World O’ Hurt

The next few weeks I’m going to tread pretty carefully. I think that I tweaked my right shoulder (yet) again. I am going to try and take it a little easier this next week or two; I hope that the exercises are not shoulder-hostile.

Monday

I think this is the day that I tweaked my shoulder a bit. The form on my Dumbell Snatches is pretty good, and I always get a good range of motion on the squat. I do think that I should have gone lighter than RX, or looked for another option than going fully extended overhead with the weight. Three rounds for time:

• 15 Dumbell Snatch @ 45lb (total, not each arm)
• 400m Run
• 15 Wall Ball @ 20lb

My time was 15:27.

Wednesday

Shoulder stress continues. A Crossfit benchmark workout with two shoulder killers, Cleans and Ring Dips. Again, I did this one RX which I probably should not have, especially since my shoulder was hurting at the time I came in. Live and learn. “Elizabeth“: 21-15-9 Reps:

• Squat Clean @ 135lb
• Ring Dips

15:47. Afterward we were assigned 50 of each. Knees-to-elbows, Pullups. I accomplished 16 of each before time ran out.

Thursday

I decided to make this a rest day. I think this is one of those months where no matter what you do, you’re going to feel a little under the weather in general. It can’t be avoided, and you can’t expect every day to be better than the last. Life has an ebb and flow in general, and you have to take each day as it comes. Or maybe it’s the fact that I’m turning 30 this month. My advanced age is catching up with me!

I’m not sure if my shoulder is a symptom in general; I have been feeling a sort of vague malaise lately, as if my body is fighting off sickness (I also have a bit of a sore throat). I have also fallen off the diet wagon a bit. Oh well. Things will improve. I just need to do what I know needs to be done!

Friday

I decided to implement some of the things I have been talking about regarding katas and Crossfit-style workouts. Here was the Friday workout: AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• Max Reps Knees-to-elbow
• Kata 1 2x
• Max Reps Push-ups
• Kata 2 2x
• Max Reps Double-Unders
• Kata 3 2x

I had originally assigned specific katas (the first three long forms in our system, to be exact) but decided to let people pick any three discrete katas they wanted to practice.

It was my hope that people would utilize the katas as Crossfit would the 400m runs, as sprints designed to tax the three energy pathways. I actually did get a lot of positive reaction to the workout, but to me it seemed a bit muddled. I think it might be my view being colored by the hyper-focused Crossfit workouts, but I identified the following issues:

1. Difficulty of establishing standards of movement.
   This basically means that it is easy for me to run through the movements of a workout beforehand when they are simple and repeatable, as is the case with say, push-ups, sit-ups and what have you. When you look at a kata, you see a complicated series of interconnected movements. Therefore it is hard to establish a baseline of correctness so that the scores we write on the board actually mean something. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that people chose different katas, which leads to the next problem:
2. Class cohesiveness goes down.
   There is something to be said for the esprit de corps that comes from everyone “keeping together in time“. I believe part of my complaint from this perspective stems from allowing people to pick their katas. Now, this point may affect me more than it did the students, but it seemed to me that the workout on Friday was a bit more chaotic than usual.
3. More opportunity for slacking.
   I spied a few people utilizing the kata section as time to practice the moves of the kata or time for “active rest” as Andy puts it. That was expressly not the purpose of putting katas into the workout. My aim was to put katas in the context of doing something stressful and intense, and to have the students put the same intensity into doing the katas as they do the normal workout (again, I’m not levying this complaint against everyone). I have to take my share of the blame for perhaps not communicating that as well as I could.
   Of course, it is also the first time we have utilized this paradigm in class, and we rarely explicitly call for intensity when practicing katas, which does the material a grave disservice, in my opinion. Now, the reason I chose simple, fundamental katas for everyone to do (before changing my mind) was because people in general should have those sets of movements practically embedded in their DNA at this point, making execution second-nature, and intense execution consistently over 20 minutes the kind of stretch that I’d consider healthy.Practicing not-quite-mastered material in the context of an intense workout is probably healthy as well, however, and doing so would definitely simulate some of the emotional and mental stress that comes from testing.
4. Pacing slows down.
   Again, this could very well be a function of the newness of the concept, but there was some expensive context switching going on between katas and exercises. We are going to do this again, and I will stress the importance of keeping a high pace (and why it’s important) during the workout, and minimizing transition time between movements.

All that said, it was still a good workout and everyone seemed to enjoy the novelty of it. It is interesting to see the application of the general-purpose conditioning work we do in the context of katas. I do believe that it takes practice and intent to transfer those skills over from one modality to another! I intend to do more of this sort of training as testing time (mid-late August) creeps ever closer…

I did receive an interesting class review/complaint/request from one person who had not been to class in a very long time (having moved away for quite a while). To me it was very interesting to hear because it highlighted how different the class must seem for someone uninvolved in the process of its transformation to its current form!

Previous to this year, the class was not as self-directed or self-motivated for the students as it is now; I generally called out specific exercises at specific junctures in the class sessions for students to do this exercise or that; it was very top-down command-and-control. Nowadays of course, I lay out what I expect of the students in terms of exercises and movement standards and allow (nay, encourage) them to blaze their own trails through the workout.

This particular person said, very earnestly, that they liked the previous format better, because they considered themself (I know it’s not a word, and I don’t like using English’s sorry excuse for a gender-neutral pronoun; I’m just trying to protect their identity!) “kind of lazy” (???!!!) and needed the added motivation of everyone moving together, doing the same thing, at the same time (paraphrased).

Now, I can imagine how someone steeped in the previous class culture of calling-out-reps and sticking together through exercises would see the way we do things as strange. However, my response to what this person said would be that if they felt unmotivated in an environment which relies increasingly on self-motivation, then that is exactly the environment that they need to be in in order to stoke those fires in themself! It is time to step up to the plate and find baseline performance and construct target goals. Every day should be the day that we all get a little bit better, and a lot better in the long run. That is one thing that the top-down way of doing things cannot guarantee, and for those used to that, it is a tough tit to wean off of, but you have to start somewhere.

As an instructor, I try and lend as much strength as I can to the students, because they often do not see themselves as capable of doing things that I can clearly see that they are capable of! However, that doesn’t extend to changing the class environment to accommodate people who are completely non self-starting.

Apparently this is a “Make Ryon do shit he doesn’t do well” week at Central. Well, bring it on! Not addressing weaknesses is a recipe for incapacity and error.

Monday

Well, not so much a “Make Ryon do shit he doesn’t do well” day here. Maybe more like a “Give Ryon a false sense of confidence the first part of the week then crush him later” week. This turned out to be a quick one. Three rounds for time:

• 7 Thrusters @ 135lb (I did 115)
• 7 Pull-ups
• 7 Burpees

My time: 4:16 and I could have gone faster or heavier, but probably not both! I had one of the quicker times that day. Going heavier is tricky for me because of my shoulder. I’m trying though, and I am looking forward to getting my shoulders in a place where I can RX the workouts again. This workout was a metabolic nightmare, and afterward we did sprints. My times:

• 400m @ 1:28
• 200m @ 37″
• 200m @ 41″
• 35m x 3 @ ?? (not timed)

I ripped a huge hole in the bottom of my toe. We’re talking Rhode Island-sized flap of skin hanging off here. I love my Vibram FiveFingers but I think I might need some toe socks to go with them. it was probably the moisture+friction that caused the blister. Plus my current pair is so messed up and ripped up I’m probably getting cut by rocks poking through them!

Wednesday

Hell on earth. If I was able to rip through Monday’s workout, it’s because I shifted the time I didn’t take to Wednesday. This was a horrible beast of a workout that prodded my weaknesses: Upper body strength, and running. Five rounds for time:

• 20 floor presses @ 55lb
• 400m Run

The floor presses were done with our upper backs on a medicine ball, and active hip (making the dumbbell presses almost a decline press). To compound things for me, I used the 1.5pood kettlebells, which, despite being “only” 53 pounds, are unwieldy and off balance compared to the dumbbells. Pressing them was just “fucked up”, as I was to exclaim after the first set. The runs were done in the relentless TX blast furnace heat, which I’m really starting to not mind all that much.

The upshot of the workout was that my shoulders still aren’t up to snuff. I managed two rounds and some change with the kettlebells, then mercifully switched to 30lb dumbbells about halfway through the workout… and STILL DIDN’T FINISH. I was 5 presses away from being done when time was called.

At least I know what I need to work on.

Thursday

Hell on earth. Again. Is this the first time I’ve had two consecutive days without finishing the workout? I think it might be, which is a good pointer as to what I need to work on!  At least today I have the consolation of knowing that almost no one else finished the workout either!

21-18-15-12-9-6-3:

• Dumbbell Snatch @40lb (I used 25lb). Note the number applies to EACH ARM, and you can’t split the reps. Finish one arm, then the next.
• Ring Dips (I used a dark blue assist band)

Hellish, hellish hellish. You are an elite athlete if you do this RX. The snatch is a soul sucking energy destroying full body movement. I got halfway through the set of 12, and 4 on the second arm when time was called. This really underscores the fact that my upper body isn’t where it needs to be, especially after the injury.

Friday

I’m actually posting this early so that Lucas, who comes to my class, can get an early start on planning to do the workout. This workout will hopefully inspire terror in my students.

The timer will be set to count down from 20 minutes. Starting out with:

• 1 Pull-up (Substitutes: Jumping Pull-up, Ring Row, Bench Dip)
• 1 Goblet Squat with kettlebell or dumbbell (Substitutes: Regular squat)
• 1 1-Arm Situp with kettlebell or dumbbell (Substitutes: Regular Sit-up, Crunch w/ medicine ball behind head)

Every round, add one repetition to each exercise, so on the 5th round, you would be doing five each of the pull-up, squat, and sit-up, for instance. The score is the number of rounds completed (with any partial rounds added as a note). Bon Apetit!

Update: I completed 10 rounds and 2 pull-ups of the 11th, at 55lb for the squats, and 35lb for the sit-ups. If you told me a year ago that I would be doing 58 pull-ups in 20 minutes, let alone the other stuff, I’d have thought it impossible. It just goes to show you how far the class has come, and I have come as well.

If you read this blog and take my class, or even just play along at home, please post your results as a comment!

P.S. Next week is benchmark week.

P.P.S. Please check out Lucas’s website and music. It’s terriffic stuff!

Today was one of the more brutal Crossfit workouts I have had. I know, I say that every week. I think it’s because every week, I gain a little more capacity to be a little more brutal. And that’s a good thing.

For Time (limit: 25:00):

• Three Rounds:
  • 21 Dumbbell Snatch (RX 45lb)
  • 15 Burpees
  • 300m Row
  • 200m Run

My time: 22:54, using 35lb dumbbells. I thought this workout was going to be MUCH harder, and apparently they scaled it down somewhat from its original iteration in the morning class. the 21 dumbbell snatches were divided between the two arms. As my left arm is weaker, I did 11 on it and 10 on my right . I’m still having quite a bit of form trouble with the snatch. Apparently I do not open up my hips enough before the shrug and high-elbow. I’ll work on it this week at Kung-Fu!

Burpees are a fantastic exercise and I love them. The rower, as usual sucks the marrow from your bones and leaves you a lifeless husk. Running is running. I don’t have to like it but I do have to get good at it

After the workout, my coach, John, his girlfriend Cassie and I decided to do the Crossfit “dot com” WOD:

With a continuously running clock:

• Do one pull-up the first minute.
• Two pull-ups the second minute
• And so on and so forth.

I actually got to round 8, and felt pretty damn good! The wrench in the gears were my about-to-rip callouses. Personally I feel that I could have gotten at least to round ten if not a few more. I want to try that workout again, with solid hands

Crossfit sessions are like a microcosm of life. Everything that happens you can apply to your entire life.

Yesterday’s WOD was a particularly brutal one for me. Three rounds for time (20-minute foul-out):

• 21 Kettlebell Snatches (16kg/36lb/1pd) each arm
• 15 Pull-ups
• 12 Dumbbell Snatches (30lb)
• 400m Run

I did not complete it, managing only two rounds and ten Kettlebell snatches on each arm. Although I did utilize the recommend weight (and did only 10 of the pullups with box assistance), I still felt bummed, until I realized that it was only the start of my third week at Crossfit Central, and that they have a staff of coaches dedicated to the success of every student, and that eventually I will break down that WOD and make it my bitch.

It’s unreasonable to undertake any endeavor expecting to do it perfectly (or even adequately!) the first through tenth times you do it. Although I’ve always been a physically attuned person, Crossfit has humbled me, and at the same time infused me with enthusiasm with all of the possibilities it offers.

I hope this WOD and I meet again someday.