I got up early for a Saturday. I think it was before 7:30. Didn’t feel good all morning as I lazed in front of the TV. Seriously thought about staying home from the gym, but went to 10am anyway.
Warm-up
50 Rounds
2 Russian KBS (40# KB)
Goblet Squat (40# KB)
It took a few reps to get used to releasing the KB after the 2nd swing and catching it for the goblet, then throwing it back in the air after the goblet to go into the next swings.
Those jump squats to start are deceptively difficult. I was feeling the burn in my legs at 30 reps. Broke the gladiator man makers down in to 5 sets of 5 by using a popsicle stick for every 5th rep so I didn’t lose count. When a movement is as complicated as these were, counting always gets hard. Having to move the stick provided a nice little break in there. The last 10 reps were difficult, with the T (twist your torso and reach the DB straight up to the sky) being the hardest part. Once I got to the burpees I knew the end was in sight and knocked them out unbroken. I flew through the last 5 as fast as possible for that extra little push.
I think my time was 17:34. It wasn’t the heaviest use of DBs, but I couldn’t have gone any heavier with that type of intensity, so I’ll take my top time of the class. It’s been awhile since I’ve knocked out a WOD like this, so I think my conditioning is coming back up. And to think I wasn’t feeling well before getting to the gym.
Finisher
10-20-30-20-10
Russian Twists (35# KB)
AbMat Sit-ups
Weighted V-ups (20# DB)
Ugh, this ab circuit Kevin made up a couple of weeks ago is horrible, mostly because of the weighted v-ups. It was especially bad today because our abs were fatigued from the plank position held for most of the WOD.
Hopefully I feel up for some rowing later tonight.
My hamstrings really kicked in today from the 100 good mornings Kevin and I did on Saturday night. Just in time for squat day and RDLs! Went to the 5:30pm class.
Warm-up
4 Rounds
15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Jump Squats
Strength
5×5 Front Squat
It’s been over 2 months since we did this. Last time I got 215# for 2 reps on my last set, so my goal was to hit it for all 5 today and I did. Went 8 reps at 135# and then 5 reps each at 155#, 175#, 195#, and 215#.
Accessory
12:00 EMOTM
Odds: 10 RDLs (155#)
Evens: 10 Goblet Squats (55# KB)
Just what the Doctor ordered for sore hamstrings, high rep RDLs!
WOD
5 Rounds
15 MB Squat Cleans (20# MB)
15 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
Towards the end of the 2nd round my hips really started to lock up. It was a struggle. Finished in 10:26.
That was as shit ton of squats today! I can barely walk already. Going to try and play soccer for the first time in my life at 8:30pm, so that should be interesting.
I got a hot stone massage today from Cora because my back was pretty tight from the competition. Planned to take the day off, but was feeling good, so I went in for the 5:30pm.
Warm-up
4 Rounds
15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Jump Squats
Strength
5×5 Low Box Squats
We went extra low with a 12″ box for the guys, compared to the 14″ we had used in the last cycle. It felt like we were never going to get low enough to reach the box. It felt soooo much harder. I went 135#, 155#, 175#, 185#, and 195#. But compare that to 5×5 on the 14″ box from 3 weeks ago when I went 135#, 155#, and then 175# for the last 3 sets. Up 20# today with a lower box. BOOM!
WOD
21-15-9
Sandbag Get-ups
Burpee Deadlifts (25# DBs, jump on 25# plate)
Doesn’t seem bad when you look at it, but it’s a gasser. I had a few misses on my get-ups and fell right back on my ass. I had only done deadlift burpees once before and used a much heavier weight so knew how bad they could be. Having to jump on the plate at the end was even harder. Finished in 9:12.
Finisher
10:00 EMOTM
Evens: 10 RDLs (135# in rounds 1-3, 165# in rounds 4-5)
Odds: 10 Goblet Squats (62# KB)
It’s been ages since I did RDLs and I don’t think I ever used more than 155#, but my regular deadlift is almost 100# more than it was then. This was a fun finisher, which took about 20-23 seconds of work each minute for me.
Lot’s of weight being moved today. My back held up great too!
The day after a CrossFit competition is always an unknown. It’s hard to predict how your body is going to respond to the challenges you put it through in the heat of competing. I’m feeling good today considering I did 4 high intensity WODs yesterday. My rib cage must be a little bruised up from the plate run because I can feel it sore there. Other than that I feel a little tight in some places, but nothing is sore like the partner competition I did this summer. Went in for the 5:30pm class.
Warm-up
4 Tabata Rounds
Mountain Climbers
Air Squats
Strength
5×5 Wide Stance Low Box Squats (14″ box)
These were not my friend and I’m already feeling them in my knees. I think the super wide stance may not be the best for taller guys, but I’ll have to do some research on that. My working sets were:
5 @ 135#
5 @ 155#
5 @ 175#
5 @ 175#
5 @ 175#
WOD
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Burpee Box Jumps (24″)
Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target)
2m Rest
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Goblet Squats (48# KB)
Over the Box Jumps (24″)
My legs got a lot of work in the competition and then the box squats kind of finished them off before this WOD. I found it hard to jump on the 24″ box today, especially when I got to the over the box jumps. The 24″ box is never an issue for me. I finished in 17:31.
Yesterday morning I walked 18 holes of golf but took a rest day from CrossFit. I really needed it after the hill sprints on Sunday. Went to the 9am class today.
Warm-up
1m DUs
20 1-arm Russian KBS (10 each arm)
1m DUs
20 Russian KBS
1m DUs
20 Goblet Squats
1m DUs
20 KBS
Right out of the gate I nearly set a PR for unbroken DUs. I get 43, just one shy of tying my PR. I think I get in my head and sabotage myself each time that happens. I had some pretty decent streaks throughout, but got worse as I got more tired. I used a 53# KB for everything.
Strength
Matt is starting to put more focus on strength work and shorter WODs finally. That is one of the things I loved about the box out in Phoenix. I was making big improvements each month in my squats and deadlifts. I haven’t even done a 1 rep max back squat since I came back to Michigan!
I grouped up with Brian and Rick for this.
3 sets
Max Reps Right Arm KB Shoulder Press
Max Reps Left Arm KB Shoulder Press
2-3m Rest
Started out with a 35# KB and did 19 and 21 reps. Moved up to a 44# and did 11 reps on each side. For the last set I used a 49# and did 8 reps each.
WOD
50 Box Jumps
250m Run
40 Box Jumps
150m Run
30 Box Jumps
100m Run
20 Box Jumps
100m Run
10 Box Jumps
150m Run
If I didn’t know any better I’d say this WOD was designed for me to crush. We were allowed to rebound off the box and off the ground to work on the skills there. I used a 24″ box and finished in 8:54. I did some double rebounding to speed things up, but it really wears you out so I stuck with rebounding off the box most of the time.
Yesterday, Survival Fitness held the first Summer Open. It was a team event with one male and one female per team. It was a great event with 28 teams competing.
It was the first time I’ve competed in any event like this. The workouts were tough, but fun and rewarding. It was a great experience and very inspiring to watch the top teams. I could barely roll out of bed this morning and it’s a struggle to walk around the house. Even my fingers are sore.
All smiles before WOD #1
WOD #1
10:00 AMRAP (Clean/Deadlift – HR Push-up ladder)
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-?
Men
Clean 135#
HR Push-up
Women
Deadlift 135#
HR Push-up
Man will do 1 clean with 135# and then 1 HR push-up, then…
Woman will do 1 deadlift with 135# and then 1 HR push-up, then…
Man will do 2 cleans with 135# and then 2 HR push-ups, then…
Woman will do 2 deadlifts with 135# and then 2 HR push-ups
etc.
This was going to be our weakest workout because of the weight. If we got to the round of 10 I figured it would be good for us. We completed the 10th round and I got in 3 more cleans before time ran out. We placed 24th in the workout. My back has been wrecked for about a week and it’s even worse after this one. I have some pretty good soreness in the lower part of my back. I need to get myself on video to see if there is something I’m doing wrong with my cleans to cause the lower back issues.
The woman had it relatively easy in this one and you could really tell by the fact that the men immediately collapsed to the ground when the 10 minutes was up.
WOD #2
Partner A: 100 burpees, then tag off and…
Partner B: “Karen”
If you don’t know what “Karen” is, she’s one of the benchmark WODs:
150 Wall Ball Shots for time
Women: 16# ball, 8′ target
Men: 20# ball, 10′ target
The teams decided who is partner A and who is partner B. This workout had a 14 minute time cap and if your team didn’t finish, each rep not completed adds 1 second to your time for scoring.
Both parts of this are gassers. My partner did burpees and I did the wall balls. My PR for “Karen” is 8:51, but I knew I could do much better. As a best case scenario I was hoping my partner would complete her part under 7 minutes, giving me about 7 minutes to take a shot. She finished up just under 7 minutes and I managed to get 141 wall balls in the 7 remaining minutes. Only 9 more reps and we would have finished! The WOD was our best placing (18th) of the day. My quads and glutes are on fire today from all of the wall balls.
WOD #3
“Isometric Chipper”
15:00 AMRAP
Part 1:
60 1 arm d-bell snatch (alternate arms each rep) (45#/30#)
Other partner holds a hand stand against the wall
Part 2:
50 Goblet squats (45#/30#)
Other partner does a bottom squat hold
Part 3:
40 AbMat sit-ups
Other partner must hold a plank
Part 4:
30 K2E
Other partner does a bent knee L-hang
Part 5:
20 ring rows
Other partner holds their chin above the bar
One partner will perform the isometric hold, while the other chips away at the reps. As many switches can be made as needed. No reps are be counted if the partner breaks the isometric hold.
This was one of the most brutal workouts I’ve ever done. The isometric holds crush your soul. I was shooting to get through one round if we could. We got through the circuit once and got done with 40 more snatches, notching us a 22nd place finish in the workout. Nearly every team struggled with the ring row and chin-up hold combination at the end of the circuit because there was nothing left in the tank.
Today I’m feeling a lot of this one in my abs and especially in my upper back and shoulder area from the handstand holds. My partner had a hard time getting up on the wall, so I had to do the majority of the hand stand holds. The goblet squats most definitely contributed to the sore quads and ass I have today.
Overall we finished 25th out of 28 teams and I couldn’t be happier. My partner in the competition only started doing CrossFit about 2 months ago. I didn’t compete with any visions of placing high. I know I can’t stay with the top guys, but I enjoy the challenge and pushing myself.
In addition to these 3 workouts, the top 4 teams then did:
WOD #4
In 7:00:
Flip a 325# tire 50 yards down and 50 yards back in the parking lot.
With the remaining time, each partner then does over the box jumps (at the same time) using their own 24″ box
Score is total number of over the box jumps when you add both teammates reps together.
WOD #5
“Double DB Fran”
42-30-18
Thrusters (45#/30# DBs)
Pull-ups
With only one partner working at a time they have to do 42 thrusters, then 42 pull-ups, then 30 of each, and finally 18 of each. The team can split up the block of reps for a movement however they want but they most be completed before switching movements.
For anyone that doesn’t know, “Fran” is the most well-known CrossFit benchmark. When you ask someone their “Fran” time it’s the equivalent of asking a weightlifter how much he bench presses. In a normal “Fran” you do 21-15-9 using a 95# barbell for guys and a 65# barbell for the gals. Top athletes can finish this in under 3 minutes, but it’s an all-out sprint. My PR for DB “Fran” is 9:05, which is not very good.
Moment of the Day
My favorite moment of the day was during the 5th WOD. The male on the second place team (going into the WOD) hurt his ankle in the 4th WOD so he was only able to do a few of the thrusters. That left his partner doing nearly all of the thrusters and him doing nearly all of the pull-ups. If you’ve ever done thrusters you can already begin to imagine the suck.
Many of us have done “Fran” but we’re talking 42-30-18 here! Not 21-15-9. You could see the woman on the edge of tears each time she had to drop the DBs. The guy’s hands were tore up and bleeding all over. They were several minutes past the times of the other 3 teams in the finals and could have called it quits taking 4th in the WOD no matter what. But they dug deep, we all cheered them on, and they finished. You’ll never see anything like that in another sport. We are CrossFitters.
Judging
Four of us guys that competed ended up judging the final two events to give all of the other volunteers a break. It was kind of stressful to be in such an important role. Luckily it’s pretty easy to judge the most elite of the group because their form in usually dialed in.
After Hours
After the awards ceremony and most people went home, about 10 or 15 of us stuck around cleaning up a bit, finishing off a keg and a bunch of beer in the fridge. A couple of people that didn’t compete actually did some drinking WODs! I think I got home around 10:30. It was a long day, but worth every minute.
Photos
Here are a bunch of photos I’ve downloaded from Facebook. As folks upload more photos I’ll update the gallery here.
As it got into the afternoon I was feeling better than when I woke up this morning. Once I ate lunch, I felt like I could handle a workout, so I gave the food a couple of hours to settle while floating in the lake. Of course laying on my stomach on a floatie tightened up my lower back.
Warm-up
2 rounds
10 PVC OHS
10 PVC Pass-thrus
20 Plyo Lunges
WOD
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Goblet Squats (50# KB)
Diamond Push-ups
Box Jumps (24″)
This was a pretty easy one. Did it in 7:50. To make it harder I could have done front squats holding 50# DBs, decline push-ups, and box jumps on the 31″ ledge. The quick workout was enough for today though.
Finisher
50 OH Lunges (50# KB)
I broke these up into sets of 15-10-15-10, with short breaks in between the sets. Didn’t time it though. It was some nice work on shoulder stability while also working the legs a bit.
Still pretty sore from Sunday’s WOD and some new soreness from doing “Cindy” yesterday. I can really feel all of those push-ups. I don’t remember the last time I was this sore to be honest.
Warm-up
30 yards down and back
Zombie Kicks
High Knees
Butt Kicks
Power Skips
5 rounds with 20# MB
1m OH Lunges
1m Sit-ups
1m Front Squats
1m Diamond Push-ups (on ball)
1m OH Squats
1m Rest
The MB work was a real arm and shoulder killer. It got the legs nice and loose for the WOD too.
WOD
20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2
Burpees
Goblet Squats (50# KB)
The burpees were much harder than usual due to doing 186 chest-to-ground push-ups yesterday and about 60 MB diamond push-ups in the warm-up. All sets of burpees were done unbroken, but I had to break each round of goblet squats into 2 sets until I got to the round of 10 when I went unbroken the rest of the way. I finished in 15:08.
Strength
5×5 Weighted Pull-ups
Take 2 minutes of rest after each set and try to increase the weight each set.
For my sets I used 8#, 10#, 12#, 15#, and 15#. I might have even come up just short on the 5th rep in the last set, so I’m glad I didn’t try to increase to 20# which would have been the next jump. I actually stayed after class to finish this off because there was a 15 minute gap before the next class started. I know I need the work to increase my strength. This is a huge improvement over the last time I did weighted pull-ups and used 12# for the last 3 sets.
Was up early this morning to play a practice round in preparation for the Saginaw District Golf Tournament Qualifier, which is this Sunday. Yes, I knocked out the Armstrong push-ups bright and early to start my day.
My pair of Reebok CrossFit Nano 2.0 arrived today in time to use them for my workout. I’m very pleased with them as a CrossFit shoe.
I attended the 4:15 class and planned on staying after for open gym to work on a bunch of stuff and beat up my body.
Warm-up
100-75-50-25 Squats
50-40-30-20 HR Push-ups
I’m not sure you can really call this a warm-up, because it took longer than the WOD. I finished in 17:22.
WOD
21-15-9
Goblet Squats (88# KB)
Burpees
Pull-ups
Sit-ups
I went as heavy as I could for the goblet squats by using the largest KB in the gym and for each round I broke them up into 2 sets. They completely wiped me out for burpees, which I did extremely slow compared to my normal pace. My time was 12:45.
Finisher
Death by Box Jumps
1st minute: 2 box jumps
2nd minute: 4 box jumps
… increas by 2 each minute
Go big or go home right? I used the 32″ box for the first time, which wasn’t too bad. I just had to take my time a little more and make sure I got a good jump in. I made it up to the round of 14, which I finished a few seconds before the minute was over. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make 16 with such a short rest, so I shut it down there. Using the bigger boxes more often will make the 24″ box seem so easy.
After class I rested for a bit as some people started showing up for open gym.
WOD #2
Mini “Diane”
12-9-6
Deadlifts (225#)
HSPUs
I did strict HSPUs as long as I could, then added a kip, then added an AbMat, then added a kip with the AbMat. My time was 4:49. When I think how fast the elite men and women are doing a “Diane” compared to my mini, it’s sick. They’re in a different solar system.
Strength
Back Squats
3x 175#
3x 195#
3x 195#
3x 195#
I was feeling pretty beat after 250 air squats and the goblet squats, but it was nice to get in some moderate weight squatting for the week.
After that I decided to knock out my Armstrong Pull-ups for the day. It was 3 sets with a normal grip, 3 sets with a close (hands 0-4 inches apart) chin-up grip, and 3 sets with a wide grip. Each set was 3 reps with 60 seconds of rest in between sets. The pull-ups felt really good today.
Then I pulled out the jump rope and did some DUs. With the new rope it was nothing to knock out 10+ in a row on each attempt. It spins so effortlessly. Somehow somebody brought up muscle ups, so I tried a few on the bar. I almost had it a couple of times and I’m confident I can get it next time when I haven’t worked out for 2 hours already. 🙂
I’m fucking beat, but it was all worth it. Time to relax for the night. Tomorrow is CrossFit for Hope, which looks like a killer WOD. I’m looking forward to the snatches, which I haven’t done in quite some time.
I didn’t do any workouts Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I did walk 18 holes of golf yesterday, but other than that, I rested. My body needed it.
Workout 12.1 of the 2012 Open is in the books. I’m just shy of the middle of the pack in the region and in the world. My goal is to finish the Open ahead of 10%, so I’m well on my way. I wonder what workout 12.2 will be. I hope they don’t bring DUs in yet. I could use some more practice time.
Warm-up
World’s Greatest Stretch (3 each leg)
400m Run
2 Sets
10-15 KBS
10-15 GHD
10-15 Hip Extensions
60s Plank
I used a 53# KB for the swings and did 15 reps of everything.
Strength
5 Sets
10-12 Goblet Squat, 2-1-1-1 tempo
45s Rest
10-20 Push Ups, 1-0-1-0 tempo
45s Rest
8-10 Ring Rows, 2-1-1-1 tempo
45s Rest
Looks easy right? Not so much! The focus was on tempo and stamina for this strength session. I used a 44# KB for goblet squats, but probably should have used a 53#. In each set I achieved the high rep count except for push-ups. In sets 3, 4, and 5 I was only able to get 16 push-ups. I could have squeezed out some more, but not by keeping the correct tempo. Ring rows were really tough with the 2 second lowering phase.
WOD
2 Sets
350m Row
3m Rest
This was a great quick cardio killer to finish the class. I did the rows in 1:10 and 1:11. I had the damper setting on 5 for the first one, which is what I usually use, but tried 7 for the 2nd, and was able to get just about the same time, when most people lost at least a 4-5 seconds. Might be something to try more often.
Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs 