Tag: row

Making Men

I didn’t get the greatest sleep last night, but I’m feeling great. Pretty sore from the back squats, KBS, and walking lunges yesterday, which I think is why I kept tossing and turning early this morning.

Warm-up

3 rounds

  • 2 Turkish Get-ups (each side)
  • 60s Row

I used a 35# KB for the first two rounds and then a 44# for the third one. The warm-up actually called for 60s of DUs, but I’m laying off the jump rope for a few weeks to let my neck heal, so I rowed instead. Did over 250m each round in the 60s.

Strength

4 Sets

  • 4-5 Deadlift, 2-0-X-1 tempo
  • 15-20s Rest
  • MAX HSPU
  • 3m Rest

My previous best deadlift was 5 reps at 275# so I set 290# as my goal for the last set. Warmed up with 6 reps at 135# and then used 225#, 245#, 275#, and 290# for the working sets. Was able to get 5 reps each set and set a 15# PR! I’m curious what my 1 rep max is. For the HSPUs I used 1 AbMat under my head and did 9, 11, 9, and 8 reps. Each set beat my old PR of 7 reps. Three months ago I started by doing pike push-ups (stink bugs). Maybe next time I’ll put plates under my hands so I’m going full depth.

WOD

7 Rounds of 5 Manmakers.
Partner up and alternate rounds so that each person completes 7 rounds for a total of 14.

Holy shit! This WOD will make a man out of any guy or gal. You get a little bit of rest when your partner is doing their round, but after you get through 2 or 3 reps my tank was on E. I used 40# DBs for the entire workout. We finished in 15:38.

Overhead Pushes

I lost track of time last night while doing laundry and cooking up some food for the week, so I got to bed much later than I hoped. As a result I was a little tired this morning. I’ve been eating a banana in the mornings before going in for the workout and I think it’s helping give me an extra boost of energy.

Warm-up

2 rounds

  • 250m Row
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 10 Wall Squats
  • 10 PVC Pass-thrus

Strength

15 minutes of jerk. Build up to a heavy single with jerk or split jerk.

I started out with the bar for a bit to work on the technique. First real weight was 115# and I smacked my chin on the 2nd rep. How? I have no idea. I went to 135#, 155#, and 165# doing 2 reps at each. Final set was 170# once for a PR. The weight felt pretty good. Ten more pounds and I’ll be putting more than my body weight over my head. I did split jerks for all of the reps.

WOD

4 sets for max reps of push press against a 2-minute running clock, with 2 minutes of rest between sets.

  • 200m Run
  • MAX Push Presses

So when the 2m clock starts we head out down the stairs and run 200m, back up the stairs and then do push presses with whatever time is left on the clock. Running splits were pretty consistent with about 1:05 left on the clock each time. I went Rx on the weight with 115# for the push presses and was able to do 14, 12, 10, and 12 reps in the rounds. The weight got heavy but not too heavy. Felt much better than open workout 12.3 which had 12 reps at 115# shoulder to overhead and I did push jerks the entire time.

My biceps were sore right away from this WOD. It’s a struggle to drink a glass of water. No joke.

2012 CrossFit Games Open Workout 12.5

Today was the day. The end of the 2012 CrossFit Games for me. When the workout was announced I wasn’t too excited because I’m not good at thrusters or chest to bar pull-ups. I knew I’d give it my best though.

Open Workout 12.5

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:

  • 3 Thrusters
  • 3 C2B Pull-ups
  • 6 Thrusters
  • 6 C2B Pull-ups
  • 9 Thrusters
  • 9 C2B Pull-ups
  • 12 Thrusters
  • 12 C2B Pull-ups
  • 15 Thrusters
  • 15 C2B Pull-ups
  • …

If you complete the round of 15, go on to 18, increasing the reps by 3 with each new round as far as you can go. Thrusters are done using 100#.

I did a slow 400m row and a bunch of stretching as a warm-up. My goal was to get through the rounds of 12, to give me 60 reps. In the end I managed 58 total reps with some no-reps on the C2B pull-ups otherwise I would have hit my goal. I won’t know my final placing until Tuesday night, but it looks like I’ll beat about 25% of men. That’s a success in my book since I started CrossFit on the last day of October (less than 5 months ago) and my goal was to beat 10% of the guys.

This was my first CrossFit competition and I’m hungry for more. However, I am glad this one is over so I can get back to a regular workout schedule without having to fit in a special workout every week. The CrossFit Games Open have taught me that overall strength is my greatest weakness. When the weights get heavy I struggle and fatigue fast. My endurance is probably better than average, but I hit a point where my muscles don’t have much left in them to crank out reps. I’m already looking forward to the 2013 Open to see how much I can progress in a year.

Now that I’m done with all 5 workouts, I can finally wear the Reebok CrossFit Games Open shirt I bought after I registered. I told myself I wouldn’t put it on until I completed the competition.

Swing Some More

Didn’t get as much sleep as I’d like last night because I had to get up early. I had a golf lesson scheduled for 10am so went in to the 8am open gym to do today’s WOD.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 2x
    • 10 Swimming Supermans
    • 10 PVC Pass Thrus
    • 10 Flamingos (5 each side)

Strength

3 Sets

  • MAX Push-ups, 2-0-X-0 tempo
  • 45s Rest
  • 6-8 Romanian DL, 3-0-1-1 tempo
  • 3m Rest

For the push-ups I was able to do 30, 22, and 18 reps. For the RDLs I started with 135#, went to 155#, and finished with 205#. I was able to do 8 reps on the first 2 sets, but only 6 on the last set.

WOD

4 Rounds – Against a 4-minute running clock, with 4-minutes rest between sets, complete four sets of the following for max reps of pull-ups.

  • 500m Row
  • 30 KBS
  • MAX Pull-ups
  • 4m Rest

This was brutal. Using a 53# KB, the swings add up quickly. I completed all 30 unbroken in the 1st round, but broken them into 15-15 for rounds 2 and 3, then 20-10 for the final round. I was able to knock out 8, 5, 2, and 3 pull-ups.

2012 CrossFit Games Open Workout 12.4

After the third workout of the Open I was 1,526th out of 1,930 in the South West region and 21,310th out of 28,234. My goal is to finish ahead of 10% of the men and I’m in the 20-25% range (I don’t feel like doing exact calculations right now). I’m really happy with that so far. Since I’m heading out of town for the weekend I needed to hit the next workout this morning.

Open Workout 12.4

12m AMRAP

  • 150 Wall balls (20lbs to 10′ target)
  • 90 DUs
  • 30 Muscle-ups

That’s a full “Karen” WOD followed by DUs and muscle-ups!

I guess it’s a good thing I got a band-assisted muscle-up yesterday since I’ve never done any muscle-up before. My goal was to finish the wall balls and DUs and get at least one muscle-up. I was close to getting a strict one yesterday before class started. I knew a key for this workout was going to be limiting no-reps with the wall balls. Make every rep count or else it’s just wasted energy and time.

I warmed up with a 400m row and got into it. The first minute went well and I got through 30 wall balls. Ahead of the 20-25 pace I was shooting for. Somewhere in the next minute or two things really slowed down though. I finished wall balls around 9:00, leaving me 3:00 to get through DUs and maybe a muscle-up. One week ago there would have been no chance of getting through the DUs, but practicing 5-10 minutes each day has paid off. I was a little worried when I only had 25 DUs after the 10:00 mark, but I picked up the pace towards the end and finished them with 10-15 seconds on the clock. Time for one hurried muscle-up attempt. Haha! Nothing left in the gas tank. Shoulders and arms were fried from the wall balls.

Final tally was 240 reps, which I think it going to a pretty common score in this workout. I’ll take it. I’m happy I at least had time to make an attempt at a muscle-up. I rowed a slow 1k as a cool down.

I’m on vacation for the next week and hitting the road to Las Vegas in a bit. I’m looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation before coming back on Sunday night. I’ll be back to the box on Monday morning to work off what I gain in Sin City.

Maybe My Favorite WOD

Feeling good this morning.

Warm-up

  • 600m Run
  • 2x
    • 3 World’s Greatest Stretch (each side)
    • 10 Burpees

I got a little headache during the warm-up. I wonder if the pre-workout drink I started taking has something to do with it.

Strength

4 Sets

  • 2-3 Back Squat, 3-0-X-1 tempo
  • 20s Rest
  • 15 KBS
  • 3m Rest

Did one warm-up set of back squats at 135#. Then used 185#, 200#, 210#, and 220# for the working sets and was able to get 3 reps each set. For the first time I didn’t feel like I was tipping forward when I started to come up. 3 reps at 220# beats my previous best of 1 rep there. I used the 70# KB for the first time today. It was an ass kicker, but I got through each set unbroken.

WOD

4 Rounds, 2m each round, 2m rest between rounds

  • 250m Row
  • MAX Squat Cleans with remaining time

This might be my favorite WOD I’ve done since starting CrossFit. Going straight from the row to squat cleans was a killer on the quads. I finished the row in less than a minute each round and then used 115# on the bar. Knocked out 7, 6, 5, and 6 squat cleans during the rounds. I should have been able to get 6 in round 3 as well, but I gave up on myself with 6 seconds left on the clock. Should have been just enough time for one last rep. I made sure not to let that happen again in the last round.

Lotsa DUs

My entire body is still sore from the open workout. Olympic lifting class was switched from 4pm on Sundays to noon, which works out much better for planning out the day. I can get up at my usual time and either go for a hike or hit the 9am class. Then there is enough time to get breakfast and run an errand or two. After the Olympic class I can get in a round of twilight golf. Perfect!

Today I went to the 9am class because a nice cardio blaster was scheduled in the programming and it would take care of my DU practice for the day.

3 Rounds

  • 500m Row
  • 100 DUs
  • 400m Run

I finished in 22:13. I was able to do a lot 10+ DU streaks and overall it was the best I’ve done DUs in a WOD. All of the practice is paying off. When I do so many DUs I start to get a headache though. This has been happening even when I practice them. After some Google-ing it seems to be an issue with head position, which would make sense because my neck seems to be getting tighter and tighter from CrossFit. I’ll have to find something from the MobilityWOD to help loosen it up.

John is starting to run the Olympic lifting class more open so everyone can choose what they want to work on. I chose to start with overhead squats because of my strength weakness there and I’ve always felt tipsy holding that weight overhead so long. I did some warm-up rounds with the bar and then started working my way up with 75#, 95#, 105#, and 115# for 4-5 reps. 115# was a new PR and it felt good, so I went for one last round with 125# and knocked out 3 reps. I’m going to have to buy some wrist straps because I could really feel it as the weight got heavier.

The other gals had moved on to split jerks so I worked on those as well. I didn’t get up to anything too heavy. Mainly worked with the bar, 75#, 95#, and 115# to focus on technique. My leg positions in the split are getting better. Still only 3 people showed up today. I can’t believe more people don’t want to take advantage of this class.

While we were working on our Olympic stuff, the gym owner, Gayle did the open workout again and did nearly 2 more rounds than her first attempt. She was flying through it. Pretty amazing to watch!

Triple 8 Minute AMRAPs

Final results are in for workout 12.2 of the 2012 CrossFit Games Open. For the snatch workout I finished 1,703rd out of 2,125 in the South West region and 23,604th out of 31,287 in the world. That puts me in 1,624th place in the region and 23,040th in the world after 2 workouts. I dropped in both rankings, but heavy weights are not my thing compared to most of these guys. I’ve only been doing workouts with barbells for 2 months of my 4 month CrossFit journey!

The deadlifts hit me a bit harder today. Pretty sore in my legs and lower back. I can feel all of the pull-up work we did yesterday in my shoulders and upper back too. Or maybe I’m just getting old!

When I saw today’s workout I had mixed feelings. No strength work, but three metcons. Interesting to say the least. From the pull-ups and T2B I knew today had the potential to wreak havok on my hands, and it did.

Warm-up

  • Stretch
  • 600m Run

Rest 8 minutes between AMRAPs.

WOD #1

8m AMRAP

  • 250m Row
  • 5 HSPUs
  • 10 Thrusters

I flew through the first row, knocked out the HSPUs using 1 AbMat, and did the thrusters unbroken at 95#. Second row went well too, but then I hit the HSPUs and got stuck. The first two were ok, but I had a lot of trouble with the next three. Tried kipping them out with some success, but I took me a long time and I fell off the pace. All that work wore me out for the thrusters and I had to break them up into small sets. I managed to get out the final row just before the time ran out. So I completed 2 rounds plus 250m of rowing.

WOD #2

8m AMRAP

  • 40 DUs
  • 20 HR Push-ups
  • 10 Pull-ups

DUs, I own you! I started off with a streak of 20+ and thought, “This is easy.” Haha! I fell off the pace a bit, but this was the first WOD where I didn’t suffer too much from DUs. I kept my head and tried to relax, which really helped with my rhythm. The second round of HR Push-ups were tough. In the second round I set a new PR by getting all 10 pull-ups in a row by kipping. I have a nice wound to show for it as you can see in the picture. I only tore up my left hand this time and it’s under a different finger than the first time I tore up my hands. Funny thing is, that was exactly one month ago. I sure hope the Open workout doesn’t require anything on the bar because I don’t know what I’ll do. I finished 2 rounds plus 14 DUs for this WOD.

WOD #3

8m AMRAP

  • 20 Box Jumps
  • 15 T2B
  • 10 Ring Dips

I used a 24in box for the jumps and substituted GHDs for the T2B since my hand was already tore up. I didn’t substitute anything for any of the ring dips today. I finished 2 rounds plus 20 box jumps, 15 GHD, and 2 ring dips.

Once everything was all said and done, that was a pretty cool program for today. I really love how they switch things up at the box. I’m going to miss the programming when I head back to Michigan, but I’m excited that the box back home is making a lot of changes and going to become a CrossFit affiliate this summer. Damn, I love this shit!

Cleaner Cleans

Good sleep, feeling good. My hands have been healing really well under the pinkies, but I’m starting to develop an issue under the middle fingers on both hands. I wonder if I’m compensating.

Warm-up

  • 600m Run
  • 2x
    • 5 Inch worms
    • 10 PVC Shrug Pass-thrus
    • 15 Sit-ups
  • PVC Bergener Warm-up

First time doing the inch worms. Those are interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever concentrated on doing a shrug before starting the pass-thrus either. Shoulders were sore doing those. Probably from the slow ring rows.

Strength

4 Sets

  • 1.1.1.1.1 Cleans (Rest 10 seconds between reps)
  • 20s Rest
  • 10-15 Heavy KBS
  • 3m Rest

For the sets of cleans I used 95#, 115#, 125#, and 140#. Gayle gave me a few tips to clean up my form and it really made them much easier. I was leaning back too much instead of exploding up. I also wasn’t keeping the bar close enough to my body after it got past my knees. It’s incredible how much easier they were with better form. Oh, and we did full squat cleans which I had never done either. I used a 62# KB for the swings and did 15 each set.

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 250m Row
  • 20 Wall Balls
  • 20 KBS
  • 2m Rest

The was a brutal WOD for me. Wall balls suck. We had already done 60 swings with a kettlebell, so 60 more sucked too. Ok, enough whining! I just died during this workout. Not my strengths for sure. I used a 20# MB and a 53# KB and finished in 13:57.

Fully Rested

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.