Tag Archives: Crossfit

Snatch Night

I’m sure you are sick of reading these words, but I can’t really say it enough… It’s good to be back at heavy metal night. It’s still and by far my favorite CrossFit class.

This time we focused only on the snatch. We spent most of the class working with PVC on the different parts of the movement, then the movement all together. Near the end of the class, we did the following WOD:

Set the clock to 10 minutes. Each minute, do 3 snatches. On the last minute, do as many snatches as possible.

I got 12 snatches on the last minute which totals 39 total snatches in 10 minutes. Not too shabby.

What went well?

I used 95lb, so the snatches were not really too heavy. I thought about going with 115lb, but wanted to focus more on form as I have not done snatches in a while. I think for all 9 sets, I was able to do the 3 snatches in about 15 seconds give or take a few.

What needs improvement?

On the last minute, I think I could have done better on firing the snatches out. I was having a bit of hard time controlling the weight on way down to set up for the next snatch. I think if I could get this under control a bit better, I could have gotten more out.

Overall feel.

I will admit that I got off to a bit of a slow start getting the movement just right again, once I got it, I felt great during the whole class as well as during the WOD itself.

Back to CFCP

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Thank goodness we are back. We really missed CFCP, in case you haven’t noticed. Working out in other boxes really drove home the fact that CFCP is totally awesome and really, the best place you could ever go to work out.

Last night’s fun consisted of:

25 burpees
50 squats
25 burpees
50 back extensions
25 burpees
50 push ups
25 burpees
50 sit ups

Originally, the burpees were supposed to be 500m rows, but Nikki made an executive decision to sub them. I am assuming probably because we didn’t have enough rowers. This took me 21:18 to do.

What went well?

The squats and back extensions were OK.

What needs improvement?

My sit ups always need improvement. My push ups were OK, but I was running into a lot of muscle failure, so I could only get 1-3 push ups at a time. Sandwiched between 25 burpees, it was rough.

Really though, what needs improvement is my “keep going”. I took lots of breaks and did the burpees pretty slowly.

Overall feel

Not too bad. I would have liked to break 20 minutes on this one, but really, after the month we just had, I am happy to be back, sweating, moving, and going in the right direction. I was definitely breathing hard, but I found that the weak link was my upper body just giving out.

Last NYC WOD

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I forgot to blog this one…

Friday, June 25th, 2010

40 double unders
30 box jumps (22″)
20 KB Swings (1.5 pood)

My time was 26:20.

What went well?

The swings were great. I did the first round unbroken but then needed to split them up after that.

What needs improvement?

Box jumps for sure. I always tell myself that I am going to jump, then do whatever the first exercise is (in this case double unders, which are coming along…) then pretty much just step the whole time.

Overall feel

I felt better on this WOD that I had on some of the previous ones while we were away, but I think this a good one to illustrate how what you eat really does affect your performance. I got really tired really fast on this one. I gassed out pretty quickly and just did my best to keep going. I think it would be interesting to try this one again after a month or 2 back on paleo to see if I can do any better.

R.J.

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Whoa! R.J. (a Hero WOD) is really tough. When I looked at the main site last night and saw this WOD, my first thought was literally “fuck that shit, are they serious?”. Yeah… I’ll tell you what I really think.

Here’s the WOD… do you think the same that I did?

5 rounds

800m run
5 – 15ft rope ascents
50 push ups

Riiiiiigght.

DNF’d. My first one. I only did 2 rounds and it took me 27:something. I say “something” because the “coach” (more like, the guy running the class) had to run across the box to get his stop watch as they don’t have a large red LED clock. I also say “something” because I really just didn’t have it in me this morning and I am just happy I got to move around a bit.

I wanted to start a new format for how I write about my workouts. I know most of you who read this don’t care what I write. I write this for myself mostly to track what I do and look back on it. Who needs books and writing, right?

So here goes…

What went well in this WOD?

My 2 800m runs went well. I didn’t feel too much pain and I didn’t have to stop for walking breaks. Taking the stairs back up to the 3rd floor after each really sucks though. My push ups were OK as well.

What needs improvement?

My pull ups are definitely not where they used to be. I am having quite a bit of pain on my hands from all of the ripping lately and I just don’t seem to be getting the rhythm of the kipping pull up back as quickly as I would have liked. I think it’s time to buy some gloves as my elbow is no longer hurting.

What was the overall feeling for this WOD?

Tired and sluggish. We have been eating really poorly so this is expected. Garbage in, garbage out. I am SO ready to get back home, eating quality paleo food. I can’t wait to start food logging, tweaking, dialing, and basically feeling better again.

The pizza, burgers, bagels, and whatever else are all delicious, but they are killing me. Am I being lazy about it? Absolutely. The truth is that I don’t really feel like hauling groceries up to the 4th floor then cooking everything in a tiny, uncomfortable kitchen that doesn’t really have the cooking equipment that I need. So, we have been eating out a lot. It’s really hard to stay on track when there are so many options that are novelties (i.e. stuff that I can’t get in Austin). No, I am not saying “I can’t live without my ____________” (shout out to Mark), I am just saying that I will not have the chance to eat this stuff for a while, so I’m living it up.

But… everything comes with a price.

That price is feeling like absolute crap.

CFCP coaches, you will have your work cut out for you when we get back.

Whirlwind WOD Update

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Here’s all of the workouts that I missed blogging since my last depressing update…

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 @ CrossFit 2717 in Jackson, MS.

3×3 Hang Snatch (Ended with 135lbs)

Then…

5 rounds:

10 KB Swings (1.5 pood)
200m Sprint

Rest 1 minute between rounds. Total time was 9:10.

Then…

Run 400m
Row 500m
Run 200m
Row 250m

My time was 7:10.

I felt really good during these WODs. The 1.5 pood KB didn’t seem hard to swing at all! Maybe a little bit of time off was good b/c I felt really happy with my performance here. The only bad thing that happened was that my hand ripped during the warm up while I was doing pull ups. Since I hadn’t been doing them for long (due to my elbow), they were easily ripped. OUCH!

The owner of CrossFit2717 was incredibly nice. Their box was great and it was a lot of fun to work out with them. If you are ever in the Jackson, MS area, check them out!

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 @ CrossFit 215 in Philly, PA.

3×5 Push Press (Ended at 135lb)

20 Min AMRAP:

7 pull ups
10 box jumps

95lb snatch on the minute no matter what you are doing.

10 full rounds plus 4 pull ups.

This was a really hard WOD. Again, pull ups. Argh. My OTHER hand ripped here and my rip from Jackson, MS, just got worse. It was 20 minutes of constant hand pain. Yes, I know, get some gloves.

Don’t want to sounds like a broken record here, but the people at CrossFit 215 were really nice. The owner was a great guy who was very welcoming and helped me and V through the warm up as it was mostly gymnastics based and unfamiliar. I apologize for the mental picture of me doing anything gymnastics related. I would highly recommend checking this box out if you are ever in the area.

The following 2 WODs were at the Black Box in NYC.

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 Deadlift

I got 375lbs up 4.5x, but my last successful 5 reps was at 315lb.

These kinds of workouts make me giddy. I had really high expectations for this WOD. Although I didn’t completely meet them, I am still happy. I really wanted to get 375lb and I think I made too big of a jump from 315lb to 375lb. Despite the fact that “technically” my 5 rep max is 315lb, I still think that getting 375lb up 4.2x is really good and shows that I am getting stronger.

Sunday, June 13th, 2010 (this was outside and was not affiliated with CrossFit NYC)

4 mile run for Colon Cancer in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. My time was 43:27, in Vibram Bikilias.

I made some bad decisions right before this run. I don’t think I got enough sleep and well, I ate an entire huge ass bagel like a hour before the race. I felt heavy, weighed down, and sluggish through most of the race. My first mile was awesome though, because it was at a slight decline. Really easy to run.

There were lots of long, slight inclines too which don’t really agree with me. I had to take about 3 walk breaks too. Oh well. Maybe I’ll skip the bagel next time.

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Clean & Press Ladder

Do a 10 min AMRAP of 1-5 clean & press ladder (1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5). Rest 3 minutes, then repeat with a countdown of 10 minutes. You must reproduce what you did in your first set. For every 5 seconds over 10 minutes that it takes you to finish, you have to do a burpee pull up.

I got 3 full ladders plus the first 2 steps on in the first 10 minutes, then 3 full ladders plus 4 steps the second time around. I used 95lbs.

This was a FUN WOD! I loved this one! I think it was intended to be done with strict presses, which the coach told me about 3 minutes in. Since I had started with push presses, I just stuck with push presses. I really didn’t want to do any burpee pull ups, so I worked really hard to meet/beat what I did in my first set.

I have to admit that I am somewhat disappointed with CrossFit NYC. A WOD is a WOD, so we are still getting that but, well, the experience there is somewhat underwhelming. The coaches aren’t really THAT involved or, well, as involved as I have seen in the other boxes that we have visited. We met a woman there who went to the games that was REALLY nice. Probably the nicest person we have met there… anyway… she said that if we wanted better instruction, we probably needed to go to one of the other affiliates in the city or come to the morning/lunch class. I would like to that, schedule permitting.

Declining Performance

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The past week has been really hard for me. Everything seems to be closing in and I feel that my performance in all areas has declined as I continually try to keep up with everything. I have been mentally and physically exhausted for what feels like weeks. This is blatantly apparent in my workouts and in my mood.

Friday (5/21/2010)

I was expecting heavy metal night, but got to do Fight Gone Bad. Ugh. I was not mentally prepared for this. Here’s how my numbers broken down:

	1	2	3	Total
WallBall	15	13	12	40
SDLHP	18	13	10	41
Box Jump	12	10	11	33
Press	18	18	14	50
Row	23	17	14	54
Total				218

You’re gonna hear this a lot during this post. I felt like crap during this entire workout. I did the best I could, but that really wasn’t all that awesome. Maybe next time.

Saturday (5/22/2010)

Open gym… Kindel decided that we should do “Murph”. Most aweful WOD ever. It is:

Run 1 Mile
100 Pull Ups
200 Push Ups
300 Squats
Run 1 Mile

I think, for the sake of time, she told us to not do the pull ups. Everyone ended up doing them anyway but me. I didn’t think that doing 100 pull ups on my almost recovered arm would have been a good idea.

Anyway, I don’t think I have ever mentally quit something so many times before. As soon as she said “Murph” I wanted to leave. I then mentally quit at various times throughout. What really bothered me was that I didn’t do the pull ups and there were people that finished right around the same time that I did. I was sort of depressed about it for the rest of the day. I felt fat, slow, tired, and just done. My time was 56 something.

Tuesday (5/25/2010)

Dave had us do a 2 for Tuesday deal. WOD #1 was 2 rounds of:

Row 500m
25 Burpees

I didn’t feel like going to begin with. 20 seconds into the first round of rowing I just had no energy. Nothing. I was running on fumes the entire time. I felt like I was going to pass out during burpees. What the hell is wrong with me?! My time was 9:10.

The next WOD was worse. It was 3 rounds of:

50 lunges
50 sit ups
50 back extensions

Ugh. Again, just nothing left. I don’t know where I was pulling from, but I guess I pulled it out from somewhere. My time was 13:47.

I guess overall, I am really unhappy with how I am handling things lately. I feel like everything is getting to me and I don’t have the capacity to deal with it all. I am really hoping that things will start to turn around in a few weeks when I am less stressed and spread so thin. Until then, I will keep doing the best I can even if that’s really not so good.

In the end, this stuff is still just working out. I can’t help but remember what Lance told me one Saturday. He said that it doesn’t matter to your body, heart, muscles, etc your time or how you did compared to anyone else. They don’t get any less of a good workout b/c you came in last. All that matters is that you push and work.

Modified Murph really sucked, but it was still a great workout.

More workouts…

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I haven’t been great about writing workouts the day of. There has been a lot going on here and blogging has been the last thing on my mind. Sorry, no one’s perfect, but then again, I am sure that maybe only like 3 people read this.

Friday (5/14/2010) Heavy Metal Night

5×3 Squat Clean
5×3 Jerk
5×3 Clean & Jerk

This WOD was a LOT of fun for me, but I couldn’t use the Rx weight due to my still healing elbow. I used 65lb. It was not timed. Later, I tried some heavier clean and jerks with some higher weights and it felt OK, but I didn’t want to push it.

Saturday (5/15/2010), we took the Yoga class at Lululemon as we (Perfectly Paleo) were invited to bring food and talk a bit about our business. Yoga is rough and the class was pretty challenging for me.

Last night (5/18/2010), we had the pleasure of “Elizabeth” which is:

21 – 15 – 9

Squat Clean
Ring Dip

I didn’t Rx this one either. I used 95lb on the bar which wasn’t really all THAT tough. I also had to sub push ups for ring dips as they hurt my elbow. Thanks to some really good coaching from Chad, I finished in the 7:50ish range. I don’t remember my exact time, but I pushed really hard.

Chug-A-Lug

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It sucks to not be able to do workouts with heavy weight like I so love to do, but I am almost recovered. Still, I am keeping weights light on workouts that could possibly cause my elbow to flare up again. Patience… patience…

Last Friday (5/7/2010) was heavy metal night again. For me it was like, soft rock night, I guess. The real WOD was to do 10 muscle snatches, 10 burpees, and 10 pull ups, but that was too much of a risk for me given my elbow pains. Deric modified it to the following, which still sucked.

3 rounds, not for time:

10 snatch balances (95lb)
10 burpees
20 GHD Sit Ups

I did mess up a few of the snatch balances. It really is a lot about focus and core strength. You can’t really let your mind wander on these.

Saturday (5/8/2010), I helped judge and coach the Epic challenge preliminary round. It was great to see people push themselves and make really awesome break-throughs.

Tuesday (5/11/2010) Endurance WOD for distance:

Run/Rest

4 min/3 min
2 min/30 sec
1 min/3 min
2 min/30 sec
4 min

I named this WOD “Chug-A-Lug” because that’s how I felt while doing it. Running sucks… blah blah yadda yadda.

Wednesday (5/12/2010), still recovering on the elbow:

4 rounds

400m run
7 Barbell complex (dead left, hang clean, push press, back squat, push press)

Man, I wanted to go Rx on this one SO badly (135lb), but I tried a hang clean with just 95lb and I could see how it could start getting to me when I am tired and form goes to shit. I decided to play it really safe and go with 65lb. It was still a great WOD and I finished in 14:50.

One thing in particular that I noticed was the my first 400m was really easy. That’s REALLY abnormal. The rest of them weren’t too bad either.

Today’s endurance WOD looks horrible, but I guess you can’t cherry pick =)

Scaling Down

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In my last post, I mentioned that I didn’t work out on Saturday b/c my left elbow was bothering me. It seems to still be doing that, so I had to scale last night’s WOD. When I came in, I tried doing a clean with 95lb, a light weight for me, and my arm said there was no way.

The WOD was a team AMRAP. There were 4 stations:

C2 Rower
Box Jumps
Squat Cleans
Sit Ups

For this one, everyone works at their station until the rower has rowed 500m, then you rotate. I had to run instead of row (400m) and I did medicine ball squat cleans instead of using the barbell. They counted at a 2:1. Dave was nice enough to count my run as a row =).

Our team numbers look like this:

	Box Jump	Squat Clean	Sit Up	Row/Run
	33	10	47	500
	27	12	57	500
	26	7	66	500
	47	8	55	500
	26	5	55	500
	38	10	50	500
	32	10	70	500
	35	6	52	500
Totals	264	68	452	4000

I don’t remember who did what. I just remember that I started with the run, so the top, right “500” is mine and V started on box jumps, so “33” is hers. You can figure it out. Out grand total team score was 4784. Pretty good and, no pain!

Quick Recap

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Can’t really write too much right now, but just wanted to get this down.

Last Friday (4/30/2010) we went to OLY night, which is always a blast. We worked on some overhead squats as well as more OLY technique. The WOD was “Grace” which is 30 clean & jerk’s for time.

I did it in 4:15.

I think had I not eaten crappy Mexican food for lunch, I MAY have gotten a sub 4:00 time. I had to take a few seconds here and there because I felt my stomach doing back flips. Not fun.

Saturday (5/1/2010), Nikki came up with something that looked fun, but I couldn’t do it. She did a 21-15-9 of thrusters and burpee box jumps. I had to skip it because I have been having a good amount of pain in my left elbow when I try to lift something.

I talked to Mike Tillman and he gave me some stretches and exercises to do to rehab it. He did advise me to stay away from pulling type things for a week or so. Oh well…