My legs are a little sore from the back squats, thrusters, and air squats. Got up again and went to the 6am class at CrossFit Pacific Beach. Although it’s easy for me getting up because of the 3 hour time difference I’m really liking getting in my workout so early. Might have to try it when I get back home.
Warm-up
400m Run
2 rounds
7 Push-ups
9 Burpee Tuck Jumps
11 Ring Rows
50 DUs
I did really well on the ring rows, but it’s probably because they were higher than I’d normally have them. We did some PVC work and a bit of stretching after the above warm-up. Then we did a few snatches with increasing weight to get to something comfortable to use in the WOD.
WOD #1
5 rounds
3 Power Snatches (95#)
6 Ring Dips
9 Pull-ups
After each round, rest for 2 minutes.
My rep scores for the rounds were 45, 37, 35, 35, and 30. Ring dips were my biggest struggle, but I didn’t use any bands throughout the WOD. Pull-ups also got me in the last round. I think this was the first time I’ve done barbell snatches in a WOD and I really liked it.
I got back to the hotel, ready to run another day of Bootcamp for Automatticians. We warmed up with some air squats to loosen up the legs from yesterday and then did some World’s Greatest Stretches.
WOD #2
The original plan was to do 100 burpees for time with a 10:00 time limit. But only 4 people showed up today and I was pretty exhausted from the WOD at the box, so I switched it up.
10:00 EMOTM
10 Burpees
I went with 10 burpees, which gives me a solid 24 seconds of work. I had everyone else base their number off when I finished in that first minute. I’m glad we didn’t do the original plan for everyone’s sake, including mine. I felt like I was really dying in the last 5 minutes, but was able to keep hitting my 24 second sweet spot.
Finisher
3 Tabata Rounds
Standing Bicycles
Flutter Kicks
Tomorrow we’re doing a 5K as one of the company meetup activities so it’ll be a rest day from the WODs.
Today I was sore from the combination of thrusters on Saturday and wall balls yesterday. Also sore from yesterday’s ring dips. Just sore enough in those areas to know something is working. I walked 18 holes of golf this morning and then went to the 7pm class.
Strength
5 sets
5 Back Squats
2m Rest
Warmed up with a set of 8 using just the bar. My working sets were:
135#
165#
185#
210#
220#
No failures on any of the reps, but I need to get better at consistent weight increases. That was pretty wild. I haven’t done a 1RM since the end of March, which was 240#, so the next time we do that I’ll knock it out of the park.
Accessory
3 sets
12 Bulgarian Split Squats (each leg)
For the first set we didn’t use any weight. I used a 35# KB for the second set and a 48# KB for the third set. I’m not sure why we didn’t hold 2 DBs for these.
WOD
7:00 AMRAP
Turkish Get-up (first half, the get-up part only)
3 1-Arm Snatches
3 1-Arm OHS
Turkish Get-up (second half, the get down part only)
Each time through the series is one rep and you must alternate arms after each rep. I used a 35# DB and completed 13 reps. The 1-Arm OHS may be one of the oddest movements I’ve done in a WOD. The balance seems impossible unless you get a super wide stance. I kept getting up on my toes at points and it was a struggle to get proper depth.
Finisher
10 Prowler Sprints
The prowler was loaded with two 45# plates and we used the heavier (wooden) one. Each sprint was about 25 yards one way with the high handles and then 25 yards back with the low handles. For the last couple of sprints it was only Michelle and I, so very little rest.
Lots of squatting today, which I need. I’m excited to see Matt is serious about putting a dedicated strength section into weekday classes. I’ve been getting stronger, but not at the pace I was seeing over the 3 months when I was out in Phoenix last winter.
I went in to the 9am, which isn’t much recovery from 7pm last night, but I have a bunch of stuff going on later today. Rest day tomorrow, but I’ll probably go golfing in the morning.
Warm-up
2 rounds, 10:00 limit
50 Jumping Jacks
40 Air Squats
30 PVC Pass-thrus
20 Leg Raises
10 Burpees
I didn’t make it through the 10 burpees at the end.
Strength
Find 1RM for Push Press. Shoot for 7 attempts with 2 minutes of rest between each.
5 @ 45#
5 @ 95#
1 @ 120#
1 @ 130#
1 @ 145#
1 @ 155#
1 @ 165#
1 @ 175#
1 @ 185#
1 @ 190#
The best I had done before was 2 reps at 175#. I did more sets than I was supposed to but I didn’t think I would get that high, so my planning for the early weights was off. I really got a good dip and drive with the legs and 190# went up pretty easily. Always good to leave a bit in the tank for next time on a 1RM max. It’s better than failing on a rep.
WOD
10:00 AMRAP
1-Arm Snatches (45# DB)
I was doing 5 reps with each arm before switching. Started off well, but kind of hit a wall in the middle. Ended up with 155 reps. Probably should have gone with 40# and kept a higher intensity.
Finisher
7 rounds
10 Kroc Rows (60# DB, 5 each side)
10 V-ups
Nice finisher to work the midline and get in some more strength work.
Still a bit sore in my legs from death by wall balls, but I think working out yesterday really helped to speed up the recovery process. I got up and went in for the 9am class today since I have an adjustment and massage at the chiropractor later today.
Warm-up
We partnered up and switch back and forth between some KB work and ab stuff.
When doing ab work we rotated between the following movements and kept going until our partner was finished with their KB reps.
AbMat Sit-ups
Mountain Climbers
Plank
While working with the KB, we did 20 reps of a movement before switching with our partner.
Russian KBS
Power KBS
KBS
Right arm Russian KBS
Left arm Russian KBS
Right arm KB Snatch
Left arm KB Snatch
Then on our own we did 10 Quarter Get-ups on each side and a couple of Turkish Get-ups an each side to warm-up. I used a 35# KB for all of this.
WOD
50 Turkish Get-ups (30# KB)
The Rx for men was 35# and Matt made it sound pretty tough, so I went down to the 30#. Doing 5 per side at a time I was able to keep a good flow and knock out the WOD in 8:22. I should have went with a 33# or 35# KB.
Finisher
We formed two lines and started doing prowler work, going from line to the other. Each prowler was loaded with a couple of 45# plates, but since I was the only guy in class today, I got to load on extra. I’m not sure how many rounds I got it, but it was probably 5 or more.
Prowler Suicide (140# load) – 10 yard high push and low push back, 20 yard high push and low push back
Prowler Walk and Sprint (135# load) – Walk with high hand position for 25 yards, low position sprint back
I don’t know why, bit I like the prowler work. A lot of people get physically sick (or close to it) from the prowler. Really good work for the legs.
On Saturday night I did the Warrior Dash for the first time. It was a lot of fun doing the obstacles. As I had expected, the run wasn’t bad at all. Now I need to step it up and try a Tough Mudder. Then on Sunday and Monday I went on a little golfing trip up to northern Michigan. It was nice to have a couple of rest days away from the WODs.
Warm-up
5 rounds
1m AbMat Sit-ups
1m Russian Twists (30# KB)
1m Plank
1m V-ups
1m Table Top (30s each side)
1m Rest
I could still feel the GHD work that I did on Friday night. This was the first time doing table tops and wow are they tough.
WOD
1m Wall Balls
3 rounds
100m Run
5 KB Snatches (L)
5 OH KB Lunges (L)
5 KB Snatches (R)
5 OH KB Lunges (R)
100m Run
1m Wall Balls
Kind of a weird WOD with the minute of wall balls at the beginning and at the end of the WOD, especially when everyone had to keep track of their own minute at the end. I got 29 wall balls that first minute and 25 at the end in the last minute. Total time for the WOD was 8:40, using a 53# KB for all of the snatches and lunges.
Finisher
100 HR Push-ups
My push-up endurance sucks. I think I started off with a set of 15 and then a set of 10, but after that it was 5s for a while and then whatever I could do. It took me 7:48 to finish off the 100.
Got to sleep late last night, but feeling pretty good today, other than my lower back of course.
Warm-up
400m Run
30 Air Squats
20 PVC Pass-thrus
30 PVC OHS
4 rounds
15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Jump Squats
4 rounds
15s Plank
15s Supermans
15s Side Plank L
15s Side Plank R
Long warm-up, but just what my body needed.
WOD
Cool partner WODs today. I was paired up with Laura. You keep alternating each part of the workout, so while one person is running, the other is doing the movement for reps inside.
10:00 AMRAP
150m Run
Over the Box Jumps (24″)
We got 198 reps total. Great WOD that keeps up the intensity the entire 10 minutes. There is no place to rest here until you’re done.
We rested for 5 minutes before moving on to the second part.
10:00 AMRAP
150m MB Run
Alternating one-arm DB Snatches (40#)
We got 175 reps in this one. MB runs are never easy. Another 10 minutes where there is no place to rest because snatches are such a full body move.
Now I’m off to run the Warrior Dash at 4:30 this afternoon. It’s only 3.25 miles and from what I’ve heard there is a lot of waiting at the obstacles, so I don’t expect it to be too hard on the body. I’ll use it as a recovery from this morning’s WOD. Then tomorrow I’m heading out-of-town for the weekend to golf with my Dad and a couple of buddies. Looking forward to the rest days.
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.
I wasn’t as sore as I expected this morning, considering the volume of deadlifts and power cleans I did yesterday. We had a kettlebell seminar at Survival Fitness today so I figured it was a great idea to attend the 11am class so I could just stay for the seminar, which was scheduled to be an hour and a half long.
Warm-up
Tabata Mash-up (6 rounds)
Jumping Jacks
Steam Engines
WOD
1 mile run
10 rounds
10 Ring Push-ups
10 One-arm DB Snatches (45#)
1 mile run
I ran the first mile in my best gym time 6:18. Last week I ran a 6:14, but the RunKeeper GPS was kind of funky there, so I’m not sure I should count that time. Total time for the WOD was 3:20 (no way this was correct). I would have used a 60# DB if I hadn’t done all that clean work last night and didn’t just do 100 one-arm snatches with 50# last week. I was really fatigued during this workout.
We had about 20 or 30 minutes before the kettlebell seminar started. In the seminar we did all kinds of stuff, including Russian swings, American swings, cleans, snatches, clean and press, clean and jerk, goblet squats, front squats, hand to hand swings, Turkish get-ups, 1/4 get-ups, windmills, and probably a ton of other stuff I’m forgetting. At the end, we did a WOD.
100 Single KB Thrusters (50 each side)
50 Hand-to-hand Russian Swings
40 1/4 Get-ups (20 each side)
I used a 35# KB for everything and finished in 10:35. Absolutely gassed!
I’m definitely taking the next two days off, will WOD on Tuesday, and then either do a WOD or a run on Thursday. I’m surprised with how well my body has handled working out 9 days in a row, but I need to recover and make sure I’m ready to go for the competition on Saturday.
My back was still a little tight this morning, but feeling better than yesterday.
Warm-up
400m Run
3 rounds
20 Hollow Rocks
10 Supermans
20 Russian Twists (50# KB)
Using the 50# KB for the Russian Twists was HEAVY, but worth it.
Strength
5 sets
MAX rep Pull-ups (on rings)
2m Rest
I was able to do sets of 10, 6, 5, 5, and 4. The set of 10 is a new PR!
WOD
100 Alternating one-arm DB Snatches (50# DB)
* 5 Burpee buy-in at the beginning of every minute, including the start
I did at snatches every single minute, only doing 6 for one or two minutes at the end with 8 or 10 for all of the other minutes. Finishing time was 11:49.
Finisher
50 K2E (on rings)
I didn’t time these, but took very little rest in between sets. I did 20 reps in the first set, beating my old PR of 10, and then did 3 sets of 10 to finish off the 50.
A lot of great work in this workout. Really liked it!
I should have taken a day off somewhere during the week. I just got home from Survival Fitness where I attended the 4:15p class and stayed another hour for open gym. I’m exhausted and could really tell towards the end of the 2 hours. Finally I forced myself to leave. At least I’m out-of-town for the weekend so I can’t get in any WODs. I think all of the squatting we did this week really took a toll on my body too. I’ve never gone 6 days in a row before and now I know why.
Warm-up
100 V-ups
Every minute on the minute, do 5 box jumps (24″), except to start the first minute.
We didn’t do many box jumps this week, so I was glad to see them here, even if it didn’t end up being very many. I think I finished in the 6th(?) minute, but don’t remember for sure.
As we were waiting for everyone to finish, I jumped on the bar and got my first muscle-up! Did it again to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Next up, the rings. I actually just got a set of the wood rings from Rogue Fitness to use while I’m vacationing for 10 days and then I can hang them in my garage when I get back.
WOD
EMOM: 4 Burpees (start with 4 right away)
50 PVC Front Squats
30 SDLHP (88# KB)
50 PVC OHS
30 1-arm Push Presses (each arm) (45# DB)
50 PVC Back Squats
30 Ring Rows
I finished in 17:28, so I did 68 burpees. Front squats with a PVC pipe were kind of weird because there was no weight there to keep the wrists in place and help the elbows get up. Oh yeah, 150 more squats for the week! I wanted to get in some heavy front or back squats at open gym, but not with how much squatting we had already done for the week.
Finisher
5 rounds
150m Sprint (rectangle in the parking lot)
2m Rest
My sprints were all 21-22 seconds, which is pretty good considering the corners are pretty scary running in the parking lot. I felt really good doing the sprints.
Open Gym
I did some deadlifting to start. The plan was to do a 5×5 after the light warm-up set.
10x 135#
5x 225#
5x 275#
5x 305#
1x 325#
I’m not sure what I was thinking when I increased the weight so much there. I had to set the bar down after the 3rd rep at 305# before knocking out the last two. Then at 325# I had to shut it down after one. I was starting to feel it in my back and got light-headed after I walked away from the bar. At least I got in some heavy deadlifting, but I should have been smarter about it.
Then Casey A. was doing some snatch balances, so I jumped in with him. We did some with the 45# bar and some with 65#. After that we did some squat snatches with 65# and 85#. I think I was doing 3-5 reps for a couple sets at each weight for both the snatch balance and the squat snatch.
Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs 