Our gym started its performance challenge about two months ago. Today was our final exam. I felt like I did pretty well last time. Let’s see if I’ve gotten any better.
1RM Deadlift
I’m still lifting too much with my back and not my legs. I was surprised that my back wasn’t sore the next day though.
Deadlift: 288#
For time:
Run to Stop Sign (~700 M)
30 KB Swings (35# / 25# )
30 Burpees
30 Double Unders
30 Push Presses (45# / 35#)
Run to Stop Sign (~700 M)
I’ve been working on my double-unders, but the burpees had taken so much out of me that I wasn’t able to string them together at all.
Time: 15:03
Since last time, I added 10 k to my deadlift, and took 3:22 off of my WOD time. I’m pretty happy with that.
No strength workout today. Just a simple WOD.
“Helen”
Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
21 Kettlebell Swings 56#/35#
12 Pull-ups
I’ve done this workout twice before. Actually my first CrossFit workout was Helen. I never scaled my workouts, so getting through 12 pull-ups was a chore. It’s amazing what an effect “being in shape” has on my WOD times. 
Prescribed weight is 56#, but I used a 35# kettlebell. I had tried using a 45# KB in a recent workout and couldn’t do any more than 10 swings. I guess I could have tried to get as far as I could with 45# before switching, but I was lazy. My body was really blown about halfway through last time. I wanted to be able to go strong the entire way through today.
My hand is still a little torn up from last week’s pull-ups. I found a great video online that shows how to tape your hands so that you can still do pull-ups when they’re torn. I tried it tonight and, while it didn’t remove all the hurt, I was able to get through the WOD without causing more damage. I was able to do kipping pull-ups for the first round, and did three on the second. The rest of my pull-ups were jumpers.
- 1:37 running / 1:30 KB + PU
- 1:52 / 1:23
- 2:11 / 1:10
Total Time: 9:43
For future reference — my average running pace was 1:53.
The gym followed their regular template today with a combination strength workout followed by a MetCon WOD.
Today’s strength workout was 5×5 shoulder presses. We did 15 rep sets last week, so this would give me a chance to boost my numbers up a little more. I’ve never tried for my 1RM, so I’m using this strength workouts to help me get a feeling for what that number probably is. I did warm-up sets at 35# and 45#, then started with my max 15RM of 67#. Since that was pretty easy, I added on 10# and did that for two sets. Now that I was half way though, I tried pushing up a little more to try to find my failure point. I did a 82# set with a little struggle on the last rep, and pushed to 89# for the last set, only getting 4 reps before failure.
On to the WOD.
3 Rounds of:
10 Burpees
20 KB Swings (45#/35#)
I did a few 45# KB swings before the WOD, to see if I thought I could handle that weight. I figured I could get through one round, then switch to 35# for the remainder. By the 10th rep into the WOD, I wasn’t able to keep my elbows straight, so I switched to 35# at that point. In the middle of the second set of burpees, I suddenly felt all my energy drain. I was surprised by the suddenness of it. The rest of the workout was a trial. I was having a hard time with the burpee jump. I remember feeling like I had a pained expression while doing the last 20 KB swings with no break (Thanks Landon and Dave). I didn’t beat many people, but I felt like I gave it my all. That’s all I try for.
Time: 4:28
We started out today’s workout with some strength work – three sets of eight snatch-grip deadlifts. I worked my way up to 177# at which point Landon pointed out some poor form when lowering the bar. I did another two reps at that weight with correct form, and went on to the WOD.
3 Rounds of:
30 Double Unders
30 KB Swings (45# / 35#)
I brought the jump rope I use at home, which is a lot lighter than the ropes at the gym. It is also adjusted almost perfectly for my height. Despite this, I didn’t feel too good on the double-unders. I was only able to string 3 together in a row at the most, where my P.R. is eight with a gym rope. I haven’t practiced double-unders with my rope at all. I only use it for speed work at home. I am planning to bring it with me to the gym and do 30 before every workout in order to get better at them.
For the kettlebell swings, I used a 35# weight. I think I could do a shorter rep workout with a 45# weight at this point, but I knew that 90 reps would be tough for me using a 35# kb.
Time: 10:40
I knew that today’s workout would be quite difficult, but I didn’t think it would knock me down so badly.
For time:
25 pull-ups
50 deadlifts at 135 pounds
50 push-ups
50 box jumps with a 24-inch box
50 “floor wipers” (a core and shoulders exercise at 135 pounds)
50 “clean and press” at 36 pounds (a weight-lifting exercise)
25 more pull-ups
I didn’t scale the workout down near enough. I could do any one or two of the exercises as I scaled them, but I didn’t acknowledge the cumulative effect that such aggressive exercise would have. I did Fran last week with jumping pullups, so I decided to do JPU from 1 20# bumper plate. I should have used two, or a 12″ box. I thought I could do 50 133# deadlifts, but moved down to 89# after the first 15. For my push-ups, I did 25 strict, then struggled through 25 knee push-ups. Box jumps on a 24″ box. I can do this height, but it gets slow at the end. Maybe could have done a 20″ box instead. 89# floor wipers, then dropped to 67#. I only did 30 reps before quitting. I felt like I was gonna pass out. My heart was racing. By this time, I was so wiped out that I was doing one or two floor wipers at a time and needing lots of rest between reps.
I’m sure that this one will come up again. I’ll scale it properly next time and I know I’ll get through it.
We had a fairly brutal workout today.
WOD for Time:
Run 800 Meters
21 Kettle Bell Swings (45 # / 35 #)
21 Knees to Elbows (or leg raises)
Run 800 Meters
15 Kettle Bell Swings
15 Knees to Elbows
Run 800 Meters
9 Kettle Bell Swings
9 Knees to Elbows
I was able to do about 10 strict knees to elbows, then the rest were done while standing on the short box. My arms were a little bent and they were a bit easier. Next time I’ll stand on a 20# bumper plate instead so my arms aren’t as bent.
I went with a 35# kettlebell and I’m glad I did. My form broke down a bit at the end and I would probably have a lot of back pain from a 45#.
Splits:
- 2:57 run / 3:22 kb & k2e
- 3:31 run / 2:11 kb & k2e
- 3:50 run / 1:05 kb & k2e
Total: 16:56
Today was the first day of the gym’s Performance Challenge. We had two different benchmarks, 1RM deadlifts, and a metabolic conditioning workout:
Run to Stop Sign (~700 M)
30 KB Swings (35# / 25# )
30 Burpees
30 Double Unders
30 Push Presses (45# / 35#)
Run to Stop Sign (~700 M)
I’ve never worked on my max deadlift before, so this was a real treat. I worked my way up from a couple of warm-up sets, 177# to 265#. I tried 288# and got it almost up, but the bar started rolling out of my hands and I wasn’t able to fully stand up before losing control of it. I tried a second time with a mixed grip, but couldn’t stand up. I probably could have played around with weights between 265 and 288, but decided that what I got was good enough.
The MetCon WOD was not fun. I took it easy on the first run so that my breathing and heart rate weren’t completely blown away before I started the hard stuff. While doing the KB swings, I learned a lot about how to do it correctly. I finally got the “explosive hips” that everyone kept yelling at me for not doing in the past. I got through everything else by breaking them into sets of 2-5. The final run was a jog. Yuck. Final time: 18:25 Rx
It’s been a while since I’ve crossfitted. I haven’t done this workout since the very first time I tried a crossfit workout.
“Helen”
Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups
Post time to comments.
The scaled down “pack” workout calls for 35 pound dumbbell swings which is about 1 pood, and I just happen to have a 1 pood kettlebell. I got to the AFC at about 9:10 and did the standard warm-up sans pullups. My sit-ups were on the floor instead of in the GHD because I think I’ve lost a bit of flexability. I can’t do dips, so I could only do 5, then 3 of them. It was 9:30 and I still had to do my last set of dips for the warm-up, but I skipped them so that I could start on the workout. I finished two rounds and didn’t think I could complete the third before they closed, so I skipped it.
Total time: 20:54 for two rounds.