heavy athletics
A. Bench press; 5-5-5-5
conditioning
AMRAP 8
5 HSPU(@80%)
10 R-KB Swing
15 Back Extension
15 Dubz
Rest 4’
AMRAP 8 (@80%)
7 Ring Dips
8 Wall Ball (Heavier than normal if you got one)
200m run
Rest 4’
AMRAP 8
3 Muscle Ups
6 DB Snatch
12 lunge steps
heavy athletics
A. Snatch; work to a heavy single in 20 min.
let speed and mechanics dictate how heavy to push.
B. Snatch pull; 100%/2 x 3
C. Front squat; 65/8 x 4
Conditioning
AMRAP 6
6 OHS
9 Burpee
12 TTB
heavy athletics
A. Back sqaut; work up to a 1rm
B. Push press; 3-3-3-3
C. Conditioning
AMRAP 4
2-2-4-4-6-6-8-8…(high how up the ladder can you go)
Thruster (135/95)
c2b pull up
rest 4′
AMRAP 4
2-2-4-4-6-6-8-8…(high how up the ladder can you go)
thruster (115/80)
pull up
Heavy athletics
A. C&J;
B. Clean pull
C1. Muscle snatch; 5 x 5, rest 20 sec.
C2. Good mornings; 5 x 5, rest 75 sec
D. For quality/not for time
12 GHD sit ups
10 toes to bar
10 Glute ham raises
It has been a long while since I last posted so I decided to get back at it. For no reason other than spreading training thoughts and ideas, visions and musings and just having fun writing.
I want to start today/tonight by saying focus on doing what makes you happy as long as it matches up with your life goals and path. I know this should be a no brainier, however, often we are caught up in what others think about us. Tonight I was saying the serenity prayer, and this held true in the prayer. If someone has a feeling about you you must be yourself and accept the fact that you can not change it. And if you can not change some things, focus on the things you can. You can decide to do what makes you happy as long as it is in the confines of daily living.
Take some time to think about this and be true and honest with yourself. Life should be about learning, growing and loving. Love what you do and do it from your heart, and for those around you be honest to them. Don’t say things to them that they want to hear be honest and true to yourself.
Deeper thoughts than I wanted to get on the 1st post back in a while, but I just wanted to speak my mind and get some things off my chest.
Lift heavy, live healthy and be happy.
I am over my disgust from having to do this WOD in 2013 because I have accepted the fact that it will hurt and I will be sore. Now that I have got that out of the way let’s talk strategy.
From the concept of CrossFit, I love this WOD. There is a ton of strategy that goes into this WOD much like the others that we have seen in the open, and like the others pacing will be super important. The Wall Balls which take up the biggest chunk of this workout should not be the crux of the workout, it should be the muscle ups. So let’s talk Wall Balls.
I believe it to be very important to have a strategy going into it and sticking to it. You should know your strengths or weaknesses of wall balls and use that to your advantage. The goal should be to knock out big chunks of the wall balls at a time and minimize rest. But if big chunks zap your energy, then smaller chunks with varying rest schemes are just as important. Here is an example
1)This should be the goal;
25, 25, 25, 25, 20, 20, 10 w/10 sec rest in b/t breaks. This ends up being roughly a 5:45 Karen time
2)10 sets of 15 with exactly 10 seconds rest. Roughly 6:30
3)10 sets of 15 with exactly 8 seconds rest. Roughly 6:12
When it comes to the double unders, just get them done. Double unders are one of those movements that taxes you aerobically but most of the time you do not realize it until you are done. With that being said, know your strengths and get them done either 50 & 40, 60 & 30, 30-30-30 or all of the way.
Muscle ups of course being the crux of the WOD should be done a little shy of your unbroken capabilities. Once a rep is missed it can be hard to recover more so mentally than physically. Keep your consecutive reps low and kip the dip.
13.3
AMRAP 12
150 Wall Ball (2/14)
90 Double Unders
30 Muscle Ups
We are faced with repeat workout which I am all for, however it just so turn out that it happens to be one that I said I never wanted to do again. Looks like I’m going to eat my word. I must find some positive energy and positive motivation that will go against the negative vibe I am feeling for a WOD that I was not a big fan of. I am all for testing and retesting workouts to evaluate where you are as an athlete.
I am searching for ways to slay these negative demons that surround me every time that I even think about the prep, warm up and execution of 13.3. That leads me to quoting the rapper Lupe Fiasco from his song “American Terrorist Pt. 2 where he raps “they biggest rival is inside you.” I don’t normally quote rappers for inspiration but this line strikes a chord with me in this moment.
13.3 is just another workout, and it happens to be a workout that we have done before. If my mind holds onto the negative feelings that were associated with 12.4 then that’s a me problem. It is up to me to search for, find and bring forth the positive feelings that will occur in this epic WOD. It is the chance to test where I am at not only as a CrossFit athlete, but it will be a test of how mentally tough I am. Have I grown as a person, coach, and athlete and not just in the physical sense.
Here’s my chance to improve myself, I am going to seize the moment. And when your time comes, what are you going to do with your moment?
(Tips, thoughts and strategies coming tomorrow.)
13.1 is in the books and WOW, I hope you guys had as much fun with it as I did. As challenging as it was I hope you learned a thing or two about yourself as an athlete. So let’s talk about what we should have learned from this workout. By definition CrossFit is constantly very functional movements at high-intensity, with intensity being relative. I watched this workout over and over and over again and the common theme was the burpees took everything out of every athlete I watched. I want to use this example to compare the two most common workouts that show up on the main site, that being the Cindy/Mary combo and a 5K. Both of these workouts are roughly in the 20 minute time domain and neither one of them will you come out of the gate with max effort. They are about starting with an effort that you can maintain throughout the whole time and push it towards the end when it really matters.
Every CrossFit workout has a work to rest ratio built into it, and it is important to know yourself as an athlete to know when, how much, and where to take it. Have a plan, follow through with that plan until it is time to change the course. Follow your plan up with positive self talk before, during and after the WOD.
Being a better athlete isn’t always about the work you put in, although, that is the most of it, it’s about your mindset and attitude and leave every training day at least 1% better. You should have a goal to learn something from every training session you have and all the open workouts will be the perfect opportunity. Each workout should build a repertoire of experiences to reflect on for the future WOD’s that bring fourth similar challenges.
We are hours away from the release of 13.1. Most of us are anxious and excited to see what comes out of the hopper, and I am spending no energy trying to guess what it will be because I have zero control over that.
As soon as it is released and we watch Dan and Scott get after it. I am going to start paying attention to the little things. The little things will consist of many elements that will be in my control and some that will not be in my control.
For starters, long before I ever know what it will be, my dinner tonight will be competition approved. Chicken or fish, good carbs for my glycogen stores and I will be mentally prepping for my breakfast Thursday morning as well.
The other details I will go through tonight along with planning my strategy will be my visualization and imagery drills. I will even plan to wear my favorite gear, shoes that match the WOD’s demands, what time I will get after it, my best friends that I hopefully can trhowdown with and even the music I will listen. I will visualize every rep and every rep being perfect. When I am done I will then focus on resting and getting a great and deep night sleep. This is always hard the night before game day, so I will utilize relaxation and breathing techniques.
Game Day
After breakfast I will head to the gym and hear is where the important details will be important.
Pre-WOD
1)Arrive early and go through a thorough warm up.
2)Use the same imagery drills I did the night before, but I will not forgot to smile and laugh because this helps calm me.
3)I will make sure anything and everything that can and should be taped will be. Not to tight to cut off circulation, but not to loose to not get the desired effect. I want no excuses mid wod that I could have avoided.
4)Double knot my shoe laces, that is the last excuse to stop or slow down.
5)I will have the rest bucket aka the chalk bucket close by and try to avoid using it at all costs. And if I have to use chalk I will make sure that a piece or a chalk bag is close enough to grab and drop and get back to work. The chalk bucket is just an excuse to rest.
Leave yourself with no excuses to stop, slow down, or rest unless you have to.
WOD time
Smile, have fun, give everything you have. Compete to the best of your abilities. Leave no excuses! Every rep counts and every rep means a little bit more. At the end of the day, you are your biggest competition, compete with yourself and go above and beyond where you think you are capable of.
We are just over a day away from the release of the first open WOD and I am getting pretty excited. I am doing my best to not predict what will come out of HQ and Castro’s Hopper. Some of that is in fear of another 7 minutes of Burpee’s. The truth of the matter is we are where we are and there is nothing that can be changed about that now. There is no I wish I would have done this or I should have done that, have faith in what you have done and go for broke.
As the day approaches I am the healthiest I have been in 3 months and am close to 85-90% healthy. I have lost much during the time of inability to do many things, and even some hunger and enthusiasm. As last week concluded the hunger to do well is beginning again. However, my chances of ever competing at the regional level again are drifting away and I have come to terms with that. Along with excepting that a couple of things have happened and I was no paying as much attention to them until now. For starters, I have set new goals for myself, but I will get into that in another post.
I quote movies often, but Ferris “Bueller’s Day Off” is not normally one of them but this quote is a valuable lesson “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
What has been moving pretty fast around me that I have been witnessing but not giving enough credit to is the growth and development of the athletes around me. I have been caught up in my own issues of recovering and pursuit of not being in pain to truly admire and give gratitude to their achievements.
To all of you that have been getting after it in order to become more fit in pursuit of that next level of competition, I admire what you are doing and have accomplished, but no time to get complacent the open is days away, so let’s get even hungrier.
