Jim vs. Michael

Yesterday was another work-related early rest day, though after Tuesday’s workout my body was appreciative of it. Today we decided to eschew the prescribed snatch’n'pull-up WOD because snatches are something we all needed some form work on. So we did that for a bit before tackling Michael.

The snatch movement felt better to me that it had in the past: still not as comfortable as the clean, but better. I was only able to really do power snatches; my attempts to do a full squat snatch found me unable to get low enough. This probably means I need to work on my overhead squat more.

“Michael”
Three rounds for time of:
800m run
35 back extensions
35 sit-ups

My time was 21:11, slower than I’d like but still seemingly respectable. (I try to check the BrandX threads and compare my times to other folks doing Pack.) I rarely had to stop for a breather — never on the runs or back extensions and only once on the sit-ups — so I’m pleased with my endurance. I’d like to work on my speed/intensity on these running WODs, though.

Jim vs. the Filthy Fifty

Well, not quite fifty; I’m still doing Pack scale, after all. The Thoroughly-soiled Thirty-five, maybe?

For time:
35 box jump, 16 inch box
35 jumping pull-ups
35 dumbbell swings, 35 lbs.
35 steps, walking lunge
35 sit-ups
35 push press, 45 pounds
35 back extensions
35 wall ball shots, 10 pound ball
35 burpees
35 standard jump rope jumps

OK, some caveats: even at Pack it’s supposed to be 18-20 inches for the box jump, and 14-20 lbs for the wall ball, but we’re limited by what equipment is available in Teagle. But even with that, I’m really happy with my 15:46 time. This thing is brutal… especially with burpees coming damn near at the end.

Jim vs. Deadlifts

Doing  deadlifts, especially single reps, is totally a head game for me. I address the bar, get myself in the right position, but in that first instant when I actually engage my muscles to start the lift there’s always the immediate reaction that there’s no damn way that bar’s going to move. Luckily, somewhere along the line* I picked up the tip that you shouldn’t think of a deadlift as you lifting the bar; you should imagine straightening your legs through the floor. Somehow, that gets me past that initial mental block just about every time.

Today was seven sets of one rep each; in other words, and invitation to explore your max. My results were:

225 x 1
245 x 1
265 x 1
275 x 1
285 x 1
285 x 1
295 x 1

I weighed in at 179 lbs this morning (the lightest I’ve been since… cripes, college maybe?), so that 275 lift let me achieve my previous goal of deadlifting 150% of my body weight. (I’d actually done 275 before, but I was heavier at the time.) The 295 was a new one rep max for me (representing about 165% of my body weight). I was lucky to have Nina, Charlotte, and Judd there watching my form; I apparently did a pretty solid job keeping my back in alignment (though I need to make sure to maintain that when I put the load back down), and keeping my knees behind my toes.  It was a good return to this kind of lifting, and the fact that I didn’t fail on any of the sets means I can probably push things further next time.

Fun way to start the week.

*  Probably from Rippetoe’s Starting Strength. There’s no way you can say enough good things about that book.

Jim vs. Back Squats

I was a bit nervous about this workout: my previously problematic squat form is what led to my knee problems. But since I’ve been cleared to get back to it as long as I started out slow, there was no excuse not to jump in and do my 5×3 back squats  today. My results:

95 x 3
115 x 3
155 x 3
185 x 3
215 x 3

I started out with a very low weight, and it felt fine, so I started ramping it up. The final set was at the same weight as my final set from the last time I did back squats (when I did 135-155-175-195-215), and my knees didn’t buckle or hurt. If I keep up the physical therapy exercises and stretches, I can definitely push this a lot harder next time it comes up.

Jim vs. Angie

Again: the workout, not my coworker. (And now that I think about it, I even know a guy named D.T.)

“Angie”
60 Pull ups 
60 Push ups 
60 Sit ups 
60 Squats

Time = 14:23. Brutal way to start the morning; not sure if it was the hour, the workout, or the fact that I did this less than twelve hours after tackling the inverted burpees, but I felt nauseous at the end of it.  Happily, that didn’t last long.

All in all, a solid workout. The Pack range was 50-75 per exercise, so I did alright in that regard, and it’s always cool to find another workout I can do at home with minimal equipment.

Jim vs. Inverted Burpees

First off, I can’t do a handstand. So the inverted burpee is… problematic. But I figured I’d give it my best shot; I managed the backwards roll and kip-up reasonably well, and when it came time to do a handstand… well, let’s just say if I got my body angled at higher than 45 degrees, I was pretty happy. What was cool was that there were more than a few times when I almost got all the way into a handstand; unfortunately, this particular WOD is not really conducive to perfecting such things:

For time: 50 inverted burpees.

I managed to finish this one in 5:29. But the best thing that came out of it was that sense that I might be able to do actual handstands. I think I’m gonna try to work on that regularly, because being able to do so would feel like a solid achievement.

Jim vs. DT

My physical therapist cleared me to start doing Olympic lifts again, but told me to ease into it. Naturally, the first Oly WOD to come up in the queue involved multiple rounds with high reps. As such, I decided to stick to the Puppies scaling on this one, and not keep time: I focused on the form, and on my knees. 

“DT”
Five rounds for time of:
75 lb deadlifts x 12
75 lb hang power cleans x 9
75 lb push jerks x 6

I manged to get my form to a place where my knees didn’t twinge very easily, which was good. Unfortunately, I need to work on a balance with my deadlifts: it was tough to get the right curve in my back without bringing my knees over my toes. That’s something I need to work on.

As I said, I didn’t time myself: I’d do a full round, then help Nina with her form on deadlifts and push jerks. But I did manage to finish five rounds in about the time it took Charlotte and Judd to do their rounds at the Pack scaling (20-25 minutes), and didn’t injure myself. I’m feeling pretty happy about that. I think I’ll keep the Oly WODs at Puppies level for a week or so, then scale them up to Pack, which is where I’m able to do most of the other WODs these days.

Edit: Huh, apparently Puppies scaling would’ve been three rounds, using only 35-45 lbs. So I guess I did near-Pack scaling. Cool.

Jim vs. Sunday Jogging

So Nina, Charlotte, and Ken are all tackling Cool Running’s Couch-to-5k running program, and every once in a while I join them, either on top of or in addition to my CrossFit workouts. I decided to do that today, and Nina and I did the week 3 run with three reps instead of two. I like doing that every once in a while; it breaks things up nicely, and was definitely more the kind of workout I was in the mood for today. And since I still did the CrossFit warmup beforehand, it felt like a solid bit of work for an otherwise much-needed lazy Sunday.

Jim vs. Helen

The workout, not my coworker.

I took my prescribed rest day Thursday, then a quasi-rest day yesterday (got up early and did the CrossFit warmup, but no actual workout). This put me back on everyone else’s schedule, and gave me a day to recover from some work-related exhaustion. So…

“Helen”
3 RFT of:
400m run
21 kettlebell/dumbell swings, 45 lbs.
12 pull-ups

Time = 11:32. Very happy with this: not only did I do this workout at the full Pack scaling, but the only difference between the Pack version and that as-Rx’d version is using 10 lbs less on the KB swings. Otherwise, same running distance, same number of reps for KB swings and pull-ups. Woot.

Edit: Woot, indeed. Looking back, I did an even more scaled-down version of Helen — only 15 KB swings per round, only 9 pull-ups per round — back on March 5, and it took me 14:10. So, more swings and more pull-ups and I still cut almost three minutes off my time. Cool.

Jim vs. Rowing, Burpees, & Running… but mainly burpees

Judd has picked up a saying: “Burpees prepare us for Ragnarok.” If hate could be given form, and that form were an exercise, that exercise would be the burpee.

Sandwiching them between rowing and running is just ridiculous. 

Today’s workout was three rounds for time of:

500m row
15 burpees
400m  run

I managed to knock it out in 21:33. In February, I tackled an even more scaled down workout, with only 350m of rowing and 300m of running each round, and it took me 18:33. So I added three minutes, but I also added 450m of rowing and 300m of running. Not terrible, but still lots of room for improvement.

Of course, the next time I do this workout I’ll probably be doing 21 burpees each round. God help me.