I had joked around after the bar muscle-up workout that I might have broken a few of my ribs. When I got home, I took a closer look at the right side of my chest and saw that it was bruised pretty badly. It might have been a good idea to take Wednesday off, but there were two reasons why I decided to head into the gym anyways:
- Friday was the last workout of the Open and I knew I'd be taking Thursday and Saturday off. There was a really good chance I'd be taking Sunday off as well. So taking off on Wednesday meant I'd be resting 4 of the next 5 days. I also knew I was going to miss almost all of the following week because I'd be out of town. Sucking it up and coming in on Wednesday felt like the way to go.
- It was a workout that really resonated with me. As Samson would later yell to me during the workout, "this one is in your wheelhouse!"
If a workout is in my wheelhouse, that means at least one of my three favorite movements is involved. Those three movements are rope climbs, pistols, and overhead squats. I was lucky enough to get two of them in this WOD.
Wednesday's WOD:
2 rounds:
50 KB swings (53/35)
3 rope climbs (15')
3 minutes rest
2 rounds:
40 ab-mat sit-ups
20 pistols (alternating left and right)
Love me some rope climbs and pistols. 80 ab-mat sit-ups wasn't too awful. The KB swings were far and away going to be the worst part of this workout, but if I bought myself enough time with the other movements, it was possible that I could put up one of the better times of the day even if I struggled with the KB.
The Wednesday 7:30 class doesn't typically draw a large crowd, but this week it did. There were 11 of us signed on for the last class of the night. Normally that would worry me as we only have 5 ropes to climb and the last thing I wanted was to have to wait to use a rope during a workout that I thought I could move through fairly quickly. However, there was a note on the blog saying that the order of the workout could be switched to accommodate larger classes. With half of the class starting on KB swings and rope climbs while the other half started on sit-ups and pistols, it didn't appear that we'd have any traffic on the ropes.
Coach Jenna put us through a warmup and then walked us through each of the stations. The sit-ups were self-explanatory. For the pistols, there were a variety of scaling options. You could stand on a box and mimic the motion of the pistol. You could use a box or a medicine ball to provide a stopping point for your pistol. This would allow you to do a range-of-motion pistol. There was also the option of doing air squats instead. For the KB swings, we were encouraged to do American swings, but if you couldn't do those and didn't want to use a lighter KB, you could do Russian swings. If you were determined to be patriotic, you could do American swings with a lighter weight as well. Finally, there were the rope climbs. You could implement the safer but slower S-hook or you could go with the faster but less secure J-hook. If you didn't have rope climbs yet, you could also substitute 3 rope pulls for each rope climb.
Having gone through all of the movements, it was now time to decide who would start with the KB swings and the rope climbs and who would start with sit-ups and pistols. I had a very strong preference as to where I wanted to start. The sit-ups and pistols were movements that I thought I could still do even if I was tired. To a certain extent, that was true with the rope climbs as well. But I wanted to be fresh for the KB swings. If I was winded when I got to those, I was gonna have a hard time making my way through 50 of them. So I wanted to start with the KB swings and rope climbs.
Because there are many more WODs where I am likely to struggle than excel, I tend to defer to my classmates in terms of where I'll work out (towards the back of the gym) or when I'll go (waiting on them to finish up reps before I start). I didn't even need to look back more than 24 hours to come up with an example. When Bryan and I realized we might bump into each other during the bar muscle-ups, I let him know that he should keep going as long as he needed to and that I would jump in when he took a break. For workouts like this one though, I'm hoping that my classmates will hook me up. How often do I get pistols and rope climbs in a WOD? And how many other people truly enjoy those movements? They're not gonna care which order they do this workout in, right?
Wrong. Jenna asked the 11 of us who would like to start with the sit-ups and pistols rather than the KB swings and the rope climbs. To be fair, I do think it was obvious that starting with the KB swings and the rope climbs was likelier to result in a faster time in this workout. I still expected people not to care that much though. When Jenna asked for volunteers to do this WOD in the reverse order, only 2 hands went up. I looked around hoping there was simply a delay in how quickly 5 people were going to raise their hands, but after the initial 2 volunteers, it seemed like no else wanted to budge. I really didn't want to give in and start with the sit-ups and the pistols, but my mind had already compromised. I started thinking that the sit-ups and the pistols probably wouldn't be so bad and that I'd then have 3 minutes to rest up. I'd be relatively fresh when I got to the KB swings and the rope climbs. And since when had I backed down from doing the tougher version of a workout? Before I knew it, my hand was in the air as volunteer #3. Two more reluctant volunteers later, we had our groups ready for the WOD.
My goal for this workout was to complete it in 14 minutes. I thought the sit-ups/pistols segment would take about 4 minutes. I thought 100 KB swings would take about 4 minutes and 6 rope climbs could take 3 minutes. 6 rope climbs wouldn't normally take me that long, but I was factoring in how tired I'd be from the KB swings. That was 11 minutes of work plus a mandatory 3 minute rest period to come up with a final time of 14 minutes. Some of the fastest times from earlier in the day were under 14 minutes, so it wasn't like I was coming up with an impossible time for this WOD. But I'd have to be really sharp to challenge such an aggressive goal.
Jenna made sure we were all ready at our respective first stations before getting us underway. I laid on my ab-mat and moved quickly through 40 sit-ups. Then I got up and started on my 20 pistols. I didn't want to go so fast that I lost my balance here, so the first few reps of the set were slower as I felt out the movement. As I got comfortable, I picked up the pace. With the first 20 pistols down, I laid back down on the floor again. I made it through 30 more sit-ups at the same pace I had used in my first set, but the last 10 required me to grit my teeth to get through them. I popped back up and whipped through 20 more pistols to complete the first segment of the workout. Time for the first segment: 3:47.
Happy place #1: pistols
I had three minutes to catch my breath. The good news was that I was 13 seconds ahead of the pace I had set for myself for the sit-ups and pistols. My goal of 14 minutes was still in play. I just needed to keep moving at the speed I had maintained during the first segment.
As the clock ticked towards 6:47, the time when I could begin my KB swings, I tried to calm myself down as much as possible. The tougher part of this workout was coming up and I wanted to trick my body into believing that I was doing it fresh, just as I would have if I had done this workout in the order it was written. That first segment was just a warmup (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). I could get through the seven-minute sprint that awaited me. Just show some mental fortitude on the KB swings and everything would be okay.
The second segment started out decently for me. My plan at 6:47 was to complete the 50 KB swings in three sets: 20-15-15. I got through 20 swings in a row before placing the KB on the floor, but I think I knew right then and there that the first segment had tired me out more than I let myself believe. Instead of doing 15 reps in my next set, I struggled to get to 12. I went 12 and 6 during the next two sets to reach 50, but breaking things up into four sets meant I was behind schedule already. 14 minutes was no longer seeming feasible.
The rope was where I was supposed to pull it back together, but those climbs were not much fun. I was at least in the right ballpark as far as pacing went because I think it took me about 90 seconds to do those three climbs. The best part about the rope climbs for me is that I no longer get freaked out even if I'm tired. I know I can pause along the climb without being worried I am going to fall. I know how many pulls it will take me to reach the mark. Because I have become so consistent with my rope climbs, it no longer requires much thought, which is why I can do them when I'm exhausted.
Happy place #2: the rope climb
As I headed back to my KB, I took a peek at the clock and saw that it was approaching 10:45. The first round of the second segment took nearly 4 minutes. 14 minutes wasn't happening. 15 minutes wasn't happening. I had three minutes of rest before that first round and it took about 4 minutes. This second round was certainly going to take longer than that. I picked up the KB and got 10 swings in. I was lucky to hold on for that long. The remaining 40 reps would require 5 sets to get through with decent breaks in between.
Not so happy place: look at those dead eyes during the KB swings!
Only 3 rope climbs stood between me and the finish. I tried not to spend too much time off of the rope, knowing that I could pause while on the rope if I needed to. I think the body also responds once you're up on the rope. Something about not wanting to fall makes you climb even when you don't feel like it. I took a few seconds before the first two climbs, but once I knew I only had one climb to go, I jumped right back on for the third one. It wasn't my quickest climb to 15 feet, but I tapped the mark and slid down the rope so that I could enjoy a reward of lying on the floor. Final time: 16:05.
Would my time have been that much better if I did the workout in the order that it was written? I think so. My goal of 14 minutes was probably insane, but I don't think it is crazy to think that I could have gone sub-15:30 had I started with the KB swings and rope climbs. Does it really matter in the end? No. I tend to be overly competitive when it comes to my times and scores in general, but it goes to another level when the workout is one that I think I'm good at. I wish I had done a little better than I had, but my time was more affected by the fact that I struggle with KB swings than it was by the order that I performed the movements in this workout.
Friday preview: The Open mercifully comes to an end. 17.5 is a workout that is simple in design, yet turns out to be incredibly humbling.
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