One Month Paleo Challenge

We’re doing a one month Paleo Challenge at Survival Fitness. Everyone has to keep a food journal to work on a point system. You get 5 points to start the day. Bad things like a cheat meal or alcohol are negative points, but you can ears extra points by doing a WOD at the gym, getting 8 hours of sleep, or drinking 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water. Everyone has their body fat taken at the beginning and does a benchmark WOD. We’re going to randomly be put on teams. Scoring is 50% body fat change, 25% WOD improvement, and 25% food journal points.

It was only $25 to join and I need something to get me on track to those abs I want, so I figured being part of a team will hold me more accountable. So I get to class, weigh myself, and have my body fat measured with the handheld device. It read 12.3%! Yeah right! If I was that low you’d already be seeing my abs. The Withings scale puts me consistently at 16-17% which is more realistic. With such a low starting number, I won’t be winning the body fat portion of the competition so I’ll have to make up for it in the other parts I guess.

Warm-up

  • 30 Air Squats holding PVC vertical in front
  • 20 PVC Pass-thrus
  • 30 PVC OHS
  • 4 partner rounds (alternate each round)
    • 50 Jumping Jacks
    • 50 Butt Kicks
    • 50 High Knees
    • 50 Lateral Hops
    • 50 Mountain Climbers

WOD

For the Paleo Challenge benchmark, we did 5 different AMRAPs and totaled up our reps. We partnered up so that we could count each other and get a bit of rest.

5:00 AMRAP

  • Burpees

4:00 AMRAP

  • Wall Balls

3:00 AMRAP

  • Air Squats

2:00 AMRAP

  • KBS (Russian)

1:00 AMRAP

  • AbMat Sit-ups

I did 82 burpees, 77 wall balls (20# MB), 101 air squats, 76 KBS (53# KB), and 67 sit-ups for a total of 403 reps. Doing the air squats right after wall balls was the worst and my score showed compared to others in the class. I pushed pretty hard, so it’s going to be interesting to see how my numbers come out a month from now.

Update: After all classes finished for the day, I had the 4th best score.

Everybody Jump, Jump

My lower body was kind of sore today from all of the lunges yesterday and the first time pulling a sled. Was busy doing some stuff at work and almost missed class. Today was pretty much a 3 WOD day as you’ll see below. I still have some lingering stuff in my sinus area, but not enough to bother me. I think I have all my energy back too, since I walked 18 holes of golf earlier in the day.

Warm-up

  • 50-40-30-20-10 Squat Jumps
  • 25-20-15-10-5 Burpees

Finished in 10:22. That’s a lot of squat jumps!

WOD

12:00 AMRAP

  • 15 KBS (Russian)
  • 15 Box Jumps

Box jumps are one of me strengths and Russian swings don’t bother me much, so felt good going into this WOD. I stepped up my game and used 62# KB. Stuck with the normal 24in box for jumps since there were going to be so many. I completed 8 full rounds plus 13 swings.

Finisher

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

  • K2E
  • Tuck Jumps

I’m so much better with my kip on the K2E now. I knocked out the first 10 unbroken. Total time of 4:55.

Down with the Sickness

After going to class 5 days in a row my plan was to take Friday and Saturday off since Dad was in town and do a home WOD on Sunday night. While in bed on Saturday night I started to get a sore throat, which luckily only lasted a day, but as Sunday went along I felt weaker and weaker. Woke up Monday with a nasty cold and Tuesday was no better. I’m finally feeling better today and have been better and better as the day goes on. I was really missing the WODs and 5 days off is too many.

Warm-up

  • 50 Sit-ups
  • 25 MB Snatches
  • 40 Sit-ups
  • 20 MB Snatches
  • 30 Sit-ups
  • 15 MB Snatches
  • 20 Sit-ups
  • 10 MB Snatches
  • 10 Sit-ups
  • 5 MB Snatches

Whipped through the warm-up. I may start reaching for my toes on the “sit-ups” because the standard we use (only need to get up far enough to touch your shoes) is a joke when you have long arms like I do. I can almost touch my shoes with my shoulder blades still on the ground. The box is without power so I don’t know how fast my time was, but it was around 7 minutes judging by when Cari called out the 6 minute mark. I did 25 jumping jacks on the minute until the 12 minute time limit.

WOD

5 rounds:

  • 15 Burpees
  • 15 1-arm DB snatches (each arm)
  • 15 Wall Balls

I used a 40# DB for the snatches and a 20# MB for wall balls. Total time was 23:56. I survived better than expected. There was nowhere to rest in this WOD with each movement involving the full body.

Finisher

Death by pull-ups, counting by 3s

I did rounds of 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 for a total of 45 pull-ups in 5 minutes. The round of 18 was not going to happen so I didn’t even attempt it.

It sure felt good to get my sweat on. Tomorrow I should be feeling 100%.

Take One on the Chin

Went to class for the 5th day in a row. Probably not the smartest idea, but tomorrow and Saturday are both probably off days since my Dad will be in town.

Warm-up

3 rounds:

  • 20 MB Snatches
  • 30 MB V-ups
  • 20 MB Push-ups

I used a 20# MB and think I finished somewhere around the 6:30 mark.

WOD

5 rounds:

  • 15 Thrusters
  • 15 Burpees

Absolutely fucking brutal. I used 95# on a barbell for the thrusters. My total time was 23:39. After doing clean and jerk yesterday and a whole bunch of shoulder related stuff today, my shoulders are on fire. The humidity was really high today due to the rain we’ve been getting. My clothes were completely soaked through and the sweat kept dripping down my arms on to my hands, making it hard to keep a hold on the bar. I think I might start wearing wrist sweat bands or at least give them a try.

Oh, almost forgot, I smacked myself on the chin with the bar during the 3rd round doing one of the thrusters. Seems like I do that once every couple of months in some movement or another.

Finisher

Death by K2E, by 2s. So that’s 2 the first minute, 4 the second minute, and so on. I made it through the round of 14 and then got 14 in the round of 16. I probably could have gotten it, but I felt my hands getting close to the ripping stage and it just isn’t worth it.

Be Careful

We had to call 911 today. A guy stopped in to talk to someone, jumped on the pull-up bar, and fell off after the first pull-up. He landed on his head and neck area. I didn’t see it happen because I was facing the other way, but there was quick reaction by some nurses in the class to run over and stabilize him. He was out cold for 10 seconds or so, but then was alert, responsive, and could move his extremities. I bet he’s going to be sore for a few days, but hopefully everything else is fine.

On another note, I’ve now been doing CrossFit for 6 months! Half a fucking year. Amazing! That’s twice as long as any other exercise program I’ve ever done. I still love it as much, if not more, than day 1.

Warm-up

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

  • MB Power Clean & Presses
  • Burpees

I used a 20# MB and completed this in 6:16, by going pretty much non-stop.

WOD

  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 21 Sit-ups
  • 21 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 18 Sit-ups
  • 18 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 15 Sit-ups
  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 12 Sit-ups
  • 12 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 9 Sit-ups
  • 9 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 6 Sit-ups
  • 6 HR Push-ups
  • 50 Russian KBS
  • 3 Sit-ups
  • 3 HR Push-ups

That’s 350 KBS in total. I did the first set unbroken, then started the rest of the rounds off with 25 unbroken and usually broke down the last 25 into 15 and 10. Sit-ups were all unbroken, but I broke the HR push-ups down into 2 sets during the rounds of 18 and 15. I used a 55# KB for the swings and finished in 20:10.

Strength

I started to do front squats by warming up with 135#. It was during that set of 5 reps when the accident happened and the class was done after that.

The Sissy Test

Yesterday was my first real day off since the previous Monday. Unless I count last Friday, which was a light day with some snatch work and HSPUs. I did walk 9 holes of golf yesterday, but that’s nothing intense. This morning I realized my neck is really starting to loosen up. I can almost crack it on my own again, which I haven’t been able to do for over 2 months. I think the big reason for the recovery is that I haven’t done DUs at all in the last 2 weeks. Whenever I get back to them I’ll have to make it a priority to keep my neck in a good position, without chicken-necking.

Only one part in the class today, the Sissy Test.

WOD

Burpees & Russian KBS

  • 25 – 1
  • 24 – 2
  • 23 – 3
  • 3 – 23
  • 2 – 24
  • 1 – 25

You can start with 25 burpees or 25 KBS, whatever suits you. Burpees were recommended and I think that’s what everyone did. I might go with the KBS next time for the hell of it. No need to get out your calculators because I did the math in my head before we started. 325 reps of each!

I used a 55# KB and finished in 41:38! I nearly met Pukie for the first time in the round of 24 KBS. This was definitely an endurance WOD. I kept going with as short of breaks as I could. My knees aren’t feeling the greatest and I can tell my back is going to be wrecked. Cardio-wise I felt great after a few minutes of rest. The only time I watched the clock was early on because I wanted to compare to Open Workout 12.1, which was the 7 minutes of burpees. I completed the first 4 rounds of this in just under 7 minutes, so that was 94 burpees and 10 KBS with a paced effort and some small breaks between rounds. These burpees weren’t up to the strict standards of the Open workout when I did 92 burpees, but it’s a pretty good indication of how much I’ve improved in my fitness since then.

Can you complete the Sissy Test?

Simple Saturday

Planned on going to the 10am class, but stayed up too late last night, so went in for the 11am, which only had 4 of us.

Warm-up

100 Sit-ups

I knocked them out in 1:55 using the gym standard, which is to have your shoulder blades touch the floor and then only get up enough so you can touch your feet.

WOD

20:00 Team AMRAP

  • 5 Deadlifts/Power Cleans
  • 10 Burpees

We had 135# of the bar, which is a really easy deadlift, so after 2 rounds of that, Matt had me switch to power cleans to slow me down and give my partner more rest. I’m glad he did, because it made things a lot tougher for me. I think we got through 7 full rounds and then I did 5 additional power cleans.

Mobility

At the end of class we did a bunch of mobility stuff with bands and mashing with the bar, K-star style.

My Poor Feet

Stayed with the night class routine I’ve been doing this week.

Warm-up

5 Rounds

  • 1:00 Bottom Squat Hold
  • 1:00 Jumping Jacks

Not too bad, but coming up out of the squat hold after a minute is a little rough. Quads and knees felt a bit locked up each time.

WOD

20:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Suit Case Deadlifts (each side)
  • 10 Burpee Broad jumps
  • 15 Box Jumps

I used an 88# KB for the suit case deadlifts. Not a big fan of those because it’s hard to keep a good position. Burpee broad jumps and box jumps were fine. I used a 24 inch box as usual. I think I got 6 full rounds. It may have been 7, but I’m leaning towards 6. Matt our trainer kept track and I forgot to look at the board after the workout. In addition to the complete rounds I finished the 5 suit case deadlifts on each side and 8 of the broad jump burpees.

Finisher

Jingle Jangles

These are short sprints. Starting off with 3 lengths in the first minute and then rest for the remaining time. Jump up by 3 sprint lengths every minute until you fail to complete the number of sprints. So each minute you are doing more running and getting less recovery. I got through 21, but thought I was one short one of the girls was a bit ahead of me and went another length, so I didn’t get to go up to 24, which started almost immediately.

I am not wearing my Inov-8 Bare-XF 210’s anymore until after the move to the new location. We did the entire workout outside on the pavement and it was brutal on my feet with all of the pounding. The broad jumps were especially bad so I had to shorten them up. Doing the sprints on the pavement with these shoes was no walk in the park either.

Quad AMRAPs

Went to a night class since the only morning class is 5:45am on Tuesday. It was kind of nice, even though I really like how I feel throughout the day when I workout in the morning.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 1m Russian Twists
  • 1m Plank

I used a 20# KB for the twists and got a total of 292 (counting each side) through the 5 minutes.

WODs

4 different 3:00 AMRAPs

At each station perform the buy-in exercise and reps. Then do max reps of another movement for the remaining time of the 3 minutes. Keep track of max reps for each station. Rest 2 minutes between stations.

  1. 20 Box Jumps
    -MAX DB power cleans
  2. 20 Burpees
    -MAX Push-ups
  3. 300m Run
    -MAX Ring Rows
  4. 20 KBS
    -MAX Wallballs

I used a 24 inch box for box jumps, 35# DBs for power cleans, a 53# KB for Russian swings, and a 20# MB for wallballs. I think my reps for the MAXs were 31, 41, 37, 35, but I might be off by a few on some of those.

Strength

Find 1 rep MAX for clean + thruster. We broke into groups by strength and formed lines to each take a shot at a weight before moving up. I think we went 65#, 85#, 105#, 125#, 145#, 165#. Those all went up pretty well for me. I was the only one left, so Matt pushed me to go for my body weight of 180#. I got the weight up with a power clean without too much trouble. I normally would do a full clean as it gets this heavy, but I knew I needed to squat for the thruster. The clean was a 15# PR. I went for the thruster and got it about half way over my head. I think if we had done this before the WOD I could have gotten it, but I was pretty fried. I’m thrilled about the clean PR especially since it was a power clean. 165# is a lot more than I’ve ever attempted with a thruster as well.

Carry the Medicine Ball

Got another solid night of sleep last night. It’s great to be home sleeping in my own bed again.

Warm-up

  • 600m Run
  • Power Skipping
  • Walking Zombie Kicks
  • But Kicks

WOD

A religious CrossFit box somewhere came up with this partner WOD. It’s supposed to be based on the 14 stations of the cross. I’ll hold off on any comments about the religious nature.

  • 400m Run (both partners)
  • 50 Pull-ups
  • 40 Burpees (both partners)
  • 80 KBS (Russian)
  • 60 MB Thrusters
  • 100 1-arm Push Presses
  • 100 Lunges (both partners)
  • 60 MB Cleans
  • 200 Sit-ups/Plank
  • 60 K2E
  • 50 Pull-ups
  • 100 Lateral Hops
  • 100 HR Push-ups
  • 800m Run (both partners)

One partner holds a medicine ball at all times except when doing burpees, lunges, and sit-ups/plank. I partnered up with Matt, the owner, since we had an odd number of people in class. We used a 20# MB for the workout. When performing burpees and lunges each partner completes the prescribed number of reps. During the runs, we handed off the MB at the half-way point. As an example, we split up the pull-ups into several sets, each doing a total of 25 pull-ups. Then we each performed 40 burpees on our own. For the push presses, each partner should end up doing 25 with each arm. When you get to 200 sit-ups/plank, one partner is doing sit-ups while the other is holding a plank.

It took us 42 or 44 minutes to finish, I don’t remember the time. The last half of the 800m run was straight into a strong wind. Absolutely brutal holding the MB. I highlight for me was getting kipping K2E for the first time. I wish I had figured this out a couple of weeks ago for all of the T2B.

Partner WODs are always fun on weekends. Now it’s time to enjoy Masters Sunday.