PP KBS BJ

AMRAP in 20 minutes:
10 push press (115/85)
10 kb swings (1.5/1 pood)
10 box jumps (24''/20'')

Results: 6 rounds + 6 PP, Rx

The verdict -- SLOW.  A better total for me would have been 8 or 9 at the Rx weight. I'm wondering if I should've scaled that down, seeing how low my score is compared to others...

I got sick over the weekend - some kind of gross sinus thing - and even though this morning it was better than it had been yesterday, I could still tell I wasn't 100%. I had no "oomph" on my dip-drive on the push presses, and failed on a couple attempts. Just didn't feel "on". Plus the PP's hit me right where I'm still fatigued from the gymnastics seminar this weekend. I definitely used every muscle in my arm and shoulder this past weekend! I'll be posting a recap of that this week sometime, or maybe this weekend.

Fight Gone Bad

I'm so glad I broke out of my workout slump yesterday. My husband met me at the gym on his way home from work to do "Fight Gone Bad" -- I was already there after coaching at 5:30.

I ordered my exercises as show in the picture, just so I would be doing it like my athletes did. I've only ever done it as: box jump, SDPH, wall ball, row, push press. Yes, somehow I've only done FGB twice, and yesterday was the second time.

Result: 249, PR!

Previous score was 232.

I think for my next goal I'd like to get 260.

CrossFit Games Open Sectionals 11.2

Ooops, never posted about this WOD. Consider this to be me "catching" up. I haven't really done much outside of the Games WODs in the past 2 weeks.

AMRAP in 15 minutes:
9 deadlifts
12 pushups
15 box jumps

7 rounds + 6 deads

The deads were a lot easier than I thought -- but then again, I have an unnatural fear of them after doing high reps at too high of a weight. This weight was easy, once you got past the first one starting off the next round. All unbroken.

Pushups sucked sucked sucked, as expected. Was down to 1, 2 and 3 at a time by round 3. This was where I took my "rest".

Box jumps -- tried not to pause at all. On the 7th round, my right shoe came untied, so I kicked it off, did 1 or 2 jumps with 1 shoe, then kicked the other one off too. My judge was like "WTF!?" hehehe I'm thinking I could've done all 9 deads without the shoe issue. On a redo I might've been up for 8 rounds. I wasn't willing to try. :-)

WIdow Maker

Pulled this WOD from CrossFit King of Prussia.

"Widow Maker"
AMRAP in 15 minutes
5 burpees
10 box jumps (20'')
15 double unders

Results: 8 rounds

Was very happy with my result. I was absolutely miserable pretty much the entire time, and had the lung burn too. Hopefully this is helping get my cardio conditioning back where it needs to be!

And this was another day where I was very happy I spent the time learning double unders, so I'd have them when I needed them. I think I only got 2 or maybe 3 rounds with unbroken DUs, though -- I was just so damn winded and my legs were tired!

Filthy Fifty

Hit this WOD on a whim Sunday night. Husband has a weird issue going on with his shin, so I took him over to the "satellite" gym to use the rower for his running substitute. He's addicted to running, so complete rest is not an option for him.

Filthy Fifty was on the board for Friday, and some other peeps had come in and done it on Sunday. So we modified it for him, and I did it "regular".

Filthy Fifty
50 box jumps (20'')
50 jumping pullups
50 kettlebell swings (1/2 pood - 16kg)
50 walking lunge steps
50 knees to elbows
50 push press (35#)
50 back extensions (did supermans, no GHD for me yet)
50 wall ball shots (14#)
50 burpees
50 double unders

Results: 45:29 (includes a potty break during DUs :-p)

This WOD and I just do not get along. Especially the part where I'm supposed to do 50 K2Es. I think I spent about 15 minutes doing K2Es, and 30 minutes doing everything else. Seriously.

Low points:
 - K2Es were not only agonizingly slow with small sets of 2s, 3s and 4s, but there weren't even close to Rx with my knees touching triceps most of the time; I have a lot practice to get "Rx" on this WOD...
 - Back extensions -- still afraid of getting on the GHD for fear of triggering renewed back/hip pain...

High points:
 - 50 unbroken kb swings
 - 25-15-10 wall balls; this is an epic improvement for me on those
 - push press felt light, wish I had gone for unbroken
 - double unders -- every minute of practice I did to get these is worth it when I breeze through them in a wod

Wittman

"Wittman"
7 rounds:
15 kb swings (24kg/16kg)
15 power cleans (95/65)
15 box jumps (24''/20'')

Results: 26:26, 55#

The 55# thing? A result of my morning brain. I thought to myself that if I loaded the bar with 25kg it would be 63.5#. Well, 25kg is actually 55#. Whoops.

12 Days of Christmas

Hit this one up with my CF KoP peeps while visiting husband's family. (Check the link for a hilarious picture of me doing DB snatches)

12 Days of Christmas at CrossFit KoP
1 Deadlift (185/275)
2 Wall Ascents (6ft/8ft)
3 Ring Dips
4 Box Jumps (21"/25")
5 Med Ball Clean (14/20)
6 Clean and Jerk (75/115)
7 Toes to Bar
8 Burpees
9 Sumo Deadlift High Pull (55/75)
10 Wall Balls (14/20) to (9ft/10ft)
11 Thrusters (75/115)
12 DB Snatch 12L/12R 25/40

Results: 70:28

Deadlifts, clean and jerk, burpees and thrusters were all scaled due to my continuing (nagging) back injury. Everything else was Rx'd.

Weird about the burpees, right? Something about the part where you jump your feet back aggravates my QL muscle, so for many of them I stepped my feet back. Once I was nice and warm, in the middle and later days, I did jump my feet back on some of them.

I felt like I got hit by a truck after this. My core was wrecked, I think from the wall climbs and toes to bar -- don't do either of those with any regularity.

Best part of the WOD - watching a CF KoP superstar female athlete scaling the 8 foot wall. BAD. ASS. And her nickname is "Grans" -- love it.

Friday Hero - Jack

“Jack”

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
115 pound/ 75 Push press, 10 reps (from the ground)
10 KB Swings, 24k/16
10 Box jumps, 24 inch box

Results: 6 rounds + 7 box jumps, Rx*

What I loved about this hero WOD was how it could be performed by a wide variety of athletes without much scaling. That's the beauty of an AMRAP, IMHO.

That said, yes I went a bit slow -- got beat by the other chicks in my group by 2ish rounds. But I had a bit of a concentration problem with the coach trying to interfere with my push press technique.

Note: Please do not try to "school" me in the middle of an AMRAP. It makes me want to toss my loaded barball at you.

That said, I also wished I had worn my Oly shoes. I didn't because they're heavier and I thought they would slow me down on the box jumps. But it was the push press where I was having the most trouble, and they definitely would've helped stabilize my dip there, as well as in cleaning the barball from the ground.

*One other item of interest -- I used the 45# kettlebell on my even rounds, since we had 5 chicks and only 3 16kg kettlebells. Allie went badass with me and used it on opposite rounds. :)

Deadlift by threes

It was a strength plus metcon day, so you know I enjoyed it. :-D

Deadlift
3-3-3-3-3

Results: 165-170-175-175

Ran out of time, due to watching/helping others, so I only did 4. But that was plenty -- even though I escaped any low back pain that day, I'm still in a little bit of pain nearly a week later.

No more deadlifting for me in the foreseeable future.

--

Metcon:
AMRAP 10 min
5 man-makers (35lb DB/20)
10 box jumps 20"

Results: 5 rounds + 1 MM

Again, looking back these dumbbells should've been 25's to be 70% of men's Rx. But oh well. :)

My pushups were sloppy on this one, I think if I had better form (tigher core and posterior chain) I would've moved faster and possibly squeezed in one more round.

But I only came in 2 short of tying up with my girl Jess, who was a beast on this one, so I'm happy. :)

Main site chipper

We took on the crazy chipper from the main site at our box, and it was interesting to say the least!

25 Walking lunge steps
20 Pull-ups
50 Box jumps, 20 inch box
20 Double-unders
25 Ring dips
20 Knees to elbows
30 Kettlebell swings, 24k/16
30 Sit-ups
20 Hang squat cleans, 35/20 pound dumbells
25 Back extensions
30 Wall ball shots, 20/14 pound ball
3 Rope climb ascents

Results: 30:50

I completed the pullups without incident, definitely got 5 to kick things off. THANK GOD.

Banged out the box jumps at a good pace.

Thought my 20 DUs were in the bag, but missed #20 and had to do one single DU. Still pleased with that. :)

Skinny band for the ring dips -- need to rededicated myself to getting rid of that soon.

K2Es were fucking beautiful, not to brag. :-D

Swings, situps, hang cleans -- no problemo.

Back extensions -- this is where I wussed out big time. I've learned recently that my back is a very weak area in my body, comparatively. So I have a stronger back than some people, but overall I'm front-dominant to compensate for a weaker back. I knew these back extensions would lock me up, but did them anyway. And then got locked up. Probably wasted 2 minutes afterwards trying to un-fuck myself enough to do the wall balls. I had a Filthy Fifty flashback for sure.

Wall balls were badass, got 15 the first set, not sure if I broke the 2nd half or not. Soooooo glad these don't trip me up so much anymore.

ROPE CLIMBS. Went up with the rope wrapped around, came down with feet in the J-hook. Probably rested a little too long between attempts, but I'm still too freaked out to do these while I'm super-winded or feeling weak in the arms. Since we don't have a crash mat, I'm OK with this.

--
The only thing I'm pissed about is the WOD was posted with 24kg/16kg for the kettlebell swings, and Rx on the main site was 2 pood (32kg) -- which means ladies Rx was 24kg. Boooooo. I would've used my 45# kettlebell or maybe even the big one if I had known that.

Plus ladies Rx should really have been 25# dumbbells... Bummah.

But based on what was written on the whiteboard the day I did this, I am happy that I only scaled ring dips. Woot! I will take "nearly Rx" whenever I can get it. :-D

Visiting a new affiliate

A CrossFit affiliate recently opened up in my hometown, so while I was visiting my parents I stopped in for a WOD.

21-18-15-12-9
SDHP
Pushups
Box jumps

Results:  18:31 -- 65# SDHP, 24'' box jump

I liked the combo this WOD put together, and I think I would like to try it again. I felt like the spot on the floor I chose was so uneven that my bar was bouncing all crazy at the bottom of my SDHPs. I wasn't able to do more than 5 in a row, and I know I've done more than that at 55# for Fight Gone Bad. Really made me mad to have to break them up so much! Also there weren't any floor mats where the boxes were setup, and jumping down from the 24'' box onto concrete was hurting my feet. Owie! I could probably cut 5 minutes off this time, but all in all I enjoyed it!

--
However, there were a couple things about the session that rubbed me the wrong way, and that's the reason I'm not naming or linking the gym here.

First red flag -- no movement demo at the start of the session. When I first started coaching I was drilled on the importance of this, and now that I've had more experience as a coach, I see just how important it is. Identifying movement standards and full range of motion is important to reinforce learning in your students, and it also introduces the cues that you'll use during the workout to correct their errors quickly, instead of having to stop them and go through a long explanation.

The trainer did reference the recently-completed intro session that all of them had taken, and said something like, "you all looked great on this in the INDOC". I don't know about you guys, but after going over all those different barbell movement, it took me months to learn all the names and the proper execution for each. It's something that needs to be reviewed again and again, by all athletes, no matter how long they've been CrossFitting.

Add to this there's nothing that bothers me more than horribly executed SDHPs, and there was some ugliness going on... It was literally making me nauseous watching one guy whose load was WAAAAAAY too heavy for his ability, not to mention the bad form. *URGH*

Which brings me to red flag number two -- the coach worked out with the group. This is a BIG ASS NO-NO PEOPLE! I guess coaches do this so they don't have to find time to do the WOD on their own, or they hate working out alone and want to take advantage of the group that's there, or they think it's somehow motivating or instructional for their athletes for the coach to participate. However, there is NEVER a good reason for doing this, especially considering the inexperience of the athletes in the group.

So now that I've checked out the gym, and I've seen what's going on there, I am torn.

This is the first CrossFit that's reasonably close to many friends and family members, and I so badly wanted to send them all there to experience the awesomeness of CrossFit. But now that I've seen the [lack of] coaching skills, I definitely won't be doing that, except maybe with my brother who I know is like me and will study on his own.

So what can I do to ensure that one day (hopefully soon) I will feel comfortable referring people to this gym? Should I give the coach some unsolicited feedback? No worries, I would be polite and deliver my thoughts in a more constructive fashion that what I've written here. But isn't unsolicited advice really annoying? Or should I not care if it's annoying, since I have the best interests of his athletes' safety and the growth of this business? I just get the impression he's a martial arts guy who started doing CrossFit on his own, really liked it, and wanted to make some money with it. I have no problem with that. I just think he needs some advice...

In my position, what would you do?

PS - I will say this -- I feel much more confident in my ability to start my own gym after visiting his. A big part of me wishes I was living closer and could try to get him to let me team up with him! :)

It feels good to "win"

My back was tight from deadlifts, but I knew the best remedy would be a workout. Today's WOD wasn't going to be hard on my back at all, so it was perfect for getting a good sweat and loosening everything up.

Strength: press
7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Results: 55-60-65-70-75-85-95

 I *really* wanted that 95 at the end, but it got stuck at my forehead. I was basically staring at it, willing it to go up, for about 3 or 4 seconds before I gave up. With 95 being my current 1RM, I'm not surprised at the result. Would've been nice to match that 1RM, but I'm still happy with the work I did today.

metcon:
50 abmat situps
40 double unders
30 box jumps (20'')
20 wall ball shots (20#/14)
10 knees to elbows

Results: 6:26

When I saw today's metcon on the website last night, I thought to myself, "I can smack that bitch down." And when I was starting out the class with some strict press sets, I starting thinking again: "I can WIN."

Every once in a while when I know I'm good at everything in the WOD, my competitive spirit breaks out and I become absolutely determined to finish first.

There were only 4 people in my class this morning, and I finished first by a minute, and I was damn proud!

Best moment of the morning -- I did 23 double unders!!!! It was fucking amazing! I just keep doing them, and doing them, and doing them -- what a great feeling! And then I finished out the rest of the 40 unbroken, so that's 17 unbroken.

Those are basically my #1 and #2 longest sets of double unders I've ever done. Just goes to show what happens when I put on my game face. I need to go to that place more often!

Situps I did unbroken.

Box jumps I took a slow and steady approach. Started not paying close attention and missed one attempt, but focused back in after that and kept the knees high.

Wall balls were also amazing, considering my history with sucking at those- banged them out in 2 solid sets of 10. I used a 14# ball and threw it to the 10 foot line.

Side note on wall balls: I can't accept that women should scale both weight and height on wall balls. Height of the throw should be scaled based on the person's height, not their gender. Like, if you're 5'4'' or shorter, use the 8 foot line. Taller, use the 10 foot line. And those giant people over 6 feet should have an even higher line!

OK, end wall ball rant and ramblings about the metcon. Suffice it to say it was a fun day in the gym, and I enjoyed my little moment of victory. :) (Though I'm thinking somebody probably beat my time in the evening classes)

Later gators. :)

WOD at the Y

Today I decided to hit the local Y and check out their weight room. It wasn't too bad, actually, so that was a pleasant surprise. (Didn't make the long drive out to CF Pittsburgh since the WOD kinda bored me -- 4 rounds: 400m run, 50 squats. Meh.) The had decent pullup stations on both the squat racks, and they even had a 24'' plyo box for me to jump on. Yay! :)

Here's the WOD I came up with, modified from an old WOD I found on CF Camden website.

21-15-9:
push jerk (95lbs/65)
knees to elbows
overhead squats (95lbs/65)
box jumps 20"

Results: ~30 minutes

I know, LAME on the time, right? But I found that I was having performance anxiety to be doing this stuff in front of people and it was making my heart race. Very weird. Just my social anxiety acting up, I guess...

I put push jerks in there because after reviewing my video from Grace a couple weeks ago, I realized how much my jerks were sucking. I wasn't locking out before sticking the landing, so I ended up pressing the weight a bit at the end to get it fully overhead and locked out. Ewwww. I guess it was good that I was stuck working out in front of a mirror today, because I able to watch my form. At such a light weight it wasn't super challenging, but hopefully it reinforced good movement.

K2Es... Was basically doing 2 at a time for most of them. Eh. I hate those things.

The whole purpose of paying the 1-day entrance to the Y was to work on some barbell stuff, especially OHS. I just felt like doing them, and then I read this article by Dan John that convinced me I needed some OHS this week. It was a little bit of a bummer not to snatch the weight off the ground. Honestly I feel more stable in the overhead lockout when I've snatched the bar into overhead. But taking the bar off the rack seemed more prudent considering the environment.

Cool down was 15 pullups, max handstand hold (45 seconds-ish), 5 pullups, max handstand hold (30 seconds-ish).  I also did a couple pullups in my warmup, which was the 2nd reason for paying to get into the Y. Surprisingly the outdoor track I used for my "altered" Eva did not have a pullup bar. So strange. Or maybe I am just used to working out on military bases?

OMG, I have no idea why this is so long, sorry to anyone who actually read the whole thing. :)

Oh yeah, one more thing -- I'm now on beyond the whiteboard, so if any of you know how we can be friends on there, or see each other's WODs there, let me know. :)

Partnering-up on Saturday morning

We did a little partner workout this morning, and it was just what I needed. My butt and hamstrings are seriously blasted from all those deadlifts and waiter walks on Thursday, plus scrubbing all the floors in my house on Friday. Husband's sister and her boyfriend arrived last night, so the rest of today will be a beach day - yay!

WOD:
One partner works at a time. Both run the 400 together.
200 air squats
80 push press (95/65)
400m run
100 box jumps (24/20)
50 burpees

Results: Allie and I finished in about 22 minutes

Didn't even do any pullups afterwards -- not even 1. LAME. I really need to get a solid goal list written, and a game plan for post-WOD skill work. TBD...

WOD at Ultimate

On my way home from visiting my sister, I joined in on a noon WOD at Ultimate CrossFit. It was good to be back! Especially since I got to catch up with Mie on her new endeavors in Oly lifting.

Deadlift 3-3-3

145 - 175 x2 - 170

My low back is aching, so I'm thinking I didn't do so well on form... Seems like if I go a week without doing longer sets of deads, I go back to being really really shaky on form. Yikes. Time to incorporate into a weekly post WOD cool down...

Metcon
21-15-9
Sumo Deadlift High Pull (95/65)
Box Jump (24/20)
Kettlebell Swings (1.5/1)

Results: 8:13

Not too bad, considering the crap I've been putting into my mouth. Yikes.

Coaching tomorrow and Friday, we'll see what I get in for WODs. I'm thinking I should get back in the pool tomorrow or Friday, so I don't lose the conditioning that I built up over my 3 weeks of swim and lifeguarding classes.

--
I've been reading Katie's blog for a while, and you should all head over to her place and read this post.

And for the first time in my life, I am SURE that I am made of pretty tough stuff and I already KNOW that my team is. For the girl who two years ago was overweight and couldn't do a pull-up or a push-up to get 18th place in the DC/WVA/VA sectionals shows just how powerful CrossFit (and this community) is... and to that I can really only say one thing.... Hooah!

 --
War on fat needs to be turned into a war on carbohydrates. Let's see what the 2010 nutrition guidelines do to help our country get healthier -- if anything...

--
Are you giving it your all?

Includes this classic Glassman quote: "Optimizing fitness is a product of regular workouts whose intensity is only briefly sustainable."

I'm wondering if a statement like this is too harsh to throw up on our box's whiteboard: "If you are not progressing at a fairly substantial clip month over month, it’s most likely the intensity that you are bringing day after day that is to blame.  Up the intensity and the results will come."

--
HSPU tips -- I'll definitely be implementing several things from this article.

Friday & Saturday

Short and sweet WOD on Friday morning, between coaching 0630 and 0830.

6 rounds for time:
5 handstand pushups
10 burpees
15 abmat situps
150m sprint

Results:  17:39

Biggest news here -- I finally kicked up into a handstand against the wall! I started out with my head on top of 3 abmats, and did a frogstand to a headstand, and then pressed up. A little bit of messing around with that, and I decided it was time to kick up. I took some video with the iPod, but that corner of the gym has a lightbulb out, so it turned out really dark. In any case, I did the WOD by kicking up into a handstand and lowering to 2 abmats. Not the most stellar attempt at HSPU, but still an improvement for me, so I'm happy.

Next I need to find out what's better -- continuing to practice full ROM with the harness, or doing negatives while in the wall-supported handstand.

--
Saturday I coached the 0930 WOD -- we did the same group WOD I went through on the 2nd day of my certification seminar.

Here's the writeup we put on the website:

In 12 minutes your team of 5 will perform as many reps as possible of SDHPs, pushups and box jumps. The time it takes to complete one 50m waiter's walk will determine the rotation intervals for your team. There's a rest station, so go hard!

5 stations

1. Rest
2. Kettlebell Sumo deadlift high pull (24kg/16)
3. Pushups
4. Box jumps (20'')
5. 50m waiter's walk (45#/25 plate)

Final team score is total # of reps completed.

Basically the team members rotate from station to station. During the hand off, the person who was just performing the movement tells the person who is arriving to "relieve" them what the current rep count is for that movement. At the end you add them up for the total. The faster you do the waiter's walk (it was a sandbag carry at my cert) the faster your team members rotate through.

We only had 3 ladies come in this morning, so I did the WOD with them. We took out the SDHPs since we still didn't have 5. I had fun, and I think they did too. :)

Afterwards I took them through the core stabilization work that I did with Jenn at CrossFit Pittsburgh. With the 3 following exercises: round 1, 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off; round 2, 45 seconds on, 45 seconds off; round 3, 30 secs on and off.

• handstand holds
• plank
• wall sit

I was glad the group was small at this point, because none of my 3 chicas had ever done handstand holds before. I showed them how to "walk up the wall" while facing away from it to get into handstand position. They all did great! I just watched the handstands, but joined them on the other 2 movements.

All in all, a fun morning. :)

My sister just left yesterday, and my parents are arriving this afternoon for a visit, so I'm off to clean and put lots of bedding and towels through the wash. :)

Filthy Fifty - the rematch

So, back in October, during a trip up north to visit family, I DNF'd on Filthy Fifty at CrossFit KoP.

The posted WOD for 3/14 is again Filthy Fifty, with a reminder link to compare back to October.

In a wonderful turn of events, the WOD my box schedule for today was Filthy Fifty, so I was able to finally make an attempt to finish this WOD and get a baseline time.

It turned out pretty ugly. But I got it done.

I probably wouldn't have felt so beat down if I hadn't attended a 1 hour swimming class just prior to doing this WOD. And also if it wasn't my first time back in the pool in about 6-7 months.

Oh well, that's definitely a "varied stimulus" that should produce some bad ass adaptations! :-D (Yes, I have been studying my CrossFit manual for the cert this weekend.)

"Filthy Fifty"

50 reps of each movement, for time:
Box jump, 24 inch box
Jumping pull-ups
Kettlebell swings (24kg/16)
Walking Lunges (50 total steps)
Knees to elbows
Push press, (45lbs/25)
GHD Back extensions
Wall ball shots (20/14)
Burpees
Double unders

Results:  41:25, Rx'd

I definitely dawdled a good bit during this WOD. Probably enough to take off 5 minutes. I was feeling decidedly beat down and wussy.

In bullets:

• Box jumps: It felt good to jump the 24'' box -- seems like all I've been doing lately is the 20''. I like the big one better. 
• Jumping pullups: felt weird! I haven't done one of those in a very long time. 
• KB swings: 2 sets of 25. Cake.
• Lunges: Could've been a lot faster, and in larger sets. 
• Knees to elbows: Done in sets of 5. I'm still using a good bit of kipping at the bottom to get my knees up. But I do try to engage the shoulders and get my back parallel to the ground when I get to the top. These really hurt my hands!
• Push press: Sets of 25, 15, 10. 25# felt super light after the 55# for Fight Gone Bad.
• Back ext: Started with 25 straight, not sure of the rest of the breakdown. Felt fine doing them, but OWWWWWW, my back was one big ass spasm when I was finished. I could barely climb off the GHD.
• Burpees: When I got in my groove, I was pumping these out. Tried to do sets of 10. The last 10 were really brutal... I actually took some pointers from that video of the Guvernator at the CF Games Ohio Sectionals, where he's watching a deadlift-burpee WOD. The girl doing burpees in that video had a great technique.
• Double unders: THANK GOD I can do these now. Got the first 40 in sets of 10-ish. Last 10 were ridiculous. My shoe came untied and that laces were getting caught in my jump rope, so I just ripped it off so I could do the last one. That got a laugh out of my spectators. My anger amuses them. :-p

Final thought of the recap -- tired. I am beat. Gotta hit the rack early tonight, because tomorrow at 8:30am we're doing the main site WOD from a few days ago. Gotta love 10 rounds of anything. :-p

PTP Days 5 & 6

I highly recommend starting the PTP program on the 1st day of the month. It makes it easy when the date and the day of the program are synched up. :-D

No time to blog yesterday, I was running all over the place.


I was working with a milspouse friend at the base gym on CrossFit basics, so I did my deadlift and press there. I actually had a conversation with the on-base firemen about kipping pullups, which I was doing during my warm up on one of the squat racks. They are kind of attention grabbing in a "regular" gym. Of course I took a moment to try to sell CrossFit, we'll see what comes of it. :) I also had a fun conversation with a 65-year-old guy who competes in bench press competitions -- it's some variant of powerlifting where you can compete in a single event. He was cool, and I might swing back to the base gym next week to get some pointers from him and his lifting partner.

At our box we sign up for 5Ks and running events, but to keep it inclusive, I think we need to branch out and see if we can participate in things like powerlifting meets or Olympic weightlifting meets. One of my best friends at the box Allie is still working on her body comp, so her running is still really slow. But she out-lifts the rest of the ladies in the box by 30, 40, 50 pounds. A big part of me just wants to put her in the spotlight and let her beat us all soundly. :) She totally deserves it because she works her ass off, and never gets upset or frustrated, just keeps on plugging away.

Hopefully I will be posting more about that idea soon!

Anyway, back to the PTP stuff.

PTP Day 5:

• Deadlift: 115, 105
• Press: 55, 50

I really did intend to hit the track after that, but the posted WOD for the box was Fight Gone Bad, and I felt bad about skipping a chance to perform a benchmark WOD that I've never done.

So I went to the box and did Fight Gone Bad. I'll make up those sprints soon, though.

Here's the breakdown for my FGB, though I know no one cares about the rep breakdown other than me. :)

Wall ball: 11, 12, 12
Box jump: 28, 23, 19
Push press: 18, 14, 11
SDHP: 20, 16, 16
Row: 11, 11, 10

Total reps: 232

At first I felt good about those numbers, but after we all finished, I realized that I was in 3rd place, and had only been beaten by 4 and 7 reps. WTF???? Makes me think to myself I could've pushed out a few more reps here and there if I had know I could've pumped out the highest female score at my box.

So, as far as I'm concerned, Fight Gone Bad and I have a rematch sometime SOON.

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This morning I coached the 0930 class, and we did "Team Cindy". In pairs, only one partner works at a time, and whole rounds must be completed before switching off.

There was some debate before we started about how much "waiting around" would have to be done, but I enjoyed doing the WOD that way. I think it is a perfect way to prep to do Cindy, which I would like to do sometime soon (afterall, it is in my 1st quarter goals). By having a break while your partner works, you can not only cheer them on, you can also move a lot faster each time it's your turn.

I starting losing my pushups on about the 5th of 6th round that I completed... That sucked. But I'm happy to say that I only had 1 really awful round for pullups. I pretty much was able to complete 5 in a row on 6 or 7 of the 9 total rounds that I did. Being able to do pullups is freaking wonderful. Now to get those dead hangs...

Squats were cake, makes me happy I've been working on them a lot. :-D

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In two weeks I will be at my cert -- yikes! I need to re-read the study guide. I wish they provided some practice questions or something, I just feel like I don't know what to concentrate on since there are about 90 pages of material!

I also need to visit a copy shop and have them print and bind it for me, with extra pages added for notes. They provide some notes areas in the PDF file, but not enough for me.

PTP - Day 3

Wow, I have a feeling my blog post titles are going to be really boring for the next few weeks. :-p

I decided that I don't want to completely "tune out" from the programming at my "home" box while I'm working on PTP, so I will incorporate metcons where I can. Like today I did the daily WOD for my cash out, instead of 5-5-5-3-3-3 back squat as prescribed by PTP.

PTP Day 3:

• Deadlift: 5 reps @ 120, 110
• Press: 5 reps @ 60, 50

CF Camden WOD:

5 rounds for time

• 20 box jumps, 20"
• 20 situps
• 150m sprint

Results:  13:3? -- something like that :)

I also participated in two team WODs after our trainer development meeting tonight. Sprinting 150m with a sledgehammer, and then completing 100 reps of DUs, squats, K2E's and pushups as a team. And oh yeah, one team member had to hold a handstand while 2 others were working. Mandy is a slave driver! :-p

Let me just say that I have really earned my rest day tomorrow after all that. They only thing I want to do is tabata squats -- maybe. We shall see. :)

Deadlifts and box jumps

I have to say I wasn't feeling very motivated this morning, and I probably would've opted for 5pm or 6pm if I didn't have a class to attend tonight. I'm finally attending the "new spouse" class, just about 1 year after getting married. :-p

Strength:

Deadlift 4-4-3-3-2-2-1-1

Did same weight for each couplet -- 115-135-155-165

Sometimes I feel like I get wobbly when I start to come back down? I think I'll take some video next time I go heavy on deadlifts and try to see what the problem is.

Metcon:

As many 24'' box jumps as possible in 3 minutes.

Results: 47

Meh.

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During my warmup, I decided to do kipping pullups instead of working on my deadhangs with the band. All part of my goal of abandoning the band altogether by the end of the month.

To my surprise I did just about 3 in a row on my first set. So I decided to grab my iPod and take a video. And I got 4! Then I took another video, and got 4 again! Still had to do a tiny bit of muscling-up to the bar on the fourth one of both sets, but not as much as a few weeks ago. Hollah!

Kipping Pull-ups -- Jan 26 2010 from c wiss on Vimeo.

In the future, all of my videos will be found on the No Crying in CrossFit channel on Vimeo.