me that she had hit a new front squat PR of 175 pounds. I laughed because her mild celebration was similar to what I do when I hit a PR and no one else notices.
After hearing about Pam's PR, I felt like I needed to get up, get moving, and practice something. JP asked me what I was going to practice and my initial choices were the pushing away from the pull-up bar drills that Aimee had shown me, with double unders a close second in terms of things I needed to work on. I put on my grips and started working on the drills, but I couldn't get into it. I was walking to my bag to trade my grips for my jump rope, but it occurred to me that I didn't really feel like jumping rope either. What I really wanted to do was work on my obsession: handstand push-ups. I had gotten 6 in a row with only 1 ab-mat on Monday and ever since then, I had dreams of scratching a goal off of my top ten list for 2017.
The only thing that was holding me back was how I felt physically after the workout. My traps and shoulders were sore. I'm no anatomy expert, but I was pretty sure those were important body parts in terms of doing handstand push-ups. I decided I would test out my form again with 1 ab-mat and if things felt okay, then I'd go after the legit ones. I set up a mat to the left of where Pam was. She was now working on her shoulder press while JP hit the showers. I kicked up on to the wall and got ready for the first rep. This first rep was going to tell me a lot about how good my form was today and whether I had enough shoulder strength to finish a rep if my kip didn't do all of the work for me. When I drew my knees down to my chest and didn't fall off of the wall, that was a good start. I shot my legs upward, extended my head through my arms, and easily got the first rep. Very good sign!
I did two more reps just like that before stopping. I was confident with my form and there wasn't much point in wasting energy on reps with 1 ab-mat when the grand prize was getting 5 in a row without the help of ab-mats. I tossed the ab-mat to the side and gave myself a pep talk before kicking back up on to the wall. Same thing you did a minute ago. Your kip is strong enough that you don't need an ab-mat. Shoot your head through, press hard at the top. I drew my knees down to my chest without letting my body come off of the wall. I kipped as hard as I could and everything went as planned. That first rep felt no different than the ones I had done with an ab-mat. I went right into the second rep and repeated that first success. When I got my third in a row, I had a new PR for consecutive handstand push-ups.
That was a really nice feeling getting the third one, but I became serious quickly. This could be the day I got 5 in a row. It wasn't that I was simply completing these reps. These reps actually felt good to me. Maybe I was in the zone! Or maybe I was psyching myself out of the zone. When I went to do the fourth rep, I discovered that either my kip was weakening or I was getting tired out in general. My arms weren't fully extended when I hit the top of my kip, so I was going to have to work for this one. I pressed as hard as I could with my arms and was able to reach full extension. 4 down, 1 to go. As I rested upside-down, I gave myself a much sterner pep talk, one that included how disappointed I'd be in myself if I fell 1 rep short again. I had to put everything I had into this next kip. I drew my knees down and then exploded upwards with all of my remaining energy. I must not have had all that much energy remaining because I didn't get as high as I did during my fourth rep. That didn't mean I couldn't save it though. There was definitely some rage working as I slowly pushed and pushed until my arms were completely extended. I had done it! Check off one of my 2017 goals!
I didn't see any reason to quit just because I had done 5, so I brought my knees down to go after a sixth consecutive rep. That attempt was a complete disaster. Should I have known that after the progression of reps 3, 4, and 5? Yeah, but I figured I'd try it out anyways.
When I came down from the wall, Pam was in the midst of wrapping up a set of shoulder presses. She looked over at me and we had this conversation:
Pam: Those handstand push-ups looked good.
Me: I got five real ones in a row. That was one of my goals for the year!
Pam: DAVE! I couldn't even tell based on your reaction. You should be more excited!
Truth be told, I was very excited. Me and Pam just need to work on our celebration game.
Monday preview: Don't ever do push-ups after you've done a bunch of dips. It will end badly.
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