According to Blogger, this is my 522nd post. I have gone to great lengths to not repeat any of the titles in the blog. It's a lot harder than you might think. How many times can you write about doing Annie before you run out of semi-creative titles that pertain to the workout? Ooooh...we're finding our 3RM push press again. What title can I give this one that won't sound amazingly redundant? When I come up with a title that I think is suitable, I'll do a search through my spreadsheets from years past to see if I'm merely recycling a title that tickled my fancy once before. To date, I don't think I've reused anything. There are some titles that are first cousins to earlier ones, but no blatant repeats. Not until today. I just felt like the circumstances called for it. Therefore I give you, "Screw 101: The Sequel".
There's a 7:30 class on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but there isn't one available on Monday. That might explain why the 6:30 class is always packed. There were 13 of us joining Coach Giulz for some fun with the bench press. We'd be kicking things off trying to find a 3RM bench press. That would be followed by a unique cash out taking place in the back of the gym. Here's what we'd be doing once we got off of the bench:
Cash-out:
20 calories on the ski erg
20 push-ups
20 dips
We all went out for a 400 meter run and while we were out jogging, we were instructed to learn something new about the athlete dropping into our class, Mike from Colorado. What did I learn about Mike? I learned that he'd be joining me and Matt B for the bench press. We only have five benches in the gym, so we needed to double and triple up for the WOD. Mike was about the same size as me and Matt, so he teamed up with us. We had the bench closest to the front of the gym and that had two benefits:
- It was right next to one of the fans in the gym.
- It was right next to all of the plates, so we wouldn't have to walk far to get what we needed for our barbell.
The three of us all began with 135 pounds. My 3RM for the bench press was 185 coming into this workout and my plan was to go 135-155-175-190. I knew Matt could bench more than me, but I wasn't sure where Mike fit along the spectrum. If I'm not sure how much someone will lift, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it is more than me. I let them both know that if they wanted to jump to a higher weight, they should do so. But early on, they just went with my plan.
Each of us glided through the sets at 135 and 155. Mike slowed down a little bit at 175, but I was still feeling good when I did that set. Matt had no problems with that weight either. It was on to 190 next. I began psyching myself up for a PR attempt. I was hoping that Mike's set would get me energized, but he got stuck on his 3rd rep and I had to help pull the barbell off him. That wasn't the visual I needed before I took a crack at 190.
We had been moving quickly between sets, but I took my time getting underneath the barbell before the set at 190. Maybe I was stalling so I could get Mike's set out of my head. Maybe I was worried that I wasn't strong enough to handle 190. All I know is that I didn't want to rush my PR attempt the way I had done last Thursday doing the 2RM front squat. When I was ready to go, I laid down on the bench and took the barbell from the rack. Rep #1 was fine. Rep #2 was fine. Rep #3 was fine. How did that just happen? PR attempts never go that well. I was expecting adversity somewhere along the way, but I didn't get stuck at any point during those three reps. Go me!
Matt decided that this was where he'd be parting ways with us, so he continued on with 20 pound increases and went up to 195. He still wasn't straining yet as he made that set look easy. Mike moved down to 185 and that was the perfect weight for him. After failing on the 3rd rep at 190, he had another battle on his hands when it came to rep #3 at 185. He was able to push that one back up to the rack though. That would be Mike's last set of the day.
190 went so well for me that I had to take a shot at 195. Usually I wouldn't have high hopes about a heavier set after hitting a PR, but based on how that set at 190 went, I figured I should be able to get at least two reps at 195. Matt helped me take the barbell from the rack and I was on my way. Even though only 5 pounds had been added since my last set, the barbell definitely felt heavier. The first rep was solid just as my previous reps had been, but the second rep was where I encountered my first bit of trouble on the day. It took some extra work to press that rep out. I started to have some doubts about the outcome of rep #3. As I brought the barbell back down to my chest a third time, I prepared to put every ounce of effort I could muster into getting the barbell back to the rack. I hate failing on the last rep and I didn't want to experience that again. The barbell bounced off of my chest and I pushed as hard as I could. It was moving upwards, but very slowly. Matt had his hands out to help if I needed it, but he was also yelling encouragement to me at the same time. He thought I had it. Mike thought I had it. A few seconds later, I proved them both right. Just as 185 seemed to be the perfect three-rep number for Mike, 195 was the perfect number for me.
Matt said he was only going to do one more set and he loaded on 210 pounds for that attempt. We had moved into PR territory as well. His first two reps were perfect, but no one was getting through this WOD without at least a bit of a fight on a 3rd rep. Matt won the battle though, establishing a new PR of 210 pounds. It was time to put our benches and barbells away and head to the back of the gym for the cash-out.
There are some toys in our gym that we have a limited number of. Ropes for climbing used to be in limited supply, but we now have 7 of those. There are only 5 GHD machines. There are only 5 assault bikes (although we have some airdynes available). There are only 5 benches. If you're looking for the object that is in shortest supply in the gym, I would direct you to the ski erg. (Fine, we only have one peg board, but that thing gets used once per year max. We also only have two walls for climbing, but those are almost always blocked by other crap in the gym.) The ski erg is a new addition to the gym, so it's possible that more are on the way. But for now, it's hard to put them into the programming because you end up with people waiting in line to use them. That's why this cash-out was a bit of a surprise. Giulz let us know while we were still bench pressing that there would be a rolling start to the cash-out. As soon as we had put our equipment away, we were to head to the back of the gym to get in line.
This seemed like it would be a very fast cash-out. The ski erg is almost like a vertical rowing machine, so 20 calories was only going to take about a minute. 20 push-ups was probably not going to take longer than a minute. The dips were the real problem. Bands were available for use, so that might make it smoother, but our triceps would already be burning from the bench press, the ski erg, and the push-ups. If your triceps aren't being responsive, then even banded dips can take a long time to complete. As I watched the pairs ahead of me take this on, I decided that I wasn't going to be a hero on the ski erg or the push-ups in the hopes that my triceps would have something left in the tank for the dips.
Out of our bench press trio, I ended up being the first to take on the cash-out. I kept a consistent pace on the ski erg and made it to about 17 calories before it started to burn. I put my head down and pushed through the last 3 calories, opening a spot for the next person in line. I found some space on the floor over by the rings and began the push-ups. I started with a set of 10. The end of that set felt like the end of my time on the ski erg: it burned a bit, but I didn't destroy myself getting to the end. Still, I didn't want to have that feeling in my arms when I got to the dips, so I broke up the remaining 10 push-ups into two sets of 5.
I had made good time up to this point and I planned on using a band for the dips, so I figured I'd be done pretty soon. Wrong! I had made a concerted effort to save my triceps as much as I could, but those 20 banded dips were still insanely hard. I got a few reps at the start, but after that, my triceps decided not to cooperate. It got to the point where I had to do singles and a couple of those were iffy. When I completed the push-ups, I thought I'd be sub-5 on this cash-out. I wasn't even close to that when I pressed out of my 20th dip. Final time: 7:07.
It was really disappointing having my body fall apart like that. At least that's how I felt until I watched the rest of the class complete the cash-out. Everyone seemed to handle the ski erg alright, but there were some folks who began having tricep issues when they reached the push-ups. By the time they got to the dips, they were in real trouble. Two of my classmates didn't record a time for the cash-out and had "did work" written down next to their names. This cash-out was no picnic.
You would think that I would have packed up my bag and headed home after that horror show, but I did not. My triceps might not have been working, but I don't really have triceps, so all of the real parts of my body were still good to go. I was searching around for something else to do, but couldn't figure out what it would be. Ashley, Danielle, Caitlyn, and Esra had more cardio planned, but I wasn't interested in participating. I was still feeling jazzed about my clean and jerk PR yesterday morning and that got me interested in trying to clean and jerk 235 pounds, but some of the folks lifting at Open Strength explained to me that it was a terrible idea to try and lift super heavy the day after a meet. I sat on the bench next to my bag wondering what I should work on. Ever so faintly, I could hear my jump rope calling me.
The idea of jumping rope wasn't appealing to me initially because I wasn't sure how effectively I could twirl it with burning triceps. My arms were kinda hanging by my sides after the cash-out. Then I remembered that I seem to have better success with double unders when I force myself to hold my hands lower. In this case, no force was necessary. My hands were going to hang lower than they normally do because of the cash-out. I didn't see any harm in trying to pursue my goal of 100 consecutive double unders.
My plan was to do a couple of sets and if things went really badly, I'd move on to something else in the gym. I staked out a spot over by the kilo plates, stretched out my rope, took a deep breath, and got ready to begin. I was pretty happy when the rope didn't hit me immediately. Soon I was up to about 20 reps and feeling comfortable. I stared straight ahead and tried to keep everything about my motion as repetitive as possible. I was closing in on 50 reps, the point where I start to break down little by little both mentally and physically. Stay calm. Keep breathing.
Perhaps I'm jinxing myself with that pep talk. I hadn't reached 60 reps when I began feeling the burn in my shoulders and my legs. Somehow that talk had triggered the pain I was desperate to avoid. And somehow that pain triggered a new approach to the double unders. The real goal was 100 in a row so that I could write my name up on the board, but once I felt that burning sensation, I started telling myself to just get to the next round number. Just get to 70. As I kept jumping and got close to 70, I changed the goal to 80. Then 90. When I neared 90 in a row, I realized that I wasn't jumping around like a maniac as I had that night when I messed up after 99 straight. I wasn't doubled over in agony. I was relatively fresh given that I was only 10 double unders away from my goal.
I had to change the internal message at this point. It couldn't be "just get to 100". That was a recipe for blowing it at 99 again. Stay calm. Don't change how you're jumping. Don't stop at 100. I had to trick myself into thinking I was going on to 110 if I wanted to prevent a mistake at 99. After every rep in the 90's, all I could think was "keep going". 97...98...99...
There is part of me that is so used to coming up short that I was almost expecting the rope to hit me as I made my 100th jump. I desperately didn't want it to happen, but it just feels like that's the way it goes for me more often than not. All I knew as I made that jump was that I was going to continue on if they rope didn't hit me.
100...101...
I did it! I was quietly ecstatic! As I completed my 102nd consecutive double under, I suddenly began to ask myself why I was still going. It didn't really make any sense to extend this torture any longer. So I stopped. My goal was to make the board and I had finally done it.
190 went so well for me that I had to take a shot at 195. Usually I wouldn't have high hopes about a heavier set after hitting a PR, but based on how that set at 190 went, I figured I should be able to get at least two reps at 195. Matt helped me take the barbell from the rack and I was on my way. Even though only 5 pounds had been added since my last set, the barbell definitely felt heavier. The first rep was solid just as my previous reps had been, but the second rep was where I encountered my first bit of trouble on the day. It took some extra work to press that rep out. I started to have some doubts about the outcome of rep #3. As I brought the barbell back down to my chest a third time, I prepared to put every ounce of effort I could muster into getting the barbell back to the rack. I hate failing on the last rep and I didn't want to experience that again. The barbell bounced off of my chest and I pushed as hard as I could. It was moving upwards, but very slowly. Matt had his hands out to help if I needed it, but he was also yelling encouragement to me at the same time. He thought I had it. Mike thought I had it. A few seconds later, I proved them both right. Just as 185 seemed to be the perfect three-rep number for Mike, 195 was the perfect number for me.
Matt said he was only going to do one more set and he loaded on 210 pounds for that attempt. We had moved into PR territory as well. His first two reps were perfect, but no one was getting through this WOD without at least a bit of a fight on a 3rd rep. Matt won the battle though, establishing a new PR of 210 pounds. It was time to put our benches and barbells away and head to the back of the gym for the cash-out.
There are some toys in our gym that we have a limited number of. Ropes for climbing used to be in limited supply, but we now have 7 of those. There are only 5 GHD machines. There are only 5 assault bikes (although we have some airdynes available). There are only 5 benches. If you're looking for the object that is in shortest supply in the gym, I would direct you to the ski erg. (Fine, we only have one peg board, but that thing gets used once per year max. We also only have two walls for climbing, but those are almost always blocked by other crap in the gym.) The ski erg is a new addition to the gym, so it's possible that more are on the way. But for now, it's hard to put them into the programming because you end up with people waiting in line to use them. That's why this cash-out was a bit of a surprise. Giulz let us know while we were still bench pressing that there would be a rolling start to the cash-out. As soon as we had put our equipment away, we were to head to the back of the gym to get in line.
This seemed like it would be a very fast cash-out. The ski erg is almost like a vertical rowing machine, so 20 calories was only going to take about a minute. 20 push-ups was probably not going to take longer than a minute. The dips were the real problem. Bands were available for use, so that might make it smoother, but our triceps would already be burning from the bench press, the ski erg, and the push-ups. If your triceps aren't being responsive, then even banded dips can take a long time to complete. As I watched the pairs ahead of me take this on, I decided that I wasn't going to be a hero on the ski erg or the push-ups in the hopes that my triceps would have something left in the tank for the dips.
Out of our bench press trio, I ended up being the first to take on the cash-out. I kept a consistent pace on the ski erg and made it to about 17 calories before it started to burn. I put my head down and pushed through the last 3 calories, opening a spot for the next person in line. I found some space on the floor over by the rings and began the push-ups. I started with a set of 10. The end of that set felt like the end of my time on the ski erg: it burned a bit, but I didn't destroy myself getting to the end. Still, I didn't want to have that feeling in my arms when I got to the dips, so I broke up the remaining 10 push-ups into two sets of 5.
I had made good time up to this point and I planned on using a band for the dips, so I figured I'd be done pretty soon. Wrong! I had made a concerted effort to save my triceps as much as I could, but those 20 banded dips were still insanely hard. I got a few reps at the start, but after that, my triceps decided not to cooperate. It got to the point where I had to do singles and a couple of those were iffy. When I completed the push-ups, I thought I'd be sub-5 on this cash-out. I wasn't even close to that when I pressed out of my 20th dip. Final time: 7:07.
It was really disappointing having my body fall apart like that. At least that's how I felt until I watched the rest of the class complete the cash-out. Everyone seemed to handle the ski erg alright, but there were some folks who began having tricep issues when they reached the push-ups. By the time they got to the dips, they were in real trouble. Two of my classmates didn't record a time for the cash-out and had "did work" written down next to their names. This cash-out was no picnic.
You would think that I would have packed up my bag and headed home after that horror show, but I did not. My triceps might not have been working, but I don't really have triceps, so all of the real parts of my body were still good to go. I was searching around for something else to do, but couldn't figure out what it would be. Ashley, Danielle, Caitlyn, and Esra had more cardio planned, but I wasn't interested in participating. I was still feeling jazzed about my clean and jerk PR yesterday morning and that got me interested in trying to clean and jerk 235 pounds, but some of the folks lifting at Open Strength explained to me that it was a terrible idea to try and lift super heavy the day after a meet. I sat on the bench next to my bag wondering what I should work on. Ever so faintly, I could hear my jump rope calling me.
The idea of jumping rope wasn't appealing to me initially because I wasn't sure how effectively I could twirl it with burning triceps. My arms were kinda hanging by my sides after the cash-out. Then I remembered that I seem to have better success with double unders when I force myself to hold my hands lower. In this case, no force was necessary. My hands were going to hang lower than they normally do because of the cash-out. I didn't see any harm in trying to pursue my goal of 100 consecutive double unders.
My plan was to do a couple of sets and if things went really badly, I'd move on to something else in the gym. I staked out a spot over by the kilo plates, stretched out my rope, took a deep breath, and got ready to begin. I was pretty happy when the rope didn't hit me immediately. Soon I was up to about 20 reps and feeling comfortable. I stared straight ahead and tried to keep everything about my motion as repetitive as possible. I was closing in on 50 reps, the point where I start to break down little by little both mentally and physically. Stay calm. Keep breathing.
Perhaps I'm jinxing myself with that pep talk. I hadn't reached 60 reps when I began feeling the burn in my shoulders and my legs. Somehow that talk had triggered the pain I was desperate to avoid. And somehow that pain triggered a new approach to the double unders. The real goal was 100 in a row so that I could write my name up on the board, but once I felt that burning sensation, I started telling myself to just get to the next round number. Just get to 70. As I kept jumping and got close to 70, I changed the goal to 80. Then 90. When I neared 90 in a row, I realized that I wasn't jumping around like a maniac as I had that night when I messed up after 99 straight. I wasn't doubled over in agony. I was relatively fresh given that I was only 10 double unders away from my goal.
I had to change the internal message at this point. It couldn't be "just get to 100". That was a recipe for blowing it at 99 again. Stay calm. Don't change how you're jumping. Don't stop at 100. I had to trick myself into thinking I was going on to 110 if I wanted to prevent a mistake at 99. After every rep in the 90's, all I could think was "keep going". 97...98...99...
There is part of me that is so used to coming up short that I was almost expecting the rope to hit me as I made my 100th jump. I desperately didn't want it to happen, but it just feels like that's the way it goes for me more often than not. All I knew as I made that jump was that I was going to continue on if they rope didn't hit me.
100...101...
I did it! I was quietly ecstatic! As I completed my 102nd consecutive double under, I suddenly began to ask myself why I was still going. It didn't really make any sense to extend this torture any longer. So I stopped. My goal was to make the board and I had finally done it.
Screw 100, screw 101...I got 102!
As I was walking over to the board to write my name on it, I passed Ashley and Actuary Mike. I matter-of-factly told them I got 100 in a row and they both looked at me like I was crazy. I wasn't celebrating. I wasn't announcing it to the gym. I was just putting my jump rope away, grabbing a marker and writing my name on a KOP board for the first (and probably only) time as a member of the gym. (Note: I don't count having my name on the wall for Wolverine or the baseline WOD as true examples of getting on a KOP board. You could take 4 hours to complete Wolverine and your name would go on the wall. And everyone does the baseline WOD when they start at KOP. This was the first true example of an accomplishment that got my name on the wall.)
Completing 100 consecutive double unders meant I had reached 3 of my top 10 goals for 2017. What would be next? The most likely candidates were the 245 pound clean and jerk and the 400 pound deadlift. Hopefully I'd be taking both of them down before the year was up.
Tuesday preview: It's story time with LC in her first class back from competing in Miami. Then it's nothing but deadlifts and GHD sit-ups the rest of the way.
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