Slower Than The Rower

Workout date: 8/21/17

The Brawl In The Burbs was only five days away and team Run The Giulz had only practiced the events once.  The rest of the team wanted to get together over the weekend, but I was in Alabama acting as a pallbearer.  Kris and Raj were going to be at the gym on Monday night, so we made plans to run through Polpetta at Open Strength using a new strategy.  Before that though, there was a WOD that needed completing at the 6:30 class.  Here's what we'd be doing:

Monday's WOD

15 minute AMRAP

10 deadlifts (205/135)

20 wall balls (20#/14# to 10'/9')

10 deadlifts

20 burpees over the barbell

First thing to know about this workout: it was going to destroy my phenomenally weak hamstrings.  It would start with the moderately heavy deadlifts.  The wall balls were going to break down my legs even more.  The burpees over the barbell would be the coup de grace.  Second thing to know: it was hot.  I write all the time about how humid it is inside the gym, so what I'm about to say shouldn't be taken lightly.  August 21st was the muggiest night of the summer.  Want proof?  As we were warming up, I had to stop for a second and run over to my gym bag.  Alicia was standing nearby and wanted to give me a high-five because it was the first time that she had seen me in a while.  I raised my hand and made contact with her hand.  And then a bunch of sweat splashed off of my hand on to her face.  Gross?  Without a doubt.  But if I had reached the gross stage before this WOD had even begun, then you know it was a scorcher.

The last workout that I had done before going to Alabama was Mary, a workout filled with high-skill movements.  This WOD was quite the opposite.  A deadlift simply required you to lift a barbell from the floor to your waist.  A wall ball is a squat followed by a ball toss to a spot on a wall.  A burpee over a barbell requires you to fall to the floor, get up, and hop over a barbell.  As you can see, this wasn't the most technical workout ever programmed.  It was just going to be sweaty and painful.

The 12 of us attending the last class of the day had staked out a spot for our barbells and a place along the wall.  We were ready to take this WOD on.  Giulz gave us the 3-2-1 countdown and we were on our way.  I got off to a fast start.  My deadlift form might not be wonderful, but as long as I'm not dealing with an incredibly heavy weight, I tend to move through my reps speedily.  I zipped along through 10 reps of the deadlift at 205 pounds and headed to the wall.  I was the first one over there even though my barbell was positioned in the lane furthest from the wall.  Go me!

My lead would be very short-lived.  I didn't do terribly on the wall balls, going 12 and 8 in round one, but there were others who did all 20 reps without letting their ball hit the ground.  With the wall balls completed, I came back to my barbell for 10 more deadlifts.  My legs were starting to feel the burn, so I split these up into two equal sets of five reps.  The worst part of the workout awaited me.  It was time for some super slow burpees.  I think I did my first four with some zest, but after that I crawled the rest of the way.  The floor below me got damp in a hurry.  Soon there were small puddles on the floor straddling each side of my barbell.  When I placed my hands on the floor, they would slide out to the sides due to the moisture.  That actually helped me get my chest to the floor quicker, but it was a pain in the neck trying to push myself up off of the floor in those conditions.  It felt like it took forever to get through those 20 burpees, but the clock informed me that only 5 minutes had elapsed when I was done with round 1.

This was a 15 minute AMRAP and there was no way that I'd match the pace I had in round 1 the rest of the way, so my score was going to be less than 3 rounds.  It was now just a matter of how far into round 3 I could get.  I went 5-5 on the opening 10 deadlifts and then returned to the wall.  Covered in sweat and barely able to breathe, I was forced to break up the wall balls into mini-sets.  I would love to lie to you and say that the mini-sets were okay because I took matching mini-breaks, but that isn't what happened.  I took my regular, probably-longer-than-they-seemed breaks in between sets that went 5-5-6-4.

I was kinda mad at myself for falling apart so badly on the wall balls, so I tried to channel that rage into the deadlifts.  Rather than doing a set of 5 reps when I got back to my barbell, I did a whopping 6 instead.  So impressive.  I wasn't looking forward to completing the last 4 deadlifts because I knew that the burpees were next on the shopping list, but there was no avoiding them.  I got the 4 deadlifts out of the way and then attempted to avoid the water-logged area where I had done my first round of burpees.  How was I going to do that?  Well most of the moisture was in the area where my hands were, meaning it was off to the sides at one end of my barbell.  So I decided to turn around and face the opposite direction for the second round of burpees.  There would be no moisture in the area where my hands would now go (at least that was true temporarily).  And my feet wouldn't be in the wet area because they are centered during the burpee.  It was surprisingly clear thinking for someone who was about to stagger through another 20 burpees.

That second round took me nearly twice as long as the first round did.  I had less than a minute remaining when I wrapped up round two.  That gave me just enough time to go 6 and 4 on the deadlifts and then follow that up with a jog over to the wall for 3 wall balls.  Final score: 2+13.

Even after we were given time to recover and put our equipment away, there was still five minutes left in class, so Giulz suggested that we do an ab tabata.  Eight rounds, each 20 seconds in length, where we would do as many sit-ups as we could.  After each round, we would get a 10 second break. Perhaps I should do more tabata-style workouts because I always seem to do well with them.  I have nothing close to a six-pack, but my abs are strong when put to work for 20 second increments.  I did at least 10 sit-ups in every round with my score by round as follows: 12-12-12-11-10-10-10-11.

Neither Kris nor Raj took part in the 6:30 class, so they patiently waited for me to find my second wind before we did "Polpetta: The Remix".  As a reminder, here's what Polpetta is all about:

"Polpetta"
2,000 meter row
250 double unders
Four station chipper consisting of:
100 wall balls (14#/10# to 10'/9')
100 knee raises
100 burpees to a plate (25#)
100 shoulder-to-overheads (115/75)
*Time cap: 15 minutes
**Only one person can work on the chipper at a time.  While the chipper is being completed, one teammate can be rowing, while another can be completing the double unders.

When we did this originally, Raj and Cline (played by LC) did the double unders.  I was on wall balls, while Kris started on the rower.  The double unders were done before I finished the wall balls, so LC took over the rowing, Kris came over to help me out on wall balls, and Raj got ready for the knee raises.  When Kris finished the wall balls, she joined Raj at the knee raises and I alternated with LC on the rower.  Kris and Raj were into the burpees when LC and I finished rowing.  The four of us did the burpees 10 at a time.  Then Raj and Kris did a set each on the shoulder-to-overheads before the time cap hit.  There were way too many moving pieces to that strategy and it cost us at the end.

Fast forward to Monday's Open Strength.  I had a new strategy that I thought would be successful.  Kris was our All-Star on the chipper, so she would work on that the entire time.  Cline was our best rower, so he would do the entire 2,000 meter row.  (Cline wasn't there on Monday night, so we pretended that his row would take 8 minutes.)  All we had to figure out was the optimal placement for me and Raj.  Raj had trouble on the knee raises when she did them the first time and seemed determined to get better at them.  I had been having a lot of success with my jump rope, so I was determined to help the cause at that station.  So the new plan went like this: Kris and Raj would be on the chipper, I would do all of the double unders, and Cline would row.  250 double unders was a lot for one person, but in this format, there would be no moving pieces like last time.  The alternative to this plan was to have Raj do 50 double unders and then move to the chipper.  That would leave me with only 200 double unders, a more reasonable amount.  We thought about going that way, but it seemed better to try out the format where there was no switching before heading down that road.

How should I break up those 250 double unders?  When Raj and LC did this the first time, they did 50 reps in each set.  I'm not sure how successful they were in stringing 50 in a row, but they must have moved pretty well given that they were done before I finished 100 wall balls.  I thought I would try to do sets of 50 to begin.  If things began to break down, I could scale that number back along the way.

That seemed like an excellent plan when I completed the first 50 in a row in 34 seconds.  I was hoping to complete the double unders before the row was done (theoretically) with the idea that I'd be joining Kris and Raj in the early stages of the burpees.  Based on how well the initial 50 reps went, I was now thinking I might join them on the knee raises.  Cart...way ahead of the horse.  The next set was not 50 in a row.  It likely wasn't even 10 in a row.  That set of 50 consecutive double unders was not an indicator of how the remaining 200 would go.  I floundered the rest of the way.  It wasn't even an instance where I lost my cool and mentally let things get away from me.  I just lost the rhythm for double unders.  It got to a point where I was only doing 2-3 at a time.  Kris and Raj weren't interested in doing all of the burpees, so they stopped while I was still flailing away.  Had Cline been there, he would have been off of the rower.  It took nearly 9 and a half minutes to get the 200 double unders that remained after my strong opening set.  That was not going to be good enough for the Brawl.  It was back to the drawing board on strategy.

I certainly didn't have any interest in working on anything else at Open Strength after that experience, so I got in the car and spent my drive home trying to come up with another way to conquer Polpetta.

Tuesday preview: LC is not happy to see me or her husband in her class.  The WOD comes with some very strict rules.  

Crampus

Workout date: 8/16/17

According to Wikipedia, Krampus is "a horned, anthropomorphic figure described as half-goat, half-demon, who, during the Christmas season, punishes children who have misbehaved".  Wikipedia is nice enough to provide a link for the word "anthropomorphic" so you can learn what it means.  I had no clue what it meant (I'm a numbers guy, remember?), but apparently it's when you give human traits to non-human entities.  Pretty sure that is the first and last time you'll catch me using the word "anthropomorphic" in this blog.

I'll have to wait until late December to see if I get a visit from that Krampus, but his warmer weather cousin, Crampus, has been dropping by quite frequently lately.  To be fair, his appearances have likely come at my behest.  Because of my sweating issues, I used to be very conscious of how much water I needed to drink before I'd come into the gym during the summer.  Back when Coach Paul was still at KOP, I'd bring in a 1.5 liter bottle of water with me to class, which he thought was ridiculous.  The crazy part was that I usually drank two of those before I even stepped foot in the gym.  I knew I was going to drop a lot of water weight during the WOD, so I had to hyper-hydrate in advance.  In recent months, I have not been as diligent about drinking liters and liters of water before class.  That probably explains why Crampus has been targeting me and my right calf repeatedly.

Wednesday's WOD was another benchmark workout for us.  It wasn't one that I particularly cared for, but one of my classmates was little-boy-on-Christmas-morning excited about it.  Wednesday's workout goes by the name of Mary:

"Mary"
20 minute AMRAP
5 handstand push-ups
10 pistols (alternate legs)
15 pull-ups

The bodyweight ninjas at KOP love this workout and we've reached the point where Bryan has officially earned that moniker.  I usually talk about how easy he makes bar muscle-ups look, but he's not too shabby when it comes to handstand push-ups and pull-ups.  I am supremely shabby at those movements, so I could not bring myself to match Bryan's enthusiasm when I saw him grinning ear-to-ear a few minutes before class.  Bryan was taking on Mary in her RX form this evening.  He had conquered the steep learning curve associated with handstand push-ups.  When we attempted Mary back in May, Bryan got his first ever RX handstand push-up.  Just three months later, he was ready to do them within a 20 minute workout.  Very impressive.

While Bryan's earlier experience with this WOD was memorable for the success he found with it, my earlier experience was not as wonderful.  In February, I did alright when using 2 ab-mats for the handstand push-ups.  As a result, I got greedy in May and tried to do my handstand push-ups with only 1 ab-mat.  It did not go well.  I had placed a second ab-mat to the side in case I needed it and it wasn't long before I was doubling the size of the cushion for my head.  My stubbornness in trying to get by with only one ab-mat was a big reason that my score was nearly a full round less than what I had gotten in February.  I wasn't messing around with one ab-mat today.  I was using two in the hopes that I could approach my February score again.

Marissa and Chris S were joining me and Bryan for Coach Jenna's 7:30 class.  Jenna warmed us up on all of the movements and made sure we had the appropriate scales if necessary.  You know it is a skill-intensive workout when pull-ups wind up being the easiest of the movements.  All four of us were getting upside-down for the handstand push-ups, with Marissa and I using two ab-mats while Chris was going with a single ab-mat and a plate.  Chris also needed the assistance of a box on the pistols.  That was the extent of the scaling we'd be using in this class.

The lineup (moving from closest to the lobby to further away) was me, Bryan, Marissa, and Chris.  Because I had no one to my left, the only person I really saw regularly was Bryan.  Occasionally I would look over during a break and see Marissa and Chris, but I had little feel for what round they might be on.  As for Bryan, I didn't always know precisely what round he was on, I just knew that he was 1-2 rounds ahead of me.  He put a large gap between us very quickly, lapping me well before the clock hit 10 minutes.  (He would lap me a second time before the AMRAP ended.)  How did those RX handstand push-ups go?  In May, he got his very first one.  On this night, he would do 40 of them in the workout.  Amazing!

How did that large gap between Bryan and I come about early on?  It was a combination of Bryan getting off to a really fast start and me spinning my wheels.  I had a very hard time kipping my handstand push-ups.  There were several times where I brought my knees down for the kip and fell away from the wall.  Even when I did do a rep correctly, I seemed to fall off of the wall right afterwards.  I'm pretty sure that I didn't string any handstand push-ups in the first three rounds that I did.  As much as I was struggling there, I was having an even tougher time at my favorite station.  The first round of pistols went okay, but Crampus showed up in round two.  The pistols on my left leg were easy, but the ones on my right leg were very painful.  I started missing reps on that leg, unable to maintain my balance as I tried to stand up from the bottom of the one-legged squat.  As I got into round three, I figured out that I was only going to have success on my right leg if I moved really fast.  The toll for moving quicker would be sharp pain, but I'd only have to deal with that pain for 5-10 seconds per round.  I began wincing as I did the pistols on my right leg, but I stopped failing on them once I sucked it up and just went for the rep each time.  On the pull-up bar, I grinded through single reps.  Slow but steady was the idea there.  Surprisingly, I did my best work in this WOD at that station.

When Jenna announced that 10 minutes had elapsed, I was still working on round 3.  In February, I had made it about midway through round 7 in 20 minutes.  In May, I got deep into round 6.  Based on the pace I had going, I wasn't going to threaten either of those scores.  Then a weird thing happened.  I started moving faster.  I strung a few handstand push-ups together.  I dealt with the pain from the pistols.  I was still going slow and steady on the pull-ups, but this was the station where I tended to fall off the most in the latter stages of the workout.  There was no slowing up this time around.  Each time I completed a round, I took a peek at the clock.  Little by little, I was closing in on my score from May.  There wasn't a lot of time remaining when I began round 6, but I completed all five of my handstand push-ups and then got through all of my pistols.  I ran over to the pull-up rig and tried to do as many reps as I could before time was called.  I ended up with 4 pull-ups in the sixth round.  Final score: 5+19.

It was my worst score in three tries this year, but in a way, I was prouder of this attempt than I was of my two previous tries.  I had to overcome a lot of adversity early on and rather than let that ruin the remainder of my workout, I found a way to pick up the pace during the back half of the WOD.  I only finished 5 reps short of my May score, but I guarantee you that if I had 21 minutes for both attempts, my August score would have surged ahead of what I could have done in May.

Despite my closing kick, I knew I would need to take Thursday off to let my right calf recover.  By taking Thursday off, I would actually end up getting four days of rest.  Jenn's grandmother had passed away earlier in the week and we would be in Alabama from Friday through Sunday for the funeral.  So I wouldn't be back at KOP until Monday night.

Monday preview: Just when you thought it couldn't get any more humid in the gym, there comes a night like the one we had on Monday.  Sweaty high fives.  Sweat angels interfering with burpees.  And slow, sweaty double unders.

Walked In Those Shoes

Workout date: 8/15/17

There are very few things that come naturally to me.  I'm good with numbers.  I have a solid sense of direction.  I don't think sweating and losing one's hair count as natural skills, so numbers and sense of direction might actually be the entire list.  Damn, guess I won't be advancing on America's Got Talent.  Any other skills I've acquired in life have been the result of being an avid student.  I think I'm the type who has an easier time learning something if I jump into it and do it, but with Crossfit, I've probably learned more by watching others.  If I know someone is good with a particular movement, I'll sit off to the side and try to figure out what they're doing that I'm not.  Know who is really good at Crossfit movements?  Those folks who compete at the Crossfit Games.  I'm always glued to my laptop when Regionals and the Games are on because I want to try and learn from the best.  I get hours and hours of free lessons not just on form, but on strategy as well.  Strategy, you say?  Why yes.  Many times there is very little to separate the top athletes in the world.  When that is the case, a smart strategy can be the difference between winning and losing.

For instance, the penultimate event at this year's Crossfit Games involved overhead squats.  Athletes were only allowed to do a predetermined amount of reps in each section of their lane.  Once they hit the number allowed, they had to move forward to the next section before continuing on with their overhead squats.  In the first few heats, the athletes all came up with a common solution.  The barbell was already overhead, so they walked to the next section while continuing to hold it overhead.  This allowed them to go right into their overhead squats once they got to the designated station.  Pretty smart plan.  The only problem was this workout had 75 overhead squats (as well as some other things) in it.  By keeping their barbell overhead the entire time, they were using up their shoulder strength.  Athletes who used this strategy began to struggle as they got to the latter part of their journey down the arena floor.

(Poker detour)  They say the three most important things in poker are position, position, and position.  When you're "in position" at the poker table, you are acting last, getting to see what your opponent does first before coming to a decision on what your optimal move is.  That lesson applies at the Crossfit Games as well.  Athletes in later heats saw how worn down the competition was from holding the barbell overhead the entire time.  They figured out that their optimal move was not repeating that mistake.  There had to be a better way.  Once one of the athletes figured it out, the rest of them copied him.  So what was this "optimal" strategy?  One savvy athlete decided that he would drop the barbell from the overhead position down on to his back while walking from one section to the next.  When he got to the next section, he would do a "snatch balance" to begin his overhead squats.  A snatch balance is where you go from holding a barbell on your shoulders behind your head (like you were about to back squat) and then quickly drop your body underneath the barbell (like you had just hit the bottom of a squat snatch).  Standing up from the bottom of the snatch balance was the equivalent of doing an overhead squat.  This strategy was just as efficient (in terms of speed) as the strategy used in the early heats.  Except this plan didn't wear out your shoulders as much.  You will not be surprised to learn that the athletes in the later heats fared much better than those who went before them.  Position, position, position.

We wouldn't be doing any overhead squats at Dudes After Dark this week, but I was able to apply the lesson I learned from watching that Crossfit Games event.  Here's a look at Tuesday night's WOD:

Tuesday's WOD

5 rounds:

250 meter row

25 thrusters (45)

15 GHD hip extensions

I would be taking on this workout along with 6 classmates: Neil, The Prodigy, Esra, Bryan, Chris S, and Actuary Mike.  The two ladies were getting the worst of it in this workout.  When we row for calories, the men and women will have two different standards with the men having to finish a higher number of calories.  When rowing for meters, Crossfit becomes gender-blind.  At least they'd get a break on the barbell weight though...right?  Unfortunately no.  This WOD was tailored in the same fashion as Jackie, a famous Crossfit workout where men and women alike use 45 pounds (an empty men's barbell) for the RX thruster weight.

I knew I wouldn't be able to string 25 light thrusters for 5 straight rounds.  I might be able to do it for one round, but I really didn't see much sense in even doing that.  I was going to need to break up those thrusters.  Whenever I've done a workout like this in the past, I've put the barbell on the floor to take a break.  Not today.  I was going to pretend that I was a Crossfit Games athlete.  Any rest during the thrusters was going to take place with the empty barbell on my back.  There was absolutely no reason to ever put the barbell down.  If that weight became too much for me to bear, then it was a sign of mental weakness more than physical distress.

LC walked us through rowing and the light thrusters.  Everyone was clear on those.  The only part of this workout that required a more thorough explanation was the hip extensions.  These don't show up in WODs all that often.  Typically if we're on the GHD, we're doing sit-ups.  For the hip extension, you flipped your body over on the GHD machine.  Instead of facing the ceiling like you would when doing sit-ups, you'd now be facing the floor.  While keeping your shoulders pinched back, you would lower your upper body until you hit a point where you could no longer maintain your form.  Then you come back up.  Very simple movement, very painful movement, especially on your quads.

There were only 5 GHD machines for the seven of us, but this was a workout where it was unlikely that all of us would end up at those machines at the same time, even in round one.  It also helped that the hip extensions would be the fastest movement in this triplet.  There was a slight chance that I could end up in a situation where I would have to wait on a classmate, but my delay would likely be very short.  And if we got to the point where someone was waiting on my slow ass, I'd just come off of the machine and let my classmate do their reps.

I was getting some extra cardio in this one because my rower and barbell were at the far end of the gym.  The GHD machines are close to the lobby, so I would need to span the length of the gym whenever I left the thrusters and whenever I returned to my rower.  We were set up so that we'd be facing the back of the gym, which meant that I would not be able to see anyone behind me while I did my thrusters.  Neil was directly behind me in the lineup and I was going to do my best to stay with him.  I'd find out how well I was doing with that goal each time I put my barbell down and turned around.

My outlook for this workout went like this:

• Rowing: Short rows every round.  No need to attack this part of the WOD.  Use this as recovery after the hip extensions.  A fast 250 meters could be done in 45 seconds.  A recovery 250 meters could be done in about 60 seconds.  There wasn't a lot to be gained from going fast and you would almost certainly pay for it on the thrusters if you did.
• Thrusters: Don't put the barbell down!  Break up the 25 reps each round into reasonable sets.
• Hip extensions: Try and string all 15 each round without stopping for a break.  They weren't going to feel good, but taking a rest here was going to bloat my final time.  These hip extensions were like burpees in a way.  They're gonna suck, but no reason to stop.  Just keep moving even if you're not moving all that fast.

In the early rounds, I kept pace with Neil.  He was faster than me on the rower, but I was staying with him on the thrusters and I was a little quicker on the hip extensions.  Each time I came off of the GHD machine, I would jog back over to my rower because Neil was already at his, strapping in for his next 250 meters.  For my first two rounds, I split my 25 thrusters into sets of 15 and 10.  When I needed a break, I moved the barbell to my back and shook out my legs.  Then I'd pop it back over my head again and continue on with the thrusters.  At the GHD machine, I strung all 15 reps during rounds one and two.

Fatigue began to set in during the third row, but I worked hard to prevent Neil from getting too far ahead of me.  My legs were hurting from both the row and the GHD machine, which helps explain why I could only manage a set of 5 thrusters to kick off round three.  After a short break, I did another 5.  This was a bad plan.  Five sets of five thrusters per round was going to take way too long.  I needed to do bigger sets.  After shaking out my legs some more, I did a set of 8 and then a set of 7 to complete round three.  At the GHD machine, I strung 15 more hip extensions.  They were painful, but I had gotten in a rhythm where my heels were digging into the back of the machine, helping me propel back down into the next rep.  As much as I wanted to break those up, I knew I could withstand the pain for 15 reps each round.

By the time round 4 started, Neil was starting to pull away from me.  He was keeping his time on the rower consistent, while my pace got slower from round to round.  I did improve on the thrusters, going 10-10-5 this time.  I was somewhat worried that I was about to back into Neil because he sounded like he was much closer to me than he was at the beginning of the workout.  I was walking back and forth to stretch out my legs between sets and it seemed like I might be going back more than forth.  (Neil would later assure me that I wasn't moonwalking into him during the thrusters.)  When I got to the GHD machine, I wasn't so eager to put my feet in and start my hip extensions.  I took some time to catch my breath before taking care of 15 consecutive reps.

Neil was well into his row when I came back to start the final round.  I wasn't catching him, but I could keep it respectable.  My row took about a minute.  On my thrusters, I went 10-10-5 again.  And over at the GHD machine, I made it sure it was a clean sweep with 15 more unbroken hip extentions.  Final time: 22:08.

I ended up 54 seconds behind Neil, but I thought I had a fairly respectable showing in this workout.  I wouldn't be surprised if most of that gap came on the rower.  I think the Crossfit Games strategy helped me stay with him on the thrusters.  At the very least, it trimmed a lot of unnecessary rest time from my workout.  If only I could do that everyday.

As I wandered towards the front of the gym, I saw Esra chipping away at her thrusters.  I parked myself on her rower and tried to encourage her to the finish line.  "Almost home", I told her.  Not sure why I tend to use "almost home" rather than "almost done" when cheering people on, but I know I say it a lot.  I did not get the response from Esra that I was expecting.  She turned to her right and shot a death glare in my direction.  What did I do?  Esra let me know that she was not "almost home" because she still had another full round after she completed the one she was on.  Ouch.  I've definitely walked in those shoes before.  I'd guess I wear that brand of footwear at least once per month, if not more.  My immediate reaction was to shut up.  I didn't want to make the experience any worse for her.  I stayed pretty quiet as Esra completed round four.  Once round five began, I started cheerleading again.  I tried to encourage nice hard pulls on the rower.  At the barbell, she did 5 sets of 5 thrusters, with her form looking better in this round than it had in round 4.  She kept the momentum going on the GHD machine and soon she was done.  It's never a wonderful feeling when you're the last one working, but Esra seemed to handle the situation better than I do on most nights.

Wednesday preview: Bryan loves Mary.  I'm decidedly lukewarm on her.  I may need an IV to get through summertime workouts at KOP.

Abs For Annie

Workout date: 8/14/17

The Monday 6:30 class was packed like it always is.  The number of people taking class wasn't crazy high (just a dozen of us), but there is a weird overlap in the scheduling that takes place on Mondays that ensures the gym will be filled wall-to-wall with athletes.  On most days, Open Strength is only 90 minutes long.  However, on Mondays we have a super-sized strength sesh, coming in at a whopping two and a half hours.  Not sure why Monday's version is longer, but in order to get everyone out of the gym by 9, Open Strength must begin at 6:30.  So even if there are a moderate number of people signed up for the 6:30 class, they have to share space with the folks who are there to lift.

Monday's WOD didn't seem to be one where we would individually need a ton of space.  For the first portion of class, everyone needed their own barbell.  For the cash-out, everyone needed a jump rope and an ab-mat.  It was a benchmark day where we'd be testing out our hang squat clean and our ability to complete Annie under a strict time cap:

Monday's WOD:
Strength segment:
Find your 2RM hang squat clean

Cash-out:
"Annie"
50-40-30-20-10
Double unders
Sit-ups
Time cap: 7 minutes

Giulz asked us all to grab a barbell and find some space so that we could go over the progressions that lead up to the hang squat clean.  As we all got organized, it seemed like there was just enough room for 11 people.  Then Giulz pointed out that there was still some space on the platform if anyone wanted to go there.  <Silence>  People started to find interesting things to look at on the ceiling.  It was sort of like going to a restaurant with a large group of people and one of you has to sit in the chair at the end of the table.  No one ever grabs that chair right off the bat.  There's some uncomfortable looking around as everyone hopes someone will volunteer to sit there.  When the number of unoccupied chairs dwindles down to two or three, someone will take one for the team and offer to sit there.  Since no one was eager to sit in the platform chair, I eventually gave in and moved over to that location.

My personal best 2RM hang squat clean was 225, so I needed a plan to get to 230.  I didn't want to perform a lot of sets to get there, partially because this isn't a lift that I'm really into.  The other thing on my mind was that if I did a bunch of hang squat cleans, I'd have no chance of finishing Annie under the time cap in the cash-out and that was a challenge that I was much more interested in.  I decided that I didn't want to do more than six sets, so the plan became 135-165-185-205-220-230.

The biggest issue for me with the 2RM hang squat clean is maintaining a strong grip between reps.  The squat clean itself isn't as much of a concern, especially since it is being done from the hang.  Starting from the hang kinda gives you a head start on the lift, so it is not uncommon for athletes to be able to clean more from the hang than they can from the floor.  The tough part about the 2RM is bringing the barbell back down from your shoulders and returning it to the hang position.  Remember, this is a very heavy barbell, so a lot of pressure is being put on your hands and your forearms as you prepare for that second rep.  For someone like me who has a notoriously weak grip, the natural solution is to try and go into that second rep as fast as you can.  If you don't move with urgency, you might notice your fingers slowly peeling off of the barbell and at that point, you're screwed.

Early on in this WOD, I was feeling good about my chances of setting a new PR.  135 was easy.  165 was easy.  Even 185 felt pretty easy.  205 was the first set that I did where the barbell felt heavy.  I was still able to move through my two reps quickly, but it introduced some doubt into my mind as to whether I could really handle 230 pounds.  I didn't take a lot of rest between my early sets, but I made up for that with the break I took between the set at 205 and the set at 220.  Perhaps I should have stuck with the routine I had going, but I became worried that I was rushing between sets.  My thinking was that if I took my time before these last two sets, I'd get through 230.

My experiences at 205 and 220 couldn't have been more night and day.  The 15 pound jump felt more like a 45 pound jump.  I caught the first squat clean, but I had to fight incredibly hard to stand it up.  It took so much energy to stand that 1st rep up that I thought there was little chance I'd get the second one.  My grip was still okay though, so I got right into the second hang squat clean.  I caught rep #2, but I was in a ton of trouble.  While I was stuck down in the squat for a few seconds, I adjusted my grip on the barbell.  It was something that I had seen Tia do during one of her heavy sets.  You didn't want to try and stand up with the barbell if it was cockeyed or if you only had a strong grip with one of your hands because the barbell was likely to slide off of you as you rose from the floor.  The downside to this adjustment was that you were now doing a front squat with absolutely no momentum.  (I believe the technical term is "front squat with a pause".)  You had to have a lot of faith that you could front squat this weight if you were going to take your time adjusting your grip in the bottom.  To be honest, I didn't put that much thought into it while it was happening.  I knew I was off-balance based on how I caught the barbell and that an adjustment was necessary.  If I wasn't strong enough to front squat 220 pounds after pausing, so be it.

The set at 220 did end up having a happy ending.  I thought I'd get stuck as I tried to stand up, but I was able to fight my way through it again.  While I was happy to complete that set, I didn't see much point in attempting 230 pounds.  How in the world was I going to complete two reps at 230 when it took everything I had to get through the set at 220 pounds?  I took a few minutes to think about things, spending my break watching my classmates as they took on their final sets.  Seeing them be successful on some heavy sets made my pessimism dissipate.  I still didn't think I'd get through a set at 230 pounds, but there didn't seem to be any harm in trying.

I'm not sure why I couldn't keep the barbell straight on this night, but I found myself in the same predicament on my 1st rep at 230 as I had been in during my 2nd rep at 220.  I sat in a squat with a heavy barbell weighing down on me.  As calmly as I could, I adjusted my grip and got the barbell straight.  Then I tried to stand up.  Didn't think I'd make it, but somehow I did.  I still had one rep to go though and my grip was a mess again.  I tried to get a better grip while the barbell rested on my shoulders, but I knew I didn't have much grip strength left.  Better get moving on this second rep and hope for the best!  That's what I attempted, but the barbell slipped out of my hands as soon as I came out of the hang.  Oh well.  Getting one rep at 230 was more than I could have hoped for after the tough set at 220.

I changed out of my lifting shoes and put on some regular sneakers for the cash-out.  Annie was one of those WODs I actually looked forward to now that my double form had gotten much better.  It was still asking a lot to finish it in less than 7 minutes though.  When I did this cash-out back in May, we were told we could run past the time cap if we were very close to finishing.  I had 19 sit-ups and 10 double unders remaining when the time cap hit, so I continued on to the end, finishing in 7:57.  The directions were a bit different today, as Giulz told us that we had to stop at the time cap no matter how close we were to finishing.  So our score would be 7:00 plus one second for every rep not completed.  For the sake of comparison, my time back in May became 7:29.

I couldn't help but look at this cash-out in the same way that I looked at Helen a week ago.  Was there really any way that I could beat the time I put up in May?  I had only one hiccup in the five rounds of double unders, so it was going to be nearly impossible to make up time on that part of the workout.  It was all about going faster on the sit-ups.  Last time I tried to pace it a bit so that I would still be strong in the later rounds.  This time I was simply going to move as fast as I could in round one of the sit-ups and hope that I didn't peter out at the end.

Giulz made sure we were all set and then sent us on our seven-minute journey.  My double unders were still strong as I sailed through 50 in a row to begin the cash-out.  I dropped down to the floor and got right to work on the sit-ups.  I rapidly rocked back and forth, behaving as though there was nothing left to do beyond the 50 sit-ups I was currently cranking through.  At about 40 reps, I felt some soreness in my abs, but I kept moving along until I reached 50.  I got up and shook out my jump rope.  It started to look like I might get all 40 in this set, but the rope hit me as I tried to do my 27th double under.  I didn't waste time on a pity party, immediately getting back into my double unders.  I took care of the remaining 14 reps and got back to the sit-ups.

I'm sure my pace was slower on the set of 40 sit-ups, but I never stopped during it.  It got very painful towards the end, but a look at the clock let me know that I was still on pace for 7 minutes if I could keep it together.  What happened next was a case of good news/bad news.  The good news was that I strung 30 double unders in a row.  The bad news was that I was getting very little break from the sit-ups because I completed the double unders so fast.  My "abs" were not eager to start another big set of sit-ups and eventually they refused to continue.  I had to stop three times during the set of 30 sit-ups, killing any chance I had of beating the time cap.

Time was running out on me when I got back to the jump rope.  I was able to string another 20 double unders, allowing me to sneak in some last-second sit-ups.  I moved as fast as I could in an attempt to match my time from May, but I fell one rep short.  (Isn't that always the case with me?)  Final time: 7:30 (20 sit-ups and 10 double unders remaining at time cap.)

This attempt let me know there was nothing more I could do in terms of double unders or sit-ups that would help me beat the 7 minute time cap on Annie.  If I was going to shave another minute off of my time, I would need to lose the flab and develop some abs.  That seemed to be the only solution.  It was easier said than done though.  I've gotten much better about cutting down on fast food, desserts, and alcohol, but the spare tire I've developed does not seem interested in going away.  I probably need to add a lot more cardio to my workout routine.

Tuesday preview: I use a trick I learned watching the Crossfit Games to improve my time in a WOD. A classmate experiences what it's like to be me on most nights.

I'll Pretend I Didn't See That

Workout date: 8/13/17

The Brawl In The Burbs was less than two weeks away and team Run The Giulz had only practiced one event.  There were two more events that we hadn't tested out yet.  There was no need to try the fourth event (5 minutes of tire flips) because we all had experience with the tire.  We would simply need good communication when doing that event.  We were probably well behind other teams in terms of practice, so we decided that we should head to the annex on Sunday morning and do a dry run of the two events we hadn't attempted.  It would be me, Kris, Raj, and some guy that looked vaguely familiar to all of us.  Who was this gentleman decked out in flashy workout gear?  I knew I had seen him somewhere before, but I just couldn't place...

Wait a minute, that's Cline's entrance music!  He had been on an improv comedy sabbatical, but here he was, ready to participate in a couple of Sunday morning WODs with his teammates.  It was the first time all four of us had been able to coordinate our schedules and work on Brawl events together.  Today we would be taking on "Mall Walker" first, with "#2chainz" as an encore.  Here's how those events were structured:

"Mall Walker"
1RM Snatch - 1 Male/1 Female
1RM Clean and Jerk - 1 Male/1 Female
Time cap: 12 minutes
*Athletes may not switch lifts once they begin attempts

"#2chainz"
6 minute AMRAP:
5 pull-ups
10 hang clean and jerks (75/55)
6 minute AMRAP:
5 squat snatches (75/55)
10 KB swings (53/35)
*Male athletes will start on one AMRAP, female athletes will start on the other
**One athlete completes a full round before tagging in their partner
***At the end of 6 minutes, athletes will immediately switch AMRAPs

Our team had a strategy dilemma that most other teams probably didn't have to consider.  Kris and I were going to do the snatch, while Cline and Raj would take care of the clean and jerk.  Raj was so strong that her best clean and jerk was about the same as Cline's.  My top snatch was also around the same mark, so it seemed like it might be advantageous for Raj to join me and Cline on the men's barbell, at least for the beginning of the event.  If Kris and Raj shared a barbell, they would have to spend a lot of time changing plates.  If Raj used our barbell, we wouldn't have to switch out plates much at all.  With Kris having her own barbell, she could get to her 1RM snatch quicker, at which point Raj could have that barbell to herself for the last few minutes of the event.  We weren't sure whether we were allowed to have 3 people on one barbell, but it was something that was worth thinking about.

For the purposes of practice though, Kris and Raj were going to share a barbell while Cline and I had our own.  We also ditched the 12 minute clock we would have to deal with at the competition.  We were just spending some time figuring out what our respective best snatches/clean and jerks were.  Cline and I decided to start with 95 pounds on the barbell, then go to 115 and add 10 pound increments from there.  95 was light.  So was 115.  Cline had an interesting technique with his clean.  With the weight this light, I figured he would be power cleaning everything, but he was actually muscle cleaning the barbell.  As he was transitioning the barbell from the floor to his shoulders, he wasn't making any contact with his body.  It was pure brute strength.

Cline kept muscle cleaning at 125 pounds, easily handling the jerk afterwards.  I got ready for a run of the mill snatch at 125, but it didn't go as planned.  I got a bit aggressive with my pull, so when I caught it in a squat, I was tipping backwards.  I did every thing I could to right the ship, but there was no saving this lift.  I had to bail the barbell behind me.  A big reason that I took on the snatch was because I had hit 180 recently, but here I was missing at 125.  Cline was not impressed, reacting with a response of "I'll pretend I didn't see that".  It was a bit embarrassing missing that lift, but I didn't need too much time before stepping back up and hitting it on my next attempt.

Cline and I both hit our next three lifts, ranging from 135 to 155 pounds.  I made him stop for a minute before we went up to 165 pounds.  There was something very strange about our barbell.  I guess it could have been my imagination, but our barbell seemed thicker than normal.  Faby was lifting behind us and I asked him to come over and look at the barbell we were using.  He told us that we were actually using a thicker barbell that is primarily used for deadlifting.  He advised us to switch out this thick barbell for a regular one because this one was not meant for Olympic lifts.  No one knows Olympic lifts at our gym like Faby, so we stripped off the plates, got a new barbell, and loaded that one up with 165 pounds.

I might have been better off sticking with the thick barbell.  The new barbell didn't throw Cline off, but I had all sorts of problems with it.  Attempt #1 at 165: fail.  Attempt #2 at 165: fail.  Cline let me have three shots at 165 before he was going to step in and do his next clean and jerk.  Everyone in the annex was telling me that I had been moving too slowly (echoes of Jenna!), so I tried to move faster on the third attempt.  I don't know how much faster I actually moved, but the third time was the charm as I finally snatched 165 successfully.

I needed a break after all of those attempts at 165.  I spent my break talking with KOP's Olympic lifting power couple: Michal and Faby.  Neither had much to say in terms of fixing my form.  They simply repeated the advice I've been given time and time again: you need more speed.  When it was my turn to snatch again, all I thought about was speed.  Go fast!  Have faith that you'll execute the lift properly even though you're moving quicker!  I walked up to the 175 pound barbell and didn't waste time getting into the lift.  Usually the barbell makes distinct contact with my hip crease, but during this lift, it felt like the barbell just grazed my mid-section.  On most heavy snatches, I'll catch the barbell in a squat, take my time, then stand up.  Not this time.  Everything happened so quick that I didn't have time to think.  The barbell was over my head as I hit the bottom of my squat, but I bounced right up with it.  I'm sure this is exactly what a good snatch looks like, but it felt completely foreign to me.  It was my best lift of the day by far.  I wish I could have bottled everything I did there for future use.

I took two more lifts after that.  My first attempt at 185 pounds was close, but I'm sure I let the barbell get away from me in my new role as a speed demon.  Whenever I dump the barbell in front of me on a snatch attempt, it's because I was too slow or because I didn't keep the barbell close to my body.  I was committed to more speed on that lift, so it's likely my mistake was not keeping the barbell close.  I took one last attempt at 185 and this one was better.  Not sure I got as much speed as I did on the lift at 175, but I was able to catch it in the bottom.  I took a few seconds to sit there and get comfortable.  Then I stood up and tied my PR.

Kris, Raj, and Cline were done with their lifts and I was not interested in going any higher than 185.  I had attempted 13 snatches already.  If I kept going, I wasn't going to have any energy for #2chainz.  I've never been a big fan of tying your PR, but there was no point in putting a curveball into our progression just so I could try and get 190 pounds.  I honestly believed my one previous successful snatch at 185 pounds was a fluke.  That last lift let me know that wasn't the case.

The four of us got set up for WOD #2.  Cline and I were going to start on the pull-ups and the hang clean and jerks while Kris and Raj would begin with the squat snatches and the KB swings.  At the Brawl, there would be a tag-in/tag-out station, but we were ignoring that formality.  We would high-five our way in and out, but our partners were simply standing right next to the equipment.  Cline suggested that I begin for our team.  We talked in advance about how we would handle the transition from AMRAP #1 to AMRAP #2.  We agreed that if one of us was on the hang clean and jerks when 6 minutes elapsed, that person should continue on with the squat snatches since they already had the barbell in their hands.

How did it go?  Not too bad actually:

• On the pull-ups, I went 3-2, 3-2, 2-1-1-1, then 5 quick singles in my four rounds.  There was nothing in the way of a real break when I came off of the pull-up bar.  It was more an issue of grip strength (or lack thereof) that dictated when I came down from the pull-up bar.  I was happy that I didn't slow us up here as I figured this was going to be my weak spot in this event.
• Whenever I've done lifts from the hang position, it has always been from the low hang (barbell drops to knee level).  I've never gone from the high hang (near the hips), mainly because I hadn't been strong enough to cycle the barbell from that position.  75 pounds wasn't very heavy though and while in the midst of trying to move our barbell quickly, I discovered I could go from the high hang rather than the low hang.  That meant I moved through my 10 reps much quicker.  I never put the barbell down during my 4 sets.  Cline was 3 hang clean and jerks into his fourth round when the clock got to 6 minutes.  That meant Cline would be first on the...
• Squat snatches: Later on, Cline would point out that it would have been better for him to tag out at the 6 minute mark.  He had done almost a full round of the 1st AMRAP and now he was being forced to continue on through a full round of the 2nd AMRAP.  We were allowed to power snatch the barbell and then go into a squat, which was how Cline was attacking this movement.  He was a little shaky each time he tried to hit depth on his squat.  Michal was behind him, silently critiquing his depth while taking a break between her lifts.  I could see her shaking her head and mouthing the word "lower" each time he went into a squat.  On a later round, she would stand to the side of him mouthing the word "nope".  I was not going to be the one to no-rep him while we were practicing.  When it was my turn to go, I tried to sprint through my reps, but I was very unsteady.  I had just completed a bunch of much heavier squat snatches, yet I was still pulling with the same force, causing me to wobble all over as I hurried to complete 5 reps.  That was not ideal.  I made a mental note to move slower at the Brawl.  We each completed 3 rounds here with Cline getting 2 reps into round 4.
• KB swings: Both of us strung all 10 of our reps here during the three rounds we completed.  That shouldn't have been all that difficult, but my shoulders were fried.  I was lucky to hold on to the KB during these rounds.

All of that worked out to a score of 7+8 on AMRAP #1 and 6+2 on AMRAP #2 for the boys, resulting in a total of 13+10.  The girls kept their own score (which I didn't catch before we left for the day).  I felt good about our performance in both of the events we practiced.  We just needed to get better at that Polpetta workout.  We had 13 days to work out the kinks on that one.

Monday preview: Another benchmark day!  Had our 2RM hang squat cleans improved in the last 3 months?  And could we finish Annie in less than 7 minutes?

My Forehead Goes From Here To Here

Workout date: 8/11/17

Cramping two days in a row seemed to be a sign from the Crossfit gods that I needed to take a day off.  I was pretty wrecked when I left the gym on Wednesday night, so I didn't think I'd have any regrets about missing Thursday's workout.  Then I stupidly clicked on the KOP blog to see what was scheduled.  It was an AMRAP of 500 meter rows (not bad), toes-to-bar (not great), and 20 ft rope climbs (NOOOOOOOO!!!!!).  I love the challenge of climbing the rope all the way up to the ceiling. Most WODs with rope climbs use the 15' standard, but this was one of those rare ones where we'd go the full 20'.  And I was missing it.  As much as I wanted to take part in that fun, my body had made it clear that it needed a recovery day.  So I showed some discipline and stayed home.  (Pretty sure there was a single tear on my cheek the entire day though.)

I might have been rewarded for my good behavior with Friday's WOD.  There weren't any rope climbs to be found, but another of my favorite movements was included in it:

Friday's WOD:

50 overhead squats (115/75)

25 ring muscle-ups

*Time cap: 15 minutes

Those were some moderately heavy overhead squats for me, but I thought I could get through 50 in a reasonable amount of time.  I just needed to figure out what I would do in lieu of the ring muscle-ups.  I certainly didn't have 25 bar muscle-ups.  It was either going to be 25 jumping ring muscle-ups or 50 pull-ups and 50 banded dips.  (Note: If you substitute in the pull-up/dip combo, you have to do double the reps.)

I haven't been attending a lot of Friday classes, which helps explain why I don't get to see Coach Keithie all that often.  I thought I'd be having class with him as a result of taking Thursday off, but it turned out that Keithie was taking Friday off.  Oops.  Giulz was filling in for him at the 6:30.  She would be coaching a quartet of athletes.  It was me, Actuary Mike, Tia, and Joe T.  Giulz gave us two important pieces of information regarding the workout.  First, we could use jumping ring muscle-ups as a scale (hooray!).  That was good news, but it was not nearly as interesting as the second piece of info that she gave us.  In most WODs, you have to do the workout in the order that it was written.  I fully planned on doing 50 overhead squats (broken up into sets) and then moving on to the 25 jumping ring muscle-ups.  Giulz let us know that we didn't have to do it that way.  We could break up the work any way we wanted.  Having some extra flexibility made this WOD much more palatable.

We started out our warmup by practicing the overhead squats.  Giulz recommended that we choose a weight where we'd be able to do 5 sets of 10 reps for this workout.  The RX weight of 115 pounds fit that bill for me, although I wasn't sure I wanted to do my overheads in five equal sets.  Instead, I figured I could hang on for more than 10 reps in my early sets, giving myself a break later on when I was likely to be more fatigued from both the earlier overheads and the jumping ring muscle-ups I had completed to that point.

After the four of us had proven to Giulz that we had solid form on our overhead squats, we moved over to the rings.  My classmates were going with the pull-up/dip combo for their scale, but I was sticking with jumping ring muscle-ups.  I wasn't entirely sure how high the rings should be set for the movement though.  Giulz informed me that the rings should be set at the height of your forehead, but I told her that didn't narrow things down enough for me as "my forehead goes from here to here", pointing to the range from my eyebrows to the top of my bald dome.  The midpoint of that range was a suitable height for my rings, so I got them set up and did a few practice jumping muscle-ups to gain Giulz's approval.

Being able to complete this workout in whatever fashion I pleased meant I got to use strategy.  If you've read this blog for a while, then you know how often I try to use strategy as a substitute for athleticism.  If I broke this WOD up correctly, I could stay under the time cap (or so I hoped).  Everyone had gravitated towards their barbell to begin the workout and that was a natural reaction as the overhead squats were listed first, but we weren't required to start there.  Maybe it was better to start on the rings.  (Maybe I was just being a contrarian.)  I suspected that I needed to be fresher to get through the jumping muscle-ups, even though I'd be doing twice as many overhead squats.  So as my classmates all prepared to start on the overheads, I was the lone athlete beginning at the rings.

When we kicked off this WOD, I thought I might be able to complete the work in four sets at each station.  That was why I did 6 jumping muscle-ups to begin.  I took my time between reps because I wanted the jumping muscle-ups to be legit.  Giulz told us that if we did jumping muscle-ups, we should resist the urge to "ride the elevator all the way up".  What does that mean?  Well, because you are jumping, it is easy to complete the muscle-up by jumping to a point where you are basically extended out of the dip at the top.  If you couldn't jump, you'd never get that high when performing a muscle-up.  You'd land in the bottom of a dip and have to extend out from there.  The jumping muscle-up is meant to mimic what a real muscle-up feels like, so you're only meant to jump into that bottom position, not the top position where you don't have to dip out.  I tried my best to abide by that standard as I completed my reps.

With 6 jumping muscle-ups done, I decided to give myself a break from the rings and moved over to the overhead squats.  Giulz requested that we snatch the barbell each time to get it overhead.  If we chose a weight that we could not snatch, then our barbell was too heavy.  I didn't have trouble power snatching 115 pounds over my head.  I got my feet where I wanted them, picked a place on the wall in front of me to stare at, and began to move through my reps as quickly as I could.  It wasn't until rep 11 that I started to wobble a bit, but I needed to get through at least 13 if I was going to complete this in four sets.  I held on to that 11th rep before doing two more.  The plan was still intact.

If I was going to complete the jumping muscle-ups in 4 sets, I had to do more than six reps in at least one of the rounds.  So when I came back to the rings, I decided that I would stay there until I completed 7 reps.  I could then go 6 and 6 the last two rounds and remain on track.  The first 4 jumping muscle-ups in this round were good, but I could tell my form was slowly getting worse.  It was partially due to fatigue and partially due to sweaty hands.  I forgot to dry off my hands before my 5th rep and I paid the price.  My right hand slipped off of the ring as I jumped into my dip.  That is never a good feeling.  I wiped off my hands and took some extra time before continuing on.  The 5th jumping muscle-up (take two!) was solid.  My 6th one was less so.  The 7th one was my worst of the day.  I could probably make my way through two more sets of six, but the quality of my reps would suffer.  That tradeoff wasn't worthwhile to me, so I adjusted my plan.  Scratch four sets, replace with five sets.  I could do 4 jumping muscle-ups per set for three sets and reach 25 for the workout without sacrificing my form.

I felt very strong during that first set of overhead squats I had done, so I aimed to hit the same number of reps in set #2.  I only made it to my 9th rep this time before I got shaky.  I slowed down my pace from there and that allowed me to get to 13 reps again.  26 overhead squats down, 24 to go.  Since I was doing three more sets of jumping muscle-ups, it made sense to do three more sets of overhead squats.  I could go 8-8-8 if I wanted to, but I really wanted to challenge myself on the next two sets.  If I could have the final set be a formality, that would be perfect.  I didn't have a set number in mind for the next two sets.  I would just feel it out and adjust on the fly.

The jumping muscle-ups became the boring part of this workout the rest of the way.  I didn't mess up on any more of my reps, mainly because I took my time.  I had one eye on the clock because I didn't want to get time capped.  If my math was right, I had a nice cushion to work with, as long as I didn't fall apart on the overhead squats.

When I got to the 3rd set of overhead squats, the goal was to do more than 8 reps.  If I could only handle 8 reps, I'd have a real struggle on my hands in sets four and five where I'd need to do just as many overheads.  My focus was on balance.  I've always thought of balance as the key to overhead squats.  It was certainly possible that a barbell could be too heavy for me, but most of my failures on the overhead squat came when I lost my balance.  I noted in the first two sets where my balance started to go because that was the alert that my set would be coming to an end soon.  In set #1, it was on rep 11.  In set #2, it was on rep #9.  That trend of earlier deterioration continued in set #3.  I was on the 6th rep when I started to involuntarily wiggle.  If the barbell was heavier, I doubt I would have made it past another rep or two.  But 115 pounds was a weight that I felt comfortable holding overhead for an extended period of time.  Knowing that, I could slow down and get through extra reps, just as I had in set #2.  After 10 reps, I decided to head back to the rings.

Four more boring jumping muscle-ups led me back to the barbell.  My 4th set was pretty similar to my 3rd set, but I ended it after 9 reps, leaving myself 5 overhead squats to complete the workout.  A time check told me that I was golden on the time cap.  I had about 3 minutes before the cap would hit, with only 4 jumping muscle-ups and 5 overheads standing in my way.  I probably took about 15 seconds in between each of my muscle-ups.  Then I ran over to my barbell, ready to do 5 super fast overhead squats.  I hadn't lost my balance during the first 5 overheads in any of my sets and that remained the case at the very end of my workout.  I was completely under control as I zipped through the last 5 reps.  Final time: 13:22.

I beat a time cap!  I actually beat all of my classmates too, although the three of them finished soon after me as no one was time capped.  I probably shouldn't have been so stubborn during my second set of jumping muscle-ups, but I didn't waste too much time before adjusting to a better plan.  Overall, it wound up being a good workout to end the week.

Sunday preview: Is it possible that I'm in the annex again on the weekend?  Just like last time, we're practicing for the Brawl.  Unlike last time, Cline is there to complete the team.  We practice the two events that we haven't attempted yet.

I Was Thinking About You Today

Workout date: 8/9/17

This commercial came to mind when I saw what was on tap for Wednesday night's WOD.  KOP's blog said we would be finding our 1RM snatch once again.  What?!?!  We just did that 2 weeks ago.  I remember going to Coach Jenna's class and practicing my snatch in advance of the BBC meet.  How could we be doing it again so soon?  Seeing Double Grace programmed twice in 8 weeks was surprising, but finding our 1RM snatch for the second time in a fortnight was truly shocking.  Like the internet, I thought the supply of possible Crossfit WODs was never-ending.  But maybe we were the husband in this commercial, surfing through all of the options out there and accidentally hitting the end we never knew existed.

I got to the 7:30 class and discovered I'd be snatching with Bryan, Scott, and Neil.  While we were waiting on the 6:30 class to conclude, Neil asked me the question on both of our minds: "Didn't we just do this a few weeks ago?"  Yes, we did.  The cash-out was different at least.  If you wanted to be really technical about it, the 1RM snatch portion was slightly different in that today we had a 20 minute time cap, but I think we had about 20 minutes to find our heaviest snatch when we did this 14 days ago.

With the 6:30 class now over, the four of us began to warm up.  We had taken over the left hand portion of the gym, while the BBC class occupied the right half.  It was graduation day for the BBC students as their 8 weeks of training was coming to a close.  As they went after some new PR's, Jenna talked to us about the cash-out we would be doing after we were finished with the snatch.  Then she looked at me and said, "I was thinking about you today".  It was one of those phrases that probably sounds nice to most people, but I knew better than to think that applied to me.  At best, a backhanded compliment was forthcoming.  I played along and asked Jenna why she was thinking about me and she explained that her class was given a soft 10 minute time cap for the cash-out.  She wasn't done when 10 minutes elapsed, but she stubbornly kept on going until she finished, something I seem to be known for doing.  Not the best thing in the world to be associated with, but I could use this story to my advantage later on.  If I surpassed 10 minutes in the cash-out, I was definitely going to continue on until I was done.  Here's the cash-out that Jenna was referencing:

Cash-out:

6-9-12-9-6

Front squat (185/125)

Burpees over the barbell

*Front squats would be taken from the floor

We'd get to that soon enough.  It was time to snatch first!  Whenever I see "1RM", I'm thinking of finding a way to PR.  I didn't think about the fact that I only got through 170 pounds when I did this two weeks ago or that I could only muster about 160 pounds during the BBC meet.  I was going to come up with a plan where I'd have a shot at 190 pounds.  That plan didn't require much thought.  I could just use the plan I had in mind when I did this WOD two Wednesdays prior.  The progression would be 115-135-155-170-180-190 with two reps at each of the first two weights.

The two reps at 115 served their usual function of warming me up for the squat.  It's a weight that I could power snatch if I wanted to, but it's always good to stretch out my legs with these early reps.  When I did my reps at 135 a couple weeks ago, I noticed that they felt heavier than I expected, but I didn't have the same experience this time around, which gave me confidence that I might fare better on this evening.  155 was another weight that didn't feel incredibly heavy, but I took my time standing up out of the bottom with my barbell overhead.  Jenna was watching me during the lift and she marveled at how slow I was during the lift and how low I was willing to get to ensure that I ended up underneath the barbell.

170 pounds was where I found trouble last time and it got me once again here.  I came close to holding it as I dropped down into my squat, but I was unsteady and had to bail the barbell in front of my body.  Jenna was watching this lift as well and she noted that I hadn't kept the barbell as close to my body as I needed to.  It's always good getting that feedback.  There are so many moving pieces to the snatch and you might think one thing is causing a failed lift when in reality it is something else.  When I felt ready to make another attempt, I was completely focused on keeping the barbell close.  I drove the barbell up overhead, caught it in the squat, and didn't rush to stand up with it.  170 only took me two tries, leaving time for several attempts at 180, and if I was lucky, maybe a shot or two at 190.

Jenna saw that 2nd attempt at 170 and shook her head with a grin on her face.  She was still having a hard time comprehending how I could be that slow, yet have enough mobility to catch the barbell with my ass nearly touching the floor.  I didn't want to tinker with anything though, as I was ahead of where I was two weeks ago when I tested my snatch.  I moved up to 180 for my next lift.  There was still about 4 minutes remaining on the clock when I took a shot at that weight.  As was the case with my first attempt at 170, I almost caught it, but had to bail it in front of me.  Jenna sez?  Well she said what she had been saying all along: I was too slow.  There wasn't really anything wrong with my form.  I just wasn't going to get that weight overhead without an increase in speed.

I've been paranoid that my form would fall apart if I tried to snatch faster than I normally do, but I had no other alternatives at this stage.  If I wanted to snatch big weight, I had to increase my speed and do my best to maintain my form.  With the clock reaching 18:30, I determined that I had enough time for two more attempts.  Approaching the barbell, I was no longer thinking about hitting my hip crease.  Not thinking about how close the barbell was going to stay to my body.  It was purely Top Gun time.

The worst that could happen is I would miss just like I had done a few minutes ago, so the pressure was off.  I got into my setup and as soon as I felt ready, I went for it.  A second later, I was sitting in my squat with 180 pounds overhead.  I could feel the tension leave my face as I began to smile.  I knew I could stand this weight up.  I rose from the squat, held the barbell overhead for an extra second just so it was clear that I had fully completed the lift, then dropped it to the floor.  I got 180.  And there was just enough time for one attempt at 190!

I scrambled from one end of my barbell to the other, ripping off the clip, slapping on a 5 pound weight, then sliding the clip back into place.  There was less than 30 seconds to go before the 20 minute cap, so I was only getting one shot at this.  I couldn't spend a lot of time on focusing or ensuring that my setup was exactly how I wanted it.  I really only had enough time to get up to the barbell, make sure my grip was good and that my shoulders were pinched back before going after the PR.  That might have been a positive.  The less I thought about during the snatch, the faster I was likely to move.  I tried to duplicate the speed I had just produced at 180 with ten extra pounds on the barbell.  I think I was able to pull it off too.  I came very close to catching the barbell, but I rocked forward on my toes and had to let it go.  There was no time for another attempt, but 190 felt like a weight that I might be able to get in the near future.

We readjusted the weight on our barbells for the cash-out.  I tried to figure out what weight would be appropriate for the front squats given:

• There was a soft 10 minute time cap
• We'd be doing 42 burpees over the barbell to go along with the 42 front squats
• The front squats were coming off of the floor, not off of a rack

If we were simply doing 42 front squats from the rack, 185 pounds wouldn't have frightened me at all.  But given the other factors at play, I decided to scale down from 185 pounds down to 165 pounds.  I removed 25 pounds from my barbell and got ready to finish this cash-out in less than 10 minutes.

Just one problem.  Neil was directly behind me and he saw that I had loaded up my barbell with only 165 pounds.  He was using the RX weight for the cash-out and he wasn't about to do it alone.  "Come on, you can do 185 pounds", he said to me.  It wasn't the most persuasive argument ever, but it was effective.  I grabbed two 10 pound plates that I had moved off to the side and added them to my barbell.  There was very little chance of me completing the cash-out in 10 minutes using that much weight, but who was I to screw up the hard-earned reputation I had for failing to stay under time caps?

There were two keys to this cash-out.  The first was limiting the number of cleans for the front squat. The longer you held on to that barbell, the better.  Big sets of front squats were your friend.  Round 1 of the front squats was no problem as I held on through all 6 reps.  The second key was moving at a solid pace through the burpees.  I did not come through on that front.  Springing up and down was going to use up my leg strength and moving quickly was going to leave me breathing heavily.  If I got back to the front squats with wobbly legs while unable to breathe, I'd be doing a lot more cleans than I had the energy for.  So I crawled through the burpees as best as I could.  Even at my slow pace, that took a lot out of me.

I had no faith that I could manage 9 (never mind 12) consecutive front squats, so I broke them up in rounds two through four.  I went 5-4, then 5-4-3, then 6-3.  The opening set of 6 in the second-to-last round was intentional as I wanted to convince myself I could hang on for all six front squats when I got to the final round.  The power cleans to begin each set got really tough as I progressed through this workout.  I also had the unpleasant experience of cramping up again like I did during the pistols 24 hours earlier.  I tried to shift my weight on to my left leg as much as I could during the front squats to ease the pain.

By the time I made it to the second round of 9, I was well behind my classmates.  None of us were staying under 10 minutes, but I was a considerable distance behind them.  They cheered me on during the 9 burpees thinking that it was my final round, but I still had 6 more front squats and burpees awaiting me once I was done with that batch.  The last few front squats that I did hurt like hell, but I wasn't cleaning 185 pounds again.  I made it through all 6 of those, then tried to pick up my pace a little bit on the remaining half-dozen burpees (let's call it a fast crawl).  Final time: 14:16.

I was exhausted and dealing with some leg pain after that cash-out.  My classmates helped me put my plates away, then I found a bench to sit on for a while.  I watched Chris S on the platform, trying to clean 100kg (220 lbs).  This was his end-of-summer goal before he headed back to college.  He made several attempts, but just could not hold on to the barbell.  I dragged my beaten up body closer to the platform, sitting on a medicine ball off to his right.  Coach Tom told Chris he could take one more shot at 100kg.  We were all rooting Chris on, but once again, he couldn't hold on to the barbell as he tried to rise from his squat clean.

Tom went into the lobby as Chris began to remove the outer plates from his barbell.  He was trying to honor his word that he wouldn't make any more attempts at 100kg, but I was among several people who felt he should give it one more try.  He was really close!  This was his end-of-summer goal!  Plus I felt compelled to pay forward the "screw it, just go for it" mantra that Kris had given to me before I hit my clean and jerk PR at the BBC meet.

Chris looked toward the lobby as though he was a kid that was going to get grounded for disobeying one of his parents.  We told him that we'd accept the blame if Tom was upset about him trying the clean one more time.  So he put 100kg back on his barbell.  While Chris was getting ready, Tom came back out.  He saw Chris was taking one more shot at the clean, leading him to replicate Jenna's earlier head shake with a smile.  I think he knew that Chris wanted this badly and that he wasn't far off from getting it.  Chris walked up to his barbell and we all yelled encouragement.  Things got really loud as he caught it in the squat.  Then we got really excited when he walked forward with the barbell, but under control.  After a few steps, he came to a stop.  Chris had reached his end-of-summer goal!

It was cool watching the end of the BBC summer program.  A lot of KOP athletes work with the Philadelphia Barbell Club because it is a more established lifting club, but I think the coaches we have at KOP do a really good job improving athletes' form.  They deserve more credit than they get.  Here's a look at the smiling faces of those who completed the BBC 8-week summer program, along with their coaches:

Friday preview: After showing the discipline to skip a rope climb workout on Thursday, I return to the gym on Friday for overhead squats and jumping ring muscle-ups.  Could I actually stay under a time cap?