Recovered

I took a personal day off on Monday even though I really wanted to do the WOD.

Christine

Row 500

12 Deadlifts @bodyweight

21 Box Jumps

IOU

At some point I would like to sneak this in. I don't mind rowing and deadlifts are in my wheelhouse. The only issue here would be my box jumps. They are improving, but they still suck. I wanted to hit this mainly because it reminded me when I DNF'd at the Providence competition.  Tweaked my back transitioning from deads to box jumps or on a box jump. Not really sure. Mostly my pride on that one. Thank God for my boy  Bill Mello who hooked me up with an ice pack. Saved the day. I still have it if you want it back Bill.

Tuesday's WOD

Strength: 5x5 Front Squats-same weight for all sets

Skill: 20 Toes to bar between each set

185# Front Squat

Toes to Bar

Last time I did 5 reps of front squats it was, where else? Providence competition and that was at 215#. I was toying with 185# or 205#. I did a few reps of each and felt a bit tired so i chose 185#'s. Afterward I felt like I could have gone a bit heavier on the front squats, but I was happy with the weight regardless. Shit does get heavy after a while. Usually around the 4th set my wrists finally get loose which makes this movement a bit easier. 

The Toes to bar are coming along nicely. I have been able to do them for a while now. My flexibility sucks and I really shouldn't be able to do them, but my kip more than makes up for it. I tried to do the first 20 unbroken, but I lost my grip going into my 17th rep. I was pissed! The next two sets I broke up into 10's. The 4th set I broke into 5's and then I struggled a bit on my 5th set. Got them done though and as I type here 2 days later I can still feel the effects when I move or laugh. 

Wednesday's WOD

21-15-9

Row for calories

Pull ups

5:50 Rx

I actually did pretty well with this one. I kept moving the whole time. The only issue was and it was a big issue were that my hands were toast form the day before's T2B. I could barely grip the bar doing warm ups. I knew then that I was going to have a tough time. With a workout like this I would have tried to do butterfly pull ups, but with my grip issues I thought it would be best to stay with a kip instead. I just didn't have the hand strength.  

The rows were easy peasy and the first set of pull ups were done with 16 reps and 5. I was mad because I know I can do 21, but what can you do. The rest of the WOD went along like you would imagine. Was pretty happy with myself at the end even with my grip struggles. I'll just have to hold some cold beers later for recovery.

I played basketball again last night and I am really enjoying it. My shot was off a bit more than usual. I made plenty of baskets underneath, but outside... only a few. I couldn't get there early enough for the shoot around. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it! So instead I rebounded, boxed out and basically pushed people around and cleared paths for my teammates. Gotta use this strength somehow.

Stopped by the CraicHouse afterward to watch and see what WOD 12.2 was for the Opens.  This one might be in my wheelhouse. We'll discuss this later.

On a side note. TNB might be going global soon. Getting named dropped on crossfit radio tonight on the Crossfit Journal. Check it out on journal.crossfit.com   More to come.

Work Capacity Wednesday

Welcome to another edition of Work Capacity Wednesday! Brought to you live from CrossFit Craic!

This WOD was pre-recorded

7 Minute AMRAP

7 Toes to Bar

7 Wall Balls 20#

7 rounds + 5 reps

When I saw this one on the site I was excited yet hesitant. Last time I did Toes to Bar I tweaked one of my flabs. It hurt to laugh for a few days. Plus wall balls...Ugh! These things tend to kill me more times than not. I don't know what it is. 

I had the luxury of having resident owner and local celebrity Johnny Deadlift for my judge.  I had no wiggle room with reps. He is a no repping machine. Actually I was only no repped a total of 3 times. 2 for T2B and 1 wall ball.  John actually miscounted 1 rep for me, but I didn't really care. I need the extra work regardless. Plus since these work capacity wednesdays are set up in the style of competitions so I can't sit there and argue with a judge over one rep. Just do it again until they say it's good.  

I was hoping I could do 8 rounds. The T2B got to me toward the end and I ended up doing singles. Who knew though that I was able to use the wall balls as recovery though.  I rather enjoyed them.

Tonight is the first night of Basketball with the CraicHeads. I am looking forward to it. Should be fun.

So wish I could grow a Fro

Heavy Days are Here Again

I am liking it. Once again today's workout focused on strength with a mix of skill work.

Tabata Hollow Holds

Skill: Toes to Bar

Strength: Shoulder Press 5-5-5-5-5
Max effort bar dips in between each set

15 minute cap

Rest exactly 3 mins between efforts

 145# / 13 reps

First off anything Tabata sucks. Choosing Hollow Holds as the Tabata. Pure Evil.  I joked around halfway through them that if this was my first day at CrossFit I wouldn't come back. 4 minutes of hell! It's funny because I dread doing anything Tabata, yet I kind of like the torture. The results are great as well. Painful, but worth it.

Tabata's follow this structure:

• Push Hard for 20 Seconds
• Rest for 10 Seconds
• Repeat this Eight Times
• Totally 4 minutes

We then went right into strict shoulder presses. The last time I did shoulder presses I did a 5 x 5 which equaled 25 reps @135# for each set.  The difference with this one is that I had to increase my weight on each set along with max effort dips also.  The dips were a killer. Totally sucked any extra energy I had in reserve. My sets went as the following:

• shoulder press 5 reps @95# / Max effort dips 13 reps
• 5 reps @115# / 11 reps
• 5 reps @125# / 10 reps
• 5 reps @135# / 7 reps
• 5 reps @145# / 7 reps 

Pretty happy with my weight. 145# is a lot of weight for 5 reps. I was shooting for at least 135# and I  honestly thought that with the dips thrown in there that there was no way I could achieve that. The 3rd set was pretty tiring. I had to walk out a few times so I could focus. Some days I can get distracted pretty easily with my surroundings. When that happens I tend to fail more often then not. I'm getting better at it though. I can recognize early on when it's happening. The only question is if I can reel it in in time.

Johnny Deadlift/Playboy then threw in a 10 minute 100 Toes to Bar to finish. Ugh!  First off I could barely hold myself up on the bar after doing a 145#'s for 5 reps. Plus, I did a 100 T2B a few weeks ago with Glen. Not exactly my idea of a good time, but I welcomed it anyway. I decided to do kipping T2B the whole time. I did have delusions of attempting to finish in the time limit, but I knew between 40 and 50 that I was taking too much time. I was having a tough time hanging onto the bar. I stopped at 70 and left it at that. That's 70 more than nothing. My flabs hurt...

Still pushing for Tabata Beer Chugs...