Today was another one of those fun benchmark workouts — “Tabata Something Else”

8 Tabata Intervals (20 seconds of work; 10 seconds of rest) each of:

Pullups
Pushups
Situps
Squats

I got a tear on my right-hand ring finger pad on my very last pull-up. I think I lost count on the pull-ups too. Kipping really helped me. I never anchored my feet before on the situps, so that probably accounted for part of my increase there.

my reps were

pull-ups: 41 (+21(!) from last time)
push-ups: 43 (+6)
sit-ups: 81 (+19)
squats: 91 (+2)
overall total: 256

Congrats to my co-worker, Christian, who came for today’s free day.

Strength workout today was back squats.  I’ve never done them before, so I wasn’t sure what my 75% max weight would be.  I tried 133#, but my third rep was pretty hard.  I moved down to 111# for the other four sets.

“Half Cindy”
Complete as many rounds in 10 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

We did a full Cindy two months ago, and I’ve made some big improvements since then.  I did most of my rounds with jumping pullups last time, and this time I was able to do all kipping pull-ups.  I didn’t note how many rounds of knee push-ups I did last time, probably all of them.  This time I was able to get three rounds of strict push-ups and the rest on my knees.  Push-ups seemed to be everyone’s weak spot though.  I guess I just need to do a few every morning.

Total: 6 rounds + … 10 squats.

A lot of reps of some standard exercises today.

WOD for Time:

1 Minute Handstand Hold
40 Pullups
40 Burpees
40 Situps
40 Air Squats

We did some front squats as part of the warm up (3×15reps). My PR 3rep FS was 75# a year and a half ago, but I also didn’t know what I was doing. I went with 67# today and got a good workout. My wrists need some stretching work so I’ll be adding the Reverse Namaste stretch to my warm up. I found another good tip online to think about pushing your elbows into the wall in front of you when doing front squats. This will create a bigger shelf for the bar and will give an extra half-inch or so for your hands.

On to the WOD. I think I can do a hand-stand, but holding it for 1 minute is definitely out. The substitution was a plank hold and even that was making my arms shake by the end of the minute. I was able to do 7 dead-hang pull ups, and the rest were jumping pull ups. The burpees were slow, but as Rx. Situps on an ab-mat.

Final time- 12:48

I’ve done the Cindy workout before; two times in January of 2008.  At that time I was regularly doing pull ups in the mornings and was going to the gym a couple times a week.  When I saw that Cindy was to be our workout today, I thought to myself that this would be a great benchmark to show how fit I am now compared to a year and a half ago.  Well, It seems that doing two hard workouts the two days before Cindy does not create a good environment for a PR.  Also, Jon had us do some kipping pullup practice before the workout, so my pullups were shot before I even started.  A year and a half ago, I did 6 RX rounds; today, I got 13 rounds (-2 squats) doing jumping pull ups and only the first two rounds with strict push ups.  I’ve got a lot of work to do.

Today’s workout was one of the benchmark “girls” workouts named “Nancy”.  First time doing this one.

“Nancy”

5 rounds for time of:
400 meter run
95 pound Overhead squat, 15 reps

My time today was 16:01, with a 15# bar on the OHS.  The “sprint” turned almost to a stroll in the 4th and 5th rounds.  I was so tired.

Times each round:

• 1:44/:41
• 2:07/:48
• 2:16/1:01
• 2:31/1:18
• 2:40/:56

I’m pretty sore from two days in a row.  We’re taking tomorrow off, Thursday on, then off for a few days while we’re at the outer-banks.  I’m sure I’ll be sorry I took five days off once I do that first workout next week.

I haven’t worked out in a few weeks, so that has to change. A while back I had the idea of doing a quick round or two of barbara-lite (10 pull-ups, 20 push-ups, 30 sit-ups, and 40 squats) in the morning every morning. I did this today and want to keep doing it every morning.

Today was a lazy day at home, but at 9:00 I noticed that today’s workout didn’t require any weights, and I’d even done it before.

“Tabata Something Else”

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

Post total reps from all 32 intervals

my reps were

pull-ups: 3/3/3/3/3/3/1/1 total 20 (+3 from last time)
push-ups: 6/6/6/6/6/4/2/1 total 37 (-3)
sit-ups: 8/9/9/8/9/7/6/6 total 62 (-2)
squats: 11/11/11/11/11/11/11/12 total 89 (+6)
overall total: 208

Four weeks ago, I said that I hoped that this workout came up again soon. I guess I got my wish.

I haven’t crossfitted in a couple of weeks, but decided to do yesterday’s workout.

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

I’ve done Cindy before and did six rounds, so last night I decided to just do six rounds.  It took me 16 minutes so I probably should have done one more round, but I slacked.

Another new workout.

Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

I made it through six rounds.  The pull-ups and push-ups killed me but I was able to keep up on the squats.  I was able to walk to the car without feeling like I would fall over after every step, so that’s a positive thing.

Another successful crossfit workout.

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

Post total reps from all 32 intervals to comments.

My reps were

pull-ups: 5/5/2/1/1/1/1/1 total 17
push-ups: 7/7/7/7/5/2/3/2 total 40
sit-ups: 11/12/12/7/5/5/6/6 total 64
squats: 5/15/10/10/10/10/10/13 total 83
overall total: 204

Someone posted an mp3 mix with beeps at the 20 and 10 second intervals, and another sound that signals to switch to the next exercise. It helped me a lot to not have to always be looking at my watch. I hope when this workout comes up again that I’ll do a bit better at it.

It’s been a while since I worked out, with the holiday travel and all, but Hillary and I got into a nearby gym this morning. The Rxed workout for today was a 5k run. Running is one of the only crossfit workouts I can do as prescribed. Yesterday’s workout was a straightforward one named Barbara – 5 * (20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, 50 squats). I planned to do Barbara-lite by subtracting 10 reps from every exercise. I ran the 5k in 29:30 ish, and got through one set of Barbara in 6 minutes before giving up.

I don’t remember where I first read about Crossfit. I think someone mentioned it in a thread on Lifehacker.  After reading their website I was hooked. Their style of intense scheduled workouts caught my attention. Yesterday I did my first crossfit workout, although slightly modified. The workout was named Helen (most of their workouts have women’s names) which consists of a 400m run, 21 1.5 pood kettlebell swings, and 12 pullups all done three times, and timed. I didn’t have access to any kettlebells so I did 45 lb. squats instead. After the workout, which took me 32 minutes, I could barely walk down the stairs because my legs were so weak.

This morning, my legs, biceps, and shoulders are pretty sore. I thought that I might do today’s workout, but it’s 120 pullups and 120 dips. Not gonna’ happen.