Crossfit bills itself as being constantly varied, but recent programming seemed to indicate that it was not. Notice any patterns here?
- June 20th: 1RM snatch
- July 26th: 1RM snatch
- August 9th: 1RM snatch
- September 14th: 1RM snatch
In less than 3 months, we were testing our 1RM snatch for the fourth time! The KOP record was skipping and no one had bothered to pick up the needle. I was tempted to fly to Vegas and see if any of the future books would take action on the 1RM snatch appearing in the KOP programming the week of October 12th. I was particularly sensitive to seeing this as the WOD because this would actually be my 7th time in 3 months trying to find my 1RM snatch. In addition to the four WODs mentioned above, I had these 3 encounters with the snatch:
- July 30th: Bridgeport Barbell Classic
- August 13th: Practice for Mall Walker event at Brawl In The Burbs
- August 26th: Actual Mall Walker event at Brawl In The Burbs
I thought about going to the 7:30 class on Thursday night, but sometimes no one else shows up to that class. I wasn't interested in taking class by myself, so I decided to come in an hour earlier. If I didn't know better, I would have thought it was Monday, not Thursday. The 6:30 class was jam packed. There were 15 people there for the WOD, along with at least 5 others who were there for Open Strength. (There was a nutrition seminar going on in the annex, so the main gym had to hold both the 6:30 class and the Open Strength session.) We even had someone doing a videotaped workout in the middle of the gym. It was mayhem.
Giulz tried to get us all organized for the snatch. Several of us were going to have to go to the magic platform to lift and there was the typical non-interest by most of the class to move over there. Kris trains on the platform regularly when she comes in for Open Strength, so she had no qualms about heading over there. I picked up my empty barbell and joined her. Kris was barely on the back edge of the platform, while I squeezed in between her and Ms. January (who was there for Open Strength). We were definitely going to have to coordinate our lifts in these tight quarters.
Giulz walked us through the key details of the snatch. I had no fear that Kris or I was going to lose control of an empty barbell during the warmup, but I still felt very claustrophobic on the platform. We could take turns during the WOD, but if one of us lost our barbell in the wrong direction, it was going to bounce off of someone else's. That was just asking for trouble. I continued to participate in the warmup, but my eyes were scanning the room for someplace else to lift. There was only one possibility, but it wasn't a great one.
In the far back of the gym, there was some space. The problem is the floor isn't level back there. (I believe both Giulz and I referred to the area as "the gully" later on.) In order to make sure I was lifting on a level area, I would need to confine myself to a small space if I moved back there. So that was no different than my current situation on the platform. However, I would no longer have to worry about barbells bouncing off of one another (and neither would Kris). That was good enough for me. Once Giulz told us to start loading up our barbells, I moved from the platform to my new home in the gully.
I was much happier in my new home. I could stand in the lower level of the gully and drop my barbell forward at the end of each lift. It would bounce or roll against the hump that formed the perimeter of the gully and then gently roll back to me. The only thing that I had to keep in mind was that I couldn't walk forward with any of my attempts. If I did that, I could stumble on the hump or I could lose the barbell over the top of the hump. If that happened, my barbell would roll into the guy in front of me who was there for Open Strength.
We've done the 1RM snatch so many times recently that you, the reader, could probably recite the progression I used here. I started with two snatches at 115, then two more at 135. From there it was on to 155-170-180 and if all those were successful, a PR try at 190. The opening lifts at 115 and 135 were not a problem. The lift at 155 felt fine, although I was very methodical about coming up out of the bottom of the squat. I probably didn't need to sit down there forever on a lift that is 30 pounds less than my best, but I was being a bit more cautious with everything given the fact that I couldn't move around much during this WOD. The next lift was at 170. Once again, I caught it in my squat, took my time sitting there to ensure that I had my balance, then calmly stood up with the barbell.
That would be the last lift that I did in the gully. Giulz came down to tell me that a space in the middle of the gym had opened up. Justin C had been occupying that spot up until now. Justin might be the best athlete in our gym who regularly attends classes. He nearly beat Andrew C at King and Queen. Andrew is the only athlete in five years that I've seen beat Aimee in the Open, so it should tell you something that Justin gave Andrew a run for his money. Justin was looking to qualify for a major competition, so he had to videotape his performance on a specific WOD. That WOD was 7 minutes of squat clean and jerks using 165 pounds. Everyone in the gym was cheering him on as he did one squat clean and jerk after another. As he approached the 6 minute mark, he performed a squat clean, but was unable to jerk it overhead. Damn. That workout must have hurt a whole hell of a lot more than I could have imagined. The seconds ticked down and we yelled at him to get one last rep in. He fought through a painful looking squat clean. Then he propelled the barbell overhead. Justin showed what a tough dude he is by getting that last rep in.
Now that Justin was done and didn't need prime real estate for videography, there was a better place for me to do my snatches. Giulz told me to move to Justin's old spot. I didn't even need to move my barbell. My next lift was 180 pounds, so I only needed some small plates to add to Justin's barbell, which already had 165 pounds on it. An extra bonus: Justin was nice enough to put away the barbell and plates that I had left down in the gully. As I made my way to my new digs, Keithie stopped me to tell me that he really liked how patient I was on that snatch at 170. He was the one who helped me through a squat snatch workout during the summer when I was struggling. He had told me to take my time once I caught the barbell in the squat because I could overhead squat the weight all day. I was using 135 pounds in that workout, but the advice was just as useful with 170 pounds on the barbell. I might not be able to overhead squat 170 pounds all day, but I can certainly do it at least once.
After adding 15 pounds to Justin's barbell, I got ready for my first attempt at 180. I missed it. My thoughts weren't about my form or my speed. Instead my immediate reaction was "I shouldn't have left the gully!" That was just silly. Having that thought pop in my head probably helped relax me before my second attempt. That lift was very similar to the one I had at 170 pounds. I caught it in the squat, remained patient, and slowly rose from the floor with the barbell overhead. Samson was walking around taking photos and though he didn't catch that moment on film, he did supply me with a compliment: "You look so comfortable down there." It was true. There are many things we do in the gym where a little bit of fear can keep you from pulling off a movement properly. But I'm never concerned about having the barbell overhead. And I'm never concerned that I won't be able to stand up a barbell as long as I have my balance.
With 180 out of the way, I could set my sights on a new PR. I had to attempt 195 pounds on my last lift at the Brawl and I wasn't incredibly far off on it. That, along with hitting 185 pounds three times, gave me the belief that 190 was a real possibility. I didn't have a lot of time left before the cash-out, so I was likely only getting two shots at this. Attempt #1: not so wonderful. I had a couple people say the word that I hate hearing when I try to snatch: "slow". If I was going to get this weight overhead, I needed to move with urgency and hope that my form held up. So for attempt #2, I moved as fast as I could. Thanks to Samson, I got one of the cooler photos I've ever had taken of me in the gym:
Speed + hops = high barbell flight
Whether it's due to my slow speed or the fact that I sometimes don't continue pulling at the top of the lift, I rarely get the barbell that high, even when I have less weight on the barbell. The fact that I was able to get 190 pounds as high as I did in that photo was impressive even to me. (And there is little that I do which I'm impressed by.) Unfortunately, I might have gotten too amped up. When I dropped below the barbell to catch it, it was a bit behind me. I tried to pull it back forward, but it was too late. I had to drop the barbell behind me.
Reluctantly dumping the barbell
That was a tough one to accept. Most of my PR attempts ended with me having to dump the barbell forward because I didn't get it high enough. When you have to dump it behind you, it is proof that you had more than enough power to snatch it. I had it! I couldn't end things on that note, so I got up and didn't take much time before making one last attempt. I focused on speed once again. This attempt didn't end up behind me, probably because I rushed it and didn't get as much power on the lift. However, I did catch it. Sort of. It was slightly in front of me, but it felt like I could salvage the lift. Rather than try and recover in the squat, I tried to stand up quickly with it so that I didn't lose it. I began to walk forward. There were no other lifters in front of me. No hump to worry about. I had some room to work with. As I rose to my feet, I took a step, then another and another. And another. I was basically chasing the barbell. Except there was no catching up to it. I hurled it forward, knowing I couldn't hold on to it. Those last two attempts told me I had the ability to snatch 190 pounds. I just had to keep after it.
We were running the cash-out in three heats. Raj and I were the last two making snatch attempts, so we were in the final heat along with Esra and Steph C. There was a two minute gap between heats, but the first heat was underway when we did our final lifts, so we didn't have a lot of time to switch out of our lifting shoes and throw on our sneakers. Raj and I had to double-time it out the door so that we weren't late getting to the barrier. As you might have guessed, there was some running to begin the cash-out. Here's everything we were doing:
Cash-out:
400 meter run
20 burpees to a plate
10/7 calories on assault bike
50 double unders
*Time cap: 10 minutes
Normally I wouldn't be happy about any form of burpees, but I had done alright on the burpees to a plate at the Brawl. If I could develop some anger on the run, maybe I could channel it into a bunch of quick burpees like I had done at the competition. The assault bike portion of this cash-out was brief, so even if I was hurting when I got there, it probably wasn't going to take very long. The cash-out concluded with double unders. I had no idea how that would play out. My confidence with the jump rope had definitely been shaken by my experience in the final event of the Brawl.
Raj and I had a running start to begin this workout. Giulz yelled for heat three to go and we were still a few strides away from the barrier, but soon we went by our two heat-mates. I didn't think I was running all that fast, but when I got to the turnaround point, I saw that I had a decent sized lead on Raj, Esra, and Steph. I was the first one back to the gym and I headed right to my plate. It was occupied. I'm not sure if Erik got confused about which plate was his, but he was definitely doing burpees on to my plate. The next closest plate to mine was Esra's. I figured I might as well use hers and let her find another one to use since mine had been apprehended. Right as I was about to do my first burpee, I saw Esra come through the door. I couldn't do it. I yelled over to her to confirm the plate I was about to use was hers and she signaled that it was. I looked around for another plate to use. Sure enough there was one open over where Erik had been snatching earlier.
Having to run around to find an open plate was annoying, but it didn't make me angry like failing on the double unders did in the last event of the Brawl, so I didn't really have any rage to use on the burpees. I got through the initial 10 pretty quickly, then slowed down on the last 10. I jogged over to an open assault bike and had trouble getting it moving. Once I did, the 10 calories weren't so bad. That left the double unders. For the second time in this cash-out, I had to scramble. No one was using my jump rope, but there was very little free space to do my double unders. I nearly hit someone else's rope when I did my first set. I moved over to another area, but I wasn't confident I wouldn't tangle ropes there either. I saw a free spot up towards the platform (Open Strength was over) and finished the cash-out there. I had some moderately long sets, but completely blew it once I got to 47 reps. I was in a rush to get the last 3 reps done and kept hitting myself with the rope. After three or four tries, I finally got the last of the double unders out of the way. Final time: 6:23.
That didn't rival some of the faster times in the gym, but I was pretty happy to be that far under the time cap. Part of me wondered whether I had done the entire cash-out or if I had accidentally skipped something. Nope, I did the whole thing. I still had some energy left when I was done though. So while the 7:30 class got ready to find their 1RM snatches, I decided to hold my own personal Endurance class. Coach Tim was nowhere to be found and no one in the neighborhood charged me $10 for running in the dark. I felt like I had neglected doing cardio this summer and this was an opportune time to make up for that, at least somewhat. I ran the 400 meter loop six times for a mile and a half in total. Didn't time it or anything. Just wanted to get that extra work in.
Monday/Tuesday preview: After a weekend filled with anniversary and 40th birthday celebrations, I decide to stay home and row on Monday night. Then on Tuesday, I do an insane partner WOD with Neil.
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