The Chief

Workout of the Day:
Max rounds in 3 minutes of:
135 45 pound Power cleans, 3 reps
6 One-armed Push-ups on the Wall
9 Squats
Rest 1 minute. Repeat for a total of 5 cycles.

R1: 4 + 4 Push Ups

R2: 4 + 3 Squats

R3: 4

R4: 4 + 8 Squats

R5: 5 + 4 Push Ups

Things I realize: 

 

1.) Even though I'm not training regularly (one WOD a week, max, mostly low intensity), I haven't lost my stamina/endurance. I definitely had more gas in my tank at the end of the WOD. 

2.) My right side is hella strong. 

3.) Wall Push ups are deceivingly difficult. 

4.) That coaching has made my form/mechanics ON POINT

5.) I can do strict L-sit Pull ups!!!! On the RINGS, too, whassup!!! 

6.) Even though I haven't trained any heavy barbell work in almost 2 months, I'm still maintaining my strength. I deadlifted 185# 1 rep today and it felt frickin' easy. I can't wait to start lifting 225!!! Which is my next goal. 

 

Games WOD 12.5

CrossFit Games Open Sectional Workout 12.5

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:
3 Barbell Thrusters
3 Chest to bar Pull-ups
6 Barbell Thrusters
6 Chest to bar Pull-ups
9 Barbell Thrusters
9 Chest to bar Pull-ups
12 Barbell Thrusters
12 Chest to bar Pull-ups
15 Barbell Thrusters
15 Chest to bar Pull-ups
18 Barbell Thrusters
18 Chest to bar Pull-ups
21 Barbell Thrusters
21 Chest to bar Pull-ups…
This is a timed workout. If you complete the round of 21, go on to 24. If you complete 24, go on to 27, etc.

My score: 42 reps
3 Thrusters
3 C2B
6 Thrusters
6 C2B
9 Thrusters
9 C2B
6Thrusters

I am super happy with my performance. I had a goal of 36 reps and I exceeded it. 
Because HQ is retarded, this WOD is nothing but a repeat of last years final Open WOD. April of 2011, I did not do this RX'd, using probably 45#s, and a band for my C2B. Here are my results from last year. 

I didn't freak out during the wod, nor did I bother with trying to keep up with the person next to me; I truly felt like I was in the zone. Which I really should tap into more often :) 

I did Helen (3 rounds of 400 run/21 KB Swings (1 pood)/12 Pull ups) RX'd about 2 weeks ago, by myself during 4:30pm Open Gym, and I got in that zone again. My time wasn't anything to brag about (19:24) but I'm happy to put those 2 little letters by my name: RX. 

My intention is to do all the girl WODs as prescribed... Obviously the heavy ones will come in due time. 

After doing 12.5, Fran as prescribed is in my sites. 

2fer 1

Tuesday, Jan 10, 2010

Workout of the day:
Overhead Squat 3-3-3-3-3 reps

Cool Down:
5 minute AMRAP for reps:
Max Handstand Push-ups (5 rep cap)
Max 20″ Box jumps (10 rep cap)

On this day, I wanted to test out the new overhead position of "pack the shoulders" vs "active shoulders"- the way I've learned and been training for the past 2 years. Pack the shoulders allows for more control of the bar, allowing in the long term to support bigger loads, and "this shoulder orientation should mitigate the risk of injury." Read about Pack the Shoulders in this article by T-Nation.com. This technique is similar to Coach Mike Burgener's "stacking the bones." 

Knowing I was training a new technique I decided to pick a do-able weight and stick with it for all 5 sets, going for perfect mechanics. By my 4th and 5th set, my partner Jamie G, said that I was looking more upright than in my first 3 sets. I was perfectly pleased. Soon I will be attempting to do more weight in the new position. 

Big Deal right here:

This cool down WOD was the first WOD that I felt my clean eating. What I mean is that I didn't feel like shit and I felt like I could keep going after time was called. I know that 5 mins is a short time domain, but that means sprint, and sprint I did. I'm proud that I went 6 rounds scoring the maximum 15 rep cap :)

I was told that day that my arms are starting to look like Martina's, a compliment, BTW. 

And Zeb stated that it seems that I'm bringing more intensity to my WODs of recent. 

So after all is said and done, I can't deny that diet and nutrition is the key to excelling and acheiving goals at the box. *sigh* The fat girl in me wished it weren't true. Lol. 

Afterwards, I did my weekly "Curves" of 400m walking lunge. Then after assisting in teaching the On-Ramp class I decided to tackle.... 

“Fran”
21-15-9 reps for time of:
Thrusters, 95lbs 40#s
Pullups

I have only been doing Fran with 35#s, I believe. Previous times being in the 13min range, 11min range, then the 8min range on my birthday of 2011. So adding 5#s to the bar and beating my old time is super gratifying. 

Fran you still a bitch. 

What an action filled evening, dontcha think? 

WOD in at Crossfit Vibe

Strength:

Back Squat 3-3-3-3-3 reps with 2 mins rest between each set. 

100-100-100-100-100

My third rep of each set was difficult. 100#s is 75% of my 1RM of 135.

For Time:
100 Kettlebell Swings, 1.5 pood, 5 pull ups at the top of every minute

My time: 10:48 @ .75 Pood

By minute 9/10 I was just doing pull ups, so I tapped out and just finished the 18 KB swings I had left.

This really fucked me. My lungs were just not getting enough oxygen to my body. I was spitting out phlegm every time I came off the bar. I did do 27 KB swings in my first minute, which pleased me. 

It was grip/forearms that were screaming the whole time. 

Maybe just WOD happy

‘Barbara’ – 5 Rounds:
20 10 Pull-ups
30 15 Push-ups
40 20 Sit-ups
50 25 Squats

With a running clock, rest exactly 3 minutes between every round.  Your final time will include your 3 minute mandatory rest periods.

Kazoo walks in the door at 4PM and says, "You want to WOD at 5pm?" Without skipping a beat, I reply, "What's the WOD?"

Even though I did a strength WOD, a 20min AMRAP triplet, plus 400m walking lunge earlier in the day, another WOD was not out of the question. After hearing it was Barbara, I decided to scale it in half to keep the intensity up, really treat like interval training, and save my hands from pure annihilation. 

Off to LAXCF we go... 

I'm quite happy with my times: 

Round 1- 2:00 flat

Round 2- 2:28, my biggest drop off

Round 3- 2:44, 26 second gain

Round 4- 2:54, 10 sec gain

Round 5- 3:02, 6 second gain

Round 3 and 4 it seems that my push ups were the most difficult. Round 5, I did them in sets of 5. I really think that I have officially graduated to doing push ups in WODs with no bands forever and ever Amen. That's pretty fuckin' cool. 

I did all 10 pull ups straight without break all 5 rounds. My sits up felt like slow motion. My hip flexor was feeling really tight; must have been all those box jumps and Knees to Elbows. Squats were squats; thank goodness I do Curves :) 

Hip to it

Skill/Strength:
3 Power Cleans EMOTM (every minute on the minute) for 7 minutes

WOD:
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
18 Box jumps, 24"  20" box
15 Toes to bar  Knees to Elbows
12 Pull-ups

This was yucky. But I knew that coming into it. I used a 20" which is still pretty challenging for me. I would do the first 11-12 reps, then my hip flexor would just give out, and the last 7 jumps were very taxing on my body. They really gassed me.

I subbed Knees to Elbows. The pull ups were the easy part. Crazy. Thank god I didn't rip. 

I used 70#s for the power cleans. The last 2 minutes were tough. 

Cindy Brady

“Cindy”
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 Pull ups
10 Push ups
15 Squats

Improvement by 1 round and 4 push ups! Man, those push ups are wretched. I'm happy with my improvement. 

Tiempo medio

“Eva“
Five rounds for time of:
Run 800 400 meters
2 pood Kettlebell swing, 30 15 reps
30 15 Pull-ups

Looking at this picture, I am very hard pressed to believe that I beat Jess or Maru in this WOD. Quite possibly they did 3 rounds of vs my 5 rounds of half the work... 

At the end of round 2 I hit a wall, I think I went to hard to fast. I felt pukie during my second set of Pull ups. For the rest of the WOD I had a pounding headache around concentrated around my ears. I am proud that I did all 75 KB Swings unbroken. Yay. My pull ups felt good. My runs were shit. I couldn't keep my torso/midline tight/hollow. It was breaking, because, I think, of the KB swings tiring my abs... I pretty much running hunched over. It was sad. And not efficient. 

Glad it's over. Glad it's Back Squats tomorrow. I <3 back squats. Plus I'd like to test if I'm back to my strength level from before my back injury in the summer. I think my PR of 130 is almost a year old. From when I did CF Total. The prescription is 3x5 but I think I'm going to do 1x7. 

Sleepy time. 

Cindy

"Cindy"

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

5 Pull ups

10 Push ups

15 Squats

RX'd BABY!!!

I really pushed myself yesterday during the wod. I really wanted to make sure that each rep was of a perfect standard. I'm excited to learn that my scrawny little arms can do a high rep push up work out without a band. Woohoo!!!! 

I'ma get SWOLL over the next 8 weeks. Lol. 

I need to listen vewy vewy carefully

"Santiago"

Seven Five rounds for time of:

35/20 8 lbs dumbbell hang squat clean, 18 12 reps

18 12 Pull ups

135/95 55 lb Power cleans, 10 reps

10 Handstand Push ups on the box

I tapped out after 3 rounds of work. My back was sayin' No, No, No! I think the catalyst was cleaning from the ground. I should have hang cleaned the weight. The DBs were very light. 

I'm glad that I listened to my body. 

Old habits die hard

"Lynne"

Five rounds for max reps of:

Body weight bench press

Pull-ups

I did that bitch Lynne bareback last April; read nothing about it here.  Just kidding. Lynne is not a bitch and I didn't do anything to her bareback or otherwise. I actually like this WOD. I feel I've acquired a lot more upper body strength since April. I remember that at the time, I was working on a strict pull as a goal, so I was not kipping last April (with a band, mind you). I did move up to 50# and I did way more reps on average this time around. 

Much happy with marked improvement. 

BTW, I think 14 pull ups is the most I've ever done consecutively. Yay! 

A Fran torta!

Run 400 meters

"Fran" 21-15-9 

Thrusters (35#) 

Pull ups

Run 400 meters

So much swimming in my head. I've had such an emotional day. I have chosen not to share what was the culminating point of the day where I lost my shit and just couldn't stop crying... but it could have been worse is all I have to keep telling myself. 

I got to the gym a hot mess. My mind was racing and I couldn't focus. Working out was not fathomable. I forced myself to warm up. Squat cleans were part of the warm up, and in the past 2 months I would have just ignored it, I decided to grab a bar and try my hand at some light squat cleans. I only went up to 35#s. I used this bar for my thrusters as well. 

The 1st 400m run was "fast." I really sucked at thrusters. Probably cause I haven't done any bar work using my hip flexor in so long. My pull ups felt great. I was doing them in sets of 7 and 5, so Yay! 

The last run was just plan sadness. But I didn't stop jogging, and by jogging I mean shuffling my feet at a very slow pace. I probably could have walked faster. I was trying to keep up chest up and shoulders back and relaxed... Pick up the heel, pick up the heel. 

At the end, I'm glad for the WOD cause it took my mind off of the horrible thing that happened to me today. 

On my way to LAXCF I burst out in tears again. How will i ever get over this? 

It's almost midnight and no signs of back pain associated with the movements I did today. I think I'm going to slowly transition back into lifting again but really light and low reps. I don't want to sabotage the improvement I've made. And BTW, I just can't afford to do A.R.T. two times a week. So I stopped. Even though I would love to continue, cause I can feel that my damaged tissue isn't as widespread as it was when I first started the treatment. 

I hurt everywhere

I can barely type this. I'm exhausted, my arms are almost inoperable, and my right hand is bandaged up.
I'm super proud of myself for finishing. I really am. During the 30 round I was confronted with a "I can't." I started to cut a deal in my head saying that I would do half of the pull ups in round 20 and 10. I was starting to feel hopeless computing how many pull ups I had left at that moment (46 total left). I had to shake myself out of it, and not think of the astronomical number, but only worry about the 4 or 5 I could muster at that moment. I chipped away at it.

Ya, it was the pull ups that completely humbled me. The DUs were "rest." The Push ups were not great, I did go to failure every 5 push ups, but they weren't as devastating to my body as the pull ups. I think it's the use of my entire body when I kip that makes it soooo brutal. It almost makes me want to puke.

During the last 2 pull ups of the 20 round, I had Francisco right there cheering me on (cause I was a sad, whiney bitch at this point), I had to use a lot of force to kip. But I did it. Then I looked down at my right hand, and saw a pretty decent size flap of skin sticky straight up. Underneath that, bloody, raw flesh. Let's just say that the last 10 pull ups were a test to my pain threshold. I did them 1 at a time.

Let's take a look, shall we? 

Overall, my hands are pretty raw and tender. Typing hurts. As well, as my forearms feel really swoll. 

I'm going to sleep like a fuckin' bear hibernating in the winter. I suspect running drills in my near future since my upper body will not be in working order. 

I need to honor myself first

Weighted Pull ups 3-3-3-3-3

Happy. I didn't have a goal or an expectation. Just happy that I put some numbers on the board. 

I still gloriously in love with Crossfit. I hope this love affair never ends. 

August 15th, 2011

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 10 minutes of:

5 Back Squats, 225/155 lbs 65lbs

10 Chest to bar pull ups with 1/2" band

Cowardly Lion whom wishes she had heart

Tabata Pull ups

2 min Rest

Tabata Push Ups

2 min Rest

Tabata Chair Sit on Parallette Bars

I think 12 pull ups chained together is the most I've ever done. Woohoo! I guess my arms are still functioning after the 60 shoulder presses I did yesterday. 

I kinda broke a sweat today with the Chair-sits. On round 4 of the push ups I had to go down on my knees. Muscle failure. 

I can't run. I get little shots of electricity in the joint area. 

I rolled on the Lacrosse ball for 40 mins today and it felt sooooo painful, but good. My sleep was slightly better than the night before; but still not completely restful. 

Chiro appt with Dr. Yu on Tuesday @ 4pm. Can't wait. 

Too much

I could have kept going. 20 Min WODs are interesting cause you eventually switch over to aerobic phase... And cause I've been Crossfitting for over a year and 8 months, I have decent endurance. So when 20 mins hit, I still had some fuel in my tank. I mean, with surviving WODs like "Murph" (67 mins) or Filthy Fifty (38 mins) 20 mins seems to be that middle time where your body isn't at high intensities, nor is it completely depleted. 

I think I should have made it a 12 min AMRAP and gone really hard. 

Either way, I did feel good after the wod. My arms are gonna sore. I was able to do my 15 DUs unbroken for 6 rounds out of the 11. 

An aside:

I've really really been trying to tap into all those virtues that seem to allude me, like: patience, acceptance, 

loving EVERYONE. I feel sometimes I'm being swallowed up by the crazy, little voices in my head... The ones that cause suffering. I'm trying to have a healthy relationship with my suffering. The more I resist the more I FEEL it. I've been employing deep breathing a lot lately. It's like I have to talk myself down from the ledge every FUCKIN' day.... Then rationale sets in, and I feel foolish.

Does this have to do with some deep seeded issue of inadequacy or self-loathing? It's soooo tiring. Why can't I just stay grounded in my heart all the time?

I just want to cry.

Birthday Fran!

"Fran"

Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:

95 pound Thruster

Pull-ups

The last time I did Fran was in January at LAX Crossfit. It was the first time I did her with bandless kipping pull ups. Yesterday I set a new personal record, beating my old time my 1:13. I'm happy. 

I did the first set of 21 thrusters straight through, which really really really gassed me. Diso gave me some really helpful pointers on thrusters before the clock started and I felt it helped a lot in my technique and efficiency. 

After collapsing on the floor, I had an involuntary upchuck gag. Nothing came up, but it's still no fun to dry heave. 

Now I'm going to gift my body a present of REST. I will not do any work until Monday. Time to party :)

Stop jerkin' me around

Push Jerk 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 reps 

60 seconds rest between each set

My first 5 sets were @ 55#s, the last 5 sets @ 65#s. I still have trouble between jerking and pressing. It seems that I don't push my body under the bar, but jump and press (push press). I think I just have to keep practicing the movement. I should have warmed up my shoulders and wrists more; they were both killing me towards the end. The weight was fine/do-able. I could have probably done 70#s. Oh well.

I came to the box knowing that I wanted to do a short met-con WOD since I did not workout yesterday (and I've been eating like crap with my boss :)... So Diso suggested I do half Helen: 3 rounds of 200m run, 11 KB Swings and 6 pull ups. 

I don't think I'm really happy with my time. It's soo the runs that I'm weakest at. The KB swings I did all 11 straight without breaks all 3 rounds. And the Pull ups took less than a minute all 3 sets of 6. Soooo that means that It's taking me a between 1:40-2mins to run 200 meters. That's kinda sad. 

KB was 3/4 pood= 26.5#s. 

The workout itself was great; got my heart beat up, sweat dripping down my cleavage, and my breathing all heavy... Kinda like sex.

Well not really.... there is nothing like sex. 

Just making sure you guys are alive out there :)

"MURPH"

"MURPH"

For time:

1 mile run

100 pull-ups

200 push-ups

300 squats

1 mile run

On this Memorial Day, I did this WOD in honor of all the service men and women past and present whom give the ultimate sacrifice of their lives on the battlefield. "Murph" is named after Lt. Michael Murphy. Read about his courage under fire. 

I am really really really happy with my work today. I verbalized a goal of 75mins to finish the WOD, which I obviously succeeded. I've never done Full Murph so I don't have a time to compare it to, but let's put into perspective my improvement of fitness in the past year since I did Half Murph on March 17, 2010 . I did more than DOUBLE the work and improved my time over 2 minutes. I say more than double the work because I have progressed to unassisted kipping pull up vs jumping pull up, and my push ups are now on my feet vs knees, though I'm still using a band. 

This is how I broke up the work:

And this is how I tracked my work:

Per usual, the runs really sucked for me. Actually the first 800m was fine. It was the subsequent last three 800m that were yucky. After doing all the pull ups and push ups, I couldn't hold my arms up while running. My body just wouldn't stay upright while I ran. 

I was very impressed with my strict adherence to making sure each rep was perfect and could not be questioned as half ass. Again, that whole eating clean BS came into play with my pull ups. I thought for a second that I maybe wouldn't be able to do all 100 pull ups unassisted, but I felt like the PUs were almost "easy." The push ups were difficult but I made sure that I kept my body tight and all 200 were really nice looking push ups. Squats were squats. 

So ya, I'm pretty happy with my work. Body feels good. Never really felt like death. I think I paced myself really well. Murph is definitely a once a year WOD. It makes it special, holding it with reverence just like Lt. Michael Murphy and his bravery that fateful day Iraq.