40-40 Club

Workout date: 9/28/17

When you have a workout like the one I did on Wednesday night where everything seems to go wrong, you want to come back the next night and just crush whatever is programmed.  Insufficient scaling was my downfall on Wednesday, so if that meant I had to overscale in order to ensure a solid time on Thursday's WOD, then I was going to do that.  There weren't too many elements within Thursday's WOD, so I wasn't left with a lot of decisions to make.  In fact, there was really only one that I had to wrestle with.

Thursday's WOD:
40 back squats (135/95)
20 burpee box jump overs (24"/20")
3 minutes of rest
20 burpee box jump overs
40 back squats
*Barbell is taken from the floor

I could choose to use a smaller box for the burpee box jump overs, but was that truly going to help me in this workout?  The worst part of the burpee box jump over wasn't the box jump over, it was the burpee.  That meant the only decision I had to make was how much weight to use for the back squats.  My gut told me to use 115 pounds.  Back in 2015, we did a workout that included 45 back squats and we were told that we should try and choose a weight that we could do 45 consecutive reps with.  It wasn't pleasant and it wasn't fast, but I did all 45 back squats without putting the barbell down.  In this WOD, I could drop the barbell after only 40 reps.  After thinking about it that way, I started toying with the idea of using more weight.  Maybe I should go RX!

That notion was fleeting.  Common sense kicked in rather quickly.  I wasn't doing one set of 40 back squats in this workout.  I was on the hook for two massive sets.  Oh, and there were two sets of 20 burpee box jump overs in between.  Those were going to do a number on my legs, even if a three minute break was sandwiched in there.  I came back down to earth and stuck with 115 pounds as my proper weight.

I didn't want to risk being stuck in the middle of a huge class like I was two weeks ago, so I came in for the 7:30 class rather than the 6:30.  There was a chance that I'd be in class all by myself, but I ended up with two classmates.  The Prodigy and Matt T were there to do some back squats and burpee box jump overs with me.  I've taken class with The Prodigy many times, but I had never met Matt before.  Apparently he usually takes noon classes (I miss the express!) and this was his first visit to an evening session.  Besides The Prodigy and Matt, there were two other people in the gym.  Barbell buddies Faby and Tom C (The Prodigy's hubby) were deadlifting big weight on the platform during Open Strength.

Giulz had The Prodigy, Matt, and I warm up on the back squats.  She wanted to make sure that we chose a weight that we could move through big sets.  As I got ready, she came up to me and asked me what I thought about using 115 pounds.  She read my mind!  I told her I was on board with that weight.  Once she had worked with The Prodigy and Matt on what weights they were going to use, we moved over to our boxes.  There wasn't much to go over as far as technique when it came to the burpee box jump over.  We all knew how to do a burpee.  We all knew how to jump on and off of a box.

As we got ready to start, Giulz laid out her expectations for the workout the same way she had done it for the cash-out that Bryan and I participated in 24 hours earlier.  For the back squats, she wanted us to do no more than 3 sets in round one and no more than 4 sets in round two.  That struck me as strange because my intention was to try and string all 40 back squats in both rounds.  I began to wonder again whether my barbell should be heavier than it currently was.  As I debated that in my mind, I had a flashback to last night.  I hadn't scaled enough.  It was better to err on the side of scaling too much tonight.  115 was staying on the barbell.

Giulz made sure we were ready to go and then set the clock in motion.  I cleaned the barbell, then popped it over my head and on to my back rack.  It would be there for a while.  Early on, the reps were easy to move through.  As I made it past 20 reps, they didn't feel so wonderful.  The weight wasn't heavy, but my legs would have appreciated a break.  They weren't getting one.  Not until I completed 40 reps.  This was a mental test, not a physical one.  I wanted to put the barbell down, but I didn't need to put it down.  I kept staring straight ahead, continuing to do reps.  If I needed to stop for a second to shake out my legs, that was fine.  But putting the barbell down was not an option.

The Prodigy and Matt broke up their sets like Giulz had suggested, but I plugged away until all 40 of my back squats were done.  As a result, I was the first one to the burpee box jump overs.  I had no idea how much of a lead I had on my classmates.  I just kept moving, assuming that they would be joining me on the burpee box jump overs very soon.  I was in the midst of completing my 5th burpee box jump over when The Prodigy came over to her box, which was directly next to mine.  She is much better at burpees than I am and she gained ground on me quickly.  I began to think that she might reach the 3 minute break before me.  That would have been deflating given that I hung on for all 40 of those back squats.  Knowing that I was about to get some rest, I picked up the pace on my last few reps.  That helped me get to the break about 25 seconds before The Prodigy.

The three-minute break was probably too long for someone who overthinks things as much as I do.  I spent the recovery period thinking about nothing but strategy.  Should I go all out on the last 20 burpee box jump overs and risk being too tired to complete the last 40 back squats in a row?  Should I pace the burpee box jump overs so that I'd have enough left in the tank for the back squats?  Was there any chance I'd be able to hold off The Prodigy on the next set of burpee box jump overs?

My three minutes were up and I began the second half of the workout.  I wanted to move quickly on the burpee box jump overs, but it wasn't long before my pace slowed.  Nothing I could do about it.  As was the case in the first round, I was on my 5th rep when The Prodigy started her burpee box jump overs.  Unlike the first round, I couldn't hold her off.  She was like a bunny, hopping back and forth over that box with ease.  I was crawling through my burpees, hating life.  I had two reps left to go when The Prodigy headed back to her barbell.

There was no doubt what I needed to do the rest of the way.  If I wanted to catch her, I needed to hold on for all 40 back squats again.  And this set was going to be much tougher.  I was fresh before that first set.  Now my legs had done 40 back squats and 40 burpee box jump overs.  They were going to send me the signal that I should put the barbell down and take breaks.  I would have to stay focused and ignore those signals.

I didn't waste any time when I got to my barbell.  I got it up into my back rack and began churning through reps.  These are air squats.  You can't even feel the weight.  Do 40 air squats.  I blocked out everything around me and stared at the wall straight ahead.  If The Prodigy was done before me, so be it.  I couldn't focus on that.  I was going to zone out and get through these 40 reps.

I'm sure I had a pain face that rivaled the classic one that Cline typically displays as I made my way through those back squats.  I got up to 20.  Then 25.  Air squats.  They are only air squats.  When I got to 30, I knew I had it.  I could grunt my way through 10 more "air squats".  I completed the last 10 and happily tossed the barbell off of my back.  Final time: 13:06.

For someone who has had many issues with being mentally tough in workouts, I was very pleased with my resolve during this WOD.  There were many times when I wanted to drop the barbell and get a proper break, but I hung on and fought that urge.  As a result, I finished about a minute ahead of The Prodigy and nearly two minutes ahead of Matt.  I didn't scale properly on Wednesday, but I chose the right weight for me on Thursday.

That was the end of class for the three of us, but the fun wasn't over yet.  Faby and Tom were in the middle of a very impressive deadlifting display.  They were taking turns lifting obscene amounts of weight while the three of us watched from the side.  Tom would end up with the heaviest lift of the night, easily pulling 527 pounds from the ground up to his waist.  That was good enough for 3rd on the gym leaderboard.  I suspect it won't be long before he moves higher on that board.

Monday preview: My doctor is not pleased with my weight.  An Open workout is re-tested.  My post-WOD run takes longer than I realized.