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.

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.

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!

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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! :)

Weighted pullups and two metcons

Gotta post quick, I want to get this up before I have to be at work so I don't slack off and not post it. :)

I went back to the gym this morning even though I'm still not over this virus. I took a whole week off already, so at this point I think working out is going to help me get better and get this shit cleared out of my system.

We did a multi-part workout.

First:

 Weighted pullups: 5-3-2-1-1-1

My sets went down like this:

• 5: deadhang
• 3: 5# dumbbell
• 2: 8# dumbbell
• 1: 10# dumbbell
• 1: 10# dumbbell
• 1: 10# dumbbell

I was very pleasantly surprised to be able to handle the 10# dumbbell! I did have to kip out of the bottom -- ideally I would like to keep my weighted work strictly deadhang. But for now, I think it works. My work on deadhangs has really paid off, makes me a little bit glad that pullup bar at my workplace is so stinking close to the wall. Scraping your knees on a brick wall is very good incentive to not kip. :-p

Next we did two metcons. I tried to keep moving during these, but honestly I didn't push myself too hard. I just wanted to work and sweat, not kill myself. I'll get back to that in another week or so when all the chest congestion is gone.

AMRAP in 8 min
5 hspu
15 knees to elbows
rest 2 min
AMRAP in 5 min
10 sumo deadlift high pulls (75lbs/55)
15 double unders

1st AMRAP -- 2 rounds + 6 K2E's
2nd AMRAP -- 3 rounds + 5 SDHP's

Double unders were hard because my heart was racing so much. And I totally sucked at K2E's today -- I have good and bad days with those. Honestly, I think I'm better at toes to bar than those, because I practically have to get my feet the height of the bar to touch my knees to my elbows. Time to experiment with form on those, perhaps. For HSPU I used 2 AbMats, and got the input that maybe it's time to drop to 1. I think I agree with that.

Gotta run time to shower for work. Happy Monday, get in the gym!

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.

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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!

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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...

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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."

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

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.

25's Chipper

WOD:

Complete the following for time:

25 GHD hip extentions
400m run
25 double unders
25 suitcase deadlift left (40lb/25 dumbbell)
150m run
25 suitcase deadlift right (40lb/25 dumbbell)
25 knees to elbows
25 ring dips
25 ball slams 
25 kettle bell sumo deadlift high pull (24k/16)
25 ab mat sit ups

Results:  19:59 -- skinny band for ring dips

I can't say I really put "all out" effort into this one... Honestly, chipper-style WODs with a gazillion exercises kind of annoy me, I would rather focus on 2 or 3 movements.

K2Es weren't that bad -- but I allowed myself to use some momentum to get started so I could get my legs the whole way up. My sumo deadlift highpulls with the KB felt odd -- like I just wasn't doing it right? Had fun with knocking out my double unders nice and quick. :-D

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Words of wisdom from Lisbeth Darsh of CF Waterton: Listening Ears. Something I am working on, and need to do better with.

Steamy Friday afternoon

Ick, it got hot today!

I worked out at 4pm because this AM I was attending Jane Wayne Day on base. I got a little warm-up there -- we did a modified version of the CFT. That stands for "combat fitness test". We did the "movement under fire" portion of the test. Scroll to the bottom of this article for a graphic. Husband wasn't there, he was in charge of a different station, so I drug and fireman carried a Marine who was about the same weight as him, 170lbs. Damn that 20 yard drag was freaking hard! Fireman carry was much easier in comparison. I was surprised at how well I could do that, my legs are definitely getting strong. :)

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WOD:

4 rounds for time:

• 21 sumo deadlift high pull (95lbs/65)
• 15 hang cleans (95lbs/65)
• 9 cal row

Results: 21:03 RX weights

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I'm not a big fan of rowing for calories. It's just weird. Maybe if the calories were shown in decimal increments, but they just go 1-2-3... Kind of annoying to see 8 and be waiting for it to suddenly flip to 9. I felt like it distracted me from just rowing well.

I probably could've done bigger sets, but after the first round, I pretty much stuck with sets of 5 for the hang cleans and the SDHPs. I was really dreading doing 65lb SDHPs before the workout started, but it wasn't that bad. Maybe it wasn't that bad because I only did 5 at a time? I dunno. :)

I do have to say that I hate that no matter what, after almost every workout, I'm still left feeling a little disappointed in myself. But my time was really good for RX weight, I did great. I need to start focusing on feeling satisfied with my performance. Being a perfectionist has some good results, but mostly it just makes you feel guilty or not good enough.