Switch it Up

Handed the reins over to Michelle for a different programming perspective. Woke up with a little headache and never really went away. Didn’t do much specific warm-up other than bottom squat hold and some shoulder stretching.

Midline

45s on / 15s Rest

  • V-up
  • Leg Lift
  • Opposite Superman
  • Boat
  • K2E
  • Suitcase Crunch
  • Oblique Crunch

Old school core work. Got really tough at the end.

Conditioning

  • 7:00 AMRAP
    • 25 Clean & Over Shoulder Toss (20# Slam ball)
    • 25 Plyo Lunges
    • 40′ Partner Wheel Barrow
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 7:00 AMRAP
    • 50 Jump Rope
    • 25 Ring Mountain Climbers
    • 200m Sled Drag (70#)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 7:00 AMRAP
    • 200m Sandbag Run
    • 1 Legless Rope Climb
    • 5 Tire Flips

Got through 2 rounds + 50 reps, 2 rounds + 50 jump rope singles, and 3 rounds.

It was supposed to be 50 mountain climbers but I messed up. Whoops! Trying to run with the sled was the toughest thing by far. Sandbag runs are never easy either though. Can’t remember the last time I’ve done a rope climb but did all 3 legless without any trouble.

Shuttle Runs

  • 6x
    • 25 yards down and back
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 3x
    • 50 yards down and back

So 600 yards total. Again, not a good running performance for me.

Disappointed With My First 100 Burpees Test

Abs are a little sore from yesterday’s WOD and I can just imagine what they’ll feel like tomorrow.

Strength

5 Sets

  • 3 Back Squats
  • 1-2m Rest

I warmed up with a set of 8 using just the bar and then a set of 5 using 115#. I only managed to get in 4 working sets because everyone else was somehow done before I was even done with my 4th set and there was no time. I guess they must not have done warm-up sets. For my working sets I used 155#, 185#, 205#, and 215#. Easy stuff considering I got up to 220# for a set of 5 last week. Pretty bummed I didn’t have time to get in my last set.

3 Sets

  • 20 Weighted Step-ups (40# DBs, 18″ box)
  • 1m Rest

I had to rush through because I was way behind the rest of the class.

3 Sets

  • 20 Weighted Sit-ups
  • 1m Rest

Another rush job here. I felt pretty dumb actually. I used a 62# KB for the first set and then 35# DBs for the last two sets.

WOD

On less than a minute of rest (I was out of breath from trying to rush through my sit-ups) I had to jump right into the WOD and my performance showed it.

  • 100 Burpees

This is actually the first time I’ve done 100 burpees for time, which is surprising considering I’ve been doing CrossFit for over 10 months now. I knew it was going to be a grind when I barely got through 20 in the first minute. I knocked out my 50th rep before taking a rest, but then took 2 more short breaks after that. My finishing time was 6:44, which is extremely disappointing. In 5 minutes of burpees I knocked out 93 just about 2 months ago and didn’t need to take any breaks then. Under 6 minutes should have been easy, with a shot at breaking 5:30. 😦

Finisher

7:00 AMRAP

  • 10 V-ups
  • 30s Boat

Let’s kill those abs some more! This got really hard after the first round or two. I think I got through 5 rounds plus the 10 V-ups. I was going for quality more than quantity here.

Just not my day the way the schedule of class worked out. Didn’t get up to a heavy enough weight for back squats and wasn’t rested enough to put in a good effort during the WOD. The problems really comes down to packing too much in the strength portion. We could have combined two of the movements so we would alternate back and forth between the step-ups and sit-ups for example. That would have saved a few minutes.

DB “Fran”

The Paleo Challenge ends this week and I can’t wait to order a pizza on Thursday! I love eating Paleo, but I need some cheat meals. With that said, I’m glad I’ve stuck to the program for the entire month, with a very minor cheat. I’ve seen incredible results, but I’ll post more about that in a couple of days.

I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) called Saginaw Meadows with a couple that I’m good friends with. Yesterday was our first pick-up. It’s going to be pretty neat to get fresh, local, organic stuff each week, some of which I’ve never eaten. The first week was pretty small because not much has grown in yet, but each week we’ll be getting more and more food. I used a green onion in a breakfast scramble this morning and made a sauté with some greens and tomatoes I had picked up on Friday from the local Farmer’s Market. Good food!

Warm-up

  • 100 Jumping Jacks
  • 100 Butt Kicks
  • 100 Lateral Hops
  • 100 Mountain Climbers
  • 10 Slow Air Squats
  • 10 Burpees

I think I did this in about 5:26, without pushing too hard. I wanted to save myself for the WOD because I knew I was going to need everything I had to survive.

3 rounds

  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Leg Raises
  • 1m Bicycles
  • 1m Side Plank (30s each side)
  • 1m Boats
  • 1m Rest

These long core circuits are great and they are always much tougher than they look. Does core work every get any easier?

WOD

DB “Fran”

21-15-9

  • Thrusters (45# DBs)
  • Pull-ups

Here’s one of those heavy upper body workouts where I struggle. We had a 10:00 time limit and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish. I’ve never attempted “Fran” before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I wish my intro was with the barbell instead of DBs, but you don’t always get what you want. 🙂 I really struggled to string together pull-ups, which took a lot of extra time. I knew I’d have to break the thrusters down quite a bit, especially in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. My time was 9:05. I’ll take it. It gives me something to shoot for next time.

Finisher

50 Burpees

This was great practice for Thursday when we have to perform the Paleo Challenge benchmark again, which starts out with 5 minutes of burpees. I pushed myself pretty good here and finished in 2:48. In the original benchmark a month ago I did 82 burpees in 5 minutes, so if I can keep up the pace I used today I can beat, especially since I won’t have such a long warm-up and “Fran” to do before.

I’ve only worked out 2 days in a row, but I’m going to take a rest day tomorrow to make sure I’m not too tired or sore for the benchmark test on Thursday. I’ll be walking 18 holes of golf tomorrow morning anyway, so that will get me some exercise.