World O’ Hurt

I’ve been jotting down notes about my workouts the past few weeks, but I haven’t yet sat down to go in depth about any of them. That’s odd because I’ve set several important milestones for myself the past few weeks, and it’s well worth taking a moment and patting myself of the back for a job well done. If six months ago, someone had told me that I would be doing some of the things that I’m doing now, I would not believe them, and yet here I am today, constantly exceeding what I thought were my limits.

It’s been a busy and stressful few weeks for me, yet I have largely been able to continue my diet and workout routine, and I’m healthier, more productive, and stronger/faster/more flexible than ever.  This might not sound like a big deal, but it’s Crossfit and the desire to constantly improve that has given me the mental strength to overcome situations that might have broken me just a few short years ago.

I’m about to go into a period of time that’s going to be very difficult for me emotionally, and it will be the things like Crossfit, Kung-Fu, and the healthy, nurturing way of life that I’ve chosen for myself will form the bedrock of my life while it changes.

Monday (08/03)

For a month or two after I started Crossfit, on my drive from my house to the Gym, I would get a knot in the pit of my stomach. It was a foreboding feeling, like I was heading into a trap. I believe that it was my body’s homeostatic system attempting to dissuade me from doing such foolish things as putting myself under extreme discomfort in new and awful ways, or exceeding my limitations, or putting myself “out there”, or preparing to fail. It was my ego’s attempt at self preservation before it got crushed time and time again in my quest to remake myself.

I remember one workout where I was hit with a particularly acute bout of this feeling. I remember standing on the box, preparing for the start of the workout, listening to JDP count down from three to one, and literally thinking to myself :

“Oh my god, this is really happening. This is fucking brutal, but I’m already standing here and it’s too late to do anything about it. I’m really going to do this.“

Well, times have changed. Now I look forward to almost every workout with a sense of perverse glee and I anticipate competing against the lesser part of me that urges me to rest (and who still too often wins). However, there are still some workouts the fill me with that same sense of dread, and those are the monthly benchmarks.

It’s not so much that Crossfit Central’s monthly benchmarks (Total, Angie, and Fight Gone Bad) are incredibly difficult (well, Angie and FGB are true beasts. I find Total enjoyable as hell), it’s that the first class of the month is time to prove myself, to apply what I’ve learned and apply the improvements I’ve made to myself over the month. And sometimes it’s scary having no one but myself to hold accountable for my improvement.

This month’s benchmark was one of my favorite workouts: Fight Gone Bad:

Three Rounds:

• 1:00 Row
• 1:00 Wall Ball
• 1:00 Sumo Deadlift High Pull
• 1:00 Box Jump
• 1:00 Push-Press

The score is the number of calories burned on the rower plus the number of completed reps on the other four exercises. My very first Fight Gone Bad turned out very well, with a score of 259 over the three rounds (as RX!). The past few times I’ve done FGB, it was two rounds, due to not having enough time or equipment, as well as schedule changes at the gym. Don’t worry though, just go more intense.

Long story short, my score was 239 over two rounds. This was the first big milestone for me this week, and it puts me on pace for a score well over 300 for the fundraiser in September! More impressive to me was almost attaining my 3 round total in two rounds. Now THAT’S improvement! What made me prouder was the fact that it was the best score made that day up to my class time. Anyone wanna bet on a 300+ two rounder for me next time?

Wednesday (08/05)

Ah, now I remember why I didn’t blog this week in depth; it was the week that crushed me to dust with my worst exercises and skills, and the followed up those brutal workouts with brutal followups.

Overhead squats are probably my worst skill, and workouts ladders (where the reps go down but the exercises stay the same) probably exhaust me more than anything else. How about a WOD that combines them both?

For Time:

• 10 Overhead squats: 95lb, 30 Knees-to-elbows
• 8, 24
• 6, 18
• 4, 12
• 2, 6

I am not particularly good at high volume output of things like K2E or Pull-ups, and I’m bad at Overhead Squats. At 95lb I didn’t get anywhere near the RX weight of 135 on the squats, and ripped my hands terribly on the K2E. This was not a good day for me! I finished in 11:40 which was ahead of most of the field, but not exactly elite. However, it was the heaviest sustained series of overhead squats that I’ve done (my previous best was 65!) Therefore, my second big milestone of the week!

As if that workout were not hard enough, the followup sucked out of me any energy I had left: an 800m run followed by three sets of Burpee Broad Jump Relays (up and down the gym floor).

Thursday (08/06)

The Texas Hand Skin Massacre continues with a pullup-centric slice o’ hell:

The clock continuously runs; each minute do:

• ‘n’ pullups during minute ‘n’.
• On pullup failure, do ‘n’ kettlebell squats during minute ‘n’.

I got to n = 11. The heart and body were willing, but the hands said “fuck no”. Starting at the 12th minute I did kettlebell squats and gassed on minutes 19 and 20, completing minute 18. I still owe JDP 39 kettlebell squats.

I feel that had my hands not ripped, I could have gotten to round 15. I felt strong, but I was bleeding like a stuck pig on the bars. Nasty.

Of course there was a followup; It was more bodyweight relays:

• 3x Rabbit relay
• 3x Spider relay

My martial arts and kata training came through for me again; The rabbit relays were trivially easy for me. It seems that on at least two or three of Crossfits 10 physical skills, I get high marks (agility, coordination, flexibility).

Monday (08/10)

Another killer. The volume has been relatively low lately but the weight has been high.

5 Rounds for Time:

• 21 KB Swings @ 24kg (32kg RX)
• 14 Burpees
• 7 Back Squats @ 155lb

My time: 18:42, one of the better finishers that day (almost no one did it as RX. It seems that given my time and the 20-minute cutoff, 24kg was just right for where I’m at. I’m impatient to move on, but smart enough to avoid injury. I have my whole life to do this).

Wednesday (08/12)

A truly horrendous WOD.

3 Rounds for Time:

• 10 Man Makers @ 45lb
• 500m Row

The order was originally inverted, but because we didn’t have enough rowers, some of us started on the Man Makers. This marks a personal record on weight for the Man Makers for me (for those of you playing at home, that’s three milestones set!)

18:45 RX (how I love typing “RX”!)

Thursday (08/13)

Deadlifts are my favorite movement. They just feel right and powerful and I love the big numbers I’m able to put up, yet today I just didn’t feel strong at all. The 225 I pulled felt more like 350, and I felt sluggish in general. Yet I showed up and persevered. When I saw the workout, I groaned inwardly; Muscle-ups are one area where I just don’t feel competent. I feel like a fish out of water, and like the muscles required to do them just don’t exist on my body. Meh! Well, I surprised myself…

For time:

• 25 Deadlifts @ 225lb
• 500m Row
• 15 Muscle-Ups
• 25 Deadlifts @ 225lb

My Time: 15:59 Almost-RX.

What does “Almost-RX” mean? Well, it means that on that day, I did more muscle-ups in a single WOD that I had cumulatively done previously in my 30 years of life. That is a huge milestone and I was thrilled to have done what I did, which was 10 real, genuine muscle-ups! I did 5 by scaling various ways (knees, jumping), but 10 muscle-ups was a huge achievement for me. I still have form work to do (such as locking out fully between reps, and doing some reps unbroken), but I am very happy with what I accomplished.

Friday (08/14)

As fellow Crossfitter and Kung-Fu instructor Cindy came to my class, I decided to make the workout Crossfit’s benchmark “Cindy”, which also happens to be one of my favorite workouts in general:

AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 5 Pullups
• 10 Push-ups
• 15 Squats

A workout deceptive in its simplicity. and devastating in its effect! My record is 12 rounds with bar pull-ups, but all we have at the Kung-Fu school is the ability to hang rings for pullups, etc (more difficult!). I did 13 full rounds and one scaled round (jumping pull-ups). That’s yet another milestone set for this series of workouts! I am not sure what inspired me, but in spite of being tired and stressed, I’ve felt like a million bucks and ready to take myself on. What will tomorrow bring?

As a last note, we should always appreciate the special people who add color and meaning and beauty and happiness to our lives, and let them know how much they mean to us. We sometimes take them for granted, and when they depart, their absence is palpable.

A good day today, surprisingly. I was less than kind to my body, diet-wise this weekend. I hope that this week’s workouts go a long way towards burning off the whole carton of Ben and Jerry’s “Chubby Hubby” that I devoured on Saturday. I think the reason I’m not up on my food log right now is that my weekends are just garbage, health-wise. I don’t want to be completely ascetic, but I think I’m stretching the concept of a “cheat day” a little too far!

Since I’m in the Spartan 300 Challenge, I’m going to try and wrap it up with exceptionally good eating for the remainder of the time. I want to produce a food log I can be proud of!

I have said it before, but because I love food so much, I always feel compelled to test the hypothesis on my cheat days: I just don’t enjoy rich, filling restaurant food much anymore. It tastes good going down, but immediately upon hitting my stomach, the joy is drained from me as the food sits in my belly like a lead brick.

In contrast, eating paleo generally leaves me energetic and ready for more challenges, even when I eat my fill.

Monday

GREAT workout. I felt teriffic all the way through and finished as strong as I started. I did use 24kg kettlebells for the Farmer’s Walk, but it was honestly because I thought they were heavier than 55lb dumbbells I was off by a few pounds per hand. Right now I’m telling myself that the kettlebells are are harder to hold on to due to the much thicker, untextured handles, so I’m gonna say it’s a wash… Five rounds for time:

• 10 Knees-to-Elbows
• 30 Walking Lunges
• 30 Sit-Ups (butterfly-style, on the AbMat for extra “ouch”)
• 100m Farmer Walk (RX 55lb Dumbbell. As I said above, I used 24kg Kettlebells)

I finished this in 17:45 or so, the fastest time that day up until my class. I was really quite happy with my performance. I believe I only dropped from the bar on the K2E’s once or at most, twice, and I did not drop the kettlebells on the farmer walk at all (which would have incurred a 5 burpee penalty, on molten-lava-hot pavement).

I think I’ve finally hit a stride again.

Tuesday

Spartan 300 Challenge Workout. Four Rounds for Time:

• 50 Double-Unders
• 25 Push-Ups

My time: 7:45. I think I did 10 extra push-ups somewhere along the line, but lost count and figured better a few too many than a few too few. This workout was tailored for me. I take pride in my Double-Unders.

Wednesday

A real horrible sufferfest at Crossfit for me. A combination of my three worst excercises and not feeling 100% in the first place! The good news is that I turned in a performance that was good enough to surprise me (in a pleasant way!). After several months of Crossfit, I think I’ve come to the unpleasant realization that even physically, as in so many things in life in which I have accomplished less, I just don’t push myself to my limits. I gemerally go away from a Crossfit workout thinking “I did OK, even a little better than last time, but I could have done better”.

Perhaps that’s the power of Crossfit. Crossfit doesn’t  promulgate a “I’m OK, you’re OK just how you are” ethic, where clients can build their own mental and emotional fortress, and feel safe and sound, sequestered away from any thought that they are anything but already as good as they ever will be.

Crossfit will strip away from you any delusions of adequacy or competence, or any cloak of illusion you have drawn around yourself that you are “fit”. The WODs will break you down into your component parts. The reassembly and what comes after that is up to you. It is an important decision.

Three Rounds for Time:

• 500m Row (I believe my splits were under 2 minutes, with the exception of the third, which was slightly over)
• 21 Overhead Squats (RX 95lb, I did 65lb, which felt right to me as my shoulder asymptotically nears wellness again)
• 15 Pull-ups

My time: 18:54. These were three of my worst movements.

Thursday

A good one: Crossfit Benchmark “Nicole”. AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 400m Run
• Max pull-ups without dropping from the bar

This is a toughie. The more you drop from the bar, the more you run. I tried pretty hard on this one, shattering my previous consecutive pull-up record (29 from 10, on the first round). I managed a total of 6 runs and 74 pull-ups in 5 sets, distributed as follows:

20-12-15-15-12

Friday

I took a page from the Thursday Crossfit workout. AMRAP 20 Minutes:

• 50 Double-Unders
• Max Reps Ring Rows

I got 11 rounds and 93 ring rows. Not bad! 550 double unders is a good haul!

A few Thursdays ago, Crossfit Central played host to the annual afiliate gathering, where affiliate members from across the country came to Austin to meet and gree and work out together. Unfortunately, it took place during my Thursday class. Bummer. Fortunately, I was allowed to attend a make-up class of my choice. This means that this week, I will be doing four days of Crossfit. Whew!

Monday, 02/16/09: Choose your Poison:

“Cindy”. AMRAP 20 minutes:

• 5 Pullups
• 10 Pushups
• 15 Squats

vs.

“Mary”. AMRAP 20 minutes:

• 5 Handstand Pushups
• 10 Pistols
• 15 Pullups

For this workout, I chose Mary, after being goaded out of my original choice, Cindy, by my coach (John). In retrospect, I’m very glad that I made that decision because it worked on tougher skills at the expense of not being able to put as large a number on the board. I managed six rounds plus two handstand pushups.

Tuesday, 02/17/09: “Nancy”. For Time::

• 15 Overhead Squat (RX 95lb)
• 400m Run

My time: 15:44.

This was a tough workout for me. I think along with cleans/snatches, overhead squats are the most challenging exercise for me. During a previous WOD, I managed two and a half (out of five) OHS rounds with the recommended 95lb, but did not at all feel good in my form, so I kicked it down to 65lb from the start in today’s WOD. Even though it felt a little bit light, I’m glad that I did it, as today is a four-session week for me, and I am still a little iffy on the form.

As this was a make-up class I had my first Crossfit experience with a different coach today, Zach. One tough dude! After Nancy, he didn’t feel that we’d had enough, so we did a little ab work:

• Two rounds:
  • 50 Russian Twists
  • 20 Medball situps
• Planks (1 minute, I think)

I felt good on this little finisher because it’s stuff I commonly do in my Friday class. I should have used a heavier medball though.

And sometimes others know our strengths and weaknesses far better than we do.

Today’s WOD. A real killer. Five Rounds For Time (Foul-out at 25:00)

• 30 Sit-ups
• 15 Overhead Squat (95lb as RX)
• 30 Supermans
• 15 Jumping Pullups

Completed 2.5 Rounds RX, 2.5 rounds at 65lb in 24:36. I annihilated the last set of jumping pullups in order not to foul out!

The sit-ups, Supermans, and jumping pullups were a sideshow. The main event was the overhead squat, which I am less than completely proficient at. It’s a new movement to me, and the funny thing is that I have the bodily strength to do the reps, but I lack the motor control and expertise in the movement to keep the weight balanced. I look forward to mastering this movement!

I have to tip my hat once again to Coach JDP. I wasn’t even going to attempt the 95lb overhad squat, and was going to scale to 65lb right off the bat. It seems that a good coach and instructor knows our limits much better than we ourselves do.  I did not expect to do even one 95lb overhead squat, much less complete two and a half rounds like that.

Crossfit has done something that I forgot how to do for myself, really push my limits.