With two lackluster WODs already scheduled earlier in the week, I was desperate for a good workout to pop up as I waited for the clock to strike 10pm on Wednesday evening. When it did, I was pleased. Here's what was on tap for Thursday, November 5th:
15-10-5
Squat Cleans (165/110)
Deadlifts (165/110)
*Complete 3 Rope Climbs (20') after each round
Rope climbs all the way to the ceiling? Now that's what I'm talking about!
I was genuinely excited about this workout until about 9am on Thursday. The morning scores were on the blog. The folks who attend the 6am and 7am classes have this bad habit of putting up times that put the afternoon times to shame. Most times were around 20:00, with only one person (Pete) completing the workout RX. When the 9:30am results were posted, only Jill A and Aimee had completed the workout RX. Noon results? Nobody did the workout RX. This was not looking good.
When I showed up to the gym about 10 minutes early for the 6:30 class, I saw the 5:30 class hard at work. Silver Fox, TJ, and Mr. Intensity all looked exhausted as the WOD clock was around 18 minutes. Each would take a turn climbing the rope to 15', before coming back down out of breath. Despite having three ropes available, you could tell that they had formed an unspoken agreement of going one at a time while the other two provided encouragement. About two minutes later, they were finished, looking like they never wanted to do this workout again. Flounder came up to me, covered in sweat, having finished a few minutes before I got there. He confirmed what my eyes had told me from watching Silver Fox, TJ, and Mr. Intensity: this workout was a bear.
It still didn't totally add up for me. I had practiced squat cleans about a week ago and was able to do sets of three at 165 pounds. If I did 5 sets like that, I'd be done with round one and half of the squat cleans would be finished. Deadlifts at 165 would be very light. I had actually done 30 deadlifts in a row at 165 pounds in a workout earlier this year. This workout had to be all about the rope climbs. I had never climbed to the 20' mark more than 6 times in a workout before. Today I would need to do it 9 times. But if I didn't exhaust myself on the other movements, I should be okay, right?
WARNING! WARNING! SUCKER WOD AHEAD!
I spoke with some folks who were hanging out at strength and they explained to me that there was a ton of pulling in this workout, which probably explained all of the fatigue I was seeing. I had a sense that my grip strength would be severely tested, but I hadn't put together that the squat cleans involved a big pull, that the deadlifts involved a pull, and that the long rope climbs involved extensive pulling. Then Silver Fox alerted me to the fact that it was muggy in the gym despite the fact that it was November. I stopped and thought about that and noticed that it was indeed much warmer than I realized in the gym. Just thinking about the word "muggy" made me suddenly perspire. Finally, I looked at the white board to see the afternoon times. Only two other people had completed this workout RX. One of them was Balmer, who tends to put up one of the best times of the day when he works out. His final time for this workout was 25:00. Gulp.
What have you learned this year Dave? As much as I wanted to tackle this workout RX, I decided against it. If only 5 people in the gym were able to finish this workout RX, then that was a bright blinking sign that I should be scaling the WOD. What should I be scaling? To me, the answer was obvious. I had no doubt the beast in this workout was the rope climb. The challenge was getting to the ceiling 9 times. The only way to do that would be to save my grip strength on the squat cleans and deadlifts. I decided to use 135 on my barbell.
I let Mr. Intensity know that I was getting to the top of that rope 9 times. Anything less would be a disappointment. I warmed up with 135 pounds to see how it felt for the squat cleans. One after another, I hit some very solid squat cleans. The weight was far from overwhelming. I was ready to rock and roll. Stay calm, be methodical, put up a solid time.
With 11 people in class, we went in 2 heats, with 6 people (including myself) in heat 1, while the remaining 5 folks would begin two minutes later. There were only 3 usable ropes, so we would have to take turns. In workouts where you are gasping for air, you tend not to be all that upset when someone else needs a rope. You can always use a break.
We got started and I knocked out 5 squat cleans before putting the bar down. I calmed my breathing, shook out my arms, then went again. Only got 4 this time before dropping, but I did a quick single after dropping. After another break, I did 2 more squat cleans, then three singles. It was on to the deadlifts. I thought I could knock out all 15 in a row, but I was noticing some strain on my grip already once I began doing them. So I did a set of 5, then dropped, then completed the final 10 reps. I hustled over to the chalk bucket, chalked up my hands, and got ready to climb the rope.
My plan was to do two rope climbs fast, take a small break, then get the third climb. That was exactly what happened. Because there was a bit of a logjam at the ropes, I gave up my original rope after the first climb, but it was only a couple of seconds before another one opened up. I hit the black metal at the top of the rope and came back down. I was in no hurry to do the third climb, so I let others go when a rope opened up. When I felt ready again, I got on an empty rope and made my way to the top for the third time. I slid back down and got back to my barbell. The clock was near 5:30. With half of the squat cleans and deadlifts done, as well as a third of the rope climbs, I was under 6 minutes. Solid time still within reach.
The second round was where things began to unravel. I started with two sets of 2 squat cleans. After completing those, I knew it was time for singles the rest of the way. I did a quick set of 3 singles, followed by a break. When I came back to the barbell, I did 3 more quick singles, finishing up the squat cleans. I shook out my arms again and then rattled off 10 deadlifts. Time to go back to the rope. Unfortunately, that seemed like the worst fate in the world. My arms could certainly have used a break after that third climb. Instead, I had worked them even more with the squat cleans and the deadlifts. Even worse, I got through them fairly quickly, meaning I only had a small break before it was time to climb.
My fourth climb was the final pain-free climb of the evening. Like the first three climbs, I scooted up the rope relatively quickly. But when I got back down to the bottom, my forearms and biceps were beginning to burn. Traffic at the rope was as heavy as it could get, with nearly everyone who was climbing the rope from heats one and two parked at the bottom awaiting a rope to open up. I was in no hurry, hoping that the down time would make my arms feel a little fresher. Eventually I got up on the rope for the fifth climb. This climb was slower and more taxing. Earlier, my technique could be described as a quick shimmy up the rope. I didn't even need to be fully locked in after each pull. I would just keep moving up the rope as if I had been fully secure on it. Now I could sense when I wasn't fully secure on the rope and I had a tense death grip on it to ensure I wouldn't fall. There was no moving on to the next pull until I felt completely locked in on the previous pull.
When I got to the bottom, I needed another break. It wasn't a problem as there were several folks waiting on ropes. In fact, we may have gotten to a point where we all hoping someone else would go so we could rest more at the bottom. When I felt ready, I did one more tense climb to the top. I got back to my barbell to discover that round two took almost 10 minutes exactly. The clock was now near 15:30.
I took a swig of water, shook out my arms and got ready to finish off the barbell movements. These were officially the "break" in the workout as the rope climbs were doling out all of the punishment. I did two quick singles on the squat cleans before pausing. When I was ready to go again, I did three final singles. Knowing I was just about done here, I wasted no time grabbing the barbell, quickly completing the final 5 deadlifts. Only 3 more rope climbs to go.
I had entered uncharted territory. Part of the reason I had only completed six 20' rope climbs in a workout before was because I had tired so badly from repeatedly going to that 20' mark. There is an exhaustion factor involved. There is also a fear factor involved, as no one enjoys dangling high above the ground while losing the ability to hold on to something. I went to chalk my hands, but they were so sweaty that the chalk liquified into white goop nearly instantly. So much for that. I wiped off my hands as best as I could and went up for my 7th climb. It was extremely slow. I could feel my arms burning. I slipped on one of my pulls and had to stop along the way. But I slapped my hand against that black piece of metal and slid down the rope. Two climbs to go. I needed a long break before I went up again. In the meantime, the girls (I forgot to mention that I was the only guy taking part in the 6:30 sis sesh) were finishing up their rope climbs, whether they were in heat one or heat two. Free ropes were no longer a problem. Ready to go again, I began my 8th ascent. Super slow, almost inchworming my way to the top. I wouldn't look up or look down. It was simply stare straight ahead and keep trying to pull as much as you can to get to the top. When I passed the 15' mark, I started to look for that black metal. A couple pulls later and it was within reach. One more to go.
When I got to the bottom, only Julia and I were still working. She had started in heat 2, but she had reached the same point as me, having only one climb left. As I caught my breath, she worked on her last climb. Mr. Intensity had stuck around to cheer me on and now he was standing next to me, encouraging me to get up that rope one last time. After Julia came back down to the floor, I was the last one left. I calmed my breathing and jumped on the rope. Same type of climb as the eighth one, staring straight ahead as I tried to ignore how badly my arms were burning. Right as I got past the 15' mark, my grip on the rope started to loosen. It was time to panic. I made another pull to bring me within a few feet of the black metal. I needed one huge pull or two more mini-pulls to get there. But my arms were shaking like crazy and I no longer felt safe climbing. Reluctantly I slid down the rope to the floor. Everyone clapped and Giulz turned off the music. Mr. Intensity told me that I did a good job on the workout. Julia brought my water bottle over to me. I looked up at the clock and saw it say 21 minutes and change.
Maybe this was the best thing that could have happened to me. I've written over and over again about how dopey I feel when I'm the last one working and everyone else is encouraging me on despite having been done for a while. Now everyone had dispersed, going over to the white board with Giulz to write down their times. I hadn't done that because I wasn't finished. There was no way in hell that I was going to climb that rope 8 times to the 20' mark and not get there a ninth and final time. Giulz yelled over to me to ask what my time was and I gave her a dismissive wave. Erika's son and Stasie were now using the two ropes next to me, but the one I had just failed on was still open. The clock for the WOD was still running and had now passed 23 minutes. If Balmer got 25 minutes to finish his workout, why was my workout over? F that. I was getting up that rope. Since Stasie was closest to me, I let her know that I was going back up my rope. (I have a bad habit of twirling on my rope as I climb it and I didn't want to kick her.) I calmed my breathing one more time, got ready to jump, then leaped on to my rope.
I knew that if I was going to make it this time, I had to move with some urgency. My arms were still shaking and I had very little left in terms of grip strength. I needed one of those climbs like I had in the first set of three. Move quickly, take less pulls, get to the top in a hurry. I got to the 15' mark a lot faster than I had during the last two climbs. I took another pull and got to where I had to stop on the last climb. Two more pulls, come on, almost there. I took another pull and looked to see if I could reach the black metal. It wasn't far away, but I couldn't reach it from where I was. Needed like half of a pull more. I was strangling the rope with the worst death grip you've ever seen. I couldn't quit here. I pulled my knees up, re-established my foothold, and should have been done. But I was so terrified of loosening my grip that I was having trouble simply reaching up and slapping that metal. After a second or two of talking myself into letting go quickly, slapping the metal, then re-establishing my death grip, I finally did it. Final time: 24:34.
Before I even attempted this workout, I had made a promise to myself that Friday would be a rest day. After this workout, I'm not sure I could think of anything that sounded less appealing than working out on Friday. The Friday WOD could have been miniature golf and I wouldn't have the energy to do it. I sat around at the gym for nearly a half hour after the workout. My arms were still trembling and I didn't feel safe driving. It was bad. I've put my body through a lot this past week, so I'm going to need to mix in some recovery time this weekend.
Saturday preview: Competitors Class after a much-needed day off. Let's hope it's one of those "everybody is pretty sleepy" days.
I was genuinely excited about this workout until about 9am on Thursday. The morning scores were on the blog. The folks who attend the 6am and 7am classes have this bad habit of putting up times that put the afternoon times to shame. Most times were around 20:00, with only one person (Pete) completing the workout RX. When the 9:30am results were posted, only Jill A and Aimee had completed the workout RX. Noon results? Nobody did the workout RX. This was not looking good.
When I showed up to the gym about 10 minutes early for the 6:30 class, I saw the 5:30 class hard at work. Silver Fox, TJ, and Mr. Intensity all looked exhausted as the WOD clock was around 18 minutes. Each would take a turn climbing the rope to 15', before coming back down out of breath. Despite having three ropes available, you could tell that they had formed an unspoken agreement of going one at a time while the other two provided encouragement. About two minutes later, they were finished, looking like they never wanted to do this workout again. Flounder came up to me, covered in sweat, having finished a few minutes before I got there. He confirmed what my eyes had told me from watching Silver Fox, TJ, and Mr. Intensity: this workout was a bear.
It still didn't totally add up for me. I had practiced squat cleans about a week ago and was able to do sets of three at 165 pounds. If I did 5 sets like that, I'd be done with round one and half of the squat cleans would be finished. Deadlifts at 165 would be very light. I had actually done 30 deadlifts in a row at 165 pounds in a workout earlier this year. This workout had to be all about the rope climbs. I had never climbed to the 20' mark more than 6 times in a workout before. Today I would need to do it 9 times. But if I didn't exhaust myself on the other movements, I should be okay, right?
WARNING! WARNING! SUCKER WOD AHEAD!
I spoke with some folks who were hanging out at strength and they explained to me that there was a ton of pulling in this workout, which probably explained all of the fatigue I was seeing. I had a sense that my grip strength would be severely tested, but I hadn't put together that the squat cleans involved a big pull, that the deadlifts involved a pull, and that the long rope climbs involved extensive pulling. Then Silver Fox alerted me to the fact that it was muggy in the gym despite the fact that it was November. I stopped and thought about that and noticed that it was indeed much warmer than I realized in the gym. Just thinking about the word "muggy" made me suddenly perspire. Finally, I looked at the white board to see the afternoon times. Only two other people had completed this workout RX. One of them was Balmer, who tends to put up one of the best times of the day when he works out. His final time for this workout was 25:00. Gulp.
What have you learned this year Dave? As much as I wanted to tackle this workout RX, I decided against it. If only 5 people in the gym were able to finish this workout RX, then that was a bright blinking sign that I should be scaling the WOD. What should I be scaling? To me, the answer was obvious. I had no doubt the beast in this workout was the rope climb. The challenge was getting to the ceiling 9 times. The only way to do that would be to save my grip strength on the squat cleans and deadlifts. I decided to use 135 on my barbell.
I let Mr. Intensity know that I was getting to the top of that rope 9 times. Anything less would be a disappointment. I warmed up with 135 pounds to see how it felt for the squat cleans. One after another, I hit some very solid squat cleans. The weight was far from overwhelming. I was ready to rock and roll. Stay calm, be methodical, put up a solid time.
With 11 people in class, we went in 2 heats, with 6 people (including myself) in heat 1, while the remaining 5 folks would begin two minutes later. There were only 3 usable ropes, so we would have to take turns. In workouts where you are gasping for air, you tend not to be all that upset when someone else needs a rope. You can always use a break.
We got started and I knocked out 5 squat cleans before putting the bar down. I calmed my breathing, shook out my arms, then went again. Only got 4 this time before dropping, but I did a quick single after dropping. After another break, I did 2 more squat cleans, then three singles. It was on to the deadlifts. I thought I could knock out all 15 in a row, but I was noticing some strain on my grip already once I began doing them. So I did a set of 5, then dropped, then completed the final 10 reps. I hustled over to the chalk bucket, chalked up my hands, and got ready to climb the rope.
My plan was to do two rope climbs fast, take a small break, then get the third climb. That was exactly what happened. Because there was a bit of a logjam at the ropes, I gave up my original rope after the first climb, but it was only a couple of seconds before another one opened up. I hit the black metal at the top of the rope and came back down. I was in no hurry to do the third climb, so I let others go when a rope opened up. When I felt ready again, I got on an empty rope and made my way to the top for the third time. I slid back down and got back to my barbell. The clock was near 5:30. With half of the squat cleans and deadlifts done, as well as a third of the rope climbs, I was under 6 minutes. Solid time still within reach.
The second round was where things began to unravel. I started with two sets of 2 squat cleans. After completing those, I knew it was time for singles the rest of the way. I did a quick set of 3 singles, followed by a break. When I came back to the barbell, I did 3 more quick singles, finishing up the squat cleans. I shook out my arms again and then rattled off 10 deadlifts. Time to go back to the rope. Unfortunately, that seemed like the worst fate in the world. My arms could certainly have used a break after that third climb. Instead, I had worked them even more with the squat cleans and the deadlifts. Even worse, I got through them fairly quickly, meaning I only had a small break before it was time to climb.
My fourth climb was the final pain-free climb of the evening. Like the first three climbs, I scooted up the rope relatively quickly. But when I got back down to the bottom, my forearms and biceps were beginning to burn. Traffic at the rope was as heavy as it could get, with nearly everyone who was climbing the rope from heats one and two parked at the bottom awaiting a rope to open up. I was in no hurry, hoping that the down time would make my arms feel a little fresher. Eventually I got up on the rope for the fifth climb. This climb was slower and more taxing. Earlier, my technique could be described as a quick shimmy up the rope. I didn't even need to be fully locked in after each pull. I would just keep moving up the rope as if I had been fully secure on it. Now I could sense when I wasn't fully secure on the rope and I had a tense death grip on it to ensure I wouldn't fall. There was no moving on to the next pull until I felt completely locked in on the previous pull.
When I got to the bottom, I needed another break. It wasn't a problem as there were several folks waiting on ropes. In fact, we may have gotten to a point where we all hoping someone else would go so we could rest more at the bottom. When I felt ready, I did one more tense climb to the top. I got back to my barbell to discover that round two took almost 10 minutes exactly. The clock was now near 15:30.
I took a swig of water, shook out my arms and got ready to finish off the barbell movements. These were officially the "break" in the workout as the rope climbs were doling out all of the punishment. I did two quick singles on the squat cleans before pausing. When I was ready to go again, I did three final singles. Knowing I was just about done here, I wasted no time grabbing the barbell, quickly completing the final 5 deadlifts. Only 3 more rope climbs to go.
I had entered uncharted territory. Part of the reason I had only completed six 20' rope climbs in a workout before was because I had tired so badly from repeatedly going to that 20' mark. There is an exhaustion factor involved. There is also a fear factor involved, as no one enjoys dangling high above the ground while losing the ability to hold on to something. I went to chalk my hands, but they were so sweaty that the chalk liquified into white goop nearly instantly. So much for that. I wiped off my hands as best as I could and went up for my 7th climb. It was extremely slow. I could feel my arms burning. I slipped on one of my pulls and had to stop along the way. But I slapped my hand against that black piece of metal and slid down the rope. Two climbs to go. I needed a long break before I went up again. In the meantime, the girls (I forgot to mention that I was the only guy taking part in the 6:30 sis sesh) were finishing up their rope climbs, whether they were in heat one or heat two. Free ropes were no longer a problem. Ready to go again, I began my 8th ascent. Super slow, almost inchworming my way to the top. I wouldn't look up or look down. It was simply stare straight ahead and keep trying to pull as much as you can to get to the top. When I passed the 15' mark, I started to look for that black metal. A couple pulls later and it was within reach. One more to go.
When I got to the bottom, only Julia and I were still working. She had started in heat 2, but she had reached the same point as me, having only one climb left. As I caught my breath, she worked on her last climb. Mr. Intensity had stuck around to cheer me on and now he was standing next to me, encouraging me to get up that rope one last time. After Julia came back down to the floor, I was the last one left. I calmed my breathing and jumped on the rope. Same type of climb as the eighth one, staring straight ahead as I tried to ignore how badly my arms were burning. Right as I got past the 15' mark, my grip on the rope started to loosen. It was time to panic. I made another pull to bring me within a few feet of the black metal. I needed one huge pull or two more mini-pulls to get there. But my arms were shaking like crazy and I no longer felt safe climbing. Reluctantly I slid down the rope to the floor. Everyone clapped and Giulz turned off the music. Mr. Intensity told me that I did a good job on the workout. Julia brought my water bottle over to me. I looked up at the clock and saw it say 21 minutes and change.
Maybe this was the best thing that could have happened to me. I've written over and over again about how dopey I feel when I'm the last one working and everyone else is encouraging me on despite having been done for a while. Now everyone had dispersed, going over to the white board with Giulz to write down their times. I hadn't done that because I wasn't finished. There was no way in hell that I was going to climb that rope 8 times to the 20' mark and not get there a ninth and final time. Giulz yelled over to me to ask what my time was and I gave her a dismissive wave. Erika's son and Stasie were now using the two ropes next to me, but the one I had just failed on was still open. The clock for the WOD was still running and had now passed 23 minutes. If Balmer got 25 minutes to finish his workout, why was my workout over? F that. I was getting up that rope. Since Stasie was closest to me, I let her know that I was going back up my rope. (I have a bad habit of twirling on my rope as I climb it and I didn't want to kick her.) I calmed my breathing one more time, got ready to jump, then leaped on to my rope.
I knew that if I was going to make it this time, I had to move with some urgency. My arms were still shaking and I had very little left in terms of grip strength. I needed one of those climbs like I had in the first set of three. Move quickly, take less pulls, get to the top in a hurry. I got to the 15' mark a lot faster than I had during the last two climbs. I took another pull and got to where I had to stop on the last climb. Two more pulls, come on, almost there. I took another pull and looked to see if I could reach the black metal. It wasn't far away, but I couldn't reach it from where I was. Needed like half of a pull more. I was strangling the rope with the worst death grip you've ever seen. I couldn't quit here. I pulled my knees up, re-established my foothold, and should have been done. But I was so terrified of loosening my grip that I was having trouble simply reaching up and slapping that metal. After a second or two of talking myself into letting go quickly, slapping the metal, then re-establishing my death grip, I finally did it. Final time: 24:34.
Before I even attempted this workout, I had made a promise to myself that Friday would be a rest day. After this workout, I'm not sure I could think of anything that sounded less appealing than working out on Friday. The Friday WOD could have been miniature golf and I wouldn't have the energy to do it. I sat around at the gym for nearly a half hour after the workout. My arms were still trembling and I didn't feel safe driving. It was bad. I've put my body through a lot this past week, so I'm going to need to mix in some recovery time this weekend.
Saturday preview: Competitors Class after a much-needed day off. Let's hope it's one of those "everybody is pretty sleepy" days.
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