I didn't realize that the fall session of the BBC eight-week program had begun on October 11th, but that was because I wasn't in class last Wednesday, a fact that Coach Jenna made sure to tease me about when I arrived for this week's Wednesday 7:30 class. Per usual, the BBC athletes would be on the right side of the gym near the magic platform while those of us there for the WOD would occupy the left side of the gym. That was very helpful this evening because we needed the racks on the left side of the gym for this workout. It was a unique one that would require a lot of planning.
Wednesday's WOD:
Every 2 minutes for 20 minutes
1 front squat + 3 shoulder-to-overheads
(Build towards a max weight, hit that weight somewhere around sets 5-7, use 80-90% of max for remaining sets)
This was basically a barbell EMOM (which I've stated are stupid) that had an extra minute of rest built in between sets (which is brilliant!). I couldn't imagine these sets taking more than 30 seconds or so to complete. It would probably take about 30 seconds to change weights, leaving athletes a full minute to recover from their prior set. No one had to fear that they weren't going to get any rest because they didn't change plates fast enough or because they grabbed a pair of clips that stubbornly refused to come off of the barbell easily. This was a well-designed EMOM. Or an ETMOM. I'm not sure what you call it when work is required every two minutes.
The planning aspect was interesting because there were specific directions included as far as when you should be hitting your max. The trouble was that most of us didn't know what our "1 front squat + 3 shoulder-to-overhead" max was. I'm not sure I could even tell you what my max was for 3 push jerks alone. I also had no idea how much the early sets would take out of us as we progressed along. Originally I thought that I might be able to get as high as 205 or 215 pounds, but then I looked at the early scores and was frightened off by one in particular. Rich had ended up with a score of 200 on this WOD and his front squat and shoulder-to-overhead numbers were higher than mine. His score dampened my enthusiasm a bit. I would aim for 205 knowing that something in the 185-195 range might be more likely.
Jenna had four people in her 7:30 class. It was me, Neil, Erika R, and Mark Spak. She got our quartet warmed up with a series of drills that included a 200 meter run, some squats, some stretches, and some KB swings. Then she had us each choose a rack and place an empty barbell on it. Once we made our way to the racks, Jenna covered the various options in this workout. The front squat was not optional, but she wanted to make sure we all had solid form. From there it was on to the three shoulder-to-overhead options: the shoulder press, the push press, and the push jerk. I have no idea why anyone would choose to do the shoulder press, but Jenna had us perform it just in case. The push press could be quicker than the push jerk in the early sets when the barbell might be light enough that athletes wouldn't need to jerk it, so I understood going over that lift. Last but not least was the push jerk, the option that was going to be used the majority of the time in this ETMOM. (I did ask whether a split jerk was allowed and Jenna said that it was, but it was probably going to be difficult to do three split jerks with heavy weight and control it properly. I also asked whether we were allowed to place the barbell back on the rack during the sequence, as the directions didn't seem clear on whether the work had to be done in one set or whether the work in each set had to be completed within 2 minutes. Jenna confirmed that all 4 reps had to be done without putting the barbell down.)
My plan was to go 115-135-155-175-185-195-205 for the first seven rounds. Depending on how those went, I would decide what weight I'd use for sets 8-10. Before the WOD started, I was leaning towards 175 pounds for those final three sets. Neil and I discussed what weight we'd be using for the initial set (115), but we didn't go into any details beyond that. Jenna got the clock ready and reminded us that even though it was going to beep every minute, we had two minutes between sets. We heard the first beep and got into our first sets.
The sets at 115, 135, and 155 weren't all that difficult. I looked over between rounds and saw that Neil was using the same weights. He didn't talk with me until we finished that set at 155. That was when he asked me if my goal was to get to 205. Indeed it was. He then asked me if I planned on going 175-185-195-205 over my next four sets. Indeed I was! He had the same plan, but was concerned about reaching that mark because he saw that Rich had only gotten 200 pounds. It was like we were sharing the same brain! As we got ready for the set at 175, we made a deal that we were both going to beat Rich's score from earlier in the day.
It didn't take long for me to wonder whether my mouth just wrote a check my ass couldn't cash. The set at 175 pounds was the first one that felt heavy. The front squat was still pretty easy, but controlling the barbell for three push jerks was tough. The barbell would come crashing down on my chest after every rep. That was no fun. It was only going to hurt even more as the barbell got heavier.
The sets at 185 and 195 were heavy, but I don't think I experienced any more trouble with those sets than I had with the set at 175. My chest was taking a beating, but my jerks were still strong. The front squats were still nothing more than a formality. It was now put up or shut up time. Neil and I put 205 on our respective barbells and endeavored to beat Rich. I didn't grab my barbell immediately when the clock beeped. I was still gathering my thoughts. Neil didn't hesitate at all, going right into his set. A few seconds later, I grabbed my barbell and began my set. The front squat was still relatively easy. I came up, gathered myself for a second, then went into the push jerks. They were rapid fire. I didn't bother taking time to reset in between reps. The only pause that I might have taken was to make sure my feet were where I wanted them. One, two, three...I had beaten Rich's score.
I racked my barbell and then turned to fist bump Neil since I hadn't heard his barbell drop to the floor. I was surprised to see that he was still holding his barbell. He was taking his time between reps and had one push jerk remaining. He got that one overhead and then placed his barbell back on the rack. I congratulated him, saying "at least we beat Rich!" Neil was happy about that, but he wanted more. "215?", he asked. We were supposed to have reached our max by set 7 or sooner and we had just completed set 7. Going up was a flagrant violation of the guidelines for this workout. But I couldn't resist the urge to try 215. We both added 10 pounds to our barbell.
The set at 215 began the same way the set at 205 started. Neil took his barbell from the rack before I did. I needed a few extra seconds to psyche myself up for this heavy weight, but it wasn't too long before I had my barbell on my shoulders. The front squat was now getting heavy, but I didn't get stuck at all as I stood up with it. I made sure my feet were in good position and then I did the first push jerk. The one thing I was very good about as the barbell got heavy was getting low on the jerk. It wasn't like I was doing a small dip and rising up a tiny amount with the barbell when I did each push jerk. I was dropping low enough that I was almost doing half of an overhead squat to complete each rep. Maybe that was just me going to my safe place since I have a ton of faith in my overhead squatting ability. All I know is that it worked. It hurt like hell each time I dropped the barbell on my chest between reps, but I continued to move into the next rep quickly. I was psyched when I stood upright with the third push jerk at 215.
After racking my barbell, I turned to see if Neil was done. He was not. He was actually in a lot of trouble. I've described how I sometimes cheat on the shoulder press by going into a "vertical bench press" position where my back is arched and I'm using my body to press up the barbell (as opposed to pure shoulder strength). When I looked at Neil, he was in the vertical bench press position. He then started walking backwards. We all went into panic mode thinking that he might fall on his back and have his 215 pound barbell land on top of him. There was also reason to be concerned for the BBC class, as he was backpedaling his way towards them. Right as he was closing in on Anne B, he was able to push the barbell forward and away from him. He fell to the floor without getting injured. Later, Anne B would remind me that this wasn't the first time that she had to avoid a barbell at a BBC class. During one of the summer sessions, I dropped a barbell during a WOD and it nearly bounced into her. Poor Anne was just trying to get better at Olympic lifting and here we were putting her in danger repeatedly. I told her that in upcoming classes we'd put up warning signs around her that said "beware of falling objects".
I helped Neil put his barbell back on the rack thinking that we were going to drop weight finally, but he told me his 9th set would be 215 again. I was certainly not doing 215 again. That was pointless. I could drop back down to 185 and do two sets at that weight. I bumped my drop set weight up to 185 from 175 because I had done better than expected in getting 215 as my max. The other alternative was to go up to 225. I stood next to my barbell unsure of what I wanted to do until there were 30 seconds left in my rest period. Finally, I looked over to Neil and said, "screw it, I'm trying 225". I got 225 on my barbell just before the clock beeped.
Because I was late getting the weight on my barbell, I wasn't ready to go right at the start of the two minute period. Neil was always ready. I watched him do the front squat before I went to begin my set. I took my barbell from the rack and did my front squat. Just like the rep at 215, it was heavy, but I didn't get stuck at all. Right as I was about to do my first push jerk, I heard Neil drop his barbell. He missed at 215 again. That wasn't inspiring confidence for this set at 225. I did the first push jerk and barely got my arms extended. I was a little shaky standing up with it, but I had it. I let the barbell crash on to my chest in preparation for the 2nd jerk. I took some time to reset my form, the first time I had done so in this WOD. This barbell felt extremely heavy and I couldn't speed through my reps and hope to finish the set. The second push jerk was a replica of the first one I had done, although I had some trouble keeping my balance as I stood upright. I had to take a couple of steps to my left before I steadied myself. I wasn't concerned about falling, but I knew Mark was on the rack next to me and I was scared that I might be about to run into him. I couldn't see him as I got ready for the third push jerk. I told myself not to step to the left or bail my barbell to the left on this last rep. I reset everything one last time and went for the jerk. I was well under the barbell and my arms were extended. I was a bit in shock as I stood up with the barbell. I triumphantly slammed my barbell to the floor, giddy with excitement that I had somehow completed the set at 225 pounds.
There was still one set to go, but I wasn't concerned about that too much. I stripped down my barbell to 135 pounds, cleaned it, put it in the rack, then added 25 pounds to each side so that I could use 185 pounds for my final set. I expected the barbell to feel light after that set at 225 pounds and that prediction was accurate. I bounced right out of the bottom of the front squat, made sure my stance was okay, then fired off three fast push jerks. The ETMOM was over. Final score: 225.
The cash-out was not for time for the second straight night. We were given three options to choose from:
Cash-out:
3 rounds
Novice level: 20 ab-mat sit-ups, 20 Russian med ball twists per round
Intermediate level: 20 GHD sit-ups, 20 hip extensions per round
Advanced level: 20 GHD sit-ups, 20 hip back extensions per round
Ab-mat sit-ups are your basic sit-ups with a pad for your back, while GHD sit-ups are the much more difficult version. You secure your feet in the GHD machine, lean backwards while facing the ceiling, touch the floor, and come back up. Russian med ball twists involve rotating side-to-side with a med ball in your hands and your feet hovering above the floor. Hip extensions and hip back extensions also take place on the GHD machine. You flip your body over from the way you'd have it set up for sit-ups. For hip extensions, you lower your upper body towards the floor while keeping your shoulders pinned back. At a certain point, you reverse the motion and return to how you started. Hip back extensions were slower and more difficult. The motion is very similar, but you slowly extend one vertebrae at a time.
I was going to go with the intermediate option, but the GHD sit-ups proved to be too much for me. The soreness I encountered doing 60 GHD sit-ups the week before was still present and additional GHD sit-ups were not the healing salve I needed. I did 5 reps and then stopped. I took a decent break before trying again. I did 5 more sit-ups before having to wave the white flag. I went to the back of the gym and got an ab-mat. There was no pain when I performed the ab-mat sit-ups.
Abdominal pain was no longer an issue but quad pain was. When you do hip extensions, your quads are crushed into the pads of the GHD machine. It's not the most agonizing pain you'd ever experience, but it's not something you want to endure for very long. On my first two sets of hip extensions, I had to stop after 12 reps because the pain got to be too much. The remaining 8 reps of each set were no picnic either. When I got to the final set of hip extensions, I knew it was the last thing I had to do, so I was going to fight through the pain and do all 20. I made it to 17 reps before it really hurt, but I hung on for the last three. Cash-out done. Count me out when it comes to using the GHD machine any time in the near future. I've had my fill for a while.
Friday preview: Yet another barbell EMOM. I do the ugliest power clean ever seen in a Crossfit gym. The resting squat makes its return during the cash-out.
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