Go to failure…

Today has been a surprising day on a number of fronts, but let’s just focus on today’s workout. This morning it was Ev & I, Alicia, and KB with Coach Lara at the 8:30 class.

Surprise #1 – I chose to run 400m during the warm-up. Why? Because the sun was out and it was nice for a change.

From there we did the rest of the warm-up and then talked about our two-part workout.

First, we worked on bench press. The workout was:

• Strength – 5-5-3-3-1-1-1

Apparently early classes said we should do bench press and then it stuck. 🙂 We did a workout a week ago (bench press and rowing) that included three rounds of bench press work (15 reps). I started at 155# and dropped to 135# after round 1. So I was curious to see what I could do today.

I warmed up with 5 reps each at 95#, 115#, and 135# and then did:

• 155# x5
• 165# x5
• 175# x3
• 185# x3
• 195# x1
• 205# x1
• 225# x1 (20# jump)

Surprise #2 – I made it to 225# today!

My old one rep max was 230# set back in 2015, so I am pleased as punch I got to 225# with no problems today. I did each set without assistance, which made it even better. 🙂

After that we did a metcon:

• 3 rounds for time:
  • 50 double-unders (or 50 singles)
  • 2 minutes holding a handstand (cumulative)
  • 35 AbMat sit-ups (GHD-style, kicking feet out)

We all knew that handstand hold was going to be a bear. I just did a bunch of handstands two days ago during a workout with Nicole (oh my core) and my right shoulder was pissed that night. And guess what? That was rough today!

Surprise #3 – It was the *OTHER* shoulder today that decided handstand holds on the wall were crazy. It’s been a while since I’ve done any movement to failure, but I certainly did today!

We had a hard 25 minute cap today, but I managed to get through the whole thing in 22:42 — though I have to admit that after 1:15 in the last round, my left shoulder was toast. I simply could not convince my body to get back up on the wall on my hands — my left arm was twisted behind me and my right arm was straight, but it wasn’t enough.

I did have a few good holds of 30 seconds or so throughout the three round (first two rounds) but geez… shoulders were angry at the end.

Great work everybody!

We’ll see if we get back in tomorrow or choose to take it as a rest day. 🙂

Burpees to Full Extension

You may find this hard to believe, but I don’t have a great vertical leap and I’m not a fan of burpees. Today we put both those movements to the test. 🙂

I’ll admit to being a little concerned after running last night. But I woke up feeling sore, but not decrepit, and headed in with Ev to the 8:30 class. Coach Lara had a fun group — us, Star & Dave, Chris, Caleb, KB, and Alicia. I think the smarting off started not long after we walked in the door.

We did a warm-up :

• 2 minutes on the bike, rower, or ski-erg, or run
• then 2 rounds of
  • 10 inchworms with a push-up
  • 10 spider-man lunges
  • 30 second pancake split (legs wide, bow at hip, try to get hands to floor or to ankles)
  • 30 second hollow body hold
  • 30 second superman hold
  • 30 seconds of three or four banded shoulder abstractions

After that we chatted about burpees and did a few really focusing on full extension at the top as well as being more efficient at the bottom. Try to do a V-up of sorts, bringing feet to hands fluidly, more than independent movements as down to plank, push-up, back to plank, air squat, stand up, jump to full extension…

We also did a quick review of sit-up standards .

The workout? Pretty straightforward…

• 7 rounds for time
• 10 burpees (competitor), 8 burpees (performance), 5 burpees (fitness) to a target 3-6 inches above your max reach
• 20 sit-ups (competitor), 15 sit-ups (performance), 10 sit-ups (fitness)

Surprisingly, my burpees were the better part of this one. I kind of had to “prime the pump” by stepping down into that first burpee each time, but after that I was moving better than expected from the floor to full extension overhead, hitting the tall bar about 7″ above the end of my fingertips. I may have missed the bar a couple of times, but that was more about my “no look” approach than actually not getting enough height.

It was the sit-ups that killed me. I ended up doing butterfly sit-ups in sets of 5 and 10 and dying in the middle of them.

My workout became “performance plus” —

• 7 rounds for time
• 8 burpees to rig bar 7″ above my fingertips at full extension
• 20 sit-ups

Final time: 13:15. We were supposed to hit between 10 and 16 minutes, and I was right smack dab in the middle of that. I’ll take it.

I may or may not work out tomorrow morning depending on how I feel, but Ev has the day off so I might go for fun if I can still move. 🙂

Great work everybody and thanks for the encouragement Lara!

12 Days of Xmas 2018

For the last few years, we’ve done the 12 Days of Christmas workout at CrossFit Continuum in the days before Xmas. Sometimes it’s on Christmas Eve. Sometimes it’s a day or two before that. But since at least 2015 it’s been part of the tradition.

This year it was just me from our clan heading to the box to do the deed a few days before Xmas, but I went in — just like we did in 2015, 2016, and 2017… My girls were sleeping in to recover from crazy weeks at the end of their respective semesters. My wife was working. And I was definitely not alone in the madness. Much of our CrossFit family was there with me. 🙂

Drea & Jimmy, Nick & Lisa, Lara & Jordan, Larry, Caleb & Megan, Megan F, Clara, Heather, John, Marino, Aileen, Emily, Shaun & Stacy, and more… we had people all over the place. 🙂 As Jimmy put it, it was a bit of “controlled chaos” — emphasis on the chaos! Plus — we started with sunshine and ended with a snowstorm. It was definitely one of the first days of winter!

We did a little warm-up and divvied up into halves… one half of the gym was mostly the “Naughty” workout and the other was “Nice.” We both got our butts kicked. 🙂

Caleb and I sort of shared an area. This wasn’t a team workout, but we shared equipment and space due to the crazy number of bodies. We had some space on the wall for wall balls, two bars (one 135# and one 95#), and just kind of went for it.

My version of the Naughty workout (scaled) went like this:

• 12 Days of Christmas
  • 1 Deadlift 135#
  • 2 Pike Push-ups
  • 3 Front Squats 95#
  • 4 Pull-ups (kipping)
  • 5 Shoulder-to-overhead 95#
  • 6 Wall Balls 20#
  • 7 Back Squats 95#
  • 8 Sit-ups
  • 9 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls 95#
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 11 Thrusters 95# (I dropped to 11 Front Squats during “Day 12” because I couldn’t get my arms over my head at this point)
  • 12 1200m “run” (really I walked all but about 200m of the whole thing)

It took me 49 minutes to complete this year. And I really debated just giving up after the run (in the snow that was just starting to fall at that point) — I was struggling with both shoulders by then. But after I did the front squats, things started to loosen up again and I was able to get my shoulders moving again.

We had a fun time as always and my time was about the same as always for this workout (though it changes every year):

• 2018 – 49:00 (scaled to 95#)
• 2017 – 44:00 (scaled to 95#)
• 2016 – 58:34 (went heavier with 115#)
• 2015 – DNF (over an hour)

I think figuring out I should scale in 2017 made this workout much more fun in the long run. And I kept moving much better this year than I have some years — so maybe this old Grinch is learning something. 🙂

Great work everybody! Y’all “sleighed” it. 😀

Team WOD Saturday plus Monday

We get another twofer today. 🙂 I worked out on Saturday morning at Team WOD with AJ because her game got moved to later in October — and then I started the week with a Monday workout. Can’t say I moved much in-between, but hey. 🙂

Team WOD

We had a small but solid contingent at Team WOD on Saturday with Coach Isaac. AJ worked out with Carrie, Katie, and Carrie’s neighbor. And I worked with Brent & Nick. Caleb, Shaun, and Stacy worked together and there was another group as well.

Isaac started with two “fun” warm-ups… The “circle up with PVC pipes and shift left or right” game. If a PVC pipe fell, we did 3 burpees. And then we did a partner warm-up where one partner sat on the floor and extended their arms while the other partner jumped over one arm, their legs, and the other arm, counting that as a rep.

I will admit — I stepped over AJ’s arms and jumped over her legs — and when it was my turn, I laid on the floor so she could just jump over me on the floor. I don’t trust my own jumping abilities and didn’t want to be responsible for breaking AJ. 🙂

After that, we grouped up. Nick & Brent were kind enough to have me in their group and I don’t think I slowed them down too much all things being unequal.

 

The workout was:

• Run 800m (entire team)
• 150x Box jumps 30/24/20 inch
• 75x Push press #135/#95
• 125x Pushups
• 125x Situps
• 150x Overhead walking lunge steps #45 or #35 plate
• Run 800m (entire team)

We did 24″ box jumps or step-ups and I only did a 95# bar for push press and a 25# plate for overhead walking lunges, but hung in for the most part.

We finished in 33:51.

• They set a great pace for the first 800m jog, which meant I never actually stopped — that’s a first. Usually I stop somewhere. That wasn’t the case on the second 800m but I only walked a portion. 🙂
• Box jumps were all step-ups for me to the 24″ box and they felt ok in sets of 10 or 15
• Push presses with 95# were good – two sets of 10 and one of 5
• Push-ups, I did sets of 10 – they did longer sets, but I did what I could. 🙂
• Sit-ups, I banged out 25 reps two or three times
• Overhead walking lunges, I did four sets of 15 steps with the 25# plate and they did the rest – not my favorite movement

Big thank you to Brent & Nick for slowing down a bit for me – they usually fly through this stuff. 🙂 It was a good workout!

Monday, Knee Raises and Wall Walks

This morning we had a pretty good class for Coach Drea – Lara, Melissa, Melissa S, Carrie, and Dave.  We did a couple of rounds of:

• 90 seconds of single-unders (double-under practice in the second round)
• 30 second hollow body hold
• 10 inchworms (was supposed to be a push-up at the bottom — oops, I didn’t push-up)
• 5 v-ups (mine were more like knee tucks)
• 10 PVC pass-throughs

And then… Drea had Lara demonstrate some of the variations for handstand walks and toes to bar. We did a few of each modification along the way.

The workout was:

• 10 minute AMRAP
• Performance
  • 10 toes to bars
  • 25 foot handstand walk
• Fitness
  • 10 hanging knee raises
  • 2 wall walks

Some days I can do T2B, but today wasn’t one of them. I did attempt a few and got my feet to the bar on a few of those, but mostly I decided that attempting knees to elbows was probably a better approach. Wall walks were harder than they should have been today, but I managed the 2 per round slowly. 🙂

Ultimately I got through 5 rounds, so I’ll take that. Not a bad Monday workout. 🙂

Now… back to work! Good work everybody!

Running Weightless

Hi, my name is Brian, and I am not a fan of running. Never have been. I’d rather stop and fight the bear or zombie when push comes to shove. So why did I find myself running three miles this morning?

Damn fine question.

Didn’t make it in yesterday for a 4:45 workout, but I thought about it briefly before getting distracted. I do need the double-under practice. 🙂

But this morning, I made it for the 8:30 class with the whole Fitzy clan. Coach Lara was impressed that we all made it in for a running WOD, and I told her we all started complaining about it about 10pm last night so we got most of the really vocal bitching out of the way. 🙂 We were joined by Dave, KB, and Melissa.

Started with a 200m jog and then some of the Hinshaw Warm-up (what I call the Ministry of Silly Walks) before choosing a weight vest and starting today’s fun.

Today’s workout was for time.

• 

  Command Sgt. Maj.Martin “Gunny” Barreras

  Gunny

  • 1 mile weighted run
  • 50 push-ups
  • 50 sit-ups
  • 1 mile weighted run
  • 50 push-ups
  • 50 sit-ups
  • 1 mile weighted run
  • Competitor: 50# vest
  • Performance: 25# vest
  • Fitness, reduce to 800m runs, 20# vest, and 30 push-ups and sit-ups in the same form

“Gunny” is named for Command Sgt. Maj. Martin “Gunny” Barreras, 49, of Tucson, Arizona. He died of wounds during an attack on his unit in 2014. He was most well known for his contributions to the successful rescue of Jessica Lynch in 2003. You can read a bit more about Gunny in the post at the CrossFit main site.

There are a few key things here.

• Running is not my thing, but I’ve been getting better at it.
• I’ve never worn a weight vest.
• I’ve never RUN in a weight vest.
• 3 miles is almost the length of a 5k.

So how’d I do?

• Mile 1 – wore a 20# weight vest and ran/walked a mile in 11:05
• Did normal push-ups slower and slower in sets of 10 and then 5. Sit-ups went fine
• Mile 2 – wore a 20# weight vest and walked the whole thing
• Did a mix of knee push-ups and regular push-ups in sets of 5 and 10. Sit-ups went fine
• Mile 3 – stripped off the vest and ran most of the mile
• Total Time: 49:09

I’ve never gone that many miles as part of a workout before and honestly I’m very happy with my time. Actually that’s an understatement. I’m thrilled with my time, but that just may be the endorphins talking.

How’d the rest of the clan do?

• Mickey – 44:37, 10# weight vest and knee push-ups
• AJ – 51:10, 10# weight vest and knee push-ups
• Ev – 52:16, 20# weight vest and knee push-ups

Long story short, that’s 12 miles for the Fitzy family today. I think I am done running for now. 🙂

Great work 8:30 class and thanks for the encouragement Lara!

Dang That Was Heavy

My weekend was quite full. After being bribed into the box on Friday by AJ, I headed in on Saturday for team WOD with Ev. We were joined by a good group of folks and led by Coach Larry. As my fifth workout for the week, I have to say I was a little sore!

We warmed up with a similar warm-up from earlier in the week with two rounds of:

• (we may have done a 200m run as well)
• a 30 second squat hold
• 10 PVC passthrus
• 10 jumping squats (ugh!)
• 10 Spider-man crawls
• 10 scap push-ups

And then we divvied up into pairs. Ev paired up with KB. And I had fun with Caleb. We started with a pairs deadlift, so I was a little concerned. 🙂 We started out with our own barbell, but dropped it in favor of using fewer bars and sharing more weights with Nick and Brent.

We took 10 minutes to establish a 3 rep max team deadlift. And I have to say — I was reluctant to know how many pounds of weight were on the bar. But by the end, we lifted 585# off the ground three times. Singles, not touch and go, but still – I was impressed. I don’t think I’ve ever looked at a bar with that much weight on it, let alone picked it up!

From there, we took off with the 25 minute AMRAP:

• for 25 minutes, one partner jumps rope (50 doubles or 150 singles) or runs 200m while the other does max reps at whatever activity it happens to be – then the partners switch
  • Pull-ups and jump rope
  • Box jumps (30/24″ prescribed, but we mostly did 20″ and 24″) and running
  • Push press (115/85#) and jump rope
  • Sit-ups and running
  • Squat cleans (115/85#) and jump rope
  • Burpees and running

We started with box jumps because there were quite a few folks on the rig when we started. And it went like this:

• (Me/Caleb) 20 20″ box jumps and he did 12 (ran 200m)
• 15 push press, he did 25 (150 single-unders took longer than it should have for me!)
• 31 sit-ups, he did 39 (ran 200m)
• 6 squat cleans and he did 12 (150 singles were a bit better here)
• 12 burpees and he did 28 (I was damn slow running at this point)
• 15 pull-ups and he did 15 as well (150 singles)
• — so that was one round and we started the next, with less than 5 minutes to go
• 15 step-ups for me and he did 25 box jumps (another slow run)
• 7 push press (damn the bar was heavy) and he did 13 (150 singles)

That was a full 25 minutes. Ran 800m and walked/ran 800m, and singles got easier as I got more tired. Hopefully I didn’t slow Caleb down too much!

When we were done, we ended up going to my 30 year high school reunion and I was surprised to say that most folks didn’t think I changed at all. 🙂 But I was glad we got in a workout ahead of time — because we definitely didn’t on Sunday!

Great work Saturday folks!

Gasping on the Floor

It’s been a while since a sprint workout has left me gasping on the floor. That happened TWICE during today’s workout. Geez!

Had my yearly physical this morning (spoiler alert: I’m still alive!), so didn’t make it in for a morning CrossFit class – but was able to squeak it in at the end of the day. So Ev, AJ, and I went in and WERE Coach Larry’s 4:45 class today.

We started with 2 minutes on the bike or rower (I chose rower and did nearly 500m), and then we did two rounds of:

• 20 mountain climbers
• 10 lunges with PVC pass-throughs
• 5 dumbbell windmills per side (started with a 10# dumbbell in the first round and dropped it in the second)
• 10 goblet squats (35# kettlebell)
• 10 kip swings

From there we did some Sumo Deadlift High Pull and Push Press warm-up with a PVC pipe and an empty barbell before setting up for the workout:

• 3 rounds of:
  • 1 minute of sumo deadlift high pulls
  • 1 minute of GHD sit-ups
  • 1 minute of push presses
  • 1 minute of GHD sit-ups
  • Rest 1 minute
• Men 95#, Women 65#

We scaled a little for Performance level:

• 75# bar
• 1st minute of GHD sit-ups to parallel on GHD
• 2nd minute of GHD sit-ups I did on the floor with an abmat

And let me tell you… by the 2nd rest, I was on my hands and knees on the floor, gasping for air. By the end, I was back on the floor again, thankful it was over. This one kicked my tail.

• Round 1 – 26 SDHP, 16 GHD to parallel, 22 push press, 26 abmat sit-ups – 90 reps
• Round 2 – 17, 13, 16, 20 – 66 reps
• Round 3 – 16, 12, 11, 18 – 57 reps
• Total: 213 reps

I came out too fast in that first round and paid for it in round 2. 🙂

Ev and AJ kicked butt however…

• Evelyn: 269 reps (55# SDHP & PP, all abmat situps)
• AJ: 181 reps (45# bar for first round, 35# after, full GHD sit-ups for 1 minute, 1 minute abmat sit-ups)

We were supposed to shoot for that 200 rep mark… Without that first round, I don’t think I would have managed to do that. 🙂 Great work everybody!

Thanks for the encouragement, Larry!