Jerk/CFB MetCon

Today’s prescription from CFB for strength was a 5×3 jerk. I don’t like jerks (hehe. Jerks.), as they are something from the hopper that I dread. I can press a lot more than I can jerk, which irritates me because it should be the other way around. I got:

45×3 (warm up)
65×3
70×3
75×3
80×3
85×3

Meh.

I then went on to the metcon, which I had to scale, three rounds for time of:

-20 box jumps
-15 KTE (I did 10 and even then had to pyramid them 4-3-2-1)
-10 thrusters with 30% BW in each hand (LOL, yeah right. I did 25# in each hand which was fine)

All told, 11:22. My hands are pretty sore from doing pull-ups and dips all night. I did them every hour at 15 minutes past until about three in the morning, when I reached muscle failure and my hands hurt so much I had to stop. I had wicked bad callouses today that got razored down. Tomorrow’s a rest day so I am going to give my whole shoulder girdle a break, not to mention my poor hands.

I am headed for Boston early Saturday morning and am hoping to pay Alex and CFB a visit, but it’s up to my mom. We’ll see.

Front Squat/Mixed Bag

I started with a 5×3 overhead squat, did 65-75-75-80-80. Got into the groove well with dead hangs. I was kipping a little, but it felt good today just to do the pull-ups. I have been going to the globo later and later, unfortunately, so the later I go, the more crowded it is. But I got my squat rack. I am very possessive about my squat rack. I also have a conspiracy theory about them: the globo is moving them closer together! It is becoming increasingly difficult to squeeze between them to put more weight on.

I then went on to do a 5×5 front squat:

80×5 (warm up)
95×5
105×5
110×5
115×5
120×5

I probably could have gone a little heavier, but I got low on the last set and kept up my elbows, so I’m happy. I finished with sort of a mixed bag of stuff. I did 9 KTEs (new PR), then would go and do handstands. Then 8 KTEs, then more handstands. Then, 7, 6, 5 etc. I find that greasing the groove with KTEs is the best thing. I used to intersperse them with the front squat or the overhead squat, but the problem is that both engage the abs, so my performance suffered on both. And yet I still enjoy them. They’re fun to do at the globo also, because people just stop and stare. Heeheehee…

Power Endurance

Today’s prescription was:

-Dynamic Warm-up (I did this plus double-under practice)
-Turkish Get-Up. Didn’t say how many to do, so I did eight per side with a 20# kettle bell, which is five pounds more and one rep than I last did.
-10 minutes of ball-up. After copious internet searching, I finally came to the conclusion that a ball-up is the same thing as knees-to-elbows, so I just did as many as I could until I couldn’t do even one. I wish my globo had chalk. I really do.
-10 minutes of handstands. Ooh! OOH! Had a breakthrough here today! I came off the wall for the first time and did these free-standing, rolling out on each one. I can only hold it for a few seconds, but squee!!

Then came a running metcon, so I had to leave the globo and drive to the high school track, which is the only place I like(?) to run because it’s made out of rubber, and thus very springy. The WOD was three rounds for time of:

-400m run
-30 DB thrusters.

I only have two dumbbells and they weigh 25# each, which for me is a lot, so I scaled this WOD back to 15 thrusters and trust me, it was plenty hard. As much as I hate to run, this WOD gave me the opportunity to benchmark my 400m time, which is 1:39, a mere five seconds slower than the Level II benchmark. Anyway, I finished the WOD in 9:50.

All in all, a pretty good day.

Overhead squat/Front squat

Clea says I need more strength. So I put on my flat-soled Airwalk skateboard shoes and headed to the globo for some squats. I started out with overhead squats, 5×5, which ended up being 80-85-85-85-85. I suppose I could have gone higher but I really wanted great form. Then a few knees-to-elbows, 8 is my new PR. Then, on to front squats, 6×2 for 95-105-115-125-135-145. 145 is my new front squat PR. It was difficult, so I didn’t try anything heavier. Again, I want good form. Finished off with 7 dips, then headed home for 3×7 handstand push-up progression on the parallettes.

All in all, a solid day.

Squats today

I tend to run a little late on days that I have to work, and end up with about 50 minutes of work-out time. I have to say, however, that I love the first day after a rest day. That’s when I tend to get my PRs. I felt great today, even though my workout was shorter than I like. I started with 10 minutes on the elliptical, and bounced the resistance up today. Then my typical muscle work-out. My knees always pop and creak on the air squat portion. I must be getting old. I’ll be thirty this year, but the only part of me that feels it is my knees.

On to the squat rack. I hogged the thing today. Did five sets of five overhead squats. 65-70-70-70-70. I could probably up the weight, but my form is pretty good, not perfect, right now, so I’m not necessarily in a hurry. I want to start doing the snatch again soon, which is why I do these overhead squats all of the time. I’ve gotten into a groove with them, interspersing pull-ups (2 1/2 now) and knees-to-elbows (7 1/2 <–new PR!). My goal with knees-to-elbows is to actually be able to do them during the Filthy Fifty, rather than subbing in floor wipers, which are fine, but are not the same thing.

I did back squats today too. I (and probably everyone to some extent) tend to avoid the things I am bad at, and back squats are one of them. My current PR is 135 pounds, which is just a hair over 3/4 of my body weight. That is pretty damn sad. I'm pretty much out of Level I per Level 4 Crossfit Seattle’s standards, and into Level 2. The Level 2 standard is 1x body weight. I don’t feel too bad though, because the Level 2 benchmarks are quite challenging, e.g., 1 muscle up, 20 dips. At least for me. But at least the Level benchmarking gives me something to shoot for. Anyway, back squats. I did 5-5-4-3-3-2-2-2 of 95-105-115-125-125-135-135-135. I knew that I had a good level of intensity because I looked in the mirror after my shower and saw petechiae around my eyes. Perhaps I shouldn’t hold my breath on these.

Handstands, 15-second L-sit. Although I didn’t get around to my metcon today, it was still a good day.

FIRE-BREATHER!!!

Something amazing happened today. I nailed the one-armed handstand. Appropriate too, because today’s my two-month Crossfit anniversary. I didn’t just wobble on it, I can hold it for a good 15 seconds. When I first did it, I couldn’t believe that I was doing it. So I did it again for longer. Then again for longer. Than I ran home and made my husband take pictures:

And I thought today was going to be a bad day. I rowed 2K in 8:55, and felt sluggish. I did my warm-up and overhead squats five sets of five 65 pounds. These are getting easier. I have gotten into the habit of super-setting with a pull-up, which is also getting easier. Then I attempted two rep, multiple set big load back squats, but 135 felt too heavy, so I ended up doing two rep sets of 95-135-135-125-125. I superset knees-to-elbows, of which I can now do four in a row, after not being able to do these at all.

I also tried something new today, which was the Crossfit-style back extension, using a exercise ball and a bar. These are much harder than the machine at the gym, so I only did three sets of 16-8-8 and my hamstrings were burning afterwords. When I came home, I did three sets of 10 wall balls with my new homemade 20# medicine ball. The Great Stuff worked well, but I need to make some more incisions and fill it up with more. Optimally, I’d like a corona of Great Stuff around the sand, because where we put in the Great Stuff is the only place that the ball actually bounces. So I just tossed it up into the air and caught it, coming down into a squat on an empty cat litter container.

One-armed handstand…! *shakes head in disbelief*