Last WOD of the year

A free for all day. I attempted 1 rep max clean and jerks and worked up to 190. I am rusty. Form was off. 185 was my best rep. Lots of misses before finally getting 190.

Diane - 7:49 PR. How far have I come in 2009? A year ago I had never heard of Crossfit. Six months ago I could barely deadlift 225. Today I strung together 21-15-9 of 225# deadlifts and handstand pushups with only 1 partition in round 1. I started fast. Later rounds quickly fell of until I was doing a rep at a time. But good effort.

Pictures later.

Happy new year and please be safe.

P.S. This combination of seeking a C&J PR, and then Diane PR will leave you broken the next day. My back is very sore. They both require violent pulling from the floor and then stabilizing overhead. What was I thinking?

That's hot (Yoga)

It was the last day of the year and I felt like doing something different. How about a Bikram Yoga class? Almost 2 hours of yoga in a room at 105 degrees. That is different. Most of the class times do not work for me as they are mid morning or late afternoon and conflict with my job and or home/child responsibilities. But no one else was at work, so I just chose to leave for 2 hours and try it.

I have taken about 12 yoga classes in my life. Not enough to be any good at it, but plenty to know that I am not very flexible. I was not sure how hot yoga would help or hurt.

It was quite the experience. Some random thoughts.

Look at all these people. Almost 35 people packed into there, every two feet or so and in three rows. Range from 20-50, mostly under 30. 5 guys and about 30 women.

That's hot. Walking into the room, is like walking out of Caesar's Palace Las Vegas in August and getting hit with that wall of dry heat.

What to wear. It is so hot that the rule seems to be the less, the better. I saw women in one piece body suits, booty shorts and sports bras, tank tops, you name it. Guys had shorts. Of the other 4 men, 2 had shirts on and 2 model looking dudes had no shirts. I was not sure which way to go. I started with shirt on, but within 10 minutes I had to pull a Harold. Bam.

And if you are wondering, yes. During almost 2 hours of stretching, twisting, sweating, back bends, front bends, etc, you see a lot of sweaty cleavage flying around and there are some very attractive and fit people in there.

What is the Bikram method. Unlike other yoga classes that may have a different focus, this class does 26 moves/positions in the same order every time. It is very regimented, as it the instructor.

The instructor. Had an army ranger shirt on when I signed in. Seems both very serious, and also nuts. Speaking of that, when class started he rolled in wearing just a black speedo. OK. During the class, we speaks almost non stop. Like a memorized script. The whole thing is weird. He also had rules, lots of rules. Water breaks only between poses, etc..

The class. It was hot, and the moves were hard. I could not do them all, but not everyone could. I am not sure that I will ever be able to stand on one leg and have the other leg fully extended in front of me while I pull up on my toe with both arms to lock it out. Do I want to do that?

But thanks to Crossfit, my core is strong and my balance pretty good. I could do more than some people and at the end I got a compliment. The instructor tried to argue with me that I had never done it before, or that it had been more than a year since I had done any yoga.

I will be back, as soon as I figure out how to schedule it in.

Blah..humbug

First day back after more than a week away. When I saw the WOD on FB, I groaned. All the excitement I had to return faded, because, if I were to make a list of CF exercises that I need work on: double unders, rowing, and touch-and-go heavy deadlifts would all make the cut. And today we had all 3:

WOD:

For Time: Row 2000m
(8:31 - which was not great but still a PR for me)

-then-

3-RFT.

10 Deadlifts (250-lbs.)
50 Double Unders

8:47 & I suspect that I could have gone Rx at 275# and would have been still under 9.

I did not have it today. I kind of held back to start for fear of over doing it, and then I had nothing much in the tank. One highlight - because I am one optimistic SOB - round 1 of the DL was a breeze and I got all 10 touch and go. Looked at the clock and it said 22 seconds, and I was first done. Then my poor D/U's caught me and I did 3, 5 or maybe 10 at a clip. That takes a long time. And so it went.

Tomorrow I am bringing it. Look for a better attitude, effort and result.

'Twas the day before Christmas....

'Twas the day before Christmas,
But between me and you...
it's not really my thing, cause I'm kind of a Jew.

So I went to a gym to hit a CFOT WOD.
10 rounds, heavy squat cleans,
OMFG!

I crushed it then put the bar back on the rack.
Then next thing you know, I was flat on my back.

I looked around, did anyone see?
When MarkyD got too dizzy and had to take a knee.

So the next time someone asks what Crossfit's all about.
Tell them a WOD done right can knock your ass out.

Snatch then Row, push up & pull up

10 minutes of 3 snatches per minute. Not my best exercise. I started with 95#. Moved up half way through to 105#. Felt OK, but it is a technical lift, and my form is avg at best.

350m row, 25 pushups and 15 pull ups. I went all out on this one. I am not the best rower (being short and 160# has some drawbacks), but I can crank some pushups. Pullups when you are gassed are always a chore. Went through 4 times. I am proud to say I cranked out 4 solid sets of 25 pushups with no breaks. I had some extra pent-up energy due to the cancelled Hopper, and I used it here.

Off to Central Cali for a week. Take care.

Death by pullups

Do a pull up in a minute. Each minute, add one more.

This was easily half mental toughness. I wanted to push it one last time before the Hopper on Sat. And I did.

The first few rounds were easy and a little boring. Once double digits came around it was all business. In rounds 1-10, I was done in 20 seconds or less. Later, I had less and less time to rest and recoup. Round 15 I got my last rep with a whole 2 seconds to spare. I knew I was done.

Final Tally - 15 full rounds, and 5 more for "fun". Lots of tape and no real rips, tears or blood. A nice day.

DL, Lunge and Run

Today's WOD:

15 deadlifts @ 225#, 45 jumping lunges, 400m run
12 deadlifts @ 225#, 36 jumping lunges, 400m run
9 deadlifts @ 225#, 27 jumping lunges, 400m run

Time 15:02

Chriss suggested I scale back to 225# and I did. I was able to keep moving with barely a break. 15 minutes was OK, but how did people do it in 11 or 12? I am a slower runner, but I only took a few breaks on the lunges and very few on the DL. So I cannot imagine shaving 2 or 3 minutes off my time.

Pretty nice little workout. I am sure I will feel it tomorrow.

Strict Press 1x1x1x1x1

Good Day / Bad day.

I had no time for Crossfit today.Work is crazy. My only shot was to abandon the "getting my daughter Stella off to school" routine and make 7:30. I feel guilty having done that.

WOD was strict shoulder press 1 rep max. Previously I hit 175# or 176#. Today I worked up to 17, then failed at 180#. After a short break and tip from Jerry, I got back and nailed it. A PR and a second effort to get there. That was nice.

Then it all fell apart. I did a crappy 6 reps at 70% (135#) Then I had to rush to work and skipped the ring sips and double unders. I actually need more work on them than the press. Better than nothing, I guess.

Row, KB, WB, Burpee Intervals

A real gasser. I did 4 rounds. I was having unpleasant flashbacks to FGB.

4:07

4:29

4:29

4:59

Loved/hated every rep.

Deadlift failure

Todays WOD

6 rounds of

3 deadlifts - elite 315#

8 strict chins

8 strict dips

15 GHD situps

For the second day in a row I failed on a power movement. Yesterday I failed to PR on front squats. Tried as hard as I could, and got stuck. Today, after 4 complete rounds at elite weight, my back started to round on these very heavy deadlifts, and I chose to back off.

But if nothing else, once again, I taxed my body farther than it could go. I am hoping to gain some strength for my efforts. Failed, or failing attempts are still attempts and the fact that I am doing met con sets of deadlifts with essentially twice my weight is pretty good.

I was feeling bad - because I hate to fail, scale, dnf, or modify. But I definitely gave it my all. So I am going to shake it off and come back tomorrow for some more.

CFOT vs. Sport & Flex

This is not a contest, but just an interesting observation. Because I still have more money than sense, I have not quit my membership at sport & flex. I believe that since I joined Crossfit in Feb, I have been there 5 times (i.e. Sundays, missed a workout at CFOT, my hot water heater broke, etc. ) Which means that each visit cost me a cool $100. I need to quit that joint.

Anyway, stopping in there once every other month is interesting. Because I forget what was like before CFOT. I saw some familiar faces, and frankly, they did not look so good. I saw a guy that got there when I did; he hopped on a stairmaster for 30 min and then he left. He is short and stocky like me, but believe me, when you are short and not in good shape, it shows quickly. This dude clearly has been diligently showing up to exercise all the time, but he had achieved negative results. Looked old, slow and heavy. It is like he was Bizarro MarkyD. Maybe I am a fitness snob now, but I wanted to slap him across the face and talk some sense into him.

My best guess is that he shows up, has no guidance, and does a combination of what he feels like and what he reads in a magazine. It ain't working. In contrast, I show up at CFOT, do what I am told to do (usually stuff that I am not great at, and would never choose to do on my own) and have coaches watching me to see that I am both safe and pushing it to the extreme. Plus I am challenged almost non stop by others in class, the whiteboard, facebook, blogs, and the coaching staff to be better, stronger and faster all the time. I am guessing no one either working there or working out there could give a crap about this guy if he does level 6 or 7 for his 30 minutes on the stairmaster.

OK - rant over. But next time you are find yourself in a non CF facility, look around and count your blessings.

Calling an audible

I could not make it to CFOT today. Between Monday morning rush, work, my daughters mid day flu shot and my wife working late, I missed all my chances. I could have gone a 6 am - not even. That is when my wife runs, and when I am still asleep.

Todays WOD was rough looking. 5 rounds of rope climbs, heavy push jerks and double unders. I went to the ol' sport & flex to do what I could.

Push Jerks: I tried the push jerks at S&H. Very hard to do when you are afraid to dump the weight. I was cautious. Worked up to 165 for 2 splits. Controlling on the way down, and not dumping the weight on their pretty floor, is harder than I thought. 2 reps was all I felt secure to do at a time.

Row: I hate the row, but I know it is a skill I need to work on. I did 250m intervals. Each time I adjusted the damper. 5, then 4, then 1, then 7 then 10. If you are not sure where to set it, I recommend this. While all of my times were slow, I did the best with it pinned to 10. Not sure why, but that is my new setting. Back to CFOT tomorrow.

First Friday - Dec

Other than the Hopper this is my first time doing more than one named WOD in a day. Chose Grace and Helen.

Grace - It is only a mere 2 days after surviving Jerry's Birthday Power Clean massacre - 86 reps of 165# spread out over 43 minutes. My shoulders were still sore. But compared to the 165# on Wed, Grace at 135# felt pretty good. I strung together 15 or so without a pause. Then a short break - 5 seconds count - and back on. One more short 5 second count and I finished one at a time. Pretty happy with my time, although I see it was a mere 1 second faster than August. I forgot about that one. 2 times ago I did 5 and half minutes. Next time I will be fresh and ready to finish strong. Serious lung pain after this one.

Helen - 30 minute break and then Helen. Paced myself to 13:09. Only 30 seconds off my best. Got all 21 KB swings in round 1. Major accomplishment for me. I do not like them and I am intimidated by them. But today was a step in the right direction. Next time - 2 rounds unbroken!

Off to work and feeling major league horrible.

Rest

Jerry's birthday has ruined me. Woke up pretty damn sore. Maybe all those jerk presses were not such a good idea after all.

Jerry's Birthday

43 minutes of fun: 2 Power Cleans per minute for 43 minutes.

I initially tried 185, and thought better of it. Did 165#.

Felt good. So for the final 10 minutes, I did clean & jerks.

Now I am in the hurt locker.

Strict Press x 3

I have no record of doing sets of strict press x 3. Last com parables were 147# for 5, 150# for 4 and 175# for 1.

#Today I set a goal to hit my bodyweight of 161# for 3 and then shoot for a 1 rep max > 175#.

I hit 95#, 135#,155# then tried 165# and got 2.5. Did 161# for 3 and then tried 165 again. Only got 1. Guess what. I was toast and did not try any more lifts.

The extra was a nice strength builder AMRAP of 5 strict pull ups, 8 dips and 11 GHDs. I got 6.1 rounds in. Dips were giving me shoulder pain.